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A new £4.5m Scottish Water project will start next week to improve waste water services in Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway.
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The two stages of the project will take 12 months to complete, replacing the current septic tank.
Scottish Water said the work would help the local environment around the River Esk and provide modern waste water treatment.
It is expected the project will cause traffic disruption in the area.
A new waste water treatments works will be constructed to the east of Knottyholm Farm during the first phrase.
The second stage will see a new pumping station constructed by the village hall, most of which will be underground, and the area above will be landscaped.
A 1km rising main will connect the new pumping station to the treatment works.
An information evening will be held on Thursday 14 November between 16:30 - 19:30 at Canonbie Public Hall to allow local residents to ask questions and view maps of where the work will take place.
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Displays by the last two airworthy Lancaster bombers from World War Two have been cancelled after one suffered engine problems.
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A Canadian Lancaster, currently on a UK tour, performed an engine shutdown during a flight in County Durham.
Its owners said it landed safely at Durham Tees Valley airport following the "precautionary" shutdown.
It had been due to fly to Bournemouth to take part in weekend displays with an RAF Lancaster bomber.
An airport spokesman said the plane had experienced an "issue" with one of its engines as it was approaching the runway at the end of a 30-minute demonstration flight for invited guests.
"The aircraft landed safely and nobody was injured and it taxied to stand.
"The Lancaster has been returned to the hangar and engineers are conducting tests to determine the cause of the fault," he added.
The last remaining flying Lancasters - owned by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum - were due to fly at the Bournemouth Air Festival as well as the Shoreham Air Show and the Gedling Show in Nottinghamshire, as part of a two-month UK tour by the Canadian aircraft.
The aircraft are based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire for the duration of the visit.
There were over 7,000 of the type of aircraft produced between 1941 and 1946.
A statement from Bournemouth Air Festival said: "We share the disappointment of all the Canadian Lancaster fans but we understand that she is over 70 years old and these sort of things can and do happen.
"We hope she's airworthy again soon."
An airworthy Merlin engine is being shipped from the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre near Skegness and this will be fitted over the weekend.
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US President Joe Biden has issued two more executive orders as he continues to roll back his predecessor's agenda.
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He signed one order on boosting food assistance and another on raising the federal minimum wage to $15.
Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the action would "provide a critical lifeline" to millions of families.
It comes a day after the new US president signed a raft of orders to boost the fight against coronavirus.
This included expanding testing and accelerating vaccine distribution.
Mr Biden said it would take months to defeat the pandemic but America would "get through this" if people stood together.
The Trump administration was widely accused of failing to get to grips with the pandemic.
The US has recorded the highest coronavirus death toll of any country in the world, with more than 410,000 fatalities, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University. It has recorded more than 24.6 million cases.
What will the two orders do?
Mr Biden signed the two executive orders on Friday.
The first increases food aid for children who rely on school meals as a main source for nutrition, but are unable to access them because of remote learning.
It also creates a guarantee that workers can access unemployment benefits if they refuse a job on the grounds that it could jeopardise their health.
The second is aimed at expanding protections for federal workers, by restoring collective bargaining rights and promoting a $15 (£11) hourly minimum wage.
Mr Deese said the orders were "not a substitute" for a $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill that Mr Biden wants Congress to pass, but an essential lifeline for people who need immediate assistance.
"The American people cannot afford to wait," he told reporters. "So many are hanging by a thread. They need help, and we're committed to doing everything we can to provide that help as quickly as possible."
What else has Biden done?
The day after taking office, Mr Biden signed 10 executive orders as part of a sweeping "wartime" Covid action plan.
This included increasing vaccinations and testing, and expanding the production of essential equipment.
Mr Biden said that the "bold practical steps" that he was taking would not come cheaply.
"Let me be clear - things will continue to get worse before they get better," he said, adding that he expected the number of dead to top half a million by next month.
"This is a wartime undertaking," he said, repeating that more Americans had already died in the pandemic than in the whole of World War Two.
He mentioned the vaccine, saying that its rollout had been a "dismal failure so far", and described his plan for 100 million jabs in his first 100 days in office as "one of the greatest operational challenges our nation has ever taken on".
But when challenged by a reporter who suggested the target might be too low, he snapped back: "When I announced it you all said that it's not possible. Come on. Give me a break, man."
Some US media commentators have argued that Mr Biden's goal of one million doses administered daily to Americans is not ambitious enough.
The daily average for coronavirus vaccine doses over the last week, including under the Trump administration, already sits at 980,000, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker.
Mr Biden also promised to be transparent about setbacks, and allow scientists to work free from political interference.
"I'm convinced the American people are ready to spare no effort to get this done," he concluded. "We can do this if we stand together."
Speaking separately chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci spoke about the vaccine rollout, saying the Biden administration was "amplifying" the programme that was already there.
If, as hoped, 70-85% of the population was vaccinated by the end of summer, there would be "a degree of normality" by autumn, he said.
Dr Fauci said his main concern was persuading people who were sceptical about the vaccine to take it.
He added that the administration was in talks with manufacturers to produce more vaccine, amid reports of supply problems. Some regional officials say they have run out of available vaccine.
Nearly 20 million shots have been administered so far.
Dr Fauci, who served under Mr Trump, also welcomed the new administration's emphasis on science.
"The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know and what the evidence, what the science is... it is something of a liberating feeling," he said, whereas under Mr Trump, "you didn't feel that you could actually say something and there wouldn't be any repercussions".
What is Biden's Covid plan?
The new administration has released a seven-point plan which includes efforts to facilitate effective distribution of vaccines and reliable access to testing.
The Trump administration had been criticised for a lack of strategy at the federal level.
"The American people deserve an urgent, robust and professional response to the growing public health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak," an introduction to the plan said.
It said Mr Biden believed the government "must act swiftly and aggressively to help protect and support" essential workers and the most vulnerable.
Although executive orders do not require congressional approval, much of the funding for the planned measures is contained in the $1.9tn stimulus package announced by Mr Biden last week.
He will need co-operation from the Senate and House of Representatives for the package to be adopted smoothly.
The aim is to reopen most schools safely within 100 days, and establish vaccine centres at stadiums and community facilities.
International travellers will need to test negative before departing for the US and self-quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
On top of the already announced rules on wearing masks and social distancing on all federal government property, face coverings will become mandatory in airports and on many planes, trains and buses.
There will be more funding for state and local officials to help tackle the pandemic, and a new office will be established to co-ordinate the national response.
The Defense Production Act will be used to speed up production of personal protective equipment and essential supplies needed for vaccine production. Mr Trump used the same piece of legislation to compel the production of items in short supply last year.
In a further break with the previous administration, Dr Fauci said the US would join the Covax scheme designed to deliver Covid vaccines to poor countries.
Speaking by video call to the World Health Organization in Geneva, he also stressed that the US would continue to provide funding for the WHO, in line with Mr Biden's move to reverse Mr Trump's decision to leave.
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Ed Sheeran has broken the previous Spotify record for the best first week of streams for an album with his latest release ÷.
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After five days of release on Tuesday, the 26-year-old had seen more than 273m worldwide streams of his third album.
The previous record was set by The Weeknd who saw 223m streams in seven days with Starboy last November.
A Spotify Spokesperson explained: "It's fair to say Ed Sheeran nearly broke Spotify this week."
Ed's on course for a number one album this week, which will be revealed during The Official Chart with Greg James on Radio 1.
For every 1,000 streams of an album that counts as one physical sale when it comes to the chart.
It's expected he'll take over the singles charts too, having nine out of the top 10 slots in the midweeks on Monday.
Spotify has also revealed that the 16 tracks from ÷ are the most-streamed 16 tracks in the UK this week.
When it comes to the UK singles chart, 150 streams of a song counts as one physical sale.
The Official Charts Company revealed that just 6% of Ed's midweek sales came from streaming sites, so his overall total is expected to be huge for first week sales of an album.
More than 800,000 sales of Adele's 25 in November 2015 gave her that record, and that's something Ed is conscious of.
He recently told GQ magazine: "Adele is the one person who's sold more records than me in the past 10 years.
"She's the only person I need to sell more records than. That's a big feat because her last album sold 20 million.
"But if I don't set her as the benchmark then I'm selling myself short."
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat
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US President Barack Obama has invoked "a future of hope" for Cuba in an unprecedented live TV address delivered from the Grand Theatre in Havana.
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Mr Obama said he had come to Cuba "to bury the last remnants of the Cold War" after decades of conflict.
He told Cuban President Raul Castro that he did not need to fear a threat from the US nor from "the voice of the Cuban people".
Mr Obama is the first sitting president to visit Cuba in 88 years.
In his keynote speech on the last day of his three-day visit to Communist-run Cuba, Mr Obama said it was time for the United States and Cuba to leave the past behind and make a "journey as friends and as neighbours and as family, together" towards a brighter future.
He urged Cubans to "leave the ideological battles of the past behind" and to define themselves not through their opposition to the US but just as Cubans.
"For all the politics, people are people and Cubans are Cubans," he said.
He said the time had come for US policy towards Cuba to change because it had not worked and was outmoded, a remnant of the Cold War.
He also called for the lifting of the 54-year old US trade embargo against Cuba, a remark which was met by loud applause.
The embargo remains one of the main sticking points in US-Cuban relations but can only be lifted by the US Congress.
He insisted that the United States would respect the two nations' differences and would not attempt to impose changes on the communist-run island.
But he also said he believed that citizens should be free to speak their mind without fear and to choose their government in free elections.
At the scene, Tara McKelvey, BBC News White House reporter
The speech in the theatre was vintage Obama - it had a narrative, starting with the earlier, dark years of US-Cuban relations that date back to the 1950s.
It also had personal elements - he said he was born in the year of the Bay of Pigs, and that afterwards the world nearly came to an end.
Finally it had evocative language - "I know the history, but refuse to be trapped by it" - and a few jokes. And it built up to his larger point, which was his message for the Cuban people - choose democracy. It isn't perfect but it's the best system there is.
He was a powerful speaker in the theatre, and he gave a speech that was eloquent and moving.
He said it was no secret that the Cuban and US governments disagreed on many issues.
Mr Obama acknowledged that there were "flaws in the American system: economic inequality, the death penalty and racial discrimination".
He said those were just a few samples and that Raul Castro had "a much longer list" of US shortcomings and had reminded President Obama of many of them.
"But open debate is what allows us to get better," he said. "Democracy is the way to solve these problems," he added.
After the speech, Mr Obama met in private a group of prominent Cuban dissidents, the most controversial part of his itinerary in the eyes of the Cuban government.
President Castro was visibly angered on Monday when a US reporter asked him about political prisoners held in Cuba.
More on Mr Obama's visit to Cuba
Six sticking points to better relations - Guantanamo Bay, human rights and media freedoms are among the unresolved issues
Cuba's DIY economy - A new generation of Cuban entrepreneurs are launching private businesses
Internet access still restricted in Cuba - Only about 5% of Cubans have web access at home
Not accustomed to probing questions from the media, President Castro challenged the reporter to give him a list of political prisoners and denied Cuba was holding any.
Just hours before Mr Obama landed in Havana on Sunday, Cuban security arrested dozens of members Ladies in White, a group which campaigns for the release of political prisoners.
President Obama ended his three-day visit after joining President Castro at the Latinoamericano stadium in Havana.
The two leaders observed a minute of silence for the victims of the attacks in Brussels and watched an exhibition baseball game between the Cuban national team and the Tampa Bay Rays, which won 4-1.
From Havana, Mr Obama has travelled to Argentina.
His presence will coincide with the 40th anniversary on Thursday of the military coup that brought to power of the most brutal military regimes in the region.
Some groups are planning protests because of the alleged support American governments gave to the military coup of 1976.
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The boss of collapsed Thomas Cook has said he is "deeply sorry" over the historic travel firm's liquidation.
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By Bill WilsonBusiness reporter, BBC News
Peter Fankhauser also told the Mail on Sunday that saying farewell to staff had been "heartbreaking".
The 178-year-old travel firm collapsed this week, putting 9,000 staff in the UK out of work - and leaving 150,000 British holidaymakers stuck overseas.
But Mr Fankhauser defended the £8.3m he has been paid since November 2014, and denied he was a "fat cat".
Rescue flights
The 58-year-old said around half his remuneration, some £4m, came in the form of share payments, which were now worthless as he did not cash them in before Thomas Cook went into liquidation on 23 September.
"I don't think that I am the 'fat cat' that I am being described as," he told the newspaper.
It comes as the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) gave an update on its efforts to repatriate stranded UK holidaymakers.
The CAA said on Saturday it had operated 69 flights, covering 40 airports at home and abroad, as Operation Matterhorn completed its sixth day.
Operation Matterhorn which runs until 6 October, has returned around 93,000 people so far and plans to run another 70 flights on Sunday.
Widespread criticism
The size of Mr Fankhauser's pay and bonuses has attracted criticism from Thomas Cook staff, unions, and politicians.
Business secretary Andrea Leadsom has asked the official receiver, which oversees liquidations, to look at whether bosses' actions "caused detriment to creditors or to the pension schemes".
Top directors at the holiday company have been paid a combined £20m in salaries and bonuses since 2014.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also questioned whether directors should pay themselves "large sums of money" as their businesses go "down the tubes".
Accounting questions
Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said that the public was "appalled that as Thomas Cook mounted up debt and as the company headed for trouble, company bosses were happily pocketing hefty pay-packages".
She also said there were questions to be asked about Thomas Cook's "accounting practices", with suggestions that they improved the chances of executives being paid large bonuses.
But Mr Fankhauser said: "That is just rubbish. I shouldn't say that. But it is just not right."
He defended his pay saying it was not "outrageous" compared with other bosses in the FTSE 250 index, which Thomas Cook exited last December. He also said pay-packages had been set by the firm's remuneration committee and approved by shareholders.
'Uncertainty grew'
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Fankhauser, a Swiss national, appeared to blame a group of banks for not supporting a bail-out plan for Thomas Cook.
He said if bondholders and a syndicate of 17 banks - including Barclays, Morgan Stanley, DNB, UniCredit, Credit Suisse, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland - had acted faster, then Thomas Cook would still be trading.
"The longer the talks dragged on, the more uncertainty grew, increasing the likelihood of a liquidity squeeze," Mr Fankhauser told the newspaper.
"Had we been quicker, we might not be in the situation we are now."
Thomas Cook had secured a £900m rescue deal led by its largest shareholder Chinese firm Fosun in August, but a recent demand from its banks to raise a further £200m in contingency funding put the deal in doubt.
Mr Fankhauser accused the banks and bondholders of "trading for every point" during what were to be ultimately-unsuccessful funding talks.
He also told the paper: "I think it would be very difficult for me to find another job in the UK."
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told US senators his company is in a constant battle with Russian operators seeking to exploit the social network.
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"This is an arms race. They're going to keep getting better," he said.
Mr Zuckerberg was answering questions in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data collection scandal.
He also revealed Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, had interviewed Facebook staff.
Mr Zuckerberg said he has not been among those interviewed by Mr Mueller's office.
But he added: "Our work with the special counsel is confidential and I want to make sure that in an open session I'm not revealing something that's confidential."
In February, Mr Mueller's office charged 13 Russians with interference in the 2016 election, along with three Russian companies.
One was the Internet Research Agency, sometimes referred to as a "Russian troll farm", which the indictment said had a "strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system".
Mr Zuckerberg said the company was now developing new tools to identify fake accounts.
"There are people in Russia whose job it is to try to exploit our systems and other internet systems and other systems as well. We need to invest in getting better at this too."
The Facebook chief fended off questions from senators about how the social network might be regulated more closely.
Senator John Kennedy warned him: "I don't want to have to vote to regulate Facebook. But by God, I will. That depends on you... Your user agreement sucks."
When pressed, the 33-year-old billionaire tech titan said he would welcome regulation, if it was the "right regulation," though he avoided specifics.
He was appearing in front of a joint session of several US senate committees, after it was revealed in recent weeks that about 87 million people had their profile information accessed by marketing firm Cambridge Analytica.
During the hearing, Mr Zuckerberg also said:
By the first break in proceedings, Facebook's share price had risen by almost 5%, as markets reacted favourably to Mr Zuckerberg's performance, increasing his net worth by an estimated $3bn.
What is the Cambridge Analytica scandal about?
The company is best known for its association with Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, and has claimed it played "an integral part" in Mr Trump's victory.
But it says none of the data involved in the recent scandal was used to help the Trump campaign.
The news that a personality quiz developed by an academic, Aleksandr Kogan, had collected data not just from the people who used it but also from their Facebook friends was revealed by newspaper investigations. Mr Kogan then sold the data to Cambridge Analytica.
Both companies lay the blame on Mr Kogan. Facebook says that although users gave permission to Mr Kogan's app to collect their information, selling it on was against the terms of service.
Cambridge Analytica, meanwhile, claims it did not know the information had been obtained improperly. During Mr Zuckerberg's appearance, the firm tweeted it was "advising" news media - through its lawyers - about coverage.
Both companies also say they moved to have the data deleted once they learned of the problem in 2015.
Hours ahead of the congressional hearing, Facebook also revealed that private messages from some 1,500 users were included in the data collection.
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A ground-breaking ceremony has marked the official start of work on a new £83.7m convention centre at the Celtic Manor Resort site in Newport.
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International Convention Centre (ICC) Wales, expected to open in mid 2019, will be able to host up to 5,000 delegates in a 1,500-seat auditorium.
The Welsh Government is supporting the project with £22.5m, but it will take a 50% shareholding.
It would be the largest centre of its kind in Wales and south west England.
A joint venture company will build and manage the venue - which will include an exhibition hall - as an equal partnership between the Celtic Manor and the Welsh Government.
First Minister Carwyn Jones was among invited guests for the ceremony, four years after the plans were first unveiled.
"This is a venue which can be used at any time - especially tailored for trade shows, big professional congresses, events which we were not able to attract before," he said.
"This is a joint venture, it can create revenue for the government as well as for a private investor. I take the view that government works best when it works with private investors to deliver a project, there's then a benefit for the tax-payer."
Sir Terry Matthews, owner of the Celtic Manor Resort, urged hospitality and leisure businesses in Newport and Cardiff to embrace its potential, with up to 5,000 delegates a day.
Ian Edwards, chief executive of ICC Wales, said it would "change the landscape" of the conference industry in Wales and bring business that the nation had not seen before.
He said Wales only had a £350m share of a £22bn meetings industry market in the UK currently.
The centre, off the M4, is expected to create 250 jobs.
The Welsh Government financing also includes a grant of £165,000 and £1.63m in loans, matched by the private sector.
In a response to a Freedom of Information request, the Welsh Government said: "The guaranteed maximum price building contract is £63.6m, other development packages including the building fit-out bring the total cost to £83.7m.
"The building work is scheduled to be completed mid 2019, followed by final fit-out and test events, prior to the formal launch later that year."
Newport's proposals trumped Cardiff's own attempts to get a convention centre off the ground.
However, hoteliers in the capital are also expected to benefit to some degree from the venture with new business - although they will now face competition from Bristol.
Ben Underwood, chairman of Cardiff Hoteliers Association, said: "We'll work together in the same way we did for the speedway and the Champions League to ensure that the ICC can utilise Cardiff and be confident we'll be priced correctly and be very hospitable to guests flying in."
What is ICC Wales up against?
There have been calls for some years for Wales to have a convention centre to compete with other nations and regions for conferences and big events. Those elsewhere in the UK are a mix of public and privately-owned centres. Here are some of the biggest:
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A Staffordshire man has achieved his "lifelong dream" of becoming the World's Strongest Man.
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Eddie "The Beast" Hall, 29, of Clayton, beat 29 other men to the title in the competition held in Botswana.
Mr Hall, who has been crowned Britain's Strongest Man four times, previously told the BBC his life was dedicated to achieving the world title.
His manager Mo Chaudry said Hall worked for a decade towards this "absolutely extraordinary" achievement.
More on this and other stories for Stoke and Staffordshire
Hall is the first Briton to win the world title since Gary Taylor 24 years ago.
Mr Chaudry said Hall had remained committed to his goal.
"There have been times when people have doubted his abilities to win and in the last two or three years I think it's got harder and harder because the other pros have got better also, and they are all very competitive."
Mr Hall, who tweeted after the contest he was retiring from World's Strongest Man contests, was a lorry maintenance worker before turning professional.
The father-of-two competed in a number of events, including pulling a plane and carrying five Atlas Stones of various weights, up to 210 kg (463 lb).
Organisers say the contest is "about stamina, skill, tactics, training and strategy" with every event designed to push competitors to their "absolute limits".
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The streets were crowded, the shopping centres busy and the traffic heavy.
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By Mahmut HamsiciBBC Turkish, Istanbul
Some flocked to the main bus terminal to get out of Istanbul, while others tried to stockpile alcohol amid news of a "booze ban".
This was the mood in the hours before Turkey went into its first full pandemic lockdown, to curb a surge in infections and deaths.
WhatsApp groups have been dominated by messages about how life will be in the coming days.
This time last year, Turkey was seen as a success story for its early combative action and was even praised by the WHO.
One year on, it is among the countries worst affected by Covid, with the highest infection rate in Europe.
How Turkey's infection rate soared
Ankara is still proud of its relatively low total number of deaths, at around 39,000, and authorities say the pandemic is still under control, thanks to the country's strong healthcare system. But the spike in the number of cases is worrying.
Following a second period of restrictions starting last November, the number of daily cases fell to around 6,000 at one point in mid-February.
But as soon as the government started to ease the restrictions in March, a new wave struck Turkey.
The government then U-turned to re-impose restrictions at the beginning of April. However, that was not enough to curb the spread of infections.
At its height in April, there were more than 60,000 new cases a day and more than 300 deaths.
Why did it happen?
According to critics, the government lifted restrictions too early and the vaccination process has not been fast enough.
More than 22 million vaccinations have been carried out, with 13.6 million people having received at least one dose in this country of 82 million.
Turkey mainly uses the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, as well as lower numbers of Pfizer-Biontech.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said recently: "We have sped up vaccine diplomacy for the injections including Sinovac, Pfizer-Biontech and (Russia's) Sputnik V".
Another criticism was that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party organised packed congresses in March while many social gatherings, public protests were banned.
Scientists also say the new variants, especially the UK (Kent) strain, have accelerated the infection rate.
Whatever the reason for the new wave, Mr Erdogan finally announced a full lockdown effective from Thursday evening until 17 May.
What are the new measures?
Many experts are happy with the new lockdown as they say it is necessary.
However, some argue that the lockdown will not last long enough to combat the rise in cases and that it may not be very effective if it is not supported by a faster vaccination programme. Any measures should also provide economic support for low-income people, they believe.
Across Turkish society there is a determination to see the back of this most recent wave, and the government has a clear target.
President Erdogan has said: "At a time when Europe is entering a phase of reopening, we must rapidly reduce our number of cases to fewer than 5,000, not to be left behind".
The measures last throughout the rest of Ramadan and the Eid festival that follows it.
Last year Turkey saw a 70% fall in foreign visitors. The tourist industry hopes the lockdown will help enable a reopening in time for the summer season.
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The UK is likely to be the hardest hit by Covid-19 among major economies, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned.
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By Andrew WalkerBBC World Service economics correspondent
Britain's economy is likely to slump by 11.5% in 2020, slightly outstripping falls in countries such as Germany, France, Spain and Italy, it said.
If there were a second peak in the pandemic, the UK economy could contract by as much as 14%.
"The crisis will cast a long shadow over the world," the OECD added.
It said that in what it called a "single-hit scenario", with no second peak, there could be contractions of 11.4% in France, 11.1% in Spain, 11.3% in Italy and 6.6% in Germany.
In its latest assessment, the OECD found that the UK's largely service-based economy meant that it had been particularly badly hit by the government's lockdown restrictions.
The services sector, including financial services, hospitality and tourism, makes up about three-quarters of the UK's GDP.
In response to the think tank's report, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the UK was not the only one to suffer: "In common with many other economies around the world, we're seeing the significant impact of coronavirus on our country and our economy.
"The unprecedented action we've taken to provide lifelines that help people and businesses through the economic disruption will ensure our economic recovery is as strong and as swift as possible."
Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: "Today's evidence from the OECD is deeply worrying, showing the UK was particularly exposed when the coronavirus crisis hit.
"The government's failure to get on top of the health crisis, delay going into lockdown and chaotic mismanagement of the exit from lockdown are making the economic impact of this crisis worse."
The central finding of the OECD forecasts is that the expectations or hopes of a rapid bounceback in the economy - a so-called V-shaped chart - is not now happening.
As Secretary General Angel Gurria put it to me, it will be "U-shaped", the question is how long will be the period at the bottom of this "U".
This pattern is not affecting all countries equally.
And in the event of there being no further peak, the prediction is that the UK is the worst hit this year, though just a little bit worse than Italy and France.
For those who like a glass half full, it also predicts the strongest growth in the UK at 9% for 2021. But that is a rather hollow prize.
The reason why is that the UK economy is peculiarly exposed as a trading economy with significant service and tourist sectors.
But it is also a nation that has been among the hardest hit by the underlying pandemic.
This hit comes despite a much-praised rapid response deploying tens of billions to keep millions of workers on payrolls.
