The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered all insurance companies to split out the extra charges for the additional protection.
The Co-op was the only firm which missed a deadline to do so, in August last year.
As a result around 120,000 customers received quotations that were unclear.
From

The Co-op has been ordered to provide clearer insurance quotations, after it failed to tell motorists about separate charges for no claims bonuses.

Article: In a report to the UN, it underlined the need for stop-and-search to take place within the legal framework set out by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It initially raised the issue with the UN Human Rights Committee a year ago.
The body has previously called for an end to non-statutory stop-and-search.
The latest move follows public concern about the widespread use of stop-and-search measures in Scotland.
Police have considered scrapping consensual searches, having already committed to ceasing the practice with under-12s.
Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) chairman Prof Alan Miller said: "Stop-and-search has its place as a means of ensuring public safety.
"However, it should only be carried out where there is a clear legal basis for interfering with someone's basic right to privacy.
"We should all be free to go about our daily business unless the police have reasonable suspicion that we are doing something illegal.
"Police Scotland has repeatedly failed to take appropriate steps to address the concerns that the commission and others have raised.
"A review announced in February promised progress but, in reality, has not led to any tangible change."
He added: "Unlawful stop and search continues to take place on Scotland's streets. This must stop."
SHRC said it looked forward to a forthcoming report by the Stop and Search Advisory Group, established by the Scottish government, and would respond accordingly.
In a statement, Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson said: "Police Scotland recognises it is important to strike a balance between protecting the public and the rights of the individual and we are committed to complying with requirements of the Human Rights Act and our Code of Ethics and Police Values, where stop and search must be carried out with integrity, fairness and respect."
ACC Mawson said "some areas for improvement" had been identified following an extensive review of stop-and-search by Police Scotland and independent reviews by bodies such as the...

Summary: The Scottish Human Rights Commission has taken its concerns about controversial police stop-and-search practices to the United Nations.
###
Article: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had ordered all insurance companies to split out the extra charges for the additional protection.
But the Co-op was the only firm which missed a deadline to do so, in August last year.
As a result around 120,000 customers received quotations that were unclear.
From 1 February, the Co-op will provide two separate quotations - one with no claims bonus protection, and one without.
"It is very disappointing that a major company such as Co-op Insurance has taken so long to provide this vital information to its customers," said Adam Land, senior director of remedies, business and financial analysis at the CMA.
"Before the order came into force, the price and benefits of NCB [no claims bonus] protection were often unclear to drivers.
"We expect the Co-op to fully comply with the terms of our directions immediately, so that motorists can search more easily for the best deal for them, and decide whether or not they want this optional cover."
The Co-op said most of its quotations do now provide separate details of no claims bonus charges.
"For 90% of our new business customers we are already fully compliant with this order," a spokesperson said.
"We are part way through a major transformation programme, which when complete will allow us to be fully compliant and enable us to provide best in class service to our members."

Summary:


A red kite has been shot dead in Bedfordshire.
The RSPB has appealed for information about the shooting of a red kite in Bedfordshire.
The bird was found dead in a field in the village of Daintry Wood near Toddington.
The RSPB said: "This was

A protected bird of prey has been found dead in Bedfordshire and had likely been shot "at close range".

Article: Media playback is unsupported on your device
15 October 2014 Last updated at 13:18 BST
The steppe eagle flew 45 times over the Brecon Beacons wearing a miniature rucksack packed with scientific instruments.
The experiment showed that by collapsing his wings in heavy wind, Cossack can fly in conditions that would have grounded an aircraft.
Scientists say birds such as vultures and kites may use the same technique.
During each "wing tuck" Cossack's wings are, for a split-second, folded beneath his body so that he is effectively falling. This occurs up to three times a minute in some conditions.
Study leader Professor Graham Taylor, from Oxford University's Department of Zoology, said: "Soaring flight may appear effortless but it isn't a free ride...it also puts an enormous strain on its flight muscles."
He compared the technique to suspension on a car stopping a disturbing ride.
The 75g (3 oz) "black box", which does not interfere with flying, tracks his position and records acceleration, rotation rate and airspeed.
Prof Taylor believes the lessons learned from Cossack could be useful to human aviation.
"This kind of technique could potentially be used to keep micro air vehicles aloft even in very windy conditions," he said.

Summary: An eagle called Cossack has been fitted with a "black box" to reveal his secret weapon against turbulence.
###
Article: The red kite was discovered by a member of the public at Daintry Wood near Toddington.
An X-ray image showed it had 10 pieces of lead shot lodged in its body.
The RSPB said: "This was clearly no accident and it is especially sad considering the lengths that have been taken to reintroduce these splendid birds to England."
RSPB inspector Jenny Shelton said: "The bird will most likely have been shot at close range to incur this level of damage.
"Red kites feed mainly on carrion, so there is no logical reason for these birds to be targeted".
Bedfordshire Police has appealed for information about the shooting.
Insp Mark Farrant said: "This is a particularly worrying incident against a bird that is fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
"I would ask anyone with information relating to this or similar incidents to call Bedfordshire Police."
According to the RSPB, the shooting of birds of prey is a widespread problem in the UK.
The organisation's latest Bird Crime report said there were 196 reports of shooting, trapping and destruction of birds of prey in 2015, including red kites.
The species is protected under schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the punishment for killing one is up to six months in jail and/or a fine of up to Â£5,000.
Red kites became extinct in England in 1871, with only a handful of pairs left in remote parts of central Wales.
The RSPB helped reintroduce them in 1989 and there are now about 1,000 red kites in England.

Summary:

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A school in Sydney has banned students from hugging each other.
###Article: A school in Sydney has banned students from hugging each other.
###Article: A school in Sydney has banned students from hugging each other.
###Article: A school in Sydney has banned students from hugging each other.
###Article:

A school in Sydney has banned clapping in favour of "silent cheering", "excited faces" and "punching the air".

Article: Russell Hobby was responding to warnings that more young people from the UK could travel to the conflict in Syria during the school holidays.
He said schools would alert parents and "appropriate authorities" if they found evidence of extremism.
"We cannot reasonably expect schools to perform police functions," he said.
Mr Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said that schools would respond to any information they received, but would need the support of other agencies, if young people vulnerable to extremism were to be identified and intercepted.
He was responding to warnings from a senior prosecutor, Nazir Afzal, that some schools feared the Easter holidays would be used as a time for radicalised pupils to try to join the conflict in Syria.
Mr Afzal, who stepped down this week as chief prosecutor for north-west England, said two London head teachers had raised such concerns with him:
"They are worried that some of their children and some of the people they have care over will not be there when they return from the Easter break - and that must worry us all."
In February, three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy in east London disappeared from their homes and flew to Turkey. They are believed to have crossed into Syria.
Head teachers' leader Mr Hobby said that where there was evidence of extremism or plans to travel to Syria heads would act, but there were limits to what could be expected of schools.
"Schools' duty of protection involves educating people well and sharing what information they do have with other agencies.
"Beyond that, they need clear guidance and somewhere to turn to for help. We cannot reasonably expect schools to perform police functions."

Summary: Head teachers cannot be expected to be "counter-terrorism experts" or "conduct surveillance" on young people, said a head teachers' leader.
###
Article: The school says the rule was introduced to respect students who are "sensitive to noise" but says the practice also "reduces fidgeting".
It is the latest in the series of school regulations to have faced criticism in the Australian media.
Hugs and Australia Day celebrations have faced bans at different schools around the country.
Earlier this week, an all-girls school rejected a newspaper report that said its teachers were asked to stop addressing students as girls, ladies and women in favour of gender-neutral language.
Elanora Heights Public School, on Sydney's northern beaches, announced the no-clapping policy in its latest newsletter.
"If you've been to a school assembly recently, you may have noticed our students doing silent cheers," it said.
"Instead of clapping, the students are free to punch the air, pull excited faces and wriggle about on the spot.
"The practice has been adopted to respect members of our school community who are sensitive to noise.
It said teachers would "prompt the audience to conduct a silent cheer if it is needed" and that they had found it to be "a great way to expend children's energy and reduce fidgeting".

Summary:


The Hillsborough Independent Panel has said it will not publish its report into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster until the end of the year.
The panel said it would not be able to publish the report until the end of the year because of the "complexity" of the case.
The panel said it would not be

Any inquiry into police actions during the Battle of Orgreave would not take place until Hillsborough investigations conclude, the Home Office said.

Article: The ONS said businesses used 1.5 million zero-hours contracts to employ staff in January this year, compared with 1.4 million a year earlier.
The data, collected in January, is the first that can be directly compared to a previous point in time, the ONS said.
But it added the rise in contracts was "not statistically significant".
Zero-hours contracts do not guarantee a minimum number of hours of employment and many argue they offer greater flexibility in working patterns.
But the contracts have proved controversial with the Labour party promising to ban them earlier this year if it won the general election.
The ONS said there had also been a rise in the number of people employed on zero-hours contracts.
It estimated that 744,000 people, or 2.4%, of those in employment between April and June 2015, were employed on zero-hours contracts up from 624,000, or 2%, for the same period a year earlier.
That represented a 19% rise year-on-year but the ONS again warned that it was impossible to say how much of the increase was due to greater recognition of the term "zero-hours contracts" rather than a rise in new contracts.
People on zero-hours contracts were more likely to be women, in full-time education or in young or older age groups compared with other people in employment, the ONS said.
Of those working on zero-hours contracts, 54% were women, while 34% were aged 16 to 24 and 6% aged 65 and over.
A further 20% of people on zero-hours contracts were in full-time education.
On average, someone on a zero-hours contract usually works 25 hours a week, with around 40% of them wanting more hours, most from their current job, rather than in a different or additional one, the ONS added.
The survey asked a sample of 5,000 businesses how many people were employed on contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours. More than 2,700 responses to the survey were received - a response rate of 55%.
Companies with more than 250 employees were more likely to employ some of their workforce using zero-hours contracts, the...

