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36,681,635 | However, data for the Markit/CIPS manufacturing purchasing managers' index was almost all collected before the 23 June referendum.
There is a "clear risk" uncertainty resulting from the vote will have a short-term impact on manufacturing, Markit said in its report.
Its index for June had the strongest reading since January, rising to 52.1.
"The latest PMI signalled that the manufacturing sector has started to move out of its early year sluggishness in the lead-up to the UK's EU referendum," said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit.
"Whether this growth recovery can be sustained will depend heavily on whether the current financial and political volatility spills over to the real economy," he added.
Some economists says that is a likely scenario.
Spending and investment in the UK is likely to "weaken sharply", says Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. He expects businesses to "stop investing" and consumers to "spend more cautiously".
However, the performance of the pound is going to have an important influence on how manufacturing performs.
"The recent plunge in the pound of just under 10% as a result of the referendum result should help to cushion the more external-facing manufacturing sector in time," said Ruth Miller, UK economist at Capital Economics.
The Markit/CIPS manufacturing index is based on a survey of 600 industrial companies and reflects data on orders, output, employment, suppliers' delivery times and companies' inventories. | UK manufacturers reported a pick-up in activity in June from May, according to a closely watched survey. |
37,038,331 | The pair, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, are among 10 refugee athletes competing under the flag of the International Olympic Committee.
Misenga, 24, lost his last-16 -90kg bout as Mabika, 28, was knocked out in the first round of the -70kg contest.
"When I'm older, people will see my name in the books about Rio," she said.
Misenga, who beat India's Avtar Singh in his opening match, lost by ippon to South Korea's Gwak Dong-han.
Misenga's home city of Bukavu was one of the areas worst affected by the Second Congo War, which began in 1998 and officially ended in 2003. Both he and Mabika began seeking asylum in Brazil during the 2013 World Judo Championships in Rio.
"It's an honour to be in the Olympics. I fought with a champion," Misenga said.
"I'm just really happy to be here because everybody understands and knows about the refugee team, knows the refugee story. People around the world, they're all watching this competition right now."
Mabika lost to Israel's Linda Bolder at Carioca Arena 2 on Wednesday.
But she said afterwards: "I'm representing many nations and my victory is a victory for all refugees in the world. I lost, but I'm here. The fight did not end today. The fight is not only judo, the fight is life." | Team Refugee's Popole Misenga and Yolande Bukasa Mabika "entered history" despite going out of the judo competition at the Rio Olympics. |
40,790,338 | She left The Great British Bake Off last year after the show moved from the BBC to Channel 4.
Britain's Best Cook will air on BBC One and be presented by Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman.
Claudia said, "I am over the moon to be part of this show".
Ten contestants will compete in Britain's Best Cook, which will last for eight episodes.
It's thought that both new and more traditional recipes will be used on the programme.
Mary Berry says, "This series is going to encourage proper home cooking".
A second judge will join Mary but we don't know who that is yet. | Mary Berry is back to judge a brand new cooking contest called Britain's Best Cook. |
36,506,724 | Tait clocked 20.46 seconds as Russia's Veronika Doronina won in 20.10 at the six-day meeting - the last major competition before the Rio Paralympics.
Jonathan Broom-Edwards won bronze in the T42-44 high jump with 2.07 metres.
GB sprinters Richard Chiassaro (25.30) and Richard Whitehead (12.46) set championship records in the T54 200m and T42 100m semi-finals respectively.
Despite taking a medal on her international debut in Tuscany, Tait, who will compete in the 400m on Sunday, said: "I'm disappointed - that's not the best time for me. I felt confident lining up but I'm not entirely sure where things went wrong."
Whitehead, who like Chiassaro will be going for gold on Sunday, said of his time: "It's about putting a marker out there.
"I saw Daniel Jorgensen set a championship record in the heat before so I just wanted to nip it a little bit. 12.46 - can't grumble with that."
There was another championship record for Sophie Hahn, who recorded 27.44 seconds in the women's T38 200m.
Ireland's Deirdre Mongan took bronze in the F53/F54 shot put with a throw of 4.23 metres, while Vanessa Daobry was fourth on her Great Britain debut in the F34 shot put with 6.46m.
Elsewhere, Poland's F40/F41 shot put world champion Bartosz Tyszkowski added 21cm to the world record he set at last year's World Championships as he threw 13.64m in winning gold.
World champion Vanessa Low of Germany beat local favourite Martina Caironi with a championship record of 4.71m in the T42-T44 women's long jump final.
With 171 medals up for grabs, the European Championships are a key opportunity for athletes to earn qualification standards for the Paralympics.
The GB athletics team for the Games will be announced in two phases - the first later this month and the remainder next month.
A-Z guide to Paralympic classification | Great Britain's Carly Tait earned a silver medal in the T34 100m at the IPC European Athletics in Grosseto, Italy. |
35,429,976 | Flames ripped through the site after the fire started in a car workshop at Medina Village, Cowes on Monday.
Forty business units were evacuated along with residents in nearby streets.
Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service said early inquiries revealed a garage worker had attempted to put the fire out using a handheld extinguisher.
No-one was injured.
Classic ships, racing yachts and carnival floats built to mark the 120th anniversary of Cowes Carnival charity in the summer were destroyed in the blaze.
Ferry services to the island were also stopped.
The fire service said a full investigation into the cause of the fire was still being carried out. | A fire on an Isle of Wight industrial estate started accidentally when welding sparks came into contact with fuel, a fire service has said. |
29,640,387 | The European Commission says the Aberthaw station has not complied with nitrogen oxide gases limits since 2008.
The UK government has two months to respond to the commission's concerns.
Plant operator RWE npower says new equipment will be installed at Aberthaw from next year.
Nitrogen oxides released into the environment from burning fuels have serious consequences for human health and the environment, causing respiratory illnesses, acidifying soil and surface water, and damaging vegetation.
The commission said the power station near Barry, which has been operating since 1971, currently emits more than double the legal limit of gases.
Tougher regulations on power plants will be introduced in January 2016 throughout the European Union.
Aberthaw employs just under 600 full-time and contract workers and RWE claims it can supply power for around three million homes.
It is estimated to be worth £75m to the Welsh economy each year and it is feared any threat to its running could impact on other Welsh businesses.
Tyrone O'Sullivan, chairman of Tower Colliery in the Cynon Valley, said a challenge to Aberthaw would be a "major threat to Tower and all the Welsh coal producers".
Tower's opencast mine supplies about 650,000 tonnes of coal to Aberthaw, which is three-quarters of its output, according to Mr O'Sullivan.
He said: "Aberthaw is a crucial part of the distribution of electricity in this country.
"It would be crazy to close Aberthaw on this issue. Just look at the amount of coal that is being burned around the rest of the world in countries like China."
RWE npower said power stations across Europe were finding market conditions "increasingly difficult".
"Britain needs long-term cross-party support for both the objectives and the delivery of this country's energy policy to create the kind of market stability needed to make very large, long-term investment decisions," it added.
BBC Wales environment correspondent Iolo ap Dafydd explained: "At the heart of this disagreement may be a different interpretation of the amount of nitrogen oxides which can be emitted from the Aberthaw power plant.
"RWE has already dealt with sulphur dioxide emissions and aims in the next four years to deal with the nitrogen emissions.
"The question is will they be able to comply with the EU regulations soon enough?" | The UK could be referred to the European Court of Justice over claims a coal fired power station in the Vale of Glamorgan is breaking emission regulations. |
39,809,700 | Chris Nash (82) and Harry Finch (61) led the way at Hove, sharing an 85-run second-wicket stand as, having been put in by Surrey, Sussex piled up 300-8.
Mark Stoneman batted well for 60 in Surrey's reply, and Ollie Pope offered late defiance with 55 off 63 balls.
But the visitors were never really in touch, being bowled out for 205 in the 42nd over to lose by 95 runs.
Surrey's third defeat in five games leaves them with an uphill battle to qualify going into their next game on Friday at home to Kent.
Sussex are back in action on Wednesday, with a trip to Chelmsford to face Essex.
Neither Sussex nor Surrey have secured consecutive wins against each other in this fixture since Surrey won in 2007 and 2008.
Sussex seamer David Wiese told BBC Radio Sussex:
"Qualifying for the quarter-finals is what it is all about. Hopefully, one or two more victories in our last three group games will clinch that.
"We've turned around our fortunes in this competition. That's largely because all the senior players in the team sat down and decided we had to take more responsibility.
"This was an excellent team display. All facets of our game clicked and we batted, bowled and fielded well. A total of 300 was always going to be a challenging target."
Surrey head coach Michael Di Venuto told BBC Radio London:
"At the halfway point we were actually quite happy with their score, which we felt was 20 runs or so light of what it should have been on a very good pitch.
"But we just didn't bat well. Our highest partnership was 44, which is just not good enough when you are chasing a decent total.
"Our batsmen have been in good touch but no one really went deep into the innings after getting starts. Ollie Pope played very well, though, at the end. It is great to see a younger guy come in and take his opportunity." | Sussex further improved their hopes of One-Day Cup qualification by beating Surrey for a third straight group win. |
37,594,461 | Clough curled in a stunning free-kick from 18 yards after 10 minutes following Paul Green's foul on Sammy Ameobi.
And he secured Wanderers' first-ever win over their neighbours at the Macron Stadium 13 minutes from time after Carl Winchester cleared Ameobi's first effort off the line.
Phil Parkinson's side, who have now won their last three games without conceding a goal, were good value for the three points.
Ameobi wasted a first-half one-on-one with Connor Ripley while the Latics keeper saved brilliantly to turn away a David Wheater header.
Steve Robinson's visitors played their part in a lively first league meeting in 19 years and Mark Howard smartly turned aside Lee Erwin's 34th-minute effort.
Lively Winchester flashed a hat-trick of shots over the crossbar in 18 second-half minutes while Howard made a decisive block after Green beat the offside trap.
But it was Clough's finishing skills that prevailed to keep Wanderers firmly in the play-off places.
Reports supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Bolton Wanderers 2, Oldham Athletic 0.
Second Half ends, Bolton Wanderers 2, Oldham Athletic 0.
Attempt missed. Jamie Reckord (Oldham Athletic) left footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses the top left corner.
Attempt saved. Paul Green (Oldham Athletic) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner.
Foul by Jamie Proctor (Bolton Wanderers).
Peter Clarke (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Zach Clough (Bolton Wanderers).
Ryan Flynn (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Substitution, Bolton Wanderers. James Henry replaces Sammy Ameobi.
Corner, Oldham Athletic. Conceded by Lawrie Wilson.
Attempt missed. David Wheater (Bolton Wanderers) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high.
Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Freddie Ladapo.
Cameron Burgess (Oldham Athletic) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Josh Vela (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Cameron Burgess (Oldham Athletic).
Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Freddie Ladapo.
Substitution, Oldham Athletic. Calaum Jahraldo-Martin replaces Ousmane Fane.
Substitution, Oldham Athletic. Cameron Dummigan replaces Brian Wilson.
Substitution, Bolton Wanderers. Derik replaces Tom Thorpe.
Goal! Bolton Wanderers 2, Oldham Athletic 0. Zach Clough (Bolton Wanderers) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal.
Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Carl Winchester.
Jay Spearing (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Carl Winchester (Oldham Athletic).
Foul by Lawrie Wilson (Bolton Wanderers).
Ryan Flynn (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Josh Vela (Bolton Wanderers).
Ousmane Fane (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Zach Clough (Bolton Wanderers).
Brian Wilson (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Bolton Wanderers. Jamie Proctor replaces Gary Madine.
Foul by Gary Madine (Bolton Wanderers).
Peter Clarke (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Carl Winchester (Oldham Athletic) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Foul by David Wheater (Bolton Wanderers).
Peter Clarke (Oldham Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Jay Spearing (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Ryan Flynn (Oldham Athletic).
Attempt saved. Freddie Ladapo (Oldham Athletic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Gary Madine (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right.
Jay Spearing (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. | Zach Clough's first goals since 23 April earned high-flying Bolton a League One derby win to keep Oldham rooted in the bottom four. |
36,396,290 | The player was fined for failing to disclose his wife was driving his car when it was caught speeding on the A66 at Appleby.
He claimed he missed notices of prosecution because he was away from his Billingham home for three months.
Carlisle magistrates told the 29-year-old, who is on loan at Marseille, he needed to organise his post better.
The footballer was fined £1,000 and given six penalty points. He was also ordered to pay £620 costs and a £100 surcharge.
The court heard he was sent several letters requesting information on who was driving the car and given notice of an intended prosecution.
He had denied failing to disclose the information but magistrates found him guilty after a two-hour trial concluded he should have had a more effective system for dealing with post in his absence.
Fletcher signed for Sunderland from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £12m in 2012 and went on to score 23 goals in 94 games for the Black Cats.
He joined Marseille on loan in January and has scored two goals in 12 games. | Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher has been told off by the courts for not managing his mail properly. |
35,237,692 | The Northern Ireland venue replaces existing number one New Jersey's Pine Valley, which drops to third, with Augusta National ranked second.
Cypress Point in California, Royal Dornoch in Scotland and Royal Melbourne in Australia complete the top six.
St Andrews and Muirfield are ranked seventh and eighth with Portmarnock and Royal Portrush in 25th and 27th spots.
Lahinch, in 65th position, is the only other Irish course in the Golf Digest top 100.
Royal County Down moves up from fourth position in last year's list and it's likely that the profile generated by its staging of the Irish Open last May played a role in its ascent to the number one spot.
Over 1,800 golf course evaluation panellists took part in the poll. | Royal County Down has been voted the world's top golf course in the annual rankings of US magazine Golf Digest. |
38,548,996 | Cristiano Ronaldo had put the visitors ahead with a penalty after Dani Carvajal had been fouled by Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico.
Sergio Ramos' late own goal against his former club levelled the scores.
Substitute Jovetic beat Kaylor Navas from distance to win it.
Navas, who appeared to be out of position, did get a hand on Jovetic's effort but could not stop it from hitting the net.
Real's first defeat since 6 April means their lead at the top of La Liga has been cut to one point, although Zinedine Zidane's side have a game in hand over their title rivals.
Sevilla move above Barcelona to second in the table.
All seemed to be going smoothly for Zidane's side as Ronaldo silenced a hostile crowd by slotting his side ahead from the spot.
Karim Benzema had already blazed a close-range chance over the bar yet Ronaldo's goal put Real, chasing a first La Liga title since 2012, in command.
Their downfall started when Ramos, who had upset Sevilla fans three days earlier with his goal celebration in their Copa del Rey last-16 tie, headed into his own net while attempting to clear Pablo Sarabia's set-piece.
Real were rattled and Jovetic's fine strike after Real had lost the ball from a throw-in was celebrated wildly by the home fans in the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Zidane's side are still well placed to be crowned champions of Spain for the first time in five years.
Yet this result will fill Barcelona with hope of overtaking their arch-rivals, with just two points separating them as the season approaches its midway point.
It is 71 years since Sevilla won La Liga but Jorge Sampaoli's side have very real hopes of ending that drought this season.
The Argentine, who masterminded Chile's 2015 Copa America success, has proved a revelation since taking charge last summer.
This was their 12th win in 18 league games under the 56-year-old - and by far the most eye-catching.
Their success has largely been down to a combination of hard work and determination, ingredients which have also earned them a passage into the last 16 of the Champions League and a meeting with Leicester City.
Match ends, Sevilla 2, Real Madrid 1.
Second Half ends, Sevilla 2, Real Madrid 1.
Substitution, Sevilla. Luciano Vietto replaces Wissam Ben Yedder.
Goal! Sevilla 2, Real Madrid 1. Stevan Jovetic (Sevilla) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Vitolo.
Hand ball by Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid).
Stevan Jovetic (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Raphael Varane (Real Madrid).
Corner, Sevilla. Conceded by Sergio Ramos.
Attempt blocked. Stevan Jovetic (Sevilla) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Vitolo.
Foul by Stevan Jovetic (Sevilla).
Casemiro (Real Madrid) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Own Goal by Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid. Sevilla 1, Real Madrid 1.
Marcelo (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Mariano (Sevilla) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Marcelo (Real Madrid).
Corner, Sevilla. Conceded by Luka Modric.
Samir Nasri (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Samir Nasri (Sevilla).
Casemiro (Real Madrid) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Steven N'Zonzi (Sevilla).
Casemiro (Real Madrid) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Sevilla. Sergio Escudero tries a through ball, but Wissam Ben Yedder is caught offside.
Substitution, Sevilla. Pablo Sarabia replaces Vicente Iborra.
Foul by Samir Nasri (Sevilla).
Luka Modric (Real Madrid) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Real Madrid. Mateo Kovacic replaces Toni Kroos.
Offside, Sevilla. Wissam Ben Yedder tries a through ball, but Vicente Iborra is caught offside.
Substitution, Sevilla. Stevan Jovetic replaces Franco Vázquez.
Goal! Sevilla 0, Real Madrid 1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Penalty conceded by Sergio Rico (Sevilla) after a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty Real Madrid. Daniel Carvajal draws a foul in the penalty area.
Attempt missed. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Luka Modric.
Attempt blocked. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Foul by Sergio Escudero (Sevilla).
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Franco Vázquez (Sevilla).
Marcelo (Real Madrid) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Sevilla. Franco Vázquez tries a through ball, but Samir Nasri is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) left footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt saved. Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Franco Vázquez. | Real Madrid's 40-match unbeaten run was brought to an end as ex-Manchester City forward Stevan Jovetic scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner for title rivals Sevilla. |
36,626,976 | Malcolm Brown died after being found alight by a care home worker outside Sherwood Forest Care Home in February.
The BBC understands the 60-year-old had gone outside the Derby care home to a smoke.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says the home "requires improvement" after an inspection in March.
The health watchdog's report into the home raised concerns over staffing levels, highlighted some residents at risk of developing sore skin and found a person was at risk of choking due to "inadequately thickened drinks".
A CQC spokeswoman said the home can expect "further unannounced inspections... and will continue to monitor the home".
A spokeswoman for Embrace Group Ltd, which runs the care home, said: "We take the CQC's feedback very seriously, and following the inspection in March we put in place an action plan to address the points raised in the report.
"We look forward to showing full compliance at our next inspection."
Derbyshire Police confirmed no criminal investigation is taking place into Mr Brown's death, and a spokeswoman said a report is being compiled for the coroner.
A fire investigation found the fire was probably caused by "discarded smoking materials". | A care home where a resident died after being found on fire in his wheelchair has been told by inspectors it must improve. |
35,250,933 | The impact of wet weather in Calderdale has been described by Barry Collins, the Labour deputy leader of Calderdale Council, as a "total calamity".
He added that as a result, around 118 bridges required continuing inspection.
"It's going to take a huge amount of work and new investment to get things back to normal," he said, explaining the area had around 300 bridges.
"We are monitoring the key ones, that's about 118 bridges regularly at the moment in the aftermath of the floods."
"The flood was just a total calamity in Calderdale from one end to the other."
The Elland Bridge in Elland remains closed after it partially collapsed on 29 December.
A barge was wedged against the grade II listed bridge, with several others left stranded on the towpath when high water receded.
The council has said the bridge is beyond repair and will need to be replaced. | More than 100 bridges in a West Yorkshire borough are being monitored for damage after recent flooding. |
31,573,835 | Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas won four awards, including worst picture and worst actor, at Saturday night's 35th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony.
The tongue-in-cheek show, which celebrates movie-making mediocrity, took place a short walk from the venue for Sunday's Academy Awards.
Razzie winners, who rarely turn up, get a $4.79 gold-spray-painted trophy.
Saving Christmas won worst picture, worst actor, worst screenplay and worst screen combo - for former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron "and his ego".
"This is a vanity project that Kirk Cameron put together," Razzie founder John Wilson told BBC Radio 5 live after the ceremony.
"It's about on the level of a super 8 movie from when I was a kid. It has no cinematic value at all."
He pointed out that the film was rated number one worst movie of all time on international movie database IMDB.com
Saving Christmas is also only one of two films last year to score a zero rating on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
The tag line on its film poster is "Put Christ back in Christmas".
Cameron Diaz was named worst actress for two comedies The Other Woman and Sex Tape.
