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40,126,149 | Craig Levein, the club's director of football, said earlier this week that the 23-year-old wants to leave Hearts.
In a statement on Thursday, Hearts aimed to "correct some misinformation" surrounding Walker's contractual situation.
"It would seem that the player would prefer to see out the remaining year of his contract."
Walker came through Hearts' development system, has been a first-team regular at Tynecastle since 2012 and is under contract until 2018.
Levein said head coach Ian Cathro had "been through quite an extensive discussion with Jamie to try to get him to stay".
The director of football added: "Jamie said he has been here a long time and feels it is time to move on."
On Thursday, Hearts addressed "ill-informed and potentially damaging stories relating to Jamie Walker and his contractual position with the club".
"Naturally, the club wants him to stay and made earnest efforts to secure his long-term future here at Hearts," the statement added.
"Those efforts were reflected in the new three-year deal offered to the player in February 2017, one which would've made Jamie the highest paid player at the club.
"Despite Jamie initially agreeing to sign this contract, the club was then informed that he had changed his mind and would not be signing the new deal.
"Despite the club doing everything in its power to hold onto, and reward, one of its top youth products, it would seem that the player would prefer to see out the remaining year of his contract, leaving the club in a no-win situation.
"The club has no desire to lose a talent such as Jamie. He is a firm favourite both with the fans and indeed the management. Nor would it stand in the way of any player who does not want to sign a contract and play for Hearts.
"We must protect the interests of the fans and the business when faced with such a scenario.
"Hearts totally refute any suggestion that a member of the club board or senior executive would be less than honest with any information provided to the media or the fans and it was insulting to see such accusations and falsehoods spread across social media." | Hearts have sought to address social media speculation over the future of attacking midfielder Jamie Walker. |
37,550,468 | They went to the rescue after a Nissan 370Z GT Nismo crashed into trees in Harrier Lane, Battle, at about 14:30 BST on Monday.
A 29-year-old man who was in the passenger seat managed to get out despite being seriously injured.
The driver, a 49-year-old man from Battle, was freed by firefighters.
He was flown to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he remains in a serious condition, having suffered multiple injuries and burns.
The passenger was taken to the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards by ambulance where he remains in a stable condition, Sussex Police said.
Tom Jones, 35, who was working nearby, said: "I heard a huge bang. There was no skidding before that. It was a really weird bang. It was massive and then it was dead quiet."
He said: "When I looked over a high fence I could see smoke. I climbed the fence and realised there was a car on fire.
"I got to it and managed to pull someone out, thinking that they were the only person inside it, but the person said someone else was in there.
"I then went into panic mode. There was a fire underneath the bonnet," Mr Jones said.
"The man was unconscious and I couldn't see his face."
He said three other men, and a woman who brought out a hosepipe, came to help,
"I was filling up buckets of water to try to keep the flames from this man who was trapped," Mr Jones said. | Onlookers formed a chain with buckets and a hose to douse a blazing sports car after it crashed and burst into flames. |
28,892,393 | Blaenau Gwent's Nick Smith said "troubled families" has got many adults in work and children in education.
But one expert said the initiative tended to "stigmatise" families.
The Welsh government said it funds job projects and ones keeping children out of care and families together.
David Cameron announced this week that the scheme would now look to help a total of 500,000 families.
Mr Smith helped to scrutinise the UK government's programme as a member of the public administration committee.
"We're all sick of anti-social behaviour and it costs £70,000 to put a young person in jail," he said.
"We don't want to be spending that sort of money and we don't want youngsters in jail. We want them in school, educated and in good employment.
"What does happen, of course, is that people work in silos and it can be quite difficult to look around you and see what you do can have an impact on other agencies.
"You can't solve that overnight, but if you've got this one person that does have both the bigger picture, understands the needs of the families and is quite hard at making sure those things are turned around, I think that can make a big difference and can help negotiate with all these agencies that are out there."
Mr Smith said the UK programme has shown it can turn lives around.
"They've gathered more evidence, worked out what works, I think that's worth looking at in Wales to see if all the different things that are happening in Wales could be pulled together, integrated and really make a difference for these families.
"There's no problem at all from learning from your neighbours and if there's something next door that's a good initiative let's take a peek at it and see if it can work round here."
But Cardiff University Prof Sally Holland said the "troubled families" initiative had tended to "stigmatise" families and the UK government's budget cuts for preventative work was in contrast to the Welsh government's approach.
"There are still going to be families falling through the gaps - we're facing unprecedented spending cuts," she said.
"A few families are always in any society going to need additional help and we need to be able to help them as well, but it's got to be about the early preventative services and in the long run investing in those will save money."
A Welsh government spokesperson said it already supports families through different projects.
"Our Lift programme provides training and employment opportunities for households where no-one is in work and Communities First is narrowing the economic, education and health gaps between our most deprived and more affluent areas.
"Families First plays a key role in addressing child poverty and Integrated Family Support Services helps keep children out of care and families stay together." | A scheme which is tackling anti-social behaviour in England and has turned around the lives of 53,000 families could work in Wales, the MP for one of its most deprived areas said. |
32,230,793 | According to UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), more than 500,000 applicants successfully secured places in UK universities and colleges in 2014, up nearly 3.4% on the previous year with the overall acceptance ratio steady at around 73%.
This represents a significant increase over the last decade.
In 2006, some 506,305 applicants applied for a university place whereas in 2014, that number had increased to nearly 700,000.
Overall, applications have risen by around 20% with around 2.4 million applications in 2007 and 2.8 million applications in 2014 (each person can make five applications).
But which courses are students applying for and how have patterns of applications to different subjects changed over the years?
And what, if anything, do such patterns tell us about the way young people and others view what they want from a university degree? Are patterns in the UK similar to elsewhere?
Nursing: 238,000 applications
Psychology: 106,000
Law: 103,000
Design studies: 97,000
Pre-clinical medicine: 85,000
Computer Science: 77,000
Management: 71,000
Sport and exercise: 67,000
Business: 66,000
Social Work: 64,000
In terms of changes since 2007, the largest growth has been observed in nursing, rising from 58,435 in 2007 to 103,550 applications in 2008, when the admissions system was centralised and unified, to 237,990 in 2014.
This increase in nursing reflects increases in the commissioning of nurses for the NHS through workforce planning.
However, this area remains a hotly disputed political issue with manifesto commitments being made on increasing the number of trained nurses entering the NHS and reviewing the way places are made available.
Over the period, both chemistry and physics have grown by 50% to around 30,000 each.
Starting from a much lower base, chemical, process and energy engineering has risen 135% from 8,450 in 2007 to 19,830 in 2014.
Both mechanical and general engineering have risen by around 80% over the last decade.
By contrast, modern languages and associated studies have fallen by 24% to around 26,000.
This, in part, reflects a shift away from full degrees to short courses in the area.
Many subjects suffered a downturn in 2012 when fees of £9,000 were introduced.
Some subjects have bounced back from that dip better than others, though UCAS indicates that current demand levels are slightly lower than they would have been without the fee hike.
In the humanities there were fears of a gradual structural decline as students became more vocationally orientated in their preferences.
Law: 92,000 applications
Psychology: 80,000
Pre-clinical Medicine: 70,000
Design: 70,000
Management: 62,000
Social work: 60,000
Nursing: 58,000
Business: 55,000
English: 54,000
Computer Science: 54,000
English, for example, lost around 10% of its applications in 2012 and has not been able to fully recover the lost ground since.
By contrast history, which was enjoying its highest ever level of popularity prior to the introduction of fees, only suffered a 4% fall, but has recovered quickly to rise 4% higher than the pre-fees level.
This might be taken to imply that while there is a significant core level of interest in the humanities, driven in part by A-level familiarity, some of the applicant constituencies who might otherwise have chosen humanities remain deterred by fees.
While the overall patterns of gender have tended to follow the general ebb and flow of application profiles over the last decade, the headline figures occasionally mask interesting trends.
In civil engineering, for example, although the total number of applications has remained steady at just over 20,000 for the last decade, this hides a 25% increase in applications by females and an 8% fall in applications by males.
In nutrition, the 10% increase is attributable almost entirely to the rise in applications from males.
While computing science has grown 44% since 2007 to 77,000, this reflects an increase in both male (43%) and female (36%) applications.
What are the factors affecting the popularity of subjects? Clearly, a wide range of influences affect subject choice including the level of supply.
Some areas such as medicine, dentistry and nursing have limited places and competition is fierce, with around 10 applications for every place, and this ratio has generally remained steady since 2007.
It is probable that one other driver of choice is the availability of A-level courses in the same topic.
The continued popularity of psychology at degree level, for example, can, in part, be attributed to the growth of psychology A-levels.
The effect of television in giving visibility to new types of careers is also often highlighted as a factor.
The popularity of TV series Silent Witness and Cracker and the film Silence of the Lambs, has been cited as boosting the number of courses and applications for forensic science in the 1990s and subsequently - even if the dramas in fact depict pathologists, clinical psychologists and detectives.
The lure of high potential earnings associated with specific degrees has always been a driver of subject choice to some extent, but this has become more complex recently as long-term career patterns become more fragmented and most jobs not degree specific.
Overall it would appear that the £9,000 fees, the recession and changes in the job market generally have not made huge differences to the pattern of course choices.
However, it is not clear whether the choices students make are always the right choices.
Computer science is consistently in the top 10 for applications - but also has one of the highest dropout rates.
In the US, lifetime earnings are seen as a key driver for degree choice, especially in the context of the fees and commercial loans.
Total student loan debt in the US has now passed $1tn, with student debt outweighing credit card debt for the first time in history.
Overall in 2010, US graduates left college owing an average of more than $26,000.
The patterns indicate some interesting differences against a backdrop of similarity in the popularity of subjects compared with the UK.
According to the US National Centre for Educational Statistics (NCES) of the 1,716,000 bachelor's degrees conferred in 2010-11, the most popular areas were business (365,000), social sciences and history (177,000), health professions and related programs (143,000), education (104,000), and psychology (101,000).
US data analysts, Media Factual, who host the CollegeFactual.com website, identify business as the most popular current degree programme followed by psychology, nursing, biology, teacher training, criminology, accounting, humanities, English and history.
According to NCES, business studies has been accounting for around 20% of all undergraduate degrees in the US since the mid-70s.
For comparison, the corresponding figure for business and related areas in the UK is around 10% and has been steady at that rate for nearly a decade.
Education-related degrees in the US have fallen from around 21% in 1970 to approximately 6% now.
However, the largest rises have been in the miscellaneous catch-all category of "other fields" which has risen steadily from 9% in 1970 to 25% in 2012.
This category includes, amongst others, courses related to health professions, law enforcement, and leisure and fitness studies.
For those who are really driven by earnings potential then a recent analysis of the degrees taken by 50 billionaires globally found that engineering and economics had the highest ratings with 14 each with business and finance having 11.
The authors of the report note that among the 50 billionaires, three had degrees in philosophy.
Looking ahead at future trends in the UK, UCAS has stated that the 2012 fees hike led to a temporary 5% decline in demand overall and that in the future, variation in fee levels could well affect application levels.
They further expect total applicants from UK/EU to rise by a modest 1% to 2% between 2016 and 2018.
Given that the 18-year-old UK population is on a downward trend, the number of A-level entrants are correspondingly declining, with much of the growth in demand coming largely from applicants with vocational qualifications such as BTECs.
It is possible that this will boost courses with an explicit vocational element which tap into this emerging pattern.
Whatever the changes to fees, university provision, student numbers and the debate over different ways of assessing the "value" of a degree, it is clear that underlying the general stability in degree choices in the UK and the US is a great deal of nuance and subtle variation which hints perhaps at the shape of bigger changes to come. | With the deadline for university applicants to indicate their final course preferences looming, it is interesting to review how the patterns of degree choice have changed over the last decade or so. |
33,220,553 | He was attacked alongside his brother in the Donegall Road area at about 21:30 BST Saturday night.
A band parade was taking place in the area at the time, but police are not treating the attack as sectarian.
The badly hurt man, who is in his 20s, sustained a serious head injury and was treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital.
The second man suffered injuries to his face that were not believed to be life-threatening.
A spokesman for the Belfast Health Trust said the critically injured victim's condition stabilised on Sunday evening before he left hospital.
UKIP councillor Bob Stoker told BBC Radio Ulster it was his understanding that the assault was in no way connected to the band parade.
"It seems that this young fellow was standing actually watching the band parade with his girlfriend and an altercation, with people going down the Donegal Road, took place.
"His brother went to intervene and he was also assaulted," Mr Stoker said.
"It's not sectarian, it's not racist, it's one of these incidents that just happened and it happened as there was a band passing at the location where it actually took place.
"But the attack and assault has absolutely nothing to do with the band or the band parade, I think we need to make that very clear," he added.
The councillor said a vehicle was being forensically examined as part of the investigation and he appealed to anyone with information to contact police. | A man who was critically injured in a weekend assault in south Belfast has left hospital after his condition improved on Sunday evening. |
40,413,041 | Now they've seen the details, they haven't changed their tune.
There is actually a fair amount of common ground between the two sides, but the details - naturally - matter.
The EU's goal on citizens' rights, said its chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, is "the same level of protection as [is offered] in EU law".
"More ambition, clarity and guarantees needed than in today's UK position," Mr Barnier tweeted.
This is a crucial point for the European negotiating team.
However pleased it may be that the UK has finally produced a detailed policy document on one aspect of Brexit, this proposal falls short of what it wants in several respects.
The EU's Essential Principles on Citizens' Rights argued that the rights of EU citizens in the UK, and British citizens elsewhere in the EU, should not change as a result of Brexit.
All their rights should be respected.
The British proposal, on the other hand, entails the loss of some of those rights - the legal protection of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), for example, or the unconditional right to bring family members into the UK from third countries.
The cut-off date for eligibility for settled status also needs to be clarified. The UK proposal suggests that the cut-off could be as early as 29 March 2017, the day when Article 50 was triggered.
But it is unlikely that the EU would be willing to agree to any date that has already passed. It would mean - in effect - that some citizens would lose some of their rights while the UK was still a member of the EU.
Opposition to such an idea would be seen in many EU capitals not just as a point of principle, but as a matter of EU law.
It is more likely that British negotiators will eventually agree to settle on their other suggested date - the date on which the UK actually leaves the EU, which is currently due to be 29 March 2019.
If the UK shows flexibility on the cut-off date, it will expect equal flexibility on other matters from the EU. But trust between the negotiating teams appears to be in rather short supply.
It will need to be established quickly because a similar mood of compromise will be needed to reach agreement on the legal system that will underpin any agreement.
The British side insists that the ECJ will have no jurisdiction in the UK after Brexit. The EU insists that the ECJ must continue to offer legal protection for their citizens in the UK, just as it does now.
The obvious answer to this conundrum is to create a joint UK-EU arbitration panel that will ensure that the terms of an agreement are respected under international law. But this will require both sides to alter fairly entrenched positions.
Well, the UK proposal does contain a few carrots.
It accepts that child benefit payments will still be paid for the children of EU workers in the UK whose families live abroad. This was a right that David Cameron tried but failed to abolish.
It advocates a "grace period" of two years to allow EU citizens to get their status in order. It is an idea that could dovetail conveniently with the need for transitional arrangements, to ensure that the British exit from the EU takes place without sudden shocks.
As for British citizens who have retired abroad, the UK proposal offers the reassurance that the government will continue to export and "uprate" the UK state pension within the EU.
So if, for example, you live in Spain, you will still get annual pension increases - something that is not always guaranteed if you live elsewhere in the world.
There is also a promise to simplify bureaucratic procedures for people applying for settled status in the future. But many of them will be furious that they have just spent time and money to obtain permanent residence in the UK, only to find out that they need to start again from scratch.
"How can you promise to give people certainty and then tell tens of thousands that their permanent residence is going to be invalidated?" says Ian Robinson, a partner at the immigration law firm Fragomen.
"It would have been just as easy to continue to recognise permanent residence already granted but just stop accepting new applications," Mr Robinson adds.
The UK may argue that its proposal at least tries to offer something to everyone. But so far it doesn't do enough to satisfy the EU.
So even if the basis for a deal can be envisaged on this one aspect of Brexit, there is plenty of bridge-building still to be done.
When the UK proposal was first trailed, it was described as a generous offer. That was quickly amended to a "fair and serious" one.
Because the EU doesn't see this as a generous offer, and it has been prepared to say so. It involves millions of EU citizens losing some of the rights they currently enjoy, and for EU leaders that is no cause for celebration.
Read more from Reality Check
Follow us on Twitter | When British Prime Minister Theresa May first trailed the Conservative Party's proposals for EU citizens living in the UK at last week's EU summit, the initial response from her fellow leaders was hardly enthusiastic. |
33,329,554 | Philip Spriggs, 51, from Oxford, was found guilty of a total of 20 charges including 11 counts of rape, sexual assault and making indecent photos.
Oxford Crown Court was told the offences took place in Headington over seven years between 2007 and 2014.
Thames Valley Police praised his victims for being "brave" and "speaking out".
Spriggs was given an additional seven years on licence and placed on the sex offenders' register for life.
Det Sgt Tracey Shepherd said: "The victims in this case have been very brave at speaking out against their abuser.
"They can now begin to rebuild their lives knowing they do not have to suffer further abuse."
Spriggs, who was arrested and charged last October, was found guilty of 20 charges following a trial in April.
The charges were 11 counts of rape, two counts of assault of a child under 13, one charge of attempted rape, two charges of sexual assault of a child under 13, two counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, one charge of assault by penetration, and one count of making indecent photos. | A man has been jailed for 17 years for a string of sex offences against two children. |
24,218,141 | The Jamaican, 27, has been with Puma since 2003, and last renewed what is considered to be the biggest sponsorship deal in athletics in 2010.
Bolt said he was proud to continue with Puma "for the years ahead".
He had earlier indicated he may retire after the 2016 Games, but recently said he may compete for a year after that.
There was no mention in the Puma announcement about any retirement plans.
Bolt has won six Olympic gold and eight World Championship gold medals to date. In addition, his time of 9.58 seconds in the 100 metres is the fastest run to date.
Puma chief executive Bjoern Gulden said the firm had supported Bolt since he was 16.
"He will play a crucial role in our future product concepts, as well as brand communications leading towards the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 and beyond," Mr Gulden added.
In addition to its contract with Usain Bolt, Puma has a longstanding commitment to Jamaican Track & Field.
The deal is a boost for Puma as it continues to take on bigger sportswear rivals Adidas and Nike. | Multiple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has renewed his sponsorship deal with German kit-maker Puma until after the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. |
39,451,262 | The 21-year-old completed a four-under-par 68 on Friday, resuming after high winds stopped play on Thursday.
France's Karine Icher, American Cristie Kerr and Germany's Caroline Masson are tied for the lead.
Teenage amateur Seong Eun-jeong hit a hole-in-one to help move her into early contention on day one.
The 17-year-old South Korean carded an impressive four-under 68, and is joined by Hull in a six-way tie for fourth place.
Seong, who last year became the first player to win the US Women's Amateur and US Junior titles in the same season, birdied the first two holes before her hole-in-one at the 182-yard par-three fifth.
Almost half the field were forced to complete their first rounds on Friday, with winds of 25mph and gusts of 35mph blowing when the players were taken off on day one at Mission Hills Country Club in California.
World number 16 Hull hit six birdies and two bogeys in her round. Compatriots Mel Reid and Jodi Ewart Shadoff finished level par and one over respectively.
Scotland's Catriona Matthew shot a three-over 75 and is in danger of missing the cut.
Full leaderboard | England's Charley Hull was one shot off the lead after the first round of the ANA Inspiration, the first women's major of the year. |
37,551,378 | The North East county were also given a 48-point deduction for next season.
Collingwood, who has been with the club for 21 years, is currently part of England's coaching staff in Bangladesh.
"The players are seriously unhappy, a lot of anger, a lot of 'whose fault is this?'" the 40-year-old former England all-rounder told journalists in Dhaka.
"The fact is that the players are 100% innocent here. We get asked to win things, and give our best, and stay in the first division, and that's what the club is all about.
"That's why it's such a kick in the teeth because we know how hard it's been to continue our first division status with all the strains that have been on our team in the last few years."
Collingwood, who signed a one-year contract extension with Durham in July, is in Bangladesh with teammate and England all-rounder Ben Stokes.
He admitted that the extent of the club's problems had come as a shock to the players, who had been unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
"I can't believe we are in this position. I don't understand how it can go so far down this road for us to be penalised like this, and how it hasn't been picked up and brought into a sustainable business like it should be," he said.
The ECB have also stripped Durham of the right to host Test cricket at the Riverside as well as imposing a revised salary cap from April 2017-2020, with the level determined annually by the governing body.
However, Collingwood sought positives in the knowledge that Durham had maintained their first-class status and the club can now look forward.
"When I first heard about it I thought it was the end of the world but in some ways you have to understand that the ECB have given us an opportunity to rebuild and refocus."
Durham's director of cricket and former first-team coach Geoff Cook said the severe punishment handed out the club was harsh.
They had to invest a large amount of money to ensure their Riverside ground was up to the standard required to host Tests but have now lost that right.
"This is one of the real tragedies of it," Cook told BBC Radio Newcastle. "In all innocence, all Durham County Cricket Club have tried to fulfil its commitment to the area and provide a great international venue and top-class sport.
"I'm not sure how the club has got itself into this position, but no matter how it has got there on the surface the punishment is extreme." | Durham's relegation from County Championship Division One over financial issues is a "kick in the teeth", says captain Paul Collingwood. |
24,232,896 | "Cedric" is only a basic prototype but could be developed into a machine which is smaller, faster and more efficient than today's silicon models.
