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Jamie Cox attacked Viktoria Gribovskaja at her home in Lambeth, south London, in July last year.
The Swindon-based WBO European super-middleweight title holder, who was overheard threatening to "knock out" Ms Gribovskaja, had denied assault.
But he was found guilty after a trial at Croydon Magistrates' Court.
The victim was awoken in the early hours of the morning by Cox forcing his way into her flat, the court heard.
She called 999 before he broke through her bedroom door.
The 29-year-old boxer, who appeared in court under his real name Jamie Russan, was convicted of assault by beating, violence to secure entry, harassment and criminal damage.
Alex Slater, prosecuting, said: "Viktoria said she had never been so scared in her life. She thought he was going to kill her."
He was heard in a recording of a 999 call, which lasted 21 minutes, to say: "I will knock you spark out."
At his trial last month, Cox said he had "barged" through Ms Gribovskaja's front and bedroom doors because he feared she "could kill herself". He denied putting his hands on her.
But magistrates found the victim's account of the confrontation "credible and convincing".
Nathaniel Ikeazor, representing Cox, told the court the boxer regretted the incident.
He said: "Jamie is remorseful as to how his actions affected Viktoria and affected the relationship thereafter."
Cox was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison for the assault and harassment charges, 20 weeks for violence to secure entry and 12 weeks for criminal damage, to run concurrently.
He was ordered to pay £1,105 in compensation to his victim and court costs, and given a restraining order barring him from contacting her indefinitely.
Cox showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.
Speaking outside court, his trainer of 10 years, John Costello, said his legal team will appeal against the decision and are "confident he will clear his name".
Cox will be suspended from boxing for the duration of his sentence, Mr Costello confirmed. | A champion boxer who forced his way into his ex-girlfriend's flat and grabbed her around the throat has been jailed. |
Northern Ireland's world number three is due to tee off with Americans Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler at 02:45 GMT (10:45 local time) on Thursday.
The 26-year-old currently leads the Race to Dubai rankings with just three tournaments remaining.
"I'm not feeling great. I ate something a couple of nights ago and Tuesday wasn't good at all," he said.
"I thought I would be better Wednesday morning, but I had a piece of toast and a couple of bits of melon for breakfast and I came here and tried to hit some balls, but even just making a couple of swings my stomach was too sore.
"I just need another day of rest and hopefully I will be better tomorrow and I can play."
Four-time major winner McIlroy is the only two-time winner of the Race to Dubai - the European Tour's season-long event - having claimed titles in 2012 and 2014.
He currently leads England's Danny Willett, Irishman Shane Lowry and South African Louis Oosthuizen. | Rory McIlroy hopes to play in the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai despite suffering with food poisoning. |
The woman, 37-year-old Wu Shuoyan, is alleged to have been killed last May simply for refusing to hand over her phone number to cult members.
The murder, filmed on CCTV and on mobile phones, sparked outrage.
The Church of the Almighty God cult is banned in China but claims to have millions of members.
Following the brutal killing in May, Chinese authorities said that they detained hundreds of members of the cult, reports the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing.
Interviewed in prison later, one of the defendants, Zhang Lidong showed no remorse.
He said: "I beat her with all my might and stamped on her too. She was a demon. We had to destroy her."
The group had entered a small McDonalds branch in Zhaoyuan in Shandong province last May soliciting phone numbers and hoping to recruit members to their cult.
Ms Wu was waiting in the restaurant with her seven-year-old son and when she refused to give her number, an act which prompted the beating while they screamed at other diners to keep away or they would face the same fate.
The public face of the Church of the Almighty God is a website full of uplifting hymns and homilies. But its core belief is that God has returned to earth as a Chinese woman to wreak the apocalypse.
The only person who claims direct contact with this god is a former physics teacher, Zhao Weishan, who founded the cult 25 years ago and has since fled to the United States, says BBC China Editor Carrie Gracie.
No-one knows exactly where he is, but much of the website's message of outright hostility to the Chinese government is delivered in English as well as Chinese. The cult complains that religious faith has suffered from persecution by the Communist Party.
Since the McDonald's murder, public outrage has forced the authorities to increase pressure on the Church of the Almighty God with almost daily arrests and raids. | The trial of a group of cult members in China who beat a woman to death at a McDonald's restaurant has opened in the city of Yantai in Shandong province. |
The Gills, who finished 20th in League One last season, have signed eight players so far this summer.
But having started the season with a 0-0 draw to Doncaster and a 2-0 loss to Reading, Pennock wants more recruits.
"They've got to be the right players, the right characters and more importantly they've got to be good players," Pennock, 46, said.
"Everybody is pulling together in the right direction - it's a good changing room and if we can add two or three more I'll be very happy."
Although the club are still on the lookout for new additions, Pennock is pleased with those who have already arrived.
Gillingham have brought in defenders Gabriel Zakuani, Luke O'Neill, Connor Ogilvie and Alex Lacey, strikers Liam Nash, Conor Wilkinson and Tom Eaves and midfielder Billy Bingham.
"Overall, I'm happy with every single one of them - all of the new lads who have come in have contributed to what we've done, they've been absolutely first-class," Pennock told BBC Radio Kent.
"I think it's pushed the others on who were here last year as well. The whole club at the moment is in a good place." | Gillingham are looking to add "two or three" more players to their squad, according to manager Ady Pennock. |
Denis O'Brien obtained the injunction to stop RTÉ from reporting details of his personal finances and relationship with former Anglo Irish Bank.
Last week, a judge granted permission for the media to report details about Mr O'Brien's finances made under privilege in the Dáil (parliament).
RTÉ lawyers said as a result there was no need for the injunction to remain.
The media mogul's fortune is estimated to be around £5bn.
Following the granting of the injunction, the purchase of one of Mr O'Brien's companies was discussed in the Dáil.
The comments were made by TD Catherine Murphy under privilege.
She said Mr O'Brien owed the former Anglo Irish Bank, now the nationalised Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), upwards of 500m euro (£362m).
Ms Murphy, an independent left-wing TD, said Mr O'Brien was attempting to pay loans back at an interest rate of just over 1%, when it was arguable that the correct rate should be over 7%.
In response to her comments, lawyers for RTÉ and the Irish Times returned to the high court to seek clarity over whether her remarks could be reported in light of the injunction.
A judge told the media organisations that he never intended nor could he order any interference with what a TD may say under privilege in the Dáil.
The application by RTÉ to have the injunction discharged relates to a planned broadcast regarding certain information regarding Mr O'Brien's relationship with IBRC.
Lawyers for Mr O'Brien said they accepted that following comments made by the Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty in the Dáil on Tuesday evening, there was nothing in the proposed RTÉ script that had been injuncted that warranted further restraint.
The lawyer added that as far as he was concerned, the script in its entirety could be published, as a result of events that had happened outside the courtroom.
On Tuesday, Mr Doherty gave details of what he said were documents related to Mr O'Brien's IBRC loans during a debate in the Dáil.
The Sinn Féin finance spokesman said he had documents which led to questions about the way IBRC was run in the public interest. | Irish state broadcaster RTÉ is trying to get an injunction granted to Ireland's richest man discharged. |
The Sana news agency said the military had "restored security and stability to the neighbourhood of Khalidiya".
Activists reported clashes in Khalidiya on Monday morning, but said that most of the area was under army control.
The announcement comes a month after troops launched an offensive to oust rebels from Syria's third largest city.
Homs has been one of the focuses of a two-year nationwide uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, in which the UN says more than 100,000 people have died.
Correspondents say the capture of Khalidiya would add further impetus to the counter-offensive by government troops and their allies, which saw the nearby town of Qusair fall in June.
By Paul WoodBBC News, Beirut
The fall of Khalidiya had been expected. One Western diplomat said he had been told recently by a Free Syrian Army commander that it was not possible to get any ammunition or other supplies in. Cut off from help, it was only a matter of time, perhaps, for the rebels.
There are other parts of Homs still, just, in rebel hands. But if they, along with Khalidiya, do fall, Homs will become just the latest in a line of regime victories on the battlefield.
The regime's forces have been steadily picking off some of the villages around Homs. Two months ago, with the help of Hezbollah, they recaptured the town of Qusair. The government has halted - if not quite turned around - a rebel advance on Damascus. Sources close to the regime say an offensive is also planned for the northern city of Aleppo.
After Khalidiya, Syria conflict goes on
In pictures: Khalidiya devastation
On Monday, an unnamed army officer told Syrian state television: "Today, we can report having complete control of the area of Khalidiya."
"That was a victory of all our fighters and the whole Syrian Army and especially our dear leader, Bashar al-Assad. And God willing, we will get rid of the terrorists in the entire country and the future will be free of killings and under the control of the army."
However, UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights cast doubt on the claim.
While the group acknowledged that government forces were in control of most of Khalidiya, it said fighting was continuing on Monday.
"Clashes took place between rebels and regime forces, supported by Hezbollah and National Defence Forces, in the southern parts of the Khalidiya neighbourhood," it said.
"Regime forces are bombarding parts, and military reinforcements are arriving as advancing regime forces try to establish full control."
Opposition activists told the AFP news agency that about 90% of Khalidiya was now controlled by the army. One told the Associated Press that the battle for the district was "almost over".
On Sunday, the Arabic TV station al-Mayadeen, which is seen as close to the Syrian government, broadcast what it said was footage of Khalidiya, showing heavily damaged buildings and piles of rubble.
It also showed pictures of the interior of the historic Khaled bin Walid mosque, a focal point for anti-government protesters. Troops reportedly seized it on Saturday, days after activists accused them of firing shells at the tomb of Khaled bin Walid, a revered figure in Islam.
Only the Old City of Homs and a few other districts are still held by the opposition. On Monday, government jets bombed the Bab Hud district of the Old City, just south of Khalidiya, according to the Syrian Observatory. | Syrian government forces have fully captured a district that was a key rebel stronghold in the central city of Homs, state media report. |
HM Revenue & Customs said the plant, on the outskirts of the city centre, could have cost taxpayers nearly £138m a year in lost duty and taxes.
Four lorry loads of tobacco, cigarettes and packing materials have been seized.
Ten men, aged between 26 and 40 from Brazil and Paraguay, were detained on suspicion of immigration offences.
Read more news for Birmingham and the Black Country
Customs officials said the building was kitted out with machinery able to produce and package cigarettes on an industrial scale.
The raid took place over several days last week but details have only just been released.
A number of men were detained by immigration enforcement officers.
A nearby residence was also searched.
Stuart Taylor, HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service assistant director, said: "Tobacco fraud costs the UK £2.4 billion a year in lost tax, money that should be funding vital public services in the UK."
Sajeela Naseer, Birmingham City Council's head of trading standards, said the investigation into the cigarettes recovered was continuing. | A suspected illicit cigarette-processing factory in Birmingham, thought to be capable of producing 35 million a month, has been shut down. |
Charlie Flanagan met NI Secretary James Brokenshire and also talked to some of the parties at Stormont on Wednesday.
Thursday's election ended the unionist majority at Stormont with Sinn Féin now just one seat behind the DUP.
Talks are being held to restore the power-sharing executive, but parties have just three weeks to reach a deal.
Mr Flanagan said: "I detect a willingness on the part of all parties involved to sit down and engage constructively in what is a challenge."
Mr Brokenshire, who arrived in Belfast after having heard the chancellor deliver his budget in London, said there was a sense of urgency to the talks, adding that he wanted to see a solution as soon as possible.
The secretary of state said he welcomed the £120m funding for Northern Ireland announced in the budget, adding that this "underlines the need for an executive to be in place in order to take that work forward".
Speaking after meeting Sinn Féin on Wednesday, DUP leader Arlene Foster said more meetings were planned.
"The dialogue continues in a very good nature, I think that's positive and obviously the focus is on getting devolution up and running again and as quickly as possible," she said.
"My team has met Sinn Féin on legacy issues today and we have been talking about the Stormont House Agreement, we have been talking about all the issues that have concerned us, including the issues around soldiers and how they are treated, how members of the security forces are treated, dealing with issues about the past."
Sinn Féin says the Irish government has a central role in the talks as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.
It is likely to push Mr Flanagan on the outstanding commitments from previous agreements.
For his part, Mr Flanagan has already been in touch with party leaders, and said there was a willingness on all sides to resolve their differences.
But, he said, with Brexit around the corner there is an urgent need for an effective executive to be in place.
Sinn Féin broke off its meeting with Mr Brokenshire on Tuesday and said all he did was "waffle, waffle, and more waffle".
Its northern leader, Michelle O'Neill, said he had still not agreed to release funds for legacy inquests.
Mrs Foster said that waffle was a very pejorative term to use, adding that the DUP had had "very good engagement" with Mr Brokenshire.
Earlier, following a meeting with Mr Flanagan, Mrs O'Neill said: "It is a time for strong political leadership and delivery.
"The British government is holding up access to due process for families. They are key players in this. They need to step up to the plate."
The parties described their two days of talking as business-like, but said there was no sign they were close to resolving the big stumbling block - Sinn Féin's refusal to work with Arlene Foster as first minister while her role in a botched renewable energy scheme is being investigated.
The DUP went into last Thursday's election 10 seats ahead of Sinn Féin and, while it remains the largest party with 28 seats, its lead has been cut to just one seat.
Under Northern Ireland's power-sharing agreement, the government must be run by Irish nationalists and unionists together, with the largest party being invited to put forward a candidate for first minister.
Sinn Féin and the DUP now have three weeks to reach a deal and if a government cannot be formed within that time then, under law, another election can be called.
Ultimately, if no power-sharing government is formed, power could return to the UK Parliament at Westminster for the first time in a decade. | The Irish foreign minister has warned talks to restore Stormont's institutions were operating under a "tight time frame". |
Police found Kevin Malthouse in Blackshots Lane, Grays, in the early hours of Saturday morning following reports of a group of men fighting.
The 24-year-old had been stabbed in the chest and died at the scene.
Jack Taylor, 18, from Oakley Close, Grays, has been charged with his murder and is due to appear at Basildon Magistrates' Court.
Flowers - including moving tributes from Mr Malthouse's parents and wife - have been laid near the spot where he died.
For more stories from the county, visit BBC Local Live: Essex
A 22-year-old man, who was also arrested, has been bailed pending further investigations.
A 21-year-old man, from South Ockendon, was released without charge and faces no further action.
Mr Malthouse's former team Tilbury Football Club has paid tribute, saying he was "a lovely lad". | A man has been charged with murder after a former non-league footballer was stabbed to death. |
Maj Gen James Johnston was faced with 40,000 prisoners at the Bergen-Belsen camp and set up a hospital to treat them for typhus, TB and starvation.
His son, Anthony Johnston, said: "He had to deal with people dying by the hundreds every day."
The plaque was unveiled in Northiam, East Sussex where Gen Johnston lived.
Born in Glasgow, he moved to the village with his family in 1973.
About 60 people, including members of Gen Johnston's family, gathered for the unveiling at the pump house on the village green.
Gen Johnston was commanding a mobile medical unit close to the German-Dutch border in April 1945.
He was ordered to move his unit to take charge of the sick and starving at Bergen-Belsen, which had just been liberated by the British.
Around 70,000 people had died at the camp in northern Germany.
Mr Johnston said his father had been reluctant to talk about his World War Two experiences, due to modesty and wanting to block out such a traumatic event.
"There were times in his life when former inmates, who he had come across at the time, got in touch with him and wanted to acknowledge him," Mr Johnston said.
"Other than that, he didn't talk about it."
In an account which is now in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, Gen Johnston wrote: "Little did I know that I was about to be faced with the greatest test of my career, with a situation that would remain engraved on my memory for the rest of my days.
"[It] would instil in me a lasting abhorrence not only of those who had perpetrated this crime on humanity, but also of those who had condoned it." | A plaque has been unveiled in memory of an Army medical officer who treated prisoners at a German concentration camp in 1945 following its liberation. |
Remains of a man aged between 30 and 49, were found close to the M54 motorway in Shropshire, in August.
West Mercia Police said two metal bracelets - including one thought to be a Kara, a Sikh symbol - were found inside a jacket that was also uncovered.
There have been no matches with DNA profiles of missing people in England.
The force said it was still unable to ascertain the cause of death, but it was keeping an open mind as to how the remains came to be at junction four of the M54 at Shifnal.
It is understood the remains lay undiscovered for up to three years.
2 - 3
Years the bones of a nearly complete skeleton belonging to a man had lain at the site, next to junction four of the M54
5 7 - 5 11 Height of the man
30 to 49 Years old at the time of death
Detectives said they could not rule out that "he may have been subjected to a crime".
The man, who was between 5ft 7ins and 5ft 11ins tall, was discovered by a highway worker at the bottom of an embankment.
He was wearing a black "dare2be" soft-shell outdoor jacket in a large size, a navy blue V-neck T-shirt from George at Asda and a pair of dark coloured, medium-size Nike tracksuit bottoms.
Police said that specific type of T-shirt was first manufactured in November 2007 and first sold in March 2008. | A full DNA profile has been developed of a man whose near-complete skeleton was found close to a motorway. |
Steven Rodriguez, who was better known as A$AP Yams or Yamborghini, died aged 26 on 18 January at Brooklyn's Woodhull Medical Centre.
He founded the US rap collective A$AP Mob along with fellow New Yorkers A$AP Bari and A$AP Illz.
Now the New York Times reports that his death was caused by acute mixed drug intoxication.
Opiates and benzodiazepines were found in his system and it was ruled an accident.
After his death artists paid tribute to him on social media.
Drake tweeted: "Rest in peace Yams. A$AP is family."
Azealia Banks wrote: "ASAP YAMS should be remembered as a leader, an innovator and most importantly as an important part of NYC youth culture."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | American rapper A$AP Yams died of an accidental drug overdose, according to New York City's chief medical examiner. |
England won by six wickets after a Pakistan batting collapse featuring three run-outs in Sharjah on Tuesday.
The Daily Mail reported that the match was the subject of an investigation into suspicious betting patterns.
"There was nothing wrong with that game. I have no doubts about my boys," said former bowler Waqar.
The ICC declined to confirm or deny that it was investigating the game.
Pakistan collapsed from 132-2 to 208 all out before England triumphed with nine overs to spare.
Waqar said: "Yes, we lost the game. You lose and win games, and it's unfortunate the way the whole thing happened."
ICC chief executive David Richardson told BBC Test Match Special: "I wouldn't be suspicious of that game."
He said Pakistan had reported approaches from bookmakers in recent times. | Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has dismissed suspicions over his side's performance in the third one-day international against England. |
The incident happened as the 33-year-old walked under a railway bridge on Dumbarton Road, near the junction with Cable Depot Road, at about 22:00 on Saturday 10 September.
Both boys were described as being white, aged about 14 or 15 and wearing dark-coloured sportswear.
One of them had brown hair in a quiff.
The woman was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for treatment and later reported the incident to police.
Det Sgt Kevin Mulvenna, of Police Scotland, said: "This was a completely unprovoked and senseless attack on this woman, which has left her blind in one eye. The youths responsible must be caught as soon as possible.
"To point a laser pen at someone is highly irresponsible. Extensive inquiries are ongoing to trace the two boys, with officers carrying out inquiries in the local area and studying CCTV footage to identify them."
He asked anyone with information to contact police. | Police are searching for two teenage boys after one of them shone a laser into a woman's eye in Clydebank, leaving her blind in one eye. |
Bernard Kenny, 78, was stabbed as he intervened when Thomas Mair attacked Mrs Cox in his home village of Birstall, West Yorkshire, a year ago.
PCs Craig Nicholls and Jonathan Wright - who arrested Mair - have also received Queen's Gallantry Medals.
Unarmed, they pursued him despite knowing he may have a gun and a knife.
The late politician's senior caseworker, Sandra Major, who witnessed the killing, receives an MBE for parliamentary services and service to the community in Batley and Spen.
Mrs Cox, the Labour MP for the Yorkshire constituency of Batley and Spen, was stabbed and shot outside Birstall Library on 16 June 2016.
After the attack more than 80,000 people signed an online petition calling for Mr Kenny to be awarded the George Cross for his bravery.
At Mair's trial at the Old Bailey, the jury heard Mr Kenny was waiting for his wife outside the library in Birstall when he saw Mair going "berserk".
He said in statement to police: "I thought if I could jump on to the back I could take him down.
"I thought he was thumping her until I saw the blood. I saw he had a knife in his hands.
"Just as I got short of him, he turned around and saw me. He shoved the knife in and it hit me in the stomach. The blood started pouring out between my fingers. I saw the blood and I thought 'Oh my God'."
