The 15-year-old South Korea-born New Zealander finished with a five-under-par 67 to win by three shots. She broke the age record of 16, set by Lexi Thompson in the Navistar LPGA Classic in Alabama last September. Only four other amateurs have ever won on the Tour, and Ko became the first since JoAnne Carner took the 1969 Burdine's Invitational tournament. In January, Ko won the New South Wales Open in Australia at 14 to become the youngest player to win a professional tour event, a mark broken by 14-year-old Brooke Henderson in June in a Canadian Women's Tour event in Quebec. Ko also won the US Women's Amateur two weeks ago in Cleveland, Ohio. Starting the final round at The Vancouver Golf Club one shot clear, she surged away from the field on the backward nine, shooting five birdies in six holes to finish at 13 under. Inbee Park shot a 69 to finish second on 10 under, while US Women's Open champion Na Yeon Choi, Chella Choi and Jiyai Shin tied for third at eight under.

Summary: Lydia Ko won the Canadian Women's Open to become the youngest tournament winner in LPGA Tour history.


McDowell, who was risen to 55th in the world rankings, finished with a one-under-par 69 to finish five strokes behind winner Adam Scott. The Portrush player had started the day at three under, after an impressive 67 on Saturday. It qualifies the 36-year-old for the WGC-Cadillac Championship which starts at Trump Doral on Thursday. McDowell started his round with a birdie three on the first, and then bogeyed the fifth and birdied the eighth to reach the turn in one-under 34. A dropped shot on 12 was recovered with birdie on the 13th to move into a top-five position. Defending champion Padraig Harrington finished 43rd in the West Palm Beach tournament after a closing 71 put him on four-over-par 284.

Summary: Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell has been buoyed by finishing fifth at the Honda Classic in Florida.


Mae modd cymharu'r ffigyrau'n uniongyrchol, ac maen nhw'n dangos bod y bwlch mwyaf yn yr amser aros ar gyfer llawdriniaeth ar y glun, sydd wedi gweld cynnydd o 20% dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf. Yn ôl y ffigyrau diweddaraf, mae pobl yn disgwyl 226 diwrnod yng Nghymru ar gyfartaledd, o'i gymharu â 76 diwrnod yn Lloegr. Er hynny roedd gostyngiad mawr yn yr amser roedd cleifion yn aros am lawdriniaeth ddargyfeiriol ar y galon yng Nghymru. Yn 2014/15, roedd pobl yn disgwyl 111 diwrnod ar gyfartaledd, ond erbyn 2015/16, roedd hynny wedi gostwng i 43 diwrnod. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi croesawu'r gostyngiad, ond maen nhw'n cydnabod bod angen gwella'r sefyllfa mewn meysydd eraill. Ar y cyfan, roedd amseroedd aros yng Nghymru yn llawer hirach na Lloegr mewn saith o'r 11 categori. Roedd unigolion yn disgwyl tua deufis yn fwy am driniaeth cataract a hernia yma o'i gymharu â Lloegr yn 2015/16. Roedd cleifion yn aros 11 diwrnod yn ychwanegol am lawdriniaethau ar y stumog, bron i bythefnos yn fwy am ddiagnosis niwmonia ac wyth diwrnod ychwanegol am ddiagnosis o glefyd ar y galon yng Nghymru. Yn ogystal, roedd cynnydd o 20% yn yr amser aros am lawdriniaethau ar y galon nad oedd yn cynnwys llawdriniaethau dargyfeiriol, o'i gymharu â 2014/15. Prin oedd y newid yn yr oedi cyn cael diagnosis canser neu anaf i'r pen, ac roedd yr amser aros ar gyfer llawdriniaeth ddargyfeiriol ar y galon a llawdriniaeth ar yr arennau yn fyrrach yng Nghymru nag yn Lloegr. Dywedodd llefarydd y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig ar iechyd, Angela Burns AC, bod y ffigyrau yn "sgandal" ond "nid yn annisgwyl", a bod yr oedi yn achosi "poen a dioddefaint" i gleifion. Galwodd ar yr ysgrifennydd iechyd i gyflwyno "strategaeth bendant a dyfeisgar sy'n cael ei harwain gan dargedau" i wella'r gwasanaeth iechyd. Yn ôl llefarydd Plaid Cymru ar iechyd, Rhun ap Iorwerth, "hunanfodlonrwydd" yw ymateb Llafur yw'r oedi i gleifion. Dywedodd bod amseroedd aros wedi gwella ym maes llawdriniaeth ar y galon, sy'n dangos "bod taclo amseroedd aros yn bosib os oes awydd i wneud hynny". Dywedodd llefarydd ar ran Llywodraeth Cymru bod nifer yr unigolion ar draws y wlad sy'n disgwyl dros naw mis am driniaeth wedi gostwng 20% yn 2016. "Rydyn ni'n falch o weld gwelliant mawr mewn amseroedd aros am lawdriniaeth ddargyfeiriol ar y galon, a'r gwelliannau mewn meysydd eraill, gan gynnwys llawdriniaeth cataract a thrawsblannu arennau," meddai'r llefarydd. "Rydyn ni'n cydnabod bod angen gwella rhai ardaloedd ymhellach, ac rydyn ni wedi lansio rhaglen gofal i wella profiad cleifion a darparu dull strategol a chynaliadwy ar gyfer gofal, sydd wedi'i gynllunio yng Nghymru." "Bydd hyn yn cefnogi newid effeithiol i wasanaethau ar draws nifer o arbenigeddau allweddol, gan gynnwys rhai orthopedig, offthalmoleg, ENT a wroleg." Amseroedd aros am lawdriniaeth: Amseroedd aros am ddiagnosis: Ffynonellau: Ystadegau Cyfnodau Ysbytai 2015/16 / Cronfa Ddata Cyfnodau Gofal Cymru Amseroedd aros am lawdriniaeth: Amseroedd aros am ddiagnosis: Ffynonellau: Ystadegau Cyfnodau Ysbytai 2015/16 / NHS Digital

Summary: Mae amseroedd aros yn parhau'n hirach o fewn y Gwasanaeth Iechyd Gwladol yng Nghymru o'i gymharu â Lloegr yn y categorïau allweddol ar gyfer diagnosis a thriniaethau.


The exercise follows a number of recent attacks in London and Manchester. Gardaí responded to three potential scenarios - stabbings, hostage-taking and a car being driven at pedestrians - echoing real-life events in London. Irish officers are not routinely armed but it has been announced that 10 new armed-support units are being set up. According to Irish broadcaster RTÉ, the new units will be established in towns and cities outside Dublin to deal with the threat from terrorism and organised crime. Gardaí also said that it has increased its armed-response capability in Dublin by a third to deal with the threat of gang warfare and potential terrorism. The head of the force, Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan, said 24-hour armed police cover will be available across the Republic of Ireland from the end of the year. She was speaking in Dublin as her officers practiced their response to dealing with multiple attacks. Commissioner O'Sullivan added: "We're measuring all the response times so I'm very confident that we have the response capability. "I'm very confident, as we saw simulated here today, that officers, including our uniform members, know precisely what to do if something does happen." The training exercise involved members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit and the Armed Support Unit. Staff from Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) also played a part as one of the simulated attacks involved a car being driven at a pedestrian at Spencer Dock rail station. Two actors, armed with a knife and gun, simulated stabbing and attacking passers-by and commuters at the train station before taking hostages. In the exercise, Irish police simulated arresting one of the attackers and shooting the other one dead. The training exercise had been planned since April and followed a series of similar exercises involving other emergency services, including ambulance and fire-fighting staff.

Summary: A counter-terrorism training exercise has taken place in Dublin to test the responsiveness of Gardaí (Irish police) in the event of a real attack.


FW Capital, a subsidiary of Finance Wales, wants to manage part of a Â£400m fund for firms in the north of England. Plaid Cymru's Shadow Economy Secretary Adam Price was critical, claiming it could boost Welsh companies' rivals. But FW Capital said any profit it makes in England would help cover Finance Wales's overheads back in Wales. The firm has had a team of fund managers operating from offices in the north west and north east of England since 2010. Finance Wales said its board and management in Cardiff were fully aware of FW Capital's decision to bid for a slice of the Northern Powerhouse work, for which it has been shortlisted. Mr Price said it was "perplexing to say the least that this practice [of work outside Wales] is continuing", following a Welsh Government review in 2013. "The whole purpose of creating this lever, this additional bit of institutional fire power, is to give Welsh businesses a competitive advantage," he added. "If you're doing the same on the other side of the border you're potentially negating your work in Wales." The 2013 review by business expert Prof Dylan Jones-Evans questioned whether Finance Wales was doing enough to help the Welsh economy, and recommended the creation of a development bank. Ministers have pledged to set one up, and Finance Wales has submitted plans. Despite Prof Jones-Evans's criticism, the assembly's finance committee approved FW Capital's work in England in a separate report in 2014, saying Wales benefited from the profit it generated. Finance Wales chief executive Giles Thorley said the group's priority "is and will always be supporting businesses in Wales". He said FW Capital was run "on a profitable basis by local fund managers" and "brings valuable management fees to the Finance Wales Group making a sizeable contribution to central overheads in Wales". "We're looking forward to working with Welsh Government on the plans to become a Development Bank for Wales," he said. "Our focus remains on helping businesses in Wales to grow and succeed," Mr Thorley said.

Summary: A Welsh government-owned investment company has defended a decision to compete for business as part of England's Northern Powerhouse.


Newspaper L'Equipe reported that the pair, along with winger Juan Imhoff, tested positive for corticosteroids before playing in June's Top 14 final. Racing say the case relates to "treatment by an authorised channel". They added: "We're on the side of law, ethics and love of a clean sport." The statement came after Carter and Rokocoko's agent told the New Zealand Herald he had assurances "all the documents around TUEs were in place". TUEs allow sportspeople to take prescribed medicines - which are otherwise be banned for their performance-enhancing properties - if there is a medical need. "As far as I know today, there was no request [for TUEs] made ahead of time, but people are allowed to regularise these things after the event," French Sports Minister Patrick Kanner said on France Info radio. Fly-half Carter, 34, and winger Rokocoko, 33, scored 20 points between them as Racing Metro beat Toulon 29-21 in Barcelona. Argentine wing Imhoff, who has scored 21 tries in 35 Tests, was also part of the starting line-up at the Nou Camp. Carter, man of the match in the Top 14 final, played 112 Tests for New Zealand and was part of the All Blacks side which won the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. Rokocoko scored 46 tries in 68 Tests between 2003 and 2010.

