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Candidates who wear brown shoes, "loud" ties or ill-fitting suits can fall foul of "opaque" codes of conduct, the Social Mobility Commission found.
Firms recruit for front office roles from a few elite universities and only hire those who "fit in", it said.
Chairman Alan Milburn said "arcane culture rules" were locking working-class candidates out of City jobs.
A spokesman for the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said: "The banking industry has made significant strides to improve social mobility at all levels but recognises that we cannot afford to be complacent on this crucial issue".
The report's authors found that managers placed as much importance on a person's speech, accent, dress and behaviour as their skills and qualifications.
"Relatively opaque codes of conduct also extend to dress," the report said.
"To provide one example - for men the wearing of brown shoes with a business suit is generally, though not always, considered unacceptable by and for British bankers within the investment banking (corporate finance) division."
The report quoted one candidate, from a "non-privileged background", describing the feedback he received from a mentor after an interview.
"He said you're clearly quite sharp, but... you're not quite the fit for [this bank]... you're not polished enough... he looked at me and said, 'see that tie you're wearing? It's too loud. Like you can't wear that tie with the suit that you're wearing'.
"What kind of industry is this where I can be told that I'm a good candidate, I'm sharp, but I'm not polished enough?"
The report found that, when picking candidates for jobs that involved dealing with clients, managers often selected those who fitted the traditional image of an investment banker.
It quoted one candidate as saying that the typical corporate finance banker is "usually someone pretty smooth, very fast talking, well-connected typically, likely to come from a pretty decent background, likely to be very polished, probably come from a good family, and so on. And that would be stereotypical, but still true, I think".
The report noted that in the UK, 7% of children attend fee-paying schools, yet the Sutton Trust found in 2014 that 34% of new investment bankers had attended a fee-paying school.
Dr Louise Ashley, from Royal Holloway University of London, who led the research on investment banking, said: "Access to front-office roles in investment banking is extremely competitive for all candidates, but our research suggests students from less privileged backgrounds are less likely to get the top jobs - no matter how talented they are."
The report said that issues relating to dress may seem both superficial and relatively simple for individuals from all backgrounds to adopt.
"However, interviewees suggested that they do play a material role in the selection process, once again, as demonstration of 'fit'," it added.
Specific dress codes are considered by banks to "provide reassurance to clients about the quality of the service they will provide".
Mr Milburn, who served in Tony Blair's Labour cabinet, said: "Bright working-class kids are being systematically locked out of top jobs in investment banking because they may not attend a small handful of elite universities or understand arcane culture rules.
"While there are some banks doing excellent work in reducing these barriers, there are still too many that need to wake up and realise that it makes sound business sense to recruit people from all backgrounds."
He said it was "shocking" that some banks still judged candidates on their dress rather than their potential.
According to the BBA, a number of banks have specific programmes designed to widen access, while others - including Barclays, J P Morgan and Schroders - choose to work with organisations such as the Social Mobility Foundation (which is a charity and not the same as the Social Mobility Commission which is a non-departmental public body).
"We want to ensure that [the] best people can succeed in banking - regardless of their background," the BBA spokesman said.
The Social Mobility Commission study also concluded that less advantaged recruits faced barriers in breaking into the life sciences sector, where there is a tendency to recruit graduates from the most prestigious universities.
"Life sciences" employers covered by the report were those involved in pharmaceuticals, medical bio-technology and medical technology.
Joanne Moore, from ARC Network, who led the research on life sciences, said: "Both the investment banking and life science sectors need to do more to ensure fair and equal access to jobs.
"This is important, not just for our economy and society, but for individuals.
"In life sciences, graduate jobs often focus on a candidate's practical skill as well as academic criteria - which may be more limited for non-privileged students who are known to face barriers to taking up placements and internships."
The data on how many new employees in the life science sector attended fee-paying schools is unavailable, according to the report.
However, it pointed out that for professional-level scientific jobs, the profile "appears to be skewed to high achieving graduates from relatively privileged backgrounds".
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Bright youngsters are being turned away from investment banks because of their lack of "polish", a report has said.
| 37,244,180 | 1,129 | 25 | false |
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"I need to do my pre-flight checks," he offers by way of polite reminder.
Aviation is an industry of precision, and with an instructor approaching briskly down the grass verge, and a suitably pricey hour in the air ahead of him, tardiness will not do.
Edinburgh's barnstorming hooker dons headphones and consults a small notepad that resembles a postage stamp in his vast hands, before swooping into the Glenrothes sky.
Sure, he aches desperately for a Scotland cap, and 24-year-old McInally has served a longer apprenticeship in that regard than most, but this mild July afternoon is dedicated to the pursuit of a very different yearning.
"Going on holiday as a kid it was just as exciting for me going to the airport and seeing the planes take off and land as it was going on the holiday," our aspiring airline pilot recalls. "That might sound stupid, but that's where the love sort of began.
"Now I'm in a position where I carry on chasing my dream again and start learning to fly."
Two years ago, an arduous, at times apparently hopeless trek lay ahead of him as he swapped the back row for a tilt at hooker - a voyage that began with the metronomic drilling of specialised technical skills.
Flying became his escape route, the boundless skies his Eden where, for one precious hour, he could discard all the niggles and the doubt and the anxiety that plagues the professional sportsman.
"I was going from playing every week for Edinburgh in the back row to suddenly not playing at all," he explains.
"It was tough, I was doing all this extra strength in the gym on my neck, throwing every second of every day, and there were times where I'd questioned whether it was the right decision.
"There were some dark times and this gives me a chance to step back from it all and forget about it. There's so much going on when you're up in the sky - you've got all the controls to worry about, the radios, you can't think about anything else.
"There's a good saying that when you take off, you leave the runway behind, and it's about leaving everything else in your life behind, because all you can focus on at that point is the cockpit."
When McInally clambers from the hotseat, re-entering normality as his soles kiss tarmac, he can reflect on the fruits of his transition.
He is firmly in contention for Vern Cotter's World Cup 31, the curious caveat being that his rivals, club-mate Ross Ford and Glasgow Warriors' Fraser Brown, have tackled the same positional shift, albeit under more natural circumstances, earlier in their careers.
"I wanted to add value to the pack and play like a back row in that number two jersey," McInally muses.
"I think a lot of hookers who start at hooker maybe aren't - I don't know how to say it - they're not back-row players, they're not as mobile. Growing up, as you get older, coaches I feel want as many of these mobile players on the pitch as possible.
"I guess that's what myself, Fraser and Ross all boast. I always find a lot of players have moved from back row to hooker before pro-rugby, and that's because they want to play pro-rugby, and then they've gone on to play for Scotland.
"I've played 58 times for Edinburgh, and now I'm moving to hooker - I was always like, well, what could I achieve? Could it be even better than what these guys have done?"
Edinburgh, like McInally, have endured a testing two-year period of strategic upheaval under the piercing eye of head coach Alan Solomons.
Their present status was typified by a thunderous run to last season's European Challenge Cup final - the progress was evident, but the underwhelming showpiece loss was a reminder of the patience still demanded in spades.
"We never said we wanted to be a direct team who do not offload and are based solely on defence and physicality," asserts McInally. "What we wanted to say was that's where we're starting.
"We wanted to become a team that was incredibly physical, incredibly good at defence, and then it was about evolving our attack. Alan had a very clear plan - it was building foundations, and next year we will be attacking a lot more.
"I'd say a lot of those comments were unfair. We see Glasgow lifting trophies; that's where we want to be. What Alan's done is nail down parts of our game, six months, eight months at a time, and now they're all going to be coming together next year.
"I'm really excited with the squad we've got. Yes, we've got a lot of overseas players, but they all add a lot of quality to our team.
"We have been improving - we're not having spikes where we're in the semi-final of the Heineken Cup and 11th in the league."
Perhaps being plunged into a national camp generously populated by Warriors buoyed and invigorated by their Pro12 glory is challenging while Edinburgh glance enviously up the table.
"The Glasgow guys are all humble guys, they're not rubbing it in our faces, it's not that kind of environment," counters McInally.
"Glasgow just have this constant desire to improve themselves - to improve the individual, the team, other people.
"On the flip side, we work very much on improving our set-piece and improving aspects together. I think they could also learn little things from us about physicality and certainly the importance of set-piece and how that's paid off."
Little milestones are paramount for McInally, the industrious trainer and diligent student, since coming within inches of a Test debut as an unused replacement against South Africa three years ago.
"When I did my first take-off, for example, it gave me such a big lift," he enthuses. "It's something I've wanted to do for I don't know how many years, and then suddenly I was ready to face the rugby on Monday again."
McInally's aircraft may be a dainty-looking thing -"a washing machine", as his old pal Greig Laidlaw likes to tease - a touch incongruous with its pilot, but as he begins his long-awaited ascent towards international honours, it is this modest cream contraption that has, in every sense, proved his vehicle for success.
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Stuart McInally's exquisite manners show just the merest signs of fraying as he leans over his shoulder to evaluate the progress of two ham-fisted blokes grappling with a camera mount in the cockpit behind him.
| 33,481,716 | 1,539 | 55 | false |
Businessman Ted Malloch is believed to be the favourite for the role.
In a letter, the leaders of the main parliamentary groups say he supports the dissolution of the EU and that his views reveal "outrageous malevolence".
One of the leaders separately said that Mr Malloch, who has previously compared the bloc to the former Soviet Union, should be declared "persona non grata".
In an interview with the BBC last month, Mr Malloch said: "I had in a previous career a diplomatic post where I helped bring down the Soviet Union. So maybe there's another union that needs a little taming."
However, in another interview on Friday with the BBC's World at One he said that his comments at the time had been "tongue-in-cheek".
He characterised the EU as a "very important arrangement that was largely brought about by American contributions... for some long decades it's been absolutely critical to the trans-Atlantic alliance and to US-Europe relations".
But he added: "I do believe it has more and more become a supranational organisation with political ambitions that probably don't fit with all its member states' ambitions."
Mr Malloch has also been a vocal critic of the common currency and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
A letter, co-signed by the centre-right EPP and the liberal Alde group, said his appointment as US ambassador to could seriously undermine transatlantic relations.
"[Mr Malloch's] statements reveal outrageous malevolence regarding the values that define this European Union," it said.
"We are strongly convinced that persons seeing as their mission to disrupt or dissolve the European Union, should not be accredited as official representatives to the EU," it added.
Mr Malloch has worked at the United Nations in Geneva and been on the executive board of the World Economic Forum, a group of global political and business leaders.
He is currently a professor at Henley Business School at the UK's University of Reading.
Socialists and Democrats leader Gianni Pittella wrote a separate letter, voicing concern about his possible appointment, saying that it could "potentially contribute to the spread of populism and euroscepticism across Europe".
"Malloch should not be accepted as an official representative to the EU and should be declared 'persona non grata'," wrote Pittella.
EU Council President Donald Tusk has said he believes Mr Trump's presidency could be a threat to Europe.
The EPP is the biggest group in parliament, followed by the Socialists and Democrats group. The Alde liberals are the fourth-largest group.
The European Parliament is the only directly elected EU body. It represents the people of the EU in contrast to the Council of Ministers, which represents the governments of member countries.
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European Parliament leaders have condemned US President Donald Trump's potential choice as envoy to the EU.
| 38,852,210 | 608 | 22 | false |
The West Highlands of Scotland suffered for generations from depopulation. Many of the brightest young people were lost to their communities when they left for university.
Oban is one of the busiest towns in the area. Over the summer, its population always swells with tourists from home and abroad.
But now its population is more diverse across the whole of the year.
The sign on the road explains why: Oban now calls itself a university town.
This is thanks to the University of the Highlands and Islands - a federation of colleges and institutions at locations from Shetland to Kintyre.
It offers opportunities to students from across the region but also brings in new blood from far and wide including postgraduate students from other EU countries.
Universities across Scotland argue that the EU is important to them: some 10% of research funding comes from the EU while about 16% of academic staff and more than a fifth of research-only staff are from other EU countries.
UHI argues the EU has been even more important to it than some other universities as European money has helped to develop the region's infrastructure and benefited the individual institutions within UHI.
One institution within UHI is the Scottish Association for Marine Science based just outside Oban.
It carries out high level-research and leads a prestigious masters course in aquaculture, environment and society - in collaboration with institutions in Crete and France - which attracts postgraduate students from across the European Union and beyond.
A senior lecturer at SAMS UHI, Dr Elizabeth Cottier-Cook, believes big challenges lie ahead to ensure this course and universities generally do not lose out after Brexit.
She said: "The collaborative links that I have forged over my research career - you cannot put a price on that - and I think it would be a real shame to lose those links."
Only two of the latest cohort of 25 students on the masters are from the UK. The remainder come from overseas, many from EU countries.
One of Dr Cottier-Cook's concerns touches on a widespread worry within academia. There is concern that it will be much more difficult for British universities to work jointly with universities in EU countries on academic research or could be cut off from EU-wide funding.
Asked how damaging it would be for universities generally if such links were not maintained, her answer was stark: "Pretty terrible."
There is already anecdotal evidence to suggest teams at British universities may be encountering new challenges joining some international consortia.
Universities accept the result of the referendum but want to minimise the practical impact on them of leaving the EU.
Alastair Sim, of Universities Scotland, says one option would be for the British government after Brexit to choose to pay in to EU-wide funding pots.
He said: "We want to be part of these schemes on at least as close a basis as Norway is so that we're still part of that common European research endeavour with our closest neighbours."
Universities win funding for research from a number of sources including UK and Scottish funding bodies and the private sector. The cash lost if EU-wide funding were to stop could, in theory at least, be made up in absolute terms.
What some academics worry about more is the risk to British involvement in research carried out collaboratively by teams at different EU universities and that funding in particular fields could be very hard to replace.
Back at SAMS in Oban, Alejandro Espi from Alicante in Spain is working on his postgraduate course. He studied for his degree in Scotland and opted to stay here. As an EU citizen, he has the freedom to live or work in any EU country, so remaining in the UK was not an issue.
One of his big concerns is over what his own, long-term position will be after Britain leaves the EU: will he need a post-study work visa to remain in the UK?
A wider concern at universities is that Britain may simply be less attractive for academic and research staff from EU countries.
A major question, which cannot be answered just now, is what arrangements there will be to ensure they can remain in the UK after Brexit.
Alastair Sim said: "For existing staff, we cannot tell them what conditions there may be for them to remain in the UK - for instance what entitlements they may have for access to public services in the future."
It seems unthinkable that academic and research staff from the EU would not be welcome in Britain. Mainstream supporters of Brexit did not question whether people with these skills were wanted. The issue within academia is about the uncertainty ahead or the fear over what the new arrangements could be.
At one extreme, might freedom of movement effectively continue? Alternatively, would work permits be required? If so, would universities need to show that they were offering a job to someone from the EU because they could not find a British citizen to fill the post? This issue - which affects many other employers - will need to be discussed and settled in the coming negotiations.
At best, universities hope current relationships can be maintained.
At worst, they fear less money, less collaboration on groundbreaking research and fewer opportunities or even barriers for students, staff and academics.
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In his second report on how Scotland's universities may be affected by the decision to leave the European Union, BBC Scotland education correspondent Jamie McIvor assesses the possible impact on postgraduate students, academics and research.
| 38,000,594 | 1,104 | 47 | false |
However, it remains uncertain how many people will come to the UK when restrictions are lifted at the end of the year, said the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007 but faced some restrictions on the kind of jobs they could take.
Pressure group Migration Watch UK called the report a "whitewash".
According to a British Labour Force sample survey, there are currently 26,000 Bulgarians and 80,000 Romanians living in the UK, but the actual numbers could be larger, according to the report.
Q&A: End of Bulgaria and Romania work restrictions
There was no evidence to support a public perception that migration from Romania and Bulgaria would put pressure on social housing, the NIESR report said.
The NIESR did not offer any estimates on migrants as it was not asked to by the British Embassy in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, which commissioned and funded the research.
Instead it looked at where migrants had already gone and their characteristics.
"They are young, they tend to be on their own, and they make limited demands on services," NIESR researcher Heather Rolfe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
She said the researchers examined the likely impact on services if Romanians and Bulgarians were to come.
"There is no need to panic," she concluded.
The report said the impact on services, including housing, education, welfare and health, is likely to be greater if Romanians and Bulgarians move to the UK longer-term.
And while evidence from local surveys showed that Romanians and Bulgarians were interested in coming to the UK, many were considering temporary stays rather than long-term moves.
The main reason for the "modest impact" is that the UK is not the only country that will be lifting restrictions at the end of the year, as France and Germany are also allowing more Romanians and Bulgarians in. Many migrants have also gone to Spain and Italy, the research said.
Romanian and Bulgarian migrants to the UK are likely to be low-skilled workers, employed in construction, catering, hospitality, and as carers or cleaners, the report added.
Studies covering Eastern European migrants found them to be less likely to claim benefits than other migrant groups or the general population, the report said, adding that of those who claim benefits now, the majority receive child benefits.
But there is a limited amount of evidence on the impact of migrants on the welfare system, the NIESR study said.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has previously said that ministers do not know how many Romanians and Bulgarians will come to the UK when restrictions are relaxed.
He also said he had no confidence in figures, published on his department's own website, predicting about 13,000 will arrive.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for tougher controls on immigration, said: "This report is a bucket of whitewash.
"In 60 pages it produces no estimate whatever of the likely future scale of Romanian and Bulgarian migration to the UK.
"It brushes aside any indication of an increase in migration from these countries whose workers are amongst the most mobile in the EU. Furthermore, it avoids tackling the key question of how many Romanian and Bulgarian migrants now in Spain and Italy might transfer to Britain."
Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, said its own research had estimated about 50,000 a year would arrive. Ms Rolfe dismissed that figure as "a stab in the dark".
Minister for Europe David Lidington welcomed the report as a contribution to the debate on migration.
"The report will help to shape this government's work to build an immigration system which works in the national interest - supporting the UK economy by continuing to attract the brightest and the best global talent at the same time as protecting our public services and ensuring our welfare system is not open to abuse," he said.
"Our tough new rules are already taking effect, with overall net migration falling by almost one-third since 2010."
The research included a review of data and of research literature from the UK, Romania and Bulgaria.
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Romanian and Bulgarian migration to the UK will hit schools but have a lesser impact on housing, a report has said.
| 22,031,724 | 875 | 28 | false |
Five years ago Havant Academy was, quite literally, a different school.
Then called Staunton Community Sports College, only one school in England had worse exam results.
In 2010 just 10% of pupils achieved the target measure of five GCSEs including English and Maths at grade A* to C.
The threat of closure loomed large, but a successful campaign by parents in Leigh Park, Hampshire, saved the struggling school, and in September 2010 it became an academy.
It was renamed and refreshed with a multi-million pound refurbishment, and the transformation has been more than just cosmetic.
Last summer 50% of students got five good GCSEs - an increase of 40% in just four years.
The principal admits it has not been easy, and the challenge is far from over.
Helen Cassady joined Havant Academy in July 2013 after what Ofsted called a "turbulent" period of leadership.
A new academy sponsor, the Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT), had taken over the year before.
Three days into what was her first headship, inspectors arrived and put the school into special measures.
Ofsted said teaching and pupil achievement were inadequate, the curriculum did not offer enough variety and pupils' behaviour was poor.
Faced with a daunting task, Miss Cassady says she started with "the basics", instilling good behaviour and creating a "culture of learning".
"We have really focused on the quality of teaching and learning," she said.
"We have quality personal development for staff on a weekly basis.
"We have behaviour systems focusing on positive behaviour, but also focusing on sanctions and accountability.
"We have a reward system with lots of incentives so students are praised for positive behaviour, but also for their progress in lessons and their contribution."
The school's population has higher-than-average levels of deprivation and special educational needs.
One of Miss Cassady's aims has been to encourage aspiration and raise expectations of its pupils.
In order to foster pride in their school, she allowed the students to design a smart new uniform and, in what Ofsted called a "bold" move, introduced sweeping changes to the curriculum so it suited students' aims.
While many would argue over whether academy status helps or hinders schools, Miss Cassady says the freedom of being an academy and the support she has received from the sponsor has made her job easier.
"TKAT have been very good at putting in support where it was needed, but they've also given ownership and power to the principal and the governors," she said.
"There's accountability, but also support. There's high quality professional development, high quality back room support in terms of finances and those aspects, and there's practical school support."
Last year, TKAT, one of the largest multi-academy trusts in the south of England, was criticised by Ofsted for having too many low-performing schools.
Havant Academy is still in special measures, but in its last monitoring report, Ofsted said the school was making progress.
Teaching standards were still variable but had improved, and while progress was still needed in maths, standards in English had leapt ahead.
Overall, inspectors said "effective leadership" had led to "notable improvements" in teaching, achievement, attendance and behaviour.
Miss Cassady is hoping for a good result in the next inspection.
"It is a big challenge and a big step to go from special measures to good," she said.
"But we have made significant progress. When I arrived we only had one maths teacher and one scientist who'd been there for 18 months. Now we have a full complement of scientists and a full complement of mathematicians. The staffing is of really very high quality."
She says the staff, students and parents have been "superb" at embracing change.
"This was my first headship and they say you should choose your first school very wisely," Miss Cassady said.
"The best thing I did was coming to Havant Academy and driving improvement within the school. It's been challenging, but it's been brilliant."
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The BBC talks to the head teacher who transformed the school that was five years ago rated second worst in England.
| 30,989,924 | 908 | 24 | false |
The area around Nuns Street, Derby, has been sealed off after the business reported the mistake at 17:30 BST.
Derbyshire police have erected a cordon and evacuated the area while they wait for the bomb squad to arrive.
The University of Derby's Nunnery Court halls of residence is one of the evacuated buildings.
Buildings in Mill Street, Bridge Street and Nuns Street have all been evacuated and residents sent to rest centres.
Chf Insp Steve Pont said: "There's a company on Nuns Street that used chemicals. They have mixed up chemicals in the wrong way and made a substance that may have explosive potential."
Nunnery Court has about 300 rooms.
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Hundreds of students have been forced to leave their halls of residence after a potentially explosive chemical was accidentally prepared nearby.
| 29,319,465 | 151 | 26 | false |
The discovery comes just days after at least 26 inmates were killed in a riot at the jail in the city of Natal.
Officials said inmates at Alcacuz jail had taken advantage of heavy rains to dig the tunnels in the softened ground.
But they insisted that none of them had been finished and that no prisoner had managed to escape through them.
Violence erupted at Alcacuz on 14 January when rival criminal gangs First Command of the Capital (PCC) and the Crime Union clashed.
At least 26 people were killed in the 14-hour riot.
There have been several outbreaks of violence at the jail since that day.
Military police are erecting a barrier made from 12m-high (39ft) containers between the prison wings occupied by the rival gangs to keep them apart.
Officials said the temporary barricade would eventually be replaced by a cement wall measuring about 90m in length.
Alcacuz prison was designed to hold 620 inmates, but held more than 1,000 before the riot erupted.
The authorities have since transferred 220 prisoners to other prisons.
Brazil has seen a wave of prison violence since the beginning of the year with more than 120 inmates killed.
The spike in violence is blamed on a breakdown of a truce between two of the country's most powerful gangs.
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Police searching a prison in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte say they have found three unfinished escape tunnels.
| 38,721,552 | 303 | 28 | false |
Cindy Stowell was recorded appearing in the show between August and September.
The science content developer, 41, needed to take painkillers to do so, at one point becoming so weak that her voice was barely audible.
The show's producers say she bravely gave her prize money to cancer groups.
"When she taped her episodes in August and September of this year, she had stage four cancer, and she lost her battle with the disease on 5 December," the Jeopardy! website says.
"Cindy won her first game, unseating reigning seven-game champ Tim Aten and claiming $22,801, then went on to win the remaining three games that day.
"She returned [to Texas] for a short break before the next tape session on 13 September, when she won two more games and brought her final total to $103,801."
Jeopardy host Alex Trebek concluded the show on Wednesday with a tribute to Cindy.
"Appearing on the show was the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition for that lady," he said.
"What you did not know is that when we taped these programmes with her a few weeks ago, she was suffering from stage four cancer.
"Sadly, Cindy Stowell has passed away. So from all of us here at Jeopardy our sincere condolences to her family and her friends."
The winning contestant was shown a recording of three of her appearances on the show while in hospital.
Stephen Clarke, 60, of Wednesbury, had admitted causing the death of Farzana Kousar, 39, by dangerous driving.
A court had previously heard how he fell asleep at the wheel before the accident in December 2014.
Ms Kousar's family expressed disappointment at the sentence and urged the Crown to appeal against it.
Clarke was also disqualified from driving for a period of four years at the High Court in Edinburgh.
His van was seen to swerve from lane to lane before colliding with the car in which Ms Kousar was a passenger which had been parked on the hard shoulder.
Judge Lord Boyd said: "It is difficult to find words to describe the impact on Ms Kousar's family and friends.
"I note that she has four children ranging in ages from 21 years old to four years old.
"The youngest was only two years old at the time of her mother's death."
He said a victim statement prepared by her mother made "heart-breaking reading".
"There is nothing I can do or say that can compensate for their loss," he said.
The judge told Clarke it was clear the amount of sleep he had had before undertaking the journey had been "inadequate".
"It is very concerning to learn of the pressures that appear to be placed on self-employed delivery drivers such as you," he added.
However, he said it was to Clarke's credit he had taken full responsibility for what happened.
"You have shown considerable remorse," he added.
Lord Boyd told him he would have jailed him for three years after trial but took into account of his guilty plea in imposing the sentence to two years.
The Kousar family, in a statement given to the press, described it as a "lenient decision".
It said they did not feel justice had been done and were "angry and frustrated" by the sentence.
"We would like the Crown to appeal this decision," the statement said.
"We feel that it gives people permission to fall asleep at the wheel of their vehicles - it sends the message that they won't be properly punished for not taking care on the roads."
It said Clarke would be out of jail "soon enough" to go back to his family.
"We will spend the rest of our lives grieving for the loss of our loved one," the statement added.
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Tributes have been paid to a US woman with colon cancer whose appearances in a six-game series of wins on the popular quiz show Jeopardy were first broadcast eight days after she died.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A delivery van driver from the West Midlands has been jailed for two years for causing the death of a Glasgow woman on the A74(M) near Lockerbie.
| 38,408,522 | 847 | 88 | true |
Laugher, who won bronze in the event at the 2015 Worlds, was sixth after the first of six rounds, but fought back into third with his penultimate dive.
His final routine was solid, but not strong enough to secure a medal. Team-mate Ross Haslam was 11th.
GB have just one medal - mixed 10m silver - to show from 10 events so far.
Laugher finished fourth with fellow synchronised 3m springboard Olympic champion Chris Mears on Saturday, while Rio 2016 bronze medallists Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow were fifth in their 10m event.
China's Siyi Xie claimed 3m gold ahead of Patrick Hausding of Germany, with Ilia Zakharov of Russia taking bronze.
Laugher, 22, told BBC Sport: "That was dreadful from start to finish, awful generally and finishing five points off a medal really isn't good enough.
"I felt prepared, injury free, and training had gone well but I felt nervy and stressed and that showed."
Haslam, 19, scored a personal best of 452.90 in his maiden World Championships, and was delighted with how performed in the final.
"What a thing to be a part of, I'm so pleased and proud to have been a part of it," he told BBC Sport.
Rio Olympian Grace Reid qualified for Friday's individual 3m springboard final with an impressive showing in the semi-final.
The penultimate day of diving action will also see Tom Daley begin his bid for a first individual world title since 2009 when he competes in the 10m preliminaries.
Diving and swimming commentator Bob Ballard:
That's agony - to miss out on a medal by six points.
It will be no consolation to Jack Laugher to know he has been involved in one of the great 3m finals. All he will think about is the big dives that weren't quite on when he needed them to be.
Fifth in that company is no disgrace and will make him even more determined not to finish off the podium again. He is a classy diver among many in that field.
Ross Haslam will gain a lot from this experience - he's proved he can survive at the highest level.
Mr Qahtani, an economics professor, faces nine charges, including setting up an unlicensed organisation and breaking allegiance to the king.
Another rights campaigner, Abdullah al-Hamid, also appeared in court.
Human rights groups say political activists are regularly jailed for their work in Saudi Arabia, some without access to lawyers.
