id
int64 10.1M
41.1M
| dialogue
stringlengths 15
174k
⌀ | summary
stringlengths 1
399
|
|---|---|---|
35,818,042 | A Wada independent commission revealed a state-sponsored doping programme in Russian athletics in November.
Athletes have called for Wada to widen its investigation to other countries and sports.
To do this, Reedie said Wada would need help to increase its current budget, which is approximately $26m (£18m).
"If full-blown investigations are to become the norm, then we must of course seriously explore greater funding," he said.
"I have heard ever-more vociferous calls for a slice of the millions of dollars that are paid for sport television revenue to be provided to the anti-doping cause.
"This is a bold idea. I put it to the leading sport federations and broadcasters. Now is the time to look at this seriously.
"I also think that major sport sponsors should start to consider how they might help fund clean sport."
The World Olympians Association, which represents Olympic athletes, has backed calls from Beckie Scott, chair of the committee that represents athletes at Wada, to widen its investigations.
Wada director general David Howman has said his organisation's effectiveness was limited by a lack of resources.
"When I started at Wada, Wayne Rooney was being paid $4m a year by Manchester United," Howman told the BBC last year. "He's now being paid something like $30m.
"We were getting $20m when he first started, we're now getting $30m." | Sponsors and broadcasters should help fund the fight against doping, says World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) president Sir Craig Reedie. |
33,954,206 | Tony Hughes took the title of Worthing International Birdman after flying just over 106m (347ft) at the two-day event in West Sussex.
The annual contest involves people throwing themselves off the town's pier in machines and various costumes.
Mr Hughes was raising money for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and won £10,000 for his leap into the English Channel. | A former world hang-gliding champion has claimed the top prize for launching himself from the end of Worthing Pier. |
34,395,319 | Warren Gatland's team scored tries through scrum-half Gareth Davies and hooker Scott Baldwin, with 13 points from fly-half Dan Biggar's boot, but missed a bonus point.
But Fiji struck back after the break with Vereniki Goneva rounding off a stunning 60-yard move.
Fiji paid for small mistakes, with Ben Volavola missing two easy penalties.
The result means Wales will reach the quarter-finals if Australia beat England at Twickenham on Saturday.
However if Stuart Lancaster's team beat the Wallabies, Wales will probably need to beat Australia on 10 October.
England's final game later that evening is against Pool A minnows Uruguay and a bonus-point win is almost a formality for the hosts in Manchester.
If England finish on the same number of points as Gatland's team, Wales will go through thanks to their 28-25 win at Twickenham.
However, if Australia also finish on the same number of points as England and Wales then the top two will be decided on points difference.
If Wales had scored four tries and won a bonus point, it would have meant England needing to gain a winning bonus point against the Wallabies.
But Wales never looked like being in that position, and were made to work hard for the win. Fiji came at them strongly after the interval as the home team lost a little of the composure they had shown in the first half.
Fiji resisted Wales' rapid start for seven minutes before Scarlets scrum-half Davies threw an outrageous dummy and touched down between the posts.
But with their scrum creaking in the face of a ferocious Fijian onslaught, Sam Warburton's men struggled to subdue the Pacific Islanders.
Fiji stood up well to Wales' driving line-out, and broke dangerously from their own half with Crusaders-bound fly-half Volavola and wing Asaeli Tikoirotuma embarrassing defenders with their elusive running.
But Wales established some control before the interval when the outstanding Biggar was involved twice in a move which ended with hooker Baldwin squeezing over for Wales' second try.
Fiji's resistance turned into downright aggression after the break as Wales' kicking game lost its accuracy and the visitors ran at Wales with relish.
When Goneva's sublime try was converted by Volavola, Wales' lead was down to four points and they were showing the effects of just four days' rest after their win over England.
Biggar restored order with two penalties to take his tournament tally to 36 points before limping off with cramp.
But despite Gareth Davies and Alex Cuthbert closely missing out on further tries, Wales were happy with the win.
Scrum-half Gareth Davies got the nod, but Taulupe Faletau, Sam Warburton and Dan Lydiate all had good shouts, as did Fiji's Goneva.
Wales: Matthew Morgan; Alex Cuthbert, Tyler Morgan, Jamie Roberts, George North; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Gethin Jenkins, Scott Baldwin, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (capt), Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Ken Owens for Scott Baldwin (54), Aaron Jarvis for Gethin Jenkins (66), Samson Lee for Tomas Francis (49), Luke Charteris for Bradley Davies (13-26; 66), Justin Tipuric for Dan Lydiate (68), Lloyd Williams for Alex Cuthbert (19-26), Rhys Priestland for Dan Biggar (72), James Hook for Matthew Morgan (70).
Fiji: Metuisela Talebula; Timoci Nagusa, Vereniki Goneva, Levani Botia, Aseli Tikoirotuma; Ben Volavola, Nemia Kenatale; Campese Ma'afu, Sunia Koto, Manasa Saulo, Tevita Cavubati, Leone Nakarawa, Dominiko Waqaniburotu, Akapusi Qera (capt), Netani Talei
Replacements: Viliame Veikoso for Sunia Koto (74), Peni Ravia for Campese Ma'afu (76), Leeroy Atalifo for Manasa Saulo (76), Nemia Soqeta for Tevita Cavubuti (68), Malakai Ravulo for Dominiko Waqaniburotu (68), Henry Seniloli for Nemia Kenatale (70), Joshua Matavesi for Vereniki Goneva (70), Kini Murimurivalu for Levani Botia (74). | Wales took a huge step closer to the World Cup quarter-finals by beating Fiji in a breathless Pool A clash. |
40,248,066 | China-based company Mobike is bringing 1,000 bikes to Manchester and Salford as part of plans to expand into European cities.
The scheme features an accompanying app which uses GPS technology to show riders where the nearest available bike can be found.
It will be launched on 29 June and is backed by both councils.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham welcomed the scheme and said he was keen to take a "positive approach to promoting cycling" in the region.
However, he said Mobike was an "untested idea in the UK" and would be kept "under review".
"We're conscious that our city centre is a complex and busy area already, so Transport for Greater Manchester has been working hard to establish a voluntary code of working with Mobike to make sure the service operates in a way that doesn't inconvenience other road users, pedestrians or city centre traders," he said.
"If successful, it could play an important part of our long-term plans for cycling in the region and for making travel easier and more sustainable."
Users will be required to leave a deposit. While the exact price is yet to be finalised, a Mobike spokesman said it was likely to be about £49.
Riders are encouraged to use the bikes for short journeys at a cost of 50p per half-hour.
Mobike said its distinctive silver and orange bikes would initially be deployed at "high-traffic locations" such as Metrolink stations and retail parks.
London's "Boris Bikes" have been running for more than six years, while a similar scheme in Liverpool has also proved successful. | A bicycle-hire scheme - similar to London's "Boris Bikes" - is to be launched in Greater Manchester. |
10,212,687 | Ofcom said they had received "a handful" of complaints about the act, which saw Mr Starr swallow a lightbulb among other items.
Some viewers were concerned that it would encourage children to try dangerous behaviour.
An Ofcom spokesman said they were investigating the complaints.
Mr Starr - also known as The Regurgitator - appeared on Monday night's Britain's Got Talent semi-final but failed to win a place in this weekend's final.
He was seen appearing to swallow and then bring up a succession of objects, including coins, a lightbulb, a mobile phone and an engagement ring belonging to judge Amanda Holden.
He swallowed the ring along with a padlock and key, and the ring re-emerged entwined within the lock.
ITV1 broadcast a warning before the act was shown, urging people not to try the stunts at home. | Complaints about Britain's Got Talent are being looked at by the media watchdog after viewers raised concerns about glass swallower Stevie Starr. |
36,758,130 | Police were called to an address in Porcher Way shortly after 16:00 BST on Friday.
A 66-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The woman has since been bailed but Lincolnshire Police have been granted extra time to question the man. Police appealed for witnesses. | A murder investigation is under way after a man's body was recovered from a house in Boston. |
37,541,097 | His wife Claire went into labour several hours before kick-off, but Cushing chose to be on the sidelines as Man City won 1-0 after extra time.
After the win he said he did not know if his daughter had been born yet.
But Cushing had time to collect the silverware and get back for the birth.
Victory completed a domestic double for City, seven days after the club claimed its first Women's Super League title. | Manchester City Women boss Nick Cushing made it back in time for the birth of his third child on Sunday after overseeing his side's Continental Cup final win over Birmingham. |
40,850,009 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Neymar, 25, joined the French club for 222m euros (£200m).
Bartomeu says the money will be spent with "prudence, rigour and serenity".
Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho, Borussia Dortmund's Ousmane Dembele and PSG's Julian Draxler have been linked with moves to the Nou Camp.
Neymar's departure from Barcelona breaks up the feted attacking trident he formed with Argentina captain Lionel Messi and Uruguay forward Luis Suarez.
He scored 105 goals in four seasons at Barca, winning seven major trophies including the Champions League once and La Liga twice.
The player said he moved to France for a "bigger challenge", and denied it was motivated by money.
Speaking at the World Congress of Penyes, Bartomeu said: "He wanted to leave. We didn't agree with that decision but no player is bigger than Barca." | Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said "no player is bigger than Barca" - four days after they sold Brazil forward Neymar to Paris St-Germain for a world record fee. |
35,770,615 | The massive event has been organised by influential spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to celebrate the 35th anniversary of his Art of Living Foundation.
But the decision to hold it on the floodplains of Delhi's main river has angered environmentalists, and led to a large fine for the festival's organisers.
The BBC's Ayeshea Perera in Delhi explains more about the festival and what the controversy is all about.
The World Culture Festival is a three-day event which will take place in Delhi from 11 March. It is being organised by the Art of Living Foundation, a global organisation claiming to offer a series of self development programmes, founded by Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
The festival, held to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the foundation, will feature music, dance and theatre performances from over 3,000 artists.
Several dignitaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and heads of state from several countries, are expected to attend.
Confirmed guests include former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, President of Nepal Bidhya Devi Bhandari, President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and the Japanese and Norwegian culture ministers.
Organisers say they want the event to bring global cultures, music and arts together, to demonstrate the "power of peace".
Events include yoga and meditation camps as well as the stage performances.
The cumulative total of 3.5 million people is expected over all three days of the festival, with numbers fluctuating through the day.
The Delhi police will help maintain law and order at the grounds, but organisers have told the BBC that they are deploying a volunteer force of close to 2,000 people who will help with crowd control and keep the venue clean.
Earlier, the Delhi police expressed fears of a potential stampede at the venue, prompting India's defence minister to deploy the army to build several temporary bridges, media reports say.
There will also be 650 bio-portable toilets and 1,200 waste bins at the event venue, organisers say.
There has been concern about the environmental impact of the event, because it is being held in an ecologically sensitive area, on the floodplains of the river Yamuna. A floodplain is the area adjacent to a river, considered to be a part of the river bank.
Organisers have erected a 1,200ft (365m) stage for the performances, built separate structures for visiting dignitaries, and also constructed several large bridges, all of which have required the use of heavy machinery. They have cleared all the vegetation in the area, and the ground has been filled and levelled.
Environmentalists have alleged that all this construction, along with the fact that so many people are expected to attend, will cause irreversible damage to the ecology of the area.
They approached India's environmental watchdog, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), and asked it to cancel the event.
One of the activists who filed the petition, told an Indian newspaper that the 1,000 acres (400 hectares) being used for the event was once marshland, and now does not even have a "single blade" of grass.
The NGT criticised the Art of Living Foundation as well as the various government departments that granted permission for the event without making the prerequisite environmental checks.
A team it had earlier sent to assess the damage said the construction had most likely left a "permanent footprint" on the area.
The court said all government authorities had failed in their duties in this regard and fined the Art of Living Foundation a preliminary amount of 50 million rupees ($744,262; £523,172).
However it has allowed the event to go ahead.
The Art of Living foundation has denied that their event has caused environmental damage.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has told Indian media that he would rather go to jail than pay the fine. | A three-day cultural festival, expected to attract 3.5 million visitors and a host of local and international dignitaries, is due to begin in Delhi on Friday. |
37,111,962 | Heath, on his 32nd birthday, and 31-year-old Schofield won their semi-final in 31.899 seconds to qualify for their second Olympic final in a row.
"We had a really good, solid run-out," said Heath, who partnered Schofield to bronze in the event at London 2012.
Britain's Rachel Cawthorn failed to reach the final of the K1 500m, finishing sixth in her semi-final.
The men's 200m final will begin at 13:40 BST on Thursday.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Great Britain's Liam Heath and Jon Schofield qualified fastest for the Olympic 200m kayak sprint final. |
40,341,125 | The 5-2 winner, ridden by James Doyle for trainer Richard Hannon, triumphed as favourite Churchill finished fourth.
That was the day's second win for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin team, after Ribchester took the Queen Anne Stakes, with Sound And Silence successful in the concluding Windsor Castle Stakes.
Meanwhile, filly Lady Aurelia landed the King's Stand Stakes.
Barney Roy was runner-up in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May to Churchill, who went on to win the Irish version.
But Hannon's colt proved the better of the two this time, winning by a length, with stablemate Thunder Snow in third as the Aidan O'Brien-trained Churchill finished out of the places.
Doyle put his finger to his lips as he passed the winning post - with victory doubly pleasant as it came weeks after Saeed bin Suroor, another Godolphin trainer, had complained of having the jockey imposed on him.
The internal strife at Godolphin, which saw chief executive John Ferguson depart, was a memory and the jockey said: "It's been an up-and-down season and when I knew I'd got the ride on this fellow, I was pretty excited."
On a sweltering day with temperatures reaching 30C, Royal Ascot did not enforce its dress code in the Royal Enclosure, letting racegoers remove jackets for the first time in the event's history.
Favourite Ribchester, ridden by William Buick for trainer Richard Fahey, got the Godolphin ball rolling.
The 11-10 chance won in a course record for the straight mile - 40 years to the day since Sheikh Mohammed celebrated his first winner as an owner.
Ribchester won by a length-and-a-quarter from Mutakayvef, with Deauville in third.
"He has to be the best horse I have ever trained," Fahey said. "He broke the track record here today and that's not being disrespectful to the others, but he is just exceptional."
Michelle Payne, the only female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, was fifth of the 16 runners on 66-1 outsider Kaspersky as the rider made her Ascot debut.
Rajasinghe (11-1) set another course record, when winning the Coventry Stakes for two-year-old horses.
Jockey Stevie Donohoe, riding for trainer Richard Spencer, got the best of a photo finish from runner-up Headway.
Lady Aurelia ran out a dominant Royal Ascot winner for the second year running.
The 7-2 shot, who won the Queen Mary Stakes last year, landed the King's Stand Stakes this time by three lengths from Profitable for American trainer Wesley Ward.
Winning jockey John Velazquez had few worries as he stepped in for Frankie Dettori who was ruled out of the meeting earluer in the day with an injured shoulder.
Ward said: "Lady Aurelia is very special. To win like this, to duplicate what she did last year - a once-in-a-lifetime horse."
BBC racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght
Barney Roy's win meant a lot to all concerned. There was a nagging feeling that he had never really had the chance to show his true metal in the 2,000 Guineas, but today he proved what he is worth.
Richard Hannon insisted such a dramatic turning of tables on Churchill, well beaten in fourth, didn't feel so much like revenge as putting the record straight.
But that defeat had clearly been niggling James Doyle whose celebration was, by his feet-on-the-ground standards, quite extravagant. This was only Barney Roy's fourth run: better still can be expected in the future.
Lady Aurelia blew away her rivals in spectacular style to show herself the "world-class sprinter" Wesley Ward told BBC Sport that she was in the run-up.
Ironically, her time was 0.01 seconds outside the course record, so was the only one of the major races not to break the clock. But this was a three-length win, so what would have happened if she had been pressed?
You had to feel for Frankie Dettori. OK, he has won many Royal Ascot races, but being ruled out of such a plum ride on the morning of the race must be galling.
Thomas Hobson, the 4-1 favourite trained by Willie Mullins, won the Ascot Stakes under a cool ride from Ryan Moore.
Mullins is more associated with jump than flat racing but took this race with Moore for the third time in six years, and said afterwards that he would aim the Rich Ricci-owned winner at the Melbourne Cup in November.
Godolphin rounded off a memorable day with a 1-2 in the final race as Sound And Silence beat stablemate Roussel.
It was a second winner of the day for Buick and a first for trainer Charlie Appleby.
"The horses have been in great nick all year and they've had a great preparation," said Buick.
The Queen will travel straight from giving the Queen's Speech and the State Opening of Parliament to attend the second day of racing at Ascot.
Highland Reel heads the runners in Wednesday's feature race, the Prince of Wales's Stakes (16:20 BST).
The five-year-old, who will be ridden by Ryan Moore for trainer Aidan O'Brien, bids to follow up his triumph in the Coronation Cup at Epsom earlier this month.
Highland Reel renews rivalry with Jack Hobbs, having finished last behind the John Gosden runner in unsuitably rain-softened conditions in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March.
Josephine Gordon will bid to become only the second female jockey to ride a winner at the Royal Ascot meeting.
Gay Kelleway, now a trainer herself, triumphed on Sprowston Boy in the Queen Alexandra Stakes 30 years ago.
Gordon, last season's champion apprentice rider, will be on Dream Castle for Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor in the opening Jersey Stakes (14:30 BST).
Commentary of first four races on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra. All times BST
14:30: Jersey Stakes (Group 3) 7f
15:05: Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2) 5f
15:40: Duke of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2) 1m
16:20: Prince of Wales's Stakes 1 1/4 m
17:00: Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap) 1m
17:35: Sandringham Stakes 1m | Barney Roy won the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot as Godolphin celebrated an opening-day treble. |
38,863,431 | Prosecutor Francois Molins said he is thought to have travelled to Paris from Dubai on a tourist visa last month.
Police are trying to establish if the man acted alone or under instructions, he added.
The machete-wielding attacker was critically injured after he was shot by French soldiers in a bid to stop him.
One of the soldiers received minor injuries when the man tried to enter the museum.
At the time of the incident, hundreds of visitors were inside the Louvre, which is home to numerous celebrated art works, including the Mona Lisa.
President Francois Hollande praised the soldiers' actions, saying "this operation prevented an attack whose terrorist nature leaves little doubt".
He told reporters at an EU summit in Malta on Friday that he expected the suspect to be questioned "when it is possible to do so".
Fewer foreigners visit Paris galleries
Freedom under threat in France
Timeline: Attacks in France
Prosecutor Molins said the Egyptian man had no identity papers but mobile phone data showed he had arrived in Paris on 26 January after acquiring a one-month tourist visa in Dubai.
However, he cautioned, the authorities have not yet formally established the suspect's identity.
Egyptian security sources though say they have identified him, Reuters news agency reports.
He was believed to have been staying in the capital's 8th district (arrondissement) which was searched in a police raid earlier on Friday.
There, he bought two machetes from a shop selling guns.
According to the prosecutor, the attacker, armed with the machetes, approached four soldiers guarding the entrance to crowded shops beneath the Louvre just before 10:00 local time (09:00 GMT).
When the soldiers challenged him, he attacked two of them while shouting in Arabic "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest"). One of them shot him at least three times, hitting him in the stomach.
"The attacker fell to the ground, seriously wounded. He has been taken to hospital and is fighting for his life," the prosecutor said.
He was carrying a rucksack which contained paint spray cans - but no explosives.
The guards on patrol outside the museum were just some of the thousands of troops lining the streets as part of the stepped-up response to a series of attacks in France since 2015.
Though still hugely popular, the Louvre has suffered a drop in visitor numbers amid fears of a militant attack.
A series of assaults by gunmen and suicide bombers claimed by so-called Islamic State killed 130 people in November 2015.
In January of the same year, 17 people were killed in an attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and linked shootings.
Last July, 86 people were killed when a lorry ploughed through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice.
Security has become a theme of the French presidential election in April, which sees far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist independent Emmanuel Macron leading the polls. | French authorities say they believe the man who tried to attack the Louvre museum in the capital Paris on Friday was a 29-year-old Egyptian man. |
12,973,062 | A banjo, accordion, double bass, violin, guitar, trumpet, mandolin, drums, marching drums, a mini piano, a saw and a broom are all used in creating their distinctive sound.
Musically speaking, comparisons could be made to Zach Condon's Beirut, but that would be omitting Three Beards' desire to play music influenced by events close to home.
"We're into this whole Eastern Anglian tradition," said James Barnard, who plays banjo.
"The Darkness did a song about Black Shuck and we're trying to mine that bestial dark heart of East Anglia, using DIY products."
James is one of the three founding members of the band. And yes, they all had beards.
When they were offered their first gig as a three piece the name seemed like a good idea, and it has stuck despite their numbers swelling.
Double bass player Sue Hewlett was next to join.
"A few of us were at Norwich Arts School together - lots of us have London connections but we're grounded in Suffolk," she said.
It can be difficult to co-ordinate the schedules of eight band members but they manage to get together for a weekly practice in London.
Gigs are less regular, but the band aim to make each one memorable.
"When we do live shows we do a procession and a march and base that on East Anglian morris traditions, like the straw bear or Plough Monday and we'll pagan it up a bit," said Simon.
"We got a bit fed up with people saying we're klezmer music or gypsy music, so we invented our own tradition."
Sue added: "We had one gig over Christmas where we got our good friend Elliott to wear a bear suit.
"We strapped lots of foliage to him and he was lead along with a lead or a chain. Lots of people were burning hands full of joss sticks and there were some pyrotechnics."
Simon said: "We're hoping after a few years it will become a proper tradition and Eastern Anglian will be at Cecil Sharp House or something."
"And we don't play Suffolk enough," said James. "We want to put the 'folk' in 'Suffolk'."
Three Beards performed live for BBC Introducing in Suffolk on 31 March, 2011.
You can listen to their session and interview by downloading the podcast - available for a month after the show was broadcast. | With eight members and a smorgasbord of instruments, Three Beards are not your typical Suffolk band. |
39,161,954 | A group of five entered the studio at the building in central London at around 19:30 GMT on Friday.
The BBC News Channel was using the studio at the time, but the intruders were not seen on air.
It is understood the intruders left of their own accord. A BBC spokeswoman said no one was hurt.
The spokeswoman said: "We take security very seriously and are urgently investigating how several individuals were able to gain access to a studio.
"No one was hurt and there was no interruption to broadcasts.
"We have already taken further security measures and will take any other necessary steps." | The BBC is investigating after several people gained unauthorised access to one of its studios during a live broadcast at Broadcasting House. |
39,115,877 | Zoe Morgan, 21, and Lee Simmons, 33, were found stabbed near Cardiff's Queen Street store on 28 September, 2016.
Andrew Saunders, 21, of no fixed abode, researched methods of killing in the days before the attack.
He previously admitted their murders at Cardiff Crown Court.
The court heard Saunders was jealous of the couple who started a relationship in July 2016 after he and Miss Morgan split up.
After making threats to kill the pair in the weeks before, he waited for them outside the Matalan store before launching his attack at about 05:50 BST.
Witnesses saw him attack Mr Simmons first, stabbing him "in a frenzy" as he pleaded for him to stop.
He then moved on to Miss Morgan telling her "I'm coming for you next" as she tried to help her boyfriend.
He chased her down the street, eventually catching up with her outside the Boots store where he stabbed her several times.
Sentencing Saunders, Mrs Justice Nicola Davies described the killing as "savagely violent conduct".
She said: "Whatever your mental state, you took the lives of two people. You robbed the families of Lee Simmons and Zoe Morgan of a much-loved son and a much-loved daughter."
She added there was a "significant degree of planning" before the killing as he bought the two knives he used and a rifle in the days before the attack and searched the internet for ways to kill.
Afterwards, he phoned his mother telling her what he had done and sent a text message to his father saying: "Thanks for being a pathetic, useless father. Just killed two people, cheers."
When he was arrested, he confessed to officers: "I'm sorry, you know sometimes, you just snap."
Speaking after the hearing, Det Insp Mark O'Shea, of South Wales Police, said Saunders was a "cold, calculating" killer who had planned his crimes over a number of weeks.
He added he deserved to spend the majority of his life in prison where he could reflect on the gravity of his offences.
Kelly Huggins, from the Crown Prosecution Service, described the killing as a "brutal, unprovoked and premeditated attack" and said Saunders showed no concern for witnesses who were subjected to a "frightening scene of violence".
In a statement, Miss Morgan's family said their lives had been changed forever by their daughter's murder.
It read: "I hope that every day Saunders is thinking about what he has done to us and what he has done to our beautiful daughter. We will think of Zoe for the rest of our lives."
Lee Simmons's family said no sentence or punishment would ever compensate for the loss of his life and they would never be able to forgive Saunders for "selfishly taking Lee away from us".
Both families added they were disappointed with the length of sentence given to Saunders. | A man who murdered his ex-girlfriend and her new partner outside the Matalan store where they worked has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years. |
39,772,547 | The incident happened on the A939, south of the Lecht Ski Centre, at about 12:40.
The woman was flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in a Coastguard helicopter.
