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36,829,894 | David Stokes died after being detained as part of a pre-planned drugs operation in 2013.
He was in a car pursued by police at speeds up to 130mph before his arrest and subsequent death on 19 April.
Officers from Derbyshire Constabulary believed he had something hidden in his mouth, but found no drugs.
The 31-year-old, from Birmingham, then became unwell as he was being transported to Chesterfield Police Station.
The police van was diverted to hospital where he died shortly afterwards.
An inquest into his death concluded on Friday and returned a finding of misadventure and cocaine toxicity.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which began investigating his death, has not been able to establish at what point the cocaine was swallowed.
In a statement the IPCC said it had also been "unable to make a complete determination around the duty of care afforded by officers to Mr Stokes".
"However, the investigation found no issues in relation to the use of force during his detention and no injuries were found to have caused or contributed to his death," it said.
The IPCC previously complained that eight Derbyshire police officers had refused to answer questions during the inquiry - and would only provide written statements.
Mr Stokes died after the car he was in was chased by police on the A617, near Chesterfield.
The tactical plan had been for police to "box in" the car to avoid a pursuit, and prevent evidence being disposed of.
The IPCC said the "apparent lack of a risk assessment" in the event of the plan failing was highlighted as a learning point for the force.
The watchdog's investigation report is still due to be published. | There were no misconduct issues for officers who arrested and detained a man who swallowed cocaine and then died, the police watchdog said. |
34,956,990 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The 27-year-old Briton outpointed the 39-year-old Ukrainian in Dusseldorf, Germany to bring his nine-year reign to an end.
"I think you have seen 65% of what I am capable of," the self-styled 'Gypsy King' told Sky Sports News.
"That wasn't as good as I can do. I can go up another level."
The Manchester fighter insisted he would beat Klitschko again if the former champion takes up the option of a rematch - and would be happy for it to be in Germany.
"If he had 10 years to train, the result would be the same next time," Fury said. "I think he will take the rematch, but who knows when he gets home and has time to think about it.
"It doesn't really matter to me where I fight. Japan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, America - wherever it has to be. I'd like to come back to Germany again to fight Wlad. I enjoyed it here and I got a great reception from the German fans."
He added. "I might be allowed a voluntary defence [before a potential rematch with Klitschko] and I would like to have that back in England, probably in Manchester. It would be great to bring the titles back."
Fury is keen to spend time over the festive period with his family, including pregnant wife Paris, who he serenaded at ringside after his victory. The couple already have a daughter, Venezuela, and a son Prince.
But attention has already turned to who else Fury could face in defence of his titles.
Irish legend Barry McGuigan told BBC Radio 5 live that David Haye, the British former world champion, making his comeback in January after three years in retirement, is "the obvious fight" for Fury.
He added: "Anthony Joshua is full of promise but hasn't done anything at the top level yet. Deontay Wilder [the American WBC world champion] would be a great fight for him. Wilder is a slashing, hard fighter but he was hurt himself in his last defence by a journeyman fighter.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I don't think either of them are that fantastic to be honest. Both can look vulnerable at times. Fury is unbeaten and would be favourite but Wilder is a great puncher."
Fury himself has played down a potential bout against Wilder. "Why do we need to mention Deontay Wilder? Let's laugh at his name, shall we? Why would I be bothered about a novice like Wilder?
"He's a basketball player who took up boxing a couple of years ago. I'm a true natural fighter. I've been doing it all my life. You get horses and dogs and it's bred into them to be what they are, whether it's racehorses or show dogs. And it's bred into me to be a fighter.
"So, if Deontay Wilder wants a unification fight he is going to have to wait, because Wladimir Klitschko has a round two....ding ding ding!"
The pair were due to fight twice, in 2013 and 2014, but Haye pulled out on both occasions because of injury, leading to bad blood between the pair.
"I hope Fury can win a rematch and take the titles back to Britain again as a free agent," Haye told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek.
"It throws the division up in the air and makes it really exciting for once.
"We now have a crazy guy with the belts. It might be negative but it makes you laugh and it's better than being bored to tears by Klitschko.
"I would like my opportunity to work my way up the rankings and have a crack at him. As long as he takes belts away that makes him my target.
"Because of the history between us, Fury's camp won't give me any voluntary fights. We don't get on that great so I will have to work my way up to become the mandatory challenger for one of his titles."
Fury has paid tribute to his uncle and trainer Peter, who he believes revitalised his career after they started working together in 2012.
"When I started with Peter, I was going to stop boxing," he said. "I was flat, I was out of shape, I was 24 stone. I wasn't doing the right things, I was drinking and going out a lot," he said.
"But we stuck at it, trained every day, week on week. Since January 2012, we have only taken about two or three weeks off - and Peter has to take a lot of credit for that.
"It has been a long road to get here but I am finally here, parked up in front of view, in the shop window."
"Money, fame, glory…nothing changes the man unless they want it to," Fury said. "I am really comfortable with the man I am today. I will be the same person I was when I started boxing. Nothing is going to change me."
Fury has previously claimed he has no interest in being a role model and has been a controversial figure in the build-up to the Klitschko fight.
One of Britain's former world heavyweight champions, Lennox Lewis, believes he may need to modify his behaviour to assume the responsibility that comes with the title.
"Now he's champion he has to behave himself a little bit more because there are a lot of kids and people looking up to him," Lewis told Sportsweek.
"There are a lot of different boxers and people who will have a lot of things to say about him. If you allow [Fury] to say what he wants without coming back then you are soft to him. He won't respect you unless you directly come back at him.
"But he's a different character in the heavyweight scene. His character captures the imagination of people." | Tyson Fury says there is more to come from him after he beat Wladimir Klitschko to become the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion of the world. |
36,387,513 | Kathryn Brain moved from Australia to Dingwall, near Inverness, with husband Gregg and son Lachlan in 2011.
Mrs Brain was on a student visa at a time when a two-year post-study visa was in existence - but the rules were later changed.
Ms Sturgeon pledged to do everything in her power to help the family.
The Brain family, who have been given leave to remain until next Tuesday, hope a job offer made to Mrs Brain by the business behind the planned GlenWyvis distillery in Dingwall will meet visa requirements and allow them to stay.
Mr Brain said they were in the process of resubmitting a visa application in light of the job offer, but had "significant doubts" as to whether it will be possible to pull the paperwork together in time.
However, UK Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has told the Commons that the family do not face "imminent deportation".
He was responding to SNP MP Ian Blackford, who has raised the family's case in parliament.
Mr Brokenshire and Mr Blackford, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, met on Thursday afternoon to discuss the case.
The UK government has said the family had twice been given extra time to help them meet visa rules.
Speaking after her meeting with the family, Ms Sturgeon said: "I've assured the Brain family that the Scottish government will do everything it can to support them in their attempt to get the time that they always thought they would have to get jobs here, the right to stay here and continue to make a contribution to Scotland."
She said the family had "come here in good faith" under a scheme that was promoted by the Scottish government at the time and backed by the UK government.
The first minister added: "They fully expected that they would have the two-year post-study visa in order to allow them to secure work here. The problem is the UK government changed the rules before they had the chance to benefit from what they thought that they would benefit from.
"So there's a sense of natural justice here, as well as the human element."
Ms Sturgeon said the family's seven-year-old son had "virtually grown up here, he is a Gaelic speaker, he is to all intents and purposes Scottish".
Mr Brain has said he hopes "common sense will prevail" and his family will be allowed to remain in the country.
He also said they had been "absolutely floored" by the support they had received from the local community and across the political spectrum.
Mr Brain is a health and safety expert and his wife has just completed a degree in Scottish history. | Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has met an Australian family which has been told it must leave the UK if it cannot meet visa rules. |
39,099,718 | Taxis drove at 5km/h (3mph) on the Tullamarine Freeway to Parliament House during the morning rush hour, causing a traffic jam.
The state government is planning industry reforms that will regulate ride-sharing app Uber and scrap taxi licenses.
Drivers are concerned they will not receive enough compensation.
Traditional taxis operate under rigid regulation and have to pay big sums for licences to drive passengers.
Last August, the state government legalised ride-sharing apps sparking a drop in the value of taxi operating licenses.
The licences were worth up to A$275,000 (£170,000; $210,000) each in 2015 and fell to about $150,000 last year.
Victoria's state government has offered owners A$100,000 to buy back their first licence and A$50,000 for subsequent licences, as part of planned industry reform that will scrap the license system.
Taxi driver Vasilos Spanos said the current offer would financially ruin his family.
"It cost me altogether for the three licences more than A$800,000," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Ari Angelopoulos owns two taxi licences and said he has lost more than 30% of his daily income.
"I work hard, I have two children, and I am the only worker in my family," he told Australian Associated Press. "I didn't come to Australia to be a slave."
Victoria's Public Transport Minister said the drivers were entitled to protest but described their behaviour as "irresponsible".
"It's not actually bringing people to their cause - it's driving them away," she told radio station 3AW.
Uber launched in 2009, has more than one million drivers and operates in more than 500 cities across 80 countries. | Melbourne taxi drivers have staged a "go slow" protest on one of the city's busiest roads. |
30,777,943 | Bravo and Pollard were seen as leading the player revolt, following a pay dispute with the WICB, that led to the abandonment of October's tour of India.
"There's no way you can tell me those guys shouldn't be in the team," opening batsman Gayle insisted.
"For me, it's got to be victimisation towards those two guys."
The former West Indies captain added: "Come on guys, it's just ridiculous. Honestly, it choked me up.
"I don't know where our cricket is heading with this sort of situation. It's really sad."
Trinidadian all-rounders Bravo and Pollard had been told they would be left out of the World Cup squad as the Windies were building a team for the future.
"What they're telling us then, is this team selected is not going there to win the World Cup," added Gayle. "Building for the next World Cup [in 2019] is ridiculous."
Man of the match Gayle was speaking after he, Bravo and Pollard helped West Indies complete the highest run chase in Twenty20 history in a four-wicket win over South Africa in Johannesburg on Sunday.
West Indies open their World Cup campaign against Ireland in Nelson, New Zealand on 16 February.
Click here for the full World Cup fixture list. | Chris Gayle has accused the West Indies Cricket Board of victimisation after Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were omitted from the World Cup squad. |
38,529,416 | The 53-year-old was found with serious injuries at a house in Littledean, Gloucestershire, on Thursday afternoon.
Officer were called to the property in Broad Street at 15:00 GMT. The woman died a short time later.
A cordon is still in place at the property, where officers are carrying out inquiries. | A post-mortem examination will be held following the unexplained death of a woman, police have said. |
35,510,849 | Nicky Cadden fired Airdrie ahead but Ciaran Summers' brilliant strike from distance levelled matters.
The visitors had David Cox sent off but they went ahead again when Jim Lister converted Cadden's cross.
Jamie McCormack equalised from close range and his second strike in stoppage time secured victory for Stenny. | Stenhousemuir's late victory moved them to within a point of Airdrieonians and the Scottish League One play-off places. |
35,631,453 | Three other people were injured in the incident which happened between Arbroath and Montrose, near the Maryton junction, on Friday.
The collision involved a car, a pick-up truck and a security van.
Mr McAllister, who was driving a red Volkswagen Golf, died from his injuries at the scene.
The 47-year-old female driver of a blue Mercedes Sprinter Van sustained serious injuries and her male passenger suffered minor injuries.
The 50-year-old male driver of a Ford Ranger pick-up also suffered minor injuries in the collision.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said a report would be submitted to the procurator fiscal. | A 79-year-old man killed in a three-vehicle crash in Angus has been named as George McAllister from Broughty Ferry. |
40,339,300 | Blockbusters, though, aren't for everybody. So what is out there if you don't want to watch Transformers: The Last Knight, Spider-Man: Homecoming or War for the Planet of the Apes?
Well, we have animated sequel Cars 3, animated threequel Despicable Me 3 and Christopher Nolan's war epic Dunkirk. But whichever way you slice it, they're really just blockbusters of a different cloth.
So what's left? More than you might think. Here are a few films you might want to check out if you're after something a little bit different.
Director Edgar Wright is known for Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz - films that combined gross-out comedy with sly spins on familiar genre conventions.
His latest film is a relatively straight crime thriller about a baby-faced getaway driver whose skills behind the wheel ensure he's always in demand.
Equipped with a great cast, a cool soundtrack and plenty of tyre-squealing mayhem, it's a slick piece of Tarantino-esque car-nage with a little bit more substance that your average Fast and the Furious.
With the exception of Downton Abbey's Lily James, it is something of an all-male affair though.
The first in a number of upcoming films about Tupac Shakur is a straightforward chronicle of the rapper's short life and career.
Yet that hasn't stopped it irking some of his friends and associates, among them fellow rapper 50 Cent and actress Jada Pinkett Smith.
However, there has been praise for Demetrius Shipp Jr's performance as Shakur, the Harlem-born performer who was shot and killed in September 1996.
The film, by the way, shares its title with the last Tupac album to be released during his lifetime.
A psychological thriller steeped in suspense and dread, this tale of two families sharing a cabin in the woods looks like it might be better released at Halloween.
Given the recent success of Get Out, though, it's perhaps not surprising It Comes At Night - another film to blend genre scares with social commentary - has been given a prominent summer berth.
Joel Edgerton stars as a father who has constructed a refuge from a deadly epidemic that is believed to have wiped out much of the human population.
Said refuge, alas, is not safe from fear and paranoia in a film that currently has an 87% rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Sofia Coppola's latest, her first theatrical feature since 2013's The Bling Ring, is a starry affair that won her a best director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Set in Virginia during the American Civil War, it tells of a girls' school that is thrown out of whack when it takes in a wounded Union soldier.
The soldier, played by Colin Farrell, upsets the equilibrium of this all-female enclave, drawing out tensions and resentments that had lain out of view.
Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning swell the cast of drama whose source material previously spawned a Clint Eastwood movie in 1971.
The winner of the year's least appealing title is actually a charming romantic comedy about a Muslim comedian from Pakistan who begins a relationship with a white American woman.
It's the ultimate culture clash, made even more complicated when Emily (Zoe Kazan) falls ill and her beau (Kumail Nanjiani) is called upon to offer comfort to her parents.
Inspired by Nanjiani's own romantic life, The Big Sick was a big hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival and was snapped up by Amazon for $12m (£9.5m).
Witty, heartfelt and unexpectedly sophisticated, it also comes with some highly amusing insights into Pakistan's fascination with cricket.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | If you like giant robots, costumed crime-fighters or computer-generated simians, this summer's cinematic offerings are unlikely to disappoint. |
19,514,333 | A 9.7m-long trackway was created around 150 million years ago when a horseshoe crab fell into a lagoon.
The find is of interest because the fossil of the animal itself is present at the end of the trackway, where the animal died.
The research appears in the journal Ichnos.
The fossil trackway of the animal's last moments - known as a mortichnia, or death march - was discovered in the lithographic limestone of Bavaria in Germany in 2002, where spectacular fossils of the famous feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx have also been found.
Since then, the fossil trackway had remained an exhibit in the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in the US until Dean Lomax of the Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery and Christopher Racay began working on a project to describe it
"It's not particularly rare to find these horseshoe crabs at the end of short traces, but nothing quite as substantially large and scientifically important as this," he said.
The fossil records an entire walk, and the researchers believe that the abrupt beginning of the trace can be explained by the animal being "flung" into the lagoon during a storm, although they cannot be certain of this interpretation.
However, the quality of preservation allowed the researchers to reconstruct very small details of the animal's end minutes.
"The lagoon that the animal found itself in was anoxic, so at the bottom of these lagoons there was no oxygen and nothing was living," Mr Lomax told the BBC.
"This horseshoe crab [Mesolimulus walchi] found itself on the lagoon floor and we can tell by looking at the trace that the animal righted itself, managed to get on to its feet and began to walk," he explained.
However, the anoxic conditions of the lagoon floor quickly proved fatal to the arthropod and it soon began to struggle.
"We started to study the specimen closer and saw that the walking patterns and the animal's behaviour started to change. The leg impressions became deeper and more erratic, the telson (the long spiny tail) started being lifted up and down, up and down, showing that the animal was really being affected by the conditions," he said.
"To find a trackway and its track-maker preserved together in the fossil record is extremely rare. Working out who made a trackway is normally like detective work. In this case, the suspect has been caught in the act," Dr Nic Minter, currently of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, who was not involved in the study, told BBC News.
"Discoveries such as this provide unique insights into the behaviour of extinct species - in this example during the last throes of its life and the environmental conditions that led to its demise," he said. | The behaviour of an ancient horseshoe crab in its final moments before death has been captured in the fossil record. |
34,414,923 | The remains of this large, rodent-like creature give clues about how mammals "took over" when dinosaurs died out.
Kimbetopsalis simmonsae, as the newly discovered species has been named, was a plant-eating creature that resembled a beaver.
The news is published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Dr Stephen Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, lead researcher on the study, explained how a student on his team called Carissa Raymond found the fossil while prospecting at a site in New Mexico, US.
"We realised pretty quickly that this was a totally new type of mammal that no-one has seen before," he told BBC News.
The researchers noticed in particular the animal's teeth, which were specialised for plant-chewing, with complicated rows of cusps at the back and incisors at the front for gnawing.
They named the species after Kimbeto Wash, the area in the New Mexico badlands where it was found.
"The other part of the name - psalis - means 'cutting shears' and is in reference to [the] blade-like teeth," Dr Brusatte explained.
This group of now-extinct mammals, collectively known as multituberculates, originated alongside the dinosaurs, during the Jurassic and thrived for more than 100 million years until they were apparently superseded by rodents.
"[During the Jurassic] these animals were all pretty small," said Dr Brusatte.
"Then the asteroid hit, wiped out the dinosaurs and suddenly - in geological terms - this [group of animals] started to proliferate and get bigger.
"That's how the rise of mammals started and really the end result of that is us being here today."
The scientists say that this, and other mammal discoveries from that "brave new world", paint a picture of how mammals made it through the extinction event.
A cosmic disaster?
What other chance events changed life on Earth?
"A whole lot of mammals did die, but this group is one that made it through pretty well," Dr Brusatte explained.
"Literally, the world changed one day.
"That asteroid hit and suddenly the dinosaurs are wiped out. It looks like mammals were just waiting their turn and as soon as the dinosaurs disappeared, they thrived."
Follow Victoria on Twitter | Scientists have discovered a species of ancient mammal that survived the event that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. |
39,248,045 | Officers had been attempting to trace 65-year-old Edith Allan since the fire at her home in Durness on Monday.
Formal identification has yet to take place but Ms Allan's family have been informed about the development.
A joint investigation has been carried out by the police and fire service but there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances. | Police have confirmed a woman's body has been recovered from a burnt-out house in the Highlands. |
40,483,744 | Speaking at the historic Palace of Versailles, he said he planned to cut the number of lawmakers by a third.
Doing so would produce a more efficient government and put France on a "radically new path", said Mr Macron.
The French president says he has a broad mandate after sweeping wins in presidential and parliamentary elections this year.
If his proposed changes were not passed by parliament within a year, he said he would take the decision to a referendum.
In his 90-minute speech, the 39-year-old leader vowed to return a "collective dignity" to France.
"In the past, procedures have taken preference over results, rules over initiative, living off the public purse over fairness," he said.
The proposed cuts would reduce the number of National Assembly members from 577 to 385, and the numbers of Senate members from 348 to 232.
He also said:
Mr Macron is not the first president to convene a session at Versailles, the grand 17th Century palace outside Paris built by Louis XIV, "the Sun King".
The decision to convene Congress at the palace has come in for criticism, however, and has provided further material for critics of Mr Macron who have accused him of aloofness.
While he engaged freely with the press during his electoral campaign, he has made little contact since, and will not conduct the traditional presidential interview for the 14 July national holiday, Bastille Day.
Three parties, including Jean-Luc Mélénchon's far-left France Unbowed, boycotted the event. Mr Mélénchon accused Mr Macron of "crossing a line with the pharaonic aspect of his presidential monarchy".
The front page of Monday's Libération showed an image of Mr Macron as Jupiter, the god of gods, holding forked lightning. Expressing concern, the centre-left newspaper said the session in Versailles was the latest manifestation of the president's authoritarian nature.
Mr Macron's La République en Marche (LREM) party began life only in April 2016, but the former finance minister swept to victory in the second round of the presidential election on 7 May.
A month later, his party and its allies went on to claim 350 of the 577 seats in parliamentary elections, a win he says has given him the mandate to push through wide-ranging social and economic reforms.
Meanwhile, police have confirmed that a suspected far-right extremist has been charged with plotting to kill Mr Macron at the Bastille Day parade later this month.
The style of the Macron presidency is becoming clearer. He thinks that Charles de Gaulle, founder of the Fifth Republic, got it right: France's head of state should be distant, surrounded by symbolism and mystique, above the fray.
That is why he decided to call this exceptional joint session of the Senate and the National Assembly - to set out to lawmakers from his position of supreme authority what he expects of them in the years to come.
Of course it's convenient that the session took place in Versailles, a place of monarchical associations like no other.
Emmanuel Macron feels the presidency was debased by his predecessors, who either interfered too much in the detail of policy, or pandered to the media.
He wants to stop that, but critics are already saying he is getting above himself - and assuming powers he should not have. | French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a radical overhaul of the country's government. |
36,388,866 | One of the photos dates from 1846 and is part of a collection compiled by the Ipswich Maritime Trust (IMT).
Stuart Grimwade, director of the IMT, said: "The wet docks were completed in 1842, which coincides with the birth of photography in the late 1830s.
"Ipswich is extremely fortunate to be on of some of the earliest photos."
A photograph of the Old Custom House was taken by local chemist and pioneering photographer John Wiggin.
It can be dated to 1846 because the clock had not yet been added to the clock tower.
Mr Grimwade said: "The Fox-Talbot National Museum of Photography in Wiltshire confirm it is the oldest photograph from a wax-paper negative to survive as well as being the one of the oldest photographs of Suffolk."
The archive project began in 2000 and has involved digitising postcards and printed photos.
Some of the photos will feature on hoardings around the waterfront area as part of the PhotoEast festival, while Mr Grimwade is giving a talk on the subject on Saturday morning at University Campus Suffolk.
"It's a fascinating archive and the trust's aim is to go on collecting as many images we can find and the online archive will help people see what we've already got," he said. | An archive of historical images of Ipswich docks, including one of the oldest photographs of the town, is being put online. |
31,710,402 | In some cases detainees were held for more than a year.
The figures come as MPs have called for a limit on the time someone could be detained under immigration powers.
The Home Office said it only detained people for the shortest period necessary.
The figures, released to the BBC's Scotland 2015 programme under Freedom of Information legislation, present a snapshot of detention at the controversial facility outside Strathaven.
On 7 January this year, 41 of the 185 detainees at Dungavel had been held there for more than three months.
Of those, 32 had been detained for more than six months, while in two cases detainees from Western Sahara and Algeria had been at Dungavel for more than a year.
One detainee from Iran had spent 11 months in Dungavel and a total of almost two and a half years in detention.
Rather than for criminal charges, asylum seekers and other migrant groups are held in immigration detention to enforce their removal from the UK or while their case is being assessed by the Home Office.
Among the detainees were people from countries to which it is often very difficult to enforce removal.
Countries such as Somalia, Iran and West African states often do not grant travel documents to asylum seekers whose applications to remain in the UK have been rejected by the Home Office.
Sol - not is real name - was taken to Dungavel after serving a prison sentence for working in the UK illegally.
The Home Office was unable to remove him after his home country disputed his citizenship.
He spent two and a half years in Dungavel, and a total of three and a half years in detention, more than three times as long as his initial prison sentence.
"The difference between prison and detention is that in prison you count your days down and in detention you count your days up," he told BBC Scotland.
