id
int64 10.1M
41.1M
| dialogue
stringlengths 15
174k
⌀ | summary
stringlengths 1
399
|
|---|---|---|
32,128,842 | The inspector of constabulary, Derek Penman said officers did not have definitive guidance of what should be recorded as a stop-and-search.
And he said he did not have confidence in the stop-search data held by police.
The Scottish government responded by setting up a new advisory group to examine the use of stop-and-search powers in Scotland.
In the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland (HMICS) report the inspector said there was no guidance on how searches should be counted and he criticised a lack of data validation and quality control processes by Police Scotland.
The report recommended a move from "consensual" searches to "statutory" searches, where a person is stopped under legislative powers.
Responding to the report, Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said the police had confirmed there would now be a presumption against consensual stop-and-search for all age groups.
The new independent advisory group, which will be chaired by prominent solicitor advocate John Scott QC, will be asked to make recommendations on whether that goes far enough or if the practice should stop altogether.
It will also help to develop a draft code of practice for the use of stop-and-search in Scotland.
It will present recommendations by August so that any legislation needed can be included in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.
Police Scotland, which also published its own review of the practice, said it accepted the HMICS recommendations.
On the eve of Police Scotland's second birthday, a damning report has been released regarding the quality of its stop-search data.
At the same time, new data has emerged showing that dozens more children were frisked on Scotland's streets in December.
These figures - which took several months to obtain through a freedom of information request - reveal 36 minors were searched that month.
Of those, 16 were consensual - 81% of which resulted in the discovery of no contraband items.
The majority of these were related to alcohol and weapons - but they were largely unsuccessful searches (with 15% and 0% success rates respectively).
Read more from Marc
Police Scotland has been under considerable pressure to reduce the number of consensual searches after incidents where children under the age of 12 were said to have agreed to be searched by officers.
The inspector's report said Police Scotland conducted 83 consensual searches of children aged 11 or under between June 23 and December 31 last year, after the policy was scrapped.
It said communication of the change in policy could have been more effective.
The inspector also called for stop-and-search to be removed as a key performance indicator for Police Scotland, noting that officers still thought volume targets exist.
HMICS concluded that there was currently no clear link between the use of stop-and-search and reductions in crime.
Mr Penman said: "We have suggested a way forward that should result in significant reductions in consensual stop-and-search across Scotland, whilst at the same time building a reliable evidence base to allow a more informed view on the future need for consensual stop-and-search.
"We have recommended a move towards legislative stop-and-search which, combined with improvements in recording practices, training, supervision and audit, should give communities across Scotland more confidence in the use of stop-and-search.
"We believe the development of a statutory code of practice would establish clearly-understood principles and safeguards for the public and would be particularly beneficial in providing clear and transparent guidance on the conduct of searches."
Police Scotland also handed a report on a review of stop-and-search practices to the Scottish government.
Deputy chief constable Rose Fitzpatrick said stop-and-search would remain an important tool for the police but the force was committed to ensuring it was undertaken "within a public consensus".
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: "Stop-and-search can be a valuable tool in combating crime - but we must get the balance right between protecting the public and the rights of the individual.
"As such, it is vital that stop-and-search powers are used appropriately, and we need to make some key decisions on how such powers should be used going forward. We need a clear, consistent approach which, as a society, we can all be agreed upon."
John Scott, who will lead the advisory group, said there was considerable uncertainty and confusion among the public and police about when stop-search was justified.
The prominent human rights lawyer and chairman of Howard League Scotland said: "This is an area in which it is important to strike a balance between, on the one hand, allowing the police to continue to address crime in all its aspects, including prevention and deterrence, and, on the other, the right of the public, including our young people, to go about their daily lives untroubled by unjustified police activity.
"Striking a proper balance is not possible while confusion continues." | A police watchdog has called for a code of practice, backed by law, on the use of stop-and-search. |
39,808,906 | The man, understood to be Mohammed Murtaza, 47, from Kirkcaldy, was convicted for continuing as a landlord after his registration was refused.
He was found guilty on 27 April of breaching the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004, and the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.
He was fined £500 and banned as a private landlord for 12 months.
Sheriff Gilchrist said it was "a flagrant breach of legislation".
The landlord had previously been convicted at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court in November 2014 for failing to comply with his private landlord duties under the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 and for being in breach of Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998.
He had six convictions with fines of £540.
He was refused entry onto Fife's landlord register, as a result of the convictions, in June 2015, making it a criminal offence for him to rent out a residential property in Fife.
John Mills, Fife Council's head of housing said: "A significant proportion of private landlords are of good character and comply with the law, however, there are some who act unlawfully.
"The outcome of this particular case sends a clear message to private landlords in Fife that the council will continue to take all appropriate action to protect tenants and improve property standards in the private sector." | A disqualification order against a Fife private landlord has been granted - the first to be agreed by a Scottish court. |
40,576,211 | The county Down runner, 35, clocked 9:54.40 as she finished eighth at the Folksam Grand Prix meeting.
O'Flaherty's time was three seconds inside her previous season's best set last week in Hungary.
Meanwhile, Leon Reid clocked 20.57 to finish fifth in the 200m in Lucerne.
The Northern Ireland athlete, who booked his Commonwealth Games spot by improving his personal best to 20.38 when finishing a surprise third at the recent British World Championship trials, was competing at the Spitzen Leichtathletik event.
Jamaican duo Nickel Ashmeade (20.37) and Warren Weir (20.44) filled the first two places while Switzerland's Alex Wilson (20.46) and American Dedric Dukes (20.47) were also ahead of the Bath-based Reid, who is hoping to transfer international allegiance to Ireland.
Rio Olympian O'Flaherty will compete again in Belgium on Saturday.
O'Flaherty, who set her personal best of 9:42.61 in 2015, was out of racing for over a month after tearing a calf muscle at a British Milers Club meeting in Solihull in May.
After struggling in a number of races on the continent following her injury, the Newcastle athlete was under 10 minutes for the first time this season in Hungary and then clocked 9:59.46 in Letterkenny on Friday night.
Twelve Northern Ireland athletes have already achieved Commonwealth Games considerations standards although it is far from certain all those with the Gold Coast marks will be selected for the trip to Australia next Spring.
The Gothenburg race was won by Kenya's Caroline Tuigong who clocked 9:35.57 ahead of American Katie Landwehr (9:37.00) and Britain's Lennie Waite (9:37.94). | Kerry O'Flaherty was 0.40 seconds outside the Commonwealth Games 3,000m steeplechase consideration standard as she produced a season's best in Gothenburg on Tuesday night. |
24,400,147 | However, the sinking of the fishing vessel and drowning of more than 300 African migrants appeared to generate little comment in the media of their home continent.
The Awate.com news website, which is hosted in the United States and serves an Eritrean audience, did comment on the incident, saying that ''the only way to stop such tragedies from repeating over and over again is to target the root cause - the predatory Eritrean regime'', which it said Eritrean migrants were escaping from. 　
In Italy, the main papers all carried pictures of body bags, survivors and rescuers.
"Lampedusa, a sea of dead" was the headline of local daily La Sicilia. "Immigrant apocalypse" read the front page of the Giornale di SicliaSicilia The front page of Rome's Il Tempo featured a white cross against a black background with the headline "Welcome to Italy".
National daily Corriere Della Sera carried a front-page commentary by Gian Antonio Stella saying that a long-running tally of the death toll for illegal immigrants trying to get to Europe was now said to be around 20,000.
"These waves of people coming ashore cannot remain an Italian problem. This issue concerns everyone. Just as the mayor of Lampedusa urged [prime minister Enrico] Letta to "come and count the dead with us"... so should the same cry be directed at Brussels," he wrote.
Rome's La Repubblica published an interview with Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, who is Congolese-born and the first black minister to serve in Italy's cabinet.
She told the paper that "I could have been on that boat" and that it was time to review Italy's 2002 immigration law, which introduced criminal sanctions for those caught entering the country illegally.
Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on its front page echoed the words of Pope Francis, who described the disaster as "a disgrace which must not be repeated".
In Germany, Christian Jakob said in Berlin's Die Tageszeitung: ''In the face of the catastrophe everyone is blaming unprincipled people smugglers, or is even demanding 'national mourning'. But it's clear what must be done... Europe must open itself up again to those seeking shelter. Otherwise the dying will continue.''
Klaus Huhold in Austria's Wiener Zeitung said: ''Europe's present immigration policy tries to make it as hard as possible for refugees to get to Europe in the first place... The tragedy of Lampedusa proves again how ineffective this policy is and the deadly consequences it can bring. Whoever sees a journey on a wooden boat to Lampedusa as his last chance will take that chance - no matter how dangerous it might be.''
In Switzerland's TagesAnzeiger, Stephan Israel said: "Countries without external borders - such as Germany or Switzerland - can no longer leave it to the exposed Italians, Spanish or Greeks to deal with the refugee trek. Some more solidarity would make the horror at the daily drama on the margins of affluence more credible.''
Spain's El Pais reported on the sinking and said: "The only thing that is different is the number. A number sufficiently high to be dressed up with big words of mourning and alarm; an endless line of dead without names at the start of the TV news. The rest happens every day.''
Somali websites carried factual reports on the sinking: "More than 130 Africans including Somalis died in Lampedusa" (Shabeelle); "Boat carrying 500 immigrants sinks in Italian shore" (Dayniile); "Three-hundred African immigrants killed in Italy's Lampedusa sinking" (Jowhar) and "Death toll in Lampedusa sinking reaches 300" (Midnimo).
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. | The migrant boat disaster off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa dominated Friday's front pages of Italian papers and some other European countries, prompting commentators to question European immigration policies and to wonder how a repeat of such incidents can be avoided. |
35,578,404 | Remus Hamza, 40, is alleged to have attacked the 20-year-old near Cardiff University as she walked home alone after a night out with friends on 20 September.
The prosecution at Newport Crown Court has alleged she was so drunk she could not have consented to sex.
The defendant, who is Romanian and lives in Cardiff, denies rape.
The court heard the woman lost her friends during her night out and started to walk home along Greyfriars Road, under an underpass by City Hall and then along Museum Avenue at about 02:00 GMT.
It was here she was approached by the defendant and the alleged rape happened behind a bush.
Claire Pickthall, prosecuting, told the jury the victim was "so drunk she can't remember the incident happening. She can't even remember him having sex with her".
It was this intoxication, she said, that meant she was not in any state to consent.
"The actions in these circumstances amount to rape," Ms Pickthall said.
"He was preying on single, drunk females."
The court heard Lee Neill, who saw Mr Hamza walking behind the National Museum of Wales with the victim, was so concerned he followed them.
Suspecting something "sinister", Mr Neill said he took a photograph "to use as evidence".
The flash frightened Mr Hamza, who ran off, the jury was told. After giving chase, Mr Neill lost Mr Hamza and returned to the alleged victim. He then called the police.
However, the court heard when officers spoke to the victim, she was so confused she thought Mr Neill was the man who raped her.
He was arrested and questioned but later released. DNA later led police to arrest Mr Hamza, the court was told.
The woman told jurors she had drunk wine, cider and cocktails during her night out.
She said she couldn't remember much of her journey home or the attack but insisted she would never have consented to having sex with a stranger.
"I have a moral compass'" she added. | A man accused of raping a student during fresher's week was preying on single, drunk women, a court has heard. |
37,949,919 | On 13 November 2015, three gunmen killed 90 people and injured hundreds at the Bataclan nightclub in Paris.
The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace will support survivors who have travelled back to the city.
There was a "long-term need" for this support, Terry O'Hara from the Warrington-based charity said.
The group, which operates the UK Survivors Assistance Network, said it would "be in and around the Bataclan providing support for any UK victims of terrorism that have attended and obviously being available for any others".
Mr O'Hara said memorials were important to help survivors come to terms with what they had witnessed.
"There's a long-term need - these people have become members of a club they didn't want to join and there's a feeling that these attacks are very rare but incredibly impacting on the people affected and psychological trauma is overwhelmingly the after-effect that people struggle to find help with," he said.
The foundation is named after two schoolboys killed when two IRA bombs exploded in Warrington on 20 March 1993.
Tim Parry was 12 and Johnathan Ball just three years old when they were killed by the blast in a busy shopping street the day before Mother's Day. More than 50 other people were injured. | A charity that helps people affected by terrorism is to offer support at events marking the first anniversary of the Bataclan attack in France. |
40,429,162 | Mark H Durkan was minister when he opted to issue an enforcement notice rather than a stop notice.
Companies were able to appeal against it and keep extracting sand pending the outcome of the ongoing appeal.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth took the department to court over that decision.
Lough Neagh is an internationally important bird sanctuary with EU protection.
The court of appeal ruled that, in the absence of proof that the dredging was not doing any harm to the lough - the so-called precautionary principle - the minister had taken the wrong approach.
"What has been disregarded in the letter of decision, where it deals with the Stop Notice, is that these operations, are considered likely to have significant impact, that the nature and extent of that impact has not been established, that prior to the grant of permission is the requirement to establish that there will be no significant impact and that it is imperative that the precautionary principle be applied," the judgement said.
The judges referred the decision back to the Department for Infrastructure for reconsideration.
This ruling does not mean that sand dredging must stop immediately.
But Friends of the Earth has said it would be writing to the department on Wednesday with a copy of the judgement demanding the issuing of a stop notice.
Around 1.5m tonnes of sand is taken from the lough every year by five companies.
It provides around a quarter of the sand needed for construction in Northern Ireland. | A former environment minister took the wrong approach when he opted not to immediately stop sand-dredging on Lough Neagh, the appeal court has found. |
19,630,683 | The Irishpaper's co-owners, Independent News and Media, confirmed that Mr O'Kane is suspended.
This is while an investigation into the use of the photos takes place.
The Irish Daily Star published the photographs on Saturday, after they had appeared in French magazine Closer.
On Monday, the Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he would revisit the country's privacy bill following the Irish Daily Star's reprinting of the pictures.
Mr Shatter said legislation was needed to ensure a balance between proper investigative journalism and an individual's right to privacy.
"Some sections of the print media are either unable or unwilling in their reportage to distinguish between 'prurient interest' and 'the public interest'," he added.
The tabloid's co-owner, Richard Desmond, said he was "taking immediate steps to close down" the Irish newspaper.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it was an "over the top reaction".
Earlier, the NUJ said it was "disproportionate" to threaten to cut more than 100 jobs.
Mr Desmond is chairman of the UK-based publisher Northern & Shell, which jointly owns the Irish Daily Star with Irish newspaper group, Independent News and Media (INM).
NUJ Irish secretary, Seamus Dooley, said the closure threat was "a callous and crude attempt by Northern and Shell to protect their UK commercial interests", and he claimed that the company had shown "no regard for the livelihood" of its Irish workers.
Both co-owners of the Irish Daily Star had criticised the decision of its editor, Mike O'Kane, to publish the pictures.
However, like the NUJ, INM has also described Mr Desmond's threat to close the title as disproportionate.
INM said Mr O'Kane's "regrettable" editorial decision was now under investigation but also pointed out that more than 120 staff are currently employed at the Irish Daily Star, directly and indirectly.
Mr Dooley said the contrast between the reactions of the two co-owners was interesting.
He said it would be "quite difficult" for INM to sustain the newspaper without the support of its UK partner.
The general secretary of the NUJ, Michelle Stanistreet, is to write to Mr Desmond on Monday, to express the union's concerns over his remarks.
She has described the closure threat as "an over-the-top reaction which should be reconsidered calmly and with consideration of the full implications for Irish journalism and for editorial diversity".
Lawyers acting for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have begun a bid in France to restrict publication of the pictures.
Their lawyer called for French magazine Closer to hand over the digital originals or face a large daily fine, during a hearing in Nanterre, Paris.
A lawyer for Closer claimed the couple's reaction was disproportionate.
The royal couple earlier launched a criminal complaint in France in relation to the pictures. | The editor of the Irish Daily Star, Michael O'Kane, has been suspended over its publication of topless photographs of the Duchess Of Cambridge. |
40,966,146 | The 70 prints featuring Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Laurence Olivier, Henry Fonda and John Wayne were used in Cardiff cinemas from 1936 to 1940.
But two builders later stumbled upon them while renovating the home of a late cinema owner in Penarth in 1985.
They have been put up for auction but are so rare there is no guide price.
The posters, which are up to 3m (10ft) tall, were turned into makeshift underlay after once being used in the New Theatre, Capitol, Empire and Olympia cinema theatres.
They include Alfred Hitchcock's second Hollywood feature, Foreign Correspondent, in 1940 and John Wayne's breakthrough film, Stagecoach, in 1939.
Also included is Fire Over England, the first British film to have its premiere in Los Angeles and the first to pair together Hollywood stars Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in 1937.
They have been kept in pristine condition after being found by the builders.
Now film fans are to be given the chance to own them as they go up for auction next month.
Auctioneer Ben Rogers Jones, of Rogers Jones & Co, said valuing the posters was "nearly impossible" because there was no comparison "in terms of titles, condition and size of some of them".
"It wasn't just the sheer volume of them that was impressive but the condition was fantastic considering their age and the imposing size of the 12-sheet posters," he added. | A collection of classic Hollywood cinema posters found in perfect condition after being used as a carpet underlay for decades are to be sold. |
35,678,304 | It features a quick reference guide for health professionals, including information on symptoms, signs and images of what to look out for.
It is available as a free download via the Apple and Google app stores.
The Scottish government commissioned the development of the app version of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer.
It was produced by the Scottish Centre for Enabling Technologies, based at the University of the West of Scotland.
The app can be continually updated when the user is in a wi-fi zone, giving them the latest information as quickly as possible. It can also be used offline.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "This app, which has been developed in partnership with health professionals and patients, will make it easier and quicker for doctors, pharmacists and senior nurses to access information on referral for those suspected of having cancer.
"The earlier a cancer is diagnosed and treated, the better the survival outcomes.
"Improving the number of patients diagnosed at an early stage will reduce premature deaths from cancer and have a positive effect on overall life expectancy.
"I would therefore urge all relevant health professionals to download and use this free app."
Dr Douglas Rigg, a Glasgow GP who was involved in the development of the app, said: "The app brings us quick access to information to support clinical decision-making.
"Mobile devices are becoming an integral part of GPs' equipment and apps like this are part of the future of primary care and for GPs keeping knowledge up to date." | A new app to help doctors with referrals for patients suspected of having cancer has been launched. |
38,854,778 | The jobs at four firms include 100 at BT's call centre in Swansea and 50 posts at a healthcare firm in Crumlin.
They come just days after Wales failed to secure a large defence investment from Boeing UK for a centre of excellence and up to 1,500 jobs.
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said it was "disappointing" Cardiff Airport missed out on Boeing's hub.
The 256 new jobs involve:
It is the first in a series of job announcements being made this week by Mr Skates.
He said it was an indication of the "hard work going on behind the scenes" by the Welsh Government.
Mr Skates said: "It's particularly important to recognise that every part of Wales needs to benefit from economic growth so I'm keen to announce through this themed week, job creation packages in every area of the country."
BBI Group began in 1986 as a Cardiff University spin-out company and now has a £60m turnover.
It produces enzymes and assays for use in diagnostics for a wide range of diseases.
SPC operations director Paul Hallas said its new facility was "the latest phase of our expansion plans for the growing business".
What they produce is sold across the world to firms which make diagnostic kits for anything from hospital blood tests, to home kits for people with diabetes.
It is a growing sector and one company they supply make 6bn diagnostics strips a year.
The company took over a site in Blaenavon which has been operating since 1974 and some of the staff have been there for more than 30 years.
They are skilled jobs, many have science degrees and all are paid above average for Wales.
The news comes as it emerged Wales had failed to secure a large investment from Boeing UK.
Instead, the US aerospace giant confirmed to BBC Wales that the jobs and investment are going to Wiltshire and that a site at Cardiff Airport came second.
Aerospace is an industry which the Welsh Government has called a priority sector.
There are already 160 aerospace companies in Wales employing 23,000 people, many of whom will earn wages above average.
"We got down to the final two," said Mr Skates.
"We're in a strong position should opportunities emerge from Boeing. However, the fact we reached that point demonstrates we're ahead of most of the competition in most of the sectors."
He said the Ministry of Defence presence in that area was an attraction to Boeing, and Wales had beaten off a huge number of investment areas across Britain to get close to winning the deal.
Many more people are working in Wales than recent years and Welsh unemployment levels have been below the UK average for many months.
The ONS figures published in January show there were 24,000 more people working in Wales than a year earlier but 18,000 fewer than the previous three months.
Clearly it is good news for the extra individuals who are now in work and good for the wider economy that unemployment in Wales is now below the UK rate.
The weakness in the Welsh economy is low productivity and low wages.
The most recent official Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings figures from ONS for April 2016 show middle income workers (median earnings) in Wales earn £492.40 a week compared with £538.70 for the UK as a whole.
That is the second lowest average earnings of all the 12 nations and regions of the UK.
Mr Skates said it was about focusing on priority jobs and sectors such as financial and professional services - which were bringing "incredible results" - and advanced manufacturing.
He told BBC Wales he also wants people, once in work, to develop their skill levels to "rise up the escalator of economic activity" to become more prosperous. | More than 250 new jobs are being created in south Wales, the first in a series of announcements this week. |
18,735,621 | The motion said many species are not covered by IWC rules, and criticised Japan's scientific whaling programmes.
The delegates' final act was to decide to hold meetings every two years.
Meanwhile, the Danish and Greenland governments will "reflect" on whaling options for Greenland's Inuit after the IWC denied a bid to raise quotas.
The options include setting quotas unilaterally without the IWC's explicit approval, or even withdrawing from the body. Either would be intensely controversial.
Nothing caused more controversy here, though, than South Korea's announcement that it was preparing to allow some of its fishermen to hunt whales under regulations permitting a catch for scientific research.
Japan has had such programmes in place since 1986, including an annual hunt in the Southern Ocean, which has been declared a whale sanctuary.
That was one focus of the resolution, tabled by Monaco, that called on the UN General Assembly to debate whale conversation.
Another was that whaling nations want the IWC's remit restricted to species that have been hunted, while others want it to work for the conservation of all cetaceans.
The resolution invited governments to "consider these issues in collaboration with the UN General Assembly, with a view to contributing to the conservation efforts of the IWC".
There was general acceptance that such a resolution should only go forward by consensus, and it was soon clear that consensus was absent.
Norway's Einar Tallaksen said issues regarding cetaceans "are not a matter for the UN General Assembly, but for the competent fisheries organisations, including the IWC".
As far as this meeting is concerned, the proposal is abandoned, though Monaco will work for it within the UN and is launching a "task force" of supportive nations.
"Clearly the whaling countries want to contain any discussion of their whaling inside the IWC," commented Patrick Ramage, director of the global whale programme with the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
"They don't want their diplomats at the United Nations to have to defend the indefensible."
On the final day of the IWC's annual meeting, held this time in Panama City, delegations were also mulling the implications of Denmark's decision to leave without a whale-hunting quota for the Greenland Inuit.
