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Dr Jennifer Armstrong said NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was working to improve accident and emergency waiting times and avoid delays to treatments.
She said she hoped a behind-the-scenes BBC documentary at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital would highlight the "incredible" work undertaken by staff.
There have been concerns about the hospital since it opened two years ago.
The hospital, which is one of the biggest in Europe, has consistently had some of the poorest waiting time figures for A&E in Scotland.
Concerns have also been raised about workload pressures and the number of operations cancelled because of a shortage of beds.
Dr Armstrong acknowledged the problems were "unacceptable", but said the hospital was performing some of the most advanced medical treatments in the world.
The new series of "Scotland's Superhospital" starts at 21:00 on BBC One Scotland. | An NHS director has apologised to patients who have experienced problems at Scotland's largest hospital. | 39691234 |
The Bridge International Academies group says it offers affordable, high-quality education to its 12,000 pupils, who often come from poor families.
The Education Ministry says the 63 schools must now close immediately.
The group, supported by foundations such as those set up by Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, says it will appeal.
A judge said the Bridge International school authorities had been given several opportunities to meet the national standards but had failed to do so.
The US-owned group first opened its schools in Uganda in 2015, but has been plagued with accusations of poor sanitation, inadequate infrastructure and not following the national curriculum, reports the BBC Africa's Catherine Byaruhanga from the capital, Kampala.
The government ordered their closure in July also alleging that the schools were recruiting unqualified teachers.
However, the organisation decided to go to court to fight the decision.
It insists it follows Uganda's public education system, with seven years of primary school and children starting from the age of six.
Some people who support Bridge International argue that government schools are worse off with nearly 70% of children dropping out before they finish primary education, our correspondent says.
Teacher absenteeism is also said to be a major challenge with about one third of teachers not turning up during the school week, she says.
Sources: Ministry of Education, 2014, Uganda National Examinations Board, 2015, Uwezo, 2015
Bridge International Academies has major backers, including the UK government and the foundations of philanthropic billionaires Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.
It also operates in India and Nigeria, and in January entered into a partnership with the Liberian government to run its primary schools.
How Bridge International operates in Uganda:
Read more: Is private education the answer? | Uganda's High Court has ordered the closure of a chain of private schools over concerns about poor sanitation and its curriculum. | 37871130 |
Ben Lake, the country's youngest MP at 24, defeated the Lib Dem's leader in Wales, Mark Williams, after two recounts, taking 11,623 votes compared with 11,519.
Meanwhile, Conservative Glyn Davies has retained the Montgomeryshire seat, taking 51.8% of the vote share.
Chris Davies held Brecon and Radnorshire, taking 20,081 votes against the Lib Dem's 12,043.
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said Mr Lake fought "an energetic and positive campaign" and would make "an excellent MP".
She said his addition to the three seats the party held in 2015 would give Wales "a formidable voice to defend Wales" in Westminster.
Mr Lake said the win had been "unexpected".
"We have been able to run a very positive campaign and also engage with a lot of young people," he added.
The chair of the Welsh Lib Dem national executive committee Carole O'Toole called the Ceredigion result "a sad day for liberalism in Wales".
She added: "Mark Williams has worked tirelessly for the communities of Ceredigion and for Wales since 2005, leading campaigns to change the legal definition of child neglect, to secure a better deal for milk farmers, and standing up for rural Wales.
"This is a difficult result for us following the results in last year's assembly elections and we will need to take stock and consider how we move forward from here." | Plaid Cymru has taken the Ceredigion seat from Wales' only Liberal Democrat. | 40209092 |
The anonymity of the virtual cash has made it a favourite with thieves who blackmail victims with viruses.
Now hi-tech gangs quickly convert payments into other currencies, said IBM security expert Etay Maor in an interview with The Register.
One bitcoin is now worth £155, much lower than the £728 value it hit in late 2013.
Scrambling data with malicious programs known as ransomware - which demand payment from victims to decrypt data - has been popular with some hi-tech criminals over the past few years. The gang behind the notorious cryptolocker program is believed to have made about £2m from victims before it was broken up.
Bitcoins have been the preferred payment method, said Mr Maor, but the volatility of the currency and its falling value has forced criminals to convert it into other forms of cash as soon as possible.
"Most of them won't keep bitcoins - they don't like the valuations bitcoin has - so they just use it as a layer of obfuscation, and move it to a different form of money," Mr Maor told The Register during an interview at the RSA security conference in San Francisco.
Many ransomware gangs use people not directly connected with the gang, known as mules, to clean up the cash by paying it into a legitimate bank account. Mules generally get a 20% cut as a fee.
Police forces and computer security firms have scored some successes against ransomware gangs. Computers involved in the cryptolocker malware were seized and the encryption system for the program broken so victims could get their data back without paying any cash.
In addition, Dutch police have worked with security firm Kaspersky Labs to analyse a server seized during an operation against the coinvault ransomware. This led to the creation of a program that can decrypt scrambled data. The firm has also retrieved lots of encryption keys that can be used to unscramble data. | The falling value of bitcoins have made them much less attractive to cyber-thieves, claims a security expert. | 32445026 |
Coleman previously managed Fulham, Coventry and Real Sociedad.
And Ratcliffe believes that Coleman is a sensible selection to provide continuity following the loss of Speed.
"I think we need a Welshman in charge and I do not think there were too many other candidates around who could come in," Ratcliffe told BBC Sport.
"From what you hear it was a close call between Gary and Chris last time the FAW chose the manager so I think this does provide some sort of continuity as far as they are concerned.
"And from a financial point of view it makes sense as they don't have to pay compensation.
Chris goes in there with a good track record and he's got a good reputation in the game
"Chris is a good man and a proud Welshman, so he will be passionate about the job and want to carry on the good work started by Gary."
Coleman won 32 caps for Wales and was a colleague of Speed at international level.
"Chris goes in there with a good track record and he's got a good reputation in the game. He did very well for a long spell at Fulham. I know things didn't work out for him at Coventry City but financially things were tough and no-one else has been able to do too well there."
Ratcliffe, who won 59 caps for Wales, added: "Obviously there have been a lot of emotions after what happened with Gary but I think Chris is a good choice and deserves support. He has some very good, maturing young players to work with as well." | Former Wales captain Kevin Ratcliffe has backed the choice of Chris Coleman as successor to Gary Speed as national team manager. | 16631518 |
Medway Council said the centres would be replaced by four "super hubs".
The move comes after the council agreed a £60,000 cut in funding for children's centres to help pay for the Battle of Medway commemorations.
Labour councillors criticised the plans saying a consultation was due to be held while many families were away on holiday.
Andrew Mackness, the Conservative lead member for children's services, said: "The super hubs would provide a better range of services in the community."
He said the changes were not being considered only for financial reasons.
"I look to constantly improve the services and provide appropriate services," Mr Mackness said.
He said jobs may be lost if the proposals are approved.
Medway's 19 children's centres are mainly based in primary schools.
Adam Price, the Labour spokesman for Children and Young People, said: "I would like to express my dismay at the proposal.
"The timing of the public consultation from 23 May to 4 July could be perceived as a deliberate attempt to minimise contributions from stakeholders.
"Many of the concerned parties, as parents of pre-school children, use the summer term period to go on holiday."
He said council meetings at which the proposals are due to be discussed were "in the middle of the school summer break".
In the council's budget, which was approved on 23 February, the authority said £160,000 funding for the Battle of Medway commemorations was to be paid for from an additional £100,000 income from crematoriums and £60,000 from cuts to children's centres.
Source: Visit Medway
There will be 10 days of events in June to mark the 350th anniversary of the battle and 50,000 people are expected to attend. | Plans by a Conservative council to axe all 19 children's centres have been met with "dismay" by the Labour opposition. | 39802511 |
Lorenz was preoccupied with the idea that tiny changes to a complex system like the weather could produce dramatic and wholly unpredictable consequences.
But it's unlikely that even Lorenz could have imagined what would happen next when Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta received an email in March notifying him that his Googlemail password had been compromised and advising him to reset it.
Precisely who was behind the so-called spear-phishing mail - a common form of cyber attack familiar to most email users - and what their motive was, are now at the centre of a ferocious argument in the bitter aftermath of the US election.
The stakes could scarcely be higher: a foreign state stands accused of mounting a campaign of hacking and leaking to help get its preferred candidate into the White House.
And whatever the final conclusions of the multiple investigations into the alleged Russian hacking operation, many of Clinton's allies believe the steady trickle of embarrassing emails, drip-fed by Wikileaks through the last crucial weeks of the campaign, may have been enough to deny her the presidency.
Neera Tanden, a former Clinton aide whose engagingly candid emails made her an unwilling star of the Podesta hack, told me the leak had substantially damaged her support among younger voters.
"I believe the leak was a large part of why Hillary had real problems with millennials which is why she did not hit her targets in the three states [Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin]."
I asked her if it could really have made the difference between winning and losing. "Absolutely. And I think people have to live with that."
Dramatic as it is, the hacking of Podesta and other Democrat figures appears to be just the latest manifestation of a disturbing new trend: states combining the techniques of hackers and whistleblowers to mount a new kind of information warfare.
From the hacking of Sony, apparently by the North Koreans, to the dumping of medical records of elite athletes on the internet (Russia the suspect again), the data dump has been weaponised.
It's a development that poses difficult questions for journalists. How should we handle troves of confidential data effectively handed to us by foreign states? Do we risk becoming "useful idiots" when we run precisely the stories that a hostile government wants us to?
It's a question we wrestled with on Newsnight when we ran a series of stories about Bradley Wiggins, based on the medical records of athletes - material widely believed to have been hacked by the Russians in revenge for the banning of hundreds of Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics.
It felt uncomfortable, but the public interest in establishing whether a major sporting figure had broken the spirit of the rules - if not the letter - seemed clear cut.
When it comes to tampering with elections the stakes are rather higher. One prominent victim of another state-sponsored hack told me he thought journalists who feasted on material served up by the Russians with the aim of influencing a US election were committing "something verging on treason".
Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times, which has run a string of stories based on the hacking of both Podesta's mail and, before that, material from Democratic National Committee figures, told me the thought that he might be doing Vladimir Putin's bidding sometimes kept him up at night.
"Sure it does. But it would keep me up at night worse or at least longer if I had information from a hack that I knew was accurate, that voters and citizens needed to know. That would make me really uncomfortable... Will I lose a little sleep because I'm being manipulated? Yeah. But I lose a lot more sleep if I sit that stuff in a safe."
In Baquet's view, "the information trumps all" no matter how it has been obtained. But I wonder if the ease of leaking digital information has eased our moral qualms about dealing with stolen material.
I asked Baquet what he would have done if the New York Times had been handed a cache of physical documents burgled from John Podesta's house.
He was at least admirably consistent: "I would go through it. And if it was really significant and important I would publish it. And I'm putting a lot of emphasis on significant and important, but I would publish it."
He compared it to the case of Donald Trump's tax return which the paper published during the campaign, with no knowledge of how it had been obtained.
Some have argued that the wholesale dumping of leaked material on the internet, and the media's willingness to report it, is on the way to destroying any expectation of privacy in our digital lives.
Did discovering that producer Scott Rudin considered Angelina Jolie to be "a minimally talented spoiled brat" justify the ransacking of hacked emails from Sony executives?
"Under the veneer of journalism reporters were totally trafficking in gossip," Tanden told me about her experience of being caught up in the Podesta hack.
Though many questions remain unanswered about the massive leaks of hacked material during the US election, one thing is certain: they are unlikely to be the last.
The German intelligence service has already warned that they fear similar attempts to tamper with elections there next year.
And the man charged with protecting Britain against cyber-attack, Ciaran Martin, director of the new National Cyber Security Centre, told me there was a risk the experience of the US elections would inspire other states to try similar tactics.
One tantalising detail of the great US election hack of 2016 seems to underline the very human frailty that the likes of Martin have to contend with.
When John Podesta received his fateful scam email in March, the New York Times revealed, an aide sent it to his IT department. A staffer replied saying it was "legitimate".
That staffer now says it was a typo - he meant to type "illegitimate".
On such tiny mistakes can the course of history turn. Not so much the flap of a butterfly's wings as a twitch.
Ian Katz is editor of BBC Newsnight. You can watch his full report on iPlayer. | In 1972, the mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz gave a lecture entitled: "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" | 38303381 |
HIE, along with other enterprise and skills agencies, has been the subject of a review.
The process sparked a political row with opposition parties concerned HIE's board could lose its independence or be wound up altogether.
HIE supports businesses in the islands, Highlands, Argyll and Moray.
It began as the Highlands and Islands Development Board 50 years ago, becoming HIE in 1990.
The first phase of the Enterprise and Skills Review was published in October last year and recommended that a new national board co-ordinate the activities of HIE, Scottish Enterprise and other bodies.
In January, MSPs voted to demand the Scottish government allow HIE to retain its own board.
In his response, Mr Brown said HIE would "continue to be locally based, managed and directed" under his plans.
A report was recently published on the scope, structures and functions for a new board.
Prof Lorne Crerar's publication recommended HIE and the others retain their independent boards.
A new national strategic board would oversee the organisations' activities, it was suggested.
Ahead of Mr Brown's statement in the Scottish Parliament, former Labour MSP Maureen Macmillan has present a petition to Holyrood's public petitions committee.
The petition asks for the Scottish government "to reverse its decision to move power from the region to a centralised body".
Ahead of the statement, Mr Brown said the proposals were part of a wide-ranging programme to improve services for businesses and individuals.
He said: "It is essential that we do not lose sight of our aim of enhancing our enterprise and skills services to boost Scotland's economy, which will help to deliver our ambition of ranking among the top quartile of OECD countries in terms of productivity, equality, wellbeing and sustainability.
"In order to achieve this, our agencies must align behind a common purpose and be driven by strong leadership.
"Far from diminishing the role of agencies, the review will strengthen their capability and grow their capacity to jointly step-up the services and support they provide to businesses and individuals across Scotland."
HIE's work in recent years has included providing funding to upgrade a fabrication yard at Arnish, near Stornoway on Lewis, and helping to secure the future of jobs at a call centre in Forres.
It is involved in the roll-out of superfast broadband to rural areas and initiatives to encourage young people to live and work in the Highlands and Islands.
HIE has also flagged up the need to better tackle gender imbalance in the workplace.
In 2015, it officially opened its Inverness Campus, a large area of land at Beechwood in Inverness which HIE has made available for businesses and research organisations.
Inverness College UHI built a new college on part of the campus.
However, during the early stages of planning the campus, HIE was criticised by Western Isles Council - Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
It said the agency should be investing in fragile areas of the region and not "booming" Inverness. | Economy Secretary Keith Brown is expected to make a statement on the future of the board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise later on Thursday. | 39430177 |
The incident happened on Monday at a property in John Street, Penicuik.
The 22-year-old is due to appear at Jedburgh Sheriff Court. | A 22-year-old man has been charged with the abduction and attempted murder of two men in Midlothian. | 34346557 |
Two men, both aged 32, were injured in separate gun attacks in Newry between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Detectives detained three men after searching a house in Coalisland in County Tyrone on Friday.
The men, aged 20, 27 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, attempted murder and possession of a firearm.
A 26-year-old man who was arrested in Dungannon in County Tyrone on Thursday remains in custody.
Another man, aged 28, who was also arrested on Thursday, has been released on bail pending further inquiries. | Three men have been arrested by police investigating two shootings in County Down. | 34297862 |
He has scored four goals in eight games since his move to the Lilywhites.
Ex-Blackpool player Barkhuizen, 23, had mutually cancelled his deal at the Shrimps but the League Two side did get compensation for the transfer.
"Let's not forget we've sold our best player who is now pulling up trees at Preston," said Bentley.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire: "For me, the people who negotiated that deal could've done better.
"Without going too in depth because he could easily get a move again, there are certain things that I was unhappy with in that department." | Morecambe boss Jim Bentley has questioned whether the club negotiated the best deal for Tom Barkhuizen when he moved to Preston in January. | 39292359 |
The sailor was heading back to Britain, a VIP passenger on board the cargo ship Siamese Prince, when it was sunk by a U-boat off the coast of Scotland. He died along with 67 crew and other passengers.
It was a fateful twist to an extraordinary World War Two story, which links together two maritime tragedies.
Widdicombe had been on the voyage home to Newport, weeks after he and Cardiff seaman Bob Tapscott rowed for 70 days in a tiny open-top boat after their ship was sunk in the mid Atlantic.
Their skeletal figures had washed up finally on a Bahamas beach after a remarkable and harrowing journey of nearly 2,300 miles (3,700km).
The survivors were greeted as heroes, but sadly there would be no happy ending for either of the young men.
They had been merchant seamen on board the ship Anglo-Saxon, which had left Newport with a crew of 32, many from south Wales.
After the ship's sinking, seven men managed to escape in an open boat in the middle of the Atlantic. But only two would survive the ordeal.
Tapscott was 19 and the youngest of six children. His father and grandfather were ships' pilots in Cardiff. He first went to sea before the war, aged 15, and had sailed to Argentina, Africa and the United States. By the time war was declared he was an able seaman.
Widdicombe had been born in Totnes, Devon, and sailed dinghies from the age of six. Just before he turned 11, he opted to join a training ship instead of taking his place at grammar school and eventually went to sea on passenger trips to the Caribbean and Mediterranean and later on freighters.
In the early days of the war, he spent just over a week in a lifeboat after his ship was lost. He survived another trip to Baltimore carrying scrap metal.
In Newport, he met Cynthia Pitman, and bought the suit for his wedding by bartering American cigarettes in Alicante during the Spanish civil war. They married in April 1940 and bought a house.
Then in the July, he joined the Anglo-Saxon.
The ship left Newport on 5 August, loaded with coal with only the captain initially knowing they were bound for Buenos Aires. It was also armed with a naval gun for protection.
By 21 August, the ship was 500 miles (800km) west of the Azores. As Widdicombe began his evening watch in the wheelhouse and Tapscott played cards, the ship was rocked by four explosions and then machine gun fire across the deck.
A German raider, the Widder, was attacking them with shells.
Within minutes, the Anglo-Saxon was ablaze, her captain was dead and lifeboats badly damaged. Within the hour she had sunk.
Widdicombe and Tapscott managed to escape with five others in a jolly boat, the 18ft-long (5m) craft used to ferry crew around at port. Others tried to escape in life rafts but were shot under the orders of the German skipper.
6
oars
4
gallons of water
1 sail, compass, rusty axe, razor and oil lamp
2 rolls of bandage in medical kit
11 tins of condensed milk
3 tins of boiled mutton and a tin of ship's biscuit
In darkness, the jolly boat passed close to the enemy raider but the men only started rowing at a safe distance.
Of the seven inside, three had serious injuries.
The men kept to regular watches, strict rations and those fit enough took turns at rowing - with the hope for rescue or landfall within 16 days.
The first night after the wreck they spotted a ship, blacked out, but fearing it was the Widder returning, they were relieved when it passed by.
Four days in, the men were soon getting dehydrated; two of the injured were developing gangrene but Barry Collingwood Denny - keeping a log - reported the men ate a Sunday lunch of tinned mutton "which greatly improved their morale, which is splendid. No signs of giving up hope".
But as time wore on, their rations and water became depleted, they all grew weaker and there was no sign of a rescue.
This is what happened.
THE ORIGINAL SEVEN SURVIVORS:
'GETTING VERY WEAK'
Tapscott and Widdicombe had their own struggles. In the desperate ordeal, both twice decided to end it all over the side of the boat. But times they dragged themselves back inside, unable to accept their fate.
That last aborted attempt heralded a turning point. They took alcohol from the compass and drank it together that evening, laughing and joking. It was followed by their first proper sleep for weeks.
The next day - 12 September - the 22nd day on the boat - it finally started to rain and gave them enough water for the next six days and made swallowing a nibble from their diminishing biscuit ration a little easier.
It rained again on 20 September, two days after their rainwater had run out. But the sun was getting stronger and they were desperately hungry.
"Getting very weak but trusting in God to pull us through," Widdicombe wrote.
The next few days turned into weeks.
They thought they spotted land but it was a mirage. Their first sight of a ship - a large steam liner on the horizon - sped out of reach as they exhausted themselves rowing towards it.
They rode out a violent two-day storm and hit a whale.
By now, they took to chewing ribbons of floating seaweed although it increased their thirst. They took to eating their own peeling skin, shoes and the lining of Pilcher's tobacco pouch.
A flying fish flew into the boat and they sliced it in half with a razor. There were meagre handfuls of tiny crabs but fishing with a hook made from a safety pin proved useless.
By mid October, they could only crawl on all fours and were too weak to stay awake to sail during the night. Both started to suffer in the sun and were covered in small blisters; they had lost up to 80lbs (36kg) each - nearly half their body weight.
A DREAM AND A BEACH
By 27 October 1940, both men were too weak to row.
That night they heard a fish flapping in the bottom of the boat and in the morning they recovered it. It was a Bahamian hound fish and, when they looked up, the pair got their first sight of land.
It was no mirage this time. Within 20 minutes, they grounded on the beach and staggered into the shade on the edge of the bush.
On 30 October, 70 days after being shipwrecked and a journey of 2,275 miles (3660km), they were found by farmer Lewis Johnson and his wife Florence on the island of Eleuthera.
Mrs Johnson had had a premonition they would find something if they went to the beach. They did and returned with a rescue party.
Barely able to stand, Tapscott and Widdicombe were given coconuts and, soon, beer and bully beef and biscuits. They were taken by truck to the island commissioner's house.
After more food, clean clothes and a shave, they were flown to hospital in Nassau where they spent the next eight days. They had suffered exposure, starvation which brought on pellagra, insomnia and it had taken a huge mental toll, especially on Tapscott.
They started to recover and met the islands' governor, the Duke of Windsor - the former King Edward VIII - and the duchess, Wallace Simpson.
HEADING HOME
By the end of January 1941, Widdicombe was well enough to head home.
At one point, it had looked as if he might have to work his passage back to Britain.
But after some discussions between government departments it was agreed he should be a passenger on the Siamese Prince, a cargo ship carrying beef from New York to Liverpool and "some fuss" should be made of him.
But within a day's sailing British shores, off the Faroe Islands, the ship was hit by two torpedoes from a U-boat. This time there were no survivors.
The trauma for Widdicombe's young bride Cynthia seems unimaginable. She was married for only four months before he left Newport.
Despite hearing in October the Anglo-Saxon "must be presumed lost", she had never given up hope that he was still alive. Then was the joy at his survival.
Arrangements had been made for Cynthia to travel by train to Liverpool to be reunited with her husband. Her bag was packed waiting for the final word, while the bunting was ready in Lewis Street for the welcome home party.
Widdicombe was to have been met off the ship by ministry and naval top brass, "given a good lunch or dinner" before a function involving the Lord Mayor and the press.
"Although the position in which the vessel was sunk was carefully searched, no survivors could be found," says a letter from the Admiralty, expressing great regret.
Cynthia's daughter Sue Irvine, from her second marriage, said nothing had mattered more to her than "seeing my Roy again".
"Even after more than 50 years, mum still became tearful when she recalled the telegram telling her not to go to Liverpool as the Siamese Prince had been torpedoed," she said.
"One other thing I remember her saying is that on the night she was given the news that the Siamese Prince had been sunk she eventually fell asleep but woke very suddenly and, in her words 'Roy was standing at the end of my bed, he was wearing the suit he got married in and he smiled at me. I knew then that he was looking after me.'"
CARRYING A BURDEN
Tapscott stayed in Nassau a little longer before rejoining the war effort with the Canadian Army and the Merchant Navy.
After the war, as now the only Anglo-Saxon survivor, he gave evidence against Helmuth von Ruchteschell, the captain of the Widder, who ordered the shooting of the remaining crew as they escaped in life rafts.
Ruchteschell was sentenced to 10 years in 1947, by a tribunal, as a war criminal and died in custody.
Tapscott returned to Cardiff, he married and had a daughter. But he always carried with him the burden of what happened and suffered depression and symptoms of what would now be recognised as post traumatic stress.
The wartime ordeal was eventually forgotten - at least by the public - and it took him 20 years to even tell those closest to him what had happened.
