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The British astronaut has launched a mass experiment to grow the seeds of the salad leaf rocket. They want to compare them with seeds that have not been in space to see if there are any differences. The experiment is being run by the Royal Horticultural Society's campaign for school gardening and the UK Space Agency. The seeds have been in space for six months and were returned to Earth in March by the former commander of the space station, Scott Kelly. They have been carefully sorted and packed into packets which are on their way to the 8,500 schools, children's clubs and societies that have signed up for the experiment. The aim is to learn more about the effects of weightlessness and radiation on seeds in order to develop plant varieties that can be grown on long space missions. The results will give scientists valuable information, according to Dr Libby Jackson of the UK Space Agency. "Should we ever want to send astronauts back to the Moon or on to Mars they will need fresh food. At the moment astronaut food is freeze dried and not very exciting. We would like to have astronauts growing their own food. It would be healthier, psychologically better for them and it would mean that they would not need to take so much with them". The pupils of Walton School in Stafford are among the first to receive the seeds. According to the head teacher, Neil Finlay, the children have been "buzzing". "There has been a huge reaction. The children have been so positive about the entire process. It's been the talk of the school for the past couple of weeks. They are really looking forward to planting the seeds". One of the school's physics teachers Sunil Lal says that his students have already begun to come up with imaginative theories about how the seeds might be affected by being in space. "We have had some fantastic ideas," he told BBC News. "One is that the stem will grow downwards rather than up because of the effects of gravity on the seeds themselves. "We've also had ideas from students that the plants may not be as nutritious because of the radiation in space". The children will have their results in five weeks' time. Whatever they find, the experiment is already firing their imagination and perhaps inspiring them to one day follow in Tim Peake's footsteps. Follow Pallab on Twitter
Thousands of schools in the UK will be receiving seeds that have been in space with Tim Peake.
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A small Potter-themed event with stalls and games had been planned for Bearsden Cross, on the outskirts of Glasgow,. But the Reverend Roddy Hamilton of New Kilpatrick Parish Church said the plans had been "blown out of the water" by the massive interest on Facebook. The festival has been cancelled amid concerns that it had got out of hand. Mr Hamilton, one of the co-ordinator's of the Bearsden Festival, said people had been planning to travel from all over Europe and some had compared it to T in the Park, a music festival that attracts 80,000 a day. He said it was a small, local event that had been held for five years. The aim was to develop "better relationships" between the church and the community, he told BBC Scotland's Kaye Adams programme. Mr Hamilton said: "This was blown out of the water this week by our Facebook post going viral and Potter fans from all over the world being interested in it." He said the page had reached 250,000 people, with 10,000 confirming that they wanted to attend. "We got messages from Croatia, Norway and Holland," he said. "It's amazing what Harry Potter fans are like, they will fly anywhere - broomsticks or otherwise - to get to a Harry Potter festival." The minister said they were not set up for the level of interest it generated and there were concerns about "safety, parking capacity and licensing implications". He said: "We were going to do one or two events, a barbeque, a Quidditch match. "One of the local cafes would decorate themselves as one of the houses in Hogsmead ,where Harry Potter and his friends used to meet, and we would create Butter Beer. "It was very small scale but it didn't end up being like that." He said Facebook had been useful to get local interest in previous festivals but the Harry Potter theme sent the post global. "We just saw the numbers increasing and increasing," Mr Hamilton said. "It took us three years to get 155 likes on our church Facebook page and three days to get to 10,000 on the Harry Potter page." Harry Potter superfan Kathryn Burnett, from County Durham, told Call Kaye she had been was planning to go to the festival and was "gutted" it had been cancelled. "I think I had been tagged on the Facebook page 12 times by friends," she said. "If it is an Harry Potter event then I'm there. "I think the fans would love something like this. "If something on that scale, a huge Harry Potter festival was done, it would be jam-packed. For fans that would be a dream come true." The Harry Potter Weekend had been due to take place between 23 and 25 June 2017. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning
The church minister whose Harry Potter festival attracted worldwide interest has said he was taken by "surprise" by the scale of the reaction.
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The move is now subject to the player agreeing personal terms. The 23-year-old centre-back, who has represented the Netherlands at under-21 level, will travel to Wales for negotiations in the coming week. Swansea will go into the 2016-17 campaign under new backers, having been taken over by an American consortium. Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox.
Swansea City have agreed a deal with Dutch giants Ajax to sign defender Mike van der Hoorn, BBC Wales Sport has learned.
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Joint teams of social care workers and NHS staff such as nurses and physios will become available seven days a week under the changes being unveiled. The move is part of the government's Better Care Fund to join up the NHS and council-run social care systems. It comes as a new analysis showed hospitals were under growing pressure. The King's Fund think tank's quarterly monitoring report, covering the period from June to September, found that 5% of patients were spending four or more hours in A&E - the highest level at this time of year for a decade. The review also highlighted that waiting times for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements, had reached their highest levels since 2008 with 12.1% of patients waiting more than 18 weeks. Meanwhile, the latest figures for the 62-day target for cancer treatment also show that it is being missed, although those figures only cover the period to June. The government is trumpeting the £5.3bn that has been set aside for the Better Care Fund. None of this is new money as such, just existing funding streams that are being ring-fenced for this purpose. The pot was originally set at £3.8bn. That included £3.3bn from the core NHS budget with the rest from money set aside for carers and capital expenditure. This has been topped up by extra funds that have been put in by local areas that wanted to create bigger pooled budgets. The £5.3bn represents less than 5% of the combined NHS and social care budgets. King's Fund director of policy Richard Murray said the performance was a "significant cause for concern" and pointed to a difficult winter ahead. But ministers are predicting pressures will ease from April when the Better Care Fund comes into place. The pot, mainly sourced from NHS money, has been created to close the divide between the health and care systems, which elderly patients are particularly affected by. It has been up to local areas to draw up their own plans, but they all involve some kind of collaboration between health and care staff and creating a single assessment system. Ministers believe the plans will help prevent more than 160,000 hospital admissions, 2,000 care home admissions and result in more than 100,000 fewer days of unnecessary hospital care caused by delays in discharging patients. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "For years, successive governments and NHS leaders have talked about joining up our health and care services so people get better care at the right time and in the right place. "The time for talk is over - our plans will make this vision a reality for patients and help deliver a sustainable future for the NHS. "Too many families experience being passed from pillar to post between the NHS and their council endlessly repeating stories along the way." London's Queen Mary's Hospital runs a community rehabilitation service to help people recuperate after an accident or illness. It is staffed by physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers and an elderly-care doctor, who all work together to help patients regain their mobility and independence. Evidence suggests it has helped reduce readmissions to hospital and the numbers of people being placed in care homes. But Local Government Association chairman David Sparks said the changes would fail unless the social care system was better funded - research by the group has suggested local authorities are being under-funded by a third. He said without more money the whole system would "collapse". "While we recognise these reforms have the ability to change health and social care for the better, the government must fund councils properly to ensure this happens." Shadow care minister Liz Kendall said the scale of the plans were "depressingly unambitious". "The government should have focused on integrating frontline services from day one, but instead they forced through a backroom reorganisation," she added.
Vulnerable patients in England will get better support in the community as part of plans to ease pressure on hospitals, ministers say.
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Authorities said the plane crashed as it approached Iles-de-la-Madeleine Airport amid heavy winds and snow. Jean Lapierre, a broadcaster and former Canadian transport minister, and members of his family were among the victims. Mr Lapierre, who was 59, worked as a political analyst for CTV and other Canadian media outlets. One of those networks, TVA, said Mr Lapierre's wife, two brothers and sister died in the crash. They were travelling to the funeral of Mr Lapierre's father. He also served as a member of parliament from 1979 to 1993 and again from 2004 to 2007. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin said: "He was a very good political analyst, he was one of the best, but he was also a superb political figure in this country and it was a great privilege to work with him." Officials with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada travelled to Havre aux Maisons Island in the Magdalen Islands to determine the cause of the crash. The twin-engine turboprop plane had left Montreal's St Hubert Airport on Tuesday morning.
Seven people have died after a small private plane crashed on an island off the east coast of Quebec.
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One blast took place near the former military academy for women, while the other struck close to the interior ministry. Emergency crews rushed to the scenes of the blasts, which were cordoned off. It is the first deadly bomb attack since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi last year. The bombs struck at dawn close to the interior ministry's administrative offices and near the military academy on Omar al-Mokhtar Avenue. The city's head of security, Col Mahmoud Sherif, said the blast outside the military academy left two people dead and four or five injured. No casualties were reported from the other explosion, he said. Mr Sherif blamed Gaddafi supporters for the attacks, who he alleged were receiving financial backing from contacts based in neighbouring countries. The attacks took place as crowds prepared for mass morning prayers to mark Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim celebration at the end of the fasting month Ramadan. Earlier this month, Libya's interim National Transitional Council handed power to a newly elected assembly, in the first peaceful transition in the country's modern history. But violence remains a challenge for the government, with several attacks taking place in the eastern city of Benghazi in recent months. The BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli, says that the government has often blamed these attacks on Gaddafi loyalists. For many Libyans, she says, it is easier and more plausible to believe that loyalists of the former regime are behind them, but this is difficult to assess. Security forces have also struggled to assert control over armed men who took part in last year's uprising and who refuse to lay down their weapons.
At least two people have been killed in a twin car bomb attack in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, security officials say.
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Cafodd yr Heddlu alwad am 12:10 yn adrodd bod dyn wedi disgyn lawr hafn ar ochr ogleddol mynydd Tryfan. Cafodd Gwasanaeth achub mynydd Ogwen a'r hofrennydd chwilio ac achub eu galw i'r digwyddiad. Dywedodd y Cwnstabl Gethin Jones o Heddlu'r Gogledd: "Fe gafodd dyn sydd ddim yn lleol i'r ardal ei ddarganfod a'i gludo i Ysbyty Gwynedd ym Mangor ble daeth cadarnhad ei fod wedi marw. "Mae ei deulu wedi cael gwybod ac rydym yn meddwl amdanynt yn ystod y cyfnod anodd yma".
Mae Heddlu'r Gogledd wedi cadarnhau bod dyn wedi marw ar un o fynyddoedd Eryri ddydd Sul.
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Massaro, seeded fifth, beat the Egyptian on the way to winning the British Open last month, but could not repeat that performance in El Gouna. El Welily won the quarter-final 8-11 11-8 12-10 11-6 in 46 minutes to make it three Egyptians into the last four. That came before an unexpected rain shower in the Red Sea resort. The outside court is fully exposed to the elements as rain is extremely rare at this time of year in El Gouna. El Welily will next play France's Camille Serne, while top seed Nour El Sherbini will take on fourth seed Nouran Gohar in the other semi-final. Massaro, 33, won the world title in 2013 and reached the final last year, before claiming her second British Open title in March. "She's obviously a very strong player mentally and it's hard to break her," said El Welily, 28. "To beat her today is absolutely fantastic."
England's former champion Laura Massaro lost 3-1 to third seed Raneem El Welily on a day when rain stopped play at the squash World Championship in Egypt.
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This is according to a study of the performance of chimpanzees in a test called the "ultimatum game". Traditionally, the game is employed as a test of economics; two people decide how to divide a sum of money. This modified game, in which two chimps decided how to divide a portion of banana slices, seems to have revealed the primates' generous side. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was part of an effort to uncover the evolutionary routes of why we share, even when it does not make economic sense. Scientists say this innate fairness is an important foundation of co-operative societies like ours. Lead researcher Darby Proctor from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University, US, explained why she and her colleagues chose to use the ultimatum game, which has been used in the past to illustrate the human tendency to share. During the game, one participant is given an amount of money and asked to "make an offer" to the second player. If that second player accepts the offer, the money is divided accordingly. But, if the second player refuses that offer, both players receive nothing. This is the basis of the fairness versus economics quandary; if the first player proposes a selfish, unequal offer, the affronted recipient might refuse. And this is exactly what happens in humans. Although it makes economic sense to give away as little as possible and accept any offer that's proposed, people usually make roughly equal, or "fair" offers, and tend to refuse unequal or "unfair" offers. Dr Proctor and her colleagues trained their chimp participants to play a similar game, using coloured tokens to represent a reward. "We tried to abstract it a little - to make it a bit like money," Dr Proctor explained. Discover how chimpanzees communicate "We trained them with two different tokens. "If they took [a white token], they would be able to split the food equally, and taking the other [blue] token meant that the first chimp would get more food than the partner." The researchers presented both tokens to the first chimp, which would then choose one and offer it to its partner. As with the human version of the game, if the partner accepted the token, both animals received their reward. Three pairs of chimps played this game, and the results revealed that the animals had a tendency to offer a fair and equal share of the food reward. In another experiment, the team repeated the test with 20 children between the ages of two and seven. They discovered that both young children and chimps "responded like humans typically do" - tending to opt for an equal division of the prize. "What we're trying to get at is the evolutionary route of why humans share," explained Dr Proctor. "Both chimps and people are hugely cooperative; they engage in cooperative hunting, they share food, they care for each other's offspring. "So it's likely that this [fairness] was needed in the evolution of cooperation. "It seems to me that the human sense of fairness has been around in primates for at least as long as humans and chimps have been separated." Dr Susanne Schultz from the University of Manchester said the study was very interesting and showed "the potential for chimps to be aware of fair offers". "It is interesting that changing the study design - primarily by not using food rewards it seems - one can elicit fairness behaviour in chimps," she told the BBC. She added though that is was not clear that the chimps completely understood the design of the game and that, with just six chimps involved in the study, further evidence would be needed to show clearly that chimps had a natural tendency towards fairness.
The human tendency to share may have more ancient evolutionary routes than previously thought.
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The travel company said pre-tax profits fell to £42m from £50m last year. It said the fall in demand for holidays in Turkey had been offset by the rise in popularity of other destinations. Chief executive Peter Fankhauser told the BBC: "We are pleased with what we have achieved." "We have had to follow the demand of our customers, who are choosing to go to the Spanish islands and mainland." Questioned about the impact of the falling pound on the company's future profits, Mr Fankhauser added: "We don't see a noticeable impact so far and don't expect one next summer." The company's underlying earnings fell by £2m to £308m, but the board recommended a dividend payment, of 0.5p a share, for the first time in five years. Its UK market continued to strengthen while it made record profits in northern Europe. Thomas Cook said it was "a cautious approach to the year ahead". It added that trading for the winter was in line with expectations, while bookings for next summer had made "an encouraging early start".
Thomas Cook's profits have fallen after a tough year for the tourism industry, with trading affected by terror attacks in Europe and political instability in Turkey.
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Gary Anthony Burgess, 50, left open prison HMP Sudbury in the early hours of Thursday. He was jailed for 10 years for burglary offences at Teesside Crown Court in 2011. Burgess, who has links to the Middlesbrough area, is described as white, 5ft 8in (1.73m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and heavily tattooed. Derbyshire Police are warning people not to approach Burgess but to report any sightings immediately to their local force.
A police hunt is under way for a Teesside burglar who absconded from a jail in Derbyshire.
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Martin Goldberg, 46, deputy head of a Southend private school, had images of children undressing in changing rooms. UK authorities were alerted in 2012 in a global operation but Essex Police did not speak to him until 9 September. Jim Gamble, the ex-Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) head, said the failings were "awful". The Home Office has been asked to comment. Mr Goldberg, who taught at Thorpe Hall School, was found dead the day after being interviewed by police. His name was on a list of people who had bought online DVDs and videos, some of which showed graphic images of children. Toronto Police's "Project Spade" passed the list to the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) in July 2012. The unit did not share the information with local police forces until November 2013 and then Essex Police failed to act on it for 10 months. Names on the list included the Suffolk doctor Myles Bradbury, who this month admitted abusing young patients at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. The delay in passing the information on is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Mr Gamble, who resigned in a row over CEOP's future in 2010, said: "This was an accident waiting to happen. "When I resigned, we were dealing with 600 or 700 reports a month, and we were struggling with that. "But in the last few years, CEOP has been dealing with 1,800 a month. It's not possible to deal with those volumes without there being huge room for error." CEOP was absorbed into the National Crime Agency last October - something Mr Gamble believes diverted resources away from the unit. "What is happened is awful, and I'm not trying to excuse it," he said. "But what I don't want to see is the very few staff doing far, far too much work being demonised, when actually this is an issue that should go right to the heart of leadership." Essex's Police and Crime Commissioner, Nick Alston, said he was concerned about the length of time it took Essex Police to act on the information about Goldberg once it had been passed on. "In my judgement, there's been a failing here that we need to understand and put right," he said. Home Affairs Select Committee Chairman Keith Vaz said the delay in acting on the information was "totally unacceptable". He said he had written to the National Crime Agency and the Canadian authorities to ask what steps were taken after they acquired the details. "It is vital that urgent improvements are made to strengthen international co-operation and speed up action following receipt of information, especially where suspects have daily contact with children in their place of work," Mr Vaz said. Essex Police said it was acting on 18 lines of inquiry from Project Spade. So far two people have been charged with possessing indecent images of children - one a fireman, another a bus driver. A third arrested man has been released. The force said four other suspects are retired and the others are in low-risk occupations. Twelve properties have been searched.
Failings to fully investigate a teacher who took indecent photographs of pupils were "an accident waiting to happen", an ex-child protection chief has said.
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It is the first series to be played against Australia since England became a fully professional side. "We talk a lot about the brand of cricket that we play and the excitement that we want to showcase," she said. "Those are the things that will bring the crowds in and hopefully the younger generation will see and aspire to." Lancastrian Cross has made plenty of personal headlines this year, with her exploits for Heywood CC men's team. But she is now fully focused on helping England retain the Ashes and is confident they can deal with the added pressure resulting from professional contracts. "As soon as we turned professional there was this pressure from the media that there is an expectation for us to win," Cross told BBC Sport. "Equally, we put that pressure on ourselves. We set our standards really high and nothing short of 100% is good enough for us. "The Ashes is a really special series, it is something you really want to win and you fight hard for." The series was changed to a points-based format in 2013 with matches in all three formats of the game counting towards the overall result. Further refinements have been made for this summer, with the number of points allocated to victory in the one-off Test reduced from six to four, in hopes of keeping the series competitive throughout. England won the first two points-based Ashes series, 12-4 at home in 2013 and 10-8 in Australia last year, but Cross admitted the latest changes could see this series go down to the wire. "With the Test match now only being four points, both teams will aim for a win rather then play for the draw, which was the case with the six points," she said. "We bring in a lot of excitement because of the points system and I know a lot of other nations want to play us in that format. "I hope it doesn't, but it means the Ashes could go down to the very last game. That would be hard on the nerves." The first 50-over one-day international will be played at Taunton on Tuesday, 21 July - and all seven matches will be played at county grounds, another change which Cross believes will benefit both teams. "I think the standard of cricket might be a bit higher as we are playing at county grounds; it's a big step up for us," she added "We played our Test match [against India] at Wormsley last summer, which is quite hard for people to get to and it is difficult to showcase the game from that ground. "Hopefully there will be a lot more people watching us and there is a huge buzz around the camp at the moment."
Seam bowler Kate Cross says England will accept "nothing short of 100%" in terms of their own performances in the upcoming Women's Ashes.
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Cyprian Okoro, 55, from south-west London was found guilty of five counts of possessing extreme pornography and one indecent image of a child. The Old Bailey heard the videos were of a "grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise obscene character". Okoro was bailed for sentencing on 30 September. Some of the five videos featured women having sex with dogs and one woman having sex with a horse. The defendant, of Cameron Place, Streatham, had denied the charges. But, after deliberating for less than a day, the jury found him guilty of all but two charges of possessing extreme pornography relating to bestiality with dogs. The court heard Okoro stored the images on his mobile phone having received them via WhatsApp. He had also moved an indecent video of a two-year-old boy into a password-protected "vault" on his phone. Following the verdict, the jury was told it was Okoro's second conviction. In 2014 he was handed a nine-month jail term suspended for 18 months at Norwich Crown Court after a woman made an allegation of sexual assault against him. Judge Richard Hone QC said: "He is very lucky not to be immediately imprisoned and this was quite a bad case. "It would be unfair to put him immediately in prison when the first trial gave him a suspended sentence - even if it was frankly, pretty lenient." Okoro qualified as a doctor in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1986, and received an interim suspension by the General Medical Council in September 2013.
A GP has been found guilty of having a stash of pornography, including a video of a man having sex with a snake.
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The 21-year-old has joined the 2010 Champions League winners on a five-year contract that runs to June 2018. "Inter are a great team, I'm really delighted and I hope to do well here," said the player who came through the ranks at French club Lyon. Last season Belfodil scored eight goals in 33 matches for Parma.
Inter Milan have sign Algerian forward Ishak Belfodil from fellow Italian Serie A side Parma for a fee believed to be about US$13m.
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David McNally's Twitter account said he had left following his club's defeat against Manchester United. The tweet was later deleted and the club did not comment. Norwich City Football Club confirmed on Monday that McNally had resigned. "Everyone at Carrow Road wishes him all the very best for the future," it said. McNally resignation: 'Norwich City top brass under increasing scrutiny' The statement on the club's website said: "The board of directors had unanimously agreed to accept McNally's resignation and would like to place on record their sincere gratitude for David's game-changing contribution to the football club since he joined in the summer of 2009. "David played a leading role as the club erased crippling debts and rose from the lower reaches of League One to the Barclays Premier League. "Director of finance Steve Stone has been appointed interim chief executive and the board and everybody at the club is totally focused on supporting Alex and the players, as we head in to Wednesday night's vital Premier League game against Watford at Carrow Road." On Saturday, McNally replied to a fan on Twitter who called on him to leave the club after the defeat by Manchester United. The fan blamed a lack of investment for the Canaries current plight - facing relegation from the lucrative Premier League. In a tweet, he said: "I understand your view. I've resigned tonight and I hope the club can now progress." David McNally's departure is a hugely significant moment for Norwich City. This was the man who ran the club on a day-to-day basis and had the final say on most things, from player transfers to what was on sale in the club shop. He arrived in 2009 with the club at its lowest point in 50 years following relegation to League One. He oversaw successive promotions, four of the past five seasons in the Premier League and the club clearing all external debt - all of which will count in his favour in the eyes of Norwich City supporters. But with the prospect of a second relegation from the top flight in three seasons looming, the club's top brass was coming under increasing scrutiny. Then, hours later, Mr McNally seemingly retracted his resignation, insisting he remains fully committed to the club. The tweet said: "I take back what was said earlier. I remain fully committed to NCFC and to Delia and Michael and I've not resigned. My apologies." Both tweets were then deleted. The Canaries' current predicament sees the club four points from safety with two games to play. On Wednesday, they face Watford at home and then Everton away on the last day of the season. Both Newcastle United and Norwich City will be relegated to the Championship if Sunderland win on Wednesday. A strong ally of co-owner Delia Smith, Mr McNally arrived at Carrow Road in 2009 from Fulham having previously spent four years as sales and marketing director at Celtic. Norwich City fans on Twitter have praised McNally and thanked him for his work at the club, while others have questioned the timing of his departure. MrTomParsley said: "The loss of @davidmcnally62 just made the inevitable relegation a lot more worrying, he deserves only respect & thanks from all #ncfc fans." Dan Brigham of the Little Yellow Bird Project, which produces podcasts on Norwich City, told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I interviewed him earlier this year and he said he wanted to leave a legacy, leave Norwich City with a 35,000-capacity stadium, and a first class training facility. "He will see this [Norwich City facing relegation] as a real failure, as not part of the plan. "We're not relegated yet, so the timing is weird."
