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39,670,708 | The result is a boost for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has sent the union chief a message of congratulations.
Mr McCluskey's chief rival Gerard Coyne - seen as the anti-Corbyn candidate - was beaten by nearly 6,000 votes.
He said Unite, which is Labour's biggest donor, had to change and claimed he faced attempts by officials to "bully and intimidate" him.
Mr Coyne was suspended from his job as a Unite official on Thursday pending an investigation.
He faces accusations of bringing the union into disrepute over claims made during the contest, which saw barbs flying from both sides.
The move did not affect the election as counting was already under way, although it could have put the result in doubt if he had won it.
Speaking after the result had been declared, Mr Coyne said: "It has been a very close count and the ballot sends some very serious messages to Unite.
"I am proud to have run a campaign that faced up to the issues that concerned members.
"Unite needs to change, and it needs to put its focus back where it belongs: on looking after the real interests of the members of the union.
"It's been a hard and robust campaign. The union machine consistently attempted to bully and intimidate me, something that has continued even after the close of polls.
"Nevertheless tens of thousands of members backed my fight to change our union for the better."
Mr McCluskey won 59,067 votes, Mr Coyne 53,544 and Ian Allinson 17,143, in a turnout of just over 12%, Unite said.
Asked for his reaction to the result, Mr Corbyn said: "Congratulations Len McCluskey, well done.
"The democratic process has taken place in the union. I look forward to working with him and indeed I've already sent him a message of well done."
Unite acting general secretary Gail Cartmail said: "I congratulate Len McCluskey on his victory and would urge the entire union to pull together in the interests of our members, and not least to work for a Labour victory in the general election.
"The turnout in this important election can give no cause for satisfaction and, while the tone of the campaign will not have helped, the underlying reason remains the archaic and expensive balloting system imposed on trade unions by law.
"The sooner we can move to secure and secret workplace and online voting, the better for union democracy."
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Mr McCluskey was "now in the driving seat for Labour's campaign".
She referred to the Unite's leader's past suggestion that Labour could form a government with the help of the Scottish National Party and Lib Dems, saying it would amount to a "coalition of chaos".
Speaking on Wednesday, however, Mr Corbyn ruled out any post-election coalition with the SNP.
This result matters because Jeremy Corbyn's man won.
The Labour leader still has an ally in the figurehead at the top of the country's biggest union.
Unite's deep pockets have helped bankroll the party.
Len McCluskey's passionate support helped buoy up Mr Corbyn when most of his MPs decided he was useless.
Mr McCluskey's principal opponent, Gerard Coyne, had argued Unite should stop "playing Westminster politics" and "failed to collect a penny back" from its donations to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership contests.
But Gerard Coyne lost.
And so Mr Corbyn's man is still standing.
The big question now is, if Labour lose the election, whether Len McCluskey will change his mind and call on him to go. | Len McCluskey has been re-elected as Unite's general secretary following a bitter leadership battle. |
40,404,493 | Darren Cunningham, 39, who has waived his right to anonymity, said he was "happy" Tony and Julie Wadsworth were found guilty.
The couple presented on both BBC WM in Birmingham and BBC Radio Leicester.
They were each jailed for five years for sex offences against under-age boys between 1992 and 1996.
Julie Wadsworth, 60, and her husband Tony, 69, of Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, were convicted of encouraging six boys to take part in sexual activity and outraging public decency by having sex in woodland.
Mr Cunningham who was 14 when he was groomed by the pair, said he came forward to help others.
He said: "If [I'd] told the police, perhaps this wouldn't have happened to anyone else.
"I've got six children, three stepchildren and three children of my own, and just the thought of somebody doing that to them, it just made me feel sick and I thought I've got to tell."
Mr Cunningham said it was "daunting" at court and "while you're giving your evidence, they were just sat opposite me... and Julie just stared at me the whole time".
Mr Cunningham added: "I wanted them to get sentenced so it didn't happen to anyone else. It wouldn't matter if they they got two years or got 20.
"They are at an age now where five years is a big chunk of their life, 60 and 70 years old. So they will feel the punishment and I'm sure people in prison will know who they are."
Julie Wadsworth was convicted of nine indecent assaults against boys and five counts of outraging public decency.
Her spouse, who acted as a "look-out", was found guilty of the same charges.
Prosecutors said the abuse took place at a number of locations, including the couple's former home in Atherstone, Warwickshire, as well as on a nearby golf course and surrounding woodland.
A BBC spokesman has previously said the Wadsworths were last on air in December 2015 and no longer work for the corporation. | A man who testified in court against two ex-BBC radio presenters who sexually assaulted him says it was a "daunting" experience. |
25,748,292 | The refund agreement settles long-standing complaints over in-app purchases made by children without their parents' consent.
Apple will also be required to change its billing procedures to make sure customers have given consent before they are charged for in-app purchases.
The company said it had settled rather than take on a "long legal fight".
"This settlement is a victory for consumers harmed by Apple's unfair billing, and a signal to the business community: whether you're doing business in the mobile arena or the mall down the street, fundamental consumer protections apply," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement.
"You cannot charge consumers for purchases they did not authorize."
The FTC's complaint alleged that Apple failed to inform parents that by entering a password they were approving a single in-app purchase and also 15 minutes of additional unlimited purchases their children could make without further consent.
It also said that Apple often presented a password prompt screen for parents to enter their details without explaining that this would finalise any purchase made in the app.
The FTC also noted that Apple received at "least tens of thousands of complaints" about unauthorised in-app purchases by children.
One woman said her daughter had spent $2600 in one app.
This refund settlement only covers customers who have made purchases through Apple's US app store but the BBC's technology editor Rory Cellan-Jones says Apple has previously almost always refunded parents in the UK who have complained about big bills from their children's in-app purchases.
The changes to Apple's billing process, which means express consent must be obtained before in-app charges are made, must be in place by 31 March, said the FTC.
In an internal email obtained by the website 9to5Mac, chief executive Tim Cook told Apple employees that the FTC's proposals were in line with the company's own intentions.
"The consent decree the FTC proposed does not require us to do anything we weren't already going to do, so we decided to accept it rather that take on a long and distracting legal fight," he said.
He also explained that Apple began setting out a process to refund customers last year.
"We wanted to reach every customer who might have been affected, so we sent emails to 28 million App Store customers - anyone who had made an in-app purchase in a game designed for kids.
"When some emails bounced, we mailed the parents postcards.
"In all, we received 37,000 claims and we will be reimbursing each one as promised."
Apple's App Store offers many games for children, a large number of which allow in-app purchases to be made. These purchases can include virtual items or currency, and typically allow faster progression in the game.
In-app purchases can range in cost - from 99 cents to just under $100. | Apple will refund customers at least $32.5m (£19.9m) after a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). |
34,809,478 | Ross Taggart, 31, denies murdering Carol Anne Taggart between 21 December last year and 11 January this year.
He is alleged to have repeatedly struck her on the head "by means unknown" and compressed her throat.
He is then alleged to have hidden her body under a caravan in Pettycur Bay, Kinghorn.
Mr Taggart is accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice between 21 December and 14 January this year.
A jury was told in agreed evidence that following a post mortem the cause of death was given as "compression of the neck".
Ms Bristow's daughter Lorraine, 27, told the High Court in Edinburgh her mother had two sons, Ross and Daniel, from a previous relationship.
She said her mother was not always an easy person to get along with and she had had difficult times with her.
Advocate depute Iain McSporran asked if her mother had a favourite child and the dance teacher said: "Yes, her blue-eyed boy Ross."
Lorraine Bristow said her mother was "quite frail" but added her brother was "a big boy" who she thought was 6ft 6in tall.
Jurors heard at about 17:30 on 22 December, Mr Taggart bought a return train ticket at a Dunfermline station and travelled to Edinburgh.
While in the city, he had a meal at the Filling Station in Rose Street and then went to the cinema.
The train ticket, meal and cinema ticket were bought using a credit card in the name of his mother.
She said on 23 December her husband was contacted by her brother Ross. She said she could hear what her brother was saying on the phone.
"I could hear him saying mum was missing. They had an argument and she stormed out the house. It was during the night she had left," she said.
The prosecutor asked if her brother said anything about where she might be or efforts to find her. She replied: "No, he wasn't that upset either."
Ms Bristow said: "My mum wouldn't storm out her own house. I have had many arguments, she would tell you to leave."
She said she kept phoning her mobile but it went to answering machine. She said her mother would have taken her bag and her phone if she had left.
She told the court: "I started to know something was wrong.
"I had texted my brother Ross every day to see if he had any update. I would get one word answers back."
Her father Shaun Taggart, 52, who was the former partner of her mother, was asked if Carol Anne had a favourite child. He said: "Ross was the golden boy pretty much from the get-go. It was always the case."
Mr Taggart is alleged that he hid the body of his mother in a void beneath Caravan 2, Wallace Heights at Pettycur Bay and tidied, cleaned, removed and attempted to remove blood staining and other forensic evidence from 3 Hill of St Margaret and Caravan 4 and the boot of a car.
He is also charged with removing bedding from 3 Hill of St Margaret, where his mother had lived, and Caravan 4.
He is also alleged to have reported her to the police as a missing person and repeatedly stated to friends, family and associates enquiring about her and to officers investigating her disappearance that on 22 December she had left her home address of her own accord and that he was unaware of her whereabouts. | A man accused of murdering his mother and concealing her body under a caravan in Fife was "her blue-eyed boy", a court has heard. |
38,920,416 | Jeremy Corbyn had claimed text messages showed ministers were prepared to offer a "sweetheart deal" to the council to avoid a referendum on the rise.
But Mr Javid insisted there was "no memorandum of understanding" between the government and the council.
And Surrey County Council said "no deal" had been offered.
The Labour leader raised the issue during Prime Minister's Questions, claiming he had seen leaked text messages intended for a Department for Communities and Local Government official called "Nick" from the leader of Surrey County Council, David Hodge.
"These texts read, 'I am advised that DCLG officials... have been working on a solution and... you [will be] contacting me to agree [a memorandum of understanding],'" he said.
He asked: "Will the government now publish this memorandum of understanding and, while they're about it, will all councils be offered the same deal?"
Noting that Chancellor Philip Hammond and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt are both Surrey MPs, Mr Corbyn said: "But there was a second text from the Surrey County Council leader to Nick - and in the second text it says, 'The numbers you indicated are the numbers I understand are acceptable for me to accept and call off the R.'
"Now, I've been reading a bit of John le Carre and apparently 'R' means referendum. It's very subtle all this."
He added: "He goes on to say in his text to Nick, 'If it is possible for that info to be sent to... myself, I can then revert back soonest. Really want to kill this off.'
"So how much did the government offer Surrey to kill this off and is the same sweetheart deal on offer to every council facing the social care crisis created by this government?"
Business rate pilot
In a statement, Mr Javid said Surrey County Council's budget and council tax "is a matter for the council", adding it "had been clear that their budget decision (setting a level of council tax which is not above the referendum threshold) was theirs alone".
Under the Local Government Finance Settlement, the Department for Communities and Local Government discussed funding with councils across the country "of all types and all political colours", he said.
"Whilst the final settlement has yet to be approved, the government is not proposing extra funding to Surrey County Council that is not otherwise provided or offered to other councils generally," Mr Javid said.
"There is no 'memorandum of understanding' between government and Surrey County Council."
He said Surrey had asked to take part in the pilot of a new business rates scheme, adding that other councils could also apply to take part.
Downing Street said all conversations between the government and Surrey had been "entirely appropriate" and there was no "sweetheart deal".
The proposed 15% rise was mooted by Surrey Council to cover what it said were shortfalls in funding to cover the rising costs of social care.
But plans for a referendum - which are triggered if a local authority proposes a council tax rise of 5% or more - were dropped during a full council meeting on Tuesday.
Councillors will now consider an alternative budget.
Mr Hodge told the BBC: "There is no deal with government, there never was - end of story."
The prime minister said: "The deal that is on offer to all councils is the one that I have already set out."
Councils have been allowed to implement a 3% tax increase solely for social care over the next two years to plug the funding gap in this area.
That is on top of a discretionary general increase of 2%, making a total of 5% before a referendum is needed.
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said he was "seeking urgent clarification" about whether Surrey had been "bought off" by the government, adding that cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham had been hit "far harder" by funding cuts. | Surrey County Council's decision not to raise council tax by up to 15% "was theirs alone", Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid has said. |
20,308,585 | He was released from Long Lartin prison, in Worcestershire. He has spent most of the last 10 years in custody.
A UK court approved his appeal against deportation after deciding witness evidence obtained by torture might be used at trial in Jordan.
The government believes the wrong legal test was applied and is to appeal.
"We had received a number of assurances from the Jordanian government - they had even changed their constitution," a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said.
By Dominic CascianiHome affairs correspondent
Abu Qatada has lived in the UK for almost 20 years - and he might be here a few more yet because the legal roadblock on deportation is very difficult to remove.
Judges say there is a real risk that the preacher's retrial in Jordan would be unfair because it would include incriminating statements made by men who were tortured by the secret police.
They want to see either an unambiguous change to Jordan's criminal court code to exclude such material, or a ruling by its higher courts to the same effect.
So there is little prospect of Abu Qatada being deported unless the home secretary can convince Jordan to change or convince the UK's Court of Appeal that Siac got the law wrong.
If either of those routes were successful - and that's a very big "if" - it wouldn't end there. The cleric could ask the European Court of Human Rights to examine what Jordan is saying - something that could take years.
"We believe that we have got the right assurances from the Jordanian government."
He added: "The Home Office will be ensuring that we take all the steps necessary to ensure that Qatada does not present a risk to national security."
Jordan's acting information minister Nayef al-Fayez told the BBC his government shared UK authorities' disappointment at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) ruling on Monday.
When Abu Qatada arrived back at his home in London, around lunchtime on Tuesday, a small group of protesters - holding a "get rid of Abu Qatada placard" - gathered outside and chanted, "Out, out, out."
Earlier this year, judges at the European Court in Strasbourg ruled the cleric - whose real name is Omar Othman - would not face ill-treatment if returned to Jordan, citing assurances outlined in a UK-Jordan agreement.
Crucially, however, the judge did not believe he would get a fair trial because a Jordanian court could use evidence against Abu Qatada that had been obtained from the torture of others.
On Monday, despite the UK obtaining additional assurances from Jordan, Siac chairman Mr Justice Mitting ruled he was not satisfied Abu Qatada would be tried fairly.
Speaking to ITV's Daybreak, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: "He should not be in this country, he is a dangerous person. He wanted to inflict harm on our country and this coalition governs lived in the UK for almost 20 years - and he might be here a few more yet because the legal roadblock on deportation is very difficult to remove.
Judges say there is a real risk that the preacher's retrial in Jordan would be unfair because it would include incriminating statements made by men who were tortured by the secret police.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said people would be "horrified that Abu Qatada is now out on Britain's streets rather than on a plane", and that government efforts to secure his deportation had "clearly failed".
"Home Office ministers should be setting off to Jordan straight away to discuss what additional action would get this sorted out. The Jordanian government have already been very helpful so ministers should act fast," she said.
David Anderson QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, told the BBC: "The key to this case really lies in Jordan.
"What the judge said, what the court said in terms, was that a simple amendment to the Jordanian criminal code so as to remove an ambiguity that is in it at the moment ought to suffice to make deportation possible," he told Radio 4's Today programme.
Home affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz said the visit to the UK of the king of Jordan later this month gave the government "an opportunity to try and persuade him to go that little bit further in terms of the way the criminal code of Jordan operates".
The case had cost taxpayers £1m, he said.
Human rights lawyer Julian Knowles said the case would bring "another year's worth of UK litigation at least".
"And then if Abu Qatada is the loser at the end of the domestic phase, he can then go back to the European Court," he said.
Speaking in the Commons after Abu Qatada's release, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said he was "frustrated" by international court rulings that had led to Monday's decision.
"I do not believe it was ever the intention of those who created the human rights framework that we are currently subject to, that people who have an avowed intent to damage this country should be able to use human rights laws to prevent their deportation back to their country of origin," he added.
On the question of why Abu Qatada had never been prosecuted in the UK, Lib Dem peer Lord Macdonald - director of public prosecutions from 2003 to 2008 - said he had never been shown any evidence to support a criminal prosecution.
"If there isn't any evidence in existence at the moment, it's a little difficult to see how now, 10 years later, anyone is going to be able to acquire any," he told Radio 4's The World At One.
The bail conditions imposed by Mr Justice Mitting on Abu Qatada include being allowed out of his house only between 08:00 and 16:00, having to wear an electronic tag, and being restricted in whom he meets.
Abu Qatada faces a retrial in Jordan for allegedly conspiring to cause explosions on Western and Israeli targets in 1998 and 1999. He was found guilty of terrorism offences in his absence in Jordan in 1999.
The Palestinian-born Jordanian has been described as the spiritual leader of the mujahideen. Security chiefs believe he played a key ideological role in spreading support for suicide bombings. | Muslim cleric Abu Qatada has been freed on bail after a UK court ruled he might not get a fair trial if deported to Jordan to face terrorism charges. |
37,287,955 | The channel will cover subjects including music, performance, art, literature and cinema from 1 October.
Poet and musician Kate Tempest will lead an evening dedicated to National Poetry Day as part of the season.
Other highlights will include a documentary fronted by Alan Bennett, which will follow the author to iconic locations from his life.
As part of the season on BBC Two:
BBC Two channel editor Patrick Holland said: "Great arts programming has the power to bring audiences to the cutting-edge, as well as to much loved art and artists.
"By focusing Saturday nights around arts, music, performance and cinema, we want to create space for new ideas, authored film-making, and the very best talent."
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | BBC Two is to dedicate its Saturday night schedules to the arts during the autumn, the corporation has said. |
38,178,469 | Glenn Murray put the Seagulls in front from the penalty spot after Kalvin Phillips was sent off for handling on the line midway through the first half.
Despite dominating, the hosts only sealed victory with Tomer Hemed's late penalty after Lewis Dunk was fouled.
Leeds defended resolutely but rarely troubled the division's best defence.
Brighton, who go two points ahead of second-placed Newcastle, were top of the table at the same stage last season following a 21-game unbeaten run at the start of the campaign.
The Seagulls eventually missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League, finishing third on goal difference behind Middlesbrough and champions Burnley.
However, Chris Hughton's men are now eight points clear of Reading in third, and three of their remaining four league games this month are against teams in the lower half of the division.
Their task against Leeds became easier when midfielder Phillips blocked Dunk's goalbound effort with his arm and Murray stepped up to smash home his 12th league goal of the season - all of which have come at home.
The striker, on loan from Bournemouth, had more opportunities in a one-sided first half, heading just wide and seeing his looping effort tipped over by visiting goalkeeper Rob Green.
Brighton were made to wait until the 83rd minute to add to their tally when Kyle Bartley tangled with fellow defender Dunk in the area - Israel striker Hemed sending Green the wrong way from the spot.
Fourth-placed Leeds had won five of their previous six Championship games before their visit to the south coast, but could drop out of the play-offs if results go against them on Saturday.
Brighton manager Chris Hughton:
"I am delighted with the result and the performance.
"The only negative was that there was too big a gap between the first goal and the second. Anything can happen and in that period we didn't create more opportunities.
"In the last four or five games we have not been at our best but we have kept picking up results."
Leeds boss Garry Monk:
"I'm frustrated. Brighton are a very good side but had we kept 11 men on the pitch it could have been different.
"Brighton deserved to win, but we didn't do ourselves justice.
"It was a tough night and we didn't make it easy for ourselves."
Match ends, Brighton and Hove Albion 2, Leeds United 0.
Second Half ends, Brighton and Hove Albion 2, Leeds United 0.
Foul by Oliver Norwood (Brighton and Hove Albion).
Ronaldo Vieira (Leeds United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Chris Wood (Leeds United) header from the right side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Stuart Dallas with a cross following a corner.
Corner, Leeds United. Conceded by Shane Duffy.
Attempt missed. Tomer Hemed (Brighton and Hove Albion) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Sam Baldock.
Foul by Jiri Skalak (Brighton and Hove Albion).
Charlie Taylor (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Leeds United. Liam Cooper replaces Pontus Jansson because of an injury.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Jiri Skalak replaces Anthony Knockaert.
Delay in match Pontus Jansson (Leeds United) because of an injury.
Foul by Solly March (Brighton and Hove Albion).
Luke Ayling (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal! Brighton and Hove Albion 2, Leeds United 0. Tomer Hemed (Brighton and Hove Albion) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Penalty Brighton and Hove Albion. Lewis Dunk draws a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty conceded by Kyle Bartley (Leeds United) after a foul in the penalty area.
Kyle Bartley (Leeds United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Tomer Hemed (Brighton and Hove Albion) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Kyle Bartley (Leeds United).
Attempt saved. Shane Duffy (Brighton and Hove Albion) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Anthony Knockaert with a cross.
Dale Stephens (Brighton and Hove Albion) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Ronaldo Vieira (Leeds United).
Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Tomer Hemed replaces Glenn Murray.
Corner, Brighton and Hove Albion. Conceded by Pontus Jansson.
Anthony Knockaert (Brighton and Hove Albion) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Ronaldo Vieira (Leeds United).
Substitution, Leeds United. Stuart Dallas replaces Souleymane Doukara.
Foul by Solly March (Brighton and Hove Albion).
Luke Ayling (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Brighton and Hove Albion. Lewis Dunk tries a through ball, but Shane Duffy is caught offside.
Corner, Brighton and Hove Albion. Conceded by Pontus Jansson.
Attempt blocked. Anthony Knockaert (Brighton and Hove Albion) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Solly March.
Substitution, Brighton and Hove Albion. Solly March replaces Jamie Murphy because of an injury.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Jamie Murphy (Brighton and Hove Albion) because of an injury.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Anthony Knockaert (Brighton and Hove Albion) because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Jamie Murphy (Brighton and Hove Albion) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Anthony Knockaert with a cross. | Brighton moved top of the Championship and extended their unbeaten league run to 14 games with a win against 10-man Leeds United at the Amex Stadium. |
32,760,476 | Dolores Kelly was speaking after the former SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the party leadership needs to change in time for next year's assembly election.
Ms Kelly said voters had expressed concerns during the Westminster election campaign trail.
Alasdair McDonnell has made it clear he does not intend to stand down.
"I had every empathy with what he said in relation to the message on the doorsteps because what Mark said was not unique to Derry, it was right across the north," the SDLP deputy leader said.
"But what I do think now in the interests of the party - and that's my only interest - the debate now has to come back into the party itself.
"We need to discuss it in a mature way within the party so that we can give hope to the people that we represent and the people we hope to represent and hope to represent after next year's assembly elections.," Ms Kelly added.
Speaking on BBC One programme The View, Mr Durkan, who stepped down as leader in 2010, said Dr McDonnell's leadership was "a real issue" posed by voters on the doorstep during general election canvassing.
"If Alasdair thinks that just resigning from the assembly deals with the questions, well it won't because these questions will all surface again once he resigns from the assembly," he said.
"As we move towards an assembly election, the questions won't go away and therefore I think if we're going to be in a better position to fight the election, then the leadership needs to change."
Dr McDonnell earlier rejected criticism by party grandees Seamus Mallon and Brid Rodgers that he should step down, telling the programme: "I'm not going to run away from a task half done." | Voters across Northern Ireland have expressed concerns about the leader of the SDLP Alasdair McDonnell, according to the party's deputy leader. |
35,747,877 | Mr Snyder, a Republican, has rejected claims of inefficiency as thousands of people were left without safe tap water and at risk of lead poisoning.
He has described the crisis as a "massive error of bureaucracy".
Meanwhile, seven families have filed a lawsuit against authorities.
The city's water became contaminated when lead leached from old pipes after a change in supplier in 2014. Some 100,000 people were affected.
Living one bottle of water at a time
The issue came up as the Democratic candidates took part in a televised debate in Flint on Sunday. Both Ms Clinton and Mr Sanders criticised Mr Snyder's response to the crisis and called for him to step down.
The governor took to Twitter to reject the allegations. In a series of messages posted during the debate, he defended his administration's actions, including aid delivery and cleanup efforts.
"I'm taking responsibility as our value system says we should. My track record is getting things done, and I want to get this done," he said.
The switch to a river water source was a money-saving move when the city was under state financial management.
Mr Snyder, however, dismissed allegations that the decision was based on savings, and blamed all levels of government for the crisis.
The water from Flint River stripped lead from the pipes and contaminated the supply. Lead exposure can cause learning disabilities and behavioural problems in children.
Meanwhile, seven families filed a class action lawsuit seeking to hold state and city officials responsible for the crisis.
Lawyers will ask the courts to certify a class action that would cover any Flint children who were poisoned by drinking the contaminated water, NBC News reported.
Authorities have not commented. | Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has stood firm after Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders called for his resignation over the Flint water crisis. |
40,563,762 | Fletcher was taken to hospital after being hit by a shot from Birmingham Bears' Sam Hain at Edgbaston.
"It is probably a good thing I did not lift my head up, it could've been a lot worse," said the 28-year-old, who is now out of hospital.
"I got away with it and the doctors said I dodged a bullet."
Nottingham-born Fletcher has played nearly 200 games for Notts in all formats and was part of the side who won the One-Day Cup at Lord's earlier this month.
Speaking to Tuffers and Vaughan on BBC Radio 5 live, he said: "It is frightening. I didn't realise how lucky I was until I watched it back.
"I didn't see the ball at all and I just realised when it hit me and I thought, 'I could be in a bit of bother here'.
"When I first went to the hospital the doctor said: 'There's a chance you could miss the rest of the season.'
"I feel quite lucky that nothing worse has happened. I have not even had a headache yet, although I might get one a bit further down the line. I don't think I'll be able to play for a while though because of concussion protocol.
"They said that if that had hit me in the temple or side of the head, anything could've happened."
Fletcher revealed he has been contacted by Hain since the incident in the T20 Blast group game, which the hosts won off the final ball.
"He messaged me yesterday," said Fletcher. "Quite a few of the Warwickshire lads got in touch and he was one of them.
" I told him that it can't really be helped. He said next time he is at Trent Bridge we will go to the pub and have a beer together."
Fletcher, who made his debut for Notts in 2008, says bowlers are "frightened" of being hit by the ball and at Notts they are able to "go off and bowl on our own" during practice sessions rather than in nets.
"There have been so many close calls, certainly in the 10 years I have been playing - balls are just coming back and you have not got time to move.
"Some of the lads still have a bowl in the nets but it is frightening as balls are coming back at way over 100mph.
"I don't know what speed that ball came back at me from Sam Hain, but I did not see it at all." | Notts Outlaws bowler Luke Fletcher says he was "lucky" to escape serious injury after being hit on the head during a T20 Blast match on Saturday. |
30,750,342 | In Bournemouth, owners gathered on the promenade on Sunday morning before riding from Boscombe Pier to Sandbanks.
