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Shaun Lang was under surveillance when police saw him moving a bag from one car to another, in the city's Anniesland area, on 9 July last year. The 24-year-old, from Caldercruix, North Lanarkshire, was arrested after the bag was found to contain almost 1kg of cocaine. Lang admitted being concerned in the supply of the drug. |
He had been indicted in connection with post-election ethnic violence in 2007-08, in which 1,200 people died. Mr Kenyatta, who had denied the charges, said he felt "vindicated". The prosecutor's office said the Kenyan government had refused to hand over evidence vital to the case. Mr Kenyatta said he was "excited" and "relieved" at the dropping of charges. "My conscience is absolutely clear," he said, adding that his case had been "rushed there without proper investigation". Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said her government would try to have two other similar cases thrown out including one involving Deputy President William Ruto. "As they say, one case down, two more to go," Mr Kenyatta said on Twitter. On Wednesday, the ICC had given prosecutors a week to decide whether to pursue their case against Mr Kenyatta or withdraw charges. Further delays in the case would be "contrary to the interests of justice", it had said. On Friday, prosecutors said the evidence had "not improved to such an extent that Mr Kenyatta's alleged criminal responsibility can be proven beyond reasonable doubt". The BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague said the announcement was a huge blow to prosecutors. Many observers had seen the case against Mr Kenyatta as the biggest test in the court's history, she says. Mr Kenyatta was the first head of state to appear before the court, after he was charged in 2012. The prosecution repeatedly asked for more time to build its case, saying witnesses had been bribed and intimidated, and the Kenyan government had refused to hand over documents vital to the case. Human Rights Watch had accused the Kenyan government of acting as a roadblock and "impairing the search for truth". Mr Kenyatta denied inciting ethnic violence following the disputed 2007 elections in order to secure victory for then-President Mwai Kibaki. He has repeatedly accused the ICC of pursuing a political prosecution. On Friday, he again criticised the legal process, saying: "The prosecutor opted to selectively pursue cases in a blatantly biased manner that served vested interests and undermined justice. "As a result, the court has had to pay a steep reputational price, which it will continue to face unless a serious and systemic rethinking of the international justice framework is undertaken." Mr Kenyatta won Kenya's presidential elections in 2013, with the backing of Mr Kibaki. He used the ICC case against him to rally nationalist support by accusing the Dutch-based court of meddling in Kenya's affairs. About 1,200 people were killed in the violence in 2007-8 and 600,000 were displaced. Fergal Gaynor, a lawyer who represents victims of the violence, told the BBC's Foucs on Africa programme that there was a "widespread feeling of disappointment" at the dropping of the case against Mr Kenyatta. He said there had been a "well-organised and systematic effort to undermine the ICC justice process and much of the blame for that can be laid with President Kenyatta's government". Mr Gaynor said the victims had been "robbed" of justice and there |
Motorola won an injunction over Apple products that used patents relating to data transmission technology in February 2012. Apple offered to pay Motorola a licence fee for using the patents - but the two companies could not agree on a price. Apple products, including the iPhone, were taken off sale during the dispute. Several models of the smartphone, and the iPad, were removed from sale on Apple's German website - but were still available in other stores in the country. The dispute revolves around the use of what are known as standard-essential patents (SEPs) - patents that are deemed essential to the operation of standards such as mobile phone signal. In this case Motorola's innovation is deemed crucial to the GPRS data transmission standard used by GSM cellular networks across the world. Holders of SEPs are obliged to licence the patent's use to competitors in return for a fee on so-called fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (Frand) terms. In simpler terms - a fair price. The EU Competition Commission argued that Motorola sought an injunction despite Apple's apparent willingness to enter an agreement. In a statement, the commission said: "while recourse to injunctions is a possible remedy for patent infringements, such conduct may be abusive where standard-essential patents are concerned and the potential licensee is willing to enter into a licence on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms." EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia added: "The protection of intellectual property is a cornerstone of innovation and growth. But so is competition. "I think that companies should spend their time innovating and competing on the merits of the products they offer - not misusing their intellectual property rights to hold up competitors to the detriment of innovation and consumer choice." The commission's stance forms part of its "preliminary view" on the case. Motorola is able to defend its position ahead of the final decision. Motorola spokeswoman Katie Dove told AFP: "We agree with the European Commission that injunctions should only be sought against unwilling licensees and, in this case, Motorola Mobility followed the procedure established. "Apple had to make six offers before the court recognised them as a willing licensee." |
These words open a chilling new documentary telling the hidden story of the Disappeared; at least 15 people who were murdered and buried in secret graves by the IRA during Northern Ireland's Troubles. Some of their bodies have never been found. Presenter Darragh MacIntyre hears the previously untold stories of many of the relatives left to grieve for decades while never quite knowing the fate of their loved ones. The voice of Seamus Heaney reading his poem, the Bog Queen, can be heard at the start and end of the programme over stark footage of the vast marshlands in various parts of the Republic of Ireland where the bodies are believed to lie within. One family that did finally receive closure was that of Jean McConville, a widow and mother-of-10 who was dragged from her home in west Belfast. Her body was recovered in 2003 on a beach in County Louth in the Republic of Ireland. Her daughter Agnes gives her first broadcast interview since her mother's remains were discovered. In one poignant moment, her interview is intercut with footage of her as a child just weeks after her mother's disappearance where she says: "We'll keep our fingers crossed and pray for her to come back." While the dramatic story initially attracted the attention of the media in the weeks around Christmas 1972, republicans sent out the message that she was merely "in hiding" because of the publicity; headlines like "Missing mother reported to be back in Belfast" began emerging. Agnes McConville said she and her siblings were hearing a different story "Children growing up around Divis flats would hear what their parents were saying. Your mummy's a tout, she's this and that, your mummy will never be back, she's gone with a British soldier - this wasn't coming from the adults, it was coming from the children," she said. Within months the children were split up in various care homes across Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is repeatedly pressed in the documentary about allegations he was involved in the disappearance of Mrs McConville - allegations he repeatedly rejects. Documentary maker Alison Millar said when she saw the moving footage from 1972 of the McConville children talking about their mother, she had been determined to track down Agnes. "She had never seen the famous clip, and she just kept saying 'they could have killed me, I said all that as a child, where did I get the strength from?'" She said the access they got to the families involved a period of building up a rapport. "We started meeting families 18 months ago and we didn't start filming until early this year," she said. "A lot of my work is from that tradition of film-making where most of your time is tea and biscuits, and the last bit is where you work it all out. "The relationships were built up by both myself and Darragh by just talking to people." This intimacy has led to moving encounters with |
Media playback is not supported on this device Champions Glasgow led 5-3 at the break through Lee Jones' early try and Ruan Pienaar replying with a penalty. Callum Black, making his 100th appearance for Ulster, scored his first try for the province after 53 minutes. Paddy Jackson's conversion and penalty put Ulster 13-5 ahead before Taqele Naiyaravoro's injury-time try gave the visitors a losing bonus point. Glasgow finished with 14 players after number eight Ryan Wilson was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle in the 71st minute. In a fast-paced game, Ulster dominated territory in the first half but coughed up seven turnovers, several in the red zone with the try-line beckoning. Ruan Pienaar shanked an easy chance to put Ulster ahead, missing a seventh minute penalty in what was his first kick at goal in this season's Pro12 campaign. After their well-worked try, Glasgow spent long spells on the back foot with the pace of Craig Gilroy and Paul Marshall causing problems. Gilroy made a great outside break after Stuart Olding carved the visitors open from inside his own 22 before Ali Price made a try-saving tackle. Paul Marshall, an early replacement for Pienaar who was forced off with suspected concussion, thought he scored five minutes before the interval but was judged to not have grounded the ball. The defending champions, who won the title on this ground last year, were missing 10 frontline players away on Six Nations duty with Scotland and had only won once away from home this season in all competitions. Both teams started with inexperienced players at fly-half and Gregor Hunter missed a chance to extend Glasgow's lead with a missed penalty in the 48th minute. Sam Windsor made his first start for Ulster at 10, but Paddy Jackson was introduced at the break having been released from the Ireland training squad on Thursday and controlled the shape of Ulster's play in the second half. There were lots of opportunities for the backs to get their hands on the ball in a fast-paced game and yet another break and off-load by Gilroy carved out the all-important try for Ulster. In the 10th phase after Gilroy's initial break, Black bundled over from close range and Jackson added the extras, and later added a penalty to stretch Ulster's lead. Glasgow grabbed an all-important losing bonus point when Taqele Naiyaravoro gathered a crossfield kick to score in the corner. Ulster: S Olding; C Gilroy, D Cave, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; S Windsor, R Pienaar; C Black, R Herring (capt), R Lutton; A O'Connor, F van der Merwe; R Diack, S Reidy, N Williams. Replacements: P Marshall for Pienaar (30), P Jackson for Windsor (HT). J Andrew for Herring (43), C Henry for Reidy (53), K McCall for Black (57), R Wilson for Williams (63), B Ross for Lutton (76) Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie; L Jones, G Bryce, S Johnson, R Hughes; G Hunter, Ali Price; R Grant, P MacArthur, S Puafisi; G Peterson, L Nakarawa; R Harley, S |
In 2013, Ethan Couch killed four people when he rammed his truck into a crowd, but he avoided prison. On Wednesday, the 19-year-old was ordered to serve four consecutive 180-day jail sentences - one for each of his victims. He broke his probation when he fled to Mexico in December. It is thought he took flight because a video emerged of him at a house party, and any evidence he had been drinking alcohol might have seen him put behind bars. A psychologist at his original trial argued that his privileged upbringing meant his parents had not taught the then 16-year-old a sense of responsibility. The expert called the condition "affluenza", a term not recognised by the American Psychiatric Association. Couch was sentenced to 10 years' probation and a stint in a rehabilitation centre. That sentence was roundly criticised at the time as too lenient. Although prosecutors were limited due to Couch's age, his current sentence was longer than expected. If he had violated his probation as an adult, he could have faced decades in prison. No longer a minor, Couch will serve his time in an adult prison. |
Sumaya Rajab said that more than 20 police vehicles had been sent to detain him. The activist has served several prison sentences since setting up the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights in 2002. Human Rights First said the arrest was an "alarming setback" to hopes for easing the nation's political crisis. Bahrain's Sunni Muslim rulers forcibly quelled a 2011 uprising which had been triggered in large part by unrest among the Shia Muslim majority. Sumaya Rajab said her husband was arrested at 14:15 local time (15:16 GMT). She said: "There were a lot of police, many more than needed to arrest one man. My relatives counted more than 20 police vehicles. "Nabeel was sleeping and my daughter woke him to say the police had come. I went to the gate and asked what they were doing. They showed me an arrest warrant that said he was being arrested for tweets he had made about torture in Jaw prison." Mr Rajab has already been charged over another tweet he sent in September in which suggested that security institutions in Bahrain served as what he called an "ideological incubator" for jihadists. He was released on bail and his next court appearance on that charge is schedule for 14 April. Human Rights First said Thursday's arrest was "the latest in a string of actions that should give Washington pause as it considers whether to lift restrictions on sending arms to the kingdom". |
Smith cancelled out Daniel O'Shaughnessy's opener for Cheltenham to continue the sequence that every meeting between the clubs has finished all square. The Robins had a penalty appeal waved away in the fourth minute after Danny Wright went down under a challenge from Michael Doyle. Pompey's best effort of the first half was a diving header from Carl Baker well saved by Russell Griffiths four minutes before the break. The away team started the second half strongly, Gary Roberts being played in on goal by Gareth Evans in the 47th minute, but Griffiths saved well. Conor Chaplin then had a header blocked in the six-yard box before Kyle Bennett's shot cannoned off the left post. Cheltenham broke the deadlock in the 65th minute when James Rowe's free-kick was helped on by Pell, nodded down by Wright and, after Pompey failed to clear, it was fired into the net by O'Shaughnessy. Rob Dickie missed a good chance to make it 2-0 before Portsmouth levelled in the 82nd minute when Griffiths spilled Baker's cross, presenting Smith with a tap-in. Report supplied by Press Association Match ends, Cheltenham Town 1, Portsmouth 1. Second Half ends, Cheltenham Town 1, Portsmouth 1. Hand ball by Kal Naismith (Portsmouth). Foul by Daniel Wright (Cheltenham Town). Michael Doyle (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Substitution, Cheltenham Town. Easah Suliman replaces Jack Barthram. Substitution, Cheltenham Town. Jordan Cranston replaces Daniel O'Shaughnessy. Attempt saved. Kal Naismith (Portsmouth) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Foul by Enda Stevens (Portsmouth). James Rowe (Cheltenham Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Michael Doyle (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Daniel Wright (Cheltenham Town). Attempt missed. Carl Baker (Portsmouth) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Attempt missed. Carl Baker (Portsmouth) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Foul by Daniel Wright (Cheltenham Town). Christian Burgess (Portsmouth) wins a free kick on the left wing. Goal! Cheltenham Town 1, Portsmouth 1. Michael Smith (Portsmouth) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the centre of the goal. Substitution, Portsmouth. Kal Naismith replaces Gary Roberts. Substitution, Portsmouth. Noel Hunt replaces Conor Chaplin. James Rowe (Cheltenham Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Carl Baker (Portsmouth). Foul by Jack Barthram (Cheltenham Town). Danny Rose (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Carl Baker (Portsmouth) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. James Rowe (Cheltenham Town) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Carl Baker (Portsmouth). Danny Parslow (Cheltenham Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Michael Smith (Portsmouth). Foul by Daniel Wright (Cheltenham Town). Christian Burgess (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Substitution, Portsmouth. Michael Smith replaces Kyle Bennett. Attempt missed. Robert Dickie (Cheltenham Town) right footed shot from the centre of |
A number of early decisions have been made. The proposed ban on e-cigs in some public places will be dropped when the public health legislation, which collapsed spectacularly at the end of the last assembly term, is re-introduced. The plan to cut the number of councils from 22 to eight or nine has also been dropped. The question is whether wider proposals to re-organise local authorities has effectively been kicked into the long grass? Labour's manifesto commits to "stronger, larger local authorities" but held back on a specific number. Steve Thomas from the Welsh Local Government Association told me "consensus is in short supply" both at the assembly and within local government. Even before the proposal for eight or nine was abandoned, many council leaders gave the strong impression they didn't think that re-organisation was going to happen. It must now appear further away than ever for them. The new Finance and Local Government Secretary Mark Drakeford will cut a different, more conciliatory figure, than the former Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews but the question is whether consensus can ever be found on such a complicated subject. In his statement on the new cabinet to AMs this week, Carwyn Jones described Mark Drakeford's job as "a pivotal and challenging role as we move, both as a government and as a National Assembly-or parliament, as we will call ourselves, no doubt in time, into the era of devolved revenue raising". That doesn't sound to me like council re-organisation is high on the agenda. One matter that the first minister seems determined to see through as a legacy project is the £1bn "black route" M4 relief road around Newport. His tone is markedly stronger on this than many other subjects. He insists that traffic problems at the Brynglas tunnels are not going to disappear and the cheaper "blue-route" alternative would prove so unpopular with the thousands of homes nearby that you could "kiss goodbye to winning elections in Newport for a generation." My sense is that he wants this fight, but it will be a fight for another day, and the public inquiry which is due to begin in the autumn and last a year will allow him to delay matters. Mr Jones told AMs on Tuesday: "I think that public inquiry needs to be as broad as possible. "It needs to be a public local inquiry, and I believe that that inquiry would need to look at a wide range of issues including alternative proposals." This could open the door to some kind of alternative but what's more likely is that the first minister is hoping the inquiry will boost his attempts to get political support for the "black route". The appointment of Kirsty Williams as education secretary was the stand-out feature of the new cabinet. I'm told that although members of the Labour group at the assembly were keen to know whether she'd be bound by cabinet responsibility at their meeting this week, there was broad agreement about her appointment. |
13 January 2016 Last updated at 07:10 GMT Tim Peake, the British astronaut based on the International Space Station, spoke to Stargazing Live last night about how water floats in zero gravity. He explained that the tiny particles which water is made of form a sphere, like a bubble, making it easy to catch in your mouth. Tim showed off his skills as he floated 240 miles above Planet Earth. |
The animal was spotted in a coned area by an HGV driver near Dunfermline, as it headed in the direction of the Forth Road Bridge. The driver was able to keep the landrace pig safe until the Scottish SPCA arrived to rescue it. The animal welfare charity said the pig was "clearly frightened" but was uninjured. It is now recovering from last Thursday's motorway ordeal at the SSPCA's Inverness rescue centre. Ch Insp John Chisholm, from the SSPCA, said: "The poor girl was found running about the road and was clearly frightened. She wouldn't keep still so it was very difficult to catch her. "Thanks to the quick and decisive actions of the HGV driver, the piglet was kept out of harm's way until I arrived. "Had she escaped from a transporter then she should have been marked or tagged, but she had no ID of any kind." Mr Chisholm said the charity now wanted to find a home for the piglet. Anyone who recognises the animal is asked to contact the SSPCA. |
Some called it baffling, others labelled the chat insane and one said it'll give you a headache. With that in mind we've created a quick quiz to see if you can figure out which quotes came from Will's offspring and which ones were from other famous faces. The answers are at the bottom of the page - no cheating. 1. Willow Smith 2. My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na 3. Wayne Rooney 4. Willow and Jaden Smith 5. Jaden Smith Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube |
Richard Alden, 53, from Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, was detained on Saturday when Grace Kinyanjui, 42, died after a gun she was holding apparently went off accidentally, according to his lawyer. Mr Alden took Ms Kinyanjui to hospital but she was pronounced dead on arrival. He is being held until Friday while police carry out a murder investigation. His lawyer Evans Monari said: "From what I hear, she was taking pictures, 'selfies', with a gun and it went off." He added the incident involved a pistol and that it went off while Ms Kinyanjui was at Mr Alden's house in the Karen district of Nairobi helping him move. "Richard says he is not responsible," Mr Monari said. "The girl shot herself by accident." Police launched a murder inquiry after doctors reportedly found Ms Kinyanjui had suffered stab wounds and a broken finger and thumb. Police have alleged Mr Alden and Ms Kinyanjui, who ran a security firm, were in a relationship. Mr Alden lives in Nairobi with his wife Martine and has three adult children. Mrs Alden, who was away at the weekend, flew in from London to attend the hearing. In court, Mr Monari told the judge: "The respondent is very disturbed by what happened because the person who lost her life is a friend. "She actually shot herself. There is no evidence to date that the accused played any part in what happened." No charges have been filed in the case. The results of a post-mortem examination and ballistic tests are expected to be announced in court on Friday. |
The party leader said there were "grave concerns" about language used in a BBC interview by the former London mayor. But Mr Corbyn said: "There's no crisis. Where there is any racism in the party... it will be rooted out." MP John Mann, who called Mr Livingstone a "Nazi apologist" in a public confrontation, has been reprimanded. The Labour MP had been referring to comments Mr Livingstone made about Adolf Hitler. The row was prompted by the suspension of Labour MP Naz Shah over comments she made about Israel on social media. Mr Livingstone appeared on BBC Radio London defending her and said he had never heard anyone in the Labour Party say anything anti-Semitic. He added: "When Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews." Labour MP John Mann then accused Mr Livingstone of being a "Nazi apologist" in front of a media scrum as he arrived at Westminster's media studios. Asked about the confrontation on the BBC's Daily Politics, Mr Livingstone said Mr Mann "went completely over the top" but Mr Mann stood by his remarks. Mr Livingstone said he was not suggesting Hitler was a Zionist, saying the Nazi leader was "a monster from start to finish", but he said he had simply been quoting historical "facts". Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his long-time ally had been suspended amid "very grave concerns about the language he used in the interview this morning" and would face an investigation by the party. He told BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar: "Anybody that thinks this party is not cracking down on anti-Semitism is simply wrong. We have suspended where appropriate, we have investigated all cases. We will not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form whatsoever in the party." Asked if there was a crisis in the party, he said: "It's not a crisis. There's no crisis. Where there is any racism in the party it will be dealt with, it will be rooted out." He said those who suggested the party was in crisis were "nervous of the strength of the Labour Party at local level". Meanwhile, a Labour spokesman said John Mann was told it was "completely inappropriate for Labour Members of Parliament to be involved in very public rows on the television". For years it has been more surprising when Ken Livingstone hasn't raised hackles than when he has. That's why so many Labour MPs feared a miscalculation when their party's leader brought his old comrade back into the fold. But his staggering comments today about Hitler and anti-Semitism crossed a line - they were enough for Jeremy Corbyn to suspend him. But the problem for the leader doesn't end with that act. No one believes that Jeremy Corbyn himself tolerates discrimination against Jews. But on repeated occasions Labour has been slow and clumsy in closing down cases of anti-Semitism among its members when they |
PM Theresa May refused to give a "running commentary" on the talks when pressed by the SNP's Angus Robertson on membership of the single market. Mrs May said her government would not "reveal our hand prematurely" over the UK's negotiating position over Brexit. The first minister said "there must be greater transparency" from Westminster. Mr Robertson, leader of the SNP at Westminster and a candidate to be the party's deputy leader, accused Mrs May and her ministers of "waffle" for repeatedly insisting that "Brexit means Brexit". During the weekly session of prime minister's questions, he pressed Mrs May to say whether she would argue for the UK to remain part of the single market post-Brexit. She replied that she would seek "the right deal" on trade in goods and services, but added: "We will not take decisions until we are ready, we will not reveal our hand prematurely and we will not provide a running commentary on every twist and turn of the negotiations." In a later statement at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that she was "concerned" by this approach. The first minister said: "I accept that while negotiations are under way there are aspects of that which have to be done behind closed doors. But I do not think it is acceptable to have a cloud of secrecy hanging over the UK government's negotiating position. "I don't think it's acceptable to have a prime minister who is unable or unwilling to answer the simple question of whether we should remain in the single market or not. "The UK government I suspect right now I think is using phraseology like that to mask the fact that it doesn't yet have a clue what it is seeking to achieve let alone what its chances are of achieving that are. "But before we get too much further into this, there must be greater transparency from the UK government so people from across the UK can judge whether or not what the UK is trying to achieve meets our national interests or not." Ms Sturgeon, who also said she did not believe that the prime minister had a "mandate" to take the UK out of the single market, proposed setting up a series of debates at Holyrood on the impact of Brexit. She invited opposition leaders to bring forward topics for the Scottish government to raise in the talks, saying she would not accept Holyrood being "window dressing in a talking shop" over the negotiations; "we expect our engagement to be meaningful". Responding to Ms Sturgeon's comments, a UK government spokesperson reiterated Theresa May's view that it would "not be right to provide a running commentary or reveal our hand prematurely." The spokesperson added: "The Department for Exiting the European Union is leading the UK's negotiations to leave the European Union and establish the future relationship between the EU and the UK. The government has committed to working very closely with parliament, devolved administrations and a wide range of other interested parties |
NHS Tayside said the source of the initial outbreak has still not been identified but "rigorous action" has been taken to minimise further risk. A small number of children were affected by the bug and were quarantined in Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, according to the health board. The outbreak centred on a playgroup and a primary school in the town. Public health medicine consultant Dr Jackie Hyland said: "The incident management team have formally declared the incident as over. "Investigations have not identified a source of the initial outbreak but rigorous action has been taken to minimise any further potential risk before a playgroup in Angus, which closed on a precautionary basis, reopens. "We would like to thank parents and the local community for their tremendous support throughout this investigation, which has helped us manage this incident and ensure the prevention of the spread of infection." A possible link with a national outbreak in which a three-year-old girl from Dunbartonshire died and 21 other people were infected formed part of the investigation. NHS Tayside has refused to disclose the number of children affected, citing patient confidentiality. |
Robert Fleming, 21, is believed to have been involved in an altercation outside Bakers nightclub in John Finnie Street between 00:30 and 01:00 on 7 February. He was later found dead at his home in the Ayrshire town's Lammermuir Road. Officers will speak to people outside the club between 23:00 on Saturday and 02:00 on Sunday 14 February. Det Ch Insp Allan Burton said: "A young man has lost his life and it is of the utmost importance that we establish exactly what happened and get answers for Robert's family. "Officers have viewed the CCTV and it is critical we identify the people who were outside Bakers during this incident. "To do this we need to speak to anyone who was at this location last Saturday night to assess if they have information that could assist with our investigation." Det Ch Insp Burton added: "It is critical that we speak to absolutely everyone to ensure that we have the full picture of the circumstances, so, if you are planning to be out again this weekend, please come and speak to us or any officer who will be in the area." |
As a result Kent and Cheshire have been rated inadequate and Cambridgeshire requires improvement, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said. Cheshire and Cambridgeshire improved but had more to do, while Kent's performance "slipped significantly". Cambridgeshire and Cheshire said they were making progress. Kent said it accepted the findings. The three are the latest to be inspected as part of a programme across forces in England and Wales. Insp Zoe Billingham, of HMIC, said the Kent force had "taken its eye off the ball as a result of poor supervision" and audit inconsistencies had led to "false-positive" results. "The force thought it was still doing the right thing whereas in reality its crime recording standards were slipping," she said. Cheshire had improved but needed to do more Insp Mike Cunningham, of the inspectorate, said. He said the force failed to record more than 11,600 crimes, but added: "We found that some serious crimes such as violence and sexual offences were being actively investigated but had not been recorded as a crime." Source: HMIC Insp Billingham said Cambridgeshire had implemented previous recommendations. But she said: "It was accurately recording about 88% of all crime reported to it - which means that more than one in 10 crimes were not making it on to the books." Cambridgeshire's Assistant Chief Constable Dan Vajzovic said the force had improved. "While it is of concern that some crimes are being recorded differently and this needs to be addressed, my focus remains firmly on protecting and safeguarding our communities," he said. Cheshire's Deputy Chief Constable Janette McCormick, said: "While we agree that there have been some crime recording errors, this does not mean we are failing victims, nor does the report call into question the integrity of officers and staff." Kent's Chief Constable Alan Pughsley said all crimes not recorded had been reviewed. He said the force was working to increase its accuracy, with extensive training under way. "We have worked hard with HMIC to improve our crime data integrity, not just for the last year, but going forward, and will not rest until we are satisfied it is the best it can be," he said. |
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has almost 40 flood warnings in place, covering Aberdeenshire, Speyside, Moray, Caithness and Sutherland, and Tayside. Moray Council said it was evacuating about 200 homes at risk of flooding in Elgin. And ScotRail said train travel was being severely impacted by flooding. Forecasters said more heavy rain and strong winds were likely overnight, affecting much of Scotland. They warned of difficult driving conditions and the risk of further localised flooding, with gales around exposed northern coasts. It advised commuters to avoid rail travel between Aberdeen and Inverness, and Perth and Inverness. Elgin was one of the worst affected areas. Reader Alastair Mackie said the main rail line "looks more like a canal". Roads in Moray and the Highlands were badly hit. Among the worst affected routes were the A838 Durness to Tongue road, which was closed at the south end of Loch Eriboll. The B873 Altnaharra to Syre road has been shut at Grumbeg Bridge, while fallen trees have closed the B827 Skiach to Evanton road. The A835 was also shut by a landslip near Ullapool, disrupting travel between the town and Inverness. Part of the A938 at Duthil near Carrbridge fell away. The Keith Show was cancelled due to the severe weather. The Met Office's amber warning for rain - meaning "be prepared" - is for the Grampian and Highlands and Eilean Siar areas, and there is a wider yellow warning for the rest of eastern and northern Scotland. By early Monday morning, Lossiemouth had recorded almost a month's rainfall in 12 hours, while gusts of 50mph swept through Aberdeenshire. Do you have pictures - still or moving - of the damage caused by the wind and rain? Send them to the BBC Scotland news website at newsonlinescotland@bbc.co.uk Please ensure when filming or photographing an incident that you make your safety and the safety of others a priority. You must have taken and be the copyright owner of any pictures submitted. If you submit an image, you do so in accordance with the BBC's Terms and Conditions |
According to media reports, the band members were held after a raid by police and immigration officers on a warehouse venue hosting their gig. The founder of concert organisers Hidden Agenda was also arrested, the agency told the BBC. The British Council said it was providing support to several British men who had been arrested in Hong Kong. Hidden Agenda events have run into trouble in the past, often over licence issues. Concert-goers posting on the promoters' Facebook page said about seven immigration officers came to detain the band members, citing issues with their work permits. As the situation got more tense, several police cars arrived with officers in riot gear and police dogs, said the witnesses. The three band members of TTNG, Hidden Agenda founder Hui Chung-wo and Mylets were then taken away by police and immigration officers. Hidden Agenda told the BBC on Monday that Hui Chung-wo had been arrested, while the musicians had been released but were required to check in with the immigration authorities later in the day. Hong Kong police confirmed to the BBC that several detentions had been made at the venue but would not give further details. Under Hong Kong immigration law, the band members could be charged with working without the required permit, while the concert agency could be charged with hiring the bands as illegal workers. Both offences can be punished with prison sentences of several years and hefty fines. TTNG and Mylets are currently in the middle of a tour of Asia with upcoming dates on Tuesday in Guangzhou, followed by concerts in Beijing and Shanghai. |
The House of Commons Science and Technology committee is looking at whether gathering data on net-using citizens is even feasible. It also wants to look into the potential impact that logging browsing will have on how people use the web. The consultation comes as questions mount over the money the government will set aside to support monitoring. The draft Investigatory Powers Bill (IP Bill) was unveiled last week and it attempts to update the way the state, police and spies gather data to fight crime, terrorism and other threats. One of the most contentious aspects of the IP Bill obliges ISPs to record information about the services, websites and data every UK citizen uses. These "Internet Connection Records" would hold a year's worth of data. The Science and Technology committee has said it wants to look more deeply into this and its potential cost. In a notice announcing the inquiry, the Committee said it wanted to find out if it was possible for ISPs to meet the IP Bill's requirements. The text of the Bill asks ISPs to log where people go but not what they do when on a site or using a service. MPs also want to find out how easy it is for ISPs to separate data about a visit to a site from what happens once people log in, because more stringent rules govern who can discover what people do on a site as opposed to the sites they use. The Committee will also look at how much it might cost the providers to do this. The government has said it will provide £175m to ISPs over 10 years to pay for data to be gathered and stored. Adrian Kennard, head of UK ISP Andrews and Arnold, said it was not clear whether that was enough because the government had not specified what exactly it wanted recorded. "Just getting a couple of racks, in different locations, with physical security will be many thousands [of pounds] per month," he said. "Then [you need] multiple redundant servers and disk storage at each site and then the back-haul links to send and access the data, with suitable encryption." Added to this will be the "big issue" of how to meet the need to separate data about the sites people visit from what they do, he said. Sebastien Lahtinen from the Thinkbroadband site said disentangling site visit datastreams was "a very difficult question to answer directly" because of the way the web works. "A website visit is hard to quantify because visiting a site could result in several connections that may be logged under this system," he said. "It's still a bit unclear what would need to be stored for each visit and how you split up visits." ISPs watch the flows of data across their networks to help manage traffic, he said, but they typically only sample these streams because they deal with such massive quantities of information every day. Added to this, he said, was the question of |
Maria Gladys Arango, 51, disappeared after going to meet someone in the town of Guarne, in Antioquia province. Police managed to trace her last steps to a farm owned by 44-year-old Jaime Ivan Martinez Betancurt. Under questioning, Mr Martinez admitted killing Ms Arango, his wife and two children and at least 16 other people. The motive for the killings, which are thought to have happened over the past 10 years, is unclear. Most of the victims are thought to have been women. Police said that when they arrived at Mr Martinez's farm they found Ms Arango's jewellery neatly stowed away in a plastic box. Forensic experts are carrying out tests on human remains found buried in the grounds of the farm. After initially denying having had anything to do with Ms Arango's disappearance, Mr Martinez told police he had strangled his family in November. Neighbours said Mr Martinez had moved to Guarne, east of the city of Medellin, three and a half years ago. They said they were suspicious of him, especially after they did not see his wife or seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son for months. Police said Mr Martinez used his wife's mobile phone to send messages to her family in her name, pretending she had left him with the children and moved to another area of the country. Officials said they would go through the reports of missing people in Guarne and other places where Mr Martinez had lived to see which ones could have been his victims. Last year, Colombians were shocked when a homeless man in the capital, Bogota, confessed to killing at least 11 women. Colombia, where almost seven million people have been internally displaced by decades of violence and armed struggle, has had a number of cases of serial murders which have gone undetected for a long time. |
SuperValu, Mace and Centra stores are no longer getting products from the company after they raised prices by 10%. A similar dispute between Unilever and Tesco was resolved on Thursday. It is understood they are optimistic that the pricing dispute will be resolved. Glyn Roberts from the NI Independent Retail Trade Association said he hopes for a resolution within 24 hours. Mr Roberts said: "This is all about the consumer. "It is about local shoppers, ensuring they don't have to pay more at the end of the week." 200 smaller stores in Northern Ireland are affected. The Musgrave Group which owns the stores says it neither wanted to absorb the 10 % rise in cost or pass it on to customers. It refused it and on that basis Unilever stopped supplying the NI retailers, as of Monday. Musgrave said it was "hugely dissatisfied" with Unilever's behaviour and said it has caused immediate shortages of stock. |
Women's Super League side Bristol face the three-time European champions at Ashton Gate on Saturday in the first leg of the tie. The Vixens then travel to Germany for the return leg on Sunday, 29 March. "Without a doubt it is the biggest game we have ever had," defender McCatty, 25, told BBC Sport. Bristol overcame Barcelona 2-1 on aggregate in the last round and are the only English club remaining in the competition. "I remember the days when we were bottom of the league and now we are competing at the highest level," McCatty added. "It's amazing to do that and for the club that I love makes it an even more massive game. "The fact that I will lead the club out as captain will make it more special." Glasgow City are also through to the quarter-finals and face Paris St-Germain at Aidrie's Excelsior stadium on Sunday. "It's brilliant for the whole club to be at this stage," said City head coach Eddie Wolecki Black. "We're going to have to play very well, no doubt about that. We're going to have to be well organised, our game plan will have to be bang on. Meanwhile Bristol endured a difficult WSL campaign last season, finishing seventh with five wins from 14 games. Although they prospered in Europe, boss Dave Edmondson has had to rebuild his squad following the departure of several senior players - including former club captain Corinne Yorston and Spain internationals Laura del Rio and Natalia Pablos Sanchon. But McCatty says the Vixens will be ready to compete with Frankfurt, who have won the women's Bundesliga seven times. "We are definitely confident, with the work we have put in, that we will be the best prepared we could be for this game," she added. "We are looking to take something from the home leg - at least a draw - so that sets us up when we go to Frankfurt." |