Norwich City chief executive David McNally has quit the club following a tweet on Saturday in which he seemingly announced his resignation.
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David Pipe went close for bottom club County in a scoreless first half, but after the break eighth-placed Barnet took control. Goalkeeper Joe Day was County's hero, saving brilliantly to foil Simeon Akinola and making an outstanding double stop to deny Mauro Vilhete. John Akinde fired wide in the dying minutes for The Bees. Newport County manager Graham Westley told BBC Radio Wales: "Before you become a winning side you've got to be an unbeaten side, a side that's difficult to play against and proud of its clean sheets. "And I think in the past couple of games you've seen a side that's worked very hard at its defensive aspects. "When you go away from home you're going to be under the cosh to an extent, but I thought it was a very determined and a very dogged performance." Match ends, Barnet 0, Newport County 0. Second Half ends, Barnet 0, Newport County 0. Attempt missed. Mauro Vilhete (Barnet) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Attempt missed. Josh Sheehan (Newport County) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Foul by Mauro Vilhete (Barnet). Josh Sheehan (Newport County) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Alex Samuel (Newport County) wins a free kick on the left wing. Foul by Ricardo Santos (Barnet). Attempt blocked. Elliot Johnson (Barnet) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Attempt missed. John Akinde (Barnet) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Substitution, Newport County. Mickey Demetriou replaces David Pipe because of an injury. Delay in match David Pipe (Newport County) because of an injury. Michael Nelson (Barnet) wins a free kick on the left wing. Foul by Aaron Williams (Newport County). Attempt missed. Nana Kyei (Barnet) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right from a direct free kick. Curtis Weston (Barnet) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Alex Samuel (Newport County). Attempt blocked. Jack Taylor (Barnet) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Corner, Barnet. Conceded by Sid Nelson. Corner, Barnet. Conceded by Joe Day. Attempt saved. Nana Kyei (Barnet) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Attempt saved. Josh Sheehan (Newport County) right footed shot from more than 35 yards is saved in the top centre of the goal. Substitution, Barnet. Luke Coulson replaces Harry Taylor. Foul by Simeon Akinola (Barnet). Alex Samuel (Newport County) wins a free kick on the left wing. Attempt blocked. Simeon Akinola (Barnet) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Mark O'Brien (Newport County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. John Akinde (Barnet) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Mark O'Brien (Newport County). Foul by Elliot Johnson (Barnet). Alex Samuel (Newport County) wins a free kick on the left wing. Attempt missed. Mauro Vilhete (Barnet) left footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Foul by Elliot Johnson (Barnet). Alex Samuel (Newport County) wins a free kick on the left wing. Attempt missed. Mauro Vilhete (Barnet) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left. Corner, Barnet. Conceded by Joe Day. Attempt saved. Mauro Vilhete (Barnet) header from very close range is saved in the centre of the goal. Simeon Akinola (Barnet) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Tom Owen-Evans (Newport County).
Newport County survived a late Barnet onslaught to claim a second successive draw in League Two.
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The visitors had a goal disallowed in the first half when Stina Blackstenius' header was ruled out for offside. Gilly Flaherty then tripped Lotta Schelin in the area but Chamberlain saved Kosovare Asllani's penalty. England manager Mark Sampson had made 10 changes to the side that lost to Norway on Sunday. The Lionesses looked sharp and enjoyed good passages of play but found clear-cut chances hard to come by against the Rio Olympics silver medallists. England's best effort fell to captain on the night Jordan Nobbs, whose powerful shot from the edge of the area curled just wide of the post. As expected with Women's Super League clubs only returning to training two weeks ago, Sampson made wholesale changes to the team, with only Chamberlain retaining her place. The Liverpool goalkeeper once again impressed, making a string of quick reaction saves from close range as well parrying away the late penalty. In her first England appearance in almost four years, Rachel Williams dominated the midfield, winning challenges all over the pitch. The Notts County player, who also works as a plasterer, displayed power and strength across the 90 minutes. With usual skipper Steph Houghton starting on the bench, Nobbs led the side and the Arsenal midfielder distributed the ball well under pressure. And Chelsea's Millie Bright defended bravely on her first senior England start. England now have a five-week break before they take part in the SheBelieves Cup in the United States. They will take on the three top-ranked teams in the world; USA, Germany and France. England face France in their opener on 1 March in Pennsylvania. They then face the hosts in New Jersey on 4 March and European champions Germany in Washington on 7 March. Following that, Sampson's squad are expected to play several other friendlies before their Euro 2017 campaign gets under way against Scotland on 19 July in the Netherlands. In the meantime, the Women's Super League Spring series begins in April. Match ends, England 0, Sweden 0. Second Half ends, England 0, Sweden 0. Attempt saved. Nilla Fischer (Sweden) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Lotta Schelin (Sweden) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Millie Bright (England). Attempt missed. Gemma Davison (England) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right following a corner. Corner, England. Conceded by Caroline Seger. Rachel Williams (England) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Hanna Folkesson (Sweden). Offside, England. Gilly Flaherty tries a through ball, but Demi Stokes is caught offside. Foul by Demi Stokes (England). Jessica Samuelsson (Sweden) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Hanna Glas (Sweden). Rachel Daly (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Rachel Daly (England) because of an injury. Attempt missed. Jordan Nobbs (England) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Rachel Williams. Foul by Hanna Folkesson (Sweden). Isobel Christiansen (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Offside, Sweden. Hanna Glas tries a through ball, but Lotta Schelin is caught offside. Substitution, Sweden. Olivia Schough replaces Kosovare Asllani. Substitution, Sweden. Hanna Glas replaces Jonna Andersson. Corner, Sweden. Conceded by Millie Bright. Corner, Sweden. Conceded by Siobhan Chamberlain. Penalty saved! Kosovare Asllani (Sweden) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity, right footed shot saved in the bottom right corner. Penalty Sweden. Lotta Schelin draws a foul in the penalty area. Penalty conceded by Gilly Flaherty (England) after a foul in the penalty area. Attempt blocked. Rachel Williams (England) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Attempt missed. Isobel Christiansen (England) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Demi Stokes. Substitution, England. Demi Stokes replaces Karen Carney. Attempt missed. Pauline Hammarlund (Sweden) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Lotta Schelin. Foul by Caroline Seger (Sweden). Rachel Williams (England) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Offside, England. Siobhan Chamberlain tries a through ball, but Rachel Williams is caught offside. Substitution, Sweden. Magdalena Eriksson replaces Linda Sembrant. Substitution, Sweden. Hanna Folkesson replaces Lisa Dahlkvist. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Siobhan Chamberlain (England) because of an injury. Gilly Flaherty (England) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Gilly Flaherty (England).
Siobhan Chamberlain saved a penalty as England ended their pre-season training camp in Spain with a battling goalless draw against Sweden.
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The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un died last week after apparently being poisoned while waiting for a flight at a Kuala Lumpur airport. There has been growing speculation that his son, Kim Han-sol, has travelled to Malaysia to claim the body. Malaysia says the cause of death remains unknown. Laboratory test results are still being awaited, the country's health ministry says. The post-mortem examination showed no evidence of a heart attack and no puncture wounds were found on Mr Kim's body, director general of health Dr Hisham Abdullah told reporters. The case has caused a diplomatic row between North Korea and Malaysia, which has refused to hand over the remains and conducted the post-mortem examination despite North Korean objections. Security is high at the mortuary in Kuala Lumpur holding the body of Kim Jong-nam. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, heavily armed police arrived at Hospital Kuala Lumpur followed by several unmarked vehicles. There has been no official confirmation that Kim Han-sol is in Malaysia, but there is widespread speculation in Malaysian media that he arrived in the country on Monday night, from Macau. The family of Kim Jong-nam have maintained a low profile life since falling out of favour with the North Korean regime. Malaysia wants a member of the Kim family to provide a DNA sample so his identity can be confirmed before the body is released. Dr Abdullah said that the North Korean embassy had not provided dental or medical records to assist with identifying the body. Malaysian officials have previously identified the dead man as Kim Jong-nam. Meanwhile, harsh words continue to be traded between Malaysia and North Korea. Malaysia has said it is "insulted" by comments from North Korea's ambassador, Kang Chol, who accused Kuala Lumpur of a cover-up. "It has been seven days since the incident but there is no clear evidence on the cause of the death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police," he told reporters. "It only increases the doubt that there is someone else's hand behind the investigation." Malaysia's Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said the diplomat's allegations were based on "delusions, lies and half-truths", while Prime Minister Najib Razak said they were "diplomatically rude". Mr Kang has been summoned to explain his comments. Malaysia has also recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang, Mohamad Nizan Mohamad, over the killing. So far, four people have been arrested in connection with the killing - identified as being from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam - and at least four North Koreans are being sought by investigators. Despite widespread speculation that North Korea was behind the killing, there has been no definitive evidence and Pyongyang is yet to issue an official statement. South Korea has accused the North of orchestrating the incident, saying on Monday it was evidence of North Korean "terrorism getting bolder".
Malaysian authorities are yet to formally identify the body of Kim Jong-nam as no family member has come forward, officials say.
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Called the Orb, the mark is used to identify tweed made from cloth woven by hand in the Western Isles with wool yarn from island sheep. Last year, the trademark was officially recognised as a coat of arms. Edinburgh-based SnapDragon Monitoring has been commissioned to check ecommerce, social media and auction sites for sales of counterfeit tweed. Lorna MacAulay, chief executive of the Harris Tweed Authority, said: "It has taken generations to build the Harris Tweed brand into the popular global phenomena we see today. "It is our job to guard against unauthorised use of the brand and we take that role very seriously."
The Harris Tweed Authority has appointed a firm to monitor for misuses of its legally-protected trademark.
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said on Monday Infantino will arrive in Abjua on 24 July and will meet "a legion of African FA presidents". Infantino, elected in February this year, will be accompanied by new Fifa secretary-general Fatma Samoura. NFF president Amaju Pinnick met Infantino for talks in Paris on Sunday. "The Fifa president and secretary-general will arrive in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Sunday 24th July on a two-day working visit to Nigeria," Pinnick said on the NFF website. The statement said the Fifa officials will meet Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari and hold a meeting "with a legion of African FA presidents, who are expected in Nigeria" at the same time. Nigeria is seen as one of the giants of African football even though the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals for the second time in succession. The NFF has been dogged by factional disputes over its leadership and Fifa has threatened Nigeria with suspension from international competition because of irregularities in the leadership voting process.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino will meet senior football association leaders from across Africa on a two-day working visit to Nigeria in July.
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The 29-year-old ex-Scarlets captain, has left "by mutual agreement". He played for Wales Under-21s and Wales Sevens before a senior call-up to tour New Zealand in 2010. McCusker's Wales debut against South Africa in November that year and won his last cap in the 22-18 tour win over Japan in 2013. He joined Scarlets in 2003 and went on to make 135 appearances, scoring six tries and led them in 2012-13 before being a joint captain with Jonathan Davies the following season. McCusker said: "There have been some memorable experiences over the years including great Heineken Cup victories over Perpignan and Racing Metro and a big thank you must go out to the fans who support us through the highs and lows. "It's been an honour to have played for such a fantastic club for so many years, but I'm looking forward to new challenges with London Irish." Scarlets general manager of rugby Jon Daniels said: "At this stage in his career Rob understandably needs to be playing regular rugby, an opportunity which I am sure he will grasp with both hands at London Irish. "On behalf of the Scarlets I would like to thank Rob for his contribution and wish him the very best for the future."
Six-times capped Wales back-rower Rob McCusker has left Scarlets to join Aviva Premiership side London Irish on a one-season deal.
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Two bombers blew themselves up as worshippers were coming out of the city's historic All Saints church after attending Sunday Mass, police say. Relatives of the victims gathered at the scene to protest against the government's failure to protect them. Militants linked to Pakistani Taliban have said they carried out the bombing. The group, Jandullah, said it was in retaliation US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal northwest. Sunday's twin attacks targeted Peshawar's historic All Saints Church as hundreds of worshippers were attending Mass. Witnesses said they heard two blasts, the second more powerful than the first. Suicide vests were later found outside the church, officials say. More than 120 people were wounded in the bombings. It is the latest in a series of attacks on Pakistani Christians, who represent about 1.6% of the country's largely Muslim population. The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Pakistan says the attack has outraged many people, but there is also a sense of helplessness about the government's apparent inability to prevent such atrocities. There were angry scenes outside the church, with friends and relatives denouncing the government. Demonstrations were held in other cities too. In Karachi, police fired bullets in air and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters.
A twin-suicide bombing outside a church in Peshawar in Pakistan has killed at least 75 people, in one of the worst attacks on Christians in the country.
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Forward Bowditch has scored 48 goals in 227 appearances for MK Dons, helping them reach the Championship in 2014-15. "I've enjoyed some fantastic memories during six years at MK Dons but all great things come to an end and it's time for a new challenge," he said. The 30-year-old joins Darren Potter and David Martin in announcing their departure from Stadium MK. Bowditch, who was out of contract in the summer, is the third long-serving MK Dons player to confirm their exit at the end of the campaign in the last week, while the future of the club's record appearance-maker Dean Lewington is also in doubt. MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman said of Bowditch: "Dean has been an important member of the squad for a long period of time and we will always be grateful for what he's done for the club."
Dean Bowditch will leave Milton Keynes Dons at the end of the season after six years at the League One club.
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Barry Imray, 35, of no fixed address, denies killing Lee Irving, who was found dead near a footpath in Newcastle last year. Another man, James Wheatley, 29, from Studdon Walk, also denies murder. Mr Wheatley's mother, Julie Mills, 51, and his girlfriend, Nicole Lawrence, 22, deny "causing or allowing" Mr Irving's death. Mr Imray told Newcastle Crown Court he had not harmed 24-year-old Mr Irving, but panicked when he realised he was not moving, and alerted the others. He denied that he had moved Mr Irving's body as a result of being responsible for his death. He said he had taken the body away from the house all five shared in Kenton Bar because he had been told to. When asked by Mr Wheatley's defence barrister, Francis Fitzgibbon QC, why he had not refused, he said: "You can't say no to James [Wheatley]." The jury heard that Mr Imray accepted he had lied when he told police he had merely come across Mr Irving's body by the footpath. He lied because he was frightened, he said. It is alleged that Mr Irving, who had learning difficulties, had been sedated by the defendants, rather than taken for medical treatment. The court has heard he was found about half a mile from the house with 27 rib fractures and a broken nose and jaw. The trial continues.
A man accused of murder has told a court he was told to move the body and was too scared to refuse.
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He was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after the accident with a white Skoda Octavia taxi on Barry Road at 22:30 GMT on Tuesday. South Wales Police has confirmed the boy died from his injuries on Wednesday. Officers are appealing for witnesses following the incident near to the Llewellyn Street junction. Family liaison officers are supporting the boy's family.
A 16-year-old boy has died of his injuries after being hit by a taxi in Barry.
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He was responding to a comment from the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin. Archbishop Martin had said any Catholic politician who supported abortion would not be "in communion with the church". The deputy first minister spoke to BBC's Inside Politics on Friday. "I try and be the best Catholic I can be," Mr McGuinness said. "The Catholic Church is made up of people who have different opinions on different issues." Mr McGuinness repeated that Sinn Féin is opposed to abortion on demand but said he had been moved by meeting Sarah Ewart, a woman from Northern Ireland who had to travel to England for an abortion because her baby had no chance of survival. He said:"I think, in the context of my responsibility as a government minister and other government ministers who have a duty to pass legislation, when we're faced with the case of Sarah Ewart, we have to deal with that in the most compassionate way possible." Northern Ireland's Department of Justice is consulting on whether abortion should be made legal in cases of "lethal foetal abnormality" and pregnancy as a result of rape. On Thursday, Archbishop Martin met Justice Minister David Ford to discuss proposals for amendments to two aspects of Northern Ireland's abortion laws. He said the church remained against any change to the existing laws. The deputy first minister said he disagreed with people who believed a change in the laws would lead to an "opening up of the floodgates". He said: "I totally and absolutely contradict those people. I think what we need to do is recognise our responsibilities to support women when they make the choice. "This is not about women being forced to do anything, they should be able to make their own choice. I absolutely respect the right of people to do that."
Sinn Féin's support for a woman's right to an abortion in certain limited circumstances is not incompatible with Catholicism, Martin McGuinness has said.
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The plane will be part of a £16m Bristol Aerospace Centre and museum at the former Filton airfield in neighbouring South Gloucestershire. Labour and Conservative general election candidates for Filton and Bradley Stoke called on George Ferguson and Bristol City Council to invest in the project. The BBC has invited Mr Ferguson to comment. The comments were made during a general election debate on BBC Radio Bristol. 'Very appropriate' Labour's Ian Boulton said the museum would benefit the whole region. "There's a real danger that this will become the South Gloucestershire aero collection so we'd like to get Bristol on board with that," he said. Conservative Jack Lopresti said: "I still haven't given up hope of getting a meeting with George Ferguson to see if Bristol are willing to help with the project." The Liberal Democrat candidate Pete Bruce, said it would be "very appropriate" for Bristol to contribute towards the cost of the museum. "It will be good for the area as a whole and good to have Bristol as a partner helping with the exhibits and renovations," said Mr Bruce. Last week, a £2m Budget windfall towards the cost of the centre was announced. The airfield site includes two Grade II-listed hangars built by the Royal Flying Corp during World War One. They were later home to 501 Squadron, which won seven honours in World War Two and was one of the most heavily-engaged units in RAF Fighter Command.
Bristol's mayor has been urged to help pay for a permanent home for Concorde.
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Media playback is not supported on this device Armson, who is a college education examiner by day, guided Brackley to a 4-3 extra-time first-round replay win against Gillingham. "I left the house to go to work at 6:30am," Armson told BBC Radio Oxford. "I didn't finish until 4:30pm and then it was straight in the car to the game, eating my dinner out of a plastic pot." National League North Brackley will travel to League Two Blackpool in the second round. Media playback is not supported on this device Midfielder Armson, 26, was not the only one to juggle his work commitments before the game as striker Steve Diggin was busy surfacing roads in the build-up. "That's what part-time football is all about," added Armson. "But, once you get to the ground, you just switch off from all of that. "I thought we got what we deserved. It's brilliant to cause an upset and a great feeling we'll remember for a long, long time."
Brackley Town hat-trick hero James Armson had to change into his kit in his car before causing an FA Cup upset on Wednesday.
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Media playback is not supported on this device Torres is re-joining the La Liga champions from AC Milan seven-and-a-half-years after leaving for Liverpool. His loan, which runs until the end of the season, will be made official on Monday but he watched Atletico's win over Levante on Saturday. Torres, 30, said: "The club have grown and time has proved us right." He added: "I have also won trophies, but I want to win trophies here. "I was missing something to motivate me, something I could only find here. "Off the pitch I have been through many things. On a personal level I am more mature and very happy to be here. "On the sporting level things have changed too. At 24 I realised something very hard, that I needed to leave so that the club and I could grow. "It was the most difficult moment of my career." It is difficult to overstate Fernando Torres's popularity with Atletico fans, who remember the deadly force of nature he was in 2007 rather than the misfiring disappointment of the last two or three years. As much as his goalscoring exploits, Torres was loved because he was a boyhood fan who had progressed through the youth ranks and played with such obvious pride in the Atletico jersey. Torres joined Serie A club AC Milan from Chelsea, who paid a then British record transfer fee of £50m to sign him from Liverpool in January 2011. The Italian club confirmed a permanent deal for Torres, following its own initial two-year loan deal, during the Christmas period, but have loaned him to Atletico until the end of the season after Italy winger Alessio Cerci, 27, arrived from the Spanish side. Torres, who scored 84 goals in 214 league appearances for Atletico from 2001-2007, could make his debut against Real Madrid in the first leg of a round-of-16 Copa del Rey tie on Wednesday.
Atletico Madrid unveiled Fernando Torres to 45,000 fans at Vicente Calderon Stadium on Sunday with the striker targeting winning trophies.
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Renowned cosmologist Roger Penrose said that analysis of this cosmic microwave background showed echoes of previous Big Bang-like events. The events appear as "rings" around galaxy clusters in which the variation in the background is unusually low. The unpublished research has been posted on the Arxiv website. The ideas within it support a theory developed by Professor Penrose - knighted in 1994 for his services to science - that upends the widely-held "inflationary theory". That theory holds that the Universe was shaped by an unthinkably large and fast expansion from a single point. Much of high-energy physics research aims to elucidate how the laws of nature evolved during the fleeting first instants of the Universe's being. "I was never in favour of it, even from the start," said Professor Penrose. "But if you're not accepting inflation, you've got to have something else which does what inflation does," he explained to BBC News. "In the scheme that I'm proposing, you have an exponential expansion but it's not in our aeon - I use the term to describe [the period] from our Big Bang until the remote future. "I claim that this aeon is one of a succession of such things, where the remote future of the previous aeons somehow becomes the Big Bang of our aeon." This "conformal cyclic cosmology" (CCC) that Professor Penrose advocates allows that the laws of nature may evolve with time, but precludes the need to institute a theoretical beginning to the Universe. Professor Penrose, of Oxford University, and his colleague Vahe Gurzadyan of Yerevan State University in Armenia, have now found what they believe is evidence of events that predate the Big Bang, and that support CCC. They looked at data from vast surveys of the cosmic microwave background - the constant, nearly uniform low-temperature glow that fills the Universe we see. They surveyed nearly 11,000 locations, looking for directions in the sky where, at some point in the past, vast galaxies circling one another may have collided. The supermassive black holes at their centres would have merged, turning some of their mass into tremendous bursts of energy. The CCC theory holds that the same object may have undergone the same processes more than once in history, and each would have sent a "shockwave" of energy propagating outward. The search turned up 12 candidates that showed concentric circles consistent with the idea - some with as many as five rings, representing five massive events coming from the same object through the course of history. The suggestion is that the rings - representing unexpected order in a vast sky of disorder - represent pre-Big Bang events, toward the end of the last "aeon". "Inflation [theory] is supposed to have ironed all of these irregularities out," said Professor Penrose. "How do you suddenly get something that is making these whacking big explosions just before inflation turns off? To my way of thinking that's pretty hard to make sense of." Shaun Cole of the University of Durham's computational cosmology group, called the research "impressive". "It's a revolutionary theory and here there appears to be some data that supports it," he told BBC News. "In the standard Big Bang model, there's nothing cyclic; it has a beginning and it has no end. "The philosophical question that's sensible to ask is 'what came before the Big Bang?'; and what they're striving for here is to do away with that 'there's nothing before' answer by making it cyclical." Professor Cole said he was surprised that the statistical variation in the microwave background data was the most obvious signature of what could be such a revolutionary idea, however. "It's not clear from their theory that they have a complete model of the fluctuations, but is that the only thing that should be going on? "There are other things that could be going on in the last part of the previous aeon; why don't they show even greater imprints?" Professors Penrose and Cole both say that the idea should be shored up by further analyses of this type, in particular with data that will soon be available from the Planck telescope, designed to study the microwave background with unprecedented precision.