Mr Qahtani, a co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), is one of several Saudi human rights activists who are being tried on similar charges.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Mr Hamid, who is also on trial, is another founder of ACPRA.
The BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher says supporters and relatives of Mr Qahtani and Mr Hamed were allowed into the courtroom but were later ordered to leave by the judge.
During the hearing, they were using Twitter to report on proceedings, giving the opening of the trial a measure of transparency that is unusual in Saudi Arabia, he says.
Mr Qahtani said he was told by the court to issue a new written response to his charges by Monday.
Speaking afterwards to the BBC, he said: "We have been doing our work for several years. The authorities kept quiet for a long time, but now they are coming after us hard. We are not going to be silent. We will continue to do our work."
Amnesty International says Mr Qahtani faces other charges which include inciting public opinion by accusing authorities of human rights abuses, and turning international organisations against the country.
In April, rights activist Mohammed al-Bajadi received a four-year jail sentence, in what Amnesty said demonstrated "a blatant disregard for his fundamental rights".
Saudi Arabia's interior ministry has said there are no political prisoners in the kingdom.
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A disappointing World Championships for British diving continued as Olympic silver medallist Jack Laugher finished fifth in the 3m springboard final.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Prominent human rights activist Mohammad al-Qahtani has gone on trial in Saudi Arabia.
| 40,676,624 | 924 | 54 | true |
It happened as police responded to a report of a domestic incident in Donaghadee shortly after 23:00 GMT on Friday.
They spotted a car believed to have been involved travelling on the Movilla Road into Newtownards but it failed to stop when signalled to do so. It hit the police car a number of times before driving off.
It was discovered a short time later in Drumhirk Avenue in the town.
A 26-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences. They were later released on police bail pending further inquiries.
Police said the two officers suffered non-life threatening injuries during the incident.
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Two police officers have been injured after their car was hit by a suspected stolen car in Newtownards, County Down.
| 39,089,374 | 152 | 27 | false |
Concern over Mr Trump's protectionist policies hit the US currency, helping sterling rise 0.89% to $1.24860, a one-month high.
Meanwhile the benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 47.26 points to 7,151.18.
A stronger pound can hurt multinational firms, as overseas profits are worth less when converted back into sterling.
The biggest faller in the FTSE 100 was bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair. Its shares dropped 4.38% after it said revenues had been affected by a run of "customer friendly" results.
The company said football results in December and Donald Trump's surprise US election win had cost it about £40m in the final quarter of 2016.
Electronics giant Dixons Carphone fell by 2.58% ahead of a trading update on Tuesday, however airline Easyjet - which will also update the markets - gained 3.07%.
Miner Antofagasta was the best performing stock, climbing 3.6% and leading other basic resources shares higher. Rival Fresnillo also did well, gaining 3.42%.
Despite its recent gains, the pound is still down by about 17% against the dollar since the Brexit vote in June 2016.
Terry Pareja, from the Philippines, was visiting relatives when he became ill a month ago, according to his daughter, Jeffmarey Pareja.
The family believes Mr Pareja's bug was caused by a spider bite, but doctors have said this link is not supported by evidence.
"It's eating him alive, literally," Ms Pareja told the BBC.
"He needs to stay in hospital for about 12 to 18 months."
She said Mr Pareja, 65, had been diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis.
Necrotising fasciitis is caused by a bacterium called Group A streptoccocus (Strep A), which exists in the nose and throat or on the skin of many people without causing harm.
It can be lethal, however, if it gets into an area such as the heart, lungs or muscles through broken skin or damaged tissue.
It then attacks the flesh, which dies causing the rest of the system to go into shock, leading to organ failure.
Two hospitals confirmed Mr Pareja had been a patient, but they did not discuss his case for privacy reasons.
Ms Pareja has raised more than A$10,000 (£6,000; $7,500) in a fundraising effort to help cover medical bills.
"He was just here for vacation and what it has turned to is tragedy," she said.
Prof Mark Walker, director of the Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre, said the disease was rare.
"Once necrotising fasciitis starts it is very rapid in its progress," he said.
"People who wind up with that disease do get treated with antibiotics, but the damage is already done."
Not according to clinical toxicologist Dr Geoff Isbister, who published a study on the subject in 2004.
Dr Isbister described linking necrotising fasciitis and spider bites as a myth.
"It's usually caused by a streptococcal infection," said Dr Isbister, from Australia's University of Newcastle.
"There has never been a definite case where someone has got bitten by a spider, caught the spider, identified it and developed necrotising fasciitis."
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(Close): UK stocks closed lower on Monday as the pound gained against the dollar following Donald Trump's inauguration speech.
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A man has had his legs amputated after being infected with a flesh-eating disease in Australia, his family says.
| 38,715,793 | 738 | 59 | true |
The monarch also officially opened the £15m National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art during her visit to Newmarket, Suffolk.
The bronze statue at the Newmarket Racecourse entrance was a gift from the town in the year of her 90th birthday.
It shows the Queen with a mare and a foal.
The piece was created by Etienne Millner, who sculpted the Queen, and Charlie Langton, who was responsible for the animals.
The Queen, dressed in pink, arrived in Newmarket by helicopter at 11:00 GMT.
After cutting the ribbon to unveil the statue, she was driven to the town centre, where she was greeted by schoolchildren singing the national anthem and waving Union flags.
She was shown around the grounds of the heritage centre, where horses, including two of her former racehorses Barbers Shop and Quadrille, are kept.
The Queen fed a carrot to one horse before being taken into the trainers' house where she was shown a racehorse simulator.
Peter Jensen, the heritage centre's director and chairman of the Home of Horseracing Trust, said it was a "great honour" to have the Queen officially open the venue.
"We are extremely proud of what has been created over many years and the new home for the horseracing museum," he said.
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The Queen's lifelong dedication to thoroughbreds has been celebrated as she unveiled a statue of herself in a town famed for its horseracing links.
| 37,861,167 | 293 | 38 | false |
Former prime ministers' numbers were among those visible on a government website for more than three months, Fairfax Media reported.
The details appeared invisible until they were highlighted with a cursor or copied and pasted elsewhere.
PM Malcolm Turnbull and some leading members of the government were not affected.
But Fairfax said the bungle hit Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, and former prime ministers Julia Gillard, John Howard and Paul Keating.
The information has since been removed from the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) website.
In a statement to the BBC, the department said the numbers were included on a report into parliamentary phone and data spending.
The report was created by private contractor TELCO Management, the statement said.
"In the most recent report provided by the contractor, it became possible to view the official mobile phone number of parliamentarians and their staff even though they appeared redacted from the published files," a DPS spokesperson said.
"The DPS removed the documents... shortly after it was alerted to the issue and is working with the contractor to investigate the cause."
The department would address privacy concerns with MPs, said the spokesperson.
The number of those affected was not revealed, but Fairfax said it ran into the hundreds.
TELCO Management has been contacted for comment.
Eye consultant Amar Alwitry was due to start at Jersey's General Hospital in December 2012 but was told a week before by the States Employment Board (SEB) his contract had been terminated.
Mr Alwitry said he had queried the safety of certain practices.
SEB said it was considering future legal action over the findings.
The board said it had noted the report's observations and expressed "significant disappointment" regarding a number of conclusions which it said it would not comment on.
Mr Alwitry, who was born in Jersey, said he was "absolutely gutted" when his contract was withdrawn "completely out of the blue".
He said: "I didn't eat for a week.
"My plan was always to come home to serve the people and so I've tailored my entire career to that aim."
The glaucoma specialist said he was told by senior staff at the hospital to "put up or shut up" when he suggested it would be unsafe for him to operate on a Friday unless senior colleagues could provide emergency care over the weekend.
The States Complaints Panel found managers had terminated Mr Alwitry's contract based on their subjective beliefs he was a "trouble maker" and the decision making process was not sufficiently transparent.
It said this reflected "19th Century" practices and it criticised the HR directorate and the then Solicitor General Howard Sharp QC for failing to recognise those problems.
"On a personal level the decision to terminate Dr. Alwitry's contract of employment has destroyed his professional life", the panel said.
Mr Alwitry said he had not found a permanent NHS position since he had resigned as a substantive consultant in Derby to move to Jersey and is considering legal action.
Efrain Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas were arrested by undercover American agents in Haiti in November and taken to the US.
They denied charges of attempting to smuggle five kilograms (11lb) of cocaine in the the United States.
They are nephews of President Nicolas Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores.
Ms Flores served as speaker of the National Assembly between 2006 and 2011.
Judge Paul Crotty has scheduled the next hearing for 29 February.
The head of Venezuela's National Assembly said in November that Mr Campo Flores and Mr Flores de Freitas had been "kidnapped" by US Drug Enforcement Agents.
Relations between the two countries have been tense for many years.
The US has criticised the Venezuelan government for the way it has dealt with opposition protests last year.
It has banned senior Venezuelan officials from travelling to the US over alleged corruption and human rights violations.
Earlier this month, Mr Maduro's party (PSUV) suffered a major political blow in elections for the National Assembly.
Opposition parties won a key two-thirds majority in the assembly, paving the way for radical changes to the socialist policies of the past 16 years.
The election result is the worst for the Socialist movement founded by late leader Hugo Chavez in 1999.
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The private phone numbers of a large section of Australian politicians have been mistakenly published online.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
The withdrawal of a doctor's contract was "contrary to law, unjust, oppressive", a government complaints panel has found.
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Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady have pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges at a court in New York.
| 39,324,140 | 960 | 82 | true |
The 27-year-old from Kirkcaldy was under the cosh in the first five-minute round but then edged ahead with his superior striking against his tiring opponent to win 28-27, 29-27, 28-28.
Ray has won 21 of his 27 fights.
"I want to 'main-event' Glasgow. UFC is coming, I've earned my spot," he said.
"I'm the number one fighter from Scotland and it would be a dream come true to headline there. I'll take anybody. I want that headline spot."
Ray beat the UK's top-ranked lightweight Ross Pearson at UFC Fight Night Belfast last November and with this win over the 32-year-old New Englander Lauzon, tied with Nate Diaz for the most post-fight bonuses, he has further boosted his standing.
Ray told the UFC website: "I thought it was close so I wanted to finish out the third round strong.
"I knew his takedowns and top control during some of the fight could be held against me - even though I was being very active from the bottom - so I wanted to put it all on the table at the end.
"I expected this kind of fight from the beginning. Joe has all of those bonuses and that's because he fights like a warrior. I knew he would be tough and that I'd have to be tougher."
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Fife lightweight Stevie Ray is already looking forward to the UFC event in Glasgow this summer after beating Massachusetts' Joe Lauzon in Nashville on Saturday night.
| 39,684,088 | 309 | 34 | false |
Houghton, 21, who has agreed a new deal at Stamford Bridge until 2018, has scored one goal in 27 games for Rovers.
May, 23, has signed a two-and-a-half year contract at the Keepmoat.
"It is a big step, but I feel confident I can play in League Two," May told the club website.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.
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League Two side Doncaster have extended the loan of Chelsea midfielder Jordan Houghton until the end of the season and signed forward Alfie May from non-league Hythe Town.
| 38,484,187 | 92 | 40 | false |
The 30-year-old Wales captain moved to Salford from Huddersfield in 2016 and has also played for Bradford and Halifax.
He has featured in all seven games for Salford this season as they sit fifth in the league.
"He's a player who gives 100% every time he goes onto the field," head coach Ian Watson told the club website.
The length of the new deal has not been disclosed.
The US broadcaster behind channels such as Eurosport and TLC had threatened to remove its channels from Sky on 31 January after a dispute over fees.
Discovery said the new agreement would keep its programmes on Sky for "years to come".
Sky's UK chief Stephen van Rooyen said the deal was concluded on the "right terms".
No financial details of the agreement have been released by either company.
Many channels pay thousands of pounds to appear on Sky's platform. However, Sky also pays some channel providers to include their content in subscription packages.
Discovery had claimed Sky did not pay a "fair price" for its channels - but Sky said Discovery's threat to remove the channels was about "commercial self-interest".
Announcing the agreement, Mr Van Rooyen said: "The deal has been concluded on the right terms after Discovery accepted the proposal we gave them over a week ago."
A spokesman for Discovery said the deal was "meaningfully better than our former agreement and their proposal".
He said: "Our new arrangement enables us to control our destiny in more ways, with even more opportunities to invest and launch channels and consumer services."
Tim Westcott, senior principal analyst in TV programming at IHS Markit said Sky was probably looking for ways to save money when renegotiating channel carriage deals, as it copes with large rises in sports rights costs.
"Sky is trying to control its operating costs. One way of doing that is to cut back on what it pays channel providers," said Mr Westcott.
Discovery's portfolio in the UK includes Discovery Channel, Eurosport, TLC, Animal Planet and DMAX. Its channels are also available on other services such as Virgin Media.
Sky also announced a new deal with PBS America that will bring the US broadcaster's factual programming to Sky, covering history, science, current affairs, arts and culture.
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Salford Red Devils prop Craig Kopczak has signed a new deal with the Super League side.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Satellite broadcaster Sky has secured a last-minute deal to keep 12 Discovery channels on its television service.
| 39,438,101 | 483 | 48 | true |
Aliaskhab Kebekov, head of the Caucasus Emirate, died with two other militants after special forces surrounded a house in Buynaksk, the Russian sources said.
Kebekov took charge of the militant group in March last year after the death of its founder, Doku Umarov.
The group was linked to al-Qaeda, but Kebekov did not support Islamic State.
The official Twitter feed of the emirate's Dagestan section - (@VDagestan_Arab) - also reported that Kebekov had been killed in a battle with Russian forces. However, there has been no official confirmation yet from the rebel command.
Kebekov was also known as Ali Abu Mukhammad al-Dagestani.
The Caucasus Emirate consists of militants fighting to set up an independent Islamic state in the North Caucasus. Islam is the dominant religion in Dagestan and neighbouring Chechnya.
Doku Umarov had claimed responsibility for major attacks in Russia and had been Russia's most-wanted man. Reports say he was poisoned in 2013.
The 22-year-old has signed a three-year deal with the Wiltshire club.
He helped Forest Green Rovers clinch promotion last term with 16 National League appearances in a half-season loan deal, and Rovers were interested in signing him on a permanent basis.
"I got a promotion last year and I came here to get another one," Woolery told Swindon's club website.
The former Notts County loanee made one league appearance for the Latics after signing on a free transfer from Bolton in 2016.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.
David Kingston, 38, of Hertfordshire, resigned from St Lawrence Roman Catholic Primary in Hounslow in 2014.
A National College for Teaching conduct panel heard he admitted having viewed images depicting bestiality.
He was found not guilty of expressing a sexual interest in children online after the panel heard it was "unclear" who had made the posts.
Mr Kingston, who began work at the school in 2002, told the panel he had not actively searched for images depicting sexual activity involving a person and an animal.
"I did not actively access these images," he said, "but simply tolerated them upon being shown to me."
It was, he told the panel, his partner at the time who had searched for the images.
However, the panel's recommendation that he not face a prohibition order was overturned by the secretary of state.
While the panel said Mr Kingston was "a passive participant" and the incident "did not involve any pupils" the secretary of state found the panel had "not taken sufficient account of the public concern" the case would arouse.
A two-year ban was imposed.
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Russian anti-terrorist officials say their forces have killed a North Caucasus jihadist leader in a shoot-out in the troubled republic of Dagestan.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
League Two side Swindon Town have signed Wigan Athletic forward Kaiyne Woolery for £350,000.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A former assistant head who admitted viewing images of bestiality has been banned from teaching for two years.
| 32,383,809 | 629 | 85 | true |
As many as 4,000 reindeer are involved in accidents with cars every year in Lapland, which is a region of Finland.
The Reindeer Herders Association hopes the reflective spray will help drivers see them during the dark months.
The special spray is being tested on the reindeer's fur and antlers to see if it stays on in different weather conditions.
It comes after the Islamic State (formerly known as Isis) seized two towns and two nearby oilfields from Kurdish troops over the weekend.
Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, say they are planning a counter-attack.
Militants seized large swathes of northern Iraq from government control in June.
Since then, relations between the autonomous Kurdistan Region and Baghdad have been strained. Correspondents say Mr Maliki's offer of air support could indicate a degree of rapprochement in the face of the Islamic State advance.
In a statement on Monday, Iraqi army spokesman Qassem Atta said: "The commander in chief of the armed forces has issued orders to the leadership of the air force and the army's aviation units to provide air support to Peshmerga forces."
Kurdish leaders have not yet responded to the offer.
Earlier, a Kurdish official told Reuters news agency that Peshmerga forces had been overstretched but were now calling in large numbers of fighters to hit back.
"It is a very dangerous situation for the region. Something needs to be done soon," the official said.
A Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD, said its fighters had crossed the border on Monday. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) also urged all Kurds to take up the fight against the Sunni militants, Reuters reported.
The PKK has spent three decades fighting for autonomy for Turkey's Kurds and is currently engaged in a peace process with the Turkish government.
The UN said tens of thousands of people from Iraq's minority Yazidi community had fled their homes after the Sunni militants captured the towns of Sinjar and Zumar at the weekend.
Many of those who fled were said to be in exposed mountainous areas near the towns.
Who are the Yazidis?
Iraq: The minorities of Nineveh
The UN special envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, told the BBC their situation was desperate.
"We have the supplies in place and we can move them immediately as soon as the security situation permits us to do that," he said.
"The situation is quite dramatic. We have increasing reports of people who have no access to drinking water, not to speak of food or lack of medication."
The Kurdish minority in Iraq managed to establish an autonomous region in the north in 2005 after decades of political and military efforts to seek self-rule.
When jihadists from the Islamic State swept across northern Iraq in June, Kurds seized many areas abandoned by the Iraqi army.
Peshmerga fighters were regarded as one of the few forces capable of standing up to the Sunni insurgents.
In July, the Kurdish political bloc ended all participation in Iraq's national government in protest over claims by Mr Maliki that Kurds were sheltering militants.
IS describes the territory under its control in Iraq and Syria as a caliphate.
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Herders in Lapland are spraying their reindeer with a special paint designed to reflect car headlights.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has ordered the air force to provide support to Kurdish forces fighting Sunni militants in the north.
| 26,258,452 | 758 | 60 | true |
The comedy series, which stars Larry David as an exaggerated version of himself, last aired an original episode in 2011.
Speaking about the show's five-year absence, David joked: "In the immortal words of Julius Caesar, 'I left, I did nothing, I returned'."
An official return date for the new series has not yet been confirmed.
The commissioning of a new series is the first major programming decision by Casey Bloys, who took over as president of programming at HBO last month.
In a statement, he said: "We're thrilled that Larry has decided to do a new season of Curb and can't wait to see what he has planned."
The show, which premiered in 2000 and stars David in a fictionalised version of his own life, is HBO's longest-running scripted comedy series.
The actor, who also co-created comedy series Seinfeld, has maintained a high profile in the US since Curb Your Enthusiasm was last broadcast, parodying Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Saturday Night Live and recently appearing on NBC variety show Maya and Marty.
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Curb Your Enthusiasm will return for a ninth season, US network HBO has announced.
| 36,536,700 | 252 | 24 | false |
The Irish RFU were keen to retain the services of the 49-year-old after back-to-back Six Nations Championship wins.
Ireland would probably have preferred to tie Schmidt into a longer deal, knowing his record with Leinster and Ireland makes him a man in demand.
"I am looking forward to the next two challenging years with the national team," said Schmidt.
"It has been great to be involved in such a player-driven environment, along with such a skilled and positive staff, to support them in their quest to be as competitive as possible."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Schmidt guided Leinster to two Heineken Cup triumphs, two Pro12 titles and a European Challenge Cup success during his three seasons with the province.
After taking over from Declan Kidney in the summer of 2013, he led Ireland to the Six Nations Championship during his first 12 months in charge and his team retained that title in 2015 following a successful autumn campaign which included wins over South Africa and Australia.
Overall, Ireland have won 16 of the 20 Tests they have played under Schmidt.
The announcement of their coach's contract extension came just 17 days before Ireland face an opening World Cup warm-up game against Wales in Cardiff.
"We believe that Joe is one of the leading coaches in world rugby, so we are delighted that he has extended his contract and will continue to work in Irish rugby until the end of the 2016/17 season," IRFU performance director David Nucifora said.
"Outside of his national team duties, Joe has contributed to the development of indigenous coaches across the provincial and under-age structures, as well as having a positive input into the Ireland Under-20 and women's squads."
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Joe Schmidt will remain as Ireland coach until at least June 2017 after signing a one-year contract extension.
| 33,627,916 | 363 | 23 | false |
Lincolnshire Police officers are working with the RSPCA to find the attacker of a swan with a piece of wood on Brayford Pool in Lincoln.
RSPCA officer Charlotte Childs said she had also received reports of people kicking ducks against a wall in Lincoln city centre.
Anyone with information about the attacks should contact police.
Talking about the swan attack, PC Nick Willey, wildlife crime office for Lincolnshire Police, said: "It's unbelievable to think someone can pull up in the middle of Lincoln city centre, get out and use a length of wood to batter a swan and then drag it into the back of a van and drive off.
"It is very distressing for members of the public and for myself as a wildlife officer to see this beautiful bird targeted in such a way."
'Defenceless creature'
Ms Childs said the RSPCA had noticed a rise in attacks against birds.
"This does seems to be rapidly on the increase," she said. "We've had attacks from children to grown men.
"Inflicting pain on a defenceless creature is nothing other than cruelty and cruelty does seem to be on the increase."
Alison Townsend, Weirfield Animal Hospital near Lincoln, said she was currently caring for about 100 ducklings, rescued over the past few weeks.
"They have been left to die after their mothers were deliberately taken from where the family was nesting," she said.
"The biggest problem we have is that at this stage, the ducklings are not waterproof and if they are left on the water on their own, they will die."
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Animal welfare officers are stepping up patrols around Lincoln after reports of attacks on ducks and swans.
| 18,128,880 | 355 | 25 | false |
Bradford Council invited people to submit "commercially-viable" ideas to save the Bradford Odeon.
Bradford Live successfully appealed for a music venue, after the council bought the building for £1 in 2013.
However the money has not been secured for the redevelopment and large public sector funding or lottery grants will be needed.
Bradford Live hope to restore the Odeon's original auditorium to hold up to 4,000 people and put on up to 200 events each year.
The landmark venue, which hosted acts such as Tom Jones and The Rolling Stones, has been derelict since closing in 2000.
It was then acquired by the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward who proposed the redevelopment of the site.
With the abolition of Yorkshire Forward in 2012 the Homes and Communities Agency took over the site and then sold it to Bradford Council.
The two-car crash happened on the A937 at Marykirk in November 2013.
Bojidar Katsarov was born after his mother was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
A possible case against one of the drivers, Chavdar Ivanov, was investigated, but the Crown Office said no further proceedings would be taken.
A Crown Office spokesman told the BBC Scotland news website: "It is the duty of the Crown to keep cases under review.
"After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances in this case Crown Counsel instructed that there should be no further proceedings taken."
The challenge rests on the distinction between federal and state-run insurance marketplaces set up as part of President Obama's 2010 law.
During arguments the two justices expected to make the deciding vote did not make clear how they would rule.
The high court previously upheld a separate element of the law in 2012.
But many of its provisions have begun since then and an estimated 9.5 million people are enrolled in the programme.
In King v Burwell, the justices are being asked to determine whether the wording of the law makes people in all 50 states eligible for federal tax subsidies that make insurance premiums more affordable.
The 2010 law, often known as Obamacare, set up a federally run insurance exchange where Americans who were not covered by employers or other governmental could buy health insurance.
Individual states also set up exchanges, but most states declined to do so. Residents in thirty-four states would be affected by the decision.
Challengers at the court say five words of the law - "exchange established by the State" - means only those covered by state-run exchanges are eligible for federal subsidies.
The Obama administration argues this is a too-narrow reading of the law, which spans near 1,000 pages, and the rest of the legislation makes clear subsidies are intended for those who meet income requirements, regardless of which exchange insurance was purchased from.
Independent studies by the Urban Institute and the Rand Corporation estimate eight million people would lose insurance if the court rules for the plaintiffs.
During arguments on Wednesday, lawyers on both sides were aggressively questioned by the court's justices in a clear show of the court's ideological divide.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said giving subsidies only to people in some states would be "disastrous" while Justice Antonin Scalia argued the wording "may not be the statute Congress intended, but it may be the statute Congress wrote".
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who often provides the deciding vote in close cases, said he saw a "serious constitutional problem" with plaintiffs' argument.
He argued removing subsidies would unlawfully pressure states but said the law's challengers may win based on the plain text reading.
Justice John Roberts, who cast the deciding vote in the 2012 case, said very little during arguments.
Protesters, both in support and in opposition to the law, rallied outside the court.
"You shouldn't have to choose between a roof over your head or healthcare - or do I go to the doctor today, or do I make sure my kids can eat something today?" one protester, Michelle Boyle, a nurse from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said.
Republicans and conservatives see the law as a government overreach.
Marsha Blackburn, a Republican congresswoman from Tennessee, told the gathering that she was confident the court would rule against the subsidies in the law.
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An £18m scheme to turn a former cinema and concert hall into a live music venue has been approved.
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No criminal proceedings are to be taken after a baby boy who was delivered following a crash involving his pregnant mother died.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
The US Supreme Court appears sharply divided over a healthcare law challenge that could threaten health insurance for eight million Americans.
| 30,288,587 | 915 | 77 | true |
The role will be taken by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, who is currently chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services.
He will replace Cyrus Mistry, who was suddenly removed from the post in October 2016, in February.
Mr Mistry resigned from all boards in December having led the conglomerate for four years.
Tata Sons is the holding company for a business empire ranging from Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel to aviation and salt pans.
IT outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India's most-valuable company with a market capitalisation of $67bn (£55bn).
Mr Chandrasekaran started as TCS chief executive in 2009, having joined Tata in 1987. The board described him as a "Tata lifer".
He will take over as the executive chairman from 21 February, having been unanimously recommended for the role by the selection committee, the company said in a statement.
The appointment of N Chandrasekaran as the top boss of India's largest conglomerate has not come as a huge surprise. Ever since Cyrus Mistry was fired and a selection panel formed to find his successor, Mr Chandrasekaran has been considered the front runner.
He has a proven track record having spearheaded Tata Consultancy Services for the past eight years. The IT service provider grew tremendously both in terms of profits and stature, under his leadership becoming the country's most valuable company.
The fact that he has been working with Tata for the past 30 years makes him an "insider" - which many believe will help him in running the huge conglomerate effectively.
But Mr Chandrasekaran takes charge of Tata at a time when it's facing huge challenges.
Cyrus Mistry and Tata Group have been involved in a very bitter, public battle, during which both the sides have made serious but unverified allegations against each other. The events over the past three months have damaged the group's reputation.
The other challenge will be to stabilise some of Tata's key businesses including its steel operations in Europe.
Mr Mistry's removal in October led to rancorous exchanges between him and Tata's management.
In an email to the board Mr Mistry said that he became a "lame duck" chairman and alleged constant interference, including being asked to sign off on deals he knew little about.
In October, Tata Sons' board set up a five-member selection committee that included patriach Ratan Tata to choose a new chairman within the next four months. Mr Tata took over as interim chairman of Tata Sons.
In November, Tata said Mr Mistry had presided over falling income, rising costs and had "dismantled" the company's structure.
John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were found guilty of planting pressure cooker bombs at the British Columbia legislature on Canada Day in 2013.
A judge said police manipulated the couple into carrying out the attack.
The pair did not have the mental capacity plan the attack on their own, the judge added.
"The world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more out of marginalized people," British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce wrote in her ruling.
Nuttall and Korody, two Canadian-born citizens, were convicted in 2015 on three terrorism-related charges, including conspiracy to commit murder and possessing explosive devices for a terrorist group.
The couple faced life in prison.
However, their convictions were not registered after defence lawyers argued that police had entrapped the couple.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the country's national police, undertook a months-long, undercover sting operation that ended in the couple's arrest.
But Judge Bruce said the police made an "enormous effort" to assist the couple in carrying out the attack.
"The defendants were the foot soldiers but the undercover officer was the leader of the group," the judge said.
