The Home Office has said it will not implement the new requirement for Muslim women to learn English before October 2016.

Red-faced officials at the Home Office have been forced to correct a spelling error in a press release about new English language tests for migrants.

Article: In the year to March 2015, there were 41,176 such crimes recorded, compared with 29,466 during the previous year.
Overall crime in Greater Manchester was up 10% during the same 12-month period.
Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said: "This increase in recorded violent crime is showing some worrying trends and placing huge demand and risk on a reducing number of staff."
His force has lost more than 1,100 officers since 2010.
Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd called on Prime Minister David Cameron to "stop chipping away at the police service" and "invest in the safety of our local communities."
There were a total of 200,432 crimes recorded by Greater Manchester Police - a 10% rise, compared to 3% nationally.
Mr Lloyd said while police numbers were being cut, demands on police were increasing as they deal with more complex issues "such as child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse."
Reported sexual offences increased by 55% to 4,970 in 2014-15 while there was a 33.4 % rise in domestic violence in the region, with 19,621 recorded crimes.
Sir Peter added: "Many of these incidents are complex with vulnerable victims to be protected and dangerous offenders to be brought under control. We are bringing many more cases to court but keeping on top of this is getting more and more challenging."
On an average day, GMP deals with 532 crimes, including 51 daily victims of domestic abuse, 12 sexual assaults and 10 hate crimes.
National figures showed an increase in knife crime in England and Wales for the first time in four years.

Summary: Violent crime in Greater Manchester rose by 40% in the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
###
Article: Language was spelled "langauge" in the original release, put out on Thursday.
But it was corrected by officials after Twitter users ridiculed the error.
BBC Radio 4 presenter Anita Anand said it was "beyond parody" that the Home Office could not spell language in a note to migrants who have been told to learn English.
A Home Office spokesman said: "This was a regrettable typographical error that has now been corrected."
On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron announced a Â£20m fund to teach Muslim women in the UK to speak English, claiming it would help tackle segregation and help them resist the lure of extremism.
But some Muslims have accused him of wrongly conflating the two issues.
Mr Cameron said all those who entered the UK on the five-year spousal settlement programme - not just Muslim women - would have to sit language tests after two and a half years.
Thursday's press release said the new requirement would not be implemented before October 2016, with the precise timing and further details to be confirmed by the Home Office "in the next few weeks".

Summary:


A man has been charged with using drones to smuggle cannabis, steroids and mobile phones into prison.

Article: Searching for "did the Holocaust happen?" returned a top result that claimed it did not, as Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr reported.
Now, the ranking has changed for US users.
The page - from white supremacist site Stormfront - remains top in the UK.
"This is a really challenging problem, and something we're thinking deeply about in terms of how we can do a better job," said a Google spokesman.
"Search is a reflection of the content that exists on the web.
"The fact that hate sites may appear in search results in no way means that Google endorses these views."
Regarding the recent change in rankings on the Holocaust query, editor of news site Search Engine Land Danny Sullivan, believes this was due to external parties' attempts to influence the ordering of results.
Mr Sullivan met Google executives and engineers last week to discuss the issue of questionable result ranking, which also affects other queries about, for example, ethnic minorities.
"I'm as horrified and disappointed by the results as many people are," he told the BBC.
However, he said Google - which processes five billion searches a day - was keen to come up with a solution that was broadly applicable across all searches, rather than just those that have been noticed by users.
"It's very easy to take a search here and there and demand Google change something," explained Mr Sullivan, "and then the next day you find a different search and say, 'why didn't you fix that?' "
Ms Cadwalladr has accused Google of disseminating "hate speech".
Other result rankings that she questioned include those for "are women evil?" and "are muslims bad?".
The BBC has also found that some additional queries, including ones without negative terms, also produce controversial answers.
For example, searching for "are black people smart?" in the UK returns a "featured snippet" at the top of the results that claims "black people are significantly less intelligent than all other races".
Mr Sullivan added that it was far more common for users to search for simple terms,...

Summary: Google has said it is "thinking deeply" about ways to improve search, after criticism over how some results - including ones discussing the Holocaust - were ranked.
###
Article: Michael Tovey, 27, formerly of Lakes Road, Erdington, Birmingham is accused of using two drones to fly contraband into HMP Birmingham last year.
In the first charges of their type brought by West Midlands Police, Mr Tovey faces 13 counts of conveying banned items into a prison.
He is set to appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 7 June.
Read more news for Birmingham and the Black Country
Mr Tovey is accused of using two drones to drop contraband into the prison's exercise yard on 29 October and 6 November.
He attempted to drop a consignment near N and P wings containing four phones, SIM cards, Black Mamba, steroids and cannabis, it is alleged.
It is claimed he was also responsible for a drone that crashed into the same yard eight days later, carrying two phones and further quantities of the same banned drugs.

Summary:

Article: {{document}}

Summary: ||| {{target}}


The first of the four new submarines is due to be launched in the next few months.
The first of the four new submarines is due to be launched in the next few months.
The first of the four new submarines is due to be launched in the next few months.
The first of the four new submarines

The third Astute Class submarine to be built at a Cumbrian shipyard has been named.

Article: "France paid al-Qaeda 25m euros for four hostages," read a headline in the Times newspaper this week.
The French government has categorically denied that any public money was used to secure the release of the four French nationals kidnapped in 2010 at a uranium plant in Niger and held by jihadist bandits linked to the regional franchise of al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).
"We don't play that game," said the French foreign minister when asked if his government had paid for their release.
Niger's President Mohamadou Issoufou was more evasive when asked the same question directly.
He replied simply: "I think that what we must be rejoicing about is that the hostages who went through difficult ordeals, who were isolated for many months from their families, are free."
But since there was no military assault involved in the hostages' release, it is almost inconceivable that their captors would simply give up their prisoners for no reward.
Privately, some British officials are furious, as the concept of giving in to terrorist ransom demands runs directly contrary to the commitment undertaken by all the G8 leaders at the Loch Earn summit in Northern Ireland in June.
Whether it was the French government, the Niger government, the hostages' employer Areva, or any other party that may or may not have paid a ransom, the indications are that a group of ruthless and dangerous men with guns is now roaming around the Sahara with a lot more money at their disposal.
So how much money is involved in Saharan kidnaps and where does it go?
The Texas-based US strategic analysis company Stratfor estimates that with the latest payments, Aqim has earned itself about $116m (Â£72m) in ransoms since 2003.
"We have seen ransom payments by the governments of Spain, Italy, France, Canada and Austria to see their citizens released from captivity," said Stratfor Vice President of Africa Analysis Mark Schroeder.
This year a leaked Nigerian government report revealed that a ransom of $3.15m (Â£1.9m) was paid to the Nigerian...

Summary: The rumours are hard to dismiss.
###
Article: Thousands of people were at the ceremony at BAE Systems' Devonshire Dock Hall in Barrow to mark the end of the build process for Artful.
Another four of the nuclear-powered submarines are being built at the yard.
The ceremony was carried out by Amanda Lady Zambellas, wife of the Royal Navy's First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir George Zambellas.
BAE Systems Maritime - Submarines managing director John Hudson said: "The design and build of a nuclear-powered submarine is as challenging as it is complex, so today represents a significant milestone in Artful's programme.
"It requires real skill and innovation to deliver submarines as sophisticated as Artful and this would not have been possible without the valued contribution of our employees and the collaborative efforts of the whole submarine enterprise."
Artful will remain at the Barrow yard while commissioning activities are carried out and is due to be launched early next year for further tests.
HMS Astute and HMS Ambush have already been launched. The other vessels are at various stages in the design and build process and will be called Audacious, Anson, Agamemnon and Ajax.
The Barrow yard has been working on the Astute programme since 2001.
The Ministry of Defence said the Astute class of submarines have greater firepower, state-of-the-art communications equipment and advanced stealth technology, making them quiet and harder to detect.

Summary:


Singapore's air quality has been affected by the haze in Indonesia.

Singapore is putting pressure on major retailers in Singapore to not use or sell materials produced by firms linked to fires in Indonesia.

Article: Mr Zuma was responding to allegations that he had "unduly benefitted" from an upgrade to his private home in Nkandla which cost taxpayers about $23m (Â£14m).
MPs from the new Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were not satisfied with his explanation and started chanting: "Pay back the money."
Parliament was suspended and security called to oust the EFF group.
Police entered parliament in Cape Town carrying riot shields, tear gas and batons but then aborted their plans to forcibly remove the EFF MPs.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) said it was "appalled" by the behaviour of the EFF parliamentarians.
The Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party, said the EFF's "theatrics" meant South Africans "did not get answers from the president, to which they were rightfully entitled".
South Africans may be divided over the behaviour of the EFF in parliament but its leader Julius Malema posed questions many here still want answered.
Nkandla remains a sore point for many citizens and the president has been accused of failing to account to the public that elected him into power.
So while they may not support the chanting and disruption to a formal sitting, many are quietly applauding their stand.
Mr Malema has never been one to shy away from confrontation; it was with tough talking that he defended President Jacob Zuma before their fall-out.
However uncomfortable to watch, many see this as South Africa's democracy at work.
It is not clear when the session will resume - possibly on Friday.
Many MPs were waiting to question the president when the session was suspended.
After being pressed by Mr Malema on when he would repay the Nkandla money, Mr Zuma said he had "responded appropriately to parliament" and said it was now in the hands of the government.
The EFF has 25 MPs in the 400-member parliament after gaining 6% of the national vote in May's election.
It was the first election contested by the EFF, led by controversial former youth leader Julius Malema.
He formed the EFF last year following his expulsion...