The electric tricycles were launched by entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair on 10 January 1985 at Alexandra Palace in London.
Enthusiasts also gathered at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire, on Saturday.
On Friday, 30 owners travelled to London for a C5 anniversary edition of the BBC's One Show.
Bournemouth C5 owner Paul Grice, who organised the seafront trip, said: "I started collecting them about six or seven years ago because I liked the look of them.
"I was actually looking at Sinclair computers and I was going through the ads and came across one of these Sinclair cars.
"It cost me £100 and now they are worth about £400 to £700 - I guess they hold their value but it's just a good bit of fun.
"You can drive them on the road with no insurance or tax - anyone can drive them over 14.
"I drive mine on the road sometimes to the pub or the chip shop, down the beach or around the gardens.
"I was born in '78 and I had all the Sinclair computers, but it's really only about 10 years ago when I saw these things that I remembered they were out there.
"I had one recently in its box. In the 80s that's how they were delivered by Comet and Hoover - in a big box." | Sinclair C5 enthusiasts have been celebrating the 30th anniversary of the vehicle's launch. |
22,297,568 | Sunil ÂTripathi, 22, was identified by a forensic dental exam, but his cause of death has not been determined.
Members of a university rowing team found the body on Tuesday evening, a month after Tripathi went missing.
He has been described as the other victim of the bombings after he was wrongly identified a suspect.
On Thursday, the Tripathi family said in a statement they felt "indescribable grief", but were grateful for the outpouring of support.
Mr Tripathi, a Brown University student on leave, was last seen in his apartment in Providence on 16 March. His family had been searching for him with help from the FBI and Brown students.
Brown University's rowing coach called police after spotting the body floating in the Providence River.
On Monday social media website Reddit issued a public apology for its coverage of the Boston bombings after it wrongly named Tripathi and other people as suspects.
His sister, Sangeeta, told the BBC of her family's anxiety at how fast "completely unsubstantiated claims were spreading".
She described how media surrounded their family home after her brother was wrongly named. | The body of a man found in a Rhode Island river is a student mistakenly identified as one of the Boston bombers, medical officials confirm. |
35,573,002 | Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon finished fourth, with Germany taking gold and silver and Switzerland the bronze.
It was Tasker's first major global competition as a pilot and he said: "I'm pinching myself.
"The result was far, far better than I could ever have imagined and I'm absolutely over the moon."
Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke were the last Britons to win a World Championship medal when they claimed gold in Lake Placid in 2009.
In the men's competition, Robin Dixon and Anthony Nash won three world medals between 1963 and 1966 as well as winning Winter Olympic gold in 1964.
Britain's last major medal was at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, where the four-man team claimed a bronze medal.
Tasker, who is only in his second season as a pilot and also competes as a brakeman in four-man, added: "It's amazing to know that is our best result since 1998. I've had my ups and downs this season and I'm just glad to get it right on the day."
Fearon added: "It's surreal - it's better than any dream I've ever had - and we can still get better at the start so I hope there's more to come."
World Championship result:
1. Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis (GER) 3:26.09 (51.68, 51.59, 51.32, 51.50)
2. Johannes Lochner and Joshua Bluhm (GER) 3:26.26 (51.57, 51.55, 51.47, 51.67) + 0.17
3. Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann (SUI) 3:26.31 (51.68, 51.66, 51.37, 51.60) + 0.22
4. Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon (GBR) 3:26:51 (51.83, 51.66, 51.40, 51.62) + 0.42 | Great Britain missed out on their first medal in a men's bobsleigh World Championships for 50 years by just 0.20 seconds in Igls, Austria. |
33,984,695 | Charlotte Speddy, 17, from Bethesda, Gwynedd, was born with malformed ribs and a severely curved spine which left her struggling to breathe.
In 2001, she flew to Texas with her parents, Angela and Stephen, where doctors fitted metal ribs and carried out operations to straighten her spine.
But Charlotte died on Tuesday after falling ill with pneumonia.
Her aunt, Helen Speddy, paid tribute to the teenager, adding the care she received at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor was "amazing".
Charlotte was born weighing just 1lb 4oz and missing a kidney, a lung, several ribs and endured about 30 operations. | A teenager who travelled to the United States as a child for pioneering spine surgery, has died. |
39,395,519 | Crolla - unanimously outpointed when the pair met in September - was rarely able to get close enough to his opponent to cause damage and was dropped by a stinging Linares uppercut in the seventh round.
Though he responded admirably, roared on by around 15,000 in the arena, Crolla always looked at the mercy of Linares' variety of shots and even when pockets of promise arrived for the home fighter, he often quickly faced blows in return.
The pair embraced on the bell, Crolla sporting a look of frustration as his opponent's hand was raised with the scores 118-109 on all three scorecards.
The hope was this boxing cauldron could witness a Manchester fighter memorably upset the odds some 12 years after Ricky Hatton stunned Kostya Tszyu here on a night those present still talk glowingly about.
The reality was that Linares' combination of pedigree, experience and will to trade with ferocity if needed, proved too much.
A world champion by 21, Linares has held world crowns in three weight divisions. The 31-year-old's 14 years as a professional showed as he picked his shots with guile, the uppercut finding its target on several occasions as his upper-body movement consistently opened up the shot.
Crolla, who admitted he "lost to the better man", deserves credit. His career has been a rollercoaster from the moment he suffered a fractured skull and broken ankle when trying to apprehend burglars in 2014. A draw and victory against Darleys Perez saw him claim a world title within a year, only for Linares to take it in what was Crolla's second defence.
The rematch was never the same contest. Though those in attendance sang passionately for their fighter - a heavy underdog - they could not shake a man who looked ice cool and has now contested 41 of his 45 fights outside of Venezuela.
He will now seek a Las Vegas payday against WBC champion Mikey Garcia, while Crolla will likely need to rebuild domestically if he is to come again at world level.
As Tony Bellew screamed "show no respect Ant, make it ugly" from ringside, Crolla embarked on a workmanlike opening two rounds. His guard was constantly high, Linares by comparison confident to lower his own when not at close range.
It meant Crolla was unable to get up close to his opponent as Linares' free hands were piston-like to keep his man at distance. His shots were blisteringly quick, a two-shot combination ending with a right uppercut in the third.
Crolla gutsily stepped forward to close ring space - a feat he claims he let slip late in the pairs' first meeting - and he finally smothered Linares in the fourth, landing two uppercuts at short range. But Linares snapped the home fighter's head back with a sublime uppercut of his own in six, dipping his body to the left before launching the shot with thrust.
It drew a collective grimace from the crowd. Linares - at times tip-toeing with grace and constantly exuding confidence - dropped his man with the same shot in seven. Crolla rose and pumped his hands in defiance as the crowd tried to lift him but as both men walked to their corners, Linares sported a grin of satisfaction.
Now cut above his left eye, Crolla responded with the grit which has endeared him to so many in recent years. A left hook to the jaw and later the body landed in the 10th but he was never able to find a pace or land the shots which could fluster an opponent of such class.
"He's a great champion," Crolla said, speaking on Sky Sports.
"Manchester, I am so sorry I couldn't do it for you. Your support means so much to me. He caught me but before that I thought I could get to him. I got beaten by the better man - no excuses.
"I am 30 years old, I am going to rest, but I believe I can go again."
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 live, Crolla added: "I could just not pin him down. I was pleading with Joe (Gallagher) to let me go on (for the last round), and you still believe you can land a shot.
"I'm gutted I couldn't do it in front of these fans."
Crolla's trainer Joe Gallagher told BBC Radio 5 live why he wanted to take Crolla out of the fight after the 11th round.
Gallagher said: "I thought we were not going to win this, but Anthony pleaded and said 'let me go on'. He wanted to go out on his shield.
"Linares was very good and everyone could see what a great world champion he is. You have seen one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world."
Promoter Eddie Hearn told BBC Radio 5 live: "I thought after the first fight Jorge Linares would not perform a career-best performance and he did. He was absolutely brilliant.
"It is so hard when Anthony Crolla comes up to you and says 'I'm so sorry'. You lost on points to one of the best pound for pound fighters.
"We will choose an easier world title. Anthony Crolla will be back 100%, he is an ultimate professional and a credit to himself."
Heavyweight world title contender Hughie Fury on BBC Radio 5 live
Crolla has the heart of a lion. He tried his best to fight him, box him, out-think him, but Linares had too much skill, too much movement.
There is nothing worse than when you miss the shots and then get hit. It is demoralising. He didn't look hurt in there, but he was out-skilled and out-boxed.
BBC Radio 5 live boxing pundit Steve Bunce
The crowd cannot perform miracles and Linares was a magician in there. When you lose to a man like that, there is no shame for Crolla.
BBC Radio 5 live boxing commentator Mike Costello
Linares was simply too good and too classy for the game and the brave Anthony Crolla. | Anthony Crolla was outclassed in his bid to regain the WBA lightweight title as talented Venezuelan Jorge Linares produced a superb display at Manchester Arena. |
39,996,262 | The three-day summit at Uluru coincides with the 50th anniversary of a vote that allowed indigenous Australians to be included on a national census.
Australia does not mention Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in its constitution.
The summit aims to reach consensus on the best method of recognition.
More than 200 delegates from indigenous groups around Australia are attending the First Nations Convention, which will form the basis of a report to be delivered to the nation's political leaders in June.
The recommendations may result in a referendum to be voted on by all Australians.
The summit follows 12 indigenous meetings around Australia within the last six months.
It is expected to discuss whether recognition should be included in the constitution or covered separately.
Alternatives likely to be floated include the possibility of negotiating a treaty, and removing clauses criticised as racist from Australia's founding document.
Two so-called "race provisions" allow the states to disqualify people on the basis of race from voting, and allow laws to be made based upon a person's race.
There is broad agreement that recommendations from the summit should be "substantive and practical".
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten "respectfully declined" invitations to the meeting, saying they did not want to influence the outcome.
Aboriginal Australians represent about 2.5% of Australia's 24 million people.
Mr Turnbull said this week also marked 20 years since a landmark report about Australia's Stolen Generations, a government policy of assimilation that was in place until the late 1960s.
"Today, we again acknowledge the Stolen Generations - those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their parents simply because they were Aboriginal. Again we say sorry," he said on Tuesday.
"We acknowledge that this removal separated you from your families, from your lands and your languages and cultures that for 50,000 years your ancestors had protected and cared for. We acknowledge the continuing deep personal pain that affects your lives and those of your families." | Hundreds of indigenous leaders have gathered in central Australia for a historic summit on formally recognising the country's first inhabitants. |
29,880,055 | On Saturday, tens of thousands of people demonstrated across the Republic of Ireland against water charges.
The controversial austerity measure is a key part of the government's plan to pay back the international financial bailout the state had to seek in 2010.
On Sunday night, Drogheda mayor Kevin Callan resigned from the governing Fine Gael party over the issue.
Mr Callan said he did so in light of what he called the overwhelming levels of public dissatisfaction with the handling of the introduction of water charges by the government and Irish Water.
The utility company was set up last month to provide water services throughout the Republic.
However, speaking on Monday, Mr Callan's former party colleague, Mr Coveney said: "There's one certainty, and that's that Irish Water won't be scrapped.
"Irish Water has spent a lot of money to set up a very large new company, which is going to remain in public ownership, and is going to provide water in a much more cost-effective and efficient manner in the future.
"But I think we need to learn from some of the mistakes that have been made over the last six or eight months."
The political debate on the issue has widened with Ireland's largest union and Labour Party politicians calling for a referendum that would guarantee Irish Water remaining in the hands of the state.
Micheál Martin, the leader of the opposition Fianna Fáil party, has described as "utterly bogus" a claim by Prime Minister (taoiseach) Enda Kenny that the top rate of income tax would have to rise by 4% if water charges were not introduced.
SIPTU president Jack O'Connor and former Labour minister of state Joe Costello have both called for a referendum that would guarantee Irish Water remaining in public ownership.
The Right2Water campaign said 150,000 people had turned out to protest on Saturday.
Right2Water campaigner and former member of Unite trade union, Brendan Ogle, has also criticised the Taoiseach's warning that income tax would rise if the government was to abolish water charges.
Speaking on state broadcaster RTÉ, Mr Ogle said the turnout at the anti-charge protests on Saturday sent a significant message to the government over the level of disquiet at local level.
He said his campaign against water charges was not in any way political and described the charges as a form of double taxation.
"We believe water should be paid through progressive general taxation and that is how it should be done.
"This is a double tax on something we already pay for."
Meanwhile, the Economic Management Council is beginning its second week of examining the issues surrounding Irish Water.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said the council, an inner Cabinet comprising the taoiseach and three other ministers, would be addressing the issues of certainty about what charges people would face in the future. | Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has said there is no question of Irish Water being abolished. |
38,157,499 | Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards said that Longhua had abandoned a deal with FieldMaster Tractors in Betws, near Ammanford, which promised 40 jobs.
He blamed the UK government's "dithering" over Wales' future relationship with the EU single market.
Wales Office Minister Mr Bebb denied the charge but said he was disappointed by the news.
The Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP raised the issue during Welsh Questions in the Commons on Wednesday.
"Last week, the owner [of FieldMaster Tractors] received notification from China that the deal was off due to uncertainty about our future trading relationship with the European Union," Mr Edwards said.
"Does the minister recognise that the UK government's dithering over Wales's future relationship with the single market and the customs union is costing jobs now?"
Mr Bebb said he was "disappointed", adding: "Any loss of investment in Wales is to be regretted.
"He is wrong, however, to talk about dithering," the minister continued.
"We want strong trade relations with the European Union and with the rest of the world.
"Any Chinese investor looking at the UK knows that this country is friendly to investment from all parts of the globe."
FieldMaster Tractors founder and owner Chris Parrott said he was disappointed his Chinese backers had pulled out of the project, citing uncertainty over the UK's future trading relationship with Europe.
He set up the company in 2014 after 30 years in the car industry, and had begun on a small scale assembling tractors from India.
The firm had changed its name to Longhua FieldMaster in anticipation of the deal, Mr Parrott said, which would have seen the operation expand to assembly tractors from China instead.
"You just have to pick yourself up and carry on," he told BBC Wales, saying the company had spent a "small fortune" getting Longhua on board.
"We've just got to rethink our strategy and grow organically." | A Chinese company has scrapped plans to invest in Carmarthenshire due to Brexit uncertainty, MPs have been told. |
36,381,827 | About half of union members voted, with 74% of those backing industrial action in the dispute over rest breaks.
Thomas Cook Airlines said plans were in place to make sure customers would still be able to go on holiday in the event of strikes.
The British airline flies more than six million passengers a year to the US, continental Europe, Asia and Africa.
A Unite spokesman said union bosses would hold talks with the airline and conciliation service Acas on Thursday and next Tuesday.
He said it was not the union's intention to disrupt holiday plans during half-term, which for most schoolchildren begins this weekend.
For a strike to go ahead, the union would need to give Thomas Cook seven days' notice, and that notice has not been served.
Thomas Cook has reduced its cabin crew's breaks from one 20-minute break every six hours to one 20-minute break every 12 hours worked - the minimum indicated in the Civil Aviation Authority's guidelines.
Unite says crew should have at least two 20-minute breaks every 12 hours.
A spokesman for Thomas Cook Airlines said: "We're disappointed Unite cabin crew members have taken the decision to vote for strike action.
"The safety of both our people and our customers is our top priority and we rigorously adhere to the rules around crew breaks."
He said the airline was "committed" to working with Unite to find a solution to end the dispute.
"Meanwhile, we've put together plans to ensure that our customers will still be able to go on holiday, despite any possible strike action."
Thomas Cook Airlines has a fleet of 31 planes, employs 2,500 people and has its head office at Manchester Airport. | Thomas Cook cabin crew voted in favour of a strike in a row over health and safety, the Unite union has said. |
23,395,770 | The trouble was sparked by the arrest of a man whose wife was told by police on Thursday to remove an Islamic face-covering veil, banned in public.
He has been accused of trying to strangle the officer.
Up to 300 people attacked a police station in Trappes on Friday night where the man was being held.
One leading Muslim group disputed the authorities' version of events, blaming police "provocation".
The suspect, described as a Muslim convert aged 21, was later released on Saturday pending an appearance in court, French media say.
The ban on wearing the full face veil in public was introduced in April 2011 with the threat of a financial penalty for not observing it.
Reinforcements from the CRS riot police were drafted in and Interior Minister Manuel Valls said they would remain in place until calm was restored. Thirty riot police vehicles were seen outside the Trappes police station.
In the latest violence which erupted in Trappes and several neighbouring areas, bus-shelters and cars were torched and fireworks directed at police, who responded with tear gas and baton charges.
The worst of the trouble took place in the early hours of Sunday. In one reported incident, a car was driven at police but no-one was hurt.
"It's beginning to spread to surrounding areas - Elancourt and Guyancourt," David Callu of the SGP police officers' union told BFM-TV news channel.
Four people were arrested and 20 cars burned, Mr Valls said in a statement.
Tensions in France's high-immigration city suburbs continue to fester, the BBC's Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield reports.
Although there has been no sustained unrest since the 2005 riots, sporadic violence is far from rare, he adds.
In 2005, a state of emergency was imposed when a wave of rioting spread across France, sparked by the deaths of two teenagers in a Paris suburb. | Crowds of youths have thrown stones at French police and set fire to cars in a second night of disturbances in the Paris suburb of Trappes. |
21,646,863 | Yingluck Shinawatra was speaking at the opening of the Cites conservation meeting taking place in Bangkok,
The legal market in Thailand is said to be fuelling high levels of poaching across Africa.
Critics say that there is a lack of clarity and detail regarding the proposed changes to the law.
There are about 6,500 elephants in Thailand, of which 2,500 live in the wild. Ivory taken from domesticated elephants can be legally sold in the country but campaign groups and scientific experts say that this law is being used to "launder" ivory taken illegally from Africa.
Thailand is believed to be second only to China as a market for tusks, often brutally removed from elephants across the continent. It is estimated that between 50 and 100 African elephants a day are being killed to meet the demand.
Speaking at the opening of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) in Bangkok, the Thai PM said that no one cares more about elephants than the people of Thailand.
But she acknowledged that the current system was being abused.
The Convention assigns animals and plants to different categories depending on the level of threat they face:
"Unfortunately, many have used Thailand as a transit country for the illegal international ivory trade," she told the meeting.
"As a next step we will forward amending the national legislation with the goal of putting an end on ivory trade and to be in line with international norms."
No further details were given as to the timing and scope of any ban. Some campaigners were delighted with the announcement, saying they understood the proposed changes would protect all forms of elephants including Thailand's wild and domestic elephants and those from Africa.
Stuart Chapman from WWF told BBC News it was a "big occasion."
"We need to see detail in terms of the timeframe but it all starts with a commitment and we've never had that before, today the prime minister made that commitment," he said.
"This is a very important first step."
Others though were more cautious believing that Ms Yingluck was talking about curbing the international flow of ivory into Thailand by beefing up a DNA testing programme to validate the origins or tusks.
And with up to 5,000 stores, boutiques and kiosks selling ivory to tourists across Thailand, many believe it will be impossible to stem the trade, whatever the law says.
Philip Mansbridge is the chief executive of the wildlife charity, Care for the Wild. He told BBC news that the PM's intentions were unclear.
"While it is positive that the host country has recognised the size of the ivory issue and the importance of it, we were disappointed by the lack of a clear commitment to banning the domestic trade," he said.
"We don't feel it has gone far enough."
The Cites meeting runs until the 14th of March and will consider 70 proposals from governments to regulate the trade in species including polar bears, rhinos and several different varieties of sharks.
Follow Matt on Twitter. | Thailand's prime minister says she will amend her country's laws to ban the legal trade in ivory. |
37,382,224 | The Swede hit six birdies, including three in his first four holes, in a seven-under-par round of 64 at Golf Club Milano in Monza.
England's Chris Wood is six shots off the pace after a two-under-par 69.
Wood is one of seven members of Europe's Ryder Club team playing at the event at Parco Reale di Monza.
The Ryder Cup against the United States, held at Hazeltine in Minnesota, takes place from 30 September to 2 October.
England's Lee Westwood, who went round in 70, said: "Hopefully I can get myself in contention and get the competitive juices flowing.
"Next week is a week off. I'll work on my game at home and do a bit of gym work to keep the body ticking over, but I don't want to overdo it because the Ryder Cup is obviously a long and tiring week, both mentally and physically."
With play suspended twice following heavy rain and lightning storms in Rome, more than half the field did not finish the first round on Thursday.
The other European Ryder Cup players - Germany's Martin Kaymer, England's Danny Willett, Andy Sullivan and Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello - are set to complete their opening rounds on Friday. | Defending champion Rikard Karlberg leads home favourite Francesco Molinari by one shot after the first round of a rain-affected Italian Open at Monza. |
34,967,346 | The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said some providers may be breaching consumer laws.
It will look into complaints that prices can go up after a customer has taken out a contract - or that the amount of data storage can be changed.
Earlier this year the ONS reported that 40% of UK adults now use cloud storage.
Users of lap-tops, mobiles and tablets are increasingly taking advantage of such services, to store photos, documents, TV programmes and films.
By storing such files in the cloud, rather than on the device itself, users get more memory, and the ability to access them from anywhere in the world.
Usually cloud storage providers offer a certain amount of memory for free, but can charge up to £40 a month for extra gigabytes.
Amongst the biggest providers are Dropbox, Google Drive and Apple's iCloud.
The CMA said it was particularly concerned about:
"If our review finds breaches of consumer protection laws, we will take further action to address these," said Nisha Arora, the CMA's senior director for consumer.
That could include "enforcement action using our consumer law powers, seeking voluntary change from the sector, or providing guidance to business or consumers."
The law on price transparency has been tightened since the Consumer Rights Act came into force on 1 October.
The CMA's consultation on the issue will be open until 15 January 2016, with an initial report on its findings expected in May. | An investigation is to be launched into whether internet users are being charged unfairly when they use cloud storage services. |
36,394,321 | Midfielder Barton helped Burnley to the Championship title this season and an instant return to England's top flight.
"I'm gutted that Joey has gone," said Wales striker Vokes, who scored 15 league goals for the Clarets this season.
"I was a bit surprised too because he was a big part of the squad and a key figure for us on and off the pitch."
Barton turned down a lucrative 12-month deal to stay at Turf Moor and has instead joined Rangers on a two-year contract following the Glasgow club's promotion to the Scottish Premiership.
The 33-year-old has had plenty of controversial moments in a career that has also taken in Manchester City, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers and Marseille.
But Vokes insisted: "He was good around the place. Even when we had a sticky patch around Christmas, he was a great leader in the dressing-room.
"People spoke about his reputation before he came in, but I didn't see that at all.
"I'm sure he will go up to Scotland and have a good crack at it.
"He was a big part of what we did, but he's made that decision and he'll go up there with the same energy that he had for us."
Vokes, speaking at Wales' pre-Euro 2016 training camp in Portugal, is excited about a return to England's top flight under manager Sean Dyche.
"The club is in a lot better position on the financial side after coming out of the Premier League the last time," suggested the 26-year-old.
"A few lads have signed new contracts and that shows the stability of the club and their intentions.
"The manager has been a massive part of the club's success over the last three or four years.
"I think he'll bring in a few players this summer and the club will have a go.
"We've got a stable group, but he will look to add a bit of quality." | Sam Vokes has admitted to surprise that Joey Barton gave up another shot at the Premier League to join Rangers. |
35,209,752 | A mass dance warm-up took place at Saundersfoot before the swimmers braved the sea, cheered on by thousands of spectators.
Pembrokeshire-born adventurer Tori James, the first Welsh woman to climb Mount Everest, was on hand to start the swim.
Now in its 32rd year, the event has raised more than £500,000 for charity.
Highlights among the fancy dress included a large Star Wars Millennium Falcon and Mrs Brown's Boys. | More than 1,500 swimmers in fancy dress have welcomed in the New Year at an annual swim in Pembrokeshire. |
34,864,601 | She also believes that plans to phase out coal fired power plants and replace them by stations run on gas would leave the UK dependent on imported gas.
The plans were part of a major policy speech on Wednesday by the Energy Secretary Amber Rudd.
Coal currently accounts for around 30% of UK power generation.
But in her speech, Amber Rudd said that one of the most cost effective ways of reducing harmful emissions was to replace coal-fired power plants with gas.
However, the Drax chief executive warned that this could leave the UK with the wrong energy mix.
"Coal and gas today produce over half of our electricity. If you replace all the coal stations with gas you would then be dependent on imported gas for over half our electricity," Mrs Thompson said. "I think that's probably the wrong balance."
And she said that being too reliant upon gas could hit household energy bills too.
"We would be so exposed if the gas price soared. Suddenly, the end-consumers' bill would soar and we would have nothing to balance it out with," she said.
Shares in Drax closed down more than 4% on Wednesday after Amber Rudd's speech, wiping tens of millions of pounds the company's value.
Drax's huge power plant, in North Yorkshire, is the UK's biggest coal-fired power generator.
But almost half its output is now from biomass - burning eco friendly wood pellets.
"If you want to replace coal and you want to replace it quickly… the best way to do it and the most affordable way to do it, is to use biomass," said Mrs Thompson.
The company is converting the third of its six units to run on biomass. To do more it will need to win subsidies in three renewables' auctions planned by the government in this parliament.
Failure to win contracts could force the closure of those units over the next decade.
While Amber Rudd's speech made no specific reference of supporting biomass, Mrs Thompson believes biomass can compete in energy generation.
"We are confident that if the government correctly structures the auctions, as they are now planning to do, that we will win," she said.
Mrs Thompson welcomed the Energy Secretary's move to bring clarity to where energy policy is going. "In my industry, which is about long term investment, clarity is important," she said.
But she warned that getting a new generation of gas plants built would not be easy.
She said: "There are an awful lot of gas plants that are going to be required because we have not only got coal closures, we have also got gas closures so it is quite a challenge they are facing.
"They recognise that if there are going to be new gas stations, they are going to need special support contracts because the economics don't work today and have not worked for quite a long time."
Follow John on Twitter @JohnMoylanBBC | Consumers could be exposed to soaring energy prices under new Government plans, says Dorothy Thompson, boss of coal-fired power generator Drax. |
29,948,865 | This dormitory town of 120,000 people on the northern edge of Barcelona is sharply divided over the 9 November vote on breaking away.
Historically it was a summer retreat for rich people in the city, just across the River Besos. You can still see some of their mansions among the concrete apartment blocks.
But Santa Coloma de Gramenet mushroomed into an urban sprawl under the Franco dictatorship and these days it is one of Catalonia's poorest towns.
At one point in the 1980s it was possibly the least cool address in the Barcelona area, notorious for drug addiction.
With 20% unemployment today, it has a particularly high population of migrants from outside the region, who now slightly outnumber those born locally.
Walk around the town's Fondo area and you will soon see that the newest residents hail from around the world - China, Latin America, Pakistan.
Ask people you assume to be locals, and you will repeatedly find migrants or descendants of migrants from poor parts of southern Spain.
