Shipping containers are a common feature of the Kenyan landscape. You'll find these steel boxes converted into comfortable homes, clinics and offices. Others are turned into shops and granaries to store farm products. But now shipping containers have entered the sphere of learning. Starting this year, national examinations materials will be stored in secure shipping containers and placed under 24-hour armed police surveillance. This is just one of the many new tough measures that the government is introducing to curb cheating in national exams. In a country where people often rely on well-connected relatives and friends to succeed, education is everything. Such is the thirst for personal development that around 20:00 on weekday evenings, you'll find the streets of Nairobi and other urban centres teeming with people of all ages going home from class. Evening classes are a popular way for Kenyans to acquire a second or third degree with the hope of rising higher in life. Competition for promotion or for the few job opportunities that become available is intense, leading to a desperate desire for more and better academic qualifications. Joseph Warungu: "There is a crisis of trust in Kenyan society." This pressure to succeed starts at primary school. As a result, cartels have emerged to take advantage. Working with some of the former national examinations council officials, police officers and teachers, these cartels have found a way to get hold of exam papers and sell them to desperate students and parents. But last year things got out of hand as the cheating reached industrial proportions. More than 5,000 primary and secondary school students had their exam results cancelled; the national examinations board was disbanded and some senior managers fired. Nearly 200 people including police officers were arrested and charged over exam malpractices. There is a crisis of trust in Kenyan society. The government cannot trust the teacher to prepare the students for exams without cheating. The teacher cannot trust the government to oversee the exams without cheating. The student cannot trust himself to pass the exam without cheating. And so in comes the tough steel containers to try and safeguard trust. This year the government is not taking any chances. By the time national exams begin in November, invigilators will have been vetted afresh. Head teachers will now be held personally liable for any incidents of cheating that occur in their schools because they will have the sole responsibility of collecting from, and returning, the exam materials to the containers at central distribution points. The government is so confident of the measures it has taken that the cabinet secretary for education gave this warning: "I want to tell all children in candidate classes, that they better prepare for the exams. The monkey business that has been going on shall never happen again". But education is not the only sector suffering from the trust deficit. Governance is badly hit. Recently, a group of more than 30 elected County Assembly members, who were planning to impeach their Nyeri county governor in central Kenya, decided to spend the night inside the County

Summary: In our series of letters from African journalists, Joseph Warungu, a former high-school teacher, examines the measures the Kenyan government has put in place to tackle cheating in national exams, which begin in early November.


Media playback is not supported on this device Canada's Denis Shapovalov struck the ball in anger and hit Gabas during his game with Kyle Edmund, defaulting the match to hand the tie to Great Britain. The International Tennis Federation said the 17-year-old's actions were "unintentional" but fined him £5,600. The ITF says the surgery was successful and Gabas is now recovering at home. The Davis Cup World Group first-round tie in Ottawa was poised at 2-2, with Edmund leading 6-3 6-4 2-1 in the final match, but Canada's hopes ended when Shapovalov was disqualified. He later apologised to Frenchman Gabas in the match referee's office and said he was "incredibly ashamed and embarrassed". Gabas went to Ottawa General Hospital as a precaution, but no damage to the cornea or retina was found. On his return to France he had an X-ray, which revealed a fracture of the orbital bone under his left eye. "I am now concentrating on rest and rehabilitation so I can be back on court in the near future," said Gabas.

Summary: Umpire Arnaud Gabas has had surgery to repair a fractured eye socket after he was hit with a ball during Britain's Davis Cup win over Canada last week.


It happened on the Letterkenny to Ballybofey Road, near Convoy, at 07:00 BST on Friday. The car she was driving collided with a lorry. The driver of that vehicle was uninjured. The road is currently closed and diversions are in place.

Summary: A woman in her 20s has died in a collision between a car and a lorry in County Donegal.


Oswald 'Ossie' Bradley was swimming to an island in Bessbrook Pond to remove two Irish tricolour flags from trees. It is claimed Mr Bradley intended to replace them with a union flag when he got into difficulties. Police are not treating the death as suspicious. Sinn FÃ©in MLA Mickey Brady last week called for the removal of the flags after they appeared on the island. A teenage boy managed to bring Mr Bradley ashore at about 17:00 BST on Monday where attempts were made to resuscitate him. Emergency services took him to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, about four miles away, where it was announced that he had died. Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy said the death was devastating news for the man's family and the village of Bessbrook. "This is a very tragic outcome to controversies surrounding flags in this village," Mr Kennedy said. "This is too high a price for any family and community to pay. "The entire Bessbrook community will join with me in showing our sympathy and support for the whole family circle. "He was highly respected and liked within the Bessbrook community. I counted him as a personal friend and I am deeply upset by his untimely and tragic death." Dominic Bradley of the nationalist SDLP, who knows Bradley family, said the village was in shock. "I think the action that he undertook yesterday was probably uncharacteristic of him, from what I hear from friends of his," said the assembly member. "Bessbrook is a mixed community, Catholics and Protestants live side-by-side and, generally speaking down through the years, community relations have been very good. "I believe some local councillors and the police have arranged for the flags to be removed." Mr Bradley was a member of the County Armagh victims' group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR). He was involved in the campaign seeking justice for the victims of an IRA gun attack near his village, that became known as the Kingsmill massacre. FAIR's chaplain Pastor Barrie Halliday, who knew Mr Bradley personally for more than 30 years, said he "loved" the union flag and displayed it at his house. "Some people say it was totally out of character but maybe we need to take it in context of his great interest in working along with the Kingsmill families - a tragedy of nearly 40 years ago that's going on today. "Obviously he was affected by it and disappointed by a lack of movement in every area concerning this. "It had been playing on his mind and it was just something he couldn't stand it any longer - a tricolour being up over the village," the pastor added. Last week, Mickey Brady of Sinn FÃ©in said last the flags could be seen as intimidating by Protestant residents in the village. He said the flags could be considered by some as "overtly sectarian, intimidating and threatening". "The issue is one that is causing contention because obviously, in Bessbrook particularly, there is a mixed community," he said. "I think you have to respect the culture and nature of the

Summary: A 68-year-old man has drowned in an incident at a lake in County Armagh.


Mario Borghezio, who belongs to the Northern League party, condemned Mr Breivik's violence, but backed his stance against Islam. The Northern League is a partner in PM Silvio Berlusconi's government. Mr Borghezio's comments in a radio interview sparked outrage, with opposition calls for the MEP to resign. Mr Breivik's justification for killing 76 people was that he wanted to inflict maximum damage on Norway's governing Labour Party because of its failure to clamp down on immigration. "Some of the ideas he expressed are good, barring the violence. Some of them are great," Mario Borghezio told Il Sole-24 Ore radio station. He agreed with Mr Breivik's "opposition to Islam and his explicit accusation that Europe has surrendered before putting up a fight against its Islamicisation". The Northern League is an avowedly anti-immigration, regionalist Italian political party, key to the governing coalition, and known for its anti-Islamic rhetoric. The controversy sparked swift reaction from fellow MEPs. "My heart goes out to the victims of the atrocities that took place in Norway last week, and to their families. There can be no excuses, no justifications. This was nothing but an act of pure and unmitigated evil," said Nikki Sinclaire. Ms Sinclaire resigned last year from the European Parliament umbrella group, Europe of Freedom & Democracy (EFD), which included her UK Independence Party, as well as Italy's Northern League. She cited the racism of Northern League members in making her decision. "Mr Borghezio's reported comments are shocking and, if accurately reported, reprehensible. They are in no way reflective of UKIP's position or that of the EFD Group," said a UKIP spokesman. But Mr Borghezio is not the only right-wing politician to express sympathy with the ideas of Anders Behring Breivik. A member of France's far-right National Front party has been suspended after writing a defence of the Norwegian attacker on his blog. Jacques Coutela described Mr Breivik as "the main defender of the West", comparing him to Charles Martel, a seventh century leader who halted Islamic expansion in western Europe. "The reason for the Norway terror attacks: fighting the Muslim invasion, that's what people don't want you to know", read the post. Mr Coutela stood as a National Front candidate in local elections in March. "He was suspended today pending a party disciplinary committee," said Steeve Briois, the Front's general secretary. Meanwhile, the leader of the English Defence League (EDL), Stephen Lennon, said the mass killing in Norway was a wake-up call. "What happened in Oslo shows how desperate some people are becoming in Europe," said Mr Lennon, who was convicted earlier this week of leading a brawl involving 100 football fans. "It's a ticking time bomb. If they don't give that frustration and anger a platform as such and a voice - and a way of getting emotion out in a democratic way - it will create monsters like this lunatic." The EDL is also known for its strong stance against immigration. Mr Breivik has posted admiring comments online about the EDL. The League leadership is checking his claims to have contacts among its members.

Summary: An Italian MEP has described the ideas of Norway's self-confessed mass killer, Anders Behring Breivik, as "good" and in some cases "excellent".


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

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


The 58-year-old took charge in December after Dean Smith's move to Brentford, with the club third in the table. But form dipped after winning his first three matches and he has left the club following Saturday's loss to Barnsley. "The players' performances over the past month have not gained the points they deserved," said O'Driscoll. "This is a different phase of the season and, as we have repeatedly seen, teams have recognised the team's strengths from the first half of the campaign and prepared to counter that when facing us. "But the players deserve enormous credit for adapting, finding different ways to play and maintaining their performance levels even, at times, in the face of frustration and disappointment." Despite their poor run of form, the Saddlers are only five points off the automatic promotion places and have a seven-point cushion above Coventry, just outside the play-off places in seventh. After Smith left for the Championship, they spent three matches under the joint-caretaker management team of physio Jon Whitney, goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler and former Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham and Colchester boss John Ward before O'Driscoll's appointment. "It's a decisive move from Walsall to relieve Sean O'Driscoll of his duties only three months in. But it really wasn't working out. "Also the Saddlers are making the change when there's still a chance of promotion - even automatic isn't out of question. "We could well see existing coaching staff carrying the club forward for rest of season under the canny eye of John Ward."