It is understood her injuries were not serious. | A 60-year-old woman has been airlifted to hospital after her car plunged hundreds of feet down a gully near an Aberdeenshire ski centre. |
35,219,168 | But it has recommended that a second round run-off should go ahead as planned on 17 January.
The people of Haiti are choosing a president to succeed Michel Martelly.
Mr Martelly postponed the run-off vote that was due to be held on 27 December after street protests against fraud in the first round turned violent.
President Martelly is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.
The candidate he backed, banana exporter Jovenel Moise, won 33% of the vote in the first round on 25 October.
In the run-off, he will face ex-state construction company head Jude Celestin, who came second with 25%.
The opposition alleged widespread fraud in the presidential and legislative vote in October.
The commission assigned last month to look into the allegations said there were widespread irregularities.
It recommended legal action against poll workers and other people involved in fraud, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Whoever wins will face a daunting task when taking over from Mr Martelly in February. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Americas.
Since it was devastated by an earthquake in 2010, the country has relied largely on international donations and foreign aid from the United States and other countries. | A commission investigating disputed presidential and legislative elections in Haiti says the October vote was "stained by irregularities". |
33,608,826 | Stephen Timms said the 18 new MPs who were among the 48 rebels should focus on supporting the party.
The Commons backed the Welfare Reform and Work Bill by 308 to 124 votes.
Former Labour home secretary David Blunkett said the party was suffering post-election "emotional trauma".
The SNP said it was "disgraceful" that Labour had not joined it in opposing the bill.
Labour had told its MPs to abstain on the bill, which includes plans to limit child tax credit to two children.
Rebels included leadership hopeful Jeremy Corbyn and London mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan and David Lammy.
First Harriet Harman took a stand - saying Labour had to wake up and listen to voters on welfare.
Then she compromised - tabling an amendment designed to sidestep a row. And then almost 50 rebels ignored her instructions.
Were she Labour's permanent leader, her authority would be in tatters.
But it's not about her; she'll be gone by the autumn.
The real question is: could any of her would-be successors persuade the party that welfare must be reformed now?
Would they want, or dare, to try?
Read the full article
Mr Timms told BBC Radio London the rebellion was "smaller than quite a lot of people expected", and included a number of MPs who regularly defy the party whip.
He added: "There were also a number of newer members who broke the whip and I hope as we go into the summer recess they will conclude that they really want to be supporting our party's efforts to replace the current government rather than undermining them."
But one of the new-intake rebels, Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens, told BBC News she did not agree, saying the bill, which include £12bn in welfare cuts, was focusing on working families.
She said she did not criticise any of her colleagues for the way they had voted but that there "may be a new approach" when a new leader is in place in September.
Apart from Mr Corbyn, all the leadership contenders - Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall - followed Ms Harman's lead and abstained.
Ms Stevens said they had "no choice" as they were bound by collective responsibility.
Ms Harman has faced criticism for her stance, with many MPs saying she should have been more outspoken in her opposition to curbs on child tax credits and cuts to other in-work benefits.
A Labour amendment seeking to derail the legislation was defeated by 308 votes to 208.
Mr Corbyn denied he was fuelling a split in the Labour Party, saying the revolt had "strengthened" Labour's position against the Conservatives.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme society ought to be "deeply concerned" about child poverty and deprivation levels.
During a five-hour debate, Labour MP John McDonnell said he would "swim through vomit" to oppose the legislation.
Reacting to the vote, Labour MP Diane Abbott tweeted: "Just voted against Tory welfare bill. Sorry for colleagues who knew it was wrong but abstained. We weren't sent to Parliament to abstain."
Conservative MP and chief secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands tweeted: "47 Labour rebels on welfare tonight. Huge. Biggest Labour rebellion for some time. Leadership crisis without actually having a Leader!"
Mr Blunkett, who also served as work and pensions secretary, said the party was in "emotional trauma", and was "not debating enough about where we go from here".
"Last night again focused on us being divided," he said, adding that the Welfare Bill was "clearly not a moment for setting out the alternative".
MPs who won their seats in May were "very lucky" and should ask themselves "why others didn't", he added.
The bill, which also seeks to lower the overall household benefit cap from £26,000 a year to £20,000 outside of London, and £23,000 in London, as well as to train a further three million apprentices, has now cleared its first parliamentary hurdle and will move on to more detailed scrutiny.
In a passionate debate, Conservative MPs lined up to support the measures.
As well as Labour MPs who did not support the bill, it was opposed by the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Greens.
SNP employment spokeswoman Hannah Bardell said: "Labour had the perfect opportunity to join the SNP in a progressive coalition to oppose the Tories - but with some honourable exceptions they sat on their hands."
On Twitter, SNP MP Pete Wishart said it was "apparent" that Labour and the SNP together could have defeated the bill.
Tim Farron, in his first Commons speech as Liberal Democrat leader, said his party was voting against the "unfair, unwise and inhuman" proposals.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said Labour was beset by "internal fear and loathing" and that the bill would put welfare funding on a "more sustainable footing" while protecting those most in need.
Speaking after the vote, he said: "Nearly 50 Labour MPs have defied their leadership and opposed our welfare reforms which will move our country from a low wage, high tax and high welfare economy to a higher wage, lower tax and lower welfare society.
"It's clear that Labour are still the same old anti-worker party - just offering more welfare, more borrowing and more taxes."
Abbott, Diane - Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Abrahams, Debbie - Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth
Ahmed-Sheikh, Tasmina - SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire
Anderson, David - Labour MP for Blaydon
Arkless, Richard - SNP MP for Dumfries and Galloway
Bardell, Hannah - SNP MP for Livingston
Black, Mhairi - SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Blackford, Ian - SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Blackman, Kirsty - SNP MP for Aberdeen North
Boswell, Philip - SNP MP for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
Brake, Tom - Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington
Brock, Deidre - SNP MP for Edinburgh North and Leith
Brown, Alan - SNP MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Burgon, Richard - Labour MP for Leeds East
Butler, Dawn - Labour MP for Brent Central
Cameron, Dr Lisa - SNP MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
Campbell, Gregory - DUP MP for East Londonderry
Carmichael, Alistair - Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland
Chapman, Douglas - SNP MP for Dunfermline and West Fife
Cherry, Joanna - SNP MP for Edinburgh South West
Clegg, Nick - Lib Dem MP for Sheffield Hallam
Clwyd, Ann - Labour MP for Cynon Valley
Corbyn, Jeremy - Labour MP for Islington North
Cowan, Ronnie - SNP MP for Inverclyde
Crawley, Angela - SNP MP for Lanark and Hamilton East
Davies, Geraint - Labour MP for Swansea West
Day, Martyn - SNP MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Docherty, Martin John - SNP MP for West Dunbartonshire
Dodds, Nigel - DUP MP for Belfast North
Donaldson, Jeffrey M - DUP MP for Lagan Valley
Donaldson, Stuart - SNP MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Dowd, Peter - Labour MP for Bootle
Durkan, Mark - SDLP MP for Foyle
Edwards, Jonathan - Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Farron, Tim - Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale
Fellows, Marion - SNP MP for Motherwell and Wishaw
Ferrier, Margaret - SNP MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Flynn, Paul - Labour MP for Newport West
Gethins, Stephen - SNP MP for North East Fife
Gibson, Patricia - SNP MP for North Ayrshire and Arran
Glindon, Mary - Labour MP for North Tyneside
Godsiff, Roger - Labour MP for Birmingham, Hall Green
Goodman, Helen - Labour MP for Bishop Auckland
Grady, Patrick - SNP MP for Glasgow North
Grant, Peter - SNP MP for Glenrothes
Gray, Neil - SNP MP for Airdrie and Shotts
Greenwood, Margaret - Labour MP for Wirral West
Haigh, Louise - Labour MP for Sheffield, Heeley
Harris, Carolyn - Labour MP for Swansea East
Hayman, Sue - Labour MP for Workington
Hendry, Drew - SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
Hosie, Stewart - SNP MP for Dundee East
Hussain, Imran - Labour MP for Bradford East
Jones, Gerald - Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
Jones, Helen - Labour MP for Warrington North
Kaufman, Sir Gerald - Labour MP for Manchester Gorton
Kerevan, George - SNP MP for East Lothian
Kerr, Calum - SNP MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
Khan, Sadiq - Labour MP for Tooting
Kinahan, Danny - UUP MP for South Antrim
Lamb, Norman - Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk
Lammy, David - Labour MP for Tottenham
Lavery, Ian - Labour MP for Wansbeck
Law, Chris - SNP MP for Dundee West
Lewis, Clive - Labour MP for Norwich South
Long Bailey, Rebecca - Labour MP for Salford and Eccles
Lucas, Caroline - Green MP for Brighton, Pavilion
MacNeil, Angus Brendan - SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Marris, Rob - Labour MP for Wolverhampton South West
Maskell, Rachael - Labour MP for York Central
Mc Nally, John - SNP MP for Falkirk
McCaig, Callum - SNP MP for Aberdeen South
McDonald, Andy - Labour MP for Middlesbrough
McDonald, Stewart - SNP MP for Glasgow South
McDonald, Stuart C - SNP MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
McDonnell, Dr Alasdair - SDLP MP for Belfast South
McDonnell, John - Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington
McGarry, Natalie - SNP MP for Glasgow East
McInnes, Liz - Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton
McLaughlin, Anne - SNP MP for Glasgow North East
Meacher, Michael - Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton
Mearns, Ian - Labour MP for Gateshead
Monaghan, Carol - SNP MP for Glasgow North West
Monaghan, Dr Paul - SNP MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Moon, Madeleine - Labour MP for Bridgend
Morris, Grahame M - Labour MP for Easington
Mulholland, Greg - Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West
Mullin, Roger - SNP MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
Newlands, Gavin - SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Nicolson, John - SNP MP for East Dunbartonshire
O'Hara, Brendan - SNP MP for Argyll and Bute
Osamor, Kate - Labour MP for Edmonton
Oswald, Kirsten - SNP MP for East Renfrewshire
Paisley, Ian - DUP MP for North Antrim
Paterson, Steven - SNP MP for Stirling
Pearce, Teresa - Labour MP for Erith and Thamesmead
Pugh, John - Lib Dem MP for Southport
Rimmer, Marie - Labour MP for St Helens South and Whiston
Ritchie, Margaret - SDLP MP for South Down
Robertson, Angus - SNP MP for Moray
Salmond, Alex - SNP MP for Gordon
Saville Roberts, Liz - Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Shannon, Jim - DUP MP for Strangford
Sheppard, Tommy - SNP MP for Edinburgh East
Sherriff, Paula - Labour MP for Dewsbury
Siddiq, Tulip - Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn
Skinner, Dennis - Labour MP for Bolsover
Smith, Cat - Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood
Stephens, Chris - SNP MP for Glasgow South West
Stevens, Jo - Labour MP for Cardiff Central
Stringer, Graham - Labour MP for Blackley and Broughton
Thewliss, Alison - SNP MP for Glasgow Central
Thomson, Michelle - SNP MP for Edinburgh West
Weir, Mike - SNP MP for Angus
Whiteford, Dr Eilidh - SNP MP for Banff and Buchan
Whitford, Dr Philippa - SNP MP for Central Ayrshire
Williams, Hywel - Plaid Cymru MP for Argon
Williams, Mr Mark - Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion
Wilson, Corri - SNP MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
Wilson, Sammy - DUP MP for East Antrim
Winnick, David - Labour MP for Walsall North
Wishart, Pete - SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire
Wright, Iain - Labour MP for Hartlepool
Zeichner, Daniel - Labour MP for Cambridge | Labour MPs who defied the leadership over the government's Welfare Bill have undermined the party's attempts to regain power, its work and pensions spokesman says. |
35,539,089 | German police have so far rejected as speculation the reports that the controller turned off an automatic safety system shortly before the crash.
But unnamed sources have told German media that a human signalling error may have led to the two passenger trains colliding on a single track on Tuesday.
Controllers ensure trains run safely.
Unanswered questions
In focus: Bavaria's railways
The trains crashed head-on while both were travelling at about 100km/h (62mph) east of Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60km south-east of Munich.
A teenage girl as well as both train drivers and two train guards were among those killed.
Eighteen people were seriously hurt.
Investigators will have to find out why a train that left Holzkirchen travelling east to Rosenheim was on the single track at 06:48, four minutes after it was due to reach its next stop at Kolbermoor, where it would have met the westbound train on a double track.
The westbound train from Rosenheim to Holzkirchen would have left Kolbermoor at 06:45 and would have been expected to be on the single track at the time of the accident.
The controller's role was initially highlighted by newspaper group RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), which quoted sources suggesting the safety system had been switched off to allow the eastbound train through on the single track line because it was several minutes late.
That would also have made the automatic braking system inactive. That braking system, known as PZB, is supposed to kick in when a train runs through a red light and was installed after a 2011 disaster at Magdeburg in which 10 people died.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, citing a well-informed source, alleged that when the signal controller had realised his mistake it was too late.
A police spokesman rejected the theory as "pure speculation".
"Discard that, we reject that," a spokesman told local broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Police said the controller had been questioned on Tuesday as part of the inquiry but insisted there was no immediate suspicion towards him.
However, as the investigation was in its early stages, nothing could be ruled out. It has also emerged that the automatic system was tested last week.
Investigators have so far found two "black box" data recorders and are looking for a third.
Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters on Wednesday that the first black box had already been analysed. No technical fault or evidence of driver error had been found on the westbound train, he said.
But the eastbound train's data recorder may be of more importance, as it was travelling late when the two trains crashed head-on.
Police said on Wednesday that the search for victims in the wreckage had been completed. None of those being treated in hospital was in a life-threatening condition, they added.
The trains collided in a hilly and densely wooded region near the Mangfall river, and the difficult terrain made the rescue operation difficult.
A 160-tonne crane arrived at the scene of the disaster on Wednesday, as salvage workers prepared to remove the two mangled trains from the track. The work was expected to last at least two days.
In case signals fail, German railways are fitted with a final safety guard to prevent crashes.
Cab signalling known as PZB (Punktfoermige Zugbeeinflussung - or "intermittent train control") will set off an alarm in the driver's compartment when the train approaches a red light. If the driver does not respond by pressing a button, the train will brake automatically.
Who operates the signals? | A signal controller is at the heart of the German investigation into a Bavarian train disaster which claimed 10 lives, media reports say. |
37,371,852 | Molly-Mae Wotherspoon was attacked by an American pit bull named Bruiser at a house in Daventry, Northamptonshire, in October 2014.
Mother Claire Riley, 23, admitted owning a dangerously out of control dog and grandmother Susan Aucott, 55, admitted being in charge of one.
Both were sentenced at Northampton Crown Court to two years.
Live updates on this story and more in Northamptonshire
Jailing them, judge Mrs Justice Carr told the pair Molly-Mae was savagely attacked by the pit bull in "a tragic and totally avoidable incident".
The court heard Aucott, an alcoholic, was looking after her granddaughter at Riley's former home in Morning Star Road when the dog attacked the baby.
James House, prosecuting, said the pit bull broke free from his cage in the kitchen and opened the door to the lounge to reach baby Molly-Mae on the floor.
It grabbed the six-month-old by her head.
Aucott threw herself across the baby but it was too late.
Molly-Mae suffered injuries to every limb and puncture wounds to her brain.
She died from severe blood loss due to the head wounds, a post-mortem examination showed.
The dog was put down at the scene.
The court heard Riley knew her dog was aggressive and jealous of her baby and it had been kept away from Molly-Mae.
However, the baby's cries made it "an object of prey", the court heard.
A vet who treated the American pit bull - a breed banned in the UK - said Bruiser was one of the most dangerous dogs she had seen.
In June, Aucott, of Alfred Street, Northampton, admitted being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog resulting in death.
She was jailed for two years but will be released on licence after one year. She was also banned from owning a dog for ten years.
Riley, of Merrydale Square, Northampton, admitted owning a dangerously out of control dog on the first day of her trial later in June.
She was sentenced to two years, one of which she will serve in prison before being released on licence, and was banned from owning a dog for 10 years.
The recommendations of a Serious Case Review into the death of Molly-Mae are expected to be examined by Northampton Safeguarding Children Board officers next month. | The mother and grandmother of a six-month-old baby girl mauled to death by the family dog have been jailed. |
34,801,258 | The plea for clarity was contained in a letter sent to Scottish Secretary David Mundell from Holyrood's devolution committee convener Bruce Crawford.
It highlighted that an agreement on the fiscal framework was likely to be delayed until "at least December".
Earlier this week, MPs voted in the House of Commons to back the bill.
In its letter, the committee said: "We are pleased to see the improvements you have made to the bill as many of these are in direct response to the recommendations we made (carers, new benefits and top-up benefits)."
It also said that progress was being made to reach an "acceptable resolution" in a number of areas, including some on welfare.
However, it added that there were other areas where the bill "still falls short", including on employment provisions, definitions of disability and the Crown Estate.
The committee said: "The definition of disability contained in the bill is overly restrictive and would not provide a future Scottish Government with the power to develop its own approach to disability benefits in the future."
It added: "You will note that we are not yet in a position to make any comments on many of the financial provisions in the Bill (such as on income tax, borrowing, assignment of VAT etc). This is because these will be part of the fiscal framework on which agreement has not yet been reached and looks like being delayed until at least December 2015.
"We reaffirm our view that an agreement to the non-legislative fiscal framework is vital and of equal importance as agreement on the provisions in the bill itself.
"That is why it is critical that this committee and others are provided with a copy of the final draft agreed between the two governments in sufficient time to enable adequate scrutiny to take place before the question of the legislative consent to the bill is put to the Scottish Parliament next year." | A cross-party committee of MSPs believes the Scotland Bill cannot be given the go-ahead until the funding package linked to it is fully known. |
18,986,870 | The striker left the Leeds training base in Cornwall earlier this week to hold talks with the Canaries.
He joined United from Livingston in 2008 and scored 41 goals in 191 games.
"He is a player I have admired for a number of years now and he's at a good age at 24," Norwich manager Chris Hughton told the club website.
"He's also got that international experience with Scotland and is used to playing in big matches both with his country and at Elland Road."
The Premier League club had an approach for Snodgrass rejected last week but have managed to capture the forward, who won both Leeds fans' player of the year and players' player of the year awards last season.
Before the deal was finalised, United boss Neil Warnock said: "Negotiations [over a new contract] have been going on for weeks.
"I was hoping he would have had a change of heart and I can honestly say that in all my time in football, I've never worked as hard in trying to keep a player.
"He was offered the best contract, the captaincy, and we would have built a team around him so I am very disappointed.
"He's made it clear what he wants to do and he's had his head turned. He wants to play in the Premier League. He believes his Scotland international career may be better served in the Premier League, but I'm not so sure."
Norwich are also in talks to sign Sunderland defender Michael Turner, who | Norwich City have signed Leeds United captain Robert Snodgrass for an undisclosed fee, handing the 24-year-old a three-year deal. |
35,381,591 | Collins, 18, who becomes the second signing of the January window for Scott Sellars' Wolves Under-21 squad, moves to Molineux for an undisclosed fee.
The Wales Under-19 international has scored three goals for Newport, for whom he has made the majority of his 22 appearances from the bench.
Collins was wanted by another Championship side Burnley last summer.
After rejecting a bid of £40,000, plus add-ons, the Welsh club then also turned down an improved £65,000 transfer deadline-day offer from the Clarets.
Collins ended up working in McDonald's, after initially being released in 2014 by Newport, following the reformed club's promotion back to the Football League.
Wolves have also added teenage Swindon Town winger Will Randall to their under-21s squad this month, also for an undisclosed fee.
The up-for-sale club, who lie 10th in the Championship, sold Benik Afobe to Bournemouth in January for close to £10m, having previously added Polish forward Michal Zyro to the first-team squad.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Wolves have completed a deal to sign teenage striker Aaron Collins from League Two side Newport County. |
38,199,637 | Team boss Toto Wolff said the search would start on Monday, with a decision expected by the end of 2016.
"It is a huge loss because we had the quickest driver set-up over the last three years," Lauda told Sportsweek.
"I need a driver for the first test in February when the new car is ready."
He added: "We have to train him on the simulator and into the team, so we should have a decision before the end of the year."
Rosberg retired five days after beating British team-mate Lewis Hamilton to clinch his first world title.
Hamilton, a three-time world champion, has said he "doesn't care" who is picked as the German's replacement.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 live, Lauda added: "Nico and Lewis were pushing each other. Lewis won two championships and Nico won one. Now we have to find a better man than Nico because we want to continue to win.
"This is a big problem for us to find a replacement, so I cannot tell you now because we have to think about it, contact everybody and make proper research into who we are going to put in the best car in Formula 1.
"We have the best car to offer but at the moment no driver. The other drivers, or the majority certainly, have 1 December contracts for next year so really we have to do good research, who is there, what and when and then we will take a decision, but it will take a while."
Lauda retired from F1 in 1979 before coming back to win the 1984 World Championship. He quit the sport as a driver on a permanent basis a year later.
Asked about Rosberg's decision to retire, he said: "I was really surprised - this was never on my radar that this could happen.
"I spoke to him afterwards to find out because I did this twice in my career and I really wanted to make sure it was not a quick decision which he might regret and I wanted to find out how sure he is.
"Of my question 'how sure are you?' he said '1,000%'. Then I knew that it is over - you cannot convince him any more." | Mercedes' non-executive chairman Niki Lauda wants to "give a Christmas present" to a driver after the shock retirement of world champion Nico Rosberg on Friday. |
35,302,268 | It tied for the most nominations with black comedy The Lobster and period drama Brooklyn, with all three contenders for the best film award.
Its veteran stars Sir Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling also received nods for best actor and best actress.
The awards, relaunched after a three-year break, will take place at London's Television Centre on 7 February.
High-Rise, starring Tom Hiddleston and based on JG Ballard's dystopian novel, completed the line-up in the best film category.
45 Years, based on a short story by David Constantine, shows the lives of married couple Kate and Geoff as they prepare for their 45th wedding anniversary.
But their stability is threatened when a letter arrives about Geoff's ex-fiancee, whose body has been discovered decades after her death.
It also up for best British film at the Bafta film awards.
London Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands said: "The talent in this year's shortlist is exceptional and we are pleased to be shining a light on Britain's outstanding creativity by celebrating the British Film Industry at the Evening Standard's British Film Awards."
Saoirse Ronan has been shortlisted for the best actress award for Brooklyn, based on Colm Toibin's novel, with writer Nick Hornby in the running for best screenplay.
Olivia Colman and Colin Farrell, who appear together in The Lobster, are on the shortlist for the award for comedy in a film or performance.
Emma Thompson is also up for the award in that category for The Legend of Barney Thomson, with the film Bill, directed by Richard Bracewell and written by Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond, completing the shortlist.
Idris Elba has been shortlisted for best actor for playing an African warlord in Netflix film Beasts of No Nation, competing with Michael Fassbender who has been nominated for his roles in Steve Jobs and Macbeth.
Dame Maggie Smith, star of Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van, has been shortlisted for best actress alongside Emily Blunt, for crime drama Sicario.
Amy, about the life of late singer Amy Winehouse, has been shortlisted for best documentary alongside My Nazi Legacy and Palio.
A new award for blockbuster of the year will be voted for by members of the public, with the top 10 UK box office hits of 2015 in contention: Avengers: Age of Ultron; Fifty Shades of Grey; Furious 7; Inside Out; Jurassic World; Home; Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2; Minions; Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The Evening Standard British Film Awards were launched in 1973 and last took place in 2013. | Marital saga 45 Years has been shortlisted for three Evening Standard British Film Awards. |
38,870,533 | As Livi drew 2-2 away to Alloa, who started the day in second, the Diamonds overwhelmed Peterhead 4-1.
It means Livi have a 10-point lead over the Lanarkshire outfit.
Brechin City were held 2-2 at home by Stenhousemuir, the same scoreline as Queen's Park hosting East Fife, while Albion Rovers beat Stranraer 3-0.
Stranraer's win means they move to within a point of Stenny at the foot of the table.
Craig Malcolm put Stranraer ahead on 21 minutes and doubled his tally with 11 minutes left before Steven Bell netted a third.
Alloa and Livi went into the game as the top two in the division and Jordan Kirkpatrick gave the hosts the lead with a superb 25-yard strike after 25 minutes.
But Daniel Mullen levelled for Livingston just before the break.
Liam Buchanan netted his 22nd goal of the season shortly after the restart as the leaders inched ahead, but Dylan Mackin earned the Wasps a valuable point four minutes from time.
Airdrieonians fell behind when Rory McAllister scored his 17th goal of the season, but Jack McKay and Ryan Conroy replied after the break to put the Diamonds in front.
Andy Ryan's powerful finish and a stoppage-time solo goal from Scott Stewart rounded off a emphatic comeback.
Andy Jackson put Brechin in front after only three minutes at Glebe Park when he fired in Ally Love's through ball.
However, Willis Furtado responded with a curling effort from the edge of the box.