"It's mental torture. It's so scary. You don't know when you will be released. You don't know when you'll be deported. You are in limbo."
He said he often saw people struggling to cope with the uncertainty of being in detention.
Sol, who is now effectively stateless, has a case of unlawful detention against the Home Office pending and cannot work in the UK in the meantime.
He is also part of Freed Voices, a group of former detainees who were detained for 20 years between them and who speak out about detention.
Currently, the UK is the only country in the European Union which has no cap on the time someone can be detained under immigration powers.
A group of MPs has called for a 28-day limit on the length of time detainees like Sol can be held in Dungavel and other centres across the UK.
It came after they carried out a lengthy inquiry into immigration detention.
The All Party Parliamentary Groups on Refugees and Migrants also said the "enforcement-focused culture of the Home Office" meant that official guidance stating that detention should be used sparingly and for the shortest possible time was not being followed, resulting in too many instances of unnecessary detention.
Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather, the group's chair, said: "The UK is an outlier in not having a time limit on detention. We have concluded that the current system is expensive, ineffective and unjust.
"During the inquiry, we heard about the huge uncertainty this causes people to live with, not knowing if tomorrow they will be released, removed from the country, or continue being in detention."
Dr Katy Robjant is a psychiatrist who has examined the mental health of detainees who have been held for long term periods of time in immigration detention.
In one of her studies she found that those who were detained for more than 30 days had higher instances of mental health problems than those held for shorter periods.
She told BBC Scotland: "Research has shown that long term detention is linked to mental health problems including anxiety, depression and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
"From my clinical experience, clients often report PTSD symptoms that are directly linked to the experience of detention.
"For example, nightmares or intrusive memories about being in detention or about experiences they witnessed while in detention such as seeing other detainees injured whilst resisting removal attempts, seeing other detainees on hunger strike or self-harm."
Campaigners welcomed the MPs' call to end indefinite detention and added that the practice should be stopped altogether.
Jerome Phelps of Detention Action said: "The inquiry is right that it is not enough to tinker with conditions in detention. Only wholesale reform can address the grotesquely inefficient and unjust incarceration of 30,000 migrants a year."
"The UK is isolated in its reliance on enforcement and detention. Detention is not working, either for immigration control or for the people at the sharp end."
According to the Home Office, the average cost of keeping one detainee in an IRC in 2014 was £97 per night.
Based on these costs, the total spent on detaining those who were in Dungavel on 7 January 2015 would be £1.5m.
In a statement, the Home Office said: "People are only detained for the shortest period necessary and all detention is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it remains justified and reasonable."
"A sense of fairness must always be at the heart of our immigration system - including for those we are removing from the UK."
"That is why the home secretary commissioned Stephen Shaw to carry out a comprehensive review of our immigration detention estate to ensure the health and wellbeing of all detainees, some of whom may be vulnerable, is safeguarded at all times."
Dr Alice Edwards, chief of protection policy and legal advice with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that her organisation appreciated that the government's "quite clear" instructions to immigration officials did indicate there should be a presumption against detention, and that detention should be for the shortest period of time possible.
"What we find is there is a disconnect between the policies and what happens in practice," she said.
"Of course, the failure to have automatic reviews, which are available in other countries, does lead to people sometimes being forgotten in detention."
The Scottish government - whose referendum White Paper insisted an independent Scotland would have banned immigration detention - called for Dungavel to be closed.
Opened in 2001, Dungavel is the only IRC in Scotland. There are 12 other centres across England.
This is not the first time the controversial facility outside Strathaven has received attention.
Previously, children have been held at the centre, and in 2012 a newspaper investigation found that victims of torture had been held at Dungavel, despite this being against Home Office rules, unless in exceptional circumstances. | Dozens of asylum seekers have been held at Dungavel immigration removal centre (IRC) in South Lanarkshire for months, new figures released to BBC Scotland reveal. |
38,506,752 | Eyewitness Simon Crowcroft, from Jersey, told the Islington Gazette he came across the "strange scene" on Upper Street while in the city on Tuesday.
The Met Police said officer Dan Smith was helping a man who had collapsed. He was treated at the scene.
A force spokesman said the officer's horse, Invictor, was "showing he's a team player".
The Met said its mounted horse unit carries out day-to-day patrols and is tasked like any other unit.
A London Ambulance spokesman added: "We were to reports of an unwell person on Upper Street. We treated a man at the scene but did not take anyone to hospital." | A horse appearing to get on a bus bemused a passer-by in north London. |
32,118,391 | David Perry, 52, targeted the women, in their 20s, after they had been out drinking and socialising before getting in his cab.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard he told police he had "high hormone levels".
Perry from Bow, east London, a taxi driver for 25 years, admitted four charges, including attempted rape and sexual assault.
The offences were committed in the early hours, against women in their 20s, before getting into Perry's cab and falling asleep.
His DNA was matched to both attacks, which happened in January 2013 in north London and in east London, last May.
After his arrest, the court heard, Perry told police he had been "worried about what he might do" and had sought medical help for high hormone levels after the break-up of a relationship.
Sentencing Perry, Judge John Lafferty said his victims had suffered "serious psychological harm".
He told Perry he would pose "a very significant risk" to other women if he were allowed to remain at large in the community.
As he was led out of the dock, Perry smiled and waved at his family and friends in the court's public gallery.
On what would have been the first day of his trial in February, Perry admitted one count of attempted rape, one count of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault against each victim.
Prosecutor Peter Clement told the court: "They were, by virtue of their drunkenness, particularly vulnerable.
"Their incapacity made them no less deserving than anyone else of being safe. They each sought the security and safety they were entitled to expect from a London taxi - a black cab.
"He exploited his passengers' obvious vulnerability for his own sexual gratification."
Police said Perry had been eliminated from unsolved cases, but appealed to potential victims to contact police.
Perry was also stopped from driving taxis in the future and will be on the sex offenders indefinitely, under a sexual harm prevention order. | A black cab driver who sexually assaulted two women who fell asleep in his taxi has been jailed for 10 years. |
38,207,441 | The original hardback book was annotated by JK Rowling in 2013 to raise money for charity.
It features 43 annotations, including 22 original drawings by the author.
The book will be on display at Edinburgh's Writers' Museum from Thursday until 8 January.
The book includes a sketch of baby Harry asleep on the doorstep of the Dursleys, the author's thoughts on Quidditch, and the Hogwarts Crest featuring a bear rather than a badger as the Hufflepuff house mascot.
Richard Lewis, City of Edinburgh Council's culture convener, said: "This unique first edition features a remarkable glimpse into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
"In it, JK Rowling opens her heart about her characters and creations and makes beautiful illustrations of magical scenes from the series.
"It is a privilege to display this book by one of the world's most popular authors in the city's Writers' Museum.
"The historic building houses rare books and items belonging to some of Scotland's greatest ever writers and is the perfect place to display JK Rowling's classic, annotated, book.
"We are thankful to the private lender, JK Rowling and the Scottish Book Trust for their generous support."
Ms Rowling annotated the book to raise money for her international charity, Lumos, and English Pen, a global network that promotes literature. | A rare first-edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, featuring personal anecdotes and illustrations by author JK Rowling is to go on display in Edinburgh. |
40,666,303 | Playcraft Live will be performed at the city's Playhouse Theatre on 14 October.
It will simultaneously be streamed to the world online via the theatre's website, Minecraft and Youtube.
Slipping between both stage and game world, the story will unfold across different locations and times.
Minecraft is the second-best-selling videogame of all time.
It allows players to build things using cubic blocks and take part in exploration, engineering, crafting and combat.
The game is hugely popular with children and young teenagers.
The production will see the dramatisation of a script, written specifically for Playcraft by Alex Scarrow, author of the teen science fiction series of novels, Time Riders.
The story is based between books one and two of his Time Riders series.
Online audiences will experience the production as a live-stream simulcast.
For those lucky enough to be part of the Playhouse audience, they will be able to see the physical actor on stage communicating the play to them.
They will also see a stream of the digital version of that actor, within the Minecraft world, projected onto a screen.
These avatars will be developed and built by Minecraft experts operating from an adjacent room.
Kieran Griffiths, creative director at the Playhouse Theatre, said he was excited to be introducing something "completely new to the world of theatre".
"The production is hugely ambitious and a definite step into the unknown, but a tremendous opportunity to allow two artistic worlds to come together and learn from each other," Mr Griffiths said.
The project will also involve renowned creative producer Adam Clarke and digital educators MakeMatic.
It has been commissioned by The Space, which is funded by the BBC and Arts Council England.
"I suppose the thorny rose in between is the technology," Mr Griffiths said.
"Over the coming months we have to remove the thorns and make sure that rose is passed gracefully.
"At the end of it, we hope to produce an educational asset whereby we will see online amateur societies creating their own world within Minecraft."
Throughout the summer, Minecraft fans will be invited to join in on the production, find out more about the play and contribute to the process along the way. | A Londonderry theatre is to host the world's first play performed by both human actors and avatars - digitised versions of the cast - in the computer game, Minecraft. |
39,882,809 | Armed police were called to an altercation between a man and woman in a residential street in Hatfield, Hertfordshire on Wednesday afternoon.
Costadinos Contostavlos, who performed as Dappy and appeared in Celebrity Big Brother, was arrested in College Lane.
Police said a 29-year-old was being held on suspicion of assault and possession of a knife in public.
Hertfordshire Constabulary said: "The man threatened the woman before leaving the scene. It is believed he had a knife. No one was seriously injured."
A neighbour who did not wish to be named said he believed a group of students had been trying to help the woman.
"I only saw the aftermath," he said. "There was an incident, a guy and a woman. Three or four students came to her aid.
"I got that information from one of the students involved in it - he was standing outside and he explained what had happened.
"Ten police cars turned up outside and they were out there for getting on a hour.
"At one point there were three or four armed police men standing at the door with one of them shouting instructions through the open door.
"One went in with two backing him up and one on the driveway was crouching behind a car."
Dappy remains in custody. | The former N-Dubz star Dappy has been arrested after allegedly threatening a woman and carrying a knife in public. |
35,758,777 | The Leicester centre, 24, has not played for England since June 2014 because of a groin injury and disciplinary issues.
He replaces Alex Goode in the 23-man squad and is likely to start on the bench, while Northampton prop Kieran Brookes has also been included.
Head coach Eddie Jones will name his starting XV on Thursday.
Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie replaces Jamie George, who suffered an arm injury in training last Thursday.
Brookes has been named in place of club team-mate Paul Hill for the game between the two unbeaten countries in this season's competition.
Tuilagi has scored 11 tries in 25 England appearances, but his international career has been disrupted by injury and disciplinary problems.
He was left out of the World Cup squad last year after admitting assaulting police officers in April 2015, an offence which he denied in September.
Named in England's original 33-man training squad to face Wales, he was released to play for Leicester last weekend.
Tuilagi scored his first Premiership try for almost two years as Leicester beat Exeter 31-27.
England flanker James Haskell said: "He is a threat and a very special player. I don't often look at people and think 'I wish I had some of his genes'. He is pace, power and strength personified.
"He will have an impact, he always does. I've played with him against some of the best teams in the world and he causes everybody trouble.
"Even if he has a bad day, someone will still get taken down or he'll run through someone. Very few players have the ability to do that.
"He was obviously sorely missed at the World Cup. Whenever he is not involved in the game he is missed."
England are one point clear of Wales at the top of the Six Nations table after winning their first three games.
England 23-man squad to play Wales:
Forwards: Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens).
Backs:
Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers). | Manu Tuilagi returns to England's matchday squad to face Wales in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday. |
21,028,309 | Applications for homelessness assistance stood at 10,269 which was down from 11,604 on the same period the previous year.
Homeless numbers were at their lowest level for more than a decade.
Housing and Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess said the Scottish government was "working hard to ensure that priority is given to prevention".
Legislation which came into effect at the end of 2012 entitled anyone finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own to settled accommodation.
Ms Burgess said: "It is difficult to imagine, or overstate the trauma that comes with losing the roof over your head.
"I've worked with many people in that situation and that is why there can be absolutely no complacency when it comes to tackling homelessness.
"I am confident that by working together, Scotland can pave the way and set an example to the rest of the world when it comes to preventing homelessness."
Director of the housing charity Shelter Scotland Graeme Brown said: "It is good news that 13% fewer families and individuals are experiencing the tragedy of homelessness.
"But homelessness in Scotland is still too high. Indeed, with the homelessness rate up to six times that of England, we cannot afford to be complacent or lose sight of the fact that over 10,000 households still lost their homes in just three months."
The Scottish Greens said the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfast remains over 10,000 compared to the 4,000 recorded 10 years ago.
Scottish Greens' Co-Convenor Patrick Harvie said: "It's a scandal that in 2013 we have so many families and individuals being housed in inappropriate places. The housing minister says it's a priority but her colleague the finance secretary has cut the budget.
"The current year's housing budget in Scotland is £389m - this is due to drop by £121m over the next three years."
Mr Harvie continued: "Instead of raiding these important funds Scottish ministers should be increasing their investment in social housing to help ensure a decent home for all."
That was echoed by Leslie Morphy, the chief executive of Crisis, a charity which works with single homeless people.
She said: "Today's figures prove that with sufficient political will, a real difference can be made in tackling homelessness even during the economic downturn. By strengthening its homelessness safety net, the Scottish Government is making excellent progress in saving people from the horrors of homelessness.
"Sadly, this progress is under threat. Independent research warns that welfare cuts - particularly cuts to housing benefit including the bedroom tax, alongside a chronic lack of social housing - could scupper this progress.
"We fear homelessness could begin to rise again unless these issues are tackled."
The Scottish government said the number of people in temporary accommodation had fallen 5% in the last year. | A 13% decline in the number of homeless people in Scotland was recorded for the period between July and September 2012. |
34,983,355 | QPR have made an official approach for the Dutchman, with League One leaders Burton now in negotiations with the Championship side.
"We are hopeful that we can keep hold of him," McCrory told BBC Radio Derby.
"But none of the lads will hold grudges against him if he does decide to move on because it is great opportunity."
In the 12 months since taking over at Burton, Hasselbaink has guided the club to promotion to England's third tier for the first time in its history, where they now sit top after 20 games following Tuesday's 2-1 win over Millwall.
McCrory said former Chelsea and Leeds United striker has been candid about QPR's interest, but admits players do not know if he will remain in charge of Saturday's trip to Gillingham,
"Everyone knows what is going on with the speculation about the gaffer," McCrory said.
"He is saying how it is to us and let us know that something may happen or may not happen. He will be in on Thursday either way.
"All the players want him to be in charge of the Gillingham game. But I couldn't really say. You never know in football."
Midfielder Mark Duffy said he would be "gutted" if Hasselbaink was lured away from the Pirelli Stadium.
"He has done a great job here and we have something good going, we are sitting nicely top of the league," he said. | Burton Albion players will support boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink if he leaves to take the vacant Queens Park Rangers job, says defender Damien McCrory. |
35,292,743 | It comes after a 24-year-old man suffered stab wounds in an incident at Lon Ceiriog, Prestatyn, on Monday 4 January.
He was treated in hospital but has since been discharged.
The local man was arrested on Monday evening, said North Wales Police. | A 43-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Denbighshire. |
33,668,592 | The annual Care of Police Survivors (COPS) service was held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire.
A roll of honour of police officers who have died on duty over the past year was read out, along with readings by family members.
Force representatives laid remembrance wreaths.
Jan Berry, chairman of COPS, said: "The Service of Remembrance is a chance for us all to remember those no longer with us - and also to celebrate the memories we have of them.
"It is a culmination to a weekend of 'healing, love and life renewed' and is all part of the COPS mission - to help rebuild shattered lives." | Hundreds of people gathered for a service of remembrance for police officers who have died on duty. |
35,164,662 | It's a lovely end to 12 months that have seen me go from winning titles to struggling for motivation, suffering with glandular fever and then finding my form again.
In the last few weeks I've been able to enjoy some time at home with my boyfriend and see my brothers and their kids, and I even managed to get all my Christmas shopping done early, which makes me very happy.
I like shopping, but when I see so many people in the malls it's not so appealing!
The last time I hit a ball in competition was at the Fed Cup final five weeks ago, but after resuming fitness training earlier this month I was back on the practice court in my home town of Prostejov on 16 December.
A new season is just around the corner.
I had three weeks off after the Fed Cup final and took my parents to Dubai for a few days. It was their first visit and really fun, although it flew past so quickly, but I'm glad they saw somewhere new and we were able to enjoy it together.
It was then time for me to start preparing for 2016 and I headed to Lanzarote for the first time with my fitness trainer, David Vydra.
We didn't do a lot of running but instead tried pretty much everything else over the course of a week. In the morning we would go biking and then in the afternoon we did other sports like squash, badminton, swimming, paddle tennis, volleyball...
Playing other racquet sports is a very different experience and I must admit I didn't like squash that much - I played for the first time and it was difficult for me. I prefer badminton.
We also bumped into my fellow Czech, Jan Zelezny, the three-time Olympic javelin champion who was out there coaching three or four guys. He's very famous in the Czech Republic and a very good guy. Javelin and tennis are about the only sports I didn't try in Lanzarote.
I did play an exhibition in Bratislava after the Fed Cup final but I stepped back onto court properly last week in Prostejov and just about managed to put the ball in the court!
You don't forget that so quickly, although it does take a few days to get your rhythm and feel OK again with no pain in the arm.
As I said before, it was a strange season but one with plenty of highlights. There was Madrid, where I beat Serena - that was a great moment for me - and went on to win the title, and also the US Open was good for me this year as I reached the quarter-finals.
I'd never really played that well in New York and I finally had some good results. I hope to have more success there; I'm trying every year and despite it being difficult conditions for me, I now know I can play well there if I am healthy.
The high point of my year was the Fed Cup at the end of the season as we beat Russia in Prague to defend our title again.
Unfortunately I didn't win my second singles match against Maria Sharapova, but I think it was really great tennis. The tie came down to a deciding doubles and it is difficult watching such an important match from the sidelines.
You really can't do anything except support and be with your team-mates. Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova needed three sets and there were a lot of nerves out there, but I'm really glad that the girls made it.
It's a team competition and we really showed that we won as a team and not one individual.
A few years ago I was kind of the big player in the Czech team and the one expected to win most of the points, and I think that was what Andy Murray experienced for Great Britain in this year's Davis Cup.
When I see the Czech Davis Cup team it's very similar, with Tomas Berdych leading the way like Andy does for Britain.
I watched a little bit of the final and it was very emotional how Andy won it. He was just great. But of course he needs the team to win the Davis Cup. He can't win it by himself. And he plays with his brother, which is very unusual and special.
It is very different representing your country as a tennis player. The week is always great and we have a fantastic atmosphere in the Fed Cup team among the players and support staff, which I think not every team enjoys. As the girls we are a good group. Nothing there is a problem.
Whatever we go through during the week, by the time the weekend comes around we are supporting each other from the bench.
The tennis season is long and I think I lost a little bit of emotion for the sport at the beginning of this year. It was weird to be feeling empty on court and without any passion or love for the sport.
I took a month out and after the break I felt that passion again, which was a relief as I had been a little bit worried.
Tennis has been the major part of my life since I was 16 or 17 and moved to Prostejov, and I had to ask for an individual plan at secondary school so that I could train for tennis and play tournaments. I might have missed out on a few things along the way but I was OK with it.
It was difficult to finish school for sure, it was tough, but on the other side I'm really glad that I made it. That passion for tennis is still there, which is great.
Hopefully I can put my health issues behind me as well. I could still play despite the glandular fever but not practise as much as I wanted - but then I'm not a player who needs to practise for four hours a day. It was good that I was able to handle the situation mentally as well as physically.
I'm healthy right now and practising again, injury free, but we'll see. Let's hope it stays like this and 2016 can be a successful year.
Petra Kvitova was talking to BBC Sport's Piers Newbery | A strange year of highs and lows has ended on a wonderful note after my boyfriend Radek took me by surprise and asked me to marry him, so Christmas will be even more special this year. |
34,581,367 | The Latvian, who obtained a 20% share in the club in 2006, last met with majority shareholder Owen Oyston at the latter's house in July.
The BBC understands that offers were made on both sides, but the meeting ended without an agreement.
Asked by BBC North West Tonight if he still wanted to buy the club, he replied: "I'd love to."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Belokon also revealed that discussions have taken place with local businesspeople about forming a potential investment partnership.
"I have met local partners, who in my opinion love football. We can work together," he added.
Belokon began legal action against owner Owen Oyston and his chairman son, Karl, in September, claiming "unfair prejudice" in their running of the club.
He alleges that money was wrongly transferred to the Oystons' companies in the form of interest-free loans and remuneration payments.
Blackpool fans staged a series of protests last season against the way the Oystons were running the club, culminating in the final league game being abandoned after 48 minutes because of a pitch invasion.
The Seasiders were relegated from the Championship last term and are 22nd in League One after 12 games this term. | Blackpool president Valeri Belokon says he remains interested in buying a controlling stake in the Seasiders. |
35,864,035 | Anastasia James, 37, smoked the drug before the crash on the M1 in Leicestershire in January 2014.
Her daughter, Destiny James-Keeling, 14, and Megan Marchant, 18, died when the car left the road at 70mph and hit a tree, Leicester Crown Court heard.
James, of Thornton Close, Braunstone, had denied all charges.
Updates on this story and more from Leicestershire
She was convicted by a jury of two counts of causing death by careless driving when unfit through drugs and is due to be sentenced next month.
The court heard she had been at a child's birthday party in Islington, north London, before she took the "unforgivable" decision to smoke cannabis - which she did either before setting off or during the journey back to Leicester.
Prosecutor Michael Evans QC said James's Vauxhall Astra convertible veered into the central reservation near Shawell, then travelled across three lanes of the M1 before plunging down a verge, becoming airborne and hitting a tree at 50mph.
Destiny and Megan died within minutes of the crash. James's son Wade survived.
Forensic scientist David Berry told the jury traces of cannabis found in James's blood would have probably "impaired" the motorist. He said it was "impossible" she had smoked the drug passively.
James said she had switched from using cannabis to a legal high because of her job as a private investigator.
James - who had stitches for a head wound after the crash - denied smoking anything on the day of the collision and blamed her car.
"I just remember going straight and then this feeling of pulling," she told jurors.
"That's the point where I was really holding on tight to the wheel - it was just like a wobbly sensation. I couldn't actually stop it from pulling to the right."
The court heard James, who was convicted of possessing cannabis in 2000, had previously been involved in drug education and has a degree in youth and community development.
Det Sgt Mark Partridge, from the East Midlands Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "This case shows the shocking effects of driving whilst under the influence of drugs.
"The deaths and now the subsequent conviction has devastated the families of all those involved."
James, who was granted bail, was warned by Recorder Paul Mann QC she faces a jail term. | A mother who smoked cannabis before killing her daughter and her son's girlfriend in a car crash has been found guilty. |
22,299,403 | Its summary position stated there was an "urgent need" to start pulling redundant objects out of the sky.
Scientists estimate there are nearly 30,000 items circling the Earth larger than 10cm in size.
Some are whole satellites and rocket bodies, but many are just fragments.
These have resulted from explosions in fuel tanks and batteries, and from the high-velocity impacts between objects.
Upwards of 10cm is trackable with radar, but there are tens of thousands more pieces that are smaller and move unseen.
And it is the prospect of an increase in the frequency of catastrophic collisions among all this material that now worries the experts.
"There is a consensus among debris researchers that the present orbit debris-environment is at the rim of becoming unstable within a few decades, a phenomenon that is commonly known as the Kessler Syndrome, and that only active removal of five to 10 large objects per year can reverse the debris growth," Prof Heiner Klinkrad, the head of the European Space Agency's (Esa) Space Debris Office told reporters.