The worst supporting actress prize went to Megan Fox for the reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction had led the field with seven nominations, but won only worst director and worst supporting actor for Kelsey Grammer.
Annie was named the worst remake, rip-off or sequel.
A new category - the Razzie Redeemer award - was introduced this year to reward a former Razzies target who has done good work in the past 12 months.
Ben Affleck was saluted in an online public vote for going from the much-panned Gigli to Oscar-winning Argo and Oscar-nominated Gone Girl.
His award was announced by real-life nun and veteran film critic Sister Rose Pacatte.
She told the audience: "We Catholic nuns are all about redemption."
The regular awards are chosen by 757 voting members in the US and abroad.
For the first time, the paying public were able to attend the irreverent ceremony - held this year at Hollywood's Montalban theatre. | A faith-based comedy about the true meaning of Christmas was the big winner at the annual Razzie Awards. |
37,560,469 | The 37-year-old, who partnered Tim Baillie to an historic first GB canoe slalom gold at London 2012, began competing in the early 2000s and also has a European Championship gold medal.
He was awarded an MBE in 2013 for his services to the sport.
"It is time for me to announce the end of a huge chapter in my life," said Stott.
"I consider myself both extraordinarily fortunate to have reached this point, and to have the full array of choices before me to take my life forward.
"Although I have won an Olympic gold medal at a home Olympics, I am sincere when I say that I value my journey in canoe slalom so much more."
The highlight of Stott's career came at London 2012 when he and Baillie claimed gold, a year after he had dislocated his shoulder.
Baillie retired in 2013 and Manchester-born Stott and his new partner failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Team GB's place in the men's C2 was taken by David Florence and Richard Hounslow, who would go on to take silver in Rio.
Stott has suggested he will continue in the sport in some capacity, saying: "My ambition is to help more people realise their potential, so I want to build on my knowledge gained during my career."
British Canoeing's performance director John Anderson said: "Etienne has been a wonderful athlete and ambassador and we thank him for all he has done for our sport in the UK.
"We wish Etienne and his wife Georgie every success and happiness in the future." | British Olympic gold medal-winning canoeist Etienne Stott has announced his retirement from the sport. |
37,949,097 | An explosion was heard at the Royal Bank of Scotland branch on Langholm High Street at about 01:40 on Friday.
Police sealed off the area while carrying out their investigations.
A short time after the raid a green Land Rover was found burning on the B6318 road about three miles south of Langholm's Skippers Bridge.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze.
Police said the amount of money taken had been "substantial" but declined to specify the exact sum.
Det Insp Scott Young said: "At this stage we are carrying out a number of enquiries into this crime and we are asking for the help of the public on a number of fronts.
"We are keen to hear from anyone who may have seen what took place at the bank at around 01:40 this morning.
"We have reports of a green coloured Landrover R445 YJC being at the scene of this crime and then driving off south shortly afterwards."
He said they were keen to track the movements of the vehicle before and after the break-in.
"We are also keen to hear from anyone in the town who may have seen any suspicious activity in or around the area of the bank over the past days or even weeks," he added.
Ch Insp Stephen Stiff, operational commander for the area, said: "This is a very rare crime for our area and totally out of character for the Langholm area.
"We have officers in the Langholm area carrying out door to door enquiries and speaking with the public to offer reassurance.
"The High Street, which forms part of the main A7 road is still closed and will remain so until we have carried out our full scenes of crime examination."
Diversions have been put in place to allow traffic to bypass Langholm.
Police said they were aware this would cause disruption but that it was necessary in order to gather evidence. | Thieves have made off with a "substantial quantity" of money after blowing open a cash machine during a bank raid in southern Scotland. |
36,310,911 | Jane Collins, who represents Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, claimed the MPs knew about child exploitation in the town but did not intervene.
The MPs - Sir Kevin Barron, John Healey and Sarah Champion - sued for libel.
But the High Court was told Ms Collins has applied to the European Parliament for immunity from prosecution.
Mr Justice Warby said on Tuesday he was obliged to grant a "stay" on the proceedings at London's High Court pending the European Parliament's decision.
Ms Collins has been sued for slander and libel by Sir Kevin, MP for Rother Valley, Mr Healey, who represents Wentworth and Dearne, and Ms Champion, MP for Rotherham.
They have complained about a speech she gave at UKIP's conference in September 2014 - a month after a report found that about 1,400 children in the area had been abused between 1997 and 2013.
Lawyers for Ms Collins argued it was a political speech that did not contain any allegation of fact, but expressed an opinion to the effect that the MPs were likely to have known sexual exploitation was a serious problem in the area.
A year ago, Ms Collins made an offer of amends that was accepted.
However, the amount of compensation could not be agreed so the case came back to court this week for the assessment of damages, which the MPs have said should be about £150,000 each.
Ms Collins, who is representing herself in court, has now applied to set the agreement aside, claiming she did not give informed consent.
Gavin Millar, QC for the MPs, said: "It is simply an attempt to get out of the bargain she made and yet another example of her inability to accept the consequences of her own actions." | A bid by Rotherham's three Labour MPs to get compensation from a UKIP MEP over remarks she made about the town's child abuse scandal has been suspended. |
40,185,941 | Macaully Sutcliffe, 16, was hit by Mohammed Zaman's van near Whitchurch, Hampshire, in October.
Zaman, 32, from Reading, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.
His father, Anglican priest Richard Sutcliffe, said his son's life had been cut "cruelly short".
In a statement he said: "No court sentence can help to fill the gap left following the death of Mac."
Hampshire police said Zaman "failed to abide by the give-way signs" at the junction of Bloswood Lane and Harroway.
"He had seen the moped was indicating but told police in interview he had misinterpreted the direction of the indication," a force spokesman said.
The judge at Winchester Crown Court said all the fault for the collision lay with Zaman and praised the teenager's "exemplary riding", police added.
Fr Sutcliffe, assistant benefice priest at St Mary Bourne near Andover, paid tribute to his son.
In a statement, he said: "As well as missing his presence now, we have huge regrets for his future that was so cruelly cut short.
"We are enormously proud of the fine young man that he had become. He touched many people and we all miss him dreadfully."
As well as being jailed, Zaman, of Wimborne Gardens, was banned from driving for two years with a 10-month extension. | A van driver who killed a priest's son when he knocked the teenager off his moped has been jailed. |
29,009,111 | The Marvel release extended its run at the top of the movie chart, taking $16.3m (£9.8m) across the country's Labor Day holiday weekend.
It has now taken a total of $275m (£165m) so far.
Captain America is the second biggest film of 2014 to date, followed by the Lego Movie.
Transformers is at number four on the annual list.
Over the bank holiday weekend, Guardians kept Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in second spot, with If I Stay remaining at three with takings of $9.3m (£5.5m).
Pierce Brosnan action flick The November Man entered at six.
The release took a modest $7.7m (£4.6m) and was outperformed by thriller As Above, So Below, which made its debut at number four.
Comedy Let's Be Cops was fifth.
Guardians of the Galaxy entered the chart at number one at the beginning of August, before temporarily losing its crown to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The space adventure stars Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt, and also features the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel.
A sequel to the Marvel Comics adaptation is expected to be released in 2017.
Despite the film's success, the summer box office in North America is down on last year.
Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst at Rentrak, said: "This summer was placed in the unfortunate position of being the follow-up to the biggest revenue generating summer of all time."
He went on to call last year the "perfect storm", featuring very strong performers including Iron Man and Star Trek.
"One or two movies can make all the difference," added Mr Dergarabedian. | Sci-fi blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy has stamped its authority on the US box office, becoming the biggest film of the year so far. |
34,847,161 | The figures, along with the strong employment numbers last month, increase speculation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.2% in October, after two months of declines.
Prices were pushed up by the rising cost of electricity and a resurgence in petrol prices.
A survey of US fund managers by Bank of America Merrill Lynch found that four-fifths of the managers surveyed expected a rate rise next month.
Leslie Preston, an economist at TD Bank said: "October's inflation numbers are just the sort of confirmation the Fed is looking for that domestic strength is generating inflationary pressures.''
The so-called core CPI, which strips out food and energy, also rose 0.2% after a similar increase in September.
Medical costs accounted for much of the increase. Medical care prices rose 0.7%, the largest increase since April. and hospital costs increased by 2%.
Although food prices rose only 0.1%, the smallest gain since May, they edged up 0.4% in September and four out of six of the indexes compiled by the big grocery store food groups showed the largest increase since August 2011.
The biggest price falls were in clothing, shoes and new cars.
Over the entire 12 months through to October, the core CPI increased by 1.9%. | US consumer prices rose in October in a sign that inflation may be picking up again. |
11,685,012 | Lord Ken Maginnis and David Simpson, DUP, had been due to fly out this week to meet soldiers from the Royal Irish and the Irish Guards but the Army couldn't find flak jackets large enough to fit them.
"To be told at the last minute that the British Army has not got two flak jackets with a 54" chest was just a bit thick," said Lord Maginnis who weighs in at about 18 stone.
"I wanted to go out and meet the troops and made considerable efforts to clear my diary.
"So this made me very cross. I am no giant, neither is Davy Simpson. We are both reasonably normal, although we are bigger than most."
Lord Maginnis said the cancelled trip made him "absolutely furious".
"The reality is that we have young men and women out there fighting for us. They are putting their lives on the line. They deserve a little bit of consideration," he said.
Lord Maginnis said he had made the trip two years ago - and he has got lighter since then.
However, in a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: "Nobody is allowed to board an aircraft to Afghanistan without correctly fitting body armour.
"The MoD provides a wide range of sizes but regrettably none was suitable on this occasion.
"We recognise the importance of politicians visiting Afghanistan but this trip has been postponed while we try to source sufficiently sized body armour." | Two of Northern Ireland's politicians are spitting nails after a trip to visit troops in Afghanistan was called off because they were too portly for Army flak jackets. |
39,255,275 | A clampdown by the Chinese government on overseas investments is thought to be to blame.
Eldridge Industries, the owner of Dick Clark Productions which runs the Golden Globes, said Wanda had failed to "honour its contractual obligations".
It added Dick Clark Production was suing Wanda for funds it was owned.
Dalian Wanda is run by China's richest man and property magnate Wang Jianlin. The company has yet to comment on the issue.
The aborted deal was the latest in a number of entertainment acquisitions by the Chinese conglomerate, which already controls the AMC cinema chain, as well as Legendary Entertainment, co-producer of hit films including Godzilla and The Dark Knight Rises. The studio also has a tie-up with Sony Pictures.
The Dick Clark Productions deal would have marked the group's entry into television production.
However, analysts said capital controls meant Wanda had struggled to move money out of China.
Last year, the Chinese government put in place tougher restrictions to stop the outflow of money from the country.
It is concerned about the softening in the value of the yuan, a slowdown in growth and what it called "irrational investments".
The government wants companies to be more careful about the prices they are prepared to pay.
On Saturday, China's Commerce Minister Zhong Shan repeated the government's criticism of Chinese companies that were too quick to make overseas investments.
"We not only discourage these kinds of irrational investments, but we will also be keeping watch on them," he said.
Last year, Chinese firms went on a multi-billion dollar shopping spree, culminating in state-owned ChemChina making a $43bn bid for Swiss seed giant Syngenta.
Since then a $1bn financing deal between Paramount Pictures and two Chinese film companies Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media has reportedly come to very little since it was announced in January.
Other deals have also reportedly run into trouble.
China's actions mark an about-turn in the authorities' attitude, since they previously urged companies to seek better returns and technological advances through overseas acquisitions.
But the slowdown in China's economic fortunes has made the government more cautious.
Last week, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan blamed the foreign investment wave on "overheated emotions". | China's Dalian Wanda has pulled out of a $1bn bid for the owner of the Golden Globe TV and film awards, according to the US firm's parent company. |
40,091,925 | The incident - involving a 28-year-old woman - happened near the bowling club in the Moray town's Cooper Park in the early hours of Sunday.
Officers want to trace four men who were in the area at the time.
They also want to speak to a man who was walking a dog nearby at the time, and a two men who were approached by the woman in a distressed state.
Det Sgt Kerry Rigg said: "While the woman was not injured this incident would have been frightening and has naturally left her extremely upset.
"I would urge anyone with information, or anyone that was in the area at the time and witnessed anything unusual, to contact police." | Police want to trace several people who may be able to help after a woman was assaulted in an Elgin park. |
32,318,762 | In a new report, the IMF says that countries that export oil and other commodities have been severely affected.
Some emerging economies have been hit by sharp moves in the global currency markets.
And the report says financial stability is still not "fully grounded" in the rich countries.
"Risks to the global financial system have risen since October and have rotated to parts of the financial system where they are harder to assess and harder to address," said Jose Vinals, financial counsellor at the IMF.
The IMF acknowledges that recent declines in the prices of oil and other commodities are on balance helpful for global economic prospects.
But they create a major challenge for countries and firms that export them.
It says the strains in debt repayment capacity are apparent for oil and gas businesses in Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria.
Debt servicing is also a concern for governments reliant on oil revenues such as Nigeria and Venezuela. Many other major oil exporters have sufficient reserves to enable them to cope with lower prices for some time.
Other developing nations, those that import commodities, do however benefit from these lower prices
Movements in the currency markets have also hit some emerging countries. The rise in the value of the dollar increases the repayment burden for firms and governments that have borrowed in the US currency. Some have also faced significant outflows of capital.
There is also a warning that there could be more of that when the US Federal Reserve starts to raise interest rates, which is expected later this year. It might happen smoothly, but the report says there is a danger that it might spark more volatility.
The report also says that there's a danger of property price declines in some countries, especially in China, which could spill over to emerging countries more widely.
In the rich countries very low interest rates - welcomed by the IMF for their economic benefits - do nonetheless pose some financial issues. Some European life insurers could struggle and low rates are reflected in more financial risk taking as investors seek better returns.
Some elements of this picture of rising risks reflects the aftermath of the financial crisis. The low interest rates in the rich countries, for example are part of the response to the economic damage, but they do create new risks.
The rising dollar is, indirectly, the result of the more rapid post-crisis rebound in the US compared with continental Europe. Six-and-a-half years on from the most intense phase of the crisis, its long shadow remains.
Still, the IMF does see some more encouraging developments. In particular economic growth is expected to be slightly higher this year and next, which would tend to promote financial stability. | The risks to global financial stability have risen, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. |
38,215,558 | Seventy-one people, including 19 players and staff, were killed in last Monday's crash on the way to Colombia for the first leg.
Colombian opponents Atletico Nacional, who asked for Chapecoense to be awarded the trophy, have been given a Fair Play award to acknowledge their "spirit of peace, understanding and fair play".
Chapecoense will be given the $2m (£1.57m) in prize money while Atletico Nacional will receive $1m (£787,000).
Chapecoense vice-president Ivan Tozzo hailed the decision as "justice", telling a news conference on Monday: "We were sure that 'Chape' would be champions. It is a beautiful tribute."
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Three Chapecoense players were among six people to survive the crash.
Investigations are continuing into the cause of the accident but a recording suggests the plane was out of fuel moments before the crash outside Medellin.
The small Brazilian city of Chapeco held a massive funeral on Saturday after the victims' coffins arrived home, each draped in the club's green and white flag. While 13,000 people have applied to become club members in the just two days.
Teams from around the world, including the Premier League, paid tribute to the players over the weekend and a minute's silence is scheduled to be held before every Champions League and Europa League game this week.
Brazil's leading football clubs have pledged to loan players to Chapecoense for free and asked for them to be safeguarded from relegation from the top flight for the next three seasons.
Chapecoense were due to play their final league match of the season on Sunday, 11 December, but have now confirmed the fixture will not be played as the outcome does not impact on the championship or relegation.
As Sudamericana champions, Chapecoense get a guaranteed spot in next year's Copa Libertadores, South America's equivalent of the Champions League.
It also means that Chapecoense will face Atletico Nacional - the defending Copa Libertadores champions - in a two-game series next year between the continent's two club champions.
Former Brazil and Barcelona forward Ronaldinho and ex-Argentina international Juan Roman Riquelme have reportedly offered to play for the club, while another former Barca player, Eidur Gudjohnsen, has offered his services.
Brazil will play Colombia in a friendly match at the end of January to help victims of the air crash. | Brazilian club Chapecoense have been awarded the Copa Sudamericana by South American football confederation Conmebol after most of their team died in a plane crash en route to the final. |
39,720,164 | Former Tenerife player, Jose Castellano-Gonzales, committed the crimes in Devon and Bedfordshire.
He moved to the UK in 2015 after his career was ended by injury.
He was jailed for 11 years at Exeter Crown Court having been found guilty at a trial in January.
More on Spanish footballer abuse and other Devon and Cornwall stories
Castellano-Gonzales, 25, from the Canary Islands played for the B team at Tenerife at a time when the A team were in La Liga, the top division in Spain.
He was convicted of a total of 13 sexual assaults.
Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC, at Exeter Crown Court told him: "You have caused untold damage to the victims, as was clear from some of the evidence at the trial. What you did had a potentially profound effect."
An NSPCC spokesperson for South West England said: "Castellano-Gonzales groomed five vulnerable young boys before abusing them purely for his own sexual gratification."
"His victims have shown enormous bravery in speaking out and it is thanks to them that he now faces the consequences of his actions." | A former Spanish professional footballer has been jailed after being found guilty of sexual offences against five young boys. |
33,204,446 | Tom McKeon was giving evidence at an inquiry probing claims of child abuse in the care system dating back to 1945.
Allegations of physical abuse made by former residents against some former staff there have been denied.
Mr McKeon said he only ever saw one incident where a teacher pushed a pupil against a wall.
Mr McKeon, who founded Les Chenes in the 1970s and worked there for ten years, said he had reprimanded the member of staff at the time and warned him such behaviour risked assault charges.
He moved on to other education jobs in the 1980s, then was head of education in Jersey from 1997 until he retired in 2007.
Les Chenes closed in 2003.
Mr McKeon told the inquiry in later years it could not treat teenagers being sent there with "deep psychological problems". | A secure school for troubled teens "crumbled" as drugs took hold in Jersey, according to a former education department director. |
37,486,372 | Mr Musk, who founded private spaceflight company SpaceX, was speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Tuesday.
His colonisation plan uses a fully reusable transportation system that would take 100 people and 80 days to get to Mars and eventually as little as 30 days.
This transportation system consists of a spaceship that is refuelled with methane and oxygen in Earth orbit and also on Mars after landing there.
Mr Musk explained that to achieve the $200,000 price, the entire transportation system has to be reusable.
He spoke of a colony of a million people to make it self-sustaining and that, with his plan, that could take 100 years.
To reach a million, Mr Musk said: "I want to make Mars seem possible, something we can do in our life times… and that anyone can go if they wanted to."
The first Mars flight could take place in 2022, according to SpaceX's timeline for Mars colonisation.
Mr Musk said that he would like to name the first spacecraft that goes to Mars, The Heart of Gold, after a starship in Douglas Adams' book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The launch site will be Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre pad 39, from where the Apollo Moon missions flew.
The reason why Mr Musk wants to go to Mars is, he said: "Without someone with a real ideological commitment, it didn't seem we were on any trajectory to become a spacefaring civilisation."
The prototype spaceship is planned to make test flights in four years, initially going into space, but not into orbit.
At the weekend, Mr Musk announced that SpaceX had carried out its first test of the Raptor rocket engine that will power the spaceship and the booster that puts it into orbit.
A prototype booster fuel tank has been built and tested and Mr Musk showed a picture of the enormous tank with staff standing next to it.
The combination of the booster and spaceship is called the Interplanetary Transportation System (ITS) and together they stand 122 metres tall, bigger than an Apollo-era Moon programme Saturn V rocket.
The booster will have 42 Raptor engines. Arranged in concentric circles, there will be an outer circle of 24 engines, an inner circle of 14 and in the centre seven Raptors.
Future versions of the ITS could be larger to accommodate bigger spaceships with up to 200 passengers.
The spaceship will have nine Raptor engines, carry 450 tonnes of people and cargo and have an open plan "occupant compartment" for colonists, according to Mr Musk.
He envisages communal living during the eighty-day trip with movies and lectures and zero gravity games.
The ITS' development will be funded by profit from SpaceX, Mr Musk's own wealth. He sees the colonisation of Mars as a "huge public private partnership", and said, "that is how the United States was established".
