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39,720,232 | The 34-year-old has been fined £30,000 and warned about his future conduct after being charged with breaking FA rules for placing 1,260 bets on matches between 26 March 2006 and 13 May 2016.
Barton said he is addicted to gambling.
He plans to appeal against the length of the suspension, calling it "excessive".
"I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report about my problem - I'm disappointed it wasn't taken into proper consideration," he said.
The midfielder bet on some matches in which he played but he stressed in a statement on his website that "this is not match fixing" and that at "no point in any of this is my integrity in question".
He added: "I accept that I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I do feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players.
"The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement."
Later on Wednesday, Barton tweeted: "Thanks for the many messages of support. I have breached FA rules. I have been honest with the reasons. Many agree the punishment is OTT."
The PFA echoed those sentiments, saying that "sanctions for breaches must always be proportionate".
In a statement, they added: "We hope sufficient weight is given to the sanctions handed down in other cases of a similar nature."
Barton also called on the FA to do more to tackle the culture of gambling in football.
He added: "If the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet."
Players in England's top eight tiers are banned from betting on football but Ladbrokes is an FA partner and 10 Premier League clubs have betting firms as shirt sponsors.
The former Manchester City and Newcastle player rejoined Burnley in January, having left Scottish Premiership side Rangers in November.
In the same month, he was given a one-match ban for breaking Scottish Football Association rules on gambling.
Barton admitted the Scottish FA charge of placing 44 bets between 1 July and 15 September 2016, while he was a player at Ibrox.
Barton said that since 2004, on an account with Betfair, he placed "over 15,000 bets across a whole range of sports" - of which 1,260 were on football - staking an average of £150 per bet.
Between 2004 and 2011 Barton said that he also placed several bets on his own team to lose matches but added he was not involved in the match-day squad in any of those instances.
"I had no more ability to influence the outcome than had I been betting on darts, snooker, or a cricket match in the West Indies," said Barton.
"On some of those occasions, my placing of the bet on my own team to lose was an expression of my anger and frustration at not being picked or being unable to play.
"I have never placed a bet against my own team when in a position to influence the game, and I am pleased that in all of the interviews with the FA, and at the hearing, my integrity on that point has never been in question."
Barton's bets on matches he started include a £3 stake on himself to be first goalscorer for Manchester City against Fulham in a Premier League game in April 2006. Then City team-mate Richard Dunne scored the first goal in a 2-1 defeat.
It is understood that the FA was only made aware of the bets by the betting company in December 2016, which led to its investigation.
The high number of bets has resulted in a detailed and complex investigation and the timing of the charge was not related to Barton rejoining Burnley.
He was expected to have been charged even if he had remained a free agent.
Barton began his career at Manchester City in 2001, joined Newcastle six years later and then signed for QPR in 2011. He had a loan spell with Marseille in France for 12 months, before joining Burnley for the first time in August 2015.
The FA brought in new rules in 2014 banning players and staff at clubs down to as far as the eighth tier of the English men's football pyramid - as well as at clubs in the Women's Super League - from betting on any football match or competition anywhere in the world.
Players and staff are also prohibited from betting on football-related matters, such as player transfers, the employment of managers or team selection.
That outright ban on football-related betting applies to all involved in the game from Premier League level down to - and including - the Northern Premier, Southern and Isthmian Leagues.
Previously, participants were prohibited from betting on a match or competition in which they were involved or which they could influence.
Barton was charged with offences allegedly committed under both the new and old rules.
His Rangers contract was terminated following a training ground row which led to a falling-out with manager Mark Warburton and he played only eight games for the club. | Burnley midfielder Joey Barton has been banned from football for 18 months after admitting a Football Association charge in relation to betting. |
38,185,645 | Mr McKay stood down from the assembly in August over claims he coached a loyalist blogger to give evidence to a Stormont inquiry into Nama.
Nama is the Republic of Ireland's "bad bank", set up to deal with toxic loans after the 2008 property crash.
A Sinn Féin councillor and 17 party activists quit in protest at how Mr McKay had been treated.
In his first broadcast interview since his resignation, Mr McKay said he "regrets nothing".
"People always make mistakes," he told BBC Radio Foyle.
"I think that's important to realise but there's nobody out there who hasn't made a mistake in their work or life.
"I moved on from all this the day after I resigned and I think most of the public have moved on from this as well, so I don't dwell on it and I don't think there's any need to dwell on it."
A spokesperson for the party said: "Daithí McKay served as a Sinn Féin MLA from 2007 to 2016 and was a talented and respected public representative.
"He acknowledged that he made a serious error of judgement over his involvement with loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson and took the correct decision to stand down as an MLA.
"His membership of Sinn Féin was also suspended at this time.
"He has now decided to leave Sinn Féin and we wish him well in the future." | The former North Antrim MLA Daithí McKay has revealed he has quit Sinn Féin. |
29,355,027 | But I am actually sitting in a New York hotel room, just a few blocks up - and a hundred lines of security away - from the United Nations.
I could be writing this from the press area at the UN on the East River, but to be honest the internet connectivity is what you might expect in a developing world village, not the epicentre of the global village.
I hope the 180 or so presidents and prime ministers are finding it easier to communicate with each other. So I have retreated to my room, and on the TV the US president has started chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council.
I am struck by the topsy-turvy nature of this presidency. It started with him being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for which he had done nothing, and is ending with him committing to precisely the sort of military action that he had so studiously sought to avoid.
The critique of Barack Obama is that he is the commander-in-chief who wishes that he wasn't, that he's dithered over military action.
I've heard former generals argue that if only he'd done this a couple of years ago, the incubator that has allowed Islamic State to grow would have been shut off.
And the other much vaunted criticism is Mr Obama does not listen to advice. His cabal is small and tight, and if you are on the outside, your voice will not be heard.
One former senior Obama administration official confessed to feeling schadenfreude when he heard the US president had had to call in the grandees of yesteryear to advise on how to tackle Islamic State (IS).
But having listened and pondered (arguably too long) and defined a strategy, there is a clarity of thinking on IS.
On Wednesday, Mr Obama was passionate - these were people beyond the reach of rationality and diplomacy.
"No god condones this terror," he said. "No grievance justifies these actions. There can be no reasoning, no negotiation with this brand of evil.
"The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. So the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death."
Yes, munitions have rained down on IS targets. But what Mr Obama and his administration have sought to do is put in place something more than just a plan of military attack.
The US treasury department is working on staunching the pipeline of money that is keeping IS awash with cash.
The session of the Security Council that the president is chairing now is all about stopping the foreign fighters going to fight in the Middle East, but Mr Obama also urged Muslim communities to challenge the corruption of young minds by violent ideology.
But perhaps the most significant thing this reluctant warrior has done is assemble a broad-based coalition. Forty countries at the moment, but rising all the time. And most significantly, he has brought in several Arab countries to fly alongside US jets.
This allows the US president to say to the international community the strikes are not America acting as global policeman. It allows him to say to his domestic doubters, this is not going to be another war where tens of thousands of American soldiers are bogged down in a protracted, morale-sapping conflict.
He said he wanted the world to unite in this battle. And it just might. | Seeing as this is my first blog post since becoming North America editor, I feel I should be writing this from the midst of some important historic event. |
37,084,240 | Kelly Turner, 16, from Dover, Kent was diagnosed with desmoplastic small round cell tumour in 2015 and has been told she has two years to live.
Her family is trying to raise £1m to pay for specialist treatment in the US.
The cash was raised at Adams' concert at Kent County Cricket Club's ground in Canterbury on Saturday.
Canadian star Adams posted on his Facebook page: "People power!
"Last night we did something different at the Canterbury concert.
"We passed a bin around between the audience and the band, and spontaneously raised around £10,000 for 16-year-old Kelly Turner who is suffering from a rare form of cancer.
"The bin came back twice!
"I'm so proud of the audience tonight."
Kelly has been receiving chemotherapy at the the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, south London but her family wants to take her to New York for surgery at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.
So far they have raised £102,309 of their £1,000,000 target on JustGiving.
Last month a charity box set up to help raise money was stolen from a newsagent's in Hythe, Kent.
An anonymous donor who regularly uses the shop later gave £100 towards the appeal and the shop's owner Mikin Patel said he would match the amount. | Singer Bryan Adams has helped raise £10,000 for a teenager with a rare form of cancer after a collection bucket was passed round the audience at a concert. |
12,344,261 | In future all airlines flying to and from destinations in the EU will have to transfer passenger data to national authorities on request, the plan says.
The US, Canada and Australia already get such data from the EU.
The European Commission proposals will be studied by the European Parliament and EU governments before becoming law.
The Commission stresses that stringent safeguards will be in place to protect privacy, in line with European human rights standards.
"Common EU rules are necessary to fight serious crime such as drug smuggling and people trafficking as well as terrorism, and to ensure that passengers' privacy is respected and their rights fully protected in all member states," said the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmstroem.
The proposals are likely to be amended - perhaps substantially - as lengthy negotiations will take place before they become law.
Last year Euro MPs got extra privacy safeguards incorporated into a deal allowing US anti-terror investigators to check data on European bank transactions.
In the new airline data package the Commission proposes that: | The EU plans to expand transfers of air passenger data in a drive to prevent terrorism and other serious crimes such as drug trafficking. |
40,025,243 | They cater to different audiences and sometimes take conflicting editorial and political stances when reporting the same events.
But today is one of those rare days in which they stand, like the rest of the UK, united in sympathy for the families of the children and young people killed in the Manchester attack.
The angelic face of Saffie Rose Roussos shines out from the front pages of each of the papers.
The heartbreaking news of the eight-year-old's death emerged yesterday.
She is the youngest known victim of the suicide bombing.
"Children weren't just victims - they were the targets," reads the headline in the Irish News.
"I have two daughters of my own and remember well the drama of taking them to their first concerts," writes Allison Morris, who was in Manchester yesterday.
"The chatter in the car - the highlight of their wee lives to that point.
"For those who attended Monday's concert there was no cheerful journey home, only a night of terror that will stay with them forever."
Inside, there's the news that venues in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are tightening security, including the 3Arena in Dublin, where Ariana Grande performed two nights before her Manchester gig was bombed.
The paper quotes a tweet from someone who was at that gig: "I was at Ariana's Dublin show and it was so full of children too. It's hard to think about the terror endured. So sad."
Both the Belfast Telegraph and the News Letter carry pictures of both Saffie Rose and Georgina Callander, who was another victim of the attack.
The Belfast Telegraph's front page story begins with the news that troops are to be deployed onto UK streets and that the terror threat has been raised to its highest level - critical.
This means that another attack could be imminent.
It reports that security was stepped up last night at a Brian Cox show at Belfast's SSE Arena and also shows pictures from a vigil in Belfast.
Inside, there are the stories of arena workers from Northern Ireland who were caught up in the terror attack.
Andy Breslin, 26, was working in a bar and said he was convinced a gun attack was imminent when he heard the blast.
"I got my staff around the back of the bar, locked the door and turned off the lights," he said.
"Britain on red alert for another terror attack," reads the front page of the News Letter.
It also reports on how the atrocity has curtailed what was already a shorter-than-normal start to election campaigning in Northern Ireland.
Politicians here followed the main British parties in suspending campaigning yesterday as a mark of respect to the victims - and tonight's leaders' debate has been called off.
"Electoral weariness among many politicians, the media and the public has contributed... unlike Labour the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, whose manifestos were all launched last week, only one manifesto has been launched in Northern Ireland - Sinn Féin's on Monday."
A spokesperson for UTV told the News Letter: "Following consultation with the larger parties... we have decided to postpone recording of the UTV General Election debate."
Politicians here were among those to sign a book of condolence for the victims of the Manchester attack - but Sinn Féin's northern leader, Michelle O'Neill, is criticised in one of the News Letter's letters to the editor today.
"If Michelle O'Neill is genuinely concerned for the people of Manchester then... there is something that may bring a level of healing that she could do - apologise unreservedly to the people of Manchester for the IRA's attacks on the city in 1993 and 1996," it reads. | More often than not the papers in this review have different stories on their front pages. |
38,539,336 | John Akinde gave Barnet the lead after just 13 minutes with his 18th league goal of the season, pouncing on Niall Mason's back-pass.
But the league leaders were level almost immediately when Matty Blair split the Bees defence with a low cross and James Coppinger finished to equalise with 18 minutes on the clock.
Akinde might have put Barnet back in front when he attempted to round the keeper for the second time, but it was Rovers who took the lead.
John Marquis stabbed the ball home to end an almighty goalmouth scramble in the 28th minute and give Rovers the lead before Coppinger curled the ball into the bottom corner three minutes later.
Interim Barnet boss Rossi Eames threw on Simeon Akinola and Nana Kyei after the break but it was to no avail.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Barnet 1, Doncaster Rovers 3.
Second Half ends, Barnet 1, Doncaster Rovers 3.
Attempt missed. Jordan Houghton (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
Michael Nelson (Barnet) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Michael Nelson (Barnet).
John Marquis (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Ricardo Santos (Barnet).
Alfie May (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Doncaster Rovers. Alfie May replaces Andy Williams.
Substitution, Doncaster Rovers. Paul Keegan replaces James Coppinger.
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Elliot Johnson.
Foul by Elliot Johnson (Barnet).
John Marquis (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Substitution, Doncaster Rovers. Joe Wright replaces Mathieu Baudry because of an injury.
Attempt blocked. Nana Kyei (Barnet) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Jordan Houghton (Doncaster Rovers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
David Tutonda (Barnet) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Jordan Houghton (Doncaster Rovers).
Attempt saved. Ricardo Santos (Barnet) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
John Akinde (Barnet) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Andy Butler (Doncaster Rovers).
Attempt saved. Andy Williams (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Simeon Akinola (Barnet) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jordan Houghton (Doncaster Rovers).
Substitution, Barnet. David Tutonda replaces Harry Taylor.
Attempt missed. Tommy Rowe (Doncaster Rovers) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high.
Mauro Vilhete (Barnet) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Mauro Vilhete (Barnet).
Niall Mason (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Jack Taylor.
Attempt missed. James Coppinger (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from the right side of the box is just a bit too high.
John Akinde (Barnet) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Mathieu Baudry (Doncaster Rovers).
Corner, Doncaster Rovers. Conceded by Michael Nelson.
Substitution, Barnet. Simeon Akinola replaces Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
Substitution, Barnet. Nana Kyei replaces Tom Champion.
Foul by John Akinde (Barnet).
Andy Butler (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Andy Williams (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high.
Foul by Curtis Weston (Barnet). | Doncaster came from behind to stay four points clear at the top of League Two, beating Barnet 3-1 at the Hive. |
36,779,116 | Contador pulled out of the Tour during Sunday's ninth stage and says his recovery will take four weeks. The Olympic road race begins on 6 August.
"To reach them in optimal condition looks like it will not be possible," said Contador.
He is now targeting the Vuelta a Espana on 20 August for his comeback. | Spain's Alberto Contador has ruled himself out of the Rio Olympics after injury forced him to withdraw from the Tour de France. |
40,205,691 | It follows raids across Conwy county on Tuesday and Wednesday, in an operation led by Dyfed-Powys Police.
The men all face class A heroin and cocaine drug conspiracy offences at Aberystwyth Magistrates' Court.
The police said the arrests were "part of an ongoing" operation.
In total, eight people have been arrested over the two days, five of them in the Llandudno Junction area.
Police said one of the men charged was from Colwyn Bay, while the other Welsh suspect lived in Penmaenmawr. | Two men from north Wales and three from Liverpool are in court after being charged as part of a drug trafficking investigation. |
25,433,594 | Each member of a household will have to register to vote individually to help cut fraud.
At the moment, the "head of the household" supplies details of other people living at the address.
The Electoral Commission welcomed the announcement by minister Greg Clark, saying it would "lead to a more secure electoral register".
But Labour called for the new system to be put on hold over concerns some voters will be left out.
In a written ministerial statement, constitution and cities minister Greg Clark said the new system would replace the "outdated" current system with "a secure, modern way to register to vote".
"People will be individually registered, with their identity being confirmed either automatically, through a check against existing government databases, or by submitting their date of birth and national insurance number, or if this is not available, other approved evidence.
"Initial testing has established that over three quarters of voters will automatically be included in the electoral register without any requirement to fill in a form.
"It will be possible, for the first time, to make an online application to be on the electoral register."
People who are on the electoral register but who have not registered to vote under the new system will still be able to cast a ballot in elections, including the 2015 general election under transitional arrangements.
Shadow minister for constitutional reform Stephen Twigg said: "The importance of the issue of voter registration cannot be underestimated.
"The implementation of the Individual Electoral Register is the biggest change to the way we enable people to vote since the introduction of the universal franchise. It's also how we organise jury service, a key civic function that must be representative of our whole population.
"The government are rushing ahead with implementation when there remain serious concerns that some groups will be left out.
"Currently, 8.7 million of the electorate are on course to fall off the register. We have called on the government to delay these changes and to set up a cross-party group to monitor progress during the transition." | Individual voter registration for British elections will come into force as planned in June 2014, ministers say. |
40,189,120 | Smith originally joined Wrexham in 2014 but moved to Gateshead in May 2016 after being released by former Dragons boss Gary Mills.
The 28-year-old scored five goals in 47 games for Gateshead, who have agreed to cancel his contract.
"Fans here know what he's about and I'm looking forward to working with him," Wrexham manager Dean Keates said.
"In his first season here, he didn't miss a minute of any game. So for the club and the squad we are building, it's massive to have another character like Manny."
Gateshead said they had cancelled the Halesowen-based player's contract early due to family reasons.
"It was an incredibly tough decision to let a player like Manny leave the Gateshead under such circumstances," the club said in a statement.
"We'd like to thank him for his fine contributions to the club and wish him the very best for the future." | Wrexham have re-signed defender Manny Smith on a two-year contract from fellow National League club Gateshead. |
35,586,970 | Callard, who spoke to the BBC as part of the In The Mind mental health season, described collapsing on the soap's set in 2009 after feeling unwell for 18 months.
"I knew I wasn't myself and I knew I wasn't firing on all cylinders," says the actress, who plays Liz McDonald in the soap.
"I just didn't think anyone like me would have [depression] because I'm a strong, feisty female."
She added that, prior to her collapse, she would get dressed to go out but then suddenly "didn't want to socialise".
"Because, first of all you feel unlovable - not that you're unloved," she continued.
"And you also find it difficult to love anybody else because you are in this black hole but you can't get yourself out of it."
She first collapsed while driving to the Coronation Street studios in Manchester in 2009 but said she "waited till I felt better, didn't tell anyone - then got back in my car".
"I drove to work at 6.30am and filmed till 8.20pm that night, and then I collapsed."
Medical staff told her that her "body had just gone on shutdown", she says, an indication she had ignored the symptoms for too long.
"I think clinical depression is a curse of the strong - I think you tend to be a people-pleaser, and a perfectionist. If something goes wrong, you try and remedy it yourself and, of course, you can't make yourself better," she says.
As a result of delaying treatment, she became a patient at The Priory centre in London - where she underwent the course of electroconvulsive therapy [ECT] having "left it far too late" for anti-depressants to work.
Her husband Jon McEwan had to give consent for the ECT - where an electric current is sent through the brain, triggering an epileptic fit that helps relieve severe depression - as she was not then considered by staff to be able to make a decision.
"The whole thing is frightening but it can make people better," she says.
"I had to undergo 12 of those [sessions] and then of course you lose your short-term memory.
"So, then I would think I'll never be able to do my job again… Jon virtually became my carer for a while and so he lost his own identity as well."
He trained as a counsellor to support her and explained the condition's impact was "all-consuming" for their family, including their children.
"I had no experience of depression in any way," he said. "I'm ex-Army - very much 'adapt and overcome'.
"I think the big thing is it's good to talk, and you should always talk... The help is out there, but you have to seek it out, it won't come to you."
Callard, who is now an ambassador for the mental health charity Mind, said: "For the first six months out of hospital, I couldn't write my own name."
She still takes medication, adding: "I occasionally fight the demons but, more often than not, I'm doing very well."
Stephen Buckley, head of information for Mind, said a "combination of therapies" often works best.
"It's important to remember that people can and do make a full recovery from depression," he said.
Callard said the response from colleagues was "amazing" but remembers a person "way behind the scenes" suggest she should not take part in the live episodes marking the soap's 50th anniversary in case she became "flaky and unreliable".
"Anybody who really knows me knows I'm not flaky and unreliable - even on the day I collapsed I was still filming till 8 o'clock at night but some people don't understand," she said.
A ITV spokeswoman said the organisation took "their duty of care as an employer extremely seriously" and would "always strive to help any employee who is suffering from ill health or is dealing with personal issues".
Callard welcomes NHS England's plan to commit £1bn extra a year by 2020 to mental health but has criticised the practice of sending patients to hospitals away from where they live.
"I get letters from people whose relatives have been taken to Sunderland or Plymouth or Portsmouth and how can they get better when they are away from their family," she says.
Monday's report from NHS England said it has been "sending people out of area for acute inpatient care" because of local bed pressures, which it hopes to eliminate by 2021.
When it comes to coping with depression, the actress advises talking to loved ones and a GP.
"You can get better and you will get better - given the right help. I think you've got to come round to the idea that you've got to be strong enough to ask for help and that's hard."
Source: Mind | Soap actress Beverley Callard has described depression as the "curse of the strong" after revealing she underwent electroconvulsive therapy to treat her own symptoms. |
37,243,211 | 1 September 2016 Last updated at 09:24 BST
Forty robots entered the competition and after six weeks of battles, just one emerged victorious.
We went to meet the team behind mean-machine Apollo to find out what made it a winner. | Robot Wars reached it's epic conclusion on August 28. |
32,150,374 | He met shepherds and hill farmers and those who are trying to help find sustainable ways of living high in the fells.
Among them were members of the Herdwick Project - an initiative designed to raise the profile of Herdwick Meat and to encourage wider trade links.
Later he spent more than an hour talking to local employers at the Westmorland County showground and praised the work of the organisers.
He ended the day with a visit to furniture maker Peter Hall and Son in Staveley near Kendal. | The Prince of Wales has been in Cumbria meeting people who make a living from some of the most remote parts of the county. |
34,735,063 | This is what he said. And, to be clear, I gave his remarks prominence here because the Bank of England was wholly unambiguous about the weight we should attach to them.
Admittedly he couched it as the Monetary Policy Committee's meeting in just a few weeks would be the decision-making moment of truth. He never actually said there was a racing certainty of rates rising.