Summary: Walsall have parted company with head coach Sean O'Driscoll after just 16 games despite sitting fourth in League One, after a winless six-game run.


He plans to put all local police units under federal control. The students, all trainee teachers, went missing in September after joining a protest in Iguala, Guerrero state. Their disappearance sparked mass protests, with many still unconvinced by the official explanation that the students were murdered by a drugs gang. In a televised speech, President Pena Nieto said that "Mexico must change". He announced proposals for a series of constitutional reforms that would allow the country's 1,800 municipal forces to be dissolved and taken over by state agencies. The reforms would also enable Congress to dissolve local governments infiltrated by drug cartels. The overhaul would begin in Mexico's four most violent states, he said - Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero. Guerrero is where the 43 students vanished on 26 September. They had been attacked by local police in Iguala after attending a labour rights demonstration. Under President Pena Nieto's plans, the thousands of local police forces would come under the control of the 31 federal state governments, and the capital. Corruption within the police force, especially the municipal police, is rife. Officers are often offered money or threatened by the country's powerful drugs gangs. Key proposed reforms: The proposals would also seek to simplify the way in which crimes are currently dealt with at a federal, state or local level. Some local police forces refuse to deal with federal crimes such as drug trafficking. The reforms are due to be presented to Congress next week. President Pena Nieto had faced widespread criticism over the students' disappearance, despite vowing to track down those responsible. Relatives of the missing have led mass protests across the country to express their anger at the government. The official explanation offered by the Mexican authorities is that the students were murdered by a drugs gang. The gang was said to be in collusion with the mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, who has been arrested facing accusations that he ordered police to confront the students on the day of their disappearance. Investigators said that municipal police officers confessed to seizing the students, and later handing them over to the gang. However, the families of the students, and their supporters, say they are not convinced by the official version of events. They say they will not believe the students are dead until it has been officially confirmed by Argentine forensic scientists working on the case. Forensic tests are being carried out on bodies found in mass graves in Guerrero. In recent years thousands of people have gone missing or been killed after being caught up in drug-related violence. Several killings or suspected kidnappings have been reported in the past week:

Summary: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has announced plans to overhaul the country's municipal police forces after the disappearance of 43 students.


DeFranco's family said the musician died on Wednesday evening at a Florida hospital. His wife, Joyce, said his health had been poor in recent years. DeFranco, a member of the American Jazz Hall of Fame, performed at venues around the world for 75 years and also recorded many albums. The musician conducted the Glenn Miller Orchestra for eight years from 1966 to 1974. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and and later a Living Jazz Legend in a Kennedy Center ceremony. And DeFranco won the Playboy All-Star award for top jazz clarinettist in the world 16 times. "We have received condolences from around the world," DeFranco's wife told AP. She said her husband's influence on music will last long beyond his lifetime. Leading jazz clarinettist Ken Peplowski said: "Buddy DeFranco almost single-handedly was the clarinettist who moved the harmonic and rhythmic language forward from where Benny Goodman left off into the much more adventurous territory of bebop and beyond, while never forgetting his roots in swing music. "He was also unfailingly kind and supportive to every other clarinettist who came after him." Other top music stars he played with included Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. Originally named Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo De Franco, the musician was born in Camden, New Jersey, but raised in south Philadelphia. He learned to play the mandolin at five, and took up the clarinet four years later. He began his career as a teenager in Philadelphia and he went on to play with some of the major bands of his era including ones led by Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Gene Krupa and Charlie Barnett. Later, composer Nelson Riddle was so impressed by DeFranco he wrote the musical Cross Country Suite in 1958 for him. Legendary singer Nat King Cole, also introduced DeFranco when he premiered the work at the Hollywood Bowl. Now, the annual Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival is held each spring at the University of Montana. DeFranco's family have asked that contributions in his memory be given to the festival so it can continue. As well as his wife Joyce, the clarinettist is survived by his son Chad DeFranco.

Summary: Renowned jazz clarinettist Buddy DeFranco, known for working with Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday and other well-known musicians, has died aged 91.


An agreement has been reached to remove compulsory unit assessments from all National 5 and Higher courses. The EIS said the move will "lighten the assessment burden for pupils and teachers". The industrial action had threatened to disrupt work for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: "I can confirm that EIS Council has now agreed to suspend our programme of industrial action in relation to excessive SQA-related workload. "The agreement that has now been reached at the CfE (Curriculum for Excellence) management board, based on a proposal submitted by the EIS, is a significant victory for teachers and pupils in our secondary schools. "The changes that have been agreed, to permanently remove compulsory unit assessments from all National 5 and Higher courses, will ease the assessment burden on pupils and teachers and create time and space for deeper learning and teaching in our classrooms." Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: "This is welcome news from the EIS and I am delighted that they have confirmed suspending a programme of industrial action in relation to teacher workload. "Over the past few months, I have listened carefully to what teachers, parents, young people and others have had to say on workload, and have responded positively with a range of actions to help reduce workload pressures. As part of this, I have now announced the removal of mandatory unit assessments from National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. "This will significantly reduce the workload for our teachers, giving them more time to focus on what is most important - teaching our young people - while maintaining the core principles of Curriculum for Excellence." Mr Swinney added: ""I am glad that the EIS have recognised these efforts and I hope that together we can move forward to ensure that teachers in Scotland have more time to teach, and contribute to closing the attainment gap."

Summary: The teaching union EIS has suspended a programme of industrial action over the workload faced by teachers in relation to examinations.


The home side led 19-3 at the interval thanks to a blistering first-half performance and tries from Christian Wade, Tommy Taylor and Dan Robson. Tigers fought back to within three points after Peter Betham's try. After Dan Cole was sin-binned, Jimmy Gopperth's penalty secured the win. The win took Dai Young's side back to the top of the Premiership table after Saracens' draw against Exeter on Saturday, with Leicester in fifth place after a third successive defeat. However, Wasps, and England head coach Eddie Jones, will be concerned that flanker James Haskell, who was out for seven months because of injury, walked back off the pitch after appearing to be momentarily knocked out when tackling Freddie Burns. Tigers will come away from the match with many positives under head coach Aaron Mauger, which did not look likely during the first-half blitz from Wasps. Wade scored his ninth Premiership try of the season early on, before Taylor was put over in a drive and Robson crossed following a fast break out by man of the match Thomas Young. After the break Tigers came out strongly, and after Betham finished off a move started by Tom Brady, Burns' penalty made it 19-16. But Cole's yellow card for being offside helped the hosts regain some impetus, and Gopperth's kick from the resulting penalty made it a six-point game. Tigers made late changes in search of a potentially decisive try, but poor handling from Betham and George Worth in particular cost them dearly. The match attracted Wasps' best Premiership attendance of the season of 27,930, with the club having been watched by well over 50,000 supporters in two successive games at the Ricoh Arena for the first time. Wasps: Beale; Wade, Daly, Eastmond, Bassett; Gopperth, Robson; Mullan (capt.), Taylor, Moore, Symons, Myall, Young, Thompson, Hughes. Replacements: Johnson, McIntyre, Swainston, Gaskell, Haskell, Simpson, Cipriani, Miller. Leicester: Burns; Thompstone, Betham, Roberts, Brady; O Williams, B Youngs; Genge, T Youngs (capt.), Cole, Slater, Fitzgerald, M Williams, Evans, O'Connor. Replacements: McGuigan, Bateman, Cilliers, Kitchener, McCaffrey, Harrison, Worth, Smith. Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (RFU) For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.

Summary: James Haskell lasted just 35 seconds of his comeback game because of a head injury as Wasps held off a revival by Leicester, who were playing their first game since Richard Cockerill's sacking.


Travis was convicted in September of indecently assaulting a woman and given a three month sentence suspended for two years. A hearing at Southwark Crown Court heard that he had racked up a taxi fare bill of £4,456 during his trials. He was awarded travel costs, limited to the value of a day return train ticket and £50 for a taxi, and hotel costs. Stephen Vullo QC, representing Travis, made the defendant's costs application and said his client had been "financially devastated" by trials in February and September last year. "He has no money left whatsoever," he said. "He is now below zero." Mr Vullo also claimed £630 in hotel accommodation, and £246 for travel to legal conferences, and asked for a total of £5,332 towards Travis's costs. Judge Leonard ruled that Travis could claim the costs of a daily return train ticket from Aylesbury to Marylebone, which the judge said cost £61.40, as well as £50 a day for reasonable taxi costs from the station. He allowed the hotel costs. Referring to Travis's back problems, Judge Leonard said: "His infirmity was such that the benefit from the train, to get up from his seat rather than remain in it, is something that could only have been achieved on a train, not a car." The defence estimated that Travis travelled from his home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, to court on 37 days, which means he could be entitled to £4,121.80. The number of days will be confirmed with the court at a later stage. Prosecutor Joshua Munro argued the costs were not "reasonable" expenses for the taxpayer to fund. Travis was cleared of 12 counts of indecent assault after a trial in February 2014. The jury was unable to decide on verdicts on an additional count of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault and a retrial was ordered. The Crown Prosecution Service added one more count of indecent assault, the offence of which he was eventually convicted, on the indictment for the September 2014 trial. Travis was cleared of the indecent assault on which he was retried, and after a second jury was unable to reach a verdict on the sexual assault charge, Judge Anthony Leonard QC, directed a not guilty verdict.