Spaceships would be sent every two years when Mars is closest to Earth and the two worlds will be 57.6 million kilometres apart in 2018.
At their furthest, they can be 400 million kilometres apart and in the past they have only been as close as 100 million kilometres.
Once it reaches Mars, the spaceship is shaped so that it will naturally be decelerated as it passes through the atmosphere. Its engines will then fire to slow it down to land vertically on legs, like SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket does today.
Mr Musk outlined a future where 1,000 spaceships could be in orbit. "The Mars colonial fleet would depart en masse." He expected a spaceship to last 12-15 flights.
The price could eventually come down to $100,000 to $140,000. If someone wanted to return to Earth they could take a returning spaceship, "for free", Mr Musk commented.
SpaceX also plans to launch the spacecraft it calls Red Dragon to Mars in a couple of years when the Earth and Mars are closest.
Red Dragon is a version of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft that is carrying cargo to the International Space Station, and a human version is being developed for astronauts.
SpaceX will offer the Red Dragon flights to governments and private organisations to send scientific and commercial payloads to the Red Planet. | Entrepreneur Elon Musk has outlined his vision for establishing a human colony on Mars for people that can afford a $200,000 ticket price. |
37,314,431 | Britain's Murray and Brazilian Soares upset the world number one pairing 7-5 4-6 6-3 at Flushing Meadows.
They will play Spain's unseeded Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Saturday's final.
Murray and Soares won the Australian Open title in January - their first Grand Slam tournament together.
The Scot, 30, has now reached the final in four of his last six Grand Slam events, and two of four since teaming up with Soares at the start of 2016.
Murray lost to Herbert and Mahut in last year's US Open final when he was playing with Australian John Peers, and asked what he had learned from that experience, he said: "Don't lose. It's not much fun to lose in finals.
"We've had a great tournament so far. We'll give it our very best to try to win - it would be a great end to the week."
Soares, 34, added: "I'm very proud, they're a very tough team.
"They're the best team this year, defending champions, playing an amazing level, but I thought we did extremely well.
"We served well and I think we played really well under pressure, which at this stage of the tournament is important."
Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez beat fellow Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in the second semi-final. | Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beat defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France to reach the US Open doubles final. |
38,159,690 | Diggers and dumper trucks are turning the six-year-old former Dartington Primary School near Totnes in Devon into rubble.
More than 300 children have been in temporary buildings since July 2014.
Building of a new school will start in January and education authority Devon County Council is seeking compensation from the architects and builders.
More on the school demolition, plus more Devon and Cornwall news
Head teacher Jill Mahon said 90% of the material would be recycled locally.
"How can you be sad when it is being reused," she said.
"We are seeing a whole process which couldn't be much richer for the children."
The demolition has been included in the school curriculum with visits from site workers and children learning about recycling.
The children are expected to move into the new school early in 2018.
The former school buildings were called "visionary" when they opened in 2010 with solar panels to power classrooms and rainwater recycling.
But according to a report commissioned by the council, the building started letting in water shortly after it was finished.
The report blamed the design and highlighted "complexities within the rainwater harvesting system". | A £7m "zero-carbon" school which closed after water started leaking into the buildings is being demolished. |
39,974,777 | Two cars collided just after 22:00 BST on Thursday in London Road, Sittingbourne, Kent.
A male passenger in one the cars died at the scene, police said.
Another person in the car had to be freed by emergency crews using hydraulic equipment.
Ken Police is appealing for witnesses.
Work is ongoing to repair a power cable damaged during the collision. | A man has died in a car crash that saw three other people injured and a vehicle end up in a garden. |
34,827,894 | The 27-year-old, who scored 14 goals for the Reds this season, has agreed a two-month deal and will stay until the end of the W-League campaign.
Dowie said: "I have always wanted to play abroad and experience different styles of play. I am relishing the opportunity to go out on loan."
Victory are managed by former Bristol Academy boss Dave Edmondson.
But they are bottom of the table after losing their opening five matches and seem unlikely to reach the play-offs, meaning their season would end in early January.
Dowie signed a new contract with Liverpool before the start of the season, but the Reds finished seventh in the eight-team Women's Super League. | England and Liverpool Ladies striker Natasha Dowie has joined Australian side Melbourne Victory on loan. |
37,402,105 | ParalympicsGB surpassed their London 2012 medal tally of 120 on day nine of the Games in Rio and finished with 147, second in the medal table behind China.
They also matched the highest number of gold medal sports at a Paralympics with 11, matching China at Beijing 2008.
Kadeena Cox, who won golds in athletics and cycling, will carry the British flag at Sunday's closing ceremony.
Read - memorable moments from the Rio Paralympics
The 25-year-old is the first Briton to triumph in two different sports at the same Games since 1988.
"It's a great feeling to know that I'll be standing at the front of such an exceptional group of athletes from GB, to represent what has been such a successful and high-achieving team," she said.
"I only originally expected just to get to Rio, let alone win medals, so to do this is the icing on the cake of an amazing Games. I couldn't have imagined this in my wildest dreams. To do something as special as carrying the flag is incredible."
Find out how to get into just about any sport with our special guides
Penny Briscoe, chef de mission for the British team, said: "Kadeena's achievements in Rio have been absolutely remarkable, and she is the perfect choice to be our flagbearer."
"To strike gold in two sports is no mean feat, and it pays tribute to her talent, pride and determination and also the work of British Athletics and British Cycling, with the support of National Lottery funding, to help her achieve and surpass her goals.
"As the Games draw to a close we can begin to reflect on the exceptional performances of our athletes and this incredible medal haul. The Closing Ceremony is the perfect way to kick off the celebrations for this record breaking team. I am so proud of each and every member of the team."
Elizabeth Hudson, BBC Sport in Rio:
British Paralympic Association chief executive Tim Hollingsworth said the GB team's performance in Rio was no fluke, but the figures still make very impressive reading.
The team, often described as the strongest ever and the best prepared, won 12% of the total number of gold medals available - the best since way back in 1968, a completely different era in Paralympic sport.
Finishing second in the medal table behind China, they set 49 Paralympic and 27 world records. Both the oldest (Anne Dunham) and youngest (Abby Kane) competitors on the team claimed medals, and 11 sports won gold medals with a record-equalling 15 securing at least one medal.
Yes, the total may have been different if the Russian team had not been banned from competing, but you can only beat what is in front of you, and this was a truly spectacular performance from the 264-strong squad.
This GB team has set a new standard and as one Games closes, plans for the next summer Games in Tokyo are well under way. Now the challenge will be to maintain momentum and rise to the occasion once again in 2020. | Great Britain closed the Rio Paralympics with 64 gold medals, the most by a British team since 1988. |
36,556,771 | The former hooker won his 29 caps in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He played with some of the all-time greats of New Zealand rugby - Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson, Tana Umaga - and speaks with a straight-up Kiwi candour.
While Jonathan Humphreys, Scotland's forwards coach, declined to accept that Scotland are strong favourites to win the opening Test against Hammett's team on Saturday at the Toyota Stadium - the bookmakers have the visitors at an almost insurmountable 1-14 - Hammett laid it on the line.
"There's no doubt that the Scots are the favourites," he said.
"If we were to beat Scotland it would be huge. They're on an upward trend and have generally held their team intact. The reality is that they're favourites and that's our challenge."
Hammett was backed-up by his oldest on-field stager, the wondrous 38-year old lock, Hitoshi Ono, who will win his 97th cap against Scotland. Ono was asked where would a Japan win rate among all the wins in his career dating back to his debut a dozen years ago.
He smiled and said that it would be better than the first time he played against Scotland - a 100-8 loss in Perth in 2004 where his opposite number was Nathan Hines, now on Vern Cotter's coaching ticket.
To Ono, nothing will ever match Japan's win over South Africa at the World Cup last autumn and their victory over Warren Gatland's championship-winning Welsh team in the summer of 2013 comes second.
A triumph against Cotter's team would come third in Ono's all-time list.
Like Hammett, he says that Scotland are favourites but 1-14 seems like an insult to the home team, a slight they might use to their advantage in front of their own people.
Japan are missing seven of their starting line-up from that famous day against the Springboks, hence the eye-watering odds against them winning. Humphreys was not buying into the notion as Scotland as runaway favourites, though.
"We're a team that want to win Test matches," he said. "We've had a lot of time when we've not done that, so every game we play has a real focus.
"We're getting harder on ourselves as a group about those standards, so hopefully that will be the case at the weekend.
"The impressive thing about Japan is the quality they're producing. They've a few missing but the boys coming in seem equally adept. They are playing the same game and are producing the same threats. We're well aware of how this game is going to go and how it is going to be - a very, very tight affair."
In Test - and non-Test - internationals - the countries have met nine times since 1976, Scotland winning eight with an average points total of 48 and Japan winning one with an average points total of 13.
For all Scotland's favouritism, it's hard to see a continuation of those numbers. Humphreys, for one, would take any kind of win; smooth or rough. | Mark Hammett, the interim Japan coach, knows all about beating Scotland having played against them three times for the All Blacks, winning all three to the tune of 147 points to 52 and 23 tries to six. |
36,891,132 | Nintendo rose by 1.6% following the 17.7% plunge on Monday.
While the Pokemon franchise is owned by Nintendo, the developer of the game is US company Niantic.
Nintendo's market value more than doubled at one point due to the huge success of Pokemon Go.
Despite seeing its sharpest drop in more than 25 years on Monday, the firm's shares are still up more than 60% from before the 6 July launch of Pokemon Go.
On the wider market, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.4% to close at 16,383.04.
The losses come ahead of a Bank of Japan meeting at the end of the week, which is expected to give clues about a new stimulus package promised by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.6% to close at 22,129.73 led by financial and consumer stocks.
Over on the mainland, the Shanghai Composite gained 1.14% to end at 3,050.17.
Shares in South Korea gained ground, with the country's benchmark Kospi index ending 0.8% higher at 2,027.34.
Investor sentiment was lifted by fresh growth data showing that South Korea's economy grew at 3.2% in the second quarter, beating expectations.
Shares in SK Hynix, though, lost 1.4% after the world's second-biggest chipmaker said its second-quarter operating profit fell 67% from a year earlier due to weaker demand.
In Australia, the ASX 200 share index closed flat at 5,537.50. | Shares in Japanese games company Nintendo increased slightly after record losses on Monday when it had warned that the Pokemon Go success would have a limited impact on profits. |
37,580,963 | Indeed, the Baltic nation has formed a big sub-plot in the Scots' trials and tribulations on the world and European stage.
Not because they boast a particularly good record against the side now coached by Gordon Strachan - they have only beaten the Scots once.
But because they have been there since day zero; that being Saturday 5 September 1998.
Scotland's first qualifier for a place at Euro 2000 happened to be their first competitive match since the St Etienne slaughtering dished out by Morocco at the World Cup in France less than three months previously.
The opposition? Lithuania. For the first time. And with six starters from the Moroccan mauling in the visitors' team.
The goalless draw that Craig Brown's side would endure in Vilnius provided merely the 'hors d'oeuvre' to almost two decades of major championship misery for a starved nation.
The Lithuanians took a point that day knowing they had previously completed their best-ever qualification campaign on the road to France.
They hoped it pointed to an eventual finals' spot and, while they have failed in that mission so far, the ambition remains, fuelled by the arrival of one man in the dugout.
A familiar foe deserves a familiar face and Edgaras Jankauskas certainly provides that.
The former Hearts striker, coach and 2006 Scottish Cup winner was in the Lithuania side that frustrated Brown's team 18 years ago and is arguably the former Soviet state's most revered footballer.
That the Champions League winner at Porto in 2004 is now in charge of the national team has ignited belief in the country that what seemed like an impossible dream could be touched by reality.
Jankauskas has steadied the ship since his arrival in January.
His predecessor, Igoris Pankratjevas, resigned a year ago after failing to make an impact on their Euro 2016 qualifying group, which also featured England and Slovenia, both of whom Jankauskas is locking horns with in Scotland's section this time round.
And, while wins have been hard to come by - they have only two in two years, against Estonia and San Marino - the proof the effect the new man in charge is having is shown by their last two results.
A goalless draw with Poland in Krakow before the Poles' summer excursion to the Euro 2016 finals in France and an opening 2-2 draw with Slovenia have provided reason for optimism.
Indeed, the latter should have been a victory and would have been but for two carelessly defended headers in Vilnius as a 2-0 lead was surrendered by the home team.
The match was difficult enough for the visitors that Slovenia coach Srecko Katanec was moved to insist that others will drop points to Lithuania during this campaign.
Other faces in the visiting camp this weekend will also be remembered by Hearts fans in particular, with defender Deividas Cesnauskis - who like his coach won the Scottish Cup at Hampden in 2006 - and midfielder Arvydas Novikovas among their ranks.
Jankauskas once was the golden boy of Lithuanian football, a role that is currently filled by young striker Lukas Spalvis.
Fortunately for the Scots, the talented 22-year-old signed by Sporting Club de Portugal in the summer is injured and will not feature.
One who is likely to take the field is midfielder Vykintas Slivka, who is on the books of Italian giants Juventus and on loan at Den Bosch in the Netherlands.
Slivka scored his first international goal against the Slovenians last month with a clever finish.
However, it was not as clever as captain Fiodor Cernych's opener just two minutes before, as the Jagiellona Bialystok striker showed his prowess from distance.
Jankauskas told the Lithuanian media before their departure for Glasgow: "Scotland is a team which will require maximum concentration and defensive discipline.
"I think we have the potential (to win). What do we want from the two matches (Scotland and Malta)? Six points.
"It may happen that we are satisfied with a point having played well and scoring.
"It will be a good challenge to play in a big stadium where we will be able to feel the atmosphere of Scottish football."
The many tiresome international chapters that have been written since the hazy summer of '98 have been frequented by Jankauskas and his fellow Lithuanians.
Scotland have played 89 competitive matches since that 1998 maiden clash in Vilnius.
The 90th must result in the securing of three World Cup points, otherwise the visitors may just leave their mark once again. | Scotland will take on a familiar foe on Saturday when they face Lithuania in their second World Cup qualifier. |
35,340,913 | 18 January 2016 Last updated at 07:13 GMT
When a person goes missing they assist in the search efforts.
Ayshah has been finding out about the work of rescue dogs in Sussex, who have been specially trained to use their noses and instincts to find people.
The dogs and their owners are on call, 24 hours a day to rescue anyone in trouble.
You can watch more of this story on Inside Out in the South-East on BBC 1 at 7.30pm. | Rescue dogs are a big help to police forces around the UK. |
37,477,703 | The England international was given a "substantial" fine and ordered to undergo diversity awareness training after a video of the incident emerged.
He said he had not realised that the term - "Jap" - is offensive.
Show Racism the Red Card said it was "encouraged" that Vardy had recognised the "huge mistake" he made.
In an excerpt from his autobiography published in The Sun, the footballer said: "The word 'racist' is a permanent stain against my name. It's worse than a criminal record.
"I was angry at the time and I'd had too much to drink but I'd never have used the word 'Jap' if I'd known it was racist."
Writing about the diversity awareness training, Vardy said: "The tutors explained some of the context behind the word and its meaning, dating back to the Second World War.
"It made me feel more embarrassed."
Show Racism the Red Card said many people do not understand that "Jap" - a derogatory term for a Japanese person - is offensive.
"As an anti-racism education charity, it is important that we look at the history of the word used and help people to consider why it is regarded as racist," it said in a statement.
"Jamie Vardy made a mistake; he has recognised it, apologised and undertaken diversity training.
"If people can learn from their mistakes and change their behaviour then not only is it unlikely that they will act in a racist way in the future, but they may also help others to modify their language and behaviour too."
Vardy made the racial slur at Leicester's Grosvenor Casino in July 2015.
After investigating, Leicester opted against sacking him after taking into account his "prompt apology".
He went on to be a key figure in Leicester winning the Premier League title in one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.
Vardy said he has personally apologised to the man involved.
"I needed him to see how sorry I was," he wrote in the book, which is due to be published by Ebury Press.
"I wanted him to know there was ignorance, not malice or prejudice, behind the word I used."
Leicester sacked three players - including the son of former manager Nigel Pearson - in June 2015 after they took part in a racist sex tape filmed on the club's end-of-season tour of Thailand. | Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has said he was "ignorant" rather than racist when he used a racial slur against a Japanese man in a casino. |
40,687,606 | Brian Conville, a 25-year-old from Dublin and 20-year-old Canadian Joseph Gagnon, were on the final stage of their journey when their boat capsized.
It happened at about 05:00 local time and they spent hours on their upturned boat in heavy seas awaiting rescue.
They were airlifted to hospital by the Irish Coast Guard.
Mr Conville's spokesman, Owen Douglas, told BBC News NI that both rowers had suffered mild hypothermia and exhaustion but were recovering well.
The pair had set off from St Johns in Newfoundland on 13 June, aiming to become the youngest pair to complete the voyage from Canada to Ireland.
For the past five weeks, they have been rowing day and night, rotating responsibility with two hour shifts on the oars.
They were aiming to arrive in Crookhaven Harbour, County Cork, late on Sunday, but stormy seas overwhelmed their vessel before dawn on Friday.
They were rescued by a Waterford-based helicopter off Mizen Head and airlifted to Tralee Hospital in County Kerry.
The men had to climb on the hull of their overturned boat and await rescue after an alarm beacon was triggered, according to Tatiana Rezvaya-Crutchlow from the Ocean Rowing Society.
She praised the actions of the Irish Coast Guard and said it was a shame the rowers were not able to complete their record attempt after "doing so well'" in their Atlantic crossing.
The pair are both experienced rowers and Ms Rezvaya-Crutchlow said they had been "very well prepared" for the crossing.
Mr Douglas said it would have taken a lot of effort to hold on to the boat for hours in rough weather conditions.
He added that the men were relieved to be safe and well, but said he expects they will feel frustrated at having come so close to reaching their goal.
He described how Mr Gagnon's parents had arrived in Dublin Airport on Friday morning and were met by Mr Conville's parents, just as news emerged that their sons' alarm beacon had been triggered.
Mr Douglas said it was a worrying time for both families until they were informed that the rescue had been successful.
The Irish Coast Guard's search and rescue manager Gerard O'Flynn said: "It highlights that if you can raise the alarm and stay afloat then you stand a very good chance of being rescued."
Mr O'Flynn praised the work of the helicopter crew and officials at the incident control offices who provided top cover support for the rescue mission. | Two ocean rowers have been rescued about 170 nautical miles from the Irish coast, after rowing across the Atlantic from Canada in a world record attempt. |
33,519,425 | The march was barred from proceeding along a stretch of road that separates unionist and nationalist communities.
Within minutes of the parade reaching police lines, empty bottles, bricks and metal bolts were thrown at police.
Politicians and other key figures gave their reaction in the aftermath of the violence.
"[The] violence and attacks in north Belfast on PSNI officers as they go about their duty trying to keep the peace is wrong and cannot be justified regardless of the frustrations or the cause.
"It is vital that those involved in such riotous activity cease and are held accountable. They do a massive disservice to the wider cause they claim to support.
"Orangemen and supporters were attacked whilst returning from Twelfth demonstrations this evening, and such attacks again demonstrate the intolerance of those who are not prepared to respect and build understanding of cultural diversity."
"The loyalists responsible for [the] riot in [north] Belfast must be condemned. Leadership required from unionist political leaders.
"I unreservedly condemn those responsible for the attack on the bus in Greysteel and the Verbal Arts Centre, and other incidents in Derry."
"I condemn these disgraceful attacks on the police. Those responsible do nothing to further the cause they claim to promote.
"They damage Northern Ireland and wreck a day which should be about respectful celebration of cultural tradition."
"Attacks on police officers are totally wrong, however outrageous the Parades Commission continues to behave.
"Over the years, the Parades Commission has caved in to republican violence and threats of violence. This has created a severe problem in relation to community relations and respect for law and order.
"The way forward is to recognise the failures of the past cannot be repeated and a new way forward for parading and protesting is badly needed. Secretary of State take note."
"What the residents have said on an ongoing basis is that they are up for dialogue. We've worked out many, many problems, but it all began with dialogue.