Prof Klinkrad was the chairman for the 6th European Conference on Space Debris in Darmstadt, Germany.
The meeting was presented with a study earlier in the week that suggested the population of objects in low-Earth orbits (LEO) - the important altitudes used by imaging spacecraft to health-check the planet - would likely rise steadily over the next 200 years even under the most optimistic of scenarios.
The research highlighted the need for better adherence to best-practice guidelines.
These "rules" call on space operators in LEO to make sure their equipment naturally falls out of the sky within 25 years of the end of a mission.
But compliance with the guidelines is far from perfect, and the panel said active removal was now the urgent topic on the agenda.
Quite how much time there was to act before conditions became intolerable was not yet clear, said Christophe Bonnal from the French space agency (Cnes).
"We say we want to 'stabilise' the environment. Does that mean we are satisfied with today's situation? Could we live with a situation that is two times worse than today, or do we need to decrease [the debris population]? These are questions which are ongoing at international level," he told BBC News.
Active removal would see new spacecraft launched specifically to take other, redundant satellites out of orbit. And the Darmstadt meeting was presented with an array of concepts that included the use of nets, harpoons, tentacles, ion thrusters and lasers.
The conference summary panel told the media it was vital that pilot programmes were implemented to advance these technologies.
A few have been approved. The German Space Agency (DLR) is developing a project called DEOS that would demonstrate the robotic capture of a tumbling object in space.
"In this mission, what we want to show is that it is technically possible to safely approach a satellite, which we launch together with our main satellite, to capture it by means of a robotic arm and to perform a number of services like repairing or maintenance operations," explained DLR's Dr Manuel Metz.
"Many of the technologies which are currently being developed for DEOS would be useful for potential future international active debris-removal missions."
The experts also stated that the international community needed to sort through the myriad legal issues that would currently frustrate attempts to clean up space.
At the moment, international law permits only the launching nation or agency to touch an object in orbit, something that would prevent, for example, commercial debris removal activities.
"My dream is that a new agency like the International Telecommunications Union will be proposed at UN level to coordinate all this activity," said Dr Claudio Portelli from the Italian space agency (Asi).
Esa was hosting this week's meeting. It has two old satellites in orbit that are likely to become targets for a future de-orbiting exercise.
ERS-1 and Envisat both suffered major failures that left them drifting uncontrolled through LEO.
The duo can be tracked but nothing can be done to move them off a potential collision course, should one arise.
Envisat in particular is considered a high priority for removal because of its great size - over eight tonnes.
However, de-orbiting this dead satellite would probably be very expensive. And the robotic spacecraft sent up to bring Envisat down would itself be very large.
Prof Klinkrad explained: "If you want to have a controlled de-orbit - and this is what you should have for Envisat because large portions are going to survive to ground impact - then you should have a highly energetic chemical propulsion system, and to reliably de-orbit Envisat from its altitude you'd need, I'd say, about 6% of its mass in terms of fuel.
"With everything included, you are talking about a two-tonne-type spacecraft [to do the de-orbiting]," he told BBC News.
To date, there have only been a handful of major collisions in orbit involving the largest objects.
Perhaps the best known was the 2009 impact between the defunct Russian Cosmos 2251 spacecraft and the American Iridium 33 satellite. The collision produced over 1,500 trackable fragments, many of which continue to pose a threat to operational missions.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos | There is now so much debris in orbit that the space environment is close to a cascade of collisions that would make space extremely hazardous, a major international meeting has concluded. |
34,630,400 | Bulgaria said that it, Romania and Serbia would act if states further north, which migrants hope to reach, close their doors.
The threat comes ahead of talks between Balkan states and EU members.
Slovenia's president said his country would "act on its own before it is too late" if no solution was reached.
Prime Minister Miro Cerar had previously refused to rule out building a fence along its border with Croatia.
The International Organization for Migration said that more than 9,000 migrants arrived in Greece every day last week - the highest rate so far this year.
Most of the migrants - including many refugees from the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - want to reach Germany to claim asylum.
Germany says it expects to take in 800,000 asylum seekers this year. The procession of those seeking a route north is leading to bottlenecks in parts of southern and eastern Europe, where many countries say they lack the resources to look after new arrivals.
Bottlenecks have also been exacerbated in part by Hungary closing its borders with Serbia and Croatia, forcing migrants to seek alternative routes north.
Slovenia saw 58,000 arrivals in the week leading up to Saturday, and many people are waiting in wet and cold conditions.
While Germany has not indicated it would refuse more migrants, Bulgaria's prime minister said on Saturday that his country, Romania and Serbia would respond immediately if it did so.
"We are standing ready, if Germany and Austria close their borders, not to allow our countries to become buffer zones," Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said. "We will be ready to close borders."
Slovenia's President Borut Pahor echoed Mr Borisov's concerns, saying it "cannot become a pocket in which refugees would be stuck" if Germany and Austria refused to take migrants.
On his Facebook page, Mr Pahor said the success of Sunday's summit would be measured partly on whether stricter controls are implemented to stop migrants travelling from Turkey to Greece.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said such controls were the only solution. "Everything else is a waste of time," he said.
The leaders of all affected countries will attend the emergency summit in Brussels.
German media say countries will be presented with a 16-point plan by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
In an interview published on Sunday by the German newspaper Bild, Mr Juncker said it was crucial Balkan countries stop "passing on" migrants to neighbouring countries.
Countries "must take care to uphold orderly procedures and conditions," Mr Juncker told Bild.
Mr Milanovic dismissed Mr Juncker's plan, saying: "Whoever wrote this does not understand how things work and must have just woken up from a months'-long sleep." | Balkan countries at the front line of the migrant crisis say they could close their borders to avoid becoming buffer zones for new arrivals. |
40,084,713 | Visitors were led away from Hamerton Zoo Park, near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, at about 11:15 BST.
A spokeswoman for the attraction denied claims on social media that a tiger had escaped from its enclosure.
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said: "We can confirm that no animals have escaped and members of the public are safe."
She continued: "Officers were called at around 11.15am to reports of a serious incident at Hamerton Zoo Park, Steeple Gidding.
"Officers attended the scene along with ambulance crews and Magpas (Mid Anglia General Practitioner Accident Service - air ambulance).
"We are unable to provide further information at this time."
A Magpas spokesman said: "At 11:34am today, the air ambulance landed in a public place near Sawtry in Cambridgeshire, after the Magpas enhanced medical team were called to a very serious incident.
"An East of England Ambulance Service paramedic crew and two rapid response vehicles were also in attendance, alongside the police."
The zoo said it will remained closed for the day and a full statement will be issued later.
Hamerton Zoo Park includes enclosures for Malaysian tigers, Bengal tigers, cheetahs, wolves, corsac foxes, kangaroos as well as a variety of birds, reptiles and domestic animals. | A zoo has been evacuated due to what police have called a "serious incident". |
39,522,682 | Matt Jarvis, yet to make a first-team appearance this season, has suffered another setback in his recovery from a knee injury.
Fulham keeper Marcus Bettinelli will keep his place after coming in for David Button in the win over Ipswich.
Full-back Denis Odoi remains out, but midfielder Scott Parker could feature after recovering from a back injury. | Norwich caretaker manager Alan Irvine may name an unchanged side after the 7-1 defeat of Reading on Saturday. |
25,133,751 | The British Sugar plant on Boroughbridge Road closed in 2007 and the buildings were demolished.
The land's owners, Associated British Foods (ABF), said its development would include housing and public open spaces on the 104 acre (42 hectare) site.
David Mills, of ABF, said he wanted to hear the views of local people on the scheme.
York City Council is applying for government grants to make the housing energy and water efficient and to pay for green transport initiatives.
David Mills said the open space would be "equivalent to the size of Rowntree Park".
The plans are on public display in York over the next few days.
If planning permission is approved, work is expected to start within 12 months. | Plans to build more than 1,000 homes on the site of a former sugar factory in York will go on public display. |
37,281,656 | The Northern Irishman started six shots behind overnight leader Paul Casey, but seven birdies in a six-under-par 65 saw him finish two shots clear at 15 under.
England's Casey, 39, missed an eagle putt on the final hole at TPC Boston that would have forced a play-off.
It was 27-year-old McIlroy's first tournament win since the Irish Open in May and first PGA title since May 2015.
The victory comes just a week after he changed his putter and putting coach.
"I knew my game was in good shape, I just needed to do something with the putting," said McIlroy. "I found something.
"I still need to keep going with it, it's definitely not the finished article, but it's a big step in the right direction.
"I'm excited with how my game is and what I've found this week, and hopefully I can keep it going for the next couple of tournaments, but ultimately into the Ryder Cup."
The Deutsche Bank Championship is the second of the four that make up the season-ending FedEx Cup.
McIlroy will rise 34 places to fourth in the FedEx Cup standings - and nearer the $10m (£7.52m) prize for the winner - as a result of his victory.
The competition features the top 100 players in the world. The leading 70 after this weekend progress to next week's BMW Championship, where the field will be reduced to 30 for the Tour Championship on 22-25 September. | Rory McIlroy won the Deutsche Bank Championship to claim his first PGA Tour title for 16 months. |
39,787,839 | Successive mayors have tried to get the legislation to cap the increasing number of minicabs, driven in part by apps like Uber.
So far they have failed which has meant that Transport for London (TfL) has to issue Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) licences if the drivers meet the requirements.
Currently, there are 118,000 licensed private hire drivers who have been blamed for congestion, pollution and an increase in collisions.
If you look at the regulation around this market, you can see where it has been outpaced.
It is only now that more compliance officers are being recruited, and soon there will be 350 officers to police 139,000 vehicles. Previously there were 82 officers.
To pay for that, TfL is having to introduce large fees for minicab operators, some will be millions of pounds.
Helen Chapman, general manager of taxi and private hire at TfL, said: "The operator fees system is no longer fit for purpose.
"It is only fair that licence fees for private hire operators accurately reflect the costs of enforcement and regulating the trade.
"The changes to fees would also enable us to fund additional compliance officers to help crackdown on illegal and dangerous activity."
Even basic data gathering such as the number of collisions and occupants injured in taxis and private hire vehicles isn't split between the two trades.
Although that is now changing, the existing data gives an interesting picture. Between 2013 and 2015 the number of passengers injured in taxis and minicabs went up from 544 to 827 - an increase of 52%.
The corresponding figures for black cabs shows they have remained static at about 21,000 over that period but the number of PHVs went up 54% from 65,656 to 101,434.
There are now calls from the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly for drivers to be banned from using what they think is causing the problem: apps while driving.
Black cab organisations like the London Cab Drivers Club would also like to see them restricted and they also want much clearer guidance from the Met Police and TfL about when they can be used.
At the moment, TfL says it is up to the individual drivers to make sure they are driving safely.
An Uber spokesperson said: "It is against the law to hold a mobile phone or device in your hand while driving. Drivers must be in proper control of their vehicle and concentrating on the road at all times."
In the middle of a rapidly changing world, it is TfL whose old systems cannot cope with the changing landscape. | If there is one area where technology has outpaced regulation in London - and in many other major cities - it has been the rapidly changing taxi and private hire market. |
37,633,039 | A race is on to curb new outbreaks before the imminent rainy season makes toilets overflow, helping cholera to spread.
"The top priority, clearly, for those people affected by the hurricane is to give them access to safe water. That's the only way we can control cholera," Dr Dominique Legros, a WHO expert, said on Tuesday.
Cholera killed around 10,000 people in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake, when UN peacekeepers introduced it to the country by emptying toilet waste into the Meille River, a major water source.
Now the same communities face another mass tragedy. So what can be done to stop the epidemic?
The WHO wants to give Haitians an oral vaccine, which is taken in liquid form. Usually, patients get a double dose. But in this case a single dose may be used to cover twice as many people - a million instead of 500,000.
"So far, we have one experience of a large-scale campaign with a single dose - it was done in Bangladesh two years ago. It proved effective for six months," Dr Legros said.
But Dr Jean-Luc Poncelet, who is the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and WHO representative in Haiti, warns the vaccine is not a complete solution.
"It's only 65% effective. So 35 out of 100 people could still get cholera," he told the BBC.
While immunity is one factor, people in high-risk areas urgently need clean water so they are not exposed to the bacteria in the first place.
Cholera spreads rapidly when sewage is not treated, hygiene is poor and drinking water is unsafe.
To combat these issues, Dr Poncelet says chlorine should be used to sterilise water both at its source and in people's kitchens.
"You can chlorinate the wells," he explains. "The distribution systems that do exist must be chlorinated every single day of the year. A well can be treated with chlorine, and if it is sealed properly, that well can be perfectly protected."
At home, Haitians can kill deadly bacteria by putting a few drops of chlorine in the water they use. It's an affordable solution, as a month's supply for a family of six costs around 85 US cents.
Unicef says that before the hurricane, only one in three people in Haiti had access to proper latrines, and under three in five had safe water. In rural areas, this drops to one in four for toilets and just one in two for water.
Dr Poncelet says awareness campaigns can encourage people to adopt safer habits, especially regular hand-washing.
Cholera can be lethal, but isn't actually as deadly as many people believe. With rapid treatment, many sufferers recover.
Cholera patients need to be rehydrated - and if this happens promptly, fewer than 1% will die.
Most patients can be successfully treated with an oral rehydration solution, to replace the fluids and salts lost to diarrhoea and vomiting. Very sick people may also be put on an intravenous drip.
The WHO advises that while antibiotics can reduce the length and severity of the illness, rehydration is the single most important thing.
Hurricane-ravaged Haiti mourns dead
Haiti at risk of 'real famine'
Haitians describe Hurricane ordeal
Hurricane Matthew killed at least 1,000 people in Haiti and left 1.4 million in need of aid - including hundreds of thousands who lost their homes and crops. The United Nations (UN) has called for $120m (£98m) in emergency funds, and aid agencies are rushing to boost relief efforts on the ground.
Chlorine tablets are not hard to transport, but much will depend on getting them over damaged roads and bridges to stricken parts of Haiti's battered southern peninsula.
Dr Poncelet insists that despite the challenges ahead, Haiti need not be doomed to another huge cholera death toll.
"I am quite optimistic," he told the BBC. "The most likely scenario is an increase in the number of cases. The rainy season from October-January sees an increased number.
"But for the first time we have access to vaccines in a larger number - a million from the global stock. That will not solve the problem, but it's an additional tool we did not have in the past.
"If we really work in a co-ordinated fashion, then we should avoid the massive epidemic of 2011." | The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending a million doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti, where more than 200 cases of the killer disease have been reported since Hurricane Matthew struck on 4 October. |
40,751,150 | Nine of the band's albums are in this week's top 100, five of which are inside the top 40.
Lana Del Rey's new album Lust for Life tops the chart, making it her third UK number one, according to the Official Charts Company.
Despacito is still number one in the singles chart, which it has now topped for 10 non-consecutive weeks.
Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory is their highest-placing album at number four. It includes hit song In the End, which is the highest-charting Linkin Park entry on this week's singles chart at number 14.
The band have now become the first US band in 50 years to secure three albums in the top 10.
In the singles chart, Luis Fonsi's Despacito - featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber - becomes one of only five tracks to have reigned at number one on three separate occasions.
Bieber's 2015 hit What Do You Mean has previously achieved this record, making him the only artist to have achieved this twice.
Following closely behind the Spanglish track is DJ Khaled's Wild Thoughts, featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, at number two.
It's been a great week for the three artists as the song has also been nominated for video of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards 2017.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Linkin Park records are flooding the charts following the death of the band's frontman Chester Bennington. |
37,978,249 | The 38-year-old, whose contract expires at the end of the year, wrote on Instagram that his time at the club had "come to an end".
He said he will reveal "the next stage" of his career "very soon".
Lampard scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for New York, in a two-year spell that was interrupted by a loan spell at Manchester City.
New York City were beaten 7-0 on aggregate by Toronto FC in the MLS play-offs this month.
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In an interview with Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker in October, Lampard said he was keen to move into coaching.
Lampard said: "I have very much enjoyed my time, and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to play for such a great club and in such an incredible city.
"I leave with many great memories."
Lampard left Chelsea in 2014 as the club's record scorer with 211 goals.
He signed a deal with New York City in July 2014, before joining their sister club Manchester City on loan in August, a move which "outraged" New York City fans.
He scored eight goals during a loan spell that was extended to cover the 2014-15 season.
In May 2016, he was described as "the worst signing in MLS history" as injuries and his spell back in the Premier League restricted his appearances.
But he rediscovered his form for New York City, scoring 12 goals in 14 games, and the city celebrated "Frank Lampard Day" in September.
Former England team-mate and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard could also be set to end his spell in the United States.
Gerrard, 36, is out of contract at MLS side LA Galaxy and has suggested he could go into coaching at former club Liverpool. | Former England and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has said he is leaving MLS side New York City. |
38,314,690 | The 26-year-old was out of contract at the end of the season but his new deal ties him to the club until 2019.
Former Exeter trainee Norwood moved to Rovers from Forest Green in July 2015 and has netted 30 goals since then.
"I've enjoyed playing here for the last year or so and the fans have been great to me, so it didn't take long to agree a new deal," he told the club website. | Tranmere Rovers striker James Norwood has agreed a new two-and-a-half year deal with the National League side. |
35,854,413 | Under the deal, migrants arriving in Greece are now expected to be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or their claim is rejected.
The influx of people crossing to Greek islands grew ahead of the deadline, and Greece said it would not be able to implement the deal immediately.
On Sunday, volunteers on the Greek island of Lesbos were dealing with the first arrivals under the new regime.
Just hours before the agreement came into force, a four-month-old baby girl drowned when a boat carrying migrants sank off the Turkish coast, Turkey's Anadolu agency reported.
The deal says that for every Syrian migrant sent back to Turkey, one Syrian already in Turkey will be resettled in the EU.
However, there were still many doubts about the implementation of the agreement, including how the migrants would be sent back.
Some 2,300 experts, including security and migration officials and translators, are set to arrive in Greece to help enforce the deal.
But Greek officials said none of the experts had yet arrived and the deal could not be implemented immediately as key details still needed to be worked out.
"A plan like this cannot be put in place in only 24 hours," said government migration spokesman Giorgos Kyritsis, quoted by AFP.
With the deal, it is hoped people will be discouraged from making the dangerous journey by sea from Turkey to Greece. In return, Turkey will receive aid and political concessions.
Since January 2015, one million migrants and refugees have entered the EU by boat from Turkey to Greece. More than 143,000 have arrived this year alone, and about 460 have died, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The Turkey-EU statement in full
Most of them are keen to go to Germany and other northern European Union countries, and tens of thousands are now stuck in Greece as their route north has been blocked.
Critics, however, have said the deal could force migrants determined to reach Europe to start using other and potentially more dangerous routes, such as the journey between North Africa and Italy.
On Saturday, the Italian coastguard said more than 900 people were rescued amid an increase in traffic through the Strait of Sicily.
And Libyan authorities said the bodies of four women were recovered but at least 20 others were still missing after a boat carrying migrants sank off the country's coast.
Officials there said they rescued nearly 600 people from three other boats on Saturday.
Human rights groups have strongly criticised the deal, with Amnesty International accusing the EU of turning "its back on a global refugee crisis".
On Saturday, thousands of people protested in support of refugees and against racism. Rallies were held in London, Athens, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Geneva and some other cities.
In the Greek capital, protesters, including some Afghan refugees, chanted "Open the borders" and "We are human beings, we have rights".
In London, about 4,000 people joined a protest carrying placards with slogans like "Refugees welcome here" and "Stand up to racism".
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. | An EU-Turkey deal to tackle the migrant crisis has formally come into effect. |
34,793,511 | Yousaf Syed, 20, said he understood the sacrifice of soldiers in two world wars, but today all he could see was Iraq and Afghanistan's destruction.
He blamed Tony Blair for the rise of the self-styled Islamic State (IS).
Mr Syed, of High Wycombe, is one of three men who deny preparing for acts of terrorism.
His cousin Nadir Syed and another man, Haseeb Hamayoon, both of west London, also deny the charge.
Prosecutors say the men had bought knives after being inspired by IS to carry out an attack similar to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. They were arrested days before last year's Remembrance Sunday.
The defendants accept they shared graphic and offensive material online but say there was no plan to kill anyone - nor would they wish to.
Giving evidence at Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Syed said he was not a follower of IS and a trip to Turkey in early 2014 had been a cultural holiday, including an opportunity to see the Prophet Muhammad's slippers.
Paul Hynes QC, defending, asked him to explain why he had been filmed laughing with his cousin as they stamped on a Royal British Legion poppy.
"It represents British foreign policy that has destroyed two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.
"It does represent World War One and World War Two and Muslims fought in those wars - but today I see Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The poppy represented British foreign policy at the time of Tony Blair, who at the time was the most hated PM in Britain."
"It represents your hatred of British foreign policy?" asked Mr Hynes.
"That's correct."
Mr Syed said he had "no hard feelings" for soldiers who had died in the world wars.
And then he added: "Iraq specifically, they died in an invasion that should not have happened - the individuals [were] just doing their job.
"The person responsible was Tony Blair. Destroyed the country and created Islamic State."
My Hynes asked Mr Syed what he thought about Lee Rigby's 2013 murder and his client replied that the killers had been theologically ignorant.
He denied that some of his online discussions about the killing had demonstrated sympathy and support for the killers.
The trial continues. | A man accused of preparing a terror act around last year's Remembrance Day has told his trial the poppy represents his hatred of British foreign policy. |
39,466,488 | At least 10 hospitals across the county have been earmarked for closure, or a reduction in beds or services.
The clinical commissioning group (CCG) overseeing the changes, said its aim was to ensure access to "consistently excellent care".
But angry demonstrators said the cuts would "devastate" services and should not go ahead.
Save Our Hospital Services organisers said April Fools Day was chosen to protest against the plans because the threat was "no joke".
Protests have taken place in Ilfracombe, Torrington, Bideford, Ottery, Sidmouth, Seaton, Barnstaple, Torbay, South Molton and Exeter.
A similar protest took place on Friday in Holsworthy, where overnight services have been temporarily closed due to staff shortages.
The proposals are part of NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group's "Sustainability and Transformation Plan" (STP), which opponents claim will cut more than £500m from health spending in the county.
"The STP will devastate the services we all depend on and must be stopped," protester Di Fuller said.
"At a time of black and red alerts with hospitals across Devon in crisis, only a fool can think about introducing the STP."
Tim Burke, a GP and CCG chair, said while the NHS wholeheartedly supported "open and frank" debate, protesters should not prevent access to hospitals for patients, staff and visitors.
"We understand that people are passionate and rightly proud of the NHS and want to express their views," he said.
Dr Burke said services were under severe financial pressure and to ensure everyone had access to consistently-excellent care - whether from a hospital or community-based services - it was essential the NHS and local communities "work together to identify how best to meet rising demand". | Protesters have formed human "red lines" outside community hospitals in Devon over proposed cuts. |
35,244,416 | George Smith, 55, punched, kicked and stamped on Steven Larkin, 45, before throttling him at Stravanan Road, Castlemilk, Glasgow, in December 2014.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Mr Larkin was attacked inside Smith's home then dragged from the flat and killed.
Smith denied murder but was convicted by a majority verdict. He was ordered to serve a minimum of 14 years.
Judge Lord Matthews said the death had brought "anguish" to those close to Mr Larkin.
As the sentence was passed, a large group of Mr Larkin's family and friends in court celebrated by clapping as well as exchanging high-fives.
An earlier hearing was told that the brutal beating Mr Larkin suffered was not life-threatening.
His death came from being strangled with his scarf.
