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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday promoted Mr Wyatt to an aged care and indigenous health portfolio, following a government reshuffle triggered by an expenses scandal. "His extensive knowledge and experience as a senior public servant in indigenous health, coupled with his work as an assistant minister in this portfolio, makes him an ideal minister for this area," Mr Turnbull said. Greg Hunt, who takes up health and sport in the reshuffle, described Mr Wyatt's appointment as a "signature moment for Australia". Mr Wyatt said he was deeply honoured to take on "two crucial portfolios". A former teacher and public servant, Mr Wyatt joined the Liberal Party before claiming the Western Australian seat of Hasluck by fewer than 1,000 votes in 2010. In his maiden speech to parliament, Mr Wyatt, wearing a kangaroo skin coat, credited education with offering him the chance to succeed in life. "I have been a battler for most of my life but I have always driven myself to be successful in order to achieve my dreams," he said. During the speech he thanked Kevin Rudd, a former Labor prime minister, for his 2008 official apology to the Stolen Generations - the thousands of indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families by successive governments until the late 1960s. Mr Wyatt's mother, Mona, was among them. "My mother and her siblings, along with many others, did not live to hear the words delivered in the apology, which would have meant a great deal to them individually," Mr Wyatt said, adding he shed tears during the apology. He also paid tribute to his father, Don, who served in World War Two before working on West Australia's railways, for helping to raise the family's 10 children. Mr Wyatt was returned to his seat in federal elections in 2013 and 2016, and was appointed the assistant minister for health and aged care in September 2015. His electorate covers a 1,192 sq km (460 sq miles) area extending from Perth's east. He backed the rise of Mr Turnbull, who ousted predecessor Tony Abbott in 2015, but has praised Mr Abbott's work in indigenous affairs. Mr Wyatt has supported the push to recognise indigenous Australians in the constitution. He has resisted calls within his own party to repeal a controversial racial discrimination law that makes it illegal to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" people on the basis of race, colour or ethnic origin. Despite making a strong argument against the push in August, Mr Wyatt has since made comments suggesting he could be prepared to support it. The Guardian said Mr Wyatt was one of five current indigenous Australians in parliament, along with Labor politicians Pat Dodson, Malarndirri McCarthy and Linda Burney, and independent Jacqui Lambie.

Ken Wyatt, the first indigenous Australian to enter Australia's House of Representatives, has now become its first indigenous minister.

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Jeffrey Blue told the court Newcastle United's owner reneged on a promise to pay him a multimillion-pound sum if he increased the firm's share price. The court heard about "drink-fuelled" meetings in pubs, including one where Mr Ashley "vomited into a fireplace". Mr Ashley's lawyers said he had won a "comprehensive" victory. The hearing was told that four years ago Mr Ashley met Mr Blue and three other finance specialists at the Horse and Groom in London and "consumed a lot of alcohol". Mr Ashley said: "I can't remember the details of the conversations that we had in the pub as it was a heavy night of drinking. "If I did say to Mr Blue that I would pay him £15m if he could increase [Sports Direct's] share price to £8, it would be obvious to everyone, including Mr Blue, that I wasn't being serious." He said he paid Mr Blue £1m in "other deals" unrelated to the Horse and Groom meeting. Mr Blue described Mr Ashley as a "serious businessman", but said the work ethic at Derbyshire-based Sports Direct was "like nothing else I have ever seen" with business conducted "in unorthodox ways and in unusual venues". The £14m High Court case between Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley and a banker offered a revealing insight into how business is done in some quarters. Stories of monster drinking sessions, kebabs and vomiting into a fireplace emerged as financial expert Jeffrey Blue tried get Ashley to cough up. He claimed the Sports Direct founder had promised him the money in a deal struck in a pub, but Ashley said the conversation was no more than a joke. And a judge has now agreed no-one could have thought he was being serious. The judge said that during the Horse and Groom meeting Mr Ashley promised him £15m, but Sports Direct chairman Keith Hellawell said Mr Blue only mentioned the figure of £1m to him. Ruling in Mr Ashley's favour, judge Justice Leggatt said: "No reasonable person present... would have thought that the offer to pay Mr Blue £15m was serious and was intended to create a contract. "They all thought it was a joke. The fact that Mr Blue has since convinced himself that the offer was a serious one, and that a legally binding agreement was made, shows only that the human capacity for wishful thinking knows few bounds." He ordered that Mr Blue would have to pick up Mr Ashley's legal bill of £1.5m, as well as his own of "one million odd". In a statement after the ruling Mr Ashley said: "The only reason the Sports Direct share price exceeded £8, and will hopefully do so again, is because of the sterling efforts of all the people who work at Sports Direct."

Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has won a High Court battle with an investment banker over a £15m deal allegedly made in a pub.

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Malcolm Roberts won a Queensland Senate seat as member of the anti-immigration One Nation party in recent elections. He says the United Nations is using climate change to lay the foundations for an unelected global government. His previous writing indicates that he believes a shadowy cabal of bankers is controlling world affairs. One Nation is led by Pauline Hanson, who during the 1990s was a controversial figure in Australian politics for her views on immigration and Indigenous Australians. The party won four seats in Australia's Senate during the election, making it the fourth-largest voting bloc in the upper house. The BBC has asked Mr Roberts for an interview and submitted questions to him by email, but has not received a reply. But in recent interviews with the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC), Mr Roberts stood by his previous positions. He called for an investigation into Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) over its handling of climate change science. When asked if he still believed the UN was trying to impose a worldwide government through climate change policy, Mr Roberts answered: "Definitely". In 2011, Mr Roberts wrote a letter to then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard demanding to be exempted from the country's carbon tax. The letter, addressed to "The Woman, Julia-Eileen:Gillard", contained a 28-point affidavit that sought to establish Mr Roberts' exemption from the need to obey the Australian government. He referred to himself as "Malcolm-Ieuan: Roberts., the living soul", and identified himself as the "beneficiary, administrator" for a corporate entity called MALCOLM IEUAN ROBERTS. The punctuation and language is consistent with a style of language used by the so-called sovereign citizen movement, which sees governments as illegitimate and attempts to assert the rights of individuals to ignore laws and taxes. The use of unusual grammar and punctuation by sovereign citizens is intended to establish independence from the government's legal system. However, in a radio interview with the ABC, Mr Roberts denied that he was affiliated with the movement. Mr Roberts also wrote a report in 2013 entitled CSRIOh!: Climate of Deception, Or First Step to Freedom? that detailed his rejection of man-made global warming. "The UN IPCC's unfounded core claim about human CO2 is part of UN Agenda 21 campaign for global governance," the report said. In a 135-page appendix to the report, Mr Roberts wrote in detail about his belief that an international cabal of bankers is exercising enormous influence on world affairs. The report says the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England are privately controlled corporations, and that their owners are seeking to introduce carbon trading into the world economy as a way to generate money and extend their control. It also lists Holocaust denier and conspiracy theorist Eustace Mullins as a primary reference. Mr Roberts has been criticised in the past by prominent Australian climate sceptic Andrew Bolt, who said his theories on banking families "smacks too much of the Jewish world conspiracy theorising I've always loathed". But in the report Mr Roberts writes that those who "falsely smear or imply those raising the topic [of the international banking scam] as anti-Jewish … is an unfounded furphy [an untruth] designed to distract. The reality is that international bankers come from a variety of religions." Mr Roberts told the ABC that his top priorities as a senator were "accountability" for the government and "restoring the constitution", relieving cost-of-living pressures, economic security and security from terrorism.

One of Australia's new senators has said climate change is a global conspiracy created by bankers seeking to establish a worldwide government.

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The legislation aims to deal with the hundreds of drivers said to be misusing blue badges, by giving councils powers to confiscate and cancel them. The Disabled Persons' Parking Badges Bill was brought forward by SNP MSP Dennis Robertson, who is blind. He said abuse of the system was a growing problem and had become "unacceptable". There are 245,000 legitimate blue badge holders in Scotland, and Holyrood's local government committee said misuse of the blue badge scheme was having a "major impact" on the lives of people who rely on disabled parking spaces. In addition, research by agency Transport Scotland said 83% of legitimate badge holders had encountered misuse. Misuse of a blue badge is already an offence, but enforcement powers currently lie with the police. The legislation will come into force next year.

New laws to crack down on drivers who abuse disabled parking have been passed by the Scottish Parliament.

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This is "to ensure it was thorough, properly conducted and to identify good practice", Scotland Yard said. But the force also defended its handling of the case, which included an allegation of rape made against the former Cabinet minister. Lord Brittan died unaware that police had dropped the rape inquiry against him, which was reopened last year. The Metropolitan Police Service [MPS] has published the key findings from a report ordered after the force apologised to Lady Brittan earlier this month, for not informing her husband of their findings before his death. The Crown Prosecution Service found in July 2013 that there was not enough evidence for a prosecution over the claim that Lord Brittan had raped a 19-year-old female student in 1967. Officers interviewed Lord Brittan, who was suffering from terminal cancer, in May 2014, but no charges were brought. Labour MP Tom Watson had also written a letter to Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders in April 2014, calling for a full review of all abuse allegations made against the peer. But this was only passed to police on 2 June, says the Met, after the former home secretary was questioned. Lord Brittan, whose career included two years as home secretary in Margaret Thatcher's government, died in January aged 75. Investigating officers told the complainant in April that there would not have been a prosecution for rape had Lord Brittan still been alive - a move which a Met spokesman says was "premature", as the CPS did not confirm it would not pursue the case until June. However, Lord Brittan's legal team were not told at the same time at the complainant was. In its statement, Scotland Yard said it had delayed telling the peer because the CPS had been asked to carry out a final review of the case. The Met said it "accepts that Lord Brittan's solicitors should have been informed at the same time as the complainant was informed". "This would have permitted them to clarify the position with Lady Brittan, for which the MPS apologised in a letter to her solicitors on 6 October 2015." Relatives of people who die while under investigation would not normally be contacted after their death and would not be told what the outcome would have been, or whether charges would have been brought, it said. But it added: "The MPS recognises - as it did throughout the dialogue with the CPS - that the public interest in the case required a different approach." The report also highlights concerns about current legislation which allows suspects to be publicly named before charge, whilst those bringing allegations remain anonymous. It "creates an imbalance which should be addressed," the report said. "The Commissioner has already stated that he believes there should be a ban on identifying suspects before charge to remedy this imbalance." Meanwhile, UKIP leader Nigel Farage told LBC radio that the Met had "failed horribly" over the handling of the investigation and that Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe should consider "going into retirement". And the Home Affairs Committee has "invited" both Mr Watson and Sir Bernard to appear before it on Wednesday, to give evidence on the investigation into Lord Brittan.

Another police force has been asked to review Metropolitan Police handling of abuse allegations against Lord Brittan.

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The exploding star was first observed back in June last year but is still radiating vast amounts of energy. At its peak, the event was 200 times more powerful than a typical supernova, making it shine with 570 billion times the brightness of our Sun. Researchers think the explosion and ongoing activity have been boosted by a very dense, highly magnetised, remnant object called a magnetar. This object, created as the supernova got going, is probably no bigger than a major city, such as London, and is likely spinning at a fantastic rate - perhaps a thousand times a second. But it probably also is slowing, and as it does so, it is dumping that rotational energy into the expanding shroud of gas and dust thrown off in the explosion. Prof Christopher Kochanek, from Ohio State University, US, is a member of discovery team. This is how he explains the process of supercharging a supernova: "The idea is that this thing at the centre is very compact. It's probably about the mass of our Sun, and the garbage into which it is dumping its energy is about five to six times the mass of our Sun, and expanding outwards at a rate of, let's say, 10,000km/s. "The trick in getting the supernova to last a long time is to keep dumping energy into this expanding garbage for as long as you can. That's how you get maximum bang for your buck," he told this week's Science In Action programme on the BBC World Service. Details of the event are reported in the latest edition of the journal Science. The super-luminous supernova, as it is termed, was spotted some 3.8 billion light-years from Earth by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). This uses a suite of Nikon long lenses in Cerro Tololo, Chile, to sweep the sky for sudden brightenings. Follow-up observations with larger facilities are then used to investigate targets in more detail. The intention of ASAS-SN is to get better statistics on the different types of supernovas and where they are occurring in the cosmos. Astronomers have long been fascinated by these monster explosions and have come to recognise just how important they are to the story of how the Universe has evolved. Not only do they forge the heavier chemical elements in nature but their shockwaves disturb the space environment, stirring up the gas and dust from which the next generation of stars are formed. The source star for this reported supernova must have been colossal - maybe 50 to 100 times the mass of our Sun. Such stars begin very voluminous but then shed a lot of mass in great winds that blow out into space. So, by the time this star ended its life, it was very probably greatly reduced in size. "It would have been quite small at the time of death, not tremendously bigger than the Earth," said Prof Kockanek. "It would have been very hot, however: about 100,000 degrees at the surface. Basically, it would have got rid of all of its hydrogen and helium, leaving just the material that had been burnt into carbon and oxygen." There are signs that the supernova may be about to fade, and the team have time on the Hubble space telescope in the coming weeks to try to further understand the mechanisms driving the supernova. "It is an explosion and eventually all explosions have to fade," Prof Kockanek told the BBC. "If it never fades then our interpretation of the event would have to be wrong. On the other hand, if this interpretation is wrong then it's an even more unique object and so in some sense one would be perfectly happy living with that alternative." [email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Astronomers have seen what could be the most powerful supernova ever detected.

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Julia Gillard was visiting the assembly in Cardiff Bay as part of a campaign to get more women into public life. Currently 25 of the 60 AMs are women, but in 2006 there were 31. Ms Gillard said she hoped to see a day when the gender balance in parliaments around the world improved to a point where it was no longer commented on. Her visit to the Senedd on Thursday came as political parties began the process of choosing candidates for the 2016 assembly election. Ms Gillard, who was four years old when her family emigrated from Barry in the 1960s, said she believed merit was equally distributed between the sexes. "If you're looking at any institution - whether it's the Welsh assembly or any other - and you aren't basically seeing half men and half women, then that means you haven't got your best team. "Because your best team would be the best people of merit, equally men and women. "So I hope that in this assembly and in parliaments around the world we can see increasing numbers of women until it's just so routine that it's half and half, no-one even bothers to remark on it anymore."

The Welsh-born former prime minister of Australia has urged Welsh politics to strive for gender equality to make sure it fields its "best team".

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Some people prefer their fruits and vegetables to be perfectly shaped but a trial by one supermarket found that lots of customers are now happy to buy lumpy, bumpy and curved vegetables. They decided to sell wonky veg to prevent tonnes of imperfect fruit and vegetables being thrown away. So we want to know what you think. Thanks for all your comments - the chat page is now closed. Yes, I would eat it because veg is veg even if it looks wonky and funny looking. Jack, 9 I would love to eat wonky veg because they look funny and they're much better than the ones we have at school. Also it stops them going to waste and the farmers get paid for what they have grown. Hermione, 7, Cambridgeshire Yes, I would definitely eat wonky shaped veg as it would be more fun to eat! Iona, 11, Edinburgh I hate the idea of wonky and curved vegetables because how would people cut them up for their tea or dinner? Fiona, 10, Merseyside I would eat wonky veg because they are no different to any other veg except they are wonky. Catriona, 8, Scotland Yes I would as there would be less waste in the world and they look very funny. Keira, 10, Dorset I would, as they would taste the same (I think). Harry, 12, Oxfordshire Yes I would because it looks interesting and my Mummy told me all the wonky veg gets thrown away. Sophie, 5, London Yes because it's just normal veg that's grown in a funny shape but still tastes the same. Billy, 7, Nottinghamshire Yes I would eat wonky veg. It's just like ordinary veg and tastes the same. Charlie, 5, Chesterfield Definitely! They look really funny! I would love eating those! Ellie, 8, Northamptonshire

We want to know if you would eat wonky vegetables?

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It comes after hurricane-force gusts left tens of thousands of homes without power across Scotland on Friday. The storm caused the suspension of all ScotRail trains, although some limited services later resumed. More than 28,000 homes are without power as the Atlantic jet stream caused gusts of more than 100mph (160km/h). Engineers have restored supplies to more than 88,000 customers. BBC weather forecaster Philip Avery said the Met Office warning for Shetland was in place from 04:00 GMT on Saturday until noon the same day. Elsewhere, an amber warning for much of the rest of Scotland has now been lifted, but lesser yellow warnings remain in place across central and southern Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland. The yellow "be aware" warning of strong winds and a chance of snow is also in place for all areas of Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of England on Saturday and Sunday. All ScotRail services were suspended while Network Rail, which is responsible for the rail infrastructure, inspected lines for damage caused by winds and high tides. The rail operator said the Aberdeen Sleeper hit a tree at Cupar. The tree was cleared and the train was able to continue. The majority of services remain suspended, but ScotRail said services between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley have been restored on a reduced service. Some other local services are also now running, with full updates available on the ScotRail website. It was hoped most East Coast, Virgin and TransPennine Express services between Scotland and England would be able to run as normal, but passengers were warned there may be short notice alterations and cancellations. Some CrossCountry rail services have been affected. Anyone planning to travel to or from a station in Scotland should check their journey in advance. About 28,000 Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) customers and 800 Scottish Power Energy Networks customers remain without power after widespread overnight disruption to the electricity network in areas of northern and western Scotland. SSE had mobilised 1,000 technical and support staff ahead of the storm, with engineers working in "extremely challenging and potentially dangerous conditions" to reconnect electricity. The company said it had restored supplies to 68,000 customers and was working to restore power to a further 28,000 customers. SSE said they had managed to restore power to all homes in Orkney apart from Papa Westray. About 1,200 engineers and support staff will be deployed on Saturday and SSE said it will be able to tell householders and businesses when they will get electricity back by 10:00. Eleven catering stations have been set up where people can get a hot meal. Rural areas have been the worst hit, especially around Dingwall and in Inverness-shire, the Western Isles and Skye. Other areas affected included parts of Aberdeenshire and rural areas around Wick, Oban and Fort William, as well as Buchan, Dunblane, Dunoon, Elgin and Huntly. Scottish Power Energy Networks said it had managed to reconnect 20,000 homes, with a further 800 still affected by "pockets of faults mainly across the central belt, from Ayrshire to Lanarkshire and across to the Lothians". The company said "the vast majority" of customers affected by the storm will have power restored by later tonight, "but this may depend on weather constraints and by the impact of current high winds causing additional faults". Scottish Transport Minister Derek MacKay told BBC Radio Scotland that "safety has to be paramount when looking at the services that are operational" but said everything was being done to "get people moving". Mr MacKay added: "Many travellers who have had sleepless nights will know the winds have been severe and yes it has caused significant impact to the transport system but we're working very hard to recover from that. The Forth Road Bridge reopened to cars only at 07:25 after earlier closed at about 01:00 when a van overturned on the northbound carriageway as the wind reached 91mph. The bridge has since reopened to all vehicles. The Dornoch Bridge and the Skye Bridge are closed to high sided vehicles, while a fallen tree closed the northbound carriageway of the Kessock Bridge. Police said that travel conditions in the Highlands and Islands were "hazardous" and advised against travelling along causeways or low-lying coastal roads. The Churchill Barriers in Orkney have been closed. BBC News correspondent Colin Blane said police and fire services were dealing with many incidents of fallen trees. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued several flood alerts and flood warnings. BBC Weather said gusts reached 113mph in Stornoway, 110mph at Loch Glascarnoch, and 97mph at Altnaharra. Speeds of 61mph have been recorded overnight at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports. A gust of 140mph was recorded at the summit of Cairngorm and the BBC Winterwatch studio, in a cabin on the Mar Lodge Estate in the Cairngorms, was destroyed by the winds. The yellow warning is also in place for northern coastal areas of Northern Ireland and parts of northern England, including Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire. Cumbria Police said strong winds had blown over a lorry between junctions 38 and 39 on the northbound carriageway of the M6 motorway. The Met Office's chief forecaster said a depression had been developing over the Atlantic in association with a very strong jet stream. It is said to have been triggered by sub-zero temperatures in the US hitting warmer air. Some ferry services in Scotland have been cancelled. All schools on Orkney and the Western Isles have been closed on Friday, with dozens of schools and nurseries in the Highland Council area also closed because of the weather. Herriot Primary School in Renfrewshire has also been closed after the storm caused damage to its roof, and there have been a small number of closures in Moray and elsewhere. Full details of school closures can be found on council websites. The Dounreay nuclear complex on the far north Caithness coast will be closed to all but essential staff on Friday and Saturday, the site's operator has said. The winds are predicted to die down on Friday before returning again overnight and into Saturday morning. Snow showers are also possible across Scotland on Saturday. Check out the latest travel news for Scotland For the latest on the roads visit the BBC's travel news page and keep up to date with incidents and roadworks on the motorways here. Around the country you can check for updates from: Alternatively, for regular travel bulletins listen live to BBC Radio Scotland and follow @BBCTravelScot. In times of severe disruption you can also follow the BBC Scotland severe weather Twitter list of key sources. Below are a number of other traffic information sources.

Shetland has been issued with a Met Office amber warning for wind amid concerns that it might experience gusts of up to 100mph.

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The cabinet hopefuls diverged from the president-elect's positions on the Iran deal, Nato, the Mexico border wall and more, revealing major policy disagreements. Mr Trump has gained a reputation for ideological flexibility, and the hearings suggest he may need to revise several campaign pledges in order to avoid clashes with his senior staff. Here are the key disagreements. What Trump said "Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Asked if he supported a compulsory database of US Muslims, Mr Trump said: "I would certainly implement that", adding that authorities could go to Mosques "and different places" to "sign them up". He has added various caveats at points, saying he could restrict the ban to "terrorist countries" and allow some Muslims to enter if they were subjected to "extreme vetting". What the nominees said Jeff Sessions, Mr Trump's pick for attorney general: "I do not support the idea that Muslims as a religious group should be denied entry to the United States." "I would not favour a registry of Muslims in the United States, no I would not." John Kelly, Mr Trump's pick for homeland security: "I don't think it's ever appropriate to focus on something like religion as the only factor." What Trump said "Walls work." What the nominees said John Kelly: "A physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job." What Trump said The president-elect called the Iran nuclear deal "disastrous" and "the stupidest deal of all time", and said dismantling it was his "number one priority". What the nominees said James Mattis, Mr Trump's nominee for secretary of defence, told senators the deal was "imperfect" but said the US would honour it. "When America gives its word we have to live up to it and work with our allies," he said. Rex Tillerson, the nominee for secretary of state, called for a "full review" of the deal but declined to say it should be torn up. What Trump said Mr Trump has called the Russian president "highly respected" and a "great leader". "I'm saying that I'd possibly have a good relationship. He's been very nice to me," he said. Mr Trump publicly doubted US intelligence services when they said they believed with "high confidence" that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic Party. On Thursday the president-elect conceded that Russia was "probably" behind the hacking, adding: "We also get hacked by other countries and other people." What the nominees said John Kelly told senators that he believed "with high confidence" the US intelligence findings on Russian hacking. James Mattis called Russia an "adversary" and said he had "very modest expectations for areas of co-operation with Mr Putin". Mike Pompeo, Mr Trump's pick for head of the CIA, said it was "pretty clear" that the Russians hacked the DNC, calling it "an aggressive action taken by senior leadership inside of Russia". He said Russia had "reasserted itself aggressively" on the world stage, "invading and occupying Ukraine, threatening Europe, and doing nothing to aid in the destruction and defeat of ISIS". What Trump said "Torture works, OK folks? You know, I have these guys - 'Torture doesn't work!' - believe me, it works." "I would bring back waterboarding, and I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." Asked about former CIA Director Michael Hayden's assertion that the military could defy his orders: "They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse, believe me." What the nominees said Mike Pompeo, asked if he would comply with an order to use enhanced interrogation techniques: "Absolutely not." What Trump said The president-elect caused alarm in July when he refused to confirm that the US would come to the aid of Nato allies in the event of an attack, despite a long-standing, treaty-bound obligation to do so. Mr Trump accused other Nato countries of not paying enough to the US and said the US may only support them if they "fulfil their obligations to us". What the nominees said James Mattis, a former Nato military leader, called the organisation "the most successful military alliance probably in modern history, maybe ever" and accused Russia of trying to "break" it. Rex Tillerson said that Nato's mutual defence pact - the one Mr Trump refused to say he would honour - was "inviolable". What Trump said Mr Trump called the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal "a potential disaster for our country" which he would scrap on his "first day in office". What the nominees said Rex Tillerson: "I do not oppose TPP."

The first round of confirmation hearings for Donald Trump's cabinet saw his nominees contradict him numerous times on key issues.

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Action for Children estimates 140,000 children referred to social services over issues like drugs, alcoholism, domestic violence and neglect are not getting the help they need. It says they often fall through the cracks as they are not at crisis point. Ministers say their social care reforms will improve support. Based on Freedom of Information requests from 141 local authorities in England, the report says: "These children have needs that are too great for schools, health or other universal services to meet on their own, but they are not eligible for support from statutory social care services. "Our research suggests many are living in challenging family situations, affected by issues like domestic violence or substance misuse. "Without the right help, there's potential for these situations to escalate to crisis point, placing children at risk of harm." Action for Children says some children "may be stuck in a 'revolving door' of children's services, repeatedly referred and assessed but not receiving help". The charity is calling on the government to strengthen current legislation for early help services and to provide adequate funding to local authorities, so they can offer help as soon as children need it. Mother of two "Ella", from Buckinghamshire, had to pick up the pieces after her ex-partner who was "very controlling and had issues with alcohol" walked out, leaving her facing eviction when her son was under a year old. "He used to spend all his money on drink and tell me he'd paid the rent when he hadn't," said Ella. Her health visitor referred her to a children's centre which sorted out her housing and organised domestic violence counselling and a parenting course. "Chatting to other parents at the centre was great and really helped me build my confidence, which had been knocked badly because of my ex-partner. "If I hadn't have had the children's centre, I'd still be in fear of my ex-partner and be listening and doing what he says. "My son really had a connection and bond with his dad and it really did affect him when he left, but by taking my son to the children's centre with all the other children, that really helped mend the damage done. "The children's centre was a safe haven to go to and just be with other mums and be somewhere I could get advice. If it wasn't for the children's centre, I really don't know where I'd be right now. "Thanks to them I'm now back on my feet and am working as a nursery nurse." Sir Tony Hawkhead, chief executive of Action for Children, said opportunities to help these children and their families at an early stage were being missed. "Social care can't just be there for when a family is in meltdown," said Sir Tony. "Every day too many children's lives are overshadowed by drugs, alcoholism, domestic violence and neglect - a toxic recipe for all kinds of problems now and in later life. "Punishing savings targets have given local authorities no option but to drastically shrink or abandon services, including family support, leaving large numbers of children on the fringes of social care without the help they need." A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Councils will receive more than £200bn for local services up to 2020 and spent nearly £8 billion last year on children's social care but we want to help them do even more. "Our £200m Innovation Programme is helping councils develop new and better ways of delivering these services - this includes projects targeting children who have been referred and assessed multiple times without receiving support."

