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More than £100,000 has been raised for the family and newborn baby of a pregnant NHS nurse who died after contracting Covid-19.
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Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, 28, worked for five years at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, where she died.
Her baby daughter was delivered by caesarean section and is doing well, according to the hospital.
Earlier, hospital staff were joined by firefighters as they held a minute's silence for Ms Agyapong.
A GoFundMe page was set up on Wednesday morning in aid of her family.
Ms Agyapong had been admitted to hospital on 7 April, having tested positive for Covid-19 two days previously. She died on Sunday.
David Carter, chief executive of Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said she was a "fantastic nurse and a great example of what we stand for in this trust".
Ms Agyapong's husband is currently self-isolating and has been tested for Covid-19.
Following the minute's silence, staff also clapped for Ms Agyapong and other frontline staff.
In a tweet, chief fire officer Paul Fuller, of Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Lots of clapping in support of all those brave NHS and care workers who fight on - thank you!"
Colleagues paid tribute to Ms Agyapong, who also went by her married name Mary Boateng, on the fundraising page.
"Mary was a blessing to everyone she came across and her love, care and sincerity will be irreplaceable," organiser Rhoda Asiedu wrote.
"I am raising funds for her immediate family; her husband, AJ and her baby girl little Mary, who was born at the time of her demise."
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A California jogger filmed dumping a homeless man's belongings in a lake is accused of stealing a bystander's phone as he recorded him a day later.
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Oakland city police arrested Henry Sintay, 30, on Monday on suspicion of robbery after he was apparently filmed in a fracas at the same location.
Onlooker Matt Nelson shared the video on Facebook and said Mr Sintay had taken his phone during a tussle.
Mr Sintay has not been charged over removing the homeless man's camp.
The original video went viral in the US, provoking a debate about gentrification and race.
Mr Sintay is white and the homeless man - who was not present in either video - is a black man, Greg Markson, reports the East Bay Times.
Mr Nelson filmed someone alleged to be Mr Sintay last Saturday retrieving some of the homeless man's belongings from the lakeside.
During the footage, Mr Nelson asks the man if he is the jogger who was caught on film a day earlier after throwing the possessions in the water.
The man, who introduces himself as Henry, denies having thrown any of the homeless man's items in the lake.
When Mr Nelson continues to question him while filming, Mr Sintay grabs his phone.
The rest of the video is jerky footage of an altercation during which Mr Nelson screams: "I'm being attacked here!"
On Facebook, Mr Nelson claims he suffered a "mild concussion, some cuts and bruises and many sore and strained muscles" from the encounter.
Mr Sintay now faces a second-degree robbery charge.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Mr Sintay was being held at the Santa Rita jail and was due to appear in court on Wednesday.
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To his supporters, Julian Assange is a valiant campaigner for truth. To his critics, he is a publicity seeker who has endangered lives by putting a mass of sensitive information into the public domain.
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Assange is described by those who have worked with him as intense, driven and highly intelligent, with an exceptional ability to crack computer codes.
He set up Wikileaks, which publishes confidential documents and images, in 2006, making headlines around the world in April 2010 when it released footage showing US soldiers shooting dead 18 civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
But later that year he was detained in the UK - and later bailed - after Sweden issued an international arrest warrant over allegations of sexual assault.
Swedish authorities wanted to question him over claims that he had raped one woman and sexually molested and coerced another in August 2010, while on a visit to Stockholm to give a lecture.
He says both encounters were entirely consensual, and a long legal battle ensued which saw him seek asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition.
After spending almost seven years inside the embassy, Assange was arrested by British police on 11 April 2019. It came after Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno tweeted that his country had taken "a sovereign decision" to withdraw his asylum status.
The Wikileaks founder had always argued that he could not leave the embassy because he feared being extradited from Sweden to the US and put on trial for releasing secret US documents.
Officers removed him from the embassy's premises and took him into custody at a central London police station.
On 1 May 2019, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.
Weeks later, an investigation into the 2010 rape allegation against Assange was reopened by Swedish prosecutors.
Later that month, the US filed 17 new charges against Assange for violating the Espionage Act, related to the publication of classified documents in 2010.
Wikileaks said the announcement was "madness" and "the end of national security journalism".
As Assange prepared to fight against extradition to the US, Swedish prosecutors announced that the investigation into the 2010 rape allegation had been dropped.
Prosecutors said the evidence against Assange was "not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment", ending a case that spanned a decade.
In April 2020 it emerged that Assange had fathered two children while living inside the Ecuadorean embassy.
Stella Morris, a South African-born lawyer, said she had been in a relationship with the Wikileaks founder since 2015 and was raising their two young sons on her own.
Currently jailed in London's Belmarsh Prison, Assange's legal fight against extradition to the US continues.
During one extradition hearing in September 2020, a psychiatrist said Assange complained of hearing imaginary voices and music.
Michael Kopelman, who had interviewed Assange about 20 times, told the court he would be a "very high" suicide risk if he were extradited to the US.
Hacking
Assange has been generally reluctant to talk about his background, but media interest since the emergence of Wikileaks has thrown up some insight into his influences.
He was born in Townsville in the Australian state of Queensland in 1971, and led a rootless childhood while his parents ran a touring theatre. He became a father at 18 and custody battles soon followed.
The development of the internet gave him a chance to use his early promise at maths, though this too led to difficulties.
In 1995 Assange was accused, with a friend, of dozens of hacking activities. Though the group of hackers was skilled enough to track detectives tracking them, Assange was eventually caught and pleaded guilty.
He was fined several thousand Australian dollars - only escaping a prison term on the condition that he did not reoffend.
He then spent three years working with an academic, Suelette Dreyfus - who was researching the emerging, subversive side of the internet - writing a book with her, Underground, that became a bestseller in the computing fraternity.
Ms Dreyfus described Assange as a "very skilled researcher" who was "quite interested in the concept of ethics, concepts of justice, what governments should and shouldn't do".
This was followed by a course in physics and maths at Melbourne University, where he became a prominent member of a mathematics society, inventing an elaborate puzzle that contemporaries said he excelled at.
Wikileaks work
He began Wikileaks in 2006 with a group of like-minded people from across the web, creating a web-based "dead-letterbox" for would-be leakers.
"[To] keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions," Assange told the BBC in 2011.
"We've become good at it, and never lost a case, or a source, but we can't expect everyone to go through the extraordinary efforts that we do."
He adopted a nomadic lifestyle, running Wikileaks from temporary, shifting locations.
He could go for long stretches without eating and focus on work with very little sleep, according to Raffi Khatchadourian, a reporter for the New Yorker magazine who spent several weeks travelling with him.
"He creates this atmosphere around him where the people who are close to him want to care for him, to help keep him going. I would say that probably has something to do with his charisma."
Key dates in legal battle
Read the full timeline
'Smear campaign'
Wikileaks and Assange came to prominence with the release of the footage of the US helicopter shooting civilians in Iraq.
He promoted and defended the video, as well as the massive release of classified US military documents on the Afghan and Iraq wars in July and October 2010.
The whistleblowing website went on to release new tranches of documents, including five million confidential emails from US-based intelligence company Stratfor.
But it also found itself fighting for survival in 2010, when a number of US financial institutions began to block donations.
Coverage of Assange was then dominated by Sweden's efforts to question him over the 2010 sexual allegations. He said such efforts were politically motivated and part of a smear campaign.
Assange turned to then Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa for help, the two men having expressed similar views on freedom in the past.
His stay at the Ecuadorean embassy was punctuated by occasional press statements and interviews. He made a submission to the UK's Leveson Inquiry into press standards, saying he had faced "widespread inaccurate and negative media coverage".
Concerns over his health also surfaced but in August 2014, but Assange dismissed reports that he would be leaving the embassy to seek medical treatment.
'Significant victory'
Assange later complained to the UN that he was being unlawfully detained as he could not leave the embassy without being arrested.
In February 2016, a UN panel ruled in his favour, stating that he had been "arbitrarily detained" and should be allowed to walk free and compensated for his "deprivation of liberty".
Assange hailed it a "significant victory" and called the decision "binding", leading his lawyers to call for the Swedish extradition request to be dropped immediately.
The ruling was not legally binding on the UK, however, and the UK Foreign Office responded by saying it "changes nothing".
In 2016, Sweden's chief prosecutor Ingrid Isgren travelled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London to question Assange over the 2010 rape allegation. Prosecutors had already dropped their investigation into the sexual assault allegations after running out of time to question him and bring charges.
Since Sweden dropped its investigation into Assange, the European Arrest Warrant for him no longer stands.
But the Metropolitan Police said Assange still faced the lesser charge of failing to surrender to a court in June 2012, an offence punishable by up to a year in prison or a fine.
And it was a warrant based on this charge which led to his arrest in 2019. Citing the warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court on 29 June 2012, the Metropolitan Police said Assange had been "taken into custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as possible".
The police said they had been invited into the embassy by the Ecuadorean ambassador.
Ecuador's shifting position
Ecuador's position vis-à-vis Assange changed after President Correa, a strong advocate of Wikileaks, was succeeded in office by Lenín Moreno.
Mr Moreno and his government had grown increasingly frustrated with Assange and his refusal to follow the rules they had imposed for his continued stay in the embassy.
In his video statement, President Moreno said he had "inherited this situation" and that Assange had ignored Ecuador's requests to "respect and abide by these rules".
His decision, Mr Moreno said, followed "repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols" by Assange.
He said that in particular, Assange had "violated the norm of not intervening in the internal affairs of other states", most recently in January 2019 when Wikileaks had released documents from the Vatican.
In a video statement, President Moreno also said that he had requested that Great Britain guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty.
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Prime Minister David Cameron was among the high-profile visitors to Trafalgar Square on International Paralympic Day.
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The event was held to promote next year's Paralympic Games in London,
for which tickets go on sale on Friday.
Mr Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson each partnered a wheelchair tennis player as they tried out the sport before an enthusiastic crowd.
The day ended with the official invitation being issued to athletes around the world to compete in 2012.
The Paralympics follow the Olympic Games and run
from 29 August to 9 September
next year.
Mr Johnson promised that paralympic athletes would be well looked after at the Games, saying: "We are really looking forward to welcoming the world's elite paralympians to the capital next year and they will receive a fantastic reception once they arrive in our great city."
London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: "I want all the tickets to sell out and I think we have a very good chance of doing that.
"People get paralympic sport in this country. Our history in the paralympic movement and that many of our paralympians are household names gives us a real head start in this country."
The programme of events, featuring demonstrations of all 20 paralympic sports, coincided with the visit to London of representatives of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The heads of National Paralympic Committees from more than 100 competing countries will have the chance to see many of the Games venues.
IPC president Sir Philip Craven said: "The foundations for what could be the most successful Games ever are being laid in London. All we need now is the athletes."
British swimmer Ellie Simmonds, who also attended the event, told the BBC: "It is good that the Paralympics is now getting on the same scale as the Olympics."
Great Britain wheelchair basketball player Ade Adepitan told the BBC how important playing the sport had been to him.
He said he had spent many years on calipers trying to play able-bodied sports with his friends.
"When I discovered wheelchair basketball it changed my life. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for sport and I think sport is having the same impact on kids both disabled and able-bodied all over the world and that's what we hope we can do with 2012 too.
"This event is extremely important. Generally a lot of people know about the Paralympics, they might have seen a little bit of the sports on TV but here's an opportunity to come and meet the athletes watch the sports and the events live.
"When I spoke to a lot of my friends about myself playing wheelchair basketball they could not believe how hard it was, how fast it was and how big the players were."
Thursday's events kicked off at 0815 BST with the first round of sports being showcased and a world record attempt for the longest rally in a sitting volleyball match.
A non-competitive race between Pistorius, American Jerome Singleton and five local schoolchildren took place on a track in front of the National Gallery but the two athletes did not go to head-to-head because of safety concerns.
A bronze sculpture of Pistorius by artist Ben Dearnley was also due to be unveiled.
Pistorius told the BBC: "Athens was phenomenal, Beijing was on a higher scale with a bigger turnout and more coverage but I think London's going to be at the forefront.
"The coverage of today is getting phenomenal and the people are coming out and enjoying the sports.
"I have seen some people clench jaws seeing the wheelchairs clash (in the basketball) and that's exciting but that kind of excitement around the sports is what's needed and I'm looking forward to it.
"The Paralympics is still my first love. If you look at my career, one of the biggest highlights is Beijing's Paralympic Games. It is something that is extremely special to me."
One of the final session highlights was a penalty shoot-out with Great Britain's blind football five-a-side squad competing against former England internationals Ray Wilkins and Paul Merson, former professional Chris Kamara and youth team players from Chelsea and Swindon.
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Colombia's peace talks are advancing at an accelerated pace – "in the rhythm of mambo", as a Farc spokesman put it.
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After three rounds of talks, Jesus Santrich said common ground on land reform had been found.
The Colombian government negotiator, former Vice President Humberto de la Calle, said there were still were stark differences, but admitted some concord.
The negotiations were launched three months ago in an attempt to end five decades of conflict.
The government says it has cost the lives of more than 500,000 people.
The talks will resume in Havana in Cuba in a week's time.
While there appear to be some fundamental differences between the two sides, the left-wing rebels seem to have adopted a conciliatory tone.
"We believe there are concrete results in these advances in the land reform proposal," said Jesus Santrich. "We believe this is a mambo rhythm. It's subdued but accelerated."
But the rebels are pressing for guarantees that the results of the talks be recognised by a constitutional assembly.
'Peace but not at any cost'
They fear a repetition of what happened in previous peace talks, when Farc members ended up being extradited after the negotiations.
The Colombian government had however already said that it had no intentions of submitting the results of the talks to an assembly.
Colombia's chief negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, ruled out a ceasefire, as sought by the rebels.
Farc declared the truce as peace talks began in Cuba, in November.
"We want peace, but not at any cost. Not if as a result of the conversations the guerrillas are able to get stronger and continue to wage war," he told reporters.
The Colombian government maintains its intentions of only halting military action once a peace deal has been signed.
They say the final aim of the negotiations is to get the rebels to abandon their armed struggle and join the legal political process.
Among the land reform issues proposed by the Farc is a demand that 25 million hectares (62 million acres) of land, more than 20% of the country, be handed over to the country's poor.
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A temporary mortuary that opened a month ago to cope with a surge in Covid-related hospital deaths in Dorset has been stood down.
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The site in Poole Port was set up during the first wave of the pandemic but was not required until January.
The "mortality support facility" was used to support NHS hospital mortuaries but has closed again as death rates continue to fall.
Residents have been urged to continue following coronavirus guidance.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's public health councillor Nicola Greene said: "Thank you to our volunteers and staff who ensured the deceased were looked after with dignity at the site."
Dorset Council leader Spencer Flower said: "We are pleased that residents of Dorset have observed the government's rules, and this means that our infection rates are reducing, but can we ask everyone to continue the good work to keep everyone safe."
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More action is needed to prevent gridlock in Bristol once the tolls on the Severn crossings go, an MP says.
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Labour's Darren Jones said he tried to raise the issue with the region's metro mayor, Conservative Tim Bowles, but nothing had been done.
Mr Bowles said he offered to arrange a meeting to discuss the issue but it was not taken up by the MP.
Highways England estimates there will be 16,000 more car journeys a day to Bristol once the tolls are abolished.
Westbound tolls on both the M48 Severn Bridge and the M4 Second Severn Crossing (The Prince of Wales Bridge) will be abolished at the end of this year.
It is feared the abolition of the tolls will make daily commuting by car into Bristol more attractive.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Jones, who represents Bristol North West, said: "Since the announcement to reduce, and then remove, Severn Bridge tolls, I have raised the issue of gridlock and air pollution with government time and again.
'6m cars a year'
"I have also tried to engage with our regional mayor to tackle local transport.
"Now we know - 16,000 extra cars are expected on our roads every single day - that's six million a year - and with no thought for advance mitigation."
He added the issue needed all political parties to work together.
In response, a spokeswoman for the West of England Combined Authority, which is led by Tim Bowles, said: "The regional mayor has offered Darren Jones a number of dates to meet but he's not taken him up on any of them."
The Labour MP said the mayor was invited on numerous occasions to a cross-party gridlock conference in July but failed to attend or send a senior infrastructure advisor.
He added he was instead offered other meeting dates which he could not make.
Mr Jones is now petitioning for funding to solve traffic problems in North Bristol.
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A couple say they were sent a "ransom note" from the government asking for £2,000 for part of their driveway and a hedge they thought they already owned.
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Guy and Clare Stanbury, from Redditch, were among 90 residents invited to buy micro-plots near their homes.
The couple said they bought the slice of land for £750, fearing problems in the future if they did not.
Homes England, part of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said it was a trial.
A Freedom of Information request found there were more than 500 micro-plots listed for sale across Redditch and Bromsgrove boroughs.
Homes England said it had written to 90 residents, adding that the trial could be rolled out across England.
'Lesser of two evils'
It said it owns "a significant quantity of small strips of land" in the area.
Mr and Mrs Stanbury said their Land Registry documentation clearly showed the plot they bought should already be their property.
Mr Stanbury blamed "a series of errors within the Land Registry" and "general inaccuracies which have built up over time".
To get the boundaries redrawn for the property, which the couple bought in 1996, would have cost £500, Mr Stanbury said.
He said they decided that buying the plot was "the lesser of two evils".
The couple feared if they did not buy it, the plot could be sold to a third party who could charge them for accessing their driveway.
Mrs Stanbury said was "really upset" when the letter first arrived.
"It was a shock out the blue. I was really frightened about it - I couldn't even look at the hedge," she said.
Homes England said homeowners were under no obligation to buy their adjoining micro-plots but if they did not it would "review further options to dispose of the land".
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Around 150 students who were forced out of their seafront accommodation in Aberystwyth by strong winds and waves have been allowed to return.
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All buildings along the town promenade were evacuated on Monday night as it was hit by an "exceptional" wave swell.
A university spokeswoman said: "The past few days have been difficult for those living in seafront halls."
The coast of Wales has been battered again but forecasters say the worst of the storms is over for now.
The student were moved out of their flats until safety checks were made on the accommodation.
Rebecca Davies, the university's pro vice-chancellor for student and staff services, said: "Given all that has been happening, the students have been very understanding and spirits have been very good."
One flood warning and eight flood alerts remain in place from Natural Resources Wales (NRW). The flood warning is for the lower Dee Valley.
The Met Office said there were no weather warnings for Wales on Tuesday, with lighter showers expected and the wind easing through the rest of the week.
Meanwhile, the clean-up operation continues along Wales' coastline.
In Aberystwyth, surveyors will be inspecting the promenade which suffered severe damage with holes forming in the sea wall as well as the town's shelter collapsing.
Residents evacuated from their homes on Monday night will be assessing any damage to their properties while students who live in seafront accommodation run by the university students must wait until the condition of the building has been assessed before they can return.
The promenade was closed on Monday night for safety reasons but there were no reports of further incidents.
A support centre was set up at Plascrug Leisure Centre for those forced out although only two people used it said centre coordinator Mel Hopkins.
Hotels along the seafront had moved guests to another hotel inland, he said.
All councils along the coast are expected to begin counting the cost caused by a weekend of storms including Pembrokeshire council workers who have started clearing the main road that runs alongside the beach in Newgale, where tonnes of pebbles were washed ashore.
Disruption also remains on transport networks across Wales.
Buses continue to replace Arriva Trains Wales trains from Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog, Machynlleth to Pwllheli and between Llanelli and Carmarthen until further notice.
This is due to a combination of flooding and damage to some lines.
Irish Ferries has cancelled its Swift sailings to and from Dublin but says passengers can be accommodated on other services.
Meanwhile, Ceredigion council's deputy leader Ray Quant said people in Borth opposed to more sea defences are likely to have been persuaded of the need for them by the recent storms.
Mr Quant, who represents the town, said the first phase of the defences, a 300m (1,000ft) man-made shingle bank and reef, has protected homes in the village despite being heavily pounded by the surf.
He said: "The shingle bank has taken on heck of a battering over the last storm events but nevertheless less I would say that shingle bank in place has saved an awful lot of damage to the properties on the seaward side.
"It has moved the shingle bank around so that will need to be re-profiled once the storms abate."
He said he was hoping for an announcement soon on funding for the second phase of the village's sea defences.
He added: "There is a bit of controversy in the community about whether or not they were needed but I'm sure after recent events people will realise there is a need for them."
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Google has agreed to alter its search results in the light of a European investigation into whether it unfairly promoted its own services.
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The firm said that it will more clearly label results from YouTube, Google Maps and its other sites.
It also agreed to display links to rivals close to where it displayed its own services on its results page.
EU regulators are asking for feedback and have proposed that the concessions be tested for a month.
If the European Commission accepts them, they will become legally binding for the next five years.
As part of the agreement, Google will clearly separate promoted links from other web search results as well as displaying links to three specialised search rivals "close to its own services in a place that is clearly visible to users".
"The objective of this process is to try to see if we can achieve a settled outcome in this antitrust investigation," said Commission spokesman Antoine Colombani.
But the Microsoft-backed lobby group Initiative for a Competitive Marketplace (Icomp) was not convinced the changes went far enough.
"It is clear that mere labelling is not any kind of solution to the competition concerns that have been identified. Google should implement the same ranking policy to all websites," it said.
It added it would comment further once it had fully evaluated the proposals.
Dominant in Europe
Other concessions being offered by Google include:
An earlier US Federal Trade Commission investigation into how Google displayed links to its services concluded there was no competition issue.
Explaining why it took a different view the Commission said: "Bing and Yahoo represent a substantial alternative to Google in web searches in the USA; their combined market share is around 30%. In contrast, Google has been holding market shares well above 90% in most European countries."
"The way Google presents its web search results therefore has a much more significant impact on users and on the competitive process in Europe than it does in the USA."
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Migrants have begun arriving in the UK again following days of high winds in the English Channel.
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Men, women and children have been seen arriving in Dover harbour wrapped in blankets and wearing lifejackets.
Others, wearing face masks, were seen lining up along the side of Border Force cutter Seeker.
The vessel is part of a scaled-up contingent that has been busy off the coast of Kent on Tuesday.
Border Force has had at least five boats in operation - cutters Seeker and Searcher and patrol boats Hunter, Speedwell and Eagle.
HM Coastguard has confirmed it has been assisting Border Force off the Kent coast. The Home Office has also been contacted for a comment.
September has already become the busiest month on record for migrant Channel crossings, despite there being a week to go.
On Monday evening, the first of up to 400 asylum seekers were seen arriving at Napier Barracks in Folkestone.
The barracks is being used to house Channel migrants while their asylum claims are processed.
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With the G8 summit two weeks away, security is being tightened in County Fermanagh and across Northern Ireland.
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By Nalina EggertBBC News
Some protesters fear "heavy-handed" policing as prison cells have been cleared in anticipation.
Northern Ireland has specific laws and crowd control measures that evolved over years of political conflict.
Police said they "will uphold the right to peaceful protest" but there will be "consequences" for any protesters who break the law.
Since it was announced that the leaders of eight wealthy and powerful countries would be visiting a rural Northern Ireland golf resort, resources, thought and money have been poured into policing the event.
More than 100 cells at Northern Ireland's high-security prison, Maghaberry, have been set aside for any violent protesters over the two-day event.
Surveillance drones have been bought and 3,600 police officers from other parts of the UK are being drafted in to work alongside the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland). Some have been trained to drive the armoured vehicles used by police in Northern Ireland.
Couples have even been told to plan extra time to get to weddings in Belfast - in case anti-G8 protesters surround the City Hall.
"It would be very foolish if we did not plan for the potential of significant trouble," the Northern Ireland justice minister, David Ford, has said.
He has also told the Assembly at Stormont that "lawful, peaceful protests" would be facilitated.
Some protesters and human rights activists are worried, however, that police may use powers designed for anti-terrorism in a "heavy-handed" way.
The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) is planning to send human rights observers to the G8 protests to monitor the police.
If protests do turn violent, deputy director Daniel Holder hopes the police response will be only what is "necessary and proportionate".
He said the CAJ was "firmly and absolutely opposed to the use of plastic bullets" that the group said had been fired on 12 occasions in Northern Ireland over the past year.
It was a year marked by violence at protests after the annual Orange Order parades in July, but also by widespread loyalist protests in December, some of which turned violent, after Belfast City Council voted to stop flying the Union flag over the City Hall every day.
Stop and search
Some counter-terrorism laws are specific to Northern Ireland.
Police and soldiers can stop and search people for munitions and transmitters without having to prove they had "reasonable" grounds to be suspicious as they would in England, Scotland or Wales.
Another characteristic of Northern Ireland law is that police must be notified of any planned parades or marches, except funeral processions and those held by the Salvation Army.
This is to allow the Parades Commission, set up as part of the peace process, to talk to local communities and set rules for the parade if it is contentious or likely to prompt violence.
Taking part in a parade that the police do not know about is a criminal offence in Northern Ireland and can carry a prison sentence.
"It would be an abuse of these powers if they were used just to obstruct protests," Mr Holder said. "If they are widely deployed for purposes well beyond the use of what seems reasonable, then serious questions will be asked."
'Severe' threat
There is, of course, a reason why such strong counter-terrorism laws exist in Northern Ireland - conflict continues.
The threat from dissident republicanism is still judged to be severe.
But organisers of an anti-G8 protest planned for the first night of the summit fear the dissident threat is a "perfect excuse" for "repressive measures" against protesters.
"We have nothing to do with that type of violence, individual terror attacks and such," said Gary Mulcahy of the Socialist Party at a protest planning meeting in Belfast.
"We're opposed to those methods, which actually hand the establishment a perfect excuse to try and justify the repressive measures that they're preparing to use against us."
He said that the numbers of protesters and levels of violence would be lower than at previous anti-capitalism protests.
"Because we don't have a major anti-capitalist movement, the G8 summit which is going to happen in a few weeks here is going to be quite different from the likes of Genoa and Seattle in the past," he said.
Peaceful protest
Steven Agnew of the Green Party, who represents North Down at Stormont, said: "I certainly have concerns when you prepare for an event that the first thing you do is set aside a wing of a prison," he said.
"That suggests a heavy hand. If you go in heavy-handed to begin with, you are more likely to get a violent response."
A PSNI spokesperson said the police have already been in contact with campaign groups, in keeping with their goal to "uphold the right to peaceful protest". He appealed for protesters to get in touch and discuss their plans.