The OECD also mentions the pandemic economic impact being "compounded" by the looming plausible failure to sign a trade deal with the EU and new trade barriers with the European Union at the end of the year.
It recommends temporarily extending the UK's stay in the single market. That is advice that the government has shown no inclination to follow so far.
The bigger point is that the OECD is subtly pointing to the fact that one rescue package is not enough.
Late last week the Germans announced a massive 4% stimulus to the economy, including a thumping cut to VAT, and significant subsidies for the purchase of cars.
The league table is an invitation to do more. And we will soon enough get actual hard economic data, as opposed to forecasts such as this, when the monthly GDP figure for April - entirely locked down - is published on Friday.
Global impact
The OECD said the pandemic had started to recede in many countries and activity had begun to pick up, but it does not expect a convincing recovery. It sees the outlook for public health as extremely uncertain.
OECD chief economist Laurence Boone said the pandemic would have "dire and long-lasting consequences for people, firms and governments".
She added: "Extraordinary policies will be required to walk the tightrope towards recovery. Even if growth does surge in some sectors, overall activity will remain muted for a while."
The OECD looked at two scenarios for how the pandemic might unfold, depending on whether there is a second wave of contagion or not before the end of this year.
If that does happen, two countries - France and Spain - would suffer even deeper declines in economic activity than the UK this year.
The report describes both outlooks as sobering, but either way, the deep recession now unfolding will be followed by a slow recovery.
In the more severe case, the global economy could shrink by 7.6% over this year, the OECD says.
That figure is significantly worse than predictions put forward by other agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which have warned about the high level of uncertainty attached to their forecasts.
By the end of 2021, the report says that five or more years of income growth could be lost in many countries. It says the impact on livelihoods will be especially severe among the most vulnerable groups.
The OECD also says the pandemic has accelerated the shift from what it calls "great integration" to "great fragmentation".
That is essentially a setback for globalisation, reflected in additional trade and investment restrictions and many borders that are closed at least while the health crisis persists.
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The Lib Dems must come up with a set of "credible and deliverable" policies to fight the 2015 general election, minister David Laws has said.
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The party is anxious to avoid a repeat of its tuition fees policy, which had to be ditched when it entered a coalition with the Tories.
Mr Laws said they had to be better prepared for power-sharing in 2015.
He was speaking ahead of the party's annual conference, which gets under way in Glasgow at the weekend.
The education and Cabinet Office minister said they would use their week in Glasgow to start work on a set of distinctive Lib Dem policies to put before voters in 2015.
But he stressed that the final decision on what would go in the manifesto would not be made until the second half of 2014.
And although there will be a string of new policy announcements in Glasgow, they have all been agreed with the Conservatives, reflecting the coalition's desire to continue "right up to the wire".
'Thoughtful discussions'
There would also be no question of Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg setting out policy "red lines" - potential deal-breakers in any coalition negotiations with Labour or the Tories in the event of another hung parliament - at this stage.
"We are way too soon for a red line list. You can see from all these debates that are happening in conference on the policy papers this is a conference about setting the detail of policy in lots of very important areas."
The party would focus on "finishing the job" of deficit reduction, said Mr Laws, but it was also committed to policies for growth. Activists in Glasgow are set to adopt a plan to push for the income tax threshold to rise to around £12,500.
The Lib Dems suffered a public backlash when the coalition trebled university tuition fees, despite Nick Clegg's election pledge - forced on him by the party's policymaking body - to oppose any increase.
Mr Laws, who was a key player in the 2010 coalition negotiations, said there would be "thoughtful discussions about the way in which we present our policies next time round so that the electorate can see that they are credible and deliverable".
Labour coalition?
He added: "That's not just a challenge for the Liberal Democrats, that's a challenge for all parties in an environment where, at the moment, a coalition outcome of some kind is possible."
Asked if his party could tackle the deficit with Labour as coalition partners, Mr Laws said: "The problem in so many areas with Labour policy on Syria, on the economy, is that it's not really that clear what it is at the moment. It seems to be in some areas just not what the government is doing."
Mr Laws said: "Now that we have seen a coalition in action I think credibility and deliverability are going to be extremely important for all the parties next time round. We are acutely aware of that from our experience in government, I think the other parties will be aware of that too."
But he said the Conservatives had also been forced to abandon key parts of their manifesto including their "flagship" policy of raising the inheritance tax threshold to £1m.
And he dismissed his party's dismal standing in opinion polls, where it lags behind UKIP, insisting voters would make up their minds closer to the election.
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Tributes have been paid to a soldier from Wales killed in Afghanistan three days after his 20th birthday.
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Guardsman Jamie Shadrake's check point was attacked in Helmand province on Friday and he died from gunshot wounds, the Ministry of Defence said.
His commanding officer said he had a lust for life which was "infectious".
The soldier, who grew up near Cardiff before his family moved to Wrexham, was with the Reconnaissance Platoon, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.
Relatives described him as a "tremendous son and brother" while colleagues said they had lost the "greatest mate".
His older brother is a platoon sergeant in the battalion.
Guardsman Shadrake is survived by his parents, Cathryn and Philip Shadrake, and brothers Carl, Kieran and Shane and sister Kerry-Anne.
"Jamie was a tremendous son and brother. He was proud to be a soldier and died doing a job that he loved," a statement on behalf of the family read.
"We are all devastated by the loss of Jamie who was such a loving son and brother."
His commanding officer, Lt Col James Bowder MBE, said: "Guardsman Shadrake was an extraordinary young man.
"Bright, committed and imbued with boundless energy, his enthusiasm and lust for life were infectious."
Platoon sergeant Vandell McLean, from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, said he was an "outstanding soldier" who was "on the door-step of becoming a junior non-commissioned officer".
"I could see him having an extremely successful career.
"I will always remember him as the bloke that would catch me off guard with his one-liners.
"My deepest sympathy goes out to his family and particularly his older brother, a fellow sergeants' mess member."
Guardsman Thomas Yearley said he had "many great memories... of a great mate, a great soldier and a great wingman".
Mark Knott joined the battalion with Guardsman Shadrake and the pair shared a room.
"What a mistake that was, as we spent many nights out together and they were some of the best ever," he said.
Guardsman Anthony Talbot added: "He was extremely confident and this shone through in everything he did.
"He was an excellent soldier and an even better person. Everyone who knew him will sorely miss him," he added.
His death comes only weeks after the village of Llanharan mourned the loss of Craig Roderick, 22, of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.
The former pupil of Pencoed Comprehensive School, in Bridgend, who joined the Army in 2009, had chatted to friends on Facebook the day before he was killed.
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The seaside resort of Whitby has become a "goth-magnet" for its 22nd annual Goth Weekend.
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The town is closely associated with Bram Stoker's gothic novel, Dracula, which prompted the event.
It began in 1994 and and has grown into a world renowned event for people with a variety of interests and backgrounds.
Businesses report it generates £1m in revenue across the weekend at what is otherwise a quiet time of year.
The 2016 line-up includes music from Heaven 17, The Mission and Skeletal Family, all playing at Whitby Spa Pavilion.
Up to 7,000 people are expected to visit the town during the weekend.
Related Internet Links
Whitby Goth Weekend
Whitby Pavilion
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Planned home births are less risky than planned hospital births, particularly for second-time mothers, says research in the British Medical Journal.
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A large Dutch study found the risk of severe complications to be one in 1,000 for home births and 2.3 in 1,000 for hospital births.
The Royal College of Midwives said the study was further evidence of the safety and benefits of home birth.
Obstetricians warn that the system in the Netherlands is different to the UK.
For low-risk women having their first baby at home, the study calculated their risk of being admitted to intensive care or needing a large blood transfusion to be small - and similar to women giving birth in hospital.
This was 2.3 per 1,000 for home births, compared with 3.1 per 1,000 for planned hospital births.
But in women who had given birth before, severe complications were found to be less common during planned home births.
The researchers, including midwives and obstetricians from universities in Amsterdam, Leiden and Nijmegen, said those figures were "statistically significant".
In this group of women, the risk of severe blood loss after delivery (also known as postpartum haemorrhage) was 19.6 per 1,000 for a planned home birth compared with 37.6 per 1,000 for planned hospital births.
In the study of nearly 150,000 low-risk women in the Netherlands who gave birth between 2004 and 2006, 92,333 had a planned home birth and 54,419 had a planned hospital birth.
Home births in the Netherlands account for around 20% of all births. Currently in the UK, 2.4% of births are planned at home, down from 3% in 2008.
'Good system'
Ank de Jonge, a practising midwife and senior researcher on the study from the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, said their findings showed that the system in the Netherlands was working well.
But she emphasised that this depended on a number of different factors.
"This comes from a good risk selection system, good transport in place and well-trained midwives."
She also warned that in emergencies the right facilities had to be in place.
"Women who give birth at home are less likely to have interventions at home, but if there is a serious problem there should be a good system to deal with them."
The study said, "Every avoidable adverse maternal outcome is one too many," and should lead to improvements in maternity care.
The safety of planned home births is a subject of continuous debate.
A 2011 BMJ study of 65,000 English births found that home birth carried a higher risk for the babies of first-time mothers - but for second-time mothers giving birth there was no difference in the risk to babies between home, a midwife-led unit or a doctor-led hospital unit, it said.
The same study found that women who planned to give birth at home were less likely to need a Caesarean section or a forceps delivery.
Providing choice
Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said the research was proof of the safety and benefits of home birth for some women, particularly those who have given birth before, and showed that they could save the NHS money.
"This research should be encouraging providers and commissioners of maternity services to put more resources into providing women with a real choice of having a home birth, because at present we know many women who would want one often cannot have one because of a lack of midwives.
"Providing choice of place of birth is at the heart of the government's agenda so it was disappointing that last year saw a drop in home births."
She added: "We should be aiming to see home births at the levels of the 1960s when a third of women had their babies in their homes."
Dr Tony Falconer, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said national differences had an impact on the services available to women.
"The rate of home birth in the UK is low in comparison to the Netherlands where the proximity to specialist services with short transfer times is the norm.
"The same advantages are not always available across the UK, so the safety of home birth has to be considered in the context of the availability of local services."
He said that the RCOG supported the choice of a home birth for low-risk women expecting a second or third baby.
"Our High Quality Women's Health Care report emphasised the need for a reorganisation of women's health services around clinical networks. There is a greater need for more services to be provided in the community for low-risk women.
"For more complex cases, women need access to units providing 24-hour consultant cover."
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The results are in, New Zealanders have spoken - and they do not want a new flag.
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By Anna JonesBBC News
The outcome was close, with just 56.61% of people voting against change, but it is a personal blow for pro-change Prime Minister John Key.
Here's how the debate unfurled, from Laser Kiwi to Red Peak to Silver Fern.
This is New Zealand's flag, which has fluttered from flagpoles across the nation since the 1800s and was officially adopted in 1902.
The royal blue is meant to represent the sea and the sky, while the four stars are the Southern Cross, representing New Zealand's place in the Southern Ocean.
In the top left corner is the Union Flag, a legacy of New Zealand's identity as a British protectorate.
That was problem number one: New Zealand has been fully independent since 1947 and for many people, including the prime minister, the Union Flag is a constant unwelcome reminder of the colonial era.
And here's problem number two:
That's the Australian flag, almost identical except for the Commonwealth or Federation Star in the bottom left and an additional star in the, now white, Southern Cross.
Mr Key said this was "terribly confusing" for the rest of the world, and that he'd seen news broadcasts which placed him in front of the wrong flag.
Referendum plan announced
When Mr Key's National party was elected in 2014, he promised to put the issue to the people.
It was, said Mr Key, the "right time for New Zealanders to consider changing the design to one that better reflects our status as a modern, independent nation".
Laser Kiwi
It began in May 2015, when the official Flag Consideration Project panel invited absolutely anyone to suggest a design for a new flag.
A total of 10,292 had a go, and it's fair to say not all took the task entirely seriously, to the delight of commentators around the world.
Though some of the ideas, like Laser Kiwi, have arguably since become icons of the country anyway.
On both sides of the debate, strong feelings began to emerge.
Former prime minister Jenny Shipley was quoted as saying she was "horrified to think that people would allow a colonial symbol to be part of the shadow that flies over us".
But military veterans said abandoning the flag soldiers had died under disrespected their sacrifice.
"So much has happened under our flag that has made us the nation we are today," said David Moger, of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RSA).
He told the BBC that reassurances to veterans they could still use the existing flag if they wanted were "a poor attempt to sideline" them.
Boring finalists?
The Flag Consideration Panel announced a long list of 40 in August 2015. The list dropped to 39 shortly after when one was removed for copyright reasons.
It was a fairly predictable selection of Maori symbols, silver ferns and Southern Crosses. Just one made a reference to the Union Jack.
The Four Finalists and the Battle of Red Peak
A few weeks later, the Flag Consideration Panel unveiled it four finalists.
Three silver ferns and one koru Maori symbol. All male designers, two of them the same man.
New Zealanders were by and large uninspired.
The creative mind behind Laser Kiwi, incidentally, found them "a tad disappointing".
"I think these people actually take their artwork seriously."
The battle of Red Peak
But a rebellion was brewing. Across the land, New Zealanders were throwing their support behind an outsider - Red Peak by Wellington-based Aaron Dustin.
Through the power of social media, some slick lobbying from Mr Dustin himself and perhaps a degree of trouble-making spirit, a petition for Red Peak to be added as a fifth finalist gobbled up signatures.
Signatories called it drawable, appropriately symbolic, and with the colours and shapes to represent the nation.
At first, Mr Key stood firm and defended the "well set-out process" of the judging panel. But 52,000 signatures were too many to ignore.
After a heated late-night debate, in which one MP compared Red Peak to a Nazi sentry box, parliament performed a dramatic U-turn and pushed through legislation to change the Flag Referendums Act to allow Red Peak to join the final stretch of the race.
The triumph of Silver Fern
Stage one of the referendum, which ran from mid-November to mid-December 2015 asked New Zealanders which of the five designs they'd want IF the flag were to change.
About 1.5 million people sent in a postal ballot, just under half of registered voters and a better turnout than some had predicted. And with just over 50% of the vote, this was the winner.
Designer Kyle Lockwood, who'd had two designs in the final and had the prime minister's backing, said he was "speechless", but that as Silver Fern had both red on it and the Southern Cross "we've got the best of both worlds really".
The flag was put in place across the country so people could get a feel for it.
One feng shui master, however, told the New Zealand Herald the colours represented mourning and its bad energy could cause a stock market crash.
Union Jack for years to come
Another month-long postal ballot opened in March - after unexpected encouragement came from sitcom The Big Bang Theory telling the "crazy Kiwis" that "we're rooting for you".
This time, the ballot papers asked whether Silver Fern should officially become the new symbol of New Zealand.
More than two million ballots were sent in and from fairly early on it appeared the status quo was leading the way.
One telephone survey in late March, however, found 59% of people condemned the whole NZ$23m ($17.4m; £12.3m) process as "a distraction and a waste of money".
The result on 24 March was close: 1,200,003 for no change, 915,008 for change.
Mr Key took it on the chin, calling on New Zealanders to "embrace" their flag.
So is that it? Officially yes, the Union Jack-bedecked flag will continue to fly above Aotearoa.
But there will be plenty who say the current flag was just the least bad of the two options.
Lewis Holden, chairman of Change the NZ Flag campaign group, told the BBC earlier this week there was still "a large sentiment for change".
"But the questions remain on what to change to. We'll keep campaigning, we have thousands of followers on FB, and strong support base and strong sentiment, but simply the issues have got in the way of the process."
And of course it remains to be seen whether rebellious New Zealanders may yet be pinning a Laser Kiwi to their lapels.
Additional reporting by Tessa Wong
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The politician and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has had her Freedom of Edinburgh award revoked.
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Councillors voted on a motion to remove the honour amid accusations she has ignored violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Ms Suu Kyi was given the freedom of the city in 2005 for championing democracy while living under house arrest.
A motion, tabled by Lord Provost Frank Ross, called for it to be removed with immediate effect.
The motion noted "the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Northern Rakhine and in the refugee camps of neighbouring Bangladesh" as well as calls from the United Nations, Amnesty International and international governments to stop the violence.
Mr Ross told a meeting of the full council: "It has been 10 months since this chamber discussed the status of this award for Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It did so in the light of the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar (Burma), which was and continues to be broadcast around the world.
"At that time this chamber instructed me to write to Aung San Suu Kyi, making it very clear that as a recipient of the Freedom of our City, we urged her to use her powers to alleviate this human crisis."
Mr Ross added: "I did so and we have tried every route that we possibly have available to us to make contact, via our armed forces, through diplomatic means, by writing directly - yet we have seen the situation in Myanmar continue to deteriorate.
"This award is granted rarely and only to those individuals who are held in the highest esteem by the citizens of Edinburgh. It was presented to Aung San Suu Kyi in recognition of her personal courage and relentless pursuit of justice.
"I no longer believe her receipt of this award or the reasons it was presented are appropriate or accurate. It is not a decision we take lightly to revoke the honour granted to her in 2005."
The 73-year-old leader of Myanmar - formerly Burma - was hailed as a beacon of democracy when she was given the city's highest honour 13 years ago.
She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1991 while under house arrest in Rangoon.
After elections in 2015 she became Myanmar State Counsellor, the de facto head of the country's civilian administration.
Two years later violence broke out in Rakhine province after Rohingya militants attacked police posts, killing 12 members of the security forces.
In response, Myanmar's army has been accused of killing Rohingya civilians and burning their villages, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to Bangladesh.
Fell into disrepute
While it is acknowledged that Ms Suu Kyi does not control the military, she has faced international pressure to condemn the army's alleged brutality towards the Rohingya, a Muslim minority which is stateless in majority-Buddhist Myanmar.
Other cities including Oxford, Glasgow and Newcastle have also acted to strip Ms Suu Kyi of similar honours.
The last time Edinburgh revoked a Freedom of the City honour was in 1890 when the Irish politician Charles Parnell fell into disrepute over a scandalous love affair.
A collage portrait of Ms Suu Kyi by the artist David Mach, made up of postcards of political prisoners, that was previously displayed on rotation at the council's offices, is currently in storage.
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An "exceptional downpour" was responsible for flooding in Goole last week, Yorkshire Water said.
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More than two weeks' worth of rainfall fell over two hours on the evening of Wednesday 4 August, causing extensive flooding to properties.
The town's Conservative MP Andrew Percy had questioned whether a pumping station in the town was working properly during the deluge.
The company said the plant "continued to pump water away".
However, it said that its investigation had found that three pumps at the station stopped working for an hour.
The company said that this shutdown was done "to protect the equipment" and they "had brought an additional pump into service at the station at around 20:00 BST that evening."
About 50 firefighters were sent to Goole to help pump out buildings in the town. A home and a supermarket in the town centre were among the buildings evacuated.
In a statement into the cause of the flooding, Yorkshire Water said it was sorry for the damage to people's homes.
The company said: "We want to reassure residents across Yorkshire that we'll continue to work hard and invest significantly where it's most needed, in order to do everything we can to reduce the risk of flooding in our region.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council is also conducting an investigation.
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More than 300 homes have been flooded and train services disrupted as heavy rain continues across parts of the UK.
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Hundreds of people are facing a night in temporary accommodation as 87 Environment Agency flood warnings remain in place.
Some areas were expected to see 50mm (2in) of rain - an average fortnight's worth - in a day, the Met Office said.
BBC weather forecaster Peter Gibbs said it was the most intense September storm for 30 years.
The Met Office said an area of low pressure measuring 973 millibars had been recorded near the coast of north-east England - the lowest in the UK for September since 1981.
Transport was disrupted with part of the A1 closed in North Yorkshire and the East Coast mainline hit.
More than 100 vehicles were trapped on a 30-mile stretch of the A1 between junction 49 (Dishforth) and junction 60 (Bradbury), which remains closed.
The A1 northbound at Tritlington in Northumberland was also shut because of water running on to the road, police have said.
Among the areas worst hit by flooding were Morpeth, Durham, Rothbury, Chester-le-Street and Stockton-on-Tees.
Some 19 elderly residents at a council care home in Gilling West, North Yorkshire, had to be carried to safety by firefighters after it became swamped by 3ft (1m) of water.
Travel disruption was caused in Scotland by heavy rain and winds of up to 70mph.
In England, the Environment Agency issued 83 flood warnings - indicating flooding is expected - in England and Wales.
There are 139 less serious flood alerts, indicating flooding is possible.
In Scotland, there are flood warnings in five regions, while in Northern Ireland there is no flood warning system but the Met Office has warned of persistent rain and gales.
The Environment Agency warned that river levels would continue to rise into Wednesday along the River Ouse in Yorkshire and the River Severn, which could cause further flooding.
In other developments:
Schools in some areas were advised to close early, employers were urged to send staff home early and commuters were asked to stagger their journeys to alleviate problems on the struggling transport network.
David Jordan, director of operations at the Environment Agency, said: "We urge people to keep up to date with the weather forecast and remain prepared for flooding in their area, sign up to receive free flood warnings and stay away from dangerous flood water."
Flooding minister Richard Benyon offered his support to local MPs in helping affected areas recover.
He said: "Right now we need to let the Environment Agency and emergency services get on with their jobs and I'd like to thank them for the tireless work they are doing to keep people safe and reduce the risk of further flooding."
The Met Office has issued amber severe weather warnings, to "be prepared" for the East Midlands, north-east England, north-west England, Wales, the West Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humber
Less severe yellow warnings - indicating that people should "be aware" - are in place for many other parts of the UK.
Find your local BBC site
Among the worst hit places was Ravensworth, North Yorkshire, which had 89mm (3.5in) of rain in 24 hours and more than 100mm (4in) since Sunday.
Meanwhile, an inquest was opened at West London Coroner's Court into the death of a woman struck by a falling tree branch in Kew Gardens on Sunday.
New Zealand-born account manager Erena Wilson, 31, from London, died instantly when she was hit by the branch while walking in the gardens with friends.
The heavy rain in the UK this week is due to an area of low pressure which has moved north across the country from the Bay of Biscay and is now off the north-east coast, forecasters say.
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Convicted killer Jeremy Bamber has lost the latest stage in his legal battle to clear his name.
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Bamber is serving a whole life sentence for shooting dead five members of his family in Essex in 1985.
He had sought to challenge the Criminal Cases Review Commission's (CCRC) decision not to send his case to the Court of Appeal.
But that bid has been turned down by a High Court judge. His lawyers said a further hearing in court might be made.
'Burn marks'
The decision not to refer his case was made earlier this year by the CCRC, an independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.
A spokeswoman for the Judicial Office confirmed a single judge, considering the case on the papers, had turned down Bamber's judicial review application.
It is still open to Bamber to seek to renew his application before the full court.
Bamber, 51, has always claimed his sister Sheila Caffell, murdered her wealthy parents, June and Neville, and six-year-old children, Daniel and Nicholas, before turning the gun on herself at the farmhouse in Tolleshunt D'Arcy.
His latest request for an appeal was based on a fresh analysis of three burn marks found on his father and gunshot wounds on his sister.
The CCRC's decision is the third time Bamber has failed to get his conviction overturned.
The Court of Appeal rejected a request for an appeal hearing in 1989.
Dangerous offenders
He was granted an appeal in 2002, after the case was referred by the CCRC, but the appeal was later dismissed.
Bamber's case will be one of those subject to a hearing of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights next month.
The European hearing will test whether the UK's law allowing the most dangerous offenders to be sentenced to whole life tariffs, meaning they will never be released, amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
The case, and that of two other murderers, will take place in Strasbourg on 28 November
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Highways officials have come under fire after motorists in Lincoln faced "unprecedented delays" due to a crash involving a car transporter.
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The city bypass was still closed in both directions 18 hours after the transporter overturned on Wednesday, shedding its load of new vehicles.
The city's MP Karl McCartney was among those who criticised the authority for not doing more to keep traffic moving.
Lincolnshire Police said one lane had now opened on either side of the road.
Motorists were forced to find alternative routes into the city due to the closure.
Many reported it taking over two hours to travel just a few miles. Some left their cars on the outskirts of Lincoln and walked into work.
Residents described the delays as the worst they had seen.
Richard, a caller to BBC Radio Lincolnshire, said: "It took me three quarters of an hour to travel about a mile. In the last 15 or 20 years I've never seen it like this. It's horrendous."
Many vented their frustration on social media.
Don Epton summed up the mood: "This happened at about 9 last night, why hasn't it been sorted and fully open by now?"
In a tweet, Mr McCartney questioned why officials could not have kept at least one lane of the bypass open in each direction to avoid the gridlock.
Jemma Peacock, from Lincolnshire Police, said: "It's unprecedented. It's a really difficult situation."
Lincolnshire County Council said a decision was taken to close the road so workers could repair the central reservation in safety.
The authority said efforts were further hampered by a fuel spillage.
Highways manager Richard Fenwick said: "Because it was a freak accident it's not something we would be set up to respond to within an hour or two."
"I'd like to think we could make improvements but we can't take a risk with the safety of road users," he added.
At 16:30 GMT, Lincolnshire Police's force control room posted an update on Twitter.
Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook on Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
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A boy has been struck by lightning leaving him in a "serious but stable condition" in a Wiltshire hospital.
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The 11-year-old, who is believed to be a pupil at the Dorcan Academy in Swindon, was injured shortly after 15:00 BST.