Thousands of vulnerable children in England are being "left in limbo" because their needs are not severe enough, a charity has warned.

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20 January 2015 Last updated at 16:38 GMT Each Robi is just over 35 centimetres tall and costs almost £1,000. Their creator Tomotaka Takahashi wanted to make a robot that could be mass produced, for a low cost.

These dancing robots performed a synchronised dance routine Tokyo, Japan, on Monday.

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Godden's double sandwiched Jack King's strike as the hosts earned a seventh win in eight games. Boro are now sixth in the table, three points behind third-placed Carlisle, but County drop down to third-from-bottom, five points ahead of Leyton Orient. Stevenage led in just the third minute after a corner was taken shot to Steven Schumacher, whose cross gave Godden the simple task of heading into the top corner. Veteran goalkeeper Chris Day, in the side due to Jamie Jones' suspension, maintained their lead by first sharply saving Shola Ameobi's header then Jon Stead's rebound. The hosts doubled their advantage on the hour as Godden flicked on a long ball into the path of captain King, who finished calmly into the bottom corner. Two minutes later the match was finished as a contest as Ben Kennedy played Godden through and he held his nerve to strike his 20th goal of the season. Match report supplied by the Press Association. Match ends, Stevenage 3, Notts County 0. Second Half ends, Stevenage 3, Notts County 0. Corner, Stevenage. Conceded by Curtis Thompson. Tom Pett (Stevenage) wins a free kick on the left wing. Foul by Tahvon Campbell (Notts County). Tom Pett (Stevenage) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Curtis Thompson (Notts County). Substitution, Stevenage. Kgosi Ntlhe replaces Connor Ogilvie because of an injury. Charlie Lee (Stevenage) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Jorge Grant (Notts County). Josh McQuoid (Stevenage) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Haydn Hollis (Notts County). Substitution, Stevenage. Josh McQuoid replaces Ben Kennedy. Substitution, Stevenage. Kaylen Hinds replaces Matt Godden. Jobi McAnuff (Stevenage) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Curtis Thompson (Notts County). Attempt missed. Haydn Hollis (Notts County) left footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Foul by Steven Schumacher (Stevenage). Curtis Thompson (Notts County) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt saved. Tahvon Campbell (Notts County) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is saved in the centre of the goal. Ben Kennedy (Stevenage) wins a free kick on the left wing. Foul by Elliott Hewitt (Notts County). Luke Wilkinson (Stevenage) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Shola Ameobi (Notts County). Foul by Ben Kennedy (Stevenage). Haydn Hollis (Notts County) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt blocked. Matt Godden (Stevenage) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is blocked. Substitution, Notts County. Tahvon Campbell replaces Mark Yeates. Substitution, Notts County. Carl Dickinson replaces Marc Bola. Corner, Stevenage. Conceded by Elliott Hewitt. Attempt blocked. Ben Kennedy (Stevenage) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is blocked. Substitution, Notts County. Jonathan Forte replaces Jon Stead because of an injury. Goal! Stevenage 3, Notts County 0. Matt Godden (Stevenage) right footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Ben Kennedy. Goal! Stevenage 2, Notts County 0. Jack King (Stevenage) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Luke Wilkinson. Josh Clackstone (Notts County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Attempt missed. Shola Ameobi (Notts County) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Attempt blocked. Luke Wilkinson (Stevenage) right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is blocked. Corner, Stevenage. Conceded by Shola Ameobi. Tom Pett (Stevenage) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Robert Milsom (Notts County).

Matt Godden scored twice as in-form Stevenage boosted their League Two promotion hopes by breezing past Notts County.

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The Senegalese man, in handcuffs, was eventually deported to Dakar on the flight. The jet took off after police had come on board to stop the protest. The 11 protesters could be fined up to €225,000 (£197,000; $258,000) each for endangering flight safety. The protest delayed both that flight and the return flight from Dakar. Spanish media report that the Barcelona-Dakar flight was delayed by two-and-a-half hours at El Prat airport on Saturday, after all the passengers had been ordered off the plane. When they boarded again, 11 passengers - identified by police as protesters - were not allowed through. A Spanish journalist, Anna Palou, tweeted a video clip showing the protest on the budget airline jet. The clip showed several passengers blocking the aisle and bore the message in Catalan: "We have succeeded! Flight of deportation stopped. Now the authorities are coming to take the person away! Solidarity is our best weapon!" The BBC has approached Vueling for comment on the incident. Italy delays migrant citizenship law The deadly Spanish route attracting migrants to Europe Trying to stop ships rescuing migrants Witnesses quoted by Spanish media said the sympathy protest started on the plane when the Senegalese man, escorted by two border guards, complained loudly about being deported. Lacking any work or residence permit, he had been refused entry to Spain, the Efe news agency reported. The delay meant that the return flight from Dakar had to be postponed to Sunday, forcing Vueling to pay for the overnight accommodation of 176 passengers. The incident prompted anti-deportation activists to rally at Seville airport on Sunday. The activists, from the group Caravana Abriendo Fronteras (Open Borders Caravan), staged a noisy protest in the airport terminal. The numbers of migrants and refugees arriving in Spain from Africa this year have increased compared with the same period (January-July) last year. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says 6,973 had arrived in Spain by sea as of 11 July, compared with 2,476 in the first half of last year. However, far more took the Central Mediterranean route to Italy.

A group of passengers could face hefty fines after delaying a Vueling flight in Barcelona out of sympathy with a Senegalese migrant on board.

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Actors and directors used the red carpet at the Oscars in Los Angeles to broadcast their views on President Trump's temporary travel ban on immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries, issued in January. US courts have blocked the ban but the Trump administration is preparing a new executive order. Some stars pinned their politics to their (presumably quite expensive) sleeves and dresses. Blue ribbons with the initials ACLU were seen adorning the outfits of several Oscar nominees. ACLU stands for American Civil Liberties Union - the civil rights organisation that was the first to successfully challenge President Trump's travel ban in a lawsuit brought to a federal court in New York in January. Irish Oscar nominee Ruth Negga wore the ribbon on a flowing red Valentino dress. She was nominated for best actress for playing Mildred Loving in the film Loving which explored the effects of Jim Crow - the legislation that enforced racial segregation in the United States until 1965 - on a mixed-race couple in 1950s Virginia. Full BBC Entertainment coverage of Oscars 2017 Mildred Loving's marriage in 1958 to white construction worker Richard violated legal prohibitions of mixed-race marriage in the US state. After being arrested and serving time in prison, Mildred secured the legal representation of an ACLU lawyer and their case eventually led to the Supreme Court ruling in 1967 that the prohibition of interracial marriage was unconstitutional. Award-winning (eventually) Moonlight writer and director Barry Jenkins also wore the ribbon, as did model Karlie Kloss and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda. The ACLU said it was surprised that it had spawned an Oscar fashion trend. The full list of Oscar winners The best fashion at the Oscars Follow our Oscars board on Pinterest Director Ava DuVernay took her sartorial protest to the next level by wearing a dress to celebrate the creativity of one Muslim majority country - Lebanon. She wore an embroidered gown made by Beirut-based fashion house Ashi Studio in what she said was "a small sign of solidarity". DuVernay directed the critically-acclaimed film Selma, which was the subject of another Oscars controversy in 2015 when the academy was criticised for failing to nominate DuVernay and the black lead actor David Oyelowo. Other stars protested with their feet. One Iranian director condemned the travel ban as "inhumane" after he boycotted the ceremony altogether. Asghar Farhadi, who won the award for best foreign film for a second time, sent two Iranian-American representatives to pick up his award for film The Salesmen. They were not just any representatives - one was female Nasa scientist and Mars explorer Anousheh Ansari who read his acceptance speech. His statement read: "My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US." A Syrian cinematographer behind the Oscar-winning documentary White Helmets was blocked from attending the ceremony at the last minute. Twenty one-year-old Khaled Khatib, who filmed much of the footage in the documentary that follows the lives of civilian rescue workers called the White Helmets in Syria, had obtained a visa to enter the US but was prevented at Istanbul airport from travelling. He still followed the Oscars though. As the ceremony unfolded, Khatib tweeted a picture of a child he said was the victim of a chlorine gas attack by Syrian government forces in a rebel-held part of the Damascus suburb of Harasta on Sunday. State media reported that "terrorist groups" had targeted residential areas of Harasta with a number of rockets, injuring 10 people, but did not mention a chemical attack. Trump's executive order was not the only immigration policy which sparked protests. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, who last year appeared in American comedy show Stephen Colbert as a Hispanic man who supported the wall, spoke out against the President's plan for a border wall between the US and Mexico. "As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I'm against any form of wall that separates us," stated Bernal as he was presenting the award for best animated feature film. By Georgina Rannard, UGC and Social news

For celebrities and film-makers protesting against recent American political decisions, what bigger stage is there than an awards ceremony watched by millions around the world?

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"We gave [our allies] our best analysis of the enormous needs that Iran has internally and the commitment that Iran has made to its people in terms of shoring up its economy and improving economic growth," said President Obama, when asked about concerns that Iran would use the money from sanctions relief for nefarious aims in the region. He added that "most of the destabilising activity that Iran engages in is low-tech, low-cost activity". It was just as well that Mr Obama gave the press conference on his own. The Gulf leaders had just departed after a full day of talks at the Maryland retreat or they would have had a hard time resisting a collective eye roll at what they perceive to be American naivety about Tehran. As it pursues a nuclear deal with Iran, Washington has been trying hard not to adhere to the positions, fears and sometimes paranoia of Arab countries vis-a-vis Iran. At Camp David, the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council received assurances that Washington had their backs, with pledges about more military cooperation and hardware. But nothing can bridge what are essentially opposing world views. Profile: Gulf Cooperation Council Riyadh has accepted that there is little it can do about stopping a nuclear deal, but it's gearing up to push back more forcefully against its arch-nemesis, as Tehran boasts of a new Persian empire with influence over four capitals: Beirut, Baghdad, Damascus and Sanaa. Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was scathing on a recent visit to Washington about the administration's assertion that the money from the sanctions relief would go to "building bridges and roads". It's estimated that after a deal is reached and Iran is verifiably in compliance, Tehran would get access to at least $100bn (£64bn). "I want to know how much of this money is going to Hezbollah," said Mr Hariri, whose political camp is staunchly opposed to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group backed by Iran, which has been fighting in Syria to help prop up President Bashar al-Assad. A UN official also recently estimated that Iran had been channelling as much as $35bn a year into Syria since the conflict started. Earlier this month, Syria and Iran were discussing a $1bn credit line to help Mr Assad's government, the second credit line since 2013. Arab countries don't see Iran's efforts to expand its regional influence as a low-cost operation, though it could perhaps be characterised as low-tech. When it comes to a military edge, Saudi Arabia is billions of dollars ahead of Iran. Riyadh is now trying to deploy its hardware in the face of Iran's asymmetric warfare and is looking beyond Yemen. A senior Saudi Arabian official told me they were deeply concerned about the cash injection Iran would get after a nuclear deal. When I asked him whether they were planning to make a move on Syria before a deal is reached, his response was a surprisingly forceful "Yes". Channelling his Saudi Arabian allies, Mr Hariri indicated that while replicating the Saudi military operation in Yemen was not an option in Syria, the kingdom had come to accept that the only way to get Washington more involved in the effort to push President Assad out was to take the initiative and hope the US followed. After years of disconnected policies, Saudi Arabia is now working with Qatar, Turkey and Jordan to better coordinate their support for the rebels opposing President Assad, and this has quickly translated into significant gains on the ground in recent weeks. The strategy is likely to tip the balance of power on the battlefield enough that Iran will agree to a political negotiation and push Mr Assad out. Exerting real leverage on Damascus would require further action, and Washington has made clear it is opposed to an outright win by the Syrian rebels. But it's unlikely anyone can micromanage advances on the ground - or that the Saudi Arabia has much patience left for Mr Obama's approach. Just as the American president's pursuit of a deal with Iran upset the status quo that has prevailed in the region for the past three decades, Saudi Arabia's decision to go to war caused a further tectonic shift. Saudi Arabia has never really gone to war in this way, and the jury is still out on how it is managing. Former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel described it as bordering on drink-driving. But it's clear that Riyadh is test driving its ability to lead military coalitions and wants to be the new military power of the region.

One key sentence in President Barack Obama's press conference at Camp David last week clearly illustrates the gulf between Washington and its allies on the Arabian Peninsula when it comes to Iran.

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The 25-year-old died on Thursday as a result of the injuries sustained when he was struck by a ball while batting for South Australia against New South Wales. For a while, the sport stopped, not only to pay tribute to the talented left-hander, but also to consider if more could have been done to prevent the freakishly unusual set of circumstances that took his life. Here, BBC Sport looks at how cricket might change in the aftermath of Hughes's death. Click here for further reading: Tributes to Phillip Hughes the 'uncomplicated natural' Cricket Australia to hold an investigation over player safety Almost immediately. The second day of the third Test between Pakistan and New Zealand was postponed on Thursday, but that match will resume on Friday. England are set to play the second one-day international of their tour of Sri Lanka on Saturday. But, naturally, it is in Australia where some sense of cricketing normality will be hardest to restore. Media playback is not supported on this device The Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and New South Wales was abandoned when Hughes sustained his injury, with the other two games in that round of fixtures following suit on Tuesday. The tour match between a Cricket Australia XI and India has been cancelled, along with the weekend's Sydney club programme. Currently, there is no mention of the first Test between Australia and India, which begins on 4 December, being cancelled, but participating in that match would be a tremendous ask for some of the Australian players who were close to Hughes. David Warner, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Nathan Lyon were all on the pitch when Hughes was struck, while captain Michael Clarke read a statement from the Hughes family at a Cricket Australia media conference. "It will be interesting to see if any players, or even a collective, say it is too soon to play," said Australian Broadcasting Corporation cricket commentator Jim Maxwell. For all the discussion of changes to the laws that govern short-pitched bowling and improvements in safety equipment, nothing, on the outside at least, will be altered in the short-term. However, there is no telling how this could affect the mindset of cricketers of all abilities. Those within the sport have been unequivocal in their support for Sean Abbott, the bowler who delivered the bouncer that hit Hughes. Abbott was only doing what pace bowlers have done for as long as the game has been played - using the short ball as a legitimate tactic and method of taking a wicket. He is desperately unfortunate that this particular short delivery had such tragic consequences. Now that the bouncer - used to intimidate for so long - has caused a fatality, might fast bowlers think twice before targeting the head of an opposing batsman? "I've hit people before, obviously not with those terminal circumstances," said former Middlesex pace bowler and BBC cricket analyst Simon Hughes. "It's a terrible feeling when you injure anyone in sport, even though you are trying to intimidate them." Matthew Hoggard, who took 248 Test wickets for England, added: "As a bowler, you will think twice. What happens if it's me who delivers that ball?" For all the talk of the bouncer being used to intimidate, Hughes - who was 63 not out when he received the fatal blow - was actually on the attack, playing a hook stroke that had brought him so many runs in the past. Hughes was wearing a helmet, a relatively new addition to cricket having only become commonplace over the last 30 years. Arguably, they have made batsmen less likely to be wary of short bowling and, as a result, perhaps more likely to be hit. Media playback is not supported on this device "Helmets have unfortunately taken away a lot of that fear and have given every batsman a false sense of security," wrote former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott. "They feel safe and people will now attempt to either pull or hook almost every short ball that is bowled at them." Now, though, with what has happened to Hughes fresh in the mind, batsmen may be more wary of the short ball, less likely to attack with pulls and hooks, more likely to duck or weave out of harm's way. "Phil Hughes's injuries will send shivers through cricket," wrote former England captain Michael Vaughan. "Batsmen will now feel that while they are out in the middle they are in a world that is full of danger with the risk of serious injury." Hughes was struck at the base of the neck in an area not covered by his helmet. That he received a blow in this region is, again, highly unusual. Hughes was swivelling to play the hook, was on the ball too early and, by the time it reached him, he had turned to expose the back of his head - a part of the body rarely at risk of being hit. The impact at the base of the skull split one of the major arteries and caused massive bleeding. Former International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya has called on the game's current administrators to work on upgrading the safety of helmets, which were only recently standardised. However, Chris Taylor, a former England Under-19 international who now works as a cricket retailer, says it is impossible for a helmet to provide complete protection. "Once the helmet starts trying to cover the neck as well, it's going to restrict your movement as a batsman," he said. "You need to be able to move quickly so if it's restricting your head and your neck, we could get to the stage where you just wear full body armour because at the end of the day you can get a blow on your chest that can cause you serious problems." Antonio Belli, professor of trauma neurosurgery at Birmingham University, also accepts that there may never be a helmet that offers complete protection and points out that cricket remains a relatively safe sport. "We should design helmets as strong as technology allows," he said. "But we need to accept that in cricket and other sports that involve hard objects or bodily contact there will always be freak accidents. "For the number of hours played in cricket, it's actually considered a safe sport in terms of concussion." For someone outside the sport, it may seem ridiculous that a legitimate part of cricket is the hurling of a piece of leather towards the head of an opponent at speeds of up to, and sometimes over, 90mph. However, short-pitched bowling has long been a prominent and thrilling part of the game, from the infamous Bodyline Ashes series of 1932-33 to Mitchell Johnson's performances against England last winter, via batsmen facing the great West Indies pace attacks of the 1980s with nothing more than courage and a cap for protection. Laws to protect batsmen do exist. Sustained intimidatory bowling is policed by umpires, while no form of the game allows more than two bouncers per over to be bowled. And, despite the tragic consequences of the delivery that struck Hughes, there seems to be no desire within cricket to ban the bouncer. "We need to remember that is the first death we've seen," said Hoggard. "Yes, the death of a player is very tragic, but, to change the laws and the way that we play - I don't think Phil would have wanted that."

The cricketing world has been united in grief and shock at the death of Australia batsman Phillip Hughes.

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It happened in Agnes Street, off the Shankill Road, just after 11:00 GMT on Friday. Three men aged 40, 32, and 26 have been charged with a number of offences. These include aggravated vehicle taking and going equipped for theft. The men, aged 40 and 26 are due to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Saturday. The 32-year-old man is due to appear at the same court on 30 December. All charges are to be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service. A person who was in the vehicle hit by the car was taken to hospital after the collision. Police said his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Three men have been charged after a police car chase in Belfast, in which a suspected stolen vehicle crashed into another vehicle before hitting a wall.

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Eve Doherty, a Dublin-based sergeant, denied harassing Elizabeth Howlin between September 2011 and March 2013. Over an 18-month period, letters and emails were sent to Ms Howlin's home, her place of work and to her GP. The material, alleging Ms Howlin was corrupt, included A4 posters left around her housing estate They falsely claimed that the solicitor was a political appointee. At the time, Ms Howlin worked with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), where she was involved in deciding whether or not to direct prosecutions in criminal cases. Letters and emails sent to her called her a "corrupt bitch", an "incompetent useless hobbit" and a "two faced bitch". Some of the material contained false allegations naming neighbours of Ms Howlin as drug dealers and falsely claiming that Ms Howlin had interfered in their prosecution. Ms Howlin said that she found the material very upsetting and distressing and an invasion of her privacy. Sgt Doherty, 49, had denied being the author of any of the material, which included anonymous emails containing similar allegations. However, a literary comparison by police between the emails and documents found in Sgt Doherty's home and work locker identified multiple examples of 60 common features such as grammatical errors. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Ms Howlin didn't know Sgt Doherty until the trial and that the accused was then in a relationship with the victim's ex-partner. During the trial the jury heard that the first letter was sent in September 2011 to Ms Howlin's home. It stated: "We are all watching every move you make". A second letter was sent around November 2011 to Ms Howlin's boss, DPP Claire Loftus. The letter incorrectly stated that Ms Howlin was the niece of Brendan Howlin TD - she is actually a distant cousin. Sgt Doherty denied making false statements in March 2012 claiming Ms Howlin was perverting the course of justice. A jury acquitted her of these charges. Sgt Doherty was remanded on continuing bail until 27 October for sentence.

A Garda (Irish police) detective has been found guilty of harassing a state solicitor by sending her abusive letters and emails.

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Moira Anderson disappeared on a trip to her local shop in Coatbridge during a blizzard in February of that year, just weeks before her 12th birthday. Her disappearance is now being treated as murder. The court petition seeks permission to open a grave at the Old Monkland cemetery in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire. It is thought Sinclair Upton, who died around the time Moira disappeared, is among those buried there. He was said to be a friend of Alexander Gartshore, a bus driver whose own daughter believes he is the likely killer. Mr Gartshore died six years ago, but his daughter Sandra Brown wrote a book accusing him of murder and has used the proceeds to set up the Moira Anderson Foundation to help families affected by child sexual abuse. The petition has been lodged by Moira's sister, Janet Hart. A spokesman for the Crown Office spokesman confirmed that it seeks authority for exhumation of a burial site. "The Crown's position in relation to the petition will be confirmed directly to the court and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this time," he added.

The family of a schoolgirl who disappeared in 1957 have launched a legal bid to open a grave where they believe she was buried.

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Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, campaigning in Cardiff, said the UK government must "keep an eye" on cost as "we've never done this before". He was visiting to highlight the Tories' role in upgrading the railways. There was a dispute over whether Wales or Westminster would pay for the major upgrade between Swansea and London. The south Wales Valleys lines will also be electrified as part of a deal announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in November. On Tuesday, Mr McLoughlin told BBC Wales: "We are doing in excess of 850 miles and we are working with the Assembly with the Valleys lines. "Obviously we need to keep an eye on cost, but I hope as we get on with the job we can keep a control on those costs. "There will be some cost increases because we've never done this kind of thing before." This election issue includes transport infrastructure, HS2 and airport expansion. Policy guide: Where the parties stand Mr McLoughlin said electrification plans were "value for money" and stressed that he hoped to meet the 2018 deadline for completion. Plaid Cymru candidate Jonathan Edwards said the UK government had a "woeful" track record of delivering improvements to infrastructure in Wales. "The real debate in this election is over fair funding for Wales in the case of England-only projects such as HS2, HS3 and Crossrail 2," he said. "While Labour and the Tories have wasted time arguing over who foots the bill, Plaid Cymru is the only party showing some ambition for Wales and demand a fair share for our nation from these projects." A spokesman for UKIP added: "What a surprise - another public sector project over budget. "This just shows that neither Labour in Cardiff or the Conservatives in London can be trusted to manage the economy responsibly."

A £1.1bn rail electrification plan for the Great Western line into south Wales may go over budget, a cabinet minister has warned.

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The region is often described as "oil-rich", but after the 2009 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in The Hague, most of the oil fields now fall outside Abyei's borders. It does still produce oil, but the real issue here is more ethnic than economic. Abyei is claimed by a southern group, the Dinka Ngok, and northern nomads, the Misseriya. The Misseriya spend part of each year grazing their cows in the area as part of a great trek into greener pastures which takes them deep into South Sudan, which is due to formally become independent from the north in July following decades of conflict. There are several prominent Dinka Ngok in both the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which fought for the south's independence, and in the SPLM, its political wing. Armed groups of Misseriya were often used as a proxy army by Khartoum during the civil war. The north fears alienating the Misseriya, who also live in the combustible neighbouring state of Southern Kordofan. So both Khartoum and Juba have strong reasons to care about a seemingly insignificant patch of land. Tensions in Abyei grew once a referendum scheduled for January on whether to join the north or the south did not take place. There was no agreement on whether the nomadic Misseriya were eligible to vote. A string of clashes followed, but this latest incident, involving direct confrontation between the northern and southern armed forces, is by far the most serious. Following what they described as a "southern ambush" on their men on Thursday, the northern army seized control of Abyei town, the capital of a disputed border region, on Saturday. To drive the point home about who is now in charge, President Omar al-Bashir issued a decree dissolving Abyei's joint administration, which was headed by a southerner. The US and the UN condemned what they essentially characterised as a southern provocation followed by a northern over-reaction. The UN Security Council made it clear these events would not affect southern independence on 9 July. But nobody can say for sure whether it will be a peaceful divorce. There are three main scenarios for what could happen next: The most likely is that the north will keep control of Abyei. They would start from a very strong position in the negotiations about the region's future, which would please the Misseriya. However the south might be able to score some negotiating points since Abyei was taken by force. A second possibility is that the northern troops will withdraw after some time. The UN Security Council said a northern official, Amin Hassan Omar, made this commitment to it. If this is the case, the northern armed forces will have shown their superiority, not least in terms of equipment, over the south. The northern army rolled into Abyei with numerous tanks, following aerial bombardments and shelling, easily dispersing a numerically inferior opposition. This reinforced the prevailing wisdom in Sudan that the southern armed forces do not have the technology or training to fight a conventional battle with the north. That is perhaps a useful message for the north to hammer home, in the light of the charged negotiations taking place on Abyei, as well as on other issues like economic resources, and in particular oil. The last possibility is a return to all-out conflict. US Senator John Kerry, who has visited Sudan several times, describes the country as "ominously close to the precipice of war". This could be triggered by a southern military response to the northern takeover of Abyei, or further northern moves. But the initial southern public statements have been cautious, calling on the UN to get Khartoum out of Abyei, rather than threatening to counter-attack. The southern army is stretched, as it has to deal with several rebellions, including in Unity State just over the border from Abyei. The south firmly believes Khartoum is funding the rebellions, a charge the northern authorities have always denied. Campaigner John Prendergast of the US-based Enough Project sees domestic political reasons why Khartoum might want to fight. He says the influential former head of National Security, Nafie Ali Nafie, has won an internal struggle for control of President Bashir's National Congress Party's direction. "Nafie is escalating in Darfur, Abyei, and throughout the south, seeking to address Khartoum's political problems with military force," he told the BBC. "If the Security Council fails to grapple with this trend, we will see full-scale national war in Sudan by the time the south becomes an independent state on July 9th." Influential Sudanese journalist Mahjoub Mohamed Salih goes further. "What is now taking place [in Abyei] is by all standards a war between two countries," he wrote. He believes the solution is to give the region a special status under President Bashir and Southern President Salva Kiir, and remove all armed elements from it other than UN peacekeepers. The African Union mediation lead by former South African President Thabo Mbeki will undoubtedly have its own ideas on how to end the crisis too. The US has already explicitly linked progress on Abyei to removing Sudan from the list of countries it believes sponsors terrorism. But northern politicians believe the US has gone back on several promises to improve its relationship with Khartoum in the last few years, weakening US leverage. Whatever happens next in Abyei and in north and South Sudan, there is no doubt the clash between the two armed forces has brought the spectre of a devastating new war considerably closer. Journalist Mahjoub Mohamed Salih asks the question on everyone's mind. "Shall we now sacrifice peace for which we paid so dearly for a limited piece of land in which both sides have undeniable rights?"