The Munich-based company said that net profits fell to 1.75bn euros ($1.92bn; £1.23bn) in the April-to-June quarter, down from 1.77bn euros a year earlier. Sales in China, the world's biggest car market, fell after a decade of growth. "If conditions on the Chinese market become more challenging, we cannot rule out a possible effect on the BMW Group's outlook," the carmaker said. BMW said that sales in China had fallen in May and June. The company also said there had been a shift in sales towards lower-margin compact vehicles. BMW is refreshing its model range and has already unveiled a new 7 Series which will go on sale this autumn. |
One, he likes his home comforts - not that Air Force One is exactly slumming it - and two, he knew that all his critics were waiting for him to do something gauche or stupid in some faraway foreign clime. But that simply hasn't happened. He has navigated his first foreign trip with aplomb. Yes, there have been odd little moments that have caused eyebrows to arch and social media to fizz. Melania batting his hand away when he tried to hold it. There was the moment that Bibi introduced them in Israel as "the President Donald Trump and the first wife". Well, close. He could have either said the president and third wife; or the president and first lady. Then there was the press release put out by the White House with a spelling mistake, which read: the purpose of Donald Trump's Israel trip is to lay the groundwork for a lasting peach. And who can forget the Montenegrin manoeuvre in Brussels at the Nato summit? The poor prime minister of that country barged out of the way so that Donald Trump could get to the front of the pack for the cameras. I thought the best bit was after he'd muscled the poor man, the way the president pulled his jacket together, as if to say "job done". But this is all froth. The more important take-out is that he walked tall and didn't fall over. The low bar that the naysayers had set he jumped over easily. In Saudi he delivered a well thought-out, bold, and optimistic speech on how the fight against extremism and religious intolerance could be won. Yes, you might disagree with the policy of siding so closely with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states - but he made a lot of friends, and generated a great deal of excitement about the possibilities ahead. The orb: Odd moments from Trump's first foreign trip The pope has one, Trump wants one too In Israel there were no missteps either. But let's just raise the bar a little higher. He had said before leaving Washington that peace between Israelis and Palestinians would not be that difficult. But did the president move the peace process on during his visit? Well, in his speech at the Israel museum there was nothing about next steps, talks, confidence-building measures. On that score, it's hard to see what has changed. Did he win the Pope over? Didn't much feel like it. And for all that he gave his fellow Nato members as they stood beside him a tongue-lashing (it was so much like a headmaster lecturing an unruly class, I half expected him to turn to the French president who had an ironic smile on his face and say, "Macron, stop smirking you cheese eating surrender monkey"), did he get the pledges of extra cash that he wanted? But one other striking thing about this trip. The president and his team stayed as far away from us - the press - |
The 38-year-old is the club's longest-serving player, making 171 appearances in almost five years at St Andrew's. The former West Bromwich Albion defender played 25 times last season as Birmingham avoided relegation to the third tier on the final day. Robinson will continue to help as a coach at the club, having previous assisted Blues' under-23 side. |
Details of the 63-year-old's agreement with Nafissatou Diallo will remain confidential, the judge added. Mr Strauss-Kahn was held in New York in May 2011 after Ms Diallo, 33, said he assaulted her in his hotel suite. Prosecutors later dropped charges amid concerns about her credibility. The incident was widely seen as having ruined Mr Strauss-Kahn's chance of becoming the Socialist presidential candidate in his native France. New York State Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon announced on Monday that after lengthy negotiations, the parties "came together and put terms of a settlement on the record". By Laura TrevelyanBBC News, New York Now that there has been a settlement, we will probably never know exactly what transpired between the head of the IMF and the immigrant hotel maid from Guinea at the hotel Sofitel in Manhattan. There was forensic evidence of a sexual encounter of some kind. Mr Strauss-Kahn insisted it was consensual, Ms Diallo said he attempted to rape her. The criminal case collapsed after the prosecution said Ms Diallo had credibility issues. Now her attempt to bring a civil case has been settled for an undisclosed amount. Two very different lives have been turned upside down by the encounter, and Mr Strauss-Kahn's ambitions to be president of France lie in ruins. The amount of the settlement was kept confidential. Mr Strauss-Khan did not attend the hearing, but Ms Diallo was in court. After the settlement, the judge thanked all parties and said it was a "privilege to work with all of you". Outside the courtroom, Ms Diallo made a short statement: "I thank everybody all over the world and everybody at the court, and God bless you all." Her lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, said afterwards that she was "ready to move on". In May 2011, Ms Diallo, a Guinean immigrant with a teenage daughter, said Mr Strauss-Kahn had forced her to perform oral sex when she went to clean his hotel room. He was arrested, charged with attempted rape and forced to resign from his post at the International Monetary Fund. Mr Strauss-Kahn had previously admitted to a "moral failing", but insisted their sexual encounter was consensual. In the wake of Ms Diallo's accusations, other women came forward with sexual assault allegations against him. |
Up to 15.4 million households were paying for packages with advertised maximum speeds they would not achieve, a report suggests. Ofcom has begun a broadband crackdown, making it easier for people to swap providers if they are unhappy with the speed of their service. But Which? said more needed to be done. Its tests also suggested that only 17% of homes were achieving the average advertised speed, with even fewer during peak evening times. The problem was particularly bad in rural areas where 98% of homes were unable to get the advertised headline speed of the broadband service they had chosen. "We want Ofcom to ensure consumers get the speeds promised by providers," said Which? executive director Richard Lloyd. "It is not good enough that millions of homes are so poorly served by their broadband provider with speeds that just don't live up to what was advertised." Ofcom said that it had recently drawn up a new code to ensure "people will be given clear, accurate information about their broadband speeds before they sign up". And, it added, "customers have the right to walk away, without penalty, if speeds fall below an acceptable level". "Ofcom regularly reports on the broadband speeds being delivered to UK homes, enabling people to compare providers, and we are committed to ensuring people have all the information they need to make choices that are right for them," a spokesperson for the regulator said. Under current rules, internet service providers have to ensure that 10% of customers can achieve a top speed before they can advertise it as the maximum. The research suggested that some packages could not even meet that low threshold. Its tests indicated that only 4% of customers on TalkTalk's 17Mbps package were getting the top advertised speed and just 1% of those on BT's 76Mbps deals could achieve that speed. The ISPs disputed these claims. "Our data, based on over half a million customers, which far exceeds Which's base of a few hundred, shows that TalkTalk homes can achieve speeds beyond 17Mbps," said a TalkTalk spokesman. "We're compliant with the advertising guidelines and if they change, we will continue to comply. Our network is faster and more resilient than ever and we continue to work hard to further increase broadband speeds." Meanwhile BT said that more than 10% of its super-fast broadband customers could achieve speeds of 80Mbps or above. "We're very clear that customers should not rely on headline claims, but instead use the personal speed quote we give them at the point of sale, which is based on their own line," it said in a statement. "If they aren't happy with this personalised speed they can decide not to buy from us; if they are happy with the speed, but find they don't achieve it, we allow them to end their contracts in line with the Ofcom code of practice." Sebastien Lahtinen, of broadband website ThinkBroadband, said it was difficult to provide one message for all. "It can be very |
After an update, essential components in two Panda Security antivirus programs became corrupted, leading them to be mistakenly identified as malign and quarantined. Panda said a fix had been released and warned that rebooting affected systems could exacerbate the issue. It asked those affected to get in touch so it could help fix their machines. One security expert noted the irony. "People's first response is to turn [their computer] off and back on again, but in this case it seems like the wrong thing to do," said Prof Alan Woodward, of Surrey University. The "last thing" people would expect to cause their computers to break down was its security software, he said. Panda Security said that the signature file in both its PCOP and its Retail 2015 packages became corrupted. "The signature file was repaired immediately. Additionally, a solution for all affected products has been automatically deployed. However, in certain environments it is possible for the incident to persist." It added a list of steps that affected users could take to ensure that their system was clear of the issue. Prof Woodward said the episode was "not a great advert for Panda". He said he had heard of some companies losing the use of multiple computers to the issue. He added that data loss was a risk if machines were rebooted. But Panda Security said it was helping people whose machines had stopped working to restore them and that it had no evidence anyone had experienced permanent data loss as a result of the issue. A Panda Security spokeswoman said: "We have solved 90% of the incidents, and support is being given in real time to the ones that still have some issues." The company said that only 8% of the "millions" of PCOP and Retail 2015 customers were affected by the issue. A spokeswoman refused to be more precise about the figures. |
Mr Jammeh suffered a surprise electoral defeat last month to Adama Barrow. He initially accepted the result but changed his mind days later, citing electoral "abnormalities". In a letter to the pro-government newspaper, Gen Ousman Badjie pledged the "unflinching loyalty and support of the Gambia Armed Forces" to Mr Jammeh. Gen Badjie's intervention follows the threat of military action by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) if Mr Jammeh refuses to leave office on 19 January. President Jammeh has said any such intervention would constitute an act of war. Mr Barrow's team had previously claimed the support of Gen Badjie. The army's support is seen as critical in building a transition after Mr Jammeh's 22 years in power. The tiny West African state has not had a smooth transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1965. The dispute over the election results has raised tensions in the region, with both neighbouring countries and international powers urging Mr Jammeh to step down. Mr Barrow won 43.3% of the vote on 1 December, beating President Jammeh's 39.6%. A third-party candidate, Mama Kandeh, won 17.1%. Those figures were revised from earlier totals, after the electoral commission discovered a tallying error affecting all candidates. The revised results did not alter the outcome of the election. However, Mr Jammeh declared that he would no longer respect the result and has launched a court action to annul the result. His security forces have seized control of the commission's headquarters in the capital, Banjul, and the head of the election commission has fled the country over fears for his security. Three private radio stations were also taken off air, in an apparent media crackdown. One has since resumed broadcasting music and advertisements only, with no on-air presenters or DJs. Despite the threat of military intervention and President Jammeh's protests, Mr Barrow's team said they plan to declare him as president on 18 December. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Barrow said he would not prosecute the former president after a transition, but focus instead on reconciling the country's opposing forces. "If South Africa can reconcile [after the racial system of apartheid ended in 1994], I see no reason why Gambians cannot reconcile. We are not saying prosecution; we said truth and reconciliation," he said. |
Guardian journalist Rob Evans had challenged Dominic Grieve's decision to veto a High Court tribunal ruling in favour of allowing their publication. Mr Grieve argued that releasing the letters would undermine the principle of the heir being politically neutral. He was granted permission to appeal the latest ruling to the Supreme Court. In September 2012 the Upper Tribunal, headed by a High Court judge, ruled that Mr Evans and the public were entitled to see the letters under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The seven government departments concerned did not appeal the decision but a month later the attorney general intervened and imposed a veto under section 53 of the FOIA. Mr Grieve had said the departments were legally entitled to refuse disclosure because the correspondence was part of the prince's "preparation for becoming king". But on Wednesday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the certificate should be quashed because Mr Grieve had "no good reason" for overriding the decision of the tribunal and he had acted in a way which was incompatible with European law. Lord Dyson, Master of the Rolls, said the fact that Mr Grieve reached a different conclusion to the Upper Tribunal (UT) was not enough. "He had no good reason for overriding the meticulous decision of the UT reached after six days of hearing and argument. "He could point to no error of law or fact in the UT's decision and the government departments concerned did not even seek permission to appeal it." Responding to the verdict, a spokesman for Mr Grieve said: "We are very disappointed by the decision of the court. "We will be pursuing an appeal to the Supreme Court in order to protect the important principles which are at stake in this case." The "advocacy correspondence" was described as letters the prince had written in 2004 and 2005 seeking to advance the work of charities or to promote views. Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger told BBC Radio 4 the prince was a "powerful person" who should be "above politics". He went on: "If that's wrong then we should have a transparent and open debate about it. "But if the Prince of Wales is going to try and influence public policy in a particularly frank way then I don't think he is acting as a private citizen and therefore like any other lobby group there ought to be transparency about what he's trying to do." Republic, which campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy, welcomed the decision. "Dominic Grieve's argument is that it is better to pretend Charles is impartial than to prove he is not," spokesman Graham Smith said. In 2010, the Freedom of Information Act was tightened up and now royal letters cannot be made public for 20 years or five years after the writer's death, whichever is longer. Mr Smith said that law change gave the Royal Family "complete freedom to lobby the government in secret and on whatever issue they |
She had been unable to raise enough money to travel to England for a termination A defence barrister told Belfast Crown Court that had his client lived in any other region of the UK, she would "not have found herself before the courts". The 21-year old bought two types of drugs online, took them and then miscarried on 12 July 2014. She cannot be named because of a court order. The male foetus, which was between 10 and 12 weeks, was later found in the bin of a house she shared with two other people. The woman pleaded guilty to two charges - procuring her own abortion by using a poison, and of supplying a poison with intent to procure a miscarriage. Police were alerted after the woman's two housemates contacted police, a week after finding blood-stained items and a foetus in the bin of the house they shared in south Belfast. A prosecution lawyer told the court that when the woman moved into the house in May 2014, she told her two housemates that she was pregnant but that she was trying to raise the money to travel to England for a termination. However, after she was unable to raise enough money, she contacted an abortion clinic in England for advice. She claims that she was told by the clinic about two drugs that were available on the internet and which would induce a miscarriage. When she was arrested, the then 19-year old made no comment in police interviews. A defence lawyer said his client's prosecution highlighted the difference in legislation between here and the rest of the UK. He told the court: "Had she lived in any other jurisdiction, she would not have found herself before the court", adding she felt "victimised by the system." He branded her actions as "a 19-year-old who felt trapped" and who turned to "such desperate measures". The court also heard that the woman is now 21, has a new baby with her partner and is "trying to put her life back together again". Before passing sentence, the judge said there were no guidelines or similar cases to compare this to, adding in his experience there have been no other prosecutions under this specific piece of legislation - namely Section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. He said the legislation was 150 years old and had been substantially amended in England, Scotland and Wales but not in Northern Ireland. Acknowledging that as a UK citizen the woman could legally have travelled to England for a termination, Judge McFarland said that the advice given by the clinic "without knowledge of her background and details was perhaps inappropriate". He also said that while there are agencies in Northern Ireland that give advice on such issues "unfortunately they are part of a polarised debate that can be part of a more toxic debate". The woman was given a three-month prison sentence, which was suspended for 12 months. |
Shanay Walker's aunt and grandmother were jailed for child cruelty in 2015. Coroner Mairin Casey told Nottingham Coroner's Court "information was withheld" months before she died. It is thought at least 10 safeguarding referrals were made about Shanay. A post-mortem report showed she had more than 50 injuries to her body. Updates on this story and more from Nottinghamshire Mrs Casey said: "There is evidence that information was withheld from the local authority in the months before she died. "Communication channels failed miserably between the school, local authority and health professionals." Dr Emma Fillmore, a consultant paediatrician told the inquest she had no contact with the seven-year-old, but gave an overview of the case. She said, given the evidence of her injuries, all the professionals involved should have met to discuss it and that such a meeting would happen now. Lisa Hyland, of Southglade Primary School, said she had suspicions someone was "deliberately causing injuries" to Shanay, the inquest had heard. The assistant head teacher, who taught Shanay a year before her death, said she reported her concerns on six occasions. A trial at Nottingham Crown Court heard Shanay was placed in her aunt Kay-Ann Morris's care after her mother, Leanne Walker, suffered post-natal depression. Shanay died of a brain injury at a house in Nottingham while in the care of Morris in July 2014. Morris, of Beckhampton Road, was cleared of murder but both she and grandmother Juanila Smikle were convicted of "about the worst case" of child cruelty. Morris was jailed for eight years. Smikle, of Easegill Court, was found guilty of cruelty at a retrial and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The inquest continues. |
Yates, 23, was suspended after an administrative error led to him using an asthma inhaler without permission. "I am going to enjoy this moment," the Orica-BikeExchange rider said. "It's my first victory as a full professional." Yates' twin brother, Adam, was crowned the best young rider at the Tour de France, which finished on Sunday. Simon Yates was sanctioned by governing body the UCI in June for a "non-intentional" anti-doping rule violation, resulting in the suspension. He returned to action on 11 July and subsequently finished 20th at the Tour of Poland. |