In 1963, while his wife and daughter were out, he took an overdose of sedatives and a fire started in his home. Despite the rescue efforts of a policeman, he died, aged 42.
Before he took his own life, he wrote a letter to the South Wales Echo newspaper, explaining his actions, which arrived in the editor's office after his death.
To survive was not enough to escape the horrors of war he had experienced.
A LITTLE BOAT AS A REMINDER
The story of the Anglo-Saxon has been told in three books, one in the weeks after the rescue.
Another was by the late explorer and broadcaster Anthony Smith, who helped bring together relatives of those who died to campaign for the return of the jolly boat to Britain.
American maritime historian J Revell Carr, in the most recent book, wrote: "One must stand in awe and contemplate what happened within the space that this boat represents."
The jolly boat was preserved by Carr's museum but was donated to the Imperial War Museum in London in 1998.
A few months before, Cynthia had died but Sue was there to represent her mother when the boat was unveiled as a centrepiece of an exhibition on the merchant navy.
She said Widdicombe's story gave her mother, suffering from dementia, something to cling to from her long-term memory.
"Her last few months were filled with being able to talk about Roy and what happened, whereas her short term memory loss distressed her," she added.
The jolly boat, as a reminder of that incredible journey and the sacrifice of the men of the merchant fleet, is still on display at the Imperial War Museum. | Shipwrecked twice, what luck 21-year-old merchant seaman Roy Widdicombe had finally ran out 75 years ago. | 35252604 |
"Being the compliant girl is never going to get you anywhere," says Helen Fraser, head of the trust, which runs 24 independent girls' schools.
She says girls are expected to be "docile at school" and then "dynamic, exciting leaders in the workplace".
Speaking ahead of the trust's annual conference, she said assertiveness was an important skill in business.
Ms Fraser said pupils challenging teachers was "very important" and a "great preparation for life".
"In single-sex girls' schools, crowd control is not a problem," she said.
"The danger is not having a riot, the danger is they're sitting quietly and taking notes.
"We've really got to push back against that and encourage a dynamic place of debate."
She said she saw some girls who had courage "built in from the beginning not to accept authority" and this "good disruptiveness" should be encouraged.
In a corporate environment, suggesting something innovative rather doing "whatever the boss hands down must be right".
"We need to build much more of a good disruptiveness into schools" to encourage girls to be excellent leaders in the workplace, she said.
She said this did not only apply to girls in independent schools.
"I think all children in education should be encouraged to challenge and take risks," she said.
She said she found "spoon feeding" of pupils in class disheartening.
"The most depressing question in a class is, 'Is this going to be in the exams?'
"Exam results should just be a side-effect of a great education and should come naturally, we should really fight against letting exams rule." | Girls should challenge their teachers more, says the head of the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). | 33064299 |
Notts took a 10-run first-innings lead as they were all out for 383, with Brett Hutton making 59.
Warwickshire were 149-2, led by Varun Chopra (82) and Jonathan Trott (59), but Jackson Bird's direct hit to get rid of Laurie Evans sparked a collapse.
Luke Fletcher took 4-25 as the visitors were dismissed for 236 before Notts, chasing 227 to win, slumped to 21-3.
Warwickshire got an immediate breakthrough in Nottinghamshire's run-chase as Steven Mullaney edged to Rikki Clarke low at second slip off Keith Barker (2-11) for a five-ball duck, while first-innings centurion Michael Lumb and nightwatchman Fletcher soon followed.
An intriguing final day could be in store at Trent Bridge, although rain is forecast for the Nottingham area.
After Notts resumed on 316-7 in their first innings, Hutton reached his first half-century of the summer, but was then caught in the gully.
A boundary from Bird gave Notts a first-innings lead before he mistimed a pull and was caught by Jeetan Patel at midwicket, while Fletcher (29) played around a slower delivery from Clarke (4-72) to be last man out.
Warwickshire reached 26-1 at lunch with Ian Westwood falling to a rising Fletcher delivery to be caught at gully by Samit Patel.
Chopra and Trott put on 77 for the second wicket and were scoring at more than four an over but Trott, who at one stage hit seven boundaries in 12 balls, was trapped leg before by a low delivery from Patel (4-71)
Bird ran out Evans superbly to lead to a Warwickshire collapse either side of tea. Fletcher then had Chopra caught behind by Chris Read in the first ball after the interval to spark a loss of five wickets for the addition of only 23 runs. But last-wicket pair Chris Woakes (20 not out) and Chris Wright (20) added 34 to frustrate Notts.
Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel:
"It's ebbed and flowed and shows how well both teams have played. These are two good teams that hopefully will be fighting it out at the top later in the year.
"To get somewhere where we wanted to be with the bat this morning was brilliant and to get a lead was even better, so fair play to the lads.
"Then the way we've bowled later has been outstanding. Hopefully we can go on and finish it off with a win."
Warwickshire stand-in skipper Chris Woakes:
"It's a great game of cricket. It's a pitch that's obviously going to produce a result, which is what you want.
"It looks like it's going to be a good final day. We obviously think we are in a good position.
"But then Notts will probably also feel that they can knock it off, so I'll sit on the fence and say the game is still in the balance."
Warwickshire have been cleared over the state of the pitch - rated poor by umpires - that was prepared for their draw with Somerset at Edgbaston last week.
The Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) considered reports against the regulatory requirement that "each county shall actively seek to prepare the best quality cricket pitch that it can for the match that it is staging".
The CDC concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that Warwickshire CCC had breached this requirement - and no further action will be taken. | Nottinghamshire will need 206 more runs, with seven wickets remaining, to beat Warwickshire on the final day. | 36308110 |
At the end of trade the benchmark FTSE 100 was down 10.36 points, or 0.14%, at 7,286.56.
Travel firm Tui was the biggest riser on the index, up 5.27%, after its said first-quarter losses had narrowed.
The company was boosted by a strong rise in UK bookings, which were up by 10% in volume from a year earlier. Other winners were RBS and Capita.
Rolls-Royce was the biggest faller in the index, down 3.99% after it reported a pre-tax loss of £4.6bn.
The aerospace company was hit by the cost of a bribery settlement, and currency-related contracts were affected by the post-Brexit vote fall in sterling.
On the currency markets, the pound was down 0.49% against the dollar at $1.2464 and 0.25% against the euro to 1.1790 euros. | The UK market closed slightly behind, after being ahead at midday thanks to healthy results from travel firm Tui. | 38966717 |
Finbarr O'Connell, from Smith & Williamson, said Caterham F1 operator 1MRT had made an "inadequate" offer to continue using the Leafield site.
Administrators have taken control of the building, where F1 cars were made.
Mr O'Connell said he was trying to resolve the situation with 1MRT but until then had locked staff out.
Employees from Caterham Sports Limited - which manufactures cars for the F1 team and is run as a separate company - were transferred to 1MRT when the company was placed into administration on Friday.
Mr O'Connell said 200 jobs were at risk and up to £20m was owed to external suppliers.
One employee at the site said: "We've just been given a letter saying we're not allowed in today - it seems to be a very confused situation.
"People are confused and disillusioned by it all.
"It's a shame that it's ended so abruptly. It's not looking good - I think it could be the end."
Tony Fernandes, who owns the Air Asia airline and Queens Park Rangers football club, sold the team to a Swiss and Middle eastern consortium, Engavest SA, in July.
The consortium has insisted Caterham Sports Ltd is not related to them, as they had transferred operations to the team's holding company, 1MRT.
Developments at Caterham have brought into question the team's participation in the forthcoming US Grand Prix, which takes place in Austin, Texas, on 2 November, and the race in Brazil the following weekend.
In a statement, Caterham F1 said: "The administrators' appointment has had devastating effects on the F1 team's activities." | Staff working at the Caterham F1 team site in Oxfordshire have been locked out of the firm's premises, the administrator has told the BBC. | 29738116 |
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said 78.3% of trains arrived within five minutes of their scheduled time, down 2.4% on the same time last year.
Govia Thameslink managed 83.9% and London Midland 88.6%, up on last year. Virgin Trains West Coast reached 84.9% for its 10-minute target, down 1.8%.
Southern said it was aware of the issues and was working to make changes.
The operator, whose services stretch from London to the south coast, through East and West Sussex, Surrey and parts of Kent and Hampshire, has had the worst arrival scores out of all the train franchises for three of the last five quarters, the ORR said.
At peak times, 37.4% of trains were more than five minutes late, the figures, which cover all franchises for the first three months of this year, showed.
However, much of the poor performance could be attributed to "on-going works at London Bridge, as well as a number of points and track circuit failures", the ORR said.
The figures showed Southern also had the highest percentage of trains, at 6.2%, that were cancelled or classed as significantly late - over 30 minutes.
Virgin Trains West Coast was second worst at 5.4%, slightly up on the same quarter as last year.
The operator has not responded directly to the regulator's figures.
Govia Thameslink was at 5.1%, roughly equating to one train in every 20 being either significantly late, terminated early or cancelled, fractionally worse than last year.
A spokesman highlighted a burst water main that flooded a central London rail tunnel in January, cancelling more 1,000 trains and causing massive delays south of London, related to work improving London Bridge station.
London Midland recorded 2.7%, down almost 1%, the ORR said.
In 2013, a driver shortage at London Midland meant 20% of its 1,311 daily services were delayed or cancelled throughout October.
The firm compensated 25,000 passengers between October and December 2012 after about 1,000 services were disrupted due to a lack of drivers.
Francis Thomas from London Midland said: "It's an improving picture... but we say we're never satisfied. We know we can do better."
The operator has "got on top" of cancellations, driver shortages and made 140,000 more seats available and now it will be looking at running times, he said.
Delays and cancellations on all franchises could also be partly attributed to Network Rail through on-going infrastructure problems, as well as other unexpected pressures such as the weather, an industry source said. | A fifth of trains run by rail operator Southern do not meet arrival time targets, latest figures show. | 32781700 |
Their model for Lassa fever, which is spread by rats, predicts that there will be twice as many human cases of the disease in Africa by 2070.
The method can be applied to other disease threats such as Ebola and Zika, they say.
Like the Ebola virus, the Lassa virus causes haemorrhagic fever and can be fatal.
Lassa fever virus currently affects between 100,000 and one million people a year in western sub-Saharan Africa.
A rat found in parts of the continent can pass the virus to people.
Scientists led by Prof Kate Jones of the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research at UCL looked at about 400 known outbreaks of Lassa fever between 1967 and 2012.
Lassa virus is carried by the Mastomys rat, which is found in parts of Africa.
The virus is passed to people through direct contact with infected rats by catching and preparing them for food, or by food or household items contaminated with rat droppings or urine.
The virus can also be transmitted through contact with body fluids of an infected person.
Around 80% of people with Lassa virus have no symptoms or have symptoms that mimic other illnesses, such as malaria.
Symptoms include fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, abdominal pains, sore throat and facial swelling.
Source: World Health Organization
They developed a model to calculate how often people are likely to come into contact with disease-carrying animals and the risk of the virus spilling over.
It shows more areas of West Africa are at risk from Lassa fever spill-over events than previously thought.
"Our model suggests that in future, it is likely to become a greater burden on local communities spreading to more areas with approximately twice as many spill-over events predicted by 2070," Dr Jones and colleagues from the University of Cambridge and the Zoological Society London report in the journal, Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
The method takes into account environmental change and the way human populations are expected to grow.
The projected increase in cases is largely due to climate change, with the rat that passes it to people (M. natalensis) thriving in hot and wet conditions, they say.
Meanwhile, growth in human populations in certain areas will mean more people coming into contact with the rodent.
"This model is a major improvement in our understanding of the spread of diseases from animals to people," explained Prof Jones.
"We hope it can be used to help communities prepare and respond to disease outbreaks, as well as to make decisions about environmental change factors that may be within their control."
More than 60% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals.
As well as well-known threats such as Ebola and Zika, other diseases including Lassa fever already affect thousands of people and are expected to spread as the world warms.
"Our new approach successfully predicts outbreaks of individual diseases by pairing the changes in the host's distribution as the environment changes with the mechanics of how that disease spreads from animals to people, which hasn't been done before, " said co-researcher Dr David Redding of UCL.
The researchers say the model can be refined to include diseases such as Ebola and Zika.
Prof Jonathan Ball of the University of Nottingham, who was not involved in the research, said if the models hold true, then future climate change and population growth will significantly increase the number of Lassa fever outbreaks - and this is likely to be true for other infectious diseases.
"The threat of emerging and neglected diseases will not go away and we need to invest in research and global healthcare systems to ensure that we are ready to deal with these threats and their consequences," he said.
Follow Helen on Twitter. | Scientists say they have developed a better way to predict how animal diseases can spill over into humans. | 36480021 |
He said keeping web browsing data was not for spying on the public but to see "for example, whether a suspect has downloaded a terrorist manual".
The government is due to publish new laws on UK security agencies' powers to obtain information on suspects.
Meanwhile, ministers have ruled out plans to restrict or ban companies from encrypting data.
However, under the new legislation security services will retain the capacity to intercept the content of communications after obtaining a warrant.
The Investigatory Powers Bill has been dubbed by some a "snoopers' charter" and privacy campaigners have vowed to fight any attempt to force companies to keep users' data.
Sir David, who was previously director of GCHQ - Britain's communications surveillance centre - said the new legislation did not need to grant "significant new powers".
But he added: "The one area is the question of, should the internet companies be compelled to retain communications data or metadata, including the web history? I think it is necessary."
The emergence of encryption has been identified as a major headache for law enforcement bodies, with suggestions that it risks leaving them locked out of some areas of cyberspace.
There has been major growth in the use of encrypted apps which encode messages in a way that makes it harder for a third party to intercept the content.
The minister for internet safety and security, Baroness Shields, had said she recognised the "essential role" that strong encryption played in protecting people's details.
But she added the government still wanted tech companies to be able to unscramble "targeted" data and hand it over when required.
That puts the government at odds with apps such as Apple's iMessage and WhatsApp as the service providers have no way to decrypt the messages users send.
Instead, a technique called end-to-end encryption employed by the apps means that only the sender and recipient can see what was posted. | New security laws should force internet firms to keep users' data, former head of GCHQ Sir David Omand has said. | 34690943 |
The figure is to be placed outside the attraction's Downing Street set, joining world leaders such as Donald Trump and Angela Merkel.
Madame Tussauds says the likeness will be revealed by the end of the year, despite Mrs May being unable to attend a modelling session.
A team of sculptors typically spend 170 hours moulding a waxwork before hair and make-up are applied.
Likenesses of sitting prime ministers regularly appear at Madam Tussauds.
In the last 20 years, only Gordon Brown was snubbed as he had not won a general election, Madame Tussauds told the BBC.
Waxworks of David Cameron, Tony Blair and Winston Churchill sit in storage awaiting a return to the front line, depending on what is happening in the world and what is popular.
Edward Fuller, general manager of Madame Tussauds London, said: "While the prime minister's Brexit strategy may be unclear, we can be sure that her completed figure will bear a striking resemblance to the woman herself when it launches later this year." | Prime Minister Theresa May is to get her own waxwork at Madame Tussauds. | 40887752 |
Here are 17 things he shared:
1. With countless disagreements about potential coalition partners, how can the public expect to see any cooperation between the parties, instead of them all refusing to work together?
We may be entering new territory - where, for example, a promise like the Lib Dems' "we will scrap tuition fees" simply becomes impossible to make. Politics will move away from what was called "sofa-style" under Blair, where a small number of people go into number 10 then emerge and tell us what they are doing. It will move towards much more open bartering between parties. Promises will just be suggestions; everything will be tradable.
2. Would you rather fight one Dermot Murnaghan sized duck, or 100 duck sized Dermot Murnaghans?
100 Dermots sounds easier. Craziest question of the night award!
3. As a presenter, you always seem able to maintain a fairly neutral point of view no matter which topic is being debated, with each speaker given enough time to put forward their opinion. Were there any debates in which you found it particularly difficult to remain neutral?
In some debates I find it very hard. I always think a presenter can have values but not views. So I can think (or say) that I hate litter and people who litter but I can't be angry about dirty hospitals, because that's political. You've asked the question I get asked more than any other (apart from one!) which is how do you stay neutral? And the answer is that it is a small price to pay for the best job in the BBC. By the way, the one I get asked even more is: Who chooses the music on your show?
4. Eggheads fan from the Netherlands here! Thank you for doing this AMA Mr Vine! As expected, I do have Eggheads questions : Is Daphne really as lovely as she looks on screen and do you miss her already? Why do I like CJ so much? He is strict, tough, hard, direct and still my favourite egghead (apologies to the other eggheads!).
Daphne is adorable. When she retired, my mum wrote her a lovely letter and Daphne wrote a long and charming letter back. CJ is likeable, if you don't mind him walking around between shows stripped to the navel and covered in butter. I was joking about the butter.
5. What is Kevin's secret to his unknowing knowledge? My theories are - eats human brains, or secretly a robot. Which is true?
I don't know. It is truly incredible. The other day he told me the years Bach and Shostakovitch were born and died. And that was just small talk.
6. Nicola Sturgeon looks more and more likely to be the kingmaker in the general election. Just how much will the rise of "regional" parties like the SNP and PC affect British politics in generations to come?
Hugely. Someone said "all politics is local", and the system we have - first-past-the-post - emphasises the local, in that the most important thing is to concentrate your vote. The SNP and Plaid (in Wales) do this almost by definition; the LibDems are past masters at it. We are watching with interest to see if UKIP get say 15% but struggle to win seats because their vote is spread rather than zoned.
7. Have there ever been any humorous incidents involving graphics going wrong?
I did trip on a virtual step into 10 Downing Street once. When there is a real object (a green doorstep) and it is overlaid by a virtual projection (a real doorstep that is not real) it can get very confusing. Sometimes I get home and wonder if my wife is actually just a graphic.
8. You've covered some pretty good topics on your Radio 2 show, but what story have you found the most comical?
We did a story today about a guy who built a boat with loft insulation and staples and had to be rescued by the RNLI. When he came on the air I asked him how he could set sail in a boat that cost nothing, and he said it didn't, it cost him £9, which was the silicone adhesive he used to glue it together. Utter madness.
9. What has been your favourite moment in the 12 years you have been on Radio 2?
Thanks for this lovely question. When I pressed the CD button on 6 January 2003, and heard Thunder Road (that opening signature on the piano) - and heard the lyric "you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't so young anymore". My predecessor was Jimmy Young.
10. What is your favourite book ? And what book inspires you in your life?
I just read Gone Girl. Then I thought "Gillian Flynn is ace" and read Dark Places. Then I thought she was actually close to a crime genius, and am reading Sharp Objects. Love you Gillian!
11. Where on the political spectrum do you place yourself?
I am keen not to - not even in my sleep - not even in conversation with my wife over a candlelit dinner and especially not here.
12. Who chooses the music on your Radio 2 show?
Michael Banbrook, and me. Michael calls it "the plot", because he's a music guy. Are you happy with it?
13. When presenting on election night, do you write your own scripts when describing the graphics?
There are no scripts. There is a brilliant young producer called Ed Brown who can write notes on a projector. If I stall completely @Benowatt will say in my ear "The SNP section is next".
14. Is the current rise of minority parties like the Greens, UKIP, Plaid, and the SNP a flash in the pan protest at the two party system or here to stay?
I can't know - but I think it's here to stay. Partly because what is happening in Scotland feels so huge. And also because society is less tribal now. When did you last see a working men's club full of cigarette smoke or a red-coated toff on horseback with a hunting trumpet? People almost never say "I've always voted X or Y because my dad or mum did" so I get the feeling politics is being broken up and broken down, and it is scaring the pants off people who thought it would give them a job for life.
15. Which newspapers do you read, if any?
I don't read them on paper. I read them on my phone, where I have the Mail, Indie, Guardian, Telegraph, Economist and New York Times apps. Sad to say, I haven't yet paid for any online newspaper content. (No - sorry - I do pay something for the Sun, because I get their Football Goals add-on). I mourn what we have lost in the newspaper industry, as I started on the Coventry Evening Telegraph.
16. How do you rate the chances of each of the parties in the election?
Very broadly: 30% Conservative, 30% Labour, 30% elsewhere. For a more exact answer, join us on the night.
17. Short and sweet: Who's going to win?
I have a view but - no, I mustn't. I really mustn't. | The BBC's election analyst, Jeremy Vine, hosted an 'Ask Me Anything' (AMA) Q&A session on the Reddit website on 8 April. | 32227165 |
The accident, on the A140 at Roughton at about 07:25 GMT, was one of 12 police dealt with earlier.
Some of the vehicles collided while others skidded off the road, Norfolk Police said.
The road was closed between the B1436 Thorpe Market Road junction and the White Post Road junction but reopened just after 12:20 GMT.
Read more on this and other stories from Norfolk
Insp John Chapman, from the road policing unit, said his team alone had dealt with seven accidents "in the space of an hour".
He said bearing in mind the weather conditions, "it didn't surprise me that we were suffering quite a high volume of road traffic collisions".
"Fortunately, there were no serious injuries in any of these... but there was obviously a high demand on our resources."
He advised drivers to "expect the unexpected" during the cold snap. | A 12-vehicle crash in foggy conditions on an icy road has left one person injured in Norfolk. | 35586783 |
PCC David Keane referred the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which handed it back.
Mr Byrne, the chief constable since 2014, said he could not comment as he did not know the detail of the claim.
The BBC understands that the complaint originated from an officer with the Cheshire force.
Mr Keane said he referred the allegation to IPCC in the "interest of openness and transparency".
The IPCC returned the investigation for a "local investigation".
Mr Keane said: "This investigation will be conducted independently of Cheshire Constabulary in accordance with the statutory police complaints process."
Father-of-two Mr Byrne, who is a holder of the Queen's Police Medal, previously served as an assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police and assistant chief constable with Merseyside Police. | Cheshire's Chief Constable Simon Byrne is being investigated by the county's police and crime commissioner (PCC) over an allegation about his conduct. | 38169624 |
Sadie Hartley, 60 was stunned with a cattle prod and stabbed 40 times in Helmshore, Lancashire, on 14 January.
Sarah Williams, 35, and Katrina Walsh, 56, both from Chester, deny murder.
The prosecution claimed the pair were "determined and methodical" in their plot to fulfil Ms Williams' desire to be with the man she loved by killing his partner.
In his closing speech to jurors at Preston Crown Court, prosecutor John McDermott QC said the defendants were "cold-blooded murderers" who were attempting to deceive them.
He said: "Sarah Williams spent four days in this court in front of you, cool, calm and collected and as matter of fact as she could pretend to be.
"But the real Sarah Williams is a bitter, obsessive, arrogant woman who stops at nothing to get her own selfish way."
He asked them to recall the evidence of a witness who said Ms Williams went "feral" and acted like "a wild thing" during a row on a ski trip.
Mr McDermott said: "Imagine what it is like when she really hates somebody, as she did. The savagery inflicted on Sadie Hartley takes a special kind of mindset to deliver."
Sales adviser Ms Williams was previously in a relationship with Ian Johnston, 57, which ended when he refused to leave Ms Hartley, the court heard.
The 35-year-old earlier told the jury she was ill in bed at the time of the killing and said the evidence pointed to her co-accused Ms Walsh.
Horse riding instructor Ms Walsh, who did not give evidence, told police she thought she was participating in a game of the Channel 4 programme Hunted - in which teams of two try to go "off the grid" and avoid detection.
She told officers she did not believe Ms Williams was going to harm anyone.
Mr McDermott said the idea she thought she was in a game was "absurd" as discussions of the murder plot appeared in her diary before the programme was broadcast.
He said Ms Walsh had done her best to "remain anonymous" during the trial and she had created "a caricature of a fool" in her police interviews by playing "a grotesque parody of a half-baked, befuddled loon".
"These two were in fact hunters, not hunted. They hunted down Sadie Hartley as you might stalk a deer and then went in for the kill," he added.
Ms Williams, of Treborth Road, Blacon, Chester, and Ms Walsh, of Hare Lane, Chester, deny murder.
The trial continues. | Two women accused of murdering a businesswoman "hunted" her "as you might stalk a deer", a jury has heard. | 37037527 |
Compared to the third quarter, growth was up 0.6%, beating market expectations of 0.4%.