Abyei town may not look like much - a few low brick buildings scattered amongst thatched huts and dusty tracks - but this normally sleepy place is raising fears of a new Sudanese war after northern forces seized control over the weekend.

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Thanks to a Middle Sunday being played this year as a result of poor weather, the tennis championship's attendance of 494,000 was up on the previous year. Overall, total gates at professional sports events in the UK were 69.8 million, down 1% on 2015, according to Deloitte's sports business group. Meanwhile, football matches made up two thirds of the total attendance figures. This year's total is slightly less than last year's 70.5 million, but in 2015 the Rugby World Cup was hosted in the UK. "Attendances of almost 70 million means 2016 has been another hugely successful year for sport in the UK," said Deloitte's Dan Jones. The top 10 attended showpiece events were all multi-day affairs, such as Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix. With 14 days of play, the Grand Slam event, won by Andy Murray, was again comfortably the best-attended sporting event in the UK this year. And looking at individual sports, as opposed to individual events, football was the biggest winner in the attendance stakes, at 45.2 million. Overall, 2016 was the third-strongest year this century in terms of live sport attendances, behind the Olympic and Paralympic year of 2012 (75 million), and 2015. "The fact that the total is so high, despite the absence of hosting any major one-off global events, is a reflection of the UK public's enduring appetite for watching live sport," said Mr Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte. Football was followed by horse-racing meetings - such as Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival - and equestrian events (7.4 million), which accounted for five of the top 10 best-attended individual events of the year. Alan Switzer, director in the Sports Business Group, said: "Events such as the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot and Epsom Derby are some of the highlights in the UK's sporting calendar, and this is reflected by their continued presence in the top 10. "The enhanced exposure likely to be brought about by horse-racing's move to ITV next year should build further interest in the sport and help cement its place as the UK's second most popular sport in terms of attendances." Top Ten Attended UK Sports Events 2016 Source: Event organisers, Deloitte analysis In other sports, rugby union's attendances (stripping out the one-off effect of the 2015 World Cup) remained constant at five million. Meanwhile, including the successful hosting of the Four Nations competition across six different venues, Rugby League's attendances reached 2.3 million in 2016, with Super League attendances up slightly compared with 2015. The sports events making up the top 10 best-attended were actually the same as in 2015, although the order differed slightly. The Cheltenham Festival was boosted by the opening of a £45m redevelopment and overtook the ATP World Tour Finals to claim fourth place. Major sporting events in the UK next year include the UEFA Champions League Final in Cardiff, the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in multiple venues, and the IAAF World Championship athletics in London.

The Wimbledon tennis championships was again the best-attended sporting event in the UK in 2016.

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The test version of the Orion capsule touched down safely in the Arizona desert after being dropped from a C-17 military aircraft at 10.6km (35,000ft). The US space agency said Wednesday's test was the closest to simulating a real return to Earth. Orion is designed to replace the shuttle as America's manned space transport system. "We've put the parachutes through their paces in ground and airdrop testing in just about every conceivable way," said Orion's programme manager Mark Geyer. "The series of tests has proven the system and will help ensure crew and mission safety for our astronauts in the future." Nasa is preparing Orion for its first trip to space in December, a two-hour, four-orbit flight that will send an unmanned version of the spacecraft more than 5,700km (3,600 miles) into space. It will then be returned to Earth to test the performance of many of the craft's critical systems. In the latest test, over the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground, engineers put additional stresses on the parachutes by allowing the test craft to "free fall" for 10 seconds, which increased the vehicle's speed and aerodynamic pressure. After the free fall, Orion's parachutes deployed, pulling away the spacecraft's forward bay cover, which is critical to the rest of the system performing as required. The test marked the last time the entire parachute sequence will be tested before Orion launches on its first space flight test, called EFT-1, later this year.

Nasa says the most difficult test yet of the parachute system for its Orion spacecraft has gone without a hitch.

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The reusable, unmanned craft is designed to operate in Earth orbit for extended periods. Its prior missions in 2010 and 2011 lasted 224 and 469 days. The US government kept the timing of Tuesday's launch secret and has not said how long the mission will last. That has prompted fevered speculation as to the craft's ultimate purpose. Tuesday's launch had been pushed back from October, delayed by two satellite launches. Patrick Air Force Base in Florida gave notice of a hazard from a launch in a window between 15:45 and 22:15 GMT (10:45 to 17:15 local time). It is the second flight for X-37B craft launched on Tuesday, one of two in the programme, the other of which flew for the first time in 2011. Designed by aerospace giant Boeing, the craft share more than just a passing similarity to the now-retired space shuttle. It is just a quarter the size of the shuttle, but is launched on a rocket - the Atlas V. It is coated in thermal tiles to withstand the heat of re-entry, after which it lands on its own gear autonomously. The stated mission of the craft, according to the US Air Force, is an "experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform". But the latest mission in particular sparked speculation that the craft was spying on the Chinese space lab Tiangong-1 - an idea that has since been largely discredited. When it returned from its second mission in June, programme manager Lt Col Tom McIntyre said: "We knew from post-flight assessments from the first mission that OTV-1 could have stayed in orbit longer. So one of the goals of this mission was to see how much farther we could push the on-orbit duration." But any official mission objectives seem set once again to remain secret.

A famously mysterious military space plane operated by the US Air Force has launched from Florida, the third flight in a secretive test programme.

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Marmite-maker Unilever rejected the US food giant's bid on Friday, saying it saw "no merit, either financial or strategic" in Kraft's offer, worth about $143bn (£115bn). "Unilever and Kraft Heinz hold each other in high regard," the companies said in a joint statement. The deal would have been one of the biggest in corporate history, combining dozens of household names. Unilever owns Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Dove soap, and Hellmann's mayonnaise, while Kraft's range includes Philadelphia cheese and Heinz baked beans. "It would appear that Kraft Heinz have underestimated both the intrinsic value of Unilever and the challenge of acquiring control of a Dutch company whose stakeholders would have opposed such a move vociferously," said Martin Deboo, a consumer goods analyst at Jefferies International. More than half of the company's shares are in the Dutch-listed entity, he told the BBC. Michael Mullen, a spokesman for the company, said by email: "Kraft Heinz's interest was made public at an extremely early stage. "Our intention was to proceed on a friendly basis, but it was made clear Unilever did not wish to pursue a transaction. It is best to step away early so both companies can focus on their own independent plans to generate value." UK Prime Minister Theresa May had asked officials to examine the deal before it was scrapped, the Financial Times has reported. The takeover of Cadbury by Kraft in 2010 was controversial enough to prompt a revamp of the rules governing how foreign firms buy UK companies. Just a week after promising to keep open Cadbury's Somerdale factory, near Bristol, Kraft backtracked and said it would close the plant. The Panel of Takeovers and Mergers reviewed the laws and, in September 2011, strengthened the hand of target companies, and demanded more information from bidders about their intentions after the purchase, particularly on areas such as job cuts. In July last year, shortly after becoming prime minister, Mrs May promised to have a "proper industrial strategy" that could be used to block takeovers. By Joe Lynam, BBC business correspondent Kraft Heinz is jointly controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Brazilian private equity group 3G. The latter has a deserved reputation for taking a scythe to costs - irrespective of how that might impact jobs and factories. Unilever, on the other hand, has a reputation for doing the right thing in terms of corporate social responsibility and the environment - even if that eats into the bottom line. I understand that Kraft Heinz was shocked with the vehemence with which its "friendly" merger offer was rebuffed. The bosses of both consumer giants spoke over the weekend and it was clear that if Kraft really wanted Unilever it would have to launch a hostile takeover bid that could have ended up being very expensive. The higher the price, the less worthwhile the deal. So the bid was withdrawn within 55 hours of it being announced. Shares in both companies rose sharply on Friday, as investors welcomed the news. A merger often aims to combine sales while cutting costs, flattering profits. The combined group might have had more power to raise prices through a bigger share of the branded food market. Unilever clashed with UK supermarket Tesco in October over its attempts to raise prices to compensate for the steep drop in the value of the pound. The consumer goods giant has over a dozen sites across the UK, including three major plants in Liverpool, Norwich and Gloucester. If the deal had proceeded, it would be the second biggest ever, behind Vodafone's $183bn takeover of Germany's Mannesmann in 2000, according to Dealogic. Kraft's offer was at an 18% premium to Unilever's closing share price on Thursday, Unilever said. Unilever shares, however, rose just shy of that, by 13%. Kraft shares rose 11% on Wall Street. "Unilever shares might be rough going tomorrow," said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital. The chance of other bidders emerging may be slim because of Unilever's size, he added. "For the government there must be a lot riding on defending British jobs and that's going to make the hurdle for future foreign acquisitions all the higher, even if the pound's weakness makes some companies appealing," he added.

Kraft Heinz says it has dropped its plan to buy Anglo-Dutch rival Unilever.

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Many of these issues particularly affect young women, the survey by the Young Women's Trust found. The BBC spoke to four young women to find out what they feel is holding them back in life. Finding a secure, well-paid job can be a struggle for young people, the report said. Almost a third (28%) of those surveyed said they worried they didn't have enough paid hours, and more than one in five reported having been paid less than the minimum wage. "There's no chance to put money towards the future. We have spent lots of nights sat down crunching numbers and it keeps me awake at night," said young mum Laura Davies. The 26-year-old lives with her partner in Bournemouth, and said that together they earn the equivalent of a full-time salary but it's only enough to get by on. Laura says there is "no opportunity for progression" in her current job, so she has taken courses to gain additional skills but feels her career is "stagnant". "It's left me in the same position financially as I was five years ago. If I am going to succeed it's going to take a long time because there's not the support." The Young Women's Trust found nearly half (48%) of respondents were worried about how much they were being paid, while another 38% were worried about job security. Laura added: "In my old job they had me in a situation where because I was a young mum I was a potential liability for them. I ended up getting signed off, and then I quit. Mentally I couldn't cope with it," she said. For Evee Eleanor, having enough self-confidence is key to her succeeding in her job hunt and not feeling overwhelmed. The 27-year-old recently moved to Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk with her partner, and is currently unemployed. Although she had a career in childcare before she moved, Evee said she was worried about "starting from scratch". "I don't know what schools are looking for here so it sets me back a bit," she said. "I don't have any contacts around here, and so I have to jump in head first which makes me nervous." More than half (54%) of young women said they lacked self-confidence, compared to just 39% of the young men surveyed for the report. Evee also experiences anxiety and depression, and was bullied when she was younger - something which she says she has only been able to process recently. Concerns about mental health were found to affect women more than men, with 38% of young women expressing this worry compared with 29% of young men. Evee said being far away from family and support networks sometimes made things harder for her, adding: "I'm a complete stress-head. I have good days, but then some days I just want to curl up in a ball and not bother." "I'm at that age now where I'm looking at other people and thinking, oh my god, I'm still stuck in my parents' home," said Emma Harris, 27. "I pay my mum rent because she doesn't have the funds to pay for a deposit for me." Emma works full-time in London as a charity fundraiser, but the cost of accommodation in the capital is still too expensive for her to move out of her mum's house in Hertfordshire. More than 43% of respondents said they lived with their parents, a guardian or a carer, although the report found more young men (47%) than women (38%) in that situation. "Living at home, I don't have my own space - my room is tiny because I'm in a box room, so after a stressful day at work I go to the gym and come home at 9pm. Basically, I just sleep there," said Emma. "I'm trying to save £100 a month for a mortgage because you need at least a 10% deposit, but I would be saving for a long time. I'm thinking about getting a second job." A million more 'to live with parents' Even if young women manage to secure an enjoyable and stable job, more than half (53%) said they still worried about whether they were good enough to succeed. "We are brought up not to brag about our skills and so we internalise that. Even in the job I'm in now, I still feel like I have imposter syndrome, but luckily I have a really supportive boss who convinces me otherwise," said Jenny Mullinder, 24, from London. Jenny, a full-time youth charity worker, said young women in particular often believed they had to meet all the requirements in a job advert before applying for it - which often prevented them from pursuing career opportunities. She added that a lot of young women thought they weren't taken seriously in the workplace because of their age - a view shared by 44% of the women surveyed. "Young people are told that they are lazy and entitled, but a lot of people I know are trying in their career - they are just not in a place adults would see as successful," she said. "We are measuring ourselves against these standards set by our parents or older siblings' generation and think we are supposed to own a house or car by now, so we are looking at others and comparing ourselves all the time."

A survey of more than 4,000 18- to 30-year-olds in Britain suggests many feel their lives are "on hold" because of work, financial, housing and mental health problems.

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Yet even he must regret the rash comments that have seen him declared a "persona non grata" by the organisers of the Cannes Film Festival in France. It was apparently clear to those present at Wednesday's press conference that he was joking when he declared himself a Nazi who felt sympathy for Adolf Hitler. It was also clear, though, that his misguided attempts at humour had taken him into areas where there is little humour to be found. Born in 1956 in Copenhagen, Lars Trier began making movies as a child with a Super 8 camera. He went on to study at the Danish Film School, where he was encouraged by his fellow students to adopt the "Von". Award-winning student films were followed by his first feature, The Element of Crime, in 1984. A nightmarish, visually distinctive thriller, it became the first of several Von Trier works to be shortlisted for Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or award. The director was back in Cannes in 1991 with Europa, a drama set in Germany in the aftermath of World War II, which ended up sharing the Jury prize. Von Trier was put out not to win the Palme, though, referring to Roman Polanski - chair of that year's jury - as "the midget". The Dane's international standing was boosted by The Kingdom, an atmospheric mini-series set in a creepy Copenhagen hospital. He also received acclaim for Breaking the Waves, an unsettling film about a naive young woman - played by Britain's Emily Watson - whose devotion to her husband has shocking consequences. To most cineastes, though, he is best known as a co-signatory of the Dogme 95 manifesto - a "vow of chastity" he made with three fellow Danish film-makers. Their films, they declared, would strip away artifice by being shot on location using natural light and handheld cameras. Under these self-imposed restrictions, Von Trier made The Idiots - a hugely divisive film about young people who pretend to be mentally and physically impaired. The BBC's Mark Kermode was so incensed by the result he was ejected from its screening in Cannes after loudly voicing his objections. Deathbed confession In 2000 Von Trier finally won the Palme d'Or with Dancer in the Dark, a musical starring Icelandic pop star Bjork as a woman who ends up on Death Row. The film was attacked by some for being anti-American - charges that also dogged his next projects, Dogville and Manderlay. The former, the first part of a proposed "US trilogy", saw a starry cast - led by Nicole Kidman - enact a period parable on a vast, largely empty soundstage. The latter was embroiled in controversy from the off after the actor John C Reilly walked off the set in protest at the director's plans to have a donkey killed. By now, Von Trier was firmly established as an "enfant terrible" who enjoyed an often combative relationship with members of the press. That reputation was only enhanced by his 2009 film Antichrist, which whipped up a furore at Cannes with its explicit sex scenes and graphic violence. The director stared down his critics, declaring he had made the movie for himself and that he was "the best film director in the world". "I don't think I owe anyone an explanation," he said of the movie. "I made it for myself." Von Trier has spoken openly about his unconventional upbringing, which saw him raised by Jewish parents who were both committed communists and enthusiastic nudists. He has also battled depression - a possible consequence of being told by his mother, on her deathbed, that his biological father was, in fact, her German employer. Throughout his career, the organisers of the Cannes Film Festival have remained staunch supporters. It remains to be seen, however, whether he will ever be welcomed back to an event that may finally have tired of his idiosyncracies.

The Danish film-maker Lars Von Trier has never shied away from controversial material, or from making contentious pronouncements.

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Narraway, 32, who joined the Exiles in 2014 from then French Top 14 side Perpignan, has made 45 appearances and captained the side this season. Capped seven times by England, his last international appearance came against Ireland in the 2009 Six Nations. "I'm proud to be committing myself to the future of the club, whatever that might look like," Narraway said.

London Irish back row forward Luke Narraway has signed a one-year contract extension with the club.

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During his campaign, Mr Macron had said he wanted to create "a real status" for his wife. But an online petition against the move has gained almost 290,000 signatures. French media report that Brigitte Macron's position will be clarified in the coming days, but that the constitution will not be altered. In a TV interview during is presidential campaign, Mr Macron said that, if elected, he would want the role of first lady to be "defined". "She [Brigitte Macron] will have a say on what she wants to be," he told TF1 in April. Should France have an official 'first lady'? The French constitution gives no official status to a president's spouse, although they are typically allocated an office in the Elysée Palace, an assistant or two, and security guards. Part of Mr Macron's campaign was based on stamping out nepotism in French politics after his conservative rival Francois Fillon was investigated over controversial payments to his wife. Mr Macron said he would ban politicians from employing relatives in response to the public outcry over the scandal. French politician Thierry Mariana was one of several to publicly criticise the new French president for the move. "Do as I say, not as I do," he said in a tweet last month. An ally of Mr Fillon, he linked to an article about speculation over Mrs Macron receiving official status and a budget. Government spokesman Cristoph Castaner posted several tweets on Monday evening suggesting Mrs Macron's role would be clarified but no change to the constitution would be made. End of Twitter post by @CCastaner The tweet translates as: "No modification of the constitution, no new funding, no salary for #BrigitteMacron. Stop the hypocrisy!" Critics have suggested Mr Macron could be attempting to use his wife to improve his approval rating after a significant slump in some polls. Others have said the French President was attempting to copy the US model, however, the American role of first lady is also unofficial.

French President Emmanuel Macron is to abandon plans to create an official role of first lady for his wife Brigitte, according to reports.

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John Berry told the Australian the US was "surprised" by the extent of China's involvement in politics. He urged greater transparency around political donations. Last week, Labor Senator Sam Dastyari resigned from the opposition frontbench after admitting taking money from companies linked to China. The scandal has led to debate about reforming rules on foreign donations, with Labour calling for a ban. Mr Dastyari did not break the law by accepting money from the Top Education company, but said he was wrong to have accepted the money to cover personal costs. Top Education, which has links to the Chinese government, has also donated money to both the Labor party and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal party. In an unprecedented critique, the outgoing ambassador said China was an undemocratic country exploiting Australia's democratic system. "I can see no argument of how a foreign government's involvement through political contributions advances Australia's interests," Mr Berry said. "In our country it's illegal. It would be against the law for any foreign donation to be accepted by any level of government or member of government." He said the US had been "surprised, quite frankly, at the extent of the ­involvement of the Chinese government in Australian politics". "There is concern. Our hope is that, in resolving this, Australia will consider doing what many other democracies have done: that is to protect their core responsibility against undue influence from governments that don't share our values."

The outgoing US ambassador to Australia has expressed concern about the influence of Chinese money on Australian politics.

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Cleenish and Killesher community groups solved the disputed location of the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits at the Arney River in 1594 in a project called Battle, Bricks and Bridges. They have now unearthed a sword which was found at the ford in the river. They believed it may have been connected to the battle. But when they showed it to experts, they were told it was not from the battle, but was a rare Bronze Age artefact dating back to between 800 and 600 BC. It was found by Ambrose Owens in 1965 when he was fishing beside some old stepping stones and, unaware of its significance, it was left in an old barn at his family farm for more than 50 years. It was recently rediscovered by his brother, Maurice, who said: "We never thought it to be that important to be honest. "At the time, somebody told us that it didn't have anything to do with the Battle of the Ford, so therefore it was left to one side and forgotten about." Maurice found it again when he was cleaning out the barn and the sword was passed on to an archaeologist who had been involved with the battlefield project. "The word came back that it was 2,600 years old, unbelievable, 2,600 years old!" Maurice said. Paul Logue, an archaeologist with the Department for Communities, said the discovery was "fantastic". "This is only the second time I've ever held a real Bronze Age sword and the significance is amazing," he said. He believes it belonged to a warrior and was deliberately broken before being placed in the river. "Definitely this didn't belong to your normal lady, your normal bloke, this has come from a high level in society," he said. "What people were doing, they were giving swords like this over to the other world, to the gods, and they were putting them in rivers, lakes and bogs, but predominantly in rivers. "So if you're looking for a special place, a sacred place back in the Bronze Age, what you should be looking for is probably somewhere wet and somewhere where they are depositing really rich bronze artefacts and that's what we've got here on the Arney. "We knew that Arney was a special place but now we can prove that Arney was a special place, a sacred place, going back at least 2,500 years." Paul Logue said the sword also reveals ancient trade links as it is thought to be of a design that came from the Thames Valley in England, while the bronze alloy could be made of tin from Cornwall and copper from County Cork. "You've got all those things going on and those metals brought hundreds of miles and made into a sword and here it is deposited in a little river in Fermanagh - that's a great wee story," he said. The Battle, Bricks and Bridges project has been recognised by a national panel of experts at the British Archaeological Awards in London where it won the best community engagement project. Project volunteer Barney Devine said: "We were so engrossed in the archaeology and in the activities from a community point of view, everybody was involved. "It shows what a rich fabulous interesting place this area is and now with the find of the Bronze Age sword... we're looking forward to possibly getting a further project and having a wider remit and a much older one looking further back into the history of the area." An event will be organised to show the sword to the local community who will get the opportunity to hold it and learn more about its history before it is given to Enniskillen Castle Museums. Having discovered its historical value, Maurice Owens said he is pleased that the sword will go on public display. "I'm delighted that it has been found and I'm pleased to be part of the whole history of the thing," he said.

A community in County Fermanagh which helped to rewrite the history books of a 16th Century battle has made another important discovery.

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The airline is upgrading its check-in system and problems led to lengthy queues on one of the busiest days of the year for the airports. Among those affected was TV presenter Phillip Schofield, who ended up missing his flight at Heathrow. BA says the problems have been resolved and flights are operating normally. Other passengers also tweeted about missing flights or facing delays of up to four hours, which were described by some as "chaos". BA apologised for the delays and said it had extra staff in place to help customers. Some were rebooked on alternative flights, it said. The airline said it had been phasing in the roll-out of a new world-wide check-in system since October 2015, which more than 10 million customers have already used. A spokesman added: "Our IT teams worked very hard to quickly fix a short-lived problem with our check-in system. "We are sorry for the delays some customers had as they checked in for their flights."

British Airways has apologised to passengers who faced long delays at check-in at Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Sunday.

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Police Scotland said they were called to the scene, near the Murcar roundabout, at about 09:15 on Saturday morning. A spokesman said the drivers of both vehicles had been taken to hospital with serious injuries. The road was closed northbound for several hours to allow officers to deal with the aftermath of the crash. Police have appealed for witnesses. Sgt Steve Manson said: "A southbound grey Vauxhall Astra motor car and a northbound silver BMW 320 motor car collided head-on resulting in the drivers, and only occupants, of both vehicles having to be cut free by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. "Both were taken to hospital with serious injuries."

Two people have been injured after a head-on crash on the A90 at Bridge of Don.

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The former champion was one over for his third round before four birdies from the 11th gave him a 69 to lie eight under and four off the pace. Sweden's Alex Noren holds a two-shot lead with McDowell tied sixth. Padraig Harrington is five under after a 72 while Belfast player Michael Hoey is well adrift with a 74 leaving him on four over. England's Tyrrell Hatton and Matteo Manassero are Noren's closest challengers on 10 under. McDowell, who won the tournament at Loch Lomond in 2008, struggled on the outward nine with bogeys at two and seven while he picked up a shot at the fourth. The 2010 US Open champion finally capitalised on better scoring conditions with a birdie at 11 followed by three in a row from the 14th.

Graeme McDowell remains in Scottish Open contention after an impressive back nine at Castle Stuart on Saturday.