It is no surprise, then, that a Spanish national political party dominates the town's politics - unusual for Catalonia.
Santa Coloma's energetic young mayor Nuria Parlon is firmly opposed to independence, though she backs the right of Catalans to vote, seeking to distance herself from the hard line of the conservative government in Madrid.
The language of public administration at the town hall is Catalan, whatever the politics inside, and Mayor Parlon's party actually sits in a local coalition with the party of Artur Mas, Catalonia's pro-independence leader.
Independence, she argues, is a "placebo" which would not solve Catalonia's underlying problems.
Chief among those problems is the weakness of the economy after the debt crisis, she says, and half of the town's budget of €90m (£71m; $112m) is spent on social services.
A mothballed construction site, that symbol of crisis to be seen all over Spain, looms just around the corner from the town hall.
For the independence-minded Catalans of the old town, living in the streets around the nearby Major church, the challenge is to win over people with more on their minds than building new countries.
Health worker Galdric Arus, my hour-long guide to the old town's charms, used to feel lonely because he had never met another "Galdric" (an old Catalan name).
Then he discovered Facebook, he says laughing, and found a few Galdrics over the border in Perpignan, capital of old northern Catalonia in what is now France.
He sees himself as a patriot, not a nationalist, and his greatest contribution to independence, if it ever happens, may be the teaching of the Catalan language. He does that voluntarily two evenings a week, in classes for recent migrants from outside Spain.
His vision of an independent Catalonia is of a happily integrated, multi-ethnic society living in prosperity, separately from Spain.
But for now he burns with indignation at Madrid's efforts to deny him and other Catalans the right to decide their future.
On Sunday he will have to go to a secondary school just outside the town centre to vote because the organisers are not allowed to use the normal polling stations in the centre.
Heading to a different school on Sunday, though he lives just a street away in the old town, is statistician Manel Pons.
For Manel, the record of Spanish governments of both the right and left, including Mayor Parlon's Socialists, is dismal when it comes to Catalonia. It comes down to too many broken promises of greater autonomy.
We meet at a cafe just outside the town hall, a stone's throw from the voter registration booth set up in a doorway between shops, where activists are busy building an electoral roll of their own.
During my day in Santa Coloma, would-be voters are more a trickle than a stream.
Manel introduces me to Sabina, who will work as an election volunteer on Sunday. She does not want to give her surname - not because she fears repercussions, she says, but because of privacy concerns.
"We have to show the government what the people think," she argues. "They must be made to understand what the people think."
Among those definitely voting is Alonso Romero, an upholsterer who has a workshop in the Fondo area, still busy repairing sofas for the comfort of Santa Colomans at the age of 70.
But Alonso is voting the other way - a very definite "no" to independence.
Since arriving from Andalusia in the 1950s - he still remembers some lonely moments conquering his nerves as a young migrant in Catalonia's dance halls - he has become, in his words, "perfectly integrated" and feels completely Catalan, yet he is still a proud Spaniard.
A more recent arrival from Andalusia is Guillermo Alvarez, who owns a newspaper kiosk just below the town hall.
A Catalan independence flag adorns his kiosk, but the man selling news to Santa Coloma seems to be keeping his options open.
What people want most right now in Santa Coloma is work and a decent standard of living, he argues.
"If the economy doesn't work, nothing works," he says. "It's the economic crisis which has spurred the independence movement and independence is seen as one way out of it.
"Spain is not allowing the Catalan people to decide and people want a free, democratic, constitutional country."
Madrid's efforts to block Sunday's vote effectively mean that only the pro-independence campaign is visible on Santa Coloma's streets in the flags and posters and banners.
As Madrid is ignoring the vote officially there is no anti-independence campaigning.
The town remains outwardly calm, with Spanish-speakers and Catalan-speakers living peacefully side by side, but the tension is palpable in the mayor's office.
In the current atmosphere, Nuria says, she is uncomfortable stating her position in public.
"If I put out a tweet now saying I do not favour independence, because I regard it as a trap, a lot of people will attack me with verbal abuse," she says. "They'll call me a fascist."
It is an insult that hangs in the air briefly, like a ghost from Spain's civil war past, but it is hard to think of the people of this quiet town ever going back to open conflict.
Follow my blog on Tumblr and Twitter as I report on this fascinating vote. Join in the conversation with questions if you see me live-tweeting discussions. | Catalonia's dream of independence from Spain collides with some harsh realities on the streets of Santa Coloma. |
35,275,029 | The B-52 swooped over an air base close to the North-South border.
Pyongyang said it detonated an underground device earlier this week to widespread condemnation, but experts remain sceptical about the claim.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the test was an act of self-defence to prevent nuclear war with the US.
"It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticise," he was quoted by North Korean state media as saying.
Following the test, South Korea resumed broadcasting propaganda from speakers mounted on the border and the North countered with similar broadcasts.
The two sides are technically still at war, with the civil conflict that ended in 1953 concluding in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
The US is an ally of the South and said the B-52's flight was a response "to recent provocative action by North Korea".
Lt Gen Terrence O'Shaughnessy said the US was "steadfast" in its commitment to defending South Korea, and that includes "extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella".
Washington is considering sending an aircraft carrier to the region, Yonhap reported.
There has been no response yet from North Korea to the B-52's flight.
If may take weeks to confirm North Korea's claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb, but several experts said the blast was not large enough to have been from such a device.
The test angered North Korea's main ally China and the UN is working on new measures against Pyongyang, already internationally isolated from previous nuclear tests. | The US has flown a B-52 bomber over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. |
33,590,305 | He pledged to tackle extremist ideology and "the failures of integration" which he said had led to hundreds of Britons joining Islamic State (IS) militants.
Among a number of proposals, the PM promised to allow parents to have their children's passports cancelled if they feared they were at risk.
He also pledged to look at social housing to prevent further segregation.
The Muslim Council of Britain urged the prime minister to "put his words into action" and engage with "all sections of the community including mainstream Muslim organisations and those who have differing views".
In a speech in Birmingham on the government's five-year plan to defeat home-grown extremism, Mr Cameron set out four major areas that needed attention: countering the "warped" extremist ideology, the process of radicalisation, the "drowning out" of moderate Muslim voices, and the "identity crisis" among some British-born Muslims.
He said the focus of his speech was Islamist extremism - not Islam the religion - and that moderate Muslims also hated the "sick world view" of extremists.
"I want to work with you to defeat this poison," he said.
He said the government's strategy included plans to:
He spoke about a lack of confidence when it came to enforcing British values, referring specifically to forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
"No more turning a blind eye on the basis of cultural sensitivities," he said.
Analysis by Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor
"No-one becomes a terrorist from a standing start," said the PM.
And in that one phrase lies the core of Mr Cameron's argument: people become terrorists gradually.
They start with intolerant views towards democracy, freedom of expression and sexual equality. If this is not challenged they often gravitate to even more extreme views.
And this over time can lead to violence and terrorism.
In other words, tackling the ideology of IS involves confronting people over intolerance, prejudice and hostility to British values.
How to do this is much more fraught and Mr Cameron today came forward with relatively few specific policies. Why?
In part because of the fear of a backlash from the Muslim community.
But also because of an understandable wariness of compromising freedom of speech and expression - precisely the values Mr Cameron wants to defend.
The prime minister said the UK needed to "de-glamorise" the extremist ideology and conspiracy theories used by groups such as IS.
"This is a group that throws people off buildings, that burns them alive... This isn't a pioneering movement, it is a vicious, brutal and fundamentally abhorrent existence," he said.
Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the Commons Home Affairs committee, said the government needed to engage with Muslim communities.
"We need to understand why a few become isolated from their own communities," he said.
BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said giving worried parents the power to have their children's passports removed was a concrete step.
At present, children can be made a ward of court and then the local authority can prevent them travelling, or parents can go to the police who could act in certain circumstances, he said.
Our correspondent said the emphasis of Mr Cameron's speech was on the "battle of ideas" but added it could be about 10 years too late.
"The people they have to persuade are the young people who are already, to a degree, lost - and that is a big challenge for the government," our correspondent said.
The stories of those who have died, been convicted of offences relating to the Islamic State conflict or are still in Syria or Iraq.
Mr Cameron said it was not enough for groups to say they opposed IS.
This would be setting the bar for acceptability "ludicrously low", and groups should be expected also to condemn conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism and sectarianism, he said.
The Extremism Bill, unveiled in the Queen's Speech to Parliament in May, will include "narrowly-targeted" powers to tackle "facilitators and cult leaders" and stop them "peddling their hatred", said Mr Cameron.
While welcoming aspects of Mr Cameron's speech, the Ramadhan Foundation said "there was a lot about what he thinks and believes but with very little substance on what he is going to do".
Chief executive Mohammed Shafiq also rejected Mr Cameron's use of the term "grievance justification", whereby he said some people blamed the rise of extremism on "historic injustices, recent wars, poverty and hardship".
He said the PM's idea that "somehow we're saying foreign policy is an excuse is really offensive".
Dr Shuja Shafi, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the group agreed with the prime minister that Islamic State's causes must be de-glamorised.
"We worry, however, that these latest suggestions will set new litmus tests which may brand us all as extremists, even though we uphold and celebrate the rule of law, democracy and rights for all," he said.
"Dissenting is a proud tradition of ours that must not be driven underground."
In his speech, Mr Cameron attacked the National Union of Students for "allying itself" with the advocacy group Cage.
But the NUS responded by saying it would not work with Cage "in any capacity".
The government is expected to set out a wider counter-extremism strategy later this year which will include more legislation.
Police and security services believe at least 700 extremists have travelled to fight with IS militants who have taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria, with half since returned and posing a domestic terror threat.
Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has told MPs that five RAF pilots have been embedded with coalition forces carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria in the past year.
Parliament has approved UK involvement in air strikes in Iraq and Mr Cameron has suggested he could soon seek approval to extend the military action to Syria. | David Cameron has set out the government's strategy to defeat the "poison" of Islamist extremism. |
36,312,517 | He will now start forming a minority government, after the Queen's approval.
But in a fiery Senedd session, Plaid leader Leanne Wood said her party would vote against Labour again if needed, accusing it of "bullying" behaviour.
UKIP's Neil Hamilton also sparked a row calling her and Lib Dem Kirsty Williams Mr Jones's "political concubines".
The comments came after Mr Jones outlined his plans.
He told AMs there would be legislation on public health, additional learning needs and on smacking.
But he said legislation would not be brought forward in the first 100 days so that AMs could establish a new, more collaborative way of law-making.
The Welsh people wanted Labour to proceed with "caution and humility", he told the assembly.
Mr Jones added his government's priorities would reflect "the successful result for Welsh Labour in the May election, and subsequent discussions with the main opposition party, Plaid Cymru".
Labour's main aims include a "relentless focus on securing a successful and sustainable future for our steel industry", and Mr Jones pledged ministers would "campaign vociferously for a Remain vote" in June's EU referendum.
He said Labour would then bring forward "a new Public Health Bill, an Additional Learning Needs Bill, and we will take forward, on a cross-party basis, legislation that will remove the defence of reasonable chastisement [of children]" and "seek to amend the current Welsh language measure".
But Ms Wood issued a warning to Labour not to expect an easy ride over the next five years after Plaid became the official opposition.
"Today is not about coalition," she said. "Today's is a one off vote to allow Labour's nomination to go through.
"And if that party thinks their bullying last week will stop Plaid Cymru from voting in a similar way in the future to hold you to account, then think again."
Ms Wood also refused to apologise for challenging Mr Jones for the first minister post which led to a tied vote and deadlock,
"I'm not sorry for what happened last week and I will do it again if I have to make Labour realise they are running a minority government," she added.
Meanwhile, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies urged Mr Jones to clarify where he stood on controversial plans for an M4 relief road around Newport, improving the NHS and reducing the number of local councils.
"We will from the benches here hold you to account, on each and every corner that you try and turn", Mr Davies said.
"But we will also seek to be constructive in the way we engage and debate on the points that need to be brought forward."
Any suggestion that there would be a cosying up between Labour and Plaid came to an abrupt end when Leanne Wood wasted no time in laying into Carwyn Jones.
You would never have guessed that the two parties had been working closely together over the past few days on a deal when she described Labour as complacent, arrogant and having a sense of entitlement.
One AM described it to me after as being close to a declaration of war, and something that caused genuine surprise among Labour and Conservative ranks.
The inevitable question is how long the Labour-Plaid deal is likely to last in the light of Leanne Wood's tone.
Throw into the mix Neil Hamilton's description of Leanne Wood and Kirsty Williams as "concubines", and all round we were left with a spiky first session that kept us all guessing. | Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones has been reappointed as first minister after a deal with Plaid Cymru ended a week of deadlock in Cardiff Bay. |
35,901,358 | The bomber detonated the explosives at the end of a football match, wounding more than 60 others, according to police and medical sources.
Iskandariya is a mainly Shia town 40km (25 miles) south of the capital, Baghdad.
So-called Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the attack.
IS, a mainly Sunni group which controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq, has attacked numerous Shia targets in the country recently.
A local police captain said the suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowd as the trophy was being handed to the winners, AFP news agency reported.
The town's mayor was among those killed, the agency added, quoting an unnamed medical source.
Iskandariya is in a region that was once called "the triangle of death" and was badly affected by sectarian violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
Islamic State group: The full story
Crisis in seven charts
Meanwhile, the powerful Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to implement government reforms within 24 hours.
Mr Sadr warned authorities they would face street protests if a new-cabinet and fresh measures to fight corruption were not introduced by Saturday.
The ultimatum was made in a statement read to thousands of his supporters staging a sit-in outside the gates of the heavily fortified Green Zone, an area of government offices and embassies in Baghdad.
Plans for a cabinet re-shuffle were announced last month, but Mr Abadi has been slow to implement the changes. | At least 29 people have been killed in a suicide attack in a crowded park in the Iraqi city of Iskandariya, officials have said. |
31,631,461 | The document describes itself as the EU's "initial offer" in negotiations over the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP).
It includes the wording that UK ministers have said will protect the NHS from privatisation.
Anti-TTIP campaigners say a specific exemption for the NHS is still needed.
The 103-page document is headed "trade in services and investment: schedule of specific commitments and reservations".
It was produced before the most recent round of TTIP negotiations in Brussels were held at the beginning of this month.
On health, the document states: "The EU reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure with regard to the provision of all health services which receive public funding or State support in any form".
The wording is the same as that used in a similar free trade agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA).
The UK trade minister, Lord Livingston, said last week that this text ensured "publicly funded health services are excluded".
The European Commission has also previously said TTIP would not affect how NHS services are provided, whether in Scotland or the rest of the UK.
But Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has called for the NHS to be specifically excluded from the deal.
She said: "I think this issue has to be put beyond any doubt.
"Our NHS is not for sale and TTIP must have a clear and explicit exclusion for the National Health Service."
The trade union Unite said "real risks" remained because of the dispute resolution mechanism TTIP is expected to include.
The union's Scottish regional secretary, Pat Rafferty said: "Last week Lord Livingston tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the Scottish people.
"Now this leaked document has confirmed Unite's expert legal advice, that NHS services in Scotland and the rest of the UK do fall within the scope of the TTIP.
"This means that American investors in NHS services that are privatised now or in the future will be able to use TTIP to sue the government if it tries to bring them back into public hands".
Labour and the Scottish Greens have also endorsed Unite's campaign.
Ian Murray, who is Labour's Shadow Trade Minister, said: "The EU Commission and Conservative government have been dragged kicking and screaming by the public to exclude the NHS and public services from TTIP.
"If they are so confident that the NHS is protected then why don't they specifically add it to the list of exclusions? By not doing so Scots will be suspicious that TTIP could threaten our NHS and other public services."
BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter said: "Both the UK government and the European Commission need to ensure that sufficient safeguards will be in place to protect the NHS from further commercialisation arising from the EU/US trade partnership."
In response, European Commission spokesman, Daniel Rosario said: "No existing free trade agreement would prevent any government from renationalising any public services on national or local level.
"Alternatively, negotiations do not force governments to privatise or deregulate. This situation will not change with TTIP or any other trade agreement.
"The EU is currently negotiating and the countries that sign up to free trade agreements can keep public monopolies and regulate public services as they see fit."
Appearing before a Scottish Parliament committee last week, Lord Livingston said he was worried the NHS was being used as a "political football".
He said: "Some people are getting fearful, largely because there are people going around saying 'the Tories are going to sell off the health service to Americans'.
"We are saying 'no, it is not true'. The operation of the health services will not be affected by TTIP.
"The decisions about how they are operated will continue to be that for the democratically elected government of the individual area."
Lord Livingston also highlighted a letter from EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, which offers similar assurances.
She said: "There is no reason to fear either for the NHS as it stands today or for changes to the NHS in future, as a result of TTIP."
The EU document lists reservations from TTIP proposed by the EU as a whole and by individual member states.
It makes clear that "where appropriate" member states can seek opt-outs on behalf of parts of their territory.
In the EU-Canada agreement, Belgium did this in relation to the issuing of taxi licences in the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels capital regions.
That could prompt calls for the UK government to seek a specific exemption for NHS Scotland, even if it chooses not to do so for the NHS more generally | A leaked draft of what the European Union wants excluded from a new trade deal with the United States has been obtained by the BBC. |
35,720,408 | Off-duty fireman Alan Brown, 46, fell into an outside basement area of Bert's Bar in William Street on 4 April 2014.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Maclay Inns pleaded guilty under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
It admitted failing to ensure staff were aware of the importance of a gate in the railings being padlocked.
The gate was used to allow access to a keg hoist leading to the basement.
Fiscal Depute, Gary Aitken, told Sheriff Kenneth Maciver that Mr Brown, a father-of-two, had been out socialising with friends.
He was making his way home at about 01:35 when he fell into the basement. Mr Aitken said the fall was not witnessed by anyone or on CCTV.
It may have been that Mr Brown had leant against the gate and fallen through, but Mr Aitken said that made no difference as the gate had not been secured by a bolt or padlock.
Investigations had shown the need to secure the gate had been "forgotten about" and from April 2012 it was routine not to lock the gate.
He said this had led to Mr Brown's death.
Advocate Barry Smith said the company wished to record its sincere condolences to the family for the tragic accident.
He said the company had no previous convictions but had gone into administration on 23 January 2015.
Sheriff Maciver said he would not take into account the financial position of the company by imposing a nominal sum.
He added that a financial penalty in a case involving injury or death must not be seen as any sort of measure by the court of the value of a life, nor should it be seen as compensation.
It was to punish a company and deter others.
In this case the breach had not been deliberate or any type of shortcut in work practices.
"Nevertheless" he said "it is a case where there had been, over a number of years, a serious and obviously dangerous omission where the practice of padlocking the gate had been ignored by laziness and inattention. It was an accident waiting to happen." | A firm has been fined £100,000 over the death of a man who fell into a basement at one of its Edinburgh pubs because a gate was not padlocked. |
35,152,546 | The singer left the stage at the end of her Rebel Heart tour concert on Sunday.
When she returned for an encore of Holiday, Madonna was forced to lead a crowd singalong after finding the power off and floor lights on.
Posting on Instagram, Madonna said: "We don't stop till its over Glasgow! Don't try to silence the Queen." The Hydro said Madonna's own team cut the power.
A spokeswoman for the venue said: "Madonna finished her agreed set and then chose to come on for another song.
"By that stage, all the power and control equipment had already been disconnected by her own production engineers. I would stress that this was not a venue decision."
Videos posted on social media showed Madonna leading a singalong of Holiday at the packed venue.
The Glasgow gig was the last of 25 sold-out shows on the European leg of the 57-year-old's latest tour.
She will perform in Mexico at the start of January. | Pop star Madonna has issued a rebuke after the power was cut during her encore at Glasgow's Hydro venue. |
16,337,648 | Beidou now offered location, timing and navigation data to China and surrounding areas,announced the project's spokesman Ran Cheng.
China has been working on the system since 2000 to provide an alternative to the US government-run Global Positioning System (GPS).
The move should make China's military less dependent on foreign technology.
A launch earlier this month delivered the 10th of Beidou's satellites into orbit.
Beijing plans to send a further six satellites into space by 2012 to extend the system to most parts of Asia, and then expand the network to a total of 35 satellites offering global coverage by 2020.
Interested parties are invited to study a test version of the project'sInterface Control Document, which has been placed online
Beidou - which translates as the Plough, or Big Dipper - promises to offer civilian users positioning information correct to the nearest 10m, measure speeds within 0.2m per second, and provide clock synchronisation signals accurate to 0.02 millionths of a second.
The Chinese military will be able to obtain more accurate data.
A 2004 study by Geoffrey Forden, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, suggested that Beidou could be used totarget cruise missiles against Taiwanif a war broke out over the territory. Having its own system would protect China against the risk that the US could turn GPS off.
A 2011 report for the website defensepolicy.org suggested the network could also be used toguide drones to destroy foreign naval forceswere China to come under attack.
However, Beidou's developers also stress day-to-day benefits for the public.
They told China Daily that the system could create a400 billion yuan ($63.2bn, £40.4bn) marketin related applications for the automotive, telecommunications, fishing and other industries by 2020.
Mr Ran also noted that the system is compatible and interoperable with the world's other navigation systems.
Beyond GPS, Russia operates the Glonass network. It recently launched a series of satellites to cover gaps in its system and reported earlier this month that it once againcovered 100% of the Earth's surface.
The EU is also developing its own system - Galileo.The first of its operational satellites entered orbit in October. The European Space Agency said the network should be completed in 2019.
Meanwhile, American defence developer Lockheed Martin is working toupgrade the US's system to GPS III.
The firm has begun constructing a prototype next-generation satellite in a facility near Denver.
The US Air Force said the new system would have more power, making it harder for enemies to jam it, and allowing the signals to penetrate deeper into built up cities and dense foliage.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the project will cost $25bn by 2025. | China's satellite navigation system has become operational, according to an official. |
36,655,420 | The Obama administration was criticised for lax security and a slow response to the 2012 attacks on a US compound, in the report by House Republicans.
But they found no new evidence of wrongdoing by ex-Secretary of State and White House hopeful Hillary Clinton.
The issue has long haunted her on the campaign trail.
Islamic militants stormed the US compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi in 2012, killing four Americans including ambassador Chris Stevens.
Earlier this year, Mrs Clinton said she took responsibility for the attack during an 11-hour hearing before the House Republicans committee on the matter.
Military leaders have said they did not have sufficient intelligence on what was happening or the resources to respond quickly enough.
In announcing the conclusion of the committee's investigation, chairman Trey Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina, said: "Nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost eight hours after the attacks began."
US help was too slow because of "an obsession with hurting the Libyans' feelings," he said.
The report has "not found anything to contradict the conclusions of multiple, earlier investigations," Mrs Clinton's campaign said in a statement.
Democrats, in their own report, said the State Department's security measures were "woefully inadequate" but Mrs Clinton had never refused requests for more security.
They called the Republicans' report a "conspiracy theory on steroids, bringing back long-debunked allegations with no credible evidence whatsoever."
They accused the committee's Republican majority of targeting Mrs Clinton but Mr Gowdy said that was never the committee's aim. | The US military failed to protect four Americans who died in attacks on a US compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi, says a Congressional report. |
37,691,270 | Number 10 confirmed the comment by a government lawyer in the High Court represented the "government's view".
The vote would take place after negotiations have taken place and with Brexit already triggered using Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Campaigners have been calling for a vote before Article 50 is triggered.
Open Britain, formerly the Remain campaign, said the government's comments were an "encouraging sign" but renewed calls for a debate and vote earlier in the process, before Article 50 begins two years of formal negotiations.
The UK is expected to leave the European Union in 2019.
Prime Minister Theresa May opposes a vote before Article 50, saying those calling for one are "trying to subvert" the outcome of June's referendum.
The issue is currently the subject of a landmark legal challenge, with the government defending what it says is its right to invoke Article 50 without Parliamentary approval.
It's the question pre-occupying many MPs as Britain prepares to leave the EU. What role will they have in shaping and approving the final withdrawal deal the UK reaches with Brussels? Theresa May plans to begin talks with the EU by the end of March and negotiations will last for two years.
The government's legal team have now clarified what they believe happens then.
James Eadie QC said it was "very likely" the UK and the EU would agree a new treaty that would have to be ratified by Parliament.
A law passed in 2010 gave MPs the power to block a treaty indefinitely. But in practice, would Parliament at that point derail the UK's withdrawal agreement with the EU?
David Pannick QC, acting for one of the claimants in the High Court case, said even if Parliament refused to approve the final Brexit deal, the UK would have to leave the EU anyway - with or without an agreement. That is why, he argued, parliament needed to vote before formal talks began.
Judges who heard the case said they would give their decision "as quickly as possible". An appeal to the Supreme Court later in the year is expected, whatever the outcome.
During the High Court hearing, government lawyer James Eadie QC moved on to what was likely to happen at the end of the negotiations, in 2019, saying: "The government view at the moment is it is very likely that any such agreement will be subject to ratification."
If this vote ends with MPs rejecting the Brexit deal, the UK would still leave the EU, Lord Pannick, who is acting for the campaigners challenging the government, told the court.
"Parliament cannot reverse the notification," he said.
The UK would either leave with no agreement or reach a new one, he said, adding: "But the new agreement cannot restore the rights that are irretrievably lost, and whether there is a new agreement is out of the hands of Parliament."
Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: "A vote so late in the day would put MPs between a rock and a hard place. It would ask us to choose between a deal on the government's terms or leaving the European Union with no deal at all."
UK voters opted in favour of leaving the EU by 51.9% to 48.1% in a referendum in June. | Downing Street has said it is "very likely" MPs will be able to vote on the final Brexit agreement reached between the UK and the European Union. |
31,012,832 | It is believed flammable material was thrown through the front window of Michelle Mulherin's office in Ballina shortly after 19:00 GMT on Tuesday.
The office sustained minimal smoke damage as a result of the blaze.
The street has been closed to traffic and an examination is being carried out in the building.
In a statement, Ms Mulherin said she was thankful that no-one had been injured.
"I await the outcome of the garda investigation and will be making no further comment at this stage," she said. | Irish police have launched an investigation after a fire broke out at the constituency office of a Fine Gael TD in County Mayo. |
32,313,951 | The house, at Derry Street in the County Armagh town, was attacked shortly after midnight.
A number of shots were fired, damaging the front door and a front window.
Police said a motive for the attack had yet to be established and appealed for anyone with any information to contact them. | A 61-year-old man has escaped injury in a gun attack on a house in Lurgan in the early hours of Wednesday. |
30,069,240 | The police said most of the 90 people were arrested for protesting in a non-designated area in the city of Gouda.
While surveys show most Dutch people do not want to change the tradition, Black Pete is increasingly viewed as an outdated stereotype.
The Dutch version of the St Nicholas legend depicts him arriving by boat from Spain with armies of Black Petes.
