The sleepy and nondescript town of 40,000 people ringed by farms sees activity only around its bus stand. Just a couple of trains arrive at its deserted railway station every day. But this unremarkable place, 275km (170 miles) from the Indian capital, Delhi, is in news these days: it is the first town in India to offer full and cheap wi-fi coverage. A few cities in India - Bangalore, Pune, Cochin, Delhi - have some public free wi-fi hotspots, but their impact is low. From the bus stand and railway station to the streets and town market, the residents of Bhadra are now connected to the internet. I tested it along the length of the town and experienced a seamless connection. Local businessman Dalit Kumar Jain says he is pleased that he can now quickly download full-length movies on his phone and conduct business-related online money transfers. The facility is a success among the students, who no longer have to rush to the main town of Hanumangarh, 160km (100 miles) away, for online lessons, job applications and alerts. The number of training centres for job tests has gone up in Bhadra after wi-fi arrived here in July. Students of the local secondary school say they download exam test papers from the internet, and spend a lot of time on online games, and social media. For a place which had just a few internet connections a few months ago, Bhadra is a good example of how cheap and speedy wi-fi can change people's lives - 1GB of data only costs 64 rupees (98 cents; 64p) every month. Sandeep Yadav of MTS India, a Rajasthan-based company responsible for providing the facility, describes small, developing towns like Bhadra as the "nerve-centres of aspirational India". "Even the residents of small towns are now learning to use data and smart phones. A place like Bhadra accounts for 160GB of data usage every day. This is why we think that a certain amount of free bandwidth would really benefit the inhabitants." The company plans to roll out wi-fi services in 11 more small towns in the state. Shaukat Khan has a shop opposite the bus stand which is often crowded, because it sells coupons for the service. "So what if this is a small town? Around 8,500 people hailing from Bhadra work in the Middle East, which means there is a lot of demand for video calling and recharging. With so many living abroad, people look for ways to keep in touch," he says. Local resident Rabindra Yadav says even three years ago, residents often couldn't get a decent mobile phone connection, and overseas calls to a Gulf country like Muscat would cost 30 cents per minute. But youngsters in the town say that the wi-fi "revolution" is bypassing their parents and elders. "We need to do something about it. So I am saving up to buy my mother a smartphone during the upcoming Diwali festival," says 16-year-old Lakshmi.

Summary: Bhadra is an outlier in the Indian state of Rajasthan, better known for its forts and palaces and wide swathes of desert.


Maenclochog Community Council currently pays about £3,000 a year to maintain the small toilet block in the village. Residents have decided to hold a public vote throughout August on whether they should continue to do so. Nine community councils and groups currently pay for the running costs of public toilets in Pembrokeshire. Thirteen have closed in the county in the past few years as Pembrokeshire council aims to save money. Eifion Evans runs one of the shops in the village. He said: "It's a good idea because we can find out how many people want to keep the toilets going. "There was uproar in the village when it was originally suggested they might close." The toilets are popular with walkers who visit the nearby Preseli Hills. Councillor Huw George, a member of the council, said its share of council tax "doesn't allow for the payment of these toilets at the moment". But he added: "One possible way forward could be to add £7 or £10 a year to the annual precept."

Summary: People living in a north Pembrokeshire village are being asked to decide on the future of their public toilets.


Up to 15,000 riders are taking part in the Velothon Wales race through Cardiff, Newport, Torfaen, Monmouthshire and Caerphilly. There had been criticism of road closures, with claims businesses could lose thousands of pounds in trade. Velothon Wales' event director said the area had been quickly cleared. Andy Taylor said: "We can confirm that a small amount of tacks were discovered at around 9.30am on isolated sections of the route at Belmont Road in Caerleon and 10.02am at High Street/New Road in Caerphilly." Velothon rider Mark Tonkin, who travelled from Cornwall to take part in the race, said he witnessed a cyclist getting a punctured tyre from a tack. "A guy punctured on a downhill piece and he could have taken out 50 riders. They could have been in hospital," he said. Mr Tonkin said he could see why people might what to show they were "upset" about disruption the event caused. "But to throw tacks down, to endanger people's lives, is not the way to do it," he added. Cyclists and charity fundraisers from all over the UK and Europe are taking part in the event, which also includes a professional race. Earlier, race organisers said road closures meant motorists could face disruption but affected routes would be reopened on a rolling basis to ensure minimum disruption. Amateur riders are taking on either a 140km (87-mile) or 50km (31-mile) route, whilst the professionals tackle a 194km (120-mile) route taking in Caerphilly mountain and The Tumble mountain in Abergavenny. On Thursday, Velothon organisers admitted confusion over who had been consulted about the route, after Monmouth MP David Davies accused them of lying. But while some have criticised the planning of the event, others have said it will be good for the area, including Cardiff where it starts and ends. Mari Williams, of pro-cycling group Cardiff Cycling City, said: "It's great to see so much attention on cycling in Cardiff. We want Cardiff to be the best cycling city in the UK every day of the year. "A city that's good for cycling is good for business. Cycling to work boosts productivity, improves staff retention and reduces travel costs."

Summary: Cyclists taking part in a major race in south Wales were forced to carry their bikes for a time after a small amount of tacks were discovered on the route.


4 October 2016 Last updated at 10:16 BST They've have been answering your questions about the animals and the threat they're under because of the ivory trade. Hear what they have to say...

Summary: Jenny's been to meet some school children in South Africa who live near to nature reserves with elephants in.


She was performing in Verona in Italy when she spotted a woman in the audience with a tripod and camera filming her. Talking to the woman in the crowd, Adele said: "Can you stop filming me with the video camera because I'm really here in real life and you can enjoy it in real life, rather than through your camera. "Can you take your tripod down, this isn't a DVD, it's a real show and I'd really like you to enjoy my show because there's lots of people outside who couldn't come in." The encounter was filmed by another fan in the audience, who posted it on Twitter. Video courtesy of Madreeeh.

Summary: Adele has stopped a concert mid-way through to tell a fan to stop filming her.


Mark Stoneman (61) and Keaton Jenning's opening partnership of 96 helped Durham reach 180-5 from their 20 overs. Glos slumped to 6-2 and 61-6 but Jack Taylor (80) staged a fightback, scoring nearly half of his side's runs. But when Taylor was run out, Durham deservedly joined Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire in the semi-finals. Relive Durham's win over Gloucestershire as it happened Durham's victory was significantly aided by some smart fielding that led to four run outs, as seven of Gloucestershire's batsmen failed to reach double figures. But for Taylor's resilient 80 from 41 balls, which included five sixes and seven fours, the visitors could have won by a huge margin. Neither side have ever won the T20 Blast and, while Durham's bid for a first T20 crown goes on, Gloucestershire are now set for a trophyless 2016. Glamorgan host Yorkshire in the fourth quarter-final on Thursday.

Summary: Durham produced a dominant 19-run win to reach the 2016 T20 Blast Finals Day by knocking out South Group winners Gloucestershire in the quarter-finals.


Southampton's Graziano Pelle scored the only goal of the match, which Italy dominated from start to finish. Scotland offered little as an attacking force and struggled to keep possession on an unforgiving surface in Malta. The Italians adapted to that much better as they continued their preparations for Euro 2016. While Antonio Conte's side would have been expected to control the game - played in Malta because the Italians are holding a week-long training camp there ahead of Euro 2016 - the ease with which they brushed their Scottish counterparts aside should be of concern to Gordon Strachan. Pelle's goal was scant reward for their dominance but highlighted the Italians' superior quality. Daniele De Rossi sliced through the Scots team with a typically precise pass for Eder and when the ball broke off the striker to Pelle, he curled a shot inside the left-hand post of David Marshall from 19 yards. It was a deadly strike and Scotland were fortunate Italy had failed to capitalise on a string of earlier chances to bury their opponents. Indeed, Marshall was scarcely called into action after an excellent double-save as early as the seventh minute. Having pushed away an Antonio Candreva free-kick, which bounced nastily in front of him, he reacted brilliantly to keep out Emanuele Giaccherini's close-range rebound. Giaccherini was the main culprit in terms of passing up chances as he skied one shot when picked out unmarked 12 yards out and then stabbed wide after getting on the end of another pinpoint De Rossi pass. Incredibly, the Scots failed to hit the target over the entire 90 minutes, but could have had an ill-deserved equaliser with 12 minutes remaining. A slack clearance from Federico Bernardeschi fell kindly for Steven Naismith and although he was able to find Matt Ritchie, the Bournemouth forward could not wrap his left foot around the ball sufficiently and only managed to hit the side-netting. Strachan had been certain before the match his players would be motivated to play a team of Italy's quality, but for the most part the gulf in class made for a tough learning experience for Scotland. Match ends, Italy 1, Scotland 0. Second Half ends, Italy 1, Scotland 0. Giorgio Chiellini (Italy) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Oliver Burke (Scotland). Foul by Simone Zaza (Italy). Christophe Berra (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Simone Zaza (Italy). Charlie Mulgrew (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Simone Zaza (Italy). Charlie Mulgrew (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Substitution, Scotland. Craig Bryson replaces James McArthur. Substitution, Italy. Giacomo Bonaventura replaces Emanuele Giaccherini. Foul by Simone Zaza (Italy). Grant Hanley (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt missed. Matt Ritchie (Scotland) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Steven Naismith. Simone Zaza (Italy) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Charlie Mulgrew (Scotland). Andrea Barzagli (Italy) wins a free kick in the defensive

Summary: Scotland were comfortably beaten by Italy, with the only saving grace that the margin of defeat could have been greater.