Mr Kenny said: "I am honoured to receive such an award."
After the attack, Mair left the scene armed with a knife and a gun and was followed by PC Nicholls and PC Wright.
Realising the public could be in danger, the officers chased the suspect and arrested him.
'Heroic actions'
PC Nicholls said he was "honoured, surprised and humbled" to receive the gallantry award.
"Our thoughts remain with Jo's family and friends. We have met members of her family who are incredible and extremely positive.
"On the day this happened, we were not due on patrol but our training was cancelled.
"When we heard what was happening we went straight to the area - we knew who we were looking for and what we were going towards but we knew that if he wasn't stopped he could hurt someone else," he said.
PC Wright said: "I didn't expect this - it's taken me completely by surprise. I am really humbled and honoured to receive it."
West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Dee Collins said: "I am delighted that the brave and heroic actions of Bernard Kenny, PCs Craig Nicholls and Jonathan Wright have been recognised in this way.
"They all showed tremendous courage putting other people's safety ahead of their own." | The man who tried to stop a right-wing extremist from murdering MP Jo Cox has been awarded the George Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. |
Officials say the photo of Ms Badu in The Star newspaper was "an insult to Islam". The paper has apologised.
The Grammy-award winner was due to perform on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur and is said to be dismayed at the news.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has previously warned other international artists to dress modestly for their concerts.
Tattoos are forbidden in Islam and using the word "Allah" in a way deemed disrespectful offends many Muslims.
The photo of Ms Badu with several words in Arabic and Hebrew written on her body features prominently on her official fan site. It is not clear whether Ms Badu's body art is permanent.
The Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry says it was not aware of the tattoos when it initially approved the concert, the BBC's Jennifer Pak in Kuala Lumpur reports. Some Muslims began protesting after The Star published the photo.
Now the culture ministry says it is justified in banning Ms Badu's concert because it breaches religious sensitivities and cultural values.
Information Minister Rais Yatim said a government committee had decided to cancel the show because Ms Badu's body art was "an insult to Islam and a very serious offence".
According to the statement, the body art "triggered public criticism that could jeopardise national security and cause a negative impact to the government's image".
Concert organisers are in touch with officials and hope the cancellation will be reversed, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Ms Badu, 41, had already arrived in Malaysia. She is "worried and dismayed" over the incident, according to the concert organiser.
The Home Ministry has asked The Star to explain why it published the photo. The Star has already apologised, saying its inclusion in Monday's edition was "inadvertent".
"We deeply regret any offence caused to Muslims and sincerely apologise for the oversight," the paper said on Tuesday. | Malaysia has cancelled a concert by US singer Erykah Badu after a publicity photo showed her with the Arabic word for "Allah" tattooed on her upper body. |
Jonathan Baines, 44, also known as "Willy", was found dead at a house on Ropery Road, Gainsborough, on 1 August.
Pamela McLaggan, 51, of Greystones Road, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Prosecutors accepted her plea. She was remanded in custody at Lincoln Crown Court ahead of sentencing on 21 December.
The court heard Mr Baines had been out for the day at Market Rasen races before returning to Gainsborough and visiting pubs in the town. | A woman has admitted killing her partner who was fatally stabbed after returning home from a day at the races. |
The new boathouse, which will replace the existing building on Foreshore Road, will be home to a new £2m Shannon class lifeboat.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said building work would begin in autumn and take a year to finish.
Plans were approved by Scarborough Borough Council's planning and development committee.
RNLI divisional operations manager Andrew Ashton said: "We're delighted that the plans have been approved today and this heralds an exciting new era in Scarborough RNLI's rich and long lifesaving history."
The lifeboat station will be funded from various RNLI sources including legacies, donations and fundraising activities.
The Shannon class lifeboat will replace Scarborough's current Mersey class lifeboat in 2016.
John Senior, Scarborough RNLI lifeboat operations manager, said: "While it will be a shame to say a fond farewell to our existing facilities, which have served us admirably over the decades, it's time to look to the future."
Plans for the lifeboat station were approved despite a number of objections from local residents who claimed the building would not "blend in with existing buildings", with one branding it a "monstrosity". | Plans for a new £3m lifeboat station in Scarborough have been approved by the town's council. |
Clotilde Nonnez, a 56-year-old yoga teacher, says she has lived in the capital for 30 years and seen her health deteriorate.
However, it became worse than ever when pollution in Paris hit record levels last December.
Her lawyer says air pollution is causing 48,000 French deaths per year.
"We are taking the state to task because we think the medical problems that pollution victims suffer are as a result of the authorities' lack of action in tackling air pollution," François Lafforgue told Le Monde newspaper.
More cases would be brought in the coming weeks, in Lyon, Lille and elsewhere, he added.
Paris has struggled for years to combat high levels of smog and the authorities have introduced fines for any vehicle not carrying a "Crit'Air" emissions category sticker - part of a scheme to promote lower-emitting vehicles.
Several routes in the capital now have restrictions on car use and a 3km (1.8-mile) stretch of the Right Bank of the River Seine has become pedestrianised.
Ms Nonnez says she has led a healthy life, first as a dancer and more recently as a yoga teacher, but has increasingly suffered from respiratory problems, ranging from chronic asthma to pneumonia.
When pollution hit the worst levels for a decade last December, her existing bronchial condition prompted an acute pericarditis attack.
"The doctor treating me says Paris air is so polluted that we're breathing rotten air. She has other patients like me, including children and babies too. My cardiologist says the same," she told the France Info website. | A Parisian woman is taking the French state to court for failing to protect her health from the effects of air pollution. |
In England, only schools with academy status are allowed to form trusts to sponsor weaker schools.
And, the Local Government Association said, a shortage of "good quality" sponsors often left failing schools "in the dark about their future".
Ministers said there was no legal frame for council schools to be sponsors.
The Local Government Association says 91% of council maintained schools are rated good or outstanding by education watchdog Ofsted - so they should be allowed "to play a direct role in raising education standards and improving life chances, including taking on the running of failing academies".
New analysis of Ofsted ratings for the LGA by education analysts Angel Solutions found a higher percentage of good and outstanding grades among council maintained schools than among academies.
Of 14,890 council maintained schools inspected, 91% are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, compared with 85% of 5,058 academies, say the researchers.
There are wide variations within the academy category, with sponsored academies, which are forced into academy status after poor Ofsted ratings, predictably faring worse than converter academies, which must be rated good or outstanding before being allowed to convert.
The LGA points out that the majority of academies are converter academies.
Inspection ratings for 4,103 converter academies showed 89% rated good or outstanding but among the 955 sponsored academies inspected the figure was only 65%, according to the analysis.
Richard Watts, chairman of the LGA's Children and Young People Board, said the figures proved councils had "the track record, experience and expertise to help lift schools out of academic failure".
"The government must commit to removing the unnecessary red tape and give high performing maintained schools the option of becoming academy sponsors.
"Councils want to be regarded as improvement partners, not obstructionists to school improvement," said Mr Watts, who is also the leader of Islington Council.
"With a shortage of academy sponsors and struggling schools currently in the dark about their future the simplest remedy is to give councils the power to turn these schools around where this is the best option locally."
Mr Watts also voiced concerns about the local knowledge and capacity of the eight Regional Schools Commissioners, whose job is to oversee academic standards.
He said that without the help of councils "the early warning signs of failing" risked being overlooked.
"It is not acceptable that we have to wait for poor exam results, whistle-blowing about financial impropriety or an Ofsted inspection to trigger intervention.
"Councils are best placed to oversee school effectiveness and take immediate action where required," added Mr Watts.
A Department for Education spokesman said there was no legal framework for a council or council-run school to sponsor a school unless they opened a trust - and this would involve converting to academy status.
"We would encourage good or outstanding council-run schools to apply to become a sponsor so they can share their expertise," said the spokesman.
The spokesman said councils could not run multi-academy trusts "as legally less than 20% of members and trustees are allowed to be 'local authority influenced' to ensure the trust remains autonomous from the local authority". | A ban on top council-run schools sponsoring failing schools amounts to "red tape" and should be dropped, say council bosses. |
The African champions take on the Europeans in Jeju, South Korea, as they look to seal a place in the quarter-finals.
Chambeshi has watched his side play some attractive football in the group stage and is looking for more of the same on Wednesday.
"They have a strong team but we are the African champions, so at least that morale is motivating us a lot," said Chambeshi.
He said his team had fully recovered from the 1-0 defeat they suffered against Costa Rica in their final Group C match.
"We are representing Africa and I think we have the strength and power to match Germany.
They have a strong team but we are the African champions
"We have to respect them, but they have to respect us too."
Zambia's prospects have been boosted by the return of captain Solomon Sakala who sat out the Costa Rica game through suspension.
"I'm happy the captain is back in the team; morale is high and the boys are looking forward to the game."
Chambeshi was part of Zambia's Olympic squad thrashed 4-0 by Germany during the 1988 Games in Seoul.
However, he said revenge was not his main motivation but getting the result to see them through to the next stage.
"In football, there is no revenge; we know everyone is looking at that [Seoul '88 defeat], but we buried that Seoul Olympics defeat.
"We have to do our very best so that we overcome Germany.
"That time Germany had [Jurgen] Klinsmann who was a high-class player.
"We also had good players, but now it's a different scenario." | Zambia coach Beston Chambeshi says his team is highly motivated for Wednesday's Fifa Under-20 World Cup tie against Germany. |
The images were all taken from midday-to-midday on 16 and 17 April and the contest was open to anyone with a camera or a mobile phone.
The overall winner was Paolo Ferla who took "Electric Bristol" - a picture of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Megan Witty, from 24 Hours In Bristol, said the judges had had "an incredibly tough job" picking a winner.
The competition involves entrants being "randomly allocated" one hour of the day or night in which they must take at least one photograph.
Mr Ferla, from Bath, said he was "delighted" to have won.
He said he used a 10 second self-timer and then ran into the shot.
"Ten seconds is not very long so it took quite a few attempts - when we got there the sky was still quite bright, so we sat there for nearly 20 minutes waiting for the sky to get darker.
"It's a beautiful bridge and as soon as the sun sets on it and the sky gets darker and the electric lights come on - it just comes to life. "
Ms Witty said the six judges "didn't always agree" and one said it had been "heartbreaking" for some not to win. She said about 75% were taken on cameras and about 25% on mobile phones.
The exhibition is at the Harbourside Arts Centre near Millennium Square and runs until the middle of June. | Hundreds of photos of Bristol taken for a competition to show "24 Hours in Our City" are on show. |
Swindale Beck, near Haweswater, was straightened to clear land for grazing, but the resultant faster flows washed gravel away, making it less easy for salmon and trout to spawn.
During summer a stretch was filled in and replaced with a meandering course.
In December, 16 salmon were spotted, along with five redds - disturbed gravel where eggs had been laid.
The bend restoration project, involving United Utilities, the RSPB, Natural England and the Environment Agency, was also aimed at alleviate flooding by slowing the flow of water through the valley.
Lee Schofield, RSPB site manager at Haweswater, said: "Habitat restoration is often a slow process and we normally don't see the benefits of our work for years and sometimes even decades.
"It's really uplifting and inspiring to work on a project where we get the chance to experience success so soon after we've finished." | The restoration of natural bends to a river in Cumbria after 200 years has spawned benefits for breeding fish. |
Douglas Carswell also told the BBC's Sunday Politics that the party needed to ensure it got the "tone" right in order to attract more voters.
It comes after Mr Carswell said in an article in the Times on Saturday that Mr Farage "needs to take a break now".
A bitter internal row has developed within UKIP after Mr Farage's resignation was rejected by the party.
Mr Carswell said: "I'm suggesting he takes a break as leader. I'm not suggesting he takes a break from being leader.
"Clearly the national executive has the authority, they're the ruling body.
"I'm told that they made a decision. I'm told it was a procedurally correct decision, he is the leader but I think it's important that as leader he takes a break and I think it's important that we work out how these complex questions are answered by a team.
"No one person has all the answers. I'm particularly concerned about tone, making sure we get a tone that ensures that the 27 million people who didn't vote for UKIP last week may be persuaded to vote for us in future."
The party has been beset by wrangling since Mr Farage agreed to stay on as leader, days after standing down after failing to get elected in Thanet South.
He had pledged before the general election that he would quit the post if he failed to get elected to Parliament.
Senior aide Matthew Richardson has left the party, following claims from MEP Patrick O'Flynn that Mr Farage had fallen under the influence of "inexperienced" advisers.
UKIP has also confirmed the departure of Mr Farage's chief of staff Raheem Kassam.
Mr Farage ruled out quitting as leader on BBC's Question Time on Thursday, saying he had "phenomenal" support, and has challenged his critics to decide whether they want to stay in the party.
In his article, Mr Carswell had said that "knowing how difficult it is to lead a party makes me admire Nigel Farage all the more".
"I know that I never could," he added, stressing that he would find it "impossible to simultaneously lead UKIP, be the voice of the party in the Commons, represent my Clacton constituents and at the same time be a husband and a dad".
However, he said that "even leaders need to take a break", adding: "Nigel needs to take a break now."
UKIP got nearly four million votes at the election, but returned only one MP - former Conservative Mr Carswell in the Clacton constituency. | Nigel Farage should take a break "as leader" of UKIP but not a break from being leader, the party's only MP says. |
But co-operative housing schemes are little known in Wales, the study for the Wales Co-operative Centre warns.
The research was commissioned following the Welsh government's own decision to back such projects as a way to build affordable homes.
Currently, co-operative housing accounts for less than 1% of UK homes.
In Estonia, nearly 10,000 co-operative housing organisations own 60% of the country's houses while they account of one in five homes in Sweden and Poland.
Under co-operative housing models, groups of like-minded people can come together and buy land to provide housing, and members of that co-op group can then buy shares in the new homes.
It is an alternative to renting properties, and gives those in the new homes a financial stake in the housing, without resorting to heavy mortgage debt.
"Wales has a long tradition of co-operation and a government with a strong commitment to co-operative approaches," said Keith Edwards, from the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru (CIHC), which was one of the report's authors.
"The housing crisis we face demands imaginative responses and co-operative housing is at the forefront of new thinking," he added.
The study was commissioned by the Wales Co-operative Centre, and carried out by the CIHC and the Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH).
They spoke to nearly 300 people in Wales, most of them living in the private rented sector at the moment and what the researchers termed "reluctant renters".
All of them expressed an interest in what such schemes could offer them but 67% had never heard of co-operative housing before.
"It was really exciting that so many of the ordinary people who came to the sessions had never heard of co-operative housing before but immediately got it," said Nic Bliss, chair of the CCH.
"And that they were particularly into it for community reasons.
"The potential for co-operative housing in Wales is great and there are several different models being explored which meet different needs."
At present, there are 836 co-operative and mutual housing societies registered in the UK - but just 3% of those are in Wales.
Dave Palmer, project manager of the Welsh government funded Co-operative Housing Project within the Wales Co-operative Centre, said it was clear that schemes in Wales "are at an early stage in development".
"But the pioneer projects that we are working with are getting ready to deliver a number of co-operative homes," he said.
The report, which is being presented at the Co-operative Congress in Cardiff on Saturday, says there are already 10 potential schemes in the pipeline, including a 50-home site in Cardiff, an estate redevelopment in Newport, an expansion of a community land trust at Rhyl in Denbighshire, and even an artistic community housing project in the Vale of Glamorgan.
"The Wales Co-operative Centre and Welsh government are keen to continue supporting and encouraging this positive start, by empowering the pioneers to deliver these much needed homes," Mr Palmer added. | Housing owned and built by groups of people could help turn "reluctant renters" into home owners, a new report suggests. |
Newsbeat has been finding out how the shops will be trying to drive sales.
Black Friday's originally a American idea linked to the Thanksgiving holiday but retailers in the UK say the annual sales day is taking off here too.
Spending will be up 22% on last year, according to Visa, which predicts that £360,000 will be spent every minute.
We've been speaking to retail consultants about some of the methods shops use to try to make that happen.
"An atmosphere of frenzy and anticipation" is the aim, James Logie, from Retail Management Consultants tells Newsbeat.
Many deals will be for 24 hours only, to create a sense of urgency.
Tesco's 24-hour stores began the sale at one minute past midnight and John Lewis will be revealing many of its deals then too.
"All of this appeals to our hunter instincts to go out there and get the best bargains," says Clare Rayner, a retail consultant.
But Guy Anker from moneysavingexpert.com warns: "It's classic sales pressure. Consumers and shoppers need to be on their guard.
"Just because it's on sale in one place doesn't mean that's the cheapest place to buy it.
"If you look at some of the big brands that have their own stores - even in a sale it's sometimes cheaper to buy those items at a department store or a more general store that sells any number of brands."
James says "commitment consistency" is a key tactic. This is the idea that once you've committed to buy something, you'll buy again.
We've long seen merchandise being placed by the till and there are plenty of bargains positioned there today.
Staff will be encouraging consumers to buy a matching garment, or a warranty to go with what they've already decided to buy, says Clare.
Guy adds: "What's really important is to think about what you really want and need in advance."
"High energy music can create frenzied atmosphere, stimulate the senses and create that sense of having to rush," says James.
Guy says that while the "smell of mulled wine, Christmas music, and flowers might be nice - it's all part of the sales trick to try to get you to spend.
"So try to make rational decision and not an emotional one."
Many stores will bring in extra staff - and this could be the day the Christmas hats come out.
"Staff will be on parade tomorrow, we'll see a lot more engagement than usual."
Clare says staff "really have to make this one day count".
She adds: "There's going to be very little profit margin on heavily discounted products and so they're really going to have to sell like mad to make it worth their while."
It's all about making a big impact on customers as they walk through the door, and positioning the biggest bargains where they can't possibly be missed.
"We're expecting to see big flashy signs and displays at the front of the store, with lighting to draw the eye to them," says Clare.
"Whether the shopper knows it's Black Friday or not, by the time they've walked through the door, they won't be in any doubt."
Retailers will be targeting customers by email and on their phones too.
On last year's Black Friday John Lewis says it saw online sales that were twice as big as their previous record day and sales from mobile devices were three times bigger.
With all that in mind, Gillian Guy, chief executive of charity Citizens Advice, share some advice.
"Consumer protection laws could give you the right to a refund or repair if you buy something that's faulty, is delivered late or if the product that arrives isn't what you were expecting," she says.
"Always check the terms and conditions so that if something does go wrong, you know what you can do to get it put right.
"If you buy something online, then retailers have to be up front about delivery costs and their returns policy."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube | On Black Friday retailers will be aiming for a "frenzied" atmosphere - the hope being it makes you buy more. |
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission says these firms draw from a small pool of graduates, who probably went to private or selective schools.
This version of talent can be "mapped to middle-class status", it adds.
The report was based on interviews with staff from 13 elite accountancy, law and financial services firms.
The study by Royal Holloway, University of London, on behalf of the commission, examined barriers to entry for people from less privileged backgrounds to these elite firms.
It found that despite attempts to improve social inclusion over the past 10 to 15 years, such elite firms continue to be heavily dominated at entry level by people from privileged social backgrounds.
The study concluded that elite firms are "systematically excluding bright working-class applicants" from their workforce.
To break into top jobs, state school candidates needed higher qualifications than privately educated peers, it added.
This can be mainly attributed to recruitment methods which targets the Russell Group, which represents 24 UK universities.
Some 40% to 50% of job applications to the case study firms were made by applicants who had attended these universities. They received 60% to 70% of all job offers.
Candidates from fee-paying and selective schools, which tend to dominate Russell Group universities, made up 70% of graduate trainees at case study firms, despite being only 7% and 4% of the UK population respectively.
Firms also used nuanced criteria to help find "talented" applicants, the report said.
This included factors like the candidate's accent and experiences of travelling.
The report said: "Elite firms define 'talent' according to a number of factors such as drive resilience, string communication skills and above all confidence and 'polish', which participants in the research acknowledge can be mapped to middle-class status and socialisation."
Commission chairman Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary, said: "This research shows that young people with working-class backgrounds are being systematically locked out of top jobs. Elite firms seem to require applicants to pass a 'poshness test' to gain entry.
"Inevitably that ends up excluding youngsters who have the right sort of grades and abilities but whose parents do not have the right sort of bank balances.
"Thankfully some of our country's leading firms are making a big commitment to recruit the brightest and best, regardless of background. They should be applauded. But for the rest, this is a wake up and smell the coffee moment."