"Our aim is to work with people so they can make their point or raise their issue, whilst ensuring the safety of all involved and minimising disruption, not least to the local communities who are most directly affected by this event," he said.
"Everyone has the right to peacefully protest and police will endeavour to facilitate that right where possible, providing protesters remain within the law. However where protest activity is unlawful we will take action and there will be consequences for those breaking the law.
"The PSNI is committed to playing its part in ensuring that the summit passes off peacefully and that nothing detracts from this opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland to the world."
The PSNI has said that police officers brought in from outside Northern Ireland will be under the control of the PSNI's chief constable and held accountable by the Police ombudsman.
Thousands of people are expected to attend a separate set of protests and events with the Church-backed anti-hunger campaign, Enough Food For Everyone IF.
Phillip Graham of Oxfam said the campaign's relationship with police "should be fine".
The G8 summit brings together the leaders of the US, UK, Canada, Russia, Germany, Italy, France and Japan.
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An 11th-hour intervention has ended a stand-off overshadowing the creation of Scotland's new single police force.
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The issue of who should have day-to-day control of human resources and finance functions had been in dispute.
Chief Constable Steve House and Vic Emery, chair of civilian oversight body the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), had been unable to agree.
But Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill intervened this week to ask the parties to consider sharing the functions.
His suggested deal was revealed at an SPA public meeting in Glasgow on the day of a deadline set by MSPs for the two parties to resolve the dispute.
Holyrood's justice committee had talked of a "power struggle" and called for an end to "empire building".
SPA board members have now approved Mr MacAskill's plan but Mr Emery said there is still "a huge amount of work to be done" before the Police Service of Scotland (PSoS) goes live in 55 days - on 1 April.
'Not a compromise'
Agreement has yet to be reached on how many staff will be required, how they will be divided, who is allowed to spend money and how much can be spent without further authorisation.
However, Mr Emery rejected Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie's prediction that any solution to the impasse would be "a jumble" and said: "This is not a compromise."
Mr Emery said he could appreciate Mr House's position - and both men thought the Scottish government should have intervened earlier.
Mr House told the meeting he was content with new arrangement, even though he believed "the principle is not one that I said is best-suited to running the police service".
"I welcome the development," he said. "It's a shame that this has come so late on."
Following the meeting, Mr House said: "Police forces are used to having HR and finance report to the chief constable.
"That's the way the model works - and the model does work. But it's a debate about different business models.
"I think the intervention from the government has been useful and we now need to sit down and thrash out the detail to get some clarity to support staff that work for us so they can start seeing what their future is."
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A "lying" father has been found guilty of murdering his five-month-old baby daughter after a five-week trial.
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Summer Peace died in 2017 after suffering a catastrophic brain injury along with fractured ribs and bleeding, a court heard.
Philip Peace denied the charge but was found guilty by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court earlier.
The 43-year-old, of Himley Road, Dudley, is due to be sentenced on Friday.
Peace was caring for his daughter alone at a property in Heath Green on 8 September 2017 when he reported to emergency services that she had become unresponsive, claiming he had just placed her on the floor.
Paramedics tried to resuscitate the baby but she died in hospital the following day, police said.
During the trial the jury heard evidence that Summer had died of injuries consistent with her having been shaken and then thrown against a semi-hard surface such as a sofa.
'An injustice'
Her injuries included fractured ribs, retinal bleeding and a catastrophic brain injury so severe it had been the cause of her immediate respiratory collapse, said West Midlands Police.
Det Sgt Naomi Mauchan said: "From the very start, the police investigation sought to establish what caused Summer's collapse, and yet sadly it will only ever be Philip Peace who knows the sequence of events that afternoon.
"It has been proved during the trial that the account Philip Peace provided to his family, medical professionals, police and, latterly, the jury was a lie.
"The medical evidence collectively proved that she died from non-accidental injuries, so to dismiss the evidence and opinions of so many expert witnesses would be an injustice to her."
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UK graduates contribute to the economy almost 10 times what it costs the state to educate them to degree level, research suggests.
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By Hannah RichardsonBBC News education reporter
An IPPR think tank and UCU academics union report suggests graduates bring in £180,000 more than those with A-levels over their working life.
An average degree costs the state just under £18,800 per student.
It warns that reforms leading to fewer graduates will limit the UK's ability to compete globally.
The study, Further, Higher? Tertiary Education and Growth in the UK's New Economy, is published as the University and College Union meets for its annual congress in Manchester.
It notes that in 2000 the UK had the third highest number of graduates among advanced industrialised nations.
By 2008 it had fallen to fifteenth because competitor nations had been investing at a faster rate, the report says.
It gives the example of China which quadrupled its number of graduates between 1999 and 2005 and is expected to become the world's largest producer of PhD scientists and engineers.
And India is planning 800 new higher education institutions by 2020, the report adds.
At the same time, it notes: "Recent research has suggested that the number of students graduating in the UK is likely to fall further following tighter restrictions on student numbers, with 15,000 fewer higher education places in September 2012 compared with the previous year and around 25,000 fewer places in English universities."
It adds: "Recent UK reforms to the higher education system have led to reductions in courses available in key areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills.
"A recent study found that the provision of single subject STEM courses has gone down by 15% over the past six years in England. This is concerning."
The report quotes car manufacturer Nissan's head of design and development Jerry Hardcastle, who issues a stark warning about the UK's economic future.
'Timely reminder'
"In India they are churning out hundreds of thousands of graduates and we are churning out a small number and that will restrict our ability to expand.
"We can't have any shrinking of mechanical engineering graduates - we need more engineering graduates. If they're not available here, the jobs will move to India, Brazil and China."
The report concludes that with the continuing economic slowdown, the UK needs to develop measures which will create a competitive advantage for the future.
This means ensuring it can meet industry's needs for skilled workers, especially in new growth areas, such as the low-carbon vehicle sector and renewable energy.
As the number of jobs requiring high skills increases, the number of graduates entering the workforce should be maintained and even expanded, the report says.
And it calls on the government to invest urgently, noting it invests just 1.7% of public expenditure on tertiary education, compared with 2.3% in France, 2.8% in Germany and the OECD average of 3%.
'Huge contribution'
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said unless the UK produced more highly-skilled workers quickly jobs would be haemorrhaged abroad.
"This research shows the huge contribution A-level and degree holders make to our economy and instead of cutting places at college and university ministers should be looking to fast-track learners into the industries of the future."
A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesman said the government recognised the importance of a highly-skilled workforce and that it was continuing to invest in this.
"More people than ever before will benefit from higher education in 2012.
"Our reforms put university funding on to a sustainable footing. We estimate that the cash going to universities could rise to £11bn by 2014-15, which is an increase of 10%.
"It's important that employers and the higher education sector work together to identify the skills graduates need for the future and work together to address these."
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The Scottish government's transport bill has been approved by MSPs at Holyrood and will become law. So, what is set to change?
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1. Old polluting cars to face emission charges
The Scottish government has pledged to cut pollution, and the first local authority to introduce a scheme to help fulfil that pledge has been Glasgow.
There are two phases to the low-emission zone (LEZ) plan. But what does it mean and how does it work?
LEZs do not forbid higher-emission vehicles from entering, but daily charges inside the zone are enforced.
In Glasgow, the first phase involves handing a penalty notice to the owners of high nitrogen dioxide producing buses that travel into the city centre. There are signs pointing out the boundary of the low-emission zone and enforcement is made through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, as opposed to barriers or toll booths.
Phase two will come into effect in December 2022 and will see all high-emission vehicles travelling into the zone hit by the charge. To find out if your car might be subject to the penalty, click here
Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen councils are also discussing introducing LEZs.
2. Double parking and pavement parking to be outlawed
In 2016, MSPs voted in principle to make it an offence to park on pavements.
The Glasgow Kelvin MSP Sandra White had proposed legislation which would also make it illegal for vehicles to double park.
Her bill won unanimous support, and the SNP government pledged to legislate to tackle irresponsible parking.
You might think there is already a law prohibiting pavement parking. But there is not.
The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 dances around the issue, saying things like it is an offence to "place or deposit anything on a road that causes an obstruction" or "leave a vehicle, or trailer, parked on a road (which includes the pavement) in a position that may cause a danger to other road users".
This new transport law makes the situation clearer, saying;
3. Local councils could run bus services
Ministers want to halt the decline in bus use in Scotland, after passenger numbers fell by 10% over five years.
The new legislation would give local councils and regional transport partnerships (RTPs) more flexibility to improve services, either by working with bus companies or by stepping in and running services themselves.
It includes new local franchising powers, and requirements on bus operators to provide more information to the public about routes, timetabling and fares.
There will also be "smart-ticketing" across bus, rail, ferry, subway and tram networks, with a "national technological standard" that such schemes would have to live up to.
4. Paying to park at work
The new law would give all Scottish councils the power to impose the workplace parking levy - so far only Glasgow and Edinburgh have signalled they plan to do so
It is likely to be modelled on a scheme in Nottingham, the only UK city to have implemented a workplace parking levy, where employers offering more than 10 spaces are charged £415 a year for every space
It is up to them to decide if they pass this cost on to staff - in Nottingham 80% of big employers do recoup at least part of it from their workers.
Employers in Nottingham have adopted different ways of reclaiming the money, for example the city council deducts a percentage of annual salary, meaning higher paid workers pay more.
NHS sites would be exempt for the Scottish scheme but it would be up to councils to decide on other exemptions.
Money raised from the levy would be reinvested in improving transport.
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A £150m scheme to cut congestion by allowing traffic on the hard shoulder of the M62 in West Yorkshire will go ahead, the chancellor has said.
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George Osborne said the scheme would not be a victim of the public spending cuts to be announced next week.
Construction work between junction 25 for Brighouse and junction 30 for Rothwell was delayed in July while the government completed its review.
Mr Osborne also pledged support for a new entrance at Leeds railway station.
The £14m southern entrance at Granary Wharf will allow passengers to access the station from both sides of the River Aire.
Mr Osborne said the two investments would cut congestion and lead to shorter journey times in the county.
Metro, West Yorkshire's passenger transport authority, said the approval of the M62 scheme was "good news for cross-Pennine motorists".
Councillor Chris Greaves, the authority's chairman, said the new station entrance would "help boost economic recovery and growth by making the developing area to the south of the station more accessible to the 20,000 or more passengers using the station who head to Granary Wharf and the south of the city centre".
Mr Greaves said he was concerned that Mr Osborne had not mentioned Leeds's planned trolleybus scheme, which he said was "crucial" to the city.
He said: "We have worked hard to bring down the cost of the project to under £200m, which compared to the £5bn the government is preparing to invest in the London Crossrail project, is minimal."
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The cost of rural broadband could be about to get cheaper for millions of people across the UK.
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By Dan WhitworthNewsbeat technology reporter
BT is being forced by industry regulator Ofcom to drop its wholesale price by 12% each year until 2014.
That's the amount it charges other ISPs like Sky, TalkTalk and O2 for using its network.
It's hoped the move, which comes into effect today, will lead to stronger competition from those ISPs and therefore lower prices in those areas.
Locally-run services
Hayley Belisle is one person who hopes the price cuts will come into effect sooner rather than later.
"I live in the countryside in Northumberland halfway between Newcastle and the Scottish border," said the 26-year-old.
"I did have BT but it was just getting so expensive I got them to take it out."
To get online now she relies on family and locally-run services.
"If I'm round my mam's house I can get on the internet there," she said.
"Or I can go down to the local community centre."
'Very limited'
A five-minute stroll from her home she takes us to the IT suite at the Hadston House community centre.
Made up of 10 PCs and designed to make it easier for local people to get online, it's run by Scott Dickinson.
He said: "It's crucial for people to have the same ability to apply for jobs, to apply for housing, to do everything that's done online now.
"People use them for all types of things; homework clubs, accessing emails and online shopping because a lot of people can't afford the internet in their own homes.
"Broadband's very limited here, as well as the packages we can have because we're so rural."
Ofcom estimates around three million homes and businesses could benefit from the move.
BT says the forced price drop won't affect what it charges its customers.
However, the changes mean that BT's rivals will pay less to use its network which could pave the way for more competition and lower prices.
The price cap will last up to 31 March 2014 at which time Ofcom is expected to look at the situation again.
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Boat owners are being encouraged to check their vessels for animal stowaways trying to get to islands to prey on seabirds.
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The National Trust, RSPB and National Trust for Scotland's new biosecurity campaign aims to protect puffins, Manx shearwater and European storm-petrel.
They fear colonies could be devastated if predators like rats, stoats and mink get to the birds' islands.
The campaign is part of a £700,000 biosecurity project.
Seabirds make their home on islands including the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, Grassholm off the Welsh coast, Copeland in Northern Ireland, and Foula, one of the Shetland islands.
The organisations warn predators could eat eggs and chicks, causing declines in populations or even wiping breeding colonies out.
Measures include encouraging boat owners to check their boats, cargo and baggage and for day trippers to check their bags and keep any foodstuffs in animal-proof containers to avoid attracting animals.
The UK is home to an estimated eight million breeding seabirds, with up to half of the EU population of seabirds breeding on islands which are naturally free of predators.
Dr David Bullock, from the National Trust, said: "Many of the UK's incredibly important seabird populations are in serious trouble and their colonies have to be free from disturbance in order to breed successfully.
"We need to do all we can to help them, not only to secure their future but also to protect our wider marine environment."
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The campaign forms part of the Biosecurity for Life project, which has been awarded the funding from the EU Life nature scheme,
Project manager Tom Churchyard said: "Very few of the UK's internationally important seabird islands have any protection against the arrival of new predators.
"New incidences are reported every year from islands around the UK, and climate change among other factors is expected to make these a more common occurrence."
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Nottinghamshire is expected to receive £23.1m in funding to support businesses and manage Covid-19 enforcement as it enters tier three restrictions.
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The funding will see a £16.5m business support scheme for firms in the county and £6.6m for managing systems like NHS test and trace locally.
The figure excludes Nottingham city, which will receive its own funding.
The news comes as the whole of the county enters the highest coronavirus restrictions in England on Friday.
Under Nottinghamshire's tier three restrictions, alcohol cannot be sold after 9pm in shops, but can be sold until 10pm if bought "in hospitality venues where accompanying a substantial meal".
Leader of the county council Kay Cutts said the curfew on selling alcohol was requested by Nottinghamshire Police in a bid to curb drinking in parks and streets after hospitality venues close.
Unlike other tier three areas across the country, businesses such as betting shops, saunas, tattoo parlours and nail salons must also close.
Ashfield District Council leader Jason Zadrozny said businesses would have to wait "at least a week" before receiving any financial support because of delays from central government.
He said: "People and businesses are frustrated and worried, a week doesn't sound that bad but take it in the context of these businesses.
"The wolf's already at the door, they're already existing.
"I went to a food bank that didn't exist at the start of this and now they're doing 200 food parcels a week, in one ward of Ashfield, that's the level of deprivation we're dealing with here."
At the beginning of the week it was thought only south Nottinghamshire would be entering tier three restrictions, but a surge in infection rates across the county led the government to re-evaluate its local lockdown.
Nottinghamshire's director of public health Jonathan Gribbin said the infection rate in the over 60s had been "rising significantly" and was of "grave concern".
"These infections are leading to the most severe pressures in our care system and also our local NHS," he said.
On Wednesday, 413 people across the county were being treated in hospital for Covid-19, which is 40% more than the highest figures seen during the first wave of the virus.
Mr Gribbin added: "Nottinghamshire's got rates which are rising really quickly, that's been driving a lot of the disruption we've been seeing in our hospitals."
He said Nottingham's two main hospitals, City and the Queen's Medical Centre, had admitted 49 patients in a single day.
Ms Cutts said the hope was the county could follow tier three restrictions for 28 days, and appealed to people "to crack down as hard as we can now" so Nottinghamshire "can have a more normal Christmas".
"But it will depend entirely on the trajectory of the virus" she said.
Mr Gribbin added the 28 days gave "Nottinghamshire the very best chance of turning things around so that in the four weeks running up to Christmas we hope to be in a better place".
'We got a day and a half's notice'
Paul Green has run the Monster Shop - a tattoo parlour in Mansfield - for the past 36 years.
The father-of-three said that during the national lockdown the financial help was insufficient, meaning he eventually had to take universal credit.
He fears that if the tier three restrictions last as long as the lockdown did he may not reopen.
"We got a day and a half's notice, you can't prepare in that timescale," he said.
"We've abided by the rules, we're one of the cleanest businesses in the country, but they've still shut us down.
"Our customers can just drive a couple of minutes to tattoo places in Derbyshire. None of it makes sense."
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The Alliance Party has pulled out of talks at Stormont aimed at promoting better community relations and greater integration in Northern Ireland.
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Alliance leader David Ford has accused the DUP and Sinn Fein of attempting to create "an illusion" that they were working towards a shared future.
Mr Ford said there had not been enough progress on schools, housing or flags.
The Alliance move was criticised by both DUP First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson.
"Throughout this process there has been political sniping by David Ford, along with no serious attempt by his party to achieve a shared agreement on good relations," Mr Robinson said.
"When the Alliance party claims of being the party of consensus and finding agreement were tested, they failed.
"All boycotter Ford and the 'We won't build a consensus' party have done is to demonstrate political immaturity, and an inability to work with anyone but themselves."
Sinn Fein's Ms Anderson said Alliance's position on community relations was "very much a minority position".
"They are politically wedded to the industry and quangos who have been working in this sector at great cost to the public purse for decades," she added
"The Alliance Party do not have all the answers when it comes to community relations."
'Further segregation'
Earlier, explaining his party's move Mr Ford had said that a redevelopment plan for Girdwood in north Belfast would result in "further segregation of housing".
The redevelopment of the former army barracks in the north of the city has been delayed for years because of disagreements over the allocation of new housing between unionists and nationalists.
Earlier this week, the DUP Housing Minister Nelson McCausland announced there had been a breakthrough, but details of the scheme have remained vague.
Mr Ford said his party has seen the revised plans for the Girdwood site which were "agreed to by all parties other than Alliance".
He described it as "a classic example" of maintaining division between Catholics and Protestants.
"This plan is about the further segregation of housing under a purely notional framework of sharing," he said.
He has written to the First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to notify them that his party is withdrawing from the five-party working group.
The group was set up last year to find a replacement for the Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) strategy which had been heavily criticised.
Progress on community relations was a key demand from Alliance before Mr Ford agreed to take the politically sensitive job of justice minister two years ago.
Lost faith
On Thursday, the Alliance leader said it was clear that other parties were not prepared to commit to targets on integrated education, segregated housing or the removal of illegal flags and emblems.
"We have now lost our faith in the integrity and value of this process," he said.
"From now on, we believe that the debate about how we achieve a genuinely shared future should take place in public, not behind closed doors."
Mr Ford also rejected claims that Alliance had delayed the production of a revised CSI strategy, insisting that his party had "participated fully, attending every one of the meetings of the group".
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A decision on introducing a vaccine that protects against a deadly form of meningitis will be made as soon as practicable, the Welsh government said.
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It is waiting for the outcome of the talks between the UK government and manufacturers GSK.
A year ago, expert advisers for the UK government recommended the meningitis B vaccine be given to babies from two months old across the UK on the NHS.
But a cost-effective price has not yet been agreed with GSK.
"Negotiations with the manufacturer are being undertaken by the Department of Health in England on behalf of the UK as a whole and these discussions are ongoing," a Welsh government spokesperson said.
"A decision on whether to make the meningococcal B vaccine available in Wales will be made as soon as practicable, once these negotiations are complete."
The Department of Health said it wanted to see the vaccine introduced as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, meningitis charities are calling for urgent action from the prime minister and the health secretary to conclude negotiations and introduce the vaccine.
What is meningitis?
•Meningitis is an infection of the meninges - the membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord
•Meningococcal bacteria are common and carried harmlessly in the nose or throat by about one in 10 people
•They are passed on through close contact
•Anyone can get meningitis but babies and young children are most vulnerable
•Symptoms include a high fever with cold hands and feet, agitation, confusion, vomiting and headaches.
Q&A: Meningitis B vaccine
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Americans are flocking to the shops for Black Friday, the bonanza US sales day held the day after Thanksgiving.
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By BBC TrendingWhat's popular and why
But its massive popularity - the term Black Friday has been used more than 2 million times on Twitter in the past 24 hours - has a dark side. The vast volume of shoppers has led to chaotic scenes and outbreaks of violence. Stampedes and shootings have plagued the day, resulting in four deaths and 56 injuries in the past five years.
There has been an online backlash against the day's rampant consumerism, to the extent of groups campaigning for a "Buy Nothing Day" to allow shop workers to spend more time with their families.
#BBCtrending investigates the darker side of the day.
Follow @BBCtrending on Twitter and tweet using #BBCtrending.
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The latest weekly figures from the government statistics agency NISRA show 45%, (232), of all Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland have happened in care homes.
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By Louise CullenBBC News NI
So far, more have occurred in hospitals (253), but the gap is narrowing.
This week, we have heard care homes described as the "new front line" in the fight against Covid-19.
BBC News NI has reported deaths in double figures at two separate facilities.
Care homes were recognised from the start as being at high risk from this new, particularly transmissible virus.
That is why many homes moved quickly to suspend visiting, increase cleaning and put personal protective equipment in place, limiting the opportunity for Covid-19 to get a foothold.
Once any kind of virus gets into a care setting like a home, virologists will tell you it can be very, very difficult to contain.
Covid-19 is a reportable condition, like the flu and other illnesses.
Every day, every facility in Northern Ireland reports to the Public Health Agency whether any residents are showing respiratory symptoms.
The PHA is currently managing outbreaks in 110 homes.
An outbreak is only over when the last resident has been symptom-free for 14 days and a "terminal clean" has been carried out - every single item and surface in the home cleaned.
Only when the Public Health Agency, the Trust and the RQIA are satisfied, will the incident be concluded.
Since 30 March, 16 outbreaks have been concluded.
What is being done to support care homes?
There are 484 facilities in Northern Ireland, most of them private.
The Department of Health announced a £6.5m fund - that will go towards measures like extra cleaning and taking on additional staff.
It amounts to, at most, £20,000 per home, weighted according to size.
Testing in care homes has been increased and suitably-qualified Trust staff are being redeployed to care homes.
The sector historically has struggled with staff shortages.
Social distancing in a care setting is challenging - in many cases, staff are providing personal care which requires getting close to a resident.
And some elderly people simply don't understand, because of dementia or other conditions.
Putting a complete lockdown in place within a care home is close to impossible.
As the Director of Public Health at the PHA, Professor Hugo van Woerden described them to the Health Committee this week, by their nature, they're designed to be homely and communal, not to be fortresses where people can be confined to quarters for days at a time.
That's not what anyone would want for a parent, a grandparent or any loved one.
But Covid-19 is almost certainly here to stay.
'A privilege to care'
With no vaccine, all we can do to limit spread is practise social distancing and good hand hygiene, so as not to put others at risk.
It is hoped that as the virus is starved of the opportunity to transmit, the numbers will keep falling and that will save lives - in care homes and beyond.
Staff at one of the homes BBC News reported on this week spoke of losing friends, for whom it had been a privilege to care.
The homes are just that for residents, as your home is to you.
Relatives want to be sure their loved ones are as safe and protected as they can be, wherever they are.
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Technology is enabling supermarkets and other retailers to change their prices throughout the day, but why should they want to do this and what will customers think about it?
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By Eleanor LawrieBusiness reporter, BBC News
Many know the dispiriting feeling when the summer holiday flight they had their eye on suddenly goes up £50, or the Uber they call on a Friday night is four times the price they paid the day before.
This is known as "surge" or "dynamic" pricing - when the cost of an item is dictated by demand. And while it's common in the hospitality and travel sectors, the high street has generally stuck to the fixed-price model.
But now, digital displays coupled with the analysis of vast amounts of customer data is enabling retailers to change the cost of hundreds of thousands of items instantaneously and play with prices in real time to attract specific types of customer at precise times during the day.
In the US for example, Coca-Cola has been using Google's cloud platform to send videos and discount coupons to customers' smartphones in Albertsons grocery stores.
Digital signs encourage shoppers to find the soft drinks aisle, where they are then targeted with personalised special offers and content based on their online browsing habits and spending profiles.
While some see this as an invasion of privacy, the industry sees it as a good example of "location-based" marketing coupled with dynamic pricing.
So in future, the prices you are offered in-store might be for you and you only.
"We can understand who the consumer is and get the right content and messaging to him or her at the right time," Greg Chambers, global group director of digital innovation for Coca-Cola said at a Google conference earlier this year.
"We're using the power of the cloud to bring a real-time, media-rich experience to shoppers in the store."
'Really tough'
And this dynamic pricing trend could be coming to the UK.
Last year, Marks and Spencer conducted an electronic pricing trial where sandwiches were sold at a discount in the morning to encourage shoppers to buy their lunch early.
While the company isn't currently planning to do this more widely, it comes as several of the large supermarkets are trialling the idea.
Sainsbury's says it ran an electronic pricing trial two years ago - but wouldn't say what conclusions it reached - while Morrisons and Tesco are each currently trying out the system in one of their stores.
They all say that the aim behind the scheme isn't to bring in dynamic pricing, but don't deny that it will make switching between prices easier.
Electronic pricing means supermarkets "will be able to flex their prices a lot more", says Neil Mason, European analyst at market research firm Mintel.
"Retail is really tough nowadays - you've got to be quick to respond and e-pricing is the way to do that," he says. "It's about being more efficient and responsive to what is happening in the marketplace.
"They might want to increase prices on certain products because of inflationary pressure, but also might want to decrease prices because of promotions - so it could be good for consumers.
"At the end of the day supermarkets have to be keen on price competition, especially now the big discounters have entered the sector."
More Technology of Business
In the UK, an intense price war between the discounters, Lidl and Aldi, and the "big four" - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda - as well as growing competition from online retailers such as Ocado and Amazon, has taken its toll on profit margins.
On top of that, food prices are rising as inflation pushes up the cost of imports, something that supermarkets are loath to pass on to their customers.
Meanwhile, those customers are feeling the pinch as wages fail to keep up with the cost of living.
In this context, perhaps it was only a matter of time before electronic pricing made the move to UK retail, an area that is constantly looking at ways to innovate.
Displaydata, one of the world's leading suppliers of electronic shelf labels, confirms that electronic pricing's newfound popularity in the UK has transformed their Berkshire-based business.