Summary: Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis was "financially ruined" by his lengthy legal battles, a court has heard.


Krissoni Henderson accused Noor Alneaimi of being a prostitute and a non-believer, Birmingham Magistrates' Court heard. He also called police officers arresting him "disgusting atheists". Mr Henderson, 31, will be sentenced on Tuesday. He had denied using religiously aggravated threatening words or behaviour. More on this and other stories from Birmingham and the Black Country Ms Alneaimi, 38, told the court she had heard the defendant shouting abuse at a passer-by on New Street, Birmingham, on 4 July before he turned to her and made a comment about her "tight" jeans. "He directed the conversation to me and started saying you are a 'kafir' [an Islamic term for a non-believer]," she said. "He said 'You shall burn in hell, look at your jeans they are so tight. You will burn in hell for wearing such clothes'." Ms Alneaimi told the court she was "astounded and absolutely terrified" by his behaviour, leading to her filing a complaint with West Midlands Police. Footage from cameras worn by officers visiting Mr Henderson's flat, on Brook Street in Birmingham, showed the defendant shouting at officers, including calling one a "filthy disgusting beast" and a "statue worshipper". He also shouted "Allahu Akbar" before he was arrested, the court heard. During his trial Mr Henderson said Ms Alneaimi may have "targeted" him and been trying to seduce him, saying she may have been attracted to his muscles. Mr Henderson declined to confirm his religion, saying his beliefs are "to love people regardless of what they wear".

Summary: A street preacher who told a woman she would "burn in hell" for wearing tight jeans has been found guilty of religiously aggravated threatening behaviour.


In November 1990, Margaret Thatcher went to Paris for a summit on European security. In her absence, her opponents got their act together and within days she was out of power. Twenty-six years on, the new prime minister will travel to Hangzhou in utterly different circumstances. Mrs May's party may still be divided over Europe but she has the double fortune of a political honeymoon and a divided opposition. Yet this, her first outing at a truly global summit since she became prime minister, will be a big moment, a chance to meet key world leaders and establish relationships that will help shape her premiership. I understand that Mrs May is preparing to hold separate, private meetings with President Obama of the United States, President Putin of Russia, President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Modi of India. She will be keen to meet them and begin informal discussions about post-Brexit trade. They will be keen to meet her, a rare European leader who is likely to remain in office for some years to come. And what a lot they will have to discuss. With President Xi, there will be the small matter of Mrs May's decision to delay approval of the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Somerset, something in which China has invested billions of pounds. After years when George Osborne wrapped his arms around Beijing, Mrs May will have to explain her caution and the security concerns of some of her officials. With Mr Putin, there will be the tricky matter of EU sanctions over Ukraine, manoeuvring in the Baltics by Russia and those many incursions by their jets into British airspace. And with Mr Modi, the prime minister will have to smooth over concerns about her decision to make it harder for Indian students to come to Britain in an attempt to cut migration numbers. Yet amid these tensions, Mrs May will try to step up her diplomatic campaign to convince the international community that Britain is not turning in on itself after the vote for Brexit. Her officials talk of forging a new global role for the UK and using the G20 to highlight opportunities that will arise for the rest of the world once Britain leaves the EU. Britain, she will tell her counterparts, is open for business. The question, of course, is what this new role for Britain will be. The Foreign Office is still scratching around for ideas, but no-one yet can tell me what this great new global role will be. There is no money to spend on big initiatives and there is little appetite for military intervention. Sources at the heart of government insist that a lot is being done already. They point out that since the referendum to leave the EU, Britain has deployed hundreds more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, Estonia and Poland, Somalia and South Sudan. It has reaffirmed its commitment to the Trident nuclear deterrent - something Mrs May did herself in the House of Commons. And the UK has also promised once again to spend 2%

Summary: When Theresa May steps on to the global stage for the first time this weekend at the G20 summit in China, she will be hoping not to repeat what happened the last time a female British prime minister attended an international conference.


In a police interview played in court she said the 16-year-old "knew how to work people". Becky's stepbrother Nathan Matthews, 28, and his girlfriend, Shauna Hoare, 21, deny murder. Earlier the jury visited the house in Bristol where it is alleged the teenager was killed by her stepbrother. The ten women and two men spent 16 minutes inside the house at Crown Hill, in the St George area of the city. They also visited another property where her body was allegedly dismembered, and the garden where her body parts were discovered. In the police interview, recorded before Ms Hoare was arrested, she told detectives Becky had recently "bonded" with her stepbrother who had been helping her to buy a mobile phone. "Nathan had this thing that if he heard her coming down the stairs he would hide behind the door and jump out at her and she jumped every time," she said. The prosecution alleges Becky was killed at the family home in Crown Hill on 19 February. Her body was taken to Mr Matthews' and Ms Hoare's home in Cotton Mill Lane where it was allegedly dismembered. Body parts were later found at an address in Barton Court. Mr Matthews of Hazelbury Drive in Warmley, South Gloucestershire has admitted manslaughter but denies murder and conspiracy to kidnap. He has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, preventing burial of a corpse and possessing a prohibited weapon. Ms Hoare of Cotton Mill Lane in Bristol, denies murder, conspiracy to kidnap, perverting the course of justice, preventing burial of a corpse and possessing a prohibited weapon. Two other men on trial, Donovan Demetrius, 29, and James Ireland, 23, deny a charge of assisting an offender. Karl Demetrius, 29, and Jaydene Parsons, 23, previously pleaded guilty to assisting an offender after body parts were found in their shed, but both said they were unaware of what the packages contained. The trial at Bristol Crown Court continues.

Summary: The woman accused of murdering Becky Watts told police the teenager was good at manipulating people and was an attention seeker.


Asha Philip, Desiree Henry, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita ran a British record of 41.77 seconds in Rio's Olympic Stadium. The US, who only qualified for Friday's final at the second attempt after dropping their baton, won in 41.01, the second-fastest time in history. Silver medallists Jamaica ran 41.36. Jamaica's Elaine Thompson narrowly missed out on matching compatriot Usain Bolt's sprint treble after her victories in the 100m and 200m. "Wonderful experience. My first Olympics. Two golds, a silver, I can't complain," she said. GB's first medal in the event since winning bronze at Moscow 1984 capped a remarkable reversal in fortunes after they failed to reach the final at London 2012. Philip, the oldest member of the quartet at 25, said: "We came here to get a medal and we delivered. We had a lot of pressure to get this, but we had so much trust and faith in these girls." Henry, 20, said: "I cannot believe it. This was my first Olympics and I wanted to go out and enjoy it but also to get a medal. To do it I had tears in my eyes. Thank you to everyone who has made this happen." Asher-Smith, also 20, said: "We have worked unbelievably hard. Out of all the teams I think we worked the hardest. This is for the entire nation." Daryll Nieta, 19, said: "I am speechless. I am so proud of our team. We absolutely smashed it." Find out how to get into athletics with our special guide. Chief sports writer Tom Fordyce Fabulous from the GB quartet. Having spent the day with them as they trained at Loughborough, there was no missing that this is the tightest of teams - true friends, proper racers. Philip in the mother role, Asher-Smith as head girl, Henry the loud one, Neita the kid. Together history makers. Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie were allowed to compete in the final after running again - on their own - following Thursday's semi-final. The baton was accidentally knocked out of Felix's hand by Brazil's Kauiza Venancio as she prepared to hand over to Gardner for the third leg. The US successfully appealed, and ran only two tenths of a second short of the world record at the second attempt. Bartoletta and Felix were part of the US team that clocked 40.82 to win at London 2012, and Felix has become the first woman to collect five athletics gold medals. "It's very special. It was great to join these women tonight. It's just a very unique experience," Felix said of her milestone. Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox.

Summary: Great Britain won an Olympic medal in the women's 4x100m relay for the first time since 1984, claiming bronze as the United States retained their title.


Soldiers from both sides shared an impromptu ceasefire in Ypres, Belgium, on Christmas Day 1914. Graham Brookland of the Army FA said the match would "commemorate the occasion in an extremely good spirit". The game, played at Aldershot Town FC in Hampshire, ended in a 1-0 win for the British Army. Several thousand events have been held across the UK to mark the Christmas truce football match as part of Football Remembers Week. Every team in the Premier League and Football League have marked the centenary of World War One at recent matches. The famous "Christmas truce" of 1914 Source: Imperial War Museum

Summary: The British and German army football teams have played a match to commemorate 100 years since the World War One Christmas truce.


Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she is not sure if it is a cause of the decline or a symptom revealing more longstanding economic problems. Technological changes and an aging workforce also contribute, she said. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that prescription drug abuse costs $78.5bn (Â£61.5bn) annually. This is due to costs related to health care, lost productivity, and criminal activity. About 91 Americans die every day after overdosing on opioids. "I do think it is related to a decline in labour force participation among prime-age workers," Ms Yellen said after a question from Senator Joe Donnelly, a Democrat from Indiana. "I don't know if it's causal or if it's a symptom of long-running economic maladies." Ms Yellen also noted that the US has seen an unusual rise in its death rate. "It's obviously a very serious and heartbreaking problem," she said. It was Ms Yellen's second day of testimony before lawmakers, who asked questions about monetary policy, prospects for economic outlook and other issues. Economists have puzzled over the fall in labour force participation rates, the share of people working or looking for work. For the over-16 civilian population, they have declined from a peak of about 67% in the late 1990s to less than 63% today, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among men, the rates have fallen from about 80% in the late 1960s to less than 70% today. They have risen among women from about 42% to nearly 57% during that time. Ms Yellen on Wednesday said she believed an aging population was a major factor in the overall decline. She also said men with less education have been particularly affected by technological changes that reduce jobs in some industries. Some economists also argue that video games are to blame. Ms Yellen's remarks came on the same day that top US prosecutor Jeff Sessions announced charges against more than 120 people, including doctors, related to prescription drugs. The charges were part of a more sweeping crackdown on Medicaid fraud.