Evidence of events that happened before the Big Bang can be seen in the glow of microwave radiation that fills the Universe, scientists have asserted.
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Brian McKandie, 67, was found dead at Fairview Cottages in Badenscoth, Rothienorman, on Saturday 12 March. Two men were reportedly seen speaking to Mr McKandie on the Friday beforehand between about 17:00 and 18:00. Police Scotland said it was thought Mr McKandie suffered a "violent attack". Det Ch Insp Iain Smith said: "We are appealing for these two men who were seen speaking to Mr McKandie to come forward and speak to us to see if they have information that could assist with our investigation. "We don't have a detailed description of the two men but one is thought to be in his 20s and the other in his 30s or 40s. "Additionally, anyone else who was in the area at the time or has information, no matter how insignificant you think the information could be is encouraged to come forward."
Police investigating the murder of a man in Aberdeenshire want to trace two people who may have visited the victim the day before he was found.
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Jenner, formerly US Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner, will feature in the Women: New Portraits show next year. Other portraits will include tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams and American comic Amy Schumer. Leibovitz took the high-profile Vanity Fair magazine cover photo of Jenner earlier this year. The exhibition is a continuation of Women, a project Leibovitz began over 15 years ago with her close friend, writer Susan Sontag. The award-winning photographer has been documenting pop culture since the early 70s, where she began her career as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone. Speaking in London on Wednesday, Leibovitz said: "It's interesting to realise that gender is very diversified and this is really what we are dealing with now. You can't just put it into male/female, there is more to that." The free exhibition will be open to the public in London on 16 January at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station and will then travel to nine cities over the course of 12 months.
Transgender reality star Caitlyn Jenner is to feature in a new exhibition of portraits of women by photographer Annie Leibovitz.
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Wednesday's attack close to the heavily protected diplomatic area killed about 90 people and injured about 350 others. No group has said it carried out the attack, but Afghan intelligence officials suggested the Haqqani network - militants allied with the Taliban - carried it out with Pakistan's support. Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman described the claim as baseless. Stability in Afghanistan was in Pakistan's interests, said Nafees Zakaria, and the "rhetoric of blaming others" to hide Afghanistan's own failures was unhelpful. Pakistan and Afghanistan frequently accuse each other of supporting and harbouring militants who carry out cross-border attacks. Afghanistan on Wednesday cancelled all planned cricket fixtures with Pakistan in response to the blast. The Taliban has denied any role in the attack. There has been no comment from so-called Islamic State (IS), which has a small presence in eastern Afghanistan and has been quick to claim attacks in recent months. Wednesday's attack was one of the deadliest in Kabul in recent years. A tanker truck packed with explosives was detonated close to the German embassy near Zanbaq Square at 08:20 local time (03:50 GMT). The bomb's target is unknown but many of those who died in what witnesses described as a massive explosion were Afghan civilians. Mohammed Nazir, a driver for BBC Afghan, died in the blast. Buildings, including a number of embassies, were damaged and more than 50 vehicles destroyed. On Thursday relatives of people who have been missing since the attack were searching hospitals in the capital. "I do not know if my son is dead or alive. I have to see and find him," one relative, Besmillah, told Reuters news agency outside the Emergency Hospital. "I went to every single hospital but could not find my son." There have been several high-profile attacks in Kabul and around the country in recent months. Some people have been hitting out at the government for not doing enough to stop them. "I have lost my brother in the blast and the government is constantly failing to provide us with security," AFP news agency quoted one resident as saying. The Afghan interior minister has suspended four police officers over the blast, including the sheriff in charge of policing the diplomatic enclave and the head of the regional counter-terrorism department. The blast has been condemned around the world. US President Donald Trump called Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani to express condolences. The US has about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, with another 5,000 from Nato allies. The Pentagon has reportedly pressed Mr Trump to send thousands more troops back to try to counter gains by the Taliban. More than a third of Afghanistan is now said to be outside government control. Early on Thursday a soldier died when a suicide bomber targeted a security checkpoint near the airport in Jalalabad.
Pakistan has rejected an Afghan claim that it was involved in a massive bomb attack in the capital, Kabul.
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The government order comes after President Pierre Nkurunziza launched a campaign "to moralise society". A government spokesman said a crackdown on informal relationships was needed to combat a population explosion. He said too many schoolgirls were getting pregnant and men were taking advantage of women by cohabiting with several simultaneously. Burundi has been in crisis since 2015 when Mr Nkurunziza, a born-again Christian, announced he would run for a controversial third term. Interior ministry spokesman Terence Ntahiraja told AFP news agency that church and state-sanctioned weddings were the solution to the country's population explosion - and a patriotic duty. "We want Burundians to understand that everyone is responsible for his life, we want order in this country," he said. "All this is done within the framework of the patriotic training programme," he said, referring to an initiative launched by President Nkurunziza. It is not clear exactly what sanctions those not tying the knot will face. However, one farmer quoted by AFP said local officials had already threatened him and his partner with a fine and said any child born out of wedlock would not qualify for free education or medical treatment. The farmer, named only as Pierre, said he had not married because he could not afford the bride price demanded by his partner's family. Hundreds of people have since died since Mr Nkurunziza launched a bid for a third term. But the country had been relatively calm in recent months.
Cohabiting couples in Burundi have until the end of the year to get married or face legal consequences.
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The 29-year-old forward, who helped England to a series win over New Zealand on Saturday, joined the Giants from Castleford in July 2012. Injury limited him to just 13 Super League appearances last season. The Giants confirmed in a statement that they would not be making any further comment at this stage.
Huddersfield Giants have suspended England international Brett Ferres "pending an internal investigation into conduct away from the club".
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Morton had looked the more likely side to score, with Lawrence Shankland driving an effort off the bar before Andy Murdoch hit the post. Vaughan latched on to a Ross McCrorie pass and applied a neat finish after the break. Scott Tiffoney became the third Morton player to hit the woodwork late on. The defeat means Morton, who have gone three games without a win, slip to third in the table due to Falkirk's win over Raith Rovers. It was the second goal of the season for Vaughan, ironically on loan from Raith Rovers, and gave his side their first win against Morton this season. More importantly, it provides a vital points cushion ahead of a big match with bottom side St Mirren in Paisley next Saturday. The first half did not produce too manic chances, with Shankland hitting the underside of the bar from eight yards. Sons defender Gregor Buchanan had a header from a 40th-minute corner headed off the line. However, after the break, Morton came out fighting and Andy Murdoch rattled the post with a 20-yard effort that had Alan Martin beaten in the home goal. However, on the hour mark, Vaughan produced the winner with a fierce strike past Derek Gaston in the Morton goal after a terrific driving run from Andy Stirling. Morton's Scott Tiffoney then hit the bar with a cross-cum-shot before Sam Stanton's 70th-minute shot needed a terrific save from Gaston to keep the visitors in the game. Shankland then had a 76th-minute effort chalked off by referee John Beaton for a push on Buchanan as the Sons held on to complete what could be a vital victory. Dumbarton manager Steven Aitken: "That was a good battling performance and, when it comes to six games to go, it is not going to be pretty, but that is a vital three points. "They had to defend for their lives for the last 20 minutes. "However it is now a mini-league of four with ourselves, Raith Rovers, Ayr United and St. Mirren, so if we could win that league, it would be one hell of an achievement. "They are big, big five games now and if we could get ourselves another three of four points then that might just be enough." Greenock Morton manager Jim Duffy: "First half, we did not play well, but after the break, we did much better. "We hit the bar twice, hit the post and. while I don't think we did enough to win the game, I think a point would have been a fair result. "The players really worked hard and tried their best - maybe they were a bit heavy legged. "We don't have the resources to change too many players, we tried to get a bit of energy and fresh legs, but it just was not to be on the day. "Dumbarton do their job well and make it difficult for every team who plays here." Match ends, Dumbarton 1, Morton 0. Second Half ends, Dumbarton 1, Morton 0. Attempt missed. Ross Forbes (Morton) left footed shot from outside the box is too high. Attempt missed. Thomas O'Ware (Morton) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Foul by Andy Murdoch (Morton). Calum Gallagher (Dumbarton) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Corner, Morton. Conceded by Daniel Harvie. Attempt blocked. Ricki Lamie (Morton) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Corner, Morton. Conceded by David Smith. Ross Forbes (Morton) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Robert Thomson (Dumbarton). Substitution, Dumbarton. Mark Docherty replaces Andy Stirling. Substitution, Dumbarton. Calum Gallagher replaces Samuel Stanton. Attempt missed. Lawrence Shankland (Morton) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high following a corner. Corner, Morton. Conceded by David Smith. Andy Murdoch (Morton) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Ross McCrorie (Dumbarton). Attempt missed. Thomas O'Ware (Morton) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top left corner following a corner. Attempt blocked. Ross Forbes (Morton) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Corner, Morton. Conceded by Darren Barr. Substitution, Dumbarton. Joe Nuttall replaces Lewis Vaughan. Substitution, Morton. Gary Oliver replaces Luke Donnelly. Attempt missed. Andy Stirling (Dumbarton) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high. Ross Forbes (Morton) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Daniel Harvie (Dumbarton). Foul by Lawrence Shankland (Morton). Daniel Harvie (Dumbarton) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Derek Gaston (Morton) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Robert Thomson (Dumbarton). Attempt saved. Andy Stirling (Dumbarton) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Corner, Morton. Conceded by Daniel Harvie. Attempt saved. Samuel Stanton (Dumbarton) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Attempt missed. Ross Forbes (Morton) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left from a direct free kick. Ross Forbes (Morton) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Stuart Carswell (Dumbarton). Substitution, Morton. Aidan Nesbitt replaces Scott Tiffoney. Substitution, Morton. Ross Forbes replaces Michael Tidser. Attempt missed. Michael Tidser (Morton) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Scott Tiffoney (Morton) hits the left post with a right footed shot from the right side of the box. Attempt blocked. Luke Donnelly (Morton) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Lewis Vaughan's second-half goal was enough to give Dumbarton the points and move Steven Aitken's side above Raith Rovers into seventh place.
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The Germans face the African champions in Jeju on Wednesday with a quarter-final place at stake. After an evening training session on Monday, Streichsbier predicted a tough fixture against the Zambians but added that the match could go either way. Germany only sneaked into the second round on goal difference and Streichsbier attributed his team's struggles to poor preparations. "Everybody in Germany knows it was a problem for us to have a team because of the dates," he said. "We are missing two players, it was not possible to have a complete team. "We must work with the players that we have and find a plan. They are good players." The Europeans finished on four points in Group B after registering one win over Vanuatu, a goalless draw with Mexico and a 2-0 defeat to Venezuela. But Streichsbier said their qualification travails should not be used against them as they seek to progress to the next stage of the competition. "I think in a play-off game, it's always 50-50, it doesn't matter if the first three games were okay. "Maybe Zambia has a better feeling because they won two games but after 90 minutes, one team stays in the tournament, the other has to go. "We know we have to bring our very good performance to have a chance of going to the next round." Streichsbier singled out forwards Fashion Sakala and Patson Daka and midfielder Enock Mwepu as the players to watch when the two teams meet on Wednesday. He also acknowledged that not many people in Germany expect his team to return home with the trophy. "Nobody in Germany thinks we can win the World Cup, but we must do everything possible to stay as long as we can in the tournament," he said.
Germany coach Guido Streichsbier rates his team's chances of beating Zambia at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup as no better than 50-50.
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Ahmed Abu Khattala, 43, appeared in court on 17 new charges, some of which may be punishable by death. He did not speak during the hearing in Washington but his lawyer entered the plea on his behalf. US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed in the attack, which became a political lightning rod. The new charges include four counts of killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility. Other new charges levelled against Mr Khattala include one count of murder of an internationally protected person and one count of providing material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death. Previous charges denied by Mr Khattala include providing material support and resources to terrorists including himself; killing a person on a federal facility; and damaging property of the US by fire and explosives resulting in death. ???Native of Benghazi in eastern Libya ???Construction worker by trade ???Spent several years in Col Muammar Gaddafi's notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli ???Formed his own small militia during the anti-Gaddafi uprising ???Denies any links to al-Qaeda but has expressed admiration for it ???Also denies any role in the attack on the US embassy in 2012, but eyewitnesses report him being there ???US state department says he is a senior leader in Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia Profile of Abu Khattala Mr Khattala was taken into custody in a secret US military raid in Libya on 15 June. He was subsequently indicted on 26 June in connection with the attack on the US facility. On 11 September 2012, gunmen stormed the US consulate in Benghazi and set it on fire. In addition to Mr Stevens, information technology specialist Sean Smith and security workers and ex-Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed. The White House initially said the attack stemmed from anti-American protests over a crude video produced in the US that was deemed insulting to Islam. Government investigators soon determined it was an organised attack planned by local militias. In subsequent years, Republicans have accused President Barack Obama's administration of compromising security, a failure of intelligence and covering up the involvement of militant groups in order to assist the president's re-election campaign.
The suspected ringleader of the September 2012 raid on a US diplomatic post in the Libyan city of Benghazi has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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A hearing on Tuesday will decide what punishment the club will receive over crowd trouble after a Greek Cup semi-final first leg defeat by AEK Athens. The Piraeus club are six points clear of PAOK with one match left, but they could still get a six-point deduction. If that were to happen, PAOK would go top if they won their last match of the season and Olympiakos lost theirs. PAOK, who have won the league just twice before, the most recent time in 1985, have the better head-to-head record. Goals from ex-Chelsea winger Marko Marin, Manuel Da Costa, two from Alberto de la Bella and an Alejandro Dominguez penalty earned a 5-0 home win over Giannina on Sunday. "It has been a strange season but in the end we're the champions and that's what matters," Olympiakos coach Takis Lemonis said after the game. His side play 11th-placed Panaitolikos in their final match of the season next Sunday, when PAOK play 10th-placed Kerkyra.
Olympiakos celebrated winning the Greek league for a 44th time on Sunday, but they may still miss out on the title.
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In euphemistic railway speak, it was ranked as a 25 SPAD at SN45. To you and me, a charter steam train carrying hundreds of leisure passengers ran through a red light approaching a junction on a main line, about a minute after an express train had gone through at about 70mph. The close call happened just before 17:30 on Saturday 7 March at a junction in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. It is still being investigated, but the early report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch suggests something very worrying - that the crew on the steam train may have cancelled the safety systems designed to automatically stop the train. The express train would have had somewhere between 300 and 400 people on board. The steam train, I understand, can carry about the same number. "This was potentially a catastrophe," the editor of Rail Magazine, Nigel Harris, told me. "We were a minute away from a high-speed train hitting a steam train. "Network Rail are quite rightly taking it very seriously." Network Rail took the unprecedented step of suspending the operating licence for West Coast Railways (WCR), effectively banning it from the track, until managers could prove they had beefed up their safety procedures. That licence has only just been handed back, although even now the rail regulator, the Office of Road and Rail (ORR), still has the power to strip the company of its safety certificate. WCR is by far the biggest steam train operator in Britain, running more than 500 charters each year. They include the "Hogwart's Express" from the Harry Potter films, and what it calls one of Scotland's biggest tourist attractions, the Jacobite Steam Train, which runs from Fort William to Mallaig. The heritage train market is big business, attracting tens of thousands of enthusiasts each year. WCR told the BBC: "We realise that measures must be taken to prevent this human error from happening again and put preventative measures and systems in place to ensure just that." "We have worked tirelessly with Network Rail to satisfy both parties' safety requirements," the company added. The steam train involved, locomotive No. 34067 "Tangmere", might be nearly 70 years old but it was fitted with the latest safety kit. Two systems, known as AWS and TPWS, act as a belt and braces arrangement to stop exactly this kind of incident from happening. Put simply, they shout out if there is oncoming danger then hit the brakes automatically if the driver does not react. A klaxon sounds in the cab, and at the same time there is a visual cue, a "sunflower" dial that turns from pure black, to black and yellow. If nothing happens for 2.7 seconds, the train stops itself. Category A signals passed at danger (SPADs) 2011/12: 276 2012/13: 249 2013/14: 293 Potentially severe operational close calls 2011/12: 61 2012/13: 95 2013/14: 102 Source: Network Rail But the system can be deactivated by the crew and that is one of the possibilities investigators are looking at here. The preliminary Rail Accident Investigation Branch report said: "Evidence shows that the driver and fireman instead took an action which cancelled the effect of the AWS (Automatic Warning System) braking demand after a short period and a reduction in train speed of only around 8mph." "The action taken also had the effect of making subsequent AWS or TPWS brake demands ineffective," it said. The preliminary report says that when the crew then realised they were approaching the red signal too fast they braked. But it was too late and the train eventually came to a halt across the junction. Investigators have so far found no evidence of a problem with the signals or safety equipment. It is rare that the regulator launches criminal proceedings against a train driver or their crew but it does happen. Last year another driver was handed a suspended prison sentence for passing through a red light and overriding the automatic braking system. Companies can also be prosecuted for breaking health and safety laws. The ORR is still investigating this latest case so we do not yet know whether it will take any action. There is also some history between Network Rail and the company involved. Look at this line from a letter signed by Network Rail's director of freight, Paul McMahon, and addressed to the WCR company secretary: "You are aware that Network Rail has had concerns about WCR's performance of its Safety Obligations for some time and recent events lead Network Rail to believe that the operations of WCR are a threat to the safe operation of the railway." That hostile view has now been toned down. "I can confirm that as you have now satisfactorily addressed all of the actions we set out in our Suspension Notice of 1 April we will lift the suspension of your Track Access Contracts," said Mr McMahon subsequently. "We welcome the commitment West Coast Railways has made to improving safety management," he added. The boss of Britain's train drivers' union, Mick Whelan at Aslef, told me he wants better regulation of the crews in charge of the steam charters that crisscross the country. Without knowing exactly what happened at Wootton Bassett, he said there is a wider issue in this "more casualised part of the industry", regulating the "people who may have retired but who like driving trains". After a series of horrific accidents in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Britain now has the safest trains in Europe. Lapses like this threaten that enviable record.
There has not been much about it in the media, but at the beginning of March Britain was less than a minute away from what might have been one of the country's worst train crashes.
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The 16 bison were moved to the Banff National Park in Alberta last week. On Monday officials said the transfer had gone smoothly and the animals were adapting well to their new home. The move will restore their role in the park's ecosystem, officials say, and has been welcomed by indigenous groups. The bison will be kept under observation in an enclosed pasture of the park in the foothills of the Rockies until the summer of 2018, Parks Canada officials say. The animals were once the dominant grazers in the park, in addition to being spiritually significant to Canada's aboriginal groups, supplying them with food, clothing and shelter. The herd will eventually be released into a far wider area of the park where they will be at liberty to interact with other native animals and search for food, The Calgary Herald reported. It said the hope is that natural barriers and wildlife fencing will stop the bison from wandering astray. BBC Nature - Bison facts "By returning plains bison to Banff National Park, Parks Canada is taking an important step toward restoring the full diversity of species and natural processes to the park's ecosystems while providing new opportunities for Canadians and visitors to connect with the story of this iconic species," Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said. At one time, there were as many as 30 million bison on the plains but they were hunted almost to extinction with only a handful remaining in government-controlled areas.
A herd of plains bison have been successfully reintroduced to Canada's oldest national park, more than 100 years after they were nearly hunted out of existence.
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The opposition won a two-thirds majority which enables it to challenge socialist President Nicolas Maduro. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said some losing candidates had filed challenges but it did not specify the grounds on which the appeals were made. Members of the new National Assembly are to take up their seats on Tuesday. It will be the first time in 16 years that the opposition MUD coalition will hold a majority in the legislative body. But if the Supreme Court were to uphold just one appeal, the MUD would fall short of the 112 seats it needs for a two-thirds supermajority. A supermajority gives the opposition key powers it would not have with fewer seats. Among them are the power to remove Supreme Court judges, appoint key officials such as an independent attorney general, and passing constitutional amendments subject to ratification by referendum. The secretary-general of the opposition MUD coalition, Jesus Torrealba, condemned the challenges to the results. "You can't use legal tricks to steal something the voters didn't want to give you," he said. "We're not living in a functional democracy," he added. President Maduro on the other hand said it was the opposition that was "playing dirty". "Criminals were buying votes," he said. It is not clear how long the Supreme Court will take to rule on the appeals. The opposition has also denounced what it says are attempts by socialist members of the National Assembly to keep power beyond the end of the legislative period. Outgoing National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello called a number of extraordinary sessions last week at which 13 new Supreme Court judges and 21 substitute judges were named. President Maduro has convened a meeting of socialist supporters for January to set the course for the "Bolivarian revolution", which his party advocates.
Members of Venezuela's Socialist party are disputing the election of eight opposition candidates in legislative elections held on 6 December.
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The winners of England's second-tier competition will be promoted if they satisfy 'minimum standard criteria' to play in the top-flight. Promotion this term will again be decided via the four-team play-offs. Championship clubs also get a funding boost as part of the new agreement between the RFU and Premiership Rugby. Bristol won promotion via the play-offs last season, having topped the table in five of the seven campaigns in the Championship following relegation at the end of 2008-09. But not all clubs reaching the play-offs have been eligible to go up, with Cornish Pirates not having a suitable home ground, while Bedford openly state they do not want to move into the Premiership. The financial boost for clubs in England's second tier, and only other professional level of rugby, comes after London Welsh went out of business and were expunged from the league in January. Money troubles are widespread in the competition, with a BBC Sport investigation into the health and future of the league discovering that just one of nine clubs with available accounts at Company House reporting a profit in 2015. The exact figure in the multi-million pound deal has not been disclosed, but distribution will be based on final league positions "to ensure competition among clubs throughout the entirety of the season". London Irish, relegated from the Premiership last season, are 15 points clear at the top of the Championship after 15 games. Fourth-placed Ealing are 27 points adrift of the leaders, having played an extra game. Mark McCafferty, chief executive at Premiership Rugby, said the play-off system "does not always help" sides prepare for a top-flight campaign. Bristol lost their opening 10 league games on their return to the Premiership after a seven-year absence. "It's vital that any club being promoted from the Greene King IPA Championship is as prepared as it can be to compete, given the quality and intensity of Premiership Rugby," McCafferty added.
Automatic promotion to the Premiership will be introduced in 2018 after the Rugby Football Union decided to scrap the Championship play-offs.