Summary: An address to parliament by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has been halted by opposition MPs.
###
Article: Seven firms, including major supermarkets such as NTUC FairPrice and IKEA, have been asked declare they are not doing so within a week.
The forest fires in Indonesia have deteriorated Singapore's air quality, causing a blanket of haze in the city.
FairPrice has said it removing products from one Indonesian firm.
The state-owned supermarket giant said that it was removing all paper products sourced from Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP), following the notification from the government.
APP has been named by Singapore authorities as one of the companies suspected of contributing to the haze.
What is behind the South East Asia haze?
In a joint statement, the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) said they had asked the retailers to declare that they have "not procured or used wood, paper and/or pulp materials" from firms accused of contributing to the fires.
The SEC said retailers were "a good starting point" for firms to show their commitment to sustainable procurement processes and "for consumers to show their support for brands that have environmentally friendly practices"
The haze has caused hazardous air quality across the region. It has led to the cancellation of public events and schools closure over the past month, in Singapore as well as in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Anger has been rising in the region, with increasing pressure on the Indonesian government to control the annual burning of forests to clear land for palm oil and rubber plantations.

Summary:


Liverpool City Council is considering a new council tax of 5% plus a further 6% to pay for social care.

There will not be a referendum on an additional council tax rise in Liverpool after the results of an online poll, the city's mayor has said.

Article: If it passes, the country will be the largest developed nation to end marijuana prohibition.
The law was tabled on Thursday, and would allow adults over 18 to possess up to 30g of dried marijuana.
The proposed legislation would allow the federal government to license producers, but provinces would be in charge of regulating consumer sale.
Other issues, such as pricing, taxation and packaging must still be worked out.
"This is a very important day, I've spent most of my adult life keeping children and communities safe," said MP Bill Blair during a press conference shortly after the legislation was presented to parliament.
The former police chief had chaired the government's cannabis task force, which laid out a blueprint for legal recreational pot in Canada.
The government is pitching the legislation as a way to keep pot out of the hands of minors and undercut organised crime.
The law would increase penalties for those who sell to children, and revamp impaired driving laws to make it easier to prosecute people who drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
It would allow police to test people's saliva if they think a driver has been using marijuana.
The current legal prohibitions have been an "abject failure" at keeping the children from getting a hold of marijuana, says Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
Canada has some of the highest marijuana use in the world, according to the task force, especially amongst young people. About 30% of people aged 20-24 use cannabis.
The new framework would make it illegal to market marijuana products to children, or sell to anyone under 18. Provinces could raise the minimum age of consumption if they choose, the government says.
New laws would also increase the penalty for people who sell to the under-aged, as well as create a new offence for people "exploiting children in the trafficking of cannabis".
Trafficking cannabis outside the government's new legal framework would remain illegal.
Initially, only fresh and dried cannabis, cannabis oils, seeds and plants would...

Summary: Canada has laid out its plan to legalise the sale of recreational marijuana by June 2018.
###
Article: Liverpool City Council used a online budget simulator to ask residents about a proposed council tax rise of 5%, plus a further 6% to pay for social care.
Joe Anderson said the plan would not go ahead after 57% of respondents said no.
He also revealed plans for a Liverpool lottery in his New Year message on his Liverpool Express blog.
He said following the "feedback... I will not be proposing to hold a referendum on any additional increase beyond the 4.99% limit set by government".
Work was continuing on the full details of the authority's budget, he said, which would then undergo consultation in 2017.
He added that he was "surprised and proud that so many, 43%, said yes".
"It's a truly heart-warming reminder of how caring our city really is," he said.
Green party leader Councillor Tom Crone said the consultation was a "sham exercise".
"The weak consultation was never going to secure support for a tax rise," he said.
He said the mayor's decision not to hold a referendum meant there would be "tens of millions of pounds more cuts to services in the coming years".
Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Richard Kemp, said: "The public were never going to buy it over concern about the waste of existing council tax income."
Mr Anderson said the Liverpool lottery card would help local causes, adding that more details of it would be revealed in the coming months.
"Liverpool people are amongst the most generous in the country and I believe will support the initiative to help us cope with the growing numbers of people dependent on us," he said.
Councillor Kemp said his party would oppose the lottery idea.
He said: "The overwhelming evidence is that existing lottery users are already from the most deprived parts of the community.
"A new Liverpool lottery will be a tax on the poor to pay for services to the poor."

Summary:


The US has said it will not recognise the results of the election in the disputed state of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The US has said it will not recognise the results of the election in the disputed state of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is claimed by

Kenyans have been voting in a key election - the first since the disputed contest of December 2007 that triggered weeks of bloodshed.

Article: The lender said the move was a "one-off depreciation" of 1.9% in a move to make the exchange rate more market-oriented.
It comes in the wake of a string of weak economic data from the world's second largest economy.
At the weekend, China reported a sharp fall in exports and a slide in producer prices to a near six-year low in July.
Exports fell by 8.3% in July, far worse than expected and the producer price index was down 5.4% from a year earlier.
The midpoint for the yuan is now set at 6.2298 to $1, up from 6.1162 yuan on Monday.
The People's Bank of China (POBC) manages the rate through the official midpoint, from which trade can rise or fall 2% on any given day.
Until now, it had been determined solely by the central bank itself.
Making the rate more market-based will mean the midpoint will now be based on overnight global market developments and how the currency finished the previous trading day.
The POBC's move comes amid speculation that China is preparing to widen the trading band for the currency from the current two percent range.
China has long kept tight control of the yuan value on concerns over financial volatility and losing its policy control.
Yet it is also under pressure to reform its currency policy as it pushes to become one of the International Monetary Fund's "special drawing rights" (SDR) reserve currencies.
These are currencies which IMF members can use to make payments between themselves or to the Fund.
Analysts ask, though, whether this really is a one-time move from China.
"The question on everyone's mind is whether this is the awakening of the dragon - ushering in a new global currency war?" Angus Nicholson, market analyst with trading firm IG wrote in a note.
"If this move ushers in a new era where the CNY [Chinese yuan] fixing is increasingly reflective of the spot market, it could be positive for its prospects being included in the IMF's special drawing rights basket of currencies this year."
Asian equities outside of China slipped on the news as investors weighed the...

Summary: China's central bank has devalued the national currency, the yuan, to its lowest rate against the US dollar in almost three years.
###
Article: This time the poll was held under a new constitution, designed to prevent a repeat of that violence when more than 1,000 people died when supporters of rival candidates clashed.
They have been choosing a president, members of parliament and senators, the new posts of county governors and members of county assemblies. The presidential contest is seen as a two-horse race between Prime Minister Raila Odinga against Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.
BBC correspondents around the country sum up how the voting went.
The queues in some places stretched for more than a kilometre, as voters in Kibera stood patiently in line.
The neighbourhood is one of Nairobi's largest slums. It is the constituency of Raila Odinga, one of the favourites for the presidential contest and the scene of some of the worst violence following the last election in 2007.
Today, many had arrived before dawn, waiting patiently in line, sometimes for hours.
Voters cast their ballots into colour-coded boxes - six each - for a variety of different representatives, local and national.
The memories of five years ago are still fresh and, as the campaign drew to a close, a sense of apprehension was palpable.
Police talked of conspiracies to cause chaos and warned that violence would be met in kind.
But, in Kibera at least, as the sun grew hotter and the umbrellas came out, the mood was up-beat.
"Peace, peace," one crowd shouted as a truck of paramilitary police trundled past.
We came across a man with dreadlocks and a pot of white paint. His message, "Peace wanted alive", can be seen daubed on walls and roads around the neighbourhood.
The real test of peace, though, is likely to come once all the ballots have been cast, and the results start coming in.
As the sun begins to set, the heat is easing and some polling stations are still open after the official closing time of 17:00, with queues of people determined to cast their vote.
Tensions have been running high in this insecure and arid region near the Somali border and there has been a heavy...

Summary:


The National Association of Driver Intervention Providers (NADIP) has called for the government to increase the cost of the Driver Intervention Course (DIC) from £80 to £95.
The course is offered to drivers who are caught travelling at 10% above the speed limit plus two mph, but not more than

A plan to increase the cost of speed awareness courses has been criticised as a "self-funding merry-go-round".

Article: Researchers in New Hampshire suggest the 180km-wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico was carved out by a smaller object than previously thought.
Many scientists consider a large and relatively slow moving asteroid to have been the likely culprit.
Details were outlined at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
But other researchers were more cautious about the results.
"The overall aim of our project is to better characterise the impactor that produced the crater in the Yucatan peninsula [in Mexico]," Jason Moore, from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, told BBC News.
The space rock gave rise to a global layer of sediments enriched in the chemical element iridium, in concentrations much higher than naturally occurs; it must have come from outer space.
However, in the first part of their work, the team suggests that frequently quoted iridium values are incorrect. Using a comparison with another extraterrestrial element deposited in the impact - osmium - they were able to deduce that the collision deposited less debris than has previously been supposed.
The recalculated iridium value suggests a smaller body hit the Earth. So for the second part of their work, the researchers took the new figure and attempted to reconcile it with the known physical properties of the Chicxulub impact.
For this smaller space rock to have produced a 180km-wide crater, it must have been travelling relatively quickly. The team found that a long-period comet fitted the bill much better than other possible candidates.
"You'd need an asteroid of about 5km diameter to contribute that much iridium and osmium. But an asteroid that size would not make a 200km-diameter crater," said Dr Moore.
"So we said: how do we get something that has enough energy to generate that size of crater, but has much less rocky material? That brings us to comets."
Dr Moore's colleague Prof Mukul Sharma, also from Dartmouth College, told BBC News: "You would need some special pleading for an asteroid moving very rapidly - although it is possible. But of the...