He received first aid from school staff after going into cardiac arrest before paramedics arrived.
The boy was taken to the town's Great Western Hospital and later transferred to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.
At 19:45 BST, a Great Western Hospital spokesman described the boy's condition as "serious but stable".
'Quick response'
A spokesman for the ambulance service said that when paramedics arrived, first aiders were giving the pupil CPR.
"We had a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle on scene at 3:16pm and an ambulance crew a couple of minutes later," the spokesman said.
"In the meantime, while we were en route, we understand the better-trained first aiders from the school were providing CPR because the patient had... gone into cardiac arrest.
"Our paramedics took over treatment when they arrived on scene. They got a heartbeat and him breathing for himself again on scene.
"We took him straight to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon and he arrived there at 3:34pm.
"In terms of our response he was in hospital conscious and breathing again within 24 minutes.
"The quick response from school staff and paramedics gave him the best chance of survival."
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The Heartbleed bug has turned cyber criminals from attackers into victims as researchers use it to grab material from chatrooms where they trade data.
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By Mark WardTechnology correspondent, BBC News
Discovered in early April, Heartbleed lets attackers steal data from computers using vulnerable versions of some widely used security programs.
Now it has given anti-malware researchers access to forums that would otherwise be very hard to penetrate.
The news comes as others warn that the bug will be a threat for many years.
French anti-malware researcher Steven K told the BBC: "The potential of this vulnerability affecting black-hat services (where hackers use their skills for criminal ends) is just enormous."
Heartbleed had put many such forums in a "critical" position, he said, leaving them vulnerable to attack using tools that exploit the bug.
The Heartbleed vulnerability was found in software, called Open SSL, which is supposed to make it much harder to steal data. Instead, exploiting the bug makes a server hand over small chunks of the data it has just handled - in many cases login details or other sensitive information.
Mr K said he was using specially written tools to target some closed forums called Darkode and Damagelab.
"Darkode was vulnerable, and this forum is a really hard target," he said. "Not many people have the ability to monitor this forum, but Heartbleed exposed everything."
Charlie Svensson, a computer security researcher at Sentor, which tests company's security systems, said: "This work just goes to show how serious Heartbleed is. You can get the keys to the kingdom, all thanks to a nice little heartbeat query."
Individuals who repeat the work of security researchers such as Mr K could leave themselves open to criminal charges for malicious hacking.
Threat 'growing'
The widespread publicity about Heartbleed had led operators of many websites to update vulnerable software and urge users to change passwords.
Paul Mutton, a security researcher at net monitoring firm Netcraft, explained that while that meant there was no "significant risk of further direct exploitation of the bug", it did not mean all danger had passed.
He said the problem had been compounded by the fact that a large number of sites had not cleaned up all their security credentials put at risk by Heartbleed.
In particular, he said, many sites had yet to invalidate or revoke the security certificates used as a guarantee of their identity.
"If a compromised certificate has not been revoked, an attacker can still use it to impersonate that website," said Mr Mutton.
In addition, he said, web browsers did a poor job of checking whether security certificates had been revoked.
"Consequently, the dangers posed by the Heartbleed bug could persist for a few more years."
His comments were echoed by James Lyne, global head of security research at security software developer Sophos.
"There is a very long tail of sites that are going to be vulnerable for a very long time," said Mr Lyne, who pointed out that the list of devices that Heartbleed put at risk was growing.
Many so-called smart devices, such as home routers, CCTV cameras, baby monitors and home-management gadgets that control heating and power, were now known to be vulnerable to Heartbleed-based attacks, he said.
A survey by tech news site Wired found that smart thermostats, cloud-based data services, printers, firewalls and video-conferencing systems were all vulnerable.
Other reports suggest the makers of some industrial control systems are also now producing patches for their software to limit the potential for attack.
How tempting this was for malicious attackers was difficult to gauge, said Mr Lyne.
"We do not really know how much Heartbleed is being used offensively because it's an attack that is hard to track and log."
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The bells on Londonderry's two cathedrals are to ring out in harmony as part of a UK-wide celebration of the London 2012 Olympics.
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Everyone has been invited to ring some kind of bell on Friday morning.
The project is the idea of Turner prize-winning artist and musician Martin Creed.
It is called: "Work No. 1197: All the bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes at 08:12 27th July."
Everyone from enthusiastic children with hand bells, bicycle bells and doorbells to experienced change ringing experts of tower bells is invited to join in.
To get involved all individuals, communities and organisations are encouraged to register at
the project's website
.
The ringing marks the first day of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"It could be a brilliant and amazing sound," said Mr Creed.
"Whether you've got a bicycle bell or something much grander, this is a opportunity to mark a once in a lifetime occasion. This is wonderfully innovative project and I am delighted to support it."
Thousands of people have already registered to take part, and everyone who signs up will be able to download a ringtone by Mr Creed, Work No. 1372, which features 28 different bell sounds.
All the Bells will be broadcast on various BBC television and radio programmes.
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A TV soap actress has unearthed a long-lost photograph of her grandparents from an "extraordinary" archive of 10,000 pictures taken decades ago.
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Natalie Davies, who grew up in a mixed-race family in Bradford, was searching the city's Belle Vue Studio archives.
Ms Davies, who recently appeared in The Vicar of Dibley, is to appear in her home town in a play about her heritage.
"I feel it is a wonderful revelation. I knew the picture had been taken but now I've got access to it," she said.
"After seeing a documentary about the archive pictures I had searched but couldn't find it.
"It was like looking into my heritage and who I am when, after two hours of scanning the archives, I found their photo," added Ms Davies.
The actress said her father was "half-Bangladeshi and half-white" and her mother was "half-Pakistani and half-white".
Ms Davies said her new play Full English is to be performed in Bradford in June and would feature her grandparents' picture.
"I'm white but I am Asian as well, I'm a mix but have often been asked 'Are you full English?'
"The more stories we can get out there of the white women who brought up mixed race children the better. It's about the prejudice that was received. It was tough, really tough," she said.
The posed shot shows Ms Davies' grandparents Jahir and Irene Uddin.
Mr Uddin left Bangladesh in the 1950s for Bradford where he later met Irene, a worker in the city's textile mills.
The Belle Vue studio must have felt "like it was the place to go if you were different, It felt you were welcome there", Ms Davies added.
John Ashton, an assistant at the photo archive, said: "Tony Walker who took the pictures was very welcoming in a way other studios might not have been.
"There are still a lot of the archive pictures marked 'unknown subject' but when we get people's names it's really useful to us.
"You don't realise the implications it has after half a century when you put out those 10,000 family pictures."
Belle Vue studios
The studios, in Manningham Lane, documented people's lives from the 1920s until it closed in 1975.
After World War Two the portraits increasingly featured migrants who came to the city from around the world.
After the studio closed many of its images were dumped in a skip although 17,000 were saved and more than 10,000 have currently been digitised.
The studio's story was told in BBC Four's documentary, Hidden History.
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Around the BBC
BBC Four - Hidden History- The Lost Portraits of Bradford
Related Internet Links
Belle Vue Studio - Bradford Museums & Galleries
Full English - Bent Architect Theatre Company
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A main road through a Dorset village which was closed more than a year ago due to unstable slopes is to temporarily reopen.
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The county council said slopes which line Dinah's Hollow, in Melbury Abbas, Shaftesbury, were "sufficient to engulf a small vehicle" if a slip occurred.
Traffic will be rerouted into the centre of the road when it reopens in a bid to reduce that risk.
Meanwhile, talks with private landowners are continuing.
Soil nails designed to stabilise the soil and rock slopes are also being tested, Dorset County Council added.
'Alleviate pressure'
Peter Finney, cabinet member for environment, described it as "a very complex and sensitive issue".
He said the reopening of the road would "help to alleviate the pressure on the county's roads during the busy summer months and to reduce the wear and tear of the surrounding small roads and local rat runs".
The authority said it would take up to three weeks to reopen the road, which it closed last April.
Once reopened, temporary traffic lights will be in operation.
Plans to repair the slopes were revised in April in a bid to preserve more trees at the site.
The authority said repairs would be completed next year if land negotiations "go well", or in 2017 if it has to make compulsory purchases.
A two-mile (3km) diversion, via the A350 Blandford to Shaftesbury road, is currently in place.
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Leaving the EU would be the equivalent of imposing an additional "tax" of one month's income on UK workers, a leading economic international body has said.
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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said economic growth would be lower outside the EU as the UK could not negotiate a "sweeter" deal on trade and investment.
Vote Leave said the forecasts ignored the scope to negotiate new trade deals.
And UKIP's Nigel Farage said "markets, not failed politicians" decided trade.
The OECD, which represents 34 wealthy countries and seeks to promote economic co-operation, released its assessment of the economic consequences for the UK of leaving the EU as figures suggested the UK economy slowed in the first three months of the year.
Chancellor George Osborne said the estimated fall in GDP growth from 0.6% to 0.4% suggested the EU referendum on 23 June was "weighing" on the economy and that building projects and investments were being delayed by uncertainty over the outcome.
The OECD's research suggests leaving the EU would result in 3% lower economic growth than would otherwise be the case by 2020, rising to 5% in 2030 - costing households on average £3,200.
Its secretary general Angel Gurria told the BBC that he had no doubt that leaving would be a "bad decision" and expressed surprise that the UK was even contemplating such a move.
'Like a tax'
"Brexit is like a tax. It is the equivalent to roughly missing out on about one month's income within four years but then it carries on to 2030," the former Mexican politician told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"That tax is going to be continued to be paid by Britons over time."
Forecasts that growth rates would be lower-than-expected outside the EU were based on the assumption that there was "no kind" of trade deal that the UK could do "better by yourselves than you would be in the company of the Europeans".
"We have done the comparisons, we have done the simulations," he said.
"In the end we come out and say: why are we spending so much time, so much effort and so much talent in trying to find ways to compensate for a bad decision when you do not necessarily have to take the bad decision?
"This is not wishful thinking - which we believe that the Brexit camp in many cases has been assuming. There is absolutely no reason why you would get a sweeter trade deal than you already have, no reason why you would have a sweeter investment deal."
Mr Gurria has led the OECD since 2005. While serving in the Mexican government in the 1990s, Mr Gurria helped negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States having previously led two major banks.
The OECD's analysis echoes that of the Treasury, which has estimated that GDP would be 6% lower by 2030 and that this could leave households £4,300 worse off.
'Not impartial'
But economist and Leave campaigner Andrew Lillico said the figures were "very implausible" because they assumed that the UK would not be able to secure a trade deal of any kind with the EU before 2020 or preferential deals with other countries before 2023.
"That is just absurd," he told the BBC News Channel. "One of the main reasons we would leave the EU is in order to do new trade deals with the rest of the world, with Japan, Australia and other countries."
Given the OECD was predicating its research on a fall in immigration and a slowdown in population growth, he said the reality was that "once we are past the initial disruption there is no impact on GDP per person at all."
UKIP leader Nigel Farage told BBC Radio 4's Today organisations like the OECD and the IMF were staffed by "overpaid former politicians who failed mostly" and the UK would be "better off" by being able to trade freely outside the EU.
"These international bodies, there is virtually nobody working for them that has manufactured a good or traded a product globally.
"The fact is whether we are in or out of the EU, we will go on buying and selling goods between France, Germany, Britain and Italy because ultimately markets are not created by politicians, it is about consumers making choices."
Labour said there was a twin threat to the economy from "Conservative backbenchers screaming for Brexit despite the mounting evidence against the case" and from a government "refusing to listen to the expanding coalition of international organisations that not only warn of the risks of Brexit, but also the risks of under investing in our economy".
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Donations to an online appeal will help to pay for the funeral of a popular Big Issue seller.
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Peter Toulson, who died on Monday, sold the magazine from a pitch outside a department store in York's Parliament Street.
A friend of Mr Toulson started a fundraising page to help his partner Karen pay for his funeral costs.
The appeal has now exceeded its £3,000 target just a few days after being launched.
'Gentle giant'
John and Julie McGall who established the fundraising site said they wanted to give Mr Toulson "the send off he deserves".
A message on the site described Mr Toulson as "a gentle giant".
"Always had a smile or friendly banter with both his customers and the general public.
"He was a dignified proud man, who for no fault of his own found himself falling upon hard times."
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Thousands of people have driven to Birmingham's Indian consulate to show support for farmers in India protesting about agricultural reforms.
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Despite the city being under tier three rules, people from across England have been taking part a week after a similar gathering in London.
The National Sikh Police Association UK advised people not to attend.
Arjan Singh, from Manchester, said people wanted to show the Indian government the reforms were unfair.
Protests in India have seen more than 250 million workers go on strike.
"Everyone has come together as these reforms are very detrimental to farmers and only serve corporate interests which will leave the farmers with nothing," Mr Singh, 37, a company director from Bramall, said.
"I feel very proud to be here... it's happened in London, Canada and America and it's a domino effect from India and we're trying to make the government see what's happening and that something's got to change."
The Kisaan Car Rally started at Guru Har Rai Gurdwara in West Bromwich at about 10:30 GMT on Saturday with participators driving to the consulate for 13:00 GMT.
The National Sikh Police Association UK advised people not to attend because of the tier three restrictions and warned people if they did, to stay in their cars or potentially face enforcement action.
Some smoke devices were let off in Sandwell as part of the rally, West Midlands Police said as they advised motorists to avoid the the whole of West Bromwich, Birmingham city centre and the Jewellery Quarter because of severe traffic disruption.
Jas Singh, 41, a business consultant from Derby said he could see people in the slow-moving convoy en route to the city were adhering to social distancing if they got out of their vehicles.
"It's taken me one-and-half hours to get from Soho Road to the city centre because of the convoys," he said.
'Take action'
"There's thousands of people here, from all ages and from around the country and they're wearing masks and very little mixing is going on - everyone is very conscious of that."
When the vehicles reached Birmingham, some people did leave their cars to gather outside the embassy in the Jewellery Quarter prompting police to say they would take "appropriate action".
"Deliberately not following the regulations and measures put in place to limit the spread of the virus is unacceptable and our officers will take the appropriate action where necessary," the force tweeted.
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Chinese authorities have blocked internet access to search terms related to the 23rd anniversary of the 1989 crackdown against protesters at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
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By Katia MoskvitchTechnology reporter, BBC News
Terms such as "six four", "23", "candle" and "never forget", typed in Chinese search engines, do not return any information about the event.
Discussions of the unrest of 4 June 1989 remain taboo in the country.
But some users managed to upload a few pictures on to Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
In 1989, troops shot dead hundreds of pro-democracy protesters gathered in central Beijing.
The demonstrations have never been publicly marked in China, and the government has never said how many were killed.
But human rights groups' estimates range from several hundred to several thousand killed.
Analysts say that censoring any online talk related to the event is especially important for Beijing this year, as the government gets ready for a leadership handover.
No candles
"Today's anniversary is one of those 'red line' topics that are always subject to a high degree of scrutiny," Duncan Clark of BDA China told the BBC.
"Typical search results for Chinese search engines of Tiananmen Square return bland descriptions of the square, photos of tourists or the main landmarks, and so on.
"And some are tweeting that the characters for 'today' are today banned."
China's main microblogging platform, Sina Weibo, has deactivated the candle emoticon, commonly adopted on the web to mourn deaths.
After users responded by trying to replace the banned candle emoticon with the Olympic flame symbol, the website deactivated it too.
When trying to search for the unrest, users have been coming across a message explaining that search results could not be displayed "due to relevant laws, regulations and policies".
Throughout the years, the government's methods have been very effective in making people avoid any discussions of the crackdown, added Mr Clark.
"For most Chinese the words 'Tiananmen Square' don't bring to mind the same images and associations as in the West, it's more like Trafalgar Square to Brits.
"This speaks to the efficacy of government controls - many born in that year or after have never heard of what happened, even well-educated university graduates."
'Sensitive' terms
The US government has urged China to free all those still in prison after the crackdown.
The US State Department message also called on China to "provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing".
Besides the 1989 unrest at Tiananmen Square, the Chinese authorities censor search terms on the internet that relate to the independence movement in Taiwan, or sensitive postings relating to Tibet, Xinjiang or Communist Party rule.
Although Google search is not banned in China, people using it are routed to the engine's servers based in Hong Kong.
Google in Hong Kong has recently added a new feature indicating to users as they type, in real time, which words are "sensitive".
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HTC has officially unveiled a standalone virtual reality headset called the Vive Focus.
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The all-in-one gadget does not need to be connected to a computer or use a phone's screen to show images.
The move comes a month after Facebook's Oculus division unveiled plans for its own untethered headset.
HTC has not given any pricing or release dates for the Focus but did say it would initially be available in only China.
At the same time, HTC announced it had stopped working with Google to produce a standalone headset based on the search giant's Daydream technology. Lenovo is still working with Google on a headset.
Scene setting
The Vive Focus has an AMOLED screen and uses internal sensors to work out where a person is looking.
It gives users a greater ability to explore virtual scenes, as it will support six degrees of movement.
Current all-in-one headsets that use a smartphone's screen as a display typically have only four degrees of freedom - up, down, left and right.
With six, users can move their heads backwards and forwards and get a greater sense of their presence in a virtual scene.
"Six degrees of freedom tracking is a standard feature on high-end PC and console headsets, and, with its support, instantly elevates Focus above cheaper smartphone VR headset solutions," said games analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, from IHS Markit.
Mr Harding-Rolls said standalone headsets were the "end game" for wearable VR and it was "encouraging" to see HTC release one that could match PC versions.
He said HTC's the decision to release the Focus in only China made sense.
"China is the most advanced market for smartphone VR and for trying out higher quality VR at out-of-home venues," he said.
Headsets from Facebook, Google and Samsung were not officially available in China, he said, which could leave a vacuum for HTC to occupy.
HTC will face competition from Oculus, which is working on two untethered headsets.
The first, called the Oculus Go, matches the capabilities of smartphone-based headsets.
The other, called Santa Cruz, is an untethered version of its current, powerful Rift headset.
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A new £330m university campus could be built in Northampton's Enterprise Zone on derelict land.
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The University of Northampton has agreed a deal to move its Park Campus, in Kingsthorpe, to the Avon Nunn Mills site along the River Nene.
Peter Mawson, of the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC), said the Waterside Campus would have "economic benefits".
The university has four years to submit plans and find funds for the project.
If the scheme goes ahead, building work could start in 2015 and be completed by 2020.
Professor Nick Petford, vice chancellor of the University of Northampton, said: "This new Waterside Campus will place us in the heart of the community."
The WNDC had issued a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to buy the whole site in March 2012.
'Momentous agreement'
But it withdrew the CPO for the 49-acre (20-hectare) site after owners, Avon Cosmetics, Taylor Wimpy UK Ltd and Persimmon Homes Ltd, reached an agreement with the university.
For allowing the university to build on the land, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon would be given plots of land at the Park Campus in Kingsthorpe to build houses on.
A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon said: "We will be doing everything we can to see the dream of the new campus becoming a reality.
"We are committed to the economic growth of Northampton and look forward to working with the university."
Peter Mawson, WNDC's chief executive, said: "This is a truly momentous agreement for Northampton. Avon Nunn Mills has been largely derelict for over a decade, but we now have certainty that it will be redeveloped.
"Clearly, the university campus would have huge economic benefits for the town and beyond."
The university has four years to come up with a plan and sort out the finance.
If that fails, developers Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon would have 12 months to submit their own scheme which could see a mixture of offices and houses built on the site.
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A sculpture which celebrates the scouting movement in Northamptonshire is to be moved to a new location.
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The Scouts Sculpture will be moved from Northampton Borough Council's former offices at Cliftonville to the Bedford Road entrance into Northampton.
The artwork was installed at Cliftonville in 2005, but the land has since been sold to St Andrews Hospital.
The sculpture was designed by Northamptonshire artist Malcolm Pollard, who died in 2002.
It depicts the Scout's motto "Be Prepared" in Morse code.
Mr Pollard's widow, Elke, said it was created with the help of young Scouts and that her husband would have been pleased with the move.
"The sculpture will now be pointing towards Rushden, where my husband was born," she said.
Lee Jones, District Commissioner of Northampton Scouts, said it was extremely pleased that the sculpture would remain in the town.
The sculpture is expected to be at its new location by Saturday.
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Imagine your child playing with a nice plush teddy bear. Seconds later your little darling's temperature appears like magic on your phone's screen.
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By Lorelei MihalaTechnology of Business reporter
Because this isn't any ordinary teddy - it's Teddy the Guardian, a clever diagnostic tool in furry form designed not to alarm kids.
When the bear's paw is squeezed, a sensor inside collects body and ambient temperature data and transmits it wirelessly to a smartphone.
Other toys in the range - the Tall Giraffe and the Brave Lion - measure activity, heart rate and blood oxygen levels.
The idea came from Josipa Majic, 24, a Croatian former informatics student, who has now set up a firm called Teddy & the Guardian Animals with offices in Zagreb, London and California.
"I witnessed closely how, despite having amazing doctors, oftentimes the patient's emotional state got neglected," she tells the BBC.
Ms Majic saw big opportunities in the medical technology - or "meditech" - field as "the cost of sensors and components were decreasing and the amount of innovation happening in the field was increasing".
And she is not alone. She is one of many entrepreneurs encouraged by the European Union's Face Entrepreneurship programme aimed at encouraging information technology start-ups.
Falling sensor costs and the growth in secure wireless communications has encouraged a flurry of start-ups in the sector and a mound of new investment.
According to the StartUp Health Insights Annual Report, meditech start-ups received about €6bn (£5.1bn; $6.6bn) of investment in 2015, compared to about €1bn in 2010.
"The healthcare sector is undergoing its most substantial change in decades," says Chris Pennell, lead analyst at tech consultancy Ovum.
"The rise of consumer technologies such as smartphones, wearable devices and mobile health applications, allows citizens to become more involved in their healthcare."
But securing regulatory and quality standards approval for the toys in different countries was a challenge, Ms Majic admits, but one which most meditech firms face.
Body heat
Jose Ignacio Berdu's Thermibody product - a temperature-measuring bodysuit for babies - got off the ground with just €10,000 of investment.
Based in Madrid, Spain, Mr Berdu's firm is staffed with people from a medical background who "are also parents", he says.
The suit sends data to the parent or clinician's phone, which can be programmed to trigger alerts if the body temperature rises to dangerous levels.
The Thermibody begins working as soon as it is put on and stops automatically the moment it is taken off, so there's no danger of forgetting to switch it on.
Mr Berdu says he is currently awaiting the European Union certification required for medical devices.
He believes the product will be popular with first-time parents but also thinks adapted Thermibody suits could be used to monitor for adults in hospitals.
Not so sweet
For Eduardo Jorgensen, the motivation for developing a meditech product was the plight of a 10-year-old girl suffering from diabetes.
"She said she didn't want to use the insulin pump any more because everybody laughed at her at school," says Mr Jorgensen, who is based in Spain.
So he came up with MedicSen, a free application that offers personalised advice for patients with diabetes, helping them control their blood sugar levels.
Designed to work with a non-invasive patch that simulates the behaviour of the human pancreas, the app's learning algorithm will monitor blood glucose and insulin levels, taking into account factors such as exercise and diet, and come up with advice on how best to manage the condition.
For example, you might receive a smartphone message recommending you cut down on carbohydrates, do some more exercise, or increase the insulin dosage by a certain amount before going to bed.
The app won't be officially launched until October 2016 and is still in the testing phase, says Mr Jorgensen, a doctor specialising in endocrinology.
And the patch will need regulatory approval as a Class 2B medical device, he adds.
Brainy invention
Not all therapies have to involve medicine, of course.
Kim Baden-Kristensen is co-founder and chief executive of Brain+, a Danish company that has developed a "brain training" tool for both healthy people and those suffering from brain injury or depression.
"I was sitting at a cafe in London, reading a book on brain plasticity, when it struck me just how far ahead the scientific understanding of the brain's potential was compared to the mainstream application of this knowledge," he says.
Part-funded by Copenhagen University, the apps (one free, one subscription-based) aim to improve attention, memory, problem solving, planning and language through a series of exercises and games.
Co-founder Ulrik Ditlev Eriksen says: "We have more than 1.2 million users from all over the world, including hospitals and rehabilitation centres, and we've made some bulk licence agreements with big corporations."
The company believes the brain should be exercised just as much as the body.
Healthy investment
But there are risks associated with this tech-driven trend towards self-diagnosis, monitoring and even treatment.
"Searching the internet for backache or headache treatments is often simpler and quicker than waiting to see a doctor," says Mr Pennell.
"While many will take the results with a pinch of salt, there are those that don't and then go on to self-medicate. Others may look up their symptoms and think it's nothing serious, when it is."
Wearable fitness trackers from the likes of Fitbit, Jawbone, Garmin and others have responded to a growing public demand for this basic type of health data.
These devices currently do not need approval from medical regulators because they simply gather data. But the waters become a little murkier when health apps and devices start diagnosing symptoms and imparting medical advice.
And now that the next generation of meditech gadgets are moving into drug administration and management, it presents a whole new set of challenges for regulatory bodies.
On the one hand, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing; on the other, advances in meditech could save lives and relieve pressure on overstretched healthcare systems.