Trouble broke out in Gouda, selected as the city to kick off this year's festivities, during a re-enactment of the arrival of Nicholas and his Black Petes.
State TV showed footage of scuffles as protesters unfurled banners reading "Black Pete is racism".
Police said protesters had been forbidden from demonstrating at the re-enactment, but refused to move away.
The Black Pete character is causing mounting controversy in the Netherlands.
Last year, hundreds of people staged a protest in Amsterdam.
Earlier this year, Amsterdam's regional court said the image of Black Pete "with his thick red lips, being a stupid servant, gives rise to a negative stereotyping of black people".
The court ordered Amsterdam's authorities to review the festival. However, this ruling was overturned by a higher court.
Correction 3 December 2014: This report has been amended to make clear that the Amsterdam court's ruling was later overturned. | Dutch police have arrested dozens of people during a protest over Black Pete, a controversial black-faced sidekick to the local St Nicholas. |
38,868,480 | It would be a record-breaking Games for Team GB in Pyeongchang if they win more than the four medals they have taken home on two occasions, in 1924 and 2014.
UK Sport has doubled its investment in Olympic winter sports from £13.5m for the four-year cycle to the 2014 Sochi Games to £27.9m for the South Korea event.
And with a year go until the 2018 Games begin, UK Sport has agreed a total target of between four and eight medals across the various Winter Olympic disciplines at their respective World Championship events this year.
"The money that UK Sport have put in is a real confidence boost to our winter athletes," Hay told BBC Sport.
"We've got to go in with high hopes and there are some early indicators that our athletes are going to be competing for podium places."
Great Britain may have won 67 medals in one Games at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio but Winter Olympic medals have been harder to come by because of a lack of natural facilities and smaller talent pools to select from.
In the 97-year history of the Winter Olympics, Great Britain have won only 26 medals but Hay believes the country is becoming more accepted on the world stage, especially in freestyle skiing and snowboarding, short track speed skating, curling and skeleton.
"It's very difficult to challenge the alpine nations but we're making progress into that second tier, if you like, and getting credibility," Hay said.
Meanwhile, to mark a year to the event, British Ski and Snowboard has announced it plans to become one of the world's top five skiing and snowboarding nations by 2030.
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Great Britain will send about 60 athletes to the Games.
Ski and snowboard: It took 90 years for Britain to win a first Winter Olympic medal on snow, courtesy of Jenny Jones' snowboard bronze in 2014 but in Pyeongchang there could be podium ambitions for athletes in freestyle skiing, snowboarding and even alpine skiing.
Snowboarder Katie Ormerod has been a model of consistency on the World Cup stage, winning the Moscow big air and claiming two other podiums as well as an X Games bronze medal. Her cousin Jamie Nicholls, Billy Morgan and Aimee Fuller have also won World Cup medals and could threaten the podium in slopestyle and big air in 2018.
James Woods finished fifth in ski slopestyle in Sochi and will be a medal contender in South Korea. He won the season-opening World Cup slopestyle in New Zealand and just missed out on an X Games slopestyle medal, coming fourth. Woods did win the big air title in Aspen but only snowboard big air will make its debut in the Winter Olympics.
In the alpine world, slalom specialist David Ryding became the first Briton for 36 years to claim a World Cup medal when he finished second in Kitzbuhel, Austria, in January and has backed that up with three other top 10s this season.
British Ski and Snowboard has an ambitious target of being a top-five performing nation by 2030. It says it has a strategy to raise more funds and put a world-class coaching structure in place.
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Short track speed skating: After the heartbreak of being penalised in all her races in Sochi, Elise Christie will be determined to leave Pyeongchang with a medal. She is leading the world 500m standings this season and has also won World Cup medals in 1000m and 1500m. Charlotte Gilmartin could also claim a medal.
Skeleton: Since skeleton was reintroduced into the Winter Olympics in 2002, Great Britain have won a medal at each of the four Games. Lizzy Yarnold won gold in Russia and is aiming to become the first Briton to retain a Winter Olympic title. She took the 2016 season off but is back and building up to South Korea. Laura Deas has had World Cup success and will also be in contention.
Curling: Great Britain won silver and bronze in Sochi and will again be challenging for the medal matches in 2018. The introduction of mixed doubles boosts GB's chances even more.
Snowboard big air: Snowboarders will head down a ramp and perform a trick off a large jump called a kicker. The new addition is great news for Britain's medal aspirations as there are podium potential athletes in the men's and women's competitions. Meanwhile, it is goodbye to snowboard parallel slalom, which has been dropped from the Games.
Curling mixed doubles: Each team is made up of a man and a woman and they play with six stones, rather than the usual eight and there are only eight ends, instead of the traditional 10. Great Britain finished fourth at the 2016 World Championships and compete in the 2017 competition at the end of April. Performances from the 2016 and 2017 World Championships will be taken into account with the top seven ranked nations, plus hosts South Korea, qualifying for the Games.
Speed skating mass start: This will take place on the long track and will be a 16-lap race where all skaters start simultaneously. There will be four sprints where points are awarded. The first three athletes to cross the finish line will be awarded the medals.
Alpine skiing team event. Teams will consist of two men and two women and they will compete against other nations in head-to-head slalom races.
The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held between 9 and 25 February and it is the third time Asia has held a Winter Olympics after Japan hosted both the 1972 Games in Sapporo and Nagano in 1998.
Pyeongchang will be split between the coast and the mountains, similarly to Sochi. The coastal cluster will host curling, ice hockey, figure skating, short track and speed skating, while the mountain area will host skiing, snowboarding, bobsleigh, skeleton and luge.
The winter Paralympics will run from 9 to 18 March. | Great Britain should be excited about its medal chances at the 2018 Winter Olympics, according to chef de mission Mike Hay. |
32,913,375 | On Wednesday, 14 people were charged by US authorities for racketeering, fraud and money laundering. Seven of them were top Fifa officials.
Fifa's president Sepp Blatter, who is not among those charged, has been under pressure to resign. He is seeking a fifth term as president, although is being challenged by Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.
The second investigation was launched by Swiss authorities and will look into the bidding processes related to the hosting of the World Cup in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
Football fans from Qatar and Russia gave us their reaction.
Elena Selezinka, Moscow, Russia
Leonid Fedyakov, Russia
Alexander Volynsky: Doubtless, considering new circumstances, decision about hosts of World Cups should be reviewed. Look how Russian bureaucrats started running about like mad, seems like they have reasons to worry.
Sergey Borzov: Now 2018 World Cup in Russia could be cancelled. Next time they will know how to behave.
Tweets to @BBCRussian
FilatoF @filat61 tweets: It should be noted that this international scandal was initiated by the US right before elections of Fifa head. Interesting to know why?
Татьяна Чернова @chernova_57 tweets: So many years they were not noticing corruption among themselves. It had to be 2018 WC in Russia for them to notice it.
Tweets to @BBCArabic
Tahani alhajritweets: I'm from Qatar, and Qatar deserves to host the World Cup. It has made a strong bid to host it, so it doesn't need to bribe anyone.
@Optimistic_eye tweets: It won't affect it because the independent investigation has cleared the Qatari bid of any wrongdoing. As a Qatari citizen, I believe our bid is strong.
@q6rtweets: I'm from Qatar and at the start, I was unsure about Qatar hosting the World Cup due to the potential negative effect that hosting might have on my country, but our government has proved that it can deal with any obstacle it faces.
Patrick Costigan in Moscow emails: Sepp Blatter has presided over Fifa for 17 years and no financial transparency during all that time. It's time Fifa was sorted out and time for this greedy man to go.
Anon, an English expat in Doha emails: As these investigations unfold and increase in their intensity, I believe that even Blatter will be implicated. He had to know what was going on within the top echelons of Fifa. He is therefore either implicated or not doing his job properly.
Kenneth Udemgba, a Nigerian living in Qatar writes via Whatsapp: Fifa president Sepp Blatter should step down. I am really disappointed by what is happening in Fifa. However, Qatar should host the 2022 World Cup. It's a beautiful and peaceful country.
Sheeroh in Qatar emails: I think Blatter should stay, that is democracy. Rotate the game and stop the bidding that is how you end corruption. All those corporations pointing fingers should first admit they exploit poor countries.
Produced by Dhruti Shah and Nana Prempeh | As members of football's governing body, Fifa, vote for their new president, the organisation remains mired in crisis following the launch of joint criminal investigations earlier this week. |
37,640,399 | It's being seen as a financial windfall for the government and also being described as an unqualified success at tackling the country's long-standing underground economy or black money problem.
Cash transactions are a way of life in India. They could involve simple purchases on the street, or large-scale ones involving suitcases stuffed with used notes to buy automobiles or even property.
A significant part of this cash flow is hidden from the government, to avoid paying tax.
Cleaning up this system and cracking down on black money has been a stated goal for India's Narendra Modi-led government.
From June this year, the government ran a highly visible campaign, entreating citizens to use a four-month window to declare previously undisclosed assets and incomes in exchange for complete immunity from prosecution as well as anonymity, so long as they paid 45% in taxes and penalties.
"We conducted a series of town-hall meetings all over the country," says Hasmukh Adhia, India's revenue secretary.
"All the top officials as well as local-level tax commissioners attended. People had a lot of doubts about the scheme but we assured them of the secrecy aspect," he added.
All sorts of people took advantage of the amnesty scheme.
A group of street food vendors from Mumbai are said to have contributed $7.5m. A real estate developer from Gujarat, Naresh Agrawal, who says he has an annual turnover of $45m, declared the equivalent of $6m.
"The rules have become much more stringent now. If you get caught using black money to strike a real estate deal, you have to pay 100% tax and penalties. No builder wants to take that risk," Mr Agrawal said.
"Earlier you were always nervous of getting caught. Now that I have disclosed everything, I can sleep easier."
That's the reason why many believes this scheme has worked so well, especially when compared to previous attempts, because the government is making it harder for people to conduct large cash transactions.
"A lot of black money would get exchanged as part of property deals," says Shalini Jain, a tax consultant with global financial services company, Ernst and Young.
"Now the government has made it mandatory to cut tax at source in these transactions, so it brings to attention any property transaction. This has discouraged many from going ahead with it."
By some estimates, the government could raise nearly $4.5bn from the scheme. But it may not be as good as it sounds.
Only 3% of India's 1.2 billion strong population are said to pay income tax, yet less than 65,000 people came forward during this amnesty programme.
Economist Arun Kumar points out that it's only a fraction of the country's undisclosed wealth.
"You have to account for not just undeclared income but also the wealth it generates after it is invested, used to buy property etc," he says.
"By my estimate, India's undisclosed wealth is about 60% of its GDP, which makes it around $1.35 trillion."
And, the big fish may have got away.
"We have to wait for the final breakdown but it appears that most of those who came forward are small business owners or relatively small players. The big hoarders have either not taken part or have only disclosed a nominal amount of their holdings," Prof Kumar adds.
The government says it plans to use the money to fund public welfare programmes, so in effect it will plough the recovered wealth back into the economy.
It's already been described as a resounding success. But it's unlikely that it will make India's black money problem go away. | Earlier this month, the Indian government announced that tens of thousands of people had taken advantage of a tax evasion amnesty scheme to declare more than $9.5bn (£7.3bn) in undisclosed incomes and assets. |
32,631,681 | 7 May 2015 Last updated at 19:28 BST
It is one of five commissioned around the UK by The Landmark Trust, to mark the charity's 50th birthday.
The iron sculpture weighs 1,543lbs (700kg) and is the only one that has been placed in a village, the other four have been positioned by the coast.
Sir Antony said the sculpture in Lowsonford, near Henley-in-Arden, looks most impressive when "you look up at it against the sky".
Caroline Stanford, from the Landmark Trust, said it was fitting that it has been placed in "the heart of the Midlands". | A new sculpture by the artist and sculptor Sir Antony Gormley has been unveiled on a Warwickshire canal. |
36,024,492 | A so-called "Brexit" would disrupt established trading relationships and cause "major challenges" for both the UK and the rest of Europe, it said.
The IMF said the referendum had already created uncertainty for investors and a vote to exit would only heighten this.
Vote Leave said the IMF had been "consistently wrong" in past forecasts.
The IMF, one of the main pillars of the global economic order with a mandate to oversee the international monetary and financial system, also cut its UK growth forecast.
It now expects 1.9% growth in the UK this year, compared with its January estimate of 2.2%. For next year, it expects 2.2% growth, unchanged from its earlier forecast.
If the 23 June referendum in the UK were to produce a vote in favour of leaving the EU, the IMF would expect negotiations on post-exit arrangements to be protracted, which it warned "could weigh heavily on confidence and investment, all the while increasing financial market volatility".
It also believes a UK exit from the EU would "disrupt and reduce mutual trade and financial flows" and restrict benefits from economic co-operation and integration, such as those resulting from economies of scale.
However, the Fund said that domestic demand, boosted by lower energy prices and a buoyant property market, would help to offset the impact on UK growth ahead of the EU referendum.
Chancellor George Osborne said the IMF's comments reinforced the case for staying. "The IMF has given us the clearest independent warning of the taste of bad things to come if we leave the EU," he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "The IMF is right - leaving the EU would pose major risks for the UK economy. We are stronger, safer and better off in the European Union."
Maurice Obstfeld, economic counsellor to the International Monetary Fund and the organisation's chief economist, says there could be "severe regional and global damage" if Britain were to vote to leave the European Union.
An exit would present "major challenges" and a prolonged period of uncertainty which would "weigh" - that is have a negative effect - on confidence and investment.
Market volatility could increase, trade could be damaged and economic growth undermined.
Mr Obstfeld, an expert in international finance, is a former economic adviser to President Barack Obama.
And, as one of the top 40 economists cited in the world for his research, has muscle in this arena.
Read more by Kamal here
Vote Leave, the group campaigning for the UK to leave the European Union, criticised the IMF's findings saying it had "been consistently wrong in past forecasts about the UK and other countries".
"The IMF has talked down the British economy in the past and now it is doing it again at the request of our own Chancellor. It was wrong then and it is wrong now," said Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott.
"The biggest risk to the UK's economy and security is remaining in an unreformed EU which is institutionally incapable of dealing with the challenges it faces, such as the euro and migration crises."
UKIP leader Nigel Farage also criticised the IMF, saying it had "lost its way" in recent years and had been "effectively hijacked" by pro-EU bosses.
Former chancellor Lord Lamont also dismissed the IMF's concerns as "assertions… for which there is no real evidence".
He said the IMF was "very closely connected to the European Union" and was therefore "bound to reflect their views".
"The idea that we wouldn't continue trading on a perfectly normal basis is just fantasy," he added.
In contrast, Britain Stronger In Europe, which is campaigning for the UK to remain within the EU, said businesses and families should heed the IMF's warning.
"This is the clearest evidence yet about the danger of Britain leaving Europe from the word's most respected financial body," said former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband, speaking at an event held by the group.
Other major bodies' assessments on the impact of a possible Brexit have been less severe than the IMF's.
Credit ratings agency Moody's recently said the the impact of the UK leaving the EU would be "small" and was unlikely to lead to big job losses.
But the CBI has warned a British exit from the EU - known as a "Brexit" - could cost the UK economy £100bn and nearly one million jobs. | The UK's exit from the European Union could cause "severe regional and global damage", the International Monetary Fund has warned in its latest outlook. |
35,026,887 | The show, which was a hit 2003 film starring Jack Black, is about a wannabe rock star who poses as a teacher, forming a band with his students to enter a music contest.
The Guardian said the musical had "lost its mojo" and was "innocuous".
The Hollywood Reporter, however, described it as a "crowd-pleaser".
"In terms of screen-to-stage remakes, this is neither the most imaginative nor the most pedestrian of them, falling somewhere in the respectable midrange," it said, praising the children in the show as "junior dynamos", adding: "The kids get the show's most poignant moments".
The New York Times said the musical would rejuvenate Lord Lloyd-Webber's career, saying while it was "unlikely" to restore him to the heights of Evita and Phantom of the Opera, it was his "friskiest in decades".
Speaking to the BBC, Lord Lloyd Webber insisted: "We've had some rave reviews here - neither Cats or Phantom did anything like this. The reviews here are ninety percent positive, it's the best set of reviews I've ever heard in America by far.
"I'd forgotten what it was to have a night like that in New York, I haven't had one like that for a long time."
The Guardian also praised the show's youngsters, saying: " The children are universally adorable and several of them are staggeringly accomplished musicians. It is an absolute treat to hear them."
But the newspaper was not entirely complimentary about Lord Lloyd-Webber or Lord Fellowes and his co-writer Glenn Slater.
"Lloyd Webber knows how to do this. Or he used to," it said. "Jesus Christ Superstar, for all its 70s noodling, remains a quintessential rock musical. Here any hard electric edges have been sanded away. Slater's lyrics are serviceable as is Fellowes's book, though it would be helped by more of his cutting wit."
Variety was more positive, saying it was an exuberant feel-good musical, praising Alex Brightman's "appealing brand of scruffy charm as [teacher] Dewey Finn", ending its review by saying: "Rock on, kids, rock on."
Lord Lloyd Webber said: "The universal feeling is that Alex has absolutely nailed it, he's just phenomenal, he's just a fantastic rock tenor, a great comedian but also brings great pathos to it as well.
"It's got a real message that, quite simply, music has the power to transforms peoples lives."
According to the LA Times, the show was "saved by the students" because it "squeaks by with the lowest of passing grades, but each and every young actor in the cast deserves to be on Broadway's honour role".
"'Rock' is surprisingly easy to swallow, in large part because everyone involved seems to be having such a fine time," it said.
Lord Lloyd-Webber announced after the show's opening that it is opening at the London Palladium in autumn 2016. Dates for the West End run will be confirmed in the New Year.
He said: "I am thrilled to announce that we are confirming a West End production of School of Rock - The Musical. We have had such a great time in the US staging the world premiere and now that we have opened on Broadway, I am delighted to be focusing on the next chapter in the show's journey."
The composer added that a National Company of School of Rock - The Musical will launch a US Tour in the autumn of 2017, playing coast-to-coast engagements across the US. | Broadway musical School of Rock, written by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has opened to mixed reviews. |
39,918,697 | It wants to tap in to demand in the country, which is set to overtake the US to become the world's biggest aviation market within the next decade.
Based in the central eastern city of Zhengzhou, the airline will be run in partnership with the Everbright Group.
AirAsia already has operations in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines and India.
"This Chinese venture represents the final piece of the AirAsia puzzle," said chief executive Tony Fernandes, adding it "closes the loop" in the region.
Once for the privileged few, flying domestically within China has boomed. Civil Aviation Administration of China figures suggest that in 1982 there were fewer than four million air passenger journeys within the country. By 2016, that number had reached 487 million.
AirAsia said that as well as running the airline, it would invest in aviation infrastructure and set up an academy to train pilots, crew and engineers.
There would also be new facilities to service and maintain aircraft in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province.
AirAsia already has a presence in China, flying to 15 destinations there, making it the country's largest foreign budget airline.
"China has been good to us and we want to give back in a big way, and this is just the start of an enduring partnership that will benefit both China and Malaysia," said AirAsia executive chairman Kamarudin Meranun.
He added the airline had "started exploring" the prospect of eventually buying Chinese-made Comac C919 planes which are currently in development. | Budget airline AirAsia has signed a joint venture agreement to set up a new low-cost carrier in China. |
35,800,643 | Marvin Rees pledged to rid the city of sexual entertainment venues if he is elected, arguing they could "feed into" wider inequality.
But stripper Esme Worrell branded the idea "short-sighted" and "patronising".
Mr Rees said he would work with the council's licensing committee.
He was criticised after he announced the pledge on via Twitter on International Women's Day, along with a promise to make half of his cabinet women and to prioritise abuse victims for social housing.
Strippers took the site to accuse him of "trying to destroy the livelihood of hundreds of women", "bandwagon jumping" and "criminalising" women in the industry.
Ms Worrell, from Bristol, said Mr Rees should investigate the clubs himself to see how they are run.
She said: "I think a man storming in and telling us that he's going to ban our work ... it is patronising because why should somebody be telling me what I should be doing with my body?
"In a consensual adult environment...you shouldn't be able to police other people's work choices, if they are legal."
The committee, not the mayor, decides on the policy around venues - which offer lap dancing, pole dancing, and strip shows.
Mr Rees said his pledge was backed by the mayor's women's commission.
"In the last election, all mayoral candidates supported a 'nil cap' on sexual entertainment venues. We've just listened to what women have said," he said.
He said a "real concern" was whether the venues "feed into wider inequalities that are faced by women". "Is the price paid by wider Bristol very very high for this?"
Mr Rees will go up against the current, independent mayor George Ferguson in May. Other candidates selected so far include Lib Dem Kay Barnard, Conservative Charles Lucas, Green candidate Tony Dyer and UKIP's Paul Turner.
In 2012 Swansea and Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, banned sex entertainment venues. | A Labour mayoral candidate has defended his promise to try to ban strip clubs from Bristol - after a social media backlash from women working in the industry. |
36,507,206 | Since first attending in 1947, she's been an enthusiastic participant in the biggest flat-racing week of the year, as a racehorse owner and breeder and simply as a fan of the sport, arriving amid the famous pomp and circumstance of the horse-drawn carriage procession down the course.
Over 60-plus years, the Royal silks have been carried to victory 22 times, a list started by Choir Boy in the Royal Hunt Cup of 1953.
The mare Estimate was the most recent addition after a breathless win in the 2013 Gold Cup, when her owner became the first reigning monarch to taste victory in the historic centrepiece race, first staged in 1807.
It's expected there will be up to half a dozen Royal runners this year, including the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Dartmouth, a fast-improving winner at Chelmsford City and Chester during the spring, and fancied for the Hardwicke Stakes on the fifth and final day.
But the Queen won't be the only member of the Royal family chasing a slice of the record £6.58m prize money, spread across the 30 races. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are due to have Carn Top (second in the Lingfield Derby Trial) and Pacify - both bred by them and trained by Ralph Beckett - in action during the week.
A spectacular nine-winner spree at Royal Ascot 2015 by jockey Ryan Moore made him the most successful rider at a single modern-day staging of the flat racing fixture, breaking the record of eight previously held by Lester Piggott (1965, 1975) and Pat Eddery (1989).
However, three-time champion Moore plays down any talk of comparisons between himself and two of racing's great jockeys, saying their achievements were "in different eras, on different days, at different meetings".
This time, some of the week's most sought-after mounts will once again be taken by the 32-year-old, many of them in the ownership of the Irish-based Coolmore racing operation and trained by Aidan O'Brien, notably the French 2000 Guineas winner The Gurkha in day one's St James Palace's Stakes.
Moore is also dismissive of any suggestion he could surpass last year's total, describing his book of rides - The Gurkha apart - as "solid…there's nothing like last year". That said, he's hot favourite to be leading rider ahead of changing-room colleagues Frankie Dettori and James Doyle.
Nineteen years after his first-ever winner at Royal Ascot, in 1997, Aidan O'Brien is already within touching distance of reaching his half century.
But as the trainer of stars including St James's Palace Stakes winners Giant's Causeway, Rock Of Gibraltar and Gleneagles, and four-time Gold Cup hero Yeats, prepares to challenge with another powerful raiding party, he faces potential competition from very close to his own home.
O'Brien's 23-year-old son Joseph, once jockey of choice for his father's powerful string, is now a rival having taken out a trainer's licence of his own.
He made an instant impact with four successes on his very first day, one of which saw him defeat a runner of his Dad's.
Their first Royal Ascot skirmish will come on Day One when both County Tipperary-based Aidan and Joseph, who's operating from the family farm in County Kilkenny, have runners in the Coventry Stakes and then the Windsor Castle Stakes.
Meanwhile, O'Brien senior's best chances of reaching the 50 could be The Gurkha - well-touted for the clash against fellow Guineas winners Galileo Gold (Newmarket) and Awtaad (Irish) in the St James's Palace Stakes - Found (Prince of Wales's Stakes, Wednesday) and Order Of St George in Thursday's Gold Cup.
From endurance ponies to champion sprinter, the Mongolians are coming.
It's expected six countries apart from Britain and Ireland will be represented as Royal Ascot continues to hold its own as one of global flat racing's go-to destinations.
Just the one runner from Australia - the sprinter Holler - is perhaps a bit of a disappointment, but organisers say they're delighted at the high-calibre level of contenders from Hong Kong, Japan (including brilliant Prince of Wales Stakes hope A Shin Hikari) and the US, as well as France and hopefully Germany.
From the US, Tepin is a major player in the opening Queen Anne Stakes, Miss Temple City will have plenty of supporters in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes (day two) and trainer Wesley Ward is looking for back-to-back victories in the fifth day-feature, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, with Undrafted.
But no overseas challenger will make more of impression than sprinter Mongolian Saturday, plus those around him.
The six-year-old challenger for Tuesday's Kings Stand Stakes, and possibly the Diamond Jubilee Stakes too, is trained in America, but by a Mongolian, Enebish Ganbat, and the horse's owner is a fellow countryman and multi-millionaire businessman, Ganbaatar Dagvadorj.
They and their friends turn up at the races in national dress, including Genghis Khan-style cone-shaped hat and colourful tunic; it's within Ascot's famously strict dress code, although the outfits clearly surprised locals at the Breeders' Cup in Kentucky last autumn, where Mongolian Saturday won the Turf Sprint, as the entourage were mistaken for being part of Hallowe'en celebrations.
Ganbat, who used to train endurance ponies that raced for miles across the rugged Mongol terrain, believes the horse he calls "Champion" can achieve a top-three finish, after which he hopes to meet the Queen.
He told BBC Sport: "I like the English Queen because England and Japan are two of the few countries who keep Kings [monarchy]. I like this because this is tradition and tradition is very important - England is an old traditional country, [the] same [as] Mongolia."
Asked about his runner's chances, he added: "I think he has a chance of coming in first, second or third. It's a dream, a long-time dream."
In his unbeaten racing days, champion racehorse Frankel, trained by Sir Henry Cecil and ridden by Tom Queally, wowed two Royal Ascots with success in the St James's Palace Stakes - just - in 2011 and, a year later, in the Queen Anne Stakes, that time with a stunning display.
Since his retirement later that year, the winner of 14 races from 14 starts has set about passing on his brilliance to future generations as a stallion, and has made a stunning start, with all but one of his progeny that have raced so far not just winning, but doing so impressively.
At this year's Royal meeting, Frankel, still owned by Saudi prince Khalid Abdullah and commanding fees of £125,000 for a mating, is set to be represented by Newbury winner Cunco in the Chesham Stakes (Saturday) and by Queen Kindly, his first daughter to be successful, in the Queen Mary Stakes on day two.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | There's probably no 90th birthday present the Queen would rather receive than success in a race at her beloved Royal Ascot. |
28,048,866 | The 18-year-old's fee could rise to £31m, depending on his performance. An initial £27m offer was rejected in May.
He has developed immensely during his time at Southampton and has all the attributes to become a top player
The left-back has agreed a four-year contract with United, with an option to extend for a further year.