But the implication was unambiguous: we should prepare for the end of the era of near-zero interest rates, that has prevailed since early 2009.
Well today the Bank of England gave an equally unambiguous signal that the moment of truth for an interest rate rise has been delayed by ten or 12 months, to the latter months of 2016.
Which is why I today asked the Bank's governor whether he regretted conditioning us for a tiny rate rise in coming weeks that will now not materialise.
He said he didn't, for two reasons.
First he said he was speaking only for himself, and of course he is only one vote on the MPC, the body that sets rates.
And second, the serious weakening of half the world's economies - China and emerging markets - has dampened UK prices and global growth prospects more than most supposed experts, including those at the Bank, had expected.
Or, by implication, he would like us to excuse him, because we can't hold him accountable for events, thousands of miles away in Asia, well beyond the influence of a British central bank.
Those external events mean inflation, currently slightly negative, will - the Bank thinks - stay one percentage point or more below the official target of 2% well into the back end of next year.
And on the basis of market expectations of interest rates not rising also till the back end of 2016, inflation is not forecast to return to 2% until the end of 2017.
In other words, and to paraphrase master Yoda, bonkers it would be to raise interest rates in December, or January, or February - or not for some considerable time.
The reason I mention Yoda is that central bank governors, like Jedi masters, are supposed to be infallible.
Maybe that is a ludicrous conceit in this age of institutional transparency.
But for City traditionalists, Mark Carney's predilection for giving so-called "forward guidance", which seems to date to have habitually gone awry, may have damaged his authority a bit.
And another thing.
We are a nation of obsessives about the value of our homes and the mortgage rates we pay.
So a good number of people will have chased supposedly cheap and never-to-be-repeated remortgaging deals after Mr Carney's apparent warning that it would soon call time on free money.
Some of those taking out new fixed-rate mortgages may have incurred refinancing costs earlier than strictly necessary. | Mark Carney gave what many would see as a bum steer in July that interest rates would be going up around the turn of the year. |
35,808,738 | Defence officials said Omar Shishani died from injuries sustained in a recent US air strike in north-eastern Syria.
Earlier reports had suggested Shishani, a Georgian whose real name was Tarkhan Batirashvili, may have survived the attack on a convoy.
Several of his bodyguards were killed in the same bombing.
The strike took place on 4 March near the north-eastern town of Shaddadi, where Shishani had reportedly been sent to bolster local IS forces.
A Pentagon spokesman confirmed to the BBC that the latest assessment was that "he is dead".
On Sunday, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the IS leader had been "clinically dead" for several days.
Last year, the US offered a $5m (£3.5m) reward for Shishani.
It said he had held numerous senior military positions within the group, including "minister of war".
Last week, the observatory's director, Rami Abdul Rahman, quoted sources saying that Shishani had been badly wounded and had been taken to a hospital in Raqqa province where he was treated by "a jihadist doctor of European origin".
US officials have said they believe Shishani was sent to the Shaddadi area to reinforce IS militants following a series of military defeats.
Shaddadi was captured last month by the Syrian Arab Coalition, an alliance of Arab rebel groups which joined forces with the Kurdish YPG militia to battle IS. | A senior commander of so-called Islamic State (IS) is dead, the Pentagon has confirmed. |
17,264,442 | Although there had been previous warnings linking smoking and lung cancer, it was the 1962 study by the Royal College of Physicians, Smoking and Health, that really broke through to the public and politicians.
Attitudes in the intervening 50 years have changed enormously.
But in 1962, very few people took the dangers posed by smoking cigarettes seriously.
That view is captured perfectly by some footage from the BBC archive, a report on the Tonight programme into the RCP study.
One man who says he smokes between 20 and 25 cigarettes a day is - by today's standards - amazingly fatalistic.
"Quite honestly, I think that the end of one's life is probably more in the hands of almighty God you know, than in my own hands or the hands of the tobacco manufacturers."
The reporter asks another man whether the enjoyment he gets from smoking is worth the risk.
"I think so, yes. If I'm going to die, I'm going to die, so I might as well enjoy life as it is now."
Watching the footage now, it seems impossible that people could have been so blase about the risks smoking poses to their health.
The 1962 RCP report was launched in a blaze of publicity, using what was then a new technique - the press conference.
But the report's authors needed to be innovative to get their message across to a public - and politicians - who probably didn't want to hear it.
After all, most of them were smokers
In 1962, about 70% of men and 40% of women in the UK smoked.
And they smoked everywhere - on trains and buses, at work, even in schools and hospitals.
Fast forward 50 years and how times have changed.
The busy street outside the pub or office is now the smokers' domain.
And today about 21% of men and women smoke.
Smoking has become a minority occupation.
Prof John Britton, chair of the the present-day RCP's tobacco advisory group and director of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, says the 1962 report has had a lasting legacy.
How does smoking affect health?
How long does it take to suffer withdrawal symptoms?
"Modern tobacco control policy as promoted by the World Health Organization and used internationally, is really based on recommendations that are in that report.
"So 50 years later we're still, in many countries in the world, just starting to deal with recommendations that were made there.
"It really set the scene for effective tobacco policy and led the world."
The landscape changed profoundly and relatively quickly.
In 1965, cigarette advertising on television was banned in the UK while in 1971 health warnings appeared on cigarette packets.
Further restrictions followed, culminating in the ban on smoking in enclosed public places like bars, pubs and restaurants, introduced in 2006 in Scotland and the following year in the rest of the UK.
But there has been a social change in smoking too, says Dr Penny Tinkler of the University of Manchester.
"If you go back to the 60s for men, it was cross-class, and for women, it was cross-class but with particular emphasis among those who were comfortably off.
"It's really shifted over the decades in terms of who is smoking so now instead of being associated with affluence, it's more associated with disadvantage.
"In part it's because people who can afford to give up, or people who have a better quality of life, can give up.
"It's always been harder to give up if things have been difficult so it's not surprising those people in difficult circumstances are less inclined to give up."
Smokers, once comfortably in the majority, now find themselves on the outside.
A small group huddled in front of a Manchester office block reflected the feeling among many smokers that they are now marginalised.
"Sometimes you do feel a bit of an outcast if you're out in a restaurant or in a pub or something," said one woman.
"I'm not happy, I'm not proud of it. I won't encourage my children to do it - I go outside at home," said her colleague.
How alien those views would have seemed to the smokers of the 1960s.
But more change is coming.
From next month tobacco products will be banned from public display in big supermarkets. Ministers are seriously considering plain packaging for cigarettes.
And 50 years on, tobacco still has a powerful hold over millions of lives. | Fifty years ago on Tuesday, a key report was published that marked the beginning of a change in our relationship with smoking. |
36,576,957 | Mitch Claydon caused havoc in the afternoon session on day two with a hostile three-wicket spell as Glamorgan slumped to 137-6.
But Wagg (83) and Meschede (78) launched a counter-attack, adding 160 for the seventh wicket.
Claydon completed his five-wicket haul late in the innings, before Kent reached 10-0 at the close.
There were also five victims for Kent wicketkeeper Adam Rouse, a late call-up.
The partnership between Wagg and Meschede was a record for Glamorgan's seventh wicket against Kent, beating the previous mark of 107 between Arthur Francis and Eifion Jones in 1982.
Meanwhile, David Lloyd provided a Championship rarity as he got off the mark with a hooked six off Claydon with the first ball he faced.
Glamorgan all-rounder Graham Wagg told BBC Wales Sport:
"We were under pressure with six down but they went off their strategy of line and length, and it did give us a few scoring options- we had to put the bad ball away, and Meschy (Craig Meschede) played really well.
"Disappointed not to get three figures, it was quite a loose shot, but at the start of the day we would have bitten their hand off to be in this position.
"There's plenty in that wicket, plenty of seam movement, and I think if we bowl as partnerships, there's ten wickets to be taken." | Graham Wagg and Craig Meschede salvaged Glamorgan's innings as they reached a respectable score of 351 against Kent. |
39,293,910 | Neither the government nor the Irish police had taken "any meaningful steps" to help the inquest, said a lawyer for the group.
Instead, he argued, they had paid "mere lip service" to the idea of handing over information about the murders.
Ten Protestant workmen were killed in the attack in January 1976.
Speaking at a preliminary hearing , the lawyer said: "The system that has been established to deal with this aspect of legacy in Northern Ireland is being obstructed by the failure of the Irish Republic to do anything meaningful to assist."
He said the apparent difficulty in getting information from the south stood in contrast to the apparent ease with which the gang was able to cross the border and escape 40 years ago.
"That soft border which allowed that has been replaced by a hard border of failing to provide meaningful cooperation and disclosure to the inquest.
"The entire intelligence framework, the information concerning the suspect, information relating to weapons, issues relating to the palm print, those are just a few matters that we would certainly be wanting more information."
Karen Armstrong, who lost her brother in the attack, said the families were in no doubt that there was much more information to be handed over.
Most of the small number of documents which have been provided are newspaper cuttings.
Mrs Armstrong said: "There are two scenes there. It's where the van was hijacked and also where the gang escaped to over the border.
"So they have more material, undoubtedly."
Another preliminary hearing is due to be held next month with the inquest itself set to resume in May. | Relatives of men killed in the Kingsmills massacre have accused Republic of Ireland authorities of failing them in the search for justice. |
33,546,194 | A terrific new exhibition has opened in Washington DC's National Museum of American History, and in it, a section dedicated to the area on the US west coast which is synonymous with cutting-edge technology.
The display details the trailblazing chip companies blending with hippy counter-culture to make the ideal mix for innovation and entrepreneurship to thrive.
It was this secret sauce - pushed on by military investment and subsidies for companies making technology that helped the US armed forces - that provided the spark for the biggest and most powerful technology hub in the world.
But for how long?
"San Francisco, centre of the universe," said Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, as we sat down to film a BBC interview that will air soon.
"Rome also felt like that one day. Everything has a time."
He's perhaps slightly biased - Microsoft is based in Seattle, not San Francisco - but he does share the sentiment of many who wonder if the elements that made Silicon Valley happen no longer exist.
"You should go to Shanghai," Mr Nadella said, on my first day in the new job. Ah.
But Silicon Valley has a track record of keeping things going strong. The late nineties dotcom crash hit the companies here hard, but many - like Amazon and Cisco - are still here, surpassing all valuation expectations.
Here, the talk is of "unicorns", start-ups that are valued at more than $1bn. How this is judged is as mysterious as the unicorn itself - it's not about profit, just simply how much money others are willing to throw at a company.
Calling these firms unicorns is perhaps pretty apt - their numbers are often complete fantasy, built on excitement and buzz and not much else. But still the money comes, fuelled by a paranoia here of missing the "next Facebook" (although these days they're more likely to say the "next Snapchat").
Warnings of another crash have been in the air ever since the last one - but those fears haven't been realised.
More likely is that Silicon Valley will be a victim of its own success - products created here have given us the ability to communicate and work over long distances better than ever before. Geographical location is becoming somewhat irrelevant.
And so other parts of the world are muscling in, and have been for some time. There's Berlin, Tel Aviv, and New York, to name a few. London finds itself with an advantage given the proximity of its tech hub, in east London, to the City of London and its bankers. No wonder the British government is putting extra effort into supporting the development of financial technology - Fintech.
And then of course there's China - a place that is increasingly turning to technology design and innovation rather than simply manufacturing.
But not so fast.
Never a place to be outdone, Silicon Valley is again heading in a new direction. Some of the most exciting, and indeed terrifying, innovations are being worked on here. It's the testing bed for driverless cars, for new types of trains, for robotics.
It's a place that is perhaps slowly learning to laugh at itself, shedding some of its image as somewhere that operates in a different reality. HBO's sitcom, Silicon Valley, has nailed the "it's funny because it's true" approach.
Silicon Valley will be in good health as long as good people with good ideas flock here.
"The American sense of hope and enthusiasm is extremely contagious and when you're beginning your start-up you're trying to pull off the impossible," said Robyn Exton, a Brit who took her start-up, Her, to San Francisco in 2015.
I'd met Robyn in 2014 at a London tech event, where she was trying to get her lesbian dating app, then called Dattch, off the ground. Even with London's efforts in building its start-up scene, it's a sign of Silicon Valley's continued power that means people like Robyn will continue to make the move.
This is, if you hadn't noticed, a rather elaborate way of welcoming you to this blog - a place where I'll be covering the twists and turns of the technology industry in North America. Based in the beating heart of it all, San Francisco.
For while there are contenders for Silicon Valley's crown, there's still no place quite like it.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC | Silicon Valley didn't happen by accident. |
38,220,167 | Among other offers, punters at Yarmouth Stadium will be charged just five pence for their first pint of beer at Wednesday's meeting.
The Norfolk stadium has bucked the national trend of greyhound stadium closures over recent years.
The number of venues in England has dropped from around 80 to 25 over the past 65 years
Well-known venues such as Harringay, Walthamstow and White City are among those to have shut their door.
But Yarmouth owner Stephen Franklin believes the sport is again gaining a growing audience.
He said: "Races starting in the mornings and being streamed for an international audience and online betting will lead to more future success."
Yarmouth Stadium has provided a livelihood for four generations of the Franklin family.
Built in 1939, just a handful of races were held before World War Two - but on 7 December 1946, the crowds flocked back for its first proper meet.
The year also saw the launch of the first East Anglian greyhound derby, the competition rapidly evolving to be a 'must win' event.
The prize money for this year's race was £12,000, considerably more than in 1947.
Speedway also became part of the sporting mix in 1949 and when the Yarmouth Bloaters team raced against Coventry in a league meeting it was watched by 11,000 spectators, according to records.
Non league speedway gave way to stock car racing in 1963 and races are still held at the stadium today on the tarmac raceway.
The 1960s proved to be a pivotal time for greyhound and horse racing after High Street betting shops were licensed.
Stephen Franklin said their rapid growth saw punters move away from racecourses and into the shops.
Mr Franklin said "without the financial support of a levy on bets placed in the betting shops, which were given to horse racing, more greyhound tracks succumbed to property developers."
He added that temptation to sell is not really there for the Yarmouth Stadium as the site is on marshes and is not prime development land.
The 1970s brought several changes including the refinement of sand racecourses. Originally racing took place on grass.
New rules were adopted at Yarmouth in 1975 under the auspices of the National Greyhound Racing Club, now known as the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
Holiday makers were the back bone of the business then and today Yarmouth Stadium is still one of the town's biggest evening attractions.
Improved bar and restaurant facilities were part of an 80s re-vamp while the 1990s saw the introduction of the hare system developed in nearby Swaffham and now virtually universal in Britain and Ireland.
In 1999 the family set up Homefinders for retired greyhounds and Mr Franklin says this is of great pride to him having begun his career tending the dogs.
He is still involved with the business but has handed over day-to-day running to his sons Justin and Simon.
Today his grand-daughter Paige is keeping it a family affair and is the fourth generation working for the business in its 270 seat restaurant and executive lounges which Mr Franklin says has made a huge difference to the stadium's success as an entertainment venue.
Racing at Yarmouth saw a first in 2007 when Sky Sports asked it to host the Television Trophy, a marathon race originated on the BBC.
It was also the start of a contract to broadcast races live to betting shops.
Looking ahead to the next 70 years Mr Franklin envisages more digital involvement if greyhound racing to continue to succeed.
But he believes the uniqueness of the seaside town will still attract punters looking for live interactive entertainment. | A greyhound stadium is charging 1946 prices to celebrate its 70th anniversary. |
32,380,223 | Sections of sites owned by the European Union, the BBC and Wikipedia currently fail the search giant's Mobile Friendly Test developer tool.
"Mobile friendliness" will affect how prominently websites appear in Google search results pages from 21 April.
Criteria includes text size, the amount of space between links and whether the content fits across a mobile screen.
A Google representative said mobile friendliness was "one of many" factors used by the search engine to rank results, but in a blog post the company said it would have "a significant impact" on search results.
"As people increasingly search on their mobile devices, we want to make sure they can find content that's not only relevant and timely, but also easy to read and interact with on smaller mobile screens," the representative said.
Google is also offering developer tools for making websites compliant with the mobile-friendly guidelines.
Kevin Dallas, chief product officer at global payment processor Worldpay eCommerce, welcomed the changes.
"This move by Google should send a message to companies whose websites are poorly configured for smartphone users that optimising for mobile is no longer a matter of choice," he said.
"This is particularly relevant for online retailers."
The BBC said that while its bbc.co.uk domain failed the test, mobile users would soon be automatically redirected to a mobile version of the site, m.bbc.co.uk, which did pass the test, and was responsive, meaning it should adapt to fit the device on which it is being accessed.
The EU and Wikipedia have also been contacted by the BBC for comment.
The European Union's home page appears to be the only part of its site to currently fail the test.
Google clashed with the EU last week when European Union competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced a complaint had been filed against Google over alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
Google has denied the allegations, which include promoting links to its own shopping services above those of rivals. | Google is updating its search algorithms to favour websites that work well on mobile devices. |
35,741,360 | With 91% of the vote counted, Vermont Senator Mr Sanders is polling 64%, while former Secretary of State Mrs Clinton has 36%.
In the Republican race, Marco Rubio easily won Puerto Rico's primary, beating billionaire Donald Trump.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump remain overall leaders in the nomination campaigns.
Sunday night saw Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders clash on a number of issues in a CNN-hosted debate in Michigan.
They traded accusations on economy and trade, with Mrs Clinton saying her rival voted against a bailout of the US car industry in 2009.
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"I went with them. You did not. If everybody had voted the way he [Sanders] did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking four million jobs with it," Mrs Clinton said.
Mr Sanders countered by saying: "I will be damned if it was the working people of this country who have to bail out the crooks on Wall Street."
Bernie Sanders has rarely been so aggressive, losing his calm a few times on the debate stage. He attacked Hillary Clinton as a long-term supporter of free trade and talked about her friends in Wall Street who destroyed the economy.
She criticised him for not supporting the bailout that helped save the automobile industry, describing him as a one-issue candidate.
The debate took place in Flint, Michigan, which is facing a public health emergency because of lead-tainted water. The state will hold its primary on Tuesday.
Mr Sanders described the measures taken at the time as "the Wall Street bailout where some of your [Mrs Clinton's] friends destroyed this economy".
In Saturday's round of voting, Mr Sanders took two states - Kansas and Nebraska - but Mrs Clinton maintained her Democratic front-runner status after a big victory in Louisiana.
While the win in Puerto Rico - a US territory - will boost Florida Senator Mr Rubio's campaign, it sends just 23 delegates to the Republican convention which nominates a presidential candidate.
Republican hopefuls need the votes of 1,237 delegates to get the nod for the presidential race proper.
Mr Rubio still trails well behind Mr Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Speaking after wins in the Republican Kentucky caucuses and Louisiana primary vote on Saturday, Mr Trump told a news conference: "I would love to take on Ted Cruz one on one."
"Marco Rubio had a very very bad night and personally I call for him to drop out of the race. I think it's time now that he dropped out of the race. I really think so."
Meanwhile, Texas Senator Mr Cruz - who won Republican caucuses in Kansas and Maine - said he believed that "as long as the field remains divided, it gives Donald an advantage".
The full primary calendar | Bernie Sanders has beaten Hillary Clinton in the Maine caucuses, the latest contest in the battle to be the Democratic presidential candidate. |
37,029,507 | Both leaders expressed dissatisfaction with UK-Russian relations, and pledged to improve ties, the Kremlin said.
A Downing St spokeswoman said they agreed that co-operation on aviation security was a vital part of efforts to fight terrorism.
The pair will meet at the G20 summit of world leaders in China next month.
Relations between the two countries have been strained, particularly following the UK inquiry which blamed the 2006 poisoning death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko on Russian agents and said it was "probably" approved by Mr Putin.
Other contentious topics have included Russia's support for the Syrian regime, the annexation of Crimea and fighting in Ukraine, and western sanctions against Russia.
The Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed that the leaders discussed common security threats faced by both countries.
She said: "The prime minister noted the importance of the relationship between the UK and Russia and expressed the hope that, despite differences on certain issues, they could communicate in an open and honest way about the issues that mattered most to them.
"The prime minister and president agreed that British and Russian citizens faced common threats from terrorism, and that co-operation on aviation security in particular was a vital part of the international counter-terrorism effort."
The leaders agreed to develop a dialogue between their security agencies on issues relating to aviation security, the Kremlin said.
The Russian government also said Mrs May confirmed the UK's intention to participate in the 75th anniversary of the first arrival of wartime aid by British convoys to the Russian city of Arkhangelsk, later this month. | Theresa May has spoken on the phone to Russia's President Vladimir Putin for the first time since she became PM, Downing Street has confirmed. |
16,965,620 | Frozen canals, rivers and lakes have transformed the Netherlands into one enormous ice-rink.
Sports shops have sold out of skates, bike suppliers are swapping their cycles for sledges and all over the country people are having their blades sharpened ready to take advantage of the ice generated by exceptionally cold winter.
"It's in our genes. We've been skating for centuries," explains Bert van Voorbergen, who runs an online skating museum in the town of Almere.
"Every year when frost comes, there's something indescribable released inside. As soon as there is ice, everyone is the same, everyone is equal. Maybe that's why we love it so much."
What stirred most excitement in the Netherlands was the chance that this year, for the first time since 1997, it might be cold enough to hold the ice race to end all ice races: the "Elfstedentocht" or Eleven Cities Race - the biggest competition held on natural ice in the world.
It covers 200km (124 miles) of land, features 16,000 skaters and can attract more than two million spectators.
The nation was buzzing, Dutch media covering every twist and turn in a story that filled much of the main evening news broadcasts on national TV.
A tweet from Olympic speed-skating Gold medallist Mark Tuitert summed up the sentiments of skaters across the country who say they've been struck by "Elfstedentocht fever".
Bike shop owner Martin de Vries told me he was in school when it was last held 15 years ago.
"We didn't have internet then, only radio, and everywhere you went everyone was tuned in to the race. It was crazy, everyone rushing home to try and catch it on TV. Or if you were lucky enough to get tickets, of course, you'd be up there cheering on the skaters."
But on Wednesday night came the news millions had been dreading - the organisers announced: "It's not on."
For the Elfstedentocht to go ahead, the temperatures must stay below freezing and for the past few days in Leeuwarden my thermometer's mercury has been bobbing around the -3C mark.
But it is also essential that the ice remains thick so as not to crack under the pressure of 16,000 skaters.
