Trains to London Victoria, Charing Cross and Cannon Street are affected. Passengers were urged to check the Southeastern trains website before they travel, with more than 50 services currently delayed or cancelled. Southeastern apologised, saying it had been caused by "a complete loss of signalling". The signal is now working again, but delays are expected to continue. Train passengers are being advised they can use their tickets on London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and London Overground, and on London Buses between Lewisham and central London. Commuters delayed by more than half an hour can claim compensation. The general secretary of the RMT union blamed the problem on a "toxic mix of massive overcrowding and infrastructure failures". A Network Rail spokesperson said: "We apologise for the delays passengers experienced this morning on the line through London Bridge to Charing Cross and Cannon Street. "The signalling problems have been fixed but there are delays as the service recovers. We would advise passengers to check the latest travel information on National Rail Enquiries or with their train operator."

Summary: A major signal failure at London Bridge has caused severe disruption for commuters trying to reach central London from Kent and the South East.


She has lost her British citizenship and exclusion is expected to follow, meaning she cannot travel to the UK. Ms Chapman was among 10 Russians arrested in the US who admitted to being agents for a foreign country. Last week her lawyer said she would like to come to the UK as she has a UK passport through a previous marriage. Russia agreed to exchange four US spies for the 10 Russian agents and the swap was carried out in Vienna on 9 July. Ms Chapman, who is also known as Anya Kushchenko, is the daughter of a Russian diplomat. Until the Home Office's decision, she had dual Russian-UK nationality. BBC home affairs correspondent Andy Tighe said Ms Chapman became the best-known of the Russian spy ring after details and photographs from her Facebook entry were picked up by newspapers around the world. He said her lawyers were handed a letter formally revoking her citizenship and she was told her passport was no longer valid. It is understood steps are also being taken to permanently exclude Ms Chapman from travelling to the UK in the future, our correspondent said. Earlier this month, Briton Alex Chapman, 30, from Bournemouth, Dorset, talked to a newspaper about his four-year marriage to the 28-year-old Russian. He said they had met at a party in London in 2002 and married five months later. He said she changed dramatically during the marriage, and by the end was having "secretive" meetings with "Russian friends". Ms Chapman did not seek to conceal her Russian identity when she arrived in New York from Moscow in February 2010, saying she wanted to build up a recruitment agency targeting young professionals in both cities. But following the Vienna spy swap, a Home Office spokesperson had said they were reviewing Ms Chapman's passport situation. Russian agents' all-American lives Viewpoint: Life after spying 'Russian spy suspect was my wife' "The home secretary has the right to deprive dual nationals of their British citizenship where she considers that to do so would be conducive to the public good. This case is under urgent consideration," the spokesperson said. Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson had said it "cannot be in our interests" to let Ms Chapman settle in the UK. The BBC's Dominic Casciani said only half a dozen people have been stripped of British citizenship since the law was introduced in 2002. The law was partly introduced to make it easier to deport radical cleric Abu Hamza al Masri. The home secretary can strip someone of citizenship if their presence is "seriously prejudicial" to British interests: for example, if they are a threat to national security. The 10 Russian agents had pleaded guilty in New York to "conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign country". More serious money-laundering charges against them were dropped. Prosecutors said the accused had posed as ordinary citizens, some living together as couples for years, and were ordered by Russia's External Intelligence Service (SVR) to infiltrate policy-making circles and collect information. On Sunday it was reported that two of the

Summary: Anna Chapman, one of the Russian spies deported from the United States, has been deprived of her British citizenship, the BBC understands.


Professor Alexis Jay's report detailed how girls as young as 11 were raped, trafficked, abducted, beaten, and intimidated, predominantly by men of Pakistani-heritage. It said there had been "blatant" collective failures by the council's leadership, a failure by South Yorkshire Police to prioritise the issue and said senior managers had "underplayed" the scale of the problem. The report prompted a raft of resignations and further inquiries, one of which led to the council being taken over by government-appointed commissioners. But, 12 months on, BBC News asked those most closely involved what has changed in Rotherham? Jessica, not her real name, said she was first abused when she aged just 12. Since the report was published, she believes there has been "real change" in the way the authorities deal with victims of child sexual exploitation (CSE). "We're now being listened to, there's more support in place and survivors and their families are now on board and helping agencies shape services," she said. "We're telling them what we need and what's going to help us move forward." However, she said more needed to be done and called for "mandatory education" for children on the dangers of grooming and increased funding for police forces. "I know a lot of people find it difficult to trust the authorities but I do think things are really changing now," she continued. "I think the way people look at abuse is changing and I think the authorities recognise that it's not the victim's fault, it's not the parents' fault and that the perpetrators are the ones to blame." In a video message posted on Rotherham Council's website, council leader Chris Read said: "We've begun to make the changes that we need and we are making progress. We've been listening and we are acting. "Our child sexual exploitation team has been rebuilt and we're working more closely than ever with our partners to deliver the services that people need and deserve. "We are rebuilding our council so it can't fail so badly ever again." Ian Thomas was appointed director of children's services at the council in January, following the resignation of Joyce Thacker. "When you look at where we've come in the last few months it's been a long way, especially when you look at the amount of services in place now for victims and survivors," he said. "We're supporting around 300 victims and survivors of CSE through investing over half a million pounds. "But, let me be very, very clear - we still have a long way to go." Dr Alan Billings was elected as South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in October 2014 following the resignation of Shaun Wright. Since then he has set up a "Victims, Survivors and Families panel" to allow those affected by CSE in Rotherham to discuss their experiences with officers. In June, he also appointed Prof John Drew to lead an independent review of South Yorkshire Police's handling of CSE reports. "I think very few of us understood the nature of grooming, the police ought to have done, but I don't think

Summary: It has been a year since a report found at least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.


8 September 2016 Last updated at 02:42 BST When the PS4 Pro is released in November, it will be the first time the Japanese firm has had two consoles on sale with significantly different graphics capabilities within the same generation. The head of PlayStation Europe, Jim Ryan, told the BBC's Michelle Fleury that the move was designed to future-proof the PlayStation 4.

Summary: Sony has announced a more powerful version of its PlayStation 4 console at an event in New York.


Losses unlike any suffered by a main opposition party between elections for three decades. But - of course - that may all turn out to be a naively rosy expectation when the results are finally in. The votes have yet to be counted, after all, and it's possible the Labour Party may end up wishing the outcome was merely painful and no worse. It could just conceivably turn out to be catastrophic. If this all sounds a little apocalyptic, forgive me. Hair-rending and teeth gnashing Doom-laden adjectives are the stock in trade of political punditry at election time, especially when the occasion lends itself to a little hair-rending and teeth-gnashing. And there is already a not-especially-orderly queue of Jeremy Corbyn's critics in the Labour Party, waiting to blame poor results for their party on his leadership, and clearing their throats to strike up the chorus of voices wanting him to go. In so far as an objective analysis exists, what would a bad night for Labour look like? No main opposition party has suffered net losses of council seats for 30 years. The English local council seats up for grabs were won at the height of Labour's popularity under Ed Miliband - though that's not saying a great deal. Now, losses look inevitable, and a pantheon of psephologists predict 150, 190, more? Mr Corbyn's Labour enemies have set the bar for respectability impossibly high. Four hundred gains are the minimum to show progress, according to the likes of defeated leadership contender Liz Kendall, and given the fact Labour's trailing the Conservatives in the national polls, she might as well have demanded 400,000. If Labour comes third in Scotland - though that's not thought very likely - or loses in London - something almost no-one expects to happen, the hair-rending and teeth-gnashing will be so frenzied as to leave the entire Labour Party, Corbynistas and anti-Corbynistas alike, bald and toothless. As it is, we can expect a cacophonous set of rival choruses. Those loyal to the leader blaming the disloyalty of dissident MPs for vote-sapping disunity. And those who want the leader gone blaming him; demanding a change of direction and some a change of leader. There's no plan among the mutineers in waiting to move against Mr Corbyn this side of the European referendum. That would smack too much of treachery with a defining struggle for Britain still to be won and lost. Will they strike afterwards? Will any MP risk the certain wrath of Mr Corbyn's army of loyal supporters subsequently? From all I hear, at least two and possibly more Labour MPs of vintage and deep anti-Corbyn conviction, have told friends and colleagues that they will. As of now - tonight - a challenge looks to me more than a plausible possibility. But let's see. Remember Michael Foot? Remember Gordon Brown at the nadir of his fortunes? Yes, Labour dumped Tony Blair, but he had a truly dedicated and ruthlessly ambitious replacement in Mr Brown (and the compromises he forced on the party grated horribly with the faithful well before

Summary: A bad night, and a worse morning ahead for the Labour Party.