Chief executive Andrew Dark says: "It's fascinating for us because up until the last 12 months we have been a UK company that was effectively a 100% exporter.
"This phenomenon has been building in Europe and the US and has now arrived on our shores, which is great. I think there are a number of reasons, not least that UK retailers are very conscious of their consumers."
Mr Dark estimates that if the technology were implemented in every store, 10 million prices could be changed within 24 seconds, not only speeding up the process but helping to cut food waste and making pricing more accurate.
"I think most major retail outlets will move to this over the next five years - it's a global trend, not just a UK trend."
Electronic displays like Displaydata's can be operated remotely using wireless technology from a single server and a computer at the retailer's HQ.
Alongside changing thousands of prices simultaneously, shops can use the labels to convey information about stock availability, social media reviews and, as in the case of Coca-Cola in the US, connect with smartphones to send customers targeted promotions.
Toby Pickard, senior innovations and trends analyst at food and grocery research charity IGD, agrees digitalising price labels has many benefits for big supermarkets, once they get past the initial set-up costs.
"Retailers will be able to gain more data about the products they sell. For example, they can closely gauge how prices fluctuating throughout the day may alter shoppers' purchasing habits, or if on-shelf digital product reviews increase sales in-store."
Digital pricing could also help persuade customers to buy new products.
"By making fixtures stand out more, they can encourage customers to try new products and make impulse purchases," says Mr Pickard.
"Systems like this could encourage further customer interaction through smartphones, change messaging by time of day, and perhaps offer dynamic pricing."
The big unknown is how we consumers will take to the idea of uncertain prices in an already uncertain world.
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A hospital patient died after receiving 10 times the prescribed diabetes medication, a trust has revealed.
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The man died on 29 July, five days after being admitted into a hospital in Lincolnshire for increased confusion and raised blood glucose levels.
In a note to staff, United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust said "a lack of clarity" in the patient's insulin dose led to the prescription error.
It said it was investigating the incident and could not comment further.
The patient had been treated at the hospital for a lower respiratory tract infection and acute kidney injury.
Five days after being discharged, he was admitted back as an emergency on 22 July.
The briefing note from Director of Nursing Dr Karen Dunderdale, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), described how the patient's prescription of Levemir 4units was changed by a clerking doctor to Detemir 44units, despite the original dosage being clearly documented in charts from a previous visit.
'Missed opportunities'
The medication name was changed by a second prescriber who noticed the error the following day, but the dosage was not picked up.
Mrs Dunderdale said: "The patient was subsequently administered 44units of Levemir but the discrepancy of greater than a 10-fold increase from the previous prescription was not noted and he subsequently suffered a loss of consciousness and neurological injury some 15 hours later almost certainly secondary to profound hypoglycaemia from which he never recovered."
She said there were several missed opportunities in identifying the serious blunder.
"Prescription errors are typically events that derive from slips, lapses or mistakes," she said.
"Within this incident it would appear that there was a lack of clarity around the patient's insulin dose which led to the wrong dose being prescribed.
"This was compounded by the fact that the second prescriber transcribed the incorrect dose."
In a statement sent to the LDRS, Mrs Dunderdale added: "We would like to offer our condolences to the patient's family."
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A blanket ban on parking charges at NHS hospitals in Scotland should be lifted, it has been claimed.
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By Fiona StalkerBBC Scotland reporter
BBC Scotland has learned that, at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI), some outpatients are risking fines to make sure they get to appointments on time.
The Scotland Patients Association said the situation must be tackled immediately.
The Scottish government said NHS boards had a duty to manage their car parking appropriately.
Car parking charges at NHS sites in Scotland were abolished from the start of 2009.
Unions have received complaints from members about the issue, and argue parking problems have intensified since the blanket ban.
'Crisis point'
Staff at ARI have said outpatients are often more than half an hour late for appointments because they cannot get parked.
One nurse said she had given over her parking space to a woman who was an hour late for her chemotherapy session.
Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg said: "The situation at ARI is at crisis point, it has got so ridiculous that people are getting parking tickets to go to a clinic or visit relatives."
Patient Alice Urquhart said parking concerns had added to her worries about seeing her cancer specialist.
Needs of all
Gary Mortimer, general manager for facilities and estates with NHS Grampian, said when there were charges there was revenue of £1m.
He said any measures would have to come from core NHS funds.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The abolition of car parking charges did not end the duty of NHS Boards to manage their car parking appropriately and to balance the parking needs of patients, visitors and staff.
"As a result of ongoing concerns about the parking at Foresterhill, NHS Grampian have reviewed their car parking management policy to better balance the needs of all car park users.
"The revised policy was approved by the NHS board in August and will be introduced by April."
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Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned of gender segregation among teachers in Muslim independent schools.
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By Sean CoughlanEducation correspondent
Inspectors found male and female staff and governors were being divided in Luton's Rabia Boys and Girls School, said the education watchdog.
Last year, Sir Michael wrote to the education secretary with "serious concerns" about staff segregation.
But the Rabia school has strongly rejected the claims and said it was being "unfairly targeted".
Sir Michael has written to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan advising her that for the initial meeting with inspectors "the school insisted on segregating men and women through the use of a dividing screen across the middle of the room".
"This meeting was not carried out in a religious setting but in a classroom."
Sir Michael said inspectors, visiting the independent school earlier this month, "gathered evidence that male and female staff are segregated during whole-school staff training sessions".
"Male staff sit in one room and the session is simultaneously broadcast to female staff in another part of the school," he said.
Inspectors were so concerned, they told the school's proprietor "the school would remain in the inadequate category despite improvements being made elsewhere", said Sir Michael.
Such gender division is against equalities regulations and the requirement for "fundamental British values", he said.
Sir Michael said this requirement is being "flouted" by some independent schools.
"Any form of segregation, without a good educational reason, is likely to lead to an inadequate inspection judgement for leadership and management."
But the Rabia Education Trust has written to the education secretary rejecting Ofsted's claims as "inaccurate" and saying that the school had been "unfairly targeted and harassed".
The letter challenges the account of gender segregation of staff and says that it was unfair to suggest that the school was not meeting the British values requirement.
"We feel extremely disheartened and insecure about the fact that the goalposts are not clear and keep changing," said the trust's letter to the education secretary.
The private school was set up in 1996 to provide an Islamic education for young Muslims in Luton.
The report from inspectors said that such separation of male and female staff does not "demonstrate equality and respect".
But the school, which serves more than 300 pupils aged five to 16, was commended for providing a "good understanding of what it means to be a responsible citizen in modern, democratic Britain".
The inspection report says that pupils have a chance to engage with people from other religions and "pupils demonstrated tolerance of other people's ways of life, even when their own religion views these differently".
A Department for Education spokesman said "It is completely unacceptable for women to be treated less favourably than men, and the advice note we have received from Ofsted on Rabia Girls' and Boys' School is extremely concerning.
"We will consider carefully the inspection report on the school to determine what action to take against any potential breaches in the independent school standards."
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Speculation is mounting that Samsung could be shaken up after the death of chairman Lee Kun-hee.
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Shares in several Samsung businesses rose amid reports that his heirs could be forced into asset sales or dividend payments in order to pay a massive inheritance tax bill.
Mr Lee, who helped to build Samsung into Korea's largest conglomerate, died over the weekend aged 78.
Analysts say his heirs face billions in taxes from his share assets alone.
That includes his scandal-struck 52-year-old son, Lee Jae-yong, who has managed the sprawling South Korean technology group since 2014.
Lee Jae-yong has twice been accused of fraud over his role in a 2015 merger deal at the tech giant and is currently awaiting trial.
At 50%, Korea's inheritance tax rate is one of the world's highest. A premium can be added to shares if the deceased has a controlling interest in a company, potentially taking the top rate to around 60%.
By comparison, inheritances are taxed at 40% in the UK, and although the top rate is similar in the US, the minimum threshold is set so high that few Americans actually pay it.
Mr Lee was the richest person in South Korea, according to Forbes, with a net worth of nearly $21bn (£16bn).
He took over Samsung in 1987, and introduced radical measures which helped propel the company from a second-tier electronics manufacturer to an international tech giant.
He owned major stakes in the conglomerate's crown jewel Samsung electronics, as well as the holding company Samsung C&T, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung SDS.
'Outrageous' tax
Mr Lee is survived by his wife, Hong Ra-hee, his son Lee Jae-yong and his two daughters, Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun.
Each is already a billionaire in their own right, according to Forbes.
"The inheritance tax is outrageous, so family members might have no choice but to sell stakes in some non-core firms," NH Investment Securities analyst Kim Dong-yang told Reuters.
Any shake-up of the conglomerate, however, could depend on what the firm's de facto boss Lee Jae-yong chooses to do.
Alternatively, Samsung's affiliates might also pay higher dividends, leaving more money for the younger generation of Lees to pay the bill.
Speculation over the future of Samsung following Mr Lee's death has stirred investor interest over various units of the conglomerate.
On Monday, shares in Samsung C & T surged by 21.2%, while Samsung Life Insurance rose 15.7%.
Shares in Samsung Biologics, Samsung SDS and Samsung Engineering also tracked higher.
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About 500 people led by an MP marched to a county council HQ to hand in a 4,500-signature petition protesting against a proposed bypass.
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Suffolk County Council's consultation on the Ipswich northern bypass ends later on Friday.
Protesters said the intention is to build 20,000 homes, destroying countryside and increasing pollution.
The council said it accepted the petition on behalf of all local authorities which supported a bypass.
Dr Dan Poulter, Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, said: "The idea this is a town v country issue is completely wrong.
"Today shows the depth of feeling throughout Suffolk and the county council should listen."
Three alternative routes have been proposed for the multi-million pound bypass which would link the A14/A140 and the A12.
Opponents claimed the scheme would cost the taxpayer millions of pounds, without reducing traffic.
In a statement the Conservative-run county council said: "We fully support peaceful protest. The county council is happy to accept this petition on behalf of all the local authorities of Suffolk who are supporting this stage of the northern route."
A 700-strong online petition has also been compiled by those supporting a bypass who said they were fed up "with being fobbed off for nearly 25 years".
"If we are expected to shoulder the burden of population, housing, transport and freight, then we need the infrastructure and highways to do the job," a supporting statement said.
Ipswich Borough Council's Labour leader David Ellesmere said support for a northern bypass was long-standing because of the need to reduce town centre congestion, and major problems across the whole town when the A14 Orwell Bridge was closed due to accidents or high winds.
"It will enable more development and the most sustainable place is in and around Ipswich," he said.
The Labour Group on the county council, supported by the Ipswich Labour MP Sandy Martin, said a dual carriageway inner route was its most desirable option.
The group was critical of its Conservative opponents' backing for the aborted Upper Orwell Crossings project, which was promoted ahead of a northern bypass at a cost of £8m.
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Guernsey's state-owned airline Aurigny has increased its prices to compensate for rises in the cost of fuel.
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The company announced on Wednesday that an increase of £2 each way would be applied to all routes immediately.
Malcolm Coupar, Aurigny's Commercial Director, said: "It is unfortunate but unavoidable. We have no alternative.
"Our budgeted fuel costs have risen by 30% so far in 2011 and further increases may be applied should the oil price continue to rise."
Mr Coupar said the idea of the surcharge was to help Aurigny react quickly to any future volatility in fuel prices.
The increase brought the company's fuel and security surcharge to £6 each way on inter-island flights, £8 each way to Dinard in France and £10 each way to East Midlands, Manchester and Stansted airports.
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An inquest into the Croydon Tram Crash that killed seven people has been delayed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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A 12-week hearing into the derailment, which also left 61 people injured, had been due to start on 19 October.
But, due to London being upgraded into the former tier two Covid-19 restrictions the inquest was postponed until further notice.
It will now begin in spring 2021, South London Coroner's Court said.
The tram came off the tracks near Sandilands tram stop in November 2016 and an initial investigation found it was travelling at almost four times the line's speed limit.
The jury inquest was due to hear arguments insisting human error and transport system failings were to blame.
Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Logan, 52, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, and Robert Huxley, 63, all from New Addington, and Mark Smith, 35, and Donald Collett, 62, both from Croydon, were all killed in the crash.
Coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe said she hoped the hearing could proceed in spring if the pandemic situation had improved.
Ben Posford, representing five of the seven families, said the relatives were "frustrated and upset" by the latest postponement.
He added: "Coming so near to the fourth anniversary of the tragedy on 9 November makes it even harder to bear. "
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The justice secretary is facing fresh questions over this dealings with the chief constable of Police Scotland.
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Opposition parties have asked Michael Matheson to provide details of all communications in relation to Phil Gormley's case.
Mr Gormley is currently on leave while allegations of gross misconduct, which he denies, are investigated.
The justice secretary has been accused of illegally blocking the chief constable's return to work.
It emerged last week that Mr Matheson asked police watchdogs to reconsider their decision to allow Mr Gormley to return to his duties.
The justice secretary told MSPs that to have let the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) implement the decision would have been "unacceptable" due to "clear deficiencies" in its decision-making process.
'Come clean'
It has now emerged that just days after Mr Gormley's lawyer raised concerns about the move, senior justice civil servant Paul Johnston met with the chief constable in Edinburgh.
Labour's justice spokesman Daniel Johnson said Mr Matheson should "come clean" on the Phil Gormley case.
He said: "The past year has shattered public confidence in the Scottish government's handling of policing.
"Full disclosure of the actions taken by Mr Matheson and his officials relating to the Gormley case would be a key step in rebuilding that trust."
He has written to Mr Matheson asking for "a full record of the interactions you and your officials have had with regard to Mr Gormley's employment status and the investigation into his conduct".
'Explain the omissions'
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur said the meeting between Mr Johnston and Mr Gormley should have been disclosed to MSPs.
"Michael Matheson needs to return to the Scottish Parliament to explain these omissions," he said.
A Scottish government spokeswoman said: "The Cabinet Secretary made a statement to parliament in which he clearly set out the reasons and circumstances around his intervention in November.
"This was followed up by a letter from the Director General Education, Communities and Justice to the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee on Friday, providing additional information."
Allegations against Mr Gormley first emerged in July 2017, when he confirmed he was the subject of a probe by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc). This concerned a complaint made by a superintendent in his private office.
He initially stayed on in his post, but went on "special leave" in September that year after a further allegation was made, and has remained off work while a series of other complaints emerged.
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Nearly half of women who quit smoking during pregnancy take it up again soon after they give birth, according to research in the journal Addiction.
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The analysis of several studies suggests 13% of women who enrol on smoking cessation programmes quit during pregnancy.
But 43% of these restart within six months of giving birth.
Public Health England says more action is needed to help mothers-to-be quit for good.
'Wide gulf'
Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to many health problems including premature births, miscarriages, stillbirths and sudden infant deaths.
The scientists from the universities of Nottingham and York looked specifically at the success of women who used smoking cessation services to help them quit.
They pulled together several international trials, including some from the UK, involving almost 1,000 women who took part in stop smoking programmes between 1989 and 2014.
And they found only a minority of women who tried to quit smoking succeeded.
Official figures for England published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show 11% of pregnant women were recorded as smokers at the time of giving birth in 2014-15, a steady decline from 15 percent in 2007.
But regional data shows wide differences across the country - with more smokers in poorer areas.
Prof Jonathan Grigg of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said the findings of this study were a worrying sign for the state of child health.
He added: "We need to fully support parents in the first few months with their baby to highlight to them the importance of keeping their home smoke-free.
"Health visitor and smoking-cessation services are vital to this process, but with the £200m reduction in funding for public health, these services are at risk."
Rosanna O'Connor, at Public Health England, said: "While the rate of women smoking during pregnancy continues to fall, further action is needed to support those who find it more difficult to stop and to help those who do stop, to stop smoking forever.
"It is vital to protect babies from smoke during pregnancy and in the early months of life. The best protection for mothers, their babies and partners is to quit smoking for good."
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Thousands of people lined the streets of football great Jack Charlton's hometown to pay their respects ahead of his funeral.
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Former Republic of Ireland boss Charlton, who won the World Cup playing for England, died on 10 July aged 85.
He was born in Ashington, Northumberland, and often returned to the former mining town.
Well-wishers applauded and cheered as the cortege passed through the streets, with many waving flags and banners.
His family said they had been "overwhelmed" by the support shown and added "he would have been thrilled by the outpouring of kindness".
People threw flowers on the hearse as it passed slowly through the town where he and his younger brother Sir Bobby honed their football skills.
The procession slowed as it passed close to the terraced house on Beatrice Street where the Charltons once lived and played in the back lane.
Floral tributes in the hearse included a football and a red England shirt with "Jackie 5" on it.
The cortege then made its way to a private service at a crematorium in Newcastle, where just a small number of relatives attended due to coronavirus restrictions.
The family said Sir Bobby had not been well enough to be there.
In a eulogy at the service, his grandchildren, Emma, Kate and Tom Wilkinson, paid tribute to "a proud Englishman, a proud northerner and a proud honorary Irishman".
"The footballer, the friend, the family man we all knew was forged in Ashington - during a happy childhood with the parents and three brothers he always loved dearly.
"As they whiled away hours kicking a ball around Hirst Park, Grandad could never have imagined how remarkable his life would go on to be."
Referencing him dropping to his knees at the end of the World Cup final in 1966, they added: "Many have often wondered what he was thinking - was it pure elation? Was it the gravity of the achievement?
"Was it relief that the hopes of a nation had been realised? Well he always told us he was just bloody knackered."
The former Leeds United defender had been diagnosed with lymphoma in recent years and was suffering from dementia.
In more than 20 seasons with the club, he made 773 appearances and won the 1969 league title and the 1972 FA Cup.
He later found success managing the Republic of Ireland, but his family said while his achievements brought him recognition "he always had his feet firmly on the ground".
"It's clear that the many fleeting moments of kindness he showed to strangers had a lasting impact, and we're extremely proud to be able to say that the man everyone met is the man we knew.
"A man who struck the balance so perfectly between football icon, fan favourite and loving family man."
Speaking before the funeral, his son John said: "Many will know now that, as a family, we wanted to give local people the opportunity to say goodbye to Jack, and pay their respects before he's laid to rest.
"Jack was incredibly proud of his hometown, which is why we made the decision to take the funeral cortege around Ashington."
'Town's famous son was home'
By Fiona Trott, BBC News
As soon as the funeral car appeared, the hundreds of people on Alexandra Road started to applaud and cheer. One of the town's most famous sons was home.
A Northumberland piper accompanied the cortege part of the way. It was a tribute that brought his family to tears.
These are strange times. The family requested that people kept their distance from each other and wore a mask. Despite the pandemic, everybody here left their home or took the morning off work to pay their respects. That's how much he is loved in this part of the world.
They all have a story about Jack Charlton too - a time he turned up at the local pub, or when he shared his packed lunch when he was out fishing.
Football defined him, but his personality also made him a local hero.
Peter Mather, a 68-year-old semi-retired bricklayer, stood on the route of the funeral with a sign saying "Howay Wor Jack".
He said: "I lived over the road from here and I vividly remember watching the World Cup final.
"At the final whistle, he went to his knees, a big hard man like that showing such emotion. I'll never forget it."
The funeral procession left the Charlton family home in Dalton, Northumberland, and was met by a police escort in Ashington before going along Newbiggin Road into the town centre.
It stopped outside Hirst Welfare Centre, where Charlton and Sir Bobby played football as children, before travelling to the crematorium.
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A city market has again been cancelled after tier four coronavirus restrictions were introduced on Tyneside.
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Newcastle's weekly Quayside Market returned last month following the end of the national lockdown in England.
However, Newcastle City Council warned it could now not ensure "Covid-secure" protocols were maintained given its open setting.
Councillor Ged Bell said the decision had been taken with "a heavy heart".
Traders had welcomed the market's return on 5 December as a lifeline in the run-up to Christmas having seen it closed since mid-September.
Announcing the latest cancellation, Mr Bell, cabinet member for employment and culture, said public safety was "paramount" in the face of rising infection rates.
"We know this will be incredibly disappointing for traders, but we need to put public safety first and do all we can to curb the spread of coronavirus in our city," he said.
"Our traders have worked incredibly hard to keep trading in a Covid-secure way, but with the new strain of coronavirus spreading rapidly we need to take further steps to protect the public.
"We appreciate how devastating the new restrictions will be for traders and we will continue to lobby government for greater support for our businesses."
Elsewhere in the city, the Grainger Market will remain open for essential goods only with all non-essential stalls forced to close, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Under tier four restrictions now in place across the North East, non-essential shops, hairdressers, and leisure and entertainment venues must close.
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Investment bank Citigroup has suspended a senior trader allegedly accused of stealing food from the staff canteen, media reports say.
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The trader, Paras Shah, is reported to have been earning more than £1m a year including bonuses.
He was removed from his post as head of high-yield bond trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa last month, the Financial Times reported.
Citigroup has refused to make any comment on the allegations.
According to reports, Mr Shah, aged 31, was suspended following allegations that he helped himself to sandwiches from the canteen at the bank's London headquarters in Canary Wharf.
It is not clear how many times this happened or over what period of time the alleged behaviour occurred.
The BBC has attempted to contact Mr Shah on LinkedIn, but his profile was unavailable and appears to have been deleted.
Petty theft
Mr Shah is not the first leading City figure to have faced serious consequences because of alleged or proven petty dishonesty.
In 2014, BlackRock director Jonathan Paul Burrows was banned from working in the financial services industry after he was caught regularly avoiding buying a train ticket on his commute to London.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said he should have been a role model for others and his conduct had "fallen short of the standard expected for someone in his position".
Mr Shah's departure came weeks before the bank was due to pay annual bonuses to senior employees.
He joined Citigroup in 2017 after spending seven years at HSBC.
His job involved trading in junk bonds, which are issued by companies with low credit ratings or short track records as a means of raising cash.
Because there is a risk that the company that issued them will default and render them worthless, they have to offer a higher return on investment, which is why they are also known as high-yield bonds.
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Three exhibitions are being held to give more information about proposals to tackle congestion on the M4 between Castleton and Magor in south Wales.
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New tunnels are an option in the Welsh government consultation.
Other options include a new dual carriageway to the south of Newport and junction improvements on the A48 southern distributor road.
The first exhibition is at Brynglas House, Newport, on Friday (12:00-19:00 BST).
The other two will be held on Tuesday, 15 May at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Magor, and Thursday 17 May at the Newport Centre, both also 12:00-19:00 BST.
A
public consultation
on the proposals began on 6 March, and will end on 6 July after being extended by a month.
Transport Minister Carl Sargeant said: "Congestion on the M4 is a big concern for both the residents of Newport and for those that use this route on a daily basis."
"We are already undertaking a number of measures to address this issue but there is a clear demand for a long term solution to this matter."
Last summer, traffic was closed in both directions, causing long delays, when a lorry caught fire inside one of the Brynglas tunnels.
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Members of the British public are getting their first extended trial of a driverless shuttle bus.
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By Daniel ThomasTechnology reporter
Over the next three weeks, about 100 people will travel in a prototype shuttle on a route in Greenwich, London.
The vehicle, which travels up to 10mph (16.1kmph), will be controlled by a computer.
However, there will be a trained person on board who can stop the shuttle if required during the tests.
Oxbotica, the firm that developed the technology behind the shuttle, said 5,000 people had applied to take part.
"Very few people have experienced an autonomous vehicle, so this is about letting people see one in person," chief executive Graeme Smith told the BBC.
"We hope to gain acceptance from members of the public for vehicles sharing this kind of space with them.
"We are also looking at how people in the vehicle respond when being transported from A to B."
'Fail-safe'
The shuttle seats four people and has no steering wheel or brake pedal.
During the trial, five cameras and three lasers will help it navigate a two-mile riverside path near London's O2 Arena, an area also used by pedestrians and cyclists.
It can see up to 100m (328ft) ahead and comes to a steady stop if it detects something in its path - although it can also do an emergency brake if required.
"It's been designed to be safe and fail-safe specifically in a pedestrianised environment," Dr Smith said.
Officials behind the Gateway Project believe the shuttles could improve transport links in Greenwich.
They say paying passengers could begin using the system by 2019 on a trial basis and that it could eventually be rolled out elsewhere.
Industry Minister Nick Hurd said: "The UK has a history of innovation in the auto sector and this type of technology has the potential to save lives as well as offer freedom to the elderly or those with mobility impairments."
Other trials
It is not the first time that people have been invited to travel in tests of autonomous road vehicles in Britain.
At a recent trial in Milton Keynes, Oxbotica allowed journalists to try its driverless cars and a traffic warden was granted a wish to come along for a ride.
Members of the public have also tested driverless road vehicles elsewhere in the world.
In January, Las Vegas trialled an autonomous bus that ferried passengers up and down Fremont Street in the city's historic zone amid traffic.
And in August 2016, Singaporean firm nuTonomy claimed to have become the first company to offer driverless rides to the public via its taxi app.
Its rides are only offered via a small number of cars in a 2.5-sq-mile area of the city state, and pick-ups and drop-offs are limited to specific locations.
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A senior figure in the Ulster Famers' Union has described how he was almost gored to death by a cow.
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By Conor MacauleyBBC NI Agriculture & Environment Correspondent
In a bid to raise awareness about farm safety, Victor Chestnutt spoke about how he was badly injured by a Highland cow, a breed with long curved horns.
She had recently calved when she attacked him during a TB test a number of years ago, Mr Chestnutt recalled.
The animal was destroyed but the farmer kept the horns as a reminder of the need for caution.
He has told the story as part of Farm Safety Week which is designed to reduce fatalities and injuries on farms.
Six people were killed on farms in Northern Ireland in 2016 and there have already been a number of fatalities this year.
The Health and Safety Executive says as many as 100 people a month in Northern Ireland require hospital treatment after accidents on farms.
Mr Chestnutt, who is from Bushmills and is a deputy president of the union, said he had bought the Highland cow because a family member "liked the look of them".
He knew she was "steamed up" that day but the speed with which she turned on him caught him by surprise, he said.
He needed surgery for serious leg injuries after she gored him in a pen.
"It did my confidence for some time," he recalled. "I was very fortunate - I could have been killed."
"It really got to me that I had set my limits but she was still fit to get me."
An experienced cattle breeder and handler, Mr Chestnutt has had three near misses with livestock.
He said farmers needed to avoid complacency and be aware of the dangers.
He also said effective cattle handling facilities could help prevent injuries.
The Health and Safety Executive is organising a week of publicity around farm safety.