The Frisian Eleven Cities Association - set up to measure the ice and monitor the conditions - says it needs 15cm (6in) of ice covering the entire track before they can say those mythical words "it's on".
At the moment some parts of the route have only half the depth required.
Every year the "will-they-won't-they" speculation surrounding this legendary race starts to swirl around towns, villages and all over the media at the first signs of a frost.
The race tradition began in 1909. The last contest was won by a turnip farmer.
And this year the Netherlands recorded its lowest temperatures in 27 years.
Preparations have been underway for days.
A team of eager volunteers - assisted by a small army of soldiers based near the Friesland route - has been helping to shovel away the snow to give the ice the best possible hope of staying strong.
But in the end it seems their best efforts were in vain.
After the decision, the association's "ice master" Jan Oostenbrug urged skaters not to despair and instead get out on the ice and skate their disappointment away.
There is a small chance the race will still go ahead later in the season.
But with a thaw forecast for Sunday, hopes are fading like the frost. Many are resigning themselves to the cold hard fact that they may have to wait another year before Elfstendentocht fever strikes again.
However, skaters have been turning up in their hundreds in the village of Giethoorn, just outside Friesland, to race on a shorter course that runs for more than 25km between villages and does not have the same stringent regulations as the official Eleven Cities race.
Although the skaters are still holding out hope that the main contest can go ahead, for now they are making the most of the freezing conditions. | While much of Europe has been forced indoors by a fierce cold snap, the Dutch have been elevated to a state of euphoria as skating fever grips the nation. |
41,062,551 | The incident was alleged to have happened after Raheem Sterling's 97th-minute goal gave City a 2-1 win.
Sterling then ran to celebrate in front of the away supporters, and several City fans went on to the pitch.
Aguero was then seen to be involved in an exchange with a steward.
Police had earlier taken a statement from a steward but the Cherries later said it had been withdrawn and "no assault took place".
Sterling, who had already been booked, was sent off after being shown a second yellow card for his celebration.
In a statement, Dorset Police said two male spectators from Manchester were arrested following the incident.
The statement added officers were "reviewing CCTV of the pitch encroachment as part of an ongoing investigation to establish whether any other offences may have been committed". | Bournemouth say a "misunderstanding" led one of their stewards to allege he was struck by Manchester City's Sergio Aguero during Saturday's Premier League game at Vitality Stadium. |
37,349,229 | The footage of her water birth in Orange County, California has stunned social media users because the baby seemingly pops out after only a few contractions.
The clip, uploaded to Instagram and Facebook, has had more than 16 million views since it was posted on September 3.
Midwife Lisa Marie Sanchez Oxenham filmed the birth and said it was "an incredible moment".
"It's an amazing, uneventful delivery," Lisa Marie said.
"What you cannot quite see in the video is that the head is already out. So I tell Audra to wait for the next contraction, and that's when the baby flies out.
"The mother's joy is so moving. When she says 'my baby son', it makes many people cry. It is such an incredible moment."
The footage has been shared more than 100,000 times on Facebook and attracted 23,000 comments, like these:
Karena Sezawich writes: "She gave birth like a boss."
Shene McCoy posts: "She was kinda calm, I hope I can be that tough."
In another post Philip L. King Sr writes: "Wow I've never seen it done in real life only in movies. That's real life right there."
Lisa Marie says she's not surprised the video has been so popular.
"I believe the video has gone viral because it's such a beautiful moment, in an intimate, private and relaxed atmosphere," she said.
"That is something we just don't associate with childbirth anymore and certainly don't see enough of."
By Rozina Sini, BBC's UGC and Social News Team | Giving birth is never easy - but for mum Audra Lynn it was a textbook delivery. |
40,722,879 | More than £850m has been spent by top-flight sides in the transfer window, which ends on 31 August.
But Tottenham, who sold Kyle Walker to Manchester City for £45m this month, have not made any signings.
"We have a duty to manage the club appropriately," said Levy.
"Some of the activity that is going on at the moment is just impossible for it to be sustainable.
"Somebody spending £200m more than they're earning, eventually it catches up with you. And you can't keep doing it."
Accountancy firm Deloitte said Premier League sides are on course to surpass the record £1.165bn they spent last summer.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said last week: "I'm used to clubs paying big for big players. Now everybody pays big money for good players."
Walker's departure aside, Spurs have retained the same squad that finished second to Chelsea in the league last season.
The club are in the process of building a new 61,000-seat stadium, which is expected to cost £750m and is scheduled to open next year.
Speaking at a Nasdaq Q&A in New York, Levy said: "Obviously when you're building a stadium of this magnitude and it all has to be privately financed - there's no state help whatsoever - it is a challenge.
"We have to find the right balance but I can honestly say it is not impacting us on transfer activity because we are not yet in a place where we have found a player that we want to buy who we cannot afford to buy."
Mauricio Pochettino's side, who are in the United States on their pre-season tour, beat French champions Paris St-Germain 4-2 at the weekend, with 17-year-old midfielder Tashan Oakley-Boothe playing 45 minutes.
Levy said: "Our position on transfers is that we have a coach who very much believes in the academy, so unless we can find a player that makes a difference we would rather give one of our young academy players a chance.
"The academy is important because if we produce our own players we don't have to spend £20m or £30m on a player.
"An academy player has that affinity with the club and that's what the fans want to see." | Chairman Daniel Levy has defended Tottenham's lack of transfer activity this summer and claimed the spending by other Premier League clubs is unsustainable. |
37,353,028 | The visitors led 17-6 at the break, with Niall Annett and Dean Hammond crossing for tries, while George Ford kicked two penalties in response.
Tries from Anthony Watson, Matt Banahan, Semesa Rokoduguni carried the hosts into a 30-17 lead before Perry Humphreys went over for Worcester.
Houston try sealed Bath's bonus-point win to put them top of the table.
Bath, already struggling with injuries to Taulupe Faletau and David Denton, lost David Sisi early on in a first half when they failed to contain a industrious Worcester side.
While the hosts, who had beaten the Warriors on 11 previous visits to The Rec, struggled to create openings before the break, they were hard to stop in the second half as England international Watson, in his first match of the season, went in for their opening try.
Banahan did well to gather a Ford kick to help put the hosts ahead for the first time, before linking up with Rokoduguni as the winger added a third.
Humphreys gave Worcester renewed hope, but Rokoduguni went close again before Houston completed the win.
Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder: "I knew there was no better way to get Leroy engaged than just go out there and play and enjoy himself.
"We were certainly put under the pump.
"Worcester were outstanding in that first half. We let them play around us too easily but we'll take a lot out of that.
"It wasn't a rant and a rave at half-time, just about simple things to put our game right - to carry hard and have really good clean-outs and quick ball."
Worcester head coach Carl Hogg: "I thought in the first half we were excellent.
"Ball in hand, we showed real enterprise and caused Bath some issues defensively.
"The game obviously swung on a 10-minute window in the second half when we made back-to-back errors and someone of George Ford's quality exploited it.
"In the second half we didn't get so many opportunities. I think we did enough to get something out of the game."
Bath: Homer; Rokoduguni, Banahan, Bowden, Watson; Ford (capt), Fotulai'i; Auterac, Batty, Thomas, Charteris, Attwood, Ewels, Sisi, Houston.
Replacements: Dunn, Catt, Palma-Newport, Stooke, Mercer, Homer, Brew, Williams.
Worcester: Shillcock; Hammond, Olivier, Willison, Humphreys; Heathcote, Arr; Ruskin, Annett, Johnston, O'Callaghan, Barry, Mama, Kirwan, Dowson (capt).
Replacements: Bregvadze, Leleimalefaga, Daniels, Scotland-Williamson, Cavubati, Baldwin, Eden, Adams. | Leroy Houston scored a try on his return for Bath as they fought back to beat Worcester Warriors at The Rec. |
36,933,411 | A 42-year-old woman was left with serious injuries after the collision on Captain's Road on 14 July, while a 41-year-old man was also hurt.
Police said that following inquiries to trace a driver involved in the crash, a 30-year-old man had been arrested and charged.
He is scheduled to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. | A man has been charged following a serious crash in Edinburgh which left two pedestrians trapped under a car. |
34,981,246 | The army has been deployed to rescue thousands of stranded people after two days of heavy rain.
At least 188 people are now known to have died in floods in Tamil Nadu state since last month.
A depression in the Bay of Bengal has triggered rains in coastal areas.
Last month, non-stop rain for nearly a week brought the city to a standstill.
Two days of fresh rains have again led to massive flooding, so much so that flights from the city's airport have been indefinitely suspended after flood waters entered the runway and tarmac areas on Tuesday evening.
Reports say some 400 passengers are stranded at the airport, and all flights have been cancelled.
More than a dozen trains have also been cancelled after flood waters inundated the tracks.
The army and the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in the city's worst-affected southern suburbs to rescue people stranded in their flooded properties.
At least 10,000 policemen and swimmers have also been employed in the rescue effort, Chennai police chief JK Tripathy told the AFP news agency.
"The police want to help but there are no boats. We are trying not to panic," Ramana Goda, who took refuge at a police station, told Reuters.
Reports say that power supply has been suspended in nearly 60% of the city's neighbourhoods.
Most of the main streets are waterlogged and schools were closed for the 17th day since November, reports say. Schools and colleges have been shut in six districts due to the rains.
Patients have been evacuated from a government hospital in the Tambaram area after flood waters entered the building.
Residents have taken to social media to offer accommodation, food and mobile phone recharges to citizens who are being forced to evacuate their properties.
"We only saw rains like this some 25-30 years ago when there was no electricity for almost a week. It has been raining since Monday night and there has been no respite. Everywhere you look, there is two to three feet of water,'' Ashok Modi, a resident of Sowcarpet area told BBC Hindi's Imran Qureshi.
All the reservoirs around Chennai are full and the rivers are flooded with the excess waters released from the reservoirs, says the BBC Tamil's Muralitharan in Chennai.
Thousands of people who were living on the banks of these rivers have been moved to temporary shelters.
The meteorological office says "scattered to heavy" rains are expected to continue for the next three days.
India suffers severe flooding every year during the annual monsoon rains from June to September. The retreating monsoon has been particularly vigorous over south India and more so in Tamil Nadu, our correspondent says. | Fresh rains in the southern Indian city of Chennai (Madras) have caused serious flooding, with flights and trains suspended and hundreds of people without power. |
41,040,013 | Mother-of-two Mavis Wanczyk, 53, bought the ticket at a Chicopee, Massachusetts, petrol station.
The winner - whose lucky numbers were 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, and 4 - told reporters she had already quit her job.
The biggest ever US Powerball jackpot was $1.6bn, although that was shared by three ticket holders in January 2016.
Massachusetts State Lottery told reporters the ticket in Wednesday night's draw had been validated.
"The first thing I want to do is just sit back and relax," said Ms Wanczyk, chewing gum.
"I had a pipe dream.. and it came true."
She told journalists she had picked her lucky numbers based on relatives' birthdays.
Ms Wanczyk said of her 32-year job at a medical centre: "I've called them and told them I will not be going back."
She added that she was "going to go hide in my bed".
Reporters asked if she had plans to treat herself to something nice, such as a fancy new car.
But Ms Wanczyk replied she just bought a new car less than a year ago, and now plans to pay it off in full.
One lottery official described the woman as "your prototypical Massachusetts resident".
He added that she seems like "a hard-working individual" and "clearly she's excited".
The $50,000 prize awarded to the business that sells the winning numbers will be donated to charity, said Pride petrol station owner Bob Bolbuc.
The jackpot payout, which can be made in 29 yearly payments or a lump sum, is estimated to be about $443m after taxes.
Powerball Product Group chairman Charlie McIntyre said in a statement that six other tickets - sold in Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands - won $2m each.
Thirty-four other tickets across the US scooped $1m.
Massachusetts lottery officials initially said the jackpot ticket was sold at a convenience store in the Boston suburb of Watertown, but corrected the location on Thursday morning.
It is not clear how the error was made.
Odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292.2 million. | The winner of the biggest jackpot in North American history - $758.7m (£590m) - has come forward to collect her prize. |
34,499,387 | None of three other candidates in Sunday's election achieved more than 5%. The turnout was 86.75%.
But observers from the OSCE security body said it fell far short of the country's democratic commitments.
There were "significant problems" in the counting and tabulation of votes, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe complained.
Mr Lukashenko, 61, has governed the former Soviet republic almost unchallenged for 21 years.
No veteran opposition leaders stood, as they were not allowed to register. A Belarusian human rights group also said the vote fell far short of democratic norms.
Aleh Hulak, head of Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections, criticised "mass early voting" and "non-transparent vote-counting".
The OSCE's chief observer, Kent Harstedt, said "it is clear that Belarus still has a long way to go towards fulfilling its democratic commitments".
He described the recent release of political prisoners and welcoming of election observers as "positive developments", but said "the hope that this gave us for broader electoral progress was largely unfulfilled".
Dozens of opposition supporters held a protest march in the capital Minsk after the polls closed.
They carried slogans that read "Boycott the dictatorship!" and "Lukashenko - go!"
Earlier Belarusian TV showed Mr Lukashenko casting his vote at one of the polling stations, as his youngest son Nikolai stood by. Nikolai has accompanied his father on numerous public occasions in recent years.
Critics accused the president and his supporters of preventing the main opposition parties from building any public profile and restricting their access to the all-powerful state-owned media.
This year's Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Svetlana Alexievich, has warned that her country is a "soft dictatorship".
She said Mr Lukashenko was a man connected to the Soviet era and was untrustworthy. None of her books has been published in Belarus.
US officials have described Mr Lukashenko as "Europe's last dictator".
However, there have recently been signals - including the pardoning of six opposition leaders - that suggest Mr Lukashenko is seeking to improve relations with the West.
He has hosted several rounds of Ukraine ceasefire talks in Minsk, welcoming EU leaders and ending his diplomatic isolation.
Still Europe's last dictator?
Why does President Lukashenko take his son to work?
Belarus country profile
Last time a presidential election was held in Belarus - in 2010 - seven of the nine presidential candidates were arrested.
One of them was only released this year following widespread international pressure.
The candidates were accused of various offences, including the encouragement of violent protest and attempting to overthrow the state. | Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has won his fifth term with a landslide 83.5% of the vote. |
36,129,408 | Customers and businesses are becoming more trusting of secure internet connections - and the idea of valuable data being stored and accessed remotely.
Almost nine in 10 financial institutions now run at least one application in the cloud, according to research from Swiss software company Temenos. That's up from just 57% in 2009.
And many financial technology start-ups are building new businesses on the back of the three major cloud platform providers - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
For example, Dutch-based tech start-up Ohpen has built a "software-as-a-service" product to allow firms to administer investment funds and savings accounts, with AWS handling all the data in the background.
And Norwegian firm Auka has developed the first mobile payments platform run entirely on Google Cloud.
Meanwhile, customer relationship management specialist Salesforce now allows banks to offer personalised financial advice on any device.
The advantage of such off-the-shelf products is that firms can easily plug into them, and begin offering financial services quickly and without huge capital investment.
And cost is the number one reason for tapping into the cloud.
"There's a 20 cents in the dollar saving by moving data to the cloud," says Dave Richards, chief executive of global big data specialist, Wandisco.
"Building your own data centre is difficult - it can take one or two years if you need thousands of servers.
More Cloud Computing features from Technology of Business
"But if you use a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services you can have 1,000 servers at your disposal in about 30 minutes."
For big institutions, that's a huge potential saving in time and money, with a big chunk of IT responsibilities outsourced to a specialist provider.
Tesco Bank's head of transformation, Allan Brearley, says: "The adoption of cloud technology allows us to respond to the needs of our customers more quickly and efficiently, while also offering the security standards our customers and regulators rightly expect from a financial services provider."
The potential cost savings became apparent very quickly for the bank.
"When we evaluated the solutions for a new [web] page using our traditional on-premise delivery model, it was going to cost about £3,500 and take around three months to deliver," he says.
"However, we evaluated the AWS option using exactly the same design solution and it cost £66 a month and took less than a week. We later realised we could just host these things as a static page costing 13p a month."
Another advantage of the cloud is that it is flexible - you generally just pay for the storage and services you use for a monthly subscription - cutting out waste.
For example, accounting software firm Sage offers small and medium-sized businesses access to real-time business data on all devices - including the Apple Watch - and starts at just £30 a month. Xero operates a similar model for its cloud-based accounting software.
And Salesforce's wealth management platform for banks and advisers costs from $150 (£106) a month.
With ready-to-go cloud-based solutions, you can be up-and-running within a matter of months or, in some cases, minutes.
Auka claims its cloud-based mobile payments platform for retail banks can be ready to launch within three months.
Less complex services, like accounting or sales management software, can be available to customers much faster.
Klaus Michael Vogelburg, chief technology officer at Sage, says: "Small companies can start using our software within minutes, and the longest any company would wait to get started is a matter of days."
Not all financial companies are ready to fully embrace the cloud, though - just 1% of banks are running core processing in the cloud today, the Temenos research shows.
"There is a perception that there must be some compromise on security given the cost savings. But this is simply not the case," says Ben Robinson, chief strategy and marketing director at Temenos.
"Cloud platform providers such as Amazon and Microsoft clearly have more money to spend on security than smaller or even medium-sized financial services companies.
"They also remove the need for human involvement, which is the cause of 70% of banking fraud."
But concerns about security linger on.
Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research, says: "The cautious nature of the banking sector has definitely slowed its adoption of cloud-based services such as data storage.
"In the past, there have also been some security challenges that have played to their fears, which remain despite big efforts on the data security front."
Mr Vogelburg, meanwhile, expects more financial services companies to take up cloud-based services as the benefits to their customers become clear.
"The aim of any new technology should always be to improve the customer experience," he says.
"We are already doing that, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much yet to come."
Technology of Business will explore cloud security in the next feature in this series.
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter | From mobile payments to accounting apps, cloud-based services are changing the financial landscape. |
37,320,561 | Gwydion Rhys, from Bethesda, made such an impression at a workshop earlier this year, he has been invited back for the main event.
It is the first time Proms in the Park has been held in north Wales.
Tony Hadley, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Amy Wadge, and opera singer Wynne Evans will all perform.
"I am feeling a little nervous but I hope I'll be all right on the night," said Gwydion, who also plays the cello and piano.
"I'll be having a rehearsal with the orchestra beforehand, and I'm really looking forward to that.
"I hope I'll get lots of support from the orchestra members - and I hope they're also looking forward to the experience."
Gwydion will take the conductor's podium for a special performance of Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", but for the rest of the evening, the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales will be under the baton of American conductor Edwin Outwater.
Highlights will be shown on BBC Two Wales on Sunday, 11 September. | A 13-year-old boy will conduct the orchestra for part of the final night of BBC Proms in the Park in Colwyn Bay on Saturday. |
21,614,722 | The increased risk is limited to communities and some emergency workers exposed to radiation after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, analysis shows.
For those living in the rest of Japan there is no health risk, it said.
Experts stressed the increased lifetime risk of cancer remained small.
The report is part of an ongoing assessment by international experts on the fallout from severe damage to the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
In March 2011, a powerful tsunami generated by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake out at sea slammed into the nuclear power plant in north-eastern Japan, damaging four of six reactors at the site.
Around 16,000 people were killed by the impact of the earthquake.
A substantial amount of radiation was released into the environment and a 20km (12 miles) evacuation zone was set up.
The latest analysis has found that those living in the most contaminated areas around Fukushima are expected to have a small but higher than expected risk of cancer.
The biggest lifetime risks were seen in those exposed as infants, compared with children or adults.
For girls exposed to radiation from the accident as infants, the report found a 4% increase above the lifetime expected risk of solid tumours and a 6% increase above that expected for breast cancer.
Boys exposed as infants are expected to have a 7% increased risk of leukaemia above that expected in the normal population.
The biggest risk was seen in thyroid cancer, which for infant girls could be up to 70% higher than expected over their lifetime.
But the WHO was keen to stress that these risks were relative and remained small.
For example, the lifetime risk of developing thyroid cancer over a lifetime for women is 0.75% and the additional risk for those exposed as infants in the most affected area is 0.50%.
The report also found that a third of emergency workers working in the plant after the disaster are at an increased risk of cancer.
Radiation doses from the damaged nuclear power plant are not expected to cause an increase in the incidence of miscarriages, stillbirths or congenital disorders.
Dr Maria Neira, WHO director for public health and environment, said: "The primary concern identified in this report is related to specific cancer risks linked to particular locations and demographic factors."
She added that the report underlined the need for long-term health monitoring of those who were at high risk, along with medical follow-up and support.
"This will remain an important element in the public health response to the disaster for decades."
Prof Richard Wakeford, visiting professor at Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester and contributor to the WHO report, said: "The release of radioactive materials into the environment during the Fukushima nuclear accident was substantial but based on measurement data, the radiation doses received by the surrounding population are small, even for the most exposed communities.
"These doses produce an extra risk of cancer over a lifetime of about 1% at most, in addition to background lifetime cancer risks from all other causes of, on average, 40% for men and 29% for women."
He added: "Radiation exposure from the Fukushima accident has had only a small impact on the overall health of the nearby population, and much less outside the most affected areas." | People living near the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have an increased risk of developing some cancers, the World Health Organization says. |
32,006,464 | Three men were arrested following the clash outside the Railway pub, said to have involved about 15 people, and one man suffered serious head injuries.
Essex Police arrested two men on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and one for criminal damage.
The pub is less than a mile from Roots Hall stadium where Southend United and Cambridge United had drawn 0-0.
Police said they were called to the pub in East Street at about 19:20 GMT on Saturday. They said a man in his 40s from Suffolk was found on the ground with serious head injuries and was taken to the Royal London Hospital.
A 33-year-old man from Southend and a 23-year-old man from Westcliff were arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.
A 47-year-old man from Cambridge was held on suspicion of causing criminal damage, relating to damage to the pub door.
Police said East Street was likely to be closed for most of Sunday. | Police used CS spray to break up a fight between rival football fans outside a pub in Southend. |
30,878,568 | Former British Davis Cup player Jamie Baker, who'd once been ranked number two in the British game, made his decision to quit in June 2013.
However, his career earnings over nine years of competition totalled a more modest £360,000.
Both players had battled significant injury and fitness problems during their time on tour, but their future prospects were worlds apart.
Li Na, 32, one of the most recognised, inspirational figures - not merely in China but throughout Asia and beyond - commanded huge off-court commercial value.
