Bridgend County Borough Council apologised following complaints after the new system was introduced on 5 June. But residents said bags of rubbish are still being left on the street by contractor Kier. The council said collections were getting back to normal again. A stream of complaints has continued to appear on social media, with some residents saying rubbish - including bags of nappies - have not been picked up for more than two weeks. Even First Minister Carwyn Jones took to Twitter to complain his collection was late. Gareth Davies, from Brynmenin, said: "It's absolute chaos. We've had loads of delays - at one point there were ripped up bin bags everywhere in the street. "We had the last collection yesterday on time but for some reason they didn't pick up all the purple nappy bags so now they are left out on the street." Stuart Vaughan, from Newton in Porthcawl, said the situation was "ridiculous". "In my street the collection is supposed to be on Friday. They turned up three days late but only picked up from half the houses. "The rest of the street had to wait until the following Friday for their collection." "Recycling has been left out on Porthcawl High Street for the past two weekends," he added. "It's absolutely disgusting. It's a resort - the council should be promoting it not leaving rubbish on the street." The new scheme aims to recycle almost all rubbish, with different coloured sacks for cardboard, paper, plastics and nappies and caddies for glass and food waste. Homes with fewer than five occupants are limited to throwing out two bags of non-recyclable waste every fortnight. But Mr Davies filmed refuse collectors throwing pre-sorted recycling altogether in the back of a bin lorry at a friend's house in the Broadlands area. He said: "Why are they asking people to separate their rubbish but then it all gets chucked in together anyway? It's very frustrating." A spokesman for Bridgend council said: "Kier put a number of short-term measures in place to deal with the backlog and help them get up to speed on collections, including bringing in extra staff and vehicles and working across the weekend. "A few residents questioned why recycling was temporarily collected in some areas using a refuse truck, but Kier had made separate arrangements for this to be re-sorted. "Despite issues experienced in the first few weeks of the scheme, collections are getting back to normal again. "The new system is being carefully monitored and evaluated, and further changes will be made over the next few weeks to ensure that it has bedded in properly and is running efficiently."

Summary: Bridgend's new recycling scheme is still in "absolute chaos" more than three weeks after it was introduced, residents have claimed.


Media playback is not supported on this device The Hartlepool fighter, celebrating her 21st birthday, secured a 17-15 victory. She told BBC Sport: "I was only 12 when I walked into a boxing ring, I loved it ever since and now I'm world champion." Earlier, Nicola Adams had to settle for flyweight silver after being outpointed 14-10 by China's Ren Cancan. This was Savannah Marshall's second successive world final appearance after taking a silver medal as an 18-year-old at Barbados in 2010. Marshall, who had qualified for the Olympics on Friday, nudged 7-5 ahead at the halfway stage but had to hold on through a tough third round when an excellent uppercut from Vystropova gave her a bloody nose. With Marshall still holding her two-point advantage heading into the final round, Vystropova came on strong again but a neat combination in the dying seconds from the Briton helped edge her to an historic win. "It hasn't even sunk in that I'm going to the Olympics yet. It's crazy," Marshall added. Leeds boxer Adams started slowly in her bout against Cancan, who she had also lost to Ren in the 2010 final in Bridgetown, and trailed by two points after the first round. Although Adams enjoyed increasing success with her right hand in the remaining three rounds, Ren scored consistently to stay ahead. The 29-year-old was unhappy with the judges' verdict and told BBC Sport: "I thought the scoring was a bit wrong, but that's boxing for you. " I believe I won it but didn't get the decision." Media playback is not supported on this device The Yorkshire fighter is now aiming for revenge at this summer's London Olympics, having secured her place in the Great Britain Olympic squad by reached the semi-finals in Qinhuangdao. "This hasn't dented my confidence. It's been a great experience and I've had an amazing time," added Adams. "I qualified for the Olympics and that's what I came to do. In London, it'll be on my own turf so the score will be different then. "I'll be going for gold. I'll get a bit fitter and have a bit more technical ability." Women's boxing will feature at the Olympics for the first time at London 2012.

Summary: British middleweight Savannah Marshall won the gold medal at the Women's World Boxing Championships in China, after defeating Azebaijan's Elena Vystropova in the final in Qinhuangdao.


The RMT revealed it had received a legal challenge just hours before the start of a three-day walkout. Southern said in a statement it was "considering all possible options to stop the strike and that includes a legal challenge". Talks aimed at averting the strikes over changes to the role of conductors ended without agreement last week. The RMT said it intended to continue with the planned action but was examining the paperwork. In a message to union members, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "The dispute is not over and the strike action... is definitely on. "Organise the picket lines and protests and continue to show your determination and solidarity in your fight for justice." The strike is due to begin from one minute past midnight on Tuesday, causing fresh travel misery for passengers. In talks last week, the RMT said the train operator had rejected a fresh set of proposals that could have resolved the dispute. But Govia Thameslink CEO Charles Horton said the RMT counter-proposal "didn't come anywhere near our goals of modernising our train service for the benefit of passengers". RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT can confirm the receipt of a formal legal challenge from Southern Rail in the guards safety dispute. "It is appalling that rather than sitting down with us at Acas today to seek a resolution the company has chosen to run to the courts under the cloak of the anti-union laws." On Sunday, it emerged rail staff had been advised by union bosses to accept the new contracts. The RMT said there was "no climb down" but it was their duty to protect staff against mass sackings. A Southern spokesman said: "On Friday they told their conductor members to accept a deal and then tomorrow they plan to strike against it. "It is a situation which will leave our passengers baffled and in that context we are presently considering all possible options to stop the strike. "We have written to the RMT about the validity of the dispute in light of recent developments. "We await their response and will consider all possible options to stop the strike and that includes a legal challenge."

Summary: Southern is taking legal action to try to stop a series of strikes from Tuesday, the RMT transport union said.


The 32-year-old South Korean speaks no less than six of them - Korean, English, French, Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese. And he says he plans to learn more. With such linguistic skills Mr Lee doesn't have much personal need for translation services, but after friends at university in Seoul started asking him for help with their English homework he was inspired to set up just such a company. Launched in September 2012, his business - Flitto - now has more than five million users around the world, and enjoys revenues of about $2.1m (£1.4m) a year. Unlike most professional translation companies, it doesn't directly employ translators. Instead, Flitto invites members of the public who know more than one language to offer their services via its website and mobile phone app. Today it has one million translators in 170 countries on its books, who offer translations between 17 different languages. They all get paid for each piece of work they do, from which Flitto takes a small percentage. In the first feature of new six-part series called "The Making of Me", we look back at key stages in Mr Lee's life and the development of his business. Due to his father's job with a global company, Mr Lee spent most of his childhood living overseas. He was born in Kuwait, where he spent his first four years, before the family then moved to UK. After three years in the UK, the family relocated again, this time to the US, before moving to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia 24 months later. Educated in international schools, he was quick to pick up English, French and Arabic, the first three languages Mr Lee added to his native Korean. "I met all these different people from different countries," he says. "What I realised is that all human beings are the same you know, but because of the different languages we misunderstand each other." After seven years in Saudi Arabia, Mr Lee's family moved back to South Korea where he finished high school, and then went to the country's prestigious Korean University. It was at college that friends of his started to ask him to help them translate their homework into English, which was required as part of their courses. "So friends would say to me, 'Simon, if you translate this homework into English I'm going to buy you dinner'," he says. "And more and more friends were asking me to do that, so I didn't have enough time." Realising the business potential of translation services, Mr Lee started getting other multilingual friends to help out, and his idea for setting up a company was born. Flitto was launched in September 2012, but rather than start the business in South Korea, Mr Lee decided to relocate to London. He said he chose to do this for two main reasons - he wanted to temporarily get away from his friends who had well paid jobs in corporate South Korea, and because London is such a multi-cultural city. He says: "I was starting a business, so I had no money. So what

Summary: It is fair to say that entrepreneur Simon Lee has a flair for languages.


It has told AMs that almost 40,000 hours were "lost" in 2014 because of so-called "handover delays". Its report indicates that is up from around 8,000 hours lost in 2008. The ambulance service's chairman also said its "long-standing and complex problems" were now being tackled. He was giving evidence to the assembly's health committee, as it began a short inquiry into the performance of the ambulance services in Wales in the light of recent concerns about its performance. Any wait longer than 15 minutes to transfer patients into hospital is logged as a handover delay, often caused when emergency unit beds are full. The ambulance service says the delays not only present "risks to patients waiting in vehicles" but are "arguably a greater risk" to patients "in the community". That is because when crews are tied up outside A&E they are not able to respond to other urgent calls, which can mean no ambulances are available. Research by the BBC also suggests the ambulance service in Wales, during a four-month period last autumn, faced consistently longer delays than anywhere in England or Northern Ireland. Between August and November last year the Welsh Ambulance Service reported the longest "average handover time" for 13 weeks of a 16-week period. In 10 weeks out of the 16, the Welsh Ambulance Service also had the longest single delay of any recorded by the 11 ambulance services that provided information. The maximum recorded wait for an ambulance patient in Wales exceeded five hours in three of the weeks. Those delays occurred at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan and Wrexham Maelor Hospital. The report to the assembly's health committee suggests handover delays are contributing to problems the ambulance service is encountering in its response time performance. The most recent statistics published last week showed that only 48.5% of urgent Category A calls received a response within eight minutes in January. The target is 65%. But other factors, the evidence suggests, are at play: Addressing the committee, ambulance service chairman Mick Giannasi listed actions being taken to overcome "long-standing and complex problems", including a "significant" improvement to industrial relations with staff. "We absolutely acknowledge that the performance of the emergency ambulance service in Wales is not acceptable, particularly not in terms of its achievement against the eight-minute response times target," he said. "We accept progress is slow, but we passionately believe now that I think our plans will deliver," he added. Meanwhile, the author of a review into the ambulance service said improvements were taking longer than she wanted. Prof Siobahn McClelland called for major changes when she published her findings, commissioned by the Welsh government, in 2013. She said some of her recommendations were being introduced in an NHS that was a "very complex organisation that is sometimes very slow to change". Before the committee meeting, a Welsh government official commented: "We expect all patient handovers to be completed in order of clinical priority and in a timely manner. "Health boards should take responsibility for reducing lengthy patient handover delays. We continue

Summary: Patients could be at risk because there's been a five-fold increase in delays faced by ambulance crews outside hospitals, according to the Welsh Ambulance Service.