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The Italian will have the final say on selection while working alongside Alan Curtis - who had been placed in interim charge - until the end of the season. Swansea, who sacked Garry Monk last month, are 18th in the Premier League. Guidolin, 60, was at the Liberty Stadium for Monday's game with Watford but a club statement said he would only have a "watching brief". "At the moment it's not a good situation for the club, but we have a good team," Guidolin told the club's website. "In Italy, I helped my team finish in a good position in the table, and that's what I hope to achieve here at Swansea. "At the moment everything is new to me, so I need three or four days to talk to the staff and players. After that, I will have a precise idea of things. "Alan Curtis is a legend at Swansea, and this is important for me. He knows everything about the club." Former Chelsea midfielder Gabriele Ambrosetti has joined Swansea's staff as coach following Guidolin's arrival. The south Wales club placed Curtis in caretaker charge after Monk's departure and then announced on 7 January that the 61-year-old would continue as interim boss until the end of the season. But after the 4-2 home loss to relegation rivals Sunderland, Curtis said he would be willing to step aside if the club found a new boss before the end of the campaign. Guidolin has managed several clubs in Italy dating back to the late 1980s, including Palermo and Parma, as well as French league side Monaco. He took charge of Serie A side Udinese over two spells, first in the late 1990s and then a stint from 2010 to 2014. Udinese finished third in Serie A under Guidolin in 2012, equalling the club's best season in the Italian top flight. He also achieved promotions with Parma, Palermo and Vicenza, and led the latter to an unlikely victory in the Coppa Italia in 1997. Swans chairman Huw Jenkins travelled to South America in December to step up his search for Monk's successor, with Marcelo Bielsa the bookmakers' favourite for the role. After the appointment of Guidolin, Jenkins said: "His experience and knowledge will be a huge asset to the club. "He has an excellent record, especially with Udinese over the last few years. He created an Udinese side from a relatively small budget - compared to the rest of the league - that competed with the big teams in Serie A. "He instilled a belief and motivation to compete and beat the best Italy had to offer. It is similar to what this football club is trying to do in the Premier League." Swansea host Watford in the Premier League on Monday, before travelling to Everton on Sunday 24 January. Having been knocked out of the FA Cup by League Two Oxford, Swansea do not have a fixture over the final weekend of January. They then travel to West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday 2 February before back-to-back home games against Crystal Palace and Southampton.
Swansea City have appointed former Udinese manager Francesco Guidolin as their new head coach.
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Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr spoke of such checks in an interview with the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). They could be like sports doping tests, the paper said. A Germanwings co-pilot deliberately crashed a plane in the Alps in March. It remains unclear why he did so. Andreas Lubitz, 27, is thought to have suffered some sort of mental breakdown. Prosecutors in Duesseldorf found evidence of "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment". They found torn-up sick notes at his home. Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 - travelling from Barcelona to Duesseldorf - was flown into a mountain by Lubitz, after he locked the plane's pilot out of the cockpit. Germanwings is a budget airline managed by Lufthansa. In the FAZ interview, Mr Spohr said unannounced medical checks for pilots could be introduced, which in terms of the surprise factor would be similar to doping tests for sports men and women. He said that in certain cases a doctor might have to be released from the duty of confidentiality, to reveal concerns about a pilot. Random checks might for example detect a drug that the pilot had concealed from his or her employer. Since the disaster Lufthansa and other airlines have ruled that there must always be at least two people in the cockpit. Air accident investigators have staged a test flight to reconstruct conditions on board the Germanwings Airbus A320 which disintegrated on a mountainside in the French Alps after being put into a controlled dive. The German tabloid Bild says experts flew an identical plane, which took off from Hamburg and returned there after flying in German airspace. It took place on 12 May, a spokesman for Germany's crash investigation authority BFU said. French investigators say they hope the reconstruction will help them analyse sounds recorded in the cockpit of Flight 4U 9525. The flight copied the various altitudes, speeds, the cockpit door locking mechanism and pilots' breathing noises.
The German airline Lufthansa is considering random medical checks for pilots, to help prevent any future disaster like the Germanwings crash that killed 150 people.
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The firm, Davidson Ryan Dore, is distributing recordings and pictures, smuggled out from Ms Karimova's house in the capital Tashkent, where she says she is being held. New pictures earlier this week showed Ms Karimova apparently being manhandled by security guards. The images are a far cry from the glamorous photographs depicting President Karimov's eldest daughter in her previous persona as a pop diva, philanthropist and fashion designer. Even a year ago Ms Karimova was regarded as one of the most influential and powerful people within the country's elite and a potential successor to her father. But after a dramatic and public falling out with her family, her privileges and assets have been stripped away. Earlier this month the authorities announced she was under criminal investigation. The latest pictures show Ms Karimova in the presence of camouflaged guards. In two of the images guards are seen handling her directly as she appears to be arguing. Last month secret recordings were circulated in which Ms Karimova gave details of her situation in her own voice, saying she and her teenage daughter were being treated "worse than dogs" and needed urgent medical help. One of the founders of Davidson, Ryan, Dore, the firm distributing the materials, has taken on the function of spokesperson for Ms Karimova. "We as a firm were appointed three months ago by the friends and family of Gulnara internationally," Locksley Ryan told BBC Uzbek. He did not confirm whether Ms Karimova's son Islam, who studies in London, was involved in appointing the firm. Mr Ryan said that the firm had several ways of making contact with Ms Karimova but that it was extremely difficult. The latest pictures, he said, were simply showing how she was under guard 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "It's in complete isolation. The only people that she can talk to are her daughter who is trapped there with her and obviously the guards." Mr Ryan said there was evidence that Ms Karimova was even denied food. In the audio recordings which appeared last month, Ms Karimova said her situation had deteriorated greatly. "The territory of the house is basically surrounded now by hundreds of cameras and special equipment which is blocking any means of communication. So it's tremendous pressure and stress on me and my daughter. We need medical help urgently," Karimova says in one of the recordings. Locksley Ryan says that after the recordings were made public, all staff at the house were Ms Karimova is being held were moved. "Once those were forwarded to various outlets, suddenly all of the personnel from the house were removed and sent everywhere." In a statement on a new website called Free Gulnara Now, Mr Ryan says that the president's daughter was directly appealing to the international community "that her fate be determined by the independent courts and not by individuals battling for political gain". Ms Karimova has been linked to several investigations in Europe, including a corruption investigation in Switzerland where bank accounts linked to her have been frozen. Ten days ago the Uzbek prosecutor's office announced that Ms Karimova was being investigated in Uzbekistan over alleged links to a criminal group. "If there are claims that she has done something wrong then let her face those claims. Let her go to Switzerland and understand the accusations made to her and let a court decide," Mr Ryan told the BBC. He dismissed the Uzbek accusations as politically motivated. "Is it just a coincidence that at a time that the election campaign starts suddenly the prosecutor deems to start to investigate her?" Ms Karimova was long considered to be a potential successor to her father - elections are due next year. Davidson Ryan Dore's strategy appears to be to try to get Ms Karimova out of the country to answer allegations in a European court. Mr Ryan says that the sentencing of several of Ms Karimova's associates shows that the Uzbek legal system is unlikely to deliver justice. "It is unknown to me how someone can get investigated, prosecuted and disappear into a military court and then be sentenced with no access to any form of public scrutiny, maybe not even have lawyers. I can't see how that can be just." Human rights groups have long criticised what they say is the country's abysmal human rights record. But observers say that Ms Karimova's own fall from grace and subsequent detention is hardly comparable to the fate of those suffering torture and abuse in Uzbek prisons.
A London-based public relations firm is acting on behalf of Gulnara Karimova, the once powerful daughter of Uzbekistan's authoritarian president who has been under house arrest for months.
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A selection of photos from across the African continent this week:
Images courtesy of AFP, AP, EPA and Reuters
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The footage from the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network shows Canadian Joshua Boyle and American Caitlan Coleman with two young boys, who appeared healthy. In the clip Ms Coleman begs for an end to their "Kafkaesque nightmare". The couple were abducted in Afghanistan in 2012 during a camping trip, while she was pregnant. The insurgent group is demanding the release of three of its prisoners in Afghanistan. In the four-minute video, the couple were shown with two young boys sitting on their laps. Ms Coleman, 31, said: "We have waited since 2012 for somebody to understand our problems." She appealed to President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump to rescue her family. "My children have seen their mother defiled," she added, without clarification. In the footage, uploaded to YouTube on Monday, Ms Coleman also made an unexplained reference to her two "surviving children". The couple last appeared in a video in August, without the children. Michael O'Shaughnessy, spokesman for the Canadian Department of Global Affairs, said officials were "deeply concerned" for the couple and called for their unconditional release. Taliban spokesperson Zabullah Mujahid said: "We are currently investigating about the video - at this stage we don't confirm or deny the release of the video." There was also no immediate reaction from the US State Department or the Afghan government. Mr Boyle and Ms Coleman set off in July 2012 on a hiking trip that took them through Russia, Central Asia and into war-torn Afghanistan.
An Afghan insurgent group has released video of a kidnapped North American couple, featuring two children apparently born to them in captivity.
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In the state capital, San Cristobal, most shops and businesses are closed and guarded by soldiers. Three people, including two teenagers, were killed in Tachira this week. Since the rallies for early elections and an end to the economic crisis began in early April, 43 people have died across the country. President Nicolas Maduro has accused the opposition of inciting violence by calling people on to the streets. Speaking on state television on Wednesday, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said: "I have ordered the transfer of 2,000 guards and 600 special operations troops." The minister said the deployment in Tachira was part of "Plan Zamora" designed to pacify the situation. He provided no further details. Meanwhile, looting continued in parts of San Cristobal, reports say. People made off with items including coffee, nappies and cooking oil, local residents were quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. A 15-year-old boy died in hospital, a day after he was shot during the spate of looting in San Cristobal. He was named as Jose Francisco Guerrero. "My mom sent my brother yesterday [Tuesday] to buy flour for dinner and a little while later we received a call saying he'd been injured by a bullet," his sister Maria Contreras told Reuters. The authorities earlier announced the deaths of Luis Alviarez, 17, and Diego Hérnandez, 33, who were fatally injured on Monday. Defence minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said the military operation in Tachira was part two of Plan Zamora. The government has said little about what the plan entails - but that it is designed to pacify the situation. When part one was put into action in the Carabobo state it involved an increased presence of heavily armed troops and riot police brought in to quell a spate of violent looting. According to civil rights groups it also led to large-scale arrests of anti-government protesters and the use of military courts to try them. Mr Padrino Lopez tried to reassure Venezuelans, saying the armed forces would not use weapons against civilians and would not be carrying pistols and machine guns. He also seemed to pin responsibility for the deaths during recent protests across Venezuela on the government's opponents, saying the fatal injuries had been caused by home-made weapons. On Tuesday, President Maduro extended the nationwide state of economic emergency. The decree gives Mr Maduro extra powers for another 60 days, from Saturday, including an ability to impose tougher security measures. The opposition denounced the move as an ongoing rights grab. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles responded by urging his supporters to take to the streets and protest "more than ever". The unrest was triggered by a Supreme Court attempt to take over powers from the assembly on 29 March. It reversed its decision a few days later but by then the opposition had seized the momentum. Despite having the world's largest known oil reserves, Venezuela is facing a shortage of many basic items, including food and medicines. Its economy has collapsed, with inflation expected to top 700% this year, and crime is rampant. The opposition is calling for early elections and the release of opposition politicians jailed in recent years, saying the socialist governments of Mr Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, have mismanaged the economy since coming to power in 1999. Mr Maduro accuses the country's business elite of boycotting the economy to create unrest and topple his democratically elected government. His term ends in January 2019.
Venezuela says it is sending 2,600 troops to the western region of Tachira to quell looting and rioting amid continuing anti-government protests.
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One visiting reverend, John Gillison, said the "devil entered" but failed to "take control of your church". A black cloth was placed over the chair of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was one of those killed by the gunman. Hundreds of people packed the Emanuel AME church for the service on Sunday morning, amid tight security. Meanwhile, police are investigating an online post, possibly by suspected gunman Dylann Roof, which may outline his motivation for the attack. On Sunday, bells at more than a dozen churches rang out simultaneously throughout the state of South Carolina in a sign of solidarity. "There they were in the house of the Lord, studying your word, praying with one another," Rev John Gillison told the congregation. "But the devil also entered. And the devil was trying to take charge," he said. But, he added, "the devil cannot take control of your people. And the devil cannot take control of your church". Volunteers were on hand to give out bottles of water to the congregation, with many members reportedly forced to sit in an overflow part of the church. Hundreds of people who could not get inside held their own prayers outside the building. Many had travelled from across the country to pay their respects. South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who has called for the death penalty for suspect Dylann Roof, attended the service with her family. There are five chairs at the altar in the Emanuel Church. But the one in the middle was vacant on Sunday, draped instead with a black cloth. This used to be Reverend Clementa Pinckney's seat. This used to be his congregation. But events on Wednesday night changed all that. Visiting pastors addressed the regular congregation, who were joined by people of all ages and races, some from across the US. "The freshness of death comes like a thief in the night," said one of the pastors. But it hasn't stolen the spirit of people here. The service was uplifting and upbeat - worshippers including Charleston's mayor, and the Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, leapt to their feet at several points, clapping and singing. One of the songs during the service was Amazing Grace - something people here and across this city have shown in the past few days in remarkable acts of forgiveness and dignity. Survivors say Mr Roof spent close to an hour in an evening bible study group on Wednesday before opening fire. A group from the Emanuel AME church met again on Saturday in the room where their friends died on Wednesday. One of those who attended, Harold Washington, said the cleaners had to cut bullet holes out of the walls so that members of the congregation would not see them on Sunday. A number of rallies were also staged in South Carolina over the weekend, including a protest in the state capital of Columbia to demand the removal of the Confederate flag from the capitol building. The flag was a symbol used by southern states in the civil war, when they tried to break away to prevent the abolition of slavery. It is viewed by many as a sign of the white supremacy. Protesters chanted "take it down" and sang We Shall Overcome, an anthem of the black civil rights movement. On Friday, South Carolina's Republican state representative Doug Brannon told MSNBC that he planned to introduce legislation to remove the flag. On Saturday, images emerged on a website showing Dylann Roof posing with the Confederate flag. In others, he is seen burning the US flag and visiting a former slave plantation. In one image, he is shown staring down the camera while sitting on a chair in camouflage trousers holding a gun. It is unclear who posted the images on the site, which was found on Saturday. The website - since taken down - also carried a 2,000-word racist manifesto, the origins of which are also unknown. The author says Charleston was chosen for the attack because of its history of slavery and its large black population. Internet records suggest the website's domain was registered in February but it is unclear who was behind it. The FBI says it is investigating the website. Data from the images show many of them were taken in April and May this year. The victims of the Charleston shooting
The names of the nine people shot dead at an African-American church in South Carolina have been read out in its first service since Wednesday's attack.
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One of the main treatments has become useless against the new strain of the sexually transmitted infection. Twelve cases have been confirmed in Leeds and a further four have been reported in Macclesfield, Oldham and Scunthorpe. However, there are likely to be more undiagnosed cases. The strain in this outbreak is able to shrug off the antibiotic azithromycin, which is normally used alongside another drug, ceftriaxone. Peter Greenhouse, a consultant in sexual health based in Bristol, told the BBC News website: "This azithromycin highly resistant outbreak is the first one that has triggered a national alert. "It doesn't sound like an awful lot of people, but the implication is there's a lot more of this strain out there and we need to stamp it out as quickly as possible. "If this becomes the predominant strain in the UK we're in big trouble, so we have to be really meticulous in making sure each of these individuals has all their contacts traced and treated." The outbreak started in March. The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV says all cases have been in heterosexuals and some have reported sexual partners from across England. Dr Jan Clarke, the organisation's president, told the BBC: "It was sufficiently serious to alert our whole national chain of clinics that there is the possibility that we've got a very resistant strain of gonorrhoea. "We are really skating on thin ice as far as treating gonorrhoea is concerned at the moment." The disease is caused by the bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The infection is spread by unprotected vaginal, oral and anal sex. Of those infected, about one in 10 heterosexual men and more than three-quarters of women, and men who have sex with men, have no easily recognisable symptoms. But symptoms can include a thick green or yellow discharge from sexual organs, pain when urinating and bleeding between periods. Untreated infection can lead to infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and can be passed on to a child during pregnancy. Gonorrhoea is the second most common sexually transmitted infection in England and cases are soaring. The number of infections increased by 19% from 29,419 in 2013 to 34,958 the following year. Dr Mike Gent from Public Health England said in a statement: "We can confirm investigations are under way. "Those affected are being treated with an alternative antibiotic, but the resistance to first-line treatment remains a concern. "The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are known to mutate and develop new resistance, so we cannot afford to be complacent." He urged people to practise safe sex including the use of condoms. The outbreak in Leeds adds to growing concern that gonorrhoea is becoming untreatable. In 2011, Japan reported a case of complete resistance to cephalosporin-class antibiotics, which included the main treatment ceftriaxone.
Highly drug-resistant gonorrhoea is spreading in the north of England with an outbreak centred in Leeds, sexual health doctors have told the BBC.
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Leicestershire police are handing out the garments to cover up gold necklaces and prevent them being snatched. They have been made by people completing unpaid work on the Community Payback scheme with fabric donated by businesses in Belgrave, Leicester. Officers said they had seen spikes in thefts over previous summers but it had not been a problem this year. PC Laura Nutt said: "In 2014, we had 72 chain snatches in the Belgrave area. We have a lot of Asian females who wear the gold. "It's very pure gold so it's very sought after and we wanted to put something in place to try and combat that this year." Officers have been visiting community centres and temples in the city to warn women about thefts and hand out the scarves.
Ex-offenders on probation have been making scarves for Asian women to prevent jewellery thefts.
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The sale follows the restitution of the painting to its subject's heirs. Painted in 1902, the portrait of 19-year-old Gertrud Loew was left behind when Loew, fearing Nazi persecution, left Vienna for the US in 1939. The portrait came to be acquired by Gustav Ucicky, a film-maker who made propaganda for the Nazis. Ucicky, considered to be Klimt's first illegitimate son, collected a number of Klimt's works that he left to his widow when he died in 1961. Ursula Ucicky established the Klimt Foundation in 2013, which reached an agreement with Gertrud Loew's family last year over her portrait's ownership and sale. The painting - originally commissioned by Anton Loew, a physician who treated Klimt at his private sanatorium - will be sold at Sotheby's in London on 24 June. In its online catalogue, the auction house describes the piece as "an extraordinarily beautiful and captivating work from a crucial period in the artist's career". The restitution to its rightful owner of a Klimt painting that was looted by the Nazis was the subject of a recent film, Woman in Gold, starring Dame Helen Mirren.
A portrait of a young Jewish woman by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is expected to fetch up to £18m when it is auctioned in London later this month.
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On Monday, Mrs May met the first and deputy first ministers on a one-day visit to Northern Ireland. She stressed that no-one wanted a return to the "borders of the past". Her meeting with Mr Kenny is understood to have focused on the impact of Brexit on British and Irish relations. Earlier in July, shortly after her appointment as the new prime minister, Mrs May spoke to Mr Kenny by telephone and agreed to build on the "strong relationship" between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.. Northern Ireland Secretary of State James Brokenshire described Mrs May's meeting with Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness on Monday as "positive". He also said there was agreement about protecting the current border arrangements between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. "I think that the prime minister had a really helpful exchange with the first minister and the deputy first minister and I think there is a strong will and strong commitment to not see the return to the borders of the past," he said. "Indeed that's a theme that underlined discussions that I previously had with the taoiseach on Friday." Mr Brokenshire added that there were "treaties and various other mechanisms" in place that underlined that there was a "different arrangement" between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he hoped there would be an "arrangement which will see the people of the north of Ireland continuing to see their future in Europe as part of an imaginative solution." The DUP MP Gavin Robinson said there were "two aspects" that had to be considered relating to the border. "So far, discussions have focussed on the movement of people, there will also need to be a discussion about the movement of goods, customs and whether or not there is a form of a single market or not, whether there is a disparity in tariffs or not and if that is the case, then how you control that," he said. "So whilst I see no difficulty in getting an arrangement that builds on the Common Travel Area and that allows you and I to move freely into the Republic of Ireland and similarly people from the Republic of Ireland can move freely into the United Kingdom, knowing that we have a uniform immigration policy, it may well be that further discussions will need to take place."
Prime Minister Theresa May has held talks with Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Enda Kenny at Downing Street.
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Media playback is not supported on this device Glenavon had taken the lead in the 28th minute through Eoin Bradley whose shot was deflected past keeper Sean O'Neill. Crues striker Jordan Owens headed the equaliser from Michael Carvill's ball midway through the second half. Glenavon's Bradley was then sent off after a head-to-head confrontation with home skipper Colin Coates. Glenavon will be waiting to hear if Bradley is deemed to have been guilty of a head-butt, which would land him with an automatic six-game suspension. After the match, Glenavon player-manager Gary Hamilton queried why his man was dismissed while Coates got a yellow card. Bradley himself said: "Colin Coates is supposed to be one of the hard players in the Irish League, but when he goes down like that you have to wonder. "He did his job and got me sent off." Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter: "I didn't see the incident at all to be perfectly honest with you. "Our boys in the dressing room are saying it was a very clean head-butt. You guys can watch it back on television and debate it. "We should have won by five or six goals. We hit the woodwork and their keeper made some great saves. "I thought we were awesome and Glenavon will be delighted to be going down the road with a point."
Champions Crusaders were held to a draw by Glenavon but extended their lead at the top to seven points as nearest rivals Linfield lost to Portadown.
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The aerobatics team flew over Saudi Arabia, before making stops in Pakistan and India. They will visit a total of 12 countries on the tour, which will include the team's first ever display in China. The Red Arrows left their base at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire on 29 September.
Photos from the first leg of the Red Arrows' 60-day world tour - aiming to promote "the Best of British" - have been released.
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The classroom is crammed. Four or five children squeeze into 1.5m-long wooden desks with the ones at the end forced to stretch a leg out into the aisle to stabilise them. They are not sitting comfortably but they do seem to be concentrating on the maths lesson. At the front one of the class is working out a conversion of grammes to kilogrammes. The rest of them - roughly 100 11-year-olds - recite the answer in chorus. The teacher walks around the classroom making sure all the pupils are on the same page of the textbook. This is the scene at Nairobi's Olympic Primary School, which once had a reputation for high academic standards. But when the Kenyan government introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003, the school roll almost tripled, without the facilities and resources expanding as fast. Olympic is in the heart of the Kibera slum area, and the FPE programme gave children there a chance to get an education at no cost. "Some classes have as many as 120 pupils in one room, handled by one teacher," headteacher Caleb Ochieng admitted. But he said that in spite of the numbers, his school manages to perform just above average in the national examinations. This is however a far cry from the days when Olympic was known as one of the best performing schools in Kenya. Mr Ochieng said that without the teachers' hard work the standards could fall further. "Sometimes you'll find our teachers, even when they are on the road, marking the books. "During the weekend they are still marking so that by Monday they are done," Mr Ochieng added. It is estimated that the country needs 80,000 more teachers to make up the shortfall in personnel. Education Minister Jacob Kaimenyi told the BBC there have been moves to address this. The government has employed 20,000 teachers in the last two years, and plans to add 5,000 more this year, but this is still not enough. "This country spends a substantial amount of the national budget on education," Mr Kaimenyi said. "It is almost 28%, and [because of this] some people think education is overfunded." Most of that money goes to pay teachers. Faced with a huge shortage of both teachers and space, some schools have had to be creative. "We converted some of the [special] rooms like the art room, home science room and the Islamic room, where Muslims were being taught Islamic studies, into classrooms," said Peter Kamau, the deputy headteacher at Nairobi's Milimani Primary School. "Then, we employed Parent-Teacher Association [PTA] teachers, that is teachers who are paid by parents." "We have about 10 PTA teachers, because the government cannot cope with the demand for teachers needed to implement the [FPE] programme," added Mr Kamau. Milimani School is in a middle-income neighbourhood, and most of the residents there prefer to send their children to private schools where class sizes are smaller, facilities more developed and performance in national exams generally better than public schools. In the poorer areas, like Kibera, the government schools are vital in the effort to raise education standards. "Most of the children here are very needy - some cannot even afford to buy a pencil," Olympic headteacher Mr Ochieng said. The Ministry of Education says it will continue to press the finance minister for more money. "We all believe that education is key, it's an equaliser and a basic human right," argued Minister Kaimenyi. Education researcher Sarah Ruto says many African governments have been willing to introduce basic education for all children. But critics have argued that even though these programmes enabled more children to go to school, there was a lack of focus on the quality of education. Ms Ruto says that Kenya performs best in East Africa for literacy and numeracy skills, but still the average pupil is below the expected level for the previous year group. In Uganda, only 10% of the pupils can read English to the expected level. Figure like these, Ms Ruto says, means that despite education now being available to more people there is little to celebrate.