Summary: The space rock that hit Earth 65m years ago and is widely implicated in the end of the dinosaurs was probably a speeding comet, US scientists say.
###
Article: Avon and Somerset Police wants to raise the cost of the course from £80 to £95 to help pay for its road policing unit.
The Alliance of British Drivers said the police should not be funded by people "who hadn't done much wrong".
Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said she would not comment on the proposal, which would be discussed later on Monday.
Alliance spokesman Bob Bull described the courses as "not about safety", "more about making money" and a "self-funding merry-go-round.
He said people who were driving at "marginally over" the speed limit should not be penalised and that the police should be concentrating on catching drivers travelling at well over the limit.
In the report, the panel said it hoped the price rise would protect the unit from further cutbacks.
The course is offered to drivers who are caught travelling at 10% above the speed limit plus two mph, but not more than 10% plus nine mph.
At the new price the course would be £5 short of the £100 fixed penalty, but without drivers getting points on their licences.
A motorist who has attended one of the courses within the past three years is not eligible to have the option of attending again.
RAC head of external affairs Pete Williams described the increased cost as "an unwelcome surprise for drivers".
Mr Williams said with more than one million motorists attending the courses each year "there is big money to be made, either by the police or those running the courses".
Staffordshire £80
North Wales £85
Gloucestershire £90
Surrey £95
City of London & Metropolitan £97
Wiltshire Not offered
Source: National Association of Driver Intervention Providers

Summary:


Supermarket plant sales are reducing customers' choice, says Gardeners' World presenter Monty Don.

Article: The announcement came as the Edinburgh-based challenger bank saw underlying profit rise by nearly 5%, to £65m.
Total income was up more than 5% to £274m in the year to 12 March.
Sainsbury's said it performed strongly in the personal loans market, with 15% year-on-year growth in the number of advances to new customers.
The bank's portfolio of insurance products also continued to perform well, resulting in new business growth of more than 10% year-on-year.
Sales of new home insurance policies increased by more than 25%.
In an interim results statement, Sainsbury's said: "Given the bank's strong trading performance and the trust people have in the Sainsbury's brand, we have decided to launch new mortgage products in 2017.
"We believe these products will complement our existing financial services portfolio and we expect customers to respond well."
Sainsbury's also reported that it was "making good progress" in moving towards "a new, more flexible" banking IT platform.
It forecasts total transition costs to be "at the top of the £340m to £380m range".
Meanwhile, Edinburgh-based Virgin Money has reported a sharp rise in gross mortgage lending.
It said lending climbed by year-on-year by 30% in the first quarter to a record £2.1bn, giving the bank a market share of 3.4%.
The bank added that residential gross mortgage lending increased by 35%, while buy-to-let lending was up by 17%.
Credit card balances surpassed £1.8bn at the end of the quarter, up from £1.6bn as at 31 December.
Virgin Money said it was looking towards an "accelerated target" of £3bn of credit card "outstandings" by the end of 2017.
Chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia said: "I am delighted to report it has been another excellent quarter for Virgin Money.
"We had a record start to the year for mortgages and our savings franchise continues to flourish with a strong inflow of cash ISAs.
"I am particularly pleased with the performance of the credit card business which continues to exceed expectations one year on since launching to the public."

Summary: Sainsbury's Bank is set to launch new mortgage products in 2017 after reporting a strong trading performance in the last financial year.
###
Article: Nurseries increasingly focus on plants that can be mass produced so the big stores can sell them cheaply, he says.
"You have these vast wholesale nurseries now supplying supermarkets - and that's a diminution of choice," he told Radio 4's You and Yours.
However, the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) says supermarket sales actually help grow the market.
According to Kantar World Panel, nearly 40% of gardeners get their plants, bulbs and seeds from supermarkets.
"That's bad," says Don. "It's rather like the vast suppliers supplying food - you get lots and lots of the same thing mass produced to be as cheap as possible."
The UK garden market is worth around Â£5bn, with some Â£1.4bn spent on garden plants by UK consumers in 2013, according to the HTA, the industry body.
The Gardeners' World presenter believes consumers should shop around.
"I'm a huge fan of independent nurseries. That is where you get the expertise, it's where you will find people who have devoted their life to growing something.
"They will grow geraniums or trees and they will really know about it, so when you contact them, they can give you great help and assistance."
Martin Simmons, HTA director of operations, said: "People often make impulse purchases of plants in supermarkets and if this then encourages them to buy more plants then this is good for the industry and helps to grow the market.
"Buying a plant in a supermarket may be the first step for some consumers, particularly younger ones. If this grabs their interest they will naturally seek out garden centres and retail nurseries."
Waitrose told the BBC it took quality seriously, and that its plants were supplied by two reputable nurseries who supply only garden centres - not other supermarkets.
Inviting Monty Don for a visit to talk to buyers, Asda said it works with a network of expert growers to ensure it offered quality.
Sainsbury's said it had a longstanding relationship with suppliers, many of whom were family businesses. It added that it always worked to give customers choice...

Summary:


The UK government has said it will not allow any political, religious or commercial messages on shirts worn by players at the 2018 World Cup.

The Football Associations of England and Scotland say they will ignore a ban on players wearing poppies in their upcoming match on 11 November.

Article: Worker output per hour in the UK fell 1.2% during the last three months of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Output per hour in manufacturing fell by 2% from the previous quarter, while in the service sector it dropped 0.7%.
Poor rates of productivity in the UK have been a concern to policymakers.
In last month's Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility cut its growth forecasts for the UK economy after it lowered its predictions for productivity.
The fall in productivity in the fourth quarter of the year followed a 0.6% rise in the third quarter.
Over 2015 as a whole, output per hour rose by 1%, which the ONS said was the strongest increase since 2011.
The ONS said that labour productivity overall - covering output per hour, output per worker and output per job - was about 0.5% higher in the fourth quarter of 2015 than in the same period a year earlier.
"How productivity develops going forward is critical to the economy's growth potential," according to Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
"The crucial question for the UK economy is, does the fourth quarter of 2015 mark a temporary relapse in productivity. Or is it evidence that the UK has an ongoing serious productivity problem."
Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "There are deep-rooted structural problems in our economy that have dampened productivity - from skills shortages, to infrastructure bottlenecks and limited growth finance.
"Delivering solutions to these critical issues would go a long way to achieving the productivity gains we need."

Summary: Productivity among UK workers at the end of last year fell at the fastest pace since 2008, official figures show.
###
Article: The two nations meet in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on Armistice Day, also known as Remembrance Day, when the United Kingdom remembers those who have lost their lives in war.
But Fifa, who are in charge of world football, say they do not allow any nations to have any political, religious or commercial messages on shirts.
They had turned down a request to allow England and Scotland's players to wear armbands with poppies on.
The FAs have now said that they will let their players wear the armbands anyway and will accept any punishment.
Poppies are worn by millions as a symbol to remember those who have lost their lives in war or been injured.
British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has said Fifa's refusal of players being allowed to wear poppies is "outrageous".
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, she said: "Our football players want to recognise and respect those who have given their lives for our safety and security - I think it is absolutely right they should be able to do so."
The Football Association of Wales has also written to Fifa requesting permission to wear poppies on armbands during their game against Serbia in Cardiff on 12 November but has not yet said if it will ignore the ban.

Summary:


The UK's biggest bookseller, Waterstones, has been forced to close its doors after a fire destroyed its headquarters in London.
The fire, which took place on Monday, destroyed the building's offices and the company's warehouse.
The fire was caused by a fire alarm that was triggered by a faulty electrical switch

Sony has given up selling its line of Reader devices for e-books after failing to find a big enough market.

Article: Ashley Coe was working on a new solar plant for British Solar Renewables in Devon when a digger operating beneath the overhead cable caused the accident.
He suffered a serious brain injury and two other workers were also hurt, Exeter Crown Court heard.
Sub contractor Pascon was fined £35,000 for failing to manage the work safely.
Mr Coe was working for Walsall-based Pascon when the incident happened in March 2013 at Knockworthy Farm near Huntshaw.
The digger which struck the 33,000 volt cables was reversing while laying a cable in a trench and Mr Coe was helping to control the drum when he suffered the shock.
British Solar Renewables, of Butleigh, Somerset, admitted breaching the construction, design and management regulations by failing to ensure the safety of power cables.
Pascon admitted failing to plan, manage and monitor construction work adequately.
The court was told Mr Coe was left with mobility problems which prevented him from working again.  Fellow workers Malcolm Stewart and Andrew Capper suffered less serious injuries.
Simon Morgan, prosecuting, said the cables should have been protected by fencing, goal posts, and bunting to prevent vehicles operating beneath them and a banksman should have been used to ensure safe movement of plant.
BSR were fined £250,000 with £72,000 costs and Pascon were fined £35,000 with £25,000 costs.