David Johnston, chief executive of The Social Mobility Foundation, said the report showed there was "still a pervasive attitude in some of our professions that all the best people can be found in a very small segment of the country's population".
Prof Les Ebdon, director of Fair Access to Higher Education, said: "Access to graduate careers should be about your skills and ability to do the job, not about the places you've been, the school you went to or the contacts you have.
"That's why I am encouraging universities to consider how they can best support disadvantaged students as they prepare for life after university." | Elite firms are sidelining the UK's bright working-class applicants in favour of privileged, "polished" candidates, a report says. |
The militants do not meet in such large numbers in "one spot" because of the threat of an attack, a spokesman said.
He did not give details of casualties.
A resident said that al-Shabab had arrested several people from the remote central Somali village of Raso, after the US bombed its training camp in a nearby forested area on Saturday.
The US said the strike, by both drones and manned aircraft, was aimed at preventing a "large-scale attack" by the al-Qaeda-linked militants.
The resident told the BBC Somali service that al-Shabab recruits from around Somalia had been converging on the camp, about 195km (120 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu, since last week.
The US strike appeared to have led to heavy casualties, with al-Shabab reinforcements arriving to collect the dead, the resident added.
Fighters who survived the assault had now left the area, he said.
A spokesman for al-Shabab, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, confirmed to Reuters news agency that the US had bombed an area controlled by the militants.
However, the US had exaggerated the number of casualties, he said.
"We never gather 100 fighters in one spot for security reasons. We know the sky is full of planes," the spokesman added.
On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said that initial assessments were that more than 150 fighters had been killed at the training facility.
The camp had been under surveillance for some time, Capt Davis said.
"We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces," he added.
A Somali official said their intelligence service cooperated with the US ahead of the air strikes, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The US has a huge military base in neighbouring Djibouti.
In a 2008 strike, it killed al-Shabab leader Adan Hashi Ayro. His successor Ahmed Godane was killed in a 2014 strike.
28 February - on a restaurant and busy junction in Baidoa killing at least 30 people
26 February - on Mogadishu's SYL hotel killing nine people
21 January - on a restaurant at Mogadishu's Lido beach killing 20 people
15 January - on a Kenyan base in el-Ade that Somalia's president said killed at least 180 soldiers | Militant Islamist group al-Shabab has dismissed as exaggerated US claims that more than 150 of its fighters were killed in an air strike in Somalia. |
The layoffs will be announced in the coming weeks, according to unnamed sources who spoke to Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal.
A memo from BlackRock's president Rob Kapito and chief operating officer Rob Goldstein said the job cuts have not been finalised.
BlackRock declined to comment.
The last time BlackRock cut a significant number of jobs was in 2013 but the firm ended the year with a higher headcount.
The new round of layoffs comes following months of volatility in the financial markets, which has negatively impacted the income made by traditional banks and other investment houses.
Rivals like Franklin Resources, AllianceBernstein and State Street are also shedding jobs as part of their cost-cutting efforts.
BlackRock has 13,000 employees globally and manages around $4.6tn in assets. | The world's largest money manager BlackRock reportedly plans to cut 400 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce, in its biggest round of layoffs to date. |
Jenny Stephen expected BT to connect her home to a telegraph pole visible from her window at a holiday village in Corton, Suffolk.
But BT Openreach quoted her a price of £18,799 plus VAT, saying it was due to the "huge" civil engineering task of laying 400m of underground cables.
Mrs Stephen said: "Maybe it's because I'm old, they think I'm stupid."
She retired to Waterside park on the coast 18 months ago and since then has tried to get BT to install a phone line.
More on this and other Suffolk stories
A neighbouring property has been linked by an overhead line to the telegraph pole on The Street, which is adjacent to the holiday park.
But BT told Mrs Stephen it would have to dig up the road to install her landline.
"[I'm told] there's no option, although a radio link or a link to another house would work," added Mrs Stephen.
"I just want to make a phone call but I can't get any sense out of anybody."
BT said: "The price quoted is due the huge civil engineering task to provide an underground service to one customer in Waterside Holiday Park.
"In this instance nearly 400m of cabling is required, as well as the need for surveys and complex underground duct work to be installed."
The owners of Waterside said it would be happy for BT to run overhead cables to Mrs Stephen's maisonette. | A woman who asked BT to install a landline at her home was told it would cost more than £22,500. |
The "large scale public order incident" occurred at Stapleford Abbotts Golf Club, Essex, on Tuesday night.
Police were called to a "disagreement" at the party, attended by about 100 people, and "dispersed" those involved.
Afterwards, officers posted photos of themselves removing the cakes, which they said were "donated", and took them to homeless shelters.
Essex Police and a police helicopter were called after trouble broke out at the event at the golf club, near Epping, at about 22:00 GMT.
More on this and other news from Essex
Rory O'Keeffe, assistant manager at the club, said "about 100 Irish Gypsies" turned up to the party, which he understood was to celebrate a confirmation.
Insp Rob Brettell, from Essex Police, tweeted to say "lots of damage" had been caused at the club, and some thefts had also been reported.
He later wrote on Twitter to say "a number of cakes were donated to our team tonight".
He included photographs of a fairytale castle cake and a number of smaller cakes decorated to look like Disney-style princesses.
These, he said, were being taken to homeless shelters and mother and baby units.
Mr O'Keeffe said "no real damage" was caused to the club, but staff were still "cleaning up the mess and dirt" on Wednesday morning.
"And I think a few partygoers are still sleeping off their hangovers in a trailer in the car park," he added.
Essex Police said no-one had been arrested in connection with the incident, but they were "continuing to monitor the situation".
The golf club said it was open for business as usual. | Police walked off with a number of elaborate cakes after a clash between "travellers and staff" at a party. |
Two armed men wearing masks broke into the 44-year-old victim's house in Meadowbank Terrace at about 00:50.
During the assault the men knocked the victim to the ground and hit him repeatedly with a blunt object before fleeing the property.
Police Scotland have appealed for witnesses.
The first attacker was white with a pale complexion, in his early 20s, 5ft 10ins tall and had dark hair growth on his face, brown eyes and dark unkempt hair.
He was of skinny build and was wearing a light grey cotton zip-up tracksuit with the hood up, grey gloves, white Reebok classics-style trainers with air holes and a grey scarf.
The second attacker is in his early to mid 20s, between 5ft 6ins and 5ft 8ins tall and of skinny build.
He spoke with a local accent. He was wearing an old, black, waist-length outdoor jacket with a dark scarf covering his face and his hood up. He was wearing dark gloves.
Det Insp Alan O' Brien, of Police Scotland, said "This is a particularly vicious attack on a disabled man in his own home and we would ask anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious in the Meadowbank Terrace area in the early hours of Monday morning is asked to contact police immediately.
"In addition, anyone with any information that can help us with our inquiries and assist in tracing the men responsible should also get in touch." | A disabled man has been left with serious injuries after being attacked in his own home in Edinburgh. |
The outgoing vice-president spoke during a state dinner and took the opportunity to praise America's northern neighbour.
"The world is going to spend a lot of time looking to you, Mr Prime Minister", he told the Canadian leader.
Mr Biden has been highly critical of US President-elect Donald Trump.
"Vive le Canada because we need you very, very badly," he told the dinner guests.
He went on to describe the self-doubt that liberal leaders across the world are currently experiencing after several political defeats.
But he praised "genuine leaders" including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying such statesmen and women are in short supply.
Mr Trudeau reportedly became emotional during Mr Biden's remarks when the American spoke of his late father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
"You're a successful father when your children turn out better than you," Mr Biden said.
This is the second state dinner shared by the two North American nations this year.
President Barack Obama hosted Prime Minister Trudeau at the White House in March and later in the summer visited Canada to give a speech in parliament.
Canadian officials say the visit is not about "specific policy", but rather "an opportunity to show the depth of the relationship", said Kate Purchase, Mr Trudeau's director of communications.
The dinner ensures "that there is continuity in the relationship" with the new American administration, she added.
Experts say Mr Biden will seek to assure Canadians that the US-Canada relationship will remain strong during President-elect Donald Trump's presidency.
On Friday Mr Biden is meeting with Canada's provincial premiers and indigenous leaders to discuss climate change. | US Vice-President Joe Biden told an audience in Ottawa that the world needs "genuine leaders" such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. |
Researchers looked at three areas of England, 20 years apart, and found new rates of dementia were lower than past trends would suggest.
They say improvements in men's health is the most likely explanation.
But charities warn against complacency, with more than 200,000 dementia cases diagnosed each year in the UK.
Researchers, funded by the Medical Research Council and dementia charities, interviewed about 7,500 people aged 65 and over living in Cambridgeshire, Nottingham and Newcastle in the early 1990s.
The whole process, which included detailed questionnaires about cognition and lifestyle, was repeated in the same way two decades later.
They found rates of new cases of dementia had been fairly steady in women over this time, but had fallen in men.
Extrapolating their findings to apply to the rest of the UK, they say there would be 40,000 fewer cases of the disease than estimates put forward two decades ago would suggest.
Scientists admit they are unsure exactly what lies behind this trend but say it could be that men have become better at looking after themselves.
For example, better heart and brain health - with fewer men smoking, less salt used in food, and a greater emphasis on exercise and blood pressure medication may have helped, they say.
They acknowledge it is hard to decipher why the same trends are not apparent in women, but speculate men may be catching up on health gains that women already experience.
Despite this, they warn that other factors - such as rising levels of obesity and diabetes - may reverse this trend in years to come.
Prof Carol Brayne, at the University of Cambridge, and part of the research team, said: "I'm pretty optimistic that it's stabilising, but if we don't further improve health, then we would expect the numbers to go up with further ageing of the population, so it's a sort of cautious optimism."
Scientists say the most important finding is that a rise in dementia is not inevitable and can be fought.
And they call for a better balance of funds so more money is put into prevention in mid-life.
Meanwhile, Dr James Pickett, head of research at the charity Alzheimer's Society, said the research was encouraging.
But he added: "People are living for longer, and with other risk factors such as diabetes and obesity on the rise, there will still be over 200,000 new cases of dementia each year.
"That's still an enormous number of people who require better information and health and social care support."
Other experts point out the way dementia is diagnosed has changed over time and initiatives focusing on spotting the signs of dementia earlier may offset any reductions seen. | The predicted explosion of dementia cases may be less severe than previously thought, a study in Nature Communications suggests. |
It is a tiny signal seen in the way the waters at the ends of the 35km-long lake rise and fall.
When combined with the direct tug from the gravity of the Moon and Sun, the loch surface goes up and down by just 1.5mm.
The study is reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
"If you were on a boat in the middle of the loch, you certainly wouldn't notice it," said Philip Woodworth from the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Liverpool, "but a tide like this has never been observed in a western European lake before."
Prof Woodworth, David Pugh and Machiel Bos say their precision measurement technique could be used in other lakes around the world to understand better how the Earth's crust deforms as a result of ocean movements - rather like a carpenter will use a spirit level to gauge how a length of wood deviates from the horizontal.
"I have described Loch Ness as the largest spirit level in the world," David Pugh, who is a visiting professor at NOC, told BBC News.
None of us can feel it, but Britain rises and falls by centimetres every 12 hours and 25 minutes as a great bulge of ocean water washes around the country.
The pencil-shaped Loch Ness is the largest UK lake by volume, and although inland, is close enough to the North Sea to be influenced by this loading effect.
The team placed pressure sensors a few metres under the lake surface at six locations, from Fort Augustus in the far southwest to Aldourie in the far northeast. They then monitored the change in the height of the overlying water during the course of 201 days.
What the scientists saw was a clear spike in the data twice a day - the result of the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun. But they could also tease out a second signal stemming from the way water rises and falls as a result of the tilting of the land. And, in fact, the latter effect sits on top of the first and is responsible for most of the amplitude change.
The team says the measurement was made to an accuracy of just 0.1 mm over the loch's 35 km length.
"We had to extract the tidal signal and get rid of all the noise. This involved very high precision," explained David Pugh.
"For example, the loch surface itself goes up and down every day by four centimetres just due to the pump storage scheme for hydroelectric generation, and we have to pull out a very small signal within that.
"The holy grail would be to learn from the effects of the tides something about the Earth's crust. So the more precise we can get, the more we may learn about the crust."
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter | Scientists have measured the way Loch Ness tilts back and forth as the whole of Scotland bends with the passing of the tides. |
The British-Brazilian duo were beaten by South Africa's Raven Klaasen and American Rajeev Ram 6-1 6-4 in an hour at the O2 Arena in London.
But Murray and Soares have already overtaken Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the year-end rankings.
After three round-robin match wins, they were outplayed by Klaasen and Ram.
The latter pair will play Finland's Henri Kontinen and Murray's former partner, Australian John Peers, in Sunday's final.
Kontinen and Peers beat the Bryan brothers 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 in their semi-final.
Earlier, Jamie's brother Andy Murray kept his hopes alive of ending the season as the world number one singles player by beating Milos Raonic in a thrilling semi-final, which lasted three hours and 38 minutes. | New world number one doubles team Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares suffered a disappointing defeat in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals. |
Dene Magna School in Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire, has about 750 pupils on its roll.
Headteacher Stephen Brady said: "It's just got worse and worse - we had to send 26 pupils home today, sometimes common sense has to rule."
A private cleaning firm will begin a deep clean on Friday to sterilise the school ahead of it reopening.
The school normally has an attendance of 97%, with fewer than 20 students off in a day, but on Thursday this had fallen to 80%.
"We've had a steady increase in the number of students and staff coming down with this. I think we've been hit with what is a perfect storm of bugs," Mr Brady said.
"Some of the students have experienced nausea and sweating, others with vomiting and diarrhoea."
He also said a supply teacher had come in for one day but was forced to go home, after falling ill within a matter of hours.
It is expected that the pupils will recover from the bug within 72 hours.
"My only message is with the students don't let them go out and about at the weekend," added Mr Brady.
"If you can keep them in so they don't spread this amongst their friends.
"A good wash would go down very well so they can be back on Monday, nice and healthy." | A school has been forced to close until Monday after more than 145 pupils and staff came down with a sickness bug. |
Prince Charles did not mention the Islamic State group but his comments at Sandhurst are being interpreted as a reference to the organisation.
He told the cadets the international order was "under challenge as never before in my lifetime".
It was the first passing out involving mixed platoons of men and women.
The Sovereign's Parade at the military academy in Surrey formally marks the senior cadets' completion of their commissioning course, and the Prince of Wales was representing the Queen at the event for a fourth time.
He told the officer cadets they would face trials "as great as any faced by our forebears", but said he was confident they would rise to the challenge.
"You are receiving your commissions as officers at a moment when the profession of arms is moving into uncharted waters," he said.
"In the face of such challenges, Britain's traditional qualities - fair play, civility, a sense of humour in adversity - remains as precious as they've always been.
"The harder it becomes to stop people determined to maim and kill, the more urgent becomes our need to understand and defuse their perverse determination."
Among those watching the parade was tennis player Andy Murray's wife Kim, whose brother Scott Sears was passing out.
Prince Charles is colonel in chief of the Royal Gurkha Rifles and wore his Army field marshal uniform at the parade.
His speech came as the Ministry of Defence issued an update on RAF operations against IS targets in Iraq and Syria.
Officials said that on Thursday two Typhoon FGR4s struck an IS-held building and a bunker in northern Iraq with a Paveway IV guided bomb; a Tornado patrol destroyed a building and a mortar position with Paveways, and a Reaper drone struck a vehicle and supported Kurdish forces when they came under fire from a sniper.
On Wednesday, two Tornado GR4s provided air support to Kurdish soldiers fighting IS in northern Iraq, and used a Paveway IV guided bomb to destroy a position. | A "cult of death and destruction" is seducing "lost young people", the Prince of Wales has told Army officer cadets at a passing-out parade. |
Ben Hooper started his 2,000-mile (3,200 km) swim from Dakar harbour in Senegal, west Africa.
Mr Hooper's four-month attempt is due to end in Natal in north-east Brazil, next March.
The 38-year-old long-distance swimmer from Cheltenham is hoping his sponsored Swim The Big Blue challenge will raise £1m for charity.
Other people have attempted the swim, but were not ratified by Guinness World Records.
French swimmer Benoit Lecomte was credited as the first to swim across the Atlantic without a kickboard in 1998, but this was not verified.
Mr Hooper said he faces hazards such as storms and ocean predators.
"The idea is to get across safely and I think my only real fear is if something goes mechanically wrong with me.
"Beyond that I am not too worried about marine life. I am going into their world, so I need to be respectful," he said.
"I've already met sharks and jellyfish and nothing has eaten me yet."
Mr Hooper is swimming freestyle front crawl for up to 12 hours a day, and will have to eat 12,000 calories a day to maintain his strength.
He is accompanied by two support boats. The crews include a medic, body therapist and an official observer who will be reporting back to Guinness.
Nigel Taylor-Schofield, captain of one of the support vessels, said before the swim: "There are not many 'firsts' left in this world and I am looking forward to helping Ben join that exclusive and elusive club."
Mr Hooper has completed 12 million metres (7,456 miles) of ocean and pool swimming in preparation. | A man has set off in a bid to set the first official world record for swimming across the Atlantic Ocean. |
Kevin Standing's vehicle was taken from his home in Patcham, East Sussex, on Saturday morning. It did not have a tracker and there was no CCTV evidence.
He said he had wrongly assumed an officer would visit him, but he was told there were no lines of inquiry.
Sussex Police said they focused on crimes that "cause most harm".
Mr Standing said he received a letter from the force on Tuesday saying the "investigation was closed" and to check the CCTV footage of local garages.
"It basically says to car thieves in Sussex, 'carry on stealing cars because there's very little chance you're going to get caught'," he said.
Ch Insp Bruce Mathews said proportionate inquiries had been completed.
"Our investigations teams focuses its efforts on the crimes which cause the most harm.
"Operating with new demands against a shrinking budget, we can't do everything but that doesn't mean we will be ruling out certain types of crime such as shoplifting or vehicle crime.
"We will continue to do so where there are lines of inquiry."
The force said a marker had been placed on the vehicle to bring it to the attention of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras. | A motorist whose £40,000 Jaguar car was stolen from his driveway has said he is "astounded" after police said they would be closing the case. |
A video uploaded on Facebook showed Callum Clatworthy-Robins, 22, from Port Talbot, consuming a fish won at a fair in Bridgend county in March.
Clatworthy-Robins admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal at Swansea Magistrates' Court.
He was barred from owning animals for three years and ordered to pay £200 in fines and costs on Thursday.
RSPCA Cymru said the actions of Clatworthy-Robins, of no fixed abode, would have caused the animal "quite an unpleasant death". | A Neath Port Talbot man has been banned from keeping animals after he was filmed swallowing a live goldfish. |
The Red Rose, on the brink of defeat by Surrey this week, have lost two and drawn five of their previous seven County Championship games.
Lancashire won three of their opening five Division One games this season, but last triumphed in May.
"We are looking behind us now," Giles told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"It would be nice if results went our way elsewhere around the country, but ultimately we can only do what we do and we need to play better cricket for the last three matches.
"We're getting a bit of a wake-up call here as there is a lot of cricket to be played and it is a very tight division.
"At the moment we're far from safe so we've got to play better cricket."
Lancashire sit fourth in the table after 12 County Championship matches, 17 points above second-from-bottom Hampshire in the relegation places. | Lancashire cricket director Ashley Giles is concerned their end-of-season form could see them dragged into a relegation fight. |
Comedian Jeremy Hardy, himself banned, suggested Labour was "rigging the election" to stop Jeremy Corbyn.
Andy Burnham's campaign claimed there could be "several thousand Tory infiltrators" planning to vote.
Mr Corbyn, Mr Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall are all standing.
Polls suggest Mr Corbyn is the frontrunner.
New regulations allow members of the public to sign up to vote as a "registered supporter" for £3.
But some have been told their vote will be discounted amid concerns non-Labour supports had registered to take part.
"The Labour Party might be trying to invite a legal challenge so that they can say 'let's just scrap the election'," Mr Hardy said. "They are so desperate that I wouldn't be surprised."
Former Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay also accused the party of misusing canvass returns - collected at election time to gauge the level of support for candidates - to find people who have previously voted for other parties.
He said the exclusion process had been "arbitrary" and "unfair".
"The Labour party has got to stop today doing this," he added.
But a Labour spokesman said the party was confident "the processes of verification and handling applications are compliant with the Data Protection Act."
He added: "All applications to join the Labour Party as a member, affiliate or supporter are verified and those who are identified by our verification team as being candidates, members or supporters of another political party will be denied a vote."