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Indian industrial giant Tata Sons has named a new chairman after the previous incumbent was ousted sparking a bitter management feud.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A Canadian couple convicted of a terrorism plot will be set free after a judge ruled they had been entrapped in a police sting operation.
| 38,597,479 | 872 | 67 | true |
Defender Davies, 30, put a picture on social media of two large scratch marks on his neck just over an hour after the game.
But Davies tweeted on Thursday: "I agree there was no malice in it.
"I didn't even notice until HT. It was just a war wound I thought I'd share."
Swansea boss Garry Monk had earlier dismissed suggestions a Swansea player maliciously caused scratch marks on the face of Davies.
"Had anything untoward gone on you'd have seen a reaction on the pitch," Monk said.
"It was a very clean game, there was no malice that I saw on the pitch at any point.
"I think we're just guessing what that message really means. You'd have to ask him, I don't think it's directed at any Swansea player."
Former Aston Villa and West Brom player Davies tweeted a picture with the caption "And they say Diego Costa is "physical" #Scarface #Claws.
Chelsea striker Costa was banned for three games for violent conduct after he clashed with Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny.
Monk, a former centre half himself, said the battle between defender and striker can be a physical one on the pitch.
"I wouldn't say it's part of the game, but sometimes you get into battles. You can get a scratch or a cut from anything," Monk added.
"It could be unintentional, it can be intentional, I've seen it throughout the years."
Monk hoped the physical nature of football would not be diluted by increased scrutiny and said: "It should be physical. We should never take it away from the game.
"We've cut it down in terms of reckless challenges and rightly so, but for me the physical part of it is what fans pay to see as well.
"They want to see teams fighting each other for the ball, but in the right manner."
13 October 2015 Last updated at 08:16 BST
Their mum couldn't look after them so they're being cared for by zoo staff in a special nursery of their own.
Staff are bottle feeding the cubs, who are enjoying crawling around their nursery and playing with other tiger cubs.
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Hull City defender Curtis Davies said scratches on his face were not deliberately caused by an opponent during his side's 1-0 League Cup win over Swansea City.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Three rare white Bengal tiger cubs have been born at a zoo in Crimea in Eastern Europe.
| 34,353,091 | 512 | 67 | true |
The haul included a beer keg bomb, a number of rockets, AK-47 rifles, semtex explosives, handguns and ammunition.
The weapons were all seized by members of the Irish police force (An Garda Síochána) over the last two years.
They said they have had "significant success" in disrupting attacks, aimed mainly at targets in Northern Ireland.
Assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Mahoney said the beer keg bomb was found about 400m from the Irish border and was "ready for use in Northern Ireland".
The device was discovered in Kilcurry, near Dundalk in County Louth, in May 2014.
"I can say with confidence that our interventions and arrests have, without doubt, saved lives," Mr O'Mahoney said.
"Just in the last two years we have over 30 firearms seized, over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, a number of mortars, a number of rocket launchers.
"I suppose one very significant find [in 2014] was in County Dublin where we had a significant seizure of semtex explosives."
Over the course of last year, 31 people were arrested in the Republic of Ireland on suspicion of dissident republican paramilitary activity, 22 of whom were charged at the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
Mr O'Mahoney said that over the past five or six years, his force had seen "a steady and a gradual rise in the activities of dissident republicans" and said their methods were "becoming more sophisticated", particularly their bomb-making capacity.
"When you look at some of these devices, the way that they are operated, it shows an increasing sign again of sophistication in relation to engineering."
He also said that Irish police had foiled potential dissident republican attacks ahead of Queen Elizabeth's visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011 and the visit of Prince Charles last year.
"On both occasions we had significant disruption in relation to planned attacks," he said.
The assistant commissioner said there was evidence that dissident republicans in the Republic of Ireland were providing support for attacks carried out in Northern Ireland, with funding from organised crime such as drug dealing and extortion.
"The individuals planning, supporting and perpetrating these attacks carry out their preparation both within Northern Ireland and in this state," he said.
"While the attacks themselves rarely manifest themselves in this jurisdiction, An Garda Síochána continues to devote, on a daily basis, significant resources to tackle this problem."
He warned that dissident republican paramilitaries continued to pose a real threat to life, particularly to members of the security forces in Northern Ireland, and appealed to the public to report suspicious activity to the police.
He added that his officers are in daily contact with their counterparts in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and said there was "excellent" co-operation between the two forces in combating dissident republican violence.
"We have a shared objective to help protect all people on this island and we take this responsibility very seriously.
"Our commitment to countering the threat posed by these dissident republicans is continuous and necessary," Mr O'Mahoney said.
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Dissident republican paramilitaries are becoming increasingly skilled at making bombs, Irish police have said as they displayed a sample of seized weapons.
| 35,244,216 | 705 | 34 | false |
Cage has caused controversy by suggesting that MI5 harassment could have contributed to the radicalisation of the Kuwaiti-born computer graduate who grew up in west London.
Human rights groups say they are doing "vital work" but critics have called the organisation "apologists for terror".
Cage describes itself as "an independent organisation working to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror" and has spoken out against the UK's anti-terrorism laws.
Cage said Mohammed Emwazi had sought their assistance after being interrogated by a British security official in the Netherlands following an attempted visit to Tanzania.
Prime Minister David Cameron has defended the security services amid criticism that they failed to stop Mohammed Emwazi from leaving the UK for Syria.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said accusations that the security services were at fault were "incredible".
He said: "It is beyond satire and amounts to nothing less than an apology for terror".
'Unwise language'
Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terror legislation for the government, said: "At the very least Cage are guilty of sloppy thinking and very unwise language.
"Before they can command any credibility from the wider community, they should make it clear that they reject the murder by ISIL of Christians and of Muslims who disagree with their views, and that they reject beheading and burning people alive.
"They should also give clear advice that joining ISIL constitutes a criminal act."
But the human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith defended the "vital" work of Cage and denied they are apologists for terrorism.
He said: "They do important work and the UK authorities need to understand that alienating moderate Muslims is the worst thing that could possibly be done at this time.
"I myself represent those said to be 'terrorists' and since Magna Carta, in 1215, we have presumed people innocent rather than guilty.
"If criticism must be levelled, it should be aimed at those who betray the fundamentals of our legal system by locking people up without trials, or just assassinating people with drones.
"Of the people who they said were the worst of the worst terrorists in the world, we have thus far demonstrated that at least 750 out of 779 were not - and that is a 96% error rate by the CIA and others.
"While I do not know enough about the individual cases of Mohammed Emwazi and Michael Adebolajo and their radicalisation, it is clear beyond dispute that when we jettison our principles we make ourselves hypocrites and hypocrisy is the yeast that ferments extremism."
Cage, formerly known as Cageprisoners, was set up in London in 2004, and has just four full-time employees.
Moazzem Begg joined the group when he was released from Guantanamo in 2005 and is still the outreach director of the organisation.
In February last year Mr Begg was arrested and held at Belmarsh prison on terrorism charges relating to the civil war in Syria.
He was released after seven months, when all charges were dropped.
Cage told the BBC that in the past they had been funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Roddick Foundation.
However, Cage said their bank accounts were frozen last year, at the time of Mr Begg's arrest.
Although he was cleared of all criminal charges, the organisation's accounts have not been reinstated and Cage say they now rely on community support.
The Charity Commission told the BBC: "We have compliance cases open into both the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Roddick Foundation.
"In both cases the Commission's regularity concerns are about how the trustees have ensured that charitable grants made to non-charitable bodies are only used for exclusively charitable purposes in line with their objectives.
"This regulatory engagement has included robustly examining each charity's decisions to previously make grants to Cage, which is not a charity.
"Public statements made in the last few days by Cage raise clear questions for a charity considering funding its activities as to how they could comply with their legal duties as charity trustees."
Following the naming of Mohammed Emwazi, Cerie Bullivant, press officer at Cage, said: "There is going to be pressure on Muslims to condemn and apologise, but we must remember we are humans like every one else.
"We feel the same shock and terror when we see these sights on TV, whether it is barrel bombs or beheadings.
"We should not have to justify our humanity by running out and feeding into this idea that all Muslims are culpable for the actions of one person."
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As details emerged about the identity of "Jihadi John", the masked Islamic State militant pictured in several hostage videos, questions started to arise about Cage, the advocacy group that had been in close contact with the man now known to be called Mohammed Emwazi between 2009 and 2012.
| 31,657,333 | 1,030 | 64 | false |
There is an even greater chance now that we will never know what happened to those 239 people who boarded a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on 8 March 2014 and then vanished.
The decision to call off the search - which has scoured 120,000sq km (46,332 sq miles) of sea floor in the southern Indian Ocean - was not entirely unexpected. The three countries involved - Australia, Malaysia and China - had agreed last year that unless they found major new evidence, they would suspend operations.
But informed experts and relatives of the passengers are dismayed, saying that this major new evidence does exist, and if they keep looking, they will find it.
"Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without a trace," said Voice370, a group supporting relatives.
"Stopping at this stage is nothing short of irresponsible, and betrays a shocking lack of faith in the data, tools and recommendations of an array of official experts assembled by the authorities themselves."
The 120,000sq km area of Indian Ocean off southern Australia was chosen based on satellite data as the most likely place the Boeing 777 could have come down along what is presumed to have been its flight path.
"They picked the area based on the best information that was available at the time," says Don Thompson, a British engineer who is part of the Independent Group, a handful of informed experts around the world who have been investigating MH370 themselves.
"But everything seems to point a little further north-east, which is where the ATSB's most recent review is pointing."
That's the Australian Transport Safety Board, which has been co-ordinating the underwater search. It said in December that there was "a high degree of confidence" the plane was not in the specified search zone.
That was starting to look fairly obvious, as there was only a fraction of the defined area left to search.
But the report also recommended searching a 25,000sq km area to the north of the presumed flight path.
It drew on new information by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which analysed where confirmed debris from the plane washed up and used that to narrow down where it must have come down.
The report concluded that "if this area were to be searched, prospective areas for locating the aircraft wreckage, based on all the analysis to date, would be exhausted".
"When CSIRO came out with that drift analysis I was really excited," says Blaine Gibson.
He has become something of a legend in MH370 circles for his self-funded trips to Malaysia, Mauritius and the Maldives looking for answers. He has found several pieces of debris which contributed to the new theory.
"I really thought they would extend the search," Mr Gibson said. "The debris that I and other people have found resulted in very strong scientific evidence and it's been ignored."
Blaine Gibson believes other evidence has been ignored, including reports from people in the Maldives who say they saw something fall from the sky the day the plane vanished. He blames an "overreliance" on the early satellite data, which put false hope in 120,000 sq km.
"It's like saying we're not going to look for it until we find it."
The relatives' group, Voice370, says searching the newly defined area is "an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interest of aviation safety".
So will it happen? At the moment there is no indication it will.
The search has already cost $145m (£118m) and it's not clear who would be prepared to pick up such a tab again.
Don Thompson says China, which has provided one of the specialist search ships, has acquired further equipment in recent months and could perhaps step in. Most of the passengers were after all Chinese. But there's no indication of that as yet.
"It needs a bit of political will to get it going, some sort of organisation so it can lobby the right entities," he says.
Geoffrey Thomas, aviation expert and editor of the Airline Ratings website, believes the plane will be found, and that it might be a private consortium that does it, including Boeing - who made the missing plane - and its engine-maker, Rolls Royce.
"It's important from an industry perspective to find this plane because the 777 is the backbone of the world's international long haul fleet," he said.
"We need to know that plane is safe. It's possible that it could have been a series of failures that sparked this disaster but we just don't know."
Experts agree that if the search is to continue, it has to happen immediately or never will.
"Dismantling all the infrastructure that's been built up is a tragedy because it will cost millions to re-establish it," said Mr Thomas.
There are still huge gaps in our information about flight MH370. We don't know why the plane made a mysterious turn to the west about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, and why its tracking was turned off.
Mr Thompson points out that the plane would also have crossed five different military radar stations - two in Indonesia, one Thai and two on India's Andaman Islands - but they "apparently they saw nothing".
Many have speculated about a pilot murder/suicide, but this has been ruled out by most informed observers. There's no evidence pointing to such intentions, and we know from the fact the plane broke up on impact that it was not being controlled at the time.
Blaine Gibson says that until the black box or a debris field are found which prove beyond doubt it was an accident, "we have to be open to the hijacking possibility and the accident possibility".
Perhaps there's even been a cover-up, he says. But he believes that if that's the case, eventually "someone's going to talk".
"I think we're going to get answers in my lifetime," he says, "perhaps when we least expect it".
"I have to put my faith and hope in science, in perseverance and in justice to say that we're going to know."
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The deep-water search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been called off, without the plane being found.
| 38,647,775 | 1,358 | 24 | false |
The move would see TfL take over West Anglia and Southeastern London services.
A recent report concluded there were "no barriers" to further rail devolution in the capital.
Mr Johnson said "great progress" had been made in developing the plans.
Currently, with the exception of the London Overground network, rail services into the capital are provided by several train operating companies, each with their own franchise agreement with central government.
Mr Johnson said that bringing the services under TfL's control would simplify ticketing and bring savings of £100m to help fund improvements.
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The final plans for Transport for London (TfL) to take over suburban rail services in the capital could be announced in April, mayor Boris Johnson has said.
| 21,262,723 | 122 | 35 | false |
8 March 2017 Last updated at 17:30 GMT
It is an old story with apparently no immediate solution - unless you’re satirist Ikenna Azuike, who went to solve the problem in Kenya for What's Up Africa.
Guidolin has led Swansea to Premier League safety since joining in January.
But the Italian's future beyond next Sunday's final game of the season against Manchester City is unclear.
"There's nothing much else he could do," former Wales striker Curtis said. "He came in with a brief to keep us up and he's done that."
Garry Monk was sacked as head coach in December and, after Curtis' temporary spell in charge, Guidolin, 60, was appointed until the end of the season.
The former Udinese coach has previously stated he and chairman Huw Jenkins have already started planning for next season but does not know if he will be offered a new deal.
Former Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers, ex-Chile national team manager Marcello Bielsa and former Derby County manager Paul Clement have all been linked with the job.
Curtis says Swansea's victory, in Upton Park's final Saturday game, gives the team something to build on ahead of next season whoever will be in charge.
Goals from Wayne Routledge, Andre Ayew, Ki Sung-Yueng and Bafetimbi Gomis inflicted West Ham's first home Premier League defeat since August.
"It's a real fantastic result for us. We found a real cutting edge," Curtis said.
"We knew what to expect from West Ham. We had to be big and strong but then also to play our football.
"Over the years everybody's been accustomed to seeing a Swansea team playing that way.
"We've been at the wrong end of the table for far too long but we've showed the ability that we've got."
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One of the biggest challenges facing Africa is the issue of corruption.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Swansea City's 4-1 win at West Ham has enhanced Francesco Guidolin's chances of staying on as head coach says first-team coach Alan Curtis.
| 39,209,285 | 445 | 54 | true |
The authority sent office staff to sweep, dust and move furniture about in a boiler room where pipes were lagged with the potentially deadly material.
A court heard consultants had warned the council three times about the danger.
The council said it is offering support to all "potentially affected" staff.
Stirling Sheriff Court was told the workers were not provided with protective clothing or masks, and there was a risk they could develop asbestos-related illnesses in later life.
Prosecutor Selena Brown said the boiler room was inspected in 2003 by experts from the Institute of Occupational Medicine, who warned asbestos was present in several areas of the 1935 building.
They recommended the asbestos should be removed as soon as possible and the affected areas cleaned and decontaminated.
However, no action was taken, and no warnings were issued to employees.
Further surveys in 2010 and 2011 found the asbestos was still in place, with one identifying lagging on a pipe as "high priority risk", with an associated high potential from flying fibres.
Mrs Brown said three council employees were sent unprotected into the boiler room in February 2012 to give it a "deep clean".
She said they were given no warnings about the presence of asbestos and how to minimise the danger from any asbestos, and no masks or proper protective clothing.
Another expert survey in 2012 warned about asbestos in the boiler room, at which point the council's health and safety department realised that employees might have been exposed.
The council restricted access to the boiler room and reported itself to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which launched an investigation.
Risk assessors concluded there was "quite limited" danger to people who had just walked through the boiler room.
However, they said that "dry brushing" could have caused asbestos fibre levels in the area to peak at levels in excess of workplace limits.
Mrs Brown said none of the employees had yet displayed ill-effects, and the asbestos had been removed by a licensed contractor.
Stirling Council admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act between 13 February 2003 and 31 May 2012.
The council's solicitor, Lesley Allan, said the authority could not explain what had gone wrong.
She said: "It's difficult to determine why the information in the (2003) Institute of Occupational Medicine report came not to be fully acted on when it should have been."
Sheriff Christopher Shead said the presence of asbestos in the building should have raised concerns that ought to have been obvious to anyone.
Stirling Council said the health and wellbeing of employees was its "top priority" and it had carried out training in asbestos awareness.
A council spokeswoman said: "Following the discovery of potential asbestos exposure and the service of Improvement Notices in 2012, the council responded quickly and professionally, cooperating fully with the HSE investigation and putting in place measures to mitigate the risk to employees.
"The council has offered support to all staff potentially affected by this matter."
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Stirling Council has been fined £10,500 for ignoring warnings for nine years about asbestos in the basement of its Old Viewforth headquarters.
| 39,232,382 | 618 | 32 | false |
Bill Leak, who created some of Australia's most recognisable and inflammatory cartoons, has died of a suspected heart attack in hospital. He was 61.
Last year, his caricature of an indigenous man with a beer can who could not remember his son's name was labelled "disgusting" and "discriminatory" by Aboriginal leaders. The artist had also faced death threats and was forced to move out of his home after publishing an image of the Prophet Muhammad following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
"[He was] a giant in his field of cartooning and portraiture and a towering figure for more than two decades," said Paul Whittaker, editor-in-chief of The Australian newspaper, where Mr Leak worked.
The cartoonist was born in Adelaide but raised near Sydney, where he trained at the Julian Ashton Art School in the city's historic Rocks district. He would later travel to Europe to soak up the region's art, and it was in the early 1980s that he got his big break with The Bulletin magazine.
"I was the first person to get him to draw cartoons [and] his whole life changed," explained Lindsay Foyle, a cartoonist and cartoon historian.
"He had terrific control over the pen. He also had a mind which seemed uncontrollable. It would go in any direction and he was totally unpredictable, so it was combination of his drawing skills and his quirky sense of humour," Mr Foyle told the BBC.
"I don't think Bill was ever surprised about the controversy he caused. He enjoyed it and on many occasions tailored his cartoons to cause a stink. Bill enjoyed being in the limelight."
Mr Leak won nine Walkley awards that recognise journalistic excellence in Australia, and had worked for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Australia newspapers since 1994.
His distinctive style won many fans, but he often drew intense criticism for his views - particularly in recent years. Last year's depiction of the indigenous man sparked a complaint to Australia's Human Rights Commission, with a claim it had violated a controversial race discrimination law.
One indigenous advocacy group at the time called the "disgusting, disrespectful, and hurtful", adding: "Those involved in publishing such a clearly racist cartoon should be ashamed and should issue a public apology to all Australians."
Tributes on social media have praised his fearlessness, lamenting the loss of an artist who was "supremely talented, principled, brave, witty & decent", and "a true warrior for freedom of speech".
Others, though, had far more brutal assessments. Several posts after his death did not just attack Mr Leak's views, but the cartoonist personally - demonstrating how polarising he had become within sections of the community. Others swiftly condemned the critical posts.
Those close to Mr Leak say while he made a career rattling cages, an avalanche of criticism of his work in recent years had become too heavy a burden.
"Basically he was hounded to his death. He's had the most incredibly stressful couple of years," Spectator Australia editor and long-time friend Rowan Dean told the BBC.
"There were death threats after he did a cartoon that showed the Prophet Muhammad, which led to him having to move his house. He was Australia's version of Salman Rushdie for a while."
"He did a very poignant but accurate cartoon about Indigenous Australians, disadvantage and the lack of parenting amongst Indigenous Australians and for that he was hounded mercilessly by our Australian Human Rights Commission. The pressure that he was under was just enormous."
Defending his cartoon at the time, Mr Leak wrote: "I was trying to say that if you think things are pretty crook for the children locked up in the Northern Territory's Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, you should have a look at the homes they came from."
Many of his fellow cartoonists share the thought that Mr Leak was pilloried to the point of submission.
Mark Tippett, a Sydney-based caricature artist, told the BBC that his death was a terrible reminder of the battles they often face.
"What do we do as satirists if we can't satire anymore?" he asked. "Do we have to ask permission before we can put pen to paper? It just can't go on this way. It [his death] makes us more defiant. We can't go into a shell."
"What he was trying to do is make his messages as simplistic as possible for many people to understand. His style would appeal to the masses because it was so clean and recognisable. You just don't see that every day."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has remembered his friend of more than 30 years.
"I can't believe that Bill Leak is dead," Mr Turnbull posted on Facebook. "Who had more life, more energy than him? So many more cartoons to draw, paintings to paint, politicians to satirise."
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine said Mr Leak "was just an incredible cartoonist". He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp: "I'm just in shock. I was only with him the other night at his book launch and had a beer with him."
Left behind are the cartoonist's wife Goong, his stepdaughter Tasha and his sons Johannes and Jasper.
His friends have remember a gifted man.
"Bill was an absolute genius," said Mr Dean. "Here was a man who was one of Australia's greatest political talents. Probably one of the world's greatest satirists, certainly a brilliant cartoonist and also a brilliant portrait painter."
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Loved and loathed, he was to his admirers a genius of wit and originality who confronted tough topics, while to his detractors he fuelled race tensions and polarised a nation.
| 39,227,111 | 1,290 | 52 | false |
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The Norwich player's neck was put in a brace and he was given oxygen as he was carried off on a stretcher late on.
Brady spent Thursday night in a Dublin hospital and the Football Association of Ireland said his concussion had led to him being released from the squad.
Manager Martin O'Neill said that Brady was "out cold" after a clash of heads.
"He was concussed," added the Republic manager.
"He's come back around and the doctors are quite pleased with him."
Brady's absence from O'Neill's much-depleted squad comes after midfielder Jeff Hendrick's booking in Thursday's fortunate 1-0 win resulted in his suspension for Sunday's game.
Daryl Murphy, who scored the Republic's late equaliser in last month's 2-2 draw in Serbia, was among eight players already ruled out of this week's qualifiers with Keiren Westwood, Harry Arter, Stephen Quinn, Kevin Doyle, Aiden McGeady, Anthony Pilkington and Marc Wilson also absent.
But striker Shane Long is expected to be fit for the game in Chisinau despite limping off late in Thursday's game with a leg muscle injury.
Seamus Coleman's first international goal in the 56th minute secured the Republic's win after Georgia had twice hit the woodwork in a dominant first half at the Aviva Stadium.
General secretary Russell Hobby says ministers should no longer be allowed to claim school funding is protected.
The Department for Education has said school funding is at record levels.
But the Institute of Fiscal Studies says this claim does not tell the whole story or take account of the impact of cost pressures on per pupil funding.
It has just published research which says to keep school funding at its present levels in real terms, an extra £2bn will be needed between 2017 and 2022.
Between 2015 and 2017, schools had been required to make £1.7bn savings, it added.
Luke Sibieta, director of education, employment and evaluation at the IFS, said: "When the government says school funding is at record levels it isn't telling the whole story.
"It doesn't take into account cost pressures and the impact of those on per pupil funding," he told the BBC News website.
Mr Hobby, whose association is gathering for its annual conference in Telford, said that although a number of organisations had found significant cost pressures affecting schools, the government's standard line was that "school funding had never been higher".
He said rising costs and additional expenses, like increases in National Insurance and pension contributions, meant cash was not going as far as it used to.
"You can't expect it to. But the government is flatly refusing to admit the reality," he said. "Until they do, schools are at risk."
The association has been highlighting, along with other teaching unions, the cost pressures facing schools in England.
The rise in the amount that schools have to pay out is estimated to be £3bn by the National Audit Office between 2015 and 2020.
In research carried out with 1,100 union members, nearly three-quarters (72%) said their budgets would be "untenable" going forward to 2019-20.
Nearly a fifth, some 18% of respondents, said their schools were already in deficit.
Incoming NAHT president Anne Lyons said: "In my own school I've got to find £200,000 from somewhere.
"I don't know about you but that kind of cash isn't exactly lying around in reserves.
"It isn't ready to be simply wiped off the balance sheet just by buying my toilet rolls from a different company," she added, referring to DfE advice urging schools to look at how they procure products and services.
The Department for Education spokesman has said it has protected the core schools budget in real terms since 2010, with school funding at its highest level on record at almost £41bn in 2017-18 - and that is set to rise, as pupil numbers increase over the next two years, to £42bn by 2019-20.
"We recognise that schools are facing cost pressures, which is why we will continue to provide support to help them use their funding in cost effective ways and make efficiencies.
"This includes improving the way they buy goods and services and our recently published School Buying Strategy is designed to help schools save over £1bn a year by 2019-20 on non-staff spend."
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The Republic of Ireland's Robbie Brady will miss Sunday's World Cup qualifier in Moldova after being knocked out in Thursday's 1-0 win over Georgia.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
The £3bn savings expected of England's schools threaten the stability of the whole education system, says the National Association of Head Teachers.
| 37,583,930 | 974 | 66 | true |
Browne stopped champion Ruslan Chagaev to win the title in Russia in March, but tested positive for clenbuterol after the fight.
The WBA has since reinstalled Browne, 37, in the top five of its rankings.
It ordered that he face 43-year-old Puerto Rican Oquendo, the leading contender, within 120 days.
Britain's Tyson Fury is the reigning 'super' champion at heavyweight. He faces a rematch with Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko for the WBO and WBA belts in Manchester on 29 October.
A rear passenger of the car lit the firework, which then flew into the garden in Montrose Drive, Bearsden.
The incident happened at about 18:30 on Sunday. Police said the boy was uninjured but "shaken and upset".
The car involved was a navy blue Volkswagen Golf and believed to be a 53 plate.
Officers said they believed the car had been driving around the wider Bearsden area before the incident.
There were four people in the car, which drove off in the direction of Stockiemuir Avenue after the firework was let off.
The driver was 18-20 years old with short dark hair. The rear passenger was also aged 18-20 with short, dirty blond hair and wearing a navy jacket or long-sleeved top.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the police.
Twenty-two people were killed and 59 injured in a suicide attack at Manchester Arena on Monday night at an Ariana Grande concert.
The mother of Jayden Parkinson said she was unhappy her daughter's image had been posted alongside images of other people alleged to be missing.
Jayden, 17, was strangled by her ex-boyfriend in Oxfordshire.
"She was killed almost four years ago not last night, not happy," Samantha Shrewsbury tweeted, after seeing the picture on an online newspaper article.
"Why is my MURDERED daughter's picture being used in a collage of pictures of children missing dead after last night terror attack?" she asked.
Ms Shrewsbury also posted a We Stand with Manchester picture.
Speaking to the BBC, she said: "It is horrible to see her photo being used in this way.
"I feel sorry for the genuine parents of missing children.
"The collage is still being retweeted... I can't figure out who made the collage and why they would include my daughter's picture in it.
"We are still trying to get to the bottom of this."
Several images circulating online after the Manchester attack have been identified as fakes.
Jayden was found in the graveyard of All Saints Church in Didcot, Oxfordshire, in December 2013.
She had been killed by Ben Blakeley, 23, from Reading, and hidden in his uncle's grave. Blakeley was jailed for life in 2014.
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Australian heavyweight Lucas Browne will fight Fres Oquendo for the vacant regular WBA heavyweight title after serving a six-month drugs ban.
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Police are appealing for witnesses after a firework was fired from a car into an East Dunbartonshire garden where a three-year-old boy was playing.
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A photo of a girl murdered in 2013 has been circulated in a fake list of those missing after the Manchester explosion.
| 37,302,295 | 632 | 99 | true |
The hand-painted floral artwork at the National Trust-run Tudor Merchant House in Tenby, is thought to date between the late 18th and early 19th Century.
But the wall is at risk of crumbling so conservationists are working to stabilise it.
They hope to uncover more artwork and to discover the identity of the artist.
The three-colour pattern was painted freehand on to the north wall of the 15th Century house's entrance hall.
The first phase of the work will see the wall strengthened to prevent it collapsing.
