Seleka rebels were said to be fighting running battles with government troops. The fighters, who have been involved in an on-off rebellion since December, accuse President Francois Bozize of failing to honour a peace deal. Former colonial power France has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, and reportedly sent troops to secure the airport. French officials warned French nationals in the country should stay at home. Rebel spokesman Nelson Ndjadder said they had shot down a government military helicopter and were now heading for the presidential palace. However, there were no further reports of fighting as darkness fell. The rebels are also said to have cut off electrical power to parts of the city, having taken control of three power plants in the neighbouring town of Boali. A local UN official in southern Bangui said people were in a state of panic but could not confirm the rebels had entered the city. The rebels joined a power-sharing government in January after talks brokered by regional leaders to end a rebellion they launched last year. But the deal quickly collapsed, with the rebels saying their demands, including the release of political prisoners, had not been met. On Friday it was reported that they had taken a checkpoint in the town of Damara, about an hour's drive from Bangui, where regional Fomac peacekeepers are based. BBC Africa editor Richard Hamilton says government soldiers have been unable to fend off the rebels because Mr Bozize fears being overthrown in a coup and is therefore wary of having a strong army. He came to power himself in a military coup in 2003. CAR has been hit by a series of rebellions since independence from France in 1960. It is one of the poorest countries in Africa, despite its considerable mineral resources.

Summary: Hundreds of rebels have entered the Central African Republic (CAR) capital Bangui, according to witnesses.


The cities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge have suffered the worst damage. On Thursday, country music legend Dolly Parton said her charity would donate $1,000 (Â£797) a month to families affected by the fires. Rain on Wednesday helped quell the blaze, but officials said fires could rekindle as months of drought had left the ground extremely dry. The wildfires, likely started by a person, spread on Monday to the tourist city of Gatlinburg. More than 14,000 residents were forced to evacuate. Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said: "We had trees going down everywhere, power lines - all those power lines were just like lighting a match because of the extreme drought conditions. "So we went from nothing to over 20 plus structure fires in a matter of minutes. And that grew and that grew and that grew." Wildfires- Why they start and how they can be stopped Around 45 people have been treated in hospital as a result of the wildfires, and over 700 buildings have been damaged. City mayor, Mike Werner said: "Gatlinburg is the people, that's what Gatlinburg is. It's not the buildings, it's not the stuff in the buildings. "We're going to be back better than ever. Just be patient.'' Mr Werner has spent days reassuring his city "everything is going to be okay". Meanwhile, he has lost his home and seven other buildings he owns as part of a property business. He said the city was still working to identify those killed by the fire. The wildfires are also threatening Dollywood, Parton's theme park in Pigeon Forge, Sevier County. A spokesman said guests had been evacuated from some of its properties, and that several cabins and holiday structures had been damaged. Parton said she was "heartbroken" by the fires and that she was "praying for all the families affected by the fire - and the firefighters who are working so hard to keep everyone safe". She said she hoped money from her charity can help to people "until they get back up on their feet". "I know it's been a trying time for my people, and this assistance will help," she said. "I've always believed that charity begins at home." Singer Miley Cyrus, also a Tennessee native, sent her sympathies and support to Parton and the people of the state in an Instagram post. Sharing a picture of the pair performing together, she wrote: "Love my fairy god mother @dollyparton and sending protective energy to the ever so sacred Dollywood and all of the homes/folks in TN who are experiencing this devastating fire!" Twenty-six active fires have burned nearly 12,000 acres (4,855 hectares) across the state, Tennessee's Department of Agriculture reported. Neighbouring Georgia, as well as North and South Carolina, are also battling wildfires after months of drought.

Summary: The death toll from wildfires across the US state of Tennessee has risen to 11 as search and rescue continues.


The 25-year-old United States midfielder played 45 times for Hearts since joining them in March 2016 from DC United but at the tail end of last season found himself out of favour under head coach Ian Cathro. He joins Randers on a two-year deal. Of the side who finished seventh last season, Kitchen said: "It's a really good opportunity for me at this time." New Hearts signing Ashley Smith-Brown limped off after only 27 minutes of his first outing for the Edinburgh side, a 1-0 friendly defeat by St Patrick's Athletic. But Cathro said the on-loan Manchester City left-back, who had himself come on as a half-time substitute, was replaced with 21-year-old Angus Beith as a purely precautionary measure. "He just felt something when he turned and this is a point in the season where you just don't need to take any risks," said the head coach. "We'll just manage that and make sure it's okay. "Pre-season is about building our conditioning and also about trying to avoid injury as best we can." Fellow new signing Kyle Lafferty also made his first appearance in a Hearts shirt after being introduced with quarter of an hour left. Cathro revealed he will treat the Northern Ireland striker, who has started just 22 club games in the last three seasons, cautiously as he looks to build up his fitness. "It was important that Kyle got minutes," he said. "He's not had anywhere near as many training sessions as everyone else, so we're just going gradually with that. "But it was good for him to get on to the pitch and we'll go step by step to build him up. "We played against a team that's pretty much in the full flow of their season, so it's a really good match." Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.

Summary: Hearts have announced that their captain, Perry Kitchen, has moved to Danish Superliga club Randers.


The helicopter swooped on Durdham Down at about 14:40 BST on Sunday, with air crew reporting the kite was soaring 1,000 feet (300m) up in the air. No action was taken against the man, who was told the flying limit was 240 feet (73m). The pilot said the kite endangered small aircraft from Bristol Airport.

Summary: A police helicopter landed on an area of Bristol parkland to order a high-flying kite enthusiast to bring down his craft.


The 24-year-old defender, who has been with Rosenborg since 2008, will join Celtic in January after signing a three-and-a-half year deal. Lustig told the Glasgow club's website: "This is a really exciting time for me and I am delighted to be committing my future to Celtic. "I know a lot about Celtic, about the size of the club." Lustig won his 23rd cap for Sweden in this month's 1-0 friendly defeat by England at Wembley. We believe he has the qualities to make a real impact at the club and we look forward to him joining us in January "I'm really looking forward to joining this squad, to the challenges ahead and hopefully playing my part in bringing some success to the club," he said. With Wales international Adam Matthews having moved to Glasgow after leaving Cardiff City in the summer, Celtic already have three first-team right-backs on their books, the others being Scotland cap Mark Wilson and South Korea's Cha Du-Ri. However, Celtic manager Neil Lennon said Lustig would be a quality addition to his squad. "We are delighted to bring Mikael to Celtic," he said about a player who can play at full-back or in central defence. "We believe he has the qualities to make a real impact at the club and we look forward to him joining us in January. "He is a player with international pedigree and a defender with great versatility. "He is someone who I feel will be a very positive addition to the squad. "I like his attributes and he can play both positions, but he's predominantly a right-back."

Summary: Celtic have signed Sweden international right-back Mikael Lustig on a pre-contract agreement.


He faces charges including hostage-taking, kidnapping and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. Belmokhtar remains at large and the US is offering a $5m (Â£3.2m) reward for information leading to his arrest. Three US citizens were among at least 37 hostages killed when Algerian troops stormed the Tigantourine plant. Days earlier, gunmen had seized local and foreign workers at the complex. "Belmokhtar brought terror and blood to these innocent people and now we intend to bring Belmokhtar to justice," said Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement. Profile: Al-Qaeda in North Africa The charges unveiled on Friday said Belmokhtar had appeared in an online video the day after the siege ended, claiming he had carried out the attack on behalf of al-Qaeda. George Venizelos, head of the FBI's New York office, said the charges "describe a fanatical jihadist leading an extremist vanguard of an extremist ideology''. Belmokhtar is a former leading figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) but is now believed to head a group of militants known variously as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion, the Masked Men Brigade and the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade. He was designated a foreign terrorist by the US Treasury Department in 2003. The hostage crisis began on 16 January when militants attacked two buses carrying foreign workers from the Tigantourine gas facility near In Amenas in eastern Algeria. The militants took foreign workers hostage at the gas complex, which was quickly surrounded by the Algerian army. Special forces stormed the living area on 19 January and the gas treatment plant two days later. At least 29 militants also died in the shoot-out.

Summary: US prosecutors have charged militant Islamist leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar over a deadly siege at an Algerian gas plant in January.


Revenues for the year to the end of March rose to $46.3bn, with the firm's mobile phone business contributing some $9.14bn of the total. Its revenues have been helped by the purchase of Motorola in 2014, which has made it the world's third-largest smartphone maker. However, net profits grew by just 1% to $829m, missing expectations. Lenovo bought Motorola and IBM's low-end server unit last year in an attempt to diversify beyond the PC business. The firm said it had been "another record year for Lenovo with a more diversified business", but put its poor net profit result down to increased operating expenses. Lenovo said its mobile business, including Motorola, had "delivered record shipments and built a more globally balanced business". The Beijing-based giant also said its market share in the global personal computer sector had grown to a record high of 20.9%.

Summary: China's Lenovo, the world's biggest personal computer maker, has reported a 20% rise in full-year revenues.