It emerged after the guilty verdict that Smith has a number of previous convictions, including one for violence. | A man has been jailed for life for the murder of a father-of-one who was beaten and strangled with a scarf. |
40,372,497 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Fourth seed Cilic beat 19-year-old American Stefan Kozlov 6-0 6-4.
"Serving well is they key on grass and I did that really well again today," said the 2012 champion, who is yet to face a break point.
American Querrey, the 2010 winner, beat Jordan Thompson - conqueror of Andy Murray - 7-5 (7-3) 3-6 6-3.
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, champion in 2014, is already through to the last eight, where he will face Russia's Daniil Medvedev.
The 19-year-old beat Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-2 6-2.
Spain's Feliciano Lopez saw off Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-1 7-6 (7-4) in the remaining second-round contest.
In the doubles quarter-finals, third seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beat Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 10-6.
Croatia's Cilic, 28, is the highest seed left in the draw after Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic all lost on Tuesday.
"It happens quite often," said the former US Open champion.
"We are playing so many tournaments during the year and it's very rarely that all the top seeds are going through.
"So it's not easy, especially at a tournament like this where there's so many great players, great grass-court players.
"Considering also that it's one of the first weeks on grass, it's always very tricky."
Cilic has looked sharp in his opening two rounds and goes on to face American Donald Young for a place in the semi-finals.
Querrey ended the hopes of lucky loser Thompson, the Australian ranked 90 in the world who stunned five-time champion Murray.
"I don't feel like the win from seven years ago has any effect on how I play today," said Querrey, referring to his tournament win in 2010.
"That was fun to win, but seven years is a long time ago."
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
Kokkinakis, 21, had caused a major upset with his victory over Raonic on day two, but could not back up such a strong performance.
The Australian is ranked 698th following a succession of injuries and on Tuesday became the lowest-ranked player to beat a top-six opponent since 1994.
Medvedev proved much tougher opposition, however, repeating his win over Kokkinakis in the Netherlands last week as he fired down 13 aces.
"I'm happy I managed to show a very solid game, I was serving amazing," said the Russian, ranked 60th.
Roger Federer took another step towards a ninth Halle title and boosted his Wimbledon hopes with victory over Germany's Mischa Zverev.
The Swiss, 35, won 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals in Germany, and ensure he will be seeded at least fourth for Wimbledon next month.
That means he will avoid meeting Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal before the semi-finals at the All England Club.
Federer will play Germany's Florian Mayer in the last eight in Halle. | Marin Cilic and Sam Querrey ensured there will be three former champions in the quarter-finals with victories on day four of the Aegon Championships. |
34,808,865 | The chart-topping song has sold more than 600,000 copies, earning it a commendation from the British Phonographic Industry.
Hello sold 34,000 more copies than this week's number two, Justin Bieber's Sorry, and was the most-streamed track with 4.7 million listens.
Elvis Presley's If I Can Dream was the number one album for a second week.
Presley's classic songs, reworked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, had a better run that its first week with 88,600 combined sales.
It is just short of the 2015 record set by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, who sold 89,110 copies of Chasing Yesterday in March.
Former X Factor winners Little Mix's third album, Get Weird, charted at number two, while Ellie Goulding's third solo album Delirium entered the charts at three.
A re-issue of The Beatles' album 1, which originally spent nine weeks at number one in 2000, also made the top five.
Ed Sheeran set a new record as his album x became the longest reigning in the top 10 for a British artist.
It has been in the chart for 73 consecutive weeks after being released in June 2014.
Adele's long awaited new album 25 is due for release on 20 November. | Adele's comeback single Hello has achieved platinum sales status three weeks after it was released. |
35,523,068 | Cheryl James was treated in hospital after taking "six-to-eight" painkillers in 1992 after the death of her cousin, her father told the hearing.
Des James viewed it as a cry for help at a tough time for the family.
The family's lawyer said the death of 18-year-old Pte James may not have been self-inflicted.
Pte James, from Denbighshire, was found shot dead at the base in November 1995 - one of four deaths of recruits at Deepcut between 1995 and 2002 amid claims of bullying and abuse.
The army said the bullet wound to her head was self-inflicted, but in 1995 a coroner recorded an open verdict.
Mr James, the first person to testify at the new inquest, granted by the High Court in 2014 as a result of the emergence of new evidence, told the coroner he hoped for a "thorough" investigation into his daughter's death.
"As long as at the end of the inquest I'm able to feel confident everything that could be done has been done, I would be satisfied," he said.
Mr James was involved in sharp exchanges with a barrister representing Surrey Police, during which it emerged his daughter had taken six-to-eight paracetamol while at school following the death of her cousin, Rob, in 1992.
He said: "I guess there was an assumption that it was a cry for help and it became a part of what we were all going through."
Mr James also said he had been unaware until after the first inquest of letters from his daughter saying she had wanted to leave the Army.
The Woking Coroner's Court hearing also heard Pte James had been the victim of an alleged rape by two boys when she was 14.
Who were the Deepcut four? Background to the deaths and timeline of events
Mr James told the inquest he and his wife Doreen were not aware of the alleged rape at the time.
"All my wife knew was she wanted to get the morning-after pill," he said. "The alleged assault was something we found out about a lot later."
Earlier, the family's barrister said there was evidence there might have been a "third-party involvement" in Pte James's death.
Alison Foster QC, acting of behalf of human rights organisation Liberty and representing Pte James's family, said: "Now there is distinguished pathological evidence showing that the shot that killed Cheryl James may not have been self-inflicted.
But John Beggs QC, acting for Surrey Police, dismissed such claims as speculative.
He questioned Mr James's assertion that the police investigation had been cursory.
He said the force had been dealing with a serial rapist and the search for schoolgirl Milly Dowler at the same time as looking again at Cheryl's death in 2002.
And he asked him: "Did it ever occur to you that you yourself may have been distracting Surrey Police?"
Coroner Brian Barker QC intervened, saying he was not happy with the line of questioning.
Earlier in the hearing, Mr Beggs said evidence that Pte James was a "troubled young lady who might have had suicidal thoughts " had "intensified" since Nicholas Blake QC's review of the case.
He said the review, in 2006, had heard Pte James had talked about the death of another recruit, Pte Sean Benton, while on lone guard duty and she had "mentioned shooting herself around this time".
"She had personal problems in her private life to resolve," he said. "There was an absence of any reason why this popular young woman would be subjected to an attack by another."
The inquest is expected to last up to seven weeks and hear evidence from more than 100 people. | A teenage soldier found dead at the Deepcut Army base in Surrey 20 years ago took an overdose three years earlier, an inquest has heard. |
35,037,115 | Irish police believe Ivan Vaughan, whose stage name was Simon Scott, was swept away by flood water after getting out of his car as he returned from Glaslough on Sunday evening.
The victim was 70 and from Caledon in County Tyrone.
He was found at about 11:25 local time at Corraghdown, Glaslough.
Mr Vaughan's body was found about 10 metres from his car.
Vinny O'Donnell was a lifelong friend of Mr Vaughan.
"He was a good friend of mine and a great entertainer and it's a very, very, very sad loss. especially for his loving family who must be feeling it now just tragically coming up to Christmas," he said.
Mr O'Donnell heard about his friend's death from a fellow musician.
"My first thought was pure and utter shock, I couldn't take it in," he said.
"You try to put in your mind what was going through his head hitting that flood at night, we're never going to know.
"It's just another tragic, very tragic accident and for him to be taken from us in such a way. It's just very hard to take in."
He said that in his heyday, Mr Vaughan was "very debonair and very good looking".
"All the women just adored him but he was a very, very talented singer and performer. His one man shows were brilliant, very professional.
"There will be a lot of fans who will be very sad to hear such tragic news.
"Apart from the music, he'll be remembered as a very warm-hearted, very genuine, very warm, well-manned person. He was a pure gentleman, sadly he's gone."
Irish police said Mr Vaughan's death did not appear to be suspicious.
He had been reported missing earlier on Monday morning.
Mr Vaughan performed with the group the Plattermen in the 1960s and 70s and recently worked as a solo artist. | A former showband singer who died in a flood in County Monaghan has been described by a friend as one of "life's true gentlemen". |
38,376,729 | The 32-year-old Essex batsman took the role in 2012 and led his country to Ashes victories in 2013 and 2015.
However, during last year's 4-0 Test series defeat in India he admitted to having "questions" over his role.
"Stepping down has been an incredibly hard decision but I know this is the correct decision for me and at the right time for the team," said Cook.
"Playing for England really is a privilege and I hope to carry on as a Test player, making a full contribution and helping the next England captain and the team however I can."
The England and Wales Cricket Board has started the process of selecting Cook's successor, with his fellow batsman Joe Root regarded as the favourite.
Director of cricket Andrew Strauss said the ECB hoped to make an appointment before England depart for a three-match one-day international series in the West Indies on 22 February.
Strauss, who Cook replaced as captain, said his successor was owed "a great debt of gratitude" by his country.
"He's led the team with determination, conviction and a huge amount of pride over the last five years and his record stands for itself," added Strauss.
"He deserves to be seen as one of our country's great captains."
Speculation over Cook's future first arose before the winter tour of India, when he said he was looking forward to a time when he was no longer captain.
Although England gained a creditable draw in the first Test, their performances deteriorated.
In the fourth Test they became only the third side to lose by an innings after making 400 or more batting first, a result that sealed a series defeat and after which Cook said he thought Root was "ready" to lead.
The fifth Test saw the tourists again beaten by an innings after hitting 477 batting first, this time with India piling on 759-7, their highest Test total and the largest made by any side against England.
In the aftermath, former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott called on Cook to step aside, while ex-captain Michael Vaughan said he expected the opener to stand down.
Cook always maintained his future would be decided in a regular post-series debrief with Strauss.
The former team-mates met to discuss the India tour in January, but Cook had already indicated he would like more time to consider his position, with Strauss keen to give his old opening partner ample opportunity to come to a decision.
However, despite being publicly backed to stay on by coach Trevor Bayliss and a number of players, the Essex batsman has opted to quit, informing ECB chairman Colin Graves of his decision on Sunday.
More to follow. | Alastair Cook has resigned as England Test captain after a record 59 matches in charge. |
40,211,461 | Reading East, which has been held by Tory Rob Wilson since 2005, fell to Labour's Matt Rodda with a 9.8% swing.
In Slough, new MP Tan Dhesi increased Labour's share of the vote by 14.4% and became the UK's first turban-wearing Sikh MP.
Conservative MPs were re-elected in Reading West, Maidenhead, Windsor, Bracknell, Newbury and Wokingham.
In a bruising night for the Tories nationally, the party suffered its most damaging Berkshire loss in Reading East.
Labour's Matt Rodda won that - with a majority of 3,749 - overturning Conservative Rob Wilson's previous 6,520 majority.
Mr Rodda said he was "a bit surprised" by his victory and believes Labour "set a new tone for politics in the south" during the election campaign.
However, in neighbouring Reading West, Conservative Alok Sharma held off the Labour challenge and won with a reduced 2,876 majority.
Slough had been a target seat for the Conservatives but Labour's Tan Dhesi held the seat with an increased 16,998 majority.
When asked by the BBC how he felt to be the first turban-wearing Sikh MP, Mr Dhesi said he was "proud and honoured".
"It is a great honour and privilege to serve the town where I was raised," he added.
Elsewhere, Prime Minister Mrs May retained her Maidenhead seat with a 26,457 majority.
Despite her party's disappointing results elsewhere, she said: "My resolve this morning is the same as it always has been."
In Bracknell, Labour almost doubled its share of the vote. However, Conservative Dr Phillip Lee still prevailed with a 16,016 majority.
Dr Lee said the Conservatives now needed to examine why they were "not appealing to young voters".
Former secretary of state for Wales John Redwood held Wokingham with a 18,798 majority, while Richard Benyon won with a 24,380 majority in Newbury.
In Windsor Adam Afriyie held Windsor for the Tories with a 22,384 majority. | Labour have dented the Conservative dominance in Berkshire. |
36,551,895 | Everybody says go to Kyoto and stare in awe at the place. Nobody says go to Toyota City and walk about in the rain. Nobody says go to Toyota City full-stop.
Scotland are here though. Ahead of Saturday's opening Test against Japan, they're residing in the heart of this hot, humid, unfailingly friendly and, on Thursday, unceasingly wet industrial city - twinned with Derby - an hour and a half by Bullet train from the delights of Tokyo.
You make your own fun in Toyota City and better than most visitors, probably in modern times, Damien Hoyland did precisely that by playing, and training, his way into Vern Cotter's starting team for Saturday - his second cap for his country but his first start.
Toyota City must have seemed like some kind of trippy combination of the world's greatest cities to Hoyland, a place that he will, all going well, remember fondly until the end of time.
To listen to Hoyland's reaction to getting selected was to be reminded of the power of days like these. He spoke with emotion and pride, he called the whole thing surreal, he said that when he stops to think about what Flower of Scotland is going to be like on Saturday then he almost has to fight the tears.
This was a journey into innocence, a player speaking from the heart. And it was lovely.
Scotland are favourites to win on Saturday. It might be a different story if Japan were picking from a full deck of players, but they're not. Far from it.
Too many of the immortals of Brighton, where they beat South Africa in the World Cup, are not around right now. Too many key players missing in too many key positions.
Japan have had the heart ripped out of the team because of injury and Olympics commitments.
Ayumu Goromaru, the full-back who scored 24 points against the Springboks, is injured, as is Michael Leitch, the wonderful captain. Akihito Yamada, a prolific try-scoring wing in Super Rugby this season, is away with the national sevens team.
Male Sa'u, the centre, is also absent. Luke Thompson, the clever second-row, is not around and neither are Michael Broadhurst, the retired openside, and Fumiaki Tanaka, the brilliant, but injured, scrum-half.
Those seven all started against the South Africans. Two more, Atsushi Hiwasa, the scrum-half, and Shinya Makabe, the lock, came off the bench - and both of them are absent as well.
That's a total of 371 caps that Japan have to do without from what was the greatest day in their rugby history and one of the most remarkable days in the history of the game.
On top of that, they have lost their coaching brains-trust led by the irrepressible Eddie Jones. The Kiwi, Mark Hammett, is on stand-in head coach duty with Japan right now before his countryman, Jamie Joseph, takes the reins after the summer.
You could say that Japan are in transition right now. Scotland aren't exactly averse in getting big results away from home. It would be a surprise if they don't overcome their depleted hosts on Saturday.
Japan's wings, Mifi Poseti Paea and Yasutaka Sasakura, have just one cap apiece, won last week against Canada. Their scrum-half, Kaito Shigeno, also has just a single cap. Their outside centre, Tim Bennetts, has three caps, their second-row, Naohiro Kotaki, has five, and their openside, Shoukei Kin, has only four.
On their bench, they have four more players who have six caps or less. This is all a far cry from the glories of the World Cup, where Japan won three of their four games, the only game they lost coming against Scotland - four, brutally short, days after they beat the Springboks. In the history of the World Cup, Japan, unquestionably, are the unluckiest team not to have made the quarter-finals.
Attempting to hold things together on Saturday are the dangerous centre, Harumichi Tatekawa - Cotter singled him out for praise - backed-up by a fearsome, and experienced, front-row and a second-row featuring the remarkable Hitosho Ono, who'll win his 97th cap on Saturday at the ripe old age of 38.
In the back-row, Japan have Amanaki Mafi, a number eight who caused Scotland all sorts of problems in their World Cup meeting in Gloucester. Mafi put in a tour-de-force that day, scoring a try, running into space and making it look like Japan were about to do to Scotland what they'd previously done to South Africa.
The wheels only came off Japan's challenge when Mafi went off injured early in the second half. Cotter name-checked the number eight as well. The memory of him ripping through the heart of the Scottish defence probably causes him to wince even now.
The Gods have ensured that Japan are not the force of the autumn, but this is their first major Test match on home soil since then, so thunder is guaranteed even in the absence of so many go-to men.
That's the cautionary message from Cotter, a coach who would sooner run naked through the streets of Toyota than under-estimate the team he is plotting against. | Seasoned visitors to Japan clear their throat and begin the long list of 'must-sees', the shrines and temples and gardens that you cannot miss, the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, the Shirasagi-jo castle of Himeji, the wonders of Kinkaku-ji and Fushimi Inari-Taishon of Kyoto. |
37,873,161 | Counsel general Mick Antoniw said the ruling raised questions of "profound importance" on the legal framework for devolution.
The court ruled on Thursday that MPs must vote on whether the UK can start the Article 50 EU exit process.
It means the government cannot start formal exit negotiations on its own.
The three judges looking at the case found there was no constitutional convention of the royal prerogative - powers used by ministers - being used in legislation relating to the EU.
On Thursday First Minister Carwyn Jones said challenging a High Court ruling that MPs should be consulted over leaving the EU would be a mistake.
But on Friday Mr Antoniw said the High Court ruling on Article 50 and a separate ruling in Northern Ireland both "raise issues of profound importance... in relation to the wider constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom and the legal framework for devolution".
"I intend to make an application to be granted permission to intervene in the proposed appeal before the Supreme Court," he said.
"My intention is to make representations about the specific implications of the government's proposed decision for Wales."
The counsel general said the judgements raise questions about the use of prerogative power to take steps which will or may impact on:
Mr Antoniw acts as the senior legal advisor to the Welsh Government and is Labour AM for Pontypridd.
In the Belfast ruling, a judge ruled there was nothing in the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement to prevent the government triggering Article 50. | The Welsh Government is to apply to have a voice in the proposed Supreme Court appeal against the High Court decision on Brexit, it has announced. |
23,447,401 | Beauly to Fort Augustus is the first part of the 137-mile (220km) transmission circuit to be electrified.
The 400,000 volt line triples the capacity of the existing system.
Six hundred new towers are being built - a reduction of 200 on the existing number. However, some towers are taller and reach heights of 65m (213ft).
Opponents to the upgrade have complained that the new towers will spoil mountain landscapes.
The project is expected to be completed in 2014 at an estimated cost of £600m.
Meanwhile, SSE has reported a substantial rise in total electricity output from renewable sources, which include conventional hydro electric schemes, onshore and offshore wind farms and dedicated biomass plants.
In an interim management statement, the company said output reached 1,756 gigawatt hours in the three months to 30 June - up from 1,331 gigawatt hours in the same period last year.
SSE said this partly reflected "additional capacity being in operation".
The energy firm also reported a dip in the number of its electricity and gas customers in Great Britain and Ireland, from 9.47 million to 9.46 million.
However, it said it remained on course to deliver a full-year dividend increase above RPI (Retail Prices Index) inflation. | The first section of the revamped Beauly to Denny power line has been switched on two-and-a-half years after the project was given the go-ahead. |
38,213,705 | The 55-year-old man was knocked down at about 09:50 at an industrial site in Dryden Street.
The man sustained serious injuries and was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A Health and Safety Executive spokeswoman said they were aware of the incident and were liaising with police. | A man has been killed after being hit and crushed by a dumper truck in Edinburgh. |
35,004,643 | Brian Sandells' body was found after firefighters spent five hours bringing the massive blaze at the Kard Bar, on Cross Street, under control on Tuesday.
Northumbria Police said the 81-year-old's remains had now been identified. A force spokesman said detectives were still probing the cause of the blaze.
Mr Sandells was one of the first traders to stock the cult comic Viz.
He lived in a flat above the card and memorabilia shop.
More than 50 firefighters were at the scene at the height of the blaze and thick smoke caused the closure of Westgate Road, Clayton Road and Cross Street.
The irreverent magazine Viz was founded by Chris Donald, in Newcastle, in 1979.
Mr Donald, who is now a presenter for BBC Newcastle, paid tribute and said Mr Sandells, a former graphic artist, used to give him tips on how to improve the publication.
He said: "Brian had found out about the comic and had seen people reading it and he asked if he could stock it.
"So I had to go and see him and he gave me a bit of a business lecture there and then on what could be improved in the comic.
"It was just on the presentation side of things as he been involved in graphic design when he'd been doing his national service."
He also said Mr Sandells helped get the comic off the ground and promote it.
He added: "He was the first person to ever advertise in Viz - he asked if he could put an advert in the comic.
"I was once going through the attic of the shop with him and he said to me: 'Do you want any of these posters to give away with your comic? Unfortunately I don't have any smaller - they might be a bit big.'
"I said: 'That will make it even funnier Brian if we cut them in half and give them half an Osmond's poster - just their legs.'
"So we did that - guillotined them and put them in the comic." | A body found in the remains of a burnt-out shop in Newcastle city centre has been confirmed as the shop's owner. |
34,410,356 | Health bosses have proposed relocating services between Telford and Shrewsbury, as well as revamping provision across the county.
But a decision to recommend a location for a new A&E unit has been deferred.
Both Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust and Shropshire's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are in debt.
At a meeting on Thursday, it was decided that more work needs to be done around the finances of both groups before a decision can be made, Shropshire CCG said.
In 2013, Peter Herring, the former chief executive of the trust, said it was unrealistic to keep A&E departments at both sites.
Three options were initially proposed to replace the two current A&E units in Telford and Shrewsbury, including building a single emergency centre, at either site, or at a newly built hospital somewhere in the county.
The third option was dropped earlier this year due to expense.
A spokesman for Shropshire CCG said on Thursday: "Work will be carried out developing outline business cases based on both Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as the single emergency centre.
"We still have an opportunity to create something that will deliver for several decades to come. We plan to be able to say something further within the next month." | Plans to reorganise hospital services in Shropshire have been put on hold over concerns about the finances of the two NHS groups involved. |
35,026,246 | The militants' activity is not limited to attacking Western capitals, bombing planes or shooting peaceful citizens.
But when fighting such radical groups, governments may also, intentionally or not, strengthen authoritarian regimes and undermine democratic values.
A vivid example of this is Uzbekistan. This Central Asian nation is considered to be one of the most repressive states in the world.
Independent watchdog organisation Freedom House ranks it in the same category as North Korea - the "worst of the worst" when it comes to political rights and civil liberties.
Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov has warned that IS is approaching the country's borders, raising the threat of "belligerent extremism and religious radicalism" in the region.
According to the estimates of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, about 500 Uzbekistan citizens, from a nation of just under 30 million, have joined militants in Syria and Iraq.
But other than some isolated attacks, the threat IS and other jihadist groups pose for Uzbekistan seems to be very limited. Their ideology does not appeal to almost the entire population of Central Asia, where Islam is very secular, a legacy of the atheistic Soviet past.
Many people know next to nothing about the Sunni-Shia split and this sectarian divide is largely absent there.
The growing number of mosques and increased observance of Islamic rituals are often mistakenly taken as signs of radicalisation.
But as John Heathershaw, associate professor at the University of Exeter, and David Montgomery from the University of Pittsburgh argue in a research paper published by the Chatham House think tank, Islamisation does not mean radicalisation and "there is little or no evidence of significant levels of Islamic extremism and political violence" in Central Asia.
Yet a whole campaign focusing on IS has been launched in Uzbekistan, clearly with permission, or perhaps a direct order, from the president's office.
Muslim clergy and government officials discuss the threat of terrorism and religious extremism on TV talk shows. Films and plays illustrate the evils of jihadism. Community leaders appeal to the youth not to join militant groups like IS.
This is all odd because Uzbekistan's government never acknowledges any problems it faces. "Uzbekistan is the state with a bright future" is its main propaganda slogan, so discussing social problems is a taboo.
Uzbekistan country profile
There are no films or plays depicting poverty in the country. There are no talk shows discussing corruption in state institutions. There are no community leaders who openly talk about the use of forced child labour.
So why did the government launch a whole campaign about IS?