Summary: There has been a 6% rise in the use of zero-hours contracts by UK businesses in the last year, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.
###
Article: The House of Lords heard the government had not yet taken a decision as to whether an inquiry will be held.
Launching one now could prejudice the on-going investigations into the Hillsborough disaster, it heard.
About 10,000 strikers and 5,000 police officers clashed at the coking plant near Rotherham in June 1984.
More than 120 officers and pickets were injured and 93 people arrested.
On Tuesday, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) ruled a full report into allegations of police misconduct will not be made public.
Live updates on this story and others in South Yorkshire
What was the 'Battle of Orgreave'?
What happened at Hillsborough?
Lord Richard Keen, Lords spokesperson for the Home Office, said a barrister had been commissioned to go through 10,000 police documents "in the context of the investigation at Orgreave".
In response to a question from Lord Richard Balfe, he said: "The IPCC has told the Home Office officials that if it announces any action to set up an inquiry or other investigation relating to Orgreave it would have an impact on the Hillsborough investigation.
"For that reason, the decision will only be taken after that part has been concluded."
He added work was still on-going to "assess whether material related to the policing of Orgreave is relevant to the Hillsborough criminal investigations".
Barbara Jackson, from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, said: "We respect all that the Hillsborough campaigners have had to go through, but we would like our issue dealt with as quickly as possible, as soon as their verdict is in the public domain."

Summary:


The Bar Council of Northern Ireland has said it will continue a strike over cuts to legal aid payments for "as long as is necessary", the Bar Council has said.
The Bar Council of Northern Ireland has said it will continue a strike over cuts to legal aid payments for "as long as is necessary", the Bar Council

Some stories reported by Newsround can make you feel sad - but you are not the only one and it's OK to have those feelings.

Article: Barristers have withdrawn from all new criminal cases requiring legal aid, in protest against the reduced payments.
Bar Council chairman, Gerry McAlinden, said the cuts meant barristers will not get "any money" for aspects of cases.
But the justice minister said Northern Ireland could not continue to fund the UK's highest level of legal aid pay.
David Ford, who is facing cuts to his departmental budget along with other Northern Ireland Executive ministers, has introduced new rules this month that reduce the legal aid payments available to lawyers who undertake criminal case work.
Last week, it emerged that the Bar Council of Northern Ireland and the Law Society have joined forces in a legal action against the minister, in an attempt to get the High Court to overturn the new payment rules.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, Mr McAlinden said: "What these rules simply mean is that, for a lot of the work that is required to properly do a case - a criminal case or a civil case - the lawyers will not get any money.
"Basically, what in essence is happening under the 2015 rules in relation to criminal cases is that, for the work that is required - such as looking at documents that are disclosed by the Crown, looking at expert reports, looking at the documentation that is necessary to determine whether those expert reports are accurate in their conclusions - that type of work will not be paid under these rules."
The Bar Council chairman added: "It means that there is the potential for corners to be cut, in terms of the proper investigation when looking at criminal cases, and that cannot be allowed. Criminal practitioners must be properly remunerated for the work that is required to protect the defendants' interest. It's a simple matter of justice."
Mr McAlinden said the mood among his colleagues was "one of utter determination to ensure that this action holds for as long as is necessary, so that the message gets across to the minister that enough is enough".
Speaking on the same programme, the justice minister said he had...

Summary: Barristers are determined to continue a strike over cuts to legal aid payments for "as long as is necessary", the Bar Council of Northern Ireland has said.
###
Article: Upsetting events often make the news because they don't happen very often.
This section gives you some tips about what to do if you are feeling sad about what you've seen, heard or read.
You can rely on Newsround to tell you the important facts about a story - but some things you hear might be a bit scary or make you feel worried.
Remember that worrying stories are often in the news because they are rare - they don't happen very often.
It is incredibly unlikely that what you're reading about or watching might happen near you.
Discuss the stories with your parents or friends. You'll feel better that you're not the only one worried.
You could also talk to your teacher about it - maybe you could have a class discussion which would help you understand the issue better.
If you're having nightmares or trouble sleeping because of something you've heard in the news:

Summary:


The website for Banksy's "Dismaland" exhibition has crashed.
### Article: The website for Banksy's "Dismaland" exhibition has crashed.
### Article: The website for Banksy's "Dismaland" exhibition has crashed.
### Article: The website for Banks

Banksy has denied accusations he is "trolling" members of the public - after thousands have struggled to buy tickets for his new show.

Article: It was created by the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, with additional data from NASA and the US Geological Survey.
The centrepiece is an a click-and-play animation showing every eruption and earthquake for the last 50 years.
It is part of a project to create a record of every volcanic eruption on Earth for the last 10,000 years.
As well as monitoring active volcanoes, a global collaboration of researchers is gathering evidence of ancient eruptions in the geological record.
Elizabeth Cottrell, head of the Smithsonian Institution's program in Washington, DC, told the BBC that the animation was a view of "the living, breathing planet".
"You're watching the Earth respire - you're watching the pulse of the planet," she said.
"And you can see those patterns of where the tectonic plate boundaries are - the Earth's breath and pulse defines those plate boundaries."
The Global Volcanism Program has been running since 1968, with a mission to "document, understand and disseminate information about global volcanic activity".
This global network of scientists is building a database of all known and confirmed eruptions for the last 10,000 years.
Some of these remain as signals of ancient ash or lava left in rocks. But the program also uses scientific literature, eyewitness accounts and even old ship's logs, some of which contain detailed accounts of eruptions.
"Captain Cook provided a lot of information about volcanoes erupting that he saw," remarked Dr Cottrell.
But the last 50 years is a crucial period, because the scientists say they are confident that they have a complete record of every eruption and earthquake over that time.
Making it available to download and in an app, Dr Cottrell said, could be of value to scientists who are looking for patterns that help to improve volcanic eruption forecasting.
Individual volcanic eruptions on a human timescale can seem rare, but volcanic arcs - chains of volcanoes along the same plate boundary - have what Dr Cottrell described as "a sort of pulse".
"When we're looking for...

Summary: Half a century of the planet's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have been visualised in an animated app.
###
Article: Online bookings for his "Dismaland" exhibition were suspended last week after the attraction's website crashed.
Many users reported issues when sales resumed earlier - prompting claims the problems were deliberate.
But a spokeswoman for Banksy insisted the rumours were untrue. Tickets have now become available on the website.
She said the attraction's website was "100% real" and had crashed under "huge demand".
Dismaland, housed in a derelict lido on Weston-super-Mare's seafront, is a dark take on theme parks with a nod to Disneyland, featuring work by more than 50 artists including Bristolian Banksy.
Among those tweeting their disappointment was Mark Ã–sten, who wrote: "On Friday, I believed 'technical difficulties'. Now, I'm reluctantly believing #Banksy is trolling those after tickets for #dismaland."
Caroline Harley tweeted: "It's easier to buy tickets to see the Beatles than tickets to go to  #Dismaland"
There were suggestions the site may be fake last week.
But the artist's spokeswoman told the BBC: "It's not true. It's 100% a real website. It crashed under the number of hits it received."
North Somerset Council, which worked with Bansky on the exhibition, has insisted the website is not a hoax.
Seafront manager Darren Fairchild said the website had crashed due to an "unprecented" number of hits, despite "huge amounts of work".
Dismaland has boosted visits to the seaside resort - one tour guide told the BBC he had not seen such crowds since the 1970s.
Among the exhibits are a distorted mermaid, a dilapidated fairy castle and a boat pond where all the boats are filled with models of migrants, as well as paintings and a beach ball hovering above upturned knives.

Summary:


A new study has found that the number of people who are obese in the UK has risen by a fifth in the last decade.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that the number of obese people in the UK has risen from 16.5 million in 2006 to 20.8 million in 2015.

Caterpillars are being killed by a bug which turns them into "exploding zombies", a wildlife expert has said.

Article: A quarter of councils are set to see falls in government funding when the free 30 hours scheme starts in 2017, the Pre-School Learning Alliance says.
It adds that the new rates will then be frozen until 2020, even though the cost of providing places is set to rise.
Ministers say funding was being allocated "more fairly" across England.
All three and four year olds are currently entitled to 15 hours of free childcare a week, but from September 2017, working parents will be entitled to an extra 15 hours a week, in school term-time, for each child.
The DfE has raised the hourly rates it pays to local authorities, who then pass that on to childcare settings, as an average across the country, but not all areas are getting a raise.
Chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance Neil Leitch said: "The government has tried to sell next year's funding changes as a solution to all the concerns about the 30 hours offer, but this simply isn't true.
"With a quarter of all local councils seeing a fall in funding next year, childcare costs in those areas are likely to sky-rocket as childcare providers face a choice between either raising fees or going out of business."
The alliance was quoting figures published by the DfE in its consultation on funding, which states 38 out of 150 local authorities face a fall in rates.
Mr Leitch said: "Of course, even in areas where funding rates are increasing, providers are still facing a fight for survival, as often funding simply doesn't meet the rising cost of delivering places."
Details obtained from a Freedom of Information request revealed that nearly 75% of councils had been given funding levels over the past five years that had failed to keep pace with inflation.
This added to future cost pressures would make it very difficult for the nursery sector.
Mr Leitch said: "Take staff costs, for example, which account for 70-80% of overall costs for providers.
"By 2020, the national living wage will have increased from Â£7.20 to Â£9 an hour, and yet childcare providers are somehow...

Summary: Childcare costs could "sky-rocket" in parts of England as nurseries grapple with less funding for a free government childcare scheme, a charity says.
###
Article: Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside Wildlife Trust said the skins of insects have been found on Winmarleigh Moss, near Garstang.
The baculovirus drives caterpillars on a "death march" to the top of plants, then when it dies the bug bursts out to seek other victims.
The trust's Dr Chris Miller said it was "gruesome - like a zombie horror film".
Dr Miller was carrying out a butterfly survey on Winmarleigh Moss when he noticed a caterpillar hanging from the end of a branch of a small bush.
He then saw another one hanging from a tall blade of grass.
"Both were dead but otherwise intact," he said.
Dr Miller also noticed "small scraps of caterpillar skin" on other branches he checked.
He said research is showing that the baculovirus affects the way the "zombie" insects respond to light, "making them climb to higher and more dangerous places and when they get there they die".
"It is really unusual seeing caterpillars high up as they can be eaten by birds.
"This is a caterpillar of the oak eggar moth which eats heather and bilberry so it is normally hidden in the undergrowth, not at the top of plants."
Source: Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside Wildlife Trust

Summary:


The head of the world football's governing body has said he will step down after the election of a new president.
Blatter, 79, said last year he was standing down amid a growing corruption crisis.
Five candidates want to replace him. They are Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, Gian

Fifa will get a new president on Friday when 207 delegates from around the world gather in Zurich, Switzerland to vote for a successor to Sepp Blatter.

Article: Standard Bank, FNB, Nedbank and ABSA, which is owned by Barclays, were all downgraded on Tuesday and Moody's warned of more possible ratings cuts.
The move comes a week after South Africa's central bank bailed out the smaller lender African Bank.
The South African Reserve Bank insisted the country's banking sector remained "healthy and robust."
Analysts said the downgrade was in response to what Moody's views as the risks of unsecured lending, or loans not based on collateral.
Chris Hart of Investment Solutions said: "The downgrade is in response to the deteriorating credit quality that we are seeing in unsecured lending space, the collapse of the African Bank is indicative of that."
Moody's reduced its ratings on the four big banks by one notch to Baa1.
Last week the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) announced a rescue plan for African Bank, a smaller lender that specialised in unsecured loans. The SARB bought up around $700m of bad loans from African Bank, but some investors still lost out.
On Monday, another lender, Capitec, saw its shares plunge after seeing its rating downgraded.
The central bank rejected Moody's decision on the big four banks.
"While the SARB respects the independent opinion of rating agencies, we do not agree with the rationale given in taking this step, nor do we agree with the assessment it is based on," it said in a statement.
The South African government has been encouraging banks to lend to low-earning people who lack collateral, in an effort to boost business start-ups and property ownership.
Nonetheless, analyst Chris Hart said that despite the relatively high level of unsecured lending, South Africa's banking system was sound.
"There are no fundamental problems with South African banks in terms of overall management, and overall asset and liquidity."

Summary: Shares in South Africa's largest banks fell on Wednesday, following downgrades from the ratings agency Moody's.
###
Article: Media playback is not supported on this device
In charge of world football's governing body since 1998, Blatter, 79, said last year he was standing down amid a growing corruption crisis.
Five candidates want to replace him.
They are Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Tokyo Sexwale and Jerome Champagne.
The election process is expected to begin at 12:00 GMT, but several rounds of voting may be required before a winner is known.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Each candidate has 15 minutes to address the congress before voting starts at approximately 12:00 GMT.
There are 209 Fifa nations but Kuwait and Indonesia are currently barred from taking part, so that makes 207 eligible voters.
To become president after the first round of voting, a candidate needs to secure two-thirds of the available votes. If no candidate achieves that mark, then a simple majority is required in the second round.
If there is still no winner, then a third round will take place, minus the candidate with the fewest votes in round two.
Fifa says a winner must be declared on Friday because an ice hockey rink is due to be installed at the Hallenstadion venue at midnight.
So determined is Fifa to get this election done that it has spent £500,000 converting its headquarters into a back-up venue.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Given everything that has happened to Fifa, this is seen as a pivotal moment for an organisation which has been heavily criticised for its lack of transparency and for failing to clamp down on corruption within it.
A new leader, together with a raft of reform measures, is seen as a chance to start afresh.
Acting president Issa Hayatou said Friday can "signal a new dawn", adding: "This is our opportunity to show we are united in building a stronger Fifa."
Media playback is not supported on this device
There have been widespread allegations of corruption, the arrest of leading officials, the banning of its president and the sight of big-name...

Summary:


The seven men convicted of manslaughter in the L'Aquila earthquake have been cleared of the charges.
The seven men were members of a committee convened in L'Aquila in March 2009 following a series of tremors in the region.
Days after they met, a 6.3 magnitude quake struck the town in

A group of Italian scientists convicted of manslaughter for failing to predict a deadly earthquake have had the verdict quashed.

Article: Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed the measure into law on Monday.
The move makes Utah the only US state to use firing squads as a method of execution.
Some US states are considering alternative execution methods as they struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage.
Drug inventories dwindled after European manufacturers opposed to capital punishment refused to sell the lethal concoctions.
Civil rights groups have said use of firing squads makes Utah "look backward and backwoods".
Governor Herbert finds the firing squad "a little bit gruesome,'' but said the state needs a back-up execution method.
"We prefer to use our primary method of lethal injection when such a sentence is issued," the governor's spokesman Marty Carpenter told the Associated Press.
"However, when a jury makes the decision and a judge signs a death warrant, enforcing that lawful decision is the obligation of the executive branch."
It will probably be years before Utah's next execution. The head of Utah's prison system has said the state does not have any reserves of lethal injection drugs.
The new Utah law reinstates the use of firing squads more than a decade after the state abandoned the practice.
Because of the intense media attention, Utah lawmakers stopped offering inmates the choice of a death by firing squad several years ago.
But a handful of inmates sentenced to death before 2004 still have the option of going before a firing squad.
Ronnie Lee Gardner, a convicted murderer who shot and killed a lawyer in attempt to escape from prison, was the last inmate executed by a firing squad in 2010.

Summary: Utah will resume the use of firing squads to carry out the death penalty when lethal injections drugs are not available.
###
Article: The seven men had been given six-year jail sentences after an earthquake devastated the medieval town of L'Aquila in 2009, killing 309 people.
The verdict triggered alarm, with some saying that science itself had been put on trial.
On Monday an appeals court cleared the group of the manslaughter charges.
Judge Fabrizia Ida Francabandera ruled that there was no case to answer.
"The credibility of Italy's entire scientific community has been restored," said Stefano Gresta, the president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
The seven men - all leading scientists or disaster experts - had been members of a committee convened in L'Aquila in March 2009 following a series of tremors in the region.
Days after they met, a 6.3 magnitude quake struck the town in the middle of the night.
Many of L'Aquila's medieval buildings were destroyed, and some locals blamed the disaster committee for not providing adequate advice.
Prosecutors in the subsequent trial said the experts had offered falsely reassuring information to residents.
According to Reuters, they noted that one committee member had said there was "no danger" from the tremors.
Following the guilty verdicts, more than 5,000 scientists signed an open letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in support of the experts.
Many argued that the convictions represented a fundamental misunderstanding of earthquake science.
Monday's decision to overturn the verdicts came after a month-long appeal process.
The prosecution can still seek to have the original verdicts reinstated via a higher court.

Summary:


The Airports Commission has recommended that a third runway at Heathrow should be built.
The report says the economic case for a third runway at Heathrow is "overwhelming".
It says the airport would be able to handle 40 million passengers a year by 2024, compared with the current capacity of 37 million.

The chairman of the Airports Commission has rejected Gatwick's criticism of its report recommending expansion at Heathrow.

Article: Lin Zulian will head the new Communist Party Committee in Wukan and organise elections for a new village committee.
His predecessor is under investigation for alleged corruption.
Anger in Wukan over land seizures by officials resulted in an open revolt against local party leaders in December.
The villagers' key demands - including removing two local officials from their posts - were granted by officials amid considerable public backing for the villagers.
The move was seen as a rare compromise by the Chinese government.
Mr Lin on Sunday replaced the incumbent Wukan chief, a businessman who had headed the village for decades but who local people accused of land grabs.
"This is a decision that everyone in Wukan supports and it is an important move that will help resolve the land and village finance disputes," a villager with the surname of Zhang was quoted by news agency Agence France Presse as saying.
Protests began to simmer in Wukan, in Guangdong province, in September and escalated into deadlock after the death of a village negotiator in police custody.
Villagers said officials sold off their land to developers and failed to compensate them properly.
They also called for an investigation into the death of Xue Jinbo, who died on 11 December while in the hands of local police. Police say he died of a "sudden illness", but his family say he was beaten to death.
In December deputy provincial Communist Party secretary Zhu Mingguo met village representatives and reached an agreement to end the stand-off.
There are thousands of protests over land grabs in China each year, with the Wukan protest becoming a symbol of public outrage at perceived injustices.

Summary: The leader of protests against land grabs in a southern Chinese village has been appointed its new chief.
###
Article: Gatwick claims Sir Howard Davies's decision not to back a second runway at the airport in West Sussex was flawed.
Sir Howard has written to the government insisting issues raised by Gatwick were carefully considered before the report was written.
The government is due to decide which airport should expand by Christmas.
The Airports Commission spent three years hearing submissions, including those from Gatwick and Heathrow, about how best to expand airport capacity in the South East.
Its report, on 1 July, said there should be a third runway at Heathrow.
Gatwick had argued strongly that it should be allowed to expand instead.
It has said the economic argument for expanding Heathrow is flawed and Sir Howard was using passenger numbers that were "10 years out".
Sir Howard forecasts Gatwick at 40 million passengers by 2024 but the airport says it will hit that number this year.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, Sir Howard says the Airports Commission believes strongly its work is robust.
"The majority of the points made by Gatwick Airport Ltd were also made to the commission in the course of its work and we considered them carefully before we reached our conclusions," he said.
Crispin Blunt MP for Reigate, who chairs a group of local MPs who oppose expansion at Gatwick hit out at the airport for continuing to campaign for expansion.
"Sir Howard Davies has demolished Gatwick's arguments, which amount to a feeble public relations effort to undermine the credibility of the Airports Commission's work and recommendations," he said.
Gatwick said it stood by its view that Sir Howard's report was flawed.
"If backed by government it will inevitably lead to 'Heathrow Groundhog Day' with nothing happening once again," said chief executive Stewart Wingate.

Summary:


The Scottish government has announced a consultation on ending right to buy for new tenants.
Article: The Scottish government has announced a consultation on ending right to buy for new tenants.
Article: The Scottish government has announced a consultation on ending right to buy for new tenants.
Article: The Scottish government has announced a consultation

A majority of Scottish councils want the right to buy for council and social housing tenants scrapped, a government report has said.

Article: Critics had claimed that well-documented problems over some of their candidates would continue to plague them.
It's early stages but so far in Wales at least it has followed that script.
Rows over the selection of candidates have continued to bubble away and the entire local branch committee in Brecon and Radnorshire was suspended by UKIP Wales.
And now the national organiser has stepped down just as we head into the campaign. The significance of the timing will be lost on no-one.
UKIP Wales leader Nathan Gill told me there's never a good time for this to happen and in politics you have to cope with the hand that you're dealt. He says that overall the party is light years ahead of where it was five years ago.
John Atkinson had been in the role during last year's successful campaign in the European elections, in which it failed by just 4,000 votes to beat Labour and come top in Wales.
Despite the problems, the party still has plenty to build on.
UKIP has opened shops in Holyhead, Penarth, Shotton, Merthyr and Llanelli. It says it has 22 constituency branches and is fielding candidates in every Welsh constituency.
However, it operates in a radically different way to the other more established parties.
Plaid Cymru, for example, has already launched its campaign and manifesto, while UKIP don't have a date for its manifesto launch which will be the party's one set-piece event in Wales.
And yet UKIP have been higher in the polls than Plaid.
In fact the lack of organisation has been a factor which has worked in its favour as its members portray themselves as the outsiders and natural home of the protest voter.
The question is whether that is going to work in the full glare of a general election campaign.

Summary: Many people have been wondering what kind of election campaign UKIP would be running.
###
Article: Many tenants and social landlords also want to see an end to the policy, according to a consultation.
The Scottish government has already ended right to buy for new tenants, amid concern over a shortage of rented affordable homes.
Right to buy has also been suspended by a number of local authorities.
Ministers are currently considering proposals to protect and increase the supply of affordable housing.
The government's consultation on the issue got 169 responses in total from registered social landlords, tenant and resident groups, councils, charities and others.
Of the 161 respondents which answered the question on ending right to buy altogether, 83% said the policy - introduced in the early 80s - should go.
In all, 92% of social landlords, 81% of councils and 80% of tenant and resident groups which responses said right to buy should be scrapped.
The policy was introduced by the Thatcher government to make owning a home more affordable and, since its introduction, more than 500,000 homes have been sold in Scotland.
But in recent years councils have been forced to suspend the policy, as their stock of social housing to rent has dwindled.
The Scottish government's 2010 Housing Act brought in several changes, including ending right to buy for new council and social housing tenants, alongside a three-year £1.5bn house-building plan.
Ministers said stopping all new tenants from buying their homes could see up to 18,000 properties retained over 10 years.
The Scottish government said it would respond to the consultation in due course.

Summary:


The UK government has announced a new £1.5bn fund to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) develop new technologies.
The fund will be managed by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), which will also provide £1bn of funding.
The TSB will also be responsible for

Every pupil in England will be tested on their times tables before leaving primary school, under government plans.

Article: The spacecraft - model numbers five and six - went up on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.
Galileo is now finally moving towards full deployment after years of delay.
The European Space Agency, which is building the system on behalf of the EU, expects to have a 26-satellite constellation in orbit by 2017.
To that end, it has just ordered three big Ariane-5 rockets at a cost of half a billion euros.
Europe's premier launch vehicle can loft four spacecraft at a time, and this should allow for six to eight satellites to be put in space every 12 months from now on.
"Every spacecraft is, after in-orbit commissioning, put into operation, and is broadcasting a navigation signal that is a valid signal for users with a combined Galileo/GPS receiver; and there are already receivers on the market that have this capability. So, you have to see the service as being increased one by one," explained Esa Galileo project manager, Javier Benedicto.
Friday's Soyuz lift-off occurred on schedule at precisely at 09:27:11 local time (13:27 BST; 14:27 CEST).
The "instant launch window" was required to get the satellites into just the right part of the sky demanded by the network's multi-plane configuration.
The latest platforms, dubbed "Doresa" and "Milena" in a public competition, are somewhat different to their four predecessors, which were used to validate the Galileo technology in orbit.
Formally described as the first Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites, they have been produced by a new manufacturing consortium, comprising the German outfit OHB System and the UK firm SSTL.
This pair have been contracted to supply the next 20 spacecraft as well.
SSTL's role is to integrate all the Galileo system components inside a satellite.
"It's been a high-volume operation," said SSTL director John Paffett, "and we're now turning out a payload every six weeks.  By the middle of next year, all our payloads will have shipped to OHB, and it won't be long after that that all the finished satellites will have been handed over to...

Summary: Europe has launched the next two satellites in the Galileo network - its version of the American Global Positioning System (GPS).
###
Article: Pupils aged 11 will be expected to know their tables up to 12x12, and will be tested using an "on-screen check".
The checks will be piloted to about 3,000 pupils in 80 primary schools this summer, before being rolled out across the country in 2017.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said maths was a non-negotiable aspect of a good education.
The "on-screen check" examination will involve children completing multiplication challenges against the clock, which will be scored instantly.
The Department for Education says it is the first use of on-screen technology in National Curriculum tests.
Ms Morgan has also said teachers will be judged by the results of the tests: "Since 2010, we've seen record numbers of 11 year olds start secondary school with a good grasp of the three Rs. But some continue to struggle.
"That is why, as part of our commitment to extend opportunity and deliver educational excellence everywhere we are introducing a new check to ensure that all pupils know their times tables by age 11.
"They will help teachers recognise those pupils at risk of falling behind and allow us to target those areas where children aren't being given a fair shot to succeed."
In 2015, 80% of Year 6 pupils achieved Level 4 in maths, reading and writing, up from 78% last year.
But Labour says standards are being threatened by a shortage of teachers, and in the past some teaching unions have warned additional tests can place unwelcome pressure on teachers and pupils.

Summary:


The US presidential election is in full swing, with the Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton locked in a tight race.
The US presidential election is in full swing, with the Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton locked in a tight race.
The US presidential election is in full swing, with the Republican

With just 20 days to go until Americans go to the polls, millennials suggest they'd rather die than vote for the two main parties, while Canadians try to keep their neighbours' spirits up.

Article: The 35-year-old is moving to French side Toulon after the tournament having being released early from his dual Munster and Ireland contract.
Iain Henderson, who replaced O'Connell, is likely to start Sunday's quarter-final game with Argentina in Cardiff.
Number eight Jamie Heaslip will lead the team in O'Connell's absence.
"Paul O'Connell suffered a significant hamstring injury and will undergo surgery this week," said an Irish Rugby statement.
"Paul will not play again at Rugby World Cup 2015 and his time out of the game will depend on the outcome of the surgery."
The end of O'Connell's involvement in the campaign follows Peter O'Mahony  while fly-half Johnny Sexton is a doubt for the quarter-final because of a groin injury.
Flanker Sean O'Brien may also be missing for the match against the Pumas after he was cited for an apparent punch on France second row Pascal Pape.
Leinster's Mike McCarthy has been called into the Ireland squad as O'Connell's replacement.
Media playback is not supported on this device
O'Connell began his international career with a try-scoring debut against Wales in 2002 and has been a key member of the Ireland side since.
After playing a leadership role alongside captain Brian O'Driscoll in Ireland's Six Nations Grand Slam in 2009, O'Connell captained the British and Irish Lions in their 2-1 Test series defeat by South Africa later that year.
England 2015 was O'Connell's fourth World Cup campaign with Ireland. He has never been beyond the quarter-finals in the tournament.
He finishes his international career with 108 Ireland caps and another seven for the British and Irish Lions.
Former Ireland team-mate Peter Stringer paid tribute to O'Connell, describing him as an "inspirational leader".
"What a captain he has been. He is the first second row I have played with who has been the complete player," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"I have never met anybody like him. He demands the highest of standards from everyone within an organisation to make sure the team succeeds.
"It is devastating for...

Summary: Paul O'Connell's international career is over after the Ireland captain tore his hamstring during Sunday's World Cup victory over France.
###
Article: The third and final debate is upon us but Donald Trump has shown little interest in ditching the campaign trail for prep sessions.
Speaking at a rally in Colorado on Tuesday, he told supporters he was "gonna take back the White House" and "deliver real, real change". And, for a real, real change he even mentioned some policy, saying he wanted to end government corruption and "drain the swamp in Washington DC". We've spoken to some transparency advocates about his plan and you can see what they think here.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has disappeared from the public eye to prepare. Once again, her ability to focus will be tested by Mr Trump, who is reported to have invited two interesting guests to the show: President Barack Obama's Kenyan-born, Trump-supporting, half-brother Malik; and Pat Smith, the mother of a US officer who was killed in the Benghazi attack in September 2012.
Polling in recent days has suggested that voters are finding the increasingly fractious campaign a bit of a turnoff, meaning we could see a decline in turnout come 8 November. One group that is particularly exasperated with the candidates appears to be younger voters, with one survey finding that many of them would rather see a giant meteor destroy Earth than vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
"Obviously we don't think that they're serious," Joshua Dyck, co-director of UMass Lowell's Center for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey, told Reuters. But it "tells you something about the political disaffection that is being shown by American youth," he added.
Perhaps sensing this moment of misery, some cheery folk across the border in Canada have launched a campaign to #TellAmericaItsGreat. Their uplifting video has had nearly a million views in the last couple of days, winning praise from Star Trek star George Takei, who tweeted: "O, Canada! My ears are moist seeing these. Thank you. This election has been exhausting us all." It sure has.
Bruce Springsteen tells the BBC that he thinks Donald Trump is a conman
15
The number of...

Summary:


The pound has fallen by 6% overnight, in a flash crash that is thought to have been triggered by automated trading.
Shares in Sports Direct closed down 9% on Friday.
The company had expected to report underlying profit of £381.4m for the year to 24 April against expectations of £420m,

Sports Direct has warned that the extreme swings in the pound overnight will hit its profits.

Article: The Tories said "failings" over local policing and IT systems had not been addressed since the force was created.
And they urged the Scottish government to heed the warnings it had been given by communities and police officers.
The government recently set seven new priority areas for the force, including localism, inclusion and adaptability.
As part of the consultation phase for the new priority framework, Edinburgh City Council submitted feedback saying it was "difficult" for officers to maintain relationships at a local level due to police being moved around different areas within the force.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) also listed a range of concerns which included Scottish government funding of the force for tools such as an effective IT system.
Conservative justice spokesman Douglas Ross said these were "very severe warnings that cover a range of areas where Police Scotland is struggling".
He added: "This falls completely at the SNP's door, which created the single force and has overseen its first few years.
"Ministers said local policing wouldn't be hampered, but here we have Scotland's capital city saying otherwise.
"This message is replicated across the country and I hear concerns about local policy everywhere I go."
He added: "Communities and police officers alike are highlighting failings which we were assured by the SNP would not occur.
"The Scottish government has to take heed of this, and make sure the police can deal not only with current challenges, but future ones too."
A Scottish government spokeswoman said the new Strategic Police Priorities would strengthen the community focus of policing, ensuring that national priorities take account of the needs of local communities.
She added: "In terms of funding, the Scottish government is committed to protecting the police revenue budget in real terms for the entirety of this parliament, delivering an additional Â£100m of investment over the next five years, in addition to Â£55m of reform funding in 2016-17.
"It is for the Scottish Police...

Summary: Concerns about the performance of Police Scotland "fall completely at the SNP's door", the Scottish Conservatives have claimed.
###
Article: In a statement, the company said the move will hit next year's profit by about £15m.
In addition, if the pound averages $1.20 over the financial year, it may lose another £20m.
Overnight on Friday the pound temporarily plunged by 6%, in a flash crash that is thought to have been triggered by automated trading.
Shares in Sports Direct closed down 9% on Friday.
The company had expected to report underlying profit of £300m based on the pound trading at $1.30 against the dollar.
However, the retailer said that "extreme movements overnight" would result "in a negative impact of approximately £15m" on its results for the current financial year.
The swings overnight hit the company's hedging arrangements, which are designed to protect a business against volatile currency prices.
It also sustained a large loss in its last financial year because of currency movements.
In that case, because of a fall in the value of the pound against the euro, it took a £65m hit.
As a result, Sports Direct reported underlying earnings of £381.4m for the year to 24 April against expectations of £420m, resulting in staff missing out on a bonus.
It has been a tumultuous year for Sports Direct which has been criticised for working conditions at its Shirebrook distribution centre. Most recently, its chief executive Dave Forsey stepped down and was replaced by Mike Ashley, the founder and majority shareholder of the retail chain.
The company has an acting finance director after its former financial chief Bob Mellors stepped down in December 2013 after a decade with the business.
Matt Pearson was appointed as interim chief financial officer on 2 June 2015.

Summary:


A man who was fined for taking his daughter on holiday despite an absence request has won his appeal.
The Isle of Wight Council said it had started the formal process of appeal to the High Court for clarification on a matter of law.
The council said it wanted to know why the court decided there was no case

Isle of Wight Council begins a High Court appeal after the case against a father who took his child on holiday during term-time was thrown out by magistrates.

Article: Specialisterne Northern Ireland plans to link people with high functioning autism with employers.
More than 50 digital content and film production companies will be attending.
Young people and adults on the autistic spectrum from across Northern Ireland and university staff are to take part.
The audience at the Skainos Centre in east Belfast will gain insight into the abilities of people with autism to organise and make systems.
Specialisterne has traditionally helped people with autism get jobs in IT and software development.
The initiative is the final and flagship event of Creativity Month in Northern Ireland.
Autism and Asperger syndrome are part of a range of conditions known as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). They affect the way the brain processes information.
Since its launch in April 2014, Specialisterne NI has identified 120 people who are on the autistic spectrum and who have the skills and talent for IT and creative roles.

Summary: An initiative aimed at matching the specific skills of people with autism with the creative industries is to be launched later.
###
Article: Jon Platt was taken to court after refusing to pay a Â£120 fine for taking his daughter, aged six, to Florida.
He had argued the law only required children to attend school regularly.
The council said it wanted to know why the court decided there was no case to answer.
Mr Platt, a solicitor, took his daughter on holiday with the extended family, despite an absence request being rejected by the school.
At a magistrates' court earlier this month he successfully argued Section 444 of the Education Act required parents ensured their children attended school "regularly", and did not put restrictions on taking them on holidays in term time.
His daughter had a 93.8% attendance rate the previous academic year.
Isle of Wight Council said it has started the formal process of appeal to the High Court for clarification on a matter of law.
Council leader Jonathan Bacon said: "The recent media attention given to this case shows that there is interest, concern and, above all, uncertainty as to what constitutes 'regular attendance' for the purposes of the legislation in question.
"The Isle of Wight Council has received clear advice that the magistrates may have failed to interpret and apply the law correctly in making their decision.
"Where the law created by Parliament is uncertain, the appeal courts have the ability to lay down a binding ruling as to the correct interpretation of the law."

Summary:


The UK's election for local councils and the London Assembly will take place on Thursday.
The UK's election for local councils and the London Assembly will take place on Thursday.
The UK's election for local councils and the London Assembly will take place on Thursday.
The UK's election for local councils and the London

Voting has begun in local elections across Merseyside.

Article: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it wanted to raise awareness among people who may get a drone as a gift.
Research carried out by the CAA suggests about 39% of owners know about the safe-flying regulations.
The update comes after four near-misses between between drones and civil aircraft were reported in October.
"Drones are an incredible, inspiring technology but it's vital that people are using them safely," said Andrew Sage from air traffic control body NATS in a statement.
"With the number of reported drone incidents on the rise, it's important that people understand their legal obligations and fly safe," he said.
The revised code turns the five main safety tips into a mnemonic, spelling drone, to make it easier to remember.
The CAA has also updated it dronesafe website which collects information about how to operate the unmanned craft safely.
The CAA and NATS are also working with online and high street retailers to ensure that customers are told about their responsibilities when they buy a drone.
CAA research suggests that only 36% of drone buyers get guidance about safe flying at the point of sale.
The UK Airprox Board reported four separate near-miss incidents in October involving drones. One took place near Liverpool Airport and the other three happened on consecutive days at Heathrow.
The Airprox board said 56 near-miss incidents had been recorded so far in 2016 compared to 29 in 2015.
Some European bodies are pushing for drone makers to include "geo-fencing" systems that automatically stop the craft being flown into danger areas such as airfields.

Summary: The UK's drone code has been revised and updated to help pilots of the unmanned craft ensure they fly the gadgets safely.
###
Article: Polling stations opened their doors at 07:00 BST and will close at 22:00.
Votes are being cast in council elections in Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. In Liverpool, voters will also elect a city mayor.
Voters across Merseyside will also be asked to choose a police and crime commissioner. In England, elections are taking place for more than 120 councils and the London Assembly.

Summary:


A man who was found dead in his flat in Brighton has been named as Jonathan Ellison.
The 33-year-old was found dead in his flat in Gloucester Street on 8 April 2011.
Sole and Antonia were arrested in Winchester, Hampshire, on 16 April following an investigation by Sussex Police's major

A man has been jailed for life for the "motiveless and brutal" murder of a Brighton man in his city centre flat.

Article: Anne McTaggart's Organ Donation (Scotland) Bill has secured cross-party support, and is backed by 22 Labour MSPs, four SNP, two Lib Dems and one each from the Conservatives and Greens.
The Bill proposes to change the current "opt-in" system of organ donation.
It would mean people would have to opt out or their name would be added to the NHS Organ Donation Register.
Ms McTaggart said: "I would encourage those MSPs who have previously indicated that they support a change - including Nicola Sturgeon - to back us and change the lives of those people on organ waiting lists.
"With three people dying every day across the UK, we simply cannot afford to wait any longer on this issue."
She added: "Promoting organ donation is vital but on its own it will not deliver the much-needed increase in organs that we need just now and that's why my Bill is essential.
"It represents a shift to a more positive, proactive approach which will save people's lives."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "This government is committed to continuing to increase donation and transplantation rates in Scotland and continue the success that the Donation and Transplantation Plan for Scotland 2013-2020 is already delivering.
"Thanks to these efforts, the numbers of donors in Scotland have increased significantly and the number of people waiting for a transplant has fallen by 25% in the last seven years.
"Whilst we welcome any debate in relation to the important issues of organ donation and transplant, we do need to examine the evaluation of the impact of opt-out on organ donation on Wales before making a decision on any changes within Scotland.
"This is because there is not, as yet, a consensus amongst experts as to whether opt-out will make a significant difference, and the international evidence is not clear."

Summary: A Labour MSP has called on the first minister to support the introduction of her organ donation bill later.
###
Article: David Sole, 33, of no fixed address, had denied murdering Jonathan Ellison but was found guilty at Lewes Crown Court of beating him to death.
Denise Antonia, 33, of Appledore Road, Brighton, was cleared of murder but found guilty of assisting an offender. She was jailed for five years.
Mr Ellison was found dead in his flat in Gloucester Street on 8 April 2011.
Sole and Antonia were arrested in Winchester, Hampshire, on 16 April following an investigation by Sussex Police's major crime branch.
Following the two-week trial, Sole was told he would serve a minimum term of 18 years.
Det Ch Insp Trevor Bowles said: "Jon Ellison was killed by a man who had befriended him and who he trusted.
"His trust led to his death, as the result of a motiveless but brutal drug and drink-fuelled assault, which caused some of the worst injuries any of us have ever seen."
Mr Bowles said Mr Ellison was a "vulnerable man with many health and personal problems" but he was regarded as "a kind and trusted person".
In a statement issued through Sussex Police, Mr Ellison's brothers said: "He did not deserve to be taken in such a brutal way.
"It was completely at odds with his kind and gentle spirit."

Summary:


The search was launched after the coastguard received reports from an individual claiming to be in difficulty off the coast of County Down.
The coastguard received several calls from a person claiming to be in difficulty.
However, the alarm was declared to be a hoax following a thorough search.
Article: The search was launched

The coastguard has called off a search for a kayaker after it declared the alarm an "elaborate hoax".

Article: The claim: Rail fares have increased at double the rate of wages since 2010.
Reality Check verdict: Rail fares have risen by double the rate of wages since 2010, but the rate of growth has slowed considerably in the second half of that period.
As a result, we know that fares have risen by about 24% since January 2010.
We also know from the ONS that average weekly wages have risen by about 12% over the same period.
So the TUC is correct when it says that average train fares have risen by double the rate of wages since 2010.
But, there has been a change in government policy since 2010, which means that looking at the average since then does not give a fair picture.
After widespread criticism of rising fares, the coalition government, which took office in 2010, decided to act.
In 2013 it cut the cap on regulated fares from RPI inflation plus one percentage point, to July's RPI inflation rate. A year later it further tightened the rules, removing train companies' ability to increase certain fares within the cap.
The new rules meant regulated train fares - which cover about half of all tickets - could rise no faster than RPI inflation in July of the previous year until the end of the Parliament in 2015. That policy looks set to continue until 2020.
It means that the rise in rail fares has slowed considerably.
In fact, since January 2013, wages have risen by 5.7% while train fares have risen by 5.6%.
In 2015, the low rate of inflation meant that fares rose by less than wages.

Summary: Average rail fares are one of the items in the basket of goods that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses to measure inflation.
###
Article: The search was launched after the coastguard received reports from an individual claiming to be in difficulty off the coast of County Down.
Two RNLI boats and a coastguard helicopter from Scotland were launched to assist in the search.
The kayaker was reported to be near Mew Island, one of the Copeland Islands near Donaghadee.
A coastguard spokesman said it received several calls from a person claiming to be in difficulty.
However, the alarm was declared to be a hoax following a thorough search.

Summary:


Ghana's presidential candidates have been revealed.
The two main contenders are John Dramani Mahama, the incumbent, and Nana Akufo-Addo, the former foreign minister.
Mr Mahama is a former finance minister and has been in power since 2009.
He is a member of the National Democratic

Outgoing ministers in Ghana could be forcibly evicted from their official residences if they fail to move out in time, under new laws.

Article: Andrew Crook, 48, struck 46-year-old Robert Allaway head-on in the crash on the A65 near Settle in October.
Crook, of Swinnow Grove, Leeds, pleaded guilty to causing Mr Allaway's death by driving without due care and attention.
He was jailed at Bradford Crown Court for four years and eight months and banned from driving for five years.
North Yorkshire Police said Crook had 83mg of alcohol per 100mg of breath when he hit Mr Allaway, from Long Preston, near Skipton - the legal limit is 35mg.
Mr Allaway's wife Lorraine, who lost her sister to cancer on the same day, said: "It is impossible to find the words to describe how we feel about Bob's death.
"He was my soul mate and is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.
"This is without doubt the hardest and most painful experience of my life."
Mrs Allaway said she planned to campaign for tougher sentencing for drivers convicted of causing death by dangerous or careless driving or while under the influence of drink or drugs.
Traffic constable Dave Seavers, from North Yorkshire Police, said: "Crook gave no consideration to the safety of other road users that day and got behind the wheel with a blatant disregard for the law.
"The bad choice Crook made meant that a man has lost his life through no fault of his own and his family faces a future without a loved one."

Summary: A man who was more than twice the drink-drive limit and driving on the wrong side of the road when he hit and killed a motorcyclist has been jailed.
###
Article: Ministers and other government officials are being given a three-month deadline to hand over state-owned homes and vehicles, from the date of the new president's inauguration.
The law targets presidential appointees who try to cling on to the perks of office after a new leader is elected.
Ghana goes to the polls on 7 December.
After previous transfers of power, some officials have had to be forcibly evicted and had their state-owned vehicles seized after failing to hand them back.
The law does not apply to presidents and vice-presidents as we earlier reported.
The bill, which was passed by MPs on Wednesday evening, will now go to the president to sign into law.
Existing legislation requires officials to hand back government property after they leave office, but this is the first time a strict time limit has been applied.
Ghana's current leader John Mahama is standing for re-election and his main opponent is Nana Akufo-Addo. The winner will be inaugurated on 7 January 2017.
Ghana's presidential candidates:

Summary:


Spending on private ambulances in London grew by 1,000% between 2011 and 2013, the Labour party has claimed.

Article: CorporateHealth International ApS is to invest Â£5.7m in establishing a new diagnostics centre at the Inverness Campus.
The centre's staff will analyse images captured by video camera capsules - small devices swallowed by patients.
The capsules offer an alternative to diagnostic endoscopies and colonoscopies.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise is supporting the project with investment of Â£600,000.
CorporateHealth International UK Ltd, a subsidiary of the Danish firm, will run the centre.

Summary: A Danish life science company is to create 30 jobs over the next three years in the Highlands.
###
Article: The NHS spent £8.84m on private ambulances in the capital last year compared to £795,000 in 2011, according to Freedom of Information data.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) conceded it was losing staff due to "pressure on the organisation".
But LAS denied claims it had employed private staff previously sacked by the NHS.
Heidi Alexander, Labour MP for Lewisham East, claimed London ambulances were taking "on average two minutes longer than three years ago" to respond to the most serious call-outs.
Labour said its research discovered private ambulance usage by ambulance trusts across the country grew by 82% between financial years 2011/12 and 2013/14, from £37m to £67.5m last year.
Private ambulance spending In Yorkshire and the North East more than quadrupled to hit £3.56m and £2.9m respectively, said Labour, although other ambulance services maintained low spending during the two years, while one trust reduced its reliance on private vehicles.
Shadow health minister Jamie Reed raised concerns over the figures and the "increasing use" of private ambulances during health questions in the House of Commons.
But his comments were branded "absolute nonsense" by public health minister Jane Ellison, who said that previous Labour government "occasionally deployed private ambulances too".
Brendan Kemp, regional organiser for the GMB union, questioned the hiring practices of ambulance trusts and their ability to keep staff.
"Who's checking the qualifications of the staff that man these vehicles?" he said on BBC London 94.9.
"Often staff that have been dismissed by London Ambulance Service for something, often they'll reappear working for a private contractor."
But Jason Killens, director of operations for the LAS, said every private contractor "is checked by us before we use them".
"Staff that leave the LAS for reasons of clinical safety would not be redeployed on those private contracts with us," he told BBC London 94.9.
Mr Killens said increasing demand each year "is adding pressure in the organisation" and conceded...

Summary:


The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said he is "very hopeful" that a date for Easter will be agreed by the end of the year.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said he is "very hopeful" that a date for Easter will be agreed by the end of the year.
The Archbishop

The Archbishop of Canterbury is working with other Christian churches to agree on a fixed date for Easter.

Article: Mark Carney, speaking at the annual Jackson Hole convention in the US of central bankers and economists, said: "The prospect of sustained momentum in the UK economy and the gradual firming of underlying inflationary pressures will likely put the decision as to when to start the process of gradual monetary policy normalisation [or interest rate rises] into sharper relief at the turn of this year."
Which is another way of saying that he stands by the economic timetable for possibly raising rates that he set out in Lincoln Cathedral on 16 July.
He was giving his first response to the rout in shares on the Shanghai stock market over the past few days - a rout which for a couple of days infected stock markets all over the world.
Mr Carney said an interest rate rise was by no means inevitable in the opening months of 2016.
But he wanted to dampen speculation that "developments in China" have changed "the process of rate increases from limited and gradual to infinitesimal and inert".
What the Bank of England has to weigh up, he said, was whether domestic demand - spending by British consumers, investing by British investors - was strong enough to offset the potential for further "material slowing of growth in China and more broadly in non-Japan Asia", coupled with the deflationary impact of falling currencies of China and other emerging markets.
Although Wall Street and European stock markets have since recovered from last week's shocks, central bankers and economists are concerned that a pronounced deceleration of growth in China is having a big negative impact on other emerging market economies, and therefore on the prosperity of the world as a whole.
There has therefore been widespread speculation that the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England would delay the first rises in interest rates since the great crash of 2008 in the US and UK.
Mr Carney made clear that the decision on whether to increase the so-called Bank Rate - the interest rate set by the Bank of England - by 0.25% from 0.5% would depend on...

Summary: The decision on when to raise interest rates is still likely be at the top of the Bank of England's agenda at the turn of the year, the governor said this afternoon - even though he acknowledged that China's economic slowdown means the world's second biggest economy is likely to be a drag on growth in the whole world.
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Article: Justin Welby made the announcement after a meeting of primates from the Anglican Communion in Canterbury.
In the UK, an act of Parliament passed in 1928 allowed for Easter Sunday to be fixed on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April.
However, this has never been activated and Easter has remained variable, determined by the moon's cycle.
Easter is the most important Christian festival, as it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ following his death by crucifixion on Good Friday.
The archbishop said he was in talks with Pope Francis, Coptic leader Pope Tawadros, and the leader of the Orthodox church Patriarch Bartholomew.
Mr Welby said he hoped the change would happen "in between five and 10 years time".
"I would love to see it before I retired", he said, although he warned the first attempt to make such a change was in the 10th Century.
An Anglican source told the BBC there had been 15 attempts to agree a common date since then.
Easter is on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon following the spring equinox, meaning it can be celebrated on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April.
But the Orthodox church follows the Julian calendar, hence has later Easter celebrations compared with those of Western Christianity.
In 1990, the Vatican approved a proposal for a fixed date, which was subject to agreement with other Christian churches and governments. It has not yet been reached.

Summary:


The Dean of Gloucester has announced plans to include a girl chorister in the choir.
The Dean of Gloucester, the Very Reverend Stephen Lake, said the cathedral would be "excited" to welcome a girl chorister.
He said: "This will ensure that young girls and boys will be

Girls are being invited to audition to join Gloucester Cathedral's Choir for the first time in its 477 year history.

Article: The footage revealed that the clever primates habitually make special water-dipping sticks - chewing the end of the stick to turn it into a soft, water-absorbing brush.
Primate researchers examined the "dipping sticks" and concluded they were made specifically for drinking.
The findings are reported in the American Journal of Primatology.
Lead researcher Juan Lapuente, from the Comoe Chimpanzee Conservation Project, in Ivory Coast, explained that using similar brush-tipped sticks to dip into bees' nests for honey was common in chimpanzee populations across Africa.
"But the use of brush-tipped sticks to dip for water is completely new and had never been described before," he told BBC News.
"These chimps use especially long brush tips that they make specifically for water - much longer than those used for honey."
The researchers tested the chimps' drinking sticks in an "absorption experiment", which showed that the particularly long brush-tips provided an advantage.
"The longer the brush, the more water they collect," said Mr Lapuente.
"This technology allows Comoe chimpanzees to obtain water from extremely narrow and deep tree holes that only they  - and no other animal - can exploit, which [gives] them a superb adaptive advantage to survive in this dry and unpredictable environment."
This suggests that this particular population of chimpanzees has what the researchers call a "drinking culture" - a custom shared throughout this group of making these special water-dipping sticks to help them through the dry season.
The population belongs to the Western Chimpanzee sub-species, now critically endangered.
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Summary: Researchers have used camera traps to film tool-use that is unique to chimpanzees in Ivory Coast.
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Article: The choir was established by Henry VIII in 1539 and is currently made up of 20 boys and 12 adults.
The Dean of Gloucester said including girl choristers would be an "exciting new chapter" in the choir's history.
The aim is to find youngsters from local schools and a range of backgrounds who may not have considered singing in a cathedral choir before.
Adrian Partington, director of music at Gloucester Cathedral, said the aim is to "discover" some very talented girls.
New recruits will play a full part in the cathedral's musical worship, beginning with rehearsals in September before singing at evensong each Monday from October as well as at Christmas and Easter services.
The dean, the Very Reverend Stephen Lake, said: "This will ensure that young girls and boys will be lifting their voices in song at Gloucester Cathedral for many years to come."
The cathedral is hosting a "come and sing" open day on 9 April with girls and boys aged between seven and 12 invited to experience singing in the cathedral.
Auditions for girls will be held on 23 April.

Summary:


The first person I meet when I land in San Pedro Sula, in north-western Honduras, is local journalist Ingrid Cruz who gives me a tour of her city.
Article: The first person I meet when I land in San Pedro Sula, in north-western Honduras, is local journalist Ingrid Cruz

The bedroom where the Duke of Wellington died at Walmer Castle has been recreated to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

Article: Fewer international journalists come here nowadays, she tells me. There is less interest now that the city is no longer murder capital of the world.
Back in 2011, Honduras had a murder rate of 86.5 per 100,000 people, according to the National University's Violence Observatory.
The country's industrial capital, San Pedro Sula, was the worst-hit.
But by 2015, the national murder rate had decreased to 60 per 100,000. Still not low, but quite a drop.
At the same time, neighbouring El Salvador has been climbing the ladder of violence.
Its national murder rate last year was closer to 100 per 100,000 people. El Salvador is currently the most deadly country outside a war zone.
Ms Cruz points out how much has changed in the past couple of years. Security cameras have been installed on street corners across San Pedro Sula.
More than 2,000 in the past few months.
"The Honduran government has real political will to clean up," she tells me.
"To heal the wounds of the violence, the statistics and deaths through drug trafficking and organised crime."
Ms Cruz says funding from the United States has helped too; programmes that have helped bring the violence down.
Latin America makes up just 8% of the world's population but accounts for nearly a third of all murders.
How did Central America in particular get so bad?
A combination of organised crime and weak institutions has played a huge part, as well as regional instability.
"We've practically got two generations who've grown up in an environment of ideological warfare," says Ramon Renaud, a political analyst who explains that even though Honduras - unlike many of its neighbours - escaped civil war, violence has made its mark.
"The violence in Honduras doesn't have its roots in social issues or a class war. It's more about the bridge that drug-trafficking has formed in Honduras and the Northern Triangle of Guatemala and El Salvador.
"Previous governments have not taken the right decisions to tackle this problem head on. So what happens? It's infiltrated and rooted itself in...

Summary: The first person I meet when I land in San Pedro Sula, in north-western Honduras, is local journalist Ingrid Cruz who gives me a tour of her city.
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Article: The military hero who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815 stayed at the Kent castle regularly from 1829 until 1852.
Copying a watercolour made shortly after his death, English Heritage has recreated the carpet and wallpaper in the room when he died aged  83.
A pair of his original Wellington boots and his death mask are also on show.
The bed and armchair he used are also on display as part of the new exhibition at the castle, which opens on Friday.
Displays in other rooms explore the career of Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley and his "celebrity" status and state funeral, where more than 1.5m people lined the route.
Wellington's body lay in state at Walmer for two months while preparations for his funeral at St Paul's Cathedral were taking place.
"In 1852, the eyes of the world fell upon Walmer Castle as one of the most important figures of that century died within a small and modest room there," said senior curator Rowena Willard-Wright .
Walmer Castle, near Deal, was completed in 1540 as one of a chain of coastal artillery forts.
From 1708 it became the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, a position occupied by Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as well as the Duke of Wellington.
The Lord Warden is now a ceremonial post but the holder was originally in charge of five port towns on England's south east coast.