Follow Technology of Business editor @matthew_wall on Twitter
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Original contributors to the BBC's Domesday project can now see their work as it was first displayed.
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The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park still has two working computer systems that were originally used for the 1986 project.
The public can use the 1980s laser disc technology at the museum to see the complete archive.
To celebrate the project's 25th anniversary, the BBC has also published the archive online.
Domesday was an initiative, run by the BBC, Acorn Computers, Philips and Logica aiming to create a record of life in Britain in the 1980s.
More than one million people participated in recording what they thought might be of interest in 1000 years' time. The focus was on everyday life, the ordinary rather than the extraordinary.
Schools and community groups were particularly active and contributed almost 150,000 pages of text and more than 23,000 photographs to the community disc.
However, within 15 years, the discs that the information was stored on and the BBC Master Micro, the computer used to play them, had become obsolete.
As a result, not many of the original contributors have ever seen their work.
Growing interest
Chris Monk, the museum's education officer explained how the system was eventually overtaken by cheaper technology.
"When Domesday was originally launched, its key technology - the LV-ROM (LaserVision ROM) - was state of the art multimedia," he said.
"With the ability to store up to 324MB of digital data on each side as well as 54,000 analogue video frames and offering interactivity, the technology seemed to have enormous potential.
"But LV-ROM players were expensive and the format never really caught on, soon being overtaken by the cheaper Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM). As a result, not many contributors saw the fruits of their labours."
The National Museum of Computing houses the largest collection of functional historic computers in Europe and Mr Monk revealed that he had seen a growing interest in Domesday since he made this original functioning 1980s system available to visitors in September 2010.
"Visitors to the Museum often tell me that they contributed to the project over 25 years ago, but never had the opportunity to see their work," he explained.
"Now they can - on the original laser disc and Acorn BBC Master micro technology, as well as on the BBC website. They can experience the project exactly the way it was originally envisaged."
Mr Monk explained how visitors search for their 1980s location to see how things have changed and are often surprised by the results.
"They spot that new road, a missing factory or some new houses," he said.
"Others spot the changing fashions and the rather dated cars, but there is not a mobile phone to be seen.
"One visitor even saw a much younger version of himself and another found the words he had written as a primary school child. He was delighted when we printed out his text on a 1980's dot matrix printer!"
The BBC has also reloaded the Domesday Community Disc online and is inviting the public to explore and update the 1980's community-sourced photographs on Domesday Reloaded.
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Three wind farms to be built off the Caithness coast are to be named after Scottish engineers, following an agreement to lease the seabed needed.
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The projects will commemorate Glasgow-born lighthouse builder Robert Stevenson and Thomas Telford, from Westerkirk, near Langholm.
Dumbarton-born Sir Edward MacColl, a pioneer of hydro power in Scotland, will also be honoured.
A total of 200 turbines could be constructed in three clusters.
The developers have claimed that they could generate enough electricity for 750,000 homes - more than a conventional coal-burning power station.
The Crown Estate, which control the rights to the seabed, have signed a deal with the consortium Moray Offshore Renewables.
The joint venture is 75% owned by Portugal-based EDP Renewables with the other 25% owned by SeaEnergy Renewables, a firm with expertise from the offshore oil industry that is expected to be sold in the next few weeks by its Aberdeen parent company.
The next steps will be a long-term lease of the seabed sites and then commissioning and construction of the turbines and their platforms.
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Anti-fracking protests are continuing at the site of an exploratory oil drilling operation in West Sussex.
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Protesters blockaded the site entrance outside the village of Balcombe on Thursday, with 16 people arrested there on Friday.
Earlier, two women were arrested during a third day of demonstrations. Twelve people have been charged.
Oil firm Cuadrilla said it would need fresh permission to carry out hydraulic fracturing - known as fracking.
The company currently has permission to drill a 3,000ft (914m) well and 2,500ft (762m) horizontal bore at the site.
'Where is our voice?'
BBC reporter Juliette Parkin said drilling was not expected to begin at the site until Monday.
Sussex Police said a number of vehicles had been brought into the site during the course of the day by the company and there were up to 80 people protesting.
A spokeswoman said Cuadrilla had obtained authority to extend its operating hours from 13:00 BST to 16:00 but following representations from the protest groups and advice from Sussex Police, the company agreed to stop bringing vehicles into the site shortly after 14:00.
She added: "There have been no injuries to any parties today and the disruption to the local community and road network has been kept to a minimum."
Balcombe resident Georgia Lawe said "90%" of villagers did not want the test drilling.
"Where is our voice? Who is standing up for our voice?," she said.
Protester Daniel Lee said: "It's incredibly distressing - this is day two of arrests that we've seen."
Police cleared the site entrance on Friday, making most of the arrests then as protesters tried to stop trucks entering the site.
Two women were also held on Saturday after an attempt was made to halt a truck.
Supt Steve Whitton from Sussex Police said officers were at the site to ensure people could demonstrate peacefully and allow workers access.
"We are trying to carefully balance the needs of everyone and we will continue to show a proportionate response to the challenge we are facing," he said.
In a statement released on Friday, Cuadrilla said it had been "disappointed by the actions of a minority of the protesters".
It added: "Cuadrilla has followed all legal and regulatory procedures concerning its exploratory drilling plans and obtained the necessary approvals from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and West Sussex County Council."
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Scotland could outperform the UK's other devolved nations in terms of creating new jobs over the next five years, according to a report.
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Business advisors PwC suggested Scotland could see a net jobs increase of 61,000 by 2018 if the "tentative" economic recovery is uninterrupted.
But it warned many of those could be part-time, temporary and lower paid.
Its forecast for net jobs creation in Wales and Northern Ireland is 12,000 and 9,000 respectively.
For the UK as a whole, the report expects net employment growth of 850,000 by 2018.
Earlier this month, official figures showed unemployment in Scotland fell for the seventh time in a row between February and April, to stand at 194,000.
The PwC report, which was released ahead of next week's UK government Comprehensive Spending Review, is forecasting 146,000 new jobs in Scotland by 2018.
But it expects losses of about 85,000 in the public sector, bringing the net estimate down to 61,000.
The report also warns that many of the private sector job gains could be part-time and temporary and at the lower pay end, with fewer benefits than either full-time permanent jobs or those public sector jobs expected to be lost.
It also suggests real wage growth is likely to remain "more subdued" than in previous economic recoveries.
'Strong performances'
Paul Brewer, PwC's head of government and public sector in Scotland, said there had been some strong Scottish business performances over the past few months in terms of growth, markets and products.
He added: "This trend of weak but steady recovery in the Scottish economy is to be welcomed and it is hoped that this will soon translate into further jobs being created.
"But with the employment market appearing to adjust to accommodate an ageing population, it is vital that we also continue to invest in measures that are designed to boost youth employment such as apprenticeships."
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A former director of NI Water libelled by Sinn Fein has been awarded £80,000 plus costs
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Declan Gormley sued the party over the contents of two press releases it issued in 2011 in support of his sacking from the NI Water board.
The party denied the press releases were defamatory, but on Friday a jury found it had acted with malice.
On Monday, the jury at Belfast High Court decided on the size of the damages.
Mr Gormley will also receive full costs.
Speaking outside the Court he insisted the case was never about the money.
"I'm absolutely delighted, but I think it's more important to point out that this completes the utter vindication of my position," he said.
"What happened to me was wrong, a jury of ordinary men and women have decided it was wrong and have awarded accordingly."
Mr Gormley was sacked along with three other non-executive directors from NI Water in March 2010.
Then Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy removed them from the board following an independent review team investigation into the awarding of contracts.
A subsequent Stormont Public Accounts Committee report into procurement and performance at the company was said to have criticised the earlier inquiry and questioned its independence.
Mr Gormley emphatically denied any wrongdoing.
He issued libel proceedings against Sinn Fein and two of its representatives, MLA Cathal Boylan and former Assemblyman Willie Clarke, over the contents of press releases backing the decision to sack him.
Over the course of a 10-day hearing at the High Court in Belfast, his legal team claimed they damaged his reputation and were reckless, if not dishonest.
Lawyers for Sinn Fein contended, however, that neither statement contained any defamatory content.
They also claimed a defence of qualified privilege, arguing that the press releases were in response to a campaign of attacks on Mr Murphy mounted by the SDLP with Mr Gormley's collusion.
But a jury of five men and one woman found for Mr Gormley on the balance of probabilities.
They decided that both statements were defamatory and that the defendants were guilty of malice.
Mr Justice Gillen then rejected a final defence of qualified journalism, ruling that no steps had been taken to try to verify the contents of the press releases before publishing them.
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A group of 13 EU member states have said they are “deeply concerned” about the use of emergency measures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
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It was legitimate to use “extraordinary measures”, they said, but some powers could threaten “democracy and fundamental rights”.
Earlier this week Hungary’s parliament granted Prime Minister Viktor Orban sweeping new powers.
Other states are considering similar measures.
Europe has been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 30,000 fatalities.
Spain has seen 10,000 deaths and Italy more than 13,000, and the numbers are rising across the continent, with daily records reported in France and the UK.
Governments across the continent have imposed severe restrictions on movement in a bid to contain the spread. But there are fears some leaders and parties are using the pandemic as an excuse to tighten control over their countries.
What does the statement say?
The statement was issued on Wednesday by Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok posted a link to the statement on Twitter. “The rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights must remain strong principles of our societies, also in times of coronavirus,” he wrote.
Any new powers granted to fight the pandemic “should be proportionate and temporary in nature", respect international law and be “subject to regular scrutiny”.
“We need to jointly overcome this crisis and to jointly uphold our European principles and values on this path,” the 13 countries say, adding they support the European Commission's plans to monitor the measures.
What are these emergency measures?
Though no one country is specifically mentioned, it comes just two days after Hungary’s parliament gave the government powers to rule by decree. The law has no time limit.
Mr Orban pledged to use his new powers "proportionately and rationally", but opposition party leader Peter Jakab said it put Hungarian democracy in quarantine.
More than 100,000 people signed a petition against the measures before they passed. But Mr Orban’s right-wing Fidesz party has a strong majority, and polls suggest the public overwhelmingly support the move.
Why it's not just Hungary
Emergency measures have rung alarm bells in countries whose people can remember authoritarianism all too well.
Serbia has been sliding down the Press Freedom Index in recent years - and journalists' organisations have warned the current crisis is making matters worse.
The government ruled that only its crisis staff, led by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, should make announcements about coronavirus - warning of "legal consequences" if this was not observed.
One journalists' organisation said this was tantamount to censorship - and could lead to people being jailed for independent reporting. Indeed, shortly afterwards, police arrested a journalist who reported on hospital conditions in northern Serbia.
Ms Brnabic has now promised to withdraw the ruling, and apologised for what she called her "stupidity".
Slovenia's government has also found itself back-pedalling. Recently installed right-wing Prime Minister Janez Jansa wanted to give police powers to track quarantined people's phones, use facial recognition and enter homes. But he's been forced to give up these plans after the country's information commissioner warned that Slovenia would become a "police state" if he went ahead.
But Albania has made some of Europe's most stringent emergency measures stick. They include a 16-hour curfew on weekdays - and a 40-hour lockdown at weekends.
The restrictions were due to be lifted tomorrow. But the government has announced they will now be extended until the coronavirus crisis is over.
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Sri Lanka has reversed a controversial mandatory order to cremate the bodies of all those who died of Covid-19.
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Critics had said the order was intended to target minorities and did not respect religions. The cremation of bodies is forbidden in Islam.
The government had argued that burials could contaminate ground water.
The reversal came after a visit by Pakistan's PM Imran Khan. Sources told the BBC that Sri Lanka has sought Pakistan's support at a UNHRC session.
The council is expected to consider a new resolution responding to mounting rights concerns in Sri Lanka, including over the treatment of Muslims.
Sri Lanka is being called to hold human rights abusers to account and to deliver justice to victims of its 26-year-old civil war, which killed at least 100,000 people - mostly civilians from the minority Tamil community.
Sri Lanka has strongly denied the allegations and has asked member countries not to support the resolution.
The country had earlier come under intense criticism from rights groups, including the UNHRC, over the cremation order.
They said it failed to respect the religious feelings of the victims and their family members specially of the Muslims, Catholics and some Buddhists.
The government had argued that burials could contaminate ground water, based on the say-so of an expert committee, the exact composition and qualifications of which are unknown.
But political, religious and community leaders had repeatedly questioned this, pointing to the more than 190 countries allowing burials, and World Health Organization advice
It even took its fight to the Supreme Court, but the cases were dismissed without any explanation.
Public debate intensified when a 20-day-old Muslim baby was forcibly cremated.
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A drab office block sandwiched between a pub and a branch of Starbucks was a secret base of spy agency GCHQ, it has been confirmed.
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The anonymous building opposite St James's Park Tube station in central London was used by British spooks for 66 years.
Despite the covert goings-on within, neighbours said the address's purpose was an open secret among locals.
GCHQ acknowledged the location after moving out of its home.
Director Jeremy Fleming said the site in Palmer Street, used by intelligence officers since 1953, had been part of "a history full of amazing intelligence".
GCHQ, known as Britain's listening post, was set up on 1 November 1919 as a peacetime "cryptanalytic" unit.
During World War Two, staff were moved to Bletchley Park to decrypt German messages including, most famously of all, the Enigma communications.
When the service moved its headquarters to Cheltenham from the London suburb of Eastcote in the 1950s, the Ministry of Works provided the Palmer Street building as a centre to handle secret paperwork and a base for its director.
'It was just common knowledge'
By Joseph Lee, BBC News
It turns out that it's hard to put a spy HQ with frosted glass windows in the middle of central London without someone asking questions.
And at the Adam and Eve pub at the end of Palmer Street, the answers were surprisingly accurate. Asked if she knew what the building next door was, a barmaid said: "It's M… MI6?"
The secretive neighbours were just a fact of life and she could not remember how she found out, she said. "We don't really talk about it."
She suggested that the landlord might know more, but the BBC's inquiries fell foul of the pub chain's operational security - press enquiries have to go through head office, the landlord said, before disappearing through a door marked "The Hideaway".
Staff at Starbucks on the other side of the office building either knew less or refused to crack under interrogation. Regina Toth, who had worked in the coffee shop for two years, said: "It was very mysterious."
At Pall Mall Barbers, Jack Holden knew it was "secret service or something". He'd worked opposite the GCHQ building for six years, but seeing police cars come with lights flashing to move on a loiterer in the street convinced him that "it's legit".
"It was just common knowledge," he said. "It looks suspect, doesn't it? With those blacked-out windows. It's a very secure building."
The spy agency said the unremarkable building, which is between a coffee shop and the Adam and Eve pub, had "played its part in significant events over the years, such as the 2012 London Olympics".
It has been sold privately but future plans for it are not currently known.
Despite the sale, GCHQ said it would maintain a presence in the capital, in addition to its Cheltenham HQ and other offices in Bude in Cornwall, Scarborough, Lincolnshire and Harrogate.
A new secure facility is also set to open in Manchester later in the year.
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Humans infected with parasites could behave in surprising ways. Michael Mosley subjected himself to tapeworms and leeches to find out more.
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Over the last couple of months I have been deliberately infecting myself with a range of parasites in an attempt to understand more about these fascinating creatures. Perhaps the greatest surprise is the extent to which parasites are able to subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) manipulate their host to their advantage.
The first parasite I experimented with was a beef tapeworm, Taenia saginata. This parasite only infects humans and cattle. In Victorian times women would, allegedly, swallow tapeworm eggs as a way of losing weight. This would almost certainly have been a waste of time as tapeworm eggs are not infectious to humans. They first have to be eaten by a cow or bull, where they form a cyst, and it is only if we eat raw, infected meat that we acquire a worm.
Even if you were infected would you lose weight? Despite hosting three worms I actually put on weight. It could be that the tapeworms were actually encouraging me to eat more, or it could be that I was unconsciously compensating for them there. Either way, they don't seem to be a great weight loss aid.
A far more lethal and dangerous parasite is Plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria. Like all parasites it needs to find ways to spread itself, jumping from one host, the mosquito, to us and then back again. Scientists are only just beginning to understand the ways it manoeuvres us to achieve its ends.
You have probably had the experience of going on holiday with a friend and discovering that one of you gets bitten far more than the other. The reason is that while mosquitoes are attracted by the heat and carbon dioxide we produce, they can be repelled by chemicals in our body odour.
To test this idea out I went into a closed room with Dr James Logan of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Then mosquitoes were released. Over the next 15 minutes James was bitten 25 times, while I was only bitten once. It turns out that I have a body odour that is far more strongly repellent to mosquitoes than James. He said, however, that if there had been a third person in the room who had malaria then that person would have been bitten the most. New research has shown that the malaria parasite is able to alter our smell, making us more attractive to mosquitoes.
Once the mosquito has drunk blood from a human with malaria, the parasite infects the mosquito's brain, making it more likely to target another human. By manipulating mosquitoes and humans the parasite is able to spread itself extremely successfully.
However, by doing this sort of research James and his colleagues are hoping to find ways to create natural smells that might be effective at repelling mosquitoes. Since malaria kills around a million people a year and mosquitoes are becoming increasingly resistant to insecticides, new approaches are urgently needed.
An even more remarkable mind-manipulating parasite I've looked at is Toxoplasma gondii. It infects many warm-blooded mammals, but the best studied relationship is that between rodents and cats. Normally a rat or mouse will keep to the shadows, thus avoiding cats. But when they are infected by toxoplasma the parasite completely changes their behaviour. An infected mouse is attracted to the smell of cat urine and will move out into the open, displaying reckless behaviour. The reason, of course, is the parasite wants the mouse to be eaten by a cat, so it can then infect its new host.
Humans also get infected by toxoplasma, though it is only really serious when a woman is pregnant as toxoplasma can damage the unborn child. But new research suggests that toxoplasma may influence us in more subtle ways.
We know, for example, that people who have antibodies to toxoplasma are more than twice as likely to be involved in a traffic accident. It could be that the parasite is making us, like rodents, behave in a more reckless fashion. Research also suggests it may slow down reaction times, with the intention of making us more vulnerable to large predators. Either way it is a chilling thought that parasites may be influencing how we behave in ways we do not yet begin to understand.
Infested! Living With Parasites is broadcast on Wednesday 19 February, BBC Four, 21:00 GMT. Or catch up with iPlayer.
Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook
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South Korea has unveiled a fresh $5.2bn (£3.2bn) stimulus package, in a bid to boost domestic demand as a slowdown in exports continues to hurt its economy.
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The package will include tax breaks on personal incomes and purchases of homes and cars.
South Korea's exports, which account for almost half its economic output, have been hurt by slowing demand from the US and eurozone.
Last week, Seoul said that its second quarter growth had missed estimates.
Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said that global economic conditions continue to remain uncertain, impacting Korea's growth.
"The fiscal crisis in Europe is continuing for a longer period than expected and the simultaneous slump in the advanced and emerging economies is continuing," he said at a policy meeting.
The package follows a $7bn boost announced by the government in June this year.
Too little, too late?
South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, has been one of the worst hit by the ongoing debt crisis in the eurozone and a slow recovery in the US economy.
Economic issues in those two regions, which are key markets for South Korea exports, have hurt consumer sentiment and dented demand for Korean goods.
According to the Bank of Korea, shipments fell 1.4% in the April to June period, from a year earlier.
Slowing global demand and lacklustre domestic consumption have also resulted in firms cutting back their investment plans.
Capital expenditure fell by 7% in the second quarter, from the previous three months, further hurting the economy.
Some analysts said the latest stimulus package was not sufficient to spur growth and was instead aimed at appeasing the citizens ahead of presidential elections later in the year.
"I expect a lot of this is just pure politics, just trying to be seen to be doing something," said Erik Lueth, a regional economist at Royal Bank of Scotland.
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Work to upgrade a road junction near Stonehenge has been completed, six months later than scheduled.
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The Grade-II listed Airman's Cross memorial at Airman's Corner was moved to make way for a new roundabout built to manage traffic diverted by the closure of the A344.
English Heritage said there were some "unexpected levelling issues" which caused delays.
A spokesman thanked residents and motorists for their patience.
The work forms part of a £27m project at Stonehenge to build a new visitor centre near the stone circle.
The Airman's Cross memorial is in storage at Perham Down Barracks and will be re-sited in the grounds of the new centre.
The centre is expected to open in Autumn 2013.
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The police are doing a "fantastic job" securing the venue for the G8 summit in Fermanagh following the discovery of a bomb last week, a minister has said.
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Northern Ireland Office Minister Mike Penning was speaking in Enniskillen, where the June event will be held.
A device containing 60kg of explosives was found 16 miles away from the Lough Erne golf resort, which is hosting the summit.
Mr Penning said the bombers "bottled it" nine miles from Enniskillen.
The bomb was found in an abandoned car on the Derrylin Road, outside Enniskillen, and later defused.
"They will not disrupt the community here and they are not going to continue to disrupt the community anywhere else within Northern Ireland," said Mr Penning.
"The police are doing a fantastic job and I give them my full support for that."
Mr Penning was accompanied by Justice Minister David Ford. They spoke to those involved in the security operation and met representatives of the local community.
Mr Ford said it was not entirely clear where the bomb was destined for, but the police said its target may have been Lisnaskea police station.
Security in a wide area surrounding the hotel has been increased in recent weeks with police patrols, vehicle checkpoints and security barriers.
Mr Ford said: "What is absolutely clear is that it was terrorism aimed at causing death and disruption.
"It's absolutely clear that those who are carrying out these acts are rejected by the vast majority of people in Fermanagh and the whole of Northern Ireland."
He said the G8 would have a positive impact on the area.
"I think what we have every opportunity to see is Fermanagh being put in a good light. The positive side of Northern Ireland being shown by the G8 with long-term economic benefits for all of us," he said.
Mr Penning said he would anticipate the G8 would provide a legacy for tourism, but added that there would be disruption.
"People will want to come and stay and see where President Obama (and) all those other great leaders actually were for the G8 - that's what I expect and that's what I hope for the local community," he said.
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Dorset Police is to be investigated over the way it handled an allegation of rape brought by teenager Gaia Pope two years before her death.
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The 19-year-old's body was found near Swanage, Dorset on 18 November, 11 days after she was reported missing.
The police watchdog said the new probe comes after a complaint by Miss Pope's family about the force's handling of a rape allegation made in December 2015.
Her family has welcomed the announcement.
Catrin Evans of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said: "After an initial investigation, Dorset Police made the decision in June 2016 to take no further action in respect of a rape allegation made by Gaia.
"Following complaints made by her family, we will investigate whether the police response was in accordance with local and national policies and guidance in relation to the investigation of rape cases, including Crown Prosecution Service referral and charging criteria.
"My thoughts continue to be with Gaia's family and everyone affected by her death."
In a statement Supt Pete Windle, of Dorset Police, said: "Following receipt of this complaint we have referred ourselves to the IOPC as the mandatory referral criteria was met."
Dorset Police said it is cooperating fully with the police watchdog and HM Coroner and is supplying any information as requested by them.
An IOPC investigation into Dorset Police's response and subsequent searches for Gaia when she went missing is ongoing.
Miss Pope's family say the rape and alleged failed investigation "severely affected Gaia's mental and physical state".
They said "she lived in fear every day" in the months before her death when she learnt the man who she reported for rape was eligible for early release from prison, where he was serving a sentence for a separate conviction.
Richard Sutherland, Gaia's father, said: "We need to know if more could have been done to make Gaia feel safe.
"Nothing can bring her back to us but a thorough, transparent and unbiased investigation will help us move forwards. We need to know the truth."
Maya Pope-Sutherland, Gaia's twin sister, said: "It feels like we've been screaming in a vacuum for a long time but now we will break the silence.
"I hope our search for answers can open the door to positive change and help other survivors be heard and get justice. It's what Gaia would have wanted."
In a statement, Inquest - the lawyers group representing the family - said: "In addition to concerns about the conduct of the police, the family have questions about whether a lack of support from underfunded mental health and social services contributed to Gaia's death."
Following her disappearance on 7 November 2017 searches by police, the coastguard and police helicopter - along with hundreds of volunteers - were carried out in the Swanage area.
Her body was found by police on 18 November near a coastal path and field between Dancing Ledge and Anvil Point, close to where items of her clothing had been found two days earlier.
Tests showed Gaia, who had severe epilepsy and mental health issues, died from hypothermia.
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The Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis has won the US National Society of Film Critics film of the year for 2013.
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Joel and Ethan Coen were also voted best directors, while Oscar Isaac won best actor for playing the fictional folk singer in the 1960s-set film.
Cate Blanchett was named best actress for Blue Jasmine at the society's annual voting meeting in New York.
Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America shortlisted American Hustle and Nebraska among its best screenplay titles.
Also nominated in the original screenplay category was Dallas Buyers Club, Blue Jasmine and Her.
The adapted screenplay list featured August: Osage County, Before Midnight, Captain Phillips, Lone Survivor and The Wolf of Wall Street.
The WGA awards will be handed out at ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles on 1 February.
The National Society of Film Critics opted for Before Midnight as its best screenplay of the year
Jennifer Lawrence won best supporting actress for American Hustle, while James Franco was named best supporting actor for Spring Breakers.
The foreign language award went to Blue is the Warmest Colour, the controversial lesbian drama which won the the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The society dedicated its 48th annual awards to members Roger Ebert and Stanley Kauffmann, who both died in 2013.
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Welsh MPs are to hold an inquiry into cross-border health arrangements between England and Wales.
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Members of the select committee on Welsh affairs will look at the impact of "increasing divergence" in health systems either side of Offa's Dyke.
They will consider the experience of patients who rely on services on the other side of the border.
The committee has said it will not examine the merits of healthcare in Wales or England.
The Welsh affairs committee last investigated cross-border health issues in 2009 and says increasing differences between the English and Welsh NHS have developed since then.
David Cameron has described the state of the NHS in Wales as a "scandal" and claimed Welsh hospital care is so poor that Offa's Dyke is a "line between life and death" .
Labour has said such comments are intended to distract attention from "ongoing scandals" in the English NHS by Conservatives "hell-bent on creating an iron curtain between two health systems that work well together on a daily basis".
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A second body has been recovered from a car which was buried during a landslip in Dorset.
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The silver Skoda was found under mounds of earth near the partially-collapsed Beaminster Tunnel on Monday. It is believed to have been buried for more than a week.
Dorset Police said a man and a woman's bodies had been recovered.
The woman has been named locally as Rosemary Snell, from Misterton, near Crewkerne in Somerset.
Rescue crews began searching the area on Monday after receiving information that two missing people had been in the area.
Avon and Somerset Police said the pair - a man in his 70s from Taunton and a woman in her 60s - were traced to the area on 7 July, the day when the landslip happened.
'Ferocious storm'
Several hundred tonnes of mud, bricks and trees collapsed at the edge of the tunnel and the road was subsequently closed.
Assistant Chief Constable of Dorset Police James Vaughan said: "At that time it wasn't suspected that anyone was trapped in the landslide and it wasn't obvious that any vehicle was there."
Fire crews began excavating the pile of earth at 18:30 BST on Monday and found the car about 50 minutes later.
The MP for West Dorset Oliver Letwin said: "This is a ghastly reminder of just how ferocious the storm was in West Dorset.
"The emergency services did a fantastic job in the circumstances - but the forces of nature are sometimes too great for us.
"It is appalling to think of what this poor couple must have experienced."
Dorset Police said the families of the missing people had been informed and were being helped by liaison officers.
Friends told how Ms Snell volunteered in the local community and was a member of the Women's Institute.
Dorset County Council previously said the road through the tunnel was expected to remain closed until September while repairs were carried out.
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Failing GP practices will face closure under plans being unveiled in England.
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By Nick TriggleHealth correspondent, BBC News
The Care Quality Commission confirmed the sanction as they announced the special measure regime being used for hospitals will be extended to GPs.
It is effectively the first time there will have been a national failure regime for the profession.
Practices given the bottom rating - inadequate - will get six months or a year to resolve problems before facing being shut down.
Prof Steve Field, the CQC's chief inspector of GPs, said: "Most GP practices provide good care.
"But we can't allow those that provide poor care to continue to let their patients have an inadequate service."
The failure regime is being accompanied by a new system of inspections - something that has already been announced.
'Poor care'
This is getting under way in October and will involve nearly 8,000 practices being inspected by March 2016.
Each surgery will be given a rating of either outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.
To date, they have just had to report whether they are compliant with a set of core standards.
How the failure regime will work
GP practices given an inadequate rating by the CQC will be given six months to improve.
If after that they have not managed to move out of the bottom rating they will be placed in special measures and given another six months. Where there are extremely serious issues raised a practice can be placed straight into special measures.
During the time spent in special measures, practices will be given some support - yet to be defined - to turn themselves around. For hospitals that has involved being buddied with good trusts and having senior managers parachuted in.
Failure to improve while in special measure will lead to either the CQC withdrawing its registration or NHS England terminating its contract. In both cases the practice will not be allowed to continue as it is.
If this happens, one of two things can then happen for patients registered at that practice - either new GPs can take over or alternative local surgeries are found.
GP organisations gave the announcement a cautious welcome.
Royal College of GPs chair Dr Maureen Baker said: "Patients should expect high quality and consistent care from every GP practice and the vast majority of practices do an excellent job.
"But there is occasionally a very real variation in the quality of care provided and this must be addressed."
'Long time to wait'
However, she said in many of those cases they were struggling because of "factors beyond their control" such as a lack of funding, rises in patient demand or problems recruiting patients.
And Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association, added: "It is right GPs are held to account, but in many circumstances failures are more about the environment they work in than the individual practice."
But Patients Association chief executive Katherine Murphy said: "It is about time we had something like this. But it does seem like a very long time for patients to be exposed to poor care while GP practices try to sort themselves out."
There is no comparable failure system in the other UK nations.
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Holyrood's local government committee has backed plans to raise the council tax for the four highest bands.
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The government wants some households to pay more to raise money for education, and finance secretary Derek Mackay gave evidence to committee backing the plan.
The committee formally recommended the scheme to parliament after members voted four to two in favour of it.
Members also rejected an amendment from Green MSP Andy Wightman noting "concerns" about wider local tax plans.
The proposals would see the average band E household pay about £2 per week more, and the average household in the highest band (H) about £10 a week more.
Parliament has to pass an order, a piece of secondary legislation, to change the bands, and Mr Mackay has now won the formal backing of the committee for that. Members will submit a report to parliament, before the order is voted on by all MSPs at a later date.
The average annual increase in council tax as a result of the band adjustments would be:
Putting forward a motion to have the committee recommend the move to parliament, Mr Mackay told its members that his plans would lead to a "more progressive" and "fairer" system of local taxation.
Mr Wightman lodged an amendment to the finance secretary's motion to "note concerns" about the fact the council tax base has not been updated since 1991 and recognising the recommendation of the Commission on Local Tax Reform that "the present council tax system must end".
Labour's Elaine Smith backed Mr Wightman, saying the committee should "reflect the evidence" heard from members.
But SNP and Conservative members united against the amendment, with Tory Graham Simpson saying there "isn't much point" to adding it to the debate.
Mr Simpson also opposed Mr Mackay's original motion, saying it represented a "fundamental change" to the way local services are funded, and undermined local accountability.
The motion ultimately passed by four votes to two, with Ms Smith joining the three SNP members and Mr Wightman abstaining.
The committee will now compile a report on the issue for parliament, while it will be down to the parliamentary bureau to decide if there needs to be a further chamber debate on the issue as well as a vote.
The government was only saved from a chamber defeat over council tax in September when Labour leader Kezia Dugdale's vote failed to register.
Opposition members had successfully amended a government motion promoting its council tax reform strategy, changing the wording to condemn the approach as undermining local accountability. But the final vote on the amended motion was tied after Ms Dugdale's vote was not counted.
Revaluation 'costly'
Mr Wightman had also called for a revaluation of council tax bands during the committee debate, pointing out that the current bands were based on property values dating back to 1991.
The Green MSP said he had a constituent whose flat was in band E, but was worth £20,000 less than neighbouring flats in band B.
Labour's Elaine Smith pointed out that some council tax payers weren't even born when the council tax values of their properties were determined.
Mr Mackay said a "costly" revaluation would "take time" and could be a "shock" to many households - with some potentially facing "astronomically high" tax increases under a full revaluation.
But he said the changes to bands were "not the end of the story in terms of local tax [reform]", saying the government was taking a "balanced approach" while seeking to "make council tax more progressive".
The Scottish government has started the process of reforming local taxation following on from the Commission on Local Tax Reform, which called for a fairer, more transparent and progressive tax to fund local services.
Opposition members have accused the government of "tinkering" with the system rather than making bold reforms.
The Scottish Conservatives support an end to the council tax freeze and increases to the top two bands, but oppose the changes to bands E and F.
But Labour and the Greens both want to see the "hated" council tax scrapped, with Labour repeatedly accusing the SNP of abandoning an earlier promise to do so.
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Taxi drivers have been left without "adequate protection and guidance" despite many working throughout the lockdown, industry leaders say.
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By Anna CollinsonHealth correspondent
Figures show the profession has one of the highest rates of Covid-19 deaths.
Drivers, taxi firms and industry bodies have said national safety guidance is urgently needed.
Government advice says drivers can refuse to take passengers who are not wearing face coverings.
Many companies now provide masks and hand sanitiser, but some drivers say they have to pay for their own protection at a time when they are struggling financially.
Some report being so "desperate" they have made DIY protective screens out of cling film.
Most taxi and private-hire drivers are male, and a high proportion are from black, Asian and ethnic minority (Bame) backgrounds - two of the groups at high risk from coronavirus.
Over the past three months, drivers say their main jobs have been transporting NHS staff, key workers, patients and the vulnerable.
'I thought I was going to die'
While most of us stayed at home, private hire driver Darren Hiles spent the start of lockdown working on Merseyside.
"I wasn't given a mask, but everything was a bit unknown at that time," he says. "Me being me, I thought I would be OK."
The 48-year-old was admitted to intensive care on 7 April, where he would spend the next six weeks, including four on a ventilator.
His partner Heidi Neilson was warned on several occasions that he could die.
"I couldn't believe what the virus had done to him," she says. "He looked like a corpse. I barely recognised him.
"Our kids wanted to see their dad and I had to wave them away because I didn't want them to see him like that."
Darren is now out of hospital but it may be a year before he can walk again. He is not sure if he will return to his job, but says his fellow drivers deserve better protection.
"I'm convinced I contracted coronavirus through my job. We were in lockdown when I was infected. The only interaction I had I was at home or at work."
Heidi agreed: "I work in a care home and we are given protective equipment. What makes me more deserving then a taxi driver who is also doing an important job?
"The supply should be there for any frontline worker. It's not just about the driver, it's about customer safety."
Why are taxi and private-hire drivers at higher risk?
Figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show male taxi cab drivers and chauffeurs had higher rates of deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales. Higher than doctors, nurses and care workers.
Scientists believe private-hire drivers are particularly at risk - and the longer the journey, the bigger the risk.
"Unlike black cabs, there is no physical barrier separating the driver and the passengers," says Dr Joe Grove, a virologist at University College London.
"People are close together and if the windows aren't open, the air can be quite stagnant.
"An infected passenger releases microscopic droplets containing the virus. Even after they've left the car, the virus will remain."
Sociologist Dr Mark Williams from Queen Mary University of London says taxi and private-hire drivers are among the worst hit because they face many risk factors.
"They can't do their job from home, and their job makes it hard to socially distance, but they're also self-employed so need to work."
While drivers can claim the government's self-employment income support scheme, worth 80% of their trading profits, Mr Williams says many are not eligible.
James Farrar, from the App Drivers and Couriers Union, said it was "unforgiveable" drivers had been working for the last three months without adequate protection and advice.
He added: "The government has given contradictory advice on masks and no regulatory guidance on plastic-screen partitions."
Currently, Scotland is the only part of the UK where it is mandatory for passengers to wear face coverings in taxis and private-hire cars.
In England, it is mandatory on public transport, and in Wales and Northern Ireland it is recommended.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport in England said passengers needed to "think of the safety of drivers" and wear face coverings, even if they were not required to.
But Mr Farrar is concerned that the "burden of refusal" is on drivers who might face pressure to accept work from their firms.
Not all councils allow plastic partitions, and installing them is a cost many drivers say they cannot afford.
Matt Young, who co-owns Shrewsbury Taxis, said he had heard "horror stories" of drivers making screens out of "shower curtains and cling film".
He said screens should be properly fitted and meet official criteria.
He added: "We would recommend wearing a face mask. Sit as far away as you can from the driver with the windows open, use hand sanitiser and pay with your [bank or credit] card."
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A Cardiff man who admitted posting a picture on Facebook of a woman performing a sexual act has been fined and given a community order.
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Clayton Kennedy is thought to be the first person in Wales to be sentenced for the new "revenge porn" charge of disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress.
Cardiff magistrates heard the picture was on Kennedy's page for 30 minutes.
It was seen by friends of the victim and the 20-year-old defendant.
The court heard the picture was commented on by some of Kennedy's friends before he removed it.
'Vindictive activity'
His lawyer told the court the image was posted in retaliation for images the woman had posted of him.
But the woman denied that and police found no evidence of those images.
She also told police she never consented to having the image posted and was worried about people seeing it.
Cardiff magistrate Dr Chantal Nichols said: "This was a nasty offence with the potential to have a emotional impact on the victim.
"This is a relatively new offence but we want to make sure that you understand that what you did is very serious."
Kennedy was fined £405. He was also made the subject of a restraining order to stay away from victim.
Siobhan Blake, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Cymru-Wales, said: "Although this case was brought to court under new legislation introduced within the last year, it should not be a surprise to anyone that online conduct of this nature is a criminal offence.
"The distress caused by this type of behaviour is considerable and we want to make it abundantly clear that those who engage in this type of vindictive activity can expect to find themselves in court."
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Thousands of screaming fans greeted the cast of Glee as they played the first live date of their UK tour.
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By Ian YoungsEntertainment reporter, BBC News
Thirteen of the TV programme's young stars appeared at the MEN Arena in Manchester, attempting to recreate the success of the hit US show on stage.
The 15,000-strong crowd saw them perform anthems like Journey's Don't Stop Believin', Lady GaGa's Born This Way and Beyonce's Single Ladies.
The show has toured in North America and will now visit London and Dublin.
Glee has become a TV phenomenon since 2009, with a winning mix of teen comedy and drama, along with glossy song and dance routines performed by the fictional high school show choir.
On stage, the storyline is largely dispensed with, as are the teachers. Mr Schuester and Sue Sylvester only appear in pre-recorded segments on screen.
Instead, the choir members put on a slick concert comprising 20 cover versions, which are all familiar from the TV show.
To the uninitiated, it was little more than a glorified karaoke night.
But to "Gleeks", it was a rare chance to see the stars of their favourite programme jump out of the screen and onto the stage.
The gang appeared to ecstatic cheers to open with the show's signature tune, Don't Stop Believin', with lead vocals sung by Lea Michele, who plays Rachel Berry, and Cory Monteith, AKA Finn Hudson.
They then all took turns in the spotlight, with a fast turnover of solos and duets, mixed with occasional big numbers involving the whole crew.
And those who have only seen the highly produced performances on TV found that the stars can actually cut it live, with both a vocal prowess and an ability to whip up a crowd.
There may have been traces of Autotune and vocal tracks on odd occasions, but they did not rely on those tricks.
Afterwards, most compliments were directed at Amber Riley, who plays Mercedes Jones, who emerged as a true soul diva with her renditions of Aretha Franklin's Ain't No Day and Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High.
Chris Colfer, better known as Kurt Hummel, also proved to be a crowd favourite, while some female fans were pining for more from Puck, played by Mark Salling.
There were some lulls too, and there were enough cast members to spread the workload so they could play to their strengths and hide their frailties. A few did not have much to do.
The song choice gave a clue to Glee's popularity.
With tracks like Florence and the Machine's Dog Days Are Over, Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind and Valerie, made famous by Amy Winehouse, Glee does not just go for the most sickly-sweet choices.
It has a wider appeal than the High School Musical franchise, and the crowd in Manchester ranged from pre-teens to excitable 30-somethings in "I love Glee" T-shirts.
The music has also made Glee a force in the music industry, with the cast breaking Elvis Presley's record for the most US chart hits earlier this year.
The question of whether the actors were in or out of character on stage proved a bit awkward - a couple of exchanges were done in character, but there was no story and they did not all bring their on-screen personalities with them.
'Glittering escapism'
At one point, actor Kevin McHale, who plays disabled character Artie Abrams, lifted himself out of his wheelchair to sing and dance to Safety Dance, originally by Men Without Hats, mirroring a scene in the TV show.
There was also an appearance by the Dalton Warblers, an 11-piece all-male rival choir with blazers and slicked-back hair who, if anything, received louder screams than the main cast.
It was 90 minutes of glittering escapism, with the same feelgood factor that has attracted fans to the TV show.
After the concert, one fan, Chris Garsden, 23, from Bolton, said: "In a time when everyone complains and moans about things, I think it's just pure optimism, and I think it's just what we need.
"And it makes everybody feel good about themselves."
Speaking about the appeal of Glee, Louise Butterley, 28, from Manchester, said: "If you've had a bad day at work and you just want to watch something and not care and have a bit of a sing, Glee's what you want to put on telly.
"That's why everyone loves it."
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The leader of the Green Party in NI has said questions must be asked about safety at Belfast Zoo after a chimpanzee escaped from its enclosure.
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Clare Bailey said that in light of this and an incident last month in which a red panda escaped she had concerns for "animals and humans".
Videos taken by visitors show a chimpanzee on a path, while other chimps remained on the enclosure wall.
Belfast Zoo said Saturday's incident was a "highly unusual event".
A spokeswoman said additional checks were being carried out after the chimpanzees made an improvised ladder from a large tree branch propped up against a wall.
"We would like to reassure the public that Belfast Zoo is fully committed to providing a safe and enjoyable experience for all our visitors," she said.
It is believed that the trees in the chimpanzees' enclosure had been weakened by recent storms making them easier to break up.
"Zookeepers carry out a range of checks as part of their daily duties, including ensuring enclosures are free from objects which could pose a security risk to animals or visitors," the spokeswoman added.
"Zoo management is assessing whether the tree branch used in the escape fell after morning checks had been completed."
Families described their shock at coming across a chimpanzee on one of the zoo's paths.
Chantal Baxter, from Larne, said "one of the big chimpanzees just appeared from behind a bush".
Danielle Monaghan, from Holywood, was "petrified" the chimp might "attack or take the kids".
But the mother of two said the animal was "not aggressive" and "just watched" and therefore the experience had been "amazing".
'Cool, calm'
Ms Bailey said it was "lucky" no-one came to any harm.
"I've seen videos of the escape and it shows it was cool, calm and well executed," she said.
"We need to really start looking at what's going on at Belfast Zoo.
"I would be keen to meet up with the zoo (managers) and have these conversations."
In January, a ared panda called Amber went missing from the zoo overnight before being discovered in a nearby garden.
Alliance North Belfast Councillor Nuala McAllister said she had contacted Belfast City Council, which runs the zoo, about a review into the containment of animals, with a particular focus on safety measures.
"While Belfast Zoo carries out good work in terms of conservation and breeding programmes, that is simply not good enough and we need to ensure it doesn't happen again," she added.
'Intelligent primates'
Belfast City Council said one chimpanzee "briefly" left its enclosure on Saturday afternoon.
"Zookeepers were present as the chimpanzee quickly returned from an adjacent wall to the rest of the group inside the enclosure," a spokeswoman said.
The zoo's Alyn Cairns said the zoo's chimps were "quite cowardly" so went back into their enclosure themselves during the incident, which happened as the zoo was closing up for the day.
"We like things to be natural in their enclosure, to have trees in it, but we will review it," he added.
"We may have to remove the trees or make them a smaller level, although we don't want to do that."
The chimpanzees were locked in their inner enclosure after the great escape.
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A Scottish fishery board has stepped up its efforts to monitor for an invasive species of salmon.
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Non-native pink, also known as humpback, salmon have been spawning in the River Ness near Inverness.
Ness District Salmon Fishery Board has been using a drone fitted with a camera to spot redds, the nests female salmon create in river beds.
The board, which has already filmed pinks spawning, counted 15 redds in a single day earlier this week.
The fish are native to Pacific Ocean waters.
Pink salmon have recently been caught by anglers in other Scottish rivers including the Helmsdale, Dee and Spey.
The fish are believed to be related to pink salmon introduced to rivers in Russia in the mid-1950s.
These fish have since gone on to be found in rivers in Scandinavian countries, including Norway.
Salmon and Trout Conservation UK and Prof Eric Verspoor, director of the Rivers and Lochs Institute at Inverness College UHI, have warned of the potential risk to native salmon.
Threats include competition for food.
In North America, one of the areas where pink salmon are native, they are a favourite prey of grizzly bears.
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European leaders have met to discuss Europe's persistent unemployment problem but failed to reach agreement over any new strategy or new funds.
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Instead they pledged to focus on spending the 6.4bn euros (£5bn) already earmarked for Europe's young jobless.
Only 12% of that original budget has been spent so far.
The leaders remained divided over whether the EU's approach to austerity should be eased.
France's President Francois Hollande and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel were among European leaders gathered to discuss how to create more jobs at a three-hour meeting in Milan.
It was the third summit to tackle the issue in the last 18 months.
Youth unemployment is over 40% in several European countries, while the overall unemployment rate for the 28 nation bloc stands at 11.5%.
Under the "Youth Guarantee" scheme agreed last year EU leaders adopted the aim of getting every young person into a job or training within four months of registering as unemployed.
Austerity differences
Significant differences remain over overall economic strategy, with Germany resisting pressure to ease its approach to government spending.
The EU imposes a limit of 3% on the budget deficits of member countries, limiting the amount they can spend over and above budget revenues.
France and Italy have been urging an easing of these spending restrictions to allow governments to pursue more expansionary policies, which they argue would lead to the creation of jobs.
Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, hosting the summit, said the 3% limit was now out of date.
"If we transform Europe into a commission that finds fault with the member countries, with freely elected governments, maybe we are respecting the rules of bureaucracy, but we are certainly killing the hope that politics can offer," he said.
France's President Hollande said easing austerity was the only way to encourage growth and job creation.
"If everyone practises austerity, which isn't the case with France, we'll end up with an even greater slowdown," he said.
Germany has always insisted that the EU's original tough stance on budget deficits be maintained.
Germany's Chancellor Merkel said she was "confident that everyone will meet their responsibilities."
Five million young people are out of work in the European Union out of a total of 25 million looking for jobs overall.
Outside the meeting union activists held a protest against reforms proposed by the Italian government which would make it easier for employers to sack permanent employees.
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An application to build a new nuclear power station has been accepted for examination by the planning inspectorate.
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Plans for the Sizewell C plant on the Suffolk coast were put forward by EDF Energy after being mooted 10 years ago.
The acceptance means an examining authority will now be appointed to scrutinise the application, with the government having final decision.
Stop Sizewell C (SSC) group said it will continue to fight the application.
EDF Energy said in a statement: "The decision means the Inspectorate is satisfied that the eight years of public consultation by the project was conducted properly and that full examination of the proposals can now take place."
But Alison Downes from SSC said the "quality of EDF's consultations failed to provide required information".
She added EDF "had not been transparent in its disclosures of environmental assessment or transport strategy" nor the plant's impact on the local area.
Concerns about effective scrutiny of pre-application proposals during the lockdown restrictions was supported in letters from local MP Dr Dan Poulter and Suffolk County Council.
In a joint statement on Wednesday Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council said:
"The lack of a comprehensive set of documents up to this point has compromised the engagement that has taken place, and the Councils do not feel they have been able to complete their pre-application work with the Applicant (EDF Energy) to the extent set out by the Planning Act 2008,"
EDF Energy said a copy of the full planning application and supporting documents would become available on the Planning Inspectorate website.
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You might have seen it as a meme on Twitter or TikTok but now it has made its way to the US Supreme Court.
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The catchphrase "OK Boomer" went viral last year as a tongue-in-cheek dig by young people at older generations.
In the highest US court, it was heard as part of a case about age discrimination.
Chief Justice John Roberts asked the hypothetical question whether said phrase in a hiring process would indicate discrimination.
"So calling somebody a 'boomer' and considering them for a position would be actionable?" he asked, leading to the usually sombre courtroom erupting in laughter.
The 64-year-old justice is himself a member of the baby-boomer generation, a term referring to people born between 1946 and 1964.
The Supreme Court case is about whether an older employee of a government department has been discriminated against because of her age.
Despite the amusement over the justice's question, the woman's lawyer did pick it up as a serious point.
Roman Martinez compared the case to "using ethnic slurs" or "saying unflattering things" about a person, arguing that in a hiring process, it could indeed indicate discrimination.
In internet parlance, "OK boomer" is a derogatory phrase used by young people against older generations when encountering attitudes perceived as judgemental, conservative or narrow-minded.
It was first used on the platform TikTok and the hashtag #OKBoomer has since been used hundreds of million times on Twitter as well.
The expression made headlines in November last year, when 25-year-old New Zealand politician Chlöe Swarbrick used it in parliament.
During a speech on climate change, she was interrupted by an older member of parliament. Ms Swarbrick paused, gestured with her right hand and said: "OK boomer."
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Barclays says its profits more than doubled in the first three months of the year, boosted by better performance across the board.
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Pre-tax profit for the first quarter was £1.682bn, up from £793m for the same period last year.
Chief executive Jes Staley said it had been "another quarter of strong progress towards the completion of the restructuring of Barclays".
He said there was good reason to feel optimistic about the firm's prospects.
The figure was better than analysts had predicted and comes despite a one-off goodwill impairment charge of £884m on the bank's stake in Barclays Africa Group, which it intends to sell in the next two to three years.
"On Africa, we await approval for the separation arrangements already agreed with local management, following which we will be able to make further progress towards regulatory deconsolidation," Mr Staley said.
In early trading, Barclays' shares were down 3.5%.
Analysis: Simon Jack, business editor
Getting rid of Barclays chief executive Jes Staley would be bad for Barclays and bad for UK banking.
That's the view of some current and former shareholders who tell me that not only would Barclays suffer if the US boss was pushed out during his so-far successful turnaround of the 360-year-old bank but also, weakening the UK's last major investment bank would be bad for the entire UK financial landscape.