Mr Burnham's campaign, meanwhile, said they had concerns about "potential Tory infiltration on a large scale."
Michael Dugher, who is chairing his campaign, wrote to Labour's general secretary calling for a "urgent meeting" of candidate teams to discuss the issue.
He claimed "a Conservative MP, Conservative media commentators, and Conservative councillors all having been rejected".
He added: "This suggests the 121,000 registered supporters could include several thousand Tory infiltrators, as well as supporters of other parties seeking to have a vote in the election."
Also on Friday, Mr Corbyn has said he will formally apologise on behalf of the Labour Party for taking the country to war with Iraq if elected leader.
Mr Corbyn told the Guardian the party would "never again flout the United Nations and international law". | Labour says it has "a robust system" to stop "malicious applications" after claims individuals who have registered to vote in the leadership race are being unfairly banned from taking part. |
The 45-55 vote marks the second defeat for Republicans aiming to pass a bill this week to undo the health policy.
The vote came a day after the Senate rejected a plan to repeal and replace the health law with a Republican plan.
Senators will now consider a "skinny" repeal, which would scale back some of the more controversial provisions.
The "skinny" plan would eliminate unpopular parts of Obamacare - the Affordable Care Act - including the individual mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance coverage as well as a tax on medical devices.
If that measure passes, the Senate and House of Representatives would then be tasked with finalising a bill that could still change during negotiations.
If successful, the full House and Senate would again have to approve the measure.
Seven Republicans opposed the repeal-only plan on Wednesday, which included a two-year delay on a replacement in the hope of finding agreement before that time elapses.
The defeat is the latest blow for President Donald Trump, who put repealing Obamacare at the centre of his election campaign, and underscores sharp divisions within the Republican Party over a replacement plan.
A proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare with the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), a Republican plan that was crafted over last two months, collapsed on Tuesday night after nine Republicans voted against it.
Republicans have long railed against Obamacare as government overreach, criticising the system for introducing government-run marketplaces, where premiums have risen sharply for some people.
The party's proposed alternative included steep cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare programme for the poor and disabled.
And it removes Obamacare's individual mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.
About 20 million people gained health insurance under former President Obama's Affordable Care Act.
The non-partisan Congressional Budgetary Office (CBO) found the bill would strip 22 million Americans of health insurance over the next decade.
Other attempts to replace Obamacare have failed in recent weeks due to Republican divisions.
In an early morning tweet on Wednesday, Mr Trump lambasted Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska for opposing the party's plan, saying she "really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!"
Mrs Murkowski was one of two Republicans earlier on Tuesday to vote against allowing the debate on healthcare legislation reform to go forward.
But her party eked out a victory after Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote which allowed discussion to take place.
Senator John McCain, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour, received a standing ovation as he returned to Congress to cast his "Yes" vote.
President Trump tweeted his thanks to the Arizona senator for playing "such a vital role" in the vote. | The US Senate has failed to pass a Republican proposal to repeal President Barack Obama's signature healthcare policy without replacing it. |
The 23-year-old from Westmeath beat Gadzhimagomedov on a unanimous 5-0 points decision in the Ukraine decider.
Kurt Walker and Brendan Irvine had to settle for bronze medals after losing their semi-finals on Friday.
Lisburn bantamweight Walker was beaten by Mykola Butsenko while Belfast flyweight Irvine lost to Niall Farrell.
Walker and Irivine were both defeated on a unanimous decision.
Belfast light-welterweight Sean McComb missed out on a bronze medal after losing to England's Luke McCormack in the 64kg division on Wednesday.
McComb suffered a narrow 3-2 split decision loss in the 64kg division.
All four Irish boxers have ensured a place at August's World Championships in Hamburg by virtue of having reached the last 16. | Ireland's Joe Ward has won a third European Championship light heavyweight gold medal after defeating Russia's Muslim Gadzhimagomedov in the final. |
However, the nation seems divided over whether there should be another referendum on independence in the near future.
Pollsters Ipsos Mori asked voters to give a score out of 10 to a range of policies which could be implemented by the next UK government.
A ranking of one meant it should not be implemented, while 10 meant it should be implemented immediately.
Ipsos Mori surveyed more than 1,000 adults between 19 and 25 March.
Click here to see the full results.
Many of those questioned seemed to favour going beyond the Smith Commission proposals, which suggested that Holyrood should control income tax rates and bands as well as some welfare benefits.
Give Holyrood full control of income tax 6.8
Increase top rate of tax to 50p 7.2
Increase minimum wage to £7.85 8.2
The most popular of the policy statements in this category was that of giving Holyrood the power to increase benefits and old age pensions, which scored 7.3 out of 10 on the scale.
Close behind was the notion that the Scottish Parliament should have full control of welfare benefits, with a score of 7.1.
Scots appear to place a greater emphasis on embedding and extending powers at Holyrood parliament than on holding a second independence referendum.
When asked to give a score of between 1 and 10, where 10 is an important priority and should be done quickly, each of the four issues relating to additional powers for the Scottish Parliament achieved high average scores.
Giving Holyrood power to increase benefits and pensions achieved an average score of 7.3 out of 10, a little higher than devolving full control of welfare benefits (7.1), full control of income tax (6.8) and full control of all policy other than defence and foreign affairs (6.5).
Interestingly, analysis shows that, for each of these issues, support is higher among groups who are more likely to have voted 'Yes' in last year's referendum.
Read Mark's analysis of the poll.
The idea that Holyrood should have full control of income tax was given a score of 6.8.
Still popular, but a bit further down the ranking with a score of 6.5, was the suggestion that Holyrood should control all areas of policy apart from defence and foreign affairs - what most analysts call full fiscal autonomy.
The results of the poll suggested that voters would rather have a referendum on whether or not to leave the European Union than another referendum on Scottish independence.
Voters gave the policy statement "hold another referendum on Scottish independence within the next five years" a score of 5.6 out of 10.
Cap amount paid in welfare to a household 6.3
Limit numbers coming to live in UK 6.3
Give Holyrood full control of welfare 7.1
The policy statement "hold a referendum to ask people whether they wish to stay in or leave the European Union" was slightly more popular, with a score of 6.1 out of 10.
The idea of stopping immigrants from the rest of the European Union from claiming welfare benefits until they have been in the UK for four years scored 6.8.
The policy of putting a limit on the number of people coming to live in the UK was less popular, with a score of 6.3.
As ever, how much the next government should spend and how much it should tax is proving to be one of the central issues of the UK general election campaign.
And there seems to be little doubt as to where the majority of Scots stand on this issue, at least if the evidence of BBC Scotland's issues poll is to be believed.
The poll strongly suggests that:
Read Professor Curtice's analysis of the poll
Increasing the amount spent on the armed forces was scored 6.2.
However, renewing and upgrading the Trident nuclear deterrent, came joint last in the poll of priorities, with a score of 4.0.
The poll also indicated some support for bringing the railways back into public ownership - this scored 6.5 out of 10.
"Ensuring authorities cannot access personal data unless an individual is suspected of taking part in an illegal activity" was among the most popular policy statements tested, with a score of 7.6.
What are the top issues for each political party at the 2015 general election?
Policy guide: Where the parties stand | Voters appear to want more powers for the Scottish Parliament - beyond the proposals currently on offer, according to a new poll commissioned by BBC Scotland. |
Amirah Droudis, 37, will spend at least 33 years behind bars for killing the woman -who cannot be identified - in 2013.
Droudis's boyfriend, Man Haron Monis, took 18 people hostage in a Lindt cafe in central Sydney in 2014.
The 16-hour siege ended with the deaths of Monis and two hostages when police stormed the building.
Monis had been charged with being an accessory to his ex-wife's killing, and was on bail at the time of the siege.
The Supreme Court of New South Wales heard that Monis planned the 2013 murder and Droudis carried it out.
The victim, identified by the pseudonym Helen Lee, was stabbed 18 times before being doused in petrol and set alight outside an apartment in western Sydney.
After the trial, Justice Peter Johnson ruled that Monis recruited Droudis to murder his ex-wife.
"The offender uncritically adopted and espoused Monis's foul beliefs and acted in public support of him in public protests," he said in his sentencing remarks on Wednesday.
The judge described Monis as "an evil man" whose death was "a result of his own criminal and murderous acts".
"No-one mourns his passing and many have been left to grapple the consequences of his destructive acts," he said.
The judge acknowledged claims that Droudis had been repeatedly assaulted by Monis.
Droudis was sentenced to a maximum 44 years in jail with a non-parole period of 33 years.
Detective Inspector Jason Dickinson, who worked on the case, said he was satisfied with the sentence handed to Droudis.
"This was a brutal and callous crime and I think the sentence today has reflected that brutality," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The victim's family made a statement outside court, thanking the judge, prosecutors and police.
"Today we are very happy that justice has been served to our only daughter," the statement said.
The findings of an inquest into the cafe siege are due to be handed down this year.
How the Sydney siege unfolded | The girlfriend of a man behind a deadly siege in a Sydney cafe has been jailed for murdering his ex-wife. |
A bomb hidden inside a motorcycle exploded in front of the offices of a Muslim scholars committee in Arsal, the official National News Agency said.
The Sunni clerics are believed to have been in trying to negotiate the release of Lebanese security personnel held by jihadist militants based in Syria.
Arsal was the scene of fierce fighting between the two sides last year.
The Sunni town, which hosts many Syrian refugees, is sandwiched between Syrian government-held territory and predominantly Shia Lebanese areas sympathetic to it.
The NNA reported that the head of the Qalamoun Clerics Association, Sheikh Othman Mansour, was among those people killed by Thursday's blast in Arsal.
The agency said the bomb was placed on a motorcycle that blew up outside the association's office.
But a security source told the AFP news agency that the bomber had entered the offices during a meeting of the clerics and detonated an explosive belt.
"The explosion definitely targeted this meeting... where usually no less than 15 people are gathered," Arsal resident Abu Ibrahim told AFP.
The scholars were involved in trying to negotiate the release of more than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces who were seized by al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, al-Nusra Front, and Islamic State militants during a major attack on Arsal in August 2014.
The jihadist groups have demanded that the Lebanese authorities free Islamist prisoners in exchange, and have killed four of the captives in an attempt to force them to act.
The conflict in Syria has heightened sectarian tensions in Lebanon, with violence regularly spilling over its border and more than a million refugees arriving. | At least six people are reported to have been killed in a bomb attack in a town near Lebanon's border with Syria. |
Defender Phil Edwards and midfielders Lee Williamson, Callum Reilly and Charlie Gatter are also leaving.
Keeper Stephen Bywater, Tom Flanagan, John Mousinho, Ben Turner, Marvin Sordell, Lloyd Dyer, and Shaun Barker have all been offered new deals.
The Brewers have taken up one-year extensions to retain Marcus Harness, Marcus Dinanga and Sam Hornby.
McLaughlin, 29, played all but the final three games of Burton's maiden Championship season, when he was sidelined by an arm injury.
Bywater took his place for the matches against Leeds, Barnsley and Reading - and boss Nigel Clough now hints that the 35-year-old former West Ham and Derby keeper could play a bigger role next season.
"We just feel that we want to move into a different direction with a different kind of goalkeeper," Clough told Burton's official website.
"If we start the season with Stephen, I don't think anybody will be too disappointed with that." | First-choice goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin is among five players being released by Championship club Burton Albion. |
Governor Rick Scott issued the executive order in four counties after samples taken from the St Lucie River tested positive for toxins.
The green slime appeared when polluted water was discharged from Lake Okeechobee to prevent flooding.
The toxic algae can be harmful to plants, animals and humans.
The US Army Corps of Engineers began discharging freshwater from the lake more than two weeks ago.
Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater body in the state, is contaminated with runoff that includes human waste, animal feed and fertiliser.
The process sent millions of gallons of the nutrient-heavy water into the river and triggered the growth of blue-green algae on some of Florida's southern rivers and beaches.
Samples taken in the river near Palm City and Stuart tested positive for hazardous levels of toxins.
If ingested, the toxic algae could cause nausea and vomiting and rash or hay fever if touched or inhaled.
Beaches along Florida's Treasure Coast were closed last week in response to the expansion of the green sludge.
Though many of the beaches have reopened, officials recommend that people stay away from the hazardous waterways.
Governor Scott blamed the polluted waters on water storage limitations and the federal government.
"Florida's waterways, wildlife and families have been severely impacted by the inaction and negligence of the federal government not making the needed repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike and Florida can no longer afford to wait," Scott said.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio on Friday called on President Barack Obama to declare a federal state of emergency and to release funds to help businesses affected by the algae.
Mr Rubio and Senator Bill Nelson have also urged the US Army Corps of Engineers to stop the flow of water between the river and Lake Okeechobee.
The Army Corps began reducing the flow on Friday, focusing on the Caloosahatchee Estuary and the St Lucie Estuary. | Swathes of thick, algae blooms have plagued miles of Florida coastline, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency. |
But they have no need to do that now.
O'Neill is taking his side into a Euro 2016 clash with the world champions in Paris with a place in the competition's knockout stage at stake.
As he told the Irish Times, he needed to hitch-hike with some Germans during a scouting trip to Euro 2012, shortly after he had taken the job.
But he doesn't plan on returning any favours this time around.
O'Neill's and a friend went to the last European Championships in Poland and Ukraine to cast an eye over Portugal and Russia, who would be among Northern Ireland's opponents in their qualifying group for the 2014 World Cup.
He said they rented a car in Poland and but were not allowed to take it out of the country, which caused them a problem when they went to cross the border into Ukraine.
Crossing the Irish border is much easier than venturing between the two eastern European countries, he said, but German fans were on hand to help out.
"That border's not like Newry is today, there were checkpoints and all that," he said.
"We had a brainwave when we saw this bus with Germany fans - lots of people were staying in Poland and going across to Ukraine," he explained.
He "approached this wee bus" and soon they were on their way to the Ukrainian city of Lviv.
"My mate tried to explain what we were doing and who I was, so that we could get on," he said.
"They didn't know who I was, I was only in the job about six months, so when we got on they started to Google me and 'Northern Ireland manager' to see who I was.
"I didn't have accreditation or anything, we just wanted to go on our own steam."
O'Neill said he "wanted to go to the tournament and see what it's about" from a fan's point of view.
"I wanted to see Russia and Portugal and I saw them both twice," he said.
But now he and his team are making an impact at the tournament for real - a win against Ukraine in Lyon last week means they are within touching distance of extending their stay in France.
"We belong in this tournament," he said.
"I sampled that one, now we're in this one and we're part of it."
One thing is for certain - if O'Neill leads Northern Ireland to a shock result over Joachim Low's global stars on Tuesday, his stock will only rise higher.
And no German fan will never need to Google his name again. | It's a mark of how much Michael O'Neill has achieved as Northern Ireland boss - this time four years ago a group of Germany fans he met had to Google his name to find out who he was. |
The Weston-super-Mare Bemusement park was originally due to go to the so-called "Jungle" camp in Calais, France.
It has now been donated to Aid Box Convoy, which is taking it to a smaller camp where conditions are said to be "horrendous".
The fixtures and fittings will be used to build shelters and cooking stations.
More than 150,000 people visited the Dismaland exhibition at the disused Tropicana site in Weston.
Now, eight vehicles and 20 volunteers will take leftovers from Bristol to the camp in northern France. They are also taking with them five tonnes of donated firewood and some 300 aid boxes containing food, toiletries and cooking equipment.
Co-founder of Aid Box Convoy, Imogen McIntosh, said the camp only has basic sanitation and has "grown from 400 people three weeks ago to more than 1,000, with families turning up every day".
Ms McIntosh said Dismaland organisers changed their mind about sending the camp to Calais when they heard there were other camps in France which hadn't received any aid.
She added: "It has all been taken down now and we are left with huge sheets of wood which we can use to build the shelters.
Dismaland is also sending a team of chippies and builders out to the camp, who will be creating any structures that we need with the materials."
The group has also been supported by Bristol-based Arcadia Spectacular - known for its festival fire-breathing spider - which has donated a vehicle and trailer.
"People have been so fantastic, it's been such a brilliant response and so much better than we could ever have imagined," added Ms McIntosh. | The dismantled Dismaland theme park is on its way to a refugee camp in France after Banksy donated it to a group of Bristol volunteers. |
The new measure could lead to delays of up to three years before new drugs are made available to give NHS bosses the chance to try to renegotiate the price with drug firms.
The plan was agreed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence amid mounting pressure on NHS funds.
It will be introduced from next month.
NICE chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon said the move was needed given the "significant financial challenge facing the NHS".
Patient groups and the drug industry have already objected to the plan - a consultation has been run over the past three months.
Currently, drugs that are assessed as being cost-effective by NICE are automatically recommend for use in the NHS.
Once that happens, the health service has 90 days to start offering the drugs.
But crucially that process just assesses the cost versus benefit of the drug on the basis of the impact to an individual.
It does not take into account how many people may take the drug and therefore the total cost to the NHS.
Under the new plan, widely used drugs and expensive but effective drugs that breach the £20m a year threshold will face a secondary process.
NHS England, which pushed for the change, will be able to halt the 90-day deadline and begin talks with the drug manufacturer to try to get the price down.
They will be able to apply for an extension of up to three years. At that point, NICE will review what is happening.
During this period, NICE will have the power to allow restricted use to patients deemed most in need.
The move comes as the drugs bill is on the rise. Last year £16.8bn was spent on drugs by the NHS, up from £13bn in 2011.
There is concern a breakthrough in fields such as dementia could end up costing the NHS billions of pounds.
Last year NHS bosses capped the number of patients that could be given a new drug for hepatitis C, to keep the annual cost at £200m.
The new arrangements will be applied only to new drugs.
Information provided by the industry suggested that if they had been in place they would have affected the rollout of drugs such as Ezetimibe, used by 159,000 people with heart disease, and Lucentis, which is used by 1,200 people with diabetes to prevent sight loss.
As well as introducing the cap, NICE has also agreed to a fast-track process for cheaper drugs. | A new £20m-a-year cap on the cost of new drugs will be introduced in the NHS in England in an attempt to save money, health chiefs have announced. |
The American company replaced Reebok as the kit supplier for all Wales international teams in 2008.
Whereas the original Under Armour contract was worth roughly £2.5m a year, the new deal will see the annual fee rise to around £3.7m.
This renewal will be the first major deal overseen by new WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips.
His predecessor, Roger Lewis, stepped down after Wales' exit from the 2015 World Cup having held the role since 2006.
It was announced in September that Wales' home ground, the Millennium Stadium, will be renamed the Principality Stadium in a 10-year sponsorship deal beginning in January 2016.
Under Armour's other high-profile clients include Tottenham Hotspur, American football player Tom Brady and golfer Jordan Spieth. | The Welsh Rugby Union is set to agree a new nine-year contract with kit manufacturer Under Armour worth £33m. |
Schooling, 21, won in an Olympic record time of 50.39 seconds.
The Singaporean was always in control and won by 0.75 seconds from the trio of Phelps, South Africa's Chad le Clos and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh.
Phelps, 31, could win his 23rd gold in the 4x100m medley relay on Saturday.
The American was not part of his country's team that qualified for the final having taken the afternoon off after winning his 22nd gold in the 200m individual medley on Thursday.
Phelps, who was denied a fourth successive gold in the 100m butterfly by Schooling, will end his Olympic career by competing in the final race in the Rio pool.
"This is it. I'm not doing it. I swore in London I wasn't coming back but this is final," he said.
Schooling said of his win: "I'm just ecstatic. I don't think it has set in yet. It's just crazy.
"I hope that Michael can stay around long enough for me to race him again. I'd love that." | Singapore's Joseph Schooling won his nation's first ever Olympic gold medal with victory in the 100m butterfly as Michael Phelps was one of three men to finish joint second. |
The incident happened within the grounds of the city's bus station in Smithfield Street just before 10:30 GMT on Monday.
The woman was in her 30s but her name has not yet been released.
The depot is now closed. Translink confirmed that an incident had taken place and that an investigation was under way.
An eyewitness at the bus station, Jo-anna McLucas, described what she saw in the immediate aftermath of the collision.
"I was on the phone and I heard a bang, I looked up to see what had happened," Ms McLucas said.
"The bus had hit the wall and I walked outside and there was a small gap between the wall and the bus and I could see there was someone on the ground."
Ciaran Rogan from Translink told the BBC: "Our thoughts and our sympathies are with the family and relations and friends of the young lady involved.
"It really is a tragedy."