Cambridge Assessment, which owns OCR, hopes for "millions of questions", with the best appearing on exam papers in England within the next five years. OCR would check all questions to see they are of the right standard. But there are concerns these "crowdsourced" exam questions could give some pupils an unfair advantage. Cambridge Assessment research director Tim Oates told the TES: "Really interesting questions which - put to children - encourage them to think hard, to integrate things, to understand things and challenge their ideas a bit, are really important. "We don't think we should necessarily just commission those through asking a limited number of people. "We want to know what questions teachers ask in the classroom and whether they were good for unlocking that bit of thinking or revealed that misconception." Currently, exam papers are drawn up by exam committees made up of teachers with detailed knowledge of each subject. Plans are at an early stage of development and would need to be approved by the exams regulator Ofqual in order to go ahead. However, Mr Oates said: "I can see within three to five years' time we might be able to start doing some work [with crowdsourced questions] in formal examinations." OCR said questions would have to go through technical and tough quality assurance processes before being used in a real exam. The questions submitted by teachers would also be made available to other teachers online through a question bank, so that they could be used in the classroom. School leaders and assessment experts have welcomed the idea of an online question bank for teachers. Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "The only potential weakness I can see in the system is, if I'm sending in questions and using the same questions in preparation for the examination, if they then turn up on the exam paper it advantages those youngsters because they're seeing a question they're familiar with. "You're going to have to find a way of overcoming that." But Mr Oates said schools already guessed exam questions and prepared pupils for likely questions using past papers. He said the "crowdsourcing" approach would not create unfairness because there would be so many questions in the pool that teachers would have little incentive to drill pupils for any particular question. OCR and Cambridge Assessment are already working on a project to crowdsource questions from computing teachers, which will be available to other teachers to use in classroom-based assessments.

Summary: Teachers are to be asked to submit challenging GCSE and A-level exam questions by a key exam board, the Times Educational Supplement reports.


Huw Lewis has set out new guidelines for universities who want to train new teachers in future as part of sweeping reform to the system. In a speech in Cardiff, he announced a new two-year postgraduate course and greater subject specialism for primary school teachers. Mr Lewis has already unveiled plans to extend education degrees to four years. He eventually wants all teachers to be educated to masters level. At the moment some universities work together in three teacher training centres in Wales. But Mr Lewis said he had an open mind and universities outside Wales could end up training students. New guidelines to "transform" the system follow an independent review in 2015 which found quality had "deteriorated". Mr Lewis said it was his last major speaking event as minister "but the agenda does not stop" and was "vital". "We will have a new teaching training system which is of such high quality and unquestioned rigour that it gives individuals a reason, in and of itself, for the very best people to get into teaching in the first place," he added. Mr Lewis said teachers also wanted more professional support and challenge. He said: "I have been clear that we must do more to accelerate improvement in initial teacher education provision across Wales. "This is particularly important as we continue with our programme of radical education reform, focused on driving up standards across the board." The 2015 review of teacher training coincided with a wide-ranging report into education in Wales. Work to alter the curriculum is now under way after the government accepted the recommendations made by the Donaldson review, which will see computer programming and IT become as central to classroom teaching as literacy and numeracy. The review recommended having six areas of learning and replacing the key stage system with a more seamless progression through school. It is expected to be rolled out from 2021. Geraint Davies of the NAS/UWT union gave a cautious welcome to the proposals and said he "fully appreciated the education system of the future will need student teachers of the highest possible calibre". But he said future Welsh governments must ensure that the profession was an "attractive proposition for those students". Conservative Shadow Education Minister Angela Burns said the proposals did not go far enough. She wants a centre for education that will focus solely on initial teacher training and educational research.

Summary: Wales will have the "toughest" and the "best" teacher training system in the UK, the education minister has pledged.


The 48-year-old will work under new director of cricket Jimmy Adams and chairman of selectors Courtney Browne, both former Windies internationals. Law had previously coached Sri Lanka and Bangladesh's national sides. "I am excited at the opportunity to contribute to what I think is an interesting time for West Indies," said Law, who takes over on 15 February. "I think this assignment has come at an important time of my career." West Indies had been without a full-time head coach since Phil Simmons was sacked in September. Having also had time in charge of Bangladesh Premier League side Khulna Titans, Law becomes the third Australian to coach the Windies after Bennett King (2004-07) and John Dyson (2007-09). While he only played one Test in 1995 - scoring 54 not out in his only innings - Law appeared in 54 one-day internationals between 1994 and 1999, and was a losing finalist in the 1996 World Cup. As well as captaining Queensland to their first Sheffield Shield win in 1994-95, he was one of the leading batsmen in English county cricket in long stints with Essex and Lancashire, as well as having a brief spell at Derbyshire at the end of his career.

Summary: West Indies have appointed former Australia batsman Stuart Law as their new coach on a two-year contract.


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

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


Four hundred devices have been purchased, at a cost of Â£1.5m. Body Worn Video Technology, as it's known, is already in place in Derry City and Strabane District. The cameras are clipped on to the top half of an officer's uniform and can provide eight hours of continuous recording. Officers have been trained to tell people when they are being recorded. Supporters of the scheme say the cameras will improve the quality of evidence that police officers can gather. They will be particularly useful in assisting prosecutions in cases of domestic abuse, for example. The roll-out follows on from a pilot scheme in Foyle in 2014-15. Body cameras are routine in other parts of the UK and were first introduced about a decade ago. Studies have found that they dramatically reduced complaints against officers by members of the public, by up to 93% in one case. PSNI Chief Supt Chris Noble said: "Video evidence puts the victims of crime first. "The pilot of this technology in Foyle district evidenced how Body Worn Video has the potential to improve the quality of evidence provided by police officers. It also increases the number of offenders brought to justice. "The introduction of this new technology is the latest example of our commitment to these principles as we continue to work together with the community to keep people safe."

Summary: Police officers in Belfast will wear body cameras while on duty from Wednesday.


The 23-year-old airman, from Dunfermline in Fife, vanished while on a night out with friends in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in September. A bin lorry collected refuse a short time later from the area the RAF Honington gunner was last seen. Suffolk Police said trawling through the landfill site in Milton, near Cambridge, could take up to 10 weeks. Officers will search more than 920 sq m (1,100 sq yd) of waste to a depth of 8m (26ft). LIVE: Updates on this story and other Suffolk news Det Supt Katie Elliott said: "Teams of specialist, search-trained police officers from both Suffolk and Norfolk will be carrying out the work to find anything that may be linked to the investigation. "We need to find Corrie and discover what happened to him. While the search may not provide the answers as to what happened, it is something we need to do as our investigation continues." Steve Gaskin, a former detective with experience of carrying out large-scale searches during his time with the Metropolitan Police, described this latest operation as a "mammoth task". He said officers will need to sift through all the earth that is moved by hand, "because it's not just Corrie they're looking for". It would also be "any other associated evidence", such as his jacket, or "anything that may have come out of his pockets". He said: "They've also got to make sure any forensic evidence that's accrued is treated and dealt with properly... in case there's a criminal case. "There's been a lapse of six months [since Corrie Mckeague went missing] and you can imagine what's on a rubbish dump - birds, rodents - so there's a good chance, with the weather and all the conditions, particularly if he's a number of metres down, that there will be an element of decomposition. "This is a mammoth task and it is analogous, I would say, to looking for a needle in a haystack." Mr Mckeague was last seen at about 03:25 BST on 24 September. Police seized a bin lorry in the early stages of the investigation, but no traces of Mr Mckeague were found in the vehicle and the landfill site was not searched at the time. However, its route appeared to coincide with the movements of Mr Mckeague's phone. Mr Mckeague' mother Nicola Urquhart previously told the BBC: "Common sense suggests that the most likely place Corrie ended up is the landfill site or the incinerator." Some 8,000 tonnes of bulk material has been removed from the site to allow officers to safely access the search area. A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice on 1 March. He has been bailed until 13 April.

Summary: Detectives investigating the disappearance of Corrie Mckeague have started a search of a landfill site.