They came to Panama asking for increased quotas for humpback and fin whales, in addition to maintaining existing levels for minkes and bowheads.
The bid became more controversial after environment groups reported finding whalemeat on sale in many supermarkets and restaurants, and, with the EU against the expansion, the bid failed.
"We are going to go home and reflect, because this is a situation that needs to be handled with care," said Danish delegation head Ole Samsing.
Experienced observers noted that in previous years, Denmark has been willing to compromise its requests in order to get something agreed.
The EU would have supported a continuation of the existing quotas, but the Danes opted instead to leave with nothing.
"There can be no doubt that Denmark knew when it put the proposal to a vote that it would fail," said Sue Fisher, on behalf of the Washington DC-based Animal Welfare Institute.
"It could have walked out of here days ago with a perfectly adequate quota to meet the subsistence needs of indigenous communities in Greenland for the next six years, but it was prepared to lose everything for a handful of extra whales that, our recent surveys show, could well end up on the menu in tourist restaurants".
Japan's deputy commissioner, Akima Umezawa, said the vote against Greenland had been the most disappointing aspect of a discouraging meeting.
"Many pointed out the commercialism and the increased quota," he said.
"But commercialism is accepted by the definition of [aboriginal] subsistence whaling, and the increased quota was accepted and endorsed by the IWC scientific committee."
The issue is made more complex by the evolving relationship between Greenland, a hunting-based society of just over 50,000 people, and its former colonial ruler.
Several years ago, Greenland formally asked the Danish government to put its whaling outside the IWC's aegis, but it is understood that it would now prefer to remain within the organisation.
It is inconceivable that hunting will stop, so the question is how Greenland intends to go forward.
Its own interpretation of rules on aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) is that countries are entitled to set their own quotas, provided they are consistent with IWC scientific advice. Other countries disagree.
The US is also opening the door to unilateral action, with draft legislation introduced into Congress that would allow the government to set quotas if the IWC denied them.
Overall, many observers said this had been the most functional IWC meeting for years, with votes taken in an orderly fashion and a relative absence of grandstanding.
Six years ago, the pro- and anti-whaling camps were roughly equal in number.
Now, the anti-whalers clearly have the upper hand, and it was noticeable that many of the Caribbean delegations were down to a single person.
The decision to hold meetings every two years from now on is part of an ongoing process - largely driven by the UK and Australia - aimed at making the commission more functional and efficient.
Delegates concluded by selecting their first ever female chair, St Lucia's Jeannine Compton-Antoine.
Follow Richard
on Twitter | A bid to take whale conservation to the UN General Assembly failed at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after criticism from hunting nations. |
23,563,210 | US and EU envoys have been meeting officials from the military-backed government and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
Their talks took place amid mounting tension over plans to break up two mass sit-ins by Morsi loyalists in Cairo.
A government helicopter dropped leaflets urging people to leave.
The pamphlets, which were dropped over the Rabaa al-Adawiya square, pledged protesters would face no action if they had not committed a crime whilst demonstrating.
More than 100 Morsi supporters have been killed in clashes since the president was overthrown by the military on 3 July.
Meanwhile a court in Cairo said it would start the trial of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and two of his deputies on 25 August.
Mr Badie and several other senior Brotherhood figures were arrested on charges of inciting violence and complicity in the deaths of anti-Morsi demonstrators during rallies in July.
Protest camp: Clickable image
A Brotherhood spokesman rejected the charges last month as "nothing more than an attempt by the police state to dismantle" the protests.
Mr McCain and Mr Graham are expected to land in the Egyptian capital on Monday evening for two days of negotiations.
Over the weekend, US deputy secretary of state, William Burns, already held separate talks with members of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy.
The European Union's envoy, Bernardino Leon, also joined the meeting with Mr Fahmy.
Few official details have been given, but the hope is clearly to prevent further violence and bloodshed, correspondents say.
The foreign ministers of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are also involved in the diplomatic push, and are reported to have visited a Muslim Brotherhood leader.
Meanwhile further talks took place between army chief Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and a prominent group of Islamic clerics.
According to an army statement, Gen al-Sisi told the clerics a peaceful solution could be reached if all sides rejected violence.
However, the preachers were heavily criticised by Morsi loyalists for taking part in the meeting; they say nothing short of Mr Morsi's reinstatement will end their protests.
On Saturday, the interior ministry renewed its call for the demonstrations to end peacefully, and said this would allow the Muslim Brotherhood to return to a role in the democratic political process.
Thousands of Morsi supporters have been defying warnings from the authorities to abandon the sit-ins in Cairo at Nahda Square and outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, in the east of the capital.
The protesters and their families have been camping there for weeks, demanding the ousted president's reinstatement. | US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are due to arrive in Cairo as diplomatic efforts to end Egypt's political crisis intensify. |
36,181,683 | The dispute began in the mines but spread across other industries as - at least initially - trades unions saw cuts to miners' wages as a threat to all their members.
The photograph album, which is now in the collection of the Bishopsgate Institute in London, contains 35 pictures in total.
The images show marches and rallies, as well as fund-raising events including a fancy dress parade and a sports day.
Dr Jim Phillips, from the University of Glasgow, told the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland programme that the General Strike could be seen as an attempt by mine owners to regain control of their industry after World War One.
He said there was a long tradition of radicalism in the west of Scotland and in what was the Fife coalfield.
The strike, which had begun on 4 May 1926, ended eight days later. Dr Phillips says many more workers withdrew their labour than had been officially called out.
That led to some strike leaders getting "cold feet", when they were accused by the government of trying to subvert democracy, and so calling off the action.
The rival front pages of newspapers in the collections of Glasgow City Archives give a flavour of the two sides as the dispute got underway. | An album of photographs recently acquired by an adult education institute has given a fresh insight into the impact of the General Strike in Fife, 90 years ago. |
39,788,958 | Chad Dickerson, who was also chairman, will be replaced by former eBay executive Josh Silverman.
Etsy made an unexpected loss of $421,000 (£325,000) in the first three months of 2017 - having earned $1.2m a year earlier.
It also announced it was cutting 80 jobs - or about 8% of its workforce.
Etsy shares fell 17% in after-hours US trade after the announcements.
The e-commerce site said it had sales of $96.9m in the three months to March, an 18% increase from the year before. However that still came in below analyst estimates.
Etsy listed on the Nasdaq in 2015 after becoming known as the eBay for artisanal and handcrafted items.
But it has come under investor pressure to restructure with one of its shareholders, Black-and-White Capital, this week saying the firm needs to explore a sale. | The chief executive of online crafts marketplace Etsy has resigned after the firm reported poor earnings. |
38,287,758 | On 19 December, the US Electoral College will certify Donald Trump as the next president. But it is increasingly evident that the big winner in the 2016 campaign is Vladimir Putin.
Whether or not Mr Putin interfered in the election to favour Mr Trump - the CIA seems to think so, while the FBI is less certain - there is little doubt Russian operatives hacked both the Democratic and Republican National Committees with the intent of undermining confidence in the American electoral system.
Emails from the DNC were released throughout the campaign by WikiLeaks, providing fodder for the media and a distraction for the Hillary Clinton camp.
President Barack Obama has ordered the intelligence community to assess what happened. Mr Trump reacted sceptically to preliminary reports that Russia was behind it and, at least by inference, that it was beneficial to his election.
"These are the same people who said that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," he said in a statement, increasing the prospects of an antagonistic relationship with the intelligence community.
During the transition, Mr Trump has shown little interest in intelligence briefings.
He expressed confidence while campaigning that he could work with Mr Putin to repair the fractured US-Russian relationship.
That intention has been reinforced with the news that Mr Tillerson is now likely to be his choice for secretary of state.
The nomination of Mr Tillerson, who like Mr Trump has no prior government experience, is just the latest example of the president-elect's unorthodox and unpredictable ascendance to the White House.
He promised better deals, and views foreign policy as a means to achieve them.
Mr Tillerson's experience running one of the leading global multinational corporations is certainly relevant to his anticipated role as diplomat-in-chief.
He undoubtedly knows key players in major energy producing states across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
And he knows Mr Putin, who bestowed on Mr Tillerson an Order of Friendship award following the completion of an exploration deal in 2013.
His views on Russia, Mr Putin and sanctions will certainly receive scrutiny during his Senate confirmation hearing.
International sanctions derailed Exxon Mobil's Russian ventures following the 2014 Ukraine crisis and its opportunistic annexation of Crimea.
If Mr Trump hopes to achieve a more pragmatic relationship with Mr Putin, what deals are actually possible and beneficial given the narrowing interests between Russia and the United States?
Mr Trump seems poised to alter Washington's approach to Syria. Rather than seeking the removal of Bashar al-Assad as the end product of a political negotiation - a worthy goal but increasingly unachievable in light of the Russian intervention - the Trump administration could focus in the near term on stabilising specific areas under government and Kurdish control.
A comprehensive solution would be deferred until so-called Islamic State (and its al-Qaeda cousin Jabhat Fateh al-Sham) are defeated.
Any thaw in the US-Russia relationship will increase the momentum towards relaxing sanctions imposed in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis in 2014.
While they have created costs for Mr Putin, the sanctions will not impel the return of Crimea to Ukraine.
The Trump administration could consider some easing of sanctions in return for strict adherence to the so-called Minsk peace process and an end to Russian interference in eastern Ukraine.
Crimea would once again become a bilateral issue between Russia and Ukraine.
Such steps would certainly be viewed as Putin victories. What's in the deal for the United States and the West?
In return for bringing Mr Putin in from the cold, the Trump administration should gain a Russian commitment to resume strategic arms negotiations aimed at further reductions of their respective nuclear arsenals and clarification of their respective nuclear modernisation plans.
A nuclear arms treaty is a major feather in any presidential cap. Ronald Reagan did it. These are viewed as good deals that can be verified.
Getting there may require Mr Trump to overrule his projected deputy secretary of state John Bolton, an ardent advocate of American hard power. But that's what being president entails.
And what about Russia's interference with the 2016 campaign?
The department of defence has spent the past decade building an offensive cyber capability. This is just the kind of scenario for which Cyber Command was created.
Since Mr Putin has denied Russia's involvement in the election hacking, the United States need not announce a proportional response. If done right, Mr Putin will get the message.
P.J. Crowley is a former US Assistant Secretary of State, a distinguished fellow at The George Washington University Institute for Public Diplomacy & Global Communication and author of the forthcoming book, Red Line: American Foreign Policy in a Time of Fractured Politics and Failing States. | Donald Trump's anticipated appointment of Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State firms the view that his administration's policy will be transactional, a change that will benefit Russia. |
34,150,371 | George Ferguson said he would arrange to take somebody in himself and hoped those with "space in their homes" and "generous hearts" would follow.
Bob Geldof is among other people who have offered to take in refugees.
The prime minister has said the UK will accept thousands more Syrian refugees in response to the humanitarian crisis.
Campaigner Geldof said he would take in four families at his homes in Kent and London, telling Ireland's RTE Radio: "It's a failure of that new politics that's led to this... absolute sickening disgrace."
Elsewhere, the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, has offered to take 100 refugees into the city.
And the Dean of York Minster, the Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, said the cathedral would offer one of its vacant properties to a family.
It has not been decided how many refugees Bristol could take. The city has 13,000 households on the waiting list for social housing.
Mr Ferguson said: "I have a small room that I could offer and I shall do so... I will make arrangements to be able to take somebody in."
The mayor, whose family took in a Ugandan family fleeing Idi Amin's regime in the 1970s, said he wanted to "lead by example".
He said he was not asking people living in crowded housing to take more people. But was looking for those "who do have space in their homes and a huge generous heart" to take people in and help them get back on their feet.
Bristol, a city of sanctuary, is also in talks with charities and landlords about finding space.
Councillor Brenda Massey said she had been contacted by Syrians in Bristol who were offering help, as well as some of the city's mosques. But she said it was important Bristol had a long-term solution for refugees - with housing, education and health facilities in place.
Calls for Britain to offer refuge to more of the thousands of people fleeing Syria and other countries intensified after a photo was published of a drowned three-year-old Syrian boy.
Labour leadership contender Yvette Cooper said on Tuesday every city should be asked to accept 10 refugee families.
The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, said any help offered by councils must be voluntary and Whitehall must cover the costs.
A spokesman for Cosla, which represents most Scottish councils, said a number of them were "in discussions with the Home Office about accepting more" Syrian refugees - if they get support from Holyrood and Westminster.
25,771
people applied for asylum in the UK in the year ending June 2015
41%
(11,600) were granted asylum
14% of applicants were from Eritrea
9% were from Pakistan
8.5% were from Syria
2,168 applications were from unaccompanied children | Bristol's mayor is urging people to find a spare room in their homes for refugees, as the council says it hopes to take some of the "desperate". |
32,997,527 | Mental health nurse Amanda Young is accused of administering a lethal dose of clozapine to Joshua Gafney, 22, at his home in February 2012.
Bristol Crown Court heard she mistakenly thought each 14ml bottle contained 50mg of clozapine, when in fact this figure was per millilitre.
Ms Young, 40, of Yeovil, denies manslaughter by gross negligence.
Mr Gafney, who had serious mental health issues, died after being given 14 times the amount of clozapine needed to treat him, jurors have been told.
The court heard Ms Young had told police she could not explain what she had done, but had been "working under extreme pressure that day".
In a police interview, she said she had not seen the medication in that form before and although she thought the dosage was large, she had checked with colleagues who agreed it was the right amount.
She told police she had always been very cautious when it came to medication and she "didn't mean to kill him".
The trial continues. | A nurse who gave a patient a lethal overdose of a drug was confused by the labelling, a court has heard. |
26,519,324 | The void includes ward sisters, community matrons and specialist nurses and has been brought about by cost saving reorganisation, it says.
The Department of Health says it is putting more nurses on wards.
But Labour accused the government of putting cost savings before patient safety.
The NHS is in the middle of a tough drive to save £20bn by 2015.
The government has claimed this can be achieved through efficiency savings and the frontline should not be harmed.
But the RCN disagrees.
According to the most recent data, in November 2013, the NHS was still short of 1,199 full time equivalent (FTE) registered nurses compared with April 2010.
The RCN says that hidden within wider nursing workforce cuts are a significant loss and devaluation of skills and experience in the NHS, with 3,994 FTE nursing staff working in senior positions.
These band seven and eight nurses - matrons, ward sisters and advanced nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists - have been disproportionately targeted for workforce cuts and found their roles increasingly devalued, it says.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN said: "As more patients require complex care from specialist nurses, letting so many years of skills and experience vanish from the NHS is an utterly reckless policy.
"These cuts are a short-term attempt by trusts to find efficiency savings, yet they will lead to a very serious and very long-term crisis in our health service."
The public inquiry report into Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, written by Robert Francis QC, highlighted the importance of having the right staffing numbers and skill mix on wards.
According to the Department of Health, an extra 2,400 hospital nurses have been hired since the Francis report, with over 3,300 more nurses working on NHS hospital wards and 6,000 more clinical staff overall since May 2010.
Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said: "We know clinical leadership by healthcare professionals matters - that's why we're investing £40m in leadership training for ward sisters, senior nurses and midwives to create a new generation of leaders in our nursing workforce."
Dean Royles, chief executive of the NHS Employers organisation, said: "Judging the quality of care by the numbers of one particular staff group may be attractive to a nursing trade union but we also need to have a look at what skill mix gets the best outcomes for the patients.
"These simplified figures help to tell part of a very complex story. Cash is flat, demand is rising, the way we care for people is changing and other professions like physiotherapists, dieticians, scientists and occupational therapists play a huge and often under-appreciated part in delivering quality care. Local nurse managers and their employers are doing a remarkable job in challenging circumstances and developing new models of care."
Andrew Gwynne MP, Labour's shadow health minister, said the government had wasted billions on a "top-down reorganisation of the back office".
"While we know that good ward leadership is important for care quality, it is clear that the government has not learnt the lessons of the Francis Report. Patients are paying the price for their arrogance." | The NHS has lost nearly 4,000 senior nursing posts since 2010, putting patient care at risk, warns the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). |
40,342,408 | The 26-year-old made 133 appearances for the New York Stadium side, and helped them win promotion to the Championship in 2014.
He previously played under Rovers boss Tony Mowbray at Middlesbrough.
Smallwood is the second player to join Blackburn this summer after Cardiff midfielder Peter Whittingham.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page. | Blackburn Rovers have signed Rotherham midfielder Richie Smallwood on a two-year deal after he turned down a new contract with the Millers. |
36,575,738 | As crowds gathered at Stonehenge to celebrate the longest day and shortest night, the hashtag #summersolstice quickly became the top trend in the UK, with some 14,000 tweets being shared to make jokes about the miserable morning.
A post released by Facebook on to UK users' timelines, suggesting people say: "Hello, Sun," to mark the first day of summer, was met with widespread sarcasm.
Some users suggested Travis hit Why Does It Always Rain On Me? was the perfect song to start off the summer.
Others found Gifs of a soaking wet David Tennant as Doctor Who were the best way to express their frustration.
While education blogger and teacher Ross McGill suggested that perhaps the weather had not installed properly.
Manchester City Football Club joined in the jokes, sharing a Gif of their players complaining about the wet weather.
In Scotland, the weather was good, prompting some good-natured boasting online.
And Leeds Castle in Kent was quick to share this photo by visitor Stephanie Cole, to point out that not everyone disliked the wet start to the day. | The British are known around the world for being passionate about talking about the weather, and a soggy start to the first day of summer for some parts has prompted thousands to share their wet weather pictures online. |
33,593,813 | Margaret Ferrier, the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, submitted two written questions on the issue to Scottish Secretary David Mundell.
Mr Mundell is yet to respond.
Scottish voters rejected independence by 55% to 45% in last September's referendum.
In her questions, Ms Ferrier asked Mr Mundell about the "implications for his policy on a further referendum on Scottish independence of the Scottish Parliament election in 2016 delivering a majority for political parties committed to the holding of such a referendum".
The MP also asked "what contingency plans his department has prepared for the possibility of a further referendum on Scottish independence being the policy of the Scottish government after the Scottish Parliament election in 2016".
After the SNP won 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland in May's general election, party leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stressed there was "'no second Scottish independence referendum on the immediate horizon".
The party has already said another vote on the future of the UK could only be held if the it won another Holyrood election after pledging to hold a referendum in its election manifesto.
George Kerevan, another of the SNP MPs elected in May, has previously said he expects the party's conference in October "to fizz with the question of putting a mandate for independence into the 2016 manifesto".
Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: "Instead of endlessly agitating for independence, the SNP MPs should do the job their constituents sent them to Westminster to carry out.
"The SNP is going to have to accept that, less than a year ago, the Scottish people spoke decisively on this matter.
"Of course many ardent Yes supporters want another referendum - they'd hold one every day until they got the outcome they wanted.
"But people invested a lot of time and energy in last year's vote, and they don't want to be put through another two-year campaign on this matter."
An SNP spokeswoman said: "The timing of any future referendum is entirely a matter for the people of Scotland to decide - the people, not politicians, are in charge at every stage of the process.
"The first minister has made clear we are not planning another referendum, but equally has made it clear that it is not in the gift of any politician and party to rule it out indefinitely." | An SNP MP has questioned the UK government about how it would respond to the Scottish Parliament calling for a second independence referendum after next year's Holyrood election. |
40,439,193 | The court, which is dominated by government loyalists, said Luisa Ortega Díaz had committed serious errors.
Ms Ortega, once a staunch government ally, broke ranks in March when she said an attempt by the Supreme Court to strip the opposition-controlled Congress of its powers was unlawful.
Critics believe President Nicolás Maduro is trying to push Ms Ortega out.
She faces a hearing on 4 July - some analysts say she may eventually be put on trial. The move comes amid growing political turmoil in Venezuela.
According to reports, the accusations against her refer to the appointment of judges.
The Supreme Court recently transferred Ms Ortega's powers of investigation to the national ombudsman.
On Wednesday, she strongly criticised President Maduro following an incident in which a stolen police helicopter flew over government buildings in the capital, Caracas, dropping grenades and firing shots.
Mr Maduro called it a "terrorist attack" but Ms Ortega said Venezuela was suffering from "state terrorism" due to the harsh response by authorities to anti-government protests.
The suspected pilot, a rogue elite police officer identifying himself as Oscar Pérez, posted Instagram videos admitting the attack and calling on Venezuelans to rise up against the government.
Venezuelan security forces later said they had found the helicopter, near the north coast in the state of Vargas. There was no sign of the pilot.
Andrew Rosati, a Caracas-based journalist for news website Bloomberg, said some people doubted the government's version of events.
"I spoke to people today on the streets and some are absolutely mystified by the whole affair," he told the BBC's Newsday programme.
"This idea that a helicopter almost vanished into the air, flew off into the sunset. Many think this whole thing is staged by the government."
Opposition politician and parliamentary Speaker Julio Borges also raised the possibility that the incident was a hoax but said more information was needed.
"Whatever it is, it is very serious," he said. "It all points to one conclusion: that the situation in Venezuela is unsustainable."
There have been almost daily anti-government protests in Venezuela for more than two months as the country's economic and political crisis worsens. | Venezuela's Supreme Court has banned the attorney general from leaving the country and frozen all of her assets. |
38,378,950 | Scotland full-back Paterson, 22, is out of contract at the end of the season.
Should the defender leave Tynecastle in the summer, Hearts would be due a development fee of around £450,000.
Levein added at the club's annual general meeting that new head coach Ian Cathro would be provided funds for next month's transfer window.
However, Levein said the ultimate aim was to provide players for the first team from Hearts' academy.
Meanwhile, club owner and chairwoman Ann Budge announced plans to launch a debenture scheme in 2017 to try and bridge a £3m funding gap for the redevelopment of the main stand at Tynecastle.
Renovation works have already started and the ground's capacity will eventually increase to more than 20,000.
Budge says the club have no plans to go into debt to fund the £12m development.
She told around 400 shareholders that commitments from fans' group the Foundation of Hearts and club benefactors of £3m each will also help with the total cost, with £2.5m having already been spent on the preparation of the new stand.
And Budge told BBC Scotland: "I've had a number of supporters contact me already and say, 'can I have a lifetime membership?'
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I don't want it to become a stand purely for the corporates and people who can spend hundreds of pounds to come to football. We've got to offer something for a full range of supporters and that's really what we're trying to do.
"I genuinely don't feel it's a risk as long as the supporters keep supporting us - that's the key factor.
"If for whatever reason that started to tail off, then we would have a problem but the comfort for me comes from knowing that we have already enough to build the stand, to get the seats open, to increase the capacity and then if we run into one or two cash-flow issues, we've got time.
"If we don't kit out or fit out all the space in six months, it doesn't really matter. We know we've got enough to do phase one." | Hearts would only be willing to sell Callum Paterson in January for a "seven-figure sum", according to director of football Craig Levein. |
40,854,616 | Bale, 28, joined the Spanish giants for a world record fee of £85m from Premier League side Tottenham in 2013.