In contrast, Mr Baker, 26, had achieved a career high ranking of 186 in 2012, but had nothing like the sponsorships and endorsements enjoyed by the Chinese player to show for his dedication.
So, looking for a new job took him completely out of his comfort zone, having previously given little thought to anything else except succeeding at tennis.
"I knew there would be a life [outside tennis]. But I definitely didn't know what that was going to be," he says.
We are sitting in the same London head office where he was interviewed last autumn for a role - one that he now holds - within the UK corporate division of bank Santander.
Unlike many players confronted by such a stark change in circumstances, Mr Baker had actually made moves in the months before he stopped playing.
"I knew who I was going to speak to, and how I was going to get in front of as many people as possible, to assess the options," he says of those job hunting days.
And, importantly, he sought advice from the British game's governing body - the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) - where he was introduced to its senior performance lifestyle advisor, Rachel Newnham.
She says: "Most tennis players have few qualifications. They left school early on. Education is looked on as if it's 'tennis or nothing'.
"They think they're going to stay in tennis. They think that coaching is the next thing they're going to move on to."
For Mr Baker, however, coaching was never the goal. With a brother already working as a trader in the City, he had an inkling of another, off court, world.
But it was Ms Newnham's contact at a recruitment agency that properly set him on his way into banking.
"Part of the reason I wanted to stop [playing] was to give something else a go," he says. "It was just a question of when."
He said he was made aware of the many different jobs in finance, not just City trading, and that such knowledge helped enable him to "give this a shot and get into the business world".
Mr Baker, now 28, has become a role model for Ms Newnham in her drive to make other UK players appreciate what is possible outside of the sport that has consumed them all their lives.
Making such a change involves a change in attitude and culture among players, says Ms Newnham.
She continues: "There is no shame in having a plan B - the smart ones have one. Usually it's the lower ranked players who are aware that they are going to have to do something else after tennis."
Ms Newnham says although players' CVs may be short of formal qualifications such as GCSEs, the skills they pick up as tennis competitors are transferable and hugely in demand in a lot of jobs.
"Motivation, leadership skills, teamwork, having the commitment, the drive, and focus are hugely thought of by employers these days," she says, referring to these attributes as "life skills that you can't teach".
These words offer encouragement to Tara Moore, 22, who's currently ranked number six in Britain. Her funding was among that cut under LTA reforms announced last December.
She's still keen to make her way in the sport she's played since she was six years old, but understands that her plans may have to change unless her fortunes improve on court.
"I'm finding ways to continue playing tennis but if you're not in the [world] top 100 or 200, you're not earning money. We're barely breaking even," she says.
"If I was to stop today then I would have nothing. I would have to start from zero. And that's incredibly tough, incredibly scary.
"But Rachel shows us that there other things besides tennis, there are so many other things we can do and skills we can use from tennis."
Ms Moore's house-mate in London is another who appreciates Newnham's expertise.
Oliver Golding, the 2011 US Open Boys' Champion, announced his retirement just before Christmas - at the age of just 21 - and has consulted her on what he might do next.
Currently he's working at his mother's tennis coaching company while working out his next move.
Around 80% of British players choose to stay in the game either coaching or working in administration.
Martin Lee is among them. Now 37, he runs his own coaching business in Buckinghamshire with another former player Paul Delgado.
Mr Lee, who reached a career best world ranking of 94, always knew he wanted to work in tennis, following his father who was a coach for 40 years.
Initially after retiring he tried his hand at sports management, but missed the court environment.
His company, Living Tennis, offers tuition from community to elite levels, including coaching a thousand children each week at its eight venues.
Three years after their launch, turnover has increased to £500,000. Their office is now at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, where they won the contract to run the tennis facility.
Mr Lee admits it's been a daunting venture. He says he's permanently tired, regularly working 12 hours per day, seven days a week.
"When you're a tennis player, you only think of one person and that's yourself," he says. "You have to be selfish because it's your career and it's your job.
"Now it's totally the opposite. The last person we think about is ourselves. We've got to get enough money in to pay everyone and we've got to make sure everybody gets the most out of their time."
The same commitment which qualified him to play in Grand Slam tournaments during his ten years on tour now earn him a living in a very different way.
Mr Lee and Mr Baker find it hard to replace the camaraderie and thrill of competition in their new roles.
Both make time to play the game when they can and enjoy the familiar, instant feedback of winning or losing.
But for Mr Baker, who's working as a commentator at the Australian Open, there is a strong connection between the past and the present which bodes well for the future.
"I feel like my tennis life has prepared me for what's happening now," he says.
"I hope that in 10 or 15 years I will feel I am making a big difference, and I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to go through that journey." | When Li Na announced her retirement from tennis last September, the two-time Grand Slam champion had banked as much as $24m (£16m) in the 12 months preceding her decision. |
31,805,544 | The pilot scheme will see 2,000 houses have waste collected every four weeks, with another 2,000 having general rubbish picked up every three weeks.
The council has said the year-long trial will begin in September in locations which have yet to be decided.
A review of the findings will go to the council's executive committee.
Chris Ewing, of Fife Council's resource efficient solutions, said: "What we're going to do is give a couple of options a try in 4,000 homes.
"Just to make it clear - no decision has been taken yet to change everyone's bin collections, we're just piloting this in some homes to get more information.
"The trial won't start until September and we've yet to decide where in Fife but we've decided to find out more because it could improve recycling figures and save the council money.
"In the sample homes, we're increasing how often we collect plastics because when we asked, our customers told us that bin fills up fast.
"We'll also be trying to find out if houses that are provided with increased collections for cans and plastics are able to accommodate fewer collection of landfill waste.
"For houses that receive a four weekly collection of landfill waste individual arrangements will be made for the collection of nappies and other similar products." | Fife Council has confirmed it will become the first local authority in the UK to trial once a month bin collections. |
29,014,359 | 1 September 2014 Last updated at 13:07 BST
49 year-old Craig Jeeves said the quick-thinking feline managed to wake him up when the house caught fire.
"She jumped on my head and sort of like was screaming at me and woke me up otherwise I wouldn't have got up," Jeeves said.
Jeeves said he adopted Sally from a cat's home several years ago and now she had returned the favour.
The fire service said he was lucky to have got out alive. | A tabby cat called Sally is being hailed a hero after she saved her owner from his burning home in Melbourne, Australia. |
39,666,037 | Atkinson, 19, clinched gold in the women's 200m butterfly, adding to the 50m title she won on Wednesday.
Her winning time of 2 minutes 7.06 secs also secured a consideration time for this summer's World Championships and smashed the Manx record.
"I knew I felt good and it's great to set a time for Budapest," she said.
Her winning time in Thursday's final would have placed her fifth in the women's 200m butterfly final at the Rio Olympics.
Alys Thomas, representing Swansea Aquatics, finished 0.81 seconds down in second with Emily Large third.
Earlier in the week, Atkinson became the first Isle of Man-born swimmer to become British champion by claiming the 50m title.
The Loughborough University student said: "It feels amazing. I was so determined after the 50 to get the 200 and I've still got the 100 on Sunday.
"Going fast in the 50, which isn't my main event, gave me loads of confidence in the 200 - I feel great."
She will attempt to add the 100m title to her collection on Sunday. | Manx teenager Charlotte Atkinson has claimed her second British title in as many days at the British Swimming Championships. |
35,301,619 | Gordon Ross, 67, had degenerative Parkinson's disease and was concerned that anyone who helped him end his life would face prosecution.
The Court of Session in Edinburgh is still to rule on his case to force the Lord Advocate to issue guidance.
Mr Ross died on Wednesday from pneumonia and other medical issues.
The retired TV producer was a member of Friends At The End (Fate), an organisation campaigning for a change in the law on assisted dying in Scotland.
Mr Ross's friend, and Fate convener, Sheila Duffy said: "Gordon was a doughty fighter who passionately believed the law should be changed.
"Despite his numerous health problems which would have floored a lesser individual, he worked tirelessly to support the assisted dying cause, and never lost his sense of humour.
"Our thoughts are with his family, who supported his stance, at this sad time."
Mr Ross brought his case for a judicial review to the Court of Session in Edinburgh in May last year.
He wanted Scotland's most senior prosecutor, the Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC, to set out guidance on what circumstances he would take into account before deciding whether to prosecute somebody who had helped another person end their life.
Similar guidance has been issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions for England.
His QC, Aidan O'Neill, had argued that under the European Convention on Human Right there was a substantive right to "a dignified suicide".
Gerry Moynihan QC, counsel for the Lord Advocate, however, said there was no proper foundation in law for the outcome that was being sought.
In a written judgement issued in September, Lord Doherty ruled that the current Crown policy was legal and did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Ross launched an appeal against this decision in December before the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Carloway, sitting with Lady Dorrian and Lord Drummond Young.
The judges are due to give their decision at a later date. | A severely disabled man from Glasgow who tried to force Scotland's top law officer to issue guidance on assisted suicide has died in hospital. |
41,055,985 | Officers saw a "large bladed weapon" in the man's car when it stopped near the palace on Friday evening.
As they arrested him, both men suffered minor arm injuries, police said.
The 26-year-old man was also treated for minor injuries. He was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and assault, and under the Terrorism Act.
No members of the Royal Family were in Buckingham Palace at the time.
The incident happened outside the Mall roundabout near Spur Road - which runs along the corner of the Palace grounds - at about 20:35 BST, police said. The man had stopped his car in a "restricted area" and police saw the weapon.
Det Supt Guy Collings said the "quick and brave" actions of the officers meant the man was detained very quickly, and that no members of the public had any contact with him.
The two officers and the suspect had all since been discharged from hospital and the suspect was taken to a central London police station for questioning, police said.
Enquiries into the full circumstances are ongoing, they added, and there was still a police cordon at the scene.
Eye-witness Kiana Williamson said: "We turned up and there was one police van and one car; there was also a civilian's car that had veered towards the police car.
"They were trying to get the man out of the car, shouting; more police were arriving on to the scene and the man was fighting back.
"I saw one injured policeman with an injury to his arm, although it didn't look severe.
"He was being tended to by another officer.
"The man had been restrained and looked almost unconscious by the side of the road."
Another passer-by, who did not want to be named, said her partner initially thought he had seen a sword.
She told the Press Association: "The police didn't just run up to the car. There was some shouting prior to this; I couldn't tell you what, I was a bit panicked...
"My partner saw a sword, which I didn't see, as well as a policeman with blood on him, looking like his hand or chest was injured.
"The police officer had it in his hand, walking away with it." | Counter-terror police are investigating after two police officers were injured while arresting a man with a knife outside Buckingham Palace. |
40,925,943 | Homeware chain, The Range, which has more than 140 stores across the UK and Ireland, is due to open its doors later this year.
The new store represents an investment of £2m by The Range, as well as a further £1m investment by the landlord.
There had been viability concerns about Connswater, after Tesco and Dunnes Stores closed in 2015.
Speaking when Dunnes announced its decision to pull out, Glyn Roberts of the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association said: "With Tesco closing its store, the centre will soon have lost both its anchor stores which puts its long-term viability at risk."
Connswater Shopping Centre and Retail Park is owned by Alfred Street Properties.
Director Brendan Boyd said the announcement was "great news not only for the scheme but for east Belfast and the local economy as well".
"The Range's arrival is further confirmation that the scheme has turned a corner," he added.
This is the latest in a series of investments in the retail park - Starbucks and Lidl opened earlier this year and Home Bargains is set to open in December. | Eighty jobs have been created by the new anchor tenant of Connswater shopping centre in east Belfast. |
37,670,305 | The stone is 4.3m (14ft) high and 5.8m (19ft) long, and is reportedly worth an estimated $170m (£140m).
It was found in a mine in the jade-producing Kachin state, in the north of the country.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is the source of nearly all of the world's finest jadeite, a near-translucent green stone.
The jade industry is responsible for nearly half of the country's GDP.
One of its biggest markets is neighbouring China, where it is known as the "stone of heaven". | A giant jade stone weighing 175 tonnes has been uncovered by miners in Myanmar. |
34,105,342 | It said there were significant differences, between health boards, in the number of people getting essential check-ups aimed at avoiding serious complications.
About 276,000 people in Scotland have been diagnosed with diabetes.
The Scottish government said it had an action plan to improve care and urged people to attend appointments.
Diabetes Scotland has published its annual report charting the variations in care for people living with the condition across the country.
As well as those diagnosed with diabetes, the charity said there was a further 45,500 people estimated to be unaware they have type 2 diabetes.
There are nine key checks which should be carried out annually to help prevent the complications of diabetes - which can include blindness, limb amputations and stroke.
Diabetes UK said the number of people receiving these checks varies from health board to health board.
Its figures suggested the number receiving foot checks alone varied from 60% in Grampian, to 85% in Tayside.
Jane-Claire Judson, national director of Diabetes Scotland, said: "It is indefensible that people living with diabetes are subjected to such disparities of care across Scotland.
"Whether you live in Orkney or Forth Valley should have no bearing on the level of care a person receives but what we are seeing are significant differences in the percentage of people receiving each of the nine essential care processes dependent on the health board area in which they live."
She added: "We must focus on improving diabetes care for all, reducing avoidable complications, and supporting people to live well with the condition which should include offering a range of appropriate education opportunities.
"If action is not taken now, the longer-term costs will be severe to people living with the condition, NHS Scotland and wider society."
The charity also found that people with Type 1 diabetes - which often develops during childhood - received poorer care than those with type 2 diabetes - which appears in later life and is related to obesity.
The report looked at other factors and said there were poorer health outcomes for people living in areas of deprivation.
Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said: "We know that the number of people living with diabetes in Scotland is increasing.
"However, this is not because we are seeing an increase in the number of new cases of diabetes picked up every year, but rather that people with diabetes are living longer with the condition.
"Latest figures show that for the first time we are seeing the percentage of people with poor glucose control decreasing and more people than ever accessing crucial eye screening and feet checks.
She added: "Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, which was published in November 2014, builds on these positive findings and sets out a programme of work to enhance services for people with diabetes, and help reduce their risk of complications." | There is an "unacceptable inequality" in care for people with diabetes, according to charity Diabetes Scotland. |
36,772,253 | The sketches were drawn by Dr Felix Rey, the physician who treated Van Gogh's wounds in 1888, and discovered in a Californian archive.
The drawings depict the artist's ear both before and after the self-inflicted injury, and show he sliced almost his entire ear off.
Previous claims suggested he had only cut off his earlobe or part of his ear.
The sketches were discovered by Bernadette Murphy among papers owned by Irving Stone, who had been in touch with Dr Rey in 1930.
Her research has also shed more light on "Rachel" - the woman who Van Gogh had handed his severed ear to with the words "keep this object carefully".
The findings suggests Rachel was not a prostitute, as had previously been thought, but a girl who worked as a maid in brothels as well as a cleaner in business premises.
Murphy began investigating Van Gogh after visiting Arles, the artist's home in the 1880s.
Her findings will be published in a new book, Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story.
Coincidentally, a new exhibition which will focus on the artist's mental illness is due to open in the Netherlands this month.
On The Verge of Insanity, which will be housed at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, will feature the artist's portrait of Dr Rey.
The painter cut off his ear after suffering a mental breakdown. He was found alive by police the next day and taken to hospital.
Van Gogh took his own life in 1890. | Vincent Van Gogh cut off his entire ear rather than just part of it, newly discovered drawings suggest. |
33,055,651 | They said fossil fuel emissions should not be allowed in any sector of the economy by the end of the century.
Their targets are not binding - but they send a clear message to investors that in the long term economies will have to be powered by non-polluting energy.
The world's leaders have effectively signalled the end of the fossil fuel era that has driven economies since the Industrial Revolution.
This is a seismic shift - and an acknowledgement from the leaders, prompted by Angela Merkel, of the scale of the threat from climate change.
The G7's mid-century target is for emissions to be cut 40-70% globally compared with 2010.
The G7 also accepted that rich nations would need to help poorer countries - especially in Africa - develop using clean technology, and adapt to inevitable changes to climate in the future.
They have promised to address risks from weather disasters that may become more serious as the climate heats and they say they will help with insurance and protection for the poorest.
But they will be pushed by developing nations to show they are making good their previous promise of £100bn in climate finance by 2020.
The leaders also promised to strengthen cooperation over energy efficiency and work together with other interested countries to co-ordinate clean energy research, development and demonstration - as urged by the UK's climate ambassador David King.
The resolutions will feed into the meeting of world leaders to seal a global deal on climate later this year in Paris. A positive outcome there is now more likely.
But huge questions remain. Some scientists and environmentalists accused the G7 of reckless complacency by suggesting that we can afford to burn fossil fuels at all past 2050.
On the other hand there are worries from some developing countries about the suggestion that coal should be phased out. It is not clear how poor nations are to be persuaded to ignore the cheapest fuel available in their attempts to develop.
The cost of solar energy is plummeting, and is now competitive with coal in some parts of the world, but it has not yet shown that it can power industries on a large scale.
Gas fuel firms say carbon capture and storage technology, which would take most of the emissions from a fossil fuel power station and bury them underground, will allow economies to continue to benefit from a consistent power source. But the technology is still in its infancy.
Follow Roger Harrabin on Twitter @rharrabin | The G7 has called for a transformation of electricity generation towards clean sources by 2050. |
31,027,201 | Media playback is unsupported on your device
29 January 2015 Last updated at 07:23 GMT
The special maps, called Tate Worlds, are based on real-life pictures and sculptures on display at the Tate gallery.
Each world is different, and has many challenges and activities based on the theme of the artwork.
Paintings such as Soul of the Soulless City by Christopher Nevinson have been turned into a playable world.
It shows 1920s New York, with towering skyscrapers and a rollercoaster train ride.
Martin went to chat to one of the Minecraft experts who helped to build the special maps to find out more.
Read more: Paintings made into Minecraft worlds | A famous art gallery has teamed up with Minecraft experts to create 3D worlds inspired by paintings. |
35,889,593 | He told the Treasury Select Committee it was still being written and a firm publication date had not yet been set.
But he said it would be made available before the pre-election "purdah" period and his next appearance before the committee, which is on 19 April.
The UK vote on whether to remain in or leave the EU takes place on 23 June.
The chancellor was pressed on when the Treasury analysis would be published during questioning by the committee chairman, Conservative Andrew Tyrie.
"We don't have a firm date but it's likely to be published before I next come before this committee to discuss all things European Union," Mr Osborne told him.
Mr Tyrie said the committee would want at least four days to digest the report's finding before the hearing, which is part of its ongoing inquiry into the EU.
Mr Osborne suggested the alternative would be to change the date of his appearance, but added: "What I will undertake to you is that there will be at least four working days before I come before this committee and you will have had a chance to examine the document."
Mr Tyrie said any date change would be done with "great reluctance". | The Treasury is to publish its analysis of the costs and benefits of the UK's EU membership before 19 April, Chancellor George Osborne has said. |
35,483,133 | The 21-year-old woman was attacked in Union Terrace Gardens early last Thursday.
Police Scotland said officers would be carrying out patrols in the area.
Five men and a woman - who may be students - seen leaving Belmont Street about the time of the incident are being urged to come forward.
Det Insp Jacqui Campbell said: "There will be a police presence in the area tonight, as there always is in the city centre, and we are hoping that with it being a week on from the incident that this will help jog people's memories.
"If you were in the Union Terrace, Union Street, Schoolhill or Rosemount areas between the key times of 3am and 4am last Thursday and saw something untoward which could assist us, please get in touch on 101 or speak to any officer.
"Last Wednesday would have been a busy student night and lots of people would have been going about.
"We would urge anyone with information to contact police or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if you wish to remain anonymous." | Police investigating a rape in an Aberdeen city centre park have issued a fresh appeal for information a week after the attack. |
17,764,117 | Andy Hart is the general manager of Microsoft's Advertising and Online division in the UK. He is responsible for growing Microsoft's online properties, including MSN.co.uk, Bing, Windows Live, Xbox and Windows Phone.
Special Report: The Technology of Business
Technology is becoming ubiquitous: it's almost everywhere, often invisible (or at least transparent), usually locatable, probably connected to the internet, and becoming more natural to use every day.
A new car, for instance, contains an array of technologies: it's a powerful computer, it may be voice-enabled, and it can be a web browser and a phone, among other things.
This means that the number of ways in which people can interact with or experience brands is rapidly increasing.
This presents a huge opportunity, and a huge challenge, for advertisers.
Digital technology and the internet - and the explosion of mobile and other web-enabled devices over the past few years - is turning advertising on its head.
In the old days of advertising (e.g. a few decades ago), things were simple.
TV, print and radio were the key media for advertisers to convey their Big Idea to large groups of people in a controlled manner.
Now we have digital too, which isn't just another channel. Digital connects old and new media formats whilst simultaneously being a catalyst for thousands of other medias.
People are looking at many different screens for advertising.
Our research,
What's On Their Screens, What's On Their Minds (2011)
, showed that the group of adults who own and use a TV, and who access the internet via a computer and smartphone on a weekly basis - the 'multi-screen consumer' - doubled between 2010 and 2011, to an estimated 6.5m in the UK alone.
Even a TV these days, like a new car, is also a web browser, and as such can be used to make video calls, network and play games, amongst myriad other activities.
Advertisers can't rely on users to just watch them anymore. Nor can they be so sure that viewers will watch a prime time show at prime time, or in their homes, or out of work hours.
Thanks to this new technology, and the ways in which people use it, the manner in which they experience brands has been fragmented and disrupted, and, with the arrival of social media in particular, the former one-way communication between advertisers and consumers has become a dialogue.
That is to say, the future of advertising isn't just about technology: people are also driving it (as they always have, of course, but in a far more profound and dynamic way than before).
As consumers, we are moving objects, we can skip or turn off ads, we can opt out, and we can choose not to engage with a brand.
Conversely, we can become brand advocates and may interact with ads across a number of platforms and formats, off and online.
In addition to getting the creative story right, advertisers need to position brands so they are relevant or useful to increasingly demanding consumers.
Another key finding of the study above was that multi-screen consumers want relevant, consistent and connected advertising and content experiences across their screens.
To do this, planners and strategists need to know what people are doing, on what devices, where, when and why.
A global study we conducted, Context Matters (2010), found that the morning is the key time for use of the internet for social activities, while the evening is more for entertainment.
Internet users are most open to ads when surfing, purchasing and information seeking.
Such consumer insights and demands have been a key driver of the development of our concept, 'polymorphic advertising', which involves ads or related creative assets, such as videos, copy, images or logos, being assembled in such a way to fit various devices or ad formats.