Nanotubes have long been touted as the heir to silicon's throne, but building a working computer has proven awkward.
The breakthrough by Stanford University engineers is published in Nature.
Cedric is the most complex carbon-based electronic system yet realised.
So is it fast? Not at all. It might have been in 1955.
The computer operates on just one bit of information, and can only count to 32.
"In human terms, Cedric can count on his hands and sort the alphabet. But he is, in the full sense of the word, a computer," says co-author Max Shulaker.
"There is no limit to the tasks it can perform, given enough memory".
In computing parlance, Cedric is "Turing complete". In principle, it could be used to solve any computational problem.
It runs a basic operating system which allows it to swap back and forth between two tasks - for instance, counting and sorting numbers.
And unlike previous carbon-based computers, Cedric gets the answer right every time.
"People have been talking about a new era of carbon nanotube electronics, but there have been few demonstrations. Here is the proof," said Prof Subhasish Mitra, lead author on the study.
The Stanford team hope their achievement will galvanise efforts to find a commercial successor to silicon chips, which could soon encounter their physical limits.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are hollow cylinders composed of a single sheet of carbon atoms.
They have exceptional properties which make them ideal as a semiconductor material for building transistors, the on-off switches at the heart of electronics.
For starters, CNTs are so thin - thousands could fit side-by-side in a human hair - that it takes very little energy to switch them off.
"Think of it as stepping on a garden hose. The thinner the pipe, the easier it is to shut off the flow," said HS Philip Wong, co-author on the study.
But while single-nanotube transistors have been around for 15 years, no-one had ever put the jigsaw pieces together to make a useful computing device.
So how did the Stanford team succeed where others failed? By overcoming two common bugbears which have bedevilled carbon computing.
First, CNTs do not grow in neat, parallel lines. "When you try and line them up on a wafer, you get a bowl of noodles," says Mitra.
The Stanford team built chips with CNTs which are 99.5% aligned - and designed a clever algorithm to bypass the remaining 0.5% which are askew.
They also eliminated a second type of imperfection - "metallic" CNTs - a small fraction of which always conduct electricity, instead of acting like semiconductors that can be switched off.
To expunge these rogue elements, the team switched off all the "good" CNTs, then pumped the remaining "bad" ones full of electricity - until they vaporised. The result is a functioning circuit.
The Stanford team call their two-pronged technique "imperfection-immune design". Its greatest trick? You don't even have to know where the imperfections lie - you just "zap" the whole thing.
"These are initial necessary steps in taking carbon nanotubes from the chemistry lab to a real environment," said Supratik Guha, director of physical sciences for IBM's Thomas J Watson Research Center.
But hang on - what if, say, Intel, or another chip company, called up and said "I want a billion of these". Could Cedric be scaled up and factory-produced?
In principle, yes: "There is no roadblock", says Franz Kreupl, of the Technical University of Munich in Germany.
"If research efforts are focused towards a scaled-up (64-bit) and scaled-down (20-nanometre transistor) version of this computer, we might soon be able to type on one."
Shrinking the transistors is the next challenge for the Stanford team. At a width of eight microns (8,000 nanometres) they are much fatter than today's most advanced silicon chips.
But while it may take a few years to achieve this gold standard, it is now only a matter of time - there is no technological barrier, says Shulaker.
"In terms of size, IBM has already demonstrated a nine-nanometre CNT transistor.
"And as for manufacturing, our design is compatible with current industry processes. We used the same tools as Intel, Samsung or whoever.
"So the billions of dollars invested into silicon has not been wasted, and can be applied for CNTs."
For 40 years we have been predicting the end of silicon. Perhaps that end is now in sight. | The first computer built entirely with carbon nanotubes has been unveiled, opening the door to a new generation of digital devices. |
31,432,512 | Not normal parliamentary language, but those are the words and phrases Ed Miliband used today in the Commons to allege that David Cameron's Tory party takes money from tax dodgers.
Even by the standards of Prime Minister's Questions it was pretty strong stuff and it has led one donor to warn that if the allegations against him are repeated outside, Ed Miliband will end up in court facing a libel action.
The Labour leader's aides say that he sees this as another Milly Dowler moment - the moment when he spoke out against phone hacking and took on Rupert Murdoch.
They see this row as an opportunity to be seen standing up to the rich and powerful and to be seen to be, in their political strategists' favourite phrase, "on your side".
The Conservatives respond that Mr Miliband's got his facts wrong and is guilty of hypocrisy - since today's list of party donors with Swiss bank accounts includes Labour donors too
You might think this is a row about banks and tax avoidance. You might want it to be. It is, though, yet another act in the pre-election drama. | Dodgy...bang to rights...up to his neck. |
33,153,486 | The NSPCC said the reasons were not clear, although greater awareness of sexual abuse, arising from historical cases, may be a cause.
It said this showed the Scottish legal system must become more sensitive.
It has called for a "bold approach" to reform the way child sex abuse cases are handled.
The figures were published as the NSPCC prepared to launch its third "How Safe are our Children?" report measuring the extent and nature of child abuse across the UK.
Scottish government figures showed that in 2013-14 there were 3,742 sexual offences against children including rape, sexual assault and grooming - a 10-year high.
The charity said that in the following year, 2014-15, the number of contacts to its helpline from adults in Scotland worried a child was being sexually abused rose by 19% from 341 to 407.
Almost half (203) were considered so serious they were immediately referred to the police or children's services.
The NSPCC said it was not clear why the number of offences had risen.
But it said more victims may have the courage to come forward following the reporting of historical cases and the police may also have improved their recording methods.
The charity praised the Scottish government for establishing an inquiry into historical abuse in children's institutions.
But Matt Forde, NSPCC Scotland's head of national services, said as more children spoke out, the Scottish legal system needed to develop a more sensitive and effective response to ensuring justice was served.
He said: "The nation has been horrified by the revelations of decades of horrendous child abuse. But while the Scottish government's inquiry is historical, child abuse is not.
"For too many children, our court system adds further trauma to their earlier experiences of abuse. We need a bold approach to reform our legal system."
A Scottish Courts Service report "Evidence and Procedure", published in March, agreed changes were necessary.
It said: "In recent decades the number of child and vulnerable witnesses being called to give evidence has increased dramatically.
"They have, however, been introduced into a system that was ill-equipped to accommodate them, with the result that there have been a series of adjustments to the law and practice that, at best, only partially address their needs."
The NSPCC said a Scandinavian system, called Barnehus, had helped free children from further suffering, allowing the therapeutic support they needed to begin more quickly.
In specialist centres, designed to be non-threatening and reassuring for victims, a team, including a criminal investigator and prosecutor, a health expert, a senior social worker, a judicial counsellor and forensic expert worked together to support the child.
The aim was to help victims through possible trauma and to make sense of official procedures to reduce long-term problems. | The NSPCC in Scotland has revealed a 19% rise in the number of calls to its helplines from adults worried about children being abused. |
29,907,546 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The Stones came close to claiming an upset but Frannie Collin was denied by the feet of keeper Chris Day.
Boro almost won it late on with Roarie Deacon's strike from a narrow angle before Chris Beardsley's header came off the outside of the post.
The replay will now take place on a 3G pitch - just days after Football League clubs voted against their introduction. | Non-league Maidstone earned an FA Cup first round replay after a goalless draw at League Two side Stevenage. |
35,742,282 | Whatever your record, it's unlikely that you have beaten Satabdi Mishra and Akshaya Ravtaray.
The two friends are on an ambitious 10,000 km (6,213 miles) road trip in their minivan, and have taken an eye-popping 4,000 books with them.
They say they are on a "mission" to promote book reading across towns, cities and villages because they believe that "more Indians need to read books".
The duo began their journey in early December 2015 from Bhubaneswar in the eastern state of Orissa.
The BBC caught up with them in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh which was the 16th stage of their trip.
It has been an tiring but exhilarating ride for the two, who told the BBC they "achieved what we set out to do".
They have met hundreds of people, ranging from writers to book lovers to first-time book buyers.
"We have sold around 2,000 books so far. And we keep getting our stock replenished in big cities," Ms Mishra says.
But selling books is not their primary goal. They also lend them out, and say their biggest ambition is actually to engage people in conversations about the importance of reading.
"We see so much happening around us, things like intolerance. That mainly happens because people don't read. Reading books opens your mind and allows you to appreciate different thoughts," Mr Ravtaray says.
He talks about a school teacher he met "who had only read 15-20 books related to his curriculum in his 20 years of teaching".
"Now clearly there is a problem. People, teachers, have to read more for their students, much beyond the subjects they teach. We need more libraries than shopping malls, but the reverse is happening," he says.
Ms Mishra says books have become too expensive, and independent book shops are increasingly closing down.
"The situation is much worse in small towns. We found that many don't have even a single library," she says.
"It's not that people don't want to read. But books have become inaccessible for many people."
Mr Ravtaray and Ms Mishra want to change that. Apart from travelling to promote reading, they also run what they call "a simple book store" in Bhubaneswar.
"We give 20-30% discounts throughout the year because our store is simple and we don't have many expenses. We don't have air conditioning or even electricity, we use solar power," Ms Mishra says.
"And we provide a space where people can read all day, without having to pay or buy anything."
Their minivan is stocked with books written in English and also regional languages.
"I felt that people are more drawn to books in their own language. I just hope more regional writers prosper and the writing becomes better," Mr Ravtaray says.
They made a similar journey around Orissa in 2014 and were surprised by the response.
"Just like this journey, most people who came to us in Orissa were first-time book buyers. We had kept the cost low. No book was more than 200 rupees."
Ms Mishra said that they usually choose public spaces like bus and railways stations in Orissa's tribal areas to showcase books.
"That works because people in smaller towns feel intimidated by big shops."
Mr Ravtaray is of the opinion that books have to reach India's "remote corners if we are to prosper as a society".
"We as a country need to know more about the world we live in and that can only happen through reading. We have a funny situation these days, rich people write about poor people, but poor people don't get to read their work."
"Our journey is a tiny effort to change this situation. We are trying to make books available to as many people as possible." | What is the most amount of books you have carried while travelling? |
40,724,692 | While traditionally the wafer snack has been made using milk chocolate, dozens of different flavours are proving popular in Asia.
Flavours like wasabi and green tea have helped Kit Kat sales in Japan grow by 50% since 2010, Nestle said.
The factory will focus on the more expensive versions of the snack which have been a hit with tourists.
Spending by visitors on confectionery has more than tripled in the past four years, according to government figures, to about $1.2bn (£922m).
"Over the past few years, Nestle was able to demonstrate good growth in Japan despite a challenging environment", a Nestle spokesman said.
"This good performance can be explained with our strategic focus on innovation and premium, for example with Kit Kat." | Nestle is to open its first factory in Japan in more than 25 years because of demand for exotic flavours of Kit Kat. |
34,167,290 | Police were called to reports of a fight at a block of flats on Turnham Road, Brockley, on Thursday and found two 17-year-old boys with stab wounds.
Shaquan Mario Fearon died shortly after arriving at hospital, police said.
Two boys, both aged 15, have been charged with murder and wounding with intent and are due to appear at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Monday.
A post-mortem examination found Shaquan died from a stab wound to the leg.
The second victim, who also suffered a stab wound, was taken to hospital and has since been discharged, officers said. | Two teenage boys have been charged with the murder of a 17-year-old who was stabbed in south-east London. |
40,703,996 | Torrential rain had affected parts of south-west Scotland.
Pretoria Road and Delhi Place in Eastriggs were waterlogged on Saturday afternoon.
Fire crews were called in to pump water away from the area in an attempt to protect local properties. | The village of Eastriggs has been clearing up after flash flooding on Saturday. |
34,658,848 | Nathan Matthews, 28, admits killing his 16-year-old stepsister but denies murder and conspiring to kidnap her.
Under cross examination, prosecutor William Mousley asked him how he felt about "cutting her body into pieces" with a circular saw.
Mr Matthews told Bristol Crown Court he "did what I had to".
Mr Mousley asked if his attitude changed after he killed her, to which he replied: " I didn't have any attitude after."
Referring to 15 stab wounds delivered to Becky's abdomen after her death, the prosecutor asked Mr Matthews: "What about how you treated her after you killed her?"
He responded: "That's got nothing to do with how I felt about her."
Mr Matthews admitted being attracted to teenage girls and watching pornography after having sex with his long-term girlfriend Shauna Hoare, 21.
The defendant, who is accused of murdering Miss Watts in a sexually-motivated kidnap plot with Ms Hoare, denied he fancied his stepsister.
He admitted he did not like the teenager because she was rude to his mother, Anjie Galsworthy, her stepmother, but refuted suggestions he had wanted to harm her.
Earlier, Bristol Crown Court was told Mr Matthews denied downloading a pornographic film found on his laptop about the rape of a young girl.
He told the jury he would not have downloaded or watched the film and would have deleted the 17-minute clip "straight away".
Mr Matthews said he looked at online pornography "at least every two days" with his interest starting with magazines before moving on to internet videos.
However, Mr Matthews insisted his girlfriend did not share his interest in pornography.
Mr Matthews' defence lawyer, Adam Vaitilingam QC questioned him about a series of text and Facebook messages in which he and Ms Hoare talked about kidnapping teenage girls.
Mr Matthews said the messages were "just taking the mick basically" and not serious.
He said he was "open" with her about if he found someone attractive.
"Sometimes she would catch me looking and she would slap me, or smack me, not violently and tell me off, saying I'm looking at her or whatever," he said.
Mr Matthews also told jurors he had a "fear" that Ms Hoare would leave him.
He had previously admitted there was violence in his relationship with his partner and he had "anger issues" and would "bottle things up" and would "flip" when he got "overwhelmed".
However, he denied that when he tried to knock Becky out on the day he killed her at her home in St George, Bristol, it had been a "violent attack".
Becky went missing on 19 February and her body was found in a shed several days later.
Asked how he was able to dismember Becky, Mr Matthews told the court: "It was like a bad dream, it is hard to explain exactly."
Shortly afterwards he said he realised he needed to remove her remains from the home he shared with Ms Hoare because he "knew the police were coming".
Asked why he finally confessed to the killing after days of repeatedly lying about being involved in Becky's disappearance, Mr Matthews said her family "deserved to know the truth and have a burial and say goodbye".
Mr Matthews, of Hazelbury Drive in Warmley, South Gloucestershire, also admits perverting the course of justice, preventing lawful burial and possessing a prohibited weapon.
Ms Hoare, 21, of Cotton Mill Lane, Bristol, denies murder and conspiracy to kidnap, a weapons charge, perverting the course of justice and preventing a burial.
Two other men, Donovan Demetrius, 29, and James Ireland, 23, deny assisting an offender.
The trial continues. | A man accused of murdering teenager Becky Watts has denied taking any pleasure in dismembering her body. |
25,633,647 | It records when a user speaks to friends, receives emails, watches a movie and other smartphone actions.
In addition the Android app receives data from a new, small piece of wearable hardware called the Core that acts as an activity tracker.
The software then uses this information to try and determine if the user was walking, resting or in a vehicle.
It is likely to raise privacy issues coming so soon after revelations about how spy agencies have forced tech companies to hand over information stored about their users.
However, the Japanese firm attempted to play down the issue.
"Sony treats the security and privacy of our users' personal data with the utmost stringency and integrity, adhering to legalities and ensuring it remains protected under appropriate technological procedures," it told the BBC.
"Upon first sign-in to Lifelog app, we make it clear absolutely clear what data users are submitting, how it is being used and provide them with option of opting in or out before proceeding."
Sony did, however, acknowledge that younger users were more likely to be willing to let their activities be logged with the service than older ones.
The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Lifelog is Sony's take on what is termed "the quantified self" - the ability to better understand and change behaviours by gathering data about ourselves.
"Today's alternatives can log your sleep and steps," Jun Makino, a senior product manager at Sony told the BBC.
"But there's more to life. We want to help you rediscover the best memories from the past as well as make smarter decisions for the future."
The kinds of data collected by the app from Android phones include information about when and where:
Sony is also releasing an application programming interface (API) to allow other apps to share information.
The Core is a plastic device containing an accelerometer that is supposed to be worn around the clock. It will provide data about the user's movements, which can then be used to try to work out what they were doing and how many calories were burned.
Sony said its algorithms would be able to distinguish between whether the user was on a train, using a bicycle or resting.
The device also features LED lights and a vibration motor to alert the owner to notifications sent to their phone. A "life bookmark" button can also be pressed to highlight special moments on the timeline.
It will initially be sold with a waterproof wristband.
But in time Sony aims to release accessories letting it to be worn around the neck, in shoes or even attached to a tennis racket among other options.
The firm added it also envisaged information being gathered from its other products, including Smart TVs and PlayStation 4 games consoles, to build up a more detailed record.
Those who sign up to the app will be able to get information telling them how much time they spent carrying out different activities to help inform their choices.
"If you have not reached your daily goal perhaps you should take a walk rather than a taxi," Mr Makino gave as an example.
This is a similar to the idea behind other wearable activity trackers made by companies including Jawbone, Fitbit and Nike.
However, one wearable tech expert attending CES suggested that what was needed were more insights rather than just more information.
"The end goal for these companies is to provide actionable advice and not just data logging," said Daniel Matte from the tech consultancy Canalys.
"I don't think the average user frankly cares if, for example, they slept eight or nine hours. What they want to know is whether that was adequate and what they can do to sleep better, eat better etc.
"Creating change should be the primary goal these technologies are striving for."
Sony said it might also make use of the data gathered by the app to help it better understand how people used their phones and to spot bugs.
However, it said that it would make users' identifies anonymous before carrying out this analysis to protect their privacy. | Sony has unveiled a "life logging" software that charts a person's activities on an interactive timeline. |
33,196,587 | In the 17,000 word document, written a year after the war, she laments the loss of "our bravest and best".
The document also highlights concerns about media coverage of the conflict.
It is among a selection of private papers given to the nation by the ex-PM's estate in lieu of inheritance tax.
Other material released include her personal account of the Fontainebleau Summit of European leaders in 1984, when she secured the UK's budget rebate, the final draft of her remarks when she entered Downing Street for the first time in 1979 and the text of her "lady's not for turning speech" at the 1980 Conservative Party conference.
The donation of the papers to the Churchill Archives Centre, which already holds the bulk of the former Conservative leader's personal and political files, has settled an inheritance tax bill in excess of £1m that was owed by her estate.
Lady Thatcher, who died in 2013, was Britain's long-serving post-war prime minister, serving between 1979 and 1990.
The 1982 Falklands conflict, in which a British taskforce recaptured a group of British overseas territories in the South Atlantic after their invasion by Argentine troops, was a defining moment in Margaret Thatcher's premiership.
The 128-page memoir, written at Chequers over the 1983 Easter holiday, is a candid and, at times, highly personal account of the political and diplomatic manoeuvrings in the run-up to the conflict and the conduct of the military campaign itself.
The account of the war, which she described as a "miracle wrought by ordinary men and women with extraordinary qualities", reveals:
Among the most striking passages in the memoir are the former prime minister's reactions to military successes and setbacks during the hostilities, which cost the lives of 255 British servicemen and 655 Argentineans.
Reacting to the attack on HMS Glamorgan, 14 of whose personnel were killed when it was struck by an Exocet missile, she wrote:
"It is impossible to describe the depth of feeling at these times. It is quite unlike anything else I have ever experienced."
It is impossible to describe the depth of feeling at these times. It is quite unlike anything else I have ever experienced. In fights for liberty - we lose our bravest and best..."
"In fights for liberty - we lose our bravest and best. How unjust and heart-breaking. Now we know the sacrifices that previous generations made for us. And at No 10 one was protected and safe - one felt so guilty at the comfort."
Reflecting on the "bitter battle" for Darwin and Goose Green, the most fiercely fought infantry engagement of the war, she praises the personal sacrifice of Lieutenant Colonel Herbert 'H' Jones, who was awarded a Victoria Cross posthumously after leading the attack on Argentine positions.
"At one point it seemed impossible to break through. At that time 'H' made his famous courageous advance. His (Victoria Cross) life was lost but his bravery was the turning point in the battle."
While recognising the contribution made by other ministers, including the "splendid" defence secretary John Nott and deputy prime minister Willie Whitelaw, the prime minister lays bare the differences between her and Mr Pym, who became foreign secretary after his predecessor Lord Carrington's post-invasion resignation.
She notes that she had to overcome his "objections" on a number of occasions, over the establishment of an maritime exclusion zone around the islands and over her belief that any diplomatic solution that rewarded aggression and did not respect the wishes of the islanders for self-determination should be rejected out of hand.
Their differences came to a head after Mr Pym recommended the UK sign up to a US-brokered agreement to avert war which she described as "complete sell-out" and which would lead to a "complete takeover" of the islands by the Argentines.
Mr Pym, she suggested, agreed with the US government which was "sceptical about our capacity to achieve a satisfactory military solution and thought international support would evaporate quickly after the first shot had been fired".
Many of the public (including me) did not like the attitude particularly of the BBC and I was very worried about it. They were sometimes reporting as if they were neutral..."
Mrs Thatcher suggested she would have had to have resign if the war committee sided with Mr Pym rather than her.
"I repeated to Francis that we could not accept them. They were a total retreat from our fundamental position. He said he thought we should accept them. We were at loggerheads.
"A former defence secretary and present foreign secretary of Britain recommending peace at that price," she added. "Had it gone through the (war) committee I could not have stayed."
In the memoir, Lady Thatcher elaborates on her "trouble" with the reporting of the war by the British media, particularly the well-documented battles between the government and broadcasters over the content and tone of their coverage.