Household consumption, construction and public spending were the main factors driving the better-than-expected growth.
The strong data comes despite the global commodity slump hitting the country's vital mining and oil sectors.
Australia's benchmark ASX/200 was up 1.5% on the positive news.
"Given Australia is going through the biggest mining pullback in our lifetimes, this is a pretty good outcome," said David de Garis, a senior economist at National Australia Bank.
Analysts also said the stronger-than-expected figure meant further cuts in interest rates were unlikely in the near future.
The Australian central bank has held rates steady since May last year and earlier this week decided to keep its main interest rate at 2% for a tenth consecutive month saying it saw "reasonable prospects" for growth.
However The Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens said the bank would be keeping an eye on the country's low inflation rate.
"Continued low inflation would provide scope for easier policy, should that be appropriate to lend support to demand," he said.
Australians must be feeling pretty smug these days. Despite a collapse in global commodity prices, it has managed to escape recession yet again.
So what are Australians getting right? Well - it may just come down to that "lucky country" cliché we hear about "Down Under" all the time.
There's no denying that as mines have closed, jobs have been lost and that's putting pressure on the government to find new avenues of growth - but don't forget Australia is already a highly diversified economy.
Services like tourism, finance, business, technology and education are major components of Australia's economy and they've benefited from a weaker Australian dollar. The agriculture sector is also seeing renewed interest - check out the reports I did on Australia's agricultural sector here.
Mining has also seen a boost from the lower Australian dollar, because it has meant that Australia's products are cheaper at a time when demand has dropped.
Investments in mining software have helped the industry to remain competitive even in a downturn, and maintain Australia's global share of resource exports. | Australia's economy grew by 3% in the three months ending December 2015, compared to the same period a year ago. | 35703813 |
The ticket plus coach packages went on sale at 18:00 BST on Thursday and were all gone by 18:23.
That was the time organisers posted a tweet saying they had all been snapped up.
General tickets to the 2017 event - which runs from 21 to 25 June at Worthy Farm in Somerset - will be released at 09:00 on Sunday.
No acts have yet been announced, though Daft Punk and Kraftwerk have been tipped as potential headliners.
Thursday's ticket issue saw buyers purchase tickets priced £238 per person in conjunction with coach tickets from various UK locations.
Online traffic was reportedly so heavy that many would-be purchasers were unable to access the official festival website.
Last year, the 118,200 standard tickets were snapped up in half an hour.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | The first batch of tickets released for next year's Glastonbury Festival have sold out in just 23 minutes. | 37583819 |
Goalkeepers Neil Alexander and Aaron Lennox are also moving on.
Pawlett had already signed a pre-contract with MK Dons while Pittodrie boss Derek McInnes indicated in recent months Jack and McGinn would leave.
And Cammy Smith, 21, agreed a two-year deal with St Mirren, where he had been on loan from Aberdeen.
Youth players Robbie Mutch, Jamie Henry, Dylan Thomas, Aaron Norris and Joe Nuttall are also leaving Pittodrie.
Defender Taylor, 26, midfielder Jack, 25, and winger McGinn, 29, all started Aberdeen's 2-1 Scottish Cup final defeat by Celtic and midfielder Pawlett, 26, was an unused substitute.
Jack, who has been linked with Rangers, had been Aberdeen captain but Graeme Shinnie was skipper for Saturday's game at Hampden and McInnes confirmed before the final Shinnie would have the armband next season.
Northern Ireland international McGinn has spent five years with Aberdeen, two more than Wales Under-21 cap Taylor. McInnes said in March McGinn's agent "indicated that there may be (English) Championship interest" in the player who has scored 93 club goals.
Former Rangers and Hearts keeper Alexander, 39, joined the Dons on a one-year deal last summer. He has also played in England and was capped three times by Scotland.
Australian Lennox, 24, was loaned to Raith Rovers in season 2016-17 and has been capped up to under-23 level for his country.
Shankland was loaned to Greenock Morton earlier this year after two loan spells at St Mirren while fellow striker Smith initially joined the Buddies after a spell on loan at Dundee United. Both Shankland and Smith have played for Scotland Under-21s.
"Everyone at Aberdeen FC would like to thank all the players who are leaving for their tremendous commitment to the club, in some cases over many years, and wish them all the very best for the future," Aberdeen said in their statement on Wednesday. | Aberdeen have confirmed Ash Taylor and Lawrence Shankland will follow Ryan Jack, Niall McGinn and Peter Pawlett in leaving the club this summer. | 40113519 |
Staff are able to send short films of their patients to parents when they are away from the hospital.
The initiative is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK and it is being trialled at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.
Parents say the video clips offer reassurance about their children.
Around 600 babies are treated on the hospital's neonatal unit each year - it is the largest of its kind in Scotland.
But many parents are unable to remain with their infants around the clock.
The video technology initiative was developed by medics keen to involve families more in patient care.
Dr Neil Patel, a neonatologist, said the idea was suggested by a parent whose baby was being cared for on the ward.
"He told us how, in his own work, they used short videos to feedback to customers and he said it would be great if you could do that and send me a message about my baby, especially when I can't be in the unit."
Dr Patel believes it is the first initiative of its kind in the UK. Similar schemes using video streaming presented "challenges", he said.
"Short message we think is a really effective way to give parents an update on their baby but in some ways to draw them into the care of their baby as well," he added.
"We've already had interest from other centres to use the system for the babies they look after as well - in Scotland and also in other parts of the UK."
Senior staff nurse Emma Gallagher has been taking part in the pilot, using a tablet to record short clips and send secure updates to parents.
She said: "It's great. When we find a good moment where we can video a baby, we just take that opportunity.
"Sometimes things happen at night-time that the parents don't always see so it's nice to capture a little video to show them what their baby is up to while they're maybe sleeping or not able to make it up.
"It doesn't take up any extra time because we wouldn't do it if we were really busy and it's something that we're all very excited about and interested in. We want to support the families."
Baby Sophie has spent the first six weeks of her life at the Glasgow hospital but her parents, Sarah and Jack, live half an hour away and cannot always be there.
Jack said waiting for phone calls from the ward made them anxious and distressed but the new video scheme offered them reassurance.
He said: "It was really nice, really reassuring. It meant we could be here without actually being here.
"It's nice to have a little memory, it's much nicer than a phone call. It's nice to just have a little memento.
"We'll download them all at the end and we'll have a video log of her whole hospital experience which will be nice to show her in years to come." | Medics treating infants at a Scottish hospital are using video technology in a new scheme helping parents keep in touch with their babies. | 39615463 |
Are we equipping our children with the skills and knowledge they need for the 21st Century?
They are questions which schools in Wales have had to consider this year.
After several reviews into different subjects from the arts to IT reported back to the Welsh government last year, in March, the education minister decided to look at the whole lot.
Prof Graham Donaldson was tasked with carrying out a root and branch review of our curriculum and will publish his report in February
While details are sketchy right now, we've been told to expect big things.
When Prof Donaldson was in Cardiff recently he told a conference of head teachers: "What I design will challenge you. You will need to decide if you're up for that."
No pressure then.
The other challenge on the minds of many of our head teachers this year was the Welsh government's new flagship policy: Schools Challenge Cymru.
As well as a share of the £20m budget, the 40 schools included in the scheme have been given an expert advisor who has drawn up an improvement plan with the school leaders and will then bring in extra support to raise standards.
The extra support is in the form of experts or teachers from successful schools willing to share their staff.
Those involved with Schools Challenge Cymru expect to see an improvement in GCSE exam results within the first year, so we'll see whether it's been a success or not in August.
If there have been improvements in next year's GCSE results it will build on the relative success of this year; once again, pupils in Wales narrowed the gap with their counterparts in England.
There are certain subjects where Wales outperforms other parts of the UK now, such as chemistry. But while that was a cause for celebration, maths continues to be a cause for concern.
Last year 52.8% of pupils in Wales achieved an A*-C grade in maths, but by this year the figure had dropped to 50.6%.
But in England the figure went up.
It means that, last year, in those getting good grades, Wales was around five per cent behind England.
But by this year, that figure shot up to over 12%.
This time last year those involved with education were still reeling from yet another set of Pisa results.
It seemed pretty much impossible that Wales would succeed in reaching its target of being in the top 20 Pisa countries after next year's tests.
In October the target changed. Now the aim is to achieve a score of 500 by the tests in 2021.
So where would a score of 500 have left Wales in last year's ranking?
However, it's also quite close to where other parts of the UK were in last year's tests. The question was asked: is the new target ambitious enough?
Welsh government officials are really starting to feel that the reforms to schools are really starting to deliver, and that next year, we'll see bigger improvements.
Education Minister Huw Lewis went so far as to say Wales might even overtake England next year in the proportion of pupils gaining five A*-C grades in core subjects.
That's a bold claim, but one which wouldn't have been made over the past few years.
The feeling is that 2015 could just be the year the tide really turns. | Which subjects should get most attention on the curriculum? | 30478472 |
A video posted online shows some 100 hostile demonstrators surrounding the bus as it pulls up to deliver migrants to accommodation in eastern Germany.
Another appears to show police roughly dragging a young boy off the vehicle.
Police said they needed to get the migrants into the hostel quickly as the situation was tense.
The incident took place on Thursday night in the eastern village of Clausnitz, south of Dresden, and the video footage from the scene has been widely shared online.
Demonstrators tried to prevent migrants getting off the bus, chanting "we are the people" in a scene the state Interior Minister, Markus Ulbig, described as "deeply shameful".
Upset children can be seen in the video on board the bus, which was blocked for two hours.
Defending the police response, regional police chief Uwe Reissmann said on Saturday that there were too few officers to keep the protesters away from the bus and it was necessary to get the migrants into the building quickly.
He said three of those inside the bus had provoked the crowd - one "showing the finger" to the protesters.
Referring to the removal of the boy, Mr Reissmann said "only physical force" could ensure his transfer to the hostel.
"In my opinion, the police should not face repercussions," he said at a news conference.
The boy and a youth from the bus face an investigation over the "finger" incident, Mr Reissmann added.
Those on board the vehicle were the first refugees to be accommodated at the shelter in the village.
In a further development, German media report that the head of the migrant shelter in Clausnitz, Thomas Hetze, spoke at a recent anti-immigrant rally.
He was invited to the Freiberg gathering by the right-wing Alternative fuer Deutschland party (Alternative for Germany), according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (in German).
Local officials are quoted as saying there is no problem so long as he has not broken the law.
The slogan which the protesters chanted on Thursday in Clausnitz, "we are the people" ("Wir sind das Volk"), was used in the peaceful demonstrations against the dictatorship in East Germany which preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The historic slogan has since been used - misused, according to German President and Communist-era civil rights activist Joachim Gauck - by the anti-Islam Pegida protesters in Germany.
Germany received over a million asylum claims in 2015.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. | German police have defended their response to an incident involving a bus full of migrants which was surrounded by chanting protesters. | 35622199 |
The base at Speirs Wharf will feature one of the largest rehearsal rooms in Scotland, space for technical and costume production and community drama.
Work to revamp the former cash and carry building will begin in July.
Since the theatre company was set up in 2006 it has created hundreds of productions, including the award-winning Black Watch.
Laurie Sansom, artistic director at NTS, said: "For the first time ever we have the opportunity to create a space that brings together our company, our colleagues and all our communities.
"A place of imagination, learning and play. A space from which we can begin to fulfil our ambitions, not just for the National Theatre of Scotland but for the wider theatre community and the entire nation."
The overhaul of the disused building in Glasgow's Craighall Road, in the north of the city, is expected to be completed by spring 2016.
It will provide the NTS with about 3,700 sq m (40,000 sq ft) of space over two levels.
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "The new Speirs Wharf centre for creativity, production and talent development will be a hub of innovation within the Scottish theatre industry.
"It will become a dedicated and inspiring space where work will be devised and developed, sets and costumes designed and creative expression explored.
"Not only will the facility assist with new productions and work, by redeveloping a disused building the facility will help to regenerate the canal area at Speirs Wharf."
The estimated cost of the redeveloped building is £5,875,000,
So far, NTS has secured £3,454,481 towards the cost- a £2m grant from the Scottish government and £469,481 from its vacant and derelict land fund, £500,000 from Glasgow City Council, £400,000 from The Robertson Trust, £75,000 from The Wolfson Foundation and £10,000 from The Binks Trust.
The new look of the canal-side building has been designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects. | The National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) has unveiled plans for a new £5.8m headquarters in Glasgow. | 32116328 |
The Sweeney/McQuade family want Mr Clarke prosecuted over the December 2014 crash which killed six people.
The families of students Mhairi Convy and Laura Stewart, who were knocked down and killed in Glasgow in 2010, are seeking to prosecute William Payne.
Judges at the High Court in Edinburgh have begun hearing submissions.
Both Mr Clarke and Mr Payne blacked out at the wheel of the vehicles they were driving.
The Crown Office decided not to prosecute either on the basis that they did not commit crimes because they did not know that their medical conditions would have caused them to pass out.
However, the relatives of those who died in the collisions believe that the Crown made the wrong decision.
They now want to bring their own prosecution against the two men and have gone to the High Court to seek permission to start proceedings against the two men.
Much of what was said during Tuesday's hearing, held before judges Lord Carloway, Lord Bracadale and Lady Paton, cannot be reported for legal reasons. | Bereaved families have launched legal bids to bring private prosecutions against Glasgow bin lorry driver Harry Clarke and another fatal crash driver. | 35871343 |
Incumbent Conservative PM Stephen Harper is fighting for a rare fourth term but the frontrunner is Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, son of late prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
The left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) could also play a decisive role.
Opinion polls have suggested many people are still undecided.
Voting hours are staggered across the country and polls opened in Newfoundland at 0830 local time (1100 GMT). Polls will close in the west of the country at 19:00 (02:00 GMT).
It is one of the longest and possibly closest election campaigns in Canada's history, with leaders criss-crossing the country to try to sway undecided voters.
Mr Harper, 56, is selling himself as the steady hand who can steer Canada's troubled economy back on track.
His campaign has run TV advertisements saying that Liberal leader Mr Trudeau, 43, is "just not ready" to take office.
"Every single vote for a Conservative candidate is a vote to protect our economy against Liberal and NDP deficits and taxes," Mr Harper told supporters in Regina, Saskatchewan, on Sunday.
As polls opened, he tweeted that a vote for the Conservatives would "protect Canadian jobs and our economy".
Mr Trudeau started the race in third place but the Liberals took the lead in opinion polls in a late surge.
Stephen Harper's final stand?
The Toronto Blue Jays have their first home game in the playoffs for baseball's American League Championship series, and a sea of fans wearing blue T-shirts are filling downtown Toronto ahead of the big game.
But will blue be the dominant colour for the other big result of the night? After nearly a decade in power, the Conservatives (the blue team in this political race) are fighting to stay in office.
The Liberals (red) led by the photogenic Justin Trudeau have been ahead in the polls. If they win it'll be a stunning victory for a party which began this race in third.
If Mr Harper hangs on, he'll pull off an equally impressive feat in becoming the first prime minister to win a fourth term in more than a century. Either way this election will be historic. Will Canadians plump for continuity or change?
Speaking in Calgary, Alberta, on Sunday, Mr Trudeau urged voters to "come together as a country".
Mr Trudeau's father, Pierre, is considered the father of modern Canada.
NDP leader Tom Mulcair, 60, is hoping to build on his party's second-place finish in the 2011 elections.
However, support for the NDP appeared to have fallen in recent weeks.
At a stop in Toronto, Mr Mulcair hit out at the Liberal leader, saying: "They may try to fool you by giving the old car a fresh coat of paint. But as we've seen, the Liberal Party is just as rusted-out underneath as it was when Canadians kicked them out of office for corruption the last time."
An opinion poll released on Sunday showed the Liberals on 37.3%, seven points ahead of the Conservatives at 30.5%. The NDP had 22.1% according to the Nanos survey taken on October 15 to 17. The margin of error was 2.2%. | Canadians have started voting in fiercely contested parliamentary elections that could give them their first new leader in nearly 10 years. | 34568497 |
Labour's leader said the only debate he wanted was one between the "two people who could form the next government".
In 2015, Ed Miliband took part in a debate against four other opposition leaders after David Cameron opted out.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said both Mr Corbyn and Mrs May - who has also ruled out head-to-head appearances - were "running scared" of voters.
Broadcasters have said they are keen on staging a series of election debates, which drew big audiences in 2010 and 2015.
Earlier this month, ITV announced plans for a leaders' debate but did not say who would take part.
In 2010, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg went head-to-head in three encounters on ITV, Sky and the BBC.
In 2015, there was a single debate between all the main British party leaders, watched by an average audience of 7.7 million people. There was a separate debate between the Labour, SNP, Green Party, UKIP and Plaid Cymru leaders in the absence of the Conservative prime minister and his Lib Dem deputy Mr Clegg.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said he would not take part in a similar format this time around.
"The British people have the right to see a head-to-head debate between the only two people who could form the next government," he said. "The prime minister's refusal is a sign of weakness, not of strength."
In response, Mr Farron said the Labour leader should face his opponents and defend his policies.
"Given he has been absent since the day he was elected as leader of the opposition, it is no surprise that he is choosing to be absent now," he said.
"The broadcasters are going to have to dust off two empty chairs, the debates must go ahead."
In 2015, the BBC also broadcast a special edition of Question Time in which the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem leaders were questioned by the same studio audience. It drew a peak audience of 4.3 million people. | Jeremy Corbyn has said he will not take part in any head-to-head TV election debates without Theresa May. | 39725148 |
Announced in March, the then-culture secretary said changes were needed because a "loophole" was giving some people a "free ride".
Fewer than 2% of UK households only use catch-up services, TV Licensing says, but many who do are under 35.
Some of them told the BBC whether the new law will affect them.
Second-year psychology student Chris Deyes, 24, says he's not going to pay for a TV licence and will be covered by his parents' licence.
"Generally I watch catch-up, especially at university - but I rarely watch the BBC except for The Great British Bake Off, The Apprentice and Match Of The Day. It wouldn't make much difference to me if I stopped watching it really," he said.
For Chris, paying the same fee to watch these shows on iPlayer as those that watch a lot of live TV seems wrong.
"I don't know why we are paying for a TV licence if we are only watching a couple of hour-long shows once or twice a week," he said.
"I do understand that if everyone watches on demand then they wouldn't make any money. But it's quite a lot per person in halls when my accommodation costs £142 per week," he added.
"I don't see why something like the free over-75s licence can't be brought in for students. Why can't we be exempt from paying? It's only three years off."
Recent English literature and journalism graduate Sophie Moody, 22, from Suffolk, says she paid for a TV licence throughout her studies, and thinks the licence is worth the money overall.
"Even if you're watching TV on catch-up, you're still watching something that's been created with just as much work going into it," she added.
Sophie doesn't think the current licensing system is perfect though, because she thinks paying separately for their bedrooms in halls is unreasonable, and the content and archive on iPlayer needs improving.
"I do agree with giving a discount for people who are students too because I think it's unfair as we're studying," she added.
"It does seem a bit steep to make everyone pay the full fee. There's no way most students will be able to afford that... when they're living on tinned beans. People will just stream things for free," said 26-year-old Ruth Gaukrodger, an editorial assistant from London.
Ruth said after graduating university she got a TV and bought a licence, but still watches a lot of catch-up television on her laptop.
"Sometimes you sit down to watch something and it's not at the beginning, or you can watch iPlayer in the bath or in bed," she added.
"Students are aware of the cost of producing these shows, but for them it's a lot to pay for content when you have clear alternatives. A lot of the BBC shows appeal to a fairly older demographic too."
She added: "I wouldn't have paid for the TV licence when I was a student, I would have stopped using iPlayer and paid for Netflix because it's cheaper and has a lot of US dramas, which is what I watched a lot of at university.
"I can see how some people are frustrated that they now have to pay for it, but a lot of people are watching TV online now so you've got to change your pricing to go with it," said junior doctor Adam Jones, 26, from Oxford.
He said he hardly ever watches live TV in his home except for the Six Nations and when he does watch television, he mostly watches documentaries and period dramas on catch-up.
"If you compare the monthly cost of a TV licence with the cost of going to the cinema or going out to the pub once a month, it's pretty reasonable," he said.
"I am watching all this stuff anyway, so somebody's got to pay for it."
But Adam thinks it will be difficult to 'police' the new system.
"How are you going to prove that people have been watching stuff after it's been on, if it's an online service that doesn't track exactly who's logging in and using it?" he said.
"At the end of the day if people don't want to pay the TV licence they won't, they'll figure out a way of doing it."
A TV Licensing spokesman said: "We know the vast majority of people are law abiding and would anticipate those who need a licence for the first time will buy one.
"We have a range of enforcement techniques which we will use, and these have already allowed us to prosecute people who watch on a range of devices, not just TVs." | Audiences watching programmes on BBC iPlayer will have to buy a TV licence costing £145.50 from Thursday. | 37219451 |
The lessons are part of the "Recognise and Remove" campaign for schools on the risks associated with head injuries.
They can be accessed online at the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) website.
The campaign was launched following the death of Benjamin Robinson from Carrickfergus in a rugby match in 2011.
The 14-year-old was allowed to carry on playing despite suffering from concussion.
His parents had argued he should have been taken off the pitch, after being momentarily knocked out during the game.
While most attention has been focused on rugby, Benjamin's father, Peter, said there were risks beyond the rugby pitch.
"We teach swimming, we teach road safety, and concussion can happen anywhere," he said.
"Rugby is probably leading the way when it comes to dealing with concussion, but it can happen in any sport.
"It doesn't even have to be in the sports environment, so it's vital that everyone knows the signs and symptoms."
Mr Robinson was at the launch of the lessons at Lagan College in Belfast, as were representatives from the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Ulster Rugby, the Irish Football Association (IFA) and Ulster Hockey.
The lessons are not compulsory, but Education Minister John O'Dowd said that it was important they were widely used.
"In extreme cases, lives could depend on this, and we want young people to know that they are not letting the team down if they feel they cannot continue," he said.
"The coach should also not be under pressure to make sure a young person stays on the pitch.
"The best thing to do if someone has a head injury is that they sit the rest of the game out."
The Principal of Lagan College, Amanda McNamee, said it was vital to be prepared.
"It's something we've seen not only on the sports pitch, but when children are playing and moving around at the school," she said.
"We become the parents of the children during the school day when they're in our care, so it's important that we don't put children unduly at risk and we are making sound decisions based on information we have been given." | New lessons on the dangers of concussion have been made available to all schoolchildren in Northern Ireland. | 34403358 |
BBC Radio 5 live will have commentaries of the big Aintree races climaxing with the National on 11 April (16:15 BST).
The sport website will have reports, a pinstickers' guide, sweepstake kit and live text commentary on the National.
Correspondent Cornelius Lysaght and website racing reporter Frank Keogh will be in Liverpool throughout the meeting, posting updates on Twitter and giving updates via the live text service.
12:00-18:06 5 live Sport with Mark Pougatch with all the build-up and then commentary of the race itself. With reaction in Sports Report from 17:00.
Full race schedule (Time, race, status, distance)
13:30 Aintree Mersey Novices' Hurdle (Grade 1) 2m 4f
14:05 Doom Bar Maghull Novices' Steeplechase (Grade 1) 2m
14:50 Silver Cross Stayers' Hurdle (Grade 1) 3m ½f
15:25 Betfred Handicap Steeplechase (Listed) 3m 1f
16:15 CRABBIE'S GRAND NATIONAL (Grade 3) 4m 3½f
17:10 Crabbie's Handicap Hurdle (Class 2) 2m ½f
17:40 Pinsent Masons Mares' Standard Open NH Flat (Listed) 2m 1f | You can follow all the action from the three-day Grand National meeting at Aintree on BBC radio, online, mobiles and the BBC Sport app. | 32142926 |
The judges praised the "extraordinary intensity and vocal range" of his work.
Krasznahorkai, who writes in Hungarian, was chosen from a list of 10 contenders from around the world.
The prize, worth £60,000, is awarded every two years for "an achievement in fiction on the world stage".
Krasznahorkai's win was announced at an award ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Tuesday night.