This allows a consistent story to be conveyed across multiple screens, and tailors each asset according to the specific interactive characteristics of the device they appear on.
As technology becomes more ubiquitous, and things like tables, walls, fridges and other surfaces, objects and devices become interactive, connected and locatable - and possibly even aware of other devices and people around them - advertising will become even more personalised, contextual, relevant and useful.
It will have to do this to succeed.
This is looking a few years into the future, but the foundations are here now.
For example, we're continuing our research and innovation in the areas of multi-touch, gesture recognition and natural user interfaces, and are already working with advertisers on building new means of manipulating devices into brand experiences.
As Nicola Mendelsohn, Executive Chairman of ad agency Karmarama and President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), says: "The future of advertising is, as it always has been, intrinsically linked to technology and people.
"The challenge for advertisers is to take advantage of the huge creative opportunities presented by recent disruptions. This will also involve a reshaping of the industry, and the formation of new ecosystems, partnerships, formats and business models."
With nearly 30 years' experience of bringing together people and technology, we have learnt a lot.
One thing we know for sure is that offline principles still apply online: never lose sight of your audience, simplicity wins and creativity rules.
Our job is to help advertisers navigate the digital tools and platforms to bring brand stories to life. It is about the creative idea being the star rather than the technology. | As part of the Technology of Business series, each week we ask an expert in their field for their thoughts. |
35,178,769 | The car left the motorway near the Milnathort junction at about 12:00, ending up upturned on an embankment.
A man in the car with her was able to leave the vehicle without assistance. Neither of them are thought to have life-threatening injuries.
Police said there had been a number of minor accidents in the area, possibly due to ice.
They urged drivers to take extra care. | Firefighters have used cutting equipment to free a woman from a crashed car on the M90 south of Perth. |
39,742,591 | Shares in the bank opened up almost 4% after it posted profits of £259m in the first three months of 2017, compared with a £968m loss a year earlier.
After stripping out restructuring costs, the core operating business made a profit of £1.3bn, up from £1.02bn.
RBS added that its cost-cutting plan for 2017 was ahead of schedule, with 37% of the planned £750m cuts achieved.
In February, RBS reported a £7bn annual loss and chief executive Ross McEwan ordered a £2bn four-year cost-cutting drive involving job losses and branch closures.
The bank, 72%-owned by the UK government, has said 2017 will probably be the final year it makes a loss as it moves nearer to resolving fines and settlements.
Last week, Chancellor Philip Hammond admitted that the government was prepared to sell its stake in RBS at a loss. The stake was bought in 2008 at a cost of £45bn.
The lender said it had no update on progress in talks with the US Justice Department over claims that it mis-sold mortgage securities in the build-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
In January, RBS set aside a further £3.1bn provision to settle the claims. Resolving the case is one of the bank's two biggest remaining barriers to the goal of making a profit in 2018.
The other hurdle is an obligation that RBS had under European state aid rules to sell its Williams & Glyn unit.
RBS said in February it had found a potential escape from its seven-year hunt for a buyer.
Instead of a sale, the government is applying to the European Commission to approve a new plan whereby RBS will put in place measures to boost the competitiveness of smaller British bank peers.
However, the bank said on Friday that it had no update on this plan.
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "These longstanding problems aside, this could be the year when RBS finally starts to look a bit more like a swan, rather than an ugly duckling."
RBS said in its statement that there would be no further provision for Payment Protection Insurance mis-selling.
The bank's core capital ratio, a key measure of financial strength, rose to 14.1% from 13.4% a year ago.
"RBS may finally have turned a corner," said Neil Wilson, at ETX Capital.
However, he added that while cost-cutting has been key to the return to profitability, "there is a question mark over how sustainable it is to continue slicing away- the bank has cut costs at a rate of roughly £1bn a year for the last three years and shed around a third of posts since 2013".
"Slashing away at the core business without damaging future earnings and growth is a hard circle to square," he added.
"We've already seen how a lack of profits over the last nine years has dented RBS's ability to invest in new platforms and IT." | Troubled Royal Bank of Scotland has reported its first quarterly profit since the third quarter of 2015. |
39,690,179 | She was in English Bay off Ascension Island, part of St Helena, and a source told the Times her husband punched the shark to scare it away.
The woman, who works for the St Helena government, was treated in hospital locally.
St Helena is a British Overseas Territory, 1,150 miles (1,850km) off the west coast of Africa.
The government has warned swimmers entering the water in the area that they do so at their own risk.
It said the incident was reported to them on Friday at 4pm local time (17:00 BST).
The far-flung islands of St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha lie midway between Africa and South America and, though far from each other, they form a single territorial grouping under the sovereignty of the British Crown.
In the 1600s, the English East India Company was given a Royal Charter which allowed it to colonise the island, but St Helena is perhaps best known as the destination to which Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in 1815 after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
Today, the islands have a combined population of less than 6,000.
St Helena and Ascension Island are linked to the outside world by a Royal Mail Ship, the St Helena, which had been making the five-day journey from South Africa, every three weeks, but is currently out of action for repairs. | A British woman has been attacked by a shark while snorkelling near a remote island in the South Atlantic. |
35,900,499 | The NASUWT survey of over 5,000 teachers found 22% had increased their alcohol intake and 21% had consumed more caffeine in response to stress.
The poll found 7% had used or increased their reliance on prescription drugs.
The findings come as the NASUWT's annual conference debates the impact of workload on teachers' health.
The union will debate a motion at the gathering in Birmingham calling on members to condemn the government and employers "for their inaction on tackling excessive workloads, which is reported as the major cause of stress".
The NASUWT poll found:
"On tablets for depression and anxiety. Constantly exhausted. Normal 10 or 11 hour day in school then work at home."
"Overly tired, poor sleep patterns, no quality time with family, constant worry, heavy work load 70-80 hours per week, irritable and less patient."
"Suffering anxiety and stress. Currently taking anti-depressants to overcome depression, brought on by the pressures of the workload and job."
"Higher dosage of anti-depressants prescribed just to get through the day. Love the pupils but my senior management team are bullies and manipulate staff."
"Now taking anti-depressants. I feel undervalued and unable to trust work colleagues. Stress levels have increased which has impacted upon my interaction with students and the quality of my teaching. I do not enjoy being in my current school and am seriously considering leaving the profession."
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "Yet again we have shocking figures about the toll the job is taking on the health and wellbeing of teachers and school leaders.
"It is unacceptable that given the increasing scale of the problem, there is still no sign of either employers or the government taking any effective action to address this.
"Instead of offering support, in far too many cases we see employers introducing punitive and callous sickness absence policies.
"High quality education cannot be delivered by stressed and anxious teachers."
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "We know unnecessary workload is one of the biggest frustrations for teachers.
"We are working with the profession and education experts to take action on the root causes of teacher workload, including through the first biennial teacher workload survey and looking in depth at the three biggest concerns teachers have raised - marking, planning and resources, and data management." | One in 10 teachers say they have been prescribed anti-depressant drugs to cope with the pressure of their jobs, says a teachers' union survey. |
35,714,872 | More than 60 firefighters battled the blaze at the property run by Global Hygiene, an industrial cleaning supply firm, on Astonfields Industrial Estate.
Children evacuated from two nearby primary schools are back in class and neighbours have returned home after the fire caused explosions on Wednesday.
The cause is being investigated, Staffordshire Fire Service said.
Fire updates and more Staffordshire news
One man working at Global Hygiene suffered minor burns to his hands but there were no other casualties, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.
Drummond Road has now reopened at the junction with Astonfields Road.
St Patrick's Catholic Primary and Nursery School and John Wheeldon Primary School, which both closed early due to smoke and fumes, are open.
Glynn Luznyj, from West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service, said the blaze had burned for hours due to flammable substances on site.
"A ruptured gas main into the building was fuelling the fire... there was 40,000 litres of mixed oil contained in the building which was feeding the fire."
Emergency crews were able to contain the fire by Wednesday afternoon, after it was first reported by staff at about 08:45 GMT.
Only two people needed emergency accommodation from Staffordshire County Council.
Jill Hewkin, who stayed at her daughter's house in Wolverhampton, said: "I was at work... and I got a call saying there was a big explosion and I needed to get back.
"As I was driving I could see the smoke for miles and the closer I got the thicker and blacker it was.
"I started to panic because it is literally a stone's throw from my door. It was horrific."
The fire service said it had scaled back the response to two crews as the site was still smouldering. | A huge warehouse blaze in Stafford is now fully under control, the fire service says. |
36,343,015 | Geologist Richard Osman, 40, who grew up in Carmarthen, was on flight MS804 en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it vanished.
His brother, Alastair, from Swansea, described Mr Osman as warm-hearted.
Egypt's army spokesman said wreckage and passengers' items have been found 180 miles (290km) from Alexandria.
European Space Agency satellites spotted an oil slick in the area where the flight had vanished but the organisation said there was no guarantee it was from the missing plane.
Alastair Osman, 36, a biochemistry student at Swansea University, described his brother as a "workaholic, full of principles and the type of person you could admire".
"He was a very hard worker. He was always like that," he told BBC News.
"He was a great brother. He was admirable, someone you could look up to."
Mr Osman's wife Aureilie, 36, gave birth to their second daughter Olympe three weeks ago.
His brother said: "It's sad that he has been deprived of a potentially wonderful future and they've been deprived of a wonderful future with him.
"You have to try to remain strong."
Mr Osman is the eldest of four children of the late Dr Mohamed Fekry Ali Osman and wife Anne.
He has three siblings; Alastair, Phillip, 34, and Anna, 32, who grew up in south Wales after their father moved there from his native Egypt to work as a consultant in ear, nose and throat surgery.
Mr Osman was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth Cambria School in Carmarthen and later studied geology and has a masters from Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall.
He is a mining company executive for Centamin at Jersey, where he was living with his family, and he has previously worked in Australia and Egypt.
His friend Steve Ellyatt told BBC Jersey he roughly knew Mr Osman's schedule and, when he heard about the EgyptAir flight, sent a text message to Mr Osman's wife to ask after him.
He said: "She then came back, and said 'unfortunately Steve he's on the plane which has just come down".
Mr Ellyatt explained how the couple had recently bought his house although Mrs Osman had returned to Paris to give birth while Mr Osman was "backwards and forwards" due to work commitments.
"It's dreadful," he said.
Prof Kip Jeffrey, head of Camborne School of Mines, said: "We are deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy, and our thoughts and sincere sympathies go out to Richard's family, friends and colleagues at this difficult time.
"Richard is fondly remembered from his time studying at CSM as a genuinely lovely man, quiet but dedicated, and for his warmth towards his friends and real passion for his work." | The brother of a Welshman on board the crashed EgyptAir flight says the last two days have been "overwhelming" as the family await more news. |
37,475,713 | MP Drew Hendry believes there are plans for the tanker to dock on Wednesday.
The officer trainees, who are studying at City of Glasgow College, are among 2,500 seafarers stranded on Hanjin vessels.
Ports around the world are refusing to let the troubled company's ships dock after it filed for bankruptcy.
Seafarers union Nautilus named the cadets as Ruaridh Hanna, David Gorniak, Graeme Deacon and Gavin McPhail.
Three of them joined the Louisiana vessel in May and were due to leave on 2 September, the union said.
It understood that they have been told the vessel will berth in Singapore on Wednesday morning.
Mr Hendry, the SNP's transport spokesman at Westminster, said an earlier plan to transfer the cadets at the weekend failed.
Marine services company CMI Offshore had offered to use a ship transfer vessel to get the cadets off the tanker and take care of any documentation.
However, the plan fell through.
Mr Hendry called on the UK government to put pressure on Hanjin to ensure the cadets get home safely.
He said: "I now believe that there is a proposal for the vessel to dock on 28 September.
"The cadets have been let down before when a previous ship transfer arrangement failed to materialise so we must now ensure that this proposed berthing happens.
"I am grateful to the Seafarers Union, Nautilus and CMI Offshore Group for their help in keeping the pressure on, but The Foreign and Commonwealth Office must now also put pressure on Hanjin to make sure that his vessel berths safely on Wednesday and that arrangements are in place to bring the shipmates home.''
Last week one of the cadets, Mr Hanna, from Beauly in the Highlands, told BBC Radio Scotland he was trying to stay positive.
A spokesman for the Nautilus seafarers union said: "Nautilus believes it is imperative that these cadets are allowed to return home at the earliest opportunity and that their ordeal is finally brought to an end.
"We hope that all the various parties involved in the operation and management of the vessel will put an end to the uncertainty which has dragged on for too long."
The troubled shipping group has debts of more than $5bn and has struggled to raise funding to rescue $14bn (£10.5bn) worth of cargo stranded round the world following its collapse.
Hanjin filed for receivership in South Korea in August after attempts to bail out the indebted company failed.
There are an estimated 89 Hanjin ships out of its 141-vessel fleet in difficulty, and some have been seized by creditors. | Four officer cadets stranded onboard a container vessel in the South China Sea could set foot on dry land later this week. |
36,034,651 | The man had hoped to purchase some limited-edition trainers - so asked two men to buy them on his behalf.
Greater Manchester Police said he was "briefly distracted" after handing over £260, and the pair left the shop.
"To make things worse", they said, "the victim was apparently a day early", and the Adidas shoes were not yet on sale.
Police said the theft of the 34-year-old's money took place in Market Street, Manchester.
The force tweeted: "Regardless of victim's actions, we're doing CCTV work to track down the thief." | A shopper who tried to bypass a stores's one per customer policy gave his money to two "kind strangers" who fled with the cash, police have said. |
21,747,294 | The 25-year-old hooker was sent off for a tip-tackle on Dave Attwood in the second half of the Cherry and Whites' 31-25 defeat at the Rec on 1 March.
Lock Lua Lokotui was cited for a similar offence in the same game, but was cleared by a disciplinary panel.
Unless Gloucester appeal, Dawidiuk will unavailable until 22 April.
It would mean him missing four Premiership matches and the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final against Biarritz.
Panel chairman Judge Jeff Blackett said: "The tackle was deemed to warrant a mid-range sanction entry point of eight weeks which was then increased to reflect the recent IRB [International Rugby Board] memorandum dealing with such cases and subsequently reduced by three weeks to take account of mitigating factors.
"Unless we continue to apply these sanctions to this type of tackle we will not change the behaviour of players and reduce the potential risk of catastrophic injury."
Dawidiuk has made 16 appearances for Gloucester this season, scoring one try. | Gloucester hooker Darren Dawidiuk has been banned for six weeks by the Rugby Football Union for the red card he received against Bath. |
37,863,745 | The review will examine possible risks, such as hacking or fraud, as well as potential impact on cases of intimidation of union members.
The review has been welcomed by political parties and unions.
It will be led by Sir Ken Knight, former chief fire and rescue adviser for England.
Electronic voting means people can cast a ballot from a computer or smartphone, rather than having to go to a polling station or other venue to cast their vote.
A lot of entertainment formats use it, such as reality shows like Big Brother.
And a number of other organisations use it too, including the Conservative Party.
But there have been question marks over its security - hence the review.
The debate has been rife in recent years when it comes to trade unions balloting their staff on strike action.
Earlier this year, the new Trade Union Act established that a vote in favour of industrial action requires a turnout of at least 50%, and that key public services need at least 40% of eligible members to back a strike for it to be a legitimate result.
The law also stated that these ballots had to be returned by post.
If electronic voting is introduced members will be able to vote online, which would be easier and could increase numbers.
The review seems to be gathering support from all sides of the political spectrum.
Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC, welcomed the news.
She said: "It is time to bring union balloting into the 21st Century and let members vote securely online.
"Allowing union members to vote online should be an uncontroversial move welcomed by anyone who values democracy."
Business minister Margot James was less enthusiastic, but also backed the review.
She said: "The Trade Union Act ensures strikes will only ever happen as a result of a clear, positive decision by those entitled to vote.
"The Knight review will explore the issues and implications of allowing electronic voting in industrial action ballots and I look forward to reading his findings."
While welcoming the review, Labour shadow business minister Jack Dromey said the government had "dragged its heels" over looking into electronic voting.
Whilst politically there is widespread support for electronic voting, it has not always worked in practice.
Five local authorities in the UK tried pilots of electronic voting back in 2007, but there were issues with security and the transparency of the systems, so they were soon shelved.
Other countries, including Canada, Norway, Italy, France, Germany and Ireland, have all invested millions into trials, but the risks were deemed too big to continue.
Among security experts who have warned of the dangers is Jim Killock, the executive director of the Open Rights Group.
He told Computer Weekly: "The real driver of voter participation is the importance of elections and trust in politicians. You can't solve those problems with technology.
"Electronic voting in national elections is an expensive and dangerous irrelevance."
While such a move has already been given some thought in Westminster, there remains a long way to go.
Commons Speaker John Bercow set up the Speaker's Commission on Digital Democracy in 2013, to consider a range of electronic projects - including electronic voting.
Among the recommendations in its report last year was a call for secure online voting to be an option for all voters by the general election of 2020.
The Electoral Commission has also been looking into "radical changes" for the voting system, including going down the electronic route, in recent years.
In a speech in 2014, Electoral Commission chairwoman Jenny Watson said: "We will of course need to consider carefully the balance between the security of the system as opposed to its accessibility. But as technology advances and society develops, this is not an issue that can stay on the slow track any longer.
"Whether it is the ability to register to vote on the day of the election or voters being able to use any polling station in their constituency, or the introduction of advance voting, or even more radical options such as e-voting, we plan to look at a variety of options, assessing how they will help citizens engage more effectively."
But by the time of last year's general election, little progress had been made.
Furthermore, the way elections are carried out is written in law so any changes would have to be brought before Parliament. | Electronic voting could become a reality in industrial action ballots, after the government announced an independent review of the technology. |
39,829,289 | The 71-year-old was targeted as he cleaned his Volkswagon Golf at his home in the Abbeyhill area of Edinburgh at about 17:30 on Friday.
Both the man and his wife became embroiled in a struggle with the would-be thief but neither were seriously injured.
Officers said it was a "very frightening ordeal" for the couple.
A passer-by engaged the pensioner in conversation while he was washing his car in Stanley Place at about 17:00, police said.
Half an hour later, a different man arrived and struck up a conversation with him.
But this man grabbed hold of his elderly victim, wrestled him to the ground, then got in the car and tried to drive off.
When the pensioner's wife came out of their house, there was another struggle before the suspect made off - without the car.
Det Insp Paul Grainger appealed for help in tracing the attacker.
He said: "This was a very frightening ordeal for the elderly victim and his wife, but thankfully neither were seriously injured, nor did they lose their car.
"We have a very detailed description of the suspect and would urge anyone who recognises him, or who can assist us in tracing him to come forward.
"As part of our inquiries we have established that two men were seen acting suspiciously around the Lothian Cars garage on Stanley Place prior to this incident and we are looking to establish if the same individuals were involved.
"If you have seen anyone acting suspiciously or unusually in this area around this time or if you believe you have information relevant to our ongoing inquiry then please contact police immediately."
The suspect was white, about 6ft tall, and in his late 20s or early 30s. He was well built with dark hair which was curly on top and short at the sides. He had dark, messy stubble.
He wore dark jogging bottoms and a dark T-shirt with lighter writing on the chest. He had a tattoo on his left forearm of a name in "old-style writing". | Police are hunting a man who tried to steal a pensioner's car while he was washing it on his driveway. |
36,028,564 | A second loss in three league games leaves Napoli six points behind the defending champions, who are at home to Palermo on Sunday (14:00 BST).
Captain Mauro Icardi put Inter ahead with his 15th goal of the season before Marcelo Brozovic doubled the lead.
Roberto Mancini's side moved to within three points of Roma in the third Champions League qualification place.
Roma are away to Atalanta on Sunday (11.30 BST).
Napoli, still missing suspended top scorer Gonzalo Higuain, have just five games left to try and overhaul champions Juventus to win a first league title since 1990.
They fell behind after four minutes when Gary Medel floated the ball through for Icardi, who looked fractionally offside, to steer the ball past Pepe Reina.
The former Liverpool keeper was beaten again a minute before half-time when Stevan Jovetic and Icardi combined to set up Brozovic for a neat finish.
Jose Maria Callejon volleyed just wide for Napoli after the break but Milan went closest to adding a further goal as Jovetic's chip was headed off the line by Kalidou Koulibaly.
Elsewhere, fourth-bottom Carpi helped their survival hopes with a 4-1 win over Genoa, while Torino moved into the top half after securing a third successive win with a 1-0 victory at Bologna.
Inter Milan captain Mauro Icardi: "I always said that we are a team that can fight for the top spots.
"We showed it tonight and in the Italian Cup against Juve (losing on penalties). We had an extraordinary first half of the season, we did badly in January, now let's see where we can finish.
"We have to think about ourselves only and then we will see at the end of the season what the other teams will have done too." | Napoli's hopes of catching Serie A leaders Juventus were dealt a further blow with a 2-0 defeat at Inter Milan. |
39,742,954 | The row broke out during a Derry City and Strabane District Council meeting on Thursday over proposed branding that referred to "Derry and Belfast".
The DUP said the name "Londonderry" should be included because of its "cultural significance".
Sinn Féin opposed that move. Belfast City Council said it would not comment.
DUP Councillor David Ramsey said: "This is a city bid and because it's not a council bid the name Londonderry needs to be included.
"It's very disappointing for the unionist community.
"I can't understand why this became an issue. I asked early on why Londonderry wasn't included.
"Sinn Féin's out of touch here. Londonderry is the official name. We have never had an issue with Derry-Londonderry before.
"It's a step back when it comes to our diverse history and it's a major asset for tourism."
Sinn Féin councillor Michael Cooper said: "We have to put this in front of an adjudicating panel. It's already confusing having two cities in the title.
"Going to a bid with more names in the title would be a confusing situation."
The joint bid for European Capital of Culture between Derry and Strabane District Council and Belfast City Council was announced in February.
Other cities like Leeds and Dundee are also preparing bids.
The Derry-Belfast bid has to be submitted to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport at Westminster by October this year.
The winner will be announced in late 2018.
A document obtained by the BBC concerning the joint bid from Derry and Belfast said that an "ambitious and robust bid" will cost between £500,000 and £1m.
Hosting the year-long programme of events can bring increased investment, create jobs and boost the local economy.
Three non-EU cities have held the title in the past - Istanbul in 2010, Stavanger in Norway in 2008 and Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2000. | A row has erupted between councillors regarding the joint bid by Londonderry and Belfast to become European Capital of Culture 2023. |
36,751,407 | That will follow a bidding process which will see a new contract in place from June next year.
