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A teenage karting racer with medical conditions so severe that doctors told him not to play sport is "proving everyone wrong", his father said.
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Jack Ferguson has arthritis, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Asperger's syndrome and a leaky heart valve.
The 15-year-old, from Ipswich, has won the first three races of Ellough Park's Junior League for 8 to 15-year-olds.
Dad Pete said: "He should be dead by now, but he's proving everyone wrong."
Jack said he first got in a kart two and half years ago and "took to it straight away".
He hoped to be Formula 1 driver and said his hero was the late Brazilian three-time champion Aryton Senna.
When asked what he enjoyed most about racing, the answer was straightforward: "It's the winning."
'A lot of pain'
He has a new challenge - an invitation-only three-hour endurance race at Sandown Park in Surrey.
The invitation came from Dave Player who runs Team Brit which features former or serving military personnel who have had serious injuries and are disabled.
The team is hoping to expand to include other disabled drivers such as Jack.
Most go-kart endurance races are only 60 minutes long and Jack was looking forward to "driving the kart fast" and "proving I can do long, demanding races".
Pete Ferguson, the "very proud" father who himself raced in Formula Ford, said: "He manages to do things when he drives that I can never manage.
"I'm quite jealous."
He admitted Jack's need for speed did worry him and that "you see him pushing it, he can put himself through quite a lot of pain".
Pete said he regularly had to resuscitate his son until surgery corrected a hole in his heart at the age of two, which was followed by the diagnosis of a form of genetic arthritis which affects all of his joints.
"It's incredible what he has achieved," he said.
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The Thai general who led May's coup, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has been officially appointed prime minister following endorsement by the king.
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Gen Prayuth received the written royal command in a ceremony at Bangkok's army headquarters on Monday morning.
He plans to name his cabinet and seek royal approval for the line-up by October, according to reports.
Gen Prayuth was nominated last week by a legislature hand-picked by the junta. He was the only candidate.
Dressed in formal military uniform, the general knelt before a giant portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the ceremony to pay his respects.
The 86-year-old king, who is revered by many in Thailand, did not attend and is said to be in poor health.
Speaking after his appointment, Gen Prayuth asked the public to work with the authorities to restore democracy, reported The Nation.
He says the army had to stage its coup to end deadlock between protesters and the civilian government, amid violence that had killed dozens of people.
Protesters opposed to former PM Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck, then the elected prime minister, had staged drawn-out demonstrations calling for Ms Yingluck to step down.
Gen Prayuth told reporters over the weekend that he was ready to be prime minister, saying: "I am ready to get tired."
Prayuth Chan-ocha
Full profile of Prayuth Chan-ocha
The 60-year-old is concurrently the head of the army, although he is set to retire from that post on 30 September. He is also likely to be defence minister, reported The Bangkok Post .
Gen Prayuth is meant to be an interim prime minister as the military plans to hold a general election in late 2015.
But concerns have mounted that the military is seeking to strengthen its hold on the country.
Besides hand-picking the legislature, which is staffed mostly by military and police figures, the junta issued an interim constitution in July that gives the military sweeping powers.
Gen Prayuth will also oversee the establishment of a 250-member reform council to reform the political system.
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More acts including Los Campesinos!, Gallows and Grimes have been added to the line-up for this year's Reading and Leeds festivals.
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By Jasmine ColemanNewsbeat reporter
Rockabilly punks Social Distortion and Florida's Less Than Jake will headline the Lock Up stage.
The names joining the Dance Stage alongside Katy B and Azealia Banks include Grimes, DJ Zinc and Modestep.
And indie pop band Los Campesinos! will be playing the main stage.
Foo Fighters, Kasabian and The Cure have already been confirmed to headline the festivals in August.
Other acts performing throughout the weekend include Florence and The Machine, Paramore, The Vaccines, The Black Keys and Bombay Bicycle Club.
Also on the Lock Up stage will be Watford punks Gallows, Norway's Turbonegro and US group Bouncing Souls, organisers have confirmed.
Radio 1's Punk Show with Mike Davies will be announcing more bands in the early hours of 18 April.
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The death toll in the Italian earthquake stands at 241 as rescuers continue efforts to find survivors.
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Dozens of people are believed trapped in ruined Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto, in mountainous central Italy.
There have been hundreds of aftershocks since the quake struck, hampering relief efforts and damaging already unstable buildings.
More than 4,300 rescuers are using heavy machinery and their bare hands.
Rescuers have advised journalists and bystanders to leave Amatrice urgently, as "the town is crumbling", the BBC's Jenny Hill says.
Another powerful aftershock struck the town on Thursday afternoon, sending a huge dust cloud into the air.
Many of the earthquake's victims were children, the health minister said, and there were warnings the toll could rise further.
The heaviest death toll was in Amatrice - 184, officials said. Another 46 died in Arquata, and 11 in Accumoli. A further 264 people have been treated in hospital.
Officials revised down the number of dead after earlier giving a figure of 247.
The 6.2-magnitude quake hit at 03:36 (01:36 GMT) on Wednesday 100km (65 miles) north-east of Rome.
"We are sleeping in the car and there were shocks all night. When the biggest one came, the car started moving and shaking," said Monica, a survivor from Amatrice.
At the scene: BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Pescara del Tronto
Two firemen burrowed deep into the rubble looking for a survivor. "It's a dog," one of them shouted out.
For half an hour the men kept digging. They passed water down to be given to the animal. And eventually they worked it free, then emerged, carrying it to the surface. There was a ripple of congratulations through the crowd.
"It doesn't matter to us if it's a person or an animal, we save it," said Gianni Macerata, the fire officer in charge.
So the digging goes on. But so little is left of Pescara del Tronto it is unlikely that more survivors will be found here.
It seems unlikely too that this ancient little place, that has stood for centuries, can ever be rebuilt. Hundreds of years of history ended in an instant.
Read more from Damian
A tented camp has been set up, as so many buildings are now unsafe.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was chairing an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday. The agenda included reconstruction plans for the devastated area.
Rescuers said they had pulled five bodies from the ruins of the Hotel Roma in Amatrice. As many as 70 tourists were staying at the hotel when the quake struck. Many are feared to be in the rubble, though several were pulled out and given medical care.
Many of those affected were Italians on holiday in the region. Some were in Amatrice for a festival to celebrate a famous local speciality - amatriciana bacon and tomato sauce.
Late on Wednesday there were cheers in the village of Pescara del Tronto when a young girl was pulled alive from the rubble after being trapped for 17 hours. Almost all the houses there had collapsed, the mayor said.
Among the victims was an 18-month-old toddler, Marisol Piermarini, whose mother Martina Turco survived the deadly 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila and moved away from there after the experience, Italian news agency Ansa reported.
Ms Turco was being treated in hospital after being pulled from the rubble in the village of Arquata del Tronto, Ansa said.
The mayor of Amatrice said three-quarters of the town had been destroyed and no building was safe for habitation.
The country is no stranger to earthquakes: the 2009 L'Aquila tremor killed more than 300 people and in May 2012 two tremors nine days apart killed more than 20 people in the northern Emilia Romagna region.
Why is Italy at risk of earthquakes? By Jonathan Amos
Earthquakes are an ever-present danger for those who live along the Apennine mountain range in Italy.
Through the centuries thousands have died as a result of tremors equal to, or not much bigger than, the event that struck in the early hours of Wednesday. The modern response, thankfully, has been more robust building and better preparation.
Mediterranean seismicity is driven by the great collision between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates; but when it comes down to the specifics of this latest quake, the details are far more complicated.
The Tyrrhenian Basin, or Sea, which lies to the west of Italy, between the mainland and Sardinia/Corsica, is slowly opening up.
Scientists say this is contributing to extension, or "pull-apart", along the Apennines. This stress is compounded by movement in the east, in the Adriatic.
The result is a major fault system that runs the length of the mountain range with a series of smaller faults that fan off to the sides. The foundations of cities like Perugia and L'Aquila stand on top of it all.
Quakes 'ever present' for Italy's Apennines
Read the terms and conditions.
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A US university investigation into one of its professors has ignited a debate over the use of a seemingly innocuous Chinese word.
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By Kerry AllenBBC Monitoring
Professor Greg Patton at the University of Southern California (USC) was telling students in a communications lecture last month about filler, or pause words, such as 'err', 'umm' or 'you know' in English.
Footage of his lecture, which has now gone viral, shows Prof Patton saying: "In China, the common pause word is 'that, that, that'. So in China, it might be na-ge, na-ge, na-ge."
Enunciated, na-ge sounds like the N-word, which led several of the professor's students to complain to the university. Responding to the complaint, the dean of the university, Geoffrey Garrett, told students that Prof Patton would no longer be teaching the course.
"It is simply unacceptable for the faculty to use words in class that can marginalize, hurt and harm the psychological safety of our students," he said.
The university says that Prof Patton "volunteered to step away" from his role amid the investigation into complaints made against him.
News of the spat reached China, where many posted on social media saying they thought his punishment discriminated against speakers of the Chinese language.
Lost in translation
In Chinese the word "na-ge" (那个) is a common filler phrase that people use when they're hesitating or trying to find the right word. It literally translates to the word "that".
But there have been many documented incidents of the word being used innocuously and leading to misunderstandings, and even violence.
In July 2016, a fight broke out on the subway in the city of Southern Guangzhou, after a black man heard a Chinese man saying na-ge and mistook it for the N-word.
Footage went viral online showing the black man slapping the Chinese commuter and shouting "you dare try that again" and "never say that again"
More recently, in April this year, Taiwanese news website UDN reported that two men nearly came to blows on the island outside a restaurant over the same misunderstanding.
Even Chinese basketball star Yao Ming has spoken of how the word brought him "some trouble" while playing in the US for the National Basketball Association (NBA).
'A universal mistake'
CC Chen, a student at the USC, defended Prof Patton, arguing that it was "clearly an academic lecture on communication" and the professor was "describing a universal mistake commonly made in communication".
"For him to be censored simply because a Chinese word sounds like an English pejorative term is a mistake and is not appropriate, especially given the educational setting," she said. "It also dismisses the fact that Chinese is a real language and has its own pronunciations that have no relation to English."
More than 11,000 people have now signed a Change.org petition calling for Prof Patton to be re-instated. And in China there are discussions taking place over whether the university acted too abruptly.
On the popular Sina Weibo microblog, more than 1,000 posts have used the hashtag #USProfessorSuspendedForUsingNaGe, with many viewing the move as a suppression of Chinese speech.
One post called the incident a "contemporary version of the literary inquisition" - referring to the persecution of intellectuals during China's imperial era.
What began as an accusation against the professor of using discriminatory language has morphed, in China, into accusations of discrimination against the Chinese language.
"Is it now forbidden to speak Chinese in the United States?" asked one Sina Weibo user.
'It's about politics'
In recent months, many in China have expressed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. President Trump has been accused of stoking racist sentiment towards China over the Covid-19 pandemic by referring to the coronavirus as the "China virus", "Wuhan virus", and even "Kung Flu".
His language has been regularly cited by Chinese media as an example of xenophobic attitudes towards the Chinese people.
Some Chinese posters on Sina Weibo argued that USC, in suspending Prof Patton, had chosen "political correctness" over genuine change. Others raised a note of optimism that the story would raise awareness of differences rather than marginalise them.
Many were of the view that shared discrimination in recent months meant that Asian and black communities should work to understand each other rather than fight against one another.
"There should be respect for differences," wrote one Weibo user.
Back in the US, USC staff and students reacted to the decision to suspend Prof Patton.
"There's no language superior to the other," Chengyan Wu, Co-President of USC Chinese Student and Scholar Association, told the university's student news organisation.
"Restating the rights of one minority group should not be at the expense of violating the other," he said. "We have the right to use our own language."
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.
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The world's most profitable company has published more details about its planned stock market flotation.
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Oil giant Saudi Aramco's long-awaited prospectus said individual retail investors will have a chance to buy shares as well as big institutions.
But the 600-page prospectus did not say how much of the Saudi firm would be sold, nor the date of the listing.
It did, though, mention possible risks, including the government's control over oil output and terrorist attack.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to sell the shares to raise billions of dollars to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in non-energy industries.
Bankers think the long-awaited flotation will value Aramco at $1.5-2 trillion, making the stock market listing the biggest ever.
The prospectus said up to 0.5% of the company would be set aside for retail savers, but Aramco had not yet decided on the percentage for larger institutional buyers.
After the flotation, Aramco will not list any more shares for six months, the prospectus says. Although one of the attractions for investors is the potential of high dividends, the document said Aramco has the right to change dividend policy without prior notice.
Aramco has hired a host of international banking giants including Citibank, Credit Suisse and HSBC as financial advisers to assess interest in the share sale and set a price. Based on the level of interest - a final value will be put on the shares on 5 December.
The sale of the company, first mooted four years ago, has been overshadowed by delays and criticism of corporate transparency at Saudi Arabia's crown jewel.
It was initially thought about 5% of Aramco would be sold, but the final figure is now expected to be half that.
Amid speculation that some foreign institutional investors are cool on the flotation, the government has reportedly pressed wealthy Saudi business families and institutions to invest, and many nationalists have labelled it a patriotic duty.
Aramco last year posted $111bn in net profit. In the first nine months of this year, its net profit dropped 18% to $68bn.
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Claims that a golden eagle found dead in Deeside in May 2012 was left to die after being injured in a trap have been rejected by gamekeepers.
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The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) said there had been "irregularities" in RSPB Scotland's interpretation of the incident.
They also said there was no evidence to support the claim that the eagle had been injured in Angus and then moved.
The RSPB have described the SGA's report as defending the indefensible.
On 5 May last year, the eagle, which had been fitted with a transmitter, was found dead by the roadside; its legs were broken and its wings folded.
In September last year the charity said the bird had suffered two broken legs due to trauma "that could be consistent with an injury caused by a spring type trap" and that the severity of these injuries "would prevent the bird from being able to take off".
They also suggested that transmitter data showed the eagle had then been moved from the Angus Glens, where they claimed it had been trapped, to a tree close to a lay-by on a quiet country road near Aboyne on Deeside.
Improbable events
It offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution in the case.
However, the SGA investigation has questioned RSPB Scotland's version of events.
A spokesman for the Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: "By gathering detailed knowledge from those conversant with the operation and strength of the traps suggested, our report describes this assertion as 'highly improbable'.
"Similarly, a lack of substantive evidence was found to back RSPB claims the bird had been moved and left to die under a tree where it suffered a 'lingering death'."
The association said police did not find evidence to support the charity's theory and a report by a vet suggested that the injuries were only "consistent" with those which might have been caught in a trap.
Tackling abuse
Its report has now been sent to the Minister for Environment and Climate Change Paul Wheelhouse, Tayside and Grampian Police and the RSPB.
The SGA spokesman said: "The SGA has worked extremely hard as an active partner in Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) and is proud of the dramatic fall in the number of bird of prey abuse cases in Scotland- a trend set to be further cemented next month when the 2012 figures are published."
However, the SGA criticised RSPB Scotland for taking the case to the media four months after the eagle was found, despite the investigation into the bird's death still being live.
"If it is found that no evidence of wrong-doing is established in this case, and because of the unverified claims reported by the RSPB to the media, the SGA feels it is important to call into question whether it is appropriate that any singular organisation, with a clear political agenda should be privy to such sensitive evidence under the guise of expert witnesses in crime cases.
"To be able to use privileged information in order to make damaging media statements against a profession raises serious questions about fairness of process, particularly if police have found no clear evidence of criminality."
Unfair process
He added: "It is the view of the SGA that those called in to assist police in wildlife crime investigations should be held accountable for the information they are privy to, as impartial bodies.
"We feel it is also important the general public are made aware of how unfairly the process currently operates in Scotland, in this regard. At the moment, when a suspected wildlife crime is reported, police carry out the investigation using various experts for issues such as the identification of species.
"The Scottish people are entitled to ask whether they feel it is right that 'experts' should then publish personal interpretations which may prejudice future court proceedings or, indeed, prejudice the public against what could be innocent parties."
The RSPB has rejected the findings of the SGA, describing it as "a rather desperate statement".
No excuses
Duncan Orr-Ewing, head of species and land management at RSPB Scotland, said: "It calls into question their very commitment to the aims and objectives of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime Scotland (PAWS).
"The illegal killing of golden eagles in Scotland is still a serious conservation issue, undermining the health of their population, and bringing international shame to our country.
"Rather than seeking excuses, we believe that the Scottish Gamekeepers Association's efforts would be better directed at tackling those within their sector who still encourage such outdated practices".
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Projects that could help attract tourists to Jersey will be able to apply for States funding.
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Public sector and voluntary organisations can ask for a share of the Tourism Development Fund.
It was set up in 2003 to help non-profit groups such as the Branchage Film Festival go ahead.
In order to qualify for funding organisers will have to demonstrate their event will bring extra visitors to the island.
The fund has previously supported events including the Liberation Music Festival and the Jersey Boat Show.
In May the States of Jersey will debate whether to allow private businesses access to the fund.
Festival funding
The treasury minister said the fund had enjoyed "considerable success" over the past 10 years.
In 2010, it provided funding for the Liberation music festival, a food festival, boat show and fish festival.
It also paid for the installation of mains electricity to occupation sites and funding for the Branchage film festival.
In total £222,000 was awarded by the tourism development fund in 2010. Figures have not been released for 2011 yet.
Senator Ozouf said opening the funding up to private enterprise would help encourage entrepreneurialism.
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One story dominated the Canadian election campaign this week: the revelations that in at least three instances, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau wore blackface or brownface - widely accepted as racist caricatures.
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Mr Trudeau's campaign went into damage control. He has apologised and asked Canadians to forgive him for his past behaviour.
But has it cost him support? We take a look in our regular round-up of news from the campaign.
So what do the polls say?
When the election was launched on 11 September, the Liberals and Conservatives were statistically tied in most national polls, essentially in a dead heat.
Fresh polls published early this week suggest the affair has caused Liberals support to dip - though pollsters say it's too early to fully predict the impact.
An Ipsos poll for Global News now indicates Conservatives would win 36% of the vote compared with 32% for the Liberals if respondents were to cast their ballot at the time of the survey.
The Angus Reid Institute puts the Conservatives at 35% against 30% for Mr Trudeau's Liberals.
"While opinions of Trudeau have worsened and as the governing party once again sees its key left-of-centre base drift, other signs show the Liberals and their leader may have enough time to recover from this embarrassing disclosure," the research foundation said in a release.
An Abacus Data survey gave a narrower margin, with the Conservatives holding at 34% support and the Liberals slightly behind at 32%.
"Last week Mr Trudeau's reputation was damaged, albeit perhaps less than might have been surmised or expected," said Abacus pollster Bruce Anderson.
The margin of error for the three polls ranges from 2.3% to 2.9%.
On Wednesday, daily polling by published Nanos for CTV and the Globe and Mail indicated the Liberals were essentially tied with the Conservatives, polling at 35.3% v 35.4%.
The shift to climate
The UN's climate summit launched this week on the campaign trail and on Friday many Canadian cities will be hosting climate strikes. Youth climate activist Greta Thunberg is expected to attend one rally in Montreal.
So there has been a greater emphasis on climate policy, with environmental issues being raised by each campaign.
The Liberals announced on Tuesday that, if re-elected next month, Canada would commit to net-zero emissions by 2050, meaning that any emissions will be offset by mitigating actions.
The NDP reiterated its plans to invest billions of dollars into climate-change measures, to end fossil fuel subsidies and to electrify all public transit by 2030.
The Conservatives said they are committed to Canada's current Paris Agreement target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Liberal campaign spins its wheels
Well, the campaign media bus anyway. It bottomed out and ended up stuck on the way to an event.
This is second time transport has hit a snag - the first being when the wing of the Liberal plane was scraped by a bus ferrying journalists. The latest mishap on Tuesday in British Columbia was documented by reporters following the Liberal leader.
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About 5.1 million people will be heading off on breaks within the UK over the bank holiday weekend, tourism agency Visit England has estimated.
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The AA says traffic is likely to begin building up on Friday evening but the busiest single day for motorists is expected to be Saturday.
Visit England said about £1.3bn is set to be generated for the economy.
Meanwhile, travel organisation Abta expects two million Britons will head abroad between Friday and Monday.
Heathrow is expecting more than 440,000 passengers to depart over the long weekend, while Gatwick is preparing for 311,000 outgoing passengers.
Stansted is due to see 103,000 people fly over the next three days.
Ports and the Channel Tunnel are also expected to be in high demand.
Public nuisance charge
The AA estimates 13 million drivers will take to the roads over the holiday weekend, with about 10 million beginning journeys on Saturday.
Potential hotspots are said to include sections of the M25, M6, M4 and M27.
On Thursday, motorists were caught in long tailbacks on the M5 after an incident on a bridge led police to close part of the motorway near Wellington in Somerset.
Abigail Wyatt, 25, of Tonedale, Somerset, has been charged with causing a public nuisance and will appear before magistrates in Taunton next month.
The M5 was already expected to be exceptionally busy as holidaymakers began to head to the South West for the August bank holiday weekend.
Rail engineering
The AA's Max Holdstock said the August Bank Holiday weekend is "always a bit of a mad scramble on the roads".
He added: "Traffic is likely to build up on Friday evening as people set off early to make the most of the weekend, and will be busy again for the return on Monday afternoon - so allow plenty of extra time if you're travelling then."
Highways England says almost 98% of England's motorway and major A roads will be clear of roadworks over the weekend, after some 373 miles of works were either completed or suspended ahead of the holiday.
Hundreds of thousands of people will travel by coach, with operator National Express announcing it will be its busiest weekend of the year.
But nearly 1,000 engineering projects are being carried out across Britain's rail network, meaning some lines will be closed.
Network Rail's route managing director, Martin Frobisher, said: "Work takes place 365 days a year as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan but we carry out larger upgrades over bank holidays when there are fewer passengers travelling."
Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "This weekend is the traditional curtain closer for the peak summer months and it is always a very busy weekend for travel, with millions taking advantage of the long weekend to head off overseas.
"With the roads predicted to be extremely busy, holidaymakers should make sure that they leave plenty of time to get to their port of departure."
Monday is a day off in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but a working day in Scotland, which had its summer bank holiday at the beginning of the month.
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A school asked children to nominate their peers for awards including "best looking", "biggest ego" and "biggest poser".
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The voting form was sent to parents of pupils at Hugh Christie School in Tonbridge, Kent.
Other categories in the Year 9 celebration assembly awards included "biggest strop" and "best couple".
The school has apologised for the "inappropriate" form and launched an investigation.
Lucy Hall, whose nephew received the form from the school, tweeted: "Parents are appalled by this.
"School is hard enough when you are 14 to create awards over best looking boy and girl. Shocking."
'Apologise unreservedly'
Comments on social media have described the form as "weird", "despicable" and "horrendous".
Vic tweeted: "Why not have things like: kindest pupil, most enthusiastic, most sporty, best jokes, tries the best, most helpful, most friendly, most likely to invent something/ be a millionaire/change the world/be PM.... you know...qualities we want to encourage....."
The school posted on Twitter that students had been told to "disregard the form" and the member of staff had been "spoken to".
Its executive head, Jon Barker, issued a statement which said: "I wish to apologise unreservedly for the awards nomination form circulated to students and seen by parents that has caused offence.
"We will apologise to all students who received a form today and explain why we believe it was inappropriate to use. We have also emailed parents to apologise."
He said the form had been withdrawn and an investigation launched.
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The mother of a British woman convicted in Cyprus of lying about being raped by 12 Israeli men has backed calls for tourists to boycott the country.
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The 19-year-old was found guilty of causing public mischief, prompting the Foreign Office to express "serious concern" about the case in Ayia Napa.
Critics of the verdict have called for people to avoid visiting Cyprus.
The woman's mother told the BBC that Ayia Napa - where her daughter had been on a working holiday - was unsafe.
The 19-year-old was convicted following a trial after recanting a claim that she was raped in a hotel room in July.
The teenager has said Cypriot police made her falsely confess to lying about the incident at a hotel - something police have denied.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the teenager's mother - who the BBC is not naming - said she believed her daughter's experience in Ayia Napa was not an isolated incident.
She said: "The place isn't safe - it is absolutely not safe. And if you go and report something that's happened to you, you're either laughed at, as far as I can tell, or, in the worst case, something like what's happened to my daughter may happen."
The Independent's travel editor Simon Calder said about one in three visitors to Cyprus were British, with more than 1.3 million Brits visiting Cyprus in 2019.
He told BBC Radio 4's PM programme his two daughters and their friends have said they would not travel to Ayia Napa, adding: "I imagine that there are similar conversations going on around the kitchen table in many homes with teenage children."
However, he said he doubted the Foreign Office would implement a travel ban because Cyprus is "generally a very safe country for British travellers".
Lawyers representing the woman have criticised the conviction and the way the case was handled by the Cypriot police and Judge Michalis Papathanasiou.
They say her retraction statement was given when no lawyer or translator was present and point to the fact the judge refused to hear any evidence about whether the alleged rape took place.
The Foreign Office has described the conviction as "deeply distressing" and pledged to raise the issue with Cypriot authorities.
Several senior legal figures in Cyprus have signed a letter written to the Attorney General Costas Clerides asking him to intervene in the case, including former Justice Minister Kypros Chrysostomides.
Mr Chrysostomides said the teenager had "already suffered a lot" and he expects her sentence will be "very lenient".
He added: "She has already been in detention for four and a half weeks and she has already been prevented from travelling for about five months already."
The teenager faces up to a year in jail and a £1,500 fine when she is sentenced on 7 January, but he said such punishments would be "excessive under the circumstances".
The woman's mother said she had not personally heard from the Foreign Office, but added that she "would love" Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to get involved.
She said she understood that the judicial process had to be followed but "when that starts becoming broken" it was necessary for the authorities to step in, adding that her daughter had experienced human rights violations "throughout" the process.