Dead Sheep focuses on the events leading up to Howe's infamous 1990 resignation speech, in which he savaged his long-time boss and one-time political soulmate Margaret Thatcher. That speech - one of the first to be shown on television live from the House of Commons - was the beginning of Thatcher's downfall as prime minister. It was all the more remarkable because no one thought Howe had it in him to be Thatcher's political assassin. Least of all Thatcher herself. Howe had been at her side as her chancellor, foreign secretary and deputy prime minister since the very beginning of her reign in Downing Street. But he was often viewed as an ineffectual yes-man, and was someone she increasingly treated with impatience and disdain, in front of cabinet colleagues. The play's title comes from one of the most widely-quoted political put-downs of all time, when Labour's Dennis Healey described being attacked by Howe as like being "savaged by a dead sheep". Howe's frustration at Thatcher's increasingly strident anti-EU stance at a time when he was trying to negotiate Britain's membership of the European Exchange Rate mechanism, and his demotion to the "non-job" of deputy prime minister, was the trigger for his resignation. His resignation speech, given two weeks after he quit the cabinet, stunned the Commons into silence, as he compared himself to a cricketer who had been sent out to the crease, only to discover his bat had been smashed by the team's captain. But in an era packed with larger-than-life Conservative politicians such as Michael Heseltine, Alan Clark and Thatcher herself, the famously uncharismatic Howe is still not the obvious choice to place centre stage. "I just admire him so much because he really, really meant it. In all these films and plays I've seen he gets treated like a shifty-eyed buffoon and I was thinking 'No!,'" playwright Jonathan Maitland told BBC News after the play's opening night. "I've read his book umpteen times. He agonised over it and he really, really cared. "And it was a very difficult thing for him to do and he stood up and did the right thing for his country and his party and I just think that's incredibly heroic. He's just a hero. He's a political hero." Maitland is hoping Dead Sheep will strike a chord with fellow Howe fans. "A lot of people have nursed a secret admiration for him, because he's like Captain Mainwaring meets William Gladstone." The play focuses on Howe's relationship with the two formidable women in his life - Margaret Thatcher and his wife Elspeth. Maitland describes him as a "panda between two lionesses". "It's a personal drama. It's a love story. Two types of marriage - Geoffrey's and Elspeth's, and Geoffrey's and Margaret's. One's a traditional marriage, one's a political marriage." He admits to using a bit of dramatic licence when it comes to portraying Howe's wife, played by Jill Baker, in the Lady Macbeth mould - a key scene sees Elspeth, encouraging a hesitant Howe, played by James Wilby, to go for the jugular in his

Summary: The grey, unassuming Sir Geoffrey Howe, now Lord Howe of Aberavon, is not many people's idea of a political hero - but a new play opening in north London aims to change that.


For six months the International Space Station (ISS) will be his home. The ISS was launched back in 1998 and astronauts have been living on board ever since. It's an important place to carry out tests and research that will help future space missions to places like the Moon and Mars. Take a look at the ISS in numbers:

Summary: Major Tim Peake is getting ready to blast into space to complete his first mission.


The company agreed to pay $835m (Â£602m) - less than the $1.06bn a court in Kansas ordered it to pay in 2013. Dow was hoping the Supreme Court would overturn the ruling, but the death of Justice Scalia left it evenly spilt between conservatives and liberals. A split decision in the Supreme Court reverts to the lower court's ruling. In a statement Dow said it settled because of the "increased likelihood for unfavourable outcomes". The company said it still believed the original verdict was "fundamentally flawed," but felt settling was in the best interest of shareholders. Last year, Dow announced plans to merge with competitor DuPont in a $130bn deal.

Summary: Dow Chemical agreed to settle a class action lawsuit after determining the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made victory less likely.


The Spice Girls' Wannabe was the UK number one single for seven weeks and in February 1997, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. Two decades on, the group's influence continues to be identifiable in popular culture - and in some unexpected ways. From how TV and newspapers cover music, to the way stars brand themselves, the Spice Girls influenced many of the rules for 21st Century pop stars. Before 1996, manufactured groups were expected to obey management and music label orders. Even though the five were put together by Bob and Chris Herbert, the group soon decided to replace the father-and-son management team with Simon Fuller. And against record company advice, they also chose their first single. "If they decided they wanted to do something, then that's what was going to happen," says Wannabe's co-writer Richard "Biff" Stannard. Visual artist Liz West, a Guinness Book of Records entrant for the world's largest collection of Spice memorabilia (nearly 5,000 items), agrees. "When it was suggested to people what their first single should be, they had already chosen it," she says. Wannabe's release came the year after the battle for chart dominance between the all-male Britpop groups Blur and Oasis. Timing was ripe for an opinionated girl group, says Paul Gorman, the first writer to interview them for Music Week. "Britpop was a bunch of blokes going through their dads' record collections," he says. Wannabe's nursery-rhyme-style hypnotic chant secured a broad coalition of fans including those hard-to-get pre-teens who the music industry had previously considered as a small market. And in the following years, in the run-up to the millennium, the influence of the Spice Girls on this audience, led to the emergence of other acts aimed at a younger market. As a result, acts such as S Club 7, B*Witched, Aqua, Hanson, Steps and Billie Piper started to top the charts. Kim Glover, the manager of girlband B*Witched, who had four number one singles in the slipstream of Spice success says: "They were very different from what had gone before them. Wannabe jumped out the radio - from the very first bar, you were hooked." The single was a springboard for 80m global album sales, and the now ingrained slogan "Girl Power". Yet not everyone was convinced. Girl Power, according to Gorman, was "in many respects an empty phrase". "But it did mark a change in the way strong young British women saw themselves in the '90s and reflected the rise of ladette culture." "Half of it was a marketing man's slogan," says Liz West. "But as an 11-year-old girl, it instilled confidence in me." Glover is more positive. "I personally loved it. As a woman in the music business, it resonated with me." Many current female stars such as Adele, Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Watson have revealed they were and still are fans. Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley told last month's Radio Times that Adele had Spice Girls photos on her fridge. She sang Spice Up Your Life at her June Amsterdam gig. "Adele and other female

Summary: On 8 July 1996, a single from five unknown girls - Victoria Adams, Mel Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell - was released and made them household names around the world.


Mr Trump tweeted that the process of selecting his new cabinet and other positions was "very organised". US media say two senior members of the transition team working on national security have been forced out. Mr Trump, a property tycoon and Republican outsider, won an unexpected victory against Hillary Clinton. Outgoing President Barack Obama, on a visit to Greece, admitted he and his successor "could not be more different" but vowed to "do everything we can to support the smoothest transition possible," saying democracy depended on it. Mr Trump has already replaced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with Vice-President-elect Mike Pence as head of his transition team. Media reports say Mr Trump's son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner was behind the change. Mr Christie was New Jersey attorney general when Mr Kushner's father was tried and jailed in the state for tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering in 2004. Former Congressman and House intelligence committee chairman Mike Rogers, who was handling national security for the transition, announced on Tuesday that he was leaving. He and another member of the national security team, Matthew Freedman, were sacked, according to the New York Times. Mr Rogers is thought to have been close to Mr Christie, while Mr Freedman is said to be a protege of Paul Manafort, Mr Trump's former campaign manager who quit in August. The former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani - who has been tipped for a senior post - said presidential transitions were always a complex process, and glitches were normal. And Mr Trump himself sought to calm fears of turmoil. "Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions," he tweeted. "I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!" He said that contrary to a report in the New York Times, foreign leaders were having no problems getting through to him by phone. And he denied that he had requested security clearances for his children, in order to recruit them as advisers. He did not address whether such clearance had been sought for Mr Kushner, his son-in-law, as reported by NBC News. Mr Trump is due to be inaugurated as president on 20 January 2017. Donald Trump has spent the week since his election holed up in the Manhattan skyscraper that bears his name. He has been looking to fill key posts in his cabinet but the early indications are it is proving a less-than-straightforward task. There have already been calls for Mr Trump to rescind one of the appointments he has made - that of the former head of the right wing Breitbart website Steve Bannon as senior White House adviser. Following a day of meetings, and a reassurance from his press spokesman that he would be staying in for the evening, Mr Trump took to a New York steak house for dinner with his family last night - a break with protocol which left some reporters speculating that he might not be fully comfortable with the sort of scrutiny that comes with the presidency. "In a

Summary: US President-elect Donald Trump has defended his handling of the transition to the White House, amid reports of disarray in his team.


The International Football Association Board (Ifab) has several ideas to alter the laws of the game - supposedly to make it more attractive. They form part of a strategy document called 'Play Fair!' - but would they work, and what would be the consequences if they were implemented? BBC football analyst Pat Nevin says he welcomes the discussion - and thinks it is long overdue. "I honestly think we have had 20 or 30 years of Luddites being in charge of the game," the former Chelsea, Everton and Scotland winger told BBC Sport. "But we are now hopefully entering an era where people are willing to see if the game needs adapting, and I have to say I applaud their efforts at the moment. "For example they have finally started using video replay technology, which is something people were calling for when I was playing 25-30 years ago. "The game moves on and people find ways around the rules that are in place - I did it myself when I played. "So, I am very positive about any attempts to make the game better and my attitude generally with most of these proposals is let's give them a go to see how they work out." You can read the full Ifab strategy document here. Nevin has looked at some of the more radical suggestions in detail - this is his verdict. Ifab proposal: Two periods of 30 minutes with the clock stopped whenever the ball goes out of play. Stats from Opta show that, last season, the Premier League team whose games saw the most actual game time were Arsenal, with an average of 58.10 minutes. Crystal Palace had the least, with 52.33 minutes. Nevin: "I agree with the thinking behind scrapping 45-minute halves because the misuse of that time is a big part of the game now. "When you get towards the back end of matches, and people start making lots of substitutions for example, then you never get enough time added back on the end. "This method would mean there is no point in wasting time, because the clock is stopped anyway. Players would not bother doing it anymore. "When they suggest an hour of playing time, they have obviously got it right. People might initially think 'only an hour?' but in actual fact it is exactly the amount of time that I would expect the ball to be in play anyway." Nevin: "The change to playing time would not make any difference to players - the groups of people who this is most important to are fans, and the TV companies. "Broadcasters are the ones who will be most concerned, if they find they can no longer be certain when games are going to finish because it takes a varying amount of time to play the full 60 minutes. "From a fans' perspective, stopping time-wasting is very important and this would be a way of ensuring people are getting their money's worth when they watch games. "But you also have to consider the effect this change would have on

Summary: From 30-minute halves to dribbling straight from a free-kick, proposals have been put forward to change the game of football as we know it.