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Researchers found that heavy drinkers from deprived areas are at a greater risk of dying or becoming ill due to alcohol consumption. Lead author Dr Vittal Katikireddi said it suggests that poverty may reduce resilience to disease. The University of Glasgow study is published in The Lancet journal. Its authors found a "marked link" between socioeconomic status and the harm caused by drinking excessively. Compared with light drinkers in advantaged areas, excessive drinkers were seven times at risk of an increase in alcohol harm. This contrasted with excessive drinkers in deprived areas, who were 11 times at risk of an increase. Harmful impacts of alcohol are higher in socio-economically disadvantaged communities. However, until now it was unclear whether those were as a result of differences in drinking or as a result of other factors. Dr Katikireddi said: "Our study finds that the poorest in society are at greater risk of alcohol's harmful impacts on health, but this is not because they are drinking more or more often binge drinking. "Experiencing poverty may impact on health, not only through leading an unhealthy lifestyle but also as a direct consequence of poor material circumstances and psychosocial stresses. "Poverty may therefore reduce resilience to disease, predisposing people to greater health harms of alcohol." The study looked at information from the Scottish Health Surveys and electronic health records, studying more than 50,000 people. It defined harm from alcohol consumption based on deaths, hospitalisations and prescriptions that were attributable to alcohol. And it suggested that even when other factors are accounted for, including smoking and obesity, living in deprived areas were consistently associated with higher alcohol-related health problems. Co-author Dr Elise Whitley, said: "Heavier drinking is associated with greater alcohol-related harm in all individuals. "However, our study suggests that the harm is greater in those living in poorer areas or who have a lower income, fewer qualifications, or a manual occupation." Dave Roberts, director general of the Alcohol Information Partnership, said: "We know from official government statistics that the vast majority of people consume alcohol within the Chief Medical Officer's low-risk guidelines. "The report shows that while consuming the least amount of alcohol, the poorest may suffer disproportionate levels of harm. "It is therefore important to understand how alcohol interacts with other issues associated with lower socio-economic status. "This will enable a sophisticated response that targets particular communities rather than heavy-handed interventions aimed at the whole population."

The poorest in society are more likely to suffer the health repercussions of excessive drinking, according to a new study.

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It was hoped the link-up would provide a "competitive step on the performance pathway for both players and coaches". However, Scottish Rugby chiefs felt the arrangement was not working and elected to end the partnership, a decision which has angered the English club. "It would be an understatement to say we are disappointed," said London Scottish president Rod Lynch. The move comes just four months after the link-up was announced amid much positivity from both parties. "This is an exciting, logical partnership, which benefits both organisations, who share the common objective of developing and improving Scottish rugby," said Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson in January, as he looked forward to working with the Exiles "in the seasons to come". But in a short statement on Monday, the governing body said it "decided not to deepen the relationship with London Scottish further as the performance environment in place was not sufficiently developed to offer the player pathway we had envisaged". Former Glasgow Warriors head coach Sean Lineen was installed as London Scottish's director of rugby in January, with recently-retired Edinburgh back-row Roddy Grant brought into the coaching set-up. The relationship between the club and Scotland's governing body has deteriorated, however, with finances seemingly at the heart of the problem. "Remember, this partnership was the SRU's idea in the first place, and they offered to second 14 players as well as coaching and support staff," said London Scottish chairman Sir David Reid. "We therefore budgeted accordingly to fund fewer players and instead to cover the extra costs of accommodation and better training facilities. When, only last month, the SRU revised the offer to only 10 players, and none of them senior players, London Scottish had to find extra players at extra cost. With pre-season a few weeks away, our budget and planning were suddenly blown off course. "We therefore questioned the support costs we were due to cover, and sought to negotiate this point. However, we agreed last week to find the additional funds, only to be told the SRU felt they could not justify their own expenditure on the project." Lynch believes the partnership had great potential, and feels that the decision to sever ties will only harm Scottish rugby. "We maintain that the English RFU Championship is the right place to introduce Scotland's talented young players to the rigours of professional rugby, within the exile Scottish family," he said. "We believe the partnership, which had effectively been in operation since the SRU announced it to the press in January, was the way forward for Scottish Rugby. The increasing co-operation, with coaching support from Sean Lineen and Roddy Grant, and young players on loan from Scotland, seemed an exciting foretaste of what was to come. Instead, Scottish Rugby, and the talented young Scots who want to play for their country, will be the poorer." Scottish Rugby explained the reasons behind their decision to end the relationship in a short statement on Monday. "After a period of review and reflection (at the end of the season) the Scottish Rugby Board decided not to deepen the relationship with London Scottish further as the performance environment in place was not sufficiently developed to offer the player pathway we had envisaged," it read. "It is disappointing that despite the best efforts of both parties we have been unable to progress the player development pathway as we had both hoped. We will stay close to London Scottish and remain supportive of their strategic ambitions."

Scottish Rugby has brought an end to its partnership with English Championship side London Scottish.

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The MoD said closing its Ensleigh, Foxhill and Warminster Road sites in the city would save it ??39.5m over the next 15 years. Bath and North East Somerset Council, trade unions and local MPs had hoped the Ensleigh site would remain open. The MoD said its "complete vacation of Bath" would be complete by March 2013. The decision to close Ensleigh was made by the Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, Andrew Robathan at the end of an extended consultation period. He said: "In these difficult times the MoD must continue to drive down support and estate costs wherever possible. "This is why, after fully considering the concerns expressed to me, I have decided that, on balance, relocation from Bath to Abbey Wood represents the most cost effective and efficient solution for the department." Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster said he was "bitterly disappointed" that the decision had been taken to close the Ensleigh MoD site. "Today is a very sad day and the move ends a proud relationship between Bath and the Ministry of Defence that has lasted 72 years," he said. "Despite lobbying from all parties in Bath and North East Somerset Council, local trade unions and both local MPs, compelling arguments to keep 1,500 MoD staff in Bath have been overlooked by the government. "From the outset, I have argued that a full relocation to Abbey Wood is bad for Bath, bad for the MoD and most importantly bad for the staff." The move to the large Abbey Wood complex in Filton is due to begin in autumn 2012 and be complete by March 2013. The staff will join a further 1,200 Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) employees from Bath who are already in the process of relocating to Bristol. Staff involved in the transfer are the remaining non-DE&S staff based in Bath, including the People, Pay and Pensions Agency, Military Aviation Authority, Defence Analytical Services Agency, Defence Internal Audit, Defence Academy and Financial Management Group. The MoD said the three vacated sites in Bath would be offered to other government departments before being put up for sale. Mr Foster said that he was working to ensure that the Ensleigh site would be used for affordable housing.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that it will close all three of its sites in Bath and relocate 1,400 staff to Abbey Wood in Bristol.

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Hoardings have been put up around Marland House - a rundown block of shops and offices which greets visitors at Cardiff Central railway station. Work has started to flatten the building, along with the adjoining Wood Street NCP multi-storey car park. The Central Transport Interchange will then be built in Central Square - the base for the city's new bus station. It has been designed around an enclosed public concourse, with a large waiting area. There will also be walkways to the adjacent railway station, a bicycle hub, shops and restaurants. Cardiff council said the site perimeter would start going up around "eyesore" Marland House on Tuesday, followed by preparatory works for the demolition, which is scheduled to be completed later this year. Pedestrian access to the train station will change while the building work is carried out, with council staff on hand to help commuters. "The removal of Marland House is another important milestone in the progress of the Central Square regeneration project that is quickly delivering a modern high-quality gateway into the city," the council added. Central Square's overhaul will include new offices and shops and it will also provide the new home for BBC Wales' headquarters. Meanwhile, St David's House, near the Principality Stadium, is also scheduled for demolition in 2017.

Demolition work on one of Cardiff city centre's "eyesores" has started, paving the way for a major new transport hub.

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The party has tabled an amendment to the Wales Bill currently making its way through the House of Commons. The idea is unlikely to gain UK government support, although Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has backed the idea in the past. The amendment said the assembly should be "renamed the National Parliament of Wales, or Senedd Cenedlaethol Cymru". Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said: "This amendment, if passed, would enforce a simple change - that the assembly be officially named the National Parliament of Wales. "The Wales Bill already makes provision for officially changing the name of the Welsh Assembly Government to the Welsh government. "It is only right and proper that the institution's name also reflects its status as a full law-making body, as it has been since the 2011 referendum on further powers. "The leaders of other parties in Wales have already spoken in favour of this change. We hope that our straightforward and common sense amendment attracts them and their parties' support."

Plaid Cymru hopes to force a vote which would see the Welsh assembly renamed the Welsh parliament.

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The Chiefs are second in the Premiership, having not lost since the opening day of the season, and are still in with a chance of qualifying from their European Champions Cup pool. "The more positive aspect is there's definitely room for improvement," hooker Yeandle told BBC Radio Devon. "We've finished Christmas in the top two and going into the new year it brings a whole new challenge." Exeter only missed out on last season's Premiership play-offs on points difference, after finishing level with fourth-placed Saracens, who went on to win the title. The Chiefs are now in their sixth season in English rugby's top flight and are in their best-ever position at Christmas, with Rob Baxter's side having a four-point buffer over third-placed Leicester and 12 points over fifth-placed Northampton. "The way we're progressing, there's nothing we can't achieve. Even in my time here, I'm in my fourth season, the maturity and the development we've shown is beyond belief," said 26-year-old Yeandle. "We've gone from just establishing ourselves in the Premiership to becoming a noticeable force and teams are starting to do a lot more homework and a lot more studying and analysing of working out how to play us. "That shows the development we've had not only as players, but also the way we've been coached as well and the recruitment we've had. "Players are coming to the Chiefs because they want to be here as they can see where the club's going and how far we've come from."

Exeter captain Jack Yeandle says there is still more to come from the club.

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Legend has it that it was consecrated some 12 centuries ago on the nearby Sanjan beach, landing point of a boatload of refugees who had fled the Arab conquest of Persia to save their 3,000-year-old Zoroastrian faith, and that it has remained unquenched ever since. The first-ever Udvada Utsav (festival) held over the Christmas weekend drew 4,000 believers. Yet, what became the "burning issue" was not the ancient fire but the solution proffered to tackle the existential crisis once again faced by this distinctive - and distinguished - community. Their numbers are down to a critical 61,000, and diminishing by the day; another 40,000 are scattered across the world with an even greater struggle to hang on to their distinctive identity. In his speech, eminent lawyer Darius Khambata said Zoroastrianism, being a universal religion, should be opened to anyone seeking to join. This is a red rag, and not only to the bullish. Most Parsis fiercely believe that it is their exclusive right. Parsi numbers have declined by 12% every census decade - India's population increases by 21%. They are projected to plummet to 23,000 in the near future, reducing this sophisticated, urbane community to a "tribe". An infusion of fresh blood is desperately needed. Even literally because cousin marriages are common, and so are the diseases of inbreeding. Yet, with a combination of racial pride and fear, community leaders have obdurately resisted any intrusion. "No conversions" was among the conditions laid down by the ruler of Gujarat who had given asylum to a group of Zoroastrians who fled religious persecution in Iran, and arrived on India's west coast. A 1908 judgement in the Bombay High Court reiterated that "Parsi" is an ethnic entity restricted to the descendants of those Persian refugees, though logic may look askance at such racial purity maintained over a millennium. The judges had added that the child of a mixed marriage could be included in this definition only when the father is Parsi. (One is born Parsi, but becomes Zoroastrian after the initiating "navjot" ceremony). Scholars, liberals - and intermarried women - have protested such discrimination, and nullifying it would improve the numbers and refresh the gene pool. But the argument has always been battened down, not just by the orthodoxy but the larger paranoia. "Reform" is a dirty, even treacherous, word for reasons more self-serving than sacred. Parsis fear that their envied communal legacy will be appropriated by "half castes". Intermarriage accounts for 38%, and is growing. After centuries of rural facelessness, the Parsis flowered under British rule. Their philanthropy came to be as fabled as their fortunes, many made from the opium "trade" with China. Apart from spacious community housing, wealthy families endowed scholarships, hospitals and fire temples. All these benefactions have become factors in the insistence on exclusivity since their trust deeds allow only Parsi-Zoroastrians to access them. In 2012, the nodal Bombay Parsi Panchayat, which controls the vast trust funds, stated that a "poor Parsi eligible for subsidised housing is someone earning less than 90,000 rupees ($1,351; £916) a month"; the urban Indian poverty line is 870 rupees ($13; £9). But the community has also been a victim of its wealth. Lavish charities doused the belly fire of the young, especially boys. Girls are uniformly well educated and scorn "unsuitable" grooms. Migration further queered the pitch. One in every 10 women and one in every five men remains unmarried by age 50. Fertility rates have fallen below viable levels; only one in nine wholly Parsi families has a child under age 10. In 2013, there were 735 deaths and only 174 births, a 13.43% drop from 2012. Even couples who can, don't have children. In his speech at Udvada Utsav, popular actor Boman Irani joked about leaders urging him to help change this situation. "What am I to do? Barge into honeymooning couples' bedrooms and order productive action?" Even India, loathe to lose such an exemplary minority, has pitched in. "Jiyo ( keep living) Parsi" is a nationally-funded project begun in 2013 to encourage more births, including subsidised IVF treatments and grants. But it could be too little, too late. Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, one of the two hereditary high priests of Udvada, has a refreshingly pragmatic approach. "How can you say 'xyz is not allowed by our scriptures' when such situations didn't exist in those times. When parents ask my opinion on their daughter's decision to marry a non-Parsi, I only say, 'Is he a good man? Will she be happy?'" It's Catch 22 for a proud community which has always punched above its weight. Admitting the children of all mixed marriages would substantially improve the statistics, but will dilute, even destroy, a very distinctive ethnic identity. In his provocative speech, Mr Khambata said, "You can't endeavour to save our ethnicity at the cost of our religion." Drastic choice, it seems. But it had already been made by the Parsis' forefathers who had abandoned their age-old Persian identity and charted a bold, new course to preserve their ancient, enlightened Zoroastrian faith. Bachi Karkaria is a Mumbai-based senior journalist

Udvada is an obscure hamlet in India's western Gujarat state which houses the holiest fire of India's Parsi community.

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As the bombing by Syrian government forces intensified, the calls for help from those trapped in rebel-territory have grown more desperate. On Tuesday, BBC News published "final goodbyes" from some of those in rebel-held east Aleppo, who used social media to get their messages out. Since then some of them have been able to provide further updates, despite their worst fears, even as the situation for those in the besieged territory remains unclear. Lina, an activist tweeting from the city, made this desperate plea: "Humans all over the world, don't sleep! You can do something, protest now! Stop the genocide". She posted this powerful farewell video message on Monday: Update 14 December: Lina Shamy tweeted on Tuesday and Wednesday after the ceasefire was broken. She wrote of "intense shelling" and "the genocide still ongoing". Others appear to have given up hope, posting messages as bombs fall around them. One man says it is the last video he will post. "We are tired of talking, we are tired of speeches. No one listens, no one responds. Here comes the barrel bomb. This is the video's ending." As he signs off, a bomb explodes nearby. And waking up on Tuesday morning, still alive, Monther Etaky writes: "I still here [sic], facing the genocide with my special friends without any comments from the world." But the threat of imminent death is still here. "I hope I could broadcast our live death to you," he says bitterly. Update 14 December: Monther Etaky appeared on BBC Television on Tuesday. During the broadcast, bombs could be heard nearby. Bana Alabed, the seven-year-old girl who has been tweeting from an account managed by her mother, wrote a heart-breaking message on Tuesday morning. "I am talking to the world now live from East #Aleppo. This is my last moment to either live or die." Earlier, she tweeted "Final message. People are dying since last night. I am very surprised I am tweeting right now and still alive." And a few hours later: "My dad is injured now. I am crying." Update 14 December: Bana's mother, Fatemah, tweeted again on Wednesday, asking why the world was silent during intense bombing. It appeared from many messages that Aleppo was under its worst bombardment yet. "It's hell", says a tweet by the White Helmets - a Syrian volunteer group which has been working in East Aleppo - in a harrowing message from late on Monday. "All streets & destroyed buildings are full with dead bodies". Descriptions of the situation in Aleppo all paint Armageddon-like scenes. Abdul Kafi Alhamdo, an English teacher inside one of the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo said it felt like "Doomsday" as government forces advanced. "Bombs are everywhere. People are running, they don't know where, just running. People are injured in the streets. No-one can go to help them," he told BBC News. "Some people are under the rubble, no-one can help them. They just leave them under the rubble until they die - these houses as their graves," he said. Update 14 December: Mr Alhamdo was active on social media on Wednesday, saying foreign powers had manipulated events in Aleppo. Some were only able to send the BBC text messages. One father in the city wrote: "Guess it's goodbye. Thanks all who stand for us and pay for us. But it's almost over and they are just hours away of killing us." And another father, whom the BBC has regularly spoken to over the past year, said: "The last message. Thanks for everything. We shared many moments. These are last tweets from an emotional father. Farewell, Aleppo."

As the battle for Aleppo heads towards a conclusion, people trapped in a small area of east Aleppo still held by the rebels have been sending harrowing messages with their final goodbyes.

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PC Dave Wardell and German shepherd Finn were attacked by the boy, who cannot be named because of his age, in Stevenage in October. Finn suffered life-threatening injuries. The 16-year-old from London was found guilty of causing PC Wardell actual bodily harm and criminal damage in relation to Finn at a trial last month. He was sentenced at Bromley on Tuesday. PC Wardell and Finn were attacked in the early hours of 5 October in the Hertfordshire town while responding to a report of a robbery. More on this and other news from Hertfordshire Finn was stabbed with a 30cm (12in) hunting knife in the head and chest and underwent four hours of emergency surgery. The blade narrowly missed the dog's heart, magistrates at Stevenage Youth Court were told last month. 'I begged the vet to save my boy' The officer's hand was stabbed, although he was not badly hurt. The teenager from Lewisham, south-east London, was arrested the following day. He admitted possessing an imitation firearm and the knife used in the attack on the officer and dog, although he denied attacking them. He appeared for sentencing at Bromley Magistrates' Court in south London, where he was given an eight-month term for ABH against PC Wardell and eight months for possession of the weapons, to run concurrently. He will spend half of his sentence in a young offender institution and the other half on supervision or probation, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Speaking after the conclusion of the case, PC Wardell said: "Without Finn there that night I would not have been going home to my family, of that I have no doubt." Finn, now aged eight, recovered from injuries and returned to work. He retired from active duty at the end of March.

A teenage boy who stabbed a police dog and wounded his handler has been sentenced to eight months' detention.

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The animation shows the character picking up sweet wrappers before becoming irate at the level of littering, taking out a gun and shouting 'not on my watch'. However the cartoon has been distorted to show a racist word along with an image of the 17-year-old killed by neighbourhood patrol volunteer George Zimmerman. Its presence on Facebook was flagged to the BBC by a concerned user who was "disturbed" to find it while searching for SpongeBob SquarePants GIFS to send to a friend on the social network's Messenger app. Facebook declined to give an official response but told the BBC that it had been removed as the GIF went against its content policy. Giphy, a third party website who provide GIFs to Facebook also removed it. "At GIPHY, we do not tolerate any kind of content that promotes racism, sexism, inequality, or hate of any kind. And are looking onto it further. "As one of very few providers that power Facebook Messenger's GIF, we take great lengths to ensure that any content found through our platform or technology is appropriate and safe for consumption." Broadcasters Nickelodeon who own the copyright to Spongebob declined to comment on the character being used in this way. The GIF shows the cartoon character picking up litter to his increasing frustration. The GIF then shows an image of Travyon Martin the US teenager shot dead by George Zimmerman in 2012. In the image Travyon has a halo round his head and is surrounded by the words "coughing...snorting" and then a racist term. The final picture shows SpongeBob holding up a gun again as if preparing to shoot Travyon Martin. A Facebook user who wishes to remain anonymous sent the GIF to the BBC. They wrote: "As as a user of Facebook Messenger everyday I never saw any problems with their GIFS, but I was disturbed by an extremely racist one, I have no idea how it would have been permitted or managed to get through." Facebook did explain that the GIF search function in Facebook messenger takes GIFs from third parties. In this case the offending GIF came from the website GIPHY. Facebook policy is to remove content which goes against their terms that state, "You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence." GIPHY says that it also tries to stop offensive material circulating but sometimes things slip through. Spokesman for the company, Simon Gibson, says: "GIPHY goes a long way and pours tons of resources into vetting content and ensuring stuff like this doesn't surface, however, every now and then, something does slip through the cracks. "We do pride ourselves on being nimble enough to address these things immediately (which is a big reason why Facebook trusts us powering their products) and are working towards ensuring instances like this are as close to zero as possible." By Patrick Evans, BBC Social News and UGC team

Facebook has removed a racist GIF after a search for the term Spongebob Squarepants revealed an image of the cartoon character preparing to shoot Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, who was killed in 2012.

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The base in Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, will shut in 2016 due to cuts by the National Police Air Service (NPAS). Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards accused NPAS of using "deeply misleading" arguments to justify the cuts. But Policing Minister Mike Penning said politicians should not tell police how to run their forces. Mr Edwards told MPs on Tuesday that the number of police aircraft bases in England and Wales was being cut by nearly half from 29 to 15 following the creation of NPAS, and the number of helicopters cut by 40%. From 1 January 2016, Wales will be served by bases at St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, and Hawarden, Flintshire, along with others in England after the closure of bases at Pembrey and Rhuddlan, Denbighshire. The MP said the decision had been made on "shaky ground" and could be open to judicial review. He questioned whether it was really possible for fixed-wing aircraft to cover mid and west Wales without constant mid-air refuelling, claiming that would be "ridiculous". "The residents of Dyfed-Powys have been failed by their police commissioner and ill-served by NPAS," he said. Mr Edwards also asked that Home Secretary Theresa May order a review of the decision, as she had done for a base in Teesside, north east England. But Mr Penning told the debate: "It isn't for a police minister or an MP to tell the police their operational duties, how they should run their forces." He said the decision would be kept under review, but added: "I fully understand the concerns but if we want the police to do the job we are asking them to do we must listen to the police."

The scrapping of the Dyfed-Powys police helicopter will result in a poorer service and the decision could be challenged in court, an MP has claimed.

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Mr Trudeau underscored his government's commitment to bringing in "those fleeing persecution, terror & war". The US Department of Homeland Security said the entry ban would also apply to dual nationals of the seven countries. However, Mr Trudeau's office says Canadian dual nationals are exempt. "We have been assured that Canadian citizens travelling on Canadian passports will be dealt with in the usual process," a spokeswoman for Mr Trudeau said in an emailed statement. US President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser Mike Flynn "confirmed that holders of Canadian passports, including dual citizens, will not be affected by the ban," the statement said. Canada's Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen is a dual national who arrived as a Somali refugee. Within hours, Mr Trudeau's tweets had been shared more than 150,000 times. "Welcome to Canada" also became a trending term in the country. Mr Trudeau, who gained global attention for granting entry to nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees to Canada over the past 13 months, also sent a pointed tweet that showed him greeting a young refugee at a Canadian airport in 2015. On Friday, Mr Trump signed an executive order suspending entry to the US from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen for 90 days. The US's entire refugee admissions programme has also been suspended for 120 days. Those fleeing Syria as refugees are banned until further notice. The executive orders created confusion in airports around the world as immigration and customs officials struggled to interpret the new rules. The Canadian government is also in contact with the US administration "to get more clarity" on how the executive orders will affect Canadians citizens travelling to the US, said federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau. On Saturday, the US State Department confirmed to the BBC that all travellers - including those with dual nationality - from one of the seven designated countries will be barred from entering the US. That includes people with valid immigrant or non-immigrant visas. Trump border policy: Key points US entry ban victims vent fury Trump border policy: World reacts Mr Trudeau has refrained from criticising Mr Trump, despite the fact the two leaders have divergent political views. In recent media appearances, the prime minister has focused on the long friendship between Canada and the US and the deep economic ties between the two nations. The US is Canada's primary trading partner. Canada plans to allow 300,000 immigrants into the country in 2017, mostly through economic immigration, though that figure includes 40,000 refugees.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken a stand on social media against the temporary US ban on refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.

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What are we learning? That people here have a lot to say and are a bit surprised that anyone wants to listen. I've heard some interesting things: the lost city in Tipton, some interesting theories as to why the drop-in centre at Russells Hall Hospital has just been moved, and lots about the plans for a new mosque. Some questions, too: why has the drop-in centre at Russell's Hall Hospital been relocated? Why does the town's Muslim community need a big mosque when there are many smaller ones dotted around? It's not hard to find people who say they're attracted by UKIP's message, but not sure they'll vote for it. Ian, who dropped by this afternoon, said he agreed with UKIP on immigration, but because the party didn't have the experience Conservatives and Labour had, he'd need to be convinced that Nigel Farage and his party had policies in other areas with which he agreed before he'd commit. We've heard scathing comments about Ed Miliband, worryingly for his party some are from people who say they usually vote Labour. That, and the rise of UKIP, perhaps explains why Labour is pouring resources into seats like Dudley North which it held onto in 2010. That, remember, was Labour's second worst general election performance since 1918. It should have been the nadir of their fortunes; but the changing political climate has made Labour folk less confident of that. Mind you, Chris and Diane, a couple who attended one of the Labour leadership hustings in 2010, are incensed with how Mr Miliband is treated. They blame the hostility of newspapers for his poor public image. Unfortunately for him, they don't live in a super-marginal like Dudley North.

Four days on and more and more people have been popping in to our pop-up in Dudley.

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Wales' Jones won four bouts in Hamburg to reach the final only for Canadian opponent Ivett Gonda to withdraw. The London 2012 gold medalist missed March's Dutch Open and April's Presidents Cup with her injury. The 22-year-old used the German event to improve her fitness ahead of the European Taekwondo Championships in Switzerland later this month. Jones beat Jennifer Richter of Germany 21-3 in her first match of the day, and Genesis Anduja of the Dominican Republic 14-2 in the second round. The European Games champion progressed with a 14-2 quarter-final victory over Germany's Rhonda Nat, then beat Belgian's Raheleh Asemani by the same score. Britain's Feyi Pearce, 19, won a bronze medal in the -58kg category, losing 8-7 to Germany's Amir Mohammad Hosseini in the semi-finals. Josh Calland, 17, beat fellow Briton Archie Waldock on the way to the quarter-finals of the -58kg division, before losing to South Korea's Kim Tae-Hun.

Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones began her comeback from a knee injury with -57kg gold in the German Open.