Europa League holders United meet Madrid, who won the Champions League, in the Uefa Super Cup on Tuesday.
"If he plays, it is the clearest signal that he is staying there," said the former Real manager.
Mourinho said Bale featuring in Skopje would mean "he is in the plans of the coach and the club, and it is in his own plans and ambitions to stay there".
"Then I won't even think about it. If he is not in the club's plans and it is true that a player like Bale is at the departure gate, I will try to be there waiting for him at the other side."
Bale committed his future to Madrid at the end of last season, saying he was happy to stay with the 12-time European champions.
Last October, he signed a new deal to stay at the Bernabeu until 2022.
The former Tottenham player has won the Champions League in three of his four seasons at the club, also helping them win the Spanish La Liga title - their first since 2012 - last season.
Bale was only a substitute in the Cardiff final after missing large parts of the season with ankle and calf injuries.
He made just 17 league starts for Zinedine Zidane's side and has been linked with a move back to the Premier League.
Madrid are also reportedly keen on signing teenage Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe in a £160m deal.
Former England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright says Manchester United would win the Premier League title if they did sign Bale.
"If they get Bale, that's it - that's the league sewn up," he told BBC Radio 5 live's Monday Night Club.
And he suggested Bale's former club should do everything they can to sign him and stop that happening. "If I'm [Tottenham chairman] Daniel Levy I'm doing everything I can to get him back to Spurs.
"He's got three Champions League medals. What's he going to United for, to win another Champions League? Spurs could be saying: 'Why don't you come here and take us to the next level?'.
"You could sell that to Gareth Bale.
"It's a move that takes them to the next level - but they have to find the money for that if he becomes available."
And addressing doubts that it was a move that could happen, Wright added: "Could you see Neymar leaving Barcelona for PSG?"
BBC Sport's Simon Stone
Jose Mourinho has previously said that signing Bale is "mission impossible". But if he's available - and if Mbappe for instance comes into Madrid it may create a bit of uncertainty - Mourinho is pointing out to Real Madrid he's interested.
But just as much, he is also telling Manchester United that if someone like Gareth Bale is on the market, he expects to be in there pitching for him.
Follow Match of the Day on Instagram for the best photos from the world of football. | Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says he will "fight with other coaches" to sign Gareth Bale if Real Madrid are willing to sell the Wales forward. |
40,989,733 | Four goals in 18 second-half minutes from Roddy MacDonald swung a previously tight tie the way of the Tighnabruaich side.
With just three minutes on the clock in Oban, Colin MacDonald fired Kyles ahead and gave them the lead again after Glen MacKintosh equalised. Fraser MacKintosh just beat the half-time whistle with More's second equaliser and Sandy MacKenzie got Kyles' third soon after the restart.
The hour marked the start of MacDonald's goal rush which took Kyles to 5-2 before Glen MacKintosh pulled one back and MacDonald responded with two more. MacKintosh immediately completed his hat-trick to round off an 11-goal final matched only by Oban Camanachd's 8-3 victory 60 years previously.
Kyles' success, however, came at the expense of losing top spot in the Marine Harvest Premiership after Kinlochshiel took a two-point lead with a 5-1 defeat of bottom side Glasgow Mid Argyll.
Once again MacRaes scored all five of the Kinlochshiel goals which put them two points clear of Kyles in the Premiership but with an extra game played. In a fixture switched to neutral Inverness, Keith MacRae scored a hat-trick while Oliver was on target in the first half and John in the second. Calum McLay responded for Mid Argyll at 3-0.
Glenurquhart's relegation concerns deepened after they lost 3-2 at home to Oban Camanachd. The National Division title became an almost certain two-horse race between leaders Skye and Caberfeidh after they disposed of their two nearest challengers. The island side beat Fort William 4-0 while it was 5-2 for Cabers over Inveraray.
Malcolm Clark got an early goal for Oban Camanachd and Paul MacKintosh equalised late in the first half. Strikes midway through the second from Daniel Cameron and Willie Neilson swung the game firmly in Camanachd's direction before Daniel MacKintosh got one back for Glen late on.
With two to go down, Mid Argyll have five points and Kilmallie, whose game was postponed, have seven, both with four matches to play. Glenurquhart and Lochaber have eight and nine points respectively, but both with only two matches left.
In the National Division, an early goal from Iain MacLellan and a late one from Jordan Murchison bracketed a James Pringle double for Skye without response from Fort William in Portree.
At Strathpeffer, Craig Morrison's hat trick after Colin MacLennan's first minute opener laid the foundations of Cabers' victory. Graham Bartlett was Cabers' other scorer in a game where Inveraray's response came from two Fraser Watt penalties.
Skye remain three points clear of Caberfeidh in the promotion places while Fort and Inveraray, albeit with two games in hand, are a further seven points adrift making the top two look virtually unassailable. | Kyles Athletic won the Artemis MacAulay Cup for the 12th time with a record-equalling 7-4 scoreline over Newtonmore at Oban. |
39,828,968 | The Right Reverend Michael Perham died aged 69 last month after a battle with cancer.
He was appointed in 2004 and retired in November 2014.
People travelled from as far away as America and Sweden to attend the service at Gloucester Cathedral, which was presided over by current bishop the Right Reverend Rachel Treweek.
In 2015 Bishop Perham was cleared by both the Church of England and police of two allegations of historical sexual abuse.
Analysis - Richard Atkins, Faith and Ethics Producer, BBC Radio Gloucestershire
Bishop Perham served as a priest in the Church of England for more than 40 years before becoming Bishop of Gloucester in 2004.
During his time in the role, he was a member of the House of Lords, and served on the working party reviewing the Church of England's teaching on human sexuality.
Above all he was a strong advocate of the role of women in the church as priests and bishops.
In February 2014, Michael announced he would be retiring that November as bishop. But in the August, he stepped back from his ministry while allegations of sexual abuse in the 1980s were investigated.
He admitted to me in a interview that these totally unfounded allegations hit him hard and undermined his confidence.
Bishop Perham was a kind, thoughtful and intelligent man who also enjoyed the cut and thrust of interviews on the radio.
He was always very happy to pop along to BBC Radio Gloucestershire no matter what the time of day.
It was a privilege to have known and worked with him. | More than 1,000 people have attended a funeral service for the former Bishop of Gloucester. |
30,329,929 | William Hague, Leader of the House of Commons, said he hoped broadcasters would "be trying to give real quality to the public this Christmas season".
Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke had sought a debate on the issue, accusing the BBC "of lazily repeating more often than a hearty Christmas dinner".
A BBC spokesman said its Christmas repeats had been "carefully chosen".
He also claimed the corporation invested more in television at Christmas than any other UK broadcaster and that more than 90% of programmes shown at peak time on BBC One would be new.
The issue was raised following reports in the Daily Mirror and elsewhere that 63% of Christmas television on the four main channels - 729 out of 1,154 shows - would be repeats.
Previously broadcast editions of Only Fools and Horses, The Royle Family and ITV's Midsomer Murders are among the re-runs singled out.
"You may have noticed the reports this morning that this year the BBC at Christmas is showing more repeats than ever before," said Mr Shelbrooke in Parliament on Thursday.
"When I buy a DVD I don't expect to keep paying for it year on year," the MP for Elmet and Rothwell in West Yorkshire continued.
"Could we please have a debate on the BBC getting back to its remit and charter on public broadcasting?"
Mr Hague said he hoped the BBC would be "listening to what you say" but said he was unable to schedule a debate that would, in any case, "be unlikely to change the Christmas schedule". | Concerns the BBC and other broadcasters show too many repeats at Christmas have been raised in the House of Commons. |
38,691,882 | Adam Isaac, 23, from Merthyr Tydfil, previously admitted eight sexual offences against children.
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard he targeted two boys, aged 12 and 14, and asked them to send intimate photos of themselves.
Judge Richard Twomlow QC said: "This predatory behaviour is a worry and a concern to parents."
Isaac admitted causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography, performing sexual acts in the presence of a child, encouraging a child to engage in a sexual activity and the possession of indecent photos of a child.
He committed sexual acts himself while on video calls with the boys and also possessed indecent images of an unidentified third boy.
In a statement to the court, the family of one of the victims said: "We never believed he could be manipulated in this way after we warned him about the dangers online.
"We are now so scared to allow him online. He has matured so quickly - we are fighting to stop him going down a destructive path and we are trying to get him back to being the child he was."
A spokesman for children's charity the NSPCC said it was "every parent's nightmare".
Minecraft, which has more than 100 million registered users, is a 3D game in which players build their own worlds using cubes, as well as exploring and gathering and crafting resources.
Prosecutor Rachel Knight said: "The defendant sent money to the boys on PayPal and used the game to groom them.
"The parents of the boys did not know what was happening. In the case of the 12 year old he was playing the game at night while his parents were asleep."
The court heard the boy's father found his chats on Skype involved an adult asking him about his sex life, so he contacted the police.
Judge Twomlow told Isaac he had gone on to "an innocent type of game, very far removed from the type of contact you engaged in.
"You knew you would find teenage boys. This was clearly a grooming process."
Susan Ferrier, defending, said Isaac apologised to the boys and their parents.
"He was subjected to bullying from the age of 12 and is far more comfortable in the online world than the real world," she added.
A father of one of the victims said before the case: "Nobody my son's age would have stood a chance."
He read 170 pages of chat between the two and described Isaac as "callous and cold", adding: "The way he gained his trust, built the relationship, he was an expert.
"There is no way that any child, once drawn into that world, would ever have seen it coming."
While he initially felt disbelief, the father now believes any amount of parental training could not have prevented it happening.
He said his son was totally unaware and is finding it hard to cope with the realisation that he was "calculatedly groomed".
A spokeswoman for Microsoft said: "Helping promote a safe online experience has always been a priority for us, particularly when it comes to children.
"We also offer resources to help parents understand how to help keep their kids safe."
Speaking after the sentence, Barnardo's chief executive Javed Khan said the case "highlights the need for parents and children to understand the dangers of online gaming.
"Social media and online games like Minecraft are now central to our children's lives but they provide a channel for abusers to easily reach and influence both boys and girls online," he said.
"Recent research into children referred to five of Barnardo's specialist services found that nearly two-thirds of children groomed online went on to meet their abuser.
"Parents need to understand the mobile technology their children are using and what they're doing online so they can protect them. And children themselves need to be aware of danger and how to keep themselves safe."
Lucy Dowdall, senior crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Wales Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit, said: "This was a planned and calculated course of action on the part of Isaac and it is right that he has been made to face up to what he did in a criminal court.
"This case serves as another reminder to anyone who has caring responsibilities for children to be alert to online safety matters so that wherever possible, children are prevented from coming into harm's way.
"Nevertheless we hope this case also sends a clear message that where offences have taken place, the criminal justice agencies will act to bring online offenders to justice." | A man who groomed young boys through the online game Minecraft has been jailed for two years and eight months. |
37,335,879 | And like Slumdog, which won eight Oscars, Patel's new film Lion is now being talked up as a major awards contender.
But that's about where the comparisons end.
"Thematically and tonally the films are completely different," said the 26-year-old British actor after the film's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"Slumdog has a frenetic energy and this film is a sweeping story... it's a mothers and son story,"
Lion tells the true story of Saroo, a five-year-old boy who becomes tragically separated from his family after he boards a train and is transported hundreds of miles from his rural village.
He ends up in a Calcutta orphanage from where he is adopted by a couple in Australia, played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham.
Twenty-five years later Saroo attempts to use Google Earth to find his way home.
The film has an emotional punch that saw many in the audience wiping away tears at a press screening in Toronto on Sunday.
Patel plays the adult Saroo, while newcomer Sunny Pawar puts in an unforgettable performance as the young boy.
It's Patel's fifth film shot in India.
"I spent most of my existence in school trying to shun my heritage to avoid getting beaten up or bullied or just to fit in," he recalled.
"And then I discovered Bombay with [director] Danny Boyle for Slumdog. It struck like lightning. It's so enthralling for me to go back.
"Working in India is beautifully chaotic."
Nicole Kidman said that as a mother with adopted children she had found Saroo's story "very, very emotional".
"For me this is a film about the power of mothers whatever form they come in - whether they are biological or adoptive.
"I said to the real Saroo: 'You have two mothers - lucky boy'. When you have good luck like that you really flourish."
Kidman met Saroo's real adoptive mother Sue Brierley, who lives in Tasmania, as part of her preparation.
"She was more than willing - she flew to Sydney and we spent day together talking and we clicked," Kidman said.
"She's a very gentle, compassionate woman. I got to know her very well."
In its review, The Hollywood Reporter said the Lion was "as enthralling as it is emotional".
The Guardian noted that Lion was likely to strike a chord with many, including Oscar voters.
"It's refreshing to see the complications of a mixed racial identity brought to the screen," it said.
But Variety said that while Garth Davis' film boasted a terrific cast "it's barely meaty enough to wrap the evening news, let alone sustain a two-hour feature".
Dev Patel, meanwhile, was happy to be back at the Toronto festival which he had first attended in 2008, aged 18.
"I rocked up here with Slumdog in my school shoes and a borrowed suit," he recalled.
"It's nice to be back here with a bit of facial hair."
The Toronto International Film Festival runs until 18 September.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. | Eight years after making his debut in Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel is back with another film that features an impoverished Indian boy on a life-changing journey. |
39,491,507 | This brings the number discovered since last August to 23.
The UN has been unable to examine the mass graves and cannot say if they were recently dug.
It estimates that over 400 people, including women and children, have been killed in clashes between the army and a rebel group.
Jose Maria Aranaz, the director of the UN's joint human rights office, told the BBC that it is important that "a transparent independent investigation take place" in order to reassure the population and to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.
The government is fighting to put down a rebellion by a group called Kamwina Nsapu, which began after a regional chief was killed.
Both sides have been accused of committing human rights violations.
Late last month two UN experts who were abducted after going to investigate reports of abuses in the region were found dead in shallow graves. | The UN has said it has found 13 mass graves in the Democratic Republic of Congo's central Kasai province since the beginning of March. |
34,596,869 | The burglary happened at St Michael's School on the Ravenhill Road.
Police said the primary school was targeted overnight between Wednesday 21 October and Thursday 22 October.
It is thought to be the second time in 18 months that laptops have been stolen from the school.
Det Srg James Johnston said anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone who may be offered similar items for sale should contact detectives in Musgrave on 101. | A washing machine and 21 laptops have been stolen from a school in Belfast. |
38,442,114 | The West Indies player used the bat, which has a black blade and pink handle, while playing for Sydney Thunder last week against the Sydney Sixers.
Cricket Australia banned it after it left black marks on the match ball.
"A clear laminate cover has been applied to the bat," explained Big Bash chief Anthony Everard.
Players can use a coloured bat in the Big Bash as long as it is the same colour as their team's primary kit colour, or black. | Andre Russell has been cleared to use his black bat in Australia's Big Bash after making modifications to it. |
36,549,119 | The authority is under pressure to make savings, and approved £4.6m of cuts to services in March.
But a committee today unanimously recommended the council reject cutting pest control, and instead wants to see the service made "self-financing".
Between 2014 and 2015, council pest controllers were called out 1,190 times - with wasps the most common problem.
At an earlier meeting, councillors called the service "important and necessary" and said if it was closed there was "a risk that private companies would completely control the market and increase their prices".
A Gwynedd Council spokesman said: "The council's corporate scrutiny committee today agreed unanimously with the recommendation of maintaining the pest control service by aiming to make the service self-financing." | Plans to scrap pest control services in Gwynedd should be shelved, say councillors. |
34,299,513 | It could have been worse for the home side as Ambrose was dismissed for pulling down Sam Nicholson with the midfielder through on goal.
The home side peppered the Hearts goal with shot after shot from beginning to end without making the breakthrough.
James Forrest hit the bar and an offside flag denied Leigh Griffiths.
With Aberdeen losing away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, reigning champions Celtic narrowed the gap to four points at the top.
It is a huge result for the side from the capital, who had failed to take a single point from the Scottish Champions in their last 10 encounters.
This was the first league meeting between the sides since Hearts won promotion from the Championship and they were determined to bounce back from two bruising cup defeats last season.
Both managers made a number of changes from their respective midweek wins, with Ambrose and Dedryck Boyata handed the centre back roles for the home side, while Osman Sow and Juanma both started up front for the visitors.
Hearts survived a couple of early scares at the back in a breathless start to the match and Kris Commons should have done better when the ball fell into his path, but his rushed effort was weak.
Celtic's intent was becoming clear though and they quickly started to dominate and push Hearts further and further back.
However, after Griffiths watched his 30-yard effort beaten away by Neil Alexander, the visitors started asking questions of their own.
Osman Sow and Juanma linked up well inside the Celtic box, but the Spaniard watched his curling right foot effort slip just past the post.
The home fans were on their feet shortly after when it looked like a fabulous James Forrest shot was heading into the top right-hand corner of the net, but the crossbar came to Hearts' rescue.
Griffiths was gifted a golden opportunity just before the half hour mark after a terrible head back by Blazej Augustyn just eight yards out, but the striker's effort was not much better.
An ever dodgy looking Hearts defence breathed again, but it was now very much on the ropes.
The break brought some respite for the visitors and, 10 minutes after the restart, the travelling support thought Igor Rossi had nodded their side ahead - the net rippled, but to the delight of the home fans, it was the side netting only.
Commons and Forrest continued to terrorise the Hearts full backs but their flicks and tricks led to nothing but more passed up half chances and the home fans started to show signs of frustration.
Griffiths had his head in his hands near the end when Alexander clutched his curling effort and cleared to safety.
Right at the end, Ambrose was given a straight red card for denying Nicholson an obvious goalscoring opportunity with a rash lunge when the winger looked through on goal. | Celtic were held to a goalless draw by dogged Hearts and had Efe Ambrose sent off late on but still edged a point closer to Premiership leaders Aberdeen. |
36,118,265 | Byron Webster headed in the opening goal for his fifth of the season, before Oldham's Jonathan Forte was denied by Millwall's Jordan Archer.
Shane Ferguson made it 2-0 when he finished from close range following a flick from Aiden O'Brien.
Webster completed the scoring early in the second half, heading in from Steve Morison's cross.
The winning margin could have been bigger, with an audacious Morison lob from halfway floating inches over, before Joe Martin's free-kick from 25 yards hit the bar.
Millwall sit third in the table but cannot catch second-placed Burton, while Oldham are 17th and already assured of their place in League One next season. | Millwall guaranteed themselves a place in the League One play-offs after comfortably seeing off Oldham. |
38,012,189 | Sheffield City Council contractors began cutting down eight trees in Rustlings Road at about 05:00 GMT as part of a street improvement scheme.
Residents had demanded the trees remain. Three people arrested after confrontations with workers were released without charge.
Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg said he was outraged by the council's action.
For more on this story and others in South Yorkshire
Mr Clegg, the Liberal Democrat MP for the area, said the council had acted as if it were running an anti-terrorist operation.
"I do not know what planet these people are on," he said.
"Arresting elderly residents? Arresting them when they are just trying to say 'don't chop this tree down'?"
Jenny Hockey, a retired sociology lecturer, was one of those arrested.
"What can you do in that situation except exercise your right to peaceful protest and that's what we chose to do," the 70-year-old said.
"They warned us they would arrest us if we did not move, which is what they did."
Mrs Hockey was arrested alongside her friend Freda Brayshaw.
The retired teacher, 71, said: "It was just like an assault with arc lights, lots of policemen and chainsaws going up and down the road and we had no chance to do anything.
"They had a kind of barrier, a tape around trees they intended to fell and I stepped inside and stood under a tree."
The council said the work needed to be done as part of a £2bn scheme to improve streets and get rid of diseased, damaging or dangerous trees.
Residents said the trees were healthy and should remain.
Councillor Bryan Lodge said the work was "essential to ensure Sheffield has healthy trees for future generations".
He said: "We have made a final decision to increase the number of trees on Rustlings Road by almost 30%.
"We need to replace eight out of the 30 existing trees, but we will plant 17."
He said the work was carried out early in the morning on the advice of the police to ensure it was done safely.
South Yorkshire Police confirmed that 12 officers "provided assistance at the request of the council".
In April a High Court judge dismissed a bid for a judicial review into the tree-felling programme.
Sheffield City Council has felled more than 3,300 trees since 2012. | Angry scenes erupted when contractors arrived at dawn to fell trees in a long-running neighbourhood row. |
32,889,324 | Media playback is not supported on this device
That means the Northern Irishman, 46, will have three wildcard picks to join the nine men who qualify automatically.
The top four players in the European points list will qualify for next September's competition, along with the top five in the world points list.
"It would have been foolish to make any changes," said Clarke, speaking in the build-up to this week's Irish Open.
There had been suggestions Clarke was considering reducing the number of wildcards to two, but he has decided not to deviate from the system used by fellow Irishman Paul McGinley, whose side beat the United States 16½-11½ at Gleneagles last year.
The European points list is calculated from performances on the European Tour, with Clarke's other five automatic selections based on world ranking points accrued during the qualification period, which will start at the Russian Open in early September.
"I gave it a lot of thought," said 2011 Open champion Clarke. "I went into comparisons of what teams would have been like under different systems.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"I am absolutely delighted that we have got the same qualifying system again and hopefully that will enable us to have the strongest possible European team going to Hazeltine, because we are going to need it."
World number one Rory McIlroy will be expected to be part of the team, and Clarke praised the 26-year-old's role central role in ensuring a strong field for this week's Irish Open at Royal County Down.
McIlroy's charitable foundation is hosting the tournament and his persuasive powers have lured Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Martin Kaymer to the Northern Irish links course.
"For a man so young to be giving so much back speaks volumes about him," said Clarke.
"If you take a look at the field this week, that is a reflection of just how highly Rory is held by his peers. It's going to be a fantastic week of golf."
After his impressive closing 66 at last week's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Clarke is looking forward to this week's tournament - albeit in a very different environment.
The Dungannon native, who grew up playing links golf, said he thoroughly enjoyed "having to chip five irons 140 yards" in his practice round alongside Irish amateur Gavin Moynihan on Tuesday.
"The course is playing very fast," he added. "You've got a few blind shots but that is part of what makes Royal County Down so special.
"You are going to have to land some shots 30 yards short of the green to keep the ball on the green.
"And if we get the weather that's forecast for this week, it is going to be a really tough challenge." | Captain Darren Clarke has decided not to change Europe's qualifying system for next year's Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. |
32,378,240 | In early animal studies, the medicines repaired some of the cell damage and paralysis seen in MS.
The drugs encouraged new growth of myelin to coat and protect the nerves.
Experts say although the results in Nature journal are promising, people should not be tempted to self-medicate.
Much more work is needed to check that the treatments will work in people.
Lab tests on human cells already hint that they might.
The two drugs in question - an antifungal called miconazole and a steroid called clobetasol - are currently topical medicines that are applied as creams to the skin.