"Many of the public, including me, did not like the attitude particularly of the BBC and I was very worried about it. They were sometimes reporting as if they were neutral between Britain and Argentina.
"At other times we felt strongly that they were assisting the enemy by open discussions with experts on the next likely steps in the campaign. This applied to ITV as much as to BBC.
"This of course was the first conflict we had fought without censorship. The media and the government took totally different views. My concern was always the safety of our forces. Theirs was news."
However, she complimented the work of one of the BBC's most senior correspondents, Brian Hanrahan, whose description of a sortie by Royal Navy harrier jets from HMS Hermes was among the most famous of the war.
"The Argentineans were in a position to send photographs to the outside world - we weren't," she wrote.
"They claimed many of our planes were shot down but Brian Hanrahan in a famous broadcast put the record straight when he said 'I counted them all out, and I counted them all back'. What a relief - there was some damage but not a lot." | A private memoir of the Falklands War written by Margaret Thatcher, detailing disagreements with ministers and her "guilt" over British casualties, has been published for the first time. |
38,138,865 | Press Secretary Josh Earnest dismissed the president-elect's unsubstantiated allegations that millions of people had cast illegal votes.
Mr Trump also alleged voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California, states which Hillary Clinton won.
Mr Earnest deferred to Mr Trump's team for further comment.
Could US election recounts change result?
US election results
"What I can say, as an objective fact, is that there has been no evidence produced to substantiate a claim like that," he told reporters at a White House briefing.
Mr Trump, who won the all-important electoral college count, aired his grievances with the election result in a tweet on Sunday.
"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," he wrote.
Analysis: Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter
It's a classic Donald Trump move. Take an accusation, and turn it on an accuser. His opponents want a recount in states he won? Then he'll allege massive voter fraud in states carried by Hillary Clinton.
There is, of course, no evidence of the "millions" of illegal votes that Mr Trump says were cast for Democrats. If there were, it would merit a full investigation and not a series of Sunday-morning tweets from the president-elect. The veracity of these accusations seems of little import to Mr Trump.
What matters is that by going on the offensive, he turns a story about the legitimacy of his narrow wins in key states into a muddled mess. As he has done in the past, he raises the volume in hopes of drowning out a negative story.
The irony is that, in this case, it seems a pointless undertaking. The Green Party-funded recounts will almost certainly fail to reveal electoral malfeasance. Mr Trump could have let them proceed without comment and avoided any controversy.
Then again, for this president-elect, controversy is like water to a fish. It surrounds and sustains him. Perhaps he can't function without it.
The president-elect's Twitter outburst comes after the Clinton camp said it would support a vote recount in Wisconsin initiated by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Ms Stein also notified the elections board in Michigan, where Mr Trump's 16 electoral votes were certified on Monday, that it would seek a statewide recount of the presidential election results.
Her campaign moved to do the same in Pennsylvania.
Mr Trump won by two-tenths of a percentage point out of nearly 4.8 million votes, making it the closest presidential race in Michigan in more than 75 years.
He is the first Republican presidential nominee to win Michigan since 1988.
Ms Stein's recount effort was driven by the #recount2016 social media campaign, which has raised over $6.3m (£5m).
During her entire presidential run, Ms Stein's campaign only raised $3.5m.
Results would need to be overturned in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to alter the outcome of the November presidential election - something analysts say is highly unlikely.
Mrs Clinton's campaign's general counsel, Marc Elias, said there was no evidence to conclude the election had been sabotaged.
But, he added, "we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported".
Also on Monday, Mr Trump met with former CIA Director and retired Army General David Petraeus, who was convicted of sharing classified information with his lover in 2012.
Mr Petraeus is reportedly being considered for the role of Secretary of State, the nation's top diplomat.
Mrs Clinton was criticised by Mr Trump during the campaign for her handling of classified information during her time as Secretary of State.
Despite calling her handling of the classified information "extremely careless", the FBI never found Mrs Clinton's behaviour to be criminal.
Here's how some of the main news outlets reacted to Mr Trump's claims on Twitter: | The White House says there is no evidence to support Donald Trump's claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 US presidential election. |
37,516,465 | It is the first time in South East Asia that the disease has been linked to the condition, which causes abnormally small brains and heads.
Several countries in the region have reported Zika cases. The virus is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito which also spreads dengue and chikungunya.
The current outbreak of the disease was first detected in Brazil last year.
Cases have recently been reported across South East Asia.
Zika outbreak: What you need to know
"To summarise we have found two cases of small heads linked to Zika, the first cases in Thailand," said Prasert Thongcharoen, from the Department of Disease Control.
The WHO said these were first cases of Zika-linked microcephaly in South East Asia.
Thailand has confirmed about 350 cases of Zika since January - including 25 pregnant women - one of the highest numbers in the region. | Thai health officials have confirmed two cases of microcephaly, a severe birth defect linked to the Zika virus. |
36,817,846 | Williams knocked the Londoner down with a huge right hand as Corcoran suffered the first loss of his five-year career.
The 24-year-old's first defence of both belts, the first time he had been past eight rounds, was a grudge match.
Williams' trainer Gary Lockett said: "That is one of his worst performances. He lets his emotions get to him."
And Williams admitted: "I was one of my worst performances and I knocked him out. I wasn't even tired."
Both boxers suffered cuts above the right eye but Williams' class ensured he extended his unbeaten professional record to 17 fights as the fighter from the Rhondda Valley hopes for a world title shot.
And his promoter Frank Warren acknowledged: "This young man has a big future ahead of him." | Unbeaten Welshman Liam Williams has defended his Commonwealth and British super welterweight titles with an 11th round knockout of Gary Corcoran. |
37,426,559 | The bank kept interest rates unchanged, but said it would aim to keep yields on 10-year government bonds at around current levels of zero percent.
The BoJ is also aiming push inflation above the 2% target rate, which was set more than three years ago.
It will continue to buy assets such as government bonds, at the rate of 80tn yen ($787bn; £605bn) a year.
Negative interest rates have squeezed Japan's financial sector and keeping 10-year bonds at zero percent - as opposed to allowing them to slip into negative territory - should help bank earnings and improve returns for insurers and pension funds.
Japan's Nikkei share index rose after the announcement, while the yen weakened to about 102.5 yen against the dollar.
Karishma Vaswani: Is the Bank of Japan running out of options?
Outrage and irony on Twitter as the BoJ meeting dragged on and on and on
Analysts were sceptical about whether the policy changes would be successful.
"They seem to be determined to get the message to the market that they are going to stay on course and continue to buy bonds until they get the inflation rate above 2%," said Tim Condon, chief economist for Asia at ING.
"I don't think it's going to be easy to get the 2%. It's an Abenomics problem, not the Bank of Japan's problem."
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "Ultimately while these actions may well help the banks, it's doubtful they will to help the Japanese economy that much, and in some ways it shows how little flexibility the central bank has, given how experimental policy is now becoming.
"To sum up, this morning's actions by the central bank are not so much an easing as a tinkering around the edges of a failing policy."
The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark rate on hold at -0.1%. It introduced negative interest rates in January this year, hoping that commercial banks will use their reserves to lend to businesses, in an attempt to counter the country's economic stagnation.
There was an expectation that Japanese interest rates would fall even further below zero to boost spending in the world's third largest economy, which has been plagued with low growth for the past two decades.
But the negative interest rate policy was considered a failure by some in Japan's financial circles because it pushed the Japanese yen higher against the US dollar, making the price of Japanese goods more expensive overseas, which threatened Japan's economic recovery.
It also hurt the profitability of banks because their excess reserves were hit by a charge.
So the decision NOT to lower rates further has in itself been seen as a short term boost for markets and the yen - which is now trading lower against the US dollar.
But some analysts are telling me that this won't last - and in fact, the modifications that Japan has made to its monetary policy in place of lowering interest rates further below zero won't be that effective in the long term.
The new policy measures are being dubbed by some critics as approaching the limits of what monetary policy can do to fix economic problems.
But these measures aren't supposed to operate within a vacuum.
The central bank's moves are meant work in tandem with the government's Abenomics policies - the three pillars which include structural reform. Japan's government must do more to deliver the goods on structural reforms as part of its Abenomics policy to boost growth, rather than continue to rely on the central bank.
Is the Bank of Japan running out of options?
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy, which quickly became known as "Abenomics" is based on three arrows: | The Bank of Japan has made changes to its stimulus programme, in its latest attempt to spur economic growth. |
37,674,038 | Scarlets beat Sale 28-11 in Phillips' return to Wales while Sale face the 2014-15 champions at home on Friday.
"We weren't there at all [at Scarlets], but we play against Toulon and that's a massive fixture for us," Phillips said.
"There were some positives and if we take that into next week, we've a good home record so maybe we can do well."
Phillips signed for Sale in summer 2016 following a five-year spell playing domestic rugby in France with Bayonne and Racing 92 and knows Sale's next opponents well.
"Toulon are a great team, they've got stars and it's a great test for us really," he told BBC Wales Sport.
"It's a chance for us to show what we can do and hopefully we can play a bit better than against Scarlets."
After half a decade playing rugby outside of Britain, Phillips is pleased to return and is enjoying his time in the English Premiership.
"I love the club and the boys have been great. I've been settling really well, there's friendly people and it's a great place to live so I've been enjoying that aspect of it and hopefully we can be successful on the field and that will make life much easier," he continued.
"Every game is tough [in the Premiership]. Every team is stacked with stars and really physical and it's a great league to be in to test yourself. I've enjoyed it so far and hopefully we can be successful and win our home games and see what we can do." | Sale Sharks scrum-half Mike Phillips says his side can use the positives from their European Champions Cup loss to Scarlets when they face Toulon. |
32,377,069 | Victory over Bolton took the Cherries three points clear of third-placed Middlesbrough with just one game left.
Only defeat, a Boro win and a 20-goal swing on the final day of the season can deny them a top-flight spot.
Goals from Marc Pugh, Matt Ritchie and Callum Wilson sparked wild scenes of celebration amongst the home fans.
Bournemouth's impending promotion marks an amazing rise through the Football League for the club, who were in administration and close to liquidation in 2008.
They only just avoided relegation in 2009 - Eddie Howe's first season as manager - but promotion to League One followed the season after.
Former Cherries defender Howe then led them into the Championship in 2013 after returning to the south coast from Burnley.
Howe's contribution cannot be overstated, with the 37-year-old set to join an elite band of managers to guide a club through the Football League and into the top flight.
"This club was on its knees six years ago," Howe told BBC Radio 5 live.
"We had nothing. A group of supporters put their money in their pockets to keep the club alive and they are reaping the rewards. It is the club I watched as a kid, the club that gave me an opportunity in the game as a player and a manager.
"It shouldn't be them thanking me, it should be me thanking them. It is a family club and deserves its moment in the sun."
Bournemouth's success this season owes much to the goals of record signing Wilson, a £3m capture from Coventry at the start of the season.
Both Wilson and Ritchie went close to giving the Cherries the lead several times in a frenetic opening.
But after several fine saves from Adam Bogdan, the opener arrived on 39 minutes, when Pugh beat the Bolton goalkeeper with a left-foot shot.
It prompted joy in the stands of the 11,700-capacity Goldsands Stadium - and there was better to come just four minutes later, when Ritchie latched onto Yann Kermorgant's lay-off to drive home from 12 yards.
Bournemouth's fans started signing the theme tune to Match of the Day as the realisation hit home that they would be seeing their side in the top flight of English football for the first time in the club's history.
Kermorgant had the chance to make the final 20 minutes a formality, but he blazed over the bar from the penalty spot after Dorian Dervite was dismissed for hauling down Wilson.
Wilson made it 3-0 after he spun and shot smartly past Bogdan to turn the remaining 12 minutes into a carnival.
The final whistle sparked a pitch invasion from home fans, who could yet be celebrating the Championship title if results go their way on Saturday. | Bournemouth effectively sealed a £100m promotion to the Premier League - just seven years after the south-coast club almost went out of business. |
21,353,635 | The generosity of the Judicial Pension Scheme is being reduced along with most other schemes in the public sector.
But judges who were within 10 years of retirement, in April 2012, are excluded from the changes.
The new scheme, starting in 2015, will provide lower pensions for new and younger judges, and will abolish the large lump sums they receive.
"The new pension arrangements will continue to provide a good way of saving for retirement and the new judicial pension scheme will remain among the most generous in the public sector," said the Justice Minister, Chris Grayling.
Under the far-reaching and controversial government changes to most public sector pensions, all judges started making modest contributions for the first time in April 2012, but will have to increase those contributions substantially in 2013 and 2014.
Their scheme, one of the most generous in the country, currently offers them a pension of half their final salary, at age 65, but after a maximum of just 20 years' service, plus a lump sum of two and a quarter times their annual pension.
The Ministry of Justice said currently a High Court judge, who retired after 20 years, might earn a pension of £86,500 plus a lump sum of £173,000 after tax.
Under the rules of the new scheme - which will be a career average arrangement rather than a final-salary one - that would be cut to £75,000 with no lump
The judges would also have to pay an annual allowance tax charge each year while they were working, of £11,000.
That is because the rate at which their notional pension pot builds up will probably exceed the forthcoming limit of £40,000 a year, and land them with a personal tax bill.
A Circuit Court judge who retired after 20 years might, under present rules, receive an annual pension of £64,000 plus a lump sum of £144,000 after tax.
In the new scheme this would be cut to £55,000 and with no lump sum.
These judges too would have to pay an annual allowance tax charge of about £3,000 a year while employed.
The normal pension age for judges in their new scheme will rise in line with the state pension age: to 66, 67 and probably 68 in the coming decades.
However judges will in future not have their pension accrual capped at 20 years and will be credited with pension for as many years as they work. | Three-quarters of judges will avoid forthcoming cuts to their pensions, the government has revealed. |
37,230,696 | 31 August 2016 Last updated at 10:44 BST
Figures released today show that Nigeria is officially in recession for the first time in more than a decade. But why is it struggling and how are people coping? | Nigeria is one of Africa's leading economies but it is now suffering from its worst economic crisis in years. |
32,216,738 | In Russia he has become a focus of accusations that "fascists" and extremists control the government in Kiev.
However, the nature of his duties, and the extent of his influence in the armed forces, remains to be seen.
Mr Yarosh is the head of Right Sector, which first burst to prominence as an ultra-nationalist umbrella organisation, battling riot police and helping man the barricades during anti-government protests last year.
After the February revolution, which brought a new pro-Western government to power, Right Sector morphed into a political party.
However, Mr Yarosh received less than 1% in presidential elections, and his party failed to pass a 5% barrier to enter parliament - though he himself was elected as a deputy.
From there, Right Sector created from its numbers one of the many volunteer battalions, fighting alongside regular government forces against Russian-supported insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
And now Mr Yarosh and his group have made yet another leap in legitimacy: Ukrainian officials announced at the weekend that the Right Sector leader would serve as an adviser to the army chief of staff, Viktor Muzhenko, acting as a liaison between the military and the volunteer battalions.
Russian media were quick to condemn the move. "Neo-Nazis are strengthening their positions," proclaimed Russia's state-owned Rossiya 1 TV. "Radical armed groups will become a separate assault brigade, led by Yarosh."
Russia accuses him of incitement to terrorism and at Russia's request he is listed as wanted by Interpol. He denies the charges.
The claim that Mr Yarosh comes from neo-Nazi ranks, or represents them, is a distortion.
"He is a nationalist - though there is a discussion, among experts, on whether labels like 'ultra-nationalism', 'fascism' or 'extreme right' should be applied to him," wrote Andreas Umland, an expert on the far right in Ukraine.
Mr Umland points out that Mr Yarosh, unlike many other far-right activists, defines nationality according to citizenship. That is, not just ethnic Ukrainians are considered to be, so to speak, "true Ukrainians", but Russians, Jews, Tartars or any other group living on Ukrainian territory.
That said, Mr Yarosh's political beliefs fall firmly to the right of the political spectrum.
"In the past, he has made critical statements about Western liberalism and European integration," Mr Umland said.
Mr Yarosh's appointment could simply be a bit of canny public relations: the promotion of a popular combat leader, one who received serious injuries in the battle of Donetsk airport and was subsequently photographed, bruised and bandaged in his hospital bed.
The big question is what his position portends for the future of the volunteer battalions, which previously operated free of direct government control. Now, however, Ukraine's leaders are making concerted efforts to limit their autonomy.
Right Sector was the last prominent battalion to resist joining a government structure. Now, officials said the group would "submit to the military leadership over questions of national defence."
That is also significant, given that it potentially removes Right Sector from under the influence of the Ukrainian billionaire, Ihor Kolomoisky.
Mr Kolomoisky showed himself willing to use armed groups in what appeared to be a power struggle last month with Kiev authorities.
But the extent of their subordination to the government could also be open to debate.
A Right Sector spokesman was quoted as saying that his organisation would now be funded by the defence ministry, but it would still remain operationally independent.
"Our combatants will be well-armed from now on, as up until now equipment was supplied by volunteers," said Artem Skoropadskiy, quoted by the AFP news agency.
Still, with Mr Yarosh now a part of the general staff - but crucially not in a deciding role - he and his fighters may now be subject to a degree of oversight. And the volunteer battalions in general may now be better controlled by those who, by law, should be in charge. | The recent appointment of a nationalist leader, Dmytro Yarosh, to a high military position in Ukraine has sparked controversy. |
31,640,986 | Jack has been the most popular name for boys over the past 15 years, holding the top spot on 13 occasions.
Emily was joint first with Grace in 2013 for the most popular name for girls. Grace fell back to second spot in 2014.
The figures, compiled by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), showed that 285 babies were named Jack and 261 named Emily.
James and Daniel also made the top 10 boys' names in 2014, and also featured among the top 10 a decade ago.
Sophie was the only girl's name to make it into the top 10 in 2014 that featured in the list a decade ago. Emily has taken top place twice in the past decade.
But not all of the names given to babies in Northern Ireland in 2014 were so popular.
The figures revealed some less common names given to girls included: Blessing, Piper, Coco, Suri, Texas and Maisie.
Some unusual boys' names included: Devin, Kanye, Peanut, Princeton and Rocco.
Other names moved up the list to join the top 100 names for the first time. Kian jumped from 171 in 2013 to 78 in 2014 for boys, while Aria jumped from 218 in 2013 to 89 in 2014 for girls.
Top 10 boys' names in 2014: Jack, James, Daniel, Charlie, Harry, Noah, Oliver, Ethan, Jacob, Thomas.
Top 10 girls' names in 2014: Emily, Grace, Sophie, Amelia, Ella, Olivia, Anna, Lucy, Sophia, Eva. | Jack and Emily were the most popular baby names in Northern Ireland in 2014. |
30,716,002 | Ikram Ullah Khan, 28, was stabbed in the neck in the Stratford Road area of Sparkbrook on 2 July.
Seven men deny murder and conspiring to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent.
The two groups, of Afghan and Pakistani men, were armed with bats, sticks, knives and swords, the court was told.
The Pakistani group had at least one firearm, a shotgun, with them, the jury heard.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Timothy Spencer said the defendants drove to the scene - Grantham Road and surrounding streets in Sparkbrook - in four cars.
"The other group - the opposition if you like - come mainly from the Pakistan community," he said.
"The prominent antagonists of that group were members of the same family, known as the Khan family."
He said the Pakistani group of men knew the defendants were coming and was "armed and ready for them".
Mr Spencer said the Afghan group was also armed.
"Both sides were armed with bats, sticks, knives and swords and the Pakistan group had at least one firearm, a shotgun.
"One man died from the Pakistan side and others were injured and seriously injured.
"Amongst those were two of the men in the dock."
He said it was likely that other people were injured in the disorder but they "melted away" afterwards.
The jury was told the motive for what happened was "frankly unclear" but as a matter of common sense, Mr Spencer said there must have been something behind what went on.
"This was not spontaneous violence," he said.
"There must have been some feud, some dispute, some grievance that lay behind the drastic outbreak of violence that took place."
The jury was shown CCTV footage of cars arriving at the scene at about 19:30 BST.
Two shots could be heard along with shouting and men walking and running in the road.
It was initially thought father-of-four Mr Khan, known locally as Ikram Elahi, had been shot, but post-mortem tests found his death was the result of a stab wound.
The seven men, who deny the charges, are: | A man died during an outbreak of "extreme, planned violence" between two groups of men in Birmingham, the city's crown court has heard. |
32,932,351 | She joined campaigners in Brussels calling on the German government to properly compensate survivors born with deformities in the 1950s and 1960s.
The German-developed drug, withdrawn in 1961, had been prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness or insomnia.
Ms Evans said she was backing the survivors' "fight for justice".
More than 10,000 babies worldwide were born with limb deformities and other problems linked to thalidomide before it was withdrawn by its German manufacturer Grunenthal.
The drug's UK manufacturer Distillers agreed in 1973 to pay more than £20m compensation to families affected, and in 2009 the then Labour UK government issued an apology and promised a further £20m compensation.
But campaigners want the German federal government to explain whether it had a role in curtailing a criminal trial in 1970 of nine Grunenthal directors and staff without anyone being convicted.
Survivors claim they have been denied adequate compensation as a result.
"We must maintain pressure on the German federal government to be open about what has gone on, and properly compensate thalidomide survivors," said Ms Evans.
Sources: Grunenthal, Thalidomide Trust and World Health Organisation | Welsh people left disabled by the thalidomide drug scandal are being backed in their fight for compensation by Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans. |
34,870,598 | Here we pay tribute to some of those famous faces who have left us in the last 12 months.