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Groups can and do change their formation or name from time to time, and political parties can switch their affinities. Being part of a political group gives parties access to funding to cover staff and administrative costs, as well as a greater chance of getting their MEPs elected as chairs of the Parliament's committees. It will also give a party's MEPs more speaking time during debates, as the number and length of contributions during debates is determined by group size. Seven groups were initially formed following the 2014 European Parliament elections - this increased to eight in June 2015, with the creation of the Europe of Nations and Freedom bloc of anti-EU nationalist parties. According to the Parliament's rules, each group must have at least 25 MEPs from a minimum of seven member states. There are also a number of MEPs who do not belong to any group, known as non-attached members (or the "non-inscrits" in EU jargon). This is the biggest group in the European Parliament, containing some of the EU's longest-established political parties. This used to be the home of the UK Conservatives before they left to set up a more Eurosceptic group in 2009. It is broadly centre-right, and enthusiastic about deeper EU integration. Along with the Socialist group, the EPP it has traditionally been one of the two powerhouses of the Parliament, providing most of its presidents and vice-presidents. Eight out of the Parliament's 20 permanent standing committees are currently chaired by MEPs from the group. Around half of the European Commission are also members of the wider EPP party, including Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. German Christian Democrats make up the biggest delegation in the group - Manfred Weber, from the CSU's Bavarian sister party, is the group's leader. Formerly known simply as the Socialist group, the group is the home of Labour party MEPs from the UK. It is the main centre-left group in the Parliament, and for many years was the biggest group in Brussels, although that crown has since been taken by the EPP. Along with the EPP, it tends to get the lion's share of top jobs in the Parliament. Current Parliament President Martin Schulz is a member, and stood unsuccessfully as the group's proposed candidate for Commission President in 2014. The chair of the group is the Italian MEP Gianni Pittella. One of the big winners of the 2014 elections, the group rose to third place, despite a drop in support for one of its biggest components, the UK Conservatives. The origin of this group can be found in David Cameron's desire for the Conservatives to leave the federalist EPP and set up a new right-of-centre Eurosceptic group at the time of the 2009 elections. Alongside the Conservatives, the biggest delegation is Poland's Law and Justice Party, and the group also contains - among others - the Ulster Unionists and Alternative for Germany party. Broadly centre-right and Eurosceptic, it contains a mixture of groups that are more socially conservative and those that promote economic liberalism. British Conservative MEP Syed Kamall is the group's leader. The main centrist group in the Parliament, ALDE saw its overall numbers take a hit at the 2014 elections, mainly due to the sharp fall in support for its two biggest components, the UK Liberal Democrats and the German Free Democrats. One of the most Euro-enthusiastic groups in the Parliament, it has often held the balance of power in key votes and has been courted by both the Socialists and the EPP when majorities are sought. Analysis from the Votewatch Europe website has shown that the group won more plenary votes in the first year of the current Parliament term than any other. Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is the group's leader. As its name suggests, this is the group that can be found on the far left of the political spectrum, containing members from a number of Communist and traditional Socialist parties. Among the UK's 73 MEPs, the only one to sit in this group is Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson. It is broadly Eurosceptic, but from an anti-austerity or anti-capitalist point of view, rather than specifically on issues of national sovereignty. The group's full name represents the fact that it has traditionally contained left-wing environmentalist groups from Scandinavia. It is chaired by the German MEP Gabriele Zimmer. As its name suggests, this group is an alliance of two parties - the European Greens and the European Free Alliance, which primarily represents parties focused on regional or national interests such as the SNP, Plaid Cymru, and Catalan parties. The group generally takes a left of centre position on most issues, and - as the name would suggest - is the home of the UK's three Green Party MEPs. It is co-chaired by Rebecca Harms from Germany and Philippe Lamberts from Belgium. The EFDD contains MEPs who disagree with the idea of European integration from a broadly - but not exclusively - right-wing perspective. The UK provides the largest number of MEPs in this group, containing as it does the 22 MEPs from the UK Independence Party, with the 17 MEPs from Italy's Five Star Movement in second place. UKIP leader Nigel Farage is co-president of the group, along with the Five Star Movement's David Borrelli. The formation of the anti-EU ENF group was announced in June 2015, reportedly after over a year of on-off negotiations between previously non-attached members. The bulk of the group's MEPs come from the French Front National (FN), whose leader, Marine le Pen, is also the group's head. The far-right FN had previously struggled to find members from enough countries to form a group. The bloc also includes Italy's Northern League and MEPs from the Dutch Freedom Party. It also includes ex-UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson, who was expelled from the party earlier in the year over an expenses scandal. Generally speaking, this cohort is made up of MEPs who have not been able to find enough allies to form a group of their own, or who have been rejected by other parties. However, it also contains MEPs who feel they do not fit into any of the other groups, such as the Democratic Unionst Party's sole MEP. In the main, the ranks of the non-attached are made up of nationalist MEPs, such as the three that come from Hungary's Jobbik party. There are also two MEPs from the Front National who are not part of the ENF group: Bruno Gollnisch and FN founder Jean-Marie Le Pen. Mr Le Pen was suspended from the party the month before the group formed, over his comments that the Holocaust was "a detail of history". Being unattached means that members have much less access to speaking time in the chamber, as well as fewer administrative and secretarial resources. Numbers correct as of 20 October 2015

In the European Parliament, MEPs sit in political groups that cross national boundaries.

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The Mark IV tank, on which the replica is modelled, was first used in warfare in the Battle of the Somme on 15 September 1916. With 57,000 casualties on the first day it is regarded as the bloodiest day in British military history. The tank will be in position in the square until 11:00 BST. David Willey, from Dorset's Tank Museum, which has provided the machine, said: "The British Army sent its new 'secret weapon' into action - and it did so in order to prevent the sort of casualties experienced on that first day of the battle." Designed to travel at walking pace (3mph) to support the infantry, the plan was for 32 tanks to be involved in the first attack, but only 18 saw action because of mechanical failure or difficulties with the terrain. During World War One, Trafalgar Square was used to host several Tank Banks, which were high profile fundraising events involving politicians and celebrities climbing aboard to deliver speeches. A replica has been used to mark the event because none of the museum's collection of original tanks are able to run under their own power and cannot be transported long distances because of their age and fragility. The replica was first used in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Warhorse.

A replica of a World War One tank has been placed in Trafalgar Square to mark the 100th anniversary of the war machine.

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The Championship club are one point and one place above the relegation zone, conceding 64 league goals this term. Defender Madl told BBC Radio London: "It's maybe because of (a lack of) concentration, not (a lack of) quality. "If we change these small details and are a bit more concentrated then I think we will get out of there." The 28-year-old Austrian, who made his debut in the 3-1 win at QPR in February, has impressed since his loan move from Sturm Graz. But relegated-threatened Fulham have continued to struggle, winning just one of their eight matches since that derby victory, and defensive lapses have cost them valuable points. "It's difficult to explain. We have a good team and some good defenders, but we make easy mistakes," Madl admitted. "Sometimes we've played a very good 45 minutes and in the second half, especially in the last few games, it was not that good. "We've had many penalties given against us and maybe the small details we don't do well, and it has cost us many points. "We score many goals, but we concede too many. Just the small details we have to do better and, if we do that, we can win more games. We still have a good team and we still believe in us." Madl's side face a crucial match on Saturday, when Milton Keynes Dons - the team immediately above them in the table - visit Craven Cottage. "It's a massive game but we are well prepared and have enough confidence and quality in the team to win this game," he said.

Fulham must improve their concentration and work on "small details" to end the defensive errors that have blighted their season, says Michael Madl.

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Aviation data analysed by BBC News uncovered the routes and airports where customers faced the worst punctuality. On average, passengers using Gatwick experienced delays of 18 minutes per flight. The airport said it regretted any delays. The most delay-afflicted flight was from Manchester to New York which was delayed by an average of 88 minutes. For more stories from the BBC England data unit follow our Pinterest board The BBC England data unit analysed Civil Aviation Authority data from January 2015 to March 2016. The investigation showed: A spokeswoman for Gatwick Airport said: "We regret any delays our passengers experience however several incidents beyond Gatwick's control influenced the airport's performance during this period, including numerous air traffic control strikes across European airspace, impacting the airport's whole flight schedule including our long haul routes. "Gatwick has more flights to Europe than any UK airport and can therefore be impacted disproportionately by events on the continent." Out of 129 Pakistan International Airlines flights from Manchester to New York between January 2015 and March 2016, delays totalled almost 190 hours, an average of 88 minutes per departure. A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: "The Pakistan International Airlines service doesn't impact on any other flights operating from Manchester." The airline has been approached for a comment. There are different rules for compensation for delays depending on the length of the flight and its destination. To be covered by the law flights have to depart from an airport in a European Union country or Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, or they need to be run by a UK or EU airline flying to one of those countries. For a short-haul flight, covering less than 1,500km (932 miles), passengers can claim £215 (€250) if the delay was more than three hours and it was the fault of the airline. For medium-haul flights, covering between 1,500km and 3,500km (2,175 miles), the compensation is £345 (€400). For long-haul flights, a delay of three to four hours means compensation of €300. Anyone delayed more than four hours can claim £517 (€600). Source: Civil Aviation Authority 88 minutes Average delay per flight 56% of flights between 30 minutes and 1 hour late in March 2016 22% were between an hour and 3 hours late 22% were between 16 and 30 minutes late The next most delayed flight was the Turkmenistan Airlines service from Heathrow to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, with 19,302 minutes of delays out of 259 flights, equivalent to almost an hour and a quarter per flight. Flights to Chambéry in France, typically popular for skiing holidays, also made up four of the 10 most delayed flights. However, operator Jet2.com, which ran three of those, stopped flying to Chambéry from UK airports in April 2016. Delayed flights have a knock-on effect for passengers who need to catch a connecting service. Mother of two Andrea Jones and her family found a journey that should have taken less than four hours actually ended up taking 14. The IT trainer from Shrewsbury was flying from Birmingham to Orkney, via Edinburgh with husband John and children Sam and Daniel on 10 August. Their Flybe flight was scheduled to leave Birmingham at 07:00 BST and arrive in Edinburgh at 08:15, where they would catch a plane to Kirkwall leaving at 09:35 and get them to the Orkneys for 10:50. Mrs Jones said: "We left Birmingham at 08:45 and arrived 09:55 and missed this connection. There was no room for our family of four on the 14:35 flight so we were put on the 17:50 flight. The 17:50 was then delayed until 20:00 and finally arrived at 21:20. The first delay was due to crewing issues. A pilot was booked for the flight but had to delay otherwise he would have gone over his hours allowed to work without rest. A second delay was due to technical issues. "At Edinburgh we left the airport and made a quick visit to the Fringe, but we had planned to take a circular bus tour of the Orkney mainland. We missed the chance to do any sightseeing on the Orkney mainland. It was straight to bed in a hostel and then we caught the ferry to Sanday at 07:00. "If we were going to the Orkneys again I think we would be seriously tempted to take the car." Analysis by consumer group Which? suggested almost a quarter (24%) of the 1.9 million flights to or from the UK between April 2015 and March 2016 were delayed by 15 minutes or more. Alex Neill, Which? director of policy and campaigns, said: "Arriving at the airport to discover your flight has been delayed is incredibly frustrating, and something thousands of holidaymakers will encounter this summer. "We know that tens of thousands of passengers on late running flights aren't claiming the compensation they're due and so we encourage people to claim what they're rightly entitled to." A CAA spokesman said a record 257 million passengers used UK airports in 2015, surpassing the previous peak of 242 million reached in 2007. "Arriving on time clearly matters to passengers and we expect airlines, airports and air traffic control to work together to improve punctuality," he said. The British Air Transport Association, which represents UK airlines, said aviation across Europe had seen "huge turmoil" in the past year. Chief executive Tim Alderslade said: "UK airlines need to provide good customer service to attract passengers in the highly competitive market in which they operate. Delays occur for a variety of reasons - for example, this year European aviation has experienced huge turmoil with air traffic controller strikes in France causing hundreds of cancellations and time-consuming detours. Far too many journeys are also being disrupted by a lack of resilience in our airspace - the UK's critical but invisible infrastructure - and more needs to be done by the Government to prioritise and support the modernisation of our airspace so that we can safely and effectively handle the 350 million passengers and 3.1 million aircraft that we expect to see in our skies by 2030." Turkmenistan Airlines has been approached for comment.

Air passengers using London Gatwick face the most flight delays in the UK, the BBC can reveal.

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The happened in Chapel Street, Belper, on Saturday afternoon. Police said the teenager was punched and kicked by the gang and when she tried to run away, cigarettes were stubbed out on her face. Five girls, aged between 13 and 15, were arrested over the attack. They have all been released on bail.

A 13-year-old girl suffered a black eye, broken nose and burns to her face during an attack by a group of girls in a street in Derbyshire.

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The Republic of Ireland's passport office tweeted the milestone: "Wow, we have just broken a new record, over 700,000 Passports have been issued so far this year! #RecordBreaker". Last year, nearly 670,000 Irish passports were issued. There has been a surge in applications from Great Britain and Ireland since the UK voted to leave the EU in June. An Irish passport would allow its holder to continue to move and work freely within other EU member states once the UK withdraws. The latest 2016 figures available are up until the end of October, and they show that there were 635,635 passport applications, compared to 566,142 in 2015. The number of those applications from Northern Ireland was 59,043, up 27% from 2015. With regards to Great Britain applications, the figure was 58,015, up 42% from 2015. The Republic's Passport Service had already seen a surge in demand prior to Brexit, due to an increase in outbound travel, the Euro 2016 football championships and new US travel requirements for biometric passports. People with a parent or grandparent born in Ireland are among those who can apply for an Irish passport.

A record number of Irish passports - more than 700,000 - have been issued so far this year.

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With the onset of what is still a feeble winter, the air quality in India's capital has again become appalling. Particulate matter - particles so small they can be ingested deep into the lungs - and a toxic cocktail of nitrogen oxide, ozone, benzene, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide hangs heavy over the world's most polluted city. People cough, wheeze and whinge and your correspondent is no exception. With the worsening air quality, public outrage against it has spiked. Expats are worried again - there are reports of Norway considering classifying the city as a "hardship" posting on account of increasing air pollution - and an international school suspends outdoor activities. A court wonders whether Delhi has become a "gas chamber". Truth be told, the world's fifth largest megacity has turned a "gas chamber" in winter for a long time now. We all know what is leading to Delhi's foul air: diesel emissions, construction dust, brick kilns, burning of crop stubble in farms around the city. We know that the city's 8.5 million vehicles - Delhi adds 1,400 new vehicles to its congested streets every day - are the prime contributor to the pollution. Subsidies on the fuel mean that people are buying more diesel vehicles. An exhaustive 2012 study found a frightening number of the city's children with impaired lung function. Hospital emergency wards receive a disproportionately high number of people suffering from respiratory distress during winter. We know some 15 years ago, Delhi considerably cleaned up its air. It moved polluting industries out of the city, introduced the world's largest natural gas-based public transport programme, capped the age of operating commercial vehicles at 15 years, imposed strict emission standards - Euro 4 - and began building an efficient metro and some cycle tracks. There was an immediate improvement in air quality. We also know that some eight years ago, it all began sliding back. Delhi simply forgot the second-generation - and the more difficult - battle against air pollution. We even did a story last year on why Delhi is losing its clean air war. Last winter, Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which monitors air quality, found 12 "smog episodes" which lasted for more than three consecutive days in the city between October and December. This was when levels of PM2.5 particulates, which are the most hazardous to health, were consistently above 250 micrograms per cubic metre, more than four times above the local recommendation. This year, since the first week of October, there has been a seven-time increase in PM2.5 levels. On the other hand, over the years, Beijing, the other city in dubious competition with Delhi, set higher emission standards, capped the number of cars sold in the city, banned diesel cars and took pollution emergency action. "We could not keep the momentum going. There wasn't any aggressive control of pollution," says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of CSE. By the way, we also know what Delhi needs to do to make its air clean. The city needs to scale up its public transport and clean up the congestion around Metro stations and improve last mile connectivity from the stations to neighbourhoods. Imposing a congestion tax and making parking more expensive should help dampen the city's car addiction. Slashing of diesel subsidies or higher taxes on diesel vehicles could help. The government should take emergency action to reduce emissions on high-pollution days. So what is Delhi doing after the latest round of pollution-triggered outrage this winter? It is confusion, as usual. Rattled by an irate media and fretful judges, the local government, in what many said was a knee-jerk reaction, proposed that private vehicles with odd and even registration numbers would only be allowed to operate on alternate days to curb pollution. Nobody quite knows how it will be implemented in a chaotic city of 18 million people. More sensibly, it proposes shutting down power plants, vacuum cleaning roads, restrict movement of trucks and a parking ban on certain roads. "But as soon as the winter eases and we come to the end of January, things will be back to square one. Nobody will be talking about the pollution anymore," says environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta. Delhi's failure to keep its air clean mirrors the problems the country faces in carrying out root and branch reform. That is because hard decisions need aggressive collective action. Using air purifiers and masks will not help solve the problem. Delhi - and the rest of India - needs to seriously begin putting into action a comprehensive clean air law which dates back to 1981, but is hobbled by poor implementation. As one lawyer tells me, there has not been a single conviction under this law, which recommends a minimum punishment of 18 months for an offender. Successive governments have shied away from cutting subsidies that end up benefiting the rich. "But all politicians fear public backlash against unpopular decisions," says Ms Roychowdhury. Then there's the equity issue. Many believe that Delhi tends to end up "exporting pollution" to neighbouring states and cities. Last week, the National Green Tribunal asked the government whether old vehicles from Delhi could be moved to cities that are less polluted. With its wide roads and scant pavements, Delhi, many believe, is a city impervious to the needs of the poor. Only 10% of Delhi's residents take cars to work, and many car owners are loathe to use public transport. More space is allotted for a car parking slot (23 sqm) than to low-cost housing for poor people (18-25 sqm). The media is not very helpful either. When farm fires in neighbouring Punjab end up fouling the air in Delhi, there is very little coverage on how these fires are affecting the lives of people living in Punjab in the first place. Rising air pollution is a national calamity, but the media and policy makers tend to treat it as Delhi's problem alone. Thirteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in India. What about the other 12? "Delhi should be a wake-up call for the rest of the country. But ignoring others or passing the pollution to neighbouring states will be self-defeating," says Mr Dutta.

The anguish and outrage over Delhi's rising air pollution has a sense of déjà vu all over again.

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The hustings, on 4 August, is one of a series of debates Labour has organised across the UK during the contest. Labour Party members, affiliated trade union supporters and so-called registered supporters are able to vote in the election. The result of the poll will be announced on 24 September. The venue for the Cardiff debate is yet to be announced.

Jeremy Corbyn will face his challenger for the Labour leadership, Owen Smith, in a live debate in Cardiff early next month, the party has announced.

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Stephen Port, of Barking, told the man that Gabriel Kovari had been to a sex and drugs orgy before his death in August 2014 with a man called "Dan". A month later Daniel Whitworth, another alleged victim, was found dead in the same Barking churchyard as Mr Kovari. Mr Port denies 29 charges, including four murders, rape and sexual assault. The Old Bailey jury was read five months of Mr Port's Facebook messages sent from a fake account in the name of Jon Luck. Posing as a 21-year-old student from California who had come to London to study, Mr Port corresponded with Mr Kovari's boyfriend Thierry Amodio who was trying to find out what had happened to his partner. The messages, between September 2014 and January 2015, started when Mr Amodio noticed "Jon Luck" was following his boyfriend on Facebook and wrote to ask whether they had met. Posing as Jon Luck, Mr Port said he had spent two nights with Mr Kovari and was surprised to learn of his death, the court heard. He wrote: "I hope he wasn't murdered or anything like that as that would be awful." Mr Amodio said police had told him there had been no signs of violence, to which "Jon Luck" replied: "Thanks god for that I would hate anyone who could hurt him," the jury was told. On 20 September 2014, the day Mr Whitworth's body was found, "Jon Luck" wrote to Mr Amodio to say he had been told Mr Kovari was in touch with "Dan" on social media and that they went together "to an party/orgy in barking". The court heard the parties were described as places where young men were drugged and raped by older men. The following day, when Mr Amodio said police had been in touch, "Jon Luck" replied: "I have been expecting them to come to my door any second cuss of my DNA and my messages on his phone." When Mr Amodio said the police had been in touch as Mr Whitworth was found dead, "Jon Luck" replied: "OMG your joking," and added: "please don't let them arrest me". The messages also revealed "Jon Luck" probing Mr Amodio for information about the police investigation into his boyfriend's death. But when Mr Amodio encouraged "Jon Luck" to contact detectives, he always refused to do so, the court heard. "Jon Luck" wrote that maybe Mr Kovari had accidentally been killed by "Dan" with a drugs overdose and because he "could not live with the guilt" he "did same to himself", the court heard. Jurors had previously been told the defendant admitted writing a suicide note found on Mr Whitworth's body which said he had killed Mr Kovari accidentally three weeks earlier and had killed himself because of the guilt. The accused claims Mr Whitworth dictated the note to him. Mr Port admits using the Jon Luck account on Facebook. Prosecutors claim the internet history on the defendant's computer shows he was logged into the Jon Luck profile at relevant times, that "Jon Luck" contacted two of Mr Port's ex-boyfriends, and that an IP address associated with Mr Port was used to access the fake account. The trial continues.

An alleged serial killer used a Facebook alias to befriend the boyfriend of a victim and tell him "I hope he wasn't murdered", a jury heard.

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Dan Roan is our sports editor and focuses on the major events and news stories. Tom Fordyce is our chief sports writer who specialises in cricket, rugby, tennis and athletics. His strength is providing the background to major events and the extraordinary people who compete in them. Richard Conway is BBC Radio 5 live's sports news correspondent, providing in-depth analysis and coverage across a wide range of sports. Andy Swiss is a sports new correspondent, he has covered the Olympics and Paralympics and writes regular features on disability sport. Phil McNulty is our chief football writer, reporting on the biggest matches and breaking football stories. Dan Walker presents Football Focus but also covers many of the BBC's biggest sporting events, from Wimbledon and the Open to the Six Nations and the Grand National. Tim Vickery is our South American football expert, keeping tabs on the next generation of players who will soon be gracing La Liga, Serie A and the Premier League. Andrew Benson has been covering Formula 1 for nearly 20 years, taking in more than 100 grands prix. His contacts within the sport make him the definitive source for all your F1 news. Jonathan Agnew has been a regular on Test Match Special since 1991. The former Leicestershire and England bowler gives his opinion and analysis via his correspondent page. Iain Carter is 5 live's golf correspondent and brings you all the latest from the course, as well as the gossip from the 19th hole. Russell Fuller is the BBC tennis correspondent and brings all the latest news and analysis from each of the four Grand Slams and the rest of the tour throughout the season. The Rugby Union index pulls together the latest blog offerings from the BBC Sport team and Tom Fordyce. George Riley presents 5 live Breakfast's sports bulletins, but on top of that he is our main man covering Rugby League. Cornelius Lysaght is our horse racing expert, well known as a correspondent on Radio 5 live.

The BBC Sport team brings you comprehensive analysis of the world's biggest sports events and stories:

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The aim is to develop an algorithm that can automatically differentiate between healthy and cancerous tissues. This "segmentation" is necessary in patients with head and neck cancers. And it is hoped the time it takes to design targeted radiotherapy treatments could be cut from four hours to one. "Clinicians will remain responsible for deciding radiotherapy treatment plans," UCLH said. "From my perspective, one of the challenges that we have in the treatment of all tumours, but particularly brain and neck [tumours], is their complexity," said Dr Kieran Breen, of Brain Tumour Research, who is not involved in the work. "One way we can really improve this is by using the knowledge we already have," he told the BBC. "This is essentially what this project is doing." More precise radiotherapy helps reduce side effects of such treatment, according to Dr Justine Alford, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK. "Using computers to help plan radiotherapy could help deliver better treatment for patients by speeding up the process and improving accuracy," she said. "But we won't know until results from this innovative new project are produced." The former patients have consented to their anonymised scans being used for medical research. Ownership of the data will be retained by the hospital. And, at the end of the partnership, DeepMind will "securely destroy" any information provided to it. One in 75 men and one in 150 women will be diagnosed with oral cancer during their lifetime, according to Google.

Anonymised CT and MRI scans from 700 former University College London Hospital radiotherapy patients will be analysed by Google's artificial intelligence division, DeepMind.