It is simple. The government is creating in people's minds an image of the only possible alternative to the existing regime. After watching a video about IS fighters, one Uzbek citizen told me: "If our president leaves, then these crazy Islamists will come to power in Uzbekistan."
This threat from IS justifies tightened security measures. It allows the state to spy on citizens, make illegal arrests and use torture to crush any dissent. It also discourages citizens from challenging the government's actions.
Uzbek police have been increasingly raiding houses to question residents. In November, rights activists in Uzbekistan reported that more than 200 people had been arrested on suspicion of IS membership.
These arrests are not a new development, says Steve Swerdlow from Human Rights Watch. "There is a well-documented pattern of security services of Uzbekistan arresting largely peaceful independent Muslims and sentencing them to incredibly lengthy jail sentences without any evidence of wrongdoing."
What is new, Mr Swerdlow says, is the name of the group they are accused of belonging to - IS.
Indeed, the phrase "Islamic extremism" has been widely used in Uzbek propaganda before. But none of the organisations that appeared in the news until recently were as savage as IS.
And the bigger the danger in the eyes of the population, the easier it is to control them.
The threat of radical groups is not completely imaginary and some of those who were detained last month may indeed be connected to IS. But since Uzbekistan is so closed and does not allow any independent media or human rights organisations to assess the situation "we are left to make conclusions based on the overwhelming evidence of the past", says Mr Swerdlow.
Population 28.1 million
Area 447,400 sq km (172,700 sq miles)
Major languages Uzbek, Russian, Tajik
Major religion Islam
Life expectancy 66 years (men), 72 years (women)
Currency Uzbek som
However, why would the state arrest so many people under fake charges? It is unlikely that all these people were opposing the government, so they could hardly be dangerous for the regime.
Again, these mass arrests help to create fear. The government is trying to convince its people that those jihadists are posing an imminent threat, that they have reached the country's borders and even infiltrated society.
People may not be happy with their impoverished lives and the repressive state but when they believe that the alternative is IS, they accept the existing order. As a result, they do not protest against illegal arrests, rampant poverty or daily problems such as the absence of heating.
And this is exactly what authoritarian regimes want.
It is important to note that fear can corrupt not just authoritarian states but mature democracies too.
It creates an environment where it seems logical to abandon some democratic principles for the sake of national security. But as history shows, this method only creates more problems than solutions. | There is one serious and not so obvious threat that many countries face when dealing with the so-called Islamic State. |
39,219,494 | Ezekiel Achejene and Emmanuel Baba were convicted of murdering two of the Apo Six - six young civilians who were shot dead in 2005.
Police initially tried to cover up the deaths, saying the victims were armed robbers who had opened fire first.
But an earlier judicial panel of inquiry rejected that story.
The government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo later apologised on behalf of the police for the killings and paid $20,300 (£16,700) in compensation to each of the families.
However, a trial to determine which individuals were behind the killings was repeatedly delayed.
Three other former officers on trial at the High Court in Abuja, who all denied involvement, were acquitted for lack of evidence while a sixth suspect was never brought to trial.
The judge, Ishaq Bello, said the court had had no option but to convict Achejene and Baba after they had confessed to shooting two of the victims on the order of senior officers.
The two men had tried to retract their confessions during the trial but the court rejected this.
"The two defendants have no regard for the sanctity of human lives," Judge Bello was quoted by AFP news agency as telling the court. "They are not only over-zealous but also extremely reckless."
The case, which was investigated by the BBC in 2009, concerned six young Nigerians from Apo, a satellite settlement of Abuja: Ekene Isaac Mgbe, Ifeanyin Ozor, Chinedu Meniru, Paulinus Ogbonna and Anthony Nwokike, who were all car spare parts dealers, and Augustina Arebu.
They came under fire when they approached a police checkpoint in their car.
Four died on the spot and the other two were taken to a police station alive. The bodies of all six were found together later, along with weapons which the panel heard had been planted by police.
The phrase Apo Six has been trending on Twitter in Nigeria, with some tweeters saying they are pleased that someone has finally been held accountable.
Many Nigerians complain that police officers and the military rarely face justice for alleged abuses against civilians. | Two former policemen in Nigeria have been sentenced to death over the most infamous case of extrajudicial killing in the country's modern history. |
39,452,635 | Insurance firm Prudential and investment firm Blackstone have teamed up to buy the loans.
The government took on the mortgages of Bradford & Bingley after rescuing the lender in 2008.
UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), which has been handling the sale, says that terms and conditions for the 104,000 loans will not change.
The deal is one of the biggest asset sales by a European government.
"The sale of these Bradford & Bingley assets for £11.8bn marks another major milestone in our plan to get taxpayers' money back following the financial crisis," Chancellor Philip Hammond said in a statement.
"We are determined to return the financial assets we own to the private sector and today's sale is further proof of the confidence investors have in the UK economy."
Bradford & Bingley had been a conservatively-run building society, but in 1999 abandoned its mutual status and moved into riskier areas of lending.
That strategy backfired in 2008 when the UK housing market slumped amid the global financial crisis.
When Bradford & Bingley was rescued that year, its branches and deposit accounts were sold to Spain's Santander, while the government took over responsibility for the mortgages.
UKAR was set-up in 2010 to manage that portfolio of mortgages, as well as loans taken on following the collapse of Northern Rock.
It started with £116bn worth of loans on its books and the latest sale cuts those holdings to £22bn - of that £12.7bn originated from Bradford & Bingley and £9.7bn originally came from Northern Rock.
UKAR says the remaining loans are a mix of performing and non-performing loans. Around half are residential mortgages while the rest are buy-to-let.
A non-performing loan is generally classified as one where the borrower has not made a scheduled payment for more than 90 days.
When you sell a bunch of mortgages, what matters to the buyer is who the borrowers are and whether they are likely to pay their loans back.
All of these former Bradford & Bingley borrowers are buy-to-let investors.
90% are on average interest rates of only 1.75% above Bank of England base rate, which is currently 0.25%.
And, typically, they have managed to invest in more than one property, an average of 1.8 each.
In other words, out of the rubble of what remains of the stricken lender, these are the most solid looking prospects.
What's left in the portfolio which remains with the taxpayer? Some more buy-to-letters and, crucially, 56,000 residential borrowers.
They include many stuck on an interest rate of nearly 5%, thousands in financial difficulty and over a thousand who have been referred for help in dealing with debt.
Offloading these loans is likely to be much more difficult. | The government has sold buy-to-let mortgages belonging to failed lender Bradford & Bingley for £11.8bn. |
39,108,015 | According to a club statement, Villa's operating loss trebled from £26.6m in 2014-15, while turnover fell from £115.7m to £108.8m.
Villa's average home gates were hardly affected despite such a poor season.
The drop in revenue is attributed to a smaller share of Premier League money.
Villa's average home league attendance in 2015-16 was 33,690, a fall of only 1.33 % on the previous campaign, when they averaged 34,133 at their 42,660-capacity Birmingham home.
But finishing bottom last season, compared to 17th the year before, that meant a smaller share of the pay-out from the Premier League's broadcasting agreements.
The club put £79.6m of the £81m loss down to "exceptional items" including the "impairment of tangible fixed assets and intangible assets".
Intangible assets, which include the value of its players' registrations, dropped by £34.8m.
Tangible assets include property and equipment the club owns.
The impact of Dr Tony Xia's takeover of the club for £76m will not show until the 2016-17 accounts are published next year.
The new Villa owner completed his takeover on 14 June 2016, two months after the Football League and Premier League co-founders' first relegation in 30 years. | Aston Villa have reported an £81m loss for the financial year 2015-16, the season in which they were relegated from the Premier League, prior to Dr Tony Xia's summer takeover. |
36,697,527 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Around 7,000 fans turned up at Etihad Stadium to hear the 45-year-old speak for the first time as City manager
"That is why I am here. I proved myself in Barcelona and after I proved myself in Germany I wanted to prove myself in England," he said.
"I cannot do that alone. I need the players, the staff. We need our fans. Without that, it is impossible."
The Spaniard joins City after three years at Bayern Munich where he won a hat-trick of Bundesliga titles but failed to reach a Champions League final.
Read more: Ex-Arsenal midfielder Arteta joins Man City coaching staff
However, the former Spain international midfielder did win that tournament twice during his four years as Barcelona boss.
He believes that a strong team spirit will be integral to City's success.
"I like the players who don't just think for themselves but think about Manchester City," said Guardiola.
"We are all the people who are working here. The reason we are here is thinking 'what can we do to make this club a better club'.
"I don't want the guys to think about what the club can do for them. We are here to make Manchester City a better club in the next three, four, five years."
He added: "One of the reasons I decided to come to Manchester City is I know from (sporting director) Txiki Begiristain how good they are working with the young players - 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, they grow and grow and imagine they can join us in the first team."
Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan is certain City can become a great team under the "best manager in the world" in Guardiola.
Gundogan, 25, was Guardiola's first signing as manager, arriving from Borussia Dortmund for £20m.
"No doubt everyone will improve his own talent. It will be a really nice time for us," Gundogan told BBC Sport.
"I have no doubt Pep will form a great team, a competitive team. He was the biggest influence in me coming here.
"The team has a lot of talent, and he's the best manager in the world. It's a really exciting time and we are looking forward to it."
City have won the Premier League twice - in 2012 and 2014 - and last season reached the Champions League semi-finals and won the League Cup, but finished 15 points behind surprise champions Leicester.
Gundogan dislocated his kneecap at the start of May, ruling him out of Germany's Euro 2016 campaign, and he could miss the first month of the season.
"Of course it's not ideal but I have to accept it," added the former Nuremberg player. "Right now the target is end of August or start of September, but it is always difficult to say a special date.
"We have to see the development, but at the moment everything looks really good."
City face Sunderland at home on the first day of the new Premier League season on 13 August.
BBC Sport's Simon Stone at Etihad Stadium
"There are questions for Guardiola as he takes his first tentative steps in England, specifically whether his famed tiki-taka style of passing football can overcome the physical nature of the Premier League.
"But in front of 7,000 enthusiastic fans, this was not a day to ask them.
"And, evidently, he has a way with words. He said: 'I need to know my players. I have to hug them, kick their bottoms (or words to that effect).' The fans lapped it up.
"He even responded to a question yelled from below him about the prospect of signing Lionel Messi - not much apparently.
"It was all good fun, the kind of event City are good at doing. The real work starts on Monday of course, when the training begins.
"Guardiola has the reputation. He has the personality. But in the ultimate results business, he also has to win."
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | New Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he moved to the Premier League to prove himself in England. |
36,008,772 | The couple talked to survivors and paid respects at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel to those who died in the 2008 assault.
The royals later took part in a game of cricket with local children.
Day one of the visit ended with the duke and duchess attending a charity fundraising dinner with Bollywood and sporting stars.
Later in the tour they will also visit the Taj Mahal in Agra where in 1992 William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, was famously photographed sitting alone.
In pictures: Day one of the royal tour
The gala night, to celebrate India's film industry, attracted Bollywood stars including King Khan, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
The duchess wore a sapphire blue Jenny Packham gown and matching blue earrings created by Indian jewellery designer Amrapali.
During a speech at the event Prince William said: "When Catherine and I were married, India was the first place on Catherine's list that she told me that she wanted to visit. Two children and five years later, we have finally made it - and we are both honoured to be here."
He said they were "on a journey to get to know the vibrant India of the 21st Century".
Earlier in the day the couple laid a wreath of white lilies at a memorial in the hotel commemorating those who died in 2008.
The duke and duchess, who are travelling without their children, later chatted with hotel staff, including chef Raghu Deora, 41, one of the survivors of the attack.
Kensington Palace said the duke and duchess had been informed on their arrival in Mumbai about the explosion and fire at a Hindu temple in Kerala, and sent their thoughts to all who were assisting the victims.
After some unflattering media coverage, the couple that represent the future of the British monarchy will be hoping that this tour will generate more positive headlines.
Prince William, an air ambulance pilot, has been accused of being "work shy" and "throne idle".
His supporters insist he's the heir-but-one to the throne and he's balancing his flying career with his responsibilities as a senior royal and his desire not to be an absent father.
This visit to India and Bhutan will help to establish if the claim of "work shy" sticks - as "Air Miles Andy" has to his uncle - or whether it is replaced by a more favourable appraisal of what the future king is trying to do.
When he gets to Bhutan, the recently-criticised representative of the Windsor dynasty will meet the king and queen of a fledgling democracy where the monarchy is revered.
Read more from Peter
Their next engagement was to visit Mumbai's Oval Maidan public park where they joined children playing cricket and met charity representatives.
The couple were coached by former Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Dilip Vengsarkar.
Tendulkar later tweeted that he was "bowled over by their humility".
Moving on to New Delhi during the week, the couple will pay their respects to India's founding father Mahatma Gandhi at the location of his 1948 assassination.
Their visit will also see them tour the Kaziranga National Park, famous for its one-horned rhinoceroses, tigers and elephants.
In Bhutan, the duke and duchess will meet the king and queen of the remote Himalayan kingdom.
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema both studied in the UK, and have even been compared to the duke and duchess. | The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have heard first-hand about the horrors of the Mumbai attacks, at the start of a seven-day tour of India and Bhutan. |
34,674,183 | The decision follows the freeing of the country's remaining six political prisoners in August.
The US has also said it will ease sanctions, but urged Belarus "to improve its record with respect to human rights and democracy".
Mr Lukashenko is believed to want closer ties with Western countries.
He is reported to be eager to reduce Russia's leverage as he comes under pressure from Moscow to allow a Russian air base in his country.
Russia wants to establish the base to counter what it sees as Nato's eastward advance, but Belarus argues that such a base will not reduce military and political tensions in the region.
In a statement confirming its decision, the EU said that it was taking account of "the context of improving EU-Belarus relations".
From Saturday it will suspend "for four months the asset freeze and travel ban applying to 170 individuals and the asset freeze applying to three entities in Belarus," the Council of the European Union statement said.
However an arms embargo will remain in force as will sanctions against four members of President Lukashenko's security services who are suspected of orchestrating the disappearances of political opponents.
The move will be reviewed at the end of February and sanctions could be re-imposed if the EU sees a deterioration in human rights, the rule of law and press freedoms.
The US Treasury for its part said that from Saturday it would allow most transactions with nine sanctioned entities in Belarus for the next six months.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the US was taking the step "in light of the positive move by the Belarusian government to release all six of its political prisoners on 22 August".
Mr Kirby said that the move "opens the door to expanded commercial ties" while urging the government of Belarus to do more "to improve its record with respect to human rights and democracy".
Correspondents say that EU officials are eager to promote democracy in countries that neighbour the EU in central and eastern Europe.
President Alexander Lukashenko won his fifth term with a landslide 83.5% of the vote on 12 October.
But observers from the OSCE security body said it fell far short of the country's democratic commitments.
Mr Lukashenko, 61, has governed the former Soviet republic almost unchallenged for 21 years.
Still Europe's last dictator?
Why does President Lukashenko take his son to work?
Belarus country profile
L | The EU is to suspend most of its sanctions against Belarus including an asset freeze and travel ban on President Alexander Lukashenko. |
33,715,071 | It said bookings for the July-to-September quarter had been affected by last month's attack on a tourist beach on Tunisia.
Worries over Greece's possible exit from the euro had also hit trading.
The company added that the strength of the pound against the euro was also likely to affect earnings.
Thomas Cook said the effect of the attack in Tunisia, when 38 holidaymakers were killed including 30 Britons, would cost it £20m.
It said this included the costs of cancelled trips and repatriating customers to the UK, as well as changing routes to alternative destinations.
The Foreign Office now advises against all but essential travel to Tunisia
"Since the end of the third quarter, our business has been impacted by significant external shocks," said Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser.
"In response to the tragic events in Tunisia, we acted swiftly and decisively, evacuating more than 15,000 guests on approximately 60 flights and sending special assistance teams to offer logistical and compassionate support to customers and staff.
"In Greece, our local teams have worked diligently to ensure that economic issues do not disrupt our customers' holidays."
Thomas Cook's comments came as it reported operating profits of £3m for the April-to-June quarter, an improvement from a £42m loss a year earlier.
It also said that, despite the impact of the events in Tunisia and Greece, it expected full-year profits to grow once the impact of currency movements was stripped out.
However, it said the impact of the strengthening of the pound against the euro and the Swedish krona would now be £39m, up from previous estimates of £25m.
Last month, Thomas Cook announced that former Sainsbury's boss Justin King would lead an independent review into the travel company after two children died on one of its holidays.
Christi and Bobby Shepherd died from carbon monoxide poisoning at a hotel in Corfu 2006, and Thomas Cook received fierce criticism over its response to the deaths. | Travel firm Thomas Cook has said its full-year profits will be hit by about £25m because of the impact of recent events in Tunisia and Greece. |
40,961,603 | Prior to the division of India in 1947, Hindus and Muslims had lived together across the country. But Jinnah described them as two separate nations.
"It is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality," he said.
"Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs and literary traditions. They neither intermarry nor eat together, and indeed they belong to two different civilisations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions."
This "Two Nation Theory", as it came to be known, has become the official Pakistani narrative for the creation of the state and key to how Pakistan defines itself.
Pakistan was perhaps the first country to be formed on the basis not of a common ethnicity or language, but religion. Yet at the same time it is not, and never has been, a theocracy.
This dichotomy is behind much of the debate around Pakistan's national identity and issues such as its treatment of minorities.
Before partition, there was real concern among Muslims living in British India at the prospect of becoming a minority in a Hindu-dominated independent India. About one quarter of the population was Muslim.
Despite the Congress Party's assertions of its secular values, many Muslims were sceptical and feared that the Hindu majority would seek to marginalise them. Jinnah himself was an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity before becoming disillusioned with the attitude of Congress.
But did, for example, a Malayalam-speaking Sunni Muslim from southern India really have more in common with a Punjabi Shia from the North than with his Hindu neighbour? There existed vast differences in language, culture and religious interpretations between Indian Muslims, even if they were united by a common faith.
Jinnah was not the first to articulate the Two Nation Theory, but with the creation of Pakistan he transformed it into a political reality.
The theory is now taught to all school children in Pakistan. It is why many see independence as liberation from India, as opposed to independence from British colonial rule.
At a tutoring centre in Islamabad, I asked teenagers why Pakistan was created.
"Hindus and Muslims had nothing in common other than the fact that they shared a land," one said. "Their religion, their values, and their culture were all different. So that was why a new country was needed to get their rights."
But when Pakistan was created, more Muslims stayed on in India than left. And then in 1971 Pakistan itself split in two, with the creation of an independent Bangladesh.
"If the Muslims are supposed to be one nation - then how come they are living in three different states?" asks historian and author Ayesha Jalal.
She says the official Pakistani narrative favours teaching ideology over history.
But Atta-ur Rahman, a former head of the Higher Education Commission in Pakistan, points to growing levels of intolerance in India towards Muslims as proof that the Two Nation Theory is correct. He claims Muslims who moved to Pakistan have done "far, far better" in terms of literacy levels and economic opportunities than those who stayed in India.
He rejects the suggestion that the independence of Bangladesh following a bloody civil war undermines the idea all Muslims in the subcontinent could be categorised as "one nation".
"It was political interests which led to the division; it doesn't mean the Two Nation Theory was wrong," he said.
It is clear that the theory is key to Pakistan's national identity. Islam is the principal bond between its ethnically diverse inhabitants. The national language, Urdu, is native to a small minority only.
Read more:
To disavow the theory would be to question the strength of the bond holding Pakistan together.
Yet some ethnic groups in Pakistan feel they are treated differently from others. This is particularly the case for people in the western province of Balochistan, where there has been a long-running nationalist insurgency.
Jehanzeb Jamaldini of the Balochistan National Party, which campaigns for greater autonomy, says it would have been better for Pakistan to have recognised different ethnic groups as "four or five different nations" within a federation.
Instead there is a feeling among many in Pakistan that one ethnic group, Punjabis, dominate the rest of the country.
The Two Nation Theory has also led to debate over whether Pakistan was intended as a secular homeland for Indian Muslims or an Islamic state, and what role religious minorities should play.
Most Hindus left Pakistan at the time of partition but there are about two million who stayed.
Ramesh Vankwani, a Hindu member of parliament, says he believes in the theory, yet he also says Hindus and Muslims living in Pakistan "are one nation - Pakistani".
For Mr Vankwani, Jinnah's statements in the lead up to independence are more important.
Just days before Pakistan was created, Jinnah said: "You are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the State."
For Mr Vankwani this is proof that Jinnah wanted equal rights for all and that Pakistan was not just for Muslims.
But others in Pakistan ask what the point of creating a homeland for Muslims was if it wasn't to be an Islamic state?
Historian Ayesha Jalal is clear that Jinnah envisaged Pakistan as a "homeland for India's Muslims", as opposed to an Islamic state.
But she says that his theory has been used by Islamists "as an ideological device" to justify claims for Pakistan to be a theocratic state.
And as a result, she says, "clarity has gone of how a homeland is distinct from a country run by the guardians of the faith".
These nuanced distinctions are lost on many ordinary Pakistanis. I spoke to the father of a university student accused of inciting a mob to beat to death one of their classmates for having committed blasphemy with his allegedly "atheist" views.
Sharafatullah asked me: "We are told Pakistan was created on the basis of the Two Nation Theory. If people are free to be atheists and spread atheist views, then what was the point of creating Pakistan?"
Yet at the same time Islamist parties have never been able to garner significant support in elections.
After Bangladesh was declared independent in 1971, then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the Two Nation Theory "dead".
In Pakistan it certainly is not, but it continues to feed into debates about the country's identity. At the same time in India, Ms Jalal notes that the rise of right-wing Hindu ideology seems to be a surreptitious endorsement of the idea from a country that has long rejected it. | In 1940 in Lahore Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the man who founded Pakistan, gave a seminal speech setting out the need for a separate state for Muslims on the subcontinent. |
35,918,230 | Simpson, 27, started the season as first choice but 24-year-old Robson has started the past nine games after Simpson injured his ankle in January.
Robson scored two tries on Sunday as Wasps won 34-20 at Newcastle.
"I think Dan's been outstanding," Young told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire.
"I don't think he's grabbed as many headlines as some others this season, but he's been excellent for us."
Robson, an England Saxon international, joined Wasps from Gloucester last summer and has scored five tries since Simpson, who has one full England cap, has been unavailable after damaging his ankle in Champions Cup action against Leinster.
"We haven't got a number one and number two scrum-half, we've got two number ones," added Young.
"One's going to have to hold a chair for a while and the other's going to keep pressure on him. I'm sure that'll ebb and flow throughout the next few seasons."
Wasps have won eight of their past nine Premiership games, including three in succession, and sit in third place, one point behind Exeter Chiefs.
They are also seven clear of Northampton Saints, who they play at home on Sunday, in the final play-off place.
"It's a nice place to be," Young said. "We're well in contention to finish in the top six - we'd have to have a disaster for us not to there now. The top four is there as well for us to have a crack at.
"Northampton is a real shoot-out for us - we're in a great position." | Wasps director of rugby Dai Young says he is looking forward to seeing how the battle between the club's two senior scrum-halves, Dan Robson and Joe Simpson, develops in the future. |
30,225,186 | The pair, aged 20 and 21 who have not been named yet, are thought to have made that error and snorted the drug.
Sold as a "white powder", the drug has traditionally come from south-east Asia and sold in places like Australia.
"It's a really difficult job for someone who's new or naive to opiates to pick [between] heroin and cocaine.
"The main risk with white heroin is people who are naive users is that it's a light, white-coloured powder," says Prof John Fitzgerald, of the University of Melbourne.
He has studied the illegal drug trade in Australia for many years.
"It can be confused with other white and light-coloured powders."