After that is complete, conservationists hope to peel back the plaster on the hall's remaining walls to see if the pattern continues.
Pigment analysis of the paint has indicated high-quality materials were used to create the design and National Trust said the artwork was likely painted to promote the wealth of the owners of the time.
But the artist behind the work remains a mystery and the charity hopes to identify them.
It is appealing to owners of other similar townhouses in Tenby to check if their properties have similar paintings so samples can be compared in the hope of tracing the person behind the paintbrush.
The house remains open while the work is taking place so visitors can see the team at work and learn more about the paintings.
Manager Angela Jones said the project was a "fantastic opportunity" for visitors to see conservation in action.
"By coming to see the past, you're helping us safeguard the future of the Tudor Merchant's House," she added.
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Work has begun to save centuries-old wall paintings at one of Wales' oldest examples of a traditional Pembrokeshire town house.
| 39,895,629 | 321 | 30 | false |
22 December 2015 Last updated at 06:28 GMT
The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion brings the magical world of Pixel Valley to life in the production - part musical theatre, part gig.
Gruff tells BBC Wales' arts and media correspondent Huw Thomas about the challenge.
The production is on at the SSE Swalec Stadium until 2 January.
The Indian firm, which uses a digital platform to provide information, opened an office in Edinburgh this year.
It now plans to invest a further $1m (£595,000) in Scotland.
The investment includes hiring between 25 and 30 people in the two Scottish cities over the next year.
Zomato provides an online and mobile service offering restaurant and nightlife information, including menus and photographs.
In November it extended its web and app presence to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Zomato is also active in London, Manchester, Birmingham and 40 other cities around the world.
Tony Marsden, business lead for Zomato in Scotland, said: "Edinburgh and Glasgow were the obvious choices for expansion in the UK after London, because there is such a diverse and independent food culture here.
"The abundance of local talent has helped us ramp up the team on-ground in a relatively short time-span with the right skills, knowledge and attitude.
"We've also found the Scottish food and drink industry incredibly welcoming, from restaurants to well-informed consumers, and we look forward to building on this exciting start."
Rooma Kumar Bussi, from Scottish Development International, India, said: "I am delighted to see Zomato setting up their presence in Scotland and hope to see them grow in a country that is so passionate about food.
"The food and drink industry is worth over £13bn annually to the Scottish economy and holds immense potential for business.
"I am sure Zomato will benefit from Scotland's vibrant industry sectors, its talent pool and business-friendly environment."
He becomes the club's first signing following relegation from the Championship this season and has agreed a two-year deal.
Yamfam spent the final weeks of the campaign on loan with the Addicks, featuring for the club's Under-18 and Under-21 sides.
The 18-year-old is yet to make his senior debut.
Yamfam is also Charlton's first signing since Steve Head became chief scout at The Valley earlier this week.
The south-east London club have been without a manager since Jose Riga resigned as head coach on 7 May.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.
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Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys has brought Candylion - his 2007 album - to the stage in Cardiff with the help of National Theatre Wales.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Global restaurant guide Zomato has announced plans to create new jobs in Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of a drive to strengthen its presence in Scotland.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Managerless Charlton Athletic have signed winger Louis-Michel Yamfam from Stevenage for an undisclosed fee.
| 35,152,130 | 546 | 96 | true |
More than 60 organisations and people involved in art in the region have published a 10-year strategy to enhance the area's reputation in the art world.
The new festival will combine work by local and international artists and is expected to get off the ground in 2019.
That is the year after Tyneside hosts the Great Exhibition of the North.
On Tuesday, the government announced that Newcastle and Gateshead had won the contest to host the £5m event in summer 2018.
The new festival is separate and aims to build on the history of the Tyne International art festival, which was held in Newcastle and Gateshead in 1990 and '92.
The 10-year strategy that was published on Friday also lays out plans to draw on the area's industrial past by setting up major sculpture production facilities by 2025.
The North East Contemporary Visual Arts Network hopes to encourage more artists to live and work in the region with more studio facilities.
And the strategy says its members will work together to get more people involved in the arts in the area and raise the profile of work created in the region.
Sarah Munro, director of the Baltic art gallery in Gateshead, said: "We believe now more than ever before that the visual arts have a vital role to play in the future international profile, economic growth, social capital and political issues of the north-east."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Guy added to his 400m freestyle and 100m butterfly successes with gold in the 200m freestyle final, ahead of Stephen Milne and Robbie Renwick.
His time of one minute 45.19 seconds was within the Rio qualification mark.
"This has given me so much confidence and hopefully I can take that into Rio," Guy told BBC Sport.
Eight British swimmers - Guy, Adam Peaty, Andrew Willis, Max Litchfield, Ben Proud, Siobhan-Marie O'Connor, Jazz Carlin and Hannah Miley - secured automatic qualification for Rio 2016 through the trials.
Up to 22 further names could be added to the line-up this week.
The 200m freestyle event was one of the most keenly contested finals of the week, with all swimmers aware that a top-four finish would virtually guarantee them a place in the Rio 4x200m medley relay squad.
Guy, Milne, Renwick and Duncan Scott, who was fourth - and also won the 100m freestyle title earlier in the week - are in prime position for selection.
"Rio is going to be my third Olympics and this relay squad has so much potential," Renwick told BBC Sport.
"Yes, we won world gold last year, but we're not going to take anything for granted because we know other nations will come on strongly this year."
O'Connor also secured her third title with victory in the 100m breaststroke final on a busy night for the swimmer, who was also fourth in the 100m butterfly.
The London Olympian won the 100m freestyle final and her favoured 200m individual medley (IM) event earlier in the week, and admitted she has some difficult decisions to make about what to compete in at the Rio Games.
"The 200m IM is the priority and I don't want anything to distract from that, but it's good to get a race or two in before," she said.
"I'll sit down with my coach over the next couple of months to help decide, but it's always nice to have options."
Alys Thomas of Wales was the surprise winner of the 100m butterfly final in a time of 58.66 seconds, which was a personal best but over a second outside the qualifying mark.
"That's not something I was expecting because I'm more of a 200m swimmer, so I'm really happy," she said.
"I know I'm an underdog, not one to watch, but I like that position and whether the selectors will take me, I don't know, but I've done my best."
Double European Games champion Luke Greenbank, 18, secured his maiden senior British title with gold in the 200m backstroke final.
His time of 1:57.79 seconds was outside the qualification standard, but the junior world record holder has a strong chance of receiving one of six wildcard nominations GB Olympic selectors have at their disposal.
"It's a little slower than I would have liked, but it was a season's best," he said.
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A new international art festival is being planned for Newcastle and Gateshead as part of a scheme to boost the arts in the north-east of England.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
World champion James Guy completed an impressive week with his third title on the final night of the British Olympic trials in Glasgow.
| 37,659,251 | 961 | 58 | true |
Two-year-old Ollie was taken to the vets after he became unwell and hardly able to walk but he could not be saved.
Ollie's owner, Corinne Dubberley, from, Bilston, Wolverhampton, also lost her cat Jess in January from anti-freeze poisoning.
She thinks there have been other cases like this in the area recently.
The RSPCA has launched an appeal for information and are advising people to keep anti-freeze lids shut tightly.
Animal welfare officer Elaine Williams said: "At this stage we do not know if these were accidental incidents or deliberate".
More Birmingham and Black Country stories here
Ms Williams warned pet owners to be vigilant and keep an eye on their cats' wellbeing.
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A cat has died after being poisoned by anti-freeze a few months after another of the owner's cats died the same way.
| 39,665,911 | 169 | 32 | false |
"We deeply regret the loss of life of a participant," they said in a statement on Facebook.
No further details have been released about the individual but the Great Run Company said its priority was to ensure next of kin had been informed.
About 57,000 people took part in the event which is run over 13.1 miles and is in its 35th year.
The event began in Newcastle with the finish line 13.1 miles away in South Shields.
Mo Farah won the men's elite race - his second consecutive win in the half-marathon.
Kenyan Mary Keitany won the women's race and David Weir achieved a record-equalling sixth win in the elite wheelchair competition.
In its full statement on the death of the runner, organisers said: "We deeply regret the loss of life of a participant at the Great North Run today and offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of the individual concerned.
"In such circumstances there is a strictly planned procedure we adhere to. Our priority is to ensure that the next of kin are informed and therefore we will not be in a position to make any further comment today."
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A runner taking part in the Great North Run has died, the race organisers have said.
| 34,239,200 | 252 | 22 | false |
The rocks were spotted by a helicopter pilot last month, prompting fears that someone, or more than one person, could be missing.
Police now believe it was likely to be a genuine distress signal left by a man and woman who became stranded in 2013.
They say they were contacted by the brother of the man, who read about the case on the BBC.
"The brother actually saw an article on the BBC," Senior Sgt Dave Rudd of Western Australia Police.
The man, called John, said his brother - identified only as Robert - and a female companion were aboard a yacht that became stranded at Swift Bay, about 500km (300 miles) from the city of Broome in 2013.
The pair boarded an escape raft which at some point "was attacked by a couple of crocodiles" but made it to shore safely and built the SOS signal.
Senior Sgt Rudd said they survived on rations, found some fresh water and were eventually rescued by another passing yacht.
Police said they have not been able to speak directly with Robert because he is on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea.
But they said they had seen photographs showing the distress signal taken at the time the pair ran into trouble.
"We can see from the photo that it's the same location and the same SOS," Senior Sgt Rudd said.
"We're very confident it's legitimate and it's the real deal but until we speak with him there's still a few unanswered questions."
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Police say they may have found out who left an SOS signal made of rocks in a remote part of Western Australia.
| 40,197,125 | 335 | 26 | false |
The 28-year-old Argentine surpassed Gunnar Nordahl's record of 35, which had stood since 1949-50.
Higuain struck twice in 17 minutes after the break before netting with a bicycle kick from the edge of the area.
Victory secured second place - and a spot in next season's Champions League group stage - for Napoli.
They finished two points above Roma, who beat AC Milan 3-1 and will go into the Champions League play-offs.
Juventus, who sealed a fifth successive title in April, finished ninth points clear of Napoli.
Check out Serie A's top scorers here
Match ends, Napoli 4, Frosinone 0.
Second Half ends, Napoli 4, Frosinone 0.
Attempt saved. Dries Mertens (Napoli) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Elseid Hysaj with a cross.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Matteo Ciofani.
Attempt blocked. Faouzi Ghoulam (Napoli) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Gonzalo Higuaín.
Foul by Vlad Chiriches (Napoli).
Daniel Ciofani (Frosinone) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Massimo Zappino.
Attempt saved. Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Dries Mertens.
Substitution, Napoli. David López replaces Marek Hamsik.
Attempt missed. Marek Hamsik (Napoli) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Lorenzo Insigne.
Attempt missed. Daniel Ciofani (Frosinone) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is too high.
Attempt saved. Daniel Ciofani (Frosinone) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Matteo Ciofani.
Offside, Frosinone. Paolo Sammarco tries a through ball, but Massimiliano Carlini is caught offside.
Attempt blocked. Daniel Ciofani (Frosinone) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Robert Gucher.
Substitution, Frosinone. Danilo Soddimo replaces Alessandro Frara.
Substitution, Napoli. Vasco Regini replaces Kalidou Koulibaly.
Foul by Vlad Chiriches (Napoli).
Massimiliano Carlini (Frosinone) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Offside, Frosinone. Matteo Ciofani tries a through ball, but Daniel Ciofani is caught offside.
Goal! Napoli 4, Frosinone 0. Gonzalo Higuaín (Napoli) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Dries Mertens.
Attempt missed. Marek Hamsik (Napoli) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Dries Mertens.
Offside, Frosinone. Daniel Ciofani tries a through ball, but Massimiliano Carlini is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Faouzi Ghoulam (Napoli) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Dries Mertens.
Attempt blocked. Marek Hamsik (Napoli) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Allan.
Substitution, Frosinone. Robert Gucher replaces Federico Dionisi.
Substitution, Frosinone. Massimiliano Carlini replaces Oliver Kragl.
Attempt missed. Daniel Ciofani (Frosinone) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right following a set piece situation.
Oliver Kragl (Frosinone) hits the bar with a left footed shot from outside the box from a direct free kick.
Foul by Allan (Napoli).
Daniel Ciofani (Frosinone) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Adriano Russo (Frosinone) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Napoli. Dries Mertens replaces José Callejón.
Allan (Napoli) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Paolo Sammarco (Frosinone).
Goal! Napoli 3, Frosinone 0. Gonzalo Higuaín (Napoli) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Elseid Hysaj with a cross.
Attempt missed. Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Marek Hamsik.
Attempt missed. Oliver Kragl (Frosinone) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Paolo Sammarco.
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Gonzalo Higuain broke the record for goals in a Serie A season, scoring a hat-trick to take his total to 36 as Napoli thrashed Frosinone.
| 36,295,095 | 1,244 | 48 | false |
David Chadwick, 58, was released from prison recently having been sentenced to three years.
Dorset Police were searching for Chadwick who they said had breached his licence conditions.
On Saturday evening detectives said Chadwick had surrendered to police in Suffolk and would be returned to jail.
An appeal for sightings had been issued after Chadwick was spotted on a train. He had also hitchhiked as he made his way east across southern England.
Det Insp Joe Williams from the Dorset force said: "Earlier this evening David Chadwick presented himself to police officers working in Lowestoft, Suffolk. He will be immediately recalled to prison.
"I would like to thank members of the public, as well as the media, for their assistance in this investigation."
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A convicted child sex offender who has been hunted since going missing on Wednesday has handed himself in to police.
| 35,571,959 | 175 | 28 | false |
Alexander Monson, 28, was arrested in Diani on suspicion of possessing cannabis in May 2012 and died in police custody.
Kenyan Police have denied any involvement in his death.
The inquest in Mombasa was adjourned until 27 April to allow closer study of the documents.
Mr Monson was heir to his family's Burton estate in Lincolnshire.
An independent pathologist hired by his family found he died from a head injury. The family was originally told he died of a drugs overdose.
The family lawyer said they had been kept in the dark about the findings of three separate investigations into his death.
The extensive bed of at least 100 million flame shells was found during a survey of Loch Alsh, a sea inlet between Skye and the Scottish mainland.
The Scottish environment secretary said it could be the largest grouping of flame shells anywhere in the world.
The colony was uncovered during a survey commissioned by Marine Scotland.
It was conducted as part of work to identify new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
The small, scallop-like species has numerous neon orange tentacles that emerge between the creatures' two shells.
Flame shells group together on the sea bed and their nests create a living reef that supports hundreds of other species.
The Loch Alsh flame shell reef is much larger than expected, covering an area of 75 hectares.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead described the seas around Scotland as a "hotbed of biodiversity".
"With Scottish waters covering an area around five-times bigger than our landmass, it's a huge challenge to try and understand more about our diverse and precious sea life," he said.
"The flame shell must be considered among the most remarkable species in our waters, with a dazzling array of orange tentacles.
"Many would place such an exotic species in far-flung tropical reefs - not realising they dwell under the waves just off the coast of Skye."
He added: "This important discovery may be the largest grouping of flame shells anywhere in the world.
"And not only are flame shells beautiful to look at, these enigmatic shellfish form a reef that offers a safe and productive environment for many other species."
The Loch Alsh survey was carried out by Heriot-Watt University on behalf of Marine Scotland.
Dan Harries, of Heriot-Watt University's School of Life Sciences, said: "Too often, when we go out to check earlier records of a particular species or habitat we find them damaged, struggling or even gone.
"We are delighted that in this instance we found not just occasional patches but a huge and thriving flame shell community extending right the way along the entrance narrows of Loch Alsh.
"This is a wonderful discovery for all concerned."
Tattooist Andy Millard fears a national register of practitioners would drive people into backstreet studios, making them vulnerable to harm.
Such places could operate out of kitchens using equipment bought online.
The Welsh government wants licensed practitioners to meet a standard of care and hygiene.
But former Army medic Mr Millard, from Builth Wells in Powys, who has been practising for more than 30 years, said: "If they raise the bar too high, all that adds into the cost.
"It's going to be passed on to the client. It makes it easier for people then to decide 'do I go to a studio or do I go see the guy down the road because it's a hell of a lot cheaper?'"
Julie Barratt, director of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in Wales, said: "Unless finance follows function, that is there is new money for new burdens, this work may not get done.
"That is highly undesirable. The powers wouldn't be being given if there wasn't a need and there clearly is a need."
The Welsh government has said councils will be able to charge licence fees to recover costs and that those fees "should be retained by the enforcing department to offset the cost of providing the service".
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A Kenyan inquest into the death of the son of an English lord has been adjourned to give the family time to study police statements.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A huge colony of an elusive and brightly coloured shellfish species has been discovered in coastal waters in the west of Scotland.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
New plans aimed at improving standards in the tattoo and piercing industries in Wales could have the opposite effect, it has been claimed.
| 31,493,790 | 890 | 94 | true |
The expert says it is possible to start the octocopter's engines, engage auto-takeoff, control its camera and, potentially, crash the machine.
He will present his findings at the RSA security conference in San Francisco, and has published a thesis.
The drone's manufacturer has been informed.
However, the researcher told Wired magazine there would be "no easy fix" to the problem, meaning units might have to be recalled for a hardware update.
Nils Rodday is currently a security consultant at IBM, but carried out his research at the Netherlands' University of Twente.
His work focused on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used by the Dutch police force for surveillance.
He said it cost about 20,000 euros ($21,700; £15,400).
It is more expensive than consumer drones because it:
The UAV is also used for power-line inspections, professional photography and agriculture applications
The aircraft's maker lent Mr Rodday a copy of its machine on condition its name was not disclosed.
Mr Rodday focused on its use of a telemetry module fitted with an Xbee radio chip, made by the company Digi International.
The module converts wi-fi commands sent by a computer app into low frequency radio waves, which are then transmitted to another Xbee chip on the drone.
This allows the operator to control it from a greater distance than would otherwise be possible.
To achieve the hack, Mr Rodday required two Xbee chips of his own, among other low-cost components, as well as the use of a computer.
The hack consisted of two parts:
The second step had been relatively easy, Mr Rodday said, because the drone-maker had opted not to make use of Xbee's built-in encryption features.
The reason for this was that they would have extended the lag between the operator sending a command and the drone reacting.
"The whole communication is sent in clear text," wrote Mr Rodday in his thesis.
"As long as the arriving data is syntactically and semantically correct, the data is forwarded to the application."
Countermeasures were possible to prevent such attacks, he added, but they would "require better hardware, which leads to increased production cost".
The drone manufacturer intends to fix the problem when it releases its next-generation model.
But Mr Rodday believes other similar high-end aircraft may also face the same issue.
To raise awareness, he intends to hack a drone on stage at the RSA.
"[I] will make the UAV engine's spin, so the UAV will have to be tied to something heavy during the presentation," he said.
Another expert, who has previously spoken out about the risks that drones pose, said he was concerned.
"That a engineering student could demonstrate how to hack and take control of a larger commercial UAV as part of his masters degree shows both the infancy of this technology and the potential risks presented by the proliferation of these devices," said Prof David Dunn, from the University of Birmingham.
"As this report shows, drones such as this can be commandeered [and] then be stolen, or redirected to crash into a specific target such as a crowd, building or airliner.
"This report, however, raises the more general issue of the risks presented by the development of a new technology, the use of which is way ahead of preparations to regulate, deter, or defend against its potentially malign uses."
Read more cybersecurity stories in our special index
The body of Shaun Skelton was discovered at a flat in Chancery House, in Holgate Road, in March.
Daniel Thomas Reed, 19, of no fixed abode, appeared at Leeds Crown Court earlier where he pleaded not guilty to murder.
He was remanded in to custody following the hearing ahead of a trial which is due to take place on 24 July.
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A security researcher has reported finding a way to hijack a high-end drone, using parts costing as little as $40 (£29).
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A teenager has appeared in court to deny murdering a 53-year-old man found dead at a flat in York.
| 35,709,676 | 853 | 60 | true |
Koumas, who won 34 international caps, started his career with Rovers before a £2.5m switch to West Brom.
After five years with the Baggies, he joined Wigan for £5.3m, but had two loan spells with Cardiff before his return to Prenton Park in 2013.
"I know my own body and this is the right time for me to hang up my boots," he told the Tranmere website.
"I'm happy with the career I've had. I've played for some good clubs, met some great people and have plenty of memories.
"I wish I could have gone out on a high but it wasn't to be. Despite the results, I really enjoyed my last two seasons back at Tranmere and am glad I made the decision to return to the club."
The import of foods containing animal lungs is banned by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Lord McColl of Dulwich told peers that 24 million American Scots were being denied "this wholesome food".
He claimed haggis "satisfied hunger very much more than the junk food which Americans consume".
The surgeon and former shadow health minister, who was also a parliamentary aide to former Prime Minister Sir John Major, claimed that haggis consumption would help deal with the "obesity epidemic" in the US.
Haggis, clapshot and whisky sauce
More haggis recipes by BBC chefs
But the Labour peer and professor, Lord Winston, disagreed and said he was "surprised" by Lord McColl's remarks "given the questionable issue about haggis" - which he said he found "revolting".
Lord Winston also suggested that if haggis could deal with obesity then "maybe we should be promoting it a little bit in Glasgow".
The comments come as Prime Minister David Cameron begins two days of talks with President Obama in Washington. Peers urged the prime minister to put haggis on the menu for discussion.
The Liberal Democrat Lord Purvis described the ban as "ridiculous" and urged Mr Cameron to have "a private word with the president to make sure this ban is now lifted".
The food minister, Lord de Mauley, said he could not guarantee a rapid resolution, but said the EU and UK government were working to get import bans lifted by the US.
Tory peer Lord Forsyth suggested that the UK government could send a special envoy to the US - and joked that the former First Minister Alex Salmond was looking for a job.
Authentic Scottish haggis has been banned in the US since 1971, when the US Department of Agriculture first took a dim view of one of its key ingredients - sheep's lung.
The ban means those in the US who want to celebrate Scotland's national bard Robert Burns in the traditional manner on 25 January are compelled to improvise.
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Tranmere's former Wales midfielder Jason Koumas has announced his retirement at the age of 35.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A Conservative peer has called for the US import ban on haggis to be lifted by suggesting that it may help America tackle its obesity problem.
| 33,479,191 | 637 | 57 | true |
The Pets As Therapy initiative was launched at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan by former Coronation Street actress Pauline Fleming.
The health board said research showed that animal companionship can help speed up the rate of recovery.
Pets will visit elderly mentally infirm patients, and dementia care, stroke rehabilitation, paediatrics, psychiatric and oncology departments.
Pauline Fleming - who played Mike Baldwin's wife in Coronation Street - was at the hospital as the scheme officially got under way.
The Pets As Therapy (PAT) charity organises visits by volunteer pet owners and their animals to people who are residents in hospitals, hospices, residential homes, nursing homes, day car centres, and special needs schools.
Dawn Cooper, of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said the charity already had long standing links with the mental health service at Glan Clwyd hospital.
"This new development will ensure patients across the health board will be able to access this service," she added.
The health board said research showed animal companionship could help rehabilitation in a variety of ways.
Pets As Therapy co-ordinator Anne Jones said the volunteers and their dogs looked forward to visiting people missing their own pets while in hospital.
"All our PAT dogs and cats must pass a rigorous independent health and temperament test before they can enter hospital premises," she said.
"Twelve months ago the mental health Ablett Unit at Glan Clwyd hospital introduced Pets As Therapy as part of their 'star wards' project.
"The dogs have been a huge success in the unit and the feedback from the patients has been extremely positive," she added.
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Dogs and cats are to be used to help hospital patients across north Wales.
| 14,173,175 | 379 | 17 | false |
Sheffield Hallam student Caroline Everest, from Walkley, had been at the Corporation nightclub on Milton Street.
Her body was found in the Porter Brook on 24 November, two days after she was reported missing by her family.
The coroner, Christopher P Dorries, said "alcohol and hypothermia played a part" in her death, but said "it's clear there was nobody else there".
South Yorkshire Police initially treated her death as murder, but later concluded that nobody else had been involved.
Read more about this and other stories from across South Yorkshire
The inquest was told Ms Everest had drunk five "pints of purple", each of which contained shots of vodka, at the Corporation nightclub.
Mr Dorries said if true Ms Everest she would have drunk 30 shots of vodka at the club.
The club manager told the inquest the drink only contained three shots of the spirit.
The inquest also heard from 31-year-old Yousef Tarfasi who was arrested on suspicion of rape in November but subsequently released with no further action.
He confirmed for the first time that he was the person seen in CCTV footage with Ms Everest.
He said he had lied to police about being in the CCTV because he was afraid he would be charged with her murder.
"I was going back home and I ran across her and she was drunk and she was crying," he said.
He added that he held her hand and they walked together to where she told him she lived, at one point getting a taxi which he paid for.
Mr Dorries said the final bit of CCTV footage had shown Ms Everest sitting alone on a wall across the river from where she was found.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, he said: "Whilst the exact circumstances of how she came to be in the water are uncertain it was clearly accidental and without third-party involvement.
"It is apparent that alcohol and hypothermia played a part in the circumstances. It's clear that there was nobody else there."
Ms Everest, known as Carrie, was a pupil at Walkley Primary and King Edward VII schools before studying biomedical science at Sheffield Hallam University.
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The death of an 18-year-old girl after a night out in Sheffield in November was accidental, an inquest has found.
| 36,722,959 | 479 | 29 | false |
Mike Coupe said the set-up pegged to property valuations was "archaic" and ignored the rise of online shops based in out-of-town warehouses.
His comments came after business groups urged ministers to lessen the impact of April's revaluation in England.
The government says the majority of firms will pay the same or less.
Properties concentrated in the South East of England and urban centres are said to be disproportionately impacted by the first revaluation since 2010, with retailers in some areas facing rises of up to 400%.
There is a similar debate taking place in Scotland and Wales where rates are also being reassessed after April.
Reality Check: Are there more winners than losers on business rates?
Mr Coupe, the boss of the UK's second-largest supermarket chain, urged the government to undertake a wide-ranging review of the way businesses are taxed, highlighting changes in retailing culture.
Mr Coupe said: "The way it currently stands, there is an advantage for those without bricks and mortar operations, so there's a strong case for a level playing field in business rates and taxation more generally.
"Businesses like ours with lots of property and employees face a bigger burden than others."
Referring to the revaluation plans, he said: "As it stands, we could see High Streets face serious challenges and ultimately more closures. It could impact investment in places that most need it, in areas of the country where there is already a marginal call on investment."
Rates are calculated by multiplying the rateable value of a property by a multiplier set by the government. But as property values change over time, rateable values need to be reassessed periodically - usually every five years.
However, this update to property values is two years behind schedule, making it a harder pill to swallow in areas where the price of real estate has been rising.
According to analysts, Sainsbury's will see its annual rates rise to £500m, up from £483m, while internet giant Amazon will see its bill cut.
Pubs, NHS hospitals and hotels in some areas are also said to be facing increases in their business rates.
On Friday, business groups - including the British Retail Consortium and the CBI - signed a letter urging the government to drop the revaluation plans.
Pubs and restaurants have also called on the chancellor to dilute the impact of the changes by providing more transitional relief for the sector.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph has reported that ministers considered extra financial support to ease the impact of business rates before the general election in 2015.
According to the paper, the Department for Communities and Local Government worked with the Treasury to protect the sector, but eventually decided to adopt more modest reforms.
A government spokesman said: "Nearly three quarters of businesses will see a fall, or no change, in their business rates as a result of the revaluation.
"The generous reliefs we are introducing mean that 600,000 small businesses are paying no rates at all - something we're making permanent so they never pay these bills again.
"Across the country, there's also a £3.6bn scheme to support companies affected by the business rates revaluation."
The Finn has until Friday 1 April to respond and a disciplinary hearing has been set for Wednesday 13 April.
St Mirren manager Alex Rae, meanwhile, has been "offered" a one-match ban.
He is alleged to have used "offensive, abusing or insulting language to the referee" in a game against Raith.
The Buddies boss has until Wednesday 30 March to accept the ban or Friday 1 April to notify the SFA that he will contest it.
As with Paatelainen, the principal hearing is set for 13 April.
After seeing his side fight back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in the derby, Paatelainen said the Dundee fans "were giving me plenty of pelters throughout the game".