Summary: Widespread opioid abuse is tied to a fall in the share of Americans working or looking for work, the head of the US central bank said on Thursday.


Dr George Daniels, who died in 2011, was responsible for some of the field's most important advancements which he passed to his apprentice Roger Smith. A film will focus on their relationship and how the work developed the art of British watchmaking. It will be played at the George Daniels lecture at City University. In a career spanning 60 years, Sunderland-born horologist Daniels perfected the 32 skills needed to make a watch from scratch by hand. The most successful of his inventions, the co-axial escapement, won him international acclaim and is regarded by experts as one of the most significant horological developments in 250 years. Mr Smith, who followed Mr Daniels to work in the Isle of Man, said he was an "inspirational mentor." "He was the first person in history to hand make a watch with a great technical level and extraordinary beauty from start to finish." City's George Daniels Professor of Scientific Instrumentation, Professor Ken Grattan, said: "Roger has risen from being an outstanding apprentice of the legendary George Daniels to being the legatee and torchbearer for his watchmaking excellence." Daniels' attended City University London's predecessor, the Northampton Institute, and believed his outstanding success as a horologist was linked directly to his time as a student. His educational trust set up following the sale of his personal collection of clocks has helped 20 students through doctoral studentships and undergraduate scholarships at the university.

Summary: Leading watchmakers have gathered in London to celebrate the "unique collaboration" between two leading horologists from the Isle of Man.


But make no mistake - these are crucial, perhaps even momentous, times for South African politics. A status quo that has survived for 20 years of democracy is finally beginning to crack. There is a chance this could be a good thing for South Africa - that a clumsy consensus that served the country well in the years after apartheid is no longer fit for purpose, and that a more nuanced, contested form of democracy may now take over. But the governing African National Congress (ANC) does not see it like that, warning loudly that "fascists" and "racists" are threatening the survival of the institutions that have kept this country stable since 1994. Much now depends on the way the ANC - after two decades of unchallenged power - deals with a more robust opposition in parliament, the erosion of a key political alliance with the trade union movement, and the dawning possibility that it may soon lose power in two of South Africa's nine provinces - and one day at a national level too. Thursday's fighting in parliament can be traced directly to two immediate factors - one is the recent influx of MPs from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party. They are unapologetically rowdy and populist, and have energised - not always in a constructive way - an institution that many South Africans, numbed by the ANC's overwhelming majority, had apparently stopped caring about. The second factor is called Nkandla - the scandal about the lavish tax-payer-funded renovations to President Jacob Zuma's private home that will not disappear. Although many senior ANC figures have privately expressed deep unease about the issue, the party has publically rallied around the president in strident fashion. The last straw - well, one of many - came in the shape of an ad-hoc parliamentary committee that exonerated Mr Zuma of any personal wrongdoing, after opposition members had left it in frustration. The ANC then used its majority to adopt the committee's report on Thursday. South Africa's opposition is usually divided in parliament - and outside - to the advantage of the ANC. But Nkandla has seen political rivals united against the governing party with unusual vigour and co-ordination. It could be a sign of things to come - an opposition coalition one day strong enough to challenge the ANC's majority. All of which helps explain why the current chaos in South Africa's trade union movement is also giving the ANC real cause for concern. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been in a strategic tri-partite alliance with the ANC and Communist Party - an arrangement that helped keep stability and achieve some progress in the labour market for decades. But a combination of factors - including falling membership, political rivalries, and incidents like the Marikana mine killings of 2012 - have led to a deep split, with the biggest trade union, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), now expelled from Cosatu. A more competitive, vibrant trade union movement - decoupled from its leaders' increasingly cosy pact with government -

Summary: From the outside it might seem like relatively minor stuff - scuffles and anger in South Africa's parliament, and defections and splits within a trades union federation.


The indecent images on Ben Lewis's phone were discovered by a worker at LL Camps in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Co-owner Tal Landsman, who is on trial accused of child cruelty, did nothing when he was informed, jurors at St Albans Crown Court heard. Mr Landsman, 26, denies one charge of cruelty to a person under 16. He is accused of the offence between 31 July and 7 August 2015. Prosecutor Ann Evans told the jury Lewis had pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images. Lewis has admitted three counts of making indecent images and one of taking indecent images. On the first day of Mr Landsman's trial, LL Camps worker Sandra Vicente told the court Lewis, 26, had given her his phone and PIN so she could play music at a children's party on 1 August. Afterwards, a colleague asked to look at some photos Lewis had taken of him, but she then clicked on the deleted images. She first saw pictures of small children, naked and on a beach, and then saw some taken in a "changing room". "I would say they were aged three to four," she said. "I felt my brain was polluted. I felt sick." That night she said she told Mr Landsman, of Crambus Court, Admiral Drive, Stevenage. The prosecution alleges Mr Landsman, who was one of the camp's safeguarding officers, did nothing and allowed his friend to keep working. She called the police three days later after Lewis came to her with a three-year-old girl, who he said he had found in the toilets and had wet herself. The prosecution told the jury when Ms Vicente spoke to Mr Landsman he said would sort it and she should not tell anyone. Later that night Mr Landsman messaged her and asked if a "million per cent categorically" the picture she had seen was taken in the camp's changing rooms and she replied, "Yeah". "In an effort to protect his friend, he did nothing about what he had heard, and allowed the parties and activities to keep running the camp until eventually Ofsted moved in and closed the place down on August 6," said Mrs Evans. The case continues.

Summary: Naked photos of three and four-year-old girls were found on the mobile phone of a children's summer camp owner, a court has heard.


Nyom also revealed that after initially rejecting his country's call-up he changed his mind - but coach Hugo Broos told him there was no place for him. After winning the trophy on Sunday, Broos said those Cameroonian players not there would rue their decision. "Let him know that I don't have any regrets," Nyom told BBC World Football. The 28-year-old was one of seven Cameroon players to decide to miss the tournament, with Liverpool defender Joel Matip another high-profile absentee. After Cameroon beat Egypt 2-1 in Sunday's final Broos suggested "it was their decision, but maybe they are saying now to themselves 'why didn't I go with them?'" However, Nyom is adamant he made the right choice. "I heard what Broos said. It made me laugh because he knew what happened and he knew why I was not there. "It's true, at first I didn't want to go, but afterwards I changed my mind. But he knew that and he knows what he told me, so I have no worries, no regrets. "If before the tournament they had told me 'Cameroon is going to win and you are not part of the squad', I don't mind because I'm happy I'm playing for my club - it's much more important for me. "If I had been there, it could stall my club career."

Summary: West Brom's Cameroonian defender Allan Nyom has insisted he has no regrets about not being part of the Africa Cup of Nations-winning squad.


The 52-year-old is returning to Formula 1 from his position as technical boss of Audi's World Endurance Championship programme, which ends this season. Swiss Zander previously worked for Sauber between 2006 and 2007, and has held senior design positions in a number of other F1 teams. His most recent F1 role was as deputy technical director of the title-winning Brawn team in 2009. He also previously worked for Honda, Williams and BAR. Sauber have faced financial problems in recent years and are currently last of the 11 teams in this year's world championship. But the Swiss team have hopes of moving up the grid next season following their takeover earlier this year by a Swiss finance group called Longbow. Zander said: "One of my tasks will be to define a stable and efficient technical organisation that evolves the potential of creativity and, therefore, the basis for the development of successful Formula 1 cars. "Initially we obviously want to improve and establish ourselves as a team in the mid-field. It is a challenge which I await with excitement and enthusiasm." Team principal Monisha Kaltenborn said: "This is a very important step in order to guide the team into a new and successful era. "Zander fits well into our team. He has a lot of know-how in Formula 1, as well as in motorsport in general. "In our factory in Hinwil, he will have the possibilities to work technically at a very high level. We are convinced we will make progress with him." Zander joined Audi in 2010 and led the team to five consecutive wins in the Le Mans 24 Hours from 2010-14.

Summary: Sauber have appointed Jorg Zander as their new technical director.


The 27-year-old Newtownards woman was third in her heat in a time of 11.57 seconds into a slight head wind. That was outside her own Irish record of 11.40 and the Rio Olympic Games qualifying standard of 11.32. Should Foster fail to make the final, Friday's race will be her last chance to attain the Olympic qualifying mark. Northern Ireland's Olympic Games qualifiers Ciara Mageean and Kerry O'Flaherty will not open their Amsterdam challenges until Friday when Christine McMahon and Ben Reynolds will also be in action. Other Rio-bound Northern Ireland athletes Paul Pollock, Kevin Seaward and Breege Connolly will run in the half-marathon events on Sunday as part of an Irish squad which will also include North Belfast's Glady Ganiel. Meanwhile Ireland's Marcus Lawler has qualified for the semi-final of the men's 200 metres.