She also questioned the authenticity of her daughter's retraction statement - local police said it had been written by her daughter but she cited an expert witness who said it was "highly improbable" that it had been produced by a native English speaker.
When delivering the guilty verdict on Monday, the judge said his decision was backed up by video evidence showing the woman having consensual sex.
But her mother said the video showed her daughter having consensual sex with one man, and then it showed a group of people trying to enter the room.
"[The video] shows her and the guy telling them to get out of the room," she said. "That gives you a very strong flavour of what happens next."
The 12 men arrested in connection with the alleged rape were later released and returned home. A lawyer representing some of them welcomed the guilty verdict, saying the woman had "refused to this day to take responsibility for the horrible act she's done against the boys".
'Re-think her options'
The woman's mother said her daughter was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, hallucinations, and was sleeping for 18 or 20 hours a day because of a condition called hypersomnia.
"She needs to get back to the UK to get that treated - that's my absolute primary focus. She can't be treated here because hearing foreign men speaking loudly will trigger an episode...
"It needs resolving otherwise she's going to carry on having this for the rest of her life."
The woman's mother also revealed that her daughter had planned to start university this year after being accepted by all of the universities she applied for.
"She'd been offered a bursary at one of them - she'd got three unconditional offers.
"So, no question, she would have gone to university, but it was in a career that she wouldn't be able to do with this 'public mischief' verdict, so - again, life-changing for her - she needs to totally rethink her options."
The woman's legal representatives have already said they plan to appeal against the conviction.
The woman's mother said they plan to take the case to the Cyprus Supreme Court, but there is a long waiting list.
"Our lawyers are looking at what can be done to expedite that, and that's maybe something the Foreign Office could help us with, so to get that as soon as we can."
A GoFundMe page for legal costs has raised more than £80,000 towards a target of £100,000.
The woman's mother said she was "astounded" by the support, but believed legal costs would end up being even greater than that.
"Unfortunately we're going to have to increase the target in a little bit to appeal with the appeal process.
"I'm not totally sure what the figure needs to be to do that yet, but we will be doing that."
Human rights campaigner Joan Smith told the BBC that the Foreign Office's strong response to the verdict was a "very unusual" and "welcome" intervention.
She said: "They wouldn't have done it if they hadn't felt that there were serious questions about the fairness of the trial that she's been through, but also the events leading up to that trial."
The Cypriot government responded to criticism by saying it had "full confidence in the justice system and the courts".
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The coronavirus that is now threatening the world is subtly different from the one that first emerged in China.
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By Rachel SchraerHealth reporter
Sars-Cov-2, the official name of the virus that causes the disease Covid-19, and continues to blaze a path of destruction across the globe, is mutating.
But, while scientists have spotted thousands of mutations, or changes to the virus's genetic material, only one has so far been singled out as possibly altering its behaviour.
The crucial questions about this mutation are: does this make the virus more infectious - or lethal - in humans? And could it pose a threat to the success of a future vaccine?
This coronavirus is actually changing very slowly compared with a virus like flu. With relatively low levels of natural immunity in the population, no vaccine and few effective treatments, there's no pressure on it to adapt. So far, it's doing a good job of keeping itself in circulation as it is.
The notable mutation - named D614G and situated within the protein making up the virus's "spike" it uses to break into our cells - appeared sometime after the initial Wuhan outbreak, probably in Italy. It is now seen in as many as 97% of samples around the world.
Evolutionary edge
The question is whether this dominance is the mutation giving the virus some advantage, or whether it's just by chance.
Viruses don't have a grand plan. They mutate constantly and while some changes will help a virus reproduce, some may hinder it. Others are simply neutral. They're a "by-product of the virus replicating," says Dr Lucy van Dorp, of University College London. They "hitch-hike" on the virus without changing its behaviour.
The mutation that has emerged could have become very widespread just because it happened early in the outbreak and spread - something known as the "founder effect". This is what Dr van Dorp and her team believe is the likely explanation for the mutation being so common. But this is increasingly controversial.
A growing number - perhaps the majority - of virologists now believe, as Dr Thushan de Silva, at the University of Sheffield, explains, there is enough data to say this version of the virus has a "selective advantage" - an evolutionary edge - over the earlier version.
Though there is still not enough evidence to say "it's more transmissible" in people, he says, he's sure it's "not neutral".
When studied in laboratory conditions, the mutated virus was better at entering human cells than those without the variation, say professors Hyeryun Choe and Michael Farzan, at Scripps University in Florida. Changes to the spike protein the virus uses to latch on to human cells seem to allow it to "stick together better and function more efficiently".
But that's where they drew the line.
Prof Farzan said the spike proteins of these viruses were different in a way that was "consistent with, but not proving, greater transmissibility".
Lab result proof
At the New York Genome Center and New York University, Prof Neville Sanjana, who normally spends his time working on gene-editing technology Crispr, has gone one step further.
His team edited a virus so that it had this alteration to the spike protein and pitted it against a real Sars-CoV-2 virus from the early Wuhan outbreak, without the mutation, in human tissue cells. The results, he believes, prove the mutated virus is more transmissible than the original version, at least in the lab.
Dr van Dorp points out "it is unclear" how representative they are of transmission in real patients. But Prof Farzan says these "marked biological differences" were "substantial enough to tilt the evidence somewhat" in favour of the idea that the mutation is making the virus better at spreading.
Outside a Petri dish, there is some indirect evidence this mutation makes coronavirus more transmissible in humans. Two studies have suggested patients with this mutated virus have larger amounts of the virus in their swab samples. That might suggest they were more infectious to others.
They didn't find evidence that those people became sicker or stayed in hospital for longer, though.
In general, being more transmissible doesn't mean a virus is more lethal - in fact the opposite is often true. There's no evidence this coronavirus has mutated to make patients more or less sick.
But even when it comes to transmissibility, viral load is only an indication of how well the virus is spreading within a single person. It doesn't necessarily explain how good it is at infecting others. The "gold standard" of research - a controlled trial - hasn't yet been carried out. That might involve, for example, infecting animals with either one or the other variant of the virus to see which spreads more in a population.
One of the studies' leads, Prof Bette Korber, at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US, said there was not a consensus, but the idea the mutation increased patients' viral load was "getting less controversial as more data accrues".
The mutation is the pandemic
When it comes to looking at the population as a whole, it's difficult to observe the virus becoming more (or less) infectious. Its course has been drastically altered by interventions, including lockdowns.
But Prof Korber says the fact the variant now appears to be dominant everywhere, including in China, indicates it may have become better at spreading between people than the original version. Whenever the two versions were in circulation at the same time, the new variant took over.
In fact, the D614G variant is so dominant, it is now the pandemic. And it has been for some time - perhaps even since the start of the epidemic in places like the UK and the east coast of the US. So, while evidence is mounting that this mutation is not neutral, it doesn't necessarily change how we should think about the virus and its spread.
On a more reassuring note, most of the vaccines in development are based on a different region of the spike so this should not have an impact on their development. And there's some evidence the new form is just as sensitive to antibodies, which can protect you against an infection once you've had it - or been vaccinated against it.
But since the science of Covid-19 is so fast-moving, this is something all scientists - wherever they stand on the meaning of the current mutations - will be keen to keep an eye on.
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Claims made by two military authors in a national newspaper concerning the Nazi occupation of Alderney have been contested by an island historian.
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Writing in the Daily Mail, Col Richard Kemp and John Weigold claim an underground site near the main town of St Anne was being prepared to launch a chemical weapons attack on England's south coast.
Trevor Davenport, author of Festung Alderney, a book on German defences on the island, described the claim as "utter nonsense."
He said: "There are of course many things we do not know, that is accepted, it's always been accepted, it was quite secret. But some of the things they say were not possible."
Col Kemp and Mr Weigold claim that a tunnel site, which was previously thought to be used for generating electricity, was used to develop and launch V1 missiles.
The weapons were created by the Germans to launch attacks on England from the continent, with sites located not far from Alderney in Cherbourg.
Col Kemp believes the Alderney site was also used to develop these missiles into chemical weapons, primarily because of the secrecy afforded by the island, which was almost entirely evacuated prior to its occupation in 1940.
"We came to the conclusion, with other factors, that this is why they were sited in Alderney, because you could construct and prepare V1's with nerve agent warheads on them, which you could do in total secrecy given the unique circumstances of Alderney, there was no possibility of anyone discovering it," he said.
Col Kemp believes he has also identified two launch ramps for the rockets, which "both point at the centre of mass of target sites on the south coast of England, which it is known the V1 sites in northern France were also aimed at."
Alderney Occupation
The apparent need to develop the weapon in Alderney, given the proximity of the sites nearby in France, has puzzled Festung author, Trevor Davenport.
He said: "There were V1 sites in Cherbourg, why try and ship stuff over to Alderney when they could build on the mainland? It was just as close.
"There were none in Alderney, there never were, they were never picked up on in aerial photographs at all."
The military authors also claim up to 70,000 people could have been killed on the island, which housed four forced labour sites, including the only concentration camp on British soil.
The number of prisoners that died in the Island has never been fully uncovered.
Maj Theodore Pantcheff - the official military intelligence interrogator who investigated after the war - recorded that at least 389 forced labourers and prisoners as dying in Alderney.
Israeli journalist Solomon Steckoll previously estimated four thousand deaths on the island, based on eye-witness testimony and his own research in the 1980s.
Last year, heritage group The National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail (JTrails) expressed concern war graves in Alderney could be disturbed by a £500m cross-Channel electricity link. Initial drilling for the France Alderney Britain Link, an undersea cable, has taken place in Alderney, but progress has stalled due to environmental concerns and local opposition to the project.
Alderney's top politician James Dent said he didn't want to comment on the truth, or otherwise, of the military authors' claims.
He said it would be a "very opportune" time for the British government to release "all remaining wartime files pertaining to Alderney, and for the German government to do the same."
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For months, Silicon Valley seemed to be heeding the advice of one of its most powerful figures, billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who said President Trump should be taken "seriously, but not literally”.
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Dave LeeNorth America technology reporter
But at the international arrivals gate at San Francisco airport at the weekend, things were getting very literal, very quickly. What the tech industry had feared might happen, was happening.
The impact of President Trump’s immigration ban on tech companies has been immediate. And one by one, the major firms and personalities in this part of the world spoke out with a fervour some felt was long overdue.
It was Google’s Sundar Pichai who really got the ball rolling. Late on Friday, he sent a memo to all employees raising his concerns and revealing that more than 100 Google staff were directly affected. His words were quickly shared beyond the inboxes of the search giant.
On Saturday, Google co-founder Sergey Brin briefly joined protesters at the airport. Also seen was Sam Altman, who runs Y Combinator, the leading “accelerator” programme for new tech start-ups.
‘Ignores history'
Through social media, we heard from Netflix’s Reed Hastings who said the executive order was "so un-American it pains us all”.
Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey said the repercussions were “real and upsetting”.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook told staff the order was “not a policy we support”.
It kept on coming.
“Misguided,” said Microsoft. “Ignores history,” said Mozilla.
AirBnB co-founder Brian Chesky offered free housing to anyone caught outside the US, unable to return home.
Slack’s Stewart Butterfield invoked historical comparisons in his statement, tweeting: "My grandfather came from Poland between the wars, at 17, sponsored by an elder sister. Two more siblings made it. Everyone else died."
"Trump’s immigration ban is antithetical to both Lyft's and our nation's core values,” said Logan Green, head of ride-sharing firm Lyft, a company less well-known in Europe but one that competes with Uber in the US.
Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick said “this ban will impact many innocent people”, and set up a $3m (£2.4m) fund to support staff, including drivers, caught up by the orders.
(Still, the company that doesn’t like to let a good PR banana skin go to waste outdid itself when it appeared to be capitalising on a taxi strike at JFK airport by removing surge pricing.)
'A disaster'
The cause for concern is about skilled immigration, the lubricant that keeps Silicon Valley working. The US doesn’t create nearly enough software engineers and developers to sustain these enormous companies, and so foreign brainpower does more than plug the skills gap.
“There’s still a massive shortage of talent necessary for our organisations,” said Aaron Levie, chief executive and co-founder of Box, an online storage firm worth just over $2bn.
“We should be doing whatever makes America the most competitive as possible in terms of creating future jobs, in terms of being at the bleeding edge of key industries.
"Any policy that hurts high-skill immigration is a disaster."
The ban affected several of his employees, Mr Levie said. One of its co-founders is of Iranian descent.
“We think it’s a very dangerous policy,” Mr Levie continued.
"We think it has long-term ramifications and implications that have not been thought out, as well as near-term implications that clearly haven’t been thought out as well.”
Ethical values
Still, among the praise directed at firms over their statements this week, there were voices wondering: what took them so long?
In a region - and indeed a state - where liberal thinking is front and centre, many were left aghast when it seemed the tech companies’ first reaction was to get around a table with the then president-Elect and talk policy.
The suggestion remains that while Silicon Valley likes to paint its decisions with colourful ethical values, it’s the bottom line that is the be all and end all.
But both goals need not be mutually exclusive, Mr Levie said.
“We’re getting to a point in the world where it’s really hard to separate morals from our organisations,” he said.
"We are built on people, and we are built on having cultures of people that can come together and work productively and be welcome in their communities. It is both a business issue and a moral issue.”
Tess Townsend, a journalist for tech news website Recode - the publication which has been most outspoken about the tech industry’s willingness to embrace President Trump - said any prior restraint from the companies was flipped upside down when the executive order was enforced.
“People are seeing the real impact in a way that’s not theoretical,” she told me.
"I think often times when we talk about policies being passed, we think about it having an impact but it’s not super immediate - the impact may not be felt for another few months, or maybe a year later.
“But this is something where people are being stopped at the airport now."
Google fund
So what now?
Uber’s Travis Kalanick, and Tesla’s Elon Musk, are both part of an advisory panel scheduled to meet with President Trump on Friday.
Mr Musk used Twitter to solicit concerns about the orders that he said he will raise with the President, though he urged his followers to read the policy for themselves and not rely on media coverage.
In addition to the earlier statements, companies - and the wealthy individuals within them - rallied around groups offering assistance to those affected by the orders.
Google set up a “crisis fund” of $2m which could rise to $4m with employees’ own contributions. Lyft said it would give the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) $1m over the next four years.
Big-time investors such as Chris Sacca shared news of their own donations - $150,000 in his case - to various groups.
The executive order is only intended to be a temporary measure, President Trump has said. For the time being, as I type, there is still a sizeable crowd gathered at San Francisco airport, cheering in each arrival.
And on several placards, the face of this region’s most revered figure, Steve Jobs - the son of a Syrian, adopted by Americans.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook
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One of Brazil's most wanted men has been arrested in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
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Rogerio Avelino da Silva, better known as Rogerio 157, was detained in Arara, in the north of the city. He did not offer any resistance.
He is wanted on charges of drug trafficking, extortion and murder.
Almost 3,000 officers took part in the operation which led to his arrest. Some of them took selfies with the suspect.
Brazilian daily O Globo published the selfies, in some of which Rogerio was smiling while the officers flashed the victory sign.
Rio police also published a video of the arrest on Twitter.
Rogerio 157 made it on to the most-wanted list in September after gunmen loyal to him fought street battles with gang members of a jailed rival drugs boss in Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio.
The 35-year-old is said to have been given his nickname for the police code for aggravated robbery, his alleged speciality when he started out on his criminal career.
Police say Rogerio 157 formed part of a group of men who took tourists hostage in the Hotel Intercontinental in Rio in 2010. One woman was killed in the ensuing shoot-out.
Read: Gang takes over Brazil hotel
Police say Rogerio 157 controlled part of the sprawling Rocinha favela, which he took over after the arrest of the drug lord known as "Nem" for whom he used to work as a bodyguard.
The security forces had been searching for Rogerio 157 for months. Almost 3,000 members of the army and various police forces were deployed on Wednesday to comb the area street by street.
Residents of Rocinha said shots could be heard in the hours after the arrests, which they attributed to a rival gang trying to move into Rogerio 157's territory.
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A bomb has been found under an Italian embassy car in Libya's capital Tripoli.
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Diplomats had parked the car and gone shopping in the central Zawiyat Dahmani area when the driver noticed the device, officials said.
Police cordoned the area off and the bomb exploded, causing damage mainly to the back of the car. No-one was killed or injured.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Rome said two embassy officials had been travelling in the car.
Libyan authorities have been struggling to ensure security since former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in late 2011.
In April, a car bomb outside the French embassy in Tripoli injured two French guards and a number of residents.
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A previously unpublished article by DH Lawrence shows him defending women from a misogynistic attack, an expert on the writer has said.
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The manuscript by the Eastwood author was discovered by Dr Andrew Harrison, a Nottingham University lecturer.
In the article, Lawrence reprimands a fellow writer for regarding a beautiful woman as "a piece of lurid meat".
Dr Harrison said he hoped the piece would make people question assumptions about Lawrence's supposed sexism.
The English literature lecturer discovered the piece in February, after being asked to study a collection of papers bought by a New Zealand library.
The papers belonged to John Middleton Murry, the husband of New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield.
Lawrence, the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover and Women In Love, was friends with the couple and contributed to The Adelphi, a monthly journal edited by Murry.
'Terrible, unmentionable evil'
The 185-word article by Lawrence was responding to another article in the journal called The Ugliness of Women by a man called JHR.
JHR, thought to be an electrical engineer named John Hall Rider, had written of the horrified reaction he felt towards beautiful women.
He wrote: "In every woman born there is a seed of terrible, unmentionable evil: evil such as man - a simple creature for all his passions and lusts - could never dream of in the most horrible of nightmares, could never conceive in imagination."
In response, Lawrence wrote: "The hideousness he [JHR] sees is the reflection of himself, and of the automatic meat-lust with which he approaches another individual.
"Even the most 'beautiful' woman is still a human creature. If he [JHR] approached her as such, as a being instead of as a piece of lurid meat, he would have no horrors afterwards."
The piece, which Dr Harrison published on 29 March, is thought to have been written in London between 12 December, 1923 and 5 March, 1924 - during Lawrence's brief return to Europe from Mexico.
Dr Harrison said he thought Murry may not have published Lawrence's piece because it was libellous or too outspoken.
He added: "A new find like this is pretty rare. It reveals Lawrence's enlightened attitude to gender issues, and his acuteness in detecting and exposing sexist attitudes."
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The majority of primary schools in Newcastle will welcome back some children from Monday.
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Council bosses said most of the city's primary schools should be open to at least one year group.
The government allowed schools in England to reopen to nursery, reception, Year one and Year six children from 1 June.
However, Newcastle City Council had said it would not do so until it deemed it safe amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Older children, such as those in Year six, are expected to return first rather than all the age groups specified by the government, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Parents and carers will be contacted by their children's schools to confirm arrangements.
The council has reiterated that parents are under no obligation to send youngsters back to school if they do not feel comfortable doing so and will not be fined if their children are kept at home.
Every school in Newcastle has been issued with a pack of personal protective equipment (PPE), which will be used if pupils develop virus symptoms and need care while they are waiting to be taken home.
Masks and eye coverings will not be worn by teachers during lessons.
Secondary school pupils across England are due to return on 15 June.
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A 33-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a severe warehouse fire.
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Up to 25 firefighters dealt with the blaze on the Showell Road industrial estate, in Bushbury, Wolverhampton, just before 07:30 BST on Monday.
The single-storey factory unit, used by an online clothes retailer, was severely damaged by the fire, West Midlands Fire Service said.
No-one was inside the warehouse at the time, with no injuries reported.
Crews from Fallings Park, Wolverhampton, Bilston and Walsall attended.
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A woman has been cleared of killing a passenger when she stopped her car on a motorway hard shoulder during an argument after a night out.
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Chloe Palmer, 19, died when another vehicle hit Christalla Amphlett's Renault on the M1 near Watford in 2017.
Ms Amphlett, now 22, of Edgware in London, had pulled over twice when an argument broke out over petrol money.
A jury at St Albans Crown Court found her not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
Ms Amphlett, of Symphony Close, and three friends were on their way home from Watford when the crash happened near the Bricket Wood exit, also in Hertfordshire, in the early hours of 25 November.
Their car was hit by an Isuzu D-Max driven by Bradley Lane.
Back seat passenger Ms Palmer, from Finchley in London, suffered brain injuries and died days later.
Ms Amphlett and the other back seat passenger Maisie O'Flynn had serious injuries, while the front seat passenger was not seriously hurt.
Prosecutor Wayne Cleaver said Ms Amphlett and Ms O'Flynn, had argued about petrol money and all the passengers were drunk and were annoying the driver.
He said "such was her irritation" she pulled onto the hard shoulder for a few minutes before continuing, but stopped again after the argument resumed.
He said she did not have the hazard lights flashing and was sitting with her legs outside the car, prompting other motorists to swerve.
The crash happened 17 minutes later.
'I had to stop'
The prosecution said it amounted to dangerous driving that "was a contributory cause of the collision".
Ms Amphlett told the court: "I just remember there was an argument. I just remember shouting. I had to stop. I did not feel it was safe to continue."
Judge Richard Foster said it had been a "very difficult and challenging case".
Earlier this year, Lane, 28, from Laindon in Essex, was jailed for 30 months after admitting causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.
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The Olympic torch has seen another first on day 28 of its journey around the UK, making its away across the River Tyne on a zip wire.
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Watched by thousands of onlookers in Newcastle, Chief Scout Bear Grylls jumped off the bridge and landed safely into the parade ground of HMS Calliope.
Earlier, football legend Jack Charlton carried the Olympic flame through the centre of the city.
The 1966 World Cup winner, 77, was one of 141 torchbearers carrying the flame.
Friday's evening celebration took place at the Quayside.
Rope and fire
The zip wire event saw Grylls slide down the 400m wire as fireworks went off around him, and the TV presenter and adventurer admitted he had been concerned about several aspects of the day.
"I was kind of worried about the torch going out but it stayed alight - it was amazing," said Grylls, who in 1998 became the youngest Briton to conquer Mount Everest at just 23 years old.
"I was a bit nervous about rope and fire but it was fine and we are in one piece."
He added: "I think you're not human if you're not nervous when you're standing 200ft up and it's blowing you around a little bit. It's a long drop.
"It's still alight, we're alive and I'm super proud to have carried the torch."
Action-man Grylls is the star of the TV series Man vs Wild and Born Survivor, in which he shows viewers how to survive in dangerous and inhospitable parts of the world.
Charlton's journey with the Olympic flame may have been less spectacular than that of Grylls, but the former Newcastle FC manager, walking with a stick, was cheered on by ecstatic crowds.
He carried the flame through the centre of the city before visiting the club's ground St James' Park, an Olympic football venue.
But BBC Newcastle's Fiona Marley Paterson at St James' Park said the flame's planned lap of honour around the pitch had to be cancelled - apparently because the ground was still sporting "unofficial" advertising.
The day's first torchbearer was Richard Moules, 65, who helped keep a village shop open in the Northumberland village of Humshaugh.
Others include
Louis Smith
, 23 became the first Briton in 100 years to win a medal in the men's individual gymnastics event when he took bronze at the Beijing Olympics four years ago.
One of Britain's most promising table tennis players, Darius Knight, 21, carried the flame in Choppington.
Andrea Thompson, 43, took up the torch in her home city of Newcastle. Her son Jordan died from an infection whilst fighting leukaemia in 2007, aged 15.
She later set up the
Toma Fund
to support young people and their families in the North East and Cumbria who have been affected by a diagnosis of childhood cancer.
Friday's route went through the communities of Alnwick, Hipsburn, Warkworth, Amble, Ashington, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Choppington, Morpeth, Hartford, Bedlington, Blyth, Whitley Bay, Cullercoats, Tynemouth, North Shields, Howdon, Wallsend and Newcastle.
The convoy visited Warkworth Castle and also crossed Gateshead's Millennium Bridge.
The Olympic flame arrived in the UK from Greece on 18 May and the relay began at Land's End, Cornwall, the next day.
A total of 8,000 people will carry the flame during its 8,000 mile, 70-day journey to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London on 27 July.
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An Australian man has been handed a landmark jail sentence of life without parole for murdering his wife, three children and their grandmother.
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Anthony Robert Harvey, 25, killed the five at their home in Perth last year.
The bodies of Mara Lee Harvey, 41, two-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, three-year-old Charlotte, and Beverley Quinn, 73, were found a week later.
The state of Western Australia has never previously jailed a person without the possibility of release.
"There is no other case that is truly comparable," Justice Stephen Hall told the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Murders planned in advance
Harvey pleaded guilty to the murders, which he carried out with a knife and a piece of pipe last September.
He first attacked his wife after she returned one night from work, before killing his daughters as they slept. One child was stabbed 38 times.
Ms Quinn was murdered the following day after arriving at the house as usual to see the children.
The court heard Harvey had planned for weeks to kill his family, including writing in a journal about "eliminating" them.
He remained with the bodies for five days, before driving about 1,430km (900 miles) north to the town of Pannawonica, where his parents live.
After hearing his son confess to the crimes, Harvey's father phoned police. Harvey was in custody a short time later.
Sentencing precedent
Harvey's lawyers had argued that he deserved a sentence with the possibility of parole due to his young age and prospects for rehabilitation.
A psychologist's report shown to the court said that Harvey had fantasised about becoming a serial killer, reported news outlet WA Today.
It also said Harvey had spoken about his anxiety and depression, but that it was difficult to say whether he had autism or narcissistic personality disorder.
Justice Hall said Harvey's claims of remorse were inconsistent with other evidence, arguing the killer had gone beyond "a mere record of dark fantasies" to actively planning the murders.
The judge said the crimes were so horrific that Harvey should never be eligible for parole, a sentenced that has been permitted - but not previously applied - since 2008.