"When we scored, they were very quiet and I couldn't hear anything so that's why I was like, 'where are you, have you gone away?'" he explained.
"I gave them a little wave afterwards, that's the way it goes."
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Sainsbury's chief executive has called for "fundamental reforms" to business rates amid concerns hikes could spark a raft of High Street store closures.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Dundee United manager Mixu Paatelainen has been called to a Scottish Football Association disciplinary hearing for allegedly "shouting and gesticulating" at Dundee fans at Tannadice on Sunday.
| 39,018,536 | 942 | 88 | true |
5 May 2016 Last updated at 11:01 BST
Five uniformed officers interrupt a lone piper on the castle esplanade - before breaking out their moves.
The original Running Man dance video was created by police in New Zealand as part of a publicity campaign to attract new recruits.
The New Zealand officers challenged The New York City Police Department to follow suit. They made their own video in front of the Brooklyn Bridge and passed the challenge on to Police Scotland.
Police Scotland have tagged the Metropolitan Police, officers in Toronto and their own police college recruits.
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Officers from Police Scotland join the international Running Man Challenge in front of Edinburgh Castle.
| 36,212,107 | 123 | 18 | false |
He added that the public and his party cannot "continue to countenance" how the DUP conduct business at Stormont.
Mr Adams made the remarks in his weekly column for the Andersontown News.
On Wednesday, Mrs Foster restated that she would not stand down.
She also said that some calls for her to do so were "misogynistic".
Speaking on Sky News, Mrs Foster also accused Sinn Féin of being on a "party political mission" to get her to stand aside in order to weaken unionism.
The RHI scheme was set up by Mrs Foster in 2012 when she was minister for enterprise, trade and investment.
It was an attempt by the Northern Ireland Executive to help to increase consumption of heat from renewable sources.
The RHI is approximately £490m over budget.
The DUP has said the assembly may be recalled next week to approve emergency legislation to deal with the overspend.
In his column, Mr Adams repeated previous calls from Sinn Féin for the first minister to step aside to "facilitate an independent, time-framed, robust and transparent investigation".
He accused the DUP of weakening "public confidence in the institutions" before the RHI controversy and that their actions since have "significantly deepened a crisis that already existed".
"The first minister is bound to know how damaging her stance is to public confidence," he said.
"Yet the DUP chooses to ignore the public outrage over the RHI affair and the potential loss of over half a billion pounds to the executive's budget during the next 20 years."
Mr Adams added that a Sinn Féin motion on the RHI scheme will be debated in Stormont on 16 January and will repeat the party's call for Mrs Foster to step aside.
"But whatever the outcome of that debate, the reality is that the political institutions have reached a defining point.
"Neither the public nor Sinn Féin can continue to countenance the manner in which the DUP conduct business within the executive and the assembly.
"Can this be sorted out? Of course it can. That would require Arlene Foster to do what Peter Robinson did.
"She should step aside to facilitate an independent process which gets to the facts of the RHI scandal effectively and quickly.
"This is a straight forward case. The first minister has been in office for a relatively short time. If she wants to continue in that office she needs to do the right thing."
Mr Adams' column also repeated Sinn Féin's desire for an investigation undertaken by "an independent judicial figure from outside this jurisdiction and with the power to compel witnesses and documents".
He said the party had taken legal advice on their investigation proposals over the Christmas break.
That advice "pointed to the need to address in clear terms the issue of compelling persons and papers in any investigation to make it effective".
On Wednesday, Mrs Foster said terms for an independent inquiry were worked out in consultation with the attorney general and sent to Sinn Féin who had not responded.
Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy said the proposals were "insufficient" and that there was no agreement with the DUP on the terms of reference for an investigation.
Last month, Mrs Foster apologised for its lack of cost controls but defended her own role in the scheme.
Businesses were receiving more in subsidies than they were paying for renewable fuel and the scheme became majorly oversubscribed.
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Northern Ireland's political institutions have reached "a defining point" over First Minister Arlene Foster's refusal to step aside while the botched RHI scheme is investigated, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said.
| 38,515,883 | 724 | 48 | false |
14 January 2016 Last updated at 14:44 GMT
Here BBC News recreates the feat to find out how hard it is to squeeze through the gap.
Report by Daniel Sandford, BBC News home affairs correspondent.
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The Hatton Garden burglars drilled three 25cm (9.8in) holes through a concrete wall to climb into the vault.
| 35,292,620 | 43 | 31 | false |
He was speaking during a visit to the city earlier in the week to launch the Féile festival programme.
Bafta-winning actor Rea, is also an ambassador for UNICEF Ireland.
He told the BBC's Sunday News programme he did not think the UK was doing enough to help migrants and refugees coming from war-torn countries such as Syria and Lebanon.
"We're not doing enough because nobody wants to do enough," said the actor.
"This is why you've got Brexit, Trump - America's built on people and immigration. Britain is a mix of races and people have to understand how much we've taken from the countries these people are fleeing.
"We have to get a little bit angry about it and do something."
Rea said the UK and Ireland were "very fortunate", in contrast to a lot of countries in the Middle East and said privilege needed to be shared.
"We're privileged, but these people are not privileged and we need to offer them some of the privileges we have," he said.
"They're not just coming with their hands out, they bring a lot to the country, a lot of talent; new thought; new ways of looking at things and we have to welcome them."
You can hear more on The Sunday News on BBC Radio Ulster at 13:00 GMT and afterwards on the BBC iPlayer.
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Leading Northern Ireland actor Stephen Rea has said people should "get angry" about the migrant crisis in Europe.
| 39,091,266 | 301 | 25 | false |
Media playback is unsupported on your device
15 April 2012 Last updated at 17:19 BST
And this, despite huge potential for solar energy in the Atacama Desert, where sun shines almost all year round.
Subsole, one of Chile's major fruit producers, decided to give solar energy a try, building a solar park in Copiapo Valley in the north of the country.
The firm's chief excecutive Jose Miguel Fernandez says that Chile should pay more attention to renewables.
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Chile still very much relies on imported fossil fuels and hydropower, with only 4% of its energy needs being covered by non-conventional renewables.
| 17,704,943 | 111 | 35 | false |
The body said moves to introduce standardised packaging in the UK, France and Australia will influence policy around the globe.
But the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association said policy was being "driven more by dogma than hard fact".
Around six million deaths each year are linked to smoking.
Plain, or standardised, packaging has a uniform colour across all brands except for health warnings. Any brand names are in small, non-distinctive lettering.
The premise is that the move kills the glamour and attractiveness of smoking and Benn McGrady, from the WHO, said "the evidence is in" that the measure curbs smoking rates.
Australia introduced plain packs in 2012 and data shows that smoking rates fell by a "very significant" additional 0.55% - the equivalent of 108,000 people - between December 2012 and September 2015, the WHO reports.
Mr McGrady told the BBC News website: "We think the evidence is now so strong that it's likely we're witnessing the globalisation of plain packaging - particularly after countries as influential as the UK, France and Australia have implemented the measure.
"There's massive opposition from the tobacco companies - all of them are opposed to it because it's going to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use.
"We're on the cusp of something very big here and it's going to have quite a significant impact on public health."
As well as Australia, the UK and France - Ireland, Norway, Singapore, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Panama, New Zealand and Belgium are at various stages of considering plain packets.
But Mr McGrady warned they were not a magic solution and needed to work in conjunction with bans on advertising and smoking, along with higher taxes.
Giles Roca, the director general of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, argued anti-tobacco laws were being "driven more by dogma than hard fact and evidence".
He said: "The evidence from Australia is damning - plain packaging as a measure itself has been proven not to work and has made no impact on long-term smoking trends.
"There has been no acceleration in decline brought about by the policy, whilst the illegal market has increased markedly.
"Simply put, the very same result in terms of smoking rates would have been achieved by doing nothing."
Follow James on Twitter.
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Plain packaging for cigarettes is about to "go global" in a move that will have a "huge impact" on health, the World Health Organization says.
| 36,396,666 | 501 | 35 | false |
But as launches go, it's the scarcity of the product itself that is perhaps the most remarkable facet.
The firm doesn't yet have enough stock to let its stores sell the smartwatch, and many shoppers who tried to pre-order the device online in the initial hours after it went on sale a fortnight ago have been told that they must wait until May or June for their deliveries.
Those who do receive the first batch today will only get a taste of the Watch's full potential. For now, most third-party apps will depend on a wirelessly-linked iPhone for processing power because Apple hasn't yet allowed them to run natively.
Even so, early indications suggest the US firm has another hit on its hands.
"We are raising our Apple Watch shipment estimates for 2015 from 17 million units to 20 million units, as we estimate sales of over two million units during the pre-sales phase alone, and believe watch revenues could contribute as much as 8% of [Apple's] total revenue in 2017," wrote Daniel Ives from FBR Capital Markets in a note to investors earlier this week.
Early reviews have also praised Apple for creating the best smartwatch yet.
A subsequent update to Google's rival Android Wear software will have eroded some of that lead.
But the Watch retains unique features.
They include the taptic engine, which uses a vibration motor to create different strengths and patterns of taps on a user's wrist.
And the digital crown, which can be twisted to control the machine as an alternative to swiping across its small screen.
To mark the launch, the BBC asked four experts to provide different takes on its potential impact.
Chief of research, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech
Kantar Insights
Since the launch of Apple Watch, everyone looking at the industry wants an answer to the question: How many will Apple be able to sell?
Of course, sales are a quick and easy measure of success but, as with the iPhone, looking for market share alone may not present a full picture of what Apple could achieve with this device.
We have already seen how the go-to-market strategy for the Watch is different to anything Apple has done so far. In my opinion, this strategy is not an effort to maintain the luxury status of the device.
Rather, it aims to learn about consumer preferences so that production of the different models can be tweaked to better meet demand.
The role that online plays in the go-to-market strategy also shows Apple's desire - and need - to grow its online strength.
This will help offload some in-store traffic, which should lead to better customer service.
It also enables Apple to gather information on a larger number of customers, since many do not have access to a physical Apple Store and would have otherwise gone through a traditional retailer.
In addition, the Watch will help Apple strengthen its installed base by locking in customers, since it requires them to own, or at least use, an iPhone as well.
Considering that, according to our surveys, 20% of UK Android users and 67% of French Android users would consider changing from Google's operating system to Apple's to buy the smartwatch of choice, Apple Watch represents a hook into its ecosystem as well.
Senior editor, Cnet
Cnet
The world of wearables is a market full of middling products.
The Apple Watch debuts as the most polished, high-design smartwatch yet, with an extremely ambitious feature set. But what it does, in many ways, isn't far off from what other smartwatch platforms like Google's one-year-old Android Wear or Samsung's Gear watches have aimed to do.
However, an already vast army of app developers ready to create for it could end up being the difference-maker.
I've been wearing one for several weeks.
Right now, the Apple Watch is complicated: its interface takes getting used to, it has new ways to interact, and not all of them are intuitive.
You need an iPhone to use it: this isn't truly a standalone product. Third-party apps, which are already here in droves, feel like very early drafts.
Battery life is only a little more than a day. And its price is higher, even at its lowest end, than most of the competition.
It's a first-generation product in a new product line, and it's not a must-buy yet.
Battery life will be hard to fix, but some people may be fine with charging their watch every day.
Software performance, on the other hand, could improve throughout the year. The software from third-party developers feels slow, and sluggish to load data.
Improved app updates, and the launch of more fully connected apps that natively live on the watch, could fix this problem.
The Apple Watch could eventually be a standalone device that works without a phone, someday, but it isn't now and probably won't be for the foreseeable future.
Explaining why people need one, and what they can get out of it, isn't as easy as it was with the iPhone and iPad.
Or maybe, the use cases will emerge over time.
I've found myself frustrated by aspects of Apple Watch as I've worn it. On the other hand, even with its issues, it already has more polished software than any other piece of wearable tech I've seen.
The Apple Watch may sell more and be better recognised than any other piece of wearable tech in history, but it'll take a few years before it really finds its purpose in a transforming world of connected things.
App developer and consultant
Malcolm Barclay
The Apple Watch is arguably an impressive entry into the burgeoning wearable digital devices market.
Along with all the usual players that must have a presence - Facebook, Twitter et al - we are sure to see some ingenious, useful, entertaining and fun watch apps.
However, when contrasted with the early days of the app market, the financial rewards for developers seeking fortunes selling Apple Watch applications alone will be minuscule.
Why? You need an existing iPhone to pair with the Apple Watch in order to run apps; the processing power of the iPhone is leveraged and the output (a view) is displayed on the watch.
Developers are essentially shipping an iPhone application that "extends" itself to the Watch as opposed to installing on it.
An extension alone would have to be something quite special in order to convince users to part with money for it.
Although Apple has announced that developers will be able to create native apps later this year, iPhone pairing will remain necessary.
And native watch apps may be a niche category.
Will they have enough power? What will Apple allow?
Answers to these questions will dictate the market available to developers.
Users' expectations of applications have immeasurably changed since the initial launch days of the App Store.
I once met the developers of a social application that sold virtual ice cubes to their users on a hot day; in turn they would gift them to each other.
Given the plethora of emojis that now ship by default in iOS and Android, this seems laughable today.
Apps now need to be more sophisticated - and costly to produce - to succeed.
Editor-in-chief, Ablogtowatch.com
Ablogtowatch.com
Perhaps the most amusing response by the traditional timepiece industry to the Apple Watch is an actual debate as to whether or not this connected "smart" electronic device worn on the wrist can be properly defined as a watch.
In my opinion, such conversations are not only irrelevant but typify the type of legendary conservatism that has helped the traditional watch industry to both thrive and suffer in recent history.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the mechanical watch industry was almost decimated thanks to the arrival of cheap, highly accurate electronic quartz watches.
It adapted by focusing on creating mechanical objects of beauty, which are, by many accounts, lovely examples of obsolete technology.
Now that smartwatches are making a play for wrist space, even passionate collectors could stop wearing their traditional counterparts.
In my experience, the traditional watch industry splits its time between ignoring/criticising items like the Apple Watch, debuting less-than-stellar competitive products, and simply acknowledging that while it recognise the potential threat, it lacks the tools and flexibility to properly adapt.
Most troubling for me is that too many people in the traditional watch industry simply don't understand smartwatches - what they do, and what appeal they may have for consumers.
The smartwatch industry struggles to clearly explain why consumers need one.
But at the same time, in my opinion, the traditional watch industry will also struggle because it hasn't taken the time to truly understand what items like the Apple Watch represent for their business.
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The Watch's release represents a chance for Apple to change the world again with an industry-defining product.
| 32,402,482 | 1,903 | 24 | false |
Do you feel like the working day and perhaps even the weekend could be spent just trying to stay on top of the deluge of messages?
At this point does email feels like it's fundamentally broken?
You're not alone.
But BBC Click's LJ Rich thinks she has the solution...
Hi, You're probably fed up with reading emails like this. But stick with me, this is not spam, I promise! I want to inspire you to think differently about how to process email.
I've been "inbox zero" for at least three years now. And contrary to popular belief it's not because I spend my life answering emails - it's more because I've learned how to handle the massive influx of data without feeling the need to fix it all. I've tried some new apps that promise to help, but will any solve your email traffic jam? Read on…
LJ
Hi LJ, Our new app Inbox by Gmail might be of interest. It bundles messages by type - social updates, purchases, travel. Swipe a message right to mark as done, swipe left to snooze till a later date. Stick pins into emails you don't want to lose track of, or select a whole category, scan through it then mark all the messages as done in one sweep.
Thanks for the beta invite. Yes, I've played with this! Another service called Mailbox has some similar features (for those that don't have access to Gmail or the beta invite). Useful for people who receive lots of updates and social emails, though I worry that any automatic sorting system might gloss over what I feel are important emails.
Hi LJ, unroll.me turns all those bitty updates into a tidy digest. Our system needs to look through your email inbox, but then it can pull out all the things you're subscribed to and then give you the option to roll up some emails into one daily email and even unsubscribe from other services on your behalf.
Hi,
Interesting! Though I'm a bit freaked out by the service looking through my inbox, I'm really impressed with the result. I've bundled 60 emails into one daily digest using this service, though I didn't enjoy having to share the app to get the functionality! Luckily I just sent it to a Facebook friend to unlock more than five operations. The digest is sometimes topped and tailed with ads (which I'm fine with, it's a free service - everyone's got to make a living).
Hi LJ, There's also social takes on email like ours, Slack - where you can mix messaging and emails together. Chat, send files and set subjects or "channels" to suit you. Cat pictures can stay on the cat channel, while the actual work gets done on another. It integrates nicely with other online services like Google Docs and Dropbox.
Thanks - social email is an interesting step - there are tons of messenger apps like Whatsapp and Telegram. It's about time our social lives and email comms were integrated. I enjoy using Slack, but it seems more suited to my creative collaborative projects with friends already on it! No-one on my Click team seems to have stuck with it, so I still need email for people who aren't on the platform.
LJ, Thanks for trying out so many apps - but is it as much about knowing how to handle emails? Isn't this more about a habit you can get into that makes it easier to deal with the onslaught of messages?
Well, I'm glad you asked! Here are some tips just for you, Leo, and anyone else who's reading this.
1. Don't be a slave to your email inbox
I don't sort my emails anymore - I use the search bar instead. If I can't find certain threads, I just send a reply to my own email address with keywords that make sense to me. I was surprised at how much time I saved not putting things into folders.
2. It's OK not to respond to everything.
Everyone is in the same boat - we can't be expected to reply to everything. Once I've read through the content, I mark an email 'read'.
And if it becomes urgent and it's not been dealt with, I'll get a reminder. David Allen, who wrote Getting Things Done suggested that if it takes less than two minutes to do something, just do it.
For me, if an email request will take longer than that, I'll make it into a task and add it to my list, even if that's just scribbled on a piece of paper.
3. Consider starting again - Make your Unread Mail view your inbox
I go through all my unread email. Anything that needs dealing with, I add the "thing" to a separate task list that I trust. That task list then becomes my priority (not sorting through my emails).
Why not mark everything as read right now? Go on! Once I did this (and maybe for you too if you're feeling brave) my "unread emails" view became my new inbox.
At the end of each office session, I make sure I have no unread emails. I don't miss anything and I don't feel overwhelmed.
4. Check emails when you want - whatever works for you - no need to overdo it.
If I've been away for a week or two it's a simple matter of setting aside 20 minutes to run through my emails. If they need dealing with, I'll flag or star them or add them to my day task list (crucially once they are dealt with, I unstar!).
Once I started working from my "unread" view I felt like I could see what I needed to deal with a lot more simply.
Disclaimer: I should disclose that I type super-fast and I've practised processing data quickly, so your mileage may vary. But don't be discouraged!
Whatever you choose to do, the trick is not to let email overwhelm you. Zero inbox is a habit, not a goal. I can't control when someone sends me something.
But I can control how much time I spend dealing with it. For me the key to productivity is not to make email sorting the majority of your day.
All the best,
LJ Rich
Watch more clips on the Click website. If you are in the UK you can watch the whole programme on BBC iPlayer.
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Are you losing control of the number of unread emails in your inboxes?
| 30,345,112 | 1,432 | 19 | false |
The England international, 25, clashed heads with Blues defender Gary Cahill 13 minutes into the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.
He was taken to St Mary's Hospital in London, where he had surgery.
Hull's statement said Mason would "continue to be closely monitored by staff" at the hospital.
It added: "There will be no further updates from the club until there are any changes in Ryan's condition."
Hull fans are being encouraged to show support for Mason by taking part in a minute's applause during Thursday's EFL Cup semi-final against Manchester United at the KCOM Stadium.
The club wants fans to applaud in the 25th minute to represent the number of Mason's shirt.
His team-mates will warm up on the pitch before the game wearing T-shirts with 'Mason 25' on.
The club said on Monday that Mason was conscious and talking and had been visited by captain Michael Dawson, club doctor Mark Waller, head of medical Rob Price and club secretary Matt Wild.
Cahill, Chelsea captain John Terry and assistant manager Steve Holland had visited on Sunday to check on Mason's well-being, and spent time with his family.
Mason, Hull's record signing, fractured his skull as he attempted to head the ball clear of his own box following a cross from Pedro.
He got to the ball a split second before Cahill, who was already committed to his attempted header, and the pair collided.
Mason joined Hull from Tottenham last August for a club-record undisclosed fee. He has scored one goal in 16 Premier League appearances for the Tigers.
Prior to his move, he made 53 top-flight appearances for Tottenham, and had loan spells at Yeovil, Doncaster, Millwall, Lorient and Swindon.
Hull lost Sunday's game 2-0 as goals from Diego Costa and Cahill gave Chelsea a victory that took them eight points clear at the top.
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Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason is making "excellent progress" after fracturing his skull during Sunday's game at Chelsea, his club says.
| 38,734,842 | 428 | 34 | false |
21 March 2016 Last updated at 19:10 GMT
Those who died when their car entered the water at Buncrana pier on Sunday were the husband, sister, mother and two sons of Louise McGrotty, from Londonderry.
They have been named as Sean McGrotty, 49, his sons Mark, 12, and Evan, 8, his mother-in-law Ruth Daniels, 59 and Ruth's daughter Jodie Lee Daniels, 14.
Frank McGrotty, Sean McGrotty's brother, told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that the whole family had been left devastated.
Smith, from Peterborough, was banned for two months by British Gymnastics after the video emerged on 7 October.
The 27-year-old apologised over the clip, in which he was seen laughing and imitating Islamic prayers.
But city councillor Mohammed Jamil said Smith's apology meant he had "done enough" to earn his forgiveness.
Mr Jamil, who is a Muslim, said he had wondered if it were appropriate that Smith should "represent such a diverse city of Peterborough" while considering the honour.
He said he also had several people contacting him who asked: "Are you really sure about this?"
But he said his view changed after Smith instantly apologised, missed the Olympic celebrations in order to visit mosques and spoke on Islam Radio in Peterborough.
Labour councillor Mr Jamil said: "Part of our religion is to forgive. He had done enough to earn my forgiveness."
A panel of Peterborough leaders unanimously voted to give Smith and two Paralympians, James Fox and wheelchair basketball star Lee Manning, the honour.
In a Tweet, Smith said he was "humbled and honoured".
A city council spokeswoman said: "Each of the nominations were unanimously approved by councillors, and each will now be officially awarded in a ceremony in the new year."
In October, Dr Omer El-Hamdoon, deputy secretary general of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, praised British Gymnastics for taking action against Smith, and fellow gymnast Luke Carson, who was also featured in the leaked film.
He said: "We hope they reflect upon their actions and realise the need for people to follow their faith with dignity."
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Relatives of the victims who lost their lives during a family outing to the Donegal coast have been speaking about the tragedy.
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Olympian Louis Smith has been granted the freedom of his home city, just weeks after a film in which he mocked Islam was posted online.
| 35,864,207 | 498 | 64 | true |
Du Plessis was found guilty in November after footage appeared to show the 32-year-old licking his finger and shining the ball while eating a sweet in the second Test against Australia.
He was fined 100% of his match fee by the International Cricket Council.
But he will be able to play in South Africa's Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka as he will not face a match ban.
"It is the duty of the ICC to ensure fair play on the cricket field," said International Cricket Council chief executive Dave Richardson.
"Although it was not picked up by the umpires at the time, when the incident came to our attention subsequently, we felt it was our responsibility to lay a charge in this case because the ICC can't let such an obvious breach of this law pass without taking any action.
"We are pleased that both the match referee and Mr Beloff QC have agreed with our interpretation of the laws and hope that this serves as a deterrent to all players not to engage in this sort of unfair practice in the future."
Du Plessis, who is also captain of the Twenty20 side, has always denied any wrongdoing and said he had been made a "scapegoat" after the original conviction.
In 2013, Du Plessis was fined 50% of his match fee for ball tampering in the second Test against Pakistan.
He was caught on camera rubbing the ball against a zip on his pocket on the third day of the match in Dubai, leading umpires to penalise South Africa five runs and change the ball. He did not contest the charge.
Last week Du Plessis was appointed as the permanent captain of South Africa following AB de Villier's decision to step down in order to concentrate on his recovery from an elbow injury.
South Africa now face Sri Lanka in a three-match Test series starting at Port Elizabeth on 26 December.
Nottingham has been chosen to host one-day races for men and women on Sunday, 26 May.
The original Milk Race, which ran between 1958 and 1993, was a multi-stage race and one of the many guises of what is now the Tour of Britain.
Steven Burke is the first big name to sign up for the race, which will move from city to city each year.
"It's an historic event and it's exciting to be a part of it," said the Olympic track champion, who is trained by 1987 Milk Race winner Malcolm Elliott.
"London 2012 and the exploits of Bradley Wiggins have already increased participation in cycling and the more big events like this can happen the better it is for the sport."
Officers were called to Mid Street, Kirkcaldy, in the early hours of Saturday.
The area was cordoned off while forensic teams carried out investigations.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "Police Scotland can confirm that a body was found within a bus stop in Mid Street, Kirkcaldy, on Saturday. Inquiries are ongoing."
3 January 2016 Last updated at 13:47 GMT
Because of a condition in her legs, Josie, who is a rough collie, was starting to lose the use of her back legs and couldn't go for walks.
A fundraising page collected enough money to buy Josie a frame with wheels.
She's now getting used to moving around with the frame and is enjoying walks again with her owner Kate.
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South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has lost his appeal against his ball-tampering conviction.
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The Milk Race is set to make a return to the British sporting calendar after a 20-year absence.
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Police are investigating a death at a bus stop in Fife.
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A dog called Josie has been given a set of wheels to help her walk.
| 38,392,199 | 736 | 84 | true |
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor died aged 64 at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire on Tuesday after suddenly becoming ill on his Abbeystead Estate.
A spokeswoman for the coroner said there would be no inquest because the cause of death was natural.
The duke was said to be the third richest person in the UK.
He became the sixth Duke of Westminster in 1979 and his fortune was estimated at $10.8bn (£8.3bn), according to Forbes magazine, making him the 68th richest person in the world.
A friend of the Royal Family, the Territorial Army major general's only son, Hugh Grosvenor, 25, is to inherit his title.
On the Grosvenor Estate website, a message posted read: "He was a passionate country man, committed soldier, an excellent shot, a true entrepreneur and, importantly, he went out of his way to be courteous and humorous with all people, regardless of status or wealth."
Lancashire Police said the duke had been walking in the Trough of Bowland when he was taken ill and later airlifted to hospital, where he died.
The duke owned 190 acres in Belgravia, adjacent to Buckingham Palace and one of London's most expensive areas, as well as thousands of acres in Scotland and Spain.
He supported a number of charities and good causes, including making a £500,000 donation to farmers during the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak.
Due to the rule of male primogeniture - which blocks women receiving hereditary peerages - the dukedom is passed to his third-born child, Hugh Grosvenor, instead of his older daughters, Lady Tamara and Lady Edwina.
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The billionaire landowner and philanthropist the Duke of Westminster died of a heart attack, Preston coroner's office has confirmed.
| 37,049,354 | 383 | 34 | false |
Kyowa Kirin International, formerly ProStrakan, is based in Galashiels.
KRN23 is the first of a pipeline of drugs from KKI's parent company, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, to reach the stage of seeking European approval.
The company said it was part of efforts to "contribute to the health and wellbeing of people around the world".
Rickets is caused by vitamin D deficiency resulting in weakened bones.
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A Borders-based pharmaceuticals firm is seeking authorisation for a new drug for the treatment of the most common heritable form of rickets.
| 38,517,807 | 107 | 36 | false |
Shanon Loveridge, 22, and Johnny Murphy, 25, both of Watford Road, St Albans, are to appear before St Albans Magistrates Court on 27 October.
They are charged with holding a person in slavery or servitude and requiring another person to perform forced labour between April 2010 and September 2014.
The pair were arrested in March following reports of human trafficking.
They have been released on bail until their court appearance. The alleged offences are said to have been committed in St Albans.
A 62-year-old woman has been released without charge.
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Two people have been charged with slavery and forced labour offences in Hertfordshire.
| 34,288,835 | 123 | 19 | false |
Southampton City Council said a "technical issue" in the admissions process had affected a number of reception class places in the city's schools.
The authority said corrected letters were being sent out.
It has apologised for causing "any inconvenience or uncertainty" to parents.