About 70 mourners gathered at Mexborough Cemetery in Doncaster for the funeral of 92-year-old Royal Navy veteran Douglas Barratt on Wednesday, but were locked out for 40 minutes. The digger, used for graves, then forced open the doors of the chapel. A Doncaster Council spokesman said they were "very sorry" for what happened. Mr Barratt's family said he died on 15 December, with members of the British Legion coming from "all over" to attend his service but were left stood in the cold and "chilled to the bone". Arrangements had been made for someone to come an hour before the funeral to open the building and put the heating on, but no-one arrived. Mr Barratt's son-in-law said the door was "pushed and shoved" by several people but it wouldn't open. Stuart Venables, from Mexborough, said: "Eventually the decision was made to bring in a small JCB which was used for digging the grave to try and ease the door open. "It didn't take long, just one push and the doors opened. A rousing cheer went up and we took Doug into the chapel." Mr Venables said attendees thought it was "very disrespectful", but added they also thought it would be a "funeral to be remembered for years". Dave Wilkinson, from the council, said: "We are very sorry for what has happened and will be making contact with the family to apologise in person. "We are looking into this and will be learning lessons so this does not happen again." A new lock has since been installed on the chapel doors. Mr Venables added: "If Doug had been stood outside, he would have been splitting his sides with laughter." |
Damien Joseph McLaughlin, 40, of Kilmascally Road near Ardboe, is due to stand trial next month on charges that include aiding and abetting his murder. However, in court on Friday, police said he had breached his bail conditions. They said he had not been seen by them since November. Mr Black's family said they feel betrayed by the justice system. Mr Black was shot dead by dissident republicans as he drove along the M1 on his way to work at Maghaberry prison in November 2012. "Senior detectives involved in the case met with Mrs Black and her son Kyle this afternoon at the family home to offer sincere apologies on behalf of the PSNI for the stress and worry this situation is creating for them," Ch Supt Raymond Murray said on Tuesday. "The officers spent a number of hours discussing the matter and listening to the concerns of Mrs Black and Kyle, as well as providing reassurance of the steps police are taking to locate the whereabouts of Damien McLaughlin. "It was an honest and constructive meeting and we will keep Mr Black's family updated as we continue our enquiries. "We also informed them that we intend to review this matter in order to ensure that the processes currently in place surrounding bail checks are robust and will provide the necessary requirements for both the families of the victims and the police." McLaughlin had served just over two years in prison for possession of guns and ammunition. He spent time in prison on remand on charges connected to Mr Black's killing, but was released on bail in May 2014. A series of conditions imposed were later varied, including the removal of a stipulation that he had to wear an electronic tag and a reduction in the number of days he had to report to police. At Belfast Crown Court on Friday, a judge revoked McLaughlin's bail after being told that he had failed to sign with police in November and had not been seen by them since. Kyle Black said the decision to relax the bail conditions was "laughable to say the least". "What is even more farcical is that someone with previous terrorist convictions and who is charged with further terrorist-related offences cannot sign bail (which should be completed daily) for more than five weeks and takes until then before concerns are raised about his location," he said. |
Former mayor Lutfur Rahman stepped down after an Election Court found him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices but has faced no criminal prosecution. Scotland Yard said it recognises "concerns have been raised" about the previous police inquiry. The Met has been accused of "major failings" over their investigation. It received 164 complaints of election malpractice during the May 2014 local election. These led to two people being cautioned and a person being charged with a candidate nomination offence, as well as six people given warnings about their conduct. A spokesperson said the force had launched "a new operation to examine, and where required, investigate the criminal allegations" following an internal analysis of their inquiries. Scotland Yard has also asked the City of London Police to carry out an independent review into its investigation into allegations surrounding grant funding in relation to the Tower Hamlets Communities, Localities and Culture Youth Project. Steve O'Connell, chairman of the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee, previously said there was "widespread concern" the Met had not brought charges against Mr Rahman. The police watchdog, HM Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC), has also been asked to carry out an inspection into the force. |
The ex-Scotland striker pounced to lift the ball home, but within 12 minutes Killie were behind to goals from Christopher Routis and Alex Schalk. Gary Dicker levelled for a persistent home side on the hour mark. And Sean Longstaff struck low beyond Scott Fox in stoppage time to snatch three vital points for Killie. Media playback is not supported on this device Kilmarnock could scarcely have hoped for a better start to the match, as Boyd struck before many fans had taken their seats. After the Scottish Cup exit to Hamilton Academical and the midweek departure of star man Souleymane Coulibaly, it was a much-needed lift for the Kilmarnock followers. But the sense of urgency and belief with which the home team started the game took County only seven minutes to puncture and a further five to deflate entirely. As the home crowd got on the players' backs, so the confidence drained, passes went astray and the visitors took advantage of the malaise. Ross County are too good an attacking team to be fazed by the concession of an early goal and the manner in which they responded underlined their own self-belief. In Routis they have acquired a creative midfielder with an ability to sniff out goalscoring opportunities and he did so for the third time in two games to draw his side level. And sensing Killie's nerves beginning to jangle, they quickly struck again through Schalk. Playing on the counter-attack they threatened to put the game beyond Lee Clark's side, who slowly edged their way back into the game. Clark had expressed optimism that his new-look squad could push for a place in the Premiership top six rather than be forced to fight a relegation battle. And as the game wore on, his new signings - Cal Roberts, Longstaff and Kristoffer Ajer - grew in influence, although Karleigh Osbourne was subbed early on, having looked vulnerable. Their equaliser was thoroughly deserved and hinted at better things to come. Longstaff's winner provided further proof of that and if Clark can secure some of the Coulibaly cash to bolster his striking options, the top six may well be a realistic goal. Media playback is not supported on this device Kilmarnock assistant manager Lee McCulloch: "After scoring the early goal, the next 10 minutes, we were all over the place. We got it back together, got the ball down, and passed it. "The young lads (new signings) have come in and made a difference, we're looking more energetic, and we've got a good shape to us. It's all about picking up points and it's brilliant to get those three today." Ross County manager Jim McIntyre: "The second goal was a big goal. It's a corner kick, we drop the runner and he scores, and that gave Kilmarnock impetus. "And again, for the third, we've got a throw-in, easy possession, it's a misplaced pass, indecision, and we're punished again. "It's really disappointing, because after the early goal, our response was fantastic. We looked |
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the laws bring the territory in line with the rest of Australia. The reforms legalise the use of abortion drugs, such as RU486, up to nine weeks into a pregnancy. They also allow medical terminations to happen in specialist clinics, instead of solely in city hospitals. Previously, women in remote areas travelled hundreds of kilometres to Darwin or Alice Springs to access surgical abortions in hospital. "We hear of women forced to travel interstate to terminate pregnancies," Mr Gunner said. The reforms decriminalise termination by removing legislation making it illegal to provide an abortion or supply a woman with abortion drugs. The new measures also mean: "We believe all territory women are entitled to control over their lives and access to high quality services," said Health Minister Natasha Fyles. |
The British divers, who were fifth at Rio 2016, were seeking a top-six position in the event. Great Britain totalled 300.48 from their five routines, as USA (306.96) claimed sixth. China took gold, North Korea silver and Malaysia bronze. In the men's individual 1m springboard final, James Heatly was ninth and Ross Haslam 10th. Haslam will return for the individual 3m competition on Wednesday, which will also feature Jack Laugher, who won Olympic silver in the event at Rio 2016. Toulson won World silver in the mixed 10m platform event on Saturday alongside Matty Lee, but could not repeat that form in the women's event. Couch and Toulson added their voices to the growing concern over the low poolside temperatures, which many athletes have stated is impacting their performance. "We were very cold during that [preliminary round in the morning], but just tried to concentrate and improved from the morning in the final," Toulson told BBC Sport. Couch, who was competing in her seventh World Championships, added: "I thought we dived pretty well, but it is freezing. "Our physio has been filling plastic bottles with hot water and we've had those under our arms and on our legs and spending a lot of time in the hot showers." While Couch's Championships are over, Toulson will return for the women's individual 10m platform event which begins on Tuesday. Monday's action will see Olympic bronze medallists Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow bid for their first World Championship medal together in the synchronised 10m platform event. |
Pavey became the oldest woman to claim European gold when she won the 10,000m in Zurich in 2014, aged 40. The British five-time Olympian missed the World Championships with a heel injury, but has no plans to retire. "Next year I'll be mostly focusing on trying to qualify for the Europeans - that's the goal," Pavey said. Find out how to get into athletics with our special guide. The 43-year-old has ruled out competing at the Commonwealth Games in Australia in March, but is keen to continue for at least one more season on the track. "With the Commonwealths being in March, and having a family and all the different phases of my life I'm at now, I just think it's the Europeans that I'm most interested in," Pavey told BBC Radio Devon. "It was frustrating getting injured early in the season because I was quite pleased with the way the track sessions were starting to unfold. "I actually felt younger this year than I did maybe in the last year or two, so I was looking forward to trying to put some good track performances in. "I suppose I have to retire one day, but I'll never completely retire - I'll always keep running." The Devon mother of two received her 2007 World Championship bronze medal at the London Stadium during this year's event, after Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse was retrospectively disqualified for an in-competition doping offence. |
Vettel was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty in the race in Baku for deliberately driving into Hamilton. Governing body the FIA decided at a hearing on Monday not to take more action against the Ferrari driver. "I would have been uncomfortable to go further than what has been done," said FIA president Jean Todt. "I would be very comfortable to be very strong if it happens again. He knows that." Todt did not specify what he meant by a "very strong" punishment, but it can only mean a disqualification from at least one race. Todt, who was talking to BBC Radio 5 live, said: "Clearly I wish that he would have been able to control himself better." Media playback is not supported on this device Vettel was also put on a warning after last year's Mexican Grand Prix, when he swore over the radio at FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting because was unhappy about a lack of action over the driving of Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Todt said: "People say he had already a warning after Mexico. This is true, but it was a completely different matter. He lost control and was insulting one of the stewards. It was a different category. "So on the first category he has no more joker, on the second category he has no more joker." Vettel has apologised publicly for the incident, and also for falsely accusing Hamilton of brake-testing him. It was Vettel's belief that had caused him to run into the back of Hamilton, provoking his anger and leading to him then banging wheels with the Mercedes. Hamilton has said Vettel did not apologise in their first conversation about the incident on the day after the Baku race, but that the following day he did so when they exchanged text messages. Todt said he called the meeting on Monday to ensure Vettel understood Hamilton had not been responsible for the incident in any way and to acknowledge the German was the one who carried the responsibility for it. "I felt it was very bad for the sport and very bad for the image of the sport and for the fans, because when you are a champion at this level you must be an example," Todt said. "I am sure a lot of young people and fans were shocked by this attitude and particularly - even if I said the matter was judged by the stewards - I was not very comfortably with the statements after the race where the team and the driver seemed not to understand what had happened. So I thought in this case I wanted to understand even myself better. "I was confused - was Hamilton part of it, responsible for some unnecessary action? And I got confirmation that what he did was exactly the same as what he did at the first safety car and he had absolutely no responsibility. "So I thought it was important to have that said and understood by Sebastian Vettel, which was not |
Analysts estimate 65 million people regularly access the BBC catch-up TV service using virtual private networks (VPNs) or proxy servers. In China alone that figure is thought to be around 38.5 million. The iPlayer is meant for UK TV viewers only and is funded by the licence fee. A global iPlayer was closed last month. The report from GlobalWebIndex said that despite VPNs being thought of as "fairly niche tools which are the preserve of the tech-savviest individuals", around 25% of internet users worldwide now use them, primarily to access better entertainment content. The research company surveyed more than 45,000 internet users across 34 countries, including China, the US, France, Germany, Ireland, India and Brazil. It found that while the iPlayer is "geo-restricted to be viewable only by people resident in the country", the BBC service does in fact have "a huge global audience". "The implications for iPlayer are stark," said Jason Mander, head of trends at GlobalWebIndex, writing in the report. "However, rather than seeing this as a threat, there's much good news here for the BBC." The report highlighted that 75% of the 65 million already pay for subscription services like Netflix or Hulu, so there was "clear potential" for the BBC to create "new revenue streams". "If even a relatively small proportion users could be converted into paid users, the additional revenue it could create for the BBC would be significant." A BBC spokesman said: "BBC iPlayer, and the content on it, is paid for by UK licence fee payers to watch and download in the UK and the terms of use reflect that. "We do not comment on individual cases regarding breaches of BBC iPlayer's terms of use, but we take steps where appropriate to protect the intellectual property belonging to rights holders." A global iPlayer subscription service, which allowed viewers in Europe, Australia and Canada to watch programmes like Doctor Who, was shut down last month. GlobalWebIndex also found the domestic iPlayer to be the most popular on-demand service in the UK by far - with 45% of internet users aged 16-64 accessing it in the past month, and just 4% being unaware of the service. Netflix is the second most popular service, attracting 24% of web users. The BBC's most recent iPlayer figures revealed there were 222 million requests for TV programmes in May, with Peter Kay's Car Share the most popular show. The GlobalWebIndex figures would suggest that 29% of these requests may have come from TV viewers outside of the UK. |
The five-year plan will see the autonomous cars, vans and buses slowly introduced to the eastern city of Wuhu. Initially no passengers will be carried by the vehicles as the technology to control them is refined via journeys along designated test zones. Eventually the test areas will be expanded and passengers will be able to use the vehicles. "They want to be the first city in the world to embrace autonomous driving," said Wang Jing, Baidu's head of driverless cars, in an interview with the BBC's Click programme. "This is the first city that is brave enough, daring enough and innovative enough to test autonomous driving," he said. Mr Jing said the first phase of the trial would last about three years and would involve restricted areas in the city where buses, mid-size vans and cars would be tested. After three years, the areas of the city in which the autonomous cars can drive will be expanded and the service will be commercialised to allow some of the three million inhabitants of Wuhu to use it. After five years, he said, the whole city will be open to the driverless vehicles which will mix with human-driven cars, trucks and buses. Mr Jing said the city was keen to use robot vehicles because they were a much more efficient way to transport people and goods. The current model in which many households own a car was a "great waste" of resources, he said, because most of the time private cars stood idle. By contrast, he said, robot cars would be much more heavily used. A study released this week suggested that greater use of driverless cars could promote congestion. The study by accounting group KPMG suggested the robot cars could be used widely by groups, such as the young and old, who do not usually drive thereby increasing the numbers of vehicles on the road. Mr Jing said he hoped the Wuhu trial would lead to projects elsewhere. "We are trying to give the experience and data to the central government so they can see the benefit and that will make it easier for us to push to other cities in China," he said. "We hope it will be a starting point that lets us take it to other countries." Baidu is known to be working closely with German car maker BMW on the development of control systems for autonomous vehicles. The cars emerging from that partnership as well as others made by Chinese car maker Chery will be used in the Wuhu trial. Many tech firms, including Google, and car manufacturers are also working on control systems for robot cars. |
The 27-year-old, who has signed a five-year contract, is Palace's third summer signing, after midfielder Andros Townsend and goalkeeper Steve Mandanda. Tomkins joined West Ham's academy aged seven and went on to make 243 first-team appearances, scoring 11 goals. Palace chairman Steve Parish said Tomkins was a player that manager Alan Pardew had "always wanted to sign". Tomkins said on the club's website: "I am really excited to be joining Crystal Palace, a massive club and a manager in Alan Pardew that I know well. "I will always be thankful for how he helped me develop in my younger days at Upton Park." |
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says there has been a steady rise in attacks on Christians, Buddhists and Muslim minorities. Many of these were carried out by Islamist militants, it added. The government says religious harmony is strong in Indonesia, which has a large Sunni Muslim majority. HRW said it researched its report between August 2011 and December 2012, interviewing more than 100 people of varied religious beliefs. It included examples of attacks faced by various minority groups, including a mob attack by Islamist militants on the Ahmadiyah religious minority group in 2011 which is said left three men dead. The report said that "harassment and intimidation of minority communities by militant Islamist groups has been facilitated by the active or passive involvement of Indonesian government officials and security forces". Those responsible for the attacks received little or no punishment, it says. In its key recommendations, the report describes President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as "inconsistent at best in defending the right to religious freedom". It urges him to use his authority to defend religious matters. The report recommends the establishment of an "independent national task force" with a strong mandate and the resources to implement a religious tolerance and freedoms strategy for the country. Discriminatory regulations - like the blasphemy law, which it says is biased towards officially recognised religions - be revoked, it says. There should also be "zero tolerance for attacks on religious minorities", it added. Phelim Kine, HRW deputy director of Asia, said increased religious tensions could also have an effect on the country's fast-growing economy. But Bahrul Hayat, secretary general of Indonesia's Religious Affairs Ministry, told the Associated Press news agency that a government survey from last year showed that religious harmony in the country was strong. "We noted that a few violations happened, but please don't generalise that intolerance has increased in Indonesia," he said. He added that in some cases, religion was used as a reason for conflicts caused by other issues. |