Kenya has been praised for introducing free primary school education, in line with one of the Millennium Development Goals, but the country is now battling to raise education standards, as the BBC's Anne Soy has been finding out in Nairobi.
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In 2014, Barry Hughes, 38, was fined for illegally obtaining £1,287,955 for two mortgages, and laundering £150,000. At Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday, his QC Gordon Jackson said Hughes had offered to repay £500,000 to bring the matter "to a complete end". He told the pre-proof confiscation hearing the Crown claimed the "benefit figure" from Hughes' crimes was £5.9m. But he warned if the proof hearing went ahead as planned, it could take up to six months. The defence counsel said: "Standing the way the law is we would require all transactions, £5.9m which have gone through his account and have to be spoken to, challenged or whatever." Mr Jackson said it was up to the defence to prove that all these transactions were legitimate. He said: "There are about 1,500 transactions for which evidence will require to be led, allowing 20 minutes per transaction one can begin to calculate. "The estimation, I'm horrified to say to you, is over 150 court days." Mr Jackson said he did not think the Crown would accept Hughes' £500,000 offer "in the hope presumably of getting something else more in the future which they will never get". Sheriff Paul Crozier continued the case for another pre-proof hearing and urged both sides to adopt a "mature and realistic attitude". Hughes was jailed in March 2013 for 43 months but his sentence was overturned and he was fined £45,000. He had lied about his wife's income on mortgage applications in 2004 and 2006. He claimed his wife Jacqueline made £160,000 from her business McDonald Interiors - but divorce papers lodged by her in 2006 stated she was "financially dependent" on her husband. He also admitted two money laundering charges - for receiving £128,885 after selling the first property and spending £30,000 towards a Rolex watch.
A former boxing promoter who admitted a £1.2m mortgage fraud could lose nearly £6m under proceeds of crime laws.
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Bayley, 27, and Shilton, 16, defeated Jordi Morales and Alvaro Valera 3-1 in the men's class 7 final in Lasko. Fellow Briton Megan Shackleton, 16, and Slovakian playing partner Alena Kanova took silver in the women's class 4 team event, after losing to Serbia 3-2. Jane Campbell and Sara Head won women's class 3 team bronze for Britain.
Will Bayley and Billy Shilton won Para table tennis team gold for Britain at the Slovenia Open by beating world champions Spain.
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Wales has 735 of the councils handling over £43m of public money but only an estimated 30% received qualified audit opinions on their last accounts. The warning comes as community councils are being asked to take on more services by cash-strapped county councils. The auditor has had to warn some councils for "serious weaknesses." "The accountability and scrutiny that comes with the use of public money is growing ever tighter," said Huw Vaughan Thomas, the Auditor General for Wales. "Community councils are responsible for over £43m worth of funds and are likely to be devolved more responsibilities." Community councils represent the first tier of local government in Wales, and are equivalent to parish councils in England. They can hold the purse strings for local community buildings, parks, cemeteries, allotments and toilets. The auditor's report suggested councils should: The auditor's fifth annual report tells councils they are to implement a financial code of conduct and sets out what councils must to be compliant with regulations. "I would urge them to undertake an investigation into their current practice to ensure they are compliant with their legal requirements before the 2016-17 audit reviews," added Mr Thomas. "It is worrying to see that a number of councils have qualified opinions which are easily avoidable." Nick Ramsay, chairman of the assembly's public accounts committee, said: "It is essential that these councils have robust and effective arrangements in place for financial management and governance. "While many councils have good arrangements in place, the Auditor General's report shows that there is still much work to do to raise standards of financial management and governance across the sector."
Community councils have been urged to improve their financial management by the Auditor General for Wales.
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HDR videos display millions more shades of colour and extra levels of brightness than normal ones, allowing images to look more realistic. However, to view them members will need a new type of TV or monitor and a premium-priced Netflix subscription. Some HDR content had already been available via Amazon's rival Instant Video service. Ultra-high-definition 4K Blu-ray discs - which launched in the UK earlier this week - also include HDR data. Netflix's support follows January's creation of a scheme defining the HDR standards a television set must meet to be marketed with an "Ultra HD Premium" sticker. "We just started streaming in HDR, with Marco Polo season one now available," said a Netflix spokesman. "We will continue to expand the offering." It was revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) tech show at the start of the year that the TV series Daredevil had also been mastered in the format. "When people see HDR they will be really impressed," Netflix's chief executive told the BBC at the event. "HDR will be on top of 4K - but the big wow visually will be HDR." The term 4K refers to resolution - there are about four times as many pixels in an ultra-high definition display than in a 1080p high definition screen. To appreciate this, users will need either a large TV or to sit close to the display. But HDR means those pixels must be able to show a greater range of brightness between black and white. And this should be noticeable however big and far away the screen is, assuming footage has been mastered in the format. Inside CI magazine has confirmed some Sony TVs are already supporting Netflix's HDR streams, which involve more data. The US firm recommends its members have at least a 25 megabits per second connection to view them. The rollout coincides with a change in prices in the UK. Until now, subscribers who had been with the service for some time could enjoy all its benefits for £5.99 a month. But, later this month, they will be told they will be limited to lower-quality standard definition streams and watching on one device at a time unless they pay more. To get 1080p content on up to two screens at a time, they will need to pay £7.49 a month. And to get 4K and HDR feeds on up to fours screens simultaneously will cost £8.99 a month. "Members will be clearly notified in advance by email and within the service, so that they have time to decide which plan/price point works best for them," said a spokesman. One analyst said the potential audience for HDR content was small but should grow quickly. "This year, pretty much all the mid- to high-range TV sets from the big manufacturers will support HDR. And, later this year, there will be software upgrades for some of the 2015 models to make them capable," said David Watkins, from the consultancy Strategy Analytics. "And, within three years time, pretty much all screens that are 40in [101cm] or larger will support HDR. "Content is going to be fairly limited in the short-term. "There is a huge financial outlay to build up a solid library of material. But the studios are moving ahead with it." The BBC is also experimenting with HDR, but is holding off committing to the format until there is agreement about how it could be broadcast.
Netflix has confirmed it has begun its rollout of high dynamic range content on its TV and film streaming service.
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Adam Armstrong put the Tykes ahead as Conor Hourihane's free-kick was nodded down by Marley Watkins and fired in. Scott Hogan had a fine chance to level as he got in behind the visitors' defence, but Adam Davies was quick off his line to deny the Brentford forward his ninth goal of the season. The win was sealed when Ryan Kent hit the post and Sam Winnall pounced. Late on, Davies again had to make a fantastic save as Josh Clarke rushed through on goal, as the Tykes' keeper forced him wide and then got down low to block. Earlier, Watkins whipped a dangerous cross into the Bees' box, but Winnall could only head straight at home keeper Daniel Bentley. The Bees suffered their fifth loss of the season and are winless in their last four, only picking up two points during this period. Barnsley's sixth win of the season ends a run of three defeats for the visitors, and is their first victory since beating Wolves 4-0 at Molineux on 13 September. Brentford manager Dean Smith: "We controlled the first half without creating too many chances. There were half-chances for both sides but we gave them a hand. "Our decision-making was poor on the ball. We had three or four opportunities to play Scott Hogan in but we took an extra touch which slowed play down for us. "When you are two goals up you can afford to take a few chances and you will look sharper, but if we'd taken our chances it might have been a different story. "There is an expectancy for us to beat Barnsley and people fancy us to beat them, but every game is different and there are no easy ones." Barnsley manager Paul Heckingbottom: "I'm really pleased. It's what we've been after for a few games now, where we've performed well and not got our rewards. "There were fewer errors and the decision-making was much better. It's been easy to see what the problem has been because the eight goals we've conceded have been down to us and things we did wrong. "We put that right today and got what we deserved. We have to bring the same level of performance we've shown today into every game." "Brentford have only conceded two at home this season and are a good side, good with the ball and tough to handle, but we came with a game plan and executed it. We deserved the win." Match ends, Brentford 0, Barnsley 2. Second Half ends, Brentford 0, Barnsley 2. Attempt saved. Conor Hourihane (Barnsley) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Marley Watkins. Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Adam Davies. Attempt saved. Nico Yennaris (Brentford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Maxime Colin. Foul by Nico Yennaris (Brentford). Ryan Williams (Barnsley) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Substitution, Barnsley. Jacob Brown replaces Sam Winnall. Offside, Barnsley. Adam Davies tries a through ball, but Sam Winnall is caught offside. Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Adam Hammill. Ryan Woods (Brentford) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Adam Hammill (Barnsley). Attempt missed. Scott Hogan (Brentford) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Josh Clarke. Josh Clarke (Brentford) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Sam Morsy (Barnsley). Substitution, Barnsley. Adam Hammill replaces Ryan Kent. Josh Clarke (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Sam Morsy (Barnsley). Substitution, Barnsley. Ryan Williams replaces Adam Armstrong. Conor Hourihane (Barnsley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Yoann Barbet (Brentford) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Conor Hourihane (Barnsley). Attempt blocked. Philipp Hofmann (Brentford) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Josh Clarke. Substitution, Brentford. Philipp Hofmann replaces Romaine Sawyers. Corner, Barnsley. Conceded by John Egan. Foul by Scott Hogan (Brentford). Adam Davies (Barnsley) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Adam Davies. Attempt saved. Josh Clarke (Brentford) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Attempt blocked. Josh Clarke (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Josh McEachran. Attempt blocked. Adam Armstrong (Barnsley) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ryan Kent. John Egan (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Sam Winnall (Barnsley). Maxime Colin (Brentford) hits the bar with a right footed shot from the right side of the box. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Marley Watkins (Barnsley) because of an injury. Attempt missed. Josh McEachran (Brentford) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Maxime Colin. Attempt missed. Conor Hourihane (Barnsley) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Goal! Brentford 0, Barnsley 2. Sam Winnall (Barnsley) left footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Ryan Kent (Barnsley) hits the left post with a left footed shot from the left side of the box. Assisted by Adam Armstrong.
Barnsley's first win in eight matches condemned Brentford to defeat in their 4,000th league game.
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Former England captain and BBC pundit Alan Shearer, who scored 30 goals in 63 games for his country, explains why he thinks Tottenham striker Harry Kane can carry his impressive club form into international football in Friday's Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania. I spoke about him recently to one of his former coaches at Tottenham, my old Newcastle team-mate Les Ferdinand, and he says Harry always wants to learn and improve. He is not the kind of player who will stop working hard just because he has been called up to the senior squad for the first time by Roy Hodgson. Yes, there was an arrogance about what Kane said over the weekend about him wanting to play for England now, and not just be part of the squad. But it was a good arrogance. Even before Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge pulled out because of injury, I said that Kane should start against Lithuania in Friday's Euro 2016 qualifier. One of the reasons I think that is because he has got the confidence to go into the England set-up and straightaway believe that he belongs at that level. He wants the chance to prove himself. I was the same, and I can understand why he has been compared to me. I am a huge fan of his and what I love about him is that he scores all types of goals and does not care about the reputations of whoever is marking him. He has got a great touch, heading ability, can mix it physically and his finishing is top class. There is a bit of everything to his game and he is happy to run in behind defenders or come short looking for the ball. He is still raw but, if you put all of that together, then it suggests he can be very, very good. There are a few reasons why it sometimes takes players time to adjust to international football. When you are called up for the first time, you probably don't know a lot of people and it is not like joining a new club where you can settle in quickly because you are with your team-mates every minute of the day. Media playback is not supported on this device With England you get maybe five to 10 days together, sometimes not for a few months. You cannot form relationships until you have spent time with people and it takes a while to get used to that. On the pitch, it is different too. It is described as a step-up is because in the main you are up against better players than you are most weeks at club level. That will not be the case against Lithuania, though. Again, that is why Hodgson should chuck Kane in for that game. It is a game we will win anyway and, if he waits until the friendly against Italy on Tuesday, then there will be a lot of changes and it will be difficult to look at Kane properly. He has scored 29 goals already this season and is clearly in brilliant form, so Friday would be a great chance for him to make a flying start to his England career with a goal on his debut. Kane is certainly capable of it and I know how extra special it would be for him because it happened to me. Graham Taylor gave me my England debut at Wembley in February 1992 in a friendly against France, who at the time had not been beaten for 20-odd games. I was thrown in, like I think Kane should be, and started up front. Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst was my partner in the England attack, with Gary Lineker on the bench. Beforehand, I was determined to enjoy every minute of that game because I did not know whether I would get another chance, and my advice to Kane would be to approach his debut the same way. Just before half-time came the moment I had lived for all my life. Nigel Clough took a corner, Mark Wright headed it down inside the area and I turned to fire the ball into the net. I scored hundreds of goals in my career but I will never forget my first one for my country. It was an amazing feeling, and I really hope Kane gets to experience it this week too. There was more - Lineker came on for the second half and I set him up to score our second goal in a 2-0 win. I was voted man of the match and my prize was two flights to New York. I never quite made it there, though - I gave the tickets to my sister instead. For me it was pretty much a perfect debut, apart from the fact my mum and dad were not there to see it because I only found out a few hours before kick-off that I was playing and it was impossible for them to get down from Newcastle to Wembley in time. But it did not stop me being dropped to the B team for England's next game, a friendly against Czechoslovakia a month later. That was a big disappointment but I had to deal with it, and at some stage Kane will have to face a setback too, whether it be an injury or some bad luck. His attitude will also help him deal with when something goes wrong, but for now I just want him to keep going. He deserves this chance. When I broke into the England team, I was fighting for a place alongside Lineker with Paul Merson, Nigel Clough, Alan Smith and Hirst. It was quite intense. It has been a long time since there has been any sort of competition up front and I think it is a positive that Hodgson might have a problem about who to pick up front when everybody is fit. He has got Raheem Sterling, Sturridge, Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck as well as Kane so, at some stage, someone is going to be disappointed. That's not a bad thing. They already have Kane saying 'I'm here, I've arrived and I want my chance' and it will be even better if they start pushing each other as they fight for their place. At the moment we don't know how Kane will fit into the team but I believe he will be an excellent foil for Rooney, and there is only one way to find out. Alan Shearer was talking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan
Harry Kane has already shown he has the ability to be a top Premier League striker, but it is his attitude that will help him make it at international level too.
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The team asked 14 volunteers to view pictures of people and faces, while recording the activity of single brain cells. Scientist said they spotted "dramatic" differences in nerve activity at the exact moment a participant learnt of a new link between a person and place. The early work is published in the journal Neuron. Brain scientists have long debated exactly how memories are formed, and many questions remain unanswered. Competing theories include the idea that solitary or just a few nerve cells represent a single person or concept, while others believe a whole host of neurons are needed to form a memory. A decade ago, a team including Prof Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, discovered a specific "Jennifer Aniston" neuron that fired whenever an individual looked at pictures of the actress. Building on this work, Prof Quiroga, collaborating with Dr Matias Ison, at the University of Leicester, and scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, delved further to see if such cells also had a role in making new memories. To do this, they designed a series of experiments that loosely mimicked a person recollecting meeting someone in a new place. They asked participants - who had electrodes attached to their brains to monitor nerve activity - to look at pictures of people such as actor Clint Eastwood and Jennifer Aniston. Throughout each test, researchers recorded which specific nerve cells fired in response to each picture. They then asked participants to look at images of unrelated landmarks - such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, while mapping separate nerve cells that corresponded to each place. Images were then digitally merged together, for example to show Clint Eastwood standing in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Finally, when people were shown pictures of just the tower again - this time with no celebrity posing in front of it - the neuron initially responsive to Clint Eastwood started firing too. Scientists say this points to rapid links being made between the unrelated celebrity and place. Dr Matias Ison said: "This is the first study to look at how a single neuron correlates learning of new contextual associations in the human brain. "The astonishing fact was that these changes were dramatic, in the sense of neurons changing from being very silent to firing a lot and that these changes occurred at the exact moment of learning." The researchers hope this finding will help them better understand the basics of memory creation, though they acknowledge memory is more complex than just forming links between unrelated concepts. Winrich Freiwald, assistant professor at The Rockefeller University, told the BBC: "This strengthens the idea that neurons can represent high-level complex entities such as people and landmarks. "And by studying people at the exact time they learn new associations, the work provides unique insights into the formation of new memories."
Researchers have used "mind games" to reveal clues about how nerve cells may change when making new memories.
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Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, Jake Gyllenhaal and Emma Thompson are among those set to be walking the red carpet. The festival opens with Ismael's Ghosts - a French film starring Marion Cotillard - on Wednesday. As the French Riviera resort welcomes the film world for the 11-day event, here's what to expect. It's fair to say this is Nicole Kidman's year, with four projects - that's TV as well as film - on show. They include one of the most hotly-anticipated films of the festival, The Beguiled. Directed by Sofia Coppola, the drama is set in an all-female boarding school in America's South during the Civil War and is in competition for the top prize, the Palme d'Or. An injured enemy soldier, played by Colin Farrell, is taken in by the women, but tensions - and sexual jealousy - rise. Kidman and Farrell team up again for The Killing of a Sacred Deer by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster). She plays the wife of a surgeon - Farrell - who takes in a teenage boy with catastrophic results. Her final film at Cannes is How to Talk to Girls at Parties, based on a Neil Gaiman short story, while she's also in Jane Campion's Top of the Lake, one of the TV picks of the festival. You can forget the screening rooms and press junkets - the main action at Cannes is going to be on the red carpet and at the endless parties. Rihanna and Cara Delevingne are among those heading to the waterfront as a social whirl engulfs the town. Neither has a film showing - but Cara is the face of a new ice cream launch and Rihanna is hosting a late-night party. Each country will also have a tent along the seafront, so you can expect an array of famous faces to be popping in to the soirees being held there, as well as those on the shoal of superyachts that will be fringing the festival. Security at this year's Cannes is higher than ever. Which is not surprising given the recent attacks in France, including last summer's horror in nearby Nice, where a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day. A row of 400 concrete barriers disguised as giant flowerpots have been installed to stop a similar vehicle attack during the festival. Police have invested in 160m of spiked chains that could stop a truck and have extra forces working during the festival. In addition, there are 550 security cameras - one for every 140 inhabitants of Cannes. A festival spokeswoman said the measures were to "guarantee the festival-goers' optimal security" while "taking care not to disrupt" the event. This year, we'll be seeing Kristen Stewart, Robin Wright and Vanessa Redgrave step behind the camera and turn their hands to directing. Twilight star Kristen has made a short film called Come Swim, which she has described as being about a man in his 30s in the throes of "full-on heartbreak". Robin Wright has also directed short film - The Dark of Night - about a woman seeking refuge from a storm in an isolated diner. And Redgrave is presenting Sea Sorrow, a documentary about the refugee crisis. The actress and activist says she was spurred into action by seeing images of the body of Syrian child Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach. As a side note - Jupiter's Moon, competing for the Palme d'Or, also looks at the refugee crisis. As well as Top of the Lake, the other main television event is the long-awaited return of Twin Peaks, which is having its premiere at Cannes after 26 years off the air. Fans have been full of theories about what David Lynch is likely to have up his sleeve. It's been seen as a sign that Cannes is embracing television - although both Lynch and Campion have previously won the Palme d'Or. And then there's the Netflix controversy. The home-streaming giant has two feature films in competition - Okja starring Tilda Swinton, and Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories, with Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Emma Thompson. But after concerns from the French film industry, the festival stepped in to announce that from next year, films wanting to compete at Cannes will have to be screened at French cinemas. There are 19 films in contention for the coveted Palme d'Or. One of the early favourites is Wonderstruck by Todd Haynes, director of Carol. Starring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams, it tells the story of a young boy and young girl - 50 years apart - whose stories intertwine. And anticipation is high for Good Time, a bank-robber drama starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Robert Pattinson, as well as The Beguiled and Okja. It's going to be a tough decision for jury president Pedro Almodovar and his fellow jurors, including Will Smith and Jessica Chastain. Lynne Ramsey (who directed We Need to Talk About Kevin) returns to the Croisette towards the end of the festival with You Were Never Really Here, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a war veteran trying to save a young girl from a sex trafficking ring. Then we have Austrian director Michael Haneke, who has already lifted the Palme d'Or twice - with The White Ribbon in 2009 and Amour in 2012. This year, he's presenting Happy End, starring Oscar nominee Isabelle Huppert, a family drama set in Calais with the refugee crisis unfolding on its doorstep. Can he make it a third trophy? With the champagne flowing and sleep in short supply, anything can happen. In the past, we've seen flat shoes apparently banned from the red carpet, Hollywood stars having their films booed, and world-famous director Lars von Trier being banned for saying he "sympathised" with Hitler. Expect colour, expect fashion, expect glamour, expect films to be lauded and panned in equal measure - but most of all, expect the unexpected. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
Stars from around the world are heading to Cannes for the prestigious film festival, celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.
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"The shame of the two big parties' manifestos is that neither sets out an honest set of choices," the deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said. Does that mean there is no point in reading them? Not quite. The importance of the manifestos is that, economically, they propose quite different approaches to the next five years. The Conservatives say they will maintain tight controls on public spending and that any new Tory government will seek to "balance the books" by 2025 - meaning the government would spend as much as it receives in tax receipts. The party has been deliberately vague on costings ("extremely light" as the IFS describes it), not wanting to tie the hands of any new prime minister or chancellor. The voters are being asked to take the manifesto on trust. In sharp contrast, Labour proposes making the economy operate more "fairly" with higher levels of tax on the wealthy, higher levels of public spending and more borrowing to pay for capital investment projects. Its costings are detailed and open to interpretation. The IFS lays out major challenges for both parties. It says the Conservative proposals would mean cuts in benefit payments and lower spending per pupil in education, for example. Is that deliverable in an era of generally falling incomes for the "just about managing" and a need to improve schools? When it comes to the NHS, the IFS says that the period after the election would be "incredibly challenging". The institute also points out that continuing the 1% public sector pay cap would take pay levels in the public sector to their lowest level relative to the private sector in "recent decades". And suggests that after 8 June - if they win - the Tories could announce spending plans less stringent than envisaged, as the David Cameron-led government did in 2015. The new government could even raise some additional taxes. When it comes to Labour, the IFS says that plans to raise £49bn in extra taxes from those earning over £80,000 and higher levels of business taxes are an "overestimate" and would make people "worse off". It says that even on optimistic forecasts, the tax increases would raise £40bn a year in the short term and less in the long term. That would be a £9bn annual shortfall. The taxes are also not "victim-free", as the IFS describes it. "When businesses pay tax, they are handing over money that would otherwise have ended up with people, and not only rich ones," Mr Emmerson said. "Millions with pension funds are effectively shareholders [in businesses]." The IFS accepts that Labour does not propose to raise spending to "unusually high" levels compared to other advanced Western economies such as Canada. And that increased investment spending could have "positive long-term economic returns". So why does the IFS say that the manifestos are less than honest? Firstly, because it is not convinced that the Conservatives can deliver the cuts the manifesto suggests and maintain public services. Nor is it convinced that Labour will be able to raise the amount of revenue it expects and that the extra taxes would not damage the broader economy. But there are also two more substantial challenges. Labour has little to say on tackling the increasing costs of our ageing population, the IFS says. And the Tories have little to say on the possible economic impact of a rapid cut in immigration, which the government's official economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, suggests could reduce tax receipts by £6bn a year. The two parties are laying out two very different approaches to the economy. At that high level, the manifestos are important. Even if, when it comes to the detail, voters might need to reach for a pretty hefty pinch of salt.