"In terms of the Parades Commission, there needs to be an independent body. While I have often disagreed with their decisions, I think it's the only way to deal with this issue until it can be dealt with between those who decide to march through these areas and the people who live there."
"We cannot continue to open wounds every summer and hope that the body politic and society in general in Northern Ireland and north Belfast will just continue on as usual.
"We need to reflect very carefully and we need to resolve this situation in Ardoyne and we need to do that urgently."
"There is disappointment in north Belfast once again that the three Ligoniel lodges and the band were not able to return home to their starting point.
"Ten or more years of republican violence at Ardoyne on the Crumlin Road was rewarded by the Parades Commission. I would have to say if it's wrong to engage in violence, it's wrong to reward violence."
"Those involved in violence should desist. It is not only counterproductive but also plain wrong.
"Such actions are only strengthening the hand of those who wish to further curtail our parades."
"Once again, officers demonstrated their patience and professionalism even though their lines were under attack.
"The scenes we witnessed were deplorable and shameful.
"The behaviour of those who viciously targeted police lines was mindless and unacceptable."
"We had hoped that the scenes of violence witnessed were a thing of the past, but clearly there is a minority who do not want Northern Ireland to move on.
"They have disregarded all those in the community who have worked hard to ease tensions, and must be brought to justice."
"The scenes in north Belfast are a serious step backwards for stability in Northern Ireland.
"The small minority determined to return to the bad old days must not be allowed to prosper.
"[The] events underline the importance of marginalising the extremists and pressing ahead with implementation of the [Stormont House Agreement]." | Trouble flared in north Belfast on Monday night where the Orange Order was not allowed to complete its return from an annual Twelfth of July parade. |
33,130,382 | The teenager approached a South Korean guard post in north-eastern Hwacheon in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) on Monday, South Korea's defence ministry said.
There was no exchange of fire and the soldier is now being held in custody.
It is extremely rare for defectors to walk across the DMZ. The last time it happened was in 2012.
Most defectors cross over into China, then make their way through South East Asia and then into South Korea.
Of the nearly 28,000 North Koreans who have resettled in the South, most of them left the country through the border with China, and not through the DMZ.
This is because the 250km-(155 mile)-long demilitarized zone is heavily guarded, littered with anti-personnel landmines.
The last time a North Korean soldier defected through the wire fence was in October 2012, when a soldier managed to cross undetected.
This was a huge embarrassment for the South Korean military and steps were taken to strengthen border security.
Recently, there has been increased activity by North Korean soldiers in the DMZ and some believe the North has been trying to make defections more difficult.
The DMZ is fortified with landmines and barbed wire and guarded by tens of thousands of troops on both side.
Hundreds of North Koreans flee poverty and a repressive regime at home each year.
In August last year, two North Koreans swam across the Yellow Sea border to a South Korean island. | A North Korean soldier has walked across one of the world's most heavily militarised borders to defect to the South, officials say. |
33,108,361 | More than 70,000 people are expected to attend the Download Festival, headlined by Kiss, Muse and Slipknot.
Police said there had been dramatic falls in theft in past years and the wrist tag payment system was one of several ways of keeping this going.
While some fans had reported problems with the technology, organisers said it worked in the vast majority of cases .
Police have reported consistent falls in crime, with last year alone seeing a 70% drop in theft.
The wrist tags are topped up with credit to be used at the various stalls across the site and mean both customers and businesses do not have to carry cash.
Most people have welcomed the innovation but some said the tags had not worked leaving them without access to food and drink.
Organiser Live Nation said it estimated 1% of users had experienced problems and extra help desks had been laid on.
Sgt Ian Weston, who will be patrolling the site in plain clothes, said: "Our main concern is theft from tents, persons and vehicles, so we give out a lot of advice about using lockers and such.
"Intelligence looks at the organised gangs across the country and establishes which festivals they are going to and we build a strategy to deal with that."
Sgt Richard Jordan, a motorcycle officer, said: "From lunchtime (on Friday) it will become very, very busy and the road network sees a lot of strain especially at the beginning and end of the day.
"Unless you need to come here or the airport avoid the area and if you come, expect delays." | A cashless payment system is being used at a Leicestershire rock event in an effort to cut crime. |
35,534,884 | It is the first time an Indonesian court has passed jail sentences for recruiting and helping people travel to Syria to fight alongside IS.
Last month, IS carried out a series of explosions and gun attacks in Jakarta.
The sentencing judge on Tuesday said that supporting IS should be considered an act of terrorism.
Jakarta-based security expert Sidney Jones told the BBC the verdicts were a step forward but the sentences were too lenient. She said Indonesian anti-terrorism laws are not strong enough.
There were calls in the wake of last month's attack for the country's anti-terrorism laws to be strengthened.
However, members of parliament are concerned about giving too much power to security forces that have a poor human rights record, the BBC's Rebecca Henschke reports from Jakarta.
Four of the group sentenced on Tuesday had travelled to Syria to undertake military training with IS.
The other three had helped purchase tickets and recruited people to join the jihadists.
Indonesia's new breed of militants | A court in Indonesia has sentenced seven men to between three and five years in jail for supporting the so-called Islamic State (IS) group. |
35,049,987 | Media playback is not supported on this device
Matfield is the all-time record caps holder for the Springboks, collecting 127 since his debut in 2001, and winning the World Cup in 2007.
"This is definitely my swansong. I've got to the end of May," the 38-year-old lock told BBC Radio Northampton.
"Hopefully we can win a trophy or two and then that will be me."
Matfield made his Saints debut against Gloucester last month after joining up with Jim Mallinder's side after the World Cup.
After a poor start to the season, Saints have risen to fifth in the Premiership and top of their European Champions Cup group after two matches.
On Saturday, they travel to a Racing 92 side set to give New Zealand World Cup-winning star Dan Carter a debut, and Matfield empathises with the fly-half.
"I've gone through the same, going to France after winning a World Cup in 2007. A lot of the time it's not that easy just to go in there and run the show.
"Dan Carter would have been used to running the show exactly how he wants to run it at the Crusaders and the All Blacks.
"Now he's into a different system, he has to adapt a little bit, he has to take a bit of theirs and give a bit of input, he's got to learn the language.
"It won't be that easy to step in there to be the Dan Carter we all know, but saying that he's a quality player. If he gets an opportunity and has to make a decision, 90% of the time he'll make the right one." | South Africa legend Victor Matfield hopes to help Northampton Saints win a trophy before retiring at the end of the season. |
36,487,425 | Delport, who was born in South Africa but qualifies as a non-overseas player, has scored 2,045 T20 runs at an average of 25.56 with a strike rate of 135.70.
The 27-year-old left-hander played with elite performance director Andrew McDonald at Sydney Thunder in 2015.
McDonald said: "Cameron has experience in most of the world's top T20 competitions and his knowledge and skill will be valuable assets."
Delport shared the highest-ever one-day first-wicket stand with Morne van Wyk - an unbroken 367 set in a South African one-day game for Dolphins against Knights in Bloemfontein in October 2014.
Leicestershire's next match in the competition is against Lancashire at Old Trafford on Friday. | Leicestershire have recruited batsman Cameron Delport for the T20 Blast. |
36,562,669 | Clive Rees, from Tumble, was celebrating his 65th birthday on the Caribbean island with his wife Sonia when he was hit by a car.
He is being treated in an intensive care unit after developing pneumonia and breathing difficulties.
Mr Rees is unable to return home on a commercial flight and the family is raising money for an air ambulance.
They have made a heartfelt plea to the public to help them reach their target following the incident on 13 May.
"You always think something like this will never happen to you," said daughter Tracy Rees.
"We just want him home."
Miss Rees said the response has been "overwhelming", with support from family, friends and local businesses.
"We've raised about £2,000 so far," she said.
"I just can't believe how generous everyone is. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
The £65,000 air ambulance fee encompasses a return trip from the UK, refuelling and a team of medical staff to look after Mr Rees. | A family in Carmarthenshire must raise £65,000 to fly their injured father back from Barbados. |
35,842,829 | White Ferns captain Suzie Bates won the toss and led the way, hitting 82 from 60 balls and adding 104 with Sophie Devine (47 from 34).
The Kiwi total of 177-3 from 20 overs always looked beyond Ireland.
Captain Isobel Joyce top scored with 28, while Leigh Kasperek's four overs only cost 10 runs as the Irish made 84-5, handing New Zealand a 93-run win.
Kasperek, born in Edinburgh, appeared for Scotland against Ireland in the 2007 European Championship aged only 15, but later switched her allegiance to New Zealand and made her one-day and T20 international debuts in 2015.
"We performed poorly and it was never going to be easy chasing 178," said Joyce. "They are a very professional side and I hope our girls have learnt from them."
Meanwhile, champions Australia began their title defence with a six-wicket win over South Africa in Nagpur.
Openers Dane van Niekerk (45) and Trisha Chetty (34) shared an opening stand of 72 for South Africa before they collapsed, posting 102-6 from their 20 overs.
The Southern Stars were then reeling at 9-3, but the experienced Alex Blackwell (42 not out) and skipper Meg Lanning (30 not out from 19 balls) saw them home with nine balls to spare.
Lanning was batting down the order at number six after a spell off the field with illness, which had also prevented her from appearing for the coin toss at the start of play. | Ireland were well beaten in their first game of the Women's World Twenty20 as New Zealand triumphed in Mohali. |
37,016,123 | Total sales increased by 1.9%, according to the British Retail Consortium and KPMG's latest survey.
A separate report, by Barclaycard, showed that spending in restaurants, pubs and cinemas had also increased in the month following the vote.
However, Barclaycard found that overall spending fell by 1%.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said sunny days had "helped blow away some of the post-referendum blues, boosting the UK feelgood factor and giving consumers a sense that 'life goes on' following the initial shock of the Brexit vote".
He added that picnics and barbecues had helped lift sales of food and drink, while summer promotions and holiday preparations had helped boost fashion sales.
Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said the rise was not surprising, given that "little has materially changed" for most UK households since the EU referendum.
A monthly report by Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of all the nation's credit and debit card transactions, found that consumer spending growth fell to 2.6% in July, down from 3.6% in May and June.
But the warmer weather may have played a part in a 12.2% increase in spending in pubs and a 12.8% rise in what card-holders spent in restaurants, it said.
There were some less positive results in the company's consumer confidence research, which found that Britons were more cautious about their future spending plans, with nearly 50% not confident in their ability to spend more on non-essential items.
Paul Lockstone, managing director at Barclaycard, said: "These are the first full month's figures since the EU referendum, so it's too early to say if this is the start of a long-term trend, but it seems likely consumers will be watching the external environment carefully ahead of any major spending decisions." | Warmer weather helped Britain's retailers sell more in July than during the same period last year, defying predictions of a post-Brexit slump. |
24,709,148 | Itsunori Onodera's comments came amid heightened tensions between the two countries over islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
Rhetoric has risen in recent days, with Japan reporting increased activity from China in the area.
Last week, Japan scrambled fighter jets three times after Chinese military aircraft flew near Japanese airspace.
The two countries have argued for decades over the islands, which Japan controls. They are also claimed by Taiwan.
In 2012, the Japanese government bought three of the islands from their private Japanese owner, a move which sparked a new row and protests in Chinese cities.
Since then, Chinese ships have been sailing in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters, prompting fears of a clash.
Q&A: China-Japan islands row
Mr Onodera told reporters in Tokyo he believed "the intrusions by China in the territorial waters around the Senkaku islands fall in the 'grey zone' [between] peacetime and an emergency situation".
On Monday four Chinese ships entered waters around the islands. The move came after Japan scrambled fighters three days in a row after Chinese aircraft flew over international waters near Japan's southern island of Okinawa.
Over the weekend, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan should be more assertive in countering China in Asia.
He also, reports said, last week approved defence plans that envisaged using air force planes to shoot down unmanned aircraft in Japanese airspace.
Last month, an unmanned drone flew close to the islands. The drone appeared to return to Chinese airspace, reports say.
In response, China's Defence Ministry said any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft "would constitute a serious provocation, an act of war of sorts".
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday that Japan should "stop hyping up the external threat theory and elaborate to the international community the true intent of [its] military build-up".
The chain of disputed islands lies east of the Chinese mainland and south-west of Japan's Okinawa island. They are close to strategically important shipping lanes and offer rich fishing grounds. | Japan's defence minister says China's behaviour over disputed East China Sea islands is jeopardising peace. |
20,631,344 | Researchers were able to show how the bacterium travelled by forensically analysing its genetic code.
The strains of the hospital infection seemed to become more severe after they became resistant.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Genetics.
The US Centers for Disease Control say C. difficile is linked to 14,000 deaths in the US each year.
The infection has been in hospitals for decades. However, there was growing concern in the last decade after large outbreaks in Europe, the US and Canada.
They were caused by a once rare variant of C. difficile which has become the most common cause of the infection in North America.
The genetic code of C. difficile mutates rapidly. By comparing the genetic code of batches of C. difficile, researchers can work out how related different batches of C. difficile are.
Doing this on a large scale, involving 151 samples from infections in 19 countries, allowed researchers to build up a picture of the spread of the antibiotic resistant strains.
It showed there was an strain called FQR1 which started in the US and spread across the country and to Switzerland and South Korea.
A second strain FQR2 started in Canada before spreading across North America, Europe and Australia. It entered the UK on four separate occasions.
Dr Trevor Lawley, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, told the BBC: "If we can understand how it happened there are lessons in that. It's a fact that two strains emerged which tells us this is more frequent than we realise and it is driven by antibiotic resistance.
"It also shows the global healthcare systems are completely interlinked - it showed up in the UK within months."
Prof Brendan Wren, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has been studying C. difficile for 25 years.
He said: "Once it became fluoroquinolone resistant, it just seemed to become more severe and transmissible."
"Not only is [the antibiotic] virtually useless against this organism, but resistance seem to have been a major factor in the continued evolution and persistence of these strains in hospitals and clinical settings."
The cost and time taken to sequencing the whole genome of a bacterium has plummeted. It took less than a day at a cost of £40-60.
The hope is that in the future researchers will be able to monitor the spread of diseases while outbreaks are happening as well as getting a better understanding of the disease and how to stop it. | Two closely-related strains of Clostridium difficile became antibiotic resistant and were able to rapidly spread to hospitals around the world, a study says. |
39,550,242 | The Imps tested Dan Hanford early on through Elliott Whitehouse, but Gateshead held firm and found themselves in front on the half-hour mark after Luke Hannant was brought down in the box by Sean Raggett.
Paddy McLaughlin coolly slotted home the resulting penalty, sending Paul Farman the wrong way, and the hosts held on to their lead after Hanford pulled off a superb finger-tip save to deny a Nathan Arnold volley just before the break.
Matt Rhead equalised for the league leaders from the spot in the first minute of stoppage time, before Arnold fired in the winner two minutes later.
Match report supplied by Press Association.
Match ends, Gateshead 1, Lincoln City 2.
Second Half ends, Gateshead 1, Lincoln City 2.
Wes York (Gateshead) is shown the yellow card.
Goal! Gateshead 1, Lincoln City 2. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City).
Goal! Gateshead 1, Lincoln City 1. Matt Rhead (Lincoln City) converts the penalty with a.
Substitution, Gateshead. Mitch Brundle replaces JJ O'Donnell.
JJ O'Donnell (Gateshead) is shown the yellow card.
Liam Hogan (Gateshead) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Lincoln City. Josh Ginnelly replaces Harry Anderson.
Substitution, Lincoln City. Adam Marriott replaces Lee Angol.
Second Half begins Gateshead 1, Lincoln City 0.
First Half ends, Gateshead 1, Lincoln City 0.
Goal! Gateshead 1, Lincoln City 0. Patrick McLaughlin (Gateshead) converts the penalty with a.
Sean Raggett (Lincoln City) is shown the yellow card.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up. | National League promotion-chasing Lincoln came from behind with two goals in the last three minutes as they stunned Gateshead 2-1. |
32,417,095 | Boeing delivered 184 planes in the period, up 14% on the same quarter a year earlier, helping to offset slower results in its defence business
Overall revenue grew 8% to $22.15bn in the quarter, Boeing said.
But its defence business suffered as tight budgets hurt sales.
Earnings from Boeing's commercial airplanes rose 8% as revenue leapt 21% accounting for two-thirds of profit and sales.
But cutbacks in US defence spending led to a decline in Boeing's defence and space business, with revenue down 12% compared with a year earlier to $6.71bn.
Boeing confirmed its forecast of annual revenue of between $94.5bn and $96.5bn.
It also said it expects to deliver between 750 and 755 commercial aircraft this year, producing revenue of $64.5bn to $65.5bn.
Jim McNerney Boeing chairman and chief executive said: "The strong operational and financial performance reinforces our ability to continue providing competitive returns for our shareholders while investing in technology and our people." | Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has reported a 38% rise in net profit to $1.34bn (£890m) in the first three months of the year, helped by increased production of commercial aircraft. |
33,715,671 | The trio will front three series of a new motoring programme for Amazon Prime, with the first season to be made available worldwide in 2016.
The move follows their departure from the hit BBC Two show earlier this year.
Clarkson's contract was not renewed following an "unprovoked physical attack" on a Top Gear producer.
His co-hosts then followed him in leaving the show.
They will now make the unnamed new programme with former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman, who also quit the BBC following the "fracas".
In a statement from Amazon, Clarkson said: "I feel like I've climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship."
Hammond said: "Amazon? Oh yes. I have already been there. I got bitten by a bullet ant." And May added: "We have become part of the new age of smart TV. Ironic, isn't it?"
Wilman told the Radio Times the team would begin working on the new series as soon as they return from their summer holidays.
He said they agreed a deal with Amazon because "they'll give us the freedom to make the programme we want...there's a budget to produce programmes of the quality we want and this is the future".
Wilman added the format of the new show would contain "themes people will be familiar with".
"I can't tell you how good it feels to get the chance to produce something from scratch," he said. "We're all really excited. No one telling us what we can and can't do, just us hopefully producing great programmes. It feels really liberating."
Rumours that Clarkson, May and Hammond would take their blokey bonhomie to a streaming service have been circulating for months.
It's a shrewd move. For a start, Amazon doesn't have to bow to pressure from advertisers, particularly those car manufacturers the team regularly skewers.
Secondly, it neatly sidesteps the much-reported clause in the presenters' BBC contracts that prevented them making a show for a UK broadcaster for two years.
More importantly, the team already have a proven track record in streaming video. Top Gear accounted for eight of the top 20 most-streamed programmes on the BBC's iPlayer last year, with one episode watched by 3.8 million people.
But we may never know whether the gang's new show reaches those heights. Amazon, in common with Netflix, does not publish viewing figures.
Amazon Prime Video EU vice-president Jay Marine said: "Customers told us they wanted to see the team back on screen, and we are excited to make that happen.
"We can't wait to see what Jeremy, Richard, James and the team will create in what is sure to be one of the most globally anticipated shows of 2016."
The Amazon deal is part of a manoeuvre by the company to compete with traditional broadcasters and streaming rivals like Netflix.
Amazon has also signed up Woody Allen to make his first television series; resurrected drama Ripper Street after it was axed by the BBC; and won awards and acclaim for its dark comedy Transparent.
Mr Marine said it was "a golden age of television, [and] a great time for TV makers and storytellers".
He added: "Our approach is to give programme makers creative freedom to be innovative and make the shows they want to make."
Meanwhile, Top Gear will continue on BBC Two, with Chris Evans among the new hosts.
Lisa Clark, who worked with Evans on The Big Breakfast, has just been announced as the show's new producer. "Lisa is as good as it gets when it comes to making big, important television shows," Evans said.
The presenter also fuelled rumours that Formula 1 driver Jenson Button was "in talks" to co-present the show when he read out a Daily Mail article on his BBC Radio 2 radio show.
"They say an announcement is imminent," Evans teased.
Neither the BBC nor Button's spokesman would comment on the speculation. | Former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have signed up to present a new show on Amazon's streaming video service. |
32,082,632 | The unusual incident was captured by plasterer Nigel Swinburne who was working outside Sheriff Street in the town when the scooter drove past him.
Mr Swinburne said he "could not believe his eyes" when he noticed what the electric scooter was towing.
He said: "I thought there's a boat coming towards me and then 'oh it's being towed by a mobility scooter'."