The contract length has been extended to 12 years, taking the service through to 2029.
Bidders will be required to provide a 40m (131ft) boat, up from the 26m (85ft) "Argyll Flyer".
As part of the new contract there will be penalties for service disruption.
Transport Minister Humza Yousaf set out conditions for the subsidised public service contract for the Cowal Peninsula to Inverclyde route.
The current service is run by Argyll Ferries, a subsidiary of David MacBrayne Ltd, which is wholly owned by the Scottish government. It has been criticised for technical problems and disruption to the service when there is bad weather.
The passenger-only service competes with privately-owned Western Ferries, which operates a car ferry between Gourock and Dunoon.
The next operator of the public service contract will be allowed to run a car ferry with passenger capacity, but because there is already a commercial operator, the vehicle business cannot be subsidised. | The Clyde passenger ferry between Gourock and Dunoon is to run with a bigger boat designed to operate in rougher weather. |
39,579,150 | Official figures show that 300 people came off the register in March, putting the jobless total at 31,500.
The Northern Ireland unemployment rate also fell to 5.2% - the lowest it has been since last 2008 - but still above the UK average (4.7%).
Northern Ireland also trails the rest of the UK in terms of the proportion of its workforce in employment - 69% versus 75%.
However, one economist has said the data includes evidence of "a lost decade."
Dr Esmond Birnie, of the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, said the Northern Ireland employment figure is "very similar" to 10 years ago.
"In other words over the last decade there has been no improvement," he said.
The figures also show a change in the composition of the labour market in recent times, with more self-employed and part-time workers. | Unemployment in Northern Ireland has fallen for a twelfth month in a row. |
34,920,002 | Poppi Worthington, from Barrow, died in December 2012, aged 13 months.
A pathologist had raised concerns but detectives decided she "may have jumped to conclusions", and decided not to investigate until the full post-mortem report was ready.
A family judge has now said that this led to no "real" investigation in the intervening nine months.
Poppi was pronounced dead in hospital after paramedics were called to her home.
It was later found she had suffered a broken bone and other acute injuries.
Following the death, her father Paul Worthington was arrested but later released without charge.
In October 2104 an inquest, lasting seven minutes, ruled her death was unascertained.
Mr Justice Peter Jackson, sitting in the family court in Liverpool has now ruled that findings in earlier documents can be made public.
They identified a host of failings by police, which included not preserving items such as Poppi's last nappy, and a bloodied sheet from a stretcher for analysis by forensic scientists.
Senior investigating officers also failed to visit the family home and no witness statements were taken until September 2013.
Cumbria Police said that as a result of the criticisms it had referred its actions to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
A spokesman for the force said: "Three officers were subject to the investigation.
"One officer was suspended and has since retired, the other two officers have moved into different roles."
Cumbria County Council was also criticised for failing to follow national and local guidelines over the death of such a young child.
John Macilwraith, corporate director for children's services at the council, said: "At the time Poppi Worthington died Cumbria children's services were not involved with her or her family.
"Following her death we worked with her family and other agencies to ensure her siblings were not at risk of harm, ultimately making an application to the court to bring them into our care.
"The judge found that this application should have been made sooner given the circumstances of the case.
"We fully accept this criticism and the judge's view that this had a bearing on the wider investigation into Poppi's death." | A judge has criticised Cumbria Police and the county council over the death of a toddler. |
36,199,633 | Mr Kerry said there would be "repercussions" if the Syrian government flouted a cessation of violence agreed in February.
A resurgence in fighting, particularly in the northern city of Aleppo, has threatened to derail the partial truce.
More than 250 people have been killed in Aleppo in the past 10 days.
As diplomatic efforts intensified on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a unilateral truce declared by the Syrian military could be extended to Aleppo "in the next few hours".
After talks with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura in Moscow, he said Russia was working with the UN and US to include Aleppo in the "regime of calm" that has covered Damascus and Latakia since Saturday.
On Tuesday, 19 people were killed by rebel rocket fire in government-controlled areas of Aleppo, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
State media said a hospital was hit, killing three people and wounding 17.
Last Wednesday, an air strike on a hospital in a rebel-held area killed 55 people. The US blamed the attack on government forces.
Speaking in Washington, Mr Kerry said he was hopeful the cessation of violence could be restored, and he warned President Assad of consequences if violations continued.
"If Assad does not adhere to this, there will clearly be repercussions, and one of them may be the total destruction of the ceasefire and then go back to war. I don't think Russia wants that," he said.
Mr Kerry added: "If Assad's strategy is to somehow think he's going to just carve out Aleppo and carve out a section of the country, I've got news for him - this war doesn't end.
"It is simply physically impossible for Assad to just carve out an area and pretend that he's somehow going to make it safe, while the underlying issues are unresolved in this war. And as long as Assad is there, the opposition is not going to stop fighting it... one way or the other."
He reiterated there was an August deadline for starting a political transition in Syria.
Earlier this year, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned that Russia might be trying to create a mini-state for President Assad in the north-west of the country, which includes Aleppo. Russia strongly denied the idea.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Lavrov told reporters that he expected a decision on including Aleppo in the separate regime of calm "in the very near future - maybe in the next few hours".
The unilateral truce had been effect in Latakia and the eastern Ghouta region around Damascus since the weekend thanks to the efforts of the Russian and US militaries, he said.
The aim of Russian, US and UN negotiators was to extend the regime of calm and "ideally make it indefinite", Mr Lavrov added.
But he warned that so-called moderate rebel groups in Aleppo had to leave areas where militants from al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate that is excluded from the cessation of hostilities, were being targeted.
The partial halt in fighting has raised hopes that tentative peace talks in Geneva might bring forward a solution to Syria's bloody five-year civil war.
But the truce all but collapsed after renewed violence, particularly in Aleppo.
Also on Tuesday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding the protection of hospitals, clinics and health workers in war zones.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there was no justification for attacks on medical facilities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned last week that Aleppo was being "pushed further to the brink of humanitarian disaster". | US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that seeking military gains will not end the civil war. |
29,042,243 | Quinn Business Retention Company (QBRC) has new backers in its deal to take over the packaging and construction industry supplies (CIS) parts of the business, which is now called Aventas.
QBRC was backed by a private equity firm, but will now be financed by three of the institutions that control Aventas.
QBRC said it expects the deal to complete in early October.
It has not revealed the details of the three institutions which are now backing it.
The Aventas businesses were the backbone of Sean Quinn's empire - he lost control of them in 2011 as part of his battle with Anglo Irish Bank.
Aventas remains a major employer in the border counties of Fermanagh and Cavan.
It is currently controlled by a consortium of financial institutions
Liam McCaffrey, chief executive designate of QBRC, thanked the former backer, Endless LLP, for "recognising the potential in this business".
"We look forward to working closely with our financiers, the staff and customers of the business as we seek to grow and develop them in the years ahead," he said.
In a statement Aventas said: "When the agreement was signed for the acquisition of our CIS and Packaging businesses by QBRC it was originally envisaged that the transaction would complete in Q3.
"The work involved is continuing apace and while it is now clear that the proposed sale will not complete within the original timeframe, we remain fully committed to the process and to a successful sale completion as soon as is practicable."
The packaging and CIS businesses employ more than 600 people in in Derrylin, County Fermanagh, and Ballyconnell, County Cavan. | A group of businessmen say they are a step closer to buying part of the former Sean Quinn group of companies. |
20,398,151 | The Rt Rev Justin Welby also told the Church of England general synod he would ensure provisions for opponents were "carried out faithfully".
The synod is voting on proposed legislation. Bishops and clergy are expected to achieve the necessary two-thirds majorities in favour.
But the lay members' vote may be tight.
Justin Welby, currently Bishop of Durham, told the synod he was "deeply committed" to seeing that concessions to opponents of women's ordination were carried out.
He said the Church needed to show it could "Manage diversity of view without division - diversity in amity, not diversity in enmity."
"We cannot get trapped into believing this is a zero sum decision where one person's gain must be another's loss," he added.
Twenty years after the introduction of women priests, the issue continues to divide traditionalists - among those on the Church's evangelical and Anglo-catholic wings - from reformers.
Remaining divisions in the synod centre on whether concessions - under which parishes objecting to women bishops can request to be placed under a stand-in male bishop - go far enough, or too far.
If backed by the synod, the legislation would then make its way through Parliament and could lead to the first women bishops being ordained by 2014.
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend James Jones, a noted evangelical, said he had changed his mind on the issue. "I now believe that for the mission of God to the people of England it is right for women to take up their place in this House of Bishops sitting before you now," he told the synod.
Canon Rosie Harper, vicar of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, said earlier in the debate: "If the proposed legislation passes there will be those who say that the assurances they have been given are too weak - but those assurances will be firmly in place.
"If the proposed legislation fails, the consequences I believe are far more severe."
She went on: "Firstly, as a Church for the whole country we will be seen to have failed to do what is right and honourable; a Church with lower moral standards than the rest of society risks its right to comment on other issues.
"Secondly, it will inevitably be seen as the act of a dying Church more wedded to the past than committed to hope for the future."
But Canon Simon Killwick, vicar of Christ Church, Moss Side and leader of the Catholic group in the synod, insisted that the measure before it was "not fit for purpose".
He said that the compromise wording on provision for opponents of women bishops was "no compromise at all, because it has united against it the whole spectrum of traditionalists."
And the Reverend Rod Thomas, vicar of St Matthew's Elburton, Plymouth and leader of the Evangelical group Reform, said the measure was forcing members of the Church "to accept something that we do not believe the Bible teaches".
"That is profoundly un-Anglican to force people into this position," he said.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, told the synod that "a no vote will not do anything positive" for the church of England.
He asked members to act on the "reasonable probability" that allowing women bishops was the right move and to seize this 'potentially liberating moment for us all'.
Women now make up about a third of all clergy in the Church of England.
The current process of formulating legislation to allow their ordination as bishops began in 2000.
The arrangements for instances when a female bishop is appointed but traditionalist parishes reject her authority have proved a stumbling block to its approval.
Under the plans, a woman bishop would delegate to a stand-in male bishop, but traditionalists want to be sure he would be sympathetic to their views - and not a supporter of women bishops - and not be getting his authority from the woman bishop.
A vote by the synod was adjourned in July after supporters of women bishops objected to a concession they felt went too far, by suggesting stand-in male bishops exercise their ministry in accordance with the parishes' "theological convictions".
The legislation has since been reworded to say the male bishop should be selected in a manner that "respects" the reasons why the parish asked for him.
For:
Against:
Q&A: Women bishops vote
Vote could change Church forever
Approval requires two-thirds majorities in each of the synod's three houses: bishops, clergy and laity.
If the measure is approved, the legislation will go to Parliament before receiving royal assent. The synod must then debate a Code of Practice on how the law will be carried out.
If it is defeated, the legislative process will need to start again and another vote would not take place before 2019.
Some Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals continue to reject a deal, and a coalition of traditionalists, evangelicals and Catholics within the Church has sent a booklet to all 468 members of the synod arguing the draft measure falls short of what they need.
In a letter to the Times newspaper on Friday, signed by 327 clergy from all but one of the Church's 44 dioceses, they said backing for the draft measure would "lead irrevocably to deep fractures appearing within the Church".
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Church members, including bishops, clergy and senior laity, have signed an open letter - published in the Independent newspaper - urging the synod to vote in favour. | The next Archbishop of Canterbury has backed the ordination of women bishops, saying it is "time to finish the job" started with appointing women priests. |
37,836,744 | Now rugby union is also looking for a blossoming of awareness and investment in the world's most populous nation, where the government has recently embarked on developing domestic sport over the coming decades.
Chinese authorities are making a concerted effort to increase sporting participation from grassroots to elite levels, as well as creating a flourishing sports business sector.
Meanwhile, governing body World Rugby is committed to growing the game in new markets, and promoting the sport beyond its traditional "comfort zones" of the European and southern hemisphere heavyweights.
It is looking for growth in many countries, including Brazil, India and Russia, but it is China where they have struck it big - signing a $100m (£80.5m) deal that involves a professional league, university programmes and grassroots initiatives.
"World Rugby's strategic mission is to grow the global rugby family," says World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper, adding that China is "central to that mission".
Rugby union is seen as a sport with huge potential in Asia, especially after its inclusion in the Olympics, and Japan's strong showing at the 2015 World Cup.
Japan will host the next World Cup in 2019, and is the dominant rugby power in the region, one that arch-rival China will be looking to challenge in the future.
Participation in the sport in China has increased by 40% in the past year to 76,000 players. The new initiative, signed in partnership with company Alisports, and the country's rugby football association, will see the former invest $100m over the next 10 years in an effort to further popularise the game.
Alisports is the sports division of e-commerce giant Alibaba, and the money will be used to establish the first professional leagues for men and women, and national rugby sevens programmes.
And a mass-participation initiative will take place in up to 10,000 universities and schools.
Tingting Zhang, business development manager of Beijing-based sports marketing firm Yutang Sports, says rugby union is currently a "niche" sport in China compared with basketball, table tennis and badminton.
But she says it does have some presence, for example in universities, and that there are opportunities for development.
"It is not very expensive now to bring the sport here," she says. "To bring a major sport in the world into China now, with a relatively good price and to develop it, is good timing.
"As these [plans] move forward, there will also be good marketing and sponsorship opportunities for the sport."
As part of the new growth plans, development schemes will also seek to recruit and train 30,000 coaches and 15,000 match officials by 2020.
Meanwhile, Alisports will launch a China-wide marketing programme, and broadcast rugby on its television and digital outlets.
"We have a great partner in World Rugby and together we will work tirelessly to promote the development of rugby in China with a goal of inspiring one million new players in five years," said Alisports chief executive Zhang Dazhong.
So what's in it for Alibaba and Alisports?
"Sport in China is being closely aligned with the entertainment sector," says Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at the University of Salford, and who has closely studied sport in the country.
"E-commerce and digital companies such as Alibaba, they need content, and sport is a great way of doing that."
Indeed only last week sport was included in a restructuring of Alibaba's digital entertainment assets, part of a new division which will have a 10bn yuan (£1.2bn; $1.5bn) fund for new projects.
"Chinese people talk about 'hot money' in sport, but they don't mean it has been fraudulently acquired," says Prof Chadwick.
"It is essentially investors trying to second-guess the sports market to make a return on their investment. It is essentially sports property speculation in the way we have seen in China with physical property speculation."
China is a country, which - for international prestige and "soft power" reasons - likes to see its sportsmen and women achieve on the global stage and Olympic sports are therefore given preferential state support and approval.
So rugby's inclusion in the Rio 2016 Olympics this year can only further help herald a new beginning for the sport in China.
Interestingly, the sport does already have a foothold in the country, built on a couple of diverse influences.
"The growth in popularity of rugby in China actually predates what is happening now," says Prof Chadwick.
"The Chinese armed forces have been playing rugby for a number of years. They have believed that rugby is one of the best ways to develop the skills of their personnel, involving as it does strength, teamwork and decision-making.
"The consequence of this is that when people then leave the armed forces they want to continue playing the game, and set up teams and clubs."
Alongside the army legacy, the wider history of the game in China includes its relationship with Hong Kong, where British expats played the game for decades prior to the handing over of the territory to the mainland in 1997.
In fact the sevens version of the game has become virtually synonymous with Hong Kong, with the annual tournament there launched 40 years ago.
Hong Kong does have a separate team - in World Rugby's international rankings it is rated 25th, with China at 68 - but its rugby legacy for China is strong.
Indeed, Hong Kong Rugby Union's chief executive Vern Reid says they have a role to play in helping to develop the sport in China.
With what seems to be a strong and sustainable platform being put in place for rugby union in China, it could become not only a major force on the international stage but also have what World Rugby calls "real major event hosting potential".
Prof Chadwick says the Chinese will give the task their best efforts. "One of the big misconceptions is that it is only football that is looking to expand in China," he says.
"The country is trying to develop the world's biggest sporting economy, which also includes the likes of table tennis and basketball, as well as sports equipment.
"Rugby union had already got a foothold in the country, and its growth is now part of that bigger sporting picture." | Football's growth drive into China has hit the headlines over the past couple of years, with wealthy investors from the country buying clubs both at home and abroad. |
34,810,121 | The 32-year-old has gone from councillor in Londonderry to party leader in just ten years.
In the course of the leadership contest, Mr Eastwood attracted the support of party luminaries and seasoned MLAs alike, with Brid Rodgers, Alex Attwood, Mark Durkan and former Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon all backing the Foyle MLA.
With the help of that heavyweight support, the new leader belied his relative inexperience to depose of Alasdair McDonnell, a veteran of many elections during a political career which has lasted several decades.
Mr Eastwood has become the joint-youngest ever person to lead one of Stormont's five main parties.
However, he now faces an even bigger challenge - to unite and grow the party to challenge Sinn Féin.
He joined the SDLP in 1998, citing the Good Friday Agreement and leadership of John Hume as the inspiration.
In 2005, he was elected to Derry City Council and five years later, aged 27, became Derry's youngest ever mayor.
It was to be a momentous year for the city.
Just a week after he accepted the chain of office, the Saville Report into Bloody Sunday was published.
The report, along with Prime Minister David Cameron's words that the killings were "unjustified and unjustifiable", led to scenes of jubilation for families of the victims and crowds of onlookers in Guildhall Square.
Mr Eastwood later described it as "an iconic moment" for the city.
Later in 2010, there was more celebration when it was announced the city would be the UK's first City of Culture in 2013.
It was not long before Mr Eastwood moved from the mayor's office to Stormont - he was elected as an MLA for Foyle in 2011.
His rising reputation had not gone unnoticed and four months after the election he was nominated to stand as the SDLP's deputy party leader.
However, citing a desire to focus on constituency issues, Mr Eastwood turned the nomination down.
Four years later, and with more experience as an MLA, he announced his intention to stand against Dr O'Donnell in September.
He said that the challenge was "not personal" against the current leader, but that politics needed "a new generation".
Despite his confident pitch for leadership, the past four years at Stormont have not been free of controversy.
He faced criticism in 2012 for his decision to carry the coffin of a friend, who was buried in a paramilitary-style funeral.
Mr Eastwood said he acted in a personal capacity in carrying the coffin of Seamus Coyle and again defended his position when questioned on the day before the leadership election.
"It would have been easier politically for me not to carry the coffin but I was at the funeral for a friend," he told Good Morning Ulster.
"I think people understand that in our community, you go to funerals and you carry coffins. And you try to reach across the community as well."
As the new leader of the SDLP, Mr Eastwood will now have to prove his ability to reach out not only across the community but also to those disillusioned with the state of play at Stormont.
"I'm fed up losing," he told supporters when he launched his bid for the leadership in September.
He has won this round but the young leader will be hoping his personal winning streak will help carry the SDLP through next year's elections and beyond. | Colum Eastwood's ascension to leader of the SDLP marks a meteoric rise. |
34,398,959 | Last month, Australian media found some of the firm's franchisees had been paying workers around the country about half the minimum wage.
Chairman Russ Withers and chief executive Warren Wilmot will leave their posts immediately, the firm said.
7-Eleven is Australia's biggest petrol and convenience retailer with some 620 stores, including 450 franchises.
In their joint investigation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners programme and Fairfax Media said they had "uncovered evidence of collusion between some of the owners at hundreds of (7-Eleven Stores) across multiple states".
Some 7-Eleven workers told how they had been made to work at half the minimum wage and for longer-than expected hours.
Mr Wilmot said in a statement that he had offered his resignation "following the recent realisation of the extent to which 7-Eleven franchisees had underpaid workers".
He said it would be difficult for him to lead the company amid the scandal and that a new independent chief executive was appropriate given the circumstances.
Chairman and founder of the Australian business, Mr Withers, said he was bringing forward by 18 months an existing succession plan to pass the reins to Michael Smith - a non-executive director and deputy chair of the retail giant.
But Mr Withers said he would stay on as head of the group holding company which has investments in real estate and Starbucks stores among other areas.
"Naturally this is a major decision for me to stand aside as chairman," he said, "however I will continue to be a shareholder and I am determined to make sure the company is in the right hands to move forward".
The company said it was investigating all allegations of franchisees underpaying workers with the help of Australia's workplace rights ombudsman as well as accounting firm Ernst & Young.
7-Eleven is a private company with a license to operate in Australia from the US-based 7-Eleven Inc and has been in operation in the country for 38 years. | Australia's 7-Eleven Stores' chief executive and chairman have resigned amid a worker exploitation scandal. |
23,879,744 | That, though, is what has happened in the past 24 hours.
David Cameron summoned MPs to return early from their summer break in order to vote for British involvement in military strikes against Syria within days.
The timetable was not his. It was President Obama's.
Having declared that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be the crossing of a red line, the White House was under pressure to act and to act fast.
In addition, Obama is said to have wanted to act before leaving the US for a foreign trip next Tuesday.
If he still wants to stick to that timetable, Britain will no longer be with him.
The government simply could not guarantee that its own MPs would give it a majority in the vote tonight. They needed Labour's support.
Ed Miliband showed every sign of offering it in a series of face-to-face meetings with David Cameron until last night, when he insisted that MPs be given a second vote after the UN weapons inspectors in Syria had reported.
It is impossible to know whether he was acting out of principle or in response to pressure from his own MPs. The answer is probably both.
In response the prime minister felt he had no choice but to buckle. So, now MPs are being asked to vote on the "principle" of military action but with the promise that they will get another say before any missiles are fired.
Labour are still not happy. They are tabling an amendment which sets out what they call a "road map" to a decision - in effect a series of hurdles that have to be crossed before action can be taken.
The one that could prove trickiest is the one that may seem the easiest. It is the call for "compelling evidence" that chemical weapons were used by the Assad regime.
The UN weapons inspectors in Damascus will not produce that evidence.
Their mandate is not to discover who used chemical weapons. It is to confirm whether they were used.
This morning the government will publish a document (after Iraq, no-one will call it a dossier) written by the Joint Intelligence Committee.
It has already been seen by senior government ministers and the Labour leader and shadow foreign secretary. It is largely an analysis of so-called "open source material", ie YouTube videos of the chemical weapons attack last week.
I am told that the JIC assessment is that:
As with much intelligence, that is an expert judgement but is it what Labour and their allies in other parties regard as "compelling evidence"?
Tonight, MPs will be offered the chance to vote first for Labour's amendment and then for the government's motion.