They already have a good safety history for treating these conditions, says lead researcher Dr Paul Tesar, from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in the US.
He says the formulation of the drugs would need to be changed so that they could be better targeted to the nervous system where MS strikes.
In MS, the body's immune system mistakes myelin for a foreign body and attacks it.
This leads to progressive disability.
Current medications for MS can help slow or prevent this attack, but they cannot replace myelin.
A number of researchers are looking at existing drugs to see if they can be reclaimed for treating MS.
Dr Tesar's team screened a library of more than 700 existing drugs to find any that would promote new myelin production by the individual's own cells.
Dr Tesar said they were working tirelessly to get a safe and effective drug for clinical use.
"We appreciate that some patients or their families feel they cannot wait for the development of specific approved medications.
"But off-label use of the current forms of these drugs is more likely to increase other health concerns than alleviate multiple sclerosis symptoms."
Prof Daniel Altmann, an expert in immunology at Imperial College London, said: "There has been tremendous progress in recent years in development, clinical trials and licensing of new drugs that aim to block the immune attack and thus ameliorate progress of disease.
"The problem that has been much harder to crack is what to do about the fact that this still leaves patients with irreversible disability through the damage to the myelin sheaths in the central nervous system that has been sustained."
He said the fruits of this approach to treating MS were still "a little way off".
Dr Sorrel Bickley of the MS Society said: "More than 100,000 people in the UK live with MS, which is why there is a huge unmet need for new therapies that can repair the damage to myelin that occurs in the condition.
"While this is an early study, it's exciting to think that there is now a growing list of potential myelin repair therapies that have been identified in laboratory and animal model studies. The next step will be to test these treatments in clinical trials to establish whether they can bring real benefits in slowing or stopping the progression of MS." | Two common drugs - one used for treating athlete's foot and another for alleviating eczema - may be useful therapies for multiple sclerosis, scientists believe. |
35,167,642 | The rate was revised down from 0.5% because the key services sector, which accounts for well over 70% of UK economic activity, grew more slowly than had been thought.
It is the third estimate for the quarter from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS also cut its estimate of second quarter GDP growth from 0.7% to 0.5%.
In annual terms, growth in the third quarter of the year was revised down to 2.1% from the previous estimate of 2.3%.
The UK economy has been growing for 11 consecutive quarters.
A Treasury spokesman said in a statement that the figures highlighted that risks to the UK economy remained despite it being "the fastest growing economy in the G7 last year".
"We're leading the pack with the US this year, we have a record high employment rate and the deficit is down," the Treasury said.
Simon French, chief economist at stockbrokers Panmure Gordon, said the figures added to a picture of a fragile economy: "It's been a bad 24 hours for the chancellor with bad public sector borrowing numbers [on Tuesday]. It is the fourth of seven quarters where the ONS growth estimate overestimated the strength of of the economy.
He said the most worrying part was the weakness of the service sector, which is the engine of the UK economy.
Other figures released on Wednesday showed scant prospect of a pick up in that.
Figures for the service sector in October - the first month of the fourth quarter - only grew 0.1% between September and October, suggesting fourth quarter GDP has made a slow start. The previous month the index grew by 0.5%.
Martin Beck, senior economic advisor to the forecasting group EY ITEM Club, said the full picture had not yet emerged: "Given the extent to which the economy has benefitted from very low inflation and the degree of spare capacity, this should really have been a year where the economy grew in excess of 3%.
"However, recent experience suggests that we should not write off 2015 just yet, given the clear tendency for the GDP data to eventually be revised up over subsequent years."
US economic growth was also revised down this week, but despite that slight weakening, the US economy is perceived by its central bank to be strong enough to withstand a rise in interest rates. Borrowing costs were raised by the Federal Reserve for the first time in nine years last week.
The Bank of England is widely expected to hold back from following the Fed's lead until well into 2016. | The UK economy grew by 0.4% in the third quarter of the year, figures show, less than previously estimated. |
36,405,450 | "Wanda City", in south-eastern city Nanchang, features rides, shopping centres and an aquarium, and cost more than $3bn (just over £2bn).
Its owner, Wang Jianlin, said he wanted to move away from western imports and to establish a global brand based on Chinese culture.
Disney is planning to open its own theme park in Shanghai next month.
The new entertainment complex includes an $800m China-themed park filled with twirling "porcelain teacup rides" and bamboo forests, as well as a huge indoor shopping mall, and what is claimed to be the world's largest ocean park.
Mr Wang's Wanda property group has also invested heavily in the film and cinema business.
It has indicated it wants to fend off Disney in the Chinese market and become a global entertainment brand.
In remarks at Saturday's opening ceremony, Mr Wang did not mention Disney by name, but said that after millennia of Chinese cultural domination, the country was lacking confidence in its own culture.
"We want to be a model for Chinese private enterprise, and we want to establish a global brand for Chinese firms," he said.
Only a week ago he told China Central Television (CCTV) that "this craze for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck is over, the period when we would blindly follow where Disney led has been gone for years."
After the site in Nanchang, Wanda plans to open around 15 in the country by 2020.
Meanwhile Disney's theme park in Shanghai, costing $5.5bn, will be its sixth theme park and its fourth outside the United States after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. | China's richest man has opened a massive entertainment complex to compete with US giant Disney. |
38,021,821 | Presley Brown said the intruder emerged from her walk-in wardrobe and said: "Don't be scared, little girl."
Her screams alerted her father, who tackled the man before he fled with $100 of her birthday money.
Police caught up with the suspect, 26-year-old Race Cox, who was wanted on at least one felony warrant.
Presley recalled seeing the strange man's reflection in a mirror while she was playing on her phone in her en suite bathroom.
"I started screaming bloody murder," she told ABC affiliate WNEP-TV.
"I hope no other men come in my closet," she added.
The girl's mother, Monica Brown, described hearing her daughter's panic.
"We hear her scream... We meet her in the hallway. She's literally, she's just crying," said Mrs Brown.
"He could have put his hand over her mouth.
"Who knows what could have happened, but now it just makes us a lot more aware."
The family home is currently under construction, and a builder had warned the family earlier in the day that somebody had been seen running through the home.
Presley said her sense of security has been shaken.
"Every time I come in my closet or my room or my bathroom, anywhere, I just think about it and like I remember how scary it was," the girl said.
Cox is being held in Carter County Jail on a $40,000 (£32,000) bail bond. | An 11-year-old Oklahoma girl has said she was "scared to death" to find a stranger - who turned out to be a wanted man - hiding in her closet. |
39,462,530 | The San Francisco Chronicle said Mr Baker died in his sleep at his home in New York on Thursday night.
He initially designed an eight-colour flag in 1978 for the city's gay freedom day, the precursor to the modern pride parade.
A candlelight vigil is planned for Friday evening in San Francisco.
Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black tweeted: "Rainbows weep. Our world is far less colourful without you, my love. Gilbert Baker gave us the rainbow flag to unite us. Unite again."
California State Senator Scott Weiner said Mr Baker's work "helped define the modern LGBT movement".
"Rest in power, Gilbert," he said.
Mr Baker's original flag had eight colours, each representing a different aspect of humanity:
Read more: The rise of the rainbow flag
It would later be reduced to six stripes, removing pink and indigo, and swapping blue for turquoise.
Mr Baker said he wanted to convey the idea of diversity and inclusion, using "something from nature to represent that our sexuality is a human right".
In 2015, New York's Museum of Modern Art acquired the flag for its design collection, calling it a "powerful design milestone".
"I decided that we should have a flag, that a flag fit us as a symbol, that we are a people, a tribe if you will," Mr Baker told the Museum in an interview.
"And flags are about proclaiming power, so it's very appropriate."
A giant rainbow flag flies at the junction of Castro and Market streets in San Francisco, near Harvey Milk Plaza, which is named for America's first openly gay politician.
A candlelit vigil is planned for 19:00 local time (02:00 GMT) beneath the flag. | Gilbert Baker, the San-Francisco-based artist who created the rainbow flag as a symbol for the gay community, has died aged 65, US media report. |
33,805,901 | A senior Saudi official said the mosque in Abha, close to the Yemeni border, was used by the security forces.
The Islamic State (IS) group says it carried out the attack. The group has already claimed two deadly attacks on Shia mosques in May.
Observers say it is the single most deadly attack on Saudi security forces for many years.
Saudi officials said the bomb went off while members of the security forces were in the middle of noon prayers.
One interior ministry official told the BBC that most of those killed were members of a Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) unit.
He said at least three mosque employees were also killed, and scores of other people were wounded.
The death toll was initially put at 13, but the interior ministry later said two of the wounded had died.
Preliminary investigations indicated the suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt while inside the mosque, interior ministry officials said.
The attack was claimed in online statements by an IS-affiliated group, al-Hijaz Province.
Another group affiliated to IS, Najd Province, said it was behind two suicide attacks in May - the first killed at least 21 people in an attack on a Shia mosque in Qatif governorate and the second, a week later, at a Shia mosque in Dammam, which left four dead.
IS last year urged its Sunni followers in Saudi Arabia to sow sectarian hatred by targeting the minority Shia population.
Last month Saudi authorities arrested 431 suspected members of IS, accusing them of plotting suicide attacks on security forces and mosques in various parts of the country.
Thursday's attack took place close to the border with Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been waging an intense air and ground war to push back Shia Houthi rebels and restore its ally, President Mansour Abdrabbuh Hadi, to power. | A suicide bomb attack on a mosque in Saudi Arabia has left 15 people dead, the interior ministry says. |
38,526,171 | Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips has said the WRU will consider taking over the east Wales team if it fails to attract new funds.
"You can't be allowed to be mediocre and that is what has happened," said ex-Dragon Owen.
Owen has suggested the region could move to Pontypridd or north Wales.
Dragons' management have previously unveiled plans to establish themselves as an independent region - with the WRU relinquishing its 50% stake.
They have finished as the lowest-ranked Welsh region in eight out of 12 seasons in the Pro12 and have struggled to attract big-name signings and retain top Wales internationals.
Owen, who joined Dragons from Pontypridd in 2003 when Welsh rugby's old top-flight club structure made way for regions, told Scrum V Radio: "While investment is obviously vitally important, you need ideas and drive and determination as well.
"There hasn't been that driving force at the Dragons dragging it up by its bootlaces and making it a really special region and a vibrant place, which it has the potential to be.
"This is a long time coming. What incentive has there been for the Dragons to get better?
"Maybe someone would be willing to invest in a region elsewhere, like in Pontypridd or north Wales or something like that.
"If that is the case, they should take the region there, rather than try and force it to work somewhere it isn't working and have it like a franchise system."
Owen also cited the examples of Irish province Connacht, who won the Pro12 in 2015-16, and Scottish team Glasgow Warriors, who are highly regarded throughout Europe.
"Look at Connacht and Glasgow and where they were five years ago," said Owen.
"But they have had people there driving them forward.
"The Dragons have that potential, but they have no divine right to stay there, accepting mediocrity.
"The whole point of professional rugby is to aim for the stars."
Another former Dragon Luke Charteris feels the region needs to remain in Gwent, however.
The Wales and Bath lock said: "Someone needs to come in and if they can't get a new investor then I think it is imperative the WRU do step in.
"What you can't afford is to lose the Dragons. They are one of the original regions and this is a strong region for rugby.
"The Dragons still have the youngsters coming through. They always have, so you have to have that that team for them.
"If the WRU took them over, perhaps the chance for those youngsters would even increase." | Former Wales captain Michael Owen says "mediocre" Newport Gwent Dragons should move elsewhere in Wales if any new investors want them to. |
34,472,210 | The annual event in December involves teams of six tackling an obstacle course on the seafront in Lyme Regis while carrying a Christmas pudding.
Organisers said: "We have a very small committee and cannot commit the time needed to organise the event."
The event, which has been running for three years, has raised £11,000 for Cancer Research UK to date.
In a statement on the pudding race's Facebook page organisers said: "We appreciate that our supporters will be disappointed, but we feel it is the right thing to do."
It is hoped the event will be staged again in 2016. | A charity Christmas pudding race in Dorset has been cancelled due to time pressures, its organisers have said. |
35,775,855 | Ewan Williamson died in July 2009 after becoming trapped while tackling a blaze at the Balmoral Bar on Dalry Road.
Last year the service was fined £54,000 after admitting health and safety breaches that contributed to his death.
The SFRS has published a report into the incident containing a series of lessons and recommendations.
They include the urgent need for a policy on the use of breathing apparatus, tactical ventilation of buildings and improved communication.
The report also identified a need for risk management training and support for firefighters in stressful situations.
Mr Williamson, 35, was the first firefighter in the history of the Lothian and Borders Fire Service to die tackling a blaze.
He became trapped in conditions of zero visibility and extreme heat as he was deployed at the incident on 12 July 2009.
Alasdair Hay, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chief officer, said there was a commitment to implementing all the recommendations.
He said: "Moving to a single service gave us the unique opportunity to introduce the pan-Scotland programme in 2014 and since then we have been proactively learning from the past to improve firefighter safety in the future. We are making progress."
He added: "The role of a firefighter will always be inherently dangerous but this report will help us reduce potential risk through more effective procedures and a culture of continuous improvement."
Chris McGlone, Fire Brigades Union executive council member, welcomed the report.
He said: "We are confident that, when fully implemented, the Safer Firefighter Programme will promote lasting improvements to the safety of firefighters not only in Scotland but across the UK.
"We believe that this report can be the start of that journey and will help us to achieve our shared aim that no firefighter should lose their life protecting our communities." | The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has identified "critical" changes that need to be made following the death of an Edinburgh firefighter. |
34,144,812 | In an interview with BBC Newsnight, Mr Blunkett said the US and other developed nations should share responsibility for responding to "a global crisis".
But he said the UK needs to take "very large numbers" of refugees if it is "to be taken seriously" as a nation.
Those from Syria and women and children should have priority, Mr Blunkett said.
The former minister's intervention came as the government faced increasing pressure to commit to taking more people fleeing conflict, following the publication around the world of images of a young Syrian boy who drowned and was found on a beach in Turkey.
Mr Blunkett said: "This time we must be seen not to wash our hands and not to pretend that, good though it is, investment we are making in the camps in the region is an alternative to overcoming the sheer, blinding misery of women and children who have nowhere else to go, who are destitute".
"I understand entirely people do not want the borders opened and do not want a situation where anything goes," he added.
"How could I not understand that, having been home secretary at a time when we had to take quite drastic measures? But this is on a different scale."
Mr Blunkett was home secretary from 2001-2004, during which time he took a hard line stance and significantly reduced the number of asylum seekers accepted into the UK.
"With united agreement from the developed world and a united front from Europe, we won't have the pictures we have seen this week, we won't have the handwringing," he said.
Mr Blunkett said the photos of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach have "brought this home to people in a way that all the words that we could ever use could never do."
Speaking earlier on Thursday Prime Minister David Cameron said that "as a father" he felt "deeply moved" by the images, and said the UK would meet its "moral responsibilities" but he did not give any commitment on numbers.
Mr Blunkett's suggestion is a significant increase on the figure of 10,000 which Labour leadership contender Yvette Cooper called for on Tuesday. | The UK should take in 25,000 refugees over the next six months, former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett has said. |
32,112,124 | From September 2016, the Irish Universities Association (IUA) is set to increase the number of points awarded for most A-level grades.
The change will see the value of a top "A star" A-level grade increase from 150 admission points to 180 points.
It should help to redress a 2005 move that cut the points value of A-levels.
At present, even high-performing A-level students who achieve three "A star" grades in their exams are unable to get a place in many popular university courses in the Republic of Ireland, such as law.
It stems from the fact that most sixth form pupils in Northern Ireland take three A-level exams, whereas school leavers in the Republic of Ireland usually study for least six subjects in their Leaving Certificate exam.
Ten years ago, Irish universities' Central Admissions Office (CAO) points system was revised to help universities on both sides of the Irish border compare the results of the different exam systems.
The 2005 move substantially reduced the number of CAO points awarded for A-levels - to take account of academic opinion that studying six subjects for the Leaving Cert was equivalent in difficulty to taking four, not three, A-levels.
As a result, under the existing points system, the top A-star grade at A-level is worth 150 points, whereas the top A1 grade in a Leaving Certificate subject is worth 100 points.
Therefore a student getting six top grades at Leaving Certificate level will get 600 points, whereas a student getting top grades in three A-levels can only achieve a maximum of 450 points.
For the last decade, it has meant that even if a UK student obtains the highest marks in their three chosen A-level subjects, their CAO points total is well short of the 500+ points required for most prestigious college courses.
The small number of sixth-forms who take four A-levels are the only pupils who have a realistic chance of competing for a place in one of the Republic's top universities.
The IUA, the umbrella body representing all seven universities in the Republic of Ireland, recently carried out a review of undergraduate admissions policies.
It has recommended that the CAO points awarded for an A grade at A-level increase from 135 to 150, while a B grade will rise from 120 points to 130. C grades will not change, remaining at 100 points.
It is hoped that it will help to attract more high-achieving students from Northern Ireland and Great Britain to study in the Republic.
All seven Irish universities are recommending the new system to their academic councils. | Students from the United Kingdom should soon find it easier to gain entry to Republic of Ireland universities due to change in the admission points system. |
35,192,144 | The translation of works from one of India's most famous poets was by Chinese novelist Feng Tang.
His publisher said on Monday that it was removing the work from sale following the "huge debate" in China's literary and translation circles.
Mr Feng has defended his translation, saying a previous version lacked style.
Tagore, known as the Bard of Bengal and seen as a literary god in India, was the first non-European to win the Nobel prize for literature.
Chinese media picked up on Mr Feng's version of Tagore's Stray Birds poetry collection in recent days, noting that it differed greatly from past Chinese translations.
A review by the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece People's Daily savaged the work, saying Mr Feng used "inelegant and vulgar words that makes one look askance".
Much of the criticism appeared to centre on one particular poem, but others in the collection were heavily criticised as too inaccurate, or for using speech that was too informal.
Mr Feng had based his translation on an English version of Tagore's original poems which were written in Bengali.
Tagore's original (English version)
The world puts off its mask of
vastness to its lover.
It becomes small as one song,
as one kiss of the eternal
Feng Tang's translation
The vast world unzips its trousers in front of its lover
Long as a tongue kiss
Slim as a verse
Publisher Zhejiang Arts and Culture Press noted on its microblog that the Stray Birds translation had "elicited a huge debate among our domestic literary and translation scenes".
It said that the books would be pulled off shelves nationwide while a group of experts evaluated the translation.
Mr Feng is known for his racy depictions of Beijing youth in the 1990s in his works, reported AFP news agency.
The author defended his work in an interview with the Dongfang Daily newspaper, saying he did not believe he had mistranslated Tagore.
Responding to criticism that his translation style had "gone below the baseline", he said: "There are different understandings of original works and their authors' intentions. Who gets to decide what should be the baseline?"
He added that a previous Chinese translation of the same work, which many had compared his work to, was basically accurate but "lacked childlike, spiritual, animalistic and natural poetic meaning".
The decision to pull the translation off shelves, however, sparked another backlash, as netizens complained that this amounted to censorship.
"Whatever the reason, a published book should not be pulled off the shelves, this is the responsibility of a publisher and is its most basic undertaking," said Weibo user Tuke2012.
Another user, AhRRRQ, said: "I'm not a fan of Feng Tang and especially don't think much of his translation. But I hope this action was borne out of a decision by the publisher, and not because of some cultural agency or leader's 'administrative intervention'." | A Chinese publisher has pulled a translation of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore's poems after it sparked controversy for racy content. |
37,710,435 | Kumbuka, a western lowland silverback, made an "opportunistic" exit through unlocked doors, London Zoo added.
The zoo said the gorilla got into a secure keepers' area on discovery of the security flaw.
Kumbuka was returned to his den shortly after being tranquilised on 13 October.
What happens if you drink five litres of undiluted squash?
The 29st "alpha male" was kept calm by a keeper before the keeper managed to remove himself from the area.
Armed police were called to the zoo and visitors were evacuated after the ape's bid for freedom.
You might also like:
Handsome Pakistani 'chai wala' turns model after trending on Twitter
Hot dogs 'must be renamed' in Malaysia, says religious body
Celtic fan, 5, phones club to apologise for missing match
But in his report on the breakout, Prof David Field described the events as "less dramatic than some would have you believe".
He said: "There were no broken locks, Kumbuka did not smash any windows, he was never 'on the loose' and his normal gorilla posturing reported by visitors earlier in the day was unrelated."
The gorilla found the door to his area was unlocked and a second door had yet to be secured shortly after his feeding time at 17:00 BST last Thursday.
It brought the gorilla face to face with the keeper who had shared an "incredibly close relationship" with the animal.
The member of staff talked to Kumbuka and "removed himself from the area".
Once alone, the animal "briefly explored the area next door to his den, where he opened and drank five litres of undiluted blackcurrant squash", the report revealed.
It concluded that the gorilla was always contained in a non-public area of the zoo after the alarm was raised, in accordance with its policy.
Kumbuka was returned to his den shortly after being tranquilised. | A gorilla that escaped from its enclosure at London Zoo drank five litres of undiluted blackcurrant squash before being returned to his den, a report has found. |
40,371,804 | The 40-year-old was set to arrive at Old Trafford this month before their first game against Durham on 7 July.
Jayawardene said he was "very disappointed" he was unable to feature but gave no further details.
"We are reviewing and reassessing all options from a player perspective," said head coach Glen Chapple.
Jayawardene, who retired from international cricket in 2015, played for Somerset in last year's T20 Blast.
He is one of Sri Lanka's greatest batsmen, with 11,814 runs in 149 Tests and more than 12,650 in 448 ODIs. | Former Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardene has pulled out of playing for Lancashire in this summer's T20 Blast for "personal reasons". |
39,741,773 | Ministers began consulting on the plans last week after officials realised most of the powers to apply sanctions will disappear when the UK leaves the EU.
The government hopes the move will allow it to continue to adopt sanctions alongside other members of the bloc.
EU law is mostly used now for a travel ban, asset freeze or trade embargo.
This UK's move matters because some countries - including Germany - fear that Brexit will change the balance of debate within the EU and encourage nations such as Italy and Spain to argue that sanctions on Russia should be relaxed.
The EU has imposed trade restrictions on Russia's financial, energy and defence sectors in response to its annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine.
The official consultation over the new laws began last Friday only hours before the pre-election ban on announcing new legislation - known as purdah - came into force.
It will be rushed through in just nine weeks so a new bill can be put to Parliament as soon as possible after the general election in June.
As a member of both the United Nations and the EU, the UK is obliged to implement any sanctions that either body decides to impose. These tend to involve travel bans, asset freezes and restrictions on finance and trade.
But crucially, the UK uses European law to implement most of these sanctions, regardless of whether they originated at the UN or the EU.
This is because decisions to restrict trade or money or the movement of people tend to be dealt with exclusively at EU level.