A council spokesman said: "The information that Southampton City Council sent to Hampshire County Council to enable the county to make offers to parents did not transfer.
"As a result, some parents received letters with the incorrect information."
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Parents have received an apology after a council error led to children being allocated the wrong school places.
| 36,089,279 | 110 | 21 | false |
The McLaren driver already had a 15-place grid penalty but has been hit further after a switch to a new engine after trying an upgraded one on Friday.
Formula 1's complex rules governing engine usage mean Alonso incurs an extra 25 places for the new engine.
He will start behind team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne, who has a 30-place penalty.
Drivers are permitted to use only four engines per season - with each engine split into six constituent parts, and penalties for using more than four of any of them.
The first time a fifth element is used the driver in question receives a 10-place penalty, with a further five places when a fifth of any of the remaining elements are used.
The same applies when a sixth element is used, and so on.
Alonso's initial 15-place penalty was for his sixth turbo and MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo.
But after trying a development engine on Friday in Baku with encouraging results in terms of performance, Honda decided to switch back to the previous specification engine for the rest of the weekend.
Alonso was given a completely new power-unit - which was his fifth internal combustion engine and MGU-K and seventh turbo/MGU-H.
Further penalties for both McLaren drivers as the season progresses are inevitable as Honda seeks to improve both performance and reliability.
On Tuesday, up to 10,000 prison officers in England and Wales stopped work over claims of a "surge in violence" among inmates.
Prison Officers Association members were ordered back to work after the government won a High Court injunction.
The Ministry of Justice said Ms Truss had now asked the POA to resume talks.
The National Offender Management Service, which is responsible for correctional services in England and Wales, said it had contacted the POA to offer a meeting with Ms Truss on Thursday.
A MoJ spokesman said the government welcomed the union's decision to end Tuesday's "unlawful industrial action".
"We are committed to improving safety across the prison estate and are already taking action.
"This includes tackling the use of drugs, mobile phones and drones while recruiting new staff and improving protection for staff.
"The justice secretary already met with the POA earlier this month but would not do so again until they called off their unlawful action.
"Now that prison officers are back at work she will meet the POA and invites them to resume talks with her team."
Earlier this month, Ms Truss unveiled a White Paper detailing £1.3bn investment in new prisons over the next five years, including plans for 2,100 extra prison officers, drug tests for inmates on entry and exit from prisons, and more autonomy for governors.
The POA ended Tuesday's protests by saying it had achieved its aim of securing a meeting with Ms Truss.
The protests began at midnight on Tuesday and came after multiple high-profile incidents at prisons across England.
Two men were arrested on suspicion of murder after Jamal Mahmoud died after being stabbed at Pentonville jail on 18 October in an attack which left two others injured.
Earlier this month prisoners caused almost £1m of damage during a riot at Bedford prison.
Days later at HMP Isle of Wight, an inmate cut a prison officer's throat with a razor blade on the way back to his cell.
It is illegal for officers to strike, but the POA had directed its members to stop working after talks with the government over health and safety concerns broke down.
Announcing the action, it said: "The POA has consistently raised the volatile and dangerous state of prisons, as chronic staff shortages and impoverished regimes has resulted in staff no longer being safe, a lack of discipline and prisoners taking control of areas."
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Fernando Alonso's grid penalties at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix have gone up to 40 after an engine change before final practice on Saturday.
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Justice Secretary Liz Truss will restart talks with the prison officers' union later amid claims the service in England and Wales is "in meltdown".
| 40,392,031 | 843 | 63 | true |
Scientists in the US "decoded" the calls of male elephant seals, revealing that vocal communication played a crucial part in their social lives.
This showed seals communicating their identity with deep, rhythmic calls.
In their Current Biology paper, the team says this is the first example of non-human mammals "using rhythm" in everyday life.
Just as humans can identify a particular song based on its distinctive rhythm, this research revealed that male elephant seals could identify each other from the pulsing pattern of their calls.
Lead author Prof Nicolas Mathevon, from the University of Lyon and St Etienne, described these grumping vocalisations as "distinctive".
They were "very rhythmic, like a metronome", he told BBC News.
"In the colony, everyone knows who is who… they recognise the voice of all the other males in the colony."
And this is important in a congested beach colony - at the site the team studied, more than 4,000 seals are packed on to the beach, so it is important to know your neighbours.
"If you think about the social life of a male elephant seal, it's actually quite complicated," said co-author Caroline Casey, from the University of California Santa Cruz.
"Within his own social network, he's potentially interacting with 20-30 other individuals."
In these situations, it can be crucial to distinguish quickly between dominant and subordinate males - to avoid a potentially lethal conflict.
"If he gets it wrong, the costs of that mistake are pretty high. We saw a male die last year from a canine through the skull," Ms Casey said.
In this context, the rhythmic call of a male elephant seal acts as a distinctive "fingerprint", helping other males decide whether to flee the vicinity.
The research team spent six years studying the colony of more 4,000 elephant seals in Ano Nuevo National Park, California.
They recorded the vocalisations of dominant males, then played back those calls through loudspeakers to subordinate males.
As expected, less dominant males fled the sound of the high status seals, which are referred to as "beachmasters".
Crucially though, when the researchers artificially modified the rhythm of a call, subordinate males no longer recognised it and did not respond.
If they did not recognise a voice, "they wait and see", said Prof Mathevon. "It's their strategy."
While doing nothing might seem lazy, this "very efficient strategy" is also potentially life-saving.
During the breeding season, elephant seals haul out from the ocean and stay in the colony for almost 100 days without any food or water.
So, if males do not recognise the rhythm of a call, they simply do not move, and therefore avoid a waste of vital energy.
Prof Patricia Gray, from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, who was not involved in the research, said it had captured "natural animal behaviour in the wild" and shown how important producing and recognising rhythm was to their survival.
She added that understanding how other species used rhythm could "unlock many answers" about how they perceived other animals and their surroundings and how these qualities related to human perception.
A controlled explosion was carried out on the object after it was found in Market Place.
It was made safe and removed for examination during a security alert which lasted several hours.
Police say a vehicle was seized during a follow-up operation in the Lagmore area of west Belfast on Saturday night.
Supt Brian Kee said: "Our investigation into the circumstances surrounding this security alert is at a very early stage.
"We are following a number of lines of enquiry, one of these is that the device may have fallen from a vehicle.
"As part of a follow up operation in the Lagmore area of Belfast last night, a vehicle was seized for examination.
"We are keen to hear from witnesses or anyone who was in the Market Place area of Lisburn yesterday and who may have information that could assist the investigation."
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Male elephant seals recognise the rhythm of one another's voices, researchers say.
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Police have said they are investigating if a bomb found in Lisburn on Saturday had fallen from a vehicle.
| 40,668,649 | 896 | 44 | true |
People inspired to strip for the New York-based photographer, as well as those who have removed their clothes for other human installations, bare all and share their experiences of getting naked in the name of art.
"I'd been aware of Strange Cargo (the gallery that hosted a Spencer Tunick event in 2014) and they were a massive influence on me.
"I was intrigued by the prospect of getting involved in the nude art installation and was lucky enough to pass the selection process.
"There were around 70 of us taking part - all ages and sizes - when we gathered to pose on Folkestone Beach. I stood next to a pregnant lady.
"The photo shoot took place in the summer so it wasn't too cold. We were made to feel very comfortable and the process took around five to 10 minutes.
"I feel very proud to have taken part in the event."
"I participated in Tunick's 2010 homage to LS Lowry's Everyday People at various places in Manchester and it was a fascinating although chilly experience. Some of the people who met there are still in touch and have reunions.
"One person I'm good friends with from that freezing cold at 5am in May experience had never been naked in public before and was challenging herself to do something daring. It has been an enduring memory and something which has bonded us together.
"The art exhibition which resulted from this was displayed at The Lowry at Salford Quays and some of the photos were stunning.
"I did not do it because of a love of Lowry's pictures, not because I enjoy shivering naked and being ordered around, but because it was something new and unique and different.
"Now I have the chance to do something similar in Hull. I'll be applying to participate."
"I have taken part in a couple of Spencer Tunick's installations in the past and even been to a couple of his private party installations.
"The first one I went to was in Salford. I was a bit nervous at first, but once over that it was one of the best things I'd ever done.
"There is something very primal about being just you, without even a fig leaf to hide yourself from the person next to you.
"Once you realise you can do that, it changes who you are in such a positive way.
"It's also a great way to make friends. Many of us have stayed in touch over the years and meet up from time to time.
"I'd recommend everyone experience that feeling at least once in their lives."
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Hull is set to be the latest location for a mass nude gathering organised by Spencer Tunick.
| 35,925,792 | 560 | 23 | false |
The 66-year-old, of Ballybinaby, Hackballscross, County Louth, denies nine charges of failing to furnish tax returns between 1996 and 2004.
The prosecution claims he failed to supply returns despite significant cattle and land dealings.
The charges follow an investigation by the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
At Dublin's Special Criminal Court on Tuesday, a prosecuting lawyer read a detective's statement to the court.
It said that on 9 March 2006, CAB members searched a shed at Ballybinaby and found three black plastic bags and a case.
Cash, cheques and documents relating to the oil industry and to farming and livestock were found inside, the court heard.
The trial continues.
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Cash and cheques were found in plastic bags in a County Louth shed, the trial of prominent republican Thomas 'Slab' Murphy has heard.
| 34,650,199 | 161 | 34 | false |
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Having opted to bat, Australia were reduced to 4-4 after four overs, Kiwi left-arm spinner Leigh Kasperek taking 3-2 in her first 12 deliveries.
All-rounder Ellyse Perry struck 42 from 48 balls as Australia mustered 103-8.
But Rachel Priest hit 34 from 27 balls and Susie Bates 23 as the Kiwis reached their target with 22 balls to spare.
"I am sure if we play the way we are, we can win it," said Bates. "If things go our way, we can win it. But we are not looking too far ahead."
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The Australians, winners of the last three tournaments, were also beaten by the Kiwis in their opening group match of the 2014 World T20, but this was only their fifth defeat in 22 matches in the history of the event.
Edinburgh-born Kasperek, who appeared for Scotland against Ireland in the 2007 European Championship aged 15, claimed wickets with consecutive deliveries in her first over, both hoicked to the leg-side ring.
Perry had struck the only six of the Australia innings but was given out lbw with the final ball of the 17th over, when replays suggested it was missing the leg-stump.
In reply both New Zealand openers hit sixes, Bates with a glorious drive over long-off, as they raced to 58 in the eighth over before both departed in the space of 10 balls.
New Zealand, runners-up in the first two Women's World T20s, have now won three of their four WT20 meetings with Australia and maintained their 100% record in this year's event, having also beaten Sri Lanka and Ireland.
With only the top two in the five-team groups progressing, Australia next play on Thursday in Delhi against Sri Lanka, who have also won one and lost one thus far.
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Defending champions Australia were soundly beaten by six wickets as New Zealand made it three wins out of three at the Women's World Twenty20.
| 35,862,629 | 420 | 35 | false |
The fire at the flat below theirs in Stock Street, Paisley, broke out at about 11:40.
Two men in the ground-floor flat were suffering from the effects of breathing in smoke and were taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
The woman and child were checked by ambulance personnel but did not require further treatment.
Two trenches were dug on Monday to investigate Ipswich's Cornhill area.
However, by Tuesday contractors were told the bricks would all need to be put back when the council realised the ditches might get in the way of a festival and parade next month.
They said work could begin again after the event.
An Ipswich Borough Council spokesman said: "We are taking this dig extremely seriously, and if we had discovered something of note we could not guarantee to have everything back in place safely for this community event in early September."
We'll fill you in with all the latest news from Suffolk right here
The investigative work was scheduled to take place ahead of a £3m redevelopment of the Cornhill, which will start in January and see the creation of a water feature and sculpture.
Archaeologists were expected to be working in a fenced-off area for two weeks but the dig was halted after just one day.
"[The] work on Ipswich's Cornhill has been postponed to allow a town centre procession and festival to take place early next month," the council spokesman added.
"As a result, we will start the dig after that as there is no impact on the timing of the Cornhill project."
The bomb exploded on a highway as a military vehicle was passing. Seven more soldiers were wounded.
No-one has admitted the attack, but the army blamed it on Kurdish PKK militants. A further four troops died in gun battles with the PKK in Diyarbakir province.
The attacks come amid a wave of violence after a two-year truce failed.
Separately, two people have been arrested after gunfire was heard outside Istanbul's iconic Dolmabahce Palace, which houses offices of the prime minister.
Police seized two hand-grenades, an automatic rifle, a hand gun and ammunition.
One policeman was slightly injured in the attack and a third suspect is being sought, the Turkish Anadolu news agency reported.
A statement from the Istanbul governor's office said the attackers were from a "terrorist group" and that they had previously carried out an attack on the Istanbul HQ of the ruling AK party on 8 August.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Ankara at the time of the attack.
The palace, in the Besiktas district on the European side of Istanbul, was the main administrative centre of the Ottoman Empire for many years in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The founder of modern Turkey, Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, died there in 1938, and the palace is now a major tourist attraction.
A man suspected of belonging to the banned leftist group DHKP-C was arrested in January after attacking guards outside the palace.
The group said it was behind a gun attack on the US consulate in Istanbul by two female assailants earlier this month.
Turkey has been on high alert since launching a two-pronged air campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria and PKK bases in northern Iraq last month.
The 29-year-old from Guernsey, ranked fourth in England, had been targeting a place in the sport's top 16 this year.
He has won more than 200 matches as a professional player, and reached the final of the Nantes Open in France in September.
"My season has unfortunately come to a premature end," Simpson said in a statement on Twitter.
"I'm up and about today, and determined to make a full recovery."
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A woman and a boy have been rescued by firefighters after their first-floor flat was engulfed in toxic smoke.
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Archaeologists digging trenches ahead of a town centre revamp have been forced to fill them in after just 24 hours.
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Eight Turkish soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack in the south-eastern province of Siirt, the army says.
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World number 25 Chris Simpson will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on a hip injury.
| 35,106,847 | 856 | 108 | true |
Tiote died aged 30 after collapsing during training with his Chinese club Beijing Enterprises.
The former Newcastle United midfielder was honoured with a military funeral with a host of dignitaries and players in attendance.
His body was flown back home to Ivory Coast from China earlier this week.
We're all here to show him love and to show him he's always going to be in our hearts
Hundreds of people, including former Elephants coach Herve Renard, were at Abidjan's international airport to receive Tiote's body on Thursday.
Cheick Tiote won more than 50 caps for his country and was part of the Ivory Coast squad that won the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
A number of his former team-mates attended the funeral, including Germany-based striker Salomon Kalou who said he, like so many others, was left devastated by the news of his death.
"He's someone I respected as a human being but also as a football player," Kalou told BBC Sport.
"I played six years with him in the national team and I played against him with Chelsea when he was at Newcastle, so we had a good relationship and I couldn't miss this funeral for anything in the world.
"It's unreal. It looks like a dream right now. We're all here to show him love and to show him he's always going to be in our hearts," Kalou added.
England-based striker Wilfried Bony recalled how Tiote had been a mentor figure for him when he first started playing for the Elephants.
"From the beginning when I joined the team in 2010, he was one of the first players who came and talked to me about how to be here, my attitude, how to train, how I need to react with the other players.
"And Tiote was a player who loved to win who loved to be first, he never wanted to lose. He wanted always to be the best," said Bony.
Ivorian Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly was joined by Ivorian Sports Minister Albert Amichia and President of the Ivorian football federation Augustin Sidy Diallo at the funeral in Abidjan as the country paid its last respects to its former international midfielder.
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The funeral of Ivorian star Cheick Tiote was held in Abidjan on Sunday following his sudden death in China earlier this month.
| 40,314,352 | 516 | 32 | false |
The woman initially told police she was gang raped at gunpoint in a Brooklyn park on 7 January.
Police arrested five teens, but parts of the woman's story began to come under scrutiny as more details emerged.
Her father was said to have been chased off by the suspects, but it took him nearly 30 minutes to alert police.
The teenagers said the encounter was consensual. They told police when they entered the park they saw the woman and her father engaged in a sex act.
Prosecutor Kenneth Thompson said the 18-year-old woman provided "multiple inconsistent accounts" when detectives questioned her.
"That night, this young woman's father and the five young men engaged in conduct that was reprehensible and wrong, but because of the lack of reliable evidence, criminal charges simply cannot be sustained," Mr Thompson said.
On that basis the story about cuts to nurse training funds has spread like wild fire. People are in shock.
Charities, nurses, doctors and health unions are furious. Furious not just at the impact the cuts will have, but also the harsh way the news was delivered.
It's also confusing. In a week where sums of £1bn were being reported to be part of the DUP/Tory deal, why such brutal cuts to training health staff of the future?
It's understood that on 18 May the director of nursing at the Public Health Agency wrote to the Department of Health outlining the required budget for training nurses.
That figure sat at £10m. It's now emerged that over £1m has been cut from that training budget.
A source described the move as "catastrophic".
It means further training in specialist areas including in liver disease, neo natal training, endoscopy procedures and children in schools will not happen. It will also mean no dedicated nurse for GPs' surgeries. Advanced life support resuscitation is also affected.
Questions are being asked about who is making these major controversial decisions, especially when there is no health minister in place?
Those trying to provide essential services and balance the books are asking if civil servants are allowed to do this and why no one is holding them to account.
And there is also news of further cuts to training budgets - 23% off allied health professional budgets, which include the likes of physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. That means around £150,000 has been shaved off their budget.
In radiography there is a further cut of 23% to next year's budget that follows a 25% cut last year. So in total almost 50%.
Transforming the health service, removing pressure from hospitals and placing greater emphasis on the community requires people like nurses and allied health professionals. No training means services will suffer.
So in these politically uncertain times, the big question is who is currently setting health policy?
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New York City authorities are dropping sexual assault charges against five teenagers after their accuser recanted her story.
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Good news travels fast, but bad news travels even faster.
| 35,656,824 | 625 | 39 | true |
All are suspected of links to the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group said the national police chief.
The 15, including one police officer, were arrested over three days in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and six other states, said Khalid Abu Bakar.
One hundred and seventy-seven suspected militants have been detained in Malaysia in the past three years.
The authorities said the suspects were trying to obtain chemicals to make bombs and were planning to launch attacks. They were aged between 22 to 49 and included four women who were planning to travel to Syria to join IS, they said.
The police chief said the group also arranged for two foreign terror suspects to sneak out of Malaysia, and had channelled money to militants in the southern Philippines.
Malaysia is on a particularly high terror alert since the capital of neighbouring Jakarta was attacked by militants in January.
On 15 January, Malaysian police said they had arrested a man they claimed was hours from carrying out a suicide attack in Kuala Lumpur.
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Malaysian authorities say 15 people suspected of planning attacks on the country have been arrested.
| 35,897,911 | 219 | 18 | false |
It was commissioned after Kettering General Hospital admitted "anomalies" with its waiting lists data.
The report said patient safety was seriously jeopardised and cost-cutting contributed to the problem.
A whistleblower claimed patients were removed from lists to help meet national targets, but investigators found no evidence of fraud.
In May, the BBC reported allegations by David Phelan, who was also a trust governor at the time, that data had been "fiddled" .
A hospital review found that 138 patients were harmed - including one who had substantial sight loss - as a result of the long waits.
The hospital admitted using "inappropriate filtering" of its data to remove patients but denied it was a deliberate attempt at making figures look better to avoid fines.
A report, written by consulting company CPA, concluded that "flawed methods were used to extract waiting time data" between 2006 and 2015, and raised questions over whether the trust was "misled" by executives and deputies, or whether the individuals "lacked the understanding, judgement or competence to appreciate the position".
It also described the decision to cut administration staff as "misguided" and said investigations into whether patients had been harmed "lacked rigour".
Report author Chris Anyan said most staff he had spoken to knew about the problems "for some time" but "the significance of these issues was not fully appreciated, including the potential risk to patients".
Kettering General Hospital said it had implemented an improvement plan in response to the report.
In a statement, the trust said: "The review conclusively demonstrates that the root cause of our problems were a number of historic failings which together affected the accuracy of our waiting times data.
"The report also found that senior managers who had been trying to address our problems and produce accurate information were 'well intentioned' but failed to recognise the scale and significance of the waiting time issues."
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A hospital may have lost track of its patients for almost a decade, according to a report obtained by the BBC.
| 40,683,773 | 422 | 26 | false |
Christopher Cumpsty, 43, was found dead at the house in Cross Street, Balby at about 04:30 BST on 11 March.
A post-mortem examination revealed he died from multiple injuries.
A 41-year-old woman, who was previously arrested on suspicion of murder, also remains on bail.
South Yorkshire Police said officers are keen to find out more about Christopher's last known movements at the beginning of March.
Live updates on this story and others from Sheffield and South Yorkshire
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A 17-year-old boy and a 45-year-old man arrested on suspicion of the murder of a man at his home in Doncaster have been released on bail.
| 36,037,135 | 104 | 39 | false |
Atul Shah, 47, was found dead in Crescent Road, Luton, on 6 January.
Luke West, 23, of Abbots Wood Road and Kyle Pitchford-Price, 23, of Dovehouse Hill in Luton, both denied his murder, although West admitted manslaughter.
Luton Crown Court heard the dumbbell was smashed into Mr Shah's mouth with such ferocity that three of his teeth were later found in his stomach.
A liquid chemical used to encourage plant growth was also poured over his face.
The court was told the men attacked Mr Shah after going to his flat to rob him of money and cannabis.
During the five-week trial, forensic pathologist Sir Alexander Kolar took the jury through a catalogue of injuries found on Mr Shah's body, including bruises and swelling to his face and head and cuts and lacerations.
The court heard the pair bound and beat Mr Shah, hit him with a broom handle and used a kitchen knife to inflict other injuries.
He was found naked from the waist down with his ankles tied.
A post-mortem examination found Mr Shah died as a result of multiple injuries.
Det Insp Justine Jenkins of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire major crime unit said: "This was an absolutely sickening and brutal case, with both Pitchford-Price and West inflicting unimaginable torture on their victim."
Speaking after his death, Mr Shah's family said they were "devastated and may probably never recover from this cruel horrific murder of Atul".
"We know those who are guilty of his death will serve their time in prison, however, we are truly saddened to say that the outcome of the trial has no bearing on the fact that we will never see Atul's smiling face again."
Both Pitchford-Price and West were also convicted of conspiring with others to rob Mr Shah.
Corrina Armstrong 21, of Dovehouse Hill, who was the girlfriend of Pitchford-Price, and Callum Holton, 19 were cleared of the robbery charge.
However, Armstrong was convicted of conspiracy to burgle. She admitted perverting the course of justice.
Brian Edge, 56, the step-father of West, was cleared of perverting the course of justice.
West and Pitchford-Price, together with Armstrong will be sentenced at a later date.
Redland High School said its buildings "no longer meet the demands of a 21st century education" and it would be merging with Red Maids' School, which was founded in 1634.
The new school, Redmaids' High School, will operate from the current Red Maids' site in Westbury-on-Trym.
Red Maids' head, Isabel Tobias, will also head the newly merged school.
Dr Tim Chambers, chair of governors at Redland High School, said education expectations had changed and their "beautiful but inflexible 18th century listed buildings no longer meet the demands of a 21st century education".
"A considerably larger number of pupils is needed in the modern educational world to create the strong balance sheet to be sustainable and to invest in the educational provision our girls deserve," he added.
"We can never achieve that alone on our current site."
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Two men accused of bludgeoning a man to death with a dumbbell have been found guilty of his "sickening" murder.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Two of Bristol's private schools are to merge.
| 37,133,015 | 737 | 47 | true |
The BBC's Mary Harper recently returned from Eritrea. Here are some of the people and places she encountered during her journey through the African country.
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All photographs by Mary Harper / BBC
| 36,516,611 | 32 | 9 | false |
The Stoke-on-Trent based British Ceramic Confederation said the Leave outcome was not what the majority of its members wanted.
EU tariffs on tiles and tableware protect UK jobs, the industry said.
But a former business minister called the result a "wonderful opportunity."
The confederation includes various trades involved in the ceramics industry, many of which, such as Burleigh, Churchill, Wade Ceramics and Duchess China, are based in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.
Chief executive Dr Laura Cohen said half of UK ceramic sector exports are to the European Union and added that tariffs prevent "Chinese dumping", flooding the market with cheaper products.
"Our members also have benefitted from some recent free trade agreements," she said.
UK ceramics manufacturers employ 6,000 people between them and suppliers are worried, she added.
"We need the government to work with us urgently to find a way to allay these fears and develop a way forward that supports these UK manufacturing businesses, so allowing investment and growth to continue in this sector," she said.
Almost 70% of voters in Stoke-on-Trent elected to leave the EU in Thursday's referendum.
Former business minister Lord Digby Jones has said the result could benefit businesses and that it was an opportunity to enter a global race.
"You have a golden opportunity, Britain is the most globalised country on earth," he said.
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The organisation which looks after the interests of the ceramics industry has said it urgently needs the government to work with it to allay fears caused by the decision to leave the EU.
| 36,629,198 | 308 | 39 | false |
No longer satisfied with being the dominant network for our humble species, Facebook is now courting a different type of user: bots. And eventually you'll be able to talk to them as if they were your mates.
"Could you transfer £100 to my brother, please?" you might one day ask your bank. Or maybe, "Do you have any blue shirts in my size?"
Sometimes they'll ask you things too, with something like: "Do you want to hear today's top stories?"
Right now the conversations will be structured - with Messenger bots suggesting things you can say. But the goal is natural conversation, and it could be a huge step.
If what Facebook has promised today at its F8 developer conference comes to pass, the effect on our everyday lives could be enormous. It could be, according to Facebook's head of messaging David Marcus, a return to more personal interactions.
"Before the internet era, everything was conversational," he told the BBC.
"But then we traded conversations for scale."
One of the bots being launched on the service today will be from Spring, an artificially intelligent concierge service.
"Spring is actually going to build an experience where everything is automated except customer service," Mr Marcus explained.
"It's bot for 99.9%, but then if you have a problem, a human can actually jump in and sort out your problem.
"That's the best of both worlds."
There are obvious concerns to all this, and I'll get to those in a second, but first here's how it will work.
Messenger Platform, as Facebook calls it, is the firm's latest application programming interface (API).
An API is a way for companies like Facebook to give external developers the access and know-how to make things on their platforms.
It's a big opportunity - the company's first API, which allowed anyone to create apps on Facebook, led to the birth of multi-billion dollar companies including Farmville creator, Zynga.
There are already bots on Facebook - you can book an Uber through it in the US, for instance - but the crucial news today is anyone is now free to make their own bot. Which is why some are seeing today's announcement as the start of another Facebook gold rush.
The bots will live within Facebook Messenger - an app that was spun off from the main Facebook app in 2014 in a manner which angered users but makes a lot of sense now as Messenger looks set to become a bigger deal than just instant messaging.
While developers will be free to create their own uniquely intelligent bots, they will all be fundamentally powered by Facebook's Bot Engine. Think of it as the centralised brain.
As time goes on, Bot Engine should get smarter and more used to human interaction meaning, in theory, that all the bots will collectively get smarter and more "human".
It's the Bot Engine, a constantly evolving product of almost a billion people's interactions, that might give Facebook a massive advantage over others in the bot game such as Apple, Google and Microsoft.
Other announcements at F8 included:
Facebook is a platform that users already talk on constantly.
It's a platform that already knows what you like, what you want, and what you may desire in the future.
Bringing bots into this mix could be a real game-changer.
Or it might be a disaster.
First - the obvious: Users might not like the idea of companies acting like people in spaces usually reserved for conversations with our friends.
This will probably be made more irritating given that Facebook plans to let businesses find you on Messenger if they already have your mobile phone number.
Then again, another way of looking at that "feature" is that it'll be fast and easy to find the companies you already interact with in the real world.
Cue calls for boycotts of Facebook, and raging that the service will be irreparably destroyed by this new feature. But it will probably pass - history tells us that Facebook's users rarely know what's good for them.
But a real concern must lie with security. Unauthorised access to your Facebook account used to mean a dodgy status update or two, but now a breach could have truly devastating consequences.
With one Facebook log-in, a hacker could have friction-free access to a whole host of accounts you may have set up on Messenger.