A spokesman for Cleveland Police said it was legal for the boat to be towed by the scooter. | A person has been spotted towing a boat behind a mobility scooter in Hartlepool. |
34,489,407 | The Italian team have bounced back from their worst season in two decades in 2014 to win three races this year.
Arrivabene said: "We are happy with this year but we need to keep our feet on the ground looking at the results.
"We want to be competitive next year and that means being able to fight hopefully head to head with Mercedes."
Arrivabene was drafted in for this season following the sacking of the last team principal Marco Mattiacci after only seven months in charge.
Mattiacci himself had replaced the previous incumbent Stefano Domenicali, who resigned when it became clear just how far off the pace Ferrari had fallen in the early races of 2014.
The turnaround is largely due to a significant step forward in performance from the engine, which is now virtually a match for Mercedes after struggling last year.
But Ferrari's chassis is still some way off the best in F1.
Arrivabene - speaking in an exclusive interview with BBC Sport - praised the role played by new signing Sebastian Vettel, who replaced Fernando Alonso this season after the Spaniard left because he had lost faith Ferrari would be able to give him a title-winning car before the end of 2016.
Arrivabene said the key to Ferrari's progress was working together as a team, rather than as separate departments.
"Sebastian has the enthusiasm," he said. "With the results he was able to get together with the team he had even more a kind of commitment.
"Then in my role I need to make the right balance, not only in between the drivers, but also in between the team because all the components of the team are doing their job.
"We need to prevent the creation of any kind of silos and we must be focused on what we are doing and on working together. Of course the driver is the main actor of the show but when the driver has a good car and can extrapolate the best then the whole orchestra sounds good."
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Arrivabene said the reasons behind retaining Kimi Raikkonen for 2016 despite a lacklustre season were to do with not upsetting the balance within the team.
"First, he is the last world champion of Ferrari," Arrivabene said, making a reference to the Finn's title in his first period with the team in 2007. "Then, when the team is quite new, you need to keep the stability.
"A new driver who comes in like a rocket in a completely new situation needs to adapt and we have no time for adaptation, we have to be focused on what we are doing without distraction."
Russian GP practice results
Russian GP coverage details | Ferrari believe they can take the step forward necessary to fight Mercedes for next year's world championship, team boss Maurizio Arrivabene says. |
35,349,688 | JYP Entertainment represents 16-year-old Taiwanese pop star Chou Tzuyu, who recently made a video apologising for waving a Taiwanese flag on S Korean TV.
The company denied coercing her into saying sorry to appease angered Chinese audiences, a key market for JYP.
The row erupted on the eve of Taiwan's election, which was won by pro-independence Tsai Ing-wen.
Taiwan has been ruled separately since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, but it is seen by China, as a breakaway province which it has threatened to take back by force if necessary.
JYP told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that its website had been inaccessible since Saturday, the day after Chou's apology was put online.
It said it suspected a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack, where multiple users visit a website repeatedly to overwhelm its servers, but that it did not know where it was coming from.
It said getting the site back on line "may take a while".
Chou, a member of the Kpop group Twice, carried the flag of the Republic of China - Taiwan's official name - in a section on a South Korean TV show in November introducing the band members.
The scene didn't appear on air but was widely shared online in China, and brought up in Taiwan during the election campaign by a noted anti-independence celebrity.
Chou was widely criticised and the band had an New Year's Eve appearance on Chinese TV cancelled.
Last week, JYP published a video online of Chou meekly apologising for having appeared to back Taiwanese independence.
"There's only one China. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one. I will always consider myself as a Chinese person and feel proud of this.
The BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei say that many people in Taiwan saw Chou's apology as humiliating for her and Taiwan.
To many, she says, it was a reminder of their biggest peeve - that Taiwan, which they consider a sovereign country, is not recognised as one officially and is denied membership in the United Nations as well as in many international groups.
Meanwhile, a South Korean multicultural group has said it is lodging a formal complaint with the national rights watchdog about Chou's treatment.
The Center for Multicultural Korea (CMCK) said it would ask the commission to "investigate whether the apology was forced or not". | A South Korean company at the centre of a row about a flag waving pop star says its website has been hacked. |
36,907,298 | UN human rights officials have expressed concern over the planned executions, urging Jakarta to put an end to "unjust" capital punishment.
The inmates have not been officially named but they are known to include citizens of Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and India.
They will be executed at Nusakambangan prison island.
The prisoners have been notified of the plans for their executions, in accordance with Indonesian law, and could be put to death as early as Friday.
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said the 14 had been put in isolation. The executions are due to take place by Sunday at the latest.
Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed concern that the inmates had not received a fair trial, and urged Indonesia to halt the executions.
"The increasing use of the death penalty in Indonesia is terribly worrying and I urge the government to immediately end this practice which is unjust and incompatible with human rights," he said in a statement.
"The death penalty is not an effective deterrent relative to other forms of punishment nor does it protect people from drug abuse."
Mr Hussein called for the country to reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty it lifted three years ago.
Family members visited the prisoners on Wednesday at Nusakambangan, where Indonesia carries out executions.
Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws and executed 14 drug convicts - mostly foreigners - last year, to widespread international condemnation.
Human rights groups and lawyers have lobbied President Joko Widodo to grant the prisoners clemency, but the hardline leader received similar petitions last year and denied them.
If the 14 executions go ahead this weekend, Mr Widodo will have put more people to death in two years than were executed in the previous decade. | Indonesia has confirmed it will execute 14 people on death row for drug crimes in the coming days. |
34,880,063 | In the next few days, the 30-year-old from Stonehaven will begin his solo, unassisted and unsupported journey across Antarctica in an attempt to become the first Scot - and youngest Brit - to do so.
As he made his final preparations in Chile, we found out what is going through his mind… and what is on his sledge.
In February, 2014, Luke went to his doctor after experiencing severe headaches and problems with his vision.
The following day, he was given a CT scan but not an MRI, as Luke's pacemaker - which was fitted for a heart block a day after he finished university at the age of 23 - prevented this.
He was told he had a suspected brain tumour. It turned out he had a rare, non-cancerous, enterogenous cyst.
The surgeons operated on him for five hours. They removed a large part of the cyst, but a small section remains.
While in the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, he met cancer sufferers and was inspired by them to finally do something he had always wanted to attempt - venture to the South Pole.
Inspired by Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen, and following his experiences in hospital and the heartache of losing his uncle to cancer, he will raise money for Marie Curie on his long walk across the ice.
His fundraising target was £25,000, but before he even sets foot on the edge of the world, he has already raised more than £31,000.
A few weeks ago, Luke visited a Marie Curie Hospice in Edinburgh and met some of the residents receiving palliative care.
"I met a softly-spoken older lady who was terminally ill," he said. "It was incredibly humbling. She listened to my story in absolute silence, then handed me £20. I was struggling to hold back the tears.
"It made all the effort, all the work that has been put into this trip so far, worthwhile.
"It will be my motivation when I am taking steps on the ice. During the hard points, those are the things that will drive me forward."
Luke plans to drag 110kg (17 stone) of his equipment across 730 miles of snow and ice for 35 days, experiencing temperatures of -50C and winds of 100mph.
Unassisted and unsupported, he will receive no outside help such as a re-supply by air, and no support from animals or vehicles. It will just be Luke on his skiis, with everything he is taking being dragged behind him.
So what do you take on such a momentous journey? A tent, of course, along with compass, a repair kit, a medical kit, a satellite phone to check in, seven pairs of gloves, some bloomers to combat the constant head wind, and "goodie bags" of skittles, chocolate and coconut cubes to keep him going.
Every day, he will consume packets of freeze-dried food - ranging from Thai chicken to spaghetti carbonara - which he will cook on a stove.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who has offered support to Luke's trip as patron, is one of the Edinburgh finance worker's heroes and his autobiography, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, will find a place on the sledge, along with Robert MacFarlane's The Wild Places.
Luke has downloaded hundreds of music tracks and podcasts, including Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time, from BBC Radio 4 and Radio Lab.
His fiancée Hazel and her family have also had an input. She has recorded a video message from their friends for Luke to watch while he is in the wilderness, and has made sure he has some company in the form of a fluffy penguin. A 21-year-old bottle of Springbank whisky, given by Luke's future father-in-law, is another welcome addition.
"She will be able to plan the wedding while I am away", jokes Luke. "I'm sure everything will be sorted and I can just turn up."
Luke has trained for months for the trek in Norway, Greenland and at the University of Glasgow's special "cold chamber".
In recent weeks, he has dragged tyres around Edinburgh's Blackford Hill, with some curious onlookers donating money after discovering his plans.
While on the South Pole, it is estimated Luke will consume 6,500 calories but burn off about 10,000 each day. He has had the pleasurable experience of "fattening up"'.
Luke has put on 8kg (a stone) in the past two months, and hopes to put on another 2kg in his final week in Chile by eating "three hot dogs a day with avocados and cream, burgers, and taking advantage of the buffet breakfast in the hotel".
If all goes to plan, Luke will spend Christmas Day on his own in the South Pole. A guaranteed white Christmas for sure, but how will he mark it?
"I will listen to 'Lonely This Christmas' as I tuck into my freeze-dried Thai chicken, while everyone else enjoys Christmas dinner.
"I also have a yellow Marie Curie Santa hat and some Christmas cards that I am taking with me to open."
As well as an extra special festive season on the ice, Luke has another momentous event to look forward to.
"Half way, I will get to change my underwear and my socks which will be an exciting day for me. Probably after day two, I will be looking forward to that day."
Luke is keen to make sure everyone can follow his progress on his charity trek. He flies out on Saturday to the Union Glacier camp in Antarctica, and then on to Hercules Inlet as soon as possible to begin the journey.
He will carry a device which will allow him to post to Twitter and Facebook, and his location will be tracked by satellite so people can see where he is. | Luke Robertson has a metal plate in his head and a pacemaker in his chest, but that has never stopped his dream of walking to the South Pole. |
39,125,987 | The benchmark FTSE 100 index jumped 1.59% to 7,382.9 points.
US shares also hit record highs, with the Dow Jones Index pushing through the 21,000 level for the first time.
Some traders attributed the rise to Donald Trump's speech to Congress overnight, while others said it was to do with growing expectations of a US rate rise.
On the currency markets, the pound fell 0.44% against the US dollar at $1.2326 and shed 0.36% against the euro to 1.16664.
Mr Trump pledged $1trn in infrastructure spending and "massive" tax cuts for the middle classes.
However, he did not detail how any of it would be paid for.
Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, said it was a "bit of a disappointment in the sense that he did not put any more meat on the bones" of past promises.
Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said the rise in the FTSE was mainly to do with currency market moves.
"The weakened pound is what has been helping the FTSE 100 Index higher," he said.
"The US dollar is also strengthening because there is every chance that there is going to be a rate hike from the US Federal Reserve on March 15," he added.
Rental equipment firm Ashtead Group was the biggest riser on the FTSE, up 5.7%, while retailer Next added 4.6% following a broker upgrade.
The broadcaster ITV added 4.5% after announcing a £200m special dividend with its annual results.
On the FTSE 250, outsourcing firm Mitie Group added 3.6% after selling its troubled social care businesses for a nominal £2 to private equity firm Apposite Capital. | The London stock market closed at a record high, as the pound fell against the dollar and the euro. |
34,160,614 | Reid pounced early on with a tap-in to give the visitors the lead.
But Jason Banton, who joined Wycombe from Plymouth in the summer, blasted in an equaliser on 12 minutes from Aaron Pierre's knock-down.
Jervis scored his fourth of the season before half-time when a clearance cannoned off him and into the net.
Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:
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"I can't fault the players efforts. We have had a brilliant start to the season, we just have to take a step back and look at where the club stand in this division.
"If only those posts where a couple of inches wider we would have had a few today, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.
"It's disappointing that we have lost but we now have a big game against Orient to bounce back with. It will be a real David and Goliath Game but I'm looking forward to facing one of the favourites to win the league." | Reuben Reid and Jake Jervis both struck in the first half as Plymouth beat Wycombe to end the Chairboys' unbeaten start in League Two. |
35,953,097 | A long-range shot from Alberto Moreno put the Reds ahead before Bojan escaped his marker to nod in Stoke's equaliser.
Daniel Sturridge put away Sheyi Ojo's cross to regain the lead and Origi then headed in, before his attempted cross drifted in after the break.
Stoke rarely threatened apart from a late run from Mame Biram Diouf.
Relive Liverpool's comfortable win
By making seven changes to his starting line-up, including first Premier League starts for Ojo and Kevin Stewart, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp revealed his priorities for the season's run-in.
The lure of European silverware - and the resulting Champions League place - means their Europa League quarter-final second leg against Borussia Dortmund on Thursday now takes precedent over their vanishingly slim chances of gate-crashing the Premier League top four.
Klopp opted to play Origi as a lone striker in the first-leg draw in Germany and Sturridge looked lively in the first half as he attempted to win back his place for the return against Dortmund.
After Moreno's opener, the England international rattled the advertising hoardings with a powerful low shot and showed excellent instincts to get on the end of Ojo's cross to score.
But Origi also took his chance to shine, adding muscular movement to the Liverpool attack after coming on at the break. The Belgian might have had a hat-trick had he managed to keep a header on target from a Moreno cross.
The two worked well in tandem as Sturridge completed 90 minutes for the first time since 28 February, but surely it is a case of either or against Dortmund on Thursday.
Stoke have now won just three times in 61 league meetings at Liverpool.
Before the match, Potters' manager Mark Hughes had noted, rather hopefully, that that win - like this match - was on Grand National weekend,
But his side were relegated to rank outsiders as soon as Liverpool moved two goals clear early in the second half.
Hughes instead will have to take the long-term view. His side are in the same ninth place that they managed in in his previous two seasons at the club, seven points off last season's total of 54 with five games remaining.
Record signing Giannelli Imbula showed he can provide a platform for Stoke's attack to shine, but his good work went to waste as the likes of Ibrahim Afellay and Xherdan Shaqiri faded from the game.
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Klopp's fourth home league win since taking charge in October took the Reds to within nine points of fourth-placed Manchester City, but perhaps more valuable were the lessons he will have learned about some of his fringe players.
Joe Allen, who is likely to step up from understudy to first-team regular after Jordan Henderson's injury, used the ball intelligently while Ojo showed electric pace to beat Shaqiri and set up Sturridge's goal.
Klopp also got several reminders of his side's weak points though as Ryan Shawcross and Philipp Wollscheid won headers in dangerous areas just as 5ft 7in Bojan did to score his goal.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: "Today, I'm really proud. We made changes and it was a completely new formation. I'm sure the players have never played together before in this line-up.
"Stoke played 70 to 80% long balls to Peter Crouch, and you have to be tuned into that. It was a smart performance.
"Divock is still a young lad. We have to be patient. He can play together with Daniel.
"There's absolutely no doubt about that. We hope it stays like this that we have two strikers available like this because we have a big number of games to go."
Stoke manager Mark Hughes: "Once goals go in, it becomes difficult. It could have become embarrassing for us. It was damage limitation in the end.
"I was reasonably happy with the first-half performance, even though we were behind. But we kept on letting ourselves down by not switching on when the ball went dead.
"It was a difficult day, where we didn't acquit ourselves well enough.
"Today's result has hurt us obviously. We allowed Liverpool to go above us and teams around us are picking up points. But when we have a setback, we almost always bounce back, and we need to do that."
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Liverpool meet Borussia Dortmund at home in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday before travelling to Bournemouth on Sunday in the Premier League. Stoke have an eight-day break before playing Tottenham at home next Monday.
Match ends, Liverpool 4, Stoke City 1.
Second Half ends, Liverpool 4, Stoke City 1.
Attempt blocked. Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Adam Lallana.
Corner, Stoke City. Conceded by Kolo Touré.
Attempt blocked. Peter Crouch (Stoke City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Mame Biram Diouf.
Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Ibrahim Afellay (Stoke City).
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Ryan Shawcross.
Attempt blocked. Adam Lallana (Liverpool) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Kevin Stewart.
Substitution, Stoke City. Marc Muniesa replaces Erik Pieters.
Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Liverpool. Lucas Leiva replaces Joe Allen.
Kevin Stewart (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Giannelli Imbula (Stoke City).
Foul by James Milner (Liverpool).
Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
James Milner (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Peter Crouch (Stoke City).
Adam Lallana (Liverpool) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Peter Crouch (Stoke City).
Joe Allen (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Geoff Cameron (Stoke City).
Substitution, Stoke City. Joselu replaces Bojan.
Substitution, Stoke City. Mame Biram Diouf replaces Xherdan Shaqiri.
Kevin Stewart (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Peter Crouch (Stoke City).
Foul by Adam Lallana (Liverpool).
Erik Pieters (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Bojan with a headed pass.
Attempt missed. Kevin Stewart (Liverpool) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left.
Goal! Liverpool 4, Stoke City 1. Divock Origi (Liverpool) right footed shot from a difficult angle and long range on the left to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Alberto Moreno.
Substitution, Liverpool. Adam Lallana replaces Roberto Firmino.
Attempt missed. Divock Origi (Liverpool) header from very close range is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Alberto Moreno with a cross.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Erik Pieters.
Attempt missed. Kevin Stewart (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by James Milner with a cross following a corner.
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Jakob Haugaard.
Attempt saved. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Nathaniel Clyne.
Philipp Wollscheid (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Joe Allen (Liverpool).
Corner, Stoke City. Conceded by Simon Mignolet. | Substitute Divock Origi scored twice as Liverpool made short work of Stoke to leapfrog their opponents and go eighth in the Premier League. |
39,990,086 | Spain's Garcia, who won the Masters last month, carded a six-under-par 64 to go eight under par, tied for sixth.
Jason Day struck the day's best round with a 63 to reach 10 under, but world number one Dustin Johnson drifted to seven shots off the lead after a 71.
Overnight leader Jason Kokrak blew a five-shot lead after he fired a 72.
The American, who had carded a career-best 62 on Friday, went round in 10 more shots on day three in a round in which he triple-bogeyed the par three fifth.
Fellow American Hahn, 35, who is in line to add to his two PGA Tour titles, struck six birdies in his six-under-par 64 to lead on 12 under, one ahead of compatriot Billy Horschel.
England's Ian Poulter moved to one under with a 68, and is tied for 42nd place. | Defending champion Sergio Garcia went round the back nine holes in 29 to move within four shots of leader James Hahn at the Byron Nelson event in Texas. |
30,973,980 | The protest at Chandler's Ford Methodist Church on Saturday evening was over a conference to discuss plans to create a Muslim community centre.
Hampshire Constabulary said specially trained officers formed a line between the two groups "to ensure there was no physical confrontation".
The man, 24 and of Farnborough, was held over public order offences.
Mohammed Ansar, organiser of the conference, said they had hired the church to "bring together Muslims across Hampshire, aimed at talking about the needs of the Muslim community".
An EDL spokesman said the group held the protest to "stand against the Islamisation of our country". | A man was arrested during a protest by members of the English Defence League (EDL) in Chandler's Ford. |
32,479,899 | While Cardiff University remained the best-placed Welsh university in the annual Complete University Guide, it fell from 23rd place last year to 31st.
Swansea University fell three places to 45th.
However, Bangor climbed six spots to 58th and Cardiff Metropolitan moved up 19 spots to 79th.
With Cardiff Metropolitan being Wales' most improved institution on the list, its deputy vice-chancellor, Jacqui Hare, said the university was "really proud".
"The increase in our position in this independent ranking reflects our significant investment in the student experience here at Cardiff Met," she added.
The guide, which has been running since 2008, uses 10 measures to rank the top 125 universities across the UK.
It rates them all on entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality and graduate prospects, among other criteria.
Aberystwyth University maintained its 87th place ranking from last year, while University of South Wales fell from 100th to 102nd and Wrexham-based Glyndwr University dropped 13 places to 123rd.
The merged University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, which had been unranked since 2013, fought its way into the list at 125th.
The top three was unchanged from last year, with Cambridge University first, Oxford second and the London School of Economics third.
This year's Complete University Guide suggested Welsh universities have the highest student-staff ratios of any UK nation at just over 19 students per member of staff, compared to the UK average of 17.
It is one of several guides ranking the best institutions, with the latest Times Higher Education world university rankings due out on Wednesday.