Jes Staley is under investigation by authorities for twice trying to identify the author of a letter raising questions about Staley's decision to recruit an old colleague from his JP Morgan days who had been through personal issues that had led to "erratic behaviour".
One city source told me: "Replacing Jes Staley with another FCA-approved (the regulator) apparatchik would be a disaster."
Read Simon's view in full
'Legacy issues'
Mr Staley said Barclays planned to hire about 2,000 new staff in the UK in the next three years, focused on technology.
He told Bloomberg the bank wanted to bring technology development back in house and reduce reliance on external contractors.
He also said it would increase the number of staff based in the EU, following the UK's Brexit vote.
In its statement, Barclays said that "certain legal proceedings and investigations relating to legacy issues" were still outstanding.
In particular, it said the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) intended to make a decision shortly about "matters relating to our capital raisings in 2008".
This refers to a long-running SFO investigation into a cash injection received by Barclays from Qatari investors at the height of the financial crisis.
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Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson has joined the cast of Disney's live-action take on Beauty and the Beast.
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The star will play Mrs Potts, the housekeeper magically transformed into a teapot whom Dame Angela Lansbury voiced in the 1991 animated version of the film.
Fellow Oscar-winner Kevin Kline has also signed on to play Maurice, the father of the 'Beauty' character Belle.
The film will be released in US cinemas on 17 March 2017.
It was announced in January that Harry Potter star Emma Watson had been cast as Belle.
It was subsequently confirmed that Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens will play the Beast and that Luke Evans will co-star as the villainous Gaston.
Josh Gad, who voiced Olaf the snowman in Disney's animated hit Frozen, is also on board as Gaston's sidekick LeFou.
Bill Condon, director of Dreamgirls and the last two Twilight films, will direct the movie, which begins filming at Shepperton Studios in May.
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Former Barclays chief Bob Diamond has hit back at claims he was "highly selective" in his evidence to MPs during the Libor rate-rigging scandal.
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It comes after the Treasury Select Committee said his evidence had fallen well short of its expected standards.
The scandal emerged in June when UK and US authorities fined Barclays £290m for fixing a key inter-bank interest rate.
Mr Diamond said he was disappointed and strongly disagreed with several of the committee's statements.
The committee blamed bank bosses for "disgraceful" behaviour which damaged the UK's reputation.
In a report, it said urgent changes to the way banks are run and regulated were needed to restore public confidence after the scandal.
Mr Diamond was criticised as MPs published the initial findings of a probe into the circumstances surrounding the fixing of the Libor rate, which sets inter-bank lending prices.
But the former chief executive, who resigned the day before he gave evidence to MPs, said he strongly challenged "certain assertions" about his testimony.
"I answered every question that was put to me to me truthfully, candidly and based on information available to me," he said.
"I categorically refute any suggestion to the contrary."
'Reprehensible behaviour'
Mr Diamond said he had taken particular issue with the attacks on Barclays' culture and character.
"There is no question that the behaviour of a small group of traders related to Libor manipulation was reprehensible and not in keeping with Barclays' high standards.
"At the same time, it should be recorded that broader issues with Libor have been a subject of discussion among regulators for years, and there is little dispute that Barclays was both aggressive in its investigation of this matter and engaged in its cooperation with the appropriate authorities.
"Looking forward, it's clear that thoughtful analysis and regulation of issues affecting the banking industry are required and I have no doubt that Barclays is committed to being part of the solution."
The MPs said the rate-rigging had done "great damage" to the UK's reputation.
Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie said: "The committee has called for action in a number of areas, including: higher fines for firms that fail to co-operate with regulators, the need to examine gaps in the criminal law, and a much stronger governance framework at the Bank of England.
"Urgent improvements, both to the way banks are run, and the way they are regulated, is needed if public and market confidence is to be restored."
The MPs firmly blamed the bosses of Barclays Bank for the way their staff tried to manipulate the Libor rate-setting process at various times between 2005 and 2009, in what the committee's chairman called a period of "extremely weak internal compliance and board governance at Barclays" and a "failure of regulatory supervision".
"Senior management at Barclays were issuing instructions to manipulate artificially the bank's submissions. It is unlikely that Barclays was the only bank attempting this," said Mr Tyrie.
The Conservative MP said Mr Diamond's evidence was at times "highly selective" and "fell well short of the standard that Parliament expects, particularly from such an experienced and senior witness".
The MPs accused Barclays of trying to pull the wool over their eyes by publishing - before Mr Diamond's committee appearance - a note of a phone conversation between Mr Diamond and Paul Tucker, the deputy governor of the Bank of England.
Barclays had said this showed the Bank of England had inadvertently given the impression that it would approve attempts by Barclays to submit low and inaccurate Libor submissions, in order to avoid giving the impression that it was having difficulty in raising funds at the height of the financial crisis.
"It remains possible that the information released in the Barclays file note, regarding a dialogue between Mr Tucker and [Mr] Diamond, could have been a smokescreen put up to distract our attention and that of outside commentators from the most serious issues underlying this scandal," Mr Tyrie said.
"Barclays did not need a nod, a wink or any signal from the Bank of England to lower artificially their Libor submissions. The bank was already well practised in doing this," the report says.
Responding to the MPs' report, Barclays said that although it did not expect to agree with all the findings, it will "carefully consider this comprehensive report" and recognised that change was required, adding that it had established an independent review of its business practices for that reason.
Labour's Chris Leslie said the chancellor would need to take "significant steps in the current Banking Reform Bill and beyond" in order to "rebuild public and global market confidence in the UK financial services sector".
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East Lothian Council has bought the former Cockenzie Power Station site.
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Cockenzie, which generated 150 terawatt hours of electricity in its lifetime, was decommissioned in March 2013.
Its towers had been a landmark in the area for almost 50 years until they were demolished in September 2015.
The local authority said it had yet to decide what to do with the space but added it would listen to local public opinion to use the 230 acre site to create jobs for the area.
Depute council leader Norman Hampshire said: "This is a key site of huge importance to the economic future of East Lothian and for the communities that surround it. I am delighted at this outcome.
"The council has been actively involved in discussions around the future of the site for a number of years now, since it became clear that Cockenzie Power Station was to be decommissioned and that plans for a gas-fired station would not be going ahead.
"Now that the future ownership of the site is clear, the council can move forward with marketing the site for commercial opportunities, which will form a key part of the planned economic growth within East Lothian.
"It is important to stress at this stage that community consultation will remain a key element of how we move forward and bring about more developed plans for what the site will be used for in the coming years."
Lee Warren, head of thermal generation at ScottishPower, said: "ScottishPower is pleased to have completed the sale of the former Cockenzie power station site after several months of positive discussions with East Lothian Council.
"ScottishPower will work closely with East Lothian Council to ensure arrangements are finalised for the ongoing maintenance and management of the assets it continues to be responsible for associated with the Musselburgh Lagoons."
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It will cost £65m to protect and restore Scotland's heritage sites over the next decade, according to a study on behalf of the Scottish government.
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The report by Historic Environment Scotland found more than half of the 352 sites it manages are at risk from hazards such as flooding and erosion.
It also said climate change and extreme weather were putting "additional stresses" on historic buildings.
The report said mitigation work had already begun at some sites.
These included rock containment at Edinburgh Castle and coastal protection work at Blackness Castle in West Lothian.
High risk
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is responsible for managing and preserving buildings and monuments including Edinburgh and Stirling castles, Orkney's Neolithic sites and many of the country's abbeys and cathedrals.
In its report, which was commissioned by Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop, it found that 89% of its sites were exposed to damaging environmental effects.
Taking into account factors such as the presence of site staff and conservation teams, 53% were thought to remain at risk from hazards such as flooding and erosion, with 28 sites classified as very high risk and 160 as high risk.
HES warned of "resource challenges" as it estimated investment of £65m would be needed over the next ten years to ensure the "satisfactory condition" of its properties.
And it said an extra £2.1m was needed each year thereafter to sustain that condition.
The report was published as Ms Hyslop confirmed Scottish government funding of £6.6m to support conservation work, repairs and visitor facilities at sites including Doune, Stirling and Edinburgh castles.
She said: "From Doune Castle to Skara Brae, these iconic buildings and monuments represent more than 6,000 years of Scottish history and include a number of internationally-significant sites that attract thousands of visitors every year.
"By their nature, they are often difficult to care for and require specialist expertise to repair.
"Adding to this challenge, it is well understood that climate change is speeding up the natural process of decay at heritage sites across the world.
"Historic Environment Scotland's new conservation study gives us a detailed understanding of the impact on our own heritage sites and tells us what is required to protect and preserve them for the future."
Dr David Mitchell, director of conservation at HES, said the report would "provide a basis for investment decisions over the next decade and determine how we will manage over 300 of Scotland's most cherished places and associated collections for future generations."
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A collection of about 1,800 gnomes - amassed by one man over half a century - is to be auctioned for charity.
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Ron Broomfield, from Lincolnshire, died in April aged 80, and was cremated in the gnome outfit he regularly wore.
Over the years, the retired window cleaner raised thousands of pounds for charities including the NSPCC.
He appeared on various TV programmes, including the Alan Titchmarsh Show, and lived in Gnome Cottage, Alford, which became a well-known local landmark.
His niece, Patricia Hammond, said Mr Broomfield was "remarkable", "well-loved" and "brought happiness into the lives of many people".
Gnomes under the hammer
She said his greatest ambition was for his collection to feature in the Guinness Book of World Records.
However, he was beaten by Ann Atkin of The Gnome Reserve and Wild Flower Garden in North Devon, she said.
The Gnome Reserve is home to about 2,000 gnomes.
"Ron the Gnome", as he was also known, was originally from Finchley in north London, and began collecting the figures after the breakdown of his marriage.
Ms Hammond said: "He bought the gnomes, took them home and they kept smiling at him. After that, every time he saw a gnome he bought it and he would ask for gnomes as presents for Christmas and birthdays and was very disappointed if you didn't buy him one.
"When the children of Finchley walked past his house and saw his beard, they said he was starting to look like a gnome and suggested he dress like one too, so he did."
Mr Broomfield later moved to Alford, where his home became a shrine to the ornaments.
After his death, he was cremated dressed in his gnome outfit, complete with pointed hat and waistcoat.
His favourite gnome, Sandy, which he took everywhere, was adopted by his niece.
All proceeds from the gnome sale - on 15 July at the Lincoln Auction Rooms of Golding Young & Mawer - will be donated to charity.
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"It's astonishing, it really is. I've nothing to say to it that's eloquent - it's amazing."
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That's Greta Gerwig's reaction to Lady Bird, her directorial debut, getting a 100% score on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes - making it the most well-reviewed film in the site's history.
Not that she reads reviews when she has a film out (her acting credits include Frances Ha, Jackie and No Strings Attached), saying to do so is "a little terrifying".
She is aware, though, that Lady Bird, which stars Saoirse Ronan as a teenager navigating her final year of high school in Sacramento, has been widely praised.
'Just lovely'
"The fact is, we put so much love into it, everybody who made it," she tells the BBC.
"There's such a feeling of pouring your heart and soul into it - from the actors to the crew, to the creative team, and it feels to get that back from the audiences and the critics.
"It's what you hope happens, but you would never expect it to happen."
Gerwig says the positive reviews make her worry people will get inflated expectations for the film, but adds: "At the same time, it is also a movie - it's not a rocket ship to the moon! But mostly, it's just lovely."
The 34-year-old has previously co-written screenplays including Mistress America and Frances Ha, in which she also starred. More recently she's been seen in the Oscar-nominated films Jackie and 20th Century Women.
"I always wanted to be a director, but I didn't go to film school," she says. "I used all the time on set as an actor, and also a co-writer and producer - that's my film school. It was a sort of cobbled together over 10 years of working in movies."
She says she was nervous about showing the film to Ronan and co-star Laurie Metcalf who, as mother and daughter, portray the film's central relationship.
"They gave me everything they had," she explains, saying she felt a responsibility to honour their performances.
Now, as well as being well-reviewed, Lady Bird has already picked up a handful of awards and is tipped for more - including Oscars and Golden Globes.
"I'm very nervous - I'm knocking wood. Of course I would love it if the film was rewarded but Saoirse and Laurie - I just want them to be given props for what they did. It's mostly just exciting. But you can't help it, you do get nervous.
"At awards shows, you're not supposed to care - but really, who are we kidding? Why wouldn't we care?"
'Great female directors'
Asked about speculation she could become only the fifth woman to get a best director nomination at the Oscars, she says she wants Dees Rees to get a nod for the period drama Mudbound, "so it would be five and six".
"It was a very big moment for me when Kathryn Bigelow won her Oscar for best director, and it was the first time a woman had won," Gerwig says.
"As much as that is not the work, and the work is the thing that's important, visibility and recognition is a big deal for someone like me at home.
"I would be thrilled if - and I'm not just saying this - any women were nominated. And there's a slew of great female directors this year. There's a lot of women who contributed a lot to cinema this year, and I would like to see one of them on that list."
Gerwig will have to wait a few more weeks until the Oscar nominations are revealed to find out who does make the cut - and, indeed, if it is her.
Lady Bird is released in the UK on 23 February.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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Ofsted has revealed the first results of an inspection following concerns Suffolk has a disproportionate number of under-performing schools.
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The watchdog carried out 33 inspections last month after 30% of Suffolk primaries were rated as "not yet good" compared to 21% nationally.
Of ten primary schools inspected, nine were deemed to be at the same level.
St Margaret's Community Primary in Lowestoft had dropped from 'good' to 'requiring improvement'.
Four others also 'required improvement', one remained 'outstanding', while four retained their 'good' status.
Earlier this week, Suffolk County Council said it was about to approve a £2.4m spending package as part of its Raising the Bar school improvement policy.
'High expectations'
No-one from St Margaret's was available to comment.
Somerleyton Primary near Lowestoft was one of the schools which stayed at the same level - its last report was 'satisfactory' while the new one said it 'required improvement'.
Louise Spall, Somerleyton head teacher, said: "Our report acknowledges the actions already taken, the strengths of the school and the high expectations that teachers and assistants have.
"We are working to improve standards and Raising the Bar will have an effect and we are beginning to build partnerships with other schools locally as part of that."
Lisa Chambers, the county council's cabinet member for education, said: "We welcome Ofsted inspecting schools because it helps us to drive improvements.
"Through our Raising the Bar programme, we're working with and challenging schools to drive up educational attainment.
"Early indication from the latest exam results indicate that many schools in the county are making progress in the right direction and this work will most certainly continue."
Three Suffolk high schools also had their latest Ofsted reports published.
East Bergholt had improved from 'satisfactory' to 'good', but Kesgrave High had gone down from 'outstanding' to 'good'.
Stradbroke High was currently 'good', but it had no previous report to compare it to.
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A poster campaign to raise awareness of disability hate crime has been launched by police in Shropshire.
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It is being supported by Paralympic gold medallist Mickey Bushell MBE, who was born in Telford.
West Mercia Police said there were 53 offences and 21 incidents of disability hate crime reported to the force between April 2012 and January 2013.
The posters with the slogan "We're All Human" will be displayed on buses in the county.
Mickey Bushell, who won gold in the 100-metre wheelchair sprint at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, said the campaign would let those affected "realise they're not alone".
Sue Wood, a wheelchair user from Shrewsbury, said she was once told by two other customers in a shop that people like her "shouldn't be allowed to live".
She said victims of disability hate crime often felt the police had more important issues to deal with and she hoped the poster campaign would help change this attitude.
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The final ceramic poppy has been laid at the Tower of London memorial art installation as ceremonies took place in the UK and abroad on Armistice Day.
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Large crowds saw 13-year-old army cadet Harry Hayes place the last of 888,246 flowers, each representing a British military death in World War One.
Other remembrance events were held in military bases, churches and schools.
A two-minute silence honouring those killed in conflicts since the start of WW1 took place at 11:00 GMT.
In London, remembrance ceremonies took place at Westminster Abbey, the Cenotaph and Trafalgar Square. Among the commemorations elsewhere:
The cadet, from Reading Blue Coat School in Berkshire, was watched by thousands as he placed the ceramic flowers in the moat of the Tower of the London.
His great-great-great uncle, Private Patrick Kelly of the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, was killed just weeks before the end of the war on September 27 1918.
Cadet Hayes admitted he was nervous, but said "It is an amazing honour, seeing all these poppies and I managed to plant the last one."
At the scene
By Peter Hunt, BBC royal correspondent, at the Tower of London
In a capital city with an energetic - at times frenzied - pace, there is a quality that can be in short supply.
Silence.
The silence at the Tower of London - temporary home to the installation of ceramic poppies - wasn't just observed for two minutes, as elsewhere in the country.
For a chunk of time at this major tourist attraction, most people were lost in their thoughts. Those who did chat spoke only in hushed tones to those beside them.
Armistice Day marks a century of sacrifice from the First World War to Afghanistan.
For many the art installation at the Tower has been an opportunity to reconnect with their own family's past.
As they stood around the moat of the former fortress, palace and prison they spoke of the loss their relatives had experienced and of the need to remember.
All eyes were on the poppies. Their existence, girdling this ancient monument, induced a temporary state of near reverence.
Each poppy represents an individual who didn't grow old.
Read more from Peter on his correspondent page
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, 70 years since the D-Day landings and the end of Britain's conflict in Afghanistan.
Since last year's Armistice Day, another seven members of the British armed forces have died in service - including five who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan in April.
Stephen Clarke, head of remembrance for the British Legion, said: "This year it feels like there are more poppies out in the streets and a lot of different styles of poppy, because remembrance is very personal."
Richard Hughes of the Western Front Association, which organises the Annual Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph, said this year's commemorations were not just about the end of World War One.
"We have got the modern version here with us stepping back from Afghanistan," he said. "That itself has tremendous resonance."
World War One Centenary
One of the biggest events was at the Tower of London, where a commemorative art installation has been drawing thousands of visitors.
Each ceramic poppy in the artwork - Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red - represents a British or colonial death during World War One.
On Sunday, two-minute silences took place across the UK and the Commonwealth.
The Queen, political leaders and military veterans laid wreaths at the Cenotaph on Whitehall - the focal point of Remembrance Day services.
Armistice Day has been marked on 11 November every year since 1919 - a year after the Allied forces signed an agreement with the Germans that would end WW1 at 11:00 in the morning.
After the Second World War, commemorations were adapted to honour the fallen of both conflicts, and Remembrance Sunday was established to replace Armistice Day.
From 1995, the British Legion campaigned successfully to restore the two-minute silence to 11 November as well as Remembrance Sunday.
World War One Centenary
What can today’s soldiers learn from WW1?
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Prime Minster David Cameron revealed this week in the House of Commons that he has trouble stopping his three children from over-indulging on sugary, fizzy drinks.
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His comments came after Labour MP Keith Vaz, who has Type 2 diabetes, reminded him that a third of all primary school leavers are obese or overweight, yet they consume cans of cola that contain up to eight teaspoons of sugar.
So how important is sugar in the fight against obesity?
A study published this week in the British Medical Journal investigated the link between sugar consumption and body weight by looking at the results of previous studies. It found that getting people to reduce sugar intake in their diet was associated with a reduction in their weight of about 2.2lb (1kg) in adults.
The findings also suggested that sugar increases body weight by promoting overconsumption of energy. In other words, the taste of sugar could lead us to want to eat more of it.
The idea that sugar is bad for our health is not new.
Forty years ago, a book written by British physiologist John Yudkin claimed that high sugar consumption was linked to heart disease.
We know that sugar also causes tooth decay and that eating too much sugar-laden food can lead to a poor diet lacking in nutrients.
But some experts say that sugar has actually helped to fuel the obesity epidemic.
'Toxin'
Robert Lustig, professor of paediatrics at the University of California, is well-known for his research into the effects of dietary sugar. He believes that sugar is addictive.
In a recent interview he said: "There are five tastes on your tongue: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.
"Sugar covers up the other four, so you can't taste the negative aspects of foods. You can make dog poop taste good with enough sugar."
Lustig goes on to say that table sugar known as sucrose, which is a made of two sugars (glucose and fructose) chemically bound to each other, is identical to high fructose corn syrup - which he describes as a "chronic toxin".
Dr Alex Richardson, senior research fellow at the University of Oxford and founder director of the UK charity Food and Behaviour Research, agrees with Lustig and says that there is far too much sugar and empty carbohydrates in children's diets.
"We find that highly processed foods are making up massively more of children's diets. Things like cakes, biscuits, snacks and crisps.
"Fruit and vegetables are so vital for children. They provide essential vitamins and minerals, but so often a third of a plate of child's food is sugary rubbish and a small amount is veg or fruit."
She warns that a diet high in sugar could lead, in the long term, to Type 2 diabetes.
Full up
Sugar comes in all shapes and sizes. It can occur naturally in fruit and milk, which is not a concern, but when sugar is added to foods such as cereals, desserts, confectionery, processed meals and soft drinks it can become a problem in large quantities.
Sugar can be listed under the names sucrose, glucose, fructose and maltose in the ingredients.
'Added sugars', as they are known, are a good source of energy but provide no other nutrients.
Sugary drinks are thought to represent more of a health issue because they do not fill us up as quickly as the sugars in solid food do.
The British Dietetic Association's advice on sugar says: "Some research suggests that sugary drinks make it harder for us to regulate the overall amount of calories eaten and a regular intake may be a factor contributing to obesity in children."
But the BDA maintains that sugar does not makes us fat.
"Sugary foods and drinks can only make us gain weight if overall we eat more calories than we use for energy."
Sugar Nutrition UK, a research body which is funded by the sugar manufacturers, refutes the suggestion that sugar is toxic or addictive.
"Sweet treats are not toxic. Major expert committees have considered the evidence in regards to sugars and all of the diseases addressed by Lustig, and all have concluded that there is no evidence of any harm attributed to current sugar consumption levels."
They also said that sugar intake was not increasing in line with obesity rates.
"Sugar consumption in the UK has declined whilst obesity and diabetes rates have increased. Data from the government's national dietary surveys show that intakes of sugars have declined over the last decade, whilst rates of obesity and diabetes have been increasing."
The Labour party has called on the government to set legal limits on sugar, fat and salt in some foods to tackle the rise in obesity.
The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt responded by saying that through voluntary agreements with food manufacturers progress was being made to encourage the production of healthier foods - and tackle obesity.
At present, the World Health Organization recommends that added sugar intake should be limited to 10% of total energy intake but the American Heart Association suggests a lower limit of 5%.
Improving the quality of carbohydrates and reducing intakes of refined grain products and potatoes is also recommended in a bid to lower sugar intake in the general population.
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The Republic of Ireland's planning body has given approval for the southern section of the £200m cross-border electricity inter-connector project.
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By Julian O'NeillBBC News NI Business Correspondent
The two power grids will be connected by 138km of overhead lines between Moy in County Tyrone and County Meath.
The northern section has still not been granted approval, with a decision not likely until mid-or-late 2017.
It will be taken by Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard following a public inquiry.
However, the green-light in the south is seen as a milestone for the project.
EirGrid's proposal to construct almost 300 pylons in Meath, Cavan and Monaghan had been objected to by about 200 landowners on health and environmental grounds.
The Northern Ireland section is being overseen by System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI).
Robin McCormick of SONI said the inter-connector is needed to address security of supply problems facing Northern Ireland.
"We very much welcome the positive outcome from An Bord Pleanála. It represents significant progress for the project," he said.
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A centre which has been the home of the only UK facility for treating rare eye cancers may lose the technology in the future, health bosses have warned.
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The world's first low-energy proton beam therapy was performed at Wirral's Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in 1989.
About 250 people receive the treatment every year, but the technology is nearing the end of its lifespan.
The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) said the NHS would replace it, but it may be put at another site.
The low-energy proton beam technology used at the centre works by sterilising tumour cells so they no longer grow.
Chief executive Dr Liz Bishop said the expertise and parts needed to maintain it was becoming "increasingly difficult to find".
She said there was "no standalone replacement for the machine available, [which] raises issues with the long-term sustainability of the service in its current form".
Dr Bishop said the centre was working "to develop an appropriate plan for the future to... ensure patient treatment isn't compromised".
The BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones was treated at the centre in July.
He said it was "an amazing place" which involves "cutting-edge science, advanced medicine and extraordinary patient care".
"The team there are wonderfully sympathetic and caring; definitely my best experience as an NHS patient," he added.
The RCR's Dr Jeanette Dickson said she had "confidence" the NHS would continue to provide the treatment, but it could be at another site, depending on what was best for both the service and the patients.
She added that Clatterbridge would be "exploring all of those options".
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Californian author Maggie Shipstead has won the £30,000 annual Dylan Thomas Prize with her debut novel.
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Shipstead, 28, took the accolade at a special ceremony at the National Waterfront Museum in the late Welsh poet's home city of Swansea on Friday.
The prize is given to an author of a novel, play, poetry or travel book in the English language who is under 30.
Judges said her novel Seating Arrangements showed immense maturity and great accomplishment.
The book takes a satirical look at the New England society and is a study of an American family as it prepares for a wedding.
Novelist and judge Allison Pearson said: "The smart money has to be on Maggie Shipstead winning a Pulitzer before she's 50."