Chief Executive Keith Morrison urged farmers to stop and think for a short time before undertaking any task.
"We're not saying don't do things, we're saying manage the risk," he said.
Most accidents happen as a result of falls, accidents involving machinery, livestock and slurry.
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The closure of a respite centre for families of severely disabled children in Wiltshire is to be delayed until next year.
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Hillcote in Salisbury, which costs £600,00 a year to run, was to shut this April after Wiltshire Council and the NHS said it was "not cost effective".
Campaigner Dr Angela Scott said parents were "disappointed" with the decision.
The Clinical Commissioning Group said the extra 12 months should "ensure a smooth transition for the families".
The council said earlier only eight children used the unit and savings could be spent on "improving more home-based foster care".
'Specialist carers'
A campaign group to keep Hillcote open was set up in July after parents were told of the proposal to close it.
Closing Hillcote means children will have to travel to a centre in Devizes, about 25 miles (40km) away.
Chair of the commissioning group Dr Stephen Rowlands said: "Very few families currently use Hillcote and so the proposal is to implement a new model of overnight short breaks for services for disabled children and young people."
He said families with children over 16 would also have the "potential option" of using the Bradbury House respite unit in Salisbury.
"It will also give us the opportunity to develop a specialist carers service, with a minimum of two specialist carers in south Wiltshire to replace Hillcote," he added.
He said it was "not a cost cutting exercise" but a "re-investment of the money".
Dr Scott, from the group Save Hillcote, said they were disappointed at the decision by the Wiltshire Commissioning Group and that they would be "reassessing their position" before a meeting with parents next week.
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Outsourcing partnership, Southwest One, has dropped its £25m legal claim against Somerset County Council over a contract dispute.
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Back office tasks are carried out by Southwest One for Somerset county and Taunton Deane borough councils and Avon and Somerset Police.
A total of £2m has been spent renegotiating the contract and in legal costs in addition to the settlement.
Southwest One has confirmed it has resolved the dispute with the council.
The contract for Southwest One was signed with cross-party agreement in 2007, with the aim of saving the then Liberal Democrat-led authority about £180m over 10 years.
But last February, after the council had become Conservative-led, its then leader Ken Maddock said the partnership was failing to deliver on the promised savings, which then sparked the legal challenge.
'Commercially sensitive sum'
Council leader, John Osman has confirmed the settlement sum is "lower than a fifth" of £25m.
Conservative Mr Osman added: "Southwest One issued a claim in excess of £25m plus associated legal costs - there could have been a bill of £40m if we were unlucky at court.
"Unfortunately I am bound by a confidentially agreement but Southwest One has insisted that sum is commercially sensitive."
The county council has taken back some work from Southwest One carried out, but the partnership will continue to provide software systems and finance services.
About 250-300 county council staff remain seconded at Southwest One.
Opposition leader, Liberal Democrat Sam Crabb, said: "There were problems with the contract, one of things being inflexibility but with the renegotiation that has happened.
"There are still many seconded staff still working on a good number of services."
"We will still be working with them [Southwest One] really well, I am sure."
A spokesman for Southwest One said: "Southwest One and Somerset County Council can confirm the action concerning Strategic Procurement Services has been successfully resolved.
"Both parties will now focus on continuing to build their long term partnership as Southwest One evolves and delivers services to Somerset County Council and the other joint venture partners."
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A new environment organisation which is being set up by the Welsh government is facing a £50m pensions deficit.
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By Iolo ap DafyddBBC Wales environment correspondent
The Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission are merging to form a single organisation Natural Resources Wales aimed at saving £158m over 10 years.
But the IT system designed to make it operate is not ready and the pension debt is larger than first thought.
The Welsh government says its business case is not undermined though.
The business case for the merger allocated £19m to cover the pension debt of amalgamating staff into a single organisation, but the Welsh government has told BBC Wales it could cost around £50m.
Other options are open to the government but it has been asked to approve the £50m choice as the "only option that has a degree of certainty" of being achievable by 1 April when the new organisation will be formed.
There are further problems with the amount of deficit in the Environment Agency pension schemes still unresolved.
Jon Owen Jones, chairman of Forestry Commission Wales said there were "several problems".
He said: "They've got an IT system they can't get to work as quickly as they like; they've got a IT system that's going to cost more than they anticipated; they've got a pension system that's going to cost more than they've anticipated and, they've got services they're going to buy in from England that are going to cost more than they've anticipated."
Emyr Roberts, chief executive of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) concedes the IT system is unlikely to work properly for a year or two but says he is unaware of the size of the pension deficit.
"I'm not familiar with those figures, I don't know what those figures might be," he said.
"As I understand it, talks are ongoing specifically on the pensions front so there are some options there."
He has to work within the confines of a business case inherited by the Welsh government and civil servants.
Craig Palfrey, financial planner with Cardiff-based firm Penguin, said after reading the government's pension options with Environment Agency staff it was hard to plan for the cost.
"The last paper I saw said it was 94% funded which compared to a lot of schemes is fantastic but as we speak today it could now be down to 85% or up to 110.
"But it's really difficult because you don't know how long people will live for, when they'll retire. This scheme may have to be open for 60 or 70 years yet. That's why they've asked for the Welsh government to underwrite it, because they don't know what it's going to cost at this stage."
But a Welsh government spokesman said the economic case for NRW is strong.
"Changes to the cost of pensions alongside other changes do not undermine the conclusions of the business case, or the decision to proceed with creating NRW.
"Changes to public sector pension provision by the UK Government impacted on the solution proposed in the business case.
"Therefore, the new pension scheme will cost more than the figures stated in the original business case.
"A considerable proportion of this cost would still have had to be paid by the Environment Agency Wales in any event ."
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Plans to reorganise public facilities in Kirkcudbright, which could see the closure of an art centre, are to go out to consultation.
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Dumfries and Galloway Council is gauging public opinion on a series of proposals to revamp the town hall.
The scheme would see an art gallery, visitor information, library and customer services under the one roof.
However, the "community hub" plans could see the closure of the Tolbooth Art Centre in the town.
A project board has carried out a study looking at what should be incorporated into the town hall.
It has concluded there is a strong argument to move the town's art collection to the building.
Proposals to incorporate the public toilets currently based in Harbour Square have not been recommended to proceed after facing strong public opposition.
A public engagement programme is taking place where locals and visitors will be asked to comment on the project proposals.
It has been estimated that integrating the services could save the local authority up to £122,000 a year.
A full report and business case will be presented to councillors in the summer.
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A north Wales health board has been criticised for "fundamental clinical shortcomings" which led to a patient's death, an ombudsman's report has said.
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A man, referred to as Mr M, was admitted to Glan Clwyd Hospital for bowel cancer surgery in September 2014.
But test results showing a leak were not properly reviewed, his condition deteriorated and he died a day after emergency surgery, the report said.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has apologised for its failings.
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Nick Bennett, also criticised the "deplorable length of time" it took the health board to deal with the subsequent complaint about the failings.
Mr M's daughter, referred to in the report as Ms A, complained to Mr Bennett after concerns she raised several times about her father's post-operative care with nursing staff were ignored and not documented.
She believes this ultimately led to his death.
Questions were also raised about the integrity of the health board's investigation into Mr M's care, which failed to recognised the failings highlighted by the ombudsman's investigation and his conclusion the care had been appropriate.
The report highlighted serious clinical deficiencies including:
Mr Bennett said: "Whilst I accept that any surgery carries with it a degree of risk, I cannot ignore the likelihood that, had clinicians intervened sooner in Mr M's post-operative care, the outcome could have been very different.
"Mr M's family will never be sure whether his death could have been avoided and will have to live with knowing that there were missed opportunities for potentially life-saving treatment, which is a significant injustice.
"I am also extremely disappointed that the health board's review of Mr M's care fell significantly short of what I regard as acceptable, as well as taking a deplorable length of time to respond to Ms A's complaint."
Recommendations include making an £8,000 payment to Ms A for distress caused.
Mr Bennett said there was a wider issue across Wales regarding "clinical leadership and support for junior doctors during out-of-hours periods - that's a conversation I've had with the government".
Betsi Cadwaladr chief executive, Gary Doherty said the board "fully accept" the ombudsman's views over shortcomings and the fact "we may have missed an opportunity" to save the patient's life.
"I am truly sorry for this, and that we then took far too long to respond to the family's initial complaint," he added.
Mr Doherty said he would contact the family to apologise and said the report was being shared with clinical staff involved and wider medical teams.
He also said the report recommendations would be "implemented in full".
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Sony has confirmed plans to sell two stand-alone lenses that connect to smartphones by wi-fi, allowing them to take higher-quality photos.
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By Leo KelionTechnology reporter
The devices are compatible with Android and iOS handsets and mark the creation of a new product category.
The Japanese company announced the products alongside a new smartphone which features a 20.7 megapixel camera and a larger-than-normal image sensor.
The launches should help the firm challenge Nokia's top-end handset.
The Finnish company - which is in the process of being taken over by Microsoft - unveiled the Lumia 1020 in July. Reviews have suggested that it has the best smartphone camera on the market, but were critical of its price,
Sony told the BBC it would target its Z1 handset at a wider audience than what it called the Lumia 1020's "super-premium category".
It confirmed details of the devices at the Ifa consumer tech show in Berlin - much of the information had already leaked via tech news sites.
One analyst suggested the lenses in particular would struggle to find buyers.
"The concept is interesting, but when you think about using it, will users want to carry them around?" asked Francisco Jeronimo, mobile devices research manager at tech consultancy IDC.
"The problem is that for those wanting top-quality photographs, the experience of having a DSLR [digital single lens reflex] offers a better experience than a phone with an add-on camera.
"Meanwhile having the lens attached to a phone makes it feel quite bulky compared to a compact camera or stand-alone handset.
"If the lenses were priced under £100, then I could see photography geeks buying it, or operators bundling it with the phone, but these lenses will be quite expensive."
Sony itself acknowledged that it did not know how strong demand would be.
"Always we're discussing: 'How many pieces should we prepare,'" Yosuke Aoki, a digital imaging spokesman for the firm, told the BBC.
"We're waiting for after the Ifa announcement to see what the feedback will be to the models."
Making a statement
The QX10 lens offers a 10x optical zoom and 18.2MP resolution which Sony says makes it ideal for taking shots of distant landmarks or close-ups of people. It will cost about £170,
The QX100 features a smaller 3.6x zoom but a bigger sensor with a resolution of 20.2MP. Its aperture goes as wide as f1.8 - allowing more light in - meaning it should be more adept at taking photos in low light or with a very shallow focus. It also offers manual focus as an option which is not possible on the other lens. It will cost about £380.
Once fitted with a battery and memory stick, the QX10 weighs 105g (3.7oz) and the QX100 179g (6.3oz).
Both devices:
Neither has a built-in screen.
Sony Mobile's head of sales and marketing said they were intended to send a message to consumers, including those who would never buy them.
"It's a statement as one piece of many things that are starting to come together under the umbrella of Sony," said Dennis van Schie.
"The PlayStation 4 is coming out. In 4K [ultra-high resolution] TVs, we're the leader - from the formats to the cameras to recording capabilities [that will appear] quite soon in mobile.
"Now we're the first ones to dare to create a lens-type camera with a new kind of user interface. It contributes to what Sony is standing for."
Sony posted a 3.5bn yen ($35m, £23m) profit in the April-to-June quarter, reversing a 24.6bn yen loss the previous year.
Stronger sales of smartphones helped achieve the turnaround.
However, IDC says the firm still only had a 4.1% share of global smartphone shipments over the three months, putting it behind Samsung, Apple, LG, Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE.
'Additional value'
Sony is hoping the new water-resistant Z1 handset will help it boost that figure.
It says the device features an exclusive sensor which is the same size as that found in its Cybershot cameras.
It also features new software including the ability to provide live video streams to Facebook, and Info-eye - an app that provides information about books, wine and landmarks among other objects the phone is pointed at.
The company is also taking advantage of its other assets to help the device stand out from the Android crowd. UK shoppers are promised five Sony movie downloads and a selection of free PlayStation mobile games.
"They've done quite a good job of differentiating the phone," said Mr Jeronimo.
"That's what operators want - to be able to provide additional value from what Sony offers.
"That's why they are looking at Sony as a better prospect for the future than other vendors like Blackberry and HTC."
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Singer Tom Walker called the Love Island producers "absolute legends" when his signature song was used on the ITV2 show.
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By Steve HoldenNewsbeat music reporter
Leave A Light On played out in the second episode as contestant Adam revealed which girl he wanted to couple up with.
It's another case of Tom's hit getting primetime exposure.
And after six months, the song has broken into the UK's Official Chart top ten for the first time.
It's been a slow burn for the track, which is currently number eight, after 13 weeks crawling up the top 100.
As well as huge radio play, the song was also helped after its use in an ad campaign for Sony.
Speaking to Newsbeat, Tom says the strangest place he's heard it so far was in a small bar in Croatia.
"I saw myself on the TV there. It was a bit odd and you try to make yourself incognito. Although I do turn it up to the full if it comes on in the car."
Leave A Light On was co-written with Steve Mac, one of the UK's most prolific - and successful - songwriters.
His other credits include Anne-Marie's 2002, Clean Bandit's Symphony and Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You.
"He's amazing and a genius," says Tom. "He works so quickly. He wrote a new song the other day in five hours yet he crafted it really well.
"He knows what's good and bad and you learn a lot off him."
Leave A Light On has been a success across Europe this year, even getting to number one in France.
Tom admits he hasn't done a version in another language yet, joking that he's only just grasped learning the English language.
After appearing in the Sound of 2018 longlist, the singer now has a busy summer ahead, playing 150 gigs and a total of 35 festivals. As a result, he says he's in no rush to get his debut album finished.
"I'm doing as much as I can about the album. I'll get it done by the end of the year... maybe the start of next year.
"There's no pressure on it. There's plenty of time. People can just wait."
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A close-up of an outstretched wing has been revealed as the design of London 2012's Paralympic medals.
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The medals, designed by jewellery artist and lecturer Lin Cheung, were unveiled at the British Museum.
The design represents "Spirit in motion" and features an imagined section of the Greek goddess of victory's wing.
In 2012 more than 2,100 Paralympic medals will be presented in 502 ceremonies at the Games.
Cheung, 40, who works at London's Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, was one of 100 designers who took part in the competition to be chosen as the medal designer.
Her medals, representing forward flight, power and lightness, were inspired by "the endurance, focus and achievement of elite Paralympic athletes".
"It was important that the medal has layers of meaning," she said, adding that her design was taken from a cast on a sculpture of the goddess Nike of Painios at the British Museum.
The original marble statue, sculpted between 425-421 BC, is in The Museum of Olympics in Ilia, Greece.
The back of Cheung's medal depicts the the heart of victory, showing the area "close to the heart of the goddess", which was chosen to reflect "inclusion and togetherness".
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, the 11-times British Paralympic gold medal winner, said at the launch that having competed at five sets of Games, the medal was "the most important thing - it's what people want to touch afterwards".
She praised this year's design, adding: "To have something that looks so beautiful is amazing."
For her, the medal was the reward for all the effort of training, which she described as "dull, miserable - it's hard and you hurt".
"You want to win that medal - winning is the most amazing experience," Dame Tanni said. "Records come and go but no-one can take that medal from you."
This was echoed by fellow Paralympian athlete and medal winner Ade Adepitan, who was the deputy chair of the panel choosing the medal design. He said training for the Games was a "beautiful struggle" and that winning a medal "encapsulates that".
He said it had been "tough" choosing the design, that the panel had wanted the medal to be something the athletes "would keep dear to their hearts".
The independent panel was chaired by Sir John Sorrell and London 2012 said that they chose Cheung from a six-strong shortlist because her design "held a narrative that befitted the athletes' achievements."
The medals are among the biggest and heaviest of any summer Paralympic medals and are 85mm in diameter, 7mm thick and weigh 375g-400g.
Rio Tinto is the provider of the ore for the medals and is also a supporter of the London 2012 medals display at the British Museum.
In response to news reports earlier this year that the company's Salt Lake City copper mine, which will produce metal for the medals, is compromising air quality, its spokesman said of its upcoming expansion: "It is estimated that the Kennecott Utah Copper mine extension will have a net benefit to the emissions profile of its operations mainly due to the conversion of the existing power plant from coal to natural gas.
"Kennecott has undertaken a very public and transparent community engagement process including 10 open houses across the Salt Lake valley.
"In addition, the Kennecott staff have met with 18 environmental groups, including Utah Moms for Clean Air, over a nine-month period to specifically address the potential impact of the mine extension on the Salt Lake environment."
The first medals were made in Europe in the 15th century and the text and images were carefully integrated on both sides.
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Pornography exists the world over, but do men go to greater lengths in Korea than elsewhere to take secret photographs of women? The BBC's Seoul correspondent, Stephen Evans, investigates.
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The other day I just typed into the search box the word for a very obscure term in music. I'm learning the guitar and I wanted to know what acciaccatura* meant.
What it doesn't mean is what popped up, namely a very hard-core Korean pornography site - which is odd in a country where pornography is illegal.
It illustrates, to my mind, some hypocrisy about sex. Pornography, like prostitution, is illegal, but available. The authorities constantly close down websites only for similar ones to pop up, often with obscure names for those in the know.
It is a constant cat-and-mouse game. In April, the police in Seoul succeeded in shutting down a server in Holland that offered porn to Korean users. It had switched there from the United States, having been shut down there too.
Illegal, porn may be, but highly sought after it also is (though maybe this double-standard of strong disapproval plus strong demand is not uncommon around the world).
Indeed, there's an industry in pornography provided for the web by hidden cameras in ladies' toilets, incredible though that may seem and as unattractive as that may sound.
The authorities do try to combat it. There's an official squad in Seoul which searches toilets for hidden cameras. In the southern city of Busan over the summer, police were told to look out for men with cameras acting suspiciously. Local media reported that officers used metal detectors in women's changing rooms to find hidden cameras.
Find out more
Manufacturers co-operate by installing an audible shutter-click on phone cameras to deter the taking of pictures surreptitiously up skirts.
So serious is this problem that the government printed posters of a woman on an escalator with a man behind her taking a low photo. The caption said: "Please cover your skirt."
This generated a row. Women said the poster placed the blame on them. It implied that if only they didn't wear short skirts, this wouldn't happen.
The Ministry of Administration conceded the point, saying it had only intended "to make people aware that it is illegal to take up-skirt pictures, but the accompanying text was unwisely chosen". Accordingly, the wording was changed so the caption read bluntly: "No pictures allowed".
There was, incidentally, a mini-storm when men told newspapers about the humiliation of having women in front of them on the escalator cover their legs. They complained that they were being treated like perverts when they were in fact innocent.
The Ministry of Gender Equality, as its name implies, promotes equality - though last year found itself in conflict with the Ministry of Labour, when the latter suggested that job seekers, presumably female ones, might consider plastic surgery to improve their chances. The Ministry of Labour back-tracked furiously, saying an intern had written the advice.
Things are changing, particularly as more women, from the president down, have careers. Recent figures indicated that the proportion of women in their twenties who work is now slightly higher than the proportion of men in their twenties. But while women increasingly expect equality, old male attitudes linger, just as they do in other countries.
And Korean marketers do think sex sells. Some members of Korean girl bands, for example, are only in their early teens but they exude sexuality in their clothes and the gestures on stage. It's called the "Lolita concept" in the South Korean media.
People who complain are accused of prudery. Men are told that they must be perverted to have noticed.
I went to a tech show here the other day, full of gizmos and geeks. And, I think, the odd perv (very odd, he seemed to me). I watched a sleazy looking man, who frankly needed a good wash, going round with his camera taking pictures of the leggy women in tight skirts and blouses whom companies here feel they need just in order to sell a gadget.
This particular seedy man was so intrusive - getting the powerless woman to turn her profile for the camera - that I felt I ought to have intervened with at least a word of disapproval, because the victim was an employee who might fear losing her job if she offended the public. In the end, I said nothing. Shame on me.
Prosperity is changing expectations, I think, but some men still expect women to be adornments, and resent their aspirations.
Families share small flats, all sleeping in the same room with children, so sexual frustration is not unknown - it's partly why there are so-called Love Hotels where even married couples rent rooms.
When I first flew on Korean Air, I was amazed to hear a pre-flight announcement warning that sexual harassment of cabin attendants was contrary to aviation law. It was an attempt to protect the glamorous female staff from the octopus hands of businessmen.
If they have to be told, there is, I think, some way to go.
* An acciaccatura is a grace note performed as quickly as possible before an essential note of a melody
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A doctor would have been interviewed for rape and child cruelty over claims a "truth drug" was used to carry out abuse at a hospital, had he been alive.
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Dr Kenneth Milner ran Aston Hall psychiatric hospital in Derbyshire from 1947 to the 1970s, which former patients described as "pure hell".
A report by police found 65 children were allegedly drugged to a zombie-like state, stripped and abused.
Police said there would have been "sufficient evidence" to pursue a case.
The vast majority of the allegations were made against Dr Milner, who died in 1975, and police said no inference should be drawn from the report other than the doctor would be questioned if he were here today.
Other staff members accused of physical abuse have either been eliminated from the inquiry, have died or were unable to be identified.
The Derbyshire force, under the direction of the area's safeguarding children's board, started an investigation in February 2016 after concerns were raised about the hospital which closed in the 1990s.
Allegations first came to light in 2011 then 2014 and 2015. No allegations of sexual abuse were identified in 2011 by police.
Then in July 2014 an individual made an allegation of rape followed by another person alleging abuse at the hospital in September of that year.
In July 2015 another person came forward and said she was injected, gassed and woke up feeling sore between her legs while at the hospital.
Some children, who were sent to the hospital between the 1950s and 1970s, also claimed they were put in straitjackets.
As well as the sexual abuse, the report found claims of patients being hit while trying to resist treatment, one having her head repeatedly forced under water, and another having her hair repeatedly pulled to force her to take medication.
Aston Hall was opened in the 1920s for those deemed to have mental health problems. It could cater for about 100 children of both sexes, but took adults as well.
Allegations centred on the use of sodium amytal as part of "narcoanalysis" - the uncovering of repressed traumatic memories.
But stories emerged, in part via social media, of children being isolated, stripped and abused sexually, physically and mentally.
Police collated 115 witness statements, recorded 77 crimes - including 33 instances of physical abuse and 40 sexual - and heard from 65 alleged victims.
Stephen Edwards, from law firm Bond Turner, which is representing 47 patients sent to the hospital in the 1960s and 1970s, said the "horrific treatment" had "undoubtedly caused permanent, damaging effects".
"Every doctor should have to demonstrate their accountability in treating patients, especially those as vulnerable as children," he said.
After trying to take his own life Jason Stubbings, from Cornwall, was sent to Aston Hall in the 1960s, aged 14, where he said he was injected with drugs and abused.
He said he remembers being injected with what he now knows is sodium amytal, also known as the truth drug, as well as another drug which is still unknown to him.
Mr Stubbings said he was then taken back to a memory where his brother was beating him with a garden cane and it felt like he was being hit at the time.
When he woke up, he found his hands had been tied and he had marks on his body.
Mr Stubbings also remembers looking out the window once and seeing "a guy in the exercise yard in a straightjacket screaming" and thinking he did not know if he was ever going to get out of there.
"It said on the administration form 'a slight timid boy', and they did that to me," he added.
The report said there were consistent allegations of drugs being given to restrained children, with limited or no records being taken.
Current medical opinion was these methods were not acceptable, even by the standards of the day, it added.
But officers said the length of time since the alleged crimes had proven a major issue - to the extent they had been unable to find out whether some members of staff were still alive.
The report said: "Having regard to these difficulties and the scale of the alleged physical and sexual abuse that has emerged in the evidence; we do not consider that it would be either practicable or appropriate for us to attempt to reach firm conclusions on each specific allegation.
"There would have been sufficient evidence to justify interviewing Dr Milner under caution in relation to a number of potential offences."
The report said the offences would have namely been "rape, indecent assault contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 1956, Child Cruelty and Assault contrary to Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and Offences Against the Person act 1861 respectively".
While it noted children were sent to Aston Hall from a variety of homes, the report found no evidence of a conspiracy to supply children for abuse.
Barbara O'Hare, who claims she was abused by Dr Milner in the 1970s, told the BBC the report was positive.
"It gives recognition to what happened to me and others at the hospital and I'm very grateful to the police," she said.
Derbyshire Safeguarding Children board said the treatment of children had radically changed and if a similar situation occurred today, there were clear routes for them to raise concerns.
At least 30 former patients who have submitted a claim for compensation to the Department for Health through a solicitor. Other claims are also believed to have been submitted.
A spokesman for the department has said the matter was under investigation.
An NSPCC spokesman said the report was "truly harrowing reading and shines a light on the decades of sickening abuse".
"It is crucial that lessons continue to be learned from shocking cases like this."
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A bottle of French wine that orbited the Earth for more than a year has been put up for sale.
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By Toby LuckhurstBBC News
The bottle of Pétrus 2000 - made from merlot grapes in the Bordeaux region - spent 14 months in orbit as part of a privately funded research study on food and agriculture.
On Tuesday Christie's announced the wine is now available through its private sales.
The auction house estimates a sale price of $1m (£720,000; €830,000).
Tim Triptree, a Master of Wine who works at Christie's, told the BBC a regular bottle of Pétrus 2000 will also be sold alongside the space-aged bottle, "so the lucky buyer will be able to compare the two".
Space Cargo Unlimited sent 12 bottles of the wine to the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2019. After more than 400 days in space, travelling around 300 million km (186 million miles) in zero gravity, the wine returned to Earth in January 2021.
Scientists analysed it and a group of wine tasters got to try a batch at the University of Bordeaux's wine institute in March, to compare it with Earth-aged bottles. Jane Anson, journalist and author of Inside Bordeaux, was one of the lucky few.
"It's hard for me to say if it was better or worse. But it was definitely different," she told the BBC. "The aromatics were more floral and more smoky - the things that would happen anyway to Petrus as it gets older."
Ms Anson said it was a smart choice to send Pétrus into orbit - both because of its prestigious reputation, and its ability to age.
"There aren't that many wines that can genuinely age for 60, 70, longer years, and Petrus is one of them," she said. She was not sure whether zero gravity had an effect on the wine, or if the journey to, from and around the Earth did. "But there was a clear difference," she added.
The bottles were sent up to space as part of Mission WISE, a privately-funded space research programme run by Space Cargo Unlimited. Nicolas Gaume, the company's co-founder and CEO, said in a statement that the scheme aimed to "help invent the agriculture and food we need for tomorrow on Earth" by examining the effects of zero-gravity and space.
The proceeds from the Christie's sale will help fund further Space Cargo Unlimited experiments in space. Mr Triptree told the BBC the research showed that "wine does mature in space".
"Who knows, maybe the next astronauts will be smuggling wine up with them!" he said.
This is the only bottle which will be sold. Three were opened for the tasting, and the remaining eight will be kept back for future research.
Bordeaux estate Château Pétrus only produces about 30,000 bottles of wine a year, and its product is consistently ranked among the most expensive in the world. A 2000 vintage bottle of Pétrus usually sells for about $6,000.
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Two men have been arrested following a 10-mile police pursuit at speeds of up to 100mph.
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Two Dyfed-Powys Police vehicles were damaged during the chase on 15 July which started on the A44 outside Aberystwyth and saw a Vauxhall Astra driven on the wrong side of the road.
A stinger device was used but the car continued at speeds of up to 70mph with its tyres "falling apart", police said.
The car was eventually stopped after being "boxed in", the force added.
A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis, dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drink or drugs, driving while disqualified and failing to stop for police.
He has been bailed with conditions not to enter Wales.
A 29-year-old man was released with no further action.
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A teenage girl has been raped on the outskirts of a town in Angus.
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The incident happened between 09:00 and 14:30 on Monday just outside Forfar, off the road to Kingsmuir.
The 15-year-old was at an overgrown grassy area - which is said to be popular with local dog walkers - when she was attacked.
She had previously walked along East High Street, through Coutties Wynd, along Academy Street, onto South Street and towards Restenneth Drive.
A male who had been arrested in connection with the serious sexual assault was released pending further inquiries.
Det Insp Leanne Blacklaw said: "We continue to support the victim and are carrying out an in-depth investigation which includes reviewing CCTV and door-to-door inquiries.
"As part of this, we're eager to hear from anyone who may have passed this area on Monday, and who may have seen anyone in this location.
"We are also eager to hear from any drivers, or members of the public who were walking in the area and who may have seen the victim immediately prior to, or after the timeframe of the incident."
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Is the workplace more stressful than it was? Do employees feel more under pressure than before? Are staff feeling burdened by work emails around the clock? Recent data and surveys suggest there is an increasing problem.
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Hugh PymHealth editor@BBCHughPymon Twitter
Now one business owner wants other employers to follow his lead and allow employees to do a four-day week and to switch off completely on the fifth day.
Ankur Shah runs lifestyle brands company Mahabis and says he lets staff, within reason, choose where they work on the four days as long as they are in contact via email or Skype.
There is also no monitoring of working hours.
Staff in London are expected to attend a monthly meeting.
By giving staff the freedom to work from home, work remotely, and organise their own hours, the company believes employees will be happier and more productive.
Referring to his earlier career, Mr Shah said: "I witnessed numerous burnouts - a four-day week felt a natural and easy extension of a mindset that valued productivity over time clocked."
Mr Shah points to a range of statistics to back up his argument that work could be affecting the nation's health.
Figures from the data organisation NHS Digital reveal the scale of fit notes being issued by GPs in England.
These are given to patients after the first seven days of sickness absence if the doctor decides their health affects their fitness to work.
The number of notes for "neurotic and stress-related disorders" rose from just over 576,000 in the 2016-17 financial year to nearly 620,000 in 2017-18.
Cause for concern
In reaction to these figures, Prof Martin Marshall, vice-chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Evidence shows that for most people work can be beneficial for their physical and mental health.
"But when it is the stress of work that is leading to people being ill it is concerning, and these figures show that this is the case of an increasing number of people."
The Health and Safety Executive, using data from the ONS Labour Force Survey has calculated that 595,000 workers suffered from work-related stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain in 2017-18, up from 526,000 the previous year.
The HSE said that this accounted for 57% of the total number of lost working days.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), representing HR professionals, found from a recent survey of members that mental health conditions and stress-related absence were among the main causes of long-term sick leave.
Some 55% of respondents reported an increase in conditions such as anxiety and depression among employees in 2017 compared with 41% the previous year.
Rachel Suff, of the CIPD, concluded that "increasingly the threats to wellbeing in the modern workplace are psychological rather than physical, and yet too few organisations are discouraging unhealthy workplace practices and tackling stress".
The employers' organisation the CBI argues that most companies are focusing more on the health of staff.
A survey found that 63% of companies responding regarded workplace health and wellbeing as an important business issue, with more than half of bosses recognising the need to focus on prevention and not only cure.
Even so, Matthew Fell, chief UK policy officer at the CBI, acknowledged that employers "need to do more to discuss the issue, helping to remove the stigma which still exists and can prevent people from seeking support".
Employer support
Greater awareness and openness about mental illness means that employers are more supportive and staff feel empowered to seek help.
Previously, stress and anxiety might have been concealed as workers suffered in silence and this could have been reflected in fewer cases showing up in the statistics.
There are, of course, many causes of mental health problems which are not linked to the workplace.
But more than a year on from a major report on mental health and employment, the issue has become even more acute.
Former HBOS chairman Lord Stevenson and Paul Farmer, of the charity Mind, set out a long-term plan under which all organisations would be equipped to prevent mental ill health caused or worsened by work.
They recommended that public sector employers should identify staff at higher risk of stress or trauma and co-ordinate support.
They said then, in October 2017, that the UK faced a significant mental health challenge at work. It appears to be even more so now.
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A plan by the New York Police Department to use Twitter to boost its image seems to have backfired.
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Users were asked to tweet a photo of themselves with officers and add the hashtag #myNYPD as part of a social media campaign.
But instead of a steady stream of friendly photos, the hashtag was quickly adopted by users posting images of possible police aggression.
The NYPD said: "Twitter provides an open forum for uncensored exchange."
The original tweet was posted on the NYPD's Twitter feed on Tuesday. Featuring two smiling officers and a member of the public, it encouraged users to send in similar photos.
But while several people did so, the hashtag was also picked up by others who used it to identify tweets containing photos of the NYPD in more hostile situations.
By Wednesday, the hashtag had become one of Twitter's top trending terms.
One photo showed a man being pushed down on to a car bonnet. It was from March 2013 and followed protests in Brooklyn over the death of 16-year-old Kimani Gray who was shot by police.
The protest group Occupy Wall Street tweeted an image of an NYPD police officer advancing towards a crowd with a baton raised.
Many of the photos appeared to be taken by professional photographers at incidents in New York City rather than users' own images.
One from the Associated Press showing a man being held down on the floor by two officers appeared in several tweets.
The NYPD issued a statement on Tuesday evening in response to the activity: "The NYPD is creating new ways to communicate effectively with the community. Twitter provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this is an open dialogue good for our city."
Other Twitter interactions that have backfired include US Airways posting an explicit photo in response to a customer's tweet and McDonald's using a hashtag to highlight its farmers that quickly got taken over by people sharing their bad experiences of the burger chain.
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Daniel McCrossan has been appointed the SDLP's Brexit spokesperson.
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The West Tyrone MLA replaces Claire Hanna who resigned the position on Monday in protest against the party's link-up with Fianna Fáil.
"Brexit has brought an unprecedented challenge to our doorstep," Mr McCrossan said.
"I look forward to articulating the needs and wishes of the majority of voters here who did not consent to this."
The SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood said Mr McCrossan, as a MLA of a border constituency "is acutely aware of the challenges facing the North at this critical time as we draw ever closer to" Brexit.
Mr McCrossan has previous said that the SDLP link-up with Fianna Fáil was a "big change" but that he supports the move.
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A Holyrood committee is seeking views on the establishment of a new enterprise agency dedicated to the south of Scotland.
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Plans to create the body for the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway were confirmed last year.
Since then work has been ongoing to set it up via the South of Scotland Economic Partnership.
Now the rural economy and connectivity committee is calling for views on the bill to create the new agency.
It would co-exist with Scotland's two other enterprise agencies - Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Committee convener Edward Mountain MSP said: "Our committee is seeking views on a new, dedicated enterprise agency for the south of Scotland.
"In particular, we would like to hear from businesses and from people living and working in the area.
"The bill sets out the detail for how the new agency will be set up to support businesses and promote growth in the economy, enterprise and skills across the region."
He said they wanted to know if people agreed with what was proposed.
He asked: "What should this agency look like, what should its duties be and how can it encourage economic development, productivity and sustainability in the region?"
The questions that will form part of the inquiry are:
As part of this call for views, the committee will hold a number of events, including a formal committee meeting in the south of Scotland.
Other engagement activities with local businesses, community representatives and young people are planned in order to find out how the proposed enterprise agency could impact on future economic development.
A survey can be completed online or more detailed submissions can be sent to the Scottish Parliament.
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American poet Jorie Graham has won the £10,000 Forward Prize for Poetry for her collection P L A C E.
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She is the first female recipient of the prize since Kathleen Jamie in 2004, and the first American woman to receive the honour.
Sam Riviere's 81 Austerities won the prize for best debut collection.
And Denise Riley was awarded the prize for best single poem for A Part Song, a meditation on the loss of her son in 2008.
The winners were announced at a ceremony in Somerset House, London on Monday night.
The judges described Graham's P L A C E (Carcanet), her 12th collection, as "startling, powerful, never predictable".
Leonie Rushforth, chair of the judges, said: "It is a challenging collection of unusual force and originality, forging connections between inner experience and a world in crisis."
Graham previously won the Pulitzer Prize for he collection The Dream of the Unified Field in 1996. Her poems have been translated into numerous languages, including Albanian, Chinese and Polish.
Born in New York in 1950, Graham grew up in France and Italy and was educated at the Sorbonne, New York University and the University of Iowa. She now divides her time between western France and Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she teaches poetry at Harvard University.
The judges said Sam Riviere's 81 Austerities (Faber & Faber) addressed the everyday experience of life in the digital world with "sophistication, wryness and self-awareness".
Rushforth said: "81 Austerities began life as a blog and has retained that exhilarating immediacy as a collection. It takes on the hollowed-out languages of commerce and digital media and performs a kind of ruthless forensics on them."
A Part Song, Denise Riley's first published poem in five years, appeared in the London Review of Books in February. It won the £1,000 prize for best single poem, presented in memory of US poet Michael Donaghy.
"A Part Song struck us all powerfully. It is a really searing poem, wrestling a protean grief into poetic form," said Rushforth.
She was joined on the judging panel by fellow poets Ian McMillan and Alice Oswald, along with literary critic Emma Hogan and Megan Walsh from the Times Saturday Review.
The Forward Prizes were founded in 1992 and reward both established and up-and-coming poets.
Previous winners of the best collection category include Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy and Ted Hughes.
Last year's winner was John Burnside for his collection Black Cat Bone.
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The UK economy shrank by 1.5% in the first three months of 2021, but gathered speed in March as lockdown restrictions began to ease, official figures show.
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The reopening of schools and strong retail spending helped the economy grow 2.1% in March, its fastest monthly growth since last August.
But the economy is still 8.7% smaller than it was before the pandemic.
However, March marked a possible turning point, economists suggested.
Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, predicted the UK economy was now on course for a bumper bounce-back this year.
"The first quarter should mark the low point for the economy in 2021," said Mr Parikh. "The lockdown, and added costs of navigating new trading terms with the EU, limited many businesses' trading activities at the start of the year."
What happened in the first three months of the year?
The UK economy suffered a record annual slump in 2020 as coronavirus restrictions hit output and 2021 started off equally downbeat.
The reintroduction of restrictions in January led to a fall in business investment and household consumption expenditure, according to the ONS.
However, schools reopening on 8 March triggered an uplift in retail sales and sectors such as construction and manufacturing remained resilient, growing strongly in March.
Businesses also continued to adapt and make themselves Covid secure.
Are things going to get better?
The vaccine rollout, the extension of support measures at the Budget, and the roadmap to reopen the economy have led to expectations that the UK economy will rebound strongly this year.
But there are concerns about long term damage.
Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "The first quarter decline should be followed by a robust rebound in the second quarter as the effects of the release of pent-up demand, as restrictions ease and the strong vaccine rollout, are fully felt.
"However, with the longer-term economic damage caused by coronavirus likely to increasingly weigh on activity as government support winds down, the recovery may be slower than many, including the Bank of England, currently predict."
Alpesh Paleja, lead economist at the CBI, said that households and businesses have adapted better to working and living under Covid restrictions "despite the brutal cost of doing so".
But Pantheon Macroeconomics economist Samuel Tombs pointed out that the UK's economic growth was still the slowest of the Group of Seven (G7) rich countries, for the fourth quarter in a row.
GDP looks on course to grow by 5% between April and June "which should mean that the UK finally hands over the wooden spoon to another G7 economy", he added.
What do policymakers say?
On Wednesday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the the BBC the economy was "getting back on track".
"Despite a difficult start to this year, economic growth in March is a promising sign of things to come," he added.
Earlier this month, the Bank of England said it expected the UK economy to enjoy its fastest growth in more than 70 years this year, as restrictions are lifted.
But it cut its forecast for 2022 from 7.25% to 5.75%, suggesting the government was likely to raise taxes to pay for its huge pandemic-support programmes.
What's going on with trade?
Official trade figures, published at the same time as growth figures, showed a shift away from trading with EU countries since Brexit.
"Imports from Europe remained sluggish in the first three months of the year, being outstripped by non-EU imports for the first time on record," said ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan.
New Brexit trading rules between the EU and the UK came into effect at the beginning of January.
In the January to March quarter, the UK's exports to the EU fell 18.1% to £32.2bn, while exports to non-EU countries rose by 0.4% to £41.1bn, compared with the previous quarter.
The value of imports from the EU fell by 21.7% to £50.6bn, and imports from non-EU countries fell by 0.9% to £53.2bn.
The ONS said the UK's total trade deficit, excluding precious metals, narrowed by £8.4bn to £1.4bn.
Mr Sunak told the BBC the government has invested "hundreds of millions of pounds to help businesses adjust to those new trading arrangements and support them in the process".
"We've always said there will be a period of adjustment and that's what you're seeing," he added.
Why is there still uncertainty?
In ordinary times a 1.5% quarterly hit would be considered a considerable economic fall. In context of a further national shutdown, it shows some resilience in the UK economy.
Businesses, particularly manufacturing and construction, were beginning to work out how to cope with pandemic restrictions. The good news is that by the end of the quarter the rebound was starting.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is not getting carried away with euphoria about the fastest growth in decades. The Treasury is well aware that this is mostly the arithmetic consequence of the bounce back from a sharp hit in 2020.
The ONS showed that the economic hole in the UK caused by the pandemic still does not compare favourably with other major economies, with the US, for example, having recovered all lost output.
Mr Sunak points to the much better than expected unemployment figures as the result of the furlough scheme. There is still uncertainty about how the global economy will respond to new waves of the pandemic. The chancellor is not changing the plan for tax rises on business.
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Alex Salmond's demeanour was modest, contained and controlled - with the occasional dry quip lobbed in the direction of the wicked media who were questioning him about GERS.
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Brian TaylorPolitical editor, Scotland
(No, not the outfit who may or may not make it to the cup semi-final to face doughty opponents. We are talking about the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report.)
As Mr Salmond was cheeky enough to note, I have covered every one of these events down the decades.
I recall their genesis as part of an effort by the then Conservative Secretary of State to prove the worth of the UK to Scotland. I recall the intriguing occasion when the Chief Economist, a civil servant, said that the figures, in themselves, said nothing about prospects under independence.
And so I am aware that this publication is, in essence, a political event as well as a statistical one. It has been from the outset and is so now. It is about competitive interpretation rather than a simple sum.
Question of oil
So, judging Mr Salmond's demeanour, supporters of the Union would detect gloom and despondency at an outcome which indicates that oil revenues dried up significantly in 2012/13 while Scotland's estimated net fiscal deficit outpaced that of the UK as a whole, by contrast with previous years.
By contrast, Mr Salmond would say that his attitude was a calm, measured assessment of Scotland's longer term prospects leading to the conclusion that, even without oil, Scotland's onshore economy is resilient and growing; and that, with oil investment buoyant, the North Sea has a big contribution to make too.
Take the oil stats. Scotland's estimated geographical share of oil revenues is down over the single year by some £4.4bn, around 41%.
Mr Salmond's opponents, such as Alistair Darling, say this proves the volatility of North Sea oil - and the folly of founding Scottish economic forecasts on such a variable commodity.
No, says the First Minister. Over a five year period, Scotland is still outpacing the UK as a whole on fiscal balance. Further, the decline in oil revenues represents a strength in another direction.
Mr Salmond says the fall in revenue largely reflects an upturn in capital investment in the North Sea - which can thereby be set against taxation. That investment, he argues, bodes well for the future of the sector and can be expected to generate enhanced revenue in future.
Wider picture
Against that, Mr Salmond's opponents say that North Sea output is, by definition, in long-term decline. Next year, they say, is still likely to be relatively difficult in terms of revenue.
How, they say, would Scotland cope with a cut of £4.4bn in a single year? Say that was Independence Year One? Mr Salmond says that is the very purpose of the stabilisation fund suggested by the Fiscal Commission: work on low forecasts of oil revenue, set aside where possible, iron out tough years.
Which brings us to the wider picture. Mr Salmond's opponents say there is no slack in the system. Scottish expenditure is higher per capita than for the UK as a whole - and now Scotland's net deficit is higher too, because of those declining revenues. Previous claims, based upon a Scottish lead, have evaporated.
Mr Salmond's reply? Even in a bad year for oil revenues, the relative gap with the UK is small at one per cent of GDP. Look, they say, at the overall Scottish GDP, including oil. That figure indicates that Scotland's onshore economy has, to a large degree, coped with and countered the oil drop.
Further, he says that the net fiscal deficit, which includes capital investment, is affected by the Scottish government decision to shift expenditure from revenue to capital in order to grow the economy. A negative indicator, then, reflecting a positive decision.
All things being equal, is this the set of GERS figures the Scottish government would have wanted to take into a referendum? No. But the First Minister and his colleagues remain adamant that they indicate the underlying strength of the Scottish economy together with continuing investment in the North Sea and optimistic prospects.
His opponents dissent, strongly. Your referendum, your choice.
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Welsh ministers are considering loaning Cardiff Airport a further £6.8m, after approving a loan of £21.2m last year.
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By Paul MartinBBC Wales political correspondent
It has now emerged the airport had requested £28m at the time.
The government will carry out "analysis and financial due diligence" before the additional funding is approved.
Writing to an assembly committee, civil servant Andrew Slade says the initial £21.2m will help the airport invest in buildings and infrastructure, route development, and security..
A Tory AM said the Welsh Government's economic strategy made "no sense" but First Minister Mark Drakeford said the airport was a "success story".
The loan would be repayable over 25 years.
In his letter to the public accounts committee, Mr Slade also refers to the importance to the airport of troubled airline Flybe.
He says the airline attracts between 320,000 and 340,000 passengers a year and the Welsh Government "warmly welcomed" the rescue deal the UK government struck with Flybe in January.
Referring to the impact on Cardiff Airport of an airline like Flybe ceasing to trade, Mr Slade, director of the Welsh Government's economy, skill and natural resources department, said he "would anticipate" such a scenario "to be reflected" in the airport's business plan.
"In terms of the recently agreed extended commercial loan facility," he writes, "I would like to reassure the committee that a range of downside scenario models were included within the financial due diligence which informed our decision to award the loan."
"These scenarios included a 'catastrophic event' resulting in significantly reduced traffic for an extended period, and a significant operator stopping its operations."
The £21.2m loan was an extension on the £38.2m the airport could already borrow from the government.
The Welsh Government bought the airport in 2013 for £52m.
Since then passenger numbers have increased significantly but in December the airport posted a pre-tax loss of £18.5m, nearly three times higher than the previous year.
Giving evidence to the assembly's public accounts committee, airport chairman Roger Lewis said its revenue covers its operating costs and investment has gone into making improvements.
Referring to an analysis of the airport done by consultants Northpoint, he said: "It says Cardiff Airport's economic impact 'matches that of larger UK airports, outperforming airports of its size.'
"In terms of our financial performance, the financial performance 'meets expectations.'
"It ends by saying 'there is no sound operational, commercial or financial reason for the airport at this particular moment to go into private ownership.'"
'Casual'
Conservative South Wales Central AM and Rhoose councillor Andrew RT Davies said: "We all want to see a thriving airport in Rhoose and to their credit the management team at Cardiff Airport have overseen some significant developments and improvements.
"However, I have serious concerns regarding the casual nature of the Labour Welsh Government's economic strategy, which makes absolutely no sense and will have a detrimental impact on the future of the airport."
"One minute this Labour Government is declaring a climate emergency and cancelling vital infrastructure projects that would benefit Rhoose such as the M4 relief road by citing environmental factors, yet the next minute it's chucking millions and millions of pounds at the airport."
Speaking at his monthly press conference First Minister Mark Drakeford said: "Cardiff Airport since it was taken into public ownership has been a success story and in very sharp contrast to the declining path to closure that it was on prior to the Welsh Government's intervention.
"We will continue to work with the airport, we will invest where there is a strong case to do so, to make sure that pathway to success continues."
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The Royal Court theatre in London has named Vicky Featherstone, head of the National Theatre of Scotland, as its first female artistic director.
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Featherstone, who kicked off her career as an unpaid assistant director at the Royal Court, will succeed Dominic Cooke when he steps down in April 2013.
She said it was an "great honour" to take over the theatre during what she described as "challenging times".
Cooke said he "couldn't be happier" with Featherstone's appointment.
The Olivier-winning director announced last December he was leaving his post to focus on freelance work.
Featherstone was artistic director of new writing company Paines Plough before joining the newly formed National Theatre of Scotland in 2004.
The 45-year-old will continue to lead the theatre until the end of 2012 and said it was with "
a complex mixture of real sadness and joy
" that she was leaving the company.
Born in Redhill in Surrey, Featherstone studied English and Drama at Manchester University and was on the creative teams behind ITV's Where The Heart Is and the BBC's Silent Witness.
Anthony Burton, chairman of the Royal Court board, said he was "thrilled" the Sloane Square theatre was to "have a woman at its helm... for the first time in its 56-year history".
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A farmer who built a mock-Tudor castle without planning permission may be found in contempt of court after failing to knock it down.
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Robert Fidler built the home at Honeycrock Farm, in Salfords, Surrey, in 2002 and kept it hidden behind hay bales for four years.
He was told to knock it down by 26 June after losing a High Court appeal.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council said it has lodged a claim for contempt of court proceedings.
A hearing will take place at the High Court on 22 October.
In 2008, Mr Fidler said he hid the "castle" because he believed a house that stood for four years without objection had a legal right to remain.
The four-bedroom property, on greenbelt land, includes a kitchen, living room, study, a gravelled forecourt and a conservatory.
In April Mr Fidler said he accepted he had no choice but to demolish the house, but in June he said it would be like Picasso destroying one of his paintings.
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Clever, tool-using crows have surprised scientists once again with remarkable problem-solving skills.
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By Victoria GillScience correspondent, BBC News
In a task designed to test their tool-making prowess, New Caledonian crows spontaneously put together two short, combinable sticks to make a longer "fishing rod" to reach a piece of food.
The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Scientists say the demonstration is a "window into how another animals' minds work".
How do you test a bird's tool-making skills?
New Caledonian crows are known to spontaneously use tools in the wild. This task, designed by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany, and the University of Oxford, presented the birds with a novel problem that they needed to make a new tool in order to solve.
It involved a "puzzle box" containing food behind a door that left a narrow gap along the bottom. With the food deep inside the box and only short sticks - too short to reach the food - the crows were left to work out what to do.
The sticks were designed to be combinable - one was hollow to allow the other to slot inside. And with no demonstration or help, four out of the eight crows inserted one stick into another and used the resulting longer tool to fish for and extract the food from the box.
"They have never seen this compound tool, but somehow they can predict its properties," explained one of the lead researchers, Prof Alex Kacelnik.
"So they can predict what something that does not yet exist would do if they made it. Then they can make it and they can use it.
"That means that the standard idea that animals try everything at random and improve by reinforcement - that's not enough," he added.
"The finding is remarkable because the crows received no assistance or training in making these combinations, they figured it out by themselves," added Auguste von Bayern, who designed the study.
Why are scientists putting these birds to the test?
"To understand how a mind other than ours can work is a major intellectual challenge," said Prof Kacelnik.
"On its own it's fascinating."
And this study, he added, has reinforced the evidence that the crows have "highly flexible abilities" that allow them to solve novel problems very quickly with tools they have never seen before.
The researchers suspect that the crows might do this by envisaging a simulation of the problem in front of them - playing out different actions in their brains until they figure out the solution.
Dr Amanda Seed, from the University of St Andrews, described this as a "really striking finding".
"It raises lots more interesting questions concerning mental simulation abilities in these birds," she told BBC News, "questions we can also ask of apes and young children [to understand more about its evolution]."
The problem-solving demonstrations could also help in the development of artificial intelligence in robots - to discover ways to build machines that are also able to reach "autonomous creative solutions" to new problems.
"We are [working with engineers] to give robots the same problems we give the birds," said Prof Kacelnik.
"Imagine the possibility of building artificial intelligence that can actually want what you are interested in doing, and can achieve it by a means that you haven't thought of before."
He cited the example of an earthquake and a robot designed to "want" to rescue people from a collapsed building, having the capability to work out ways to make that happen.
"The animals give us the mountain that we have to climb," Prof Kacelnik explained. "We know a task can be done because the animals have shown us that."
Follow Victoria on Twitter
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A recount in Guernsey's 2020 general election has made no appreciable difference to the results.
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The recount was requested on Friday by Pierre Ehmann, Catherine Hall, Scott Ogier and Garry Collins, who finished in the 40th to 43rd places.
Bailiff Richard McMahon oversaw the electronic count on Saturday and Sunday.
The successful candidates are due to be sworn in at a special sitting of the States on Friday.
During that meeting they will also elect the president of the Policy and Resources Committee - who is also chief minister when working externally.
The successful candidate with the least votes - Deputy Carl Meerveld - gained two votes.
Meanwhile the highest-polling unsuccessful candidate - Fergus Dunlop - had two fewer votes meaning the gap between them rose to 26.
Details of both counts can be found here.
No candidates changed positions but two are now tied in 31st place - first-time candidates Tina Bury and Simon Fairclough.
The total number of voters was 24,627 with 17 blank papers and 137 spoilt papers - this is 20 more than were ruled out in the original count.
It means the turnout falls from 79.77% to 79.7%, but it remains a record ahead of the previous high of 72.5% in 2016.
There were 119 candidates standing for the 38 seats as deputies in the States of Guernsey.
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Political billboards have sprung up across the Netherlands, with a general election due to take place on 12 September under the shadow of the eurozone crisis.
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By Anna HolliganBBC News, The Netherlands
According to polls, economic pessimism has sent voters scattering across the political spectrum.
Believing mainstream parties have failed to protect them from aching rounds of austerity, record numbers of voters look set to seek shelter in the arms of outsiders.
Nothing illustrates this shift more than an unprecedented surge in support for the Socialists (SP) - a party which has always been to the left of the more mainstream Labour.
It still alludes to past Maoist allegiances with its emblem of a white star in a red tomato, harking back to the days when activists hurled fruit at opponents during protests.
Populist power
Recent polls suggest they could win the election, or come second to the centre-right Liberals (VVD).
The left-wing Socialists are capturing voters' imagination in the same way the right-wing Freedom Party (PVV) did just before the country's last few elections.
In theory the parties are polar opposites. In practice, Socialist Party leader Emile Roemer and controversial Freedom Party front man Geert Wilders share two critical positions: both are eurosceptic, both pro-welfare.
Polls suggest Mr Wilders's popularity is waning, while Mr Roemer is the rising star.
"I've never seen anything like this. It's totally splintering," says Ron Meerhof, a seasoned political journalist at the popular Volkskrant newspaper.
"Voters are going all over the place, they're very volatile. They feel like the big parties don't have the answers. It's interesting and impossible to predict what will happen."
At a Freedom Party rally in Rotterdam there was a conspicuous number of empty chairs.
I asked Mr Wilders if he would be willing to join forces with Mr Roemer to form a government.
"I have not excluded anyone," he said.
And he made clear the party's anti-Islamic platform was no longer its main campaign theme.
"I believe Europe is the only subject that matters in these elections. We don't want to be a slave of Brussels - we want to be an independent country and this is the choice we are offering the electorate."
Emile Roemer appears to be an attractive prospect for the disenchanted masses - a smiling, self-assured, open-collar-and-no-tie man.
In the popularity stakes, he comes in just behind the nation's favourite Queen Beatrix.
But some of the same people believe he is too lightweight, too inexperienced, to take charge of the country. In leadership polls he is down in fourth place.
"They just don't see him as a prime minister. They see him as a guy who understands them, someone who is like them and can soften the blow from the crisis," explains political analyst Andre Krouwel.
"He is associated with fighting and protest, not someone who can unify different parties to form a coalition."
'Over my dead body'
His Socialist party has consistently refused to toe the Netherlands' euro-enthusiastic line.
It voted against rescue packages for Spain and Greece, budget deficit targets and the new ESM bailout fund.
The Socialists favour stimulus over austerity.
When asked whether the Netherlands would pay the European Commission fine for failing to hit its 3% budget deficit target, Mr Roemer's response was a resolute "Over my dead body!"
Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager immediately warned that such "irresponsible comments" threatened to undermine market confidence.
But the SP's spokesman on Europe, Harry van Bommel, insists austerity is "not the way to get ourselves out of this crisis".
"We can only restore confidence by showing we'll create growth and that will only happen if the government invests in the country," he says.
"The austerity measures will definitely not stimulate the economy: they will hurt small and medium enterprises, they will hurt people with low incomes."
Part of the Socialists' success has been to occupy space left by what has traditionally been the main left-wing party, Labour.
Some Labour voters felt abandoned when it made policy concessions in order to join the centre-right coalition formed after the last election.
Business fears
The Socialists want to raise income tax from 52% to 65% for those earning more than 150,000 euros (£119,000).
My landlord looks anxious when I mention the prospect of a Roemer-led government.
"They will kill the economy. They want to make such high taxes for companies that many will shut down. Then how will they pay for all the benefits they want to give out to old people and the unemployed?"
The result of the election may have wider repercussions, too.
The Netherlands has become known for taking a hard line on austerity, refusing to let southern Europe off the hook.
But if the Socialists put in a strong showing, the Netherlands' own commitment to fiscal discipline will be called into question, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's austerity-led strategy will come under growing pressure.
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A former South Tyneside hospice is "unlikely" to reopen as a base for end-of-life care, NHS chiefs have said.
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St Clare's Hospice, in Jarrow, closed in January after 30 years.
Health bosses are working on plans for the future of palliative services in the borough with proposals including a facility with an inpatient unit.
However, a meeting at Jarrow Town Hall was told the Primrose Hill site would not be the right place for the clinical model health chiefs intend to pursue.
"I know people want to know what building [the hub] will be in, but I cannot say at this point," said Matt Brown, director of operations at South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
"But I think it is unlikely that can be Primrose Hill.
"I know that is the site people feel passionately about, but we don't feel it's likely we can make the right, safe clinical model work on that site."
Mr Brown was speaking at a meeting of the Jarrow and Boldon Community Area Forum (CAF) where he updated councillors and the public on the progress of plans to replace St Clare's.
The hospice closed its doors after bosses said it was facing financial difficulties.
The meeting followed a report for CCG chiefs last month which outlined proposals for a "spoke and hub" model with a greater emphasis on home and community care.
It is thought that would mean a lower staffing burden for a new palliative care facility - a problem which forced St Clare's into a one-month temporary closure last year before it shut permanently.
It has been suggested a new hub could be based "in the vicinity of" South Tyneside District Hospital, in South Shields, to enable doctors to work across both sites, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
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A people-led campaign which helped Dundee reach the shortlist for UK City of Culture 2017 wants the public to help with the next stage of the bid.
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"We Dundee" is encouraging people to outline what they want to see in the city in four years time.
Dundee is competing against Hull, Leicester and Swansea Bay for the title. Aberdeen missed out on the shortlist which was revealed in June.
The winning city will be announced in November this year.
Now the city is on the shortlist, a culture programme must be produced in order to complete the next phase which has a 30 September deadline.
Dundee will then make a final presentation to the competition judges in mid-November and the winning city will be announced later that month.
The cultural suggestions that have already been made include:
Dundee will make a final presentation to the competition judges in mid-November and the winning city will be announced later that month.
The "We Dundee" website was launched earlier this year and its creators said it "exceeded all targets" by generating more than 2,300 supporters and 20,000 site visits, including hits from Canada, United States, Spain and Australia.
Stewart Murdoch, chairman of the Dundee bid group, said: "The depth and range of contribution from so many members of the public in phase one was astonishing and genuinely impressed the city of culture judges, and I'm sure this next phase will be just as effective.
"It's a competition so we can't always give too much away, but there's no doubt that the bid's secret weapon is the creativity and imagination of the city's people. I'm really looking forward to seeing the ideas come in over the next month. "
The UK City of Culture is a competition run by the UK government which uses culture and creativity to transform communities and is currently held by Derry in Northern Ireland.
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Hanni Begg was a Berlin schoolgirl when the Nazis came for her family in 1943. Through sheer luck she evaded capture before later coming face-to-face with Hitler. This is her story of survival.
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Her father had a plan for when the Nazis came for their family - they would kill themselves with cyanide.
But both the 14-year-old and her father were out when, in 1943, the Gestapo arrived at their third-floor flat in Berlin.
Her younger brother Max and sister Ruth were not so lucky, they spent the rest of their short lives in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Holocaust Memorial Day: On the run from the Nazis
"I never saw my brother and sister again," said Hanni, now 86.
"I knew I wouldn't see them again, that was quite clear to me. I never had any more hope, by that time I knew too much.
"At first I cried. Then I just had to carry on and put it at the back of my mind."
After Hanni's mother died of cancer in 1939, her father warned her of the threat their small Jewish family faced from the Nazis.
"They took all of our money and wouldn't give us ration books," she recalled.
"Right away my father talked about Mein Kampf [Hitler's self-penned blueprint for a Third Reich] to me. He said I had to be aware I would be surrounded by anti-semitism but would have to be very proud of my Jewish background.
"He also said we would get a letter from the Gestapo on some day saying they would come and collect us and take us to a camp for our own protection, each must prepare a suitcase, all our belongings would be returned when we came back.
"My father knew this was all lies. He told us not to believe the propaganda. He said we would never go to a camp.
"He brought out a box which had four cyanide tablets in it, he said when we get that letter we will all take the tablets and die.
"I thought that was romantic, that we would die together."
The letter never came, but the Gestapo did.
"When I came home from school some neighbours were waiting outside and said I wasn't to go in because the Gestapo would be waiting to take me away. I didn't see my father again for years.
"I had to disappear, but there was always some help from somebody despite the danger to themselves."
She lived with neighbours and friends who hid her real identity, part of which involved her going to school.
And it was there that she came face to face with Adolf Hitler.
"He came to our school. I was in the front row and I was the only child in that class from a Jewish background but I didn't look Jewish.
"He was surrounded by guards, we shook hands for a second and it was all finished.
"Afterwards I felt ashamed I had actually done it but I couldn't have done anything else.
"Firstly, I didn't have enough time to think about, and secondly, it would have been very dangerous if I hadn't."
As the war came to a close, Hani finally located her father through a friend - he was living in a room in a bombed-out house in the city.
He was suffering from tuberculosis and died on 9 May 1945 as soon as he found out the war was over.
Hanni buried him in the yard.
She was then adopted by another family before a friend saw an advert for young German women to move to Britain to train as nurses for the newly formed NHS.
Hanni moved and eventually married a doctor, settling in Guisborough near Middlesbrough, where she has lived ever since.
"Do I feel grateful to have survived? Not always, no, I've felt guilty a lot of my life that I'm the one here. Why should I have survived?
"It was just a stroke of luck that I wasn't there when the Gestapo came that I survived.
"I've had a happy life and normal life now, managed to have a family and I'm grateful for that."
Hanni was telling her story to BBC Tees after agreeing to share her experiences with student filmmakers from Teesside University.
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Two sisters gave birth within five hours of each other at the same birthing centre - with family members rushing between neighbouring rooms.
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Libby Harris, 20, and her sister Lacey, 16, who are both from Darwen, Lancashire, gave birth at the Blackburn Birth Centre.
Lacey had daughter Lola-Mae, weighing 6lbs 4oz, at 23:42 BST on Wednesday.
Libby's son Joshua then arrived at 04:50 on Thursday, weighing 6lbs 12 oz.
Libby said it was "so lovely" to go through pregnancy with her younger sister.
"We can share all the experiences of new mums but being extra special as we're sisters," she said.
Senior midwife Gillian Brandon said it was "an unusual but exciting time for both the sisters and the staff involved".
"We send our best wishes to the sisters, their little ones and the family," she said.
Lola-Mae and Joshua are first children for both Lacey and Libby.
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Leaving the EU is a "major setback" for Welsh universities, a university boss has said, but he believes they would "come out the other side".
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Universities wanted to remain claiming funding for research and collaboration with other European academics brought huge benefits.
Cardiff's Vice Chancellor Colin Riordan said the referendum signalled "a period of uncertainty and disruption".
The Welsh Government said it would try to protect the higher education sector.
Cardiff University is one of the UK's leading institutions for research - ranked fifth in an assessment two years ago.
It has attracted millions of pounds of funding from the European Union including £4.5m towards the new Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre.
'More certainty'
Prof Riordan warned there is a threat to the research capacity of universities, but applications for grants and collaboration with other EU researchers had to continue.
"Until there's much much more certainty - which will be not months but years - we need to continue as we planned and continue to work closely with our European partners," he said.
"We will get through this, but it's not what we would have wanted."
Last year there were 5,425 students from the EU studying at Welsh universities.
The Welsh Government has said current EU students and those applying to study in Wales this year would be eligible for the same financial support.
A spokesman said: "Ministers will use every lever at their disposal to ensure Welsh jobs and communities, including the higher education sector, are protected as much as possible through what may be difficult times ahead, and to work together to get the best deal for Wales.
Before the referendum, Leave campaigners pledged to maintain funding levels for research and argued that European and global research collaboration could continue and be enhanced outside the EU.
Conservative education spokesman Darren Millar AM said a far greater worry was the unsustainability of the Welsh Government's tuition fee policy.
He added: "Our universities should take courage from the fact that they are full to the brim with some of the world's brightest minds and innovators who will be integral to safeguarding their economic futures."
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The BBC is to delay TV licence fee changes for the over-75s until August in light of the coronavirus situation.
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Free TV licences for up to 3.7 million people had been due to be scrapped on 1 June, but that has been put back to 1 August.
These are "exceptional circumstances" and "now is not the right time", BBC chairman Sir David Clementi said.
He added: "We are fully focused on delivering our services to the public at this difficult time."
The BBC confirmed it will foot the cost of the two-month delay.
Last year, the corporation announced that only low-income households where one person receives the pension credit benefit will still be eligible for a free licence from June 2020.
On Monday, amid the growing spread of the coronavirus, the BBC and the government issued a joint statement saying they "do not want anyone to be worried about any potential change" at the current time.
"The BBC's priority over the coming period will be to do everything we can to serve the nation at this uniquely challenging time," the statement said.
"As the national broadcaster, the BBC has a vital role to play in supplying information to the public in the weeks and months ahead."
"Recognising the exceptional circumstances, the BBC board has therefore decided to change the start date of the new policy. Our current plan is to now bring it into place on 1 August. We will of course keep the issue under review as the situation continues to evolve."
Free TV licences for the over-75s have been provided by the government since 2000, but responsibility for the provision is being passed to the BBC as part of its last licence fee settlement.
There was an outcry in 2019 when the broadcaster announced it would end the scheme for all but those receiving the pension credit benefit.
More than 630,000 people signed a petition set up by the charity Age UK, which called on the prime minister to take action.
On Monday, Age UK welcomed the delay as "a victory for common sense", but questioned whether an eight-week delay "will be anything like long enough".
Charity director Caroline Abrahams said: "Unfortunately many over-75s will have already received a letter suggesting they get their pension credit letters photocopied at the local library or corner shop.
"This runs counter to the public health message the government seems likely to be giving older people very soon about staying at home to reduce their risk of infection, so it's important older people are informed that there's no need for them to take this action for now."
'Welcome news'
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: "I am pleased the BBC has worked with us and agreed to delay their licence fee changes for over-75s from coming in and will keep this under review.
"It will be welcome news to millions of older people who now don't need to worry about their TV licence during this challenging period.
"It is right that the BBC have recognised the exceptional circumstances posed by the coronavirus outbreak and the need for the whole country to pull together in the national effort."
A 2018 report estimated that continuing to providing free licences for the 2020/2021 financial year would cost the BBC around £700m.
The DCMS Committee chair Julian Knight said: "We welcome this news at what will be a time of great anxiety, particularly for those over 75. Television and radio broadcasts will offer comfort as well as being a vital means for accessing public information.
"However, this delay seems to offer a short-term fix to a much wider problem. What we want is to see is renewed efforts from the Government and the BBC to sit down and resolve this issue once and for all."
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Demonstrations against LGBT inclusive education have been permanently banned outside a primary school.
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A High Court judge ruled in favour of an exclusion zone to remain around Anderton Park, in Birmingham, which has been targeted by protesters for months.
The protests had an averse effect on pupils, residents and staff, leading to 21 teachers being treated for stress, Mr Justice Warby said.
Campaigners accused the city council of trying to silence debate.
The protests at the school in Balsall Heath aimed to stop LGBT relationships education, with many parents and activists claiming it contradicts their Islamic faith and is not "age appropriate".
October's five-day hearing at the city's Priory Courts heard there were further "untrue" and "harmful" allegations made about the school on social media, and how a visiting imam had claimed to parents there were "paedophiles" inside the school.
Other false claims included that the school had a "paedophile agenda" and staff were "teaching children how to masturbate".
"None of this is true," Mr Justice Warby said as he handed down the ban at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre.
"None of the defendants have suggested it was true and the council has proved it is not true."
The lessons had been "misrepresented by parents", he said, adding the school does not promote homosexuality and seeks to weave the language of equality into everyday school life.
Since June protesters have gathered just outside the exclusion zone.
In the hearing last month, the city council argued an interim injunction should be extended beyond school gates and made permanent.
Birmingham City Council said the noisy protests at the school gates were disrupting lessons and meant children were unable to use the playground.
The council maintained the court action was in response to campaigners' behaviour, not the issue of the protests.
The prior injunction named lead protester Shakeel Afsar, who does not have children at the school, his sister Rosina and Amir Ahmed, all of whom contested the need for a legal injunction.
Mr Justice Warby directed that the three named defendants should be liable to 80% of those costs, which the court heard have yet to be calculated.
The judge said the reason the award was not in full was because part of the council's claim - for an injunction on the making of abusive social media posts against teachers - had been unsuccessful.
Mr Afsar said he was "bitterly disappointed with the decision of the court".
He branded the court "one-sided", pointing out that the judge, the council's barrister and key witnesses had been "white", compared with the "diverse" protest supporters.
"We can continue to protest in the same area that we have been protesting in since June this year," he added.
"These young children are not being taught the status of law."
Speaking after the ruling, head teacher Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson said staff would be "over the moon".
"We knew it was misrepresented and that was the frustration when you are trying to go about your daily business as educators and when people say things about you that are not true, that is very difficult," she said
"It has been awful, but my staff are unbelievable and parents are unbelievable and the children of Anderton Park are incredible human beings and we are a strong school and every single person is part of that strength."
Analysis
By BBC correspondent Phil Mackie
It's hard to see what the protesters can do now. One of the group's three leaders - Amir Ahmed - has said they would seek leave to appeal, but it's far from clear on what grounds they could do so.
Only a handful of the people who regularly gathered outside the school were parents or had any direct connection with Anderton Park, but the demonstrators do reflect concern felt by some religious communities about equality teaching, and particularly lessons about same sex relationships.
It won't matter to them that the judge has said their allegations about "promoting" homosexuality are false and that they have "misrepresented" what is being taught in the school.
It will simply confirm their belief that they are the victims of bias against them by the establishment and the mainstream media.
Birmingham City Council said it was "really pleased" with Mr Justice Warby's decision.
"This was always about protecting the school and community from the escalating levels of anti-social behaviour of the protests," Dr Tim O'Neill, the council's director of education and skills, said.
"Birmingham is diverse and inclusive - these are its strengths - and we must all come together to ensure all children get the best education possible."
He said "fringe elements" had been attracted to the protests with the aim of "stoking division and hatred".
Christian campaigner John Allman, from Okehampton in Devon, had joined proceedings with a view to "raising freedom of expression arguments" in opposition to aspects of the injunction that sought to restrict statements on social media.
Meanwhile, Mr Afsar had claimed the weekly protests were "peaceful" despite the use of megaphones and a sound-boosting PA system.
The National Association of Head Teachers, which has supported the school, welcomed an end to the "noisy and aggressive protests".
"This judgement makes it abundantly clear that the school gate is no place to hold a protest," a spokesperson said.
It was also welcomed by the Department for Education, which has previously faced criticism for a perceived lack of support for the school, but said it wanted to "encourage positive dialogue".
Update 29 November 2019: This article has been updated to reflect that John Allman's part in proceedings was related to freedom of expression arguments and not the exclusion zone.
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The leaders of North and South Korea have agreed to work to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons, after holding a historic summit.
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The announcement was made by the North's Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in of South Korea after talks at the border.
The two also agreed to push towards turning the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953 into a peace treaty this year.
The summit came just months after warlike rhetoric from North Korea.
Speaking at a banquet after Friday's talks, Mr Kim hailed the progress he said had been made.
"We bade farewell to the frozen relationship between North and South Korea, which was a nightmare. And we announced the beginning of a warm spring to the world," he said.
What is in the agreement?
Details of how denuclearisation would be achieved were not made clear and many analysts remain sceptical about the North's apparent enthusiasm for engagement.
An issue for the North is the security guarantee extended by the US, a nuclear power, to South Korea and Japan and its military presence in both countries.
Previous inter-Korean agreements have included similar pledges but were later abandoned after the North resorted to nuclear and missile tests and the South elected more conservative presidents.
Mr Kim said the two leaders had agreed to work to prevent a repeat of the region's "unfortunate history" in which progress had "fizzled out".
"There may be backlash, hardship and frustration," he said, adding: "A victory cannot be achieved without pain."
Other points the leaders agreed on in a joint statement were:
The commitment to denuclearisation does not explicitly refer to North Korea halting its nuclear activities but rather the aim of "a nuclear-free Korean peninsula".
The two countries have also agreed to seek international support to reach this goal, the joint statement says.
What do China and the US say?
China later praised the political determination and courage of both leaders and said it hoped the momentum could be maintained.
US President Donald Trump also welcomed the news, tweeting that "good things are happening".
Mr Kim is due to meet Mr Trump in the coming weeks. Speaking in Washington, Mr Trump said the meeting would take place in one of two countries under consideration and vowed he would not be "played" by the North Korean leader.
"We will come up with a solution and if we don't we'll leave the room," he said.
New US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - who earlier this month travelled secretly to Pyongyang to meet Mr Kim - said his impression was that Mr Kim was serious about reaching a deal.
"The economic pressure put in place by this global effort that President Trump has led has led him to believe that it's in his best interest to come to the table and talk about denuclearisation," he said, speaking at a Nato meeting in Brussels.
How did Friday's summit unfold?
The leaders were met by an honour guard in traditional costume on the South Korean side. The pair walked to the Peace House in Panmunjom, a military compound in the DMZ.
Mr Kim then invited the South Korean president to step briefly across the demarcation line into North Korea, before the pair stepped back into South Korea - all the while holding hands.
It was an apparently unscripted moment during a highly choreographed sequence of events.
The two leaders spoke together during a session broadcast live on South Korean TV.
Mr Kim jokingly apologised to Mr Moon for repeatedly forcing him to get up early because of the North's missile and nuclear tests.
"I heard you [President Moon] had your early morning sleep disturbed many times to attend National Security Council meetings," he said. "I will make sure that your morning sleep won't be disturbed."
"Now I can sleep in peace," Mr Moon replied.
Mr Kim also acknowledged that the North's infrastructure lagged behind that of the South.
"I'm worried that our transport situation is bad so it may discomfort you, it may be embarrassing [for me] if you visit North Korea after living in the South's environment," he said.
After separating for lunch, the two leaders took part in a tree-planting ceremony using soil and water from both countries.
They later attended a banquet where Mr Kim was expected to be served the Swiss potato dish rösti - a nod to his time studying in Switzerland - along with the North's signature dish of cold noodles, and a North Korean liquor.
Mr Kim was accompanied for the symbolic discussions by nine officials, including his powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong.
So far there has been no mention of the summit's outcome on North Korean TV.
How did we get here?
Few had predicted a development like this, as North Korea continued its nuclear and missile tests and stepped up its rhetoric through 2016 and 2017.
The rapprochement began in January when Mr Kim suggested he was "open to dialogue" with South Korea.
The following month the two countries marched under one flag at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, held in the South.
Mr Kim announced last week that he was suspending nuclear tests.
Chinese researchers have indicated that North Korea's nuclear test site may be unusable after a rock collapse.
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The family of a 12-year-old boy, who died trying to rescue a girl from a weir, has described him as a "hero".
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Owen Jenkins went missing in the River Trent near Beeston Marina, Nottinghamshire, on Monday afternoon.
Tributes have been paid to the boy, whose body was found in the water during a major search operation.
His great aunt, Liz Ryan, said: "He went in the water to save a girl and help her get out, and he couldn't swim much himself.
"We don't know the full story but all we know is that he is a hero."
In a statement his parents, Nicola and Gary Jenkins, said: "Our little boy, our English rose, our champion will be missed and never forgotten.
"We wish to thank all of the emergency services, who have been amazing, and all of the people that helped to look for Owen."
More on this and other stories across Nottinghamshire
A Facebook post by the boy's rugby team, Nottingham Casuals RFC, said: "It is with profound sadness and regret that we confirm the loss of 12-year-old Owen Jenkins who died at Beeston Weir last night.
"We cannot express how deep our sorrow is and our thoughts are with Owen's family and friends.
"Owen has played Rugby for Nottingham Casuals RFC since he was 7 and was loved [by] his teammates and everyone he came into contact with.
"His teammates are in bits this morning."
Ian Brierly, head teacher at Chilwell School where Owen was a student, described him as an "enthusiastic and gregarious young man".
"He was an exceptional sportsman and we recently celebrated his success from sports day when he broke several long-standing school records; most notably the 200m.
"Owen was a key member of our community and we are heartbroken at his loss," he added.
Anna Soubry, Conservative MP for Broxtowe, tweeted Owen had "lost his life in the Trent trying to help others".
The MP also raised the issue in the House of Commons, calling for government action to co-ordinate safety measures around open water.
"This is a terrible accident and everyone's thoughts are with Owen's family and friends," she said.
Narrow boat owner Brad O'Riordan said the water at Riverside Road, near to where Owen was last seen, was very dangerous.
He said: "It's a very fast current there. I don't think the kids realise what they're getting into when they go into the water."
About 30 firefighters helped with the search, which involved three power boats, a police helicopter and an air ambulance.
At the scene, Dave Wade, BBC Nottingham
There was a sombre mood among the barge owners and dog walkers at Beeston Marina early this morning.
Some described seeing the boy entering the water to help a pair of girls who had got into trouble at the weir.
One barge owner told me the 12-year-old was standing on the weir when he picked a girl out, but his legs gave way and he never surfaced.
Many had questions over safety at the beauty spot, which is a magnet for youngsters when the weather is good.
Most people I spoke to said lifebelts had been stolen or vandalised.
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An increase in sponsored events in Snowdonia is driving up the number of call-outs, says rescue groups.
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MountainSafe, a partnership of mountain rescue organisations and the emergency services, is urging walkers to make more effort to ensure their safety.
Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team chairman John Grisdale said: "If there is a lack of knowledge by walkers, there's an increased risk of accidents."
Stone pillars are being put on Snowdon to help people keep to the paths.
MountainSafe has issued a five-point guide for people to follow to maximise their chances of completing their event without having to rely on the rescue services.
Mr Grisdale said that most groups using the mountain enjoy a successful day out the lack of knowledge by some meant an accident was more likely in unfavourable conditions.