Oliver Shaw put Stenhousemuir ahead just after the quarter of an hour mark, but Dougie Hill replied shortly after the restart to earn City a share of the spoils.
That was despite the Warriors going down to 10 men after David Marsh earned his marching orders for yellow bookable offences on 74 minutes.
Two goals in seven first-half minutes put Queen's Park in a dominant position against East Fife, with Dario Zanatta scoring the opener with a neat finish before Anton Brady doubled Park's lead with a powerful strike.
Chris Duggan halved the deficit four minutes after the restart before a close-range effort from Scott Robinson secured a point for the Fifers. | Airdrieonians took advantage of a draw between leaders Livingston and Alloa Athletic to move into second spot in the Scottish Championship. |
37,847,409 | The firm, which is in the midst of being taken over by US telecoms giant AT&T, owns Warner Brothers film studios, the cable TV channels HBO, the Cartoon Network and CNN.
Revenues rose 9% to $7.2bn (£5.8bn) in the three months to the end of September, with net income of $1.47bn.
AT&T is paying $85.4bn for the firm.
Time Warner's shares are currently trading around $89 a share, well below the $107 a share offer price, suggesting investors are doubtful that the deal will be approved by regulators.
A US Senate subcommittee responsible for competition is set to hold a hearing on the merger this month.
The tie-up would combine AT&T's distribution network, which includes 130 million mobile phone customers and 25 million pay-TV subscribers, with content from the Warner Brothers film studios and the cable TV channels HBO, the Cartoon Network and CNN.
There are concerns that because AT&T already owns mobile phone, broadband and cable TV networks, allowing it to control the shows as well might mean less choice for consumers and lead to higher prices.
Speaking after the third quarter results, Time Warner chief executive and chairman Jeff Bewkes said the merger was "a great outcome" for shareholders and would drive "long-term value well into the future" for the firm. | Superhero film Suicide Squad and higher fees from pay TV providers helped drive higher-than-expected quarterly profit and sales at Time Warner. |
31,746,020 | He was a judge on Australia's version of The X Factor between 2010 and 2012.
The announcement was made in a ceremony at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday morning.
Australia was given a special entry to the 60th edition of the competition, to be held in Vienna, Austria.
Sebastian has since had eight top ten albums and two number one singles in his country.
The singer said he was "pumped" to be performing at the competition.
"It's Eurovision, it's huge and keeps growing here in Australia which is nice," he told Australia's ABC news.
He has yet to choose a song to perform.
The annual song contest is hugely popular in Australia - three million watched the competition in 2014.
The European Broadcasting Union said the country had been given a pass to the final "to not reduce the chances" of the semi-final participants.
Australia will be allowed to vote in both semi-finals, as well as the grand final.
Australians have participated in the competition before, representing other countries. Olivia Newton John sang for the UK in 1974 - coming fourth - as did Gina G in 1996. Jane Comerford represented Germany in 2006. | Guy Sebastian has been chosen to represent Australia at its debut Eurovision Song Contest in May. |
31,085,569 | The Rt Rev Philip North's consecration was led by the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu at York Minster.
However, in a break from tradition, some parts of the service were overseen by the Bishop of Chichester.
Dr Sentamu said he had not led those parts of the service to "demonstrate respect" for the new bishop's views.
The service saw the Rt Rev Martin Warner lead two other bishops in "laying hands" on the new bishop.
The Bishop of Chichester also presided over the service's Communion, at the request of the archbishop.
Writing in the Yorkshire Post, Dr Sentamu said he was "delegating, not abdicating" his position in the service and his decision was "not an indelible pattern to be adopted by me or anyone else in the future".
"I have decided to delegate part of my function at his ordination to other bishops who share his theological conviction regarding the ordination of women," he said.
"It is my prayer that the Church of England's gracious magnanimity, restraint and respect for theological convictions on this matter may help others to substitute love for fear and hope for despair."
Speaking before the service, the Rt Rev North said "the thing about Anglicans is that we can hold difference together and we can hold very diverse views on all sorts of things and still work together".
He said that beginning with last week's consecration of the Church's first female bishop, the Rt Rev Libby Lane, "the Archbishop of York has set two wonderful precedents".
"First, he consecrated the first woman bishop, which was an occasion of really wonderful joy and was the answer to the prayers of many Anglicans," he said.
"My consecration sets another precedent, which is to make it possible that those who cannot accept this development in the Church's life to remain as loyal Anglicans."
He said that while only three bishops would take part in the "laying on of hands", that only showed that the Church was "honest".
"We are saying yes, there is a division here and there are different opinions on this, but we're also saying we can work around those opinions and still be one family."
Source: Church of England
The Rt Rev North has become a suffragan - or assistant bishop - in the Diocese of Blackburn and replaces the Rt Rev John Goddard, who retired in July.
The bishop was born in north London and studied history at the University of York.
He has previously been forced to turn down an appointment as bishop because his new flock did not accept his views on the ordination of women. | A service to consecrate the new Bishop of Burnley that was changed to take into account his opposition to female bishops has taken place. |
35,915,056 | Yu Shaolei, an editor at Southern Metropolis Daily, posted a resignation note online, saying he could no longer follow the Communist Party line.
He also uploaded a message wishing those responsible for censoring his social media account well.
Chinese media outlets are subject to censorship, with government control tightening in recent years.
Mr Yu, who edited the cultural section of the newspaper, posted a photo of his resignation form on his Sina Weibo microblog account on Monday evening.
Under the "reason for resignation" section, he wrote: "Unable to bear your surname".
This was a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping's tour of state media outlets in February, when he said journalists must give absolute loyalty to the Communist Party, and "bear the surname of the Party".
Mr Yu's post was quickly deleted, although a cached copy was still viewable on monitoring sites online.
He wrote: "I'm getting old, and my knees can't stand it after so many years [of kneeling]."
He added what appeared to be a tongue-in-cheek apology to the censors responsible for monitoring his social media account.
"To the person responsible for watching my weibo feed and notifying their superiors about what to delete, you can heave a sigh of relief now, apologies for causing you stress over the last few years, and I sincerely wish your career will head in a new direction."
When approached by the BBC, Mr Yu said he did not wish to comment further, and that he had said everything he wanted to say on social media.
It is not known if he has received any admonishment from the authorities, the BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing reports.
A columnist at the same paper, Li Xin, who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in Thailand after claiming he had been forced to inform on fellow journalists, is now back in police custody in China, our correspondent adds.
And last month, a front-page editor at Southern Metropolis Daily was fired after the headlines on one of the newspaper's front pages, when combined with a headline from another story, allegedly contained a veiled criticism of the government's demand that media "bear the surname of the Party".
In recent weeks, China detained more than 20 people following the publication of a letter calling on President Xi to resign on state-backed website Wujie News.
Those detained included journalists linked to the website, employees at a related technology company, and prominent columnist Jia Jia, who has since been released.
Two overseas Chinese dissidents also say their relatives have been detained in connection with the letter.
Wen Yunchao, who lives in the US, said he believed his parents and his brother had been detained because authorities were trying to pressure him to reveal information. But he told the BBC that he knew nothing about the letter.
Meanwhile, German-based writer Zhang Ping, also known by his penname Chang Ping, said three of his siblings had been detained and that Chinese police had demanded that he stop writing in German media.
Mr Zhang said he had written about the letter, but had no other connection to it.
Authorities in China said they were investigating Mr Zhang's relatives on suspicion of arson. | A top journalist at a Chinese newspaper says he is resigning because of the authorities' control over the media. |
32,366,727 | The National Child Abuse Investigation unit was unveiled by Police Scotland Chief Constable Stephen House and Education Minister Angela Constance.
The unit, based in Livingston, will help local divisions investigate child sexual abuse.
It will investigate both current and historical allegations, as well as online child abuse.
Sir Stephen said: "Child abuse, including child sexual exploitation, is a complex, challenging area of policing and we owe it to all those affected, whether now or in the past, to thoroughly investigate each and every report we receive.
"To be clear, the abuse and neglect of children is an issue for all of our communities. This is unacceptable.
"Children and young people should be allowed to live their lives without the fear of abuse or exploitation. We will proactively target those who pose a risk to children and work with our partners to ensure that support is available for victims."
Paul Carberry, Action for Children Scotland director of service development, said protecting children from abuse was not just a job for the police.
He said: "Adults from all walks of life must be equipped to spot the signs of child sexual exploitation, not just listening to what children are saying but seeing what is evident in their actions or behaviour."
The creation of the unit was announced in October in response to concerns following the child sex exploitation revelations in Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, where an investigation found at least 1,400 children were abused between 1997 and 2013.
Matt Forde, NSPCC Scotland's national head of service, said there was no reason to believe Scotland was immune from the the widespread sexual exploitation of children which had been seen in English towns and cities such as Rotherham.
Last November, a Glasgow City Council report found 97 children in the city had been identified as being victims of, or at risk of, sexual exploitation. | A national task force aimed at tackling child sex abuse in Scotland has been formally launched. |
40,369,464 | Wrth gofnodi rheithfarn naratif dywedodd y crwner nad oedd tystiolaeth o fwlio yn achos Nyah James o ardal Blaenymaes, fu farw ym mis Chwefror.
Cyn y cwest roedd teulu'r ferch, oedd yn ddisgybl yn Ysgol Bishop Gore, Abertawe wedi dweud eu bod o'r farn bod bwlio wedi bod yn ffactor.
Dywedodd y Ditectif Gwnstabl Paul Harry wrth y cwest nad oedd yr heddlu wedi dod o unrhyw dystiolaeth o gwbl o fwlio.
Ychwanegodd bod ffrindiau Miss James wedi dweud wrth yr heddlu ei bod hi wedi anafu ei hun yn y gorffennol a'i "bod yn casáu ei hunan".
Ym mis Mai, fe ymddangosodd brawd Nyah, Jordan Clements, o flaen llys am anfon negeseuon sarhaus i bedwar merch roedd o'n credu oedd yn gyfrifol am farwolaeth ei chwaer.
Fe wnaeth y dyn 20 oed bleidio'n euog i anfon negeseuon sarhaus ond dywedodd y barnwr fod marwolaeth ei chware wedi dylanwadu yn fawr ar ei ymddygiad.
Ar ôl ei marwolaeth fe wnaeth Heddlu De Cymru rybuddio pobl i ystyried yr effaith y gall negeseuon ar y cyfryngau cymdeithasol eu cael ar eraill. | Mae crwner wedi penderfynu fod merch 14 oed o Abertawe wedi marw ar ôl gorddos o boenladdwyr, ond nad oedd yna ddigon o dystiolaeth i brofi ei bod wedi bwriadu lladd ei hun. |
33,333,094 | This landlocked country in central Africa has a harsh climate, suffering both drought and flooding - food shortages are common.
Its people have endured decades of corruption, civil unrest and mass influxes of refugees from neighbouring states like Sudan and Nigeria.
Chad is a potent symbol of what work is still needed to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - the first of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The target - to halve the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25 (£0.80) a day was met five years ahead of schedule in 2010.
But this was a global, rather than a national target and China's extraordinary growth accounts for a significant part of that.
The Sub-Saharan region of Africa has made progress, cutting poverty rates by 35%, but millions here risk being left behind.
They include people like Bami, aged 50, who has nine children and lives near the town of Mongo.
When I met him he was out with his family, breaking holes in the parched earth with a hoe, while his family walked behind him planting millet seeds.
It looked like back-breaking work, and with temperatures rising well above 40C, progress was slow.
If it doesn't rain, his family will go hungry - he told me his dream was to own a plough.
This is a basic example of how to help take a family out of poverty - a plough enables them to grow food to sell or to stockpile.
Six out of 10 people in Chad live in extreme poverty and it will require major investment in agriculture, education and infrastructure if that is to change.
Rapid population growth is adding to the pressures on a fragile and underdeveloped healthcare system.
The population of 12.5m has doubled since 1990 and is set to double again by 2040.
Growing up in Mongo: What's it like to live in one of the world's poorest towns?
Malnutrition is the most pernicious consequence of poverty.
It is the failure to get adequate healthy food to lead a normal, productive life.
Malnutrition makes individuals more susceptible to infection and ill health and is a significant factor in nearly half of all child deaths globally.
From conception to a child's second birthday is the most crucial period of cognitive and physical development.
Pregnant mothers who are malnourished are more likely to give birth to low-weight babies who risk dying in the first weeks of life.
Chronic malnourishment in young children puts them at risk of stunted growth or "stunting".
This is an irreversible condition where the body and brain never fully develop; it means children are less likely to do well at school or get good employment.
One in four of the world's children is stunted, so it has an impact not just on individuals but on whole economies.
In Chad, rates of stunting are even higher.
So what is being done?
The immediate priority of health teams here is to target the most severely malnourished children - those whose lives are in immediate danger.
There are now 500 nutrition centres across Chad, double the number four years ago.
Unicef has helped fund the expansion as well as paying for the training of health workers and for vaccination programmes, along with aid partners such as the International Rescue Committee.
At the under-fives nutrition centre in Mongo, which is part of the town hospital, babies receive fortified milk while older children are given sachets of a peanut paste.
These are short-term fixes, but they can save many lives.
Zenaba Zakaclia, aged 19, brought her son to the hospital a week ago.
Noura Adef, who's almost two, had measles and was severely malnourished.
He had no energy and spent his time lying on the bed or in his mother's lap.
In just four days I could see that his condition had dramatically improved and once his measles infection is cleared he will be able to return home.
Efforts are also being made to help families deal with chronic malnutrition, where children may not appear physically ill or hungry, but they are not thriving.
Breastfeeding for the first six months of life helps build the immune system and it is the best defence against infant malnutrition.
But only 3% of Chad's children are exclusively breastfed - one of the lowest rates in Africa.
The health centres also organise cooking demonstrations for new mothers, teaching them the nutritional values of different locally available ingredients.
One in six children in Chad die before the age of five, the third highest rate globally, behind Sierra Leone and Angola.
One in 15 women will die in childbirth.
In September, the UN General Assembly will vote on the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global targets that will replace the MDGs from next year.
Unicef's spokesman in Chad, Manuel Moreno, told me there had been some progress within the country, but much more was yet to be done.
"Millions of children in countries like Chad risk being left behind.
"We have to ensure that we reach the most vulnerable and the poorest, otherwise we will be failing future generations.
"That means providing quality education and health services which are accessible.
"The MDGs show that the issues of extreme poverty and hunger can be addressed - we simply need to be more ambitious."
Instead of eight goals and 21 targets, the SDGs are vast: 17 goals and 169 targets and shift from trying to address the effects of poverty to targeting its root causes.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said last September that there were too many targets to communicate effectively and they risked "sitting on a bookshelf gathering dust".
But Unicef is pleased that the SDGs will address key issues not covered by the MDGs, including ending child marriage and violence against children. | On every global measure of poverty, health or economic development, Chad is near the bottom. |
35,172,022 | They were injured at the World Cup and have not played for Dragons since.
Jones said back three player Amos and centre Morgan are close to fully fit.
"I'm sure they'll be keen to get a few games under their belt before that [the Six Nations] so we'll see them soon," he said.
"They feel fine and it's a question of getting them up to the physical strength they were before the injuries. They're not far away."
Twenty-one-year-old Amos suffered a shoulder injury in Wales' 28-25 World Cup win over England at Twickenham.
Morgan, 20, underwent shoulder surgery after a second-half injury in Wales' quarter-final defeat by South Africa.
The injuries to Amos and Morgan were among those that have denied Dragons an entire three-quarter line of highly regarded talent his season.
Wing Tom Prydie was the latest to suffer after centre Jack Dixon's kidney damage suffered in the summer.
Prydie, 23, will miss the rest of the season because of a knee problem while Dixon was initially not expected to return until February, 2016.
Adam Hughes rejoined on loan amid Dragons' troubles and has since become a permanent signing and could play wing as well as centre for the rest of the season.
"It's great to have him back here, he's been such a positive influence since he's returned," Jones told BBC Wales.
"We're hoping to get players back with Tyler and Jack Dixon being quality centres, but Adam is as suitable to the wing as he is to centre so it's great to have him." | Newport Gwent Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones is confident Hallam Amos and Tyler Morgan will recover from injury in time to bid for Wales Six Nations places. |
38,152,861 | The 46-year-old will sign a four-year contract it is reported will earn him between £1.5m and £2m per year.
Southgate, who had a four-game stint as interim manager following Sam Allardyce's departure, was interviewed last week by a five-person panel.
The decision to appoint the former England Under-21 coach as permanent boss will be ratified at a Football Association board meeting.
England won two World Cup qualifiers - 2-0 against Malta and 3-0 against Scotland - and drew 0-0 in Slovenia during Southgate's short spell in interim charge.
They also drew 2-2 with Spain in a friendly.
Wednesday's FA board meeting is also likely to dedicate a large amount of time to discussing football's historical sexual abuse scandal and safeguarding measures in the sport.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Gareth Southgate will be confirmed as permanent England manager on Wednesday. |
11,990,088 | The UK honours system is overseen by the Cabinet Office Honours and Appointments Secretariat.
The Foreign Office has responsibility for the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List which recognises service overseas, or service in the UK with a substantial international component.
UK nationals or citizens from the 15 Commonwealth realms such as Australia, Canada and Jamaica can be nominated for an honour.
Honorary awards for foreign nationals are recommended by the foreign secretary.
Orders for chivalry are made after a personal decision by the Queen.
The honours list consists of knights and dames, appointments to the Order of the British Empire and gallantry awards to servicemen and women, and civilians.
Nominations, submitted either by government departments or by members of the public, are divided into subject areas and assessed by committees comprising independent experts and senior civil servants.
Their assessments are passed to a selection committee that produces the list, independently of government, that is submitted to the Queen through the prime minister.
The Queen informally approves the list and letters are sent to each nominee. Once a nominee accepts the proposed honour, the list is formally approved.
The honours are published in the official Crown newspaper, the London Gazette, twice a year - at New Year, and in mid-June on the date of the Queen's official birthday.
The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St James's Palace then arranges investitures for the recipients to be presented with their medals by the Queen or other members of the Royal Family.
Private nominations, made by individuals or by representatives of organisations to the Cabinet Office, traditionally make up about a quarter of all recommendations.
The honours list does not cover peerages. Starting in May 2000, peers nominated by political parties have been vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. The commission is involved in making recommendations for non-party affiliated peerages.
An outgoing prime minister also has the right to draw up a dissolution or resignation honours list on leaving office, which is then submitted to the Cabinet Office for approval.
In recent years, however, political donations made by a number of recipients have become the subject of media scrutiny.
In a November 2011 response to a parliamentary committee's inquiry into the honours system, the Cabinet Office noted that all candidates for senior awards are "checked against the lists of donations maintained and made public by the Electoral Commission.
"The Main Honours Committee must satisfy itself that a party political donation has not influenced the decision to award an honour in any way; the committee must be confident that the candidate would have been a meritorious recipient of an honour if he or she had not made a political donation."
A Parliamentary and Political Services Committee comprising a majority of independent members and the chief whips of the three major parties was set up in 2012 to considers honours for politicians and for political service.
But in the same year the Commons Public Administration committee urged the government to review the way the whole honours system is administered. It called on ministers to set up independent bodies to nominate recipients for awards and decide when they should be withdrawn, suggesting the government's "lack of willingness to clarify and open up the process" was damaging public confidence.
Honours have sometimes been forfeited. The Honours Forfeiture Committee considers cases where a recipient's actions "raise the question of whether they should be allowed to continue to be a holder of the honour".
The Queen's art adviser Anthony Blunt, stripped of his knighthood in 1979 after being revealed as a Soviet spy, and jockey Lester Piggott, who lost his OBE after he was jailed in 1987 for tax fraud, are among those to have had honours annulled.
In 2012, former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin - heavily criticised over his role in the bank's near-collapse in 2008 - had his knighthood removed, while entertainer Rolf Harris was stripped of a CBE in March 2015, following his conviction for indecent assault.
Meanwhile, a list of 277 people who had turned down honours between 1951 and 1999, and who had since died, was made public by the Cabinet Office following a BBC Freedom of Information request. The list included the authors Roald Dahl, J G Ballard and Aldous Huxley, and the painters Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud and LS Lowry.
The honour of knighthood comes from the days of medieval chivalry, as does the method used to confer the knighthood: the accolade, or the touch of a sword by the sovereign.
Although Knights Bachelor do not comprise an order of chivalry, knighthood is a dignity which has its origins in Britain in Saxon times. They are styled "Sir" (except for clergymen who do not receive the accolade) and their wives "Lady".
Women receiving the honour are styled "Dame" but do not receive the accolade.
The honour is given for for a pre-eminent contribution in any field of activity.
The rank of Knight Commander (KBE) or Dame Commander (DBE), Order of the British Empire, commonly appears on the Diplomatic Service and Overseas list. It can be given to Britons based abroad or in an honorary capacity to foreign nationals.
The Order of the Bath is an order of chivalry and was founded in 1725 for service of the highest calibre. The order has a civil and military division and is awarded in the following ranks: Knight Grand Cross (GCB), Knight Commander (KCB) and Companion (CB).
The Order takes its name from the symbolic bathing which in former times was often part of the preparation of a candidate for knighthood.
This Order was founded by King George III in 1818 and is awarded to British subjects who have rendered extraordinary and important services abroad or in the Commonwealth. Ranks in the Order are Knight or Dame Grand Cross (GCMG), Knight or Dame Commander (KCMG or DCMG) and Companion (CMG).
This is awarded for service of conspicuous national importance and is limited to 65 people. Recipients wear the initials CH after their name.
King George V created these honours during World War I to reward services to the war effort by civilians at home and servicemen in support positions.
The ranks are Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE) and Member (MBE).
They are now awarded for prominent national or regional roles and to those making distinguished or notable contributions in their own specific areas of activity. The honour of an MBE, in particular, can be given for achievement or service in the community.
The medal was founded in 1917 and was awarded for "meritorious" actions by civilians or military personnel, although the recipients did not attend a royal investiture.
It was scrapped in 1993 by former Conservative Prime Minister John Major, as part of his drive towards a "classless" society.
Nearly two decades on, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced its revival, and from 2012, to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, about 300 will be awarded annually to community volunteers.
By 1896, prime ministers and governments had increased their influence over the distribution of awards and had gained almost total control of the system. Therefore, Queen Victoria instituted The Royal Victorian Order as a personal award for services performed on her behalf.
Today this honour is still awarded in recognition of services to the royal family. The ranks are Knight or Dame Grand Cross (GCVO), Knight or Dame Commander (KCVO or DCVO), Commander (CVO), Lieutenant (LVO) and Member (MVO).
Associated with the Royal Victorian Order is the Royal Victorian Medal which has three grades: gold, silver and bronze. The circular medal is attached to the ribbon of the Order.
More than one grade may be held by the same person and the medal may be worn along with the insignia of the Order itself.
Founded in 1883 by Queen Victoria, the award is confined to the nursing services. Those awarded the first class are designated "Members" (RRC): those awarded the Second Class are designated "Associates" (ARRC).
It is said that the suggestion for the founding of this decoration was made to Queen Victoria by Florence Nightingale.
This is awarded for distinguished service in the police force.
This honour is given to firefighters who have displayed conspicuous devotion to duty. | British honours are awarded on merit, for exceptional achievement or service. |
26,823,817 | Pint or cigarette (sometimes both) in hand, the UK Independence Party leader attacks today's politicians for being mechanical and overly on-message.
Like regulars throughout the nation's boozers, he states his opinions without much recourse to political correctness.
He inspires affection and respect among those who agree with him on cutting immigration and leaving the European Union.
But, true to his image as an outspoken saloon bar philosopher, he gets into plenty of fights.
The latest - a televised debate with Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg - was not of his making. Mr Clegg, positioning himself as the spiritual head of Britain's Europhiles, dared Mr Farage to slug things out. He accepted, gladly.
As UKIP regularly out-polls the Lib Dems and continues to record strong showings in Westminster by-elections, he is keen to go further. He wants to win the most UK seats in May's European elections and then go on to gain the party's first MPs at Westminster at the 2015 general election.
These ambitions show UKIP has come a long way under Mr Farage.
Profile: Nick Clegg
But what is his story?
Nigel Paul Farage was born on 3 April 1964 in Kent. His stockbroker father, Guy Oscar Justus Farage, an alcoholic, walked out on the family when Nigel was five-years-old.
Yet this seemed to do little to damage his conventional upper-middle-class upbringing. Nigel attended fee-paying Dulwich College, where he developed a love of cricket, rugby and political debate.
He decided at the age of 18 not to go to university, entering the City instead.
With his gregarious, laddish ways he proved popular among his clients and fellow traders on the metals exchange. Mr Farage, who started work just before the "big bang" in the City, earned a more than comfortable living, but he had another calling - politics.
He joined the Conservatives but became disillusioned with the way the party was going under John Major. Like many on the Eurosceptic wing, he was furious when the prime minister signed the Maastricht Treaty, stipulating an "ever-closer union" between European nations.
Mr Farage decided to break away, becoming one of the founder members of the UK Independence Party, at that time known as the Anti-Federalist League.
In his early 20s, he had the first of several brushes with death, when he was run over by a car in Orpington, Kent, after a night in the pub. He sustained severe injuries and doctors feared he would lose a leg. Grainne Hayes, his nurse, became his first wife.
He had two sons with Ms Hayes, both now grown up, and two daughters with his current wife, Kirsten Mehr, a German national he married in 1999.
Months after recovering from his road accident, Mr Farage was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
He made a full recovery, but he says the experience changed him, making him even more determined to make the most of life.
The young Farage might have had energy and enthusiasm to spare - but his early electoral forays with UKIP proved frustrating.
At the 1997 general election, it was overshadowed by the Referendum Party, backed by multimillionaire businessman Sir James Goldsmith.
But as the Referendum Party faded, UKIP started to take up some of its hardcore anti-EU support.
In 1999, it saw its first electoral breakthrough - thanks to the introduction of proportional representation for European elections, which made it easier for smaller parties to gain seats.
Mr Farage was one of three UKIP members voted in to the European Parliament, representing the south-east of England.
The decision to take up seats in Brussels sparked one of many splits in the UKIP ranks - they were proving to be a rancorous bunch.
Mr Farage scored a publicity coup by recruiting former TV presenter and ex-Labour MP Robert Kilroy-Silk to be a candidate in the 2004 European elections, but the plan backfired when Mr Kilroy-Silk attempted to take the party over.
It was a turbulent time for UKIP but in that year's elections it had increased its number of MEPs to 12.
In 2006 Mr Farage was elected as leader, replacing the less flamboyant Roger Knapman.
He was already a fierce critic of Conservative leader David Cameron, who earlier that year had described UKIP members as "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists".
Mr Farage told the press that "nine out of 10" Tories agreed with his party's views on Europe.
Asked if UKIP was declaring war on the Conservatives, he said: "It is a war between UKIP and entire political establishment."
At the 2009 European elections, with Mr Farage becoming a regular fixture on TV discussion programmes, UKIP got more votes than Labour and the Lib Dems and increased its number of MEPs to 13.
But the party knew it could do little to bring about its goal of getting Britain out of the EU from Brussels and Strasbourg - and it had always performed poorly in UK domestic elections.
In an effort to change this, Mr Farage resigned as leader in 2009 to contest the Buckingham seat held by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow.
He gained widespread publicity in March 2010 - two months before the election - when he launched an attack in the European Parliament on the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, accusing him of having "the charisma of a damp rag" and "the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk".
It raised Mr Farage's profile, going viral on the internet, but made little difference to his Westminster ambitions. He came third, behind Mr Bercow and an independent candidate,
Mr Farage's chosen successor as leader, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, was not suited to the cut and thrust of modern political debate and presentation, and UKIP polled just 3.1% nationally.
But there was a far greater personal disaster. On the day of the election an aeroplane carrying Mr Farage crashed after a UKIP-supporting banner became entangled in the tail fin.
He was dragged from the wreckage with serious injuries.
After recovering in hospital, he told the London Evening Standard the experience had changed him: "I think it's made me more 'me' than I was before, to be honest. Even more fatalistic.
"Even more convinced it's not a dress rehearsal. Even more driven than I was before. And I am driven."
Mr Farage decided he wanted to become leader again and was easily voted back after Lord Pearson resigned.
Europe, and particularly migration to the UK from EU countries, has been a growing political issue since the enlargement of 2004.
Mr Farage has increased UKIP's focus on the immigration impact of being in the EU.
In doing so he wants to be seen as tribune for the disenfranchised, not just the older, comfortably off middle classes alienated by rapid social change caused by mass immigration, but working-class voters left behind in the hunt for jobs and seemingly ignored by the increasingly professionalised "political class".
At last year's local elections in England UKIP won more than 140 seats and averaged 25% of the vote in the wards where it was standing.
It has come second in parliamentary by-elections in Eastleigh and in Wythenshawe and Sale East.
Under pressure from many in his own party - some fearful of UKIP's rise - to address the EU issue, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has promised an in-out referendum on the membership if his party wins the next election.
But Mr Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and, of course, Nick Clegg have all said they would prefer to remain "in" rather than "out".
Mr Farage stands four-square against this.
UKIP is aiming to win the most votes, and seats, at the European elections. From polling just 0.3% at the 1997 general election, it would represent amazing progress.
Mr Farage, who professes a love of all things European, except the European Union, and other "homogenising" projects, would certainly raise a glass or two to that. | Nigel Farage revels in being "the man in the pub", the political outsider who, to adopt an old beer-advertising slogan, "reaches the parts other politicians cannot reach". |
38,372,332 | The centres, sometimes run by private firms, vet GP referrals and decide if patients should receive hospital care.
The British Medical Association (BMA) called them "inefficient" and a "block between the GP and patient treatment".
NHS Clinical Commissioners said "in many cases" the centres "provide a useful and effective role".
All but 12 of the 209 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England responded to a BBC Freedom of Information (FoI) request. Sixty-one of them said they used some form of referral management centre.
These centres were introduced in about 2003 and were designed to reduce NHS spending by limiting unnecessary referrals to hospital. However, one GP claimed cancer diagnoses were being delayed because of the extra bureaucracy.
Since 2005 there has been a 10-fold increase in the use of referral centres.
A BBC investigation revealed there had been a rise in referrals being rejected for administrative, rather than clinical reasons, with delays due to administration queries rising from 28% in 2013-14 to 41% last year.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, from the BMA, said: "It's a blunt instrument which is not sensitive to the needs of the patient and is delaying patient care.
"It has become totally mechanistic. It's either administrative or not necessary for the patient. It's completely unacceptable. Performance seems to be related to blocking referrals rather than patient care."
MPs in North Durham have complained about a centre which is paid £10 for every referral letter it blocks.
Some doctors in England are being offered thousands of pounds by CCGs to cut the number of patients being referred to hospital.
About £19m was spent on the centres in 2015-16 and about two-thirds of the CCGs which responded to the BBC FoI request were not able to say whether the system was saving the NHS any money.
Referral management centres
One doctor in north-east England, who wished to stay anonymous, told the BBC: "The system is dangerous.
"In one case referral of a patient to a dermatologist was rejected by the referral management system. It turned out to be a cancer…That was a disaster."
In May, Tracy Jefferies had her referral to surgically strip her varicose veins rejected by Devon Referral Support Services.
The reason given was that she did not meet new criteria for treatment because Northern, Eastern and Western (NEW) Devon CCG changed its policy on treatment of the condition.
She said: "The swelling never went down and at night I could barely move. There wasn't a time in the day I wasn't in pain for it.
"I was told on the phone I did not meet the criteria to get treatment on the NHS. I was gobsmacked.
"I had to borrow money from my dad to pay for the treatment privately. So far I've spent over £2,000."
NEW Devon CCG said: "Unless an exceptional case is presented, the CCG will not fund the treatment of varicose veins."
The organisation which represents CCGs, NHS Clinical Commissioners, said: "CCGs will balance the cost of commissioning referral management centres with the benefit they provide to GPs and patients in terms of peer review, education, caseload management and choice.
"Ensuring patients get the best possible care against a backdrop of increasingly squeezed finances is one of the biggest issues CCGs face, but we know that clinical commissioners are working hard to improve local services by making responsible, clinically-led decisions in partnership with GPs, patients and providers."
Watch BBC Inside Out's investigation into rationing of the NHS at 19:30 BST on BBC One, Monday 16 January. | NHS patients face "dangerous" treatment delays due to a 10-fold increase in "crude, expensive" referral management centres, doctors have warned. |
29,676,084 | Xolile Mngeni, who was convicted of killing Mrs Dewani while she was on honeymoon in 2010, had been serving a life sentence for her murder.
His death comes amid the trial in Cape Town of Briton Shrien Dewani, who denies arranging his wife's murder.
Mngeni died in the hospital section of Cape Town prison, officials said.
South Africa's correctional services department has said it will make a full statement about his death on Sunday.
The death of Mngeni comes 12 days after Bristol businessman Mr Dewani went on trial.
Mr Dewani, 34, faces five charges including murder and lying about the circumstances of his wife's death.
He denies any involvement in the killing, which happened in the Gugulethu area of Cape Town.
Reports suggest prosecutors in South Africa had spoken to Mngeni but had not planned to call him as a witness in the trial because of the poor state of his health.
Mngeni, 27, had been diagnosed with a rare brain tumour, which was removed in 2011. His trial was repeatedly delayed while he had surgery.
He was denied parole in July this year after officials ruled he could receive appropriate medical care at Goodwood Prison, in Cape Town.
Mrs Dewani was kidnapped at gunpoint and shot dead in the Gugulethu township on 13 November 2010 while on honeymoon in South Africa.
Mr Dewani, who was kidnapped alongside her, was later released unharmed.
Mngeni was charged with murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping three days after her death and was convicted on 19 November 2012 of firing the shots that killed Mrs Dewani, having denied the charges.
In court, Mngeni was described as a "merciless and evil person" who deserved the maximum sentence by the trial judge.
"He had no regard to her right to freedom, dignity, and totally disregarded and showed no respect to her right to life by brutally killing her with utter disdain," Judge Robert Henney said.
Mngeni is one of three men to have been jailed in connection with the murder of Mrs Dewani.
Taxi driver Zola Tongo was sentenced to 18 years following a plea bargain.
He told South African authorities he had been approached by Mr Dewani, who offered him about $2,100 (£1,340) to organise the killing and make it look like a carjacking.
Tongo said he then recruited Mngeni and a third man, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, to carry out the killing.
In August 2012, Qwabe was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of Mrs Dewani. | A man jailed for the murder of Anni Dewani has died in prison, South Africa's correctional services department has said. |
35,399,125 | For the Joe called upon to get the drinks, was Joe Gilmore from the north of city who made his name at London's Savoy Hotel.
He poured drinks for Charlie Chaplin - who left his wife at the door as he had a sup.
Joan Crawford loved whiskey sours, Ernest Hemmingway liked punch, Laurel and Hardy romped through the menu.
When Joe was behind the American Bar, times were good and the stars knew their secrets were safe.
The former head barman at the Savoy died on 18 December aged 93 years.
Joe was one of a family of 10 and grew up on the Limestone Road in north Belfast.
In 1938, when he was 16, he got the boat for London with two white shirts and a couple of pounds.
Joe's nephew, Michael Cunningham, said he started in the American Bar in the Savoy when he was 18 years old.
The American was to cocktails "what Saville Row was to suits", said Michael.
"He met the great and the good there - George Bernard Shaw, Sinatra, Churchill.
"Joe always knew what people wanted. Joan Crawford loved whiskey sours, Hemmingway liked platters of punch, Laurel and Hardy drank through the menu to find a drink they liked."
Savoy archivist Susan Scott said his position would have been the envy of many.
"During the war was a very good time to be in the Savoy, because a lot of American stars stopped off in Britain on their way out to entertain the troops.
"There was a huge influx of celebrities in the hotel at that time and everyone got to know the bartender.
"So he got to know all sorts of people during the war - even Ronald Regan, who was only an actor in those days.
"Everybody knew him, he had such a twinkling smile and came across immediately as friendly and approachable. "
The first drink that Neil Armstrong had after landing on the moon was Joe's Moonwalk which is still for sale in The Savoy.
Joe made it up and the Savoy sent it off in a flask.
"He got a letter from Neil Armstrong thanking him and saying it was the first drink the astronauts had when they came out of quarantine," said Michael.
Charlie Chaplin would come to the Savoy with his wife - as women were not allowed in the American Bar at that time, he would leave her at the door whilst he supped a martini or two.
In the 1970s, Princess Margaret invited Joe to Mustique and even paid for his flight, just so that he could mix cocktails for her.
His secret, said his nephew Michael was that although the drink flowed freely, his lips were forever sealed.
He poured the drink, but never dished the dirt.
"He was very, very discreet," he said.
"He probably knew stories that would make your hair stand up, but he would never disclose any information," he said. | When Frank Sinatra croons: "Set 'em up Joe" in One for My Baby, the words set a few hearts a-flutter in Belfast. |
41,062,280 | Hamilton rarely led Vettel by more than two seconds in a tense battle until a late safety car added further jeopardy.
As all the drivers pitted, Ferrari put the fastest ultra-soft tyres on Vettel while Mercedes put Hamilton on softs.
But after fending off an attack by the German on the restart, Hamilton took back control and led to the flag.
Hamilton had not been happy with the decision to bring out the safety car, after a collision between the two Force India drivers on the run down the hill from La Source to Eau Rouge.
He said it was "a BS call from the stewards", clearly worried that with the extra grip from the ultra-soft tyres, Vettel would have an advantage.
For a few seconds after the restart, Hamilton appeared to be in trouble, as Vettel sat right behind him through Eau Rouge and appeared to be lining up to pass the Mercedes up the long Kemmel straight.
But Hamilton - taking part in his 200th race - used all the power advantage of his Mercedes to fend him off and he reeled off two consecutive fastest laps to pull 1.4 seconds clear and give himself a more comfortable margin.
The race settled back into the pattern that had been set soon after the start.
Hamilton was in front, Vettel was more than capable of staying right with him, but in evenly matched cars could not get close enough to attack.
In many ways, the race was a microcosm of the season.
The Mercedes and Ferrari have very different characteristics, excelling in different parts of individual circuits and the advantage swinging one way or another from race to race.
But so tight is the performance between them in general that victories hinge on small twists of fate or tiny details.
In this case, Mercedes' advantage with their extra engine boost in qualifying, allied to a stellar lap from Hamilton, put the the Englishman on pole. Vettel, equally impressive in qualifying, could manage only second.
Media playback is not supported on this device
On the first lap, just as after the restart, Vettel challenged out of Eau Rouge and towards Les Combes, but Hamilton fended him off, laying the foundations for a crucial win.
Hamilton becomes the first man to win five races this season, with Vettel on four.
Had the Ferrari driver won, Hamilton would have slipped to 21 points adrift, and with Singapore, where Mercedes expect the red cars to dominate, just two races away, it could have been a tough ask to close that.
But now with seven points in it, and Monza next weekend, another race Hamilton has a strong chance to win, the fight remains as finely poised as ever.
The race also further underlined the impression of this being a two-horse race.
Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas was only 19 points behind him before it, but the Finn finished fifth and slipped to 34 points behind and 41 off the lead.
Bottas had been cruising to third but was passed on either side by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at the restart after the safety car and could not make up the ground he lost by running wide at Les Combes as they swept on either side of him.
Raikkonen recovered well after a 10-second stop-go penalty for not slowing for yellow caution flags, while Ricciardo's podium was some consolation for Red Bull after yet another retirement for his team-mate Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman managed only eight laps before his Renault engine failed, sending him into retirement for the sixth time in 12 races.
There will recriminations at Force India after the crash between their two cars on lap 28, not the first time Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon have crossed swords this season.
Ocon was trying to pass Perez and had a run on him out of La Source, but as he closed on the Mexican down the hill, Perez squeezed the Frenchman towards the inside wall
The two cars touched, Ocon's front wing being damaged and Perez suffering a puncture.
The incident followed Ocon questioning why Perez had been allowed to pit first, against convention, a few laps beforehand, despite Ocon being ahead.
The two had had a close call at Les Combes on the previous lap - as well as banging wheels at the starts of the race - before the controversial incident at the start of the next lap.
The two cars collided in Baku four races ago, where Ocon was arguably more at fault. This time it was more at Perez's instigation.
But the bosses will be more concerned about their drivers' magnetic attraction for each other costing them points. They were both warned after Baku that collisions were unacceptable for exactly that reason and the partnership is looking increasingly untenable.
F1 moves on quickly to another historic track at Monza in Italy next weekend. Hamilton could do with another win to consolidate his position before the seemingly inevitable Vettel victory that is coming at Singapore two weeks after that.
"It has been a strong weekend for myself and the team," said Hamilton. "Really grateful for all the hard work.
"Vettel did a great race, he was very consistently throughout and it was fun to be racing against Sebastian at his best and the car at his best, we were within half a tenth every lap and that is what racing is about.
"They were able to keep up so I think they had better pace but fortunately I was just about able to stay ahead."
Vettel said: "It was good fun, it was really intense. I was waiting for him to make a mistake, he didn't.
"He was waiting for me to, I didn't. The restart is maybe why I am not entirely happy. I was on the outside and nowhere to go. We had good pace compared to Silverstone - I'm looking forward to our home race."
Belgian Grand Prix results
Belgian Grand Prix coverage details | Lewis Hamilton cut his championship deficit to Sebastian Vettel to just seven points with a closely fought victory in the Belgian Grand Prix. |
35,741,713 | The 23-year-old lost the first set but came back to defeat her 30-year-old Belgian opponent 3-6 6-2 6-3.
Flipkens threatened a revival in the deciding set, forcing two break points as Watson served for the match.
But the British number two and world number 84 held her nerve to add the title to the Japan Open in 2012 and Hobart International in 2015.
"It was really tough," said Guernsey-born Watson.
"I was so nervous coming into the match because I'd never beaten Kirsten before. She's a great player and really makes you work.
"I thought she was pretty flawless in the first set and I was getting frustrated, but I just had to stay calm and try my best."
Watson beat former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the last eight.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller:
"Watson won her third WTA title without the benefit of a coach, although her mum came onto court to give her a pep talk during the first set of the final.
"She was working with Pat Harrison while training at the IMG Academy in Florida before travelling to Mexico but has been without a full-time coach since splitting with Diego Veronelli at the end of last year.
"Projected to rise to 53 in the rankings, she now heads to Indian Wells. Her ranking had been too low to gain direct entry, but she was granted a wildcard having reached the fourth round last year." | Britain's Heather Watson claimed her third WTA title by beating Kirsten Flipkens to win the Monterrey Open. |
36,670,689 | The youngsters were inches from tragedy - only saved by the quick-thinking 21-year-old's decision to hide them under her long skirt.
As Horrett Campbell was detained by a judge indefinitely in a mental hospital five months later, a tearful Ms Potts told the BBC she could never forgive him for inflicting the injuries on her pupils.
Two decades on, and now a married mother of two boys, aged nine and 12, she feels differently about a crime that shocked the nation.
More recollections of nursery attack: "I often think about him"
"I've forgiven him now for what he did. I had to move on," she says.
"I never had any hate, even in my darkest moments, when I had to relearn everything (because of my injuries). I wasn't angry at him.
"As time went on, I felt sorry for him. I've learned a lot about mental health over the years and I feel sad that he went unnoticed in the community and didn't get help or treatment."
Ms Potts has replayed the events of 8 July, 1996, in her mind countless times.
She and her class of three and four-year-olds were enjoying a teddy bears' picnic in the grounds of the school in the Blakenhall area of the city when Campbell struck.
A paranoid schizophrenic who had been planning his attack for two months, he attacked three mothers waiting outside the school before entering the grounds and threatening the children with his knife.
He slashed Ms Pott's head, arms and back, but despite her injuries she managed to grab a child under each arm while others cowered under her skirt. Three children were also hurt.
Campbell was found hiding in a nearby block of flats a short while later by police.
"It only lasted eight minutes, but it changed the course of my life forever," she says.
"From the moment it happened my life took a different path, one full of media opportunities, dinners and awards. It was crazy."
She became an overnight celebrity and one of the most recognised faces in the country. "I used to joke that I was a professional machete heroine. I was so young and I felt like public property.
"For five years I felt like I was on a merry-go-round. Journalists would camp outside my house. I felt like a goldfish."
In 1997, she received the George Medal for bravery from the Queen. But while she described it as a "great honour" at the time, she now says she hid a lot of her true feelings.
"I felt a lot of guilt. Here I was, getting all these awards after such a horrific experience. There were times when I wanted to run away from it all."
Ahmed Malik was the youngest of those injured. Just three years old, he suffered a fractured skull and elbow in the attack. Now 23, he's an electrical engineering graduate and living in Basingstoke, Hampshire.
"The main thing I remember is the aftermath," he says.
"My parents were always being interviewed, cameras were constantly in my house."
He says his parents were cautious not to "wrap him in cotton wool" after the ordeal, and helped him to live a normal life.
"I don't think there were any lasting effects on me," he says. "I don't know if it's linked, but I'm left-handed - it was my right arm that was injured.
"When I read about it, it's strange - it's like it didn't happen. I told some of my friends at university after our last exam. I was like, 'beat that'. They couldn't believe it."
Francesca Quintyne was aged four. Campbell's machete slashed her face, leaving her with a deep scar. She has two metal plates holding her jaw together.
"When I was younger people used to stare at me a lot and ask me what had happened," she says.
"But it's faded a lot now I'm older. I used to hide it, but the older I'm getting I don't notice it so much.
"I don't remember anything from the time - it's like I've deleted it. But I've got a big box of news clippings at home and when I read them, I can't believe it happened."
Now working in mental health with children and adolescents, Ms Quintyne says it has helped her understand what led Campbell to launch his attack.
"It's given me such an insight into why people do those kinds of things," she says. "I can't fully understand it, but I can reason with him. It's helped me to forgive him."
Ms Potts has stayed close to Ms Quintyne and Mr Malik since their ordeal. The former was one of her bridesmaids when she married police officer Dave Webb in 2002.
"I'm so proud of them, and what they've become," she says. "It's when I see them grown up I realise how much time has gone by.
"I saw Ahmed in Asda the other day and I just gave him a big hug. Seeing them as adults makes you realise that life goes on."
It was having her own children, Alfie, now 12, and Jude, nine, that finally made her come to terms with the gravity of her actions.
"Eight years later when I had Alfie, I started to realise the extent of what happened that day.
"And I was so upset when he first went to school. Would it happen to him? All these fears came up.
"We've always been really open with the children about what happened right from the start. Alfie used to call my arm 'my hurty'.
"I didn't want to frighten them about going to school. By knowing what happened, they understand life is not always easy. Not just about what happened to me, but Horrett Campbell too."
The attack at St Luke's came four months after the Dunblane massacre, where 16 pupils and a teacher were killed.
The events sparked a transformation in security at schools across the UK, with the government publishing new guidelines for local education authorities and head teachers about how to safeguard their pupils and staff.
Schools identified as "low risk" were advised to reassess visitors' access, limit the number of entrances and install intruder alarms.
"High risk" schools were encouraged to issue staff with personal attack alarms, install CCTV, employ security guards and consider grilles on windows.
As the nation reacted to what happened at St Luke's, Ms Potts - while very much still in the public eye - was trying to overcome post traumatic stress disorder and depression.
She gave up her job as a nursery nurse and turned her attentions to charity work, starting her own organisation Believe to Achieve, helping children in Wolverhampton with low self-esteem to realise their potential.
"I thought we'd only be going for about three years but it's been 15 now and we're helping children in Dudley schools now," she says.
"It's great to think that from such a terrible event something so positive happened."
She went on to train as a nurse and is now working as a health visitor, combining her skills as a nursery nurse and her extraordinary life experience to help families.
"It's nice that I can use what happened in a positive way. It's part of my life experience - it's who I am.
"So many things came out of what happened, but the biggest thing was survival.
"Nobody died that day. When you think about Dunblane, we were so lucky." | It is 20 years since a machete-wielding attacker stormed into St Luke's Infant School in Wolverhampton, slashing at young children and nursery nurse Lisa Potts. |
25,240,792 | Ateeq Latif, from Middlesbrough, was found guilty a day after the jury at Teesside Crown Court found taxi driver Shakil Munir, 32, guilty of charges involving girls aged 13 and 14.
A third man, Sakib Ahmed, 19, pleaded guilty to exploiting five victims. The men, all from Middlesbrough, were "loosely connected", the court heard.
Two 18-year-old men were cleared.
Judge John Walford lifted orders banning Ahmed's guilty pleas and Latif's identity being reported.
The court heard allegations relating to seven victims, some of whom were known to each other.
The "vulnerable" girls were groomed with offers of free lifts, takeaway food and in some case drugs, prosecutors said.
Latif, of Abingdon Road, and Ahmed, of Cambridge Road, will be sentenced alongside Munir, of Tollesby Road, at a later date.
Latif was found guilty of two counts of arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence. His victims were both aged 14. He was cleared of another count of the same charge.
Ahmed admitted five counts of sexual activity with a child before the six-week trial of the other defendants.
Munir was found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child and one of child abduction.
Speaking after the case, Det Insp Dino Carlucci, of Cleveland Police, said: "These men preyed on young, vulnerable girls by befriending them and securing their trust and then exploited it.
"This has been an arduous and protracted inquiry for all involved and particularly for the young victims, who I commend for having the strength to see this through until the end.
"It hasn't been easy for them, or their loved ones, but hopefully now they can put this behind them and look forward to bright futures." | A 17-year-old boy has been found guilty of grooming and sexually exploiting teenage girls on Teesside. |
38,663,022 | Brookes will be joined by fellow Australian David Johnson, with both riders using the all-new SG6 in both the Superbike and Senior TT.
The bike is undergoing development in the hands of two-time TT winner Steve Plater.
Brookes said: "I couldn't ride at the TT over the last two years and I've been desperate to get back and race."
He added: "It's always hard to predict results, especially around the island so I think it's important that I let it come to me.
"I like the history of the Norton and it will be so great to be a little part of the Norton story."
Brookes was the fastest newcomer at the 2013 TT and finished seventh in the Senior the following year.
The 2015 British Superbike champion and his Norton team are also in discussions with North West 200 organisers with a view to possibly competing at that event in May.
Brookes, who will compete for the TAG Yamaha team in British Superbikes this year, is a former lap record holder at the North West.
He endured a frustrating season with the SMR Milwaukee BMW team in the World Superbike Championship series in 2016. | Australian racer Josh Brookes is to return to race at the Isle of Man TT with Norton, after a two-year absence . |
37,154,407 | This year's event featured a tribute to 30-year-old Inverness DJ Ross Lyall, who had type one diabetes and died in March after five days in intensive care at Raigmore Hospital.
Acts at Groove included a DJ set by Leftfield.
Photographer James Roberts captured some of the scenes during the weekend's festival. | Dance music festival Groove Loch Ness was held on Saturday. |
23,239,066 | The luge, which translates as 'sled', sees competitors travelling feet-first down an icy track at up to 85mph - with only a helmet for protection.
The competitor lies on a pod made of moulded fibreglass, designed to match the contours of the slider.
The pod sits on two metal runners called steels which curve upwards. These are attached to 'kufens' at the front which steer the pod. Kufens and steels are longer on the doubles luge.
There are no brakes. To slow down, the slider drags their feet along the ice and grips the kufens.
Luge has many benefits, though they may not initially be clear to you when standing at the top of the run for the first time.
Given the confined space in which lugers operate, any small movement is key - so the sport encourages strong movement skills along with improved agility, balance, and coordination.
Strength and conditioning are essential to withstand the speeds and G-forces encountered as you progress in the sport.
Yes, you can learn to luge in Britain. Chill Factor-e in Manchester now offers a dedicated luge facility. It's only 60m long and far removed from the Olympic event, but it will offer you a taste.
Beyond that, anyone keen to pursue luge in the UK will have to be prepared to travel abroad to improve. Britain's only Olympic luger of recent times, AJ Rosen, was born and trains in the United States.
Luge takes it influence from early sled competitions in Scandinavia, as well as the inception of sports like skeleton and bobsleigh in Switzerland and St Moritz.
Team GB's website explains that an Australian student, George Robertson, won what is reputed to be the world's first international sled race in 1883, on a 4km stretch of Swiss road.
Luge events were introduced to Olympic competition for the first time in 1964, when Thomas Kohler of East Germany became the first gold medallist. The programme hasn't changed from its original Olympic format, although luge competitors now use the same course as the bobsleigh.
Are you inspired to try Luge? Or maybe you are a keen enthusiast already? Get in touch and tell us your experience of the activity by tweeting us on @bbcgetinspired or email us on [email protected].
See our full list of activity guides for more inspiration. | Luge is a relatively new form of one of the oldest winter activities in the world. |
32,365,830 | The outbreak started in the Ode-Irele town, Ondo state, and spread rapidly.
The disease - characterised by blurred vision, headache and loss of consciousness - killed the victims within 24 hours of falling ill.
Local health officials and World Health Organization experts are now in the town to try to identify the disease.
Laboratory tests have so far ruled out Ebola or any other virus, Ondo government spokesman Kayode Akinmade was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
He described the illness as "mysterious".
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told AFP that all of those affected started showing symptoms between 13-15 April.
The unidentified disease appears to be attacking the central nervous system, state health commissioner Dayo Adeyanju told Nigeria's Premium Times. | A "mysterious" disease has killed at least 18 people in the past several days in south-western Nigeria, local officials say. |
33,477,046 | While much of our focus has been on the court, with the odd dash to Murray Mound to see what the punters have to say, it hasn't gone unnoticed that there are some Scots also working behind the scenes at SW19.
Olwyn Roy, from Tullibody, is one. She has been working at the championship for 30 years, mostly as a line judge.
The home economics teacher is a keen tennis player herself.
As an umpire she has seen some of the world's top seeds when they were youths, and jokes of her failure to recognise the talent of a certain teenager named Roger Federer.
The Swiss is now her favourite player.
"This is my 30th Wimbledon, I even did one where I was working in Australia for a year and I came back just for Wimbledon, so I've done 30 consecutive," she said.
She added: "We work hard all year to make certain we are selected to come down here.
"With grass, there's a special technique where you have to wait for the chalk, because sometimes if you're used to working on hard courts you'll call that bit more quickly and then you find you have a puff of chalk coming up, which obviously proves the ball is not out."
Another Scot who enjoys working at Wimbledon is Martin Swan, a former bank employee from Edinburgh.
Wearing his luminous orange vest, he is in charge of running a large section of the queue at the All England Club.
"As a member of the public, I think probably my second year living in London, I started queuing and I have been in the overnight queue," he commented.
"I have camped in the street when you could camp in the street in the old days.
"I've been involved in Wimbledon either as a customer or working here for nearly 30 years now."
Martin also managed to get closer to the action this year, with some work on the gangway of centre court.
"I'm pleased to have been on centre court I think for two of Andy Murray's matches," he said. "It's a great atmosphere."
So apart from the obvious - the internationally renowned tennis tournament, the sunny weather, the manicured grounds where you can rub shoulders with many celebrities, and, of course, the strawberries - what is it that keeps volunteers like these Scots coming back, year after year?
"There's an incredible sense of camaraderie amongst the stewards here," said Martin.
"|We generally only see each other once a year but as soon as we are back together we work really well as teams, we have a good laugh and the public like us as well."
Over the years, Olwyn has officiated some great matches including the 2008 final between the Williams sisters, and the 2007 final between Federer and Rafael Nadal.
And after seeing so many champions come and go, there are bound to be many stand out moments, which Olwyn savours when she can.
"It's everybody's dream to do a final so if you are lucky enough to get selected for the final those are the ones that are very memorable," she said.
"Occasionally it can be other matches where possibly it's just been an absolutely terrific match. You'll never forget them."
Asked if she planned on travelling back down in 2016 for the 31st consecutive year, Olwyn responded: "Definitely." | Andy Murray, his brother Jamie, Colin Fleming, Jocelyn Rae, Gordon Reid - just a few of the Scots players who have appeared at this year's Wimbledon championships. |
36,090,368 | The collapse killed four workers - one body has been recovered - and injured five others.
Thames Valley Police say 20,000 tonnes of material remain, but the recovery operation was progressing to schedule.
The plant was set for demolition when it collapsed on 23 February.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), together with the police, are carrying out a joint investigation into the cause of the collapsed boiler house.
The recovery mission by RWE Npower began on 19 March and is being supported by forensic archaeologists, metallurgists and structural engineers, with drones and cameras gathering information.
Specialists from the police, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue's Urban Search and Rescue, and the South Central Ambulance Service Hazardous Area Response Team are also at the scene.
A police spokesman said: "The absolute priority of the multi-agency response to this incident remains the recovery of the missing men so they can be returned to their families.
"These debris removal works are ongoing seven days a week, from dawn to dusk.
"Whilst to date everything is progressing to plan, due to the complex nature of the collapse the recovery phase will still take some time."
The standing structure remains in an unsafe condition, he added.
He said officers were supporting the families affected, providing them with regular updates.
The bodies of Christopher Huxtable, 34, from Swansea; Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, both from Rotherham, have not yet been found.
The body of Michael Collings, 53, from Brotton, Teesside, was recovered from the site. | A 40m (131ft) pile of rubble has been cleared from the collapsed Didcot power station site but finding the three missing men will take time, police have said. |
34,534,378 | The full-back, 18, suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in England U21s' 3-0 win over Kazakhstan.
Gomez had made five Premier League appearances since joining the Reds in a £3.5m move from Charlton in June.
He was replaced with 10 minutes remaining of England's European Championship qualifying victory at Coventry's Ricoh Arena on Tuesday.
England U21 manager Gareth Southgate had initially played down the injury as "nothing too serious".
But new Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp looks set to be without the defender for the duration of his maiden campaign at Anfield. | Liverpool defender Joe Gomez looks set to miss the rest of the season after suffering a serious knee injury. |
35,055,498 | The agreement was announced at a regional conference in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said the foreign secretaries of both countries would meet to set an agenda for meetings on "peace and security".
Talks are to include Kashmir, the spark for two of the rivals' wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
The region, claimed by both countries in its entirety, has been a flashpoint for more than 60 years.
"The foreign secretaries of both countries will meet and chart out the agenda for the meetings," Ms Swaraj told reporters after meeting her counterpart, Sartaj Aziz.
Pakistan is said to have assured the Indian side that it is taking steps to expedite the early conclusion of trials of those accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks of 2009, the BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Pakistan reports.
Ms Swaraj's visit came in the aftermath of a dramatic rise - and then a rather sudden easing - in tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Pakistan wants to discuss Kashmir, claimed by both countries in its entirety.
India wants Pakistan to allow greater commercial interaction, liberalise visa regimes, grant transit rights to traders between Delhi and Kabul, and stamp out militant groups which it believes Pakistan has fostered to destabilise Kashmir and Afghanistan.
This is a complex situation, and talks in the past have often broken down, underlining a trust deficit on both sides.
A measure of success will be if they can draw up a road-map for more substantive talks in the near future - and then make progress on the many long-running issues which divide them. | India and Pakistan have agreed to resume high-level peace talks which stalled in 2012. |
26,062,757 | But amid all the pomp and ceremony of this, the first Olympics behind the Iron Curtain, there was one thing Brezhnev failed to mention in his welcome speech: just a few years earlier, he had seriously considered ditching the whole project.
In 1975, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Brezhnev had written to a colleague in the Politburo complaining of the costs involved and warning of possible scandals if Moscow hosted the Olympics.
"Some comrades have suggested to me that if we pay a small fine we could get out of this," he wrote.
Vladimir Putin has taken a very different approach to his Olympic Games.
From the outset, President Putin has been heavily involved in Sochi 2014 - from lobbying the International Olympic Committee to bring the games to Russia, to inspecting construction sites and, more recently, testing out completed sports facilities.
Sochi is his pet project: to show Russia as a great world power, and himself as a great leader.
Yet, curiously, the two things Leonid Brezhnev had feared - spiralling costs and scandals - are now a feature of Vladimir Putin's Olympic Games.
The estimated bill for venues and accompanying infrastructure is an estimated $50bn: Sochi has been described as the most expensive Olympics ever.
As for the list of scandals making headlines in the West, it is almost as long as the ski slopes of Sochi.
It includes allegations of corruption, complaints from unpaid construction workers, concern about the rights of sexual minorities in Russia and worries over security.
"The Russian Olympics is already a scandal," says Liliya Shevtsova, a senior associate at the Moscow Carnegie Centre.
"It is the embodiment of corruption, inefficiency, irrationality, extreme vanity and megalomania. It is a waste of money in a country that cannot afford a decent life for ordinary people. It reminds me of Mussolini and Ceausescu. They also built glamorous projects that are now monuments to absurdity."
The Russian authorities reject accusations that Olympic funds have been mis-spent or stolen.
"The Russian Audit Chamber and the Russian Tax Service have uncovered no cases of corruption linked to Sochi," the President of Russia's Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov informs me.
Mr Zhukov also maintains it is wrong to include the cost of infrastructure projects in the Olympic bill.
"Sochi used to have just one road. Now around 20 new ones have been built. There's a new sewage system, a new power station, new gas pipes. But these are not Olympic costs. This is the kind of infrastructure which a city like Sochi has to have if it is to attract tourists. This is, after all, the main resort in Russia."
When the USSR hosted the Summer Olympics in 1980, more than 60 countries stayed away in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
This time around, there will be no international boycott to spoil President Putin's party. Many Western leaders, though, have decided to not to go to Sochi.
"It would be strange if all international leaders were to attend an Olympics," Russian State TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov points out.
"They don't have anything better to do? This isn't about politics and politicians. It's about sport. If President Obama was a participant in the games, if he was competing in the figure skating, then him not coming to Sochi would spoil the pleasure."
On Friday Russian Television will broadcast a documentary about Vladimir Putin's personal contribution to the Sochi Olympics.
In a sneak preview aired this week, the president revealed how he personally had chosen the site for what became the Olympic site.
It reminded me of Peter the Great, the tsar who 300 years ago selected the location for his grand new capital, St Petersburg.
For Tsar Peter, moving the capital from Moscow to St Petersburg was an attempt to move Russia closer to Europe. The new city was his window on the West.
President Putin has said he hopes the Sochi Games will help "build bridges". But these Olympics are unlikely to bring modern Russia and the West closer.
"Putin cannot change the doctrine of his own survival," believes Liliya Shevtsova, "and his doctrine is containment of the West and building Russia as a centre of the traditional civilisation with a galaxy all around. His doctrine already is making us distant from the West, an antithesis to Western civilisation. Sochi cannot change anything."
I drive a few miles north of Moscow to the town of Mytishi, where there is a street called "Olympic Prospekt" - the name dates back to 1980.
A street cleaner is scraping ice off the pavement and local residents bundled up in fur coats are hurrying past grey Soviet-era apartment blocks on their way to the shops or to work.
I get chatting to people here and discover how little interest there is in Sochi scandals.
"I can't wait for the Games to start, especially the ice hockey," says Viktor. "I know that a lot of money has been spent on them. And that might be why the rouble has taken a bit of tumble. But it's probably worth it. The Olympics are a good cause."
"It's not corruption I'm worried about," Elena tells me. "I'm more concerned with how our athletes are going to do. I'm so used to hearing about money being stolen. It's just not news."
President Putin knows that his Olympics have sparked controversy abroad. He is well aware that many Western leaders will not be attending.
But he knows, too, that most Russians will be glued to their TV sets - more concerned with how many medals their country will win, not how much money it cost to put on the show. | It was July 1980 and in the packed Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev declared the Summer Olympic Games open. |
35,190,676 | The boy's aunt, uncle and their five children will arrive in Vancouver on Monday.
Alan, 3, died with his mother and brother trying to reach Greece.
The family is just a few of the tens of thousands of people that the Canadian government has promised to resettle.
They are being sponsored by Alan's aunt, Tima, who has become an advocate for refugees fleeing the conflict.
Alan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, now lives in Iraq and said after the death of his family that he would not move to Canada.
Images of Alan Kurdi's body washed up on a beach near Bodrum in September caused an outpouring of sympathy for those fleeing to Europe to escape Syria's civil war.
After Alan's death, Tima Kurdi said Canada had rejected the family's request for refugee status, but later acknowledged it had never been submitted.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live on Sunday that she was unable to look at the photo of the toddler, which became a symbol for the refugee crisis. However, she said that she understands its power.
Hundreds of asylum seekers have died this year trying to reach Europe by sea. Greece and Turkey have become a major transit points.
The admittance of refugees from war-torn nations including Syria has become highly contentious in governments around the world, with leaders attempting to balance security and humanitarian concerns.
In Canada, the newly-elected Liberal government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on the promise to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February.
The government, which came to power in early November, said that 10,000 of the refugees would arrive by the end of the year.
Last week, the minister of immigration and citizenship said the country's resettlement programme would be expanded in 2016 to take 50,000.
The first military plane carrying Syrian refugees to be resettled in Canada arrived in the country in early December, with Mr Trudeau personally greeting many of them upon arrival.
Since early November, hundreds of Syrians have already arrived in Canada via commercial aircraft. | Family members of Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, whose drowning off the coast of Turkey triggered an international outcry, are expected to arrive in Canada as refugees. |
40,934,331 | The video was posted on a Dutch porn website earlier this year.
Dutch authorities said the pornographic film was offensive but there was no longer a law in the Netherlands against blasphemy.
The priest at Saint Joseph's Catholic Church, Fr Jan van Noorwegen, said he was unhappy with their decision.
Another church official complained that there was something deeply wrong with the legal system.
The film appeared on Dutch porn star Kim Holland's website in January. She apologised and said the video had been made by an external producer and would no longer appear on her site, according to local broadcaster Omroep Brabant.
Fr Van Noorwegen then held a Sunday Mass seeking forgiveness for the desecration of his church. The church authorities took the case to the public prosecutor, which has now explained its decision not to take the matter further.
"We find it offensive and disrespectful, but we had a good look at the legal code and do not really see a criminal offence. Blasphemy is not a crime and there's no question here of anyone trespassing," said a spokesperson.
It is now up to the church to decide whether to take out a civil case over the video. While that is unlikely, one senior official at the church, Harrie de Swart, was astounded by the prosecutor's decision, arguing that the film-makers would clearly have had to climb over a fence to reach the confessional box.
"The justice ministry said we should have hung a no-entry sign on the church entrance. Then we could prosecute people who do this sort of thing. But it's absurd to stick that sort of sign on the door of a church," he told Omroep Brabant.
Fr Van Noorwegen was also worried about a precedent being set. "Just imagine, if it happens now in a church, a town hall or restaurant, clearly it can happen anywhere," he was quoted as saying. | Prosecutors have rejected a complaint from a church in the Dutch city of Tilburg after two actors were filmed having sex in the confessional box. |
36,717,432 | Belle Vue Nursing Home was judged to be "inadequate" by the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after an unannounced inspection in May.
It was ordered to improve but, after further complaints, was visited again in June and found to be "inadequate".
If it does not improve steps will be taken to close it down, the CQC said.
At the time of the latest inspection, the home - which has three units - was caring for 60 people with dementia and young disabled adults.
It was told that failing to report deaths and serious injuries was a breach of CQC rules.
Staff then began sending notifications to the CQC, which concluded: "We identified occasions when people had died unexpectedly or been injured.
"We were concerned that the information indicated that the home may have neglected people's care and treatment needs."
Inspectors also found residents' weights were not being monitored, running the risk of them becoming malnourished.
The CQC also found medication was not being administered "in line with prescriptions".
Its report concluded that if the home was found to be inadequate when next inspected, steps would be taken to prevent it "operating". | A Middlesbrough care home has been placed in special measures over concerns its residents had suffered from neglect. |
38,640,487 | Sharbat Gula now lives with her five-year-old son and three daughters in Kabul, where she says she wants to live a normal life after years of tragedy and hardship.
Her portrait as a 10-year-old became an iconic image of Afghan refugees fleeing war.
The only time she has spoken to the media before now, her family says, was for a 2002 documentary after Steve McCurry, who took her original photo, tracked her down in Pakistan and found out who she was.
Sharbat Gula had no idea that her face had been famous around the world for almost seventeen years.
Like many Afghans, she sought refuge in Pakistan and lived there for 35 years - but she was imprisoned and deported last autumn for obtaining Pakistani identity papers "illegally".
"We had a good time there, had good neighbours, lived among our own Pashtun brothers. But I didn't expect that the Pakistani government would treat me like this at the end," Sharbat Gula told me at her temporary residence in Kabul.
Her case highlighted the arbitrary arrest and forced deportation of Afghan refugees in the current spat between the two countries.
It has been illegal for non-Pakistanis to have IDs since they were first issued in the 1970s, but the law was often not enforced.
Now sick and frail in her mid-40s, Sharbat Gula's haunting eyes are still piercing, full of both fear and hope.
She says she had already sold her house in Pakistan because she feared arrest there for "not having proper documents to stay".
Two days before a planned move back to Afghanistan, her house was raided late in the evening and she was taken to prison.
Pakistan's government has ordered all two million Afghan refugees on its soil to leave.
Sharbat Gula believes the Pakistani authorities wanted to arrest her before she left.
"I told the police that I have made this ID card for only two things - to educate my children and sell my house - which were not possible to do without the ID card."
She served a 15-day prison sentence, the first week in prison and the second in hospital where she was treated for hepatitis C.
"This was the hardest and worst incident in my life."
Realising the reputational damage, Pakistan later offered to let her stay - but she refused.
"I told them that I am going to my country. I said: 'You allowed me here for 35 years, but at the end treated me like this.' It is enough."
Her husband and eldest daughter died in Peshawar and are buried there.
"If I wanted to go back, it will be just to offer prayer at the graves of my husband and daughter who are buried in front of the house we lived in."
The "Afghan Girl" picture was taken by Steve McCurry in 1984 in a refugee camp near Peshawar, when Sharbat Gula was studying in a tent school. Published in 1985, it became one of the most recognisable magazine covers ever printed.
For years she was unaware of her celebrity.
"When my brother showed me the picture, I recognised myself and told him that yes, this is my photo."
How did she feel?
"I became very surprised [because] I didn't like media and taking photos from childhood. At first, I was concerned about the publicity of my photo but when I found out that I have been the cause of support/help for many people/refugees, then I became happy."
‘Green eyed girl’ in quest for new life
None of Sharbat Gula's six children - another daughter died too at an early age and is buried in Peshawar - share the colour of her eyes.
But her brother, Kashar Khan, does, and the eyes of one of her three sisters were also green.
She says her maternal grandmother had eyes of a similar colour.
Sharbat Gula was a child living with her family in Kot district of eastern Nangarhar province when Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
"There was war between Russians and Afghanistan - that is why we left. A lot of damage/destruction was done."
Her mother died of appendicitis in the village when she was eight. Like hundreds of thousands of other Afghans, her family (her father, four sisters and one brother) migrated to Pakistan and started living in a tent in a refugee camp called Kacha Garahi, on the outskirts of Peshawar.
She was married at 13. But her husband, Rahmat Gul, was later diagnosed with hepatitis C and died about five years ago. Her eldest daughter also died of hepatitis three years ago, aged 22, leaving a two-month-old daughter.
Sharbat Gula met President Ashraf Ghani in the presidential palace on her return, and later former President Hamid Karzai.
"They gave me respect, warmly welcomed me. I thank them. May God treat them well."
The government has promised to support her financially and buy her a house in Kabul.
"I hope the government will fulfil all its promises," she told me.
Kot district is a stronghold of militants linked to the so-called Islamic State group, so she can't go home to her village. Her green-eyed brother and hundreds of others have fled the area, fearing IS brutality.
"We cannot even visit our village now because of insecurity and don't have a shelter in Jalalabad. Our life is a struggle from one hardship to another," he says.
But Sharbat Gula's priority is to stay in her country, get better and see her children be educated and live happy lives.
"I want to establish a charity or a hospital to treat all poor, orphans and widows," she says.
"I would like peace to come to this country, so that people don't become homeless. May God fix this country." | An Afghan woman made famous by a 1985 National Geographic cover has spoken exclusively to the BBC of her hope for a new beginning, after being deported from Pakistan. |
39,040,774 | The French fizz has been included as one of the items in the basket of goods used to calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation.
Contents are updated every five years to keep pace with shopping trends.
After falling out of the basket in 2012, champagne was popped back in for 2017 by the Central Statistics Office.
The basket contains a wide-ranging selection of goods or services that are seen as a representative sample of current consumer spending habits.
The inclusion of new product in the CPI basket, or the reintroduction of an item, means it "has become popular enough to warrant inclusion in a sample of representative items", according to the CSO.
Other goods making the 2017 list were avocados, sweet potatoes, larger TVs and even stockbrokers' fees.
Following a trend seen in the UK in 2015, craft beer and e-cigarette refills have also been added to the Irish CPI basket.
CSO price checkers have calculated that prices of the goods rose by 0.3% over the year from January 2016 to January 2017.
Items that were struck off the latest shopping list include clock radios, camcorders and disposable cameras.
But is return of the luxurious tipple that has caught most attention, with CPI Champagne being hailed by the Irish broadcaster Newstalk as "a clear sign that recessionary times are behind us".
The Republic of Ireland experienced years of austerity after its economy crashed during the global downturn in 2007/2008
After being forced to seek an international bailout in 2010, the state has turned around its economy.
And after years of belt-tightening and "make do and mend", one of the services deleted from the CPI basket due to declining popularity was "alteration to trousers". | Champagne is making a comeback in the Republic of Ireland, a decade after the bubble burst in spectacular style for its Celtic Tiger economy. |
35,086,289 | Adam Bogdan dropped a corner with the very first touch of his league debut, allowing Nathan Ake to stab the home side ahead after just three minutes.
Odion Ighalo doubled the lead, firing in off the post from a tight angle.
And the Nigerian sealed a deserved victory with his 12th of the season, nodding in from Valon Behrami's cross.
The Hornets, promoted from the Championship last term, move to within a point of the Champions League places.
Defeat for Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, who are now without a win in their last three league games, leaves them ninth - four points behind Quique Flores' side in seventh.
With regular goalkeeper Simon Mignolet absent from the squad with a hamstring injury, 28-year-old Bogdan - who had previously only played in the League Cup since his summer arrival - was called in.
Just over two minutes into the match, he bounced Ben Watson's corner at his own feet rather than making what looked like an easy catch. Replays suggested he might have had two hands on the ball when Ake pounced, but nonetheless it was a poor error.
Bogdan said: "I had both hands on the ball but we are talking about a split-second. It's not easy for the referee to see. If I catch the first ball, there is no second one.
"Something went wrong, I have to think about it again. It was a mistake and I will learn from it."
Hungarian Bogdan didn't cover himself in glory when punching a through ball into Lucas' face either though, and his nervousness seemed to spread through the Reds defence.
Martin Skrtel, who came off injured before half-time, was arguably too weak when trying to steer Ighalo away from goal for Watford's second and his fellow centre-back Mamadou Sakho was dangerously ponderous in possession.
Sakho, returning after six weeks out, also fell over under no pressure to allow Ighalo in on goal in the second half, with Bogdan making partial amends via a fine reflex save.
Troy Deeney and Ighalo have created more goalscoring chances for one another than any other pairing this season. They were at it again for Watford's second as a simple Deeney ball over the top put Ighalo through with only Skrtel for company.
The 26-year-old brushed off the Liverpool defender's weak challenge and fired in off the post from a tight angle, before adding his second with a simple header to bring his tally for 2015 to 28 goals - the best return in England's professional leagues.
If Watford were surprised to have gone ahead so early and so comfortably, the rest of their performance showed no sign of it. The Hornets were composed and committed as they outplayed a disappointing Liverpool side.
There was none of the high-intensity, slick interplay that has characterised the best performances of Klopp's time at Anfield so far, and instead it was Watford who claimed a deserved victory.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: "If you watch the TV, you see Bogdan had the ball under control and both hands were on the ball.
"It should not be allowed but first of all he should not drop the ball. That is the mistake of the referee but the biggest mistake was our reaction.
"It was a deserved win for Watford. Not because of our faults, but more because of the reaction to our faults."
Watford manager Quique Flores: "Of course we want to dream but we want to remain humble. This is our one advantage, because the Premier League is very tough.
"We have a lot of matches and we never underestimate the teams we play. We are completely happy with the performance. It was an amazing victory against an amazing team."
Watford play Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City in their next three fixtures over Christmas and New Year, while Liverpool host leaders Leicester on Boxing Day before away games against Sunderland and West Ham.
Match ends, Watford 3, Liverpool 0.
Second Half ends, Watford 3, Liverpool 0.
Attempt missed. Jordon Ibe (Liverpool) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Alberto Moreno.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Ikechi Anya.
Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Nyom (Watford).
Offside, Liverpool. Alberto Moreno tries a through ball, but Christian Benteke is caught offside.
Substitution, Watford. Adlène Guédioura replaces Odion Ighalo.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Miguel Britos (Watford) because of an injury.
Foul by Jordan Henderson (Liverpool).
Valon Behrami (Watford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal! Watford 3, Liverpool 0. Odion Ighalo (Watford) header from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Valon Behrami with a cross.
Offside, Liverpool. Philippe Coutinho tries a through ball, but Christian Benteke is caught offside.
Foul by Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool).
Odion Ighalo (Watford) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Nyom (Watford).
Substitution, Watford. Valon Behrami replaces Almen Abdi.
Attempt missed. Christian Benteke (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jordan Henderson following a set piece situation.
Miguel Britos (Watford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Christian Benteke (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Miguel Britos (Watford).
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Nyom.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Miguel Britos.
Attempt blocked. Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Substitution, Watford. Ikechi Anya replaces Jurado.
Delay in match Emre Can (Liverpool) because of an injury.
Attempt blocked. Jordon Ibe (Liverpool) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Liverpool. Christian Benteke replaces Roberto Firmino.
Substitution, Liverpool. Jordon Ibe replaces Adam Lallana.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Heurelho Gomes.
Attempt saved. Emre Can (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Foul by Lucas Leiva (Liverpool).
Odion Ighalo (Watford) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Heurelho Gomes.
Attempt saved. Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Philippe Coutinho.
Corner, Watford. Conceded by Adam Bogdan.
Attempt saved. Odion Ighalo (Watford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jurado with a through ball. | Watford profited from Liverpool's calamitous opening at Vicarage Road to continue their remarkable rise with a fourth consecutive Premier League win. |
37,134,775 | The rails, which would have been part of the city's first network in the early 20th Century, are set to be removed later.
The city council have offered the tracks to Crich Tramway Village, in Derbyshire, home of the National Tramway Museum.
The museum's curator, Laura Waters, said it was a wonderful discovery.
She said: "They are always exciting to see because not all systems buried their tracks so we never quite know who did what with them.
"Some ripped them up, some buried them and obviously it's a reminder of Nottingham's transport history."
Nottingham reintroduced a tram network in 2004, with a line stretching from Nottingham Station to Hucknall.
A second line running from the city to Chilwell and Beeston, began operation in 2015.
Ms Waters said: "It's interesting that often, towns and cities got rid of their trams because they got in the way of cars which were increasing in popularity.
"Now they are being reintroduced to help reduce the number of cars on the roads."
A spokesman for Nottingham City Council said: "Last year there was a gas leak in Station Road and when the engineers dug up the road they found the track, which was a bit of a surprise.
"It's all a bit hit and miss where the track is. We've got major works coming up near Broadmarsh [shopping centre] and it may be we find some more there.
"There could be lots under Market Square which was the old hub for the trams." | Tram tracks dating back about 100 years have been uncovered during work near to Nottingham's railway station. |
38,640,430 | Together with Gerry Adams, he was the main republican architect of the move towards a political solution to Northern Ireland's problems.
His life followed an extraordinary trajectory between violence and politics, moving from being a senior commander in the IRA to helping broker talks that eventually led to the peace negotiations of the 1990s.
Eventually, he became Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, forging an unlikely alliance with Ian Paisley, the DUP leader who was the fiercest - and loudest - critic of the republican movement.
They developed such a rapport in their years in government that they became poster boys for modern politics, earning the nickname The Chuckle Brothers.
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness was born into a large family living in the deprived Bogside area of Londonderry on 23 May 1950. His unusual third name was a tribute to Pope Pius XII.
He attended Derry's St Eugene's Primary School and, having failed the 11-plus exam, he went to the Christian Brothers technical college, known locally as Brow o' the Hill.
He did not enjoy his time at college and his failure to qualify for grammar school rankled.
"It is my opinion," he later said, "that no education system has the right to tell any child at the age of 10 and 11 that it's a failure."
He was working as a butcher's assistant when Northern Ireland's Troubles erupted in the late 1960s. Angry about the rough handling of protesters demanding civil rights for Catholics, McGuinness was quickly drawn into the ranks of the IRA.
By January 1972, when soldiers from the Parachute Regiment killed 14 people in his hometown on what became known as Bloody Sunday, McGuinness was second in command of the IRA in the city.
The Saville Inquiry concluded he had probably been armed with a sub-machine-gun on the day, but had not done anything that would have justified the soldiers opening fire.
In April 1972, BBC reporter Tom Mangold walked with McGuinness through the "no-go area" then known as Free Derry.
Mangold described McGuinness as the officer commanding the IRA in the city and asked if the organisation might stop its bombing campaign in response to public demand.
The 21-year-old McGuinness made no attempt to contradict the reporter, explaining that the IRA "will always take into consideration the feelings of the people of Derry and those feelings will be passed on to our general headquarters in Dublin".
Together with Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness was part of an IRA delegation that held unsuccessful talks with the British government in London in July 1972.
The following year he was convicted of IRA activity by the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court after being caught with a car containing explosives and nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition.
Security chiefs were in no doubt that he was a key figure in the IRA as it reorganised and rearmed in the 1980s.
Among its most high-profile attacks was the attempt to kill Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984.
Thatcher wanted to starve the IRA of what she called the "oxygen of publicity", so was furious when the BBC broadcast a Real Lives documentary in 1985 featuring McGuinness, who was unashamed of his reputation.
Driving a car through the Bogside, he told the documentary makers that reports suggesting he was chief of staff of the IRA were untrue, "but I regard them as a compliment".
He was later accused of having advance knowledge of the 1987 Enniskillen Remembrance day bombing - something he denied.
The mother of an alleged IRA informer claimed McGuinness had played a role in luring her son home to his death.
He was also thought to have approved proxy bombings, such as the murder of army cook Patsy Gillespie, in which hostages were forced to drive car bombs which were then detonated before they could get away.
But behind the scenes, Martin McGuinness engaged in secret contacts with British agents which laid the groundwork for the IRA ceasefires and peace negotiations of the 1990s.
When the Good Friday Agreement led to the creation of a devolved government at Stormont, he became education minister. One of his first acts was to abolish the 11-plus examination which he had failed many years before.
Devolution proved an on-off affair, but in 2007 the hardline Democratic Unionists were persuaded to share power with Sinn Féin.
The public witnessed the almost unbelievable sight of Martin McGuinness forging not just a political partnership, but what looked like a genuine friendship with one of his erstwhile enemies, the DUP leader Ian Paisley.
"Ian Paisley and I never had a conversation about anything - not even about the weather," he said in 2007.
"And now we have worked very closely together over the last seven months and there's been no angry words between us.
"This shows we are set for a new course."
His relationships with Ian Paisley's successors appeared cooler.
But as dissident Irish republicans tried to derail the peace project, the now deputy first minister denounced them as "traitors to the island of Ireland". He left no doubt that he believed violence could no longer serve a purpose, declaring: "My war is over."
Martin McGuinness failed in his bid to become Irish head of state in the presidential election of 2011.
But he later struck up an apparent rapport with the British head of state, shaking hands with the Queen on more than one occasion.
In 2012, he announced he was standing down as the Member of Parliament for mid-Ulster although, in common with other Sinn Féin MPs, he had never taken his seat at Westminster.
He unexpectedly quit his post as deputy first minister in January 2017 following a row over a botched scheme, overseen by then First Minister Arlene Foster, to provide renewable energy for Northern Irish households which could end up costing the taxpayer £500m.
Ill health was also a factor in his decision to stand down. When he arrived at Stormont to hand in his resignation, he looked visibly frail.
He told the BBC it was "a big decision" and he would not stand for re-election.
"The honest answer is that I am not physically capable or able to fight this election, so I will not be a candidate," he said.
His resignation triggered an election in Northern Ireland as, under the peace agreement, the executive cannot function if one side walks out. In the event, the 2 March poll saw Sinn Féin making gains that ended the unionist majority in Stormont.
Martin McGuinness married Bernadette Canning in 1972 and the couple had four children. Away from politics he enjoyed Gaelic football and hurling, both of which he had played in his younger days.
He was also keen on fly-fishing and cricket.
As an IRA leader, there is no doubt Martin McGuinness was hated and feared. But as a peacemaker, he possessed a personal charisma that he used to win over at least some of those who had viewed him with suspicion.
Moreover, his reputation as a hard man gave him the authority among Irish republicans to deliver major concessions, such as IRA disarmament and acceptance of a reformed police service. | Martin McGuinness was the IRA leader who became a peace negotiator - a committed Irish republican who ended up shaking hands with the Queen. |
36,015,797 | Sajid Javid told the Commons that the government was working very hard to find a buyer for the South Wales plant, which is being sold by Tata Steel.
Among options being considered was "the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms", he said.
Earlier, Tata announced the sale of its Scunthorpe plant to Greybull Capital.
The Long Products Europe business was sold to the investment firm for a token £1 or €1. The move will safeguard 4,400 UK jobs, but workers are being asked to accept a pay cut and less generous pension arrangements.
The future of the larger Port Talbot is still in doubt, however, although at least one potential buyer has expressed an interest. The government has resisted calls from unions and opposition politicians to nationalise the Port Talbot plant, Britain's biggest steelworks, to safeguard thousands of jobs.
Mr Javid said that the sale process for Port had only just started, but all options are still being explored.
This included "investment or funds from government," Mr Javid said. "But it has to be on commercial terms." He added: "I've been in contact with potential buyers, making clear that the government stands ready to help."
Mr Javid said: "Several weeks ago Tata told me in confidence that they were seriously considering an immediate closure of Port Talbot, not a sale, a closure.
"That would have meant thousands of hard-working men and women could already be out of a job. Thousands more would have been facing a very bleak future. I was not prepared to let that happen."
Tony Burke, assistant general secretary of Unite, said the union would be holding Mr Javid to his commitment to co-invest if necessary. "The penny appears to have dropped that there should be an active government supporting steel and manufacturing as the best best hope of securing the future of the industry.
"We look forward to sitting down with secretary of state to hear more of his plans for co-investment," Mr Burke said.
MPs will hold an emergency debate on the steel industry on Tuesday, called for by Labour's shadow business secretary, Angela Eagle.
She complained that the government had refused to recall parliament from its Easter break to discuss the news that Tata was selling its UK steel operations.
Tata Steel is losing millions a week and today's deal with Greybull took six months to conclude. Group Executive Director Koushik Chatterjee told me that the process would be given "due time" without specifying what that might be.
He also said workers should take comfort from the fact that the company had already waited two weeks before starting the process to sell Port Talbot and other assets and that he saw potential buyers in "the tens".
There has already been tentative interest from the steel company Liberty House but the vision outlined by its chairman, Sanjeev Gupta, would require a radical and time consuming restructuring of operations at Port Talbot along with significant government support.
That appeared to be on hand as the Business Secretary Sajid Javid said the government would be prepared to co-invest with a buyer on commercial terms to secure a sale of Tata's remaining assets. This is a step further than the government has gone before, and, while giving extra hope, also shows just how difficult it may be to find a buyer.
Read Simon's blog in full
'Substantial support' needed for steel
Who might buy Tata in Port Talbot?
What's going wrong with Britain's steel industry?
Tata Steel UK: What are the options?
Is China to blame for steel woes?
Tata's sale of its European long products unit, announced earlier in the day, comes at a time when European steelmakers are struggling to survive amid a wave of cheap imports from China.
Greybull said it was arranging a £400m investment package as part of the deal.
The business will be rebranded as British Steel once the deal is completed in eight weeks, it said.
The new business would include the Scunthorpe works, two mills in Teesside, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York, a mill in Hayange, France, and sales and distribution facilities.
The token sale price reflects the difficulties involved in turning around the loss-making business, but Greybull partner Marc Meyohas said he was "delighted" with the agreement and believed the division could become a "strong business".
"At its core, it's a very, very good business," he said.
He also said Greybull had not ruled out buying other parts of Tata's UK steel business.
The Long Products Europe business makes steel for the rail and construction sectors.
The division was put up for sale in 2014. Greybull, whose interest was widely known, has been in talks with Tata Steel for the past nine months over a possible deal.
Greybull is backing a turnaround plan, which aims to return the loss-making business to profitability within one to two years, but will involve significant cost savings.
Staff are being asked to accept a 3% pay cut for one year and reductions to company pension contributions. A staff ballot on the changes will be completed on 19 April.
But Greybull said its plan "to reset the cost base of the business" had already been agreed with both trade unions and key suppliers.
Greybull also said it did not expect further restructuring beyond the 1,200 job losses announced last October.
That involved the closure of one of the two coke ovens at Scunthorpe and the mothballing of three plate mills, reducing annual production capacity to 2.8 million tonnes.
Unions welcomed the deal.
GMB national officer Dave Hulse said negotiations had taken "a long period of time", but said the deal would "safeguard members' jobs".
Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union, said the announcement "demonstrates that with the right investors, UK steelmaking can have a positive future".
Mr Javid said the agreement was "a step in the right direction for the long-term future of British steel manufacturing in Scunthorpe".
The Indian steel giant said at the end of last month that it was exploring "strategic alternatives" for its UK business.
Thousands of workers in England and Wales risk losing their jobs if a buyer cannot be found.
Tata Steel directly employs 15,000 workers in the UK and supports thousands of others, across plants in Port Talbot, Rotherham, Corby and Shotton.
So far, the only company to have publicly expressed an interest in buying Tata's UK steel business is Liberty House, owned by Sanjeev Gupta.
Mr Javid, who was on a business trip to Australia when Tata first announced it was planning to sell its UK steelworks, is under pressure over his handling of the crisis. | The government would consider co-investing with a private sector partner to help save the Port Talbot steel works, the business secretary has said. |
19,946,373 | Net income for the three months to the end of September fell to $468m (£291m) from $3.8bn in the same period of 2011.
Citigroup took a $4.7bn hit from reducing the value of its stake in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) joint venture, which it is selling.
But the results were still ahead of analysts' expectations and the bank's shares rose 5.5% in New York.
Citigroup reported improved revenues from mortgages in North America.
Excluding one-off items, Citigroup's net income came in at $3.3bn.
The profitability of the bank's loans, excluding credit losses, rose as Citi cut its funding costs by taking in more low-cost deposits.
Deposits rose 11% to $945bn at the end of September from a year earlier.
Analyst Todd Hagerman from brokerage Sterne Agee said Citi now had enough capital to make a case to regulators that it should be allowed to pay 15 cents a share in its quarterly dividend next year, up from its current, nominal one cent.
In September, Citigroup announced that it had agreed a price to sell its 49% stake in MSSB to Morgan Stanley.
As a result, it said that it would reduce the value it attributed to the holding by about 40%.
The joint venture was established in 2009 as a way for Citi to shrink its balance sheet during the financial crisis by transferring its Smith Barney brokerage to Morgan Stanley.
Announcing its results, Citi said it had increased its "buffer" against risk so that it now held 8.6% of assets in almost risk-free form.
Citigroup's chief executive, Vikram Pandit, said that the uncertain economy meant the bank was taking a cautious approach to business: "We are managing risk very carefully, given global economic conditions, so we can continue to grow our businesses safely and soundly."
In August, Citigroup paid $590m to shareholders who had accused the bank of hiding the scale of its exposure to sub-prime mortgages.
Citi denied the allegation but said it wanted to avoid further legal costs.
The payout is one of the biggest settlements connected to the global financial crisis which began four years ago. | Citigroup's three-month profits have dropped after the bank wrote down the value of its stake in a brokerage. |
25,884,560 | Northamptonshire County Council was inspected in February 2013 and arrangements for protecting children were found to be "inadequate".
The council has restructured children's services and pledged an extra £12m.
Director Alex Hopkins said he wanted to replace more than 60 agency staff with professionals employed directly.
Of 260 social worker posts in children's services 25% are agency workers and half of these are in senior qualified positions.
Mr Hopkins said it was relatively easy to recruit newly-qualified social workers but they required intensive training and heavy supervision until their skills were built up.
"I am looking for staff that can hit the ground running," he said.
"Last year, the county's arrangements for the protection of children were judged by Ofsted to be inadequate."
The council then restructured its social care services and changed working procedures.
Mr Hopkins described it as a period of "significant change" when the council used agency staff to fulfil safeguarding duties.
"Currently one in every four posts in children's social care is filled by an agency worker," he said.
"We have laid the groundwork for a new working culture.
"The council is focusing on recruiting experienced permanent staff so that new practices can be fully embedded consistently across the county's child protection and safeguarding teams.
"This is a great opportunity for experienced staff to contribute." | A children's services department criticised by Ofsted has launched a recruitment drive for experienced social workers. |
38,042,813 | The 23-year-old American was two shots behind leader Geoff Ogilvy after three rounds but recovered from three bogeys in four holes to card a three-under 69.
It put him level with Australians Cameron Smith and Ashley Hall at 12 under, with Ogilvy two shots back.
Find out how to get into golf with our special guide.
Hall was closer with his approach at the first extra hole but could not match Spieth's 12-foot birdie putt.
The two-time major winner became only the second American, after Jack Nicklaus, to win the title more than once.
Smith and Hall had the consolation of securing places in next year's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale along with compatriot Aaron Baddeley, who finished in a five-way tie for fourth.
We've launched a new BBC Sport newsletter, bringing all the best stories, features and video right to your inbox. You can sign up here. | World number five Jordan Spieth won his second Australian Open title, with a play-off victory at Royal Sydney. |
37,898,203 | The lunchtime action is supported by four teaching unions, and it comes after 13 months of talks with the Education Authority ended in October.
The unions walked out over an offer of a 1% pay rise for 2016-17, and no pay rise last year.
Education Minister Peter Weir said he was "disappointed" by the action.
"We have to realise we are in tough economic circumstances in which the support needs to be for schools," he said.
The teaching unions involved are the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), the Ulster Teachers' Union (UTU) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).
The schools impacted include six in County Armagh, seven in County Tyrone, 16 in County Down, eight in County Londonderry and 22 across County Antrim and Belfast.
Gerry Murphy, INTO's northern secretary, said teachers in Northern Ireland are paid 16% less than in some areas of the UK.
"It's a postcode lottery for Northern Ireland teachers," he said. "To be paid 16% less than their UK counterparts is more than disheartening."
UTU chairperson Avril Hall-Callaghan said the Scottish Parliament awarded teachers a 2.5% staged pay deal last year and the union has asked that the education minister consider a staged deal as a way forward in the dispute.
She urged Education Minister Peter Weir not to take teachers for granted.
"They have suffered for five years of all the cutbacks that there have been in the education service, they've worked in schools where maybe their colleagues have been made redundant," she said.
"They've taken up the slack, they have kept the education system running for him and I think it's now his turn to put something back for them."
Director of ATL, Mark Langhammer, said his was traditionally a "moderate teaching association" but that 51% of members backed a strike and 89% were in favour of industrial action.
"The case for decent pay for teachers is an unimpeachable case," he said.
"It is just a matter of priorities, not money." | Hundreds of teachers at 60 schools across Northern Ireland are forming picket lines to protest against an "insulting" pay offer. |
41,036,236 | This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
If you want to receive Breaking News alerts via email, or on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App then details on how to do so are available on this help page. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts. | Net migration to Britain down 81,000 to 246,000 in year to March 2017, lowest for three years - official estimates |
36,026,468 | The home side were set to resume on 223-4, 300 runs ahead, with opener Keaton Jennings on 105 not out.
Rain during the morning meant that a prompt start was impossible.
And umpires Rob Bailey and Nigel Cowley took the decision to abandon play for the day shortly before 14:45 BST after inspecting conditions in the middle. | Durham were denied the chance to press home their advantage against Somerset as bad weather prevented any play on day three at the Riverside. |
29,824,854 | The 20-week pilot study is thought to have been the first of its kind in the UK, although similar experiments have been carried out elsewhere.
It used five years worth of historic data, but the idea would be to analyse up-to-date details if it is deployed.
Civil liberty campaigners have voiced concerns.
But Accenture - the firm that developed the software - highlighted the potential benefit it offered.
"You've got limited police resources and you need to target them efficiently," said Muz Janoowalla, head of public safety analytics at the company.
"What this does is tell you who are the highest risk individuals that you should target your limited resources against."
The software works by merging together data from existing systems already used by the Metropolitan Police and carrying out predictive calculations.
Types of information ranged from previous crimes to social media activity.
"It's previous offending and various different sources that are used for intelligence, in terms of who they are involved with and who they associate with," explained Sarah Samee, a spokeswoman for the Met's Trident Gang Crime Command.
Mr Janoowalla added: "For example if an individual had posted inflammatory material on the internet and it was known about to the Met - one gang might say something [negative] about another gang member's partner or something like that - it would be recorded in the Met's intelligence system.
"What we were able to do was mine both the intelligence and the known criminal history of individuals to come up with a risk assessment model."
The study used data gathered about known gang members across London's 32 boroughs across a four year period to forecast their likelihood of committing further violent acts.
This was then compared to known acts of aggression that took place in the fifth year to give an indication as to whether the software was accurate.
Mr Janoowalla said the intention was to identify groups of gang members that were at the highest risk of reoffending rather than singling out specific individuals.
He said that he was confident the experiment had been a success, but added that he was not allowed to disclose the exact criteria on which the software was being scored.
Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch has asked for more information to be made public.
"The police need to be very careful about how they use this kind of technology," said research director Daniel Nesbitt.
"Big data solutions such as this can run the risk of unfairly targeting certain groups of people and potentially making them feel stigmatised as a result.
"The Metropolitan Police must ensure that they are fully transparent about how they intend implement this technology and what type of information will be used in the process."
In response Mr Janoowalla noted that the Ministry of Justice already operated the Offender Assessment System and Offender Group Reconviction Scale (Oasys) - a computer-based system used to predict the likelihood of different types of released criminals reoffending.
He said the key difference with Accenture's software was that it was specifically tailored to tackle gang violence.
While Accenture and the Met believe this is the first test of its kind in the UK, the company has carried out other crime-prevention analysis elsewhere.
In Spain it has tried to identify locations where crimes are most likely to happen, and in Singapore it has tested software that monitors video feeds of crowds, traffic and other events to alert the authorities to potential risks.
Other companies are pitching rival tools. IBM has explored how factors including weather patterns, past crimes, and surveillance efforts can be combined to predict threats.
And police in Kent, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Yorkshire have all trialled software from PredPol, a US start-up, to help tackle street crime.
However, campaign groups have warned against the danger of police gathering too much personal data.
"It is clear that harnessing and analysing vast data sets may simplify the work of the police," said European human rights group Statewatch earlier this year
"However, this in itself is not a justification for their use. There are all sorts of powers that could be given to law enforcement agencies, but which are not, due to the need to protect individual rights and the rule of law - effectiveness should never be the only yardstick by which law enforcement powers are assessed.
"The ends of crime detection, prevention and reduction cannot in themselves justify the means of indiscriminate data-gathering and processing." | Police in London have tested software designed to identify which gang members are most likely to commit violent crimes. |
32,728,531 | Devon and Cornwall Police said the men were hurt when they responded to reports of a man making threats to another resident in Kingsbridge, Devon, at about 17:00 BST.
A 53-year-old man, named locally as Stephen Yabsley, was arrested on suspicion of assault.
Both officers sustained arm injuries and had operations in hospital.
The injuries were said to be non-life-threatening.
Armed officers from the force were involved in negotiations with a man at a house in Retreat Close, which ended at about 20:30 BST.
A spokesman said they "safely brought the incident to a close". Police said a total of 35 officers were involved in the operation.
The road was cordoned off and people in the "immediate vicinity" were evacuated from their homes.
One of the police officers was taken to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and the other to Torquay Hospital. | Two police officers have been injured - one seriously - in an attack involving "electrical power tools". |
33,303,234 | Crosby said the singer-songwriter had suffered a brain aneurysm and faced a long struggle.
"She is home, she is in care, she is recovering," he told Huffington Post. "How much she's going to come back, and when, I don't know."
There has been no official confirmation of Mitchell's condition.
The 71-year-old was found unconscious in her Los Angeles home on 31 March and taken to hospital.
A statement released on her website several days later said the singer was "resting comfortably" and continued to "improve and get stronger each day".
Her representatives later denied Mitchell was in a coma, saying "she's alert, and she has her full senses".
"She took a terrible hit," said Crosby on Saturday. "She had an aneurysm, and nobody found her for a while. And she's going to have to struggle back from it the way you struggle back from a traumatic brain injury.
"To my knowledge, she is not speaking yet."
Crosby and Mitchell dated in 1967, when he was still a member of the Byrds. They have remained close friends ever since.
"She's a tough girl and very smart," he said. "I love her. She's probably the best of us — probably the greatest living singer-songwriter.
"[But] I think we're all holding our breath and thinking of goodbye, you know? And hoping it's gonna turn out ok." | Joni Mitchell is still unable to speak after being found unconscious in her home in March, according to her friend David Crosby. |
35,356,550 | He also claimed fixing is not just limited to lower-ranked professionals and is "a secret that everybody knows".
The player, who requested anonymity, said tennis authorities "know who is doing it" but are unwilling to stop it.
The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said it rejects "any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed".
"We invite the player behind the allegations to make contact with the TIU and to share the information he claims to have," the TIU added in a statement.
The allegations come after a BBC and BuzzFeed News investigation revealed suspected illegal betting in tennis over the past decade.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC's World Have Your Say team, the player, who featured in several tour matches last year and is now a coach, detailed how the fixers operate and the lengths they go to in order to remain undetected.
"This is like a secret on the tour that everybody knows, but we don't talk about it," said the player, whose identity is known by the BBC. "We just see it and keep working."
The player claimed "three big groups" control betting in tennis and that any payments to players are made using cash, with no bank-to-bank transfers allowed.
"Each group has many guys who go to talk to players," he said. "They have many guys inside the circuit.
"Also, they have many accounts. They have 50-60 accounts where they place small money. At the end, it's huge money. It's really big."
The BBC subsequently attempted to contact the player again to ask for clarification on exactly how much a player could earn from match-fixing in a year, but he was unavailable.
"You know who is doing it and who is not," he continued. "As a player, I know who is missing on purpose or returning a shot in the middle on purpose... who is trying, and who is not. So we work on this. We know."
He also claimed players exchange knowing smiles and make comments that indicate they have fixed a match.
"I started to believe [top players were involved] a few years ago, when a guy told me the result of the next two tournaments" he said.
"He told me exactly who was going to win and how it was going to happen.
"In the beginning, I thought he was just bragging about it to make me fall for his game. But then I was laughing that every match was happening the way he had been telling me it was going to happen... and I'm talking about a Masters series, where there are just big names."
Not just that, added the player, but "exactly" how they would win.
"When I was watching it myself," he said, "I couldn't believe it. It's not easy knowing that you have to lose. You start hitting it and, trust me, everything goes in… it can make you panic.
"So when I see the guy winning so easily and then he's missing absolutely on purpose, every ball, and the other guy wins... I just couldn't believe it."
Media playback is not supported on this device
"We could co-operate with Tennis Integrity if we wanted to, but they don't want it to be stopped," he said.
He claimed fewer players would be tempted to fix if they were getting paid more, insisting a player ranked 400 in the world cannot make a living out of tennis.
"They [the authorities] know exactly who is doing it and, if they wanted to stop it, they could stop it today. It's super-easy. They just don't want to do it."
In response, the TIU said it has a "zero-tolerance approach which is enforced with the full powers of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program that includes lifetime bans and punitive financial penalties".
It added: "The TIU works closely with players to prevent corruption through education programmes and confidential reporting systems.
"The great majority of the 21,000 active professional players are good people of high integrity who abhor the suggestion that the sport they love is tainted with allegations of corruption."
A study conducted on behalf of the International Tennis Federation in 2013 showed that 45% of the 13,736 players at all professional levels of the sport earned nothing from it and only about 10% covered their costs.
Of 8,874 male and 4,862 female respondents to the survey, 3,896 male and 2,212 female earned no prize money.
Other findings in the study, conducted by Kingston University and calculated here at the 2016 exchange rate, showed:
Media playback is not supported on this device
British number one Andy Murray said he has never been approached to fix a match and called on the tennis authorities to be "proactive".
"As a player, you just want to be made aware of everything that's going on. I think we deserve to know everything that's out there," he said.
World number one Novak Djokovic says he rejected £110,000 to lose a match early in his career but said there is "no real proof" of fixing among the elite.
"From my knowledge and information about match-fixing, there is nothing happening at the top level, as far as I know," he said.
Seventeen-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer said he wanted more information about who might be guilty, saying: "I would love to hear names. Then at least it's concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it."
Women's world number one Serena Williams said that if match-fixing was taking place she "didn't know about it", adding: "When I'm playing, I can only answer for me. I play very hard, and every player I play seems to play hard."
In a statement released to the BBC, the TIU said: "The TIU and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason.
"The sport has a zero-tolerance approach which is enforced with the full powers of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program, which includes lifetime bans and punitive financial penalties.
"Since 2009 all professional players, support staff and officials have been subject to this stringent code, which makes it compulsory to report any corrupt approaches or knowledge of suspected corrupt practices to the TIU. Failure to do so is a breach of the Program which can be subject to disciplinary action.
"The TIU works closely with players to prevent corruption through education programmes and confidential reporting systems. The great majority of the 21,000 active professional players are good people of high integrity who abhor the suggestion that the sport they love is tainted with allegations of corruption.
"We invite the player behind the allegations to make contact with the TIU and to share the information he claims to have."
The Association Of Tennis Professionals (ATP) was also contacted for comment but did not respond.
Listen to the full BBC World Have Your Say interview. | An ex-tennis player from South America has told the BBC that match-fixing is commonplace and even some elite players are "a little bit dirty in some way". |
38,321,757 | Snowdonia National Park Authority has two wardens on the mountain with another on a seasonal contract.
Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team (MRT), which dealt with 202 callouts in 2016 compared to 193 in 2015, said more were needed to give advice to walkers.
The Welsh Government said £400,000 extra had been given to the authority since 2013.
Secretary of Llanberis MRT, George Jones, said having more wardens available would mean visitors could be spoken to and given safety tips, hopefully preventing some callouts.
"We react and there is only so much that we can do," he said.
"A successful year for us would be a decrease in the number of incidents, not an increase."
Snowdonia, like the other two national parks in Wales, has seen its funding cut in recent years.
But the park's chief executive Emyr Williams told Newyddion 9 the priority within the current budget was to "maintain the compliment of wardens" on Snowdon.
The number of people visiting the mountain has reached 600,000 per year and Llanberis MRT works with a team of 53 volunteers.
Its vice-chairman, John Grisdale, said: "If you turn back several decades we were turning out to 40 or 50 incidents a year.
"It has been quite a phenomenal growth over the last few years. Snowdon is like a honey pot - one of the busiest mountains in Britain."
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "Mountain rescue teams do great work and as the adventure sector continues to grow there is no doubt rescue teams will need the help of educators in minimising the risk of people needing their assistance.
"We will continue to work with partners and the industry so that people can enjoy Wales and be safe." | A rescue team wants extra cash for more wardens to work on Snowdon after its busiest year on record. |
40,687,023 | Denbighshire council is in talks with an unnamed party over the sale of the castle, which is currently run by a trust as a museum and art gallery.
In March the council said would be cutting the trust's annual grant of £144,000 from next year.
The council has been asked to comment.
This led to the trust having to sever its links with the National Portrait Gallery, with its collection of 130 paintings returned in April and seven trust staff being made redundant.
Set in 260 acres, the first castle on the site was built in about 1460 before it was rebuilt in the 1830s.
The freehold sale includes the castle, lawns and event arena.
The council will retain the woodland and parkland which includes the recently reconstructed World War One trenches.
Running alongside the castle's museum and gallery is the Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel which recently underwent a £6m upgrade.
It is run by the Warner Group, which is understood to be interested in taking over the whole complex.
A spokesman for Warner Leisure Hotels said: "We have spoken to the Denbighshire County Council about the future plans for the castle and those discussions continue". | One of Denbighshire's top tourist attractions, Bodelwyddan Castle, is expected to be sold by the county council. |
35,027,342 | 8 December 2015 Last updated at 11:16 GMT
Storm Desmond battered parts of northern England and some areas of Scotland at the weekend, leaving thousands of homes without electricity and forcing emergency services to use boats to get people to safety.
Newsround spoke to two kids who had to climb out of their bedroom window to reach a rescue boat because the flood water had filled the downstairs of their house.
Watch their incredible story here. | Kids in Cumbria have been explaining how they were rescued from the major floods that have hit the area. |
33,761,337 | Milton Keynes Council has estimated the case against Tina Beloveth Powerful will cost around £8,000.
Powerful has been found guilty of fraud, but has failed to turn up for sentencing on three occasions.
Milton Keynes North MP Mark Lancaster said taxpayers should not have to pay for the trial.
The case against Powerful is being brought by Milton Keynes Trading Standards.
The council told the BBC it will have cost "around £8,000" when finished.
Tina Beloveth Powerful timeline:
•17 October, 2014: Tina Beloveth Powerful was first listed to appear at magistrates' court, but failed to attend
•11 November, 2014: The case was adjourned three times, including two no shows, before Powerful pleaded not guilty
•24 April: On the seventh time the case had gone to court, the trial had to be adjourned after Powerful shouted at magistrates
•19 June: Powerful found guilty
•10 July: Powerful supplied a sick note to the court, case adjourned
•17 July: Powerful failed to attend sentencing for a second time. A warrant was issued for her arrest
•24 July: Despite being arrested and bailed to appear at the court, Powerful again failed to attend. An arrest warrant, without bail, was issued
During the trial, the court heard Powerful has no income.
Mr Lancaster, said: "Despite her best efforts to avoid it, justice has finally caught up on Tina Beloveth.
"It's clear the cost to the taxpayer has been disproportionately high as a result of her failing to turn up to court. I believe that she and not the taxpayer should pay for this."
Powerful, 47, from Milton Keynes, was described as "dishonest" at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court after being found guilty of fraud and false advertising.
£8,000
Estimated cost of the prosecution
11 times the case has come to Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court
3 times Tina Beloveth Powerful has failed to appear for sentencing
October 2014 when the case first came to court
She had offered courses and degrees that her Everest School of Transformational Management did not have the correct accreditation for and advertised facilities that did not exist, including a library.
The case went to court eight times before she was convicted.
On one occasion, the trial had to be adjourned after Powerful - representing herself - started to shout at the clerk and magistrates.
Since being found guilty, Powerful has failed to turn up for sentencing three times.
On the last occasion, a warrant was issued for her arrest without bail but Thames Valley Police confirmed this has not yet been executed. | The cost of a trial of a bogus business school owner which has gone to court 11 times is "disproportionately high," according to an MP. |
38,325,180 | The blaze erupted in a restaurant at Fleet services on the M3 at 22:30 GMT on Wednesday, leading police to temporarily close the southbound lanes.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) said 100 firefighters were sent to the scene.
Firefighters from Surrey were also called and crews stopped the blaze spreading to other buildings.
The fire was brought under control in the early hours. No-one was injured.
Crews have remained at the scene to dampen down and prevent any re-ignition.
The service station on the southbound carriageway and the slip road leading to it on the M3 remain closed.
The footbridge which runs over Fleet services on the M3, named after BBC Radio 1's Scott Mills, is also closed due to smoke logging.
Fleet Fire Station tweeted: "†| A large fire broke out at a motorway service station, causing part of the carriageway to close |
36,963,402 | Media playback is not supported on this device
The International Cycling Union's (UCI) WorldTour also includes the Grand Tour races of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana.
Belgian Tom Boonen won the 2016 RideLondon-Surrey Classic on Sunday.
"We are absolutely thrilled by this news," said event director Hugh Brasher.
Find out how to get into cycling with our special guide.
"It was set up as a legacy event from London 2012 and to rise to the top echelon of professional men's cycling after such a short period of time is truly outstanding."
The first London-Surrey Classic was held in 2011, as a test event for the London 2012 Olympics, and subsequent races have been based on the course used for the London Games.
The UCI has expanded the number of WorldTour races from 27 to 37, with the Tour of California becoming the USA's first event on the calendar. | The RideLondon-Surrey Classic has become the first men's race in Britain to achieve elite-level status after being added to the WorldTour calendar. |
39,078,680 | Proposals for the project in Duns were lodged with Scottish Borders Council last year.
It has now given planning permission for the £1.65m scheme to proceed.
A £300,000 crowdfunding campaign has been launched to complete the financial package required to take the project forward.
Scottish Borders Council has pledged £620,000 towards the museum with a similar sum being sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
It is hoped the public can supply the remaining funds necessary to meet the total costs of the scheme.
Concerns were raised about the new building being out of keeping with the area and the increased pressure on parking it would produce.
However, a council planning officer concluded it would have a "positive impact" on the town centre and not detract from its character.
Planning permission has been given subject to the work starting in the next three years.
It is hoped the development could be completed by 2018 - the 50th anniversary of Clark's death at Hockenheim in Germany, aged just 32.
The driver was born in Kilmany in Fife, but raised in the Borders, and was crowned Formula One world champion in 1963 and 1965. He won a total of 25 grand prix races. | A museum celebrating the achievements of two-time Formula One world champion Jim Clark has received planning permission. |
30,323,439 | The inquiry is currently examining what happened at the Haut de la Garenne children's home in the 1960s and 1970s.
On Wednesday, the panel was shown memos and letters between child care officers about a man accused of assaulting girls from the home.
They allege he sexually abused some children after giving them alcohol.
Documents, including statements given to police and the historical abuse redress scheme, show girls were assaulted by a man in his own home near Haut de la Garenne.
One document detailed a complaint of abuse against the man, who cannot be named, by two girls from the home.
No action was taken against him and the police considered prosecuting at least one of the girls for drunken behaviour, the document said.
Letters from the time show management at the home made the man's house out of bounds to children and told staff to report any occasions when children visited his house, the inquiry heard.
The inquiry was also shown a statement made to the police in 2008, in which a former male resident said he was raped by the head of the home after being accused of stealing.
Despite needing medical attention, he said nothing happened to his abuser.
Official documents made no mention of sexual abuse but refer to the witness's deteriorating behaviour and staff frustration at his inability to deal with his problems.
The inquiry heard that repeated requests for the boy, who moved to Haut de la Garenne in the 1960s, to be assessed by a unit in the UK were finally met in 1975.
The inquiry continues. | A girl who made allegations of abuse in the 1970s was nearly prosecuted for being drunk, the Jersey care inquiry has heard. |
32,747,545 | It depicted the official budget website with "science" typed into its search field, and the response: "A software error has occurred."
On Twitter, people from the country's scientific community also commented more seriously on the absence of the word "science" in Treasurer Joe Hockey's speech. Others noted the lack of any mention of climate change.
While medical research received a large injection of funds, university research funding was cut, as was financial support for co-operative research centres, which bring industry and scientists together to forge solutions to some of the biggest environmental, social and economic challenges facing the country.
The Australian Academy of Science was quick to point out that, although some scientific endeavours were singled out for cash injections, overall investment in science would continue to decline.
"As the mining boom slows, this should be a time of growth in science funding to allow us to better prepare for the knowledge economy we need. Instead our future prosperity is at risk," Academy president Prof Andrew Holmes said.
On the back of deep cuts to the nation's science agency, the CSIRO, in 2014 and consequent staff losses estimated at more than 20%, Australia's scientific community has been reeling from an increasing sense it is being sidelined.
Nowhere has this been more acutely felt than in the field of climate change research, which continues to be questioned even at the most senior levels of government.
On Sunday, Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce expressed his scepticism that the weather was affected by human-induced climate change in a television interview with conservative News Corp blogger and commentator, Andrew Bolt.
"There's an ebb and flow in temperatures all the time," he said, when questioned about climate forecasting from what Mr Bolt described as the "warmist" institutions of the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.
The chief business advisor to Prime Minister Tony Abbott made headlines across the country last week when he penned a newspaper opinion piece arguing climate change was a ruse co-opted by the UN to take control of the world and end democracy.
Maurice Newman, the chairman of Mr Abbott's Business Advisory Council, was writing in The Australian, News Corp's conservative national broadsheet.
"This is not about facts or logic," he wrote. "It's about a new world order under the control of the UN. It is opposed to capitalism and freedom and has made environmental catastrophism a household topic to achieve its objective."
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt distanced himself from Mr Newman's comments.
"It's not been something that I've expressed," he said. "It's not something that I would express."
While the Australian government officially accepts that human-induced climate change is occurring, the prime minister has made a number of public statements on the phenomenon in the recent past, including that it is "absolute crap".
When the current administration came to power in 2013, Australia was without a science minister for just the second time in more than 80 years. The portfolio was finally teamed with industry more than a year later.
Leading climate change expert Prof David Karoly said fear of further funding cuts under the Abbott government was such that scientists within the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology were now self-censoring.
"There's considerable nervousness in the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO about making statements about climate change," the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report contributor and chapter editor said.
Prof Karoly said Australia had entered an era where only a "selective trust of science" existed.
The nation's chief scientist, Prof Ian Chubb, did not disagree. But he said he would be "appalled" if scientists were censoring their findings.
"I hope that we would never get to that position where scientists fear telling people what they need to know," he told the BBC.
The so-called climate deniers represented "a very small drum beaten loudly", Prof Chubb said. He described Mr Newman's recent opinion piece as drivel.
Speaking to the BBC before this year's budget was handed down, he expressed hope for a bright future for Australian science despite recent funding cuts.
"Of course I was disappointed in last year's funding cuts," he said. "No matter how you portray them they were disappointing."
It was inconceivable to be a prosperous country and responsible global citizen without high-quality science, even if research had to be strategically prioritised should funding continued to be rationed, he said.
The Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane said much the same - and denied any CSIRO scientists were censoring their findings.
"The Australian government continues to make strategic, targeted and smart new investments in Australia's science and research capacity, including almost $70m in the additional funding in the 2015-16 budget for the nation's leading scientific research organisations to build world-class infrastructure that will create stronger connections between research and industry," a spokesman for the minister said. | Shortly after Australia's annual government budget was handed down on Tuesday night, an image began circulating, tongue-in-cheek, on social media. |
38,152,644 | Paul Briggs, 43, of Wirral, Merseyside, suffered a brain injury in a crash in July 2015.
Lindsey Briggs told Manchester Court of Protection he would not have wanted to live as living without his independence would be "torture".
Doctors at the Walton Centre in Liverpool are opposing the application.
PC Briggs, a Gulf War veteran, suffered a bleed on the brain and five fractures in his spine in the collision and is being kept alive through medical intervention.
Specialist speech and language therapist Mary Ankers told the court there was still "potential" for him to emerge from the minimally conscious state.
"His responses in terms of command following... have certainly become more consistent."
The court heard staff would give PC Briggs a buzzer and ask him questions which he could respond to by pressing the buzzer once for yes or twice for no.
Ms Ankers said in 47 out of 64 sessions he had been able to respond to commands from staff at least once, an improvement on an assessment earlier this year.
But she told the court his response to higher-level tasks was "highly inconsistent".
Consultant neurologist Dr Shajufay Mahendran told the court she believed PC Briggs might benefit from going to a rehabilitation unit.
She said: "Unless we've given Mr Briggs that chance, we haven't actually explored the maximum we could for him."
"We haven't explored what potential rehabilitation has and what potential of recovery there is."
She said PC Briggs was only able to control movement of his head, eyes, the toes on his right foot and his right index finger.
Chelsea Rowe, 26, was given a 12-month prison term in July after admitting causing serious injury to PC Briggs by dangerous driving in Birkenhead.
The hearing is expected to continue until Thursday. | An injured police officer whose wife wants medics to end his life support has potential to come out of minimally conscious state, a court heard. |
35,111,133 | Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews has said cutting the 22 councils to eight or nine could save £650m over 10 years.
Prof Colin Copus of De Montfort University said 50 years of evidence contradicted the "stubborn, folk-lore" idea that bigger councils cut costs.
He said as councils become less local, trust in them also declines.
Writing for the Welsh think tank Gorwel, Prof Copus said the "cull of councillors" seen in England in 2009 left fewer councillors covering larger areas.
He said they were left trying to hold "large bureaucratic organisations" to account without being full-time salaried politicians like MPs.
Prof Copus added that the "implicit assumption" was that the purpose of local government was "to do what it is told by the centre". | Merging Welsh councils into larger authorities could damage local democracy, an academic has claimed. |
39,931,866 | Luis Alviarez, 17, was hit in the chest during clashes with police in the western state of Tachira.
At a separate protest in the state, Diego Hérnandez, 33, was also killed.
Near-daily demonstrations began seven weeks ago, demanding early elections and an end to the country's deep economic crisis.
President Maduro has accused the leader of the opposition-led National Assembly, Julio Borges, of inciting violence by calling people on to the streets.
About 40 people have been killed since the unrest began.
Protesters began taking to the streets from 07:00 (03:00 GMT) on Monday morning to set up road blocks to "paralyse the country".
Offices of the state-run power company, Corpoelec, were also set alight in the northern Carabobo state on Monday, with the government blaming the opposition.
Three policemen were injured during protests in the state, authorities said, with one mistakenly reported dead by the local governor.
Meanwhile, video emerged online of Hérnandez, lying in the street with blood pouring from his chest, apparently having been shot in the town of Capacho Nuevo.
Ombudsman Tarek Saab said he had contacted various authorities to instigate an "exhaustive investigation" into Monday's deaths.
Last month, Saab's son, Yibram Saab, posted a video on YouTube, calling for his father to do more to stop the violence.
"That could've been me!", he said in relation to a previous death of a young protester, Juan Pablo Pernalete.
The recent unrest began when the Supreme Court attempt to take over powers from the assembly on 29 March.
It reversed its decision a few days later but by then the opposition had seized the momentum.
Despite having the world's largest known oil reserves, Venezuela is facing a shortage of many basic items, including food and medicines.
Its economy has collapsed, with inflation expected to top 700% this year, and crime is rampant.
The opposition says the socialist governments of Mr Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, have mismanaged the economy since coming to power in 1999.
It is calling for early elections and the release of opposition politicians jailed over the past few years.
Mr Maduro accuses the country's business elite of boycotting the economy to create unrest and topple his democratically elected government. His term ends in January 2019. | Two Venezuelans, including one teenager, were killed on Monday during another day of mass protests against President Nicolas Maduro. |
29,654,069 | But in Northern Ireland, it can feel like God is a political player.
A number of our politicians, including ministers, have faith and talk about it.
That makes Northern Ireland different to many other countries in the Western world.
Professor John Brewer from Queen's University in Belfast has researched links between politics and religion.
"In most places, politicians keep their personal beliefs private - and they don't impact on their public role as a politician," he told BBC Northern Ireland programme The View.
"In Northern Ireland, the division between the public and the private has collapsed."
Recently, that has led to some controversy.
LGBT rights and abortion are two issues in particular where the relationship between politicians' beliefs and their decisions have come under scrutiny.
But a politician's faith can reach into many policy areas.
I have been speaking to three MLAs who profess to be believers about how they would deal with a clash between their Christian beliefs and public opinion.
DUP assembly member Sammy Douglas says: "I would talk to people - fellow members of my party, my family, people within the community - and I would pray about some of these issues as well."
He says he would make decisions after speaking to people in whom he had "a lot of confidence and trust".
Alliance Party leader David Ford suggests his beliefs would play a part, but he would not take a position based on that alone.
"I have to be conscious that I have responsibility to wider society - not all people have the views I have," he says.
The SDLP's Alban Maginness says Christianity has been "the inspiration" for his politics.
"It has created a hunger for social justice," he says.
But he adds: "You have to make a balanced judgement - you have to take into consideration your own party's point of view. If there's a collective view, you are generally supportive of that view."
This week at Stormont, religion has been perhaps more visibly central than usual.