The EU currently imposes some 30 sanction regimes, of which about half flow from the UN.
These involve restrictions against people and institutions and trade in Russia, North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran and many other countries.
The new laws will allow the UK for the first time to impose substantial sanctions on another country's trade by itself.
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning
At the moment, the UK has only limited powers to impose some financial sanctions unilaterally, such as through the Terrorist Asset Freezing etc Act 2010 or the the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.
New legislation is needed to amend existing sanctions or introduce new ones after Brexit because the planned Great Repeal Bill would only be able to maintain current sanctions.
The White Paper says that "when the UK withdraws from the EU we will need new legal powers that are compliant with our domestic legal system. These will enable us to preserve and update UN sanctions, and to impose autonomous UK sanctions in coordination with our allies and partners."
It also hints that the government may take new powers to use sanctions in counter-terrorism operations.
"We need to ensure that UK counter-terrorist sanctions powers remain a useful tool for UK law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including ensuring that we can cooperate with international partners and allies," the document says.
Peers on the House of Lords' EU justice sub-committee alerted the government to the problem in February, saying: "The UK has contributed greatly to the substance and quality of improvements in the sanctions process over the last few years.
"It is, therefore, particularly important that the UK should remain able to align itself with EU sanctions post-Brexit. National legislation to achieve this must be put in place."
The Foreign Office minister who will take the bill through parliament, Sir Alan Duncan, said: "The government's over-arching goal is to ensure we have in place the legal powers needed to continue to implement sanctions regimes effectively, in support of our wider national security and foreign policy agenda.
"The UK plays a leading global role in using sanctions to reduce threats to international peace and security and we will continue to do so when we leave the European Union."
The scale of the UK's declining influence over EU sanctions was revealed this month when Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson failed to persuade other EU countries to agree new measures against Russia after its Syrian allies used chemical weapons. | The UK is urgently drawing up new laws that will enable it to continue imposing sanctions on foreign countries after Brexit, the BBC has learned. |
38,413,347 | Jesse Burgoine, 28, and Artjom Nepryahin, 26, were accused of having sex with the then 23-year-old while she was not fully conscious in 2014.
Both defendants said the sexual encounter was consensual and denied the woman had passed out.
Nottingham Crown Court had also heard explicit videos were filmed as the woman slept on a sofa and pictures uploaded to messaging app WhatsApp.
The court was told the men had "targeted" the woman at Coco Tang nightclub in Nottingham in December 2014 before sexual activity took place at Mr Nepryahin's flat in the city.
But jurors found Mr Burgoine, of Bedfordshire, and Mr Nepryahin, from Liverpool, not guilty of two charges of rape on Thursday, after a two-week trial. | Two men have been cleared of raping a woman they met at a nightclub. |
35,873,054 | The man, 46, was knifed at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham at about 10:30 GMT, West Midlands Police said.
A 41-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The man has been taken to hospital.
An area of the stadium, which hosts Diamond League events and the national championships, was cordoned off while forensic examinations were conducted.
Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the stabbing. | A man suffered "life threatening" injuries when he was stabbed at one of the country's major athletics stadiums. |
40,906,413 | Joe McCrisken was speaking at a Féile an Phobail event in west Belfast on the "dangers of prescription medication".
"The last figures indicate that Tramadol, a prescription drug, killed more people here than heroin," he said.
"Fentanyl, also a prescription drug, killed more people here than cocaine and ecstasy combined," he added.
He said the figures indicated there was a "problem".
"We know that the problem is increasing and I think that the solution is multifaceted - we all need to get involved to try and prevent further deaths," he added.
Mr McCrisken said he felt it was important that he attend the event given his role in dealing with families who have lost loved ones as a result of prescription drug abuse.
"It seemed important to me to come along and attempt if possible to provide some degree of education and a bit of information on the subject.
"Also to hear from the families themselves, they educated me as much as I did them today so it has been a really worthwhile event and good for the Coroners' Service and a coroner in particular to engage with the community".
Patricia Browne is one of a number of mothers to have lost a child to the scourge of prescription drug abuse.
Her 26-year-old son Christopher Lavery died in west Belfast in April after a suspected overdose.
Patricia said that more needs to done assist those with addiction problems: "We thought Christopher was brilliant, he was moving to a new house, there's a one off, it cost him his life.
"We're left with so much grief. My life can never be the same without Christopher.
"It's just so hard and it's so early stages of trying to pick up and move on," she said. | A coroner has warned that Northern Ireland has a serious problem with prescription drug abuse. |
40,382,750 | Warrenpoint Town made a immediate return to the top flight and they will take on Glenavon at Milltown.
Premiership runners-up Crusaders visit Ballymena United while third-placed Coleraine are away against Dungannon.
Glentoran make the long trip to face Ballinamallard United and Cliftonville will take on Ards at Solitude.
Linfield pipped Crusaders to the the title last season and the Belfast teams are expected to challenge again for Premiership glory.
The first league showdown between the Blues and Crues will take place at Seaview on 2 September.
Glentoran will have home advantage for the traditional Boxing Day clash clash against old rivals Linfield.
Click here for a full list of 2017/18 Premiership fixtures | Linfield will begin their bid to retain the Irish Premiership title with a Windsor Park game against Carrick Rangers on Saturday, 12 August. |
39,204,218 | A statue of a young girl has been placed in front of Wall Street's iconic bull, to call attention to gender inequality and the pay gap in the corporate world.
The statue was commissioned by one of the world's largest fund managers. It says the girl represents the future.
One in four of the 3,000 largest traded US companies do not have even one woman on their board, the company says.
State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), a $2.5 trillion (£2.06 trillion) asset manager, said it would send a letter to 3,500 companies asking them to act.
It argued that companies with more female leaders performed better.
"A key contributor to effective independent board leadership is diversity of thought, which requires directors with different skills, backgrounds and expertise," SSGA president Ron O'Hanley said in a statement.
"Today, we are calling on companies to take concrete steps to increase gender diversity on their boards and have issued clear guidance to help them begin to take action."
SSGA said it would act to ensure that measures to address inequality are being taken, including using its votes in company's boards.
But the company has had its own issues in implementing diversity. According to Reuters, only three of its 11 board members are female, and two of them have been serving for more than a decade.
Wall Street's Charging Bull statue was originally guerrilla art by Italian-born artist Arturo Di Modica. Installed in 1989, the bronze sculpture was meant to represent the "strength and power of the American people" in response to the market crash in 1987.
But it become a popular attraction and was allowed to stay.
Unlike the bull, the girl statue, by artist Kristen Visbal, has been given a permit by the city's authorities.
It is not clear how long the statue will remain there. The company wants it to stay for a month, but says it will be happy if it becomes a permanent feature. | Tourists visiting New York's Wall Street today may get a surprise. |
31,812,235 | The singer says the guitar-led feel to their latest music came naturally.
"There wasn't some sort of big burning of banjos meeting," he told Annie Mac on her new Radio 1 evening show.
"It was just the noise we wanted to make and we've always followed our noses on that. The first rule of rock 'n' roll is, do what you want."
The band's first single from Wilder Mind, Believe, had its first play on Radio 1 on Monday night.
Marcus Mumford says it was written after a friend's wedding in America last year.
"The boys wrote it in Texas," he says. "We were all at a wedding and we were on this ranch.
"One of our best mates got married and the parents of the bride kindly let us stay on in this little outhouse for a week.
"I left a day early and by the time we'd met up again in London the boys had written this song, Believe.
And then I got in and started singing it and it was just great because normally there's a guitar in my hands.
"This is the first time in the band that I've just got to sing without having to worry about faffing with instruments. I really enjoyed it."
Following the success of the band's 2012 release, Babel, Marcus Mumford and bandmates Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane took some time off.
Marcus says they got back together at the beginning of last year in America to write new material.
"We started doing demos at Aaron Dessner's garage [from The National] in Brooklyn, New York, about a year ago and started getting some songs together.
"And then when we were ready we went ahead in the autumn of last year and smashed it out.
"And now we're running around trying to learn how to play it live."
Last week the band revealed they will be headlining this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals as well as announcing their own Stopover Festival, a two-day music and arts event which will take place near Aviemore.
Marcus Mumford says fans are in for something a little bit different with that one.
"That's going to be a lot of music," he says. "We're putting on these festivals. It's kind of our favourite thing that we get to do as a band actually, to curate our own festivals, put together the line-ups.
"And it's not a headline Mumford & Sons show. It's a festival in small, out of the way towns.
"It's cool, because it's a destination gig, you will travel somewhere interesting and watch music for the weekend. It's great fun."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | Marcus Mumford says there was a conscious decision from Mumford & Sons to go for a new sound on their third studio album, Wilder Mind. |
22,262,452 | The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating whether the FBI failed to act on Russian concerns that Tsarnaev was becoming radicalised.
Tsarnaev was questioned in 2011 amid claims he had adopted radical Islam.
At a closed hearing, senators said steps could be taken to improve information sharing between agencies.
Tsarnaev was killed in a manhunt after the attacks on 15 April. His brother Dzhokhar, was wounded but survived, and has been charged over the bombings.
The Beth Israel Deaconess hospital in Massachusetts said at noon on Tuesday that the surviving brother's condition had improved from "serious" to "fair", according to the US Attorney's Office in Boston.
The Tsarnaev brothers had origins in the troubled, predominantly Muslim republic of Chechnya in southern Russia. They had been living in the US for about a decade at the time of the attack.
Q&A: Possible FBI failings
Members of Congress want to know why no further action was taken after Tamerlan Tsarnaev was investigated in 2011 at the request of the Russian government.
In 2012 he travelled to Russia, and spent six months in Dagestan, another mainly Muslim Russian republic bordering Chechnya. During the visit, he also reportedly spent two days in Chechnya itself.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham had questioned why the FBI was unable to identify him as a threat based on his alleged links to radical websites.
He called for better co-operation with Russia and the amendment of privacy laws to allow closer scrutiny of suspects' internet activity.
Speaking after the Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington, Republican Senator Susan Collins said there appeared to be "serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information ... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case", the Associated Press reports.
Profile: The Tsarnaev brothers
How to interrogate a suspect
Tamerlan Tsarnaev: A lone wolf
Q&A: Suspects' Chechen links
Maps of manhunt
Timeline of manhunt
The vice-chairman of the committee, Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, said he could not see "anybody yet that dropped the ball", but that he was still seeking information on whether information was properly shared.
"If it wasn't, we've got to fix this," AP quoted him as saying.
The FBI has defended itself, saying in a statement on Friday that it had run checks on the suspect but found no evidence of terrorist activity.
It said a request to Russia for further information to justify more rigorous checks went unanswered, and an interview by agents with Tsarnaev and his family also revealed nothing suspicious.
In a separate hearing on Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the FBI had been aware of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia, contradicting Senator Graham's allegation that the trip had been overlooked because his name had been misspelled in travel documents.
The twin bombs which exploded near the finishing line of the marathon killed three people and injured more than 200, many of them seriously.
On Tuesday, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced that a compensation fund for victims of the attack had received $20m (£13.2m) in the week since it was launched, with donations streaming in from Boston and across the world.
On Monday, a 10-page criminal complaint was filed against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during a court hearing around his hospital bed.
Federal prosecutors have charged him with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. He could be sentenced to death if convicted on either count.
According to a transcript of the hearing, he managed to speak once despite a gunshot wound to his throat sustained during his capture.
Mr Tsarnaev said the word "no" when asked if he could afford a lawyer. Otherwise he nodded in response to Judge Marianne Bowler's questions from his bed at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The next hearing in his case has been scheduled for the end of May.
The complaint seeks to locate both suspects at the scene of the bombing and then pieces together the operation to intercept them three days later, as they allegedly drove a hijacked car near the city, hours after images of their faces were broadcast by the media.
No mention is made of their possible reasons for attacking the marathon.
Anonymous officials have told US media that 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said he and his brother had planned the attack themselves without help from foreign militants.
The officials say his written answers from his hospital bed to investigators' questions lead them to believe that the pair were motivated by jihadist ideology and that they devised the bombings using the internet.
However, the sources also said the interviews were preliminary and they must verify the defendant's responses.
Lawyers for Katherine Russell, the widow of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, said that their client was doing everything she could to assist authorities.
She is "trying to come to terms with these events", her lawyers said in a statement on Tuesday, without saying whether she had been questioned by investigators.
"The report of involvement by her husband and brother-in-law came as an absolute shock to them all." | US security officials have been questioned by Congress over whether they mishandled information about the Boston bomb suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. |
39,680,838 | What appeared to be more than 30 white wedding dresses were hung from nooses, strung up between the palm trees.
Lebanese law currently allows a rapist to be exonerated if he marries his victim.
The activists are pressing to have the legislation abolished at an upcoming session of parliament.
Minister for Women's Affairs Jean Oghassabian described the article as being "from the stone age".
"There are 31 days in a month and every single day, a woman may be raped and forced to marry her rapist," said Alia Awada from the non-governmental organisation Abaad.
A proposal to scrap Article 522 of the penal code, which deals with rape, assault, kidnapping and forced marriage, was introduced last year and approved by a parliamentary committee in February.
Activists hope that MPs will vote to abolish it when it goes to a vote on 15 May.
BBC World Service Middle East editor Alan Johnston says the ghostly wedding dresses swaying in the wind beneath their nooses conjure a sense of a brutal snuffing out of life and hope.
That is the sort of impact the controversial law may have on victims of rape, our correspondent says.
The installation was designed in Paris by Lebanese artist Mireille Honein.
She told AFP news agency that Article 522 had left women "without an identity" and was "shameful for those imposing it on them".
Last December, women dressed in wedding dresses made from bandages to protest against the law.
Mireille Honein's hanging wedding dresses are the latest in a line of protests using artistic expression to highlight violence against women
Domestic violence: A group of "guerilla feminists" in China marched up a Beijing street wearing wedding dresses spattered with red paint to highlight the issue, little debated in the country, but were later detained for more than a month in 2015 on public disorder charges, sparking an international outcry
So-called "honour" crime: Eighteen-year-old Tunisian feminist Amina Sboui wrote "my body belongs to me. It is not the source of anyone's honour" on her chest and published the topless photograph on the internet in March 2013. She subsequently had to go into hiding and spent two years in France before returning.
Female genital mutilation (FGM): UK playwright Charlene Jones won an award for her play looking at the impact of FGM - some form of which has been carried out on 200m women around the world, the UN says - as seen through the eyes of two 15-year-old girls. | Activists campaigning to change Lebanon's law on rape have staged a macabre protest on Beirut's famous sea front. |
38,251,272 | Moore, 24, scored five goals in four National League games for the Gulls but has now returned to his parent club.
"It was one of those loans which worked for everybody," Nicholson said.
"Come January, when Mark Cooper sits down and sees what he needs and what he thinks he can tinker with, I'll go and ask that [Moore loan] question again."
Torquay picked up seven points from the four matches Moore played, which included a 3-0 win where the forward scored a hat-trick.
"I'm very grateful to Forest Green for letting us have Kieffer like that, and to Kieffer for coming in and setting a standard," added Nicholson to BBC Radio Devon.
"Honestly, if you send a player out on loan and he bangs in five goals in four games and your team, who's top of the league, finds themselves losing a couple, I think it's pretty obvious what was going to happen."
Meanwhile Torquay have signed Millwall centre-back Paul Rooney, 19, on a 28-day youth loan. | Torquay United manager Kevin Nicholson says he is "grateful" to Kieffer Moore and Forest Green for the striker's month-long loan spell at Plainmoor. |
36,454,915 | Emergency services were called to the collision on the A72 Peebles to Innerleithen road at about 11:10.
Three men - aged 87, 71 and 42 - were taken to hospital. The 87-year-old died a short time later.
Police Scotland appealed for any witnesses to the crash, which involved a red Vauxhall Meriva and a silver Honda CR-V. | An 87-year-old man has died after a crash in the Scottish Borders on Saturday morning. |
36,965,186 | Government figures show 85% of private school pupils went to higher education, compared with 62% of those from state schools by the age of 19 in 2013-14.
The figures for entrance to the most selective universities were even starker at 64% and 23% respectively.
Tuition fees, funded by state-sponsored loans, had just been raised to £9,000.
The figures, published by the Department for Education, reveal a drop from 66% to 62% in state school pupils progressing to university between 2012-2013 and 2013-2014.
It was part of a nine percentage point drop from 71% in state school pupils carrying on into higher education since 2009-2010, the figures showed.
But overall there were still many thousands more state school pupils going to university in 2013-14 at 212,065, than private school pupils at 24,990.
The report, Widening Participation in Higher Education: 2016, noted: "The 2013-14 cohort was the first cohort where all students were affected by the change in tuition fees in 2012-13."
Ministers have repeatedly claimed that the introduction of higher fees did not deter pupils from heading to university.
The figures were released days after maintenance grants were replaced with loans for students from poor backgrounds in England.
They replaced payments of around £3,500 with loans, which will have to be paid back at the end of an undergraduate course, once graduates are earning more than £21,000.
But the government highlighted that more disadvantaged youngsters, those on free school meals, are going on to university.
Universities Minister Jo Johnson said: "We are seeing record numbers of disadvantaged young people going to university and benefiting from the real opportunities that our world-class universities can offer.
"But, with a gap still persisting depending on a student's background, there is still more work to do to build a society that works for everyone.
"Everyone in our country should be allowed to rise as far as their talents will take them, whoever they are and wherever they're from. We will not rest until every young person in our country has the chance to fulfil their promise."
Sorana Vieru, vice president for higher education at the National Union of Students, said: "This government has continued with the coalition's rhetoric that high fees and debt have not put students off going into higher education.
"Despite research showing that students from non-selective state schools being the most likely to succeed at university, their participation rates have been in decline since 2010.
"It is clear that students from non-selective state schools are most likely to be from disadvantaged backgrounds.
"For a government that talks the talk on social mobility, it needs to seriously consider the effect its market reforms are having on higher education participation." | Private schools extended their lead over state schools in getting pupils into England's universities after higher fees were introduced, data shows. |
37,358,719 | Rayouf Alhumedhi, 15, has sent a proposal to The Unicode Consortium, a non-profit corporation that reviews and develops new emojis.
The idea gained the backing of the co-founder of online discussion forum Reddit, Alexis Ohanian. If approved, her emoji will be available in 2017.
The proposal comes as countries across Europe wrestle with the issue of the Muslim veil - in all its forms.
The debate takes in religious freedom, female equality, secular traditions and even fears of terrorism.
The veil issue is part of a wider debate about multiculturalism in Europe, as many politicians argue that there needs to be a greater effort to assimilate ethnic and religious minorities.
Rayouf Alhumedhi told the BBC it was during a group chat with her friends on social media that she had realised there was no emoji to represent her, a headscarf-wearing woman.
After reading an article on emoji design, she wrote an email about her idea to Unicode.
Intrigued, a member of a Unicode subcommittee replied, offering to help her draft a formal proposal.
"In this day and age, representation is extremely important," she said of her reasons behind the project.
"People want to be acknowledged... and recognised, especially in the tech world. This is massive. Emojis are everywhere.
"There are so many Muslim women in this world who wear the headscarf. It might seem trivial... but it's different when you see yourself on the keyboard around the world. Once you experience that, it's really great."
To boost support for the initiative, Mr Ohanian hosted a Reddit live online discussion on Tuesday where Reddit users could ask Rayouf Alhumedhi about the new idea.
Some wanted to see whether they could get involved while others questioned the need for the hijab, saying it was a tool to oppress women.
The drafting committee hopes to present a final version of the proposal to Unicode in November. | A Saudi teenager living in Germany has proposed designing a headscarf emoji. |
39,235,948 | The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader told the party's conference in Perth that Nicola Sturgeon was "determined" to hold an independence referendum.
He argued that the economic case for independence is weaker than in 2014.
But he said the case for the UK should be a "positive, uplifting one".
And he told delegates that "Britain is full of people who care" and that it was important to focus on the "ties that bind us rather than the differences some would use to divide us".
Ahead of Mr Rennie's speech, the conference formally backed calls for the party to be "the voice for the majority in Scotland, who want Scotland inside the UK and the UK in the EU", and to campaign for re-entry into the EU after Brexit.
Highlighting his own family's links to different parts of the UK, and to Europe, Mr Rennie told delegates that the constitutional debate was "personal" rather than merely a "dry, dusty debate about government structures".
He added: "It is about family, community, destiny. I want to bring communities and peoples together, not drive them apart.
"That is why I will oppose erecting a barrier, any barrier, in the heart of my family just like I will oppose erecting a barrier, any barrier, in the heart of the United Kingdom or the European Union.
"Because the United Kingdom is our family. The European Union is our family. And we stand with our family.
"Erecting barriers and division with independence - between us and the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland - is just as objectionable as the division we are seeing with the people of Europe as a result of Brexit."
Willie Rennie says that indyref2 is unwanted and unnecessary. Yet his speech was founded upon the presumption that such a ballot is coming reasonably soon.
Perhaps he took his clue from the interview with me in which the first minister agreed that indyref2 was now "all but inevitable". Or the many other interviews in which she has deployed comparable comments.
Either way, Mr Rennie says his party is ready for the fight. The economic case for independence, he said, is now less impressive, particularly in the light of oil figures.
But, he said, there was an emotional case for the Union too. He, Rennie W, was ready to deploy said argument. It was, he said, about "family, community and destiny". (Theresa May opted for "solidarity, unity, family.")
On the subject of the EU, Mr Rennie also anticipates a further referendum. Although he tends to bristle, politely, if one suggests it is a rerun of 23 June.
Read more from Brian
Mr Rennie said he would always "stand up for our United Kingdom" as an "uplifting, mutually beneficial partnership".
And looking ahead to a potential second independence referendum, he said the Lib Dems would "lead the way on the kind of campaign for the United Kingdom that we want to see".
He added: "We know the economic case for independence is weaker than even in 2014, so I will not dwell on that today.
"The new case for the United Kingdom is a positive, uplifting one that focuses on the ties that bind us rather than the differences some would use to divide us.
"It is that emotional case. It is the Liberal case for unity. The compassionate case. It goes to the heart of who we are. Our United Kingdom is an uplifting, mutually beneficial partnership that we should cherish rather than trash.
"So as we head into another referendum the responsibility on liberals is great. We must stand up and be counted for our values. This is a battle of ideas and values, not of identities and flags."
Delegates debated policies including the UK and Europe and maternal mental health before Mr Rennie's speech.
The two-day event also heard from MPs Nick Clegg and Alistair Carmichael, who both hit out at the rise of nationalism.
Members have approved policy motions backing moves to cut drug-related deaths including "safe injection facilities" and the "de facto decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use", and on increasing the speed limit for HGVs.
The party also reaffirmed its backing to the "Frank's Law" campaign for free dementia care for those aged under 65. | Willie Rennie has set out what he said was the "new case for the United Kingdom" as he pledged to fight to keep Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU. |
35,294,851 | Guy Madjo, a 31-year-old Cameroonian player, invited the 27-year-old to stay at his home in Grayshott, Hampshire, after she was locked out of her flat, jurors heard.