The 36-year-old made 14 appearances in the County Championship last season as Middlesex won the Division One title for the first time since 1993. "James remains a high-quality cricketer," said managing director of cricket Angus Fraser. "As a senior player he sets a wonderful example and he remains motivated." He added: "James worked as hard as anybody in helping the club win its first Championship title for 23 years." Franklin joined Middlesex in 2015 and has featured 70 times for them in all formats of the game. The left-hander played 31 Tests for New Zealand, 110 one-day internationals and 38 Twenty20 games between 2001 and 2013.

Summary: Middlesex captain James Franklin has signed a new contract, which will keep the former New Zealand all-rounder at Lord's until the end of 2018.


Officers recovered £800,000 worth of the drug during 10 searches in Belfast, Greenisland, Bangor, Newtownards and Ballywalter. Six people were arrested. Two people were also arrested in the Prato and Bologna areas of Italy. Police said those arrested were believed to be "significant members" of a crime gang. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the gang had been involved in money laundering and drugs trafficking activities. The six people arrested in Northern Ireland were four men and two women, with ages ranging from 26 years to 33 years old. They are being questioned on suspicion of the importation of cannabis and conspiracy to supply cannabis and money laundering. Three searches were carried out in the Prato and Bologna areas of Italy. The PSNI is the lead investigator in the operation, which involved officers from the Italian Carabiniere and the National Crime Agency. The officer leading the investigation, Det Insp Andy Dunlop from the PSNI's organised crime branch, said: "We believe we have established the source of a major supply of herbal cannabis trafficked into Northern Ireland. "This is a substantial multi-agency international investigation which has involved various investigative tactics and methods - resulting in these searches, seizures and arrests. "We have seized £800,000 of herbal cannabis but our enquiries lead us to believe that much more has already been sent from Italy to Northern Ireland. "In recent months, officers in organised crime branch and local districts have seized £1.2m worth of herbal cannabis as part of this operation." The senior officer said it was a "developing investigation". "We are maintaining close contact with our colleagues in the Italian Carabiniere and the National Crime Agency as well as a number of other law enforcement agencies in the UK and Ireland," he added. Police said the 'skunk' variety of cannabis could be "particularly dangerous" because it could significantly increase a user's likelihood of experiencing a psychotic episode.

Summary: Eight people have been arrested as part of an international investigation into the supply of 'skunk' cannabis into Northern Ireland.


MiHomecare had not been paying employees to travel between clients, meaning their hourly rates of pay did not comply with the legal minimum. Richie Lewis, of the Unison union, said the firm was "rectifying systemic errors" and valuing its staff. MiHomecare said it had taken steps to ensure there were no future problems. Unison said, typically, care providers do not pay their employees to travel between clients and Mr Lewis urged other companies to review pay procedures. "Home carers work long hours under increasingly difficult conditions and it is often the case that they end up out of pocket in order to provide the level of care that their clients need," he added. MiHomecare, which operates Village Home Care, employs 6,000 home care workers in England and Wales who look after 10,000 elderly, disabled and infirm people. The company, said it had completed a comprehensive review of payments for all of its care workers "to be absolutely certain that they are treated fairly and that we comply with wage legislation". "We have found some errors in calculating travel time pay and we have decided to make a one-off payment to all affected people," a spokeswoman said. "Additionally we took steps in June 2015 to ensure that this should not be an issue in future by revising some pay rates and amending care rosters."

Summary: About 100 home care workers in Swansea and Carmarthenshire are to be paid up to £2,500 each after a company breached minimum wage rules.


The spread-betting tycoon said it was "odds on" - and he urged those thinking about defecting to get in touch with him "for the sake of the country". A UKIP source has also told BBC News the party is talking to five to 10 Labour MPs about possible defection. But this was firmly denied by Labour, who accused UKIP of mischief-making. Mr Carswell officially resigned as an MP on Friday, a day after he announced he was quitting the Conservatives and would fight a subsequent by-election as a UKIP candidate because he did not believe David Cameron was "serious" about reforming Britain's relationship with Europe. The prime minister described the move as "slightly bizarre", telling reporters that Mr Carswell was one of those who wanted to leave the EU irrespective of the outcome of negotiations he was confident would lead to a better deal for Britain in Europe. "He fought as a Conservative in 2010 when we didn't have a commitment to an in-out referendum and he has left the Conservative Party at a time we do have a commitment to an in-out referendum - that is a question for him to explain rather than me." Mr Carswell's defection prompted a flurry of speculation that other Eurosceptic backbenchers would jump ship - fuelled by Mr Wheeler's revelation that he had discussed the possibility with eight of them in recent years, although he declined to name names. He told BBC News he had approached 10 Tory MPs and eight had agreed to meet him secretly for lunch at his favourite Italian restaurant in Mayfair. They did not include Mr Carswell, he revealed, adding that UKIP leader Nigel Farage had handled that defection personally, and he had not always directly asked them to defect, just inquired whether they wanted to meet Mr Farage. Asked by BBC Radio 4's Becky Milligan, if any of them had been tempted to defect, he said: "I am sure they will be tempted but the question is whether they give into that temptation." Asked about the likelihood of other defections before the general election, he said: "If I had to put money on, one way or another, before I knew the result of this by-election, I would say odds on, more likely than not but only just." MPs wanting to discuss their future should contact him in the strictest of confidence, added the former Tory donor. "For the sake of the country they should defect because we are doing the right thing for the country and the Conservative Party are doing the wrong thing," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. A senior UKIP source also told Becky Milligan that the party was talking to five to ten Labour MPs about possibly changing affiliation. The MPs in question, the source said, were "deeply unhappy with their party, and feel that people are fed up being patronised by the Labour glitterati". But Labour firmly denied any of its MPs were in talks with UKIP or considering defection. Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker said: "I'm not about to jump

Summary: Further Conservative MPs are "more likely than not" to follow Douglas Carswell to UKIP, the party's treasurer Stuart Wheeler has told the BBC.


The Fox Valley shopping centre at Stocksbridge, north Sheffield, started construction more than two years ago. It has been built on the 28-acre former Outokumpu steelworks site. The development, which features a large mural by local artist Pete McKee, was opened by the actress Joanna Lumley. McKee has also collaborated on a large bronze statue called Granddad Fox at the site. Samuel Fox founded a wireworks in Stocksbridge in 1842 and the name has been adapted by the new centre. The artworks feature umbrellas as the site was a base for their manufacture. More than 100 houses are also being built on a neighbouring site. The site close to the A616 Stocksbridge bypass has been developed by Dransfield Properties Ltd, with a further phase to be opened in September.

Summary: A £50m shopping centre has opened on the site of a former steelworks creating up to 900 jobs, according to the developers.


South Yorkshire Police inspector Stephen Ellis told how a crush started outside the stadium on 15 April 1989. He told the jury he feared someone would be killed before a gate was opened relieving the throng outside. Ninety-six fans died following the crush at the FA Cup semi-final game. Insp Ellis, who was in charge of officers meeting Liverpool fans as they arrived in Sheffield, told the inquests that at 14:30 that day it was "just a normal football match". He told the jury he had escorted a group of around 400 Liverpool supporters from Wadsley Bridge train station into Leppings Lane in time for the 15:00 kick off. But by 14:40, he noticed things had changed and it was "mayhem", the inquests at Warrington, Cheshire heard. He said: "They were running towards me, away from the turnstiles, pushing their way through, shouting, screaming "get the match delayed" that sort of comment." A group of officers on horseback tried to block access to the turnstiles, the jury heard, which was effective for a short while. At 14:46 a police Land Rover arrived in Leppings Lane, he said. Mr Ellis said he climbed on to the roof of the vehicle and shouted through a loudspeaker at fans to stop pushing. "People [were] getting crushed against the turnstiles and down Leppings Lane as far as I could see, which was maybe 400m before the road bent out of sight. Profiles of all those who died 'It was wall to wall supporters coming towards me, coming towards people in the turnstile area that were getting crushed. He said the horses were having difficulty as they had no space either. Mr Ellis told the inquests he saw a man "trying to protect his daughter". "He had got his feet up against the the wall four feet off the ground. He was pushing back with his shoulders and pushing back with his legs. "He stood up with his arms by his side, unable to move, pinned up against the wall near the turnstiles." He also saw a young fan dive under a police horse, he told the jury. "He cleared something like three metres without touching the ground and landed on his hands on the other side and then climbed up and started pushing to try and get into the turnstiles." The jury heard he was worried somebody was going to get killed or seriously injured and that even if more officers or horses had been deployed they would not have helped the situation. "It was too late; there were too many people there to have controlled by that time and still they were coming down Leppings Lane and Catchbar Lane." He told the inquests at sometime after 15:00 the crowd cleared after Gate C was opened. He told the jury: "I didn't even know this gate existed, let alone had been opened. "I didn't know where they had gone." Mr Ellis said he continued to watch for a "couple of minutes" and fans were still "diving over the turnstiles". "There was no reason for them to

Summary: Liverpool supporters at Hillsborough were "gripped by mania" and "frantic" to get into the ground as kick off approached on the day of the disaster, the jury at the new inquests has heard.