Having everything under the one Messenger roof presents unprecedented risk for our personal data, surely?
"Yes and no," says Mr Marcus.
"The reality is when you think about the number of people who are on the Facebook platform, and how well protected their account is compared to general practice around the world, we feel good that we have best-in-class protections that will protect those accounts better than most companies at a smaller scale can.
"We'll continue to build better and better systems. We always recommend that every user turns on two-factor authentication that we offer everyone.
"I certainly have."
Two-factor authentication on Facebook requires you to enter a code which has been texted to your mobile phone, as well as your password, to log in.
Despite Mr Marcus's clear advice, Facebook will not be enabling two-factor authentication by default, even though it is far more secure.
The truth is, if it did, people would complain. It's inconvenient. But it's safer. Your call.
Microsoft's boss Satya Nadella declared recently that "bots are the new apps".
And while we'll have to wait a little to see if Facebook's bots can live up to the expectations set at F8, it's rapidly becoming clear that the app era is winding down. Or more specifically, the era of having dozens of apps on your phone is coming to an end.
Mr Marcus pointed out a recent study by Forrester Research which estimated that 80% of the typical US smartphone user's time was spent in just five apps. Five!
Of the millions available to us, we just get stuck into using a few.
Bots within those big apps will perhaps be the only way some companies will be able to attract our business through our smartphones.
Mr Marcus has said Facebook has no plans to take a cut of transactions made through Messenger. Money will instead be made through advertising - pay more, and get your bot seen by more potential users.
So brace yourself, everyone. The bots are coming, and they desperately want to be your new best mate.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook
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Humans, we've got company.
| 36,021,889 | 1,427 | 10 | false |
Whittingham, Cardiff's longest serving player having joined in 2007, has been asked to take a pay cut to remain at the club.
Morrison said the 32-year-old had not indicated whether he would sign a new contract to remain with the Bluebirds.
"It would be fantastic for Whitts to stay," Morrison said.
"He's been a great servant to the club and he's still a fantastic player. He loves the club."
The former England Under-21 international's half volley secured a 2-1 victory for Cardiff against Brentford after defender Morrison had earlier equalised for Neil Warnock's side.
Whittingham has made over 450 appearances for Cardiff, who he joined from Aston Villa in January 2007 and Morrison says he remains a key player.
"He's probably not played as much as he'd want to this year, coming into the second half of the season," Morrison added.
"But when he's come in he's been brilliant and his assists are something you can't buy in the Championship.
"He's a level above sometimes with his delivery and his passing and he calms the play down."
Ciaran Anthony Boyle and Anthony Michael Lancaster participated in the event in Londonderry in 2012, which commemorated the 1916 Easter Rising.
Lancaster, from Circular Road in the Creggan area of Derry, was described as being the event's Master of Ceremonies.
Boyle, of The Meadows, Derry, held the Irish tricolour during the speeches.
He was also alleged to have collected various other flags from members of the colour party who attended the event in Derry's City Cemetery on the day in question - Easter Monday, 9 April 2012.
The dissident republican rally was organised by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
A unnamed masked man, who claimed to speak on behalf of the paramilitary groups ??glaigh na h??ireann (ONH) and the Real IRA, addressed the event.
He stated that the "IRA" would continue to attack "Crown force personnel" and "British interests and infrastructures".
Almost a year later, in March 2013, Boyle and Lancaster were arrested by police investigating the rally.
The pair were both charged with assisting in, arranging or managing a meeting which they knew was to be addressed by a person who belonged or professed to belong to a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA.
Boyle, 30, and 53-year-old Lancaster initially denied the charge when their non-jury Diplock trial began last month
However, they later changed their pleas to guilty, and were sentenced at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday.
A defence barrister, representing Lancaster, told the court his client was unaware that a masked man was going to give a speech at the podium.
Boyle's barrister said her client's involvement in the event was "of a low level".
She also told the court that a large number of other people attended the event but their prosecution "is not being sought".
The judge handed both men a 12-month sentence, which he suspended for three years.
A Dhaka court bailed Hossain until 31 March, but deputy attorney general Moniruzzaman Kabir said his office would appeal, according to AFP agency.
Hossain handed himself into police on 5 October and has been in custody since.
He and his wife - who was granted bail last week - deny charges of employing and assaulting a minor.
"The High Court has accepted Shahadat's bail plea today after it was earlier rejected by the lower court," a representative of the alleged victim told AFP.
Hossain initially went to police on 6 September claiming that his maid had gone missing.
A maid was found alone in Dhaka later that day. She told police that Hossain and his wife, Nritto Shahadat, had beaten and tortured her.
Doctors said she had extensive injuries, including a broken leg and a black eye.
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Cardiff City captain Sean Morrison is hoping midfielder Peter Whittingham will stay at the Championship club beyond the end of the season.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Two men who took part in dissident republican event, during which a masked man made threats against UK forces, have been given suspended sentences.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Bangladesh cricketer Shahadat Hossain was granted bail on Tuesday after being held for allegedly beating an 11-year-old maid, a lawyer said.
| 39,552,184 | 920 | 102 | true |
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The Foxes are five points clear at the top with eight games left after beating Newcastle 1-0 on Monday.
Tottenham lie second, with Arsenal 11 points behind the leaders and fourth-placed Manchester City 12 off the pace.
Asked if only Leicester or Spurs could be champions, Italian Ranieri, 64, responded: "No, the race is open."
He added: "There are so many people who are dreaming, but we have to continue to work hard.
"I want to fight every match. Now our concentration is about Crystal Palace, another difficult match. We will go to battle there."
The Foxes need 20 points from their last eight games to win the title.
Former Leicester midfielder Robbie Savage thinks his old club will come out on top and has written off the chances of Arsenal and Manchester City.
"It's ridiculous to think of Leicester being so far ahead," he told BBC Radio 5 live. "It's a two-horse race, no doubt about it.
"You can't rule out Spurs, but City and Arsenal have no chance of winning it now. You can't see them winning four or five in a row."
Former Wales international Savage said the current Foxes team was better than the one he played in under Martin O'Neill.
That side won the League Cup in 1997 and 2000, securing qualification for the now defunct Uefa Cup.
They also finished in the Premier League's top 10 for four straight seasons from 1997 to 2000.
"This team is easily better," said Savage of the current side. "If they win it, I believe this is the greatest football achievement we've ever seen."
It has been rare in the Premier League era for a team to have such a big lead in the closing stages of the season and not win the title.
In 1997-98, Manchester United were six points clear of eventual champions Arsenal after they had played 33 games, but the Gunners had three games in hand.
Four years ago, Sir Alex Ferguson's team lost an eight-point cushion to Manchester City in the final six games of the season.
Two seasons ago, Liverpool were five points clear of second-placed Chelsea with three games to play only for Manchester City to win the title.
Michael, a Leicester fan on the 5 live Social: "We're going to win the league. I'm a teacher at a prep school near Leicester and now the kids are arguing about who wants to play for Leicester.
"They want to be Leicester - they don't want to be Arsenal or Manchester United. I've never seen anything like it. It's absolutely fantastic."
Alex Storey on Twitter: It's actually just hit me... Leicester will play the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich next season.
Champion Opeyemi: Irrespective of whether Barca win another treble, Leicester and Ranieri has to be the world club and manager of the year.
Gavin Harris: Did Roy of the Rovers wear Leicester City pyjamas? He must have, right? Biggest upset ever in British football if they win
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Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri insists the Premier League title race is not a straight fight between his side and Tottenham.
| 35,808,128 | 688 | 26 | false |
Wimbledon 2Day, hosted by Clare Balding, saw presenters mingle with a live audience and included funny home video clips alongside daily highlights.
In its review, The Guardian said: "The whole show is a mess."
A BBC spokeswoman said "Of course we listen to audience feedback and that helps to shape the changes we make."
In a scathing review in The Daily Mail, the show was referred to as "super right-on" and "tooth-achingly trendy".
Statistics released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) show there were 3,805 people referred for help in 2016, up from 1,745 people in 2013.
Recent Home Office estimates suggest there are between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK.
Home Office minister Sarah Newton said the government was taking action.
Albanian, UK and Vietnamese nationals are the most commonly reported victims of modern slavery.
Tamara Barnett, from the Human Trafficking Foundation, said she believed the rise may be down to an increased understanding of what constitutes human trafficking and modern slavery.
"We are starting to recognise a lot more cases as being human trafficking cases," she said.
"It used to be very much seen as just the trafficking of women into the sex trade.
"There was quite a narrow view of what it involved but now there is definitely a broader view of what is human trafficking."
She said the increased awareness was in part due to the introduction of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act, which requires all public authorities to notify the Secretary of State or relevant authority if it has "reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be a victim of slavery or human trafficking".
However, she said additional training and funding was needed to improve awareness of the issue and called for better long-term support for victims.
Figures from the NCA also suggest more children are potentially being trafficked for sexual exploitation, with the number reported to agencies having doubled in the past 12 months from 105 cases in 2015 to 215 in 2016.
Anne Read, from the Salvation Army, which works with people who have been trafficked, said: "They're traded like a commodity. In almost every case somebody has been told that there is a job for them, and they follow that person to our country."
She said it was important people were alert to the problem and reported any suspicions to the authorities.
She added: "Rather than mind our own business we should make it our business."
Ms Newton, minister for vulnerability, safeguarding and countering extremism, said: "Modern slavery is a barbaric crime which destroys the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.
"This government has taken world-leading action to tackle it, giving law enforcement agencies the tools they need, toughening up sentences, increasing support for victims and encouraging more to come forward."
She said the government also funded a specialist victim care contract, delivered by the Salvation Army, for victims.
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The BBC has bowed to pressure and changed the controversial format of its Wimbledon highlights programme after mounting criticism.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
The number of people reported as potential victims of slavery and human trafficking in the UK has more than doubled in the past three years.
| 33,410,692 | 639 | 52 | true |
Attending the Canadian Grand Prix, Marchionne admitted he was one of the main proponents of the idea.
The teams have investigated the effects of refuelling returning and found these would be almost entirely negative.
Asked if he still wanted it to return, Marchionne said: "I do," but would reconsider if findings were definitive.
Marchionne said refuelling might be the answer if combined with other changes under consideration, such as freeing up tyre choice, which is being discussed by teams and tyre supplier Pirelli.
He said: "You have to find out the impact that a combination of refuelling, tyre changes and a variety of other changes are going to have on the sport.
"Singularly it may not be the answer, but combined with other things it might be."
Media playback is not supported on this device
He added: "I am not sure what the findings are actually saying. Refuelling by itself has no value other than the fact it adds variability to the race.
"Fuel loads, how many times you refuel, when you refuel; they are all things that are important.
"Some people argue that you can come up with a deterministic model that will make everyone refuel at the same time, which is absolute hogwash. Especially if you combine that with a higher degree of freedom on the choice of tyres, which is I think is probably a lot more important than the refuelling strategy.
"So, I think there is a willingness on behalf of Pirelli to provide that flexibility to the teams which will create additional variability and will make the sport interesting to watch."
The idea to bring back refuelling, which was in the sport from 1994 to 2009, came out of a meeting of the rule-making strategy group last month. Marchionne and Donald MacKenzie, the boss of commercial rights holders CVC were its main proponents.
The strategy group asked a working group to look at its effects.
This study showed refuelling would dramatically reduce the number of on-track overtaking manoeuvres and that plans to have high-pressure rigs that made stops only three seconds would reduce strategic variation.
Race director Charlie Whiting is to present these findings to the next meeting of the strategy group, along with the information that the teams are uniformly opposed to the idea.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "When we discussed it in the strategy group, it didn't have a lot of support.
"We agreed to explore it, to discuss it in the technical regulations meeting and the SRM. and analyse it properly.
"The feedback was 100% negative - too expensive, not safe enough, detrimental to the races and strategies, so it will go back in the strategy group and my opinion is it shouldn't happen. I'm not keen on getting refuelling back into F1."
Marchionne said he would listen to the findings before making his final decision.
"If the findings are such that it provides zero additional spectacle value, in the sense of creating something that the sport fans want, then I think we should stay away," he said.
"I haven't seen the evidence. We keep on hearing noises about what kitchen-concocted studies have yielded. I understand them.
"The question is you have to find out the impact of the combination of refuelling, tyre changes and variety of other changes are going to have on the sport.
UK-based Vodafone, the world's second-biggest mobile carrier, will own 51% of the combined company.
Sky will pay Vodafone NZ$1.25bn in cash and issue new shares at a 21% premium to its closing price on Wednesday.
Analysts say the deal might result in Vodafone leaving the New Zealand market.
"As far as Vodafone is concerned, it's about them getting out of the New Zealand market altogether," said Morningstar analyst Brian Han. Mr Han thinks that Vodafone might also be looking to exit the Australian market as well.
Vodafone NZ has more than 2.35 million mobile accounts, while Sky has 830,000 subscribers. Combined the business will be one of the biggest on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
The head of Vodafone's New Zealand operations Russell Stanners will be the chief executive of the new company.
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Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says he wants to bring refuelling back to Formula 1 from 2017, despite opposition from teams.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Vodafone's New Zealand unit is merging with the country's biggest pay television provider Sky Network in a $2.4bn (£1.7bn) deal.
| 33,042,002 | 944 | 66 | true |
The site at Denny Inclosure, east of Lyndhurst, is a protected monument.
Researchers are trying to find out if it was one of a number of foresters' lodges converted in the 14th century for King Edward III's hunting trips.
The University of Winchester and New Forest National Park Authority hope to date the lodge and others in the park.
National park archaeologist Frank Green said the last excavation of a similar site was 100 years ago.
He said: "Modern scientific dating techniques and the ability to recover information about the site's use can now provide us with a much better understanding, and the potential for more accurate dating, of the site.
"We hope this will lead to similar work on other lodge sites as part of a much larger project that will expand our knowledge of potential royal hunting sites from the medieval period."
The dig forms part of a wider project covering a number of related sites over the next few years.
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Archaeologists have been excavating the site of a medieval forester's lodge to learn about the New Forest's royal hunting ground history.
| 36,570,647 | 205 | 34 | false |
The Mexican, 24, joins Franco-Swiss Romain Grosjean in the team, which is based in Kannapolis, North Carolina and will make their debut in 2016.
Gutierrez was named at a Haas event in Mexico City on Friday evening.
The announcement, considered F1's worst-kept secret, was streamed on the websites of Gutierrez's long-term sponsors.
Talking about the sort of driver Haas were after, team principal Gunther Steiner said earlier this month: "Someone who has driven an F1 car, of the current generation, money is always important, because it costs a lot of money, and North America is a nice place for a driver to come from."
Gutierrez has been Ferrari reserve driver since losing his seat at the Swiss Sauber team at the end of last season.
Haas have strong links with Ferrari. They are using Ferrari engines, will buy as many parts for their car from the Italian team as possible and their 2016 challenger has been designed in Ferrari's windtunnel.
Gutierrez raced for Sauber for two seasons in 2013 and 2014, scoring a best result of seventh place.
He comes with significant financial backing from Mexico.
The 40-year-old batsman set a record last year for the most Test wins by a Pakistan skipper.
"Test cricket remains the ultimate test for me and we have tough series coming against England and India," he said.
Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi will quit ODIs after the World Cup to concentrate on T20 cricket.
Misbah, who made his ODI debut in 2002, has scored 4,669 runs at an average of 42.83 in 153 ODIs, and captained Pakistan in 78 games.
He has played 29 Twenty20 internationals, the most recent of which was 2012.
"I took the decision to retire after much thought and feel this is the best time to go from ODIs," Misbah said. "The World Cup is my last ODI venture."
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said: "He has been a big source of inspiration for the Pakistan team since the spot-fixing scandal and it is his personal decision to retire from ODIs after the World Cup."
The World Cup in Australia and New Zealand starts on 14 February, with Pakistan's opening Pool B game against India in Adelaide the following day.
Pakistan host England in a three-Test series in late 2015, followed by two Tests against India.
Pakistan's Test victory over New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in November was Misbah's 15th as skipper, putting him ahead of Javed Miandad and Imran Khan.
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Former Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez has been named as the second driver for the new US-based Haas team.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq will retire from limited-overs internationals after the World Cup to focus on Test cricket.
| 34,681,965 | 592 | 58 | true |
Two Central American-born students are in custody after a 14-year-old girl was attacked last week at Rockville High School in Maryland, police say.
The White House said "tragedies like this" had motivated President Trump's illegal immigration "crackdown".
On Tuesday night, protesters gathered outside the school, some expressing concern about undocumented immigrants.
Henry Sanchez, 18, and Jose Montano, 17, were charged in the alleged assault, which the victim said took place in a boy's toilet at the beginning of the school day last Thursday.
Authorities say the older boy is in the country illegally, but they refused to disclose the other suspect's immigration status because he is a juvenile.
On Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer condemned the crime, calling it "shocking, disturbing, horrific and whatever other words that someone can think of".
But at a press conference, school officials played down the immigration angle.
"We would like to change the conversation," said Jack Smith, superintendent of the 159,000-student Montgomery County Public Schools system.
"Some have tried to make this into a question and issue of immigration... but we serve every student who walks through our doors," he added.
He said the two suspects had been enrolled in a special programme for non-English speakers.
On Tuesday night, demonstrators outside the school chanted "safety not sanctuary", a reference to sanctuary cities, where local authorities often protect those without legal US residency from deportation.
Montgomery County Police Capt James Humphries said he believed the victim of the alleged rape was a US citizen.
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that border agents had encountered Henry Sanchez near the US-Mexico border in Texas last August.
He was freed and ordered to appear before an immigration judge, but no court date was set.
According to the Washington Post, Henry Sanchez spent 17 years of his life in his native Guatemala.
Jose Montano lived in El Salvador for 16 years, according to court documents.
Earlier his week, Maryland lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled legislature passed a bill designed to prevent police from stopping people to ask about their immigration status.
Republican Governor Larry Hogan said the legislation would make it more difficult for the state to co-operate with immigration investigations.
He has vowed to veto the bill.
Ben Edge, 25, was working without safety equipment in windy conditions in a quarry in Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester in 2014.
Christopher and Robert Brown, who admitted trying to cover up what had happened, were jailed for 20 months. Mark Aspin was sentenced to a year.
His mother Janet Edge blasted the men for their "abhorrent actions".
Speaking after the verdict, Mrs Edge said: "Ben was the most fun loving and hard-working man.
"He was like a breath of fresh air, always smiling with a huge friendly personality and would do anything for anyone.
"The sentence given to those responsible for Ben's death and for their abhorrent actions bears nothing compared to the life sentence that my family and I were given on the 10 December 2014.
"Nor does it do justice to an irreplaceable life."
Mr Edge fell from a structure he was helping to dismantle. He died from head injuries.
SR and RJ Brown Limited, of which brothers Christopher and Robert Brown are directors, was fined £300,000 at Manchester Crown Court after admitting corporate manslaughter.
Christopher Brown, 25, of Gollinrod Farm, Gollinrod, Bury, and Robert Brown, 32, of Lower Gollinrod Farm, near Ramsbottom, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and two counts of health and safety breaches.
A count of manslaughter for the brothers is to lie on file.
Aspin, 37, of Hameldon Road, Hapton, Lancashire, was jailed after admitting health and safety offences.
The company he is director of - MA Excavations Ltd, of Garden Street, Ramsbottom, which contracted out the work - was fined £75,000 after pleading guilty to two health and safety breaches.
Employee Peter Heap, 34, of Copthurst Farm, Barrowford Road, Padiham, Burnley, was spared jail after he followed orders to bring safety harnesses to the site after his colleague had fallen to try to conceal what had happened.
His four-month sentence for perverting the course of justice, which he had admitted, was suspended for two years.
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An alleged rape at a US high school has sparked a row over immigration that has reached all the way to the White House.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Three company bosses have been jailed following the death of a man who fell from a roof he was working on.
| 39,355,016 | 999 | 63 | true |
Rovers led 6-0 at the break thanks to Shaun Lunt's converted try.
Ken Sio's early second-half try, also converted by Ben Cockayne, doubled the home side's advantage.
But, despite Gil Dudson and Corey Thompson both crossing for Widnes, further scores by James Greenwood and Albert Kelly closed out victory.
Cockayne landed all four conversions, while Rhys Hanbury improved both Widnes tries.
Thompson's 14th try of the season takes him within two of Super League's top scorer, Castleford's Denny Solomona.
Hull KR coach James Webster: "It was a scrappy game. Widnes came to play and I thought it was a physical encounter.
"It wasn't a classic, but it was two desperate teams who had a right go. The pleasing thing for me was the way we defended.
"They had long periods of time on our try line and I was confident we could hold out. Hopefully that continues to improve over the coming weeks."
Widnes Vikings coach Denis Betts: "We're very disappointed. We're hurting badly.
"The score suggests we didn't defend well but we had opportunities to win.
"KR played with energy and had real purpose. Every game we play from now on is going to be like a cup final."
Hull KR: Cockayne; Sio, Minns, Horne, Wardill; Blair, Kelly; Tilse, Lunt, Walker, Greenwood, Donaldson, Allgood.
Replacements: Moran, Boudebza, Lawler, Green.
Widnes: Hanbury; Thompson, Runciman, Dean, Chamberlain; Mellor, Heremaia; O'Carroll, White, Dudson, Houston, Whitley, Cahill.
Replacements: Johnstone, Manuokafoa, Sa, Leuluai.
Referee: Robert Hicks (RFL).
The 43-year-old sustained serious injuries to her forearms and face at the 300-acre (121 hectare) Shell Island campsite at Llanbedr.
Emergency services were called just before 08:30 BST, and the incident is under investigation.
Crews said it was understood to have involved a portable gas stove.
The accident follows a similar one last week in Denbighshire, in which a 14-year-old boy suffered neck and arm burns while refilling a camping stove with fuel.
He was taken to hospital after the incident at Hendwr, Corwen on 25 June.
Stuart Millington, the senior fire safety manager for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: "I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for campers using gas to correctly follow the manufactures instructions and to make sure that all appliances are assembled correctly.
"Every year we see injuries as a result of camping incidents, some of them extremely serious.
"Four years ago two men tragically lost their lives after a caravan fire in Barmouth which also resulted in a two-year-old girl sustaining very serious burns."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found the operation targeting Mr Duggan, who was shot in Tottenham in August 2011, was "appropriate".
Its report clears the Metropolitan Police of any wrongdoing.
Clare Street on Riverside remains closed after the fire broke out in a first floor bedroom at around 17:50 GMT.
No one was injured as two crews took almost an hour-and-a-half to extinguish the flames.
A South Wales Fire Service investigator and South Wales Police forensics are trying to find the cause of the fire.
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Widnes suffered their seventh straight Super League defeat as Hull KR won for the second time in three games to move within three points of the top eight.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Firefighters are urging campers to take care after a woman was airlifted to hospital in Gwynedd with serious burns on Tuesday.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Mark Duggan was throwing a handgun away when he was shot dead by police, a report has found.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Fire crews are investigating a blaze at a terraced property in Cardiff which is used by a homeless charity.
| 36,268,228 | 820 | 124 | true |
Lord Judge said it would be seen as a victory for pro-Brexit demonstrators should the Supreme Court reverse last week's controversial High Court ruling.
The government, he told BBC Newsnight, had been too slow to defend judges following press attacks over the case.
Ministers say they support judicial independence but also a free press.
In a Commons statement on Monday, Brexit Secretary David Davis said it was "perfectly proper" for people to respect the integrity of the judicial process while disagreeing with individual judgements.
He condemned what he said were "deplorable" attacks on social media on Gina Miller, the woman who instigated the legal challenge against the government, but also defended a free press which he said was as much a guarantor of democracy as judicial independence.
The government is appealing against Thursday's ruling that Parliament must give its consent before the UK can officially notify the EU of its intention to leave by triggering Article 50 - which Theresa May has said she wants to do by the end of March.
The case is expected to be heard next month although the verdict might not come until early next year, raising doubts about the PM's ability to meet her stated timetable to begin negotiations on the UK's exit.
Amid anger over the High Court ruling, which led the Daily Mail to label three of the most senior judges in England and Wales "enemies of the people", UKIP leader Nigel Farage has vowed to lead peaceful protests outside the Supreme Court in the run-up to the hearing.
The Daily Express has claimed 100,000 people could join a march in Westminster on the first day of the Supreme Court hearing.
Lord Judge, who was the most senior judge in England and Wales between 2008 and 2013 and who is now a crossbench peer, told BBC Newsnight that people were entitled to protest but he was concerned about the impact the case might have on the legal system.
"People can march as much as they like," he said.
"I don't think it makes any difference to the judicial decision but it does make a difference to public order.
"Let's say for the sake of argument the Supreme Court decides the High Court was wrong, it will undoubtedly be conveyed as a victory for the demonstrators.
"It won't be but that's what will be conveyed. And if that is conveyed, you've undermined the administration of justice."
Lord Judge said the judges who delivered last week's ruling, including his successor as lord chief justice Lord Thomas, carried out their duty and "happened to decide that Parliament was sovereign".
He said Lord Chancellor Liz Truss had "a statutory obligation" to defend the judiciary in the face of what he said had been highly personal attacks on their integrity, but he had been disappointed by her response.
"That is one of her functions, to defend the judiciary. And it was a little too late and not a lot.
"To say you believe in independence of judges is fine but it doesn't actually address why this matters at a particular time."
A number of Conservative MPs have said ministers could have spoken out earlier and more vehemently, with former Attorney General Dominic Grieve saying the response was "muted".
But ex-Justice Secretary Michael Gove said the freedom of the press was "also a precious thing" and while the judgement "deserved respect", the democratic mandate arising from the 23 June vote - in which 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU - must also be heeded.
A government spokesman said the Lord Chancellor was "very clear her role is to protect the independence of the judiciary not to police the press".
The government has said it will not decide what to do until the Supreme Court reaches its judgement, with ministers said to be weighing up whether to seek authorisation to begin official Brexit talks through new legislation or through a one-off parliamentary resolution.
Lord Judge said he would vote to trigger Article 50 when the matter came before the Lords.
"I think the result of the referendum means that the wishes of the majority of the people have to be respected," he said.
Former Chancellor Ken Clarke has called on the government to stop "faffing around", saying it could table a vote in the Commons on a simple motion before the Supreme Court hearing.
Speaking at an event in Westminster, the veteran Europhile said he personally would vote against Article 50 but that it would comfortably be passed by the Commons.
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The justice system could be undermined if a ruling that only Parliament can trigger Brexit is overturned, a former lord chief justice has said.
| 37,904,160 | 988 | 34 | false |
Director Gabriele Finaldi said he wanted collaboration with other European galleries to "continue at the level we are doing now".
He was speaking as he unveiled the London institution's 2017 programme.
It includes a major exhibition that explores the work of Michelangelo and his protege Sebastiano del Piombo.
"This is a gallery of great European art - that's our character, that's our identity," Finaldi said at Thursday's annual press conference.
"We must continue to explore the great history of European art here - that's what we plan to do - that's what the exhibition programme is about."
He added: "I would hope that the relationships we've built up over many years with our colleagues in Paris and Madrid and Berlin and Vienna are relationships that we will be able to continue to build on to produce ambitious exhibition projects - and research projects.
"I hope that these kinds of collaboration will be able to continue at the level that are doing now."
He said he would be looking at how some projects that had EU funding would be affected.
Hannah Rothschild, the National Gallery's chair of trustees, said it was "too early" to say how the current political and economic situation would affect either the institution or the sector as a whole.
"We are going to continue to acquire more great works of art where possible, and work with other institutions and colleagues in Europe and further afield," she said.
"The gallery has been here for nearly 200 years and it has survived many seismic changes including world wars and other skirmishes - so we are going to continue business as usual, shining as a beacon of excellence and a place of contemplation."
The Michelangelo exhibition will focus on the celebrated artist's "friendship and artistic relationship" with Sebastiano del Piombo from the 1510s through to the 1540s.
Sebastiano arrived in Rome from his native Venice in 1511 and soon came into contact with Michelangelo, who was then finishing his decoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Opening next March, and subtitled A Meeting of Minds, the show will feature the works Pieta for San Francesco in Viterbo (c.1512-16), and the Raising of Lazarus (1517-19).