Summary: Northern Ireland sprinter Amy Foster has reached Friday's semi-finals of the women's 100m at the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam.


The Lib Dem MP for Bristol West said pubs in parts of the city were closing because of the decline of the "white working class" and the arrival of migrants from Somalia and elsewhere. He said reports of his remarks had been "twisted" to suggest a focus on race. He had simply been proposing derelict premises should be converted, he said. The comments were made as Mr Williams was outlining a government proposal to protect community pubs. The plan involves changing the law to prevent places listed as assets of community value being demolished or having their use changed without planning permission. Some campaigners had called for the government to go further and impose a blanket ban on the redevelopment of all pubs without planning permission. Arguing against a blanket ban, Mr Williams told MPs: "In my own constituency, lots of pubs have closed - but it is usually because of demographic change. "Some parts of my constituency, which had a 'white working-class community' 20 or 30 years ago, are now populated primarily by recently arrived Somalis and other people. "Obviously the pubs in those areas have closed, and some have been converted to other uses, but some of them are still derelict. "What the government is proposing is to look at the public houses that are genuinely popular and valued by the community now, giving them protection that is already allowed in the Localism Act and further enhancing that protection in terms of the planning laws, saying you cannot convert this pub into another use or demolish it without planning permission." Some reports, including one in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, with the headline "'Somali immigrants' cause pub closures", had taken his comments out of context, Mr Williams said. "There was no value judgement in what I said. It was simply an observation," he told the BBC. "Some pubs in the Barton Hill and Redcliffe area of my constituency have closed because of the arrival of a non-drinking Muslim population to the area. "I could have made a point about pubs closing because of the decline of a factory or a football stadium - both of which also apply to my constituency," he said. "I was simply saying there was no point us giving blanket protection to all pubs, as some people suggest. "But what we are announcing is powers for people across the country to protect their much-loved pubs by triggering a planning application if they are listed as a community asset." Mr Williams rejected any suggestion his comments had been motivated by a negative view of migration. "I have consistently argued that immigration is a good thing," he said. "That is my view as a Liberal."

Summary: Communities Minister Stephen Williams has defended his remarks in Parliament about the threat to pubs in his constituency from population changes.


On arrival, they find their iPads and smartphones suddenly only serve for taking photos which, to their dismay, can't be immediately posted to their Instagram or Facebook accounts. Whether Snapchat-obsessed millennials or email-addicted workaholics, they stare at their phones in disbelief, waiting in vain for the familiar "4G" symbol to appear, as the realisation dawns that an enforced digital detox is upon them. Conversely, plenty of travellers to Cuba relish the chance to disconnect from the office emails and the constant barrage of WhatsApp alerts and tweets. Yet what for the tourist is either a temporary inconvenience or a welcome offline breather is a very different reality for ordinary Cubans. For years, it felt to many on the island like the internet was something happening elsewhere, to other people. Recently though, it is easier, and cheaper, to get online in Cuba than it used to be. There are now more than 240 public access wi-fi spots dotted around the country and the price for an hour of internet access, while still expensive by international standards, has dropped by more than half, to $1.50 (£1.20) for an hour. It is now a common sight to see people sitting with their laptops or phones in parks and public plazas connecting with their families abroad via video-chat technology. In the latest development, the state telecommunications company, Etecsa, has installed internet connections in around 2,000 homes in the capital's colonial district, Old Havana, as part of a two-month pilot scheme. Among the lucky few is Jose Antonio Ruiz. His modest apartment in one of the neighbourhood's newer buildings is part of the government's domestic online experiment. As a private business owner who rents rooms to tourists, Mr Ruiz has found the new "luxury" helped him in two main ways. First, he says, he can advertise his apartment more easily on popular accommodation websites like Airbnb, and answer his clients' emails much more promptly than before. Secondly, he can offer his guests a unique service giving him a competitive advantage over other guesthouses. "The guests are really pleased when you tell them we have internet," Jose Antonio explains. "They relax as they know they can check their flights from here, read their emails or contact their families." During the pilot, the connection is free but once it's over the government is expected to publish prices, so users can choose whether to keep the service or live without it. It hasn't yet been confirmed but it is believed it will cost around $15 (£12) for 30 hours at the slowest speed of 128 kilobits per second, and up to $110 (£90) for the fastest - two megabits per second. With the average wage in Cuba about $25 (£20) a month, those prices would be prohibitively expensive for many Cubans. Jose Antonio's connection is not fast enough to stream video, for example. Still, it is an improvement on the dial-up connections that some state employees have at home and he says he'd pay to keep it as it's enough for what he needs. One day, though, those needs could

Summary: No matter how much you warn visitors to Cuba that they'll be offline during their stay, they often won't believe it until they actually arrive in Havana.


The 23-year-old becomes the second youngest player after Tiger Woods to reach the landmark total since 1945. Berger began three shots behind Spieth but hit birdies in his last six holes for a three-under-par 67. Spieth, Masters and US Open champion in 2015, saved a par 70 with a superb chip that set up an easy putt on the 18th. The American then holed from the same bunker in the first round of the play-off to go one shot ahead. Berger had a chance to level and force another hole with a challenging putt, but the 24-year-old shot wide. "It was a battle. I got really lucky, but that was awesome," said Spieth. "The putter kind of let me down a little through the round but Michael (Greller, Spieth's caddie) kept me in it when I was losing it out there." Berger described the closing stages as "Jordan doing Jordan things". "I've played great today, but obviously I wanted to win. I'm kind of speechless right now," he added. England's Paul Casey scored a one-under-par 69 for a share of fifth, while Northern Ireland's four-time major winner Rory McIlroy capped a mixed showing over the four days with a six-under-par 64 for joint 17th. Defending champion Russel Knox of Scotland scored a final-round three-over-par 73 to finish level overall.

Summary: Jordan Spieth won the Travelers Championship by edging out Daniel Berger in a play-off with a chip shot from the bunker for his 10th PGA title.


ScotNursing says it is only able to fill around 40% of available shifts, whereas in the past it was able to fill 90%. The company is calling on former nurses to consider doing occasional shifts. The Scottish government said it had taken measures to support nurses, and increase the numbers of nurses and midwives working in the NHS. ScotNursing chief executive Ann Rushforth said the problem was down to the lack of school leavers joining the profession. She said: "It takes four years to train a nurse. Sadly school leavers these days don't seem to want to be nurses. They want to be veterinary nurses and supermodels." Mrs Rushforth urged nurses who are still registered but may have taken a break to have a family or to work in a care home to consider updating their clinical skills. "People can make a significant difference by doing just one shift a month," she said. "There are hundreds of vacancies we can't fill but this work still has to be done by someone. People may not realise they're not getting the support they should have." During the general election campaign, both the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Conservatives promised to employ an extra 1,000 nurses in Scotland. However, Mrs Rushforth said the problem is a severe shortage of qualified staff. "Nurses are not like instant coffee. You can't just make them. In particular, nurses willing to do occasional shifts have become as rare as pandas." ScotNursing is in discussion with further education establishments about offering easy routes for nurses to update their skills. Nurses must work a minimum number of hours per year and have completed appropriate training in order to work in the NHS. ScotNursing said occasional shifts can help them achieve this. In September last year there were 58,000 nurses and midwives employed in the NHS in Scotland, compared to 55,000 in 2005. Figures from the NHS statistics department, ISD, suggested an extra 429,000 people were seen as inpatients and outpatients over the same period. This indicates there is only one extra nurse for every 143 attendances. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned that health boards are under "tremendous pressure" to fill vacancies, but that staff numbers are failing to keep pace with the increase in patient numbers. Director of RCN Scotland Theresa Fyffe said: "There is no doubt that there simply aren't enough nurses to fill the gaps. "This is a result of growing patient demand, significant cuts to the number of nursing students recruited in 2011/12 and 2012/13 and high rates of retirement from the nursing workforce. "And the withdrawal of return-to-practice programmes over the years makes it difficult for nurses to come back to the workforce. However, where these programmes are still available they are one way of filling these gaps. "Ultimately, though, what we need is for health boards to robustly apply the nursing and midwifery workforce and workload planning tools. This is the only way in which we will get the right number of nurses with the right skills working in the right places."

Summary: Scotland's biggest nursing agency has warned there are not enough qualified nurses in Scotland to fill rota gaps.


Brompton Cemetery, where suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst is buried, is to be given £6.2m to restore its landscape and monuments. Along with West Norwood - which will receive £4.8m - it is one of London's "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries. The historic burial grounds were created in London's suburbs from 1832 to reduce overcrowding. Highgate and Kensal Green are also among the "Magnificent Seven". More on this and other London news stories Brompton Cemetery's chapel, which was built in the style of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, will be one of the monuments renovated with the funds. The north lodge will be turned into a cafe and visitor centre. Sara Lom, of The Royal Parks Foundation, described the graveyard as "a beautiful monument to our nation's history". "It's a final place of rest for notable figures and unsung heroes in equal measure," she said. The funding, made up of £4.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and a further £1.7m from The Royal Parks and The Royal Parks Foundation, will also be put towards conserving wildlife habitats. Brompton has 39 acres of green space and is home to 221 species of moth, 42 species of beetle and 18 species of butterfly. The cemetery neighbours Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea Football Club, and Gus Mears, who formed the club in 1905, is buried there. Chairman of the Friends of Brompton Cemetery Arthur Tait said it would become "a hub for volunteering, training, and a place of relaxation for children and families while still being a haven for those who want peace, quiet and beauty". Royal Parks Board member Wesley Kerr said the "marvellous communal green space" was as much for the living as for the dead. "It is architecturally astonishing, full of magnificent sculptures, monuments and buildings set in a very beautiful designed landscape," he said. Brompton and West Norwood, which both still hold burial services, are among 12 parks and cemeteries to have received funding across the UK. Friends of West Norwood Cemetery said the £4.8m investment would be spent on improving the cemetery's drainage, footpaths and entrance gates. It said the money would also be used for works on an area reserved for the Greek Orthodox community - known as the "necropolis" or "cemetery within a cemetery". Source: The Friends of West Norwood Cemetery

Summary: Two "magnificent" Victorian cemeteries in London are to receive multimillion-pound facelifts.