The Daycare Trust says nurseries in disadvantaged areas, where lower fees are charged, are more likely to raise childcare ratios. The charity also suggested increasing childcare ratios was risky. The government says the changes are not compulsory and it wants to improve the quality and affordability of childcare. It is due to make a further announcement on affordability soon. But it had argued that relaxing the staff to child ratios for certain age groups could enable nurseries to reduce their costs and therefore be more affordable, and has proposed allowing the ratio of staff to children aged two to three to be raised from one to four, to one to six. But the charity, which recently merged with the Family and Parenting Institute, says plans to alter ratios are likely to "exacerbate differences in quality that affect low income groups". This is because providers in most disadvantaged areas unlikely to be able to command the kind of high nursery fees that are charged in more affluent areas, it says. As a result, it argues, children from low income families are more likely to be cared for by providers who are looking after more children per member of staff. Chief executive Anand Shukla said: "The proposed changes to ratios will foster a two-tier quality system because parents can only choose the best childcare they can afford. "We know from our focus groups that parents want generous ratios. Parents on higher incomes will demand that providers stick with generous ratios, but parents on low incomes won't have that choice. "The result will be that children from low income families will be more likely to receive childcare from providers with the highest ratios and get less attention and support from staff." He added that there was a vicious circle where parents, particularly those on low incomes, found that working did not make financial sense because of the high cost of childcare. The charity's analysis of childcare costs suggests they are continuing to rise across the board. Next week it is set to give further details of how prices have risen across the board. The warning comes after the Pre-School Learning Alliance condemned the planned changes at a conference on childcare. Its chief executive Neil Leitch said: "Never in the past 12 years have I seen so much hostility towards a single initiative as this one. Why? Because we believe it entirely conflicts with the aim of putting the child first." He said a recent survey for his organisation had found that 94% of group day care providers thought the quality of their childcare would diminish if ratios were altered. "Yet, you would think that given around 70% of costs relate to staff wages, providers would be rushing out of their nursery doors jumping for joy at the prospect of increasing revenue - but it's the reverse." The Department for Education stressed that the more flexible ratios would only be possible where there were highly qualified staff. A spokesman said: "We are reforming the childcare system so that providers have more flexibility when they have highly

Summary: Plans in England to increase the child to nursery worker ratio could lead to a two-tier system, with a drop in quality in poor areas, a charity warns.


The investigation started after 43 fish were found dead in a reservoir at Woodburn near Carrickfergus, County Antrim. It happened days after 1,000 brown trout were released into the lake. NI Water said it had notified the relevant external agency, DAERA's marine and fisheries division. DAERA said it had become aware of fish dying in a number of lakes stocked by departmental officials. "It is assessing whether the equipment supplying oxygen to the fish being transported may have been faulty possibly reducing the condition of some of the fish being stocked," said a spokesman. The spokesman said brown trout were also susceptible to warm water conditions after a period of settled weather which reduced the level of dissolved oxygen. "Lakes can stratify and the top layer of water becomes deoxygenated. This can be sufficient to cause natural fish kills." Departmental officials have been on site over recent days and had seen fish jumping and being caught at Woodburn. NI Water said there was no evidence of pollution in the reservoir. "There is no impact from this incident on the final water quality leaving the treatment works," it said in a statement. "NI Water's treatment facilities at the Dorisland water treatment works has numerous on-site water parameter monitors which continually check the quality of raw water entering the works and the quality of water going into the public supply. "If anything is found that could affect the water quality, the site will automatically shut down and water will be taken from other areas to continue the supply. "All water quality testing at the Dorisland site has shown satisfactory results." The Woodburn reservoirs are close to the site of a controversial drilling operation which was capped and abandoned last year when no oil was found. The DAERA spokesman said a report of dead trees which had been replanted on the site had also been investigated. He said the young saplings were showing "typical signs of stress such as needle drop due to the recent prolonged dry spell" "At this stage we would expect mortality of around 5% and this is consistent with similar sites planted across Northern Ireland during 2017."

Summary: Officials are looking at whether faulty equipment used to transport fish contributed to the deaths of scores of trout found in public angling lakes.


About 1,000 people attended a rave at Twyford Wood near Bourne in Lincolnshire on 23 May. Police carried out an operation to close it down, which led to 21 officers and a dog being injured. Chelsea Harvey, 21, from Norfolk, admitted dangerous driving and was jailed for 12 months. Harvey, of Ashley Walk, Dereham, drove her Peugeot 206 about 350 metres (1,148ft) at speeds of up to 30mph (77km/h) with PC Rob Bentley on the bonnet, Lincoln Crown Court heard. At one point she was involved in a collision with a camper van, but continued with the officer still clinging on. PC Bentley suffered "relatively minor physical injuries" but the court heard the psychological damage had had a lasting impact. James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting, said Harvey, who had two female friends in her car, had been told to stop by PC Bentley, but instead had "jerked forward violently" knocking the officer off his feet and leaving him "spread-eagled" on the bonnet. Judge Michael Heath, passing sentence on Wednesday, told her: "If you drive as you did with a police officer on your bonnet for the distance that you did, and at the speed you did, there can only be one sentence that I can impose upon you. That is immediate custody." Jonathan Straw, defending, said Harvey works in a centre for deaf-blind people run by the charity Sense. He described her as acting in "blind panic" and added: "She is very sorry for what happened. She didn't intend to hurt anyone. She went out with two friends that day simply to enjoy a party." Harvey was also disqualified from driving for a year.

Summary: A woman drove at a police officer manning a road block and carried on for 350 metres with him "spread-eagled" on her bonnet, a court heard.


The 27-year-old left the Blues for French Top 14 side Toulon in 2014 but his contract expires in the summer. The Wales international full-back was sat in the stands at the Cardiff Arms Park as the Blues beat the Dragons 27-16 in the Welsh derby on Boxing Day. "It was great to see him and I know he was quickly back on the plane to his duties in France," Wilson said. Blues chief executive Richard Holland said earlier in December that they offered Halfpenny a deal to bring him back to Wales. Speaking after Toulon beat Scarlets in France in the European Champions Cup earlier in December, Halfpenny said he was "weighing up" his options. "Leigh's obviously got a lot of colleagues and friends from his time with the Blues at the Arms Park," Wilson continued. "Being home for Christmas I'd imagine with the derby being on his doorstep it was a natural game for him to go and watch." Halfpenny, who has won 66 caps for Wales, played for Blues for six years before his move to France two years ago. "I saw him briefly after the game and had a catch up. It's been well documented and I think everybody would like to see Leigh back in Wales," said Wilson. "Those things are very much ongoing."

Summary: Cardiff Blues head coach Danny Wilson says it would be good to see Leigh Halfpenny return to Wales


Victory in Australia's High Court was the culmination of a long battle for the Brisbane woman, twice, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer herself. In an interview with Australia's ABC, she said the pain of chemotherapy was what motivated her to begin her campaign. "I have met a lot of women with genetic cancer and if I can help them in any way stop having to have chemo and radiation therapy then I will have done my job," she told the network. Ms D'Arcy's involvement began in 2010 when the social justice practice of legal firm Maurice Blackburn took up the case on her behalf - the start of a five-year legal battle in the face of long odds. In February 2013, Justice Nicholas of the Federal Court ruled that Myriad Genetics patent was valid, as the act of isolating the gene mutation made it a human invention. Upset and unwilling to accept the verdict, Ms D'Arcy and campaign group Cancer Voices Australia, lodged an appeal. She was given hope by a landmark ruling in the US Supreme Court in June of the same year, which rejected patenting of the gene, with similar reasoning to that which would eventually prevail in Australia. But the optimism was short-lived, because in February 2014 the Full Federal Court again backed Myriad Genetics' patent in Australia. Refusing to end her campaign, she was later given permission to take the case to the country's highest court, which began hearing it in June this year. Her legal battle finally ended in success on Wednesday, when those earlier judgements were dramatically reversed in a unanimous High Court verdict against Myriad Genetics' patent. Ms D'Arcy was predictably delighted. "I screamed. I was just excited to know that we had it seven-nil our way," the 69-year-old said, adding that she expected testing to become cheaper as a result. Ms D'Arcy admitted the fight was "a David and Goliath test". "I'm only a little person, but it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." US firm Myriad Genetics had previously patented the BRCA1 gene, detection of which helps diagnose certain cancers, particularly ovarian and breast cancer. Ms D'Arcy did not carry that genetic marker for her own cancer. Myriad Genetics had argued the nucleic acid they had isolated was distinct from the DNA as found in nature, and so could be patented. But the court concluded that while human activity was required to isolate the gene, that was insufficient to make it a manufactured product. Cancer campaigners welcomed the result. Paul Grogan, head of public policy at Cancer Council Australia, admitted that the case was "more about the principle", as the BRCA1 patent itself was due to expire soon. The verdict, he said, would hopefully "provide enough clarity for lawmakers" that patents are not issued for purely diagnostic tests, "so we won't have to see them disputed in court in future". This, he hoped, would encourage new such tests, with researchers no longer having to worry about infringing a patent

Summary: Yvonne D'Arcy, who has won a landmark court case against the patenting of a cancer gene, is an Australian grandmother and has twice survived cancer.


Seven people deny conspiracy to defraud at Cardiff Crown Court after six insurance claims worth £144,000 were made between 2009 and 2011. Stephen Pegram, 49, of Blackwood, Caerphilly county, was paid £4,200 when his car was written off. Nicola Cook, 41, of Hengoed, received £5,500 in a separate injury claim. Mr Pegram said he "was shocked" to discover claims had been made for other accidents on High Street, Pengam, where he crashed in July 2009. After prosecutor Christopher Clee suggested the crash he was involved in did not happen, he said: "It was a genuine accident. "I don't know if he drove into me or if it was an accident. But it happened." Ms Cook received her money after claiming for neck and back injuries when she was a back seat passenger in a crash in Oakdale in August 2009. She told the court she needed physiotherapy afterwards, saying "it was a genuine collision". "I heard a thump on the vehicle... I was shocked." Mr Clee said all seven defendants were involved in insurance fraud following collisions "that did not happen". The case continues.