UN chief Ban Ki-moon told reporters that he had requested his resignation. It comes a day after Amnesty International alleged that a 12-year-old girl was raped by a UN peacekeeper. The 10,000-strong UN force, deployed last year to help restore order in CAR, has also faced allegations of sexually abusing street children. In June, Mr Ban set up an independent review panel to examine the UN's handling of allegations of sexual exploitation. Earlier, the UN had denied allegations it covered up child abuse by French troops also serving in CAR. BBC Africa Live: News updates "I cannot put into words how anguished and angered and ashamed I am by recurrent reports over the years of reports of sex abuse and exploitation by UN forces," Mr Ban said when he announced the resignation of the Senegalese army general. "I will not tolerate any action that causes people to replace trust with fear." The BBC's UN correspondent Nick Bryant says the UN chief also noted that the problem went beyond one conflict and one person. He is convening a special session of the UN Security Council on Thursday to discuss what he called "the scourge of sexual exploitation". Mr Ban will also hold a video-conference call bringing together the force commanders of all the peacekeeping operations around the world to underscore their responsibility to uphold the values of the UN, our correspondent says. The UN mission in CAR is known as Minusca, from its French acronym, and has been headed by Gen Gaye since it took over from a smaller African Union force in September 2014. Unprecedented violence escalated in March 2013 when mainly Muslim rebels seized power and the country descended into ethnic and religious violence, with tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes. This week, Amnesty International also accused UN soldiers of killing a 16-year-old boy and his father during an operation in the capital, Bangui.

Summary: The UN envoy to Central African Republic (CAR), Babacar Gaye, has been sacked amid multiple allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers.


The pair, dressed in Team GB tracksuits and wearing plastic medals, admitted to Sky News they "blagged" their way on to the float and joined the celebrations. The float was carrying Britain's gold medal-winning women's hockey team and athletes from the modern pentathlon. The BOA said: "It didn't spoil anyone's enjoyment of a wonderful event." "We are aware of the matter and are disappointed anyone would want to detract from the athletes' celebration," it added. Four hundred athletes took part in the Manchester celebrations with more 150,000 people lining the streets. A second parade is to take place in Trafalgar Square in London from 13:00 BST after which the athletes will visit Buckingham Palace. Greater Manchester Police said it did not provide security for the floats and had received no reports regarding the incident. Manchester City Council is yet to comment. Team GB set an Olympic record in Rio 2016 by winning 67 medals - two more than they managed at London 2012. The Paralympians also beat their previous performance with 147 medals - 27 more than four years ago.

Summary: Two imposters sneaked on to a float during the celebratory Rio 2016 parade in Manchester, the British Olympic Association (BOA) has confirmed.


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

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


The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill creates police commissioners and changes the balance of power with chief constables. At the heart of the government's proposals is a complete overhaul of the local control of police forces. There are 43 forces for England and Wales and the government says it won't be merging them. Instead, it says it wants to strengthen local democratic control by creating Police and Crime Commissioners for each force. The commissioner will be directly elected and will hold the chief constable to account - meaning they will be able to hire and fire chief constables. According to the legislation, the commissioner's basic duties will be to publish a "police and crime plan", set local police and crime objectives and the budget. The commissioner will also set the amount of the "precept" that their local electors have to pay, the part of police funding collected through the council tax. The chief constable will appoint all other officers and will "retain responsibility for the direction and control of the police force". The police commissioner takes over the responsibilities of the current police authorities - but they will have the additional power of being able to sack a chief constable. Under the current system, chiefs are appointed by the force's police authority in consultation with the Home Office. Each force in England and Wales outside of London will elect a police commissioner in May 2012. The commissioners will be able to hold office for two terms. London is being treated differently because the Metropolitan Police Commissioner is Britain's top police officer with national duties including co-ordinating counter-terrorism. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner is appointed directly by the Home Secretary who has to take the view of the Mayor of London into account. Police Authorities will be scrapped. Instead, they will be replaced by a new body called a policing and crime panel. Police authorities oversee the budget and workings of a force and are comprised of local councillors, magistrates and other independent members. The new panels will scrutinise the work of the commissioner, rather than the chief constable. They will comprise local councillors and other co-opted members. In its original consultation on the future of policing, ministers said they wanted to see the "police family extended" by encouraging more people to volunteer to help out. In the 1950s, there were almost 70,000 Special Constables in the UK. Today, there are about 14,000. The government says it wants a "step change" in the level of volunteering and is also asking people what they think about a new category called police reservists. The government has not spelled out the role of a reservist, what powers they would have, or how that would differ to the specials. Secondly, ministers suggest that local people could take part in "joint patrols with the police, looking out for their neighbours". it's not clear at this stage whether any of thes The other pillar of the proposed reforms is at the opposite end of the policing spectrum and concerns tackling organised crime. The former Labour government created the Serious

Summary: Home Secretary Theresa May has launched major reforms of policing in in England and Wales.


The effervescent flanker has shone in an Edinburgh side swamped by malaise. And Watson proved one of the stars of Scotland's best Six Nations since 2006. "If you're a score down in a Test with 15 minutes to go and need to inject something different, a player like him might work for you," Smith said. "Someone a bit more dynamic, with a huge work-rate, hugely athletic and fast, and could probably play in most positions in the backs and make a reasonable fist of it. "He doesn't fit the mould of a standard back-row. He's not physically massive, but he punches above his weight. "Every time he gets the ball, he does something interesting and he's very good over the ball. "It probably goes to your philosophy when you play New Zealand - how are you going to play? Are you going to play all-out attack or are you going to try and stop them from scoring tries? "Defence is obviously going to be important, but I think we're going to have focus on scoring tries, which I think would probably work in Hamish's favour." Former prop Smith, 45, toured with the storied Lions of 1997, starting all three Tests as the visitors overcame then world champions South Africa. He repeated that feat four years later, cementing his status as the first-choice loose-head when Graham Henry's Lions were beaten 2-1 by Australia. Not since Smith in 2001 has Scotland contributed a starting Test Lion and no more than three Scots have been selected for the initial touring party in two decades. Head coach Warren Gatland will name his squad on Wednesday. "If we got five, I'd be pretty happy," Smith told BBC Scotland. "I think Stuart Hogg's a certainty, he's pencilled in by a lot of people to start the Tests and I think, if he keeps playing the way he has been, there's a good chance that will happen. "I think Jonny Gray is the sort of player that will develop and really come on in a tour and environment like that. "Unfortunately, second-row is such a competitive area this year, but I'd certainly have my fingers crossed for him, brother Richie, or both. "Tommy Seymour's a really good player who week in, week out delivers high-quality performances. "Finn Russell, again, it's a really, really tough position, but you just hope he might squeeze on and be given the chance to show what he's got. "Our back-three is as good as any in the championship with Hogg, Seymour and Sean Maitland, who has worked with Gatland before - there's a mutual respect there and he's playing for one of the top sides in Europe, which I think will help him." Scotland earned home victories over Ireland, Wales and Italy in this year's Six Nations - the first time they have won three championship fixtures in 11 years. Although Vern Cotter's side were dealt a shellacking by England, Smith, who won 61 international caps, hopes their performances this season can swell the Scottish contingent in Gatland's squad. "Sometimes it doesn't add up,"

Summary: Tom Smith, the last Scot to start a British and Irish Lions Test, believes Hamish Watson could provide key and unique attributes on this year's tour of New Zealand.


Construction on the £65m Bontnewydd road was due to start towards the end of this year. The Welsh Government said it rejected suggestions of "huge delays" to the scheme. Orders detailing the project were due to be published in the spring. They are now expected to be made public in August. Arfon AM Sian Gwenllian has said she fears the construction work could be put back by up to a year. "The orders were supposed to have been published at the beginning of this year, and they haven't been, and it's likely that this scheme will not proceed for at least another 12 months," she warned assembly members last week. "I understand that the problem is a dispute as regards what to do about the bats." The six-mile (10km) route will take the new road around the current bottlenecks between Bontnewydd and Caernarfon, linking with the Felinheli bypass. The new road will cross two rivers, and requires seven bridges. A Welsh Government spokesperson said on Tuesday: "In order to assure everyone that the most appropriate environmental mitigation measures are being implemented, some short additional surveys are having to be undertaken in the next few weeks." Officials said they expected construction work to get under way in August or September in 2017. Welsh Government documents had suggested the work should have started by the end of this year. Peter Evans, the protected species officer for Natural Resources Wales, said the route passes close to a special area of conservation. "There are concerns because this is a migration route for animals like the otter and the lesser horseshoe bat, which are protected species," he said. "We are working with the developers at present to get more information about how bats use the land along the route."

Summary: Work on a major bypass in Gwynedd is facing delays as talks continue over protecting wildlife.


For many, it was a historic and poignant moment - topped off when the president posted a note into the wall, as many worshippers do with prayers and supplications. Others, however, were more interested in just what the note said - and the internet quickly flooded with speculation as to its exact content. And while they are certainly not a true reflection of what was written on the note, they certainly raise a few smiles...

Summary: Donald Trump has become the first sitting US president to visit the Western Wall, placing his hand on Judaism's holiest prayer site.