Ms Harvey's sister, Taryn Tottman, described the sentence as "extremely suitable", but added that "we ourselves have been given a life sentence".
"In an ideal world, now that sentencing has been handed down, my family would return," she said outside court.
"But I know that this will never happen."
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A lioness has killed the father of her three cubs in their pen at a zoo in the US, officials say.
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Zuri, 12, attacked 10-year-old Nyack and staff at Indianapolis Zoo could not separate the pair. He died of suffocation.
The lions had lived in the same enclosure for eight years, and had three cubs together in 2015.
In a Facebook post the zoo said staff would conduct a "thorough review" to try to find out what happened.
"Nyack was a magnificent lion and he will be greatly missed," it read.
Staff said they were alerted by "an unusual amount of roaring" coming from the lion pen.
Zuri was holding Nyack by the neck, and despite efforts to separate the pair the lioness continued to hold her partner until he had stopped moving.
There had never been any noticeable aggression between the two, the statement said.
"[Staff] build strong bonds with the animals so any loss affects us all greatly," Indianapolis Zoo curator David Hagan told Reuters. "For a lot of us, it's just like a family member."
The release said there are no current plans to change how the zoo's lions are managed.
The zoo is undertaking a review to understand what happened.
Lionesses often attack lions in the wild and such incidents have been filmed at safari parks.
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A rabbi has been stabbed to death by a Palestinian man in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, Israeli police say.
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Shai Ohayon, a 39-year-old father of four, was attacked at a road junction, reportedly after getting off a bus from a religious college where he studied.
A suspect was chased by a passer-by and later arrested by police. He is said to be a 46-year-old from a village near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
Investigators said they were treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
The Shin Bet security service said it was looking into whether the suspect had a history of mental illness, but that it was "too soon to tell" if that was relevant, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to Rabbi Ohayon's family.
"The heart aches. My wife Sarah and myself are hugging the family, a wife and four children who are left without a father," he wrote on Twitter. "We will demolish the terrorist's house and work for carrying out the most severe punishment possible."
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu shared an article on Facebook that said no Israeli civilian had been killed in a terrorist attack for 12 months for the first time in 56 years, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Since 2015, dozens of Israelis have been killed in a wave of stabbings, shootings and car-rammings, predominantly by Palestinians, in Israel and the West Bank.
Hundreds of Palestinians - most of them assailants, Israel says - have also been killed in that period, according to news agencies.
Others have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
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The government's Help To Buy scheme, designed to boost the housing market, creates "medium and long-term risks to the taxpayer", MPs have warned.
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The Public Accounts Committee said the portfolio of mortgage loans would create a "heavy administrative burden".
It also questioned whether it represented value for money for the taxpayer.
Housing minister Kris Hopkins rejected the report, arguing that the plan had supported the economy.
The Committee only looked at the first part of Help-to-Buy - the equity loan scheme.
It is aimed at people who can afford a mortgage but are struggling to get on the housing ladder because they are unable to raise a suitable deposit.
Under the scheme, the government offers buyers of a newly-built home a loan worth 20% of the purchase price, provided they have a deposit of 5% and the property costs less than £600,000.
The government loan is interest free for the first five years.
Margaret Hodge, the Labour chair of the committee, said that overseeing a portfolio of loans was new territory for the government and required "careful management".
'Wider benefits'
"There are also more immediate risks, particularly the fact that some buyers have accessed the scheme with deposits of less than 5%, which increases taxpayers' exposure to risk," she said.
She added that the government did not "carry out any assessment of alternative, potentially more effective options before going ahead with the scheme - a violation of Treasury guidelines".
Mr Hopkins accused her of grandstanding and political point-scoring.
"The Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme is building more homes and supporting the economy - in fact we estimate the wider economic benefits could be as much as £1.8bn," he said.
The report also said 13,000 home-buyers took advantage of the deal in the first nine months - mainly in northern England and the Midlands rather than the South East, where new home-building needs to be encouraged.
Scotland and Wales operate similar schemes but covering properties worth up to £400,000 and £300,000 respectively. Northern Ireland runs a slightly different "co-ownership scheme".
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The city of Boston and the US Olympic Committee (USOC) have agreed to end a bid for the 2024 Olympics because of a lack of public support.
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The bid had faced opposition, with many people concerned that local funds would be used to pay for cost overruns.
The decision means that another US city will have the opportunity to bid for the Games.
The US has until 15 September to submit a bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Analysts say Los Angeles is now likely to be the frontrunner to be selected as the US candidate.
In a statement, USOC chief Scott Blackmun said the short time before a bid must be submitted meant that not enough public support could be mustered.
"The USOC does not think that the level of support enjoyed by Boston's bid would allow it to prevail over great bids from Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Budapest or Toronto," he said.
Mr Blackmun added that USOC will explore the possibility of entering a different city in September's bid.
One concern of local opposition groups was that the cost of the Games would have risen far higher than the estimated $4.6bn (£3bn).
London's 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games cost $13bn, according to UK government figures.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said: "No benefit is so great that it is worth handing over the financial future of our city and our citizens were rightly hesitant to be supportive as a result."
Earlier on Monday, Mr Walsh had said he would "refuse to mortgage the future of the city away".
Boston was selected as the designated US host city in February after beating off competition from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC.
The last time the USA hosted a summer games was in Atlanta in 1996. Salt Lake City, Utah, hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002.
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Jeff Goldblum has announced he is releasing his first album at the age of 65.
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By Neil SmithEntertainment reporter
The Hollywood actor is an accomplished jazz pianist and has a band called The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.
He was spotted by record execs after playing alongside jazz singer-songwriter Gregory Porter on The Graham Norton Show last year.
Goldblum, the 65-year-old star of films like Jurassic World, Thor: Ragnarok and The Fly, has now signed with Decca Records, saying: "I'm so happy to be in cahoots with the wonderful people at Decca, one of the coolest and most prestigious labels of all time."
His album is due out later this year. But Goldblum is far from being the first celebrity to launch a recording career. Just for the record(s), here are 11 others who have tried their hand at making albums.
Kevin Bacon
Known for his roles in such films as Footloose and Apollo 13, Kevin has also become a familiar face on UK TV screens of late thanks to his commercials for a certain mobile phone network.
But he has also released seven albums with his brother Michael that span folk, rock, soul and country - a fusion they have dubbed "Forosoco".
In a 2016 interview, Bacon admitted his celebrity status was useful to the band, saying it helped "get a few people in a few seats".
"The job is for those people to leave, and the next time we come through town they say, you know what, I saw these guys, they're actually pretty good."
Watch the video for The Bacon Brothers' latest single Broken Glass.
Jason Manford is the latest comedian to land a record deal, following in the footsteps of fellow funny-men Bradley Walsh and Alexander Armstrong.
The 36-year-old released A Different Stage, a collection of show tunes from musicals such as My Fair Lady and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, through Decca Records last October.
"I feel so incredibly lucky to have been asked to record this album, especially with a respected record company like Decca," he said in a statement. "What are they playing at?"
Anyone who saw La La Land will know Ryan Gosling can carry a tune, even if he sometimes needs a bucket to do it.
If further proof is needed, though, look no further than Dead Man's Bones - a concept album he recorded with his friend Zach Shields in 2009.
Originally intended as the soundtrack to a play about monster who falls in love with a ghost, the score eventually appeared in the form of a suitably sepulchral-sounding record.
Werewolf Heart, My Body's a Zombie for You and Flowers Grow Out of My Grave were just some of the cheery tracks the duo subsequently performed on a Halloween tour.
Watch Gosling perform In The Room Where You Sleep with The Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir.
Scarlett Johansson didn't take the easy route for her 2008 debut album, producing instead an album of moody Tom Waits covers.
"I was never looking to make a pop album," she said of Anywhere I Lay My Head at the time. "It's just not my cup of tea."
The Avengers actress went on to work with songwriter Pete Yorn on Break Up, an album of duets inspired by the ones that Serge Gainsbourg recorded with Brigitte Bardot.
Yet her later attempts to form a girl group called The Singles hit the buffers when another band with that name took her to court.
Watch the video for Scarlett's Tom Waits cover Falling Down.
Christie Brinkley famously appeared in the video for Billy Joel's Uptown Girl. Yet fellow supermodel Campbell went one better in 1994 by releasing an entire album.
Babywoman, alas, hardly set the world on fire and went on to be ranked sixth in Q magazine's 2006 list of the 50 worst albums ever.
That said, Naomi can lay claim to a top 40 single thanks to the one week her song Love and Tears spent in the top 40... in 40th place.
Her brief stint as a singer also saw her appear on Top of the Pops, where she was joined by two Indian dancers and introduced by Bruno Brookes.
Known to millions for his martial arts prowess, Chan is also an accomplished singer who has released more than 20 albums in five different languages.
He started off singing over the closing titles of his films and went on to release a string of albums, the first of which - 1984's Love Me - featured a song called Jackie's Legend.
In 2008 he made an official tie-in album for the Beijing Olympics. Seven years later, he recorded a song in aid of Beijing's bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2022.
He's also sung on screen, notably in 2002's The Tuxedo when he did a more than passable imitation of James Brown.
Between starring in hit films such as Muriel's Wedding, The Sixth Sense and Little Miss Sunshine, Australian actress Collette has also found time to make an album.
The result was Beautiful Awkward Pictures, released in 2006 under the name Toni Collette and The Finish - a band in which her husband, Dave Galafassi, played drums.
"I come from a long line of shower singers," she revealed that year. "I realised I could sing at age six or so, then I was weaned on musical theatre as a teenager."
Watch the video for the album's rather beautiful title track.
Like Collette, Downey Jr has released just one album to date - a 2004 release called The Futurist that featured eight self-penned compositions.
The results drew qualified praise from USA Today, which admired its "moody musicality" and "graceful folk and jazz flourishes".
"Clearly I have some hesitation in being an actor who puts out an album," Downey Jr admitted at the time. "But after years of writing songs, it gradually became more real."
Watch him perform Man Like Me, the album's opening track.
Clint's ties to music extend from him singing on screen in 1969's Paint Your Wagon to composing the scores for such films as Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.
Few know, though, that he released an album in 1963 entitled Rawhide's Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favourites.
According to Cameo Records, the disc saw Eastwood present "an exciting song picture of the west... with an intimacy and style that marks him as a true show business great".
Watch Clint warble Rowdy, a song named after his Rawhide character Rowdy Yates.
From Count Dracula to Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, Sir Christopher Lee created some of the silver screen's most memorable and menacing villains.
But towards the end of his life, he found the time to release a pair of heavy metal concept albums about King Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor.
"If it's properly done and you can understand the story and what people are singing... I think it's rather exciting," he told the BBC in 2012.
Sir Christopher's other endeavours included a series of Christmas covers that include this head-banging version of The Little Drummer Boy.
The Oscar-winning star of GoodFellas and Home Alone was a childhood friend of Frankie Valli and played a small but pivotal role in the formation of The Four Seasons.
He released his first record in 1968, an album of covers called Little Joe Sure Can Sing! that included his version of Got To Get You Into My Life by The Beatles.
Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You, Pesci's belated second album, was a different beast altogether that saw him sing as the character he played in 1992's My Cousin Vinny.
Ireland's Hot Press magazine gave a withering critique of this 1998 effort, predicting Pesci would not "be troubling George Michael in the best male vocal Grammy stakes".
A version of this article was first published on 9 June.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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Dressed in traditional costume, revellers - known as Caretos - have been racing through the streets of the Portuguese village of Podence in a ceremony that was once banned.
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The Caretos of Podence takes place over three days and celebrates the end of winter and the arrival of spring.
It was recently declared an event of intangible cultural heritage by Unesco after being banned by António Salazar while prime minister of the country decades ago.
The revellers wear brass or wooden masks and dress in costumes made of dyed wool with cowbells on their belts.
In the past it was men behind the masks as the festival was a rite of passage, though a few women would sometimes disguise themselves, but today women and children are encouraged to take part in the updated ceremony.
They revellers shout and chase people, dancing around them, and once cornered the revellers bang their cowbells.
There are a number of events throughout the festival, one being the ritual of the burning of a Shrovetide figure.
The village has a population of some 200, but thousands can turn out to see the spectacle.
All photographs courtesy Octavio Passos/Getty Images
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Roger Stone, a high-profile supporter of Donald Trump, has been suspended from Twitter after using the network to attack journalists.
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Mr Stone, who advised Mr Trump during his election campaign, said he had been told he had violated Twitter's rules.
His suspension came hours after he used abusive and homophobic language to target journalists, including a gay CNN presenter, Don Lemon.
Mr Stone has said he will sue Twitter for blocking his account.
Twitter has not commented or confirmed if Mr Stone's suspension is permanent.
He was an aide to President Richard Nixon in the 1970s and became a political consultant. He says in the Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone that he got Mr Trump to run for president.
While he acted as an adviser during the early days of the Trump campaign, he left his role in disputed circumstances in August 2015 - Mr Stone says he quit, Mr Trump says he was fired.
Since then, Mr Trump has tried to put some distance between himself and Mr Stone, who regularly appears on network television to support his former employer.
Over several hours on Saturday, Mr Stone took to Twitter to attack CNN and New York Times journalists over their reporting.
His attacks came hours after CNN reported that the first charges had been laid by a grand jury in the investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 election.
In a Facebook post, Mr Stone said he believed his suspension should have ended "some time ago yet my Twitter feed is still not functional".
In an interview with entertainment website The Wrap, he said he had hired "one of the best telecommunications lawyers in the country" and would sue Twitter, but it is not clear whether there are legal grounds to do so.
"I have been inundated on Twitter with bloggers threatening to kill me, my wife my kids and even my dogs yet Twitter seems unconcerned about that," he said.
One of the people he targeted on Saturday, CNN contributor Ana Navarro, said she did not sympathise with Mr Stone over his suspension.
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One of the most famous images in Welsh art is up for sale.
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By Huw ThomasBBC Wales arts and media correspondent
Salem, by Sydney Curnow Vosper, depicts a Welsh lady entering Capel Salem in Gwynedd.
Copies of the painting have hung in countless Welsh homes after it was given away as a print by a soap manufacturer.
Auctioneers hope it will sell for up to £60,000 when it is offered for sale next month.
The image shows Sian Owen in a shawl, which some say contains an image of the devil in its folds.
Painted in 1909, Mrs Owen is seen arriving late for a service at Capel Salem, Cefn Cymerau in Gwynedd.
It was one of two versions of the image painted by Vosper.
The first was sold to William Hesketh Lever who used the image for a promotional competition by his Sunlight soap brand.
That 1908 version belongs to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Wirral.
The marketing stunt led to homes across Wales acquiring copies of the image.
This second version of the painting, which has minor differences to the first, was painted for the artist's brother-in-law, Frank James.
Mr James was a Merthyr Tydfil solicitor and was disappointed to have missed out on the original painting.
The Salem painting depicts a Sunday morning at the small Baptist chapel in Cefn Cymerau, Llanbedr and centres on Sian Owen of Ty'n y Fawnog.
But the artist denied the devil's face had been depicted in the fold of the shawl - although this did not stop it becoming the painting's main talking point over the years.
'In our psyche'
Auctioneer Ben Rogers Jones said there was "no more an iconic image" in Welsh art.
He said: "If you think of iconic English paintings you may come up with the Hay Wain. Well, this is Wales's Hay Wain, it is that important.
"The image is so known to us. Even if people don't know who it was by, or the history of it, they still know that image from nain and taid's house, and the prints that were everywhere.
"It is in our psyche. In all my years selling Welsh art this is the most iconic image I've ever offered at auction."
The lot has an estimated value of £40,000 to £60,000.
Mr Rogers Jones said he hoped the image would stay in Wales.
"I do personally hope that it stays in Wales because the other one is in England, and it would be amazing for it to stay here."
It has previously been displayed at the National Museum in Cardiff, and the artist has connections with Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil.
Mr Rogers Jones said he hoped a public museum or gallery would purchase the work.
"I would sincerely hope that happens, that's my personal hope. It is a public auction but let's hope this one stays in Wales."
The work will be offered for sale on 19 October at the Welsh sale by Rogers Jones & Co in Cardiff.
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The roof of the home of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is to be dismantled by military teams in the wake of the Novichok attack.
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Detectives believe Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia first came into contact with the poison when it was sprayed on the property's door handle.
The replacement of the roof timbers is a "precautionary measure".
It will ensure there is no chance of residue contamination from police searches, say Wiltshire Council.
The clean-up at Christie Miller Road, Salisbury, has been taking place ever since they collapsed on 4 March.
The authority has warned neighbours of about four months of disruptions as it replaces the roof timbers.
'Low risk'
Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, Alistair Cunningham, the chair of the recovery coordination group, said: "the whole house had to be searched, including the roof space.
We want to be sure no contamination was taken from the door into the roof space.
It's a timber structure and when it comes to wood it's more difficult to clean. It's easier to remove."
Contractors will cover the house and garage with a "sealed frame", according to a letter written by the council's director of public of health, Tracy Daszkiewicz.
A military team will then dismantle and remove the timbers, before removing them from the site.
"When that work is completed, contractors will move on site to build a replacement roof for the house and adjoining garage."
She said the risk to public health remains "low".
Mr Cunningham confirmed that the house is still privately owned by Sergei Skripal but that he had not yet made clear whether he wishes to return.
The council, he said, would be ready to purchase the house if Mr Skripal decided to sell it: "Our concern is that if this house were sold, that it should be sold for the right reasons, i.e. this is a family home and should remain a family home.
"We have the ability to purchase the property, if it's in the wider public interest to do so."
Mr Skripal, 67, and his daughter - who was 33 years old at the time of the attack - survived the attack which Prime Minister Theresa May said had "almost certainly" been approved by the Russian state.
Wiltshire Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey is also thought to have come into contact with the poison when he searched their home.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury months after the incident and died in hospital in July after coming into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack on the Skripals and then discarded.
Her partner, Charlie Rowley, 45, was also exposed to the same nerve agent but was treated and discharged.
Two Russian nationals have been accused of travelling to the UK to try to murder Mr Skripal with Novichok.
The two suspects - known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - were caught on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack.
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The world's richest person has been invited to consider setting up a new manufacturing site in Swindon
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Leader of the town's borough council David Renard has written to Elon Musk, owner of the Tesla car company, asking him to consider opening a factory there.
Mr Renard suggested the Honda factory site, set to close in July 2021.
Mr Musk also owns Space X which aims to deliver broadband internet around the world, using 42,000 satellites.
In the letter to Mr Musk, Mr Renard said he would like to "draw your attention" to the Honda site.
He called it a "prime site" with good transport links and said the "biggest selling point" might be Honda's 5,000-strong workforce which would need to find new employment when the plant closes.
Dale Heenan, Swindon Borough Council's cabinet member for the town centre, said writing to Mr Musk was in his list of new year resolutions, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
Honda said it was closing its site due to global changes in the car industry and the need to launch electric vehicles.
Jim Grant, the borough council's Labour group leader, said he applauded the approach to Mr Musk and said "every opportunity" should be taken to bring jobs to the town.
But he added: "I am concerned, however, that this has more to do with publicising the Tory council itself than a serious approach to Tesla.
"Honda itself is keen on privacy, and I suspect Elon Musk and Tesla probably prefer to do such negotiations out of the public eye."
Related Internet Links
Swindon Borough Council
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A police officer has told a trial that murder accused Edward Cairney and Avril Jones did not appear concerned about missing Margaret Fleming.
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PC Stuart Rintoul said colleagues had gone to check on Margaret's welfare on 28 October 2016 and this had escalated into a missing person's inquiry.
He was giving evidence at the trial of Mr Cairney, 77, and Ms Jones, 59, at the High Court in Glasgow.
They deny murdering Ms Fleming between December 1999 and January 2000.
Margaret, who would now be 38 years old, has allegedly not been seen for more than 19 years.
Mr Cairney and Ms Jones, from Inverkip, became Margaret's carers after her father died.
PC Stuart Rintoul told how officers spoke to the pair in October 2016.
No visitors
Mr Cairney claimed that he and Margaret had just walked to Wemyss Bay and back when Margaret fled after seeing the police.
PC Rintoul described Mr Cairney as "angry" and said that on missing person inquiries "usually the person in the house is willing to help us".
He was asked by prosecutor Iain McSporran QC: "How concerned were Edward Cairney and Avril Jones for Margaret," and he replied: "Not very much. All I got told was she had no family or friends and no-one visited."
Mr McSporran then said: "Did their attitude strike you as normal," and PC Rintoul replied: "No. If someone as vulnerable as this female was missing, normally the people would appear upset. There didn't appear to be that."
The police officer said he told Mr Cairney and Ms Jones that a police helicopter and police dog would be called out in the search for Margaret.
He said: "Both were shocked and angry, almost as if they didn't want it to happen."
PC Rintoul said Ms Jones told him Margaret's benefits were paid to her.
Bank account
He said: "I asked Avril Jones about money and she said the money was paid into her bank account, and when she lifted it she gave Margaret her bit."
The witness added: "She said Margaret couldn't look after herself. Avril said she went everywhere with Eddie and the two of them wouldn't let her leave the house herself."
Defence QC Thomas Ross, representing Cairney, asked PC Rintoul if Mr Cairney initially told him that Margaret had run away a week before but came back an hour later. He replied: "Yes."
Mr Ross then said: "Did he not eventually express concern for Margaret?" The policeman replied: "It was about two-and-a-half to three hours later. I asked him if he was concerned and he said 'I am now'."
Defence QC Ian Duguid, representing Ms Jones, asked PC Rintoul: "Did Miss Jones say how much she gave Margaret Fleming," and he replied: "£700."
The trial also heard that murder accused Ms Jones blamed a social worker as police searched for Margaret.
Insp Paul Thomson said she told him: "This is all down to that stupid bloody social worker.''
He added: "She said it was because Margaret had failed to keep an appointment."
No photographs
The court has heard that social worker Veronica Bennett contacted police after concerns were raised about a benefits form completed by Ms Jones on behalf of Margaret.
Insp Thomson also said he did not think either accused was concerned about Margaret.
He added: "Mr Cairney said 'I hope she doesn't come back after all this fuss.'"
Another police witness, Sgt Chris McKay, told the murder trial that initially they wondered if Margaret actually existed.
Mr McSporran said: "Were there any suspicions by your officers?" and Sgt McKay replied: "Yes, they didn't believe Margaret Fleming had been there."
He told the jury this was because there were no personal belongings or photographs of Margaret.
Mr McSporran said: "Did you ask them if Margaret Fleming existed?" and the police officer replied: "Yes."
Sgt McKay added: "Miss Jones also said the social worker had ruined their lives. She said that a number of times."
Mr Cairney and Ms Jones are also accused of defrauding £182,000 in benefits and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by claiming Margaret was alive.
They deny all the charges against them.
The trial before judge Lord Matthews continues.
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An historic steam railway in Gwynedd has unveiled plans for a new £1.2m station in Caernarfon.
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The Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway said the project would create two jobs and safeguard more than 150.
The new station will increase railway visitor numbers by around 5,000 a year and building work could start at the end of the year.
The heritage railway's Porthmadog Harbour Station recently reopened after a £1.3m rebuild.
"The railway held two public consultation town earlier this year and has incorporated ideas and suggestions made by local residents and visitors into the proposed design, which will include retail, catering and display areas covering two floors," said Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway in a statement.
"The £1.2m project to provide a new station at Caernarfon will create new jobs and safeguard existing ones in addition to generating extra traffic and revenue for both the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway and the local economy.
"Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway already provides significant benefits to the wider local economy, generating an estimated £25m each year and creating more than 400 jobs."
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The Children of the 90s study is contributing to a nationwide investigation into the implications of long Covid.
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The Bristol-based long-term project monitors the health of more than 14,000 participates.
Long Covid leaves people struggling with symptoms including fatigue, memory loss and shortness of breath.
It is estimated that one in 20 people who catch Covid-19 will still have symptoms after two months.
Participants in the long Covid study will wear Fitbit-style devices to measure exercise ability, breathing and heart rate.
Researchers will use the data produced to try to find out more about the illness's risk factors, its impact on health, finances and wellbeing, and how best to treat it.
Jamie Bridgeman, born in 1991, was one of the first people to take part in the Children of the 90s study.
The 29-year-old is still suffering from long Covid after becoming infected in April.
"I have days where I am very breathless and lethargic," he said.
"Some days you physically can't get out of bed, you can't go up the stairs, it is a real effort.
"It is getting better but it is taking a lot of time.
"Long Covid is a really serious thing. I have it quite mild, but there are people out there that are really struggling with it."
Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires on mental health and cognitive function and will also be invited to a London clinic for scans to look at potential damage to their vital organs.
Professor Nic Timpson, principal investigator at Children of the 90s, said the study was bringing together national health records and hospital studies covering more than 60 million people with the data gathered over the lives of the Bristol participants.
"Bristol's Children of the 90s participants should be proud that through their contribution, this study will enable better diagnostic tools for long Covid, and a clearer understanding of the condition itself," he said.
The study, named Characterisation, determinants, mechanisms and consequences of the long-term effects of Covid-19: providing the evidence base for health care services, is being led by University College London.
It is being funded by a £9.6 million grant from the National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation.
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Related Internet Links
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The age at which a male first sees pornography is associated with certain sexist attitudes later in life, according to a team of researchers from the University of Nebraska.
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By Katie SilverHealth reporter, BBC News
Their survey revealed the younger the first viewing occurred, the more likely a male was to want power over women.
While if they were older, they were more likely to be sexually promiscuous.
Of the 330 undergraduates surveyed, with a median age of 20, the average age they first saw pornography was 13.
The youngest was only five, while the oldest was 26.
The unpublished findings were presented at a convention in Washington.
Playboy lifestyle
Lead researcher Alyssa Bischmann and her team asked the men, the vast majority of whom were heterosexual and white, when they first saw porn and whether it was intentional, accidental or forced.