Whitelock's return comes at the expense of the dropped Luke Romano. The All Blacks also shuffled their back three, with Israel Dagg in at full-back and Ben Smith moving to left wing with Julian Savea omitted. Wales lost the first Test 39-21 and a much-changed team lost 40-7 to the Chiefs on Tuesday. New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said: "Our performance in the first Test was very pleasing in a number of ways, especially how we kept our composure under pressure. "However, there is an expectation that we will need to improve right across the board, with better accuracy, in both our attack and defence, combined with more physicality and intensity. "We are expecting Wales to come out all guns blazing, particularly after what happened in the Chiefs game, so we will have to not only meet that response, but go to a higher level ourselves." Whitelock is back after a hamstring injury while Dagg will win his 50th cap after being left out of New Zealand's World Cup squad. New Zealand: Israel Dagg; Ben Smith, Malakai Fekitoa, Ryan Crotty, Waisake Naholo; Aaron Cruden, Aaron Smith; Joe Moody, Dane Coles, Owen Franks, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Sam Cane, Kieran Read (capt). Replacements: Nathan Harris; Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett, Seta Tamanivalu. |
But after fearing he could lose his foot to the condition, he chose to delve deeper into its devastating effects by speaking to those who have shared his painful journey. Eczema, also known as dermatitis, is a dry skin condition which, according to the National Eczema Society, affects one in 12 adults in the UK and about 20% of children. Though a fairly common ailment, it is highly individual and the severity of the condition can vary wildly. Professor Mike Cork, a consultant dermatologist at the University of Sheffield, describes it as "one of the most destructive diseases we have". "The very mildest form of atopic eczema could be a tiny bit of dry skin on a baby's face and all you need is to avoid soap and detergents, [apply] some nice moisturisers and maybe a couple of days of steroids in a year - 85% of eczema is mild or moderate," he says. "But, when we come to severe, things are so different: 100% of the skin surface can be affected, bright red, bleeding, infected. It can be hard to move, impossible to work, they can't have relationships, their life is totally destroyed." Steve, 40, from Bradford, has presented the BBC Yorkshire Early Show since 2013 and lectures in media and journalism at the University of Huddersfield. But, though his career involves talking to people each and every day, he has never been able to talk openly about his eczema. "I'd imagine 80% of the time it's ruling how I think I'm perceived by other people," he said. "I'm either red, swollen, inflamed, or sore, and I feel like I have to make excuses for that. It's embarrassing. "The itch can become so intense that I want to rip my skin off in order to let the flesh underneath breathe." He said his suffering was taken to new level when his foot became infected in 2013. "I think I made the excuse that I had dropped a wardrobe on my foot to cover up the fact the eczema was the real reason. "It got to one point when I thought I was actually going to lose my foot. "I was on antibiotic after antibiotic and eventually, thank God, it worked. Hopefully I'm never in that position again." Steve's wife Charly said she thought the condition had actually brought them closer together, with her often having to help with treatments. She said: "There's definitely no inhibitions in our relationship. "As a girlfriend I was happy to help out and as a wife I'm just as happy to help out. I'd rather I be useful than you have to go to hospital every day and get somebody else to do it." Jenny Stradling, 26, from Leeds was born with eczema, but when she turned 16 her condition worsened and lead to her spending the night in A&E. In 2013 she set up the blog I Have Eczema to share her experiences. "It can be so bad that you actually stick to |
Members of the Community union at Clarks in Street voted by 4-1 to take action. The union said its members were angry at the imposition of a 3.5% rise linked to changes in pay which it said reduced the value of the rise to 2.6%. Clarks said it firmly believed the settlement was "fair and reasonable". "We are disappointed that this issue has resulted in Community deciding to work to rule. "This award is significantly higher than the best offers made by other members of the British Footwear Association members and is also considerably higher than average pay settlements in 2011 across the UK "Industrial action, or the threat of it, will not change our position," the company spokesman said. Union spokesman, Joe Mann, said the company wanted to impose new terms of employment without negotiation. "We would like to put the 3.5% [offer] to the workforce - but the issue isn't about pay its about the company arbitrarily implementing changes to terms and conditions outside of our agreements with them and then roughshod over that relationship. "Our members are saying we deserve that element of respect and we want to negotiate these terms and conditions rather than have them implemented. "We also balloted for strike action - at this stage they don't want to - but they really want the company to take the message that we're prepared to negotiate and we want an agreement or to go to arbitration," he added. The shoe company, which is still three quarters owned by the Clark family, was launched in 1825 when James Clark made a pair of slippers out of sheepskin from his brother's tannery. |
It is believed to have been one of those fired at HMS Royal Oak by a German U-boat in 1939. A total of 833 men were killed in the naval disaster. The seven metre (22ft) long torpedo was found lying in 35m (114ft) of water during a routine sonar seabed survey in February. Royal Navy divers carried out two controlled explosions to make the harbour safe. The first separated the warhead from the body of the torpedo, while the second destroyed the explosive device which had floated to the surface. Orkney Islands Council now hopes to put part of the torpedo on public display later this year. The council's deputy harbour master, David Sawkins, said: "The torpedo had been sitting on the seabed of Scapa Flow for almost 80 years. "Although it posed minimal danger to shipping, our responsibility is to operate a safe harbour and, as it was likely to contain live explosives, the prudent course of action was to alert Royal Navy bomb disposal experts and arrange for its safe disposal. "This was carried out with great professionalism by the Navy divers and we are grateful for their assistance and expertise. "The hope now is that the rear section of the torpedo, including the propeller, will be recovered and after a full examination returned to go on display in Orkney later in the year. "It would be a poignant reminder of the huge loss of life when the Royal Oak went down in October 1939." Scapa Flow was used as a Royal Navy base in both world wars and is now popular with divers due to the British and German relics lying on the seabed. More than 50 German ships were deliberately sunk in the area at the end of World War One by their commanders to stop them being divided among the Allies. |
Members from the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) will not join walk outs on 5 and 7 February. The RMT union announced the action on Friday after abandoning talks at the conciliation service Acas. The TSSA said LU's proposals "pave the way for a resolution". It wants further talks with management. General secretary Manuel Cortes said the offer included the creation of an additional 325 new posts which "goes some way towards restoring adequate safety on our Tube". But the union's overtime ban will remain in place while TSSA representatives "seek further talks with LU". Members of the RMT will walk out for 16 hours from 18:00 GMT on 5 February, and then hold a 15-hour strike from 10:00 on 7 February. A 24-hour strike by the RMT and TSSA earlier this month over the same issues led to much of the Tube network being shut. BBC London transport correspondent Tom Edwards said the TSSA was the smaller of the two unions so the strike would still have a large impact. But he said the TSSA's announcement could lead to more talks between the RMT and LU. A spokesperson for the RMT said "all planned action remains on" but union representatives will return for more talks at Acas on Tuesday. General secretary Mick cash has accused LU of compromising safety on the Tube because of "cash-led cuts to staffing levels". Steve Griffiths, LU's chief operating officer, said the proposal had been made "to both unions in order to end this dispute". "We are available for further discussions this week to provide clarification on the implementation of these proposals," he said. Transport for London (TfL) has previously said it would address the recommendations of a report which said job cuts had caused "significant issues" for Underground passengers. |
The woman and a 15-month-old girl were taken to hospital after the Volkswagen Golf she was driving collided with a Citroen Xsara on the A5 at Pentrefoelas on Thursday. Emergency services initially thought both suffered minor injuries. North Wales Police said the incident was being treated as a fatal crash. Following the collision, both the woman and young girl were taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan. A police spokeswoman said: "Following concern her unborn baby was in distress, the baby was delivered by emergency Caesarean section, but sadly could not be saved." The girl was treated for minor injuries. Sgt Gwyndaf Jones said: "Our sympathy goes out to the family involved." Meanwhile, a man who died in a three-vehicle crash on the same road has been named as Ifor Edward Davies, 59, from Pentrefoelas. Mr Davies died at the scene following the crash on Wednesday, which involved an agricultural vehicle, a Rover 25 and a Ford Focus. |
Joseph Henry was hit over the head with a crowbar and stabbed in the neck and remained in hospital for 25 days after the attack at a house in Eliza Terrace. Hugh McCormick, 50, from Rosevale Street and his 46-year old brother James McCormick, from Teeling Avenue in Dunmurry, were found guilty of attempting to murder Mr Henry on 2 July 2011. The brothers will be sentenced next month, and despite a request that they be released on continuing bail, they were both remanded in custody. During the week-long trial, Mr Henry, whose sister has four children with James McCormick, said he was attacked by the brothers outside his home in the Markets area of south Belfast. He told the jury he went out for a cigarette at around 8am, when he heard a voice from behind asking the whereabouts of his nephew. Mr Henry said: "I turned round to see who the voice was, and it was Hugh McCormick. I knew him all my life as he has lived in the same area as me." Skin splitting Mr Henry said a bar was "protruding from the top'' of Mr McCormick's jacket and he "hit me on the top right hand side of my head and to my back". Mr Henry said he then saw James McCormick coming out of his front door. When asked how he knew him, Mr Henry said that he had gone to secondary school with him and had once been married to his sister. Mr Henry said: "He had his right hand in his pocket the whole time. Then he pulled out a long steel butcher's knife, about 12 inches long in his right hand. "He never said a word to me. Then he stuck the knife in my neck and ripped it up the side. I heard my skin actually splitting open. "He then retrieved the knife from my neck and I heard Mr McCormick say: 'That's enough. Come on'. "They went in through the front door of my house and then out the back door." Eyewitness account Mr Henry said that following the attack, he went back into the house and told his elderly mother: "I have been stabbed, phone an ambulance.' He added: "I had my hand over my throat so she couldn't see my wounds." Several of Mr Henry's relatives, including his mother and several sisters, gave evidence and said they thought he was going to die. The brothers both denied any involvement in the attack, and during the trial, legal teams for both men spoke of a series of inconsistencies given by the Henry family in the aftermath of the attack - including one which appeared in a local newspaper. Other issues the defence teams raised with the jury was an eyewitness account given by a man who was walking past the area, who saw the assault and who gave assistance to Mr Henry at the scene. This independent eyewitness account included descriptions of both men, one of whom he |
Conservation charity WWF says more than a third of the animal's mountain living areas could become uninhabitable because of climate change. It says plants and trees there are not able to survive in warmer temperatures. The report describes snow leopards as one of the most beautiful and enigmatic big cats. "But it is also one of the most elusive and endangered," it says. WWF says that the animal is threatened not just because of climate change but also because of a combination of other factors including: Climate change will exacerbate most of these threats, the report says, further increasing the pressure on snow leopards and reducing them to unsustainable numbers in many areas. "The Himalayas region will face a major crisis if we choose to ignore climate change. Not only do we risk losing majestic species such as the snow leopard, but hundreds of millions of people who rely on water flowing from these mountains may be affected," WWF-UK's Snow Leopard Programme Lead Rebecca May said. The charity says that India, Nepal and Bhutan's success in increasing the number of endangered species such as tigers and rhinos could be replicated for snow leopards |
While RB Leipzig and Nice have made headlines in Germany and France respectively, an even more unfancied underdog leads the way in Turkey. Istanbul Basaksehir shrug off comparisons with Leicester, though - because their sights are set higher. "They were a fairytale last season, but before that they were 14th and now they're in a similar position again," senior board member Mustafa Erogut told BBC Sport. "We want to be in the top four or five every season." Galatasaray have won four of the past 10 Super Lig titles, with Fenerbahce claiming three, Besiktas two and, in 2010, Bursaspor became champions for the first time. But if Basaksehir win the Istanbul derby with champions Besiktas on Saturday (16:00 GMT), they will be five points clear at the top. It is a remarkable rise for a club that until recently struggled to attract crowds in three figures to matches at their 17,800-capacity Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium. "Up until two years ago we had about 100 fans at Super Lig games," said Erogut. "There are some advantages to that, though - when you're on a bad run you don't have anyone protesting at matches. "At the same time, when things go well you want a sold-out stadium." Basaksehir's lack of support is mainly a result of being a relatively young club. Whilst Fenerbahce and Galatasaray have districts of the city to call their own on the European and Asian sides of the Bosphorus, the league leaders, founded in 1990, are located in a newly constructed part of Istanbul. "Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have hundreds of years of history, it's the same with the big clubs in Istanbul," said Erogut. "Nobody can say they are from the Basaksehir district because it's only about 10 years old. It's difficult to break barriers here." Not only are Basaksehir the city's youngest club, they also have a much younger fanbase than their rivals. In fact, almost all of their supporters are students who follow the club not out of passion, but out of protest. "We started to support the club to show that there is another way," said Basaksehir supporter Alperen. "We wanted to show it's possible to follow football without conflict." Alperen, a member of the club's Grey Owls supporters' group, is referring to the politics and violence which have damaged the image of the sport in Istanbul. Earlier this year, a five-year ban which prevented away fans attending fixtures between the city's big clubs was lifted. It had been imposed after repeated incidents of violence at matches. The extreme animosity between rivals drove disillusioned football fans to Basaksehir. "I think it's like your child is growing," added Alperen. "It's a really good feeling because you supported this team and expected no achievements, you just wanted to support them. "Then they become successful and it's a great feeling to follow them. I feel good when I say to people that I support Basaksehir." So who is the mastermind behind Basaksehir's rise to the top? |
William Flindell, 50, needed two months of specialist treatment in hospital after the blast in Newport last April. Flindell has admitted arson, being reckless as to whether life is endangered, and will be sentenced in the next 10 days. Newport Crown Court heard Flindell tampered with the gas supply in an attempt to kill himself. Properties either side of Flindell's George Street home were damaged and three people were hurt in the explosion. Flindell suffered life-threatening injuries, including burns to 58% of his body. Psychiatric and probation reports said Flindell had acute and severe depressive illness. Flindell was remanded into custody until his sentencing. |
His production of The Winter's Tale, co-starring Dame Judi Dench, played ahead of Rattigan's farce Harlequinade and the monologue All On Her Own. The Guardian praised a production "unafraid to hint at the darker elements of Shakespeare's fable". The Stage called Harlequinade "light, slight, but undeniably amiable". The comedy, set amidst a touring theatre company putting on productions of Romeo and Juliet and The Winter's Tale, sees Sir Kenneth send up his own theatricality as the single-minded thespian Arthur Gosport - who may or may not be an unsuspecting bigamist. BritishTheatre.com called the play, written by Rattigan in 1948, a "delicate, frothy, and terrifically funny theatrical fairy-tale of sorts. Like all great fairy-tales, it has a very clear moral: theatre is wonderful". Harlequinade was preceded by the monologue All On Her Own - also written by Rattigan for television in 1968 - starring Zoe Wanamaker as a woman mourning her recently deceased husband in the dead of night. Armed with a decanter of whisky, she converses with him in her mind, adopting his northern accent - and in doing so exposes the frayed threads of their failing marriage. Variety's reviewer called the 30-minute play "the best of the bunch". "It's a sharp, layered look at loneliness, grief and the tensions of marital compromise," it added. "Ever so poignant and ever so well played. All truth, no vanity." The Evening Standard agreed, calling Wanamaker's performance "at once fierce and melancholy - finely judged and genuinely sad". In a five-star review, What's On Stage, praised "a generous, full-hearted, thoroughly enjoyable occasion". It said Dame Judi "brings all her deeply felt wisdom and humanity to bear on the role". The Arts Desk's three-star review for Shakespeare's tale of jealousy and betrayal said of Sir Kenneth's performance: "He strains, he paces, he roars, each new suspicion a staggering body blow, and the madness that robs him of sleep leaving him wild-eyed and literally swooning. "Compelling, certainly, but this melodramatic physicalisation of a psychological affliction soon grows wearisome." The Independent, however, said the actor gave "an extraordinarily searching portrayal of Leontes, the Sicilian king seized with baseless suspicion that his wife and bosom friend are having an affair". Although the productions were shown back-to-back for press, they will play separately in future. The Winter's Tale will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide on 26 November. The plays are part of a season at the Garrick Theatre in the West End by the Kenneth Branagh Company and include productions of Romeo and Juliet; The Painkiller, starring Rob Brydon; The Entertainer and the Tricycle theatre's production of Red Velvet. |
James Whale, who hosts the BBC Essex breakfast show, entered the Channel 5 reality television show on Thursday evening. Whale, 65, formerly of Talksport, said he was "excited" to be taking part and looking forward to having a "lie-in". "We expect James back on the breakfast show on 5 September," BBC Essex Managing Editor Lou Birt said. "His friends and colleagues at BBC Essex wish him lots of luck." Whale, who also worked for LBC radio, will initially be replaced by Kath Melandri between 06:00 and 09:00. He said: "I'm excited to be taking part in Celebrity Big Brother and getting to know all the characters in the house. At least I get a lie in from the breakfast show for a while." |