"I want to continue to progress my career and joining United is the ideal place for me to do that," he said.
Ryan Giggs, United's assistant manager, added: "Luke is a very talented young left back with great potential.
"He has developed immensely during his time at Southampton and has all the attributes to become a top player."
Shaw told Saints at the end of last season that he wanted to join United.
He became the youngest player to feature at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil when he played the entire 90 minutes of England's 0-0 draw with Costa Rica on Tuesday.
He is United's second summer recruit - and second in as many days - after they signed Spain midfielder Ander Herrera, 24, from Athletic Bilbao for a fee believed to be £29m.
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney was the world's most expensive teenager when he moved to Old Trafford in September 2004 for an initial fee of £20m.
Shaw's signing eclipses that and matches the £27m Paris St-Germain paid Roma for 19-year-old Marquinhos in July.
The youngster also becomes the fourth most expensive defender in world football.
Southampton insist the money they have received from United will be reinvested in the team.
"While we are sad to see Luke depart the club, we fought to ensure that we got the right deal for a player in whom we have invested a great deal of work over the past decade," said executive director Les Reed.
"This deal is a good one for Southampton Football Club and hopefully sends a clear message to other clubs wishing to bid for our players.
"Luke's transfer fee will be reinvested into the team as our new manager, Ronald Koeman, builds for the new season and for years to come."
Meanwhile, Saints midfielder Adam Lallana is set to have a medical ahead of a proposed £25m move to Liverpool.
The 26-year-old England international is expected to complete his transfer within the next 24 hours.
England striker Rickie Lambert has already moved from Saints to Anfield. | England defender Luke Shaw has joined Manchester United from Southampton for £27m, making him one of the world's most expensive teenagers. |
38,759,960 | In December, it was announced that half of Glasgow's 16 jobcentres would shut to save money and to reflect a rise in the use of online and phone services.
The Department for Work and Pensions said it expected affected employees to move to other sites, adding that any redundancies would be "very small".
Scottish Employability Minister Jamie Hepburn said Scotland was being disproportionately affected.
Union officials said the wider announcement would mean that more than one in 10 jobcentres in Scotland, England and Wales would shut, putting thousands of staff jobs at risk.
UK Employment Minister Damian Hinds said: "We will always make sure that people have the support they need to get into and progress within work, that's why we are recruiting 2,500 more work coaches to help those who need it most.
"The way the world works has changed rapidly in the last 20 years and the welfare state needs to keep pace.
"As more people access their benefits through the internet many of our buildings are under-used. We are concentrating our resources on what we know best helps people into work.
"The changes we've announced today will help ensure that the way we deliver our services reflect the reality of today's welfare system."
Aberdeen, Greyfriars House - DWP administration centre
Alexandria - Jobcentre
Benbecula, Jobcentre
Broxburn - Jobcentre
Coatbridge - DWP administration centre
Cumnock - DWP administration centre
Edinburgh, St Andrew Street - Jobcentre
Glasgow Portcullis House - DWP administration centre
Glasgow, Corunna House - DWP administration centre
Inverness - DWP assessment centre
Inverness, Church Street - Jobcentre and DWP administration centre
Lanark - Jobcentre to move to South Lanarkshire Council office, South Vennel
Larkhall - Jobcentre
Paisley, Lonend - DWP administration centre.
Port Glasgow - Jobcentre
Wick, Girnigoe - Jobcentre to move to Caithness House
A spokeswoman for the DWP said some of the jobcentres being closed were very close to other sites.
The latest changes include:
The spokeswoman said two jobcentres where the distance people would need to travel would be more than three miles - which will be consulted on - were Broxburn which is planned to move to Livingston Jobcentre and Grangemouth which is planned to move to Falkirk.
Mr Hepburn told BBC Scotland: "This will obviously be a very concerning time for the communities served by the particular jobcentres to be closed.
He said there were also a number of back office closures proposed and that it was unclear if there would be any compulsory redundancies.
"It's been a somewhat shambolic process," he said. "The drip feed of information has not been very clear which has caused further confusion."
He added: "What's been absolutely unacceptable is the failure to consult with those communities directly affected but also with the Scottish government, despite the fact that the Smith Commission talked of a greater role for the Scottish government in terms of governance for Jobcentre Plus here in Scotland.
"We've had no prior warning about the specific closures we've been hearing about today. That's unacceptable.
"It looks as though there's been a disproportionately high number of closures here in Scotland and given the issues of rurality and deprivation in some of the communities served by these jobcentres, that again, is unacceptable."
Mr Hepburn has already written to the DWP over the plans to close half of Glasgow's jobcentres and said he would also be voicing his new concerns.
Alison Johnstone, Social Security spokeswoman for the Scottish Greens said: "The UK government appears determined to punish the very people who need the most support in our society. They should be making it easier, not harder, to find employment.
"Not everyone has reliable access to the internet or can afford to make the numerous phone calls needed to speak to prospective employers. There's also the cost of travelling longer distances to job centres. It's simply wrong-headed.
"These changes will be hugely disruptive and while the DWP says that most staff will have the option to relocate or take alternative roles, that won't suit everyone." | The UK government is planning to close a further 16 jobcentres in Scotland. |
32,319,194 | All 42 Scottish Professional Football League clubs will vote on 23 April on a motion from Hibs, their Edinburgh rivals, Hearts and Motherwell.
The three clubs want to halve the amount of Premiership play-off gate receipts going to the league.
League bosses have recommended that the clubs vote against the proposal.
Motherwell, who are second bottom in the top flight, and Hibs, who sit second in the Championship, could both be involved in a series of play-offs for a place in the Premiership next season.
But Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster said: "No club will receive less from the play-off levy this season than they did last season.
"This is possible because the board of the SPFL has negotiated a live TV broadcasting deal for the Premiership play-off matches - all six games could be broadcast - at a match fee which is just 10% of what clubs receive from televised Scottish Cup ties.
"The TV deal has been approved by the Premiership clubs, but only one Premiership club will feature and the Championship clubs whose home gates could be affected by live TV were not consulted and didn't have a vote.
"All clubs benefitted from the levy last season and will continue to benefit this season."
The rules governing the play-offs were agreed by clubs - including Hibs, Hearts and Motherwell - two years ago, when the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League merged to form the SPFL.
Current rules state that 50% of the cash generated through gate receipts goes to the SPFL, with every club not involved in the games getting a share.
It was designed to reduce the financial impact on the 42 clubs by paying parachute payments for a possible two clubs being relegated from the Premiership.
Hibs' proposal would reduce that to 25% and the difference in cash distributed could be as much as £500,000.
Dempster said: "The debate began in October when the board of the SPFL sought to introduce minimum pricing for play-off matches and to change the rules to state that season tickets were not valid.
"We disagree, because we believe clubs should be allowed the flexibility to deal with their season ticket holders as they think best."
Dempster pointed out that the Scottish FA was presently funding the parachute payment and said: "In those circumstances, all the levy does is take money paid by supporters to watch the team they support and redistribute that to every other team in the league.
"Any club which can imagine itself in that situation would say that was unfair."
The SPFL says that, as result of opposition from clubs, it will withdraw its proposal to prohibit admission via season tickets and impose minimum prices.
However, its board recommends rejecting Hibs' proposal, arguing that it is wrong to make a change that benefits only a few clubs at such a late stage in the season.
Meanwhile, Hibs say that Premiership clubs benefit most from the levy, with the champions earning 50 times as much as the winners of League Two. | Hibernian insist that they are not involved in a "cash grab" with a proposal to change the rules over the distribution of play-off funds. |
39,962,552 | The 45-year-old mother-of-two suffered a punctured lung and permanent damage to her sight following the crash on the Firth of Forth last summer.
The woman had been part of an organised trip to the Isle of May seabird haven.
She was crushed after being seated on an inflatable tube on the boat, used when passenger numbers were high.
The accident happened onboard the Osprey II, which normally carried eight passengers to the Isle of May from Anstruther Harbour.
However, on 19 July 2016, the vessel was carrying 11 passengers, including seven adults and four children.
The boat's sister craft, Osprey, was also in the water and was carrying 12 passengers, including 11 adults and one child.
Investigators were told that passenger spaces on Osprey II were normally limited to the eight spaces available on its four bench seats, but in good weather two additional spaces were sold, with the extra passengers sitting in designated positions on its inflatable tubes.
On the day of the accident, the skipper of each boat - known as rigid inflatable boats (RIB) - had increased speed and started a power turn away from each other with the intention of passing each other in the course of completing a round turn.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report said that as the vessels turned towards each other, it became apparent to both skippers they were in danger of colliding. Despite skippers both acting quickly to reduce their speed, they were unable to prevent the collision.
The report said: "Passengers not sitting on suitable inboard seating have an increased risk of falling overboard, are at significant risk of musculoskeletal injuries and are more exposed to serious injury in the event of a collision."
The injured woman, who was on the vessel with her husband and two children aged eight and 12, was taken to hospital after the incident and was put into an induced coma, having suffered two broken collar bones, five broken ribs, a punctured lung and lacerations and bruising to her back and torso.
The internal injuries she sustained in the accident also resulted in permanent damage to her sight in both eyes.
There are currently no regulations to prevent people on RIBs from sitting on the inflatable tubes, but the MAIB said they are at increased risk in that position.
The MAIB has recommended the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's (MCA) forthcoming recreational craft code includes the stipulation that the certified maximum number of passengers carried on commercially-operated passenger-carrying RIBs should be limited to the number of suitable seats designated for passengers.
Isle of May Boat Trips Ltd, which owns and operates the two vessels, has banned passengers and crew from sitting on the inflatable tubes of Osprey and Osprey II, and has limited passenger numbers to 12 and eight respectively.
It has also issued an instruction that twin RIB operations are not to take place except in an emergency and has reviewed its risk assessments to ensure they incorporate all activities undertaken by Osprey and Osprey II.
Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents, Steve Clinch, said the MAIB had investigated several accidents in which people had been injured as a result of inappropriate seating on RIBs, and the faster the RIB was travelling, the greater the risk.
He confirmed passenger limit recommendations have been made to the MAC, and added: "We have also made a recommendation to the Royal Yachting Association and Passenger Boating Association aimed at improving the guidance available to the operators of commercial passenger-carrying RIBs." | Marine accident investigators have issued new safety instructions after a woman was seriously injured in a collision between two inflatable boats. |
39,151,192 | General Sir Adrian Bradshaw told the BBC that the West needed "a grand strategy" to counter these threats.
He said much of Russia's aggressive behaviour was about Mr Putin "protecting his own political power".
Russian officials have repeatedly denied cyber hacking accusations.
General Bradshaw, who next month steps down as Nato's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the combination of Russia's military activity, political agitation and interference in Western elections posed a threat to the alliance that had to be met.
Nato is already stepping up its military response following Russia's intervention in Ukraine.
Some 5,000 troops are being stationed in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, including hundreds of British troops who will soon be arriving in Estonia.
General Bradshaw warned that they too should expect "some provocation… a desire to develop stories to our disadvantage and we must be wary".
General Bradshaw described the likelihood of a military confrontation with Russia as low.
But he added because "there is a very small risk and because the consequences would be catastrophic, we have absolutely got to deal with the risks".
Those risks, he believes, have increased because of Russia's willingness to use "all the levers of the state" to achieve its goals.
The West, he said, must respond by using all the tools at its disposal - economic, political, diplomatic as well as military - to deter Russian aggression.
He said Russia's use of so-called "hybrid warfare" required "hybrid deterrence".
General Bradshaw was short on detail. He said economic sanctions imposed on Russia following its intervention in Ukraine had had an effect.
He also suggested the West needed to provide large Russian-speaking populations living in the Baltic states with an alternative to the Russian television channels they watched.
But he said that Nato and its allies needed to take the moral high ground and uphold international rules.
It comes as UK, French and Danish troops have been taking part an intensive two-week training exercise in Northumberland in preparation for joining Nato's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force.
The UK troops include regular and reserve units from across the country - including Newcastle, North Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Wiltshire and Somerset.
Around 1,500 personnel are taking part, with the 1st Artillery Brigade also hosting visitors from the US, Estonia, France and Poland. | Britain's most senior Nato commander has called on the alliance to step up efforts against Russian cyber attacks, propaganda and political agitation - to keep President Putin in check. |
36,683,487 | Vishal Chopra, an accountant from Glasgow, is believed to have been on the Indonesian island to attend a family wedding.
He reportedly died after getting into difficulty while swimming offshore.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are supporting the family of a British national who has died in Bali, and have provided bereavement information at this difficult time." | A 42-year-old man from Scotland has died after a swimming accident on Bali. |
39,684,092 | The world-famous locomotive Flying Scotsman was joined by an HST and InterCity 225 from Virgin Trains' fleet, and one of its new Azuma trains.
They lined up on the East Coast Main Line at Tollerton, North Yorkshire, at 06:00 BST before travelling to York.
Hundreds of people lined the route to witness the unique event.
Paul Kirkman, director of York's National Railway Museum, which owns the Doncaster-built Flying Scotsman, said: "The East Coast Main Line has long been famed for speed and style.
"In the 19th Century elegant locomotives were designed to haul trains on this route, cementing its reputation as a railway racing stretch operated by thoroughbred engines.
"The four-train line-up epitomises the evolution of the later generation of fast, elegant and stylish trains - all with a shared bloodline - that epitomise the history of the route from the 1850s to today." | Four trains from different eras have travelled side by side in a special event celebrating the past, present and future of Britain's railways. |
37,588,732 | The 25-year-old was 4-0 down in the opening set, but won the final 12 games to deflate Zhang in front of her home fans.
Konta also recorded a straight-set win over Zhang at the Wuhan Open last week.
She will play American eighth seed Madison Keys in the semi-finals.
The victory also increases the chances of Konta qualifying for the season-ending WTA finals in Singapore.
The tournament, which begins on 23 October, will feature the year's top eight players. Three spots are still up for grabs and world number 14 Konta's progress to the semi-finals will take her up to 10th at least before her participation in next week's Hong Kong Open.
Zhang, who beat world number five Simona Halep in the previous round to make the China Open last eight for the first time, started well but folded in dramatic style as Konta found her range.
The Chinese player won just 11 points in the final set.
On the other side of the draw, Ukrainian 16th seed Elina Svitolina will play either Agnieszka Radwanska or Yaroslava Shvedova in the other semi-final. | British number one Johanna Konta recovered from losing her first two service games to sweep to a 6-4 6-0 win over China's world number 36 Zhang Shuai in the China Open quarter-finals. |
38,748,821 | Tigers were knocked out of the European Champions Cup earlier this month, and are fifth in the Premiership.
They have lost all three games under head coach Aaron Mauger since sacking director of rugby Richard Cockerill on 2 January.
"We could have left that decision until the end of the season, but we didn't because we want to win," Cohen said.
"This board has got a pretty good record of getting it right over a number of years. There's a lot of rugby expertise on the board.
"Leicester Tigers will be challenging for trophies and I don't see any reason why we can't challenge for trophies this season."
The Anglo-Welsh Cup resumes on Saturday, with Tigers having two wins from two as they prepare to host Northampton Saints in their third of four Pool matches.
Victory over fierce rivals Saints, and Saracens the following week, would guarantee them top spot and a place in the semi-finals.
Tigers are also still in contention for a top-four finish in the Premiership, sitting five points behind fourth-placed Bath.
Cohen confirmed that the search for a new director of rugby is being led by the external consultancy firm which recommended Eddie Jones to the Rugby Football Union for the England head coach's job.
"We've got a rugby group within the board who will review those recommendations and then make a recommendation to the board," he told BBC Radio Leicester.
"The processes are pretty good to ensure we get the best possible person and I'm sure that Aaron will be a candidate in that process." | Leicester Tigers chief executive Simon Cohen says the club can win trophies this year despite recent poor form. |
29,805,717 | Thousands of women with terminal breast cancer are being denied extra time with their loved ones due to the high cost of new drugs, it said.
The charity called on drugs firms and government to make medicines more accessible.
Drugs firms said more drugs needed NHS approval.
NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, said it approved drugs based on clinical and cost effectiveness.
Over the past few years, NICE has not recommended at least seven breast cancer treatments, with cost being a factor in the rejection of over half of those treatments.
Life-extending drugs that are not available on the NHS can currently be paid for through the £200m per-year Cancer Drugs Fund.
The fund is due to be available until the end of March 2016.
Many drugs have been rejected for approval by NICE on the grounds of cost, Breakthrough Breast Cancer said.
The charity has called for action from the government, the pharmaceutical industry, drugs approval body NICE, and charities to bring down the costs of new treatments and sort out funding issues.
"The Cancer Drugs Fund was only supposed to be a temporary solution and, while it should remain until a workable alternative is found, it is merely papering over the cracks of a system which is no longer fit for purpose," said Chris Askew, chief executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
"Whilst there will be no quick fix solution to this problem, the pharmaceutical industry will need to get serious about its pricing and whoever forms the next government will need to get a grip on the problem and take action to resolve it," he added.
The NICE drugs approvals process takes into account the cost of the drug, as well as how it effects a patient's quality of life, and how long they live.
NICE uses a measure called a "quality adjusted life year" - a "QALY" - to gauge how much it would cost to give patients a year of healthy life using a treatment.
Drugs that cost up to between £20,000 and £30,000 per QALY can get NICE approval, but end-of-life drugs that cost almost double that can also be approved.
However, some innovative cancer treatments can cost up to £100,000 per QALY, so are dropped by NICE, Breakthrough Breast Cancer senior policy manager Caitlin Palframan said.
"We understand it costs money to develop new treatments," she said. "It's not that we believe that pharmaceutical companies don't have a right to make a profit.
"However, it doesn't do anybody any good if the treatments aren't available on the NHS," she added.
The charity gave the example of breast cancer drug Kadcyla, which is not routinely available in England and Wales, due to its cost.
Cancer drugs that are rejected by NICE can be funded through the Cancer Drugs Fund, but only in England, Ms Palframan said.
In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, terminally-ill patients must get cancer specialists to apply for funding for non-approved treatments.
It was "unacceptable" that some terminally-ill patients "are having to fight for their treatment", she told the BBC.
The high costs of new cancer drugs mainly reflect research costs, drugs industry body the ABPI said.
"The price of development is high," said ABPI director of value and access Paul Catchpole. "It can cost more than £1bn and 10 to 12 years to research and develop a new medicine."
In addition, only one third of new medicines end up covering research and development costs, he said.
"The issue is - who decides what 'high' and 'appropriate' is?" he added.
Mr Catchpole said there were "no upper limits" on what the Cancer Drugs Fund was willing to pay, and called for "evolution" in how NICE assesses cancer drugs.
"We need to make sure [NICE] is taking into account the full costs and benefits of proposals," on the wider economy, he said.
The approvals body said it "makes recommendations for treatments based on the clinical and cost effectiveness of each drug."
"For NICE to recommend a treatment it must work at least as well as, or better than, currently available NHS treatments for the price that the NHS is being asked to pay," it said.
The body said that so far this year it had recommended five cancer treatments, and one drug had been recommended for a specific group of patients.
It has rejected two cancer drugs this year. | A fund to pay for cancer drugs that are not available on the NHS "papers over" deeper drugs pricing issues, according to charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer. |
39,935,976 | Goxhill was the first RAF site handed to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in 1942. The station was used by the Americans as a training base.
The site's watch office was later acquired by the Military Aviation Museum in 2003, before being taken down brick by brick and shipped to Virginia Beach.
It is due to open on Saturday.
Museum Director Mike Potter said the tower was "something of a shrine to many visitors, and it is a distinct honour to be able to offer guests the only experience of its type in our country".
"The entire control tower was taken apart and transported, right down to the brickwork and the loos. The door and window frames were rusted beyond re-tasking, but the original manufacturer in the UK, Crittall, was able to remake those designs from the original specifications."
He said the components were kept in storage and after three years of "painstaking" reconstruction using original features, the building is to welcome visitors in a special event celebrating the 75th anniversary of the station's US handover.
Mr Potter said the interior would also be returned to its original condition with the rooms displaying wartime memorabilia including photographs and letters from RAF and USAAF servicemen.
But he expects it to "take several years" before it is fully completed.
The reconstruction was aided by the Airfield Research Group (ARG) charity, which sent architectural details including plans, drawings and photos.
Chairman Paul Francis said: "It is brilliant, the museum should be applauded for what they have achieved.
"We are proud to have been involved with its restoration."
The airfield was transferred back to the RAF in 1945 and the tower remained derelict after it closed in 1953. | An RAF building which was dismantled and moved to the US is to reopen after it was rebuilt in Virginia. |
38,778,145 | The Bafta-winning star, known for his roles in Alien and The Elephant Man, had been treated for pancreatic cancer in 2015.
Sir John's wife said he had brought "joy and magic" and it would be a "strange world without him".
He recently starred as Father Richard McSorley in Jackie, the biopic of President John F Kennedy's wife.
Despite being given the all-clear from cancer, he last year pulled out of Sir Kenneth Branagh's production of The Entertainer on the advice of his doctors.
Lady Hurt confirmed Sir John had died on Wednesday at his home in Norfolk.
"John was the most sublime of actors and the most gentlemanly of gentlemen with the greatest of hearts and the most generosity of spirit," she said in a statement.
"He touched all our lives with joy and magic and it will be a strange world without him."
US director Mel Brooks described Sir John as "cinematic immortality", as tributes poured in for the star.
Brooks paid tribute to Sir John, who had starred in his comedy Spaceballs, saying on Twitter: "No one could have played The Elephant Man more memorably."
He added: "He carried that film into cinematic immortality. He will be sorely missed."
Sir John also played the part of wand-maker Mr Ollivander in the Harry Potter films.
Author of the books, JK Rowling, tweeted: "So very sad to hear that the immensely talented and deeply beloved John Hurt has died. My thoughts are with his family and friends."
By Nick Higham, BBC correspondent
John Hurt was an unusual actor, instantly recognisable, yet never typecast. He seemed to take every part he was offered and make a success of them all.
Other star actors enjoy a decade or two in the sun before their reputation fades. John Hurt continued entertaining new audiences to the end. It made compiling his television obituary difficult: what on earth to leave out, when it was all so good?
He was the deranged Caligula in I, Claudius and those two brave but ostracised outsiders, the gay Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and the hideously disfigured John Merrick in The Elephant Man. To a younger generation he was the War Doctor in Doctor Who and the wand-maker Mr Ollivander in Harry Potter.
He was blessed with a distinctive voice, gravelly and honeyed, and a characterful face, which as the years passed grew increasingly lined and craggy - the legacy of his years as a hell-raiser.
He was good at complex characters - at once confident and vulnerable, or arrogant yet sympathetic.
And he lived life to the full: four times married, he lived at various times in Oxfordshire, Ireland, Kenya and Norfolk and (having briefly been to art school in his youth) took up painting again towards the end of his life though it's hard to know how he found the time.
Director Guillermo del Toro tweeted: "John Hurt was nothing if not movingly human. Loyal, loving and incredibly intelligent and kind. He was family."
Stephen Fry praised Sir John for being "great on the stage, small screen and big".
The veteran actor's last cinematic role was in That Good Night, in which he played a terminally ill playwright, Ralph.
Despite "his own personal battles with illness" during filming in Portugal last year, the producers said Sir John was "proud" and "keen" to work on the "extremely poignant" project.
Producers Alan Latham and Charles Savage said in a statement: "We watched John in awe during filming and feel privileged to have had this opportunity to work with him."
Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood said: "It was such an honor to have watched you work, sir."
British actor Alfred Molina said Sir John was "a gloriously talented actor, one of the best, of this or any era."
John Hurt was one of Britain's best-known and most versatile actors.
He was born on 22 January, 1940 in Chesterfield in Derbyshire. Over six decades, he appeared in more than 120 films as well as numerous stage and television roles.
He went to St Martin's School of Art in London, but dropped out. He then gained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1960 but said he had been so hungry, he could hardly deliver his lines.
It was not until 1978 that Hurt was recognised as one of cinema's best character actors, gaining an Oscar nomination for his performance as a heroin addict in Alan Parker's Midnight Express.
In 1979, he then starred as Kane in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror Alien. in The death of his character has often been voted as one of cinema's most memorable moments.
The film critic and historian Geoff Andrew once asked Hurt how he managed to regularly turn in such memorable performances.
"The only way I can describe it is that I put everything I can into the mulberry of my mind and hope that it is going to ferment and make a decent wine," he said.
"How that process happens, I'm sorry to tell you I can't describe."
Read more about Sir John Hurt's life here
Sir John was also known for his off-screen antics, with his drinking splashed across newspapers.
He once even lunged at a pack of paparazzi at a Bafta awards ceremony.
But he said that age had mellowed him and he admitted to being happier sitting with his painting easels than being out on the town.
Sir John was married four times. His first marriage to actress Annette Robertson lasted two years in the 1960s. In 1968 he started a relationship with the "love of his life" Marie Lise Volpeliere-Porrot - it ended 15 years later when she was killed in a riding accident.
The following year he married US actress Donna Peacock but the couple divorced four years later, although they remained good friends. He married his third wife Jo Dalton in 1990 and they had two sons. They divorced in 1995.
In 2005, he wed Anwen Rees-Myers, a former actress and classical pianist, who was with him until his death.
Sir John was knighted in 2015 for his services to drama.
After his cancer diagnosis the same year, he told the Radio Times: "I can't say I worry about mortality, but it's impossible to get to my age and not have a little contemplation of it.
"We're all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly."
In 2013, he appeared in Doctor Who as the War Doctor, a hitherto unseen incarnation of the character.
He was still working up until his death, starring in Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, thriller Damascus Cover and the upcoming biopic of boxer Lenny McLean, My Name Is Lenny.
He was also filming Darkest Hour, in which he starred as Neville Chamberlain opposite Gary Oldman's Winston Churchill, scheduled to be released in December. | Sir John Hurt's wife, Anwen, has led tributes to the veteran actor after he died at the age of 77. |
40,435,353 | Sheryll Murray says she was branded a witch on social media, and somebody urinated on her office door during the recent general election campaign.
Swastikas were also carved into a promotional poster in her home constituency of South East Cornwall.
She says the police are investigating the attacks.
Raising the issue during Prime Minister's Questions, she told Theresa May: "Over the past month I've had swastikas carved into posters, social media posts like 'burn the witch'".
She asked Mrs May: "Can you suggest what can be done to stop this intimidation, which may well be putting off good people from serving in this place?"
The prime minister replied: "I believe this sort of behaviour has no place in our democracy.
"As I stand here and see the plaque that has been dedicated to the late Jo Cox, we should all remember what Jo said - we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than the things which divide us."
Mrs Murray also said people had put photographs online of Labour leaflets outside her home, leaving her concerned that people can find where she lives.
In a later interview, Mrs Murray said: "There are very strict rules around press reporting within an election period.