They were then asked 46 questions which measured how they conformed to one of two behavioural traits - seeking power over women or sexually promiscuous behaviour and living a playboy lifestyle.
They found those who saw porn young were most likely to agree with statements that asserted male dominance, such as "things tend to be better when men are in charge".
The researchers were surprised to find that seeing porn later in life was associated with a playboy lifestyle, such as preferring to frequently change sexual partners.
Researcher Christina Richardson said this could be because those who were exposed to porn early often did not enjoy sex in real life.
"These men often have a lot of performance anxiety with women in real life. Sexual experiences don't go as planned or the way they do in pornography," she said.
Alternatively "those who see porn later, enjoy sex in real life more and therefore might be more likely to live a playboy lifestyle".
The research, which was presented at the American Psychological Association's annual convention, did not take into account how much porn the men watched, the type of porn or other demographic factors, such as their socio-economic background.
It could also have been other personality traits that determined when the males were exposed to porn.
'Sexually deskilled'
Peter Saddington, sex therapist at relationship support provider Relate, said: "Pornography can and does have an impact on many young men's attitudes to sex.
"The result can be that young men develop sexist attitudes and are essentially sexually deskilled."
Either way, Ms Richardson says porn "is not the healthiest thing for men".
She added that young men needed "better role models to develop more healthy beliefs about masculinity".
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A Scottish charity has concluded the final phase of a £7.5m project to eradicate rats from the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.
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Teams from the Dundee-based South Georgia Heritage Trust have spent the last five years laying toxic bait to kill off invasive rats, which were threatening indigenous bird life.
They will now monitor the island to ensure the rodents are gone for good.
Project leaders said local bird species are already starting to thrive again.
The cost of the project, the world's largest rodent eradication, has been funded entirely by voluntary donations raised by the heritage trust and its US counterpart.
Rats first arrived on South Georgia in whaling and sealing ships, and quickly multiplied with no natural predators on the island.
They ate the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds like the South Georgia pitpit and pintail, both of which are unique to the island.
A trial in 2011 succeeded in eradicating rats from a tenth of the infested area, and baiting was subsequently rolled out across the rest of the island.
The third and final phase began in January, when an 18-strong international team led by Dundee University professor Tony Martin headed to the sub-Antarctic island with three helicopters and almost 100 tonnes of poisoned bait.
Prof Martin said it could take hundreds of years for bird populations to recover, even if the project has been completely successful.
He said: "When I first began coming to this magical island 20 years ago, I only dreamed that it could one day be free of rats, and now because of our work, I can say that it is very likely that South Georgia is now rat-free.
"Already the South Georgia pitpit, the world's most southerly songbird, and South Georgia pintails, both endemic species found only here, are returning in numbers we could never have imagined, along with other species which were the victims of rats.
"But it will take decades, even centuries, before the birdlife returns to the numbers which existed before man - and rodents - arrived."
In total, 1,050 square kilometres of land were successfully baited with 290 tonnes of rodenticide, carried by three former Air Ambulance helicopters.
Pilots spent more than 1,000 hours in the air, equivalent to flying around the world three times.
Two years will now be spent monitoring the island to ensure it is fully rat-free.
Howard Pearce, chairman of the heritage trust's international board of trustees, said it was "highly probable" that the island was now rodent-free.
He said: "There have already been significant sightings of native species in areas where they have not been seen in living memory.
"The trust is quietly confident that success is in sight. But there is more work to be done, and funds to be raised, before we can truly claim final victory over the rodent invaders."
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BT is re-entering the UK's consumer mobile phone market, with a range of 4G subscriptions.
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Its cheapest offer is aggressively priced at a discounted rate of £5 a month for existing BT broadband customers.
The service will use spectrum provided via a partnership with EE - a network BT is attempting to buy outright - and spectrum that BT owns itself.
One analyst said bundled access to football games would help the company.
BT is offering customers who sign up to its BT Mobile contracts the ability to watch Premier League football matches that it owns the rights to via an app, even if they are not broadband customers.
"An entry tariff of £5 a month will grab headlines, but inclusive access to BT Sport and five million wi-fi hotspots offers important differentiation in a cut-throat field," commented Paolo Pescatore, from the telecoms consultancy CCS Insight.
"We expect initial low-key marketing to heat up as BT makes a broader assault on the bundled telecom market over the summer."
BT's basic deal - which includes 200 minutes of calls and 500MB of 4G data - will cost £10 a month to customers who do not have a BT broadband subscription.
BT is the UK's biggest broadband provider with 7.6 million consumers signed up to the service, according to its latest figures.
The mobile deals it has announced so far are all Sim-card-only, meaning that calls, data and texts are included but not a handset.
BT has said it will provide more details of its strategy after its proposed £12.5bn takeover of EE - currently co-owned by Orange and Deutsche Telekom - is complete.
Regulators have still to sign off on the acquisition, which is opposed by some of BT's rivals.
BT was one of the pioneers of the UK's mobile phone sector with its Cellnet service in the 1980s, but later spun off the business.
The mobile phone firm, which was rebranded as O2, was later acquired by Spain's Telefonica.
Quad-play bundles
The UK's second biggest broadband provider, Sky, has also announced plans to offer a mobile phone service, allowing it to offer its own rival "quad-play" bundle - including internet, landline phone, TV and mobile - but has not scheduled the launch until 2016.
Virgin Media and TalkTalk - the country's third and fourth biggest broadband firms, do offer packages including all four services.
However, their mobile phone services are both limited to 3G data at this stage, meaning they are likely to provide slower mobile internet speeds than BT's 4G service.
A spokesman for TalkTalk said it would begin offering 4G "later this year" through a deal with O2.
Basic Sim-only 4G deals compared
At launch, BT Mobile will be totally dependant on EE's network.
However, BT intends to make use of 2.6 GHz radio frequencies, which it bought as part of 2013's 4G auction, to let its customers boost reception inside buildings via special base stations called femtocells within the next 18 months.
"BT is a credible player in the telecoms market and will be in a far stronger position next year with the inclusion of EE, subject to regulatory approval," said Mr Pescatore.
"Rivals should be threatened by this move and Sky in particular will need to react given how punchy BT's SIM only deals are.
"With this in mind Sky may need to launch mobile a lot sooner."
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Two hooters - dubbed Swindon's alarm clock - have been heard across the town for the first time in 30 years.
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The Great Western Railway (GWR) hooters at the town's railway works were last heard at 16:30 GMT on 26 March, 1986.
Three decades after the works closed, replica hooters have been installed on the roof of the steam railway museum.
Colin Hatch, who built the replicas, said a steam supply was blasted through the hooters to "make that iconic noise over Swindon."
Swindon Railway Works opened in 1841, and in 1867 the first steam-powered hooter to call employees to work was installed.
As the works expanded and the town grew, the hooters were made bigger and raised up so that everyone could hear them.
Kevin Shurmer, a former railway worker, said everyone "knew when the hooter went off".
"It was an alarm clock for Swindon's railway workers but also for people who didn't work there," he said.
"When the hooter went off at half-past-four - that was a signal to the wives to get the tea ready, or else."
Les Daniels, 77, was 14 when he started at the works as a boilermaker. He said the hooter was a "marvellous thing" but "terrifically noisy".
"It was run by steam off the central boilers and on one occasion I was working the lunch hour putting a new roof on," he said.
"The hooter went when we were [on the roof] and we had to change our clothes because we were soaking wet - the water coming out of the hooter was something phenomenal."
To bring back the "iconic sound of Swindon", a replica - three-quarters the size of the original - has been built by Mr Hatch and calibrated and tested to ensure it matches his own memory and recordings of the sound.
The replica hooter was sounded by 83-year-old John Walter who was the last man to sound it 30 years ago.
It is due to be be blasted again at 16:30 GMT on Easter Saturday to mark 30 years "to the minute" since it was last heard.
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Iraq's Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said he accepted the "rightful demands" of protesters as he called for calm after three days of unrest.
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In a rare televised address, Mr Mahdi stuck a conciliatory tone as protesters demanded his resignation.
The PM said he would respond to their concerns, but warned there was no "magic solution" to Iraq's problems.
At least 20 people have died in the unrest as anger at unemployment and corruption boiled over.
A curfew has been imposed in Baghdad and several other cities in Iraq's southern provinces - but thousands defied it and security forces fired live rounds at them.
What did PM Mahdi say?
Calling on lawmakers to support him, Mr Mahdi promised to pass a new law granting poor families a basic income.
"I am reaffirming that your voice was heard before you even started protesting," Mr Mahdi said.
But he added that it would take time to bring about change.
The protests, which appear to lack any organised leadership, are the largest since Mr Mahdi became prime minister a year ago.
The UN and US have expressed concern at the violence and urged the Iraqi authorities to exercise restraint.
On Thursday, human rights group Amnesty International has called on the government in Baghdad to immediately rein in its security forces.
What happened on Thursday?
An indefinite curfew began in Baghdad at dawn applying to everyone except those travelling to and from the capital's airport. Ambulances and religious pilgrims were also excluded.
Security forces blocked major roads and bridges. Access to the internet was also limited, making it harder to organise protests on social media.
But thousands of protesters gathered in and around Tahrir Square - the focus of the recent unrest - prompting riot police to fire tear gas and shots in the air to disperse them.
"We'll keep going until the government falls," Ali, a 22-year-old unemployed university graduate, told AFP.
"I've got nothing but 250 lira ($0.20; £0.16) in my pocket while government officials have millions."
More from Iraq:
Violence has been concentrated in Baghdad and in the majority Shia Muslim areas of the south. Northern Kurdish regions and Sunni-majority areas in the west remain mostly calm.
On Thursday, police and hospital sources told Reuters that protesters had been killed in the capital, and also in and around the southern cities of Amara, Diwaniya, Hilla and Nassiriya, among others. Hundreds have been wounded.
Overnight on Wednesday, explosions were heard in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where government offices and foreign embassies are located.
The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq said none of its facilities were hit and that Iraqi security forces were investigating the blasts.
What triggered the unrest?
The protests appear to be the result of a spontaneous upwelling of frustration at Iraq's high youth unemployment rate, its dire public services and chronic corruption.
Simona Foltyn, a journalist based in Baghdad, told the BBC's World Update programme: "The demonstrators I have spoken to so far have said that these protests are a grassroots movement, comprised of a variety of people - men, women, graduates, the unemployed, the elderly - who are all airing grievances that have accumulated over the past years."
"They have all denied the involvement of any political party. They are, in fact, extremely disenfranchised and disappointed with the political establishment here."
She added: "All of the people who are protesting seem to be united in one thing: they want a better life. They want services, they want jobs, and they want living standards to go up."
Last year, the southern Iraqi city of Basra was rocked by weeks of protests over unsafe drinking water, power shortages, unemployment and corruption. Government offices, including the main provincial council building, were set alight.
What is the economic situation like in Iraq?
Iraq has the fourth-largest reserves of oil, but 22.5% of its population of 40 million were living on less than $1.90 (£1.53) a day in 2014, according to the World Bank. One in six households has experienced some form of food insecurity.
The unemployment rate was 7.9% last year, but among young people it was double that. And almost 17% of the economically active population is underemployed.
The country is also struggling to recover after a brutal war against the Islamic State group, which seized control of large swathes of the north and west in 2014.
The Iraqi government and World Bank estimated last year that $88bn (£71bn) was needed to fund short- and medium-term reconstruction.
Just over one million people are still internally displaced, while 6.7 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, the UN says. Living conditions are dire in many conflict-affected areas, with insufficient basic services.
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The discovery of a headless baby dolphin on a Bulgarian beach recently shocked holiday makers, and pushed an old story back into the headlines .
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By News from Elsewhere......as found by BBC Monitoring
There have been reports of dolphin calves washing up on beaches along the Black Sea coast every summer for the past few years - some missing a head, others a tail.
Environmentalists put the blame on illegal poaching boats that are sent out to fish for one of the Black Sea's most famous and valuable catches - the turbot flatfish.
Atanas Rusev from the non-governmental organisation Save Koral Beach says baby dolphins get caught in the sprawling fishing nets, where they suffocate and die.
'Dozens of sightings'
Mr Rusev says tourists and volunteers have reported dozens of dead dolphins on "pretty much every single beach" along the country's coastline.
The veteran ecologist warned Bulgarian National Radio that only a small proportion of the casualties wash up on beaches, suggesting that the scale of the wildlife disaster could be much larger.
But the number given by the local authorities is somewhat lower - a total of 12 up to mid-June this year.
A representative of the official Eco Inspectorate in the port of Burgas told Bulgaria On Air that it's very difficult to establish the reason for the deaths or whether human interference is to blame, as it is "a natural processes in part".
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One accusation levelled at the authorities is that they have not tried to gather data and establish the causes of death.
Back in 2015, after reports that more than 300 dolphin carcasses had been found, an international team of scientists was assembled to collect and analyse the data.
Their investigation suggested that the main cause of death was the turbot gillnets that stretch for hundreds of kilometres, and are hard for some species to detect.
"The eyes of the nets are small, the little dolphins get in through them and, once inside, they suffocate in 5-10 minutes", says Atanas Rusev. "When the poachers scoop out the contents of the nets, they throw the dead dolphins back into the sea from where they wash up on our beaches."
Protected species
The repeated sightings and perceived official inaction have prompted anger on social media in Bulgaria.
The species of dolphin particularly affected by gillnets is the Black Sea Harbour Porpoise, and there are warnings that their numbers are declining.
According to Mr Rusev, there are only several tens of thousands of them left in the Black Sea, and between three and five thousand die every year.
"Several more years of this will put paid to the species", he warns.
The Bulgarian Ministry of the Environment and Waters also says it's concerned about the survival of the species.
Anyone found guilty of killing or injuring dolphins could face hefty fines, as well as up to five years in jail.
The ministry has set up emergency telephone lines for the public, and appeals to anyone who spots a dead or struggling dolphin to call.
Bulgarian and Romanian ecologists are compiling a database on the dolphin deaths in the area over the past five years, and expect it to reveal a worrying trend.
'Black Sea Gold'
Turbot is a left-eye flatfish adorned with small horns that are fondly known to its fans as "buttons".
It may not be the most beautiful fish, but it commands a pretty price. This has earned it the title of 'Black Sea Gold'.
It's often the most expensive item on the menu in Bulgaria, where it's called kalkan, and is revered by fish connoisseurs for its delicate flavour.
But depleting stocks have been a concern for many years. The turbot catch is subject to limits set by the EU Council each year, and there was a complete ban on fishing in April-June 2019 to allow stocks to replenish.
Reporting by Krassi Twigg
Next story: Armenia's iconic lake faces algae threat
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Trowels are to be left in 90 lay-bys in part of the Highlands to help tackle problems with outdoor toileting.
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Lochbroom Community Council is also to install signs directing visitors to where there are public toilets.
Chairman Topher Dawson said the trowels would offer an "emergency, last resort" for those who desperately need the loo to dig a hole and bury the waste.
He said some of the many "welcome visitors" came to area without knowing there would be few facilities.
The community council covers a large part of the north west Highlands around Ullapool and Dundonnell.
The Highlands have been a popular destination for tourists following the easing of some lockdown restrictions.
Mr Dawson said some people might not know available public toilets were "thin on the ground" before they travelled to the region and they should be offered help.
He said a temporary "urgent solution" was needed and 90 plastic garden trowels had been ordered. He hoped people would first consider finding a public toilet.
Mr Dawson said: "We have about 100 lay-bys in our area but 90 trowels were all that were available to buy."
'Dirty camping'
The community council plans to put up signs in all the lay-bys with a map showing where public toilets were located and advice from Mountaineering Scotland on considerate camping behaviour.
Mr Dawson said it was hoped more public toilets would be available next year.
Trowels and signs could start appearing in lay-bys from the weekend.
Last week, Highland Council and community groups appealed to visitors to "leave only footprints".
It follows problems in recent weeks with "dirty camping" where tents have been abandoned and litter and human waste left at beauty spots.
Last month, Western Isles local authority Comhairle nan Eilean Siar urged tourists travelling the islands in campervans to plan ahead for toilet breaks due to facilities still being closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Plans to build 12 man-made islands as part of a tidal barrage across the Severn estuary have been revived by a Welsh businessman.
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Gareth Woodham wants to harness tidal power between south Wales and Weston-super-Mare to create electricity.
The UK government in 2010 rejected plans for a publicly-funded barrage, but did not rule out private schemes.
Mr Woodham said his Severn Lake project "could provide up to 15% of the UK energy requirement from the Severn".
The plan is to build a 12.5km (7.7 mile) concrete causeway, with 198 hydro-electric turbines, stretching from Brean Down, near Weston-super-Mare, to Lavernock Point in south Wales.
The £14bn scheme would create a 145,000 hectare tidal lagoon in the Bristol Channel.
Free-flow shipping channels are also being proposed along with two wave farms, four marinas, a lifeboat station and a dozen islands.
Mr Woodham said: "There will be 12 'Woodham Islands' - some floating, some fixed.
"The islands will be nearly two acres in size - some will be privately owned and some will be for the leisure industry. For instance, there'll be a diving and fishing island with a small harbour and wooden lodges."
The businessman, from Neath, put forward a change of use application for the estuary to Sedgemoor District Council planners in 2006 but the application was referred to the government.
In 2010 the government decided to shelve plans for a barrage amid concerns about the potential costs involved.
'Early days'
However, a feasibility study did not rule out a privately financed scheme coming forward to build the barrage.
"After six years of drifting slowly forward towards energy from the Severn, it is warming up," said Mr Woodham.
"It is early days and it will take, depending on criteria, one to three years to obtain permission to build the causeway.
"But the target we have set ourselves to complete this project is 2020."
A spokeswoman at Sedgemoor District Council said the project was at a "very, very early stage" but a pre-application discussion had been requested by Mr Woodham.
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Police are investigating after a boy who admitted killing his friend took a video of himself in a toilet during his murder trial making stabbing actions.
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The 17-year-old boy, known only as Boy A, admitted stabbing Yousef Makki in the heart but said it was self-defence.
He was cleared of murder and manslaughter at Manchester Crown Court.
It has emerged that the teenager recorded a video during the trial and it was later sent by someone to Yousef's family.
In the video, which has been seen by the BBC, the boy - who was granted bail during the trial - appears to be in a toilet cubicle and starts making stabbing motions while listening to drill music about "blades" and "shanks".
The date on the video is 4 July - the day he gave evidence in the trial - but it is thought it was published at a later date and then sent by someone to the victim's distraught family.
Detectives are investigating whether an offence has been committed under the Malicious Communications Act by whoever sent it to the Makki family.
'Mimicking stabbing'
Yousef was stabbed in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, on 2 March.
When police arrived, Boy A falsely suggested that Yousef had been stabbed by someone who drove off in a grey VW Polo, information which was circulated on the police network.
His convincing lies, the judge said, meant he was treated as a witness not a suspect and undoubtedly wasted valuable police resources.
Boy A admitted perverting the course of justice and possession of a knife and is serving eight months in custody.
In an interview with the BBC after the trial, Yousef's sister Jade Akoum, 28, said she had sent the video to the trial judge.
She said she believed it had been taken on the day the defendant gave evidence, adding: "He was sat in the toilets of the court and there was drill/rap music in the background about knives and he was mimicking stabbing."
On Friday she told the BBC the video was "just shocking and showing lack of remorse and respect to us as Yousef's family".
Matthew Claughton, of Olliers solicitors which represented Boy A, confirmed to the BBC the video was his client and Olliers had made representations about it to the trial judge.
Mr Claughton said he had nothing to add to a statement made to a newspaper on Thursday in which he said the video "reflected his (client's) frustration with the way the prosecution were misrepresenting videos that were played at court".
He said it was "worth remembering that the jury appear to have agreed with that view given the not guilty verdicts".
Greater Manchester Police said: "Officers are investigating a video which has been circulated in relation to the Yousef Makki murder trial."
As he sentenced Boy A Mr Justice Bryan said the boy "found knives cool" and that he videoed himself with them.
"You also listened to drill music and gangster rap glorifying the carrying and use of knives."
Another 17-year-old, known as Boy B, was given a four-month detention and training order after he also admitted possessing a knife.
Yousef, from an Anglo-Lebanese family, had won a scholarship to the prestigious £12,000-a-year Manchester Grammar School and his father said his son had dreamed of becoming a heart surgeon.
The trial heard the stabbing in the village, which is popular with footballers and celebrities, was an "accident waiting to happen" as all three teenagers had indulged in "idiotic fantasies" playing middle-class gangsters.
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Beautiful, the Tony-winning and Olivier-nominated musical about the early life of Carole King, is to be turned into a film by Sony Pictures.
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Tom Hanks' Playtone production company will produce the movie, to be written, like the musical, by Douglas McGrath.
Beautiful opened on Broadway in 2014 and made its West End debut last month.
"We're thrilled to be bringing this inspiring and powerful musical to movie audiences everywhere," said Sony Pictures' Michael De Luca.
Beautiful dramatises King's formative days as a songwriter and her gradual emergence as a solo artist and features a host of songs, among them I Feel the Earth Move, So Far Away and Will You Love Me Tomorrow.
"Theatrical audiences both on Broadway and in the West End have responded to Beautiful, not only to relive Carole King's timeless classics, but to experience the ways they illustrate her triumphant and joyful life story," said De Luca.
Beautiful won two Tonys last year, for its sound design and original lead actress Jessie Mueller. Chilina Kennedy has since taken over the lead role in the New York production.
The show, currently playing at London's Aldwych theatre with Katie Brayben as King, is up for eight awards at next month's Oliviers.
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Workers at Bradford's libraries and museums have voted to go on strike over what a union called "swingeing cuts".
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Members of the Unite union voted to take industrial action with strike dates set to be announced this week.
Unite say the council's "hardline attitude" is in "sharp contrast" with its bid to be UK City of Culture 2025.
Bradford Council said it was "disappointed" Unite members had voted for strike action.
Unite said it had "charted a decade of cuts" to libraries and museums by the council.
It said proposals could see funding for the service reduced by 65% with £950,000 of cuts planned for the year starting April 2019 and a further £1,050,000 earmarked from April 2020.
"Libraries and museums are an integral part of the city's social, cultural and educational fabric and we believe that they are worth fighting for," said Unite regional officer Mark Martin.
Bradford Council said it would take steps to help ensure that library services are still provided to residents during the strike.
A council statement said: "We believe that Unite would be better served working with us, offering their views on what can be done to achieve the savings required of the library service in the face of prolonged government cuts and helping to shape the future of our library service, rather than taking this action which will primarily impact library service users and be of no benefit to staff or residents."
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Bradford Council plan to spend £1.4m over the next three years to promote its bid to be named UK City of Culture.
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Another fire has been burning underground at the Daw Mill Colliery site, the Coal Authority has said.
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Underground fires shut the Warwickshire site in February, leaving hundreds of miners out of work and forcing part of the company into administration.
Smoke was seen coming from the site's drift entrance earlier this week, an authority spokesman said.
Tests showed there had been a further fire, probably in the pit bottom.
The colliery closed on 22 February.
No impact
The Coal Authority said the drift terminal building was opened on 28 October for closure work, which is when the white smoke was spotted.
A sample was sent off for analysis which concluded there has been a "further spontaneous combustion event".
The firm said additional controls were in place to allow closure work to start again and extra safety measures had been taken to disperse the smoke flowing from the drift.
It added the smoke may become darker over time but said there would be no impact on the environment or to the public.
Work to starve the fire of oxygen is under way and is expected to take two weeks.
Daw Mill was one of the last deep mines in the country and was owned by UK Coal.
In July, it was revealed safety inspectors urged the company to close part of the mine months before the fire broke out.
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So a pause in the talks and no progress likely before September.
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Mark DevenportPolitical editor, Northern Ireland@markdevenporton Twitter
Was that a consequence of the DUP Conservative deal, as Sinn Féin argued?
Or would the gap between the two parties have proved too wide to bridge in any case?
It's true that negotiating the Westminster deal took up the DUP's time.
But by the point the talks broke down, the crunch issues had already been fairly well aired, so the failure seems more about the two sides' unwillingness to budge, rather than lack of detailed preparation.
The extra cash offered by the Conservatives must surely have made resurrecting devolution more attractive to both parties.
But republicans claim the DUP got carried away with their newfound Westminster status and became less ready to compromise.
The DUP rejects that, insisting Sinn Féin had only themselves to blame for drawing up multiple red lines.
Sinn Féin politicians say they didn't concede on their insistence that Arlene Foster shouldn't be first minister until an inquiry into the Renewable Heating scandal is concluded.
But the realpolitik is that, after the DUP leader's triumphant Westminster election, hardly anyone thought Sinn Féin could stick to that demand.
Fragile state of politics
The expectation was that they would bin the demand in return for a clear win on Irish language legislation.
But the DUP did not feel the need to give ground on a stand-alone Irish Language Act and Sinn Féin appears unwilling - no matter how much extra cash is on offer - to concede two red lines without much to show their supporters in return.
Maybe the DUP's frame of mind was influenced by its strong general election result.
However, it's quite easy to imagine this breakdown happening irrespective of the fragile state of wider UK Politics.
So we drift on, run by civil servants, supposedly benefitting from extra resources but hampered from the inertia inherent in having no Ministers to make decisions.
Don't expect the MLAs to lose their salaries any time soon - remember 28 of them belong to the party keeping James Brokenshire in power.
For that, at least, the other parties can inwardly thank the DUP.
For the next eight weeks or so we look certain to remain in stalemate - after all, it's what Stormont does best.
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A post box has been painted gold in Horsforth in Leeds to mark Alistair Brownlee's win in the Olympic triathlon.
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Alistair, 24, came first while his brother Jonny, 23, took bronze.
Royal Mail is painting a post box in the home towns of British Olympic champions, with Alistair's tribute being on New Road Side.
Meanwhile, the brothers told the BBC they were more competitive at Monopoly than they were at racing each other.
Jonny said: "We are more competitive over stuff like Monopoly, table tennis and badminton, than we are in triathlons.
'Massive advantage'
"You kind of realise that when it comes to triathlons you can use each other... we can push each other on.
"In training, we can use each other massively, it is a massive advantage that we have got."
A special stamp has also been printed in Alistair's honour.
The pair, who train in Yorkshire, applauded the county for its contribution to their success.
Jonny said: "We do a lot of training, probably 35 hours a week, and 25 hours of that is just outside.
"So we are cycling and running mostly and doing 10 hours probably of swimming.
"It is where the roads are nice, where there are nice paths and trails to run on, where the environment is inspiring and a good place to train.
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Ed Sheeran temporarily stopped his latest sell-out concert on his world tour to go to the toilet - twice.
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The Grammy award winning singer halted his Saturday night set in Cardiff because he "needed a pee" after performing his smash hit Galway Girl.
Then three songs later Sheeran stopped in the middle of singing Photograph, saying "I'm so sorry Cardiff" before running off to the toilet again.
The 60,000 Principality Stadium crowd cheered when he returned to the stage.
The 27-year-old then continued singing where he left off.
Sheeran drank many bottles of water early on in the hit-filled set.
On returning following his first trip to the toilet he told the crowd: "I've been gigging since I was 14 and I've never done that.
"And now I do it in front of 60,000 people"
The Saturday show in Cardiff was the penultimate gig of the UK leg of his bumper Divide world tour before it returns to mainland Europe and Amsterdam on Thursday.
It was also the third night of Sheeran's record-breaking mini-residency at the Principality Stadium, being the first artist to have four successive nights at the Cardiff arena.
Plan ahead
Fans travelling to and from Sheeran's final night in Cardiff on Sunday have been advised to plan ahead as the only trains running after it finishes at 22:30 BST are to Swansea and Hereford via Newport.
There are no services to London Paddington because of an unexpected Severn Tunnel closure - and there will be just one service to Cardiff from London an hour before the concert, which will take 40 minutes longer than usual.
Arriva Trains Wales has also warned there will be no trains to towns including Barry, Caerphilly, Pontypridd, Ebbw Vale, Treherbert and Carmarthen after the gig.
Road closures began in Cardiff at 07:00, the Principality Stadium gates will open at 17:00 and virtually all of the roads in the city centre will close at 17:30.
Security to the concert is tight - only small bags are allowed in the stadium while laptops, selfie sticks and umbrellas are banned.
Cardiff buses are being diverted out of city centre bus stops while operators have warned train services in the Cardiff area will be busy all day.
Cardiff night marshals will be on patrol at taxi ranks in St Mary's and Wood Street as demand for cabs are "expected to be high."
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Sark is heading towards "economic oblivion" with confidence in the island's future at an "all time low", a business representative has said.
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The closure of a newsagent following a decline in the local population prompted the remarks from the President of Sark Chamber of Commerce.
Alan Jackson claimed Sark's government and residents had failed to recognise the "urgency" of the situation.
Avenue Stores & Newsagents is one of three general stores on the island.
Mr Jackson said a slump in tourism was also partly to blame for the decline in the Sark economy.
The Barclay brothers, who are the landlords of the newsagent, closed the final two of their four island hotels in October.
The BBC has approached the Sark government for comment.
Sark Council member and part owner of the store, James Penney, said he was uncertain whether the store would re-open in the summer.
The store will close on 15 November.
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The small Scottish community of Glenelg has held a ceremony to twin itself with its namesake on Mars.
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Nasa's roving robotic laboratory, Curiosity, is headed for a geological feature on the Red Planet that has been called Glenelg.
Back on Earth, residents of Glenelg in the west Highlands held celebrations, which included the twinning ceremony and a ceilidh.
Guests included former Nasa astronaut Bonnie Dunbar.
Ms Dunbar flew on five space shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s on Challenger and Columbia.
In 1995, she flew in the first shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. Three years later, she flew in the last mission to deliver a US astronaut to Mir.
Ms Dunbar's paternal grandparents came from Scotland. Her grandfather Charles Dunbar was born in Dundee and her grandmother Mary was born close to Gardenstown, near Banff.
Nasa's Mars mission team has been using names taken from Canada's Northwest Territories to label the places the rover is visiting.
The Canadian north-west has some ancient rock formations thought to be of a similar age to those found in Gale Crater, Curiosity's landing site.
The naming system is an attempt to make it easier for scientists and the public to understand what is being discussed when a particular location comes up in conversation.
Glenelg on Mars takes its name from a particular rock found in the Northwest Territories.
However, the placename has its roots in the Scottish Highlands.
Glenelg in Ross-shire has a long history.
In nearby Gleann Beag stand the ruins of Dun Telve and Dun Troddan, the fortress-like stone homesteads of Iron Age farmers.
Close to Glenelg's white painted houses are the ruins of a Red Coat barracks. Construction of the building was ordered after the 1715 Jacobite rising and was completed in 1723.
The Knoydart clearances, part of the Highland Clearances, started in Glenelg in 1853. It saw families forced from the land and emigration to British colonies.
The placename is also found in other parts of the world.
There is a beach resort in Adelaide, Australia, named Glenelg. It was established in 1836 and named after Lord Glenelg, a secretary of state for the British colonies and an MP for Inverness and Fortrose.
Glenelg in Maryland, in the US, takes it name directly from the Scottish placename.
In the 1880s, the descendants of the area's first settlers named it Glenelg "after an old estate in Scotland and because it spelled the same from either end".
Home to about 300 people today, Glenelg in Ross-shire has been keen to embrace its Martian namesake.
Emma MacLean, a twinning ceremony organiser, said the link with the Nasa mission and the Red Planet was a good way of keeping the community "healthy and vibrant".
She said: "Small communities such as ours are always looking for ways to promote the wide variety of attractions that our community has.
"The arrival of the Mars rover at Glenelg will be used to showcase to the international astronomy community the quality of the dark skies we have in Glenelg and Arnisdale.
"With so little light pollution the skies above are truly spectacular, especially at the moment with the Northern Lights activity."
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A puppy room to "aid relaxation and calmness" is being offered to stressed students at the University of Bristol.
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Several hundred have signed up and organisers say they are hoping "the cute pups" can provide respite from the stresses and strains of revision.
About 20 dogs and puppies will be rotated throughout the day on 18 May, with students offered 15-minute slots.
Three other universities - Nottingham, Aberdeen and Central Lancashire - have also offered puppy rooms in the past.
Each student is asked to make a donation of around £2 to the charity Guide Dogs, which is helping run the events.
Gordon Trevett, from the University's Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health, said: "Every year I see students fretting about their exams and I thought this would be a great way to ease the stress and take their minds off it.
"People with dogs have lower blood pressure in stressful situations than those without a dog and we know that playing with a dog can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine, which calm and relax.
"It's proved really popular and over 600 students have signed-up."
'Release some endorphins'
The Guide Dogs charity said it was "most pleased" to be working with the University of Bristol and allowing a chance for its students to de-stress at a busy exam time.
The university said research published in Japan suggested pictures of "cute things" such as puppies or kittens can help improve concentration levels and performance.
Jo Woods, from Bristol Students' Union, said: "While I'm more of a cat person myself, I'm really excited that the university is providing this for students.
"It's really important to do fun and different things to de-stress during exams and cuddling a puppy is a perfect way to release some endorphins."
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Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly has defended his speech at a controversial parade where dead IRA men were honoured.
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He was responding to a DUP assembly motion that said his speech in Castlederg last month gave "succour to dissident republican groups".
The County Tyrone event paid tribute to dead republicans, including Seamus Harvey and Gerard McGlynn.
They died when the bomb they were transporting into Castlederg exploded prematurely in 1973.
Mr Kelly read from the speech during his contribution to the debate at Stormont on Monday.
"No unionist MLA, councillor, MP, or minister, no loyalist paramilitary or loyal order spokesperson, no matter how loud they shout will prevent me or any other republican honouring our comrades who gave their lives in the struggle for Irish freedom," he said.
Pledge of office
"They played their part in our long struggle with dedication and commitment using the tools available to them in the 1970s."
Mr Kelly said he would put a copy of his speech in the assembly library for people to read as he said he believed many of those who would criticise him in the house were not aware of its content.
The DUP motion said Mr Kelly's remarks gave "succour to dissident republican groups and help indoctrinate a new generation down the path of violence".
The motion called on the assembly to confirm its continued support for the ministerial pledge of office and the code of conduct. Mr Kelly said there were no questions he had upheld these.
DUP North Belfast MLA, Nelson McCausland, said the speech was "a eulogy, a praising of those who died on that occasion when they set out to destroy or murder but ended up dying themselves".
'Disaster'
"Dissident republicans will see this as validation and as justification for the things that they are doing now."
Mike Nesbitt, the leader of the UUP, said Sinn Féin, the Provisional IRA and the republican movement had an "ambivalence to violence".
"We believe terrorist violence is absolutely wrong. Move off that and say there are conditions that justify it and you have the terrorist campaign of the Provisional IRA," Mr Nesbitt added.
SDLP North Belfast MLA, Alban Maginness, said the events in Castlederg had been a "disaster for local community relations and a disaster for the body politic in Northern Ireland".
Stewart Dickson of Alliance described Mr Kelly's comments on "past violence as a tool as particularly chilling".
An amendment brought by Sinn Féin was defeated on a vote division. The DUP motion was passed by 52 votes to 24.
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The subject of Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa painting has been brought to life by AI researchers.
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The video, achieved from a single photo, shows the model in the portrait moving her head, eyes and mouth.
The latest iteration of so-called deepfake technology came out of Samsung's AI research laboratory in Moscow.
Some are concerned that the rise of convincing deepfake technology has huge potential for misuse.
Samsung's algorithms were trained on a public database of 7,000 images of celebrities gathered from YouTube.
The AI system mapped facial features and movements on to a photo to bring it to life.
It also made videos of Salvador Dali, Albert Einstein, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Marilyn Monroe.
In a paper outlining its work, the Samsung team called its creations "realistic neural talking heads".
There was a mixed reaction to the video demonstrating how the system worked with one describing it as like "watching the future of SkyNet unfold".
Fake Obama
Researchers at Tel Aviv University showed off a similar system in 2017.
A fake video of President Barack Obama was created by Dr Supasorn Suwajanakorn in 2017.
Talking to the BBC, the researcher acknowledged that the technology could be misused but he added it could also be used as a force for good, such as allowing grieving relatives to create avatars of family members after they die.
Experts have previously said that fake videos of politicians could fool entire populations and the issues do not stop at political manipulation.
Deepfake technology has also been used to manipulate photos of celebrities to create pornography.
Dave Coplin, chief executive of AI consultancy The Envisioners, said: "The rise of convincing deepfakes is something that could be really problematic unless we have this conversation. Members of the public need to know how easy it is to create convincing fake videos."
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The big political parties have always been unofficial coalitions and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Liberal Democrats are no exception.
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By Iain WatsonPolitical correspondent, BBC News
The fault line in recent years has been between those who are described as "orange bookers" - and those who see themselves as "social liberals".
The former are contributors to - or avid consumers of - the 2004 tome whose subtitle was "Reclaiming Liberalism". In essence, it argued for the party to be more economically, as well as socially, liberal.
One of its contributors - David Laws - denounced "soggy socialism" - and has subsequently argued that the publication began to shift the centre of gravity in the party away from big government solutions and from tax and spend.
The latter group are a mixture of those who see themselves as more "radical", along with some former members of the SDP. Some of these social liberals are also members of the Beveridge group, named after the Liberal who did so much to shape the welfare state.
They don't like a nannying government but they are equally critical of what they see as the market fundamentalism of some of their colleagues.
This latter group tend to be intrinsically less comfortable with the whole concept of coalition with the Conservatives - though many accepted the arithmetic inevitability of it after the election.
Amongst their number are those who in the past opposed a policy of "equidistance" between Labour and the Conservatives and would naturally have preferred, if pressed, a deal with Labour.
Their loyalty may have been more likely to have been assured had they been given a decent share of government posts in coalition, but only a very few have.
As the tuition fee vote looms, it looks increasingly likely that the Lib Dems will split three ways, and possibly four - with an attempt to call the whole thing off until next year.
There were moves "in the interests of unity" to get all Lib Dem MPs to abstain together, government ministers included, in line with the coalition agreement.
Ideological split
But as ministers such as Vince Cable were ridiculed for sitting on their hands instead of backing a policy that they had been allowed to shape, signals were sent out that many of them were unlikely to abstain after all.
This appears to have caused a potential rebellion to snowball, with possibly more than a dozen Lib Dem backbenchers likely to oppose a tuition fees rise rather than simply failing to vote at all.
At first glance the split could appear ideological.
The Lib Dems who have taken to the airwaves to argue that the proposed system is more progressive than the current means of financing higher education are those who wrote articles for the Orange Book - notably leader Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable.
They genuinely believe that those who get most benefit from higher education should pay a contribution when they graduate and the more they earn, the more they should pay.
Beveridge Lib Dems still tend to cling to the idea that education is a right, not a privilege, and believe that any increase in fees - even though these are not paid upfront - would scare off people from modest backgrounds from going on to higher education.
If tuition fees signalled the start of an ideological split of this nature, it could spell trouble for the coalition - with many of the frontbenchers having to live with the prospect of regular rebellions from more "radical" backbenchers as the coalition takes further difficult decisions.
This, in turn, could mean that the Conservatives would suggest the Lib Dems were acting in bad faith, and might, as the senior partner, put Lib Dem-friendly policies into the legislative slow lane.
But in truth, the situation facing the Lib Dems is rather less straightforward than a philosophical difference of opinion.
The split isn't just between those in the Beveridge group and those who wrote the Orange book.
One of the Beveridge group's leading lights - Alistair Carmichael - is the Lib Dem whip responsible for getting the tuition fess policy through.
Meanwhile Charles Kennedy wrote the foreword to the garish 2004 publication, but - by all accounts - appears to be determined to vote against the rise in tuition fees.
And Chris Huhne is both in the Beveridge group, contributed to the Orange Book - and may be absent from Thursday's vote. He's currently on government business in Cancun dealing with climate change rather than with the heated internal debate in his party.
But in some ways a non-ideological dispute has potentially even more serious consequences for Nick Clegg.
Some Lib Dem backbenchers say the issue is at least as much about trust as it is about tuition fees.
They signed a pledge opposing a rise in fees, and simply do not buy the Clegg/Cable argument that, as they didn't win the election, they have had to accept compromises in coalition and have improved the system of student finance significantly.
They say that now, with a share of power for the first time in two generations at national level, they should be able to insist on more of their objectives - not fewer.
And they take the view that if the Lib Dems lose what was a unique selling point at the last election - that they could restore trust in politics and do things differently from Labour and Conservatives - then it may be a long time before they get a share of power again.
And while no doubt there will be some philosophical underpinning to any rebellion, some rebels may be more than a little motivated also by a straightforward political calculation. Julian Huppert represents Cambridge - a seat snatched by his Lib Dem predecessor from Labour in 2005, in the wake of anger over Iraq - and held in the wake of anger over tuition fees in 2010.
Awkward squad
He has signed the NUS pledge to oppose any increase in fees since the election and after the party went in to coalition.
If, as seems likely, the Lib Dems do split on this vote, some commentators will predict if not the death knell of the coalition, then the beginning of the end. But this would be over-dramatic. With the party already having plummeted in the polls, it's likely they will hang together rather than hang separately and hope that by the next election voters will be more forgiving, especially if they have other achievements to trumpet.
Party strategists say they do worry about an as yet unreported division - and that is not ideological, but practical. The split, they say, is really between those who have adjusted to government - who can compromise for the greater good and who will argue for apparently unpopular positions to try to change opinion rather than just reflect it - and those who feel more comfortable being in a protest group.
Despite all the fuss on fees there have already been some small backbench rebellions, for example on VAT, which have largely gone unnoticed.
On the other hand, the "protest group" may grow if others begin to share their overarching grumble that the Lib Dems are not getting enough out of the coalition.
This group would point out that as well as the VAT rise - which the party had campaigned against before the election - the commitment in the coalition agreement on Capital Gains Tax was watered down and they fear the government will backtrack soon on control orders.
So a more permanent awkward squad, already in embryo, might begin to develop - rather than a more serious breach in the coalition.
As Nick Clegg meets sceptical MPs on an individual basis before Tuesday evening's meeting of his entire parliamentary party, there are now also grumbles about the way the coalition document itself was negotiated.
The party's new President Tim Farron says that fees should have been a red line - with Lib Dems not settling for an opt out but insisting fees would not rise as a price of coalition. He is not opposed to changing the system of student finance but is highly likely to vote against the increase in fees this week.
So, it's a complicated tale... but there is a final twist.
It may have escaped some people's notice, but the official position of the party as whole - and as things stand, the policy on which they would campaign at the next election - is to scrap tuition fees entirely over a six year period.
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A disease that kills trees has been found in larch trees in Castlewellan Forest Park, in County Down.
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Phytophthora ramorum was identified, when many trees that were apparently healthy last autumn, showed symptoms during the spring.
Many have already died.
The Forest Service said the affected area was 100 hectares (248 acres) and staff were currently felling the trees to prevent it spreading.
Forest Service chief executive Malcolm Beatty, said: "We are very disappointed about this outbreak in Castlewellan as it is further evidence that the disease is continuing to spread.
"We will clear over 100 hectares of forest to reduce the risk of the disease spreading to other forest species, and to recover as much of the timber as is possible."
Mr Beatty appealed to the public to help in the control of the disease.
"Castlewellan Forest Park remains open to visitors. However, visitors to the forest should follow the guidance detailed on signs at the affected sites," he said.
"It is especially important to avoid any action which could result in the movement of infected soil or plant parts to uninfected areas.
"Visitors are also urged to ensure their bicycles and footwear are free of any soil before visiting other areas.
"The disease presents no risk to humans or animals, although the temporary loss of habitat for wild animals is inevitable."
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Nasa is paying a Colorado-based company $1 (£0.74) to collect a small sample of rocks from the moon.
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By Justin HarperBusiness reporter, BBC News
Lunar Outpost is among four firms awarded contracts to retrieve lunar regolith, or moon soil, for the US space agency, for a total of $25,001.
Nasa will use the soil in its Artemis programme, which aims to send the next man and a woman to the moon by 2024.
It is also trying to establish a business model for the extraction, sale and use of off-Earth resources.
The other winning bidders were California-based Masten Space Systems and Tokyo-based ispace, along with its European subsidiary.
Nasa will be paying the companies for individual collections of lunar regolith between 50g and 500g in weight.
"The companies will collect the samples and then provide us with visual evidence and other data that they've been collected," a spokesman for Nasa said in a statement. Once this has happened, ownership of the material will transfer to Nasa.
The funding is so low because Nasa is only paying for the collection of the regolith, not any of the companies' development or transport costs, agency officials said.
Colorado-based Lunar Outpost, a robotics firm, will collect moon rocks from the lunar South Pole.
"The plan is for the mission to take place in 2023, but we are working with several different lander companies, which could result in an earlier launch date," Lunar Outpost CEO Justin Cyrus told the BBC.
The fee is not the motivation for these companies. There are expected to be many scientific benefits to the mission, such as allowing firms to practice extracting resources from the lunar surface.
Mr Cyrus called it "a paradigm shift in the way society thinks about space exploration".
The company is in talks with Blue Origin - a space exploration firm set up by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos - and several other companies already scheduling flights to the moon, about travelling with them.
Among the other winning bids, Japan's ispace will be paid $5,000 for its proposed collection in 2022 on the Moon's north-eastern near side.
Not about the money
"The nominal amount of even a dollar is an important precedent that Nasa is setting," said Sinead O'Sullivan, a space expert.
"The innovation here is not of financial value but of creating business and legal norms of creating a market of buyers and sellers outside of Earth's constraints," she added.
The awards for the three companies will be paid in a three-step process. A total of 10% of the funds at the time of the award, 10% when the company launches its collection spacecraft, and 80% when Nasa verifies the company collected the material.
"Yes, the $1 will come in three tiny but important instalments of $0.10, $0.10, and $0.80," joked Mr Cyrus.
The space agency's announcement on Thursday comes as China conducts its own lunar sample collection mission.
The Chinese Chang'e-5 lunar spacecraft is currently on its way back to Earth with samples from the moon.
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Not enough is being done to prevent stress suffered by paramedics at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), a union representative has said.
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Paramedic Gavin Bashford, of Unison, said the job had become more stressful because of a lack of resources.
Trust figures show the number of stress-related sick days taken by paramedics increased by more than 50% in two years.
SCAS said the mental wellbeing of its staff was a priority.
'Abuse from patients'
Mr Bashford said it was commonplace in Oxfordshire to have four ambulances on duty overnight when there should be 10.
He said: "Those four crews are... going to be very stressed, running from job to job, not having meal breaks and often finishing two or three hours late as well.
"One of the problems is patients and relatives giving us abuse because we are often turning up two hours after they make the emergency call.
"A lot of paramedics are choosing to work part-time as a way of dealing with the stress."
'Counselling available'
Figures released following a Freedom of Information request show SCAS's 771 paramedics were off with stress for a total of 2,962 days in the first 11 months of 2015, compared with 2,542 days in the whole of 2014 and 1,939 days in 2013, when there were 744 paramedics employed by the trust.
Richard McDonald, Oxfordshire area manager at SCAS, said: "Our planned rota for Oxfordshire is to provide a minimum of 10 transporting ambulances and three rapid response vehicles overnight.
"Overnight periods of lower resource cover is when we have our lowest level of demand. Where our SCAS resourcing does not meet our required minimum levels, private provider ambulance cover is used to support the area."
Melanie Saunders, SCAS human resources director, said counselling and support services were available to staff and SCAS was the first UK ambulance trust to appoint a "mental health lead" to "support good mental health across the organisation".
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Plans to reopen a whisky distillery after more than 90 years will create about 20 jobs in southern Scotland.
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VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay is to visit the historic Annandale Distillery building to see progress.
It was built in the early 1830s and was later run by Johnnie Walker, but closed down in 1919.
Restoration work got under way two years ago and is due for completion this month, with an opening in early 2014 planned.
In 2007, the site, which was on the buildings at risk register, was bought by Prof David Thomson and his wife Theresa.
Once it reopens the facility will offer distillery tours, whisky tastings, educational facilities, a visitor centre, shop and café.
It is hoped it can attract some 50,000 visitors a year.
Mr Cantlay said: "The redevelopment of Annandale Distillery is absolutely fantastic news for Dumfries and Galloway and indeed Scotland.
"The project being developed sounds magnificent and this substantial investment into tourism is an investment into Scotland's, and indeed the region's, future.
"It's so exciting that Annandale Distillery will be ready to welcome visitors during Scotland's year of homecoming, which looks set to impress visitors from near and far."
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A sword, an original Disney cartoon print and tickets for the Champions League final are some of the gifts given to Welsh councillors.
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Conwy council's chief executive was given tickets to the British Grand Prix three times - worth about £1,400.
Councillors and bosses have to declare gifts and hospitality received - with details gathered from all 22 local authorities for the past four years.
The Welsh Local Government Association said each council had its own policy.
By far the most common gifts were hospitality tickets to sporting events, including rugby events such as the World Cup and Six Nations and football events like the Champions League final and 2016 European Championships in France.
There were also other items such as circus tickets, a book of Shakespeare's comedies, tea leaves, flowers and even bus passes.
During his tenure between 2014 and 2017, Cardiff council leader Phil Bale received an original Walt Disney cartoon from Robert Iger, chairman and chief executive of Walt Disney Studios.
He was also given a solar watch from the Deputy Mayor of Stuttgart, silver cufflinks from the president of Ireland, Vodka from the Ukrainian Embassy, a personalised football shirt from City of Stuttgart council, and a birthday cake from a bakery - which he donated.
The city's mayor also received a Nepalese sword from the ambassador of Nepal, while other gifts to councillors included a bottle of Madeira Port, restaurant vouchers, silk scarves, and four bus passes.
One Newport councillor was given a book depicting the history of Friars Walk, while another got two packs of Ethiopian coffee beans.
In Anglesey, there were invites to a Tom Jones concert, arranged by broadcaster Sky, while in Denbighshire one councillor gave the retiring chief executive a red glass dragon.
Of the 11 gifts and invitations declared in Anglesey, four were gifted by Horizon Nuclear Power, the company behind Wylfa.
The most expensive gifts recorded were given to Conwy's chief executive who got hospitality tickets to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone three times at the estimated value of £1,400.
He was also given tickets to the Ashes from Glamorgan Cricket Club, valued at £150.
In Pembrokeshire, councillor Keith Lewis "unexpectedly" got a £100 cheque from S4C for representing the council to advertise "Pembrokeshire Fish Week", which he said he would donate to a local school.
A bunch of 100 flowers were sent to councillor Mary Barnett on her retirement, while other councillors got a bottle of wine as a thank you gift, a fish and chip supper and a monthly magazine subscription from a local railway society.
In Wrexham, one councillor was given a book of Shakespeare's Comedies by the town's university, and in Monmouthshire one councillor got a bottle of non-alcoholic wine, and Powys's chief executive got tickets to a Battle of Buttington re-enactment.
All councils keep registers of gifts given to councillors and chief executives to maintain openness and transparency.
This is important to ensure there is "no conflict of interest" in their work, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance.
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HMV will close its fulfilment warehouse in Guernsey putting 46 employees at risk of redundancy, it has announced.
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The centre on Guelles Road, in St Peter Port, will close on 27 July.
It is consulting staff to discuss their options including redeployment opportunities, an HMV spokesman said.
He added the closure was because of an end to VAT relief and the lease for the property was due to expire later in the year.
The centre employees 46 full-time members of staff and 11 temporary people.
'Remain viable'
The announcement comes after the States lost its legal challenge against the scrapping of Low Value Consignment Relief earlier in March.
The UK High Court rejected suggestions by the States that scrapping the VAT relief would discriminate against the islands.
The relief means parcels valued at under £15 sent from non-European Union countries to the UK are not charged VAT, which is currently set at 20%.
It will cease to apply to the Channel Islands from 1 April.
The HMV spokesman said: "For our online offers to remain viable and attractive to shoppers in what will continue to be a highly competitive market, we need to seek greater business synergies and to further reduce our online operating costs.
"We have concluded that the only way we are able to realistically achieve this is by consolidating our internet fulfilment into a single site at our existing UK distribution centre in Merlin Park, Birmingham.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly, particularly as we have enjoyed a productive relationship with Guernsey," he added.
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A new, fully-equipped helicopter will be bought for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) saving the charity £144,000 each year.
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DAAT needed £4.5m to order a new, adapted EC135 helicopter.
The charity had secured £3.9m, but a two-year fundraising appeal by BBC Radio Devon raised £602,000, the last of which was pledged earlier.
"It's fantastic, the money secures our future and we can plan ahead," Caroline Creer from DAAT said.
"Our helicopter will come into operation in Autumn 2013."
DAAT has to raise up to £4.5m each year to run its service. It currently owns one helicopter but owning a second would save the charity about £12,000 a month in lease charges and other costs.
Over two years, BBC Radio Devon listeners raised money with events including the Agatha Christie sea swim and a 24-hour folk music marathon.
The final £17,000 was pledged to DAAT as part of a 12-hour on-air auction which sold items including a signed pair of Tom Daley's Speedos from the Beijing Olympics, which were bought for £200.
Marie Clarke, who was rescued by DAAT said: "It was absolutely brilliant, they were so good, kind and caring.
"I think we take so many things for granted these days, but they get us to hospital faster."
Since DAAT started flying in 1992 it has flown more than 17,500 missions.
The new helicopter will be used across the county during daylight hours, which DAAT said it hoped to extend to night-time cover in the future.
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The new police and crime commissioner (PCC) for West Mercia has appointed his campaign manager as his deputy despite being advised to review the proposal.
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Worcestershire County Council PCC panel told Bill Longmore there should be more competition for the £50,000 role.
But the PCC confirmed Barrie Sheldon as his deputy and said the ex-detective inspector had a "wealth of experience".
Panel member John Campion had said he believed the public would want an "open, transparent process".
Mr Campion, Wyre Forest District Council's Conservative leader, said: "I would be very surprised if the members of the community in West Mercia believe that somebody should be handed a £50,000-a-year job without any competition whatsoever, just because he happened to be the winning candidate's election campaigner."
Mr Longmore, a retired businessman and former police superintendent, said he had carefully considered the panel's recommendations.
"However I remain confident Barrie's qualities will complement those that I bring to the PCC office," he said.
The PCC added Mr Sheldon, who was formerly a Staffordshire Police officer, was an independent like himself.
Mr Sheldon has worked as a senior lecturer in policing, criminal justice and terrorism at Teesside University.
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Residential care for children with special needs and disabilities in Staffordshire is to continue for "several years", the council has said.
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Staffordshire County Council had planned to stop funding the £1.8m non-statutory overnight stays for children at five schools from September.
But the authority now says it will maintain the service as it reviews its wider special needs strategy.
One mother, Ali Brown, said the reprieve was "really good news".
About 209 children stay through the week at Horton Lodge Community Special School in Rudyard; Cicely Haughton in Wetley Rocks; Walton Hall Academy in Eccleshall; Saxon Hill Academy in Lichfield; and at Loxley Hall in Uttoxeter.
Ms Brown said her son Lachlan, 8, who sleeps at Horton Lodge's "Kiplings" unit one night a week, was really pleased when he heard.
"It shows us how important people realise residential is. It just means he can carry on having that extra stimulation and independence," she said.
It is not clear how long the planned review will take, but schools say it has been indicated it could last two to three years.
At least 5,000 people had earlier signed a petition calling on the authority not to withdraw the funding from the schools.
Mark Sutton, from Staffordshire County Council, said residential care would be reviewed as part an improved strategy for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
"Funding provision for special schools is complex, comes from central government and implementing change is inevitably a long process to allow schools to plan ahead. That may take several years," said Mr Sutton.
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This year's Turner Prize-winning artwork will go on show in the Cumbrian village where it was conceived and created.
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Laure Prouvost won the prestigious contemporary art prize on Monday.
Her installation Wantee was made in Coniston, inspired by the pioneering artist Kurt Schwitters, who lived in the area in the 1940s.
It will move from the Turner Prize exhibition in Londonderry to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston on 24 January.
At Monday's ceremony in Derry, the current UK City of Culture, judges described Prouvost's work as "unexpectedly moving".
It includes a film about her fictional grandfather, who she imagined to be a conceptual artist and a friend of Schwitters, which plays in a room styled as a tea party.
Her installation is named Wantee in honour of Schwitters's companion Edith Thomas, who had a habit of asking "Want tea?"
Prouvost's work was made for Tate Britain's recent Schwitters exhibition and was a joint commission by Tate and the Coniston-based Grizedale Arts.
Grizedale Arts deputy director Alistair Hudson said: "Laure's project was especially rewarding because it was such a collective effort between us, the artist and our colleagues at Tate, local artists and craftsmen such as Peter Hodgson and Coniston Youth Club who helped with the construction of the set and developed some of the content."
The Coniston exhibition will open with a performance in which Prouvost and the youth club will serve tea in the village hall as a spoof fundraising event to help find her invented grandfather.
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An income tax increase of between 1% and 3% could be used to fund elderly social care in Wales, according to an independent report.
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Economist Prof Gerald Holtham said the tax would need to vary depending on age and income to ensure fairness.
Initially it could mean people in their fifties would pay four times more than those in their twenties.
The Welsh Government said the report would form part of ongoing work to examine future funding of social care.
Prof Holtham's report, commissioned by the Welsh Government, looked at how social care could be paid for in Wales and not what should be offered in terms of care.
He said demand for social care will increase but that an unfair burden must not be placed on younger generations in order to subsidise the elderly.
"The steep rise in house prices and the ending of free higher education has left younger generations no better and sometimes worse off than their elders were at the same time of life," he said.
"There is an argument therefore for levying tax rates that depend on age cohort as well as income.
"Doing so could improve intergenerational fairness and it would mean that people pay more at a time of life when they are more conscious of the need to make provision for old-age care."
How could it work?
Prof Holtham has suggested that the social care element of income tax would depend on your age when you start paying.
The people in any given age group would pay at the same rate throughout their contributing life.
The younger you are when you start paying, the lower the rate would be to make up for the fact you are paying for a longer period than someone older than you before hitting the state retirement age of 67.
The report also supported ring-fencing the extra tax collected specifically for social care, because the evidence showed that generally people were willing to pay more taxes if they knew exactly what they would get in return.
This fund would meet immediate need while ensuring there is enough money for the increase in demand in the future.
In 2016, the Health Foundation estimated pressures on social care in Wales would rise by about 4.1% a year at least until 2030 due to population changes, the nature of complex and chronic conditions and rising costs.
As it would be a contributory fund, it would need to track people coming in and out of Wales and how much they are paying so that people who choose to retire in Wales could not access services "for free" without contributing towards them.
The report comes after MPs said a new tax for people aged over 40 in England should be introduced to help pay for elderly care there.
Under current laws, councils may charge for residential care in a care or nursing home, or non-residential care - also known as home or domiciliary care.
What do we pay now for non-residential care?
If you're being cared for in your own home, the most you'll have to pay is £80 a week.
If you have less than £24,000 savings (not including the value of your home) you could pay less.
However, this follows an assessment of need by the council so they will decide whether and how much care is needed.
Everyone has a right to have their needs assessed.
Once an assessment has been made, you can either receive council-commissioned services or pick your own services, paid for by direct payments, to you or a relative, from the council.
What about care or nursing homes?
People with assets of more than £40,000 (including the value of your home if no-one is living there) pay the full cost of care in a home. But if you do not have that much money then you can receive financial help depending on your income.
That limit will increase to £50,000 by 2021.
People who need an element of nursing care for a "health need" can get a contribution from the NHS towards their costs.
Other individuals with complex primary healthcare needs, rather than a residential requirement, can be eligible for all their fees being paid by the NHS under a scheme called Continuing Healthcare.
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A long-awaited replacement ferry service to take passengers across the River Thames is unlikely to be operational before the summer.
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Pedestrians and cyclists have been unable to cross Hammersmith Bridge since it was closed in August when structural cracks widened.
It has meant thousands of people, many from Richmond, having to travel via Chiswick and Putney instead.
The ferry had been expected to have been in service by the spring.
Transport for London (TfL) says requests have now been made for "additional time" by the ferry companies bidding for the contract.
Two companies, City Cruises and Uber Boat by Thames Clippers, have submitted "detailed bids".
TfL added that it expected the service would run between 06:00 and 22:00 on weekdays, with shorter hours at weekends, and passengers would be charged £1.55 per ride.
"The service is expected to have a minimum capacity of around 800 passengers per hour at peak times," a spokesperson said.
TfL said the award of the contract was dependent on the government agreeing to provide financial support for the ferries.
A government taskforce was launched in September 2020 to develop plans to reopen the bridge.
TfL said it had already spent £16.7m on the scheme, with a further £4m committed to repair work taking place.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has meanwhile asked Hammersmith and Fulham Council to meet 50% of the estimated £128m to £163m needed to reopen the bridge.
Terminals
No details have yet to emerged of where a ferry terminal could be set up on the north bank of the Thames, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
On the south bank, a planning application has been submitted to Richmond Council to create a terminal at the disused Harrods Wharf, about 0.25 miles (0.4km) south of Hammersmith Bridge.
Hundreds of public comments have been submitted about the application, which was lodged in January by architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands (LDS) and entrepreneur and philanthropist Jamie Waller.
It is not clear when a decision on the application will be made by Richmond Council's planning committee.
Related Internet Links
Department for Transport
Transport for London
Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Richmond Council
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A new book claims King Harold was defeated by William the Conqueror two miles away from the official battlefield. But does the precise location really matter?
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By Jon KellyBBC News Magazine, Crowhurst
As you wander around the fields and lanes of Crowhurst in East Sussex it's not easy to picture one of the bloodiest and most decisive clashes in British history.
The village's cow-nibbled pasture and handsome wisteria-lined cottages seem like they could not be further removed from the carnage and devastation of the Norman conquest - or, indeed, from the tourist clamour that surrounds nearby Battle Abbey, where historians have traditionally believed the English army was routed in 1066.
But according to new research, Crowhurst may have a darker and more violent history than its placid modern-day appearance may suggest.
A book argues that the village and its surrounding fields was the real site of the Battle of Hastings, which placed a foreign ruler on England's throne and, many historians attest, led to the transformation of the national culture and language.
It's a development that appears to have taken Crowhurst by surprise.
Almost a millennium down the line there are few echoes of a more violent past in this settlement of fewer than 900 souls, populated by sturdy family homes with names like Cedar Dale and Badger's Croft, where the parish council noticeboard seems more concerned with the upkeep of the recreation ground and the village hall committee than the military history of the Middle Ages.
Two miles away in the town of Battle, by contrast, it's hard to escape reminders that this has long been thought the site of the clash. Tourists throng towards the visitor centre with its interactive displays. In the grounds of the abbey is a marker at the spot where King Harold was supposedly killed by an arrow in his eye, or ridden down by a Norman knight, depending on your interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry.
Whether or not Crowhurst really is the true location of the combat zone, Battle is clearly the place indelibly associated with its legacy. And this raises the question of how important it is, if at all, to match known historical events to present-day locations.
For Nick Austin, author of Secrets Of The Norman Invasion, the book which claims Crowhurst as the real Hastings site, accuracy is everything. He insists that without understanding the true topography and layout of the battlefield, historians can never fully gain an insight into events from the past.
"When you know the real site and what was involved in trying to defend it, you get an insight into what was going on in Harold's mind," he says.
"Tourists want to see heritage - that's why they go to Battle Abbey. But they're being misled. The truth is demanding to come out."
Austin believes the Bayeux Tapestry offers clues which show the confrontation took place around Crowhurst. In contrast, English Heritage has maintained that the unusual hillside location of Battle Abbey can only be explained if it was the site of the fighting.
Whichever side is right, Hastings finds itself in good company. There are plenty of examples of hugely important clashes whose exact co-ordinates are the subject of dispute.
The Battle of Bosworth, which proved decisive in bringing the Tudors to the English throne, has been claimed by a number of sites. The exact location of the Battle of Stow on the Wold - the last major skirmish of the English Civil War - has also been widely contested.
And archaeologists have long argued over the whereabouts of significant Roman-era events like the Battle of Mons Graupius, as well as the later Battle of Dun Nechtain, fought in 685 between Picts and Northumbrians.
For this reason, there are those who question whether pinpointing such events is really all that important.
Prof Richard Sharpley of the University of Central Lancashire is an expert in "dark tourism" - visits to sites of death and disaster. He believes that geographical authenticity can be important for locations that have witnessed tragic events relatively recently, such as World War I battlefields where trenches have been carefully preserved.
But in terms of the more distant past, where the landscape displays little obvious trace of what once occurred, he argues the connection is far more nebulous - and, as such, he sees little point in raking over Crowhurst and Battle's rival claims.
"It doesn't matter from a tourist point of view," he says. "You go to a lot of battlefields and there is very little physical evidence left of what happened there.
"You're finding out about it through the visitor centre, not the site itself. The marker becomes the event."
Certainly, whatever the merits of the competing Hastings sites, Crowhurst does not feel like a place expecting to become a major visitor attraction any time soon.
Judging by the posters on the village's lamp-posts, the populace is paying closer attention to the forthcoming jumble sale and Halloween costume party.
In the pub, the Plough, landlady Annette Downey, 36, says locals are intrigued by the claims and are quietly proud of their community's long history. But she adds that few would ever hope to compete with their near-neighbour's tourist infrastructure, built up over centuries.
"Crowhurst's a tiny little place," she says. "Battle will always get the attention. It's been the focus for so long, and I can't really see that changing."
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One person has died and another is in a serious but stable condition following an ammonia gas leak at a brewery.
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Police, fire and ambulance services were called to the Carlsberg plant in Northampton at about 12:30 GMT.
In total, 22 people - 11 Carlsberg staff, two police officers and nine firefighters - were taken to hospital.
The man who died was a Carlsberg employee in his 40s, while the victim in a serious condition is a 51-year-old man.
Carlsberg confirmed production at the plant has ceased temporarily.
Julian Momen, chief executive officer of Carlsberg UK, said: "We are deeply, deeply saddened by today's tragic incident and subsequent fatality.
"Our immediate thoughts are with the individual's family, friends and colleagues at this very difficult time and we will support them in every way we can."
In a joint statement, the emergency services earlier said the gas leak was confined to the Bridge Street site and staff from within the building were evacuated.
They said there was "no risk to members of the public outside".
Nine firefighters and two police officers were taken to hospital as a "precautionary measure".
Mr Momen added: "Our further thoughts and support are with our colleagues and members of the emergency services who are being treated in hospital.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of everyone working for us.
"We are working closely with the authorities to investigate how this tragic incident occurred and we will be in a position to say more once a full investigation has been concluded."
An air ambulance was spotted taking off from the scene and people were seen leaving with tissues over their mouths.
Northamptonshire Police said six fire engines were called to the scene to "secure" the site, but that no cordons or road closures were set up.
The force said it would work with the Health and Safety Executive to investigate the incident.
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The US central bank has slashed interest rates in response to mounting concerns about the economic impact of the coronavirus.
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The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark rate by 50 basis points to a range of 1% to 1.25%.
The emergency move comes after the G7 group of finance ministers pledged action earlier on Tuesday.
It follows warnings that slowdown from the outbreak could tip countries into recession.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US economy remains strong but it is difficult to predict the "magnitude and persistence" of the effects of the spreading virus.
"The virus and the measures that are being taken to contain it will surely weigh on economic activity for some time, both here and abroad," he said at a press conference in Washington.
"We don't think we have all the answers. But we do believe that our action will provide a meaningful boost to the economy."
The last time the bank made an interest rate cut at an emergency meeting was during the global financial crisis of 2008.
The unanimous decision is a "dramatic turnaround from last week", when many Fed officials appeared confident that rates, already low by historical standards, would not need to be cut further, said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics said.
"With financial markets in turmoil and evidence growing that the coronavirus is developing into a pandemic, the Fed's change of heart is entirely understandable," he said.
Mr Powell said the bank believed the rate cut would help strengthen consumer and business confidence, and keep money flowing.
Many analysts in recent days had said they expected the Fed to act.
However, Peter Tuchman, a stock trader at Quattro Securities, said he did not think financial markets would necessarily welcome the move. "They're doing it to support the markets but that makes people fearful that we must be in bad shape," he told the BBC.
"To pull that bullet out so fast and so furiously leaves us with not that much ammo," he said.
Global action
Earlier on Tuesday, both Australia and Malaysia cut interest rates as a result of the outbreak, while finance ministers from the G7 group of nations pledged to use "all appropriate policy tools" to tackle the economic impact of coronavirus.
The group of major economies said in a joint statement they were monitoring the outbreak and ready to deploy "fiscal measures".
On Monday, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned the global economy could grow at its slowest rate since 2009 this year because of the virus.
The influential think tank forecast growth of just 2.4% in 2020, down from 2.9% in November, but it said a longer "more intensive" outbreak could halve growth and tip many countries into recession.
Growth concerns contributed to sharp falls on major stock markets last week, but shares had started to rebound on Monday amid signs that governments and major central banks would work together to tackle the economic hit of coronavirus.
On Tuesday, shares briefly rallied on the decision before turning negative.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on Mr Powell to lower interest rates, ignoring tradition that presidents stay quiet on bank policy to preserve the bank's independence.
Following the bank's announcement, he said it should cut further. "It is finally time for the Federal Reserve to LEAD. More easing and cutting!" he Tweeted.
Mr Powell denied that the bank had been influenced by political considerations. But he kept the door open to further cuts.
Satyam Panday, senior US economist at S&P Global Ratings, said the Fed "did well by acting decisively and moving sooner".
"Given that monetary policy works with a lag, cutting now will help speed up recovery when the coronavirus concerns have passed," he said. "If the rout in the financial market continues, more rate cuts are likely to follow in the upcoming March policy meeting, and beyond if required."
Analysis:
Andrew Walker, BBC economics correspondent
First the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors told us they would use all appropriate policy tools. Not much more than an hour later, the Fed acted. Will it help?
Jerome Powell said it could avoid what he called a tightening of financial conditions - higher borrowing costs for businesses and households, banks becoming more reluctant to lend and being less willing to give some leeway to businesses with cash flow problems.
Those are real risks if the disruption were to get more serious. Mr Powell also said it could boost confidence. But it doesn't look like it will help much with the most direct economic damage. A rate cut now is probably not going to make people more enthusiastic about getting on a plane.
Nor is it much direct help for firms struggling with shortages of components due to transport disruptions. Mr Powell acknowledged that a rate cut would not "fix a broken supply chain".
The main effort in this crisis is for health agencies. But we can expect to see more actions from finance ministries and central banks seeking to mitigate the economic impact.
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A right-wing extremist has been jailed for building up an arsenal of weapons to guard against "the apocalypse".
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Tobias Ruth, 24, was found with a home-made stun gun, an air rifle, and a large collection of knives when police raided his home in Torquay in August.
He admitted possessing an illegal weapon and a firearm within five years of being released from prison.
Ruth, who describes himself as a "doomsday crank", was jailed for 18 months at Exeter Crown Court.
More stories from across Devon and Cornwall
Mr Kenneth Bell, prosecuting, told the court that Ruth had built a device out of two electric fly swats but tests by police showed it did not work.
Mr Kevin Hopper, defending, said: "He describes himself as believing in the apocalypse and being a doomsday crank, but the weapons were indoors and there is no suggestion he carried them with him.
"The issue is more about his unhealthy interest in weapons in general."
He had already served a prison term for a hate campaign against mosques.
Ruth and a friend sprayed the letters KT on 72 buildings, signs or cars around Torbay, in honour of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik's Order of the Knights Templar.
The two men also sent poison pen style letters to Mosques or Islamic prayer centres in Plymouth and Brighton and were planning to send them to others all around Britain.
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At least 18 people have died and dozens more fallen ill after drinking contaminated alcohol in Pakistan, officials said.
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The victims, believed to be mostly Muslim and Christian labourers, consumed the toxic drink at two parties in the central city of Faisalabad.
Only non-Muslims are allowed to buy and consume alcohol in Pakistan, but many people illegally brew alcohol at home.
The provincial governor has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Victims fainted after drinking the alcohol at a birthday party and another private event in Faisalabad, authorities said.
Most reportedly died before they could be rushed to hospital.
"The death toll from the two parties has reached 18," senior police official Javed Ahmed Khan told the AFP news agency.
"Around two dozens others are heavily affected by the toxic liquor and battling for consciousness."
Drinkers often buy illegal liquor because legal wine shops are closed during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Locally brewed alcohol has been traditionally available in two forms - kuppi and tharra- in Pakistan.
Buyers are said to often mix the two, leading to a more potentially lethal drink.
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When shop worker Ian Robson reminded a group of customers they had to wear face coverings due to Covid-19, he did not expect to be attacked at work.
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The assault at Nisa in Coatsworth Road, Gateshead, on 13 September, left Mr Robson shaken and suffering facial wounds after being punched.
"I'm presuming it was a knuckleduster, because it was shiny and silver and it hurt," he said.
The assailant, who ran off, has never been caught.
The attacked happened shortly after Mr Robson spoke to four young people who came into the shop who were not wearing masks.
Minutes after they left, a man came in and struck him.
Northumbria Police said it did not believe it was an attempted robbery, adding it could have been linked to an earlier "verbal altercation".
"This man ran into the shop, tried to pull me over the counter, punched me once in the eye, punched me once again in the head," said Mr Robson, who is exempt from wearing a face covering because he has asthma and anxiety.
He wears a sunflower lanyard to make people aware of his hidden disability.
While the physical wounds have healed, Mr Robson, who has worked happily at the store for more than 10 years, has been left scared.
"At one point I didn't want to come back but I didn't want to be seen as a victim, letting the person feel as if he chased me away from my job."
'Kick head in'
A survey by the shop workers' union Usdaw of more than 2,000 retail staff revealed that 76% reported receiving worse abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It found that 85% experienced verbal abuse, 57% were threatened and 9% had been assaulted. Its final results will be published next year.
Some workers in the North East said they had seen people "ramming" trolleys into staff, had abuse hurled at them as they had to queue outside, customers "throwing items" and "swearing", being punched, spat at and threatened to have their head "kicked in".
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw general secretary, said: "Abuse should never be a part of the job and we are appalled that three-quarters of retail staff say abuse has been worse during this appalling national pandemic.
"At a time when we should all be working together to get through this crisis, it is a disgrace that staff working to keep food on the shelves and the shop safe for customers are being abused."
Usdaw has launched a petition to try and trigger a debate in Parliament to make it a specific offence for retail workers being threatened and assaulted. It has almost 85,000 signatures.
'Send a signal'
A parliamentary bill on the issue is due to receive its second reading in January.
Matt Vickers, the Conservative MP for Stockton South, who has worked in the industry, chairs a group of MPs who discuss retail.
"The fact that they've been on the frontline during this pandemic, normal men and women going out to work to do their job and getting abused in the process and it's just not acceptable," he said.
"Retail companies need to look at what they are doing to protect our shop workers, local police forces need to prioritise protection for shop workers and we need to look at the sector and how we send a signal to those people out there that you can't treat shop workers like this."
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "This behaviour is completely unacceptable. Retail staff should be free to work without fear of being abused or attacked.
"There is already a range of offences which criminalise these attacks. When sentencing courts are required to consider assaults on those providing a service to the public an aggravating factor."
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Top US virus expert Dr Anthony Fauci has spoken about how his daughters have been harassed due to his public statements about tackling the pandemic.
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Dr Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, also told CNN he had personally received death threats.
As a result he said he had hired security to protect his family.
The top doctor has been at odds with President Donald Trump at several points during the pandemic.
"Getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it's amazing," Dr Fauci, who has become a household name in the US, said.
"I wish that they did not have to go through that," he added. "I wouldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles are so set against it... that they actually threaten you."
He and his wife, bioethicist Dr. Christine Grady, have three adult daughters.
As head of immunology at the National Institutes of Health during the 1980s HIV/Aids epidemic, Dr Fauci, 79, has been in the line of fire before amid a public health crisis.
Over Dr Fauci's five decades as a medical researcher, he has seen his effigy burnt, been called a "murderer" by protesters and had smoke bombs thrown outside his office window.
He has been involved in a number of public disagreements with President Trump during the coronavirus crisis.
Late last month, Dr Fauci called the president's sharing of a video which included claims masks are not needed to fight Covid-19, "not helpful".
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The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) is to vacate Inverness Castle and set up a new justice centre in the city, it has been confirmed.
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Sittings of the High Court, sheriff courts and other hearings have been held at the landmark 19th Century property for many years.
More recently there has been a campaign to have the site transformed into a visitor attraction.
The SCTS said it plans to open the new centre within three years.
The plan to build the justice centre was confirmed in the Scottish government's budget announced on Wednesday.
'Exciting opportunity'
The government has been working with SCTS, Highland Council and others to have Inverness Castle freed up as a visitor attraction, wedding venue and self-catering accommodation.
The site already draws tourists who then have to be told that the buildings function as courts of law.
Inverness Castle overlooks the River Ness and also the city centre.
SCTS chief executive Eric McQueen said: "This is an exciting opportunity to create a specialist justice centre and a stronger community justice approach by co-locating justice partners and third sector organisations in the same building.
"The centre will enable wrap-around services for offenders both as alternatives to prosecution and problem-solving approaches, and create the specialist facilities and support for victims and witnesses of domestic abuse, sexual violence and child abuse."
He added: "We realise this is also welcome news for campaigners and residents in Inverness who have ambitions for the current SCTS court building in Inverness Castle."
Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said: "We want to see a new life for the castle that builds on its existing attraction, offering to visitors and locals alike a quality offering that encourages tourists to both visit and stay longer in the city.
"This will be a future use that takes into account the views of local people but also welcomes input from those further afield, recognising that Inverness Castle has the opportunity to benefit not just the Highlands, but Scotland as a whole."
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ate traditional South African food and visited the country's oldest mosque on day two of their 10-day tour of Africa.
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The royals visited the 225-year-old Auwal Mosque in Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, on South Africa's Heritage Day - a public holiday celebrating national culture.
Earlier, the couple visited a charity that works with surfers to provide mental health support for youngsters.
The tour is their first official overseas trip with their son, Archie.
On their trip to the mosque, Prince Harry and Meghan met with local faith leaders, including Imam Sheikh Ismail Londt and Muslim community leader, Mohamed Groenwald.
Meghan wore a headscarf to enter the mosque which was built in 1794 in Bo-Kaap district, which is known for its neon-coloured terraced houses.
Ahead of the visit, the royals were pictured eating at a local family's home.
Shaamiela Samodien, 63, told AFP: "We (are) used to cooking for big parties and family. So it's no effort.
"They tried koeksisters (a traditional South African sweet) and apple crumble."
Earlier, in the day the royals visited a beach in Cape Town to learn about a project helping vulnerable young people with their mental health.
The couple met surfing mentors at Monwabisi Beach to hear about the work of the NGO Waves for Change.
Harry and Meghan also learned about the non-profit Lunchbox Fund, which benefited from public donations after the birth of their son Archie.
Waves for Change offers a mix of mind and body therapy as part of a child-friendly mental health service for vulnerable young people.
The organisation, which supports 1,200 children, is based in a collection of shipping containers close to the beach.
The Lunchbox Fund provides nearly 30,000 meals a day to the children on the programme, as well as schools.
Asked about the key issue in tackling the stigma around mental health, Meghan said: "It's just getting people to talk about it and talk to each other, right?
"And you see that no matter where you are in the world, if you're a small community or a township, if you're in a big city - it's that everyone is dealing with a different version of the same thing."
Prince Harry added: "Everyone has experienced trauma or likely to experience trauma at some point during their lives.
"We need to try, not to eradicate it, but to learn from previous generations so there's not a perpetual cycle."
He said a whole generation of children that had "no role models at all" was now being given an opportunity.
Monwabisi Beach is on the edge of one of South Africa's biggest townships, Khayelitsha.
During the visit, the couple joined 25 surf mentors in taking part in a welcoming chant.
They ended the day meeting young people and community leaders at the city's residence of the British High Commissioner.
Their first day involved meeting teenage girls in the deprived Nyanga township and they spoke out about violence against women and children.
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Parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) say they "don't know how they will cope" after schools were closed due to coronavirus.
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By Dani ThomasBBC Wales Live
Schools and nurseries in Wales closed to all children last week, apart from those whose parents are key workers.
Hayley Norris, whose 13-year-old son Jonah uses a wheelchair, has no speech and is fed via a tube, fears the impact it will have on her family.
The Welsh Government said families should contact councils for support.
Ms Norris, from Cardiff, said Jonah was "very challenging" and that his time in school allowed her family to "have a little bit of a break".
"He really doesn't like getting dressed, he doesn't like having nappies changed," she told BBC Wales.
"He fights you at every opportunity - scratching and he was kicking me this morning because he really didn't want me to do it.
"It's just that, continuously, every day. It's just constant."
The special school Jonah attends, Ty Gwyn, was closed along with all other schools on Friday.
Ms Norris added: "That's going to have a huge impact on us.
"That's a time when we can all just have a little bit of a break, and it's time for us to have time with our other two children as well.
"It will literally just be me and my husband."
Cardiff council said it was working hard on a new approach to meet the health and social care needs of its most vulnerable learners in a rapidly changing situation.
Rhian Keenan's eight-year-old son Trystan has complex learning needs including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), speech and language needs and sensory processing challenges.
"I just don't know how we're going to cope. I just feel really alone," said Ms Keenan, from Penyrheol, near Gorseinon in Swansea.
Ms Keenan works in a supermarket and is therefore considered a "key worker" by the government.
This entitles her to send Trystan to school so she can go to work, but she said the change to his routine and not having his usual staff to care for him means he would not be able to cope.
"His anxiety will rocket and meltdowns will inevitably happen," Ms Keenan said.
"With special needs, life is very different. He struggles to sleep anyway, so all of this worry with the virus and now being off school indefinitely - I don't know how that's going to affect him long term."
The Welsh Government said it had closed schools to minimise the spread of coronavirus, and that provision should be made for vulnerable children "where there is no safe alternative".
"We would advise parents to contact their local authority for information about what additional support is provided in their area if they feel that further help is needed," a spokeswoman said.
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Owners of Roomba robot vacuums have complained the devices appear "drunk" following a software update.
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By Zoe KleinmanTechnology reporter
Problems include the machines "spinning around", constantly recharging or not charging at all, and moving in strange directions.
The devices' maker iRobot has acknowledged its update had caused problems for "a limited number" of its i7 and s9 Roomba models.
However, it added a fix would take "several weeks" to roll out worldwide.
In the meantime, the firm is asking those affected to share the serial numbers of their devices so it can remove the most recent update.
Brief battery top-ups
Disgruntled customers have posted dozens of complaints on social media over the last few days.
"My Roomba is acting like a drunk on a two-day binge," wrote one Twitter user.
"My i7+ keeps wandering off and is unable to return home," said another.
A poster on Reddit listed a number of problems including their Roomba:
"We've worked with impacted customers to roll their robot's software back," iRobot said in a statement.
"We are also implementing an update to ensure any similar issues are avoided moving forward. This update is being deployed to all customers over the course of the next several weeks."
The i7 Roomba price starts at £599 on iRobot's UK store - the older s9 is currently unavailable in the UK, but costs $1,000 (£718) in the US.
Ken Munro is a cyber-security expert who specialises in security around the internet-of-things - anything which is connected to the internet.
"Updates usually add new features or fix security bugs in smart products," he said.
"They don't always go to plan though, sometimes introducing new bugs.
"It's worth remembering that you're relying on the manufacturer to continue to support your smart thing; are smart devices ever truly 'yours'?"
He added, however, that it is generally advisable to accept software updates.
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David Dimbleby is considering a bid to become the next chairman of the BBC when Sir David Clementi stands down in 2021.
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By Adam FlemingPresenter of Newscast
The former Question Time host said he was "horrified" by reports Prime Minister Boris Johnson wanted to give the job to The Daily Telegraph's ex-editor Charles Moore.
That appointment would have been "a malign intervention," the veteran broadcaster told the BBC's Newscast podcast.
"I think you need someone with a more open mind," he said, citing Moore's newspaper and magazine columns on gay marriage and race.
Moore has since confirmed he is not applying for the role, but Dimbleby is keeping his options open in case another candidate emerges who he deems a threat to the corporation.
"I still might [apply], depending on who comes forward," he said.
"Boris Johnson, we know, wants to bring the BBC to heel. We don't want a chairman who connives in that ambition."
The 81-year-old would be a reluctant entrant to the race, but he has previously expressed an interest in joining the BBC's management.
He applied to be director general in the 1980s and was linked with the chairmanship in the early 2000s.
The chair leads the BBC's independent board, which sets the organisation's overall direction, manages its performance and oversees the system for handling complaints.
Moore did not comment when approached by Newscast.
A government spokesperson said: "We will launch the application process for the new chair of the BBC shortly. It is an open recruitment process and all public appointments are subject to a robust and fair selection criteria."
Dimbleby, who also used to host the BBC's election night programmes, is now working on his new podcast The Fault Line, which investigates the build-up to the war in Iraq in 2003.
His next might look at the peace process in Northern Ireland.
He also confirmed he still has not watched an edition of Question Time since Fiona Bruce took over the programme in 2019.
He believes the coronavirus pandemic has robbed the show of its most important ingredient - its live audience.
In lieu of this, he mooted a political spin-off from Channel Four's Gogglebox, where a 100-strong regular cast of locked-down voters could give their views from home.
Newscast is available on BBC Sounds
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Police have dispersed large crowds from a park in Glasgow and two men have been arrested in connection with disorder offences.
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Officers said they attended Kelvingrove Park on Thursday evening because of the number of people there, many of whom were drinking.
A large crowd was also reported to have gathered in The Meadows in Edinburgh.
Nicola Sturgeon said crowded places, even outdoors, risked a resurgence of Covid-19, which is "still out there".
Current lockdown restrictions prohibit gatherings of more than eight people.
In a post on Twitter, in response to reports of the Glasgow gathering, the first minister said: "I understand the desire to enjoy the hot weather - but PLEASE don't jeopardise our progress.
"Follow the rules - they're for the protection of you and your loved ones. My thanks to @policescotland for helping keep us safe."
Scotland's former chief medical officer Sir Harry Burns said such gatherings posed a serious risk of starting a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak.
He told the BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "If there was one person in Kelvingrove Park yesterday capable of spreading the virus then they may have spread it to three or four other people, who may go on to spread it to three or four other people.
"Before you know where you are there are 12 or 20 people who have been exposed to the virus.
"They go home, they are maybe living with parents and siblings, and, before you know where you are, you have got another outbreak that needs to be dealt with."
In Edinburgh, concerned locals got up at dawn to clear up rubbish left behind by a large crowd that gathered at The Meadows.
Some of the bags they collected were later arranged as a giant number 2482 on the ground - the total number of deaths so far in Scotland of people who have tested positive for Covid-19.
Crime novelist Ian Rankin is among those who have drawn attention to the amount of rubbish left behind by people gathering in Edinburgh's parks in recent days.
Earlier on Thursday, a major incident was declared in Bournemouth on the south coast of England as thousands of people flocked to the coast, prompting a warning from UK chief medical officer Chris Whitty.
While there was no major incident declared in Glasgow, police said they were forced to act because of the large numbers of people who had gathered, many of whom were drinking in contravention of local by-laws.
Insp Lesley Docherty said: "The regulations remain that people should only leave the house for very limited purposes, for example for basic necessities, for exercise or recreation, for medical needs or travelling for work which cannot be done from home.
"The chief constable has made it clear that we are asking people to take personal responsibility to do the right thing and remember the purpose of these measures is to aid the collective effort to stay safe, protect others and save lives by preventing the virus from spreading."
Protest warning
Police Scotland has also issued a warning about a number of protests that are scheduled to take place this weekend.
Last Saturday saw a heavy police presence in Glasgow to avoid a repeat of disturbances earlier this month when far right groups turned up at a rally in support of refugees.
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins said: "We live in a democratic society and Police Scotland is absolutely committed to respecting people's rights to freely and peacefully express their views.
"Recent disorder in George Square saw people hijacking a peaceful event with the intention of violence and thuggery.
"This remains completely and utterly unacceptable and we will not tolerate these scenes, including attacks both physical and verbal on the public and our officers.
"My message to those who have been involved in the disgraceful scenes witnessed over the last couple of weeks is that if you continue to behave like this then be prepared to be arrested."
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Household boilers should be replaced with large shared boilers to heat multiple homes in Scottish cities, according to a group of MSPs, environmentalists and academics.
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They called on the Scottish government to encourage investment in "district heating" as part of a Warm Homes Act.
District heating sees large boilers provide heat for entire districts through a network of pipes.
The system is popular in several other European countries.
The Scottish convention is for homes to have their own self-contained gas boiler - although there are some district heating schemes, including Caithness Heat and Power (Chap), which provides heat to about 200 homes and the local hospital in Wick.
Environmental group WWF Scotland, the University of Edinburgh, heatpump manufacturer Star Renewable Energy and cross-party MSPs are behind the calls for district heating to be more widely used in Scotland.
'Climate targets'
They said that less than 4% of Scotland's heat demand is delivered by renewables, with just 1% by district heating - a figure they said research had suggested needed to jump to 40% by 2030 if climate targets were to be met.
And they have claimed that district heating had the potential to cut both energy bills and carbon emissions.
Dr Sam Gardner, head of policy at WWF Scotland, said: "That's why we're calling on the new Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse to adopt the recommendations from the government's expert advisers on district heating in the promised Warm Homes Act.
"Regulation for district heating has broad stakeholder support and if acted upon will help ensure Scotland reaps the huge benefits investment in renewable heat and district heating infrastructure will bring to the country."
The group said the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Sweden all use regulation to secure investment in the district heating infrastructure, at a long-term affordable cost of capital, as well as ensuring good standards of practice by operators and fair pricing for customers.
'Fuel poverty'
Scottish Green energy spokesman Mark Ruskell said: "We must take the opportunity of a Warm Homes Bill to deliver affordable, renewable heat for homes and workplaces.
"District heating systems are commonplace in other European countries, and Scottish ministers would do well to target capital investment at such schemes.
"Scotland needs to catch up quickly if we're to meet our ambitions for a low-carbon society, tackle fuel poverty and create high quality jobs."
A Scottish government spokesman said community energy had the potential to "empower people and help tackle some of our most pressing issues including fuel poverty, increasing costs and security of supply, while it can also support Scotland's efforts to cut damaging greenhouse gas emissions."
He said the government had put in place a wide range of support to allow communities to take control of their local energy use and supply, including the announcement of £10m to fund nine district heating projects.
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A £1.2m redevelopment of Rhyl's seafront cinema complex, including a new open-air screen and coffee and ice cream shops, has been announced.
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The development at Apollo Cinema, along with the area adjacent to the nearby skytower, will create 15 new jobs, as well as safeguarding 15 other posts.
The money has come from the assembly government's North Wales Coast Regeneration Area programme.
There had been concerns the cinema would otherwise be forced to close.
Improvements at the cinema include new seating and 3D screens.
The funding also covers work to the promenade which is being referred to as an "entertainment plaza" to host activities along with an open air cinema.
A "Winter Wonderland" Christmas festival is already being discussed.
Jocelyn Davies, deputy minister for housing and regeneration, said: "This project is very important to Rhyl as it will provide a catalyst for investment and attract other businesses to west Rhyl.
"The public areas around the cinema will also be improved, and will provide facilities for large-scale events which will help to attract visitors to the town."
'Regenerating the town'
The assembly government grant has been awarded via Denbighshire council which has been involved in the development plans.
Councillor David Thomas said: "Regeneration is one of Denbighshire's top priorities and the authority has contributed £237,000 to the scheme which will play an integral role in regenerating the town."
Cinema managing director Rob Arthur said: "This landmark partnership with the Welsh assembly and local council will allow us to bring the cinema into the 21st Century and offer the very best entertainment to the local community."
The cinema closes its doors on Sunday with work due to start on Monday. The cinema is expected to reopen in July.
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Dogs are to be banned from the inner part of the Longleat estate in Wiltshire.
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Estate officials told dog walkers at a public meeting on Tuesday that their animals posed a health and safety risk to children and the animals kept there.
They also said security breaches meant dog walkers and cyclists would no longer have access to the inner area of the site around the house.
Around 90% of the estate remains open to the public.
Longleat chief executive David Bradley said: "One of the biggest problems we've had in the formal grounds and gardens is dog mess.
"And there have been several attacks on children by dogs when we've been open to the public, so we've had to restrict the access to dogs."
He said it was part of an overall review of the estate due to safety and security concerns in the immediate area around the house and gardens.
Cyclist access
He said: "We've had some very serious security issues recently which include robberies and vandalism, and on the advice of the police and insurers we've tightened security."
Mr Bradley also confirmed that talks were ongoing with Sustrans, which operates part of the National Cycle Network through the estate, about continued access for cyclists.
Sustrans has previously said a 10-mile-long detour via Maiden Bradley would have to be introduced if an access agreement was not reached.
Mr Bradley said: "We are working with Sustrans and Wiltshire Council to find routes through the estate which don't impact on the inner core. We're looking for alternative routes through the estate.
"I really don't believe that people are going to have to cycle an extra 10 miles."
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More private companies will be involved in the UK's police service within five years, the British head of security firm G4S has said.
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David Taylor-Smith, the head of G4S for Britain and Africa,
told the Guardian newspaper
he expected more roles to be outsourced to the private sector.
West Midlands and Surrey forces have recently invited bids for contracts from private firms.
The Home Office has said the moves are not a step towards privatised police.
The new contracts could mean private security firms investigating some crimes.
In February, Lincolnshire Police agreed a deal to pay G4S £200m over 10 years to deliver a range of services, including human resources, finance and IT.
Staff will support officers carrying out duties, but will not make arrests.
G4S is providing security for the Olympics. It has more than 650,000 staff working in 125 countries and is one of the world's largest private employers.
"We have been long-term optimistic about the police and short-to-medium-term pessimistic about the police for many years," Mr Taylor-Smith told the paper.
"Our view was, look, we would never try to take away core policing functions from the police but for a number of years it has been absolutely clear as day to us - and to others - that the configuration of the police in the UK is just simply not as effective and as efficient as it could be."
Private 'support'
The G4S chief said "budgetary pressure and political will" were spurs for private sector involvement, but the "public service ethos" was not being lost.
"The thought that everyone in the private sector is primarily motivated by profit and that is why they come to work is just simply not accurate … we employ 675,000 people and they are primarily motivated by pretty much the same as would motivate someone in the public sector."
A Home Office spokesman said: "Policing is not being privatised - core police functions will continue to be delivered by sworn officers and no police powers will be given to private contractors beyond the limited powers allowed by the last government.
"Police officers alone will make arrests and lead investigations, and police officers will continue to patrol the streets and respond to incidents.
"However, the private sector can help to support delivery of police services better and at lower cost, for example providing staff for control rooms and custody centres, releasing officers for front-line duties."
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The head of a US pharmaceutical company has defended his company's decision to raise the price of a 62-year-old medication used by Aids patients by over 5,000%.
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Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the rights to Daraprim in August.
CEO Martin Shkreli has said that the company will use the money it makes from sales to research new treatments.
The drug treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic affliction that affects people with compromised immune systems.
After Turing's acquisition, a dose of Daraprim in the US increased from $13.50 (£8.70) to $750.
The pill costs about $1 to produce, but Mr Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, said that does not include other costs like marketing and distribution, which have increased dramatically in recent years.
Setting the price: Michelle Roberts, BBC health editor
Agreeing a price for any drug is a tricky business.
In the UK, the National Health Service is the main buyer and prices are set through a voluntary scheme between manufacturers and the government, trying to strike the right balance of serving patients and generating money to keep the drug pipeline going. Profits are capped to stop prices creeping too high.
In the US, the buyers are private insurance companies as well as the government through the Medicare and Medicaid system. It's a market and prices can go up and down, depending on what people are willing to pay.
In recent years, pharmaceutical research and development has slowed and companies have to think carefully about what they invest in. Blockbusters such as Viagra pull in money, but orphan drugs for rare diseases can be less attractive. Not many patients use them, and so turning a profit may be difficult.
What's a fair price for a drug? Read more
"We needed to turn a profit on this drug," Mr Shkreli told Bloomberg TV. "The companies before us were actually giving it away almost."
He says the practice is not out of line with the rest of the industry.
"These days, modern pharmaceuticals, cancer drugs can cost $100,000 or more, whereas these drugs can cost half a million dollars. Daraprim is still underpriced relative to its peers," he told Bloomberg TV.
On Twitter, Mr Shkreli mocked several users who questioned the company's decision, calling one reporter "a moron".
The Infectious Diseases Society of America, the HIV Medicine Association and other health care providers wrote an open letter to Turing, urging the company to reconsider.
"This cost is unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population in need of this medication and unsustainable for the health care system," the groups wrote.
Dr Wendy Armstrong of HIV Medicine Association also disputed the need to develop new treatments for toxoplasmosis.
"This is not an infection where we have been looking for more effective drugs," she told Infectious Disease News.
On Wall Street, biotech shares fell sharply on Monday after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledged to take action against firms hiking prices for specialty drugs.
"Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous," Mrs Clinton said, citing Daraprim.
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Ukraine's defence minister says a new ceasefire has been holding in eastern Ukraine since midnight, despite a recent intensification of shelling.
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"This morning I'm pleasantly surprised that at 09:00 (06:00 GMT), since midnight, we haven't had a single shot fired," Stepan Poltorak said.
It is the first time there has been a true halt to fighting in 11 months, says BBC correspondent Tom Burridge.
The truce was agreed with pro-Russian rebels and international mediators.
It marks the start of a new school year in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Heightened tensions
Eastern Ukraine has seen some of its worst violence for months in recent weeks, and there was heavy shelling last weekend.
On Monday international monitors from the OSCE security organisation reported nearly 1,000 explosions in the Donetsk region in just 24 hours - a big spike in fighting along the front line.
Most took place in an area north of Donetsk airport and between the villages of Avdiivka and Yasynuvata.
The neighbouring Luhansk region also saw a big increase in the number of blasts at the weekend.
Ukraine says massive Russian military exercises near the border have exacerbated tension.
Meanwhile, the UK government has added its voice to international appeals for Russia to release a Crimean Tatar leader, Ilmi Umerov, from a psychiatric unit and give him the medical care he needs. He is reported to be suffering from diabetes and Parkinson's disease.
Russia has prosecuted several key Crimean Tatar activists since its annexation of Crimea in March 2014. The Muslim Tatars, like the Ukrainian government, view Russia's annexation as a flagrant breach of international law.
Crimean Tatars uneasy under Russia rule
Why are Russia-Ukraine tensions high over Crimea?
Rights of children
On Wednesday Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said France and Germany - the Western powers that brokered a peace deal in Minsk in February 2015 - had backed Ukraine's call for a ceasefire starting on 1 September.
He said he was awaiting a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kiev and the West accuse Moscow of arming the rebels and sending Russian regular troops to help them.
The Kremlin denies deploying troops, but admits that Russian volunteers have been fighting alongside the rebels.
A spokeswoman for Ukraine's delegation to the ceasefire talks, Darya Olifer, said more than 150,000 children were attending school in Ukrainian-held areas of Donbass, the industrial region that includes Donetsk and Luhansk.
"We insist that all children in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, wherever they live, have a right to care and security," she said.
More than 9,500 people - including many civilians - have been killed in the two regions since the pro-Russian insurgents took over a large swathe of territory in April 2014.
Despite the ceasefire agreed in Minsk in February 2015, there have been violations by both sides on an almost daily basis.
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Fracking has the potential to devastate wildlife habitats across the UK, says research commissioned by leading wildlife and countryside groups.
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By Claire MarshallEnvironment correspondent, BBC News
The report Are We Fit to Frack? was launched by six organisations including the National Trust and the RSPB.
It was reviewed by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and is supported by a cross party group of MPs.
It contains proposals to limit the potential impact of fracking on the environment.
They include setting up so-called "no frack zones" around the UK's most sensitive conservation areas.
Harry Huyton is head of energy and climate change at the RSPB.
He told BBC News: "We have found that there are serious potential risks to the environment from fracking.
"There are risks associated with using lots of water, with causing the accidental contamination of water, but also from the infrastructure that is required by the industry. This could mean lots of well pads all around the landscape. All of these could have an impact on wildlife.
"We would like the country's most special sites to be frack free. We think that's the reasonable thing to do at the outset of this industry. These areas are very special and also very vulnerable to disturbance and pollution. Why not, from the beginning, say that these areas are out of bounds."
Stephen Trotter, director of the Wildlife Trust, commented: "The big concern is the pollution issue. We know that to achieve the fracking process, the companies have to pour lots of saline solution and chemicals down in to the boreholes.
"Mostly, it's a closed system, but particularly at the end of well production, if there are accidents, or if there are cracks in the pipework, then this can leak out and contaminate lakes and rivers. This has happened in the US, and it's a big concern for the pristine environments that we have here.
"There is also the issue of the disturbance caused by the plants. They are very noisy, they operate 24 hours a day and there is lots of light pollution. So species that are very sensitive to disturbance can be affected, such as bats and some species of migratory birds."
However, according to the trade body that represents the onshore oil and gas industry, many of the recommendations are already being adopted, and current regulations are strict enough to protect the environment.
Ken Cronin, chief executive of the UK Onshore Operators Group, said that the report contained "a number of critical inaccuracies".
"The UK onshore oil and gas industry is separately regulated by four layers of oversight provided by the environment agencies, the Health and Safety Executive, the mineral planning authorities and by the Department of Energy and Climate Change," he said.
"The industry currently has to comply with 17 European Directives, has to apply for up to nine separate environmental permits, and has to reach binding agreements on noise, hours of operation and on other local social issues."
Large swathes of the UK have already been opened up for energy exploration, so far concentrated in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Sussex.
The government is considering expanding this to potentially more than half of the UK. This should take place in the summer, in the next round of onshore oil and gas licensing.
Ahead of this, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has published an environmental study into the scale of shale reserves and its potential impacts. It is out for public consultation until 28 March.
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Different households across parts of the West Midlands can no longer mix indoors, under new government restrictions.
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Boris Johnson has announced a three-tier system of "medium", "high" and "very high" alert levels.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton would be in the high category.
The new restrictions come into effect on Wednesday.
Dudley and Coventry will be in tier one, alongside Worcestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Herefordshire, Telford and Warwickshire, meaning the rule of six and the 22:00 curfew for pubs and restaurants remain in place.