Other barometers include the Research Excellence Framework, which rated almost a third of research by Welsh universities as being of "world-leading" quality when it was last released in December 2014. | Wales' top two universities lost ground in the latest higher education league table - with their Welsh rivals enjoying mixed results. |
36,753,752 | Restaurateur John Vincent, former adviser on school food, told BBC's Radio 4 the move was "undemocratic".
It comes after the government scrapped extra funding to help small schools with food costs earlier this year.
The department told the BBC it had taken the report's advice "on board".
The government introduced free hot lunches in September 2014 for all pupils in the first three years of school in England.
Under the policy, every primary school received a flat rate of £2.30 per child, per meal, with extra money made available for schools with fewer than 150 pupils.
However, in January the Department for Education announced on its website that the grant for small schools would not be continued.
Mr Vincent and Henry Dimbleby, who co-founded the Leon restaurant chain, led a government-commissioned independent review of school food and recommended the free school meal policy in their School Food Plan in 2013.
Last year the pair were made MBEs in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for their work in improving school lunches.
In an interview for BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme on Sunday, Mr Vincent said his taskforce reported to the government that there was an "ongoing structural issue" with having a small school.
They recommended that "probably around £2,000 to £2,300 per year should be provided to these small schools to make the whole provision of their school meals solvent".
However he said: "The government chose not to publish that report. And that, to me, seems strange."
Mr Vincent said the authors of the School Food Plan have asked the government to publish the report and even considered publishing it themselves.
He added: "The government have made it very clear that they don't want us publishing it."
The Department for Education told the BBC: "We are not going to publish the Small Schools Taskforce report.
"It wasn't published last year because of the Spending Review and by the time that was complete, the report was out of date and much of it was already in existence."
Executive head teacher Karen Holmes, of Saints Way Church of England Multi Academy Trust, said she was "furious" when she discovered the funding for her schools had come to an end.
She said: "We had already had massive discussions with our directors about where we needed to save money, what we needed to do. And I knew then that was £10,000 wiped from my combined four small schools budget. Well £10,000, that's the equivalent of a teaching assistant."
"It's a massive amount of money. So the curriculum budgets for all of these small schools, they're not even £10,000."
"The next step is losing staff, cutting hours. We're already at a minimum because of the cuts we've taken anyway, with cuts in funding over the last couple of years."
Jeanette Orrey, who co-founded of the Food For Life partnership and has received an MBE for her campaigning work on school food, said the impact of the funding cut had been felt across the country.
She said: "If you've got 150 pupils taking lunch great. But if you've only got 50 or 60 taking lunch then the actual economics, the finances of this don't add up.
"How are we going to continue to feed the children on £2.30? It can't be done."
Mr Vincent said there should be a reallocation of the flat £2.30 rate, as some larger schools may be running a surplus.
He said: "If 20p were to be taken off the per-head cost at larger schools and given to the smaller schools, the funding mechanism would work."
In its statement, the Department for Education said it took spending advice from the report "on board" and this was why the transitional funding was made available to small schools.
It has said previously that the funding "was always intended to be temporary to help small schools to put their meals service on a more sustainable footing".
The department told the BBC: "Small schools received an additional £32.5m over two years - a significant contribution."
Though there was no ongoing commitment to provide extra funding, Mr Vincent said: "The fact is there should have been. Because it's an every year cost, it's not just a one-off cost for extra ovens."
He added: "It's an every year, every month, every day additional cost that small schools need because they're at a structural disadvantage."
You can hear interviews with John Vincent and Jeanette Orrey as part of a special edition of The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 10th July at 12:30, or Monday 11th July at 15:30. Or listen again on iPlayer. | The Department for Education has refused to publish a report which said England's smallest schools cannot afford to provide free school meals, according to a former policy adviser. |
36,398,756 | With Callum McBrierty in for the sick Constantine Louloudis, GB progressed to Sunday's final after beating world silver medallists Australia.
Olympic, world and European champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning reached the pair semi-finals with ease.
There were also wins for Britain's men's quadruple sculls, the lightweight men's pair and the open men's pair.
Including the men's and women's eights, who safely negotiated their heats, Britain has five crews in Sunday's finals in Switzerland.
London Olympic bronze medallist Alan Campbell also won his single sculls heat and then his quarter-final in balmy temperatures on the Rotsee lake to progress to the semis on Saturday.
The GB team topped the medal table at the European Championships in windy conditions earlier in May but with international crews joining this event - held on what is known as the 'Lake of the Gods' - the regatta is a step up in class.
With the Olympic team being named on 9 June, some unresolved issues still surround the women's eight.
Despite winning the European title in Brandenburg, one or two of the crew could be looking over their shoulders after team performance director Sir David Tanner said Olympic champion Katherine Grainger and Vicky Thornley could take their places.
Grainger and Thornley have been rested for this weekend following a poor performance in the women's double sculls in Germany.
Elsewhere, the lightweight men's four of Chris Bartley, Mark Aldred, Jono Clegg and Peter Chambers reached Sunday's final.
And Richard Chambers returned from injury to partner Will Fletcher as they reached Saturday's semis in the lightweight men's double sculls.
The second women's pair of Lou Reeve and Vicki Meyer-Laker, plus the lightweight women's double of Brianna Stubbs and Ellie Piggott both progressed to Saturday's semis via a repechage. | The new-look men's four were one of six British crews to win their heat on day one of the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne. |
27,561,856 | Grenades were thrown at La Chaumiere restaurant in the capital of the Horn of Africa country, officials said. At least another 11 people were wounded.
Unconfirmed reports said that two employees had been killed and several foreigners wounded.
No group has said it carried out the attack and the motive was not immediately clear.
Colonel Omar Hassan, head of police in Djibouti City, told Reuters: "It's a criminal act. We have two people dead and 11 wounded. It was grenades."
Djibouti's ADI news agency reported several explosions around 20:00 local time (17:00 GMT) and said that the area was quickly sealed off by police.
Djibouti, a former French colony, is home to US and French military bases and also contributes troops to the African Union force fighting al-Shabab militants in Somalia.
Its port is also used by foreign navies protecting the Gulf of Aden's shipping lanes from Somali pirates. | At least two people have been killed in an attack on a restaurant popular with Westerners in Djibouti, police say. |
36,703,029 | The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has said it was behind the attack, which targeted a crowded shopping centre in the Karrada district, where people were enjoying a night out after breaking their daily fast for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Among those identified on social media as a victim was Adel al-Jaf, a young dancer also known as Adel Euro. The New York-based choreographer Jonathan Hollander told the BBC that the world had lost "an extraordinary, talented, creative artist".
Over the past two years, Mr Hollander and his Battery Dance company had mentored Jaf online. "Though he said he was a hip-hop and break-dancer, he said he really wanted to expand his repertoire," Mr Hollander said. "He wanted to learn from us and learn about contemporary dance and do ballet."
Battery Dance said Jaf had "spread his love for dance to others in Baghdad, starting a dance academy, and providing a creative outlet for other artists at-risk". He had just completed his law degree and planned to come to the US to continue his dance studies, the company added.
Zulfikar Oraibi, the son of former Iraqi footballer Ghanim Oraibi who played in the 1986 World Cup, was also reportedly killed in the bombing. The Alghad Press news website published a photo it said showed Ghanim sitting next to Zulfikar's grave.
Another young man, named Issa al-Obaidi, had been buying clothes for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when he was caught up in the blast, according to a post on his Facebook page.
The owner of a shop close to where the bomb went off told the New York Times he had asked two friends who owned clothing stores near his, Saif and Abdullah, to watch his business on Saturday night and that they had been killed. "I could not recognise their bodies," Abdul Kareem Hadi said. "[IS] says: 'We kill Shia,' but I lost my dearest friends to me in this explosion, and they were Sunnis."
Adnan Abu Altman was another victim identified on social media. He had graduated from law school at Al-Mansour University College only days before the bombing. He was in Karrada with his father Safaa, who was reportedly also killed, and his brother Ali, who is missing, according to the New Arab website.
Photographs of two families believed to have been killed in the attack were also posted online. Raqia Hassan, her brother Hadi and their father Hassan Ali were said to have been buying clothes at the time of the attack, while Amr Mustanik was reportedly in the area with his wife and daughter.
Many people also posted photos and video of what some described as the "zaffa (wedding procession) of a martyr". They showed men carrying a coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag, down a street in Karrada, led by drummers. The name of the victim was not given. | At least 165 people were killed shortly after midnight on Sunday when a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden lorry in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security sources say. |
36,431,916 | British-born Shia cleric Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar lectured near Orlando, Florida in April and was being widely quoted in the wake of Sunday's killing.
He was visiting Australia as a guest of Sydney's Imam Husain Islamic Centre.
Media reports on Wednesday said Sheikh Sekaleshfar left the country after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered a review of his visa.
Australia's immigration minister Peter Dutton said he had officially revoked Sheikh Sekaleshfar's visa and that it would be "very difficult, if not impossible for him to return" to the country.
But Mr Dutton defended his department against accusations that a visa for the sheik should never have been approved.
'It's difficult for the department to go through the Facebook or social media postings of millions of millions of people each year who seek visas,' Mr Dutton told Sky News.
Sheikh Sekaleshfar was born in Manchester, UK and currently lives in Iran.
In April he delivered a sermon entitled How to Deal with the Phenomenon of Homosexuality at the Husseini Islamic Center in Sanford, Florida.
There is no evidence that Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub, attended the lecture.
During lectures, clips of which were posted online, the cleric has said the death penalty is justified for homosexuals in societies operating under Islamic laws.
"Death is the sentence. There's nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence," he said during a 2013 lecture at the University of Michigan.
He told Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper that his comments had been taken out of context and said he did not believe his words could have inspired Mateen's nightclub attack.
Sheikh Sekaleshfar said Mateen was a follower of the so-called Islamic State, which follows the Wahabi doctrine of Sunni Islam and had been "killing homosexuals in the most wrongful way for years now", whereas he was a Shia scholar.
"This barbaric act was beyond all definitions of humanity," he told the paper. | An Islamic preacher who has said homosexuals should be put to death has left Australia. |
39,400,555 | The Irish international's first-half lob followed by Hayley Lauder's powerful shot gave the Scottish champions a 2-0 win.
Holders Hibernian eased past Rangers with a 5-0 home win.
Celtic and Spartans joined them in the last four with 4-1 victories over Hearts and Aberdeen respectively.
Glasgow City hammered Stirling 7-0 just two weeks earlier, so the visitors could have been forgiven for eyeing a return to the Excelsior Stadium with trepidation.
They would have been behind to an early goal had Abbi Grant managed to put more power behind her shot after Leanne Ross had picked her out in the penalty area.
Demi Falconer was the hero in the 22nd minute when she blocked a Ross shot after the Glasgow player had rounded keeper Chloe Logan.
And Stirling could have taken the lead when Rebecca Galbraith rose to meet a free-kick, but she headed just wide.
It looked like Tommy Craig's side would make it to the break still level, but Logan's attempted punch fell kindly to Murray who lobbed the ball into the far corner.
It was a cruel end to the half but Stirling started the second confident they could live with City and Nicole Pullar had two good chances to level within a minute.
First she raced clear of the defence, but keeper Lee Alexander slid in to knock the ball away on the edge of the box.
Pullar then broke clear down the right but her shot drifted over.
It was City though who finished the stronger. Nicola Docherty picked out Megan Foley, but her shot was weak and straight at the goalkeeper.
However, a minute later Murray laid the ball off to Lauder and she smashed it into the roof of the net.
Glasgow could have added more goals but Sam Kerr knocked the ball wide at the back post before Lauder hit the post.
City head coach Scott Booth admitted his side found Stirling difficult to break down, but praised the impact of his pre-season signing Murray, who was Ireland's player of the year in 2016.
"Noelle can do that, she is such a talented player," Booth told BBC Scotland.
"It's always quite tough when you play against teams so close together. Players obviously learn a lot. They (Stirling) worked really hard, they were physical, they played a shape that made it difficult to break them down at times. Because they were aggressive and they stayed that way throughout the whole game it made it tough.
"But I thought in the second half we played some nice football, and we passed it round them a bit better."
SWPL Cup quarter-final results
Celtic 4-1 Hearts
Glasgow City 2-0 Stirling University
Hibernian 5-0 Rangers
Spartans 4-1 Aberdeen | A goal and an assist by Noelle Murray helped Glasgow City edge past Stirling University and into the semi-finals of the SWPL Cup. |
40,566,551 | The Real Madrid forward was placed under formal investigation in 2015 over an alleged bid to blackmail fellow footballer Mathieu Valbuena.
When he and another suspect argued the police had acted dishonestly, their case was rejected by the Appeal Court.
Now another court has backed Karim Benzema's complaint. His lawyer says he expects the case to be thrown out.
"It's definitely a big victory," said lawyer Patrice Spinosi, who told France Info it was a turning point in the investigation.
He said Tuesday's decision by France's highest judicial court - the Court of Cassation - meant that the case would return to the Court of Appeal's examining chamber, which would have no choice but to drop the inquiry.
At the heart of the case was the role of an undercover police officer.
In 2015, a blackmailer got in touch with Mathieu Valbuena, threatening to make the sex tape public. The footballer was asked to appoint a go-between and at that point a police officer was given the task of negotiating on Mr Valbuena's behalf under the false name Lukas.
Three suspects were linked to the blackmail attempt before one of them approached a childhood friend of Karim Benzema for help. Karim Benzema is then alleged to have discussed the sex tape with Mathieu Valbuena during a France team training session in October 2015.
According to Mr Spinosi, the undercover officer had played a "very active role", pushing the two sides towards a deal. Without his involvement no offence would have taken place, he believes.
Prosecutors argue that Karim Benzema urged his colleague to pay the blackmailers although he denies the allegation.
Even if it is eventually thrown out, that could take months.
The Court of Cassation has only ruled on the conduct of police during the investigation rather than on the allegations themselves, commentators say. That will be the task of the Court of Appeal.
Another of Karim Benzema's lawyers, Sylvain Cormier, said "we aren't forgetting the main battle is to prove his innocence".
Since the affair emerged in November 2015, neither footballer has played for their national team.
Karim Benzema joined Real Madrid in 2009 and is seen as one of the club's leading players, helping them to Champions League victory last month in Cardiff.
Mathieu Valbuena's Lyon team finished fourth in France's Ligue 1 last season and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League. | A French court has backed footballer Karim Benzema as he fights to have a blackmail case over a sex tape dropped. |
32,435,230 | The EU will also look at ways to capture and destroy smugglers' boats and deploy immigration officers to non-EU countries, officials said.
Several EU member states have promised more ships and other resources.
The summit comes after more than 750 people died on a boat crossing from Libya on Sunday.
Earlier, funerals for 24 of the victims were held in Malta.
The number of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa has risen sharply in recent months.
More than 35,000 are thought to have crossed from Africa to Europe this year and some 1,750 have died while attempting the journey. The estimated toll from Sunday's capsizing was the worst on record.
The boost in funding to some €120m (£86m) brings spending back up to about the level of Mare Nostrum, an Italian-run search-and-rescue operation that was cancelled last year.
Several member states pledged additional naval resources on Thursday.
The UK - in the past a leading advocate of reducing naval patrols - said it would contribute helicopter carrier HMS Bulwark, two patrol boats and three helicopters. Germany, France and Belgium also offered ships.
Human rights groups are already criticising the summit for failing to expand the operational area of EU-led naval patrols, which could have taken them closer to the Libyan coast. Unless the ships are in the right place, they argue, migrants will continue to drown.
And even if naval operations manage to rescue the vast majority, there are bitter disputes about how to deal with the tens of thousands who make it to safety. Britain for example has said it will provide significant naval support, but it won't accept more asylum seekers.
Some people in southern Europe say that's not enough. The burden has to be more equitably shared. But there is no common asylum and immigration policy within the EU. Different countries have very different priorities.
It will take years to get the balance right. This summit is only the start.
A "something must be done" moment
European Council President Donald Tusk said leaders had asked EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini "to propose actions in order to capture and destroy the smugglers' vessels before they can be used".
French President Francois Hollande said such a move could only be done through a UN Security Council resolution, and that France would pursue this.
Mr Tusk added that the EU would also "step up co-operation against smuggling networks by working through Europol and by deploying immigration officers to third countries" and would "co-ordinate the resettlement of more people to Europe on a voluntary basis and with an option for emergency relocation".
Last year, some EU members had said Mare Nostrum was too expensive and expressed concerns that it was encouraging more migrants.
But its replacement by the more limited Triton operation was widely criticised by activists. Human rights group Amnesty International said the decision had "contributed to a dramatic increase in migrant and refugee deaths".
Is military force the solution?
Deadly migrant routes explained
Special report: Europe's migrant crisis
The UN had also criticised an EU 10-point action plan from earlier this week as "minimalist". And after Thursday's summit, former Italian foreign minister Emma Bonino said she was "really disappointed".
"It's a wasted opportunity with a lot of fanfare, but no concrete result," she told the BBC.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said money should be no object: "If it turns out that the funds are not sufficient we will have to talk about it again."
"Right now it's a question of fixing yesterday's errors," said Mr Hollande.
Are you or anyone you know affected by the issues in this story? Have you made the crossing from North Africa to Europe? Send us your experiences.
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If you would be happy to speak further to a BBC journalist, please include a contact telephone number when emailing us your details. | European leaders are to triple funding for search-and-rescue operations aimed at migrant boats in the Mediterranean following crisis talks in Brussels. |
26,915,789 | They detained 13 fans in the Grassmarket area shortly before the match between Rangers and Raith Rovers.
Another six people were arrested before kick-off at the Easter Road stadium and one person was arrested in nearby Albion Road.
Police Scotland said their operation represented a "proportionate" response. | Police officers have intervened following what they described as a minor disturbance before the Ramsdens Cup final in Edinburgh. |
11,438,569 | Extracts from the "missing" correspondence are published in the journal Nature.
Maurice Wilkins, James Watson and Francis Crick won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the DNA-related work.
But many others contributed, including Rosalind Franklin - whose efforts were called "witchcraft" in one letter.
All three Nobel Prizewinners worked in molecular biology, but in different labs.
Essentially, there were two main groups, pursuing the discovery of the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) structure: Dr Wilkins and Dr Franklin at King's College in London, and Dr Watson and Dr Crick at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University.
Besides strained relationships, the letters and postcards also give insights into the personalities of the key players.
The Cambridge team used some of Dr Franklin's results to build their first DNA model in December 1951.
This triple-helix model was wrong, and the scientists were barred from doing any further DNA work.
Dr Wilkins then wrote to his colleagues: "This is to say how bloody browned off I am entirely, and how rotten I feel about it all, and how entirely friendly I am (though it may appear differently).
"We are really between forces which may grind all of us into little pieces…"
But Dr Crick and Dr Watson appeared to be rather breezy: "…cheer up, and take it from us that even if we kicked you in the pants, it was between friends," the pair wrote in response.
"We hope our little burglary will at least produce a united front in your group!"
The last phrase referred to strained relations between Dr Wilkins and Dr Franklin. When the latter arrived to King's College, her colleague thought that she would be working for him, but she believed otherwise.
This misunderstanding poisoned their relationship, and the tensions were highlighted even further in other letters.
Just before Dr Franklin was to leave King's College, Dr Wilkins wrote to the Cambridge scientists that "the smoke of witchcraft will soon be getting out of our eyes".
Explaining the situation to BBC News, Nature's commissioning editor Sara Abdullah said it added to "the canon of awful things said about [Dr Franklin]".
"I think 'sexist' is what we are groping around for.
"Obviously, this is a different time, it's 1953. There was personal tension; she was very unusual in being a leading woman in science at that time.
"And there were these different styles of working - all these things are captured there, in those few words."
In early 1953, Maurice Wilkins showed James Watson the famous "Photograph 51".
It was the crucial X-ray image of DNA made by Dr Franklin in the previous months, and it helped the two Cambridge biologists to develop the historic - and correct - double-helix model.
"To think that Rosie had all the 3D data for nine months and wouldn't fit a helix to it, and there was I taking her word for it that the data was anti-helical," wrote Dr Wilkins to Dr Crick.
"Christ."