Summary: Two people accused of falsely claiming nearly £10,000 in a so-called crash for cash scheme have denied lying about accidents.


Zaha's agent told BBC Sport on Thursday that Spurs had bid £15m for the 23-year-old England international. Pardew is keen to keep the former Manchester United player and said Parish had "made his position clear". "He was our player of the year and is a fans' favourite," Pardew said of Zaha, who scored five goals last season. "Wilf came and saw me, he believed there was interest from Tottenham. I don't even know what the bid is. The chairman has made his position clear and I stand by that. That's the right thing for us." Zaha, who rejoined Palace in February 2015 for £3m just two years after a £15m move to Old Trafford, made the first of his two England appearances in 2012 but has not been picked since 2013.

Summary: Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish "put the full stop" on Tottenham's interest in winger Wilfried Zaha, according to Eagles boss Alan Pardew.


Thieves stole about 12 tonnes of lead from the roof St Mary's Church, Great Brington, Northamptonshire, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. They stripped more than 3,000 sq ft of lead from the church. Princess Diana's father, the 8th Earl Spencer, is buried at the church, which also includes the Spencer Chapel. The church is sited near the Princess's ancestral seat of Althorp, which was inherited by her brother Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, in 1992. Northamptonshire Police said it was believed the thieves broke through a gate then drove a vehicle into the churchyard, knocking over a gravestone on the way. Officers investigating the theft have asked anyone who was in the area at the time or who knows anything about the theft to contact police. Rev Sue Kipling, rector of the Spencer benefice - which includes the church of St Mary the Virgin with St John in Great Brington - said: "It's a huge loss to us. It will cost more than £40,000 to replace. "You can now see the sunlight coming into the church through the roof, although the Althorp estate has provided tarpaulin to protect the inside of the building in the short term." She said the church held a service and prayed for the thieves. The church is also connected to the first president of the US. George Washington's great-great-grandfather Lawrence Washington is buried in the chancel.

Summary: More £40,000 of lead has been stolen from a 13th Century church with links to the family of the late Princess Diana.


The firm says its oil and gas reserves will not lose value as the world adapts to rising temperatures. However, Exxon does not dispute that global warming is happening. Exxon's report was in response to a call from activist shareholders. It is the first detailed report by a major oil and gas company about the potential impact of climate change on future business prospects. Exxon shareholders As You Sow and Arjuna Capital had demanded to know what impact climate change, and subsequent global policies to slow its impact, could have on Exxon's assets and future profitability. In their appeal, they had cited reports that there would be lower demand or prices for fossil fuels in the future as a result of climate change or greater global carbon regulations. "We believe producing these assets is essential to meeting growing energy demand worldwide, and in preventing consumers - especially those in the least developed and most vulnerable economies - from themselves becoming stranded in the global pursuit of higher living standards and greater economic opportunity," Exxon said in the report. Exxon said that it expected carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels to peak by about 2030 and then begin to decline. Exxon's report came just after the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the impacts of global warming are likely to be "severe, pervasive and irreversible".

Summary: Exxon Mobil, the US's largest oil and gas company, said in a new report that world climate policies are "highly unlikely" to stop it from producing and selling fossil fuels in the near future.


The on-loan Bristol City striker fired home after a one-two with Bobby Grant. Fleetwood goalkeeper Chris Maxwell saved Michael Bostwick's penalty after Shaquile Coulthirst was fouled by Eggert Jonsson, whose second-half header sealed victory. Victory lifted Fleetwood into 19th, one point above the relegation zone.

Summary: Wes Burns scored his fifth goal in eight games as Fleetwood Town beat Peterborough to move closer to League One safety.


Although prostitution is legal in France, soliciting in public and pimping are not. The National Assembly voted 16 months ago to impose a â‚¬1,500 (Â£1,090; $1,600) fine on clients, shifting the criminal burden from prostitutes. The upper house's decision to scrap the fine will now go back to the assembly. Social affairs minister Marisol Touraine said that Monday night's vote was "absolutely unbelievable and contemptuous towards women". But Joelle Garriaud-Maylam, a conservative senator, argued that the offence of soliciting was a useful resource for the authorities. "To help these women, you first of all have to identify them." The initial move to shift penalties from prostitutes to their clients followed a Swedish law that made it a crime to buy sex but not to sell it. Supporters argued that the move would help tackle trafficking networks. A Swedish government-commissioned report suggested that the 1999 law had brought about a dramatic fall in the numbers of women working as prostitutes. But the effect of the law is not entirely clear as many prostitutes have moved off the streets and on to the internet. France has an estimated 30,000 sex workers and the interior ministry says most come from eastern Europe, Africa, China and South America. Socialists who backed France's 2013 bill to criminalise paying for sex, rather than soliciting for it, had initially hoped that the trial of former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn might influence the conservative-dominated Senate. Maud Olivier, a Socialist MP, said the trial had shone a light on the truth behind the world of escorts. "There is no choice; violence is ever present," she told Le Monde newspaper. The trial was bruising for Mr Strauss-Kahn, who endured a torrid time facing accusations of aggravated pimping, as several women gave evidence against him before dropping their case. He denied knowing the women were prostitutes. The verdict is expected in June.

Summary: France's Senate has rejected a planned 2013 law penalising people who pay for sex, and has chosen to maintain the offence of soliciting.


Neil Jackson, 35, of Penylan, Cardiff, posed as a landlord online and took £12,840 from nine people but failed to let the three-bedroom home out. He took deposits before repeatedly cancelling move-in dates claiming his son was battling cancer and had died. Jackson previously admitted fraud at Cardiff Crown Court. Andrew Kendall, prosecuting, said Jackson told his victims he needed £1,400 to secure the property and arrange a move-in date only to later claim he could not drop off the keys to Cardiff because his son was ill in Plymouth. "He'd say things like he blamed nurses for not stitching his son back properly and even told one victim his son had died," he said. Mr Kendall said the lies had a "great impact" on some victims, with one couple left homeless and another left living in a caravan. He also pressured one woman into borrowing money from friends and selling possessions so he could "reserve" the home for her. Mr Kendall said Jackson was eventually found out when some victims found news reports on him being jailed in 2012 for again using his two-year-old son to defraud £60,000. The former Tesco store manager tricked his workmates for three years, claiming he had cancer and his son had cerebral palsy. Staff donated money to pay for private treatment but he used it to fund holidays to Las Vegas and Hawaii. David Pinnell, defending, said Jackson was "genuinely remorseful" and had used the money to pay off debts to people who protected him in prison. Jailing him for two years, Recorder of Cardiff Eleri Rees, told him: "You have to understand given your track record for elaborate lies the court finds it hard to take what you're saying at face value. "Some of the victims were in precarious financial situations so the impact on them has been very serious. Others ended up living in a caravan."

Summary: A man who falsely claimed his son had died from cancer to scam would-be tenants out of thousands of pounds has been jailed for two years.


Mr Watson will stand down at the end of May having pursued three public sector careers. A former teacher and later director of education for Tayside Regional Council, Mr Watson was also employed as chief executive for both Tayside Regional and Angus councils. Mr Watson said he was "privileged" to have served the health board. He said: "I salute the hard work that staff undertake day in, day out and the way in which they have risen to the challenges of transforming services to make them better for patients, their families and carers." Mr Watson, who was appointed an OBE in 2003 and Deputy Lieutenant for Angus in 2007, said he had been convinced to apply for the chairmanship of the board by then health and wellbeing secretary Nicola Sturgeon.

Summary: The chairman of NHS Tayside is to retire after almost 50 years of work in the public sector.


The attackers entered the Ambassador Hotel on Maka al-Mukarama street after setting off a car bomb at the gates outside, witnesses said. Somalia's state news agency said two MPs were killed in the blast, with another four rescued. The al-Shabab militant group was quick to say it was behind the attack. The BBC's Somali Service reporter Ibrahim Aden in Mogadishu says the explosion is one of the largest to hit the city and the scale of destruction is huge. Somalia's state news agency Sonna said at least 50 people were hurt and that the death toll was likely to rise. It named the dead MPs as Abdullahi Jama Kabaweyne and Mohamoud Mohamed Gure. The head of the city's Amiin ambulance service has told the BBC the main Medina hospital is overcrowded. "I was the first person to reach scene. The damage was enormous," Dr Abdulkadir Andirahman Haji Aden said. "My brother and his son were among those injured. We are now in Medina hospital and it is overcrowded with wounded people. I have never seen something like this." Al-Shabab, which is battling the UN-backed government, was driven from Mogadishu in 2011 but still remains a potent threat and frequently carries out attacks in the city. The government, with the help of African Union forces, is fighting the al-Qaeda-linked group to regain control of the country. Earlier on Wednesday, the government announced it had killed Mohamed Kuno, the al-Shabab militant who led the attack on Garissa University in Kenya in April 2015 that killed 148 people. He was one of 16 al-Shabab militants - four of them senior leaders - killed in an overnight raid on their convoy in Kismayo, a port city in southern Somalia.

Summary: Gunmen have stormed a hotel in the centre of the Somali capital Mogadishu, with reports of at least 10 dead and 50 wounded.


The world's largest economy grew at an annualised rate of 3.2% in the three months to September, up from an earlier estimate of 2.9%. The figure outstrips the second quarter growth rate of 1.4%, and was above economists' estimates of 3% growth. The Commerce Department said the rate of growth was the strongest since the third quarter of 2014. The strong growth may give further impetus to the Federal Reserve to raise US interest rates when it meets in the middle of next month. A strong employment rate and steadily rising inflation may mean the the central bank is comfortable raising rates at the meeting on 13 and 14 December. The Fed hiked its overnight benchmark interest rate last December for the first time in nearly a decade. The GDP figure is a measure of the goods and services produced across the US economy. The Commerce Department said: "The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, exports, private inventory investment, and federal government spending, that were partly offset by negative contributions from residential fixed investment and state and local government spending." It said consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the US economy increased at a rate of 2.8%, compared with the initial estimate of 2.1%. But business spending on equipment fell at a steeper 4.8% rate, instead of the previously reported 2.7%.

Summary: Strong consumer spending helped the US economy to grow faster than previously estimated in the third quarter.


Mr Johnson, 57, told the Mirror on Friday that the club paid him £50,000 to keep quiet about allegations of sexual abuse by a former chief scout. In a statement, Chelsea said Mr Johnson had "suffered unacceptably". The club said a review into the case would take place, adding it had "no desire to hide any historic abuse". It said the review would examine whether it had carried out a proper investigation when the allegations first came to light and why it did not report them to the Football Association and Premier League. "We are fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all children and young people who are in our care or attending our premises. "Their welfare is of paramount importance," the club said. Mr Johnson was a member of Chelsea's first team from 1978 to 1981. He joined the club as an 11-year-old in 1970 and told the Mirror he had been groomed from the age of 13 by scout Eddie Heath. Mr Heath, who was the club's chief scout from 1968 to 1979, died before the allegations against him were made. According to the Mirror, Mr Johnson signed a confidentiality agreement in 2015 and accepted £50,000 from the club, but they did not accept blame. Chelsea said in its statement that when the settlement was reached the club's board understood it was "usual practice" to include a mutual confidentiality agreement, adding that Mr Johnson's solicitors had not objected to the clause. "More recently, against the current backdrop of wider revelations and other victims coming forward bravely to tell their story, we no longer felt it appropriate to keep the confidentiality agreement in place. It was therefore removed," the club said. The club said the decision to have a confidentiality clause had received "significant scrutiny" and it had now asked an external law firm to review this decision and make recommendations for settling claims in the future. "In advance of that, however, the board would like to make clear that, in light of what we know now about the wide-scale abuse in football clubs in the 1970s and 1980s, it now believes that the use of such a clause, while understandable, was inappropriate in this instance. "We certainly have no desire to hide any historic abuse we uncover from view. Quite the opposite." Chelsea said Mr Johnson's solicitors at the time claimed Heath had "inappropriate relationships" with other young boys and men from the club, but no names were given. The club said with the "limited information" it received it had been unable to identify any further individuals who may have been subject to abuse. It comes after former Chelsea midfielder Alan Hudson said on Facebook that it was "common knowledge that Mr Heath was a danger to us youngsters". Chelsea added it was now a "very different club" to the one it was in the 1970s. It said its safeguarding policies were robust and continually reviewed and audited by the Premier League. Meanwhile, an ex-Southampton FC employee who has been accused of abusing young boys at the

Summary: Chelsea Football Club has apologised "profusely" to former footballer Gary Johnson over sex abuse he suffered as a youth team member in the 1970s.


Photographs and videos posted on social media showed the confused animal apparently trying to get off the road after falling out the back of a lorry. The tiger had a chain around its neck and appeared to be someone's pet. The tiger was eventually recaptured, and four men were reportedly spotted bundling it back into the lorry. One video posted on Facebook showed the animal falling out of the back door of lorry that was driving down the Doha Expressway before running off. Another video published on Twitter saw the tiger later making its way past cars stuck in heavy traffic. Footage of the animal finally being recaptured was posted by the al-Watan newspaper. Twitter users said the incident took place on Tuesday morning, but this could not be confirmed. It is not clear who owns the tiger, but wealthy individuals in Qatar are believed to keep the animals as pets. Columnist Sultan Al-Qassemi tweeted: "This obsession of keeping wild animals by rich kids in the Gulf has gone too far."

Summary: Commuters on a motorway in Qatar's capital, Doha, were astonished to see an escaped tiger on the loose and walking through three lanes of traffic.


The appointment of the chairman of energy supplier SSE and engineering firm Weir Group came as the bank was formed as a public company. His deputy will be Sir Adrian Montague, who has led the bank's advisory group. The green bank is being set up with Â£3bn of public money to help firms finance early-stage renewable energy schemes. Its headquarters will be based in Edinburgh after the city beat off competition from 31 other bids. The newly formed board will begin recruiting other directors and senior executives with a view to the bank becoming fully operational this autumn, subject to state aid approval from the European Commission. The advisory group, led by 3i and Anglian Water Group chairman Sir Adrian, will be disbanded after the appointments. In addition to his roles at the Weir Group and SSE, Lord Smith of Kelvin is chairman of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games organising committee and director of Standard Bank Group. Sir Adrian was previously chairman of Friends Provident Group and British Energy Group. Mr Cable said the Green Investment Bank was a "major new innovation", vital to securing investment in the decarbonisation of the UK's energy supply. "It has found two candidates of outstanding calibre well suited to leading the bank through its important early phase," he added. Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: "This is a UK institution headquartered in Edinburgh supported by a strong team in London and the news that Lord Smith and Sir Adrian Montague have been appointed is another step towards the bank opening for business. "They bring a wealth of experience to the roles and will bring that to bear as we look to encourage private sector investment in key energy projects." Although the headquarters of the bank will be in Edinburgh, its main transaction team will be based in London.

Summary: Lord Smith of Kelvin will chair the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced.


Chief prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said police were "98% sure" that the man was Iraq-born Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly. Abdaly, 28, is believed to have died minutes after setting off a car bomb on Saturday. Two other people were hurt. Seven US FBI bomb experts are heading to Stockholm to help the investigation, Sweden's intelligence agency said. Although Abdaly was a Swedish citizen, he had been living in the UK. British police have been searching a house in Luton, north of London, where Abdaly lived. Mr Lindstrand said Swedish police were now trying to work out what the bomber's target had been before he blew himself up prematurely. "He had a bomb belt on him, he had a backpack with a bomb and he was carrying an object that has been compared to a pressure cooker. If it had all blown up at the same time, it would have been very powerful," he said. A car containing gas canisters blew up first in a busy shopping street in the area of Drottninggatan at 1700 local time (1600 GMT) followed minutes later by a explosion in a street about 300m (985ft) away that killed the bomber. Abdaly was named as the registered owner of the car. Mr Lindstrand said they believed the bomber had intended to kill "as many people as possible". "Where he was headed... we don't know," he said. "It is likely that something happened, that he made some kind of mistake [and] part of the bombs he was carrying went off and caused his death. "This was during Christmas shopping in central Stockholm and he was extremely well-equipped when it came to bomb material. It is not much of a stretch to say he was going to a place with as many people as possible." Mr Lindstrand said possible targets included the city's central train station or to Aahlens, a popular department store. In a profile on the Muslim dating website Muslima, Abdaly said he was born in Baghdad and moved to Sweden in 1992, before arriving in the UK in 2001 to study. He said he had got married in 2004 and had two young daughters. "I want to get married again, and would like to have a big family. My wife agreed to this," he wrote. Mr Lindstrand said Abdaly was completely unknown to Swedish security services before the blasts. However, he pointed out: "He didn't live in Sweden; he lived in the UK. He left Sweden maybe 10 years ago." Meanwhile, British police have been searching Abdaly's house in Luton. His wife and children are reported to live in the UK, although their exact whereabouts are not known. It has emerged that Abdaly had attended the Luton Islamic Centre but left after other members accused him of having a "distorted view" of Islam. A Swedish news agency has released an audio recording apparently made by Abdaly, in which he says oppression against Muslims in Europe will not be tolerated. He refers to drawings of the Prophet Muhammad and to the presence of foreign soldiers - including Swedes - in

Summary: A man who blew himself up in Stockholm was carrying three explosive devices and intended to kill as many people as possible, prosecutors say.


Borough councillor for Rowner and Holbrook Patrick Bergin said his motivation had shifted following the EU referendum to "managing the exit". Mr Bergin said he formally announced his decision "before anyone was aware" that UKIP leader Diane James had stepped down. He said he would continue to represent his ward as a Conservative councillor. He said: "I know that to help the people in my ward and be part of decision making and take Gosport forward, I can only do so by being an active member of a group who have the vision to take Gosport forward. "That group is the Conservatives."

Summary: A UKIP councillor in Gosport has announced he is defecting to the Conservative Party.


The tournament kicks off next month, and the national team is continuing its series of warm-up matches in preparation, but the build-up has been affected by a dispute between the players and the Scottish Football Association. The squad has refused to fulfil any media duties - including with the SFA's in-house team - or participate in any filming with the tournament's broadcast partner, Channel 4. The players have also declined to work with sponsors or participate in some mandatory Uefa media events. The Scottish FA will meet representatives of the squad on Wednesday in an attempt to negotiate an end to their dispute. In short, the squad has raised complaints over financial, commercial and equality issues. Maximum impact, with Euro 2017 approaching, but also because qualifying for the finals of a major tournament brought the matter to a head. There is no way to judge the stance of either side in the dispute, since they are making no comment, either on or off the record. The details of the grievances have not entered the public domain. "We can confirm that we are in discussions with the Scotland women's national team players regarding terms and conditions ahead of the Women's Euros in the Netherlands next month," said a spokesman for the SFA. "Recent discussions have been positive and we are hopeful that an agreement will be reached in the near future." The SFA received £265,000 for the team reaching the finals, and would bank another £175,000 should they make it as far as the quarter-finals. However, the squad has also taken part in an extensive build-up to the finals, including two friendlies against Denmark in Cyprus in January, one month before playing in the Cyprus Cup. Since finishing the qualifying campaign in September last year, Scotland have played six friendlies, as well as four Cyprus Cup matches, and have one final friendly against the Republic of Ireland to play, all of which required SFA funding. There are no match fees - which is exactly the same situation with the men's team, who receive a bonus to be shared amongst squad members should they qualify for major finals. However, the home-based players do receive a bursary to cover loss of earnings for the build-up to a participation in the Euro 2017 finals. The players also receive daily allowances while they are with the national team. It came to a head in recent weeks, with PFA Scotland engaged by the squad to negotiate with the SFA on their behalf, but discussions began late last year to try to reach a resolution. The head coach has insisted on being an independent figure, without supporting either side. Signeul points out that the men's national team head coach, Gordon Strachan, does not get involved in the negotiation of terms and conditions, with a player being appointed by the squad to represent them. "It is between the SFA and the players and I don't think Gordon has anything to do with this either, it's nothing to do with us coaches," Signeul said. The Republic of Ireland's women's team threatened

Summary: The Scotland Women's squad for the Euro 2017 finals in the Netherlands was due to be revealed on Tuesday, but the announcement has been postponed for a week.


Media playback is not supported on this device Five weeks have passed since the 35-year-old was sacked, with the team eighth in the Championship. Scot Neil believes the squad was good enough to return to the top flight, but with the benefit of hindsight admits his mistake. "We had a lot of players at the club for longer than five years, and we needed to start afresh," Neil said. "Thirteen of the 24 players in the first-team squad were over 30, and when we went up the last time they were 28, which is significantly different, it's when you're at your peak. "We needed to re-build and the one thing I blame myself for is that I re-signed all the players to get us back up because they'd done it in the past. I should have taken more time and looked to alter the squad at that stage." Neil makes no concession to self-pity. He admits himself that while he was manager of Hamilton Academical in the Scottish Premiership, nobody would have predicted his move to Norwich, or then immediately guiding them to promotion to the Premier League. At 33, he became the second youngest manager in the Championship, working with some players who were older than him, and plenty who had performed at a higher level. Neil, though, was typically unfazed. He recalls his first words to the squad being to urge them to do better. The players's recollection is that it was more of a blunt ultimatum - shape up or ship out. Results were immediate, with 17 wins from the remaining 25 games, including an unbeaten run of 13 away games, and then promotion via the play-offs. Ipswich were dispatched in the semi-final, after Neil assured his players their opponents would run out of steam in the second leg at Carrow Road because they played at such a high intensity. Norwich scored twice in the second half and then defeated Middlesbrough in the final after Neil told his players that their opponents had only come back from conceding the opening goal once in four years. Norwich scored first. The reward was a windfall for the club, and a rise in status for the manager, but his job only became more challenging. "People think you get £130m put in your bank account the next day, but that's not the case," Neil said. "That money's broken down over the whole season. Norwich are self-sustaining and don't have anybody who invests. So my first signings were the first week in August, because the [play-off] money didn't drop until August." Neil was capable of moments of audacity, such as guiding his team to a 2-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford, but of the three promoted sides they invested the least amount ahead of the campaign and ended up dropping back down to the Championship, while Bournemouth and Watford remained in the Premier League. Neil believed he could return Norwich to the top flight and won eight of the opening 12 games this season. He suffered a run of six league games

Summary: Alex Neil bears no grudges, but a sense of regret still lingers about his departure from Norwich City.


Thousands of people worked at its Merthyr Tydfil washing machine plant over 60 years. It stopped production in 2009 but a warehouse still operates. The company will contribute £60m to the pension scheme. The Pensions Regulator has approved the proposal and the scheme is expected to transfer into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). The deal has been struck because there was "clear and extensive evidence" that Hoover would inevitably fall into insolvency otherwise. The regulator said it was the "best possible outcome for members in challenging circumstances". Up to 4,000 people in Wales could be affected. Those still under retirement age could receive an immediate 10% cut in their pension pot. The pension scheme has 7,500 members, made up of 5,319 pensioners and 2,184 who have deferred their pensions. A distribution warehouse and head office is still based at Pentrebach in Merthyr. At about £500m, the pension scheme is roughly the same size as collapsed store group BHS's scheme. That is still being assessed for take-over by the PPF, which acts as a pensions "lifeboat". The Hoover pensions scheme will also receive a shareholding worth a 33% stake in the company as part of the deal. The scheme has a deficit of about £250m and Hoover had to prove the business was at risk of going bust in the next 12 months unless action was taken. Nicola Parish, of The Pensions Regulator, said: "We do not agree to these types of arrangements lightly but in this case we believe it is the right outcome for scheme members and the PPF." She said this type of pension restructuring was rare and guidelines were in place to the arrangements were "not abused by businesses seeking to offload their pension liabilities". This is the first such deal approved in 2017 and only the second in the last two years. Hoover is a century-old household appliances brand but has been owned by Italian firm Candy for more than 20 years.

Summary: A deal has been struck for Hoover to move the company's pension scheme into a protection fund.


Drinking alcohol is often associated with the Punjabi culture, but is prohibited in Sikhism. Baptised Sikhs are forbidden from drinking but some non-baptised Sikhs do consume alcohol. Whilst the vast majority of those who do drink have no problem, a small number of Punjabi Sikh women are affected. Data collected by Birmingham-based charity Aquarius showed 16% of service users who received help for alcohol misuse in 2011-2012 identified as Asian or Asian British. A small survey carried out by the charity found 57% of people from this community, the majority of whom were Sikh, said shame was a reason for not getting help. Professor Sarah Galvani from Bedfordshire University, who carried out the research, said younger women's drinking was seen to be increasing. "The reason for that was primarily that these women were growing up in much more westernised communities, where women's drinking was acceptable," she said. "They were adopting some of those behaviours of the community they were growing up, but still living within a community that had quite traditional views about women's drinking." Jennifer Shergill from the Shanti project, which encourages people to get help with their addictions and offers services in Punjabi, says the issue seems to be religion versus culture. "Culture is kind of the thing that we need to focus on when we're talking about Punjabi alcohol misuse, the kind of culture that's prevalent in media, when people get together, in weddings and birthday parties, that kind of drinking in social groups," she said. Pardip Samra, from Edgbaston, Birmingham, is setting up a women-only support group, helping Asian women who may be addicted to alcohol. She said she also had an issue with drinking. "I became dependent on it almost every day. I blamed it on work, I blamed it on family but it was never the drink, it was always something else," she said. Ms Samra believes alcohol dependency-related issues need to be spoken about more and wants other women to know there is help available. Mandeep - not her real name - is a Punjabi Sikh in her 30s. She started drinking alcohol with her friends when in college and 10 years ago realised she had a drinking problem. "I subconsciously knew my drinking wasn't normal because I could easily consume more than those around me. It's like just drinking to shut off your head and make yourself numb again," she said. When she told her family she was an alcoholic, some of her relatives were in denial. "They were like, 'No you haven't, no you haven't'. They didn't really react because they didn't really believe in the fact that it's a problem." In the past, Mandeep has relapsed but this time, with the help of the Shanti project, she is hopeful about her recovery and wants to help other Punjabi Sikh women like herself in the future. You can hear the full documentary, The Hidden Alcohol Addiction: Punjabi Sikh Women Speak Out, on the BBC Asian Network iPlayer.

Summary: Punjabi Sikh women with drinking problems are less likely to come forward for help because of the fear of stigma and shame, a West Midlands alcohol support group says.


Hovertravel has said it will offer refunds after delays and cancellations in recent weeks on its services between Southsea and Ryde. Commuters with season tickets will have up to two weeks added when they renew. The operator said it was also temporarily bringing its Island Express craft back into service. The firm said one of the new hovercraft, the Island Flyer, was currently out of action after suffering a transmission fault at Southsea on Wednesday. Hovertravel said: "We are sorry for any disruptions as we introduce our new craft. We are confident that we will get there." The new Solent Flyer and Island Flyer, costing Â£10m, were launched in the summer. The firm said the compensation policy would remain in place until 31 March. Hovertravel has been running ferries between Southsea and Ryde since 1965.

Summary: Passengers who suffer cancellations caused by "technical issues" with two new hovercraft are to be offered compensation.


The crash, involving silver Skoda Octavia taxi, happened on Lake Road at 00:30 BST. Police said the pedestrian, a 20-year-old woman from Fareham, died at the scene. A 37-year-old man, from Portsmouth, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by driving without due care and attention. He has been released from custody but remains under investigation, Hampshire police said. Anyone who witnessed the crash or saw the woman or the taxi beforehand has been urged to contact police.

Summary: A woman died when she was struck by a taxi in Portsmouth.