Charlotte Collinge, 48, of Market Warsop had been accused of convincing two men to kill her husband Clifford at their home. The jury at Nottingham Crown Court found her not guilty but convicted Stephen Shreeves, 43, and Kelvin Dale, 30, of murder. Mr Collinge, 61, was beaten to death with a guitar and a metal object. The two men were both jailed for 16 years. Another man, who was with Mr Collinge at the time of the attack, was left with concussion and various cuts and bruises. The case was brought to a retrial in June after fresh evidence from two Warsop women was uncovered. The court heard that Shreeves, of Laurel Avenue, Church Warsop, and Dale, of Forest Road, Market Warsop, went to the Collinge home and carried out the murder after a night out at a local pub. Mrs Collinge was jailed for 23 years and Shreeves and Dale were each jailed for 18 years after the original trial. Det Supt Kate Meynell of Nottinghamshire Police said: "This has been a very complex case and my officers have been driven to deliver justice for Cliff's family. "Our thoughts, as always, are with Cliff's family at this difficult time." |
With a goal tally that matches his age, 21-year-old Memphis Depay is the youngest player to have scored more than 15 goals in the continent's top 10 leagues this season. The Red Devils are also snapping up one of the most sought-after attacking talents in the world, with senior figures at Paris St-Germain and Liverpool reported to be disappointed that the Netherlands international will be at Old Trafford next season. But what exactly are United getting for their reported £30m outlay to Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven? And where is he likely to fit in to Louis van Gaal's starting XI? Depay left hometown club Moordrecht for Sparta Rotterdam in 2003 at the age of nine and then joined PSV three years later. It was a move that was vital to his development, according to Dutch journalist Thijs Slegers, who covers PSV for Voetbal International magazine. "Memphis was hanging round the streets of some of Rotterdam's bad areas with people who were a bad influence on him," Slegers told BBC Sport. "So when PSV came for him he realised that even at 12 he had to break away from these people. "Life in Eindhoven is a lot more sedate than Rotterdam - Memphis came from the wild west in comparison." Depay has a colourful back story and plays with the name Memphis on his shirt having dropped his surname as a result of a strained relationship with his Ghanaian father, who separated from his Dutch mother when he was four. Slegers says Depay's "off-the-pitch antics" when growing up - prompted by a "tough" upbringing - had to be curbed by PSV. He made his debut aged 17 in a Dutch Cup match in 2011 having been straightened out, partially at least, by then PSV assistant Fred Rutten. "Rutten knew how to press the right buttons and told Memphis to stop to doing strange things, grow up and focus on football. He was a key figure," says Slegers. "He was hanging around with some rap artists and he was in music videos and stuff. People the club thought he should not be with." Media playback is not supported on this device Once described as "very angry" by a life coach PSV provided to him as a youngster, Depay is big into body art and has the words "dream chaser" tattooed across his chest. Such lofty aspirations came to the fore when news of his move to United broke on Thursday and he tweeted: "I always say; Dream, Believe, Achieve. I was dreaming and believing of becoming the champions of the Eredivisie with PSV and we achieved it. Now it's time to set my goals again on winning trophies with Manchester United." Depay is not short of confidence, according to Slegers, who has watched his development at close quarters and got to know the player. "Memphis is also a very individual person. He recruited his own financial advisers when he was young because he was spending money on silly things, and his own |
The 54-year-old from Stockport struggled to break clear of Australia's Machin, who had defeated world champion Scott Waites earlier in the tournament, in Sunday's best-of-25-legs final. But with the score 9-9, Fitton pulled away, winning four successive legs to seal a 13-9 success in Frimley Green. Bolton's Lisa Ashton retained her women's title, beating fellow English thrower Deta Hedman 7-4 in the final. |
The £10m device was lifted into place at the new Imaging Centre of Excellence (ICE) at the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH). A giant crane eased the 18-tonne scanner down an alleyway with inches to spare on each side, then through a hole in the wall of the new building. Once it is installed and calibrated it will be used to research - and help treat - a variety of conditions such as stroke, vascular dementia, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. In its current condition it looks like a space capsule - a huge, upended metal doughnut with a hole where the patient will go. And like many a space shot it is a thing of superlatives. There is enough wire wrapped around its huge magnets to stretch from London to Brussels. When it is operating, those magnets - but not the patient - will be cooled to minus 269 Celsius. That is the temperature of deep space. So this particular corner of Glasgow will become one of the coldest places in the universe. The unit of strength of a magnetic field is a Tesla (T), named after the Serbian-American pioneer Nikola Tesla. The magnetic fields of the MRI scanners currently in use in Scotland range from around 1.5T to 3T. The new scanner's field strength will be 7T. Or to put it another way, 140,000 times stronger than the magnetic field of planet Earth itself. The head of Glasgow University's College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Prof Dame Anna Dominiczak, sees it as an endorsement of the pioneering work already done there. "Glasgow is a centre of excellence for chronic disease research and management, and also for clinical trials," she says. "So as a leader in this area we think we are the best to get a 7 Tesla scanner." With that field strength will come more detail than existing scanners. Much more. It has been likened to going from an ordinary TV picture to HD. That added detail will mean far greater opportunities to research and teach - and to treat patients from the QEUH campus with new precision medicine techniques. MRI scanners may seem new-fangled to many of us. If so, we are just showing our age. Glaswegians have been getting scanned for more than 30 years now. If we ourselves haven't been scanned, chances are we know someone who has. But do we know what's going on in there? Happily the university's professor of clinical imaging, Keith Muir, can explain. "Essentially we're using a very strong magnetic field which is going to line up all the water in your head in one direction," he says. "And then by applying clever radio pulses it's going to spin them round in various ways that can be detected as very small radio signals which are used through vast computing power to reconstruct a detailed picture of the bit we're imaging." As with many big ticket science projects, collaboration and co-funding are key. The university is taking the lead, |
"We waste scammers' time, we waste their resources and we make them believe they are not as good as they think they are," Jill - not her real name - explains to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. She is part of a global network of so-called scam baiters, who spend their evenings trying to unearth online con artists by pretending to fall for their tricks. The ruses can range from emails saying the recipients have won the lottery, to "long-lost relatives" who have left them an inheritance. "Scammers are always going to be there but if we can take them down a peg and take a victim away from them any time we can, then we are doing something good," Jill adds. One of the main techniques, explains Wayne - a scam baiter who often works with Jill - is by leaking scammers' details and their conversation scripts online. The aim is for these to filter through to search-engine results, so potential victims will be alerted if they type in the scammer's name. Wayne says police and other authorities use the data, too. The scam baiters say they do not earn a penny from their work and that they have other reasons for taking on the con artists. One man from the US, who wished to remain anonymous, wanted to turn the tables after his mother was caught up in a "grandparent scam", and came close to losing $5,000 (£3,900). For Wayne, the motivation is simply the "buzz" he receives from knowing he can help someone. He says people have contacted him via his website on the verge of suicide. Questions remain, however, over whether scam baiters are sufficiently equipped - or best placed - to deal with scammers rather than the authorities. Official advice is to report any suspected offenders to Action Fraud - the UK's national fraud and cyber-crime centre, which focuses much of its resources on prevention and raising awareness. And Wayne says scam baiters do point people towards the official routes when they feel out of their depth. But Jill argues they still play an important role, as advances in technology and the fact many of the scammers are overseas mean it is difficult for authorities to catch such criminals. And they reject the label vigilante. "Vigilantes work outside the law," says Wayne. Wayne's set-up is rudimentary. He works under various aliases, mostly named after characters from his favourite children's television shows of his youth. He often makes himself seem more vulnerable - and potentially gullible - by pretending to have recently broken up from a partner. "To bait you do need to have something of a twisted sense of humour," he jokes. Both Wayne and Jill always wait to be approached by scammers, rather than seeking them out. But they don't have to wait long. Their names are on a so-called "suckers list" - effectively a database of people thought to be easy to con - which is passed around by scammers online. The latest |
Stephen Nisbet, 40, who the judge said was the principal figure behind the operation, was jailed for 12 years at the High Court in Glasgow. His brother James, his main accomplice on the outside, received 10 years. Five men convicted for their role as couriers in the gang were sentenced to between four and eight years. Stephen Nisbet ran the operation by mobile phone from his Edinburgh prison cell while serving a life sentence for murder. James Nisbet, 46, had used a recycling plant near Shotts, North Lanarkshire, as a front for their £1m drugs business. However, the duo, along with a team of couriers, were caught in January 2014 when detectives moved in following a huge police probe. Passing sentences totalling 48 years and 10 months on Friday, judge Lord Armstrong said the men had been involved in an operation which was "organised and planned." He added: "The courts must take full and proper account of the widespread harm that is caused by the supply and abuse of controlled drugs." Stephen Nisbet is already serving an 18-year sentence after being convicted of murder in 2003. Co-accused Ronald Harrison and Allan Holland, 38, were also found guilty of being concerned in the supply of heroin although had lesser roles. John McMahon, 27, David Milne, 34, and Robert Borland, 35, all earlier admitted to related drug charges. Drug deals were carried out across Scotland - including in Dundee, Fife and Lanarkshire. The Nisbets were each convicted of three charges including supplying heroin and "directing others to commit a serious offence". Stephen Nisbet was jailed for a minimum 18 years in 2003 for his part in the murder of 37 year-old David James. Mr James was thrown from a first floor window of a flat in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, before being beaten to death. |
Budge will seek election at the annual general meeting on July 20 Celtic chief executive Peter Lawell and Partick Thistle managing director Ian Maxwell also intend to stand. However, Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson has decided not to vie for one of the three available positions. Robertson, who joined the Rangers board just over a year ago, said after "much thought and consideration" he would not seek election. In a statement on the Rangers website, the club said they were "confident its views are being listened to and treated with the utmost respect" by other Premiership clubs. They added "it is accepted that Rangers' voice is being heard within Hampden, both at SFA and SPFL levels." Dundee United's Stephen Thompson beat Budge to the Premiership position last year after three rounds of votes, but quit the board in protest at the club's three point deduction and fine for fielding ineligible players in a match against Inverness in May. He will seek election for one of the two vacant positions in the Championship alongside Hibernian's Leeann Dempster and Eric Drysdale of Raith Rovers. In Leagues 1 and 2, from which there will be one position, Brechin City's Ken Ferguson is the sole nominee. |
There was disorder from California to Georgia as shoppers vied to buy a retro version of a classic Air Jordan model. A new pair costs about $180 (??115), but they are already being listed on eBay for as much as $605. The ugly scenes recalled the violence that broke out in the early 1990s on streets across America as the shoes became popular targets for thieves. In the early hours of Friday, police used pepper spray on about 20 customers who started fighting at a mall in suburban Seattle, Washington state, as they queued to buy the black-and-white Air Jordan 11 Retro Concords. One man was arrested for allegedly punching a police officer. "He did not get his shoes. He went to jail," Officer Mike Murphy said. He added: "It was not a nice, orderly group of shoppers. There were a lot of hostile and disorderly people." In other disturbances: A spokesperson for Nike was not immediately available to comment. The original Air Jordan created a subculture of collectors who rarely wore the sneaker but were willing to wait hours to buy the latest pair. |
Archaeologists believe the bone was deliberately placed and could possibly be the remains of a respected original founder of the large complex. They added that there could be more bones still to be found. The University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute is leading the dig. Site director Nick Card said the bone was an important and exciting find. He said there were several theories as to who the arm may have belonged to, including the possibility that it was the remains of an original founder of the site. But he added that the ideas would need to be backed by scientific fact. Archaeologists have been carrying out excavations of the complex of buildings at Ness of Brodgar, the location of the Ring of Brodgar standing stones, since 2002. Since 2002, Neolithic buildings, artwork, pottery, animal bones and stone tools have been discovered. Six years ago, archaeologists found proof that Neolithic people were using paint to decorate their buildings as well as using stone as roofing material. Radiocarbon dates from parts of the site suggest the complex was in use for about 1,000 years from at least 3200BC to 2300BC. The University of the Highlands and Islands is also involved in another dig on Orkney. Excavations at The Cairns on South Ronaldsay involve an Iron Age broch. Human remains have also been found at this site, as well as 2,000-year-old fossilised animal dung. |
The 94 passengers and six crew on board flight BA6234 disembarked safely. The Boeing 737-400 plane - owned and operated by South African franchise Comair - had flown to OR Tambo International Airport from Port Elizabeth on Monday. South African authorities are investigating what caused the incident. Emergency services helped passengers and crew safely off the plane. No injuries have been reported. Comair said in a statement that the plane experienced a landing gear problem shortly after touching down, at around midday local time (10:00 GMT). "The aircraft was on the runway for a short period performing standard landing procedures when the crew noticed an unusual vibration which was followed shortly by the collapse of the left landing gear," the company said. Passenger Warren Mann said: "When it came into land, it felt like the touchdown was a bit harder than normal - then it felt like a piece of something had fallen off. "Oxygen masks came down and the plane was at an angle as we touched down. "We could smell something burn and fire crews were soon at the plane to deal with the engine. "Only afterwards did we find that the left landing gear had broken off." Airports Company South Africa, which owns the airport, said the runway was temporarily closed, causing some delays. Comair operates regional and local flights in South Africa. It flies as a British Airways franchise, with aircraft painted in BA livery. |
Nicole Dempsey, 37 and the mother of two children, suffered 80% burns in the fire on Tuesday. The crash caused a gas bottle to explode at the Serves You Right Cafe in Ravenshoe, south of Cairns. Seven people remain in critical condition in hospitals in the region, say Australian health officials. At least 20 people were hurt in the explosion and fire in the small farming town, in what Queensland authorities described as the state's biggest burns event. CCTV footage showed the explosion flinging customers out of the cafe and across the pavement. Some people staggered from the building, their clothing on fire, as others rushed to put out the flames. The explosion blew out both sides of the building and the fire took an hour to bring under control. It is not known what caused the vehicle to veer off the road into the cafe. Police are investigating whether the driver - who remains in hospital - may have had a medical episode and lost control. Ravenshoe Community Centre chairperson Priscilla Clare said it was amazing anyone survived the explosion. Ms Clare said a group of about eight local senior citizens were inside the cafe at the time, having just been briefed by local firemen about fire safety. "People have witnessed horrific things," Ms Clare told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). "I was talking to people and I did not recognise them" because of their burnt hair and faces, she said. |
Emergency services were called to Honiton Avenue, Hattersley, at about 10:00 GMT, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said. Firefighters found the man's body inside the flat during a search after they tackled the blaze. Formal identification is yet to take place. Hattersley Road West has been closed between Honiton Avenue and Hare Hill Road. A joint investigation between GMP and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) has been launched. Det Sgt David Donlan said: "This investigation is in its very early stages and we will be working closely with GMFRS to establish exactly how this fire started and identify the man who tragically died. "This means we will be speaking to residents in the area and anyone who may witnessed the fire or saw anything earlier this morning. "I would urge anyone with any information to please contact police." |
The emergency services were called to a house in Pennal, near Machynlleth, at 10:15 GMT on Sunday after the body was discovered. Officers confirmed there had been a fire at the property before police and fire crews arrived. The death is not being treated as suspicious but an investigation has been launched. Ch Insp Richie Green said; "North Wales Police and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service are carrying out a joint investigation into the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident and I would appeal to anyone who may have information which may assist us, to contact call 101." |
The owner and founder of Herbert of Liverpool died aged 72 on 20 October. Mourners packed into the city's Anglican Cathedral to pay their final respects on Friday, including one of his friends, the comedian Ken Dodd. The cortege included Howe's famous Cadillac, a classic car bearing the registration plate Bling1. Mr Howe, who had suffered from cancer, flirted with politics and briefly stood for Mayor of Liverpool in 2012 as an independent candidate but withdrew because of what he described as the "viperous attitude" of local politics. He featured on ITV docu-soap Shampoo, Channel 5's Celebrity Super Spa and regularly contributed to BBC Radio Merseyside. Mr Howe also set up Queenie's Christmas charity in memory of his mother. The cortege left his salon - known as the Bling Bling Building - at 11:30 GMT as hundreds lined Hanover Street, which was closed for the procession. Radio presenters Pete Price and Linda McDermott spoke at the service, with the former asking mourners to give his late friend a standing ovation. Celebrities including fellow hairdresser Andrew Collinge and former Liverpool and England footballer Sammy Lee were in the congregation. Paying tribute, Mr Collinge said Mr Howe was "a great man - as we know a much loved part of Liverpool - and a great hairdresser" whose "work for good causes was unparalleled". Liverpool stars Claire Sweeney, Jennifer Ellison, Danielle Lloyd and Ray Quinn also paid their respects. Mr Howe will be cremated at a private ceremony later. |