Many researchers thought ministers would sit on this controversial issue. Instead, the chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has announced that draft regulations will be published within months. She predicts that couples affected by mitochondrial disease could benefit from the treatment within two years, enabling them to have healthy children. So why is this such a significant moment? Firstly the UK will become the first country to allow the technique, aimed at preventing a range of potentially deadly genetic disorders. This will underline Britain's pioneering role in genetics and IVF stretching back to both the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 and the birth of Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, in 1978. Secondly, the technique itself will result in babies with DNA from three people - two women and a man - and this genetic alteration will be passed down the generations. Once babies have been born using this technique, there will be no going back. A permanent and novel genetic change to members of the human race will have been made. That might sound pretty worrying, and talk of three people's DNA mixed together seems a bit ghoulish at first glance. So is this science overstepping the mark? A public consultation conducted by the fertility regulator, the HFEA, found there was broad support for the technique, once the details had been explained. So let's look briefly at the science. Mitochondria are the energy factories of cells. They contain a tiny bit of DNA and just 37 genes, sitting outside the nucleus which has more than 20,000 genes - including all the crucial genetic material from both parents. Mitochondrial disorders are always passed down the maternal line in the egg, so the technique being pioneered by Prof Doug Turnbull and his team at Newcastle University involves using healthy donor eggs. Put briefly, conventional IVF is performed and then, after fertilisation, the pro-nuclei of the father and mother - you can see them clearly as the two round balls inside the glass tube in the picture above - are sucked out of the developing embryo. This leaves behind the faulty mitochondria. The parents' genetic material is then injected into a healthy donor egg which has had its pro-nuclei removed but still has healthy mitochondria. The scientists believe the resulting embryo should develop normally. It means all the crucial parental genes will be retained, plus a tiny amount of DNA from the female donor. So how much DNA from the second woman is there? There is 1.05 metres of DNA in the nucleus and 0.0054 mm of DNA in our mitochondria. Let's put that another way. If you imagine the DNA in your nucleus - remember this is all the important stuff which makes us what we are - and stretched it from Trafalgar Square to Prof Turnbull's laboratory in Newcastle, you'd have a double helix of 282 miles. Now if you laid all the DNA from the mitochondria alongside it, it would stretch from Trafalgar Square, barely round the corner to the National Portrait Gallery - just

Summary: The decision of the government to support a ground-breaking technique for preventing serious genetic disease is a bold step for science and society.


Researchers say the growth continued in 2014 and more than compensated for losses recorded in the three previous years. The scientists involved believe changes in summer temperatures have greater impacts on ice than thought. But they say 2013 was a one-off and that climate change will continue to shrink the ice in the decades ahead. The Arctic region has warmed more than most other parts of the planet over the past 30 years. Satellite observations have documented a decrease of around 40% in the extent of sea ice cover in the Arctic since 1980. But while the extent of the retreating ice has been well recorded, the key indicator that scientists want to understand is the loss of sea ice volume. Researchers have been able to use data gathered by Europe's Cryosat satellite over the past five years to answer this question. This polar monitoring spacecraft has a sophisticated radar system that allows scientists to accurately estimate the volume. The researchers used 88 million measurements of sea ice thickness from Cryosat and found that between 2010 and 2012, the volume of sea ice went down by 14%. They published their initial findings at the end of 2013 - but have now refined and updated them to include data from 2014 as well. Relative to the average of the period between 2010 and 2012, the scientists found that there was a 33% increase in sea ice volume in 2013, while in 2014 there was still a quarter more sea ice than there was between 2010 and 2012. "We looked at various climate forcing factors, we looked at the snow loading, we looked at wind convergence and the melt season length of the previous summer," lead author Rachel Tilling, from University College London, told BBC News. "We found that the the highest correlation by far was with the melt season length - and over the summer of 2013, it was the coolest of the five years we have seen, and we believe that's why there was more multi-year ice left at the end of summer." The researchers found the colder temperatures allowed more multi-year ice to persist north-west of Greenland because there were simply fewer days when it could melt. Temperature records indicate that the summer was about 5% cooler than 2012. The scientists believe that the more accurate measurements that they have now published show that sea ice is more sensitive to changes than previously thought. They argue that while some could see this as a positive, when temperatures are cooler it leads to an increase in sea ice, it could also be a negative when the mercury goes up. "It would suggest that sea ice is more resilient perhaps - if you get one year of cooler temperatures, we've almost wound the clock back a few years on this gradual decline that's been happening over decades," said Rachel Tilling. "The long-term trend of the ice volume is downwards and the long-term trend of the temperatures in the Arctic is upwards and this finding doesn't give us any reason to disbelieve that -

Summary: The volume of Arctic sea ice increased by around a third after an unusually cool summer in 2013.


There is almost nothing the new American president does not want to change - policy, tone, foreign relations, the press pool. Mr Trump has told his cabinet nominees to be bold and be bold now. He wants a shake-up of US government and he wants it soon. That is why his first 100 days will be so definitive. He has set the timetable for an ambitious agenda and in the next three months we will find out how much he can really shift. There is a lot happening in Europe also during this 100 days. Britain is beginning the formal process of Brexit and the Dutch will hold elections which could herald the next step in the transatlantic populist march. And of course, the French will gear up for their own election in which the National Front will be the focus of much attention. It is an extraordinary time on both sides of the Atlantic. This exceptional moment demands examination and analysis. So the BBC is launching 100 Days, a daily programme that gives us the chance to look at these global shifts. In many ways, the inauguration of Donald Trump marks the beginning of the test of the populist experiment. Now he owns the problems he campaigned against. Can his bold approach work, who will benefit and who won't and how will he engage with the rest of the world? Every day for the next 100 days, with Christian Fraser in London and me in Washington, we will try to answer those questions. As he left office, President Obama had a veiled warning for his successor - if you're going to try to change things and bring in bold ideas, make sure you're aware of the consequences. He also suggested that the weight of office would soon settle on Mr Trump's shoulders and cause him to look carefully and humbly at what he has taken on. Mr Trump goes into the White House as the least popular incoming president on record. He won't like that. We know from his election campaign that he watches polls closely and however hard he tries to dismiss them as "phony" or "lying," they matter to him. His low ratings today give him a powerful incentive to do better. That could mean a combination of both working on his tone (something which appears to be unpopular with large sections of the American public) and pushing hard with his agenda (much of which also seems to be popular with many Americans). That too, will make this a fascinating time. Some of this is under Mr Trump's control, but some of it is not. The Republican Party will have a big impact in making his first 100 days successful - they can boost his legislative agenda or kill it. The party owes Mr Trump a lot, he has just handed them Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court, that will win him a lot of favours. But many Conservatives do not agree with everything he wants to do and, if his poll numbers stay low, they will

Summary: Donald Trump has promised to take Washington by storm.


Powys, Torfaen, Swansea and Anglesey all switch off a proportion of their lights for all the night, with a further 10 counties switching off for a period of time overnight. Many have taken the decision to save money, and more councils are expected to follow suit. Councils do not have a statutory duty to provide street lighting. Stuart Davies from Wales County Surveyors Society said: "It's being driven from a financial perspective. There's huge financial pressures facing the councils so they're having to look at all areas of expenditure. "There's no duty to provide lighting so it's one area they're looking at to reduce the costs and also to reduce the amount of carbon generated." Pembrokeshire council said it has saved Â£160,000 in annual energy bills as a result of switching off all lighting late in the evening since 2011 apart from town centres and areas with anti-social behaviour issues. Simon Nicholas, who campaigns for street lighting, told BBC Radio Wales: "Part of the problem is there doesn't seem to be any central government or regional government guidance on this and it's a fairly chaotic situation with different authorities doing different things. "My main concern surrounds LED [lighting] technology which has a lot of promise but unfortunately there are a lot of downsides to LEDs. There are better ways to save money than to go towards an LED solution or to switch off lights completely." He said Cardiff had concluded it would be wasteful to throw away its existing lighting so had reduced the wattage of its bulbs from 70W to 50W and dimmed lights at night by 50%. "Studies show people don't particularly notice the dimming up to 50% particularly if it's between midnight and 6am," he added. In total, 53% of the 358,494 lights in Wales are switched off or dimmed at night. Powys switches off the highest proportion of lights for the whole night (15%) and switches off a third for some of the night but does not dim any others. Swansea and Rhondda Cynon Taf both dim three-quarters of their lights, and Cardiff just under 60%. Merthyr is the only county that does not switch off or dim any of its lights and has no plans to do so in the future. The information came from a Freedom of Information request from the Confused.com comparison website. All the Welsh councils responded to the request.

Summary: More than half of Wales' street lights are switched off or dimmed at night, data gleaned from councils has found.


Leader Leanne Wood said her party accepted the referendum result to leave the European Union, but claimed no part of the UK voted for a "hard" Brexit. In an article for The Times, she said the Welsh Government should not "sit back and let Brexit take its course". Meanwhile First Minister Carwyn Jones has told AMs that UK ministers will have to compromise on immigration. Ms Wood said the UK was "still in the dark" four months after the June vote on what the result meant. She said Plaid accepted the High Court ruling that Parliament must give its approval for the triggering of Article 50, to formally launch the two-year process of the UK's departure from the EU. Ms Wood said the ruling "should not be seen as an opportunity to overturn the result", but gave an opportunity for the 48% of voters who backed Remain "to have an input" and pursue a "soft" Brexit. She accused the UK government of making "nothing but contradictory statements, with comments from one minister ridiculed by another", and claimed the Welsh Government had been "at best incoherent and at worst utterly clueless" in its response to Brexit. "Wales voted Leave, but it does not mean that the Welsh government should sit back and let Brexit take its course," Ms Wood wrote. "Our exit from the EU will be one of the most pivotal moments in our history and it is vital that both governments get it right." Stressing her party's preference for continued membership of the single market, Ms Wood said Plaid AMs and MPs would table written questions on Brexit every day until ministers in both Westminster and Cardiff Bay gave a "satisfactory outline" of their intentions. "People need and deserve answers, and Parliament needs answers before it can be expected to support the triggering of Article 50," she said.