She awoke to find the defendant groping her, prosecutors said.
Mr Madjo, who denies sexual penetration, is being tried in his absence at Winchester Crown Court.
Judge Andrew Barnett warned jurors not to "speculate or guess" why the defendant was not present.
Rebecca Austin, prosecuting, said the woman had been drinking in a pub near her house in August last year.
After discovering she had been locked out she got her hand stuck in the letter box.
Mr Madjo, who lived nearby, helped her remove her hand and said she could stay on his sofa, the court heard.
Miss Austin said the woman, who described herself as "tipsy", fell asleep on the sofa but woke up to find herself being groped by the defendant.
She said: "She left, walked away and called the police, she said she was being followed by him.
"She ran away from Mr Madjo, she fell and then she hid behind a car, she was found by a neighbour."
Miss Austin said Mr Madjo, who shares the house with his wife and plays as a striker, "denied that he touched her sexually at all".
Mr Madjo, a free agent, has played for Tranmere Rovers, Aldershot, Bristol City, Forest Green Rovers, Stafford Rangers, Crawley Town and Shrewsbury Town.
He also played for Plymouth Argyle, Stevenage and Macclesfield Town as well as the Cameroon under-23 national team. | A professional footballer groped a "tipsy" woman who was asleep on his sofa, a court has heard. |
35,976,949 | Zoopla analysed the asking prices and rents of two-bedroom homes currently on the market in the UK's biggest cities.
It found that buying works out cheaper than renting in many parts of Scotland, northern England and the West Midlands.
Glasgow, Coventry and Birmingham were the top three cities for cost-effective buying. Cambridge, London and Brighton were top for cost-effective renting.
The survey found that in Glasgow, Coventry and Birmingham renters could pay more than £100 a month than those with a mortgage.
Renters were most likely to be better off than mortgage payers in pockets of the South, where the supply of homes is tight and house prices are high.
Cambridge, London and Brighton are the top places where renting is cheaper than paying a mortgage, the research suggests.
In Cambridge, the average monthly rent was found to be about £769 less than a mortgage payment.
Lawrence Hall, a spokesman for Zoopla, said: "Once you get past the initial fees that come with a house purchase, such as a deposit and stamp duty, our figures show that it can pay to try and get on the property ladder.
"On top of the enjoyment that can come with owning your property, buyers may also find themselves with more disposable income at the end of the month than those renting their homes.
"Particularly if you're in Scotland, northern England or in the West Midlands, taking the first step on to the ladder and sacrificing the flexibility of renting can be a much cheaper alternative."
Zoopla's research assumed that someone buying a home had a 10% deposit and was paying a 25-year repayment mortgage with an interest rate of 4.5%.
When the data was last analysed by Zoopla in October 2015, buying was cheaper than renting in just over one third of cities. | Buying a home is more cost-effective than renting in 48% of British cities, according to a property website. |
37,584,302 | Mr Mulili has cancer of the oesophagus.
He is currently undergoing a five-week chemotherapy and radiotherapy course at Nairobi Hospital, one of the country's leading private health facilities, located in the capital.
In recent weeks, Kenya's decades' old National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has begun offering private treamtment to policyholders suffering from chronic conditions.
Mr Mulili is among the first beneficiaries of this new service.
"If we didn't have the NHIF cover I would have died and I wouldn't have blamed my parents for failing to pay for treatment because they just cannot afford.
"The full course of treatment costs half a million Kenyan shillings ($5,000).
"Even if we sold everything we could, and asked our family and friends to fund-raise, I don't think we would have received enough money for treatment."
The insurance pays a maximum of $3,500 for treatment of chronic conditions such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and dialysis.
The treatment would have been cheaper within the public health sector, but given the option, he chose not to risk the months-long patient waiting list.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 100 million people are pushed into poverty and 150 million globally suffer "financial catastrophe" by spending their money directly on healthcare.
To help guard against this, there is now a push for governments to provide universal health insurance schemes.
A 2012 study carried out by the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) in Africa and Asia found that only half of the 52 countries surveyed had any form of health insurance scheme, and only four - Ghana, Rwanda, China and Vietnam - were making any visible progress.
But in many developing countries, the vast majority of contributors to Kenya's health insurance scheme have jobs in the formal sector, such as the civil service or the private sector.
That still leaves the greater part of the population, who are either "unemployed, or in subsistence farming and the informal sector", according to the Unicef report, in a vulnerable position.
In order to reach those people, the NHIF has been out on the road.
I join the campaign team in Timau, a small town 225km (140 miles) north of Nairobi.
A truck which they have parked in the market is blasting out loud music and a crowd of locals gathers to watch a group of dancers perform.
Every so often, the entertainment is paused while one of the staff takes the mic and explains the importance of having health cover.
"The idea is to educate them so that they can voluntarily enrol," says NHIF chief executive Geoffrey Mwangi.
But some think the ambition to attract 12 million people to sign up for the scheme is unrealistic given the 5$ a month price tag.
The average monthly wage in Kenya is under $100.
"The evidence from around the world is that poor or near-poor people don't tend to buy health insurance unless it is massively subsidised," says Robert Yates, an expert in universal health coverage at London's Chatham House think-tank.
"Furthermore, whilst membership remains voluntary, the people who are most likely to join will be high users of healthcare who are likely to consume a greater value of healthcare than their contributions."
This can put undue pressure on a scheme's finances, he adds.
He names Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, Ethiopia, Lesotho and Gabon as examples of African countries where government efforts to bring affordable healthcare to everyone are gaining momentum.
The extension of the national health insurance scheme to cover cancer treatment in private hospitals means that patients who need urgent treatment, like Edger Mulili, should now be able to get it.
To benefit the general population, much more needs to be done to improve public health systems.
But for Mr Mulili, the overwhelming emotion is one of relief.
"Now I feel like everything will be fine. I feel like I'm going to live," he says, a broad smile spreading across his face. | Eighteen-year-old high school student Edger Mulili says he would not be alive today if his father had not contributed $5 (£4) a month to a government health insurance scheme in Kenya. |
14,782,088 | Briton Wiggins led Cobo by 55 seconds at the start of the 15th stage, but he struggled on the notoriously tough climb to the summit finish at Angliru.
Cobo broke clear on the final climb to win and earn a 20-second time bonus.
Britain's Chris Froome remained second in the standings, 20 seconds back, with Wiggins third, 46 seconds down.
After the stage Froome said: "The plan for today was to try and keep Bradley right up there going into that final climb.
"With those gradients it was basically a time trial from the bottom to the top and both of us were poised in really good positions on the road.
"We gave all we had all the way up there but today Cobo proved to be stronger than both of us.
"We've lost the jersey, which never leaves you with a nice feeling, but there's still a week of racing to go and we'll do everything in our power to keep battling and keep right up there in the standings.
"This second rest day couldn't come at a better time for me, just like the first one couldn't, because I'm absolutely shattered and tomorrow will be a welcome time to take things easy and recharge the batteries."
With just six stages remaining until the race ends on 11 September in Madrid, Cobo is now favourite for the overall victory.
There was little sign of the drama to come as the stage began at a relatively gentle pace.
A three-man breakaway was allowed to go out to five minutes but once the peloton had cleared the category two Alto de Tenebredo climb and the category one climb of Alto del Cordalm the leaders were reeled in.
And it was on the final climb of the day, the brutal Alto de l'Angliru, that Cobo made his bid for glory.
The climb peaks at a gradient of 23.5% which reduced many riders to walking pace.
But Cobo made a lung-busting dash for the summit, breaking his nearest challengers on the stage and, more crucially, Wiggins and Froome who were in the pack and visibly struggling.
Cobo crossed the line in four hours, one minute, 56 seconds, a gap of 48 seconds over Froome, who finished alongside Wouter Poels of the Netherlands and Russia's Denis Menchov.
Triple Olympic champion Wiggins, who was fifth, 1:21 behind Cobo, said on his Twitter page: "Well Cobo was just too strong today, congrats to him. Thought my race was over with mechanical on the last decent but managed to come back."
Monday is a rest day before the Vuelta heads toward the Basque country for the first time in 33 years.
Results from the 15th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, a 89.5-mile (144 kilometre) mountain course from Aviles to Alto de l'Angliru:
1. Juan Jose Cobo, Spain, Geox, 4 hours, 01 minute, 56 seconds
2. Wouter Poels, Netherlands, Vacansoleil, +48 seconds
3. Denis Menchov, Russia, Geox, same time
4. Christopher Froome, Britain, Sky, same time
5. Bradley Wiggins, Britain, Sky, +1:21
6. Igor Anton, Spain, Euskaltel, same time
7. Joaquim Rodriguez, Spain, Katusha, +1:35
8. Maxime Monfort, Belgium, Leopard, same time
9. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands, Rabobank, same time
10. Sergey Lagutin, Uzbekistan, Vacansoleil, same time
Overall Standings (After 15 of 21 stages):
1. Juan Jose Cobo, Spain, Geox, 59 hours, 57 minutes, 16 seconds
2. Christopher Froome, Britain, Sky, +20 seconds
3. Bradley Wiggins, Britain, Sky, +46"
4. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands, Rabobank, +1:36
5. Maxime Monfort, Belgium, Leopard Trek, +2:37
6. Denis Menchov, Russia, Geox, +3:01
7. Jakob Fuglsang, Denmark, Leopard Trek, +3:06
8. Vicenzo Nibali, Italy, Liquigas-Cannondale, +3:27
9. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium, Omega Pharma Lotto, +3:58
10. Wouter Poels, Netherlands, Vacansoleil, +4:13 | Bradley Wiggins' hopes of winning the Vuelta a Espana suffered a setback on Sunday as he lost the race leader's red jersey to Spaniard Juan Jose Cobo. |
39,763,461 | Khalid Mohammed Omar Ali, 27, was arrested on 27 April near Parliament Square in Whitehall.
In an unrelated incident, six people were arrested following evening raids in Willesden and Kent, including 21-year-old Mohamed Amoudi.
The maximum terror suspects can be held for with judicial approval is 14 days.
Police have been given authorisation by a court to detain all the suspects for several more days.
Mr Ali was found carrying knives near the Houses of Parliament and was detained by armed police.
He is a British national who is believed to have gone to school in Tottenham, north London, but was not born in the UK.
The Metropolitan Police said he had been detained on suspicion of terrorism offences.
He had been on the force's radar for some time and it is thought police acted after a concerned family member contacted them.
It also emerged on Saturday that he had spent time in Afghanistan, returning to the UK at the end of last year.
The second operation took place at a house in Harlesden Road, which had been under observation by police.
It was revealed on Saturday that Mr Amoudi had previously been quizzed by British authorities under suspicion of trying to travel to Syria to join so-called Islamic State
He was arrested alongside a 20-year-old woman, a 16-year-old boy, and a man and woman both aged 28, as well as a 43-year-old woman, who was arrested at another raid in Kent.
All of them were detained on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorist acts.
A 21-year-old woman was also shot during the raid and remains in hospital. She is likely to be questioned when she is well enough to be discharged.
The Met said the two incidents were unrelated.
Neil Basu, deputy assistant commissioner, said that in both cases he believed the force "contained the threats that they pose".
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning | Detectives have been granted more time to question seven suspects detained in two separate counter-terrorism operations in London on Thursday. |
40,933,391 | Mr Trump is under fire for being late to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis involved in a violent rally.
But Mr Trump said: "They're leaving out of embarrassment, because they make their products outside."
Shortly after Mr Trump's comments, a fifth group stepped down from a White House business panel.
Those who have quit the manufacturing council in recent days include Kenneth Frazier of Merck, Kevin Plank of Under Armour, Brian Krzanich of Intel and Scott Paul, the president of business group the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
On Tuesday evening, after a combative news conference in which Mr Trump defended his original statement that violence came from "many sides", Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labour group, also said he and Thea Lee, another leader of the organisation, would no longer participate.
"It's clear that President Trump's manufacturing council was never an effective means for delivering real policy that lifts working families and his remarks today were the last straw," he said.
As calls mount for corporations to respond, other firms participating on White House panels have issued statements condemning the violence.
Walmart, which typically avoids political controversy, shared a statement from its chief executive that said Mr Trump "missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together by unequivocally rejecting the appalling actions of white supremacists".
However, Walmart boss Doug McMillon did not say he would step down from the panel.
Shannon Coulter, who co-founded the #grabyourwallet boycott against companies that do business with Mr Trump, said recent events have added momentum to the campaign.
"Charlottesville has definitely escalated the issue of associating oneself with the Trumps," she told the BBC. "I think it's increasingly clear to CEOs on his councils that the Trump name and identity is toxic and that for the sake of their brands they need to get away from it as quickly as possible."
Kenneth Frazier, the head of drugs giant Merck, led the walkout from the White House manufacturing council on Monday morning.
One of only a handful of black leaders of Fortune 500 companies, Mr Frazier said he would no longer participate, calling it a matter of "personal conscience".
Mr Frazier said: "I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism."
"America's leaders must honour our fundamental views by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal."
In response, Mr Trump tweeted that Mr Frazier would now have "more time to lower rip-off drug prices".
End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump
Mr Frazier's decision sparked calls from the public for other leaders involved in Mr Trump's panels to follow suit.
Kevin Plank, the chief executive of sports apparel company Under Armour, said he was resigning on Monday night. His decision came after he faced backlash from shoppers - and some Under Armour-sponsored athletes - earlier this year when he praised Mr Trump's pro-business views.
Intel boss Brian Krzanich also said on Monday that he would resign, followed by Scott Paul of the manufacturing alliance on Tuesday.
Mr Trump dismissed the resignations, saying those companies relied on overseas manufacturing.
"They're not taking their job seriously as it pertains to this country," he said. "We want jobs, manufacturing in this country."
Many executives, including those at companies such as Campbell Soup Co and General Electric, said they feel it is important to remain involved.
"We must engage if we hope to change the world and those who lead it," Alex Gorsky, chairman and chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement.
But the resignations this week add to Mr Trump's growing alienation from the business community, which he had expected to claim as an ally.
Former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick left a business advisory council in February over the Trump administration's immigration policies.
Tesla's chief executive Elon Musk and Walt Disney's chief executive Robert Iger left the President's Strategic and Policy Forum in June, after Mr Trump said he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
Mr Musk also left the manufacturing council.
Rashad Robinson is executive director of Color of Change, which is among the groups that have brought pressure on corporations.
He said he hoped it would help make it clear that Mr Trump's attitude toward white supremacists and neo-Nazis was unacceptable.
"The more desertions and defections, the more isolated this administration is, the less mainstream connections that this administration has, the more powerful this message is to every day Americans about how out of step what's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is and why we need a change, " he said.
Companies that cut ties with the White House are likely to face costs, said Jiekun Huang, a professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He is co-author of a study that linked higher stock prices to White House visits, based on records from the Obama administration. An initial review of the first six months of the Trump administration showed a similar effect, he said.
But the risk of losing access to discuss regulations or contracts must be weighed against the risk of alienating employees and consumers, said Michael Maslansky, head of Maslansky + Partners, a language strategy firm that has advised major companies.
"The era of the fence-sitter corporation is over," he said.
"If you're silent about an issue, then each side will assume you're on the wrong side. You end up really having to choose." | US President Donald Trump hit back at business leaders on Tuesday as executives tried to distance themselves from the administration. |
40,168,085 | Heavily armed officers arrived at an apartment building on Monday after reports of an explosion and found one man already dead in the foyer.
Another man, Yacqub Khayre, was armed with a shotgun and holding a woman inside the building against her will.
Khayre, 29, called a broadcaster during the siege to say he was acting in the name of the Islamic State (IS) group.
A news outlet for the group claimed it had carried out the attack, but police said there was no evidence of it co-ordinating with Khayre.
Three police officers suffered injuries after Khayre engaged them in a firefight in which he was shot dead. The hostage was rescued unharmed.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the victim who died, a building employee, was "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Authorities were investigating whether Khayre, a Somali-born Australian citizen, may have lured officers to the wealthy suburb of Brighton with the aim of confronting them.
Mr Ashton said comments Khayre made referencing IS and al-Qaeda had prompted the terrorism investigation.
"We do not yet know if this was something he was really planning or whether it was just an ad hoc decision that he has made just to go off tap like this," Mr Ashton said.
"They (IS) always tend to jump up and claim responsibility every time something happens," Mr Ashton said.
He said Khayre had been acquitted over a foiled plot to attack a Sydney army barracks in 2009.
He had "a long criminal history" and was on parole after being released from jail on a separate offence last year, Mr Ashton said.
The gunman had arranged to meet the woman through an escort service before taking her hostage, he said.
Neighbours and people in the area described hearing loud gunfire at the scene.
"Everyone just panicked," one witness, Luke Fourniotis, told the Herald Sun.
"I started running but I didn't know where the shots were coming from so I had this thought: 'Are they shooting at us?' My heart was in my throat."
Nearby resident Graeme Hisgrove said heavily armed police officers went through his backyard during the operation.
"We were just in the front room of the house and all the rapid fire started, so we all hit the deck on the floor and just didn't know what was going on," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
On Tuesday, police raided a house reportedly shared by Khayre and his mother, seizing computers, other electronic devices and books.
Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull said the case raised "grave concerns" about the parole system which he said would be addressed.
"How was this man on parole? He had a long record of violence. A very long record of violence," Mr Turnbull said.
"These are important issues and Australians need to be assured that people who are a threat to their safety are not being released on parole."
Mr Turnbull said Australia's official terror threat level would remain at "probable".
Last month, an Australian coroner criticised a decision which allowed bail to a gunman behind Sydney's deadly cafe siege in 2014. | Australian police are treating as a "terrorist incident" a Melbourne siege in which a gunman was killed. |
39,712,262 | 25 April 2017 Last updated at 17:31 BST
More than one in every three 11 to 18-year-olds said they asked their parents to limit their time on their phones.
One in five said using mobiles stopped their families enjoying each other's company.
We wanted to find out what you think.
The research was carried out by Digital Awareness UK, and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. | A big survey suggests that some children are worried about the amount of time mums and dads spend checking their phones. |
37,462,054 | The sportsman won a gold medal for Great Britain in the men's PT2 triathlon in Rio, adding to his haul of world and European titles.
Lewis said: "It's amazing to be here and for everyone to come out like this."
Paralympian Jack Rutter joined Lewis in the open top vintage bus procession.
Rutter led Great Britain's Paralympic cerebral palsy seven-a-side football side at the Rio games.
The parade went from Newerne Street via Bathurst Park Coronation Gates to the Pavilion, where a reception was held.
Lewis said it was more emotional to see everyone turn out for the homecoming than crossing the finish line in Rio.
"I'm so proud to be from Lydney and to be here with everyone.
"This medal means so much to me but the people of Lydney contributed to this," he added.
His wife, Becky Lewis, said: "I'm very proud, he's one in a million." | Hundreds of people turned out to cheer gold medal winning Paralympian Andy Lewis in Lydney at his homecoming celebration on Saturday afternoon. |
39,037,640 | Police received a report of a black Citroen C4 Picasso on fire at Towerview Crescent at 22:30 GMT on Monday.
The vehicle's window was smashed and a petrol bomb was thrown inside. Two masked men were seen in the area at the time.
Police say they are treating the incident as a hate crime.
Sinn Féin's leader in the north Michelle O'Neill has condemned the attack.
"This is an attack on the democratic process but it will not deter the local candidate or anyone else in Sinn Féin," she said.
"There are clearly those who are intent on turning this into a brutal campaign and sectarianising the election."
North Down DUP Assembly Candidates Alex Easton and Gordon Dunne condemned the attack.
"There is no place for this type of activity and such an attack is undermining the democratic system," they said.
"Any attack on a property or on an individual is wrong, regardless of who owns the property." | A Sinn Féin election agent's car has been set on fire during a petrol bomb attack in Bangor, County Down. |
33,464,854 | After nine years travelling and a three billion mile journey, the New Horizons probe is getting closer to the dwarf planet.
The amazing pictures have shown that the planet has a dark area, which scientists have nick-named "the whale", and a light area, which looks like it's shaped like a heart.
New Horizons is set for an historic fly-by next week.
This means the probe will fly around 12,500km above the dwarf planet's surface - the closest we have ever been to Pluto.
John Spencer, one of those working on the New Horizons project from the Southwest Research Institute said: "They're still a little blurry but they're by far the best pictures we've ever seen of Pluto, and they're only going to get better,". | Nasa's New Horizons probe has sent back some of the most detailed pictures of Pluto ever taken. |
17,652,636 | The Italy striker was dismissed for two bookable offences as City fell eight points behind Premier League leaders Manchester United.
His challenge on Alex Song, missed by the referee, may be investigated by the Football Association.
Asked whether he would try to sell Balotelli, Mancini said: "Probably."
Football fixtures - day by day
He admitted Balotelli, who has scored 17 goals in 31 club appearances this season, is now unlikely to play again this campaign.
"I like him as a guy and a player," added Mancini, who signed Balotelli from Inter Milan for £24m in August 2010.
"He is not a bad guy and a fantastic player but I'm very sorry for him as he continues to lose his talent and his quality.
"I don't have any words for his behaviour.
"I hope for him he can understand he is in a bad way for his future and I really hope that he can change his behaviour in the future. He will probably not play in the next six games.
"I need to be sure I always have 11 players on the pitch and with Mario this is a big risk."
Balotelli, dismissed for two fouls on Bacary Sagna moments after Mikel Arteta's 87th-minute goal gave Arsenal victory, has now been sent off twice this season, and Mancini added: "He's young and could be my son and when you are young you can make mistakes.
Name: Mario Balotelli
Age: 21
League apps 2011-12: 22
League goals 2011-12: 13
Red cards: 2
"Mario made a mistake and I hope for him - not me - that he can change.
"He clearly created a big problem but he has also scored important goals for us this season. He needs to change his behaviour if he wants to continue to play. I have seen players like him, who have all this talent, and they are finished in two or three years.
"Mario should change, he must change, and I hope for him that he does."
Mancini refused to concede defeat in the title race even though he now faces the prospect of losing out to rivals United.
And the Italian insists he is still the manager to lead City forward.
"Sure - 100%," he said.
"No, it's not mathematically (over), but it's clear now that it's very difficult," he added. "We have a game in three days and we will try to win. Never say never in football.
"In life until it's over you should do your best. In the end if we don't win it's probably because they (United) did better than us.
"It's clearly difficult (to lift the players) but we play in three days and this is good. We are a professional team, with professional players. It's important we start to win and finish the championship well." | Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini cast doubt over Mario Balotelli's future after his red card in the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal. |
39,394,611 | The Nick Williams-trained 12-year-old pulled up sharply before the final flight at the Edinburgh Gin Handicap Hurdle.
Before jockey James Reveley had a chance to dismount, the horse fell to the floor.