He accused Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of backing corrupt officials who, he said, were undermining his reform efforts in Odessa. Mr Poroshenko appointed him Odessa governor in May 2015, with a remit to fight corruption in the key port city. Mr Saakashvili also criticised the huge wealth of some Ukrainian politicians. His resignation followed that of the Odessa police chief and fellow Georgian, Giorgi Lortkipanidze. Odessa leads Ukraine's battle to reform "In Odessa region the president is personally supporting two clans," he said - clans which he described as criminal and corrupt. "This is going on quite openly. Odessa region is being handed over not only to corrupt people, but also to enemies of Ukraine," he said. "I'm sick and tired of all this. So in this situation I decided to resign and start a new phase of struggle." Ukraine craves a radical movement - by Tom Burridge, BBC Kiev correspondent: There is an argument that the former Georgian president's abrasive style is exactly what Ukraine needs. But others will point to his own insatiable appetite for political office. And his opponents say he blurts out serious allegations when concrete evidence is lacking. Whether his resignation is down to failing political reforms in Ukraine, or his own failings, we haven't seen the last of his political ambitions in Ukraine. A close ally of his told me that people in Ukraine "are desperate and hungry for any kind of competent and radical movement". There will be a new political party. And its leader is likely to be Mikheil Saakashvili. Read this analysis in full. Mr Saakashvili did not specify what role he would take up next. He expressed disgust over the fortunes that some Ukrainian politicians revealed recently in official declarations. He said "they declare brazenly that they have billions in cash alone, and on top of that they get state aid - from those very pensioners who collect their last kopecks with shaking hands to avoid dying of hunger". Mr Saakashvili was granted Ukrainian citizenship after leaving Georgia, where his presidential term ended in 2013. Soon after, he was accused of abuse of power - charges that he denies and says are politically motivated. He is a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces expelled Georgian troops from two breakaway Georgian regions - South Ossetia and Abkhazia - in 2008. |
Khaled Meshaal told the BBC the victory of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and its right-wing allies meant there would be "more extremism". He said Hamas was not looking for any escalation, but would defend itself. Militants in Gaza led by Hamas fought a 50-day war with Israel last summer that left more than 2,200 people dead. Last week, Amnesty International said rockets and mortar attacks on civilian areas in Israel during the conflict amounted to war crimes. Hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and other countries due to its long record of attacks on Israelis and its refusal to renounce violence. Under its charter, the group is committed to the destruction of Israel. But to its supporters Hamas is seen as a legitimate resistance movement. In an interview with BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen in Qatar, Mr Meshaal said attacks on Israel would continue "as long as there is occupation, aggression, war and killing". But he stressed that Hamas was "careful to respect international humanitarian law and to target only military targets". Khaled Meshaal looked to be in good health. "Keep fit to keep on resisting," he joked before the interview. He was noticeably slimmer than when we last met in Damascus, before he relocated to Doha with his staff. For years, President Bashar al-Assad gave Mr Meshaal an HQ and protection. But he said "when we were asked to side with the regime against the will of the people, we refused." Most of the armed rebels in Syria are, like Hamas, Sunni Muslims. Mr Meshaal rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's accusation that Hamas was the same as the jihadist groups Islamic State and al-Qaeda, condemning them as un-Islamic. He seemed to be calibrating his comments on the conflict with Israel to catch the prevailing mood of anger towards Mr Netanyahu in the White House, after his sharp turn to the ultra-nationalist Israeli Right in the last days of the election campaign. Mr Meshaal called for a sovereign independent Palestinian state and an end to the occupation of land captured in the 1967 Middle East war. So did the White House chief of staff earlier this week. Netanyahu win dims peace process prospects Netanyahu win gives Obama a headache The Palestinians, he asserted, had shown that they were "flexible, serious and keen to achieve a just and rightful peace". "But Israel killed the peace process," he added, blaming Mr Netanyahu's outgoing government, along with "extremist forces" in Israel, for the collapse of the US-brokered direct negotiations last year. "Israeli policies have always been bad, but today the Israeli Right is on the rise, and that produced Netanyahu's victory in the last election. So it is going to get more difficult and we will see more extremism in the Israeli mentality." Although Hamas has opposed years of on-off peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, Mr Meshaal said he and the group had agreed to accept the boundaries which existed before the |
It is a world few Americans are aware of. But tens of thousands of American children are thought to be sexually exploited every year. It's believed that every night hundreds are sold for sex. The FBI says child sex abuse is almost at an epidemic level, despite the agency rescuing 600 children last year. "Trafficking" often conjures images of people from other countries being smuggled over land and across the sea and then forced to work against their will in foreign lands. People are trafficked into America from Mexico, Central and South America. But the vast majority of children bought and sold for sex every night in the United States are American kids. We have heard from a number of women from the East coast to the Mid-west who have frighteningly similar and horrific stories. Neglected, abused, exploited and often ignored starting from a young age - sometimes even prosecuted by the very people who should have protected them. A handful of good souls, the kindness of a few strangers and the good work of some law enforcement agencies and the FBI offer some relief to America's most vulnerable. But the stories we have heard suggest they are only scratching the surface of one of America's best-kept and darkest secrets. In Minnesota, I met with former sex workers who had sought support through an advocacy group called Breaking Free. Half of the women in the group were under the age of 18 when they first were sold for sex. Many of the others were not much older than 18. One woman says she was bought by her aunt at the age of 14. "She gave my mom $900. Told me I was going shopping at the mall." The aunt would bring her to drug dealers' houses, where she was raped and given drugs. "She would leave me...and then [was] like 'You were messed up, you wanted to stay'," she recalls. She soon believed the abuse was her fault and her choice. Another woman says she was 17 when she was kicked out of the house. "I wanted to get high," she says, and turned to working as a prostitute. She later started using the classified adverts website Backpage.com to make more money to keep up with her addiction. A third was 14 when she was kidnapped by "a guy I thought I liked". She didn't return home for two years. Jenny Gaines, who leads the group discussion at Breaking Free, says many "manipulate and take advantage of underage girls". One woman said of her abuser, "He knew I was 14, he had to know that I was underage," despite her attempts to pretend to be 18. "When he actually found out how old I was it didn't stop him... he wanted me even more." A woman who was first trafficked at 14 says she is living in a shelter right now and is struggling to not return to prostitution. "There's tricks' names still on my phone, I haven't even deleted |
One collapsed on Thursday while, in a separate incident, the second boy was arrested for criminal damage and drug offences after "behaving out of character". The teenagers, both from Leyland, took blue and yellow tesla pills. Two further youths, aged 15 and 17, were arrested in Buckshaw Village in connection with the incidents. Cannabis and pills were seized during the raids. Sgt Mark Douglas of Leyland Police said: "We know that these tablets have appeared in Leyland and surrounding Chorley areas, so I am also asking the public to remain vigilant and to report, or hand in, any of these types of tablets to the police so they can be properly examined." The advice follows the death of a man in Nelson last week who was thought to have taken shield-shaped turquoise tablets, again suspected to be ecstasy. Four people were also taken to hospital after taking what is suspected to be a similar type of pill at the Beat-Herder Festival in the Ribble Valley last weekend. The 14-year-old arrested after taking the pills is currently on bail pending enquiries. |
The blaze engulfed some 3,000 sq metres (33,000 sq ft) of the building and took more than five hours to put out. Russia's child rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said the victims were migrant workers who had been living and working in the building. Of the three children who died, one was a small baby, he said. State investigators are looking into the cause of the blaze, which broke out on Saturday evening, and said arson has not been ruled out. Some reports say the workers were from Central Asia. |
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag married a Christian man and was sentenced to hang for apostasy earlier this month after refusing to renounce Christianity. She is allowed to nurse her baby girl for two years before the sentence is carried out. Born to a Muslim father, she was convicted by a Sharia court. Sudan has a majority Muslim population, which is governed by Islamic law. Ms Ibrahim was also convicted of adultery on the grounds that her marriage to a Christian man from South Sudan was void under Sudan's version of Islamic law, which says Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslims. For this the judge sentenced her to 100 lashes, which will reportedly be carried out when she has recovered from giving birth. Ms Ibrahim was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother's religion, because her father, a Muslim, was reportedly absent during her childhood. According to Amnesty International, she was arrested and charged with adultery in August 2013, and the court added the charge of apostasy in February 2014 when she said she was a Christian and not a Muslim. Lawyer Elshareef Ali said his 27-year-old client had given birth to a baby girl in the early hours of Tuesday morning in a hospital wing at the prison. She also has her 20-month-old son with her as he has been held with her in prison since late February, he said. Correspondents say death sentences are rarely carried out in Sudan. Ms Ibrahim's legal team lodged an appeal on 22 May as Mr Ali says the verdict contravenes the constitution's enshrining of freedom of faith, the Bloomberg news agency reports. Western embassies and rights groups have urged Sudan to respect the right of the woman to choose her religion. |
The decision to call off tie was made following an inspection at the Belfast Loughshore Arena on Saturday morning. It is the ninth postponement at Carrick's home ground this season and a the cup fixture has been rearranged for Monday, 15 February. The remaining seven sixth-round games will go ahead as scheduled. Carrick have played just two matches at their home venue since 31 October and face a major fixtures backlog. |
The museum sought new premises due to a lack of space and because its lease was running out after 2018. It has been awarded £725,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards converting an Anti-Aircraft Operations Room (AAOR). The building, built in the 1950s, is known as the Old Radar Station. In more recent years it was used as a roads maintenance depot. Highland Council has approved the museum's plans and its managers hope the lottery funding will be a "catalyst" for further funding awards. |
The bill is set to come into effect later this year. Burning Man, a week long event held in the Nevada desert, described it as "misguided". The producers of the Electric Daisy Carnival, a music and light show, said it was "detrimental" to the industry. "Burning Man is a non-profit organisation that spends more than $11m in Nevada, has vendor contracts with local businesses and is a strong supporter of arts around the state," its spokesperson said. "Burning Man participants contribute more than $40m annually to the Nevada economy - they pay their fair share of sales and gas taxes, and they are tremendously supportive of local businesses," he added. The law is set to affect next year's Burning Man ticket sales, most of which cost $390. The festival estimates it will cost them $2.8m. It is still considering whether or not to pass it on to consumers. Jennifer Forkish, from Insomniac, the organisation that puts on the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), said the law was "extremely detrimental to our industry, one that generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for local and state governments". "Even though EDC will not be impacted this year, this tax increase could force us to operate at a loss in the future. |
Stone, 22, is likely to miss the rest of 2016 after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in June. He has made 25 first-class appearances, with a bowling average of 30.69. "Whether he'll want to see all eight, maybe not. But I'm sure he'll pick out some and see what they've got to say," said director of cricket David Ripley. Hampshire are known to be one of the counties interested in speaking to Stone, who has also made 17 List A and 30 T20 appearances in his senior career. Ripley continued to BBC Radio Northampton: "He's assured us he'll come back to us and see what we've got to say and we're still hopeful he'll stay. "He was on the verge of Lions cricket before his injury and we think we can do well with his injury. Barry Goudriaan has got a very good record of rehabbing players so I think that's a card for us to play." |
The 30-year-old was due to defend his title against Jonathan Barros in Las Vegas in January but the fight was called off at 24 hours notice. Argentinean Barros was not able to meet the medical requirements of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Selby will now face Spaniard Gago at London's O2 Arena, on the undercard of David Haye's fight with Tony Bellew. "I know the main event isn't going to last too long so I wanted to make sure there was a nice juicy few fights on the undercard," said Haye. "After his [Selby's] fight fell through, I really felt for him boiling his massive frame down to nine stone and not getting any work that night." An IBF statement said Selby will remain champion for the non-title fight. "While the situation with Barros gets clarified the IBF has agreed to allow Selby to fight a non-title bout above the weight limit," the federation said. Selby is looking to keep his schedule in line with Northern Ireland's Carl Frampton. The duo could meet this summer, especially with doubts surfacing over Frampton's trilogy contest with Leo Santa Cruz. Media playback is not supported on this device |
The Trust launched a £16m bid for the Seasiders in July. But in a letter on the club website, Oyston said he doubted they had the "money or the experience necessary to support the club" in its hour of need. He has been the majority shareholder since 1988, but last season saw a series of protests against the way the Oyston family run the club. Blackpool, who were in the Premier League as recently as 2010-11, were relegated from the Championship last season. They are currently 19th in League One, having won four of their 14 games so far this season under manager Neil McDonald. Media playback is not supported on this device Launching what it described as a "fair and reasonable bid" three months ago, the Blackpool Supporters' Trust said a change in ownership was a "logical step" to try and move the club forwards. However, 81-year-old Oyston, whose son Karl is Blackpool chairman, said the Trust had "failed to respond to the questions which, if you were serious, you would have dealt with responsibly and comprehensively" and that if a takeover went ahead, the club would "go to the wall". Addressing the Trust, he continued: "It would be irresponsible of me to simply hand this over to you as it is clear to any independent observer that you could not operate it successfully. "I reiterate my admiration for your tenacity, enthusiasm, commitment and love for the club. As I have said before, these are wonderful qualities which I share with you, but these alone are not sufficient to ensure the continuance of our club." Oyston rejected a takeover offer from an unnamed "third party" in May, since when the Supporters' Trust has been at the forefront of discussions about a possible sale of the club. Earlier this month, club president Valeri Belokon, who owns 20% of Blackpool, confirmed he was interested in acquiring a controlling stake and was holding talks with local business people about a potential investment partnership. |
Spokesman Peter Cook said it was one of several incidents of Iranian vessels harassing US ships in the past week. Mr Cook said the intention of the Iranian ships was unclear but their behaviour was unacceptable, as the boats were in international waters. But Iran's Defence Minister, General Hosein Dehghan, said the US ships were in Iranian waters. He said his forces would warn or confront any foreign ship that entered his country's waters. American patrol ship the USS Squall fired three warning shots after an Iranian craft approached it head on, coming within 200 yards (180m) before turning away, the Pentagon says. The shots, fired from a 50-calibre gun, caused the Iranian vessel to turn away, the spokesman added. In a separate incident, video footage from on board the USS Nitze warship shows several small boats approaching the destroyer at high speed. Flares were fired after two of the boats ignored warnings to change course. Some 40% of the world's seaborne oil exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance to the Gulf. In January, Iran detained 10 US sailors at gunpoint after they ended up in Iranian waters. A naval inquiry later found that they had navigated incorrectly. In the same month, Western powers lifted sanctions on Iran as it restricted its nuclear activities. The move heralded a change in relations between the US and Iran. |
Paul Newcombe, 35, of Llansamlet, Swansea, drove a stolen car into the front of Mond Valley Golf Club in Clydach near the city in May last year. Swansea Crown Court heard he then made off in a van, which was later found to contain stolen golf equipment. He admitted burglary, theft, dangerous driving and handling stolen goods. During his getaway, Newcombe was pursued by police and drove off-road on to waste ground, where his van got stuck. He was then arrested for the golf club burglary and other thefts. Speaking after the case, Det Con Craig Earley of South Wales Police described Newcombe as a "prolific offender" who had led police on a "dangerous pursuit". |
The men were attacked while sitting in a parked Renault Megane at 19:30 BST on Sunday. Officers found the car driver with stab wounds after reports of a disturbance in Braintree Road, Dagenham. The man, who has not yet been formally identified, was treated by paramedics but died at the scene. The CCTV footage shows the first vehicle smashing into the back of the car before a second vehicle pulls up alongside to block any possible escape. The attackers can be seen wielding what look like baseball bats. A Met spokesperson said no arrests had been made and officers were in the process of informing the next of kin. One resident told BBC London he heard a commotion and saw a group of five people running off in the opposite direction from the scene of the attack. |
The pioneering Scot was selected despite finishing second to Thomas Telford in a public vote. Bank chiefs made the decision after concerns were raised about a flurry of last-minute votes for the engineer. Somerville, who died in 1872, will feature on new polymer notes which are expected to be issued in the second half of 2017. The Jedburgh-born woman was one of three historical figures in the running to appear on the notes. An RBS spokesman said she was the clear favourite of voters during the most of the week-long poll, which was run on the bank's Facebook page. However there was a sudden surge in activity on the final day of voting, which pushed Telford into first place. It is understood that fewer than 1,000 votes separated the top two - but very few of Telford's votes were made in the UK. Physicist James Clerk Maxwell was in third place at the end of the poll. Malcolm Buchanan, chairman of RBS's Scotland board, said he was overwhelmed by the response to the initiative. "Having the opportunity to choose the face of our new £10 notes obviously meant a great deal to a great number of people," he added. "Any of our final nominees would have been worthy winners and we wanted to make sure that our choice properly reflected the wishes of those who took part. "Mary Somerville's immense contribution to science and her determination to succeed against all the odds clearly resonate as much today as they did during her lifetime." Somerville made history when she was jointly nominated to be the first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1835. Her writing influenced James Clerk Maxwell and John Couch Adams, who later discovered Neptune. |
George Ferguson had previously approved the £10m Avonmouth and Portbury Docks deal with First Corporate Shipping. Following a "call-in" of that decision, council members voted by 41 to 16 to object to his plan. Those against argued the council's long-term investment would make way for a "short-term advantage" and that the freehold was worth more than £10m. Mr Ferguson told the debate it was not a case of "letting the family silver go" but how it was reinvested. The council currently holds a 12.5% share in the ports. Labour's Helen Holland criticised the proposal, saying there was "great frustration" at the lack of information about the sale. Conservative councillor, Peter Abraham said city had received some £68m income from the port since it was sold in 1991. And Liberal Democrat Gary Hopkins said the council should be thinking about the "long-term interest" of keeping the share "and not a smash-and-grab". The Green Party's Charlie Bolton said while the Greens supported the port, he objected to the sale of even the freehold as it was a "community asset". "The council's job as trustees should be to manage that land and not to sell it," he said. "Once it is gone it's gone for ever." |