January was marked by the loss of a trio of actresses who were defined by the roles they played.
Anne Kirkbride, who died after a short illness at the age of 60, will forever be remembered as Coronation Street's Deidre, who endured multiple marriages and wrongful imprisonment during her 42 years on the soap.
Despite a long and varied career on stage and screen, Geraldine McEwan captured the public's imagination with her controversial, waspish Miss Marple. And Swedish bombshell Anita Ekberg - aka The Iceberg - was scarcely mentioned without a reference to her iconic role in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita.
In the same month, we also bade farewell to Thorn Birds author Colleen McCullough, conductor Israeli Yinon, actor Rod Taylor and The Avengers scriptwriter Brian Clemens.
President Obama led the tributes to Leonard Nimoy in February after the Star Trek actor died in Los Angeles at the age of 83. "Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy," said the US president of the man who played Mr Spock.
The same month saw the untimely death of New Romantic pioneer Steve Strange at the age of 55. The Fade to Grey singer was hailed by his friends and fellow music stars as "a major face of the '80s" and "a maverick to the end".
Other notable deaths in February included veteran US news correspondent Bob Simon, composer and pianist John McCabe (whose recordings of Joseph Haydn's piano sonatas are considered definitive), pop singer Lesley Gore, of It's My Party fame, and Octopussy actor Louis Jourdan.
March was dominated by the death of fantasy author and creator of the Discworld series Sir Terry Pratchett at the age of 66. The author, who campaigned for assisted suicide after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2007, wrote more than 70 books in a career spanning 44 years. "Nothing was beyond his powers of imagination," said fellow author Val McDermid. "He made you look at the world around you differently."
German architect Frei Otto, Free bassist Andy Fraser - co-writer of the 1970 hit All Right Now - and Swedish poet and Nobel laureate Thomas Transtroemer passed on in March. So did Richard Glatzer, co-writer and director of Still Alice, for which Julianne Moore picked up an Oscar in February.
April saw the departure of two inspirational figures from the world of arts and entertainment. Author and Nobel Prize-winner Guenter Grass - a cultural giant in his native Germany - died at the age of 87, while soul singer Ben E King, best known for the classic song Stand By Me, died aged 76.
Meanwhile, 67-year-old ventriloquist Keith Harris left behind fluffy green duck Orville, with whom he became a household name on British television in the 1980s; and fans of Everybody Loves Raymond mourned the tragic loss of former child star Sawyer Sweeten (pictured above with his twin brother Sullivan), who took his own life at the age of 19.
Singer Percy Sledge, famed for the song When a Man Loves a Woman, and actor James Best, best known as Sheriff Rosco P Coltrane in The Dukes of Hazzard, also died this month at 73 and 88 respectively.
Ruth Rendell - who last year led the tributes to her friend and fellow crime author PD James - died in May, at the age of 85, following a stroke earlier in the year. The writer penned more than 60 novels. Her best-known creation was Inspector Wexford, a character that spawned a highly successful TV series.
May also saw the death of two musicians, though their styles were very different. King of the Blues, singer and guitarist BB King was mourned by musicians the world over, including Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Richie Sambora. Hot Chocolate star Errol Brown, who co-wrote chart smashes including You Sexy Thing, died from liver cancer at the age of 71.
Comedian Anne Meara, mother of actor Ben Stiller, also died in May, as did Star Trek actress Grace Lee Whitney and Bond costume designer Julie Harris.
June saw the deaths of a trio of great British screen stars and three memorable contributors to the musical world.
Sir Christopher Lee, a legend of the big screen who was forever stamped on cinemagoers' minds as Count Dracula, died aged 93. Character actor Ron Moody, best known for playing Fagin in Lionel Bart's musical Oliver!, died aged 91, and fellow nonagenarian Patrick Macnee - aka John Steed of the cult TV series The Avengers - died aged 93.
Hollywood reeled at the death of Oscar-winning composer James Horner, who perished in a plane crash at the age of 61. Best known for his score to the James Cameron blockbuster Titanic, he also wrote the music for Apollo 13, Braveheart and Avatar, among other films.
Big Band leader James Last - who made millions recording upbeat versions of pop and classical favourites with his orchestra - died aged 86, while Chris Squire, bass guitarist and co-founder of '70s prog rock band Yes, died at 67.
It was brooding good looks that catapulted Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, who died in July at the age of 83, to stardom. The winner of three Golden Globes for his roles in both Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, Sharif died of a heart attack in Cairo.
Val Doonican - the crooner in the rocking chair who became a mainstay of Saturday night television in the '60s and '70s - was remembered for his colourful knitwear, good humour and consummate professionalism.
Tragically, July also saw the death of 22-year-old Bobbi Kristina Brown - the only daughter of Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown. In an uncomfortable echo of her mother's death in 2012, the aspiring actress was discovered face down and unresponsive in a bath on 31 January and placed in a medically induced coma. She never regained consciousness.
US country singer Lynn Anderson, producer Jerry Weintraub - whose hits included both the Ocean's Eleven and Karate Kid franchises - and opera tenor Jon Vickers also passed away this month.
The loss of Cilla Black left the British showbiz industry in shock, after the TV singer, presenter and all-round entertainer died suddenly at the age of 72 in August. The death of Cilla, a '60s singing star and host of hit '80s shows Blind Date and Surprise Surprise, prompted an outpouring of tributes from the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Des O'Connor and Sir Bruce Forsyth.
The death of Minder star George Cole marked another significant loss for British television later that month. The actor - defined by his roles as Arthur Daley and St Trinian's spiv Flash Harry - died in hospital following a short illness, aged 90.
The dance scene went into mourning after the untimely death of Jonathan Ollivier in a motorbike accident at the age of 38. Choreographer Matthew Bourne called him "one of the most charismatic and powerful dancers of his generation".
Also in August, the broadcasting world paid tribute to Stephen Lewis, who played officious inspector "Blakey" in 1970s sitcom On the Buses; Emmerdale actress Kitty McGeever, the first blind actress to star in a British soap; Yvonne Craig, best known for playing Batgirl in the 1960s Batman TV series; and Susan Sheridan, who appeared in the original Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio series.
British-born novelist Jackie Collins was described as "one of a kind" in a statement announcing her death from breast cancer at the age of 77 in September. The writer, famous for such raunchy novels as Hollywood Wives, Lucky and The World is Full of Married Men, was the sister of actress Joan Collins.
In the same month, Hollywood bade farewell to director Wes Craven, who was credited with re-inventing the teen horror genre with his hit Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise. The 76-year-old, who died from brain cancer, also created the Scream films, which grossed more than $300m (£195m) in the US alone.
Actor Dean Jones, star of The Love Bug and one of Disney's major stars of the '60s and '70s, also died in September. His role in the popular Herbie films made him a household name, but he was also remembered for his striking vocals in Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical Company. He was 84.
Art critic Brian Sewell, singer Joy Beverley - one of the Beverley Sisters trio - and conductor Sir David Willcocks also died in September.
Henning Mankell, the man who gave us Swedish detective Kurt Wallander, died in October at the age of 67. Sir Kenneth Branagh, who starred in BBC adaptations of his crime novels, hailed the author's "immense contribution to Scandinavian literature" as well as his "provocative intelligence and great personal generosity".
Irish-American actress Maureen O'Hara was part of the golden era of Hollywood. A glamorous redhead and talented singer, she starred alongside John Wayne in five films as well as family favourites Miracle on 34th Street and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Actress Jessica Chastain paid tribute on learning of her death at 95: "From one tough redhead broad to another. Thankful for the light you shared."
Antiques Roadshow host Hugh Scully, Towering Inferno director John Guillermin, Three Dog Night singer Cory Wells, newsreader Gordon Honeycombe and Coronation Street's Derek Wilton, aka actor Peter Baldwin, were also mourned in October.
Two actors who became stalwarts of British television in the 1970s and '80s died in November. Warren Mitchell - best known for playing the curmudgeonly Alf Garnett in Till Death Do Us Part - died aged 89, just before Saeed Jaffrey, whose eclectic career encompassed Shakespeare, Bollywood, Stephen Frears' film My Beautiful Launderette and Coronation Street. Jaffrey, who also appeared in ITV's The Jewel in the Crown and Channel 4 sitcom Tandoori Nights, was 86.
US R&B musician Allen Toussaint, who suffered a heart attack shortly after coming off stage in Madrid, was credited with "bringing the New Orleans sound to the national stage". Steven Spielberg paid tribute to Oscar-nominated ET screenwriter Melissa Mathison, saying she had "a heart that shined with generosity and love".
Other figures to pass away included Peter Donaldson, the newsreader dubbed the "quintessential voice of Radio 4"; former Motorhead drummer "Philthy Animal" Phil Taylor; Colin Welland, who famously declared "the British are coming" at the 1982 Oscars; and Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
December began with the tragic death of Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland. The grunge star died on tour at the age of 48. He was saluted by colleagues from the music scene including Slash, who played with him in the supergroup Velvet Revolver.
Actor Robert Loggia, whose career spanned more than 50 years, was best known for films including Scarface, Big and Jagged Edge, for which he was nominated for an Oscar in 1986. He was still working up to his death, at the age of 85, in early December.
In the same month, British TV fans bade farewell to two familiar faces - Are You Being Served?'s Mr Rumbold, aka actor Nicholas Smith, who passed away aged 81, and Emmerdale's Shirley Stelfox, best known for her role as Edna Birch in the ITV soap, which she had played for the last 15 years. She died following a short illness, at the age of 74.
Finally, the world of rock and roll mourned one of music's true originals.
Ian 'Lemmy' Kilminster, singer, bassist and lyricist of legendary metal band Motorhead, died of cancer at the age of 70.
Motorhead's 1980 hit Ace of Spades is rightly regarded as one of the most popular and influential rock singles of all time, and musicians queued up to pay their respects on Twitter.
"Lost one of my best friends today," stated Ozzy Osbourne simply. "He will be sadly missed. He was a warrior and a legend." | The world mourned legends of screen, stage, literature and music including BB King, Sir Christopher Lee, Leonard Nimoy, Cilla Black, Sir Terry Pratchett and Anne Kirkbride in 2015. |
35,886,088 | Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed the number of incidents in prisons across Wales and England had risen by more than 200% since 2012.
Parc Prison in Bridgend had the highest number of "concerted indiscipline" incidents, with 13 in 2014 and 25 last year.
New standards for reporting incidents were brought in last summer.
An incident is recorded as "concerted indiscipline" if it involves two or more prisoners acting together to defy instruction or against the establishment regime. This includes major disturbances, such as riots.
There were two incidents in Cardiff and Swansea prisons over four years and none in Prescoed, Usk.
Prisons charity the Howard League for Penal Reform said building more prisons was not the answer.
Chief executive Frances Crook said: "Evidence shows that building additional prisons only compounds overcrowding and its consequent problems as the courts send more people to prison every day." | Welsh prisons have dealt with 53 incidents of rebellion in four years, a report has said. |
37,468,040 | Asked if he would travel to Doha for this year's World Championships, Sagan said: "We will see."
The Slovakian, speaking after finishing third overall in the Eneco Tour, added: "I still have to think about it. It's been a long season."
His absence could help British 2011 world champion Mark Cavendish, who would be suited to the flat course.
Sagan, who rides for Saxo-Tinkoff, added: "I'm tired. I have a lot of things to do. I'm happy the season is almost finished."
The UCI Road World Championships take place between 9 and 16 October in Doha. | World champion Peter Sagan says he is unsure if he will defend his title in Qatar in October. |
39,469,347 | Steve Law's side secured the first silverware of the season thanks to tries from Patric Lewis and Mike Callow.
Bedwas' victory came after they were beaten by Pontypridd in the inaugural final of the competition in 2016.
They had beaten Bridgend 55-14 in the semi-final. | Bedwas beat Carmarthen Quins 23-18 to secure the Foster's Premiership Challenge Cup in the final at Bridgend's Brewery Field. |
37,696,409 | Scrum-half Walsh, 29, played 64 games for the Saints in a three-year spell, scoring 466 points.
Former Hull KR and Hull FC full-back McDonnell, also 29, made 56 appearances in two spells at the club.
The news comes after back-rower Andre Savelio left Keiron Cunningham's side to join Warrington.
Meanwhile, forwards Olly Davies and Matt Haggarty are also set to leave St Helens to sign for Championship sides, while Frenchman Levy Nzoungou has joined Melbourne Storm Under-20s. | Luke Walsh and Shannon McDonnell have left Super League side St Helens to return to their native Australia, the club have confirmed. |
36,558,640 | The company will manufacture 26 offshore jacket substructures for the scheme, which involves installing 84 turbines in the Moray Firth.
BiFab said the work would involve its sites at Arnish on the Isle of Lewis and Burntisland and Methil in Fife.
Ten of the structures are to be delivered next year and 16 in 2018.
Bowl, which involves energy giant SSE, will also mean work for Wick Harbour in Caithness and the Nigg Energy Park on the Cromarty Firth.
Construction of the wind farm is expected to start next year.
SSE said it would generate 588MW of power once operational in 2019.
The Scottish government gave the project consent in March 2014 and it was granted an investment contract by the UK government in May that year.
The wind farm site in the Moray Firth already has two test turbines, which BiFab built.
John Robertson, BiFab managing director, said: "We are delighted that BiFab has been selected as part of the supply chain for this major UK infrastructure project.
"BiFab manufactured the two Beatrice demonstrators in 2006, and we have been monitoring closely the development of the Beatrice project over the last 10 years.
"We are very pleased that SSE and their partners are moving forward with the full development of the Beatrice project." | Fife-based Burntisland Fabrications Ltd (BiFab) has secured work on the £2.6bn Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (Bowl) project. |
33,121,455 | The double shooting at a youth project in Clonsilla was reportedly carried out by a man who was dressed as a woman.
Gardaà (Irish police) were called to the scene on Shelerin Road shortly after 18:00 local time on Friday.
A 32-year-old man was arrested in County Meath on Saturday morning and taken to Blanchardstown Garda station.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported that the 36-year-old who died after the attack "may not have been the intended target".
He was father-of-two Keith Walker from Tir Na Ri Road in Clondalkin in Dublin.
The second victim, who was shot in the arm, is being treated in Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, for non-life threatening injuries.
It is understood the men were members of a pigeon club who were meeting in a yard. | An arrest has been made by detectives investigating a fatal gun attack in Dublin in which one man died and another was injured. |
37,610,327 | He was the fiddler and frontman for Edinburgh-based band Shooglenifty, and before that performed with Swamptrash.
With Shooglenifty he helped to create a genre of music called acid croft, described as "a blend of Celtic traditional music and dance grooves".
The band, which has posted a tribute to Grant on its website, said Grant died on Sunday after a short illness.
Grant grew up in Lochaber and was the son of well-known left-handed fiddle player Aonghas Grant.
He played fiddle and wrote music, including the tunes Two Fifty to Vigo, She's In The Attic, Nordal Rhumba, Glenfinnan Dawn and Fitzroy Crossing.
In the tribute on Shooglenifty's website, the musician was described as having "lived without ties and responsibility, but was devoted to his music, his family and his fellow musicians".
Shooglenifty has performed at the HebCelt in the Western Isles, the Highlands' Blas festivals and Glasgow's Celtic Connections.
The band rounded off its 25th anniversary tour last December with a special performance at Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations. | Tributes have been paid to Scots musician Angus R Grant who has died at the age of 49. |
37,037,095 | While supporters are used to seeing changes in playing personnel, this campaign feels like a significant step into the unknown with Swansea now in the hands of US owners.
The people's club is now owned by investors, though the supporters' trust has retained a 21.1% stake in the Swans and influential chairman Huw Jenkins remains in the role.
However, dreams that heavy investment from the new owners and increased television revenue would translate into a summer or recruitment have proved unfounded, with Swansea arguably selling as many key players as they have managed to sign.
The failure to 'bring home' former midfielder Joe Allen, will also rankle.
"I suppose we are all a little impatient, I guess even more so as we didn't bring in Joe Allen," coach Alan Curtis admitted after losing out on the Wales midfielder.
"I think there is a lot of frustration, with the supporters, but also with the players and maybe the board themselves."
The failure to sign Allen, who joined Stoke despite Swansea registering their interest, was not the only body blow they have suffered.
After eight-years and over 350 games, defender Ashley Williams has departed for Everton in a move the Swans say the Wales captain instigated.
Manager Francesco Guidolin also opted to allow a trio of strikers, Alberto Paloschi, Eder and Bafetimbi Gomis to leave the club, though it is the sale of Andre Ayew, Swansea's top scorer last term, that leaves the biggest dearth in terms of goals.
However, confidence will be high that Swansea have signed players who can provide the goals to more than make up for the absence of the Ghana forward.
Spanish international Fernando Llorente arrives with a pedigree as large as his six foot six inch frame, having excelled previously in both La Liga and Serie A.
He is joined by record signing Borja, the 23-year-old Atletico Madrid forward, who scored 18 La Liga goals on loan at Eibar last season.
Influential midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson will be charged with providing the ammunition for Swansea's Spanish contingent, with his new contract. signed amid serious interest from other Premier League clubs, perhaps Swansea's most significant off-season deal.
The additions of Netherlands duo Leroy Fer and Mike van der Hoorn also boost a club still seeking a replacement for Williams.
The Swans could be forgiven for feeling the fixture computer has conspired against them as they face an exceptionally tough start to the season.
While they will feel confident of their prospects in openers against Burnley and Hull City, two sides expected to be battling the drop, the Swans then face a succession of difficult contests against the Premier League's glitterati.
The Swans visit champions Leicester at the end of August before clashes with Chelsea, Southampton, Man City in September.
Clashes with Liverpool, Arsenal and a visit to Stoke follow in October, with Man United, Everton and Tottenham all in action against the Swans by the beginning of December.
A flying start will be extremely tricky, so Swansea need to ensure their Spanish revolution begins with a bang, not a siesta.
Championship title odds: 1000/1
Championship relegation odds: 7/2
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | It has been a summer of seismic adjustment at Liberty Stadium, with the club receiving a major overhaul on and off the field. |
36,847,695 | It was found behind a row of bushes in the Ballycolman estate on Wednesday.
It has been taken away by officers for examination.
Det Insp Andy Workman said: "It is reckless in the extreme to leave such an item in an area near to a community centre which is frequented by all members of the community, including children."
He said the "danger" had now been removed and appealed for information.
In a separate incident, police said a number of suspicious objects found during a search of open land at Spout Road in Strabane have been taken away for examination.
Police said there were no further details at this stage. | Police have recovered a suspected firearm near a community centre in Strabane, County Tyrone. |
22,174,013 | The correspondence between Bohr and his then-fiancee Margrethe Norlund reveal a rocky settling in period in England.
Excerpts of letters sent during Bohr's time in England were discussed at the American Physical Society meeting.
The letters show an exchange rich with literary allegory.
Bohr was eventually instrumental in overturning the "plum pudding" model of the atom, propounded by J J Thomson of Cambridge University, instead suggesting a dense nucleus orbited by electrons - the atom as we know it today.
He came to Cambridge in 1911 specifically to work among the famous Cambridge mathematicians including Thomson. But the letters to Margrethe showed that his transition to Cambridge intellectual circles was turbulent.
"He thought 'Thomson was a genius who showed the way to everybody', and he wanted to be part of that story," said John Heilbron, a fellow of Oxford University.
"But when he got there, he found out that Thomson was busy showing the way to other people, and also following his own research," he told BBC News.
"James Jeans, another of the Cambridge mathematicians, was too shy to do battle with Bohr, and [Joseph] Larmor… would not read Bohr until he prepared a proper English version of his work and had it published in a proper English journal - which never happened.
"The Royal Society of London declined on the interesting grounds that it was 'polemical', and it would not include in its Transactions insults to anyone who had not already been insulted in the Transactions. That was a great disappointment to him, that he couldn't engage with these guys."
But what strikes Prof Heilbron about the letters to Margrethe, whom Bohr married the following year, is the intellectual character of their exchanges.
"The material concerning literature - which is essentially the core of this new correspondence - consists of their making personae of one another derived from literature.
"We have in the case of Margrethe her appearance as several heroines from Ibsen, there are all these Dickens heroines, whereas Bohr is to her some hero as in a Carlyle story, but also people from Shakespeare and other heroic figures.
"In a way, their courtship is conducted on a level above the carnal."
The letters will be excerpted in a forthcoming book by Prof Heilbron and Finn Aaserud of the Niels Bohr Archive, titled Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom.
They were made available by the Bohr family, who Prof Heilbron said "have come to realise that these documents do honour to everybody, (and) are of great interest to a much wider society". | Newly released letters from the famed Danish physicist Niels Bohr shed light on his struggles with great English researchers over his nascent theory of the atom. |
38,262,307 | Campaigner Peter Mitchell has called the sign at Limavady Health Centre "deeply offensive and wrong on so many levels".
He said there was an onus on health care providers to use more socially acceptable language.
The Western Health and Social Care Trust has promised to take action.
Mr Mitchell, a local actor and wheelchair user, said he initially thought the sign was a "wind-up".
"The word handicapped is really offensive," he said.
"It comes from mid 17th Century when disabled people were seen as second class citizens, they literally had to beg on the streets with their cap in their hands.
"Do people look at me because I am in a wheelchair, as a second class citizen, that I have nothing to offer?"
He said there was ongoing debate among disability groups as to appropriate language, but said there was widespread agreement that the word handicapped was "wrong on so many levels".
Damon Rose from BBC Ouch said the word "embodies an old fashioned idea that if you are handicapped you have something wrong with you".
"Whereas if you are disabled people tend to think of that more as a problem people can solve by putting in ramps or accessible loos".
