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The individual, who does not want to be named, said: "G4S have been appalling." He claims those in charge of Locog's security were "amateurish" and it was a mistake using one company to supply staff. Newsnight put these allegations to Locog and they have not responded. The insider says Locog's event services division used a number of contractors to supply thousands of stewards and that has worked well but the security division put all its eggs in one basket. "It was the wrong strategy, to use only one company." He also says that there was inadequate scrutiny. "They couldn't spot when contractors were cutting corners." The insider who has worked in security for many years asserts that "at the top level" the management of security at Locog was "thoroughly amateurish and incompetent". Watch the full report on Newsnight on Monday 16 July 2012 at 2230 BST on BBC Two. Or afterwards on BBC iPlayer and the Newsnight website.
An insider from the committee @placeholder the Olympics ( Locog ) has told Newsnight that they failed to deal with the problems at G4S despite warnings over the last 18 months .
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The Grade I listed Harnham Gate was hit by a white van that smashed into the structure at about 02:00 BST. A 51-year-old man, from West Dean, has been arrested on suspicion of failing to stop, criminal damage and driving with excess alcohol, police said. Wiltshire Police said the man remains in police custody and they have asked for witnesses to contact them.
A seven - hundred - year old oak gate at Salisbury Cathedral has been @placeholder by a drink driver .
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To get to Utoeya, we board the MS Thorbjorn - the same passenger ferry that took Anders Breivik to the island on 22 July. Dressed as a policeman, and heavily armed, he'd set off with one aim: to commit mass murder. As the MS Thorbjorn nears Utoeya, I find it hard to imagine the horrors which unfolded there. Even under the cover of thick cloud, this tiny island looks so beautiful. It's like a jewel in the middle of Lake Tyrifjorden. Its forests of pine and silver birch are an explosion of autumn colour. Within minutes, we reach the island. I leave the ferry and pass the white administration building. It is here that Breivik shot his first victims. The island looks strangely normal. It's almost as if the Young Labour summer camp has been frozen in time. At the storehouse, the entertainment schedule for the day of the attack is still pinned to the wall. It lists what the campers should have been doing that evening: football at 18:00, then a disco at 22:30. The summer camp refreshment tent 'Utoeya Waffles' is still standing. There are neat rows of picnic tables. The island kiosk still has supplies in the shop window: toothpaste, shampoo and hot chocolate. The poster behind the glass declares: 'Utoeya: Welcome to the island. The Nordic Paradise.' Anders Breivik's shooting spree on Utoeya had lasted more than seventy minutes. He killed 69 people. As I walk around the island I see hints of the carnage: boarded-up windows and some bullet holes. I find a nature trail known as the 'Love Path'. It leads through the forest to cliffs. During the attack, some of the campers had climbed down here and taken cover in the rocks. Breivik had shot at them from the fence above. Others tried to swim to safety through the icy waters of the lake. The gunman targeted them, too. I move on to the 'School Hut'. During the shooting, 47 people had barricaded themselves in here. Among them was Jorid Nordmelan. I met Jorid in Oslo before my trip to Utoeya. She told me her dramatic story. "I picked up my mattress and put it in front of the window," Jorid recalls. "Then I crawled under the bed. Right at that moment someone was shooting at the door in the living room." "We were so scared because we knew we had lost control of our lives. We couldn't run anywhere. "I actually thought through my own funeral. I planned what kind of tunes to be played and which priest I wanted. I was certain this was my final hour," she said. "Then we got our mobile phones working and started checking the news. I saw that the BBC was covering the story. I thought, 'What? The BBC covering Norway? Something enormous must be happening'." Even after Anders Breivik was arrested, Jorid's ordeal was not over. "Then I saw him. The person who did this. He was standing there with handcuffs on in front of the main house. "He looked kind of evil. But he was laughing. So I thought this couldn't be him. "It had to be some mistake. Because I didn't think that anyone who shot so many people could be laughing afterwards". Jorid was among the last group of survivors to leave Utoeya. Only on reaching the mainland did she realise the scale of the tragedy. "There were body bags lying everywhere. We could see feet sticking out and white plastic covering heads. "I couldn't believe it. I cracked and fell down. I couldn't stand on my feet any more," she said. "I think about what happened every day. I hope I will think about this every single day for the rest of my life. "I hope it will fill me up in a good way, so that I have perspective. And make me remember how lucky I am to be alive."
Norway has opened the island of Utoeya to the media for the first time since @placeholder killer Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 people at a youth camp in July . Our correspondent , Steve Rosenberg , was among 150 journalists taken to the island where holiday camps are to reopen .
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Police say they are trying to find a man in his 30s who they would like to to speak to about the serious assault. Officers were called to Ramsey Road in Barry at 04:00 GMT on Tuesday after the assault left the victim with face and head injuries. He was taken to the University Hospital of Wales. Anybody who has information is asked to contact South Wales Police via 101 quoting reference *397845, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A man in his 60s is in a critical condition in hospital after being @placeholder at a block of flats in the Vale of Glamorgan .
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Mormons from across the country have been preparing for the start of a religious pageant marking the 175th anniversary of the church in Britain. It's a hive of activity as over 1,000 volunteers work behind the scenes at a temple close to the town of Chorley. The idea to organise a British Pageant started four years ago. Pageants take place annually in the United States, but the organisers said this is the first to be held in Europe. The Preston Temple site was chosen for its connections to the faith. The first Mormon missionaries were sent from New York to Liverpool in 1837, led by the Apostle Heber C Kimball. They first preached in Preston in July of that year, and baptised their first nine converts the same month in the River Ribble. The pageant tells their story, with an original script that includes extracts from their journals. Comprised of reâ€
There are 190,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints in the UK , and it feels like most of them have @placeholder on a Lancashire town .
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By December 1961, a small team of Cambridge graduates, squashed into a Series 2 model, had travelled for 15 months along the Pan-American Highway. Starting at the southern tip of Argentina, the group travelled through 17 different countries until they finally reached the most northerly US state. But just 500 miles short of the Arctic Circle, the road came to an end at Fairbanks, Alaska, and they were beaten back by the harsh winter. Mike Andrews, Ben Mackworth-Praed and Martin Hugh-Jones had to admit defeat and sold their Land Rover to a car dealer in Anchorage to cover their fares home. Mr Mackworth-Praed chronicled the moment in his book, Year with Three Summers: "Even for $1,850, we were sorry to part with it; we knew every bolt in the frame, every rattle, and could interpret its noises like an oracle. But we had to get home, and there was a heavy bill coming for air tickets." The vehicle had certainly been put through its paces on the route, which would have been largely off-road at the time. The "Cambridge TransAmerican Expedition" set out from Buenos Aires in September 1960, travelled throughout Argentina down to Tierra Del Fuego, then up through South America, the US and Canada up to Alaska. Mr Andrews and Mr Mackworth-Praed were engineering graduates, invited to help with car maintenance, while vets Andy Bacon and Martin Hugh-Jones carried out epidemiological studies of cattle and sheep throughout Latin America. Their adventures included crossing the Andes 15 times, searching out new animal populations and archaeological sites, a week with the Welsh colony in Patagonia and negotiating treacherous conditions during an Alaskan ice storm. The Land Rover was pulled by oxen through a river in Costa Rica, driven along railway tracks to stop it sinking on salt flats between Chile and Bolivia and had the paint sand-blasted off it by strong winds as they drove into Patagonia. It had carried them across mountains, deserts, forests, rivers and salt flats, "The sheer difficulty of travel was considerable. The Land Rover basically disintegrated en route - we broke practically every part of it. We got to Alaska and it had to have major rebuilds because the roads were appalling," Mr Andrews said. "The roads were so bad that our heads were constantly banging on the roof." While the vehicle had been put through its paces - springs, shock absorbers and other parts were constantly replaced on the trip - its aluminium bodywork did not rust. On the 50th anniversary of the trip, Mr Andrews wrote a piece for Land Rover Owner International magazine. To his astonishment, the vehicle's current owner, based in Anchorage, Alaska, recognised the expedition's logo, which had survived on its side since. "It was pretty derelict at the time," Mr Andrews said, "but in the five years since the vehicle has been renovated by [Land Rover enthusiast] Eddie Angel and, amazingly, all three of us who drove it to Alaska in 1961 are all going out there again." Mr Andrews, 76, from Bristol, a retired executive producer with the BBC's Natural History Unit, and his fellow adventurers Mr Mackworth-Praed, 79, and Prof Martin Hugh-Jones, 79, will join a small convoy of vintage Land Rovers for the journey from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Prudhoe Bay, on the Arctic Coast in August. Sadly, their teammate Mr Bacon has since died. The trip has been organised by Mr Angel and photo-journalist Michael Rudd, who will be documenting the journey. They have been documenting the Land Rover's repair on Facebook and say it will "retain all its battle scars and bruises". They say the vehicle, despite its vast mileage, is "very solid and will need just basic maintenance to drive the rest of the voyage". While road conditions have generally improved, Mr Andrews is not expecting a smooth ride. The Dalton Highway is essentially a huge dirt track, which featured in the first episode of the BBC series "World's Most Dangerous Roads". They will have to dodge oil tankers and mosquitoes, and avoid skidding on the gravel road in a 55-year-old Land Rover that has not had an easy life. Mr Andrews said he was a bit anxious he might get to Alaska and find the 4x4 "won't move." But he said its owner, Mr Angel, is a Land Rover enthusiast, so they are in "good hands". "I think it will be brilliant," he said. "You could call it the trip of a lifetime. "I was the baby of the team - I'm 76 now, the other two are 79 - the challenge I think will be to stay awake on those endless gravel roads," he said.
More than 50 years after they came agonisingly close to completing " the ultimate road trip " , three adventurers are set to return to Alaska in a bid to finish the last leg of the 40,000 - mile journey in the same @placeholder Land Rover which almost took them across the Americas .
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Media playback is not supported on this device Phaedra Al Majid, a former international media officer for Qatar 2022, said she wanted to exact revenge after losing her campaign job. She decided to go public after she said her "lies had gone too far". Al Majid has now signed a legal affidavit retracting the allegations. Fifa has also confirmed that it has received an email from Al Majid withdrawing the allegations. "Fifa can confirm receipt of an email from a person claiming to have made allegations related to the Qatar 2022 bid process and now retracting these allegations," said a statement. My intentions were to make a few headlines, I never expected that my lies would be carried on and discussed in parliament Originally made anonymously to journalists, Al Majid's claims became the subject of an inquiry by the parliamentary select committee for culture, media and sport. She says she is deeply sorry for the trouble she has caused World Cup officials in Qatar and the three Fifa executive committee members she accused of accepting bribes. "I was very upset after I left the bid and wanted to basically hurt the bid back," she said. "My intentions were to make a few headlines, I never expected that my lies would be carried on and discussed in parliament. "It just went too far. I never expected it to come to this point. There was never anything suspicious or any wrongdoing on Qatar's part. "I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I have hurt reputations of three members of the Fifa exco, I have hurt their reputation, and more importantly I have hurt my colleagues on the Qatar bid." Al Majid originally said African Football Confederation president Issa Hayatou, Ivory Coast Fifa member Jacques Anomua and Nigeria's suspended exco official Amos Adamu were paid $1.5m to vote for Qatar. The allegations were denied by all three men but were made public under parliamentary privilege when the Sunday Times submitted evidence from their investigation into Fifa to the select committee in May. She was then invited to back up her claims in a meeting with Fifa president Sepp Blatter. But no meeting ever took place. Al Majid also says she "tampered" with a Qatar 2022 bid strategy document which she then leaked to journalists. She insists she was placed under no pressure or paid any money by Qatar 2022 to change her story. Officials on a new supreme committee for the World Cup, now overseeing preparations for the tournament, have told the BBC Al Majid first made contact with them on 5 June and that they didn't place her under any pressure or pay her to retract her story. However, it must be stated that the BBC only interviewed Al Majid after being put in touch with her by Qatar bid officials, during research for a special report on the Qatar 2022 World Cup due to be broadcast on BBC2's Newsnight on Monday. Her decision to retract her story could be embarrassing for the select committee who last week published a report on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids in which the MPs accused Fifa of treating corruption allegations with an "approach bordering on contempt".
The " whistleblower " behind a series of corruption allegations involving Fifa executive committee members and Qatar 's 2022 World Cup bid has told the BBC she @placeholder the claims .
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Romain Saiss has returned from the African Cup of Nations, but striker Joe Mason (hamstring) remains out. Newcastle are not expected to risk the Championship's top scorer Dwight Gayle with his hamstring issue. Chancel Mbemba and Christian Atsu are back from international duty and Jack Colback (illness) should be available.
January @placeholder Ben Marshall could make his full Wolves debut against Newcastle after coming on in last week 's late 2 - 1 defeat at Burton Albion .
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The UK Foreign Office has confirmed the detention of two British nationals. The three men, who received terms ranging from four to seven years, were alleged to have had links with local jihadists, the Fana Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) said. Ethiopia has extremely strict anti-terror laws. It has long waged a campaign against Islamist militancy in East Africa - and has been involved in fighting against al-Qaeda linked militants in neighbouring Somalia. The country has also faced criticism from donors for jailing its critics, including some of the country's leading bloggers who are facing trail on terrorism charges and have been in detention since April 2014. According to FBC, Ali Adros Mohammad and Mohammad Sharif Ahmed had lived in London while Mohammad Ahmed was from Hargeisa in the self-declared republic of Somaliland. The trio had been in communication with local members of a jihadist group since December 2012 and had travelled to the Ethiopian city of Adama, capital of the Oromia region, where they were conspiring to carry out terror attacks, it reported. The Federal High Court in the capital, Addis Ababa, heard that Ali Adros had travelled to Kenya for military training and had also made a deal with a local rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), to carry out joint attacks, it said.
Two British citizens and a Somali man have been jailed in Ethiopia for trying to establish an Islamic state , a radio @placeholder to the government reports .