A total of 2,488 medals, each weighing 500g, have been produced - with 812 gold, 812 silver and 864 bronze. They were made with "sustainability at their heart", say organisers. The gold medals are free from mercury, the silver and bronze medals are made from 30% recycled materials, and half of the plastic in their ribbons is from recycled plastic bottles. The designs feature laurel leaves - a symbol of victory in ancient Greece - surrounding the Rio 2016 logo, and organisers say they celebrate "the relationship between the strengths of Olympic heroes and the forces of nature". In line with the ecological theme of the Games, the podiums on which the athletes will receive the medals are made from organic materials and have been designed to be reused as furniture after the Games. There are 2,642 Paralympic medals: 877 gold, 876 silver and 889 bronze and each has a device inside that uses tiny steel balls to make a sound when they are shaken, allowing visually impaired athletes to identify the colour by increasing in volume from bronze to gold. The bronze medals have 16 steel balls and make the lowest sound, the silver medals have 20 balls and the golds have 28, producing the loudest noise. All of the medals also have the words 'Rio 2016 Paralympic Games' written on them in Braille.

Summary: Rio 2016 organisers have revealed the medals that will be competed for at this summer's Olympics.


Fraserburgh-born Blake Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859, helped found Mitsubishi, and contributed to the modernisation of Japan. Aberdeen City Council wants to turn Glover House into an "ideas hub". The proposals will go before the council's finance, policy and resources committee on Tuesday. Council leader Jenny Laing said: "Thomas Blake Glover is regarded as the founder of modern Japan and here in the north east we remain very proud of his achievements. "By transforming his family home in the Bridge of Don area into a research and development facility for future industries and technologies, we are potentially developing ideas which will help us diversify our own economy and attract inward investment. "It will also help us cement partnerships with Japanese companies. "Our aim is to use the home of the Scottish Samurai as a springboard to widen our skills base and to encourage innovation as we look to the years beyond North Sea oil and gas." Mitsubishi gifted Glover House to Grampian Regional Council in 1996. The property is now under the control of Aberdeen City Council.

Summary: The Aberdeen family home of the so-called "Scottish Samurai" Thomas Blake Glover could be turned into a £2m research hub.


The distasteful adjective - a favourite of Great British Bake Off presenting duo Mel and Sue - has topped polls in the UK, US and Canada, according to those behind the global survey. Oxford University Press said "no", "Brexit" and "British", joined moist as the UK's four most-despised words. More than 10,000 people have responded to the survey so far. "Moist" - dubbed by comedian Miranda Hart the "queen of all words" - also leads the way in the US, Canada and Australia, also coming second in the poll of Dutch opinion. "No" is least popular in the early running in the Netherlands and Germany, while "love" and "sorry" find the least favour in India. Dan Braddock, from Oxford University Press, said this was the first time Oxford Dictionaries - which focuses on current English usage - had tried such an experiment and "we're not entirely sure what to expect yet". "We thought for a long time about the question to open with, but we decided to go down the negative route," he said. "We thought people were more likely to have strong opinions about a negative subject matter." He said the publisher hoped to collect 30,000 replies by the end of the project. Despite the poll's findings, "moist" does not appear to be universally despised. On Wednesday's edition of The Great British Bake Off, host Mel Giedroyc remarked that it was her "favourite word" as she urged contestants to produce a "sumptuous" drizzle cake.

Summary: "Moist" is the early front-runner in a search to find the most-hated word in the English language.


The annual event sees dancing lions, acrobats and floats parade from Shaftesbury Avenue to Trafalgar Square. The new year, also known as the Spring Festival, is based on the lunar Chinese calendar so it changes each year. Each year is marked by one of 12 animals that appear on the Chinese zodiac. This year is the year of the Rooster. The event in London is said to be one of the biggest outside Asia.

Summary: Thousands of people have taken to the streets of central London to celebrate Chinese New Year.


It has shared details of the mission that led to America's most-wanted man being found five years ago in Pakistan. But reaction has been largely negative, with one Twitter user calling the move "grotesque and embarrassing". Others posted memes and gifs of people rolling their eyes and putting their heads in their hands. The CIA's other tweets mostly concern historical trivia and artefacts. How the lives of Osama Bin Laden's neighbours changed forever Legacy of Bin Laden's death Who was Osama Bin Laden? Bin Laden's death: How it happened Have we been told the truth about Bin Laden's death? The leader of al-Qaeda, who was thought to have ordered the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, was shot dead at a compound in Abbottabad, in May 2011 after evading capture by the US and its allies for nearly a decade. Speaking on the fifth anniversary of his death, CIA director John Brennan said the United States had destroyed a large part of al-Qaeda. Bin Laden had a great symbolic and strategic significance, he told CBS, and it was important to remove the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks. He said removing the head of the self-styled Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, could have a great impact but added that counter-terrorism agencies were confronting not just an organisation but a phenomenon, and the challenge would continue for many years. "I think it has had a resonance, unfortunately, that has appealed to the hearts and souls and minds of individuals who have been misled by their narrative of it being a religious banner," he said.

Summary: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been criticised online for live-tweeting the killing of Osama Bin Laden as if it were happening today.


The polls are currently neck-and-neck between the left-wing Syriza, led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and the right-wing New Democracy, led by Vangelis Meimarakis. The vote was called by Mr Tsipras last month in an attempt to give him a popular mandate following his controversial agreement with European creditors in exchange for a vital third bailout package. However, with any future Greek government now committed to those agreed austerity measures, the main feature of this election is indifference and confusion among the electorate. The elections are also taking place in a climate of economic malaise, with the economy having suffered substantially in the first half of 2015 due to political uncertainty and consumer anticipation of further austerity. This election, organised by a caretaker government, will take place under a closed-list system, meaning individual candidates do not campaign, since the order of preference in constituency lists is determined by party leaders. Under Greek electoral law, 250 of the 300 seats in parliament are allocated, according to proportional representation, to each party that clears a 3% threshold, with the winning party receiving a 50-seat bonus. If all parties running were to clear the threshold, a vote share of about 40% would be needed to gain an outright majority (151 seats). But the share needed for a majority drops according to how many parties fail to enter parliament. Based on previous Greek elections, it is expected that about 10% of votes will go to parties that remain outside parliament, reducing the majority vote share to about 36%. It seems very unlikely that any of the two major parties will manage to cross this threshold. Polls close at 19:00 local time (17:00 BST), after which all major Greek TV stations will broadcast their exit polls. Unless results are very close, it will be safe to gauge the critical aspects of the result (which party comes first, which parties enter parliament, distribution of seats) by about 22:00 local time. When the elections were called, a Syriza majority was not out of the question. However, the party suffered a split following its pro-austerity turn, giving rise to a new anti-austerity party - the Popular Unity (LAE) - which competes with the Communist Party (KKE) for the vote to the left of Syriza. Mr Tsipras, the dominant figure in Greek politics since he came to power, has been tarnished by disagreements with his old comrades, making a further split in his party a possibility after the election. The pro-European centre-left is less fragmented than in recent years, as the party of former Prime Minister George Papandreou will not contest these elections. This leaves PASOK and To Potami as the sole representatives of this camp. The right wing of the political spectrum includes: New Democracy has conducted a much more enthusiastic campaign than many expected and is benefiting from the down-to-earth style of its interim leader, Vangelis Meimarakis. Opinion polls paint an image of a neck-and-neck race. However, most voters who have not declared their intention yet are old Syriza voters and it would be a major surprise were

Summary: The Greek election on 20 September will be the third vote in 2015 (after the general election of January and the referendum in July) and the fifth general election in six years.


It was felt the team, ranked fifth in the world, was not a credible medal challenger for the Tokyo Paralympics. "Since London we have made massive progress and I believe we are good enough to medal in Tokyo," vice-captain Gavin Walker told BBC Radio 5 live. It follows a similar campaign by fencing, which also lost its funding. Wheelchair rugby has been awarded more than £6.3m over the last three Paralympic cycles and while Great Britain have won golds at European level over this time, they have never won a World Championship or Paralympic medal of any colour.

Summary: Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby has launched a fundraising campaign after losing its appeal against the removal of UK Sport funding.


The announcement was made on the official Star Wars Twitter page. Fans will have to wait for more details to be released as the makers of the films are keeping things top secret so nothing gets given away. It is believed the film will focus on what's been going on with Luke Skywalker, one of the biggest characters in the series. The Last Jedi will take place directly after the events of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', which ended with Rey (Daisy Ridley) finding Luke. Will Luke be the last Jedi in the title? But, fans will have to wait until December to find out exactly what this film has in store for Rey, Luke Skywalker and the rest of the rebels. Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released on 15 December 2017.

Summary: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' will be the title of the latest instalment of the popular sci-fi series.


In 2006, a court found them to be the leaders of a group of nine Australians arrested in Bali with more than 18lb (8.3kg) of heroin. Their families say they were rehabilitated while in prison, but Indonesian President Joko Widodo rejected their clemency pleas, saying there can be no compromise on the issue of death sentences for drug traffickers. He has described the drug trade as a scourge that kills up to 50 Indonesians each day, though correspondents say the statistics he used have been called into question. Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency puts the figure at 33 a day. Chan and Sukumaran recruited seven Australians to travel to Bali in 2005 to bring heroin back to Australia. Balinese police swooped on the group after a tip-off from Australian police. Four of the seven mules were arrested at Denpasar airport with heroin strapped to their bodies, while Sukumaran and three others were detained at a Kuta hotel in possession of heroin. Chan, arrested at the airport, was not carrying drugs. Convicting them in February 2006, the court said the pair were guilty of "illegally exporting first-class narcotics in an organised way". It said Chan and Sukumaran had provided money, airline tickets and hotels to the seven mules. "There are no mitigating factors. His statements throughout the trial were convoluted and he did not own up to his actions," Judge Arief Supratman said of Chan. Another judge, Gusti Lanang Dauh, said Sukumaran "showed no remorse". Multiple advocates for the pair said they became very different in jail to the young men sentenced to death by the court. Chan, 31, ran Bible study classes in Bali's Kerobokan jail, while Sukumaran, 33, became a keen artist. The son of restaurant owners, and a former part-time cook, Chan also ran a cooking school in Kerobokan prison. And he featured in a documentary seeking to educate secondary school students about the dangers of drug taking. The film includes a six-page letter written by Chan entitled "Dear Me: The Dangers of Drugs". In it he writes: "Dear Me, when you are older you will be in a Bali prison and you will be executed. This happened to you because you thought taking drugs was cool.... Your family and friends are heart broken... Underneath you are not a bad person." He also addresses young people in the film. "I have missed weddings, funerals, just the simple presence of my family. The hurt and pain that I don't just put onto myself, but my family, is agonising," he says. "My life is a perfect example of an absolute waste. That does not have to be [the case] for you." The director of the film, Malinda Rutter, met Chan in prison and said he was a transformed man. "He's funny, articulate, he is charismatic and has a very caring personality," Ms Rutter told News Limited. She said that his unhappy childhood led him into criminal activity. "He was a really troubled kid and he wanted to be tougher and bigger than the other kids," she said. Chan tells the documentary that he

Summary: Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have been executed in Indonesia for drug-smuggling.


Takata has been hit by a huge recall of faulty and potentially deadly airbags used worldwide by carmakers. It has been linked to 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries. The shares dropped following a report from Bloomberg citing unnamed bidders. Reports emerged last week that Takata was looking for private equity groups and other car part makers as investors to help it with its financial situation. However, on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that several bidders were considering a push for bankruptcy protection instead as it might mean lower repayments to debt holders. The move would mean the company being put under administration so it can be restructured with the help of new investors. Through this process, future investors can be relieved of some of the company's debts and obligations. Takata has paid out $70m (£48m) in fines from US regulators so far over the faulty airbags. In May, the company reported a net loss of 13.1bn yen ($128.7m, £99m) for its financial year ending in March.

Summary: Takata shares have fallen almost 12% after a report that potential bidders are considering bankruptcy proceedings for the company to mitigate their liability following the firm's airbag scandal.


There was an initial outbreak at Weston General Hospital before Christmas and then a fresh outbreak afterwards. Uphill and Berrow wards are now both open and the Ashcombe maternity unit is fully open for expectant mothers. A third ward, Kewstoke remains closed and still has restrictions in place, hospital bosses said. When there was an increase in emergency admissions over the Christmas and new year period, eight out of 12 beds in the maternity unit were used for admissions but now it has returned to being fully used by the maternity unit.

Summary: Two wards at a Somerset hospital have been reopened to admissions after an outbreak of norovirus at the end of December.


Shaw was a team-mate of Croft's in Glamorgan's County Championship winning side of 1997. The 44-year-old will support the seconds and first team as well as the academy squad. "As far as I'm concerned this will always be my club," Shaw said. "There's some good young players coming through, so to build on this and help their development towards the first team is great news." Shaw was previously appointed head coach at the county in 2007 but was subsequently replaced by Matthew Maynard. Former captain Croft, 45, was elevated to the top role after the December departure of Toby Radford. Shaw, who had already been working with Glamorgan's academy youngsters, joins Steve Watkin, David Harrison and Richard Almond in Croft's coaching team.

Summary: Former Glamorgan wicketkeeper Adrian Shaw has joined the Welsh county's coaching team under new head coach Robert Croft.


The Samoa international, 26, moved to the Sharks in January on an initial short-term deal before signing a two-year contract soon after. Iaone predominantly played as a number eight or blindside flanker in New Zealand but has started two Premiership games this season at openside for Sale. "It's a new role for me, I don't really play seven," he told BBC Sport. "From where I'm from I usually play six or eight because sevens back home are a lot fitter than what I am. "For myself I guess I could add another string to my bow saying I can cover seven now." Ioane, who played for the Highlanders in Super Rugby, was given some time off before the start of the season after he played twice in the Rugby World Cup for Samoa. One of the biggest differences Ioane has noticed since his move to England is the preparations before the game. "The boys love their tin here, they love their weights," he added "I've come from a place where weights are part of the week, but it's not overly focused on, here the lads are a lot bigger than what the lads are like back home. "I guess because of the fields and the conditions it becomes a forward-orientated game here so I'm about this same size as some of the academy boys. "If it affected my game then I might have to get bigger, but I like playing at the weight I am - for me the bigger I get the harder it is for me to get around the pitch."

Summary: Sale Sharks forward TJ Ioane is happy with the challenge of adapting to the openside flanker position this season.


It was Englishman Fleetwood's first win since 2013, while Scotland's Jamieson took his maiden title in 2012. The "desert swing" continues at the Qatar Masters on Thursday and Jamieson is one of eight Scots competing. "It's not always going to be the big names that are winning everything," he told BBC Scotland. "You're always going to have the marquee players, but there are a number of other guys who can go and win tournaments. "Four rounds is a long stretch to play good golf for and you've got to manage your game well. If you can keep it together on the day, you're not swinging it as well and still throw in a low round, you're always in with a chance." Jamieson, 33, finished joint-36th in Abu Dhabi, which was the best placing from the seven Scots in action there. That came a month after his tied-fourth finish at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Leopard Creek, South Africa, meaning his 2017 season has got off to an encouraging start. The end of the 2016 European Tour season was a strain for Jamieson, who narrowly kept his card by finishing 107th in the Race to Dubai. "My main goal is to knuckle down early in the year so I can push for bigger and better things as the year goes on," said Jamieson, whose European Tour title came at the Nelson Mandela Championship four years ago. "The last two years for me have been a bit of a struggle compared to my first few years on tour. "Until the last two years I had never experienced that pressure before and it was pretty uncomfortable - it's not something I would like to endure every year." The Qatar Masters is held at Doha Golf Club and the tournament has been running since 1998. It is a par-72 course measuring 7,348 yards, with the par-five ninth hole the longest at 639 yards. South Africa's Branden Grace successfully defended his Qatar Masters title in 2016 to make it two consecutive wins at the tournament, but has opted not to play there this season. Scotland's Paul Lawrie claimed the title in 1999 and 2012, with countryman Andrew Coltart winning the inaugural Qatar Masters in 1998. Yes. Eight of them, including Jamieson and Lawrie. East Kilbride's Marc Warren will aim to build on his promising opening round in Abu Dhabi last week, as will Aberdeen's Richie Ramsay. Cockburnspath's David Drysdale also continues his steady start to the season in Doha, with Linlithgow's Stephen Gallacher aiming to improve on last week by making the cut this time around. Clydebank's Scott Henry is back on the European Tour for 2017 and is in the Qatar Masters field, as is Grantown on Spey's Duncan Stewart. Germany's two-time major champion Martin Kaymer plays in Doha for the first time since 2014 and in-form world number 10 Alex Noren, from Sweden, also features. US Open champion of 2010 - Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell - begins his 2017 European Tour season in Doha. The winner of the Qatar Masters gets a cheque for just

Summary: Scott Jamieson has been heartened by Tommy Fleetwood's triumph at last weekend's Abu Dhabi Championship as he bids for a second European Tour title.


Whitton Primary School, near Knighton, opened in a village barn in 1724, before re-opening as a school house in 1767. The closure is due to low numbers, and the cost per pupil being "significantly above the county average" Powys council said. Residents objected to the closure of the 15-pupil school. The council's cabinet approved the closure in July 2014, but following objections it was referred to Education Minister Huw Lewis, who upheld the decision. Wealthy benefactor Dame Anna Child left her Â£500 fortune to build a school in the "village she loved" after she died in 1703. "She wanted to provide a salary for someone to teach the children in the parish," said Graham Skipworth, chairman of governors for the school. The school is funded by the local authority but is backed up by the Dame Anna Child's Endowed School Trust. The trust raised money from the 147 acres (59 hectares) of farmland surrounding the school which it purchased three centuries ago. Funds raised have been used to support staffing to improve teacher to child ratios, as well as purchasing extra computer suites for the classrooms. Now it will now be used to provide parents of the children leaving with uniforms for their new schools.

Summary: A Powys village school funded by an aristocrat for 291 years will close on Friday.