As Carl Emmerson came to the end of his presentation on the Tory and Labour manifestos presented to the voters, there was an "ouch" moment.
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He was one of golf's dominant players in the 1950s and early 1960s, winning seven major titles over seven seasons. Tiger Woods said: "Thanks Arnold for your friendship council and a lot of laughs." The US Golf Association called him "golf's greatest ambassador". President Obama posted a photo of a lesson Palmer gave him in the Oval office at the White House. Jack Nicklaus, whose sporting rivalry with Palmer spanned over half a century, said he would "miss him greatly". "We just lost one of the incredible people in the game of golf and in all of sports," he wrote on Twitter. "Arnold transcended the game of golf. He was more than a golfer or even great golfer. He was an icon. He was a legend." Nicklaus, 76, who won 18 majors to Palmer's seven, posted a series of snapshots on Instagram recalling their long friendship. Northern Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy recalled meeting Palmer at his Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Florida - where a professional tournament named after him is held each March. "Remembering the special times I spent with Mr Palmer at Bay Hill. A true pioneer for our sport. Forever remembered," McIlroy tweeted, hours after winning the Tour Championship in Atlanta. "My heart aches with passing of the King. What he did for golf cannot be measured. Athlete, pioneer, philanthropist, family man, and much more...RIP Arnie," tweeted US golfer Zach Johnson. Rickie Fowler, a member of the US Ryder Cup team, said Palmer's memory would not fade. "Legends never die ... you will live on forever Arnie ... thank you for being you and giving me the opportunity to do what I get to do every day!" How The King changed the game Palmer the commercial champion Outside the golfing world, others too shared their farewells on social media. President Obama paid tribute to "The King", highlighting Arnold Palmer's philanthropy. Former US President George H W Bush, a keen golfer, said: "He brought golf to millions by his daring and caring. We miss him already." Arnold Palmer was the first golf player to make $1m from playing the sport. But he made much more than that from his many off-course endorsements, putting his name to a variety of products and services, from United Airlines to Cadillac cars. Nowadays it is commonplace for sports stars to lend their names to commercial products. But half a century ago such an association between sport and brands was ground-breaking. Palmer, in association with marketer Mark McCormack, was the trailblazer. It is a legacy for which today's high-earning stars, making astronomical sums from their own deals, should be eternally grateful. Palmer was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1929, the son of a groundskeeper at the local country club who later became a professional at the golf club there. Apart from his seven majors, he also notched up 62 PGA Tour wins. The much-loved veteran died at a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was undergoing heart tests.
Tributes have flooded in for legendary US golfer Arnold Palmer, who died on Sunday aged 87.
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It has said it will do all this while decarbonising, or reducing the amount of carbon used per unit of growth, by 35% of its 2005 levels. In the same breath, it says: "More than half of the India of 2030 is yet to be built." But the kind of country that India wants to make - mines, airports, seaports, big cities, industrial corridors, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, water-guzzling coal and nuclear power plants - is not the kind of India required to sustain communities and confront climate shocks. India, other nations and even many NGOs, are not talking about the elephant in the room - growth. India's growth addiction is as deadly for planetary health as our addiction to carbon. But talking about decarbonising our economies hides this fact. Modern economic growth is a child of the industrial revolution. Three centuries of unrestrained economic growth have brought us to a point where it is certain that we will soon see a 2C warmer world with all its associated dangers. Barring drastic changes over the next week, a 4C warmer world is a real possibility. Just the rises in sea level associated with a 4C warmer world will threaten 55 million people living along the Indian coast, including three million in Chennai, 12 million in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and 11 million in Mumbai, according to US-based scientific organisation Climate Central. Unfortunately, carbon is not the only boundary that is being stretched in the heady ride up the growth curve. Burdened by over-extraction and pollution, India's groundwater aquifers are on the brink of collapse. Nearly 80% of surface water is polluted, according to WaterAid. Drought afflicts 18 of 29 states of the country, even as many parts of the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh reel under floods. Last month's rains in Chennai may or may not have been induced by climate change. But the floods were certainly a result of inappropriate land-use - where roads, railways and buildings were constructed with no regard for local movement and distribution of the earth's water. Land-use associated with India's threat to grow will erode the ability of communities to face an uncertain future. In Tamil Nadu alone, just seven coastal districts have 35,750MW of coal-powered thermal power plants in various stages of licensing or construction. The larger ones, like the 4,000MW plant in Cheyyur, have associated captive facilities - jetties, coal yards, coal and seawater conveyor corridors, ash pipelines and ash ponds. Intact ecosystems should be left alone and degraded ones repaired to help us face our future. But exactly the reverse is happening - and even the big corporations do not appear to be sincere. Consumer goods giant Unilever, for example, prides itself as the gold standard in socially responsible behaviour. Chief executive Paul Polman has said governments must set clear CO2 targets to force low-carbon innovation. But in the pretty south Indian hill town of Kodaikanal, many residents see the company in a different light. Here, a Unilever subsidiary - Hindustan Unilever - has been accused of operating a mercury thermometer factory which has hurt workers and contaminated the site and its surroundings with mercury - a toxic metal that can hurt the brain and kidneys and cause birth defects. Unilever subsequently shut down its factory and ordered an investigation into the functioning of the unit. Fifteen years after the contamination was discovered, the site remains polluted and is leaking mercury into the bio-diverse watershed forest at its fence-line. Studies as recently as in June and October confirm that the factory is leaking toxic mercury into the catchment of the Pambar river which empties into the river Vaigai which supplies water and fish to three water-scarce districts of Tamil Nadu. Unilever has said that studies had showed "no adverse impact on the environment in Kodaikanal, except in some areas of the factory premises". "We are keen to continue work on clearing up the factory site," a statement issued by the company said. Here, Unilever has the choice of walking its talk. Technology exists to reduce mercury to levels that are found in unpolluted soils. Doing this will protect the water security of downstream communities. But Unilever is citing "techno-commercial considerations" to justify a clean-up standard that will leave behind 200 times more mercury than in unpolluted soils. It is this emphasis on what is commercially viable over what is naturally desirable that gives the lie to phrases like sustainable development. Green growth proponents extend the tempting promise of continued over-consumption by merely changing how things are produced. But unless we question who produces, what is produced, for whom and why, even a successful outcome in Paris will not keep us out of harm's way. Nityanand Jayaraman is a Chennai-based writer and social activist
In the lead up to this week's critical UN conference aimed at agreeing on a new global approach to climate change, India has indicated its intent to build infrastructure and vastly increase industrial manufacturing as a means of giving hundreds of millions of citizens a better quality of life.
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About 90 machine gun rounds were fired at the object, which has not been identified. North Korea has flown drones over the border in the past. In a statement, the South Korean military said it was "maintaining high vigilance". The incident comes amid continuing high tension on the Korean peninsula. On Sunday Pyongyang conducted what it said was a successful test of a medium-range ballistic missile. That test came a week after North Korea tested what it said was a new type of rocket capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead. The pace of North Korean missile tests has increased in recent months and experts fear it indicates progress towards Pyongyang's ultimate goal of putting a nuclear warhead on a missile that could strike the continental US. The UN Security Council is to hold a closed-door meeting on North Korea on Tuesday evening. In a statement on Monday, it agreed to "take further significant measures including sanctions" to force North Korea to end its "highly destabilising behaviour". The spike in tensions comes with a new president in South Korea. Moon Jae-in was sworn into office earlier this month after the previous leader, Park Geun-hye, was impeached. She is now on trial for corruption. Mr Moon has adopted a more conciliatory stance than his predecessor, calling for more dialogue with the North. South Korean military officials did not say whether they hit or secured the object that flew across the demilitarised zone, but similar incidents have occurred in the past. In January 2016, South Korean border troops fired shots at a suspected drone. In 2014, South Korean officials said they found two North Korean drones, one south of the demilitarised zone near Paju and the other on an island near the disputed inter-Korean maritime border.
South Korea says it has fired warning shots at an object that flew across the demilitarised zone from North Korea.
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Media playback is not supported on this device The 32-year-old led 7-2 overnight but Milkins won the first four frames of the day. But the 2014 champion hit back, his famed matchplay helping him win the next three frames to seal victory. Selby said: "Rob played some great snooker. But I knew he would let his arm go at 7-2 down." Four-time Crucible champion John Higgins wasted no time in crushing Welshman Ryan Day 10-3, the Scot rattling off three frames in a row after losing the opener to set up a last-16 meeting with Ricky Walden. And Northern Ireland's Mark Allen won five frames in a row as he recovered from 2-1 down to take a 6-3 lead against debutant Mitchell Mann in the other afternoon match. Earlier, a high-quality game saw Nottingham qualifier Michael Holt establish a 6-3 lead over 2010 world champion Neil Robertson. A brilliant 140 clearance helped Holt race into a 3-0 lead against the Australian world number four, who responded by hitting two consecutive tons to level. But Holt, who has often talked of his mental struggles on the big stage, recovered with a nerveless 115 and also took the next two frames. Media playback is not supported on this device Selby said his decision to pull out of the past two tournaments was taken to enhance his Crucible challenge. But he admitted he was not at his best as breaks of 50, 61 and 62 helped Milkins, the world number 21, move to within a frame at 7-6 down. "You have to give credit to Rob for the way he came out. He put me under pressure," said Selby. "At 7-6 it got a little bit twitchy because it was not as if he got back to 7-6 playing scrappy snooker. He was scoring fluently and playing well. "I have missed a couple of tournaments and felt a lot fresher, but I was not as match sharp. I didn't want to come into this tournament fatigued, so there were plusses and negatives." Media playback is not supported on this device Holt and Robertson play to a conclusion on Tuesday evening, with world number 11 Barry Hawkins facing China's Zhang Anda in the other match.
World number one Mark Selby survived a determined comeback from Robert Milkins to move into the second round of the World Championship with a 10-6 win.
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Mike Christie and Jonathan Ansell were attacked at a recreation ground in Yardley, Birmingham, during the early hours. Christie was hit over the head and Ansell received a blow to the eye as he wrestled back a stolen laptop. Both singers were treated at Heartlands Hospital but did not report the attack to police. Ansell and Christie were two of the original members of the group who rose to fame when they came second in the X Factor in 2004, losing to Steve Brookstein. On Twitter, Christie, 35, expressed his disbelief at the attack after the would-be thief ran off with his rucksack containing a laptop. Ansell, 34, said he realised crucial information relating to the group was on the laptop and chased and struck the mugger. He said the pair had gone out "at midnight-ish" to "barn-storm over ideas" and the plan had been to go to McDonalds. "All of a sudden I just heard Mike shout out an expletive and saw this figure running off with the rucksack," he said. "I instinctively chased after him and grabbed the bag and ended up with stars in my eyes after being punched in the face." He did not report the incident to police because they got their property back, he said. According to the group's Twitter feed G4 were in Birmingham on Sunday to appear at a wedding show.
Two members of X Factor operatic group G4 have been treated in hospital after an attempted mugging.
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Diego Costa slid in the opener, a Rolando Aarons error let in Pedro to run clear and fire home, and Costa set up Willian to make it 3-0. Pedro and Bertrand Traore added further goals in the second half, before Andros Townsend's late consolation. The only thing to spoil Chelsea's night was an injury to captain John Terry. Media playback is not supported on this device The centre-half limped off with a hamstring injury before half-time and is a doubt for Tuesday's trip to play Paris St-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie. Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink remains unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions, and his side are now unbeaten in their past 10 Premier League games. Newcastle have only scored seven goals on their travels this season, the worst record in the top four divisions in England, but it was their defence that let them down at Stamford Bridge. Magpies boss Steve McClaren said in his pre-match TV interview that the first 20 minutes would be crucial to the outcome of the match. He was right, but not in the way he would have wanted. By then, his side had suffered a complete collapse at the back which was summed up by Chelsea's second goal. That came from a Newcastle free-kick near the home side's corner flag that was cleared to the halfway line before Aarons' horrendous cross-field pass allowed Pedro to gallop clear. Media playback is not supported on this device McClaren's side never looked capable of a second-half comeback as they slipped to a fifth successive away defeat. After the break, Cesc Fabregas set up Pedro for his second and Bertrand Traore turned in Cesar Azpilicueta's cross. Andros Townsend's trademark run and finish for his first goal since his £12m move from Tottenham reduced the damage at the end. But Newcastle's goal-difference still took a battering and at -22 it is now the worst in the top flight. Chelsea's own defensive problems were of a very different sort. With Kurt Zouma out for the season, the last thing Hiddink needed before a busy fortnight was to see Terry limp off. Terry appeared to fall awkwardly after a clash with Magpies striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and will have a scan to assess the severity of his hamstring injury. Gary Cahill only returned to the starting line-up on Saturday because of Zouma's serious knee injury, but could end up being a key figure at the back for his side in the next few weeks. He was playing with a broken nose, but Chelsea's man in the mask did not miss his mark. Along with the impressive Willian, Costa scored one goal and made another but he edged the individual accolade because of his delightful finish to give his side an early lead. Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink: "We can be pleased with the performance of the guys. We tried to surprise them in the beginning. Happily it worked out. "It's important for the way we played, not just in attack. The players also have to do defensive work and that is where we are aiming and then the quality comes out." Newcastle boss Steve McClaren: "We got exposed on quite a few occasions in terms of defensive frailties. Rolando Aarons had to play at left-back and it was Steven Taylor's second game in six months. "We caused our own problems. We knew Chelsea would come out quick. They wanted to win that game by half-time with the week they have ahead of them. "You get one or two of these games a season. I've told the players don't let that derail us. It was damage limitation by half-time. "I just wanted to make sure we scored a goal and stayed in the game." Newcastle are out of the FA Cup and their Premier League game with Manchester City on 28 February has been postponed because City are in the Capital One Cup final. So the Magpies do not have a game for 18 days until they travel to Stoke on 2 March, and are heading for a training camp in Spain. In that time, Chelsea play four matches, starting with Tuesday's trip to Paris. Match ends, Chelsea 5, Newcastle United 1. Second Half ends, Chelsea 5, Newcastle United 1. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Daryl Janmaat (Newcastle United) because of an injury. Corner, Chelsea. Conceded by Steven Taylor. Goal! Chelsea 5, Newcastle United 1. Andros Townsend (Newcastle United) left footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Jack Colback. Foul by Gary Cahill (Chelsea). Seydou Doumbia (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Goal! Chelsea 5, Newcastle United 0. Bertrand Traore (Chelsea) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by César Azpilicueta with a cross. Substitution, Chelsea. Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaces Willian. Attempt missed. Baba Rahman (Chelsea) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Cesc Fàbregas. Attempt blocked. Cesc Fàbregas (Chelsea) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by César Azpilicueta. Attempt blocked. Bertrand Traore (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Branislav Ivanovic. Substitution, Newcastle United. Seydou Doumbia replaces Aleksandar Mitrovic. Foul by Gary Cahill (Chelsea). Rolando Aarons (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Willian (Chelsea) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Andros Townsend (Newcastle United). Corner, Chelsea. Conceded by Rolando Aarons. Substitution, Newcastle United. Jamaal Lascelles replaces Cheick Tioté. Corner, Chelsea. Conceded by Jack Colback. Foul by Jack Colback (Newcastle United). Pedro (Chelsea) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Cheick Tioté (Newcastle United). Bertrand Traore (Chelsea) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle United). Cesc Fàbregas (Chelsea) wins a free kick on the left wing. Substitution, Chelsea. Bertrand Traore replaces Diego Costa. Goal! Chelsea 4, Newcastle United 0. Pedro (Chelsea) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Cesc Fàbregas with a through ball. Attempt missed. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Attempt blocked. Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jack Colback. Offside, Chelsea. César Azpilicueta tries a through ball, but Diego Costa is caught offside. Corner, Chelsea. Conceded by Rolando Aarons. Foul by Rolando Aarons (Newcastle United). Diego Costa (Chelsea) wins a free kick on the right wing. Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by César Azpilicueta. Attempt blocked. Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Attempt blocked. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Andros Townsend with a cross.
Newcastle dropped into the relegation zone on goal difference after three goals in the first 17 minutes set Chelsea on their way to an easy win.
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Anthony Levandowski, previously worked on self-driving car technology at Waymo, owned by Alphabet. He is accused of downloading 14,000 confidential files before leaving the company in 2016. Uber denies it is using stolen technology. In a court filing last month, Uber maintained its technology is different. It described the claim that employees brought files to Uber with the goal of creating "copycat" technology as "demonstrably false." Mr. Levandowski has declined to testify in the case, launched in February. The firing was confirmed by an Uber spokeswoman, who said it was effective Tuesday. Mr Levandowski had already been removed from working on the self-driving car technology at the heart of the suit. He started working at Uber in August 2016, when the firm bought Otto, the self-driving truck start-up he had created in the six months after leaving Google. He declined to testify earlier this year, citing his right to avoid self-incrimination. Uber maintains its technology is different to Waymo's and says there isn't evidence the files are on its servers. But its search did not include Mr Levandowski's computer. Judge William Alsup, who is overseeing the case in San Francisco, earlier ordered Uber to return the thousands of "pilfered" files in question by the end of the month. A spokeswoman for Uber said the firing occurred after Mr Levandowski failed to meet the deadline that would allow Uber to cooperate with the judge's order. Word of the firing was sent to employees on Tuesday. Attorneys for Mr Levandowski could not be reached for comment immediately.
Uber has fired the engineer accused of stealing secrets from Google-owner Alphabet after he failed to assist with an investigation related to the lawsuit.
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Media playback is not supported on this device The Patriots trailed by 25 points in the third quarter but recovered to level at 28-28 and force the extra period - the first in Super Bowl history. Thanks to everyone back in Boston... we're bringing this sucker home! Quarterback Tom Brady led the recovery, finishing with a record 466 yards en route to being named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player for a fourth time. The turnaround was completed when James White scored on a two-yard run - taking his personal haul for the game to 20 points. The previous biggest deficit overcome by the eventual Super Bowl champions was 10 points, a record emphatically shattered by the Patriots on an incredible night at Houston's NRG Stadium, which also featured a spectacular half-time show by Lady Gaga. The singer opened her set with Woody Guthrie's civil rights anthem This Land Is Your Land, "a gentle but pointed rebuke to the Trump administration", BBC Music reporter Mark Savage says. Notable statistics from the game included: Brady, 39, admitted afterwards the outcome could have been very different had any part of the Patriots team not done its job. A key moment came with the Patriots trailing 28-20 with 2:28 remaining in the final quarter when Julian Edelman made a miraculous catch for a first down, somehow grabbing the ball under pressure from three opponents after it was tipped into the air by Falcons cornerback Robert Alford. Media playback is not supported on this device "I couldn't believe the Edelman catch, it was one of the greatest catches. I don't think he knows how he caught it. We've been on the end of a few of those, it was spectacular," Brady said. "It's going to be a great celebration tonight. Thanks to everyone back in Boston, we love you, we're bringing this sucker home!" He added: "That was exactly the way we didn't plan it. It was a hell of a football game. "This is an incredible team and I'm just happy to be a part of it. We overcame a lot of different things and it's all worth it." "To be 28-3 down, it was a lot of mental toughness from our team and we're all going to remember this for the rest of our life." Media playback is not supported on this device Much of the talk before the game centred on whether Brady could become the first quarterback to win five Super Bowls, but such thoughts were swiftly pushed to one side once the game began as the veteran struggled to find a rhythm. The first quarter whipped by with hardly any stoppages and no points scored, both defences on top, but come the second quarter the momentum shifted emphatically in favour of Atlanta, who boasted the best regular-season offense and, in quarterback Matt Ryan, the NFL's MVP. Atlanta went ahead when Devonta Freeman capped an impressive half by rushing for a touchdown, while Ryan connected with Austin Hooper for the second a short time later. For the last year and a half I've talked about how Tom Brady is not the greatest of all time. I take it all back Brady, meanwhile, was labouring, struggling to connect with his receivers and cutting an increasingly frustrated figure as half-time loomed. When Alford intercepted Brady for an 82-yard touchdown, the writing appeared to be on the wall - with a 21-point lead already double the highest deficit ever overcome in a Super Bowl - although a late field goal at least gave the Pats a sliver of hope at the interval. As Lady Gaga descended into the arena, Falcons fans were no doubt daring to dream that the franchise could break its Super Bowl duck at the second time of asking, having been beaten by the Denver Broncos on their only previous appearance in 1999. But if they were thinking along those lines, they reckoned without Brady. Certainly the omens looked good for Atlanta at the start of the second half with Tevin Coleman's score taking their advantage to 28-3, but that was the cue for New England's fightback to begin. White scored what seemed like a consolation touchdown late in the third quarter, a feeling only heightened by Stephen Gostkowski's failed extra-point attempt, but still the Pats kept coming. A Gostkowski field goal was backed up by Brady's touchdown pass to Danny Amendola, with the successful two-point conversion from a White rush closing the gap to eight points. With Atlanta rattled, Brady marched the Patriots 90 yards upfield via Edelman's stunning catch to present White with a one-yard rushing touchdown, which was followed by a vital two-point conversion catch by Amendola that took the game to overtime. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady: "There were a lot of plays, probably about 30 of them, and if any one was different the outcome would have been different. It was unbelievable. I'm so proud of these guys. "James White is everything you want in a team-mate. Dependable, reliable, durable. He brings it every day. We kept going to him and that speaks for itself." Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola: "[Brady] was the same as he always is: cool, calm and collected. He's the leader, the general, the best ever and that is the end of the story." Patriots running back James White: "We knew we had a shot the whole game. It was an amazing comeback by our team. It's surreal right now. You couldn't write this script." Patriots coach Bill Belichick: "We have great players, they competed the whole game. They were 28-3 down but they never looked back. They just keep competing for 60 minutes, or longer." Patriots owner Robert Kraft: "I told our fans two years ago that was the sweetest win of all, but a lot has transpired in the last two years. That doesn't need any explanation. "This is unequivocally the sweetest. I am proud to say for the fifth time the Patriots are world champions." Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan: "There's nothing you can really say. That's a tough loss. Obviously very disappointed, very close to getting done what we wanted to get done, but it's hard to find words tonight." Osi Umenyiora, BBC NFL analyst: "There is no solace for Atlanta. They were ahead by 25 points, a game they had to win. I can't imagine how they are feeling. They made so many young mistakes, you can't make them against the New England Patriots. "This is the worst loss we have ever seen in the history of the Super Bowl. "For the last year and a half I've talked about how Tom Brady is not the greatest of all time. I take it all back. The improbability of what this man just did, I can't believe what I have seen with my own two eyes. "It is unbelievable. I take back every negative thing I ever said about this man, he shut me up today. He truly is the greatest." This content will not work on your device, please check Javascript and cookies are enabled or update your browser
The New England Patriots produced the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime and claim a fifth title in the most dramatic of circumstances.