The judges said of Krasznahorkai's work: "What strikes the reader above all are the extraordinary sentences, sentences of incredible length that go to incredible lengths, their tone switching from solemn to madcap to quizzical to desolate as they go their wayward way."
Born in 1954, Krasznahorkai gained recognition in 1985 when he published Satantango, which he adapted for the big screen in 1994.
The black-and-white drama, by Hungarian film-maker Bela Tarr, is notable for its seven-hour running time.
Krasznahorkai's other books include:
Announcing the winner, Marina Warner, who chaired the judging panel, said: "Laszlo Krasznahorkai is a visionary writer of extraordinary intensity and vocal range who captures the texture of present-day existence in scenes that are terrifying, strange, appallingly comic, and often shatteringly beautiful.
"The Melancholy of Resistance, Satantango and Seiobo There Below are magnificent works of deep imagination and complex passions, in which the human comedy verges painfully on to transcendence."
Krasznahorkai has chosen to split the separate £15,000 translator's prize between two translators of his work, the Hungarian-born poet George Szirtes and literary critic Ottilie Mulzet.
Other winners of the international Booker include:
Krasznahorkai will be interviewed by Marina Warner at the Hay Festival, in Powys, on Sunday 24 May. | "Visionary" Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai has been announced as the winner of the sixth Man Booker International Prize. | 32789001 |
It could prevent deadly mitochondrial disease, but has provoked a fierce ethical debate.
DNA for mitochondria - tiny compartments within cells which unlock the energy from food - is passed from mothers to children, so a donor woman's mitochondria might stop the disease.
Prof Doug Turnbull, head of the centre in Newcastle that has pioneered the research, said the disease affects organs that are "heavily dependent on energy metabolism".
"So in the heart you have cardiac failure; progressive weakness in the muscles leading to extreme fatigue and respiratory failure; and in the brain, epilepsy, stroke-like episodes and cognitive decline," he said.
"In the most severe cases I've looked after, the children died in the first 48 hours of life.
"That is unusual; often these conditions are associated with increasing levels of disability.
"I saw a patient on Tuesday that I've looked after for 33 years."
That patient was one of Prof Turnbull's first when he started out in the field as a young neurologist, "fascinated" about understanding, diagnosing and - more recently - preventing the disease.
The centre in Newcastle sees patients from across the UK and is acknowledged as one of the best in the world for caring for people with mitochondrial disease.
Yet even with the best available medicine there are many heartbreaking stories, including those of families who have lost multiple children.
Six of Sharon Bernardi's children died within days of birth.
Her son Edward survived to the age of 21, although he was often ill.
Prof Turnbull said the huge desire of families to have healthy children motivated the team at the Newcastle centre.
"We've been discussing it since 2000," he said.
"It was the stories of the patients the whole team saw over the years that made us go 'Look, we've got to do better'.
"We have very limited treatments, so the most important thing for those families is to have children that are unaffected."
The idea featured in a report by the UK Chief Medical Officer that year, and the Newcastle team's first application for funding was made in 2001.
What emerged at Newcastle was a massive team effort between fertility experts, doctors caring for patients and experts in the genetics of mitochondria.
Their objective was to reach a point where healthy DNA from parents could be combined with healthy mitochondria from a donor.
The proposed therapy - called pronuclear transfer - is controversial.
Last week the Catholic and Anglican churches urged UK politicians to delay their decision to allow more research and debate.
The destruction of embryos as part of the process is among the ethical concerns raised.
Others say it is a first step towards creating so-called "designer babies", where genetic characteristics could be chosen by parents.
In pronuclear transfer, the mother's egg and the donor's egg are both fertilised as part of IVF to create a pair of embryos.
The DNA from mum and dad form two balls of genetic information in the embryo called pronuclei, which will fuse to create the genetic blueprint for a child.
These are transferred to the donor embryo, which is packed with healthy mitochondria and has its pronuclei removed.
The Newcastle research passed a significant barrier in 2010.
The group published a study in the journal Nature showing the technique was possible using eggs that would have been discarded as they were unsuitable for IVF.
"When we published that paper there was a recognition that... if we can make this work with abnormal eggs surely we should be moving forward with this," Prof Turnbull said.
He credits his colleague Prof Alison Murdoch, from the Newcastle Fertility Centre, for having the foresight to begin making the case for starting the process that could lead to a change in the law.
"She was very wise at the time, she said we could get the science finished, but if we don't push forward with trying to get the regulations through Parliament then we could get the science sorted and it could take years to go through," he said.
This is one of many times Prof Turnbull diverts the attention to colleagues - particularly to Prof Mary Herbert, another leader in the field of mitochondrial transfer.
He comes across as a man keenly aware he needs to make the case, but unwilling to be the centre of attention.
"An awful lot of expertise has to go into developing anything like this, this is a massive team effort," he said.
"This has never been about the scientist, it's about the patients."
The 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act left provision for babies to be "created from material provided by two women".
But it required a debate and a vote in both the Commons and the Lords for it to be enacted.
Five years, three scientific reviews and a public consultation later, the UK is about to decide.
"The whole process has been suitably rigorous and the UK should be suitably proud of its ability to regulate in such a sensitive area," Prof Turnbull said.
However, there was a sense of frustration in his voice when I suggested things had progressed quickly since 2010.
"It was first mooted in 2000, discussed extensively prior to the 2008 act, a lot of the ground work was done in 2010," he said.
"Is that quick?"
Any child born through this technique would have about 99.9% of their DNA from their parents.
But mitochondria have their own DNA, so that 0.1% would come from the donor.
It has given rise to the headline that frustrates many in the field: "Three-parent babies".
Prof Turnbull responds: "We know precisely what those genes do.
"Those mitochondria are not going to influence any of the characteristics of these children, they're going to provide healthy mitochondria. But it's a catchy headline.
"Do I think it's accurate? Of course I don't.
"Is there anything I can do about it? Even less," he concludes with a resigned chuckle.
But the headlines point to a deeper issue.
The change to the child's genetic composition will be passed down through the generations.
It is known as germ-line therapy and is illegal in many countries.
Some argue we are sleep-walking into a society that allows these techniques and opening the door to other forms of genetic modification of children.
I put these arguments to Prof Turnbull.
"I think people are perfectly entitled to their view, I've always felt that," he said.
"That the critics say 'I wouldn't have this' is of course reasonable, but I think the thing we all struggle with here at Newcastle is that they are denying other people the right to make those sorts of decisions.
"When you talk to patients with mitochondrial disease they want to make those decisions."
If the vote in the Commons goes through on Tuesday, and the House of Lords agrees in the coming weeks, the UK fertility regulator could grant Newcastle the first license this year.
The first attempt would then be expected this year, with the first baby born in 2016.
Prof Turnbull admits to being a "natural pessimist" and says he is "anxious" ahead of the vote by MPs.
His final argument is: "This is research that has been suggested by the patients, supported by patients and is for the patients, and that's an important message." | On Tuesday, MPs will decide whether to allow the creation of babies from three people - mum, dad and a second, donor, woman. | 31044255 |
An estimated 20% of petrol stations have either run dry or are low on supplies.
Clashes broke out at one refinery early on Tuesday when police broke up a blockade at Fos-sur-Mer in Marseille.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls insisted the labour laws would stand, and that further blockades would be broken up.
"That's enough. It's unbearable to see this sort of thing," he told French radio. "The CGT will come up against an extremely firm response from the government. We'll carry on clearing sites blocked by this organisation."
The strike has gradually spread across France's fuel infrastructure, hitting oil refineries, fuel depots and petrol stations across the country.
The government said two out of every 10 petrol stations were affected, but motorists uploaded details of many more that had problems with supplies.
Petrol shortages were a hot issue on social media on Tuesday.
Some Twitters backed the industrial action under the hashtag #JeSoutiensLaGreve (I support the strike), while others toyed with film titles under the hashtag #PenurieCarburantDansUnFilm (fuel shortage in a film).
Police moved in early at dawn on Tuesday to dismantle a blockade outside the Fos-sur-Mer oil refinery and petrol depot at Marseille port.
Tear gas and water cannon were fired, projectiles thrown, and tyres and pallets set alight, reports said. Several people were hurt on both sides.
In his first intervention in the dispute, President Francois Hollande denounced the blockade as a "strategy supported by a minority".
Multinational Total, which owns five of France's oil refineries, threatened to review its investments in response to the disruption.
"If our colleagues want to take an industrial asset hostage for a cause that is foreign to the company, you have to ask whether that is where we should invest," Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne told reporters.
He cited a planned €500m modernisation plan at Donges, near the western port of Saint-Nazaire, where some of the biggest disruption took place on Tuesday.
"I'm not saying we won't go ahead with it, just that we must learn the lessons of what's happening and review these plans."
The union is aiming to cut output by half at the refineries and wants strikes on the railways as well, in an attempt to reverse labour laws that make it easier for companies to hire and fire staff.
There are concerns that the disruption may affect the Euro 2016 football championships, with one former union leader saying the event is not "sacred".
The government provoked union outrage when it resorted to a constitutional device to force its watered-down labour reforms through parliament without a vote, earlier this month. | A strike over new labour laws has spread to all of France's eight oil refineries, the CGT union says, in an escalating dispute with the government. | 36366912 |
Alexander Garkusha pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in a New York court.
He admitted making $125,000 (£84,000) from trades made over a three-month period using information gleaned from stolen embargoed press statements.
It is alleged a total of $100m was earned by a wider group using the scam.
The US authorities first made their suspicions public in August, saying that they believed the computer servers of Business Wire, Marketwired and PR Newswire had been breached leading to the theft of more than 150,000 news releases.
Companies often issue details of their financial results and other market sensitive news to the companies in advance so that the information can be released to all their investors at a specific time.
Nine people have been charged by district attorneys in New York and New Jersey in relation to the case, but dozens of others have also named as being suspects.
The gang responsible for the hack is thought to be based in Ukraine. Other individuals accused of being involved live in Russia, France and Cyprus.
Georgia-based Garkusha agreed to co-operate with the authorities and give up his earnings as part of his plea. Other defendants have plead not guilty.
Garkusha is due to be sentenced on 6 May. | US prosecutors have secured their first conviction in a case involving hack attacks on three of the major financial news release publishers. | 35166992 |
Sotheby's has said it will repatriate about $381m to help fund its share buyback programme.
As a result it will take a charge of between $63m and $68m to cover US taxes, it said in a regulatory filing.
The company estimates it will record a loss of between $10m and $19m (£7m-£13m) for the fourth quarter of 2015.
Sotheby's will also take a $37m pre-tax charge for staff payoffs.
The company said it needed to bring the cash back to the US for "corporate strategic initiatives".
The move to repatriate earnings is unusual for a US-based multinational - many choose to re-invest cash earned overseas due to relatively high US tax rates.
On Thursday, Sotheby's board voted to scrap its quarterly dividend, and increase its share buyback programme by $200m, taking its total to $325m.
The board also voted to scrap its fourth quarter dividend. | New York-based auction house Sotheby's is to bring overseas earnings back to the US, a move which will contribute to the firm reporting a quarterly loss. | 35383836 |
Former England opener Boycott made 609 first-class appearances for Yorkshire and was president from 2012 to 2014.
The 75-year-old does not hold a board position, but acts informally as an overseas ambassador for the club.
"We want individuals with skills that can guarantee the survival of the club," Denison told BBC Radio Leeds.
Denison, who succeeded Colin Graves in March last year, added: "We are saying no on the back of stability.
"The success we have had in the last two seasons has been on the back of a very stable board and a very stable management team all pointing in the same direction.
"He's a boyhood hero of mine - I invaded the pitch aged 13 when he got his 100th hundred at Headingley - but the problem we face at the moment is the club has been in serious financial difficulty for a long time, propped up by Colin Graves.
"We've had to refinance both this year and try and lay foundations for the immediate future when we have to build a new stand.
"We need specialist skills on our board in relation to finance and construction - and that's the direction of the board over the next few years."
Boycott's return to the board would need to be approved by the club members at the annual general meeting on 26 March.
He received 91.09% of the vote when he was voted club president in 2012.
"Irrespective of the outcome of the member vote, there will be no acrimony involved," added Denison. "We will work with Geoffrey if he gets elected.
"Geoffrey does an excellent job supporting the club when he's on his travels around the world and we want him to do that again. There is nobody better." | Yorkshire chairman Steve Denison has asked club members not to back Geoffrey Boycott's return to the board of directors. | 35689136 |
Because, according to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Mr Modi has hurt the pride of Biharis by casting aspersions on him.
With an eye on the key upcoming elections in the state, Mr Modi reportedly told a campaign meeting recently that Mr Kumar's decision to part ways with his BJP party - with whom it ran a successful coalition government in the state for eight years - proved something was wrong with Mr Kumar's "political DNA".
Mr Kumar has struck back fiercely on social media saying Mr Modi has to take back his words. As a part of protest, he said at least five million people of Bihar would "join a signature campaign and send their samples to Mr Modi for DNA tests".
"I am son of Bihar, so my DNA is the DNA of the people of Bihar. Now I leave it to the people of Bihar how to reply to someone who says their DNA is poor," Mr Kumar tweeted.
So, on Tuesday, Mr Kumar's government launched DNA collection camps in 250 places in the state capital, Patna, to pick up hair and nail samples of people who flocked there. On Thursday, camps will move to the state's 38 districts.
A journalist I spoke to said the queues at some of the camps were a kilometre long. Scissors and nail cutters were at the ready.
People, many of them workers of Mr Kumar's Janata Dal (United) Party, were being given plastic pouches to store the samples and hand them over to officials.
"I am proud to be a Bihari. Our DNA has no imperfection. If you doubt our claim, test our samples," screams the publicity material.
But when my friend asked a man in queue whether he knew what DNA was, he replied: "Why should I know? I was asked to give my hair and nail because they have to be sent to [Mr] Modi. So I have come here."
Mr Kumar is a popular backward caste leader, ruling one of India's poorest states.
A former ally of the BJP, he was a federal minister in the earlier BJP-run coalition government. In 2005, he won a landslide majority in Bihar in coalition with the BJP and became the chief minister.
Two terms in power and eight years later, in 2013, he threw the BJP out of the coalition after refusing to accept Mr Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate for last year's general election. Things have been rocky for him ever since.
For long, India's regional parties have invoked local pride to woo voters, with mixed results. Identity, statehood, autonomy and development have been the traditional tropes. Mr Modi talked about Gujarati asmita (pride) on the stump last year; Mr Kumar seems to have borrowed a leaf out of his campaign book.
Bihar remains deeply divided along caste lines - 65% of its people belong to backward castes - but Mr Kumar has often invoked Bihari identity and pride to woo voters.
Some years ago, he told his biographer Sankarshan Thakur that he firmly believed that a "new Bihari identity has emerged in the last few years which is above caste and class", and that his purpose was to make it count.
However, Mr Kumar's optimism has not really borne fruit: elections in the state are still fought mainly on caste lines, and Bihari sub-nationalism has reared its head only occasionally, when, for example, its migrant workers have been attacked by the right-wing Shiv Sena party supporters in Mumbai.
"This DNA collection move is a gimmick and quite ridiculous," Mr Thakur told me. "I don't really have a clue how this churlish reaction will help Mr Kumar."
How the DNA samples of up to five million Biharis will help foster electoral unity among the voters is not clear. An amused BJP reckons it will cost more than $500m (£321m) to actually do the tests. Mr Modi is unlikely to pick up the tab.
Social scientist Shiv Visvanathan believes Mr Kumar is using DNA as a "metaphor to mean identity".
He told me: "It is about the essence of identity, and not really genetics." But, he cautions, invoking the primordial DNA to foster regional pride is really a move to "stir the pot, which is not a very good thing". | Why is India's Bihar state planning to send the DNA samples of up to five million of its people to Prime Minister Narendra Modi? | 33859720 |
The victim was found injured in Doyle Gardens, Kensal Green, just before 15:30 GMT on Monday.
Ambulance crews treated the boy at the scene and took him to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Metropolitan Police murder detectives have yet to release the boy's identity but said his next of kin had been informed. No arrests have been made but witnesses are being sought.
Capital City Academy in Willesden has confirmed the stabbed teenager was a pupil at the school.
A friend of the victim, who did not want to be named, told BBC London Radio: "He was one of the most loved people in the whole of our school.
"I gave him hug and said, 'Get home safely', and then I come out of school and I see that he's stabbed.
"There's all these teenagers out here running with knives and guns. What's the point? Where does it lead us?" | A 15-year-old boy has been stabbed to death in a London street. | 38726896 |
The Thaad missile system, aimed at intercepting attacks from North Korea, was made operational in South Korea last week.
But Beijing says the system will spy on its territory and has strongly criticised its deployment.
Relations between Beijing and Seoul have deteriorated over the issue.
Liberal Moon Jae-in was elected South Korean president on Tuesday. He is facing a delicate task balancing ties with the US, Seoul's traditional ally, and China - both of whose help he needs to tackle North Korea and its nuclear ambitions.
A South Korean presidential spokesman said that the Chinese leader - who initiated the call - "explained the reasons for Beijing's strong and repeated opposition" to the deployment, Yonhap news agency reported.
"President Moon said the Thaad issue can be resolved when there is no further provocation by North Korea," spokesman Yoon Young-chan said.
Mr Moon also raised the issue of apparent economic retaliation against South Korean firms in China, he said. He will send a delegation to Beijing to discuss both North Korea and Thaad.
The Thaad deployment was agreed by Mr Moon's predecessor, conservative leader Park Guen-hye. She is currently in prison awaiting trial on corruption charges.
Washington says the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) system will play a vital role in curbing the missile threat from Pyongyang, but Beijing says that the system's radar affects its security.
The deployment is also unpopular among South Koreans who live near the site that hosts the system because they believe it makes them a target.
Mr Moon's position on Thaad is not yet completely clear - his comments have been ambivalent in the past. His spokesman called a US decision to roll it out in the weeks before the election "very inappropriate", as it stripped the next government of the right to make its own decision on the system.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that the two sides expressed willingness "to bring [relations] back to a healthy and stable development track".
Both Mr Moon and Mr Xi agreed that denuclearising North Korea was a "common goal". Mr Moon has advocated dialogue with the North as well as sanctions, adopting a more conciliatory stance than his predecessor.
What impact will S Korea's expanded missile defence system have?
1. The enemy launches a missile
2. The Thaad radar system detects the launch, which is relayed to command and control
3. Thaad command and control instructs the launch of an interceptor missile
4. The interceptor missile is fired at the enemy projectile
5. The enemy projectile is destroyed in the terminal phase of flight
The launcher trucks can hold up to eight interceptor missiles. | China's president has set out his opposition to the deployment of a US missile system, in his first discussion with the new South Korean leader. | 39883804 |
The other hostages may have been killed in a raid by Libya's security forces on Thursday, the Italian foreign ministry said.
The four were abducted last year near a compound owned by Italian oil group Eni in the western Mellitah area.
Libya descended into chaos since the 2011 Nato-led military campaign that overthrew Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Two rival governments are vying for legitimacy and territory in Libya and the so-called Islamic State (IS) has gained a foothold in some parts of the country.
The two workers were freed in Sabratha, around 70km (43 miles) west of the capital, Tripoli, the head of Sabratha Military Council, Taher el-Gharaballi, told the BBC.
The workers are employed by Bonatti, a company that provides services to the oil, gas and energy sector.
Italy closed its embassy in Libya in February, calling on Italians to leave because of the security risks.
The Sabratha local brigade has been fighting since last week, when militants briefly overran the city centre and killed about a dozen brigade fighters.
Last month, a US air strike targeted an IS camp on the outskirts of the city, killing about 40 people, including two Serbian nationals who had been held hostage since November.
Sabratha is one of several Libyan cities where IS militants have established a presence in Libya.
Nine foreign oil workers were kidnapped by IS in March. | Two Italian construction workers kidnapped in Libya have been freed, a local military official has said. | 35726276 |
Paula Wales is alleged to have acted in an aggressive manner at a house in Grange Road, Monifieth, on 3 July this year.
Prosecutors claim she repeatedly kicked and struck a door and uttered threats of violence.
Ms Wales, 40, of Monifieth, denies the charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
The officer appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court. A trial date was set for March 2016. | A police officer is to stand trial accused of threatening to kill a woman in Angus. | 34945648 |
Grimsby's first cup tie since returning to the English Football League is away to Derby, while League Two side Blackpool host League One side Bolton.
The ties will be played in the week commencing Monday, 8 August.
Newcastle and Norwich will enter the competition, previously known as the League Cup, in the second round, having finished higher than Villa in 2015-16.
Sheffield Wednesday, who reached the quarter-finals of last season's competition after winning at Newcastle and beating Arsenal 3-0, are away to Cambridge.
The final will take place at Wembley on Sunday, 26 February 2017.
The full draw for the first round of the EFL Cup is as follows:
North Section
Carlisle v Port Vale
Rotherham v Morecambe
Accrington v Bradford
Rochdale v Chesterfield
Mansfield v Blackburn
Barnsley v Northampton
Cambridge v Sheffield Wednesday
Derby v Grimsby
Oldham v Wigan
Scunthorpe v Notts County
Doncaster v Nottingham Forest
Burton v Bury
Fleetwood v Leeds
Sheffield United v Crewe
Shrewsbury v Huddersfield
Preston v Hartlepool
Blackpool v Bolton
South Section
Peterborough v AFC Wimbledon
Bristol Rovers v Cardiff
Coventry v Portsmouth
Luton v Aston Villa
Brighton v Colchester
Cheltenham v Charlton
Birmingham v Oxford
Southend v Gillingham
Wolves v Crawley
Leyton Orient v Fulham
Ipswich v Stevenage
Wycombe v Bristol City
Walsall v Yeovil
Exeter v Brentford
Queens Park Rangers v Swindon
Barnet v Millwall
Reading v Plymouth
Newport v MK Dons | Five-times League Cup winners Aston Villa will travel to Luton, the 1988 winners, in the EFL Cup first round. | 36595209 |
Tinkler, 20, joins the Tynesiders for the first part of the season having had experience of the division with North Ferriby United last term.
The Teessider played 15 games and scored four goals at Grange Lane.
He has also played Premier League Two, Premier League Cup and PL International Cup matches for Boro's development squad at under-23 level.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Middlesbrough have loaned midfielder Robbie Tinkler to National League side Gateshead until January 2018. | 40482636 |
The epicentre of the quake struck the city of Cushing, about 50 miles (80km) north-east of Oklahoma City, at 19:44 local time (01:44 GMT Monday).
Tremors were felt as far away as Texas, and schools have closed in Cushing.
Authorities in Cushing reported that at least 40 buildings were damaged. No one was seriously injured.
Photographs posted on Twitter showed debris scattered alongside commercial buildings in the city.
There have been 19 earthquakes in Oklahoma in the past week, according to data provided by the US Geological Survey.
In September, a magnitude 5.6 quake in the state fuelled concerns that seismic activity in the area was connected to energy production.
In 2013, scientists linked the underground injection of oil drilling wastewater to a magnitude-5.7 earthquake that struck Oklahoma in 2011.
Cushing, which has a population of about 7,900, is home to one of the largest oil storage facilities in the US. No damage was reported there. | An earthquake measuring magnitude 5.0 shook central Oklahoma on Sunday, causing substantial damage to dozens of buildings. | 37892501 |
The five main parties all have campaign events planned around Wales.
For the Conservatives, Prime Minister David Cameron will visit Wales as part of a tour of the UK's four nations in one day.
He will say the economy is growing across the UK, and an Ed Miliband government would be a "disaster", with "one month to save Britain from debt".
Mr Cameron said ahead of the visits: "Today, I am travelling to all four nations of our United Kingdom, to all four corners of our country, with one simple message: we have one month to save our economy from the disaster of an Ed Miliband government.
"We have one month to save Britain from his mountain of debt; one month to save Britain from his punitive taxes; one month to save Britain, and British families, from his anti-business and anti-aspiration agenda."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is due to visit Montgomeryshire on Tuesday to discuss Liberal Democrat plans for NHS funding.
The party says its pledge to put £8bn into the NHS will mean an extra £450m for Wales which would be spent on more nurses and mental health services.
In the Vale of Glamorgan, Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Rachel Reeves will tell voters they have "one month to scrap the 'bedroom tax'".