The Daily Telegraph claimed Black had advised undercover reporters how to bribe officials at other clubs. During an internal investigation, Southampton requested the Telegraph provide them with evidence. In a statement, it said: "There is no evidence of any wrongdoing, as such the club now considers the matter closed." The statement added: "Despite numerous requests to provide the club with any evidence relating to the allegation against Mr Black, none has been forthcoming. " Black, 54, joined the Premier League club in June as assistant to manager Claude Puel. The former Aston Villa caretaker manager and Aberdeen striker denied the allegations.

Summary: Southampton have concluded there is "no evidence" to support allegations of wrongdoing made by a newspaper against its assistant manager Eric Black.


He will now go to prison immediately to serve the five-year term that he was given in March 2014. It will be Mr Anwar's second spell in jail on charges which he has always argued have been politically motivated. Mr Anwar is widely seen as the only man who can break the governing coalition's dominance, correspondents say. "I maintain my innocence. This to me is a fabrication coming from a political conspiracy to stop my political career," Mr Anwar told the court. He told the judges: "You have become partners in crime in the murder of judicial independence," prompting them to get up and walk out of the room, AP news agency reported. Mr Anwar tweeted a statement later in the day, saying he would not be silenced. His daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar, herself a politician, told the BBC that the opposition would hold a meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss "the next course of action". She said she hoped her father's jailing would galvanise both the opposition and the electorate. "I hope Malaysians will wake up... the only way to ensure normal... justice takes place is through the ballot box," she told the BBC World Service's Newsday programme. In this most recent case, Mr Anwar was accused of having sex with a male political aide in 2008. Sodomy is illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia, though very few people are ever prosecuted. He was cleared by a High Court of the charges in 2012 because of a lack of evidence. The government then appealed and his acquittal was overturned. It is Mr Anwar's appeal against this ruling that has now been rejected. The popular politician was previously imprisoned for six years for sodomy and corruption after being ousted as deputy prime minister in 1998. He was freed in 2004 and went on to lead his three-party alliance to unprecedented gains in the 2008 and 2013 elections. In the latter, the ruling Barisan Nasional, which has been in power since 1957, suffered its worst-ever result. Reading the verdict, Judge Arifin Zakat said there was "overwhelming evidence" against Mr Anwar and upheld the conviction. The court subsequently reaffirmed the five-year jail sentence, as a few hundred of Mr Anwar's supporters protested outside. Ahead of the verdict, Mr Anwar, 67, said there was "no reason whatsoever for them to ever consider putting me to jail". "I am innocent," he said. "Now in the event there's a political decision to put me in jail, I understand the system, I've served time in prison... But then this is a price I have to pay." At the scene: Jonathan Head, BBC News, Putrajaya There were tears and hugs for the Malaysian opposition leader from his family after his conviction was confirmed by the Federal Court. He had half expected this verdict, but, at the age of 67, has been dreading it too. For 16 years Anwar Ibrahim has dominated Malaysian opposition politics, and for almost as long he has been fighting the same judicial battle against charges he and most human rights groups have always said were politically-motivated. He

Summary: Malaysia's top court has upheld opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's conviction for sodomy after rejecting his appeal.


The leaks from a secret BND report suggest that its monitoring station at Bad Aibling spied on France's presidential palace and foreign ministry, and the European Commission. The US National Security Agency also allegedly spied on some European firms. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere denies claims of a cover-up. The BND reportedly collected information on European firms at Washington's behest to check if they were breaking trade embargos. According to the reports, the BND did not target German or US officials in the surveillance, as they are protected by a BND-NSA agreement signed in 2002. However, it has emerged that the German government knew about NSA spying on European arms businesses as early as 2008. The government found "shortcomings" in the BND's operations, German TV reports. Minister under pressure - by the BBC's Jenny Hill in Berlin: Yesterday the tabloid newspaper Bild printed a picture of Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere - his nose elongated to Pinocchio proportions. "Herr de Maiziere!" the accompanying headline screamed. "You lie with impunity!" There's outrage here that Germany - for so long seen as the victim of American espionage - may have helped US spies to target other Europeans. And pressure is building on the government to reveal how much it knew. As the former minister in charge of the chancellery, Thomas de Maiziere was directly responsible for Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, in 2008. And that is when, it's claimed, the BND first told the chancellery that its agents were now helping the NSA to spy on European aviation, aerospace and defence companies. Mr de Maiziere has denied all knowledge, and maintains that he hasn't deceived anyone. But he says that - because the information is all classified - he is unable to comment publicly. Yet there are questions about who else was aware. Another German newspaper devoted its front page to a "wanted" poster. Among the mugshots of politicians and civil servants was Chancellor Angela Merkel herself. Spy scandal turns tables on German government Mr de Maiziere denies having had any knowledge of malpractice at German intelligence. But he called for the internal BND report to be presented to a parliamentary committee, "the sooner the better". The huge scale of NSA surveillance in Europe - including joint spying operations with the UK's GCHQ - was revealed in 2013 by US whistleblower Edward Snowden. There was outrage in Germany because of the scope of NSA spying, which allegedly included snooping on Chancellor Merkel's mobile phone conversations. The revelations strained German-US diplomatic ties. Last July Germany expelled a CIA official based at the US embassy, as reports surfaced of several Germans having spied for the NSA. Germany's leftist Die Linke party accused the German government on Wednesday of "lying" in connection with NSA activities. German media reports speak of NSA attempts to spy on Airbus and Eurocopter, now known as Airbus Helicopters, via the BND.

Summary: Germany's national intelligence agency, the BND, spied on top French officials and the EU's headquarters on behalf of US intelligence, German media report.


HMP Birmingham prisoners Demehl Thomas and Moysha Shepherd, both 25, are accused of boasting about drug dealing and violent assaults on rival gang members in the video, police said. The pair are charged with making a sound recording in jail under the 1952 Prison Act. They will appear via video link before magistrates in the city on Thursday. West Midlands Police, which described the video as a "selfie rap", said it believed the prosecution against Thomas, formerly of Vernolds Croft in Highgate, and Shepherd, of Hampstead Road, Handsworth, was the first of its kind. Insp Nick Dale, said the law was intended to "minimise the potential" for a camera or recording device to be used inside prison "and possibly compromise security or pose a threat to the safety of prisoners and staff."

Summary: Two inmates have been charged with making a "selfie" rap video using a mobile phone smuggled into a jail.


The world number three almost holed his approaches to the last two holes to leave tap-ins for birdie and eagle. The Northern Irishman carded 70 and trails Andy Sullivan of England. A fog delay of almost three hours on Friday had seen round two spill into Saturday, when play was again delayed because of mist. "I needed that," said 26-year-old McIlroy, who is on eight under par. "I knew 18 was a good chance and 17 was downwind so I would be going in with a wedge, but I didn't quite expect to do what I did on 18. That was nice. "It glossed over a pretty average round to be fair. But when you are not at your best, to be able to come away with a 70 and keep in touch with the leaders, I'm happy with that." McIlroy, whose 268-yard five-wood approach to the 18th appeared to graze the edge of the hole, added: "I've never had an albatross and my dad's had one or two so that would have been nice." American amateur Bryson DeChambeau finished alongside McIlroy after adding a 72 to his opening 64, with world number five Henrik Stenson part of a seven-strong group on seven under. Rickie Fowler's finish was not quite as spectacular as that of playing partner McIlroy, although the world number six did clatter the flag with his approach to the 16th and also birdied the 18th to finish six under. In contrast, the final member of the group, world number one Jordan Spieth cut a frustrated figure as he finished with five straight pars to card a 73 and finish three under.

Summary: Rory McIlroy is two shots off the lead after a spectacular finish to his second round at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Saturday.


Kervezee, who had just two first-class scalps previously, removed captain Ed Joyce (82), Matt Machan (55) and Luke Wright (21) either side of lunch as the hosts collapsed from 129-1 to 194-5. Spinner Sachithra Senanayake then took 4-50 as Sussex were bowled out for 290. Requiring 247 for victory, the visitors reached 47-0 at stumps with first-innings centurion Richard Oliver on 23. Worcestershire's batsman will be hoping there is no repeat of their second-innings collapse in the defeat against Yorkshire, when they were skittled for just 100, as they search for a first win since their return to Division One of the County Championship. After Charlie Morris had Luke Wells caught at slip by Alex Gidman in just the second over of the day, Joyce and Machan shared a second-wicket stand of 119 as Sussex looked to be taking control. The turning point came just before lunch when off-spinner Kervezee trapped Scotland batsman Machan lbw and then had Wright caught at short leg and Joyce snaffled in the slips as he continued his spell after the interval. Ben Brown (44) and Ashar Zaidi fell either side of the tea break and Sri Lankan Senanayake bamboozled the tail as Sussex lost their last five wickets for just 57 runs. Worcestershire openers Oliver and captain Daryl Mitchell (16 not out) then batted confidently for 14 overs to leave their side needing 200 more for victory on the final day. Worcestershire's Alexei Kervezee: "I must admit it was a surprise when Daryl (Mitchell) asked me to bowl and I was delighted with how it went. "I have tried to bowl a bit quicker and there was some rough to aim for and I'm pretty chuffed to have got Joyce and Wright out - they are not a bad couple of scalps for my first Championship wickets. "All the bowlers contributed then our openers did well to get through that spell before the close so we are in a good place." Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright: "We would have liked to set a few more but we've seen that the odd ball does something out of the ordinary and we've seen throughout the game that wickets do fall in clusters. "We've still got a great chance because the bowlers always feel they are in the game. "I got a ball that popped up off a length which I wasn't expecting and it won't get any easier to bat on the final day."

Summary: Part-time bowler Alexei Kervezee took three wickets for Worcestershire to set up a tense final day against Sussex.