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The police said Hanry had resisted arrested and they had acted in self-defence. But Ms Jacintho never believed their story. She turned detective to prove the shooting was murder and after six years, the officers involved were convicted. But according to Amnesty International, her story is a rare exception. The pressure group reviewed 220 cases of people who were shot dead by police in Rio de Janeiro in 2011 while allegedly resisting arrest. Amnesty International found that only in one case was a police officer charged. On the morning of 21 November 2002, 16-year-old Hanry was not on Ms Jacintho's mind. Her granddaughter had a fever, and she had to take the little girl to the nearest hospital. Hanry worked as an office assistant during the day and studied at night. "I stood at the door and watched him leave," Ms Jacintho remembers with emotion. "It's been 13 years, but when I talk about it, it all comes rushing back." Hanry, a shy, football-loving teenager, never returned. The following day Ms Jacintho started on a a path she would have never imagined for herself. "My life until then was work, home, church," the now-54-year-old said. "I didn't know my rights." Violent clashes between police and drug gangs were not unusual in the Rio neighbourhood of Gamba she called home. "The police used to come up here and we saw a lot of confrontation. I saw a lot of dead bodies," she said. That evening, while preparing the family's evening meal, Ms Jacintho heard shots on the other side of the neighbourhood. But it was not until the following day that Ms Jacintho discovered the truth. The shots she had heard had been fired during the police operation in which Hanry was killed. Identifying her son's body at the morgue was traumatic. She says that because Hanry was not involved in any drug gangs, a part of her kept expecting him to come home even though in her heart she felt something had happened to him. "It was like walking into a horror film. There was no respect for families, there were several bodies piled into one room and it smelled terrible. "I couldn't enter the room. My husband and a friend went with me. I tried to lift up my head to look at him, but I just passed out. I couldn't do it." Marcia was determined to find out how her son had died. Official documents suggested he had been killed in what Brazilian police describe as "auto de resistencia" (resisting arrest). Under Brazilian law, the circumstances of such deaths have to be investigated. But as it was handled internally by Rio's Civil Police force, Ms Jacintho was not at first given access to the case files. Next, she approached Rio state's Commission of Human Rights. With its help, Ms Jacintho eventually got access to the statements given by the officers involved in the shooting. The police alleged that Hanry had been hit during a shootout between police and gang members. They said that a revolver and packets of marijuana had been found on Hanry's body, suggesting he was a drug dealer and they had acted in self-defence. "I couldn't believe it," Ms Jacintho said. In their statements, the officers also said that they had taken Hanry to hospital to try to save his life. "I used to want to be in the police, and I always watched detective films. I decided to look into the facts myself," Ms Jacintho said about what she did next. "I didn't allow myself to be afraid. It was a question of honour, to clear my son's name," she said. Armed with a camera and a notebook, she spoke to people living near the scene of the shooting. One witness overheard police saying that Hanry was already dead, contradicting the officers' statement that they were trying to get him to hospital to save his life. Another saw police taking a sheet from a washing line to wrap the body in. A third said he had seen police approach Hanry and take him to the woods, something the officers had not mentioned. Ms Jacintho sent the evidence she had gathered to the governor of Rio, who passed it on to the civil police, which is in charge of criminal investigations. Her evidence proved key as it cast doubt on the veracity of the police statements and triggered an analysis of the trajectory of the bullet that killed Hanry. Forensic experts concluded that he was shot at close range from above, and not, as the officers had said, from a distance and from the bottom of a hill. Two years and nine months after the shooting, a murder investigation was finally launched into Hanry's death. In 2008, officers Marcos Alves da Silva and Paulo Roberto Paschuini were found guilty of murder and procedural fraud for planting of drugs and a gun on Hanry's body. "They kept their heads down in court and never looked at me," Ms Jacintho recalled. But while she was satisfied his killers went to jail, she too felt imprisoned, she said. "I imagine what Hanry would be like now, at 29, the grandchildren he could have given me," she said. But her fight has also inspired her to study law and advise other mothers who have lost children as a result of police actions in Brazil. "It's still the same," she said. "Mothers who know that there was no shootout the day their son died. I got justice, but that's very rare. "My faith and my grandchildren help me. But the hardest thing is the memories I have."

Marcia da Silva Oliveira Jacintho's son Hanry was shot dead by Brazilian police in 2002.

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Joshua and Sallie McFadyen were threatened with legal action a week after opening Lone Wolf because its name was the same as a BrewDog vodka. They changed the name of the Birmingham bar but criticised the multinational firm, which claims a "punk" ethos. BrewDog has since tweeted the bar can keep its name and blamed "trigger happy lawyers" for the letter. BrewDog was founded by James Watt and Martin Dickie in 2007, spurred on by their self-professed boredom of "industrially brewed lagers and stuffy ales that dominated the UK beer market". More updates on this and others in Birmingham and the Black Country The pair, from Peterhead, Scotland, went from selling their US-style craft beers from the back of a van at farmers' markets to employing more than 350 people, supplying Tesco stores and owning more than 20 bars, including several abroad. Branding the global beer company hypocritical, 29-year-old Joshua and his 35-year-old sister, both from Birmingham, said: "They started in a similar way to us, starting small, then a bar and it went from there. "They've gone against everything they stand for." The pair said they registered their business, Lone Wolf, at Companies House in 2015 and opened a pub with the same name in January. But after receiving a "cease and desist" letter from BrewDog's lawyers, they changed all "outward facing" branding to The Wolf but not the firm's official name. The dispute continued until Mr Watt tweeted on Monday that the pub could keep its name. In a statement, he added: "It appears our lawyers did what lawyers do and got a bit carried away with themselves, asking the owners of the new 'Lone Wolf' bar to change its name, as we own the trademark. "Now we're aware of the issue, we've set the lawyers straight and asked them to sit on the naughty step to think about what they've done."

Craft beer producer BrewDog has been branded "hypocritical" after lawyers asked a new pub to change its name.

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Media playback is not supported on this device Evans, who is ranked 21st in the world, will play world number 15 Nour El Tayeb in the first round of the event on Thursday. The 24-year-old is unseeded for the competition but believes that will work to her advantage. "The expectations for me aren't really high," Evans told BBC Wales Sport. "It's definitely a confidence boost it works much better for me. "The more I'm the underdog, the better pressure wise. I can be relaxed and just enjoy it and try and see what I can get out of the tournament' "It's basically our biggest event of the year so it's very important. I'm definitely aiming to get through to the finals' The Windy City Open is one of four World Series squash tournaments which offers equal prize money to both male and female players. Evans says it has been an important development for the women's game. "Last year was a big breakthrough year for women's squash. They realised that the spectators really enjoyed women's squash.," Evans told BBC Wales Sport, "The US squash federation were the first people to say we should have equal prize money and it's brought the women's game up massively' "Unlike tennis we play exactly the same format, exactly the same scoring, exactly the same games. " I think the women have proven it's just as exciting, just as fast to watch."

Welsh squash player Tesni Evans is targeting the finals of the Windy City Open World Series event in Chicago.

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Mr Dean, who designed album covers for the likes of prog-rock bands Yes and Asia, filed a legal action at a court in New York last week. He has accused Cameron of "wilful and deliberate copying, dissemination and exploitation" of his original images. Nine time Oscar-nominated Avatar is the highest-grossing film of all time. Since its release in 2009, the film, which used groundbreaking 3D technology, has made more than $2.8bn internationally. It won three of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated in 2010, including best art direction, best cinematography and best visual effects. Set on the alien planet of Pandora, the computer generated landscapes include vast floating islands, jungle wildlife and huge tree-dwellings. In his legal action, Mr Dean - described in the papers as "an international artist and designer, whose evocative and visionary images... created a new genre of work" - has claimed Cameron had "studied and referenced his art in preparation for the film". The papers continued: "The similarities of each such work are substantial, continuing, and direct so as to rule out any accidental copying or similarity in scenes common to the genre." Mr Dean, who graduated from the Royal College of Art, in London, in 1968 said that, in particular, his paintings of floating islands and huge graceful arches in the sky, painted over the course of 40 years, were copied by the director. The artist also pointed out the similarities between the Tree of Life and the Home Tree of Avatar's fictional alien race the Na'vi, and his works Pathway and Floating Jungle. Mr Dean said his claims were backed up by "numerous comments on the internet". Cameron - who won a best director Oscar for the film Titanic - has said publicly that he first came up with the idea for Avatar in 1995. Mr Dean said he took a similar proposal to the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, four years before the film's release. Mr Dean's is the second legal action currently being faced by Cameron over Avatar. In March, a judge gave the go-ahead to screenwriter Bryant Moore, who claimed parts of two scripts he sent to Cameron's company were used in Avatar. In 2012, Cameron won two separate judgements against similar accusations. The filmmaker has already announced two sequels to Avatar are already in pre-production. The first is due in December 2014 with the second to follow 12 months later. He said: "We will not back off the throttle of Avatar's visual and emotional horse-power." Walt Disney is also to build attractions based on the film at its theme parks.

Hollywood director James Cameron has been sued by British artist Roger Dean for $50m (£33m) over claims he copied ideas for the 3D film Avatar.

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Mr Peters, 20, was on a night out when he was last seen on Coney Street on 2 October. He lived in the Hull Road area of the city. DI Jackie Smart, of North Yorkshire Police, said Mr Peters' family had been informed and were receiving support from specially-trained officers.

A body pulled from the River Foss in York is that of missing student Ethan Peters, police have confirmed.

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Wales, competing in round two of the World League for the first time, finished second in their pool behind Italy with two wins from three. Natalie Blyth, Beth Bingham and Eloise Laity scored against a Thailand. It was also the second consecutive clean sheet for goalkeeper Rose Thomas after their 7-0 win over Singapore. Wales' tournament opened with a 3-0 defeat by Italy and the convincing win against Singapore followed in Kuala Lumpur. It is the first time Wales' women's hockey side have played at this level of competition. In the Pool A clash with Singapore, Natasha Marke-Jones opened the scoring. There were two goals each for Lisa Daley and Phoebe Richards, whilst Abi Welsford also found the net and Sarah Jones completed the rout. Find out how to get into hockey with our special guide.

Wales Women made history by securing their place in hockey's World League quarter-finals thanks to a 3-0 win over Thailand in Malaysia.

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The former Labour MP was chosen over Wigan Council leader Peter Smith by a panel representing the area's councils. Mr Lloyd will take up the role in June until 2017, when the public will vote for the region's first elected mayor. Chancellor George Osborne announced plans for an elected mayor last year as part of a project to hand more devolved power to the north. Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester after the result was announced, Mr Lloyd spoke of "great challenges" for the region. But he said they were challenges he was "relishing". "What is important is that we concentrate on what the priorities are for the people of Greater Manchester," he said. "We are building the capacity to build on health care and social care. It's about building our economy." Mr Lloyd will continue with his responsibilities as police and crime commissioner (PCC) for now, with that position expected to be incorporated into the mayoral role after 2017. He said it would be "ludicrous" if the two positions were not combined. However, Mr Lloyd would not be drawn on whether he would stand for mayor in the 2017 election, saying it was "too far off". But he added: "Let's see how the boots fit. We will give it a go and see how it works out." We waited and waited at Leigh Sports Village for the conclave of Greater Manchester councillors to make their decision. Without a chimney for papal selection style coloured smoke to emanate from, it was left to the leader of Manchester City Council, Richard Leese, to announce the victor. He explained that it took a few hours more than it was supposed to because the decision was so difficult. With two long-serving Greater Manchester Labour politicians in the running, it was perhaps easy to see why. For Tony Lloyd to have got the job is perhaps fortuitous - because his current role of police and crime commissioner will be subsumed into the mayoral role in 2017 anyway. But until then he has been quick to point out that he won't be taking both salaries.

Greater Manchester's police and crime commissioner Tony Lloyd has been selected as the region's interim mayor.

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The tiny frogs are part of the Brachycephalus species and all of them grow no bigger than 1cm long, even the adults. Some of them also have brightly coloured poisonous skin, to help ward off any predators who would turn them into a meal. The brighter their skin, the more deadly they are. The researchers who found the frogs often had trouble trying to find them. Professor Marcio Pie, one of the researchers who discovered the frogs said: "You can hear them singing and there's probably hundreds of them, but you simply can't catch them! Because once you get closer, just from the vibration in the ground, they keep silent for, say, 20 minutes or half an hour. And then you have to go through the leaf litter very carefully with your hands." The frogs like to live in the cool cloud-forests of the mountains in the south of Brazil, and tend to spend their lives there. The valleys at the bottom of the mountains tend to be much warmer, meaning the different species of frogs all live on their separate mountains like islands, without ever meeting. Scientists think there are more unique species in this area, per square kilometre, than the Amazon rainforest. The researchers who discovered the new species say they think they have already found four more new species of frog, and have more expeditions planned on different mountains.

Seven new species of tiny frogs have been discovered on seven different mountains in Brazil.

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Emergency services were called to the scene in the Danestone area of the city at about 16:45. Police Scotland initially said they responded to reports that a site worker had been injured. A spokesman later said: "Sadly, as a result of his injuries, the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Inquiries are at an early stage." The so-called third Don crossing will link the Bridge of Don and Tillydrone. It was given the go-ahead last year after the council's ruling Labour party - which had long been against the bridge - dropped its opposition. The total cost is expected to be about £18m.

A man has been killed on the construction site of the new bridge over the River Don.

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Dun Deardail was constructed on a prominent knoll on Sgorr Chalum, a hill overlooking the River Nevis in Glen Nevis. AOC Archaeology, which will lead volunteers in the dig, has described the site as "enigmatic". Little is known about the origins of the fort, who built it or when it was constructed. The first phase in a three-year project will examine the defences. They were vitrified, meaning stone and wood in the defensive walls were burned at a high temperature for a long time to fuse the stone together. Examples of vitrified forts can be found across Scotland, including in Aberdeenshire. The Lochaber site has never before been excavated or dated with any accuracy. Forestry Commission Scotland, which is supporting the project, said it may have been constructed in the first millennium BC or first millennium AD. The commission said the fort's name may suggest a link with an ancient Irish myth called Deirdre of the Sorrows. The legend tells of a chieftain's daughter who was said to be so beautiful that kings, lords and warriors fought and died to try to win her hand in marriage. Martin Cook, of AOC, said: "We are really looking forward to getting started at Dun Deardail. "This promises to be a really exciting excavation, yielding the first evidence to confirm the date and nature of this enigmatic hillfort." The first phase of the excavation will take place from 14 to 28 August. Further digs are planned for 2016 and 2017.

Archaeologists are preparing for the first ever excavation of an ancient hillfort in Lochaber.

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"I fought them off but they hit me in the face and broke my nose," he said. "My vision was blurred for a week afterwards. "These kind of attacks happen all the time, especially to Asians," said Mr Shi, who runs a driving school in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris and has been mugged twice. "My wife has had her mobile phone stolen at least five times," he said. "Every day people are being attacked and beaten up, so we're scared." Ethnic Chinese residents of the French capital say they are being systematically attacked and robbed - and they are campaigning for more police protection. This is in an area which, until recently, was held up as a model of multi-cultural harmony. Chinese community leaders say at least one robbery is being committed each day, often accompanied by gratuitous violence. The numbers are confirmed by municipal officials and residents of the city's 20th arrondissement, or district, where many of the muggings take place. The problem has become so bad that thousands of members of this normally shy community have been demonstrating on the streets, calling for tougher policing. Local officials are not unsympathetic and the police say they have put extra officers on the streets. But budgets are limited and residents say there still are not enough patrols, especially when they are most needed, at night, when the streets are deserted. The mayor of the 20th district, Frederique Calandra, said she believed the attacks were not motivated by racism. "Chinese people are attacked very often, not because of racist problems but because thugs have this opportunity of making money easily, because Chinese people are used to carrying cash - a lot of cash," said Ms Calandra. The Chinese may have become targets because they are seen as relatively prosperous. Some of them run shops or restaurants, and it is hard for them to avoid carrying large amounts of cash after they close their businesses for the day. Officials say the muggers are often of immigrant descent themselves, from other communities. The Chinese association spokesman, Olivier Wang, says most of the attacks are violent, even when the targets are women. "This is happening because of poverty, but it's unbearable," Mr Wang said. He said a Chinese man who tried to film a recent mugging in Belleville on his mobile phone was attacked by the muggers and beaten up so badly that he is now in a coma. Mr Shi says people are terrified of being assaulted. "Our problem isn't so much that money or phones are being stolen, it's the violence we can't stand." Many Parisians are shocked that the attacks are happening, not in the notoriously violent suburbs - the banlieue - but in the city itself. Hamou Bouakkaz, a deputy mayor of Paris, says things have degenerated in the past two years following the economic downturn. "Belleville was a very universal melting-pot, but the government has cut budgets allocated to integration, to security," Mr Bouakkaz said. Mr Shi showed me photographs of people who had been mugged. One was of a woman, with bruised eyes, cuts on her face and a blood-soaked dress. Another showed a man with cuts around his eyes. He also produced a thick sheaf of copies of police reports of muggings. There were more than 80, covering a period of less than a year. But many victims do not report attacks to the police, because they are illegal immigrants or cannot speak French well. Those who do report muggings say the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. The police declined to comment on this. Community worker Dominique Dardel, a member of the neighbourhood council, says the long-term solution is not more police on the streets. "Those who carry out these muggings usually grow up spending a lot of time on the streets," he said. "Early on they realise that society isn't really offering them a future. The schools have to change their approach to these kids and convince them that they can have a future. That's the key." But for now, victims like Mr Shi say the muggings are getting more violent, and they are fed up with living in fear.

Businessman Wei Ming Shi was out walking with his wife when three muggers tried to snatch her bag.

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Captain Darwin Ceren will miss three games for a similar incident involving American defender Omar Gonzalez in the USA's 2-0 win in Arlington, Texas. Governing body Concacaf says the bans for "anti-sporting behaviour" will only affect "official matches". The United States beat Costa Rica 2-0 in Sunday's semi-final in Houston. They will face either Mexico or Jamaica in Thursday's final. El Salvador have already been eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualifying.

El Salvador defender Henry Romero received a six-game ban after biting USA striker Jozy Altidore during their Gold Cup quarter-final.

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The Institute of Public Policy Research suggests if excluded students with undiagnosed problems were included, the rate would be much higher. This figure compares with one in 50 pupils in the wider population who have a mental health condition. The government said it would be publishing plans to improve mental health services later in the year. The research comes as the number of fixed term and permanent exclusions is rising. Figures just published show that last year, some 6,685 pupils were excluded permanently from state primary, secondary and special schools. Some 35 pupils were excluded every day in 2015-16 - five more daily than in the previous year. Eight out of 10 permanent exclusions happen in secondary schools. Here, the rate of permanent exclusions has increased from 0.15% in 2014-15 to 0.17% in 2015-16 - equivalent to 17 pupils per 10,000. Overall, there were 346,000 permanent and fixed-term exclusions handed out to pupils at state-funded schools in 2014-15 - the highest number since 2009. IPPR associate fellow Kiran Gill, founder of The Difference campaign on the issue, said: "Theresa May says she is committed to improving mental health of young people. "Addressing the most vulnerable children being thrown out of England's schools is a good place to start. "Because unequal treatment of mental health may be an injustice, but the discrimination of school exclusions is a crime." Her campaign aims to break the link between school exclusion and social exclusion in "a burningly unjust system", and ensure vulnerable young people get the good quality schooling they need to change their lives. "If the government is serious about real action on mental health, there needs to be dedicated funding and thought-through solutions rather than sticking plasters in the symptoms of the problem," Ms Gill added. Official figures showed 99% of pupils permanently excluded from mainstream schools do not get the five good GCSEs required by many employers. According to the IPPR report, nearly two-thirds of the prison population was excluded from school at some point. A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "Any decision to exclude must be lawful, reasonable and fair and we are clear permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, in response to a serious breach or persistent breaches of the school's behaviour policy. "This government is committed to working with local authorities and schools to ensure children in alternative provision receive a high-quality education. "We are strengthening the links between schools and NHS mental health staff and have announced plans for every secondary school to be offered mental health first aid training." But Kevin Courtney, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said the rise in exclusions was a "concerning trend" and the DfE should consider what was driving the exclusions. "NUT members tell us that as the curriculum gets narrower and children's experience of school is ever more focused on preparation for tests and exams, more students are becoming disengaged from school which in turn leads to problems with behaviour and mental health problems."

Half of pupils expelled from England's schools have a mental health issue, according to analysis of official data.

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Mohamed Abdeslam was speaking to French BFMTV after meeting Salah in his Belgian prison cell where he is awaiting extradition to France. "There would have been more victims had I done it," Salah told him. "Luckily, I couldn't go through with it." The gun and bomb attacks on a concert hall, a stadium, restaurants and bars on 13 November 2015 killed 130 people. Abdeslam, 26, was arrested last month in Brussels four days before bomb attacks in Brussels killed 32 people. Police believe the same militant network was behind attacks in both cities. The French national, born in Belgium, had apparently been hiding in the Belgian capital for more than four months. After his arrest, Abdeslam was initially questioned over his alleged role in the Paris attacks. But after the suicide bombings in the Belgian capital, he chose to exercise his right to silence. After meeting him in the Bruges prison, Mohamed Abdeslam said his brother had told him he wanted to co-operate with French authorities because he "is accountable to the French, but not to the Belgians" - a reference to the Belgian attacks. However, Belgian authorities say Abdeslam has links to at least two of the Brussels bombers. His fingerprints were found in a flat rented by Khalid el-Bakraoui, who blew himself up on the Brussels metro station on 22 March. Investigators say Najim Laachraoui, named as one of the two Brussels airport bombers, was stopped by police in a car with Abdeslam on the Hungarian border with Austria in September. Both the Paris and Brussels attacks have been claimed by so-called Islamic State.

Surviving Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam chose not to blow himself up to save lives, his brother says.

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The Severn Valley Railway Society, which was set up at Kidderminster in 1965, is marking its golden jubilee with an exhibition. The Severn Valley Railway was built between 1858 and 1862 and originally linked Hartlebury, near Droitwich in Worcestershire with Shrewsbury in Shropshire. During the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the line was important for transporting freight as well as passengers. The line closed as a commercial service from 1963 to 1970. During July 1965, the group had to send an urgent telegram to British Railways to stop engineers dismantling the line north of Bridgnorth. In February 1966, the group agreed a £25,000 price to purchase part of the line from British Railways. The preservation society opened a section of it as a steam heritage line in 1970. The line now stretches for 16 miles between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth. It has become famous for being one of the first lines to introduce Santa Steam Specials. Today, the line takes more than 30,000 parents and children to see Santa at Arley every year. The Victoria Bridge, which carried trains over the River Severn, was cast at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. When it opened in 1862, it was the largest cast-iron span in the world, David Postle from the Kidderminster Railway Museum said. The group opened a new station at Kidderminster in 1984 - a replica of a station that once stood at Ross-on-Wye. The station is adjacent to the mainline railway that connects Kidderminster with the rest of the country. In the 1970s, Severn Valley Railway became a regular backdrop for filmmakers, attracting stars including David Niven and Richard Powell in the film The Thirty Nine Steps. Today the Severn Valley Railway attracts about 250,000 passengers a year.

A group of rail enthusiasts is celebrating 50 years since it formed to save a heritage steam line.

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Striker O'Connor tweeted: "Wanna thank everyone at Newport County for an amazing few years. Goalkeeper Pidgeley said "won't be getting another contract at Newport", while midfielder Minshull said "it's official, I'm a free agent". Midfielder Adam Chapman has turned down a new deal to stay at Rodney Parade. Shaun Jeffers, Max Porter, Jamie Stephens, Robbie Willmott, Ismail Yakubu and Mike Flynn are the other senior players to be released. Youngsters Joe Parker and Kyle Patten have also left County. Just seven players at the club are under contract for next season: Joe Day, Mark Byrne, Kevin Feely, Yan Klukowski, Aaron Collins, Tom Owen-Evans and Kieran Parselle. New manager Terry Butcher has offered contract extensions to Darren Jones, Ryan Jackson and Andrew Hughes. Pidgeley finished the season on loan at Mansfield, but O'Connor, Minshull and Sandell have been three of the Exiles' key players this term. O'Connor scored 11 goals in 42 appearances, Minshull also made 42 appearances for the League Two side, scoring three goals, while fellow midfielder Sandell played 39 times. Minshull joined Newport initially on loan in January 2012 and was signed permanently the following June, O'Connor and Pidgeley arrived two months later, while Sandell has been at the Welsh club since January 2012.

Aaron O'Connor, Lenny Pidgeley, Lee Minshull and captain Andy Sandell are among 11 senior players to be released by Newport County.

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The Spain international must now agree personal terms and pass a medical to complete the transfer. The 24-year-old would be the Premier League champions' fourth signing of the summer, after goalkeeper Willy Caballero, defender Antonio Rudiger and midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko. Morata scored 20 goals last season after rejoining Real from Juventus. He won La Liga and the Champions League, but the majority of his appearances were as a substitute. Morata could replace Spain team-mate Diego Costa, who says he has been told by manager Antonio Conte that he is no longer in Chelsea's plans. Manchester United had been interested in Morata prior to signing Everton striker Romelu Lukaku for an initial £75m. "I'm going to the team managed by the coach who has placed the most faith in me, and that's great for me," Morata told AS on Wednesday. Morata joined Real Madrid's youth team in 2008 and was handed his senior debut aged 18 in 2010. The 6ft 3in striker moved to Italy in 2014, scoring 27 goals in two years for Juventus, winning both Serie A and the Coppa Italia twice and playing in the 2015 Champions League final. Real exercised a buy-back option in June 2016 to take him back to the Bernabeu. Morata has won 20 caps for Spain, scoring nine goals, since his international debut in 2014. European football journalist Mina Rzouki on BBC Radio 5 live If you offered me the choice between Morata and Lukaku, I wouldn't even think about it. I would pay £20m or £30m more if I had to and I would bring in Morata. That is because I would always prefer an intelligent player in my team. Even if he doesn't score as many goals, even if he doesn't do whatever he needs to. If he is more intelligent then he can be moulded quicker, he can do what he needs to do. And Morata has Champions League experience. He was second top scorer for Real Madrid despite not starting. He has done it at Juventus and he has done it at Real Madrid. He understands, he has the pace, he is intelligent, he links up play, he can be a counter-attacking threat. Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.

Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata for about £60m.

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The track achieved combined chart sales and streams of 70,000 copies - 13,000 ahead of its closest competitor, Justin Bieber's What Do You Mean? The previous highest-charting Bond themes were Adele's Skyfall and Duran Duran's View To A Kill, which both reached number two. Smith said he was "so proud" of the song and being number one was "crazy". He told BBC Radio 1: "Out of all the songs I've brought out in my life, I was not expecting this to even chart in the top 10, let alone number one. It's unbelievable." Smith is the first solo male British act to perform the opening number for a James Bond film since 1965, when Tom Jones was heard over the credits for Thunderball. Smith's song, a mournful ballad, divided opinion when it was unveiled last week, with critics labelling it both "bland" and "beautiful". "When the song came out I was so nervous," the singer said. "It's impossible to bring out a Bond song that pleases everyone. "Everyone's had mixed reviews when they bring one out, but the charts don't lie and people seem to love it and enjoy it and that's just the most magical thing." Writing's On The Wall follows the success of Adele's Skyfall, which won a Grammy, an Oscar, a Brit Award and a Golden Globe. Her song failed to reach the top of the charts because it was released on a Wednesday - meaning Swedish House Mafia's Don't You Worry Child prevailed, thanks to a 48-hour head start. Duran Duran's A View To A Kill reached number two in 1985, while Paul McCartney and Wings' Live and Let Die only reached number seven. Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger, possibly the most famous Bond song, was the singer's biggest hit in the US, peaking at number eight - but it only reached 21 in the UK. Writing's On The Wall is Smith's fifth number one single, following La La La (with Naughty Boy), Money On My Mind, Stay With Me and Lay Me Down. He is due to unveil the video on Monday at 00:07 BST. Elsewhere in this week's singles chart, R City and Adam Levine stayed at number three with Locked Away. Sigala's former number one Easy Love slipped from two to four, and The Weeknd's Can't Feel My Face remained at five for the fourth week in a row. Caracal triumphs Meanwhile, dance duo Disclosure, who provided production work on Smith's Bond theme along with songwriter Jimmy Napes, scored their second number one album. Caracal features another collaboration with Smith, Omen, as well as tracks with The Weeknd, Gregory Porter, Kwabs, Lorde, and Miguel. Combined sales and streaming figures put it more than 8,000 copies ahead of its nearest rival New Order, who return with their 10th studio album, Music Complete. The album is the band's highest-charting album in 22 years and features collaboration with Brandon Flowers, La Roux and Iggy Pop. Scottish synth-pop group Chvrches charted at four with their second studio album Every Open Eye.

Sam Smith's Writing's On The Wall has made history by becoming the first Bond theme to reach number one in the UK.

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"It was quiet in July and August. But since the start of September, I've been taken by surprise by the number of calls we are getting," says AMF secretary-general Benoit de Juvigny. "What they hate most, these businesses, is uncertainty. No-one can tell them what Brexit will look like. So more of them are looking to keep their options open by having an operation on the continent." Brexit is an opportunity that Paris financial operators say they wish they had never had. To a man or woman, they were for the UK remaining in the EU - if only to help spread the free-market spirit. But now that Brexit is coming, they would be mugs not to make the most of it. A charm offensive is under way to lure from London as much financial business as possible - and to tempt back some of the tens of thousands of French expats who left to work there. The Socialist government is on board, promising tax breaks for returnees, lower company rates and more international schools. But the bulk of the work is being done by the financial industry itself, with teams of lobbyists visiting London to push the advantages of the French capital and to dispel misconceptions. The central argument is that Brexit will lead to an end to so-called "passporting" - in other words, the possibility for a London-certificated business to sell its services across the 27 remaining EU members. No-one knows if London firms will indeed lose their passports - the negotiations are not even close to starting - but in a way, that is the point. As long as there is uncertainty, UK-based financial institutions may decide they need a base in Europe, in order to be sure to retain the access they now enjoy as a right. At the AMF, they sense the appeal of their case, so to drive the point home, they have just made it easier for UK firms to apply for a French right to operate. Under their two-week ticket, institutions currently regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) can get a fast-track "pre-authorisation" to open for business in Paris. After that, under the AMF's agility programme, the UK firm will be accompanied through the rest of the process by an English-speaking official with the aim of being fully certificated after two months. The responsiveness of the French regulator is one of the changes - Paris advocates say - which will surprise newcomers. "There has been a cultural revolution in Paris," says Alain Clot, head of Fintech France, which represents start-ups in digital finance. "Today the French regulator talks to the entrepreneur at a very early stage. It helps them to fine-tune their start-ups. It accepts the idea of proportionality - which means it doesn't enforce the same rules for €1,000 (£875) as it does for €100,000. "All this is very new and very important for people who need a human face in front of them when they start their business in the financial sector." For Mr Clot, Fintech - the fast-growing world of internet-based finance - is the area where London is most likely to lose business to Paris and other European centres. Until now, most Fintech start-ups have chosen London, because of its looser regulatory system. But with the improving regime in Paris, with easier access there to venture capital and other sources of finance - and above all with the risk of losing passporting rights once Brexit kicks in - there is now a strong case for pulling out of London. "Relocating a bank can take a century. Relocating a start-up takes a few clicks," says Mr Clot. But what, say the doubters, of France's notorious mistrust of money? Was it not the President himself - Francois Hollande - who said that the only enemy he had was the "world of finance"? The world has changed, is the answer from Arnaud de Bresson, chief executive of Paris Europlace, which promotes Paris as a financial centre. "Twenty years ago I gave an interview to a journalist from the Financial Times, who said exactly that: that Paris could never be a financial centre. I said, just wait. And now look at us." Today Paris is indeed a major financial centre, helped by a large number of global companies, a growing capital market culture and high competence levels in data science. Among the minuses are a tax regime that scares away high-earners, rigid hire-and-fire rules and an absence of pension funds. So far, Paris has acted nimbly to take advantage of London's discomfort. No-one expects it to seriously challenge the UK capital. But a certain "rebalancing", to use Alain Crot's term, may well be on the horizon.

Three months after the Brexit vote, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) - France's financial regulator - is receiving a steady stream of enquiries from London-based companies about the possibilities of relocation.

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Jo, who spent most of her life as a man, is still hurt by the newspaper headlines describing her as a "sex swap playwright". For a BBC Scotland radio documentary Transgender Lives, Jo talked to some of the thousands of trans people across Scotland about their experiences. Alice now lives an open and happy life as an IT consultant and complementary therapist in the Highlands. But there was a lot of suffering before she got to this point. She says she knew she was a girl from her earliest years but grew up in a society where the slightest hint of being a bit feminine marked you out as a "poof". According to Alice, gender reassignment was not something she thought was possible in 1970 when she became an adult. So instead she spent the 1970s as an "uber-male" while being a woman in private. It was when she moved away from Edinburgh in the 1990s that she began to investigate changing gender. She says: "I was very scared that I was going to lose my wife. We did marriage counselling and she said to me, 'you are killing the person I used to know'." Then Alice had to tell her family. She says: "We drove over to my mum and dad's. In fact, my wife drove because I was in such a nervous condition. My hands were shaking. "It's the most nerve-racking and stressful thing I have ever had to do in my life. "I was grateful that my wife actually told my parents that this is who I was and who I was going to be. I thought my dad was going to have a cardiac arrest. My mother was absolutely livid." It was not just Alice's own family that were stunned by the move. Her sister-in-law told Alice's wife to choose between "us or it". "My wife said 'if I have to choose, I'll choose her'." Alice, who has now been transitioned for almost 17 years, says that over time many of the rifts have healed. Jan Irvine still lives in the same east of Scotland mining town where she grew up. She says that when she came out to her father at 15 "all hell broke loose" and she was forced to get on with her life as a man. She married and had a son, telling her wife about her gender three years into her marriage. Jan finally transitioned at the age of 48. At the time, she was a traffic warden, working for the police. As recently as 2002 a trans-gender traffic warden was a story that caused her to be hounded by paparazzi. Jan says: "I was walking along the street and all of a sudden this reporter appeared and flashed his press card and said he knew who I was. "He said I'd be better speak to him because if I didn't he'd just make it up. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a photographer with a long lens. "At that time I just felt my knees collapsing underneath me. I knew it could happen but when it does happen it is like getting punched in the stomach." Despite losing contact with her wife, son and grandchildren, and having to leave her job, Jan says transitioning was worth it as she can now look in the mirror and recognise who she is. She has trained as a counsellor to help other trans people and speaks at colleges and university to educate and inform people. Jan says: "One of the main groups I talk to is the beauty therapists and the hairdressers because they all come across transgender people. "The idea is to speak to them so that when somebody walks in and they look different they are not like a rabbit in the headlights. "They can just look at them and talk about ordinary things because at the end of the day I lead an ordinary life. Unusual but ordinary." Amy is a 23-year-old in the early stages of her male to female transition. She says she can't pinpoint the exact time she knew she was transgender but when she was in high school and saw the other girls developing differently to her she was incredibly jealous. Before she came out at the age of 21 she could only dress as a woman at home. When she did go outside as a woman she says she got abuse on almost every street and had things thrown at her. She says: "When I first started, and I went into Asda and stuff, people would look at me as if I was some sort of sex offender. "Parents moved their kids out of the way as if I was some sort of monster." Amy is now studying drama at Fife College and has her own YouTube channel charting her transition. Nicholas is a transgender man, who grew up as a girl in northern England but moved to Edinburgh several years ago. He transitioned in the 1960s and is one of the oldest transgender people in the country. He says: "For anyone, growing old can be a real challenge and problem. "Of course being trans, that's just an extra problem because, for instance, if you have been on hormones for a lot of your life, if you have had any surgery, they can affect you." He also worries about elderly care. Will the carers be trained to deal with the body of an elderly trans person sensitively? Will he have to deal with different carers finding out on every visit? And then there is his mental health. He says: "If I do get dementia, I hope that can be addressed by people that know me. "It's a known fact that people with Alzheimer's or dementia quite often revert back to their childhood so in my case I might perhaps feel I am a girl again. "Obviously that could cause confusion and embarrassment all round." But in general, Nicky is optimistic about the future. He says: "I am completely blown over sometimes when I meet, see or hear, and on the media too, all the young people who are non-binary. "They don't worry so much about female/male. "That's really quite positive. "I'm hoping it is all heading the right way." Transgender Lives in BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday 31 March at 13:32.

Transgender people are known to have existed in almost every society in the world throughout history yet in our society they have been made to feel ashamed, says Jo Clifford.

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The Kiwis were due to play Fiji in the final of the Oceania qualifiers after beating Vanuatu 2-0 in the semi-finals. But the Oceania Football Confederation (OCF) upheld Vanuatu's protest that South-African born Deklan Wynne was ineligible to play in the match. Vanuatu were then awarded a 3-0 win, but lost to Fiji in Sunday's final. Fiji will represent the Oceania region at next year's Rio Olympics after beating Vanuatu 4-3 on penalties. Left-back Wynne, 20, represented New Zealand at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup last month and has played at senior level after becoming a naturalized New Zealander. The OCF's disciplinary committee ruled on Sunday that Wynne did not meet any of the criteria set out in article seven of the Fifa statutes, that would allow him to represent New Zealand. Wynne, who was not born in New Zealand and doesn't have a New Zealand parent or grandparent, would have to have lived in New Zealand for five years from the age of 18 to be eligible. New Zealand Football said it was not aware of the disciplinary hearing and was told the matter was being referred to Fifa. They are now working with their lawyers to contest the committee's decision Chief executive Andy Martin said: "While we firmly believe that the match should have been delayed, we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that any final decision is only reached after a proper and fair process has been carried out. "We trust that Oceania Football Confederation will change its position and conduct that proper and fair process."

New Zealand are to take legal action after their men's team were thrown out of Olympic qualifying for fielding an ineligible player.

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The National League side were drawn at home to the 12-time winners after beating Leeds United 1-0 on Sunday. Elliott told BBC Radio London rumours the tie could be switched to Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park were untrue. He said: "We would only do that for safety reasons. The FA are very keen to play the game at Sutton." Sell-out crowds watched Sutton beat Championship side Leeds and the goalless draw at home with League One AFC Wimbledon in the third round on their artificial pitch. Elliott continued: "We have proven we can have a full house and the police have been very happy. We have every intention of the game going ahead at Sutton because that is what the FA Cup is all about." Under tournament rules, the Football Association, local authority and police must have no objections regarding the suitability of Gander Green Lane for the tie. South London side Sutton are 16th in the National League and have played seven games to get this far in the competition. Arsenal, second in the Premier League, are 105 places above them in the English football pyramid. The tie will be played over the weekend of 17-20 February.

Sutton United chairman Bruce Elliott has said they want to keep the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Arsenal at their 5,000-capacity Gander Green Lane.

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Like much received wisdom, it may just be wrong. For the arrival of this young financier-turned politician in the Elysee could actually make a deal between Britain and the European Union easier. Yes, President Macron is a devoted pro-European. His belief in the idea and the institutions of the EU is part of his core. In his election manifesto, he described Brexit as a "crime" that will plunge Britain into "servitude". As such, he will brook no Brexit-induced dilution of the single market and all its works. After he met the prime minister in February, he told reporters in Downing Street: "Brexit cannot lead to a kind of optimisation of Britain's relationship with the rest of Europe. I am very determined that there will be no undue advantages." Macron will thus, so the argument goes, stiffen sinews in Brussels and re-invigorate the Franco-German motor that has lain dormant in recent years. He has made utterly clear that he wants Britain to pay top whack when it exits the EU. He has spoken of reforming the Le Touquet agreement that allows British immigration officers to check passports in Calais. And he has been shameless in his ambition to lure French workers and money back to France. So Macron on paper could look like no friend of Britain in the Brexit stakes. And yet his election is actually better news for Theresa May than she might imagine. Some Conservative ministers had been quite open in their preference for Francois Fillon, the former centre-right candidate with whom they had more natural, partisan commonalities. But they know they can live with Macron. The new president is not going to be as Brexit obsessed as some imagine. He has other fish to fry. He has to build support and coalitions in the National Assembly where polls suggest his new party may struggle to form a majority in next month's elections. He has huge economic problems to deal with at home. And his efforts in Brussels will be focused on gaining support for his own proposals to reform the EU and the eurozone. Brexit is just one issue on his to-do list. His priority is dealing with France's difficulties and stopping Marine Le Pen winning in 2022. Now, of course, when President Macron does focus on Brexit, he will naturally be tough on Britain. But that is already the position of the French government. Whitehall has long ruled out any favours from Paris. In many ways, Macron represents continuity. And just think of the alternative. If Marine Le Pen had won, the EU would be in chaos. Her election would have been seen by some as an existential threat to the EU. Brexit would have become a second order issue. EU politicians would have had less bandwidth to spend on Brexit. And as such, a deal would have been less likely, or at the very least much harder. Compare that to the stability that a Macron presidency may provide. For here is the real point. The election of Macron may just make the EU a little more confident or perhaps a little less defensive. Many in the EU will conclude - maybe over-optimistically - that the global populist surge has now peaked with Trump and Brexit. The electoral failure of anti-establishment politicians in Austria, the Netherlands and now France will give them hope that the troubled EU project is not quite so threatened as they had imagined. They may feel a little less fearful that Brexit could presage the breakup of the EU. And a less vulnerable EU may feel less determined to make an example of Britain in the negotiations. And that can only be good for Brexit, however hard or soft you want it. So the election of President Macron will of course send shivers of relief through the corridors of Brussels. But it won't make the challenge of Brexit any more enormous than it already is. And just perhaps, it might make the task a little easier.

The received wisdom is that the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France is bad for Britain's Brexit negotiations.

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The baby boy hasn't been named yet, but in a video posted after the birth, the 40-year-old called it an "emotional and amazing" day. The singer live vlogged the labour in a series of videos described as "bizarre" on social media. In one, he "helps Ayda relax" by miming his 2012 solo single Candy. Others show him singing songs from the Frozen soundtrack, talking about his choice of pants and asking the doctor if the birth would mess up his robe. Many on social media are unimpressed: But Ayda also got in on the act. In one video called You'll Never Walk Alone she's seen "helping" Robbie walk down the corridor with a drip. She twerks for her husband in another, then at 3.20pm, the happy couple announced "he's here". Some have seen a funny side and many have congratulated the couple: In the final video of the pair Robbie called his wife "absolutely astonishing". He added: "The universe has presented itself to us again and it's been a very emotional, amazing few hours and we're really happy and honoured that you experienced the journey with us". Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Robbie Williams says he's never been "more in love" and "proud" of his wife after she gave birth to their second child.

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Sir Terry Wogan hosted the BBC One event on Friday with Fearne Cotton, Tess Daly and Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw. Girls Aloud and One Direction performed live, while BBC Newsreaders took part in a Top Gear challenge and Lord Sugar starred in an EastEnders special. The final total is expected to be higher than the £26,757,446 raised on Friday night once all donations are in. This year's event is taking place against the backdrop of widespread allegations of child abuse against former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, and Newsnight's dropped investigation into some of the allegations. Children in Need chair Stevie Spring said she "couldn't be more thrilled" by the total raised at the end of "yet another tough year". She told BBC Breakfast the previous year's total had been "absolutely smashed". "I just think it's a sign of the whole of the UK getting behind Pudsey, coming out in force," she added. Speaking at the start of Friday night's show, Sir Terry said: "As you know by now, we are going to be asking you to help us support disadvantaged children all over the UK. You have been amazing so many times before and we humbly hope that we can count on your help once more. "We know that children are vulnerable. In the news in recent weeks there has been an awful reminder of just how true that can be. We have been supporting... victims all of all kinds of abuse, including sexual abuse, for many years now. We will continue to do so." The presenter added: "We also support children in a wide range of circumstances, and they all have something in common - they all need your help." Last year's event raised £26.3m on the night, which rose to £46m over the year. Friday night's live show featured performances from Susan Boyle, Leona Lewis and Tim Minchin, while the newly reunited Girls Aloud gave the first TV performance of their official Children in Need single, Something New. About 20 of Britain's Olympic and Paralympic stars also got in on the action in a special music video. Tom Daley, Rebecca Adlington, Zara Phillips, Louis Smith and Ellie Simmonds were among those seen dancing to everything from Beyonce's Single Ladies to Gangnam Style. Meanwhile two of Strictly Come Dancing's celebrity competitors returned for a Children in Need special. Ann Widdecombe and Russell Grant dusted off their dancing shoes to perform again with partners Anton Du Beke and Flavia Cacace. Children in Need mascot Pudsey the bear also danced after being partnered with this year's Britain's Got Talent winner and his namesake, Pudsey the dog. The show also previewed the Doctor Who Christmas special, including a glimpse of the Doctor's new companion in Jenna-Louise Coleman. DIY: SOS and Bargain Hunt also recorded special Children in Need programmes, while Terry Wogan paid a fund-raising visit to Lee Mack sitcom Not Going Out. The BBC Symphony Orchestra teamed up with urban artists including Fazer, Angel, Stooshe and Tyler James to produce Wish I Belonged, with proceeds going to the charity. Other fund-raising events included The One Show's Rickshaw Challenge, Radio 2's Children in Need Jukebox and Saturday night's Strictly Live Wembley Show. The TV broadcast featured films highlighting some of the work the charity does with children throughout the UK, presented by stars including Fearne Cotton, Robbie Williams, Geri Halliwell and EastEnders actress Nina Wadia.

The BBC's Children in Need appeal has raised nearly £26.8m on the night, beating 2011's total of £26.3m.

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It is the first such charge in Romania since the 1989 revolution which led to the execution of former communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu. Mr Visinescu, 88, could face life in prison if found guilty. He was head of the Ramnicu Sarat prison in 1956-1963. Prosecutors say political prisoners there suffered beatings, hunger, cold and lack of medical treatment. Mr Visinescu lives in Bucharest and went to the prosecutor-general's office on Tuesday, where he was indicted. He told prosecutors he was only following orders. Former political prisoners, quoted by the Romanian news agency Agerpres, described him as "a very cruel man". The Romanian Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes (IICCMER) listed him among 35 former communist officials whom it accuses of human rights abuses. It asked prosecutors to launch the case against Mr Visinescu "for first degree murder". The institute said the prison regime at Ramnicu Sarat "can be considered as one of extermination, given the inhumane imprisonment conditions, which eventually led to the death of several political prisoners". About 500,000 Romanians, including priests, teachers, doctors and peasants, were jailed as political prisoners in the 1950s as the communist authorities imposed a totalitarian system. In harsh prison conditions about one-fifth of those inmates died, historians say.

Romanian prosecutors have charged a communist-era prison commander, Alexander Visinescu, with genocide.

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Rovers, who stay second on goal difference, took the lead in the 29th minute when Adam Buxton whipped over a fine first-time cross and Ihiekwe jumped above his marker to head home. The hosts went close again early in the second half when the influential Buxton struck the inside of a post with a fine free-kick, and they managed to double their lead when Craig Eastmond scored an unfortunate own goal. Jack Jebb pulled one back for Sutton in the 77th minute and they were back on level terms when Pape Gueye got the final touch in the 81st minute. However, Ihiekwe had the final say with a great strike to seal all three points for Rovers. Match report supplied by the Press Association Match ends, Tranmere Rovers 3, Sutton United 2. Second Half ends, Tranmere Rovers 3, Sutton United 2. Goal! Tranmere Rovers 3, Sutton United 2. Michael Ihiekwe (Tranmere Rovers). Steve McNulty (Tranmere Rovers) is shown the yellow card. Substitution, Tranmere Rovers. Andy Cook replaces Cole Stockton. Goal! Tranmere Rovers 2, Sutton United 2. Pape Gueye (Sutton United). Substitution, Sutton United. Pape Gueye replaces Maxime Biamou. Goal! Tranmere Rovers 2, Sutton United 1. Jack Jebb (Sutton United). Substitution, Tranmere Rovers. Adam Mekki replaces Connor Jennings. Substitution, Sutton United. Jack Jebb replaces Craig Dundas. Scott Davies (Tranmere Rovers) is shown the yellow card. Substitution, Sutton United. Tommy Wright replaces Kieron Cadogan. Own Goal by Craig Eastmond, Sutton United. Tranmere Rovers 2, Sutton United 0. Gomis (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card. Second Half begins Tranmere Rovers 1, Sutton United 0. First Half ends, Tranmere Rovers 1, Sutton United 0. Kieron Cadogan (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card. Louis John (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card. Connor Jennings (Tranmere Rovers) is shown the yellow card. Goal! Tranmere Rovers 1, Sutton United 0. Michael Ihiekwe (Tranmere Rovers). First Half begins. Lineups are announced and players are warming up.

Mike Ihiekwe scored twice as Tranmere edged out Sutton 3-2 at Prenton Park to move level on points with National League leaders Lincoln.

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Conservatives are putting Jeremy Corbyn at the centre of their Copeland by-election campaign. His image is all over Tory leaflets, and their logic is very simple. Copeland relies on the nuclear industry and Jeremy Corbyn has opposed new nuclear power stations. It means that when a by-election date is set, the contest in Cumbria could reveal a lot about how national politics will play out in the coming months. Tories will highlight an issue that divides Mr Corbyn and his colleagues. But amid a huge local row about hospitals, Labour may discover how much damage troubles in the NHS have done to the Conservatives. Chat to voters in the constituency and you hear two concerns: jobs and healthcare. In the butcher's in Whitehaven, one customer, Geoffrey Boyle, says: "This spot's dead enough already. There's hardly any life around here now. If nuclear goes, this town will be dead." The economy revolves around Sellafield, and job numbers are set to fall there as reprocessing work ends. A new nuclear power station is proposed. Labour backs new nuclear energy, and local politicians certainly do. But Mr Corbyn has made plain in the past that he disagrees. A policy document for his leadership campaign in 2015 says plainly: "I am opposed to fracking and to new nuclear on the basis of the dangers posed to our ecosystems." In a 2011 speech in the wake of the Fukushima disaster he went further, suggesting existing nuclear power stations should be decommissioned. Sources close to Mr Corbyn say he no longer believes that's practical but Tories campaigning in Copeland have seized on his words. Councillor, local Labour party secretary and would-be candidate Gillian Troughton says: "Jeremy Corbyn is not the entire Labour party and Labour policy is for the green, low-carbon energy policy of which nuclear power is a key part." UKIP, which came third here at the last election, boasts that it can take Labour votes. Fiona Mills - who has been UKIP's candidate in Carlisle - is hoping to contest Copeland. She says: "When I stood in the general election I definitely took voters away from Labour because people told me that." But while people here are worried about nuclear jobs, many are furious about healthcare. There is a proposal to move services, including a consultant-led maternity unit, from the hospital in Whitehaven 40 miles down a slow, twisting road to Carlisle. Michelle, who works in the butcher's, says: "Why don't we stick a fellow in the back of an ambulance whose making these decisions and stick a monitor on him that creates the pain the same as labour and see how he feels about that?" Labour's message is that only it will care for the local NHS. Conservative councillor Kevin Beaty says what happens to the hospital is a decision for the local NHS and blames "a PFI in the north set up under the last Labour government that is really difficult from a financial point of view for them". But with a decision about the hospital due in March, potentially before a by-election date, it's a clear and present danger to Tory hopes. If the Conservatives win, it will be the first time since 1982 the governing party has gained a seat in a by-election. Should that happen, Jamie Reed - the departing Labour MP - will in prompting the contest have done deeper damage to Mr Corbyn than he ever managed in many months criticising his leader. If Labour fails here blame will be piled deep at the door of the party leader. Yet speculation about an electoral upset has raised Tory expectations in a patch that has been Labour since 1935. Merely holding on to a seat that even Margaret Thatcher couldn't seize could yet wind up feeling like a win for Labour. If it's successful, a Labour strategy of responding to relentless attacks on Mr Corbyn with an equally relentless focus on the NHS may provide a model for the opposition in the years ahead. 2015 Copeland General Election result

Ross Hawkins visits Copeland in Cumbria where the outgoing Labour MP is yet to leave his job but campaigning to elect his replacement has already begun in earnest.

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Asselin, 30, joined the Devils last season after taking a year off and finished with 21 goals and 38 assists. Crowder, 32, is a former team-mate of Devils player-coach Andrew Lord and joins after also having a season off. Piggott, 31, will feature for the Elite League champions for a seventh successive season after agreeing to return ahead of the new campaign. Crowder and Lord played together for the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL during the 2010/11 season, along with another current Devil, Joey Haddad. "I know Paul very well and I know what type of guy he is, the way he plays and what he brings to a team," said Lord. "He has always produced offensively and is another big body up front and a solid two-way centreman." Crowder split the 2015/16 season between Amiens in the top French league and Fort Wayne in the ECHL. In total, he played 53 games that season, scoring 15 goals and 39 assists. Asselin, along with linemates Joey Haddad and Layne Ulmer, formed an impressive trio that solidified the Devils with two top lines last season. "Patrick is a great two-way forward and as good as he is offensively, he is responsible on the back check and in his own end," said Lord. "He is a big-game player and can make those game-changing plays that have you just in awe. It wasn't just important for us to get him back, it was vital." On the signing of Piggott, Lord said: "Luke Piggott epitomises what the Cardiff Devils are all about. He is a great team-mate, he is unselfish, works hard every day and will do anything for the team. "The bottom line is, we wanted him around and we want him part of this team, which is exactly what he wants as well."