In a statement the Western Trust said: "We are grateful that this has been brought to our attention and will take action to rectify immediately." | A disability campaigner has called on a Northern Ireland health trust to remove a sign which refers to disabled people as "physically handicapped". |
35,577,666 | Following last week's narrow loss to leaders Saracens, Chiefs were beaten 23-17 at Sale Sharks on Saturday.
Exeter, who travel to London Irish next week, are still second in the table, seven points clear of third place.
"There is a little bit of pressure on us, but we have to make sure that pressure comes out positively and we play with great energy," said Baxter.
It was the first time that Exeter have lost back-to-back Premiership matches since January 2014, when they went on a run of four successive losses that ended up costing them a chance of making the play-offs.
"We were one decision last week away from winning the game, that's how tight it was against the team top of the Premiership," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.
"Losing away to Sale with a losing bonus point, who haven't lost here all season - if you look at them in the course of a big season, they're not major things. I'm not going to suddenly go 'two losses means everything's falling apart', it's not.
"But the reality is we do have to go and win at London Irish, because that's a team we should knock over if we want to be a top-four side." | Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter says there is "pressure" on his side after a second successive Premiership defeat. |
34,294,981 | Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union members have protested against plans to stop extra payments to weekend and bank holiday staff.
National Museum Wales said on Friday the union will now consult members over its offer to compensate weekend staff.
Planned strikes over the next two weeks, including next Tuesday and Wednesday, will be suspended, it added.
The news comes after three months of negotiations, most recently via the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.
In August, strikes hit six of National Museum Wales' sites, including Swansea's National Waterfront Museum, the National Slate Museum in Llanberis, Gwynedd, and the National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre, Carmarthenshire. | Planned strike action by workers at Wales' national museums over a pay row have been suspended. |
34,095,878 | Francie Molloy, MP for Mid Ulster, said police visited his home on Saturday morning and warned of an "imminent threat to his life".
"They called around 2am with intelligence relating to an attack by a loyalist paramilitary organisation on me or my home," Mr Molloy said.
"I was surprised at this type of thing, it's concerning.
"I pride myself in representing all sides of the community here in Mid Ulster, and I won't be deterred from doing that.
"It would look as though it relates to events of the last couple of weeks."
The Sinn Féin MP Mickey Brady, who has also been the subject of death threats, has asked those with information to bring it to the police "so that those who are intent in taking us backward are brought to justice". | A Sinn Féin MP has said he has received a death threat from a loyalist paramilitary organisation. |
35,918,864 | Danny Cipriani's penalty put Sharks ahead before Greig Tonks levelled and Sean Maitland's score made it 8-3.
But Sharks replied through Cipriani and Mike Haley to lead 13-8 at the break.
Cipriani's kick extended Sharks' lead before Johnny Williams' score gave Irish hope, but tries for TJ Ioane and Cipriani kept up Sale's top six push.
Tom Coventry's side had lost just twice at home since November and were in touch at 15-16 on 70 minutes.
But opportunistic tries for substitute Ioane and fly-half Cipriani, who contributed 20 of his team's 30 points, sunk the Exiles in the final 10 minutes.
With three games of the season left to play, Sale remain in seventh place, four points adrift of Harlequins in sixth, who recorded a 46-25 victory over strugglers Newcastle.
London Irish will travel to second-from-bottom Newcastle in a fortnight's time in a must-win match if they are to entertain any hopes of surviving the drop.
London Irish head coach Tom Coventry told BBC Radio Berkshire:
Media playback is not supported on this device
"Bad fortune probably cost us towards the end. I thought there were two massive moments in the game.
"One came from a forward pass from Danny Cipriani and the other from hands in the ruck that were missed by the officials.
"We're just not a good enough team that we can rock through a game and let those opportunities go by.
"We need everything to go our way and they were two big, pretty telling moments."
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond:
"Fair play to London Irish, they're fighting for their lives. They gave it a pretty good crack and we've just edged them out in the end.
"We made some basic errors, but we did just enough and turned around at half-time just in front."
On whether a place in the top four is realistic: "We've got two games away and two at home to come. We'll see how we go.
"The maths probably tells you the top four is out of the equation, but we'll give it a really good go.
"It'll probably go down to the last game of the season at Newcastle."
London Irish: Maitland, Fowlie, Hearn, Williams, Fenby; Tonks, Steele; Court, Paice, Aulika, Sinclair, Symons, Narraway (capt), Cowan, Treviranus.
Replacements: Cruse, Smallbone, Halavatau, Sexton, McCusker, McKibbin, Brophy Clews, Mulchrone.
Sale Sharks: Haley: Addison, James, Tuitupou, Edwards; Cipriani, Stringer; Lewis-Roberts, Taylor, Mujati, Evans, Ostrikov, Neild, Seymour (capt), Easter.
Replacements: Briggs, Harrison, Cobilas, Mills, Lund, Ioane, Ford, Brady. | Sale secured their first victory at the Madjeski Stadium since October 2006 to leave London Irish four points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership. |
40,926,885 | 14 August 2017 Last updated at 14:02 BST
15-year-old Eduardo decided to take his dad out in a racing car to show him what he could do.
It all got a bit too much for the F1 champ and he became a bit overwhelmed as many proud dads do.
Bet you've seen your grown-up crying at key moments in your life! | Former F1 driver Rubens Barrichello's son is following in his dad's footsteps. |
40,598,913 | Mr Farron said he had put the decision "to bed" about two weeks into the campaign, and denied deceiving voters by continuing to fight the election.
"I absolutely threw everything at it," he said.
He announced his departure six days after polling day, saying he was "torn" between the leadership and his faith.
The Liberal Democrats increased their tally of seats from nine to 12 at last month's general election, but their vote share fell from 7.9% to 7.4%.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 live's Emma Barnett, Mr Farron said that under his leadership, the party had "left intensive care and is back relevant".
"My job was to save the party," he said.
"The Liberal Democrats still exist and we're moving forward."
Mr Farron faced repeated questions about his views on gay sex during the campaign, and when he announced his resignation, said he had found it impossible to be a committed Christian and lead a "progressive liberal party".
Asked about his decision to quit, he said he had not wanted to "become the story".
"I made the decision about two weeks into the election campaign," he said.
"I thought there isn't a way forward out of this without me either compromising or just causing damage to the party in the long run."
He said he had told himself to "put that into a drawer, don't talk to anybody else about it, get on and do as good a job as you can during the election".
Mr Farron said this had "not in the slightest" deceived voters, adding that "in every election there is a reasonable chance that leaders will step down".
"I just thought 'I am here to do a job,'" he said.
A leadership contest is under way to replace Mr Farron - and with a week to go before nominations close, just one candidate, former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable, has come forward.
Mr Farron - who criticised Theresa May's unopposed "coronation" as Tory leader - said Sir Vince had already been subject to "plenty of scrutiny".
"If there's only one candidate, then that's how it is," he added. | Outgoing Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has revealed he decided to quit several weeks before the general election but did not announce his decision publicly. |
40,821,180 | The 20-year-old Nigeria international, who scored 21 goals in 64 games after making his debut for Manchester City in 2015, joins on a five-year-deal.
Last August, he signed a new contract until 2021, but saw his playing time limited by the January arrival of Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus.
"It feels good and I'm happy to be part of this team," he said.
"I know the ambition of the team and speaking with the manager, he let me know what I need to do - to help the team achieve what they want. I was convinced and I'm happy to be here."
Foxes manager Craig Shakespeare added: "It's a great signing for us. Kelechi is an enormously talented player that has shown a huge amount of promise at every level in which he's played.
"We've tracked his progress for some time, so we know how much quality he'll bring to the squad.
"He's young, he's hungry, he's ready for the next stage of his development and I'm delighted that will be with Leicester City."
Iheanacho becomes the fourth addition to Shakespeare's squad for the new campaign - goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and defender Harry Maguire both joined from Hull City while midfielder Vicente Iborra signed from Sevilla.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Leicester City have signed striker Kelechi Iheanacho from Manchester City for a fee understood to be £25m. |
40,588,992 | The judge ruled he could remain free pending an appeal.
Lula has rejected claims that he received an apartment as a bribe in a corruption scandal linked to state oil company Petrobras.
He says the trial is politically motivated and has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
The case is the first of five charges against him.
Lula served eight years as president until 2011 and has expressed interest in running again in next year's elections for the left-wing Workers' Party.
On Wednesday, a judge found him guilty of accepting bribes from engineering firm OAS in the form of a beachfront apartment in return for his help in winning contracts with the state oil company.
In a statement, Lula's lawyers insisted he was innocent and said they would appeal.
"For more than three years Lula has been subject to a politically motivated investigation. No credible evidence of guilt has been produced, and overwhelming proof of his innocence blatantly ignored," they wrote.
The head of the Workers' Party, Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, also hit out at the ruling, saying it was designed to stop Lula standing for office.
She said the party would protest against the decision.
The BBC's Katy Watson in Rio says Lula remains a popular politician and the sentence will deeply divide Brazil.
The charges Lula faces relate to the Car Wash scandal, the nickname for Brazil's biggest ever corruption probe.
Operation Car Wash was launched three years ago amid escalating public anger over political corruption.
The investigation centres on firms that were allegedly offered deals with Petrobras in exchange for bribes, which were funnelled into politicians' pockets and party slush funds.
Lula, a former steel worker turned union leader, came to office as the first left-wing leader in Brazil in nearly half a century.
He was Brazil's most popular president during his tenure - former US President Barack Obama labelled him the most popular politician on Earth.
Unable to stand for a third consecutive term, he was succeeded by close ally Dilma Rousseff, who was later impeached.
Current President Michel Temer also faces corruption allegations and is resisting calls for him to step down. | Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. |
24,723,605 | HMP Whatton faced a "a considerable backlog" with 250 of its 840 inmates treated last year, the Independent Monitoring Board said.
The IMB said the behaviour programmes were a key part of the prison's rehabilitation scheme.
A prison spokesman said it was looking at increasing treatment programmes.
An HM Inspectorate of Prisons report has confirmed the funding for sex offender treatment at the prison was "inadequate", he added.
John Webster, of the prison's monitoring board, said the number of inmates on waiting lists for courses was "between two and five times higher - depending on the type of course - than the number of places actually available".
"Prisoners regularly tell us they have been waiting for up to two years to get on the course," Mr Webster said.
"Our concern is that people ostensibly come to Whatton to go on this sex offender treatment programme and because of cutbacks generally they sometimes have to wait for up to two years to get a place on the course."
The Ministry of Justice said it was looking to "increase the availability of treatment programmes and had created the Sex Offender Management Board to address this."
In a statement, it added: "As highlighted in the Independent Monitoring Board's report, HMP Whatton is operating well."
An IMB report said the prison offers "a range of offending behaviour programmes with particular focus on cognitive treatment, such as the Sex Offenders Treatment Programme, Thinking Skills Programme, Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage it (CALM)."
The prison, which has the largest sex offender treatment centre in Europe, also offers anti-libidinal drug therapy to about 60 prisoners.
The IMB said the drug treatment, which suppresses sexual thoughts and urges, was "encouraging" and was having "a positive effect" on inmates.
The medical treatment process, which started as a pilot scheme in 2009, is completely voluntary.
The IMB report praised staff at the prison but said a funding shortfall was to blame for lack of training. | Sex offenders at a Nottinghamshire prison are waiting up to two years for treatment because of "inadequate" funding, a prison watchdog says. |
38,335,687 | Labour-run Glasgow City Council said it may need to make £60m of savings while Fife, also controlled by Labour, forecast £30m.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said he was investing an extra £240m in local services when he unveiled his draft budget on Thursday.
The figure is disputed by opponents who claim a £300m funding drop.
The draft budget document showed the amount of money local government will receive from Holyrood dropping from just under £10.1bn this year to slightly less than £9.65bn in real terms in 2017-18.
But Mr Mackay insisted that, "in totality", local services would receive additional funding because local authorities were allowed to increase council tax by up to 3%.
Money due to be paid directly to head teachers to close the attainment gap will now be funded from central government, allowing councils to keep money raised by changes to council tax on higher-value properties.
They will also get £357m from the NHS next year to pay for closer links between the health and social care sectors.
Councils are of course heavily dependent on the Scottish government for money.
The amount of cash that they receive - the core funding - is coming down when compared with last year. This is the cash that they have flexibility over and can choose to spend as they wish.
However, there is new funding from the government. Most significantly there is £120m going straight to head teachers as well as £107m to ensure people working for the joint boards covering health and social care are paid the living wage.
As well as this government money, there are a couple of extra sources of cash which will be available to councils.
The changes to the council tax will see people in higher-band properties paying more from April. In addition, councils across Scotland will have the power to increase the charge by 3%.
It will be up to individual councils to decide whether or not they want to do this.
This is really about whether you are comparing like with like.
Is it about the money available for local services or is it about the core government funding which makes up such a large proportion of council budgets?
Councils across Scotland will be calculating just how much better or worse off they think they are going to be. Glasgow expects cuts and savings of at least £60m - potentially more - and Fife £30m.
That does not mean they expect £60m or £30m less from the government overall. This may mean making savings in one area to balance out meeting rising costs somewhere else.
But some local authority leaders said the drop in core local government funding amounted to continued austerity.
Glasgow City Council leader Frank McAveety told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that the decision to raise the council tax rate for higher-value properties would ultimately benefit more affluent local authorities, but not Glasgow.
He added: "We're talking about a reduction of £60-£70m this year, even with the 3% [council tax rise]. So we're talking about the maximum raising from that of about £6m, so there's a massive gulf.
"The idea that that compensates for the cumulative impact on Glasgow over the years is just kidding on."
He added: "The truth of the matter is that local government services will have less money this year again and that's an ongoing thing for Glasgow and the minister should be ashamed of himself."
The co-leader of SNP-controlled Aberdeenshire Council, Richard Thomson admitted that the local authority would have less money over the next financial year.
However, he told the programme: "Yes, we will have less money but certainly not of the magnitude that's bring talked about in Glasgow and Fife. The early indications are that we had a settlement of just over £400m last year and we're expecting it to be slightly under this year, so we're not talking about a huge difference.
"A very large part of the smallness of the difference in Aberdeenshire across the two years is about the ability to retain every penny that's available through the increase in council tax on houses banded E to H.
"That's a very significant portion for Aberdeenshire, it's about just over £8m."
The leader of Fife Council, David Ross said: "No matter how Derek Mackay tries to dress it up, this is a significant cut in the core funding to councils across Scotland that will have a real impact on local services.
"We won't know the detail of exactly how the settlement will affect Fife until next week, but my initial view is that we will still be forced to make over £30m cuts to services in Fife.
Mr Mackay insisted that "the totality" of funds available for local services would increase as a result of his budget.
He claimed that if it had been so unpopular, his budget would have been rejected by the local government umbrella body Cosla.
He said: "You have to look at the whole package to local government. If this settlement was so bad tell me why Cosla hasn't rejected the package that I've presented to local government?
"They're considering the package and they certainly haven't rejected it because they recognise that there's been movement in areas of policy."
Mr Mackay also rejected criticism of the decision not to introduce a 50p level of tax for top earners - a policy included in the SNP's 2015 manifesto.
He did, however, decide not to pass on a cut in income tax for people earning £45,000 a year to £43,430, that will be given to people elsewhere in the UK.
He said: "We'll keep it under review, but we won't raise it in such a way that it could lose income in tax receipts to Scotland.
"If we believe it will raise more revenue in Scotland then we will look at that, but if it looks as if it would lose us money to invest in public services then it's not an increase worth making." | Two of Scotland's biggest councils have warned they expect to make savings or cuts of up to £90m between them. |
32,185,984 | Costa replaced Oscar at half-time, with the score 1-1, but lasted only 10 minutes before being forced off with further hamstring trouble.
"If the result was 2-0 he wouldn't play. But I have to risk. My medical department had to risk," said Mourinho.
He said the striker will miss at least two weeks.
It rules the Spain forward out of the matches at QPR on 12 April and against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on 18 April.
Costa has scored 19 goals since joining Chelsea from Atletico Madrid for £32m on a five-year contract in July last year.
In September, Mourinho revealed that the striker was not able to play more than one match a week because of a hamstring problem.
Costa suffered another hamstring injury against Hull on 22 March and missed Spain's games against Ukraine and the Netherlands.
Mourinho said: "If the medical department decide to take four weeks, it wouldn't happen.
"But no way am I upset with my medical department and I am not unhappy with the will of the player to try and help the team.
"From all the scans two days ago, the muscle and image was completely clean. The player trained twice at 100%. He did much more in training than he did in the match.
"The medical department do fantastic things for us. We will wait for Diego again. Next week Loic [Remy] or Didier [Drogba] will play."
Asked how long Costa would be sidelined for the Chelsea boss added: "For sure a couple of weeks minimum. Let's see what happens." | Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said it was "a risk" to play Diego Costa after he was injured during Saturday's 2-1 win against Stoke. |
20,722,581 | Turing was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 after acknowledging a sexual relationship with a man.
Professor Stephen Hawking, Astronomer Royal Lord Rees and the Royal Society's Sir Paul Nurse are among 11 signatories to a letter in the Daily Telegraph.
They urge David Cameron to "formally forgive this British hero".
The scientists said: "We write in support of a posthumous pardon for Alan Turing, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the modern era.
"He led the team of Enigma codebreakers at Bletchley Park, which most historians agree shortened the Second World War.
"Yet successive governments seem incapable of forgiving his conviction for the then crime of being a homosexual, which led to his suicide, aged 41."
Denying that it would set a precedent, they added: "It is time his reputation was unblemished."
The others who signed the letter are Lord Currie of Marylebone, Lord Grade of Yarmouth, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Lord Sharkey, Lord Smith of Finsbury, Baroness Trumpington, Sir Timothy Gowers of Cambridge University and the Science Museum's Dr Douglas Gurr.
Homosexuality was illegal at the time of the mathematician's conviction.
Turing was part of the team at Bletchley Park that cracked the Nazi Enigma code, vital to the allied war effort. He is now widely recognised as a computing pioneer.
However, at the time of his death - which an inquest recorded as suicide - he was virtually unknown to the public. His work at Bletchley Park was kept secret until 1974.
The government rejected a call to pardon Turing in February, when it was presented with an online petition with more than 23,000 signatures. | Some of Britain's leading scientists have called on the government to grant a posthumous pardon to Bletchley Park codebreaker Alan Turing. |
39,457,422 | The Swans take on Middlesbrough at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, where they have lost just once since Clement took charge in January.
Only Arsenal, who are currently sixth in the table, have bettered Swansea's home record since the turn of the year.
"We need that kind of mentality [at home]," said Clement.
After losing to the Gunners at home in his first game in charge, Clement's Swans have beaten Southampton, Leicester and Burnley at the Liberty Stadium to ease at least some of their relegation fears.
Their record on the road has not been quite so impressive however, with the Welsh club going into the Boro game off the back of defeats away at Hull and Bournemouth.
It has seen them dragged back towards the bottom three, with Boro under the charge of caretaker boss Steve Agnew, one place off the foot of the table and five points behind their hosts.
Clement refuses to see the game as a 'must win,' but, cites his side's finest victory under him as proof the Swans are capable of picking up points anywhere with nine games left.
"Of course we must relish playing at home," said Clement.
"Go back to our performances against Leicester and also Burnley, where we created lots of crosses into the box. We were very dangerous that day.
"The squad sense the important of this game. I wouldn't say it's must-win because what if you don't win? Is the season over? No, of course it's not. You've still got eight games and they are games that you can win at home or away.
"I think the fact we won at Liverpool away, it's something we can always look back on and say 'we can go anywhere and get a good result'. It's a very important game, there's no question about it."
With the late-season run-in set to begin, Clement has dismissed the idea that his side have been enjoying an upturn in form many teams experience when a new manager takes charge.
"I haven't changed anything from what I did at the start to now," he said.
"The training intensity, the way I communicate with the players, it's the same kind of thing. We work on details, we work on the fundamentals, there was no magic when I first came in and there won't be next week or the week after."
Despite enjoying success as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, Paris Saint Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Clement says keeping the Swans in the top flight would eclipse anything he has achieved in his career so far.
He added: "Personally, it would be the best. It is very different being an assistant to a head coach.
"Those achievements when I worked with Carlo were very satisfying. But when you're calling all the big decisions yourself, the reward of getting victories are very, very satisfying. But the defeats hurt you more than anything.
"So it would be very rewarding if we managed to achieve the objective." | Swansea City boss Paul Clement hopes their recent home form will help his side avoid relegation from the Premier League. |
39,286,766 | It finished 0-11 apiece after normal time and the teams will meet again in Ballybofey next week.
Derry stunned holders Monaghan with a 3-10 to 1-11 victory at Iniskeen to take them into the semi-finals.
Cavan hammered Fermanagh 2-19 to 0-4 while Armagh defeated Down 2-13 to 0-12 in the Athletic Grounds.
Donegal were dominant in the first half but struggled to score while Tyrone were guilty of too many wayward passes.
Michael Langan's point deservedly nudged Donegal in front before the interval, although their poor shooting meant they only led 0-5 to 0-4.
Tyrone had their best spell in the third quarter with David Mulgrew pointing twice as they moved 0-9 to 0-7 ahead after 41 minutes.
Langan's quality frees brought Donegal back into it and Tyrone keeper Benny Gallon pulled off a superb save from Michael Carroll.
Donegal's total of 15 wides looked to have cost them when Fergal Meenagh bore down on goal, but the ball was somehow cleared.
It finished all-square after normal time with the excellent Langan nailing his fourth dead ball chance of the half.