Mr Rogan said the bus driver was "distressed" and would be given support by the transport company.
"We would have assistance available within Translink [for those] who are involved in accidents because it can affect people very badly at times.
"We'll give the driver every assistance as we will any member of staff who was badly affected."
Mr Rogan said other Translink workers at the station would be affected by the fatality but added that "our main job at the moment is to find out what happened". | A woman has died after being knocked down by a bus in Lisburn, County Antrim. |
It investigated online agents Booking.com, Expedia and hotel group InterContinental Hotels (IHG).
The probe initially suspected the deals infringed competition law as they limited price competition.
But it has now allowed such deals subject to certain conditions.
The OFT has enabled online agents to discount the hotel's room price, to promote more competitive pricing.
Previously, the websites were unable to offer discounts.
Under the conditions, the OFT said consumers must first sign up to a membership scheme with a hotel, either of the agents, or another online agent.
Customers must have also previously booked one room at the full rate with the online agent or hotel, to be eligible for future discounts, said the OFT.
Booking.com and Expedia are two of the UK's largest online travel agents.
The OFT launched its investigation in 2010 to look at allegations that there could be agreements and concerted practices resulting in fixed or minimum resale prices.
Whether or not the move will open up competition and drive down prices is subject to some debate.
Gaucho Rasmussen, enforcement director at the OFT, said he had looked at the conditions "very, very carefully".
He said: "We did some consumer research and a significant amount of people would shop around and use smaller websites and new starters."
Mr Rasmussen said the OFT had carried out two consultations and the decision was the best outcome.
He said as the market kept changing, smaller websites could innovate and find a way to keep ahead.
Dorian Harris, founder of discount booking website Skoosh, said he did not think the move would open up the market and push prices down.
He said: "I am baffled by the outcome."
Smaller companies, such as Skoosh, could not afford to change their marketing strategy and hotel contracts to accommodate the OFT's conditions, so would struggle to offer the discounts, he said.
Mr Harris says the conditions would discourage new consumers from using smaller, unknown websites rather than Booking.com or Expedia: "The OFT have not understood the market. It is a huge failure in assessment."
He said consumers would not want to pay for a full-rate room, to qualify for the discount rooms, from a new website such as Skoosh.
They would instead prefer to get the discount straight away from larger websites, such as Expedia, where customers would most probably have already bought a premium-rate hotel room from, to qualify.
He said the conditions would reinforce Booking.com or Expedia's dominance, adding the OFT had "pandered to the interests" of the two big companies.
The OFT's Mr Rasmussen acknowledged there was a chance the set-up could lead to further monopoly, but he said the OFT would be monitoring movements in the market. | The OFT has made a move to try to help people access discounts when booking online, after closing an investigation into competition practice between three companies. |
Carlos Ghosn, Renault's chairman and chief executive officer, also hinted the company's relationship with Red Bull is likely to end this year.
Ghosn said: "We have already alerted the F1 authorities and told them: 'Don't count on us as a provider of an engine - it's over.'"
Renault is in the process of trying to negotiate a takeover of the cash-strapped Lotus team.
But Ghosn said there was still a possibility the company could walk away from F1.
"Our future is the subject of detailed analysis and renegotiating," he said. "We will either exit or run our own team. We don't have a clear decision yet."
Renault has an engine supply contract with Red Bull until 2016.
But Red Bull are doing "necessary due diligence" in talking to other engine suppliers, with the team expected to use Ferrari power next year after failing to come to an agreement with Mercedes.
Ghosn said Renault would "honour our contracts" but admitted the company was renegotiating "so it's too early to say what's going to be the conclusion".
Ghosn said Red Bull's treatment of Renault during the previous six years had been instrumental in the company's decision.
The pairing won four consecutive drivers' and constructors' world titles from 2010-13, but Red Bull have been heavily critical of Renault in public since the start of 2014.
The Austrian team accuse the French manufacturer of failing to build a competitive version of the new turbo hybrid engines that F1 adopted last year.
"Unfortunately when we were winning championships the Renault name was never mentioned. It was the team that was winning," he said.
"So we started to feel the return on this investment was very weak.
"It was intensified by the fact that when the technology changed and we moved from the V8 engine to the present technology, some of the teams using our engine did not fare well, and the reasons for which they are not performing became the engine.
"So you are in the game that when you perform very well you are never mentioned, and when there is a problem with the team you are the first guy to be pointed at."
Ghosn said it was not a question of whether the criticism was "fair or unfair".
He added: "It's a sport. You can't just say 'I lost, but my team-mate was really...'
"I think it's a question of sportsmanship. We are expecting, that when we are in a sport working with other people, we win together and we lose together." | Renault will stop supplying engines to Formula 1 teams as soon as possible. |
He had "failed the test" of leadership and South Africa needed to hold to account those who were "looting" state resources, it said.
Mr Zuma has been dogged by allegations of corruption for more than a decade.
The call by the NMF, which is run by colleagues of South Africa's first black president, is the latest sign of growing discontent with his rule.
Its intervention came as a court began hearing a bid by Mr Zuma's legal team to prevent the release of a report by former anti-corruption chief Thuli Madonsela.
She investigated allegations that he let the wealthy Gupta family wield undue influence in his government. Both Mr Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement entitled Time to account for crippling the state, the NMF said the governing African National Congress (ANC) needed to take steps to put the government back in "safe and capable hands".
"Twenty years since Nelson Mandela signed South Africa's constitution into law and as the third anniversary of his passing approaches, it is painful for us at the Nelson Mandela Foundation to bear witness to the wheels coming off the vehicle of our state," the NMF added.
Mr Mandela spent more than 27 years in prison for fighting white-minority rule and became South Africa's first democratically elected leader in 1994. He stepped down five years later and died in December 2013 at the age of 95.
The NMF said South Africa's democracy was now under a "real threat", with key government institutions being used to advance "private interests".
"We are reaping the results of a political trend of personalising matters of state around a single individual leader. This in a constitutional democracy is to be deplored," it added.
Ms Madonsela's investigation was triggered by allegations in March by Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that the Gupta family had made "a mockery of our hard-earned democracy" by offering him the finance minister's post last year.
Mr Jonas said he rejected the offer; the Guptas accused him of political point-scoring.
Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor also alleged that the family offered her the powerful public enterprise minister's post in 2010 in exchange for business favours.
Ms Mentor alleged that Mr Zuma was in another part of the Gupta's family home in Johannesburg when the offer was made. Mr Zuma's office said at the time that he had no "recollection" of Ms Mentor, while the family strongly denied her allegation.
Ms Mentor and opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), are challenging Mr Zuma in court, insisting that the report be released.
EFF supporters are protesting outside the High Court in the capital, Pretoria, to demand its publication.
Mr Zuma's court action prevented Ms Madonsela from publishing the report before she stepped down as public protector at the end of her term last month.
He said it would be unlawful to release the report as he had not been given enough time to respond to the allegations.
This was the second time Ms Madonsela investigated Mr Zuma during her seven-year term.
In March, South Africa's highest court upheld her findings that Mr Zuma "unduly benefited" from government money used to upgrade his private rural home.
It led to widespread calls for Mr Zuma to resign, but he survived a DA-sponsored impeachment vote in parliament after ANC MPs rallied behind him.
Correspondents say while the contents of Ms Madonsela's latest report are unclear, Mr Zuma will almost certainly face another impeachment vote if there are any adverse findings about him.
The president is also at the centre of another case and is trying to overturn a unanimous ruling of a High Court that he should stand trial on 783 counts of corruption in relation to an arms deal negotiated in 1999. | The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) has called for South Africa's President Jacob Zuma to be sacked. |
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said mosques would offer refreshments and "insight" into how they run.
Leaders from other religions have also been invited, to "demonstrate unity".
The MCB has raised concerns about anti-Muslim sentiment since 17 people were killed by Islamist militants in Paris last month.
Announcing Visit My Mosque Day, the MCB said: "Mosques will be sharing tea and refreshments alongside an insight into the day-to-day goings on of a busy Muslim centre of worship.
Members of the Muslim community "may be on hand to answer questions about Muslims and Islam where this is possible," it said.
"Local mosques will also be inviting inter-faith leaders as well, and all will be invited to come together to demonstrate unity and solidarity during what has been a tense time for faith communities."
Speaking outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, MCB assistant secretary general Miqdaad Versi said the organisation wanted to "de-mystify what Islam, Muslims and mosques are all about".
"People can have the opportunity to understand these things directly from people that they can speak to, and by actually experiencing these institutions and coming into mosques they can break down the barriers that they previously had," he said.
Mr Versi said there had been a rise in "Islamophobia" since the Paris killings, with attacks on three or four mosques, more verbal attacks against Muslims and "a lot more hate mail" being received by the MCB.
"For us it's important to try and create a positive image, and not let the actions of a few impact the reality of the many," he added.
The Reverend Fred Ashford-Okai, one of those who visited East London Mosque earlier, said: "The more we know about each other - Muslims, Christians, Jews, even those with no faith - the more we can actually live a more cohesive life in our community."
More than 20 mosques were expected to take part.
The figure is a small proportion of the total number of mosques in Britain, which is estimated to be 1,750.
The MCB said only 55-60% of mosques were affiliated to it, and the total includes small establishments such as prayer rooms in schools and offices. | Mosques have opened their doors to the public as part of a drive to "reach out to fellow Britons following tensions around terrorism". |
At the end of Wednesday's trading, the FTSE 100 was down 0.62% or 46.33 points at 7,478.62.
Banking stocks were among the top risers, with Lloyds Banking Group up 1.65% and RBS adding 1.35%.
Analysts said that struggling Spanish bank Banco Popular's rescue by Santander had given the overall banking sector a boost.
On the downside, pharmaceutical companies tumbled. Shire was the biggest faller on the 100-share index, dropping 3.2%.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca lost 1% after its announcement that it had sold the rights for its migraine drug Zomig for $302m.
Colin McLean, manager of the UK growth fund at SVM Asset Management, said uncertainty over the outcome of the election so far appeared to be having little impact on investors.
"The bigger picture is that international stocks have been doing less well," he said.
"Quite a lot of what drove markets last year has gone into reverse over the last six months and investors are looking again at some of the beneficiaries of lower growth and deflation.
"That probably drives investors a little bit more than the election," he said.
On the currency markets, the pound rose slightly against the dollar, adding 0.33% to $1.2953. It rose 0.61% against the euro to 1.1517 euros. | The FTSE 100 closed slightly lower on the last day of campaigning before the general election. |
Synchronised wreath-laying ceremonies will take place in counties Cork, Meath, Wexford, Galway and Dublin, beginning at 09:45 local time in Cork.
Thousands of people lined the streets of Dublin on Sunday for a parade to mark the centenary.
The commemoration events have been organised by the Irish government.
The rebellion is viewed as a seminal event in the founding of the state.
The Easter Rising was quelled within six days by British troops, but despite its failure it is seen as a significant stepping stone to the eventual creation of the Republic of Ireland and the partition of Ireland.
More than 450 people were killed and 2,500 injured during the fighting.
A weekend of events to mark the centenary of the Rising began on Saturday with a remembrance ceremony in Dublin at which Irish president Michael D Higgins laid a wreath.
Wreaths were also laid in Dublin at Kilmainham Gaol, where 14 of the Rising's leaders were executed, and at the Sigerson Monument in Glasnevin Cemetery, which is dedicated to to all those who lost their lives in the Rising.
The synchronised wreath-laying ceremonies on Monday have been organised by the Irish Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking areas).
The locations and times are:
Then, at 12:30 local time, wreaths will be laid at various buildings and landmarks around the Irish capital that became focal points during the rebellion.
They include Boland's Mill, Jacob's Factory, Dublin Castle/City Hall, The Four Courts, Royal College of Surgeons and Moore Street. | The centenary of the Easter Rising, the rebellion that began on Easter Monday 1916, is to be marked in Irish towns and cities with wreath-laying events. |
Gareth Colfer-Williams, 25, died last week at his home in Swansea, the city at the centre of an epidemic of the disease which has reached 942 cases.
But the examination was unable to establish whether measles was the main cause of his death.
An inquest will be opened and adjourned on Tuesday to allow further tests.
Since the outbreak began in November, 83 people have needed hospital treatment for the illness.
Mr Colfer-Williams' mother, Angela Colfer said her son had recently been treated at Swansea's Morriston Hospital for asthma.
A few days after he was discharged he became unwell and developed a rash.
Mrs Colfer said her son went to see an out-of-hours GP on 17 April with a rash "from head to foot" but not on his arms.
The following morning, Mr Colfer-Williams was found dead at his flat.
Public Health Wales said on Friday that laboratory tests confirmed a diagnosis of measles but further tests were needed to determine the cause of death.
The family said they had no idea how Mr Colfer-Williams got measles as no close family member has it, including his three-year-old daughter who has been vaccinated. | Further tests will be carried out on a man who died while suffering from measles after post-mortem examination results were inconclusive. |
Pro-Kremlin party A Just Russia put forward both bills, and linked them directly to the situation in Ukraine.
Separatist and pro-Russian feelings are strong in Ukraine's Crimea region, which is now the focus of the crisis.
Russian MPs say a referendum or a plea from a territory's leaders would be enough to trigger the new provisions.
There are already many Russian citizens in Crimea.
In Sevastopol, base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, a majority hold Russian passports.
Under Russia's existing law, a neighbouring state would have to sign a treaty with Russia to allow part of its territory to become a new "subject" of the Russian Federation.
But Mikhail Yemelyanov, deputy leader of A Just Russia, said the law had been drafted for peaceful times, and did not go far enough for situations where a state was falling apart.
"In conditions where a neighbouring state is disintegrating I don't think the Russian Federation should be restricted in its ability to accept a territory whose people have expressed a clear will and desire to be in Russia," he said.
Since Russia's war with Georgia in 2008, the breakaway Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have come under Moscow's control.
Russia poured troops into both regions to help pro-Russian separatists who did not recognise Georgia's authority.
The other bill to be considered by the Duma - Russia's lower house - would speed up the procedures for issuing Russian passports.
Passport applicants would not have to pay a state tax, and previous residence in Russia would no longer be required.
In addition, they would not have to have sufficient funds to support themselves and would not have to give up their Ukrainian citizenship.
The bill's preamble says it is aimed "at supporting the fraternal people of Ukraine, especially the Russian-speaking ones, who are defenceless in the face of the 'brown threat'," a reference to World War Two fascists who wore brown uniforms.
The bill would allow Ukrainians to apply for Russian passports at Russian diplomatic missions before 1 August, and they could become citizens after two months, instead of waiting a year, as is currently the norm.
The plan to have a new fast-track procedure for issuing Russian passports was announced in Sevastopol on Thursday by A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov.
Several Russian MPs have also gone to Crimea, including Russian celebrities - former Olympic ice skating champion Irina Rodnina, former cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova and heavyweight boxer Nikolai Valuev. | Russian MPs have proposed new laws that would make it easier for Russia to incorporate parts of Ukraine, and allow Russian citizenship to be fast-tracked. |
It comes after a dispute over whether Wales had the power to set minimum wages, or if that right laid with the UK government.
UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve originally blocked a law passed by AMs last year, saying it was not within the assembly's powers.
UK ministers said they were grateful for clarity on the issue.
The dispute arose after the assembly passed a law last year to set minimum wages, and the terms and conditions, of agricultural workers in Wales after the UK government abolished the Agricultural Wages Board, which had regulated the sector.
On Wednesday, First Minister Carwyn Jones said the "significant" Supreme Court judgment "goes some way to clarifying the complexities of the current devolution settlement".
The Welsh government said it could now create an Agricultural Advisory Panel to set minimum wage levels and "promote skills development and career progression" in farming.
But the first minister warned "we cannot continue to have bill after bill" referred to the Supreme Court "with all the time, cost and uncertainty that involves".
He called for Wales to move to a form of devolution where powers are assumed to rest with the assembly in cases like this, unless legislation specifically rules this out.
Welsh Secretary David Jones said UK ministers were "grateful to the Supreme Court for providing clarity on this issue" and they would "study the judgment in detail and consider its implications".
"In its judgment, the court has favoured a broader interpretation of the provisions in the Government of Wales Act that govern the assembly's competence," he said.
David Jones said UK ministers would "continue to make every effort to ensure that the legislative arrangements for Welsh devolution work effectively."
Assembly Shadow Rural Affairs Minister Russell George blamed "rushed" legislation for much of the confusion over the agricultural bill producing "sloppy law-making, doubts over competence, and months of uncertainty for Welsh farmers".
Plaid Cymru agriculture spokesman Llyr Gruffydd said: "The case for moving to a reserved powers model has been made and has been accepted by all parties in the assembly, and adopting this model would avoid these unnecessary delays."
Liberal Democrat Eluned Parrott agreed Wales should move to a form of devolution more like the Scottish system that had received "no legal challenges at all to Scottish legislation" since 1999. | Welsh ministers can protect the wages of 13,000 farm workers, in light of a ruling by the Supreme Court. |
William Stuart, 10, from Etchingham, East Sussex has autism and a condition called global developmental delay (GDD) and cannot speak.
His family said the stolen iPad was his only way of communicating and without it he is more isolated than ever.
Sussex Police has appealed for information to help find the iPad.
The theft of the device, which was loaded with communication software Proloquo, was discovered on Tuesday.
Two TVs and an Xbox 360 were also stolen from the family's home in Burgh Hill.
"The iPad was William's only form of communication with the outside world and with us in particular," said his father Alastair.
"He is becoming more anxious and closed and is expressing his frustration in terms of anger and crying."
Senior lecturer in special education Dr Amelia Roberts said that when someone with autism loses their means of communication it is a devastating change for them.
"People with autism don't cope with change very well so from his perspective his world will now be turned upside down," she said. | The family of a disabled boy have spoken of their distress after burglars stole an adapted computer which they say is a lifeline for their son. |
Two employees of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) were initially quarantined in the office.
A note reading "die a painful death, Muslims," was in the envelope with the powder, the group's lawyer said.
Initial tests showed that the powder is not hazardous, and the quarantine has been lifted.
The BBC's James Reevell at the scene says the package is now being passed to the FBI for further inspection.
Hazardous materials crews locked down the building and surrounding area shortly before 14:00 local time (19:00 GMT), while staff from CAIR waited outside.
In recent days, President Barack Obama has warned against anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of deadly terror attacks in San Bernardino, California.
The Muslim group's leaders said that threats were not uncommon, and had increased since the attacks in Paris about a month ago.
Mr Awad tweeted that the office was "evacuated by DC Fire Dept after receiving envelope with suspicious powdered substance [with] hate message".
The group's lawyer posted a message on Facebook that said: "It's frightening to experience the hate manifest itself to such a real level. This will not deter us from continuing to protect the civil rights and liberties of all Americans."
Police cordoned off the area, which is located about a half-mile (0.73km) from the US Capitol building.
According to its website, the CAIR is an "organisation that challenges stereotypes of Islam and Muslims". | A leading Muslim organisation in the US has evacuated its headquarters in Washington after receiving a hateful message and white powder in the post. |
In return Venezuela accused Chile of "inadmissible interventionism" and a "lack of diplomatic circumspection".
Braulio Jatar was taken into custody on 3 September after publishing videos of a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Mr Jatar was born in Chile and also has Venezuelan nationality.
He is an open supporter of the opposition and runs a news website on Margarita island in Venezuela.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based pressure group, called on Venezuela to "allow all journalists to report freely".
On Monday. Brazil's foreign minister also criticised the Venezuelan government's actions, saying the country had seen an increase in what he called "arbitrary detentions".
Jose Serra told a local newspaper such detentions "make it even more difficult to have the dialogue between government and opposition that is indispensable for overcoming the dramatic political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis that is affecting Venezuela".
At the start of September, Mr Jatar released videos of a protest when island residents jeered the president.
Protests have been a regular occurrence in Venezuela as the opposition calls for President Maduro to be removed from power. They blame him for the country's economic crisis and accuse the electoral commission of delaying a referendum that could shorten his rule.
President Maduro accuses the opposition of trying to stage a coup.
Mr Jatar was arrested with about 30 other people on Margarita island. The others have since been released but Mr Jatar is still in detention and his family believe he is not on the island any more.
Some reports said the authorities claimed he had tens of thousands of dollars in cash, which was to be used to attack an international summit starting on Margarita island on Tuesday.
Venezuelan prosecutors have not commented on the detention but the foreign ministry said he was suspected of extortion and fraud.
Chile demanded at the weekend that Venezuela make the journalist's whereabouts known.