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Steel beat team-mate Kate Avery in a sprint finish in Bulgaria last year, and repeated that result at the trials in Liverpool last month. Scotland's Laura Muir switches from success in the 1500m to the under-23 team in Hyeres. GB have topped the medal table at the last 12 European Cross Country events. The team won nine medals, including four gold, in Bulgaria 12 months ago. All the athletes in Hyeres will be invited to carry an 'I Run Clean' message on their bibs to show their commitment to a doping-free sport. "We want our participating athletes to reassure those watching at the course and at home that they are competing without resorting to doping," said European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.
Gemma Steel will hope to retain her European Cross Country title when she leads a 36-strong British team in France on Sunday.
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"It will be tough game - Larne have started the season well and they will enjoy coming to Windsor," he said. "I expect they will probably sit in and hit us on the counter-attack." Cliftonville are chasing a fifth straight League Cup success and the Reds host Lisburn Distillery in one of 16 second-round games on Tuesday night. Distillery have dropped down to the Intermediate League just five years after winning the competition. Glenn Ferguson was among the top players in the side which defeated Portadown 2-1 in the decider, with David Cushley scoring the winner. Premiership champions Crusaders start their League Cup challenge against Loughgall at Seaview. Crues boss Stephen Baxter is set to give fringe players a run-out after Saturday's 2-1 win over Portadown put the north Belfast side back at the league summit. "We will assess injuries from Saturday but the players waiting to come in are very capable with loads of Irish League experience," said Baxter. "Whatever side takes to the pitch on Tuesday night it will be a very experienced Crusaders line-up." Coleraine entertain Limavady Utd in a derby encounter while a busy night of fixtures also includes Glentoran travelling to take on Championship minnows Annagh United. There will be live commentary and reports on the League Cup action on BBC Radio Ulster MW 1341 and the BBC Sport website.
Linfield boss David Healy is predicting a stern test against Championship leaders Larne in the League Cup clash at Windsor Park.
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Mercury's sojourn between Earth and our star lasts from 11:12 until 18:42 GMT. It will not make another transit until 2019 and then 2032. The event is impossible - and dangerous - to view with the naked eye or binoculars, but astronomy groups worldwide are offering the chance view it through filtered telescopes. Live views from space and ground telescopes are also available online. They show Mercury as a tiny black circle, smaller but darker than many sunspots, slowly traversing the Sun's giant yellow disc. Where to view the transit of Mercury Mercury spins around the Sun every 88 days, but its orbit is tilted relative to the Earth's. It is that discrepancy which makes it relatively rare for the three bodies to line up in space. From western Europe, north-western Africa and much of the Americas, Mercury's seven-and-a-half-hour glide across the Sun will be visible in its entirety. A further swathe of the planet (see map below) will catch part of the transit, depending on local sunrise and sunset times. The only land masses to miss out completely are Australasia, far eastern Asia and Antarctica. Because Mercury is so small - just one-third as big as Earth and, from our perspective, 1/150th of the Sun's diameter - its transit can only be glimpsed under serious magnification; the "eclipse glasses" used by thousands of people to view last year's solar eclipse will be useless. And to avoid permanent eye damage, any telescope must be fitted with a solar filter before being trained on the Sun. The British Astronomical Association explains on its website how amateur stargazers can enjoy the spectacle safely. Open University's Prof David Rothery said the celestial event would not present any novel scientific opportunities - but was special nonetheless. "From this transit, we're unlikely to learn anything we don't already know," he told BBC Inside Science. "But what a wonderful event for showing people Mercury. It's a hard planet to see. "Historically, transits were of immense importance." In the 1700s, for example, it was observations of Mercury and Venus slipping across the Sun that allowed astronomers, led by Edmund Halley, to pin down the dimensions of the known Solar System. Prof Rothery is a Mercury expert and a leading scientist on the European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission to the diminutive planet, which will launch in 2017 or 2018. Mercury has already been visited by two Nasa probes: Mariner 10 flew past in 1974 and 1975 and Messenger spent four years in orbit until its planned crash landing in 2015. "[Messenger] told us an awful lot. It really told us we don't understand Mercury - because there's a lot of things which just don't stack up," Prof Rothery said. "It's an airless body, with lots of craters... But there's been a long history of volcanic activity, fault activity - and the composition, that began to be revealed by Messenger, is weird. "There's very little iron at the surface but it must have a ginormous iron core, because it generates a magnetic field - which Venus, Mars and the Moon don't."
Skywatchers across the globe are observing Mercury transit the Sun, the little planet's third such pass of 14 it will make this century.
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His ban is longer than the 10-game suspensions handed to Luis Suarez for biting and Rotherham defender Kirk Broadfoot for misconduct. Andrew, 29, was not punished on the field, but was later cited after a Football Association video review. Rochdale won Saturday's League One derby match 1-0 at Spotland. The usual tariff for violent conduct is three games, but that sanction was deemed insufficient by an independent disciplinary panel on Friday. Dale will be without the former Crystal Palace striker, who admitted to his violent conduct charge, until January. Former Manchester United and France forward Eric Cantona was banned for nine months for a 'kung-fu' style kick on a Crystal Palace fan in 1995. Ex-Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Bosnich was given a suspension of the same length after testing positive for cocaine in 2003.
Rochdale striker Calvin Andrew has been given a 12-game ban - one of the longest in English football history - for elbowing Oldham's Peter Clarke.
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Media playback is not supported on this device The GB1 crew were lying fourth after two runs, 0.02 seconds off bronze, but they rolled over on corner nine. Lamin Deen, Ben Simons, Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon emerged unscathed but they missed out on a fourth run for the top 20 sleds. "It's hugely disappointing," said performance director Gary Anderson. "But they are strong characters and I have no doubt they will bounce back from this and be better for it. "They have shown they are truly world-class and we need to make sure we remember that as we build towards the next Winter Olympics in two years' time. "They were on course to be within a tenth of a second off the leaders at the end of run three and would have been ahead of the eventual gold medallists going into the final run." GB's other crew, led by John Jackson, finished in 11th place, while Oskars Melbardis of Latvia took his team to gold ahead of Germany and Switzerland.
Great Britain's hopes of winning a first four-man bobsleigh medal in 77 years ended with a crash at the World Championships in Igls, Austria.
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But in the world of cricket the two proud counties could be willing to put differences aside and come together, if it offers them a chance to play at the highest level. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is currently reviewing the structure of the domestic game and one possibility could be to increase the County Championship from 18 to 21 clubs, split into three divisions, instead of the current two. It has been suggested that Ireland and Scotland could take two of the extra places, and Devon and Cornwall are willing to unite to fill the third. Devon has provided a number of well-known cricketers, including former England wicketkeeper Chris Read and brothers Craig and Jamie Overton, who play for Somerset and were recently called into the national one-day squad. Cornwall, meanwhile, had a local boy in England's 1986-87 Ashes-winning team with Surrey wicketkeeper Jack Richards, who was born in Penzance, playing in all five Tests. "I heard rumours over the winter that the ECB were looking to expand the County Championship and that they might be looking at Scotland, Ireland and one more team to join the championship," Sean Hooper, the chief executive of Cornwall Cricket Board told BBC South West. "Someone suggested it might be a combined Devon and Cornwall team and I thought 'What a great idea that is'. "In rugby, we have a lot of success with Cornish Pirates and Exeter Chiefs, so young kids have a way where they can play professional sport through rugby, but we don't have that in cricket, the nearest is Somerset which is two-and-a half-hours away, so they don't see any first class-cricketers." His Devon counterpart, Neil Gamble, is also keen on the idea, if a little more sceptical. "It's a very attractive idea, but I think there are a number of difficulties that would arise pretty fast that would make it somewhat impractical. "In the first place, there are 18 first-class counties at the moment, of whom five or six find it very difficult to survive, and only survive because of help from the ECB. "Probably, that's as many clubs as should exist, and if we try to expand the base even more, we may well have additional financial pressures on individual teams." But he added: "I think if it was a real practical possibility, I think we would subsume any rivalries and hostilities and work very hard together to make sure it was a success." The ECB is saying very little on the subject at present, apart from a statement saying that it is "at an early stage of the review process". No decision on changes to the domestic programme are expected until late November, but there is no doubt that there is an appetite for first-class cricket in the south-west area. Devon took the scalp of Leicestershire in the 2004 C&G Trophy and their one-day matches against first-class counties were always popular, with crowds of 5,000 regularly turning out at Exmouth. Gamble said: "Devon has always been quite a strong minor county. "In 1948, they applied to be first-class county to the MCC, who controlled things in those days, and they never received a reply, so it was obvious that the MCC didn't think it was a viable option." Whether or not it is viable in 2015 remains to be seen, but the will is certainly there. "I've always been a bit of an optimist and a dreamer," said Hooper. "Is it realistic? I don't know. Could it happen? Yes it could. If the ECB want to talk to Devon and myself any further we'd be really keen to pursue that conversation."
Separated by the Tamar and conflicting views about whether clotted cream or jam goes first on a scone, Devon and Cornwall have always had a keen rivalry.
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Council finance convenor Willie Young claimed pulling out could have cost the authority £100m in cancellation fees. The council later said there would be no financial penalty. SNP Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart said he had written to council chief executive Angela Scott calling for an investigation. Mr Young said earlier this week of his original comments: "It's unfortunate when I said that I wasn't in possession of all of the facts. As far as I'm concerned, having spoken to our officers, that was exactly the position that I was advised." Planning permission for the development was granted in October. Developer Muse has said it would be a "world-class development", but protesters fear it will block the view of the historic Marischal College and Provost Skene House.
An MSP has called for an investigation into whether the public has been "misled" about aspects of the Marischal Square plans in Aberdeen.
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Donetsk grew up around the works built by John Hughes of Merthyr Tydfil in the 1870s to make plating for a naval base. The settlement was originally named Hughesovka in honour of the man whose fame had reached Tsarist Russia. Writer and documentary maker Colin Thomas said of the city: "There's very much a pride in John Hughes and his achievements." John Hughes was born in 1815 in Merthyr Tydfil where he learnt his trade from his father, an engineer at Cyfarthfa ironworks. He later worked in Ebbw Vale and Newport, where he built his reputation by patenting an number of inventions in armaments and armour plating. The Millwall Engineering and Shipbuilding Company in London was sufficiently impressed to offer Hughes a seat on the board and later a directorship. The company won worldwide acclaim for its iron cladding of wooden warships for the British Admiralty, with much of the credit going to Hughes. The company received an order from the Russian Empire for the plating of a naval fortress being built at Kronstadt on the Baltic Sea. In 1870 Hughes sailed to Ukraine with eight shiploads of equipment and around a hundred specialist ironworkers and miners, mostly from south Wales, to build a metallurgical plant and rail factory. He also took his wife and eight children to start a new life thousands of miles from home. The Hughes factory gave its name to the settlement which grew in its shadow, and the town of Hughesovka (Yuzovka) grew rapidly. In developments reminiscent of the south Wales valleys, a hospital, schools, bath houses and tea rooms were provided for the community, along with a fire brigade and an Anglican church dedicated to the patron saints St George and St David. In 1889 Hughes died during a business trip to St Petersburg, and his New Russia Company was taken over by his four surviving sons. They rapidly expanded the works in the 1890s and again at the outbreak of the World War I in 1914 to produce artillery shells. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 led to the departure of almost all the company's foreign employees, but the works survived and prospered under the rule of the Communists, who renamed the city Stalino. Known since 1961 as Donetsk, it is now the fifth largest city in post-Soviet Ukraine and still a major centre for coal and steel production. Colin Thomas visited the city in 1991 with historian Prof Gwyn Alf Williams to make a TV documentary about John Hughes, and found little to celebrate the link with the Welsh industrialist. But Thomas noticed a change when he returned in 2008 to what was now an independent Ukraine to make a radio programme for the BBC. "I'd been about 20 years ago at the tail end of the communist period - there was nothing to commemorate him then," he said. "Since then they've put up a statue to him - there's some pride now in the origins of the place and its connection with John Hughes." "The hotel from that period is still there, as well as some of the houses built for the skilled workers who came over from Britain to build Hughesovka." Mr Thomas added: "When I was there the British Council were running about 24 lectures about the Welsh connection with Donetsk - all heavily oversubscribed." Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych hails from this region in the eastern, Russian-leaning part of the country. It is also home to Shakhtar Donetsk, one of Ukraine's most successful football clubs, owned by billionaire oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. The team's £256m Donbass Arena, which opened in August 2009 with a concert by pop star Beyonce, is the venue for England's Euro 2012 group matches against France on 11 June and Ukraine on 19 June. The 50,000 capacity stadium will also host Ukraine v France on 15 June, a quarter-final on 23 June and a semi-final on 27 June. In fact the city's role as a host city for Euro 2012 can also be credited to the legacy of John Hughes - its first football team was formed in 1911 as part of the Yuzovka steelworks' sports club.
The Ukrainian city where England played France in Euro 2012 owes its existence to a 19th Century Welsh ironmaster.
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Police said a 51-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of fraud in Scotland on Thursday, and is being questioned by officers in Preston. The Space Centre in Ashton thought it had secured £800,000 in grants, only to find they never existed. About 200 groups a month use the centre's facilities, which include multi-sensory areas.
A woman has been arrested over an alleged fraud at a charity for disabled people in Lancashire.
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11 February 2015 Last updated at 07:57 GMT Using his trusty metal detector, Paul Coleman dug up an old bucket which was full of silver coins around a thousand years old. In total Paul found around 5,200 of the old coins, which are worth over a million pounds in today's money. Now, the coins are now going on display at the British Museum, and historians want to find out more about who hid them all those years ago. Watch Jenny's report.
A man from Buckinghamshire has discovered thousands of ancient coins buried in the ground.
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They claim that if their funding does not improve courses could be cut, jobs could go and research work might not happen. They argue public funding from the Scottish Funding Council has fallen by 12% in real terms since 2010. Universities get their money from a wide range of sources. The Scottish government, which finances the Scottish Funding Council, argues it has invested £4bn in higher education over the past few years and is investing more than £1bn this year. Political critics claim it is underfunding universities. The warning came in evidence to MSPs on Holyrood's public audit committee on Thursday. Alastair Sim of Universities Scotland said: "We welcome the Scottish government's close engagement with the sector in recent months to try and find a way through these funding challenges together. "The government has reiterated its commitment to an excellent, competitive and accessible higher education sector. We recognise the pressures facing the Scottish budget this year and have offered a range of creative ways to make investment go further. "However, universities do need to see an end to the erosion of public funding for teaching and research in this year's budget as the first step to recovering a sustainable position. They simply cannot absorb any more cuts. We look to the December budget with confidence." The question here is whether universities receive enough money, could attract more or are always run as efficiently as they could be. The debate some in the sector want is a complex one - it is not a simple appeal for more cash from the government. Indeed solving the financial problems facing the sector is not straightforward. The current Scottish government is committed to maintaining free tuition for undergraduates and this policy is not in doubt - universities in Scotland support it. As with any business, the biggest single cost for universities is staff wages. Universities get their income from a number of sources including: The proportions vary from university to university. Most courses will have students from Scotland and the rest of the UK - many, especially at the older universities, will also have students from outside the EU. Naturally, the issue of free tuition for Scottish students is likely to attract the greatest public interest. Universities Scotland claims the money from the Scottish government to cover free tuition is not enough to cover the overall cost. The implication is that these free places are being partly subsidised by the other money universities receive. A report from the spending watchdog Audit Scotland report found that universities recovered 94% of the full economic cost of teaching publicly-funded students in 2014/15. This has since fallen to 90%, according to an analysis by Universities Scotland of the Audit Scotland data. Some universities though are in deficit overall. Gaining extra income is a challenge. Significantly increasing the income from students from outside Scotland and the EU could be difficult. There are vital questions over how many more students they could attract and find places for. The decision to leave the EU also poses a challenge to university research funding. Some fear research funding from EU-wide funding bodies will be lost. They hope the UK government will agree to keep contributing to the EU funding bodies after Brexit. The concern is that financial problems will lead to job losses and courses being cut. But because universities are independent institutions which get their money from so many different sources, simply drawing a straight line between any cuts, their overall financial situation and the amount they receive from the government is not straightforward. Although the current government would completely rule out charging students for their tuition, it could be argued that tuition fees for Scottish students could allow universities more financial flexibility. Last year Aberdeen University announced 150 job losses, blaming cuts to research funding. Further cuts came this autumn. The decision to leave the EU also poses a challenge to university funding. Some fear research funding from EU-wide funding bodies will be lost. They hope the UK government will agree to keep contributing to the EU funding bodies after Brexit. Despite the financial challenges facing Scottish universities, they have maintained their international standing in recent years - despite fears that free tuition would lead to a funding gap with the rest of the UK and cause a brain drain of the best academics and research staff. The questions and challenges here are complex, inter-related ones.
Universities are warning that current funding levels are "unsustainable".
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It says the Royal College of Midwives has overhauled its professional guidance and women will now no longer be advised that they should have babies without medical interventions, including caesareans and epidurals. In an interview with the paper, the chief executive of the RCM, Cathy Warwick, denied that what is known as the "campaign for normal birth", which has run since 2005, had compromised safety. But she said: "We don't want to contribute to any sense that a woman has failed because she hasn't had a normal birth." In an editorial, the paper says midwives are right to revisit received wisdom on what counts as a "normal birth". The paper welcomes the shift in emphasis with the focus now on what will work best for mothers and babies. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning The Guardian reports that students waiting for next week's A-level results have described the stress of sitting new, untested, qualifications, which some say they have felt ill-prepared to tackle. The paper says they are the first student cohort to be examined using a more demanding set of qualifications, brought in as part of the government's education changes. It has left them feeling like "guinea pigs", the paper says. Some students have told the paper that the changes were "rushed in" with teachers struggling to master new syllabuses and with few revision materials available. One told how they felt like a "lab rat", saying: "No past papers. No examiner reports. No practice. It's been awful". The Daily Telegraph says universities have been accused of allowing admissions to descend into a "free for all" as they battle to attract new students. The paper reports that many institutions are set to lower their entry grades drastically to entice young people after A-level results are released next week. It warns that the lifting of a number of controls in England in 2015 gave universities the freedom to recruit as many undergraduates as they wanted and it says the move has led to accusations that they now act like businesses, seeking to maximise their revenue by recruiting as many students as possible. The paper reports that some A-level pupils have been told their conditional offers - based around their predicted results - will be "upgraded" to unconditional offers if they confirm the university as their first-choice. Under the headline "How insurers rip you off" there is a warning on the front page of the Daily Mail that drivers and homeowners who opt to pay for insurance by monthly instalments are unwittingly being charged hundreds of pounds extra each year. It reports that, in some cases, those who pay monthly end up being charged £300 a year more than if they paid in a lump sum. The paper says it believes the practice has netted three of the country's largest insurance firms more than £122 million in the first six months of this year. The Daily Mirror reports that online touts are already offering tickets for Premier League fixtures before the football clubs have opened their own sales. The shadow culture secretary, Tom Watson, has described the inflated prices being charged as "obscene" and he tells the paper: "It's been taken to a whole new level where the websites can sell tickets for matches that haven't even gone on sale." Mr Watson has called for tougher action from the Premier League to tackle the issue. And the cartoonist Matt in the Daily Telegraph combines the current tensions in international relations with recent domestic concerns over contaminated food. A couple are depicted relaxing on a balcony overlooking the sea with a mushroom cloud clearly visible in the distance rising over the water. Turning to the woman, the man says: "Oh to hell with it - pass me the egg salad."
The Times leads with a report that midwives have dropped their campaign for natural childbirth on the grounds that it has been making women feel bad.
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That's why the social network has written to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) telling them to stop setting up fake accounts. Chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, instructed the DEA that their terms and conditions ban anyone from lying about who they are. The DEA is part of the US Justice Department. It is responsible for cracking down on the production, distribution and sale of illegal drugs. The issue of fake profiles has been raised by a lawsuit brought by a women from New York, Sondra Arquiett. In it she accuses a federal agent of creating a fake profile using her name and pictures from her mobile phone. It's believed the photographs were taken after she was arrested on drug charges in 2010 and her phone was seized. Ms Arquiett has claimed her identity was then used as a front to interact with "dangerous individuals". She is suing for £155,000. Facebook wants the DEA to now confirm they are no longer using fake accounts as part of their investigations. In the court papers, the Justice Department defended its actions. It said Sondra Arquiett "implicitly consented" to it using her photos and name "by granting access to the information stored in her cellphone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid it in ongoing criminal investigations". Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube
It doesn't matter who you are, Facebook's rules must be obeyed, according to Facebook.