He adds: "For people who don't usually use strong psychoactive drugs, the general advice would be that if you're in an unfamiliar place, don't do it."
Get help and information about drugs at BBC Advice.
He says that even those selling the drug may not always be completely sure what substance they are dealing in.
"It's very possible that you get people who are dealing in quantities or purities that they haven't dealt with before and that accidents happen," Prof Fitzgerald.
Rob van de Veen, a police spokesman in Amsterdam, says white heroin is "much more expensive" than cocaine, but the dealer "sold it for the same price [as cocaine] several times".
"We think he doesn't know what he is selling," he says.
He says that in the past different types of heroin ended up in different markets.
While white heroin tends to be produced in south-east Asia and sold in the southern hemisphere, brown heroin originates in places like Afghanistan and typically makes its way to Europe.
"It's much easier with brown heroin [to tell the difference] because it certainly looks brown and cocaine doesn't come in a brown form," says Prof Fitzgerald.
In recent years however, brown heroin has become more prevalent in Australia and according to Prof Fitzgerald, it is difficult to know whether more white heroin will come to Europe.
"The drug market is inherently unpredictable," he says.
"Whilst there's been a sharp distinction between the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere over decades... I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing a different mix of the different forms of heroin that are available."
Because white heroin tends to be more soluble in water than brown heroin, users tend to inject the drug.
Prof Fitzgerald points out that this method of taking drugs, comes with increased risks of certain side effects and problems.
"When you inject a drug you increase the risk of hepatitis and HIV transmission," he says. "That is an additional risk to injecting heroin, especially white heroin."
According to the drug advice service Talk To Frank, taking heroin can lead to comas and death. Injecting drugs can cause damage to veins and arteries and cause infections.
The service also says that people have died of cocaine overdoses and that the drug can cause cardiac problems, including heart attacks. It is also linked to depression and mental health problems.
In the UK both cocaine and heroin are a class A drugs, which means possession can result in up to seven years in prison and an unlimited fine.
The police have yet to release the names of the two men who died on Tuesday.
The Foreign Office says it's providing assistance to family members.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | Typically purer than brown heroin and easily mistaken for cocaine, white heroin caused the death of two young British men in Amsterdam this week. |
33,825,669 | The billionaire businessman has dominated headlines since descending on an escalator in Trump Tower, New York, to announce his candidacy in June.
Thursday's debate offered his rivals a chance to close the gap on the outspoken populist - but would they seize the opportunity?
First they were forced to stand around looking awkward while the Fox News presenters waited for the green light.
Once the beauty pageant was over, it was presenter Megyn Kelly who took aim at Mr Trump, asking him about derogatory comments he's made in the past about women.
Mr Trump was having none of it though, insisting he'd only taken issue with one woman - liberal actress Rosie O'Donnell - before rallying against political correctness. The crowd loved it.
Ms O'Donnell, presumably watching at home, was less enthused.
Each of the candidates eventually got a chance to speak, although some of them took a less obvious line than others - like neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Jeb Bush, the early frontrunner who has slipped behind Mr Trump in recent polls, was eager to point out he was more than just another Bush. Unfortunately, he chose slightly ambiguous language.
The audience were still scratching their heads when Ted Cruz popped up to say what America really needed was its own version of Egyptian strongman Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, which struck some as a bit odd.
Mr Trump then reappeared to clarify his relationship with Democrat rival Hillary Clinton. Sure, he'd spoken to her husband on the phone and given money to her in the past, he told the audience, but he had an explanation.
Around this point, a few of the candidates were finding it hard to get a word in. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker looked a little lost and Ben Carson seemed to have disappeared.
Chris Christie and Rand Paul, however, were determined to be heard and went into battle against each other over mass surveillance and fighting terrorism. It got pretty personal pretty quickly.
While the others caught their breath, Mr Trump returned to talk about building a wall along America's border with Mexico to tackle illegal immigrants.
This is a favoured topic for the businessman but it was the first time he'd mentioned including "a big beautiful door" on the wall to let legal immigrants through.
Earlier in the night, Rick Perry had been forced to deny saying "Ronald Raven" in the second-tier Republican debate - sending Twitter's meme-makers into meltdown.
So, did anyone manage to deliver a fatal blow? We'll have to wait for the next round of polls to find out.
Meanwhile, in the blue corner... | A total of 10 candidates made the cut for the first televised Republican debate in the 2016 presidential race - but the focus was always going to be on frontrunner Donald Trump. |
40,973,692 | The exams regulator said an increase in 15-year-olds sitting exams early was mainly to blame.
The A* to C pass rate fell to 62.8% after it had remained stable at 66.6% for three years.
The percentage of the highest A* to A grades also dipped to 17.9%, down from 19.4% in 2016.
Qualifications Wales had warned that an increase in early entries in some subjects was likely to mean lower results.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which collates exam data for Wales, England and Northern Ireland, said changes in entry patterns - particularly for 15-year-olds - and the high proportion of pupils who took the two new mathematics GCSEs early in November, had a substantial impact on the results.
It said more students had "banked" a result and not returned to sit the exam again this summer - many whom have achieved a Grade C or above that would otherwise appear in these latest results.
As a consequence, it warned that reliable conclusions could not be drawn from direct comparisons between results this summer and the previous one, or between summer results across the UK.
Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said Wales has seen "some of the biggest changes in qualifications in decades" which had been "really challenging for pupils and teachers".
She said this was reflected in this year's overall GCSE A* to C grade pass rate.
Ms Williams said she was "concerned" about the high number of pupils being entered early for their exams and that the current situation was "unsustainable".
"We have signalled to schools that early entry should only be considered if it is in the interest of individual children, but what we've seen is entire cohorts of children being entered," she said.
Ms Williams added the "perverse incentives" that drive some schools to enter children early "should be taken out of the system".
The overall A* to G pass rate was also down from 98.7% to 96.9%, but the percentage of the highest A* grades remained at 6.1%.
While the fall in grades has been linked to the increase in 15-year-olds sitting exams early, the performance of 16-year-olds also fell by 2.8% for A* to C grades.
This summer's 16-year-olds were the first to complete courses in six reformed GCSE examinations.
But Qualifications Wales said their performance in these exams had either improved or remained stable.
While Welsh pupils were still graded A* to G, students in England received new numerical grades for some subjects.
The new GCSEs are in English language, English literature, Welsh language, Welsh literature, mathematics: numeracy and mathematics, and the regulator said it was confident standards had been maintained.
Mathematics: numeracy was first examined in November and, by collating data for the two mathematics GCSEs from November and this summer, the A* to C pass rate for 16-year-olds was 60% in GCSE mathematics and 58.5% in mathematics: numeracy.
The A* to C pass rate for GCSE mathematics was down on the previous year's figure of 65.6%.
In English language, the JCQ said the lower overall results for English language were explained by the lower outcomes of the large number of 15-year-olds entered for the exam.
About 65% of all Year 10 students were entered for the exam this summer, but the results for 16-year-olds saw an improvement according to the exams board.
There was also an increase in early entries for GCSE Welsh language and results have remained stable for 16-year-olds. Welsh literature saw a small improvement in performance but a substantial fall in entries.
There was also a substantial 44% fall in entries for English literature, but an improvement in results.
The fall in the number of students taking modern languages continued, with a 10.9% drop in entries for French and a 30.8% reduction in German, while Spanish saw a small increase.
The JCQ said French results were considerably lower at the top grades, while German results were up.
It also highlighted a trend towards reduced entries in a range of "optional" subjects.
Meanwhile, girls continued to outperform boys with 67.2% of girls' grades at A* to C compared with 58.2% for boys.
The gap grew this year for the A* grade, with an increase in the percentage of the highest grade for girls to 7.5% while the figure for boys was 4.7%.
Speaking at Cefn Saeson school in Neath, Kirsty Williams said: "We can be proud of the way our pupils and teachers have handled the introduction of these new qualifications that are playing a vital role in raising standards."
Ms Williams also pointed out that for 16-year-olds only, the percentage achieving A* to C was 66.8%.
But she said: "Many of these pupils, who are taking exams before they have completed their two years of GCSE study, have not had the opportunity to reach their full potential.
"This is putting unnecessary pressure on pupils, teachers and also puts an extra strain on school budgets.
"I will respond to Qualifications Wales' rapid review of this issue when I receive it in October, but the current situation is unsustainable and all options are on the table."
Darren Millar AM, the Welsh Conservatives' shadow education secretary, said there had been a "troubling decline" in attainment.
He also called on Ms Williams to rethink her reform of the schools curriculum.
"The drop in attainment of grades A* to C and plummet in uptake of modern foreign languages are particularly disturbing, and do not bode well for Wales' future economic prospects," Mr Millar said.
Plaid Cymru's shadow cabinet secretary for education, Llyr Gruffydd, said: "We know that the new system will take some time to bed down and this will show in the results.
"The Welsh Government now needs to consider these results and what they mean for students who are sitting GCSEs next year and the year after."
There were a total of 334,100 entries for the exams, up from 303,620 last summer.
Emyr George, from Qualifications Wales, said the increase in exam entries was mainly driven by the extra maths GCSE and the increase in Year 10 entries in some subjects.
He said there had been an increase of about 40% in Year 10s awarded grades this summer.
It appears to be the main reason why the overall number of entries for English language this summer is about 24,000 higher than last year at 59,050.
In England, English and maths will be graded numerically this year for the first time from nine at the top end of the scale down to one.
The changes make it more difficult to compare the overall performance of pupils in different parts of the UK.
Scotland has a separate system while Northern Ireland is also keeping the A* to G grading, although some pupils have been taking numerically graded exams.
But the exams boards have published all-UK data which gives cumulative figures for those who achieved A* to C (4 to 9 in England) and A*to A (7 to 9 in England).
It shows that the overall pass rate is stable compared to last year at 98.4%, with slight decreases in the A* to A (20% down from 20.5%) and A* to C (66.3% down from 66.9%).
The regulator says the qualifications remain broadly equivalent across the nations.
Mr George said: "It's quite a significant year and one we've been preparing for to ensure that those students taking the new qualifications in Wales this year can be confident that they've not been unfairly disadvantaged in any way by being the first to tackle those qualifications." | The GCSE A* to C pass rate in Wales has fallen to its lowest level since 2006, after some of the biggest changes in decades to the exams system. |
38,241,365 | The four-member band, who were aged between 19 and 27, died on 13 February following a gig in Sweden.
Their car crashed into a raised section of a bridge and plummeted into a canal.
Addressing the deceased men's families, Cheshire Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg described the crash as "the most awful tragedy".
He ruled that manager Craig Tarry, 32, and band members River Reeves, Jack Dakin, Kris Leonard - all aged 19 - died due to head injuries.
Bass guitarist Tomas Lowe, 27, died due to drowning, the inquest in their Warrington hometown found.
Mr Rheinberg said: "It's not for me to speculate... I don't think it ever will be known what happened."
He added that "the evidence did not reveal the cause of sequence of events" that led to their deaths.
The inquest heard no alcohol or drugs was found in the blood of Mr Tarry, who was driving the band to the airport hotel where they were staying.
Post-mortem examinations also showed the four band members had not taken drugs and had only consumed small amounts of alcohol.
The group's agent Graham Bennett told Warrington Coroner's Court that the up-and-coming band were in Sweden for the Where's The Music? festival showcasing young artists.
Viola Beach had already played at the Reading and Leeds festivals last year and the event in Norrköping was their first gig outside the UK.
After the performance, they were travelling in a black Nissan Qashqai near the Södertälje Canal, about 18 miles from Stockholm, when a bridge was raised to let a boat pass underneath.
The inquest heard that the car was slightly over the speed limit as it was travelling at 108km/h (67mph) in a 100km/h zone.
Flashing lights signalled that the bridge was about to be raised with the middle section of the road lifted horizontally, the inquest heard.
Mr Tarry drove down a verge past stationary queuing traffic, clipping the wing mirror of a taxi, and through the first set of barriers - about 120m from the bridge - the court heard.
The car then travelled in a "controlled manner" at between 70 and 90km/h (43 and 55mph) down the centre of the road.
It continued through a second set of barriers - 30m from the drop into the canal - and hit the underside of the raised section of the bridge before plummeting 25m, hitting the water within 15 seconds.
The vehicle turned in flight - the back of the car hitting the water at 54mph before sinking eight metres to the bottom of the canal.
A tanker using the canal, which had requested the bridge to be lifted, then passed over the crash spot and "contact" with the car could not be ruled out, the court heard.
The crew of a passing boat saw the car fall but initially thought it was ice.
The alarm was raised when police were informed of car parts and damaged barriers on the road. They then realised a car had gone into the canal.
The court heard that the three band members who were sitting in the back of the car were not wearing seat-belts and were thrown from the car.
Mr Tarry and Mr Leonard, who were seat-belted in the front, had to be cut from the vehicle.
Technical examinations did not find any errors with the car, barrier system or the procedure for raising the bridge.
One warning light on the bridge was out of order but there were at least 10 warning lights and flashing signals, the inquest heard.
Although the road was wet, it was not frozen with ice.
Mr Rheinberg said there were "frustrating missing gaps" and that he was not able to demand information from Swedish authorities as he could from British organisations.
Supt Martin Cleworth, from Cheshire Police, said outside the Warrington court: "We don't know the final answer... in terms of what actually happened at those moments just prior to the final collision and tragic descent into the water."
"We have given a commitment to continue to work with the coroner and the families to try and seek to understand some other issues that came from the inquest.
"Those questions are unlikely to actually ever get to that fundamental fact as to what went on in the seconds leading to the tragic collision."
Speaking on behalf of the deceased men's families, he added: "The families of River, Tom, Jack, Kris and Craig wish to thank everybody for their kind support at this heartbreaking time and the support they have shown over the last 10 months."
The Swedish authorities have recommended improvements to the crossing, including LED signs and cameras on the bridge.
More than 20 relatives of the deceased men attended Wednesday's inquest.
In the wake of their deaths, the band's first single Swings & Waterslides reached number 11, while their song Boys That Sing was performed by Coldplay in a tribute at Glastonbury.
Posthumously, Viola Beach scored a number one album in August.
The self-titled debut was compiled by the band's families, using live sessions and studio recordings, many of which were originally bound for an EP.
After the crash, a statement from the families of the band said: "We are tremendously proud of everything the boys achieved in such a short space of time.
"Craig, Jack, Kris, River and Tom shared a huge passion, talent and dedication to music." | A coroner has said he does not think it will "ever be known" what caused the crash that killed the British group Viola Beach and their manager. |
38,459,747 | The 31-year-old is set to reach the milestone in Friday's League One trip to Rochdale.
"I've been very lucky and very blessed to have played football," said Sadler.
"I don't for any second take it for granted when I step on a football pitch. I enjoy it so much and will look to the next 100 to 200 games."
Sadler started his career as a trainee at Birmingham City, the club he supported as a boy.
He made 61 appearances, as well as being loaned to Northampton Town, before a £750,000 move to then Championship side Watford in 2008.
After a three-and-a-half-year stint at Vicarage Road, including half a season at Stockport, then a season-long loan with Shrewsbury in his first stay in Shropshire, he moved on again to Walsall in June 2011.
He then made moves to Crawley (twice - the second time on loan), Rotherham and Oldham (loan) before returning to Shrewsbury in May 2015.
"I hold Shrewsbury in real high regard," he told BBC Radio Shropshire. "I love every time I play for Shrewsbury, it's a good club. I love playing here." | Shrewsbury Town defender Mat Sadler says he still takes nothing for granted as he celebrates the 400th appearance of his nine-club professional career. |
39,616,598 | Matthew Rothery was found at an address in Woodborough Road, Mapperley Park, at about 01:00 BST on Friday.
He was taken to the city's Queen's Medical Centre, but died shortly afterwards.
Nottinghamshire Police has launched a murder investigation and said detectives are continuing to follow up "several lines of inquiry".
Police previously said they believe the incident was "not a random attack". | An 18-year-old man who died following a "serious assault" at a property in Nottingham has been named by police. |
20,394,242 | Note: Locations of areas hit are based on BBC News reports to 20 Nov
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for an immediate ceasefire.
Israel's offensive began with the killing of Ahmed Jabari, the leader of Hamas's military wing, on 14 November. His assassination followed months of cross-border violence and mounting tensions.
Negotiations to find a peaceful settlement in the region broke down in 2010. Indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority ended in January without progress. There have been no direct talks between Israel and Hamas.
Israel is mobilising up to 75,000 army reservists - but Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has said an Israeli ground invasion would have "serious repercussions".
As of midday on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that militants in Gaza had fired more than 1,400 rockets towards Israel. More than 307 have been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system (see below).
Israel had launched over 1,500 strikes on the Gaza strip, the IDF added.
Rockets from Gaza have landed as far north in Israel as Tel Aviv, the first time in decades that the city - a major population centre - has come under rocket fire. Rockets have also been fired towards Jerusalem.
It is the first time militants in Gaza have deployed the medium-range Iranian-built Fajr-5 missiles.
Israel has a new missile defence system, called the Iron Dome. Batteries have been deployed in five locations and according to the Israeli army has been very successful at intercepting rockets.
The system uses radar to track incoming rockets and then fires two interceptor missiles to knock them out.
1. Enemy fires rocket or artillery shell
2. Projectile tracked by radar. Data relayed to management and control unit
3. Data analysed and target co-ordinates sent to the missile firing unit
4. Missile is fired at enemy projectile
Each interceptor missile costs about $60,000.
The shield's makers say the radar technology can differentiate between missiles likely to hit built-up areas and those likely to miss their target. Only those heading for cities are targeted and shot down. | The Israeli military and Palestinian militants in Gaza are trading fire with air strikes and rocket attacks amid the latest eruption of violence. |
32,080,182 | The Supreme Court announced that it was ordering the release of a tranche of letters sent by the Prince of Wales to government ministers when he was lobbying for particular causes.
The release of the so-called "black spider memos" is the culmination of 10 years of legal chiselling by Rob Evans, a reporter at the Guardian newspaper, who sought them under the Freedom of Information Act.
Indeed, in getting to the documents - which got their nickname from Prince Charles's distinctive style of handwritin -, Mr Evans has carved "a very sizeable hole" in the legislation, to use the words of one rather annoyed senior mandarin.
When the FoI Act came into force in January 2005, ministers were worried that there was a risk of public disclosure of documents which, in the view of officials, need to be kept confidential.
That is because, for the most part, final decisions about what should be released were put into the hands of a combination of the Information Commissioner, who regulates the act, independent tribunals and conventional courts.
That created a risk, in the civil service view, that outsiders lacking government experience could open up access to documents that ought to be kept secret. So the drafters introduced a ministerial veto.
This provision in the Act gave the Cabinet the right to simply kill requests, even if a court has ordered that the request be filled. It was used, for example, to block requests for documents from the lead up to the Iraq War and relating to the recent English NHS reforms.
It was used on the Prince Charles letters, too. The Evans judgment, however, has bulldozed the veto. That clause in the Act, the judges have ruled, is a very problematic legal idea and contravenes older, grander principles of public law.
Adam Chapman, head of public law at Kingsley Napley and a former senior government lawyer, said: "The court clearly, very strongly didn't like the prospect of a government minister overruling a decision of a court, which is the effect of the veto in this circumstance."
He continued: "It regards that as clashing with two constitutional principles, and something unique in English law."
So the judges came out against the veto. This feels like something of a moment: the Supreme Court has flexed its muscles and won.
This will have immediate effects. A veto was used to keep information on the HS2 high-speed rail link a secret. A court case on that has been stayed while the judge waited for the Evans verdict. I expect activists will rerequest the Iraq war documents, too.
According to the Supreme Court, it might be possible to reintroduce the veto if the Act were to be clearer about when it could and could not be used.
Mr Chapman said that the judges' problem with the veto was that "the provision in the FoI Act was not explicit enough".
David Cameron, implied he might do that. He said: "If the legislation does not make Parliament's intentions for the veto clear enough, then we will need to make it clearer."
Indeed, one senior civil service lawyer told me that any such clarification might be used as an opportunity to make it easier for officials to refuse requests on other grounds.
In their words, they might try to "sort out a few other things while the patient is on the table". That would almost certainly mean that requests would need to be smaller and less complicated.
The Supreme Court decision has certainly alarmed senior civil servants, who see it as the latest in a string of incursions by judges into transparency law.
Many senior officials in Whitehall are already openly hostile to the Act. The Cabinet Office, in particular, is openly opposed to it. It routinely refuses to comply with the law and its officials offer advice to other departments on how to follow suit.
As if that were not enough grand ramifications for one arcane judicial decision, the documents will open up the issue of Prince Charles's role.
It is worth being clear about what the judges have ordered should be released. An earlier ruling from 2012 set out that Mr Evans should only get so-called "advocacy correspondence". That is to say, when the Prince was not just expressing a view, but advocating specific policies.
This is because, the judges ruled, it will "be likely to concern matters which affect either or both of public policy and the public purse".
The judges continued that they did not want the disclosure of "purely social or personal correspondence" nor "correspondence within the established constitutional convention that the heir to the throne is to be instructed in the business of government".
The documents could have some fairly important examples of lobbying in them. Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, said the documents might mean "he forfeits his position of political neutrality as heir to the throne". Keep an eye on that.
There will, however, be no further releases. Since the Evans case started, the Prince's correspondence - all of it - has since been granted exemption from the Act.
That's why it matters so much. Not only has Rob Evans punched a hole in the ability of officials to keep public data from the public, he may be about to give us one of the few unguarded sights we will get of the man who might one day be our King. | A landmark legal decision has opened up questions about ministers' rights to keep official secrets and the nature of modern monarchy. |
39,844,335 | Paramedics found the 17-year-old when they were called to High Street, Walthamstow, shortly after 23:30 BST on Sunday.
He was taken to hospital but died. He is the ninth teenager to be fatally stabbed or shot in London this year.
The Met Police said the victim was walking along the road with friends when they were approached by two men on bikes at the junction of Buxton Road.
The teenager was stabbed during an altercation.
Det Ch Insp Matt Bonner added: "At this stage we are investigating whether the two suspects left the area on bicycles. If you were in the area last night and saw anything that may help us, or you have information that will assist, please get in touch."
Officers are awaiting formal identification, but next of kin have been informed. No arrests have been made.
The victim was the sixth teenager to have died this year from stab wounds, while the other three teenagers were shot.
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw said there had been 29 fatal stabbings in London this year, including the six teenagers, compared to 23 by this time in 2016.
The latest victim was the second to be fatally stabbed in the city in 48 hours, with the incident coming after the death of a 23-year-old man, who was found unconscious by police in Waterloo Road, Uxbridge, west London, early on Saturday.
Last week, the Met Police launched the latest phase in its campaign to crack down on knife crime.
During the week, 393 arrests were made as part of Operation Sceptre, including 73 for possession of an offensive weapon/knife and 144 stop and search arrests.
The Met Police said the taskforce had been created to tackle an increase in knife crime across London, with about 100 officers deployed to knife crime hotspots.
According to official statistics released last month, knife crime in London increased by 24% in the year up to April, with 12,074 recorded offences.
Knife crime that resulted in an injury also increased, with a rise of 21% to 4,415 recorded incidents.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, said carrying knives on London's streets would not be tolerated.
He said: "My message today is clear: if you carry a knife in London, we will catch you and arrest you." | A teenager has died after he was stabbed in north-east London. |
37,726,572 | Speaking at a summit in Brussels, she said she felt it could be achieved, despite the continuing deadlock over a landmark EU-Canada trade deal .
Mrs May said she had played an active role in discussions and was not "backwards in coming forwards".
It is her first EU summit since she became PM following the Brexit vote.
At a news conference before meeting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for a working lunch, Mrs May said Britain would be "a confident, outward-looking country".