Labour will not say whether they will back the government if their amendment falls.
They will hope for further concessions from ministers. The outcome is, after the last 24 hours, unpredictable.
The stakes could scarcely be higher. At issue is not just what response, if any, Britain makes to the use of chemical weapons; not just British involvement, if any, in military strikes but also the reputations of the prime minister and the man who wants to replace him.
David Cameron has consistently talked tough on Syria and consistently proved unable to act tough. Today he will try to present that as a search for consensus after the painful wounds of Iraq.
Ed Miliband is emerging, his supporters hope, as a statesman who has learnt the lessons of Iraq.
However, he will be aware that the Tories are waiting to present him as someone merely playing Westminster politics if he refuses today to take yes for an answer by backing the government's new motion. | It is without modern precedent for a prime minister to lose control of his foreign policy, let alone decisions about peace and war. |
31,009,421 | The book is the author's personal account of training a goshawk as a way of dealing with grief following her father's death.
The £30,000 prize aims to honour outstanding books by authors based in the UK and Ireland and was previously called the Whitbread award.
H is for Hawk is the sixth biography to take the overall prize and the first in 10 years.
Macdonald told the BBC she was "in pieces" after winning the award in central London on Tuesday night.
"I'm absolutely thrilled and surprised and bemused, and it's wonderful," she said. "I am so, so thankful to the judges."
She described the work as a "very strange book", adding that she "didn't think anyone would read it".
Macdonald said that the memoir was intended as a "love letter to the English countryside and all that we're losing and have lost".
As a child, Macdonald is determined to become a falconer.
She learns the arcane terminology and reads all the classic books - including TH White's tortured masterpiece, The Goshawk, which describes White's struggle to train a hawk as a spiritual contest.
When her father dies and she is knocked sideways by grief, she becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk.
She buys Mabel for £800 on a Scottish quayside and takes her home to Cambridge.
Then she fills the freezer with hawk food and unplugs the phone, ready to embark on the long, strange business of trying to train this wildest of animals.
Source: Random House
Macdonald beat novelist and bookmakers' favourite Ali Smith, with How to be Both, debut writer Emma Healey's Elizabeth is Missing, poet Jonathan Edwards with My Family and Other Superheroes and author and journalist Kate Saunders, with Five Children on the Western Front, to win the overall prize.
The book has also won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. Macdonald said she had had an "astonishing" year and said she had often been "brought to tears" by her readers' own stories of grief and bereavement.
Bestselling novelist Robert Harris, who chaired the judging panel, said it was a clear winner.
He said: "Several people felt very passionately that it haunted them and they would never forget it and everyone agreed it was brilliantly written, wonderful kind of muscular prose - really precise, scalpel-like prose and staring at grief with the unblinking eye of a hawk."
Macdonald was a clear winner on the first ballot after the judges spent 90 minutes deciding on the winner, he added.
BBC correspondent Nick Higham spoke to the author - a Cambridge academic - for the News channel's Meet the Authors.
Last year's prize went to Nathan Filer's debut novel The Shock of the Fall. | Helen Macdonald's memoir H is for Hawk has been named Costa Book of the Year. |
38,182,289 | Philip Spriggs, 52, formerly of Oxford, was charged following a reinvestigation by the Thames Valley Police major crime review team.
He is accused of an attack on a teenager near Pullens Lane, Oxford, in January 1986.
Mr Spriggs appeared at Oxford Crown Court earlier and pleaded not guilty. He is next due to appear in court on 24 February with a trial set for 2 May. | A man has pleaded not guilty to the attempted rape of a girl 30 years ago. |
37,056,625 | 12 August 2016 Last updated at 08:36 BST
The warning comes on World Elephant Day, 12 August.
Tusk say more needs to be done to stop the poaching of the biggest land animals on Earth.
Ayshah has been looking into the threat facing elephants around the world. | Conservation charity Tusk has told Newsround that "If poaching is not stopped, then there is every chance that elephants will become extinct in a number of African countries within the next decade." |
30,287,845 | The week-long meeting of 195 countries in Lima - aimed at preparing for a new global climate pact in 2015 - comes after China and the US, two of the world's top polluters, pledged last month to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The official news agency Xinhua says China is keen to reach a deal on carbon emissions, but adds in another article that progress is likely to be stymied by differences between the developed and developing world - with the US the main culprit.
"Some developed countries demand that developing countries, especially emerging economies, pledge emission cuts, but they are not interested in providing funds and technical assistance to these countries," the article says.
It adds that the US is the "hardcore representative of developed countries that are shirking responsibilities", and will "pressure other nations but avoid delivering its own promises".
State-owned Guangming Daily strikes a similar note, criticising the US and Europe for "not doing enough" while highlighting China's willingness to work towards a deal in accordance with "principle of fairness".
A report in the People's Daily enumerates the way Chinese enterprises and investments have been helping to combat climate change abroad, praising them for "actively protecting the environment of the countries they are in".
"Neighbourhood diplomacy" is the big buzzword in the Chinese papers following a speech by President Xi Jinping over the weekend in which he promised to improve ties with China's neighbours.
Mr Xi's remarks at a conference in Beijing on Saturday are seeing as having struck a conciliatory tone in relations with other countries in the region, which are frequently strained by longstanding disputes over territory.
An article in the Communist Party publication Qiu Shi lends its full support to Mr Xi's "big-country diplomacy", based on principles such as respect of countries' sovereignty and non-interference in their internal affairs.
Highlighting China's traditional insistence that its rise will be a peaceful one, the article also suggests Beijing focus on projecting soft power through culture and technology exports - as well as "the charm and the confidence of Chinese diplomacy".
Continuing the conciliatory theme, an article in the China Daily urges China not be suspicious of other countries' intentions in order to build "strategic partnerships".
According to the commentary, Beijing should understand that the US does not want the Chinese government or nation to collapse, and neighbouring countries do not want to contain it.
"China has a good record of solving disputes peacefully, and its diplomacy should show neighbours its sincerity and reflect its goodwill," it concludes.
And finally, state media back the use of force to end the pro-democracy street protests in Hong Kong, while playing down suggestions that Beijing could deploy troops to the territory.
Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung has warned pro-democracy activists not to return to the streets following the worst clashes between protesters and police since the demonstrations began two months ago.
Condemning the protesters for "severely challenging" Hong Kong's rule of law, the Global Times chides the territory's police for being "overly cautious".
"We stand by the Hong Kong police, which can use force to halt the ruinous and subversive course of street politics", the paper says.
On the other hand, it also warns the mainland authorities against the "temptation" to quell the unrest with troops.
This, it argues, "can only bring temporary peace, but the deep-rooted causes will remain".
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. | As a key UN climate change conference opens in Peru, Chinese state media contrast their country's approach to what they cast as the United States' reluctance to shoulder its share of the burden of emissions cuts. |
34,580,962 | The work showed that women who had a particular version of the BCAR1 gene were more likely than other women to have heart attacks and strokes.
In contrast, men who had the gene were not at increased risk.
Researchers say this adds to mounting evidence that there are differences in how men and women experience heart disease.
In the study, published in the journal, Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, researchers from University College London pooled data from five European research projects, involving nearly 4,000 men and women.
Comparing their genes, the health of their blood vessels and the thickness of key arteries, scientists pinpointed a version of a gene that was linked to a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes and diseased blood vessels in women.
Though they still have work to do to fully understand the link, researchers believe the gene - when combined with a woman's naturally occurring oestrogen - could lead to an increased risk of heart disease.
And building on previous work, they suggest the gene may encourage the mass migration of cells into the walls of key blood vessels - making them thicker.
As blood vessel walls thicken, this could, in turn, increase the chance of blockages that lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Lead author of the research, Freya Boardman-Pretty, said: "We've known for a long time that risk factors for heart disease are different for men and women.
"This gene effect seen only in women, could be contributing to this difference, although we expect there are a lot of other factors at play.
"If we can confirm that this gene is involved, and work out exactly how it leads to an increased risk of heart disease in women, it could become a new target for drugs in the future."
She added that more research is needed and that individuals need to look beyond their genetic make-up and focus on healthy lifestyles to help protect themselves from heart disease.
Dr Shannon Amoils, from the British Heart Foundation, which helped fund the research, added: "Heart disease is often seen as a disease which predominantly affects men, but this is simply not the case.
"It is imperative that everyone takes steps to prevent it. Women can reduce their risk by not smoking, getting regular physical exercise and eating healthily." | Scientists have identified a gene that puts women at higher risk of heart disease, an early study suggests. |
39,997,726 | Riot police needed to intervene to keep Manchester United and Ajax fans apart when they met in Amsterdam in 2012.
Ticketless fans are expected in Sweden, having missed out on both club's official allocations of 9,500.
"You would be naive to think you are not going to get anything," said chief superintendent John O'Hare.
"It is a final, in Europe, between two really big, established, well-supported teams. There will always be a minority of individuals who want to use this as cover to cause trouble," the Greater Manchester Police officer added.
O'Hare and a small team of officers who specialise in monitoring United games will be in the Swedish capital to work with Swedish and Dutch counterparts.
They will also liaise with Europe's governing body Uefa and the clubs themselves in an effort to ensure the game passes off without incident.
He is encouraged by the knowledge Swedish police are likely to adopt an "engaging, front-facing" approach, which he feels will help avoid the kinds of scenes witnessed in Madrid last month when Spanish police clashed with Leicester City supporters ahead of their side's Champions League quarter-final with Atletico Madrid.
On that occasion, Madrid police were criticised for their approach as several fans were hurt.
O'Hare said: "English football fans have a certain way of behaving, which we understand as being jubilant and non-threatening.
"It is about making sure the Swedish police understand the context and only employ the tactics that are appropriate at that moment in time.
"Often in Manchester we have found you get more response by talking to people than coming at them with batons.
"That is not the way we do business and we will try our very best to ensure that is not the way they do business over in Stockholm."
O'Hare also confirmed there would be a significant police presence in Manchester city centre on Wednesday night.
United are looking to win the Europa League for the first time and join Ajax as one of only five teams to have won all three major European competitions. | A senior Manchester police chief says it would be "naive" to think Wednesday's Europa League final in Stockholm will be trouble free. |
38,153,180 | David Rowlands asked the Welsh first minister to "explore the possibility" of the M4 improvement scheme being part-funded by the Irish government.
The assembly member for South Wales East said it was a serious request as "three quarters of all Irish exports to the EU and UK pass along that road".
His request was met with heckles and hilarity in the assembly.
First Minister Carwyn Jones said it was for the Welsh government to maintain the major roads and motorways of Wales.
He also said Mr Rowlands could not expect another EU member state "to make up the shortfall that he himself campaigned to engineer in the first place".
Undeterred, the UKIP assembly member said Ireland would be able to access cash from the Trans-European highways fund for the M4 relief road - a £1.1bn six-lane motorway, south of Newport, to relieve congestion.
The UK Independence Party fought for the UK to leave the EU during June's referendum. Leave won by 52% to 48%. | A UKIP politician has asked if Ireland could help pay for a motorway in Wales using EU funds. |
33,236,765 | The MP balloted voters in his Richmond Park constituency, in South West London, to ask for their consent.
Some 15,802, or 79% of those who took part said "yes", with just 3,569, or 18%, saying "no."
The MP sent out 77,071 ballot papers and received 19,890 back, a turnout of 25.8%.
Mr Goldsmith, an environmental campaigner who is strongly opposed to Heathrow expansion, is now expected to enter the race to replace Boris Johnson as the Conservatives' mayoral candidate next year.
Among his potential rivals are former footballer Sol Campbell, financial services entrepreneur Ivan Massow, deputy mayor for policing and crime Stephen Greenhalgh, London Assembly member Andrew Boff and the Conservative Party's leader in the European Parliament Syed Kamall,
Labour is also holding a contest to find its candidate for City Hall.
Mr Goldsmith, who was recently returned as an MP with a greatly increased majority, said: "I am hugely grateful to the residents of Richmond Park and North Kingston for taking part in the ballot, and am overwhelmed by the mandate they have given me to run for mayor.
"For five years I have campaigned hard on the issues that matter to my constituents, whether fighting to stop Heathrow expansion, pressing for free parking to help our small shops, stopping plans to charge people for enjoying Richmond Park, or campaigning to give voters more power over their MPs. I have seen how a campaigning MP can make a real difference."
He said he wanted to build on the progress made by Boris Johnson, who he described as "a strong, campaigning mayor" who had "secured investment, created jobs, made our streets safer and much more".
And he vowed to make sure "London works for all Londoners".
"That means bearing down on unsustainable rents and helping more Londoners own their own home; continuing to improve and grow our transport system to cut delays and deliver value for money for commuters; promoting a healthier living environment for London families."
It has also been announced that the former Conservative MP Nick de Bois - who lost his seat at the last election - will be Mr Goldsmith's campaign chairman.
Mr Goldsmith's agent said the MP had paid for the ballot of his constituents himself, although he would not say how much it had cost as the final invoice has not come through. | Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith has received the overwhelming backing of his constituents to make a bid to be the next London mayor. |
29,280,298 | In December 1980, there were reports of phenomena in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk near a United States Air Force base.
The Forestry Commission has created a metal interpretation of a UFO to add to its trail which commemorates the alleged sightings.
The commission said the sculpture was "impartial" and did not seek to answer the mystery.
The 'Rendlesham Incident' took place over three nights starting in the early hours of 26 December 1980.
Two US servicemen claimed to have seen lights outside the perimeter fence at RAF Woodbridge.
Since then, many books and internet sites have been filled with conflicting theories about whether it was an alien visitation, a military aircraft, the beam from Orfordness Lighthouse or natural phenomena.
The Forestry Commission opened a UFO Trail in 2005 and placed three logs in a clearing where witnesses claimed a craft had landed and disappeared.
The new UFO will be placed in the same clearing.
Nigel Turner, recreation manager at Rendlesham Forest, said: "Clearly something happened - there's a party who believe it was something military, there are people who believe it was extraterrestrial activity and we respect all opinions.
"We think it will fit in well, because it offers a goal for people completing the trail and also give an insight into our timber-growing and conservation work."
Olivia English designed the UFO sculpture and said it was based on one of the servicemen's sketches and other descriptions of sightings in the forest.
She said: "The design is really about trying to find a middle ground and remaining impartial and creating an interpretation.
"The symbols on the side of the UFO were originally part of the trail, but we've recycled them to add another dimension. There's no secret code - it's art." | A 'UFO' has been built to mark the spot where an alleged landing took place in one of the UK's biggest UFO mysteries. |
37,585,154 | But in the knowledge the Prime Minister was about to tell the party conference about a shift to the centre ground, an appeal to "ordinary working class people", I left Birmingham the night before the speech to find out what some real voters, in the Labour stronghold, thought.
We call them vox pops in the trade, from the Latin "vox populi" which means voice of the people - one question asked of randomly picked people in the street.
Normally on TV they are short and to the point. But such was the eloquence and strongly-held beliefs I found in Mansfield, they are worth hearing at length because they sum up what people think of politics and the country right now.
The first person in his mobility scooter bemoaned the number of homeless people on the streets, particularly ex-servicemen. This is what he said, though, about Theresa May:
"She needs a chance.
"But making false promises isn't going to get us out of the situation that we are in."
Next, the 75-year-old ex-miner, still working as a gardener. Proud he had worked, so far, for 60 years and not intending to retire.
"She's great and I've always been a Labour man," he said.
"But this woman makes sense. I'm sure she's going to do a good job for us and we've got to be patient and I'm sure at the end of the day we'll be all better off.
"She's got that know-how look. I'm sure she means what she says and she's going to do it and she's got a good group of people around her."
Next the man in the street who takes the anti-immigration line.
He said: "I think she should do what she says and do it for the working class, which is curtailing foreigners from coming into this country.
"I've worked hard all my life and these foreigners are coming in and using our system and they're not paying for it."
"I think this town needs a change... it needs more money putting into it."
In the market place, stall holders were reluctant to talk. Not on camera anyway.
There was concern at the Brexit vote, the falling pound putting up the cost of what they sell from the EU threatens their future.
The next to speak was a woman who was surprised to find herself supporting the Prime Minister's words.
"I was a bit sceptical about her to start with but what she's saying is making a lot of sense," she said.
"But whether she puts it into practice... I'm quite optimistic. As I say, I was very sceptical to start with because I'm not a Conservative person."
Finally, although we did speak to more, the disillusioned man who speaks for many too, on politics, Brexit, and even the voting system.
All in response to the same question about his thoughts on Theresa May's speech appealing to ordinary working class people.
"I'm more leaning towards Socialism than Conservatism," he said.
"Politics is in a worst state than it's ever been.
"I've never been so disappointed as I am at the moment with the political situation. Every party.
"The Brexit thing was very disappointing. You've got a decision which just over half the country wanted so you've got a divided nation there.
"I'm very proud to be British but in reality I've never felt so down with politics as I do at the moment."
Lots for politicians need to take heed of here. Words and promises are powerful but what is delivered in the end is what will decide which way people vote.
Domestic policies are one thing, the government can control that. It can decide where to invest to help the economy as it steps towards to the centre and at the same time to the right on immigration.
We, as a nation, may have voted to seize control with the referendum result on 23 June but it may be hard to control the effects of Brexit on the economy.
What will the people of Mansfield think then? | They have had a Labour MP in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, since 1922 - so it's hardly natural Tory territory. |
29,068,550 | The father of two from Perth has more than 15 years' experience with a number of humanitarian agencies.
He has worked on projects in Libya, South Sudan and the former Yugoslavia.
He was taken hostage alongside an Italian aid worker in Syria last March - barely two weeks into his posting with a French relief agency, ACTED.
The pair had been working in the Atmeh refugee camp in the Idlib province, close to the Turkish border, supplying water, food and tents.
Mr Haines's Italian colleague, Federico Motka, was released in May this year.
Mr Haines attended the Perth Academy in Scotland.
Since 1999 he has held a number of positions with aid agencies around the world.
He worked with a German charity on post-war reconstruction projects in Croatia, including housing and demining. He was also involved in efforts to help displaced people to return to their homes.
In 2011 he became Head of Mission in Libya for Handicap International.
The following year he joined another agency, the Nonviolence Peaceforce (NP), and went to South Sudan.
There, he and other NP staff worked as unarmed civilian peacekeepers.
The NP has issued a statement since Mr Haines's name emerged in the public domain, saying it joined people around the world in pleas, thoughts and calls for his safe release.
Mr Haines's parents live in Ayr. | The British man being held hostage by self-styled Islamic State fighters in Syria is 44-year-old David Haines. |
36,640,007 | But the rest of Europe has been caught short too.
There's been a cacophony of contradictory political statements across the EU since Friday morning.
There have been demands the UK must give immediate official notice to the EU that it is leaving; except it doesn't. There have been alarm bells that the EU is disintegrating, set off by determined insistences that the bloc is more united than ever.
Now that the dust is settling, a bit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is attempting to take control, as she tends to in most things EU.
Her priorities: to get Britain out smoothly, as soon as is practical (ensuring German trade interests, of course) and also to safeguard the future of the EU.
For her, Brexit now is all about damage limitation.
Monday's meeting in Berlin with the leaders of France and Italy is as much about image as content.
It's a signal and a photo-op ahead of Tuesday's EU summit in Brussels that, at its core, the EU is united in purpose and unflustered by the British vote.
Including Matteo Renzi of Italy in Monday's pow-wow in Berlin was a canny move.
He's there to represent the EU others.
To try to avoid accusations of Franco-German elitism or German domination in the EU at a time when voters are more Eurosceptic than ever.
Concerned about calls in their own countries to now hold referendums on EU membership, Europe's leaders have rushed to make statements about "listening to the people".
Expect more of the same in Berlin later. But with a more positive, less panicked-sounding spin.
Matteo Renzi, for example now describes Brexit as a great opportunity for Europe to make "long-needed" changes.
Not long ago it had been assumed that a UK vote to leave would be followed by decisive moves towards "more Europe", as the European Commission describes integrationist policies.
In particular, an attempt by the eurozone to press ahead with plans to complete monetary and banking union.
The foreign ministers of France and Germany have just authored a discussion paper setting out a blueprint for a "strong Europe in an uncertain world", with an invitation to other EU countries to join "a political union".
But their bosses, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande, are wary. Very wary. Of further alienating a Eurosceptic public with suggestions of pooling even more national sovereignty.
Both leaders are, of course, heading into what could become extremely bruising election campaigns at home (particularly for President Hollande).
So it is expected that EU leaders will concentrate on "safe" common positions this week, demonstrating EU unity without wildly waving the federalist flag.
France and Germany will likely concentrate on security and defence.
Not the EU army idea that caused so much consternation in the UK, but rather initiatives thought to be acceptable to the broader European public such as common anti-terror measures and the formation of an EU coastguard to be used in the migrant crisis.
But despite Angela Merkel's best efforts - and possibly also because of them, from countries that resent Germany's dominating role - divisions will continue between EU nations, political parties within them and with the European Commission over the whens and hows of the UK's exit, and where the EU goes from here. | Much is being made at the moment of the apparent unpreparedness of both the UK's Leave campaign and of David Cameron's Remain camp for the day after an eventual Brexit vote. |
32,123,695 | Armed men opened fired on an aid vehicle as it travelled from Gao to Niamey in neighbouring Niger to pick up medical supplies.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement that it was "profoundly dismayed" by the killing.
Islamist militant group Mujao told AFP that it had carried out the attack.
The nationality of the ICRC worker who was killed has not yet been released.
"He was driving to collect much-needed medical equipment for a Gao hospital," said Yasmine Praz Dessimoz, head of operations for North and West Africa.
"His death is not only a tragedy for his family and for the ICRC, it will affect the life and well-being of tens of thousands of people," she added.
The injured worker was a member of the national Mali Red Cross and is in a stable condition in hospital.
The vehicle the pair were travelling in was clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem and was later burned.
"The ICRC is concerned about the rise in violence against humanitarian workers, which is preventing them from coming to the aid of individuals and communities in dire need," Ms Praz Dessimoz said.
A spokesman for Mujao, Abou Walid Sahraoui, was quoted by AFP as saying: "We have achieved what we wanted with this attack."
Mujao, which stands for Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, was formed in 2011 to spread jihad across West Africa and it believed to be a well-disciplined group.
Mali's desert north suffers frequent militant attacks despite a French-led operation to drive out Islamist fighters in 2013.