"Maybe we should look at social media being the same." | Social media users should be subjected to the same regulations as the press during election campaigns, a Conservative MP has said. |
22,551,401 | The chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge, said whistleblowers had told her that Google had sold advertising within the UK and invoiced customers in the UK.
Google had earlier said that UK customers paid Google in Ireland.
"No one in the UK can execute transactions," said Google's head of sales in Northern Europe, Matt Brittin.
"No money changes hands," he said, despite the fact that he employed sales staff in Britain.
But Ms Hodge said: "It was quite clear from all that documentation that the entire trading process and sales process took place in the UK."
She read from the official guide to parliamentary procedure, Erskine May: "A person prevaricating or giving false evidence can be considered to be in contempt of the House."
And she said: "We will continue to have whistleblowers until we get to the bottom of the truth about all this."
Google's sales in the UK are worth £3.2bn, but most are routed through Dublin. In 2011 it paid £6m in UK corporation tax.
Google is one of several multinational companies that have been strongly criticised in recent months for organising their tax affairs in ways that minimise the amounts they pay in the UK.
Amongst them is online retailer Amazon, whose UK subsidiary paid £2.4m in corporate taxes last year, despite making sales of £4.3bn, and Starbucks, which has also gone to great lengths to minimise its tax bills, though it has been pressured to agree to pay more than it used to.
All three, as well as others, have previously appeared before the Public Accounts Committee, and they have attracted much criticism in spite of their insistence that they are operating within the law.
Prime Minister David Cameron has described such "aggressive" tax avoidance as "immoral", while the leader of the Labour party, Ed Miliband, sees it as "evidence of a culture of corporate irresponsibility among certain firms which is totally unacceptable".
Mr Brittin maintained that any advertiser in Europe would deal directly with Google in Dublin, which employs some 3,000 staff.
"When we came to Europe, we set up Dublin as our European headquarters," said Mr Brittin
"We wanted to be able to contract with customers across the whole of Europe, not just the UK.
"Any customer that spends with us, they have to buy from Ireland, because that's where the intellectual property sits."
HMRC's director general for business tax, Jim Harra, would like to see the system changed.
"Corporate tax affairs are operated by an international framework that the UK and other countries are subject to," he said.
"That international framework has not kept up with changes in the economy, particularly in the digital economy. That affects companies like Google and Amazon.
"This, he said, had enabled companies to place their various activities in jurisdictions with favourable taxation systems, and thus they are able to reduce their tax burdens.
"Those international rules need to be looked at," he said. | The internet giant Google has been challenged by MPs over the way it reports its income for tax. |
38,199,047 | After conceding four in last weekend's loss at Bournemouth, Liverpool shipped two avoidable first-half goals on their way to ceding more ground to Chelsea and Arsenal in the title race.
Adam Lallana's smart low finish had put Liverpool ahead inside five minutes but the visitors were level before the half-hour when goalkeeper Loris Karius - at fault for Bournemouth's winner a week ago - failed to deal with Payet's saveable 25-yard free-kick.
Karius was less culpable for West Ham's second scored by Antonio, but it was a scruffy goal that did not reflect well on a Liverpool backline that has now conceded 20 goals in 15 league games - the worst record among the teams in the top six.
But errors were not the sole preserve of the Liverpool defence, and a big mistake by West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph, dropping a cross into the path of Divock Origi, gifted Liverpool the equaliser.
Randolph made amends with a quite stunning late save to keep out Jordan Henderson's equally sublime strike as West Ham held on for a point that sees them climb to 17th.
Until recently Liverpool's new goalkeeper had largely gone under the radar since joining from manager Jurgen Klopp's former club Mainz in the summer.
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After missing the start of the season with a broken hand, Karius was installed as Klopp's number one at the end of September, replacing Simon Mignolet.
The German had a relatively untroubled time of it in his first nine games, although small mistakes were in evidence - but nothing as high-profile as the injury-time spill that allowed Nathan Ake to score Bournemouth's winner last time out.
And the pressure is sure to intensify on the 23-year-old after his part in West Ham's opener, with Payet's free-kick nicely struck but much too central to be considered unstoppable.
West Ham's second goal was also avoidable from Liverpool's perspective.
Havard Nordtveit's hopeful drilled pass from his own half struck the head of the retreating Henderson, deflecting the ball high into the air and wrong-footing Reds centre-back Joel Matip, allowing Antonio in.
The West Ham man might not have had the chance to score had Karius been further advanced in his area, but nothing should be taken away from the finish, a cute poke with the outside of his boot that just had enough force to cross the line.
Liverpool are the top scorers in the Premier League with 37 goals in 15 games, so it is perhaps uncharitable to point the finger at their forward line after this blip.
Yet for all their possession - 68% - they managed just three shots on target in the whole match, with two of those coming from West Ham errors.
The visitors were guilty of snoozing for Liverpool's opener as Sadio Mane picked up the ball in the middle of the park and made unchecked progress to the left wing.
His cross arrived at the feet of Lallana, who had time to control and finish under zero pressure from a static West Ham defence.
Their second was also a gift, Mane's cross inexplicably squirming out of Randolph's gloves and landing perfectly for Origi to score for a fourth successive game in all competitions - the first Liverpool player to do so since Daniel Sturridge in February 2014.
Mane was at the heart of everything good Liverpool did in attack, playing a part in an intricate passing move that ended with a blocked Henderson shot, and then twisting and turning on the edge of the area to create an opening for Georginio Wijnaldum that flew wide.
Wijnaldum also failed to get enough curl on his shot when advancing on goal down the left channel, while Roberto Firmino was guilty of missing the target after good approach play.
Indeed Liverpool's only other shot on target was Henderson's superb long-distance strike, which was reminiscent of his stunning winner against Chelsea in September but met on this occasion by the right hand of the flying Randolph.
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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: "We tried everything. One West Ham goal was a free-kick and one was lucky. They were 2-1 up and we had some great offensive situations and should have had more. We tried everything. We were often in the box, a lot of situations.
"It felt like the whole time we were were in their box. We needed a bit of luck. A draw doesn't feel too good, doesn't feel too bad.
"The goals could have been avoided. For the first goal - don't make the foul, don't lose the ball. The second goal was unlucky. Joel Matip had a fantastic game and in this moment he couldn't clear the ball. Loris Karius was surprised and it was too late.
"Should Karius have saved the free-kick? For this I have to see it again - I only saw it in the match."
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic: "We showed a great reaction after they were one up. In the first half we were very good.
"I wasn't happy with the second half because I expected us to be better on the ball. In the end, well done for the players."
On Darren Randolph's mistake: "It's the nature of their job - when they make a mistake it is obvious. He made a mistake but after and before he showed real quality and he was crucial for us in moments when they had a chance or two."
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It's a quick turnaround for these clubs with a round of midweek Premier League fixtures to come. Both teams are in back action at 19:45 GMT on Wednesday as Liverpool travel to Middlesbrough and West Ham host Burnley.
Match ends, Liverpool 2, West Ham United 2.
Second Half ends, Liverpool 2, West Ham United 2.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Aaron Cresswell.
Offside, West Ham United. Darren Randolph tries a through ball, but Mark Noble is caught offside.
Divock Origi (Liverpool) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Edimilson Fernandes (West Ham United).
Sadio Mané (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Aaron Cresswell (West Ham United).
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Håvard Nordtveit.
Attempt blocked. James Milner (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Sadio Mané.
Offside, West Ham United. Mark Noble tries a through ball, but Aaron Cresswell is caught offside.
Attempt missed. Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Adam Lallana.
Attempt missed. Dimitri Payet (West Ham United) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Foul by James Milner (Liverpool).
Pedro Obiang (West Ham United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Liverpool. James Milner tries a through ball, but Sadio Mané is caught offside.
Substitution, West Ham United. Edimilson Fernandes replaces Manuel Lanzini.
Sadio Mané (Liverpool) is shown the yellow card.
Foul by Sadio Mané (Liverpool).
Aaron Cresswell (West Ham United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Aaron Cresswell.
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Andy Carroll (West Ham United).
Hand ball by Winston Reid (West Ham United).
Attempt blocked. Sadio Mané (Liverpool) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Nathaniel Clyne.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Andy Carroll.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Darren Randolph.
Attempt saved. Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner.
Attempt blocked. Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Adam Lallana.
Foul by Adam Lallana (Liverpool).
Pedro Obiang (West Ham United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Offside, Liverpool. Sadio Mané tries a through ball, but Divock Origi is caught offside.
Substitution, West Ham United. Andy Carroll replaces André Ayew.
Attempt missed. Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by James Milner.
Attempt blocked. André Ayew (West Ham United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Manuel Lanzini.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Aaron Cresswell.
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Roberto Firmino (Liverpool).
Mark Noble (West Ham United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Winston Reid. | Goals by Dimitri Payet and Michail Antonio exposed Liverpool's defensive frailties again as West Ham climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a hard-fought draw at Anfield. |
36,602,256 | It is hard to comprehend now but in the 1970s Slade openly ran a helpline for child sex abusers from his parents' home in suburban Bristol.
As he was sentenced at the end of his recent trial, the judge said Slade had "boasted of his involvement" with PIE.
The group campaigned for "children's sexuality", calling on the government to axe or lower the age of consent so that adults could have sex with children without breaking the law.
It existed for more than 10 years and received invitations from student unions, won sympathetic media coverage and found academics who supported its campaign. It was even affiliated to the National Council for Civil Liberties - now Liberty.
Joining PIE was easy; according to a Times report in February 1977 just an application and a cheque for £4 was needed. By October 1976 it was reported that the group had 200 members.
But behind this questionable veneer of respectability, Slade was a "manipulative and dangerous man," who helped members of PIE groom vulnerable children; passing victims between themselves for sex.
Det Sgt Paul Melton, from Avon and Somerset Police, spent years building a case against Slade.
He said Slade "was one of the main instigators" of the group, seemingly impervious to the law, who were running a "helpline" for paedophiles, passing on advice to other members about how to groom and abuse children.
"They took advantage of the trends of the time," said Gabrielle Shaw, from the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.
"In the mid-70s it was all about the fight for civil liberties and the trend towards sexual freedom... what it was really about was to normalise sex with children."
Robert - not his real name - met Slade in 1980 when he was 15 years old. He was repeatedly raped and offered to other men during visits to Slade's Bristol home.
"I was in a desperate situation at home," he recalls, "I was looking for somewhere that would be a refuge for me."
But instead of a sanctuary, Robert unwittingly found himself at the centre of an organised network of paedophiles who systematically raped and abused him.
It was a combination of mistrust and conflicting emotions that prevented Robert reporting his abuser: "Slade showed me what I thought was affection and, because of my home life, it was something I was desperate for... he treated me very kindly.
"He groomed me so I was malleable and would be used for the sexual gratification of him and other men."
Slade's sexual abuse of boys was exposed in 1975 when a Sunday newspaper described him as one of "the vilest men in Britain".
They named him and two other men, linking them to PIE, but, despite the headlines, Slade continued abusing children and the group carried on campaigning.
A series of explosive investigations in the 1980s finally triggered the group's demise.
In 1983, Scotland Yard was handed a dossier about PIE by a headmaster, Charles Oxley. He said he had infiltrated the group, which he claimed had about 1,000 members.
Finally the authorities acted and PIE's chairman Tom O'Carroll was jailed for two years. By 1984 the group had disbanded.
However, Slade himself managed to evade prosecution and in 1985 moved to the Philippines. He boasted he could pay off anyone who became suspicious of him.
Avon and Somerset Police would later fight a six-year battle to have him deported, and he was finally arrested by Filipino immigration authorities.
In 2015, he arrived back in the UK to face eight charges of sexual abuse.
During police interviews, Det Sgt Melton said Slade "possessed a certain arrogance" and was in "complete denial" about his actions.
"He's an extremely manipulative man... he's a dangerous man."
For the victims of the PIE paedophiles, the conviction of Slade provides some form of closure.
"They are sexually driven and have no compassion, not for me or the many, many children they have abused," said Robert.
"I don't believe they have any thoughts for what they have done; they don't believe they have done anything wrong - for them it's perfectly natural." | As 75-year-old paedophile Douglas Slade is jailed for child abuse and rape, the BBC examines his links to notorious 1970s group the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), which campaigned to legalise sex with children. |
34,555,014 | The killings, in Saihat in Eastern Province on Friday, come two days after the start of Ashura commemorations, a holy occasion for Shia Muslims.
A group claiming links to Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the attack.
The interior ministry said a gunman opened fire at random before police intervened and shot the attacker dead.
Later, a group calling itself Islamic State-Bahrain State said that one of its "soldiers" had attacked "a Shia infidel temple" with an automatic weapon.
The group warned that "infidels will not be safe in the island of Mohammed".
Correspondents say the name of the group appears to be a reference to the historic area of Bahrain, which once encompassed parts of what is now Saudi Arabia.
Other, smaller attacks against the Shia community in the east of Saudi Arabia were also reported on Friday evening.
The Shia community in the kingdom is increasingly being targeted. Most live in the oil-rich east, and many complain of discrimination.
In May, IS said it had carried out a deadly bomb attack outside a Shia mosque in the city of Damman.
A week before, more than 20 people were killed in the village of al-Qadeeh when an IS suicide bomber struck during Friday prayers at a Shia mosque.
That attack was the first to be claimed by a Saudi branch of IS.
Hardline Sunnis regard Shia Muslims as heretics.
Saudi Arabia, which is part of a US-led coalition against IS in Syria and Iraq, has previously been threatened by IS.
The Saudis are also leading a coalition of Arab states in an air campaign against Shia rebels in Yemen.
In the Ashura commemorations, Shias mourn the death of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who is venerated by Saudi Arabia's minority Shia community. | Five people have been killed and nine wounded in an attack on a Shia gathering hall in eastern Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry says. |
40,251,725 | Marian Brown, 17, had just kissed her boyfriend goodnight when she was fatally wounded in the neck.
She was caught up in an exchange of fire between paramilitaries and an Army patrol at Roden Street in June 1972.
A fresh inquest was ordered after questions were raised over the velocity of the bullet that killed her.
Her brother, Richard Brown, told the inquest that for two years the family thought she had been killed by loyalist paramilitaries shooting up the street.
However, it was only at the first inquest they discovered soldiers had also been involved in the shooting incident.
During Monday morning's hearing, Mr Brown spoke emotionally about his sister and how he felt about what happened to her.
As her older brother, he said he "felt ashamed that he couldn't do anything" to help her and he was angry that whoever fired the shot "took her life and robbed us of a sister, a daughter and a friend".
Mr Brown said the 17-year-old "never got to bloom".
Other family members were also in court for the start of the inquest being heard by Judge David McFarland, which is expected to last more than two weeks. | The brother of a pregnant teenager shot dead in disputed circumstances in west Belfast 45 years ago has told an inquest she was completely innocent. |
35,878,819 | The Times says it has "evidence of an organised drugs culture" similar to the one in Russian athletics.
Earlier this month, Russian swimmer Yuliya Efimova was suspended after testing positive for meldonium.
Russia's athletes are currently banned from international competition.
Fina said it had taken a "particularly robust approach" to Russia after a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) independent commission report exposed widespread doping practices in Russian athletics.
It pledged to investigate any new doping claims "substantiated by evidence".
The Russian Swimming Federation has rejected the allegations that it was covering up positive tests for doping among its athletes, R-Sport news agency reported.
Fina has previously announced that the world's best swimmers will face up to seven anti-doping tests in the run up to August's Rio Olympics.
Wada said it was aware of the claims that appeared in The Times and added that the allegations come at a time when "trust in clean sport is already in a perilous state".
It said it had already written to Fina, with Wada president Craig Reedie adding: "There is no doubt that today's disturbing assertions of orchestrated doping in Russian swimming should be scrutinised."
British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes said the sport is taking a "strong position" on doping, shown by the number of cases reported. | Swimming's world governing body says it is "not aware" of any "concrete evidence of systemic doping" among Russian swimmers, despite allegations made in a newspaper investigation. |
29,729,697 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
22 October 2014 Last updated at 16:09 BST
The recommendations have been made because some children in England as young as five, have decayed, missing and filled teeth.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, say that teeth brushing in school should take place in certain areas with high levels of tooth decay.
They also say free toothbrushes and toothpaste should be handed out for use at school and at home in these areas. | Some primary schools and nurseries in England should supervise children brushing their teeth, say NICE, an organisation that gives guidance on health matters. |
30,634,906 | Syal, who is famous for comedy roles on television in Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No.42, becomes a CBE.
One of the pioneers for black footballers in the 1970s, ex-West Bromwich Albion defender Brendon Batson, is among those appointed OBE.
Former chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Matt Baggott, of Solihull, is knighted.
Sir Matt, who retired from the job in September after five years, is honoured for services to policing in the United Kingdom.
He said: "This award is an acknowledgement of the courage, commitment and achievements of my policing colleagues without whose immense efforts I would not have been able to fulfil my responsibilities."
Syal, who is honoured for services to drama and literature, scripted the film Bhaji On the Beach and starred in the radio series Goodness Gracious Me, which later transferred to TV.
She used her experiences growing up in the West Midlands for her first book Anita And Me, which was later adapted for the screen.
Syal, who is married to her screen colleague Sanjeev Bhaskar, also scripted the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams.
Batson, previously an MBE, receives the OBE for services to football.
The former defender, from Birmingham, worked for the Professional Footballers' Association and has also been an adviser to the Football Association on equality.
Others recognised include ex-Cadbury chairman Sir Adrian Cadbury, of Solihull, who has become a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to business and the community in the UK, particularly Birmingham.
Walsall College principal and chief executive Jatinder Sharma is honoured for services to education while Denise Ellen Moreton, from Wolverhampton, is recognised for services to the Women's Institute Movement in Staffordshire. Both are appointed OBE. | Wolverhampton-born actress and writer Meera Syal has been recognised in the Queen's New Year Honours. |
37,606,356 | Gordon Highlander Alistair Urquhart said the bomb prevented a Japanese plan to massacre Allied PoWs.
He was blown off his feet by the Nagasaki bomb in 1945. That, and the Hiroshima atomic bomb killed up to 250,000 people, but are credited with hastening the end of World War Two.
Aberdeen-born Mr Urquhart, of Broughty Ferry, died in a Dundee care home.
His story began when Singapore fell to the Japanese in February 1942.
Serving with the Gordon Highlanders' Second Battalion he had arrived there just weeks earlier as the Allies strengthened the island fortress against the expected invasion.
He was among thousands taken prisoner and ended up helping to build the notorious Burma-Siam railway.
Mr Urquhart's detail was put to work in what became known as "Hellfire Pass", where men were forced to cut through solid rock using nothing more than hand tools and dynamite.
An estimated 13,000 Allied PoWs died on the railway. When it was completed, the surviving prisoners were taken back to Singapore to be put on ships to Japan.
The Americans, not knowing the cargo, torpedoed them. The ship Mr Urquhart was on sank.
For five days he drifted on the ocean in a raft, until he was picked up by a whaler.
He ended up in a labour camp 10 miles from Nagasaki where, on 9 August 1945, the second atomic bomb exploded.
He recalled: "I heard a plane, and I looked up. And it was quite clearly an American plane. No opposition.
"And it just droned over and away.
"Minutes later, I was just blown across the pathway - a big gust, which I thought was wind, hot air. But this was the bomb going off.
"There had been a directive from the Japanese Army that if the Americans put one foot on Japanese soil, the whole of the people who had been taken prisoner had to be massacred on 12 August.
"When was the bomb dropped? 9 August. Thank God. And here I am."
The Japanese surrendered nine days after the first blast, ending World War Two.
Mr Urquhart's son, Philip, said: "My father passed away peacefully with his family and friends around him on Friday.
"He only moved into the care home in February having looked after himself up to the age of 96 and he was happy there.
"He was 97 when he died so we cannot say he did not have a full life." | A former prisoner-of-war who credited the Nagasaki atomic bomb with saving his life has died at the age of 97. |
37,255,418 | Marco Gutierrez was explaining why he supports Donald Trump, a day after the presidential candidate's visit to Mexico.
"My culture is a very dominant culture and it's imposing and it's causing problems," he told MSNBC.
"If you don't do something about it, you're going to have taco trucks on every corner."
His warning led to ridicule on social media as people suggested the prediction sounded like a utopian vision of the US.
On Twitter, #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner became the top trend worldwide with almost 60,000 tweets using the hashtag since Gutierrez made his prediction.
"Hey, what's wrong with #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner?!", tweeted Mexican-American actress Eva Longoria while Democrat politician Eric Swalwell posted a map by depicting tacos all over the area he represents.
Comedian Akilah Hughes tweeted a gif of raining tacos and pledged: "I will vote for whoever promises #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner."
And journalist Marcus Baram played on the Trump campaign phrase "Make America Great Again" by suggesting more tacos could help towards that aim.
Others shared images of Donald Trump enjoying the traditional Mexican dish - an image he originally posted to mark Cinco de Mayo, which celebrates Mexican heritage. | The founder of Latinos For Trump has been widely mocked for warning of a future with "taco trucks on every corner" in the US if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election. |
37,541,715 | Burton's film, based on Ransom Riggs' novel, took an estimated $28.5m (£22.1m) over the weekend.
Peter Berg's Deepwater Horizon, about the 2010 oil rig explosion and starring Mark Wahlberg, came in second with $20.6m (£16m).
Chess prodigy tale Queen of Katwe could only manage $2.6m (£2m).
Its release was expanded nationally having made a limited debut the previous weekend.
The Disney film, starring Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo, depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan chess prodigy who becomes a woman candidate master after her performances at the World Chess Olympiads.
Last week's top film The Magnificent Seven slipped to third spot with $15.7m in its second week.
The film, which stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, is a remake of the 1960 western film of the same name.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Tim Burton's film Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children has beaten disaster movie Deepwater Horizon to the top of the US film chart. |
38,262,019 | The Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank is currently the only heart transplant unit in the UK which cannot also offer lung replacement surgery.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said ministers were investigating whether the proposal could go ahead.
The Golden Jubilee is celebrating 25 years since its first heart transplant.
A decision on lung transplants is expected be made next year.
Ms Sturgeon said: "There's a scoping exercise being undertaken right now that will report in the first half of next year and then decisions will be made on the strength of the evidence that is available.
"What the exercise is looking at is the feasibility of carrying out lung transplants here as well.
"I completely understand the desire of clinicians who feel they have the capability, and also of patients who would prefer their operations here in Scotland rather than having to go to Newcastle which has been the case traditionally, but we've got to make sure we take these decisions based on the best possible evidence."
Prof Nawwar Al-Attar, Director of Scottish National Advanced Heart Failure Service, said surgeons were keen, and ready to be able to take on the extra work.
He appealed for more donors to come forward to enable the transplant programme to expand.
"Glasgow is the only transplant centre in the UK that only offers heart transplantation," he said.
"We are very keen on offering lung transplants to patients with advanced respiratory and lung disease."
"We are very much looking forward to coming up with recommendations to support our request to have lung transplantations."
Since the programme began in 1991, 367 heart transplants have been carried out with the longest surviving patient receiving his heart 24 years ago.
Chief executive of the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Jill Young, said: "Each year we hold an event dedicated to bringing together patients and families who have been treated by the service, letting them share their experiences and see that they are not alone.
"This year, however, is a very special occasion for the NHS in Scotland: celebrating a landmark for this life-changing, life-saving, service which has given patients all across Scotland a second chance at life."
She added: "Today is a chance to look back, celebrate and remember but it is also an opportunity to look forward at new developments and possibilities for the future to help more patients than ever before not only survive heart failure, but go on to live healthy, active, normal lives for years to come." | A request from surgeons to be allowed to carry out lung transplants in Scotland for the first time is being considered by the Scottish government. |
31,833,070 | A range of other drugs in the same class including ketamine and crystal meth became legal on Tuesday after a court challenge.
The new legislation will officially be signed into law on Wednesday afternoon.
It will come into force at midnight meaning many drugs remain legal until then.
Members of the Dail, the main chamber of Ireland's parliament, passed the emergency legislation on Tuesday night.
The Seanad, the upper chamber, approved it on Wednesday afternoon, and now it will be passed to the Irish president to sign into law.
When the law comes into force at midnight, possession of drugs such as ecstasy and crystal meth will have been legal for around 36 hours.
In 2012, a Lithuanian man was prosecuted for possession of methylethcathinone, a substance once stocked by shops selling legal highs.
The government had put the drug on its list of outlawed substances the previous year, along with dozens of others.
The man brought a case to Ireland's Court of Appeal, arguing the outlawing of the drug was unconstitutional, because lawmakers had not voted in support of it.
The court agreed and on Tuesday morning it ruled methylethcathinone was not illegal.
This meant more than 100 drugs covered by the same section of law also became legal, including ecstasy, magic mushrooms, crystal meth and benzodiazepines.
It's legal to possess them but not to sell, supply, import or export them.
Laws relating to older, more established drugs such as heroin, cocaine or cannabis have not been affected.
Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar said the government knew this might happen and had drafted emergency legislation in January.
He warned drug dealers they would be arrested if caught selling drugs and urged people to consider how harmful drugs were before considering taking them.
Newsbeat spoke to Ireland's police force, the Garda, and asked them what they would do if they found people in possession of drugs like ecstasy before midnight on Wednesday.
A spokesman said: "An Garda Siochána will continue to enforce relevant legislation. Any person found in possession of a substance deemed illegal under legislation will be subject to prosecution."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | The Irish parliament's passed an emergency law that will close a loophole which has left it legal to possess drugs such as ecstasy. |
37,331,760 | The 1960s-set drama, based on Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, premiered at the Toronto film festival.
McGregor also stars in the film, alongside Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning.
Speaking to the BBC, McGregor said: "On the one hand it's been the most incredible experience and I would long to do it again.
"And on the other hand, it's a very costly experience - 16,17,18 months of your life - carrying something very precious."
He highlighted the challenge of juggling directing with "trying to be a husband and a father and a human being".
"It's quite a costly thing to do," he said. "I can only assume that's why it's taken me 15 years of wanting to do it, to do it."
The Scottish star said he needed a story he was "burning to tell" to justify that commitment.
"I hope very much to find the next story. I'm not going to rush into it. I hope the story will find me or I find the story and that I do get the opportunity to do it again."
In American Pastoral, McGregor plays a successful businessman whose seemingly perfect family life falls apart after his daughter Merry (Fanning) becomes politically radicalised.
The actor admitted he had been "very nervous" about taking on the directing role but was sure he had the film-making experience to carry it off.
McGregor revealed that one tip he had learned from Danny Boyle, who directed him in Trainspotting, was to rehearse with the actors alone on the set before shooting.
McGregor will be seen in Boyle's Trainspotting 2 next year.
"As an actor we have a unique position in that we do witness lots of directors," McGregor said.
"Directors don't really get to see other directors' work. Danny Boyle doesn't spend an awful lot of time on Martin Scorsese's film sets."