Ibrahim Halawa was 17 when he was arrested during a siege at the Al-Fath mosque in Cairo in 2013. He has been accused, along with more than 400 others, of inciting violence, riot and sabotage. He wrote that his incarceration had taught him to find humanity in everyone and disregard revenge. Mr Halawa wrote to his family and said 22 September should have been the day his parents had lived their lives to see. He had intended to study a degree in engineering. Instead he said he was refused proper medical treatment for severe chest pains and had his head forcibly shaved. "Today while every graduate throws their graduation hat in the sky to come down with the long waiting dream, I don't see the sky," he wrote. "Because I'm enrolled in a different college. "A college I did not know I had applied for when I chose to fight for freedom. A college that kidnapped me from life to teach me the principles of real life. A college full of lessons. A lot of which I have learned in dark mornings and nights." The letter, entitled Graduation Speech, revealed he shares a dormitory cell with 30 others and has a sleeping space just over one foot wide. Mr Halawa told his family he had learned a deep sense of compassion for others during his time in prison and an appreciation of the simple things in life. "In this college I'm obliged to live with a broad diversity of inmates. From presidential consultants and college professors to illiterate criminals which taught me to seek the real human being behind every social rank," he said. "I have learned that absolutism is an invalid way to judge humans, humanity is all about relativism. "It is a college where the hardest subject is 'finding the forgiveness', as I must stay as a freedom fighter and never became a revenge hunter. "Even though after all these years my oppressor is yet not convinced to let me graduate from his prison and go home. While for others it's graduation night out, for me it's graduation lights out." The Halawa family and their lawyers KRW Law have attempted to secure a presidential decree for Mr Halawa's freedom. His case is due back in court on 2 October. Ibrahim's sister Somaia said: "Ibrahim's letter leaves no room for more to be said, however it has been 35 days since the presidential decree of law 140 was submitted for Ibrahim, after three years of campaigning for Ibrahim's freedom this is our biggest hope. "It is time for the Irish government to increase the level of pressure so that decree is as effective as it should be."

Summary: An Irishman jailed in Egypt has written a letter to his family to mark the date he should have graduated from college in Dublin.


The largest dinosaur on show at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham will be the 23m (75ft) Mamenchisaurus, which will be displayed "rearing up on its legs". The massive plant eater would not fit into the hall at full length. In 2011 the museum closed for several days to allow filming for the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises. The museum will reopen on 30 June for the launch of the exhibition. Curator Adam Smith said: "The collection will tell the story of how dinosaurs evolved into the birds and will feature some of the biggest dinosaur skeletons in existence." The fossils, which arrived on Friday after a 50-day journey, will be erected by a team of six specially-trained technicians. The Mamenchisaurus, a planting-eating sauropod similar to a brontosaurus, was found in Sichuan Province in south west China in the 1970s. Some of the 23 exhibits, including the Gigantorapror, a birdlike dinosaur with a toothless beak, are considered "national treasures" in China. The museum and the University of Nottingham have been working with Chinese authorities since 2011 to bring the exhibition to the UK. Once open, the show will run until 29 October.

Summary: A natural history museum has closed to allow a "massive" exhibit of dinosaurs from China to be erected.


With a guide price of Â£125,000 the sale of Ynys Bach includes the attached Ynys Faelog boathouse - with planning permission to rebuild it. But anyone interested in buying the island has been warned they would not be allowed to live on it. It can be accessed through a pedestrian walkway from St Georges Road in Menai Bridge. Agents Dafydd Hardy said it was an opportunity to buy something unique with fantastic views. "It would suit a philanthropist with an interest in marine life or maybe an artist would like to sit there painting the Menai Strait," said Mr Hardy. "I'm looking forward to selling it as it's really interesting." The lot goes under the hammer on 27 June at 17:30 BST at The Anglesey Arms Hotel, Menai Bridge, Anglesey.

Summary: An island in the Menai Strait between Gwynedd and Anglesey is set to go under the hammer.


Michael Birch, 44, was one of 23 people injured in the accident in East Mersea near Colchester, on 23 September. His wife Gemma has told the BBC her husband was "very lucky to be alive". Six people involved in the crash were taken to hospital with serious injuries. Essex Police would not reveal their current condition. Mr Birch has so far had four operations and his wife said it was "too early" to say if he would fully recover, but he was making "good progress". He is still being treated at the Royal London Hospital for injuries sustained after being crushed by the steam engine. Mrs Birch described the moment she first saw him with "pipes and tubes everywhere, it was just horrible". She was told he was "really, really poorly" but doctors were "doing all they could". Two weeks after the crash, she said her husband was "making good progress". "They're happy with him at the minute." Mr Birch has undergone four procedures to repair his bowel, take fragments of glass out of his body and has had reconstructive surgery on his hand. He is conscious but "very tired - just taking each day as it comes", his wife said. He had not really spoken about his injuries, she said, although he was aware of the extent of them. "I don't think he's ready," she added. Asked if her husband would be able to return to his job as a bus driver, she said: "I don't know that. "He's quite a determined person so we'll just have to wait and see. "It's been hard, but we're getting there." A fundraising page set up to help Mr Birch's family has so far raised more than Â£1,200. A 51-year-old Great Yarmouth man arrested after the collision on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving was released on police bail.

Summary: A bus driver who was seriously hurt when a steam engine fell off a lorry into the path of his vehicle remains "really poorly", his wife has said.


Research for the British Polling Council followed the widespread failure to predict May's majority Tory win. Surveys did not accurately sample the UK population, and over-represented Labour voters, it says. The BPC has recommended a series of changes, saying pollsters may wish to randomly select participants in future. It says "probability sampling" may be a more accurate way of gauging voters' intentions than the current practice of recruiting people in advance to take part on the basis of their likely voting habits. The majority of polls taken during the five-week general election campaign indicated the Conservatives and Labour, led by David Cameron and Ed Miliband respectively, were neck-and-neck. This led to speculation that Labour could be the largest party in a hung parliament and could potentially have to rely on SNP support to govern. However the Conservatives secured an overall majority for the first time since 1992, winning 99 more seats than Labour, their 6.5% margin of victory taking nearly all commentators by surprise. The BPC, which represents the major survey bodies and issued an interim report into the findings in January, says the Tory win was not foreseen due to "systemic" errors. The inquiry said unrepresentative sampling was the primary cause for the polling failures. It cited the over-representation of Labour voters and under-representation of Tories, with Conservative voters apparently being harder to reach. There was, it added, an over-reliance on more willing survey respondents and said that too few elderly people being polled could have also played a part. It also said an inaccurate expectation of a hung parliament may have influenced the result of the election itself. The report makes 12 recommendations to the way polls are conducted in future. These include a call for measures to be taken to make sure samples are more representative, and a review into the way in which "don't know" voters are allocated in the results. It says BPC members should state clearly which variables were used to weight data and detail the adjustments made in between polls. BPC president John Curtice said the organisation will look to implement the report's recommendations on transparency but cannot compel members to comply with following a specific type of methodology. But he said the BPC will issue a report ahead of the general election in 2020 detailing how companies have changed their sampling and weighting procedures. "The BPC recognises that simply saying 'well okay, it's all fine, everybody go off and do their own thing' may not be thought of as an adequate response to what happened in 2015," Prof Curtice said. Southampton University professor of research methodology Patrick Sturgis, who chaired the research for the BPC, said the report should not be used to "bash the polls". He said "we still think that the polls are really the only show in town for forecasting election results".

Summary: Opinion polls before the 2015 election were among the most inaccurate since surveying began more than 70 years ago, an industry-wide review has suggested.


The price of US crude was up 56 cents to $44.67 a barrel, helping to lift shares in oil giant Chevron by 1.9%. The Dow Jones rose 229.09 points to 16,600.05, while the S&P 500 added 25.06 points to 1,978.09. The Nasdaq was up by 54.76 points at 4,860.52. Investors are expected to remain cautious ahead of Thursday's Federal Reserve meeting. Analysts are still split over whether the Fed will decide to raise rates for the first time in nine years. The latest economic data showed that US retail sales rose 0.2% last month, which was slightly below forecasts. So-called core retail sales - which exclude cars, fuel, building materials and food services - were up 0.4% in August. Separate figures showed that US manufacturing output fell by 0.5% in August, the sharpest decline since January 2014. The drop was mostly caused by carmakers cutting back production, with car output down 6.4%, the biggest fall for three years.

Summary: (Close): US markets closed higher, with energy stocks leading the way following a rise in the price of oil.


The National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures showed an increase of 31,700 (0.6%) people over the year to the end of June 2016. It said the increase was due to migration, with 31,700 more people moving to Scotland than leaving. The number of deaths exceeded births by 800, while other changes resulted in an increase of 800 people. These other changes included variations in the prison population and in the number of armed forces personnel stationed in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate figures for 2016 show: Scotland's population has increased by 6% since 1996 (when it was 5,092,190)

Summary: Scotland's population continued to increase last year, rising to a record 5,404,700.


Dhanuson Dharmasena, 32, is accused of carrying out the illegal procedure at the Whittington Hospital in north London. The doctor, of Ilford, London, denies the charge in what is the first prosecution of its kind in the UK. A second man, Hasan Mohamed, 41, denies encouraging and abetting the offence. Female genital mutilation, often abbreviated to FGM and also known as female circumcision, involves procedures that include the partial or total removal of the external female genital organs for cultural or other non-medical reasons. It is practised in 29 countries in Africa and some countries in Asia and the Middle East, but is illegal in the UK. Carrying out female genital mutilation carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. The mother-of-two, who cannot be identified, first underwent FGM aged six in Somalia, London's Southwark Crown Court heard. She was 24 and living in Britain when she give birth to her first child in November 2012. The court heard that during labour, her FGM stitches were torn and Dr Dharmasena, a junior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology, sewed her back up in a procedure that amounted to FGM. The prosecution alleges the doctor did so at Mr Mohamed's "insistence or encouragement". Kate Bex, prosecuting, told jurors that FGM was "very dangerous for a woman's health and psychological well-being". "It can lead to severe health problems and, in some cases, to death. FGM causes gynaecological, urological and obstetric problems in women, chronic pain and sexual dysfunction," she said. "It increases the risk of death in childbirth to both mother and baby." Jurors heard the woman would have been most exposed to these side-effects when the surgery was first performed when she was six. Dr Dharmasena's stitches would not have carried the same risks, but should not have been sewn at all "unless medically necessary", Ms Bex said. The hospital trust launched an investigation into the incident within a few weeks. In a statement, Dr Dharmasena said he had carried out the procedure because he thought the woman wanted him to. He also said Mr Mohamed had urged him to do so. He said: "At no point in time did I intentionally or deliberately want to cause any harm to the patient. I had obeyed all of the patient's wishes." But jurors were told he had changed his justification when he was interviewed by police in August 2013. Ms Bex said: "It would seem that Dr Dharmasena had familiarised himself with the law and you may feel that he changed tack as a result." Ten months after the operation, he raised the possibility that it had been "medically justified", she told the court. Dr Dharmasena denies one count of female genital mutilation. Mr Mohamed denies one count of aiding or abetting the procedure, and one count of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence. The trial continues.

Summary: A British doctor performed female genital mutilation on a young mother after she gave birth in hospital, a court has heard.


If given the go-ahead, new premises would be built at the police headquarters site in Ripley. Both organisations said the move would enable them to work better together and be more effective. The costs would be met from police capital reserves and from the sale of the old fire service headquarters. "Two of the current buildings on the site are more than 40-years-old and have increasing maintenance and heating costs," said police and crime commissioner Alan Charles. "We have looked at all the options from repair and refurbishment to new build and it is clear that over the lifetime of the building the new build represents best value for the taxpayer. "At the same time we are seeking to undertake a collaborative building project with the fire and rescue service, which will reduce costs still further." He added: "Importantly, we are able to fund this from our capital reserves and it will not impact negatively on our current resources for frontline policing." Other buildings will remain on the site. The fire service said its share of the costs would be largely met through the sale of its 19th Century building in Littleover. Additional funding would be sought from government transformation grants for "joint blue light" schemes.

Summary: The police and fire service in Derbyshire are considering plans to share headquarters in a bid to improve working practices and save money.


The X-Men star unveiled a plaque at the University of Huddersfield and watched a performance devised by drama students. The site was previously known as the Milton building and is a Victorian former church. The actor was born in nearby Mirfield, and was the university's chancellor for more than 10 years. Sir Patrick said he was "very proud" of the honour. The classically trained actor, known for his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men films is currently on tour alongside fellow actor and friend Sir Ian McKellen in Harold Pinter's play No Man's Land. Other university buildings have been named after local historical figures such as factory reformer Richard Oastler and the BrontÃ«s.

Summary: Actor Sir Patrick Stewart has had a university building housing a drama department named after him.


The 33-year-old will move to Australia after helping Chiefs win the Premiership title for the first time by beating Wasps 23-20. He is expected to have a spell in Japan with an as yet unnamed Top League side before joining Melbourne in January. Parling won 29 England caps and also played three Tests for the British and Irish Lions in Australia in 2013. Find out how to get into rugby union with our special guide. "I'm excited about the opportunity to test myself in the Southern Hemisphere," he said. "Hopefully I can add value to the Rebels, and help the team continue the great growth and profile of rugby in Victoria." Parling began his career with Newcastle Falcons, and also had a six-year spell with Leicester Tigers where he won two Premiership titles, before joining Exeter in 2015. "Geoff's signing is a strategic recruitment for the club as we look to evolve our squad and program for 2018 and beyond," Rebels chief executive Baden Stephenson told the club website. "Geoff boasts a wealth of international and domestic experience in successful rugby programs so he will contribute to the strong leadership at the club, along with his world class lineout skills and hard running qualities which will complement our squad."

Summary: Exeter Chiefs lock Geoff Parling has signed to play for Super Rugby side Melbourne Rebels for the 2018 season.


The fourth seed lost 10-6 to qualifier Michael Holt on Tuesday, becoming the fifth former champion to lose in the first round at the Crucible this year. But Robertson, who won the UK Championship in December, said: "The season's been fantastic. "I played great in the Masters, I played great in the Welsh Open - even at the China Open." The 34-year-old added: "It's probably the best match I've played all season and got beat." Robertson beat Liang Wenbo to win the UK Championship and then reached the final of the Welsh Open, losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Also this season, the Cambridge-based Australian was edged out by Judd Trump in a classic quarter-final at the Masters, but won the Champion of Champions event. Media playback is not supported on this device Robertson said he had played some of his best snooker leading up to his Crucible defeat, which he put down to a run of misfortune. "I said coming into the World Championship that it's probably the best season I've had to date," the 2010 world champion said. "I've played really well, but snooker's a funny game. It's very frustrating when you don't always get the right kind of rub - you watch tennis and know if you play better than the other guy, you win. "But that's the game we play. It can create mini-upsets. I suppose if it was the top four players in the world getting to the semis, it'd be pretty boring." Robertson continued: "Michael played a great match - nothing really went right for me. "He's got to take credit for taking advantage, because even though he's coming to the table and the balls are all there, he still has to pot them." Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app.

Summary: Neil Robertson still feels he has had the best season of his career, despite a surprise World Championship exit.


The Ports had their drop out of the top division confirmed on Tuesday night when they lost 3-2 away to Ards. The club had been bottom of the table all season after having 12 points deducted in a disciplinary case. "The Premiership has lost one of its biggest clubs," said Currie who took over as Portadown manager in December. The last time the Ports dropped out of the top division was in 2008 and was the result of an administrative blunder as they were too late in applying for a place in the new Premier League. As well as losing 12 points before this season kicked-off, Portadown's first match of the campaign was awarded to Coleraine without being played as the Ports were suspended for not paying a fine. That fine had been imposed after the County Armagh club was found guilty of making undisclosed payments to players. They were also barred from signing professional payers until June 2017. Then in November the Shamrock Park club lost three more points for including midfielder Robert Garrett in a 3-1 win over Ards when he was suspended. "The killer for me when I came to the club was not being able to sign pro players in January," said manager Currie. "This club is still attractive to a number of players and we could have brought in four or five top players. "We will get over it and move on. We will regroup and rebuild again. The club is coming together and there are going to be good times ahead. "It has been difficult, throwing kids in at 15, 16 years of age and that is not ideal. But we have consistently had a number of players unavailable. "Next season, we are going to be the big fish in the Championship and will be the cup final for the other teams. "It is a tough league to win and we have got to get the right characters with the right mentality into the club." Media playback is not supported on this device

Summary: Niall Currie has described the relegation of Portadown from the Premiership as a sad night for Irish League football.


Talks broke up on Thursday after the Democratic Unionist leader Peter Robinson stood aside and his other party ministers, except one, resigned from the executive. The latest crisis followed a police analysis that IRA members were involved in the murder of a former IRA man. Three senior republicans were arrested this week and subsequently released. Mr Cameron said he was "extremely worried" about the crisis in the Northern Ireland Executive. "I don't think it's right for the British government to step in and suspend these institutions. I want to see the politicians of Northern Ireland ... working out how to make these institutions work," he said. "It is unacceptable in any part of our country to have active paramilitary groups. They have to be disbanded, and disbanded on all sides." Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said there are six weeks to resolve the outstanding difficulties in the political process and said Sinn Féin was up for the job. Speaking at a party away-day at Gormanstown, County Meath, he said the last thing the DUP wanted now was an election. He added that he had it in his power to force a poll, but he would not do so because he wanted the six weeks to see a resolution of all outstanding problems. Who's who Northern Ireland Executive: The ministerial team that runs Northern Ireland's devolved government at Stormont. It is made up of British unionist, Irish nationalist and cross-community elected representatives, set up after an historic power-sharing agreement more than 20 years ago. The largest party in the executive is the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), followed by Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party. DUP and UUP: Unionist parties that want to maintain Northern Ireland's union with Britain Sinn Féin and SDLP: Nationalist parties aspiring to a united Ireland. Alliance Party: Neutral on the issue of the union. The Irish Republican Army (IRA): The IRA has existed in various forms in Ireland since the early part of the 20th Century but the latest political row concerns the Provisional IRA. The Provisional IRA was the name used by a paramilitary organisation that killed more than 1,700 people during decades of violence in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles, which began in 1969. The IRA declared ceasefires as part of the Northern Ireland peace process and in July 2005 it announced a formal end to its armed campaign. During the Troubles, Sinn Féin acted as the political wing of the IRA. A fresh round of talks to address the issue of paramilitaries and outstanding issues around welfare and Northern Ireland's budget began on Tuesday. However, they broke down after it was revealed that Sinn Féin's northern chairman, Bobby Storey, was one of three republicans arrested in connection with the murder of ex-IRA man Kevin McGuigan Snr last month. All three were released unconditionally on Thursday. A fourth person, a 50-year-old woman was also arrested and then released. Following the arrests, DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson said his ministers would quit

Summary: Prime Minister David Cameron has said he expects all the parties to take part when discussions on resolving the crisis within the Northern Ireland power-sharing executive resume next week.


Gen Martin Dempsey said the "vast majority" of documents taken by the ex-NSA contractor were military-related. Since last year, news organisations have published dozens of stories based on the leaked intelligence documents. Mr Snowden faces spying charges in the US but has been given asylum in Russia. Gen Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told the House armed services committee on Thursday that a mitigation task force had been established to investigate the extent of Mr Snowden's theft and to determine how to overcome it. "We're working our way through that which we believe he has exfiltrated," Gen Dempsey said. "And we have, I think, a fairly significant amount of knowledge in that regard. "The vast majority of [the pilfered documents] were related to our military capabilities, operations, tactics, techniques and procedures." Gen Dempsey said the "magnitude of this challenge" suggested the task force would need to run for about two years. "I suspect it could cost billions of dollars to overcome the loss of security that has been imposed on us," he said. Mr Snowden, a former technical contractor for the National Security Agency who fled from the US in June, faces espionage charges in the US.

Summary: It will take the US two years and possibly billions of dollars to overcome the harm done by Edward Snowden's intelligence leaks, the top-ranking US military officer has said.


Essex-based E2V created the imaging detectors used on the New Horizons probe in its historic flyby. Chief engineer David Morris said the firm's two detectors would send back both colour and black and white images. He said: "It will continue taking more images for the next couple of weeks, looking back at Pluto as it recedes." One of the images to come back has shown an area of icy mountains on Pluto. "These were completely unexpected for Pluto, which was why you heard all the 'oohs and ahhs' in the background from NASA. "It was anticipated it would be icy, it was anticipated that it would be quite smooth with some craters but the formation of what are mountains was quite unexpected." He said: "There was a certain nervousness that it could all have been for nothing. "Getting the timing right and the image timing right was going to be crucial. It worked. I was excited and, of course, quite relieved. And very proud." The team has had a 10-year wait to the see the results of their efforts. Dr Paul Jerram, chief image sensor engineer at E2V, said: "To see that they have worked after their nine-and-a-half-year journey and have produced images that are way beyond anybody's expectations is amazing." Mike Culley, of Southend Planitarium, said: "Pluto has been this distant tiny little dot and we've now got these incredible pictures. "It has turned from a blob into a real world."

Summary: An engineer involved in the sensors for the space probe launched to study Pluto has told of the "nervous" wait for the first images to come back.


Their new contracts coincide with the duration of Mercedes' own current commitment to F1. In common with the rest of the teams, Mercedes will begin negotiations for beyond 2020 with new owner Liberty Media during this year. Wolff retains his 30% shareholding in the team and Lauda his 10% stake. Team boss Wolff joined Mercedes from Williams in February 2013, and Lauda took up his position in late 2012. The deals conclude a busy winter of off-track activity for Mercedes, who have dominated the sport since the advent of turbo hybrid engines in 2014 with three consecutive world title doubles. Mercedes have signed Valtteri Bottas as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate this season, with the Finn replacing world champion Nico Rosberg, who announced his retirement five days after winning the title last November. Executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe is on gardening leave before his departure from Mercedes and is to join Williams in the coming weeks. Lowe's position as technical boss has been taken by James Allison, who has been given the title technical director, a new role within the team as part of a slight re-alignment of responsibility at the head of the company. Wolff has run the team with Lowe as his right-hand man since the departure of former team principal Ross Brawn at the end of 2013. Dieter Zetsche, the chairman and chief executive officer of Mercedes' parent company Daimler, said: "In 2013, we restructured the management of the team with the clear goal of improving our performance. "Since then, however, the results have exceeded our expectations. A key factor in this success has been the combination of Toto's entrepreneurial skills and Niki's experience. "Their renewed commitment gives our programme important continuity for the next four years." F1 has introduced major regulation changes for this season in an attempt to make the cars faster and more dramatic - and to give the sport greater appeal. The cars are wider with bigger tyres and are expected to be between three and five seconds a lap faster than in 2016. Mercedes' new F1 car will be revealed to the public on Thursday, before the start of pre-season testing three days later. The first 2017 car to be unveiled will be that of Swiss team Sauber on Monday, followed by the Renault on Tuesday, Force India on Wednesday and Ferrari, McLaren and Williams on Friday.

Summary: Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff and non-executive chairman Niki Lauda have signed new deals to stay with the team until the end of 2020.


Mr Clark heads up the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He was also appointed President of the Board of Trade before officials realised International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, should hold the title. Mr Clark lasted just four days in the historic role. Once officials realised the mistake, Mr Fox was formally appointed to the position at a meeting of the Privy Council. A Whitehall source said: "The appointment was an error. The Privy Council meeting was held very quickly after the reshuffle and the final list of ministerial responsibilities had not been produced. The appointment was therefore corrected at the first opportunity." The mistaken appointment was made days three days before Mrs May told Parliament in a written statement that Mr Fox's new department would "take on the responsibilities of UK Trade and Investment (and) the relevant trade functions of the former Department for Business Innovation and Skills". The Board of Trade - which is still formally named "The Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations" - was established in the 17th Century by the King as a rival to Parliament to manage British trade, particularly in the American colonial plantations. William Pitt created the job of president in 1786. After the board was folded into the modern-day Department of Trade and Industry in 1970, the historic board has met only once, in 1986, to mark its 200th anniversary. Lord Heseltine chose to be known as President of the Board of Trade when he was appointed to John Major's cabinet in 1992, instead of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Summary: Cabinet minister Greg Clark was given the wrong job by mistake during the appointment of Theresa May's new government.


The 14-time Grand Slam title winner will therefore miss November's ATP World Tour Finals in London. Nadal, 28, made his announcement after losing 6-2 7-6 (7-4) to Croatian teenager Borna Coric in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors on Friday. "I'm not going to Paris and London - I'm not competitive enough," the nine-time French Open champion said. "I am going to have surgery on 3 November." Nadal had already qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals event, so the Spaniard's withdrawal means the player ranked ninth in the final ATP Race to London rankings will make it through to the season-ending event at the O2 in Greenwich. Britain's Andy Murray will compete in next week's Paris Masters, which is the final ranking event of the season. The Scot, 27, currently lies in eighth position in the Race to London standings. The Swiss Indoors in Basel was just the third tournament Nadal had played since Wimbledon following a wrist injury, and he revealed earlier this month that he was on a course of antibiotics for his appendix. Coric, 17, showed no fear as he raced into a 5-0 lead against a wayward Nadal and held his nerve to secure a stunning victory. Coric learned his tennis travelling between Zagreb and north London under the guidance of British coach Ryan Jones, although the pair have gone their separate ways in recent days. The Croat goes on to face Belgian David Goffin in the semi-finals, with Ivo Karlovic up against Roger Federer, who beat Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7-4) 6-2.

Summary: Rafael Nadal has confirmed he will not play again this season and says he will undergo appendix surgery next month.


Melvyn Marcel was appealing against the decision, made by a judge earlier this year, that burials should be organised for his mum Hilda and his dad Eugenios. However, appeal judges at the Court of Session rejected his argument. Eugenios and Hilda Marcel's bodies were found in a former fishmonger shop in 2002. In February, councillors gained permission from Lord Mullholand to arrange a burial for the couple. Mr Marcel wanted to build a fridge at his Edinburgh home then plans to build a private mausoleum in the grounds of his property. He eventually planed to take his parents' bodies to be buried in the West Bank in the Middle East. The council argued they had a statutory duty to dispose of the bodies. On Friday, Mr Marcel told the court Lord Mulholland's decision was wrong. He told judges Lord Carloway, Lord Brodie and Lady Clark of Calton: "I'm fighting for justice but nobody's helping me." Mrs Marcel died in 1987 from lung cancer whilst her husband passed away from prostate cancer aged 91 in 1994. Their bodies were embalmed and a relative regularly visited them at the shop in Polwarth. Police discovered Mr and Mrs Marcel's bodies during an investigation into alleged fraud at a funeral home in West Lothian. It was claimed that staff at the Broxburn undertakers had been paid to preserve the remains and four employees were sacked. However, none of those who were allegedly involved in the fraud were charged or prosecuted for any offence. Since then the Marcels' bodies have been stored at Edinburgh City Council's mortuary with officials unable to find them a more suitable resting place without the consent of the family. Giving the appeal court's decision, Lord Carloway said that Lord Mulholland's decision was legally correct. He added: "No valid defence has been established in this action. "It is the court's decision to adhere to the Lord Ordinary's interlocutor."

Summary: The son of a couple whose bodies have spent almost 15 years in an Edinburgh mortuary has lost a legal bid to stop the council arranging their funerals.


The action will take place on 25 January and 1 February and affect Neath Port Talbot Hospital, Morriston in Swansea and Princess of Wales in Bridgend. Unison said non-emergency surgery was "likely to be severely disrupted". The health board said it was fully committed to resolving concerns. Unison said affected members at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board wanted "pay parity with colleagues doing the same job in other hospitals in Wales". Earlier this month, 54 staff members voted in favour of taking the industrial action, with two voting no, the turnout for the ballot was 78.9%. Mark Turner, Unison organiser for ABMU, added: "They are highly skilled technicians of many years training yet are treated as though they have just walked in off the street. "They are extremely disappointed that after two years of discussions the health board continues to ignore their very reasonable claim in the hope they will go away." The health board said all staff were valued and it had been working with the trade union to develop a new job description. The board said the current service needed a workforce with a mixture of skills at different bands. "We are sorry our continuing discussions with Unison have not been able to resolve our staff's concerns," a spokesman added. "We remain fully committed to continuing our partnership work with Unison to resolve these concerns and have offered to involve ACAS to assist with this issue. "In the meantime, we would like to reassure patients should strike action go ahead we will be working to ensure any disruption to services are minimal." A similar dispute involving X-ray department workers has been resolved.

Summary: Staff in the sterilisation and disinfection units at some hospitals in south Wales will go on strike for two days over equal pay.


The former Scottish first minister will be in the Belgian capital to collect the first Coppieters Award. A spokesman for Mr Salmond said last week that he would meet Mr Juncker ahead of the awards ceremony. It comes as the Scottish government prepares to publish its proposals for keeping Scotland in the single market after Brexit. Mr Salmond's successor as first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon met Mr Juncker in Brussels in June. Speaking at the time, Mr Juncker said Scotland had "won the right to be heard in Brussels" and that he would listen carefully to what Ms Sturgeon had to say. But he stressed that he would not "interfere in an inner British process". The request for a meeting with Mr Juncker was made by Mr Salmond, who will receive the Coppieters Award in recognition of his "dedication and advocacy for Scotland's right to redefine its political future among a European family of nations". The Scottish government is exploring potential options for keeping Scotland in the European single market even if the UK as a whole leaves, with its proposals expected to be published next week. The EU has previously said it will only negotiate a deal with the UK government once Article 50 is triggered and the formal process of leaving the EU begins. The UK Chancellor, Philip Hammond, said earlier this month that a special Brexit deal for Scotland was "not realistic". He also said he wanted to work closely with the Scottish government and the other devolved administrations in order to "secure the best possible deal" for all parts of the UK.

Summary: Alex Salmond is expected to meet European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels later.


Crews have been tackling the smouldering fires involving 3,000 tonnes of woodchip at South Wales Wood Recycling in Coity since last Monday. Public health officials had advised nearby residents to keep doors and windows closed while the fire was burning. The fire service said it was continuing to liaise with on-site management. South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said Natural Resources Wales officials were also monitoring the situation.

Summary: A blaze at a wood recycling centre in Bridgend has finally been extinguished after burning for nearly a week.


State-owned Chinese insurer PICC Property and Casualty Company is buying the shares. Deutsche announced earlier this year it would sell the stake as part of a plan to bolster its finances. "As we execute on Deutsche Bank's strategic agenda, now is the right time for us to sell this investment," said chief executive John Cryan. In October, the bank said it would be cutting 15,000 jobs and selling various businesses as it looked to stem losses. Deutsche posted a â‚¬6bn (Â£4.4bn) loss for the third quarter.

Summary: Deutsche Bank has agreed a deal to sell its 20% stake in China's Hua Xia Bank for up to 25.7bn yuan ($4bn).


It's a move being breathlessly described by some as the US "giving up the internet" to the likes of China, Russia and the Middle East. It’s the weekend, so if you’re keen to save yourself several hundred words and get on with whatever you like to do with your free time, then here we go: No, the US hasn’t given away the internet. Don’t be absurd. The long answer, naturally, is more complicated than that - and one mired in mistrust of one of the internet’s key organisations, the detail of which I’ll dig into in a moment. Let’s start with the basics. For starters, while they can take the credit for inventing the underlying technology, the US never “had the internet” to begin with. Nobody did. It’s a, duh, network. Decentralised. That’s what makes it so powerful. But there are bits of internet infrastructure that some people and governments do have control over, and that’s what this row is all about. One of them is the DNS - Domain Name System. This is the system for looking after web addresses. Thanks to the DNS, when you type bbc.com, you’re taken to the correct servers for the BBC website. It saves you the grief of having to remember a string of numbers. That pairing of names and numbers is kept in one great big master file, the land registry of the web. The only organisation that can make changes is Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. As of Saturday 1 October 2016, Icann will no longer be under US government oversight. Instead, it’s now a fully “multi-stakeholder” non-profit that will take on board the views of companies, experts, academics and, yes, nation states, in how the naming system of the web is run. Here’s a crucial bit: as a user of the internet, you won’t notice any difference whatsoever. And that’s because Icann isn’t a new entity. It’s been doing precisely this job since 1998 before the vast majority of us were even online. The switch ends a transition that has essentially been in the works for around two decades, removing a dominate power the US had by circumstance rather than intention, and one which was causing friction in the international community. Back when there were only a handful of websites, a man named Jon Postel - nicknamed “god of the internet” - was in control of DNS. His task was assigning the easy-to-remember names to those bothersome numbers. It was a crucial step in accelerating the popularity of the world wide web. When it became clear this was clearly not a job for one man, however godly, a new body was set up to take over the task. They called it the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, IANA. In 1998, control of IANA was given to the newly-formed Icann. It was given the power over internet naming globally. Experts saw Icann as a good blend of interests and expertise. One which they felt would keep the internet as open and useful as possible. One quirk of this set-up, though,

Summary: A judge in Texas has put the kibosh on a last-minute legal attempt to block the controversial decision for the US to give up control of one of the key systems that powers the internet.


Two adult night herons and two recently fledged juveniles were photographed at a Somerset reserve by Graham Hall. Mr Hall said he photographed the two birds from half a mile away to test his camera and was "blown away" when he realised they were night herons. Somerset Wildlife Trust said it showed for the first time in recorded history that night herons have bred in the UK. Black-crowned night herons are rare in the south of England, according to experts, with only around a dozen spotted in Somerset since the 1800s. It is thought the adults either bred at the Somerset Wildlife Trust's Westhay Moor national nature reserve or the nearby Avalon Marshes site. Mr Graham was getting ready to pack up at the reserve when his friend pointed out two birds roosting half a mile away in a tree. "I thought that would be an interesting shot and a challenge for the camera," he added. "We thought they were bitterns but when I zoomed in - blow me - they weren't bitterns. "I've never seen a night heron in the wild before and two birds together can only mean one thing." Kevin Rylands, RSPB conservationist officer, said: "They are a native bird and in the past there have been some free-flying night herons around Edinburgh Zoo. "But they have never bred here before in the wild so this is a first." Roger Dickey, from the Somerset Ornithological Society, said it was "terribly exciting news". "Night herons are one of southern England's rarer summer visitors. "That they have decided to breed here for the first time on record confirms the Avalon Marshes' significance as one of the UK's most important breeding areas."

Summary: A pair of nocturnal herons has bred in the wild in the UK for the first time, conservationists have revealed.


It has launched a plan to update and co-ordinate national tax laws. There was criticism in the UK earlier this year when it emerged that Google, Starbucks and Amazon paid little tax despite having big UK operations. Following that criticism Starbucks agreed to pay more tax. The OECD came up with the plan at the request of the G20 group of leading nations. Finance ministers from the G20 are meeting in Moscow. OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said: "International tax rules, many of them dating from the 1920s, ensure that businesses don't pay taxes in two countries - double taxation. By Andrew WalkerBBC World Service Economics correspondent It's a plan to produce a plan. At a time when there's much controversy about corporate tax, the OECD has certainly succeeded in grabbing the headlines. But will it produce any real results? There is significant political support for the idea of a crackdown on tax evasion and avoidance. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and several other European finance ministers have been pushing this agenda. In the United States there is political capital to be earned by being tough on multinationals. Nonetheless, the OECD still has to come up with the detailed proposals and then governments have to choose to implement them. Some probably will be co-operative. But the OECD has no power to compel those who are not. "This is laudable, but unfortunately these rules are now being abused to permit double non-taxation." It is calling for greater international co-operation to close gaps that allows income to "disappear" for tax purposes. The OECD also said that tax income should reflect the economic activity it generates. That would address some of the criticism aimed at big companies. Earlier this year, Google was fiercely criticised by UK MPs for routing Â£3.2bn of UK sales through Dublin and paying little tax as a result. Starbucks has been questioned for transferring money to a Dutch sister company in royalty payments. And Apple's chief executive Tim Cook was questioned by US lawmakers about the billions of dollars his company keeps in its Irish divisions. The companies point out that these schemes are legal and they have a duty to their shareholders to minimise their tax bills. British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "delighted" the OECD had produced the report. "Taxpayers, governments and businesses all suffer when some companies manipulate the tax system to avoid paying their fair share of taxes," he said. The OECD hopes its recommendations will be put into action over the next two years and is working on an international legal structure that would help countries introduce the new rules quickly. "Multinationals still have not grasped that tax honesty is an integral part of corporate responsibility," said Florian Wettstein, professor of business ethics at the University of St. Gallen, based in Switzerland. "As a result, the public increasingly perceives them as hypocritical and untrustworthy." Campaigners say that aggressive tax policies are particularly hard on poorer nations, who need all the tax revenue they can generate. ActionAid tax campaigns manager Chris Jordan said:

Summary: Existing tax rules need updating as they can be "abused" by multinational companies, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).