The Venezuelan government said it "rejected" the demand and accused the Chilean foreign minister of "bowing to pressure from the most reactionary sections of the bourgeoisie" who still support General Pinochet, the country's former right-wing dictator.
Chile's response was to say that "the promotion and defence of human rights do not have borders" and Mr Jatar had not had access to his lawyer in a week. | The government of Chile has demanded that Venezuela "immediately" disclose the location of a journalist who was detained earlier this month. |
The former five-weight world champion submitted a necessary waiver to the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) on Wednesday, hours before the deadline.
The NAC, which sanctioned the bout, told BBC Sport it expected to receive a request from McGregor on Wednesday.
NAC rules state fights at 154 lbs require 10oz gloves and the matter will now be debated on 16 August.
Lighter gloves offer less cushioning for the hands but theoretically lead to punches being more punishing.
Last week Mayweather posted an Instagram message stating: "I'll be wearing 8oz Grant gloves."
But the undefeated fighter - who will come out of retirement for the bout - had not submitted a necessary waiver document at that stage. Instead, his team had asked the authorities what the process of using lighter gloves entailed.
At the time, NAC executive director Bob Bennett told BBC Sport he had never seen a move to 8oz gloves at 154lbs before.
Rules state that 10oz gloves are used from 135lbs upwards but bouts between 135lbs and 147lbs can use 8oz gloves if waivers are signed and the NAC feels the move is justified.
"Even if they are both in agreement, our number one policy is the health and safety of the fighters," said Bennett. "To deviate from our regulations at a difference of 7lbs would be for the chairman and commissioners to determine."
During his UFC career, McGregor has used 4oz gloves and he welcomed Mayweather's Instagram post last week, stating: "I am coming sprinting at you with bricks. Know that. Brittle hands."
The NAC will debate the matter publicly before announcing its decision.
McGregor, 29, will make his boxing debut in what could be the richest fight in history. The UFC lightweight champion's move from the octagon to the ring to face Mayweather, 40, has prompted criticism from major boxing personalities such as Oscar De La Hoya and Gennady Golovkin.
But Bennett says he studied a "litany of information" on the Irishman before telling his chairman there were "several reasons to approve the fight".
Bennett said that McGregor's UFC rival Nate Diaz played a role in him forming his opinion.
"I spoke to Virgil Hunter, who trains many top fighters and has worked with the likes of Andre Ward," said Bennett. "He used Nate Diaz a dozen times for sparring and said he rated him as an outstanding boxer.
"Then you put Nate in the ring with Conor and Conor knocks him down with several shots. Add in that Conor has a granite-like chin, add in that he's 12 years younger than Floyd, and add in that he's taller and longer.
"Floyd is probably one of the smartest fighters, he has the art of getting in getting shots and getting out. But he hasn't knocked anyone out in 10 years. Ricky Hatton was probably the last one in 2007 because when he KO'd Victor Ortiz in 2010, he wasn't defending himself.
"That in essence is it. There were several reasons to approve this fight."
McGregor floored Diaz three times on his way to a points win in August 2016, avenging a defeat via submission five months earlier.
Since sanctioning the fight, Bennett has had access to three videos showing McGregor's progress and told BBC Sport: "He's good to go."
He also advised McGregor's camp to employ a boxing referee in order to feel comfortable with the rules, advice which led to the hiring of Hall of Fame official Joe Cortez, 73.
Cortez said he oversaw an "out of control" sparring session between McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi. The former two-weight world champion has since left the camp after reacting angrily to images of him on the canvas during a sparring session. | Floyd Mayweather has formally requested to use 8oz gloves when he fights Conor McGregor in Las Vegas on 26 August. |
The jazz film is the follow up to director Damien Chazelle's Academy Award-winning film Whiplash.
The People's Choice, voted for by the audience, has proved to be a decent predictor for Oscars success in recent years.
Previous winners include 12 Years a Slave and The King's Speech.
La La Land, set for release in December, stars Stone as an aspiring actress in Los Angeles who meets a jazz pianist (Gosling) who is trying to stay true to the music he has devoted himself to.
The film also stars singer John Legend and JK Simmons, who won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his performance in Whiplash.
La La Land has enjoyed rave reviews since premiering at the Venice Film Festival in August.
Chazelle wrote the script six years ago but was not able to persuade anyone to make it until he broke through with Whiplash in 2014.
Stone, who won the best actress prize at Venice for her La La Land role, previously starred with Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Toronto's Platform prize for international directors was won by Pablo Larrain for Jackie, the Jacqueline Kennedy biopic starring Natalie Portman.
Raoul Peck won the People's Choice documentary award for I Am Not Your Negro, which follows the lives and assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers.
The film is based on James Baldwin's unfinished book, Remember This House.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. | Musical movie La La Land has picked up the prestigious People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). |
The Scottish Medicines Consortium is due to take evidence on Kadcyla on Tuesday.
Lesley Graham is one of four women who, along with charity Breast Cancer Now, have launched a petition for it to be approved.
She told BBC Scotland it offered women like her "a little glimmer of hope".
Kadcyla is used to treat a specific type of tumour - HER2-positive - when breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body.
Currently, it is not approved for use on the NHS in Scotland. The SMC is due to reconsider that this week, with its decision to be announced next month.
Last year Ms Graham, a 39-year-old mother of two from Barrhead, wrote to health secretary Shona Robison after being denied the treatment. She was later granted it after a second appeal.
Along with three other woman - Lesley Stephen, Alison Tait and Anne MacLean-Chang - she has been calling for it to be made available automatically on the NHS.
Their petition, backed by the Daily Record newspaper, now has more than 13,000 signatures.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Kaye Adams programme, she said: "If there's something out there that can help people, then it needs to be made available.
"The repercussions of someone losing their mum or their daughter are widespread. It has a rippling affect. Everyone deserves a chance at life and every child deserves a mum."
She added: "To be told that you have cancer and your life is therefore limited because of that is devastating enough.
"But to then be told there is something that can potentially buy you some time or keep you well for longer, but you can't have it, seems to me barbaric."
She described living with an incurable cancer as like "swallowing a hand-grenade and not knowing when it is going to go off".
"This treatment offers a little glimmer of hope that it will buy us time and offers hope that in the meantime maybe someone can come up with something that will keep us here in addition to that," Ms Graham said.
Breast Cancer Now said there were about 118 women in Scotland who "could benefit from this drug if it was approved tomorrow".
The charity's director Mary Allison said: "The treatment options for this type of breast cancer are relatively limited. Kadcyla is an incredibly effective drug because of the impact it has on the cancer, but also because of the quality of life people are able to have. The side effects of this compared to other chemotherapies are far less.
"This drug is available in 18 other countries in the world. It is a commonly-administered drug and one that many oncologists throughout the UK, and in Scotland, would wish to give their patients.
"It is a proven, front-line treatment for HER2 positive breast cancer."
In September last year, NHS Grampian agreed to give Kadcyla to Anne MacLean-Chang, a nurse from Elgin, after she wrote to the first minister asking for reform of drug funding.
She fought breast cancer but it later spread to her liver.
Speaking to presenter Kaye Adams ahead of the latest meeting of the SMC, she said being told there was a drug available but that she could not have it made her determined to campaign and fundraise to ensure she got the treatment.
"I felt like a bear protecting her cubs because I need to be here for my children," she said.
"Anyone can get cancer or a life-threatening disease but I don't think, in 2017, I ever imagined I would be in the situation where there was a drug available in many parts of the world but I was being told it's out there but you can't have it."
BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle wrote about the drug in 2014, spelling out how its high cost was causing a funding conundrum. | A mother campaigning for a life-extending breast cancer drug to be made available on the NHS has said it seems "barbaric" to deny women the treatment. |
The victim claims no-one responded when he brought the alleged offences to light.
A complaint is being reviewed by the Church of England, his lawyer said.
Clergy representatives said they were unable to comment on the claims published in the Guardian as they formed part of an active investigation.
The priest said all five men were aware of his claims he had been repeatedly raped by a vicar when he was 16 in 1984, but none of them acted.
He said he made the allegations verbally to the Right Reverend Peter Burrows, the Bishop of Doncaster; the Right Reverend Steven Croft, the former Bishop of Sheffield, and now Bishop of Oxford; and the Right Reverend Martyn Snow, a former Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham, and now the Bishop of Leicester, between July 2012 and February 2013.
The Archbishop of York John Sentamu and the Right Reverend Glyn Webster, the Bishop of Beverley, were also made aware when they were copied in to a letter sent to the Rt Rev Croft in June 2013, he said.
His lawyer, David Greenwood, of Switalskis Solicitors, said the priest finally spoke up after a safeguarding issue in his own parish "triggered his memories".
"He reached out for help to the Bishop of Doncaster but found that he got no help, no support and no response," he said.
"He continued to try to elicit a response from the senior people in his diocese but got nothing."
Under the Church of England's clergy disciplinary measures a complaint must be made within one year of the alleged misconduct.
An application for permission to make complaints out of time has been lodged and is being considered by the church.
Mr Greenwood said a complaint had also been made to West Yorkshire Police and the details of the alleged misconduct passed to the Goddard Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
A spokesperson for the archbishop said he had only been sent a copy of the letter and the original recipient of the letter had "a duty to respond and not the archbishop".
A spokesperson for the bishops said that if the complaint went forward "our bishops will make a full response to the various allegations made in due course".
A complaint has also been made by the priest against Roy Williamson, a former bishop of Bradford and now an honorary assistant bishop with the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, that he failed to act at the time of the abuse.
A spokesperson for his diocese said: "We cannot comment during a live investigation except to say that if approached by the authorities we will offer them every co-operation."
West Yorkshire Police said it is investigating a report of a historical serious sexual offence said to have occurred in the Bradford area in the 1980s.
A force representative said: "A crime has been recorded and a 69-year-old man has been spoken to in connection with the inquiry." | A priest has accused the Archbishop of York and four bishops of misconduct after they "failed to act" on allegations he was raped by a vicar. |
The pontiff granted Spanish Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda a Christmas-time clemency after he served half of his 18-month sentence, the Vatican said.
The priest was convicted in July. The leaked papers were cited in books published in 2015, that alleged corruption in the Catholic Church.
A former colleague of the priest was given a 10-month suspended sentence.
On Tuesday, the Vatican said in a statement that Pope Francis granted "conditional freedom" to Mgr Angelo Lucio Vallejo Balda.
"This is a clemency measure which allows him to regain his freedom. The penalty is not quashed."
The statement added that all his professional ties to the Vatican had ended, and he would now be under the authority of the Bishop of Astorga in Spain - the priest's original diocese.
Mgr Balda has made no public comment on the latest developments.
The books, by journalists Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi, were based on leaked materials and exposed waste and financial mismanagement in the Church.
The original Vatileaks episode saw the last Pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, sentenced to 18 months in jail in 2012 after being found guilty of stealing sensitive documents from the pontiff's desk.
He served nearly three months of his sentence under house arrest in the Vatican before Pope Benedict visited him and personally pardoned him.
The Vatican has only two prison cells but it can ask Italy to house its prisoners under the terms of a 1929 treaty. | Pope Francis has freed a priest jailed for leaking official documents in a trial known as Vatileaks II. |
David Annett, 38, of Church Road, Dromara pleaded guilty at Craigavon Crown Court to a total of four charges.
He admitted defrauding the First Trust Bank, two counts of theft and transferring over £110,000 of property out of his employer's business account.
In August 2012, Annett went into Lurgan police station to admit responsibility.
A prosecution lawyer told the court that in 2007, while working for Portadown-based JP Hagan Solicitors he was "approached by a senior partner who asked him if he wanted to become a partner in the firm."
"The offer came at a cost - the cost was £250,000. The defendant remortgaged his home at Church Road with First Trust Bank/Allied Irish Bank."
Personal account
He already had a mortgage with UCB Home Loans, which totalled £220,000.
The lawyer said that the First Trust Bank believed "they would be the first charge on the property".
The money was released to Hagan's Solicitors to settle the UCB mortgage and pay the £250,000 to take up the partnership.
However, the lawyer said, the UCB mortgage "was not discharged" and "the defendant accessed the business account and transferred the entire amount of monies into his personal account".
In another incident, Annett was approached by a County Down family who had been offered £25,000 to buy its land.
Investment property
He said he would have the money checked out under the proceeds of crime legislation.
Whilst having the money in his possession Annett removed £17,380 out of the £25,000.
The court also heard that, in March 2008, Annett moved £112,000 out of the law firm's business account to "buy himself an investment property in Corby, England".
A defence lawyer said that, after going to the police station. Annett went to see his minister and the elders of his church and confessed his crimes. | A County Down solicitor defrauded a bank of £400,000 to help buy a partnership in a legal practice and an apartment in England. |
The Iron are currently sixth in the National League, one point and one place outside the play-off spots.
"I thought we asked a lot of questions of a very good Barrow team," Cowley told BBC Essex.
"When you come off the back of a six or seven-hour journey and you concede a goal after five minutes it's always going to be tough."
Barrow extended their unbeaten league run to nine games with the victory, and although Braintree's losing run extended to three games, Cowley remained positive.
"What we've done so far has been nothing short of remarkable," he continued. "But if anyone thought this journey was going to be easy, then they're living in cloud cuckoo land.
"We're a part-time team. This is our toughest challenge to date, but we're going to embrace it. We're going to enjoy it and see where it takes us." | Braintree manager Danny Cowley said the task ahead of his team is "a brilliant challenge" after the defeat at Barrow. |
Syrian state media says toxic gas was contained in shells that rebels have been firing at government-held areas in the divided city.
Russian news agency Interfax says seven people died and more than 20 were hospitalised after Tuesday's attack.
There has been no independent confirmation of the claim.
It comes after reports from a rebel-held town in Idlib province that chlorine gas was dropped on it late on Monday after a Russian military helicopter had earlier been shot down nearby.
A battle has continued since the weekend in Aleppo, as rebels attempt to break a government siege of a rebel-controlled area.
It is expected to be decisive for the future of a city that was once a commercial heartland but has been destroyed by five years of war.
About a quarter of a million civilians are living under siege since government forces cut them off last month.
The latest reports from the area are that the government, backed by Russian jets, has regained some ground. It is not clear exactly which territory has returned to government control but a reporter for a Beirut-based TV station said the army had regained control of two out of three villages that it lost near Aleppo earlier this week.
Russian and Syrian forces say they have been operating seven so-called humanitarian corridors, allowing hundreds of people to leave the besieged area peacefully.
On Wednesday, Russian state television ran pictures of civilians and fighters leaving. Smoke was seen billowing over the city in the footage, and gunshots were heard.
The UN's Children's Fund (Unicef) said it is "extremely" concerned for the safety of children caught up in violence in the city.
Saad Houry, of the fund, said children make up a third of the population trapped in the siege, and called for unhindered humanitarian access and for children to be protected.
The New York-based Physicians for Human Rights group said the last week of July was the worst week for attacks on medical facilities in the region since the Syrian war began in 2011. In a statement, the group said it has verified six deadly air strikes against hospitals in Aleppo governorate, all perpetrated by Syrian government forces.
Widney Brown of Physicians for Human Rights said: "Destroying hospitals is tantamount to signing thousands of death warrants for people now stranded in eastern Aleppo." | The Russian military says it has informed the US that it believes rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo have deployed "toxic substances". |
The US-born radical Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is head of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Two brothers believed to be mid-ranking al-Qaeda officials died in a drone strike in south Yemen on Thursday, Yemeni officials said.
The attack came just days after al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by US Navy Seals.
The Pentagon refused to comment on the reports that Anwar al-Awlaki was specifically targeted in Yemen.
According to Yemen's defence ministry, the missile fired by the drone hit a car in in the province of Shabwa carrying two brothers, identified by Yemeni officials as Musa'id and Abdullah Mubarak.
But reports from Washington now suggest US commanders had believed they had one of al-Qaeda's most valuable targets in their sights.
"We were hoping it was him," one unnamed US official told CBS News.
The reported attempt to kill Mr Awlaki is believed to be the first known US military strike within Yemen since May 2010, when missiles mistakenly killed one of Mr Saleh's envoys.
In September the country's foreign minister said that such unmanned strikes had been suspended.
The report comes as Yemenis continue to take to the streets to demand that Ali Abdullah Saleh, president for 30 years, step down.
According to the Wall Street Journal, there were several attempts to target Mr Awlaki on Thursday.
He escaped an initial attack of three rockets fired at a vehicle in which he was travelling and then swapped cars with the two brothers, who were killed in a second strike by a single drone, the newspaper said.
Washington considers the Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch the world's most active terror cell.
It is estimated to have some 300 fighters within Yemeni strongholds, clustered around mountain ranges where the central government has little reach.
The group is said to have inspired attacks by Muslims within the US as well as plots to smuggle explosives on planes heading to the US.
Some analysts are convinced that, after the death of Bin Laden, Mr Awlaki represents the greatest threat.
An American-born cleric of Yemeni descent, he was placed on a terrorism blacklist in July 2010 and had imposed financial sanctions on him.
US officials say Mr Awlaki helped recruit Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of attempting to blow up an airliner as it flew into Detroit on 25 December 2009.
Maj Nidal Hasan, the US Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 comrades in the Fort Hood shooting in 2009, sought religious advice from Mr Awlaki and saw him preach in the US state of Virginia in 2001, US officials say.
A student found guilty of attempting to murder British MP Stephen Timms in London was also said to have been inspired by Mr Awlaki's online sermons. | A US drone attack in Yemen targeted but failed to kill one of al-Qaeda's most influential figures, US reports say. |
Johnny McGurk, 49, appeared in court in County Londonderry accused of theft from quarry firm Patrick Bradley Ltd.
Mr McGurk, an accountant, was released on bail and will appear in court again on 19 November.
He won an All-Ireland football championship and All-Star award in 1993.
Mr McGurk also captained his club Lavey to an All-Ireland senior club championship in 1991.
The accused's name was given to Coleraine Magistrates Court as John Malachy McGurk of Oakland Crescent in Knockloughrim, Magherafelt, County Londonderry.
He was charged with stealing £572,206 from Patrick Bradley Ltd, based in Kilrea, also in County Londonderry.
Mr McGurk was also accused of 36 counts of fraud relating to sums of allegedly stolen money lodged in his bank account.
All the offences are alleged to have happened between 1 July 2006 and 31 December 2011. | A Gaelic footballer who won an All-Ireland championship with Derry will stand trial accused of stealing over £500,000 from his employer. |
An 18th Century building containing two businesses was destroyed in Sudbury on Sunday, with one woman rescued from an upstairs flat.
Suffolk Fire Service was investigating why all on-call fire fighters at Sudbury station were not alerted.
The Sudbury engine arrived two minutes later than the Long Melford crew, which was three miles further away.
The fire service said the control room was called at 18:17 BST and the first engine, also crewed by on-call retained fire fighters, arrived from Long Melford at 18:32 BST.
The engine from Sudbury, which was based about 300 yards from the fire on Market Hill, arrived at 18:34 BST.
The 15-minute response time missed the target of 11 minutes.
Mark Hardingham, Suffolk's chief fire officer, said paging equipment was usually "pretty reliable and effective".
"There are a number of factors that affect the way the equipment operates, so we need to look at each one of those before we can make any firm conclusions," he said.
"Initial tests reveal the hardware and the way the system operates was OK, but we're now working with Ofcom and Arqiva to check the radio signal in the Sudbury area."
Suffolk County Council is considering making £1m cuts to the fire service's £22m annual budget by 2016/17. Fire stations outside of Ipswich, Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds are only staffed by retained crews following previous cuts.
Andy Vingoe, Suffolk chairman of the Fire Brigades Union, said: "The whole thing just goes to show the under-investment we have in the fire service at the moment.
"This fire shows they got there just in time that night - next time we don't know if we're going to be so lucky."
Earlier today a hamster was recovered alive from a burnt out flat to the rear of the Market Hill building. | Only three of eight pagers for retained fire fighters went off when they were needed to tackle a blaze in Suffolk. |
Bu farw Sophie Taylor, 22, ar ôl i'w char daro bloc o fflatiau yn ardal Adamsdown ym mis Awst y llynedd.
Cafwyd Melissa Pesticcio, 23 o Lanrhymni, yn euog o achosi ei marwolaeth trwy yrru'n beryglus, ac fe gafodd ei charcharu am chwe mlynedd a hanner ddydd Gwener.
Cafodd Michael Wheeler, 22 o Dremorfa, oedd wedi cyfaddef i'r un cyhuddiad, ei ddedfrydu yn Llys y Goron Caerdydd i saith mlynedd a hanner mlynedd dan glo.