Brennan had the final say in the extra-time, slotting over a 45 three minutes from the end.
Lanagan finished with a total of 0-6 while Mulgrew was Tyrone's top-scorer with four points from play.
Next week's winners will play Cavan in the semi-final on 29 March after the Breffni side crushed Fermanagh.
Cavan, who won four Ulster U21 titles in a row between 2011 and 2014, scored the opening seven points at Brewster Park.
Ryan Connolly hit four points as the visitors cruised to a 0-10 to 0-3 interval lead before Conor Smith and Peter Corrigan added second-half goals.
Derry pulled off the biggest shock of the night, beating defending champions Monaghan.
James Donaghy's 19th minute goal helped the Oak Leafers lead 1-5 to 0-5 at half time.
Barry Kerr was sent off for Monaghan and Tiernan Flanagan was among the Derry goalscorers in the second half.
David McAllister netted a late penalty for Monaghan but it was too little, too late.
In the semi-final Derry will play Armagh, who beat Down 2-13 to 0-12 in the Athletic Grounds.
Shea Loye starred with a personal haul of 2-7. | Lee Brennan levelled for Tyrone late in extra-time to secure a 0-14 to 0-14 draw with Donegal in the Ulster U21 quarter-final at Healy Park. |
34,640,618 | Mark Roberts was dismissed after a whistleblower claimed he re-used syringe cartridges and root canal surgery files.
He had worked at Splott Road Dental Surgery from 1989 to February 2015.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said 450 out of 3,000 patients have been in touch following an appeal and 252 are to have blood tests.
The health board said the tests are for those deemed to be at a higher risk of infection or to give peace of mind to those who are worried.
However, patients have been assured there is a very low risk of the transfer of infections like hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
The dentist said he deeply regretted "lapses" at his practice, as health bosses contacted all former patients.
The General Dental Council confirmed Mr Roberts was suspended for 18 months in April, and this has been "continued" until October 2016 due to "concerns about his cross-infection controls".
Splott Road Dental Surgery is now under new ownership.
The claims of poor infection control include: | Hundreds of patients will be tested after a Cardiff dentist re-used equipment that should have been binned. |
36,408,210 | North Yorkshire Police said officers were monitoring a demonstration of between 40 to 50 people near York Minster "when altercations broke out".
Four of the protesters and one local man were arrested on a variety of public order offences.
The remaining demonstrators were escorted by police to York station. | Police have arrested five men following a disturbance involving far-right protesters in York on Saturday. |
32,723,732 | Mr Khan said he wanted to give the next generation of Londoners the same sort of opportunities he had.
Former Labour MP Tessa Jowell and MP for Tottenham David Lammy have also declared their plans to stand.
Author and Journalist Christian Wolmar has said he too will join the race to succeed Tory Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson, who last week was elected Tory MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, first became mayor in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012, but will step down next May when his second term ends.
On BBC London 94.9, Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said "Despite the fact that we've got a Conservative-led government, you can really, as mayor, help to make London a fairer place and a better place and stand up for intrinsically London values."
Mr Khan, re-elected as MP for Tooting, said: "For the last eight years you've seen a red carpet mayor, somebody who is fantastic going to openings, great with a flute of champagne in his hands."
He then tweeted that he planned to be a different kind of mayor, saying he would "roll up my sleeves".
Mr Wolmar said: "The capital needs a mayor who puts communities back at the centre of decision making and who tackles the affordability crisis before it becomes too late.
"That's why my campaign will be based on three key areas: making London more affordable, liveable and sustainable."
Mr Johnson defeated Labour's Ken Livingstone in both the 2008 and 2012 elections. Mr Livingstone was mayor for eight years until his 2008 defeat.
But he was voted in as an Independent candidate in the first mayoral election in 2000 after claiming Labour altered its selection rules to ensure Frank Dobson was picked as the party's official candidate instead of him. | Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Sadiq Khan have announced their bids to be Labour's candidate for mayor of London. |
19,468,879 | He spoke of "enormous devastation", praised those who saved lives and hailed disaster relief co-ordination by state and federal authorities.
Thousands of evacuees are in shelters, or with friends and relatives.
Isaac killed seven people - five in New Orleans and two in Mississippi - seven years after Hurricane Katrina.
Mr Obama was met in New Orleans by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and city Mayor Mitch Landrieu, before heading off to visit storm damage in St John the Baptist Parish.
"Obviously right now we are still in recovery mode," the president said after his tour, before adding: "The good news is that the army corps levees... worked very well."
He pledged that the US federal government would work to speed up "any decisions that need to be made" to ensure the entire region was protected by flood defences for future storms.
His visit came after Republican opponent Mitt Romney toured storm damage in Louisiana on Friday.
Early on Monday, utilities said that nearly 240,000 people had no electricity in Louisiana, although that figure was lowered significantly to about 100,000 as the day went on.
More than 11,000 were without power in Mississippi. About 5,000 were without power in Arkansas.
"My family is split up," Angela Serpas, resident of hard-hit Plaquemines Parish, told the Associated Press news agency. "This is the second time we've lost our home. We lost it in Katrina."
Residents who were evacuated from Plaquemines Parish, a vulnerable stretch of land extending to the Gulf of Mexico, will be allowed to return temporarily under police escort on Monday.
Over 3,500 people were still in shelters on Sunday, according to the office of Governor Bobby Jindal.
Thousands of people were forced out of their homes in that area after storm surge drove water over the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.
Crews are also still clearing debris left by Isaac, mostly downed trees and power lines. So far, state workers in Louisiana have cleared 130 miles (210km) of roads.
In St Tammany Parish, Louisiana, which lies to the north of New Orleans, authorities were dealing with threats from the swollen Pearl River and a lock under pressure in a canal.
The lock was opened to release water and a mandatory evacuation notice was lifted, but officials encouraged residents to stay away from the area.
In the town of LaFitte, rescue teams intentionally breached a levee on Sunday to ease flooding in the area, the Times-Picayune newspaper reported.
Forecasters are expecting the Pearl River to crest on Monday at 19.5ft (5.9m), potentially putting thousands of homes at risk of flooding.
Meanwhile, in Mississippi, the swollen Wolf River is due to crest on Tuesday, weather forecasters said.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which killed almost 1,800 people, the federal government spent $14.5bn (£9.1bn) rebuilding the city's flood defences. Hurricane Isaac marked the first real test of the revamped system.
Although Hurricane Isaac did not have the same force as Katrina, the storm moved slowly and dumped large volumes of rain on Louisiana and Mississippi.
Many of the areas hardest hit by the hurricane were not protected by the New Orleans flood barriers.
At the height of the storm, about 850,000 people were reported to have lost power in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Arkansas. | US President Barack Obama has visited Louisiana as the Gulf Coast continues to grapple with flooding and power cuts in the wake of Hurricane Isaac. |
38,501,373 | We were asked if there were any photographs of a windmill that once towered over Penkhull and Hartshill in Stoke-on-Trent.
You wanted to know why there were circular holes high up in the walls of hay lofts.
And you wondered about the history of the Alexandra colliery in Coventry. Here are some of the answers.
Local historian Richard Talbot said the windmill stood on Kirkland Lane. It dates roughly from 1780 and was built for farmers for milling.
However, by 1891 the mill had been demolished and Mr Talbot does not believe anyone took a picture while it was standing.
A semi-detached house now stands where the windmill once was.
An archaeological dig was carried out before building work started and found some remains of the windmill including the foundations "but nothing significant"," Mr Talbot says.
You can find out more about the Penkhull Windmill here and if you have a photograph of it use the form at the bottom of this page to get in touch.
Blists Hill Victorian museum in Ironbridge has examples of these holes in the side of barns.
The Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust told us it was so that loosely bundled bales of hay could be thrown, from a pitch fork, into the loft.
In the past, bales were not rectangular and tidy like they are today, so they were less likely to catch on a round hole than a square one.
The trust also said that some barns have smaller holes near the eaves to attract owls, in the hope they would control mouse-numbers - and they were known as "owl holes".
The Alexandra Colliery was one of three in the area operated by Wyken Collieries Ltd, which started work at the Warwickshire Coalfield from 1862.
The Alexandra and Wyken Collieries were the first to open. When the Wyken was worked out by 1881 miners moved to the Alexandra until it too became exhausted by 1919.
The third, and last, Craven Colliery, closed in 1927. The history of some of the surrounding railway lines can be found on this site.
Have you got a question about the West Midlands?
Is there something you have seen or heard that you would like us to investigate?
It could be a burning issue or something you have always wondered about the area or its people.
Use the tool below to send us your questions.
We could be in touch and your question could make the news. | People have been using Your Questions to tell us what they want to know about the West Midlands. |
34,479,153 | Chaplin, famous for his comic roles in black and white silent films, would book into the Newton Hotel in Nairn with his family later in his life.
The hotel has been put on the market with an asking price of about £4.5m plus VAT.
The former baronial mansion has 63 bedrooms and 21 acres (8ha) of grounds. | A hotel where Charlie Chaplin stayed during holidays in the Highlands has been put up for sale. |
36,986,361 | Stewart Watson, 36, was found guilty last month of attempted murder after the attack in the West Lothian village of Polbeth on 4 September 2015.
The judge condemned his "truly horrifying assault" on Anne Crossan, 47.
Outside court Miss Crossan said: "I feel as though a chip has been lifted off my shoulder. I just feel relieved."
Watson was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh
Lord Bannatyne said: "It is difficult to imagine how terrifying this must have been for the complainer (Miss Crossan). The results of the assault were appalling."
The judge said the effects on Miss Crossan had been not just physical but emotional and added: "This assault was on an entirely innocent person. The assault was clearly premeditated."
Miss Crossan said she had been diagnosed as suffering post traumatic stress disorder following the attack on her which left her suffering nightmares and frightened to answer the door.
Watson, who has a previous conviction for fire-raising, attacked Miss Crossan at her home and doused her in lighter fuel before igniting it.
The 36-year-old, who had denied the attempted murder, threw the flammable liquid over Miss Crossan's head and body during the attempted murder.
She told his earlier trial: "My hair was on fire, my face, my neck was on fire. I lost quite a bit of my hair and my scalp was all burnt."
"Flames came right up at me. I just put my right hand up to my face, so the right side wasn't as badly burned as the left side. I had glasses on. If I hadn't I would have been blinded," she said.
She said she ran to the bathroom and dipped her head in water. She was taken by ambulance to St John's Hospital in Livingston.
Miss Crossan was put in an induced coma while she was treated for burns following the attack.
She was scarred for life, has had to relearn how to walk and talk, and is still under going treatment.
She told the court Watson had threatened to "murder" her after she had disclosed information about him to his then-girlfriend.
Police found lighter fluid on the trainers he was wearing on the evening of the attack, and two cans of a similar fluid in his home in the village near Livingston, one of them empty.
Forensic scientists matched the lighter fluid to traces found on a top Miss Crossan had been wearing.
Defence solicitor advocate Mike Bell said: "He is resigned to the fact a long sentence of imprisonment awaits him." | A man who poured lighter fluid over a woman before setting her on fire has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years. |
36,686,455 | Sangyoung, 20, overturned a 14-9 deficit to beat Hungarian veteran Geza Imre 15-14.
Find out how to get into fencing with our special guide.
The Korean was appearing in his first Games while Imre, who won bronze in his first Olympics in 1996, was competing in his fifth.
France's Gauthier Grumier claimed bronze with a 15-11 victory over Swiss Benjamin Steffen.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Park Sangyoung completed a surprise victory in the men's individual epee to win gold for South Korea. |
36,269,734 | A ministry statement quoted by Interfax news agency said it was a breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987.
The US says the Aegis system is a shield to protect Nato from long-range missiles and is no threat to Russia.
Romania is hosting part of the system.
A ceremony will be held at a Nato airfield in Deveselu, southern Romania, on Thursday to mark the start of Aegis operations there.
"This decision is harmful and mistaken, because it is capable of upsetting strategic stability," said Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian foreign ministry's department for proliferation and arms control issues.
Nato and US officials say the system has been developed to track and intercept missiles fired from a "rogue" state. In the past Iran was mentioned in that context, but the US has also had North Korea in mind.
For years the US has been testing the Aegis system on warships too.
An incoming missile would be destroyed in space, before it could re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
On Friday another phase of the project will be launched in Poland, with a groundbreaking ceremony at Redzikowo, near the Baltic Sea. Aegis missiles are to become operational there in 2018.
Mr Ulyanov said Russia's interests "are being affected in a direct way by this".
He said the Americans' MK-41 launch system could also be used to fire cruise missiles, not just air defence missiles.
"From our viewpoint this is a violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," he said. | Russia's foreign ministry says US activation of a European missile defence shield in Romania, scheduled for Thursday, violates a treaty on nuclear forces. |
39,389,570 | The hosts' captain Joss Labadie and visitors' Josh Yorwerth were red carded after they clashed in the 51st minute.
Demetriou scored from long range after 18 minutes as County ended a three-match winless run to leave them five points from safety.
Crawley dropped a place to 18th in the table as Newport held on.
Newport manager Mike Flynn told BBC Radio Wales: "I thought there was a superb attacking performance in the first half and we should have been out of sight.
"The second half showed the other side of what the boys have got. They defended unbelievably, but I would have much rather them have finished their chances.
"I haven't seen the red cards incident. I haven't seen it back yet and until I have, I haven't got anything to say on it."
Match ends, Newport County 1, Crawley Town 0.
Second Half ends, Newport County 1, Crawley Town 0.
Attempt saved. James Collins (Crawley Town) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Corner, Crawley Town. Conceded by Joe Day.
Attempt saved. Enzio Boldewijn (Crawley Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Substitution, Newport County. Sid Nelson replaces Alex Samuel.
Attempt missed. Matt Harrold (Crawley Town) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right following a set piece situation.
Corner, Crawley Town. Conceded by Mickey Demetriou.
Sean Rigg (Newport County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Enzio Boldewijn (Crawley Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Enzio Boldewijn (Crawley Town).
Corner, Crawley Town. Conceded by Mark O'Brien.
Attempt blocked. James Collins (Crawley Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Newport County. Jennison Myrie-Williams replaces Ryan Bird.
Foul by Alex Samuel (Newport County).
Joe McNerney (Crawley Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Conor Henderson (Crawley Town) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right from a direct free kick.
Mickey Demetriou (Newport County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Mickey Demetriou (Newport County).
Enzio Boldewijn (Crawley Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Crawley Town. Conor Henderson replaces Josh Payne.
Attempt saved. Matt Harrold (Crawley Town) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Substitution, Newport County. Tom Owen-Evans replaces Mitch Rose.
Foul by Mark O'Brien (Newport County).
Dean Cox (Crawley Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Hand ball by Jimmy Smith (Crawley Town).
Substitution, Crawley Town. Matt Harrold replaces Rhys Murphy.
Foul by David Pipe (Newport County).
Dean Cox (Crawley Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Alex Samuel (Newport County) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner.
Josh Payne (Crawley Town) is shown the yellow card.
Alex Samuel (Newport County) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Andre Blackman (Crawley Town).
Mickey Demetriou (Newport County) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Jimmy Smith (Crawley Town).
Attempt missed. Ryan Bird (Newport County) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Attempt saved. Mickey Demetriou (Newport County) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Corner, Newport County. Conceded by Glenn Morris.
Substitution, Crawley Town. Dean Cox replaces Kaby.
Alex Samuel (Newport County) wins a free kick in the defensive half. | Defender Mickey Demetriou's winner boosted Newport County's hopes of League Two survival as they and Crawley finished with 10 men. |
39,170,417 | Thornhill and her sighted pilot Hall added the kilometre time trial title to the pursuit crown they won on Thursday.
They led a British clean sweep ahead of Aileen McGlynn and Louise Haston with Alison Patrick and Helen Scott third.
Jon Gildea and men's tandem pair James Ball and Matt Rotherham claimed their first World titles.
It takes GB's gold medal tally to five with more medal chances to come in Sunday's final session.
Thornhill and Hall finished in a time of one minute 9.552 seconds to beat 43-year-old McGlynn, who is in her first GB outing since 2012, and Haston by 1.537 seconds.
Paralympic triathlon silver medallist Patrick, who is making her debut in international track cycling, and Scott were a further 0.026 seconds back.
"To stand up there with our team-mates was brilliant. I've never experienced that before," Thornhill told BBC Sport.
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Hall added: "More GB riders coming through is good; it pushes us along and keeps the competition high."
Ball and Rotherham were the penultimate pair to ride in the men's event and after clocking 1:00.727 seconds. They watched on as Commonwealth Games champions Neil Fachie and Craig Maclean failed to better their time [1:02.39).
"It's one of the greatest feelings I've ever had," said Welshman Ball, who finished fifth with Maclean at the Rio Paralympics
"I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm hoping for good things on Sunday in the sprint."
Gildea's success in the C5 4km pursuit comes off the back of missing out on selection for Rio 2016.
After qualifying second behind Lauro Cesar Chaman of Brazil, the 38-year-old from Sale, who became eligible for Para-sport in 2013 after breaking his leg badly in a mountain bike accident, dug deep in the final to beat his rival by 1.985 seconds.
"It's nice to come back and get a world champion's jersey. That's the starting point for getting on my way to Tokyo," he said. | British tandem pair Sophie Thornhill and Corrine Hall won their second gold medal at the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles. |
36,786,438 | The armed forces have been deployed to reinforce a 175km (110-mile) razor-wire fence erected last year on a border that is also a gateway to the European Union.
Until new regulations came into force on 5 July, an average of 130 people crossed the fence every day.
The new law allows the authorities to push back anyone caught inside Hungary within 8km of the fence, but in practice it seems to be applied to those caught far deeper into Hungary, as far as Budapest.
The push-backs usually happen at night, through gates built into the razor wire fence, or even over the wire.
The measures have caused growing backlogs on the Serbian side in daytime temperatures of up to 37C. More than 1,000 migrants are now waiting to enter Hungary, legally, through one of two "transit zones" at Horgos and Kelebia.
The conditions in the camp at Horgos are appalling. Most of the residents are Afghans, while Syrians and Iraqis are concentrated at Kelebia.
A long queue forms each morning for the two taps of running water which serve 850 people, including many women and children. There are now 12 toilets.
Another queue forms rapidly when a jeep from the Serbian Red Cross arrives with bread rolls. The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, provides tins of tuna. People boil water for tea over small fires dug into the sandy earth. Some bake potatoes or sweet corn on the embers, or heat the tuna.
Shelter from the burning sun is offered by small tents and UNHCR blankets, tied together between poles cut from the undergrowth.
Last week a 10-year-old Afghan boy drowned while trying to wash in a pond nearby. His mother walks aimlessly through the camp with her other children, too sad to speak to anyone.
The UNHCR is mediating with the Serbian and Hungarian authorities about where to bury the dead boy.
The unofficial leader of the camp, 25-year-old Afghan doctor Hamid Joya, is besieged by people trying to find out what number they are on his list.
He negotiates with the Hungarian Office of Immigration and Nationality, which controls the steel turnstile into the transit zone, built right into the border fence. Each day 15 people are admitted - 14 from families, and one single male; and a similar number at the other transit zone at Kelebia.
"When the transit zones were first established we were told they could process 100 people a day," UNHCR spokesman Erno Simon told the BBC on a fact-finding visit to Horgos.
"We have been trying to persuade the Hungarian authorities to increase the number because of the inhumane conditions in which they are forced to camp here," he told the BBC.
But if 100 people were admitted each day, that would render the massive security operation on the far side, and the fence itself, irrelevant.
The Hungarian government has called a referendum for 2 October to oppose refugee redistribution quotas proposed by the European Commission.
To be valid, the referendum will require at least 50% of Hungary's eight million voters to take part.
The government has launched a nationwide publicity campaign to mobilise the public to participate.
Some opposition parties have called for a boycott of the referendum, claiming that it would be a vote against Hungary's continued EU membership.
President announces 2 October vote
Relocation deal explained
Migrant crisis enters new phase
Migrants who have been pushed back to Serbia through the fence have accused police in Hungary of brutality.
Samir, from Afghanistan, says he was punched and kicked by police after he surrendered to them having gone four days in Hungary without water. He was then pepper-sprayed as he was being pushed back through the fence "to teach him a lesson".
"We have witnessed a lot of cases of intentional trauma that can be related to excessive use of force," said Momcilo Djurdjevic, a doctor from MSF (Doctors Without Borders), which has an active presence in both camps.
He lists testimonies from refugees and injuries that MSF has treated including "cuts, dog bites, and police, baton-shaped bruises on their bodies".
There has been no official Hungarian response to these allegations.
Official communiques note only that illegal migrants caught on Hungarian territory are "escorted" back to the border.
Faisal Sarwary from Kandahar has been in the Horgos camp for two weeks, with his father, mother, and four sisters.
Smugglers in Belgrade offered them an illegal trip to Austria, across Hungary, but "my father didn't accept. We just want to be patient and pass these borders legally".
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. | A massive security operation, involving up to 10,000 police and soldiers, is under way along Hungary's southern border with Serbia, to keep out migrants and refugees. |
36,802,749 | Irene Nel, 73, was visiting family in Bristol on a six-month tourist visa in 2012 when she was diagnosed.
Her daughter, who moved to the UK in 1999, has been fighting her deportation claiming she will die if sent back.
The Home Office said all applications were considered on individual merit in line with immigration rules.
Mrs Nel is currently being cared for by her daughter Desree Taylor, who is a British citizen.
She said her mother needs to have dialysis three times a week "to keep her alive", but a process was being put in place to deport her with just 72 hours' notice.