Summary: French side Racing 92 say former All Blacks Dan Carter and Joe Rokocoko did not have therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) for "anomalous" drugs tests but insist the players have not done wrong.


The soap star confirmed her living situation on Twitter, saying that she's had a tough year and had "lost" her home. "I have the love of my kids and a few good friends," she said. She last appeared in the BBC One soap in 2010, playing the role of Sam Mitchell. Ms Westbrook says she spoke out because someone was trying to sell a story about it to a magazine. The 41-year-old first appeared on Albert Square in 1990 but left in 1996. She had a brief second stint in the show between 1999 and 2000. In 2002, she was replaced in the role by another actress, Kim Medcalf, who left EastEnders in 2005. Ms Westbrook then returned to the role in 2009. Ms Westbrook has previously dealt with cocaine addiction. She was one of the contestants in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2003 but left the competition because she feared it was interfering with her recovery. "I was living hour to hour in a world of hurt and thought, 'I've got to go to an AA meeting and centre myself'," she said in a later interview. Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Summary: Danniella Westbrook, who is best known for her role in EastEnders, has confirmed she is homeless, living in "sheltered housing".


Members of the exporters' group Opec, together with some other oil producers, are meeting in Qatar on Sunday to discuss freezing output. They want to push up the price of crude oil, which is less than half what it was in June 2014 In previous episodes of falling prices, Opec has been much quicker to respond, often cutting output. The agenda for the meeting in Doha, the capital of Qatar, is a freeze in production. No cuts in other words, just a commitment to no more increases. But even that possibility has given some support in recent weeks to the price of oil. The low it reached earlier this year was about $27 a barrel for Brent crude oil, one of the leading international market prices. This week it has been very close to $45. That is to a large extent due to traders considering the possibility that some oil producers are close to taking some sort of action to push prices higher. It's worth emphasising that even at current levels the price of oil is far below where it was as recently as June 2014 - when it reached $115. The fall has hurt many oil producing countries. Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund said it had damaged financial stability and the government finances in many of them. The meeting is not formally an Opec event, though all or very nearly all the group's members will be represented. There will also be some non-members, notably Russia. The decision to hold this meeting, with a rather unusual group of attendees, reflects the oil exporters' persistent concerns about the level of prices and a feeling that any action needs to involve more than just the members of Opec. Two of the world's leading producers are not going to be there: the US and China. Both countries have large oil production industries, but they use nearly all of it themselves, and have to import extra to meet their own needs. Their economies overall tend to benefit from cheaper oil so they don't have a shared interest with those who will be turning up in Doha. Still, there is more than enough oil production that will be represented there to make a substantial difference to the global market if the participants chose to take strong action. What many oil analysts say, however, is that they aren't talking about action that is going to achieve much. In the past, Opec has often managed to agree and deliver cuts in production. This time all that's on the table is a potential agreement to refrain from further increases. Among the countries attending there is certainly a good deal of support for the idea. But one important player, an Opec member, is determined to increase its production: Iran. As the country emerges from western sanctions, the Iranian government wants to regain the share of the market that it lost as a result of those restrictions on its international sales. Iran is not even sending its oil minister Bijan Zanganeh to the meeting, although another senior official is expected

Summary: The world's leading oil exporters could be finally about to take action following the fall in prices.


The victim, 20, was found at a house in Crawley after paramedics were called about 03:00 BST. He was found in Spencers Road, having sustained stab wound to the abdomen, and died a shortly afterwards in hospital. Two men aged 24 and 22 and two 20-year-old men, all from Crawley, were detained and are in custody. A police guard has been set up in Spencers Road and officers are speaking to residents in the area following the death of the man, who came from Mayfield.

Summary: Four people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was found with serious injuries.


The match will be played at Bangor University Stadium (14:30 GMT). The other semi-final sees Caernarfon Town of the Cymru Alliance play Welsh Premier outfit Bala Town at The Corbett Sports Stadium in Rhyl (17:15 GMT). TNS - champions for the past three years - are the only team left in the tournament who have won it before.

Summary: Holders The New Saints (TNS) will have to travel to Bangor for their Welsh Cup semi-final against Gap Connah's Quay on 1 April.


Mr Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, made the claim in the Independent and later told BBC Radio 4 it was "accurate" - but would not reveal who made the remark. He told the newspaper it happened during a 2012 meeting on the Budget. Culture Secretary Sajid Javid denied the claim, saying: "No-one said it." "If they think someone said it... they should come clean and say who said it. The reality is no-one said it so the only conclusion is that they must be making this up," he told Radio 4's World at One. Responding on the same programme, Mr Alexander said: "I've said what I've said. It is an accurate reflection of a comment that was made." Chris Mason, political correspondent For months, if not years, the two coalition partners, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, have talked up the lists they were each keeping of what they saw as the bonkers ideas they had stopped the other lot doing, or their brilliant schemes the other side had thwarted. David Cameron called it his "little black book". Today, senior Lib Dem Danny Alexander appears to be trying to cash in one of his. His reporting of a private conversation is potent because it plays at the prejudice about the Tories they are most scared of - being seen as the party of the rich. But his suggestion is hugely weakened by having no proof of the conversation and not being willing to name which Conservative said what he accuses them of. It means the Tories can accuse him of making it up, something he insists he isn't. The 2012 Budget - the coalition's third - contained an announcement on increasing the personal allowance to Â£9,205 in April 2013. Mr Alexander told the newspaper David Cameron and George Osborne were guilty of "breathtaking hypocrisy" for claiming credit for this increase, which the Lib Dems say they had to force Tory ministers to accept. "In March 2012 when the economy was still in the very early stages of recovery we wanted to do a very big increase in the personal allowance to put a lot of money back into folk's pockets," he said. "The Tories' priority at the time was the top rate of tax. "I remember one meeting with a group of senior Conservatives and one of them - I'm not going to say who - said 'Listen, you take care of the workers and we'll take care of the bosses'. "That was said across the table in one of the meetings where we were discussing the forward policy of the government. That really spelt out where their priorities lay." Pushed on the claim on Radio 4, Mr Alexander insisted he would not reveal who had made the remark but said he was using it to make a wider point about the "very different" attitudes between the Lib Dems and the Tories. When told Downing Street had dismissed the claims, he said: "They can say what they like. "I remember what was said and I remember the nervous laughter from the

Summary: Danny Alexander has claimed he heard a senior Tory tell a Lib Dem colleague: "You take care of the workers and we'll take care of the bosses."


The ICM survey found 34% rated the Tory leader and 23% his Labour rival. UKIP leader Nigel Farage was preferred by 8% and Lib Dem Nick Clegg 5% - although 21% answered "none of them". Prof Roger Scully of Cardiff University said if Mr Miliband was behind Mr Cameron in such a "Labour bastion" as Wales, he could struggle elsewhere. However, he added: "Margaret Thatcher won an election in 1979, despite being generally behind James Callaghan in opinion ratings," referring to the first of four consecutive Conservative victories over Labour. People were asked to disregard their own party preferences when naming the leader they thought would make the best prime minister. Support for further devolution of power to the assembly fell to 40%, from 49% in September. Around one third of those questioned - 33% - said the assembly had sufficient powers, up by 7 percentage points. Four percent said it should have fewer powers - up 2 points - with 13% wanting to scrap the assembly altogether - up 1. Support for independence had doubled from 3% to 6%. "There is a divide now between those who are reasonably happy with things as they are, and the somewhat larger group who would like things to go somewhat further, but not as far as independence," Prof Scully said. Asked to pick which institution they thought was most likely to improve things for themselves and their family, 38% chose the assembly, 26% the Westminster Parliament, 20% their local council and 6% the European Union. Prof Scully said this showed "a sort of broad, residual goodwill" towards the assembly. As for Europe, nearly two-thirds - 63% - said they would prefer the UK to stay in the European Union, with 33% wanting to leave. On university tuition fees subsidised by the Welsh government, nearly two-thirds of those polled backed support for students attending any UK university, while 37% said they should only be supported to study at Welsh universities. BBC Wales' education correspondent Arwyn Jones said: "It's not hugely surprising that so many people in Wales are in favour of the Welsh government's tuition fee grant. "It's the most generous offer to students of any part of the UK. "The main opposition to the policy comes not from the public, but from the universities in Wales and opposition parties in the assembly. "They say that over Â£90m is "lost" to them every time a student from Wales goes to study in England. "Last week, a report by the independent Higher Education Policy Institute disagreed with that view. "It pointed out that "arguing that the main problem is that institutions are losing money assumes it was theirs to lose in the first place and that they have first claim on the sums at stake. That is contestable. "There is a review of the policy at the moment, but it won't report back for another year. "One model being considered is that only students who choose to study in Wales would get the grant - our poll suggests that 37% of people in Wales would support

Summary: More Welsh voters think David Cameron would be a better prime minister than Ed Miliband, according to a new poll for BBC Wales.


Mr Berezovsky, 67, was found on the bathroom floor of his Ascot home last year with a ligature around his neck. Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford returned an open verdict, following two days of "contradictory" evidence. He said he could not prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the businessman either took his own life or was unlawfully killed. In 2012, the former Kremlin insider lost a Â£3bn ($4.7bn) damages claim against Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich. By Richard GalpinBBC News, World Affairs reporter The evidence presented to the inquest over the past two days by family, friends, doctors, and others who knew Mr Berezovsky had been dominated by one theme. He had been suffering from depression ever since he had lost a critical court case two years ago in which he tried to sue Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea football club for Â£3bn. His depression deepened when his former partner sought financial compensation following their separation. Mr Berezovsky was apparently a broken man who had lost all his money and had openly discussed committing suicide. Mr Berezovsky certainly had many enemies - not least, his family said, the Russian government. The tycoon amassed a fortune in the 1990s following the privatisation of state assets after the collapse of Soviet communism. In summing up at Windsor Guildhall, Mr Bedford said: "I am not saying Mr Berezovsky took his own life, I am not saying Mr Berezovsky was unlawfully killed. "What I am saying is that the burden of proof sets such a high standard it is impossible for me to say." Earlier the court heard a detailed discussion about the knots tied in the scarf that was used as a ligature in Mr Berezovsky's death. Home Office pathologist, Dr Simon Poole, who carried out a post-mortem examination, said there was nothing to indicate any other people were involved. But Professor Bernd Brinkmann, who deals with hanging and asphyxiation cases, said the marks on Mr Berezovsky's neck could not have come from hanging. He said they were "far away from the typical inverse 'V' shape" usually seen, whilst the congestion to his face was also not consistent with hanging. He said he believed the businessman was strangled by someone else and then hanged from the shower rail in the bathroom.

Summary: A coroner has recorded an open verdict at the inquest into the death of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky.


The soldier, who has not been named, died after the device detonated in Ayn Issa, north of the IS stronghold Raqqa. It is the first such death since US special forces deployed in Syria in October 2015. Meanwhile at least 32 people have been killed in intense Syrian air strikes on rebel-held east Aleppo, monitors say. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors casualties, said the attack was one of the heaviest since Syrian forces resumed an offensive on the east earlier this month. A statement from the anti-IS US-led coalition said the serviceman died on Thursday from wounds sustained in the blast. Coalition commander Lt Gen Stephen Townsend called the soldier a "hero" and praised those he said were protecting his country from IS's "hateful and brutal ideology". "On this Thanksgiving, please be thankful that there are service members willing to take up the fight to protect our homeland," he said. US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said the soldier's death was a "painful reminder of the dangers our men and women in uniform face around the world to keep us safe". About 300 US special forces personnel have been deployed in Syria to advise an anti-IS alliance of Arab, Kurdish and other fighters, and improve the coalition's targeting of air strikes. Meanwhile, the Syrian government has intensified its offensive on east Aleppo, monitors and activists say. "There was an escalation in the evening, with successive bombardments," SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency, adding that many people were trapped under rubble. Five children were reported to be among the dead. Syrian forces stepped up ground and air attacks on eastern Aleppo in November following a three-week moratorium. Once Syria's commercial and industrial hub, Aleppo has been divided roughly in two since 2012, with the government controlling the west and rebels the east. In late September, two weeks after encircling the east and reimposing a siege on its estimated 275,000 residents, the army launched an all-out assault to take full control of the city. Rebels launched a counter-attack in an attempt to break the siege in late October. But their progress slowed after early gains.

Summary: A US serviceman has been killed by an improvised explosive device while fighting against so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria, officials say.


Here we highlight some of the stories that readers enjoyed the most during the course of the year. No year could pass without a major product launch and this year's most read was the announcement in September that Apple was entering the crowded wearable market with a smart watch of its own. Every year could be described as the year of the hack but 2014 saw some pretty significant ones, not least the Heartbleed bug which put security experts into a tailspin in April. Meanwhile one of the most read stories of the year was also one of our last (of the year, not ever I hope). Prof Stephen Hawking's assessment of artificial intelligence offers a tantalising glimpse into what we might be reading more about next year - the endless rise of the intelligent machine. January: 'Super-rare' Nintendo games hits eBay Fans of old video games were queuing up to get their hands on a copy of Nintendo World Championships, one of only 116 copies made as part of a special event in 1990. A first bid of $4,999 (Â£3,000) set the tone for the eBay auction. Even though the cartridge was in poor condition, its rarity - designed for a competition and never put on general sale - meant it would be something of a holy grail for keen collectors, according to gaming experts. The game eventually sold to a bidder for over $99,0000 - although the winning bidder later backed out. February: Flappy Bird creator removes game from app stores The game theme continued into February when everyone was talking about the new gaming sensation - Flappy Bird. Seen as a natural successor to Angry Birds, it proved short-lived when its Vietnamese creator Dong Nguyen announced that he was removing the game from online stores. Many questioned whether the real reason was because he may have faced legal action from Nintendo as the main characters resembled those in Super Mario Bros. By the time it was withdrawn the game had been downloaded more than 50 million times, making it the most popular game of the year. For those who had it installed on their phones, it put an immediate premium on the device with people selling handsets on eBay for $1,000 until the online auction site put an end to such trades. March: Thousands make #nomakeupselfie donation error Before the ice bucket challenge took hold this summer, another charity-raising craze hit social media in the spring - taking a self portrait wearing no make-up. Once the picture was posted on social media, users were asked to donate to Cancer Research UK. But unfortunately not all of the funds raised by the stunt went to the intended cause. The BBC discovered that thousands of pounds were accidentally donated to Unicef instead of Cancer Research UK, as people sent money by texting DONATE rather than BEAT. Unicef told the BBC that over Â£18,000 had been identified as being accidentally pledged to it and that it was working with Cancer Research to transfer the money. April: Heartbleed Bug: Tech firms urge password

Summary: Privacy, bugs and naked selfies - just part of a day's work for the BBC technology team in 2014.


The Chinese navy seized the US underwater research vessel in the South China Sea on Thursday, the US alleges. The incident took place just as the USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, was about to retrieve it. The device, dubbed an "ocean glider", was used to test water salinity and temperature, officials say. The data was part of an unclassified programme to map underwater channels, Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis told reporters. "It was taken" by China, Capt Davis said during a press briefing on Friday. "The UUV [unmanned underwater vehicle] was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea," he added. "It's a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water - that it was US property." The Chinese seizure of a US navy drone only serves to increase uncertainty and tension between the US and China, coming in the same week as a US think tank published satellite images of anti-aircraft missiles on China's artificial islands in the South China Seas and in the aftermath of remarks from US President-elect Donald Trump criticising China for building what he called a "massive fortress" in the region. Despite previous statements that China had no intention of militarising the islands, the Chinese Defence Ministry defended what it described as "necessary military facilities" which it called "proper and legitimate". Since Mr Trump questioned the so-called "One China" policy which Beijing describes as the 'political bedrock' of the US China relationship, China has also mounted fighter exercises over the Taiwan Strait. The Obama administration has reaffirmed what it called its "unwavering commitment" to the "One China" policy but the seizure of a US navy drone may be Beijing's way of sending a message to the incoming administration that it too has ways of disrupting expectations and upsetting the status quo. The encounter occurred in the South China Sea about 50 miles (80km) northwest of Subic Bay, Philippines, the US says. "The Chinese navy ship ASR-510, a Dalang III-class ship, approached within 500 yards of the Bowditch, launched a small boat, and seized the UUV," the Pentagon said in a statement. The Bowditch made radio contact with the Chinese ship to demand its immediate return but were "ignored". "This is not the sort of conduct we expect from professional navies," Capt Davis added. The seizure will likely add to US concerns about the growing military posture taken by China in the South China Sea. A US think tank reported this week that aerial imagery shows that China has installed weaponry along seven artificial islands they have built at sea, despite US protests. In November 2015, two US B-52 bomber planes flew over the man-made islands, known as the Spratly Islands. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said the device was a "sovereign immune vessel of the United States" and demanded its immediate return from China. Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, called the seizure "a remarkably brazen violation of international law". Senior Republican Senator John McCain said the US should

Summary: The US has issued a formal request to China to deliver an unmanned underwater drone that was seized in international waters, US officials say.


Ceredigion council unanimously voted to impose the ban following concerns over the impact on land, wildlife and farm life. The move was proposed by councillor Mark Strong and seconded by councillor Catrin Miles. In October 2013, the Welsh government called on councils to make a stand, stopping short of an outright ban.

Summary: Releasing Chinese and air lanterns on council land and beaches in Ceredigion has been banned.


Media reports put the length of the traffic jam in the north-western Tver region at up to 200km (124 miles) - but officials said it was about 20km. The officials said field kitchens had been operating on the M-10 motorway, although some drivers complained that supplies never reached them. After three days of chaos, traffic was reportedly returning to normal. The motorway began clogging up in the early hours of Friday because of heavy snow and ice. "Drivers help one another and that's it: the problems are on the side of the authorities," lorry driver Sergei told Rossiya 24 TV. "There are no petrol tankers, no water, nothing, we are just stuck here," he added. Another driver was quoted in the local media as saying that he only managed to move forward one kilometre on Sunday and was feeling cold in freezing temperatures. The Russian authorities said late on Sunday that they had managed to unblock the traffic jam and vehicles on M-10 were now moving at 90km/h (55mph).

Summary: Heavy snowfall has created a huge traffic jam on a major motorway in Russia, trapping thousands of vehicles.


The Californian rock band were performing when four Islamist militants stormed the Bataclan concert hall on 13 November, killing 89 fans there. The Bataclan has been closed since the attack and the band are playing at the city's Olympia Theatre. The raid on the concert was one of seven co-ordinated attacks across Paris, killing 130 people. Band frontman Jesse Hughes said earlier that, despite the massacre, he had not changed his pro-gun views. In an interview with French news TV news channel iTELE on Monday, Hughes spoke of the "overwhelming" support the band had received. "There's been just such an outpouring of support for us and love for us. It's overwhelming," he told presenter Laurence Ferrari. "I just don't want to let anyone down." Crowds of mourners left tributes and messages, including poems, flowers and photos of the victims at the Bataclan and various sites that were targeted across the French capital. Bands, including U2, cancelled their gigs following the attacks as a mark of respect. Ferrari went on to ask if the trauma Hughes and others experienced had changed his views on gun control, Hughes, who has previously declared his support for the right to bear arms in the US, said he believed everyone should be armed. "I think the only way that my mind has been changed is that maybe until nobody has guns everybody has to have them. "Because I don't ever want to see anything like this ever happen again and I want everyone to have the best chance to live and I saw people die that maybe could have lived,'' he said. "I wish I knew for sure if they could have had a better chance because there were some real angels, real wonderful people in that show that aren't alive today and I really wish they were.'' Concert-goers were trapped in the venue before police stormed the building, shooting one gunman dead. Eagles of Death Metal band members were unhurt but a Briton selling merchandise at the gig, was among those killed. In total, 130 people died and 350 were wounded in the attacks that took place across Paris. The band were playing in the French capital as part of a European tour but cut the tour short and returned to the US. Speaking about Tuesday's concert, Hughes told Itele: "I think that's what we really need to do is just have fun together so that we can put some of this... behind us and really leave it there so it doesn't follow us around for the rest of our lives."

Summary: Eagles of Death Metal have appeared on stage in Paris to "resume their gig" three months being attacked there.


A major upgrade is currently under way at Hawick's Wilton Lodge Park. The trees - some of which are showing signs of disease - are being removed to allow passers-by to see the new attractions planned in the area. Councillor Gordon Edgar said the works would let the park "meet its potential as a significant tourist attraction". The tree felling is part of wider work to overhaul the area which is well ahead of schedule. The majority of work is due to be completed by April next year, a year ahead of the overall project completion date of April 2018.

Summary: A council has said the removal of a number of trees from a Borders park as part of a £3.65m overhaul is "unfortunate" but "necessary".


The pair, in their 20s, became stranded in the 2.5m (8ft) vessel about 200m (665ft) off the Essex coast at 14:30 BST on Monday. Clacton RNLI said the boat, made from insulation boards, had been "held together with coat-hangers" and glue. One of the men said it had been "a successful fishing trip" before they had run into trouble. The 27-year-old, a self-employed builder from Jaywick, said the pair had caught two or three cod and some crabs before they were rescued. "The boat didn't leak," he said. "I'd do it again." The men, who were unhurt, were given safety advice and the boat was destroyed. Volunteer Joff Strutt said the pair had been fishing in the boat all weekend but had run into trouble near Jaywick when the weather turned. It was "a bit of a project that went a little pear-shaped", Mr Strutt said. The vessel, built in two days from eight sheets of board, was "not something we've ever seen before", he added. "[They] are very lucky they were spotted or things could have been a lot worse." Mr Strutt said it was vital that people only sailed using the correct equipment. "Neither of the men had lifejackets and one of them couldn't swim," he said. More on this story from BBC Radio 4's Six O'Clock News.

Summary: Two fishermen who went to sea in a homemade boat they built for £9 had to be rescued when their oars broke.


More than 1,800 cases have been recorded in recent weeks, compared to 1,695 cases for all of 2010. Five deaths have been reported so far. The mosquito that carries the dengue virus breeds in containers with clear, stagnant water. Dengue cases usually jump during and just after the rainy season, which normally lasts from June to September. Hospitals and clinics across the city have been inundated with patients, putting a strain on emergency services. News channels are showing patients sharing beds and scores of people queuing up at clinics for free fever tests. The government in Delhi has ordered 1,000 extra bed in hospitals to treat dengue patients after the suicide of a couple whose seven-year-old son died from the tropical illness after being allegedly refused treatment at a number of city hospitals. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has also ordered the setting up of "fever clinics" at hospitals to deal with the rush of patients. "There is no need to panic. I have ordered all government hospitals that they should not refuse to admit dengue patients even if they have to treat two patients on a single bed," he said. "The panic in people about the spread of dengue is leading to a huge burden on hospitals." YK Mann, director of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, told the AFP news agency that this was "the worst outbreak in the last five years and it is going to further increase as the weather remains humid". The government's latest move comes after a couple jumped to their death from a four-storey building in Delhi last week, two days after their son died of the fever. The authorities ordered a magisterial inquiry into the death after local media reported that the boy was refused admission at five private hospitals. The reports sparked outrage and anger in the city. Monsoon rains provide more breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes, who lay their eggs in stagnant water, including pots of clean water, puddles and open sewage drains.

Summary: The Indian capital, Delhi, is in the grip of the worst outbreak of dengue fever in five years, officials say.


Walsall had to play most of the game a man down after Joe Edwards' 16th-minute sending-off, but Jason McCarthy gave them the lead nine minutes later and Etheridge kept Bolton at bay. Wanderers almost took the lead after 13 minutes but Jamie Proctor's looping header from a Chris Taylor cross clipped the bar. Edwards was shown a straight red card three minutes later for elbowing Taylor as the pair jumped. However, the 10 men of Walsall went in front after 25 minutes as Bolton keeper Mark Howard flapped at Kieron Morris's free-kick, allowing McCarthy to bundle home into an empty net. The away side almost levelled two minutes later but Lewis Buxton's header was cleared off the line by Andreas Makris. And as Bolton turned the screw in the second half, Etheridge made superb saves from two close-range David Wheater headers, a 20-yard Taylor drive and Proctor's 12-yard half-volley. To compound the visitors' misery, substitute Keshi Anderson - booked for entering the field of play prematurely on his introduction - was shown a second yellow for a stoppage-time foul on Scott Laird. Reports supplied by Press Association. Match ends, Walsall 1, Bolton Wanderers 0. Second Half ends, Walsall 1, Bolton Wanderers 0. Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by James O'Connor. Attempt missed. Kieron Morris (Walsall) left footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high. Second yellow card to Keshi Anderson (Bolton Wanderers) for a bad foul. Foul by Keshi Anderson (Bolton Wanderers). Scott Laird (Walsall) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Sammy Ameobi (Bolton Wanderers) because of an injury. Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Simeon Jackson. Substitution, Walsall. Liam Kinsella replaces Erhun Oztumer. Dean Moxey (Bolton Wanderers) is shown the yellow card. Attempt blocked. Sammy Ameobi (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Mark Beevers (Bolton Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Mark Beevers (Bolton Wanderers). Erhun Oztumer (Walsall) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Substitution, Bolton Wanderers. Dean Moxey replaces Andrew Taylor. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Neil Etheridge (Walsall) because of an injury. Foul by Keshi Anderson (Bolton Wanderers). Neil Etheridge (Walsall) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Liam Trotter (Bolton Wanderers). Simeon Jackson (Walsall) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Jamie Proctor (Bolton Wanderers). Scott Laird (Walsall) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Kieron Morris. Neil Etheridge (Walsall) is shown the yellow card. Attempt missed. Zach Clough (Bolton Wanderers) left footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is just a bit too high. Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Neil Etheridge. Attempt saved. David Wheater (Bolton Wanderers) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top left corner. Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Kevin Toner. Attempt saved. Zach Clough (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the

Summary: Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge's heroics helped 10-man Walsall stun Bolton as they ended Wanderers' unbeaten start to the season with a gutsy victory.


William Smith wrote the account of the Siege of Ladysmith from 1899 to 1900. Philip Smith, from Mallams the Auctioneers, called it an "amazing document" that "takes you right through the emotions". The collection, including photos, a knife and a tin of uneaten chocolates, was bought by a phone bidder. Smith's granddaughter, from Sutton Courtney, Oxfordshire, called it an "important collection that doesn't deserve to live in a box in my attic". Cathy, who did not want her full name to be used, said: "I've been carrying this stuff around in boxes since my mother died 25 years ago. "I occasionally look at them as I move house and I thought these are very precious." Smith was a farrier sergeant in the 5th Royal Lancers. He took part in the siege at Natal, a former British colony in South Africa. On 7 November 1899 he wrote: "Yesterday evening the Manchesters lost a lot of men. "I went up on the hill this afternoon its was a awful sight, English and Boer's laying about in little heaps, one place only about 30 yards square 42 Boers lay slaughtered by scrapnel [sic]." The last entry was written on the final day of the siege on 28 February 1900. He wrote: "At last we have been watching the Boers in full retreat all this afternoon thousands & thousands of them for 4 solid hours, one continual stream of wagons, they are a bit too far out for our Naval Guns too [sic] reach them and our horses and men are too weak to go after them. "If we only had a Brigade each of Cavalry and artillery fit we could give a good parting gift." Speaking about her grandfather, Cathy said: "He was a man of his time but actually was very forward thinking and very practical. "One of the wonderful things about the letters is the tone that he uses to his father." Smith survived the war and later took over his father's china and glass repairing business in Marylebone. He died in 1939 aged 70. Philip Smith, from Mallams the Auctioneers, called the letter an "amazing document of the last year's of Queen Victoria's reign". "Some of the descriptions of fighting these Boers is extraordinary and takes you right through the emotions," he said.

Summary: A 42-page letter written by a British sergeant to his father during the Second Boer War has been sold in an Oxfordshire auction for £1,500.


Ann Barnes said Kent was in a unique position with the UK border and needed its officers now more than ever. She has written to Home Secretary Theresa May to ask for funding cuts to be deferred for a year. The government said it was taking steps to ensure law enforcement and security agencies had the resources they need. On Monday, Mrs May said security would be "intensified" at UK borders. Mrs Barnes said Kent was the gateway to Europe with ports, the Channel Tunnel, tunnels and bridges to the capital, and Dungeness nuclear power station. The police force acted as the "guardians of our borders" with 35m people travelling through the county each year via ports and the Channel Tunnel, she added. She said most were ordinary people but some were hostile, bringing in weapons or terrorist materials, and Kent needed to make sure resources were available. The force had already lost 500 officers and 720 staff under Â£60m cuts already imposed, and another Â£61m cuts could come as the police service looked at between 25% to 40% cuts over the next four years, Mrs Barnes added. Police minister Mike Penning said the government had undertaken significant work to strengthen its response to the threat from terrorism and had protected the counter-terrorism policing budget. He said counter-terrorism spending across government would continue to be protected in the current spending review. "Decisions on wider police funding will not be made until the spending review reports and the operational deployment of resources is a matter for chief constables and police and crime commissioners," he added. The government said the Border Force worked closely with the police and National Crime Agency to prevent importation of weapons and identifying suspects.

Summary: Police funding cuts in Kent should be deferred in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, the county's police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said.


In China, Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence program took on and beat the world champion of the complex game of Go, reducing him to tears. Nineteen-year-old Ke Jie described the AI computer as "perfect, flawless, without any emotions". But in airports in the UK and elsewhere last weekend tears were also being shed over computers. In this case, though, the primary emotions were frustration and rage over the chaos caused when British Airways' IT system collapsed, leaving thousands of passengers going nowhere and their baggage stuck they knew not where. What is striking about both these cases is how difficult human beings found it to explain exactly what was happening inside the brains of the computers. DeepMind's AlphaGo is largely self-taught - it was shown the basic rules of Go and then it spent time looking at millions of games and playing against itself, coming up with moves that astounded professional players and its creators. BA's computers were not so smart. The company says its problems began when there was a power surge at a data centre at Heathrow Airport in London. That shouldn't have been more than a temporary hitch - in fact one expert told me it should not have even set the lights blinking at the data centre - but it seems to have triggered a chain reaction which took out the entire system. That meant the sea of complex data about passengers, baggage and aircraft movements was effectively frozen - and it took 48 hours to unfreeze it and get the airline working again. Any major organisation is likely to have both a backup system to switch to when things go wrong and a disaster recovery plan, which should be rehearsed on a regular basis. But in British Airways' case neither appears to have worked as it should. The trade unions blame cost-cutting and the fact that BA outsourced much of its IT operation to India last year. The bosses deny that and say they are now clear what went wrong - but so far, have been unable to give an explanation that seems satisfactory to people with expertise in how data centres and major IT operations work. But what is clear is that ever more areas of our lives are dependent on vast computer systems, often now hosted in data centres owned by companies like Amazon and Microsoft. These systems have become essential to industries from banking to travel to healthcare and they are helping them become more efficient - sometimes by getting much of the work done in countries like India where costs are lower. They are also making life better in all sorts of ways - just think of how time-consuming it used to be to book a flight or apply for a place at university and how much paper was involved. But now we are beginning to find out just how helpless we feel when, for whatever reason, the computers fail. In Britain, doctors whose computers froze during the recent ransomware attack had to turn patients away. In Ukraine, there were power cuts when hackers

Summary: In the last week, we have seen the best and worst of computer technology.


The number of turbines on the Kentish Flats wind farm is being increased from 30 to 45, with the operation being co-ordinated from Ramsgate. Swedish energy company Vattenfall said six turbines had so far been installed on its site, off Herne Bay. All 15 will be switched on later this year, and it is expected they will be fully operational and exporting power to the national grid by early 2016. Matthew Green, project director, said the original 30 turbines could produce enough power for 40,000 homes. The additional 15, which are slightly larger, will be enough for another 35,000 homes. "They have larger rotors so we're able to make use of lower wind speeds to get more power," Mr Green said. Vattenfall also owns and operates the Thanet offshore wind farm.

Summary: Work to expand one of Kent's three offshore wind farms has got under way.


AnÃbal Cavaco Silva said the budget didn't treat citizens fairly, and hit some of them worse than others. The right-of-centre government has argued that the unprecedented tax increases the budget contains were necessary to meet the terms of the country's eurozone bailout. It is only the second time a Portuguese head of state has made such a move. For most Portuguese workers the tax rises that came into effect on January 1 are equivalent to more than a month's wages. President Cavaco Silva made the surprise announcement in his New Year's speech, the day after signing the budget into law. "On my initiative, the Constitutional Court will be called on to decide on the conformity of the 2013 state budget with the constitution of the republic," he said. In his speech he also said the country was in a vicious circle of austerity and recession and acknowledged that Portugal's foreign debt, now twice as high as Portugal's annual output, was unsustainable. The opposition Socialists had already questioned the validity of the tax hikes and had threatened to take them to the Constitutional Court if the president did not. Last year the court ruled against a pay cut for civil servants which forced the government to seek alternative sources of revenue.

Summary: The Portuguese president has said that he will send this year's controversial budget to the Constitutional Court.


The depth of mistrust between the two was highlighted in the interview given by Hank Paulson, the former US treasury secretary, for my recent BBC Two documentary, How China Fooled The World. The excerpts I am about to quote never made it into the film, because they weren't relevant to it. But they give a fascinating understanding of the complex relationship between Washington and Moscow. Mr Paulson was talking about the financial crisis of the autumn of 2008, and in particular the devastation being wreaked on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two huge underwriters of American mortgages - huge financial institutions that had a funny status at the time of being seen by investors to be the liability of the US government, which in legal reality were not exactly that. Here is Mr Paulson on the unfolding drama: "When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started to become unglued, and you know there were $5.4tn of securities relating to Fannie and Freddie, $1.7tn outside of the US. The Chinese were the biggest external investor holding Fannie and Freddie securities, so the Chinese were very, very concerned." Or to put it another way, the Chinese government owned $1.7tn of mortgage-backed bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it was deeply concerned it would incur huge losses on these bonds. Mr Paulson: "I was talking to them [Chinese ministers and officials] regularly because I didn't want them to dump the securities on the market and precipitate a bigger crisis. "And so when I went to Congress and asked for these emergency powers [to stabilise Fannie and Freddie], and I was getting the living daylights beaten out of me by our Congress publicly, I needed to call the Chinese regularly to explain to the Central Bank, 'listen this is our political system, this is political theatre, we will get this done'. And I didn't have quite that much certainty myself but I sure did everything I could to reassure them." In other words, China had lent so much to the US that Mr Paulson needed to do his best to persuade its government and central bank that China's investment in all this US debt would not be impaired. Now this is where we enter the territory of a geopolitical thriller. Mr Paulson: "Here I'm not going to name the senior person, but I was meeting with someoneâ€¦ This person told me that the Chinese had received a message from the Russians which was, 'Hey let's join together and sell Fannie and Freddie securities on the market.' The Chinese weren't going to do that but again, it just, it just drove home to me how vulnerable I felt until we had put Fannie and Freddie into conservatorship [the rescue plan for them, that was eventually put in place]." For me this is pretty jaw-dropping stuff - the Chinese told Hank Paulson that the Russians were suggesting a joint pact with China to drive down the price of the debt of Fannie and Freddie, and maximize the turmoil on Wall Street - presumably with a

Summary: There is a cynicism in the relationship between Russia and the US, being played out in the Crimean crisis, which is deep, rooted in history and shows that the triumph of capitalism over communism wasn't the end of the power game between these two nations.


It says some older patients miss out on vital treatment because of their age. Age discrimination in the NHS has been made illegal but the report says it may still happen when budgets are tight. Doctors should look at the overall health of a patient instead of using cut-off ages for procedures, it said. The report, Access All Ages, points out that there are valid reasons why an older patient might not be considered for surgery - because they have other health problems that increase the risk of operations, or that they themselves prefer not to go under the knife. However, the report said: "While there may be legitimate clinical reasons why an older person may not benefit from surgery, it remains the case that some patients may be missing out. "Decisions may not always be made on the basis of a comprehensive and objective assessment, but on a series of assumptions about fitness in older age." It said some doctors may have "outdated perceptions" and a "lack of awareness" about older patients and their ability to cope with surgery. It highlighted rates of breast cancer, which are at their highest in women above the age of 85. However, the highest surgery rate was in women two decades younger. Michelle Mitchell, from Age UK, said: "When it comes to people's health, their date of birth actually tells you very little. "A healthy living 80-year-old could literally run rings round someone many years younger who does not share the same good health. "Yet in the past too many medical decisions, we believe, have been made on age alone with informal 'cut-offs' imposed so that people over a certain age were denied treatment." Age discrimination by NHS hospitals was outlawed at the beginning of October in a decision that applied across England, Wales and Scotland. Patients will be able to sue if they are denied care solely because of their age. Health Minister Dan Poulter said there was "absolutely no place" for assumptions about age in the health service and that patients should receive care "that meets their healthcare needs, irrespective of their age". The NHS Confederation's chief executive Mike Farrar said the report was "worrying". He added: "We know that prejudicial attitudes against older people still pervade through society, but the NHS and its staff should close the door to such unacceptable behaviour." The president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Prof Norman Williams, said: "It is alarming to think that the treatment a patient receives may be influenced by their age. "There are multiple factors that affect treatment decisions and often valid explanations as to why older people either opt out of surgery - or are recommended non-surgical treatment alternatives. "The key is that it is a decision based on the patient rather than how old they are that matters."

Summary: Assumptions about fitness in older people should not be used to decide whether patients have surgery, according to a report by the Royal College of Surgeons and Age UK.


Giving her verdict, Judge Claire Sharp said John Atkinson did not lose his job because of his disability. Mr Atkinson was dismissed, as were all of Mr Gill's staff, in April last year. Some of the employees were later re-hired and Mr Atkinson had argued he was not given a job because he needed a hip operation. But the claim at a tribunal in Cardiff was thrown out. Ms Sharp said: "The reason that the claimant lost his job had nothing to do with his disability". "It was to do with the political situation and Mr Gill's view that it would be better to be the only MEP without any staff," she told the hearing. The tribunal had earlier heard that Mr Gill was concerned in the run up to the 2016 assembly election about the possibility that Olaf - an EU fraud body - would investigate him and his staff. The MEP wanted to avoid "cross over" between political campaigning and EU funding. Mr Gill, who was elected to the assembly and now sits as an independent AM, had wanted to stand down as an MEP but said there were a "huge catalogue" of reasons why he changed his mind. Mr Atkinson - a 67-year-old former Royal Marine from Llanpumsaint, Carmarthenshire - was a campaign manager for Mr Gill, before becoming a constituency manager after he got elected in 2014. In response to the ruling, Mr Gill said: "Employment tribunals serve a very important function in protecting workers from bad employers. I was never, and have never been, a bad employer."

Summary: A former employee of Nathan Gill has lost a claim of disability discrimination against the UKIP Wales MEP at an employment tribunal.


In the letter, the hugely popular chief minister of Tamil Nadu state says that she has "been reborn" thanks to the prayers of her supporters. The letter also urged people to vote for her party in upcoming by-elections. Critics say this could be an attempt to quell fears about the extent of her illness and mobilise her supporters. The chief minister was last seen in public on 21 September and admitted to hospital a day later. Why ailing leader has Indian state on edge Ailing Tamil Nadu chief gives up powers Initially, doctors said the 68-year-old was receiving treatment for "fever and dehydration". She was placed under observation and her diet was monitored. But since then there has been a fierce veil of secrecy around her health. Last Saturday her doctors reportedly said she had "completely recovered" and would go home "whenever she feels fit". "Due to the continuous prayers by people in Tamil Nadu, in other states and across the world, I have been reborn and I am happy to share this information with you," Ms Jayalalitha said in the letter released late Sunday. But all her political responsibilities remain with her deputy O Panneerselvam. A former film star, Ms Jayalalitha has been Tamil Nadu chief minister three times and is virtually revered in the state.

Summary: Ailing Indian politician Jayaram Jayalalitha has hinted at a recovery after months in hospital, in a letter released by her party.


Non-league Salford City, part-owned by five former Manchester United players, have already caused a huge upset by beating League Two Notts County 2-0. Following six rounds of qualifying, 32 non-league clubs remain and they are two victories away from a potential meeting with a Premier League club. You can follow all the action on BBC television, radio and online. BBC coverage highlights over the weekend include: The lowest-ranked team left in the competition are Didcot Town, who play in Southern Division One South & West - the eighth tier of English football. They host League Two side Exeter City, who lost at this stage last season to an eighth-tier team, Warrington. Bradford City, who have enjoyed remarkable cup success in recent years and beat Chelsea on their way to reaching the quarter-finals last season, travel to National League side Aldershot Town. Wigan, who won the cup in 2013, visit fellow League One side Bury, while 2008 winners Portsmouth host Macclesfield Town. Media playback is not supported on this device National League North side Worcester City will be hoping for a repeat of last season's heroics when they face League One outfit Sheffield United. At this stage of last year's competition, Worcester produced one of the season's biggest upsets as they won 2-1 at League One side Coventry City. There are six all non-league ties, meaning there will be at least six teams from outside the Football League in the second-round draw. The draw for the second round takes place on Monday, 9 November, with live coverage on BBC Two and the BBC Sport website from 19:00 GMT. The show will come live from London-based Civil Service FC, who played in the first staging of the FA Cup in 1871. Mark Chapman will be joined by former FA Cup winner Garth Crooks, who will help conduct the draw. (15:00 GMT unless stated) Saturday, 7 November AFC Wimbledon v Forest Green Rovers Altrincham v Barnsley Accrington Stanley v York City Barnet v Blackpool Barwell v Welling Burton Albion v Peterborough United Bury v Wigan Athletic Cambridge United v Basingstoke Town Coventry City v Northampton Town Crawley Town v Luton Town Crewe Alexandra v Eastleigh Dagenham & Redbridge v Morecambe Doncaster Rovers v Stalybridge Dover Athletic v Stourbridge Grimsby Town v St Albans City Hartlepool Unitedv Cheltenham Town Leyton Orient v Staines Town Mansfield Town v Oldham Athletic Millwall v AFC Fylde Northwich Victoria v Boreham Wood Plymouth Argyle v Carlisle United Portsmouth v Macclesfield Town Rochdale AFC v Swindon Town Scunthorpe United v Southend United Sheffield United v Worcester City Stevenage v Gillingham Walsall v Fleetwood Town Wealdstone v Colchester United Sunday, 8 November Didcot Town v Exeter City (12:00 GMT) Aldershot Town v Bradford City (14:00 GMT) Brackley Town v Newport County AFC (14:00 GMT) Braintree Town v Oxford United (14:00 GMT) Bristol Rovers v Chesham United (14:00 GMT) Gainsborough Trinity v Shrewsbury Town (14:00 GMT) FC Halifax v Wycombe Wanderers (14:00 GMT) Maidstone United v Yeovil Town (14:00 GMT) Whitehawk v Lincoln City (14:00 GMT) Port Vale v Maidenhead United Monday, 9

Summary: The 2015-16 FA Cup proper is already under way, with more action to be broadcast across the BBC this weekend.


Emma Way, 22, from Norfolk, was found guilty at Norwich Magistrates' Court of failing to stop after a collision and failing to report an accident. She was cleared of driving without due care and attention. Way said that following the "stupid" #bloodycyclists tweet there had been lots of "malicious messages". Magistrates heard that police only became aware of the collision on 19 May because Way, from Watton, tweeted "definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier. I have right of way - he doesn't even pay road tax!" using the hashtag #bloodycyclists. Cyclist Toby Hockley, from Norwich, suffered bruising and minor damage to his bike in the incident near the village of Rockland All Saints, Norfolk. Appearing on ITV's Daybreak programme earlier, Way said that she regretted the Twitter post but did not believe the collision was her fault. She said: "I am 22, so not generalising on 22-year-olds sometimes you do just put things and it's not actually intended. "I was quite angry at the mannerism of the cyclist on the road. My point of view is that he was on my side of the road - that's not the way you drive so I find that quite disrespectful." CTC, the national cycling charity, said the collection of evidence around cycling incidents should be more "robust". Rhia Weston, a road safety officer with the charity, said: "The only reason Emma Way was caught was because she tweeted about the incident, many other hit and runs end in no prosecution because police fail to trace the driver. "Evidence collection needs to be much more robust if hit and run drivers are to be caught, prosecuted and convicted. "CTC's Road Justice petition is calling on the police to better enforce road traffic law by thoroughly investigating all injury collisions." Way, who said she did not receive a fee for the television appearance, was sacked from her job as a trainee accountant with Norwich-based Larking Gowen after the tweet. The court heard she has now got a new job. Magistrate Martin Cliffe fined Way Â£337 and ordered her to pay Â£300 in costs. He also ordered that seven penalty points be added to her licence. Ms Weston said Way's sentence was "minimal" compared to "the maximum sentence the judges had at their disposal of Â£5000, six months custodial sentence, a discretionary driving ban and 10 penalty points". "A tougher sentence would send a clearer message that disregard for other people's wellbeing on the roads is intolerable..." Way previously described her tweet as her "biggest regret" and rated it "11 out of 10" on the stupidity scale. She told Daybreak: "I lost my job in accountancy and I've received really malicious threats and stuff off people... cyberbullying and stuff, so it has been quite bad." Way had about 200 Twitter followers when she sent the message and used to tweet daily. She has since quit the social networking site.

Summary: A motorist convicted of driving offences after tweeting about a collision with a cyclist says she has been cyber-bullied because of the post.


The 30-year-old made 243 appearances for the Canaries, and was promoted to the Premier League twice. "It's disappointing obviously, but I think the direction that the club needs to go, it's a rebuild in structure," Ruddy told BBC Radio Norfolk. "For reasons other than football, it was a decision that was made." Ruddy, whose final match for the club was their 4-0 win over QPR, continued: "The club did have the option on me, but mitigating circumstances within that contract meant that it was probably impossible for the club to uphold that. "It was nice that we were told when we were and nice that I was able to go out in this manner on Sunday." Ruddy joined Norwich from Everton in 2010, and as well as helping them reach the top flight twice, he was capped once by England in 2012. But he is one of seven out-of-contract players to leave a club that failed to achieve an instant return to the Premier League and are currently without a permanent manager. "Going back to when I was first here, Paul Lambert took what was a calculated risk, I'd say, of £250,000. "You look back on that now, it's not an awful lot of money. I'm not sure you get too much goalkeeper for £250,000 these days," said Ruddy. "I was grateful to him, to (majority shareholder) Delia Smith and (former chief executive) David McNally for allowing me to join the club, for the years after that, apart from this season and last season, have been superb. "Four of the seven years here have been in the Premier League. It's been a special time in my life. I'm only 30 years old, I'm not retiring tomorrow. "We move onto a new day, a new challenge and hopefully I've got 10 years left in me."

Summary: Norwich City goalkeeper John Ruddy was "not massively" surprised about being released by the Championship club this summer after seven years.


Karl Stefanovic wore the outfit to make a point about the sexism he said his female colleagues faced. Nobody noticed he was wearing the same blue outfit, but he said his co-presenters would never have got away with it. The profits will go to the charity White Ribbon, which campaigns to end violence against women. He sold it on Ebay with the warning that "it's a little bit stanky (sic)" and added it "may need dry cleaning ASAP". 47 people bid for the suit and the lucky winner will get free delivery, meaning they should have cash spare to give it a good clean. It was sold by the TV channel Karl works for with this description: "Karl Stefanovic wore this stunning navy Burberry suit on The TODAY Show for one whole year to make a point about sexism. You have the chance at purchasing this suit for yourself, imagine how good you'd look in it! Super comfy, super stylish, super cool". The 40-year-old, who has been a presenter and reporter for nearly two decades, has also participated in a variety of celebrity game shows in Australia, including Dancing on Ice and Hole in the Wall. When he revealed that he wore the same outfit for a year he told The Age newspaper that his co-host, Lisa Wilkinson regularly gets messages from viewers and comments in the press about her fashion choices. "Women are judged much more harshly and keenly for what they do, what they say and what they wear," said Stefanovic. "I'm judged on my interviews, my appalling sense of humour - on how I do my job, basically. Whereas women are quite often judged on what they're wearing or how their hair is." He started his experiment by wearing the suit two days in a row, without a comment. He then carried on for days and then months when he realised no-one was noticing. "Only Lisa and [Today team member Sylvia Jeffreys] know about the suit. They often remark that it's getting a bit stinky," said Stefanovic. "I'm hoping to get it into the dry cleaners at the end of the year." Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Summary: An Australian TV presenter has sold a suit he wore every day for a year for A$6500 (£3,500).


More than 200 pupils at St George's Preparatory School in Jersey were due to have a day at the beach in July. But after hearing a health department warning about skin cancer on the island, headmaster Colin Moore said the school would be organising "a less exposed alternative event". Mr Moore said "the children's health must take priority". He said the decision was made with "considerable regret". "I'm not suggesting we shouldn't go to the beach... but I think there is a big difference between taking your family to the beach and 210 or 220 children." He said the school may "resurrect" its visit to the beach in future years if adequate shading is available. The average Jersey temperature in July is 14C to 20C, compared with 11C to 19C in the UK, according to the Met Office. Too much sunshine was also blamed for the closure of an outdoor swimming pool in Cornwall because lifeguards were unable to clearly see the bottom of the pool after the weather helped create an algal bloom.

Summary: A school's annual beach day has been scrapped over concerns about the dangers of midday sunshine.


Luis Suarez scored twice, while Neymar and Andres Iniesta also scored as Barcelona moved six points clear of Real at the top of the table. BBC Sport reviews each player's performance, with BBC Radio 5 live co-commentator Chris Waddle, who was at the Bernabeu, giving his ratings out of 10.

Summary: Barcelona took the honours in the first El Clasico of the La Liga season with a dominant 4-0 win at Real Madrid on Saturday.


Jones won 95 caps for Wales and played in five Tests for the Lions across their tours of South Africa in 2009 and Australia in 2013. Sinckler has played with Jones since the Welshman's move to Quins in 2015. "When you have guys like that around you, it shows you what it takes to get to the top of the game," Sinckler said. "He [Jones] has been a massive help to me - probably changed my life, to be honest, in the way I see things. "He is a top bloke, a good man." The England forward says he can shine in New Zealand thanks to the lessons he has learned from his fellow front-rower. "Looking back now, when you are a young player, you want to play. Then you see Adam Jones come in to the club, and you are probably not going to play as much," he added. "From my first day, Adam has been unreal. He's been like a coach to me, even though he is a player. "He will be a top coach in no time at all. He's been a coach, a mentor, a father figure to me - and a headmaster when he is telling me off."

Summary: Lions and England prop Kyle Sinckler says the effect his Harlequins team-mate Adam Jones has had on him is life-changing.


Sajjad Ahmad, 37, was the driver of a Mercedes which was involved in a collision with a van between Polmont and Linlithgow on Friday evening. His death on Tuesday followed his wife, Saadia, 37, who died at the scene and their nine-year-old daughter, Ayesha, who died in hospital on Saturday. Mark Hansen, 42, the driver of a white Vauxhall van, died at the scene. The Ahmads' two sons remain in hospital. The motorway was closed between Junctions 3 and 4 southbound until 04:00 on Saturday for a police investigation. Sgt Scott Sneddon, of Police Scotland, said: "Our sincere condolences go to the Ahmad family, who have asked that their privacy be respected at this tragic time. "Our inquiries continue to establish the full circumstances surrounding this collision, and I'd like to thank the witnesses who have so far come forward. "Anyone who witnessed the collision, saw either of the vehicles shortly beforehand, or has any information about this and has not yet been in contact is urged to get in touch."

Summary: A fourth person has died following a serious crash on the M9 in West Lothian last week.


Sutton, who can play at centre-half or full-back, has made 25 appearances for Rovers this season. The 29-year-old joined the club last July following his release by League Two side Mansfield Town. Barrow are currently 17th in the National League table, six points above the relegation zone.

Summary: Barrow have signed versatile defender Ritchie Sutton on loan from National League rivals Tranmere Rovers until the end of the season.


The 32-year-old midfielder has made 395 appearances in 13 years with the Chairboys, while striker Paul Hayes, also 32, has signed a two-year deal. Marcus Bean is considering an offer of a deal until 2017 and fellow midfielder Sam Wood triggered a year's extension with his appearances this term. Alex Lynch, Gozie Ugwu, Ryan Sellers and Max Kretzschmar have been released. Meanwhile, 23-year-old defender Aaron Pierre has been offered an extension to his contract, which is currently scheduled to expire in the summer of 2017. Gareth Ainsworth's side finished 13th in League Two this season.

Summary: Wycombe Wanderers club captain Matt Bloomfield has signed a new one-year contract with the League Two club.


Daeth sylwadau Derec Llwyd Morgan yn dilyn cadarnhad bod Cronfa Leol yr ynys wedi cyrraedd eu targed o godi £325,000, a hynny dros chwe mis yn gynt na'r nod a osodwyd. Ychwanegodd prif weithredwr yr Eisteddfod, Elfed Roberts fod "brwdfrydedd a gwaith caled trigolion Môn wedi bod yn arbennig" a'u bod yn ddiolchgar i bawb sydd wedi cyfrannu. Bydd yr ŵyl yn cael ei chynnal ger Bodedern ym mis Awst ac yn costio tua £3.5m, ac mae disgwyl iddi ddenu dros 150,000 o ymwelwyr i'r ardal. Dywedodd yr Athro Morgan fod yr ymdrechion codi arian, drwy ddigwyddiadau megis gigiau, cyngherddau a nosweithiau llawen, wedi magu cenhedlaeth newydd o bobl fyddai'n parhau i fod yn weithgar. "Mae ambell ardal sydd yn dal heb godi'r swm a nodwyd iddyn nhw, ond mae rhyw 20 ardal wedi casglu mwy na'r hynny a ofynnwyd," meddai wrth BBC Cymru Fyw. "Mi ddaw 'na beth arian o'r rheiny dros yr wythnosau nesaf, a 'dan ni'n disgwyl y bydd dros £350,000 wedi'i gasglu erbyn y diwedd. Dim ond 10% o'r arian ar gyfer yr Eisteddfod yw hynny wrth gwrs, ond mae pob ceiniog yn cyfrif. "Mae gennym ni rŵan griw o bobl sydd efo'r arbenigedd yna o ran gallu codi arian at ddigwyddiadau ac elusennau. "Un o'r pethau dwi'n gobeithio fyddan nhw'n gadael ar ôl fydd gweithlu fydd yn fodlon dod at ei gilydd i drefnu pethau, byddin o bobl ifanc a chanol oed yn codi arian, a gobeithio y byddan nhw'n dal i weithio'n gymdeithasol a diwylliannol ymhell wedi i'r Eisteddfod fod yma." Ychwanegodd Elfed Roberts: "Mae'r Gronfa Leol a'r cyswllt cymunedol a chymdeithasol sy'n deillio o'r gweithgareddau'n rhan greiddiol o waith yr Eisteddfod yn lleol dros gyfnod o bron i ddwy flynedd cyn wythnos yr Eisteddfod, a'r gobaith yw y bydd yn esgor ar ragor o ddigwyddiadau Cymraeg mewn ardal yn y dyfodol ar ôl cynnal yr Eisteddfod. "Mae gallu a phrofiad pobl Môn wrth drefnu a chynnal digwyddiadau wedi bod o gymorth arbennig i ni, ac mae wedi bod yn bleser gweld cynifer o weithgareddau'n digwydd yn enw'r Eisteddfod."

Summary: Mae cadeirydd yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol ym Môn wedi dweud ei fod yn gobeithio y bydd trigolion lleol yn codi mwy o arian na'u targed gwreiddiol ar gyfer y Brifwyl eleni.


30 December 2014 Last updated at 14:11 GMT Keepers have named the female Rothschild's giraffe calf Zahra, which means 'flower' in Swahili. The 1.8m tall calf was born to mum Aiofe and dad Meru. Rothschild's are one of the world's most endangered sub-species of giraffe, with experts predicting that there are less than 1,100 left in the wild. "We're happy to report that our new, not-so-little, youngster is doing well and is already confident on her long legs," said Tim Rowlands, the curator of mammals at Chester Zoo. The zoo now has a herd of eight Rothschild's giraffes - Meru, Aoife, Dagma, Orla, Tula, Kanzi, Millie and Zahra.

Summary: Visitors to Chester Zoo are getting their first glimpse of a rare baby giraffe born just before Christmas.


People regularly playing sport stands at 15.74 million over 12 months, a rise of 1.65 million since 2005/06. Bucking the normal trend, the number of women playing sport and being active is increasing faster than men. Swimming remains the top sport overall but continues to decline, with athletics a close second and rising. Sport England's Active People Survey began in 2005/06 and measures the number of people taking part in sport across the nation, with findings published every six months. There was good news for tennis, cricket, boxing and rugby union, with increases in the numbers taking part but football and cycling experienced falls. Participation figures for lower socio-economic groups and disabled people were low and remain static. "It's good news that more women are playing sport, and driving an overall increase in the numbers," said Jennie Price, Sport England's chief executive. "It's particularly great to see This Girl Can is making a real difference. That's because we've really focused on what drives women's attitudes and behaviours. "If we're to see a further step change in the total number of people playing sport, we need to take a similar, consumer-focused approach in areas where the figures are stubbornly low, like disability and lower socio-economic groups."

Summary: An increase in the number of women playing sport has driven improved participation figures, according to the latest survey by Sport England.


Jay Brenton Liptrot, 43, was among the first on the scene of the blaze in Prestatyn in October, 2012. He gave evidence at the trial of one of the tenants, Melanie Smith, who was convicted of five murders. Mr Liptrot will appear before Prestatyn magistrates on Friday. The blaze resulted in the deaths of Lee-Ann Shiers, 20, her partner Liam Timbrell, 23, their son Charlie, 15 months, Ms Shiers' nephew Bailey, four, and niece Skye, two.

Summary: A firefighter who owned the house in which five people died in an arson attack has been summonsed to appear in court in connection with manslaughter through gross negligence.


Officer Phil O'Neill did not consider the fact he could not see Daniel Adewole an emergency situation and returned 18 minutes later. The 16-year-old, who had epilepsy, was later found unresponsive in his cell at Cookham Wood in Rochester. Asked if he thought he should have gone back sooner, Mr O'Neill said: "I do." Another officer, Sharon Bignell, told the inquest she had not unlocked Daniel's cell because the teenager "could have been hiding" and could have attacked her. The inquest, being carried out by coroner Patricia Harding, continues.

Summary: A prison officer went for a cigarette when he could not find a teenager who was supposed to be in his cell, an inquest heard.


4 November 2015 Last updated at 20:34 GMT The team working on the project at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab are making their algorithm open source so that others can use and adapt it. One of the developers, Andrew Barry, told the BBC he believed the technology could appear within commercial products within two years.

Summary: Researchers in the US are teaching high-speed drones how to avoid obstacles in their flight path with very little notice.


Hopes of reunification have been raised after talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots in Geneva this week. But a number of stumbling blocks remain, including whether any Turkish troops would stay in northern Cyprus after reunification. The island's communities have been split since 1974. Key obstacles to a deal include the return of property to tens of thousands of Cypriots who fled their homes in 1974, as well as the presence of troops. Turkey still has 30,000 troops stationed in the island's north, whose presence Greece opposes. On Friday, Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades reiterated a call for all Turkish troops to leave. Greece is thought to have about 1,000 troops stationed on the island. Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said one side demanding that the other remove its troops would rule out a mutually acceptable solution. On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had said discussions were "at a critical juncture" and that technical experts would now hold talks. The meetings are likely to begin on 18 January, with a focus on thorny security issues, reports say. Property: What should happen to the properties that Greek Cypriots had to abandon in 1974? Should they get the right to take their old homes back, or be compensated - and if so by how much? Security: How can the security of the Turkish Cypriots be guaranteed if Turkey's estimated 30,000 troops leave? Greek Cypriots see them as an occupying force, so should some stay or should Turkey retain the right to intervene? Who would act as a guarantor of the deal? The EU, of which Cyprus is already a member, or the UK, which has two military bases on the island? Power and the role of the EU: There is talk of a rotating presidency, but how would that work? And could a Turkish Cypriot president really represent the country from time-to-time at EU summits? Territory: How much more territory should Greek Cypriots gain to reflect the fact that they make up the majority of the island's population? UN peacekeeping forces estimate that 165,000 Greek Cypriots fled or were expelled from the north, and 45,000 Turkish Cypriots from the south, although the parties to the conflict say the figures are higher. The end goal is for the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to share power in a two-state federation. Any deal would have to win the support of both Cypriot communities in separate referendums. While diplomats have made positive noises on the progress being made, Mr Erdogan said that Greece and the Cypriot government "still have different expectations" from Turkey. Another obstacle, he added, was on a possible rotating presidency on Cyprus. Instead of seeing four Greek Cypriot presidencies for every one by Turkish Cypriots, Mr Erdogan said he wanted a 2:1 balance in Greece's favour instead.

Summary: Turkey's president says a full withdrawal of its forces from divided Cyprus is "out of the question" unless Greece also agrees to pull out troops.


The figure is contained in a National Audit Office report about the government's reforms to the probation system, introduced in 2014. It says high workloads have "reduced" the supervision and training that staff receive and the service they provide. The Ministry of Justice said the new probation system was "continually improving". Government changes have seen the probation service split in two, with Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) supervising low and medium-risk offenders and a new National Probation Service (NPS) taking over the supervision of high-risk offenders. The report said the NPS was "not yet operating as a truly national, sustainable" service and was under-performing in 11 of 18 target levels.. It also found CRCs were not achieving their targets in 12 of 19 measures where "robust" data were available. Two of the 21 CRCs, which are run by private and voluntary sector organisations, had Â£78,000 deducted from them in total by the Ministry of Justice for failing to meet their targets on the completion of community sentence orders. The report, which also found "severe" problems with IT systems, said "fundamental issues" needed to be resolved before the new arrangements were capable of achieving value for money. "The NPS has higher than predicted caseloads and faces a difficult further period of change if it is to play a fully effective role in the transformed and national probation service," the National Audit Office says. "Its front-line managers face increasing pressure, including dealing with higher than expected workloads, now of high-risk offenders, while assimilating a heavy influx of trainees, who will take time to become fully effective professionals." A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Major transitions in public services are always challenging but figures show the performance of the new probation system, introduced only a year ago, is continually improving. "As the report notes, the majority of offenders found that services had remained stable or improved since our reforms. Thanks to these reforms, offenders in prison for less than 12 months are now receiving support from the probation service for the very first time. "However, we are not complacent and are addressing the problems which have been identified. Public protection is our top priority and we will continue to support staff to deliver these important changes."

Summary: Some probation staff monitoring offenders in England and Wales are handling more than 70 cases at a time.


If all over-30s followed recommended guidelines on exercise, nearly 3,000 lives could be saved each year in Australia alone, say researchers. More needs to be done to warn women of inactivity, as it outweighs other risk factors such as obesity, they say. Lack of exercise is a known major risk factor for heart disease, says the British Heart Foundation. A team at the University of Queensland, Australia tracked the health of more than 30,000 women born in the 1920s, 1940s and 1970s. They found smoking had the greatest impact on women's heart disease risk below the age of 30. However, as women got older and more gave up smoking, it was overtaken by physical inactivity as the dominant influence on heart disease risk. Continuing efforts to encourage people to stop smoking were warranted, the researchers reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. But they said greater effort were needed to promote exercise, which they describe as a "Cinderella" risk factor compared with obesity. "We need a lot more effort to keep middle-aged women active and then keep them active into old age," Prof Wendy Brown, of the university's centre for research on exercise, physical activity and health, told BBC News. "If you can do at least 30 minutes and preferably 45 minutes a day, you'll see huge improvements in your health and reduce your risk of heart disease by half." According to NHS Choices, adults aged 19-64 years are recommended to do 150 minutes of weekly physical activity, or 30 minutes on five days a week. Commenting on the study, Thembi Nkala, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said physical inactivity was a known major risk factor for heart disease. "Interestingly, this study shows its dominant influence on heart disease amongst women, and suggests a greater need to promote regular physical activity amongst this group," she said. "It's important to remember that heart disease is linked to other factors such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. "It's essential to manage these too, as the more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of heart disease. "

Summary: Lack of exercise is the biggest risk factor for heart disease in women aged 30 and above, according to a study.


The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations have their spending level dictated by the Barnett formula. Under it, extra funding or cuts for England has an affect on the other nations, dependent on their population size and the powers devolved to them. Stormont's finance committee says parts of the formula could be more open. That could include requiring the Treasury to publish data upon which Barnett-related decisions are based. As an example, the committee pointed to the initial Treasury decision to classify infrastructure spending on the London Olympics as having UK-wide rather than England-only benefits. That meant there were was no so-called consequential spending for the devolved governments. The devolved nations did eventually get extra spending, but only about Â£30m rather than the Â£330m they thought they were due. Some expert witnesses suggested that an independent body, such as the Office for Budget Responsibility, should be given an oversight role. Prof Gerry Holtham, who produced a report on funding and financing in Wales, told the committee that Northern Ireland would benefit from the formula "being put on a proper statutory basis with an element of independence from Treasury introduced". The committee also said that the executive should take "pre-emptive measures" for the event that the government decides to dispense with or alter the Barnett formula. It said this could include piloting a new needs-based formula and developing a "fully considered position" on what arrangements will be in Northern Ireland's best interests.

Summary: The finance ministers of the devolved UK administrations should present joint proposals for improving the way they are funded, a Stormont committee says.


It may seem prehistoric nowadays, but the title, which is about to celebrate its 35th birthday, has had a huge influence on gaming and the wider world. It wasn't the first "schmup" - a term used to refer to old-school 2D-scrolling shooter titles. Missile Radar (1974) and Guided Missile (1977) preceded it. But it did manage to tap into the zeitgeist in a way that others had not. This was in large part because, the year before its release, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind had stormed the movie box office, stoking the public's appetite for all things alien. There was an element of luck that Space Invaders had an extraterrestrial theme. Tomohiro Nishikado, the game's developer, had originally wanted the game to feature battling tanks or planes. But he switched theme after Taito banned the use of human targets. "Space Invaders wasn't the result of a sudden flash of inspiration. The concept formed gradually," he tells the BBC. Gameplay is simple: move your tank along the bottom of the screen and press fire to shoot its cannon into the sky. Only one laser can be fired into space at a time, so the player must wait after each shot. Meanwhile, five rows of bomb-hurling invaders, jerking left to right and back again, advance down the screen, speeding up as they go. The player can take temporary cover from their fire under destructible bunkers and earns points by shooting the aliens. Occasional flying saucers provide bonus points if destroyed. If the aliens reach the bottom, the invasion is successful and the game ends. Defeating them starts another loop of attacks. The game was the first to save and display the best players' scores, helping encourage gamers to compete for the top spot. "Brick-breaking games were very successful at the time, and I wanted to create a shooting game in a similar style. Space Invaders was the result of a great deal of trial and error." Mr Nishikado was 34 when he designed Space Invaders' gameplay, artwork and sounds as a one-man project. He even built a customised computer to run the game. "Space Invaders, like all microcomputer-based games of the time, was heavily impacted by hardware limitations and slow processing speeds, so development was a struggle," he says. "The halting movement of the Space Invaders characters was the absolute best I could deliver, but it eventually grew on me." Space Invaders was initially limited to Japan. It took a few months for mania to ensue, but before long players were standing in line for hours to get a chance to play. Taito had trouble meeting demand for its arcade machines, and US company Midway spied an opportunity. It licensed the title and in 1979 launched cabinets featuring the game in the US to great success. The title also helped jump-start the console industry, which was in the doldrums. A glut of Pong clones - running versions of the bat-and-ball title - had swamped the market for home video games. Manufacturers had slashed prices in an effort to shift stock

Summary: If you have ever played a video game, you are likely to have seen Taito's Space Invaders or one of its many derivatives.


HIE along with other public bodies are to be run by a single board under Scottish government plans. The government has said services already provided in the Highlands and Islands would be protected. Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie unveiled the petition on a visit to Inverness. He and his party argue that decisions on HIE should be taken by a board based in the Highlands and Islands. In October, the Scottish government set out plans to reform Scotland's enterprise and skills agencies in a report on Phase 1 of its Enterprise and Skills Review. It has proposed setting up a new single Scotland-wide statutory board to co-ordinate the activities of HIE, Scottish Enterprise and other public bodies. HIE began as Highlands and Islands Development Board more than 50 years ago. It supports businesses and initiatives in the Highlands, Western Isles, Northern Isles, Moray and Argyll.

Summary: The Scottish Lib Dems have started a petition supporting calls for Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to keep its board.


30 November 2016 Last updated at 08:06 GMT One that has been making news because it's been hard to get hold of is the new 'Hatchimal'. It's a furry toy which hatches out of a plastic egg just like a real bird. But is it any good? We asked some Newsrounders to review it. Check out the video to hear their verdict!

Summary: Every year Christmas comes around and with it a whole bunch of new toys.