She said she aimed to "cement Britain as a close partner of the EU once we have left", with the country able to control its immigration but trade freely with the EU. She said she would seek a "mature co-operative relationship" with the EU.
Analysis by Laura Kuenssberg, BBC political editor
Theresa May is certainly no stranger to getting things done in Brussels.
And she is rarely, if ever, underprepared, arriving into each meeting clutching her folder with carefully colour-coded and prepared sections.
But can anything have really prepared the prime minister for this summit? She came here promising a "smooth Brexit" but it has been a bumpy affair.
There's been anger in some quarters at her insistence that the UK must still be fully included despite the fact we're leaving. And blunt warnings from other leaders that the negotiations will be very hard going.
The prime minister will hardly be surprised, and she is hardly a delicate flower. As she made clear in the last 24 hours she has "not been backwards at coming forwards". And this was never going to be the summit where any details were discussed or any real progress was made.
But it's abundantly clear now that not only will the process of leaving be difficult, but also that Britain's wishes are simply not a priority in the long drab corridors of the EU Council. Read Laura's full blog
"I recognise the scale of the challenge ahead. I am sure there will be difficult moments - it will require some give and take.
"But I firmly believe that if we approach this in a constructive spirit, as I am, then we can deliver a smooth departure and build a powerful new relationship that works both for the UK and for the countries of the EU, looking for opportunities, not problems."
Asked whether the difficulties over Ceta - an EU-Canada trade deal that has stalled because one Belgian region has objected - might affect a UK post-Brexit deal, Mrs May said she was "not looking to adopt a model that another country has" but was seeking a new relationship with the European Union.
"Obviously we have got negotiations ahead... those negotiations will take time, as I say, there will be some difficult moments, it will need some give and take but I'm optimistic that we can achieve a deal that is right for the UK because I actually think the deal that is right for the UK will also be right for the European Union."
But the TUC said the deadlock over Ceta should be a "wake-up call" to ministers.
"Britain will need a trade deal with the EU after Brexit, and it mustn't follow the failed Canadian model," said the union body's general secretary Frances O'Grady.
"We need a new approach to trade that creates good jobs and protects public services and workers' rights. Not one that just prioritises the needs of big business."
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused the prime minister of a "haphazard" approach to Brexit in her own cabinet.
"Instead of putting the views of a minority of hardline Tory Brexiteers first, our prime minister should be doing what's right for the British people," he said.
"This means remaining in the single market, maintaining cross-border security and ensuring that Brexit leaves nobody worse off."
Meanwhile the man seen as front-runner to replace French President Francois Hollande, Alain Juppe, has said he would revoke a treaty that allows UK border officials to check passports in Calais - known as Le Touquet - should he be elected president next year.
The former French PM blamed the 2003 agreement for the creation of the "Jungle" encampment and said: "We cannot accept making the selection on French territory of people that Britain does or doesn't want. It's up to Britain to do that job."
He added: "A debate must be opened and a new accord obtained with Britain."
And one of the EU's three main Brexit negotiators, Michel Barnier, has been forced to deny claims that he wanted the talks to be conducted largely in French, saying the "linguistic regime" would be decided at the start of official negotiations.
"Never expressed myself on negotiation language," he tweeted. "Work as often in English as French."
Formal exit negotiations will not begin until Mrs May triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, something she has said will be done by the end of March 2017.
This means Brexit, backed in a UK-wide referendum in June, is likely to take effect by the summer of 2019. | Theresa May has predicted "difficult moments" ahead in Brexit negotiations but said she is optimistic she can get a deal "that is right for the UK". |
38,557,946 | Chamseddine al-Sandi is described as the "mastermind" behind the attack in documents obtained by Panorama.
He is named in confessions from suspects who were arrested in connection with the shootings.
Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on the beach and in the Imperial Hotel near Sousse in June 2015.
Rezgui was killed at the scene, but the documents obtained by Panorama say that he was recruited and directed by al-Sandi.
The confessions say al-Sandi ran a militant cell responsible for both the Sousse shootings and the attack three months earlier at the Bardo National Museum in which 22 people died. Both attacks were claimed by the so-called Islamic State.
The documents show how closely Rezgui worked with the Bardo gang - describing how he met with them in cafes and mosques in Tunis and how he trained alongside one of the Bardo gunmen in an IS camp in Libya.
According to the confessions, al-Sandi recruited the attackers, paid for them to go to Libya for training and gave them their orders.
Al-Sandi is now believed to be on the run in Libya. The Tunisian authorities have issued warrants for his arrest in connection with both the Bardo and Sousse attacks, but the documents obtained by Panorama reveal the extent of his alleged involvement for the first time.
Of the 38 people who were killed in Sousse in June 2015, 30 were British, three were from Ireland, two were German, one was from Russia, one was Belgian and one was from Portugal.
The inquests into the deaths of the British tourists starts next week. But the lawyer representing many of the families told Panorama that he was unaware of al-Sandi's involvement and had not seen his picture before.
"I have not seen that," said Demetrius Danas. "If you are right, and the families see that, they will be shocked to see the face of the man who caused them so much sadness."
Tunisia attack: The British victims
What we know about the attack
Terror on the beach
Some of the families who were caught up in the Sousse attack have told Panorama that they were assured by tour operator Thomson that it was safe to travel to Tunisia.
Nicki Duffield said she rang Thomson repeatedly to check on the security situation after hearing about the Bardo museum attack.
"I was just constantly asking: 'Are we going to be safe, can you guarantee we are going to be safe?'" she said. "We were definitely told that there would be increased security."
Alison Caine also called Thomson because she was worried about going to Tunisia.
She said: "We called them after Bardo to make sure that it was still safe to travel and they reassured us it was and security had been stepped up. But I just wanted to make sure again the following month so we called them again just to double-check."
Ms Caine said she felt reassured by Thomson: "Everything was fine, it was safe to travel. They were not doing any refunds or transfers."
The families say they were told by the tour operator that if they cancelled they wouldn't get their money back.
TUI, the travel company that owns Thomson, said it wants to understand the specific circumstances that led to the killings.
"We are cooperating fully with the Coroner and will continue to do so, in order to help ensure that the tragic deaths of those killed can be thoroughly investigated, the relevant facts determined and any lessons learned."
The company said it would be inappropriate to comment further before the inquests but it doesn't accept the accuracy of all the statements that have been made.
You can watch Panorama Terror on the Beach: Why Did It Happen? on Monday 9 January at 20:30 GMT. Or catch up afterwards on BBC iPlayer | A BBC investigation has identified the man accused of organising the terror attack on a beach that killed 38 people in Tunisia. |
32,528,764 | The firm forecasts operating income of 320bn yen ($2.7bn; £1.7bn) for the year ending in March 2016, which was below analyst estimates for 401.6bn yen.
It also plans to restore a shareholder dividend after scrapping it last year and will pay out 10 yen per share.
Shares of Sony fell by 1.3% in Tokyo ahead of the earnings release.
It has been a tough year for Sony, which saw its movie division and gaming network targeted by hackers earlier this year.
The firm said the cyber attacks cost it $41m in "investigation and remediation expenses".
Sony has cut its profit outlook 15 times in seven years, prompting chief executive Kazuo Hirai to undertake a broad restructuring.
Mr Hirai sold off its personal computer business and spun off its loss-making television division into a separate structure.
The company's smartphone division is also still struggling to compete against Samsung, Apple and cheaper Chinese producers such as Xiaomi and Huawei.
Restructuring charges are expected to be approximately 35bn yen for the new fiscal year, the company said in a statement. | Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony expects operating profit to more than quadruple because of higher gadget sales and cost-cutting measures. |
38,835,835 | Neil Gorsuch met with the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the President has urged the leaders of Congress to "go nuclear" if need be - that is, change the rules to get his appointment through.
Who is Judge Gorsuch, and what impact might he have on the bench? Watch below. | Donald Trump's pick to be the next US Supreme Court justice has been on a charm offensive here in Washington. |
30,451,624 | Officers were called to the Blossoms Pub in Holyhead at about 16:00 GMT following reports a 24-year-old man had assaulted another man, aged 46.
The injured man died despite efforts to revive him, North Wales Police said.
The other man then climbed onto the roof of the nearby Holland Inn. After negotiations, he was arrested.
Police said he was being held in police custody and an investigation had been launched.
Supt Andy Jenks-Gilbert said: "I would like to take this opportunity to reassure the public that there is no danger to local residents."
Much of the town centre was sealed off after emergency services were called to the Holborn Road area of the town on Friday afternoon.
Police had warned members of the public to avoid the area and ordered nearby businesses to close.
A Wales Ambulance spokesman said it was called at 16:10 GMT and sent an ambulance.
Speaking earlier on Friday, Tony Pan, from the Happy House Chinese takeaway, said police had told him to close due to a serious incident.
He said: "We have also been advised not the leave the building."
He added that he had seen one ambulance and four police cars in the Rhos y Gaer Terrace area.
Carol Roberts, who works at Roberts Newsagents, said: "A police officer is asking us not to go out. No cars [are] going up and down the road.
"I can hear the police helicopter, never seen so many police cars and policemen." | One man has died and another has been arrested after an attack which led to a man scaling the roof of a pub on Anglesey, police have confirmed. |
39,947,622 | The Premier League said it supported local authorities in investigations that led to arrests on 11 May.
The men were named as William Lloyd, 39 and William Robinson, 35.
They are accused of causing damages worth more than 100 million baht (£2.2m) to the broadcast rights holders.
A third man, who is Thai, was also arrested and named as Supatra Raksasat, 33.
Agents for the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) also seized nine computer servers, nine computers, 49 set-top boxes and three mobile phones.
The three men allegedly sold illegal broadcasts of football matches on the 365sport.tv website, which is currently offline.
Customers of 365sport.tv have discussed problems accessing the site in recent days via online forums.
In a statement, the Premier League said that it had supported Thai police in efforts to crack down on the illegal use of Kodi and IPTV boxes.
"This included a series of raids in Bangkok that targeted several website operators engaged in selling the devices that are pre-loaded with apps that facilitate pirate broadcasts of Premier League football, across South East Asia," the organisation said.
"The Premier League is currently engaged in its largest ever programme to protect its copyright and the legitimate investment made by its broadcasting partners.
"Their contribution allows our clubs to develop and acquire players, invest in facilities and support the wider football pyramid and communities - all things that fans enjoy and society benefits from."
Deputy chief of the DSI, Suriya Singhakamol, said the suspects may also have been involved in transmissions broadcast via Thaiexpat.tv, Hkexpat.tv, Indoexpat.tv, Vietexpat.tx and Euroexpat.tv.
The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office is aware of the situation.
In March, the Premier League secured a court order in the UK that gave it the means to block computer servers used to host illegal streams.
At the time, a spokesman said the organisation was prepared to target pirates in a "precise manner". | Two British men have been arrested in Bangkok for allegedly selling online access to illegally streamed football broadcasts. |
32,630,062 | A youth zone and a new public space are planned for the building, with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) running the contest.
A panel featuring leading architects and council representatives will shortlist the five best designs.
Lancashire County Council (LCC) said the £13m redesign was "to make it more appealing to passengers".
The LCC and Preston Youth Zone plans include a sports hall, arts facilities and 36 bus bays.
Preston Bus Station was considered the largest bus station in Europe when it opened in 1969.
The site, which was under-threat from demolition, was given Grade II listed status in 2013. | More than 90 entries have been submitted in a competition to redesign Preston Bus Station. |
38,149,264 | The niqab face veil and the burka, which covers the eyes, are included in the ban along with other face coverings such as ski-masks and helmets.
The Dutch Senate must approve the bill, which has government backing, for it to become law.
Supporters of the ban say people should be identifiable in public places.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte's ruling Liberal-Labour coalition described the bill as "religious-neutral".
Offenders would face a fine of up to €410 (£350; $435).
Religious freedom campaigner Karima Rahmani said people should be able to wear what they want without the state interfering. "What is disturbing us about this law is that it is a direct attack on freedom of expression," she told a reporter from German media company ARD.
A previous attempt to pass a law in the Netherlands banning the burka in all public spaces - including on the street - failed because it was deemed unnecessarily wide-reaching but similar laws have been passed in France, Belgium and Switzerland.
The Netherlands faces a national election in March 2017. The opposition anti-Islam Freedom Party, which has been leading in pre-election polls, wants a full ban on face-covering clothing.
Between 100 and 400 Muslim women in the Netherlands are thought to wear the niqab. | Dutch MPs have backed a ban on the Islamic full veil in some public places such as schools and hospitals, and on public transport. |
20,323,361 | Jackie Ballard said a number of MPs did not accept external oversight and this was at the root of continuing tensions.
She is one of four members to stand down after Commons Speaker John Bercow vetoed their automatic reappointments.
But an ally of Mr Bercow's said the regulator had behaved "disgracefully" in making the dispute public.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) announced on Tuesday that four of its five board members had not reapplied for their posts and would stand down when their terms of office expire in January.
It said they were partly influenced by concerns about how the appointment process - overseen by Mr Bercow but delegated to an independent panel - was being handled.
The watchdog also published correspondence between Ipsa chair Sir Ian Kennedy and Mr Bercow in which the former urged the existing members to be reappointed and expressed his concerns about the perception that the process was being politicised.
Mr Bercow has said the posts must be readvertised and opened to fair competition to ensure the process is lawful.
But in being asked to effectively reapply for their jobs, Mrs Ballard said the Speaker had shown "no recognition of the three years' worth of experience" she and her colleagues had gained in helping establish the regulator.
She also expressed concerns that the panel interviewing candidates included an MP - Conservative politician Peter Atkinson - and a member of the Speaker's Committee on Ipsa which advises Mr Bercow on relations with the watchdog.
One of the five Ipsa board members must be a former MP and Mrs Ballard - who was Lib Dem MP for Taunton between 1997 and 2001 - said she would feel "uncomfortable" in being interviewed by one of her former colleagues for such a sensitive job.
"From the start, it felt like the Speaker's fingerprints were all over it," she said of the process, "and including an ex-MP and a member of the Speaker's Committee was a threat to the independence (of Ipsa)".
Mrs Ballard said a number of MPs from all parties had never accepted they had to give up control of determining their expenses although she believed opponents of Ipsa were in a "small minority".
But Charles Walker, a member of the Speaker's Committee, said the watchdog had been wrong to make details of the disagreement public simply in order to "get our side of the story out first".
"On this occasion really Ipsa has behaved pretty disgracefully," he said.
Mr Walker said it "made sense" to have an MP on the panel and insisted it was independent of the Speaker.
He added: "If Sir Ian Kennedy is uncomfortable about the process why did he participate in the process?
"Sir Ian Kennedy is now suggesting that that independence has been compromised. If he believed that independence had been compromised, which it has not, why is he still continuing as chairman?"
The identities of the new board members are set to be announced soon.
Ipsa took over responsibility for policing MPs' expenses in 2010 after it emerged that a number of MPs had made inappropriate claims under the old system overseen by Parliament and a handful had committed fraud.
It has since clashed with MPs over a number of issues. | The independence of the body which polices MPs' expenses is under threat from a row over the membership of its board, a senior figure has said. |
38,766,074 | With stable stars Thistlecrack, Cue Card, Native River and Finian's Oscar all hitting jump racing's high spots, not a great deal has gone wrong of late for trainer of the moment Colin Tizzard.
Practically the only blot on an otherwise dreamy season was when expensive French purchase Alary was well beaten in Haydock's Peter Marsh Chase.
Subsequent to being pulled up by his rider, vets' tests on the seven-year-old found he wasn't 100%, and Tizzard and his team have taken no chances.
The trainer, based in deepest Dorset, said: "Alary coughed a couple of times after the race, and he was [stabled] quite close to Thistlecrack and Cue Card and Native River so almost before he was pulled up he was being moved to the other end of the yard.
"We joked: 'We don't want you anywhere near them.'"
All of Tizzard's big names are due to race during late January and February before going for the most glittering prizes at jump racing's Cheltenham Festival in March.
Most immediately, Thistlecrack takes in Saturday's BetBright Cotswold Chase, on Cheltenham's Festival Trials Day, as his final stepping stone towards the Gold Cup, for which he's hot favourite just ahead of, intriguingly, Native River and Cue Card.
The breathtaking, big-jumping winner of Kempton's King George VI Chase, on only his fourth time in a steeplechase, is said by Tizzard to be in "brilliant" and "beautiful" form.
A champion over hurdles, the horse's switch to the chasing big time has been so impressively smooth he's become an almost instant standard-bearer for the sport, and his capture of the public imagination is striking.
Dad's in awe of Thistlecrack; he'd have loved to have ridden him
On board in the Cotswold Chase, wearing the orange silks of owners John and Heather Snook, will be jockey Tom Scudamore, back in the position he's been in for the nine-year-old's past 11 starts. That's every one since April 2015, and all but one a success.
The 34-year-old, the third-generation top jump jockey in his family after father Peter and grandfather Michael, told BBC Sport: "To have a horse like Thistlecrack come along is obviously great, and it's a great position to be in, and one I'm very grateful for.
"A lot of successful jockeys are at one point associated with particular horses - Jonjo O'Neill with Dawn Run; Richard Dunwoody with Desert Orchid; Ruby [Walsh] with Master Minded through Kauto Star to Hurricane Fly - and that's very nice for a jockey, very special.
"Dad rode lots of winners but isn't necessarily associated with one horse, and he's in awe of Thistlecrack; he'd have loved to have ridden him.
"We talk about him a lot, and when I hear the buzz of excitement that he, like so many other people, gets from Thistlecrack, that's gives me great pride too."
Scudamore is famously unflappable in the saddle - "steady as a rock", according to Tizzard - but this horse is gathering fans, and consequently expectations, as quickly as any I can recall.
While acknowledging the clamour around him, the jockey is determinedly keeping his feet on the ground.
He said: "I suppose one thing that has put me in good stead for riding him, which I was brought up on, is that you take every day as it comes.
"You just keep on concentrating and not getting too carried away.
"You're not going out on Thistlecrack and thinking, 'God, I can't wait to ride him in the Gold Cup', because that would be thinking too far ahead down the line.
"It's like a fighter in his prelims going for the world championship; if you take your eye off the ball, you're not going to get to the world championships.
"So, you've got to keep on concentrating, and take every day as it comes, and the rest will follow from there."
The Cotswold Chase, which brings £57,000 to the winner, is the centrepiece of what's now - following the transfer of two races originally called off because of bad weather - a nine-race programme.
Thistlecrack is due to face opponents including the race's past two winners, Smad Place and Many Clouds, the latter a real favourite since success in the 2015 Grand National.
All agree that Thistlecrack, the odds-on favourite, may well be home and hosed, but Oliver Sherwood, trainer of Many Clouds, believes in the old racing adage that you should never be frightened of one horse.
He said: "I don't expect to beat Thistlecrack - he's been enormous this season - but racing is there to have good horses take each other on.
"The Grand National is again our target, and there's no point sitting at home when we need some match practice.
"Prize money for second - £21,370 - is damn good as well. We all want winners but to finish second to Thistlecrack with that prize money is probably better than winning a smaller race somewhere else." | You can't be too careful. |
37,044,018 | Emily Tabassi-Gill, from East Sussex, discovered the bones in February during a walk organised by the island's Dinosaur Isle museum.
The fossil is approximately 120 million years old and is the left side of the animal's horse-like skull.
Mrs Tabassi-Gill donated her find to the Sandown-based museum.
The mother-of-two said she was "delighted" her fossil would go on display and added: "We will definitely be back to see it."
Dinosaur Isle's community learning assistant, Alex Peaker, said dinosaur skulls are "incredibly rare" because they are fragile and less likely to become fossils than other bones.
He said: "We are really grateful to Emily for her donation.
"Her generosity and that of so many other people is what helps us maintain a fantastic display and helps our understanding of the past progress."
Mr Peaker added that what is most unusual about the fossil is that the remains come from the Cowleaze Chine, made up of layers of clay and sandstone which rarely preserve dinosaur bones. | The remains of an "incredibly rare" fossilised iguanodon skull found by a family visiting the Isle of Wight have gone on display. |
37,634,952 | Andrew Maling, 47, from Sigglesthorne, near Hull, was jailed for 10 years for the manslaughter of Amy Gough in June.
Miss Gough, 34, from Sandiacre, Derbyshire, died several days after suffering stomach injuries inflicted by Maling in March 2015.
The Appeal Court said his history of domestic violence should be reflected.
More on this story and other news in Derbyshire
Maling, who watched the court hearing via video-link from prison, had inflicted serious injuries to Miss Gough "over a period of several years".
Last year, Miss Gough suffered serious abdominal injuries, which had been caused by "blunt force trauma".
Her heart failed and she died in hospital on 29 March 2015, several days after the attack.
At trial at Nottingham Crown Court, Maling had denied guilt, insisting Miss Gough's injuries resulted from an "accidental drunken fall".
Lawyers for the Attorney General argued there was "no mitigation whatever" for his crime.
Lady Justice Hallett, sitting with Mr Justice King and Mr Justice Dove, said she had no doubt the original 10-year sentence was "too short".
"If a killing results from a campaign of domestic violence, that is a serious aggravating factor which must be properly reflected in the sentence imposed," Justice Hallett said.
The impact of Miss Gough's death had been devastating for her family, the court heard.
Her mother, Christine, had spoken of the void left by her daughter's loss - describing her as a "caring, beautiful and warm person".
Speaking after the hearing, the Attorney General said: "This was a one of many violent attacks the offender inflicted on the deceased over a number of years, and this attack lasted several days.
"I hope this increased sentence gives some comfort to the Ms Gough's family at this difficult time." | A violent boyfriend whose abuse caused the death of his girlfriend has had his "unduly lenient" prison sentence extended by a third to 15 years. |
35,956,842 | His grandfather was a scout for US military commander George Custer, who lost his life in the Battle of Little Big Horn fighting Native Americans.
Medicine Crow earned the title of war chief in his tribe through stealing horses and other exploits during World War Two.
He later worked as his tribe's historian, lecturing into his nineties.
"When you spoke with Joe Medicine Crow, it was impossible not to be inspired," Montana senator Jon Tester tweeted.
Medicine Crow was raised on the Crow Reservation in the state of Montana where he spent much of his life.
He was the first of his tribe to get a master's degree in 1939, later helping catalogue his people's history through oral testimony.
To become a war chief he successfully performed four daring deeds, including wrestling a weapon from an enemy warrior - in his case a Nazi soldier.
"I never got a scratch," he said decades on, the Billings Gazette reported.
In 2009. President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"His contributions to the preservation of the culture and history of the First Americans are matched only by his importance as a role model to young Native Americans across the country," the White House said at the time. | The historian, World War Two veteran and chief of Montana's Crow tribe Joe Medicine Crow has died aged 102. |
34,304,469 | The 46-year-old was on his way to a church in Ashfield Street when he was attacked on Bardowie Street by two men.
He was hit with a glass bottle and punched before the men ran off with his rucksack at about 23:35 on Friday.
Police Scotland are treating the attack as a hate crime. The preacher sustained only minor injuries but was "very shaken", officers said.
The suspects were white and in their late teens. One is described as medium to heavy build, with a short dark crew cut hairstyle and wearing a grey hooded top, black tracksuit trousers and white trainers.
The second man has a slim build with short light brown hair, wearing a black hooded top and red tracksuit bottoms.
The preacher had just got off a bus on Saracen Street before the attack. The two men stole his rucksack which had a Bible and other possessions inside.
Det Con Alan Watt said: "On checking CCTV we can see the two suspects hanging about in Saracen Street a short time before the attack. I would appeal to anyone who recognises their description or who has information that will help officers with their enquiries to contact the Community Investigation Unit at Pollok via 101."