Her husband, 29-year-old Aash Bahadur Gurung, was one of the Sherpa climbing guides caught up when a huge mass of snow suddenly gave way a few hundred metres above Everest Base Camp as they prepared for the climbing season. "I still feel he's alive," the 25-year-old told the BBC, struggling to control her tears as she carried her 10-month-old son, Anish Gurung. "Before going to Everest, he said it was his last time to work as a guide. "He wanted to go to America. He wanted to make some money and make our lives better." Sixteen Sherpas lost their lives on 18 April in what has been described by many as modern mountaineering's deadliest single tragedy. Three of them have not been found and are presumed dead. Since the avalanche, more than 300 international climbers have abandoned their plans to scale Mount Everest - the world's highest mountain at 8,848m (29,029ft), which straddles the border between China and Nepal. Nepal's tourism and mountaineering authorities have been left high and dry. Anita Lama, 23, is the widow of Asman Tamang, 26, who also died on the mountain. "I never thought that such a tragedy would happen," she told the BBC, her eyes welling up as she carried her daughter, 11-month-old Dolma Tamang. "He started going to the mountains for work for the past four years or so. "Before the accident he said he would come back after two months. He was planning to build our own house after a couple of years." After the disaster struck, the Nepali government announced a compensation and insurance package worth about $15,000 (£8,800) to the families of the Sherpa climbers. But the families and friends of those killed were not satisfied. Nimi Sherpa, who is a climber herself and an aunt of Phurba Ongyal Sherpa, 25, who also died in the avalanche, said the government had insulted the country's climbing community by initially announcing compensation worth merely $400 (£238). "We are being treated like beggars," she said. "We were treated miserably in the past, too, that's why many Sherpas have left the country." Nepal's Himalayan Sherpa people are believed to have migrated from eastern Tibet centuries ago, and their population in Nepal currently stands at just over 112,000, according to Nepal's Population and Housing Census 2011. The term "Sherpa" is now widely used to identify a climbing guide, and not all come from the ethnic Sherpa community of Solukhumbu, the district where Mount Everest is located. According to the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), around 9,000 Sherpas are engaged in mountaineering working as guides and climbing aides, and they make between $5,000 (£3,000) and $7,000 each climbing season - several times higher than the average Nepali income. But the job is fraught with risks and there is no proper official social security arrangements, senior Sherpas say, so thousands have chosen to migrate to greener pastures. Many have gone to America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and others to neighbouring India. After the avalanche, Nepal's tourism and mountaineering officials were unable to persuade the 300 international climbers at the

Summary: Menuka Magar-Gurung is struggling to come to terms with what happened on that bright, sunny morning.


It follows proposals put forward last year in a review for an overhaul of police pay, conditions and allowances. The Police Federation says it is "disappointed" by the announcement. What are the key changes? The recommendations of the mammoth two-part Winsor Review of police pay had one simple aim: to stop paying police officers for the time they have served and start paying them for their skills and the challenges they face. In other words - the days of paying an officer more just because he had done 28 years would go. The first part of the review said police were being paid under a system that had been devised for a world that no longer existed. Forces have shifted resources increasingly into specialised units. That's because (broadly speaking) expert teams - be they officers working on burglary intelligence or those who deal with child abuse - should be able to amass the knowledge needed to solve more crimes more quickly. Winsor said that reforming pay and conditions would help chiefs to focus resources where they were needed, while preventing some officers from seeking out the easiest of posts. The second part of the review called for chiefs to be able to make officers redundant - a fundamental shift in the employment protection enjoyed by sworn officers. it also called for physical fitness tests and direct entry into senior ranks for recruits with relevant outside experience - be it military or business management skills. He also wanted accelerated promotion to inspector for the best recruits, to encourage more top graduates into policing. Police pay is set through a national negotiating board - and disputes go to a arbitration tribunal. There were a number of sticking points during the negotiations: The government said that pay needed to be based on skills and how they were used, rather than number of years served. It said forces needed this flexibility because of the different challenges each area of the country faced. Although forces were broadly on track to make spending cuts of up to 20% by March 2015, that was not guaranteed. Starting salaries will be cut by up to £4,259 from April, making the starting salary £19,000. This salary will be given to those with the least or no relevant experience - such as those who join at 18. But some recruits will start on £22,000 if they have some experience, such as time spent as a special constable. The change in starting salaries will save an estimated £140m over five years. But the deal also means that many constables will have the opportunity to move to the top of the pay scale - currently around £36,000 - more quickly, . The Police Federation which represents rank-and-file officers says this cut in starting salary fails to reflect the dangers inherent in the job and that police constables have lost out because of an unfair comparison between their jobs and those of other public sector workers. From April, chief constables will have discretion over whether to pay officers regional allowances. Currently, all officers in the

Summary: The Home Secretary is implementing a range of major reforms to police pay in England and Wales after two years of tense negotiations between officers and government.


While opinion is divided, Mrs Clinton is largely thought to have come out on top in Sunday's debate in St Louis. But columnists raised the issue of her failure to tackle Mr Trump effectively, allowing him to "exceed expectations". "The smiling Hillary we saw throughout the first debate on Long Island? She didn't make the trip west." Fox News concludes that Mr Trump managed to pull off a surprising performance, although the news channel does not explicitly state that the Republican candidate won the debate. The conservative network says he performed well, pivoting and manoeuvring through questions, allowing him to save his presidential hopes. Political analyst William Whelan said the night fell into the hands of Mr Trump. He said the Republican defended his record and unlike the first debate, when he was often blown off course by the former secretary of state and "torpedoed by his own badgering performance", he improved as the night went on. Mr Trump's decision to launch a blistering attack against Hillary Clinton and her husband is described by Fox as the equivalent of "Hillary dropping Alicia Machado on Trump" in the previous debate. That was the line used by Breitbart news, which is in a minority in handing the title to Mr Trump. In a leading story quoting comments from former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, it reports that Mrs Clinton was "pounded on bad decisions". It refers to accusations from Mr Trump that Mrs Clinton and the Democratic Party helped "create the vacuum in the Middle East" that allowed so-called Islamic State to form. The hard-right news website, whose executive chairman Stephen Bannon was appointed Mr Trump's campaign chief in August, is running its own readers' poll, the results of which have yet to be announced. The site also highlights support from Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence, who said in a tweet that he was proud of Mr Trump and congratulated him on "a big debate win", while ending it with a shortened form of Mr Trump's 'Make America Great Again' slogan. "All Hillary Clinton had to do was remain upright for 90 minutes." The Washington Post's verdict is that the debate highlighted an "increasingly isolated" Mr Trump during an "unusually dark and bitter face-off". Over the past year, the newspaper has been at the forefront of investigations into Mr Trump, and has published several editorials condemning the candidate. On the news site's Right Turn blog, Jennifer Rubin says Mrs Clinton had very little to do in order to go "the last little way in wrapping up the election". She writes that Mrs Clinton handled the audience well when answering questions, adding that the former secretary of state effectively won the debate early on by "simply keeping her cool". Issues ranging from Mr Trump's tax payments to his foreign policy have, according to the Post, given Mrs Clinton plenty of material for a new raft of political ads. In a separate piece for the Post, opinion writer Eugene Joseph Dionne Jr writes that Mr Trump's "petulant" and "boorish" approach on the night was

Summary: The US media have given their verdict on who won the second presidential debate after Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton engaged in attack and counter-attack.


Emergency services were called to the line near Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, at about 21:30 GMT on Monday. A tow truck had to be called to remove the car, which was stuck on the track. No one was trapped or badly hurt. The 18-year-old driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle, driving without insurance and careless driving. Train operator c2c apologised for delays to passengers. It said services were disrupted for about three hours while the car was removed and Network Rail engineers examined the track and repaired the fence.

Summary: A motorist crashed through a fence and onto a train track, causing several hours of delays for passengers.


Shaun McKerry tried to rob Shildon Post Office in County Durham on 15 March. CCTV showed the 31-year-old threatening staff with the axe before shopkeeper Sab Dhillon tackled him to the floor and restrained him. Durham Crown Court heard McKerry, of Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, had earlier admitted attempted robbery. McKerry, whose face was hidden by a scarf and hood, brandished the weapon as he ordered shop assistant Andrea Brighty to fill a bag with money from the till, the court heard. But Mr Dhillon ran from a back office, grabbed McKerry from behind and wrestled him to the floor. The court heard McKerry, dubbed Boomerang Boy because of his repeated spells in prison, had been arrested more than 80 times. He was told he must serve an extended four-year licence period after he is released. The court was told McKerry started shoplifting at the age of 12 and by 15 he had been arrested 80 times, and had convictions for aggravated vehicle-taking, sending indecent letters, and burglary. McKerry once stole 22 charity boxes while dressed as a woman, and locals dubbed him a one-man crime wave. Dramatic CCTV footage from the shop showed the masked McKerry waving an axe as he demanded cash from terrified assistant Andrea Brighty. But he did not see Mr Dhillon's rugby tackle, which dropped him to the floor, sending shelves and produce tumbling. As the men wrestled, and with McKerry still holding the axe, Mr Dhillon's wife Sam helped, hitting him twice with a baseball bat to make him drop the weapon. Blood can be seen coming from the would-be robber's nose and Mr Dhillon gestured to his wife to drop the bat. Minutes later the police arrived and arrested McKerry, who, the court heard, had been arrested more than 80 times and had 64 previous convictions. Speaking to BBC Tees shortly after the raid, Mr Dhillon said: "I was in the back storeroom on the computer and I heard Andrea, who was behind the counter shouting 'no, no, no'. "I saw a guy waiving an axe at her. I came up behind him and pulled him away from Andrea and the counter. We struggled, fell on the floor. "I managed to keep hold of him and get the axe off him and hold him there until the police arrived." During his summing up in court, Judge Christopher Prince described Mr Dhillion's actions as a "conspicuous display of bravery." The court was told McKerry's history of offending also included burglary, assaulting a police officer, attempted robbery and criminal damage.

Summary: A serial criminal who was brought to the ground by the owner of a shop during a failed axe raid has been jailed for six years.