Tighter restrictions for Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull, first came into force on 15 September, banning people from meeting others who were not part of their household or support bubble, in homes or gardens. But the rule of six meant people could still meet in hospitality venues.
Wolverhampton faced the same restrictions a few days later.
Under the new restrictions, people living in those locations, as well as Walsall, can no longer mix indoors at all, but can do so outdoors and in private gardens - up to a maximum of six people.
Mr Johnson said he aimed to reduce household-to-household transmission by preventing all mixing between different households or support bubbles indoors.
But Mr Street said the move was not supported by regional leaders, who said they wanted to keep the existing restrictions.
"The main problem in the West Midlands remains transmission within household settings, and stricter measures for the hospitality industry will not solve that," he said.
"I am urging the government to review this decision as soon as possible.
"I have always argued that data and evidence should lead decision-making, and I therefore find it very surprising that the West Midlands, with an average infection rate of 123 per 100,000, is now in the same tier as Manchester, which has an average infection rate of more than 550 per 100,000."
Tory MP for Sutton Coldfield Andrew Mitchell echoed that, telling the House of Commons on Monday the existing restrictions in the area were "working" and should not be replaced.
Figures show there were 159.9 new cases per 100,000 people in Birmingham in the week up to 9 October, up slightly from 152.7. Solihull stood at 146, Walsall at 136.3, Coventry at 135.7, and Sandwell at 120.3.
The average rate across England was 139.3.
At Mr Johnson's press conference, he was asked by Gordon Rayner from The Telegraph about the comments Mr Street made given the West Midlands area has a "quarter of the level of infection Manchester does" but is in the same tier.
The prime minister replied: "On the variations in the tiers, that is inevitably going to happen in a complex campaign against coronavirus.
"I don't want to put the West Midlands, I don't want to put anywhere, into the measures that we have to... but I'm afraid it [coronavirus cases] is going up in the West Midlands".
Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "The negative impact of the new restrictions on the [hospitality] sector and the lives of the people who work in it can't be overstated.
"The sector supports more than 135,000 jobs across the West Midlands and it's essential that further financial support is made available to those businesses affected."
Deputy leader Brigid Jones tweeted Wednesday was not enough notice for some businesses which would be "full of surplus stock".
She said bans on mixing in pubs was not accompanied by sufficient support for those businesses.
Oliver Ngo, who runs the Vietnamese Street Kitchen restaurant in Resorts World, said: "I have had to extend the Eat Out To Help Out offer until the middle of October to try and keep going.
"I am doing everything to try and keep staff in work, but if the government keep putting in these restrictions, what more can I do to try and keep everyone in work?
"We were absolutely flying before lockdown... with further restrictions we will be affected big time, and we will have to think outside the box once more to try and keep all our staff in employment."
Lawrence Barton, director of Southside BID in Birmingham, said he was feeling a "great amount of frustration" at the restrictions already in place.
"It has been demonstrated from the data that the increase in the Covid infection rate has not been in hospitality venues, so for them to keep punishing the hospitality industry doesn't make sense," he said.
"There is no science to support the 10pm curfew and this will further frustrate and cause further distress to a sector that is already massively hurting.
"They are slowly killing it [the sector] and unfortunately the government and our representatives making decisions… there's no basis to restrict measures in the way that they have."
Paul Faulkner, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said: "The support offered to businesses during the first wave of the pandemic was unprecedented, but it is being withdrawn at just the moment it is so needed in areas facing additional measures.
"The government must not to throw away the jobs and businesses that have been saved so far by failing to step up now."
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]
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The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This week we speak to serial technology entrepreneur Andrew Michael.
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By Tony BonsignoreBusiness reporter, BBC News
When Andrew Michael was 17 he gambled on changing his life by spending £30,000 on his mother's credit card without her knowledge.
In 1997 he was living at home with his mum in Cheltenham, in the west of England, when he spotted a business opportunity.
Wanting to set up his own website with a school friend, the self-confessed "computer boffin" realised that very few of the existing web-hosting companies were aimed at small businesses or members of the public.
"All of the web-hosting companies in the UK at the time were pitched at much bigger companies," says Andrew, now 39. "But we saw that small businesses and individuals wanted something self-service and easy to use."
So he and his friend decided to fill the gap in the market, and set up their own web-hosting company called Fasthosts.
"We had the computers we needed in my bedroom at Mum's house, and we had created the software ourselves," says Andrew.
"But what we really needed was a high-speed internet connection, which in those days involved digging up the road. It cost about 30 grand, but we had no money."
Thinking he had no other option, Andrew swiped his mother's credit card and ordered the internet upgrade. "We kind of blagged it over the phone," he says.
Also booking some magazine adverts - and explaining away the big new computer modem - the gamble was that the business would earn enough in its first month to pay off the credit card bill when it arrived.
Amazingly it worked. "By the end of the month we had enough clients and money to pay for the internet line and the advertising," says Andrew.
And just as importantly, his mother forgave him for the subterfuge.
While his friend went off to university, Andrew cancelled his own plans for higher education to focus full-time on growing Fasthosts instead.
He ended up selling it nine years later for £61.5m. Aged only 26 at the time, his 75% share of the business meant that he pocketed £46m.
Two years later Andrew set up a cloud storage firm called Livedrive, which he subsequently sold for an undisclosed sum also believed to be tens of millions.
While both businesses proved successful, Andrew also made newspaper headlines for throwing lavish, no-expense spared parties.
His work Christmas parties at Fasthosts were reported to have included performances by the likes of girlbands Girls Aloud and Sugababes, plus rockers The Darkness, and chat show host Jonathan Ross as the compère.
And he admits that he once paid for US R&B singer Usher to perform at a girlfriend's birthday party.
"I love a party, I love entertaining people," he says. "And I don't do things by halves."
Born in Cyprus but raised in Cheltenham, Andrew thinks he inherited his business drive and focus from his father.
"My father came over from Cyprus, and was very much a small business man," he says.
"Like many Cypriots, he opened up fish and chip shops and cafés, and so some of my childhood was spent driving around those sites, collecting takings, and discussing business ideas.
"From a very young age I had a trading, money-making, get-up-and-go mentality."
Looking back on how he expanded Fasthosts, he says that he was "laser focused", and that "nothing else mattered".
While the sale of the business in 2006 made him very rich, he says it also left him feeling unfulfilled.
"I remember being in the office when the money came into my bank account, and I thought it would make me really happy," he says.
"But I actually had a sinking feeling, as I walked through the office and realised I'd sold it all, that it all came down to a number on a spreadsheet."
As a result, Andrew admits he "got bored and probably drank and ate too much" for a while. Keen to get back into business he launched Livedrive two years later.
Unfortunately the company initially struggled in a crowded marketplace.
"We found that lots of other people had had the same idea at the same time, so just advertising wasn't working," he says. "It was my first experience of potential failure, and I was worried I was going to be a one-hit wonder."
And so it might have turned out, if it wasn't for a night in the pub.
More The Boss features:
"I ended up becoming quite friendly with someone from [electronics retailer] Dixons, who I met on a night out with a mutual friend," says Andrew. "We then started working with them."
Dixons decided to help Livedrive to develop its product, and then to bundle it with laptops and tablets that it sold.
"It was a smash hit," says Andrew. "And we went on to replicate the model with other retailers. Eventually the business became bigger than Fasthosts."
Following the sale of Livedrive in 2014, Andrew's latest business is Bark.com, a website that allows people to book local service professionals, everything from a plumber to a guitar teacher, dog walker or personal trainer.
Independent technology analyst Chris Green says: "Fasthosts was a classic example of the bedroom computer innovation that the UK was so good at in the 80s and 90s.
"Not only was it an instant success for a 17-year-old Andrew Michael, but it also simplified the process of registering domain names and accessing web hosting for many.
"Meanwhile, Livedrive was unquestionably a pioneer in the personal and small business cloud storage and backup market."
Looking ahead, Andrew says he still has plenty of ambition.
"I'm the sort of person that the more I have, the more I want. And even though my first two businesses did well, I don't class myself as wildly successful."
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The head of the official inquiry into the Iraq War has rejected calls to set a timetable for publication, saying he does not want to "arouse false hopes".
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Sir John Chilcot told MPs he had "under-estimated" the time it would take to study up to 150,000 documents.
And he said the process of giving key figures the right to respond to criticism was holding up the process.
He also informed MPs one of the panel members, historian Sir Martin Gilbert, had died following a long illness.
Sir Martin, the author of a best-selling biography of Sir Winston Churchill and one of five members of the inquiry panel, died on Tuesday, Sir John said.
The inquiry, which began in 2009, is considering how UK forces came to participate in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its aftermath, which saw UK troops remain in the country for six years.
Appearing for 70 minutes before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sir John repeated his view that there was no "realistic prospect" of the report being released before the election on 7 May.
'Unprecedented'
He told MPs that the inquiry was "unprecedented in scope" and there had been protracted negotiations with the government over the release of classified documents, including correspondence between former PM Tony Blair and President George W. Bush.
The Iraq Inquiry
finished gathering evidence
3 years
ago, after being launched in 2009
Witnesses cross-examined: 129
Estimate of total words spoken in evidence: 2.5 million
Documents studied: 150,000
Projected total cost: £10m
The process by which those likely to be criticised in the report are given the right to respond, known as Maxwellisation, had begun later than planned in the autumn, he said.
And he suggested that completing this successfully was the primary obstacle standing in the way of the report's publication.
He said: "What I can't say, until the Maxwellisation process is complete, is that I will be able to say anything useful to the prime minister or to the families. Once that is complete it is a different matter."
Conservative MP Nadhim Zarhawi said the continued uncertainty was "painful" for the families of the 179 British personnel who died in Iraq.
Sir John acknowledged this but said the Maxwellisation process was "genuinely difficult" because of the need to ensure fairness and confidentiality for all those involved.
'Appetite for truth'
Asked by Conservative Sir John Stanley whether anyone was taking an "unreasonable" amount of time to make their response to his draft findings, Sir John Chilcot stated: "As of today, I have no reason to think that anyone is seeking to spin out time."
It is not known who has received letters of criticism as part of the Maxwellisation process but key figures in the decision to go to war, including Tony Blair, have rejected claims they are holding up the process and say they want it released as soon as possible.
Sir John insisted the report was not being held back because of concerns about the political consequences of releasing it in the run-up to May's general election.
"I don't believe the timing in relation to a political event, even one as important as a general election, determines the issue," he said.
"What I am determined to do is to get the report to the prime minister and out as soon as we can."
And he also rejected calls for guidance on when it would eventually be released.
"The risk of either arousing false hopes or false expectations either way outweighs for me the powerful appetite, for all sorts of often good reasons, to know when the report is likely to become available."
The inquiry had a "conscious duty" to get "access to the truth", he told MPs, and moving at a quicker pace could have undermined the "depth" of the final report.
'Deserve answers'
Wednesday's hearing was the first time Sir John Chilcot has been cross-examined about his work since the inquiry began in 2009.
In a Commons debate last week, MPs from all sides called for continued delays to the report to be explained.
Ministers say they are frustrated by the delays but cannot intervene because it is an independent inquiry.
Speaking before the session, Conservative backbencher David Davis suggested that the Civil Service, which has the final say over which documents relating to Iraq can be published, was partly to blame.
"The Sir Humphrey Mafia are being difficult," he told Today. "They have an interest in keeping secrets."
And Lib Dem MP Tim Farron said it was "appalling" that the families of the 179 British personnel who died in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 had had to wait so long to find out why Britain had gone to war.
"This country deserves answers," he told the BBC News Channel. "The people who lost loved ones in Iraq deserve answers."
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The mother of the 16-year-old Kenyan girl who says she was raped by six men and dumped in a 22-ft (6.7m) deep latrine looked numb with worry.
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By Anne SoyBBC News, Kenya
But she told the BBC from the hospital where her daughter is receiving treatment that she is thankful for the support the family has received worldwide.
"I am very grateful to all the people who have supported us through this ordeal," she said.
Her daughter was attacked and repeatedly raped by six men in June as she returned from her grandfather's funeral in Tingolo village in Busia County, western Kenya.
Her unconscious body was thrown into a pit latrine and she is now in a wheelchair.
Her case caused an uproar after Kenya's influential Daily Nation newspaper reported that the police in Busia had asked three of the suspects she identified as her rapists to cut grass as punishment and had chosen not to prosecute them.
In a BBC interview on Thursday, Police Inspector General David Kimaiyo said an investigation into the girl's allegation had been concluded, but still no decision had been taken on whether it was a rape case.
He said he was unaware that her alleged attackers were ordered to cut grass and that the case was reported to police only two months after "the incident".
No emotion
But several hundred activists in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, carrying placards, waving underwear and beating drums marched to the police headquarters, where the inspector general's office is located, and handed over a petition calling for the arrest of the suspects and the officers who allegedly failed to prosecute them.
The petition, which was started online, was signed by more than 1,200,000 people from around the world.
Saida Ali, executive director of the Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW) rights group, was among the protesters who handed the petition to police on Thursday.
"The response was polite, they promised to take action, so we will wait to see that action," she said.
The girl, who is called Liz to protect her identity, is being cared for at the Gynocare Centre in Eldoret, 156km (97 miles) from Busia.
Her mother is staying with her at the hospital.
I briefly saw Liz, who answered my greeting in Swahili, the main language in Kenya, but the rest of the time she just stared, showing no emotion.
We were told that this is an improvement and that last week she had refused to look any of her visitors in the eye.
The Nation Media Group, a Kenya-based media house which first reported the story, has paid the medical bills for Liz amounting to more than $7,000 (£4,300).
Their reporter named her Liz and that is how the world now knows her.
Her mother said that since the online campaign began some people had even set up an education fund for Liz.
But her medical condition is still of concern.
She suffered fistula because of the rape - a condition where she lost control of the flow of urine and stool.
The programme manager at the hospital, Jared Momanyi, said she had undergone surgery to correct the fistula.
"She was also traumatised but has been receiving counselling and she is improving," he added.
She also injured her spine when she was thrown down the pit latrine and has been unable to walk for some time.
'Suspects in hiding'
Since the matter went public, and viral, the mother says some family members of the suspects have been threatening her.
"They said that if their sons are arrested I'll see fire," she said.
Earlier her husband had to endure insults from a father of one suspect, who had initially offered to help the family, and then rescinded his decision.
"I want the suspects to be arrested and justice to be done. Up to now no-one has been arrested. I hear some have gone into hiding," Liz's mother said.
The inspector general of police confirmed that the suspects could not be traced, adding that they had fled into Uganda.
Busia - where the incident took place - is near the Kenya-Uganda border.
The Director of Public Prosecution, Keriako Tobiko, has ordered their arrests but none has been made so far.
However, Mr Tobiko confirmed to the BBC that he had received the investigations file from the police and was going through it.
"I will press charges once I find sufficient evidence," he said.
The Sexual Offences Act of 2006 spells out tough punitive measures against people convicted of various sexual crimes.
The Act empowers the court to issue a sentence of not less than 15 years for a conviction of gang rape, but the court may extend the sentence to imprisonment for life.
The police in June released a report showing that reported cases of rape had increased to 383 between January and May this year, from 332 for the same period last year.
Police stations in Kenya are expected to have a gender desk where such cases are reported.
But Liz's mother rarely smiled during her interview - she sounded like she had lost faith in the authorities.
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The world premiere of Gary Barlow's musical version of Calendar Girls will be held in Leeds, he has revealed.
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The Take That front man made the announcement to the original "calendar girls" at Burnsall Village Hall in North Yorkshire on Sunday.
The musical tells the true story of 11 members of Rylstone Women's Institute, who posed nude for a charity calendar.
"The Girls" will be at Leeds Grand Theatre from Saturday 14 November to Saturday 12 December.
Calendar Girls - also a hit film and stage show - tells the story of 11 women who posed naked behind baked goods and flower arrangements for the 1999 Women's Institute calendar.
They were raising funds to buy a settee for their local hospital, in memory of one of their husbands - John Baker - who died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1998.
Barlow, who has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and his childhood friend Tim Firth - who won an award for the Calendar Girls film - said they were "over the moon to have received such an ecstatic blessing" from the original models.
The musical project is backed by the tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire, and money raised will go to leukaemia and lymphoma Research.
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Less than 1% of fathers take advantage of additional paternity leave up to a total of 26 weeks, figures suggest.
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The TUC study for 2011/12 found 1,650 out of 285,000 partners took the leave at the statutory rate of £136 a week.
The trade union organisation said this was because they could not afford to live on such a rate, which is not normally supplemented by employers.
The Department for Business said a new system of shared parental leave would be introduced from 2015.
The system which allows the father, or husband or partner of a child's mother, to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave - and receive additional statutory paternity pay - was only introduced in April 2011 and the TUC figures are based on its first year.
Fathers and partners had already been entitled to two weeks ordinary paternity leave.
They can only claim the extra weeks in their child's first year if the mother returns to work before taking her full maternity leave entitlement. The additional paternity leave can also be taken when adopting a child.
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "A good gift for fathers this Sunday would be for ministers to increase statutory paternity pay rates and for employers to top it up for longer, so that new dads can spend more time with their children.
"Poor levels of financial support are preventing new dads from taking extra time off and are particularly affecting low-paid fathers who simply cannot afford to take leave.
"Extending paternity pay from two to six weeks and paying a better statutory rate would make a massive difference, as has been shown in other countries."
'Better involved'
The TUC said in contrast, the first two weeks of paternity leave was taken by nine out of 10 fathers. But the difference is that although the statutory rate is the same - £136 a week - many employers typically choose to top this up to full pay throughout that short period of leave.
A spokesman for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills said: "The current system for parental leave is old-fashioned and too rigid.
"This is why we are introducing a system of shared parental leave from April 2015 so that fathers can take more leave if they want to in the early days of a child's life.
"We want to challenge the myth that it is the mother's role to stay at home and care for children.
"Men will be more able to get better involved with the caring of their children from the earliest stages and evidence shows this sort of involvement has significant benefits for children's educational and emotional development in later life."
A separate report by NatCen Social Research and the University of East Anglia has found that men with a partner and children at home work longer hours than other working men.
Three in 10 men in this family situation worked 48 hours a week and one in 10 worked more than 60 hours.
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India's aviation regulator has barred two pilots who fought inside the cockpit from flying for five years.
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The pilots involved - a man and a woman - were fired by the private Jet Airways after the incident on a London-Mumbai flight earlier this month.
The fight occurred mid-air on 1 January. The flight carrying 324 passengers landed safely in Mumbai.
Reports said the incident occurred after the male pilot slapped the female pilot.
Their flying licences have been suspended for putting flight safety under threat, as the pilots left the cockpit unattended twice during their mid-air brawl, a senior official of India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.
"The commander came out of the cockpit about one hour before touchdown complaining of being physically harassed by the co-pilot. Soon after, the co-pilot also came out, leaving the cockpit unattended thereby jeopardising the safety of aircraft operations," he added.
The male pilot is accused of allegedly starting a physical fight with his co-pilot, during which he slapped her.
According to Indian media reports at the time, the woman left the cockpit in tears, but colleagues eventually persuaded her to go back.
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For most places, winter has been wet, windy and snow-free, but it is a different picture on some of Scotland's mountains.
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High up in Scotland's hills are piles and piles of the white stuff.
Large parts of the Cairngorms, Lochaber and Glencoe have had weeks of heavy snowfalls.
While Christmas might have been a cold, damp squib in terms of the weather there was snow in these upland areas. And it has rarely stopped snowing since.
Staff at Glencoe Mountain ski resort said that there have snowfalls for six weeks.
The snow is so deep it has almost completely buried some buildings, including the ski patrol's lodge.
Hill staff at Nevis Range, another of Scotland's snowsports centres, tweeted a picture on Monday morning to illustrate the depths of snow on the mountains in Lochaber.
David Roberts photographed his colleagues Davie Austin and Nathan Martin clearing piles of it from one of the centre's buildings.
Members of Sportscotland Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) have also been documenting through photography weather conditions in the mountains this winter.
SAIS provides avalanche risk forecasts for six areas: Creag Meagaidh, Glencoe, Lochaber, Northern Cairngorms, Southern Cairngorms and Torridon.
As well as lots of snow, teams have also experienced strong winds which have resulted in spindrift - wind-blown snow - and cornices.
Cornices are overhanging edges of snow created by wind. They pose a risk to walkers and climbers if they accidently step on to them.
On Saturday afternoon, a climber survived a fall of about 200ft (61m) after going through a cornice in Corie Case in the Cairngorms.
He was one of group from England who had just completed a winter route.
The climber was later treated for a broken ankle at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team said that he had fallen in an area of rocky outcrops but fortunately soft snow broke his fall.
About two minutes after the incident, two people from a group of Finnish climbers fell in the same area.
They were uninjured and made their own way off the hill.
Mountaineering organisations are quick to point out that thousands of people enjoy Scotland's mountains in winter without incident.
Climbers, walkers and skiers will be hoping the snow stays for the rest of the winter.
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Virgin Media has said it was forced to take its website offline for an hour during a hack attack.
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Twitter feeds associated with the Anonymous collective announced: "Virgin Media - Tango Down #OpTPB".
The messages suggest that the attack was organised to protest against efforts to block access to The Pirate Bay's (TPB) file-sharing pages.
Virgin Media began preventing access to TPB last Wednesday following a High Court order.
Four other internet service providers - Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk and O2 - have also been ordered to prevent their users being able to visit TPB by this coming Friday. A sixth ISP, BT, has requested "a few more weeks" to consider its position.
'Legal alternatives'
Tweets issued by accounts linked to Anonymous also claimed TalkTalk was targeted over the weekend, although the network could not confirm the details.
A statement by Virgin Media said that the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack lasted one hour, beginning at 5pm BST.
It added that it was only blocking TPB because it had been forced to do so.
"As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders but we strongly believe that tackling the issue of copyright infringement needs compelling legal alternatives, giving consumers access to great content at the right price, to help change consumer behaviour," it said.
Copyright defenders, including the British recorded music industry body BPI, have argued that illegal copies of films, books and music made available on file-sharing sites destroy creative industry jobs and discourage investment in new talent.
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Luxury carmaker Aston Martin has unveiled plans for a personal aircraft dubbed a "sports car for the skies".
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By Russell HottenFarnborough Air Show
The company has teamed up with jet engine maker Rolls-Royce and engineering boffins at Cranfield University on the futuristic project.
A concept aircraft was unveiled at the Farnborough Airshow, but the consortium hopes to have a flying version ready for the next show in two years.
The three-seat hybrid-electric vehicle will be vertical take-off and landing.
Aston Martin, so associated with James Bond, dismissed suggestions it was a gimmick more likely to appear in 007 films than be seen flying commercially.
Rolls-Royce to develop flying taxi
May boosts aerospace amid Brexit fears
"Personalised and electric air transport is a fast-developing area and we need to start getting into it," said James Stephens, the company's director of global government.
A number of aviation and technology firms are hoping to make electric-powered small aircraft and air-taxis a reality, including Airbus, ride-sharing firm Uber, and a Google-backed firm called Kitty Hawk. Earlier this week, Rolls-Royce announced plans to develop a flying taxi engine, although the project with Aston Martin is separate.
Mr Stephens said Aston Martin wants to corner the market in next-generation luxury flying vehicles for the rich and famous. The aircraft would, he said, "be a sports car for the skies".
But it won't come cheap. The working price guide for the vehicle is put at between £3-5m
"We, in the UK, have the ability to develop this," Mr Stephens said. "The challenge is time, money and regulation. But the market will be there eventually."
'At the vanguard'
Called the Volante Vision Concept, the aircraft will feature autonomous technology and be able to hit speeds of up to 200mph.
Carl Bourne, Rolls-Royce's strategy and business development head, said the consortium rejected plans to build a flying car. "You'd end up with a bad aircraft, and a bad car."
He said the Volante would be pitched as an alternative way to escape urban congestion and quickly move between big towns and cities.
"Unlike a private plane, it will be vertical lift. Unlike a helicopter, it will cruise more efficiently," he said.
The consortium behind the Volante also includes aviation technology company Cranfield Aerospace Solutions.
It chief executive, Paul Hutton, said: "The introduction of autonomous and electric propulsion technologies into new aircraft designs is both inevitable and challenging."
But he said such projects put the UK consortium "at the vanguard of this revolution in aerospace".
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The man accused of murdering two schoolgirls in woodland was a coward for refusing to face cross-examination, the prosecutor has told his trial.
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Russell Bishop, 52, denies sexually assaulting and strangling nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in Brighton's Wild Park in 1986.
Judge Mr Justice Sweeney told jurors at the Old Bailey that Mr Bishop had "chosen not to attend" on Tuesday.
But he said they must not regard it as giving assistance to the prosecution.
Bishop, formerly of Brighton, who is on trial for the second time having been acquitted of the girls' murder in 1987, denies two counts of murder.
In his closing speech, prosecutor Brian Altman QC told jurors Bishop had killed Nicola and Karen for his own "sexual gratification".
The court has heard that within three years of his acquittal, Bishop was jailed for life for the kidnap, sexual assault and attempted murder of a seven-year-old girl.
Mr Altman told jurors he had shown his "true colours" during the current trial.
He said: "The defendant chose to give evidence but within a relatively short time of my beginning my cross-examination of him, he refused to return after the mid-morning break.
"During that time you may conclude he showed you his true colours - an abusive, aggressive, controlling man.
"He is a coward to refuse to continue his evidence before you and he is a cowardly paedophile who thinks nothing of attacking a seven-year-old child."
Mr Altman said the defendant had nothing to explain the "multiple scientific findings" and instead put Nicola's father Barrie Fellows through the ordeal of being accused of the killings.
"What you have seen unfolding before your eyes is the creation of a smokescreen in the hope he gets away with murder for the second time," he added.
The trial continues.
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