The party claims the removal of the spare room subsidy is due to hit a further 70,000 families in Wales over the next five years.
Plaid Cymru will launch its farming mini-manifesto on Anglesey with a pledge to improve support for agriculture.
Plaid is also calling for improvements to broadband, fuel prices and postal services in rural areas.
UKIP Wales is planning a rally in Swansea. | Campaigning for the general election is stepping up after Easter, with 30 days to go until polling day on 7 May. | 32166927 |
McEnroe told Eurosport on Friday that he is going to be a consultant for the Canadian at Wimbledon next month.
The 57-year-old won three championships at the All England Club in the 1980s and has forged a career as a pundit since his retirement.
Raonic, 25, reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2014 and the Australian Open in 2015.
He is seeded eighth at the French Open at Roland Garros, where he won his third-round match on Friday.
Raonic is currently coached by by 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya and Riccardo Piatti.
"Milos is a very dedicated and professional," said McEnroe. "I just want to consult and be part of his team and add a little bit to his quest on the grass.
"He is a guy who can win majors and one of five or six who can win Wimbledon. This is exciting."
This year's tournament runs from 27 June to 10 July and will be broadcast live across the BBC. | Seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe is to join the coaching team of world number nine Milos Raonic. | 36403744 |
The Alcohol Bill proposes restrictions on advertising and sponsorship around schools, nurseries and playgrounds.
Archie MacIver, of the Law Society of Scotland, was speaking at Holyrood's Health and Sport Committee.
He said MSPs could "draw a line through" earlier written evidence.
In its submission to the committee, the Law Society had warned that the bill risked affecting unknowing members of the public.
It had said that under the proposed law, a parent or guardian wearing a football or rugby jersey with an advertisement promoting alcohol when collecting children from school would be committing an offence.
The proposed ban was brought to the Scottish Parliament by Labour MSP Dr Richard Simpson as a Member's Bill.
The proposals would introduce a ban on "fixed advertising" such as billboards or window displays within 200 metres of schools, nurseries and children's play areas.
It would also end drinks advertising at sporting and cultural events principally targeted at those under the age of 18.
Mr MacIver told the health committee: "There is one aspect I think I should correct because it is, in my view, on reflection, wrong.
"We did cite examples of someone wearing a football jersey turning up at school gates. I accept that is not a fixed place so perhaps members could draw a line through that one.
"Unless you have got a very lazy parent who is standing there for days on end."
An online survey carried out by the committee found that 78% of the 543 respondents supported a ban on alcohol advertising near schools, and 83% supported a ban on alcohol sponsorship at events targeted at under 18s. | The Law Society has said it was "wrong" over claims that parents picking children up from school wearing alcohol-branded sports tops could be criminalised by proposed new laws. | 34646834 |
Charlton were given permission to speak to Wilder and assistant Alan Knill, after the pair led the Cobblers to the League Two title this season.
Following a meeting, Charlton say the club "will now continue its search for a candidate to take the club forward".
Jose Riga resigned as Addicks boss after their relegation to League One.
Northampton Town chairman Kelvin Thomas said: "We understand there is further interest in Chris and Alan however we have had no official approach at this point."
Charlton triggered a clause in the contracts of Wilder, 48, and Knill, 51, in order to speak to the pair, who guided Northampton to a runaway success this season after a 24-game unbeaten run.
Their promotion was achieved despite financial uncertainty earlier in the campaign because of outstanding loan repayments of £10.25m to the local council and a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs.
Next season the Cobblers will face a Charlton side who have had four managers, including Riga twice, and one interim boss since Roland Duchatelet bought the club in January 2014.
The breakdown in talks with Wilder and Knill follows unrest at The Valley, with supporters staging a sit-down protest outside the ground before last Saturday's game, the latest in a string of demonstrations against Duchatelet. | Northampton Town manager Chris Wilder has been unable to reach an agreement with Charlton Athletic following talks with the relegated Championship club. | 36266360 |
The 66-year-old from Ballybinaby, Hackballscross, County Louth, is being tried for tax evasion at the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court.
He denies nine charges against him.
A handwriting expert gave evidence at the trial on Tuesday.
Mr Murphy's defence lawyers claim that his brother managed the accused man's cattle herd and farming activities.
It is the prosecution's case that, although Mr Murphy conducted significant dealings in relation to cattle and land, and received farming grants from the Department of Agriculture, he failed to make any returns to revenue.
The charges against Mr Murphy arise out of an investigation by the Irish police's Criminal Assets Bureau.
On Tuesday, a handwriting expert told the court there was "strong evidence" that Thomas Murphy did not sign a number of documents signed in his name.
He told the court that there is "conclusive evidence" that the three documents, dating from 2007 to 2014, were all signed by the author of another set of documents, which are tax forms in the name of Patrick Murphy, the accused man's brother.
The trial continues. | The trial of Thomas "Slab" Murphy for alleged tax evasion has heard there is "strong evidence" the prominent republican did not sign a number of documents bearing his signature. | 34975960 |
Lawyers had appealed to free Sandra from the Buenos Aires zoo by arguing that although not human, she should be given legal rights.
They had argued that she was being illegally detained.
If there is no appeal, the ape will be transferred to a sanctuary in Brazil where she will enjoy greater freedom.
The singular case hung on whether the animal was a "thing" or a "person".
In December a New York State court threw out a request to free a privately owned chimpanzee arguing that the animal was property and had no legal rights.
Lawyers for Argentina's Association of Professional Lawyers for Animal Rights (Afada) said Sandra was "a person" in the philosophical, not biological, sense.
She was, they argued, in a situation of illegal deprivation of freedom as a "non-human person".
They had filed a "habeas corpus" writ in her favour last November over "the unjustified confinement of an animal with probable cognitive capability".
Afada lawyer Paul Buompadre was quoted as saying by La Nacion newspaper: "This opens the way not only for other Great Apes, but also for other sentient beings which are unfairly and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in zoos, circuses, water parks and scientific laboratories."
The court judges had rejected the writ several times before deciding finally that Sandra could be considered to have rights to freedom which needed defending.
Sandra was born in 1986 in a German zoo and arrived in Buenos Aires in September 1994.
She regularly tried to avoid the public in her enclosure.
If there is no appeal against the court's decision from the Buenos Aires zoo, she will be transferred to a primate sanctuary in Brazil where she can live in partial liberty. | A court in Argentina has ruled that a shy orangutan who spent the last 20 years in a zoo can be granted some legal rights enjoyed by humans. | 30571577 |
The pair were close but Denise told ITV's Loose Women show the friendship broke down when she found out he was renegotiating his contract separately.
"It was mainly to do with pay. The view was that I did other things outside of presenting... that I already had another side to my career."
She said the row was the reason that she left the Channel 4 show in 1999.
Johnny has made no comment regarding Denise's explanation.
"At that particular time (the 90s), we were literally like brother and sister, we were best friends, unbreakable," Denise told the Loose Women panel.
"The whole relationship fell apart when we started to renegotiate our contracts because I always felt that we worked together as a team and that is how it should be.
"I know there were other influences involved and agents and everything but he was negotiating his contract separately from me, which I found out," she said.
She added that the friendship then felt "tarnished", which led her to leave the show.
"I knew at that point it would never be the same in that working environment."
At its peak, The Big Breakfast attracted two million viewers per episode.
Van Outen said: "Obviously I gave it a second go but a similar thing happened again (she returned for a short time in an ill-fated attempt to boost flagging ratings). It's hard because I loved him so much and I still do.
"I could still be angry about it now, but I have seen him since and, whenever I see him, because I love him so much and he makes me laugh so much, more than anyone I've ever met, I just forget about it.
"We were really, really good friends, I just don't know if it would ever be the same again."
Vaughan now presents the drivetime show on Radio X.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | Denise van Outen has revealed the real reason she fell out with former Big Breakfast co-host Johnny Vaughan - pay. | 40939023 |
But long before her stature on the small screen soared, Cilla was an unknown Liverpool lass with an astonishing rags to riches story.
Her early years are about to be relived in a new TV drama charting how Priscilla White was transformed into a chart-topping singing star.
It also chronicles the turbulent highs and lows from tasting fame to finding lasting love.
The three-part offering - simply called Cilla - presents actress Sheridan Smith with the onerous task of portraying the young woman who went on to become a national treasure.
We see her in early 1960s Liverpool, a grim city riven by religious prejudices where prospects were limited. Young people - including Cilla - escaped everyday life by going to see exciting new rock and roll bands at the Cavern Club.
Screenwriter Jeff Pope, who also co-scripted Oscar-nominated film Philomena, says the drama is "a non-patronising look at the working class".
"I thought the earlier part of Cilla's life would be interesting. We live in the X Factor age and I thought it was intriguing to see how Cilla had come up from literally nowhere and how she made it," he adds.
"But at its heart is a love story between Cilla and Bobby - and Cilla and Brian."
The singer's rise in the drama is dominated by two men - Bobby, who went on to be the love of her life and was "very happy to carry the handbag" for such a successful woman, and music mogul Brian Epstein, who plucked Black from obscurity.
He died of an overdose in 1967 aged 34, and a side story of the TV mini-series is his tortured existence as a closeted gay man in the dark days before homosexuality was decriminalised in the year of his death.
West End performer Smith, whose collaboration with Pope on drama Mrs Biggs won her a Bafta, says the drama will bring the two halves of Cilla's career together.
"The younger generation who have got no clue about this and know about Blind Date will get to see this amazing singing career, and the older generation can relive it."
The actress not only had to capture the essence of a youthful Cilla in her portrayal, but had to sing live for scenes from the frenetic buzz of the Cavern Club as 'Swinging Cilla' to the recording studios of Abbey Road.
"In the months leading up to shooting, I had every interview, every piece of footage from the early 60s and there was loads on YouTube so I sat there watching them," explains Smith.
"There's only one Cilla and everyone does an impression of her. I didn't want to do her a disservice and I'm not an impersonator. I wanted to try to get little mannerisms like the way she touched her hair.
"I had some singing lessons - I sing with my mouth wide open, she sings with it quite closed. I know I don't have her voice," she adds, pointing out that Cilla had a "honk" as well as much softer vocals.
The actress recounts how her role led to a dinner date with the star which made the weight of her burden become real.
"I was really star-struck and nervous and I babbled away at her. It's a huge responsibility and you don't want to let them down.
"She gave me her phone number but I was too shy to ring! What do you ask?!" adds Smith. "And I have no plans to make an album of covers - come on, there's only one Cilla!"
But she plays down the performance, saying it was all down to a simple prop synonymous with Cilla.
"I just had to whack my teeth in and I was away! They changed the shape of my mouth so it really helped with the accent."
Pope, whose credits also include Fred West dramatisation Appropriate Adult and The Widower, says Cilla had an important role in creating the drama - and encouraged him to tease out the spikier side of her growth as a star.
The story clearly shows how she could be tough with those around her and was even a match for established artists like songwriter Burt Bacharach.
"She was very insistent that we go into areas that weren't viewed through rose-coloured spectacles. She was very upfront about how determined she was and how sharp her elbows were and had to be in those days.
"Would her tendency be, like her TV shows, to smooth everything out and present a wonderful face to the world? I found the opposite," he says.
"She was in a man's world and I admire her strength," adds Smith.
The writer said watching the films with a figure who remains alive and well was "stressful", not to mention filled with memories.
"Cilla made a joke out of it and said 'this normally happens when someone kicks the bucket.' The emotion of seeing the love of her life [who died in 1999] was massive."
Cilla's story finishes before her marriage to Bobby in 1969 and after the peak of her musical fame. Tellingly, a contract for a BBC television show is found beside the body of Epstein, hinting at the beginnings of a small screen star we all know and love.
Cilla begins on ITV on Monday 15 September at 2100 BST. | Popular entertainer Cilla Black became best known for her huge television hits Blind Date and Surprise Surprise, which dominated the airwaves in the 1980s and 90s. | 28852517 |
The 1967 work painted in three 11 x 14 inch (28 x 36cm) frames is thought to be based on photographs taken by Bacon's friend John Deakin.
The painting is one of only five known triptychs of Dyer in the small scale format.
It was the first time the piece had appeared at auction, having been in a private collection since 1970.
Sotheby's said the sale beat Bacon's previous record of £23m for a work in the format.
"The driving force tonight was passion," Sotheby's Cheyenne Westphal said.
"The Bacon was bought by collectors who truly wanted to own it. It was a completely private market that came from virtually every side of the world and people wanted to own this wonderful piece and live with it."
Sotheby's senior international specialist in contemporary art Oliver Barker added: "The story between Francis Bacon and George Dyer is actually extraordinary, they actually met because George Dyer broke into Francis Bacon's mews house and they became friends, lovers and extremely close.
"Very sadly George Dyer committed suicide on the night of Bacon's biggest and most important exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1971 and that was just for Francis one of the most horrific things."
Haunted by his loss, Bacon continued to paint Dyer for some years, producing his famous Black Triptychs in the 1970s.
Other sales at the contemporary auction included a record £8.5m for Scottish artist Peter Doig for his oil painting Country-rock (wing mirror), and Andy Warhol's Nine Multicoloured Marilyns which sold for £4.6m. | A small-format Francis Bacon triptych of his lover George Dyer has sold for £26.7m at a London auction. | 28104786 |
Stephen French, 53, of Eleanor Park, Prenton, was arrested after armed officers responded to an argument on Water Street in March.
French, who also admitted possessing a bladed weapon, will be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 3 July.
In 2008 he said he wanted to stop the spread of guns in Merseyside.
French was arrested after an incident in which the Liverpool One complex, including the Hilton Hotel, was sealed off for two hours by police following "an altercation" on Water Street.
In an interview with the BBC in 2008, Mr French said he had become an anti-gun campaigner because members of his family had been shot. | An anti-gun campaigner has admitted possessing an imitation gun after a dispute that saw police seal off part of Liverpool city centre. | 22810437 |
Every day some 55 million people go about their lives across England. This is a snapshot of a nation across 24 hours.
Photographs were added through the day, telling the everyday stories of the people who make up the nation.
23:04
Rob Gregory is a train dispatcher at Manchester Piccadilly station, and earlier waved away the last service leaving the city for London.
The 35-year-old, from Cadishead, Salford, says he enjoys being around people and has met some famous faces in his work, including Sir Alex Ferguson, Eddie Izzard and Rita Ora.
"Sir Alex was in first class, and the food menu that day had dishes from around the world, including Australia. I made him laugh by doing an Aussie accent," he says.
"People think we just use the whistle and baton, but there's a lot more to the job than that. There's a lot of helping people.
"It's a cliché but every day really is different. I've never been one to be cooped up in an office."
22:08
Murat Baser, 34, manages The Olive Tree takeaway in Norwich. Born in Ankara, Turkey, he moved to Norwich from Wales in 2011.
"I like Norwich, I like the university, the city centre and the historic castle," he says.
He also likes the football team. "I used to support Ipswich but I support Norwich now."
The shop doesn't close until 04:00 and the hours can be hard but Murat is philosophical about it. "What can we do? I've got a pregnant wife."
The shop is surrounded by bars and clubs but Murat doesn't think Prince of Wales Road is as bad as some people think. "Sometimes you've got trouble but we've got security at the door and straight away he sorts it out," he says.
21:12
Shaun Phillimore, 47, works as a toll man at the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.
He's proud to carry on a tradition dating back more than 150 years since Brunel's famous bridge, spanning the Avon Gorge, was opened in 1864.
He says he has an "emotional attachment" to the structure.
"It's like a museum that you work in. It smells of being Victorian. The atmosphere hasn't changed," he says.
And the toll men are still working to a Victorian shift pattern, Shaun says.
"The hours we work are based around pub opening times, so everyone gets a chance to go down the pub when the shift ends."
20:04
Rachel Clark is chief executive of the West Pier Trust in Brighton. She's been in charge of heritage projects on the pier's site for 25 years.
"Unfortunately arson attacks in 2003 meant that the structure is now completely beyond repair.
"But we're conserving and celebrating the past, managing the present and planning for the future.
"We're about to open a centre celebrating the history of the pier and are restoring an original kiosk.
"It's so important that the West Pier should never be forgotten. The site is such an asset to the city and should be enjoyed by as wide a public as possible."
19:32
Talib Hussain is getting ready for a night's work at Imran's restaurant in Birmingham.
The city's Balti Triangle is renowned for its array of Indian restaurants and Imran's was among the first to arrive on Ladypool Road 40 years ago.
Now run by Imran Butt, whose father named the restaurant after him, it is not just a favourite among the Midlands' curry fans.
"The Pakistani cricket team came in when they played at Edgbaston a few weeks ago," he said.
19:00
Millwall Community Trust runs football sessions, in conjunction with the Premier League and Fusion/City of London, on estates across Southwark and Lewisham with the aim of helping hard-to-reach youngsters and identify new talent.
Leyton Orient's Josh Koroma, Deshane Dalling of Huddersfield, Norwich's Diallang Jaiyesmi and Dejo Oshilaja of AFC Wimbledon are among those to have started their careers on ball courts like this one.
The Millwall Premier League Kicks programme reaches 1,900 people a year.
Coach Tariq Ibrahim says: "The sessions give kids an opportunity to play at a high level, keeps them out of trouble and allows them to talk freely about anything and everything."
16:43
Pacitto's is well known on Teesside for the creation of a summertime favourite - the Lemon Top. Whipped vanilla ice cream with a lemon sorbet finish, you can't move down the esplanade in Redcar without seeing someone tucking in to one.
The shop, opened by Marcus Pacitto's great-grandfather Giacomo, has been a feature of the seaside town for more then 85 years.
Speaking about their most popular item, Marcus, 52, says: "I don't know if it was my grandfather or if it was taken from elsewhere, but it just seems to have hit Redcar and it's a ridiculously popular dish.
"It kind of makes me proud, in a strange way. It's part of Redcar folklore now - in fact, it's a law - when you come to Redcar you have to have a Lemon Top."
16:28
City archaeologist Scott Lomax spends much of his time below ground in Nottingham investigating long-lost man-made caves.
The caves, some dating back to the 9th Century, were once used as dungeons, bomb shelters, pub cellars and homes and Scott, 34, from Chesterfield, is determined to find and record every one.
"Caves are central to understanding the heritage of Nottingham," he says.
"There's so much archaeology and so many hundreds of caves it's hard to pull myself away from Nottingham."
15:49
As school ends for the day, 10-year-old Harriet Laycock is playing with a series of art installations at the Humber Street Gallery, Hull.
The State of Play exhibition contains a number of contemporary works by UK and international artists including a remote-controlled robot, an arcade slot machine containing porcelain and terracotta coins, a knitting lamp and a miniature city modelled from paper.
She is pictured with a row of large sensory plastic circular discs that light up different colours when blown on. "It was really cool and fun; it was amazing how they do it. All the colours are really bright," she says.
13:58
Actress Willemijn Verkaik is playing the role of Elphaba in Wicked at London's Apollo Victoria Theatre.
"I always enjoy the greenifying process, as slowly Elphaba will come out," she says.
The show is currently in its 11th year in the West End.
13:41
Jake Radford, 41, is the third generation of his family to run donkey rides on Blackpool beach.
"My grandfather Sydney Clews started the business 80-odd years ago," he says.
"They may have smartphones and tablets but children still like going for donkey rides on the beach. It's part of the traditional seaside.
"In the winter I work in a warehouse but I love being outdoors. It's been in the family three generations and I hope my son will be the next."
12:54
Meet William Edwin, one of England's newest people. He was born at 10:50 BST in the maternity unit of Ipswich Hospital.
Here he is after a feed with his mother Kirstie Elliott and father Tito Brela. He is yet to meet his older brother Oliver, who is 14 months old.
While Ms Elliott was with the BBC she had a telephone call on her mobile from a delivery driver.
Her reply was one of the best you will hear today.
"I am sorry," she said to the caller. "I cannot really talk right now, I've literally just had a baby."
12:00
University student Alex Hedley has an unusual job at The Open at Royal Birkdale in Lancashire.
The 21-year-old from Bourne, Lincolnshire, is part of a marketing feedback project run by Sheffield Hallam University.
"We do a lot of different events," Alex says. "We did the Royal Regatta at Henley and we're doing the Special Olympics in Sheffield next month.
"People are pretty helpful if you ask them questions when they're having a sit down. But not so if they are up in the stands as really they're trying to watch the golf."
11:30
Ian Lock, 42, is a critical care paramedic for Midlands Air Ambulance. He has been with the service since 2009 when he joined because he wanted a new challenge.
On his first mission he remembers going to a road accident in Coventry and recalls: "All the existing guys who'd been on for a while were so calm and I was a bit like a new boy with wide eyes thinking what on earth have I done, why am I here and how am I here and how I am going catch up with them?"
11:14
Paul Dent is a fisherman working out of Blyth Harbour in Northumberland, whose family has been in the business for generations.
His catch depends on the season; prawns in winter and salmon during summer months. But today he's not at sea because of weather and tidal conditions so he's concentrating on maintenance on one of his boats.
The 47-year-old says being a fisherman is "the best job in the world".
"It can be feast or famine when it comes to pay, but I love it. You see sunrises, wonderful cloud formations, dolphins, there's just been some minke whales. Things people don't normally see. I love getting out of bed every morning."
09:54
The Wheelhouse family live in their self-built straw bale roundhouse at their Karuna Insight Design project. It is in an 18 acre forest healing farm site in Picklescott, within the Shropshire Hills Area of Natural Beauty.
Janta Wheelhouse says: "We are running a forest garden demonstration site inspired by local pioneer Robert Hart.
"Our deepest concerns are to support develop and raise awareness of reduced impact living, true sustainability, community, natural building, organic food growing, wildlife conservation, healing and art."
The family opens their home to the public through organized groups and tours, workshops and volunteer projects.
09:12
At the Mayflower Cruise Terminal in Southampton port, P&O cruise ship Oriana has berthed. That's when the clock starts ticking for terminal manager, John Garner, 69, and his team.
They have 10 hours to unload and restock the 1,880 passenger ship again for the next cruise.
"It's all on a time factor," he says. "It's got to fall in line for the ship to go out again at the right time - it's very challenging but it's a pleasure to work here."
Despite organising the smooth sailing of a countless number of the ships in his 49-year career, Mr Garner has an admission.
He's only actually been on one cruise.
07:52
Liam Reid's family has been selling fruit and vegetables on Leicester Market since World War One. The 32-year-old gets up every morning at 5am and works six days a week.
"There is a buzz [around the market]," he says. "Everyone is always having fun, there's always loads of banter. We're like a bit of a family down here."
Mr Reid says the weather does make a difference though. "The winters are minging," he adds. "They're freezing and it's not as busy - it's hard work. But in the summer you can have your shorts on, the sun's out and there's soft fruit."
06:38
As many people across the nation rise from their beds and perhaps perform a morning stretch, yoga teacher Stephen Harding, 58, is on dawn patrol for waves at Bigbury in Devon.
He's also a co-founder of the Surf Hams Film Collective - a group of artists who ride waves and make films.
"There's a synergy to surfing and yoga," he says. "Yoga's a great warm up and conditioner for the sport."
05:35
While most teenagers are asleep at 5am, 18-year-old twins Laura and Anna Callwood are milking cows near their home in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire. The fifth generation farmers have overcome challenges to pursue their dream, as both are on the autistic spectrum.
"One teacher told us 'there's more to life than farming'," said Anna, but the comment made the Worcestershire Young Farmers Club members more determined. Despite concerns they could struggle with its demands, both are studying for an agriculture diploma. "We have more of a connection with the cows than people," said Laura. "They are used to us, they know us, and they love us."
04:17
Richard Parker is a third-generation milkman from Long Eaton in Derbyshire. Despite having to leave home at either 23:40 or 01:00, the 42-year-old loves his job and said it's "fantastic to see the sun rise every day".
He's often called upon to help elderly customers help carry things, change light bulbs, and even set up Skype calls. "I really do like that side of the job," he said. "You get that sense of being part of the community." He said he has two sleeps - a few hours at about 09:00 and then a couple more before he starts work.
03:34
Sarah Herbert, 38, has been a resource deployment officer at Devon and Cornwall Police's control room for 17 years.