Dean Cody, of no fixed address, had been found guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court of killing David Kingsbury, 35. The fatal attack took place in Old Colwyn on 5 January. Sentencing Cody to life in prison, judge Mr Justice Griffith-Williams told him his criminal record was "as bad as they come for someone of your age". He said: "You carried that knife because you are a committed criminal and an associate of criminals, and happy to throw your weight around in the Colwyn Bay area." The judge added that while Mr Kingsbury had been very drunk and abusive to Cody, most people would have treated his insults "as the ramblings of a drunken man". |
He has for some time ruled out a formal coalition. So has she. So speculation has moved on to whether they could reach an informal arrangement - "confidence and supply" - where the SNP would guarantee a Labour budget in return for concessions. For a time, relatively measured language was used towards the SNP as Labour tried to woo their former supporters who had voted "yes" in the referendum. The rhetoric is now more robust as the polls refuse to budge. But the underlying thinking is much the same. Because the SNP has promised the Scottish people they won't help David Cameron into Downing Street, if Labour have the most seats but fall short of a majority they say they would simply challenge the nationalists to back a legislative programme - their Queen's Speech. While they would talk to SNP and indeed DUP MPs, as Angela Eagle, shadow leader of the house told the BBC, no deal - formal or informal - would be forthcoming. Instead that Queen's Speech would be sure to include policies which those other parties would vote for - such as the abolition of the under-occupancy penalty or bedroom tax - to ensure it passed and to minimise the opportunity for mischief. If the SNP took down a Labour government promising coincidentally to implement some of their policies, their chances of doing well at the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections would be diminished. Further down the line, the SNP could vote against Trident - but enough Conservatives would back renewal for a Labour minority government to avoid defeat. The trickier question is what happens if the Conservatives have more seats than Labour. Could Ed Miliband still become prime minister with tacit SNP support? Would he accept a "runner-up" could be PM? That's a question he hasn't yet answered. Constitutionally it would be possible, but politically it could damage Labour's future prospects in England. |
Mr Greenwald recently published allegations that US officials monitored communications of the Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff. Another recent report accused US authorities of spying on Brazil's oil company Petrobras. The firm's president and five Brazilian ministers are also expected to testify. Mr Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, who was held for more than eight hours by British authorities at a London airport on his way back to Brazil, is also expected to testify to the parliamentary commission. The Rio de Janeiro-based journalist's allegations are based on documents leaked by the fugitive American former intelligence worker, Edward Snowden. Mr Greenwald spoke about the spying allegations before the Brazilian Congress in August. Ms Rousseff is expected to go ahead with a planned visit to Washington in October, despite fierce criticism in Brazil over the allegations of spying by US officials. The Brazilian investigative commission wants to probe whether the alleged spying on Petrobras could have compromised the integrity of the public auction of a major oil field in October. The Senators will invite the Minister of Communications, Paulo Bernardo, the Justice Minister, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, the Defence Minister, Celso Amorim, the Foreign Relations Minister, Luiz Figueiredo, and the Minister of the Institutional Security Office, Jose Elito, to testify. US President Barack Obama has already vowed to investigate allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on his Mexican and Brazilian counterparts. Mr Greenwald, a reporter for the British Guardian newspaper, alleged the NSA spied on communications between aides of Ms Rousseff and accessed all internet content that she had visited online. Mr Greenwald was the first journalist to reveal the secret documents leaked by Mr Snowden on 6 June. Since then, he has written a series of stories about surveillance by US and UK authorities. |
The former Australian prime minister, now head of an international education fund, says the "repercussions" will affect all countries. Ms Gillard says the global community needs to support efforts to provide education for displaced young people. Education for refugees provided support "in the depths of crisis", she said. Ms Gillard, speaking to the BBC in London, warned that every country, on grounds of both morality and self-interest, should support the education of young people caught up in conflict. And she rejected the idea that countries could turn away from international responsibilities. "Whether it's debates about immigration, people's movement into Europe, or looking back at the Iraq war, the underlying theme is that in today's world, something happening in any part of the world has repercussions for the rest of the world. "It's not like the old days when somewhere geographically remote would never touch you," said Ms Gillard. "That's not the world we're living in. It's a connected world in every sense. That means that good things and bad things have consequences for the rest of the world." Ms Gillard, chair of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), said there were an estimated 75 million young people living in conflict zones and that providing them with an education was the most "hard-headed" way to promote "peace and prosperity". When children became refugees, she said only about a quarter were likely to get to school, threatening to permanently damage their chance of qualifications, work and a stable future. The destruction of war exacerbated the problems of millions of children already missing out on education, particularly girls. More stories from the BBC's Global education series looking at education from an international perspective and how to get in touch "The statistic that always sends chills down my spine and makes me very anxious is that at the current rate of change it won't be until 2111 before we see the first generation of sub-Saharan African girls universally going to primary and lower secondary school." She says her own family's experience shows how much education systems can make progress. "My father was born in 1928 in a Welsh coal mining village and he left school when he was 14. That was the UK of the last century, now kids don't leave school, they get the opportunity to stay on and it's built this society." She says that she wants a similar "virtuous circle" of improved access to education and an improved economy for poorer countries around the world. While there might be concerns about migration in the West, she says that often it is the poorest countries, closest to conflicts, that face the toughest humanitarian challenges. She gives the example of Chad, a central African country which has seen large numbers of refugees coming across its borders. The United Nations says there are now 2.8 million people in the area surrounding Lake Chad who have been forced out of their homes by the violence of the Boko Haram terror group. "Chad is trying to |
The photo-themed social network took the measure after being asked to respond to an investigation by #BBCtrending - a new social media series. The journalists had uncovered many pictures and videos of narcotics posted alongside text advertising their sale. Instagram is owned by Facebook. The firm has a policy of acting on posts reported as being inappropriate, but it believes it would be impractical and invasive to search for such material. "Instagram has a clear set of rules about what is and isn't allowed on the site," a spokeswoman told the BBC. "We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. "People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos." Among Instagram's "report photo/video" choices is the option to identify suspected drug use. The BBC understands Facebook's staff aim to review posts flagged to either of its social networks within 48 hours. They also have the option of blocking terms classed as "bad hashtags" - ones that promote banned activities - if they are mentioned in the press or in user reports. The only content Facebook does actively search for is images of child abuse. Most of the drugs-related activity appears to be taking place in the US. "Just getting a few packs ready for tomorrow morning... Place your order today, it gets shipped out at 8AM tomorrow," read one post placed beneath an image of bags of marijuana. Another picture showed a variety of pills, adding: "$2 a pop for xans, $10 a pop for roxys." This refers to Xanax, a psychoactive anxiety treatment, and Roxicodone, an opiate used to treat pain. Both require prescriptions in the US and the UK, but are sometimes bought on the black market. Crystals of MDMA and other amphetamine-related substances were among other drugs advertised via photos and videos. In many cases the buyer and seller arranged to finalise their deals using WhatsApp or Kik - instant messaging apps in which they could keep messages private. Like Instagram, accounts can be set up on these services without revealing either party's true identity. Instagram is not the only social network on which drugs are advertised. The BBC has also seen instances of the practice in comments below some videos on Google's YouTube service. But while it is relatively common for the person who uploaded a drug-themed photo or video on Instagram to be the one advertising the sale of the substance, on YouTube the person posting the ad tends to do so below videos belonging to others. Like Facebook, Google relies on users reporting a problem before taking action. "We take user safety seriously and have guidelines that prohibit any content encouraging dangerous, illegal activities," said a spokeswoman for YouTube. "This includes content promoting the sale of drugs. YouTube's review teams respond to videos flagged for our attention around the clock, removing millions |
Arrested in eastern DR Congo in December, Mr Ntaganzwa, 53, is accused in a UN indictment of genocide, crimes against humanity and violating the Geneva Conventions. He is alleged to have helped form a Hutu militia "to exterminate" Tutsis while mayor of the town of Nyakizu. Some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, died in the 1994 genocide. Militias from the majority Hutu ethnic group massacred Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter What has Rwanda genocide tribunal achieved? The US had issued a $5m (£3.2m) reward for Ntaganzwa's arrest, calling him "one of the main instigators of the genocide". The indictment by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) describes his involvement in the killing of more than 20,000 Tutsis between 14 and 18 April 1994. It says he "substantially participated in the planning, preparation and execution of the massacre". He told a group including Hutu civilians to surround Cyahinda parish, in southern Rwanda, "so that no Tutsis could escape and told them to kill Tutsis", the indictment alleges. Mr Ntaganzwa is also "alleged to have orchestrated the rape and sexual violence committed against many women". His lawyers have yet to comment. Reacting to his transfer from neighbouring DR Congo, the head of Rwanda's Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit, Jean-Bosco Siboyintore, said: "We are very happy to see this effected." Eight suspects remain at large and are still wanted by the UN for their alleged role in the genocide. The ICTR was closed in December and Mr Ntaganzwa was delivered to Rwandan prosecutors with the help of the successor UN organisation, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. The ICTR convicted 61 people of involvement in the genocide. |
The links between Italy and its former North African territory go back not only to the brief 36 years of colonial rule at the beginning of the 20th Century, but to a much remoter past - nearly two millennia ago, to be exact. In the Italian capital Rome, the triumphal arch erected by Septimius Severus - the first African-born Roman emperor (he was born in Libya and died in York in England during a military expedition to Britain) - still dominates the ruins of the Roman Forum. Libya, which in antiquity was a much more fertile, less desertic land than today, used to be Rome's bread basket. When Mario Monti, Italy's new technocrat prime minister, spent a day in Tripoli last month attempting to sort out future relations with Libya's new transitional government, he presented the Libyans with an ancient marble bust of Domitilla, the wife of yet another Roman emperor, Vespasian. Listen to the BBC Radio 4 version Download the podcast Listen to the BBC World Service version Explore the archive The bust was dug up somewhere along the North African coast by Italian archaeologists and stolen from a Libyan museum in 1990. The sculpture turned up recently at an art auction in London, was recognised by a vigilant policeman specialising in art theft, and has now been returned to its rightful owners as a kind of pledge that the Italians want good relations with the new Libya. Classical archaeology was used as a propaganda weapon by the Italians when they first occupied Cyrenaica and Tripolitania at the beginning of the 20th Century, and this continued after Libya became their colony during fascist rule. Mussolini wanted to reoccupy the North African lands which for centuries had formed the southern boundary of the Roman Empire. The first systematic excavations at the site of Septimius Severus' birthplace, Leptis Magna, took place during those years. The vast honey-coloured-stone remains of Leptis on the Mediterranean shore - visited only by handfuls of official guests during the Gaddafi years - are one of the wonders of the Mediterranean. Coloured marble columns from Leptis were stolen by a French consul to the Ottoman rulers of Tripoli during the reign of Louis XIV and reused in the construction of his palace at Versailles. But of course Italy's main interest today is not in helping the Libyans protect their archaeological heritage and treasures. It is about trade, and about oil and natural gas. Before the Benghazi uprising last year, Italy had a cosy commercial relationship with Colonel Gaddafi. ENI, Italy's state owned oil company, enjoyed valuable long-term oil concessions, both in the Sahara desert and - for the future - offshore, and 25% of Italy's oil and gas needs were supplied by the former colony. A treaty of "eternal friendship" had been signed between Silvio Berlusconi and Muammar Gaddafi in 2008. The Italians publicly apologised for their misdeeds of an earlier era when tens of thousands of Libyans (no-one knows exactly how many) died in concentration camps |
The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation was established in 2008 while the former Newcastle, Ipswich and England manager was receiving treatment for the disease. He died the following year. The charity initially had a £500,000 fundraising target. His wife, Lady Robson, said she was "very grateful", labelling the milestone "absolutely unbelievable". She said: "Starting the charity was literally something we talked about over the kitchen table. We'd been asked for help and this was Bob's way of giving it. "I'm extremely proud of the work we fund and it meant the world to Bob. Every time we are able to fund something which will help make a difference to cancer patients, I think of him." The foundation works with hospitals on Tyneside to develop new cancer treatments and has spent millions of pounds on equipment. It is also set to contribute about £1m to fund four clinical research and nursing posts at the Newcastle University Centre for Childhood Cancer. Sir Bobby's former oncologist Prof Ruth Plummer said: "Funding these new posts is a natural extension of the work the foundation already supports. "We have an established clinical trials team for adults and we're building on that expertise and expanding to create a 'matching' team for children." |
Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) analysis suggested the rate of recovery was constrained by companies in the north east. New business levels eased during the three months to the end of November with an overall balance of just 3%, compared with 18% a year ago. FAI said it was likely this slowdown would end and recovery improve. In the three months ending November 2015, 34% of the firms surveyed in the Scottish Business Monitor reported an increased turnover, 33% experienced static turnover and 33% a decrease. This latest result indicates a slowing in the pace of the improving trend identified last spring. Grant Allan, FAI deputy director, said: "Growth in the Scottish economy slowed in the final quarter of 2015, while expectations of growth have remained broadly positive. "We await the GDP figures for the third quarter of 2015, and following only slight growth of 0.1% in the second quarter, we will then learn whether growth through last year will be at the moderate levels forecast earlier in the year." He added: "Internationally, the US Federal Reserve's decision to increase interest rates during December 2015 suggests their confidence in recovery. However, it remains to be seen how the US economy - a vital trading partner for Scottish non-UK exports - responds to this decision. "Concerns about a slowdown in Chinese growth as we begin 2016 suggests ongoing weakness in the global economy. This feeds back to Scottish activity both through lower exports and a low price of oil affecting activity across the country, and particularly in the north east of Scotland." A brief summary of some of the other findings in the survey suggested volumes of repeat business were showing a slight decline in the latest quarter; export activity was continuing to fall; firms' assessments of their immediate prospects in the next six months were on a rising trend throughout 2013 and reached highs in the first two quarters of 2014. This is the 12th successive Scottish Business Monitor showing a positive net balance for turnover expectations. These expectation levels suggest the private sector of the Scottish economy will show growth close to, but below, the trend level in the fourth quarter of 2015, and slower growth in the three months to February 2016 compared with the period to November 2015. |
Mr Watson secured the seat he has held since 2001 with a 7,713 majority over Conservative candidate Emma Crane. In a shock result, the West Midlands' longest serving MP David Winnick lost his seat. The Labour candidate, 83, who has held his Walsall North seat since 1979, lost out to Conservative Eddie Hughes by more than 2,000 votes. There are 62 constituencies in the West Midlands region and they have all now declared. The Conservatives have 39 seats, Labour 24 and the Liberal Democrats have none. Following his defeat, Mr Winnick said it had been an "honour and privilege" to have served his constituents. The 83-year-old candidate congratulated his opponent and said: "Democracy works in various ways. Rough with the smooth. It's rough for us tonight." Labour held Birmingham Ladywood with Shabana Mahmood securing a majority of 28,714, with 34,166 votes, followed by Conservative Andrew Browning with 5,452 votes. Preet Gill became the first female Sikh to be elected and held Labour and Co-operative for Birmingham Edgbaston, while Labour held Northfield with Richard Burden securing 23,596 votes - a majority of 4,667. Labour retained Dudley North by 22 votes, as Ian Austin, with 18,090, held off the challenge of Conservative Les Jones and UKIP's Bill Etheridge. Jack Dromey held Birmingham Erdington for Labour with a majority of 7,285 and said the Tories "failed" in Labour heartlands. Elsewhere, Steve McCabe held the Birmingham Selly Oak seat for Labour, taking double the number of votes as his Tory counterpart, Sophie Shrubsole, while Jess Phillips held her seat in Birmingham Yardley with 25,398 votes, followed by Conservative Mohammed Afzal with 8,824. In Wolverhampton, Labour held all three of the city's seats. Emma Reynolds held Wolverhampton North East with a majority of 4,587 after securing 19,282 votes, while Pat McFadden held Wolverhampton South East with a majority of 8,514 votes after gaining 21,137 votes. Newly-elected Eleanor Smith held Wolverhampton South West for Labour with 20,899 votes, a majority of 2,185, followed by Conservative Paul Uppal who secured 18,714 votes. Mr Watson's majority was down by 1,757 from 9,470 in 2015. Liberal Democrat Karen Trench was third with 625 votes. Mr Watson got 22,664 votes and Ms Crane had 14,951 votes - more than 13,000 votes than the Tories received two years ago. The Green Party's John Macefield was fourth with 533 votes and Colin Rankine of UKIP gained 325 votes. Mr Watson said after the ballot: "The next few hours, maybe the next few days look very uncertain but one thing can be sure, Theresa May's authority has been undermined by this election. "She is a damaged prime minister whose reputation may never recover." He added the public had "responded to a positive campaign". "We don't yet know how this election will turn out, but we know the people voted for hope." Sorry, your browser cannot display this content. Enter a postcode or seat name |