Roedd Pesticcio hefyd wedi ei chael yn euog o achosi anafiadau difrifol i Joshua Deguara trwy yrru'n beryglus - teithiwr yng nghar Ms Taylor.
Fe wnaeth Wheeler, oedd wedi bod mewn perthynas â'r ddwy ddynes, hefyd gyfaddef achosi anafiadau difrifol trwy yrru'n beryglus a chyhuddiad o fygwth.
Clywodd yr achos bod Pesticcio wedi dilyn Sophie Taylor yn ei char ar hyd strydoedd y brifddinas ar ôl ei gweld tu allan i gartref ei chariad, Wheeler.
Roedd y ddwy wedi ffraeo'n gyson ar ôl i Wheeler adael Pesticcio am Ms Taylor, ond aeth Wheeler yn ôl at Pesticcio yn ddiweddarach.
Yn dilyn anghydfod dros arian, dilynodd Pesticcio a Wheeler y ddynes ifanc drwy strydoedd ardal Adamsdown.
Roedd car Vauxhall Corsa Wheeler yna wedi "gorfodi" car BMW Ms Taylor i mewn i wal, gan achosi ei marwolaeth a gadael Mr Deguara gydag anafiadau oedd "wedi newid ei fywyd".
Roedd y tri char wedi gyrru'n gyflym drwy strydoedd Caerdydd, gyda lluniau camerau cylch cyfyng yn dangos car Pesticcio ar y blaen, gyda Wheeler yn ei dilyn y tu ôl i gar Sophie Taylor.
Roedd Wheeler wedi gyrru ar ochr anghywir y ffordd ddwywaith er mwyn gyrru'n nes at gar Ms Taylor.
Gyrrodd i mewn i'w char, gan olygu ei bod wedi troi allan o reolaeth i mewn i wal y bloc o fflatiau.
Bu farw Ms Taylor ac fe ddioddefodd Mr Deguara anafiadau difrifol gan dreulio "misoedd lawer" yn yr ysbyty. | Mae dynes a'i chariad, wnaeth achosi marwolaeth dynes arall mewn gwrthdrawiad wrth ei dilyn ar hyd strydoedd Caerdydd, wedi eu dedfrydu i gyfnodau sylweddol o garchar. |
The incident began on Tuesday morning when border agents encountered two men carrying backpacks five miles (8km) east of Sumas, Washington, in the US.
Authorities say agents interrupted an attempt to smuggle a load of MDMA, or ecstasy, from Canada to San Francisco.
Two others were arrested and accused of planning to transport the drugs.
On Tuesday morning, US border agents ordered the two men they encountered near the border to halt, officials said.
One of the men dropped his backpack, fired a weapon at the agents, and ran, according to a criminal complaint filed in US federal court in Washington on Wednesday.
The officers took the other man, identified as Jeffrey Laviolette, into custody immediately.
Canadian and US police searched for the fugitive on foot and by helicopter, putting up road blocks.
Nathan Hall, a Canadian citizen, was arrested by the Abbotsford Police Department in British Columbia early on Wednesday morning.
According to border patrol agents, the backpacks Mr Hall and Mr Laviolette were carrying contained a total of 58lb (26kg) of ecstasy.
Also inside one backpack was a California driver's licence with the name of William Nickerson but a picture of Nathan Hall, the complaint alleges.
Investigators later arrested a Bellingham, Washington woman, Kali Henifin, who they say planned to pick the two men up at the border. They also arrested her boyfriend, Ryan Lambert, who allegedly told officers he was to be paid $11,000 (£7,270) to drive the drugs to San Francisco.
Ms Henifin told agents they had been monitoring police radio communication on a mobile phone when they heard a report of a shooting and left the area, according to the complaint.
The three defendants in US custody face conspiracy as well as drug possession and distribution charges.
The wooded area a few miles east of a highway border crossing is a well-known smuggling route for drugs and firearms, and a spokeswoman for the US attorney for the Western District of Washington told the BBC smuggling prosecutions are "a large part of our practice". | Four people are in custody in the US and Canada after a suspected drug smuggler fired on US border agents and fled, sparking a day-long manhunt. |
Details of a major hack emerged last week, but officials have now given details of a potential second breach.
It is feared that the attack could leave US security personnel or their families open to blackmail.
The agency involved, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is yet to comment on the reports.
Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, believe the attackers have targeted the forms submitted by intelligence and military personnel for security clearances.
The document includes personal information - everything from eye colour, to financial history, to past substance abuse, as well as contact details for the individual's friends and relatives.
A 127-page vetting document called Standard Form 86 may have been accessed. Among the questions potential employees are asked:
A White House statement said investigators had a "high degree of confidence" that background information on government employees had been accessed.
Joel Brenner, a former US counterintelligence official, called the data a "gold mine" for hackers.
It is also believed the breach of personal data of US government workers announced last week may be far larger than previously reported.
Initial estimates put the number of people potentially affected at four million, but officials close to the investigation told AP that as many as 14 million might be involved.
The US has said the hackers, thought to be behind both attacks, are believed to be based in China. Beijing called the claims "irresponsible".
The Obama administration meanwhile announced further measures to beef up cybersecurity on Friday.
"Recent events underscore the need to accelerate the administration's cyber strategy and confront aggressive, persistent malicious actors that continue to target our nation's cyber infrastructure," a White House statement said. | Hackers with suspected links to China appear to have accessed sensitive data on US intelligence and military personnel, American officials say. |
Officially Iran denies it has deployed any combat troops in Syria, but a week before the offensive began, it was reported that hundreds of Iranian troops had arrived in Syria in preparation for an imminent assault on rebel-held areas.
Iran also announced the deaths of four high-ranking officers from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Syria.
At least one of them, Brig Gen Hossein Hamedani - the most senior Iranian military officer to have been so far killed in the Syrian conflict - lost his life near Aleppo.
According to Iranian media, 18 high-ranking IRGC officers have been killed in Syria in the past three years.
But the killing of four in just one week - particularly one just before a major offensive - implies that Iran may be more involved in the war than it has previously acknowledged.
In the past few days, some Iranian and Syrian media outlets have even published photos of Maj Gen Qasem Soleimani purportedly taken in Syria.
For the past year, Gen Soleimani - the commander of the IRGC's overseas operations arm, the Quds Force - has been co-ordinating the Iraqi government's operations against Islamic State (IS).
Several IRGC commanders have also warned that they would take revenge on "the terrorists" who killed Gen Hamedani, suggesting the force might have troops on the ground in Syria.
IRGC officials say that so far their most significant contribution to the defence of President Bashar al-Assad has been the creation of the paramilitary National Defence Forces.
Mohammadreza Naghdi, the commander-in-chief of Iran's own paramilitary force, the Basij, said last week that funding for the NDF was overseen by Gen Hamedani.
In May 2014, the general himself announced that Iran had trained and organised 70,000 Syrians into 128 NDF battalions. A few days ago, IRGC commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said the NDF now had 100,000 fighters.
Gen Hamedani also said that 130,000 Basij militiamen and women were ready to go to Syria if necessary.
It is not clear how many Iranians have travelled to Syria to fight, but Iranian media do sometimes issue casualty reports.
In June 2015, the official Irna news agency said at least 400 Iranian and Iran-based Afghan "volunteers" had been killed in the past four years.
Portraying them as "volunteers" may be an attempt to counter accusations that Iranian troops are involved directly in combat.
For possibly the same reason, most of the IRGC officers who have lost their lives in Syria have been described as "retired" or "former" members of the force.
In spite of such assertions, a senior politician has stated that Iran is prepared to join the war.
A few days ago, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, told a news conference in Damascus that Iran was ready to send troops to Syria if Mr Assad's government requested them.
It is possible that the defeats suffered by the Syrian army in recent months and the increased worldwide concern over IS have prompted Iran to act.
However, Iran's foes worry that the IRGC may also now be feeling emboldened by the results of the recent nuclear deal, which paves the way for the lifting of sanctions, likely benefitting the force with a source of fresh funds. | The new offensive launched by Syrian government forces in the countryside south of Aleppo has shed light on Iran's growing role in Syria's civil war. |
He was seriously injured in a bomb attack in Afghanistan in 2006.
Since carrying the torch on 26 June, Doncaster-based L/Bdr Parkinson has had thousands of requests on Facebook.
But the site limits friend associations to 5,000 per personal page and he cannot accept all the requests.
Flanked by hundreds of people, he walked for nearly half an hour with the Olympic torch with an assistant who supported his arm.
L/Bdr Parkinson's nomination stated: "The brain injury took his speech, but not his personality and sense of humour," adding he now speaks unaided.
It said: "Determined to prove everyone wrong, he fought back every step of the way. Ben's intelligence and wit [are] unchanged. Still the same funny and caring Ben."
He spends 12 hours a day in the gym and rehab and walks with crutches, spending "the rest of his time spent raising money for many military charities and as patron of his beloved
Pilgrim Bandits
".
L/Bdr Parkinson's mother Diane said the responses had "been phenomenal" and that Ben was really "buoyed up" by the support and friendship he had been shown.
She said: "It's just unbelievable, Ben's had way over 5,000 friend requests but Facebook won't let him have more than that number.
"Thousands of people have joined the Pilgrim Bandits website and the messages of support we've had are great.
"Ben's page has had 19,000 hits just on an update, I don't understand how these things work, but it's phenomenal."
She said the amount of post the family had received had also increased.
She added: "Some mail has just been addressed to Ben, please Mr Postie.
"E-mail traffic has gone through the roof and Ben's had hundreds of requests to visit places with the [Olympic] torch.
"He's absolutely bouncing and buoyed up and elated."
Facebook would not comment on the issue but their guidance was that if people were receiving this many requests then they have become a public figure, so should consider having a page instead of a profile.
Alternatively, Ben could use subscribe so that people can see his public updates without actually becoming a friend.
A total of 8,000 people will carry the flame during its 8,000 mile, 70-day journey to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London on 27 July. | Injured paratrooper Ben Parkinson, who carried the Olympic flame, has been swamped with friend requests on social media and seen a huge increase in post addressed to "hero Ben". |
Barry Pring, 47, was killed by a speeding car as he tried to hail a taxi on the hard shoulder of a dual carriageway in Kiev in 2008.
His wife, Ganna Ziuzina, had returned to a restaurant for a missing glove.
The coroner at Exeter County Hall, Dr Elizabeth Earland, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.
More on the millionaire 'murdered' by his wife, and other news
She said: "His guard was lowered by inebriation. The car had stolen licence plates and did not brake or stop.
"I am satisfied that having heard all the evidence... much of it circumstantial, nevertheless, in my view it is overwhelming.
"I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Barry John Pring has been unlawfully killed."
She said the case demonstrated the difficulty in investigating a case of a death abroad, adding: "Our thoughts and condolences must go to the family who have endured years and years of distress and unhappiness."
Close friend Peter Clifford, a lawyer, told the inquest he had "no reasonable doubt" that Barry was murdered.
Ms Ziuzina, known as Anna, was 19 years younger than her husband. She tried to claim his assets within days of his death.
His family believe he was killed in a staged hit and run accident.
The couple met online in 2006 and were married in 2007 following a four-day engagement.
Mr Pring's mother, Irene Pring, said Ms Ziuzina claimed to be a teacher when the pair first met, but she was in fact a lap dancer and stripper.
She said: "We are sure Anna had some involvement in his death to inherit his money and property.
"I was quite surprised how cold she was with Barry. She did not lift a finger, she was a lazy thing."
The inquest heard Ms Ziuzina sold her husband's Range Rover, contents from his flat and moved funds from his bank account.
The hearing was also told she was "entitled to the first £200,000 of his estate" and that computer records revealed "she was having an affair with a Ukrainian man".
Greater Devon coroner Dr Elizabeth Earland said "strenuous attempts" had been made to get her to attend the inquest, but without success.
In a statement, Ms Ziuzina said she had made "three separate statements to Ukrainian police" and did not believe she could "add anything further".
Det Con Jonathan Watts, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said Mr Pring was hit by a car with no lights, speeding at 75mph.
He also said witnesses at the scene in Kiev described the killing "as a deliberate act".
The Ukrainian police closed an inquiry into his death, but relaunched it in 2011 as a murder inquiry. The case is still active "but not actively pursued". | The family of a millionaire businessman "are sure" he was killed for his money by his Ukrainian wife, an inquest has heard. |
Supporters of new President Mohammed Mursi are in a stand-off with generals who have ruled since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year.
Speaking after talks with Mr Mursi, Mrs Clinton said the situation required "compromise and real politics".
She also praised Egypt's military council for its interim leadership.
Mr Mursi, of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, was elected in June in the country's first freely contested leadership vote.
'Prevent confrontation'
The hour-long meeting between President Mursi and Mrs Clinton was described by a US official as candid and cordial.
By Kim GhattasBBC News, Cairo
Hillary Clinton wanted to come to Egypt soon after the elections because the US believes it is important to engage with President Mursi early on. The meeting was described by officials as good and candid but this is still a tentative relationship, not a full embrace.
The US administration is slowly feeling its way in the region, learning to work with groups that Washington has shunned in the past.
When Condoleezza Rice was here in 2005 as US Secretary of State, she was categorical - the US would not engage with the Muslim Brotherhood. But in the new Arab world, long-held American assumptions about who is a friend or not have been shattered. And new problems have emerged.
Outside Mrs Clinton's hotel, dozens of Egyptians protested against Mr Mursi and continued US military aid to Egypt under his presidency with slogans like: "We don't want Hamas to rule Egypt."
Afterwards, Mrs Clinton told reporters: "I have come to Cairo to reaffirm the strong support of the United States for the Egyptian people and their democratic transition.
"We want to be a good partner and we want to support the democracy that has been achieved by the courage and sacrifice of the Egyptian people."
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says that for all the US fears of an Islamist takeover in recent decades, the governments in Washington and Egypt have now realised they need each other.
Mr Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood are particularly keen to avoid the sort of international isolation that has been so damaging to other Islamist governments after they have taken office, our correspondent adds.
Saturday's talks launched a series of high-level meetings aimed at stabilising Egypt's fledgling democracy and its alliance with the US.
Mr Mursi has tried to defuse a row over parliament - a body he tried to reinstate by decree last weekend.
The chamber, dominated by Mr Mursi's Islamist allies, was shut down by the military before he took power. The Supreme Constitutional Court has said the dissolution is final.
Mr Mursi says he is "committed to the rulings of Egyptian judges and very keen to manage state powers and prevent any confrontation".
Mrs Clinton said she would meet the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, on Sunday.
He became the country's interim ruler after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February last year.
Mrs Clinton praised the role played by the military, but said she would make clear to Field Marshal Tantawi that the US supports the return of the armed forced "to a purely military role".
The secretary of state also encouraged President Mursi to live up to his promises to protect the rights of women and minorities, and to preserve the peace treaty with Israel.
Mrs Clinton arrived in Egypt from a week-long trip to Asia, and will later visit Israel. | US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced support for a "full transition to civilian rule" in Egypt, at the start of a visit to Cairo. |
The Harrogate Autumn Flower Show will use specialist technology to ensure the winning fruit is of the Gigantomo variety.
The giant entries must be from that strain of plant to win the £1,000 prize.
It comes after competitors raised concerns unscrupulous growers might sneak in a rogue type of tomato.
Show director Nick Smith said they wanted to be certain the winner "had the right pedigree."
"Giant veg growing is great fun and tremendously popular with our visitors, but it also has a serious side, especially with such a big prize at stake," he added.
The Gigantomo class, developed for its huge red fruits, was launched in January, with the final weigh-in on Friday.
Plant specialist and prize sponsors Van Meuwen said it is the product of almost two decades work by breeders in the UK and United States.
Dutch specialists will test the plants to make sure the entries are what they claim to be and the winner could scoop a further £5,000 if the heaviest fruit sets a new world record.
The Guinness record for the heaviest tomato stands at 7lb 12oz (3.5kg). | Gardeners trying to cheat their way to the top tomato prize at a horticultural show will be weeded out with DNA tests. |
Firefighters were called to the scene in Craigton Place, Winchburgh, at about 01:30 after a wheelie bin was set on fire.
The bin had been resting against the house, which caused the fire to take hold quickly.
Firefighters swiftly extinguished the blaze, when it was discovered that a gas pipe had been damaged in the fire.
Thirty homes in the area were evacuated, with 38 residents temporarily housed at a local community centre.
They were eventually allowed to return home at about 06:30.
'Young children'
Police are treating the blaze as wilful fire-raising and appealed for information about the West Lothian incident.
They are keen to trace anyone who may have seen someone in the area just before the bin was set alight.
Det Con Adrian Wallis said: "This was a serious incident which could have had devastating consequences.
"It also resulted in the evacuation of over 30 people, including young children and elderly residents. This caused much alarm and upset to those who had to leave their homes in the middle of the night.
"Anyone who saw anything suspicious at around 01:00, or has any other information regarding this incident, is asked to contact us immediately." | Thirty homes had to be evacuated after a gas pipe was damaged in a fire that was started deliberately. |
RIT Capital announced it will not make a formal bid, after confirming reports last week that it was in the early stages of informal talks about merger.
Alliance Trust invests nearly £3bn worth of shareholder assets.
It will continue to face a fundamental review of what it does during this summer.
That could still lead to a sale, or outsourcing investment to other asset management firms. And following the review, it is still possible that a deal could be done with RIT.
But the announcement on Tuesday takes Alliance Trust out of the stock market's formal takeover and mergers procedures and oversight by the Takeover Panel.
Activist investors last year forced a change of strategy, aimed at reducing the discount of company value to underlying assets, which involved replacement of board members and chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox.
A statement from RIT Capital said: "Following careful analysis and constructive discussions with representatives of Alliance Trust, RIT has concluded that it would not be in the best interests of its shareholders to make an offer for Alliance Trust and accordingly announces that it does not intend to make an offer to acquire Alliance Trust.
"The board of RIT respects the process which Alliance Trust are going through and wishes them well with their strategic review."
In response, the Alliance Trust statement said: "The board of Alliance Trust is implementing a series of changes to enhance shareholder value. This process is well under way and has already started to make good progress, lowering costs, narrowing the discount and allowing for the creation of a fully independent board of directors.
"This process of development continues and includes a strategic review of the group, encompassing a broad range of potential courses of action."
Alliance Trust was buying shares on the stock exchange on a daily basis, as part of its strategy to increase shareholder value. Its announcement stated that practice is to be stopped until the review is complete. | Talks about a possible takeover of Alliance Trust in Dundee by the asset fund linked to the Rothschild banking dynasty have been called off. |
It is expected to be wet and windy later, with the possibility of flooding in places from heavy rain and melting snow.
The strongest winds are expected to be along the east coast, especially County Down.
Meanwhile, a Status Red alert has been issued in the Republic of Ireland.
This is for coastal and mountain areas of Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Leitrim and Cork.
The meteorological service, Met Éireann says that wind gusts of 130-150km/hr are possible in exposed areas until midday on Thursday.
The Republic of Ireland's department of education has advised schools in affected areas to consider remaining shut on Thursday.
The National Emergency Committee in the Republic has advised people living on the west coast to avoid any unnecessary travel, watch out for fallen cables and to check on neighbours.
More than 2,200 homes in the country were without power just after midnight.
Dublin Airport has reported some delays to flights.
NIE has warned of a possibility of damage to the electricity network, especially in exposed and coastal locations.
It says it has initiated an escalation plan and has emergency crews, engineers and call handlers on stand-by.
It has reminded customers that if they do lose electricity supplies they should contact the NIE Customer Helpline on 03457 643 643 or report the fault online.
Julia Carson, NIE Communications Manager, said: "If there is any damage to our network from severe weather, our emergency crews will be in position to get customers back on supply as quickly as possible, consistent with safety, and we will keep customers regularly updated and informed.
"We are particularly keen to stress our safety message to stay well away from broken power lines or electricity poles and report any damage immediately. If you are without power, make sure you take a few simple precautions to keep you and your family safe."
Trafficwatch Northern Ireland reported on Wednesday that the Hall Road/Donaghcloney Road, in Lurgan, County Armagh, was closed due to a tree that was in a dangerous position.
Belfast City Council tweeted that it had closed Victoria Park because of the weather and that it will be closed for part of Thursday morning.
The adverse weather has led to a number of ferry cancellations.
BBC Northern Ireland weather presenter Cecilia Daly said that it would be wet and windy later with "snow initially in places slowly but surely turning to rain".