"Every day is different, you never know what's going to come in and you leave with the feeling that you've helped someone positively."
She is also trained to speak to suicidal people.
"We've had a lot of trees down tonight, we've had a couple of people in mental health crises, and a break-in - it's been a steady night so far."
02:00
Teenager Lauren Sullivan started working in a bar as a Saturday job but enjoyed it so much she decided to take it up full time. "You get paid to go out," she said. "It's just like having your own family at work."
The 19-year-old works late shifts at the Actress and Bishop bar in Birmingham, which is open until the early hours. At weekends she works till 05:30 and then works out. "I go to the gym because it helps me get to sleep. Everyone thinks I'm a bit insane."
01:14
Taxi driver and part-time actor Shameer Madarbakus from Alvaston works for Derby firm Albatross Cars. The 39-year-old prefers working during the day because night shifts can mean dealing with drunken customers. "You have to do your best in difficult situations," he said.
However, he loves chatting with friendly passengers: "You meet people from all walks of life. You experience all sorts of situations, some good some bad."
Shameer has appeared in Casualty and Eastenders and likes the flexibility of the job as it helps with his acting work and means he's able to spend time with his 17-month-old son. | Use #24HoursInEngland on social media to share your stories. | 40633177 |
The man was hurt when his car left the road while negotiating a double bend on the B6355 Chirnside to Ayton road on Monday.
Police said his silver Seat Alhambra struck a tree before coming to rest down an embankment at about 16:30.
The 43-year-old was taken by ambulance to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he is now in a stable condition.
The road was closed near to Peelwalls Farm for four hours following the accident.
PC Davy Johnson, of Police Scotland, said: "This accident has unfortunately left the driver with serious injuries.
"We are keen to establish the full circumstances and would ask anyone with information to contact us." | A motorist has been seriously injured in a road accident in Berwickshire. | 33519955 |
The Arches board said there was "no other choice" after Glasgow Licensing Board's decision hit revenue by over 50%, making the business "untenable".
The licensing board imposed a midnight closing time after police complaints about drug and alcohol incidents.
The move was opposed by almost 40,000 people in an online petition and 400 arts figures in a letter of protest.
A statement from the Arches said: "Following a meeting of The Arches board of directors, and having taken due legal advice, the decision was taken today to start the process of appointing administrators for both Arches Theatre and Arches Retail Company Limited.
"This follows last month's decision by the Glasgow Licensing Board to curtail the licensed hours of the leading multi-arts venue, effectively preventing the organisation from continuing its very successful and popular programme of club nights.
"Without the income generated by this strand of activity, which generated over 50% of the companies' annual turnover, The Arches' business model is untenable."
The nightclub's licence was restricted to midnight by the licensing board. It had previously been allowed to stay open until 03:00.
Gordon Kennedy, chairman of the board of directors, said the decision was taken with "deep regret", but said they had been left with "no other choice".
Mr Kennedy also thanked those who had supported the campaign to reinstate the venue's licence, and said he had been "humbled by the hundreds of artists and industry professionals from all disciplines who have lent their signature and their voice to the cause".
He continued: "Our hope is that the administrators, working with partners and stakeholders, can salvage some of the activities for which The Arches is renowned."
The company's executive director Mark Anderson added: "We would like to gratefully acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by all staff, board, artists and partners over the years.
"We offer heartfelt thanks to our loyal customers who supported us throughout the years and were instrumental in making The Arches the iconic venue that it will always remain."
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "We have been working with the Arches and other funders for some time to develop a sustainable model to provide a long term financial solution for the Arches to continue to operate.
"We remain committed to trying to identify opportunities for their work to go on."
Meanwhile a spokesman for Glasgow City Council's licensing board said the decision had come following evidence of "over 200 drug-related incidents detailed at the most recent hearing, as well as numerous call-outs to the ambulance service, which often related to people in life threatening situations".
A statement from the board said: "The continued operation of the Arches' late-hours licence threatened public safety, created a risk of crime and endangered the health of individuals.
"Unfortunately the conditions the Arches agreed to following the death of one of their customers did not curtail problems at the venue and the board had no option but to take further action.
"The financial situation of a premises can never be a factor in the decision making process of the board."
Chief Supt Andy Bates, Police Scotland's divisional commander for Greater Glasgow, said: "Our primary role was to protect and ensure public safety and in our view the frequency and volume of incidents that were occurring at the Arches nightclub would have resulted in fatal consequences had we not acted.
"We remain committed to supporting and working with the licensing industry across Glasgow and Scotland to ensure a safe environment for the public."
On its website, the company said that all events scheduled at the Arches from Wednesday onwards would now be cancelled.
Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie said the loss of the venue was "entirely avoidable".
"I'm disappointed that the city council decided to force The Arches into this position, and I'm surprised that despite the wave of public support not one other Glasgow MSP saw fit to support my call for a rethink.
"It remains open to Glasgow, to the Scottish government, and to the arts community to try and find a new life for this important venue."
Last month, more than 400 cultural figures - including Makar Liz Lochhead, novelist Irvine Welsh and members of Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian and Franz Ferdinand - signed a letter criticising the licensing board's decision.
The letter stated: "The Arches' importance to the future of the cultural life of Scotland cannot be overstated, and yet this latest decision leaves it in an extremely compromised situation, the cultural ramifications of which are huge."
The online petition, which reached 39,239 signatures, claimed the loss of the nightclub licence would endanger the city's arts scene and economy. It also accused the police of "harassment".
Shortly after the news was announced "The Arches" began trending on twitter.
The Arches thanked Glasgow City Council for their support over the years tweeting: "THANK YOU @CreativeScots @GlasgowCC, all our staff & artists, and all of YOU for 25 years of support. #TeamArches"
Underground house DJ Bontan, who had previously headlined at the Arches, tweeted: "Absolutely gutted about The Arches. Ran by some of the soundest people you're likely to meet & an amazing venue." | Glasgow's Arches venue is to go into administration after losing its nightclub licence. | 33080294 |
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sanctioned the 26-year-old after her retested samples were found to contain banned anabolic steroids.
In recent days, Russia have also lost their women's 4x400m relay silver and women's 4x100m relay gold from 2008.
The IOC also annulled the results of two other Russian athletes.
Kolodko tested positive for anabolic steroid dehydrochlormethyltestosterone and growth hormone ipamorelin.
The IOC has asked the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to modify the 2012 result, with Chinese duo Li Ling and Gong Lijiao promoted to silver and bronze respectively.
On Friday, the IOC stripped Russia of their 4x400m silver from 2008 after Anastasiya Kapachinskaya's retested samples were found to contain banned anabolic steroids.
The IAAF was asked to modify the results, with Jamaica promoted to silver and Belarus to bronze.
The IOC also annulled the results of Alexander Pogorelov, who was fourth in the decathlon in Beijing, and Ivan Yushkov, who finished 10th in the shot put.
On Tuesday, Russia lost their 4x100m women's relay gold from 2008 following a ban for Yuliya Chermoshanskaya.
The IOC carried out more than 4,500 drugs tests at the 2008 Olympics but only nine athletes tested positive.
It has since retested more than 450 samples, using new methods to uncover banned substances which would have gone undetected at the time.
The IOC has also carried out about 250 retests on samples from London 2012.
Russian track and field athletes were banned from competing at Rio 2016 by the IAAF after widespread doping was uncovered in the country. | Russia have been stripped of a third Olympic medal in the space of four days, with shot putter Evgeniia Kolodko losing her London 2012 silver medal. | 37135870 |
The Trussell Trust said three days' food was given out 1,084,604 times in the 2014-15 financial year, though it is not clear how many people got help because some visited more than once.
It is a rise of 19% on the previous 12 months - and Labour's Rachel Reeves called it a "shocking" increase.
The Conservatives said their economic plan was the best way to help families.
The Trussell Trust said more than a third of the aid given out by its 445 food banks across the UK went to children.
It describes itself as "a charity founded on Christian principles", and runs its network of food banks in partnership with churches and communities.
Care professionals such as doctors, health visitors, social workers, the Citizens Advice Bureau and the police identify people in need and issue them with a food bank voucher.
The Trussell Trust's figures do not include food banks run by other charities and churches.
No-one knows the exact figure for food bank use in 2014-15.
What we know is the Trussell Trust says its food banks - which are not the only ones out there - gave 1,084,604 people three days' food.
But any occasion when a person received the food counted - so a person who came in twice would be counted twice, and so on. If a family got food, each member counted.
The trust says that "on average 49% of food bank users only needed one food bank voucher in a year", so that half of users should add up to more than half a million people.
How many times the others received the emergency food boxes is hard to tell, though the trust says only 15% "needed help more than three times in a year".
The point, the trust says, is that "significant numbers" of men, women and children are going hungry.
Reality Check: Food bank use in the UK
Problems with benefits was the main reason people visited food banks and there had been an increase in those on low incomes seeking help, the trust said.
Food bank managers reported dealing with people struggling with insecure work, low pay and high living costs.
Trussell Trust UK food bank director Adrian Curtis said the charity's facilities were increasingly hosting additional services including debt counselling and welfare advice.
"The Trussell Trust's latest figures highlight how vital it is that we all work to prevent and relieve hunger in the UK," he said.
"It's crucial that we listen to the experiences of people using food banks to truly understand the nature of the problems they face."
Carmel McConnell, chief executive of the Magic Breakfast charity, which delivers food to schools, said there had been an increase in the number of requests for urgent deliveries.
Oxfam head of UK poverty Rachael Orr said the figures were "extremely worrying".
Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey said the new figures revealed a "scandal of epic dimensions".
"Something has gone grotesquely wrong when so many people, in and out of work, have to turn to charity to feed their children," he said.
"One family failing to make ends meet each month is a family too many," a Conservative spokesman said.
"The best way to help families provide for themselves is cut taxes and to get more people into work and there are already two million more people in work since the election."
Labour's Ms Reeves said it showed the "Tory plan" was failing.
"David Cameron's failure to tackle low pay, the bedroom tax and delays in benefit payments have led to over a million people depending on emergency food aid," she said.
"Labour has a better plan to raise working families' living standards so fewer people depend on food banks to survive."
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett accused the other political parties of being "chained to their slogans about 'hard-working families'" while failing to tackle poverty.
In a speech at Sheffield Students' Union she said: "It is the duty of government to ensure that our economy provides decently paid jobs for all those looking for work.
"We believe that poverty is a result of political decisions - and that only a new kind of politics can overturn the race to the bottom on wages and benefits that we've seen for too long in this country."
Correction: The Trussell Trust has clarified that its earlier figure of more than a million people using food banks actually referred to the number of times food was given out. | A "record number" of people received aid from UK food banks in the last year, a charity has said. | 32406120 |
Free parking spaces for plug-in car owners and streetlight charging points are also set to be introduced.
The government awarded cash to four areas which successfully bid for a share of £40m funding.
Transport secretary Patrick McLaughlin said the councils had shown "exciting, innovative ideas" for electric cars.
Nottinghamshire and Derby, Milton Keynes, Bristol and London qualified for a share of the cash.
Bus lanes in Milton Keynes will be re-branded as low emission lanes giving plug-in vehicles the same priority as buses at traffic lights.
The town, which has been awarded £9m, will also build an advice centre offering short-term loans for electric car purchases.
It is also proposing to open all its 20,000 parking bays for free to electric cars.
Nottingham City Council will also open up some of its bus lanes, and use part of its £6m grant to install 230 charge points.
A spokesman for Derby City Council said any change to allow electric vehicles to use bus lanes would be subject to consultation.
"I want to see thousands more greener vehicles on our roads and I am proud to back this ambition with £40m," Mr McLaughlin said of the Go Ultra Low City Scheme.
He described the UK as a "world leader" in the uptake of low-emission vehicles and said the government planned to invest £600m by 2020.
London has been given £13m and will use the money to introduce charging points and free parking spaces.
In Bristol, £7m will be used to introduce free residential parking for low-emission vehicles, access to three car share lanes and over 80 fast chargers.
The scheme is also providing £5m worth of funding for low-emission development projects in Oxford, Dundee, York and the North East.
However, the TaxPayers' Alliance criticised the grants as a "vanity project" which would benefit only a small number of people.
Chief executive Jonathan Isaby said: "Going green is a worthy goal, but why should already hard-pressed taxpayers be expected to subsidise the expensive choice of vehicle of such a tiny minority?" | Electric car drivers will be allowed to travel in bus lanes as part of plans to boost usage of low-emission vehicles in England. | 35399212 |
David Lytton, 67, from London, was discovered at Dove Stone Reservoir in Greater Manchester on 12 December 2015.
It took police more than a year to establish his identity and a "provisional" cause of death was given as "strychnine poisoning".
A full inquest is scheduled to begin at Heywood Coroner's Court at 14:00 GMT.
The death sparked worldwide interest as a police investigation was launched to identify the body of the man, first nicknamed Neil Dovestones by mortuary workers at Royal Oldham Hospital.
It was discovered Mr Lytton had lived in Pakistan for 10 years and had flown to London Heathrow, two days before his body was found.
He had no wallet, phone or documents and was identified from photos from a passenger list and picked up on CCTV in London.
His identity was eventually confirmed as a result of a DNA match with a relative in January.
It later emerged he had changed his name from David Lautenberg, the name he was born with in 1948.
Police believe he took his own life.
Det Sgt John Coleman described the case as "unlike anything I have ever known" in 20 years as a police officer.
Speaking after Mr Lytton's identity was finally established, he said: "Possibly the biggest question still remains, which is why a man with no obvious connection to Saddleworth chose to head there after returning from Pakistan."
The mystery gave rise to a number of theories about Mr Lytton's death, which were later discounted.
There was speculation he could have been making a final journey to the site of a plane crash in 1949 which killed his family, while a man from Northern Ireland contacted police to say he could be missing Hugh Toner, from Newry, who disappeared in 1994. | The death of a man whose body was found in mysterious circumstances on Saddleworth Moor will be examined at an inquest later. | 39258689 |
Samuel Garner, 17, was hit on Welford Road outside Leicester Prison, just after 23:00 BST on Sunday.
Leicestershire Police said he died at the scene after being seriously injured when a black BMW 5 Series hit a group of pedestrians.
A teenage girl also suffered injuries but these were described as minor.
Officers said the car failed to stop at the scene and was last seen driving towards Almond Road.
It was found on Monday burned out on College Road, Whetstone, after being stolen from Blaby, Leicestershire, on 29 April.
Mr Garner's parents, Scott and Tracie Garner, described their son as "perfect, loving and thoughtful".
"He was due to turn 18 tomorrow [Wednesday] and we were going to fly out to Prague this morning [Tuesday] to celebrate," they said.
"He was our world and will always be in our hearts.
"If you've heard any rumours about who the driver was, please come forward."
They added that their son had spent Sunday afternoon with his family watching Leicester City's 1-1 draw against Manchester United before heading into the city centre - wearing his white Foxes football shirt - with his friends.
It is believed the car had two occupants. No arrests have been made yet in connection with the teenager's death.
Anyone with any information on the crash is asked to contact Leicestershire Police. | The family of a teenager who died in a hit-and-run crash involving a stolen car has urged the public to help find the driver. | 36196686 |
Adam Gallagher stripped to his boxer shorts and doused himself with oil so he was too slippery for security staff to get hold of.
Gallagher told a court he had not wanted to be moved to HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow.
One of the G4S security team moving him was so frightened he fainted.
Gallagher also later damaged the G4S security van as he lashed out during the journey from Perth to Glasgow.
Gallagher, 28, is currently serving a life sentence for stabbing a 21-year-old Marek Smrz to death in Arbroath in 2006.
Representing himself, Gallagher said he had been held in a segregation unit for assaulting a prison officer before the incident on 18 December.
He said: "I had been there for seven weeks, and this day covered myself in baby oil before rolling about with the riot squad.
"I asked the G4S man's name in the van but he wouldn't tell me, so I kicked off. My adrenaline was high.
"I apologise for the man fainting, but these people are meant to be able to deal with this."
Gallagher was jailed for a further eight months for the incident.
He appeared in the same court earlier this month and admitted smashing up his cell in the segregation unit at Perth Prison after being told he was being moved. | A convicted murderer covered himself in baby oil in a bid to stop officers transferring him from Perth Prison, a court heard. | 36033907 |
Cllr Peter Fox said the county must "rise to the challenge" of becoming a more popular place to live.
Fees will drop to £3 when the crossings go into public ownership by early 2018, under UK government plans.
Property prices have been rising in the county as Bristol workers "capitalise" on lower house prices.
"It's really exciting and unlocks a huge amount of opportunity for people and businesses in Monmouthshire as the gateway to south Wales," Mr Fox told the BBC.
"The bridge toll was like an economic barrier but now we have a huge chance of tapping into the booming Bristol market.
"But there are challenges - as this area will become very popular and desirable, pressure will be put on housing demands and our infrastructure."
Bristol is the UK's fastest-growing economy outside of London and its house prices are the fastest-growing in the country.
Chepstow, Caldicot and Magor in south Monmouthshire are becoming popular commuter towns and estate agents say around 80% of home buyers are now coming from the Bristol area.
As a result, property prices have been rising quicker than the Wales average, figures have suggested.
"We'll have to rise to the challenge as we've got a lot of thinking to do," said Mr Fox, who is also vice-chairman of the Cardiff Capital Region.
"One of the dilemmas we'll have to face is the need to increase housing in Monmouthshire to cope with the expected increased demand from commuters from Bristol.
"As house prices rise as a result, we'll need to deliver more affordable homes to ensure local youngsters can afford to remain here. That is a concern.
"We'll need extra infrastructure like doctors surgeries, schools and roads with extra capacity but that will be funded by developers."
Two large housing developments are planned at Chepstow's old dockyard and near its hospital while a new estate is heading for Undy, bordering the M4 motorway near Magor.
The Severn Tunnel Junction railway station in Rogiet has recently undergone an £8m refurbishment, while a new train station at Magor has the backing of Monmouthshire council and is part of the new South Wales Metro proposal.
Mr Fox said he hoped the toll reduction can attract business back to the county and keep local youngsters in Monmouthshire.
"I'm excited about the extra jobs we can possibly create," he said.
"We want our children to have the opportunity to remain here, bring up their family and have a high-paid job rather than leaving the county to fulfil their aspirations. | Monmouthshire could face pressure on housing and infrastructure after the Severn Bridge tolls are cut, its council leader has said. | 38615280 |
Mr Hickey, 71, was detained by Brazilian police on Wednesday but was then taken to hospital for tests after he complained of health problems.
After police questioning, Mr Hickey was denied bail by a judge and moved to maximum security Bangu 10 prison.
He denies the claims but has stepped down from all his posts temporarily.
It is understood Mr Hickey is sharing a cell at the prison.
He was head of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) as well as the European Olympic body, and also sat on the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
On Friday, Irish Sports Minister Shane Ross announced an inquiry into the ticketing claims, following a meeting with Attorney General Máire Whelan.
The inquiry would be chaired by a retired judge who would be appointed next week, said Mr Ross, adding that he hoped it would complete its work in 12 weeks.
Who is Pat Hickey?
Mr Hickey left hospital in a wheelchair on Thursday night and was taken to a police station in Rio where he gave a statement to investigators, reports say.
He was then denied bail by the Court of Justice, and transferred to prison.
Bangu penitentiary complex houses some of Brazil's most dangerous inmates and is famous for its bloody gang violence.
It has been the scene of murders and riots and several of its officials have been killed.
In December 2005, a security chief became the fifth official from the jail to be murdered in five years.
In 2013, 27 inmates escaped from the sprawling complex by crawling through the sewage system.
However, a women's jail in the complex hosts an annual beauty contest.
Meanwhile, Mr Hickey's colleagues at the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) have said they will fully cooperate with any Irish state inquiry into the sale of tickets for Rio 2016.
In a statement on Friday it said Mr Hickey was "receiving his own legal advice and is entitled to natural justice and due process".
It said independent legal advisers had been appointed to advise the council's board.
It added that it "would cooperate fully with a state inquiry and it will now appoint an external independent firm to carry out a review".
The council said its board regretted that "recent events in Brazil have overshadowed the many great performances of Team Ireland at the Rio Olympic Games".
The OCI said it would also commission its own independent inquiry into the ticketing scandal.
Mr Hickey was dramatically arrested on Wednesday in his hotel room over his alleged role in a scheme to sell Olympic tickets for a higher price than their face value.
He was escorted off the premises wearing his dressing gown to face questions.
But he complained of heart problems and spent time in Samaritano Hospital in Rio de Janeiro before being taken to a police station for questioning on Thursday night.
William O'Brien, who has temporarily taken over as president of the OCI, said on Thursday that the organisation would "defend ourselves to the hilt". | Senior Olympic official Pat Hickey is being held in a notorious Rio prison following his arrest over alleged illegal sales of tickets for the games. | 37128752 |
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion suffered severe head injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013.
He left hospital in September 2014 to continue his recovery at home after coming out of a medically induced coma.
Schumacher, 47, continues to receive treatment at his home in Switzerland following the accident in France.
Speaking at the opening of an exhibition of Schumacher's career in Marburg, Germany, Sabine Kehm said: "He is the most successful driver in history and sometimes, on days like this, it is good to be reminded of it.
"Of course, Michael is not here and of course we miss him. We know what has happened and cannot change it.
"We must accept it and hope with everything we have that, with continued support and patience, he will one day be back with us."
In November, FIA president Jean Todt said Schumacher was "still fighting".
Earlier this month his former boss at Ferrari Luca di Montezemolo said the latest news about Schumacher's health was "not good". | The manager of motor racing legend Michael Schumacher says she hopes "that with continued support and patience he will one day be back with us". | 35593587 |
The 39-year-old, who is from Northampton but now lives in West Yorkshire, is being held over the death of 76-year-old Arthur Brumhill.
Mr Brumhill was found with head injuries at Denton's Pet and Garden Store in Wellingborough Road on 22 January 1993.
Det Sgt Paul Hamilton said the man would be questioned in Northampton.
Mr Brumhill was found dead in the basement of the former pet and garden centre where he was a part-time worker.
Police said the previous evening an eyewitness saw what he thought was the shopkeeper and another man, who appeared to be a friend, in the shop.
The witness said the man was in his teens, about 5ft 5in (1.7m) tall and had "mousey-brown" hair.
At 08:30 GMT the next morning a shop assistant arrived to find Mr Brumhill's body with several heavy blows to the head, the force said.
Police believe Mr Brumhill had let the person in as there were no signs of a forced entry into the shop.
A tyre lever, similar to a crowbar, and a small amount of money were taken in the incident. It is believed the killer escaped through an upstairs window.
A number of arrests were made at the time, but nobody was charged.
Speaking when the murder inquiry was re-launched in 2013, Mr Brumhill's daughter Sue Blake called her father's death "brutal". | A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a pensioner in Northampton 22 years ago. | 32795964 |
The 93 licences to explore 159 blocks of land could pave the way for more controversial hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Parts of the Yorkshire, the Midlands, and the North West have been opened for exploration.
There are also licence blocks in the South of England and Wales.
Around 75% of the exploration licences relate to "unconventional" shale oil and gas, which typically requires fracking.
Today's licences give rights to companies to explore for shale oil and gas, but do not give automatic permission to drill.
Planning permission to build rigs and drill land needs clearance from local or central authorities.
Earlier this year, councillors in Lancashire rejected shale gas firm Cuadrilla's application to drill a handful of shale gas exploratory wells.
There would be too much noise and the impact on the landscape would be too great, they said.
But the final decision will be made by central government. | The Oil and Gas Authority has awarded a raft of new licences to explore for oil and gas on the mainland of the UK. | 35121390 |
The injury puts him out of Saturday's European Champions Cup final against Clermont Auvergne at Murrayfield.
The 28-year-old winger was named as part of Gregor Townsend's first Scotland squad on Monday for matches in Singapore, Australia and Fiji.
"Sean is unfortunately out for the rest of the season," said McCall.
"It may or may not need surgery, but we won't find out for a few days. It's cruel luck for a player who has been in such great form."
Scotland will play a Test against Italy in Singapore on 10 June before facing Australia in Sydney on 17 June and Fiji in Suva on 24 June.