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The Hatters, trailing 3-2 from the first leg, fell further behind when Nathan Delfouneso opened the scoring. Kelvin Mellor's own goal, Scott Cuthbert's header and Danny Hylton's penalty then hauled Luton in front. But Armand Gnanduillet made it 5-5 on aggregate, before Stuart Moore's own goal sent the visitors to Wembley. Goalkeeper Moore's misfortunate capped an incredible night of League Two play-off action, as Exeter City beat Carlisle United in the other semi-final - also 6-5 on aggregate and also courtesy of a 95th-minute winner. The Grecians had looked to be coasting towards the final on Sunday, 28 May before Carlisle scored two late goals to level the tie. But Jack Stacey's spectacular long-range strike in stoppage time means Blackpool will face Exeter in the Wembley showpiece. Having only confirmed their place in the play-offs on the final day of the regular season, the Tangerines' passage to the final appeared a straightforward one when Delfouneso put them 4-2 ahead on aggregate. But Luton, roared on by a partisan home crowd, battled back and deservedly levelled the tie by half-time of the second leg through a Mellor own goal and Cuthbert's well-placed header. They completed the turnaround early in the second half in controversial circumstances - striker Hylton appeared to dive to win the penalty with which he made it 5-4 on aggregate, a chipped Panenka effort that went in off the bar. Blackpool were not to be outdone, however, and the impressive Gnanduillet headed in to level matters and send the last-four match towards extra time. But, as at St James Park, there was more drama to come when Jordan Cook tried to clear Mellor's header off the line, but instead hit the back of Moore and the ball crept into the net to send Blackpool, who have dropped from the top tier to the fourth tier in the space of six years, into the final. Luton Town manager Nathan Jones: "I'm a bit shaken. We showed we are a good side but also that we are a naive side at times. We dominated and were excellent the way we played. "I'm really proud of my team. We were in total control of the game and two little incidents cost us the game. Up until 75 minutes we were in total control." Blackpool manager Gary Bowyer: "We gifted them two goals. But the courage these boys had to come back was brilliant. "We knew if we could get to 3-2 they'd be nervy - as all teams are - but it was amazing the bravery they had to play still. "It's what you play football for, and you have to realise what these supporters have been through the last few years. "We were 14th on 14 February and have gone on the run, we've come here to the favourites in the play-offs and won." Match ends, Luton Town 3, Blackpool 3. Second Half ends, Luton Town 3, Blackpool 3. Own Goal by Stuart Moore, Luton Town. Luton Town 3, Blackpool 3. Attempt blocked. Kelvin Mellor (Blackpool) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ian Black with a cross. Corner, Blackpool. Conceded by Glen Rea. Attempt blocked. Neil Danns (Blackpool) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Kelvin Mellor. Attempt saved. Armand Gnanduillet (Blackpool) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Brad Potts. Attempt missed. Ian Black (Blackpool) right footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Bright Samuel following a corner. Corner, Blackpool. Conceded by Stuart Moore. Attempt missed. Bright Samuel (Blackpool) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high. Assisted by Armand Gnanduillet. Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Tom Aldred. Corner, Blackpool. Conceded by Dan Potts. Attempt saved. Brad Potts (Blackpool) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Bright Samuel. Attempt missed. Mark Cullen (Blackpool) header from the centre of the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Bright Samuel with a cross. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Mark Cullen (Blackpool) because of an injury. Substitution, Luton Town. Jordan Cook replaces Olly Lee. Attempt missed. Olly Lee (Luton Town) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Dan Potts with a cross. Offside, Blackpool. Ian Black tries a through ball, but Mark Cullen is caught offside. Olly Lee (Luton Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Olly Lee (Luton Town). Brad Potts (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt missed. Bright Samuel (Blackpool) right footed shot from the left side of the box is too high. Assisted by Armand Gnanduillet. Isaac Vassell (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Mark Cullen (Blackpool). Goal! Luton Town 3, Blackpool 2. Armand Gnanduillet (Blackpool) header from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Mark Cullen. Substitution, Blackpool. Bright Samuel replaces Andy Taylor. Pelly Ruddock (Luton Town) wins a free kick on the left wing. Foul by Neil Danns (Blackpool). Attempt missed. Armand Gnanduillet (Blackpool) header from the centre of the box misses to the left following a corner. Corner, Blackpool. Conceded by Alan Sheehan. Corner, Blackpool. Conceded by James Justin. Foul by Pelly Ruddock (Luton Town). Ian Black (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt saved. Danny Hylton (Luton Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Pelly Ruddock. Attempt missed. Danny Hylton (Luton Town) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Olly Lee. Attempt blocked. Glen Rea (Luton Town) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Alan Sheehan with a headed pass. Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Kelvin Mellor. Attempt saved. Clark Robertson (Blackpool) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ian Black with a cross. Corner, Blackpool. Conceded by Pelly Ruddock.
Blackpool reached the League Two play-off final as an injury-time own goal ended Luton's promotion hopes at the end of a remarkable, see-sawing tie.
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A Stephen Cole goal gave Ireland an early lead which they held until the end of the first quarter. However, second-quarter goals from Simon Gougnard and Cedric Charlier helped Belgium lead 3-1 at half-time. With Tom Boom notching a hat-trick, Belgium moved 6-1 ahead before Alan Sothern's late reply. Ireland keeper David Harte made a series of brilliant saves - including taking a point-blank shot on his mask in the third quarter as the Olympic silver medallists produced relentless pressure. "Belgium are a good team and have got a lot of power in a lot of areas," said Ireland coach Craig Fulton after the game in Johannesburg. "Their corners are a strength so when you give away soft ones, it does hurt you. We had a good few phases but couldn't sustain it for longer periods." Despite the loss, Ireland are next in action against Egypt on Thursday where a win will assure Fulton's side of a place in the quarter-finals and a big step toward securing a 2018 World Cup ticket. "It's about the next game and there are some areas to improve on but I am really looking forward to the next phase," Fulton added. The Irish will qualify for the 2018 World Cup if they finish in the top five in the 10-team tournament in Johannesburg. Ireland, who defeated hosts South Africa 2-0 in their opener on Sunday, will also play Egypt and Germany in Group B. The Irish side went into the tournament as the fifth highest ranked of the competing nations. Ireland squad: David Harte (GK), Jamie Carr (GK), John Jackson, Jonathan Bell, Matthew Bell, Chris Cargo, Matthew Nelson, Alan Sothern, Eugene Magee, Neal Glassey, Shane O Donoghue, Sean Murray, John McKee, Paul Gleghorne, Jeremy Duncan, Conor Harte, Stuart Loughrey, Stephen Cole.
Ireland's hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup suffered a setback as they were beaten 6-2 by Belgium at the World League semi-finals tournament.
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Kettering General Hospital cancelled routine operations and some outpatients clinics on Friday for doctors and nurses to deal with over capacity. The hospital said it would see patients who need emergency surgery. In-patient paediatrics, obstetrics and accident and emergency services are all under threat at the hospital. A review is proposing the services are offered at two hospitals covering Kettering, Luton, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Bedford. Last month it emerged that "partnership" talks were taking place between Kettering General Hospital and Northampton General Hospital.
Operations at a Northamptonshire hospital where services are under threat have been cancelled due to a "surge" in A&E cases.
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Kane broke through the Saints defensive line and finished coolly for a 10th goal in his past 10 games. Soon after, Dele Alli benefitted from some lax defending to score from close range and put Spurs firmly in control. Spurs managed the game superbly in the second half against a Saints side who are now without a win in six matches. It represents a shocking start to what Southampton manager Ronald Koeman had described as a crucial two weeks for his team, who remain seven points clear of the relegation zone but in need of an upturn in form to avoid slipping closer to danger. In contrast, Tottenham gave the perfect riposte to last weekend's surprise defeat at home to Newcastle with a professional performance to take them to 29 points from 17 league games. For much of the first half, it was an even encounter between the sides, but Tottenham seized a control they would not relinquish with two goals in the space of three minutes just before half-time. In Kane, they had the one quality striker on the pitch and he proved his class with a superb show of strength, skill and composure to give them the lead. Erik Lamela broke on the halfway line and found Alli, who managed to move the ball on to Kane shortly before being taken out by a wild challenge from Jose Fonte. Kane did the rest, darting between two home players before poking the ball past Virgil van Dijk, running in on goal and finishing neatly past Southampton keeper Paulo Gazzaniga for the 47th goal of his Spurs career. Clearly shaken, Southampton gifted the visitors a second as the excellent Alli went from provider to scorer, finishing unchallenged at the back post after Kyle Walker's low cross made its way through a host of static defenders. During their poor recent run, Koeman has complained that his side's biggest problem has been a failure to convert the numerous chances they have created. This was certainly the case in the opening 20 minutes on Saturday as Sadio Mane spurned a number of good opportunities. The best two saw the forward's angled drive blocked by the boot of former Saints defender Toby Alderweireld, before Hugo Lloris saved his first-time shot from the edge of the area. Having conceded twice before the break, Southampton failed to recover as Tottenham withheld their limp and increasingly desperate forays forward with ease. They only seriously threatened in added time when Lloris produced a superb low save to palm away a shot from substitute James Ward-Prowse, but by then it was a case of much too little, way too late. Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino left Southampton to take over at Spurs in May 2014, following 18 months in which he helped sculpt Saints into an effective Premier League outfit. It has taken time for the Argentine's preferred high-energy pressing game to bed in at White Hart Lane but, with the addition of the likes of Alli in midfield, Alderweireld in defence and significant contributions from Lloris and Kane at either end, they are reaping the rewards. Prior to Saturday, they had given away more points - 11 - from winning positions than any other Premier League club this season, including three last Sunday against Newcastle, which can be an unfortunate by-product of such an attacking style. However, Tottenham ensured they did not add to this unwanted stat with a pragmatic and intelligent display in the second half to see the game out, playing largely in the Saints half to earn a deserved and impressive win. Media playback is not supported on this device Southampton manager Ronald Koeman: "If you analyse the game and watch the first goal, I am very worried because the defending was at amateur level and not the level you need to win this kind of game. It was so naive. "One of my criticisms this season is that we are too nice people. Until the first goal, Southampton was the better team but they showed us what is a 'killing mentality'. They won the battles and second balls and were more clever in one-on-one situations. "It might also be about confidence, but we need to be more clinical. If you get three or four good chances, you have to score. We maybe need to change players because they are not responding to our strategy." Media playback is not supported on this device Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: "I am very happy because it was a very difficult game. Southampton are a very good team and the first 20 minutes were difficult but after that we settled and managed the game and deserved our victory. "I am pleased with the victory after a difficult week and after our defeat by Newcastle. "The table is not the important thing at the moment. We need to keep working hard because the Premier League is very tough." Southampton are at home again in a week's time, on Boxing Day, when they face Tottenham's north-London rivals Arsenal at St Mary's. Tottenham's 26 December fixture is against Norwich, who beat Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Harry Kane scored on his 100th Tottenham appearance as they moved into the Premier League top four with victory at struggling Southampton.
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David Goodwillie, who has played for Dundee United and Aberdeen, was not represented by a legal team in court. Judge Lord Armstrong asked him: "I take it by your presence you wish to insist on your defence in this action?" Mr Goodwillie replied: "Yes." The player has denied raping the woman at a flat in Armadale, West Lothian. The Court of Session in Edinburgh was told that the solicitors who previously represented Mr Goodwillie had withdrawn, prompting the Plymouth Argyle striker's personal appearance on his own behalf. Lord Armstrong told Mr Goodwillie, 27, that it was open to him to seek other lawyers to act for him and that the Law Society of Scotland could assist. The judge said there was an issue that could arise if the footballer continued to be unrepresented. This related to him questioning, in cross-examination, the woman who has brought the action. "If it is thought appropriate that arrangements or adjustments could be put in place, I will obviously consider that," Lord Armstrong said. Simon Di Rollo QC, for the woman, said the matter had been discussed with her but that it had been on "a hypothetical situation". A rape accused in the criminal courts in Scotland is prohibited from personally questioning an alleged victim. The woman raised a £500,000 damages action against Mr Goodwillie, who has also played for Blackburn Rovers, and another footballer, David Robertson. The 30-year-old woman claims she was raped by both men in the early hours of 2 January 2011 at a flat in Armadale. She said she had been at a bar and nightclub and alleges that she was "visibly and obviously severely intoxicated". The woman maintains that when sex took place she was incapable of free agreement because of the effect of drink. She claims that both men were aware that she was incapable of giving free agreement to the sexual conduct. Both men deny the allegations and maintain sexual intercourse was consensual. Earlier this week, Lord Armstrong refused a bid to overturn a decision that the player would set aside £100,000 ahead of the proceedings. His lawyers had previously agreed to the move to allow the sale of his house in Scotland to go through. But they maintained that if the order was not recalled, he faced being left without legal representation for the complex and lengthy civil court action because he had no other available funds. The solicitor advocate then acting for him, Jonathan Nisbet, said the property had been sold but Mr Goodwillie had anticipated receiving a larger sum for it than he did. He had expected it would sell for £380,000 but it went for £40,000 less and the mortgage repayment figure was higher than anticipated. "The net effect is he has been left with £100,000," he said. Mr Nisbet added: "The difficulty this presents for him is he has no money other than the £100,000 to pay for his legal representation." He said that if the order was not recalled, it was likely that his agents would withdraw. It was estimated it would cost about £90,000 for agents and counsel to defend him. The court was earlier told that the woman's lawyers now valued the claim, if successful, at approximately £250,000.
A former Scotland international footballer has told a judge he will be defending a damages claim brought by a woman who alleges he raped her.
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Sendles-White was released by Swindon in May after making 17 appearances. The 23-year-old, capped 12 times by Northern Ireland at under-21 level, started his career at QPR and has also had spells with Hamilton and Mansfield. Dayton, 28, most recently played for Cheltenham Town, where he turned out 36 times for the club last season.
Leyton Orient have signed defender Jamie Sendles-White on a one-year deal and midfielder James Dayton on a two-year contract.
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Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed M'khaitir was arrested in January 2014 for an article criticising those who use religion as a means of discrimination. M'khaitir has apologised and said he never meant to insult the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. The Supreme Court can pardon him if it feels his repentance is sincere. The original announcement of his death sentence was met with public celebrations, the AFP news agency reports. Mauritania last applied the death penalty in 1987. The blogger, who is in his early thirties, had posted an article on the Aqlame newspaper's website in December 2013 that was later taken down as it was deemed blasphemous towards the Prophet Muhammad. It reportedly criticised Mauritania's caste system, a sensitive subject in a country with deep social and racial divisions, and criticised those who used religion to marginalise certain groups. Apostasy, which means the abandonment of one's religious faith, is considered a criminal offence in many Muslim countries. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the appeal court hearing on Thursday was held under tight security - and it condemned the ruling. "This mockery of a judicial process, which could end someone's life for writing an article, should be consigned to the history books," the international press freedom group's Sherif Mansour said in a statement. Under Mauritanian law, if the Supreme Court rules that a defendant is repentant, it can reduce the sentence to up to two years in jail and up to about $173 (£120), the CPJ reports. Last year, Mauritania introduced a tough new anti-slavery law which makes the offence a "crime against humanity". The country had abolished slavery in 1981, but activists said it was still widely practised and many in the West African country inherit their slave status.
An appeal court in Mauritania has upheld the death sentence of a blogger convicted of apostasy, but referred his case to the Supreme Court.
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The men were executed at jails in Karachi and Hyderabad. They hijacked a Pakistan International Airlines flight in May 1998 and ordered the pilot to fly to India but the plane was diverted and stormed by troops. Pakistan has put at least 130 people to death since lifting a moratorium on executions in December. The men - Shabbir Rind, Shahsawar Baloch and Sabir Rind - were members of the left-wing Baloch Students' Organisation (BSO), who were demanding more resources, such as gas and electricity, for their region. They were sentenced to be executed in October 1998 but remained on death row until a moratorium on executions was lifted after the Peshawar school massacre. Four other men were hanged on Thursday at jails across the country. They were convicted in murder cases and were not linked to the hijackers. PIA flight 554 took off from Turbat, in the south of Balochistan, and was heading for Karachi when the attackers boarded during a stop-over in Gwadar. They commandeered the Fokker shortly after take-off, and demanded the captain fly directly to Delhi. He told them there was not enough fuel, but agreed to bring the plane as far as Bhuj, an airstrip in Gujrat, India. Instead, he landed in Hyderabad where security forces were waiting. BBC Urdu's Riaz Sohail in Karachi reports that in order to let the hijackers think they were in India, authorities banned the use of loudspeakers in mosques around the airport. Troops then stormed the plane and overpowered the hijackers. Passengers and crew were unharmed. The hijacking on 24 May came just four days before Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in Balochistan, which the BSO opposed. The province is one of the most underdeveloped regions in the country and has become the site of a long-running conflict between separatists and security forces.
Pakistan has hanged three Baloch insurgents, 17 years after they hijacked a passenger plane with 30 people on board.
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The Church of Ireland parish invited Elvis impersonator Andy Rogers to lead the service through the music of The King. American flags adorned the altar as Rev Paul Hoey took to his feet to encourage the congregation to "sing, dance, clap and enjoy the music". Most of all he asked them "to be open to the message of the songs". The opening song eased the audience in with Swing Down Sweet Chariot blending spiritualism and Elvis. People had come from as far afield as Belfast and Dungannon to enjoy the night, and all denominations and religions were welcomed. Rev Hoey, who organised the event near Londonderry, said the service - the first of its kind in Northern Ireland - was "partly an Elvis gig and partly an act of worship". "Last year I heard Andy Rodgers sing at a concert," he said. "As I listened it began to dawn on me how many of the songs related to the message of the Church." There was an excited if hesitant atmosphere among congregants. "At first, I thought it was a bit unusual but I'm looking forward to it now," said one parishioner. The Elvis-inspired service featured the rock'n roll hits Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up as well as gospel tracks Take My Hand Precious Lord and How Great Thou Art. Upon seeing the church was packed to the rafters - and there actually were rafters - Reverend Hoey indicated that the church could maybe repeat the event, but change the theme. "It's proven so popular, who knows what's next? Maybe Johnny Cash."
Almost 200 people gathered at St Canice's Church, Eglinton, on Sunday night for a rather unusual service.
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Dobey, 26, reached the last eight of the Grand Slam of Darts in November and also appeared in the European Championship in 2016. Pipe won their previous meeting 6-4 in Coventry in May. "You can't be friends on stage, you've got to want to beat who's in front of you," Dobey told BBC Newcastle. "He's a great lad, I've played him before and he's got his own style. Some people don't like the way he plays, he's quite a slow player. I respect him, I'm looking forward to it." Northumbrian Dobey's rise to earning a place at the World Championship is reward for a rapid progression through the professional ranks. "I was more into football at an earlier age, but darts is something I'm good at," Dobey added. "It's more a natural talent, my dad, grandfather and uncles all played, I've just come on the scene playing five or six years and came along the last year or so. "I'm enjoying it and doing well, which is a bonus."
Bedlington's Chris Dobey says friendship will be put aside for his PDC World Championship first-round tie against Justin Pipe.
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His answer to a question in the chamber - the old one up the hill, that is, not the new one - was slowly approximating to a conclusion. You could see Mr McConnell concluding that he had troubled the chamber long enough on the particular topic, whose details I forget. He told MSPs: "I'm haverin' so I'll sit down." And he did. As a statement, it struck me as perfect. Innately truthful, notably concise - and eminently inclusive, in that he cleared the floor for others to intervene. If only, I thought at the time, more politicians would follow this admirable example. It would seem that I am not alone in sharing that view, as witness sundry noises off during the latest round of questions to the First Minister at Holyrood. Incidentally, I say "as I recall" re the event chronicled earlier. Despite years of admittedly sporadic research, I have been unable to find those fine and noble sentiments listed in the Official Report of Parliament. It could be, I suspect, that the Official Reporters - themselves fine and noble - regarded the former FM's comment at the time as an obiter dictum, heard in court but not legally binding nor setting a precedent. Bear in mind that their version of proceedings, while an extremely accurate report, is not absolutely a word for word record. Many a politician, past and present, has been decidedly grateful for that fact. Lord McConnell, to be fair, was not much given to havering; less so indeed than contemporaries. So it was particularly gallant of him to fess up. Still, back to today. The front bench exchanges were about education. Perhaps the topic infested the discourse - but the verbiage back and forwards did seem rather longer than is regularly the case, like a weary lecturer diluting a pint of material to fill a quart pot. Certainly, James Kelly, Labour's Parliamentary Business Manager, thought so. On a point of order at the close, he complained that exchanges involving the four party leaders had occupied twenty five minutes of the half hour allotted for questioning the FM. What, he declared, of back benchers? At this point, you could see one or two indications of agreement from across the chamber. Mr Kelly was sounding inclusive. But it all went agley - as such schemes, the poet tells us, often do - when Mr Kelly tried to blame the First Minister in particular for offering "speeches rather than answers". That generated a partisan rumble of discontent from the SNP ranks. Speaking up for back benchers was one thing. Dissing Nicola was another. Up with this they would not put. In emollient mood, the Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick said she would review the day's proceedings. (May I commend BBC Democracy Live to you, PO?) If necessary, she would speak to Business Managers, including Kelly, J. But earlier the PO had herself displayed eminent economy of language. Faced with an unruly chamber, she shouted: "Wheesht!" A Scots term urging silence which I regularly deploy when herding politicians in broadcast debates. Perhaps Ms Marwick might consider its wider use. Instead of simply demanding order, might she use a haver meter - and intervene when a front bench contribution is trying the patience even more than usual? I know, I know, inconceivable. As to the education exchanges today, they resembled somewhat a university tutorial. Both the questions and the answers meandered more or less purposefully through extant knowledge, with much reference to established sources. There was less in the way of innovative thinking. The task of opening the seminar fell, as it does, to Labour's Kezia Dugdale - currently a senior thane but, who knows, destined for the crown hereafter. She tried to trap the FM with a multiple choice question on attainment, bursaries and student debt. The answers she wanted were "rubbish, down and up", in that order. Unaccountably, Nicola Sturgeon declined to follow the guide, preferring her own analysis: that things were improving but had a way to go. There were comparable exchanges with Willie Rennie of the Lib Dems and Ruth Davidson of the Tories. In response to Ms Davidson, the FM suggested she was looking at some means of assessing progress by primary school pupils that would provide a more consistent picture across Scotland. Details, she said, to follow. And there's more! Those talented individuals who toil producing the Official Report at Holyrood are plainly assiduous readers of this site. They remember Jack McConnell's comments - but reckon I got the word wrong. They say that, rather than havering, he waffled. And they have found the report in question. It notes the former FM as saying: "My apologies, Presiding Officer, I started waffling there. I will drop it at that." So different choice of language. But identical sentiment and impact. Excellent. Genuinely excellent. Don't you love the by-ways of politics?
As I recall, one of the finest contributions to Scottish Parliamentary discourse came from the former First Minister Jack, now Lord, McConnell.
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IT consultant Chris Norman, 62, received the Legion d'honneur from French President Francois Hollande, alongside three Americans, in Paris. The passengers overpowered an armed suspected radical Islamist on a high-speed train bound for Paris on Friday. Mr Hollande said the men "gave a lesson in courage, in will, and thus in hope", during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace. French authorities are questioning the suspect, Moroccan national Ayoub El-Khazzani, 25. Mr Norman had told a press conference he decided to act because he thought he was "probably going to die anyway". "I'd rather die being active, trying to get him down, than simply sit in the corner and be shot," he said. Speaking after the ceremony, Mr Norman, who lives in France, said: "I'm just amazed, and I really appreciate the honour I've been given, this recognition of what we did. "But I really don't know whether I deserve it." Mr Hollande said Mr Norman, and Americans Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, and Anthony Sadler, showed "that faced with terror, we have the power to resist". He told the four men the entire world admired their courage and "spirit of solidarity", adding they "must be an example for all, and a source of inspiration". A spokesman for Number 10 said the prime minister had praised the "extraordinary courage" of the men, saying "the bravery of Mr Norman and the other passengers helped to prevent a terrible incident". Mr Stone and Mr Skarlatos are members of the Air Force and the National Guard respectively. They were travelling on the train from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday evening with their childhood friend Mr Sadler, who also helped to restrain the attacker. The incident happened when a French passenger tried to enter a toilet on the train and encountered the gunman. He tried to overpower him and the gun was then fired. A French-American passenger was injured by the bullet, and the American passengers intervened shortly afterward. At a press conference at the US Embassy in Paris on Sunday, Mr Stone said: "We ran down, tackled him and hit the ground. "Alek tackled him and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a chokehold. It seemed like he kept on pulling more weapons - left and right. "He pulled out a handgun. Alek took that. He took out a box cutter and was jabbing at me with that. We let go and all three of us started punching him while he was in the middle of us. "I was able to grab him again and choke him unconscious while Alek was hitting him in the head with the pistol or rifle." Two other unnamed passengers will receive the honour at a later date.
A British man who helped foil a suspected terror attack on a train has been given France's top bravery honour.
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