With a slight thaw, there is the possibility of flooding in places from heavy rain and melting snow.
The strongest winds are along the east coast especially in County Down with the possibility of trees coming down.
Overnight, rain is expected to clear and the strongest winds are forecast for the north and north-west with gusts of up to 70mph and possibly 80mph forecast by Thursday morning. It is expected to be colder again, with wintry showers.
It is forecast to be very windy and stormy on Thursday especially in the morning with the possibility of damage to trees, power lines and travel disruption.
The wind warning in Northern Ireland is valid until 23:50 GMT on Thursday, with the Met Office providing updates. | Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has warned of possible damage to the electricity network, as wind gusts of more than 70mph are forecast. |
An "environmentally friendly" building with a cafe, gallery and shop is planned for the park near Wakefield.
Peter Murray, executive of the YSP, said it would provide an "important new element" of the park's infrastructure and increase its income.
Arts Council England has given £1.7m to the park and the remainder is to come from fundraising.
A planning application for a second visitor centre has been submitted to Wakefield Council and it is due for completion in late 2017.
The new building has been designed to make the minimum impact on the site, YSP said.
The latest project on the 500-acre estate follows the development of the main visitor centre in 2002, the underground gallery in 2006 and refurbishment of the estate chapel in 2011.
The park attracted more than 400,000 visitors in 2014 the highest number since it opened in 1977, it said.
The development plans were revealed as the park's latest sculpture Wave is being installed.
It is part of the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red that was seen at the Tower of London in 2014 where 888,246 poppies honoured every death in the British and Colonial forces of World War One. | Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has unveiled plans for a new £3.8m visitor centre at its Bretton Park entrance. |
South African firm Famous Brands signed a £120m deal to buy the chain from Nando's owner, Capricorn Ventures.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen, founded in 2001, was a "pioneer of the premium burger revolution", Famous Brands said.
The company says that it wants to open 10 to 15 more burger restaurants a year in the UK.
The mass-market burger giants, McDonalds and Burger King, first opened in the UK in the 1970s. While those brands have continued to expand, by the end of the 1990s a new fashion for more expensive burgers had arrived, again from the US.
Upmarket burger brands in the UK now include Byron, Shake Shack and Five Guys, as well as an increasing number of independents. According to analysts Mintel, the premium burger market now accounts for sales worth more than £3bn a year.
Famous Brands plans to double Gourmet Burger Kitchen's 75 UK stores in the next five years and said Brexit uncertainty would not affect its plans.
Consumers still want food that is quick and convenient, but are willing to pay for better ingredients, said Famous Brands' Kevin Hedderwick.
"The fast-casual premium environment is pretty recession-proof," he said.
The price difference between upmarket and fast-food burger shops is quite striking.
Whereas a typical McDonald's quarter-pounder with cheese will set you back less than £3, a Gourmet Burger Kitchen 4oz classic cheeseburger is more than £6. But Gourmet Burger Kitchen also sells more unusual fare, including buffalo burgers and Persian lamb.
Food fashions in the UK range from the super-health-conscious to the indulgent. And at the indulgent end of the scale, consumers are focusing on the quality of the ingredients and being able to personalise the menu, by selecting different options.
"Consumers see freshly made burgers as the biggest marker of a gourmet burger venue, something that sets them apart, as this is not traditionally offered by fast food venues," said Kiti Soininen, head of UK food and drink research at Mintel.
"Customisation is also a top expectation for gourmet offerings, in line with a more general demand for knowing what goes into one's food and the trend for personalisation." | Wimpy owner Famous Brands has swallowed UK chain Gourmet Burger Kitchen, as the fashion for upmarket burgers in the UK shows no signs of slowing down. |
A couple of superb blocks by home captain Emma McMaster helped Northern Ireland hold out before Lucia Garcia put Spain ahead on 30 minutes.
Spanish captain Patricia Guijarro doubled the lead with a tremendous dipping shot in the 52nd minute.
While Spain bossed the game, Abbie Magee went close for the hosts.
Substitute Magee tested Spanish keeper Noelia Ramos in the 74th minute after a brilliant run out of defence by Megan Bell.
The hosts are making their first appearance in the finals while Spain have been runners-up in three of the last four Uefa Under-19 women's tournaments.
Also in Group A, Germany beat Scotland 3-0 while in Group B England edged out Italy 2-1 at Mourneview Park. The Netherlands beat holders France 2-1 at the Ballymena Showgrounds.
Northern Ireland will be back in action in Friday's second round against Scotland at Mourneview Park with England taking on the Dutch at Windsor Park on the same day.
In front of a record 4,200 crowd for a women's match in Northern Ireland, Spain missed two chances in the opening four minutes as McMaster cleared a point-blank Laura Perez chance off the line before the same player then blazed over with the goal gaping.
As Northern Ireland full cap McMaster continued to make a number of brilliant interventions, the dominant Spaniards were frustrated until Perez's run set up Garcia to poke into an empty net in the 30th minute.
Northern Ireland's defensive discipline continued in the second half and it took skipper Guijarro's brilliant 52nd-minute dipping shot to beat Northern Ireland keeper Lauren Perry again.
The Spaniards continued to miss chances and Magee almost pulled a goal back 16 minutes from time after Bell sprinted from the edge of her own penalty area to the Spanish half.
Northern Ireland manager Alfie Wylie said he was proud of his players' efforts in frustrating the talented Spaniards for long periods.
"Despite being 1-0 down at half-time, they refused to feel sorry themselves in the second half and kept battling," said Wylie, who is also the Northern Ireland women's senior manager.
"They gave it absolutely everything tonight and I'm so proud of them." | Spain clinched a dominant 2-0 victory over battling hosts Northern Ireland at Windsor Park as the European Under-19 Women's Championship kicked off. |
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) said he had been told not to report for training with the rest of the players on Monday.
It is seeking clarification about an incident outside a fast food restaurant in the early hours of Tuesday.
Police attended and said a man was taken away by officers but no arrests were made.
The WRU said while the player, aged 28, was on an agreed holiday period from pre-Rugby World Cup training it operated a strict code of conduct covering behaviour both on and off the field.
WRU group chief executive Roger Lewis said: "The player has been suspended due to a clear breach of the standards which we expect to be maintained by someone involved in one of our national squads.
"Discipline and acceptable behaviour are issues which run to the core values of the Welsh Rugby Union and we cannot tolerate any compromise of those standards.
"Mike Phillips is an exceptional player, but there is irrefutable evidence ... that he was engaged in behaviour which falls below the standards we set.
"It is vitally important that we send out a clear and unambiguous message to one and all concerning our views on matters of this sort.
"That message must be heard clearly by all players, coaches, administrators, volunteers, supporters and, of course, the parents and guardians of any child attracted to take part in the national sport of Wales.
"Our senior national squad players are highly visible because of the profile which accompanies the success of our national sport and it is made clear to them that they are the ambassadors we rely on to foster and sustain our image."
The incident occurred outside a McDonald's restaurant in Queen Street.
Footage taken by bystanders shows Phillips being restrained by police before being led away in handcuffs to a police van.
South Wales Police say he was not arrested.
The player was recently released by the Ospreys regional rugby team after securing a move to French club Bayonne.
The WRU said the suspension has been approved by Wales head coach Warren Gatland and agreed by the senior squad management team.
Wales team manager Alan Phillips said: "We have suspended Mike Phillips on the clear evidence of a level of behaviour we regard as unacceptable.
"It is clear there has been a breach of our disciplinary standards."
Cardiff Blues scrum-half Lloyd Williams has been called into the Wales Rugby World Cup training squad as a replacement and will report for duty on Monday. | Scrum-half Mike Phillips has been suspended indefinitely from Wales squad duties after a late night incident in Cardiff. |
Nick Woodman described the remote controlled aircraft as the "ultimate" accessory for his firm's action cameras.
He made the announcement at the Code Conference in California, where he also unveiled new kit to that helps capture video footage for virtual reality helmets.
One industry watcher said GoPro's move into drones was "very significant".
"It's the fact that the company has such a strong brand," explained John Stapley from Amateur Photographer magazine.
"It's similar to what you can already see with action cameras. There are a lot of others out there but most people don't know they exist or don't have any interest in them because GoPro has become such a dominant name that it is 'the action brand' as far as they are concerned."
The risk for the firm, he added, was that other drone manufacturers would opt to partner with other camera makers to avoid supporting a competitor.
The world's bestselling commercial drone maker - China's DJI - has already decided to limit initial sales of its Phantom 3 flagship to a design that features its own proprietary video camera.
The previous generation had been launched instead with an optional mount for GoPro cams.
Mr Woodman said he planned to release the GoPro drone within the first half of 2016, and that it would be targeted at consumers.
"Quadcopters have a special place for us at GoPro because I was a huge radio-controlled plane enthusiast as a kid and I could never really get anyone involved in it with me because it was either too geeky or it took a lot of time to learn how to fly these things - you'd crash them all the time," he said.
"So, I was really surprised to see how quickly the general consumer was adopting quadcopters.
"Quads plus GoPro has been one of the most democratising combinations in terms of enabling people to capture professional quality content and see themselves in their environment in a way that they'd never seen before. It looks like you're in your own movie."
Drones are expected to be one of the fastest growing electronics sectors over the coming years.
According to the US's Consumer Electronics Association, the global market for consumer drones totalled $84m (£54m) last year but is forecast to top $300m by 2018. The CEA adds that if regulators relax the rules for the use of such aircraft by commercial organisations, the market could further swell to $1bn by 2020.
That could represent a lucrative new market for GoPro.
The firm's existing cameras and other accessories generated $363m of sales over the first three months of 2015. That was up 54% on the previous year, but resulted in a relatively slim net profit of $16.8m.
Mr Woodman also showed off a prototype mount that can hold six of his firm's Hero4 cameras, each pointing in a different direction.
He said the resulting footage could be stitched together using software developed by Kolor - a start-up it bought last month - to create a single 6K-quality 360-degree image.
This could then be used with virtual reality helmets - allowing a user to change their perspective by turning their head left and right and looking up and down - or via YouTube and Facebook, which are both adding support for interactive spherical videos.
The Six-Camera Spherical Array add-on will go on sale later this year.
Mr Woodman acknowledged, however, that the high cost of buying enough cameras to fill it was likely to limit the mount's appeal to professionals.
At a subsequent event, Google also announced a more elaborate virtual reality capture device, which involves 16 GoPro cameras, as part of a tie-up between the two companies.
The footage produced by the Jump camera array will be processed by the search firm's own software to produce panoramas, rather than spherical videos, that make use of depth data deduced by Google's algorithms. | GoPro's chief executive has confirmed it will make its own quadcopter drones. |
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The 40-year-old won Olympic heptathlon bronze for Britain in 2004 and has been upgraded to two more bronze medals from 2008 after retrospective drug tests.
All world records set before 2005 could be rewritten under a new proposal from European Athletics, after the sport's latest doping scandal.
Sotherton said tweaking events would create "a new slate" and new records.
She said: "Could we go back to yards or run 101m instead of 100m?
"We all know that some of the records are completely out there. But not all of those records were achieved by people who cheated.
"Scrapping those records is unfair on those athletes. And what about my pre-2005 performances? Did they happen? Does this apply to national records too?"
Sotherton referred to the IAAF's decision to remodel the men's javelin in 1986.
Changes were made to the javelin's design because of increasingly frequent flat landings. All existing records were reset after the change, but not erased.
"I am open to the discussion - for the greater good of the sport it's a good thing," she added. | Kelly Sotherton says athletics chiefs should consider tweaking events rather than rewriting existing world records. |
The NHS spent £8.84m on private ambulances in the capital last year compared to £795,000 in 2011, according to Freedom of Information data.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) conceded it was losing staff due to "pressure on the organisation".
But LAS denied claims it had employed private staff previously sacked by the NHS.
Heidi Alexander, Labour MP for Lewisham East, claimed London ambulances were taking "on average two minutes longer than three years ago" to respond to the most serious call-outs.
Labour said its research discovered private ambulance usage by ambulance trusts across the country grew by 82% between financial years 2011/12 and 2013/14, from £37m to £67.5m last year.
Private ambulance spending In Yorkshire and the North East more than quadrupled to hit £3.56m and £2.9m respectively, said Labour, although other ambulance services maintained low spending during the two years, while one trust reduced its reliance on private vehicles.
Shadow health minister Jamie Reed raised concerns over the figures and the "increasing use" of private ambulances during health questions in the House of Commons.
But his comments were branded "absolute nonsense" by public health minister Jane Ellison, who said that previous Labour government "occasionally deployed private ambulances too".
Brendan Kemp, regional organiser for the GMB union, questioned the hiring practices of ambulance trusts and their ability to keep staff.
"Who's checking the qualifications of the staff that man these vehicles?" he said on BBC London 94.9.
"Often staff that have been dismissed by London Ambulance Service for something, often they'll reappear working for a private contractor."
But Jason Killens, director of operations for the LAS, said every private contractor "is checked by us before we use them".
"Staff that leave the LAS for reasons of clinical safety would not be redeployed on those private contracts with us," he told BBC London 94.9.
Mr Killens said increasing demand each year "is adding pressure in the organisation" and conceded that "some staff leave" as a result, with about 500 vacancies currently unfilled.
He added: "There is a small number that leave us and go and work in the private sector, but the vast majority of people that leave the ambulance service in London go to work elsewhere in the NHS." | Spending on private ambulances in London grew by 1,000% between 2011 and 2013, the Labour party has claimed. |
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Lewis triumphed after a jump-off, while Shawn Barber of Canada took the bronze.
England's Isobel Pooley came second in the women's high jump, and Scotland's Lynsey Sharp won silver in the 800m, with England's Jessica Judd fourth.
But there were more medals for English athletes as Tiffany Porter came second in the women's 100m hurdles and Jade Lally won a bronze in the discus.
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Elsewhere, Kenya dominated the men's 3,000m steeplechase with gold, silver and bronze, and Uganda's Moses Kipsiro won the 10,000m.
Lewis, 28, has now won a medal of each colour from the Commonwealth Games after coming third in Melbourne in 2006 and second four years ago in Delhi.
Both he and Cutts cleared 5.55m, but failed three times at 5.60m to set up a jump-off.
They were again unsuccessful at the same height, before the bar was lowered back down to 5.55m. After Cutts' failure, Lewis then cleared the bar to win the event.
Australia's Eleanor Patterson cleared 1.94m to win the women's high jump, while Pooley's career-best effort of 1.92m was enough to see her finish ahead of Levern Spencer of St Lucia.
But a packed crowd at Hampden Park got the medal they wanted as Sharp, who had been on a hospital drip in the early hours of Friday, won silver in the 800m. She finished behind Eunice Jepkoech of Kenya, with Uganda's Winnie Nanyondo third.
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Australia's defending Commonwealth Games champion Sally Pearson retained her 100m hurdles crown, with Canada's Angela Whyte joining her and Porter on the podium.
In the women's discus, Lally's throw of 60.48m won her a bronze as Dani Samuels of Australia claimed gold and India's Seema Punia silver.
Jonathan Ndiku took the men's 3,000m steeplechase title and finished in front of fellow Kenyans Jairus Birech and Ezekiel Kemboi.
There was also an African winner in a thrilling 10,000m with Moses Kipsiro of Uganda first, Josphat Kipkoech Bett of Kenya second and Cameron Levins of Canada third.
Elsewhere, in the heats of the men's 1500m, Charlie Grice (England), Chris Gowell (Wales) and Chris O'Hare (Scotland) all qualified for Saturday's final.
Also on the track, England qualified for both the men's and women's 4x400m relay finals, and will be joined by Scotland in the men's race.
Only Lee Doran of Wales from the home nations qualified for the javelin final, but English trio Phillips Idowu, Nathan Fox and Nathan Douglas are still involved in the triple jump competition. | England's Steve Lewis won gold and Luke Cutts took silver in the men's pole vault at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. |
Speaking to the New York Times, Mr Trump said the US would only come to the aid of allies if they have "fulfilled their obligations to us".
Members of Nato have all signed a treaty that says they will come to the aid of any member that is attacked.
Mr Trump will speak on Thursday at the Republican National Convention.
In a preview of what he will tell convention-goers in his speech, he outlined a foreign policy strategy aimed at reducing US expenditure and involvement abroad.
What the world wants to know about Trump - Q&A from Cleveland
Although the White House has not responded directly to Mr Trump's comments, spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday the US commitment to NATO was "ironclad".
He said potential enemies should not misjudge Washington's commitment to defend its NATO allies.
"The president renewed that commitment just two weeks ago today when he travelled to Warsaw, Poland, to attend the NATO summit."
Mr Trump's comments hit at the fundamental basis of the Atlantic alliance; that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.
Under Article 5 of Nato's founding treaty, allies are bound to come to the aid of a member under attack.
The US has long been pressing its European allies to spend more on defence. That is slowly beginning to have an effect.
But never has there been a suggestion that the US would renege on its responsibilities.
His comments on Turkey suggest that the Republican contender also seems reluctant to insist upon Nato members maintaining strong democratic principles.
Mr Trump's positions will be seen by Washington's Nato partners as at best eccentric and at worst alarming.
At a time of growing tensions with Moscow, the idea that the US might become an unreliable ally is a nightmare for Nato's European members.
Asked about Russian aggression towards Nato countries in the Baltic region, Mr Trump suggested the US might abandon the longstanding protections offered by the US to such nations.
The divisive Republican candidate also said that, if elected, he would not pressure US allies over crackdowns on political opposition and civil liberties, arguing that the US had to "fix our own mess" before "lecturing" other nations.
He said: "Look at what is happening in our country. How are we going to lecture when people are shooting policemen in cold blood?"
Asked about the failed coup in Turkey on Friday, the Republican candidate praised Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been criticised by some Western leaders over his increasingly authoritarian rule.
"I give great credit to him for being able to turn that around," Mr Trump said of the failed coup. "Some people say that it was staged, you know that," he said. "I don't think so."
US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Mr Erdogan to follow the rule of law, amid a crackdown on opposition figures by the Turkish leader in the wake of the coup attempt. But Mr Trump chose not to make a similar statement.
"When the world sees how bad the United States is and we start talking about civil liberties, I don't think we are a very good messenger," he said.
The Republican candidate also said that he would reassess the costs to the US of longstanding defence treaties, potentially forcing allies to take on those costs.
He said he would "prefer to be able to continue" existing agreements - but not if he felt allies were taking advantage of the US.
Referring to what he said were US trade losses, Mr Trump said: "We are spending a fortune on military in order to lose $800bn. That doesn't sound very smart to me."
He also suggested he would close US bases abroad. "If we decide we have to defend the United States, we can always deploy" from American soil, he said "and it will be a lot less expensive".
Mr Trump will address the convention on Thursday following speeches from his running mate, Governor Mike Pence and his wife Melania Trump.
Mrs Trump's speech caused embarrassment when journalists noticed that sections of the text appeared to have been copied directly from a speech given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic Convention.
Senator Ted Cruz, who came second in the Republican primaries, was booed by convention-goers on Thursday after opting not to endorse Mr Trump in his speech. | Donald Trump has said that if he is elected president he may abandon a guarantee of protection to fellow Nato countries. |
Many have headed for Praia do Norte in Nazare, Portugal, where Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara set a world record for the largest wave surfed in 2011.
The storm created huge swells in the sea off Scotland leading to warnings from the Coastguard and RNLI.
The swell off Nazare has been recorded at a maximum of height of 40ft (12m).
But South Devon-based website Magicseaweed.com, which provides surfers with swell charts and surf forecasts, said the swell grew in size as it neared the beach.
Three years ago, Mr McNamara caught a 78ft (23m) wave to beat the previous 2008 record by more than a foot.
The Atlantic storm hit Scotland late on Tuesday and during Wednesday. The Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland and parts of the north and west mainland coast were the worst affected.
Wave heights measured west of South Uist by the University of the Highlands and Islands peaked at about 49ft (15m) on Wednesday.
The storm started in the Arctic where it had rapidly developed in strength in a process known as explosive cyclogenesis, or what some scientists and forecasters refer to as a "weather bomb".
Pressure at the centre of the storm dropped quickly in the space of 24 hours as it passed by the south of Greenland on a strong jet stream running in excess of 230mph.
As well as Nazare, surfers have been in Bilbao, northern Spain, for a Punta Galea Big Wave World Tour surfing event. It has also benefitted from swells created by the storm. | Some of the world's top surfers have been riding massive waves generated by the Atlantic storm that hit Scotland. |