The Toronto International Film Festival runs until 18 September. | Ewan McGregor says he has no plans to rush back to directing after making his debut with American Pastoral. |
35,407,477 | Chris and Ciara Boucher, from Antrim, told the Victoria Derbyshire Show that their daughter Lucy was taken care of by "brilliant medical teams".
Lucy had a successful kidney transplant last November. The kidney was donated by her father.
3D replicas of Lucy's abdomen and Chris' kidney were made before surgery.
The printed models helped surgeons at Guys and St Thomas' Hospital plan how to put an adult-sized kidney into the body of a toddler.
Lucy suffered heart failure at four weeks old. Her kidneys subsequently failed after being starved of oxygen.
She was put on kidney dialysis until she was old enough to go through with a transplant.
"There have been lots of ups and downs along the way," said Mrs Boucher. "The day that she took ill we were told when we were leaving our local hospital to say goodbye to her because she may not make the journey to Belfast.
"Thankfully for us, we have had brilliant medical teams in five different hospitals who have worked with her and got her to where she is today."
The transplant surgeon, Pankaj Chandak, said that the 3D models added an "additional layer of safety" for a complex type of surgery.
"So essentially, this [the 3D models] helps us with particularly planning that approach, but thinking about the incision, how to approach the vessels and the best lie of the kidney inside the abdomen."
Mr Boucher said he was "astounded" to see a 3D printout of his own kidney and that it helped underline the complexity of the surgery.
"It was phenomenal to see it and then to just hold it over Lucy's abdomen - you just think: 'How on earth can they fit that into this abdomen?'
"Again, it just highlighted even more how impressive what they do is."
Mr and Mrs Boucher said that Lucy is now an active and healthy young girl thanks to to the help of doctors and nurses over the past two years.
"She's so happy," said Mr Boucher. "She's smiled right through it and that's because of the nurses and the staff and the way they've been with her.
"She gets excited when she's going into hospital even when she's going into to get blood tests which she hates.
"She walks out with a smile on her face and we really are so grateful." | The parents of a three-year-old toddler who underwent an innovative kidney transplant that involved 3D printing have said they are "very fortunate". |
35,923,801 | Christopher James Wauchope, 40, was arrested following a search of his home at Strabane Road, Castlederg, on Tuesday.
He faces four charges relating to attempted importation and attempted possession with intent to supply.
The defendant will appear in court by video link on 21 April.
The court heard that on 15 March the Belgian authorities intercepted a postal package containing 3.2kg of a suspected Class B drug.
The National Crime Agency was alerted and they in turn spoke with the PSNI as it was addressed to a 'Christopher Walker'.
When police swooped on the defendant's home he immediately admitted knowledge of the package but said he did not know the identity of the sender.
He said his payment for receiving the package was to be a small amount of cannabis for his own personal use.
In court, police opposed bail on the grounds that Mr Wauchope could tip his contacts off about the investigation.
The District Judge said the defendant there was a "real and substantial risk of interference with the administration of justice and any further investigation".
Mr Wauchope will reappear at Strabane Magistrates Court next month. Bail has been refused.
On Wednesday, in a separate incident, police arrested a 40-year-old man in the Carnhill area of Londonderry, after herbal cannabis with a potential street value of £66,000 was also uncovered in Belgium. | A man has appeared at Strabane Magistrates Court, County Tyrone, after the seizure of an estimated £64,000 worth of herbal cannabis in Belgium. |
32,926,172 | Officials say nearly 1,700 people have died in the worst-hit states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where temperatures rose above 45C (113F).
Clouds have formed over some parts of the two states and weather officials say pre-monsoon showers are likely to provide some relief on Friday.
The monsoon is due to reach Kerala, in the south, by the end of May.
It will then sweep across the country.
In the worst-affected state of Andhra Pradesh, where temperatures have hit 47C (117F), more than 1,300 people are reported to have died since 18 May.
The state's top meteorological officer YK Reddy told BBC Hindi that heatwave conditions "have reduced considerably" and temperatures have fallen in all but two districts.
In neighbouring Telangana, where officials say at least 340 people have died from heat-related conditions, temperatures have declined.
"For all practical purposes, the heat wave has now ended in our state," BR Meena, Telangana's disaster management commissioner, told BBC Hindi.
Meanwhile India's public hospitals are struggling to cope with patients of the heatwave.
"I have been posted here for seven years, but I am feeling a lot of heat this year. We have been seeing a dozen patients of heat wave every day," Dr Anjaya of Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Medical Sciences in Andhra Pradesh told the BBC.
Hospitals in the Indian capital Delhi, where temperatures have soared to 45.5C (113.9F) have also seen a large number of patients.
"Hospitals are overflowing with heatstroke victims," Ajay Lekhi, president of the Delhi Medical Association, told AFP news agency.
"Patients are complaining of severe headache and dizziness. They are also showing symptoms of delirium," he said.
Reports said there were long queues outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, one of Delhi's largest government-run hospitals.
"Last night there was no electricity for nearly five hours," Seema Sharma told AFP outside the hospital as she waited in line for her four-year-old son to be examined.
"You can imagine what we must have gone through. He just couldn't sleep and kept on crying. Now he has fever as well."
The Delhi-based research organisation Centre for Science and Environment said the high deaths this year could be because of the sudden onset of heat.
"This could be due to the sudden change in temperatures after a prolonged wet February and March that had kept the temperatures cool," said Arjuna Srinidhi, the group's programme manager for climate change.
Sources: National Disaster Management Authority of India and BBC | The massive heatwave sweeping India is starting to ease, with forecasts of rain in some affected states. |
29,475,566 | Computer security researchers wrote the code following the discovery of the USB flaw earlier this year.
The pair made the code public in an attempt to force electronics firms to improve defences against attack by USB.
One of the experts who found the flaw said the release was a "stark reminder" of its seriousness.
Details of the BadUSB flaw were released at the Black Hat computer security conference in August by Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell.
Their work revealed how to exploit flaws in the software that helps devices connect to computers via USB. The biggest problem they discovered lurks in the onboard software, known as firmware, found on these devices.
Among other things the firmware tells a computer what kind of a device is being plugged into a USB socket but the two cybersecurity researchers found a way to subvert this and install attack code. At Black Hat, the BBC saw demonstrations using a smartphone and a USB stick that could steal data when plugged into target machines.
Mr Nohl said he and his colleague did not release code in order to give firms making USB-controlling firmware time to work out how to combat the problem.
Now researchers Adam Caudill and Brandon Wilson have done their own work on the USB flaw and produced code that can be used to exploit it. The pair unveiled their work at the DerbyCon hacker conference last week and have made their attack software freely available via code-sharing site Github.
"We're releasing everything we've done here, nothing is being held back," said Mr Wilson in a presentation at DerbyCon.
"We believe that this information should not be limited to a select few as others have treated it," he added. "It needs to be available to the public."
Mr Wilson said cybercrime groups definitely had the resources to replicate the work of Mr Nohl and Mr Lell to produce their own attack code so releasing a version to the security community was a way to redress that imbalance.
Responding to the release of the attack tools Mr Nohl told the BBC that such "full disclosure" can motivate companies to act and make products more secure.
"In the case of BadUSB, however, the problem is structural," he said. "The standard itself is what enables the attack and no single vendor is in a position to change that."
"It is unclear who would feel pressured to improve their products by the recent release," he added. "The release is a stark reminder to defenders, though, that BadUSB is - and always has been - in reach of attackers." | Computer code that can turn almost any device that connects via USB into a cyber-attack platform has been shared online. |
39,337,707 | The Shetland Isles recorded the fastest house price growth in the 12 months to the end of January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
However, the Orkney Isles saw the fourth biggest fall in prices over the same period, the ONS data showed.
UK property prices, on average, rose by 6.2% in the year.
This meant that the typical home in the UK cost £218,000.
The ONS figures record the UK local authority areas seeing the sharpest house prices rises and the biggest falls in the year to the end of January.
These show that the average house price in the Shetland Isles rose by 21.9% in the year to the end of January, to £182,184.
In contrast, the average price in the Orkney Isles was down 4.3% to £108,224 over the same period.
Relatively few homes are bought and sold in the Scottish isles, so the average price can fluctuate significantly.
Where can I afford to live?
Across the UK, the most expensive borough to buy a home was in Kensington and Chelsea, where the cost of an average house was £1.3m in January. The cheapest area to buy a property was Burnley, where an average house cost £73,000.
The figures show that, regionally, the highest annual growth was in the east of England with prices increasing by 9.4%. Growth in the south east of England was second highest at 8.7%, followed by London at 7.3%.
The lowest annual growth was in the north east of England, where prices increased by 2.2% over the year.
UK-wide house price growth accelerated in each of the two months since November, the latest ONS data shows.
Separate ONS figures found that the cost of living, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index inlfation measure, rose by 2.3% in the year to February.
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Still got questions? Ask Newsbot | House prices in the Scottish isles have witnessed contrasting fortunes in the past year - putting them at extreme ends of UK property price movements. |
36,144,267 | Images posted on social media showed burning rubbish and parts of the Moria camp being evacuated.
The unrest came during a visit by the Greek migration minister and a Dutch minister.
The migrants are angry about the detention conditions and an EU deal to return economic migrants to Turkey.
Moria camp was visited by the Pope earlier this month.
The unaccompanied minors section of the camp was particularly affected by the unrest, AFP news agency reported.
About 3,000 people are being held in Moria, waiting to hear what will happen to them.
A spokesman for the UN refugee agency said the migrants were "angry and frustrated" and there had been a "surge in violence" in recent days.
Moria was turned into a closed detention centre after the deportation deal was announced.
Under the EU-Turkey agreement, migrants who have arrived illegally in Greece since 20 March are to be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or if their claim is rejected.
For each Syrian migrant returned to Turkey, the EU is to take in another Syrian who has made a legitimate request.
Earlier, 49 migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar became the third group of migrants to be returned to Turkey under the deal. | Clashes have broken out between police and stone-throwing migrants at a detention centre on the Greek island of Lesbos, police said. |
36,496,561 | Police said the Class A drug was found within a commercial property near a school and a house in the Livingston area.
It was estimated to have a street value of about £24,000.
The men, aged 34 and 23, were due to appear at Livingston Sheriff Court on Monday.
The teenager was also reported to the children's reporter. | A 15-year-old boy has been reported to the procurator fiscal and two men have been charged after half a kilo of cocaine was recovered in West Lothian. |
32,216,532 | Przemyslaw Kaluzny is facing a total of 12 charges over a series of alleged incidents at Toys R Us on Sunday.
The 41-year-old is accused of picking up the boy and trying to run out of the shop with him before attacking his 67-year-old grandmother with the bat.
He made no plea or declaration and was remanded in custody.
Kaluzny, of Watson Street, Dundee, is first alleged to have stolen a mobile phone from a neighbour's flat before intentionally exposing his genitals to her. He is then said to have stolen a cricket bat from the flat before taking and driving away a Renault Laguna car.
He is then alleged to have driven the car from the Baxter Park area of the city to the Kingsway Retail Park without insurance and without a licence.
Prosecutors say Kaluzny then went into the Toys R Us store and committed a breach of the peace by behaving in a disorderly manner and running into the store while in possession of a cricket bat.
He is then said to have removed his clothing, shouted, bawled, entered the toilets and adopted a menacing and aggressive attitude, brandished the bat, and placed staff and customers in a state of alarm by struggling violently with them.
Kaluzny is further accused of an offence of public indecency by moving through the store while naked.
He is then alleged to have abducted a six-year-old boy by picking him up and attempting to run out of the shop while carrying him and detaining him against his will.
Kaluzny is further alleged to have assaulted the boy's 67-year-old grandmother by striking her on the head with the bat to her injury.
A final charge alleges that he broke a pair of police handcuffs while he was being transported from the store to Dundee's police HQ.
He made no plea or declaration during a brief private hearing at Dundee Sheriff Court, and was remanded in custody by Sheriff George Way until a further hearing next week. | A man has appeared in court accused of abducting a six-year-old boy and hitting a woman with a cricket bat in a Dundee toy shop - while naked. |
34,591,989 | George Evans, 92, signed up on the advice of a young neighbour who saw him using bricks as weights outside his home in Skewen.
Mr Evans, a widower, has attributed his long life and fitness to never smoking, hardly drinking and good eating.
"My instructor can't get over it. They say I'm marvellous and they don't know how I can do it," he said.
"Most of my friends are either dead or walking around on sticks, so I must be doing something right."
He added: "Hopefully I will still be going when I'm 100. I will aim for that anyway." | A Swansea pensioner has joined a gym, working out three times a week, in a pledge to reach his 100th birthday. |
32,941,726 | Andres Pastrana of Colombia and Jorge Quiroga of Bolivia were not allowed to visit opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and former mayor, Daniel Ceballos.
Both prisoners started a hunger strike around a week ago.
State officials said the ex-presidents were part of an hostile campaign against the country.
President Nicolas Maduro has said Venezuela's judiciary is independent and those in jail are criminals.
However, their supporters and rights groups say the two men's imprisonment is politically motivated and accused Mr Maduro of cracking down on his opponents.
Mr Lopez is being held in the Ramo Verde military prison outside Caracas, while Mr Ceballos is in a civilian prison in the central state of Guarico.
The presidents attempted to visit both sites.
Leopoldo Lopez is on trial for inciting violence during three months of protests against the government of President Maduro during which 43 people died including some police officers.
Daniel Ceballos, who was mayor of the western city of San Cristobal near the border with Colombia, which was a focus of many of the protests, is accused of supporting street blockades and calling for violence at the protests.
Last month a group of former world leaders sent an open letter to the Venezuelan government urging the release of the opposition leaders.
In April a former Spanish prime minister, Felipe Gonzalez, who announced his intention to help in the legal defence of Leopoldo Lopez, was also denied access to him.
The Venezuelan attorney general said under the country's law Mr Gonzalez could not form part of Mr Lopez's legal team.
Mr Maduro has been scathing about international support for Venezuelan opposition leaders.
"In general, these former prime ministers are usually discredited. They don't even want them in their own countries and then they come over here to disturb us." | Venezuela has blocked two ex-presidents from visiting opposition leaders jailed on charges of inciting violence against the government. |
35,755,219 | The warning has been issued after nine sheep were killed in Afonwen, near Mold, Flintshire, on Monday.
PC Dave Allen, of the force's Rural Crime Unit, said: "This sort of thing is happening all the time now in north Wales."
He urged dog owners to "take responsibility" of their dogs and encouraged farmers to report attacks.
Since September 2013, there are believed to have been about 260 dog attacks on livestock in north Wales.
PC Allen explained that in more than 100 of these cases, police have identified "particular breeds of concern" - huskies and German Shepherds.
Referring to Monday's attack, he said: "The sheep had their ears bitten off and puncture wounds to their neck.
"The issue in this case is we don't know who the dog is, so there's a good chance farmers could become a victim of another attack.
"It's a tremendous worry to farmers. This is their livelihood."
Dog owners need to "be aware of their dogs' needs, have it under control in public places, and always use a dog lead", he added. | Dog attacks on sheep have become an "everyday occurrence", North Wales Police has said. |
35,995,797 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Victory at Sixfields for the Cobblers, who are 14 points clear at the top with six games remaining, would secure them at least an automatic promotion spot.
But Rovers, whose top scorer with 25 goals in all competitions this term is Taylor, have their own promotion hopes.
"We have a gameplan to try to execute a win," he told BBC Radio Bristol.
"It will be a tough game. But we'll be going there to ruin their promotion party."
Manager Darrell Clarke added: "Northampton are going to win the league and they thoroughly deserve it. We will go there with respect.
"But we'll be expecting to win. We'll have a gameplan to try and win a football match. The expectation will always be sky-high here, while I'm manager."
Clarke's third-placed side go into Saturday's game level on points with fourth-placed Plymouth and fifth-placed Accrington, and two points behind Oxford United. | Bristol Rovers forward Matt Taylor says they will go to Northampton Town on Saturday looking to "ruin the promotion party" for the League Two leaders. |
40,693,274 | The Dons host Apollon on Thursday evening in the first leg of the third qualifying round.
And 20-year-old Reynolds, who has been with Apollon for 10 years, says the Pittodrie men are in for a tough test.
"We have players that can definitely hurt Aberdeen, but we need to take our chances," Reynolds told BBC Scotland.
"We have a very strong team, our centre-back Valentin Roberge was in the Sunderland team three years ago, so he was playing in the Premier League.
"We have Alex da Silva, a Brazilian who has had a very good career and is technically very good. Our striker Anton Maglica is also a very good player.
"We need to go to Aberdeen and play our way, the way we have been playing the last couple of seasons.
"We like to build from the back, we're a possession-based team and when we don't have the ball we press to get it back. We like to keep the ball and try to make our opponents run."
Reynolds moved to Cyprus with his family after his father was posted there on military service. Having been with the Hibs Academy at the time, the Easter Road outfit helped him join up with Apollon and he signed a professional contract when he was 17.
The Scot has been immersed in Cypriot football and reckons the Dons will suffer if they take Apollon lightly.
"When I come home and mention Cypriot football, it's obviously really underrated," added Reynolds, who has had a loan spell at AO Ayia Napa and has featured 12 times for the Apollon first team.
"No-one really knows about it but last year APOEL went to the last 32 [of the Europa League], beating Athletic Bilbao and eventually being knocked out by Anderlecht.
"We know Aberdeen are a very good side so it will be very difficult to get a result, but we are confident and hopefully we can do something in the tie."
Reynolds, a Rangers fan who was named after Ally McCoist, has been impressed with what he has seen from Aberdeen in recent seasons.
And he revealed he could be seeing them more often with a loan move to Scotland a possibility.
"I had confirmation that I can come for a loan so my agent has been looking back home and is speaking to a few clubs on my behalf," he added. "You never know, I could be back in Scotland sooner than I thought."
Aberdeen, who reached the third qualifying round by winning 2-0 in Bosnia over Siroki Brijeg for a 3-1 aggregate victory, go to Cyprus for the return leg on 3 August. | Cyprus-based Scot Alastair Reynolds insists his Apollon Limassol side have the quality to trouble Aberdeen in their Europa League tie. |
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Alan Stubbs' side took the lead when Jason Cummings struck midway through the first half.
Rocco Quinn fired in for the Buddies amid claims of offside from the visitors but the goal stood, leaving the sides level at the break.
Lawrence Shankland's shot turned the match in St Mirren's favour only for Farid El Alagui to level for Hibs.
The Easter Road side are now six points behind second-placed Falkirk and 20 off leaders Rangers.
However, Hibs have three games in hand over the Bairns and have played two games fewer than Rangers, who can clinch the title and promotion with one more win.
Stubbs' men started brightly in Paisley and Cummings latched on to John McGinn's threaded pass to palce an effort underneath Jamie Langfield.
Quinn found space in the penalty area and steered his effort home from close range, to the dismay of the Hibs defenders hoping for the flag to be raised.
Shankland drilled his effort low into the bottom corner to put the Buddies ahead for the first time and went close again soon after when he blasted over from the edge of the area.
Anthony Stokes tested Langfield before setting up El Alagui for the equaliser in the penultimate minute. | Hibernian ended a run of four straight Scottish Championship defeats but could not force a win against St Mirren. |
32,509,054 | Australia's ambassador to Indonesia will return home this week after being recalled and ministerial contact with Indonesia has been suspended.
The government has also not ruled out cutting foreign aid to Indonesia.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the diplomatic changes after an Indonesian firing squad killed Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
Six people from other countries were also executed at the prison island of Nusakambangan early on Wednesday morning local time.
The bodies of Chan and Sukumaran have now been handed over to Australian authorities, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC).
The two Australians were a key part of the so-called Bali Nine drug ring that was busted in 2005.
Australia has waged a long diplomatic campaign for clemency for Sukumaran and Chan, who appeared to have rehabilitated themselves while in jail in Indonesia.
More recently, the Australian government urged Indonesia to delay the execution of the two men until a corruption investigation into their sentencing was complete.
Mr Abbott on Wednesday described the treatment of the Australians as "cruel and unnecessary" and said it was a "dark moment" in Australia's relationship with Indonesia.
"Cruel because both Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran spent some decade in jail before being executed, and unnecessary, because both of these young Australians were fully rehabilitated while in prison," said Mr Abbott at a press conference.
"Australia respects the Indonesian system. We respect Indonesia's sovereignty but we do deplore what's been done and this cannot be simply business as usual," he said.
It is the first time Australia has withdrawn an ambassador from Indonesia, and the first such action after a country has executed an Australian citizen.
For example, it did not withdraw its ambassador when Australian drug smuggler Van Tuong Nguyen was executed in Singapore in 2005.
"It is very unusual, indeed unprecedented, for an ambassador to be withdrawn so I don't want to minimise the gravity of what we've done," Mr Abbott said.
"Ministerial contacts have been suspended for some time. Once it became apparent that the executions were likely, ministerial contacts were suspended, and they will remain suspended for a period," he said.
In response to a question about foreign aid to Indonesia, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said only that Australia's aid budget was under different considerations to diplomatic actions.
Australia gives Indonesia about A$600m ($480m; £313m) in aid annually.
The government has come under some pressure to divert that money to Nepal after it was struck by a devastating earthquake on the weekend.
Australia's opposition leader Bill Shorten and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek condemned the executions "in the strongest possible terms" and backed "a strong response from the Australian government".
"Our best hopes have been dashed and our worst fears realised," Mr Shorten and Ms Plibersek said in a joint statement.
"Indonesia has not just robbed two young men of their lives but robbed itself of two examples of the strengths of its justice system."
In a statement, the families of Sukumaran and Chan said the two men had done all they could to make amends in the years since their arrest, including helping other people.
"They asked for mercy, but there was none. They were immensely grateful for all the support they received. We too, will be forever grateful," said the families.
Chan and Sukumaran, along with seven other Australians, were arrested in Bali in 2005 for trying to smuggle more than 18lb (8.2kg) of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
The pair were later found to be the ringleaders of the group and sentenced to death. The other seven members of the "Bali Nine" are currently serving either life or 20 years in prison.
Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world and ended a four-year moratorium on executions in 2013.
It says it takes a hard line because of the country's own drugs problem - 33 Indonesians die every day as a result of drugs, according to Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency. | Australia is rethinking its relations with Indonesia following the execution of two Australian drug traffickers. |
39,297,548 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Stuart Hogg's long-range penalty put the hosts ahead before Finn Russell finished off heavy pressure to score.
Replacement Matt Scott touched down the second for a 15-0 lead, with Italy's Carlo Canna missing three penalties.
The Azzurri botched two scoring chances before further tries from Tim Visser and Tommy Seymour sealed a bonus point.
Four tries brought Scotland's tally for the championship to 14, surpassing their record, set last year, of 11 for a Six Nations campaign.
Despite their three victories, the Scots had to settle for a repeat of last year's fourth-place finish, on points difference, after victories for France against Wales, and Ireland over England.
This was a 12th Six Nations defeat in a row for Italy, who finished with the Wooden Spoon for a 12th time in 18 seasons.
In the Edinburgh rain, mistakes were inevitable but the opening half was an error and penalty-fest, a grind that Scotland slowly but surely took control of.
Italy were a creative desert, a line-out horror-show, a goal-kicking nightmare. They lost four of eight line-outs in the first 40 minutes and missed three out of three kicks at goal. Two of those were straightforward, but Canna made a hash of both.
Scotland were ahead with a booming Hogg penalty, but the hosts had serious problems of their own despite having the lead.
Referee Pascal Gauzere got on their case early and he kept pinging them all day long. The Scots conceded five penalties in the opening 20 minutes, seven in the first 40 and a stratospheric 12 by the early minutes of the second half.
Of course, they also had a healthy lead by then. The first came at the end of mountainous pressure, Ali Price eventually put Russell over in the corner. The downside was that they lost Huw Jones to injury in the creation of the score, Scott replacing him.
Unlike poor Canna, Russell's kick was good and Scotland were ahead 10-0. Canna missed a second sitter and, soon after, Scotland had a second try when Price chipped over the top close to the Italian line for Hogg to win the aerial dual against Giovanbattista Venditti and bat the ball back into Scott's path. The centre had the easiest job in dotting it down.
Scotland had battled their way into the lead with the knowledge that Italy's second-half performances have been a calamity in this Six Nations. Before this game they conceded 70% of their points in the second half and an average of 20 points in the last 20 minutes of the second half.
It was Italy who came back strong, though. They camped themselves in the Scottish 22, forced Hogg into making a try-saver on Angelo Esposito, then went again. They won penalty after penalty. John Barclay disappeared to the bin and they won more penalties after that.
When it looked like they were about to break through, Edoardo Padovani knocked on with the line at his mercy. It was painful stuff for the visitors. They were undone by Scotland's defence, yes, but mostly by their own lack of wit. Italy had a chronic lack of imagination and accuracy.
Just after the hour, Scotland got their third try when Hogg scampered up the left wing, chipped ahead and Visser got the touchdown. Russell's conversion made it 22-0. For them, it was all about the four-try bonus point now.
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Scotland started to hit their stride and the crucial fourth try came after multiple phases drained the life out of the tiring Italians, Russell's lovely hands finding Hogg who put Seymour over. Once again Russell, kicking beautifully, was successful with the conversion.
Job done for Scotland. A third win in a championship that has seen them score more points (122) and more tries than they have ever done in the Six Nations. A decent farewell to Cotter, a man who has done so much to take the Scots from despair to hope.
Scotland: 15-Hogg; 14-Seymour, 13-Jones, 12-Dunbar, 11-Visser; 10-Russell, 9-Price; 1-Reid, 2-Ford, 3-Fagerson; 4-Gilchrist, 5-J Gray; 6-Barclay (captain), 7-Watson, 8-Wilson.
Replacements: 16-Brown (for Ford, 66), 17-Dell (for Reid, 56), 17-Berghan (for Fagerson, 66), 18-Du Preez (for Wilson, 49), 19-Swinson (for Gilchrist, 57), 20-Pyrgos (for Price, 54), 22-Weir (for Scott, 73), 23-Scott (for Jones, 26).
Yellow card: Barclay (49)
Italy: 15-Padovani; 14-Esposito, 13-Benvenuti, 12-McLean, 11-Venditti; 10-Canna, 9-Gori; 1-Lovotti, 2-Gega, 3-Cittadini, 4-Fuser, 5-Biagi, 6-Mbanda, 7-Steyn, 8-Parisse.
Replacements: 16-Ghiraldini (for Gega, 41), 17-Panico (for Lovotti, 63), 18-Chistolini (for Cittadini, 41), 19-Van Schalkwyk (for Fuser, 54), 20-Ruzza (for Biagi, 75), 21-Minto (for Mbanda, 54), 22-Violi (for Gori, 54), 23-Sperandio (for Canna, 63).
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (Wales) & Luke Pearce (England)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa) | Scotland won a third Six Nations match in the same campaign for the first time since 2006 to send departing coach Vern Cotter out on a high at Murrayfield. |
34,454,033 | First Minister Carwyn Jones published an update on a report by Dr Margaret Flynn into one of the owners, Prana Das, on Tuesday.