And when the study was published in Nature in April 1953, there were only vague references to Dr Franklin's contribution to the titanic achievement in molecular biology.
The correspondence had been thought lost.
But it was found earlier this year by Alexander Gann and Jan Witkowski of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York among papers that had belonged to another scientist, Sydney Brenner, who had shared an office with Francis Crick in Cambridge. | Newly-found letters of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA highlight tensions around this major scientific breakthrough. |
36,805,604 | Holly Raper, 27, from Chorley was left unable to talk or walk following the crash in December 2011 which happened on her gap year in Tasmania.
The quad bike had faulty rear brakes and a flat tyre and Holly was not given a helmet or training.
A Tasmanian court awarded the damages to pay for her round-the-clock care.
Holly, who was 21 at the time of the accident, was herding cattle for the first time when she fell off the vehicle.
She can now only communicate by blinking and needs two carers 24 hours a day. It is feared she will never walk again.
Her family were awarded £175,000 in 2013 for her injuries but then sought damages over health and safety breaches.
The £6.8m award will help with adapted accommodation, transport, care and ongoing therapy for Holly after her parents sued the farm owners, said her lawyers.
Peter Rigby, from Fletchers Solicitors, said: "This judgment allows them to get the professional support, treatment and equipment Holly needs and for her to have the best possible quality of life."
The money will be paid by insurers for the farm on King Island.
Holly's parents Chris and Elaine said in a statement: "We are relieved that the long legal process is at an end and that Holly will be able to continue to receive the support she needs now and into the future.
"With this matter now concluded, our energies can be solely directed on helping our daughter in her ongoing recovery." | A Lancashire woman who suffered severe brain damage during a quad bike accident on a farm in Australia has been awarded £6.8m compensation. |
29,533,764 | John Lowe shot Christine Lee, 66, and Lucy, 40, at Keepers Cottage Stud dog breeding farm near Farnham, Surrey, in February, Guildford Crown Court heard.
During a 999 call Lucy Lee said: "I don't know if I'm going to be alive if I go back in there. He shot my mum."
Mr Lowe, a dog breeder, denies two counts of murder and a firearms charge.
Mark Dennis QC, prosecuting, told the jury that during a "desperate" call, Ms Lee said she believed she was about to be killed by Mr Lowe.
He said: "The female caller was in a frightened and frantic state, saying that a man called John Lowe had just shot her mother and that she was herself running for her life.
"Moments later, showing extraordinary courage, the caller indicated that she had made the decision to go back to the scene of the incident, saying as she ran: 'I'm gonna go back for him but I'll die', followed by 'I'm nearly outside the house and I fear he's going to shoot me'.
"Her last words to the operator were: 'I don't know if I'm going to be alive if I go back in there. He shot my mum. Bye'."
Christine Lee's body was found inside the main building at the farm, while the body of Lucy Lee was discovered outside, near the animal pens.
When police officers arrived they were met with a "scene of carnage", according to Mr Dennis.
He added: "Upon arrest he [Mr Lowe] made no apology for shooting the two women."
Post-mortem results indicated Christine Lee had been shot in the chest from less than a foot away and Lucy Lee received a fatal shot to the back of the head.
Mr Lowe, who allegedly intended to "put down" four dogs that morning, claims his shotgun went off and accidently hit Christine Lee at point blank range after an argument.
He had a "love-hate relationship" with the women and felt they were trying to control his affairs, according to Mr Dennis.
In police interviews Mr Lowe also claimed he tried to kill himself after the shootings but his guns failed to go off.
Mr Dennis said: "This is a man who has known and used shotguns for many years who has fired and reloaded at least once.
"You might have thought if he had wanted to commit suicide he, of all people, would have known how to."
Four dogs - three German shepherds and a Labrador - were also found shot. | An 83-year-old gunned down his partner and her daughter in a "dreadful display of violence" that left a "scene of carnage" at his farm, a court heard. |
33,778,478 | Media playback is not supported on this device
World record holder Paul Biedermann of Germany was third with Ryan Lochte and Chad Le Clos outside the medals.
It is 19-year-old Guy's second medal of the meeting after winning silver behind Sun in the 400m freestyle on Sunday.
Fellow Briton Adam Peaty set a new world record of 26.42 seconds in the 50m breaststroke semi-finals.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Peaty, who won gold over 100m on Monday, beat the mark of 26.62 seconds set in the morning heats by South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh.
The pair will race again in the final on Wednesday afternoon.
In the same summer that Lochte collected five medals at London 2012, a 16-year-old Guy won a 400m freestyle bronze at the European Junior Championship - and the Bury teenager is struggling to comprehend his victory over the illustrious American.
"I never thought I'd race Ryan Lochte head to head like that - he is one of my heroes," said Guy.
"So to race him was amazing and to touch my hand on the wall first and be world champion hasn't sunk in quite yet. I am so happy.
"Coming in, I didn't think that I would make the final of the 200m, but I knew I had done some good sessions out in Majorca and back at home."
Liam Tancock finished eighth in the 100m backstroke final that was won by Australian Mitchell Larkin.
In the final race of the evening session, Russian Yuliya Efimova successfully defended her world title, edging out Plymouth-based Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte in the 100m breaststroke despite trailing the Olympic champion by 0.49 seconds at the turn.
Efimova returned from a 16-month doping ban in March and Meilutyte has previously said that she no longer sees her rival as a "honest competitor".
Siobhan-Marie O'Connor, who won Britain's first world 200m individual medley medal with a bronze on Monday, fell short of making the 200m freestyle final. The 19-year-old set the 11th-fastest qualifying time in the heats and was 0.35 seconds slower than the final qualifier from the semi-finals.
Stephen Milne clocked seven minutes 46.41 seconds to qualify third-fastest for Wednesday's men's 800m freestyle final.
American Katie Ledecky lowered her own world record by 2.23 seconds as she swam clear of the field to successfully defend her 1,500m freestyle. | Great Britain's James Guy won world 200m freestyle gold in Russia, beating Olympic silver medallist Sun Yang of China by six hundredths of a second. |
38,919,886 | The Russian aircraft were said to have flown an arc around the top of Scotland from a north east direction before passing to the west of Ireland.
The Ministry of Defence said they were not in UK air space. | Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire have been scrambled to monitor two Russian Blackjack bombers. |
33,078,948 | The exploration is being carried out by US oil giant Exxon Mobile.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez called the exploration "a dangerous political provocation".
Venezuela has been claiming the disputed mineral-rich region west of the Essequibo river as its own since the 19th Century.
An international tribunal ruled in 1899 that the area formed part of Guyana, which at the time was a British colony.
Venezuela never accepted the ruling, arguing it was unfair.
On 20 May, Exxon Mobil announced "a significant oil discovery" in the disputed area.
A week later, President Maduro issued a presidential decree claiming sovereignty of the disputed waters.
Guyana's newly elected President, David Granger, in turn released a statement on Sunday calling Venezuela's decree a "flagrant violation of international law".
He also accused Venezuela of wishing "to trample on the rights of a smaller country in order to obstruct the sovereign right of Guyana to develop its natural resources".
President Granger insisted that Guyana would continue to develop the offshore natural resources it considered its own.
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan leader blamed Exxon Mobil for the diplomatic row.
He advised Guyana "not to take bad advice from Exxon Mobil or from (local officials) bribed by Exxon Mobil".
Speaking on state television, he said that "with dialogue and diplomacy we should be able to iron our these historical differences".
Relations between Venezuela and Exxon Mobile have been tense since 2007, when the country's then-president Hugo Chavez nationalised the company's assets.
Last year, an international arbitration tribunal ruled that Venezuela must pay Exxon Mobil $1.6bn (£1bn) in compensation for the expropriated assets. | Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro demanded on Tuesday that neighbouring Guyana stop oil exploration in a disputed offshore territory. |
33,771,112 | Mr Patzelt, of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), lives near Frankfurt (Oder) in eastern Germany. The Eritreans have been staying with him for a month.
Such initiatives help to "get rid of the polarisation and hostility" towards migrants, he told German ARD TV.
Many Eritreans have fled to Europe.
The country in the Horn of Africa has an authoritarian government which forces citizens into military service - often for many years and in deplorable conditions.
Generally Eritreans and Syrians are granted refugee status when they reach Germany, allowing them to stay there.
But Germany is gripped by an intense debate over migrants, as the numbers have soared this year - largely because of the boatloads crossing the Mediterranean. That is putting local authorities under pressure.
Mr Patzelt has a large house in Briesen, a village near Frankfurt, and the two Eritreans - Haben, 19, and Awet, 24 - are sharing the top floor with one of his grown-up sons, Germany's Die Welt daily reports.
He met the pair at his local Catholic church and invited them back. Later he offered to put them up at his home.
They communicate in broken English, but the Eritreans are taking German lessons, reports say. One now has some temporary work in the local administration, and the other in a supermarket, thanks to Mr Patzelt's help.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Patzelt said many people had told him they felt very sympathetic and admired his commitment.
He received a huge pile of birthday cards this year, including from people who had never sent one to him before, he said.
But as for reaction from fellow CDU politicians, he said only that "it is a process". He said his motivation was political - not religious - from the start. Hostility towards the influx of refugees could only be solved by engaging ordinary German citizens, he told the BBC.
The two Eritreans are made to feel at home in Briesen, he said, and people wave when they walk past.
"Sponsorships, to house someone, company, to welcome someone - these small bridges help to give refugees a face and a name, so that they emerge from the anonymous mass of asylum seekers," Mr Patzelt told ARD TV earlier.
"If more people did that... we'd be on a good path."
But local businesses were generally sceptical when he approached them seeking job placements for the Eritrean pair, ARD reported. There were concerns about their language difficulties and ability to adapt to the workplace.
Mr Patzelt told Die Welt that for each refugee he was receiving €100 a month (£70; $110) from the German refugee welfare authority, to cover everyday expenses.
It would cost the state about €2,000 a month to house each refugee in a migrant hostel.
Haben and Awet get a monthly state allowance of €326 each to cover their welfare, including new clothes.
Last year Mr Patzelt wrote an open letter to Green politician Hans-Christian Stroebele, suggesting that more citizens accommodate refugees in their homes, as a better option than migrant hostels. That letter drew some anonymous death threats.
"Many thought it was a cheek even to think about such a thing as accommodating a refugee," he said. | A German conservative MP, Martin Patzelt, has taken two Eritrean refugees into his home and is helping the young men find jobs locally. |
35,754,209 | Willis, 32, who was diagnosed with cancer in December, had already qualified for Rio in the 470 with Luke Patience, but the British pair have been withdrawn.
"The thoughts of all the team continue to be with Elliot in his ongoing recovery," Patience said.
Five have been added to the squad for Rio, including windsurfer Nick Dempsey.
He will compete at his fifth Games while Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth will make their Olympic debuts in the 49erFX.
European 2015 champions Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves have been selected for the Nacra 17.
Patience, a 470 silver medallist at London 2012 with Stuart Bithell, will attempt to re-qualify with Chris Grube.
The decision to withdraw Willis and Patience was taken by the British Olympic Association and Royal Yachting Association (RYA).
"Hopefully this doesn't mark the end of Elliot's Olympic journey and we look forward to seeing him back in the boat soon," RYA Olympic manager Stephen Park said.
Full squad:
Giles Scott, Finn
Nick Thompson, Laser
Alison Young, Laser Radial
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, 470 women
Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth: 49erFX
Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves, Nacra 17
Bryony Shaw, RS:X women
Nick Dempsey, RS:X men | Two-time world champion Elliot Willis will miss this year's Olympics because of his treatment for bowel cancer. |
33,237,947 | The project was commissioned by Historic Scotland in 2001 as part of a wider effort to restore the king's palace to its 1540s style.
A team of 18 weavers from across the globe came together to reinterpret and create the "Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestries.
Visitors can now see all seven tapestries together for the first time.
In the 1540s, the palace was home to James V's wife, Mary of Guise, and their young daughter, Mary Queen of Scots.
It was known from royal inventories that when James V built the palace he owned more than 100 tapestries, but there is no record of what happened to them. The inventories, however, described a set of tapestries depicting "the historie of the unicorne".
The "painstaking" project to recreate the tapestries involved extensive research and took the team to New York, where the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts a set of 15th Century tapestries on the same theme.
Peter Buchanan, Historic Scotland's project manager who oversaw the process, said it had been a "privilege to watch" the weavers recreate the tapestries "in all their Renaissance glory".
He said: "Whilst we may never know what happened to the original tapestries, the fact that we now have these fantastic recreations, with the assistance of the Met in New York and through the generosity of our donors, will provide visitors to the castle now, and for generations to come, with a real insight into how the palace may have been at the time of James V.
"The completion of this last tapestry, The Mystic Hunt of the Unicorn, is made all the more impressive by the fact that only two fragments of the original remain in New York.
"Through extensive research, the team were able to build up a picture of how the panel might have looked originally and it's thrilling to see the end result hanging in the palace with the rest of the series, marking the final step in a 14-year journey." | A 14-year project to recreate the lost tapestries of James V has been completed at Stirling Castle. |
38,967,345 | The 23-year-old Belgium international's injury is "not serious" though.
Lukaku, who has scored 17 goals this season, is expected to be fit for Everton's next Premier League match on 25 February at home to Sunderland.
He is one goal away from equalling Duncan Ferguson's club record of 60 goals in the Premier League. | Everton striker Romelu Lukaku will miss the club's training camp in Dubai this week to visit a doctor in Belgium for treatment on a minor calf problem. |
37,998,382 | The 21-year-old had denied the offence on Saracens' Nick Tompkins, which led to him being sent off during their Anglo-Welsh Cup match on Saturday.
But a disciplinary panel found him guilty, banning him until 13 December.
He will miss Newcastle's Premiership matches with Exeter, Northampton and Harlequins and the two European Challenge Cup games against Lyon.
"The tackle started off legitimately, it being a technique he is specifically coached to carry out," an RFU statement read.
"However, it did not end up as intended and having lifted the player off the ground the first point of contact between the Saracens player and the ground was the top of the shoulder." | Newcastle fly-half Craig Willis has been banned for four weeks after being found guilty of an illegal tip tackle. |
40,827,578 | Defender Sviatchenko damaged knee ligaments during Wednesday's 1-0 win away to Rosenborg and will not feature against play-off opponents Astana.
The Denmark player was on crutches after getting injured in Norway.
"It could have been worse but we will take it at six weeks, not probably back until September," said Rodgers.
"We've just had his results so he will probably be up to about six weeks, which is disappointing."
Midfielder Nir Bitton came on for former Midtjylland player Sviatchenko in Trondheim as Celtic beat Rosenborg by a single goal on the night and on aggregate to progress to the play-off round.
Rodgers is also without Belgian defender Dedryck Boyata until September. | Erik Sviatchenko will miss Celtic's Champions League play-off matches as boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed the Dane will miss "up to about six weeks". |
37,838,488 | Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said ministers needed to consider whether continuing served the public interest.
Labour's Tom Watson said it was "a sad day" for victims of press intrusion.
A second phase would look at the extent of unlawful conduct in media groups and the police and how allegations were investigated.
Ms Bradley told MPs she wanted to seek the views of the public, interested parties and the victims of press abuse before making a final decision.
"Given the extent of these criminal investigations, the implementation of the recommendations from part one of the Leveson Inquiry and the cost to the taxpayer of the investigations in part one, which is £43.7 million and £5.4 million respectively, the government is considering whether undertaking part two is still in the public interest," she said.
"We are keen to take stock and seek the views of the public and interested parties, not least those who have been victims of press abuse."
Shadow culture secretary Mr Watson accused the government of letting down the victims who had been "thrown to the wolves".
"Leveson part 2 is the investigation into how the cover-up of phone hacking was conducted," he said.
"In effect she [Ms Bradley] is today announcing a consultation on whether the cover-up should be covered up."
Former Labour minister Chris Bryant, himself a victim of phone-hacking, accused ministers of "reneging on all those promises made to the victims" that Leveson 2 would take place.
The consultation will run for 10 weeks, and finish on 10 January.
It will also invite views on whether to implement legislation that could require newspapers to pay libel costs - even if they won their case.
They would be liable if they had not first offered a cheaper alternative like public arbitration and if they had chosen not to join an industry regulator approved under royal charter.
Newspapers signed up to the regulator would be exempt from the laws.
Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 - one of the key commitments made after the first part of the Leveson Inquiry - still needs to be signed off by the culture secretary three years on.
Dr Evan Harris, of the Hacked Off campaign, which represents many victims of phone-hacking and press intrusion, said: "It is almost unthinkable that a prime minister who claims to be willing to stand up to police and corporate interests would even consider postponing - let alone cancelling - an inquiry into cover-ups and corruption in our major national institutions."
Part two had been expected to get under way once all legal proceedings - including criminal investigations - had been completed.
In May 2012, Lord Justice Leveson said that before proceeding to part two, consideration should be given "by everyone" to "the value to be gained" from it, given the "enormous cost" involved, the fact that material would be years out of date, and it could take longer than the first part of the inquiry. | A consultation is to take place on whether the second part of the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking should go ahead, the government has said. |
13,679,676 | The BBC understands that scenes from The Dark Knight Rises will be shot at the Elizabethan house in June and July.
James Trevetchick from Chatsworth House in Derbyshire - which has hosted three Hollywood film crews recently - said any major movie has a huge impact.
But he said the mansion and its grounds could also see a lot of disruption.
Mr Trevetchick is Logistics Controller at Chatsworth and regularly deals with inquiries from film location managers.
Scenes from The Duchess, Pride and Prejudice and The Wolf Man were all shot at the stately home.
"Any large feature film has a massive impact," said Mr Trevetchick.
"There will be a crew of anything between 150 to 200 on site. Dozens and dozens of trailers, lighting trucks and generator trucks.
"There will be teams of people dressing the property. There's no stone left unturned - they are incredibly thorough."
Last week, a sign was put up at Wollaton Hall stating that areas of the park and grounds would be closed for filming and maintenance.
The film-makers are trying to keep publicity as "low-key" as possible and have refused to officially confirm they are working on The Dark Knight Rises.
Andrew Knight, spokesman for the Broadway - an independent cinema in Nottingham - said any film made in the city could provide opportunities and boost the local economy.
"Films can have a huge effect on tourism and future investment too - especially with the added allure of having major stars in town."
Mr Trevetchick said Nottingham City Council, which runs Wollaton Hall, had probably signed a confidentiality agreement.
"It's not the done thing to make a song and dance about the fact that you've got a film being filmed at your location while it is going on," he said.
"It doesn't help having lots of people milling around, being nosey parkers.
"You try and make a big feature of it after the film's come out because that then leads to increased visitor numbers."
The Dark Night Rises, starring Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy and Michael Caine, is to be released at cinemas next year. | News the latest Batman movie is being filmed at Nottingham's Wollaton Hall could prompt a "massive increase" in visitor numbers. |
40,405,886 | Formerly an avid cyclist, bodybuilder and health club owner, his life changed 10 years ago in an accident that caused a slipped disc to crush his spinal cord, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.
Undeterred, the 61-year-old from Crawley in East Sussex switched to hand-cycling and has since dedicated himself to endurance challenges to raise money and awareness for spinal injuries and other causes close to his heart.
"Since the accident, I chose to fight preconceived ideas of what was possible for someone who could feel nothing below their waist," he says.
"I've been determined to raise money to help others, especially those who may go through something as I did."
He has previously undertaken a 24-hour non-stop endurance race and cycled 600 miles from Scotland to London in five days.
Now he is preparing for his toughest challenge yet - a 2,500-mile journey around the coast of England and Wales, aiming to inspire disabled youngsters and also highlight the issues of pollution and climate change affecting our seas and coastline.
Rob will start his journey in Brighton on Sunday, 2 July - travelling clockwise around the coast - and finish in London on Friday, 28 July.
"I feel more prepared physically and mentally than I was for those previous events," he says.
"Training for this has been the hardest thing I have ever put my body through.
"I am excited and nervous at the same time. Having the right mental state is important all the time, to get the most out of every hour and every day."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Rob will visit schools en route and hopes to inspire disabled children by showing what a hand-cyclist can do. He will also speak about the effects of pollution and climate change on our seas and coastline.
You can keep up with Rob's progress with his regular updates on social media and find out more about his itinerary and goals on the Coastline Challenge webpage.