Haki Africa said the figure could be higher but some families were reluctant to come forward for fear of victimisation by state security agents. The police oversight body said 52 officers were on trial in connection with such killings countrywide. The coastal region has suffered several terror attacks in recent years. The Somali Islamist militant al-Shabab group has been targeting Kenya over the deployment of Kenyan forces to Somalia. Most of the victims were youths including returnees from Somalia who had surrendered after the government promised them amnesty, Haki Africa's report said. Others were allegedly killed as a result of excessive use of force during police crackdowns on protests and other religious groups that had been accused of radicalising young people. Saada Suleiman, who attended the report's launch in the capital, Nairobi, said her husband had been missing for two years since his arrest in a raid on Masjid Musa mosque in Mombasa known for its radical sermons. Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid said some of those killed were terror suspects, including several radical Muslim clerics, but this was no excuse for the state to execute them without due process. The BBC's Abdinoor Aden in the capital, Nairobi, says officers from the anti-terror unit have been heavily implicated in the report. Murshid Nassir, who heads the National Police Service Commission which vets officers, told the BBC that so-called "death squads" did not exist within the force and extrajudicial killings were not condoned. While the chairman of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority promised to take action against officers found guilty of engaging in the killings. Macharia Njeru said 52 officers had been charged and more than 300 officers were being probed for gross human rights violations.

Summary: Kenya's anti-terror police have carried out at least 81 extrajudicial killings in country's mainly Muslim coastal region since 2012, a rights group says.


The top places are invariably filled with the US and UK academic powerhouses. And then coming up fast are the ambitious Asian universities. But what about the French, with their centuries of scholarship and ancient institutions? There was a university in Paris before Oxford or Cambridge. French universities are conspicuous by their absence. In the most recent QS World University Rankings there were none in the top 20 and only two in the top 100. That could all change from next year. As part of a huge government-driven academic and economic project, there will be a new university called Paris-Saclay, with a campus south of the French capital. The project has initial funding of 7.5bn euros (Â£5.9bn) for an endowment, buildings and transport links. The French government is bringing together 19 institutions into a single structure, with the aim of building a university big enough to compete with global giants like Harvard or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dominique Vernay, the president of this new university, says that within a decade he wants Paris-Saclay to be among the top ranking world universities. "My goal is to be a top 10 institution," he says. In Europe, he wants Paris-Saclay to be in the "top two or three". In university rankings, big is beautiful, and the Paris-Saclay will have 70,000 students and 10,000 researchers. There will be an emphasis on graduate courses and recruiting more international students and staff. More stories from the BBC's Knowledge economy series looking at education from a global perspective and how to get in touch The idea of bringing together individual colleges into a "federal university" has been borrowed from the UK. "Our model isn't that far from the Oxbridge model," he says. To put it into scale, Mr Vernay says Paris-Saclay is going to be twice the size of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the flagships of the US university system. Without any extra investment, he says that the existing component parts of the university will put Paris-Saclay straight into the top 20 of the Shanghai global university rankings. It will inherit staff with Nobel Prizes and some very well-established founding partners, including the Ecole Polytechnique, the HEC Paris business school and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Getting into the top end of the league tables is not the purpose of the investment, he says. But it would be an important indicator of how France can create a much more concentrated and globally competitive research base. The big idea is to create a "knowledge hub" around Paris, bringing together top-level universities with research institutes, hi-tech businesses and start-ups. The classic example of such a project would be Silicon Valley in California where Stanford University has been the launchpad for firms such as Google and Hewlett Packard. Boston would be seen as another such hi-tech cluster, with Harvard and MIT feeding ideas into technology firms. In London, Imperial College and University College London are planning expansions to tap into this drive for innovation. But in this industrial geography of the internet age, with the

Summary: Imagine the chagrin of French universities whenever international rankings are published.


Mr Schleicher, who runs the tests, says the high results of deprived pupils in some Asian countries shows what poor pupils in the UK could achieve. The most disadvantaged pupils in Shanghai match the maths test results of wealthy pupils in the UK. Mr Schleicher says it "debunks the myth that poverty is destiny". On Monday, Education Secretary Michael Gove said individual schools in England should take Pisa tests, so that they could compare themselves against international standards. The latest Pisa - Programme for International Student Assessment - test results were published last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ranking developed countries in terms of how well 15-year-olds performed in tests in reading, maths and science. Source: OECD This showed the UK as a middle-ranking country, with Asian school systems, such as in Singapore, South Korea and Shanghai and Hong Kong in China, as the highest performers. But Mr Schleicher's latest analysis compares the performance of the most deprived 10% of pupils. This reveals how the poorest in many countries overlap with the results of the wealthy in other countries. The poorest 10% of pupils in Shanghai are as good as the most privileged 20% of teenagers taking the test in the UK and the United States. In Europe, the Netherlands has the highest-performing pupils from the poorest families. Poor pupils in the Netherlands are as good at maths as much better-off teenagers in France. The poorest 10% of pupils in Hong Kong scored at a higher level than the wealthiest in Sweden and Norway. The very lowest performers among this group were in the Slovak Republic. Mr Schleicher says it shows how academic differences attributed to social background should not be unquestioningly tolerated. "We tend to overestimate the impact of poverty," he says . There was also a challenge to the idea that the UK has an unusually poor record on social mobility. Dr John Jerrim at the Institute of Education published a study suggesting that in international terms the UK was mid-ranking in the link between family background and future employment opportunities - 17th out of 34 developed countries. There was greater equity in Scandinavia and some European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands. But Dr Jerrim said social mobility in the UK was not dissimilar to France, Spain and Italy - and the UK's record was better than some central and eastern European countries. "Policymakers often state that the relationship between family background and labour market earnings is stronger in the UK than most other countries," he said. "It is not true that we stand out compared to the rest of world. Policymakers should avoid making such exaggerated claims when discussing this politically sensitive issue."

Summary: There is nothing inevitable about the weaker academic performance of poorer pupils, says an analysis of Pisa tests by the OECD's Andreas Schleicher.


With the Windies chasing 261, pace bowler Perry took a wicket in each of her first three overs to reduce the Caribbean side to 41-3. Merissa Aguilleira and Deandra Dottin briefly threatened some fireworks, but after both fell to Lisa Sthalekar, West Indies limped to 145 all out. Rachael Haynes (52) and Jess Cameron (75) had earlier made half-centuries for the Aussies, with some late-order hitting from Perry and Jodie Fields taking them to 259-7. By contributing with the bat and then starring with the ball, Perry made a dramatic return to the Southern Stars' line-up after three games out with an ankle injury. The last of those was an eight-run defeat by West Indies, their first win over Australia and the result that sealed their place in a maiden final. Because of that victory, Windies skipper Aguilleira said her side had a "psychological advantage" over the team that had lifted the trophy on five previous occasions. But Australia were too clinical for a West Indies side that were sloppy in the field, wayward with the ball and unable to keep up with the run chase. In reclaiming the trophy they last won in 2005, Australia add to the World Twenty20 they won in October and the Ashes they will try to defend in England in August. It is the first time they have held all three of women's cricket's major titles simultaneously. Only once in the match were they under pressure, as four wickets fell for 28 runs around the batting powerplay. "If an emerging sport needs a star to help raise its profile, then women's cricket has struck gold with Ellyse Perry. An international in both cricket and football, the 22-year-old also somehow manages to find time to present shows on radio and television as well as studying for an economics and social sciences degree." Read the rest of our feature Before that, Haynes, who added 52 for the first wicket with Meg Lanning, shared a second-wicket stand of 64 with Cameron. With fielding mistakes and ill-disciplined bowling hampering the Windies, powerful right-hander Cameron played some particularly eye-catching strokes, going past 50 with two sixes in one Tremayne Smartt over. By this point, Haynes had been well held by Kyshona Knight, running back at mid-wicket to give impressive leg-spinner Shaquana Quintyne her first wicket, and Alex Blackwell had fallen cheaply to Smartt. Cameron dominated a fourth-wicket partnership of 55 with Sthalekar but, when Cameron slapped a Shanel Daley full toss to deep mid-wicket, Australia lost their way. With the bowlers finally able to gain some control, Sthalekar, Sarah Coyte and Erin Osborne all found ways to hole out to West Indies fielders. However, from 209-7 Fields and Perry combined to add 50 exactly, Perry hitting a maximum over long on and skipper Fields improvising with sweeps and pulls. The Windies batters were always likely to have to deal with movement in the Mumbai night, but openers Natasha Mclean and Kycia Knight looked comfortable until the introduction of Perry. With no small sense of theatre, the right-armer twice aborted attempts to

Summary: Ellyse Perry ripped through the West Indies top order to help Australia to a 114-run win in the Women's World Cup final in Mumbai.


The FA plans to introduce what it calls "temporary dismissals" in England's step seven - six tiers below the National League - and the leagues below. They will only apply to yellow cards shown for dissent, and will see players leave the field for 10 minutes. It will also be tested in Sunday League and male and female youth football. More than 1,000 clubs received emails over the weekend asking if they were willing to be part of the pilot process. "There has already been a positive response with over 60 leagues in support of it," an FA spokesperson said. Clubs are normally charged a £10 fine for each yellow card but the FA will not be charging this administration fee for those that participate. Step seven is the bottom level of English football's National League System, which feeds into the country's professional leagues. The highest league within that structure - step one - is the National League. The move has been backed by teenage Sunday League referee Ryan Hampson, who earlier this year organised a nationwide strike by officials in protest at the amount of abuse they face in the grassroots game. "There's obviously a lot more to be done but it's a step in the right direction and a great start," he told BBC Radio 5 live.

Summary: The Football Association will trial 'sin bins' in the lower leagues of English football from next season.


Locals in the Kathmandu Valley are being supported with food and water from The Brick Children School. Headteacher Anita Shrestha said staff have been busy preparing food packages for 50 families. The school, a charity project founded in Wrexham, has also been turned in to a refuge shelter. Since the earthquake, the death toll has risen to over 7,000 and the Nepalese authorities have ruled out finding more survivors.

Summary: Families and children left homeless following the Nepal earthquake are being provided with help from north Wales.