Finaldi said that because of the scale of some of the objects in the exhibition it would take over the galleries normally devoted to paintings by Rembrandt and Nicolas Poussin, which would be moved elsewhere.
Among the other new exhibitions announced are:
The National Gallery houses more than 2,300 works of European art, including van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, Turner's Fighting Temeraire and Van Gogh's Sunflowers.
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The National Gallery, which houses a huge collection of European art, hopes to continue business as usual following Britain's vote to leave the EU.
| 36,673,914 | 601 | 31 | false |
Dries Mertens' double for Napoli has taken them to within two points of second-placed Roma, while Juventus will move 10 points clear if they beat Udinese on Sunday (14:00 GMT).
Belgium attacker Mertens dinked home Marek Hamsik's through ball to open the scoring and converted Lorenzo Insigne's pass to make it 2-0.
Roma midfielder Daniele de Rossi was fortunate not to be sent off when he kicked keeper Pepe Reina. Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri was dismissed for his protests.
Kevin Strootman scored late on for Roma, and Diego Perotti almost levelled in injury time with Reina producing a magnificent save to deny him.
Match ends, Roma 1, Napoli 2.
Second Half ends, Roma 1, Napoli 2.
Attempt missed. Edin Dzeko (Roma) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Diego Perotti with a cross following a corner.
Corner, Roma. Conceded by Amadou Diawara.
Offside, Napoli. Marko Rog tries a through ball, but Arkadiusz Milik is caught offside.
Diego Perotti (Roma) is shown the yellow card.
Diego Perotti (Roma) has gone down, but that's a dive.
Corner, Roma. Conceded by José Reina.
Attempt saved. Diego Perotti (Roma) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Antonio Rüdiger.
Attempt missed. Diego Perotti (Roma) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Mohamed Salah.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Radja Nainggolan.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Juan Jesus.
Goal! Roma 1, Napoli 2. Kevin Strootman (Roma) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Diego Perotti.
Leandro Paredes (Roma) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by José Callejón (Napoli).
Corner, Roma. Conceded by Lorenzo Insigne.
Foul by Leandro Paredes (Roma).
José Callejón (Napoli) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Radja Nainggolan (Roma).
Marko Rog (Napoli) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Juan Jesus (Roma) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli).
Mohamed Salah (Roma) hits the left post with a right footed shot from the centre of the box. Assisted by Radja Nainggolan with a through ball.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Wojciech Szczesny.
Attempt saved. Marko Rog (Napoli) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by José Callejón.
Offside, Napoli. Kalidou Koulibaly tries a through ball, but Lorenzo Insigne is caught offside.
Faouzi Ghoulam (Napoli) is shown the yellow card.
Foul by Mohamed Salah (Roma).
José Reina (Napoli) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Edin Dzeko (Roma) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Bruno Peres with a cross.
Substitution, Napoli. Arkadiusz Milik replaces Marek Hamsik.
Substitution, Roma. Leandro Paredes replaces Daniele De Rossi.
Attempt missed. Mohamed Salah (Roma) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Edin Dzeko.
Corner, Napoli. Conceded by Daniele De Rossi.
Attempt blocked. Piotr Zielinski (Napoli) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Marko Rog.
Attempt blocked. José Callejón (Napoli) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Radja Nainggolan (Roma) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Raúl Albiol (Napoli).
Attempt missed. Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) right footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Faouzi Ghoulam.
Substitution, Napoli. Piotr Zielinski replaces Dries Mertens because of an injury.
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Napoli boosted their automatic Champions League qualification hopes by beating Roma in a game which leaves Juventus a step closer to the Serie A title.
| 39,105,902 | 1,126 | 32 | false |
The cortege left Chatsworth House for St Peter's Church at Edensor, where a service was held.
The Prince of Wales, who paid tribute to the last of the Mitford sisters who died aged 94 earlier this week, was there with the Duchess of Cornwall.
More than 600 staff from the stately home and hundreds of members of the public lined the route to the church.
The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire's body was laid to rest in a wicker coffin among the Cavendish family graves in the village churchyard.
Chatsworth Garden has been opened to the public for a celebration of her life.
By Aleena NaylorBBC Radio Derby presenter
I understand the dowager duchess attended a funeral herself and there was a wicker coffin at it.
She was absolutely enthralled by the idea.
When someone rather disparagingly said, "Well it looks like a picnic basket," she said, "Well that's what I want."
The order of service for the funeral included hymns, as well as Elvis Presley's How Great Thou Art because of the duchess's love of the singer.
The duchess transformed Chatsworth House in Derbyshire into a popular tourist attraction.
Tributes have been paid all week. Prince Charles said he would "miss her so very much".
The dowager duchess's son Peregrine, the current Duke of Devonshire, said this week his mother had always kept the family together.
"She never complained much about anything. She gets irritated by things but only briefly. Very much a 'half-full' person, optimistic and really happy," he said.
A book of condolences will be available for people to sign in Flora's Temple in Chatsworth Garden.
The Helen's Trust, which supports the terminally ill and the Addington Fund, which helps farming families, were supported by the duchess.
Donations were collected for the two charities.
Chatsworth House, farmyard, stables shops, restaurants and the Chatsworth Estate Farm Shop have been closed for the day.
Wales Office minister Guto Bebb announced plans for the meeting at the Royal Welsh Show on Tuesday.
Decent mobile connectivity is "vital" for small rural firms to develop and grow their business, he said.
The Welsh Government said it "regularly" meets with mobile phone operators to discuss issues.
The summit is expected to include representatives from farmers' unions, landowners, councils and the country's four mobile operators.
Mr Bebb told an Ofcom reception at the Royal Welsh Show more than a quarter of a million people in Wales work for small or medium-sized firms that need good broadband and mobile phone reception to make a living.
"It is vital for small and medium-size companies and home-based enterprises to develop and grow their business in the rural Welsh economy," he said.
"We now rightfully expect our mobile devices to work reliably wherever we are, be it at home, at work, in a car, or in the fields of Powys.
"That's why, building on the discussions at this event, we will convene a summit with Ofcom, the mobile network operators and other key stakeholders to formally consider the issues surrounding poor mobile connectivity in Wales."
Mr Bebb also reiterated calls, made by Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns earlier this year, for planning restrictions on masts in Wales to be relaxed as they have been in England.
Earlier this year, the former Chancellor George Osborne announced revised planning restrictions which would allow masts up to 25m (82ft) to be built in England without planning permission.
Mr Bebb said: "I want Wales to be in a position where operators find it at least as easy as England to invest."
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "Officials regularly meet with mobile phone operators to discuss telecommunications issues, including those related to the current permitted development rights for telephone masts.
"We are currently considering our options to ensure we have the right regulatory approach for Wales."
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The funeral of Deborah, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, has taken place on the Chatsworth estate.
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Mobile phone operators, farmers' leaders and rural councils will take part in a summit this autumn to discuss poor signal coverage in Wales.
| 29,443,935 | 905 | 55 | true |
Quamari Serunkuma-Barnes was stabbed in the chest outside his school, Capital City Academy in Willesden, on Monday afternoon as he was on his way home.
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with his murder.
At the vigil, parents were urged to stop being afraid of their children and to check their rooms for weapons.
His cousin Rachel Odunton said: "He wasn't in a gang. He wasn't running the streets. He went home and did his homework. I miss him so much.
"We need to get people off the streets now, it's not safe. Quamari wasn't involved in any of this. He was a good boy and he was humble and he loved everybody in his family. He was a special boy, he wasn't just anybody so this sort of thing needs to stop now.
"Wherever you are from it doesn't matter. We are one community and we need to join together now because this matters."
At the event, black and gold balloons were released in remembrance to Quamari.
In front of about 300 people, friends and community leaders spoke about the need to bring the community together.
His relative Sylvia Tella said: "We are not taking control. This is something that has to be changed. The police, no matter what they do, unless we help, they can only do so much."
She added: "You do not expect to hear that your child has been stabbed outside his school.
"This is not a black life, this is all lives."
A family friend said: "We need to take some responsibility for our children. We need to stop being afraid of our children."
Last year, 12 teenagers were stabbed to death in the city.
Millionaire businessman Jonathan Ruffer has already paid £15m to save a collection of 17th Century Spanish paintings at Auckland Castle.
He now plans to spend a further £18m on revamping the Bishop Auckland castle as a tourist attraction.
Full details of the ambitious plans are due to be unveiled in April.
In March last year, the North Yorkshire-born investment banker created a £15m charity to save 12 works by Spanish artist Francisco Zurbaran, which were due to be sold by the Church of England to raise cash.
The deal almost fell through when Church Commissioners imposed planning conditions on the acquisition of the castle.
They were withdrawn when Mr Ruffer threatened to pull the plug on the cash.
Mr Ruffer said: "It will cost about £9m to scrub the castle up and it will probably need the same again to keep the show on the road.
"Ideally a couple of things will happen pretty quickly, but my guess is that it'll take a couple of years at least to get the thing finished.
"The purpose at the centre of it all will be to tell the story of Christianity in the North East and the story of Auckland Castle itself.
"Lots of people get off the train at Durham City, have a look around, wander around the cathedral, have a Big Mac and then clamber back on the train and go to Edinburgh and do the same again.
"I want to draw people into the area with the castle as a focus."
Mr Ruffer said he was in talks with the British Museum, British Library and other major institutions, about hosting exhibitions at Auckland Castle.
The A8 Greenock Road was closed in both directions between Abbotsinch Road and Inchinnan Drive following the crash.
Police were called to the scene at about 10:30 and have been directing traffic onto diversion routes.
Traffic was reported to be heavy in the area.
Read more: 'Beehive' hairdo creator dies aged 98
As many as 80 victims of an infamous detective unit that abused suspects over three decades could be in line for a share of the award.
The city council also issued a formal apology and vowed to teach schoolchildren about the abuses.
Former commander Jon Burge was jailed for four years after being convicted of lying about the torture scandal.
Many of the victims were African American. Some could receive as much as $100,000.
The terms of the award were announced last month by city officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
"This stain cannot be removed from our city's history but it can be used as a lesson of what not do do," the mayor said.
The names of more than a dozen torture victims and survivors were read aloud and the city council gave them a standing ovation.
The council then voted 42-0 in favour of the award.
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Family and friends of a murdered 15-year-old boy were among hundreds of people who gathered for a memorial to him.
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More than £30m is to be spent turning the former home of the Bishop of Durham into a centre re-telling the history of Christianity in the North East.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A biker has been been injured in a collision involving a bus near Glasgow Airport.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
The death of Margaret Vinci Heldt, the inventor of the famous beehive hairstyle, has drawn attention once again to the cone-shaped hair-do beloved by women since at least the 1960s.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A $5.5m (£3.6m) reparations package to the victims of police torture in Chicago has been agreed by the council.
| 38,790,902 | 1,004 | 162 | true |
Three queen bees and 30,000 bees were taken from three hives on the outskirts of Cemaes Bay, between 30 July and 4 August.
And in the early hours of Thursday, about half that amount including a queen bee were stolen.
Katie Hayward, from Felin Honey Bees, said she was "absolutely devastated" and extra security would be needed.
"Beekeeping itself has become quite a popular hobby," she told BBC Wales.
"The nucleus of bees - which is what they've taken - is a small amount of bees with the queen.
"They are quite valuable, quite sought after and it's a quick ??170-180. You put those bees in a new hive, people can ask ??400 or ??500 for it. It's lucrative."
Ali al-Naimi said commodity price fluctuations were to be expected and said he was hopeful for the future.
He added it was "difficult, or even impossible, for Saudi Arabia or Opec to undertake any measure that would lead to a reduction in [their] share of the market and an increase in of others".
The price of oil has halved since June.
On Thursday, the price of Brent crude was just below $63 a barrel, while US crude was near $58.
Oil prices, which were well above $100 a barrel in the summer, have slipped because of slowing economic growth in developing nations, particularly China, and an increase in fuel supplies, partly thanks to advances in shale gas extraction.
Oil consuming nations are enjoying lower fuel and food prices, while exporting nations, including Russia and members of the Opec oil producers' cartel, are suffering big drops in income.
The lower oil price has contributed to Russia's recent currency collapse as its economy is heavily dependent on oil for revenue.
Opec member Nigeria is also reliant on oil for income. On Wednesday, it restated its budget to take into account the new, lower oil price.
Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry is beginning to cut back on investment and jobs.
Smaller members of Opec had hoped to see a reduction in output, since a production cut generally lifts the oil price.
However, the last Opec meeting in November concluded without a vote for lower production.
Opec produces about a third of the world's crude oil, about 30 million barrels a day, of which Saudi Arabia pumps 9.6 million.
The victims were killed in the town of Waverly, Virginia, which was hit with winds up to more than 60mph (97kph).
The same system, which spawned several tornadoes, destroyed hundreds of homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida on Tuesday, killing three others.
Forecasters said more than 80 million people were in the path of the storm.
Tornado warnings were issued for the densely populated region between Washington and Philadelphia.
Richard Barklie, 50, of Carrickfergus, County Antrim, was one of three men identified on CCTV footage by the Metropolitan Police.
"I'm not a racist and I never have been a racist," he told the Sunday World.
He added: "I did not take part in any racist singing."
The Metropolitan Police has passed on the details of the three men to the authorities in France, who are investigating the incident before Chelsea's Champions League game against Paris St-Germain.
Chelsea has suspended five fans and said it would ban them from attending Stamford Bridge for life if there was sufficient evidence of their involvement.
Mr Barklie, an ex-Royal Ulster Constabulary and Police Service of Northern Ireland officer, is currently a director with a human rights organisation - the World Human Rights Forum - and has also worked supporting victims of the Troubles.
In his most detailed public account about the incident to date, Mr Barklie told the paper: "People behind me were pushing and he was pushed back off. He never attempted to see if there was more room in any of the other carriages.
"He was pushed off simply because the carriage was full, no other reason - it had nothing to do with the colour of his skin."
Mr Barklie said he would be happy to meet the man.
"I would tell him I was sorry for any trauma or stress he received as a result of what happened, but I would also say, it wasn't because he was black," he added.
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Bees have been stolen from an Anglesey farm for the second time in the past month.
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Recent falls in the price of oil are likely to be temporary, says the oil minister for Saudi Arabia, Opec's biggest producing nation
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
At least three people are dead and thousands lost power after a strong storm system barrelled up the east coast of the US.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
An ex-police officer and Chelsea fan involved in an alleged racist incident on the Paris Metro has said he pushed a black man away from a train carriage "because it was too full".
| 34,033,270 | 978 | 123 | true |
1 December 2015 Last updated at 00:39 GMT
The deal cuts tariffs on many Australian exports, but in return Chinese companies and workers will get greater access to Australia.
Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.
Watch more reports on Asia Business Report's website
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Australians are weighing up the pros and cons of a free trade agreement with its largest trading partner, China.
| 34,970,368 | 55 | 25 | false |
The final curtain will fall on the multi award-winning show at the Victoria Palace Theatre on 9 April.
The story about the miner's son who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer is leaving to allow for the theatre's refurbishment, announced last year.
But fans of the production will not be left bereft as it will be embarking on its first tour of the UK and Ireland.
The theatre's makeover comes after it was bought by stage impresario Cameron Mackintosh, which is also part of extensive redevelopment work that is taking place around Victoria station.
The first regional Billy Elliot shows will begin in Plymouth in February before stops around cities including Sunderland, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin, with dates currently planned until May 2017.
The Victoria Palace has been the musical's home since it first opened to great fanfare, following the acclaim achieved by the Oscar-nominated film on which it is based and the big names involved in bringing it to the stage.
The film's director, Stephen Daldry, was part of the show's creative team along with Sir Elton John, who wrote its score.
"Billy Elliot has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire life. The talented young performers who have become part of our Billy Elliot family have amazed me with their achievements from the very start," Sir Elton said.
"I am so delighted that new audiences around the country will now have the opportunity to experience this extraordinary piece of work."
Daldry and the show's lead producer, Eric Fellner, said they knew it would have to leave the Palace theatre at some point - but had not anticipated it would run as long as it has.
"We knew when we did the original deal that we would leave one day but we had no idea it would be 11 years on," Fellner told the Daily Mail.
He also confirmed plans for a film version of the musical were "chugging along", although he added it was realistically "three or four years away".
The musical has been seen by more than 5.25 million people in London and nearly 11 million people around the globe in worldwide productions.
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Billy Elliot the Musical is to close in London after 11 years and 4,600 performances.
| 35,069,692 | 467 | 21 | false |
The Shahed (Witness) 129 had a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles) and could be equipped with bombs and missiles, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said.
It is reportedly capable of carrying out reconnaissance and combat missions.
Last year, the Iranian authorities displayed a US drone which they claimed to have brought down electronically.
The US insisted that Iran neither shot down the the RQ-170 Sentinel nor used electronic warfare or cyber-technology to force it from the sky. They blamed a malfunction.
Later, the head of the IRGC's aerospace programme, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said it was trying to build a copy of the drone. It is not clear whether the Shahed 129 bears any resemblance.
The unveiling of the drone follows a major naval exercise in the Gulf by the US and its allies.
Thirty countries participated in the manoeuvres designed to test the international community's capacity to deal with mines that could hamper shipping in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil supply is transported.
The exercises took place amid heightened tensions between the West and Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.
On Monday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was not concerned by the threat that Israel could launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Fundamentally we do not take seriously the threats of the Zionists," he told reporters in New York. "We have all the defensive means at our disposal and we are ready to defend ourselves."
He also ignored a plea by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for both sides to avoid "incendiary rhetoric" by saying the modern state of Israel had "no roots" in the Middle East and would eventually be "eliminated".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently warned that Iran was only six or seven months from having "90%" of what it needed to make a nuclear bomb, and urged the US to draw a "red line" which if crossed would lead to military intervention.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
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Iran has unveiled what it says is a new "indigenous" long-range unmanned drone capable of flying over most of the Middle East, state media report.
| 19,725,990 | 480 | 37 | false |
The roots of the game date back to 1823 and are widely attributed to William Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School.
MP Mark Pawsey said this year's world cup offered a "great opportunity" for the local economy and a chance to celebrate the town's role in the game.
He said hotels, restaurants and bars could all benefit.
A fan zone is being set up in the town, showing world cup matches.
The council is also backing a festival and investing in cultural events taking place alongside the tournament.
Councillor Heather Timms, responsible for economy on Rugby Borough Council, said the authority was investing almost £1m in the town.
She said it was part of a £5m investment to make sure Rugby was ready to welcome fans of the game.
Mrs Timms said it was also important local children learned about the town's role in developing the sport.
The Webb Ellis trophy visited Rugby as part of a nationwide tour ahead of the tournament's start on 18 September.
Mr Widodo, also known as Jokowi, blamed "political actors" for exploiting the situation as protesters marched against Jakarta's governor.
The demonstrators accuse Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian, of having insulted Islam's holy book, the Koran.
The clashes left one person dead and 12 wounded.
"We deplore the incident," Jokowi said as he called for calm on the streets of the country's capital.
In a statement on Saturday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed that the Indonesian president had postponed his visit.
It comes after Indonesian police used tear gas and water cannon to subdue protesters who refused to disperse after Friday prayers as they congregated around the presidential palace.
Police had been braced for the possibility of religious and racial tensions erupting at the rally, attended by an estimated 50,000 people.
It had mostly been peaceful but groups of angry demonstrators clashed with police after nightfall and set vehicles alight.
A Muslim group, the Islamic Defenders' Front, has accused Mr Purnama of insulting Islam after he said his opponents had used a verse from the Koran to deceive voters.
The verse can be interpreted as meaning that Muslims should not choose non-Muslims as leaders.
The protest was held to demand that Mr Purnama be prosecuted for blasphemy over the comments.
Mr Purnama has apologised but formal complaints have led to an investigation by police.
Muslims are the majority in Indonesia which has a population of 250 million.
The scheme involved mental health nurses going out on patrol with police in Canterbury.
Figures obtained by Radio Kent showed there was a 30% reduction in the number of people being sectioned by the force under the Mental Health Act.
However, the project has been cancelled because of a lack of police resources being blamed.
Karen Dorey-Rees, from the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, said the triage service was a success.
"Officers were detaining people unnecessarily and that's not a criticism of them, they just didn't have any alternative. Hence the idea of putting a nurse with them," she said.
"We felt the pilot was very effective, we've had a different view when we look at our data [compared to the police].
"It was very unfortunate they had to withdraw the officers although I do understand the rationale behind it."
However, Insp Wayne Goodwin, who is Kent Police's mental health liaison officer, said it was very difficult to give "full county coverage" with the street triage service.
"We often tend to be the first resort instead of the last resort for people in mental health crisis," he said.
"We're now able to take advantage of a call system where officers at the scene can seek the advice of a mental health expert on a 24/7 basis.
"The [street triage] trial has ceased in its current format."
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Hundreds of people have turned out in Rugby, Warwickshire, to welcome the Rugby World Cup trophy to the sport's spiritual home.
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Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has called off his visit to Australia after violent clashes at a Jakarta rally by thousands of hard-line Muslims.
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A pilot project aimed at reducing the number of mentally ill people held in police cells in Kent has been axed.
| 33,951,505 | 904 | 95 | true |
Action Porty has been awarded £647,500 from the Scottish Land Fund to buy the church and halls of Portobello Old Parish Church in Bellfield Street.
Locals want to turn the church into a multi-purpose community hub for clubs such as Scouts and Brownies.
It is set to become the first urban community buyout under new legislation.
Last year, the government agreed the project was of community benefit and gave it first option to buy the building.
One estimate for the value of the property has been put at £600,000; however, the community is hoping it will be lower than that.
Justin Kenrick, Action Porty chairman, said "With the community fully behind this initiative to save Bellfield Old Parish Church and halls, Action Porty is now absolutely delighted to receive this crucial support from the Scottish Land Fund.
"As the population of Portobello grows while community resources vanish, this is a critical step in our efforts to ensure that we retain and develop fully accessible, affordable, community spaces that can enable our community to flourish in these changing times.
"We hope that all other communities will do the same, and will also get the support they deserve."
John Watt, chairman of the Scottish Land Fund Committee, said: "Today's award to Action Porty is a great example of what can be achieved now that the opportunity for community ownership has been extended to all parts of Scotland.
"This project has the potential to protect and enhance an important community facility, run for and by local people in Portobello.
"The funding marks a significant milestone for the group and I wish them every success as they go on to pursue their ambitions of purchasing and developing this local asset."
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A community bid to take over a former church in Edinburgh has been given a boost after winning "crucial" funding.
| 39,003,871 | 363 | 27 | false |
The new owners have undertaken a review and feel there are "areas of duplication" and are, so far, unable to find alternative roles for 14 people.
Concerns about the future of Dee Valley's 166 workers were raised before February's takeover.
Severn Trent are "in consultation" with workers over possible redundancies.
North Wales AMs Mark Isherwood and Llyr Gruffydd have highlighted fears about the future of the employees of Dee Valley, which has 230,000 customers across the Wrexham and Chester areas.
Before the takeover, First Minister Carwyn Jones had said he would "not support any change that would mean the loss of Welsh jobs".
But Severn Trent have announced possible job losses, which are mainly "support roles", two months since the High Court ruled they could take over Dee Valley Water.
"While the vast majority of employees remain unaffected, it's inevitable that there are areas of duplication when you bring two businesses together," continued the Severn Trent statement.
"We're currently in a consultation period. There are 14 people we've not been able to find alternative roles for so far but we continue to work with them during this period.
"If they're left without a role at the end of this time we'll then offer outplacement support, as well as contacting local employers and local government on their behalf."
Mr Isherwood, Conservative AM for north Wales, recently attended a meeting of the Consumer Council for Water Wales where he sought assurances Dee Valley customers and staff would not be adversely affected by the takeover.
Afterwards, he said: "They told us that they wanted to give everyone in the team at Dee Valley Water at least three options, that they had spoken to them on an individual basis and that just 14 out of 166 team members only had the option of voluntary redundancy.
"They told me team members still have a month before they have to come back with their decisions and that this information would then be shared with us.
"We were told that they remain committed to Dee Valley's Wrexham and Chester sites."
Mr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru AM for north Wales, has written to Severn Trent asking whether more Dee Valley workers will face redundancy, whether Severn Trent workers are at risk of redundancy and how many staff at their Rhostyllen call centre will face redundancy next year.
"The takeover clearly meant that jobs would be lost at Dee Valley, which is why I was opposed to the proposal," he said.
"This process has begun and my priority now is to ensure that workers in Wrexham don't find themselves at a disadvantage when competing for jobs within the company."
|
More than a dozen workers at the Wrexham-based Dee Valley Water company face losing their jobs after its £84m takeover by Severn Trent.
| 39,558,447 | 603 | 37 | false |
Everton and Leicester have had £40m bids rejected for the Iceland midfielder, who Swansea value at £50m.
Leroy Fer's header put the Swans 1-0 up, before Sampdoria's Ricky Alvarez put a back pass into his own net.
Tammy Abraham bundled in a third and then Federico Fernandez nodded in to complete the rout.
|
Swansea left out Gylfi Sigurdsson once again as they brushed Sampdoria aside in their final friendly before the Premier League season starts.
| 40,838,576 | 95 | 38 | false |
A spokesman said officers were called to Waverley School, in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, at about 10:30 BST.
A Year 11 pupil suffered a minor head injury, a force spokesman said, with another in the same year being shot in the hand, West Midlands Police said.
Both pupils refused medical treatment and left school shortly after.
The suspect was later arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage.
Police said they were investigating what happened but believe it was "an isolated incident and that the pupils involved are known to each other".
Waverley School said they were "unable to comment" as it was a "police matter".
The meeting is the latest effort to ease long-standing tensions between the two countries.
Last year, the Saudis installed an ambassador in Iraq for the first time in a quarter of a century.
But Baghdad later demanded his sacking after he made critical remarks about Iranian influence in Iraq.
The Saudis have accused successive Iraqi governments of being too close to Iran, Saudi Arabia's main rival in the region.
On his visit, Mr al-Jubeir also met his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim a-Jaafari.
The action will affect non-emergency surgery at Morriston and Singleton in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Princess of Wales in Bridgend.
Unison members "voted overwhelmingly" for the walkout in a row over pay with Abertawe Bro Morgannwg health board, officials have said.
The health board said it was working with Unison to "resolve concerns".
The trade union insists the affected members want "pay parity with colleagues doing the same job in other hospitals in Wales" and say workers have "not been taken seriously by the health board".
The health board said in a statement 500 people worked in the impacted departments, of whom 128 staff were the affected grades.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg said not all of them were Unison members and they understood "in total 72 members voted in favour of strike action".
The earliest date a strike can take place is 18 January.
Mark Turner, Unison's organiser at the health board, said: "Staff at the hospitals are so angry because they are being treated as second-class citizens.
"They cannot understand why their health board values their work less than peers doing exactly the same job with the same responsibilities elsewhere in Wales."
Unison claims "out of date job description and inferior rates of pay" means affected staff were on a band below workers in similar jobs elsewhere in Wales.
An Abertawe Bro Morgannwg statement said: "We are sorry our continuing discussions with Unison have not been able to resolve our staff's concerns.
"ABMU is fully committed to continuing its partnership work with Unison to resolve these concerns and are meeting with them early next week.
"In the meantime, we would like to reassure patients should strike action go ahead we will be working to ensure any disruption to services are minimal."
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said there have been isolated incidents at reserves across Wales recently.
Two bags of used and discarded fireworks were collected from the Dyfi Ynyslas nature reserve beach, near Aberystwyth.
NRW said noise from a firework can cause stress to wild animals, forcing them to abandon nests or their young.
Rubbish left behind can also contain chemicals which, if eaten by animals, can be fatal.
Ceredigion assistant reserve manager, Ali Chedgy said: "Having a camp fire or letting off fireworks at a nature reserve might seem like fun but it is a risk to wildlife, the habitats they call home, and people living nearby."
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A 16-year-old boy has been arrested after two pupils were shot with a pellet gun, police said.
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The Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir has met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi - the first such visit by a Saudi foreign minister since 1990.
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Staff in the sterilisation and x-ray departments at some hospitals in south Wales are due to go on strike.
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Visitors to nature reserves are being asked not to start fires or set off fireworks as they threaten wildlife.
| 36,610,016 | 813 | 114 | true |
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