He added: "My concern about these groups is based on their lack of understanding of the mountains and the environment.
"For example, last week, we were called out to rescue three young men who decided not to follow the normal path.
"They weren't wearing appropriate clothing or shoes, they didn't have any directions, no leader and the gully they got stuck on was precarious for the rescue helicopter."
MountainSafe is funded by the Welsh government via Sport Wales.
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Racially or religiously aggravated hate crimes against London police officers went up more than 50% in two years.
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By Daniel KraemerBBC Freedom of Information researcher
A total of 667 police officers were victims of racist or religious hate crimes in 2016-17, up from 428 in 2014-15, a BBC Freedom of Information request has shown.
The Metropolitan Police Federation said the 56% increase was "abhorrent".
The Met Police said it was committed to prosecuting those that abuse its officers in this manner.
A total of 4,215 officers employed by the Met Police are black or minority ethnic, making up 13.4% of the force, compared to 40% of the capital's population overall.
Leroy Logan MBE, a former superintendent and founding member of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, said he was "saddened" by the findings.
"We're talking about things that happened 20, 30 years ago but are coming back," he said.
Mr Logan said he experienced racism as a police officer, both inside the police force and on the streets.
"When I was a constable, I'd get it internally and externally, especially from youngsters," he said.
"One time I was in an estate in Islington and I heard someone shout the n-word from the balcony. I think unfortunately we are not seeing public attitudes improving today."
As well as the 667 police officers, 54 civilian police staff were victims of hate crime in 2016-17, bringing the total to almost two offences each day last year.
Offences ranged from harassment to racially or religiously aggravated grievous bodily harm but also included non-violent offences, which highlighted "the welcome rise in victims willing to report hate crime to the police," the force said.
Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, condemned the rise as "abhorrent".
He said: "In this day and age, I just don't get it."
"But we're doing everything we can to assist our colleagues in any way we can when it's brought to our attention."
Louise Haigh, Labour's shadow police minister, said: "There must be a zero tolerance approach to race or religious hate crime and it is vital officers are able to carry out their roles protecting the public."
The Met said it was committed to increasing the rate of formal sanctions - including charges and cautions - and successful prosecutions.
The figures may include crimes against officers from other police forces, but all of the offences took place in the Met's jurisdiction.
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A composition by Blur frontman Damon Albarn has been played to radio listeners around the world to mark 90 years of BBC broadcasting.
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2LO Calling, a "snapshot of the airwaves", featured iconic sounds from radio over the past 90 years.
Musician and artist Nick Franglen told the BBC he enjoyed how the piece began but was "left feeling flat" by the end.
The broadcast at 17:33 GMT was hosted by BBC Radio 2's Simon Mayo from London's Science Museum.
It was the first scheduled simultaneous broadcast since 1922, when the BBC was established.
2LO Calling began with the chimes of Big Ben and featured the first ever broadcast from the 2LO transmitter and the number one song at the time - Three O'Clock in the Morning.
The three-minute piece also featured messages from listeners around the world along with the sound of the blackbird and skylark, commentary from the Cameroon election and the ubiquitous BBC pips.
"There is a special musicality to some of the vocal messages, which I tried to preserve," Albarn told the BBC earlier.
"Added to that, I got to do what I've always wanted - to play along with the pips."
Albarn also chose to include a famous quote from philosopher Bertrand Russell: "Love is wise, hatred is foolish."
It featured in Morse code, the series of clicks, tones, dots and dashes historically used to transmit information.
Russell delivered the BBC's inaugural Reith Lecture in 1948.
BBC Radio 3 presenter, Tom service described the tone of the piece as being one of "simultaneous elegy and hopefulness".
"The children's voices and their hopes for the future were both visionary in their innocent belief in the power of music; and dystopian in their hopes that the world wouldn't become overpopulated or burn itself to oblivion.
"Only at the end did Albarn allow himself a moment of real musical invention, in a radiophonic hymn for tolling piano chords, glockenspiel and those now magical, mythical pips," he added.
The 2LO transmitter made the first broadcast - from the British Broadcasting Company as it was then known - on 14 November 1922.
More than 55 BBC radio stations came together for Radio Reunited. It is estimated the broadcast could have reached up to 80 million listeners.
The Science Museum is marking the 90th anniversary of BBC Radio with a display featuring part of the original 2LO transmitter.
The display takes visitors back to the first broadcast and features two radios used to receive the BBC's early broadcasts, a microphone used in the early BBC Savoy Hill studios and an early copy of the Radio Times from 1923.
Tim Boon, head of research and public history at the Science Museum, said: "The first broadcast by the 2LO 90 years ago marked the moment when radio moved from the realm of the 'amateur enthusiast' to the first proper public broadcasting service in Britain.
"This exhibition takes visitors back to a time when everything, from the technology to the content of the programmes was still new."
Radio Reunited was one of a series of on-air events to mark 90 years of BBC Radio, which will also feature a wide range of special programming across BBC stations.
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A convicted Colombian drug trafficker has written a book from his Miami prison cell claiming that his brother fired the shot that killed notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
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By News from Elsewhere......media reports from around the world, found by BBC Monitoring
In the book How We Killed The Boss, Diego Murillo - widely known as Don Berna - describes Escobar's final hours when police caught up with him in 1993. Murillo claims that he and his brother Rodolfo Murillo Bejarano, nicknamed Semilla, were helping police hunt for Escobar as part of a mafia-funded death squad called Los Pepes, and were there with the police when they entered Escobar's safe house, the Colombia Reports website says.
Murillo says in an excerpt of his memoir published by La Semana that when Escobar ran out on to his roof, Bejarano took aim and shot him in the head. But General Hugo Martinez Poveda, head of the search unit, has rejected the explosive claims. "It's not true what he says," Poveda tells Colombian daily El Tiempo. "I was constantly communicating by radio with police officer Hugo Aguilar and with the Lieutenant Hugo Martinez Bolivar (my son) and the operation was carried out entirely by policemen." Official reports say that three policemen shot Escobar.
Murillo, a former paramilitary leader, is still wanted in Colombia in connection with numerous disappearances and massacres. His memoir is due to be released in early August.
Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.
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Google will own a 6% stake in Lenovo for $750m (£459m) when its deal to sell handset-maker Motorola Mobility to the Chinese PC maker is completed.
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According to a stock exchange filing, Google will take 618.3 million Lenovo shares at $1.21 each.
Last month, Lenovo spent a combined $5bn on buying Motorola Mobility and IBM's low-end server business - the two biggest deals in the company's history.
However, investors have criticised the Beijing-based firm's acquisition spree.
Lenovo has lost 24% of its market value since the $2.91bn Motorola Mobility deal was announced on 29 January.
At least five major brokerages have also downgraded their outlook on the firm, which has publicly spoken about its desire to become a global player.
However, analysts are pessimistic about its most recent purchase, saying Lenovo may have overpaid and will face a tough time turning Motorola's unprofitable handset business around.
Global ambitions
Lenovo, which was founded in 1984 as a PC distributor, has grown largely due to high-profile global acquisitions.
Its 2005 purchase of IBM's Thinkpad business, for example, helped the company overtake Hewlett-Packard as the world's top PC maker in 2012.
But as more users shunned traditional PCs for more portable devices, Lenovo has been looking to expand its offering under the so-called PC Plus plan.
As a result, the firm has unveiled a line of lower-end tablets and smartphone that have sold well in China and other emerging markets.
It has also launched global marketing campaigns using Hollywood celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, aimed at making the brand more globally recognised.
The company now hopes to produce more sophisticated offerings through its Motorola purchase, and crack the lucrative US and European markets.
The Motorola acquisition has already helped it leapfrog competitors in the global smartphone rankings.
From being the fifth largest smartphone seller in the world last year, it is now set to be the third.
Lenovo is scheduled to release its latest earnings on February 13.
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A court in Germany has ruled that circumcising young boys for religious reasons amounts to bodily harm.
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In a decision that has caused outrage among Jewish and Muslim groups, the court said that a child's right to physical integrity trumps religious and parental rights.
The case involved a doctor who carried out a circumcision on a four year-old that led to medical complications.
Thousands of Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised in Germany every year.
Although male circumcision - unlike female circumcision - is not illegal in Germany, the court's judgement said the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents".
Circumcision, it decided, contravenes "interests of the child to decide later in life on his religious beliefs".
'Protect religious freedom'
The doctor involved in the case was acquitted and the ruling is not binding, but correspondents say it sets a precedent that would be taken into account by other German courts.
The president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Dieter Graumann, called it "an unprecedented and dramatic intervention in the right of religious communities to self-determination".
He urged the country's parliament to clarify the legal situation "to protect religious freedom against attacks".
Male circumcision is part of the ancient religious rituals of both the Jewish and Muslim faiths, as well as the traditions of some tribal groups.
In some countries, such as the United States, it is also not uncommon for parents to request that young boys are circumcised for health reasons.
The BBC's Stephen Evans in Germany says it is unclear what the next legal step will be, but this issue is a moral and political minefield.
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The number of sectarian incidents recorded at Scottish football matches fell by 40% last season, according to Crown Office figures.
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By Reevel AldersonHome affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland
The total number of offences, under new legislation which criminalised religious hatred connected to football, dropped from 267 to 203 in 2013/14.
Officials said this may account for a 15% drop in all offences with a religious aggravation.
The figure of 587 was down from 689 the previous year and 898 in 2011/12.
The totals for the preceding five years were relatively stable, with between 600 and 700 charges reported each year.
In 51% of the football-related cases, the accused was affiliated with either Rangers or Celtic.
'Small minority'
In all, there were 635 charges relating to religious prejudice in Scotland when general offences of religious hatred were added to those under the new legislation - the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.
That was a 17% reduction on the previous 12 months.
The government said it was committed to review the football legislation after two years, but said the figures showed strong action was being taken to tackle the actions of the "small minority" of fans who indulge in offensive behaviour at matches.
As in previous years, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism were most often the religions that were the subject of abuse.
There was an increase in the proportion of charges which related to Catholicism - from 57% in 2012/13 to 63% in the subsequent 12 months - although the number of offences fell.
Offences relating to Protestantism remained steady at 29% - also with a reduced number.
In 29% per cent of the incidents, the accused had affiliations with Rangers. Celtic fans accounted for 22%.
More than a quarter (28%) referred to support for terrorist organisations.
Advisory group
The legislation has proved controversial with football clubs and fans who have complained it does not specify exactly what constitutes offensive behaviour, including which songs or chants could contravene the law.
Religious hate crimes fell by 17% overall, which ministers said was testament to hard work taking place to tackle these offences.
The government said it had invested £9m between 2012 and 2015 in community projects and set up an independent advisory group to tackle the scourge of sectarianism.
The statistics also revealed rises in sexual orientation aggravated crime, which were up by up 22%; disability aggravated offences, which increased by 12%; and charges with an aggravation of transgender identity. However, in each case the numbers involved were low.
Hate crimes
Equalities Secretary Shona Robison condemned those increases and said an awareness campaign had been launched to encourage reporting of such crimes, which included the establishment of third party reporting centres across Scotland.
"No-one should have to face discrimination or prejudice in any form in 21st Century Scotland," she said.
"The more we talk about it, the easier it will be for people to report hate crimes to the authorities.
"We are not becoming more intolerant as a society, but we are becoming less tolerant of those who hold prejudiced beliefs."
Jan Savage, head of campaigns and policy at the charity Enable Scotland said the rise in offences against disabled people was disappointing.
But she said: "More and more disabled people are exercising their rights to report hate crimes and reclaim their communities and the right to feel safe.
"What this also tells us is that there is a real need to tackle the root causes of disability related hate crime, and work harder to change attitudes about disability."
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Microsoft has "taken action" to change its Bing search engine after it was found to give "horrifying" results for some terms.
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Journalist Chris Hoffman discovered Bing suggested racist topics when he looked up words such as "Jews", "Muslims" and "black people".
Bing also ranked widely debunked conspiracy theories among the top suggestions for other words.
Mr Hoffman said Microsoft had to do better at moderating its search system.
Deeper look
In his investigation, Mr Hoffman looked up racially-themed terms and found that the majority of suggestions for further searches that accompanied results pointed people to racist sites or images.
Racist memes and images were also returned for many of the words he tried.
"We all know this garbage exists on the web, but Bing shouldn't be leading people to it with their search suggestions," wrote Mr Hoffman.
It is believed that the suggestions for further searches connected to these terms have emerged from a combination of user activity and concerted action by far-right groups to skew responses.
Mr Hoffman also found "disgusting" results when searching for images of young girls with Bing's safety filters turned off.
The racial examples are similar to those found in 2016 by Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr, when she used the Google search engine to look up facts about the Holocaust.
Ms Cadwalladr found that results for "did the Holocaust happen?" were dominated by pages denying it took place that had been created by white supremacist site Stormfront.
In response to Mr Hoffman's findings, Jeff Jones, a senior director at Microsoft, said: "We take matters of offensive content very seriously and continue to enhance our systems to identify and prevent such content from appearing as a suggested search.
"As soon as we become aware of an issue, we take action to address it," he added.
The BBC repeated some of the searches carried out by Mr Hoffman and found that the results returned contained far fewer responses that pointed people towards overtly racist sites or images.
Bing has about a 24% share of the search engine market in the US, second to Google at 63%, suggest figures from analyst firm Statista. In the UK, Bing is used in 12% of all searches.
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Nicola Sturgeon will scrap the 1% cap on public sector pay rises when she sets out her legislative plans for the coming year, it is understood.
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The first minister will announce the measure when she reveals her 2017-18 programme for government on Tuesday.
The SNP had committed to lifting the pay cap for public sector workers earlier this year, describing it as "increasingly unsustainable".
Scottish Labour described the move as a "U-turn".
Labour's bid to scrap the cap for NHS nurses was defeated at Holyrood in May.
A Scottish government source told the Sunday Herald: "The programme for government will make clear that the time has come to ditch the 1% pay cap for the public sector.
"The cap will go from next year and future pay policy will take account of the cost of living.
"We need to ensure that future pay rises are affordable, but we also need to reflect the circumstances people are facing, and recognise the contribution made by workers across the public sector."
'Change of heart'
Scottish Labour's interim leader Alex Rowley MSP said: "This SNP U-turn is long overdue - and it is welcome to see that Derek Mackay [finance secretary] has finally followed Labour's lead to end the pay cap.
"The SNP voted down a Labour motion to end the pay cap for our hard-working nurses earlier this year.
"This SNP's change of heart should be followed by a commitment to go further and use the powers of the Scottish Parliament to end austerity and invest in public services."
In June an attempt by the UK Labour Party, under Jeremy Corbyn, to reverse the long-running freeze was voted down by Conservative and Democratic Unionist MPs.
The programme for government is also understood to include the introduction of a specific offence for drug-driving.
Ms Sturgeon has further promised major reforms in education, health and justice, along with a "bold" vision for the economy and "significant" measures to protect the environment and improve the quality of housing.
The Scottish government said MSPs at Holyrood could expect to hear details of Ms Sturgeon's "most ambitious" programme yet, with 16 bills to be added to the 11 currently in progress.
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Ken Clarke has said there is "no dissent" among ministers about proposed reforms to sentencing and penal policy designed to cut reoffending rates.
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The justice secretary has been attacked by sections of the media for pledging to curb the rise in prisoner numbers.
Mr Clarke told MPs it was "right" to imprison serious criminals and he was not at odds with Home Secretary Theresa May over whether prison worked.
He insisted he had never called for an end to short sentences.
Ministers want to cut the 85,000 inmate population in England and Wales by 3,000, reducing the £4bn prison and probation budget by 20% over four years.
'Right punishment'
Mr Clarke has pledged to "break the cycle" of crime by tackling the causes of reoffending, pledging more help to deal with inmates' drug and alcohol addiction problems and mental illness.
Launching a green paper on sentencing in England and Wales earlier this month, he also called for more emphasis on making prisons more purposeful and toughening up community sentences.
But amid reports in several newspapers that he had been forced to back down over sentencing changes, and following comments by the Home Secretary that prison worked, Mr Clarke said there was no difference of opinion over the matter.
"I had heard this morning that the home secretary had apparently disagreed with me and I looked at what she said and she said exactly the same things," he told the Justice Select Committee.
"Prison is the right punishment for serious criminals... but prison, at the moment, is not succeeding in getting reoffending rates down."
Mr Clarke said sections of the press had "flared up" over sentences for certain crimes but there was no disagreement with ministers over their overall approach, which he said was "steady and consistent".
"I don't mind people attacking me from outside but there isn't any disagreement on the government's key policy," he said, adding it had been discussed in cabinet and approved by the prime minister.
Mr Clarke insisted there was no general target for reducing prison numbers.
Efforts to reduce the number of people reoffending within a year of being freed from 50% to 40% would be "quite challenging", he added.
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Detainees at an immigration removal centre say they were "treated like criminals" after a day of unrest on Saturday.
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Disorder broke out at Morton Hall in Swinderby, Lincolnshire, following the death of a man at the centre overnight.
Staff withdrew for their safety and prison officers in riot gear were called in when about 30 men reportedly refused to stay in their rooms.
The Home Office said an investigation into the man's death was taking place.
Speaking to the BBC, a detainee, said: "Everyone was getting together outside their units and wanted to talk directly to the Home Office and the media.
"They are being very wrong to us inside and they are treating us like criminals and murderers.
"Everything is very wrong here."
A Home Office spokesman said they could not comment on specific allegations while investigations were ongoing.
It is understood the man who died was a 19-year-old from Bangladesh and had been at the centre for a month.
Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said: "Our thoughts are with the family at this very sad time. Deaths in removal centres are rare but tragic events.
What is an immigration removal centre?
"We take our responsibilities towards detainees' health and welfare extremely seriously."
The disorder was brought under control shortly after 20:30 BST on Saturday.
The man's death is the second at a UK immigration centre this year, after Christine Case died at Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire in March.
Last year a report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons criticised staff for the inappropriate use of batons and handcuffs but said, overall, Morton Hall was a "safe establishment" for detainees and security staff.
It is run by the Prison Service on behalf of the UK Border Agency.
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"If they knew I was talking to you, I'd be killed," says Mohamed.
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By Mark LowenBBC News, Edirne, Turkey
Young and a fluent English speaker, he comes from the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of so-called Islamic State.
The threat posed by the group is one of the main factors pushing the mass migration of people to Europe.
And as we sit beside the stadium in Edirne where 2,000 have gathered, trying to cross Turkey's land border with Greece, he gives me an insight into the heart of the "caliphate".
"At first when they arrived, it seemed fine because [Syrian President] Assad's forces were driven out," Mohamed says.
"But then they tightened their control. They imposed their rules: anybody who defied them, anyone who was suspected of talking to journalists or TV channels was immediately taken off to be killed.
"They have a big intelligence network - foreigners working for them, who inform them about everything. I've seen Germans, Chechens, Turks, Saudis and Tunisians. They're the ones who catch you."
Prison for smoking
What changes has he seen during the IS takeover, I ask?
"Until a few months ago we had internet at home. Now we have to go to internet cafes to go online - and they come and check which sites we've visited.
"We only have two hours of electricity per day. There's talk that they'll remove satellite dishes from houses so we can only watch TV they control.
"And food prices are going up. We're banned from smoking - I was caught twice with a cigarette, put in prison for a day and given 20 lashes.
"Men are not allowed to be clean-shaven - anyone who is, will be put in prison."
The IS black flag now flies across Raqqa and every official building has "Islamic State" painted on the walls, Mohamed tells me.
How are the militants recognised?
"They carry guns - all the time."
Fleeing Islamic State
"When you look at the faces of our citizens, they have fear in their eyes," he tells me.
"Everyone is afraid that one wrong word will put them in prison or worse. We all love Islam - but this is not Islam.
"Now even people say they want Assad to come back. Both are evil - but this is worse."
Back to Raqqa?
Mohamed is desperate to cross safely into Europe, unable to pay the $2,000 (£1,300) demanded by smugglers for the boat trip to the Greek islands and unwilling to risk his life.
But as the EU progresses with plans to redistribute 120,000 asylum seekers, the reality is that he will not be among them. The number only includes those already in the bloc, in Italy or Germany - not those knocking at Europe's door here in Turkey. They will be encouraged to stay. But Mohamed refuses.
"Here I cannot make a decent life for myself. I earn so little money, they don't want me here," he says.
"If I cannot get to Europe, I will go back to Raqqa.
"There, I will live like I have a clamp to my throat - but at least I'll have my family."
It is that natural human inclination - the need for safety - that is driving this mass migration.
And as Islamic State broadens its control and continues its rampage, those like Mohamed subjected to it will pursue the path to the refuge they crave.
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Just before lockdown Conner Pratt, 21, piped for the Queen at Westminster Abbey on Commonwealth Day.
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By Katie McEvinneyBBC Scotland news
But as Scotland ground to a halt, he swapped grand performances for the gardens and car parks of care homes near where he lives.
Conner, who normally plays in the house band for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, piped more than 150 times in Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and Leven at free gigs to keep up the residents' spirits.
And when his own birthday came around on Thursday, the local community decided it was time to do something for him.
'Bright red in the face'
Neighbours, colleagues, family and friends marched to the bellow of his old pipe major and surprised Conner on his 21st birthday at his home in Coalton of Balgonie, near Glenrothes in Fife.
"I was absolutely gob-smacked. I was bright red face in the face," he explained.
"I heard bagpipes and I was like who plays bagpipes around here? That's my territory."
Conner said that it was "emotional" for the community to honour him and that he nearly cried.
'We just kept going'
During lockdown Conner, along with some members of the Glenrothes and District Pipe Band where he used to play, performed at local care homes.
They would take requests and pipe regardless of the weather for the residents who watched through their windows, unable to go outside.
He played for one resident to mark their 100th birthday and for the NHS staff at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh to commemorate VE day.
The student, who studies music at the University of Highlands and Islands, said piping was his passion and that he wanted to make people happy.
"We just kept going and going and going. It was simply to cheer up the community.
"And it kept me going too. I was bored and wanted to make the residents smile.
"Some of them would have a wee dance, it was all quite cute," Conner said.
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Geoffrey Boycott has said he "couldn't give a toss" about criticism over Theresa May awarding him a knighthood in her resignation honours list.
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Domestic abuse charities and Labour said the honour should be removed from the ex-cricketer, who was convicted of beating his girlfriend in 1998.
Boycott, who has always denied the assault, later questioned why the issue had been raised by the media.
Mrs May's list of 57 names was made up of mostly political figures.
Every departing prime minister can draw up a resignation honours list.
Mrs May announced her resignation in June after failing to get support for the withdrawal agreement she had negotiated for the UK to leave the EU.
The former prime minister showed her love of cricket with knighthoods for Boycott and fellow former England captain Andrew Strauss.
Boycott was fined £5,000 and given a three-month suspended sentence in 1998 after being convicted of beating his then-girlfriend Margaret Moore in a French Riviera hotel.
During the trial, the court heard Boycott pinned Miss Moore down and punched her 20 times in the face before checking out and leaving her to pay the bill.
Boycott denied the allegations, saying Miss Moore had slipped after flying into a rage when he refused to marry her.
Mrs May, who introduced a landmark Domestic Abuse Bill to Parliament earlier this year, was accused of sending a "dangerous message" by Women's Aid's co-acting chief executive Adina Claire.
She said the honour "should be taken away" from Boycott, adding that it sent "completely the wrong message" to survivors of domestic abuse.
Asked about the criticism from Women's Aid by presenter Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Boycott responded: "I don't give a toss about her, love. It was 25 years ago so you can take your political nature and do whatever you want with it."
The 78-year-old, who is part of the BBC's cricket commentary team for the current Ashes series, added: "It's very difficult to prove your innocence in another country, in another language.
"I have to live with it - and I do. I'm clear in my mind, and I think most people in England are, that it's not true."
In a subsequent interview, Boycott said that the day had been "soured" by Radio 4 "setting me up", saying the station's agenda had been to talk about domestic violence and "make publicity".
He told BBC's Look North Yorkshire: "Is that what interviewing is about - is it always to ask difficult questions? Shouldn't it be just a nice day for me?
"I said I don't give a toss about her [Ms Claire from Woman's Aid], not domestic violence. That's not something anyone should feel good about."
A spokesperson for the Today programme said the question was "entirely appropriate... given the concerns raised about Geoffrey Boycott's knighthood by Women's Aid and others".
The shadow minister for women and equalities, Dawn Butler, joined the call for Boycott's knighthood to be rescinded.
"Honouring a perpetrator of domestic violence just because he is the former prime minister's favourite sportsman shows how out of touch and nepotistic the honours list is," she said, adding that the whole system needed "radically overhauling".
And former Spice Girl Melanie Brown tweeted that Boycott was "a disgrace to Yorkshire", saying the "perpetrators of domestic abuse shouldn't be held up as heroes EVER".
The Woman's Trust charity said it was "disappointed" to see Boycott included in the honour's list because it either suggested that, despite his conviction, he was believed over the survivor, or his fame meant it did not matter.
Boycott also had to apologise in 2017 after joking that he would have to "black up" to be given a knighthood, reportedly saying they were handed out to West Indian cricketers "like confetti".
Mrs May once compared her determination to delivering Brexit with the fighting spirit in Boycott's batting marathons.
Telling journalists he was one of her sporting heroes, she said in November 2018: "Geoffrey Boycott stuck to it and he got the runs in the end."
Since his retirement from cricket, Boycott has gone on to become a successful broadcaster and is part of the BBC's cricket commentary team.
A BBC spokesperson said: "He is a world renowned cricketer and employed for his knowledge and expertise of the sport."
The government checks all nominees are suitable for an honour, including whether they have paid their taxes.
However, Mrs May's resignation honours list would not have gone through the same review process as nominations for the New Year and Queen's Birthday honours.
In those cases, a specific committee, for example one including figures from the world of sport, would consider the nominations before they go before the main honours committee. In contrast, people nominated for resignation honours only undergo propriety and probity checks by the Cabinet Office.
The 37 men and 20 women on Mrs May's list include members of Downing Street staff, political aides and lifelong supporters of the Conservative Party.
It includes recipients from all four nations of the UK as well as non-political figures and members of civic society.
Labour said the honours rewarded "big Tory donors and No 10 cronies".
Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, Mrs May's former chiefs of staff who left their jobs after the 2017 general election in which the Conservatives lost their majority in the Commons, become Commanders of the Order of the British Empire, or CBEs.