The 25-year-old will join the Women's Super League One club following this summer's European Championships, for which Belgium have qualified. The former FC Twente forward has scored four goals in 26 international games. "Yana was brought to my attention after recently playing against Scotland," head coach Willie Kirk told the club website. "Her style of play suits us and she is a big personality."

Summary: Bristol City Women have signed Belgium striker Yana Daniels from Anderlecht.


The horse got stuck in the mud near the River Windrush, close to Willow Farm in Witney, Oxfordshire, at about 08:47 BST on Saturday. Up to 10 firefighters helped with the rescue operation using specialist animal rescue equipment. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue said the horse was freed without injury with the assistance of a vet and the owner. For more stories of pets and animals being rescued follow us on Pinterest

Summary: A horse which was trapped in mud on a riverbank had to be rescued by firefighters.


Sajjad Ahmad, 37, was the driver of a Mercedes which was involved in a collision with a van between Polmont and Linlithgow on Friday evening. His death on Tuesday followed his wife, Saadia, 37, who died at the scene and their nine-year-old daughter, Ayesha, who died in hospital on Saturday. Mark Hansen, 42, the driver of a white Vauxhall van, died at the scene. The Ahmads' two sons remain in hospital. The motorway was closed between Junctions 3 and 4 southbound until 04:00 on Saturday for a police investigation. Sgt Scott Sneddon, of Police Scotland, said: "Our sincere condolences go to the Ahmad family, who have asked that their privacy be respected at this tragic time. "Our inquiries continue to establish the full circumstances surrounding this collision, and I'd like to thank the witnesses who have so far come forward. "Anyone who witnessed the collision, saw either of the vehicles shortly beforehand, or has any information about this and has not yet been in contact is urged to get in touch."

Summary: A fourth person has died following a serious crash on the M9 in West Lothian last week.


The 30-year-old has played 27 Tests for the Black Caps and had a spell with Lancashire this summer. He took 32 Championship wickets for the Red Rose, including 6-66 on his debut against Nottinghamshire. He will be replaced by Pakistan's Mohammad Amir at newly-promoted Essex midway through next summer. Wagner also equalled a world record by taking five wickets in a six-ball first-class over, for Otago against Wellington in 2011.

Summary: Essex have signed New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner for the first half of the 2017 County Championship season and One-Day Cup.


About 850 Arriva drivers at depots in Castleford, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike and Wakefield in West Yorkshire, and Selby in North Yorkshire, are to walk out. The strike is due to start at 03:00 GMT on Monday, said Unite the union. Arriva said it wanted to "wholeheartedly apologise" to customers who could be affected by the industrial action. More on this story and others from West Yorkshire Nigel Featham, from Arriva Yorkshire and North East, said: "We have been working tirelessly over the last year with Unite to bring pay talks to an amicable conclusion. "But despite our best efforts and multiple offers to increase pay and conditions we have received notification to strike." Phil Bown, of Unite, said no further meetings were currently planned between the two sides. "Strike action is not a step our members take lightly, but after nearly 12 months of circular talks they have become increasingly angry about being strung along by Arriva bosses," he added. Limited Arriva bus services could operate during the strike. Yorkshire Tiger services would be unaffected, the company said.

Summary: Hundreds of bus drivers are set for a 24-hour strike in a row over pay and shifts, a union has announced.


They know this is the most unpredictable election for decades and if the polls are to be believed no party is assured of an overall majority. But what about the non-scientific view - studying the bellwether seats? They're seats which lead or indicate a trend in voting - going Conservative when there is a Tory majority and Labour when it's the largest party, making them a good predictor of the election's outcome. The term comes from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) leading his flock of sheep. So it may be ancient terminology but the bellwether tradition still seems to hold true in Kent and Sussex. In fact during the general election of 1970, the BBC declared that "Gravesend's 80,000-odd typical electors usually do vote the way Britain votes - they went Conservative in the 1950s, Labour by a whisker in '74 and Labour more generously in 1966". Gravesend may have changed a lot in the 45 years since the election of 1970 but one thing which has stayed constant is that voters in the constituency generally vote the way the nation votes. Simon Atkinson, from the polling company Ipsos Mori, explains why Gravesend is such a good predictor of election outcomes. He told me: "Gravesham is just one of those places where it all seems to fit together - it may be the demographics, the people who live there, the way they think or behave kind of matches the population as a whole - so Gravesham, Dartford are some of the really interesting places to watch. "What happens there may well give us a guide to what's going to happen everywhere else." Dartford has reflected the overall result in every general election since 1964 and Gravesham (and its predecessor Gravesend) has voted for the winning party - or the one with the largest share of the vote - in every election since World War One, with just one exception: 2005 - when they voted Conservative but Labour won the election. Sussex boasts several bellwether seats including Hove, which has backed the national winner in every election since 1979 - hitting the headlines during the Labour landslide of 1997. Legend has it that Tony Blair turned to Cherie once Labour had won Hove and said that was the moment he knew he could win the rest of the country. Hove is currently held by the Conservatives but, like several Sussex marginal seats, Labour are determined to win it back - and many voters are still undecided. So when voters go to the polling station tomorrow we will find out if voters in the South East's bellwether seats really can predict the outcome of this most unpredictable election.

Summary: The polls open in just over 12 hours and the party leaders are all out criss-crossing the country fighting for every last vote.


The UK PM met outgoing US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and four other European leaders in Berlin for talks. Mr Obama urged them to work with his successor Donald Trump on the basis of shared "core values". The PM also told Mrs Merkel that the UK's Brexit plans were "on track". It came as the Supreme Court confirmed that Scotland and Wales's top legal advisers would be allowed to take part in an appeal hearing brought by the UK government against a ruling that it alone cannot trigger Article 50 - the formal process of leaving the EU - without a vote by MPs. But BBC correspondent Jenny Hill said there were a number of issues on the agenda that took precedence over Brexit, including Syria, Russia's relationship with the West, international terrorism and climate change. In a joint press conference with Chancellor Merkel on Friday, Mrs May said: "On Syria, looking at Aleppo, we are united in our condemnation of the atrocities that are taking place there. "We agree on the need to keep up the pressure on Russia, including the possibility of sanctions on those who breach international humanitarian law." US President-elect Mr Trump has criticised Nato and has spoken of his hopes of warmer relations between the US and Russia - but on Thursday Mr Obama warned him to stand up to Moscow if it deviated from US values. Mr Obama has been on a farewell trip to Europe at the end of his two terms as US president. On Friday he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mrs May, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy in Berlin. The White House said Mr Obama had "affirmed the importance of continued cooperation through multilateral institutions, including Nato" and "agreed on the necessity of working collectively to move the transatlantic agenda forward, particularly on bringing stabilisation to the Middle East and North Africa, as well as securing diplomatic resolution to the conflicts in Syria and eastern Ukraine. On Brexit, Mrs May said: "Our work is on track, we do stand ready to trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017. "I want to see this as a smooth process, an orderly process, working towards a solution that is in the interests of both the UK but also in the interests of our European partners too." The meeting comes as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble told the Financial Times the UK may have to continue paying into EU budgets for more than a decade after it leaves the union. He said Britain will "certainly have to fulfil its commitments" to the EU until its departure - and possibly after. He added: "Possibly there will be some commitments that last beyond the exitâ€¦â€‰even, in part, to 2030."

Summary: Theresa May has said the US and Europe are "united" in condemning atrocities in Syria and has warned Russia of the possibility of more sanctions.


Topal, a 29-year-old Turkey midfielder with Fenerbahce, was driving home with a team-mate after training when the car was attacked. The club condemned the incident as an "armed terrorist act". The reason for the attack is unclear, but Fenerbahce's team bus was shot at earlier this year and the driver was wounded in the city of Trabzon. The bus had been driving over a viaduct and a club official was forced to intervene to bring the vehicle to a halt. The club said at the time that the attack represented the "peak point of hostility" towards it. Turkey's top-flight Super League was suspended for a week and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen as a Fenerbahce supporter, called a meeting of the league's 18 club captains. No motive has been established for Tuesday's attack. BBC Turkish reporter Emre Bal said that although there was an intense rivalry between fans of Fenerbahce and another Istanbul club, Galatasaray, Mehmet Topal was a popular player. Former Fenerbahce footballer Kennet Andersson told the BBC that opposing fans regularly threw objects including fireworks at team buses, but the latest violence was different. "It sounds much worse now and it shouldn't be like that," he said. Immediately after the shooting, Topal pulled his car off the road in Istanbul's eastern Sancaktepe district and called for police help. Topal's team-mate Uygar Mert Zeybek was also unhurt. Pictures released by the club showed bullet damage on the passenger side of the widescreen, although the bullet did not appear to have pierced the glass. The club had earlier published pictures on its website of recent signing Robin Van Persie taking part in training. Fenerbahce were knocked out of the qualifying rounds of the Uefa Champions League by Shakhtar Donetsk last week.

Summary: Turkish footballer Mehmet Topal has escaped unharmed after gunmen fired on his bulletproof car in Istanbul.