Summary: People need clarity on what Brexit means for both the UK and Welsh governments, Plaid Cymru has said.


Michelle Barnes, 33, from Cumbria, was serving a two-year sentence for drug offences at Low Newton Prison, Durham, when she died in December. The inquest heard that Ms Barnes had hoped to keep the baby with her. However, Low Newton has no mother and baby unit, and she was unable to get a transfer to a prison which does. Ms Barnes - who found out she was pregnant while serving her sentence - had a history of mental health problems and self harming, the inquest jury was told. Cumbria County Council had begun care proceedings as it had "concerns" about her as a mother. Her solicitor, Victoria Rowson, said: "Her intention was to be a good mother to her child". However, an interim care order was made after the baby was born in hospital. Social worker, Sara Driscoll, said: "It was not a decision taken lightly at all. "We believed there was no safe decision for the child, other than removing the child from birth. "There was one occasion during one of my visits that she said 'If you take the baby, I will go too'. "I passed that on to her mental health worker." She agreed with Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle's suggestion that this was something said "in the heat of the moment". Earlier, Alan Richer, the most senior governor at Low Newton said the prison experienced 20 to 35 self-harm incidents a month, and it appeared to be a "coping mechanism" for some of the women prisoners. He said there were around 200 babies born to inmates every year in the UK, and only five prisons which have mother and baby units, after one unit closed due to flooding. The hearing, at Crook Civic Centre, continues.

Summary: An inmate found hanging in her prison cell days after giving birth, told a social worker "if you take my baby I go too", an inquest has heard.


In a career spanning six decades, he released more than 70 albums and amassed nine Grammy awards. His melodic songs found success in the pop charts with hits including Galveston, Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman. And he also made a foray into acting, notably alongside John Wayne in the film True Grit. Glen Travis Campbell was born in Pike County, Arkansas, on 22 April 1936, the seventh of 12 children. His father was a sharecropper, a tenant who paid his rent with a proportion of the crops that he grew. His first guitar cost $7 from a Sears catalogue and he whiled away the time teaching himself to play. "We didn't have power in the house, but we did have an old battery radio. And whenever I heard a new song, usually on a local country station, I'd learn it." His proficiency led to an offer to join a band fronted by his uncle, Dick Bills and the Sandia Mountain Boys. There were appearances on local radio and a spot on a children's TV channel. Campbell moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and became a member of a group of musicians named The Wrecking Crew, who backed artists such as Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. His first solo chart entry, Turn Round and Look at Me, reached 62 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. He also played a pivotal role in the producer Phil Spector's famous Wall of Sound technique. "When I met Phil, he was knocked out by my playing," Campbell later recalled. "He was like a child with a new toy." For three months in 1965 he toured with the Beach Boys, filling in for singer Brian Wilson, who had experienced a breakdown. His big break came in 1967 with the Jimmy Webb song By the Time I Get to Phoenix, which reached number two in the US Country charts. Campbell's partnership with Webb was to be a fruitful one, as hit followed hit. Wichita Lineman went to No 1 in the US and also broke him in Britain where it reached the Top 10 in 1968. "Jimmy used to write in the studio as I was recording," said Campbell. "When he sang me the parts of Wichita Lineman he'd written, I knew it was a hit." The song collected a Grammy and became much requested by US soldiers fighting in Vietnam. He followed it up with Galveston a year later, which again charted on both sides of the Atlantic. In January 1969 he started hosting his own primetime TV show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. The show, which ran for three years, made him a huge star and his fame encouraged a glittering roster of stars to appear with him. Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson and the Monkees were among the artists who were guests on the show. He was also invited by John Wayne, a long time Campbell admirer, to appear in the Western True Grit. He won a Grammy for his performance of the film's title song. His biggest hit came in

Summary: Glen Campbell was one of the most successful country singers of his generation.


The alleged offences took place in the town between 2004 and 2011 and involved girls aged between 11 and 17. Twenty-seven men appeared before magistrates accused of offences against 18 people, including rape and trafficking. Two women are charged with child neglect. In all the 29 defendants face a total of more than 170 charges. Protestors shouted abuse as the defendants arrived at the town's court. Live updates and more stories from Yorkshire One defendant, Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 34, is charged with 54 separate counts, including 21 counts of rape. Other charges faced by the accused include trafficking with intent to engage in sexual exploitation, sexual activity and supply of drugs. Most of the defendants came from Huddersfield, but others came from Bradford, Dewsbury, Dudley, Manchester and Sheffield. They appeared in groups before district Judge Michael Fanning during a lengthy court sitting and are next due to appear at Leeds Crown Court on 11 May. The defendants: Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 34, of Holly Road, Huddersfield is charged with 54 offences. He is charged with 21 counts of rape, 14 counts of trafficking, as well as inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault, sexual touching, possession of indecent images of a child, racially aggravated assault and inciting a child into prostitution. Raj Singh Barsran, 33, of Caldercliffe Road, Huddersfield is charged with sexual touching and rape. Abdul Rehman, 29, of Darnley Drive, Sheffield is charged with rape, trafficking, supplying drugs, supply of a controlled substance with intent to engage in sexual activity and sexual touching. Nasarat Hussain, 28, of Upper Mount Street, Huddersfield is charged with three counts of rape, attempted rape and inciting a female to engage in sexual activity. Irfan Ahmed, 32, of Yews Hill Road, Huddersfield is charged with six counts of trafficking, sexual assault, making indecent images of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Zubair Ahmed, 30, of Blackmoorfoot Road, Huddersfield is charged with rape and possession of extreme pornography. Mohammed Riswan Aslam, 29, of Huddersfield Road, Dewsbury is charged with two counts of rape. Mohammed Kammer, 32, of West View, Huddersfield is charged with two counts of rape. Mohammad Nahman, 31, of West View, Huddersfield is charged with trafficking, sexual assault, and two counts of rape. Hamzha Ali Saleem, 37, of Seymour Grove, Old Trafford, Greater Manchester is charged with three counts of trafficking. Zahid Hassan, 28, of Bland Street, Huddersfield is charged with eight counts of rape, five counts of trafficking, racially aggravated assault, supplying drugs, inciting a child into sexual activity, child abduction and attempted rape. Mohammad Azeem, 31, of Wrose Road, Bradford is charged with three counts of rape. Sajid Hussain, 32, of Grasmere Road, Huddersfield is charged with three counts of rape, facilitating the commission of sexual activity on a child and inciting a child into sexual activity. Mansoor Akhtar, 25, of Blackmoorfoot Road, Huddersfield is charged with rape, attempted rape and two counts of trafficking. Mohammed Asaf Akram, 31, of Springdale Street, Huddersfield is charged with seven counts of rape, three counts of trafficking, child

Summary: Twenty-nine people have appeared in court as part of an inquiry into child sex abuse and neglect in Huddersfield.


Political scientist Alexander Dugin is an extreme Russian nationalist closely associated with the Ukraine conflict. The US said it was cutting business ties and freezing the assets of him and others who had destabilised the situation in the east of the country. A ceasefire, albeit not fully observed, has been in place for a month. Russia said it found the new wave of sanctions "difficult to understand". "We categorically do not see any link between what has recently been happening in south-eastern Ukraine and these sorts of actions," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the news agency Interfax. President Barack Obama and European leaders have used sanctions as its main form of retaliation for Russia's annexation of Crimea and backing of separatists groups in eastern Ukraine. "If Russia continues to support destabilising activity in Ukraine and violate the Minsk agreements and implementation plan, the already substantial costs it faces will continue to rise," said Adam Szubin of the US treasury department. Among those targeted for sanctions is former prime minister Mykola Azarov and two other top Ukrainian officials in former President Viktor Yanukovych's inner circle, for "misappropriation of Ukrainian state assets". Also included are five officials in the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk's people's republics and the leaders of Eurasian Youth Union, including Alexander Dugin. Mr Dugin, a prominent Russian ultra-nationalist philosopher, has called on President Vladimir Putin to intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine "to save Russia's moral authority". The US says the Eurasian Youth Union has "recruited individuals with military and combat experience to fight on behalf of the self-proclaimed DPR and has stated that it has a covert presence in Ukraine". A Russian bank operating in Crimea, now the largest banking network in the region, has also seen its assets blocked by the US. In a separate development, the US is preparing to send more non-lethal aid to Ukraine, including unarmed drones, an unnamed official told US media on Wednesday.

Summary: The United States has imposed sanctions on 14 Ukrainian separatists and Russians, including an idealogue who has heavily influenced the Kremlin.


Standing in a cool stone corridor near the heart of Eastern State Penitentiary, a sprawling Gothic prison-turned historic tourist attraction in Philadelphia, Russell Craig tried to round up an audience. "In one minute, I'm about to give a tour... an exclusive, never-before-done tour," he called to families and couples as they ambled past, audio tour players dangling from their necks. Eastern State, a gloomy, turreted structure looming high above an upscale Philadelphian neighbourhood, was the world's first "penitentiary", a word coined for the founders' hope that its inhabitants would reform through prayer and become "penitent". It operated from 1829 until 1971, and held 1,800 men at its peak. After the last inmate left, it collapsed into a ruinous state, then reopened as a museum in 1994. Today, the eerily decrepit cell blocks bustle with tourists, boy scouts and girl guides, church groups and primary school field trips - in total, nearly 220,000 visitors a year. Craig, a tall, bearded 35-year-old dressed in a maroon tour guide's polo shirt, gradually convinced a group of 10 visitors to gather around, and led them through a door into what was once the prison chaplain's office. Inside, the walls are covered with colourful religious murals - depictions of the resurrection of Jesus, a prisoner kneeling at the foot of a priest - though they are badly damaged from exposure to sunlight. They were painted in 1955 by a prolific inmate artist named Lester Smith who served seven months for a string of armed robberies. Craig explained to the group that after his release, Smith was never imprisoned again. "Why would you think that Lester would use art in prison to change his life?" Craig asked. The visitors shrugged. Someone ventured "Something to do?" to nervous laughter. Craig nodded. "True - I can see that." He paused. "I was in prison. I used art to change my life in the same way," he said. "I'm here to give you, like, right in front of you, a live example of how art can change your life." This is the moment the museum staff refer to as the "face melt" - suddenly all the visitors snapped to attention, their eyes leapt to Craig in surprise. "I have examples of my work, if you would like to see," he offered, then pulled out a large reproduction of his prison identification card that he painted in lifelike detail. He passed around the real card, too, which identifies him as "Inmate HP9290". In the ID photo, Craig's gaze is cold and detached. He is almost unrecognisable from the smiling, slightly bashful man standing in front of the group. "I decided when I get out, I'm never going to commit crimes again, I'm [going to] be an artist," he told them. "And it happened for me, just like Lester. He changed his life." After a string of drugs charges beginning when he was a teenager, Craig came under the tutelage of a fellow inmate serving life for murder, who was also a talented artist. Craig emerged from prison in 2013 an accomplished portraitist

Summary: At a 19th Century prison that pioneered the use of solitary confinement in the US, former inmates lead one-of-a-kind tours about the history of incarceration and their own experience within it.


Two women told the New York Times that the Republican presidential candidate groped or kissed them. A People magazine reporter also said she was forcibly kissed, while another woman said Mr Trump grabbed her bottom. At a Florida rally, Mr Trump called the allegations "vicious claims" that are "totally and absolutely false". "These events never ever happened," he told supporters at West Palm Beach. Earlier, he had fired back on Twitter, calling the claims a "total fabrication" and denying the People reporter's account. Mr Trump's campaign has also threatened legal action against the NYT. His camp made public a letter to the US newspaper calling its article "defamatory" and "a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr Trump's candidacy". The NYT said it was standing by its story. The allegations come less than a week after a video shot in 2005 emerged which showed Mr Trump making obscene remarks about groping women. He apologised for the comments - which were widely condemned - but described them as "locker-room talk". Asked during last Sunday's debate whether he had kissed or groped women without their consent, Mr Trump said: "No, I have not", and stressed that he respected women. Many of the women said Mr Trump's denial during the second presidential debate prompted them to come forward. Calling the NYT story disturbing, Hillary Clinton's campaign said it "sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women". The New York Times published accounts from two women, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks. Ms Leeds, now 74, said that when she was 38 she sat next to Mr Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York. Once airborne, he lifted the armrest and began to touch her. "He was like an octopus... his hands were everywhere," said Ms Leeds. "It was an assault." Rachel Crooks said she was kissed on the lips by Mr Trump outside a lift in Trump Tower when she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company there. "It was so inappropriate," Ms Crooks said. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that." In People magazine, writer Natasha Stoynoff said an incident took place in December 2005, when she went to interview the Trumps ahead of their first wedding anniversary. Mr Trump said he wanted to show her around their Florida estate, including one "tremendous" room. "We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat," Ms Stoynoff wrote. Another woman, Mindy McGillivray, now 36, told the Palm Beach Post that when she was 23, Mr Trump grabbed her bottom at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2003. None of the women reported their accounts to the authorities, but said they shared what happened with friends, colleagues or family. Other reports that have emerged: The Trump camp has not reacted to all the claims, but it came out strongly against the NYT report. In addition to

Summary: Donald Trump is facing a series of allegations of inappropriate sexual contact, after US media reported claims from several women.


The application was rejected in September 2014 by Fifa's executive committee, which said its requirements had not been met. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport has told Fifa to submit Gibraltar's application to its Congress, which has the power to grant membership. European football's governing body Uefa accepted Gibraltar in 2013. Fifa is now set to discuss the situation at their next Council meeting, scheduled to take place on 9-10 May. It will decide whether to amend the agenda at the next Congress in order to submit Gibraltar's application for membership. A 6-0 defeat by Scotland in October saw the part-timers finish bottom of Group D in Euro 2016 qualifying without collecting a point. However, without being accepted by Fifa they will not be able to enter the World Cup qualification process. Cas said on Monday that Fifa's Congress "shall take all necessary measures to admit the Gibraltar FA as a full member of Fifa without delay".

Summary: World football's governing body Fifa has been instructed to reconsider Gibraltar's application for membership.


The show's producers told the Coronation Street star as he woke on Thursday morning that Dean, 50, had died of a heart attack. An ITV spokesperson said: "Craig decided to leave the Celebrity camp... and will be heading back to his family in the UK. We send our sincere condolences to Craig and his family." Charles was missing from last night's show when presenters Ant and Dec entered the campsite. The pair told viewers that they could not vote for Charles when deciding which celebrity should take part in the next bushtucker trial. The 6 Music radio presenter and former Red Dwarf star had been in the jungle for less than a week. He was one of the favourites to win. The 49-year-old is the second celebrity to leave, following reality TV star Gemma Collins's exit. Westlife singer Kian Egan, who won the jungle crown in 2013, has tweeted his condolences. Craig - a DJ at BBC Radio 6 Music - had said his rocky past had prepared him for the jungle. He admitted he went to hell and back over his crack cocaine addiction in 2006. He finally beat the habit after a stint in rehab, but said recently that heights, snakes, rats and spiders won't prove to be as challenging as getting clean. Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Summary: Craig Charles has left the I'm A Celebrity jungle after the sudden death of his older brother.


The 80 spaces, on top of a gym in Farnborough, Hampshire, were intended to relieve parking pressure in the town centre. But a planned bridge, which would have provided vehicle access, was never built after construction of a second building with a vehicle ramp stalled. The council's chief executive blamed the economic downturn for the delay. Developer, St Modwen admitted there is no timescale for the bridge's completion. Gareth Lyon, Conservative councillor for the town centre area on Rushmoor Borough Council and member of its development management committee, said: "We have a massive problem with car parking in Farnborough. "To have had this huge car park lying empty defies belief. It is ridiculous." A St Modwen spokesman said development was part of a "long-term regeneration project" of Farnborough which had already delivered 185,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and hotel space. Rushmoor Borough Council's chief executive, Andrew Lloyd, told The Independent newspaper St Modwen had rightly decided not to proceed with the development during the economic downturn. "It was right not to proceed until the retail units of the first phase had been let. It wasn't desirable to proceed with void properties in the middle of the recession," he said. He said a shortage of parking spaces was "not a major issue" in the town.

Summary: A roof-top car park has lain unused for five years because it can only be accessed on foot, it has been revealed.


Whether fundraising, helping to build and maintain facilities or encouraging people to get involved in - and stay in - the sport, volunteers are the foundation of the game at local level. Here are three examples of people really making a difference in their communities: Five years ago, visually impaired (VI) tennis coach Wendy Glasper set up North East VI Tennis Club - incorporating sites in Jesmond, Sunderland and Stockton - and since then has worked tirelessly across the region to promote the sport to people who are blind or have sight impairment. A qualified LTA level 2 coach, Wendy is also an accomplished player herself, finishing runner-up in her sight category at the National VI Championships at Roehampton in 2015. And she continues to inspire youngsters and adults to play the sport competitively or just for fun. "It's so rewarding giving back to a sport I love and see our players grow in confidence, gain new friendships and improve their mental wellbeing," she says. "One of our members is completely blind and has just won his first tennis competition in Newcastle. For me, knowing that our VI tennis sessions enabled him to achieve this is just brilliant. "For anyone looking to volunteer, I would say just do it! If you are passionate about something, you will inspire others to help you and I'm so thankful for the people I work with for bringing VI tennis to more communities in the north east." This really is a story of building facilities from the ground up. In November 2015 there were no useable tennis courts in Hingham, a small Norfolk market town of 1,000 houses. Fast-forward to October 2016 and Hingham has a thriving tennis club with 200 members. How did this happen? Three volunteers - Emily Cary, Lindsey Read and Simon Underhill, none of whom had even been in a tennis club before - raised £91,000 from Sport England and local businesses to renovate the derelict courts next to an existing sports hall into two hard courts and a well-appointed clubhouse. The club now delivers coach-led evenings of activities to the local youth club - free of charge - plus a weekly Cardio Tennis session, which the local slimming club attends. "We went out to local fairs, shows and schools to understand if this was something people would be interested in," explains Lindsey. "It was a great chance to explain to our community what we'd like to do and rally support for our plans. "After a hard year of gathering evidence of need, impact and sustainability, we applied for funding from Sport England and got the maximum bid of £75,000. We then gathered funds from nine other local charities and trusts, plus a crowdfunding campaign and business sponsorship to go ahead with the project. "It was a long and challenging process, but it's fantastic to give something back to the community and for anyone thinking of volunteering, just do it - don't underestimate what you'll get out of it." It's fair to say 17-year-old John Heppell has grown up at Durham Archery

Summary: National Volunteers Week runs from 1-7 June and tennis' governing body - the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) - has shortlisted around 1,200 volunteers whose efforts will be recognised at the British Tennis Awards, during Wimbledon fortnight.


And that's a conservative estimate by Unesco (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Special Report: The Technology of Business Tech sector leading Ukraine's revival Crowd investing opens up high finance Ultra HD gives firms clearer picture Translation tech talking business Ukraine's green tech start-ups bloom They have fascinated generations of artists, writers, anthropologists and scientists. Many mark the final resting place of their crew and passengers. Some are hundreds of years old, a time capsule from distant ways of life. All are guardians of the treasures that sank along with them - be they in the form of uniquely preserved cultural heritage or cold hard cash. Excavators of the Tudor ship the Mary Rose, which sank off the English coast in 1545, found 500 pairs of shoes among the 19,000 artefacts retrieved from the site, many of which are now on display. The SS Gairsoppa on the other hand, a steam ship sunk by a German U-boat off the Irish coast in 1941, went down with over 110 tonnes of silver on board. In 2010 a US-based company called Odyssey Marine Exploration won a tender put out by the government to retrieve that silver from its resting place, 4,500m below sea level - one mile deeper than the Titanic. That sort of depth can only be reached by machine (the deepest recorded human scuba dive is currently 332m, according to Guinness World Records) and getting there is, to put it mildly, a technical challenge. "Ten years ago you couldn't possibly have done it," Andrew Craig, senior project manager onboard Odyssey Marine vessel Explorer, told the BBC. "It would have cost so much. Just getting a work class ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) to 5,000m - they're just not built because there's so little requirement for them." It took 3.5 hours for Explorer's onboard ROV, a 6.5-tonne vehicle named Zeus, to make each journey between the ship and the site of the wreck. With any sort of deep sea exploration, positioning is crucial. The proverbial needle in the haystack is much harder to find when it's floating in gallons of sea water, surrounded by marine life, and you can't use your fingers to feel for it. "You want to know to within 10-15 cm where things are - and you need to be able to go back to them repeatedly," says Mr Craig. In addition to Explorer's onboard sonar scanners and magnetometers (a kind of deep sea metal detector also used by the military to seek out submarines), Zeus has been equipped with an Inertial Navigation System. This captures a range of data from numerous sensors, not only to navigate a path, but also to remember where it has been. It cost over £100,000 ($157,000; €126,000) and is just one of many sensors used by the team in guiding the ROV. The technology advances still on Andrew Craig's wish list are surprisingly familiar. The first is better wireless communication - ROVs still need to send data and receive instructions by fibre-optic cable, meaning they remain tethered to the ship. The second is

Summary: Far beneath the ocean waves, nestling silently on cold dark sea beds around the world, lie the remains of about three million shipwrecks.


Australia's government intends to hold a non-binding plebiscite on whether to allow same-sex marriage, although a date has not yet been scheduled. The Australian Electoral Commission previously estimated the cost of running the plebiscite at A$158m. But research by accounting firm PwC said this figure was too low, as it did not allow for "total economic costs". PwC's report said holding a stand-alone plebiscite on a Saturday would cost Australia's economy $A280m in lost productivity. Its impact on the "mental health and wellbeing of Australian citizens" would also cost at least $A20m, the report said. Funding the campaigns for and against the proposal would cost a further $A66m, it said. "The real costs to government, the economy and members of the community to hold a standalone plebiscite are more than three times higher than the numbers commonly quoted," PwC Australia CEO Luke Sayers said in a statement. "Total economic costs have not been considered before and should be part of the debate on the best way to achieve a resolution to this issue." But Liberal senator Eric Abetz, an opponent of same-sex marriage, questioned PwC's methodology in calculating the cost of lost productivity. "Because, quite frankly, to try to take into account and double the figure on the basis of the time taken to vote as being a factor basically says, 'look, let's get rid of democracy; each time people go to the polling booth it costs them $281m'," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Senator Abetz has previously indicated that he may not view the results of the plebiscite as binding. The PwC research said that if a public poll were taken concurrently with the upcoming federal election, rather than as a stand-alone vote, it would cost $A113m. A parliamentary vote without a public poll would cost $A17m, PwC said. The stand-alone public vote was initially announced by the former prime minister Tony Abbott. Malcolm Turnbull said he would push ahead with the plebiscite after replacing Mr Abbott as prime minister last year.

Summary: A stand-alone public vote on same-sex marriage would cost Australia $A525m (Â£275.5m; $396m), a new report says.


The former England Under-19 international made four appearances last season as the Belles were promoted from Women's Super League Two. "I have tried so hard to get back but my legs just won't go," she said in a message posted on Twitter. "Unfortunately, this disease cannot be beaten and has taken my dream." Belles manager Glen Harris said: "It is sad that a young player, with the talent Ash has, has had to stop playing at the top level. "Ash has been a pleasure to work with, always turning up and training with a smile on her face... even if it's not always in the right kit!" Mills added: "My three years with the club have been absolutely fantastic. "I have enjoyed every minute of my time here. I feel very honoured to have represented this great historic and successful club." Mills said she plans to cheer on the Belles from the stands. Doncaster start the new Women's Super League One season at home to reigning champions Chelsea on 24 March. Around 100,000 people in the United Kingdom have multiple sclerosis or MS, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. It is normally diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 40. Symptoms might include fatigue, vision problems and difficulties with walking, but MS is different for everyone. In MS, the protective layer surrounding nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord - known as myelin - becomes damaged. The immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin, causing scarring or sclerosis. The damaged myelin disrupts the nerve signals - rather like the short circuit caused by a frayed electrical cable. If the process of inflammation and scarring is not treated, then eventually the condition can cause permanent neurodegeneration. Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of the MS Society, said: "MS is an unpredictable and challenging condition to live with and diagnosis can be upsetting and scary. The MS Society is here to help anyone affected by MS." MS Society helpline: 0808 800 8000.

Summary: Doncaster Rovers Belles midfielder Ashleigh Mills has ended her playing career at the age of 20 after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.


McLaren executive director Zak Brown said he regarded the 17-year-old Englishman as "a fabulous prospect". Norris won two Formula Renault 2.0 titles last season and will move to the European Formula Three series in 2017. Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen have previously raced in that category. Norris said he was "immensely excited" about joining McLaren, whose F1 race drivers this year are double world champion Fernando Alonso and novice Stoffel Vandoorne. "It's hopefully taking me another step closer to reaching my goal of competing in Formula 1," he said. "I'm honoured to become part of such a prestigious F1 team and to be brought in alongside some very good drivers and experienced people." Norris will be mentored by McLaren development driver Oliver Turvey, who McLaren describe as the "linchpin" of their F1 simulator programme. McLaren have also retained Japanese Nobuharu Matsushita, a protege of engine partner Honda, will race again in GP2 and be McLaren's F1 test and development driver. Dutchman Nyck de Vries, 22, who raced in GP3 last season, is also still on McLaren's books but his programme this season has not yet been finalised.

Summary: McLaren have signed British teenager Lando Norris to their young driver programme, with a view to developing him towards a Formula 1 career.


Dariusz Parczewski and his wife Bozena Parczewska are accused of forcing a Polish man to work at the retailer's headquarters in Derbyshire then keeping his wages. The sportswear firm has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The couple, from Aspley in Nottingham, were released on bail following the hearing at Nottingham Crown Court. They were arrested as part of a Nottinghamshire Police investigation into human trafficking and were both charged with knowingly causing another to perform forced labour. Mrs Parczewska and the couple's son, Kristian Parczewski, are also charged with a range of tax and benefit fraud offences. The defendants are all due to appear at the same court for a plea and case management hearing on 8 January.

Summary: A couple who supplied workers to Sports Direct have appeared in court accused of modern slavery.


But in a BBC interview, Williams cast doubt on whether the 40-year-old can win another major and suggested Woods' fitness problems might have been self-inflicted. No-one knows Woods' game better than Williams, who shared in 13 of the American's 14 major titles among 84 tournament victories together. Their partnership broke down in 2011 and Woods has since not added to his major tally. The former world number one last played competitively in August last year. Woods has slumped to 467 in the world rankings while he recovers from his latest back surgery and there seems no prospect of an imminent return. Yet Williams is convinced the golfer can achieve more professional victories. "I don't doubt he will come back to the winner's circle," Williams told 5 live Golf. "He is a great competitor, he has an incredible work ethic - when he can work hard - and one thing he does know how to do is win. "He has that ability to win even when he's not playing his best. But whether he comes back and wins major championships? That's going to be a very difficult task." The four-times Masters champion looks certain to miss next month's Augusta gathering for only the second time since his debut as an amateur in 1995. Williams was Woods' right-hand man throughout the period between 1999 and 2008 when the American dominated the game, and Williams thinks his old employer may now be regretting the way he punished his body during that spell. "I guess when he looks back, he might question some of the activities that he did, some of the gym work that he might have done that, you know, had all these injuries escalate," he said. Watching from a much greater distance, it seemed to me that Woods trained as an athlete rather than as a golfer. Athletes' bodies usually break down in their late 30s, certainly in terms of enabling competition at the highest level. Is this what has happened? Does Williams see any worth to this argument? "It is very hard to pinpoint how he has got to where he is now, but I'd have to say there is a lot merit in what you've just said," he said. Williams was caddying for US veteran Ray Floyd in the mid-1990s when he first came across the willowy youngster who made it a career ambition to overhaul Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. Greg Norman and Fred Couples were also in the group and they listened in disbelief while Woods contemplated carrying his drive over the fairway bunker down the right of Augusta's par-five second hole. Media playback is not supported on this device "We were laughing at him just talking about it, but then he actually did it," Williams recalled in the interview which publicises the caddie's recent autobiography Out of the Rough. Their first major triumph came at the 1999 PGA Championship when Williams gave an accurate read for a crucial putt on the 16th hole of the final round. "That was the moment between him and me that

Summary: As Steve Williams prepares to help Adam Scott's quest for a second Masters title, the Kiwi caddie says his old boss Tiger Woods can still return to winning ways.


The supervised injection site opened in Vancouver in 2003 with a federal exemption permitting illegal drug use. Its supporters say it has helped prevent overdoses, reduced infections, and curbed crime and open drug use. But the federal government said in 2008 that the facility should close, arguing it promoted addiction. The top court issued its unanimous 9-0 decision on Friday. Addicts must bring their own drugs to the Insite facility, where they are supplied with clean needles and sterilised water. They inject at 12 stainless-steel alcoves with mirrors on the walls so nurses on a raised platform can see them. The court said in its ruling that in the clinic's eight-year history, "Insite has been proven to save lives with no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada". "The risk of death and disease to injection drug users is grossly disproportionate to any benefit that Canada might derive from presenting a uniform stance on the possession of narcotics." Correspondents say the ruling suggests the right of a province to provide healthcare supersedes the federal government's right to enforce drug laws. It is thought that the Supreme Court's decision could pave the way for similar facilities to open in other parts of Canada. The ruling was welcomed by users of the facility and healthcare professionals alike. A crowd celebrated on the street outside Insite. "Addiction-related drug use is a health issue and not a criminal justice issue," Debra Lynkowski, chief executive of the Canadian Public Health Association, told reporters. "Collectively, we have the responsibility to protect the health of all Canadians, no matter what their situation." But Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq was disappointed with the decision. She told the Canadian parliament: "Our government believes that spending more money on treatment and to help people get off drugs is the best investment we can make." She added that the government would be reviewing the court's decision. The facility has been operating under the constitutional exemption to Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. But the federal government refused to renew the exemption in 2008, arguing that "harm-reduction" programmes diverted funding from addiction-treatment programmes. The Supreme Court's ruling supports a decision made in 2008 by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. As of 2009, there were 65 injection facilities in 27 cities in Canada, Australia and western Europe, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Summary: North America's only legal drug-injection site can stay open, Canada's Supreme Court rules, in a defeat for the country's conservative government.


The communities and local government committee said the eight biggest firms built more than half of all new homes. MPs said the government should do more for smaller builders who do not have the scale to bid for big projects. But the Home Builders Federation, which represents large and small businesses, said only big firms could spread the risks large-scale projects pose. The committee also said local authorities should prepare land for home building. That would include providing the infrastructure needed, such as roads and public transport. "The housing market is broken, we are simply not building enough homes," said Clive Betts MP, chair of the committee. "Smaller builders are in decline and the sector is over-reliant on an alarmingly small number of high-volume developers, driven by commercial self-interest and with little incentive to build any quicker. "If we are to build the homes that the country so desperately needs, for sale and for rent, then this dominance must end." Government promises more affordable homes Labour promises to build one million new homes The committee found that smaller builders struggled to obtained land for development, as local authorities focused on large sites which only big companies could afford to take on. The Homebuilders Federation said: "We fully support the committee's call for measures to assist smaller builders, encourage new entrants and scale up specialist housing sectors, such as the retirement housing market. "The vast majority of the big increases in housing supply in recent years have come from the larger, mainstream builders - but we need more builders of all sizes and specialisms if we are to tackle our acute housing shortage." In February the government promised to build more affordable houses and help people buy and rent, after admitting the current market was broken. The housing strategy for England included giving councils powers to pressure developers into starting building on land they own. Ministers also pledged to make renting more "family-friendly" with longer tenancies offered. However, Labour called the measures announced "feeble beyond belief".

Summary: MPs have called for an end to the dominance of big home-building firms to fix the "broken" housing market.


Officers suggested the 2007 case bore hallmarks of a "pre-planned abduction". Scotland Yard said it was also looking into possible links to burglaries and bogus charity collections in the area. Crimewatch editor Joe Mather said several callers gave the same man's name after e-fit pictures were shown. Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was three years old when she disappeared from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007. Police outlined their latest findings in the search for Madeleine on BBC One's Crimewatch on Monday. Detectives released two e-fits of a man seen carrying a child in Praia da Luz at 22:00 on the night Madeleine went missing and it was revealed that police now suspect Madeleine could have been taken later than previously thought - just before her mother returned to the apartment to check on her. In an update, Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood, the senior Metropolitan Police investigating officer, said there had been 730 phone calls and 212 emails "as a direct result of the specific lines of enquiry we issued yesterday". "Detectives are now trawling through and prioritising that material," he said. "This will take time." Crimewatch's editor said the appeal "went better than expected" with many of the calls received from British people who had been at the resort at the time but had not previously contacted the Met. Mr Mather told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a number of different names for the "key 10pm sighting" were mentioned and several callers suggested the same name. Clickable map and timeline Det Ch Insp Redwood told Crimewatch a number of men had been seen by witnesses in the area on the day Madeleine vanished and one theory was they could have been carrying out reconnaissance. He said they wanted to track down men seen "lurking suspiciously" near the McCanns' apartment block. The Metropolitan Police say their inquiries have led to the timeline and "accepted version of events" surrounding Madeleine's disappearance being significantly changed. Det Ch Insp Redwood said it had been a "revelation moment" when police discovered a man seen by the McCanns' friend Jane Tanner at 21:15 was almost certainly an innocent British holiday-maker collecting his two-year-old daughter from a nearby creche. He said: "Our focus in terms of understanding what happened on the night of 3 May has now given us a shift of emphasis. "It takes us through to a position at 10pm when we see another man who is walking towards the ocean, close by to the apartment, with a young child in his arms." Crimewatch featured a detailed reconstruction lasting close to 25 minutes. The film is also to be shown in the Netherlands, Germany and Irish Republic this week as tourists from those countries were known to be in the resort at the time. Det Ch Insp Redwood said he would be travelling to the Netherlands and Germany to continue the appeal. Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry told the programme they were "hopeful and optimistic" after the fresh appeal for information. Mrs McCann said: "We're not the ones that have

Summary: Police probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal say there was an "overwhelming response" to an appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch, with almost 1,000 calls and emails.


Staff at the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary in Oban said the pair were "officially married" at a ceremony in 2011 after becoming inseparable. They said Isla, who first came to the centre in 2008, died this week aged 14, after suffering stomach problems. Lewis, who is 11, is now being monitored to ensure he is coping with the loss. Aquarist Farrah Minchin, who works with the animal car team, said Isla's loss was a "massive blow" for the team. She said: "Lewis and Isla arrived here at the centre together. Usually otters are quite solitary, they wouldn't normally pair-up for life, but when they arrived they very quickly became inseparable. "They would groom each other, would look for each other and would sleep together." Isla was taken to the vet earlier this week after the animal care team noticed she was not eating properly and thought something could be wrong with her teeth or mouth. However, on closer inspection it was discovered that she had numerous health problems, including peritonitis and a shadow on her lung. Vets decided not to operate due to her age and the decision was taken to end her life. Ms Minchin said that since Isla's death on Wednesday, Lewis had been looking for his mate. She said: "He was at a loss. He was expecting her to come back and kept looking for her. "He's still swimming on his own side of the pool and not on Isla's, but he does seem to be getting used to things." Because of his age and an otter's reputation for being aggressive, the animal handling team think it is unlikely Lewis will be paired with another otter. However, Ms Minchin said that if the right "docile female" came along, Lewis could make a new friend. Otters can live up to 21 years in captivity, but more generally survive for about nine years in the wild.

Summary: A North American River Otter named Lewis is said to be mourning the death of his "wife" Isla.


It has been swapped for a more festive offering, ahead of the town's annual tree light switch-on ceremony. Local people and councillors had taken to Facebook to cry bah-humbug about the "sad-looking tree." It comes after a festive village tree in Bushmills was removed in 2014 after it was described as "one of the worst ever seen in the UK". UUP councillor, Mark McKinty, posted a photo of the Larne tree on social media and said: "I'm all for recycling, but when your Christmas tree goes up looking like it's spent a few years on the compost heap, that is a bit much." Angry comments were also left on the Mid and East Antrim Council's 'Larne Christmas Switch On' page. Larne resident Ian Stokes, said "for many a year Larne has always been the laughing stock of local councils for their awful trees." But Mid and East Antrim Council have proven their festive spirit by bringing in a brand new replacement before the local Christmas parade and light switch-on on Friday. A spokesperson said, "Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has responded to concerns about the condition of the recently erected Christmas tree in Larne. "Council officers carried out an inspection earlier this week and as a result it has been replaced." TUV Councillor Ruth Wilson shared news of the replacement on Facebook, with one user replying, "glad to hear the tree is being replaced. The other one was an eyesore."

Summary: A Christmas tree in the centre of Larne has been replaced after complaints that it was an "eyesore".


Almost £10m was spent on improvements inside and outside of the building. Work began in 2010 and changes include a new visitor centre, disabled access and a patio cafe. The facade has been given a facelift, and the roof and clock have been repaired. The building is due to open to the public on 10 June. Mayor Kevin Campbell said the completion marked a fantastic day for tourism and for the city. "I think the public, when they get in on 10 June, will think it's absolutely fantastic," he said. "It still holds its mystique and its character going back over 150 years but at the same time it has been modernised. "Between the walls and the peace bridge the Guildhall is the last piece in the puzzle for the city." Other changes include the mayor's office becoming a tourist point for visitors to get information on where to go in the city. The room previously used as the council chamber will now host a "touch screen" museum telling the story of the city, including its 400-year-old walls and the plantation.

Summary: A major refurbishment of Londonderry's Guildhall has been completed and the building is due to be officially handed over to the council on Thursday.


The 41-year-old, who joined the BBC in 2008, said she was "mega-excited" if "petrified" to be taking part in the BBC One ratings hit. "I'm going to give it my very best and enjoy what's bound to be a great adventure," she continued. Munchetty, a keen golfer, also revealed she has known she would be taking part since February. Only her husband knew she would be following in the footsteps of former BBC Breakfast presenters Natasha Kaplinsky and Bill Turnbull, she said on Thursday. "I never thought I'd have the courage to say yes, but it would be simply silly to turn down the chance to learn to dance with a professional," Munchetty said. The broadcaster, who started out career as a financial journalist on the London Evening Standard, said she was "equally excited, nervous and scared". Munchetty's involvement was announced by BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood - herself a Strictly contestant - at the end of Thursday's programme. Ed Balls, Daisy Lowe, Danny Mac, Melvin Odoom, Louise Redknapp, Ore Oduba, Laura Whitmore and Will Young are the other confirmed celebrities. Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Summary: BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty has been named as the ninth celebrity on this year's Strictly Come Dancing.


The Ralph Lauren outfit was in keeping with the theme of this year's ball, an homage to Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, and won fashion plaudits from the moment she glided up the stairs. There have been close to 16,000 tweets just about Chopra, which means the country has been tweeting about her pretty much since waking up. ... is it really an advertisement for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet "clean India" movement, locally known as Swacch Bharat Abhiyan? Because obviously the dress would be a highly effective cleaning mechanism. This seems to be by far the most popular theory around her dress and what it means. Some people have even tweeted directly to the prime minister, asking him to appoint her as an official "ambassador" for the project. The movement has used celebrities including cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan as ambassadors before, so as theories go it isn't too far off! We're just going to let this tweet speak for itself. The verdict in both India and the US is near unanimous - Priyanka Chopra simply won in that dress. Elle Magazine called the dress "FANCY", US Magazine declared that "Priyanka Chopra slayed" and Time Out New York picked her as one of its 10 best "favourite looks" at the Met Gala. In pictures: Met Gala's oddest outfits The press reactions in India have run along similar lines. The Times of India newspaper said that she "swept away the competition" while the Deccan Chronicle said she "looked like a princess". The sentiment on Twitter was not too far off. Some reports say that this is the world's longest trench coat - and with material like that up for grabs, it's an opportunity too good for any photoshop enthusiast worth his/her salt. It is unclear at time of writing if Guinness World Records have been contacted.

Summary: The Met Gala usually draws little interest in India, but this year actress Priyanka Chopra's appearance in a vast detective trench coat outfit has inspired jokes, memes and even profound symbolic interpretations.


Some firms said they could not recruit or retain the staff they needed. The Local Government Association said it was the result of "historic under-funding" and an ageing population. The government declined an interview but said English councils had received £9.25bn for social care. The figure for the number of cancelled contracts comes from a Freedom of Information request, which was responded to by 197 of 212 UK councils. According to the research, carried out for Panorama by Opus Restructuring and Company Watch, 69 home care companies have closed in the last three months and one in four of the UK's 2,500 home care companies is at risk of insolvency. Councillor Izzi Seccombe from the Local Government Association - which represents councils across England and Wales - said: "We have warned that the combination of the historic under-funding of adult social care, and the significant pressures of an ageing population and the national living wage, are pushing the care provider market to the brink of collapse. "These figures show the enormous strain providers are under, and emphasises the urgent need for a long-term, sustainable solution to the social care funding crisis." Many home care companies say their biggest problem is recruitment and retention of carers. The Centre for Workforce Intelligence estimates at least two million more carers will be needed by 2025 in England alone, in both in-home care and care homes, to cope with growing demand. Last October, the regulator for England, the Care Quality Commission, warned that adult social care was at a tipping point. One home care company, Cymorth Llaw, which had contracts with three councils in north Wales, told Panorama it had recently stopped working with one - Conwy, which had initially paid £14.20 an hour for care. It offered to raise that to £15, but the company decided that still wasn't enough and handed back the contract. Ken Hogg, at Cymorth Llaw, said: "We didn't think we could do it for the money - it was as simple as that. "We pay as much [in wages] as we possibly can and we've always paid above what was the national minimum wage and the national living wage. "[Carers] get a mileage allowance, they get paid travelling time between their clients." Mr Hogg said the company was legally obliged to pay 1% pension and 13.8% national insurance contributions, along with training and other staff-associated costs, which "doesn't leave a great deal". Conwy Council said it was committed to supporting vulnerable people in communities, despite the financial challenges. Home care company Mears used to have a contract with Liverpool City Council but cancelled it in July, saying £13.10 an hour was not enough to cover costs. Mears said it needed at least £15 an hour, and like other companies across the UK, argued its costs are often greater than what councils pay. Alan Long, executive director at Mears, said: "That was a terrible thing to do for both service users and for care staff. "We absolutely did not take that lightly, but frankly what choice did we have? "We just

Summary: Care firms have cancelled contracts with 95 UK councils, saying they cannot deliver services for the amount they are being paid, a BBC Panorama investigation has found.


Cesare Tavella, 50, was shot dead in the capital, Dhaka, in late September. The attack was the first in a series of killings in Bangladesh claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS). However, the government says IS does not have a presence in the country, and has blamed local militant groups and the opposition BNP party instead. The opposition has denied any involvement, and says the government's accusations have hampered a credible investigation into the killings. Attacks on foreigners in Bangladesh are rare, correspondents say, but Islamist violence has surged recently. More than 40 people, including secular bloggers, academics, gay rights activists and members of religious minorities, have been killed in attacks blamed on Islamist militants in Bangladesh since February 2013. Five of those charged with the murder of Mr Tavella are in custody. Two, including a leading BNP politician, are still being sought by the authorities, BBC Bengali's Waliur Rahman in Dhaka reports. Who is behind the Bangladesh killings? Hundreds arrested in Bangladesh crackdown Is extremism on the rise in Bangladesh? Secular bloggers, academics, gay rights activists, and members of religious minorities including Shia, Sufi and Ahmadi Muslims, Christians and Hindus have all been killed, many of them hacked to death. A university professor whose family said he was not an atheist was murdered in April, suggesting the list of those at risk had widened further. Who exactly is behind the attacks remains unclear. Bangladesh has myriad extremist groups and there have been few convictions over the attacks. Many of the attacks have been claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS) or al-Qaeda linked groups. However, the government has disputed these claims. Instead, government members have blamed opposition parties and local Islamist groups. Bangladesh's home minister has suggested an Israeli link to the killings, describing an "international conspiracy" against Bangladesh. Both the opposition and the Israeli government have denied any involvement - and Israel described the accusations as "utter drivel". Until the killings stop, the Bangladeshi government itself will face accusations of not doing enough to protect minorities in the Sunni-dominated nation.

Summary: Bangladeshi police have charged seven people, including an opposition politician, over the murder of an Italian aid worker.


Thomas Sellar stabbed 23-year-old Jamie Walsh during a row in Greenock, Inverclyde, on 10 September 2015. Sellar said he feared for his life but a jury convicted him of murder after hearing that the victim was unarmed. At the High Court in Edinburgh, 38-year-old Sellar was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years in prison before he can apply for parole. Jailing him, judge Lord Ericht said: "It is because of your actions that Jamie Walsh is dead and it is because of your actions that the family of Jamie Walsh have lost a much loved son and brother." During Sellar's trial, the court heard that he and Mr Walsh both lived at an address in Wren Road, Greenock. Mr Walsh had recently moved into a flat below Sellar, which was being rented by the victim's friend. In the days leading up to the murder, Sellar had objected to "noise" which was coming from the downstairs flat. On the night of the incident, Sellar said he had gone to the downstairs flat to try to convince the residents to keep the noise down. He claimed that a group of youths objected to this and had "battered" him and chased him back to his flat. Sellar claimed he felt he had no other option but to grab a knife in a bid to protect himself. He said that in the ensuing fight, the knife came into contact with Mr Walsh, who died shortly afterwards. He said: "They chased me down. I couldn't breathe. I never intended to kill him. I never intended for anything like this to happen." Christopher Walsh told jurors that his brother did nothing wrong and that Sellar had attacked him. He told the court that following the incident, Sellar claimed that Mr Walsh had stabbed him first and showed off a wound which he claimed he had suffered during the fight. He said his brother did not have a knife and when asked why Sellar claimed to have been stabbed by his brother, answered: "He was trying to get a defence." Sellar denied stabbing himself and maintained he was acting in self defence. However, a jury refused to believe his claims and returned a guilty verdict to a murder charge. Following the verdict, it emerged that Sellar, had six previous convictions for offences involving knives. He also wrote a two-act play - Dead Boys tales - when he was 19-years-old. The work, which was performed in Greenock in 1997 by a cast of young people struggling with addiction - depicted the problems teenagers had in staying away from drugs and crime.

Summary: A man who claimed he killed his neighbour in an act of self defence has been jailed for life for murder.


The UK oil giant has said that fraud and false compensation payments are behind the escalating costs it faces. But Judge Carl Barbier ruled that there was no "credible evidence of fraud" or that the compensation process was tainted by conflicts of interest. BP said it continued to believe that the compensation system was being abused. Former FBI director Louis Freeh is investigating allegations of misconduct in the claims program. The oil company insists that the payouts should be suspended while Mr Freeh carries out his probe. In an emailed statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday, BP said: "As we await the completion of this broad investigation [by Mr Freeh], we continue to believe a temporary pause in payments is warranted. "BP is reviewing its options with respect to the district court's decision today." The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and released an estimated four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP set up a compensation fund, initially estimating the cost of the settlement at $7.8bn (£5.03bn). The company has since raised the estimate to $9.6bn.

Summary: BP has lost a second attempt to suspend compensation payments over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster.


Henry, a replacement for Zach Clough 10 minutes earlier, struck from 18 yards in the third of six minutes of added time with a shot that looked to deflect off Iron defender Murray Wallace. Bolton's win took them into the automatic promotion places while Scunthorpe, top at the start of the day, slipped to third after Sheffield United's 1-0 win over Northampton earlier in the afternoon. Until Henry's intervention Neal Bishop's fourth goal of the season appeared to have earned Graham Alexander's side a deserved draw. Bolton, watched by the Macron Stadium's second biggest attendance of the season - 17,062 - led 1-0 at half-time. Josh Vela's half volley from the edge of the area after 17 minutes was his eighth goal of the campaign. Scunthorpe had a goal disallowed for offside but Clough wasted a good opportunity to double Wanderers' advantage and felt he should have had a penalty after Jordan Clarke's challenge. Scunthorpe were much the better side after the break and they deservedly drew level when Bolton failed to clear a 62nd-minute corner and Bishop swivelled on the loose ball to rifle home from 10 yards. But their endeavours drew a blank courtesy of Henry's hammer blow. Report supplied by the Press Association. Match ends, Bolton Wanderers 2, Scunthorpe United 1. Second Half ends, Bolton Wanderers 2, Scunthorpe United 1. Kevin van Veen (Scunthorpe United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Kevin van Veen (Scunthorpe United). Zach Clough (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Stephen Dawson (Scunthorpe United) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Gary Madine (Bolton Wanderers). Attempt saved. James Henry (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Goal! Bolton Wanderers 2, Scunthorpe United 1. James Henry (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Substitution, Scunthorpe United. Tom Hopper replaces Paddy Madden. Attempt missed. Sam Mantom (Scunthorpe United) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner. Attempt missed. Jay Spearing (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high from a direct free kick. Sam Mantom (Scunthorpe United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Sam Mantom (Scunthorpe United). Tom Thorpe (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Sam Mantom (Scunthorpe United). Derik (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick on the left wing. Attempt missed. Tom Thorpe (Bolton Wanderers) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right following a corner. Corner, Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Stephen Dawson. Foul by Charlie Goode (Scunthorpe United). Gary Madine (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt missed. Gary Madine (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from the right side of the box is just a bit too high. Attempt blocked. Tom Thorpe (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Stephen Dawson (Scunthorpe United) wins a

Summary: Substitute James Henry's injury time winner earned Bolton a dramatic victory over former leaders Scunthorpe.


Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told the BBC such antipathy "doesn't reflect why Donald Trump is running and who he would be on the global stage". She also attacked Hillary Clinton's "unremarkable to chequered" record as secretary of state. Both candidates are undertaking a blitz of campaigning in key states on Monday. The latest national poll, conducted by YouGov for The Economist, gave Mrs Clinton a four-point lead. The final full day of campaigning - as it happened The disunited states of America - whoever wins Mr Trump has faced a barrage of criticism from some world figures during campaigning. French President Francois Hollande said the businessman made people "want to retch". The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described him as a danger internationally. Speaking to the BBC's Katty Kay, Ms Conway said negative attitudes overseas do "bother me" but defended Mr Trump's "America First" stance. Mr Trump "does say America First and he means it", she said, spelling out the reasons - stopping the loss of American jobs overseas, making sure all partners, including Nato, pay their fair share and renegotiating trade deals that are bad for the US. What do Russians think of Trump? Donald Trump - the Canadian view Clinton and Trump compared to world leaders Europe hates Trump. Does it matter? Ms Conway also responded to a jibe from President Barack Obama that Mr Trump could not be trusted with US nuclear codes. The president, during a rally in Florida on Sunday, said that if Mr Trump could not be trusted with a Twitter account, he should not be in charge of US nuclear weapons. He was referring to a New York Times report that Mr Trump's team had taken control of his Twitter account from him. But Ms Conway denied the Times report and said Mr Trump could be trusted with the nuclear weapons. She said that Mrs Clinton had herself "not proved to be qualified with nuclear codes" citing her use of a private email server for classified information when she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama administration. Ms Conway condemned Mrs Clinton for allegedly allowing her maid to print off classified documents. On Sunday, the FBI's director said a fresh inquiry into the Democratic candidate's communications had found nothing to change the bureau's conclusion this summer that she should not face criminal charges. Pointing to what she said was a series of foreign policy errors by Mrs Clinton, Ms Conway said: "The Russian reset was a joke, she owns the fake 'red-line' in Syria, she owns the lack of progress in North Africa and she certainly owns Benghazi." Asked why Mr Trump had been referring to Brexit in recent times, she said he was talking about how the UK's Remain camp had seemed "pretty robust" in the final days before the referendum, but that the Leave team were able to turn out their supporters. She said: "But I told him just yesterday you should stop referring to Brexit, because it's actually the Trump effect, the fact that you have so

Summary: Donald Trump's campaign team has sought to allay negative views expressed overseas towards its candidate, a day before the US goes to the polls.


Robert Huey was speaking after a suspected case of "mad cow disease" was identified in the Republic of Ireland. Further tests are being carried out, but if confirmed, it would be the first case of BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in Ireland since 2013. Mr Huey said despite the development, it was business as usual for the Northern Ireland beef industry. "The controls we have in place are robust and ensure that beef from the north is safe to eat," he said. "It's very much just business as usual. We have our controls, we have our controls in meat plants, we have our controls in meat and bone meal, we have our surveillance and those are robust. "They're the same controls that are protecting public health and animal health across Europe and I'm confident that those are sufficient to ensure that, if instances do happen, that they are sporadic and only a one-off." The animal involved in the incident in the Republic of Ireland is a five-year-old cow from a dairy farm in County Louth. The Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) said the cow was not presented for slaughter and did not enter the food chain. Mr Huey said that showed that the existing safeguards were effective. "It does prove that the surveillance that's in place across Europe actually works," he said. "We've always suspected that there might be an occasional sporadic outbreak in an individual animal and that's what we seem to have here."

Summary: The chief veterinary officer for Northern Ireland has said NI beef is safe to eat.


The High Administrative Court rejected an appeal by the government against a lower court's decision to stop it handing over Tiran and Sanafir. Cheers erupted as the judge delivered the verdict, saying the government had failed to provide evidence that the islands were originally Saudi. The transfer deal, signed last April, sparked rare protests in Egypt. Tiran and Sanafir are located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. They are uninhabited apart from Egyptian troops and multi-national peacekeepers. President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said the islands had always belonged to Saudi Arabia and that Riyadh had asked Egypt to station troops there in 1950 to protect them. But Mr Sisi was accused of violating the constitution and "selling" the islands in return for a multi-billion dollar aid package announced during a visit to Cairo by King Salman. Saudi Arabia has backed Mr Sisi financially since he led the military's overthrow of his Islamist predecessor, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013. Uproar at the maritime border demarcation accord prompted protests across Egypt at which hundreds people were detained, according to human rights activists. A group of lawyers, including former presidential candidate Khaled Ali, also challenged the agreement at an administrative court. Mr Ali argued that a 1906 maritime treaty between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire stated that the islands were Egyptian. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was not established until 1932. In June, the court nullified the border accord, ruling that Egyptian sovereignty over the islands held and could not be amended in favour of another state. The government subsequently lodged an appeal with the High Administrative Court. It is part of the State Council, a judicial body that gives legal advice to the government, drafts legislation, and exercises jurisdiction over administrative cases. On Monday, the High Administrative Court said it was the "unanimous" decision of its judges that Tiran and Sanafir were sovereign Egyptian territories. Lawyers and activists celebrated and chanted: "These islands are Egyptian." "This verdict is a victory for Egypt," Mr Ali, who was carried out of the court building on the shoulders of his supporters, told Reuters news agency. There was no immediate response from the Egyptian or Saudi governments.

Summary: A top Egyptian court has upheld a ruling halting a plan to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.