Luck was shining on Public Service Broadcasting when they came to writing the follow up to their 2013 debut album Inform-Educate-Entertain. The band had previously worked with the British Film Institute in sourcing archive recordings to sample, and they turned to BFI again in their hunt for material from the Cold War space race. "At the time I called them up to ask them if they had any space footage they'd only just inherited it from another collection," said J Willgoose. "One of my biggest concerns about writing this album was about finding the material for the Soviet missions. "It was an incredible stroke of luck that the BFI happened to come across these films just as I started asking after them." A fan of space exploration, Willgoose was familiar with the battles between the USA and USSR to beat one another to historic firsts. The Soviets got the first satellite into space in the 1950s and the first man in the 1960s, while the Nasa's Apollo missions put the first men on the Moon. But Willgoose was still surprised by what was in the BFI's newly-acquired collection. He said: "Most of the Soviet stuff was new to me - even now it's hard to find a great deal of good quality literature or footage of their missions because their space programme was shrouded in such secrecy. "A good deal of the material from the Apollo missions I hadn't heard before - I really went very deep into the mission logs and dug out stuff that I hadn't heard of before. "The public relations feed for the Apollo 8 lunar orbit was one of my favourite pieces of audio for the whole album." One of the tracks on the new album - The Race for Space - is dedicated to cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. However, in a strange twist the music ended up evoking an American theme. Willgoose said: "I'd had this guitar riff lying around for a couple of years as I'd tried to use it on another song and it hadn't worked, and it was always at the back of my mind because I really liked it. "Then when it came to matching up musical ideas that I'd had with likely topics for the album, and having watched the footage of Gagarin's reception on returning to Earth, it seemed to make sense to me in quite an attractively odd and incongruous way. "It seemed like a strange song to write about him, and a very non-literal one, which appealed to me. "We treat the source material in different ways on different songs across the album but I loved the idea of making him a pseudo-70s cop show soundtrack and trying to capture some of the exuberance and euphoria I saw on film. "The original riff ended up being almost totally re-written in the process, and then the brass came on board, so it moved on quite a lot from the original germ of an idea." PSB first worked with BFI on 2012's five-track EP The War

Summary: The new album from Public Service Broadcasting recalls the triumphs and tragedies of early space exploration through samples from films and recordings of Nasa and USSR rocket launches, many previously unavailable to the public.


On 30 June, the trust reported a year to-date deficit of Â£738,000 compared to a planned shortfall of Â£125,000. Monitor said the trust's "finances will continue to deteriorate" and is yet to decide on whether further regulatory action is needed. The BCPFT said its finances were its "biggest challenge". Karen Dowman, chief executive of the trust, said: "We have already started a programme of activity to identify cost-savings and improve our financial sustainability, and to put in place safeguarding checks to ensure efficiencies do not compromise care." Marianne Loynes, regional director at Monitor, said: "No decision has been taken about whether further regulatory action is required and an announcement about the outcome of the investigation will be made in due course." The trust provides mental health, learning disability and community healthcare services across Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Summary: The Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (BCPFT) is being investigated by a health regulator due to concerns over its finances.


Every year about 76 people aged between 14-25 are diagnosed with cancer. Figures from the NI Cancer Registry reveal there is a higher diagnosis rate among young people in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK. Five charities have come together to provide a new service that includes five new nursing posts, one in each health trust. There are also social workers and community workers to guide young people at home, school and work. The service aims to ensure young people have equal clinical and psychological support for their medical and social needs no matter where they live. Figures also reveal that the amount of miles that local families, seeking support, clock up is the second highest compared to their counterparts elsewhere. Up until now, the service has been confined to the Belfast Cancer Centre and The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. Bridging that gap means the service will now be available in four hospitals including Belfast, Craigavon, Altnagelvin, Ulster and Antrim Area. That means fewer families will have to make the average 100 mile round trip to get treatment in Belfast. Leona McManus, 22, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year. "Travelling while undergoing treatment is hard. You are tired, sick, often in pain. I had to travel from Limavady to Belfast. "This new service means I can go to Altnagelvin - young people will also have a nurse, even a community worker. Every little helps when living with cancer." James Doggart was 18 when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. The cancer spread to other organs, but 18 months in remission he is now looking forward to celebrating his 21st birthday on Friday. "When first diagnosed I was told I would probably die. It was a lonely time. I was being treated alongside older men," he said. "There wasn't the support for a teenager. I had to leave university, my friends were all moving on - I just wanted to speak to someone at my own level. This service will now provide that. It's good." Darren McKinley is the Teenage and Young Adults Project Manager with the Northern Ireland Cancer Network. "This means teenagers and young adults with cancer can now access the best possible outcomes and have access to age-appropriate services targeting their needs, their language, their lives," he said. Dr Anthony McCarthy, a consultant paediatric oncologist at the Royal Belfast Hospital said the new regional service would provide the specialism that young people require when living with cancer. "When cancer comes it's like a bolt out of the blue. Young people aren't expecting a cancer diagnosis. Their treatment does need to be different. "It is a distinct specialism in the treatment of cancer. The aim of the regional service is to reduce mortality rates and to provide support for patients and their families." Dr McCarthy said as more people are surviving, the service will need to grow, and that means they will need the financial support from the Department of Health.

Summary: A new service for teenagers and young adults living with cancer is being rolled out across Northern Ireland.


The Twilight star is one of 12 female creatives making films for women-focused media company Refinery29. Fellow actresses Gabourey Sidibe and Chloe Sevigny will join Stewart under the umbrella of Refinery29's ShatterBox Anthology. Oscar nominee Sidibe will direct her own short film titled A Tale of Four Women, according to Variety. Meanwhile, Sevigny's Kitty, the first film of the anthology, will premiere at Cannes Film Festival later this month. Speaking during Refinery29's presentation at the Digital Content NewFronts event in New York, Sidibe said it was important to tell a story through her own voice. She said: "[In my acting career] everything I do, my image and who I am and what I feel represents me is in the hands of a man, usually a white man... I realised very recently that I want to be the one that decides what image I show the public." It was also announced that Ugly Betty star America Ferrera will produce a multimedia project titled Behind the Headlines, and a documentary series titled Only Girl.

Summary: Kristen Stewart is to make her directorial debut with a short film about the power of women.


The striker, on loan from Aberdeen, latched onto Scott Fraser's pass for the opener and grabbed his second with a high-class solo run and smart finish. He dispatched a penalty for his treble by the 30th minute and United could have had several more by half-time. Sean Welsh's penalty gave Thistle hope but United saw out the win comfortably. The hosts were sluggish in the first half of their Championship opener against Queen of the South on Saturday but there was nothing to fault the way they started this tie. United had too much pace and ingenuity for their top-flight opponents, the outstanding Scott Fraser and Tope Obadeyi causing havoc with their movement. Obadeyi, twice, and Blair Spittal might have added further goals by the interval but United boss Ray McKinnon manager must have been happy with the three they did score. Smith showed the benefit of a regular start on loan, taking his goal tally to four for the Terrors, the same number he scored in nearly 90 appearances for Aberdeen, though a high percentage of those outings were as a substitute. His first was a sublime finish, gathering a delicious Fraser pass, controlling the ball then steering it behind Ryan Scully. For his second, Smith picked up possession just inside the Thistle half, run away from Callum Booth then held off the defender to score when he got back to him in the box. The 20-year-old completed his hat trick with a penalty struck straight down the middle after Ziggy Gordon blocked Blair Spittal's shot with an arm. Thistle were given a glimpse of a way back from a penalty of their own when Chris Erskine was pushed over by Mark Durnan and Welsh scored with 25 minutes left, but United's defence held firm. United boss Ray McKinnon: "We played some very good football in the first half, especially the forward play, and when the penalty was given against us in the second, I was really pleased with how we reacted. We showed some resilience. "Some of the link-up play and finishing was pretty special. Cammy's composure and movement for the goals was outstanding, he has done really well since coming in on loan. I am delighted for him. "There were huge positives all over. Young left-back Jamie Robson was outstanding, Scott Fraser was outstanding, Blair Spittal was excellent and Tope Obadeyi playing as a lone striker was fantastic." United hat-trick hero Cammy Smith: "The standard has been set after that. We looked dangerous every time we went forward and could have had a few more goals, but we have to be happy with our night's work. It is a great victory for us. "It wasn't like [Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes] was pushing me out the door. We had a few chats and thought going out on loan would be best for my development. I am here to play games and long may it continue." Thistle boss Alan Archibald: "It was awful right from kick-off - a really poor performance. I didn't see that coming. "It was the total opposite

Summary: Cammy Smith's hat-trick inside 20 first-half minutes saw Championship side Dundee United beat Partick Thistle to reach the League Cup quarter-finals.