New-Zealand-born Maitland joined Glasgow Warriors in 2012 from Crusaders and qualified to play for Scotland through his Glaswegian grandparents.
He scored on his Scotland debut against England at Twickenham the following year and has gone on to score five tries in 28 international appearances.
Backs:
Back three: Damien Hoyland (Edinburgh Rugby), Ruaridh Jackson (Harlequins), Lee Jones (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Maitland (Saracens), Tim Visser (Harlequins); Centres: Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Gloucester), Duncan Taylor (Saracens); Fly-halves: Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors), Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors); Scrum-halves: Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh)
Forwards:
Props: Alex Allan (Glasgow Warriors), Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby), D'Arcy Rae (Glasgow Warriors), Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors); Hookers: Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), George Turner (Edinburgh Rugby); Locks: Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Toulouse), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), Ben Toolis (Edinburgh Rugby); Back row: John Barclay (Scarlets - captain), Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh Rugby), John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby), Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors), Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors).
10 June - Scotland v Italy, Singapore National Stadium, Singapore (KO tbc)
17 June - Scotland v Australia, Allianz Stadium, Sydney (05:00 BST)
24 June - Scotland v Fiji, ANZ Stadium, Suva (KO tbc) | Sean Maitland has emerged as a doubt for Scotland's summer tour as Saracens head coach Mark McCall has revealed he has suffered ankle ligament damage. | 39864097 |
The 24.78-carat "fancy intense pink" diamond was sold to a well-known British dealer at an auction in Geneva.
Bidding at the Sotheby's auction was said to be fierce, and the sale surpassed expectations.
Last sold by a New York jeweller 60 years ago, the gem has been kept in a private collection ever since.
The diamond had been expected to command at least £625,000 per carat.
The previous record for a jewel at auction was set by a blue 35.56 carat diamond which sold for £15.2m at auction in 2008.
"This is the highest price ever bid for a jewel at auction," said David Bennett, the head of Sotheby's jewellery division, as the auction room in Geneva's luxury Beau Rivage hotel broke into applause.
It was bought by top diamond trader Laurence Graff, who bid by telephone, Sotheby's said.
The auction house said it sold jewels worth a total of £66m - a world record for a single sale.
Five hundred lots were on sale, including jewellery that belonged to Christina Onassis and Cristina Ford - who was married to Henry Ford II, grandson of the founder of the Ford Motor Company.
"I think this tells you a bit about the health of the market," Mr Bennett told reporters afterwards.
He said the pink stone - which is described as having an emerald cut with gently rounded corners - had a "soft sensual feel".
Pink diamonds of such a size are extremely rare.
"There's only one or two other stones I've seen like this in the 35 years I've been doing this job," said Mr Bennett. "I just love it."
BBC Geneva correspondent Imogen Foulkes said it was a "beautiful, rosy pink with an alluring sparkle". | One of the world's rarest diamonds has sold for a record-breaking $46 million (£29m), the highest price ever paid for a jewel. | 11764757 |
More than 2,000 deaths have been linked to the scandal in which haemophiliacs and others were infected with hepatitis C and HIV from imported blood products.
Speaking in the Commons, the Labour MP said victims were "guinea pigs".
Health minister Nicola Blackwood resisted calls for a fresh inquiry.
She said thousands of documents had been released by the Department of Health in relation to the scandal, while two reviews had already been carried out.
In 2015, the then Prime Minster David Cameron apologised to thousands of victims of the contaminated blood scandal.
A parliamentary report had found around 7,500 patients were infected by imported blood products - contracting hepatitis C and HIV - the virus that can develop into Aids.
The UK imported supplies of the clotting agent Factor VIII - some of which turned out to be infected. Much of the plasma used to make Factor VIII came from donors like prison inmates in the US, who sold their blood.
More than 2,000 UK patients have since died as a result.
Now Mr Burnham is calling for a public "Hillsborough-style inquiry" - echoing calls already made by the Haemophilia Society and victims' families.
In what was his final speech in the Commons - having announced he will not stand in the upcoming election - Mr Burnham outlined evidence that he claimed amounted to "deliberate, provable acts of cover-up".
He gave examples of inappropriate treatment given to patients, tests being done on people without their knowledge or consent, and results from such tests being withheld for several years.
He labelled these "criminal acts", and compared campaigning by relatives of infected people to the efforts by families of Liverpool football fans crushed to death in the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989.
He said both cases "resulted in appalling negligence from public bodies" and involved "an orchestrated campaign to prevent the truth from being told".
Mr Burnham told the Commons he will take his claims to the police if a new inquiry is not established before Parliament breaks for its summer recess in July.
Speaking during the adjournment debate, Mr Burnham cited the cases of three victims.
One of those was haemophiliac Ken Bullock, infected with non-A, non-B hepatitis, who died in 1998.
His widow said that in December 1983, her husband's medical notes changed to suggest he was "a clinical alcoholic".
Mr Burnham told MPs this accusation escalated over the next 15 years, with Mr Bullock unaware of the "appalling" claims.
Mr Bullock was possibly refused a liver transplant based on his falsified medical records saying he was an alcoholic, Mr Burnham said.
The MP later mentioned two documents, including a 1975 letter from Stanford University's medical centre warning the source blood is "100% is from skid row derelicts".
Last year, the UK government launched a consultation on the money available to to those affected by the scandal.
As a result, the government announced that victims in England with stage 1 Hepatitis C would receive £3,500 a year, with the provision to appeal for a higher payment close to the £15,000 received by HIV patients who received toxic blood.
It also announced it will fund payment for the bereaved partner or spouse of individuals infected with Hepatitis C and/or HIV as a result of receiving NHS-supplied blood products. | A "criminal cover-up on an industrial scale" took place over the use of NHS contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s, former Health Secretary Andy Burnham has claimed. | 39713396 |
Er bod meddyginiaethau wedi gwella yn y cyfnod yma, mae'r elusen yn dweud bod y gwaharddiad hefyd wedi bod yn ffactor pwysig.
Rhwng 2006-07 a 2015-16 bu gostyngiad o dros 25% yn nifer yr achosion yng Nghymru, ac ymhlith plant roedd gostyngiad o dros 30% yn yr achosion.
Dywedodd elusen ASH Cymru bod y neges ar ysmygu wedi newid dros y 10 mlynedd ddiwethaf.
Daeth y gwaharddiad ysmygu mewn llefydd cyhoeddus i rym yn 2007. Bwriad Llywodraeth Cymru pan wnaethon nhw gyflwyno'r ddeddf oedd amddiffyn pobl rhag effaith anadlu mwg ail-law.
"Cyn y gwaharddiad roedd e dal yn teimlo fel peth naturiol i wneud, ysmygu o amgylch plant," meddai Abe Sampson o elusen ASH Cymru.
"Ond mae'r neges yna wedi newid dros y 10 mlynedd diwethaf, a nawr mae pobl yn dechrau meddwl am effeithiau fel asthma, ac yn dechrau gweld y cysylltiad rhwng salwch fel 'na a'r mwg ail law."
Mae Nia Griffith wedi bod yn dioddef o asthma ers iddi fod yn bedair oed.
Mae'n dweud bod y gwaharddiad ysmygu wedi cael effaith mawr ar ei bywyd.
"Dwi'n teimlo yn lot brafiach yn mynd allan. Mae mynd allan am bryd o fwyd neu fynd am ddiod yn brofiad lot brafiach," meddai.
"Os dwi'n anghofio fy asthma inhaler dwi ddim yn gorfod poeni bod unrhyw beth yn mynd i neud i fi gael pwl gwael, a bod fi methu anadlu ac wedyn mynd i'r ysbyty neu rywbeth fel 'na."
Ond mae eraill yn amau faint o wahaniaeth mae'r gwaharddiad wedi'i wneud mewn gwirionedd i'r rheiny oedd yn ysmygu.
Wrth i'r gwaharddiad ddod i rym yn 2007, fe siaradodd BBC Cymru ag Owain Llŷr o Gaernarfon. Dywedodd bryd hynny bod ysmygu "yn rhan hanfodol" o gymdeithasu gyda ffrindiau.
Dydy o ddim wedi'i argyhoeddi bod pethau wedi newid llawer.
"I ddeud y gwir, dwi ddim yn siŵr os ydy o wedi newid arferion ysmygu pobl fel y cyfryw," meddai Owain Llŷr.
"Dwi'n meddwl bod pobl yn dal i smocio, ond eu bod nhw'n gorfod mynd tu allan i wneud hynny rŵan a'u bod nhw i ryw raddau wedi cael eu gelyniaethu."
Ers 2007, mae Llywodraeth Cymru hefyd wedi cyflwyno gwaharddiad ar ysmygu mewn ceir sy'n cludo plant. Ond ym mlwyddyn gynta'r polisi, dim ond un ddirwy gafodd ei rhoi. | Mae Asthma UK yn dweud bod lleihad yn nifer yr achosion brys yn ymwneud â'r afiechyd yng Nghymru ers i'r gwaharddiad ysmygu ddod i rym 10 mlynedd yn ôl. | 39457752 |
Darryl "DMC" McDaniels said that products sold by Amazon, Walmart and other stores violated federal trademark and New York competition laws.
McDaniels, who owns a firm named Run-DMC Brand, made the allegations in a complaint filed in the US District Court in Manhattan.
The products include T-shirts and hats.
Run-DMC were one of the biggest rap acts of the 1980s, with global chart hits including Walk This Way and It's Tricky.
Their distinctive logo has become a fashionable motif on T-shirts, often worn by people who are not necessarily fans of the group's music.
McDaniels said the brand was "extremely valuable" and had been legitimately licensed to various manufacturers including sportswear firm Adidas, itself the subject of one of Run-DMC's most successful songs.
Amazon and Walmart have yet to comment on the lawsuit.
McDaniels founded the group in 1981 in the New York borough of Queens with fellow rapper Joseph "Run" Simmons, who is now an ordained Pentecostal minister known as Reverend Run.
The third original member of the group, DJ Jam Master Jay, was shot dead by an unknown assailant in a recording studio in Queens in 2002. | A member of pioneering rap group Run-DMC has filed a $50m (£40.7m) lawsuit accusing retailers of unlawfully using the group's name on items of clothing. | 38466261 |
The girl was rescued after a passer-by managed to restrain the woman in a car park, the court was told.
Jade Mellars, 23, of Harlech Crescent, denies a charge of kidnap in relation to the incident which took place on Tunstall Road in Beeston on Wednesday.
She was remanded in custody to appear at Leeds Crown Court on 13 April.
More on this and other stories on BBC Yorkshire Live | A two-year-old girl was lured from her mother and kidnapped by a woman singing a song from the Disney film Frozen, Leeds Magistrates' Court heard. | 39456268 |
He became the 21st person to be arrested after the attack, which killed 22 people and injured 116 as they left an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May.
Some 12 have been released without charge. Nine remain in custody.
Earlier another 20-year-old was detained in Manchester, on suspicion of offences against the Terrorism Act.
Attacker Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a home-made bomb in the arena's foyer just after 22:30 BST.
The blast killed young people attending the event and friends and family who were waiting to meet them.
Abedi was one of three siblings and was born in Manchester to a family of Libyan origin.
His younger brother Hasham, 20, was detained in Tripoli on suspicion of links with the so-called Islamic State group on the same day.
Abedi's older brother Ismail, 24, who was also arrested after the attack, has been released without charge.
Reuters news agency told the BBC that Abedi's father, Ramadan, had also been detained in Libya. | A 20-year-old man has been arrested following the Manchester Arena terrorist attack after handing himself in to police. | 40192091 |
Former Alex captain David Artell, 36, replaced Davis on Sunday, with Crewe 18th in the fourth tier.
"Something's got to change," Ashton told BBC Radio Stoke. "Maybe a fresh approach will make the difference.
"Steve did a magnificent job when he came in, taking over from Dario Gradi, in the right manner and philosophy."
But the once-capped England international, 33, added: "It's been a long time now that they've been on a steady decline.
"Apart from a good couple of months at the start of the season, they've not really looked like turning it around.
"Steve can look back at Crewe with fond memories and be proud of what he did. From where they were when he came in, two Wembley trips, promotion and a trophy was brilliant.
"But the real worry is that if the slide continues, then you're looking at the Football League trapdoor which Crewe definitely don't want to go through.
"It was the right time for him to step aside and for someone else to take it on."
"They now have David, who was club captain in successful times, and his number two Kenny Lunt is a great coach who brings experience of what it's like to get to Championship level with Crewe.
"And it's absolutely vital they use (head of recruitment) Neil Baker. He's been there and done it. Any situation Crewe go into, he's got that experience. He's got a good calmness to him. He's not going to make rash decisions."
Ashton left Crewe for Norwich for £3m in January 2005 and his subsequent move to West Ham a year later earned the club even more money with a sell-on fee.
Previously, players such as David Platt, Geoff Thomas, Robbie Savage, Rob Jones, Neil Lennon, Danny Murphy and Seth Johnson all moved for big transfer fees.
But, for all the success of their highly-rated academy, Crewe have not received a seven-figure fee for a player since Luke Murphy left for Leeds United in 2013.
"You're always looking for that next player to come through to go on to bigger and better things," said Ashton. "Since they sold Luke Murphy on the back of Nick Powell to Manchester United and Ashley Westwood to Aston Villa, it's been difficult.
"The only worry is that it's getting more and more difficult for teams like Crewe to bring talent through as the big clubs widen their search and get all of the best players.
"Within the boundaries Crewe set, you don't have money to spend. You have to bring youngsters through, and it's very difficult down there to constantly rely on your youth policy." | Ex-Crewe striker Dean Ashton says the sacking of Steve Davis as manager may have come "at the right time" if the League Two club are to stay in the EFL. | 38561031 |
The salon has a loyal customer base of well-heeled New Yorkers willing to pay the higher-than-usual minimum fee of $30 (£19) for a manicure.
Since she started the business in 2006, owner Nina Werman's approach to dealing with her employees has also set the salon apart.
She pays her nail technicians more than the minimum wage, provides paid lunch breaks, training, overtime and sick pay as well as protective masks and gloves.
"I want to retain my staff," says Ms Werman of her approach. "It takes a lot of money and time and emotional energy to hire and train a technician. I've been a disgruntled employee in my life and I don't want anyone to have that experience."
It's a far cry from the world exposed earlier this year in the New York Times, which detailed the low wages and difficult working conditions endured by many nail technicians in New York state's 34,000 beauty salons.
To reassure its customers after the expose, Valley put a "Handle with Care" sticker on its front door. Based on a hashtag created for social media by design agency Table of Contents, it aims to encourage customers to tout salons with ethical labour practices.
But take up of the voluntary scheme has been low - so far just 10 stores have adopted it - and it has been rapidly overtaken by official measures to regulate the sector introduced by the state government of New York.
Among the new rules: salon owners must pay minimum wage and overtime hours, and provide eye protection, masks and gloves for those working with chemicals. Manicurists must be licensed with the state, and a new "Bill of Rights for Nail Workers" is now prominently displayed in salons. Inspections and fines on salons have also increased, and legislation allows the state to quickly shut down shops which do not comply.
More regulations are on the cards, dealing particularly with the use of chemicals at nail salons. The proposed rules will require salons to have specialised air-ventilation machines to protect workers and customers from vapours released by acrylics, for example.
However, many business owners are warning the changes could be counter productive.
Sue Choi, a young Korean business woman, has owned a small, colourful salon called Sweety Nails, based in the predominantly Asian neighbourhood of Flushing where manicures start at $7, for four years.
Ms Choi says she pays her six employees, whom she works alongside, a fair wage, and has tried to create an atmosphere where both workers and customers are happy. "Like a family," she says.
But now the new regulations and frequent inspections of her salon - "targeted enforcement", she says - have made her anxious and discouraged. "I'm having doubts about being in business at all," she admits.
One regulation in particular has endangered small businesses like Ms Choi's: a requirement for small salons to obtain a wage bond, a form of insurance to cover potential claims for unpaid wages.
The bonds range from $250 to $1,000 a year, and are based on the salon owner's personal finances. Advocates for salon workers say they are important for worker's rights, and are part of the cost of doing business.
However, because Ms Choi is a relatively new immigrant she has no credit history making it difficult for her to get approval for a bond, without which she can't renew her licence to operate.
Other salon owners say it's difficult to stay on top of the changes.
Candice Idehen, who opened Bed of Nails - a small, plush salon employing six people - in Harlem two years ago, says it's "nerve-wracking".
"The rules in this industry are changing fast and whether you know what they are or not, you have to follow them."
Ms Idehen herself has worked as a nail technician at salons where the owners didn't care about their workers, and says that this has shaped how she runs her business.
As a result, Bed of Nails has a reputation for being an ethical salon, based on, for example, pedicure chairs placed higher up than usual so that technicians don't have to hunch over whilst working on a customer's feet.
Yet the rules, even when they're not relevant, still apply to her salon, Ms Idehen complains. For instance, the salon doesn't use acrylics, yet workers must wear masks. Of the proposed rules on air ventilation systems, she says, "These things make me a little nervous because those are huge costs, with many things to take into consideration."
She thinks some salons might start to pass these new costs onto customers, but is determined that she won't. Her clients, who pay $20 for a basic manicure, come for the service, she says, and she says her business will absorb these costs when they arise.
Nonetheless, she expects the industry itself to change permanently.
"I do think it will turn a manicure into more of a luxury service, like what you see in other cities like London.
"And for people just starting out with a new business in this industry, it's going to be hard."
But for Ecuadorian nail technician Sylvia Padilla, one of Valley's 25 employees, the changes are welcome. Whilst she's never worked at a salon where exploitation and abuse was the norm, she says working conditions and pay have been poor.
At Valley she's happy. "We have a lunch break, and the pay is higher. We have the time to work with customers. In other places we have to rush with one customer after another and have to keep working and working."
She is hopeful the new regulations will make more salons operate like Valley. | Valley, a high-end nail salon on a leafy street in Manhattan, is spacious and sleek, its whitewashed walls adorned with contemporary art. | 34571517 |
John O'Shea, 60, of Derrinadin, Mastergeeha, had previously pleaded guilty to drink driving in Waterville in July 2014.
Mr O'Shea's solicitor said his client lived 10km from Waterville and would be at a severe disadvantage if put off the road immediately.
The judge agreed to delay the ban.
Mr O'Shea's solicitor told Cahersiveen District Court in Killarney that gaelic football had been his client's "downfall on the day" the offence occurred.
He went to Waterville for cow feed and ended up talking about Kerry's performance in beating Cork in the Munster football final, drinking too much and hitting a ditch while driving home.
The accused's alcohol-blood reading - 198mg per 100ml - was such that the offence carried a three-year driving ban, the court heard.
The legal limit is 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Mr O'Shea's solicitor asked if his client could not be put off the road until after the summer.
Mr O'Shea was asked if he had "good neighbours", to which he replied that they were "alright".
The court heard his relatives live in County Cork.
Judge James O'Connor then asked if Mr O'Shea was "going to stay single or will you take the plunge?"
The judge was also told that, without transport, his client would be at a great disadvantage living in an isolated rural area.
"You'd never know now with Star Wars," Judge O'Connor said, in reference to the increased visitor numbers to south Kerry due to the activity surrounding the filming of the movie on Skellig Michael.
Being off the road would make it difficult for O'Shea to care for his cows and he would have to make arrangements to get rid of them, his solicitor said.
"Or find himself a nice woman," the judge said.
Mr O'Shea's solicitor noted that if the extension went beyond September, it would allow his client to go to the matchmaking festival at Lisdoonvarna.
Judge O'Connor said it was not the purpose of the state to "nail" people in terms of undoing their livelihood and he granted an adjournment of the ban until 8 December.
The Irish Road Victim's Association condemned the decision to delay imposing the driving ban.
"What planet is this judge living on?" its chairwoman Donna Rice asked.
"For a judge to give a priority to the care of cows over the protection of our families and children going about their daily business shows how out-of-touch he is with the reality faced by the hundreds of families left with seriously injured loved ones, and family members killed, by drunk drivers." | A judge has told a bachelor farmer from an isolated part of County Kerry that he should find a wife before his ban for drink driving comes into effect. | 36502025 |
North Wales Police said the crash happened one mile south of Pentrefoelas at about 08:40 BST on Wednesday.
A man was pronounced dead at the scene and two other people were injured and were taken to hospital at Ysbyty Gwynedd.
The A5 has been shut in both directions and diversions are in place at Betws-y-Coed and in Pentrefoelas.
The vehicles involved in the incident were a Rover 25, a Ford Focus and the agricultural vehicle. | The driver of an agricultural vehicle has died following a three-vehicle crash on the A5 in Conwy county. | 36538026 |
Meredith, 24, began his career at Derby and also had spells with Shrewsbury, Chesterfield and AFC Telford.
The left-back joined York in 2009 and was part of the team that won the Blue Square Premier play-off final in May.
He is a good athlete and can play in several positions
Boss Phil Parkinson told the Bradford website: "I'm really pleased to have James on board. He's a young, hungry player with a great attitude."
The Australia-born left-back, who can also play in the centre of defence and midfield, played 46 games for York last season as the club completed the double of winning promotion back to the Football League and the FA Trophy.
He is Bradford's fourth summer signing following the arrival of Gary Jones,Rory McArdle and Andrew Davies.
Manager Parkinson added: "We had him watched several times at York City last season and we were impressed with what we saw of him.
"He had a terrific spell at York and has played virtually everyone of their games for the last three years." | Bradford City have completed the signing of York full-back James Meredith on a two-year deal. | 18642790 |
The Blues, who had keeper Thibaut Courtois sent off, were down to nine men for a period after staff ran on to treat Hazard following a trip, despite him not appearing to be badly injured.
If a player receives treatment, they must leave the field.
"I was unhappy with my medical staff. They were impulsive and naive," Mourinho told Sky Sports.
"Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game.
"You have to know you have one player less and to assist a player you must be sure he has a serious problem. I was sure Eden did not have a serious problem. He had a knock. He was tired."
Chelsea were already struggling to cope against Swansea's extra man before Hazard was tripped by Gylfi Sigurdsson with six minutes remaining, leading to Mourinho's frustration.
It was an eventful match for Premier League champions Chelsea. Courtois suffered an injury scare in the warm-up before he was was dismissed in the 52nd minute after bringing down Swansea striker Bafetimbi Gomis.
Replacement goalkeeper Asmir Begovic came on for his debut after an £8m move from Stoke, with opening goalscorer Oscar making way. Gomis scored the resulting penalty.
"I don't want to talk about it," Mourinho said of the referee's decision.
After Oscar's opener, Andre Ayew equalised on his Swansea debut but the visitors only held on for 95 seconds before Federico Fernandez scored an unfortunate own goal to gift Chelsea a 2-1 lead.
Following defeat by Arsenal in last Sunday's Community Shield, Chelsea again looked rusty, having returned from a pre-season tour of North America where they travelled 9,800 miles.
Mourinho said: "Swansea didn't have chances against 11 men. The team was playing very, very well in the first half.
"In one minute, it was a penalty, red card and the goal.
"If you have 10 men and are winning you can defend well and try to find a strategy but to play with 10 men and try to win the game is more difficult. I would say we were the best team with 11 players and with 10 we fought hard, some fighting at the limit of their condition."
Chelsea travel to face Manchester City in their next game on Sunday, 16 August. | Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho criticised his "naive" medical staff for treating Eden Hazard in their draw with Swansea. | 33837212 |
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I said at the time that I have never seen a training session as bad as that one on the day before a Test. They were dropping catches, letting the ball through their legs and they had no energy or sharpness.
A poor practice the day before a match doesn't necessarily mean anything, but, sure enough, the visitors were hammered by 211 runs.
Their performance with the bat in the second innings, bowled out for 119, was so bad that, if it had been England, my Test Match Special colleague Geoffrey Boycott would have combusted.
This takes nothing away from England, but they had to put in little more than a mixed display to give Joe Root a win in his first match as captain.
Had it not been for Root's knock in the first innings - 190 with the assistance of a couple of drops and a stumping off a no-ball - Moeen Ali's lovely 87 and an important late-order half-century from Stuart Broad, England might have been well short of a decent total.