A choir from First Baptist Concord Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, sang for MLAs and staff in the Great Hall on Wednesday lunchtime.
In their home country, the separation of church and state is enshrined in the constitution - as is freedom of religion.
Faith is often seen as playing a major role in US politics.
The Worship Pastor accompanying the singers, Jeff Lawrence, says it is almost inconceivable that a US president could be a non-believer.
"When you take an oath of office, you place your hand on the Bible," he explains.
"On all of our coins, it says, 'In God We Trust,' so it's the foundation of our country.
"It would be very difficult for the people of the US to elect somebody who could not say they believed in God."
In America, the 'Christian Right' is an influential - and high-profile - political phenomenon.
But does Christianity lead politicians to be right-wing, or would it encourage them to lean to the left?
Alban Maginness argues it's the latter.
"I believe that social justice is quintessentially Christianity in the world - you move to the left in order to achieve that," he claims.
Interestingly, Sammy Douglas also suggests Christian politicians should be oriented to the left.
"Jesus was left of centre, from what I see," Mr Douglas says.
"He would have big problems with some of the statements coming from the Tory party about disadvantaged people, and young people in particular."
But David Ford thinks being a Christian does not point you in one political direction or another.
"I'm not sure that if Christ was on this earth today he would be tied to any political party," he says.
The relationship between Christianity and politics has always been complicated - and controversial.
In many parts of the developed world, religion has become less politically influential with the spread of secularisation.
While the levels of churchgoing are still higher in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK, church attendance is declining.
The most recent Life and Times survey suggested that fewer than 30% of people are now attending services once a week or more.
But University of Ulster sociologist Dr Máire Braniff says that this does not necessarily mean Northern Ireland is becoming secularised.
"Secularisation is not a word that sits easily - perhaps a better term is 'unchurched'," she says.
"That means people in Northern Ireland continue to have their religious beliefs, but do not always have to practise them in the ritualistic way of attending church services on a regular basis."
So the link between politics and the pulpit may be becoming weaker.
But with the latest census showing 83% of people in Northern Ireland continue to identify with a religion, it seems faith will continue to be a force.
The View is on BBC Northern Ireland on Thursday 16 October at 22:35 BST. | Tony Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell once famously said: "We don't do God." |
40,342,122 | Research has been carried out and more money is being pumped in to try to finally find out why there has been a year on year decline since 2004.
In the meantime, cockle fishers there are fearing for their futures in what used to be a thriving multi-million pound industry which dates back to Roman times.
The once 24/7 operation which saw exports across Europe is now a situation of less work and little financial reward.
The annual mortality rate sees most stocks wiped out but it is not the only problem. The average size of a cockle used to be up to 19mm but can now be as small as 8mm.
And there is no sign of improvement on either front any time soon.
Haydn Hughes, who has held a licence to fish for cockles for 50 years, said: "When I started in 1967 it was 24/7. Now we are only working four or five months a year.
"In 1967, it was 350kg of prime cockles. We are still getting to 250-350kg now but they are worthless. They are too small.
"They are worth like 30p per kilogram whereas years ago it was £1.50 to £2 per kilogram."
He said at one time in the late 1990s his team was exporting up to four lorry loads of cockles to Spain while others were sending to the Netherlands.
Fishermen have been critical of the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for how the situation has been handled, including lack of progress in pinning down the problem.
A three-year investigation ending in 2012 ruled out pollution from sewerage works with the finger being pointed towards a likely combination of parasites, overcrowding and conditioning of cockles after spawning.
In a separate report released in 2015, scientist Matthew Longshaw said it was "highly likely" the diseased cockles at the root of the problem may have come from Europe to be processed at the Burry Inlet, with the parasites washed into the estuary.
However, the exact cause is still unknown and as a result a solution yet to be found.
Cockle fisher Neal Page said he has lost about £50,000 a year.
"I saw on a BBC programme the other evening that the TB outbreak has cost the Welsh Government £150m in compensation for the farmers," he said.
"In the 14 years, I've never had a single penny compensation when my stock is dying year on year. Why?"
The owner of one of Wales' biggest cockle processors, Selwyn's Seafood - a family business running for more than 100 years - is also concerned for the future.
Ashley Jones said: "The cockles are so small at the moment, the UK market is the only market for them. The European market does not accept them.
"We feel the cockle is substandard because of the size and customers are not buying them.
"I am very concerned for the processors and the gatherers because I can't see how we can introduce young blood into the industry when fishermen are earning less than £9,000 per annum.
"We've certainly had to diversify, going into other areas looking for cockles, travelling the country and into Europe to keep our factories running and also looking to diversify into other products.
"We simply can't sit still otherwise we'll be out of business before we know it."
Huwel Manley, operations manager for NRW, said a new investigation announced on Tuesday aimed to address "unanswered questions" from the 2012 study.
The Welsh Government has been asked to comment. | A blame game has been rumbling on for years over why cockles on the Burry Inlet near Llanelli are dying, but there is still no definitive answer. |
32,062,714 | The band performed on Wednesday night in Indonesia as news of their bandmate's decision to quit was still breaking around the world.
Harry walked around on stage, head in hands as he started to cry.
A statement released by Zayn Malik on Wednesday said "it's time for me to leave".
It began: "My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined.
"But, after five years, I feel like it is now the right time for me to leave the band. I'd like to apologise to the fans if I've let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right in my heart.
"I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.
"I know I have four friends for life in Louis, Liam, Harry and Niall. I know they will continue to be the best band in the world."
The footage of Harry was taken as the band performed on stage in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, the latest stop on their On The Road Again Tour.
Last week it was announced Zayn had been signed off from the current tour with "stress".
It is unclear from the footage whether Harry, 21, was crying because of the news of Zayn or because fans were showing support by shouting his name.
At one point in the concert Liam Payne reportedly comforted him.
In a black T-shirt and with his hair up in his trademark man bun, Harry wandered around the stage with his head in his hands and wiping away tears.
Liam Payne told his 19.7 million Twitter followers: "So glad to be in bed after a long and strange 24 hours."
Bandmate Harry Styles sent a simple message to his 24.1 million Twitter followers, which read: "All the love as always. H."
Louis Tomlinson has also tweeted: "Your support has been incredible , truly incredible so thank you so much!
"Been a crazy couple of days but know that we are going to work harder than ever to deliver the best album we've ever made for you guys!"
Niall Horan was the last to tweet. He said: "Been a mad few days and your support has been incredible as per usual ! This in turn Spurs us on to make the best music we possibly can.
"Put on great shows / tours for you guys. You are the best fans in the world and you deserve nothing less from us!
"The lads and I arrived in South Africa this morning . We cannot wait to see all you SA fans for the first time and have great shows."
It's not the first time Harry has appeared to cry on stage.
Footage showed him snivelling at a gig in Melbourne, Australia, in 2013 while singing Over Again.
The band, minus Zayn, released a statement on Wednesday confirming to fans that the band would continue as a four-piece.
They will record their fifth album in Zayn's absence and will continue with the remaining dates on the band's world tour.
They were offered words of comfort from Take That's Gary Barlow.
Take That went from a five-piece to a four-piece in 1996 after Robbie Williams left to go solo.
Jason Orange also left the group last year.
Barlow tweeted: "Sending my best to all the 1D boys ! #thatters we've all been there haven't we ? !!!!!"
Cowell's fellow X Factor judge Louis Walsh said he'd heard rumours for a number of weeks that "everything wasn't happy in paradise".
He told Irish radio station RTE Radio One: "The problem with these guys is they've been in a bubble for the last five years, pressure, working, a lot harder than people think, so something had to give.
"So Zayn was the first person just to crack up a little bit."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | Harry Styles broke down in tears as One Direction took to the stage without Zayn Malik. |
34,701,448 | The plan for six wind turbines at Cam Burn, near Coleraine, was voted down at a council meeting in September.
But now Mark H Durkan has told the council he has decided to approve it.
And the timing means it got planning permission just before an important deadline that affects such developments.
It had to have approval by 30 October 2015 to qualify for subsidies before Northern Ireland's renewable scheme was closed to on-shore wind.
Those opposed to the proposal had raised concerns about its visual impact on the landscape, proximity to homes and potential environmental implications.
There had been 524 letters of objection.
Supporters had pointed to the construction benefits, that it would reduce carbon emissions by more than 320,000 tonnes over 25 years, and generate power for 6,482 homes.
There had been 896 letters of support.
Mr Durkan told the assembly he had called in the decision "due to the particular difficulties" arising from the closure of the on-shore wind farm scheme.
In an answer to a written assembly question by TUV leader Jim Alister, he said he had "also noted the potential economic and environmental contribution from this project".
The current minimum target is for Northern Ireland to generate 40% of its energy from renewables by 2020.
Northern Ireland currently produces 19.76% of its energy requirements from renewable sources, mostly on-shore wind.
Cam Burn wind farm is being built by Oxford-based TCI Renewables, which develops projects across the UK and North America.
It has around 20 in Northern Ireland, some of which are at the planning stage. Existing schemes include single turbines and wind farms. | An £18m wind farm, rejected by councillors, has been approved by the environment minister after the decision was reviewed by his department. |
38,561,507 | The Sinn Féin MLA's resignation will take effect from 17:00 GMT.
He cited the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) conduct over the scandal surrounding the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme as the reason.
He said First Minister Arlene Foster has a "clear conflict of interest" in the scandal.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
If you want to receive Breaking News alerts via email, or on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App then details on how to do so are available on this help page. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts. | Martin McGuinness has said he will resign as Northern Ireland's deputy first minister in protest against the handling of a botched heating scheme. |
36,603,269 | Harrison, 23, who made his debut against Wales in May, replaces the injured James Haskell in Sydney.
The rest of the England 23 is unchanged with wing Jack Nowell fit to start after passing concussion protocols.
England beat Australia in both Brisbane and Melbourne to secure their first ever series win down under.
Wasps back-row Haskell performed impressively in those historic victories, but the Wasps player has failed to recover in time from a foot injury sustained in Saturday's 23-7 win in Melbourne.
England head coach Eddie Jones said: "You have to work extremely hard to earn an England cap so there was no temptation to make changes for the sake of change.
"Teimana has trained well throughout the tour and deserves his spot. He's an excellent defender and his robustness will be important to us at the start of the game."
England are unbeaten under Jones' tenure, winning all eight of their matches in 2016, sealing a first Grand Slam since 2003 and moving from eighth in the world rankings to second.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Meanwhile, Australia have made three changes to their starting line-up.
Leicester-bound Matt Toomua replaces Samu Kerevi at inside centre, while Will Skelton partners Rob Simmons in the second row, meaning locks Rory Arnold and Sam Carter drop out.
Australia head coach Michael Cheika said the fit-again Toomua could have played in the second "but he needed more running in his legs".
Cheika added: "There's a long way to go yet in this season so I didn't want to burn him early. He's an experienced player, he plays in that role as second playmaker for us, so it was a logical choice."
England: Mike Brown; Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Owen Farrell, Jack Nowell; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Mako Vunipola, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Chris Robshaw, Teimana Harrison, Billy Vunipola
Replacements: Jamie George, Matt Mullan, Paul Hill, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Jack Clifford, Danny Care, Elliot Daly
Australia: Israel Folau, Dane Haylett-Petty, Tevita Kuridrani, Matt Toomua, Rob Horne, Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps; James Slipper, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu, Will Skelton, Rob Simmons, Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, Sean McMahon
Replacements (one player to be omitted): Tatafu Polota-Nau, Scott Sio, Greg Holmes, Adam Coleman, Dean Mumm, Wycliff Palu, Nick Frisby, Christian Lealiifano, Taqele Naiyaravoro
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Northampton flanker Teimana Harrison will start for England in Saturday's third Test against Australia as Eddie Jones' men aim for a whitewash. |
35,924,468 | Blackwell is in an induced coma after a small bleed on his brain was found.
Ex-super-bantamweight Oliver suffered life-threatening head injuries in a European title fight in 1998, aged 22.
"The swollen eye effectively brought the doctor in and the doctor stopped the fight. That probably saved his life," Oliver told BBC Wiltshire.
"In round seven, Eubank had a big round and that is when maybe the referee could have jumped in and stopped the fight.
"But there was never any time that Blackwell looked in any serious trouble so the referee let it go on [until the swollen eye]."
Referee Victor Loughlin stopped Saturday's fight in round 10 on the advice of the ringside doctor.
The British Board of Boxing Control said it was satisfied with how Saturday's bout was handled, after suggestions from Eubank Jr's camp and some pundits that the fight should have been stopped sooner.
At the end of the eighth round, Chris Eubank Sr - a former world champion - told his son to aim his shots at Blackwell's body rather than his head.
Oliver was defending his European title at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 1998 against Ukraine's Sergei Devakov, who knocked him down in the 10th round.
He was given oxygen by paramedics in the ring and, after 15 minutes of treatment, was taken to Charing Cross Hospital, apparently unconscious and wearing a neck brace.
The British fighter later had a blood clot removed from his brain and went on to make a full recovery, but retired from boxing.
As well as wishing 25-year-old Blackwell a full recovery, Oliver also hopes the Wiltshire middleweight will find "direction in life" in the future.
"This is a young kid who is at the top of his career and it's going to all be taken away from him," Oliver said. "He's a kid that is on his way up. It's going to be very difficult for him.
"For me, to be told I could never box again was very, very difficult. Every boxer wakes up, trains, trains again and then goes back to sleep, so there is a massive hole in your life that you have to fill."
Oliver continued: "For Nick, who is currently in the biggest fight of his life there battling away in hospital - and please God, he comes through and makes a full recovery. He will need to then find some direction in life." | The swelling over Nick Blackwell's eye that ended his fight with Chris Eubank Jr may have saved his life, according to former boxer Spencer Oliver. |
32,158,096 | Security sources say 15 soldiers and two civilians died when gunmen attacked checkpoints around the town of Sheikh Zuweid on Thursday.
Egyptian forces have been fighting a faction affiliated to the Islamic State group, known as Sinai Province.
Dozens of soldiers and civilians have already been killed this year in northern Sinai.
In the latest incident, gunmen fired on soldiers with automatic rifles and rockets as part of a co-ordinated set of attacks, police officials say.
The army claimed to have killed at least 70 suspected militants in March.
Sinai Province was known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis until it pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in November.
It said it was behind most of the major attacks in Sinai, including a series of strikes that left at least 30 people dead on 29 January.
Militants based in Sinai have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. | Militants have reportedly killed 17 people in the north of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, near the Israel-Gaza border. |
36,092,671 | Judith Thompson also told a committee of MPs at Westminister that national security should not be used to hide uncomfortable facts.
Ms Thompson was giving evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
She testified about the issues affecting victims of the Troubles.
She also addressed the efforts to secure a political agreement on how best to deal with the past.
One of the hurdles surrounds the government's use of national security when it comes to deciding what information can be made public.
The victims commissioner described the controversy around national security as the "elephant in the corner" which needs to be addressed.
Ms Thompson told the committee that 500,000 people in Northern Ireland- equivalent to about one third of the population - have been affected by the Troubles
She said about 200,000 of those have mental health issues, while 40,000 have suffered injuries
The victims commissioner said that only 18,000 people have come forward for help
She was challenged by DUP MP Gavin Robinson about remarks she made in March about government hiding behind national security. Mr Robinson asked her whether she thought such language was helpful.
"Do you believe that government is using national security issues as a rock of convenience to hide uncomfortable truths?" Mr Robinson asked Ms Thompson.
Ms Thompson replied: "I believe that there has not yet been full openness and disclosure on anyone's part about the past and yes government, as other players, would be part of that."
However, she said she believed a way could be found to break the deadlock.
"It should be possible to find a mechanism that is seen as sufficiently impartial to determine if something is a matter for national security or personal safety and to do so without compromising the government's right to be in control of that," she said.
"That is the conversation which needs to be happening right now.
"One of the big issues for many on both parts of the community is a loss of trust in each other and in government.
"Re-establishing trust is essential and so therefore having an oversight mechanism which people can accept as being impartial so that national security and people's safety can be preserved, but people know it's not something anyone can use to hide uncomfortable facts."
The commissioner said the package of measures for dealing with the past in the Stormont House Agreement should be implemented as soon as possible. But she warned that the financial resources may not be in place to fully implement the package.
It also emerged during Wednesday morning's session that 30 UDR widows have lost their pensions after remarrying. Ms Thompson said this needed to addressed in the interest of equality. | Northern Ireland's victims commissioner has said the government, like others in Northern Ireland, have not been open about their activities in the past. |
37,513,322 | Kenichi Phillips, 18, was targeted as he sat in a parked car driven in Birmingham on 17 March.
His brother Kwamae Phillips, who was driving, and passenger Khaleel Johnson, narrowly missed being injured by a second shot, the jury heard.
Disharn Downie, 18, and Dean Silvera, 37, are on trial charged with murder.
Birmingham Crown Court heard there had been a conversation between those in the car and the accused about "who was staring at whom".
A shot was fired and Mr Phillips staggered out of the car and collapsed in an alleyway where he was "left to die alone in a pool of blood", prosecutor Karim Khalil QC said.
A mobile hairdresser found the teenager by following a trail of his blood, having spotted the shattered window of the car.
A "significant quantity" of drugs were found both on the victim and in the vehicle.
Mr Khalil said both men who survived the shooting will deny the group were at the scene in St Marks Crescent, Ladywood, to deal drugs.
They fled on foot after the victim's brother crashed the car in a panicked attempted to get away.
Mr Downie, of Gravel Bank, Birmingham, and Mr Silvera, of Stamford Grove, Perry Barr, deny murder, attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Mr Silvera is also said to have assisted Mr Downie and a third man, Isaiah Mr Wright-Young, by driving them away from the scene.
The court was told the latter is "on the run".
The trial continues. | An 18-year-old was shot in the throat and killed because he strayed onto a rival drug dealer's turf, a court heard. |
39,323,196 | Sammon struck a late equaliser in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle, his second goal in two games and third since joining from Hearts.
And interim Kilmarnock manager Lee McCulloch said: "If he keeps playing and scoring goals, he should be going away on international duty.
"He's brilliant to work with."
Sammon, who joined Hearts from Derby County last summer, has won nine caps but has not featured for his country since 2013.
The 30-year-old failed to shine at Tynecastle, scoring once in 22 games, but he has found the net three times in seven appearances in his second spell at Rugby Park.
"He's really enjoying his football again," said McCulloch.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"At his previous club, his confidence was shot to pieces, for maybe a number of reasons, I don't know.
"But he knows this is sort of his second home.
"He's been here before, he's fired goals in here before."
Sammon won a move to Wigan Athletic after impressing in his previous spell with Kilmarnock, scoring 25 goals in 76 appearances.
He moved to Derby, but fell out of favour at the Rams and spent time on loan with Ipswich Town, Rotherham United and Sheffield United before joining Hearts.
"He's got everything, he scores goals, he's quick, he's strong, powerful, he's got a good strike on him," added McCulloch.
"He's keen to keep improving and he's brilliant for the young boys in the dressing-room.
"I'm delighted for him." | On-loan striker Conor Sammon is being backed to earn a Republic of Ireland recall thanks to rediscovering his goalscoring touch with Kilmarnock. |
40,384,129 | The body of 88-year-old Janet McKay, who had dementia, was found in Clydebank on 24 September 2015.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner was asked to review the handling of the case after it emerged a possible sighting was not passed on.
The Pirc report found "procedural and investigative failings".
It said officers had failed to take a statement from Mrs McKay's carer, who had visited her home in the Knightswood area of Glasgow on the day she went missing and would have been able to describe what she had been wearing.
The following day, police supervisors failed to act promptly in response to a reported sighting of Mrs McKay on the day she had gone missing.
Two days after Mrs McKay went missing, officers failed to pass on "significant information" about a sighting.
When this failure was recognised four days later, an officer failed to pass on the address of the person who had seen Mrs McKay - causing a further delay in progressing the information.
The report also said many officers had not followed standard procedures because they had were not fully aware of the guidance for missing person inquiries.
Although police had conducted a "timely" search for Mrs McKay, officers failed to obtain initial statements from key witnesses and failed to accurately record some of the initial information gathered.
Commissioner Kate Frame made a number of recommendations.
These included making all officers and staff aware of the procedures to be followed in such cases, and putting measures in place to ensure that the failings did not happen again.
She also said police should consider setting up a major incident room in high risk, vulnerable missing person investigations.
In a statement, Mrs McKay's family said: "We are aware of the findings of the Pirc report and are pleased to note that a number of recommendations have been made.
"We hope that going forward Police Scotland will look carefully at these recommendations and that valuable lessons have been learned.
"This has been a difficult time for our family. Janet was a loving mother and grandmother and we are thankful for the support we have received, but would ask for our privacy to be respected to allow us to come to terms with her loss in peace."
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams apologised on behalf of Police Scotland and offered his "heartfelt condolences" to Mrs McKay's family and friends.
"I fully accept the findings from the review by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) and Police Scotland will continue to work with them to ensure all the lessons identified are addressed and built into our missing person investigations," he said. | A report has highlighted "failings" in how police handled the case of a woman who was found dead eight days after she was reported missing. |
38,252,086 | The man coerced children in Norway and the Philippines to engage in filmed sex acts.
He was convicted of sending cash to a family in the Philippines so they could arrange for the abuse to take place.
Some of the sex involved children under the age of 14 and was streamed live on the internet. NRK said he abused 62 children, 20 from the Philippines.
It said that he was found guilty of six counts of child sex abuse.
The man, who has not been named but is from Bergen, transferred his disability benefits to a family in the Philippines who then arranged for the children to be abused, TheLocal.no reported.
The other 42 children in the case were tricked by the man on various internet chat services when he pretended to be a young teenager in order to win the trust of his victims and then manipulate them into carrying out sex acts, Local.no said.
In November, Norwegian police carried out "Operation Darkroom", arresting more than 50 men who were suspected of taking part in a separate online paedophile network.
Those held by police came from all sections of society, NewsinEnglish.No reported. | A court in Norway has sentenced a 66-year-old man to eight years in jail for child sex abuse via Skype. |
35,138,170 | Mr Sullivan, 53, was discovered on Abbey Green on Wednesday afternoon and was taken to hospital with serious bruising and internal injuries.
A post mortem proved inconclusive and police say his death is being treated as unexplained.
Three men, aged 44, 60 and 63, have been arrested in connection with his death and remain in custody. | Police have named a man found dead in Bath as Patrick Sullivan. |
15,203,281 | The thin layer, hundreds of times less dense than the Earth's, was discovered by the European Space Agency's (Esa) Venus Express craft, researchers report in the journal Icarus.
Until now, ozone layers have only been detected in the atmospheres of Earth and Mars, and the discovery on Venus came as a surprise.
The find could help astronomers refine their hunt for life on other planets.
The European spacecraft spied the ozone layer when focusing on stars through Venus' atmosphere.
The distant stars appeared fainter than expected, because the ozone layer absorbed some of their ultraviolet light.
The paper's lead author Franck Montmessin, of the LATMOS atmospheric research centre in France, explained that Venus' ozone layer sits 100km up; about three times the height of our own.
The ozone - a molecule containing three oxygen atoms - formed when sunlight broke down carbon dioxide in the Venusian atmosphere to form oxygen molecules.
On Earth, ozone, which absorbs much of the Sun's harmful UV-rays preventing them reaching the surface, is formed in a similar way.
However, this process is supplemented by oxygen released by carbon dioxide-munching microbes.
Speaking of the international team's find, Hakan Svedhem, ESA project scientist for the Venus Express mission, said: "This ozone detection tells us a lot about the circulation and the chemistry of Venus's atmosphere.
"Beyond that, it is yet more evidence of the fundamental similarity between the rocky planets, and shows the importance of studying Venus to understand them all."
Some astrobiologists assume that the presence of oxygen, carbon, and ozone in an atmosphere indicates that life exists on a planet's surface.
The new results negate that assumption - the mere presence of oxygen in an atmosphere is now not enough evidence to start looking for life.
However, the presence of large quantities of these gases, as in the Earth's atmosphere, is probably still a good lead, the scientists said.
"We can use these new observations to test and refine the scenarios for the detection of life on other worlds," said Dr Montmessin. | Scientists have discovered that Venus has an ozone layer. |
34,365,723 | The Swede, 39, shot a steady two-under 68 to record a sixth straight round under par at the East Lake course.
Stenson is one of five players for whom victory would mean he would win the FedEx Cup, and with it a £6.6m bonus.
Masters and US Open champion Spieth is another, and his 66 was the best score of the day.
World number one Jason Day is also in contention for the FedEx Cup and is one-over after a level-par second round.
Making up the quintet are American's Rickie Fowler (one under) and Bubba Watson (one over), who shot rounds of 69 and 71 respectively.
Englishman Paul Casey is handily placed in third on five-under after a level-par round, while Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is tied fifth on three-under after a 71.
Former US Open winner Justin Rose remains in contention after a 68 left him two under. | Henrik Stenson has a three-stroke lead over American Jordan Spieth after a rain-hit second round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta. |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.