Earlier this month, a rocket attack on a UN base in Kidal killed a Chadian peacekeeper and two children. | A Red Cross employee has been killed and another injured in a gun attack by suspected Islamist militants in Mali, the aid organisation says. |
33,173,267 | Cannons from the merchant vessel, La Juliana, have been found in the sands off Streedagh, County Sligo.
Timbers from the exposed wreck began washing ashore in April.
The guns date back to 1588, but are said to be in excellent condition. Two have been taken off the seabed.
One bears a dedication to St Matrona, a saint particularly venerated by the people of Catalonia and Barcelona.
It is dated 1570, the year in which La Juliana was built, putting the identity of the ship beyond doubt, the Irish government has said.
Heather Humphreys, minister for arts, heritage and the gaeltacht, has visited the wreck site.
"We have uncovered a wealth of fascinating and highly significant material, which is more than 425 years old," she said.
"This material is obviously very historically and archaeologically significant."
Two other vessels from the Armada sank nearby in violent storms in September 1588.
More than 1,000 soldiers and mariners drowned when the La Lavia and Santa Maria de Vision went down.
La Juliana traded between Spain and Italy until King Philip II commandeered it for the Armada fleet of 130 ships to invade England and take Queen Elizabeth I's throne.
The boat weighed 860 tons, carried 32 guns, 325 soldiers and had a crew of 70.
A security operation is in place to safeguard the valuable shipwreck site from treasure hunters. | Severe winter storms over the last two years are believed to have led to the recent discovery of relics from the Spanish Armada off the Irish coast. |
39,675,201 | The minke was spotted on a beach west of Elie by a passer-by just before 16:00 on Friday.
A team from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) led the operation to refloat the mammal at high tide.
An initial attempt failed when the whale re-beached itself, but a second attempt appeared successful.
A BDMLR spokeswoman said: "The whale's body condition was fair and it was not injured so we decided to refloat it on the high tide.
"We had pontoons in place but when we refloated it, it swam in a circle and re-beached itself.
"They found it and got it onto the pontoon again. It was still fairly strong and in a state to swim off the pontoon.
"We think it might just have got disorientated with the tide, so this time the RNLI followed it out to sea.
"We've had volunteers walking up and down the beach, and so far there's no sign of it so hopefully it will be OK." | Wildlife experts have refloated a 20ft (6.1m) whale that was found stranded on a beach in Fife. |
37,229,865 | SNP MP Richard Arkless and Conservative MSP Finlay Carson recently had talks with the region's medical director Dr Angus Cameron.
Mr Arkless said urgent action was needed to tackle an "impasse" in recruitment.
However, Mr Carson said it was the SNP that needed to act to help address the situation.
Mr Arkless said there were more than a dozen vacancies already, with more than a quarter of GPs due to retire in the next 10 years.
He said more needed to be done to attract doctors to the region.
"It was good to meet with Dr Cameron to find out what attempts have been made to attract GPs to live and work in Dumfries and Galloway," he said.
"I was pleased to hear about the online recruitment campaign that has been running and the trade fairs that Dr Cameron had personally attended to talk to doctors who may have not previously considered working in Dumfries and Galloway.
"Dr Cameron also discussed how we could generally offer professionals a more attractive package.
"I agreed with him that there was a lot that could be done to sell everything that we have on offer in Dumfries and Galloway to attract more skilled doctors, dentists and teachers."
However, Mr Arkless said that doctors were still failing to apply for vacant positions.
"This situation has been at an impasse for many months and further steps must now be urgently taken to ensure the continuity of primary care services throughout our region," he said.
He said the region had "so much to offer" and said he would be happy to play a part in talking to potential recruits to encourage them to come to south west Scotland.
Mr Carson said the Scottish government needed to act on the situation.
"Measures taken by the SNP so far have been nothing like enough," he said.
"More needs to be done to assist rural practices with the cost burden of recruitment.
"During a recent meeting with the medical director, Angus Cameron, I reiterated the concerns of local doctors and constituents, and put forward some of their suggestions about how to ease the current situation."
He said he had been assured NHS Dumfries and Galloway would do what it could to assist local practices.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway declined to comment on the issue. | Two politicians have called for action over GP recruitment problems being faced in Dumfries and Galloway. |
35,929,232 | Over recent days, Tripoli's airspace has been intermittently closed to stop the Presidency Council, which has been based in Tunisia, from arriving by air.
Libya's UN envoy called for a "a peaceful and orderly handover".
But hardliners in the coalition that controls Tripoli are opposed to the UN-brokered deal aimed at reconciling a nation split by five years of conflict.
In a televised address, the head of the Tripoli authorities, Khalifa Ghweil, said he regarded the politicians as interlopers and said they were not welcome.
He urged "the illegitimate outsiders to surrender and be safe in our custody or to return to where they came from".
Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 overthrow of long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi by Nato-backed forces.
From 2014 it has had two competing administrations, one in Tripoli - backed by powerful militias - and the other about 1,000km (620 miles) away in the port city of Tobruk.
In December, some of these rival lawmakers signed up to the UN agreement to form a unity government, but the deal has not yet been backed by all the country's many militia brigades that were formed in the wake of the uprising.
The agreement saw the formation of a nine-member Presidency Council, which includes the unity Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj who arrived with some of his deputies at a naval base in Tripoli on Wednesday.
Mr Sarraj said it was time to turn a new page and reconcile, saying he intended to build state institutions and implement a ceasefire.
"Revenge, alienation, antipathy, and hatred don't build a state," the AP news agency quotes him as saying.
The BBC's North Africa correspondent Rana Jawad says the Presidency Council has faced numerous challenges since its formation, chief of which has been its inability to establish a presence in Tripoli.
It also proposed a unity cabinet over a month ago, but the Libyan parliament in Tobruk has so far failed to reach a quorum to vote on it, she says.
In the first hours after the politicians' arrival at the navy base, militias on armed pick-up trucks were seen securing most parts of the capital. But by early evening, gunfire from rival groups started ringing out.
It is not clear what their plan is, but things are now tense.
Many of the brigades in western Libya have fallen in line behind the Presidency Council. However, the reality is that these are the very same militias who led and facilitated the existence of the rival authorities in Tripoli since 2014.
Their continued prominent role means their status will not change - it simply puts any new government at their mercy. Ultimately they are Libya's rulers.
Militia allegiances often shift out of convenience and with the need to survive.
Key to any progress and long-term transformation of Libya will be having a government that can control these brigades.
UN envoy Martin Kobler said the politicians' arrival in Tripoli - after at least two failed attempts to fly in - marked "an important step in Libya's democratic transition and path to peace, security and prosperity".
In a statement, he "urged all public bodies, including official financial institutions, to facilitate an immediate, orderly and peaceful handover of power".
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini added: "The arrival of the Presidency Council in the capital represents a unique opportunity for Libyans from all factions to reunite and reconcile."
US Secretary of State John Kerry said it was "not the time for obstructionists to hold back progress".
But our reporter says it is not clear how Mr Sarraj and his colleagues will be able to take over state institutions in Tripoli given the stiff rivalry they face and the fact that members of his proposed cabinet are based all over the country.
A colonel at the navy base told the BBC a special security committee for the Presidency Council was responsible for arranging the trip of Mr Sarraj and his colleagues - and it was responsible for their safety.
The political and security vacuum in Libya has helped the so-called Islamic State group to establish a foothold in the north African country, carrying out attacks on cities and against oil installations. | Leaders of Libya's new unity government have arrived in the capital, Tripoli, by boat in an attempt to take control. |
21,707,816 | TEDxStormont has just been announced for the 28 March.
At the annual TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) conference, the world's brightest minds meet and share ideas.
The independently-organised Stormont event was launched with the aid of Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody, who will also speak at the event.
From its beginnings in California in 1984, TED has grown into a platform for world changers and visionaries.
The organisers invite artists, writers, scientists, designers and others to share one big idea or insight. The talks are then made available to view for free online.
Popular TED videos include: Schools Kill Creativity, Three Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed, Yup, I Built a Nuclear Reactor and When Ideas Have Sex.
Steve Jobs, Al Gore, Isabelle Allende, JK Rowling, Arianna Huffington and Julian Assange are just some of those who have spoken at previous TED events.
Starting from the theme of "imagine", TEDxStormont will look forward and explore the future of society in Northern Ireland and beyond.
Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody said he was a "huge fan" of the TED phenomenon.
"I'm in a cast of quite awe-inspiring individuals and truly looking forward to it," he said.
"I'm honoured to be asked to speak at TEDxStormont. TEDx is a globally respected concept and fosters great innovation through the people it provides a platform to."
Other speakers announced so far include Kate Carroll, whose policeman husband was shot dead by dissident republicans, Apprentice contestant, Jim Eastwood, and the UUP MLA, Jo-Anne Dobson. | Big ideas for Northern Ireland are to be explored at a local take on one of the world's most imaginative events. |
40,397,432 | Det Insp Paul Rowland said the weapons were found in a house in the Norglen area on Saturday.
No arrests have been made.
Officers have appealed for information but have released no further details about the operation. | Four suspected guns and a quantity of ammunition have been seized by police in west Belfast. |
36,151,658 | This is a side which, Robert Huth apart, have no top-flight title-winning experience, has players drawn from lower leagues such as Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and N'Golo Kante, and have narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League last season.
While the whole world seems to be excited about football's most unexpected triumph, Ranieri's masterstroke has been tapping into his team's humble backgrounds, spreading that humility in the media and delaying talk about title ambitions until the last few games.
By doing that, he has been very clever as the mindset shifts from 'nothing to lose' to a 'fear of failure' which can cripple some players. I know from personal experience that, getting that close to a league title and then losing it in the last few games would be seen as choking, and the players would know it.
Chelsea Ladies were accused of that when we lost the Women's Super League title on the final day of the 2014 season. We turned up to face Manchester City thinking they had nothing to play for and were beaten 2-1 to lose the title on goal difference. Complacency cost us that day.
Then during the week before last season's FA Cup final, I was feeling the pressure so much that I wasn't my usual self. I struggled to relax, to laugh or smile and the only way I could relieve it was by turning to yoga and my faith. In the end, it worked as we won our first trophy, and the lessons learned from both experiences helped us win our first Women's Super League title last season too.
Leicester do not have the advantage of being in this position before, which makes their march to their first Premier League title even more remarkable.
People mocked Ranieri's appointment last summer but in addition to his tactical nous, he has carefully choreographed his message to players, fans and media, therefore tempering his team's expectations and showing up plenty of other managers who have previously been in the same situation. Former Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan springs to mind.
Players hang on every word their manager says to the media and Ranieri's happy-go-lucky demeanour has allowed them to enjoy their football. Anything they achieve was seen as a bonus.
I don't think the players would have reacted well if the Italian started talking about reaching the Champions League once they reached the Premier League summit in November. Instead, Ranieri has acted with humility and kept the targets realistic and focussed.
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Fortunately for Leicester, Tottenham's draw with West Brom has lifted the pressure a little with the Foxes only needing one win from their last three games.
Had Spurs won on Monday, it would have been a very interesting run-in particularly as I think Leicester might struggle to win at Manchester United on Sunday. However, even if that happens, the league leaders still have two games against Everton and Chelsea to wrap it up, and neither have anything to play for.
That's a big advantage to a team who have defied expectations all campaign and after Chelsea's Eden Hazard's wish that Tottenham don't win the title, the last game of the season might yet be an interesting one if it gets that far.
Ranieri is a great example of how the psychology of a manager is tantamount to the performance of the players and although it's a contrasting case, I think it's also evident with the Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Here is a team cast as perennial runners-up to the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City, and yet in a season where they have all faltered, Leicester and Tottenham have usurped the Gunners relegating them to their usual fight for fourth place.
Their plight reminds me of a cutting message that our manager Emma Hayes delivered after we lost 4-0 to Sunderland last season. After an unbeaten first half of our season, she was concerned complacency may stuff up a title challenge for a second consecutive season so she reminded us of a quote which said: "The first mistake is a lesson, the second is a choice".
Successful managers have to be ruthless in ridding their team of complacency and while Ranieri has backed his team publicly all season, there have been several stories proving that he doesn't indulge his players. I'm not sure the same can be said of Wenger.
Newly-crowned PFA Player of the Year Mahrez admitted earlier in the season that despite all his goals and assists, he feared being withdrawn from the team if he didn't do his defensive duties, while Danny Simpson has said Ranieri sits him down and shows him in minute detail where he wants his right-back to stand while defending in each game.
You can't tell me that Arsenal's squad is weaker than Leicester's yet there is a psychological barrier which I think emanates from the manager. They seem to lack backbone in pressure games each season and yet Wenger seems to let his team get away with it. Is he challenging the players psychologically in the dressing room or just allowing them to make the same mistakes?
Whatever is happening, they are getting the same results and the clubs seems content with only reaching the top four, a story repeated over the past 10 seasons. To me, that's a choice.
The worrying aspect for Arsenal is that Leicester's success will only help to inspire other Premier League teams next season. "Doing a Leicester" will now be coined in English football history to motivate teams with lesser resources.
They will look at the Foxes' excellent scouting network, their use of sport science and periodisation methods to keep injuries to a minimum, and a new bumper TV deal to improve their chances of breaking into the top four as Leicester have done.
I'm not sure that Ranieri's team will be able to match their efforts this season as they aim to combine Premier League, Champions League and cup football. I also think there will be some big teams who may tempt their star players.
But if you look at where Leicester were last season, they avoided relegation with a game to spare, and two seasons ago were in the Championship, so who can emulate them next season?
Leicester's tale of the unexpected has eclipsed many success stories this season, including Slaven Bilic's West Ham, who are sixth in the table, and Bournemouth, who are superbly coached by Eddie Howe.
Like Leicester, the Cherries have survived in the Premier League after being promoted as champions the previous season, but their first campaign in the top flight has been a better achievement given the fact they are already safe, have a comparative lack of resources, and having had serious injuries to some of their top players including Callum Wilson and Max Gradel.
Howe gets his team to play fast, attacking football and I think he's good enough to be a future England manager. He's on course to finish as the top English manager in the Premier League too.
It sounds crazy to suggest it, but after the season we have experienced, who's to say that Bournemouth can't do a Leicester next season or at least reach the Champions League?
This season has turned expectations on their head.
England and Chelsea forward Eniola Aluko was speaking to BBC Sport's Alistair Magowan | Pressure can do funny things to players as the battle for a title goes down to the wire, particularly if you have never been in that situation before, but Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri has proven that his mastery of psychology should be enough to avoid any slip-ups with three games to go. |
37,789,415 | In the three months to September, revenues rose 8% to $616m. That was better than forecast, but lower than the 20% rise in the previous quarter.
The number of average monthly active users rose 3% to 317 million.
Last month, Twitter hired bankers ahead of a possible sale, but bids from potential suitors such as Google and Salesforce failed to materialise.
Shares in Twitter fell 7% earlier this month after Salesforce - considered to be the most likely bidder - said it had walked away from talks.
On Thursday afternoon Twitter said it would close the Vine video sharing service, which it bought four years ago, but gave no reason for the move.
Jack Dorsey, chief executive, said he saw a "significant opportunity to increase growth" as the company improved the platform.
"We have a clear plan, and we're making the necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term growth," he said.
"The key drivers of future revenue growth are trending positive, and we remain confident in Twitter's future."
Twitter's user base remains less than a fifth of Facebook's and is also fewer than Instagram, the picture app that Facebook owns.
The company hopes that live video will attract more users and recently struck a high-profile deal to show National Football League games in the US on Thursday nights.
The site will also introduce "meaningful updates" next month in a bid to better protect users from abusive content - an issue that Twitter has been widely criticised about
Twitter remained heavily in the red in the quarter with a $102.8m net loss, down from a $131.7m loss in the same period last year.
Chief financial officer Anthony Noto said Twitter aimed to become profitable in 2017: "We intend to fully invest in our highest priorities and are de-prioritising certain initiatives and simplifying how we operate in other areas."
However, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said Twitter needed to increase revenue by between $200m and $300m a quarter to become profitable next year.
"The building blocks for revenue are increasing the number of users - and Twitter is not doing a particularly good job of that," he said.
Advertising revenue rose 6% to $545m in the quarter, while data licensing and other revenue jumped 26% to $71m.
International revenue soared by more than a fifth to $242m, growing more than in the US, where revenue was largely flat at $374m compared with the same period last year,
Twitter shares, which have fallen by a quarter this year, rose 1.3% to $17.52 in New York.
The company had 3,860 employees as of June. | Twitter is cutting 9% of its workforce - about 350 jobs - after reporting a sharp slowdown in revenue growth. |
38,789,540 | The much-travelled lower league defender, 33, the son of Chelsea legend David Webb, has been placed in charge until the end of the season.
He becomes the 10th man to take charge of the East London-based League Two club since the summer of 2014.
The struggling O's are at risk of relegation from the Football League.
Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Mansfield Town saw them drop into the relegation zone after a run of just two wins in nine games under Webb.
Edwards, 45, who had a two-game spell as caretaker manager when Andy Hessenthaler left in September, was himself put in charge until the end of the season after the sacking of Alberto Cavasin in November after a run of eight defeats in 10 games.
"It is with regret that I have made the decision to stand down as manager of Leyton Orient," said Edwards, "It has been a very difficult decision, but I feel that it is in the best interests of my career and my family.
Webb, who was appointed Orient first-team coach this summer, became assistant manager when Edwards was appointed on 23 November and now takes a further step-up, starting with next Saturday's home game against automatic promotion contenders Carlisle United. | Leyton Orient have appointed Danny Webb as manager following Andy Edwards' decision to take up a youth coaching job with the Football Association. |
23,013,367 | Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's RainScape initiative will reduce the amount of rainwater which flows into local public drainage systems in the Llanelli area.
It will see a swale - a shallow, vegetated channel - installed on a local playing field.
Llanelli currently has a combined sewerage system.
That means that rain falling on roofs and roads is combined with the sewage in pipes.
Traditionally, the company would have built big concrete structures and storage tanks to hold the surface water back.
But Fergus O'Brien, the coastal waters manager for Welsh Water who has co-ordinated the scheme, said Llanelli has so much rainwater that the storage tanks would be enormous and the size of 200 Olympic-scale swimming pools.
"The main thing is that it doesn't deal with the fundamental problem which is that we're putting too much clean surface water run-off into the network, where it becomes contaminated with sewage before it seeps out again," he added.
Instead, he said the swale will separate the rain water and slow it down, with the hope that most will eventually soak back into the ground and go into local natural waterways.
Welsh Water said it was particularly needed in the area as Llanelli saw almost as much storm water in its network as Swansea, which serves three times the number of properties.
It means that some properties in Llanelli can be affected by sewage flooding.
The first part of the scheme saw a swale installed at Queen Mary's Walk football pitch, which will be landscaped with a range of plants and flowers.
The company said the playing field would not be affected by the scheme.
Minister for Natural Resources and Food Alun Davies, who launched the scheme, said it was the first of its kind in Wales.
"As well as providing a practical solution to reducing the impacts of excess surface water in Llanelli, the scheme will also benefit the community through the creation of new jobs and improvements to the local landscape," he added.
Welsh Water said the initiative was similar to schemes in Malmo, Sweden, and Portland, USA, where sustainable drainage systems have reduced flooding, enhanced biodiversity and kick started regeneration.
Nigel Annett, managing director of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, said: "We expect this innovative and sustainable approach to bring similar benefits to Llanelli and the surrounding area." | A total of £15m is being invested in a Carmarthenshire town as part of an innovative scheme to manage surface water and help reduce flood risk. |
40,459,112 | The government has until midnight to deliver the latest round of Common Agricultural Policy payments to farms.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has said 90% of payments should be made by then, with an application made for an extension to the deadline.
However BBC Scotland understands any fine or extension may be waived if the 90% target is met.
Under European Commission rules, a fine could be imposed if 95.24% of payments are not made by the midnight deadline, with Mr Ewing forecasting that the government would "fall short by a few percentage points".
As of midnight on Thursday, 87.3% of payments had been made. This totals £331m of payouts to 15,991 farmers and crofters.
The government has accelerated payments in recent weeks amid political pressure from opposition parties, and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has apologised to farmers for "failures" with the system.
A extension was granted in 2016, after problems arose with a new £178m IT system for delivering the payments.
Audit Scotland has estimated that fines for missing the deadlines could run to £60m, and have warned there are still "significant costs and risks for the Scottish government" over the IT problems.
Mr Ewing said the government was doing "all we can" to make "as many payments as possible" by the end of the day.
He said: "I expect the vast majority of farmers and crofters will receive all their basic and greening payments by the end of today.
"Although it is not possible at this stage to guarantee precisely the level of payments that will be made, the latest figures are showing that we have made progress.
"We recognise that while we are making progress, we still need to do better.
"Our priority remains completing payments for farmers and crofters as quickly as possible in the coming weeks and officials are working incredibly hard to do just that - and will continue to do so beyond today to make as many outstanding payments as quickly as possible."
The latest deadline pressure has sparked a political row at Holyrood, with Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson accusing Mr Ewing and Ms Sturgeon of "not being straight" with MSPs and farmers.
She said they had fallen "far below" standards set out in the ministerial code for "accurate and truthful information".
Ms Sturgeon said "rapid daily progress" was being made in getting payments through, and insisted she and her ministers had been clear with parliament. Mr Ewing described criticism as "fanciful". | The Scottish government is unlikely to be fined over late payment of farm subsidies, BBC Scotland understands. |
35,736,733 | They are one place outside the play-offs after a 2-0 Severnside derby win at Bristol City.
Lex Immers and Stuart O'Keefe struck for the Bluebirds.
"We're trying to keep the momentum going. We believe that we have an opportunity and we don't want to waste it," said Slade.
Cardiff are on the same number of points as sixth placed Sheffield Wednesday, who lost 1-0 at home to Rotherham United.
Slade was happy to receive the applause of Cardiff's fans at Ashton Gate, having often faced criticism since taking over in October, 2014.
Slade also praised the travelling supporters after the win at Ashton Gate.
He said: "I've always said everybody's entitled to their opinion and slowly but surely it's for me to change opinion and work hard at what I'm trying to do.
"It's been a difficult task in the 18 months I've been here, but I think we're starting to turn a corner and make some real progress and the support today, I can only describe as special.
"They were right behind us from the first minute and never stopped.
"Away from home they've been very, very good, but today in a local derby they showed exactly what they're all about." | Manager Russell Slade says Cardiff City believe they have chance to challenge for promotion to the Premier League and "don't want to waste it". |
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