After that, Broad and Anderson bowled nicely in the South Africa first innings, but the man who will take all the bowling plaudits is off-spinner Moeen, who picked up his first 10-wicket haul in Tests.
Not since he ran through India three years ago in Southampton has Moeen taken England to victory with the ball in the final innings of a match. He struggled on the subcontinent during the winter, so this should be a boost to his confidence.
Perhaps he took something from the innings he played into his bowling, as all-rounders can often find that success in one discipline benefits the other.
I really do take great pleasure in watching Moeen bat, much like I did from my old team-mate David Gower. Not only that, but he should rightfully be classed as England's go-to spinner, despite the selection of Liam Dawson. Moeen has earned it.
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This Test provided a number of new beginnings for members of this England side.
On Gary Ballance, recalled to bat at number three, not a great deal has been learned. The 34 he made in the second innings was admirable because batting was very difficult when he arrived on the third evening.
However, his mode of dismissal in the first innings, had a familiar, retro feel. After taking that huge stride back as a trigger movement, Ballance was desperately trying to get forward and was pinned lbw by Morne Morkel.
Bowlers know how Ballance likes to play and that backwards trigger gives them so much more room to pitch the ball up. He will have to examine that technique and decide if it will allow him to succeed at this level.
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For most of his second innings Ballance was in the company of Alastair Cook, a man who looks like has he gulped in a huge breath of fresh air by giving up the captaincy.
I interviewed him on the fourth morning and was able to draw a comparison between the Cook of now and the Cook I spoke to after the fifth Test against India in Chennai last year. It was like a different man.
Cook will not be a grumpy old pro, chuntering in the corner as the team move on. He will enjoy his cricket and bat the way he does. The 69 he made in the second innings was classic Cook - playing nicely without taking the attack apart.
With his schedule - no one-day internationals - he could play Tests for a long time to come.
The biggest change was for Root, who finally got to lead England five months after being appointed as Cook's successor.
It's very easy to evaluate captaincy from the commentary box, to nitpick every decision, but Root did OK.
He might have used Moeen earlier on the third day, but he showed good energy in the field and came up with some imaginative plans.
Big decisions, like what to do at the toss or when to declare, were not a factor, so in some ways it was a straightforward introduction to the job.
The biggest plus for Root is that he made a big score, because no-one can say, for a little while at least, that the captaincy has affected is batting.
However, even though he wasn't necessarily challenged by the tactical demands of the game, and he had the luxury of England winning handsomely, Root seemed tired when I spoke to him at the end of the match. Once or twice he lost his train of thought.
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Captaincy is hard work, especially for those who haven't done much of it before. Root is learning that he has to be sharp all the time, making decisions, formulating plans. His mind will be racing, even when he tries to sleep at night. It is something he will have to learn to deal with.
Root, though, has fewer problems than Faf du Plessis, the South Africa skipper who has arrived back in England following the birth of his child and will take charge for the second Test at Trent Bridge starting on Friday.
He has to instil some character and fight into his team. If we see the same practice drill in Nottingham as we did at Lord's, the writing is on the wall.
The way South Africa capitulated was embarrassing and they need to show they are better than that.
Jonathan Agnew was talking to BBC Sport's Stephan Shemilt. | The day before England's first Test of the summer, I watched South Africa do a fielding drill at Lord's as I did a report for BBC Radio 5 live. | 40551163 |
Emwazi was refused entry to Tanzania in 2009 for being drunk and abusive, custody records from the time show.
He has claimed he was on holiday with two friends when they were stopped and interrogated under orders from MI5.
Tanzania's home affairs minister Mathias Chikawe said there was no tip-off, but Emwazi "wanted to harm us".
Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s and from west London, has been identified as the masked jihadist in several Islamic State videos in which hostages have been beheaded.
He has said he was a student looking forward to a safari holiday when he flew to Tanzania's Dar es Salaam airport, from The Netherlands, six years ago.
He said that when he arrived, he was stopped, arrested and accused of wanting to joining the al-Qaeda-linked Somali terror network al-Shabaab.
But speaking to the BBC's East Africa correspondent Ed Thomas, Mr Chikawe said there was no contact from any intelligence agency relating to Emwazi, and the men were only stopped because of their behaviour.
"We had no information whatsoever from any organisation or anybody for that matter," he said.
"They were in a state of inebriation - highly drunk. And they were cursing and saying all the bad words you can think of.
"So the immigration officers detained them and asked them questions, saying, 'Why do you behave like this? Who are you? Why are you coming here?'."
In emails written to campaigners at advocacy group Cage, Emwazi said he had been threatened at gunpoint and was later told to ask the British government why he had been stopped.
But Mr Chikawe said his claims were untrue.
"He was actually detained by a lady, a young lady. She could not interrogate, she could not threaten the three of them," he said.
"It's not true, we just asked them questions.
"If he is saying anything other than what I'm telling you, then he is (lying)," he added.
He said there was a "very close" relationship between Britain and Tanzania because of historical ties. He has asked the Tanzanian authorities to investigate Emwazi's time in Tanzania.
"I've asked them to look for the CCTV footage if there is any, just to see exactly what happened," he said.
"Because for us at that time he was just like any other visitor trying to enter Tanzania, he wasn't special."
He said he believed their intent had been to cause harm.
"They must have wanted to do some terrorist acts. I think maybe they wanted to harm us, definitely," he said.
"We have been hit terrorists. The American embassy was blown up. We feel we are targets, and we don't want to be victims. We shall always defend ourselves."
A custody record dated 23 May 2009, and written in Kiswahili, requests that Emwazi and two friends "be detained after they refused to return back to Amsterdam using KLM 569 after being refused entry to the country".
The document names Emwazi, Ally Adorus and Marcel Schrodel.
Adorus, a British citizen, is now a convicted terrorist serving a prison sentence in Ethiopia.
Schrodel is said to have been known to German security services.
Mohammed Emwazi timeline:
Source: Cage, London-based campaign group
'Jihadi John' movement mapped | Mohammed Emwazi, the man otherwise known as "Jihadi John", wanted to carry out "acts of terrorism" in Tanzania, one of its top officials believes. | 31799541 |
The 25-year-old Welsh keeper was out of contract with the League One club and will join North End on 1 July on a three-year deal.
Maxwell started his career at Wrexham and had four seasons at Fleetwood.
The Lilywhites were without a first-choice keeper after Anders Lindegaard's loan spell ended and they chose to let Chris Kirkland leave.
"Preston is a massive club and getting the deal done early going into the summer is good from a personal note," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"There was a bit of interest from other parties but once I knew Preston were interested in me, and speaking to the staff, it was almost a no brainer."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Championship side Preston have signed Fleetwood Town goalkeeper Chris Maxwell on a free transfer. | 36301457 |
In last year's ratings, 333 primary and secondary schools made the top "green" category - a rise of 41%.
Meanwhile, those schools in the red category, the ones needing the most improvement, fell from 81 to 58 in 2015.
The Welsh Government believes it helps identify the schools that need the most help, support and guidance to improve.
The 2016 ratings will be published on its My Local School website.
They follow on from education watchdog Estyn's annual report last week which found seven out of 10 primary schools were "good or better" but only four out of 10 of the secondary schools it inspected.
Teaching unions have generally given a cautious welcome to the system, providing it is only part of wider methods of evaluating schools.
Rob Williams, director of policy at head teachers' union NAHT Cymru, said: "We still believe that for categorisation to work at its best, it needs to be part of a co-ordinated school improvement system in Wales."
He added: "As Estyn highlighted in their recent annual report, variability still exists across Wales and the additional focus on schools in the amber and red categories does not mask the huge funding disparities that continue to exist between schools.
"We know that the Welsh Government is listening to school leaders and their concerns about a system that uses single cohorts of pupil data in isolation, with no inclusion of the progress those individual pupils make whilst in a school."
The National School Categorisation System is agreed between local education authorities and Welsh Government and includes performance measures and self-evaluation by schools. | The latest school ratings are published on Tuesday, the third year of a colour-coded system in Wales. | 38796996 |
His defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 effectively ended French colonial rule in the region.
He was North Vietnam's defence minister at the time of the Tet Offensive against American forces in 1968, often cited as a key campaign that led to the Americans' withdrawal.
Gen Giap also published a number of works on military strategy.
He was born into a peasant family in the central Quang Binh province of what was then French Indochina.
Obituary: General Vo Nguyen Giap
At the age of 14, he joined a clandestine resistance movement.
By 1938 he was a member of Ho Chi Minh's Indochinese Communist party and fled to China with Ho, ahead of the Japanese invasion of Vietnam.
Gen Giap organised an army from his Chinese exile and returned to Indochina to wage a guerrilla war against the occupying Japanese.
While he was out of Vietnam, his first wife was arrested and died in a French prison. He later remarried and had three daughters and two sons.
After his role in the war against the French, Gen Giap was credited for his leadership at the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive against US forces.
Troops ultimately under his command attacked more than 40 provincial capitals and entered Saigon, then the capital of South Vietnam, briefly capturing the US embassy. But he was not personally involved in the operation, as he was in Budapest at the time.
After the war, Gen Giap retained his position as defence minister and was appointed deputy prime minister in 1976.
However, he found himself sidelined by the regime and retired from government six years later.
In the US, news of Gen Giap's death was noted by Senator John McCain, a former navy pilot who was shot down during the Vietnam conflict and held as a prisoner of war.
In a tweet, Senator McCain described Gen Giap as "a brilliant military strategist who once told me that we were an honourable enemy". | Vo Nguyen Giap, the Vietnamese general who masterminded victories against France and the US, has died aged 102. | 24402278 |
It comes as the UK government consults on whether to scrap rules allowing those who do not speak English or Welsh to take tests in other languages.
Allyson Ng, from Bristol, was jailed at Cardiff Crown Court for fraud.
Since 2009 she had interpreted on 123 theory tests, and the DSA says it is continuing to revoke 94 of these.
While the majority of the fraudulent tests were in Cardiff, a small number were in Birmingham.
Last week Ng, who lives in Bristol, was jailed for a year after admitting conspiring to defraud the DSA, which is in charge of driving tests.
She was arrested at the Cardiff theory test centre in October 2012.
Ng charged £110 a time for translation, and the agency said it became suspicious after a surge in the number of her customers in the second half of 2011.
Any drivers who have got their licences as a result of the fraud will lose them and will have to take the theory test again.
One Cardiff-based driving instructor said he knows of examiners who have had to stop during tests to warn interpreters that they seemed to be giving candidates too much information.
Keith Willicombe, who runs the Bumps driving school, said he had also had problems with long-winded interpreters in the back seat during lessons.
Some would translate his short guidance to pupils to turn right or left, for instance, into lengthy sentences, which led him to suspect they were telling the learners how they should drive.
"I have heard of cases where the examiner during a practical test has had to pull the car over to the side of the road," said Mr Willicombe.
"The examiners have given very short instructions (to the pupil) and the translator is saying a lot. I've heard of examiners saying, 'You are going to have to give far more brief instructions because to me it seems you are saying far too much'."
Mr Willicombe said he had only taken lessons with a few interpreters, and they were often family members of the pupil.
But he had had to tell some that their long translations were a problem when he gave short instructions which needed quick responses.
A total of 2,301 theory tests with interpreters in 31 different languages or dialects were taken in Wales, England and Scotland in the financial year 2012-13.
The highest number was in Romanian (692), followed by Russian (330), Lithuanian (323), Mandarin (261), Polish (179) and Somali (176).
Candidates whose first language is not English or Welsh can use an interpreter on both the theory and practical parts of the test, but government consultation on whether to scrap this is due to end this autumn.
Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond raised questions earlier this year about the cost, the safety risk of drivers failing to understand road information - and of the danger of fraud.
Mr Hammond had already said before this court case that interpreters could be "indicating the correct answers to theory test questions".
Andy Rice, the DSA's head of fraud and integrity said after Ng was jailed that the sentence "sends a clear message that driving test fraud is a serious offence and will be dealt with accordingly".
He warned: "We have stringent measures in place to detect fraudulent activity and work closely with the police to bring all offenders to justice." | Driving licences are being stripped from 94 people after an interpreter admitted selling candidates the answers to a written test. | 23608228 |
The boson explains why other elementary particles - the basic building blocks of the Universe - have mass.
Higgs was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1929, the son of a BBC sound engineer.
His family later moved to Bristol, and the young Peter Higgs proved a brilliant student, winning many prizes at Cotham Grammar School - though not any in physics.
But it was here that he was first inspired by the work of Paul Dirac, one of the physicists who helped lay the foundations for quantum mechanics.
This led him to study for his PhD at King's College London. After finishing, he applied for a lectureship at the London university, but lost out to a friend. He headed for Scotland instead.
It was here that Higgs proposed his famous mechanism.
Other researchers were working independently on the same idea, publishing papers at the same time as Peter Higgs.
Q&A: The Higgs boson
Higgs: In his own words
These other theorists included the Belgians Francois Englert, who shared the 2013 physics Nobel with Higgs, and Robert Brout (now deceased); and later the Americans Gerald Guralnik and Carl Hagen, and Briton Tom Kibble.
Yet by the early 1970s, it was Higgs who was being associated most in academic papers and conferences with the theory. This led to the particle acquiring his name - informally at first, but it soon stuck.
However, whilst well known in academic circles, Higgs was not yet a household name. He continued to write and teach; he married, but split from his wife a few years after his two children were born.
Friends feel he did not have the impact in his career expected of a scientist of his calibre.
"I wouldn't say he was shy. I might say that he was a little too retiring perhaps for the good of his own career," said Prof Michael Fisher, now at the University of Maryland, US.
Attention on the Higgs boson increased in recent decades, especially after scientists behind the $10bn Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern in Geneva made discovering the particle a key priority.
Failure to detect the Higgs at the LHC's predecessor - the LEP - had elevated it to one of the most sought-after prizes in science.
Higgs had never been completely comfortable with the attention it brought - or the association of his name with it. But he came to be more accepting as the years rolled on.
In July 2012, physicists at Cern announced the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson. He was in Geneva to hear the news, and wiped a tear from his eye as scientists made their announcement.
The news immediately led to calls for Prof Higgs to be knighted and for him to be awarded a Nobel Prize - perhaps along with others who had come up with the theory in the early 60s.
Reacting to the discovery, Peter Higgs told reporters: "It's very nice to be right sometimes." | Peter Higgs is best known as the theoretical physicist who gave his name to the Higgs boson. | 24444515 |
Now the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts in the negotiations.
Could that be enough to save the agreement?
The peace process with the Farc is on a roller coaster ride.
Mr Santos spent four years in difficult negotiations before signing an agreement in August at a triumphant ceremony in Cartagena. But the public vote rejecting the accord left him with little to show - until he was made a Nobel laureate.
"I receive this award with great humility and as a mandate to continue to work tirelessly for the peace of Colombia," Mr Santos said after the announcement. "For this, I will dedicate all my efforts for the rest of my days."
But beyond the commitment of the president, how can the Nobel Prize unlock a crisis where the government is facing a "no" from its people?
Overall, the award is seen as a boost to the process and a message from the international community to all parties to the conflict.
"It is the voice of the world supporting our country," said Humberto De la Calle, chief negotiator for the government in Havana, where the deal was struck.
"It is appropriate that we continue listening in a fast and efficient way to different sectors of society to understand their concerns and promptly define a way out."
He said that many of the interpretations of the agreement from the "no" side were wrong.
But, he said, there would be a dialogue between the government and the Farc that could lead to adjustments or clarifications of the deal.
That was seconded by Ivan Marquez, the Farc's chief negotiator.
"We will see how can we attach (new items) to an agreement we have built with great effort and dedication for more than four years," he said.
But he added: "We have already signed something, we will not (the Farc and the government) will not destroy what we have built."
Echoing the position of Mr Marquez was Diana Gomez, a representative for victims of state crimes. At an event for "yes" voters in the presidential palace on Friday, she said that the agreement reached must be respected.
At the end of that event, President Santos said: "Yes to peace, (yes to having the) agreement now".
There is an openness to dialogue with the "no" side, but also pressure to solve the issues as soon as possible, while changing the signed agreement as little as possible.
Andrei Gomez Suarez, a professor at Universidad de Los Andes and member of the organisation Rodeemos el Dialogo ("surround ourselves with dialogue"), also thinks the Nobel Prize gives the president the power to persevere.
"Undoubtedly it changes the balance of power for President Santos, and gives him legitimacy," he told the BBC.
The Centro Democratico political party, led by the former president and current senator Alvaro Uribe, are the main opponents of the deal with the Farc.
They are already holding talks with the government, which will continue next week with proposals for amendments. But the Farc might find it very difficult - if not impossible - to accept some of them.
On hearing the news, Mr Uribe tweeted his congratulations to President Santos, but said he wanted to "change harmful agreements for democracy".
Another major opposition figure, former President Andres Pastrana, tweeted: "I congratulate @JuanManSantos for his Nobel Peace. Another reason to advance national unity agreement."
That national agreement refers to a proposed consensus between the government and the "no" campaign which would be taken to the negotiating table in Havana.
Mr Santos is also very unpopular among many in Colombia. The Nobel Peace Prize has not changed their opinions. These were the people that fuelled the "no" victory on Sunday.
Throughout the peace process with the Farc, the international community has given strong support to the negotiations. Among them are Pope Francis, the United States, the European Union, United Nations, and the countries of Latin America.
Sources: BBC Monitoring, Colombian presidency
And yet, when the time came for a vote, outsiders could not influence the decision.
"What Colombians think has more weight than what the international community says," Centro Democratico Senator Paloma Valencia told the BBC.
"The international community doesn't live here and did not have to suffer what Colombians had to."
But even with a Nobel Peace Prize, the hardcore "no" voters will not change their minds.
It is in the hands of the government to find positions acceptable to both the "no" camp and the Farc, who will have to agree to incorporate those changes into the document signed in Cartagena. | Less than a week ago, Colombians voted "no" to an agreement with the guerrilla group the Farc, sparking a political crisis that threatened the peace process. | 37590023 |
PC Dave Wardell was stabbed in the hand and his German shepherd Finn was stabbed in the head and chest in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on 5 October.
They had been called in to apprehend a man suspected of robbing a taxi driver at gunpoint.
"Finn was stabbed trying to protect me," PC Wardell said. "He got it first."
"He was taking down an offender as he has done hundreds of times, and in the blink of an eye everything changed."
He rushed Finn to a vet who performed surgery to save the dog's life.
"I stayed until they made me go to hospital then I came back," PC Wardell said.
"The bond between a handler and his dogs is second to none. Seeing my partner stabbed was one of the worst days of my life."
Four days later Finn returned to the home he shares with the Wardell family and sniffer dog Pearl, a spaniel.
A week later Finn is doing well and "being very cheeky", PC Wardell said.
"He found some treats, ripped open the packet and ate the lot."
Pearl, with whom Finn shares a kennel "has been missing him lots".
"Finn's allowed for short walks and goes to the kennel then shows off a bit because he's allowed back inside the house.
"He can't understand why he can't go out and work."
His stitches should be removed next week but it could be several weeks before vets know whether he will be fit enough to work.
A 16-year-old boy from Lewisham, south-east London, has been charged with assaulting an officer and with criminal damage.
Following the charge, a petition was set up on the UK government's petition site, proposing that police animals "be given protection that reflects their status if assaulted in the line of duty".
Since 9 October, 57,000 people have signed "Finn's Law". | The handler of a police dog stabbed while apprehending a suspect has spoken of the animal's brave recovery. | 37643429 |
Five people were taken ill at Kendal Calling, in Cumbria, on Friday morning.
The man, who was found in a critical condition, later died, while a woman, 29, remains in a critical but stable condition, Cumbria Police said. Three men are "serious but stable".
A man, 20, has been held on suspicion of possession with intent to supply, the force said. | A man has died and four people are seriously ill after suspected "substance abuse" at a music festival. | 33733139 |
Joseph Cooper violently beat his father Winton, 64, on 15 April 2011 at the Dorset cottage they shared.
The 24-year-old had admitted manslaughter through diminished responsibility at a hearing last year.
Under the order, he can only be discharged from hospital with the consent of the justice secretary or by a Mental Health Tribunal.
At a previous hearing, Winchester Crown Court heard that Joseph Cooper broke a hammer handle in half as he inflicted appalling injuries on his father.
He denied murder but his guilty manslaughter plea was accepted by the prosecution after reports found he was mentally ill.
Former BBC Radio Sheffield presenter Winton Cooper was found by police at his cottage in Marnhull, near Sturminster Newton, on the 22nd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, which he had reported on in 1989.
Winton Cooper moved to Dorset after his retirement to look after his elderly father and eventually his son came to stay.
The pair lived a "peaceable existence" in the village, but Joseph Cooper attacked his father in December 2009 with a bar and pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.
Winton Cooper had barricaded himself into his bedroom on that occasion after his son "lost it".
Joseph Cooper launched the fatal attack on his father on the landing of their home just hours after his father told neighbours his son "was acting strangely".
After the killing, Joseph Cooper phoned his brothers and mother Gail to say he had killed his father.
He said he acted in self-defence after his father attacked him with knives because he had made a noise, but forensic examination of the scene showed this did not "hold water", the court heard.
Two psychiatric reports found Joseph Cooper suffered from such an abnormality of mind it had impaired his responsibility for his actions. | A man who admitted killing his ex-BBC presenter father with a hammer has been given a hospital order. | 20911612 |
The new feature works on Apple's iPhones and iPads.
The Android version of the app remains restricted to wi-fi connections for the time being, but the BBC said a web version of the software would support 3G streams soon.
The BBC said it had worked closely with network operators, but analysts fear it could put their systems under strain.
"One potential danger is that people are going to run up unexpectedly high data bills, and the other is the strain that this is going to put on the system if a lot of people start streaming in this way," said Neil McCartney, a telecoms analyst at McCartney Media.
"The system would default to prioritise voice calls, so it wouldn't affect voice calls, but it would mean that people would be unable to use their data services."
A blog from the BBC's executive project manager for iPlayer on mobile, David Madden, said: "We have worked closely with the network operators to introduce 3G streaming so you can watch your favourite TV programme wherever you are or listen to the radio when you are out and about."
BBC spokeswoman, Francesca Sostero, added: "BBC iPlayer is a free service, but mobile network operators may charge for data used over their networks.
"Data charging and mobile network tariffs are the responsibility of the mobile network operators. However, we have included a cost warning message in the BBC iPlayer app to ensure people are aware of their tariffs."
Network operator Vodafone said that it did not envisage any problems, noting that it had already allowed iPlayer to stream over 3G to a number of Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Blackberry devices.
"The Vodafone 3G network covers the vast majority of the UK population and handles over 90 million calls, 80 million texts and 45 terabytes of data on an average day," spokesman Ben Taylor told the BBC.
"Our network has been built with smartphones in mind and we're continually investing in it to ensure that it meets the needs of smartphone customers across the country."
A spokeswoman for Orange added: "We are confident that our customers will enjoy using the updated access to BBC content that it offers."
However the BBC's iPlayer and other TV network's streams have previously caused friction between broadcasters and internet service providers.
In 2008 ISP Tiscali said the BBC should contribute to the cost of broadband network upgrades necessary to deal with extra demand.
Although the regulator Ofcom said that was a bad idea,BT introduced a serviceearlier this year under which ISPs can charge content providers a fee in return for guaranteeing them high-speed delivery of their streams.
PCPro reported that TalkTalk - the firm which took over Tiscali - has also said it would be"perfectly normal business practice to discriminate"between content providers based on their willingness to pay a charge.
Users of other 3G video services have previously complained of stuttering pictures and poor sound quality. The BBC said it had implemented HTTP live streaming with adaptive bitrate technologies to get around this problem.
"This enables us to detect the strength of your wi-fi or 3G connection and serve the appropriate video quality," wrote Mr Madden.
"If you have low internet signal strength then the video stream will adapt down to suit your connection speed; if you move onto a stronger signal then the video stream will automatically improve in quality. The idea is to give you the best possible experience wherever you are."
Mr Madden also confirmed the app was now compatible with Apple's Airplay technology, allowing users to stream content to their televisions via the US firm's Apple TV box - a feature long demanded by users. | An update to the BBC's iPlayer app allows it to stream video over all of the UK's 3G mobile networks. | 16144444 |