She concluded Dr Das "should and could" have been prosecuted.
Inquests into the deaths of Stanley Bradford, Megan Downs, Edith Evans, Ronald Jones and others known to the Gwent coroner have been recommended.
Dr Das had faced charges relating to neglect and fraud at two care homes - Brithdir Care Home in New Tredegar, Caerphilly county, and The Beeches in Blaenavon, Torfaen.
But the £15m case against him collapsed after he suffered brain damage when he was attacked during a burglary at his home in 2012.
Mr Jones said he had now been contacted by Gwent Coroner David Bowen and inquests would be held "where he does have jurisdiction and where the law requires" and "he is already working to that end".
The first minister said he was aware of the "very real frustration" among patients' families after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) refused to reconsider criminal proceedings following the publication of Dr Flynn's report.
"I know that the families were both surprised by the speed of the response - on the same day as the report was published in the media - and the refusal to reconsider the case," he said.
"I know the families continue to ask why so few have been held accountable. I hope they take can take some comfort from the reply from the coroner who indicates he is pursuing inquests, as Dr Flynn recommended, where he has jurisdiction," he said.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, has decided there is "no need" to refer the case back to the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division of the CPS, Mr Jones added.
Operation Jasmine was launched by Gwent Police in 2005 to look into alleged abuse at six care homes in south Wales.
It began after the death of an 84-year-old woman at one of the homes and involved 75 police officers over seven years.
Loraine Brannan was among several relatives in the Senedd on Tuesday to listen to the first minister, and later met Carwyn Jones to discuss Operation Jasmine.
"We do need to know where we can move on from here," she said.
"We're hoping now that this will provide us with the aim that we're campaigning for - that we will have justice for our loved ones and someone will be held accountable."
Mrs Brannan, who chairs the Justice for Jasmine campaign group, said inquests for families was a step forward.
"Really, we do need the CPS to reopen the case," she insisted. | Inquests will be held into the deaths of patients at care homes at the heart of an alleged abuse scandal. |
37,782,154 | He is one of nine athletes, including six medallists, disqualified by the International Olympic Committee after samples from the 2008 Games were retested.
The 33-year-old has lost the silver he won in the men's freestyle wresting.
Four years ago he was disqualified from London 2012 after winning bronze.
The IOC has been retesting more than 1,200 samples from Beijing and London.
The nine athletes disqualified on Wednesday are: | Uzbekistan wrestler Soslan Tigiev has been stripped of an Olympic medal for the second time, for failing a drugs test at the Beijing Games. |
40,109,321 | Naomi Long made the claim as she launched the party manifesto.
"Alliance has a real chance to be successful at this election in both East and South Belfast," she said.
"The party was only defeated in East Belfast at the last election thanks to a five-party pact, while we were just 700 votes behind in South Belfast at the most recent poll."
Naomi Long won the East Belfast seat in 2010 when she took it off the DUP's Peter Robinson.
She held the seat until the 2015 general election when she lost out to Gavin Robinson.
The Alliance leader launched the 37-page manifesto in front of candidates, party supporters and candidates at the CIYMS sports complex in east Belfast.
"By electing two MPs, Alliance can have a real say in delivering what this manifesto promises - positive, progressive and pro-European politics," she said.
The manifesto focuses on Brexit and the party says there must be a deal to "recognise the special circumstances in Northern Ireland".
Alliance says a special deal would include participation within the Single Market and the Customs Union.
The document says the party will argue for a fresh referendum so the public can "choose between the final deal and remaining in the European Union".
It says there must be legislation to enact any of the outcomes following Brexit.
Questioned by journalists about the prospect of a referendum on a united Ireland, Mrs Long dismissed the idea.
"It would be reckless to have a border poll at the moment," she said.
The Alliance manifesto also includes a series of commitments on Stormont, the economy, justice, welfare and the environment.
Mrs Long said her party's plans were about "ending deadlock, achieving open government, creating jobs and services, and having progressive politics".
The party says it wants to see the assembly restored and an end to what it calls "the abuse" of the petition of concern"
The manifesto document - entitled Change Direction - also calls on all parties to publish "large political donations" they receive, which Alliance says it does voluntarily.
The manifesto also advocates reforming the electoral system with voting from the age of 16; the party also says it will champion civil marriage for same-sex couples.
The party says it will oppose any repeal of the Human Rights Act, and will work with the Northern Ireland Executive so that cuts to school budgets can be reversed. | The Alliance Party has a "real chance" of securing two seats in next week's general election, its leader has said. |
37,963,786 | It leaves them two points behind Livi, having played a game more.
Meanwhile, Albion Rovers edged a five-goal thriller with Stranraer at Cliftonhill.
And, at Hampden, Queen's Park were held to a goalless draw by 10-man Peterhead, who remain one point ahead of the seventh-placed Spiders.
Airdrie were awarded a penalty against Brechin when Dougie Hill handled in the area.
Iain Russell stepped up to convert, with City's Paul McLean later dismissed for violent conduct.
At Cliftonhill, Albion Rovers opened the scoring on the quarter-hour through Ross Stewart, who coolly slotted home following a defence-splitting pass from Stevie Boyd.
Stranraer were back on level terms courtesy of a Willie Gibson effort from just outside the box, but the hosts regained the lead before the interval through Ryan Wallace's penalty following a foul by Scott Robertson.
The visitors equalised through on-loan Aberdeen striker Joe Nuttall before Wallace grabbed his second of the game from close range to wrap up the points for the hosts.
Peterhead earned a point away to Queen's Park despite being reduced to 10 men when Simon Ferry was dismissed late on.
The league leaders, third-placed Alloa Athletic and bottom two sides East Fife and Stenhousemuir were not in league action due to Alloa and Livi's Challenge Cup matches this weekend.
The Wasps lost their quarter-final tie against Queen of the South, while Livingston host Welsh side The New Saints on Sunday. | Brechin City missed the chance to climb above Livingston at the top of Scottish League One as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Airdrieonians. |
35,857,359 | Belfast was one of six UK cities to host the Sport Relief flagship games, but swimathons and mile-long runs were held in other local towns and cities.
Custom House Square was the starting point for the Belfast Mile - those taking part could walk, jog or run it.
Olympian Dame Mary Peters and boxer Carl Frampton took part in the event.
Frampton ran part of the Belfast mile with his young daughter and speaking before it began he said: "It's good to get people out, being active and getting involved in sport.
"Obviously it helps raise money for a lot of worthwhile charities that need it, and what better way to do it? It's a great turnout here already, I'm looking forward to this."
Other events including a family cycle through the city and an aerobics workout in Custom House Square. | People in Northern Ireland have been getting active for Sport Relief as a record-breaking £55m was raised for the charity throughout the UK this weekend. |
20,483,967 | Stephen Gleeson's superb strike broke the deadlock for the hosts in a game that was struggling to match its hype.
AFC levelled when Jack Midson headed in a rare attack for the visitors, as travelling fans ran on to the pitch.
But Jon Otsemobor's outstretched foot directed the ball over goalkeeper Neil Sullivan's head in a dramatic finale.
2000: Wimbledon are relegated from the Premier League.
2001: Wimbledon announce their intention to relocate to Milton Keynes.
2002: AFC Wimbledon are formed by fans who are furious at the proposed move and the club begin life in the Combined Counties League Premier Division, playing at Kingstonian's Kingsmeadow ground.
2003: With the club in administration, Wimbledon move to Milton Keynes, taking up residence at the National Hockey Stadium.
2004: Wimbledon come out of administration and are rebranded as MK Dons and are relegated to League One in the same year. AFC Wimbledon win promotion to the Isthmian League First Division.
2005: AFC Wimbledon promoted to Isthmian League Premier Division.
2006: MK Dons relegated to League Two.
2007: MK Dons move to Stadium MK.
2008: MK Dons promoted to League One; AFC Wimbledon promoted to Blue Square Bet South division.
2009: AFC Wimbledon promoted to Blue Square Bet Premier.
2011: AFC Wimbledon are promoted to League Two via the Blue Square Bet Premier play-offs - a fifth promotion in nine seasons.
2012: AFC Wimbledon announce plans to move to a stadium in their spiritual home of Wimbledon.
The fixture has been 10 years in the making, since AFC Wimbledon were formed by disgruntled Wimbledon FC fans in protest of their club's proposed move to Milton Keynes.
The move went ahead after an independent panel set up by the Football Association gave it the go-ahead and Wimbledon were uprooted 56 miles to Buckinghamshire and subsequently renamed MK Dons eight years ago.
MK and their chairman Pete Winkelman have endured criticism from most of football, being accused of ripping a club from its community and carrying around the tag of "Franchise FC".
For AFC Wimbledon, this was an opportunity to show how far they had come - how they had started in the ninth tier of English football and risen to League Two - and to remind the world there is a club that bears the Wimbledon name.
MK on the other hand had a chance to show that, regardless of how they came into existence, they are a club with designs of playing attractive football in front of a young, new fanbase.
Wimbledon performed one of the greatest FA Cup final upsets of all time when they beat Liverpool 1-0 at Wembley in 1988. MK boss Karl Robinson, a proud Liverpool fan, has admitted he cried after watching Lawrie Sanchez score the goal that handed the trophy to the Crazy Gang.
But, while both sets of supporters rose to the challenge at Stadium MK, the early action failed to match the build-up.
The most eye-catching moment in the first 30 minutes was above the pitch when a plane, chartered by AFC supporters, flew over tugging a banner reading "We are Wimbledon".
Angelo Balanta's shot wide of the post was all MK had to show for their dominance in possession.
It was no surprise when the League One side went ahead but the nature of the goal was out of keeping with the game up to that point. Gleeson's stunning 25-yard effort flew into the top-right corner and put the hosts ahead on the stroke of half-time.
MK would have expected an instant reaction from AFC after the break but could have been out of sight themselves, with Sullivan, who played 224 times for the old Wimbledon, getting a hand to Ryan Lowe's close-range effort and Dean Bowditch shooting into the side netting with the goal gaping.
Former Wimbledon player and manager Dave Bassett:
"When Wimbledon scored their goal you would have expected MK to change but they were slow and predictable. They were going backward and sideways with their passes too often. They didn't do anything quicker and it looked like Wimbledon would get their draw, in fact Wimbledon had a great chance to win the game. But that is Cup football."
The AFC response came from a rare burst forward when Toby Ajala's cross was nodded in tidily by Midson.
His celebrations were accompanied by a crowd of AFC supporters who had streamed on to the pitch, letting 10 years of emotion get the better of them in unsavoury scenes that were quickly calmed by stewards.
It was a series of events that raised the atmosphere in the ground from tense to boisterous and both sides reacted, feeling the urgency and the desire of their supporters to claim a memorable victory.
Ryan Lowe thought he had done just that for Robinson's side but his celebrations were cut short by an offside flag against Zeli Ismail, who had laid on the chance for the striker.
The League Two side then had a great chance of their own but Steven Gregory was unable to beat David Martin, another former Wimbledon keeper, when one-on-one having capitalised on Darren Potter's mistake.
And, just when it looked like a replay and a quickfire second encounter was on the cards, MK stole it in the dying minutes.
AFC failed to fully clear an MK corner, Ismail struck a shot into the ground that Otsemobor flicked his leg against and turned to see the ball loop over a helpless Sullivan.
A few MK supporters failed to resist the urge to celebrate on the pitch, but, when order was restored, Robinson's side managed to stand strong against a late onslaught to treasure a satisfying win and leave their opponents desolate.
MK Dons manager Karl Robinson said:
"It's been a tough week. It's been enjoyable but it's also been difficult.
"I thought the game typified two sets of teams with great hunger and passion for the club they play for. Two teams can walk away from this stadium very proud of each other.
"I wanted this game to go smoothly, I wanted it to be conducted in a manner that was right for the English game and I thought we all did that.
"Maybe I got a bit excited with the goal at the end but I'm not going to apologise for that.
"I love this club and the players who wear our shirt. I'm sure you'd rather see me celebrating like a lunatic than just stood there with a stone-face smile."
AFC Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley said:
"I've got mainly pride. Pride for the players. We worked hard on a game plan and we felt it was the best way we could cause an upset. Every single player to a man carried those instructions out.
"They got a great first goal and a bizarre second. But we were inches from going in front so we can't ask any more than that.
"My main fear was not doing the fans proud and I can sit here now, despite hurting from the defeat, and say we did that.
"We knew we would end up having very little possession. We knew we couldn't press them high up the pitch because they play between the lines very well.
"The game plan went to a tee but we were hoping for that stroke of luck and perhaps that wasn't with us."
Full Time The referee ends the match.
Substitution Mathias Doumbe on for Luke Chadwick.
Goal! - Jon Otsemobor - MK Dons 2 - 1 Wimbledon Goal scored by Jon Otsemobor from inside the penalty box to the top right corner of the goal. Milton Keynes Dons 2-1 AFC Wimbledon.
Corner taken right-footed by Dean Bowditch. The assist for the goal came from Zeli Ismail. Blocked by Will Antwi. Zeli Ismail takes a shot.
Inswinging corner taken from the left by-line by Stacy Long.
Substitution Pim Balkestein joins the action as a substitute, replacing Jim Fenlon.
Steven Gregory takes a shot. David Martin makes a brilliant save.
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Shaun Williams by Charlie Strutton. Antony Kay takes the free kick.
Stephen Gleeson fouled by Jack Midson, the ref awards a free kick. Shaun Williams restarts play with the free kick.
Dean Lewington delivers the ball, clearance made by Will Antwi.
Shaun Williams has an effort at goal from 35 yards. Stacy Long gets a block in.
Direct free kick taken by Dean Lewington.
Booking Toby Ajala receives a caution for unsporting behaviour.
Toby Ajala challenges Dean Lewington unfairly and gives away a free kick.
Curtis Osano gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Stephen Gleeson. Free kick crossed by Dean Bowditch, clearance made by Yado Mambo.
Antony Kay delivers the ball, clearance by Yado Mambo.
Charlie Strutton is ruled offside. Indirect free kick taken by David Martin.
Substitution Huw Johnson comes on in place of Luke Moore.
Substitution Ryan Lowe leaves the field to be replaced by Alan Smith.
The ball is swung over by Dean Bowditch, Jim Fenlon manages to make a clearance.
The ball is sent over by Zeli Ismail, Curtis Osano manages to make a clearance.
Zeli Ismail crosses the ball, Will Antwi makes a clearance.
Substitution Charlie Strutton joins the action as a substitute, replacing Byron Harrison.
Jack Midson concedes a free kick for a foul on Stephen Gleeson. Stephen Gleeson takes the direct free kick.
The referee blows for offside. Neil Sullivan restarts play with the free kick.
Unfair challenge on Antony Kay by Byron Harrison results in a free kick. Antony Kay takes the free kick.
Substitution Zeli Ismail replaces Angelo Balanta.
Luke Chadwick sends in a cross, clearance by Will Antwi.
Stephen Gleeson fouled by Toby Ajala, the ref awards a free kick. Shaun Williams takes the free kick.
Luke Chadwick crosses the ball.
Booking Jack Midson is cautioned.
Toby Ajala provided the assist for the goal.
Goal! - Jack Midson - MK Dons 1 - 1 Wimbledon Jack Midson finds the back of the net with a headed goal from inside the area. Milton Keynes Dons 1-1 AFC Wimbledon.
Shaun Williams gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Byron Harrison. Direct free kick taken by Stacy Long.
The ball is delivered by Dean Bowditch, save by Neil Sullivan.
Effort from inside the area by Dean Bowditch misses to the left of the goal.
Inswinging corner taken from the left by-line by Dean Bowditch.
Angelo Balanta takes a shot. Curtis Osano gets a block in. Inswinging corner taken by Dean Bowditch, clearance made by Jack Midson. Shaun Williams delivers the ball, clearance by Byron Harrison.
Curtis Osano delivers the ball, David Martin makes a comfortable save.
Stephen Gleeson takes a shot from long range which goes wide of the right-hand post.
Dean Lewington shoots direct from the free kick, Neil Sullivan makes a save. Corner taken right-footed by Dean Bowditch.
Booking Luke Moore is shown a yellow card.
Unfair challenge on Stephen Gleeson by Luke Moore results in a free kick.
Luke Moore gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Dean Bowditch. Free kick taken by Stephen Gleeson.
The referee gets the second half started.
Half Time The first half comes to an end.
Byron Harrison is caught offside. David Martin takes the indirect free kick.
Assist on the goal came from Shaun Williams.
Goal! - Stephen Gleeson - MK Dons 1 - 0 Wimbledon Stephen Gleeson finds the net from 35 yards. Milton Keynes Dons 1-0 AFC Wimbledon.
The ball is sent over by Dean Lewington, save by Neil Sullivan.
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Dean Lewington by Jack Midson. Dean Bowditch delivers the ball from the free kick right-footed from left channel.
Jon Otsemobor delivers the ball, Will Antwi makes a clearance.
Free kick awarded for a foul by Luke Chadwick on Jim Fenlon. Neil Sullivan takes the direct free kick.
The referee gives a free kick against Byron Harrison for handball. Darren Potter takes the direct free kick.
Corner taken right-footed by Dean Bowditch from the left by-line, clearance made by Will Antwi. Effort from just outside the area by Luke Chadwick goes over the bar.
Will Antwi gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Shaun Williams. David Martin takes the free kick.
The ball is crossed by Jack Midson, clearance made by Dean Lewington. Luke Moore takes a short corner.
Free kick awarded for a foul by Dean Bowditch on Jim Fenlon. Neil Sullivan takes the free kick.
Dean Lewington sends in a cross, Jim Fenlon makes a clearance.
Dean Lewington crosses the ball, Will Antwi manages to make a clearance.
Angelo Balanta has an effort at goal from just outside the box which goes wide of the right-hand upright.
Jim Fenlon concedes a free kick for a foul on Dean Bowditch. Direct free kick taken by Jon Otsemobor.
Unfair challenge on Toby Ajala by Dean Bowditch results in a free kick. Free kick taken by Neil Sullivan.
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Dean Lewington by Jack Midson. Direct free kick taken by Shaun Williams.
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Toby Ajala by Stephen Gleeson. Direct free kick taken by Yado Mambo.
Inswinging corner taken by Stacy Long, Antony Kay manages to make a clearance. Steven Gregory has a volleyed shot. Blocked by Shaun Williams.
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Darren Potter by Jack Midson. A cross is delivered by Darren Potter, Jon Otsemobor takes a shot. Save made by Neil Sullivan. Shaun Williams gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Byron Harrison. Free kick crossed right-footed by Stacy Long, David Martin makes a comfortable save.
Dean Bowditch delivers the ball, clearance by Jim Fenlon.
The ball is delivered by Dean Lewington, Will Antwi makes a clearance.
Unfair challenge on Dean Lewington by Toby Ajala results in a free kick. Dean Lewington restarts play with the free kick.
A cross is delivered by Luke Chadwick, Curtis Osano manages to make a clearance. Effort from just outside the area by Dean Lewington goes over the bar.
The referee starts the match.
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Live text commentary | MK Dons stunned AFC Wimbledon with an injury-time winner to triumph in the first meeting between the sides and book a place in the FA Cup third round. |
40,834,024 | At the World Cup two years ago, a semi-final defeat by Japan was followed by a third-place play-off win over Germany as Mark Sampson's Lionesses left Canada on a high. This time, a last-four defeat by hosts the Netherlands left the players in tears.
Euro 2017 was a tournament that promised much for Sampson and his team, who have delivered record television audiences. But, by their own judgement, and after major investment in the team, losing in the semi-finals is a failure.
So how did the boss and the players rate individually?
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Mark Sampson - 8
Sampson ripped his shirt in anger during the 3-0 defeat by the Netherlands after penalty appeals were ignored by the referee, but it was symptomatic of his frustration overall.
After a £14m investment in women's football from the Football Association and with 21 staff in the Netherlands, Sampson was under pressure to deliver, and admitted England "fell short".
The 34-year-old Welshman used the finest detail to prepare his team but there were question marks over his long ball approach, which was identified and countered by the Netherlands.
And while his selections were largely on-point, his insistence that all his players were "world-class" was misguided as the second string failed to make any telling impression. Choosing Fara Williams in a midfield role for the semi-final defeat might have been his biggest mistake.
He took risks with his pre-match barbs towards opposition managers yet they were soon forgotten once his team had won, especially with a first victory over France in 43 years to reach the semi-finals.
Sampson enhanced his reputation again by becoming the first England boss since Sir Alf Ramsey to reach two successive tournament semi-finals, but it will be of little consolation. And with whispers about another FA role in the pipeline, it may yet be his final tournament with the Lionesses.
Karen Bardsley - 7
Bardsley has been prone to the odd error in recent major tournaments, but she was more solid in the three games she played in the Netherlands and did not concede a goal.
Part of that was down to the defence in front of her, which former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis called the "white wall". Yet she should also take credit for playing with a broken leg for 14 minutes in the win over France, which ended her tournament, before being replaced by Siobhan Chamberlain.
Siobhan Chamberlain - 7
Deputised well for the injured Bardsley, and the England defence seemed to prefer passing back to her given her superior kicking ability. She had little chance with the three goals against the Netherlands and was reliable when called upon against Portugal.
Lucy Bronze - 9
One of England's star performers and the real heartbeat of the team. The right-back was seemingly indefatigable as she combined barnstorming runs forward with goal-line clearances, and her desire to drive the team forward was always evident on the pitch, almost over-spilling at the final whistle against the hosts after her penalty complaints were turned down by the referee.
Bronze would comfortably get into any team in world football, and the only question is whether she would be able to make more of an impact further forward.
Millie Bright - 9
Another player who came away with huge credit, particularly as it was the 23-year-old's tournament debut. She was the only England player to start every game. A throwback centre-half, whose no-nonsense approach dug England out of many holes, Bright provided them with a platform to build on.
The only shame for the Chelsea defender is that she had a legitimate goal ruled out against Spain, and her own goal was the last act of England's tournament. That was totally undeserved, but she will be a rock in the centre of the defence for years to come.
Steph Houghton - 6.5
A mixed tournament for the captain, who was outshone in central defence by her younger partner. At times she looked ponderous, and with a lack of genuine speed, opposition teams such as France were quick to target her. The Manchester City captain also failed to contribute from her free-kicks but showed leadership when England were under threat against Spain and France.
Losing Vivianne Miedema for the Netherlands' opening goal in the semi-final left a lasting impression.
Demi Stokes - 6.5
Another major tournament debutant but, unlike Bright, did not breed confidence at left-back. Stokes is renowned for being a keen gym-goer but at times, it appeared as if her powerful build restricted her speed.
By and large she was solid in defence, but with Bronze bombing down the other side, Stokes contributed little going forward, and perhaps only a recent injury to Alex Greenwood prevented the Liverpool full-back making more starts.
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Jordan Nobbs - 8
Nobbs had a lot of catching up to do after a World Cup in which she was injured and then caused confusion with a Twitter announcement hours before the quarter-final against Canada that an injury had ended her tournament - a post that was then swiftly deleted.
For the most part, she redeemed herself, producing superb performances against Scotland and Spain, before coming on to steady the ship against Portugal. Her influence dipped slightly in the knockout stages but she still formed a brilliant partnership with Bronze down the right flank, which was consistently England's best attacking outlet.
Jade Moore - 8
A real workhorse in the England midfield, Moore was part of the Under-19 team who won the 2009 European Championship and once again proved her pedigree following an impressive 2015 World Cup. Perhaps she lacked a genuine creative presence alongside her but, in terms of breaking up play and feeding others, Moore was a success.
Jill Scott - 7
Sorely missed in the semi-final defeat, where she was replaced by Fara Williams because of suspension. Scott and Moore provide real energy and tenacity to the midfield, hallmarks of Sampson's team. Although the Manchester City midfielder did not score at Euro 2017, she played her part in several goals. It was just a shame she missed England's biggest game of the tournament.
Fara Williams - 6
England's most capped player with 165 appearances only made two starts at Euro 2017 and both coincided with a dip in the team's performance. Williams can still drill a pass 50 yards better than anyone in the team, but her lack of pace means she cannot press for sustained periods and she was pulled apart by her Arsenal team-mate Danielle van de Donk in the semi-final.
Her misguided header led to England's downfall in that game as Van de Donk took advantage to score the Netherlands' second goal, but any thoughts of quitting the national side have been dismissed. "I'll never give up my international career," she says.
Fran Kirby - 7
Kirby is the best player in the team running at defenders, and she showed her finishing instinct with a well-taken goal against Spain. But, as a number 10, she didn't often get a grip on the game and it was left to her team-mates to feed striker Jodie Taylor from deeper areas. Kirby played well in patches but lacked the consistency to be deemed world-class yet. It isn't through lack of talent, though.
Ellen White - 7
Another player who deserves her place in the side because of her workrate. She scored against Scotland and had several chances to add to that against the Netherlands, where she was also denied what appeared a clear penalty. White provided plenty of cover for left-back Stokes and a threat going forward, but maybe she could have been replaced by Toni Duggan earlier in games to freshen up the attack.
Toni Duggan - 7
The Barcelona-bound forward took her chances when they came, with a late goal against Scotland and another against Portugal in her only start, but she would be justified in feeling frustrated at not getting more game time.
Jodie Taylor - 9
An undoubted success. Taylor only made her England debut at the age of 28, and after being injured during the 2015 World Cup - where she scored - she finally made her mark on a major tournament with five goals to make her a shoo-in for the Golden Boot.
She had two good chances to score against the Netherlands, but her historic hat-trick against Scotland and further goals against Spain and France lit up Euro 2017 for England. The team will hope that she remains fit and in form to make a similar impact at the 2019 World Cup in France.
Nikita Parris - 6.5
The Manchester City youngster had a mixed game against Portugal, where she struggled to hold on to the ball in the first half and then scored a fine goal in the second, where the enormity of the occasion made for a charming celebration.
She showed she is far more adept at playing with the ball in front of her, which made it a strange decision that she was picked behind Duggan for the final group game. Lessons were learned in the Netherlands; Parris is one for the future.
Laura Bassett 6
Looked like a defender who hadn't played much competitive football this season, having remained unattached since Notts County Ladies folded on the eve of the Women's Super League Spring Series.
Karen Carney 7
Set up Nobbs for a well-taken volley against Scotland, but was limited to cameo roles in games.
Izzy Christiansen 6
Tipped to break in to the first team at some point during the tournament, but gave the ball away several times in her only start against Portugal.
Alex Greenwood 6
Probably deserved a second chance after a decent showing against Portugal, although failed to find her range from set-pieces after returning from a recent foot injury.
Jo Potter 7
Assured in midfield against Portugal, and added presence in defence when moved back there in the second half.
Alex Scott 6
Only played against Portugal but was never going to replace Bronze unless she was injured. This could be her last tournament.
Casey Stoney - did not play | After inspiring plenty of fans, but falling short of their stated goal of winning the European Championship, England are heading home. |
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