The former prime minister's chief EU negotiator Olly Robbins receives a knighthood.
The senior civil servant helped to create Mrs May's Brexit deal before it was defeated in Parliament three times. It has been announced that Mr Robbins is to join investment bank Goldman Sachs.
There is also a knighthood for her former director of communications, Robbie Gibb.
When her predecessor David Cameron awarded a knighthood to his own head of communications, Craig Oliver, Mrs May later joked that she "retched violently" at seeing his name on the list.
Gavin Barwell, the former Tory MP who Mrs May brought in as her chief of staff to replace Mr Timothy and Ms Hill, is one of eight new Conservative peers.
Sir Kim Darroch - who was forced to resign as ambassador to the US after comments he made about President Trump were leaked - has been made a crossbench peer.
Boris Johnson, who was then running in the Tory leadership contest prior to becoming prime minister, was criticised at the time for not showing enough support for Sir Kim.
Meanwhile, there is a damehood for Cressida Dick, whose police career started at the age of 23 after a brief spell working in a fish-and-chip shop. She is one of just a few non-political figures on Mrs May's list.
Sir Simon Woolley, the founder of operation Black Vote, and Ruth Hunt, the ex-chief executive of Stonewall, have been made crossbench life peers.
British Empire Medals, or BEMs, have been awarded to Graham Howarth and Debra Wheatley - Mrs May's head chef at Chequers and housekeeper at Downing Street respectively.
The list of peerages - which sees those appointed sit in the House of Lords - include several nominated by other parties to sit on their benches.
'Policy of restraint'
Among them are former NUT general secretary Christine Blower, for Labour, and former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, who will become the party's second peer in the House of Lords.
The Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, said Mrs May's list was "substantially smaller" than those drawn up by predecessors, helping to reduce the size of the House of Lords.
Several MPs have received honours:
John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw and an independent government adviser on anti-Semitism, received a non-affiliated peerage.
Mr Mann is standing down as MP, citing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's handling of the party's anti-Semitism crisis.
Margaret Ritchie, who was leader of the SDLP in Northern Ireland between 2010 and 2011, also received a non-affiliated peerage. She said she would remain "SDLP to the core" even though she has had to quit the party to become a peer.
The former South Down MP made history in 2010 when she became the first leader of a nationalist party to wear a remembrance poppy.
A source close to Mrs May said the list "recognises the many different people who have made a significant contribution to public life" during her political career.
Criticising Mrs May's choices, Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery said: "It comes as no surprise that big Tory donors and Number 10 cronies are being honoured yet again.
"The Tories only care about looking after their own and will only stand up for the wealthy few who fund them."
The SNP's Pete Wishart accused Mrs May of "handing out peerages like sweeties", adding that it was the "worst kind of cronyism".
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It has not been news for several centuries to report that Britain and France are often at odds with one another and that tension hangs across la Manche like a stubborn mist on the sea's face.
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James LandaleDeputy political editor@BBCJLandaleon Twitter
But of late the relationship has been pretty dire.
Tory ministers openly mock Francois Hollande's high tax economic policies and mull using his image in anti-Labour election posters. The Tory chairman Grant Shapps says France's economy has been "run into the sand".
Mr Hollande himself has accused David Cameron of being "a little phoney" over a claim at a summit that the European Union might be looking to develop its own military drone.
The French president's diplomats publicly dismiss the NHS as "ailing" and boast how many more hospital beds there are in France.
So when British officials insist that the "entente is tres cordial", one must take it with a pinch of salt. Of course, both countries still do the business.
PM 'needs allies'
At today's summit in Oxfordshire, both leaders will sign a flurry of deals so that their respective countries can cooperate more on defence, energy and space.
But the tricky issue of Europe will hang over the unlikely summit venue that is RAF Brize Norton. Mr Cameron's dilemma is this: he wants to reform the UK's relationship with the EU.
He hopes to use potential treaty changes following further Eurozone integration as an opportunity to negotiate his reforms.
But to do all that, the prime minister needs to persuade the rest of Europe. And he needs to do this before a planned referendum on Britain's membership in 2017.
And that means he needs allies. He cannot rely wholly on Chancellor Merkel of Germany. He has upset the Poles over immigration. So he needs French support too. But the French have made it clear they want his agenda like a hole in the head.
The French do not oppose the principle of reform and are all for a little simplification and tidying up. But they reject any kind of wholesale unpicking of the EU framework and yet more unilateral opt-outs.
They fear this could lead to Britain's exit and a much weaker EU. Mr Hollande is also loath to allow treaty changes that could force him into an unwinnable referendum and a row just ahead of his own elections in 2017.
So when the two leaders discuss all this in a pub in Oxfordshire today, the stakes will be high. Mr Cameron will have to find a way of winning some support from the French without making compromises that he could not sell to his party.
Today's meeting will not resolve this dilemma, it will merely be yet another difficult conversation in a long negotiation that could last years.
But in the short term, the British hope is that a pint of ale, a little country air and a wet morning on a windy airbase might help melt away some of those cross channel mists.
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Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has announced a major investment in India, saying the country is a key growth market.
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Mr Bezos said his firm will invest $1bn (£770m) in digitising small and medium businesses - allowing them to sell and operate online.
Speaking at a company event in New Delhi, he also said the 21st Century is "going to be the Indian century".
The e-commerce billionaire's three-day visit to India is expected to be marred by protests.
Thousands of small traders across 300 cities have planned demonstrations against what they see as Amazon's negative impact on the local retail market.
They allege Amazon is driving them out of business by offering sharply discounted products and favouring a few big sellers on its platform.
Amazon denies the allegations.
During today's address Mr Bezos said: "The dynamism, the energy... the growth. This country has something special - and it's a democracy."
He also said the online retail giant expects to export $10bn worth of India-made goods by 2025, and that Amazon has already committed to $5.5bn of investment in the country.
India's e-commerce market is currently dominated by Amazon and Flipkart, which is owned by US retail giant Walmart.
But both companies suffered a setback last year when the Indian government introduced new laws that restrict foreign-owned online retailers from selling goods from their own subsidiaries.
Earlier this month a conglomerate run by Asia's richest man has started a service that aims to compete with Amazon in India.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries said it had been inviting people to sign up to its grocery delivery service.
The company is aiming to use its massive mobile phone customer base as a springboard for the business.
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A revamped Liverpool theatre has been renamed in honour of the former Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
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Liverpool City Council is looking for new owners for the Epstein Theatre - formerly the Neptune Theatre - after a £1m refurbishment.
"It is a fantastic opportunity to say thank you to one of our greatest sons," said Councillor Joe Anderson, leader of Liverpool City Council.
The Grade II listed building was closed for safety reasons in 2005.
The city council met £750,000 of the £1m cost of revamping the theatre, with £250,000 coming from the theatre's landlord, Hanover Estate Management Ltd.
Restoring it has been a personal dream for Mr Anderson, who said: "We want it to be a theatre not just for entertainment but for use by the community.
''I'm delighted Brian's family accepted our request to rename this venue the Epstein Theatre."
He added: "It has been brought back to life."
An Epstein family spokesman said: "It's a wonderful homage to Brian.
"He loved the theatre and knew this one well.
"Just above Crane's Music Shop and only a few minutes walk from N.E.M.S (North End Music Stores) - the family business in Great Charlotte Street - Brian, along with his brother Clive and parents Queenie and Harry, would often catch a performance."
The Neptune Theatre opened in 1913 as Crane's Music Hall and was taken over by the council in 1967, the year of Epstein's death.
He took an accidental overdose of sleeping pills at the height of the Beatles' success. He was 32 years old.
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An appeal fund set up for the families of the three men who died in the Stonehaven train derailment has raised more than £142,000.
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Driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, died in the accident in August.
An interim report said the train hit washed-out rocks and gravel.
The fund, set up by Aslef and the RMT union, will be split equally between the families of the three men.
The rail line between Aberdeen and Dundee reopened earlier this month.
The derailment took place when the 06:38 Aberdeen to Glasgow service struck a landslip 1.4 miles north east of Carmont after a night of heavy rain.
Six other people were injured.
Network Rail admitted in an interim report in September that the impact of climate change on its network "is an area that is accelerating faster than our assumptions".
It said the fatal derailment showed that the industry must improve its response to extreme weather.
Kevin Lindsay, Aslef's organiser in Scotland, said: "Whilst money will not bring back to the families their loved ones who died at Stonehaven, it will help them to deal with many of the practical matters and difficulties they will face."
Mick Hogg, regional organiser of the RMT, added: "This is a true testament to the solidarity of railway workers, their families and friends."
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Hundreds of online supermarket shoppers have been experiencing frustrating technical problems amid the rush for Christmas.
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Some Sainsbury's customers found orders were wrongly cancelled after a computer failure on Sunday evening.
Asda also reported technical difficulties, and Waitrose too has apologised for a temporary fault.
In the meantime, scores of customers took to Twitter to express their frustration.
After problems with the Sainsbury's website, Jenny Grasham-Whalley, from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, was offered an alternative delivery date for her Christmas shopping on 27th December.
"That date is about as useful as a chocolate teapot," she told the BBC.
However both Sainsbury's and Waitrose subsequently promised to fulfil all orders in time for Christmas.
Ms Grasham-Whalley said she was offered a £50 voucher as an apology.
'Systems fault'
Sainsbury's said the website "went down" for half an hour on Sunday night, but is now running as normal.
"We experienced a brief technical issue with our website last night, which has now been fixed," said a Sainsbury's spokesperson.
"Some customers experienced difficulties with booking or amending their delivery slot. We're very sorry for the inconvenience caused."
The company said measures had been taken to ensure the problem does not happen again.
Asda said that a "handful of customers had experienced technical difficulties", but insisted that its website had not crashed.
Waitrose said it had a "systems fault" with picking orders, caused by an IT problem.
As a result there had been a delay to some customers' orders.
Deliveries
Earlier this month, Marks and Spencer and courier firm Yodel warned of delivery delays after they were overwhelmed by orders.
Marks and Spencer had problems with a new distribution centre, and warned that deliveries to customers could take up to 10 days, instead of the usual three to five.
Yodel - previously known as Home Delivery Network - had to suspend collections, and admitted that some parcel deliveries were taking up to eight days.
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An investigation has begun after dozens of protected trees were illegally felled.
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Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority said species of ash, sycamore and hawthorn were found abandoned in Freshwater East local nature reserve.
They were part of a woodland protected by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO).
A park authority spokeswoman said it was "the worst breach I have ever encountered".
Jane Gibson, park authority director of park direction and planning, said: "We take this type of breach very seriously and local police have already made door to door enquiries.
"Not only has someone felled trees that were protected, they have carried out these unauthorised works on land that didn't belong to them."
Anyone found guilty of destroying a tree protected by a TPO can be fined as much as £20,000 per tree, she added.
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A brutalist bus station likened to the "mouth of hell" is to be demolished within seconds using explosives.
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Northampton's Greyfriars bus station and office building, built in the 1970s, will be flattened by the end of March 2015, the borough council said.
The "controlled initiated collapse" will cause the building to fall within its own footprint.
The site will be left ready for the development of shops and attractions.
The Greyfriars bus station was due to be demolished by the end of this year, but higher than anticipated levels of asbestos found in the site has pushed the date into 2015.
David Mackintosh, leader of Northampton Borough Council, said they were looking to bring the building down in the safest possible way while minimising disruption to residents and businesses.
Costing more than £40m in today's money, the 1970s building has been the subject of ridicule for decades as an over-ambitious example of bad planning.
It was derided by Channel 4 presenter and designer Kevin McCloud as "like a great big mouth of hell".
Mr Mackintosh added: "Greyfriars is an obsolete, unsafe building that is blocking the regeneration of a key site in Northampton and now that this key decision has been made, we can at last begin to focus on the exciting potential that is being opened up by the site."
Elsewhere in the town, work is to start on a new car park with 1,300 spaces once the revamp of Northampton rail station is completed.
The station is to double in size with new shops, cafes and waiting areas. The next phase will see a lift and bridge for passengers to access ticket booths.
Old railway buildings are to be demolished to make way for further development as part of the £20m scheme.
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During a television interview on Wednesday, Donald Trump made some of his most detailed allegations about the fraud he says was responsible for Hillary Clinton's popular vote victory in the recently concluded presidential election.
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Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter
He said some Americans are registered and cast ballots in multiple states and that dead people and undocumented migrants are voting in droves. He added, confidently, that none of these illegal votes were for him.
"They would all be for the other side," he said, possibly forgetting that one of the few arrests for voting fraud in 2016 was of an Iowa woman who tried to vote for him twice.
When pressed for evidence to support his claims, Mr Trump cited a 2012 Pew study.
When ABC's David Muir noted that the author of that report had said he found no evidence of fraud, Mr Trump got personal.
"He's grovelling again," he said of the report's author, David Becker. "You know, I always talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear but not necessarily millions of people want to hear or have to hear."
In fact, while the Pew report did find that many voting rolls contained outdated or inaccurate information, Becker said at the time and has since repeated that there was no evidence that these problems - often caused by voters moving or individuals dying without election registrars receiving updates - constituted evidence of fraud.
Mr Trump's comments have been accompanied by a raft of tweets over the course of the week. In one instance, he cited a conservative activist from Alabama, Gregg Phillips, who created a smart phone app that crowd-sources claims of voter fraud. (It is currently unavailable on the Apple app store and has fewer than 5,000 downloads on Google Play).
"Look forward to seeing final results of VoteStand," Mr M . "Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!"
Although Phillips has made these assertions since election day, he has yet to provide information on how he arrived at this number. Scientific studies conducted over the past decade have found scant evidence of any voter fraud.
Both Mr Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence have promised that the administration will conduct a "major investigation" into voter fraud. A formal executive action ordering such a inquiry could be issued in the coming days.
"Depending on the results, we will strengthen up voting procedures," Mr Trump tweeted.
Reality Check: Did millions vote illegally in the US?
Trump pledges 'voter fraud' investigation
That last line is likely painfully familiar to liberals. Although Mr Trump's comments were over the top and easily debunked, they mirror more nuanced justifications Republican politicians have offered at the state level to justify tightening voter registration procedures, imposing strict polling place identification rules and curtailing early voting opportunities.
They are part and parcel, critics say, of a comprehensive plan to limit turnout of Democratic-leaning voting groups that are less likely to have necessary identification, less able to take time off to vote on election day and less comfortable navigating through voter registration procedures.
"Donald Trump is lying to the American people about undocumented people voting because he wants to set the stage for more voter suppression," Congressman Keith Ellison, a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee, told Washington's The Hill newspaper. "Expect Trump and his henchmen to push restrictive photo ID, limit early voting and make it harder to register."
A national version of the state-level laws in places like Ohio, Wisconsin and North Carolina - which Democrats attribute to causing lower turnout levels for Mrs Clinton in those key swing states - would be a worst-case scenario for liberals. But it's just part of the current battle over voting procedures.
The courts have been the site of some of the fiercest fights over voting rights in the past decade. There are multiple ongoing cases dealing with voter identification measures being considered by lower-level courts, including a challenge to a Texas law that had been supported by the Obama administration but could now be opposed by Trump lawyers.
Perhaps the most significant change in US voting law came from the Supreme Court in 2013, when it struck down a section of the Voting Rights Act that required the federal government to pre-authorise any changes in balloting procedures in certain states and jurisdictions, many in the South, that had a history of voting discrimination.
That decision made it significantly easier for previously covered areas to implement the aforementioned voting restrictions - identification laws and early voting curtailment, in addition to the closing or relocation of polling stations.
Conservatives have responded that such measures are necessary to ensure voting security - and, in any event, things like early voting are a recent development that have no constitutional protections. They argue that photo identification, required to board a plane or cash a cheque, are an everyday fact of life that present no significant burden to voters.
Make no mistake, however, this fight over voter fraud is - at its heart - a nakedly partisan battle. As Republican legislators North Carolina made clear when they studied voting demographics and photo ID possession while crafting their state's election laws, it's a way to cut into their opposition's base.
"Look, if African Americans voted overwhelmingly Republican, they would have kept early voting right where it was," long-time North Carolina Republican strategist Carter Wrenn told the Washington Post. "It wasn't about discriminating against African Americans. They just ended up in the middle of it because they vote Democrat."
Democrats, one the other hand, tend to exaggerate the impact of identification laws and dismiss studies that show little effect on turnout.
"Despite Republican legislators' best attempts to suppress minority voters, study after study has found that voter ID laws have little to no effect on voter turnout," writes Vox's German Lopez. "At worst, the effect is small - barely detectable even in studies that employ multiple controls. At best, there's no effect at all or even an increase."
Other voting changes, like polling place consolidation and early voting curtailment, could have a more pronounced impact, however - and while it's unlikely any move in that regard would come at the national level, Mr Trump's rhetoric could provide cover for further state efforts.
In particular, the Trump administration may be taking particular aim at Democratic states. During a recent briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer said that the coming voting fraud investigation could take a closer look at California and New York - two traditionally Democratic states that overwhelmingly backed Mrs Clinton last year. '
Add that to the already released plans to put the squeeze on cities - primarily in liberal states - that offer "sanctuary" to undocumented workers, and it seems increasingly like the Trump administration has political payback on its mind.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken a stand on social media against the temporary US ban on refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.
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Mr Trudeau underscored his government's commitment to bringing in "those fleeing persecution, terror & war".
The US Department of Homeland Security said the entry ban would also apply to dual nationals of the seven countries.
However, Mr Trudeau's office says Canadian dual nationals are exempt.
"We have been assured that Canadian citizens travelling on Canadian passports will be dealt with in the usual process," a spokeswoman for Mr Trudeau said in an emailed statement.
US President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser Mike Flynn "confirmed that holders of Canadian passports, including dual citizens, will not be affected by the ban," the statement said.
Canada's Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen is a dual national who arrived as a Somali refugee.
Within hours, Mr Trudeau's tweets had been shared more than 150,000 times.
"Welcome to Canada" also became a trending term in the country.
Mr Trudeau, who gained global attention for granting entry to nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees to Canada over the past 13 months, also sent a pointed tweet that showed him greeting a young refugee at a Canadian airport in 2015.
On Friday, Mr Trump signed an executive order suspending entry to the US from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen for 90 days.
The US's entire refugee admissions programme has also been suspended for 120 days. Those fleeing Syria as refugees are banned until further notice.
The executive orders created confusion in airports around the world as immigration and customs officials struggled to interpret the new rules.
The Canadian government is also in contact with the US administration "to get more clarity" on how the executive orders will affect Canadians citizens travelling to the US, said federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau.
On Saturday, the US State Department confirmed to the BBC that all travellers - including those with dual nationality - from one of the seven designated countries will be barred from entering the US.
That includes people with valid immigrant or non-immigrant visas.
Trump border policy: Key points
US entry ban victims vent fury
Trump border policy: World reacts
Mr Trudeau has refrained from criticising Mr Trump, despite the fact the two leaders have divergent political views.
In recent media appearances, the prime minister has focused on the long friendship between Canada and the US and the deep economic ties between the two nations. The US is Canada's primary trading partner.
Canada plans to allow 300,000 immigrants into the country in 2017, mostly through economic immigration, though that figure includes 40,000 refugees.
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Plans for one of the largest housing developments in Dundee for more than ten years have been submitted to the city council.
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Taylor Wimpey and Bett Homes have lodged a planning application to build about 270 new homes on the Linlathen Estate.
The four-hectare site lies on the eastern edge of the city off the A92.
Both firms claim the £30m development could create more then 200 jobs over five years.
The proposed site already has most of its infrastructure installed after work by Dundee City Council and the landowner.
Ideal location
Mr Bob Hyslop, managing director of Linlathen Developments, who are co-ordinating the project on behalf of the two house builders, said: "This site is ideally placed. All the planned renewable energy projects and enterprise zones will be in the east of the city and the council expects a number of them to come to fruition soon.
"A supply of new houses close by is essential for all those taking up the new jobs which will be created. On this site we can supply these homes very quickly."
Bett's land director, Campbell Black, said: "Linlathen is one of three sites we currently propose to develop in Dundee and we are excited by the prospect of returning to the community where it all started."
Mr Hugh Niven, the owner of Linlathen Estate, said, "When the A92 was being made a dual carriageway Dundee City Council had the foresight to see the benefit of servicing a large site in a proven popular area of the city.
"They approached me, offering to share the cost of a new road over the Dighty into Linlathen to open it up for development. Services were installed at the same time.
"The Council now has an opportunity to benefit from its investment and at the same time create construction jobs for an industry on its knees."
Speeding up plans
Both companies said they were also lodging a submission to alter the new Draft Development Plan for Dundee.
They said the proposed amendment would allow the project to proceed more quickly.
Taylor Wimpey East Scotland's Technical Director, Derek Wilson, said, "We are keen to make progress with this project as Dundee will soon need more homes in this part of the city.
"Given that Dundee City Council had the foresight to make the investment in the access road and services, we could realise this investment and start immediately should planning permission be granted.
"It is, therefore, an excellent time to take advantage of this position and we look forward to working with Dundee City Council and our development partners to deliver what will be an exciting development opportunity".
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Donald Trump may have lost the election but he won a record number of votes, and tightened his grip on states like Ohio. So what can Ohio tell us about the Republican Party's future?
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By Pratiksha GhildialBBC News, Ohio
Powell, a suburb of the capital Columbus, has a charming and old-worldly feel.
Its picturesque neighbourhoods with big houses and rolling lawns reinforce the much romanticised pop culture images of the ideal American suburban life. The downtown market is lined with small cafes, handicraft shops, ice-cream parlours and wine stores.
President Trump won this county and, though the election is long over, many shops and businesses still have 'Trump-Pence 2020' campaign signs staked in their lawns.
Among them is a cigar shop called Stogies where a 'TRUMP 2020' banner is the centrepiece, flanking photos of Groucho Marx and Winston Churchill - celebrities of a bygone era - holding lit cigars.
Concentric rings of smoke fill this cosy lounge, which used to be a church in the early 1900s. There is a group of men inside seated on sofas, all smoking cigars. President Trump looks down on them from an autographed photo.
They are all Trump supporters and part of the electorate that gave him a decisive victory in Ohio. Mostly in their 50s and 60s, they're college educated professionals and businessmen.
Neil Berberick, a retired professional says: "What Trump has done is that he has gone back to core values. He picked up the people that were forgotten by the Democrats. He was in tune with us. He has changed the Republican party for the good.''
There is a sense of longing for President Trump - even though they still don't entirely believe he's lost the presidency.
Asked about the future of the Republican party after Trump, Taylor Burkhart, a young mechanical engineer says: "The party is not just going to dissolve because Trump may not be on their ticket. Someone will fill his shoes. We'll find someone else whose values that we agree with."
But there is also this deep hope in the smoke-filled air that Mr Trump remains a force in Republican politics.
The owner of the cigar lounge, Hassan Dakhteh, an Iranian immigrant who came to the United States over 40 years ago, says: "I think he will run in 2024, I hope he runs in 2024."
President Trump remains a dominant force in Ohio. He won the state's 18 electoral college votes and also the popular vote by more than eight percentage points. According to the AP, he won more votes than any other presidential candidate in the state's history.
It's a testament to how effectively Mr Trump spoke to rural and working class Ohioans and created a base that adores him.
But not all Republican voters here endorse Mr Trump.
About 14 miles from the cigar lounge, outside a grocery store in Hilliard, Amber Baumgartner is preparing to do some grocery shopping.
She is a 56-year-old teacher who is passionate about healthcare for ordinary Americans. She leans conservative on most issues but is not a fan of the turn the Republican party has taken in the last four years.
"I am hoping they are going to learn," she says.
"They are going to see that this extremism, we are going to have to get a clamp on this. I feel that the last four years have been a joke, almost. It's been embarrassing, scary, terrifying actually. I am hoping that the party understands that and I think that they do. Because so many of them have been unwilling to get on the crazy bus."
Former Ohio governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate John Kasich - a vocal critic of Mr Trump - thinks Republicans need to eschew Mr Trump's brand of politics going forward.
"It should become a party of ideas," he says. "It's been basically an anti-Democrat party. They don't have any ideas on healthcare, environment or the wealth gap."
The Democrats are not in great shape either, he adds, but Joe Biden might be able to appeal to middle America. "We'll see whether they will do that but Republicans really need to get some ideas otherwise they will wilt away."
However, Donald Trump remains overwhelmingly popular in Ohio and it's clear he will continue exerting influence on the Republican party even after he leaves the White House.
"His performance in 2016 and 2020 suggests that he is the most popular Republican in Ohio in quite a long time, maybe since Ronald Reagan," says Mark Caleb Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Cedarville.
His popularity among his base has allowed President Trump to attack senior party leaders who don't agree with him.
Among them Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine, for not backing his unsubstantiated claims of a rigged election. Mr DeWine, though a supporter of President Trump, was one of the earlier Republicans out of the gate in recognising President-elect Joe Biden's win.
Emboldened by Mr Trump's attack, some fellow Republicans are even trying to impeach the governor for enforcing measures to curb Covid-19, which is at a record high in the state.
Gov DeWine, who took steps early on to combat the coronavirus and has handled the pandemic very differently to Mr Trump, has hit back at his detractors.
So how can Republican leaders like him deal with hostility from within his own party going forward?
Professor Smith says that keeping the deeply conservative base happy could be key.
"Governor DeWine is willing to sign anti-abortion legislation, for example," he says. "I'd expect that kind of thing to continue."
"His rhetoric on family and marriage will probably ratchet up a bit. Governor DeWine is a staunch Catholic and I would expect him to use that language more frequently about religion and his faith. I think that does quite well with the people who are supportive of the president."
Mr Trump did very well in Ohio in the rural areas outside of major cities such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, where the electorate is predominantly white.
However, can the party really sustain itself nationally by focusing on his base?
Studies show that America is getting more diverse and minorities are already a powerful voting bloc, so Republicans will likely need new strategies going ahead.
Republican strategist Terry Casey says the party will look for new ideas but President Trump could potentially leave a lasting legacy.
"He has shifted the party somewhat for the good because the Republican party previously had the image of the party of the country club, and the Wall Street rich people. And now it has shifted to issues of the middle class or the working class and a lot of people in the Midwest who have been forgotten."
Whether Donald Trump continues to remain a powerful presence in Republican politics will be determined in the months to come. But one thing seems certain, both parties need to make sure that middle America - like Ohio - does not feel ignored.
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