Course clerk Anthea Morshead said: "It was very sad, he suffered an internal bleed and collapsed and died."
Reve De Sivola won the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot for three consecutive years between 2012 and 2014.
He also won the Challow Hurdle at Newbury as a novice, as well as the Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, with career win and place prize-money of more than £600,000. | The three-time Long Walk Hurdle winner Reve De Sivola has died after collapsing at Kelso on Saturday. |
39,017,265 | Marchers carrying placards and banners- many in the Catalan language - accused the Madrid government of dragging its feet over the issue.
They say it has not honoured its pledge made in 2015 to allow more than 17,000 refugees into Spain within two years.
Over that time, Spain has accepted only about 1,100 refugees.
Police gave the estimate of the turnout at Saturday's protest in the capital of Catalonia, organised by the Our Home is Your Home group, with many denouncing the government for not living up to its promises.
Protest organisers quoted by local media said that as many as 300,000 people took part.
The route took them from the Barcelona city centre to the Mediterranean coast - an end-point seen as highly symbolic given the fact that about 5,000 refugees are estimated to have perished in the sea in 2016.
One 62-year-old protester marching alongside his friends and family told the AFP news agency that the demonstration was triggered by the government's lacklustre response to the refugee crisis.
"We demand this minimum amount of dignity - that at least this number of refugees can come," Jacint Comelles said.
"In Catalonia, everything is ready to welcome them."
Child migrant’s body sparks soul searching in Spain
Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau participated in the march. She has been at the forefront of the campaign to lobby the Spanish government into accepting more refugees.
Spain is in many respects similar to other EU countries who have fallen below target when it comes to accepting refugees.
Germany however is a noticeable exception, allowing 890,000 asylum-seekers into the country in 2015 and another 280,000 the year after that. | Some 160,000 people have demonstrated in Barcelona to demand the government allow more refugees into Spain from war-hit areas such as Syria. |
38,503,168 | A statement said the musician and her Qatari businessman husband, Wissam Al Mana, were "thrilled" to welcome the infant, Eissa Al Mana.
"Janet had a stress-free healthy delivery and is resting comfortably," the publicist added.
Speculation about her pregnancy surfaced last April when she postponed her Unbreakable tour.
She posted a video on Twitter at the time in which she told fans that she was postponing the tour because "there's been a sudden change".
"I thought it was important that you be the first to know," she said, adding: "Please, if you can try and understand that it's important that I do this now."
She said she wanted to focus on planning a family with her husband, whom she wed in 2012.
Jackson had earlier been spotted in London shopping for baby essentials.
Older parents with young kids
The 300-year-old fertility statistics still in use today
Babies born to women aged 45 and over rise by a third
Janet Jackson: The stories behind the songs
Janet Jackson is far from the only famous face to give birth later in life.
Oscar-winning Halle Berry had her second child at 47, three years ago, and John Travolta's wife Kelly Preston gave birth to her third child at 48.
Geena Davis - best known for her role in Thelma and Louise - became a mother later in life. Her first child, a girl, arrived when she was 46, followed two years later by twin boys.
But these mothers - and Jackson - are all positively young when compared to the world's oldest new mothers.
There are at least three women in India who claimed to have given birth when at least two decades older than the pop singer. | Singer Janet Jackson has at the age of 50 given birth to her first child, a baby boy, her publicist has confirmed. |
18,249,930 | Her 10-year-old son Harvey will be among the pupils if the school is given the go-ahead by the government.
"There are other schools for Harvey but they are not the standard we think [the children] need," she said.
The Royal London Society for the Blind (RLSB) said it wished the free school the best of luck.
The charity runs a school in Kent which Harvey currently attends, but it is due to close.
Ms Price, who lives in West Sussex, has been working with her mother Amy and other parents at Harvey's present school on the bid.
Amy Price was among parents who attended a meeting at the Department for Education (DfE) to put their case for government funding. They expect to receive a decision in July.
The parents were advised by human rights lawyers and writer Toby Young, who set up the first free school in Hammersmith, west London, last year.
Ms Price said she believed Harvey needed to be at a special school which could cater for his disabilities.
"I strongly believe that without the support Harvey has had at his school and our help he wouldn't be as forward as he is now," she said.
"You definitely need to stimulate the children in the right way. It is to do with the support - they have speech therapy and they have their music."
She said the proposed school, which would be for children who already have a statement of special educational needs, could have as many as 90 pupils. So far the parents of 45 children have expressed interest.
"Harvey has got so many needs and behaviour problems," said Amy Price. "These are children that no other school can really cater for and offer the education or the therapies they need."
Katie Price said she would not be running the school and did not want to be seen as a figurehead.
"I am a parent," she said. "I haven't used my status at all and I wouldn't because it's not about me, it is about the kids."
But she and her mother said that if the school was approved others could be set up elsewhere in England.
"If this one is successful and we achieve what we want to, we plan to do it around the country, but we have got to start with this one first," said Amy Price.
Tom Pey, chief executive of RLSB, said the charity had looked closely at the free school idea.
"We formed the view, based on a lot of experience and a lot of thought, that going out into the communities and educating young children where they can be with their friends, their families and with their communities is far better," he said.
"That is not to say that we have anything against the free school and we are aware that a free school is being thought about.
"We wish that the very best of luck as well because blind young people need all the help they can get."
Kent County Council said it supported the proposal, providing the new school could deliver the good and outstanding education that this group of children and young people needed and deserved.
A DfE spokeswoman said: "Our free schools programme allows parents, teachers and charities the chance to set up schools to meet the needs of local children.
"A number of free schools for children with special educational needs are already in the pipeline and we welcome applications from other passionate people who want to set up new schools.
"As taxpayers would expect, all applications are carefully assessed and must meet strict criteria." | Katie Price is among a group of parents who want to set up a free school in Kent for children with visual impairment and other disabilities. |
36,440,279 | Tully led the Cornish club to fourth in National League South this season, their highest finish.
Last month chairman Peter Masters said Tully was offered a new contract on the condition that a replacement was found for departed assistant Wayne Carlisle.
The ex-Torquay and Exeter defender had expressed his "disappointment" that his Truro future was not sorted sooner.
"The club has always seen the manager role as closely tied to that of the first team coach and believes that it is essential to have a strong team in place," said a club statement.
"The departure of coach Wayne Carlisle at the end of the season meant the dissolution of the current team.
"It has not been possible to find a replacement acceptable to the club within the required timescale.
"An announcement on a new manager-coach team will be made in due course." | National League South side Truro City will appoint a new manager after opting not to renew Steve Tully's deal. |
37,848,247 | The firm said all permanent employees based in Paisley would transfer to the new site within the next three years.
The transfer of activities is scheduled to start in 2018.
Chivas Brothers currently has 460 full-time employees at Paisley and 600 at Kilmalid.
The new facility, which is slated for completion by the end of 2019, will include a bottling hall and an office.
It lies about 13 miles from the company's Paisley base.
Chivas Brothers, which is part of drinks giant Pernod Ricard, said the plans were a response to an "extensive review" of the company's existing operations.
The company's portfolio includes Chivas Regal, Ballantine's, Beefeater Gin and The Glenlivet.
Chairman and chief executive Laurent Lacassagne said: "Our proposal is the next step towards achieving our leadership ambition and is a clear signal that we see a strong future ahead for both the industry and our business.
"This £40m investment will enhance and improve our operations and support the development of our global and iconic brands.
"This is a project of significant size and scale for Chivas Brothers which is why which we are announcing our proposal three years in advance.
"We want to provide ample opportunity to manage the transition of our business effectively and for our employees to adjust and adapt to working from a new site."
The Unite union, which represents about 200 employees at Chivas in Paisley, said it is concerned about the plan.
Regional officer Pat McIlvogue said: "It's fair to say that the first reaction of our members to this news was shock, closely followed by anxiety.
"We believe the company should have made an effort to talk with Unite's workplace representatives at Chivas in Paisley long before they made this huge announcement.
"The company has started a period of consultation on these proposals and we will be working with our members to get the answers they need going forward, and we will be looking for reassurances from the company around jobs, working conditions and the logistics of any proposed move."
Scotland's Economy Secretary Keith Brown said the planned investment in the Dumbarton plant demonstrated confidence in the Scottish drinks industry and would provide a boost to the Scottish economy.
However, he added: "While it is encouraging that all employees at Paisley will be offered jobs at the new site, the loss of the Chivas site in Paisley and the effect on the local economy is clearly of concern.
"The first minister spoke to the CEO of Chivas today and the Scottish government is absolutely committed to working with the company, the local authority and local partners to do what we can to minimise local impact and explore positive opportunities for the Paisley economy for the future."
Scottish Labour MSP for Dumbarton, Jackie Baillie, said it was "fantastic news for Dumbarton and a huge vote of confidence from Chivas in our local economy".
She added: "People in Dumbarton are proud of our town's rich whisky heritage and this investment will help secure our place as a producer of Scotland's national drink for many years to come." | Spirits producer Chivas Brothers has announced plans to close its operations in Paisley and build a new £40m bottling plant at its Kilmalid site in Dumbarton. |
35,306,617 | The 22-year-old won eight international caps last year, seven as a replacement, in a breakthrough season.
"It's my home town and I've lots of friends here," he said.
"From a rugby perspective, the way that the club's been moving forward over the last year or so, there's no doubt in my mind the best decision is to stay."
Hidalgo-Clyne, a prolific goal-kicker who started as a fly-half, is a product of Edinburgh's academy and the Scotland youth squads.
He made his professional debut in 2013 and his Scotland bow in last year's Six Nations opener against France in Paris, going on to be part of the World Cup squad last autumn.
"I am delighted that Sam will continue his progress with us," said Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons.
"He is an exceptionally talented young player who has a great future in the game. I enjoy working with him and am pleased that I can continue to do so."
Hidalgo-Clyne is expected to be included in Vern Cotter's Scotland squad - set to be announced next week - for the Six Nations starting on 6 February. | Scotland scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne has committed himself to Edinburgh by signing a new deal with the Pro 12 club until May 2018. |
35,654,527 | The Wales Life Sciences Fund was set up in 2012 to get more medical and pharmaceutical firms to move to Wales.
The Wales Audit Office (WAO) said ministers should have handled potential conflicts of interest "more robustly".
A spokeswoman for the Welsh government said: "We will consider this report and respond in due course."
It is understood the venture has created more than 150 highly-skilled jobs in Wales.
It was created on the recommendation of a panel chaired by multimillionaire life sciences entrepreneur Sir Chris Evans.
He later formed a company called Arthurian, which bid for and won the tender to manage the fund.
The fund also invested in ReNeuron, a firm in which Sir Chris held shares.
The WAO report, published on Thursday, found Arthurian and Sir Chris acted properly and potential conflicts of interest were declared.
But auditors made a series of criticisms of the Welsh government and its investment arm, Finance Wales.
It said:
Auditor general Huw Vaughan Thomas said: "This report addresses a range of weaknesses in the Welsh government's and Finance Wales' establishment of the fund and in their oversight of its initial operations.
"These findings underline the continuing need for strong governance in this age of austerity."
Public accounts committee chairman and Conservative AM Darren Millar said: "Once again the auditor general for Wales has published a report which shows the governance and oversight arrangements put in place by Welsh government and Finance Wales to manage large sums of public money were insufficiently robust and have fallen short of what taxpayers should expect."
Plaid Cymru's shadow economy minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said the fund was a "strong idea" which had been "handled poorly".
He said: "There are clear failings in the way this fund has been set up and run."
Liberal Democrat AM Aled Roberts said: "It's pretty damning to be honest.
"Serious questions have to be asked in regard to the internal workings of the Welsh Labour government."
Arthurian Life Sciences chief executive Martin Walton said: "We are delighted that the Welsh Audit Office found that Arthurian has acted properly, professionally and correctly as manager of the Welsh Life Science Fund.
"The Welsh government was innovative and visionary in establishing this fund and in doing so has put Wales firmly on the international life sciences map."
The fund was one of the best-performing in Europe, he said, and led to a series of biotech firms relocating to Wales.
Finance Wales is carrying out its own review of the fund's performance. | A watchdog has criticised the Welsh government for the way it set up and ran a £50m biotech investment fund. |
37,863,807 | The prospect of securing the world's first tidal power station off the shores of Swansea Bay is seen by many green organisations as pretty momentous.
There is cautious optimism that an independent review of the economic viability of the scheme - set to be decided upon by the end of the year - will give a thumbs up.
The £1.3bn lagoon could generate enough clean energy from the ebb and flow of the tide to satisfy 11% of electricity consumption in Wales.
It is claimed that would save about 236,000 tonnes of carbon being emitted each year, boosting efforts to combat climate change.
It is perhaps ironic then that addressing environmental concerns could be one of the next big hurdles the Swansea project faces.
Although planning permission has been secured, it has yet to be issued with a marine licence from the body in charge of the environment, Natural Resources Wales (NRW).
Developers Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) say they have been involved in an "exhaustive year of scrutiny" over the likely impact on fish.
The effect the development could have on birdlife, marine mammals and tiny invertebrates living in silt in the bay and the rivers that flow into it are also a consideration.
A further five lagoons planned for the Severn estuary, north Wales and Cumbria could ultimately provide up to 10% of the UK's domestic electricity needs.
There are some who believe the environmental impact of each should be assessed before the first is given the go ahead.
Others though point to the fact that climate change is generally agreed to be the greatest threat to nature conservation and clean energy schemes like the lagoons should be prioritised.
The company believes it can enhance the environment around its lagoons and is prepared to spend millions of pounds to that effect.
As it awaits with baited breath the results of Charles Hendry's review, I have been speaking to some of the environmental voices - and TLP.
Peter Morris, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT)
The WWT has nature reserves at Llanelli but also at its headquarters at Slimbridge on the Severn estuary, which Mr Morris describes as a "huge motorway service station" for migratory birds from Africa and the Arctic.
On the Swansea lagoon he said they were "cautiously very excited about it".
"We need green, renewable power, we need lots of it and need to find ways to get it," said Mr Morris.
"The Severn estuary out of all estuaries in the world has one of the highest tidal ranges, it's huge. If you're going to build tidal power anywhere, why not here?"
He believes the Swansea project could be "the cradle" of renewable energy to save us from climate change and global warming.
But it could be "an environmental disaster if you get it wrong".
For that reason, WWT would want the roll-out of lagoon projects to proceed with caution - over an eight-year period - to properly study the impact on fish, birds and the creatures in the mud they feed off.
"If we go too quickly you don't learn the mistakes in advance," he said.
David Clubb, director of Renewable UK Cymru
Mr Clubb said it was a once-in-a-hundred-year opportunity, and a similar vision was needed to Victorian infrastructure pioneers like Brunel.
"It's too big an opportunity to pass up, not just for Swansea but Cardiff, Newport and all of those areas of deprivation in the valleys, as well as the low carbon and green energy that would be produced," he said.
Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal
The organisation represents angling clubs and people who fish in England and Wales and is not convinced.
Mr Lloyd believes as well as fishing in the rivers around Swansea and Neath, salmon and sea trout fishing in the Usk could be affected.
He said the lagoon was "expensive and unproven technology" while he claims the environmental modelling is based on more fast-flowing rivers in Norway.
"We know anecdotally fish swim around for a long time out in the Severn estuary, going back and forth on the tide in this very sediment-rich water - and we know they have to wait for a long time for enough flow in these south Wales rivers to go back upstream.
"You shouldn't carry out a giant experiment like this using public money in such a sensitive environment, which is so delicate and with so many threatened species in it.
"Swansea only works from an economic point of view if you build all the other lagoons as well. If you build all the other lagoons you have a very big environmental impact with a lot of unknown consequences, not just on fish."
Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power
The developers are confident they have a strong environmental case, and that bird life could even benefit from the lagoon.
"We think we've been able to evidence very, very clearly that there will be negligible impact on fish, but that hurdle is still to come. We need the marine licence," said Mr Shorrock.
There has been computer modelling of how often a trout or salmon swims into Swansea bay, the chances of it encountering a turbine and getting struck.
"You couldn't have more robust fish data by perhaps the top five fish scientists in the UK.
"We've been asked to run some pretty huge assumptions - for example that the fish will encounter turbines for 24 hours a day, even though the gates are shut for 10 hours a day and they can't swim against the ebb tide. Even then we're still showing nigh on negligible impact on fish."
He said they had support from sea anglers, with the belief that the lagoon's hard rock breakwaters - replicating the sub-sea area around Mumbles pier - would help provide an increasing habitat for lobster and crab, and hatcheries for sea bass, herring and pollock.
Once the lagoon is in place, he believes birds will use the inter-tidal areas - and the British Trust for Ornithology will be tracking species like curlew, shell duck and dunlin.
It would be 15 months after the start of energy production at Swansea lagoon before the developers would look to start building one in Cardiff - and in that time more than four years of data would have been gathered.
"The fundamental key point of tidal lagoon is that it doesn't really impact [upon] nature," said Mr Shorrock.
"You have an inter-tidal area which still washes in and still washes out. This isn't about a Severn barrage with a division between freshwater and saltwater and mankind frankly not knowing what it's messing with.
"We understand the model pretty accurately - how much inter-tidal will be lost if we build a breakwater on it; there's a very strong case that ultimately lagoons are not just going to create more inter-tidal but also create more protectors.
"It's a very harsh environment. The Severn makes it harder to live in than The Wash of the Humber. We're hearing quite a lot of people saying we think birds will start using the areas inside the lagoons more because it will be less energetic, less extreme in its variations."
There are currently six projects, with the eventual hope for a network of nine lagoons across the UK by 2030, which it is claimed could lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide of 136 megatons.
"Our vision is that Wales will play an enormous part in delivering the Paris Agreement and it will do that in delivering Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Colwyn Bay tidal lagoons," said Mr Shorrock.
Tidal lagoons - the economic arguments | With the completion of the independent review into tidal lagoon energy in the UK, what are the environmental issues involved? |
35,902,549 | The Cobblers made a positive start and Ricky Holmes volleyed home when the ball fell to him following a corner.
County soon levelled as Thierry Audel nodded into the net after Adam Smith saved Liam Noble's initial effort.
Jon Stead put them in front from the spot after being bundled over, but Holmes was fouled at the other end and converted the game's second penalty.
Northampton, now unbeaten in 18 league games, need only three more points to guarantee a place in League One next season. | League Two leaders Northampton moved a step closer to promotion despite being held to a draw by Notts County. |
38,619,048 | Sam Morsy fired the hosts into a first-half lead with an effort from 20 yards out moments after he had struck a post.
Their lead was doubled within minutes when a Will Grigg effort was saved by Dan Bentley only for Brentford defender Harlee Dean to deflect in the rebound.
Brentford claimed a late consolation when Jota bundled in from close range.
Wigan climb to 21st and above fellow strugglers Burton Albion on goal difference, who they beat 2-0 away last Saturday.
Brentford remain 15th but have lost back-to-back Championship matches and three of their past five league games.
They were without striker and leading scorer Scott Hogan for the trip to the DW Stadium, who is understood to be close to joining Premier League side West Ham.
Aside from substitute Jota's late goal, Andreas Bjelland came closest to scoring for the Bees when his header from a corner was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by Wigan goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard.
Wigan manager Warren Joyce told BBC Radio Manchester: "We've just got to take one game at a time and keep trying to do the right things and make sure that we're doing the right things in training next week.
"I thought there were a lot of good performances today. To a man, everybody contributed well and it was a really good team effort.
"Jakob Haugaard made a great save in the second half and he'll be disappointed to concede late when the ball was bouncing around the area."
Brentford boss Dean Smith told BBC Radio London: "It's very frustrating. We've picked exactly the same side which played so very well against Newcastle last week and then today, it's a 'Jekyll and Hyde' performance.
"I felt we got out-battled today and that's the disappointing part of it. We're a good footballing team, but teams aren't going to let us play all the time.
"Wigan did a job on us and got in our faces, stopped us playing and the surface isn't great here. We didn't pass it as well as we can and caused ourselves problems.
"That's very unlike us, I don't think we've put in a performance like that in a long while."
Match ends, Wigan Athletic 2, Brentford 1.
Second Half ends, Wigan Athletic 2, Brentford 1.
Attempt blocked. Tom Field (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Andreas Bjelland.
Substitution, Wigan Athletic. Craig Morgan replaces William Grigg.
Foul by Josh Clarke (Brentford).
Jake Buxton (Wigan Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. William Grigg (Wigan Athletic) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Sam Morsy.
Nico Yennaris (Brentford) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Sam Morsy (Wigan Athletic).
Goal! Wigan Athletic 2, Brentford 1. Jota (Brentford) left footed shot from very close range to the top left corner.
Attempt saved. Jota (Brentford) left footed shot from very close range is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt saved. Philipp Hofmann (Brentford) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Andreas Bjelland with a cross.
Substitution, Wigan Athletic. Adam Le Fondre replaces Max Power.
Josh Clarke (Brentford) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Callum Connolly (Wigan Athletic).
Attempt missed. Michael Jacobs (Wigan Athletic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Shaun MacDonald.
Foul by Maxime Colin (Brentford).
Michael Jacobs (Wigan Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Ryan Woods (Brentford) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by William Grigg (Wigan Athletic).
Substitution, Wigan Athletic. Ryan Tunnicliffe replaces David Perkins.
Substitution, Brentford. Josh Clarke replaces Romaine Sawyers.
Attempt missed. Shaun MacDonald (Wigan Athletic) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Callum Connolly.
Offside, Wigan Athletic. Michael Jacobs tries a through ball, but Max Power is caught offside.
Corner, Wigan Athletic. Conceded by Andreas Bjelland.
Foul by Ryan Woods (Brentford).
Max Power (Wigan Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Jakob Haugaard.
Attempt saved. Andreas Bjelland (Brentford) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Nico Yennaris with a cross.
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Jake Buxton.
Attempt blocked. Lasse Vibe (Brentford) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Andreas Bjelland.
Substitution, Brentford. Philipp Hofmann replaces John Egan.
Andreas Bjelland (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jake Buxton (Wigan Athletic).
Corner, Wigan Athletic. Conceded by Tom Field.
Foul by Romaine Sawyers (Brentford).
Stephen Warnock (Wigan Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Callum Connolly (Wigan Athletic) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Max Power.
Attempt blocked. Michael Jacobs (Wigan Athletic) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Stephen Warnock.
Foul by Maxime Colin (Brentford). | Wigan recorded back-to-back Championship victories and climbed out of the relegation zone with a win against Brentford. |
31,486,029 | It was the second-highest February debut ever, behind The Passion of the Christ's $83.9m opening in 2004.
Based on EL James' best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.
According to Universal Pictures, North American audiences were 68% female.
The film's takings were more than double those of its nearest box office rival, Kingsman: The Secret Service, which earned $35.6m (£24m), according to studio estimates.
Around the world, Fifty Shades of Grey took an estimated $158m (£102m) from 58 countries.
James's trilogy of Fifty Shades books have reportedly sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages.