"She won't have dialysis in South Africa because over there - if you're over 60 - you don't qualify at all," she said.
"So she will go back and within two weeks, her consultant has said, she will pass away."
Mrs Nel has said she would "rather die than go back" and has appealed for six weeks' notice so she can stop dialysis.
"I love my country but I can't go back," she said.
"I've got no one there, all my kids are here and if I have to go back I might as well give up everything."
A Home Office spokesman said: "All cases are carefully considered on their individual merits, in line with the UK immigration rules."
The case echoes that of 92-year-old South African Myrtle Cothill who had her threat of deportation lifted after more than 150,000 people signed a petition for her to stay in Dorset with her daughter. | More than 100,000 people have signed a petition urging the Home Office not to deport a woman with kidney failure from the UK back to South Africa. |
25,352,764 | Izzy Dix was found dead in Brixham, Devon, on 17 September. Her family and friends blamed cyber-bullying and began a campaign against it.
But, the inquest at Torquay Coroner's Office, heard there was "no evidence of cyber bullying".
Coroner Ian Arrow recorded a verdict of suicide and said Izzy had "significant personal and emotional turmoil".
Police investigated the teenager's death after claims she was bullied on a social media website.
Det Con Diane Brugge, from Torbay's child protection unit, told the inquest there was no suicide note, although a diary had mentioned three suicide attempts.
She said Izzy's internet use, telephone and computers were checked but "nothing that suggested any cyber bullying" was found.
But Annie Hargraves, of the Izzy Dix Memorial Campaign, said the family had evidence of Izzy being bullied, which she referred to as "internet trolling" and the "worst form of abuse".
She said the campaign group firmly believed bullying was a major factor in Izzy's death.
"We believe the processes that took place today and the conclusions reached are fundamentally flawed," she added.
A statement, read at the inquest from Izzy's mother, Gabbi, said her daughter "had been bullied from the moment she started" Brixham College.
She said: "She got picked on at school for being bright and wearing a skirt that was longer than the other girls."
The inquest heard that on the night Izzy died she had been upset because a girl had "made her life hell" at school that day and the supply teacher had not noticed.
Izzy and her mother had also argued later that night.
When Izzy said she was lonely and no-one cared about her, her mother said she had to find her own solutions and that lots of people loved her.
The teenager was later found hanged in her bedroom by her mother.
Brixham College is yet to respond to what was heard at the inquest. | A 14-year-old girl hanged herself after an argument with her mother, an inquest has heard. |
24,560,026 | The Intelligence and Security Committee is examining whether laws governing intercept are "still fit for purpose".
The impact on people's privacy will also now be considered by the inquiry.
Concerns arose over "snooping" by the state after data-gathering centre GCHQ was cited in leaks by ex-US security contractor Edward Snowden.
The controversy sparked by Mr Snowden's leaks to the Guardian newspaper prompted the ISC inquiry.
In July, after reviewing GCHQ reports produced with material including US intelligence from its controversial Prism programme, the ISC decided that UK security services had not broken the law in accessing information on UK citizens.
The intercept activities of the UK spy agencies come under three pieces of legislation: The Intelligence Services Act 1994, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
On Thursday, ISC chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind said: "In recent months concern has been expressed at the suggested extent of the capabilities available to the intelligence agencies and the impact upon people' s privacy as the agencies seek to find the needles in the haystacks that might be crucial to safeguarding national security.
"There is a balance to be found between our individual right to privacy and our collective right to security.
"An informed and responsible debate is needed," he said, adding that the ISC had "therefore decided to broaden the scope of its forthcoming inquiry to consider these wider questions, in addition to those relating to the existing legislative framework."
He said the inquiry would continue to examine classified information but also invite written evidence "more broadly, including from the public, to ensure that the committee can consider the full range of opinions expressed on these topics".
Mr Rifkind said the committee, which meets in secret, also hoped to hold some future evidence sessions in public.
The ISC was recently given greater powers to scrutinise the work of the security services and last week Downing Street dismissed suggestions that there could be a government review of its role.
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, welcomed the ISC announcement but said "such a debate cannot be allowed to take place behind closed doors and without pressing questions being asked about the legal justification for what we know to be already happening at GCHQ and elsewhere".
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil liberties campaigners Liberty, said: "Some will say better late than never, others fear a tactical whitewash to calm public concern.
"It's certainly significant that the committee feels compelled to dig a little deeper but that's no substitute for much broader public and political debate." | Parliament's intelligence watchdog is to hear evidence from the public as part of a widening of its inquiry into UK spy agencies' intercept activities. |
37,983,434 | The visitors opened the scoring when Whitehouse turned the ball past York shot-stopper Scott Flinders at the near post.
Nathan Arnold's 20-yard free-kick five minutes later saw Lincoln take a 2-0 lead into the break.
York came close to pulling a goal back when Sean Newton hit the bar, before the visitors extended their advantage three minutes later when Luke Waterfall fired in from close range.
The home side got one goal back when Yan Klukowski found the net after his initial effort had been saved by Paul Farman - but Lincoln restored their three-goal lead five minutes later thanks to Bradley Wood.
York were reduced to 10 men in added time when substitute Daniel Nti was dismissed.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, York City 1, Lincoln City 4.
Second Half ends, York City 1, Lincoln City 4.
Daniel Nti (York City) is shown the red card.
Substitution, Lincoln City. Adam Marriott replaces Theo Robinson.
Goal! York City 1, Lincoln City 4. Bradley Wood (Lincoln City).
Substitution, Lincoln City. Alan Power replaces Matt Rhead.
Goal! York City 1, Lincoln City 3. Yan Klukowski (York City).
Substitution, Lincoln City. Jack Muldoon replaces Nathan Arnold.
Goal! York City 0, Lincoln City 3. Luke Waterfall (Lincoln City).
Substitution, York City. Callum Rzonca replaces Charlie Cooper.
Substitution, York City. Daniel Nti replaces Aidan Connolly.
Substitution, York City. Alex Whittle replaces Matt Fry.
Second Half begins York City 0, Lincoln City 2.
First Half ends, York City 0, Lincoln City 2.
Luke Waterfall (Lincoln City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Goal! York City 0, Lincoln City 2. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City).
Yan Klukowski (York City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Goal! York City 0, Lincoln City 1. Elliot Whitehouse (Lincoln City).
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | Elliott Whitehouse scored on his first start for Lincoln as they beat York to extend the Minstermen's winless run in the National League. |
37,521,806 | The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a £13.8m grant to the cathedral, which has raised a further £10.9m.
It sold pieces of stone removed during restoration of the 15th Century Great South Window, some of which sold for more than £7,000 each.
The roof of the nave is set to be replaced and a new visitor centre is to be built.
The Grade I listed cathedral, founded in AD 597, has been a world-famous centre of pilgrimage.
One million people visit the cathedral every year, the Very Reverend Dr Robert Willis, said.
"This is without doubt a very exciting time for the cathedral," he said.
"We want to further enhance the experience for [visitors] as well as reach out to those communities with whom we would like to to share the richness of the heritage we have in this magnificent place."
The Gothic-style window, which is 52ft (16m) high and 23ft (7m) wide, was removed in December 2013 after stone fell onto a pathway.
Much of it had to be rebuilt after crumbling stonework revealed serious structural problems.
Parts of the window were put on display at the Getty Museum in in Los Angeles. | Almost £25m has been raised to pay for "vital" restoration work at Canterbury Cathedral. |
37,013,670 | Mr Trump is focusing on cutting taxes, eliminating regulation and ending trade deals.
Mrs Clinton, on the other hand, wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, increase spending on job training and lower taxes on companies that hire more Americans.
Here are some of the ways they differ.
Mr Trump favours cutting taxes for everyone and reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to three.
"The rich will pay their fair share, but no one will pay so much that it undermines our ability to compete," Mr Trump said during a speech on Monday.
Mrs Clinton would keep taxes the same for most Americans but add an additional bracket for the highest earners. The income from that would be used to pay for programmes like free university education for students from low- and middle-income families.
Her campaign is calling the higher taxes on the wealthy - 4% on people who earn more than $5m - the "fair share surcharge".
Both candidates have proposed closing tax loopholes that typically favour the rich.
Mr Trump proposes a child care deduction that would cover the average cost of child care, while Mrs Clinton favours limiting the number of deductions taxpayers can claim at 28%.
Tax deductions allow people to subtract some of the income they are taxed on - effectively lowering which bracket they fall into. They typically favour the rich who can take more, while the 43% of Americans who currently pay no income would be unaffected by the change.
Donald Trump also proposed eliminating the estate tax or "death tax" completely. The tax only applies when a family member passes on more than $5.45m worth of assets to an individual or $10.9m to a married couple.
According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Mr Trump's plan would reduce the amount of income the government takes in by $9.5tn over the next decade. Mrs Clinton's plan would add $1.1tn in revenue over the next 10 years.
Neither candidate has proposed significant reductions in spending on public pension and healthcare programmes like social security, Medicaid and Medicare. The funding needed for those is expected to balloon over the next decade and its unclear where the money to pay for them will come from without tax increases.
An analysis performed by Tax Foundation last month found that while Mr Trump's plan would lower taxes for all Americans it would lower them most for the highest earners.
Mr Trump has done his best to capitalise on the discontent around trade deals.
His economic proposal suggests renegotiating trade deals using "negotiators whose goal will be to win for America". He has not spelt out what that "win" looks like, but he has promised to step away from deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) if a good deal cannot be reached.
Mr Trump has also promised to get tough with countries that violate trade agreements, applying new tariffs and pursuing cases against them in the World Trade Organization. He has specifically said that he will label China a "currency manipulator".
Mr Trump has called for a 35% tariff on Mexican goods and a 45% tariff on Chinese goods.
That would mean a $100 television from Mexico would cost $135.
This could encourage US consumers to buy more products made in America, but it would also likely encourage Mexico to place an import tax on US goods, making it hard for US companies to sell their goods abroad. Mexico purchased $267.2bn in US goods in 2015, making it the second largest export partner for the US.
Mrs Clinton has said these tariffs will lead to a trade war making it harder for the US to compete on a global stage.
Clinton has gone back and forth on trade. She previously supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) but has said in her campaign that she doesn't think it's the best deal for America.
Her plan focuses more on increasing production in the US by offering tax incentives to companies that build there rather than barring imports out. While she has criticised some trade deals, she hasn't ruled out signing new ones if elected.
Trump on trade
Clinton on trade
Both candidates have promised to put Americans back to work, though unemployment has hovered around a low 4.9% since the beginning of the year.
Mr Trump's employment plan focuses on encouraging more businesses to open in the US. He has suggested that investing in infrastructure, cutting the trade deficit, lowering taxes and removing regulations will make it easier for companies to hire.
In his speech on Monday, Mr Trump focused mostly on increasing manufacturing jobs, which have declined by around 5 million since 2000. Much of that decline has been caused by improvements in technology, however, not outsourcing.
Mrs Clinton's policy for jobs growth is a little more specific. She has called for increasing jobs training - in part paid for by tax revenue from wealthier Americans. She has pushed for infrastructure spending and investment in new energy to lift the number of jobs in those sectors.
Despite their many areas of disagreement, there a few things both candidates are pushing for.
Mr Trump has not addressed how he will pay for these cuts, other than saying the changes will boost the economy and that will increase the tax base.
Mrs Clinton has said most of her spending increasing will be covered by tax increases, but it is unclear if those numbers entirely match up.
She will give her own economic policy speech on Thursday. | Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have laid out their visions for the US economy and, unsurprisingly, they are very different. |
38,469,751 | 30 December 2016 Last updated at 13:13 GMT
The Beipanjiang bridge stands 565 metres above the ground, which is nearly twice the height of the Shard skyscraper in London.
The bridge connects the two mountainous areas of Yunnan and Guizhou, cutting the journey time between the two places from four hours to around one hour.
The four lane bridge, which spans 1,341 metres, is now open to vehicles. | The world's highest bridge has opened in China, after taking three years to be built. |
38,624,160 | Championship top scorer Dwight Gayle put the visitors ahead and helped Newcastle return to the top of the table before going off injured.
Defender Isaac Hayden and midfielder Vurnon Anita were also forced off hurt.
"Gayle and Hayden have muscle problems. Anita was a bad tackle on his ankle," Benitez told BBC Radio Newcastle.
"But it is too early to know. Our club doctor will let me know."
The injuries come on top of striker Aleskandar Mitrovic being stretchered off with a nasty gash to his knee in last Saturday's FA Cup third-round defeat by Birmingham City at St Andrew's.
"I spoke with him and he is progressing," said Benitez. "He needs time. Normally they say two or three weeks."
But, while the Newcastle boss must wait to discover how long he might have to be without 20-goal top scorer Gayle, he does have Jonjo Shelvey available again after a five-game suspension for Wednesday night's FA Cup third-round replay with Birmingham at home.
He also has Daryl Murphy off and running, having followed up his FA Cup goal at St Andrew's with his first in the league for the club - Newcastle's late winner at Griffin Park.
Striker Sammy Ameobi has also returned from loan at Bolton Wanderers.
"To lose three players and see the reaction from the players is something that, as a manager, you have to be really pleased with," added Benitez. "And the fans should be proud too.
"We had to keep reacting to losing players, but, if you want to stay at the top, you have to show character." | Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez says it is too early to know the full extent of the injuries suffered by his side in their 2-1 win at Brentford. |
36,933,913 | The Bluebirds have signed striker Frederic Gounongbe and defender Jazz Richards so far this summer, as well as making the loans of Lex Immers and Kenneth Zohore permanent transfers.
Cardiff's opening Championship fixture is at Birmingham on Saturday, 6 August.
"There's time and I'm sure there'll be a lot of business between now and when the window shuts," said Trollope.
"We're still looking and we're still hopeful."
Cardiff concluded their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 defeat away against Premier League side Bournemouth on Saturday.
Gounongbe led the attack in a 3-4-2-1 formation based on the system which Wales used as they reached their first major tournament semi-final at Euro 2016.
The 28-year-old joined on a free transfer from Westerlo having scored 13 goals for the Belgian side last season.
The Benin international and the relatively inexperienced 22-year-old Zohore are the only recognised strikers in the current Cardiff squad likely to feature this season.
But Trollope would not be drawn when he was asked if attack is an area of the team he is aiming to strengthen in particular.
"I'm not going to go into details in terms of what we're looking for," he said.
"But we're looking at certain areas we think we need to strengthen and add, both in terms of the first team and competition for places and strength in depth which we obviously need."
The other two strikers at Cardiff, Federico Macheda and Adam Le Fondre, have been told they are free to leave if they can find a new club.
"We've got interest in a few of ours who we've made available," added Trollope.
"We've been respectful to them and they've worked hard whichever group they've been with, if we can find a solution that would suit all parties." | Cardiff boss Paul Trollope hopes to make more signings before the transfer window closes at the end of August. |
38,966,581 | The home city of Romanian number one Simona Halep will host the tie on outdoor clay on 22-23 April.
Britain are looking to return to the elite level of the competition for the first time since 1993, but will go into the tie as heavy underdogs.
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
Halep, the world number four, has already said she will play in the tie.
Romania have four other players in the top 100.
GB captain Anne Keothavong's team kept their promotion hopes alive last month with a 2-1 win over Croatia. and while she will hope to call on Johanna Konta, the world number 11 is not at her best on clay.
British number two Heather Watson is currently ranked 108 but has a strong Fed Cup record with 25 wins and only seven losses.
It is the third time Britain have reached the World Group II play-offs in the past six years, with the team then captained by Judy Murray losing to Sweden and Argentina in 2012 and 2013 respectively. | Great Britain will travel to the Black Sea city of Constanta for their Fed Cup World Group II play-off against Romania. |
38,542,779 | Cafodd yr heddlu eu galw i ardal Bryn Heulog tua 20:30 nos Iau ble cafwyd hyd i gorff David James Kingsbury, 35 oed o'r pentref.
Mae'r ddynes, sydd hefyd o'r ardal, yn cael ei chadw yn y ddalfa i gael ei chwestiynu gan yr heddlu.
Fe wnaeth canlyniadau post mortem ddangos fod Mr Kingsbury wedi marw ar ôl cael ei drwynau unwaith.
Mae'r crwner wedi cael ei hysbysu.
Dywedodd y Ditectif Arolygydd, Arwyn Jones: "Rydym yn parhau i ymchwilio ac rydym yn awyddus i glywed gan unrhyw un oedd yn siop Aldi ar Ffordd Abergele, neu siop y Co-op ar yr un stryd yn Hen Golwyn, rhwng 20:30 a 21:00 ddydd Iau, 5 Ionawr."
Dylai unrhyw un â gwybodaeth gysylltu â'r heddlu ar 101 neu'n ddienw ar 0800 555 111 gan ddefnyddio'r cyfeirnod V002232. | Mae'r heddlu yn Sir Conwy wedi cael estyniad o 36 awr i holi dynes 38 oed sydd wedi ei harestio ar amheuaeth o lofruddiaeth yn Hen Golwyn. |
38,839,564 | The 20-year-old defender joins the National League strugglers who have just lost Connor Oliver and Ryan Fallowfield to injury
Tinkler signed for the Premier League club's academy when he was 13 and has played twice for their Under-21's in the Football League Trophy this season.
North Ferriby, next to bottom in the table, host Dover Athletic on Saturday.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | North Ferriby United have signed Robbie Tinkler on loan from Middlesbrough until the end of the season. |
36,205,324 | The six-storey residence in Kenya's capital Nairobi came down in heavy rain, with more than 80 people still missing.
While investigations are still underway into the cause of this collapse, we look at some common problems.
Adequate foundations can be costly.
They can cost up to half the price of a building, observes professor of civil engineering Anthony Ede at Covenant University in Ota, Nigeria.
He says two things should be considered when you are building the foundations - the solidity of the soil and the heaviness of the building and its contents.
In the commercial capital of his country, Lagos, the swampy ground requires strong foundations. Far stronger than solid ground.
But he says developers save money that should be spent on foundations when building on the city's swampy ground and many buildings have collapsed in Lagos as a result.
Even on solid ground, foundations need to be strong enough for the load.
Inadequate foundations for a four-storey building was one of three reasons given by investigators for a building collapsing in northern Rwanda in 2013 and killing six people.
Materials that just aren't strong enough to withhold the load are used, says Hermogene Nsengimana from the African Organization for Standardisation, whose organisation met last month in Nairobi to discuss why so many African buildings collapse.
He suggests there is a market for counterfeit materials - going as far as to say that sometimes scrap metal is used instead of steel.
When a six-storey building in Uganda's capital Kampala collapsed in April, the director of the city authority suggested it had been constructed with counterfeit materials, reports Ugo news site.
Mr Nsengimana says there are even cases of counterfeiters faking authentification certificates.
But he suggests contractors also knowingly use the incorrect materials to cut costs.
So they may use concrete intended to bear the load of a one-storey building in a four-storey building.
Mr Ede adds that this is something regulators are not policing.
Even when workers are given the right materials to make the concrete, they mix them incorrectly, says Mr Ede.
This results in concrete which is not of the sufficient strength to hold the load.
He accuses developers of cutting costs by employing unskilled workers who are cheaper than trained builders.
This is one of the reasons put forward by civil engineers Henry Mwanaki Alinaitwe and Stephen Ekolu why a building in Uganda collapsed in 2004.
Their research shows that the workers misunderstood the mixing ratios of the concrete.
It suggested that people used wheelbarrows instead of measuring gauges to measure cement.
The five-storey BBJ new hotel collapsed in construction and 11 people died.
"You find bricklayers and even technicians calling themselves engineers," cautions the president of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers Oreoluwa Fadayomi in Nigeria's The Punch news site.
To those who want to save money on professionals, he advises: "One should not be penny wise and pound foolish".
Mr Ede says a building collapses when the load is beyond the strength of the building.
He gives the example of asking a baby to carry a heavy box: "The baby will not be able to withhold the strain."
Even if the foundations and the materials are strong enough for what they were originally built for, that purpose may change.
So, Mr Ede says, if a building was designed to be a home and is then turned into a library where boxes and boxes of books are piled up, the building may strain under the weight.
He says another reason why the load is often heavier than the original design is because extra storeys are added.
In March an upmarket apartment block which had more storeys than planned collapsed in Lagos, killing 34 people the Guardian reported.
This came two years after a church accommodation for the famous preacher TB Joshua collapsed, also, authorities said, because it had more floors than it could hold. In that case more than 100 people lost their lives.
At all points of construction the strength of the building should be tested, says Mr Ede.
"You have to be strict," he says, about policing building.
"The law says you must test. It's the enforcement of the law which is the problem," he says.
That's a big problem, he says, when at every stage of construction there is someone with a strong motivation to save money or take money.
There are many physical reasons a building can collapse but only one driving motivation for that to happen, says Mr Ede. That's money.
And for him this is the real reason buildings collapse - corruption. | After a building collapsed in Kenya last week, killing at least 33 people, experts look at some reasons why such incidents occur in Africa. |
36,686,059 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Figueroa's 176kg lift in the clean and jerk meant Indonesia's Eko Yuli Irawan (312kg) was forced to settle for silver, as both men improved on the medals they won at London 2012.
Kazakhstan's Farkhad Kharki won the bronze medal with a total of 305kg.
Chinese favourite Chen Lijun missed out, failing to register in the snatch.
Find out how to get into weightlifting with our special guide.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Oscar Figueroa lifted a combined total of 318kg to win the men's Olympic -62kg weightlifting title, and deliver Colombia's first gold of Rio 2016. |
39,282,918 | The New Zealand parliament passed the bill recognising the Whanganui River, in North Island, as a living entity.