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Bins were set on fire and a prison officer was injured after trouble broke out at HMP Stocken in Rutland on 14 June. A total of ten men have been collectively charged with prison mutiny, Leicestershire Police said. One, Steven Walker, 36, of HMP Nottingham, is due in court on Tuesday. Seven of the accused nine who appeared at Leicester Magistrates' Court are serving prisoners. They are: Two ex-inmates - Brendan Carey, 39, of Cathwaite, Paston, Peterborough, and Jamie Hill, 35, of Westwick Drive, Lincoln - were given unconditional bail following their appearance. All are due before Leicester Crown Court on 6 June. At the time, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said about 60 prisoners were involved in a "serious incident of indiscipline" at the jail. All 120 prisoners on a wing had to be moved to other parts of the jail or other prisons. Specially-trained prison officers were called in at about 23:00 BST before the situation was brought under control in the early hours of the following day.
Nine men have appeared in court charged in connection with @placeholder that led to riot squads being called in to a prison last year .
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The proposal was tabled at the league's annual general meeting, with 18 of 24 National League clubs backing the move. It means teams finishing between second and seventh place in all three National League's divisions will be involved. Games will be one-legged, with teams in fourth and fifth hosting the seventh and sixth clubs in a qualifying round. The winners of those matches will then move into the semi-finals before a final - at Wembley for the National League and a club ground for the North and South divisions. Teams that finish second and third will progress straight to a semi-final at their home ground, in theory giving them an advantage as they will play one match fewer and have a home tie. Previously in non-league's top flight, the four clubs finishing directly below the automatically promoted champions played two-legged semi-finals before a one-off final. Four National League clubs rejected the proposal, with two more not voting. Speaking when the plans were initially put forward, the league's chief executive Michael Tattersall said: "The format involves the same amount of matches as now. With six clubs competing, it will increase the interest levels." Forest Green won this season's National League promotion final, beating Tranmere Rovers 3-1. at Wembley. FC Halifax Town and Ebbsfleet United won the National League North and South finals respectively, after one-match semi-final victories.
National League member clubs have voted in favour of @placeholder six - team play - offs to the fifth and sixth tiers of English football from next season .
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Elliott Johnson, 21, was later killed by a train after lying across railway tracks in Sandy, Bedfordshire. Coroner Tom Osborne concluded Mr Johnson, of London, took his own life last September. "Elliott Johnson... suffered severe injuries and died instantly," he said. Senior Bedfordshire and Luton coroner Mr Osborne said: "I find that in letters his state of mind confirmed that he believed himself to have failed with money, with politics, his parents and with life. "And he believed at the time of his death that he had been bullied and had been betrayed." The inquest in Ampthill, focused on the fact Mr Johnson believed he was being bullied and on his being made redundant by pressure group Conservative Way Forward (CWF), shortly after making the allegation. In a detailed complaint, he had accused former Conservative activist Mark Clarke of bullying, following an altercation in a central London pub during a friend's birthday party on 12 August. During the exchange, Mr Clarke was alleged to have threatened to "squash" him "like an ant". Paul Abbott, former chief executive of the CWF, told the inquest Mr Clarke harboured a "vendetta" against CWF, and there had been other complaints by the group's volunteers against him. However, Mr Osborne said he found "no connection" between Mr Johnson's complaint and CWF's decision to make him redundant. Mr Johnson's father Ray said he believed Mr Clarke, who denied the bullying allegations, had "ruined" his son's career. "We were unaware of, at the time, a victimisation campaign by Mr Clarke towards Elliott and other members of the Conservative Way Forward, which was getting steadily worse," he said. Mr Johnson's allegations eventually sparked an investigation and the resignation of former party chairman Grant Shapps.
A Conservative activist who said he was victimised by fellow Tories wrote to his " bullies " saying " I could @placeholder a hate message but actions speak louder than words " , an inquest heard .
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Mourinho is expected to replace sacked Louis van Gaal, with talks ongoing between his agent Jorge Mendes and United officials. But it has emerged that Chelsea still own the 'Jose Mourinho' name as a trademark - meaning United may need to pay a six-figure sum for the rights. However, the issue will not scupper any deal, which is expected this week. Discussions will now enter a third day, despite the deal to bring the 53-year-old former Chelsea boss to Old Trafford being largely complete. On Wednesday, Mourinho told waiting reporters at his home in London that he was going to Portugal. Chelsea registered both the name Jose Mourinho and his signature as a European trademark in 2005, meaning they can use it to sell merchandise such as toiletries, technology, clothing and jewellery. Sports lawyer Carol Couse told BBC Sport it was "really unusual" for an individual not to own the trademark to their own name. "Chelsea could be earning revenue every time someone uses Mourinho's name. It could prevent United from exploiting his signature," said Couse, of law firm Mills & Reeve. "One of the things United will be looking to acquire is not only Mourinho's image but also his name. "If United had a brand of Mourinho clothing it would be in breach of the trademark Chelsea currently own." What are the possible solutions? Mourinho cannot override the trademark, so the options are: "That would be pretty costly," said Couse, who estimated the fee for a licence as "hundreds of thousands of pounds". "Look at the value of the deals that have been done for Mourinho to date. What would be the value of a Jose Mourinho watch? "He has managed Inter and Real since then. They have either acquired the rights from Chelsea or managed the use of his name. "If Chelsea didn't grant a licence, every time United used Jose Mourinho's name in a commercial capacity against those products, Chelsea could sue Manchester United. I would suspect United would rather just pay a licence fee." There is also potential conflict between Mourinho's personal deals - such as his one with car manufacturer Jaguar - and United's shirt sponsor agreement with Chevrolet. "I don't think that in itself would hold up any negotiation," Couse explained. "A lot of world-class players go to Manchester United with their own personal deals. Mourinho's deals will be in a personal capacity." Couse said United cannot force Mourinho to drive a Chevrolet car, for example, or wear Chevrolet clothes outside of club capacity, but they could pay him an incentive to buy out the Jaguar deal early. Chelsea declined to comment when contacted by BBC Sport. Will Mourinho splash the cash? Will he give youth a chance? Or will there be a full-scale clearout? Choose your fantasy Man Utd starting XI. Who will be in the team for the start of the season? We've included the current squad plus a selection of players linked with United.
Negotiations over Jose Mourinho 's image rights are @placeholder him becoming the new Manchester United manager .
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China's central bank has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Bank of Korea. The signing took place during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to South Korea. The timescale for the establishment of the clearing system has not been disclosed. A clearing system, also known as a clearing house, essentially acts as the middleman between two different parties, and is also the agent through which financial instruments such as shares, bonds and currencies are often traded. The move comes days after the French central bank also signed an MOU with its Chinese counterpart to set up a renminbi payment system in Paris. Banque de France said in a statement: "This MoU is the first step towards the creation of a renminbi clearing and settlement infrastructure in Paris." Earlier this year, China's central bank signed similar MOUs with its counterparts in Germany and the United Kingdom. Last month, the British pound became the fifth major currency to be exchangeable directly for yuan in Shanghai, joining the Australian and New Zealand dollars, as well as the Japanese yen and the US dollar. The Chinese currency ranks as the seventh most used payment currency globally.
South Korea will get a yuan clearing system in the capital Seoul , @placeholder the list of states with direct access to trade in the Chinese currency .
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Troon is the only club on the Open rota to have a male-only membership policy. A majority is needed to remove the ban, with the club reporting in June that "over three quarters of the members" supported admitting female members. Muirfield still has a ban on female members and has been told by the governing body they cannot stage another Open until it is removed. That left Troon as the only club on the Open that has men-only membership after Royal St George's, which hosted the Open in 2011, voted last year to end its 128-year ban on female members. The club consulted members in May over the its men-only policy but brought forward a vote on the issue following Muirfield's ban. Muirfield said in June it wanted to hold a fresh ballot on admitting female members before the end of the year. The 145th Open Championship will begin on 14 July.
Royal Troon , the host of the 2016 Open Championship , will vote on @placeholder women members on Friday .
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Mr Letwin was putting in an appearance before the Commons public administration committee which left MPs a little baffled. He said he believed that the charity was "grossly" mismanaged, misstated its statistics and needed a leadership clearout. Yet he did not think he made any errors in disbursing £7.3m of public funds to Kids Company since April. This led him into rather odd territory. For example, Bernard Jenkin, the chair, was incredulous when Mr Letwin said that he always believed "a distinct gap between the claims for the numbers going on in public and what was really happening". He thought that the charity was not helping as many people it was claiming. But, Mr Letwin explained, those published figures were not the basis on which the charity was supported by the government. His argument was, at times, also rather peculiar. For example, Mr Letwin attempted to knock back the idea that he was in thrall to Camila Batmanghelidjh, its chief executive. He revealed the details of how he handled what would prove to be Kids Company's last request for more money from the government - a request that came in mid-May from Alan Yentob, its chair of trustees and the BBC's creative director. The request came just six weeks after receiving what was supposed to be a final grant of £4.265m. He told MPs: "I was sitting in a car in my constituency on the carphone. I took the call from Alan [Yentob] which my office had arranged... He said: 'If you don't give us some extra money now, we will go bust almost immediately.' I said, as I say, 'So be it'. I had made it clear that the £4.265m was the last such grant and I didn't find it hard to make that objective assessment." But it was not "So be it" to the closure. A few weeks later, Mr Letwin overruled officials to order a further payment of £3m to the charity. When pressed on this point, Mr Letwin said that he only did this on the condition that the charity changed its management and closed some of its services, so he was being tough. Not so. Other charities do not get impromptu £3m bailouts. Mr Letwin was also pressed on the question of why the charity was given the money when the Cabinet Office was in possession of what someone in the department called a "gobsmacking" interim report, written by PWC. This contained details of bizarre spending - it showed one client was being paid almost £1,000 a week. The minister knew the charity spent more than £50,000 funding someone described as the child of an Iranian diplomat, including their PhD study. He knew that two young people who have a relative working for a charity received support worth more than £130,000. His answer was that he could only cut off Kids Company if a Charity Commission statutory inquiry were launched. It is not clear why. Mr Letwin's argument was, at root, that he thought Kids Company did excellent work despite shambolic management. So, he argued, the core of what it did needed to preserved, even if the management did not. But he did not give a good explanation of why he thought it was so valuable. For example, when pressed on why he was convinced Kids Company deserved such generosity, Mr Letwin said he had visited it in 2001 to 2003 - more than a decade ago. He also brought up work by Methods Consulting, research which had been conducted at the behest of the Department for Education to assess the charity. But Methods' work seems to have been weak. As the NAO wrote, the "scope of its work did not include looking at the quality of the charity's services". Methods only measured the volume of work - and it got whacky results. For example, the charity was set a target of 1,347 "interventions" in 2013 to 14. According to the NAO, they delivered 30,217. This does not suggest a well-calibrated measure. Mr Letwin's view about its safeguarding practice was also debatable. He was wrong to claim Kids Company was not unusual, for a charity of its size, in not being inspected, regulated or overseen by either Ofsted or a local authority. And Mr Letwin's retort that the staff had been vetted for prior criminal convictions is to miss the point. As Newsnight and BuzzFeed News reported, there are serious questions about whether it was effective at keeping young people safe. So how to judge Mr Letwin's performance? The select committee will report in the New Year. The minister did not win them over. He rather confirmed the sense that Kids Company was a well connected charity which threatened ministers with the consequences of its own closure - and Mr Letwin could not make a convincing, positive case for the funding he gave it. Still, he did manage one thing. The hearing was about him, not his boss, the Prime Minister. Tim Loughton, a former children's minister, told the committee earlier that David Cameron was "mesmerised" by Ms Batmanghelidjh. If that was - as expected - the end of the public administration committee's process, the Prime Minister may have got away with not being dragged into this row.
The minister who overruled civil service objections to pay a £ 3 m grant to the now - @placeholder charity Kids Company just days before it collapsed has said that he does not regret his decision . Oliver Letwin says the charity might well have been an " abundant success " , but for the fact that it folded suddenly in early August amid a police investigation .
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Homes and businesses in the town were affected by waters overflowing from the Skiprunning Burn in August. Local councillor Jim Brown said a study by engineering consultants Halcrow had produced some important findings. He urged members of the public to turn out to the meeting in the town hall at 19:00 to hear the outcome. About 50 homes and businesses were affected in the summer incident, prompted by a spell of thundery rain. Mitigation measures being suggested include new arrangements for reducing a build-up of debris as well as alterations to kerbs and other street features to channel flows away from properties.
A meeting in Jedburgh is to hear about the cause of major flooding in the town - and the @placeholder which is being recommended to avoid any repeat .
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George King's try was awarded by the video referee with three minutes to go, before Chris Sandow completed the win with his late effort. Rhys Evans' double and Ben Currie's effort added to the Wolves' total. Catalans, already beaten by Hull on home soil, scored through Todd Carney, Pat Richards and Vincent Duport. The victory was Warrington's fifth in succession, with themselves and Wigan the only two sides to retain 100% records so far this season. It was a disappointing reunion with his former club for Catalans half-back Richie Myler, who saw his new side beaten and was involved in a heavy tackle by Chris Hill that saw the Wolves skipper placed on report. Dragons head coach Laurent Frayssinous was visibly frustrated by the late video referee call for King's try. However, there was little debate about Sandow's try that finished the game, which made it three defeats for the hosts in the opening five fixtures. Catalans Dragons head coach Laurent Frayssinous: "I think that there are rules in rugby league, you cannot move forward until the foot touches the ball at the play the ball. It's hard to kick, it's hard to play, it's hard to run, win the ground and get a quick play the ball when you have the opposition straight in your face. "I think the guys had a dig defensively, but offensively we couldn't play tonight. "I would be happy at some stage to have some feedback from the referee about some decisions he made tonight, but there is no point in me telling my players to work on combinations and create space when there is a game played like that." Warrington Wolves head coach Tony Smith: "We're oozing with character at the moment. We're probably not oozing with execution or smarts (smart play) at times, and we're coming up with a few too many errors. "But we were pretty confident that we could get ahead in the game, but we needed to control the ball and use the wind in the second half and we didn't do that in the early stages of the second half. "But about 20 minutes into the second half we felt like we were going to come home even stronger. "Some of that was down to good defence, some good fitness and good execution. I thought our kicking game for the last 20 minutes was very good." Catalans: Gigot; Broughton, Inu, Duport, Richards; Carney, Myler; Taylor, Pelissier, Mason, Stewart, Horo, Anderson. Replacements: Casty, Baitieri, Bousquet, Bosc. Warrington: Russell; Penny, R. Evans, Atkins, Lineham; Gidley; Sandow, Hill, Dwyer, Sims, Currie, Hughes, Westerman. Replacements: Dodds, G. King, Cox, Ratchford. Referee: James Child
Warrington shrugged off the loss of @placeholder Mitchell Dodds to a potentially serious leg injury with a hard - earned Super League win at Catalans Dragons .
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Nick D'Aloisio told the BBC he was currently deciding between working full-time for the California-based company or going to university. The 18-year-old has just released an iPad edition of Yahoo's News Digest, for which he acts as project manager. He is also developing an Apple Watch version, among other projects. "For the lightweight news consumption that we have, [News] Digest is absolutely suited for this device," he said. "Because of the summarisation element to this app, it just inherently makes sense when you have a constrained screen. "We've been thinking about designing the concept of taking Digest to wearables for a while now, and we're going to jump at the opportunity." The app's icon briefly features during the Watch promotional video on Apple's site. Mr D'Aloisio said his team had already begun work on the software before the launch event, but had been kept "in the dark" about how the device functioned. He added that he also intended to bring the app to Android Wear smartwatches. News Digest has already been downloaded to about 1.3 million iPhones and 623,000 Android handsets, according to analytics provider Xyo. Yahoo would not confirm those numbers, but said that it believed: Mr D'Aloisio was only 16 years old when he secured a $250,000 (£154,000) investment in his software from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing. He subsequently launched the app Summly as a standalone news-summarisation product, but it was only a few months before Yahoo acquired the technology and his services, in a deal reported to be worth £20m. Since then he has headed up a team of about a dozen software engineers and designers to create and run News Digest, at the same time as sitting his A-level exams. Yahoo's app delivers two daily briefings of eight to nine stories, which are assembled by algorithms using text, images and videos sourced from online providers including: Once the user has clicked through all the material, a graphic tells them they are "done". "It's been very intense because I'm accountable and in charge of this product," Mr D'Aloisio told the BBC. "So, for the last year-and-a-half I've been flying back and forth between London and California." Having achieved high enough grades to qualify for his university offers, he now faces a choice as to whether to start a degree in October or not. "I'm still undecided - I'm weighing up university and Yahoo," he explained. "But I think there could be a nice middle ground here, where I think I could potentially... be doing some higher study as well as continuing on with Digest. "I am still very passionate about continuing my education, that's precisely why I made sure I finished school with everyone else in my age group, But at the same time this is a great product and we're working on some really exciting things." For the moment, Mr D'Aloisio is promoting the iPad edition of Yahoo's app, which introduces new features. These include: The app can be downloaded globally and configured to run in a UK, US, Canadian or World edition. The software will compete against a growing number of other news briefing services including Flipboard, Circa and Feedly. Not everyone is enamoured with the idea of such services piggybacking the work of journalists. "The big question is, are these apps providing added value for readers and publishers, or are they just another parasitical kind of aggregator," asked Dominic Ponsford, editor of the Press Gazette site. "There's so much aggregation going on online - just listing and lifting other people's stories and content isn't what you need." But Mr D'Aloisio defends News Digest's model, saying it acts as a "trusted curator", providing bite-sized chunks of news to busy readers, and offering links to the original sources for those with more time. Time is something he is now short of himself, and while he may be famous for being the "teenage coder who made millions", he acknowledges he does not do much programming himself anymore. "I do dabble in the iPhone coding for the application, but by and large my role has moved from doing a lot of the coding to becoming more of a product manager - so, I'm in charge of the design, the branding, the strategy, the development of it," he said. "That is by and large what I spend my time on. "But I have also been helping out with a few other efforts that have yet to be announced."
The British teenager who @placeholder his news summary app to Yahoo for millions is facing a major life choice as he weighs education and business opportunities .
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Ten people, including five children, died in a fire at a travellers' site on Saturday. The victims were Willie Lynch and Tara Gilbert, their daughters Kelsey and Jodie, as well as Thomas and Sylvia Connors and their children Jim, Christy and five-month-old Mary. Jimmy Lynch also died in the blaze. Willie Lynch and Sylvia Connors were his siblings. The Connors family lived on the site in Carrickmines, however the Lynch family and Tara Gilbert lived in Fassaroe, Bray. RTÉ reports that funeral arrangements are being made for the two families in Bray, County Wicklow and in Wexford. A candlelight vigil is due to be held in Fassaroe later on Friday. Elsewhere, a number of residents from a Carrickmines estate met with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to discuss the temporary relocation of families made homeless by the fire to a site in their cul-de-sac.
The @placeholder of the victims of the fire in Carrickmines , County Dublin , have been released to their families .
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Proposals by four artists for the Parker's Piece statue can be seen in the Grand Arcade on Monday. An idea to create a Subbuteo-type referee was scrapped before the public consultation stage last year. City councillor Carina O'Reilly said the statue could become a "significant landmark" for the city. It has been claimed the original rules of football were developed by students playing on Parker's Piece in 1848 and that the city centre green is the birthplace of football. A plaque at the city centre park already celebrates how the "Cambridge Rules" became the "defining influence on the 1863 Football Association rules". The Football Association, however, said although "elements" of the Cambridge Rules were in its own version, there were "a number of differences". Artists Neville Gabie together with Alan Ward, Kenny Hunter, Nayan Kulkarni and Mark Titchner have submitted proposals. They include a granite slab inscribed with the rules in different languages, a mirror-like design and bench, a life-size bronze of a female referee and a word sculpture. People are now being asked for their opinions on the designs until 5 December. One sculpture will be chosen by city councillors on 15 January. The work, which could cost up to £115,000, will be paid for by ring-fenced public art money from developers.
Sculpture designs to mark Cambridge 's contribution to the rules of football are to go on display after a Subbuteo - style statue was @placeholder .
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"The war did not finish in 2008 - it continues every day, because the Russian occupiers are on our land," said protest organiser David Katsarava. Young and old held hands and stood in silence under the scorching sun. Many held Georgian flags and banners condemning Russia's occupation, which gave firepower to pro-Russian rebels. "Our aim is to unite people and to give them the feeling that it's possible to change something in this war," says Mr Katsarava. In early August 2008, Georgia attempted to recapture breakaway South Ossetia, which had fought a separatist war with Georgia in the 1990s. The fighting in 2008 escalated after cross-border skirmishes. Russia responded with a massive invasion. It also seized control of Abkhazia, in support of separatists there. Both regions are internationally recognised as Georgian territory. The five-day war ended in humiliation for Georgia - several towns, a Black Sea port and military airfields were bombed by the Russian air force. Several hundred people were killed and thousands of ethnic Georgians displaced by the conflict. Georgian villages in South Ossetia were razed to the ground. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is conducting an investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the war. What is South Ossetia? Georgia timeline South Ossetia, officially part of Georgia, is separated from the North Ossetia region of Russia by an international border. It is inhabited mostly by Ossetians, who are ethnically and linguistically distinct from other peoples in the region. Most ethnic Georgians have been displaced from South Ossetia by conflict. Georgia, including South Ossetia, was part of the Russian empire in the 19th Century. After the 1917 communist revolution, Georgia became independent but it was declared part of the Soviet Union in 1921. After the 2008 war, Moscow recognised South Ossetia as an independent state and began a process of closer ties that Georgia views as effective annexation. South Ossetia and Abkhazia depend on Russia militarily and financially. Thousands of Russian troops are stationed in the two regions. Moscow has signed strategic agreements with both regions, bringing them firmly into its sphere of influence. While the Georgian protest was taking place Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Abkhazia. Just last week US Vice President Mike Pence visited Georgia. He voiced strong US support for Georgia's territorial integrity, and the two countries launched their biggest ever joint military exercises.
Several hundred Georgians have @placeholder a human chain on a main road near the country 's Russian - controlled South Ossetia region .
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Back in the 1920s a handful of beer-makers shared a fear: what would happen if we lost our brewing yeast? They not only agreed such an occurrence would be very bad news, they also agreed on a solution - to deposit a sample of their all important yeast in a shared collection for safety. Today that collection - the National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC) - is home to 4,000 different yeasts. They include all types of yeasts, including brewing, baking and industrial yeasts, from across the globe. Even yeasts found at the north and south poles have been collected and added to the collection. "We are the Kew Gardens of the yeast world," says Dr Ian Roberts, curator at the NCYC. "Yeasts are literally everywhere and are very important not just in brewing and baking but in areas like cancer research because yeasts are a model organism for research." Using different yeasts can change the taste of a beer dramatically, says Dr Roberts. "Brewers tend to play it safe and they like to keep the yeasts they like to use," he says. But when a brewery's production yeast is destroyed - as happened in 2009 to a flooded brewery in the Lake District - the NCYC was able to get the operation "back up and running" with the very same yeast strain. Some brewers, however, are willing to take the plunge and explore the myriad taste-scape offered by yeast. One is micro-brewer Martin Warren, who owns the Poppyland Brewery in Cromer. "I'm too small to compete head to head with the regional brewers and I don't brew beer that you would buy in pubs," says Mr Warren, a former museum curator. "I am looking to have adventures with beer, I'm really just a grown-up home brewer who now has a full-scale brewery. "It means that I can make the beers that other brewers dare not do, or cannot do." One of his latest beers is made using a yeast strain originally from Norwich unused since 1958. Presented with his yeast by the NCYC's Steve James, Mr Warren said: "That must be the smell of beers from the 1950s. "It is fruity, it is delicious. It is going to be great to brew with this. As my wife says if you put ingredients in, how can it go wrong?" The end result is a beer called Hawkey Frolic, which was debuted - and feted as "really lovely" and "really malty" - at the Norwich Beer Festival. But where next for the nation's beer adventurers? Brewers, says Dr Roberts, are most likely to explore further into the past to the yeasts of the 1930s and 1920s. They might also soon have access to new yeasts created as a result of the NCYC's project to sequence the genomes of all of its strains. The idea, he says, was to find out the genetic basis for each yeast's special characteristics. This, in turn, could lead to new yeast strains with even better properties and flavours. And the chances of seeing a north or south pole beer any time soon? Very low sadly, says Dr Roberts, because these yeasts are not brewing yeasts. Inside Out will be broadcast on BBC One in the east of England at 19:30 BST on Monday and available on iPlayer afterwards.
The treasure chest of the nation 's brewing industry sits on an unassuming @placeholder complex on the outskirts of Norwich . It houses thousands of different types of yeast . Some , unused for generations , are now being given a new lease of life to offer a taste of times past .
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He is a director of football whose heart is still out on the pitch, and he casts his mind back almost three decades to the opportunity he was given when he first set foot in the club as a new boy plucked from non-league. He chuckles as he recalls telling the QPR manager in 1987, Jim Smith, that he couldn't join straight away as he had to work his month's notice as a van driver. "I remember there were some guys who were just about to be released," Ferdinand, 48, recalls. "They were saying, 'do you know, I might go and play non-league football. Two nights' work and still get paid £150 a week for playing'. "I said: 'Are you guys mad? Are you seriously saying that? You have got to try your nuts off to stay in football! You don't believe what you have got'." The former England striker is a man with a stock of stories to tell about the precarious business of opportunities in the game: how they come about, how they can so easily slip through a player's fingers, how they can be nurtured - and seized. Reflecting on his own playing career and coaching experience, his is a voice worth listening to carefully at a time when Football Association chairman Greg Dyke is trumpeting ideas to find a host of English players like Harry Kane. Ah, Harry Kane. Having watched Kane and his Tottenham team-mates Ryan Mason and Andros Townsend celebrating together for England in Turin during the week, Ferdinand argues that the line between that happy picture and talent drifting unharnessed in the modern game could not be thinner. Kane, Mason and Townsend came through the development squad together at Spurs under the tutelage of Ferdinand, current QPR manager Chris Ramsey and Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood. "But I guarantee you now, had Tim, Chris and myself not taken over the first team, nobody would be talking about Kane, Mason and Townsend. Because we gave them the opportunity to play," stresses Ferdinand. "They would not be playing at Tottenham otherwise. Andros went out on nine loans. Harry had four loans. Mason had five loans. They were no nearer the first team when they came back than when they went out on loan. It was only that we had been working with them and we knew we could put them in the first team and trust them. "The average lifespan at any club for managers now is 11-12 months maximum. They haven't got time to think about player development." For all the talk of quotas to clear the pathway for youngsters, as far as Ferdinand is concerned there is a much more immediate problem for players getting stuck in the system. It's that critical age between 16 and 21 that Arsene Wenger pinpointed this week. "That's the heart of the problem," said the Arsenal manager. "Let's get better at that level, then if there is a problem integrating those players in the top teams, we have to do something about it. Today you have to be very brave to integrate the young players because the pressure is very high." That sentiment strikes a chord with Ferdinand. He understands why managers are loath to take a risk on a young player. But the system, he reckons, makes it extra difficult to take those risks. Why? Because youngsters at the top clubs are starved of competitive football at the highest level. The under-21 league, introduced by the Premier League as part of their Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) in place of old-style reserve-team football, is far too sterile for his liking. Ferdinand would scrap it in a heartbeat. "It's not competitive enough," he says. "Look at our squad. For the previous manager here [Harry Redknapp] if there was a problem in the first team he wasn't looking at the under 21s. He would rather go and take someone on loan who he knows has played competitive football against seasoned pros. "That's what 99% of managers in the Premier League would do. They don't see the under-21 squad as being competitive enough, which is why these boys are not coming through." Ferdinand recalls his early days as a QPR player whisked out of non-league football. "My first reserve game we had Clive Walker, Sammy Lee... all these experienced professional players. We played Southampton and they had Jimmy Case playing." His expression reveals that was an early lesson to the physical demands required. "I am not going to get better experience than that. I am certainly not going to get it in the under-21s. "These people helped you, they guided you through your football. In the under-21s if you have another kid telling you to push in here or there, they are not quite sure what they are doing. "The other thing that happened is if you didn't play on Saturday you knew you were playing on Tuesday in the reserves, it didn't matter how big a player you were. And they didn't have the hump because it wasn't seen as a punishment. It was about keeping yourself fit to play football. "Nowadays the senior players in the under-21 development games see it is a punishment. They don't want to play. So they end up not running around as they should do. "Because I worked in under-21 football I understand that these players need to be given an opportunity. Otherwise you just have a creche. It is a bit messed up. They have to look at the whole picture." Given the complicated mix of stifled opportunity plus a generous salary - and all that at a sensitive age in between the teens and being a young adult - it doesn't seem to be the most productive environment. Intriguingly, when Ferdinand looks at his own chance as a young player, he admits he found it difficult to get his head around what was happening - and that was without agents in his ear and megabucks in his pocket. One day he was at Southall and Hayes, training twice a week after work and playing on the weekend. The next he was in the professional game. "Instead of doing it for fun, suddenly it was my job. I struggled with that for a while," Ferdinand says. "I needed to change my lifestyle and I didn't. I was a young kid from a council estate and was still running around with the guys I had been running around with before I joined QPR. It all happened very quickly. "It took a while to adjust to the life of being a professional footballer. The truth is I probably didn't adjust to it until I went to Turkey, to Besiktas on loan in 1988. "It was amazing not only as a football lesson but as a life lesson. I was on my own, the first British player to go to Turkey, in this environment I totally didn't know about. But I needed to do it. "I realised I did want to be a professional footballer and I needed to get away from distractions and concentrate 100% on football. That's what Turkey allowed me to do. It was the making of me as a footballer. I feel that was me serving my apprenticeship." Ferdinand is a big believer in loans as long as the player himself is in the right mindset. "People often go on loan and think, 'I'm here for a month. If it doesn't go that well it doesn't matter I'll go back to QPR or Arsenal or Tottenham or wherever. I don't really want to be here anyway…'" But players need to believe that loan will actually lead somewhere, rather than feeling they are just farmed out. The 22-year-old Ferdinand returned to QPR from Besiktas in 1989 - having scored 19 goals in 30 games - and never looked back. He was one of a generation that also included Ian Wright and Stuart Pearce that made the full journey from non-league to an England shirt. The current crop of Premier League players who have their their roots in non-league - the likes of QPR's Charlie Austin, Burnley's Danny Ings, Dwight Gayle of Crystal Palace, Liverpool's Rickie Lambert and Jamie Vardy of Leicester - prove that the EPPP is not the only way to mould top level players. "Coming in here to work every day is much better than getting up at 6am, working all day, having to jump on two trains and two buses to get to training," Ferdinand adds. "The boys that come out of non-league appreciate what they have." That's another big part of the development issue - today's youngsters in the academy system are so well looked after their hunger can be eroded. "That's a conversation that has been going on for many, many years," says Ferdinand. "How do we change the mindset of boys that have been brought up in the system because they believe this is life? It is their life. It is what they have got used to. So it's very difficult to tell them about another way when that is all they have seen. "I know at all clubs education has become a major part of what they do. But it doesn't really give you the life experience. Maybe sending them out to work for a few months, to get up at six in the morning or maybe even earlier to go and do a day's work, might help them to appreciate what they have got." Ferdinand laughs at such old-fashioned idealism in the middle of modern, £5bn industry. But it is an interesting idea. Anything and everything needs to be taken into consideration in the hunt for the next batch of Harry Kanes.
Les Ferdinand is sitting in his office at QPR 's Harlington training @placeholder in his club tracksuit , straight from a stint with the players .
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Joined by the Duke of Edinburgh she visited the charity's new operating base at the Egerton-Smith Centre at Cambridge Airport. The royal couple were given a tour by the Duke of Cambridge who has been based in the city for more than a year. They viewed one of two operational H145 helicopters before unveiling a plaque. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh also met some of the charity's medics, support staff and pilots. Live: Latest on this story and others from Cambridgeshire Launched as a charity in 2000 the organisation's pilots fly an average of five missions per day from bases in Cambridge and Norwich and cover a wider geographical area spanning Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. The monarch was at the base for about 40 minutes before heading to Buckingham Palace, where she is due to meet outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron.
The Queen has @placeholder the new base of the East Anglian Air Ambulance ( EAAA ) where her grandson works as a helicopter pilot .
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Lilian Johnstone was commissioned to make the cake as a prank by friends of Rangers fan Iain Orr. The outside is decorated in the red, white and blue livery and the crest of the Ibrox club. Inside, the sponge is dyed with green food colouring and layered to match the hoops pattern of their Old Firm rivals. Lilian, who works from home in Ruchill, Glasgow, posted a picture of her creation on her Cupcakes by Lilian Facebook page. She has now been inundated with orders after it was shared thousands of times on social media. She said: "I've made a cake like this before and it ended up on quite a few Celtic forums, but it never got as much coverage as this one. "I honestly didn't expect it. I'm totally overwhelmed, it's amazing."
A Rangers birthday cake , which reveals Celtic 's green and white colours , when @placeholder , has become an online hit for a Glasgow baker .
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His suspicious death on 6 June, just days after he vowed to press ahead the fight for universal suffrage, has caused an uproar in Hong Kong, where public opinion has forced the Chinese government to promise to re-open a criminal investigation into his final moments. Mr Li's death at a hospital in the central province of Hunan was initially ruled a suicide, before it was re-classified as an accident. He was reportedly found hanging from the hospital window with a strip of cloth around his neck. But the public, as well as Mr Li's friends and supporters in China, believes the disabled activist, who was in his 60s, may have been murdered because of his politics. His death has special resonance in Hong Kong, where the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings highlighted the former British colony's fears about Chinese rule, and because one of his last interviews was with a Cantonese-language cable television station. "Each ordinary man has a responsibility for democracy, for the well-being of the nation. For China to enter a democratic society sooner, for China to realise a multi-party political system sooner, I will not look back even if I have to risk my head," he was quoted as telling Hong Kong's iCable. Mr Li's supporters doubt whether a fair, objective assessment will be made. That is why volunteers gathered in Hong Kong on Sunday to urge passers-by in the busy commercial district of Mongkok to sign a petition demanding a proper, transparent investigation. A steady stream of people stopped to sign the petition, which has garnered 50,000 signatures. The youngest signatory was five-year-old Christopher, who scribbled his name alongside his mother Coris Leung. "We are from Hong Kong, but we are also Chinese. I want him to understand our culture, our history and what really happened to this man," she said. Don Mak, who describes himself as largely apolitical, said he felt angered and frustrated by Mr Li's death. "One of the fundamental rights of a human being is the right to live and the right to free speech. He was deprived of both," said the 22-year-old university graduate. Volunteers plan to gather 100,000 signatures before presenting the petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is expected to visit Hong Kong at the end of June to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the city's return to China - again highlighting the case's potential sensitivities. Hong Kong is a city split between two political camps: the pan-democrats who are generally critical of the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party in Beijing, and the pro-establishment lawmakers who generally support the central government. But in the Li Wangyang case, the two sides have largely come together to demand accountability. Lee Cheuk-yan, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China and head of the pan-democratic Labour Party, believes anger from all strata of Hong Kong society has put pressure on the pro-establishment lawmakers. In September, the members of Hong Kong's parliament, called the Legislative Council, will face re-election. All eligible voters are allowed to participate. On 10 June, Mr Lee led 25,000 people on a protest march that culminated in a gathering at Beijing's Liaison Office in western Hong Kong. He said it was the biggest-ever protest at the central government's representative office. Police, who fired tear gas to keep the protesters at bay, said 5,000 people attended the march. "We protested over the jailing of Ai Weiwei and Chen Guangcheng," said Mr Lee, referring to two of China's best-known dissidents. "But this case is different. This time somebody died. Li Wangyang is obviously a victim of Tiananmen. He was maimed, blinded and made deaf during his imprisonment. His death is a very clear case of the high-handed, tyrannical way the government dealt with a citizen. We are demanding justice." Rita Fan, Hong Kong's delegate to the elite Standing Committee in China's parliament, has written to the National People's Congress to express the people's doubts. And over the past week, senior civil servants in the Hong Kong government, from Food and Health Secretary York Chow to Chief Executive Donald Tsang, have made rare public statements saying Mr Li's death was indeed suspicious. Civil servants are meant to be above the political fray, so their comments demonstrate the amount of official support for a thorough investigation. A report last week from the Beijing-backed Hong Kong China News Agency quoted a public security official in Hunan province as saying forensic experts from outside the province had been commissioned to carry out an autopsy. Experienced criminal investigators were also now involved, the spokesman said. But Mr Lee, the pan-democrat lawmaker, said there was widespread doubt on the mainland and in Hong Kong whether the investigation would be effective. Most of the evidence seems to be gone. Mr Li's body was taken away by police just hours after it was found, according to his family and friends. The body was reportedly cremated a few days later on 9 June, against the wishes of the family. It is unclear how, without the body, a new autopsy can be conducted. But even with little evidence left, Mr Li's supporters in Hong Kong demand an investigation. They fear democratic rights in their own city may someday be curtailed if they do not make a stand now. Even though this city is part of China, it is guaranteed the right to free speech and free assembly, both of which are unknown on the mainland. "In Hong Kong, we have a saying, 'Today's mainland is tomorrow's Hong Kong'," said Claudia Mo, a politician for the pan-democratic Civic Party, who helped to gather signatures on Sunday. "Some people ask us, 'What's the point? He is already dead!' Well, we may or may not win this fight. But we are here to answer to history. We are here to answer to the next generation."
Blind and deaf after two decades of imprisonment as a Tiananmen Square activist , Li Wangyang was a defiant @placeholder of the unrealised promises of democracy in China .
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These geological wonders adorn the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern US - not to mention the desktop wallpapers of countless computers worldwide. By attaching seismometers to the sandstone structures, researchers can measure their modes of resonance. Tracking changes through time could highlight any new weaknesses in the rock that might herald a collapse. There is nothing anyone can do about this - the arches are created and destroyed by erosion. It's the natural order. But an alert to potential danger might be useful to the National Park Service as it manages the many visitors who come to marvel at these imposing forms. "They're very impressive - global icons that are super-rare, delicate and of course very beautiful," says Dr Jeff Moore. The University of Utah researcher is presenting his team's work at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting in San Francisco this week. The group has been attaching a clutch of sensors - not just seismometers, but tiltmeters and temperature probes - to some of the state's most spectacular arches. These include the Landscape, Double-O and Mesa structures. Dr Moore and colleagues are "listening" to them ring. The arches are excited by the wind and by natural Earth noise, such as distant ocean waves. What the scientists have found is that each structure has its own characteristic resonance, or modes of resonance. These modes are a function of an arch's material properties - its rock mass and bulk stiffness. "If something were to change in an arch - like a developing crack - this would be reflected in a change in the vibrational characteristics," Dr Moore explained. "So for Landscape Arch, which is the longest arch in North America at 88m long - we seem to have a fundamental resonant frequency at about 1.8Hz. "Let's say there was damage on some side of it or internally that we couldn't see - that resonant frequency is expected to drop," he told BBC News. Rock falls in 1991 and 1993 mean that Landscape Arch is now out of bounds. Certainly, no-one is allowed to walk on it anymore. What the Utah team has done is develop a non-invasive diagnostic tool to monitor its ongoing status. Its sensors are small and mobile, with the seismometer being just a bit bigger than a coffee mug. The instruments are placed simply on the surface of the arch for a few hours to allow the vibrations and a few other parameters to be recorded, before the whole suite is then removed. "The idea is similar to 'wheel-tapping' in old-time train stations, if you like," said Dr Moore. "These guys would tap the steel wheel and if there was a crack, they'd hear that change. "The field is very well established in civil engineering; it's called structural health monitoring. We're just the first to extend that to natural rock arches." There are more than 2,000 arches in Utah's Arches National Park. It has the perfect conditions for their creation. These include a porous sandstone unit that has been juxtaposed atop a very dense one. A salt dome also pushes up from below, which has had the effect of introducing weakness in the overlying rock. This combination of factors initiates a process of erosion that favours undermining and the growth of an arch structure. All it takes are the elements and time. "We see all stages of arch development, from incipient new formation to collapse," Dr Moore told BBC News. "We had Wall Arch famously collapse in 2008, and Landscape Arch we think is really near the end of its life. "Double-O, on the other hand, although it is very well formed, it seems to have pretty thick abutments and strong spans. So that looks OK." Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
Scientists are listening to the hum of America 's great rock arches to keep a check on their @placeholder .
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Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala also said that the spinner - who took a Test record 800 wickets - "bullied" ground staff into letting Australia practise on the Kandy pitch. The hosts were bowled out for 117 on day one of the first Test on Tuesday. "They have no right to accuse me of being a traitor," said Muralitharan. "Have they done one hundredth of what I have contributed to cricket in Sri Lanka? "This is a political game to cover their shortcomings. I am being used as a pawn to cover their failings." Muralitharan, 44, added that Sri Lanka's cricket board had asked for his help only once since his international retirement in 2011. Sri Lanka v Australia first Test scorecard Australian umpires reported Muralitharan for a suspect action during his first tour to Australia in 1995 and again in 1999 - but he was cleared by the International Cricket Council after tests. But he has since worked as a consultant for Australia's spinners and batsmen. Sumathipala added: "Professionally it is OK for Murali to coach any foreign team, but the irony is that he is supporting Australia which tried to get him out of cricket. "He is creating long-term damage for himself among his fans. I feel sad." However, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara defended his former team-mate and said the country should be "proud" of their "great son". "If any Sri Lankan spinner walks up to Muri and asks him about bowling he will be the first to spend as much time as needed to help," he added.
Sri Lanka 's Muttiah Muralitharan has defended his right to coach Australia 's bowlers during a Test @placeholder between the sides after being called a traitor .
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Speaking after Saturday's derby, Stubbs said "one or two more will leave" before deadline day on Wednesday. "I want winners here, it's as simple as that," he told BBC Radio Sheffield. "I want people who are prepared to give 100%, people it means something to. If they're not showing that, then they're not going to be in my team." Former Bolton and Celtic defender Stubbs took charge at the New York Stadium in June and has already brought in 12 new players. "There will be players coming in and there will be players going," he added. "There might be one or two more going after that performance today. "We always knew it was going to take a bit of time, but it will take a bit longer when you have such a rebuilding job to do. "I know the frustration from today from the fans as it was disappointing, but I know the fans will stick behind the team and it's up to us to put it right on the pitch."
Rotherham manager Alan Stubbs says more players will leave the club than originally planned following their 4 - 0 thrashing at @placeholder Barnsley .
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I've often wondered if its tag line, "we can rebuild him, better than before, stronger...." was the inspiration for a number of projects on the Labour benches of the Commons in the last Parliament, where teams of MPs toiled to retrofit potential leadership challengers with such qualities as people skills, a sense of humour, policy grasp, or a political cutting edge. With Jeremy Corbyn now secure in the Leader of the Opposition's office, their dreams have come to nothing....but over on the Tory benches I suspect a number of like-minded political engineers are seeking a suitable case for treatment. The Conservative troops expect a Boris vs Amber leadership battle, when the moment comes for Theresa May to make way for the leader who will take them into the next election, but there might well be a wild card....a Macron, if you like. To be sure, the British political system stacks the deck against a Macron-style pop-up political party, but the sight of a leader coming from nowhere to score a stunning electoral triumph attracts political romantics, and fascinates hard boiled professionals. And fresh from their duffing-up in June, the Tory search is on for a middle-ranking minister with perfect teeth, a floppy fringe and a photogenic spouse, who can be moulded into a cyborg warrior capable of doing battle with Jezza. After all, it's not as if this most protean of political parties has not pulled the trick before - John Major was virtually unknown outside Westminster a year before he became prime minister; David Cameron leapt to the Tory leadership on the basis of a good conference speech and a couple of femtoseconds as shadow education secretary after the 2005 election... As Steve Richards writes in his new book, The Rise of the Outsiders: How Mainstream Politics Lost its Way, political outsiders can be a potent force in politics, as Jeremy Corbyn has demonstrated; the Conservative Party does not easily produce such figures, but the manoeuvre pulled off by President Macron to run as an outsider, despite being a quintessential product of the French political establishment, suggests that a gleaming new figure, untainted by years of infighting, can cut through - especially if they are not over-encumbered by ideology and faction. Another key design requirement for the new Tory Terminator will be emotional intelligence - an ability to connect and empathise as effectively as Jeremy Corbyn did, and Theresa May didn't. In the process, some traditional requirements may be watered down; beyond a minimal level of competence, ability as a Commons performer probably matters less these days - and the public may find mastery of its traditional debating style rather suspect and inauthentic. If there is a lesson to take from the last couple of years in politics, it is that what pleases the troops on the green benches of the Chamber seems to leave the country cold. Maverick or mainstream? So who might be in the frame? There are few obvious challengers within the Cabinet, although Priti Patel has her fans. Beyond that there are several middle-ranking figures who might emerge like (and this is all my speculation) Graham Brady, the formidable chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, or slightly maverick ministers like Rory Stewart, or Jesse Norman. Then, there are current "outs" like Grant Shapps or the former chief whip Mark Harper, and a little further down the pecking order there are figures like Tom Tugendhat or Johnny Mercer, who have a sparkle of stardust about them. But they need to be fairly non-factional figures and, I suspect, the winner will be the one who hits upon a position on Brexit that both fits the circumstances as they will be in 2019, or whenever (and who knows what those circumstance will be, it may be more a matter of luck than judgement) and does not alienate a critical mass of MPs. The early symptoms of an embryonic Tory Macron are an interest in refining the party's "offer" for the next election, and an attempt to find ways of reaching parts of the electorate who have succumbed to the blandishments of Jeremy Corbyn. They will strike up conversations in the Tea Room or the coffee queue at the Portcullis House. They will be found in earnest conversations with colleagues and be remarkably receptive to invitations to speak on any subject, anytime, anywhere. Of course, they will be available for media appearances at the drop of a hat. And they're in no hurry. The Tory succession race is going to be a marathon, not a sprint, allowing candidates to hone their offer to MPs and demonstrate their political skills in Commons speeches and questions, in the select committees, at party conference in the TV studios and (but, of course) on social media. And as they pound through the course ahead, factional credentials and Brexit positions will count for a lot, but above all, a bruised and traumatised Conservative Party wants a winner. If you are an MP nursing a fragile majority, nothing matters more than that. BOOKtalk with Steve Richards will be on BBC Parliament on Saturday 8 July at 20:45 BST.
Remember the Six Million Dollar Man , the 1970s TV series in which an @placeholder astronaut was equipped with super - strong mechanical limbs and ultra-acute senses ?
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It was a routine evening for my wife and son at our new home in the Delhi suburb of Noida. My son was finishing his homework at the dining table, which overlooks the drawing room and the kitchen. At around 21:30, my wife first heard a gentle knock on the door of the kitchen balcony, which became increasingly frantic. When she went to investigate, she saw to her astonishment that a young girl, barely 13, had managed to climb down into my 12th-floor balcony from the flat above with the aid of a cotton sari. Afraid to open the door and let her in, my wife asked her what was wrong. She said she was trying to escape her abusive employers. My wife was reluctant to open the door. She tried unsuccessfully to call the building security. Meanwhile, the girl kept banging on the glass door hysterically, threatening to jump off if she was not let in. My wife told our son to call our neighbours and the building security, while she kept the girl engaged in conversation. Once the neighbours and the guard arrived, the door was opened and the girl was allowed inside the house. She tried to escape, pleading that she be allowed to run away because of the way her employers treated her. My wife did not want to let her go, given the time of night and how unsafe the area could be for a young girl. By this time the girl's employers had arrived - they told everyone that she was a "perpetual eloper", dragged her out of our house and took her away. My family narrated the entire incident to me when I got home soon after. I alerted the other residents though our WhatsApp group. It was soon discovered that the girl was a minor and must have been in great distress to attempt such a dramatic - and dangerous - escape. We sent the security supervisor to the house and the girl was escorted to the building office along with her employers. They said the girl had come to work for them of her own free will. But we were not convinced and called the police. The girl told the police that she had been treated horrifically and alleged that she was not allowed to speak to her family. Arrangements were made for the girl to stay the night with a family in the building. The next morning, police handed her over to an NGO who are in touch with her family. The incident has traumatised my 10-year-old son who cannot stop looking towards the kitchen balcony at least once every five minutes. Of course, the girl is now safe and we feel relieved. But there are countless other girls - and boys - who are in similar exploitative situations in India who need to be rescued. The authorities and the citizens must join hands to end child labour and exploitation of children on an urgent basis.
Rakesh Sinha of the BBC Delhi office recently found himself at the centre of a late - night drama when a young girl employed as a domestic help in the flat above his climbed down into his balcony with the aid of a sari . The girl alleged that she was being harassed by her employers and was later found to be a minor . Mr Sinha gives his account of how the @placeholder unfolded .
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He described it as somebody doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. There are boffins out there who dispute the providence of the quote, ascribing it instead to Benjamin Franklin or Mark Twain or assorted other brain-boxes, but what is unarguable is that the thrust of it is applicable to St Mirren as they meekly make their exit from the top flight of Scottish football. Doing the same thing over and over again means making one dreadful signing after another and expecting things to come right. It means picking the same players and putting them in the same positions where they have failed multiple times before and hoping that things come good. It means replacing one failed manager (Danny Lennon) with his failed assistant (Tommy Craig) and replacing another failed manager (Craig) with his assistant (Gary Teale) and expecting some sort of footballing enlightenment to occur. And it means ignoring the lessons of the past. In seven of the last eight seasons, St Mirren have got to early April - the 32-game stage of the league campaign - in 10th or 11th place in the table - usually 11th. In five of those eight seasons, they had only one club below them at this point of the season. They survived in different ways. They played their way out of trouble on a few occasions, but on others they hung on to their status because there was at least one other club in a worse state - Dunfermline Athletic, Gretna, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Falkirk, Hamilton Accies, Dundee, Hearts. Any team that continues to flirt with danger is likely to be caught out in the end. St Mirren have had as many lives as a cat in the past decade, but they've run out of time now and it's entirely their own fault. In the last two seasons alone, their business in the transfer market has been largely hopeless. Last season, they brought in Christopher Dilo, a goalkeeper who played 13 matches and then vanished, and Danny Grainger, who played 15 times and was then sent away to Dunfermline. They brought in Greg Wylde, who has been a bit-part player for them - and not a particularly effective bit-part player - and Eric Djemba-Djemba, a colossal embarrassment before disappearing out of Glasgow with his reputation as flat as those caps he used to wear. The names Jake Caprice and Stephane Bahoken are two more that bombed. Of the business done, only Mark Ridgers, the goalkeeper, is still contributing regularly. And this season's incoming list has again been awful. James Marwood was signed and was quickly sent away again, to Forest Green in the English Conference. Ross Caldwell failed and is now with Morton. Isaac Osbourne hasn't played since February. Callum Ball, a striker who got two in 24 games, has been out since January. Yoann Arquin has played nine matches and has two red cards and no goals. Of the summer influx, only Jeroen Tesselaar has appeared in the team on a consistent basis. That's more than a dozen signings - the list is not exhaustive - and only two of them are playing regularly in the team. With a hit-rate like that, no wonder St Mirren are in the state they're in. Look at the teams closest to them at the foot of the table - or, to put it correctly, the teams that are motoring away from them. Motherwell bought wisely in January, bringing in Stephen Pearson to bolster a previously soft-touch midfield, and Scott McDonald who, apart from scoring three goals in six games, offers the type of exuberance in his personality that is like a shot of adrenaline to a one-time beaten dressing-room. Pearson and McDonald have not only elevated Motherwell on the pitch, they have done it off the pitch as well. Their experience and leadership has been a big factor in Motherwell's recovery from apparent doom. Ross County are an even more stark example of a club bringing the right guys in at the right time. Raffaele De Vita has scored three times in eight games, including what turned out to be the winner in their games against Motherwell and Dundee United. Craig Curran has scored five goals in his 13 appearances, including the goal that won a point against Dundee and the decisive goal in their victories over Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock. Where are St Mirren's Pearsons and McDonalds, Da Vitas and Currans? Where are the replacements for the good players they have lost? Conor Newton, Paul Dummett, Paul McGowan and Darren McGregor all exited and those gaps were never filled. It seems like the club's survival policy amounted to hoping against hope that one of their rivals would stumble more often than they did. Motherwell and Ross County went out and improved their lot. St Mirren sat there and waited for one or both of them to mess up. Teale gets the blame, just as Craig got the blame before him, but the real problem here is with Stewart Gilmour and his board and their awful decision-making both in the appointment of two managers who had been part of administrations that had already been deemed not good enough and also by their hapless work in the transfer market. The powers-that-be at St Mirren saw the warning lights flashing a long time ago - or ought to have - and continued doing what they'd always done - the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome. It's not nice to see a club relegated - as St Mirren surely will be - but that's what happens when those at the top fall asleep at the wheel. Tony McCoy is nearing the end of his racing career and, although all of us who have marvelled at his genius in the saddle these past two decades will feel flat when he goes, surely the greater emotion will be joy at having been around to witness a maestro in his pomp. I wish I could have appreciated Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and George Foreman when they were at their best, but I was too young. I wish I'd seen a young Pele play. Or an imperious George Best. What joy it would have been to be able to witness Bobby Jones create history. What a delight it would have been to be of an age to see Barry John or Gareth Edwards up close, week after week. McCoy stands proudly in that pantheon - and it's been a privilege to watch him, interview him and try to understand him and what drove him to those stratospheric heights. Now that his career is turning for home and he's becoming more reflective as opposed to his previous self who only had eyes for Towcester next Tuesday, we're hearing so much from him that is fascinating. "For me, it's just my own stubbornness and my own peace of mind that drove me to do what I'm doing, retiring," he told the Limerick Leader last week. "I'm not happy about doing it. It is probably the right thing, but what I'm hoping is that people will never be able to say I didn't retire at the top. "I think you live in fear every day of being not as good as you were. Sometimes the fear totally overrides the enjoyment, you know? "I don't feel it when I am riding the horses - it's the in-between. It's when it's over. And it's not something that I developed six months or a year ago, it's been there all my life. All my life. Sometimes it has been the ruination of my life." McCoy spoke about what was expected of him and how difficult it has been to match those expectations, though, remarkably, he has managed it year after year. He said the biggest problem he has is that he's Tony McCoy and there's a burden that comes with that, a standard he has set for himself that's hard to repeat. "I'm not bigging myself up for one moment, but I think, if I changed my name, I could carry on riding for another two or three years, no problem," he said. He could change his name, but AN Other would be rumbled soon enough. No name change or clever disguise could camouflage his greatness in the saddle. As soon as he won on something that had no right to win, he'd out himself in an instant. "The sad reality of sport is that, at some point, if you carry on too long, there will be a dip," he added. "And you don't want to be one of the people who had that dip, who carried on too long. That was always my fear." McCoy versus his inner-demons? A great battle, no question. And one that can be added to his list of unforgettable victories.
You do n't need to be Albert Einstein to figure out what has gone wrong at St Mirren , but the great man @placeholder it when he talked of the definition of insanity .
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The UK government is consulting on plans to close 91 courts and tribunals in England and Wales. It said if the plans go ahead, 95% of people could drive to court in an hour. But the Law Society's map suggests it would take longer for people who rely on public transport. It shows no users of Dolgellau crown and magistrates courts or Holyhead Magistrates' Court could reach their new court within one hour by public transport. The government consultation on the closures is due to end on the 8 October 2015. Work would be transferred to Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre. No users would be able to reach it within an hour. Work would be transferred to Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre, with 30% able to get there within one hour. Users would have to go to Llandudno Magistrates' Court. The society claims 33% of users could reach it within one hour. Services would be moved to Wrexham Law Courts and to Mold Law Courts, with 21% able to get there within 60 minutes. Work would move to Swansea Crown Court. The society said 31% of crown, 6% of magistrates' and 32% of family court users could reach it within one hour. Users would move to Llanelli Civil and Family Court and Haverfordwest Law Courts and Aberystwyth Justice Centre, with 7% able to reach their new court within 60 minutes. Work would be sent to Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre. No users could get there within one hour. Cases would be sent to Llandrindod Wells Law Court, Merthyr Tydfil Combined Court and, for residents in the Ystradgynlais area, Swansea Magistrates' Court. Civil, family and tribunal hearings would move to Merthyr Tydfil Combined Court. The society said 34% of magistrates', 33% of civil and 24% of family court users could reach their new court within one hour. Work would move to Merthyr Tydfil Combined Court, with 56% of magistrates' and 80% of family court users able to reach their new court within 60 minutes. Civil, family and tribunal work be transferred to Port Talbot Justice Centre, criminal work would move to Cardiff Magistrates' Court. The society claims 65% of magistrates', 67% of civil and 64% of family users could reach their new court within an hour. Work would be transferred to Port Talbot Justice Centre, where 73% are said to be able to get there within one hour.
An interactive online map showing how plans to close 11 courts in Wales could impact people who rely on public transport has been @placeholder by the Law Society .
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Media playback is not supported on this device The Dons almost took a first-half lead when Graeme Shinnie crashed a shot against a post, with Adam Rooney unable to turn in the rebound. The breakthrough came after the break though, Johnny Hayes dispatching Niall McGinn's measured cross. Jamie Walker drew a fine save from Dons keeper Joe Lewis late on as the visitors held on for a deserved win. The win takes Aberdeen within two points of second-placed Rangers in the Premiership, with both sides having played 20 matches. The Ibrox side face rivals Celtic on Saturday. Aberdeen prospered by being assertive and more certain in their attacking play. They set out to isolate Hayes and McGinn on the Hearts full-backs, particularly Liam Smith on the right, and this was a constant source of threat for the visitors in the opening 45 minutes. Hearts' minds seemed scrambled, as much by the effort of the Aberdeen players in pushing up and closing opponents down but also their own lack of composure. There was no spell of Hearts possession, as their midfield three saw the game pass them by. Most of the Aberdeen chances came from their flank, with McGinn's cross reaching Kenny McLean, whose header was pushed away by Hearts goalkeeper Jack Hamilton. The goalkeeper had already been relieved when Mark Reynolds headed wide from close range, and he later had to clear frantically when the ball spun off his teammate Faycal Rherras inside the six yard box. Hearts head coach Ian Cathro tried to alter the flow of the game, bringing Arnaud Djoum deeper and wide, but Aberdeen's central midfielders also imposed themselves and Shinnie rattled a shot off the upright from 20 yards. The play was more even-handed after the break, with Krystian Nowak essentially playing as a third centre-back for Hearts instead of a holding midfielder, and so encouraging Smith and Rherras to push further forward on the flanks, when they could afford to. It was a measure of the game's dynamic that Hearts' first corner came two minutes into the second half, when Aberdeen had already registered five. Aberdeen still carried the greater threat, and Shay Logan saw an effort from the edge of the area deflected wide. Hearts' reorganisation stemmed some of Aberdeen's dominance, but not their edge. McGinn and Hayes continued to seek every channel of space to breach the Hearts defence, and when the former surged down the right and whipped the ball across the six yard box, the latter charged in to convert at the back post. The sense was of one side being sure of its strengths and its game plan, and the other still being a work in progress. That will not offer much relief for Cathro, even if he will hope to build a team that better represents his values during the winter break and January transfer window. It will be no surprise, for instance, if two new full-backs are sought. His key players were mostly marginal, and Djoum was replaced during the second half. Walker remained the most effective, and a spin and shot inside the area drew a good save from Aberdeen goalkeeper Lewis. Even so, it was the visitors who were the more assertive, more imposing side. With some more composure and sharper instincts inside the area from Rooney, they would have won the game more comfortably. The display, and the result, emphasised that, for now, it is Aberdeen who are the more fully-formed and capable team, and the likelier to challenge for second place in the Premiership. Hearts manager Ian Cathro: "Initially, we lost the fight to make the game the way that we wanted it to be. It was difficult for us to get started and the game became closer to what Aberdeen wanted. "In the second half, with a couple of adjustments, we became a little bit stronger, a better structure and we were able to play more often. A combination of not generating enough chances and some mistakes defensively resulted in us losing the game. "We wanted the game to be more open with more possession and more control than direct, wide, foul, free-kick, those sorts of things. I don't have any question about the willingness of the players to fight and they deserve credit for getting through the first-half, which was difficult. "My Hearts team will always play in a way which I think the players here can play. Will we look to add players of a different type to the squad? Yes, but that will be work through the January transfer window." Media playback is not supported on this device Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "We were guilty of missing chances. It was fiercely contested, but there were good moments of play from us. Once we did play in the final third, we created more than one or two opportunities. "Everybody talks about the Tynecastle atmosphere but when the Hearts team goes off to boos at half time, you say that's part of the job done but we need to crank it up more. "I'm delighted that Johnny Hayes was on the end of that and scored. There's no doubt in my mind that we were the better team, we were tidy, making good decisions when to play and when to hold things on, and recognising the strengths of the Hearts team. "Maybe some sort of criticism on me is being over reliant on the same team and that fatigue and demands on them, so hopefully with people pushing and one or two things happening in January, we can look forward to a strong finish to the season." Match ends, Heart of Midlothian 0, Aberdeen 1. Second Half ends, Heart of Midlothian 0, Aberdeen 1. Attempt missed. Don Cowie (Heart of Midlothian) header from the centre of the box is too high. Corner, Heart of Midlothian. Conceded by Ryan Jack. Liam Smith (Heart of Midlothian) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Liam Smith (Heart of Midlothian). Substitution, Aberdeen. Anthony O'Connor replaces Niall McGinn. Corner, Heart of Midlothian. Conceded by Joe Lewis. Attempt saved. Jamie Walker (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Corner, Heart of Midlothian. Conceded by Graeme Shinnie. Attempt blocked. Perry Kitchen (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Foul by Ryan Jack (Aberdeen). Jamie Walker (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Substitution, Heart of Midlothian. Robbie Muirhead replaces Igor Rossi. Attempt saved. Kenny McLean (Aberdeen) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Krystian Nowak. Foul by Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen). Jamie Walker (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Kenny McLean (Aberdeen) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Krystian Nowak (Heart of Midlothian). Substitution, Heart of Midlothian. Rory Currie replaces Arnaud Djoum. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Kenny McLean (Aberdeen) because of an injury. Bjorn Johnsen (Heart of Midlothian) is shown the yellow card. Goal! Heart of Midlothian 0, Aberdeen 1. Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Attempt missed. Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Attempt missed. Liam Smith (Heart of Midlothian) header from the centre of the box is too high following a corner. Corner, Heart of Midlothian. Conceded by Kenny McLean. Foul by Andrew Considine (Aberdeen). Liam Smith (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Niall McGinn (Aberdeen). Igor Rossi (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt missed. Adam Rooney (Aberdeen) with an attempt from the centre of the box misses to the right. Foul by Andrew Considine (Aberdeen). Perry Kitchen (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick on the left wing. Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Liam Smith. Attempt missed. Kenny McLean (Aberdeen) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left following a corner. Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Perry Kitchen. Attempt blocked. Shaleum Logan (Aberdeen) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Jonny Hayes ' goal proved the @placeholder as Aberdeen left Tynecastle with all three points .
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Ms Rudd said the British had wanted to control the flow of information to "keep the element of surprise". She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she had been very clear with Washington "that it should not happen again". Ms Rudd said the Manchester-born bomber Salman Abedi had already been on the radar of the British security services. She claimed the 22-year-old, born to parents of Libyan origin, "was known up to a point" in the UK. Ms Rudd spoke out as the government raised the terrorism threat level to "critical" - the highest possible rating - on Tuesday amid fears another attack was imminent. She said this meant the police would have 3,800 soldiers to call on and equipment for "as long as we need them". The measures follow Monday night's attack at Manchester Arena, which killed 22 and injured 59. Counter-terrorism detectives have spoken in the past about how important it sometimes is for them that names of suspects do not make it into the media. They say a delay of around 36 hours, before the public know who they are investigating can allow them to arrest known associates of the suspect before they know police are looking for them. Information about the bomber's identity first emerged in the US - with American TV networks CBS and NBC naming Abedi as the suspect. Ms Rudd was asked whether she would be looking at how information sharing may have resulted in the premature release of details the British police and security services had not wanted in the public domain. The home secretary told Today: "Yes, quite frankly. "The British police have been very clear they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity - the element of surprise - so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources, and I've been very clear with our friends that that should not happen again." Pressed on whether the Americans had compromised the investigation, she said: "I wouldn't go that far, but I can say they are perfectly clear about the situation and that it shouldn't happen again." BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said Ms Rudd's irritation stemmed from the fact "crucial information about the investigation" had been "leaked to the media in the US". She had been concerned that this "might have compromised aspects of the investigation", namely that it may have "alerted associates" of the bomber "that the security forces here knew who they were looking for". He added: "Ms Rudd, I'm told, got on the blower to US officials and gave them a piece of her mind. Officials say they are in no doubt about our views on that."
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said she is irritated with the US for releasing information about the Manchester bomber before UK police would have @placeholder .
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Mr Osborne, now editor of the London Evening Standard, stood by headlines in the paper critical of Tory pledges on social care and immigration. He also said Theresa May had moved away from the international liberalism and globalisation pursued by David Cameron. He was speaking on BBC Radio 4's Political Thinking. BBC Election Live: Rolling text and video updates Theresa May denies social care U-turn Conservative manifesto: At-a-glance Conservative manifesto Mr Osborne was critical of the Tory plan, originally included in the party's election manifesto, to pay for social care by taking funds from the recipient's estate after death, down to a cut-off point of £100,000. The party has since promised to cap the amount taken from an estate, after facing a barrage of criticism. Mr Osborne said the plans were "were clearly badly thought through, because the prime minister herself decided to rethink them." He also defended an Evening Standard headline denouncing Mrs May's pledge to get annual net migration below 100,000 as "politically rash and economically illiterate". "The Evening Standard is saying `You have got a promise to reduce immigration so tell us how you are going to do it. "Which section of industry is not going to have the labour it currently needs? Which families are not going to be able to be reunited with members of their families abroad? Which universities are not going to have overseas students? "If the Conservative government can answer those questions, all well and good. If they can't, the Evening Standard is going to go on asking the question." Mr Osborne, who has stood down as a Conservative MP after being sacked as a chancellor by Mrs May last July, denied he was exacting his revenge on the prime minister. But he said the paper would not pull its punches. "What the paper is doing is standing up for a set of values that the paper has long espoused and by a happy coincidence are also the values I applied as chancellor." He said Mrs May had taken the party in a sharply different direction since taking over from Mr Cameron, who resigned after losing the EU referendum last year. "Both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are offering, in very different ways, a retreat from international liberalism and globalisation. "That is quite a development in British politics, and I think there are quite a lot of people who are uncertain whether that is the right development and I want to make sure that the Evening Standard is asking on their behalf questions about that." Mr Osborne told presenter Nick Robinson he was not missing front line politics. "I'm really enjoying covering the campaign as an editor. It's a very different perspective and it's good fun."
Former Chancellor George Osborne has said the Conservatives have failed to think through @placeholder made in their election manifesto .
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Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said by law warnings in pictures and text would need to cover 85% of the surface of packs - just 15% would be for branding. The new rules will be in force within months, he said, adding: "Tobacco means nothing else except death." India has about 110 million smokers and the government says smoking kills nearly a million people a year. Government orders on new pictorial warnings have faced stiff resistance from tobacco manufacturers and the deadline for implementing them have been postponed a couple of times in the past. The new rules take effect from 1 April next year and the health ministry said printed warnings will need to be carried on the front and back of cigarette packs, with highly visible pictorial warnings as well as the information that "tobacco causes mouth cancer". In 2010, two top tobacco manufacturers in India halted production in a row over new health warnings they were required to put on their packaging. In recent years, India has come up with stringent rules to curb the use of tobacco. Tobacco-related advertisements are banned and the sale of tobacco products to minors is also an offence. A countrywide ban on smoking in public places came into effect in 2008 - although correspondents say it is blatantly flouted and poorly enforced.
India says tobacco firms will soon have to reserve almost all the @placeholder on cigarette packs for health warnings .
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Tests at Guanabara Bay have revealed high levels of bacteria and viruses coming from human sewage. Two sailors contracted infections at a test event in August, which they claim were caused by the waters. Rio Olympic organisers said earlier this month that the health and safety of athletes is "always a top priority". Seven of the 10 sailing events in the Brazilian city will launch into the Marina de Gloria, where the new pipeline is due to open this month. "The Marina area is our biggest challenge; it's critical it's completed and we start seeing a difference," World Sailing's head of events Alastair Fox told BBC Sport. "It's essential that it improves radically - from a health point of view and also for showcasing the sport." Nearly 70% of sewage in Rio is spilled raw into its surrounding waters. Sailors have also reported seeing pollution, including furniture and floating animal carcasses, while drug-resistant "super-bacteria" were found in the area last December. A statement from the Rio 2016 organising committee earlier this month said: "There is no doubt water within the field of play meets the relevant standards." The Games begin on 5 August. Following the test event at Guanabara Bay in August, German sailor Erik Heil and South Korean windsurfer Wonwoo Cho both attributed their illnesses to the water quality. However, World Sailing says the 8% illness rate at the event was lower than average for regattas. It also says doctors feel those illnesses could have been prevented, and believes athletes can minimise the risks by following hygiene guidelines, such as taking showers after exiting the water. British two-time Olympic champion Sarah Gosling, now the athletes' representative on the World Sailing council, believes the pursuit of Olympic gold will outweigh any risks involved in the minds of competitors. "Winning a gold medal will make up for anything - it's really not that relevant," Gosling told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "There are plenty and plenty of reports out there about athletes who their whole life is about winning medals, and anything that happens on the way is kind of irrelevant. "For sailing to be in the centre of the Olympics right there, for athletes to be able to stay in the village, to be able to go to the opening and closing ceremony, it's a massive deal." World Sailing has had reports the rubbish in the water at Guanabara Bay, where Marina de Gloria opens into, is higher than usual because of rainy season deluges washing items into it. Fox will conduct the latest site visit in late January to assess progress. "We're doing as much as we can to work with the Rio authorities," he said, adding World Sailing also had back-up plans to treat the water should the work not be completed. "When racing near a big city, water quality is always an issue. We've no intention of not holding the competition there. The reality is that sailors want to be racing in Rio. "We need to start seeing data from all the course areas in the dry season to see that water quality is at an acceptable level - as they were in August at the test event in the Guanabara Bay."
World Sailing says the water quality at the Rio 2016 sailing venue needs major improvement , as organisers prepare to open a new pipe belt to @placeholder sewage .
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Despite being newly elected, Jeane Freeman has more political experience than many of her fellow MSPs. She served as a senior advisor to First Minister Jack McConnell, and has also served on the Scottish Police Services Authority Board and the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland and chaired the the National waiting Times Centre board. Ms Freeman helped found the Women for Independence movement during the 2014 referendum campaign, and has now won the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley seat with a majority of over 6,000. She said: "I'm excited and a bit nervous. It's one thing to have worked in the parliament before, it's quite another to be here as an MSP. Not so much finding my way around, more getting my head around all the arrangements and getting my feet under the table. "I'm delighted to be here, it's a huge privilege, and I'm looking forward to beginning the work to represent the people of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley." Oliver Mundell's may be a fresh face at Holyrood, but it's a rather familiar one - given the family resemblance with his father David Mundell, once a Tory MSP and now the Scottish Secretary. Mr Mundell Jr took the hotly-contested constituency of Dumfriesshire, which had been Labour's safest seat in 2011 but developed into a close fight between the Tories and the SNP. He said: "I walked into the count thinking we had a chance, because we'd fought a really effective local campaign and a lot of voters were coming over to support us in the final days of the campaign, but it wasn't ballots were all bundled up on the table that we knew we'd got over the line." Mr Mundell said his father had advised him to enjoy his first days at Holyrood, but to "take stock before throwing myself too much into things on day one". He added: "I'm feeling quite confident, but its a mix of excitement and nerves on the first day." Daniel Johnson was one of Scottish Labour's few success stories on election night, having taken Edinburgh Southern from SNP incumbent Jim Eadie. Labour had targeted the seat as a key battleground, with leader Kezia Dugdale out on the streets alongside Mr Johnson on the first and last days of the campaign. He said arriving at Holyrood was like "the first day at school". Mr Johnson said: "What I'm keen to do is build a link between people and politics - we need to put people right at the heart of politics. "Over the last few years politics has got very noisy, it's all been about the big constitutional things. It needs to get back to real people. "The Scottish Parliament was founded on the principle that it was about bringing politics closer to people, and that's what I want to focus on." Ross Greer has become Scotland's youngest-ever MSP at the age of 21. The West of Scotland list MSP had just started a psychology degree at university when he landed a full-time job with the Yes Scotland campaign during the 2014 independence referendum. He said: "I put uni on pause for that, and I'm obviously having to put it on pause a wee bit longer. I'll probably go back eventually, but I've had a fair bit of political experience already and an opportunity I couldn't pass up." Mr Greer said there was an "overwhelming sense of relief" when he was elected, and says he and his Green MSPs now "hold the balance of power" at Holyrood. He said: "No-one was really expecting the plot twist of the SNP to have a minority and the Greens to end up with the balance of power, so it's looking like a pretty exciting start to a pretty great five years. "The opportunity I've got is proving that young people aren't just 'the future', as part of some silly cliche, that we're here now and we're an important part of the decision making process. I hope I can prove to other young people that they should get involved in politics as early as possible." Alex Cole-Hamilton has been seeking election for the Lib Dems for over a decade - he was even featured on the front cover of the party's 2003 Holyrood manifesto. Having triumphed in Edinburgh Western, a seat taken from the SNP, Mr Cole-Hamilton said he was looking forward to "getting stuck in". He said: "This is a place that I've wanted to be for a long time. It's great to be here. "Without an overall majority, the SNP can beheld to account, we can meaningfully scrutinise legislation, which arguably we didn't have in the last parliament. "I think that means the role of opposition politicians is going to be far more important in this session." Holyrood also has a new father-daughter team - albeit on different sides of the chamber. John Finnie's daughter Ruth Maguire has won a seat in Cunninghame South for the SNP - the party Mr Finnie quit last term for the Greens. Mr Finnie said: "We'll never fall out - we'll have differences. We'll probably just never talk about politics in great detail. "The public expect parliamentarians to work together, we hope that there'll be joint working not just in the committees but also in the chamber." Ms Maguire added: "I have asked him not to embarrass me, or do any embarrassing dad stuff. I was horrified to find out he's only a few doors down from me in the corridor. Last term's parliament had another father-daughter duo in Michael and Siobhan McMahon - but both lost their seats in the election. Scotland's new MSPs in full - those who have previously served at Westminster or Holyrood are marked with a star. Tom Arthur (Renfewshire South) Ash Denham (Edinburgh Eastern) Mairi Evans (Angus North and Mearns) Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) Jeane Freeman (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) Emma Harper (South Scotland) Claure Haughey (Rutherglen) Fulton MacGregor (Coatbridge and Chryston) Rona Mackay (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) Ben Macpherson (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South) Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) Ivan McKee (Glasgow Provan) Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) Shirley-Anne Somerville* (Dunfermline) Maree Todd (Highlands and Islands) Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) Miles Briggs (Lothian) Alexander Burnett (Aberdeenshire West) Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) Finlay Carson (Galloway and West Dumfries) Maurice Corry (West Scotland) Maurice Golden (West Scotland) Jamie Greene (West Scotland) Alison Harris (Central Scotland) Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) Gordon Lindhurst (Lothian) Dean Lockhart (Mid Scotland and Fife) Edward Mountain (Highlands and Islands) Oliver Mundell (Dumfriesshire) Douglas Ross (Highlands and Islands) Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) Adam Tomkins (Glasgow) Annie Wells (Glasgow) Brian Whittle (South Scotland) Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) Pauline McNeill* (Glasgow) Anas Sarwar* (Glasgow) Colin Smyth (South Scotland) Ross Greer (West Scotland) Mark Ruskell* (Mid Scotland and Fife) Andy Wightman (Lothian) Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) Mike Rumbles* (North East)
Scotland 's new @placeholder of MSPs have begun arriving at Holyrood . In total there are 51 new representatives arriving at the Scottish Parliament , and BBC Scotland met some of them as they checked in for their first day of work .
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Across the 18 satellites now in orbit, nine clocks have stopped operating. Three are traditional rubidium devices; six are the more precise hydrogen maser instruments that were designed to give Galileo superior performance to the American GPS network. Galileo was declared up and running in December. However, it is still short of the number of satellites considered to represent a fully functioning constellation, and a decision must now be made about whether to suspend the launch of further spacecraft while the issue is investigated. Prof Jan Woerner, the director general of the European Space Agency (Esa), told a meeting with reporters: "Everybody is raising this question: should we postpone the next launch until we find the root cause, or should we launch? "You can give both answers at the same time. You can say we wait until we find the solution but that means if more clocks fail we will reduce the capability of Galileo. But if we launch we will at least maintain if not increase the [capability], but we may then take the risk that a systematic problem is not considered. We are right now in this discussion about what to do." Each Galileo satellite carries two rubidium and two hydrogen maser clocks. The multiple installation enables a satellite to keep working after an initial failure. All 18 spacecraft currently in space continue to operate, but one of them is now down to just two clocks. Most of the maser failures (5) have occurred on the satellites that were originally sent into orbit to validate the system, whereas all three rubidium stoppages are on the spacecraft that were subsequently launched to fill out the network. Esa staff at its technical centre, ESTEC, in the Netherlands are trying to isolate the cause the of failures - with the assistance of the clock (Spectratime of Switzerland) and satellite manufacturers (Airbus and Thales Alenia Space; OHB and SSTL). It is understood engineers have managed to restart another hydrogen clock that had stopped. Esa is also in contact with the Indian space agency which is using the same clocks in its sat-nav system. So far, the Indians have not experienced the same failures. A statement issued by the agency late on Wednesday gave additional details. It appears the rubidium failures "all seem to have a consistent signature, linked to probable short circuits, and possibly a particular test procedure performed on the ground". The maser clock failures are said to be better understood, with two likely causes, the second of which has caused most grief. The Esa statement said this second scenario was "related to the fact that when some healthy [hydrogen maser] clocks are turned off for long periods, they do not restart due to a change in clock characteristics". Actions are being taken to try to prevent further problems. These involve changing the way clocks are operated in orbit. Clocks about to fly are also likely to be refurbished, and future devices yet to be made will have design changes, the agency says. Esa is hopeful it can still launch the next four satellites in the constellation before the end of the year. Precise timing is at the core of all satellite-navigation systems. Atomic clocks generate the time code that is continuously transmitted to users on the ground to help them fix a position. The passive hydrogen maser clocks in Galileo are determined to be accurate to one billionth of a second per day, or one second in three million years. This performance ought to contribute to giving users fixes that have errors of a metre or less - significantly better than the standard open service from GPS. A fully operational Galileo system is regarded as a constellation of 24, split across three orbital planes in the sky. But spares are required also, and with one very early satellite in the constellation already considered very close to complete failure - for different reasons - there needs to be near-continuous production of spacecraft. The four latest satellites went up as a quartet in November; more are set to follow later this year. Galileo is a project of the European Commission, the EU's executive branch. The EC employs Esa as its technical and procurement agent. The development path to a "European GPS" has been a tortuous one. The project is years late, and the completion cost - expected to be some 7bn euros by 2020 - is substantially higher than that originally foreseen by EU member states. Galileo's atomic clocks by the numbers Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
The onboard atomic clocks that drive the satellite - navigation @placeholder on Europe 's Galileo network have been failing at an alarming rate .
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Having secured their Premier League survival with a match to spare, Swansea City appear to have embraced that notion in quite a literal sense this week. Their reprieve from relegation was confirmed when Hull were thrashed by Crystal Palace on Sunday and, after toasting the occasion at home, the Swans' players decided to take their celebrations further afield by spontaneously booking a two-night trip to Ibiza. Head coach Paul Clement then received a text message from an unnamed player, who said he was acting on behalf of the squad when he asked for permission to visit the Balearic island famous for its nightlife. Clement was happy to oblige but, with their final Premier League game at home to West Brom on Sunday, there were certain conditions. "They would have tried to have come back on Saturday if they could, but I told them to be back on Wednesday," says Clement. "I think they had a good time, almost the whole squad went. They were alright. They've already had one session and we have got three more." Was the 45-year-old former Bayern Munich assistant manager tempted to join them? "No, not at all," he laughs. "Well, I couldn't keep up with those young guys at all. "I just said they had to be back on time, 1.30 on Wednesday and they were coming in the door right on 1.30." Clement believes the fact the vast majority of the Swansea squad chose to go on the trip to Ibiza was evidence of their team spirit, one of the "standout features" of their escape from relegation. When Clement succeeded Bob Bradley in January, the Swans were bottom of the Premier League table with just 12 points from 19 games. But since appointing Carlo Ancelotti's former assistant at Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain, Swansea have turned their season around with 26 points from their subsequent 18 fixtures. It is a remarkable transformation, and not the first time a member of the Clement family has helped a team retain their top-flight status in dramatic fashion. Clement's brother Neil was a part of the West Brom side who survived at the end of the 2004-05 season despite being bottom of the table at Christmas and at the start of the final day of the campaign. "The big difference is they were bottom on the last day of the season. They had to close the gap, but got that result and stayed up," the Swans boss says. "There were parallels. Someone asked me the other day that if there is ever a team bottom of the Premier League at Christmas then you need to hire a Clement. "Either coach or player, then you have got half a chance." As proud as Clement is of Swansea's survival, he is equally eager they avoid such a stressful battle to avoid the drop next season. If they continue to languish in the lower reaches of the Premier League table, Clement is concerned they may eventually drop back down to the Championship. "Exactly, Sunderland flirted with it too many years and paid the price," he says. "We have to be much stronger, to do that we need a good pre-season to evaluate the squad, where we need to strengthen. "I don't think we necessarily need as much as we did in January. We want key players who can come in and make a difference. Like the players we had. "We need to start strongly and get as many points as possible in the first half of the season, like West Brom have done this season. "If you can then finish like we have done, we will find ourselves in a strong position."
It is a well - worn trope that teams with little to play for at the end of the season are ' on the @placeholder ' , coasting through their last few games with their thoughts already turning to upcoming holidays .
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He was born William Jefferson Blythe in Hope, Arkansas, on 19 August 1946. His father had died in a car accident three months earlier. When he was four, his mother married a used car dealer called Roger Clinton. His stepfather was an alcoholic who beat his wife. At the age of 14, the young Bill Clinton warned him to stop. In the early 1960s, he met his political hero, former President John F Kennedy, in the White House Rose Garden. Parallels between the two men would be drawn many times during the following years. After studying at Georgetown University, Bill Clinton spent two years at Oxford University. It was here that he admitted smoking - but not inhaling - marijuana. A supporter of civil rights and a campaigner against the Vietnam war, he took steps to ensure that he would not have to serve in it. Later, his critics would use the episode to question Mr Clinton's patriotism and character. After graduating in law from Yale in 1973, he returned to Arkansas to teach law and enter politics. Defeated for Congress in 1974, a year later he married Hillary Rodham, an ambitious young lawyer whom he had met while at Yale. Their daughter Chelsea was born in 1980. Elected Arkansas' attorney general in 1976, Mr Clinton won the governorship of the state two years later. The astute scholar had become a political high-flyer at the tender age of 32. Losing the governorship in 1982, he regained it in 1986 and held it until his election to the White House in 1992. Mr Clinton's campaign against the incumbent President George H W Bush was almost derailed before it started. A nightclub singer named Gennifer Flowers alleged he was her former lover. With the evasive manner which was to become a hallmark of his presidency, the Clintons went on national television and professed their love for one another while not directly denying Gennifer Flowers' claims. A popular mood for change swept Mr Clinton and his running mate, Al Gore, into the White House. He committed the government to reduce the deficit and reform the US healthcare system. The latter was entrusted to the First Lady, but her recommendations were so unwieldy and unpopular that they had to be scrapped. The Clinton presidency was stumbling, amidst the stirrings of a scandal. Whitewater, an Arkansas property company partly owned by the Clintons, was investigated for financial malpractice while the Clintons were in the Arkansas governor's mansion. There was also the apparent suicide of a deputy White House counsel and close friend of the Clintons from Arkansas, Vince Foster. In July 1993, Foster was found dead in his car in a Washington park. A gun was at his side. The Clintons mourned their friend, but suspicion about the manner of his death and the Whitewater affair would never be far from the presidency. In September 1993, in a remarkable ceremony on the White House lawn, Israel's Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Yasser Arafat, shook hands after signing a peace deal. Mr Clinton, who had nurtured and engineered the treaty, basked in the glow of a diplomatic coup. Rabin's death, two years later, was a shocking blow. At home, he presided over an economic boom, with cuts in the deficit accompanied by reductions in unemployment. In November 1995, Mr Clinton became the first US president to visit Northern Ireland. Throughout his tenure, he committed himself to bringing peace to the province. He sponsored the process which culminated in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, brokered by his nominee and political colleague, George Mitchell. A crushing defeat of the Democrats at the 1994 congressional elections, for which he took the blame, was not enough to prevent Mr Clinton from being elected again in 1996. He was, simply, the slickest political operator in town. But Mr Clinton's second term was tarnished by scandal. Another woman, Paula Jones, pursued a claim for sexual harassment against the president. During the case, a former White House intern was called to give evidence. Her name: Monica Lewinsky. Both she and the president testified that they had not had a sexual relationship. Further examination revealed that they had both lied under oath. The way was clear for Mr Clinton's opponents in Congress to impeach him. Though they were unsuccessful, the sight of the president having his private life raked over for weeks in the full glare of the Congressional spotlight was demeaning to both the man and the office he held. His final two years in office saw Mr Clinton struggling with his reputation as a womaniser. His wife, Hillary, now entered public life in her own right, winning a US Senate seat in New York state in November 2000. His Vice-President, Al Gore, controversially lost the closest presidential election in living memory at the same time. But Mr Clinton's popularity was still such that, barring the legal impossibility of standing for president for a third time in 2000, he would probably have beaten off the challenge of George W Bush. Since leaving office, Mr Clinton has travelled the world, effortlessly charming crowds wherever he goes. He stopped traffic in London's Piccadilly and drew vast numbers of admirers in Belfast. He also set up the William J Clinton Foundation to promote and address international humanitarian causes such as treatment and prevention of HIV/Aids and global warming. In 2005 he founded the Clinton Global Initiative, engaging world leaders in development initiatives of global concern. In 2004, his much-vaunted memoirs were published. The huge volume, more than 950 pages long, was panned by many critics as being overwritten yet lacking depth. Even so, the revelations about the Lewinsky affair, after which he said he was "in the doghouse", and when his wife considered leaving him, made My Life, as the book was called, a worldwide best-seller. Known for his love of fast-food during his time in the White House, Mr Clinton underwent quadruple-bypass surgery in September 2004 after experiencing chest pains. And in February 2010, he underwent a minor heart procedure in New York, after complaining of discomfort in his chest. But he has not let any worries about his health slacken his work rate. In August 2009, Mr Clinton made a dramatic flight to North Korea, in a bid to release two US journalists who had been arrested the previous March after allegedly entering the secretive country illegally. After his talks with North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, it was announced that the reporters had been pardoned and they were allowed to fly back to the US with the former President. At the same time, Mr Clinton took up the role of UN special envoy to Haiti. Since an earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation in January 2010, he has worked tirelessly to help the relief effort. Mr Clinton was asked to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, and formally re-nominate Barack Obama as the party's presidential candidate in the November election.
Bill Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States . During eight years at the White House , his reputation as a peacemaker who brought economic prosperity to America was tarnished by his personal @placeholder .
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It is a scheme that officials in Canada's second largest city say is necessary as they replace old infrastructure in the sewage treatment system. They say the waste will be quickly diluted, but have advised people not to touch the water while the dump takes place. The people of Montreal are also being asked not to flush medication, condoms or tampons down the toilet while the operation goes on. In all, some 8bn litres (2.1bn gallons) will be released. For context, that is roughly the equivalent to 14bn of these: Or to 3,200 Olympic swimming pools: And if the St Lawrence river flowed over Niagara Falls, which it definitely doesn't, it would take all the sewage 47 minutes to travel over - more than 2.8m litres of water pass over all the falls in Niagara every second. As we said, that is a lot of sewage. Officials in Montreal say the dump will have little effect on the fish population and will not affect the quality of drinking water for citizens. And, so far, there are no reports of questionable smells. But it's fair to say the city's residents are not especially happy. The term #flushgate has been trending in Montreal for the past day, alongside subjects as diverse as Justin Bieber's new album and Condon (nothing to do with items in the river, he's a Montreal Canadiens ice hockey player). This being Quebec province, the French term - #EauxUsées (wastewater) - is also proving popular. And, like any good scandal, it's given people a chance to practice their photo editing skills: The French-language Journal de Montreal had some fun too: And it wouldn't be a real scandal if people did not respond by writing passive-aggressive graffiti: While the city says the sewage dump will not affect drinking water, there are concerns among the city's residents. But one user pointed out that such worries about drinking water are not new to some people in Canada:
On Wednesday , Montreal @placeholder dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the city 's main river , the St Lawrence .
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In two famous - and famously lengthy - experiments, scientists wait for pitch to drip from a funnel. It happens about once a decade, because pitch is a substance so viscous that it is, to all intents and purposes, a solid. Lives have come and gone while the drops went undripped, or fell unwitnessed. Recently, a student project in London picked up the pace, using slightly runnier pitch in a similar set-up. The invisible, inevitable progress of these inky half-fluids has captured the public's attention; the drops have acquired meaning and drama. But alongside the storytelling, Dr Kostya Trachenko is adamant there are important measurements to be made. He and his undergraduate students at Queen Mary University of London put their pitch into five different funnels, with different sized openings. Pitch, or bitumen, is the black muck left over from distilling crude oil, and can also be produced by heating wood. It is a liquid at high temperatures but becomes very hard when it cools down, which makes it useful in waterproofing and road surfacing. At normal room temperature, in fact, a lump of pitch can be shattered with a hammer. "We convincingly saw that it behaves like a liquid," Dr Trachenko says as he shows me the set-up, clearly proud of his students' work. "And we were also able to quantify it - because in physics it's important to attach a number to the process." As you would predict for a liquid, the bigger openings let more pitch through: almost 53g over the course of a year for the widest (6mm), compared to 5g for the narrowest (2.5mm). This rate is positively heart-stopping by comparison with the best-known experiment of this kind, which began in Brisbane, Australia, in 1927. There, at the University of Queensland, Prof Thomas Parnell let some pitch solidify in the top of a funnel - and waited. Prof Parnell, a Cambridge graduate and veteran of World War One, wanted to show his students that if you watched it for long enough, it would still flow like a liquid. It was a long wait. The funnel dripped its first drop in 1938 and only eight more have fallen since. In 1961, just three drops later, a new lecturer called John Mainstone adopted the experiment after a colleague pointed it out, gathering dust in a cupboard. He eventually persuaded the university to put it on display and the drops became talking points. Prof Mainstone, however, never saw the pitch in motion. In 1979, the sixth drop went on a weekend. In 1988, with the experiment proudly displayed at Brisbane's World Expo, Prof Mainstone was fetching a drink when the seventh drop fell. By 2000, a video camera had been set up to capture drop number eight, but it malfunctioned at the crucial moment. When the ninth drop fell in April this year it was watched by three webcams and thousands of online enthusiasts - but not by Prof Mainstone, who died eight months earlier at the age of 78. The Queensland experiment itself was pipped to the post of posterity in July 2013, when another long-standing funnel of pitch became the first to drip a drop in public. At Trinity College Dublin, a very similar set-up dating from 1944 was filmed as it shed a black blob into its own beaker, offering the first ever glimpse of such an event taking place. Dr Shane Bergin, a physicist and senior research fellow at Trinity, explains that it was the feeling of suspense in the Brisbane story that rekindled interest in the Dublin drop. "Eventually, when our one was caught on camera, it provided the world with a kind of scientific 'Aaaah' moment," he says. "As in, finally, we see it! "In a world where we expect to expect things to happen very quickly, and stuff is demanded of us instantaneously, it's a little quirky to think that a lot of stuff just happens on a time scale that's much slower than we can normally appreciate." All this drawn-out drama could be accelerated, of course, if the pitch was warmed up. Pitch is one of a group of substances called "glasses" which, when cooled, become hard and solid-seeming, despite maintaining the jumbled molecular structure of a liquid. There is no obvious shift to a more rigid, crystalline organisation of molecules, which happens when water and other liquids freeze. Glasses just get steadily slower and stiffer as the temperature drops. So the famous experiments, Dr Trachenko insists, could be made even drearier. "If you put it in the fridge, it would take thousands of years," he points out, with a dry smile. "For a theorist like myself, 70 years is actually not that long." Window glass belongs in the same category, but debate has raged for years among physicists as to whether solid glass in fact represents a different "phase" of matter. Dr Trachenko believes that all of the pitch drop results, including those of his students' project, are important evidence to the contrary. "Even though glass is a familiar system, explaining how it forms is a big deal in modern physics research," he says. "Once we assume that the behaviour is essentially liquid-like... we can come up with equations to predict how long it would take for solid glass to flow, even though we would never ever see it." Dr Trachenko is firmly in the camp that sees glass as "merely a very viscous liquid" and has published calculations and models in support of that view, based on the way it absorbs heat and behaves under pressure. The popular myth, however, that ancient windows are thicker at the bottom because the glass has sagged with the centuries, is wide of the mark. They have thicker edges because they were made that way, Dr Trachenko is quick to explain. To see glass flow would take an almost unimaginably long time, he says - but it would happen. "If you wait longer than the age of the universe, you'll see this as a liquid." Dr Trachenko taps the glass cabinet that houses his students' pitch funnels. "It would flow. And that would be the end of it." That is a long wait to win an argument. In the meantime, he relies on maths. "For physicists, one billion years is not much different from one second. It's just a number. It's an extremely long number, but I can quantify the process." And to go with the numbers, he now has observations from the dribbles of bitumen inside the cabinet. Their comparatively speedy flow, with multiple drips from multiple funnels, allowed Dr Trachenko's students to calculate - and publish - the average "viscosity" of their pitch, measured in units called pascal-seconds. (About eight million pascal-seconds, to be precise.) By that measure, they estimate it is thirty times runnier than the pitch used in Queensland, a million times runnier than glass, and a hundred billion times thicker than water. Relative runniness can be important. A recently rediscovered pitch drop experiment at Aberystwyth University in Wales actually predates the famous Queensland funnel by 13 years - but its pitch is stiffer and has never yielded a single drop. In fact, it has barely entered the stem of the funnel and is unlikely to bear fruit for at least 1,300 years. The Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow, meanwhile, contains two remarkable demonstrations set up in the 1800s by renowned physicist Lord Kelvin. Intrigued by some of the same questions as Drs Parnell, Mainstone and Trachenko, Kelvin placed bullets on top of a dish of hard, black pitch, and corks at the bottom: over time, the bullets sank and the corks floated. Lord Kelvin also showed that the flow of pitch is genuinely glacial, with a mahogany ramp that allowed it to slide imperceptibly downward and form similar shapes and patterns to rivers of ice in the Alps. The inexorable intrigue of these experiments exerts an obvious pull on our imagination. "People are genuinely curious," says Dr Bergin from Dublin, where the Trinity College pitch drop is slated to be moved into a public exhibition space. "We want to use it as a hook to show that physics tries to understand the universe, from the nitty gritty to the super duper, and all of the wacky stuff that's in there as well. "We're going to start a new, bigger pitch drop here in Trinity as well. We figured, why not?" Back in London, Dr Trachenko similarly loves the idea of challenging the intuitions of his students - and the public. "It reminds people that the physical world is not about us," he says. "We are just passers-by." But he also maintains that there are real findings to be made. Modelling how materials like glass behave in the longest of long terms, Dr Trachenko says, could help plan for the safe disposal of nuclear waste that takes millions of years to decay. "That's not an experiment you can check in the lab." He is clearly not finished with pitch - nor with his students. "There are two jars on my shelf," he says with a hint of mischief. "The second one is more viscous." As soon as the fastest flowing funnel in his current set-up is empty, Dr Trachenko is obviously itching to test out the even stickier stuff. He guesses that the next crop of students might need the entire length of their degree to get results. "If they measure the viscosity of that one, then maybe they can hope for an extra grade." And if they learn from history as well as physics, his students will be checking their camera twice.
Life is speeding up . News travels fast , data is everywhere and @placeholder gadgets keep our schedules ticking over . What can we learn from the physics of the very , very slow ?
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