The film, which contains "strong sex and nudity", is R-rated in the US - meaning those under 17 years old can watch it if accompanied by an adult - and has an 18 certificate in the UK.
Animated children's film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water came third on the box office chart with $30.5m (£19.8m) in its second weekend on release.
Rounding out the top five were the Oscar-nominated American Sniper with $16.4m (£10.6m), and sci-fi fantasy Jupiter Ascending with $9.4m (£6.1m). | Erotic film adaptation Fifty Shades of Grey sizzled at North American box offices this weekend, taking an estimated $81.7m (£53m). |
40,567,515 | Among them is The Teapot Trust, a Scottish charity which provides art therapy to child victims of trauma in hospital.
It was set up in 2010 by Laura Young whose daughter, Verity, had hated her frequent visits to hospital.
"She would kick, she would bite, she would scream," said Ms Young.
"If we got her into the car and said we're going to hospital, she would be trying to get out, and we got to the point where we were literally at our wits' end."
She said they found art a distraction which later, after Verity died, also became a way of helping children cope with trauma.
"I hit on the idea of getting one of our babysitters who was actually studying art at the time to meet up at hospital so that the main focus of the visit to hospital wasn't that she was going to have her blood test.
"I'd say we're going to see Christina at the hospital and whilst you're there they might do your bloods.
"And it meant she could come with a picture and say this is what I did today."
Now The Teapot Trust provides medical art therapists at hospitals and hospices in Scotland and London, helping children make something they can keep, gain in confidence and feel better able to cope - whatever their condition.
In one of the waiting areas of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh there's a large table laden with art materials.
There are coloured felt tip pens, crayons and pencils, pots of paintbrushes, mounds of clay.
One of the art therapists is Shelly Kinloch. "They can just drop in and use the art materials however they want," she said.
"We also support them with building peer relationships and just trying to make the hospital experience a bit easier."
Paediatric art therapy is being offered to children caught up in the Grenfell tower tragedy, in which around 80 people died.
It is delivered on a one-to-one basis as well as in groups, giving the youngsters a chance to express themselves, help them feel more in control and learn how to cope with their situation.
Susan Rudnik is an art psychotherapist with The Teapot Trust working in London. She helped set up an art therapy space in a community centre close to the Grenfell Tower in the days after the blaze.
She said: "The children just have some art materials and they're free to do whatever they want to.
"That's been enormously helpful in this crisis and trauma whereby the children are just allowed a space to process their feelings through the art when words really aren't enough or even possible quite a lot of the time."
She added: "The tower features in a lot of their drawings because it's there, it's everybody's eye shot. It's in everything, it's everywhere we look, it's everywhere we go.
"But also there's a lot of other stuff, there's indescribable things, a lot of mess-making, a lot of stuff that's just processing which isn't pretty pictures or even horrible pictures, it's just something in the art materials themselves that really make it possible for the children to process some of their feelings in a very visceral way."
Back in Edinburgh, nine-year-old Wahaj, has been making a clay mask. He wants to give it to his cousin as a thank you present for fixing one of his games.
"I think it's better because if you sit there forever, it makes you feel bored," he said. "But over here when you're doing stuff, making stuff like masks is more fun."
Art therapist Eilidh Gilbertson said they have good results from their work.
"If something terrible's happened they can make an image that responds to that where they don't have the words to communicate.
"This calms them down, they get to work with other children, they get to work with materials, it can relax them and calm them down a little bit." | One month after the devastating Grenfell Tower fire, charities are working with survivors to help restore a degree of normality. |
40,694,599 | Galway's quick forwards ripped Donegal apart in the first half with two Johnny Heaney goals and a Liam Silke penalty.
The Connacht side led 3-10 to 0-7 at the break and Donegal went down to 13 men when two players were black-carded with all five subs having been used.
Galway lost Declan Kyne to a red card before Danny Cummins blasted in their fourth goal in added time.
It was a nightmare Round 4A qualifier for the Ulster team at Markievicz Park, although Donegal led 0-5 to 0-4 before Galway seized control.
A series a fisted passes ended with Heaney hitting the roof of the net before Galway were awarded a penalty.
Michael Murphy's mistake let Galway in and keeper Mark Anthony McGinley tripped Tom Flynn - McGinley was black-carded and his replacement Peter Boyle was unable to keep out Silke's penalty.
Midfielder Heaney palmed in the third just before the break and a shell-shocked Donegal side went in 12 points behind at the interval.
Any chance of the Donegal comeback ended with the black cards for captain Murphy and Martin McElhinney early in the second half.
With just 13 players it was matter of damage limitation although Galway were reduced to 14 when Kyne was dismissed for two yellow cards.
Donegal squandered a penalty chance, awarded when Cathal Sweeney was black-carded for a foul on Martin O'Reilly.
Bernard Power kept out Patrick McBrearty's low strike and the keeper also saved the forward's follow-up effort.
Cummins had the final say for an impressive Galway, who progress to an All-Ireland quarter-final against Kerry.
Mayo edged out Cork 0-27 to 2-20 after extra-time in the other qualifier and they will take on Roscommon in the quarter-finals. | Donegal's hopes of All-Ireland success ended with a hammering by Galway in Saturday night's qualifier in Sligo. |
39,791,757 | The former Wales Under-20 international began his career at Pontypridd and also featured for Cardiff Blues and New Zealand province Northlands.
He is Sale's sixth new signing ahead of next season.
"He has been one of the most consistent performers in the Championship and is a good ball carrier who works hard in defence," said Sale boss Steve Diamond.
Sale have not disclosed the length of his contract.
The Sharks are 10th in the Premiership table and take on Bath in their final game of the season at the AJ Bell Stadium on Saturday. | Premiership side Sale Sharks have signed prop WillGriff John from Championship club Doncaster Knights. |
38,752,951 | Shortly after President Trump signed an executive order for "the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border", prominent Mexicans began reacting with outrage.
"From threat to reality: Trump's words about the wall," Mexican newspaper Milenio headlined its story, publishing a string of past tweets from the US president to show how he was following through on his pledge to bolster border security, crack down on illegal immigration, and shift investments and jobs back to the US.
Left-wing daily La Jornada featured the president's confident assertion to ABC TV that the border wall would be constructed quickly, with Mexico expected to pick up the bill.
"Trump: the wall, in 'months'; Mexico will pay 100 per cent", it reported.
Senator Armando Rios Piter called Mr Trump's announcement a "hostile and enemy act" and urged Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to stay away from a scheduled meeting with the new US president, scheduled for 31 January.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a former Mexican presidential candidate and leader of the left-wing opposition party National Regeneration Movement, MORENA, portrayed Mr Trump's plan as an act of aggression.
"President Trump: your wall attacks us and leaves the [US] Statute of Liberty as a myth. We'll go to the international courts. Long live fraternity," he wrote on his @lopezobrador Twitter account.
Influential Mexican journalist Leon Krauze also took to Twitter, calling the announcement a day that was "unworthy of America's foundation #AmericanWall".
Prominent Mexican political analyst Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez called it an "announcement of a humiliation", and appeared unimpressed by Mr Trump's offer of a "win-win" relationship between the two neighbours.
"Trump offers a sweet to Pena Nieto, while not hiding the stick," he tweeted.
Major newspapers and commentators noted that Mr Trump's executive order coincided with a visit to Washington DC by two of Mexico's President Pena Nieto's top envoys - Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray and Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo.
The former president of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, Agustin Basave, said on his Twitter account that Mr Videgaray - who organised a meeting between Mr Pena Nieto and Mr Trump last year - should cancel his trip.
"Trump welcomes his friend @LVidegaray by spitting in his face," he said.
Earlier in the day, when Mexican newspapers were already braced for Mr Trump's announcement, leading daily La Reforma also highlighted the fact the announcement coincided with the pair's visit to Washington.
"They run into the wall," the newspaper's print edition headline observed.
The governor of the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, Miguel Marquez, added his voice to those calling for Mr Videgaray and Mr Guajardo to cut short their official trip to Washington for the sake of national honour.
In a radio interview, he said Mexico should keep "its head held high" and act "with dignity".
On the prospect of the two ministers returning from the US early, he said such a move would not be "breaking ties" but said of the Mr Trump: "This is not how you should receive us".
Mexico's outrage also appeared to be shared by Latin American leaders meeting at a regional summit in Dominican Republic.
"A wall is not the solution to migration," Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, said from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit, cited by pan-American TV news network TeleSUR. | Mexican politicians, commentators and media have hit back at President Donald Trump's formal launch of his US-Mexico border wall project, calling it the act of an "enemy" and "unworthy" of the United States. |
38,238,125 | Scrap metal and wood were being used to build the tree, intended to be 100m (328ft) tall in the capital Colombo.
Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Ranjith's objection, more than three months after work began, called for the money to be spent on charity work instead.
While fewer than 10% of Sri Lankans are Christians, Christmas remains popular.
The tree was being built on the esplanade in Colombo. The idea to use recycled material came from a minister and former national cricket captain, Arjuna Ranatunga.
He said it would help erode religious and ethnic strife.
The money came from a welfare fund that he runs, with the labour force reportedly provided by volunteers.
Announcing the decision to drop the project on Wednesday, organising committee chairman Mangala Gunasekara said the scheme had not received state funding and was undertaken to promote national unity, using Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim workers.
"We thought it would be a great idea to... celebrate Christmas," he said.
"When we put our idea to the minister he agreed. We Buddhists worked voluntarily to build this."
Mr Gunasekara added that when the project was initiated in August, a letter was sent to Cardinal Ranjith informing him about the plan.
Several Roman Catholic priests attended the opening ceremony.
Now the archbishop has attacked it as a waste of cash which would be better given to charity.
The project initiator and main architect, HDM Nanayakkara, broke down in tears during the press conference on Wednesday at which the abandonment was announced, saying his dreams had been shattered.
But the organisers said they had to drop the project in deference to the archbishop's views.
Construction work on the tree began three months ago, with the intention of making a Guinness World Record, the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror reported.
The estimated cost was 12m Sri Lankan rupees ($81,000; £64,000) with about 6m rupees already spent on construction costs, it reported.
The BBC's Azzam Ameen in Colombo says that there has been a mixed reaction on social media to news of the abandonment.
Some commentators commended it, arguing the tree was a waste of money while others complained the Church was wrong to criticise such a well-publicised project at the last minute, when most of the hard work had been completed. | Work to build a giant artificial Christmas tree has been abandoned in Sri Lanka after objections from the island's top Roman Catholic clergyman. |
39,720,854 | Standardised packs could also reduce the appeal of tobacco and increase calls to quit helplines, experts behind the Cochrane Review said.
UK law, which comes into full effect in May, states that all cigarette packs must feature health warnings and have a standard colour, shape and font.
But a smokers' group said the estimates were "wishful thinking".
The Cochrane Review team, led by researchers from London and Oxford, estimated that the number of people who smoked in the UK could go down by 0.5% by May 2018, although they said the current evidence was limited.
The findings were backed up by a report from the Australian government, which showed a similar drop in smoking prevalence - 0.55% - following the introduction of plain packaging there in 2012.
Currently, about 17% of the UK adult population are smokers.
The review looked at new evidence from 51 studies, involving 800,000 people, on the impact of standardised packaging on smokers' attitudes and behaviour.
It is also the first review to include research on smoking in Australia after packaging rules were changed.
They said the following changes could occur over the next year in the UK:
Prof Ann McNeill, lead review author from King's College London, said there was evidence that standardised packaging made people less likely to be motivated to smoke and reduced cravings for tobacco.
The health warnings, which have to cover 65% of the front and back of packs, were prominently in people's eye lines, she said.
But there was room for further changes to cigarette packs.
"It would appear that the impact of standardised packaging may be affected by the detail of the regulations such as whether they ban descriptors, such as 'smooth' or 'gold' and control the shape of the tobacco pack," she said.
However, there were no studies showing whether changing the packaging affected the number of young people taking up smoking.
Giles Roca, director general of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association said: "This report destroys the rationale for the introduction of plain packaging by finding no evidence that it actually acts a deterrent to young people in taking up smoking - this was at the core of the government's and health campaigners' argument for its introduction."
Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest, said the estimates were "wishful thinking, based on hope and anecdotal evidence, not facts".
"Since plain packaging was introduced in Australia, smoking rates have fallen, but only in line with historical trends," he said.
From May 2017, all packs of tobacco sold in the UK must meet these standards:
Australia was the first country in the world to require cigarettes to be sold in plain, standardised packaging, in December 2012.
The UK became the second country to pass similar legislation. Ireland and France have followed suit.
Several other countries, including Hungary, Slovenia and Norway, are now in the process of introducing plain packaging laws.
Uruguay introduced large health warnings on cigarette packs in 2005. | Plain cigarette packaging could lead to 300,000 fewer smokers in the UK over the next year, a major review suggests. |
21,468,694 | The piece, called Wrong War, and a print signed by the graffiti artist were bought by a customer in south London for £12,990 last month.
But two weeks after delivering them, the dealer who sold the works learned that the cards used to buy the pieces had been used without authorisation.
Police arrested a man in Plumstead, south London, on 8 February.
The man, 25, has been bailed pending further inquiries.
The suspected fraud came to light when the art dealer, from Essex, received bank letters stating that the cards used to buy the images did not have the authorisation of the cardholders.
Both payments were cancelled and refunded to the cardholders, leaving the dealer without the artworks and out of pocket.
The Metropolitan Police began an investigation when, in the meantime, the suspect contacted the art dealer again in an effort to buy more Banksy artwork.
Officers were informed about this order and made the arrest. They also searched an address in Charlton, south-east London, believed to be linked to the suspect, where they recovered Wrong War.
The signed print, entitled No Ball Games, was recovered after a member of the public bought it from the suspect and became suspicious of the transaction, police said.
The buyer contacted the Essex art gallery directly and returned the artwork.
Det Sgt Geoff Grogan, from Greenwich CID, said: "We acted very quickly after the victim contacted us and this gave us the opportunity not only to make an arrest, but also to recover the artworks.
"We believe that there may be more than one person involved.
"We are also in the process of contacting the card-holders who were unaware that their cards were being used.
"Our investigation is still open and will continue." | An original work by the artist Banksy has been recovered by police investigating a suspected fraud. |
33,544,583 | 16 July 2015 Last updated at 15:08 BST
There's a female humanoid and a dinosaur robot at reception to welcome and check guests in.
Another robot is on hand to carry the guest's bags.
The Henn na Hotel, which in English means weird hotel, has a facial recognition system, which allows guests to enter their room without having to use a key.
And a high-tech system in the rooms senses how hot or cold guests are and adjusts the room temperature accordingly.
Watch more Must See videos here | A new hotel has opened in Japan and it's run almost entirely by robots. |
35,441,159 | Wrrexham council voted in favour of moving the police station to the former Oriel Wrecsam building on Monday.
Plans had been put on hold on 4 January due to concerns over disabled parking.
The council-run gallery has already been temporarily relocated and will eventually move to a new arts and culture hub planned for the town.
The police's town centre tower block offices are to be demolished. | Plans to convert an art gallery into a new home for Wrexham's town centre police station have been approved. |
35,782,829 | "Sergio, great goal against David de Gea. Now forget that, get changed quick and get back on the coach. We're off to Wembley to play Chelsea in a cup final nobody cares about tomorrow. Get a wriggle on."
The reaction of Aguero and Yaya Toure would be priceless.
But that's pretty much the gist of the chat that faced the then Manchester City side and their fellow Full Members Cup finalists of exactly 30 years ago.
What do you mean you've never heard of it? What about the Simod Cup? ZDS Cup? Ring any bells?
The much-derided competition, which ran from 1986 until 1992, was for teams in the top two divisions, but snubbed by the big clubs and initially largely ignored by fans of the teams who did actually enter.
It was a different era, of course. Very much pre-Premier League. Mudbath pitches, near maimings needed to get yellow cards, with pre-match pasta and post-match warm-downs solely the preserve of wimps.
Yet 68,000 made it to the final on a sunny spring day in 1986 to watch title-chasing Chelsea edge out a skint City outfit 5-4 in a classic that featured the first Wembley hat-trick since Geoff Hurst's treble in the 1966 World Cup final.
"The final took place the day after a Manchester derby. It was ridiculous - Old Trafford on Saturday and Wembley on the Sunday was a hell of a weekend for us," said City winger Paul Simpson, who came on as a substitute in both games.
"We were 2-0 down against United at half-time and drew 2-2. I just remember getting straight on the bus from Old Trafford and going down to London.
"There was none of the massages or recovery you get after games today. They talk about eating in this 'golden hour' after the game. But we literally just got up the next day, and started preparing for the final."
Although United fans did throw pies at the team coach as it was leaving the ground, food was not the main concern of two-goal striker Mark Lillis and his team-mates, in a side assembled at a fraction of the cost of today's City squad.
They were gagging for a pint after the derby exertions which had earned a point against a side including Mark Hughes, Gordon Strachan and Paul McGrath.
Lillis, one of seven Manchester-born players in the Wembley side, told BBC Sport: "We could see the manager, Billy McNeill, was having a couple of beers at the front of the coach and I asked on behalf of the team if we could get together at the hotel and just have one beer and then go to bed.
"He went absolutely mad and said: 'What do you think we are, a pub team?'
"I looked back up the bus and everyone was ducking behind chairs and under tables - none of them were backing me up.
"We ended up getting to the hotel and I had to make do with a cup of tea instead."
Chelsea, back then the surprise contenders in a wide-open title race, did not have as far to travel as City, but they also had a quick turnaround after beating Southampton on the Saturday.
Winger Pat Nevin, who was involved in three of the goals at Wembley, told BBC Sport the rapid response to the win at the Dell didn't faze him in the slightest.
"Playing two games in two days had absolutely no effect on me," Nevin told BBC Sport.
"I had been a long-distance runner before I was a footballer and I saw it as an advantage because I thought: If everyone else is knackered, I will be OK.
"Wembley was a huge, lush pitch and particularly draining to play on, but we didn't do anything special at all after beating Southampton.
"I think we came back on the coach and went home. And our warm-down after winning the cup was parading the trophy on the pitch. We wouldn't have considered doing any stretching."
Media playback is not supported on this device
The competition came about because of the European ban on English teams following the Heysel disaster in 1985.
It was the brainchild of Chelsea chairman Ken Bates for teams in the top two divisions of the Football League.
Dismissed by most as a needless competition created purely to swell the coffers during difficult times, participation was voluntary, and the inaugural competition was not surprisingly snubbed by 'The Big Five' of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton.
Even supporters of the teams who did enter were far from convinced by its merits, as some pitiful crowds in the regional group stages and knockout rounds proved.
"Supporters stayed away in droves," recalled Chelsea's official historian Rick Glanvill. "When Chelsea beat West Bromwich Albion on a Wednesday night in dull, wet mid-November, there were barely 4,000 there to witness Garth Crooks miss the decisive shootout penalty."
Yet something "magical happened" when Wembley Way loomed into view.
"In the early rounds it wasn't taken seriously but Chelsea hadn't been to Wembley for a long time," said Nevin.
"We were a bit tired but Manchester City brought a huge number of fans down and we had a huge number of fans too.
"I had a really enjoyable day - it wasn't the FA Cup or the League Cup but, for that moment and for the Chelsea fans, it was them getting to a place where they felt they should be.
"Now if you look back it has a very, very little importance. But at the time it was a big deal."
Two teams both playing in their away kits produced one of the least well-known, but certainly one of the most exciting finals ever to grace the old Wembley.
"I think it was the only time I ever won anything at Wembley," Chelsea legend John Hollins - their manager at the time - told BBC Sport.
"I lost against Spurs in 1967, we won the FA Cup in 1970 after a replay at Old Trafford and I don't want to talk about 1972 [League Cup defeat against Stoke]!"
Chelsea trailed to an early Steve Kinsey strike, but David Speedie headed a leveller on his way to the first Wembley treble since Hurst's and what remains only the second hat-trick in a senior domestic cup final in the 93-year history of Wembleys old and new - the other was by Stan Mortensen in the 1953 FA Cup final.
Stand-in striker Colin Lee, who was playing in place of injured England forward Kerry Dixon, also scored twice as the men in white went 5-1 up in a ludicrously open game.
But incredibly, City - inspired by some sumptuous wingplay by Simpson - hit back through a spectacular headed Doug Rougvie own goal, which came in the middle of two strikes by Lillis.
"One thing I'll always remember," said Lillis, "is being stood on the halfway line after Chelsea had scored, looking up and seeing where my family were and then looking round at the big scoreboard showing 5-1 and thinking: 'Oh God, I can't go back to Manchester now. I'll just get hammered by my family and everyone else.'
"Before we knew it, Simmo came on and we were back in the game."
Hollins added: "It was a fantastic match and we played some lovely football.
"Coming to the best stadium in the world, you want to win, no matter what the cup. We were cruising and maybe took the foot off the pedal a bit but we just about did enough. At least the finish made it exciting."
The crowd on a sunny day in north London is recorded as 67,236 but, although it now seems incomprehensible, punters could pay on the day. And, by nearly all accounts, it would seem there were significantly more there than suggested by the official attendance - impressive as it was.
It cost as little as £5 to get in and £1 for the programme, but supporters from both sides were seen slipping through the turnstiles at the Twin Towers.
Staggeringly there were also those who scaled the Wembley walls to get in for free and, in the days of standing at Wembley - and depending who and what you believe - estimates put the total 'extra' attendees as anything from between 2-10,000.
Whatever the actual size of the crowd, it was of a number befitting such a memorable cup final.
Sadly for Chelsea, their post Wembley title challenge imploded. They managed just nine more points from their remaining 11 games and finished sixth, 17 points behind champions Liverpool.
City's young side finished the season in 15th place - just four points clear of the relegation zone, but went down the following season.
And the tournament itself? It lasted seven more years, under three different guises, but was never taken that seriously.
"The 1986 final was not live on TV and there are hardly any clips of it on the internet," said Lillis. "Most people have forgotten about it and I look back sometimes and think 'did that really happen?', but it was one of the best moments of my career."
At Wembley in 1986, Chelsea's starting line-up cost a total of £745k, while City's first XI was put together for just £433.5k.
There were six Scots, 14 Englishman, with four more on the bench, a German-born Welshman in David Phillips, and Barnsley-born Republic of Ireland international defender Mick McCarthy.
The last time the two sides met in the league - a comprehensive 3-0 home win for City in August - there were only four Englishman between the two starting line-ups, with just two more from the 14 players on the bench. Only John Terry, who started but was taken off at the break, was home grown.
Here's how an extract from an article by Peter Gardner, in the Manchester Evening News of 24 March 1986, summed it all up (via citytilidie.com):
"At least the Full Members Cup will go down into the record books with some dignity and respectability.
"The Football League's most embarrassing and ill-conceived competition finished a money spinner at Wembley yesterday. A remarkable 68,000 turn-out poured in an equally staggering £500,000-plus." | Imagine the conversation. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.