It will consider the deployment of police officers in undercover roles by police forces in England and Wales. It comes after controversy surrounding the conduct of undercover officers. Meanwhile, a separate review into the relationship between the Home Office and the SDS says a key file is missing. The inquiry announced on Thursday will also make recommendations about how undercover policing is conducted and will scrutinise the use of undercover officers by the now-defunct SDS and National Public Order Intelligence Unit. Among the allegations are that undercover officers took fake identities from dead children, had relationships with campaigners and fathered children. Mrs May said that the work of barrister Mark Ellison and Operation Herne - an investigation into undercover policing at the Metropolitan Police - has unearthed "serious historical failings" in undercover policing practices. Mr Ellison - who in 2012 successfully prosecuted Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence - has been examining police corruption during the original investigation into the killing in 1993. She added: "As I said last year, I was profoundly shocked by Mark Ellison's findings and committed to establishing a public inquiry to thoroughly investigate undercover policing and the operation of the SDS. "While I initially said that Mark Ellison's further work and criminal investigations needed to conclude before the inquiry commences, it has become apparent that these pieces of work were much larger than initially envisaged. "In the interest of learning the lessons of past failures, I have decided to establish the inquiry now while ensuring existing work is not affected. "Undercover policing is an essential tactic in the fight against crime but to improve the public's confidence in undercover work we must ensure there is no repeat of these failings in the future." This latest inquiry will be led by judge Lord Justice Pitchford. Mrs May had announced her intention to set up a judge-led public inquiry following the report of the independent Ellison Inquiry in March last year. That had found Scotland Yard spied on Stephen Lawrence's family. And Operation Herne found that the SDS had carried out undercover operations to gather information on 18 justice campaigns over 35 years. This included the campaign regarding Jean Charles de Menezes, shot by police after being mistaken for a terrorist in the days following the London Underground bombings in 2005. The SDS was set up in 1968 to infiltrate pressure groups and remained operational until 2008. It has been the focus of controversy over claims that some undercover officers had sexual relationships and fathered children with campaigners, to help build trust in their false identities. Chief Constable Mick Creedon of the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "Undercover policing is a vital police tactic has saved lives, protected victims and brought dangerous criminals to justice." He also said that the public inquiry would help make sure that the "unacceptable behaviour of some officers in the past never happens again". "Changes have already been made to the authorisation and management of these operations. "New training and guidance for undercover officers guidance developed with

Summary: An inquiry into undercover policing and the operation of the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad is being established by Home Secretary Theresa May.


"I said no to the last one and then ended up doing it, and was pilloried by all my friends," he said. "But I do think this is probably it." Mendes directed 2012's Skyfall and the forthcoming Bond film, titled Spectre. "I don't think I could go down that road again," he said. "You do have to put everything else on hold." Spectre, in which Daniel Craig will make his fourth appearance as the MI6 agent, will come out on 26 October in the UK and 6 November in the US. Spectre and Skyfall took a total of five years to make, he told BBC Radio's Test Match Special. "It feels almost, even though we've just finished shooting it, like one big experience and it was a fantastic life-changing thing," he said. But he added he did not think he could go through it again. "It really is more a lifestyle choice than a job," he said. Mendes made his name in theatre, and directed a new stage production of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in between making the Bond films. But shooting a Bond movie is "pretty much all encompassing", he explained. "I'm happiest rehearsing a play or editing a movie, and when I've finished editing a movie I generally want to be back in a theatre environment again," he said. "It feels like home, it feels controllable after the chaos of a movie set. But it won't be long before I want to do another film, and I'm very fortunate to be able to go back and forth between the two." Spectre has been filmed in locations including London, Mexico, Italy and Morocco, and the cast and crew totalled more than 1,000 people, Mendes revealed. "And you really do feel it," he said. "This is a bigger movie than Skyfall. It's shot in more places - we were in Mexico City and Tangiers and northern Sahara and Rome and the Alps and London. It's been an enormous undertaking." Spectre also stars Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Andrew Scott, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci and Ralph Fiennes. The plot involves "a cryptic message from Bond's past [that] sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation". Mendes revealed that the Spectre theme song was finished - but would not disclose who had recorded it. "I can say that the song's been recorded and it's fantastic and I'm very excited about it," he said. "You won't have to wait long." Skyfall made Â£700m ($1.1bn) at box offices worldwide.

Summary: James Bond director Sam Mendes has said he does not want to make any more 007 films after the next instalment, which comes out in October.


A fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis means doctors believe an unborn child has a terminal condition and will die in the womb or shortly after birth. The proposal to allow abortion in such cases was defeated by 59 votes to 40. The result followed a passionate debate at Stormont after some MLAs proposed the law change be introduced by way of an amendment to the Justice Bill. Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland. Currently, a termination is only permitted in Northern Ireland if a woman's life is at risk or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health. Politicians have been lobbied to reform the law since 2013, when Northern Ireland woman Sarah Ewart spoke out about having to travel to Great Britain for an abortion after she was told she was carrying a baby that had no chance of survival. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) faced criticism from other parties during Wednesday's debate for asking the Health Minister Simon Hamilton to set up a working group to examine the issues raised by fatal foetal abnormality. It could take six months for the group to complete its work and the Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt claimed it was a DUP "device" to delay decision making on abortion reform until after May's assembly election. Justice Minister David Ford, who brought forward the proposed change to the legislation, told Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show it could now remain in limbo for some time. "It would appear that that is what some people want, that it was any excuse at all to avoid taking a decision last night so they can fudge the issue," he said. "We will wait and see what happens to the DUP's supposed working group for the next six months. Certainly, we'll get the DUP past the election, maybe that's why they're doing it." However, the DUP has argued that the issue required proper consideration by MLAs and ministers and that the Justice Bill was not intended for this purpose. The amendment to legalise abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality was proposed by Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson. He told MLAs: "If we are to continue to fail women in Northern Ireland in this area then we are abdicating our duties as representatives. "The traumatic journey to England for many young women is becoming a shame on Northern Ireland and to force women with a fatal foetal pregnancy to look elsewhere for help and support make this worse." The amendment relating to pregnancies which are the result of rape or incest was put forward by Anna Lo, also of the Alliance Party, and was defeated by by 64 votes to 30. Mr Nesbitt said that as a man he did not feel comfortable "discussing what a woman should do with her body" but he added that MLAs had a responsibility to legislate. He claimed the DUP's request for a commission was a delaying tactic designed to "kick the decision to the far side of

Summary: Northern Ireland Assembly members have voted against legalising abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.


The warnings, which indicate a possible danger to life, have been issued around the towns of Egremont and Kendal. The north of England and parts of Wales are warned to prepare for the risk of flooding, as heavy rain approaches. There are amber warnings, meaning "be prepared", for Greater Manchester, and North and West Yorkshire. People in certain locations around Kendal and Egremont, on opposite sides of the Lake District, have been advised to move out to stay with family and friends who live in areas with lower risk of flooding. Reception centres have opened at Kendal Town Hall and West Lakes Academy. South Lakeland District Council said up to 1,000 properties could be at risk and that military personnel could be deployed to install temporary flood defences to protect vital infrastructure. The worst of the weather is expected from Saturday evening through to Sunday. In some places, a month's worth of rain has been forecast to fall in 24 hours. Falling on already saturated ground, it is likely to cause localised surface water flooding and high river levels, the Environment Agency said. The Met Office has also warned of possible flooding in parts of Scotland in the wake of Storm Abigail. Nicola Willis, from the Met Office, said high ground was likely to be most affected by heavy rain. "These areas have had a lot of rain already this week and they are already quite saturated," she said. "We are expecting the rain to be heavy and persistent, although the heaviest rain will not necessarily continue through the whole of the warning period." Cumbria was hit by severe floods in November 2009. During those incidents, Pc Bill Barker, 44, died after the bridge he was standing on collapsed in Workington, a town about 13 miles north of Egremont. Craig Woolhouse, from the Environment Agency, said it was working closely with emergency services to prepare for any problems. He added: "Our teams are already in action clearing watercourses, maintaining existing defences and standing ready to deploy temporary pumps and defences where these can be effective." The latest band of rain comes in the wake of Storm Abigail, which closed schools and brought down power lines in parts of Scotland. The Christmas lights switch-on in Bradford on Saturday was cancelled because of the weather forecast.

Summary: Twelve severe flood warnings have been issued for Cumbria and Lancashire, warning people to take immediate action and prepare for flooding.


Two men found the victim lying on Hope Street, near to Argyle Street, at about 04:30 on Friday 19 February. The man was treated in hospital for a head injury and released. He was re-admitted at a later date and told he needed surgery for a fractured skull. The incident was reported to police on 3 March. They want to trace the two men who found the man and other witnesses. Det Con Stephen Palmer said: "A man has been left with a very serious head injury as a result of this attack and inquiries are at an early stage to establish what happened. "I would like to speak to anyone with information about this incident, particularly the two people who called an ambulance for the victim."

Summary: A man found lying in the street in Glasgow had suffered a fractured skull after being attacked, police have said.


Media playback is not supported on this device Craig Benson finished second, with Commonwealth champion and pre-race favourite Ross Murdoch third in Glasgow. London 2012 silver medallist Michael Jamieson was fifth in what could be the final race of his career. "This means so much. It's such a great field," Willis, 25, told BBC Sport. He is the fifth swimmer to manage a Rio 2016 qualification time, following Adam Peaty, Hannah Miley, James Guy and Max Litchfield. Willis, who won in two minutes 8.08 seconds - inside the qualifying time of 2:08.52 - reached the London 2012 final and finished third behind Murdoch and Jamieson at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. "I did expect Ross to go quicker, but the strength in depth is only going to help us GB breaststrokers progress," Willis said. Murdoch remains unsure over an Olympic place, having finished second to Peaty in the 100m on Tuesday. Siobhan-Marie O'Connor warmed up for her favoured 200m individual medley event on Saturday with victory over Fran Halsall in the 100m freestyle in 54.18 secs. Two-time Olympian Lizzie Simmonds won 200m backstroke gold but her time of 2:09.24 was almost a second outside the qualifying time of 2:08.21. "I know if I get that place that I can go quicker, as I've done it in the past," she said. "I was fourth at the last Olympics, so perhaps it'll be a case of third time lucky." Freestyle specialist Guy followed up his 400m gold and Olympic place from Tuesday with victory in the 100m butterfly. He won in 52.15 secs, which, although outside the qualifying time of 51.24, he hopes will earn him a spot in the men's 4x100m medley relay team for Rio. "Last year we were fourth [at the World Championships] and we hope that with the right mix we can potentially win a medal in Rio," Guy told BBC Radio 5 live. If swimmers do not achieve the qualifying times or win selection for the relay events, they must rely on discretionary picks by the GB selectors. The team for Rio will be named on 21 April.

Summary: Andrew Willis produced a stunning display to win a surprise 200m breaststroke gold at the British trials and secure a place at the Rio Olympics.


13 October 2016 Last updated at 00:23 BST Many analysts think Sony's kit will outsell rival headsets from HTC and Facebook's Oculus division because of its lower price and the fact that more than 43 million PS4 consoles have been shipped. Even so, they add, it is likely to remain a niche product for some time to come. Strategy Analytics forecasts that only 3% of Brits will own a VR headset this year and the PlayStation model will account for just 7% of that number. The bulk, it says, will instead own more basic "shells" into which they can slot a smartphone. BBC Click's Marc Cieslak put the PS VR to the test and had reservations of his own. More at BBC.com/Click and @BBCClick.

Summary: The PlayStation's virtual reality headset is making its way into gamers' homes - the last of this year's three big VR hardware releases.


The result moved Stranraer off the bottom of the division while Airdrie's visit to Brechin City was called off because of a waterlogged pitch. Queen's Park moved into the top four with a 2-0 win over Stenhousemuir, who slipped to bottom on goal difference. And Peterhead drew 1-1 with Albion Rovers in the other League One game. Alloa Athletic v East Fife had previously been postponed due to the Fifers' Scottish Cup meeting with St Mirren. East Fife lost 3-2. At Ochilview, on-loan Hearts forward Dario Zanatta fired Queen's Park ahead and although the Spiders had Ross Millen sent off for two bookings, Anton Brady added a stoppage-time second for Gus MacPherson's side. They are two points in front of Brechin, who have a game in hand, and a point off Alloa. Eighth-placed Peterhead led Albion Rovers through Rory McAllister's cool first-half finish but Ross Stewart swept in an equaliser in the second half. The two sides are level on points - four ahead of Stranraer and Stenhousemuir. Livi, who threatened through Scott Pittman at home to Stranraer, are 11 points clear of Airdrie and 12 ahead of Alloa.

Summary: Scottish League One leaders Livingston were held to a 0-0 draw with Stranraer while nearest challengers Airdrieonians saw their game postponed.


The Portugal left-back struggled for first-team football at the Spanish club last season. Former Manchester United manager David Moyes tried to bring him to Old Trafford in September 2013 but a transfer deadline day loan move fell through. The 27-year-old joined Real from Benfica for a reported £25m in 2011. Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.

Summary: Real Madrid defender Fabio Coentrao has joined French side Monaco on a season-long loan deal.


Ouseph, 30, became the first Englishman in 27 years to win the men's singles title with a narrow 21-19 21-19 victory over home favourite Anders Antonsen. The husband-and-wife Adcocks beat Danes Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen in the mixed doubles final. Scot Kirsty Gilmour lost in the women's singles final to Carolina Martin. The Spanish top seed triumphed 21-14 21-12. It is the first time England have won two golds at the Euros since 1988, when Darren Hall won the men's singles and Gillian Clark claimed the mixed doubles title with Danish partner Steen Fladberg. The success at the Euros comes after GB Badminton had all its funding cut by UK Sport before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Ouseph, who had previously won two bronzes and a silver in the men's singles at the European Championships, is just the third Englishman to win the event with Steve Baddeley the previous player to triumph in 1990. Between the wins for Baddeley and Ouseph, players from Denmark had won gold in eight out of nine European Championships. The second-seeded Adcocks took full advantage of their first appearance in a Euros final to see off top seeds Nielsen and Pedersen, who had won the event in the past two Championships. The Adcocks were pegged back after winning the first set but held their nerve to triumph 21-17 18-21 21-19.

Summary: England claimed two gold medals as Rajiv Ouseph and Chris and Gabby Adcock triumphed in finals at the European Badminton Championships in Denmark.


Russell Sherwood, 69, of Cilfrew, Neath, went missing while heading to Ewenny, Vale of Glamorgan, after Storm Angus hit in November. Three days later, his body was found in the River Ogmore. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is reviewing issues, including the force's call-handling. Mr Sherwood was reported missing on 20 November after failing to collect his wife from work. He was found dead on 23 November inside his Ford Focus, which had become submerged in the river. The IPCC said it would investigate the police response to an earlier report of flooding across New Inn Road in Ewenny on the day of Mr Sherwood's disappearance. It will also consider "whether call-handlers properly risk-assessed the information provided to them", but not Mr Sherwood's death specifically. IPCC Commissioner for Wales Jan Williams said: "My thoughts are with the family of Mr Sherwood and all those affected by his tragic death. "Our investigation will examine police actions prior to his disappearance and whether appropriate policies and procedures were followed. "We have made contact with Mr Sherwood's family to explain our role and we will be keeping them updated as the investigation progresses."

Summary: An investigation has been launched into South Wales Police's response to reported flooding before the death of a missing man.


Some reported death threats, with more than half of those questioned saying they had had physical threats. More than a third of the UK's 195 female MPs took part in the research. Of these, two thirds said they felt "less safe" following the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox last summer. Deputy Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said Parliament was working with police to ensure MPs' safety and offer training to enhance their security while away from Westminster. The anonymous 5 Live survey, conducted last month, saw one respondent remarking that "the level of violence and abuse has significantly increased in the last years. At times I have been very frightened." Another wrote: "Had to phone the police once, [after] a constituent threatened to kill me." Following the murder of Mrs Cox, who represented Batley and Spen, one MP said she had received "absolutely zero" support from Parliament or her party. Another wrote: "I asked my kids' view on whether I should stop after Jo's death, but their support was all I needed. Standing up to bullies is the only answer." "I won't give in," wrote another. The research reveals how abuse faced by politicians can affect their families. One MP wrote: "The feeling of not being able to protect my children was unexpected, as was having panic buttons fitted." One revealed she had "worries for the safety of my parents in the constituency", while another found she was "more protective of my family and info on where they live/go to school". In the wide-ranging survey, female politicians were asked for their views on getting more women into Parliament. More than half were in favour of all-female shortlists, while almost half wanted a crackdown on "unprofessional or sexist" language at Westminster. But the idea of allowing breastfeeding in the chamber was resoundingly rejected. One MP said: "I wouldn't breastfeed my baby if I worked on the checkout at Tesco, so why would I do it in the chamber?" Two-thirds of those who responded to the survey said getting more women elected would mean Parliament would make better decisions. One commented that "less time would be wasted. Too much hot air from men". Another said: "Parliament might be run more sensibly - less time wasted on posturing and debate for the sake of debate." Almost two-thirds of the female MPs who responded to the survey said they had received sexist comments from fellow workers or MPs - with one told she should be "in the kitchen washing the dishes". One woman MP said she had experienced sexual assault and two said they had been groped. Of the women with children who responded, the majority found long-distance travel, irregular hours and late parliamentary sittings a problem. One mother commented that "constant 'dissing' and lack of valuing what an MP does, children pick this up". Another worried about the "embarrassment of my kids if I do anything controversial" and a "risk of bullying". The women MPs were asked whether they would still stand for Parliament if they were just starting out, knowing what they do

Summary: An overwhelming majority of women MPs have received online and verbal abuse from the public and a third have considered quitting as a result, a BBC Radio 5 live survey suggests.


It started happening when Apple's operating system, iOS 8.3 came out. By tapping and holding on a chosen emoji, iPhone users of iOS 8.3 or above are now given the choice between five different skin tones and new flags. Apple users who are still using iOS 8.2 and below are not able to see the new emojis. Instead they are replaced with a picture of an alien face inside a black square, next to the original emoji. Apple wouldn't give us a comment on this, but on their website it says: "If you get a message with unexpected characters instead of emoji, try updating your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac." If you're viewing the new iOS emojis on devices other than Apple they can appear as lots of other things, like blank spaces, boxes, equal signs, question marks, or even line breaks.

Summary: Have you noticed any of these little guys creeping into your texts and social media, when you know they weren't intended to be there.


But does the fate of Greece matter to the wider world? Does it matter if Greece eventually leaves the eurozone, or even the European Union? The short answer is yes. Most people care about the fate of Greece, and hope that it can maintain stability and feel secure. Many people, but by no means all, believe that its membership of "Club Europe" is one guarantee of a stability which has so often been denied to Greece in the past. For at least the past hundred years, Greece has swung between democracy and dictatorship, between civilian and military rule, and the outside world would like to be sure the pendulum now stays firmly in the position marked "democratic, civilian government". Both history and geography help explain why Greece matters far beyond its borders. The society which gave the world the embryo of modern democracy in Ancient Greece has only enjoyed 40 years of continuous parliamentary democracy in modern times. The days of the "Greek colonels" are still in the not-very-distant past. The last military regime in Athens was overthrown in 1974. Thirty years earlier, in 1944, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, as uncomfortable wartime allies against the Nazis, were carving up the Balkans between East and West for the post-war era. In Moscow, Churchill put it to Stalin: "Let us settle about our affairs in the Balkans." Britain's wartime leader wrote down his proposals in pencil on a sheet of paper: A couple of later additions and amendments in red ink are important. The Greece section is changed so that "the others 10%" becomes "Russia 10%". And after Great Britain's claim to 90% influence has been added the words "in accord with USA", recognising where the real post-war power would lie. It was part of the far larger, so-called "percentages agreement" attempting to parcel out Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary too. There's a blue pencil tick near the top of the page, apparently in Stalin's hand. He may have honoured that limit to his influence in Greece, but certainly not his apparent agreement to share Hungary and Bulgaria. After that, Churchill moved very swiftly to try to ensure that the Greek Communists - who had been such a strong force in the divided Resistance to Nazi occupation - would not prevail. He made a dangerous flight to Athens on Christmas Day, 1944, and on 26 December posed with the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens. Churchill backed him as regent, or temporary head of state, ahead of Greece's descent into the nightmare of civil war between communists and anti-communists. That civil war is called by some the first battle of the Cold War. If you accept that another contest for influence between Vladimir Putin's Russia and the West is now under way, it's not hard to see why anything like "Grexit", which would detach Greece from the inner core of EU states, alarms not just fellow European leaders, but also the United States. President Putin has been courting the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras. It's true that the Russian leader has offered only limited

Summary: We know that the Greek agony is not over - the country's future is still hugely uncertain.


Ferdos Rabani, 48, currently at HMP Marshgate but formerly of Sheffield, was sentenced at the city's crown court. Rabani, who is also known as Joshua Abdul, was found guilty of rape in November, said South Yorkshire Police. In April 2016, he approached a 34-year-old woman, offered her a lift home before he drove to a remote area and raped her. Rabani had offered her cigarettes, believed to have been drugged to make her drowsy, before the attack. Several weeks afterwards the woman came forward to report to police what had happened. PC Jess Hawley said: "Rabani could clearly see that the victim was vulnerable. "He preyed on her and took advantage of her, leaving her incredibly traumatised by what happened."

Summary: A man who raped a "vulnerable" woman has been jailed for 24 years.


Two days later Hyundai Trajet Y264 TKP is shunted into a Cornish garage, and declared by the owner George to be "finished". Or in the words of the recycling industry, it has become an end-of-life vehicle. Here rusty hulks lie forlornly in a line waiting for scrap - after hundreds of thousands of miles of family holidays, car-sick children, back-seat driving, wasp-rich picnics and school runs. Remembering the car was 12 years old, I chirpily mention that a £150 cheque from a scrap merchant would come in handy. "£150? Lucky to get £50," says George. George sits in his office outside the tiny Cornish village of Doublebois and patiently explains the macroeconomic forces at play that have reduced my car to a hunk of worthless metal. China, he reckons, is the problem. With Chinese demand falling, the price of iron ore is on the way down and scrap metal prices are following in their wake. A year ago George could have got £160 for my car. During the Beijing Olympics prices skyrocketed. Not now. "There's a worldwide glut of metal," he explains. And Y264 TKP is 75% metal, albeit dented and scratched by bike racks, my mother's gate post and, for reasons too complex to go into, the teeth of a small pony. There are other problems too - the collapse in demand, unsurprisingly, from Ukraine, and the eurozone recession. One insider put it bluntly: "The business is bloody painful". Charles Ambrose of the UK's Motor Vehicle Dismantlers' Association (MVDA) said: "In the last few years we've lost 30 members or so going out of business. Most of them are long term players. They are being kicked from all sides." George will bear away poor crippled Y264 TKP to be eviscerated in an "authorised treatment facility". It will be "de-polluted", the battery, and tyres removed, the diesel, oils, and brake fluids sucked out. The oils will be re-refined or used as fuel. The battery will be ground down, the acid neutralised, the polymers separated from the lead, to go towards making a new one. Of course, I could bypass George altogether and get a little more - cash in hand - from someone, er, less respectable. The MVDA believes 600,000 of the 1.7 million cars scrapped every year simply fall off the official radar, unregistered, untaxed. The paper trail vanishes into a black hole, or rather a black market. Environmental niceties are not observed on the black market. But the expense of putting anything in a landfill in the UK and the difficulty of dumping cars means even the vanished ones work their way back into the recycling system. "It's hard to know exactly where those cars go," says Mr Ambrose. "We know a tremendous number are broken up and the parts end up on eBay. "Others are exported as whole cars or as spare parts. Parts of your car could end up in a vehicle in Nigeria. That's not a problem environmentally. It's still recycling. "But the money involved in this kind of black market is often also involved in crime."

Summary: A few miles short of Swindon my car, laden with four teenagers, my wife, one teenager's boyfriend, a dog, and attendant baggage comes to a sudden and it turns out, permanent, halt.


Farc leader Ivan Marquez said the group would start by making an inventory of its weapons before handing them over to United Nations monitors. He said it was a sign of the Farc's "unconditional commitment to peace" after more than 50 years of conflict. The government has yet to reach a peace deal with the ELN rebel group. The Farc said its fighters would register their weapons with UN monitors and reveal the location of any stashed explosives. Almost 7,000 rebels are now gathered in 26 transition zones where they are being registered and offered help to reintegrate into civilian life. But it took months rather than weeks to get them there because of what the government said were logistical difficulties. And when they arrived many Farc members complained the camps were unfinished and they had to build their own accommodation. The Colombian government and the Farc insist that by 30 May - the date set in the peace accord for the disarmament process to be completed - all the guerrillas will be leaving the transition zones and entering civilian life. But there have been serious delays, and the government and the rebels are trying to reassure Colombians that the peace process is still on track. According to the original plan, the Farc were supposed to hand over 30% of their arms on 1 March. But now only 320 rebels are set to disarm by the end of Wednesday, far short of the original target. However, both the government and the Farc insist the disarmament will be completed in time and that they will meet the May deadline.

Summary: Colombia's Farc rebels say they will begin laying down their arms later on Wednesday as agreed in a peace deal signed in November.


The Toomebridge rider lies ninth in the overall standings on 28 points, having scored points in every round to date. Laverty, 29, charged into ninth place on the opening lap on his Aspar Ducati, then made it up to eighth, before being overtaken by Spaniard Pol Espargaro. Valentino Rossi was a start-to-finish winner, with Jorge Lorenzo in second. Pole position man Rossi enjoyed a two-second advantage over his Yamaha team-mate at the chequered flag, with Honda pair Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa taking third and fourth places respectively. Marquez leads the championship by 17 points from Lorenzo, with Italian Rossi a further 17 points behind in third. Laverty lapped consistently throughout, with Espargaro coming past with 16 laps to go, but failing to significantly increase the gap between the two. Laverty ended only 1.5 seconds behind the Spaniard and although Hector Barbera tried a last-lap attack on the former World Superbike rider, he couldn't make it stick. Laverty was 12th in the previous round, the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, having clinched his best-ever result of fourth in Argentina a week earlier. He also occupied 12th spot in the season opener in Qatar.

Summary: Eugene Laverty secured another seven points in the MotoGP championship by finishing ninth in the fourth round of this year's series at Jerez in Spain.


Their flight from Slovenia to the UK was diverted to Cologne after the pilot was alerted to a "suspicious conversation" with "terrorist content". "The criminal investigation against them has been halted. No evidence was found," police said. "We now believe that there was never any real danger." All 151 passengers were evacuated from the Airbus 319 aircraft using emergency slides, and nine received medical treatment. The men, aged 31, 38 and 48, were returning to Stansted, in Essex, from Ljubljana on 10 June when the disruption arose. They are said to have been on a business trip. According to prosecutors, the flight was diverted when fellow passengers reported the men were discussing "terrorist matters" and carrying a book entitled "Kill" with a sniper rifle on the cover. They said the contents of the alleged conversation could not be verified. No explosives were found in the passengers' luggage or on the plane. A backpack belonging to the men was nonetheless blown up by police. The German tabloid newspaper Bild said passengers told airline staff they had heard the men using the words "bomb" and "explosive", and said one was carrying a suspicious rucksack. A spokesman for Cologne-Bonn airport said: "The pilot had been informed about a suspicious conversation on board, after which he decided to make an unscheduled landing in Cologne-Bonn. "After the safe landing... the 151 passengers left the [aircraft] via emergency slides and were taken to a transit gate." The diverted plane landed in Stansted airport on Sunday. Passenger Daniel Noonan told the BBC that armed police entered the aircraft and escorted two men off. The third was led away on the tarmac after the passengers had exited via the slides. Passenger Richard Peters said he saw the two Asian men being handcuffed on the tarmac at Cologne-Bonn airport. He added that people on the flight were quarantined for about nine hours while police interviewed passengers about the men. He said: "To be fair spirits were quite high considering what had happened. "In the current climate you have to take everything seriously. My suspicion is it was, hopefully, nothing sinister. But you have to take everything seriously. "The right thing was done." Another passenger, Dave Hargreaves, said: "In the flight I didn't see the suspects at all. But I noticed quite a bit of activity, with aircrew popping into the cockpit repeatedly. And a slower than normal serving of the food and drink service. "Then at our cruising altitude I was surprised to see the air brakes go up on the wings and us start a rather speedy descent. It wasn't until perhaps 10 minutes later that we were told 'due to operational reasons' we would be diverting to Cologne airport." Easyjet said the captain had taken the decision to land as a precaution to allow additional security checks to take place. All the other passengers were given a hotel for the night, a spokeswoman said, adding: "We thank passengers for their understanding. The safety of Easyjet's passengers and crew is our highest priority." Get news from the BBC in your

Summary: Three British men who were detained in Germany after their conversations on board an Easyjet flight sparked alarm have been released without charge.


It said it had introduced the technology to help people get better results when they search. Often, it said in a blogpost, the best answers to a query were found in an app rather than a web page. Initially nine apps have been selected to work with the streaming system as it is tested. Jennifer Lin, Google engineering manager, said the firm started indexing information found in apps two years ago to bolster its larger corpus of search data. About 40% of searches done via Google now turn up content found in apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Airbnb or Pinterest, she said. Until now, Google has only answered queries with information that is available both on the web and in apps. Now, however, it is starting to show results that are only found in apps. One example of when these results would show up might be when someone is looking for hotels during a spur-of-the-moment trip to an unfamiliar city, wrote Ms Lin in the blog. Google said it was using an in-house developed streaming system to give people access to results in apps they do not have installed on their Android handsets. This lets people try the app and use it as if it were installed, said Ms Lin. An experimental cloud-based virtualisation technology Google has developed underpins the streaming system. Apps from HotelTonight, Useful Knots, Daily Horoscope and Gormey are among the first to be available via streaming. Danny Sullivan, founding editor of the Search Engine Land news site, said the streaming system made visible a lot of information that was hard to get at easily. "It's a bad experience to show links to an app that no-one can view unless they install an app," he said. Plus, he added, it could mean data found in apps was now more widely available and could be put to other uses. "Potentially, the new system could even cause some apps that might seem to lack linkable content, such as games, to consider app-only links," he wrote. Streamed versions of apps are available via Google's own app and on its Chrome browser. Users must also be on a fast wi-fi connection and be using a handset running Android Lollipop or a more recent version. Lollipop was released in November 2014. The test of the app streaming and search responses is currently only taking place in the US. Google has not said when, or if, it will be expanded to other parts of the world.

Summary: Google has started streaming apps to Android phones so people can use them even if they are not installed on a handset.


The President says it's unlikely that power companies will switch back to coal, regardless of Mr Trump's plans to boost production. Mr Trump has also said he wants the US to pull out of the Paris climate agreement. But President Obama says this would see the US lose its "seat at the table". The President's views appeared in a policy forum article in the highly regarded research journal, Science. The editors believe it is the first time that a sitting President has written such a feature. In the article, the President argues that a "massive scientific record" shows that climate change is "real and cannot be ignored". Mr Obama also details the reasons he believes the trend towards a low-carbon economy is now "irreversible". He points to the fact that between 2008 and 2015 the US economy grew by 10% while emissions of CO2 fell by almost the same amount. Mr Obama says that US businesses have increasingly seen the financial benefits from cutting carbon through greater energy efficiency. Citing the examples of corporations like General Motors and Alcoa, the President says the US consumed 2.5% less energy in 2015 than in 2008 while the economy was now a tenth bigger. There would be a huge financial penalty if economies don't reduce their emissions, Mr Obama writes. If CO2 continues to rise then global temperatures could go up by 4 degrees C by the end of this century, and that could cost the world economy 4% of GDP. In US terms that would equate to the loss of federal revenue of between $340bn and $690bn every year. Pointedly, Mr Obama says that 2.2 million Americans now work in jobs connected to energy efficiency - double the 1.1 million that work in fossil fuel production and electricity generation. Thanks to hydraulic fracturing, gas has emerged as a transformative energy source, now accounting for 33% of US electricity production. Despite Mr Trump's plans to revive the coal industry by cutting red tape, "it is unlikely that utilities will change course and choose to build coal-fired power plants, which would be more expensive than natural gas plants, regardless of any near-term changes in federal policy." Even states that supported Donald Trump in the presidential election had moved heavily to renewables. Iowa generated 32% of their electricity in 2015 from wind, up from 8% in 2008. On the Paris climate agreement, Mr Obama said this was a "fundamental shift in the diplomatic landscape which has already yielded substantial dividends". Pulling out of the agreement, as Mr Trump has mulled doing, would see the United States lose its seat at the table, and be unable to hold other countries to their commitments, the President wrote. Continued participation in the Paris process, Mr Obama said, would yield great benefit for the American people and the international community. However, the outgoing president was careful to offer an olive branch of sorts to President-elect Trump. Mr Obama argued that the targets that the US signed up to in the Paris agreement could be achieved in many different ways and "this

Summary: Renewable energy sources will continue to grow in the US despite the antipathy of the incoming Trump administration, says President Obama.


Some of the weapons were discovered when officers stopped two vehicles in Ratoath - the same village where a man was shot dead on Wednesday night. Two assault rifles and ammunition were found in the vehicles and in follow-up searches nearby two pistols, silencers and more ammunition was recovered. Police said the operation is ongoing. It involved officers from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, supported by national police units, including the Emergency Response Unit. The investigation follows the fatal shooting of Noel Duggan in The Old Mill housing estate in Ratoath at about 19:45 local time on Wednesday. Mr Duggan was a well-known criminal linked to cigarette smuggling and also had connections to a Dublin family who were caught up in a fatal feud in the city last month. A police statement said Thursday evening's operation was targeted at "organised criminal groups involved in the provision and distribution of firearms". The men who were arrested are in their 30s.

Summary: Three men have been arrested after police seized guns and several hundred rounds of ammunition in County Meath in the Republic of Ireland.


Contractions in the construction and production industries were balanced out by a growth in services. UK GDP grew by 0.4% over the same period. Scottish GDP per person - which takes population changes into account - was also flat during the first quarter of 2016. During the first three months of the year services in Scotland grew by 0.4%, while production contracted by 1.2% and construction by 1.5%. On an annual basis, Scotland's economy grew by 0.6%, compared with UK growth of 2%. The figures were compiled by Scotland's chief statistician. The GDP figures were released on the same day as official data showed that unemployment in Scotland fell by 18,000 between March and May. A leading economic forecaster described the two sets of figures as "a mixed bag" for the Scottish economy. Graeme Roy, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde, said growth had been "stagnant" over the first three months of the year. "While the all-important services sectors grew, there was a sharp fall in production and construction," he said. "Of greatest concern was the fall in manufacturing, which was down 2.6% over the three months and 5.4% over the year. This was the sharpest fall in annual manufacturing output since the 2008/09 financial crisis. "On the plus side, revisions to the data paint a rosier picture of growth last year. The Scottish economy is now estimated to have grown in each and every quarter of 2015, with growth of 1.4% in 2015 up from the previous estimate of just +0.9%. "Despite that, Scotland continued to lag behind the UK as a whole." Responding to the GDP figures, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce called for "a concerted government response to Scotland's growth problems and swift clarification of the position of EU nationals working in the UK". Chief executive Liz Cameron said: "Scotland's growth has now been at a fraction of that of the UK as a whole for a full year and there are few signs of a major improvement in sight. "In the light of the EU referendum result, the Scottish and UK governments must take all steps necessary to support businesses at this time and help them to invest for the future and get our economy back on the path of growth." The Federation of Small Businesses said the growth figures presented a challenge. Scottish policy convener Andy Willox said: "These pre-referendum figures demonstrate that the Scottish economy was underperforming before the vote. "Business surveys and feedback suggest that some investment plans and deals have been put on hold as a consequence of recent economic and political turbulence. "As Number 10 and Bute House draw up plans to restore business confidence, they must think about community firms as well as the stock market. "They must shelve proposals that would give business owners headaches and think about local infrastructure as well as large national projects." In a report released last week, accountancy firm PwC downgraded its growth forecasts for Scotland's economy. It suggested house prices were set to fall north of the border amid

Summary: There was no growth in the Scottish economy in the first three months of this year, according to official figures.


South Central Ambulance Service and South East Coast Ambulance sent out land and air crews to an area near the Discovery Centre at Swinley Forest, Crowthorne at 15:57 BST on Saturday. Crews were responding to reports that a man had come off his mountain bike. The cyclist died at the scene. The man's death is not being treated as suspicious. His name has not yet been released.

Summary: A male cyclist died at a popular mountain biking area in Berkshire.


Darren Ferris, 24, from Motherwell, lost control of his Ford Mondeo which hit 44-year-old Linda Carson in the town's Muirhouse Road on 27 September. Mrs Carson later died at the scene from multiple injuries. Ferris admitted causing her death by dangerous driving. He was jailed for nine years and six months. Jailing Ferris at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Turnbull told him: "Your behaviour on that evening, when seen in the context of your previous offending, demonstrates you have no sense of the civilised values by which others in our community live their lives." Lord Turnbull said Mrs Carson had been a mother and wife "in the prime of her life" who, through the random timing of taking her dog for a walk, found herself in the path of a drunk driver travelling at excessive speed. He said the author of a background report on Ferris could "detect little by way insight or genuine remorse" on his part. "The consequence of your conduct was predictable, but it was also truly tragic for Mrs Carson and her family," he said. A previous hearing at the High Court in Glasgow was told that on the day of the crash Ferris had been drinking Buckfast and was "pretty drunk". At about 20:00, Mrs Carson left her home in Gresham View, Motherwell, to walk the family dog. Ferris was seen driving the Mondeo at excessive speed, causing some witnesses to remark that he was "flying past" and driving "like an idiot". He then lost control on Muirhouse Road, causing the car to mount the pavement, hit Mrs Carson and then smash into a wall. Afterwards, Ferris got out of the car and spoke to Mrs Carson who was lying on the pavement. What he said was not heard, but a bystander then saw him put his hands to his head and shout before running from the scene. One of the people who tried to help Mrs Carson called the mobile number on the dog's collar and spoke to 47-year-old Mr Carson. He then rushed to the scene with their 11-year-old daughter and both were comforted by locals while a nurse attempted CPR on Mrs Carson until paramedics arrived. The court was told that Mrs Carson died from multiple injuries. Ferris was later seen dropping car keys from the window of his flat at Grange Tower, before police arrived and forced entry. When he saw them he became aggressive, told them to leave and denied that he had been driving. A breath test carried out on Ferris 90 minutes after the crash gave a reading of 63mcgs. The legal limit is 22mcgs. Police experts who examined the crash scene concluded that blame for the fatal collision lay with Ferris who drove at an inappropriate speed in a 30mph limit area, under the influence of alcohol and failed to negotiate a right-hand bend. Speaking after sentencing, Insp Darren Faulds, of Police Scotland, said: "Ferris, despite having already been banned from the road for a previous conviction, took the decision to get behind the wheel of that

Summary: A man with two previous drink-driving convictions has been jailed for killing a woman in a crash while he was over the limit and flouting a driving ban.