'Fluency and beauty'
The judges also included singer Cerys Matthews who said "passions were running high" among the panel because several books were strong contenders.
"However, Maggie shone as a truly accomplished writer whose effortless prose had great fluency and beauty," she said.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Ms Shipstead said she was overwhelmed by the book's success.
"I think when you start to write a book it's insanity to imagine anyone reading it, let alone people in other countries and people choosing your book for a prize.
"It seems like a dream."
The author said she was familiar with Dylan Thomas' work because she had studied his poetry at university, but she knew more about the man himself after her visit to Wales.
"I've travelled all over the place and seen sites relevant to his life, so I feel a much stronger connection now," she added.
The shortlist was revealed last month including Zimbabwe-raised Andrea Eames' The White Shadow set in 1970s Rhodesia and Tom Benn's crime fiction debut The Doll Princess which explores the criminal underworld of 1990s Manchester.
First awarded in 2006 as a £60,000 prize given every two years, it is has been staged annually since 2010.
The announcement of the 2012 winner marks the end of a week of events with shortlisted authors visiting schools and universities across Wales to give readings and participate in creative writing workshops.
The 2012 longlist was announced by Dylan Thomas' granddaughter, Hannah Ellis, at the city's Dylan Thomas Centre in July.
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A fisherman has died after a boat capsized in the sea at Brora.
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He was in the 6m (20ft) lobster boat along with another man when it turned over in the village's harbour on Monday. The alarm was raised at 16:10.
One of the men managed to swim to the shore and was treated for minor injuries by paramedics.
The other man was flown by the Inverness Coastguard rescue helicopter to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness where he died.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has started an investigation into the incident.
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Schoolboys should be given the HPV vaccine to help protect them from some cancers, according to public and sexual health bodies.
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By James GallagherHealth and science reporter, BBC News
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is linked to a range of cancers and a vaccine is already given to girls in the UK to reduce the risk of cervical cancer.
The Faculty of Public Health and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV said boys should be vaccinated.
The Department of Health said there was no plan to extend the programme.
HPV infections are associated with cancer of the penis, vulva, vagina, anus, mouth and throat. It is spread by sexual contact.
In the UK, girls aged 12-13 are offered the HPV jab. Australia is the only country to routinely offer the vaccination to boys and girls.
Prof John Ashton, the head of the Faculty of Public Health, told the BBC: "It seems oral sex has become a very common part of the repertoire in young people and it does seem a likely part of the story of increases in oral cancer.
"We really need to discuss oral sex as part of sex education in schools and to look closely at extending the vaccine to all men."
'Little benefit'
He said the reduced cancer risk would benefit all men, but the strongest case was in gay men.
Reducing the prevalence of the virus in women would have knock-on effects for some men, but not for those having sex only with other men.
Dr Janet Wilson, the president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, said: "We need to take action to address the lack of protection men who have sex with men receive from the current all-girls HPV vaccination programme.
"It is unfair that they remain unprotected."
However, a Department of Health official said there were "currently no plans to extend HPV vaccination to males, based on an assessment of currently available scientific evidence".
They added: "Vaccination of boys was not recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation because once 80% coverage among girls has been achieved, there is little benefit in vaccinating boys to prevent cervical cancer in girls."
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Customers who pay their energy bills by cheque are being charged almost £100 a year more than those who use direct debit, according to new research.
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Which? Money based its findings on the standard annual dual-fuel tariffs of energy companies British Gas, EDF, E.on, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE.
It suggested those paying by quarterly cash and cheque paid an average of £98.60 more over the course of a year.
Which? said utility companies should give all customers a fair deal.
Which? researcher Alex Kouzarides commented: "While it may suit the energy suppliers to manage direct debit accounts, many people still prefer more traditional methods or simply have no choice in their circumstances.
"It's vital that utilities companies develop fair and inclusive systems that ensure all consumers are given a fair deal."
E.on and other suppliers have pointed out that customers benefit from a prompt payment discount if they pay quickly.
Regulator Ofgem told the BBC if it saw evidence of unjustified differences between tariffs, it would take action against the companies responsible.
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Russia's central bank has raised its key interest rate to 9.5% from 8% as it seeks to tackle inflation.
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The 1.5 percentage point increase was higher than expected, with analysts having forecast a rise of 0.5 percentage points.
The bank has already raised rates from 5.5% at the start of the year but the moves have failed to combat inflation.
A weak rouble and a ban on western food imports has kept inflation stubbornly high.
"If external conditions improve, and a persistent trend for lowering inflation and inflation expectations emerges, the Bank of Russia will be ready to start to ease its monetary policy," the central bank said.
The new rate will take effect on 5 November. The last rise was imposed at the end of July.
The central bank said that inflation had reached 8.4% and would remain above 8% until the end of March.
Economic growth is expected to almost grind to a halt in the final three months of this year and in the first quarter of 2015.
The rouble briefly firmed after the bank's decision was announced, but then fell back into negative territory.
The rise comes as Russia said it would will resume shipments of natural gas to Ukraine after Kiev makes its first payment for previous supplies next week.
Trade row
Meanwhile, the European Union said it had launched a trade dispute with Russia at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to challenge Russia's treatment of European agricultural and manufactured goods.
The WTO said the EU had accused Russia of levying higher-than-permitted tariffs on a range of goods including paper, palm oil and refrigerators.
The dispute is the fifth case involving Russia and the EU that has been brought to the WTO.
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How much of a threat is the Spain/Gibraltar question to the Brexit summit on Sunday?
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Katya AdlerEurope editor@BBCkatyaadleron Twitter
Well, it could turn out to be either huge or simply a puff of smoke. Madrid and Downing Street say they are working on it.
There's not much time left for the question to assume either form.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May meets EU leaders in Brussels to sign off on the Brexit texts in just over 36 hours.
Grandstanding for his domestic audience aside, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez feels hoodwinked and angry.
Gibraltar is of great national interest, and hurt pride, for many Spaniards. It became official government policy during the Franco dictatorship to get back what Spaniards nickname "El Peñón" (The Rock).
After the UK's Brexit vote, Spain at the very least saw an opportunity to re-gain considerable influence over Gibraltar.
Eyebrows shot up in the UK at the very start of the Article 50 process when article 24 of the EU's negotiating guidelines stated: "After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom."
In fact, though, the bilateral UK-Spain talks that then took place in parallel to EU-UK Brexit negotiations went extremely smoothly... until just recently.
Spanish resentment started building after the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and his team proposed going into a "tunnel" with UK negotiators - blocking out political and media noise - in an attempt to break the lengthy impasse over the wording of the Irish "backstop" - that guarantee to avoid a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
It is during that tunnel moment that Spain feels it was "betrayed".
By the time EU and UK negotiators emerged, the Irish backstop had become a UK-wide customs area, meaning it was potentially straying into post Brexit trade deal territory.
Yet neither in that text, nor in the draft of the political declaration on EU-UK future relations published on Thursday, is there mention of Gibraltar and the need for Spanish approval.
Prime Minister Sánchez believes the positive attitude Spain had shown in bilateral Brexit talks over Gibraltar is now being abused; that Spanish national interest was sacrificed in the tunnel in order to offer an extra "sweetener" to the UK in wider Brexit negotiations.
European Commission negotiators flatly deny this.
But Spain is not alone in believing that priorities of individual EU countries were ignored during tunnel negotiations.
France, Denmark and the Netherlands felt let down by their EU negotiators over pinning down ongoing fishing rights in UK waters in the political declaration on post Brexit EU-UK relations.
We have now heard that the fishing issue has been "resolved" (for now). The details have yet to emerge.
This means Gibraltar is the only outstanding issue ahead of Sunday's Brexit summit, according to the EU.
Now, Spain's Prime Minister is hugely pro-European. He sees himself as a bit of a Macron number two.
It is not in his nature to scupper EU plans or an EU summit.
Remember when Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini refused to take in migrant boats earlier this year, Mr Sánchez was the first to step in and help in order to avert an EU crisis - and also to win brownie points in Brussels.
Pedro Sánchez is under a lot of domestic pressure. He heads a minority government and has been repeatedly accused by the main conservative opposition of being "soft" over Gibraltar in Brexit negotiations.
He also faces elections in the politically significant Andalucia region on 2 December. A part of Spain that neighbours - you guessed it - The Rock.
It is possible that Spain's prime minister has learned a lesson from Italy's deputy prime minister: that if you dig in your heels in the EU, you can get results.
He knows, of course, that holding the Brexit summit now, in November, was at Theresa's May's insistence; that the EU thought it possible to seal the deal next month instead.
This knowledge is in Mr Sánchez's back pocket.
It's important to bear in mind that while Spain doesn't have an actual veto over the Brexit divorce deal, EU leaders need to reach decisions by consensus at their summits. They don't actually put up their hands to vote.
There is no way they can rubber stamp a text designed for a leaving member (the UK) when an existing member (Spain) is so strongly opposed.
It is true, there is less EU solidarity with Spain over Gibraltar than there was with Ireland over the border issue. But the EU has been so proud about the very unusual unity amongst its members over Brexit, they won't want to give that up at this late stage.
So, in effect, Spain could exercise a moral or political "veto" on Sunday.
Which means that although Spain does not have a formal veto, it could exercise moral and political objections that would effectively stop other countries from voting against it.
EU insiders don't think it will come down to that. They believe this can be solved without reopening the Brexit texts by noting Spain's insistence on continuing UK.-Madrid bilateral talks in a declaration added to the texts or other possible EU formulas.
But even if Spanish opposition melts away before Sunday, the bitterness over Gibraltar, over fishing rights, over ensuring that the UK has no competitive advantages over European businesses in a post-Brexit trade deal, these are examples of the substantial obstacles the UK will face from EU countries in negotiating a trade deal with EU after Brexit.
And that's a deal the parliaments of every single EU country - including Spain's - will need to ratify unanimously.
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The father of a man murdered by loyalist paramilitaries has launched a legal challenge to Brexit.
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Raymond McCord is seeking a judicial review and lodged the papers at the High Court in Belfast on Thursday.
Mr McCord became involved with the rights of victims of the Troubles after his son was murdered.
His legal team claim it would be unlawful to begin the formal process of the UK leaving the EU without a parliamentary vote.
They also claim it could undermine the UK's treaty obligations under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the peace process.
It is the first challenge of its kind in Northern Ireland.
With similar legal action already under way in England, efforts are being made to secure an initial court hearing in Belfast next week.
Mr McCord's son Raymond Jr was beaten to death by the Ulster Volunteer Force in north Belfast in 1997. His body was dumped in a quarry.
Mr McCord is concerned that money from the European Union, which goes towards victims of the Troubles, may be discontinued.
His lawyer said there are fears that Brexit could impact on Mr McCord's fundamental rights.
"As a victim of the most recent conflict in Northern Ireland, Mr McCord is very concerned about the profoundly damaging effect that a unilateral withdrawal of the UK from the EU will have upon the ongoing relative stability in Northern Ireland," he said.
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Council taxpayers in Bedfordshire have voted against a £4.5m rise in their bills to pay for the police.
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A referendum took place on Thursday prompted by Olly Martins, the county's Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC), who wanted to fund 100 extra officers.
The rise would have meant 32p extra a week for a band A property and 48p for band D.
The result was 30.5% (91,086 votes) in favour of the tax rise and 69.5% (207,551 votes) against.
The increase had been introduced in April, but the referendum had to take place because the council tax rise would have been above 2%.
Council taxpayers' bills will now be re-calculated removing the increase in the police precept.
Mr Martins, elected on a Labour ticket, said the result would mean a reduction of up to 135 uniformed officers from the existing 1,067.
"The budget will be £1.28m less in the current year than it was last year [£102m], and the cumulative impact of anticipated government funding cuts is projected to lead to a £6m shortfall," he said.
"Due to the lack of properly resourced neighbourhood policing teams, Bedfordshire is potentially a weak link in the fight against terrorism and organised crime."
'Poor judgement'
But Richard Fuller, Conservative MP for Bedford, said: "If holding a special election wouldn't cost even more money, I would ask [Mr Martins] to resign right now.
"The referendum was nothing to do with challenging the national funding formula - it just demonstrated his incredibly poor judgement.
"Our hope now is that, with a new government, all of Bedfordshire's MPs, Conservative and Labour, can unite to make a case for changing that funding formula."
Mr Martin estimated the cost of holding the referendum was £350,000 with £250,000 being spent by councils on the re-billing and rejected the claim he had used poor judgement.
"I don't regret holding a referendum as I wasn't going to fiddle while Rome burned and we lost police officers," he said.
A Home Office spokesman said: "It is up to individual PCCs to determine the size and composition of their workforce and how best to allocate their budgets but there is no question that the police will still have the resources to do their important work."
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Danny Boyle's Olympic opening ceremony has been honoured at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
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By Tim MastersEntertainment and arts correspondent, BBC News
The Oscar-winning director and his team got huge cheers when they picked up the Beyond Theatre award from gold medal-winning Team GB cyclist Victoria Pendleton.
"We hoped to prove that culture runs through all of us and binds us all together," Boyle said.
The awards, hosted by James Corden, were held at the Savoy Hotel on Sunday.
Picking up his award, Boyle urged the audience to lobby for the inclusion of arts subjects in the English Baccalaureate.
Other winners took the opportunity to speak out against theatre funding cuts.
Theatre passion
Dame Judi Dench was honoured with the Moscow Art Theatre's Golden Seagull award for her contribution to world theatre.
The veteran stage and screen actress, who plays M in James Bond film Skyfall, said she loved making movies "but my absolute passion is the theatre".
Dame Judi will be seen on the stage in London next year in a new play, Peter and Alice, by Skyfall co-writer John Logan, opposite her Bond co-star Ben Wishaw, who plays Q.
The award for best new play went to Nick Payne's Constellations, which has just transferred to the West End from the Royal Court.
Starring Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins, the story explores a couple's relationship in a series of alternative universes.
At 29, Payne is the youngest playwright to have received the award.
The best actor prize went to Simon Russell Beale for his portrayal of Stalin in the black comedy, Collaborators, at the National Theatre.
'Gloriously screwed up'
Hattie Morahan took the best actress prize for her portrayal of trapped housewife, Nora, in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Young Vic.
She had been up against Australian actress Cate Blanchett for Big and Small, Dame Eileen Atkins for All That Fall and Laurie Metcalf for Long Day's Journey Into Night.
Morahan was presented with the award by Homeland star Damian Lewis.
The tearful actress thanked Ibsen for creating such a "gloriously screwed up heroine".
The prize for best musical went to Sweeney Todd, directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, which transferred from the Chichester Festival to the West End.
The award was presented by rapper Tinie Tempah, who has tweeted about his love of Stephen Sondheim's blood-splattered musical.
Cuts protest
Among the other guests at the event were Colin Firth, Sir Ian McKellen, Ruth Wilson, Bill Nighy and Ralph Fiennes.
Film and theatre director Stephen Daldry, the creative director of the Olympic ceremonies, was presented with a special award at the end of the evening by Stephen Fry.
Both Fry and Daldry were among those who spoke out against cuts in arts budgets.
Meanwhile, National Theatre artistic director Sir Nicholas Hytner, who won two awards - for best director and a special award for his leadership at the NT - said further cuts to theatre budgets made "no economic sense whatsoever".
He called on Culture Secretary Maria Miller to fund all theatres to the level enjoyed by the National Theatre in order to stimulate philanthropic giving.
"Philanthropy is not an alternative to public money - it is a consequence of public funding," he said.
WINNERS OF LONDON EVENING STANDARD 58TH THEATRE AWARDS 2012
Best play - Constellations - Nick Payne (Royal Court Upstairs)
Best director - Nicholas Hytner - Timon of Athens (National's Olivier)
Best actor - Simon Russell Beale - Collaborators (National's Cottesloe)
Natasha Richardson award for best actress - Hattie Morahan - A Doll's House (Young Vic)
Ned Sherrin award for best musical - Sweeney Todd - Chichester Festival and Adelphi
Best design - Soutra Gilmour - Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse ) & Antigone (National's Olivier)
Charles Wintour award for most promising playwright - Lolita Chakrabarti - Red Velvet (Tricycle)
Milton Shulman award for outstanding newcomer - Matthew Tennyson - Making Noise Quietly (Donmar Warehouse)
Lebedev special award - Nicholas Hytner - For his dynamic directorship of the National Theatre
Editor's award - David Hare - For his contribution to theatre
Beyond theatre - Danny Boyle and his team - For the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics
Burberry award for emerging director - Simon Godwin
Moscow Art Theatre's Golden Seagull - Judi Dench
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The family of a soldier who died while on an Army fitness test in Brecon has been told it was due to natural causes.
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Cpl Joshua Hoole, 26, of Ecclefechan, near Lockerbie, died on 19 July while training for the Platoon Sergeants' Battle Course at an infantry training centre.
Dyfed-Powys Police investigated the death of Cpl Hoole, who collapsed after finishing an eight-mile (13km) course.
He was a member of the Rifles regiment at ITC Catterick.
His grandfather, John Craig, told BBC Wales the family had been informed by officers of the conclusion it was natural causes.
He died on what was the hottest day of the year so far, when temperatures in the Brecon area peaked at just above 30C (86F).
Shortly after he died, Morag Craig, his aunt, described him as "absolutely fantastic" and with a "heart of gold".
Cpl Hoole, who was due to get married and be the best man at his brother's wedding, was described by his grandfather, John Craig, as a "beautiful grandson" and a "super fit boy".
Maj Dean Murch, officer commanding The Rifles, 1st infantry training battalion, said at the time his colleagues were "utterly devastated", and his family had "lost a son, a brother, a fiancé and a very special friend".
Police have referred the matter to the Powys coroner.
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Searches have been carried out in a bid to find stashes of knives hidden by gangs in a Denbighshire seaside town.
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Organised criminals are suspected of hiding or disposing of bladed weapons in the Abbey Street area of Rhyl.
There were 104 knife-related incidents in the town between February 2019 and March 2020, North Wales Police said.
"This area has become a hotspot and we want to reassure the public we are trying to keep them safe," said PC Rebecca Evans.
Outdoor spaces, including drains, flower beds and bushes are being searched after six knives were found near the town centre in recent weeks.
The knives are not being connected to a specific crime.
"It's well known that organised crime gangs and the people they exploit will hide or stash weapons in open spaces where they believe an incident might occur," said PC Evans.
"That could be a drug deal, maybe a violent incident, and they have the weapons at hand so that they can protect themselves.
"It's quite rare to find that number of knives and we want to reassure the public that this isn't something we come across every day.
"However this area has become a hotspot and we wanted to jump on it straight away."
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Plans to buy new military equipment - including warships and jets - could be under threat, as MPs expressed "serious doubts" over whether the Ministry of Defence can afford them.
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The Commons Defence Select Committee says the department will struggle to find the £7.3bn in savings required to pay for the new hardware.
It said the MoD had proved "incapable" of making such savings in the past.
The MoD said it was making "good progress" on its efficiency target.
This latest report echoes a warning from January of this year from government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office.
The cross-party committee of MPs backed the findings of the NAO that the defence equipment plan was at "greater risk" than at any time since 2012.
In 2016, the government pledged to spend £178bn on new military equipment over the next 10 years.
But that is on the assumption it can also find £7.3bn of efficiency savings - on top of £7.1bn previously announced - by selling off property and other efficiencies.
The committee chairman, Conservative MP Julian Lewis, said this was now "extremely doubtful" from an "already stretched budget".
"This will inevitably lead either to a reduction in the numbers of ships, aircraft and vehicles or to even greater delays in their acquisition," he added.
But the MoD said that in the face of "intensifying threats", its £178bn equipment plan "continues to deliver the cutting-edge kit to keep the UK safe".
Revolt risk
The new equipment covered by the plan includes eight Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy, new mechanised infantry vehicles and nine Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft.
The committee also called for clarity on the "difference between genuine improvements and efficiency" and cuts to "personnel, equipment and capability".
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has already been warned of a Tory revolt over cuts to army numbers and naval capability, and suggested he will be asking the chancellor for more money.
The Cabinet Office is currently carrying out a defence and security review which is due to report by the end of the year.
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The maker of Ghosty, an app which gives users access to private profiles, has removed it from Google's Play Store.
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By Alexander CockeramTechnology reporter
The move came after Instagram said it planned to send a cease and desist letter to Ghosty's developer.
The service required each user to give it access to their own profile, as well as to invite their friends - at least one of whom also had to join.
It then gives access to data in those accounts as well as any other profiles which those users follow.
If a member has access to a private profile, when they join it also becomes available to the rest of Ghosty's users. This would include otherwise inaccessible videos and photos.
The app, which charged a subscription fee, had been downloaded more than 500,000 times since its launch in April, according to analytics firm App Brain.
Android Police, which reported on the controversy last week, had described it as creating "a stalker paradise".
Instagram's terms of use state that users cannot transfer "any aspect" of their account to others.
'Yes, this app violates our terms," a spokeswoman for the Facebook-owned platform told the BBC.
"This functionality has never been available through our API [application programming interface].
"We will be sending a cease and desist letter to Ghosty ordering them to immediately stop their activities on Instagram, among other requests. We are investigating and planning further enforcement relating to this developer."
Ghosty's developer did not reply to the BBC's request for comment.
Its deletion comes a week after Apple removed Like Patrol from its own online store - another app that Instagram had objected to scraping its data.
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An openly-gay Aberdeen minister has welcomed legislation to introduce same-sex marriage in Scotland being approved in principle by parliament.
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The Scottish government's Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill has passed the first of three parliamentary hurdles.
Ministers said the move was right, but the Church of Scotland and Catholic Church are opposed to it.
Scott Rennie told BBC Scotland: "I think the churches could follow that example, and would do well to."
The marriage bill was brought forward after a Scottish government consultation, which produced a record 77,508 responses.
Mr Rennie - whose appointment at Queen's Cross in 2009 caused church tensions - said: "What the parliament has done is offered us space for people to express both views.
"It's offered legislation that's enabling, that allows people to move forward if they want to, but respects and keeps the dignity of those who don't feel they can.
"I think in terms of public opinion, in 10 years it will be a non issue, I really do.
"And I think in 20 years, 30 years, people will be writing a report saying what on earth was all the fuss about."
Same-sex couples in Scotland currently have the option to enter into civil partnerships, and there has been an indication that the earliest gay marriage ceremonies could take place by the start of 2015, if the legislation is passed.
Ministers have insisted no part of the religious community would be forced to hold ceremonies for homosexual couples in churches.
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Forget about the political excitement of a potential leadership contest.
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Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
Do recalcitrant Conservative MPs have - or not have - the numbers to force Theresa May out?
Is there - or is there not - a Brexiteer or indeed a former Remainer, willing to wield the knife?
Rather than a straight leadership challenge, what's always been the more likely source of the government's downfall is their lack of majority in the Commons.
Until Friday's cabinet meeting at Chequers, the Brexiteers had backed the government in Commons votes time and time again.
Theresa May has relied on their support - and that of the Eurosceptic DUP - on a weekly basis.
It has been the group of MPs that want closer ties to the EU, that has made life so hard for Theresa May when it comes to Parliamentary votes, at least until now.
The critical difference is that now our law, in the shape of the Withdrawal Act, says we are leaving the EU.
(Of course, there is always a chance this won't happen and pragmatic politics can provide opportunities for a way out of things if needs be).
And it has always been the plan for the organised core of Brexiteers, if not the wider group, that once that Withdrawal Bill was on the statute books things would change.
Their resistance would become much more public, and they would be willing to challenge government votes in a way they have not done up until now.
And here we are.
Brexiteers have this afternoon put down several suggested changes to the Customs Bill, due in the Commons next week.
They are trying to force the government to drop its Chequers compromise, and dangling the threat of voting down legislation if Theresa May doesn't budge.
Brexiteer ministers are this afternoon, I'm told, still trying to get "edits" to the final White Paper, the souped-up version of the Chequers plan.
Their fellow Leavers on the backbenches are clearly going to kick up a stink if Number 10 won't move, and if they choose to, they have the numbers to defeat the government time and again.
Right now, the government has absolutely no intention of stepping back.
Getting (most of) the cabinet to agree a compromise has taken months. And with the Brexit clock ticking down, Theresa May is desperate to push on.
But stopping government getting its business through the Commons is the most potent threat the Brexiteers really have.
However febrile the public fighting, forcing them to lose votes really would hit the government where it hurts.
An administration that simply can't pass its legislation can't hang around for long.
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A new 5p charge for plastic bags was introduced in England on 5 October 2015. Here's what you need to know.
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By Dominic HowellBBC News
How does the levy work?
Shoppers are charged 5p for every new plastic bag they use at large stores in England.
The charge applies only to shops or chains with 250 or more full-time employees.
Plastic bags at airport shops or on board trains, planes or ships, are not included, and neither are paper bags.
England was the last country in the UK to start charging for plastic bags.
Why do this?
The number of plastic bags handed out by supermarkets in England in 2014 rose to 7.64 billion - 200 million more than in 2013.
Figures collected by waste-reduction body Wrap, on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), show that the figure has steadily increased for the past four years.
In 2010 almost 6.3 billion were used.
Campaigners argue that the bags blight streets, spoil the countryside, and damage wildlife, seas and coastline.
Ministers think introducing a 5p charge will stop shoppers using as many new bags, and encourage people to re-use old ones.
The government hopes to see an 80% reduction in plastic bag use in supermarkets, and a 50% fall on the high street.
Over the next decade it hopes the charge will create:
The charge was a policy championed by the Liberal Democrats in the previous coalition government.
Where will the money go?
Initially to the supermarkets. This is not a tax and the money raised by the levy will not go to the government.
Retailers can choose what to do with the proceeds of the charge, but they are expected to donate it to good causes.
Over the next 10 years the government hopes the charge will raise £730m for such causes.
Retailers will need to report to ministers about what they do with the money, and the government will publish this information each year.
What is being done elsewhere?
In 2011, Wales started charging 5p per bag and saw a 71% drop in the number used by customers.
Scotland and Northern Ireland introduced their charges in 2014 and 2013 respectively and have also seen significant drops in usage.
In Scotland the charge was introduced in the final 11 weeks of 2014 and figures show a drop of 18% when compared with the statistics for the previous year. Similarly, in Northern Ireland in 2014 there was a 42.6% annual reduction following a previous drop of 71%, after the carrier bag charge was introduced.
But the UK is not alone in trying to limit use.
In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban thinner plastic bags altogether, after they were found to have choked local drainage systems during floods.
Other countries including South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, China, and Italy followed suit.
More recently Mexico City and the US state of California imposed bans.
Is the charge avoidable?
Does the charge involve all plastic bags?
No. There are a few very specific exemptions. You will not be charged for plastic bags if you're buying:
What about home deliveries?
While all of the major supermarkets will be charging for plastic bags at their outlets, the fee will also affect home deliveries.
Most supermarkets are offering a "bagless" delivery service, or are charging a standard flat fee for plastic bags per shop.
Other operators such as Morrisons and Ocado will be charging 5p per bag for deliveries. However, they will also be giving customers back 5p for the plastic bags they return to the company to recycle.
5p or not 5p? That is the question
How well do you understand the new rules on charging shoppers for plastic bags?
Are re-usable bags cleaner?
The thin modern plastic bags used by supermarkets are actually cleaner to produce, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, than paper bags, heavier plastic "bags for life" and textile bags.
In 2011 Britain's Environment Agency published a Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags, which concluded that long-life bags have to be reused a number of times - more than 100 times in the case of a cotton bag - if they are to be environmentally a better option than standard plastic carrier bags.
Of course, if a plastic bag is reused then its carbon footprint per use decreases even further.
But although they are technically cleaner to produce, plastic bags do not biodegrade.
According to Professor Tony Ryan, at the University of Sheffield's faculty of science, plastic bags in landfill "exist for at least hundreds of years".
You can also get biodegradable plastic bags but at the moment the government wants to charge for these too.
Defra says it needs to find a way of distinguishing biodegradable bags from standard plastic bags in the recycling process.
Biodegradable plastic bags need oxygen and sunlight to degrade. If they get buried in landfill there is little difference between them and standard carrier bags.
What's been the reaction?
A survey of more than 2,000 people commissioned by Break the Bag Habit coalition - which includes the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Keep Britain Tidy among others - found that 62% of people in England agreed a 5p charge was "reasonable".
Environmental charity Friends of the Earth also welcomed the charge, but said more needed to be done.
The group's chief executive, Craig Bennett, described the move as a "small step" and believed it would "do little to tackle the nation's huge waste mountain".
The plans for the levy were described as a "complete mess" by the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee last year.
It warned that excluding paper bags and small retailers risked confusing consumers and undermining the effectiveness of the levy - a view also held by the Association of Convenience Stores.
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Siddhartha Dhar, also known as Abu Rumaysah, is thought to be the new man behind the mask fronting threats to the UK from inside Syria.
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Dominic CascianiHome affairs correspondent@BBCDomCon Twitter
Unlike the man he appears to have replaced - Briton Mohammed Emwazi, dubbed "Jihadi John" - Mr Rumaysah was a well-known and prolific figure among radical Islamists in London.
He disappeared in September 2014, shortly after being released on bail while under investigation for allegedly encouraging terrorism.
Police banned him from travelling and ordered him to hand in his passport. However, he boarded a coach for Paris at London's Victoria Station, along with his wife and children.
Weeks later, he announced his arrival in Syria by posting an image online of himself holding a rifle, and his newborn and fourth child.
"What a shoddy security system Britain must have to allow me to breeze through Europe to [IS]," he tweeted.
Mr Rumaysah, who is in his early 30s, was born and raised in the UK in a Hindu family - his original name is Siddhartha Dhar.
Following his conversion in his late teens, he took the name Saiful Islam (Abu Rumaysah is a "kunya", or nickname, which means "Father of Rumaysah"). He became a leading member and speaker for the al-Muhajiroun network, a group banned under terrorism legislation which has frequently organised and operated under different names.
When not providing bouncy castles for parties, he would regularly attend demonstrations against the US, Israel, Arab regimes or any other cause the group believed to be un-Islamic.
He would stand outside mosques on Friday afternoons, seeking to find new followers to the radical network's way of thinking. He would post videos online and rarely turned down an opportunity to speak to the media.
And when he spoke he barely hid his radical views.
When so-called Islamic State claimed to have destroyed the border between Iraq and Syria in 2014, he believed it was the moment a new Islamic regime worthy of global support had been born.
"The caliphate [a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia] is a dream for all Muslims worldwide," he said in one of his YouTube videos.
"We can finally have a sanctuary where we can practice our religion and live under the Sharia. It is a big, big thing."
In an appearance on the BBC's Sunday Morning Live programme, he expanded on these views.
"Now that we have this caliphate I think you'll see many Muslims globally seeing it as an opportunity for the Koran to be realised," he said.
"As a Muslim I would like to see the UK governed by the Sharia. It is far superior to democracy. I don't really identify myself with British values. I am Muslim first, second and last."
'Travel guide'
In 2014, Mr Rumaysah was asked by a TV journalist whether he would condemn the killing of US journalist James Foley by IS.
He refused to answer the question - saying only that he condemned US airstrikes killing Muslims in the "caliphate".
In May 2015, he "published" a sort of travel guide for would-be fellow travellers.
The 40-page document, which opens with an image of a fictional battle on the edge of Jerusalem, is designed to encourage Muslims to stop procrastinating and join what Mr Rumaysah claims are the swelling ranks of Islamic State.
Most of the rest of the booklet is devoted to the kind of information that features in a standard travel guide: food, weather and transport.
"If you thought London or New York was cosmopolitan, then wait until you step foot in the Islamic State because it screams diversity," he wrote.
"In my short time here I have met people from absolutely every walk of life, proof that the caliphate's pulling power is strong and tenacious."
He glossed over public executions, rape of women held as slaves and other punishments meted out to anyone who does not adhere to the fighting group's ideology.
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Flooding and strong winds have caused serious disruption across south Wales.
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Heavy rain between Newport and Malpas junctions of the M4 on Monday triggered a nine-mile (14km) tailback up to Cardiff Gate, junction 30.
Strong winds also wreaked havoc, sending a tree crashing into a number of cars in Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan.
Boats were also torn from moorings in Swansea, Aberdaron, Ceredigion, and Rhyl, Denbighshire.
Elsewhere:
However, the Met Office said the worst of the weather is over and sunshine with showers are expected later.
A yellow "be aware" warning for wind issued for Wales ended at midday.
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The shortlist for the Richard Coward Scottish Portrait Awards was announced this week.
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Glasgow-based contenders dominate the competition, which recognises black and white photography and carries a top prize of £3,000.
The winner will be announced on 18 November.
The images will feature in an exhibition which will visit Edinburgh, Glasgow and Banff between now and June.
The competition is run by a team of volunteers supported by the Scottish Arts Trust.
Judge Simon Murphy said there were twice as many entries compared with 2019 and the standard was very high.
He added: "All the judging is done anonymously. We have no idea who took the photographs and entries came from all over the country."
All photos are subject to copyright.
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Canada will purchase Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline and related infrastructure in a C$4.5bn ($3.4bn; £2.6bn) federal investment.
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Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government would acquire the troubled pipeline expansion project on Tuesday.
The Trans Mountain extension would connect Alberta to British Columbia and triple Kinder Morgan's capacity.
The project faces fierce opposition from the government of British Columbia (BC) and environmentalists.
What is the proposal?
The federal government seeks to buy Texas-based Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline for C$4.5bn in order to develop the controversial Trans Mountain expansion, which would connect oil reserves in Alberta, the home base of Canada's oil industry, to BC. The government would also be financially responsible for developing the project, which could cost billions above and beyond the pipeline's purchase price.
Mr Morneau said the deal with Kinder Morgan is likely to be closed by August 2018.
"This is an investment in Canada's future," he said.
The federal finance minister said the government does not plan to be the long-term owner of the pipeline and expects the project to be transferred to private sector investors "at an appropriate time".
Why now?
The pipeline has faced a number of legal and regulatory challenges from the BC government that has delayed construction of the project, which was approved by the federal government in 2016.
In April, Kinder Morgan suspended non-essential spending on the project. The company said it would decide on the pipeline project's fate on 31 May.
The company's announcement ramped up the fight over the contentious project, which has pit the federal government and the landlocked province of Alberta against BC.
The two western provinces have been sparring over the pipeline, a situation that Mr Morneau said cannot be allowed to "fester".
Who supports the deal?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has maintained that Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is in the national economic interest.
Alberta's premier Rachel Notley, who has faced political pressure within her own province on the pipeline's delays, said the deal is "a major step forward".
Canada's Chamber of Commerce, which represents Canadian businesses, said they support moving forward with the pipeline expansion project.
"While these are exceptional circumstances, we are pleased that the Trans Mountain Expansion project will proceed, beginning this construction season," spokesperson Alita Fabiano said in a statement.
Who is opposed?
The project has been opposed by BC's provincial government, led by John Horgan. It is deeply unpopular with the province's environmentalists and many indigenous groups, and Mr Horgan has been fighting to delay its construction over regulatory concerns.
He said the government's announcement does not assuage these concerns, but that he would rather deal with the federal government than a private corporation.
"The good news though is that I now know the owner and have his phone number and I can call him with my concerns," he told CBC on Tuesday.
Opponents of the Kinder Morgan project are concerned over the environmental impact of extracting more fossil fuels from Alberta's oil sands and the possibility of an oil tanker spill in Canada's Pacific waters.
Many expressed outrage at the government's decision to buy the pipeline. Social activist and author Naomi Klein called the government's plans a "desperate scam".
Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May, who is an MP in BC, tweeted that Kinder Morgan was "laughing all the way to the bank" and accused the government of subsidising fossil fuels.
On Monday, she pleaded guilty to criminal contempt in relation to her March arrest during a pipeline protest. A judge ordered her to pay a C$1500 fine.
Opposition to the government's proposal comes also from fiscal conservatives, who question the logic behind what they describe as a government bailout.
"This move sets a terrible precedent and signals to other prospective investors that large projects such as pipelines cannot be built by private industry in Canada," said Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
"Worst of all, the cost and risk of a $7bn project that was going to be willingly financed entirely by a private company will now be unnecessarily transferred onto the backs of Canadian taxpayers."
Last month, about 200 protesters opposing the expansion were arrested for breaking a court injunction barring them from entering within five metres (16ft) of two Kinder Morgan terminals in Burnaby, BC.
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It was the discovery of a lifetime, an audacious Indiana Jones-style story of daring diving that uncovered a 400-year-old long-lost haul of Spanish treasure.
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By Ciaran McCauley BBC News NI
When Belgian Robert Sténuit discovered pieces of eight in the murky, freezing seabed off Northern Ireland's north coast 50 years ago he knew he'd finally found it.
Gold and artefacts deposited at the resting place of one of the most important ships in the Spanish Armada - the Girona.
In 1588, the ship sank beneath the harsh Atlantic waves after striking rocks at Lacada Point near Portballintrae, County Antrim.
Along with it went all but nine of the 1,300 people on board - along with a huge cache of Spanish treasure.
Now, the anniversary of Stenuit's startling discovery of the Girona gold has been commemorated in a series of events on Northern Ireland's north coast.
A wreath-laying ceremony took place from a Navy vessel near Lacada Point, the rocky outcrop that is believed to have been struck by the Girona.
On Friday evening, a service was held at St Cuthbert's Church near Dunluce Castle, where an estimated 260 Girona sailors were buried.
The events, organised by the Causeway Coast and Glens Council, not only commemorate the lives lost in the sinking, but also the cultural and historic impact of the Armada and its legacy.
The anniversary reflects not just on the gold and artefacts recovered by Sténuit, but also the stories of the Girona, long thought lost to the waves.
The Girona set sail in May 1588. A galleass ship - part galley, part galleon - it was meant to be one of Spain's decisive weapons in the war against England.
However, by the time it sank in October 1588, the ship carried far more men than it was equipped to carry after picking up surviving crew from other shipwrecks.
The nine survivors were helped by local chief Sorley Boy McDonnell.
McDonnell was also wary of attracting overt attention from crown forces who would take an interest in the Girona and its treasure - so he told them the ship had sunk at another point on the coast.
From then, the Girona and its secrets lay dormant for 400 years - until an intrepid Belgian launched a covert mission to uncover the lost Armada ship.
Robert Sténuit was a trailblazing professional diver, who made one of the world's first prolonged deep dive, but was also a historian by trade - and he had a hunch that he knew where the Girona had sank.
Looking at 19th century maps, he noticed two markings - Spaniard Rock and Port na Spaniagh.
"When the first version of this map was made," he told a 2008 documentary, "the geographers came and asked people how is this place named and why. There was a very vivid memory of what had happened."
When the dive began in 1967, Sténuitt was accompanied by his associates, Mark Jasinski and his wife Annette.
After a week diving around Port na Spaniagh, they had located a bronze Armada cannon, an anchor and a gold escudo. They knew they were in the right place.
However, the crew maintained strict radio silence on their discovery - with no legal powers over the wreck site, they knew that they could potentially lose out.
They stashed their finds in an underwater cave and went to London to get financial backing for a more extensive dive of the seabed.
Sténhuit's expanded crew returned in April 1968 and, having registered an interest with the receiver of wrecks, he was confident that he had legal power over the site. Regardless, Sténuit kept things hush-hush.
"We told people we were filming the underwater eco-system around the Giants Causeway," he explained.
However, the crew's decision to salvage a full cannon let the Armada secret out of the bag.
"Everyone could see what we were doing. There was pandemonium, there was big posters in the street," he said.
"The evening newspapers printed 'GOLD' like this across the front page, and everyone was there during the weekend. We were overwhelmed by tourists."
Soon, Sténhuit's crew were joined by a dozen or so divers from the Belfast Sub-Aqua Club.
The Belgian told the documentary: "I asked them if they were going to the site of the Girona, and none of them answered anything.
"I went to the skipper of an open boat who was there to take them somewhere and asked the same questions and he said 'no, we're going the other way, we're going west'.
"Then the boat went out of the harbour and went straight east to the Girona."
As Sténhuit described, they were "not coming in an inquisitive mind but an acquisitive mind" though Alan Wilson, from the club, said they simply thought they were "diving on a wreck".
"We thought there was a big boat there," he told the documentary, with a laugh.
In the end, headlines were made, but for slightly different reasons after Sténhuit confronted a diver underwater to stop him lifting a piece of lead from the wreck.
"It made me angry, yes," he said. "We were trying to reconstruct a puzzle and if you are missing a piece of the puzzle you cannot reconstruct it."
By 1969, Sténhuit and his crew felt that they had exhausted their dive efforts - but this was just the beginning of the story of who owned the Girona gold.
'Fulfilling'
Spain claimed that it should belong to them, while others argued that it should remain in Northern Ireland.
In the end, a court decided that no single owner could be found, so the artefacts would be sold.
They were valued at £132,000 and Sténhuit agreed a deal for it to stay in Northern Ireland and in the Ulster Museum, where the Girona gold remains a key part of the museum's exhibitions.
Sténhuit and Jesinski returned to Portballintrae to film the 2008 documentary, and recalled that while the endeavour was financially worthwhile, it was also the most fulfilling of their lives.
"I don't like the word profit, in that context," the Belgian said.
"Because it's not what we had in mind. Our time was compensated, and handsomely, in two ways. Because we had some of the best years of our lives and a little money to put butter in the spinach, as we say in France."
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The owner of a cancer support dog has said "every day hurts" since she was stolen from her home.
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Police received a report that a black Labrador was stolen from a property near Billesdon, Leicestershire, overnight between 18 and 19 February.
The dog, called Purdey, has helped her owner to recover from cancer by giving her "purpose" and "something to focus on" after her treatment.
Leicestershire Police said enquiries are ongoing to locate the dog.
'Scared and confused'
Purdey's owner, who doesn't want to be named, described her pet as "the most beautiful, loyal, kind dog".
She said: "I needed her when she came to me. She gave me a purpose. She was something just for me.
"When you've recovered from an illness and have gone through the treatment it's very good to walk and it was good to have something to focus on and she gave me joy.
"Every day it hurts waiting for her and I'm afraid for her.
"She needs to come home to everything she knows and loves. She's going to be scared and confused."
The owner is getting help from Beauty's Legacy - an organisation that helps to reunite pets with their owners.
Lisa Dean, from Beauty's Legacy, said: "As a cancer support dog she will be hugely distressed being separated from her owner. They have a unique bond.
"She has been a rock to her owner and something to bring her joy through the darkest of times."
Purdey is described as a very large and heavy-set Labrador with a distinctive hair ridge down her nose and a dip at the base of her tail.
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The world's oldest and deepest waters are not immune from contamination, warn scientists.
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By Jonathan AmosBBC Science Correspondent, Vienna
It had been assumed that "fossil" reserves found hundreds of metres underground would be largely untouched by modern water sources.
But sampling from some 10,000 wells shows this not to be the case.
The new study reveals that about half of the deep groundwater has had contact with rains and snows that fell in the past 60 years.
And that means these ancient aquifers are also at some risk from pollution if waste and land management practices are defective.
It is an issue of significance because fossil waters are an important resource, providing drinking supplies and irrigation for billions of people across the globe.
The scientists presented their findings here in Vienna at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly. They have also published a report in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The team tested the deep waters for the presence of two radioactive elements.
The first was carbon-14 which occurs naturally in the environment and is pulled out of the air by rain and snow. This precipitation will eventually percolate into deep soil pore-spaces and rock fractures.
Because carbon-14 decays relatively slowly, a very low count in water will indicate great antiquity. Scientists will use the term fossil in this context to mean water that last touched the atmosphere more than about 10,000 years ago.
The second radioisotope to be checked was tritium, a heavy form of hydrogen which, in contrast, decays very rapidly. It was put in the atmosphere by A-bomb tests in the 1950s/1960s, so its presence is a sign of water's youth.
"What we've learnt from these two radioisotopes is two things," explained team-member Jim Kirchner from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
"One is that more than half of groundwater under our feet is fossil groundwater. The second important finding is that of this fossil groundwater, the water that comes out of those wells also contains a component of modern groundwater in at least half of cases.
"That means the water we are pumping from these deep wells, from what we think are ancient aquifers, also can potentially contain modern contaminants, either because of mixing within the well itself as the water is brought up, or because of mixing within the aquifer," he told BBC News.
The study's lead author, Scott Jasechko of the University of Calgary, Canada, added: "We're using the analogy of grandkids visiting their grandparents.
"Imagine fossil groundwaters are the grandparents and that younger groundwaters are the grandkids.
"We're finding that groundwater grandkids often visit groundwater grandparents deep underground, and, unfortunately, sometimes these grandkids have the flu.
"These young groundwaters may carry contaminants down with them, impacting deep groundwater once considered immune to modern contamination."
The scientists say the issue of pollution also now needs to be considered alongside the oft-discussed concern over the sustainable use of groundwater.
The deeply buried ancient water is what it is because of the time taken to build up, and hydrologists have long warned that it should really be viewed as a kind of "credit card", to be drawn on principally only in periods of major water stress, such as during a severe drought.
This case will continue to be made, but the new study now adds in the extra matter of contamination risk.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
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Campaigners are urging Facebook to act against what they describe as Russian attempts to silence pro-Ukrainian voices.
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By Vitaly ShevchenkoBBC Monitoring
They say numerous accounts critical of the Kremlin have been suspended following false reports of abuse filed from Russia.
Ukraine's president has urged Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to create a special administrative office to deal with the complaints.
Russia has not commented on the claims.
Addressing Mr Zuckerberg on Facebook, President Petro Poroshenko said: "We have to use all available channels to get reaction from global companies.
"Ukraine does need a Ukrainian Facebook office!"
Underneath, he shared Mark Zuckerberg's status inviting questions for his regular "Townhall Q&A" session on 14 May.
The top responses to Mr Zuckerberg's invitation were overwhelmingly pro-Ukrainian.
"Can you or your team please do something to resolve this problem?" asked the most popular comment, which had attracted more than 41,000 likes at the time of writing.
"Create a separate administration for the Ukrainian segment, block abuse reports from Russia, or maybe just monitor more carefully top Ukrainian bloggers, but somehow help us, please!" it said.
'We make mistakes'
In recent weeks, several prominent Ukrainian users of Facebook have had their accounts suspended after posting updates critical of Russia or Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
A Ukrainian poet, Andriy Bondar, fell foul of the social network's regulations by publishing a verse mocking the Russian media's fixation with Ukraine and referencing the popular hashtag, "What are Ukrainians up to?".
Henadiy Moskal, the plain-speaking governor of the restive Luhansk region, had his Facebook account blocked after sharing a photo of himself standing next to a poster with an obscenity aimed at the separatists.
Russians themselves are not immune from the apparent campaign to silence Kremlin critics on Facebook.
The account belonging to independent journalist Sergey Parkhomenko was suspended on 6 May after he voiced allegations of Russian involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine.
Facebook later said this was done in error.
"Our team deals with thousands of reports and complaints on a daily basis, and we make mistakes in rare cases," Russian news agency RBK quoted a Facebook representative as saying.
Facebook users targeted by such abuse reports often say they are filed by paid "Kremlin bots" or the "troll army" supposedly run by the Russian government to promote its point of view on social media.
The Kremlin has not commented on these claims, while Facebook is yet to respond to the calls for a separate administrative office to deal with comments on Ukraine.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.
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A care unit where a teenager died a year ago is unlikely to reopen to patients, a health trust has said.
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Connor Sparrowhawk, 18, died after he was found unconscious in a bath in Slade House, in Headington, Oxford, in July last year.
An independent report ruled his death could have been prevented.
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Slade House, said it intended to close the site but a final decision had not yet been made.
Options being considered include leasing or possibly selling the building.
Slade House, which cares for people with learning disabilities, has an emergency assessment and treatment unit and a unit where people stay for longer.
A post-mortem examination following Connor's death showed he died as a result of drowning, likely to have been caused by an epileptic seizure.
A report from consultancy firm Verita said the failure of staff to respond to and risk assess Connor's epilepsy led to a "series of poor decisions around his care".
In September, following damning findings by inspectors, Slade House's two units were closed to new admissions.
Lesley Munro, director for learning disability at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, said the trust intended not to reopen the unit but would be asking patients, families and staff for their views before making a final decision.
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Japanese gaming company Nintendo plans to sell its majority stake in the US baseball team, Seattle Mariners.
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A statement said it had begun talks to sell "a portion of its ownership". Once a deal is done, Nintendo will no longer be the team's principal owner.
It has struggled to repair its finances in the face of competition from mobile gaming. On Wednesday it released a 60% net profit drop for the past year.
Nintendo took over the team in 1992 when it was at risk of being relocated.
The president at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, then pushed the investment so it could become the principal owner of the Mariners. Since then, the baseball team has had several star Japanese players including Ichiro Suzuki and Hisashi Iwakuma.
Nintendo's ownership also helped boost the team's popularity among Japanese baseball fans.
Profits from the planned Seattle Mariners sale were not reflected in Wednesday's weak financial forecasts and the firm said that they would "adjust the financial forecasts and release them as needed" once a deal was agreed.
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The Wedgwood Museum collection has been "saved for the nation" after reaching its £15.75m target in a month.
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The collection features 80,000 works of art, ceramics, manuscripts, letters and photographs.
It faced being sold to help pay off the pottery firm's pension bill, inherited by Wedgwood Museum after Waterford Wedgwood plc collapsed in 2009.
The collection is expected to remain on display at the museum in Barlaston, Staffordshire.
The Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund and a number of smaller trusts have contributed £13m, while a public appeal, including donations from businesses, has raised a further £2.74m since it launched at the start of last month.
Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said the Save Wedgwood appeal had been the fastest fundraising campaign in the charity's 111-year history, reaching its target almost two months before its deadline.
He said it demonstrated "nothing less than a national passion for Wedgwood".
"Together we've ensured that one of the most important collections in the world can continue to be enjoyed by all," he said.
Tristram Hunt, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, described the collection as "perhaps the most compelling account of British industrial, social and design history anywhere in the world".
"I'm extremely pleased that this treasure trove will now remain intact, in Staffordshire and on display to the public as Wedgwood himself would have wanted," he said.
The collection will be gifted to the Victoria and Albert Museum, with plans to loan it to the Wedgwood Museum.
It is expected to go on display in a new visitor centre, part of a £34m redevelopment of the Barlaston site, set to open in spring 2015.
Wedgwood
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