DC Watt said he was keen to hear from the driver of a grey Hackney taxi who was seen on CCTV just before the attack. | A Nigerian preacher has been robbed and racially abused by two men as he walked to his church in north Glasgow. |
40,831,402 | The suspects have taken "more than a dozen pieces" of the mosaic artworks by French urban artist Invader, a Paris City Council spokeswoman said.
The city was alerted to the thefts after people got in touch to complain about their removal.
The tiled pieces are inspired by the 1978 video game Space Invaders.
Paris council said it "quickly realised that those were not our agents, nor our vehicles or our jackets".
As they were disguised as city workers, Paris "has decided to file a complaint for abuse of functions", the spokeswoman said.
Parisians lamented the removal of the mosaics on social media.
End of Twitter post by @BastienLopez_
Invader, whose real name, like that of fellow street artist Banksy, is not known, has previously pointed out: "Given the type of tiles I use, to steal the work is impossible. These individuals by removing the mosaics destroy the piece and then have to buy ceramics to repair or recreate the work."
However, the work does sell for high prices when he creates replicas, garnering hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.
In a 2013 interview with the BBC, he said his work was influenced by his childhood.
"Space Invaders represents to me a symbol of the beginning of the digital world in which we are living now." | Thieves posing as city workers appear to have stripped Paris's walls of some of its best-loved street art in a matter of days. |
29,586,847 | But he might be different to how you remember him.
Not because its been years since he stepped foot in the Queen Vic or got his clothes washed at the launderette, but because he'll be played by a new actor.
James Bye is taking over the role.
Who?
The actor has previously appeared in The Great Train Robbery and The Hooligan Factor.
He tweeted: "So proud to be part of the Fowler clan. A massive opportunity."
The role of Martin Fowler has previously been played by Jon Peyton Price and James Alexandrou.
Last month bosses on the BBC One soap reintroduced Ben Mitchell's character using a different actor.
That role has been played by five actors in total, with Harry Reid the latest.
Executive Producer, Dominic Treadwell-Collins told soapsquark.co.uk: "We have recast everyman Martin Fowler after extensive auditions.
"Martin is an EastEnders original - the first baby born on the Square and part of the show's roots - and, as we celebrate 30 years on Albert Square, it's important to look backwards as we move forwards."
No doubt Martin will be trying to sort his marriage with Sonia, played by Natalie Cassidy, when he returns.
She recently returned to the square herself when the couple's relationship hit tough times.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat and on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | EastEnders bosses have confirmed Martin Fowler is returning to Albert Square. |
38,921,698 | Tigers were hammered 43-0 in their final Champions Cup tie of the season.
Speaking ahead of their return to Premiership action against Gloucester on Saturday, Youngs said the loss provides both pain and motivation.
"It sat very heavy in my heart and a lot of the boys' hearts. It hurt big time," he told BBC Radio Leicester.
"A lot of stuff has been thrown at us as a group. It will make us stronger in the long run, but short-term it will probably knock us a little bit.
"I have never wanted a game to end early in a Leicester shirt, but I really wanted that to end early. Everything we said to do we didn't do."
Hooker Youngs said his side's inadequacies, coupled with facing an in-form Glasgow side, made it difficult to keep their heads up in the days that followed.
"We could have done things better, but they were in one of those bubbles you get in sometimes in rugby," Youngs added.
"They got the momentum and got the squeeze on us. It was very hard, after the losses we have experienced, to keep heads up and keep going.
"It does take it's toll. It was pretty hard. There were lots of disappointed people and we have to take it on the chin."
As well as bowing out of Europe, Tigers are fifth in the Premiership, having lost seven of their past nine games in all competitions.
Youngs added: "I said to guys to watch the game against Glasgow again because you have to learn from that sort of game, and understand, and make sure it doesn't happen again.
"You have to draw a line in some regards, but you also have to learn from it. We need a win against Gloucester." | Captain Tom Youngs says Leicester must continue to learn from last month's record European defeat against Glasgow, to ensure it never happens again. |
35,400,791 | Titchard, 48, spent eight years at Old Trafford before moving to Derbyshire in 1999 and is currently Lancashire's performance manager.
The Red Rose have also named former bowler Gary Keedy, who retired last season, as spin coach.
Former Derbyshire player and coach Karl Krikken is wicketkeeping coach.
Leading the operation as general manager is Bobby Cross, the brother of England and LCB Thunder seamer Kate Cross, while women and girls' cricket development officer Jenny Barden will work as assistant coach.
The tournament, consisting of six teams, will be played in a Twenty20 format this season, before adding a 50-over competition in the future.
The group stage of the 2016 competition will run from 30 July to 14 August, with the top four teams qualifying for a finals day.
General manager: Bobby Cross
Head coach: Stephen Titchard
Assistant coach: Jenny Barden
Spin bowling coach: Gary Keedy
Fielding coach: Chris Chambers
Wicketkeeping coach: Karl Krikken
Strength & conditioning coach: Cristina Carr
Performance analyst: Chris Highton | Lancashire Cricket Board have named former batsman Stephen Titchard as head coach for their 2016 Women's Cricket Super League campaign. |
35,668,629 | It said there is nowhere else for them to go because of a lack of specialist facilities.
The Scottish government said it wants people to be treated in their own homes or as close to home as possible.
Minister Jamie Hepburn said it plans to invest £250m a year to "protect and grow" social care services.
Romana was placed in a care home for the elderly at the age of just 23, after suffering a severe brain haemorrhage when she was four months pregnant with her second child.
She couldn't see her children apart from short visits.
"It felt very strange because everyone around me was so much older; I was a very young girl at the time, and I felt I had lost my family," she said.
After two years, the Sue Ryder charity heard of her case and offered her a place at their neurological centre in Aberdeen.
With specialised rehabilitation, Romana learned to walk and live independently.
She is now looking forward to having her own flat, and sleeping under the same roof as her children for the first time in seven years.
Sue Ryder asked every local authority and health board in Scotland how many people with neurological conditions are being cared for in old people's care homes.
Neurological conditions include Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Huntington's disease and brain injuries.
Only a third of local authorities provided figures. They said 63 people under the age of 65 were being cared for in such an environment.
If those figures were replicated across the remaining health boards it would mean about 250 people are in an inappropriate environment.
They said a further 182 people aged over 65 with neurological conditions were in a care home for older people.
The charity said this meant a total of nearly 1,000 people could be missing out on specialist treatment, support and rehabilitation.
Sue Ryder's assistant director Scotland, Pamela Mackenzie, said: "Romana was quite a different lady when she first came. She was withdrawn and depressed and she really had been written off.
"Older people's care homes do a great job for people in their 80s and 90s, but people like Romana need a different environment. Their conditions are quite different.
"It is clear from our research that the needs of people with neurological conditions have largely been overlooked in recent years.
"We urge the Scottish government to take immediate action to address these inequalities so people with neurological conditions get the chance of a better quality of life."
The minister for health improvement, Jamie Hepburn, said: "Our 2016/17 budget sets out plans to invest a further £250m per year through health and social care partnerships, to protect and grow social care services, and invest £11.6m to implement self-directed support.
"We also recognise the vital role specialist nurses play in patient care. This is why we committed £2.5m of recurring funding for specialist nursing and care, including up to £700,000 to specifically target MND care.
"The health boards involved are currently recruiting additional nurses, or increasing the hours of existing nurses in order to fulfil our pledge to double the number of MND nurses in Scotland.
"Some posts have already been filled and the remaining posts are expected to be filled by spring 2016." | Younger people with neurological conditions are being cared for in old people's homes, according to the charity Sue Ryder. |
15,315,836 | The challenger started fast but the 24-year-old champion found a rhythm by the middle rounds and had a lot of success with left hooks and upper-cuts.
But Bellew found a second wind and hurt Cleverly with some big right hands as the fight developed into a humdinger.
The attritional nature of the fight made it difficult to score.
One judge called it a draw, while two awarded it to Cleverly by wide margins.
However, the scorecards could not disguise what was without doubt Cleverly's toughest day at the office - he is now undefeated in 23 pro fights - and a rematch could be in the offing.
Cleverly was hoping for an eye-catching performance to set up a possible unification match with 46-year-old American veteran Bernard Hopkins, but the WBC title-holder lost his belt to Chad Dawson in Los Angeles in the early hours of Sunday morning, UK time.
In Liverpool, an ill-tempered build-up to the fight culminated in a flare-up at Friday's weigh-in and Cleverly was given a hostile reception by a partisan crowd at the Echo Arena.
And the first round was more of the same, with Cleverly steaming out of his corner on the sound of the opening bell before Bellew was given a stern ticking off by referee Richie Davies for what was deemed a deliberate headbutt.
Bellew, the British and Commonwealth champion, had Cleverly in trouble in round two with a chopping right hand but the champion settled in behind his jab in the third and was landing with the cleaner shots in the middle rounds.
Cleverly landed with a low blow in round five, which Bellew had to walk off, and by round six the challenger appeared to be running out of steam as Cleverly peppered his body with hurtful left hooks.
Round seven followed a similar pattern, Cleverly piercing his rival's defence with crisp hooks and upper-cuts, but Bellew soaked up the punishment and had a restorative eighth round.
Cleverly took a rest in round nine and in the following round Bellew landed with a crunching right cross that had Cleverly, who was fighting on the back foot by this stage, leaning on the ropes and swinging wildly.
But Cleverly, clearly aware he might need a strong final round in order to win a decision, finished the fight on the front foot, although Bellew was still giving as good as he got until the bitter end.
While the bout was tricky in terms of scoring, the lop-sided scorecards of two of the judges betrayed just how competitive the bout had been - indeed, it was a genuine contender for fight of the year, with Bellew playing his part in the proceedings.
A devastated Bellew, who drops to 16 wins and one defeat, will now target a tilt at the European title - unless Cleverly denies him an immediate rematch - while Cleverly will target a unification match early next year. | Wales' Nathan Cleverly retained his WBO light-heavyweight title with a hard-fought points victory over Tony Bellew in Liverpool. |
39,974,495 | David Sulman of the UK Forest Products Association criticised an apparent lack of "openness and transparency" in the deal.
The deal had been criticised by auditors.
NRW said the contracts were awarded in "extraordinary" circumstances.
In 2014 a company was awarded a series of contracts worth £39m to purchase both spruce and larch timber - the latter from forests where a fungus disease causing extensive damage, Phytophthora ramorum, was present.
The contracts were part of action NRW - which sells timber from publicly opened woodlands - took to deal with the disease, amid a rapid increase in its spread the previous year.
But a report by auditor general Huw Vaughan Thomas in March expressed doubt over whether the decision met state aid rules and said the decision-making process was not transparent.
Mr Thomas revealed that the deal was made without other companies being allowed to bid - but NRW disputed his findings.
The agreements were set to be pulled after the company failed to meet a key promise to build a new processing line for cutting timber.
Mr Sulman, who is executive director of the UK Forest Products Association which represents the domestic timber industry, said: "It's a very serious, disturbing and worrying situation for businesses across the forestry and forest public sector in Wales, and indeed further afield.
"Our principal concern here is that historically businesses who have dealt with Natural Resources Wales… have always been assured that dealings with NRW would be fair, open and transparent.
"In this case, from what we can see there appears to have been a considerable lack of fairness, openness and transparency, and that is really what is giving rise to such serious concern across the sector at the moment."
"There probably are businesses out there who feel they were denied opportunities," he said.
Fears that the market for larch was on the brink of collapse at the time of the deal have been given as one of the reasons why NRW went ahead with the deal - but whether this was the case has been questioned by Mr Sulman.
Evidence given by chief executive Emyr Roberts at a meeting of the assembly's public accounts committee in March said that, at the time of the deal: "We had a real crisis on our hands."
"There was a danger of the timber market collapsing at that time," he said.
But Mr Sulman said the statement was "wildly inaccurate" and "misleading".
"Events have proved, in the intervening period through 2014 through today, that the diseased larch that was harvested has been equally well processed and sold in the market place," he said.
He said a full investigation by the public accounts committee was "probably warranted given the seriousness of the situation".
Mr Sulman will give evidence to the assembly's public accounts committee, which is also calling NRW in again to re-examine the issue, on Monday.
Emyr Roberts, chief executive of Natural Resources Wales, said in a statement: "The long-term contracts were awarded at a point in time when we were dealing with an extraordinary set of circumstances.
"Our prime objective at the time was to secure a market for the diseased larch and we succeeded in doing so following our agreed processes.
"We are confident that the evidence we gave to the previous public accounts committee was accurate and valid."
Neither NRW or the Wales Audit Office have revealed the name of the firm that was awarded the contracts. | A controversial £39m Natural Resources Wales deal to sell timber to a sawmill that was not put out to tender has generated "serious concern" in the timber industry, it has been claimed. |
39,706,495 | Local authorities have a vital role - and legal obligation - in providing social care, as well as other social services.
But they face challenges in the years ahead:
The Health Foundation last year estimated pressures on social care in Wales would rise by about 4.1% a year over the next 15 years due to population changes, the nature of complex and chronic conditions and rising costs.
This will require the budget to almost double to £2.3bn to match demand which has big implications for councils already dealing with tighter budgets.
An independent research programme, Wales Public Services 2025, led by Cardiff Business School but involving councils, health boards and other organisations, is looking at long term challenges.
Its latest report estimates that on current population projections, local councils need to be spending at least an additional £134m by 2020-21.
This would bring the spending per capita on social services for the over 65s back to levels of seven years ago. This is an equivalent to a year-on-year growth rate of 2.5%.
"Projections suggest that there will have to be a near doubling of spending on local authority social services for older people by 2030," said the report.
Michael Trickey, Wales Public Services 2025 programme director, estimates that under-pressure local councils have already cut back on spending on neighbourhood services by a third - £40m - in areas including sport, leisure, libraries, open spaces and parks.
He believes a "long term" approach is needed by UK and devolved governments to address the social care conundrum.
"A lot of the work into the policies and the options available has already been done but government has not wanted to deal with perhaps some of the difficult decisions needed," he said.
"But it has come back again and now it has to really get a grip or we'll be back into crisis again in a couple of years' time."
But what about the private sector? There are struggles here too - with some residential and home care providers failing.
Last month, the UK Homecare Association reported a "real sense of desperation".
BBC Wales found 13 of Wales' 22 councils had seen contracts handed back to them. The proportion with returned contracts - 59% - compares to a UK average of 48%.
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has welcomed relative protection for social care spending by Welsh Government in recent years - including an extra £20m following the Chancellor's Budget - but is worried it will not keep pace.
Chief executive Steve Thomas said: "For new councillors, in terms of the challenges ahead - the pressures on social care budgets will be the biggest headache you face.
"It's not just about the care of elderly people either, there are also the demands of caring for our looked after children.
"Most people don't use these services; if you've a council with a 175,000 population, it might be only 5,000 using those services - but social care is expensive."
He welcomed the prime minister's intervention in the issue and said it was a time to consider other solutions - whether social care insurance or taxation - so the burden did not fall on local councils or Welsh Government.
"The danger is if this is not addressed over the next 10 or 15 years, local authorities could be left just as social care agencies."
Analysis by Owain Clarke, BBC Wales health correspondent
An ageing population is often talked about in terms of being an extra burden on services but could there also be opportunities?
Far more people aged over 65 now work full-time.
Also, the charity King's Fund estimates older people also contribute financially through a variety of other routes - from their spending power to volunteering.
So one way of mitigating the challenges of an ageing population is to help individuals contribute to society as long as they can - put another way - to live healthily for longer.
It is argued the services councils provide are essential to that.
Housing, leisure centres and libraries have arguably a much greater role to play than the NHS and social services in keeping us healthy in the first place.
So, even if health and social care spending goes up or is protected to meet the needs of an ageing population, councils are worried other "preventative services" will continue to bear the brunt of cuts. And this could mean bigger problems down the line. | You might not think the local elections have anything to do with your health - but beyond schools and waste collection, looking after some of our most vulnerable people is an issue that newly-elected councillors will have to quickly get to grips with. |
37,688,475 | The 21-month-old, from Sheffield, went missing on the Greek island in 1991.
Police said on Monday they believed he died as a result of an accident on the day he disappeared.
Ben's sister, Leigh-Anna Needham, told ITV's Good Morning Britain the car had been shown to them and her grandmother thought it could have been Ben's.
"She is 90% sure, it is similar but we cannot be 100% sure," she said.
Ben's mum 'would tear up island'
Read more about this and other stories from Sheffield and South Yorkshire
New searches on Kos, where the Needham family were renovating a farmhouse in 1991, were prompted by fresh information given to South Yorkshire Police.
A friend of a digger driver, who was clearing land with an excavator on the day the toddler went missing, said the man may have been responsible for Ben's death.
The driver, Konstantinos Barkas, died of cancer in 2015.
The yellow car is believed to have been found shortly before the searches concluded on Sunday.
Det Insp Jon Cousins, who is leading the inquiry, said after 21 days of searching it was his "professional belief" Ben had died in an accident.
Leigh-Anna Needham said she understood why the police had come to that conclusion but she was not completely convinced.
"Without definite proof there is still hope," she said.
"We were told to prepare for the worst. We thought they were going to find him and bring him back and we would have to deal with the grieving process.
"But there is still hope and I will fight tooth and nail to get to the bottom of this.
"It has destroyed my family and I am determined to find out what happened on that day."
South Yorkshire Police said the investigation remained open and any further leads in the case would be fully investigated.
Ms Needham told BBC Look North: "Every time the phone rings your heart sinks, you don't want to actually admit that they were ever going to find anything to suggest that Ben may no longer be alive.
"I can't say the word [dead], it makes me feel physically sick.
"There's not enough evidence for me as yet to give up and to believe that he died that day. Until I have solid evidence, ie remains, that's when the grieving process will start." | A toy car thought to belong to missing toddler Ben Needham was found during police searches on Kos, according to the Find Ben Needham campaign. |
32,442,864 | Officers were called to an address in Neyland, Milford Haven, at 14:45 BST on Thursday.
Police said the girl is "recovering well" after being treated for facial injuries at Morriston Hospital in Swansea.
The dog, a cross between a Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute, was destroyed with the family's consent.
A police spokeswoman said the attack was an "unfortunate incident that no one could have foreseen" and there will be no further investigation. | A family dog attack which hospitalised a three-year-old girl "came out of the blue", Dyfed-Powys Police has said. |
33,429,724 | Richard Griffin, 64, William Hammersley, 79, and Harry Cadman, 71, died in the summer of 2012 while many others were affected.
A hot tub on display at the JTF warehouse in Stoke-on-Trent was the "probable source" of the outbreak, the Health Protection Agency said.
JTF declined to comment on the settlement.
Mr Griffin's daughter, Rachel, who now lives in Cumbria, said she was relieved compensation had been agreed without the need for a court battle.
"Nothing can ever bring our dad back but we just wanted to make sure that justice was done and that there was some accountability for his death," she said.
"I truly hope no-one ever has to go through what we have."
The outbreak struck more than 20 people in the summer of 2012.
Mr Griffin contracted the disease while delivering meat to a café in the JTF Warehouse.
He initially suffered headaches and hallucinations and later lost consciousness at his home in Clayton. He died in hospital from multiple organ failure.
The Health Protection Agency confirmed the hot tub on display at the JTF Warehouse, off King Street in Fenton, contained the same strain of Legionella as those who had become ill.
Inquests are set to take place next year and the Crown Prosecution Service has not yet decided whether to pursue charges.
Irwin Mitchell, which has been representing affected families, said JTF had admitted civil liability.
"Nothing can turn back the clock but we are pleased to have finally concluded these cases, allowing those families affected to begin to move on with their lives," said lawyer Amandeep Dhillon. | More than £200,000 has been awarded to families after a fatal outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. |
30,340,722 | Russians were looking to their leader for reassurance, worried by the near-daily slide of the rouble and warnings of recession under the twin pressures of Western sanctions and a falling oil price.
What they got was another patriotic rallying cry, and more bellicose talk directed at the West.
One adviser called it a show of strength, but critics suggested it was tired and unconvincing. Anyone who expected conciliatory steps over the crisis in Ukraine - to reduce sanctions - was disappointed.
This was the president's own strategic vision for Russia, set out to an invited audience beneath the sumptuous chandeliers of St George's Hall in the Kremlin.
As such, it was telling that he chose to open with a robust defence of his policy in Ukraine - there was "no way we could support this armed coup" - and an attack on the West for its constant "interference" in Russia's internal affairs.
Despite international condemnation and the imposition of sanctions, Mr Putin expressed no regret for annexing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.
He called it a "historical reunification", making the surprising claim that the region was of equal spiritual importance to Russians as Jerusalem's Temple Mount is to Muslims and Jews.
He seemed tired at times - perhaps more worried by his country's downward spiral than he admits, or maybe just because he was up through the night fine-tuning his text, according to his spokesman.
Mr Putin did not deny Russia's economic troubles, but he did studiously avoid uttering any of the grim statistics, speaking only in the broadest terms. And his message was that none of it was his fault.
He described sanctions as simply the latest in a long line of a Western attempts to "contain" Russia and prevent it flourishing: if the crisis in Ukraine hadn't happened, Russia's ill-wishers would have found another way to hold her back, his argument went.
"President Putin never admits mistakes, so this speech had a sense of [being] right, of confidence and full command of the situation," says political analyst Masha Lipman.
She argues that what it lacked was any sense of empathy for "ordinary" Russians, who are facing 9% inflation and wondering whether it is time to empty their rouble bank accounts and buy dollars.
Still, Mr Putin does remain extraordinarily popular.
After the takeover of Crimea his rating soared over 80%, and even amid the latest economic downturn, it remains at a level most Western politicians could only dream of.
That is partly because state-controlled media have spent months glossing over the gloom.
But it is now impossible to ignore the red figures flashing the fact of Russia's weakening rouble at every currency exchange point.
The rouble has plunged 40% against the dollar this year. This week, fiercely loyal state television even carried a report including complaints about price rises.
That mounting concern is why there was such expectation surrounding this annual address.
But some were clearly disappointed - including one of the anchors on state-run TV channel Russia 24, who wanted to know why the president had placed such stress on foreign policy in his speech, at such a time.
"There were expectations that the president would come out with a huge pill for all Russia's economic woes, that he'd show it to everyone and that would be that," said Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. "But it's never like that in real life."
He added that all the talk of foreign policy was justified at a time when outside forces are having a direct impact on Russia's well-being.
In fact, Mr Putin's speech did contain concrete policy suggestions on the economy, which he wants to see returning to strong growth in three to four years. He called for tax breaks for small businesses, for example, and a one-off amnesty for Russian capital stashed abroad to be returned and invested at home, no questions asked.
There was a bid to double the number of roads built - so helping to create jobs - and a call to end dependence on foreign equipment and machinery, and boost Russian-made equivalents.
But all of that was wrapped in an appeal to Russians' patriotism, to rally round and support their country at a time of difficulty - caused not by its president's ruinous policies, the speech explained, but because Russia is an independent, sovereign force that its enemies fear and want to weaken.
"I'd say up to 40 or 50% of people swallow this at the moment, but I think very soon they won't accept it," argues one-time prime minister turned Putin critic Mikhail Kasyanov.
"In six months, they won't be able to blame the economic problems in every town and village on America," he believes. "People will start asking questions. I think the clock is already ticking."
Vladimir Putin himself remains defiant.
"We are ready to take on any challenge and win," he concluded his speech, after an hour and 10 minutes.
It's a rousing message that might have reassured some about their future.
But Russians are only just starting to feel the pinch from the slowdown. What lies ahead is likely to put their patriotism to a tougher test. | Vladimir Putin's state of the nation address had been billed as the most anxiously awaited speech of his presidency. |
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