Long revered by New Zealand's Maori people, the river's interests will now be represented by two people.
The Maori had been fighting for over 160 years to get this recognition for their river, a minister said.
"I know the initial inclination of some people will say it's pretty strange to give a natural resource a legal personality," said New Zealand's Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson.
"But it's no stranger than family trusts, or companies or incorporated societies."
The Whanganui River, New Zealand's third-longest, will be represented by one member from the Maori tribes, known as iwi, and one from the Crown.
The recognition allows it to be represented in court proceedings.
"The river as a whole is absolutely important to the people who are from the river and live on the river," said MP Adrian Rurawhe, who represents the Maori.
"From a Whanganui viewpoint the wellbeing of the river is directly linked to the wellbeing of the people and so it is really important that's recognised as its own identity."
Members of the Maori community celebrated the news with tears and music in New Zealand's parliament.
The settlement brought to an end the country's longest-running litigation, the NZHerald reports.
It also included $80m (£65m) in financial redress and $30m (£25m) to a fund to improve the river's health. | A river in New Zealand has become the first in the world to be granted the same legal rights as a person. |
20,033,097 | Boyle, 40, from Glasgow, said the paper had defamed him with an article published on 19 July 2011.
Daily Mirror publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) defended the piece "on the basis of truth and fair comment".
However jurors ruled in favour of Boyle.
The comedian said he was "very happy" as he left court.
Jurors awarded Boyle £50,400 after concluding that the racist description was defamatory.
Jurors had been shown footage from the BBC satirical show Mock The Week, in which Boyle and other comedians discussed immigration.
He was given further damages of £4,250 after the jury found the Mirror's report saying Boyle had been "forced to quit" Mock the Week was defamatory.
The comedian said The Daily Mirror newspaper had "misunderstood" the context of his use of language in jokes, adding the accusation of racism "goes against everything I've tried to do in my work, to do in my life".
The Glasgow-born comedian said he had been "pretending" to be someone with racist views during the episode.
He said he had "actively campaigned" against racism and he thought it was "important" to highlight the issue in his routines by mocking the attitudes of racists, whom he "despised".
The comedian's humour has often proved controversial with audiences.
Last year, broadcasting watchdog Ofcom upheld more than 500 complaints about his Channel 4 show Tramadol nights, during which he joked about model Katie Price's disabled son, Harvey.
In 2008, the BBC apologised when Boyle made a joke about Palestine on the Radio 4 comedy show Political Animal.
A year after that, BBC Two's Mock The Week was criticised by the BBC Trust over comments Boyle made on the show about swimmer Rebecca Adlington's appearance. | Comedian Frankie Boyle has won £54,650 in damages after a High Court jury concluded that the Daily Mirror had libelled him by describing him as "racist". |
38,409,809 | For the past few seasons we have been lucky with our festive fixtures - we have been at home on several occasions, and the times we have been on our travels, the trips have been very short.
This year we are at Plymouth, which means an overnight stay.
It will obviously be hard leaving my little girl. She is my world, and missing out on spending the majority of Christmas Day with her won't be easy.
However, we are professionals and are extremely lucky to do what we do for a living. As I have said in this column many times before, I would never moan or complain, as I genuinely love my job, and I accept and understand the sacrifices that need to be made.
Not drinking, watching what I eat, making sure the quality and length of my sleep is good enough, working hard on my fitness - these are all things that are part of my lifestyle, and they're ingrained in me after so many years.
There will be so many people across the country in the same boat on Christmas Day. The nurses and those in the emergency services, whose jobs are vital, will be eating their Christmas dinner in various different surroundings. These guys do it year after year and do an amazing job.
December is always an enjoyable, but busy, month for footballers.
The Christmas party is usually the first activity and it's always a hot topic in the dressing room. I'm sure you've seen plenty of photos and videos on social media of teams dressed in some kind of fancy dress or crazy attire in a city in Britain or, very occasionally, further afield.
Some lads look forward to the Christmas party from pre-season, while others genuinely aren't so bothered. The non-drinkers will always still attend, but some lads do need a little encouragement for a night or two away from home.
The fines system will have been in place from early July as a way of self-policing team discipline, but also providing funds to spend on the festive party, and someone will have been volunteered to be the guy who makes the necessary calls to ensure hotels and nightclubs are all booked.
I have always enjoyed the social side of football. Seeing the lads away from the training ground is a great way of getting to know one another better, and the bonding that comes from it is very useful.
Hospital visits are another part of December's activities to look forward to.
It's one club appearance you will never hear any complaints or grumblings about.
The satisfaction and genuine enjoyment the lads get from these visits is pure.
Seeing children in hospital is horrible, but to give them some happiness and a highlight to enjoy is so rewarding.
I hope that you all have a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year! | Christmas Day is taking a slightly different tone for me this year. |
32,941,799 | Michelle O'Neill will meet with Chinese officials with responsibility for food standards.
China is set to become the world's largest consumer of pork, surpassing the European Union by 2022.
The minister said she would use the visit to build on an "important relationship" between both countries.
Inspectors from China made two trips to pork plants in Northern Ireland in April as part of the approval process.
Exports
Mrs O'Neill said: "I am hopeful my visit will maintain momentum on the approval process."
Northern Ireland already exports dairy products and animal hides to China.
As well as a market for pork, it is hoped there could be opportunities for beef and chicken exports in the future.
The minister will also promote Northern Ireland's agri-food industry during the week-long trip.
The minister will travel on Sunday in what will be her third visit to China. | Northern Ireland's agriculture minister will make a return trip to China this weekend as efforts intensify to secure a market for Northern Ireland pork. |
39,119,164 | Beth Battista said that she had no hesitation in offering her kidney after hearing of Lyla's protracted search to find a suitable donor.
"I knew I just had to get tested rather than watch her suffer," she said.
Both Beth and Lyla are now recovering after the successful transplant operation last Wednesday.
The teacher and mother-of-two said that she heard about Lyla's condition after her mother Dena Carreyn shared a Facebook post about the girl's desperate need for a living kidney donor.
Lyla was diagnosed a year ago with microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), a rare autoimmune disorder which requires 12 hours of dialysis a day.
Beth contacted the the UW Health Transplant Program in Wisconsin and, after two tests in July and August, was deemed to be a suitable donor for Lyla.
It was a rare match because she needed to be the right blood group with few antibodies picked up from previous bouts of sickness. She also needed to have matching antigens.
In September she discovered that the child was to be a pupil in her class at the Kids' Express Learning Centre in Madison.
The woman donating organs to strangers
Woman with 100-year-old kidney from mum 'still going strong'
The operation itself required surgeons to make four small incisions in her stomach in order to pull the kidney out, before taking it to Lyla, who was in a nearby hospital ward.
"It was the same level of a pain as having a caesarean," the teacher told the BBC, "but I'm pleased to say that as soon as the kidney was put inside Lyla it began working immediately."
"I was discharged from hospital 48 hours after the surgery and am feeling OK although really tired.
"But I am told this common among donors because their remaining kidney needs to grow to make up for the missing organ.
"I'm really proud to have saved her life."
Her actions have won widespread plaudits on social media.
"You are an inspiration for all of us to go out there and be a donor," one commentator on Facebook said. | A US preschool teacher has told the BBC of her delight in being able to save a five-year-old pupil's life by providing the child with one of her kidneys. |
38,573,052 | UK-wide there was a 19% fall, with a 20% drop in England and 3% in Scotland.
Data from BankSearch for Lloyds Bank showed almost half of Scotland's regions recorded growth.
The bank said the downward trend was likely to be in response to the "uncertain economic environment".
Across Wales, 23,195 new business start-ups were recorded in the 12 months to November 2011, compared to 17,089 in the year to November 2016.
Anglesey saw the biggest fall, from 668 start-ups to 337 in the same period, but Merthyr Tydfil only fell from 364 to 363.
Economists say this could be a sign that things are going well with those forced to become self-employed after the financial crisis now finding more secure work.
Prof Dylan Jones-Evans, of the University of Western England said: "Lloyds Bank have said shows the economy was uncertain because of this drop.
"Well, actually it works the other way because many people go into self-employment not because they've seen an opportunity but because of necessity and once the economic problems get better then what happens is they go away from self-employment back into employment."
"So paradoxically perhaps what this data is actually showing is that the economy is improving".
The Federation of Small Businesses said it was essential that those starting out were prepared.
"There are a few common challenges," said Ben Cottam, of FSB Cymru.
"The first is that businesses expand - too big, too quickly. We also find that people fail to look for the right advice to support them so it might be not sourcing an accountant to get the right financial advice, which is absolutely crucial." | The number of new businesses starting up in Wales has dropped by 26% over five years, figures obtained by a banking group have shown. |
38,663,408 | Matthew Salmon, 29, of St Ann's, Nottingham, was found guilty of multiple child sex offences at Nottingham Crown Court in December.
The girl, then aged 10, came forward after the NSPCC visited her Derbyshire school as part of its Speak out Stay safe service.
Salmon was sentenced to 15 years with a further year on licence.
The court heard how Salmon carried out multiple sexual assaults on the girl, ranging from kissing to rape over a two-year period.
He was found guilty of nine charges, including three counts of rape and two of sexual assault.
Judge Gregory Dickinson QC said the girl had suffered the "full spectrum of sexual abuse" and, given her age, "she clearly had no idea how serious it was".
Det Con Sue Hough, of Derbyshire Police, said: "Hopefully this will go some way to providing closure for the family and allow them to move on.
"It has been the most horrific catalogue of sexual abuse I've ever had to investigate on a child."
The NSPCC's Speak out Stay safe campaign involves volunteers visiting schools to speak to children aged four to 11 about how to protect themselves from abuse and how to report it.
Since the service started in 2011, it has reached more than one million children at 15,000 schools across the UK. | A child rapist who was convicted after his victim heard a safeguarding talk at her school has been jailed. |
34,142,499 | Finance, HR and IT directors were among nine senior staff given vehicles.
One tax expert said the recipients could save thousands of pounds each year as emergency vehicles are treated differently by HM Revenue and Customs.
The forces said the vehicles were part of their wider fleet, and denied they were provided for tax reasons.
BBC News sent Freedom of Information requests to all 45 UK forces, asking them if they had provided civilian staff with cars fitted with emergency response equipment, and received responses from all.
The seven forces which said they had were Devon and Cornwall, Merseyside, Humberside, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Avon and Somerset, and Greater Manchester Police.
The main recipients were finance directors, although human resources and IT directors have also benefitted.
In addition, West Mercia and Warwickshire Police said they used to jointly pay for a car for a "director of enabling services", but no longer did so.
None of the vehicles had been used in an emergency, and the drivers of the vehicles were not qualified to use them in such circumstances.
South Yorkshire and Humberside Police were the only forces to say they provided two senior civilian staff with vehicles.
In a statement to the BBC, South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings said the scheme pre-dated the appointment of police and crime commissioners.
"Even so, I am disappointed that I was not made aware of it. I have asked the chief constable to review the policy and I understand that the equipment has now been disconnected, pending removal from the vehicles."
The BBC sent Freedom of Information requests to all 45 police forces in the UK. All responded. Seven forces said they had provided cars for the following civilian personnel:
Devon and Cornwall - Head of roads policing unit
Greater Manchester Police - Assistant chief officer
Humberside (two cars) - Assistant chief officer of HR; Assistant chief officer support
Merseyside - Director of finance
West Yorkshire - Director of finance and business
Avon and Somerset - Chief financial officer
South Yorkshire (two cars) - Director of finance; Director of IT
In addition, West Mercia and Warwickshire forces said they previously provided a joint vehicle to a director of enabling Services.
Humberside Police said one of the vehicles was made available for driver training on a regular basis, while the other supplemented the force's fleet and could be used for special events or royal visits.
The forces all denied the arrangements were part of efforts to reduce their tax bills.
But a report earlier this year from the College of Policing found many police officers felt "a culture of entitlement" existed at senior levels within forces.
A focus group spoke of "staff at chief officer rank being provided with executive cars fitted with emergency equipment", such as blue lights and sirens.
This was despite the fact they would not have been trained or authorised to use the vehicle, and was "apparently motivated by the advantageous tax treatment available for emergency vehicles," officers in the focus group said.
Laura Hutchinson, a director at tax specialists Forbes Dawson, said any potential tax saving would depend on the cost of the vehicle and its CO2 emissions.
For example, a BMW 5 series saloon costing £30,000 would incur a taxable benefit charge of more than £2,200 for someone paying the 40% tax rate.
However, this fee would not apply if HMRC was satisfied that the vehicle was used for emergency purposes.
"It is clear that the vehicle does not have to be a marked car, which may make this an attractive route to providing tax-free benefits where the rules were not intended to apply," said Ms Hutchinson.
Earlier this week, officers in the West Midlands complained that their siren-less vehicles were hampering efforts to catch criminals.
In 2011, a BMW fitted with emergency response equipment - covert blue lights and a two-tone siren - was stolen from outside the home of the force's former finance director. | Seven police forces in England have given company cars with blue lights and sirens to civilian staff not trained to use them, the BBC has learned. |
34,064,721 | Mr Neville died in Australia, after being taken ill on a visit to support his daughter Tracey, who is England netball head coach, during the World Cup.
The 65-year-old was a former commercial director of Bury Football Club.
His funeral service will be held in Bury, followed by a private burial.
Mr Neville was involved in the fans' group Save Our Shakers, which was formed when the side faced bankruptcy in 2002.
His sons both started their lengthy football careers with Manchester United in the early 1990s. Gary won 85 England caps, while Phil won 59.
An emotional Tracey Neville led her England side out on court hours after it emerged her father had been taken ill.
She said it was the right decision to stay, as her father would not have expected her to "bail out" of a tournament. | The funeral is due to take place later of Neville Neville, father of former England and Manchester United footballers Gary and Phil. |
38,710,545 | It happened in Shore Crescent about 23:30 GMT on Saturday.
The men threatened a woman inside and caused damage to the house before leaving.
There were no reports of any injuries.
Police are appealing for information. | Two masked men have forced their way into a house in north Belfast. |
40,145,681 | Mr Rocha Loures was seen in a video released in May carrying a bag with 500,000 Brazilian reais ($154,000).
Prosecutors allege he was handling a bribe from a businessman who had been recorded discussing hush money with President Temer.
His arrest comes as part of a probe into alleged payments to politicians by the meat-packing company JBS.
President Temer has repeatedly denied any involvement in the bribery scandal, which threatens to engulf his administration. He said Mr Rocha Loures could be the victim of a trap.
The owners of J&F's, the controlling shareholder of JBS, said under a plea bargain that they spent 600m reais ($184 m) to bribe nearly 1,900 politicians over a number of years.
One of them, Joesley Batista, also gave prosecutors an audio tape, leaked to the media, in which Mr Temer appears to condone bribing a witness.
The audio came from a conversation between the president and Joesley, and was recorded using a hidden device.
In it, Mr Temer appears to discuss paying for the silence of politician Eduardo Cunha, who is currently in prison.
Mr Temer has said the recording is genuine but may have been tampered with. He says it was taken from a meeting in March and he denies any wrongdoing.
"I never authorised any payments for someone to be silent," he said in a televised address. "I did not buy anyone's silence. I fear no accusations."
Mr Temer has resisted calls to step down over the scandal.
The country's Supreme Court has approved an investigation into the allegations against the president.
Mr Rocha Loures could seek a plea bargain and reveal who the money was intended for, BBC Brasil correspondent, Julia Carneiro, says.
But that could damage the president's assertion that he did nothing illegal, she adds. | Brazilian police have arrested Rodrigo Rocha Loures, a former congressman and close friend of President Michel Temer. |
39,880,891 | Rooney is the record goal-scorer for both United and England.
But the 31-year-old has started only 22 games this season and has hinted he may have to leave Old Trafford this summer in order to ensure first-team football.
"He gets hammered and yet he is Manchester United's and England's top goal-scorer," Savage told BBC 5 live.
"He is a professional, his work ethic is very good, you can see his temperament is still the same. When he gets a decision against him, he goes berserk. That is the same old Wayne Rooney.
"The bottom line is that age and not playing regular games is catching up with him. He is not the player he was. But he is the most under-appreciated footballer we have seen in English football."
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Rooney has been at Manchester United for 13 years, since joining from Everton for £27m in August 2004.
He has won five Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup, three League Cups and the Club World Cup during his time at Old Trafford.
This season he surpassed Bobby Charlton to become United's outright leading scorer, with his tally currently standing at 252.
He has also broken Charlton's England scoring record and has 53 goals for his country from 119 caps.
On Wednesday, he spoke about his future, saying: "Would I like to stay? I've been at this club 13 years. Of course, I want to play football."
The forward continues to be linked with a move to China, while Everton and the United States have been suggested as other potential destinations.
United face Celta Vigo on Thursday in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final, holding a 1-0 lead over the Spanish side. | Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney is the most under-appreciated player in English football, says former Wales international Robbie Savage. |
37,360,294 | The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate in Scotland between May and July had fallen to 4.7%, with the UK as a whole at 4.9%.
The employment level rose 51,000 over the quarter to 2,631,000 - the largest quarterly rise on record.
The Scottish government said the figures underlined the importance of EU and single market membership.
Across the UK as a whole, the number of people without jobs and looking for work fell by 39,000 to 1.63 million.
Average weekly earnings including bonuses increased by 2.3% on last year, down slightly from the previous report. The proportion of people in work hit a record high of 74.5%.
The latest numbers don't tell us much about the impact of the Brexit vote. It's too early for that.
The claimant count for August is one measure that is taken after the vote, and that has seen only limited change, so far.
The statistics return the Scottish jobs market to being in a slightly better position to that of the UK as a whole. So what's changed to make that possible?
The simple answer: no-one knows. I've been hearing from some who can make educated guesses. One suggests the weakening of the pound - which proceeded the Brexit vote - may has boosted tourism employment in May to July, both through more foreigners coming to Scotland and with more British people "staycationing".
Scotland has a relatively large tourist sector, and it's been doing fairly well of late.
Another economist points to underlying factors to do with inactivity rates - largely made up of family carers, the long-term ill, full-time students, early retirees and a much smaller number of so-called "discouraged".
Taken over a year in which the number seeking work went up by 33,000, the number counted as inactive went up by 30,000. Employment was up 17,000 in that period.
So this is not the simple model of people being unemployed, and then finding a job. It is more complex than that, with people moving from job search to economic inactivity and back, alongside a more modest uptick in the numbers in work.
Also, in RBS research published earlier this week, the increase in the "in work" category has largely comprised those in self-employment, taken over the past eight years.
That should not be read as a sign of confidence from business and recruiters. There are many reasons for going self-employed - positive ones, for good pay and flexibility, and through necessity, for lower and uncertain pay.
The ONS said the figures showed "continued labour market improvement".
Scotland saw the second-largest increase in the employment rate across the UK, behind only Wales.
In its employment and labour market report, the ONS said: "The large increase in Scotland is partially due to some estimates at the start of the year much lower than suggested by other recent figures, with the underlying pattern mostly flat."
The Scottish government said Scotland continued to outperform the UK on female and youth employment.
Keith Brown, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, said: "These encouraging figures continue to show that the fundamentals of the Scottish economy are strong, with a 51,000 rise in the employment level and a drop of just over 1 percentage point in the unemployment rate over the quarter, taking it below that of the UK average.
"While these figures are welcome, the Scottish government is absolutely committed to taking further action. Our Labour Market Strategy shows that there is still more that we can and will do."
Mr Brown said the government's planned £500m Scottish growth fund would further support the workforce and allow the economy to grow.
But he added that Brexit posed a "real and direct risk" to economic recovery in Scotland.
The small business support organisation, FSB, said most Scottish firms had been "getting on with business" since the vote to leave the EU in June.
Andy Willox, the FSB's Scottish policy convenor, said: "While these figures are encouraging, smaller businesses and the self-employed still need support from governments in Edinburgh and London.
"The upcoming autumn statement will be a great opportunity for the new chancellor to show that he backs the UK's army of smaller firms.
"Further, the Scottish government's current enterprise and skills review must make agencies put the needs of small and growing businesses at their core." | Unemployment in Scotland has fallen below the UK rate, according to the latest official figures. |
37,432,357 | The men, believed to be aged about 40, targeted the woman, who is partially sighted, in Loynells Road, Rubery, on Tuesday.
Police said they suspected the child, thought to be a girl, was being used as a potential distraction technique.
The purse contained just a £5 note and loose change.
Initially the woman thought the men were family members, but she began screaming on realising the intruders were rummaging through her lounge.
She was not hurt but was "very badly shaken up," West Midlands Police said.
Both men are said to be white, about 5ft 9ins tall and of slim build. The child was thought to be aged about 18 months. | A man carrying a toddler and another thief barged their way inside a 90-year-old woman's house before stealing her purse. |
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The Blues are 14th in the top flight, six points off the bottom three, and their next two league games are at home to Everton and away to Arsenal.
"It's reality," said Hiddink, who took over from Jose Mourinho in December. "We have two difficult games coming up.
"If you don't gather points there, you don't know what the others do. The Premier League can surprise you."
Chelsea were one point above the relegation zone when Mourinho departed the club.
The Stamford Bridge side then beat Sunderland, after which Hiddink took over as manager.
"There are 12 points difference to fourth place, which is Tottenham," added the Dutchman.
"We all like to look forward and to the top of the table, but also don't be unrealistic - you're six points off the line of relegation. That's also a fact.
"We have to work hard and be very concentrated and gather our points to step up." | Relegation is a possibility for Chelsea, says the Premier League champions' interim boss Guus Hiddink. |
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