The visitors were shot out for only 109 by an electric bowling and fielding performance, with James Anderson taking 3-42 and Luke Procter 3-14. James Vince, watched by England coach Trevor Bayliss and selector James Whitaker, was run out for nought. Haseeb Hameed and Proctor then shared an unbroken stand of 104 to take the hosts to 157-1, a lead of 48 runs. The comfort of Lancashire's reply on a true surface at Old Trafford further highlighted the impressive effort of the home bowlers. Under a blue sky, Anderson bowled with good rhythm a week before England's first Test against Sri Lanka, while Neil Wagner swung the ball to remove both Michael Carberry and Liam Dawson in successive deliveries. By then the biggest drama had already taken place, with Vince - widely tipped for a Test debut at Headingley on 19 May - run out by Steven Croft's brilliant direct hit. Responding to such a meagre total, Lancashire were given a flying start by Karl Brown's boundary-laden 40 from 33 balls. He was pinned lbw by Gareth Andrew's first delivery in first-class cricket for more than a year, the former Worcestershire all-rounder making his debut after joining Hampshire on a match-by-match basis. That, though, was Hampshire's only cheer, as the watchful Hameed and wristy Procter saw Lancashire through the rest of the day without any hint of alarm. Lancashire's Karl Brown: "The bowlers have done it in every game so far. You can't put it down to one person doing everything because, as a unit, they've bowled really well and kept the pressure on. "As a batter I know when you are chewing up dot balls it gets difficult and you can play a shot you shouldn't. Creating pressure has been the key to us taking wickets. "The squad has a lot of confidence and everyone is backing each other to get the job done. It's a very nice pitch and hopefully it will make for a lot of runs and we can get a good lead." Hampshire's Gareth Andrew: "I got the call to play on Friday afternoon while I was making my cricket club's teas so I was in a bit of a flap. I've played a couple of second team games so I'm a bit under-cooked but I'm ready to take my chance. It's match-to-match and we'll go from there. "Lancashire bowled really well and obviously we didn't bat as well as we'd have liked to. We need to stay in the game so we'll be fighting on Monday. We need to keep it simple, hit the deck hard and bowl nice and straight. "It was a dream start for me to take a wicket with my first ball and hopefully my old man was looking down. I lost him only four weeks ago so it's been a tough time but it's been great to have the opportunity to get back into first class cricket."

Summary: Lancashire completely dominated Hampshire on day one of the County Championship Division One match.


Under European law, UK patients who are clinically eligible for NHS treatment can seek it in other EU countries. They can also reclaim costs of up to what the NHS would have spent. But fewer than 30 patients in Wales have made such applications during the past three years, BBC Wales has found. There are concerns that patients and even some medical professionals are not aware of the rules. Certain procedures require patients to get prior approval from their health board. The European directive for cross-border treatment came into force in Wales in October 2013 and allows patients to be reimbursed for care in a state-run or private hospital. It also places a duty on the Welsh government and NHS to provide easily accessible information to patients about their rights. Anne Botterill, a retired psychologist from Cardiff, faced a wait of over a year for a hip replacement on the NHS after being diagnosed with arthritis last autumn. "I was in enormous discomfort. I live a very active life... gardening, dancing and walking," she explained. "I couldn't do any of those things, I stopped them all." On the advice of her husband David, an academic with an interest in cross-border health-care, she decided to see if her local health board would pay for her surgery at a Belgium hospital. Mrs Botterill paid Â£9,000 for her surgery and a five-night hospital stay in Ghent and was reimbursed Â£6,500 by Cardiff and Vale Health Board. Had she chosen to be treated privately in Wales she says she would paid around Â£12,500 and would have been unable to reclaim any of it. But Freedom of Information requests by BBC Wales show fewer than 30 applications from patients have been funded through this route since 2011. That included nine patients from Cardiff and Vale Health Board, which reimbursed patients for treatment in the fields of trauma and orthopaedics, dental, urology, spinal trauma and ear, nose and throat surgery at hospitals in Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Austria and Slovakia. In July, 17,649 patients in Wales had waited at least nine months (36 weeks) for hospital treatment - despite the Welsh government's target stating nobody should wait that long. The Conservatives's shadow health minister, Darren Millar, said it was clear more needed to be done to highlight the possibility of travelling for treatment. "Awareness of this EU directive is nowhere near where it should be and that's the fault of Labour ministers alone," he said. A spokesman for the Welsh government said guidance on the EU directive has been issued to health boards in Wales. But they made it clear that the EU laws were not a blank cheque for health care in Europe. "The directive does not allow NHS patients to go anywhere within Europe and get any treatment or medicine they may desire and then seek reimbursement from the NHS," stressed the spokesman. "For this reason people are strongly encouraged to speak to their health board if they are considering seeking treatment elsewhere."

Summary: Patients may be waiting months for NHS operations unaware they could get the health service to pay for quicker treatment in Europe.


If the US team is right, they may have found a new route towards treating and preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's . Their work, in the Proceedings B journal, lends weight to a scientific theory experts have been chasing for decades. The story began in the 1950s on a small Pacific Island called Guam. Many of the indigenous people who lived there - the Chamorros - were dying from a perplexing paralytic disease. US Army doctors described symptoms similar to dementia, Parkinson's and motor neuron disease. Post-mortem examinations revealed abnormal collections of proteins in the brain that can also be seen in patients with Alzheimer's. Researchers began to look at the island environment and what the Chamorros were eating to see if there was any link. And a hypothesis began to emerge that an environmental toxin called BMAA could be to blame. Beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine is made by bacteria found on and around the island. Experts identified it in algae-rich pools of water and in the roots and seeds of the native cycad palm trees. Fruit bats, known as flying foxes, a local delicacy, which feast on the cycad seeds, also harboured the toxin. What was missing, until now, was experimental evidence that BMAA could trigger the telltale brain changes seen in the villagers. So, Dr Paul Cox, from the Institute of Ethnomedicine, and colleagues from the University of Miami fed monkeys fruit laced with BMAA. After 140 days, they all had abnormal proteins (tangles) in the brain. The control monkeys, who received only regular fruit, had none of these brain changes. Dr Cox repeated the experiment with more monkeys - 32 in total - and found the same. "Every single one that had eaten the BMAA bananas developed the brain tangles," he said, "even the cohort given low-dose BMAA." "If what we found in these animals holds up in man, then it means a few things. "We need to protect people from this toxin. "We have to get very serious about clean water supplies. "And it may be possible to prevent some other neurodegenerative diseases." Dr Cox has been focusing on motor neuron disease - a progressive condition that attacks the nerves. Working with Dr Ken Rodgers and Dr Rachael Dunlop in Sydney, his team has found BMAA mimics an amino acid called L-serine and inserts itself into brain proteins, causing them to misfold and tangle. And clinical trials are testing whether giving patients L-serine tablets might prevent this. "We do not know if it will work, but we really hope so," Dr Cox said. Dr Laura Phipps, from Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "This research in animals suggests that BMAA exposure could directly lead to hallmark features of neurodegenerative disease, providing new insight into the likely cause of this condition on Guam. "While investigating rare forms of dementia can lead to insights into the more common causes of the condition, further research is needed to understand whether the findings have relevance to diseases like Alzheimer's or motor neurone disease in other parts of the world. "The research suggests that L-serine could reduce

Summary: Scientists say they now have good evidence in animals that exposure to a toxin from algae can trigger dementia-like changes in the brain.


The government originally owned a 41% stake after ploughing £20bn into the bank during the 2008 financial crisis. It started selling Lloyds shares in 2013, and the latest sale means it has now raised more than £8bn. Last weekend, David Cameron said the Conservatives would offer up to £4bn of Lloyds shares to private investors if he won the general election. The prime minister said it would "help us recover billions more to pay down the national debt". The Labour party said the Tories had announced the plans several times before. In the latest sale, the government sold 742 million shares which, at Thursday's closing price, would have raised £586m for the Treasury. The actual total may be slightly lower as the government would have sold its shares throughout the day, during which Lloyds shares rose steadily in the afternoon to hit a closing high of 78.99 pence. The sale means the government's shareholding has been reduced by another 1%, and is now down to 20.95%. "Today's announcement shows the further progress made in returning Lloyds Banking Group to full private ownership and enabling the taxpayer to get their money back," a statement from Lloyds said. "This reflects the hard work undertaken over the last four years to transform the group into a simple, low-risk and customer-focused bank that is committed to helping Britain prosper."

Summary: The government has sold more shares in Lloyds, raising about £586m and taking its stake in the bank to below 21%.


"I am not a fan of discrimination and bullying of anybody on the basis of race... religion... sexual orientation or gender," he said. Mr Obama is on his way to visit his ancestral home of Kenya and he will also go to Ethiopia. He said the trip showed US commitment to fighting terror in East Africa. In the wide-ranging interview with the BBC's North America editor Jon Sopel before he left Washington, President Obama also said: Read the full transcript of his interview It will be Mr Obama's first visit to Kenya since becoming president. He will also become the first US leader to address the African Union when he travels on to Ethiopia on Sunday. With hours to go till Mr Obama lands in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi is in lockdown with many streets closed and people opting to stay at home. At the scene - Milton Nkosi, BBC News, Nairobi Nairobi's streets - notorious for their long traffic jams - are empty. This is because of one of the largest security clampdowns the Kenyan capital has ever seen. There is visible policing almost everywhere and security convoy sirens have been booming across the city all day. President Obama is seen as Kenya's son - and this is a homecoming. But while Kenyans are happy and excited about his first visit as US president, they are paying the price of having their movements restricted. Mosques have had to open and close early to avoid many road closures. Some businesses have had to shut early to avoid being trapped. But it is a price they are happy to pay to host the most powerful man in the world. This is Mr Obama's fifth trip to Africa as president, but despite his close family links to Kenya, he has faced criticism in some African countries over the legalisation of gay marriage in the US. However, the president told the BBC he would not fall silent on the issue. The US leader also agreed that some African governments, including Kenya's, needed to improve their records on human rights and democracy. However, he defended his decision to engage with and visit those governments. "Well, they're not ideal institutions. But what we found is, that when we combined blunt talk with engagement, that gives us the best opportunity to influence and open up space for civil society." Obama on Africa: "I'll be the first US president to not only visit Kenya and Ethiopia, but also to address the continent as a whole, building off the African summit that we did here which was historic and has, I think, deepened the kinds of already strong relationships that we have across the continent." "A while back, when we started looking at strategies to reach out to the Muslim world, to reach out to developed countries, a common theme emerged, which was people are not interested in just being... patronised. And being given aid. They're interested in building capacity." "We welcome Chinese aid into Africa. I think we think that's a good thing. We don't want to discourage it.

Summary: US President Barack Obama has told the BBC he will continue to deliver his "blunt message" to African leaders about gay rights and discrimination.