If you want to get involved in hand-cycling or explore other cycling adaptations, check out the 'Inclusive' section in our Get Inspired guide to cycling. | Rob Groves has never been one to duck a challenge. |
34,931,616 | The Aberdeen-based company said the three-year deal had been signed with an unnamed blue-chip international oil company.
It added that more than 100 new jobs would be created as a result of the contract, with a further 20 posts retained.
The staff will be based at Wood Group's offices in Iraq and Dubai.
David Buchan, from Wood Group division WGPSN, said: "This major contract builds on our strong partnerships with clients in Iraq.
"Iraq is an area where we see significant growth opportunities for our broad service capabilities and building our presence in this region is a key objective for us.
"This is reflected in our creation of another office in Dubai, which adds to our presence in the Middle East and our commitment to developing local talent, creating job opportunities and building relationships with the supply chain in Iraq."
Last month Wood Group won a multi-million dollar subsea contract with BP, to provide engineering services in the Gulf of Mexico, UK and Norwegian continental shelves and offshore Azerbaijan.
It was the second major BP contract secured by the company this year. | Oil services giant Wood Group has won a $90m (£60m) project management contract for an onshore facility in Iraq. |
37,025,554 | A survey of 1,500 women saw 52% cite the problem and also found a third had been subjected to unwelcome jokes and a quarter experienced unwanted touching.
TUC head Frances O'Grady said it left women feeling ashamed and frightened.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today: "It makes us miserable at work where we just want to do our job and be respected."
She also called it a "scandal" that so few women felt their bosses were dealing with the issue properly.
Sexual harassment at work can take many forms, from inappropriate comments and jokes about a colleague's sex life to unwanted touching, hugging or kissing and even demands for sexual favours, the TUC said.
The Citizens Advice Bureau says sex discrimination can occur when people are applying for promotion or flexible working and when decisions are made about who is chosen for redundancy, or training and development opportunities.
BBC News website reader Imogen said: "For three years whilst at university I worked as a lifeguard. A male colleague only a year or two older than me would constantly grope me on the poolside in front of swimmers and other members of staff.
"I would constantly tell him it made me uncomfortable but he just continued and would joke that I 'loved it'.
"One evening, he followed me into the stockroom, with the door shut and the lights turned off. He immediately began aggressively groping my bum and grabbing my breasts and repeatedly asking me why was I snitching on him and why was I spreading lies about him.
"In tears I ran to my line manager to tell him what had just happened. The company did nothing."
Read about more experiences of sexual harassment at work
Newsbeat: The worst things said to people at work
The TUC found that in nine out of 10 cases the perpetrator was male and nearly one in five women (17%) said it was their line manager, or someone with direct authority over them.
Some 79% of women who said they were victims of sexual harassment did not tell their employer.
Reasons given included fear that reporting would affect their relationships at work (28%) or their career prospects (15%).
Nearly a quarter (24%) of those who did not report abuse said it was because they felt that they would not be believed or taken seriously and 20% said they were too embarrassed.
The proportion of women facing harassment is higher among the youngest workers - nearly two-thirds (63%) of the 138 women aged between 18 and 24 surveyed said they had been sexually harassed at work.
Young women were often on casual contracts, such as temporary agency or zero-hours contracts. They were also likely to be in more junior roles, all of which may be factors in sexual harassment, said the TUC.
The survey also found:
Ms O'Grady added: "They have to ask why it is we are not stamping this kind of behaviour out. We have been calling for tougher action from employers and we want the government to send a clear signal that this kind of behaviour is unlawful.
"I think the most worrying fact from these findings is the number of women who simply don't feel able to report it. "
One young woman told the TUC anonymously that in her previous job she worked in an almost exclusively male salesroom.
"Sexual comments about me or others, either to me or overheard in my presence, were a fact of daily working life. Some of those comments were violent in nature," she said.
The Citizens Advice Bureau urges people to act as quickly as possible if they fall victim to sex discrimination or sexual harassment at work, suggesting:
Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project which helped with the report, said many people would like to think that workplace sexual harassment was a thing of the past.
"In reality it is alive and well, and having a huge impact on tens of thousands of women's lives."
Men have also been victims of sexual harassment at work, with one, Simon, telling BBC News: "I frequently get touched on the upper arm, called 'darling' or 'sweetheart'.
"I do not like it, I do not invite it and am unsure how to respond. I am male and the perpetrators are female. I would feel a wuss if I were to complain. This does not just happen to females." | More than half of women say they have been sexually harassed at work and most admit to not reporting it, new research by the TUC suggests. |
35,832,127 | Fly-half Rhys Patchell scored 19 points for the hosts with a try, four conversions and three penalties.
Munster's Darren Sweetnam went over for the opening try and Macauley Cook responded.
The hosts were never behind after Patchell's conversion as Matthew Rees and Garyn Smith also crossed.
Munster stay fifth in the table while Blues go level on 39 points with Ospreys but stay ninth, a place below their Welsh rivals.
Fly-half Keatley's early penalty was followed by centre Francis Saili sending wing Sweetnam over at the corner.
Patchell's first penalty came as Munster continued to dominate the opening quarter, but the hosts took the initiative before the break.
Number eight Josh Navidi broke away to pave the way for flanker Cook to touch down.
Keatley and Patchell exchanged penalties before hooker Rees' try increased the hosts' lead.
Hooker Sherry replied for Munster only for centre Smith to intercept and race to the line from 45 metres.
Patchell claimed Blues' bonus-point try as he went clear and after back-rower O'Donoghue went over, Jarrod Evans' last-minute penalty ensured Munster went home without a losing bonus point.
Cardiff Blues: Dan Fish; Aled Summerhill, Garyn Smith, Rey Lee-Lo, Blaine Scully; Rhys Patchell, Lloyd Williams; Brad Thyer, Matthew Rees (capt), Salesi Ma'afu, Cam Dolan, Josh Turnbull, Macauley Cook, Ellis Jenkins, Josh Navidi
Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Thomas Davies, Taufa'ao Filise, Lou Reed, Manoa Vosawai, Lewis Jones, Jarrod Evans, Gavin Evans
Munster: Andrew Conway; Darren Sweetnam, Francis Saili, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; James Cronin, Mike Sherry, John Ryan; Dave Foley, Billy Holland (capt); Jack O'Donoghue, Dave O'Callaghan, Robin Copeland.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Sean McCarthy, Jordan Coghlan, Cathal Sheridan, Johnny Holland, David Johnston. | Cardiff Blues earned a thrilling bonus-point win over Munster, denting the Irish side's bid to make the Pro12 play-offs. |
33,561,837 | England international Downing, 30, has rejoined hometown club Middlesbrough on a four-year deal.
"I didn't want him to go, he's a quality English player and I know how hard it is to get the quality ones," said Bilic.
"Of course I rate him, I tried to persuade him to stay with us."
Middlesbrough-born Downing spent two seasons at Upton Park, making 74 appearances and scoring seven goals for the Hammers.
Capped 35 times by England, Downing left the Riverside for Aston Villa in July 2009, before moving to Liverpool.
He joined West Ham for £5m in August 2013, his last England appearance against Scotland in a friendly last November.
"I know him from the national team when we played England, and he was brilliant in the first half of last season," added former Croatia manager Bilic.
"I was counting on him big time, but he told me that he wanted to go home.
"He said 'I like you and everything, but I want to go home. If it was any other club, I would stay here'.
"Maybe I could have stopped him, and all that, however it is not what we wanted to do, but he wanted to leave."
Meanwhile, Bilic said he was relieved after James Tomkins scored a 90th-minute winner against Birkirkara in the Europa League second qualifying round first leg at Upton Park on Thursday.
The Hammers travel to Malta for the return leg on 23 July with a narrow 1-0 advantage.
"We are well organised and are working hard for each other, but in the last third of the pitch, well, there you need some extra quality," he said.
"It is not job done, of course.
"They will probably play the same way in Malta, and will wait again for some long ball, some mistake or counter-attack, but we are quietly confident." | West Ham manager Slaven Bilic says he did not want Stewart Downing to leave the Hammers and that he was counting on the winger "big time" for next season. |
39,727,707 | "You are my friends," he told them.
"The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end," he said.
A woman in the back of the auditorium shouted: "Thank you." A moment later a man took off his red Make America Great Again cap, waved it in the air and put it back on his head so he could clap with both hands - loudly.
Others in the 10,000-strong audience (National Rifle Association figures) - cheered.
Trump talked about Justice Neil Gorsuch and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, all of whom, the president made clear, support the Second Amendment.
He also spoke about his intentions: "Let me make a simple promise," he said. "I will never, ever infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
He didn't make any policy announcements, however, or discuss at any length legislation that's important to NRA leaders, such as the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would make permits to carry concealed weapons valid across the nation.
He spoke only in generalities, breezing over specifics about firearms policy.
Still, he made the event feel like a "victory party", just as Arsenal Attorneys' Matthew Bergstrom, who was speaking at a firearms seminar that afternoon, predicted he would.
In the midst of the festive atmosphere, however, there were unresolved issues, and the relationship between Mr Trump and gun owners has been complicated.
The president likes to hold his cards close to his chest, and he often changes his mind.
This is true in the realm of foreign policy, trade deals and firearms policy too. In the past he's shown support for an assault weapons ban. Last year he reversed his position.
His fluid ideas about firearms policy have vexed those who care about the issue, whether they support fewer restrictions on gun owners or more.
Gun control is an emotionally raw issue in the US, where mass shootings have become surprisingly common.
Most Democrats think Americans would be safer with fewer guns, according to a McClatchy-Marist poll.
Near the convention hall, a woman in khaki shorts held up a sign: "No Trump. No NRA. No guns."
Most Republicans, however, believe Americans would be safer if there were more guns. Meanwhile, NRA executives want fewer restrictions on firearms.
With that goal in mind, the NRA gave $30m (£23m) to Trump's presidential election campaign. Now he's their president. When it comes to the NRA's positions, though, he's been low-key.
Since taking office, he's struck down an Obama-era rule that would have made Social Security Administration officials add names of people who suffer from mental health problems and receive disability support to a database of individuals who cannot purchase a gun.
Beyond that, he hasn't done much in terms of firearms policy.
"For $30m?" said Brendan Kelly, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a Washington-based organization, referring to the amount of money the NRA gave to his campaign.
"The only thing he's done is repeal a law."
Mr Kelly is being sarcastic: he doesn't want Trump to follow the NRA's guidance and lift restrictions on firearms.
He wants the president to sign laws that will impose more rules on gun purchases and is disappointed in the way he's changed his mind about firearms policy.
Donald Trump once argued for stricter rules on gun purchases, and now he talks enthusiastically about the Second Amendment (and doesn't mention gun control).
"The inconsistencies get in the way," says Mr Kelly. "He's bouncing back and forth, and people are dying."
He wishes the president would argue for more restrictions on gun purchases. But that seems unlikely.
At the same time, it seems unlikely that the president will push for new policies loosening the restrictions on guns.
Activists at both ends of the political spectrum - from left to right - said they have been disappointed in the president.
For many of those at the convention, however, the policies were relatively unimportant. They said they were happy he'd come and liked the fact that he was surrounded by people whom they see as sympathetic to their cause.
Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to the president, spoke to a women's group at the event.
Flying on Air Force One, she told me she'd grown up hunting and used to bring home wild game: "You have to prove your manhood," she said, joking around.
Trump's sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr also enjoy hunting.
"They love the outdoors," the president told people in the audience. (Donald Trump Jr, who's an NRA member, reportedly owns an AR-platform semi-automatic rifle.)
Stephen Miller, the White House policy director, has reportedly talked about how much he likes guns. He flew to Atlanta with the president.
NRA members said it was important to them that the president's friends and family are fond of guns.
"That's a really big trust factor," said attorney Stephen Halbrook, who was attending the convention.
The auditorium was filled with people wearing pro-gun messages on T-shirts, hats and badges.
One man wore a ponytail with flecks of grey and a black T-shirt that said: "This is America. We eat bacon. We drink beer. We own guns. We love freedom. We speak English. If you don't like it, tough shit."
They clapped loudly during the speech and seemed OK with the president's policy positions (or lack of them).
"I think you have to give him time," said Debbie Anderson, an NRA pistol instructor who was dressed in black (with a US flag bracelet). "He can't get everything done in one day."
Another person in the auditorium, John Greene, an NRA member who lives in Virginia Beach, agreed: "He's been rather busy, doing a lot of things."
In theory at least, the president was passionate about his commitment. "I will never, ever let you down," he said.
A moment later he left, and the NRA members went back to the business of the convention: talking about guns and hanging out with their friends.
Follow @Tara_Mckelvey on Twitter | Donald Trump stood at a podium in front of an Atlanta auditorium full of gun lovers. |
34,811,085 | Unionist and nationalist politicians took part in an Armistice Day ceremony in Parliament Buildings on Wednesday.
The national anthem was sung at the end of the event, but had not been on the order of service agreed by the speaker.
Sinn Féin said the singing had been a "childish stunt" by some unionists.
Sammy Morrison, a press officer for the Traditional Unionist Voice, started the singing.
He said Sinn Féin should reconsider attending remembrance events if they had an issue with the singing of the national anthem.
Sinn Féin MLA Mitchel McLaughlin, the assembly speaker, led the service.
In a letter to MLAs on Friday, he said he recognised that anthems are part of the act of remembrance for many people, but for many others they are not.
His commitment to represent all MLAs was a serious one, he said, but that often meant making difficult judgements.
He added that his door is open for MLAs and others to speak to him about how Stormont can achieve the same outcome of wide attendance and inclusive participation "without some of the tensions which emerged between the parties" after this week's event.
The kind of approaches he will find useful will not be "just the easy solutions based on one perspective", he said, but will recognise that as speaker he must represent politicians with "different views and different allegiances". | A remembrance service at Stormont that ended in a row over the national anthem had been arranged to allow as many MLAs as possible to attend, the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly has said. |
38,819,193 | The animal tumbled through an unlatched window into the basement of the property in the community of Hailey, in the state of Idaho.
According to the Idaho Mountain Express, the female moose spent about three hours in the house after the mishap early on Sunday morning.
Wildlife officials sedated the animal before releasing it unharmed.
Canadians warned over car-licking moose
Moose on the loose as Alaska warms
Two Alaskan moose found encased in ice
Homeowner Julie Emerick told the Mountain Express: "She was absolutely the most polite, gracious beast that you could have in your house."
Blaine County Sheriff's deputies and Idaho Department of Fish and Game officers initially tried to shoo the moose upstairs.
But Fish and Game said on its Facebook page: "The moose was having none of it, charging the officers several times."
When that failed, a wildlife officer shot the moose with a tranquilliser dart.
Ms Emerick said eight officers carried the approximately 600lb (270kg) animal up the stairs.
"With a lot of grunting and groaning they got her up the stairs and out the door," she said.
Ms Emerick said the groggy beast came round and ran off about a quarter of an hour later.
The night-time intruder caused hardly any damage to the basement room, she added.
Heavy snow has driven moose and other wildlife into populated areas in search of food, according to wildlife officials. | A family in the US state of Idaho had quite a shock when they awoke to find a moose had fallen into their home. |
22,578,931 | Hundreds of people were on the trains involved in Friday evening's crash just outside Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Officials said a train that left New York City's Grand Central en route to New Haven, Connecticut, derailed then was hit by another train.
Amtrak has suspended its service between New York and Boston.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said on Friday night that the front of one of the trains had been extensively damaged and its wheels were "sticking into the other train".
He said five people had received serious injuries, describing one person as being in a "very critical" condition.
The two hospitals in Bridgeport that received the wounded said they were each treating one person in a critical condition. By Saturday morning, many of injured passengers had been released from hospital.
Investigators are trying to find out what caused the crash, which happened shortly after 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT).
Governor Malloy said he had no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident.
Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said most of those hurt were walking wounded.
"Everybody seemed pretty calm," he told the Associated Press. "Everybody was thankful they didn't get seriously hurt. They were anxious to get home to their families."
But Canadian passenger Alex Cohen told NBC Connecticut that "people were screaming... they had to smash a window to get us out".
One witness, Brian Alvarez, told CNN: "I saw this one car and it was completely destroyed and they were pulling people out of the car. They were all bloody." | More than 60 people were injured, at least two critically, after a head-on, rush-hour collision between two commuter trains near New York City. |
37,293,317 | Briton Murray, seeded second, has won seven of eight previous matches against Japan's Nishikori, the most recent being at last month's Olympics.
The pair are scheduled second on Arthur Ashe Stadium at around 19:00 BST.
"I've played well against him in the past but he likes these conditions," said the 29-year-old world number two.
"I played a really good match against him when we played a few weeks ago. I'm aware I'll need to do that again if I want to beat him, because he's one of the best players in the world."
The winner will face Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro or Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, who meet in the night session at about 02:00 on Thursday.
They follow the women's quarter-final between world number one Serena Williams and fifth seed Simona Halep at 00:00, with Karolina Pliskova and Ana Konjuh opening Wednesday's play at 17:00.
Jamie Murray and Brazil's Bruno Soares take on Australian Chris Guccione and Brazilian Andre Sa in the doubles quarter-finals at 16:00. | Andy Murray will hope to extend an impressive record against sixth seed Kei Nishikori when the pair meet in the US Open quarter-finals on Wednesday. |
35,840,368 | The body of 50-year-old antiques specialist Robyn Mercer was found in Walton Road, West Molesey, on Monday.
A post-mortem examination revealed she died from multiple blows to the head.
Surrey Police said two men arrested on suspicion of murder, a 52-year-old on Monday and a man aged 25 on Thursday, had both been bailed until 20 May.
On Thursday, relatives of the mother-of-two said they were "utterly devastated to have lost Robyn" who worked at JH Bourdon-Smith in Mayfair, west London.
Fellow art and antique specialists described her as an "extremely kind-hearted lady". | Two men arrested in connection with the murder of a woman who was bludgeoned to death outside her home in Surrey have been released on bail. |
38,143,657 | The 38-year-old ended his playing career with the Blues in 2014 and has been working as a television pundit.
Iwelumo replaces Ian Sharps, who moved to League One side Walsall to become their first-team coach.
"Can't wait to get started at such a brilliantly run club," he said on Twitter.
Iwelumo scored once in 10 games for Chester before retiring after a career which saw him play for 19 different clubs including Stoke City, Wolves, Colchester, Burnley and Watford. | National League side Chester have appointed former Scotland international striker Chris Iwelumo as assistant to manager Jon McCarthy. |
38,611,660 | AMs will vote on whether to support the Wales Bill, which promises new powers for Wales but has been criticised.
With the support of Labour - which has 29 of the 60 assembly seats - and the 11 Tories, the legislative consent motion is set to pass on Tuesday.
The Wales Bill will transfer powers over energy, transport, assembly affairs and some degree of income tax.
The bill introduces a system of powers that are reserved to Westminster, but it has been criticised for being unclear and potentially resulting in a reduction of the assembly's ability to make laws.
Delyn AM Hannah Blythyn, who chairs the Labour group, said: "As the party who delivered devolution for Wales we have rightly adopted a challenging, but responsible approach towards the passage of the Wales Bill.
"This is not the bill we would have developed and it is not the bill that Wales deserves.
"However, on balance this legislation will give the country more constitutional certainty and the fiscal framework in particular represents a real step forward.
"After a considered debate, the Labour Group has decided to vote in favour of allowing the UK Government to proceed."
What is in the Wales Bill?
UKIP has said it will vote against the bill, objecting to the devolution of income tax powers to the assembly without the referendum that would have been needed under existing legislation.
Plaid Cymru is not expected to come to a decision until its group meets on Tuesday.
But Lord Wigley, the former Plaid Cymru leader who spoke for the party during the bill's passage through the House of Lords, has warned the devolution settlement for Wales will remain "much weaker" than Scotland and Northern Ireland's.
Under a political convention between the assembly and Westminster, the Wales Bill needs a legislative consent motion passed in the Senedd before it can be become law because it relates to devolved matters.
The convention does not have legal force, but Wales Office minister Lord Bourne has said the bill will not become law if the assembly does not approve it. | Labour AMs have decided to back the next stage of devolution, ahead of a crucial vote in the assembly. |
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