Cardiff Devils have re-signed forwards Patrick Asselin and Luke Piggott, and recruited centre Paul Crowder.

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The men, aged 20 and 30, were arrested on Station Road in Lochgelly on Friday. They are due to appear in court on Monday. Det Insp Colin Robson said: "This was a significant seizure of cocaine that was destined for our streets and shows the commitment of Police Scotland to removing controlled drugs from our communities."

Two men have been charged after police seized cocaine worth an estimated £80,000 in Fife.

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About 500 officers from every police division took part in the day of action, which resulted in 15 arrests. Officers were joined by colleagues from HMRC as they visited businesses, including nail bars. The force said one person had been detained on suspicion of trafficking. A further two people have been arrested for immigration offences, while 12 others have been arrested by immigrations enforcement officers. The operation also aimed to identify people at potential risk or those being exploited as slave labour. Police said that the six children had been found working in nail bars across Scotland and displayed indicators of trafficking. Senior officers have said the scale of human trafficking in Scotland is unclear. Police Scotland hopes to help the public become more aware of the signs that may indicate that someone has been trafficked. Those leading this latest operation said they were determined to crack down on criminal gangs who deal in people to make profits. Det Ch Insp Stuart Houston told BBC Scotland: "This is organised crime that is quite often behind exploitation and trafficking of individuals. We need to know about that and need to try and take some action against these groups." Last week, new Scottish government guidelines were launched as part of the country's first human trafficking strategy. Consumers are being urged to look for signs that people have been trafficked and consider whether people working in their local nail bar, car wash or shop may be in danger or vulnerable. The most recent figures have suggested that trafficking has increased in Scotland. Last year there were 145 potential victims of trafficking identified - a 31% increase on the previous year. More than a third were trafficked into forced labour while another third were forced to work in the sex industry.

Police say they have identified 11 potential victims of human trafficking - including six people under the age of 18 - in a major Scotland-wide operation.

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Some 500,000 women in their late 50s were affected by the decision of the coalition government. It added up to 18 months onto the start date of their state pension. Speaking to the BBC's Money Box programme, she said her job was to implement the past government's policy. Many of the women affected say it has left them trying to bridge the gap at an age where re-entering the labour market is very difficult. One of those affected was Wendy, who started work in her teens in Manchester and who expected her pension at 60. "I intended to stay in employment, but that came to an end at 61. I claimed Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) and so far have applied for almost 4,000 jobs," she said. She gets £65 a week JSA and has to find £25 from that to go towards her rent. "Gas and electric take up most of the rest of the money. I am dependent on the generosity of neighbours for food. It is not a position I expected to find myself in," she said. Baroness Altmann said: "I have so much sympathy for people whose pension age was increased at relatively short notice by up to 18 months. "I don't have billions of pounds to spend on keeping state pension age unequal for longer. "My job is to implement the laws that have been properly passed." The minister claimed that when these women do get their pension they will be on average £8 a week better off on the new state pension. Campaigners argue that these women will still lose money. Lin Phillips, who helped found Women Against State Pension Inequality, said: "She's missing the point. We are losing just over £5,000 a year from the pension we have not had. If we had have known we could have prepared for that." The pressure group wants a transitional payment to tide women like Wendy over the gap between what they expected and what they got. Baroness Altmann said that was not possible. "I have been looking at ways in which we might be able to help. I have been looking at it but I can't see any way of doing it," she said. When asked if she had rejected the idea, she replied: "I haven't rejected anything. I have been looking and I will continue to look but I haven't been able to find anything." Listen to the full interview on Money Box on BBC Radio 4 at 1200 BST on Saturday 26 September.

Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann has told the BBC she considered helping women who have had the start date of their state pension put back twice, but could not find a way to do so.

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The Scottish government is to change the law to make sure children spend a minimum of 25 hours a week in class. This follows rows over attempts by some councils to reduce the length of the school week to help balance their books. The EIS teachers union has welcomed the move but local government organisation Cosla is angry. The government says primary school children will be guaranteed at least 950 hours a year of teaching time, equivalent to 25 hours a week. Ministers have decided to amend the Education Bill, which is currently before parliament, to do this. As the law stands, councils have to open schools for 190 days a year but the length and structure of the school day is not specified in legislation. However, the Curriculum for Excellence operates on an assumption of 25 hours of teacher contact each week in primary schools. In a few parts of the country, councils have closed schools on Friday afternoons for some time. This could continue as long as the total number of hours over the year met the legal requirement. However the change in the law puts the brakes on moves to actually reduce the overall length of the school week. A few councils had considered this as they weighed up budget cuts. Nobody in the mainstream has seriously argued that a cut in the school week would actually help improve children's attainment. Councils which have looked at the idea would argue they have done so out of financial necessity. Their argument has, essentially, been that a cut in the school week for some is a "least worst option". Councils are under a legal obligation to balance their books. If one potential option for savings is closed, inevitably, it could lead to greater pressure on another service. Read more from Jamie One of the biggest rows was in West Dunbartonshire where the council agreed in February to cut two-and-a-half hours from the primary school week in a bid to save about £1m. Within days, the council made a humiliating U-turn after it came up against huge local opposition. Highland Council recently revisited the idea of a four-and-a-half day school week. Last year, it delayed a proposal to reduce the time pupils in primaries four, five, six and seven spend in class. On Wednesday, the council's budget leader responded with disappointment to the government's announcement. Cllr Bill Fernie said: "There is not any evidence which links better education attainment to a 25-hour school week and this would put further pressure on local authority budgets and our ability to make the necessary savings required to manage the anticipated cut in grant funding." The planned change in the law would also allow ministers to put in place a minimum number of hours in secondary schools. Education secretary Angela Constance said: "The Scottish Government is working with local authorities, parents and others to ensure our education system delivers both excellence and equity for every child. We are driving a relentless effort to boost educational achievement and, critically, to make quicker progress in closing the attainment gap, for example through the £100m Scotland Attainment Challenge. "Scotland's teachers are absolutely critical to these efforts. That's why we have committed investment of up to £51m this year specifically to help local authorities to maintain teacher numbers. "And it's why we will legislate to provide certainty for pupils, parents and teachers about the length of the school week - a teacher time guarantee that every one of our children and young people should expect, and which they deserve. "Decisions on the amount of time with teachers, in class and at school should always be made based on the potential educational benefit for children, rather than on how much money can be saved." But Cosla, the organisation that represents most councils, is unhappy the government made an announcement of such importance "after zero consultation with local government". Cllr Stephanie Primrose, Cosla education, children and young person spokesperson, said: "The government seems to be suggesting that they have no choice to legislate for the length of the school day despite not once raising it with Cosla. "They have, after all, had plenty of opportunity to discuss this with us. We met with the Cabinet Secretary to discuss the Education Bill only a few weeks ago and have been in almost daily contact with Government as part of the spending review without even a hint to suggest this was on their radar. "Yet we hear about it only a matter of hours before amendments are submitted. This is either bad planning on their part, or a knee-jerk response to an issue that was far from the top of the pile a matter of weeks ago." But the largest teachers union, the EIS, gave a warm welcome to the announcement. General Secretary Larry Flanagan said: "The EIS has always been vehemently opposed to any attempts to reduce the length of the pupil week which would serve only to dilute the quality of education in Scotland's primary schools. "This important piece of legislation is good news for pupils and parents as it will guarantee equity of provision across the country and will also ensure that teachers' jobs and pupils' learning time are protected." The government is also to stipulate a minimum level for school clothing grants for children from low income families. BBC Scotland research earlier this year highlighted wide variations between the clothing grants in different council areas while one council - Angus - intended to phase them out. The minimum level will be announced later.

Councils are to be banned from cutting the length of the primary school week to save money.

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The Plas Parciau care home in Old Colwyn, the Plas Isaf Residential Home in Rhos on Sea, and Colwyn Bay's Furze Mount have all closed. Mario Kreft said: "We are saddened but unfortunately not surprised by the closures." The Welsh Government said they were committed to social care. Mr Kreft said: "At a time of escalating need, care homes and domiciliary care companies are afflicted by chronic underfunding. "We are at a tipping point and unless urgent action is taken we are facing the prospect of even more care and nursing home closures which will result in extra pressure on the NHS, which is already creaking under the strain." The Plas Parciau building and surrounding land is owned by North Wales Housing. Owen Ingram, their interim chief executive, said: "Closing the home is not a decision we made lightly, but we have had to address that it is not a financially viable business." At the time of closing there were 13 residents at Plas Parciau. Mr Ingram added: "North Wales Housing have worked closely with sociaservices, residents and their families to find a suitable, regulated home that best meets their care needs." In their manifesto for the assembly elections, the Welsh Government pledged to "make social care a sector of national strategic importance". A Welsh Government spokesman said: "We are working closely with our partners in north Wales to understand the challenges faced and to work to ensure the best outcomes for those receiving care. "We are providing an additional £25 million for local authorities specifically for social services, as well as investing £60 million to support service transformation through the Intermediate Care Fund." In England, the number of care homes has fallen over the past six years by nearly 1,500 to 16,600. Recent evidence gathered by the Care Quality Commission shows the regulator is worried over the "pace" of care home closures.

Urgent action is needed following the closure of three care homes in Conwy County, the chair of Care Forum Wales has said.

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Media playback is not supported on this device Verstappen, an 18-year-old rookie, was 0.305 seconds quicker than Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat as F1 returned to Mexico City for the first time since 1992. The new surface at the remodelled Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez caused problems with a lack of grip. Many drivers ran wide and some spun as they learned the circuit. One of them was Hamilton's team-mate Nico Rosberg, who went off the track when his brakes overheated and had flames pouring from both rear wheels as he returned his Mercedes to the pits. The German was fastest at the time, but ended the session sixth, 1.206secs off the pace after managing to get out on track for one further flying lap after Mercedes increased the car's brake cooling. The high altitude of the track - which is at 2,229m - puts extra strain on the brakes because the cars are going quicker at the end of the straights as a result of the reduced drag and the brakes receive reduced cooling. More of a problem in the first session was the lack of grip from the new track surface, exacerbated by a damp start to the session following overnight rain. Verstappen was one of many demonstrate this - and his fastest time came on a lap on which he actually short-cut the Esses as a result of sliding wide. Had it been an official timed session, the lap would not have counted. Kvyat in second actually set the same time to the thousandth of a second as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in third place, but the Russian was classified ahead as he set the time first. Media playback is not supported on this device Raikkonen's team-mate Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian made it three Renault-engined cars in the top five, a surprising result given the track is expected to demand strong engine power for a team to be competitive and Renault are lagging behind rivals Mercedes and Ferrari. It was yet another troubled session for McLaren-Honda. Jenson Button managed only nine laps before the new, upgraded Honda engine fitted to his car for the first time developed a problem and he had to sit out the rest of the session. The 2009 world champion was already going to have the engine changed before the second session, which starts at 20:00 GMT. Button will take a massive grid penalty of at least 20 places, and possibly as many as 50 as a result of the two new engines he has been given and potentially other ancillary parts as well. His team-mate Fernando Alonso, too, faces a grid penalty of 15 places, for a new engine and a new gearbox. Alonso, who had been running strongly in the early laps on the gripless track, also managed only one run before McLaren discovered a cut on one of his medium-compound Pirellis. Not wanting to risk sending him out again on the same tyres until they knew what had caused the malfunction, he did one more short run on intermediate tyres to check a change on the car. First Practice results Mexican Grand Prix coverage details

Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen set the pace in first practice at the Mexican Grand Prix as new world champion Lewis Hamilton was 11th.

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The government is expected to commit £300m to kick-start transport projects, with details due in Wednesday's Budget. Chancellor George Osborne will confirm government backing for the HS3 rail link between Manchester and Leeds. The Railfuture campaign group said by the time upgrades were made they would be "outdated and overcrowded again". The HS3 rail link proposal is a key part of the government's Northern Powerhouse plan - which attempts to redress the north/south divide and attract investment to the north. Thinktank IPPR North said government backing of HS3 would be "no substitute" for construction work actually beginning. The organisation's director, Ed Cox, said the region would expect the government to invest significant amounts of public money to finally get the "spades in the ground" just as it had done with Crossrail in London. Chris Hyomes, chair of Railfuture in Yorkshire, said: "George Osborne needs to find out how to speed the process up and make it simpler so these improvements happen quicker. "We're looking at improving roads and railways, but by the time they are improved they are going to be outdated and overcrowded again. "What we're going to do in five to 10 years time should have been done 10 or 20 years ago." Louise Ellman, chair of the Commons' Transport Select Committee and Liverpool Riverside MP, described improving trans-Pennine links as "equally important" to the North as London's £14.8bn east-to-west Crossrail route, which is due to open in phases from next year. She added: "We need to know the detail of what is being proposed." Some rail commuters at Manchester Piccadilly Station said a faster line between the two cities was necessary. One man said: "Room is a big issue, it's always full and it takes a long time as well. They are always cancelled and delayed so it needs something doing to it." Another said: "In the morning they are crammed on, every time I ever get on it - there are people struggling to even get on the train." Ben Harrison, from thinktank Centre for Cities, said: "The Leeds-Manchester train link is one of the slowest big-city connections in the UK, so this upgrade and investment is much needed. "Progressing the delivery of this investment must now be a priority, to ensure the improved train links are operational early in the next Parliament." How much will HS3 cost? Len Tingle, BBC Look North's political editor Sixty million pounds allocated towards creating what the Chancellor himself is calling "HS3" will be spent on providing a route map of how the destination of improved rail links across the Pennines can be reached. This first allocation of public cash is dwarfed by the expected cost of getting the first 125mph express train on the track. There have been no official costs yet, but several "guestimates" from independent transport experts put the figure around the £7bn mark. The problem for the industry is that nobody really knows what HS3 will be. The final cost and the timetable for completion will will depend on how many extra tunnels, bridges and track extensions it will need. Chris Fletcher, of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said the Northern Powerhouse "must be focused around better transport connections across the North of England and not diluted with hundreds of other schemes and ideas". "The East-West route is fundamental to allowing a good flow of employees, goods and products to move between the major cities and go where demand is highest. "Ask anyone about the time it takes to get between Manchester and Leeds and they all want faster and more reliable journeys. HS3 is part of that solution," he added. Upgrades to east-west road links were "absolutely essential" as they lag behind north-south connections, AA president Edmund King said. "Plans to upgrade the M62 motorway are long overdue; we've seen very little spent on cross-country infrastructure," he said. Mr King said the government must not "skimp on safety", as an increasing number of AA members were becoming stranded in "live lanes" on smart motorway sections due to a lack of breakdown areas. Malcolm Bingham, of the Freight Transport Association, said there was an "over-reliance" on the M62 motorway. He said: "We've got a single road that creates that connectivity across the Pennines and it only takes a small incident or over-running roadworks to create a massive delay." The road system was not coping with the traffic levels that it needed to, he warned. "What we need is a network of major routes that connect the north of England. If we don't start moving towards it we'll never see it." This feels like the moment that the government starts to put its money where its mouth is. Two years ago George Osborne set out his "Northern Powerhouse" idea, and transport was critical to its success. In a sense, the National Infrastructure Commission has designed a route map and the Treasury has agreed to pay for the ticket. But it is only the start of a long journey. Much of it will be spent on planning better rail and road links between Manchester and Leeds. These projects are not quick or easy or cheap. In addition, parts of the M62 will be developed between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. The Commission has decided this is the most efficient way to deliver improvements. This all indicates that the Manchester to Leeds axis is still seen as the key component in creating a Northern Powerhouse. But Lord Adonis, who chairs the commission, has said there is much more to do. And much more beyond transport too.

Plans to upgrade road and rail links to boost the so-called Northern Powerhouse are "too little, too late", commuters and transport groups say.

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Paul Drinkwater, now 52, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, carried out a campaign of terror over three weeks in Berkhamsted in November and December 1984. He was found guilty at St Albans Crown Court of seven charges he denied, including rape and possessing a knife. New DNA evidence helped secure the conviction. Judge Marie Catterson remanded him in custody for sentencing on 30 January. Drinkwater was convicted of the rape and robbery of a 15-year-old girl in Durrants Lane on 25 November and possessing a knife. He was found guilty of raping an 18-year-old woman and indecently assaulting another 18-year-old woman on 16 December in Bullbeggers Lane. During the attacks, in which Drinkwater wore a woollen mask, he kept saying: "I hate slags, tarts and lesbians," the court heard. Prosecutor Ann Evans said: "This is a case about every woman's worst nightmare. "They are knife-point rapes where the perpetrator wore a balaclava and took young girls off the street late at night." Mrs Evans said on 14 January this year a DNA profile from Drinkwater was provided to a forensic scientist. A swab from the 15-year-old victim was matched as "seven million more times likely to come from Paul Drinkwater, rather than a person unrelated to him," she said. Samples taken from the trousers worn by the 18-year-old rape victim matched Drinkwater. "The likelihood of this sample coming from someone unrelated to the defendant was put at 1 in 43 million," she said. Drinkwater lived with his girlfriend in Berkhamsted at the time and had been linked to the crimes since 1984. "Through advances in DNA analysis, forensic scientists were able to match the DNA from these two crimes to this defendant," Mrs Evans said.

A man has been convicted of raping and sexually abusing three teenagers at knife-point in Hertfordshire 30 years ago.

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Media playback is not supported on this device McKibbin is playing in the European Challenge Tour event after an invite from the golf management company owned by One Direction star Niall Horan. "The invite was a total surprise but I don't think I will be nervous," said World Under-12 champion McKibbin. The County Antrim youngster says this week is all about "having fun". "I'll be using it as a learning experience. I don't have any expectations," he said. McKibbin's World Under-12 title triumph last year in the US saw him clinching a title which Rory McIlroy won as a nine-year-old. The Newtownabbey youngster played alongside McIlroy at the Irish Open Pro-Am at the K Club in May and his outings at this week's tournament venue Galgorm Castle near Ballymena include shooting a one-under 71 in last year's Northern Ireland Open Pro-Am. McKibbin will have his father Robin "on the bag" this week although McKibbin Snr insists he will adopting a "low-key approach". "My job will be just to keep him in the right frame of mind," adds Robin. "The only place the pressure will come from is himself. I'm not there to shout and roar at him. It will be a case of calming him down if something does go a bit wayward. "He's been around a lot of these players so it shouldn't be overly daunting for him. "We're just excited he got the invite and it's purely a learning experience for him. That's what the invite is based on. Nothing else and whatever score he shoots is whatever score he shoots." Tom, who also won this Junior Honda Classic in Florida earlier this year, is missing the Irish Under-14 Championship at Lurgan on Friday in order to tee up at Galgorm. "We knew this was such a huge opportunity here for him to learn from some of the best players in the world," continues Robin. This week's field includes tournament ambassador and five-time European Tour winner Michael Hoey, plus several other multiple winners from the continent's top golfing tier, such as England's Tom Lewis and Swedes Johan Edfors and Mikael Lundberg. McKibbin's playing partners over the first two rounds will be Ireland's Walker Cup star from last year Gavin Moynihan, who has since turned pro, and another home player David Rawluk. The youngster's father is optimistic that the prodigy will not be overawed by this week's surroundings. "The World Championship events and all the tournaments he has played in the States are a scaled down version of this but they are set up very much like a pro event," adds Robin. "The scoreboards and TV cameras are there. There is a lot going on at those events. So he has that experience that he can draw upon." After playing nine holes at Galgorm on Monday, Tom continued his preparations for the tournament with a practice round alongside Hoey on Tuesday, with coach Johnny Foster also keeping a watching brief. "The course is a lot longer than what I'm used to and the rough is also a lot deeper," added Tom. "I can't get to five of the par-fours in two shots so my chipping and putting is going to need to be on but I'm still really looking forward to the week." Never want to miss the latest golf news? You can now add this sport and all the other sports and teams you follow to your personalised My Sport home.

Thirteen-year-old golfing prodigy Tom McKibbin insists he will not be nervous when he tees up with seasoned pros at the Northern Ireland Open on Thursday.

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Yousif Badri, 29, denies being involved in conduct "with the intention of committing acts of terrorism". Mr Badri's flat in Aberdeen's Ashgrove Road was raided by police on 6 June 2013 - the day after he sat and passed his final medical exams. The Aberdeen University student denies two charges under the Terrorism Act. During the raid on Mr Badri's flat, his computer and an external hard drive were seized and hundreds of thousands of files were found. They included dozens which featured troops being killed by snipers and an Al Qaeda training manual and magazines which included articles about bomb making. Mr Badri claims he was researching the material in order to refute the ways it used the Koran to advocate violence. At the High Court in Glasgow he was asked by defence QC Murdo Macleod: "What are your plans for the future?" and replied: "I'm here to explain my position and hopefully clear my name and I want to become what I've trained for eight years to be - a doctor." Mr Badri was also asked how his arrest and trial had affected his family and said: "We are normally quite a happy family. This has been very difficult for my parents and for my sisters. It's been two years since I was arrested." Under cross-examination by advocate depute Richard Goddard, prosecuting, he denied that he had tried to keep the files found by police secret. He said: "It was on my computer. It was free for anyone to access. There was no password. I used Google to access all the material." The court has heard that Mr Badri was arrested before he was able to graduate as a doctor. The offences are said to have been carried out at two places in Aberdeen - Mr Badri's former flat in Ashgrove Road and in Berryden Retail Park. His current address in Halifax, West Yorkshire, also features in the alleged offences. Prosecutors claim that between 2007 and 2013 Mr Badri collected or made a record of information likely to be useful to a person "committing or preparing an act of terrorism". This allegedly included footage of terror attacks as well as instructions on "urban assassinations" and "guerrilla tactics". A second charge alleges that Mr Badri "with the intention of committing acts of terrorism" engaged in various actions between 2006 and 2013. Accusations listed in the indictment include a claim he had an "equipment list" for attending a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. He is also said to have possessed "advice for those involved in conducting terrorist attack planning operations". The charge further alleges that he had documents, recordings and files containing "extreme ideology". The trial continues.

A final year medical student accused of terrorism charges has told a court he wants to clear his name and become a doctor.

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Media playback is not supported on this device The pair missed out after finishing fifth at the Track Cycling World Championships in London. That failed to secure them one of five Olympic qualifying sports for European nations. "I feel sick," said Varnish, who was disqualified at London 2012 when competing with Victoria Pendleton. "How many more times can I keep putting my life on hold, making these choices for my career, if it's not going to pay off, through no fault of our own?" Varnish and Marchant needed to finish three places in front of France to take the fifth slot available to European teams but the French were seventh. British Cycling head coach Iain Dyer stood by the decisions made over the two-year qualification period. "I fully understand their disappointment, but we've done the best we can on every possible turn," he said. "When we look back on our two-year qualifying period, I honestly don't think that we can consider there would be much we would change." However, Varnish, who could yet go to Rio in the individual sprint and Keirin, laid the blame firmly with her coaching team. "We have been basically playing catch-up through bad decisions and bad luck," said the 25-year-old from Worcestershire. She said that inexperienced riders had been given chances to compete at major championships when the focus should have been on ensuring more senior members qualified for the Rio Games, which take place in August. "To have to qualify for the Olympic Games, it should not be a development programme," said Varnish. "It should be 'A team', 'A team', 'A team'. "We're fifth in the world, we've beaten so many of the teams, this is the best we've ever competed and we're not going to the Olympics." Marchant, 22, said it was "heartbreaking" to miss out, adding: "We should never have been in the position that we're in today." The men's team of Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner have already qualified for Rio but also struggled in London, finishing sixth. Three-time Olympic champion Kenny said: "It was a massive step forward. The main thing is that we're in the ballpark. We're right there." New Zealand took gold in the men's sprint and Russia won the women's title. "I love Jess dearly and her experience in London was tough. I feel very sad that they won't get a chance to ride the team sprint at the Olympics because I really do think they have got the right ingredients there and they could find a very successful team. "It breaks my heart. It won't be easy for the girls to go to sleep tonight, but there's always another day and there's always another chance to ride. "The best thing about it is those girls are still so young. I didn't start track racing until I was in my early twenties. Tese girls have already got three of four years' training on me and they've got plenty more Olympic chances ahead of them. "I just hope they use it and push themselves. They'll get there." There was better news for Britain's team pursuit men as they qualified fastest earlier on day one. Media playback is not supported on this device Sir Bradley Wiggins made a strong start to his first Track Cycling World Championships for eight years alongside Steven Burke, Jonathan Dibben and Owain Doull, clocking three minutes 55.664 seconds in the team pursuit. Britain will take on Italy (3:57.800) in Thursday's semi-finals. Australia (3:55.867) and defending champions New Zealand (3:57.050) will meet in the second semi-final. Wiggins, 35, is targeting a fifth Olympic gold medal in Rio and a British record eighth medal in all. Chris Latham, 22, finished ninth in the scratch race on his World Championships debut, with Spain's Mora Vedri taking gold. Australia's Rebecca Wiasak beat Poland's Malgorzata Wojtyra to retain her individual pursuit title. Media playback is not supported on this device Former Olympic champion Chris Boardman "The British team did what we expected them to. They're there or thereabouts. There were disappointments and real promise. "The men's pursuit team were really ragged but did an incredible ride to still qualify fastest. The Australians looked as if they still had plenty left to give, so it's going to be an incredible final. It looks like they could be back on track for gold in Rio and here. "The women's team sprint was obviously disappointing, but the British team has always said they're about gold medals and if you're trying to get to the Olympic Games it's nice for the individual, but the programme is funded for Olympic golds. "If you haven't got a team that you genuinely believe can win a gold medal, then it's reasonable to try different combinations, even if it means not qualifying. I would have gone with the strategy the coaches deployed."

Jess Varnish and Katy Marchant criticised Great Britain's selection policy after failing to secure a team sprint place at the Rio Olympics.

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