Summary: A solar power company has been fined £250,000 after a worker suffered life-changing injuries when he received an electric shock from a high-power cable.
###
Article: "We do not have plans to develop a successor Reader model at this time," the Japanese firm told the BBC.
The PRS-T3 was the last version made and will exist as long as supplies remain in Europe.
Earlier this year, Sony pulled out of selling e-books and directed its users in the US and Europe to the e-bookstore of rival Kobo.
North American customers using Sony Readers have been directed to buy books from Kobo since February this year, and European and Australian customers since May, a Sony spokeswoman said.
But users in Japan, Sony's home country, can continue to still get its line of Readers and access Sony's Reader Store.
The news was first reported by German site Lesen.
The dominance of Amazon's range of Kindles and the growing smartphone, tablet and so-called phablet market have made it hard for Sony's suite of e-readers and rivals like Nook to carve out a niche for themselves. According to The Bookseller, Amazon has around 90% of the dedicated e-reader market in the UK.
Canadian firm Kobo was bought by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, which is looking to grow its business globally in a bid to challenge Amazon.
The global market in dedicated e-readers peaked in 2011 with 23 million devices sold, but is expected to fall to 10 million by 2017 as phones and tablets eat into the overall market, according to the research consultancy Gartner.
Still, the sale of printed books will be outstripped by e-books by 2018, a report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers suggested.

Summary:


The LGA said councils would still face a combined shortfall of £6.8bn by the end of the Parliament.

Council tax bills in England could cost an average of £200 more for band D properties by 2020, the Local Government Association has warned.

Article: The group, which refers to itself as Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, had not previously maintained an established online channel for its propaganda or any official social media presence in any language.
But on 18 January, an Arabic-language Twitter account purporting to be the official outlet for a new Boko Haram media group called Al-Urwah al-Wuthqa was launched and immediately promoted by key pro-IS media operatives.
Since then, the group has used the feed to publish a stream of propaganda, including several new videos, although there has been some disruption to its media activities following the suspension of the original account by Twitter.
The increased sophistication and organisation of the propaganda that followed the launch of the Twitter account bore signs of the influence of IS, which has honed its social media exploitation over the past year.
This appeared to indicate that the group may have been assisted by IS media operatives, or influenced by IS in an indirect way.
Boko Haram has followed the example of IS by publishing branded photographs of its militants and the areas under its control to illustrate its successes on the ground.
The Twitter feed has also been posting a stream of short statements about the group's activities, claiming operations in a timely manner, in the mould of Islamic State's one-line tweeted claims.
The videos released so far via the new Boko Haram Twitter account have been more slickly crafted than the group's standard grainy offerings, with professionally designed graphics and high-quality opening sequences.
This improvement and the use of multiple languages and well-presented subtitles - using English, Arabic, French and Hausa - suggested the group may have had outside help from IS media operatives.
Arabic-language jihadist anthems have also been used, one of which has been routinely used in IS propaganda.
The latest video, showing the beheading of two Nigerian "spies", bore remarkable similarities to IS beheading videos. The staging, slow motion techniques...

Summary: Following the launch of an official Twitter feed for the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram in January, there have been multiple signs that the group's media operation has been influenced by the expansionist Islamic State (IS, formerly Isis or Isil).
###
Article: The claim comes after extra fundraising powers for councils were outlined in last week's government Spending Review.
But the LGA said councils would still face a combined shortfall of £6.8bn by the end of the Parliament.
The government said council tax was expected to be lower in real terms in 2020 than a decade earlier.
In the Spending Review, Chancellor George Osborne said local authorities responsible for adult social care would be allowed to increase council tax by 2% above existing limits.
By adding in the maximum new levies allowable without a referendum, the LGA estimated that Band D bills could cost an average of just under £200 more over the next five years.
It said this would not be enough, particularly as budgets continued to face new pressures such as those caused by an aging population.
Any shortfall might have to be made up by further increases to costs such as car parking charges, it added.
One senior councillor said councils were now also facing "a reckless gamble" of having to use cash reserves to fund services.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "In reality councils will have almost £200bn to spend on local services over the lifetime of this Parliament, a cash terms increase and a reduction of just 1.7% in real terms each year.
"The Spending Review offers a £3.5bn package for adult social care to ensure councils can support their older and most vulnerable residents, while at the same time council tax is expected to be less in 2019-20 in real terms than it was in 2010-11.
"With councils accounting for a quarter of all public spending it's right they continue to play their part in paying off the deficit."

Summary:


The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust was rated as inadequate in an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

A failing health trust has been placed in special measures, meaning all Cumbria hospital trusts are now getting extra help to boost performance.

Article: It follows media coverage claiming the institution is banning "prep" - a public school term for homework - to "save pupils from depression".
Principal Eve Jardine-Young said: "The headline about homework being banned was not entirely accurate."
She said it was being looked at as part of an "overall review of learning".
Claims the prestigious independent school was considering scrapping homework were made in The Times after an interview Ms Jardine-Young gave to the newspaper.
Although the principal admits the girls' school is looking into the "daily" prep being handed out to its 850 students, she said it was not abolishing "traditional homework".
"It's about stepping back and asking what is homework for, what is the effectiveness of the prep?," she said.
"It's an important debate to have but it's complex and it's very easy to turn it into a binary issue of 'yes or no' on homework."
In October, the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) reported that the college's set homework was "appropriate and stimulating".
But Ms Jardine-Young said the regimented "Victorian approach to homework" needed to be reviewed to make it "relevant for the 21st Century learner".
"It's about transforming and evolving from that Victorian model of the past," she said.
"It's a really important issue for all schools; the potential young boys and girls have just cannot be maximised if they are unhappy or really stressed about things in life.
"There's a lot of complexity on this so we're involving parents in that discussion and it's really crucial that the pupils themselves have a voice."
The school caters for day pupils and boarders aged between 11 and 18.

Summary: The head of Cheltenham Ladies' College has had to "break the news" to pupils that the "end of homework is not quite as imminent" as they might have hoped.
###
Article: University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust was rated as inadequate in an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
It said the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Furness General Hospital in Barrow needed to improve the quality of care.
The trust said it was "part-way through a process of significant improvement".
Last year, a separate trust covering the north of the county, North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust, was one of 11 put into special measures after the Keogh review found higher-than-expected mortality rates.
The CQC inspection took place in February and while inspectors said care in services such as maternity and A&E had improved since previous checks, they added other areas of concern had not been addressed.
Medical care in one part of the Royal Lancaster was said to be "of particular concern".
The overall recruitment of nurses and doctors was identified as a "fundamental" worry with "too much reliance" on temporary staff.
The chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: "There is a long history of concern with the quality of service provided by the trust, so it is disappointing to report that a number of the issues that have been identified in the past remain unresolved.
"I do not believe that the trust is likely to resolve its challenges without external support."
As well as the hospitals in Barrow and Lancaster, inspectors also visited the Westmorland General Hospital, near Kendal, which was said to be providing a good service overall.
The trust's chief executive, Jackie Daniel said: "The reports reflect the fact we are part-way through a process of significant improvement which is still going to take a number of years to complete.
"It isn't an overnight job to change the culture of a large, complex organisation."
Full reports of the inspection have been published on the CQC website.

Summary:


The government's watchdog has issued a warning to students about the dangers of taking "smart drugs".

Article: The attorney general's office said he was suspected of signing a contract that was "unfavourable to Fifa" and making a "disloyal payment" to European football chief Michel Platini.
Mr Blatter was being questioned, and his office was searched, it added.
The 79-year-old, who has run Fifa since 1998, has always denied any wrongdoing.
Fifa, which has been hit by a string of corruption allegations in recent years, said it was co-operating with the investigation.
"Swiss criminal proceedings against the president of Fifa, Mr Joseph Blatter, have been opened... on suspicion of criminal mismanagement... and - alternatively - misappropriation," the Swiss attorney general's office said in a statement.
It said Mr Blatter was suspected of signing a contract with former Caribbean football chief Jack Warner in 2005 that was "unfavourable to Fifa" and in doing so "violated his fiduciary duties and acted against the interest of Fifa..."
The contract they mention is thought to refer to a TV rights deal agreed between Fifa and Mr Warner's organisation Concacaf which, according to an investigation by a Swiss broadcaster earlier this month, allegedly resulted in a multi-million pound profit for Mr Warner's own company.
Fifa owns the TV rights to the World Cup and sells them to regional federations which then sell them on to broadcasters.
Mr Blatter's lawyer, Richard Cullen, said he was confident the inquiry would clear Mr Blatter of any wrongdoing.
"We are confident that when the Swiss authorities have a chance to review the documents and the evidence, they will see that the contract was properly prepared and negotiated by the appropriate staff members of Fifa who were routinely responsible for such contracts, and certainly no mismanagement occurred," he said.
According to the Swiss attorney general, Mr Blatter is also suspected of making a "disloyal payment" of two million Swiss francs ($2m; Â£1.3m) in 2011 to Mr Platini, the statement said.
It said the payment was "at the expense of Fifa, which was allegedly made for work...

Summary: Swiss prosecutors say they are investigating Sepp Blatter, the head of football's world governing body Fifa, on suspicion of criminal mismanagement.
###
Article: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency says young people are gambling with their health by using prescription medicines in a bid to get higher marks in exams.
Many websites illegally sell drugs like Ritalin and Modafinil without a valid prescription.
The drugs can cause dependency, heart problems and psychosis.
So far this year, the MHRA has closed nearly 5,000 websites selling fake or unlicensed medicines.
Modafinil is designed to be used for a health condition called narcolepsy - a rare but serious brain disorder that causes a person to suddenly fall asleep at inappropriate times. But some students take it to stay alert.
Others take Ritalin, a treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), for a cognitive boost.
MHRA Senior Policy Manager Lynda Scammell said: "You may be offered 'smart drugs' or 'cognitive enhancers' at university - some of them may be potent medicines which should only be prescribed by a doctor.
"Modafinil is licensed for specific medical conditions - not for use as a 'boost' during exams. Don't put your health at risk by self-medication - it could have serious side-effects.
"It's a criminal offence to supply prescription-only medicines without a valid prescription - websites offering them are acting illegally.
"Be smart - don't put your health at risk by buying medicines online and don't give your student loan to a criminal."

Summary:


A council which installed Braille paving stones branded "gobbledygook" has said the slabs were only intended to be "creative".

Article: A total of almost £6.5m in donations were registered for July to September, Electoral Commission figures show.
The Labour Party reported £2,027,371 in donations, while the Liberal Democrats received £928,888.
Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru reported £11,000, the BNP reported £94,428 and UKIP £42,943.
These figures relate to the period between 1 July and 30 September 2016.
The Electoral Commission said the £6.5m was £8.5m down on the second quarter of 2016 - which involved elections and the UK's EU referendum - but around £363,000 more than the same quarter in 2015.
The seven political parties to report the most donations were:
The Conservative Party received 160 donations, with Michael Davis making the biggest donation at £269,000, followed by Alexander Fraser handing over £260,000.
The party also received £200,000 from the Conservative Draws Society and £165,000 from David Brownlow.
Labour received 91 donations, including £689,362 from the UK's largest trade union UNISON, £429,928 from Unite the Union,  £308,049 from the GMB and £247,923 from the Communications Workers Union.
Transparency
Liberal Democrats received 167 donations, with Graham and Susan Tobbell contributing the most at £125,000 each. Of the Co-operative Party's four donors, £312,800 from the Co-operative Group Ltd was the largest.
Bob Posner, the Electoral Commission's director of political finance and regulation, and legal counsel, said: "This data is hugely important in ensuring that our political finance system is as transparent as possible and it is therefore always disappointing where there is a failure to meet the statutory deadline.
"Where there is no reasonable explanation for such a failure, we will take a robust approach in dealing with this."
In addition to the donations registered, five parties accepted more than £2.3m from public funds - money and assistance to parliamentary opposition parties to assist with costs.
The value of outstanding loans to political parties stood at £4,358,508 on 30 September - a decrease of £191,080 compared to...

Summary: The Conservatives reported over £2.8m in donations in the three months after the EU referendum - the highest amount of the major parties, figures reveal.
###
Article: Hull City Council had hoped the decorative stones would help raise the profile of those in the city who were visually impaired.
They were supposed to spell out the poem, The City Speaks, by Shane Rhodes.
But Braille teacher Barry Wheatley said it made no sense as the Braille is too big and lacks spaces between words.
The council said it was only intended to be "creative" tactile paving.
Read more about this and other stories from East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire
Mr Wheatley said he initially thought the stones along Jameson Street and King Edward Street were a great idea but soon realised they were pointless.
"Braille is the size of your fingertips and to get down on your knees and feel this, well it is meaningless," he said.
"Even if you are a sighted Braille reader then it is like reading a sentence in print without any spaces in it.
"It is just gobbledygook."
He also said it did not work to guide blind or partially sighted people down the street, as it ran into street furniture.
Councillor Martin Mancey said he did not believe anything had "gone wrong" with the paving, which had only recently been installed.
"It was never intended to be a clearly legible form of the poem, it was an artistic interpretation.
"It has already achieved one of its purposes which was to raise the awareness of the needs of blind and partially sighted people in the city centre."
He said he was not aware of any obstacles that prevented it being used as a navigational guide.

Summary:


The Queen's yacht Britannia has been awarded a 96% rating by VisitScotland, the national tourism organisation.

The Royal Yacht Britannia has been judged as Scotland's best visitor attraction every year for the past decade.

Article: A report in January revealed proposed changes that NHS bosses have since said could save Â£31m.
The 14-week consultation began in March and is to finish at midnight.
A petition against the Huddersfield hospital's closure plan currently has more than 63,000 signatures.
More than 4,300 people have already completed the consultation survey organised by the NHS Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Under the proposals all emergency, acute and high-risk planned care would be brought together at Calderdale Royal Hospital in neighbouring Halifax.
A new site in Acre Mills, Huddersfield would be developed as a hospital for planned care - but with no A&E.
The plans would eventually see 612 beds at Calderdale Royal Hospital and 120 at the proposed hospital at Acre Mills.
Several demonstrations against the closure of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary have been staged in the town.
Demolishing the infirmary and relocating emergency services to Calderdale would cost Â£470m compared with Â£501m under proposals considered for Huddersfield, said a draft public consultation document.
The proposed changes would "result in the greatest overall benefits" for people living in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield, according to the CCGs.
The final decision on the plan is expected to be made public in October.

Summary: Plans to demolish Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and replace it with a new facility with no A&E have entered a final day of public consultation.
###
Article: And this year the yacht received a record score of 96%, the highest mark ever awarded to a visitor attraction in Scotland.
It was rated by national tourism organisation VisitScotland.
VisitScotland's quality assurance scheme, is the official measure of quality for tourism businesses.
Tourism businesses are assessed on the welcome, attitude, knowledge and efficiency of staff, as well as audience level, interpretation, maintenance and cleanliness.
With 308,906 visitors in 2015, the Royal Yacht last week announced 2015 as its best since its opening year in 1999.
Almost five million people from around the world have visited The Queen's former yacht since it opened to visitors in Edinburgh in 1998.
Britannia's chief executive Bob Downie said: "To be the best in Scotland once is a fantastic achievement, but to do this for 10 consecutive years is a phenomenal tribute to our staff who go the extra mile to ensure that all our visitors have a great experience when they visit Britannia.
"The true test of any great organisation is consistency of performance, delivering great value for time and money, year in year out, and there is no doubt that our pioneering approach to providing great customer experiences has underpinned our success."
Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland's chief executive, said: "I'd like to congratulate Britannia on this fantastic achievement, which demonstrates an outstanding commitment to quality and excellence in every aspect of the business.
"Retaining the accolade of Scotland's best attraction for 10 years running, Britannia is setting the standards for tourism in Scotland, and it is a real testament to the total commitment shown by their staff to consistently deliver a world-leading customer experience."

Summary:


Many species will not be able to adapt fast enough to survive climate change, say scientists.

Article: The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said emissions in Scotland fell by 9.9% in 2011.
The drop for the UK as a whole was 6.9%.
However, climate campaigners said the figures showed that the Scottish government still had more to do to meet future emission levels targets.
Much of the reduction was due to the weather and a switch from coal-fired electricity generation to nuclear and renewable sources.
The CCC said the reduction also reflected additional investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The committee is an independent statutory body set up under the Climate Change Act to advise the UK government on setting carbon budgets, and to report to parliament on the progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This is the latest Scottish breakdown of the UK emission figures for 2011.
There were drops of more than 20% in emissions from the the power and residential sectors, and a 15% reduction in emissions in the public sector.
Despite the fall in emissions, Scotland narrowly missed the legislated annual target of 53.4 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).
The CCC said this was due to a change in the way estimated emissions were calculated.
The committee's latest report, which is done for the Scottish government, said meeting future targets remained "very challenging".
It has highlighted several areas that will required further action in order to meet future targets.
They included developing the electric vehicle market through more investment in the charging infrastructure, and focusing on pilot projects for new farming practices.
David Kennedy, chief executive of the CCC, said: "There has been good progress in Scotland on reducing emissions in key sectors of the economy, notably through investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
"This should not be obscured by the fact that emissions in 2011 were above the level targeted because of a change to the accounting methodology. But much remains to be done in terms of policy development and implementation to achieve very...

Summary: Scotland has continued to make "good progress" on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the body which advises the UK government on the issue has said.
###
Article: A study of more than 250 plants and animals suggests their ability to adapt to changes in rainfall and temperature will be vastly outpaced by future climate change.
Amphibians, reptiles and plants are particularly vulnerable, according to US researchers.
And tropical species are at higher risk than those in temperate zones.
Some animals might be able to move geographically to cope with rising temperatures, but others live in isolated areas where they cannot move, such as in nature reserves or on mountains or islands.
Ecologists analysed how quickly species had changed their climatic niches (the conditions where they can survive) over time, and how these rates compared with that of global warming.
They analysed 266 populations of plants and animals, including insects, amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles.
Rates of change in climatic niches were much slower than rates of projected climate change, by more than 200,000 fold for temperature (on average), they said.
"Overall, our results show that rates of climatic niche change among populations of plants and animals are dramatically slower than projected rates of future climate change," said Tereza Jezkova and John Wiens, of the University of Arizona.
Mammals and birds might be better placed to survive than amphibians and reptiles, because they had the ability to regulate their own body temperatures, said Dr Wiens.
And, while some species might be able to move to higher latitudes or elevations to survive, "for a lot of organisms, that is not an option".
"It's a double jeopardy of climate change and habitat destruction," he told BBC News.
The research is published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Follow Helen on Twitter.

Summary:


A new study suggests that the Basques are the closest relatives of present-day Basques.

DNA from ancient remains seems to have solved the puzzle of one of Europe's most enigmatic people: the Basques.

Article: PCBs were once used in electrical gear, paints and flame retardants, but were banned from the 1970s because of their toxic effect in humans and animals.
However the manmade chemicals have persisted in the environment, and are accumulating in top predators.
The study finds Europe's cetaceans have levels of PCBs that are among the highest found in on the oceans.
Lead author Dr Paul Jepson, a wildlife veterinarian from the Zoological Society of London, said: "For striped dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and killer whales, we have mean PCB levels that are excessive - they are really high - probably the highest in the world right now, by some way.
"Europe is a big big hotspot."
The contamination is so high that some populations of killer whales are facing extinction, he added.
The research is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, were manufactured from the 1920s, but were banned in the US in 1979, in the UK in 1981 and in the rest of the EU in 1987.
They were found to have a wide-ranging impact on human and animal health, from links to cancer, to suppressing the immune system and causing reproductive problems.
However, these chemicals are extremely durable and despite the ban they are still found in the environment.
"Europe produced about 300,000 tonnes of PCBs from 1954 to 1984. That was about 15% of the world's total," said Dr Jepson.
"A lot of this PCB, we don't know how much, has not been disposed of and is slowly leaking into rivers and estuaries, from landfills, and eventually into the marine environment."
The chemicals then gradually work their way up the food chain and into the top marine predators, where they accumulate in the cetacean's blubber.
The researchers analysed samples taken from more than 1,000 killer whales and dolphins in Europe's waters.
"Our findings show that, despite the ban and initial decline in environmental contamination, PCBs still persist at dangerously high levels in European cetaceans," explained Dr Jepson.
The levels are higher than those...

Summary: A pollutant is present at "dangerously high levels" in Europe's killer whales and dolphins, scientists say.
###
Article: The distinct language and genetic make-up of the Basque people in northern Spain and southern France has puzzled anthropologists for decades.
One theory proposed that they were an unmixed pocket of indigenous hunters.
Now, a study in PNAS journal suggests they descend from early farmers who mixed with local hunters before becoming isolated for millennia.
The Basques have unique customs and a language - Euskera - that is unrelated to any other spoken in Europe, or indeed the world.
Nestled in a mountainous corner of Atlantic Europe, they also show distinct genetic patterns to their neighbours in France and Spain.
It seemed logical that they were representatives of an older layer of population settlement, but just how far back their roots went has been a topic of debate.
Mattias Jakobsson from Uppsala University in Sweden analysed the genomes of eight Stone Age human skeletons from El PortalÃ³n in Atapuerca, northern Spain.
These individuals lived between 3,500 and 5,500 years ago, after the transition to farming in southwest Europe.
The results show that these early Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to present-day Basques.
Comparisons with other ancient European farmers show that agriculture was brought to Iberia by the same migrant groups that introduced it to central and northern Europe. These pioneers expanded from a homeland in the Near East, sweeping across Europe about 7,000 years ago to usher in the period known as the Neolithic.
Once the farmers settled down, they mixed with local hunter-gatherers - the descendants of people who lived in Europe during the last Ice Age.
Indeed, the El PortalÃ³n individuals had more hunter-gatherer ancestry than pioneer farmers from Germany, Hungary and Spain who lived several thousand years earlier.
The new study also goes some way to explaining some of the differences between the Basques and their neighbours in France and Spain.
After the initial farmer-hunter mixture was set, the ancestors of the Basques became isolated from surrounding groups - perhaps due to...

Summary:


A new study has found that the number of people who have used the dating app Tinder has risen by more than a third in the past year.

As the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate heats up in the United States, the left-leaning Bernie Sanders has become a surprising star on social media, with young voters using mobile phone apps to push others to #feelthebern.

Article: The accused in the city of Atlanta face counts of racketeering, making false statements and conspiring to improve test scores to win cash bonuses.
Several of the defendants have already reported to jail in Fulton County.
Former Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly Hall is among those named in the grand jury's indictment.
In 2009, she was named national superintendent of the year by the American Association of School Administrators - the same year much of the alleged cheating is said to have taken place.
According to prosecutors, Ms Hall was given a $78,000 (Â£51,000) bonus from the public school system.
"The money she received, we are alleging, was ill gotten and it was theft," Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told reporters on Friday, when the grand jury indictment was made public.
By Tuesday morning's deadline, five educators - not including Ms Hall - had turned themselves in, the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reported. They were being held on bail bonds of up to $1m.
All those identified by the grand jury must surrender, or face arrest at home or at work.
A 65-count indictment alleges a major conspiracy to cheat, conceal cheating or retaliate against whistleblowers, while inflating student test scores.
The defendants include senior administrators, principals, assistant principals, teachers, testing co-ordinators, a school secretary and a school improvement specialist.
Ron Carlson, professor of law emeritus at the University of Georgia, told the Associated Press news agency: "It's the largest school teaching scandal yet recorded in the country."
Each accused is charged under a Georgia state law modelled on a federal statute enacted to target organised crime.

Summary: Thirty-five former school officials implicated in a test cheating scandal have until Tuesday to surrender to authorities in the US state of Georgia.
###
Article: As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed in their first one-on-one debate it was the senator from Vermont who started to trend worldwide.
So what are Bernie's supporters doing differently to bolster his support amongst younger voters? One place where he is a surprising hit is the dating app Tinder.
Kevin Smit from Alkmaar in the Netherlands has used Tinder to spread the Bernie gospel. "I'm not a heterosexual male and I too believe he's sexy" he joked to BBC News.
"He's a hit because there's a lot of millennials on the app and he polls amazingly with them".
Fans of Bernie's Tinder triumphs share their success on Facebook and Tumblr.
Logan Jantzi from New York told BBC News that it was Bernie's policies which lead to his Tinder appeal.
"He discusses problems that are of actual concern to young voters"  he said.
"Gender inequality, low wages, high student loan debt, climate change, these are the things that 18-30 somethings are concerned with."
Nelson Evans, a Bernie Sanders supporter from California, told BBC News that the popularity of Bernie on social media was because his supporters didn't think their candidate received enough attention in traditional media.
"There's people who even pay the full Tinder membership fees in order to reach others across the country" he said.
"I think it's effective because, prior to the Iowa caucus, the media has completely shut Bernie out of the news cycle. For every 81 minutes of election coverage he'd get 10 seconds and Bernie supporters know that."
"But people who get their election news from the mainstream media, they have no idea what Bernie is all about. That's sort of what started the Tinder thing.
"It's amazing how you see people from 17-29 who have gone from never being interested in politics to being completely enveloped by it.
"This election represents more than just a candidate. It's an indication that the youth know what direction they want our country to go, and they're ready to work vigorously for it," he added.
The hashtag #demdebate has been used more than...

Summary:


The BBC has learned that the BBC is investigating the BBC's decision to cut the salaries of three BBC journalists.
The BBC has been investigating the BBC's decision to cut the salaries of three BBC journalists.
The BBC has been investigating the BBC's decision to cut the salaries of three BBC journalists.
The BBC has

Three cleaners who went on strike over a pay dispute have been sacked in a move branded Scrooge-like by one MP.

Article: Copernicus will fly a constellation of satellites known as the Sentinels to take a continuous "health check" on the planet and to acquire data that can help inform and enforce EU policies.
It has been announced that the first spacecraft in the series will go into orbit, most likely, in early April.
Sentinel 1a will use radar to map the surface of the Earth.
Its information will find myriad uses, from monitoring European coastal waters for oil spills to investigating subsidence in cities.
A key role also will be to provide rapid damage maps to enable emergency services and aid agencies to respond to natural disasters such as earthquakes and severe flooding events.
Sentinel 1a is undergoing final testing at prime contractor Thales Alenia Space, at its facility in Cannes, France.
Shortly, it will be transferred to Turin, Italy, where it will take an Antonov transport plane to the Guianese spaceport in South America.
There it will be fuelled and attached to its Soyuz rocket, ready for an ascent no earlier than 28 March.
"We're making every effort to meet this date, but it's tight," said European Space Agency (Esa) director general, Jean-Jacques Dordain.
"The industrial teams are working double shifts, pretty much seven days a week," he told BBC News. 1 April is his anticipated launch date.
Copernicus is one of two flagship EU space projects, the other being the Galileo satellite-navigation system.
European states have so far committed some 7.5bn euros (Â£6.2bn; $10.2bn) to the end of the decade to build and operate Copernicus.
As such, it represents the biggest civilian Earth-observation project ever conceived, says Josef Aschbacher, the head of Esa's Copernicus office.
"Typically in Europe, we're always looking across the Atlantic and if we see something we like, we build a smaller version of it here. But something like Copernicus doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, and that's why our American and other international partners are extremely interested in collaborating."
Satellites are at their most powerful...

Summary: The date has been set for the roll-out of the European Union's multi-billion-euro Earth observation project.
###
Article: The women, who worked at Kinsley Academy, claimed their pay had been cut after the contract switched from Wakefield Council to C&D Cleaning.
The three women were reportedly dismissed by C&D Cleaning on Monday.
C&D have been approached for comment but confirmed to the Guardian the trio had had their employment terminated.
Labour MP for Hemsworth Jon Trickett said: "With only days till Christmas it looks like Scrooge has been brought back to life from Victorian times."
For updates and more stories from across West Yorkshire
Lesley Leake, Karen McGee and Marice Hall went on strike in September saying their pay had been slashed and their pensions, holiday and sick pay had also been cut when the contract changed hands after the primary school became an academy.
In October about 100 people joined the women on a protest march through Barnsley, where C&D Cleaning is based.
According to reports the women were sacked following a disciplinary hearing on 19 December.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I am angered that three striking primary school cleaners from Kinsley have been sacked.
"When I met them, they explained how their wages were cut following the outsourcing of their contracts to a private company.
"Outsourcing is bad for our public services and workers. The cleaners' jobs must be brought back in-house with fair pay and conditions."
The BBC has approached C&D Cleaning for a comment.
In a statement published in the Guardian, the company said the women had been invited to a disciplinary hearing to "respond to allegations of gross misconduct".
It said: "The outcome of the hearing was termination of employment.
"The company will not comment further at this stage so as not prejudice any internal process."
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "These women bravely took action to protect their wages and employment rights.
"To then sack them just days before Christmas is heartless in the extreme."

Summary:


A former pupil said the prom was an important milestone and accused the school of overreacting.
Hannah Hosegood, 20, said: "It's really upsetting knowing those girls won't be able to experience an event you spend a fair amount of time looking forward to and remember for the rest of your life

A girls' school has scrapped its end of year prom claiming it is too much of a "distraction" to pupils.

Article: The game is Nintendo's first full venture into mobile gaming and marked a significant shift for the firm which had previously not made apps.
The game is only available via Apple's app store and currently has an average rating of 2.5 stars.
Many players criticised the game and said it was expensive compared with other titles on the store.
The full game costs $10 (Â£8) but the first three levels of the game are free to play.
Super Mario Run was released on 15 December and since then, Nintendo shares have fallen. Shares in gamemaker DeNA Co, which helped develop the game, have fallen by 14% over the same time period.
The game is the first fruit of a strategic change in direction Nintendo signalled in 2015 when it announced that it planned to start producing mobile games.
It features Nintendo's mustachioed plumber scurrying across a scrolling landscape as he makes another attempt to rescue Princess Peach.
Players have complained that the three free levels could be completed too quickly and that it was too costly to buy the whole game.
"A $10 upfront cost to unlock the game is a huge ask and one that flies in the face of current mobile games being free-to-play," Daniel Ahmad, an analyst for researcher Niko Partners, told Bloomberg.
Nintendo needed to do more to let people know what they would get if they paid for it, he added.
Players have also criticised the game's need for an always-on internet connection which limited when and where they could play it.
Despite the negative reaction, Super Mario Run has topped the charts for most profitable games in many nations. Analysis firm App Annie said its monitoring of the game suggest it was downloaded more than 37 million times in its first three days. On average, it said, people spent more than 13 minutes every day on the game.
The launch of Super Mario Run came as Nintendo and partner Niantic relaunched Pokemon Go. That game enjoyed huge success earlier in the year but interest in it rapidly dwindled as updates dried up.

Summary: Bad reviews of Nintendo's Super Mario Run mobile game have led to an 11% fall in the firm's share price.
###
Article: The school's headmaster said the "growing expense and luxury" forced on parents was also a major concern.
Beaulieu Convent School in Jersey also referred to "worries about alcohol and drug consumption" at the end of Year 11 event for pupils aged 15-16.
A former pupil said the prom was an important milestone and accused the school of overreacting.
Chris Beirne, headmaster, said the "significant focus and distraction" caused by the prom "does not fit into the ethos of our school".
Writing to parents Mr Beirne cited a letter from an unnamed colleague who was convinced the preparations and the event were "not positive, constructive or healthy experiences".
The colleague wrote: "The financial strain and the inevitable competition associated with this is another very unwelcome, and sometimes crushing, aspect for many parents."
The letter from the colleague also referred to "alcohol and drug consumption at after-parties" as "a considerable concern".
It said the strain of trying "to be slim, fashionable, have perfect skin" led to "unacceptable pressure".
Mr Beirne said he could no longer "safely manage the risk" associated with the event.
The independent Catholic school said it would continue to offer Year 13 leavers a celebratory mass with their families followed by a drinks reception at the school.
The Â£5,400-a-year convent has around 760 students aged 4-18.
Former pupil Hannah Hosegood, 20, said her prom was "a first taste of maturity" and the school should tackle individual pupils if they had concerns about drugs or alcohol.
She said: "It's really upsetting knowing those girls won't be able to experience an event you spend a fair amount of time looking forward to and remember for the rest of your life."

Summary:


The Yorkshire fan planted a flag of rivals Sheffield United at the summit for charity.

A terminal cancer patient who has been told he has just months to live has conquered Mount Everest.

Article: Shot put world champion Aled Sion Davies and F46 Javelin thrower Hollie Arnold were among 13 initially selected in June.
And seven more were added when the rest of the 54-strong team was announced on Tuesday, 26 July.
They are Kyron Duke, Sabrina Fortune, Jordan Howe, Rhys Jones, Steven Morris, Laura Sugar and Olivia Breen.
Sugar, who will compete in the T44 sprints, took up athletics after watching the 2012 Games in London having previously represented Wales at hockey.
Born with the foot condition Talipes, Sugar was left with no ankle movement in her left leg after surgical correction, but was determined to take part in sport in school.
"I grew up and kind of ignored the fact that I shouldn't be able to do sport and became a hockey player for Wales," she told BBC Radio Wales Sport.
"But after watching London 2012 I was inspired by that and I never realised that my foot made me eligible for the paralympics and I signed up for a talent day and it all kicked off from there.
"That was three years ago and now I'm heading for my first paralympics."
Davies, won F42 discus gold at the London Games, but cannot defend his title because the event will not be held in Rio. He also took a bronze at the in the shot put in 2012.
Breen is the only other Welsh track and field athlete going to Rio who won a medal in London - a bronze in the T35-38 4x100m relay.
Aled Davies (F42 shot put), Hollie Arnold (F46 javelin), Kyron Duke (F40 shot put and javelin), Sabrina Fortune (F20 discus), Jordan Howe (T35/F35 sprints), Rhys Jones (T37 sprints), Steven Morris (T20 1500 metres), Laura Sugar (T44 100 metres), Olivia Breen (38 sprints).

Summary: Great Britain's track and field team at the Rio Paralympics will include nine Welsh athletes.
###
Article: Ian Toothill said he believes he is the first cancer patient to scale the world's highest mountain.
The Sheffield Wednesday fan planted a flag of rivals Sheffield United at the summit for charity.
The 47-year-old personal trainer, who reached the summit on Monday, has raised almost £31,500 ($40,600) for Macmillan.
He tweeted: "Nothing to see here, just some cancer dude [Sheffield Wednesday] fan on the summit of Everest with a @SUFC_tweets flag."
Live updates and this and other stories from Yorkshire
Mr Toothill, originally from Sheffield, lives in Willesden Green in London and has climbed in the Himalayas.
He was diagnosed with bowel cancer in June 2015 and told in early 2016 that he had beaten the disease, but later found out it had returned.
He said he has been told he has "just several months left to live".
Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield in February, he said: "I'm determined to prove anything is possible."
He reached the top of the North Col route on 16 May and the summit of Everest on 5 June.
Miss NJP tweeted: "What an amazing achievement and a wonderful moment for @IanToothill. Feeling emotional. So glad you made it to the top #climbingforcancer".
The Sheffield Wednesday fan planted the rival Sheffield United flag at the summit after a friend donated £1,000.
Mr Toothill was accompanied part-way of the climb by Leslie Binns, from Rotherham, who abandoned his climb to the summit after saving the life of a fellow climber last June.
His fundraising bid raised almost £31,500, beating the target of £29,100.

Summary:


The SNP has held a South Ayrshire Council ward following a by-election which was called after the previous incumbent was elected as an MP.

Article: The No Surrender Parent Club marched around the war memorial in the city before attending a service in St Columb's Church of Ireland Cathedral.
The march is held separately from the main St Patrick's Day parade in Derry.
A club spokesperson said it was a "possibility" that they could join the main event in future years, and said they would "consider" any invitation.
The Apprentice Boys of Derry is an organisation set up to commemorate the Siege of Derry in August 1689.
It is named in memory of 13 young apprentices - supporters of the Protestant King William III - who closed the gates of the walled city to stop the advancing army of the Catholic King James II.
The club decided to march this year after the success of their demonstration 12 months ago which marked their 150th anniversary.
After the parade, club spokesman Gordon Porter said: "St Patrick's Day, as you know, throughout the world is a celebration of the whole of Ireland.
"A major part of that story is the siege of Derry, which is what the association of the Apprentice Boys is all about, so it's only right that we are parading today.
"We can tell our story once again within the city of Londonderry, and it only bodes well for the city that two cultures can walk along beside each other."
When asked if the Apprentice Boys would join the main parade at any point in the future, Mr Porter said: "Possibly, in the future, there could be a situation where that might happen. If we get the invite, we'll take it on merit and we'll certainly look into that.
"At the minute we're quite happy to do this by ourselves but in the future it is a possibility," he added.

Summary: The Apprentice Boys of Derry have marked St Patrick's Day with a parade and church service in Londonderry.
###
Article: The SNP's John Wallace won the Ayr East ward after the vote on Thursday.
Turnout for the by-election was 34.4%, with 4,006 votes cast out of an electorate of 11,638.
The by-election was called following the resignation of Corri Wilson, who was elected as SNP MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock earlier this year.

Summary:


A graduate jobseeker has spoken of her horror at being called a "home-educated oddball" by a prospective employer.

Article: Data showedthat more cases are now being diagnosed. While women are living longer after a diagnosis, the total number of deaths has also increased.
It has been argued that rising levels of obesity were behind the rise.
Cancer Research UK said the finding was "hugely troubling".
Cancer of the womb is the fourth most common cancer in women and tends to occur after the menopause.
From the 1970s to 1996 the incidence of womb cancer stayed roughly the same at about 13.7 cases for every 100,000 women in the UK. It now stands at 19.6 per 100,000, a 43% increase.
Survival rates have improved with 77% of women now living at least five years after treatment. However, deaths have gone up.
In the past decade the mortality rate has gone from 3.1 to 3.7 deaths from uterine cancer for every 100,000 women. In 2010, 1,937 women died from the cancer.
Prof Jonathan Ledermann, a gynaecological cancer expert at the charity, said: "It's hugely troubling that more women are dying from womb cancer, but we shouldn't let this cloud the fact that the chances of surviving the disease are still better than ever.
"This is due to better organisation of care for women's cancers and more widespread use of one-stop clinics for post-menopausal bleeding, as well as advances in the use of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy through clinical trials."
Rachael Gormley, from the World Cancer Research Fund, said: "Womb cancer is one of several types of cancer where there is strong evidence that obesity increases risk. Others include breast, bowel, oesophageal, pancreatic and kidney.
"As levels of obesity rise, we can expect the number of cancer cases to also increase.
"Taking steps to avoid becoming obese, such as eating a healthy diet and being active each day, is one of the most important things we can do to reduce our risk of cancer."

Summary: The number of women dying from cancer of the womb - known as uterine cancer - has increased by nearly 18% in the past decade, according to the charity Cancer Research UK.
###
Article: Anna Jacobs read the description by Tecomak Environmental Services in an email inviting her for interview.
Attached seemingly by accident, the comments suggested Ms Jacobs, of Horsmonden in Kent, was "worth an interview if only for a laugh".
The company said it was investigating thoroughly but added the comments had been taken out of context.
Ms Jacobs told BBC South East Today she was initially excited to be invited for the interview for a position of office administrator.
But then she saw the "absolutely awful summary" and said she was "furious".
Below the formal invitation, the e-mail from Tecomak read: "Home educated oddball. Can't get a job since leaving uni. Forages for mushrooms.
"Difficult to assess from her CV - might be very good but equally could be a biscuit short of a packet or a left-wing loon tree hugger.
"Worth an interview if only for a laugh."
Ms Jacobs said she had a lot to offer and could not believe the firm was considering wasting her time for "a laugh".
So far, she said she has received no apology or explanation from Tecomak.
Employment lawyer Richard Atkins, said all jobseekers are entitled to equal treatment when applying for positions.
"On the face of it, this e-mail does not show that she has been treated with fairness and respect," he said.

Summary:


Pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and some generics companies have been fined for being anti-competitive.

Article: Special Report: The Technology of Business
Councils 'wasting millions' on IT
Tech promises sustainable healthcare
Mobile brightening Africa's future
Can we 'green' our toxic buildings?
War on waste helps businesses profit
But unplugged from the mains, they only last as long as the energy held within their batteries.
And there's the rub.
While scientists are constantly dreaming up new ways to generate and bottle energy - from rhubarb and paper to viruses and urine - commercial battery technology has changed remarkably little in the past 50 years, particularly when compared with the advances in the devices they power.
As Tim Probert, editor at Energy Storage Publishing, says: "The battery industry is pretty conservative. It says a lot that we are still using very old technology like lead-acid in batteries.
"Breakthrough technologies are great but they need a reality check - this industry is all about small, incremental improvements."
The humble AA battery has been around since the 1940s and is based on 19th Century technology. But it still has a 15% share of the global battery market, along with other alkaline batteries.
And the lead-acid battery, which is fundamental to most combustion engine-powered cars, was invented more than 150 years ago and holds a 20% share of the market.
Clearly the battery industry, which is worth almost $90bn (Â£54bn; 66bn euros) globally, is not keeping pace with innovation in consumer electronics.
Even the near-ubiquitous rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which powers most modern gadgets, was invented in the 1970s.
It has about a 40% market share.
Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla, the brainchild of serial entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk, uses so-called 18650 lithium cells - "essentially old laptop batteries", according to Mr Probert - to power its cars.
Most laptop manufacturers gave up on 18650s long ago, but Tesla believes this old tech still has a future, and even has plans to build its own "gigafactory" to produce them.
"By choosing smaller, cylindrical cells, we have been...

Summary: Mobile devices have transformed our lives, giving us the freedom to talk, work, watch and listen on the move.
###
Article: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says GSK made more than £50m of payments to companies making generic versions of its anti-depressant Seroxat to delay them coming to market.
GSK has been fined £37,606,275 and the generic firms have to pay £7.4m.
But GSK says its actions actually saved the NHS money and brought the generic drugs to the market sooner.
The other companies fined were Generics UK, Merck, Alpharma, Activis UK and Xellia Pharmaceuticals.
The CMA found that between 2002 and 2004, GSK had made agreements to pay cash to its competitors to prevent them bringing the generic version of Seroxat, called paroxetine, to market.
In addition to the cash payments, the CMA said the deals allowed the competitors to bring small amounts of paroxetine to market instead of GSK, transferring some of the profits to the generic manufacturers without increasing competition.
Michael Grenfell from the CMA said: "Today's decision sends out a strong message that we will tackle illegal behaviour that is designed to stifle competition at the expense of customers - in this case, the NHS and, ultimately, taxpayers."
But GSK said it disagreed with the ruling and was considering appealing.
"GSK and the generics companies entered into these agreements at the time in order to settle costly, complex and uncertain patent disputes," its spokesperson said.
"The agreements allowed the generics companies to enter the market early with a paroxetine product and ultimately enabled a saving of over £15m to the NHS."
The CMA pointed out that after generic paroxetine entered the market properly at the end of 2013, average prices for the drug fell more than 70% in two years.

Summary:


The Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine has been split two ways for groundbreaking work on parasitic diseases.

Article: Norbert Hofer's new slogan translates as "So help me God" which his party says reflects "a strong anchorage in Christian and Western values".
But leaders from Protestant churches said God was the defender of the weak, "who today include refugees".
Mr Hofer's Freedom Party has campaigned against immigration.
The Christian leaders - not including the country's dominant Catholic Church - also said God was not Western, but universal.
"God cannot be manipulated for personal intentions or political purposes," Bishop Michael Buenker said in a joint statement with other Protestant leaders (in German).
"We consider that mentioning God for one's own political interests and using him along with reference to the Christian West to indirectly attack other religions and cultures amounts to an abuse of his name and of religion in general.
"We reject the use of God for political campaigning."
In response, Mr Hofer tweeted the lyrics to the Austrian national anthem (in German), which mention God, a picture of a US dollar note  bearing the slogan "In God we trust" and a picture of the cover of a book about German Chancellor Angela Merkel, entitled So wahr mir Gott helfe.
Mrs Merkel used the optional phrase at her swearing-in ceremony. It is the exact same slogan as Mr Hofer used, and translates to "So help me God".
Mr Hofer is facing an independent Green-backed candidate, Alexander van der Bellen, in an election which is being rerun because of procedural irregularities. If he wins, he will become the first far-right head of state in Europe since the EU was founded.
In May, he lost by 31,000 votes to Mr van der Bellen, but the Freedom Party's claim of procedural irregularities was upheld in court and the election will be re-run in December. The re-run had to be postponed after an October attempt was curtailed due to postal vote envelopes not being sticky enough.
The Freedom Party said Mr Hofer's slogan had come directly from his heart.
Party official Herbert Kickl said the phrase was "in no way a misuse of the concept of God"...

Summary: Christian leaders in Austria have criticised a far-right presidential candidate for invoking the name of God in a political campaign slogan.
###
Article: The research, by William C Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Youyou Tu, has led to drugs to treat diseases affecting more than 3.4 billion people around the world.
One of them, malaria, most people have heard of. But the other two illnesses, onchocerciasis or "river blindness" and lymphatic filariasis or "elephantiasis" - both caused by roundworm parasites  - are lesser known.
People catch these worms from bites from infected insects such as flies or mosquitoes.
Left untreated, the worms grow and multiply, causing disabling symptoms in their host.
The drug ivermectin kills the first larval stage of the parasite - the babies of adult female worms.
William C Campbell discovered this by studying bacteria living in soil samples obtained by Satoshi Omura from a Japanese golf course in Ito City, in the Shizuoka region.
One particular strain of bacterium, Streptomyces avermitilis, caught his eye because of its potent anti-parasitic properties.
Working with drug company Merck and Co, he then set about purifying this agent.
Since 1987, Merk (MSD) has given ivermectin away free to those countries that need it most.
Last year, it donated more than 300 million doses to treat river blindness and elephantiasis.
Meanwhile, Chinese scientist Youyou Tu had been focusing her attentions in the 1960s and 70s on finding a new treatment for malaria.
The staples quinine and chloroquine were failing because the parasite that causes malaria - Plasmodium falciparum - had learned how to evade their attack.
Disheartened by the lack of effective drugs to tackle this mosquito-borne disease, the professor turned to traditional medicine to hunt for a new option.
She found that an extract from the sweet wormwood plant Artemisia annual was sometimes effective - but the results were inconsistent, so she went back to ancient literature, including a recipe from AD350.
This ancient document - Ge Hong's A Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies - recommended a handful of qinghao [the Chinese name for the plant extract] immersed in two litres of water,...

Summary: