The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson has been speaking to the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson about the results of the local elections.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson has been speaking to the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson about the results of the local elections.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson has been speaking

Voters across England are going to the polls for council elections and a parliamentary by-election in South Shields.

Article: The recording was made in 2012 at a time when Mr Cushnahan was still working as an adviser to Nama.
The payment was made by the County Down property developer John Miskelly during a meeting in a hospital car park.
Mr Miskelly said "payments made by me to any persons have been lawful".
Mr Cushnahan has denied any wrongdoing and told BBC Spotlight NI he would not be providing any further responses because of the ongoing National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
The chairman of the Irish Parliament's Finance committee has said an all-island commission of enquiry into Nama may be required.
Fianna Fail's John McGuinness said a "cross-border effort must be made to get to the end of this, to get to the truth".
The recording was broadcast by the Spotlight programme on Tuesday.
Nama is the Republic of Ireland's "bad bank" which was established in 2009 in the aftermath of the Irish banking and property crisis.
It took effective control of a huge property loan book in Northern Ireland and formed a committee to advise on that part of its portfolio.
Mr Cushnahan, a former banker, was appointed to that committee by the DUP in May 2010 and served until November 2013.
According to what Mr Cushnahan says on the recording he was going to help Mr Miskelly with a refinancing deal which would get his assets out of Nama.
Mr Cushnahan also claimed he could influence a senior Nama official, Ronnie Hanna.
There is no direct evidence of wrongdoing by Mr Hanna and he firmly denies that he had any improper dealings with Mr Cushnahan.
In a later recording of Mr Cushnahan, also broadcast by Spotlight NI, he appears to encourage Mr Miskelly to lie to police if they ask questions about their Nama-related dealings.
In a statement, Mr Miskelly said: "Since 2007/8 I have consistently and truthfully reported financial crime and corruption with the relevant authorities…
"My overriding aim has always been to highlight wrongdoing and corruption and have all of these matters fully investigated by the appropriate authorities.
"I have at all time...

Summary: Businessman Frank Cushnahan, who has been at the centre of the £1bn Nama deal controversy, was recorded accepting a £40,000 cash payment from a Nama borrower.
###
Article: Elections are being held in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, last contested in 2009, as well as in Anglesey in Wales.
Labour are defending the South Shields seat in a contest caused by the resignation of David Miliband in March.
Mayoral contests are also being held in Doncaster and North Tyneside.
Polls for all the contests opened at 07:00 BST, and close at 22:00 BST.
Blue sky and sunshine are covering much of England, as millions of voters choose who will represent them on their local council.
More than 2,300 seats are up for grabs in county councils and unitary authorities across the length and breadth of England, including Derbyshire, Lancashire, Somerset, Essex, Surrey, Leicestershire, Kent, Durham, Bristol and Cornwall.
The Conservatives and Labour are putting up candidates in most seats, with 2,263 and 2,168 candidates respectively.
The Lib Dems have 1,763 candidates. UKIP is fielding 1,745 candidates, three times as many as it did the last time these seats were fought in 2009, and the Greens have 893 candidates.
Other parties standing include the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, which is fighting 120 seats, the BNP, with 99 candidates and the English Democrats, with 38 candidates. There are around 900 independent candidates.
No elections are taking place in London, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The majority of council results are expected on Friday between 11:00 BST and 18:30 BST, although six councils - Lincolnshire, Dorset, Somerset, Essex, Gloucestershire and Hampshire - will declare their results in the early hours of Friday morning.
The result for the South Shields by-election is also expected early on Friday morning.

Summary:


A team at the University of Sussex has found that horses react to faces in a similar way to humans.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, found that the heart rate of horses increased when they saw angry faces.
The researchers say the findings could help explain why horses are so sensitive to human emotions.

Horses can tell if people are happy or angry, according to a new experiment.

Article: The exams regulator said an increase in 15-year-olds sitting exams early was mainly to blame.
The A* to C pass rate fell to 62.8% after it had remained stable at 66.6% for three years.
The percentage of the highest A* to A grades also dipped to 17.9%, down from 19.4% in 2016.
Qualifications Wales had warned that an increase in early entries in some subjects was likely to mean lower results.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which collates exam data for Wales, England and Northern Ireland, said changes in entry patterns - particularly for 15-year-olds - and the high proportion of pupils who took the two new mathematics GCSEs early in November, had a substantial impact on the results.
It said more students had "banked" a result and not returned to sit the exam again this summer - many whom have achieved a Grade C or above that would otherwise appear in these latest results.
As a consequence, it warned that reliable conclusions could not be drawn from direct comparisons between results this summer and the previous one, or between summer results across the UK.
Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said Wales has seen "some of the biggest changes in qualifications in decades" which had been "really challenging for pupils and teachers".
She said this was reflected in this year's overall GCSE A* to C grade pass rate.
Ms Williams said she was "concerned" about the high number of pupils being entered early for their exams and that the current situation was "unsustainable".
"We have signalled to schools that early entry should only be considered if it is in the interest of individual children, but what we've seen is entire cohorts of children being entered," she said.
Ms Williams added the "perverse incentives" that drive some schools to enter children early "should be taken out of the system".
The overall A* to G pass rate was also down from 98.7% to 96.9%, but the percentage of the highest A* grades remained at 6.1%.
While the fall in grades has been linked to the increase in 15-year-olds sitting exams early,...

Summary: The GCSE A* to C pass rate in Wales has fallen to its lowest level since 2006, after some of the biggest changes in decades to the exams system.
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Article: 10 February 2016 Last updated at 14:11 GMT
A team at the University of Sussex put heart monitors on horses and showed them pictures of faces to see how they reacted to different emotions.
They found that the angry faces made the horses' heart rates speed up quicker than the happy faces.
Amy Smith, one of the researchers, explains more.

Summary:

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The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Northern Ireland continued to fall in June.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Northern Ireland fell by 1,000 in June, the latest figures show.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Northern Ireland fell by 1,000 in June, the latest figures show.

The removal of the Elephant and Castle roundabout has been causing chaos for commuters, with motorists complaining of queues of more than an hour.

Article: The claimant count was down by 600 over the month to 30,500, which was the 16th consecutive monthly decrease.
However, the figures also suggest that economic inactivity is rising again.
Economic inactivity refers to people of working age who are neither in work or looking for a job.  The rate in Northern Ireland is persistently above the UK average.
It had been on a downward trend from 2013/14 but has now increased over the last three quarters.
The inactivity rate now stands at 27.4% compared to a UK rate of 21.5%.
Of the estimated 321,000 economically inactive people in Northern Ireland, just under a third were long-term sick or disabled.
Just over a quarter were students, 23% were looking after the family/home, 10% were retired and 8% cited another reason for inactivity.
In 2015, the Northern Ireland Executive published a strategy for tackling economic inactivity.
It aimed to support people with work-limiting health conditions, lone parents and people with caring commitments to get back into work.
The strategy has not been implemented due to budget pressures.

Summary: The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Northern Ireland continued to fall in June.
###
Article: The roundabout, which saw more than 80 collisions and 90 people injured in 2012-14, was replaced with two-way traffic on Sunday.
Transport for London (TfL) said congestion was due to "traffic getting used to the new layout".
"It's a very busy junction and it always will be," a spokesman said.
The reintroduction of two-way traffic at the junction for the first time in 50 years was a "key milestone" in the £25m transformation at Elephant and Castle, TfL said.
In addition to the new road layout, left turns from Newington Causeway towards New Kent Road and right turns from New Kent Road to Newington Causeway have also been banned.
But road users took to Twitter to complain about their Monday morning commute.
"It's 8am and the queue for the new #elephantandcastle junction starts somewhere south of Camberwell. allow extra 1hr 4 journey (or walk!)", a Twitter user posted.
"Shock horror! All approaches to Elephant and Castle worse than ever. Only TfL could spend millions and millions to make something worse!" tweeted @tango97.
Andy Woodward tweeted: "Delays around Elephant and Castle even worse today. If this was the tube there would be outcry. Commuters use buses too!"
Road users had been advised of traffic changes with a countdown to the traffic switch and advisors and police were on site to help keep traffic moving, the TfL spokesman said.
A spokesman for London TravelWatch said: "It's early days - we need to wait and see how it pans out."
TfL plans to convert the space created by removing the roundabout into a new public area.
It will replace subways with new pedestrian crossings, create new cycle routes and introduce a 20mph speed limit, TfL said.

Summary:


The collapse of BHS has left a trail of unpaid bills and a trail of unpaid bills.
The company's former chief executive, Sir Philip Green, has been accused of "gross misconduct" by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The FCA said it had found evidence of "serious misconduct" by Sir Philip Green,

"A bit of a punt" - the BHS business plan.

Article: Debbie Wilcox was speaking after Friars Walk was sold to a Canadian investment firm last month, wiping out the debt.
But under the deal the council will pay a £500,000 annual subsidy for up to 15 years if rental incomes do not rise.
Ms Wilcox said front-line services would not be affected as funds have been set aside to cover any costs.
She admitted there had been many sleepless nights because councils should not be about running shopping centres.
Friars Walk was completed in 2015 by the developers Queensberry Real Estate.
The firm had failed to raise enough private sector funding but went ahead with construction after the council agreed to provide them with a loan which at the time it described as "unprecedented".
The sale of Friars Walk to Talisker Corporation wiped out £84m worth of borrowing and interest charges on Newport council's books.
The local authority is in line to receive extra funds, depending on future revenues, but it also liable to pay the 15-year £500,000 annual subsidy if extra revenue fails to materialise.
The council believes the subsidy will only last a few years.
Ms Wilcox said: "I cannot deny that we had many sleepless nights over it because it is not the normal every day thing that we do.
"It did actually determine a lot of the other business because until that was settled, we could not move on untrammelled.
"It did not dominate business in so far as we have our public services to run but nevertheless it took an increasing amount of officers' time."
At the time the original loan was agreed in 2013, when the former council leader Bob Bright was in post, the authority said it was the first in the UK to borrow money on that scale in order to fund a development project.
The council insisted the loan was needed to prevent the scheme from failing and to continue with the regeneration of the city centre.
Ms Wilcox said that if the deal had collapsed then the council would have been forced to take on the ownership of Friars Walk.
She said: "We would look to have sold it at a later date but...

Summary: An £84m debt to fund a shopping centre in Newport had hung over the local authority, preventing it from moving on, the council's leader has said.
###
Article: That's how one financier described Dominic Chappell's plans for acquiring and reviving BHS to MPs today.
Andrew Frangos of Cornhill Capital was approached by the three-time bankrupt Chappell to raise money secured against property to use as working capital - the money you need for day to day running of a company.
Mr Frangos said that BHS was not the limit of his ambitions and that Chappell had plans to one day buy Arcadia - the parent company run by Sir Philip Green. Ultimately, Chappell didn't use Cornhill Capital and the two of them are in dispute over unpaid bills.
He was joined in the commons by representatives from accountants Grant Thornton and lawyers Olswang to explain their involvement as advisers to Mr Chappell.
Both made extensive use of client confidentiality protection but several important themes emerged.
Retail Acquisitions Limited did not delve very deeply into the pension problems. Meetings between Chappell and the Chris Martin, chair of the BHS pension scheme, totalled less than half an hour and Grant Thornton's Mark Byers said he was denied the usual access to the pension trustees and their advisors.
On the bigger picture, MPs asked what the professional advisers made of this "punt". Why did they believe that a retail novice with a chequered financial background could succeed in turning BHS around when a feted retail tycoon had failed? We got two interesting answers.
First, a central part of the turnaround plan involved getting the landlords for the 164 stores to agree to reduce the rent. Mark Byers, from Grant Thornton said it would be difficult to have that negotiation, for BHS essentially to plead poverty, as long as BHS was part of the bigger Arcadia group.
Second, it wasn't their job.
So far there is no smoking gun. What is emerging from these sessions is that lots of professional firms were tasked with making sure small bits of the deal ticked a number of boxes. No one, it seems, was there to look Mr Chappell in the eye and judge whether he had the ability, or even the intention, of...

Summary:


Gen Sir Nicholas Houghton has said he would be worried if the view that he would never use nuclear weapons was translated into power.
He said: "I think it would worry me if that thought was translated into power as it were.
"I think it would worry me if that thought was translated into power

Jeremy Corbyn has accused the chief of the defence staff of political bias after he criticised the Labour leader's anti-nuclear stance.

Article: However, for a pair of kestrels nesting on the Forth Road Bridge, it has become home.
Bridge workers discovered the birds of prey while repairing steelwork underneath the carriageway.
They have built a nest with six eggs inside the end of a girder hanging over the Firth of Forth estuary.
The birds have been named Mr and Mr Younger, after Younger's Kestrel Lager.
David Gill, Amey maintenance supervisor, said: "When we saw the eggs, we immediately cleared the area and instructed staff to avoid carrying out any works that might disturb the nest.
"I've heard of kestrels nesting on the bridge before, but it's pretty unusual. You'd think they might prefer a quieter location.
"We're happy to have them here though, and have affectionately named them Mr and Mrs Younger.
"We'll come back and finish our repairs once the chicks have hatched and flown the nest.
"In the meantime, we've carried out a temporary repair on a local defect quietly and there won't be any impact on users of the bridge."
Kestrels are fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to kill, injure or take a kestrel, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents.

Summary: For most young couples, the inside of a steel girder with 80,000 vehicles a day thundering overhead would not seem like an ideal location to start a family.
###
Article: Gen Sir Nicholas Houghton told the BBC's Andrew Marr that refusing to launch nuclear weapons would "seriously undermine" Britain's "deterrent".
And he said he would be worried if such a view "translated into power".
Mr Corbyn called on the defence secretary to "take action" against Sir Nicholas over his comments.
In a statement, the Labour leader said: "It is a matter of serious concern that the chief of the defence staff has today intervened directly in issues of political dispute.
"It is essential in a democracy that the military remains politically neutral at all times.
"By publicly taking sides in current political arguments, Sir Nicholas Houghton has clearly breached that constitutional principle. Accordingly, I am writing to the defence secretary to ask him to take action to ensure that the neutrality of the armed forces is upheld."
Mr Corbyn, a leading member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, sparked a row with his shadow cabinet at his party's annual conference when he revealed that would never press the "nuclear button" - and he has since praised Scottish Labour's rejection of Trident.
Mr Corbyn has said he was elected Labour leader on a platform of opposing Trident renewal and that he is committed to "promoting an international nuclear weapons convention which would lead to a nuclear-free world".
Asked about Mr Corbyn's refusal to use nuclear weapons, Sir Nicholas said: "It would worry me if that thought was translated into power as it were."
He added: "The whole thing about deterrence rests on the credibility of its use.
"When people say you're never going to use the deterrent, what I say is you use the deterrent every second of every minute of every day and the purpose of the deterrent is that you don't have to use it because you successfully deter.
"If a prime minister said they would never press the nuclear button, "the deterrent is then completely undermined," he added.
"Most of the politicians I know understand that and I think that, dare I say, the responsibility of power is probably...

Summary:


The US space agency Nasa has announced that it will be sending a new probe to Mars in 2020.
The Mars 2020 rover will be the first to land on the Red Planet since the Curiosity rover landed in 2012.
The rover will be equipped with a drill and a camera to search for signs of life on Mars.

The company that conducts most of America's rocket launches has released details of its next generation vehicle.

Article: Figures from the Labor Department showed the US economy created 178,000 jobs in November, while the jobless rate fell to 4.6% from 4.9% in October.
The data adds to recent evidence of healthy growth in the economy, although wage growth was weaker than expected.
Most analysts think the Federal Reserve will raise rates at its next meeting.
"This was the last hurdle on the path to a December hike, and it has been cleared convincingly," said Luke Bartholomew, investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management.
"It is now incredibly hard to imagine what would stop the Fed from going [for a rate rise]."
The Federal Reserve will hold its next two-day policy meeting on 13-14 December.
Last month, the chair of the Fed, Janet Yellen, indicated that the US central bank could raise interest rates "relatively soon", adding that the US economy was "making very good progress".
Recent figures indicated that the US economy grew at an annual pace of 3.2% in the third quarter of the year.
The US economy has been creating jobs at an average of 180,000 jobs a month this year, although that is down on the average of 229,000 recorded in 2015.
Despite November's robust jobs figures, earnings grew by less than expected. Average hourly earnings fell 0.1% from the month before, and that reduced the annual increase in wages to 2.5% from 2.8% in October.
The job creation figures for September and October were also revised, with the latest estimates indicating that 2,000 fewer jobs were added in the two months than previously thought.
Before these figures the markets were pretty clear about what they think the Federal Reserve will do when it meets later this month; it will raise interest rates. The jobs numbers have further reinforced that expectation.
It was a pretty robust figure for job creation, well ahead of economists' estimates of what is needed to keep up with a growing population.
Also striking was a decline of 220,000 in the number who are working part-time for economic reasons.  This is another measure of what economists call...

Summary: The US unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low in November, adding to expectations that US interest rates will rise later this month.
###
Article: The concept will be known as Vulcan, and it is expected to start operations in 2019.
United Launch Alliance - the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin - currently flies the Atlas and Delta rockets.
These are routinely used to loft Nasa science probes, spy satellites and other US national security missions.
In time, both vehicles will be retired as the new Vulcan components come on stream.
The first element to be introduced will be the first-stage booster, which will feature an all-new, all-American liquid-fuelled engine.
This will enable ULA to end its use of Russian-made RD-180 rocket motors – something Congress has mandated.
Politicians on Capitol Hill dislike the fact that American national security missions are launched with the aid of Russian propulsion technology.
ULA's preference is to incorporate a liquid methane-oxygen power unit currently being developed by Blue Origin, the space company run by Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos.
When the new Vulcan booster makes its debut, it will initially be married to the current Centaur upper-stage of the Atlas.
But early in the 2020s, this too will be replaced by a bespoke upper-stage that should give the new rocket a performance that allows it to exceed even the Delta IV Heavy – the biggest, most powerful rocket in the world today, capable of putting upwards of 25 tonnes in a low-Earth orbit.
Critically, though, the Vulcan will be substantially cheaper to build and operate.
"A Delta IV Heavy at today’s launch rates costs about $400m, give or take, depending on the mission and its complexity. I fully expect the Next Generation Launch System to be less than half that," said Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance.
Some cost savings will be made by recovering and reusing the engines on the first-stage booster following a flight.
The idea is that after separation from the upper-stage, the engines would detach from the propellant tanks and fall back to Earth, deploying an inflatable shield to protect them from burning up on re-entry into...

Summary:


The Nigerian military says it has rescued all the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants.
The military said in a statement on Wednesday that the girls had been rescued from the Sambisa forest, where they had been held for more than two years.
The military said the girls were "in good health" and were being

Mystery surrounds the fate of more than 100 teenage girls who were abducted from a school in the remote north-east of Nigeria.

Article: A machine that can "smell" dollars - like a sniffer dog senses narcotics - is being developed.
For the first time, chemists have captured the unique fragrance of US paper money.
They announced their discovery at the American Chemical Society meeting.
"Money sniffing is an unknown art. No-one had ever tried to find these aromas," said Dr Joseph Stetter, of KWJ Engineering.
"We found that US currency emits a wide range of volatile organic compounds that make a 'fingerprint' we can identify in less than a minute."
His firm is developing a handheld cash detector for border police, called the Bulk Currency Detection System (BCDS).
In the past fiscal year, US officials seized more than $106m in smuggled cash heading to Mexico - the bulk of it laundered drug money.
But that's only a whisker of the estimated $39bn that crosses the border undetected every year - hidden in clothing, baggage and vehicles.
Current checks are done by guards with dogs - but training is expensive and time-consuming.
Airport-style X-ray scanners have had some success detecting currency - but they are large and impractical for busy border checkpoints.
To find a swifter solution, the US Department of Homeland Security made a public challenge to scientists to develop "a device that will search for and identify bulk quantities of currency - secreted on persons, in hand baggage and luggage, and/or in privately owned vehicles."
This money-sniffing machine must pass three intimidating challenges.
First - it must be precise enough to pick up the whiff of dollar bills amid a cacophony of background aromas.
"It has to work even in the presence of car exhaust, perfumes, food, and at a range of temperatures and humidity," said Dr Suiqiong Li, a researcher at KWJ.
"You need a smart algorithm to sort the needle from the haystack."
Next - it has to deliver a reading within seconds at hectic border crossings. There is no time to send samples off to a lab.
And finally, the probe has to be portable - light enough for a guard walking up and down a line of...

Summary: Criminals are smuggling billions in US bank notes into Mexico every year, but help could be on the way for border guards.
###
Article: The military says all but eight of the 129 girls have escaped, but parents of the girls say many are still missing.
It is thought Islamist militant group Boko Haram took the girls to forested areas near the Cameroonian border.
The group is waging a bloody campaign for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
Nigerian students living in fear
What is Nigeria's Boko Haram?
Also on Wednesday, 18 people were killed in an attack in the Gwoza district of north-eastern Nigeria, local officials told the AP news agency.
The BBC's correspondent in Lagos, Will Ross, says the Nigerian military's statement that most of the girls had escaped their captors contrasts sharply with other information available to the BBC, including the claims of parents of pupils at the school. They insist "many" of their children are still missing.
The raid on the boarding school is a great source of embarrassment for the Nigerian authorities who say their military campaign against the militants is succeeding, he adds.
Hours before the military issued its statement, the governor of Borno state Kashim Shettima said the vast majority of the girls were still missing and offered a reward of 50m naira ($308,000; Â£184,000) for information.
The air force, army, police, local defence units and volunteers have all been involved in the search for the schoolgirls.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the "shocking" mass abduction and called for the girls' immediate release.
"The targeting of schools and schoolchildren is a grave violation of international humanitarian law," he said in a statement.
"Schools are, and must remain, safe places where children can learn and grow in peace."
The BBC's Hausa Service says Boko Haram has kidnapped civilians in the past - usually women to work as sex slaves.
Gunmen reportedly arrived at the school in Chibok, a remote area of Borno state, late on Tuesday, and ordered its teenage residents on to lorries.
A local politician said about 50 soldiers had been stationed near the school ahead of annual exams, but were...

Summary:


The Labour Party has pledged to scrap the controversial "bedroom tax" if it wins the general election.
The policy, which forces people to pay up to £1,200 a year for extra space in their homes, has been condemned by the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.
The policy was introduced by the coalition government

Throughout the election campaign BBC Wales News is answering young voters's questions and reflecting their views through our interactive #iNeverKnew project.

Article: The Foreign Office warned the Home Office against giving the teenage athlete "special treatment" to enable her to compete at the 1984 Olympics.
Ministers said any circumvention of the ban on South Africans competing may hurt the UK's anti-apartheid stance.
But the Home Office said Budd's "talent" made the case a priority.
Budd, who set a world record for the 5,000m at the age of 17 and became a household name for running barefoot, registered as a British citizen in April 1984 in time for her to compete at the Los Angeles games four months later.
She ran for Britain in the 3,000m - where she tangled with the American Mary Decker in one of the most famous moments in Olympic history and ultimately finished down the field.
A media campaign was launched to encourage Zola Budd's father to urge her to apply for British citizenship, by virtue of her paternal grandfather being British, thereby bypassing the boycott on South African athletes taking part in international competition because of its apartheid policy.
Previously unseen files, released by the National Archives, reveal wrangling over the issue broke out at cabinet level with the then Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe urging the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan to delay the decision on whether to grant the runner a British passport.
In a draft letter to Mr Brittan in March 1984, in which Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was copied in, Mr Howe wrote: "I think the consequences for the government could be very damaging if we laid ourselves open to the charge that this young girl was receiving special treatment, gifted and exceptional though she may be."
The letter warned that the move could lead to possible withdrawals by other nations from the Olympic Games and the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, and suggested it would undermine the Gleneagles agreement, a Commonwealth pact discouraging sporting contact with South Africa and be seen as a "device to circumvent anti-apartheid politics".
It added: "To give exceptional treatment to a South African national to...

Summary: A campaign to fast-track British citizenship for South African runner Zola Budd triggered a major government rift, newly released documents show.
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Article: The aim is to cut through the jargon and present election news in a different way.
If you've got a question about the election or want to know what the parties will do for you, let us know.
Follow our reporter Steffan Messenger on Facebook, where he'll be posting all our #iNeverKnew coverage and focusing on the issues you feel passionately about - your cash, your career, your future.
And check out our guide to what the parties say they'll do for young people here.

Summary:


A survey of parents has found that more than half of them give their children packed lunches because they think they are too fussy to eat anything else.
The survey, of about 1,000 parents, found the most popular vegetables were carrots, sweetcorn and peas.
Aubergine, chickpeas

School lunches can tempt fussy eaters to try new foods, a survey for the School Food Trust has suggested.

Article: Alan Hepper, an MOD engineer, was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of 11-year-old Francis Rowntree.
He said there was limited testing on rubber baton rounds before their introduction in July 1970.
Francis, known as Frank by his family, was shot by a soldier with a rubber bullet in west Belfast in April 1972.
He died in hospital two days later.
That same year, accident and emergency doctors at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital had wanted to publish their findings in the British Journal of Surgery, but were told by a scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence that it would not be in the public interest.
The information pointed out that 80% of inpatients hit by the rounds had injuries to their head and neck.  It also suggested that Frank Rowntree had been hit from two to three yards.
'Tumbled in the air'
It suggested that soldiers must be made aware of the consequences of using  the weapon, that it could kill, blind, or seriously injure some organs.
The tests on potential wounding by the baton rounds had been carried out at the Defence, Science and Technological Laboratory, Porton Down, Wiltshire, by firing them in controlled circumstances at sheep.
The court heard also that tests showed that the batons tumbled in the air and often hit their targets side-on, although they could also hit end on, causing rather more injury or damage.
Mr Hepper, who works at Porton Down, agreed with a barrister for the Rowntree family that the chances of a target being struck end-on increased if a round was fired within 5-6 metres.
It is thought that Frank Rowntree was struck from close range.
Mr Hepper told the inquest that the effect and accuracy of the rubber baton round was tested more after its initial introduction.
'Far too dangerous'
He also said that the amount of gunpowder used was increased twice in a bid to make it more accurate.
A wooden baton round had been tested but quickly deemed to be far "too dangerous" and was never used operationally here.
The rubber baton round was then developed at the request...

Summary: An inquest has heard that information about serious injuries caused by rubber baton rounds fired by the Army was not made public in the early 1970s.
###
Article: Researchers found that four out of five children in England who ate school lunches had tried food at school that they had not tried at home.
Half of parents questioned said their children had asked for foods they had eaten at school to be cooked at home.
The survey, of about 1,000 parents, found the most popular vegetables were carrots, sweetcorn and peas.
Aubergine, chickpeas and spinach were among the least popular.
Of the parents questioned, 628 had children who ate school lunches.
(% denotes proportion of parents who said their child would eat each vegetable)
England's School Food Trust commissioned the research after a survey by the Mumsnet website suggested some parents gave their children packed lunches because they thought they were too fussy to eat anything else.
Trust chairman, Rob Rees, said: "Every parent knows it's a nightmare watching their child push food around the plate.
"School meals can be a great way to help parents encourage their children to try new foods and to increase the variety of foods in their diet."
Mumsnet co-founder, Carrie Longton, said: "Getting children to eat healthily is every parent's dream, but meal times at home can often be a battle ground and emotionally charged.
"From Mumsnetters' experience it seems that once at school there's a desire to fit in with everyone else and even some positive peer pressure to boast about the variety of what foods you can eat.
"School meals have also moved on quite a bit from when Mumsnetters were at school, with healthier options and more variety."
School meals in England now have to comply with strict nutritional guidelines.
About four in 10 primary school children in England now eat school lunches, slightly more than in secondary schools.
More children in Scotland eat school lunches - about 46%.
The survey was conducted online between 26 February and 5th March among a panel of parents who had at least one child in school aged 4-17 years old.

Summary:


The UK government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help small airports in Scotland.
The fund will be used to help small airports in Scotland to develop their business and increase their connectivity.
The fund will be administered by the Scottish Government and will be available to all Scottish airports, including those in the

A new deal to secure the air link between Dundee City Airport and London Stansted for another two years has been announced.

Article: Sir Peter Fahy is concerned the force "will not be able to deploy enough officers and PCSOs into the local community to gather intelligence".
GMP has lost 1,100 officers since 2010, leaving about 6,800.
Policing Minister Mike Penning said there was "no question" police would have enough resources to do their work.
In 2010, GMP said 3,100 jobs - 1,500 officers and 1,600 civilian workers - had to go over a four-year period to meet the government's 25% spending cuts.
Sir Peter said: "It's really pretty stark now.
"I can't reduce much further the number of officers for instance investigating rapes and domestic violence.
"We then have to look at day-to-day neighbourhood policing and that is the risk - we end up being a reactive police force.
"We need to be in communities, preventing things before they happen."
Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner, said crimes including violent crime and domestic violence rose by 8% this year.
He said: "We have already lost 1,100 police officers from the streets of Greater Manchester and this year we are facing another cut of £41m, which [means] there will be hundreds of fewer police officers on our streets.
"To be losing almost half the policing budget by 2020 is unpalatable."
Ian Hanson, chairman of the area's Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: "We are in a position where we are going to ask ourselves 'Can we afford the luxury of community policing?'
"In the 1970s and 80s we went to crime after it happened."
He added: "We've got one of the best police forces in the country and now we're under threat and once it's gone, it's gone."
Mr Penning said: "While we acknowledge that the police funding settlement is challenging there is no question that the police will still have the resources to do their important work.
"What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are in total.
"The reduction in crime nationwide demonstrates there is no simple link between officer numbers and crime levels, the visibility of...

Summary: Greater Manchester Police (GMP) risks "being a reactive force" if up to 400 officers are axed to save £41m next year, the chief constable said.
###
Article: The UK and Scottish governments and Dundee City Council have agreed a public service obligation (PSO) contract worth almost Â£3.7m.
Loganair will continue to operate the route from 26 March.
The service will see two return flights each weekday and one return flight on a Sunday.
The UK Government will contribute 50% of the total funds, with the Scottish government putting in Â£1.4m and Dundee City Council providing Â£400,000 of funding.
UK Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said: "I am delighted that Loganair will continue to operate this direct air service between Dundee and London Stansted for another two years.
"Passengers and businesses will continue to benefit from the connectivity this route provides. It will further boost trade and tourism opportunities will continue to flourish in Scotland."
Scotland's Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said: "The award of this contract to Loganair is welcome news which provides continuity of service on this important route.
"This flight not only provides a direct link to London, but also offers passengers a wide number of onward connecting destinations from Stansted. This will continue to benefit business and leisure travellers alike."
Dundee City Council leader Ken Guild added: "Securing the route for a further two years through this latest PSO gives the council and its partners an opportunity to build on the service and attract other routes."
The UK government funding is through the Regional Air Connectivity Fund, which aims to maintain connectivity between London and smaller regional airports, where routes are at risk of being withdrawn.

Summary:


The family of a man who died after being knocked off his bike by a car have said they are "devastated" by the verdict.
James Sneddon, 42, of Falkirk, was found guilty of causing the 51-year-old's death by careless driving at the High Court in Edinburgh.

A motorist who fatally injured a cyclist has been convicted of causing death by careless driving.

Article: The Confederation Internationale de la Peche Sportive says accepting fishing as an Olympic discipline would enlarge the universality of the Olympic idea because angling is so popular.
Fish caught would be returned to the water unharmed.
But critics say fishing involves too much luck, is incomprehensible to outsiders and too boring to watch.
They reject Confederation president Ferenc Szalay's assertion that angling's "ancient and fair competition system" matches Olympic ideals.
Fishing is among a raft of sports aiming to secure Olympic status.
Skateboarding, surfing, climbing, Karate and baseball/softball have already been confirmed for Tokyo 2020.
The IOC said it hopes the "innovative" move will draw in new audiences by focusing inclusions on youth-oriented sports.
The five extra sports, which do not replace any of the 28 already on the Tokyo schedule, will include 18 events and involve hundreds of athletes.
Baseball and softball featured separately between 1992 and 2008, but made a joint bid to be readmitted.
Fishing has featured at the Olympics once before - it was an unofficial sport at the 1900 Paris games. Only six nations took part and there is no record of the eventual winner.

Summary: The international governing body for fishing has applied for angling to be part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
###
Article: Alasdair Dudgeon was killed near the Kincardine Bridge on 6 January 2013 when James Sneddon knocked him off his bike in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Dudgeon suffered a broken neck and internal injuries as he commuted to his work at a bakery near Falkirk at 02:00.
Sneddon, 42, was found guilty of causing the 51-year-old's death, after a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Mr Dudgeon, of High Valleyfield in Fife, regularly cycled to and from his work as a baker at Tesco in Camelon, just outside Falkirk.
He was cycling on the A985 road between the Longannet roundabout and the Kincardine Bridge when he was hit by a Vauxhall Astra driven by Sneddon, of Falkirk.
Sneddon called an ambulance, but paramedics found no sign of a pulse on the victim before taking him to Forth Valley Hospital in Larbert, where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses said weather conditions were clear and visibility was reasonable on the night of the crash, with a police officer noting that the red flashing light on Mr Dudgeon's bike was bright enough to be seen from 300m away.
Prosecutors said that although Mr Dudgeon had not been wearing a high visibility jacket, Sneddon should have seen him well before the collision and should have taken steps to avoid the cyclist.
The Crown originally charged Sneddon with causing Mr Dudgeon's death by dangerously failing to observe the cyclist and colliding with the rear of his bike, which he denied.
After a trial, the jury found him guilty on the lesser charge of death by careless driving. He will be sentenced later after background reports are compiled.

Summary:


A man has been jailed for three years after he was found guilty of sending a sexually explicit message to a woman he met on an adult website.
Clive Weatherhogg, 42, of Guthrie, near Forfar, was found guilty of coercing the woman to engage in sexual activity and with the man between

A man who coerced a woman into having sex with a stranger before sending "revenge porn" to her family has been jailed for six years.

Article: The sport is to be one of 18 disciplines included at the event, which will be held in the Gold Coast from 4-15 April 2018.
It follows a special request to the Games organisers from the Queensland authorities.
Commonwealth Games Scotland chairman Paul Bush said the announcement was a "huge boost" for beach volleyball.
He said: "We will now continue to work closely with colleagues at Scottish Volleyball to develop the necessary criteria to ensure that we can select a team that competes with distinction.
"There is no better place to showcase this exciting sport than in Gold Coast."
The announcement was also welcomed by Lynne Beattie, who captained Great Britain's London 2012 Olympic volleyball team and who is Scotland's number one international beach athlete.
"I would be overjoyed at the opportunity to represent Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and look forward to hearing more about the qualification process later in the year," she said.
The Gold Coast Games will become the first to include beach volleyball and extends the number of sports involved from 17 to 18.
Annastacia Palaszczuk, Queensland state's premier, said: "The Games is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase Queensland to the world and, with beach volleyball now locked in to make its Commonwealth Games debut, vision of the Gold Coast's iconic beaches will be beamed to an audience of over 1.5 billion people around the world."
Two 12-team tournaments will be contested, one for men's teams and one for women's teams, consisting of two players per team.
A qualification system will be developed in collaboration with the international volleyball federation, FIVB, and will be finalised by July.
Volleyball Scotland chief executive Margaret Ann Fleming said: "I am confident that our athletes are ready to embrace this opportunity and I look forward to 2018 with optimism."
The news of beach volleyball's inclusion has also been welcomed by Volleyball England chief executive Lisa Wainwright.
"This is fantastic news which has been many years in the...

Summary: Scotland are hoping to put together a beach volleyball team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
###
Article: Clive Weatherhogg set up meetings between the woman and a man he found through an adult website, and filmed them having sex.
A court heard he sent a message containing a sexually explicit clip to the victim's sister on Christmas Day.
Weatherhogg, 42, was also placed on the sex offenders register.
He had denied the charges but was found guilty following a trial at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sheriff George Way remitted the case to the High Court in Edinburgh to be dealt with because its greater sentencing powers.
Weatherhogg, formerly of Guthrie, near Forfar, was found guilty of coercing the woman to engage in sexual activity and intercourse with the man between 10 September, 2013 and 17 September the following year.
He was also convicted of intentionally causing the woman's sister and father to look at sexual images and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on 25 December, 2014.
The woman told the trial she had felt "blackmailed" by Weatherhogg.
Lady Wolffe told the Weatherhogg that she had to pass a sentence on him that "reflected society's abhorrence" at such conduct.
The judge said that Weatherhogg, a first offender, had been assessed as posing "a moderate risk" of sexual re-offending.
Defence counsel Jonathan Crowe said it had been "a dramatic shock" for Weatherhogg to be placed on remand ahead of sentencing.

Summary:


A coach carrying 34 pupils from Brentwood School in Essex has crashed into a motorway bridge near Middelkerke, West Flanders.
The school said the pupils were on a trip to Cologne in Germany for a language trip.
The driver of the coach, James Chance, was killed.
Two boys

A school pupil involved in a coach crash in Belgium in which the driver died is still having "sleepless nights" two months on, her father has said.

Article: Irish Water, the country's water utility, is rolling out the quarterly billing to 1.5m customers on a phased basis over the next eight weeks.
The system went live on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the first 39,000 bills will be issued to customers.
But Irish Water has said that it anticipates mistakes will be made.
It said the billing process is a "significant task" and it expects there will be errors in its database.
On Tuesday, Irish Water confirmed that it had asked around 11,000 customers who submitted payment details in writing or over the phone to re-submit the information.
It said that 9,000 customers who gave details of direct debit mandates over the phone were asked to re-submit them in writing, following concerns over data protection.
Another 2,000 customers who submitted payment details in writing were asked to do so again, due to "errors" in transposing customer details online.
Staffing at a call centre in Cork has been increased to 750 to deal with customer queries during the initial billing period.
Staff at Irish Water and their customer service agents have been involved in a dry run on the billing system for several weeks.
Elizabeth Arnett, Irish Water's head of corporate services, acknowledged that mistakes could be made.
"We expect to face challenges, particularly when we have incomplete customer information or unregistered customers," she said.
"In these cases we may not have the right billing details and it's possible that the details we have may not be 100% correct."
Initial charges will be 40 euros (£29) for a single-adult household and 65 euros (£47) for a two-adult household.
Annual bills will not exceed 160 euros (£117) for single-adult households or 260 euros (£190) for households with more than one adult.
A total of 1.7m bills will be issued, including to those who are not customers of the utility, such as to people on group water schemes.

Summary: Households in the Republic of Ireland will receive their first bills for water services on Wednesday.
###
Article: Melissa Morton, 12, was among 34 pupils at Brentwood School in Essex aboard a coach that crashed into a motorway bridge near Middelkerke, West Flanders.
Her father Keith Morton said she had been "very disturbed by it all".
The school said some staff still needed hospital treatment, but all pupils were due back in school next week.
The coach, which was heading to Cologne in Germany for a languages trip, hit a bridge on the A18 (E40) near Middelkerke during the morning of 28 June.
Driver James Chance, who worked for a coach firm in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, was killed. A second driver was also injured.
Two boys who were badly hurt, with one receiving head injuries and another having a broken leg, have both been back to the independent school to meet their friends, a spokesman said.
He said some injured teachers, including one who suffered a broken collarbone, had continued to receive hospital treatment and were due to continue recovering for a number of weeks until they could return to work. Some pupils and staff are also receiving counselling.
Keith Morton, whose daughter Melissa escaped unhurt, told BBC Essex she was still "emotionally not quite right".
"There's been some teary situations and sleepless nights and it's still quite a shock for her," he said.
"There was one occasion when she had to get into a coach and was very disturbed by it all."
The school's second master David Taylor said he had spoken to police in Belgium and it was "going to be a long process" to find out what caused the crash, but he said he would still like trips to continue.

Summary:


The UK government has announced a new scheme to help those with the disease, which is usually contracted in the workplace, who cannot trace their insurer.
The scheme will be open to people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of internal organs, and who have been unable to trace

An "education edition" of Minecraft is to be launched by Microsoft.

Article: The Queen's Speech included a scheme to help those with the disease, which is usually contracted in the workplace, who cannot trace their insurer.
But campaigners said victims of other asbestos-related conditions would miss out and criticised a cap on payouts.
Ministers said the scheme was a "major breakthrough" for victims.
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of internal organs, notably the lungs, and almost always arises from exposure to asbestos.
People do not develop symptoms of the disease until about 30 or 40 years after exposure and there is no known cure.
Cases in the UK have been rising in recent years, with official figures showing about 2,400 die each year from the disease.
Larrie Lewington, 65, from Eynsham, Oxfordshire, was exposed to asbestos in his 20s while working as a lagger.
He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in August 2012, so he will be eligible for compensation under the new scheme, but his daughter Rebecca told the BBC the 70% cap on compensation was "insulting".
She said: "When my dad was working with asbestos the government at the time knew it was dangerous and they need to take some responsibility.
"For them to do this scheme and then say they are going to cap it is incredible. It's insulting.
"My dad worked his whole life, paid all his taxes and his national insurance, and he never borrowed a penny. Now, through no fault of his own, he's got this disease.
"It's been devastating. We're a very close family and it's ruined our lives.
"I wish I could go into Parliament and face them and they could see the pure pain that I've got.
"It's as good as murder what they've done, allowing this substance to be used and now, to put it bluntly, it is going to kill my dad."
Because of the delay in developing symptoms, some workers who were negligently exposed to asbestos at work find it difficult to trace an employer or insurer who is liable to pay compensation.
On Wednesday, the government announced a Mesothelioma Bill, which will set up a payment scheme aimed at addressing this "market...

Summary: Campaigners have expressed fears thousands could miss out under a new compensation scheme for those with the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.
###
Article: The product will offer teachers new ways to use the world-building video game in a range of subjects.
Microsoft paid $2.5bn (Â£1.8bn) for Mojang, Minecraft's Swedish creator, in 2014. And late last year, it bought the four-year-old MinecraftEdu version of the game from Finland-based independent developer TeacherGaming.
It is now promising to add features, but schools may face extra costs.
It says more than 7,000 classrooms around the world already use Minecraft in some form.
"Teachers are using Minecraft to do so many things, including teaching maths, science, religion and poetry," Anthony Salcito, Microsoft's vice-president of worldwide education, told the BBC.
"Once we make the tools easier for schools to get access to and employ, I think you'll see that number [of classrooms] grow quite quickly."
MinecraftEdu already allows teachers to modify content in the game and use a shared library of education-themed assets.
Microsoft is promising to improve the experience by:
To access the service, children and teachers each need their own Office 365 ID, which can also be used to provide access to the Microsoft's cloud-based productivity software.
Microsoft says this will help teachers minimise the number of online accounts they need to manage.
But it may also help the company promote its word processing, email, and file-sharing apps over rival services from Google and others.
Microsoft intends to charge an annual fee of $5 (Â£3.50) for each teacher and child.
That could prove more expensive than the current basic set-up, where schools pay a one-off fee of $14 multiplied by the maximum number of people they want to be able to log in at once, plus an additional $41 for server software.
"We believe we are bringing added value," said Deirdre Quarnstrom, director of Minecraft education.
"On top of having a persistent identity, they will also have access to the most current version of the game.
"MinecraftEdu, along with other Minecraft mods, was one to two releases behind by nature of the development process.
"We are...

Summary:


The worst affected area of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake which hit south-western Pakistan on Tuesday is the dust-strewn town of Mashkel, located just a few kilometres from the Iranian border in the province of Balochistan.

Article: The famously black-clad country singer wrote a song about the prison, and also played a historic series of concerts for inmates there in the 1960s.
Aphonopelma johnnycashi is among 14 new tarantula species from the southern US which have been described by biologists in the journal ZooKeys.
Their study completely rewrites the family tree of the Aphonopelma genus.
One of dozens of tarantula genera, this group was previously considered to include more than 50 separate species.
As part of his PhD research at Auburn University in Alabama, Chris Hamilton carefully whittled that down to 29. He eliminated a lot of double-counting, but also defined 14 species that were entirely new to science.
"We really tried to clean the taxonomy up," said Dr Hamilton, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
"The only way we could do that was by looking at over 3,000 specimens, both from the wild and from natural history collections.
"A lot of previous names got eliminated. But there were 14 that were genuinely unique and new."
It is a telling example of the biodiversity to be found - sometimes literally - in our own backyards, he added.
"A lot of people think of new species as coming from areas of the Earth that not many humans have been to before... but that's really frankly not the case."
In particular, existing collections are a precious resource for scientists who want to study life's family tree.
"The majority of species, described or undescribed, have probably already been collected," Dr Hamilton told BBC News. "They're sitting on shelves waiting to be discovered."
Aphonopelma johnnycashi, however, was found roaming the wilds of California.
"It's found along the foothills of the western Sierra Nevada mountains, and one of the places that's there is Folsom Prison," Dr Hamilton explained - and it wasn't a giant imaginative leap from there to the species' new moniker.
"It's a perfect name. It fits the spider - it's found around Folsom and the males are predominantly all black, so it fits his...

Summary: A new species of black tarantula that lives near Folsom Prison, California, has been named after Johnny Cash.
###
Article: Mostly made up of narrow streets, date trees and mud houses, the paramilitary Frontier Corps have a strong presence here as they do in the rest of the province.
And it was the Frontier Corps which found itself at the forefront of the violent tremors which flattened much of the town.
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Arif is the officer in charge of the area, and saw his headquarters collapse before his eyes.
"My residence is on a small hill. From there, I saw the shockwave ripping through the town and destroying houses with it."
"It was a terrible sight which I can never forget."
Officials estimate that about 80% of the houses in the Mashkel area collapsed - either partially or completely - in the quake.
Army helicopters have been delivering tents from the provincial capital, Quetta.
But we saw family after family sitting amid the ruins of their mud-brick houses under open skies with no shelter.
Mashkel social worker Lareef Baloch says that most houses in the town are uninhabitable.
"The structures still standing are dangerous because they have cracks in them," he told the BBC.
"We see army helicopters flying in and out of town, but we haven't received any tents, blankets, medicines or food."
The relief operation has been hampered by the remoteness of the affected area. The road journey from Quetta to Mashkel is long and dangerous.
Since Tuesday, small aftershocks have continued to hit the area.
One survivor told the BBC that he was traumatised by the experience and now has difficulty sleeping at night.
The Pakistani army says it has tried its best in the rescue and relief effort.
But an army spokesman told the BBC that people of the area will need help from national and international aid groups in the rehabilitation and reconstruction process in the weeks ahead.
It could be that ties on the ground will also play a role in providing help to quake victims.
Residents of Mashkel have close ties with ethnic Balochs in Iran's Sistan province.
Many people have families and relatives on both sides of the border.
The...

Summary:


The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced that it will be conducting an interim review of Liverpool's green and open spaces.
The review will look at the current state of the city's parks and open spaces, and will make recommendations on how to improve them.
The review will be conducted by Simon O'Brien, a

A city's parks could be funded by an increase in council tax, a report has recommended.

Article: The 10% pay rise has been approved despite Downing Street and a succession of MPs saying it was "not appropriate".
IPSA chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said that MPs' pay had been a "toxic" issue "which had been ducked for decades".
He said the pay rise would not cost any money because it was being combined with cuts to expenses, pension and severance payments for MPs.
The independent watchdog, set up to bring in and run a new expenses and pay system for MPs after the expenses scandal of 2009, says in future MPs' pay would rise in line with average rises in the public sector.
Analysis: By BBC political correspondent Iain Watson
The pay rise for MPs is something which is seen to be perhaps not entirely politically sensible at the moment. Still in an age of austerity, still paying down the deficit, restrictions on public sector pay.
But that said, it's an independent body, IPSA, that's doing it. Their assessment is that MPs are underpaid but that they had far too many generous allowances.
So what they've decided to do is have a series of reforms that don't cost the taxpayer a penny more. So for example, MPs will have a restructured pension scheme and lose some of their expenses, such as for evening meals.
IPSA says this is a very sensible package, but it comes at not a very sensible time if you're an MP, because it looks as though you're getting more than 10% while your constituents are probably having their pay restrained.
That was a change from its earlier suggestion that their pay would be linked to average earnings, which is likely to be higher over the next five years.
The measure being used by IPSA has also been negative in the past as a result of job cuts - and the watchdog's report stated: "If these data show that public sector earnings have in fact fallen, then MPs' pay will be cut too."
A number of MPs - including Education Secretary Nicky Morgan - have said they would give the money to charity, while Labour leadership contenders Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall have said they would forgo the...

Summary: MPs' salaries will rise from £67,060 to £74,000, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced.
###
Article: The interim review of Liverpool's green and open spaces, commissioned by Mayor Joe Anderson, suggests an extra Â£4.50 contribution is needed per person.
The proposal to increase council tax is one of 31 recommendations made in green activist Simon O'Brien's report.
He warned that Liverpool was "heading to a brick wall" when it comes to maintaining open spaces in the city.
Mr Anderson explained: "Sadly, the 58% cut to our budget by central government has left us grappling with the challenge of finding new ways to fund non-essential services, including maintenance of and investment in our green and open spaces."
Former Brookside actor Mr O'Brien said: "As central government is cutting money left, right and centre, non-statutory provision is the first thing that goes.
"I've suggested other things like tourist levies, which you can only set up nationally unfortunately. I think if we charge everyone who comes to stay in the city Â£1 a head, this problem goes away but we're not allowed to do that yet.
"If I can see a way that maybe you could commercialise a park - perhaps you could put a cafÃ© or a health centre in and bring in revenue - that's good."
He called for residents to give their feedback before a final report is produced.

Summary:


UKIP's new leader Anne Marie Waters has been blocked from standing for the party in the European elections.
Article: The UKIP leader has been blocked from standing in the European elections.
Article: The UKIP leader has been blocked from standing in the European elections.
Article: The UKIP leader has been blocked from standing in

An anti-Islam candidate has been allowed to stand for the UKIP leadership.

Article: Four homeless people took legal action against Birmingham City Council, claiming individuals were being denied statutory rights.
But at the High Court, Mr Justice Hickinbottom ruled against all four.
Figures did not support a proposition that as a policy or in practice homeless applicants were being systemically rejected, he said.
The judge said in each of the four cases he had concluded there had been no breach of duty or no substantial breach of duty.
He said the council was the largest housing authority in the country and owned 63,000 "housing units".
In a written ruling, the judge said Birmingham had "substantial areas of significant social deprivation" and the homeless population might be expected to be higher than in other areas.
But he added: "The statistical figures do not give any support to the proposition that, as a policy or approach in practice, the council is systemically turning away homeless applicants."
The judge said claimants who made an application for housing as a homeless person claimed the manner in which the council dealt "with his or her application was unlawful; and, further, that that manner reflected systemic failings".
He stated: "They say that the council, advertently or inadvertently, both in their own specific cases and generally, discourage and divert applications so that individuals are denied their statutory rights to have their situation properly inquired into and be given interim accommodation whilst those inquiries are being made."
But the judge said claimants had failed to prove any breach of statutory duty.

Summary: England's largest housing authority does not "systemically" turn away homeless applicants, a judge has ruled.
###
Article: Anne Marie Waters, a former Labour activist and founder of the Sharia Watch pressure group, has previously called Islam "evil".
Her leadership bid has split the party, with some MEPs threatening to quit if she was allowed into the race.
But the UKIP National Executive Committee, which vets all would-be candidates, has allowed her to stand.
The other candidates to replace Paul Nuttall - who stood down after UKIP's poor performance in June's general election - are:
Voting papers will be sent to party members over the next few weeks and the new leader will be announced at the party's annual conference in Torquay on the 29th and 30th of September.
Ms Waters's leadership bid was backed by former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson and she has previously been blocked from standing as a UKIP election candidate.
James Carver, UKIP West Midlands MEP, said he "sincerely hoped" Ms Waters did not win - but added that she should be allowed to stand.
He said: "Her train of thought, I think is going about it the wrong way... there are many British Muslims in this country and that is a good thing."
The party's former leader, Paul Nuttall, has previously said her views made him "uncomfortable".
Ms Waters believes her anti-Islam message, including a proposed ban on the burka, the closure of all sharia councils and a temporary freeze on all immigration, will strike a chord with many voters.
She has argued that UKIP could regain support if it had the "guts" to be "honest about Islam" and challenge the view that it had "nothing to do" with jihadist violence.
Last month, former leader Nigel Farage told BBC's Sunday Politics that "if UKIP goes down the route of being a party that is anti the religion of Islam, then frankly it's finished".

Summary:


The UK-India Year of Culture 2017 offers an important opportunity for Wales and India to refresh and strengthen these links and also to create new dynamic connections and creative collaborations.
###Article: The UK-India Year of Culture 2017 offers an important opportunity for Wales and India to refresh and strengthen these links and also to create new

Eleven arts projects will get funding to take Welsh culture to India as part of the UK-India 2017 cultural season.

Article: The Matterhorn was first climbed on 14 July 1865 by English climber Edward Whymper.
It was an event that attracted worldwide attention and controversy, and, some say, helped the Swiss village of Zermatt become the hugely successful resort it is today.
In the mid 19th-Century, the sport of alpinism was growing in popularity, particularly among the young men of the British upper and middle classes, who were keen to include some mountain climbing in their grand tour of Europe.
By 1865, the great pyramid of the Matterhorn was one of the few unconquered peaks, and Edward Whymper, just 25 years old at the time, had his eye on it.
He had hoped to attempt the ascent from the Italian side, together with fellow climber and mountain guide Jean-Antoine Carrel of Italy, but the plan collapsed when Carrel opted to accompany an Italian climbing party instead.
The competition to be first on the summit was fierce, not just between individuals, but between nations, and Italian sponsors of Carrel's group are thought to have bought off all the other local guides to prevent Edward Whymper from starting his ascent.
In desperation, Whymper arrived in Zermatt, looking for Swiss guides.
Zermatt at the time was one of the poorest villages in the Alps, completely cut off in winter and populated primarily by subsistence farmers. Many were deeply suspicious of the arrival of strangers in their midst.
"People were poor," explains director of tourism Daniel Luggen. "When the first visitors arrived in Zermatt, the local people were afraid the visitors would eat all the food and that they wouldn't have enough to survive the long winters."
Many locals firmly believed the Matterhorn could not and should not be climbed. Superstition was rife, and it was commonly believed that the Matterhorn, which villagers called "Z Hore" ("the peak"), was populated by ghosts and evil spirits.
Nevertheless, there were a few men in Zermatt who were ready to help the "British adventurers". Among them were Peter Taugwalder and his son Peter Jr, both experienced...

Summary: Switzerland is marking the 150th anniversary of the first ascent of its most famous mountain.
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Article: Welsh and Indian creative professionals will travel to each other's countries to work together and produce new works including books, music and dance.
The projects will get a share of the £450,000 India Wales Fund.
It is a joint Wales Arts International and British Council scheme which aims to help build relationships between the two countries.
Performances will take place in India and Wales and some of the work will be available online, with artists and audiences in both countries benefiting from workshops, tours and talks.
The projects include:
The full list of selected projects will be announced at the Wales Millennium Centre by Economy Secretary Ken Skates.
He said: "The UK-India Year of Culture 2017 offers an important opportunity for Wales and India to refresh and strengthen these links and also to create new dynamic connections and creative collaborations."
Indian Honorary Consul to Wales, Raj Aggarwal, said: "Wales and India share a love of music, dancing, theatre and literature so this cultural exchange is a fantastic opportunity for each country to share the heritage of each other's performing arts.
"A collaboration of Welsh, English and Bengali writers will bring together the works of six writers with live performance and the publication of a new tri-lingual work.
"This is an amazing opportunity not just to see and enjoy the other country's culture and talent, but to actually work together to create a hybrid from the two that fuse our nation's cultures in the future."

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