Summary:


Apple has announced a new security feature that will prevent hackers from accessing iCloud accounts if they have used a password that has been compromised.
The company said that the new security measure will be rolled out to all users of the firm's iCloud service in the coming weeks.
The move comes after a number of high-profile

Apple has expanded its use of "two-step verification" checks to protect data stored online by its customers.

Article: Jackson held a 50% stake in Sony ATV Music Publishing as part of a business partnership that began in 1995.
The purchase will give Sony the rights to about three million songs, including works by the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift.
However, the deal does not include Jackson's master recordings.
His estate will maintain its holdings in Mijac Music, which owns all the songs written by Jackson, as well as EMI Music Publishing.
The agreement will reportedly help reduce the Jackson estate's remaining $250m debt and give the late musician's three children more financial flexibility.
The purchase of Jackson's stake also strengthens Sony's US entertainment business, which includes a film studio and music recording company.
"The entertainment businesses have long been a core part of Sony and are a key driver of our future growth," Kazuo Hirai, Sony's president and chief executive, said in a statement.
"These businesses will continue to contribute to our success for years to come."
John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the Jackson estate, said the deal "further validates Michael's foresight and genius in investing in music publishing".
"His ATV catalogue, purchased in 1985 for a net acquisition cost of $41.5m, was the cornerstone of the joint venture and, as evidenced by the value of this transaction, is considered one of the smartest investments in music history."

Summary: Sony is paying Michael Jackson's estate $750m (£526m) for the late pop star's share of a joint music publishing venture that it does not already own.
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Article: It follows suggestions third-party software had been used to steal intimate photos of celebrities - posted online last month - from iCloud.
The action should stop the tool from being able to infiltrate Apple's internet storage service if the safety measure is implemented.
However, the security facility remains an opt-in choice.
One expert suggested that Apple should instead make it the default option.
The process works by introducing an extra step after an account holder has typed their username and password into a device they have not used before.
They are also required to enter a four-digit code that is either texted to a trusted mobile phone number or sent via Apple's Find My iPhone app.
If the person does not enter the code, they are refused access to iCloud and are blocked from making an iTunes, iBooks, or App Store purchase.
They can, however, use a 14-character recovery key to regain access to the account in the event their trusted device is lost or stolen. They are told to keep this in a safe place to avoid being locked out.
While Apple had offered the two-step verification system in the past, until now it had not come into play when device owners used the firm's back-up service.
That meant that even if people had switched on the two-step feature to prevent cyber-thieves logging into their accounts with a stolen or guessed password, the attackers could still download a complete back-up of their data by using Elcomsoft's Phone Password Breaker.
Several hackers' forums contain discussions about using of pirated copies of Elcomsoft's "forensic" software, which is marketed as a tool for law enforcement agencies to access iCloud content without needing to be in possession of a suspect's iPhone or iPad.
ElmcomSoft's Moscow-based owner told the BBC earlier this month that he believed his software had been used in the recent hacks, as it was "the only one able to do that".
He has now acknowledged that Apple's changes guard against the technique he had used.
"I think that implementation is secure, and so there...

Summary:


The Pope will visit Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) on a tour of Africa that will focus on the plight of the poor.
The Pope will visit Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) on a tour of Africa that will focus on the plight of the poor.
The Pope

Pope Francis will go to Africa for the first time this week, visiting a refugee camp, a slum and a mosque.

Article: The money, invested over three years, will be used to help health boards and councils provide support packages for people in their own homes.
Figures from last October showed a rise in number of patients waiting longer than four weeks to be discharged.
The health secretary said the funding would "ease pressure" on the system.
Delayed discharge, often referred to as bed-blocking, is when a patient is judged clinically ready to go home but continues to occupy a hospital bed while plans are made for appropriate follow-up care.
Health Secretary Shona Robison has said cutting the number of people stuck in hospital waiting for a care package to be arranged is an "absolute key priority" for the Scottish government.
The plans for the funding were announced on a visit to Cowan Court care home in Penicuik.
It is part of wider efforts to better integrate health and social services.
Meanwhile, Holyrood's presiding officer, Tricia Marwick, has accused Ms Robison of "gross discourtesy" for making a major policy announcement outside the Scottish parliament.
At the start of parliamentary business, Ms Marwick told MSPs she found the decision to reveal the funding at a Midlothian care home "unacceptable".
Ms Robison earlier told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that the funding was a three-year package.
She said: "It gives the integrated partnerships - health and social care coming together - a three-year ability to plan and develop services."
The health secretary said the fact that health and social services were being integrated showed there had been a "realisation that those systems had to be brought together if we were really going to be able to tackle delayed discharge in a sustainable way".
She said that health boards and councils would work together with an aim of discharging patients within 72 hours of clinical readiness.
Ms Robison said: "My plan is to get rid of delayed discharge, for it to become something of the past, and move to a 72-hour standard where people are discharged within 72 hours of being...

Summary: The issue of patients stuck waiting to be discharged from hospital is to be tackled with £100m of funding from the Scottish government.
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Article: He will make 19 speeches during his tour of Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) and they will probably address these issues:
He is expected to focus on religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence at a time of rising political instability and extremism in much of the region.
Security is expected to be tight throughout the trip, as the faithful flock to see this popular Pope, who has previously said that Christians would be wrong to equate Islam with violence.
His first stop, Kenya, has seen some of the worst Islamist violence: Two years ago, gunmen from the Somali militant group al-Shabab massacred at least 67 people inside Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall.
In Uganda, his second stop, al-Shabab bombed sports bars in Kampala where fans were watching the 2010 football World Cup on TV.
Many think the third stop on his trip, the CAR, is too dangerous for him to visit.
The Pope's visit to the capital, Bangui, where many have died in violence between largely Muslim Seleka rebels and mainly Christian "anti-balaka" militias, is seen as his most dangerous yet - but potentially also one of his most fruitful as a peace-maker.
In short: He will probably urge Christians and Muslims to get along.
2. Poverty
This is a Pope who has been hailed as the champion of a church for the poor.
His emphasis on the developing world, and the example of simplicity he sets in his own life, will be welcomed in countries where corruption in public life is often seen as an issue.
His capacity to look beyond Europe and embrace the concerns of people around the world is also likely to endear him to the faithful, and to those of other faiths, as this Pope from the southern hemisphere offers a message of hope to the dispossessed, and the struggling.
In Kenya, 75% of the wealth is owned by around 1% of the population, so Pope Francis's message may well prove popular among many of the remaining 99%.
He is likely to criticise inequality and corruption and will visit Kenya's multi-ethnic Kangemi slum - home to around 100,000...

Summary:


The Stormont parties failed to pass the Welfare Reform Bill on Tuesday.
The bill was passed by the Assembly in December but the DUP and Sinn Féin refused to support it.
The bill was passed by the Assembly in December but the DUP and Sinn Féin refused to support it.
The bill was

The finance minister has said she cannot move the budget bill forward because of the inability of the Stormont parties to resolve the deadlock over welfare reform.

Article: The figure is down 1% on the equivalent number for last year which was a record high.
The drop across the UK as a whole is significantly greater.
The Scottish government noted that the number of 18-year-old applicants from deprived areas still went up.
However, the number of applicants from EU countries fell 5%, suggesting uncertainty surrounding Brexit may have deterred some people from applying to study in Scotland.
Universities Scotland noted the number of Scottish applications was down by about 2,000 but said this followed a record high last year and it did not see the fall as a cause for concern.
A spokeswoman said: "The appetite for university remains very high amongst Scots. This year's applications by the January deadline are still 13% up on just four years ago.
"The very modest levelling-off from last year's peak in applications will do little to take the pressure off places given the very high standard of applicants."
The number of applications from EU countries also fell by around 2,000. EU students who start courses this year will be entitled to free tuition on the same terms as Scottish applicants.
This is currently required under EU law and the Scottish government has confirmed it will ensure EU students who begin their courses this year will be entitled to free tuition until they graduate although the expectation is that the UK will have left the EU by then.
The number of applications from other parts of the UK and countries outside the EU - all of whom are charged tuition fees in one form or another - rose.
Scottish and EU students in effect compete against each other for the same free places - the drop in the number of applicants could make it slightly easier for some applicants to get in. Universities can decide for themselves how many paying students from the rest of the UK and countries outside the EU to let in.
Scottish government education minister Shirley-Anne Somerville said: "The initial UCAS applicant figures for 2017 show that, in the face of a general decline in applicants to...

Summary: The number of Scots applying to university has fallen slightly, according to the latest official figures from admissions service UCAS.
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Article: Arlene Foster was speaking after a meeting of the executive on Thursday afternoon.
She told the BBC there were no solutions on the table.
The Stormont parties failed to pass the Welfare Reform Bill on Tuesday.
Mrs Foster said failure to pass the legislation meant that there was a £600m hole in her budget.
She said she cannot move the budget bill required to give Stormont officials the legal authority to carry on spending money after the end of July.
The minister said she is seeking a meeting with the Treasury in London early next week to assess her options.
Sinn Féin's John O'Dowd said Stormont ministers should present a united front and seek a joint meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron.
However, both the Alliance Party and Ulster Unionist ministers said they were pessimistic about the chances of a resolution to the executive's difficulties.

Summary: