The South African Competition Commission has launched an investigation into the South African banking sector.
The commission says it is investigating allegations of currency manipulation in the South African financial markets.
The commission says it is investigating allegations of currency manipulation in the South African financial markets.
The commission says it is investigating allegations of currency manipulation in

Local and international banks have been accused of rigging the price of South Africa's currency, the rand, by the country's competition watchdog.

Article: Kite Power Systems (KPS) has gained backing for its project at West Freugh near Stranraer from E.ON, Schlumberger and Shell Technology Ventures (STV).
Paul Jones of the company said it was an "endorsement" of its research and development work on the technology.
A demonstration system will be put in place next year with further systems planned in years to come.
The technology uses two kites tethered to spool drums and as they fly they turn the drums to produce electricity.
A full-sized kite could generate two to three megawatts of electricity, which KPS said was comparable to a 100m conventional wind turbine.
The company has said it could eventually employ up to 500 people by 2025.
Mr Jones said: "The backing of these companies will accelerate KPS's commercial development plans towards deploying lower cost, deep-water offshore wind energy on a global scale."
KPS was established in 2011 and to date has invested more than £3m in technology development.
Geert van de Wouw, managing director of STV, said he had been convinced over time of the value of the KPS technology.
"It is an interesting contribution to renewable energy generation and a good fit to explore through Shell's New Energies business," he said.
E.ON senior vice president Frank Meyer said: "The approach of KPS has the potential to become a game changer for the wind energy market.
"It supports one of our overall targets to drive down the costs for renewable energy.
"In addition to this, we catch the opportunity to be a first mover in producing renewable energy at locations where it is, for economic and technical reasons, not possible today."
Oil and gas services company Schlumberger made its investment as it believes the technology could be used on offshore oil platforms, remote onshore drilling operations and decommissioned offshore wind turbine towers.
Commenting on the news, WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: "We hope the investment enables this emerging renewable technology to achieve its aim of developing a commercial-scale project.
"Kite...

Summary: Plans for one of the world's first kite power stations in south west Scotland have secured £5m of new investment.
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Article: Global giants Barclays, JP Morgan and HSBC are among 17 banks named as part of the two-year investigation.
Banks colluded, using online chat rooms to co-ordinate fictitious bids and offers in order to sway the market, the competition commission says.
It has called for the banks to be fined 10% of in-country annual turnover.
The banks are now likely to face prosecution at the country's Competition Tribunal over the alleged currency manipulation, which investigators say goes back as far as 2007.
Several banks have already said they will cooperate with the authorities.
Speaking in parliament earlier, South African President Jacob Zuma welcomed the competition commission's investigation, saying that the government was prepared to act against the distortion of the financial markets "to protect our country's economy".
He also reiterated the government's commitment to establish a state bank, adding that new players must be allowed to enter to diversify the financial sector.
Analysis: Matthew Davies, Africa Business Report editor, Johannesburg:
Foreign exchange scandals have rocked the international markets over the past ten years and now it's South Africa's turn to host one.
The governing ANC party says the latest developments expose an "ethical crisis in the South African banking sector".
The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters is calling for the banks to have their operating licences immediately revoked.
However, another opposition party, the Democratic Alliance says the timing of the case is suspicious, given that in his State of the Nation address last week, President Jacob Zuma referred to the competition authorities as one of the tools that would be used to drive radical economic transformation forward.
Even if, as expected, the 17 banks come to some sort of settlement with the South African authorities, the whole saga will still be another blow to the sector's reputation.
It has also given certain politicians more ammunition to bash the banks yet again - President Zuma recently accused the country's four...

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The FTSE 100 has fallen 5.2%, or 363 points, since Monday.
Article: The FTSE 100 has fallen 5.2%, or 363 points, since Monday.
On Friday the index closed 2.8% lower, while markets in Paris and Frankfurt saw falls of about 3%.

London's FTSE 100 index has recorded its biggest weekly loss this year after poor manufacturing figures in China exacerbated global economic fears.

Article: Overall the assessments were improving but were "not timely enough" in about 25% of cases, the watchdog found.
Inspectors visited 10 local authorities and examined 123 cases in a survey commissioned by Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw.
Progress was "encouraging" but there was still more to do said Sir Michael.
Earlier Ofsted reports, among them the 2012-13 annual report into children's social care, identified poor quality assessments by social workers, particularly in the weaker local authorities.
Ofsted says good assessments are crucial to building an accurate picture and ensuring "decisive, effective action to protect children".
The 2012-13 report found only four in 10 local authorities were "good" or better for safeguarding.
Poor assessment was a key theme.  In particular, the report said, the views of children and families were rarely considered.
In the latest survey inspectors noted steady progress in the quality, efficacy and timeliness of assessments.
"A greater proportion of assessments resulted in children and families receiving the right help and support at the right time," they found.
But the report says delays in assessment sometimes still leave children "at potential risk of harm".
"The improvement in the quality of care assessments is encouraging," said Sir Michael.
"However there is still more to do before we can be assured that all children and families are receiving the high standards of care required."
David Simmonds, deputy chairman of the Local Government Association, said the progress was "testament to the hard work of local authorities" but agreed they could do more.
"Councils acknowledge the need for improvement in children's mental health services, provided by the NHS, which has for a long time been a 'Cinderella service' without the capacity to meet need.
"With councils taking the reins of public health work we are beginning to see progress in partnership with local GPs â€Žas inadequate national services are redesigned locally."
He said care assessments for vulnerable children were...

Summary: Vulnerable children in England could be at risk because of delays in social workers' assessments of the care they need, Ofsted has said in a report.
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Article: The FTSE has fallen 5.2%, or 363 points, since Monday.
On Friday the index closed 2.8% lower, while markets in Paris and Frankfurt saw falls of about 3%.
Shares also plunged on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes all down more than 3% by the close.
Only one company on the FTSE 100 saw gains on Friday - Royal Mail, which rose by 1.6%.
The FTSE 100 has fallen for nine sessions in a row, its longest losing streak since 2011. It is almost 13% below an all-time high hit in April.
In the US, the S&P 500 suffered its biggest daily percentage drop in nearly four years on Friday, losing 64.8 points, or 3.19%, to 1,970.89.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.12%, and the Nasdaq dropped 3.52%.
As well as global stock markets, US oil prices also dived on Friday, with New York crude dipping below $40 a barrel for the first time since the financial crisis and marking its longest weekly losing streak since 1986.
Earlier, data from China indicated factory output in August shrank at its fastest pace in more than six years.
The private Caixin/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 47.1 from 47.8 in July. A figure below 50 indicates contraction.
The data triggered another sell-off in Chinese shares, which ended the day down more than 4%.
The decline comes on the heels of weaker-than-expected economic data in July, plus this month's yuan devaluation and a stock market plunge.
Investors are growing increasingly concerned, as the Shanghai Composite index is now down 12% this week.
Friday's factory output reading for China was the lowest since March 2009, during the depths of the global financial crisis, and the sixth consecutive below the 50-point level.
The Caixin flash PMI is the earliest economic measure of the Chinese economy to be released each month and is closely watched for clues on how growth is faring.
Earlier in August, China's official economic growth data showed a further slowdown in the past quarter, expanding 7% compared with a year earlier, its slowest pace...

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A koala has been rescued from a bushfire in Adelaide, after being found in a tree.
The koala was found in a tree in the Adelaide Hills, after being found in a tree in the Adelaide Hills, after being found in a tree in the Adelaide Hills, after being found in a tree in the

Wildlife sanctuaries across southern Australia have been helping injured animals - by asking the public to sew mittens and pouches!

Article: The scale drawings of the Mackintosh were made by Queensland University of Technology professor George Cairns in the 1990s as part of a Phd at GSA.
He has now donated them to the art school in the hope they can aid efforts to restore the iconic building.
GSA is still engaged in a bid to raise Â£20m to restore the Mackintosh.
Prof Cairns said: "I am delighted to be able to return to Glasgow today after so many years and to be able to donate this set of drawings which I made as part of my doctoral thesis to the GSA.
"I hope very much that they will prove of interest and use to the teams working on the restoration of the Mack and to generations of students who have the privilege to study Mackintosh's masterpiece."
GSA said it would add the drawings to its "significant archive of material relating to Mackintosh's masterpiece".
They will be digitised and accessible for academic and public research through the GSA's online archives in the coming months.
Liz Davidson, senior project manager for the Mackintosh Building restoration project, said: "We are keen to continue to access as much information as possible about the building in planning our approach to the restoration.
"Professor Cairns has already been generous in his time in liaising with the design team and these particularly detailed drawings are going to be an invaluable source of information."

Summary: The project to restore Glasgow School of Art's (GSA) fire-damaged Mackintosh building has been boosted by a donation of detailed architectural drawings.
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Article: Media playback is unsupported on your device
13 January 2015 Last updated at 16:34 GMT
Adelaide and Victoria in southern Australia have seen some of the worst bushfires for 30 years.
Injured possums, koalas, kangaroos and wallabies have been arriving at animal rescue centres almost every day.
A charity called IFAW appealed for the public to sew tiny mittens, to help protect koalas that had burned paws.
So many people sent in mittens, they received enough to last them for a year.
Now the charity has asked people to sew comfy pouches help the injured baby kangaroos, called joeys, recover.
The pouches help keep the babies warm but have to be changed after every feed, so up to six pouches are needed for each animal every day.
The animals are being looked after by keepers at Adelaide Zoo.
Once they're better they will be released back to the wild.

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The race was won by a horse trained by Colin Tizzard.
Article: The race was won by a horse trained by Colin Tizzard.
Summary: The race was won by a horse trained by Colin Tizzard.
Article: The race was won by a horse trained by Colin Tizzard.
Summary:

Thistlecrack ended the three-year reign of Reve De Sivola to cruise to an impressive victory in the Grade One Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.

Article: UK scientists found that putting patients in a virtual reality (VR) environment while being treated can reduce anxiety levels.
The researchers said this "bottled nature" approach could help many people get past their fears - but not all.
Those who experienced a more urban VR environment in the study did not receive the same benefits.
The findings have been published in the Environment and Behaviour journal.
"Our idea was that if we bring nature into a stressful situation, such as the one in a dentist's surgery, then that should have a similar benefit as when people are able to go out into nature," explained co-author Sabine Pahl from the University of Plymouth, UK.
"We know about the benefits of the natural environment in psychological and physiological terms - people can feel relaxed and restore their cognitive resources.
"We also know in dentistry, there is a high percentage of people with dentist anxiety and their teeth tend to be in a worse state and they tend to miss appointments because they are worried about going to the dentist; and that, of course, has an effect on their teeth.
"We are trying to intervene in that dental anxiety process," Dr Pahl told BBC News.
Because it was not possible to walk on the beach or in the woods while receiving treatment in a dentist's chair, the researchers decided to "bottle nature" and allow patients to experience it via virtual reality technology.
The team's study involved 70 patients, divided into three groups: one receiving standard care, without the use of VR technology; another being treated while experiencing an urban environment via VR; and a group experiencing a VR beach (nature) environment.
"What we found was that the experience of pain was much lower among the people in the nature VR group," Dr Pahl observed.
"This finding is important to us because people could say that it was just the distraction provided by VR, but the difference was stronger in the nature VR than in the urban VR.
"In fact the response among patients in the standard care and urban VR...

Summary: Could sitting in the dentist's chair really be as enjoyable as a walk on the beach?
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Article: Trained by Colin Tizzard, the 2-1 favourite took control at the penultimate hurdle and pulled away to win by eight lengths.
Jockey Tom Scuadmore said: "He gave me a lot of pleasure. It's a special day."
Reve De Sivola held on for second and Deputy Dan trailed in third, another 12 lengths further back.

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A new study has found that the best way to restore the health of a forest is to leave it alone.
The study, published in the journal Nature, found that the best way to restore the health of a forest is to leave it alone.
The study, led by researchers at the University of California, Santa

Competition for nesting sites could explain why some birds and bumblebees are declining faster than others.

Article: The team were studying the birth of stars when they discovered a supermassive black hole and saw clouds speeding towards it at 800,000 mph.
The observation supports a theory black holes feed on clouds of cold gas.
Dr Timothy Davis from the school of physics and astronomy said it was a "magical" experience.
He added: "At that very moment, nature gave us a clear view of this complicated process, allowing us to understand supermassive black holes in a way that has never been possible before.
"It's possible that the black hole has an ever bigger appetite and is devouring even more of these cold clouds of gas surrounding it."
Researchers said previous models suggested the gradual growth of supermassive black holes happened when surrounding hot gas accumulates smoothly onto them.
But these observations - a first - suggest in addition to this, these black holes may occasionally "gobble up" faster-moving cold gas as it comes nearby.
The astronomers are part of an international team studying the Abell 2597 galaxy, one of the brightest in the universe.
The results were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
Prof Michael Macdonald, co-author of the paper, from MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, admits they got "very lucky."
"We could probably look at 100 galaxies like this and not see what we saw just by chance," he said.

Summary: Astronomers at Cardiff University have observed a supermassive black hole preparing to "feast" in a galaxy one billion light years from Earth.
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Article: Research suggest animals that build their nests in early spring may win the fight for available habitat at the expense of late breeders.
Conservation efforts should focus on ensuring rare species have enough places to nest, say scientists.
For example, areas could be left to grow wild between spring and summer to help bumblebees establish nests.
Habitats such as hedgerows and hay meadows are being lost in many countries, meaning that fewer nesting sites are available.
Competition among animals for a suitable place to nest could explain why some species are struggling to survive.
"Ecologists understand why some groups of species are declining more, such as why farmland species are declining more than woodland species," said Dr Andrew Higginson of the University of Exeter.
"But an enduring mystery is the big variation in the declines of closely related species. Fighting over nest sites may be part of the reason - when nest sites are hard to come by, the species that will suffer most are those that nest later in the year."
The University of Exeter study analysed population changes in more than 200 bird species and 40 bumblebee species around the world.
The population data was combined with a mathematical model that used game theory to predict the likely behaviour of bees and birds when faced with competition for nesting sites.
It calculated the implications of fighting for nesting sites, based on the size of each species, the time of nesting and the quality of the nesting site.
The study found larger species that nest early generally do better, while smaller bees and birds that nest later in the year lose out in the struggle for habitat.
For example, the chaffinch is doing well in the UK, while the goldfinch is on the decline.
"We need to have a more holistic approach to providing good habitat for animals," Dr Higginson told BBC News. "We need to worry about the whole life cycle not just what they eat."
He said conservation efforts for animals such as birds and bees tend to focus on providing food.
Restoration...

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All pictures copyrighted. All rights reserved.
Article: The festival will be held in the grounds of the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh.
The festival will be held in the grounds of the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh.
The festival will be held in the grounds of the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh.
The festival

T in the Park organisers have announced an overhaul of the festival's campsite that will see it increase in size by a quarter.

Article: The UK's only snowsports music festival was held at the weekend.
Groove CairnGorm, which made its debut in 2016, has been set up along the lines of continental snowsports music festivals Snowbombing and Snowboxx.
It is held in partnership with CairnGorm Mountain ski centre and Badaguish Outdoor Centre near Aviemore.
This year's acts included DJ sets by Basement Jaxx and Mike Skinner, also performances by Blonde and The Lafontaines.
Photographer James Roberts captured some of the scenes from the weekend.

Summary: All pictures copyrighted.
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Article: Last year's event, the first at Strathallan in Perthshire, was criticised over traffic issues and antisocial behaviour.
DF Concerts said improvements include colour-coded zones, better signage and 24-hour dedicated management teams.
This year's event will take place between 8 July and 10 July.
The Stone Roses, Calvin Harris and Red Hot Chili Peppers will headline the main stage over the three nights.
Last year's T in the Park had a daily attendance of about 85,000 people with an estimated 70,000 of those camping.
DF Concerts has produced an animated video highlighting the new campsite layout.
T in the Park security manager Colin Brown, said: "We have overhauled the campsite layout and management and guarantee there will be well-informed stewards on hand to assist with any questions.
"The layout, clearly marked-out zones and improved signage will make getting about much easier, meaning our campers can concentrate on having a good time."
DF Concerts said the Slam and King Tut's tents would open exclusively for campers on Thursday 7 July.
Last week, the promoter announced that this year's festival arena will increase in size by a third.
It will publish revised transport plans for the event next week.
Campsite entertainment manager Gail MacKenzie said: "We know that the campsite is a huge part of the T in the Park experience and have listened to feedback from last year.
"As a result the entertainment will be enhanced and we're even opening the King Tut's Tent on the Thursday for the first time ever. "

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A man has been jailed for three years after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a boy aged between 11 and 13.
Summary: A man has been jailed for three years after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a boy aged between 11 and 13.
Summary: A man has been jailed for three years after he

A bell-ringer who "wheedled, connived, bullied and bribed" boys as young as eight has been jailed for 10 years for a string of sex offences.

Article: Minuscule sensors have been glued to the backs of 10,000 healthy honey bees around the world to help understand why huge numbers of bees are dying.
Like electronic tags that track the movement of cars through toll roads, these tiny trackers send information back to receivers half the size of a credit card that are strategically placed at bee hives.
Australian researchers involved in the global research project compare the sensor to an adult carrying a backpack, weighing about a third of what a honey bee can carry.
But unlike the average backpacker, this extra load will remain in place for the rest of the bee's life.
The microscopic technology has been developed in Tasmania by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) over the past two years as part of an international research project investigating bee health.
Around the world, wild bee populations have plummeted thanks to habitat loss, pesticides and diseases, say scientists.
That puts crops that need to be pollinated at risk, says CSIRO Science Leader Professor Paulo de Souza.
"In some parts of the world, a healthy hive of bees can be like clockwork one day, and then every single bee is dead the very next day, and we have no idea why," Prof. de Souza told the BBC.
"It's happening so frequently that it's now a syndrome called colony collapse disorder, and no scientist working alone would be able to solve this," he says.
A predatory mite called the Varroa destructor has killed many colonies over the past decade.
Australian honey bees have so far remained immune to the devastating mite, putting Australia in an ideal position to coordinate a global research effort, says the CSIRO team.
The tiny sensors they have developed weigh just 5.4 milligrams. They contain a battery that generates energy by vibration, and record a bee's time away from the hive and the distance each bee travels.
Each sensor will record a bee's exposure to pesticides, air pollution and water contamination, as well as taking note of the insect's diet and...

Summary: An international group of scientists, beekeepers, farmers and technology companies is using cutting-edge technology to help find out why honey bee populations around the world are crashing.
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Article: Liam Cann, 22, of Blind Lane, Goldhanger, Essex, contacted a number of boys while playing Xbox games online, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
He was convicted of 23 sex offences in October last year, having abused six boys from 2006 until 2014.
Judge John Dodd described the defendant as "clever and calculating".
The judge told the court that Cann, a bell-ringer at his local church, had bribed his victims "with Fifa game currency", which players can use to buy in-game features and build their teams of footballers.
Cann, who admitted one offence of possessing indecent images, was given an extended licence period of six years to remain in place after his release, and was placed on the sex offenders register for life.
His other offences included sexual grooming, attempted rape of a child under 13, and nine counts of sexual activity with a child.
A police investigation was started after one of the boys' mothers contacted the NSPCC.
One of his victims told the court he had been contacted by Cann "by messaging" and had later received a naked image of the 22-year-old.
"He gave me £20-£50 through the Xbox and I drew it on Liam's account. I knew he gave another boy £200."

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A dog which escaped from its owner's garden has been seized by police.
Article: A dog which escaped from its owner's garden has been seized by police.
Summary: A dog which escaped from its owner's garden has been seized by police.
Article: A dog which escaped from its owner's garden has

A sheriff has warned the owner of a dog which bit a postman delivering the mail that her pet will be destroyed if it bites someone again.

Article: World-Check Risk Screening contains details about people and organisations suspected of being involved in terrorism, organised crime and money laundering, among other offences.
Access is supposed to be restricted under European privacy laws.
The database's creator, Thomson Reuters, has confirmed an unnamed third-party exposed an "out of date" version online.
But it says the material has since been removed.
Security researcher Chris Vickery said he discovered the leak. He notified the Register, which reported that it contained more than two million records and was two years old.
"There was no protection at all. No username or password required to see the records," Mr Vickery told the BBC.
"I want to be clear that this unprotected database was not directly hosted by Thomson Reuters itself."
A spokesman for the financial data provider said it was trying to tackle the problem.
"We are grateful to Chris Vickery for bringing this to our attention, and immediately took steps to contact the third party responsible - as a result we can confirm that the third party has taken down the information. We have also spoken to the third party to ensure there will be no repetition of this unacceptable incident," David Crundwell said.
"World-Check aggregates financial crime data from the public domain, including official sanctions data, to help clients meet their regulatory responsibilities."
Other sources of information used to collate the database include :
Individuals' dates and places of birth are also listed, in order to help banks check they are looking into the right people.
"The worst possible situation that could arise is that someone who may be innocent, but accused of criminal activity in the database, could be permanently branded on a global scale if this database were to be spread publicly," said Mr Vickery.
A spokeswoman for the UK's Information Commissioner Officer said the Data Protection Act required personal information to be kept secure even if it had been collated from public sources.
"Organisations must take...

Summary: A financial crime database used by banks has been "leaked" on to the net.
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Article: Roslyn Condie, of Mossdale, near Castle Douglas, admitted being the owner of a dog which was dangerously out of control last September.
A court heard how her Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Nipper, bit the postman on the leg leaving a puncture wound.
Sentence was deferred on Condie for six months.
Dumfries Sheriff Court heard how the incident happened while the postman was delivering mail in the village of Mossdale.
Local residents gave him first aid and he later had medical treatment for the bite.
Fiscal depute Jennifer McGill said there was concern in the area over the dog which had on occasion escaped from the garden of its home.
A solicitor for Condie said she had had the dog since it was a puppy and it was very affectionate.
She now kept it muzzled when taken out and the garden fences had been made escape proof.
Sheriff Brian Mohan handed out the warning that a second bite would bring destruction and deferred sentence on Condie stressing that she should keep the dog under control with appropriate measures.

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A man has been jailed for life for the murder of a woman who was stabbed to death in a flat in Canvey, Essex.
Anthony Ayres, 49, of Fairlop Avenue in Canvey, denies murdering Kelly Pearce, 36, in the bathroom of a flat in Fairlop Avenue in Canvey

A prosecution witness in the trial of a man accused of the "frenzied" murder of a woman, has been accused of carrying out the killing himself.

Article: It had been assumed that life under the waves reflected life on land and that slow-growing species were most at risk.
The researchers found that overfishing was key, but making fisheries more responsive to environmental changes could help avoid future collapses.
The findings appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.
"On the land, slow growing animals are at most risk of decline and we used to think the same was true in the oceans," explained co-author Malin Pinsky from Rutgers University, US.
"But we studied more than 150 populations around the world and found that nearly the opposite was true."
Life on the edge
Dr Pinsky and colleagues found that over the past six decades, fast-growing species that were commercially fished were three times more likely to experience a population collapse than their slow-growing cousins.
He told BBC News that the team identified two main risk factors that made species particularly sensitive to overfishing.
"One is species that grow quickly and the other is species that are found in highly seasonal environments," he said.
"You can think of it like a finely tuned race car travelling at 200 miles per hour - one wrong move and you'd be off the track. Managing a fishery for a fast-growing species is a bit like that: you don't really have time to act when environmental conditions change."
In their paper, the researchers highlighted an example that illustrated their findings: "The collapse of the fast-growing California Current sardine (Sardinops sagax) provides a well-studied example of these interacting factors.
"The stock famously declined in the 1950s during a period of cooling temperatures that were tied to poor recruitment and a much delayed response from management to reduce harvest quotas."
Dr Pinsky said that the findings suggested that management measures needed to pay closer attention to seasonal changes in the environment.
"If you are fishing at a certain level and then the environmental conditions become poor and the fish population starts growing more...

Summary: A study of global fish populations has suggested fast-growth fish species are more vulnerable to population collapses than previously thought.
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Article: Kelly Pearce, 36, was found with fatal throat wounds in a flat belonging to witness Joseph Withers on Canvey Island, Essex, on 19 November.
Accused Anthony Ayres, 49, of Fairlop Avenue in Canvey, denies murdering her.
At Chelmsford Crown Court his defence claimed Mr Withers killed her and then blamed Mr Ayres who arrived later.
Ms Pearce had been stabbed 40 times in the face and neck and bludgeoned to death with a weapon "consistent" with a hammer in a "frenzied attack", the court heard.
More on this and other news from Essex
She sustained fatal neck wounds and skull and brain damage, and died later in hospital.
The court was told she had been attacked in the bathroom of a flat in Fairlop Avenue in Canvey, belonging to Mr Withers.
On the day of the killing, Mr Withers, who described himself in police interviews as a paranoid schizophrenic, said he was briefly locked out of his flat, while Ms Pearce and Mr Ayres were inside.
When he got back in he claimed to have seen Mr Ayres swinging a hammer.
"I saw him hitting her with the hammer or something. I just saw him hitting like that," he told the court.
Defence lawyer Oliver Saxby, QC, said: "It sounds like you weren't sure. Why did you say 'or something'?"
"That's best description I could give," Mr Withers replied.
He claimed he had then run from the flat to call the police.
However, Mr Saxby said: "I'm suggesting that either you lost it with her, or that there was somebody else in there who was responsible for what happened."
"It was Tony," Mr Withers replied.
He had said early in the cross-examination: "You're trying to say I attacked Kelly. I would never attack anybody. I'm scared of Kelly."
The trial continues.

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US President Donald Trump has said he will impose tariffs on $50bn of Chinese goods, in a move that could spark a trade war.
The US president said he would impose tariffs on $50bn of Chinese goods, in a move that could spark a trade war.
The move comes as the US and China

A wave of selling sweeping across bond markets resumed on Monday as investors continued to digest the impact of a Donald Trump presidency.

Article: "This is simply some kind of hysteria. You can't seem to stop. Do we need to give you a tablet?" he said in a debate at the St Petersburg Economic Forum.
A US journalist had asked him if Russia had reached a secret deal with Mr Trump to soften US sanctions on Russia.
Mr Putin again denied Russian meddling in the election that Mr Trump won.
The allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election were "harmful chatter" detrimental to international relations, security and the fight against terrorism, he said.
"This is an attempt to resolve domestic political issues by using foreign policy instruments," he said.
"It's easier to say 'we're not to blame - the Russians are to blame, they interfered in our election, and we're good'. This reminds me of anti-Semitism. The Jews are blamed for everything," he added.
The US intelligence agencies say the hacking of the US Democrats last year bore the hallmarks of Russian state security services.
President Trump's campaign aides are currently being investigated over possible collusion with the Russian government.
Mr Putin accused the West of carrying out "crude and systematic interference in Russian affairs for many years".
Russia: The scandal Trump can't shake
US Congress issues Russia probe subpoenas
Earlier, Mr Putin urged US business executives to help improve Russian-US relations, amid continuing Western sanctions.
He said those relations had hit "their lowest point since the Cold War".
"I want to pass the buck back to you - help us to restore a normal political dialogue," he said at the forum.
Besides the US allegations of Russian meddling, tensions have risen during the Ukraine and Syria conflicts.
Russia remains under US and EU sanctions because of its involvement in the Ukraine conflict and annexation of Crimea.
Western governments back Sunni Arab and Kurdish groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed militarily by Russia and Iran. But Islamic State (IS) jihadists are being targeted by both the West and Russia.
"I appeal to you and...

Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Americans must stop their "hysteria" about an alleged Russian deal with US President Donald Trump.
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Article: US and European bond prices have sunk in expectation that he will enact inflationary policies that speed the pace of interest rate rises.
On Monday, some bond yields - which rise as the price falls - hit their highest for more than six months.
Bonds globally lost $1.29tn (Â£1tn) last week, according to Bank of America.
And there is no sign that the bond sell-off is easing, depressing the value of some pension investments and making it more expensive for countries and companies to borrow money.
On Monday, the 30-year US Treasury jumped above 3% for the first time since January. In the UK, the 10-year gilt yields returned to levels not seen since June's Brexit referendum vote. And German 30-year bunds rose above 1% for the first time since early May.
Italian bonds have been among the most affected. Rome's 10-year yields rose four basis points to 2.01% on Monday, their highest in 14 months.
"It is a continuation of this recent trend. There are still these expectations that inflation could go up if the US takes a more expansionary fiscal stance," said DZ Bank strategist Daniel Lenz said.
Jim Cielinski, head of fixed income at Columbia Threadneedle, said the sell-off trend was not surprising, but the "ferocity of the reversal" was.
And in a research note for Societe Generale, analyst Daniel Fermon said that rising interest rates may not be a good thing.
"As central banks are now less active in the bond market and Trump expects to cut taxes and launch a $1tn infrastructure investment plan, increasing the deficit, we believe rising US long-term rates remain a major risk for financial markets," he said.
Investors had piled into bonds, seeking a safe - but low - rate of return during what has been years of sluggish growth in the US, Europe and Japan.
But since inflation and interest rates are seen as likely to rise, investors are seeking assets with a more attractive return. With a Trump administration promising economic stimulus through spending and tax cuts, investors are worried about putting money into low...

Summary:


A man who threw a nine-week-old puppy out of a window has been jailed.
Article: The union Unite organised the rally at the firm's headquarters in Derbyshire.
The union has called for an end to "Victorian working practices" and demanded staff get a living wage of Â

A Dickensian-style protest has been held to oppose Sports Direct's use of zero-hour contracts at the company's annual general meeting.

Article: Wayne Keightley, 42, of Rutland Street, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, had already been convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Leicester magistrates sentenced him to 10 weeks prison and banned him from keeping a pet for three years.
The RSPCA, which brought the case, said Gypsy was left "terrified and in pain" but was now recovering well.
Keightley claimed the female Staffordshire bull terrier fell as he tried to escape a gang who had broken into the flat.
He said he threw a vase through the second floor window before jumping himself and breaking his ankle.
His trial earlier this month heard he told paramedics at the scene he had been drinking and had taken drugs.
The defence insisted Keightley had been a "dog lover all his life".
District Judge Tim Daber said: "Thankfully the injuries seem to be superficial, but it was the result of quite an horrific act, for whatever reason that act was committed."
Keightley was jailed for a further four weeks after activating a suspended sentence for knife possession.

Summary: A man who committed a "horrific act" in throwing a nine-week-old puppy out of a upstairs window has been jailed.
###
Article: The union Unite organised the rally at the firm's headquarters in Derbyshire.
The union has called for an end to "Victorian working practices" and demanded staff get a living wage of Â£7.85 an hour.
Sports Direct said casual workers receive holiday and sick pay, and are included in incentive schemes.
The protest at the company headquarters was one of about 40 being held on Wednesday, with Sports Direct shops across the country also being targeted.
A Sports Direct spokeswoman said: "Much of the comment around the group's use of zero hours has been unfounded and inaccurate.
"The group complies fully with all legal requirements which relate to casual workers, including holiday and sick pay and freedom to gain other employment.
"Casual workers also benefit from general incentive schemes."
Unite said an estimated 3,000 workers are on zero-hour contracts at Sports Direct's Shirebrook headquarters.
A further 75% of staff across its UK stores are also on zero-hour contracts, with Sports Direct accounting for a fifth of all such contracts in the retail sector, according to Unite.
One institutional investor, Royal London Asset Management, earlier called for the resignation of Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley citing anger on his failure to attend four board meetings.
Ashley Hamilton Claxton from Royal London Asset Management, said: "We have lost confidence in the board and are very concerned about the long list of corporate governance failings that have not been addressed."
But both Mr Ashley and Sports Direct chairman Keith Hellawell were re-elected to the board at the meeting.
Unite representative Cheryl Pidgeon said: "We want an end to zero-hour contracts - because young people cannot stand 'forever and a day' to be on zero-hour contracts.
"We think Sports Direct makes enough money to ensure that their workers have to dignity, respect and fair wages."

Summary:


The number of people living with HIV in the UK has fallen by more than half since the start of the Millennium, new figures show.
The number of people living with HIV in the UK has fallen by more than half since the start of the Millennium, new figures show.
The number of people living with HIV in

Nearly 60% of all syphilis cases reported in England were in London, it has been revealed.

Article: The "consultation" vote called by Artur Mas was suspended by the Constitutional Court last month after a challenge by the central government.
However, Mr Mas said he could use a different legal framework to proceed.
Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy had earlier welcomed reports that the vote was being called off.
The government has portrayed the vote as an actual referendum and argues that it cannot be held without the consent of the Spanish state.
Economic and cultural grievances have fuelled Catalan nationalism.
The wealthy region of 7.5 million people contributes more to the Spanish economy than it gets back through central government funds.
Like other Spanish regions, it enjoys a degree of autonomy but campaigners accuse Madrid of recently seeking to undermine Catalan in favour of Spanish as the main language of instruction in schools.
On Monday evening, the Catalan regional government reportedly announced to a meeting of pro-consultation parties that the vote was off.
But on a morning of high drama at government house in Barcelona, Mr Mas went before reporters to say the vote would still be held, with the same two questions about independence within Spain and full independence.
"The vote on 9 November can be considered the preparatory vote before the definitive one," he explained.
The "definitive" vote, he explained, would be a new election in Catalonia.
The vote will be run by volunteers and will have no formal electoral roll, leading one local analyst, Josep Ramoneda, to remark that it looked "a bit pathetic", according to AFP news agency.
Outlining the preparations for the 9 November vote, Mr Mas said: "There will be ballots and ballot boxes. We can't apply the decree [to hold a referendum] but it will be possible to vote."
"Do you want Catalonia to be a state?
"If so, do you want Catalonia to be an independent state?"
Catalonia's quarrel with Spain
Catalan municipal buildings will be used for the vote, so Spanish government support will not be required, he said.
"The Catalan government has jurisdiction over...

Summary: The head of Spain's Catalonia's region has said a non-binding vote on independence will go ahead on 9 November, in defiance of Madrid.
###
Article: Almost 3,000 cases were diagnosed in the capital out of a total of 5,042 in the country in 2015, figures from Public Health England (PHE) show.
Since 2010 the number of cases among Londoners has risen by 163%, with 90% of those reported in 2015 among men who have sex with men.
PHE said people were "putting themselves at risk through unsafe sex".
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that initially causes highly infectious sores but can go on to cause serious conditions such as heart problems.
In most circumstances it can be treated with antibiotics but in extreme cases, the sexually transmitted infection can prove fatal.
2,811
cases in the capital in 2015
2,406 cases recorded among men who have sex with men (MSM)
36 median age of MSM diagnosed
74% of MSM diagnosed were white
44% of MSM diagnosed were born in the UK
There are about 54.7m people living in England, 8.7m of which live in London according to the Office of National Statistics.
In 2015, syphilis was diagnosed in all London local authorities with the highest numbers in Lambeth, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Westminster.
The number of cases among heterosexual men and women has risen slightly but there was a much larger increase among men who have sex with men.
The group, which represents about 2% of the total London population, accounted for 2,406 of 2,811 cases in the capital.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, regional director for PHE London, said it was "worrying to see such alarming rises in syphilis year on year".
She said: "We are seeing large increases in cases of syphilis among men who have sex with men and they now represent 90% of syphilis cases in London.
"Although diagnoses among heterosexuals in the capital are more stable they too continue to be higher than we would like given the effective preventative measures in place."
She called on people to practise safe sex, "including using condoms, regularly being tested and avoiding overlapping sexual relationships".

Summary:


The Ukrainian government has introduced a number of urgent measures to head off an outbreak of swine flu in the country, such as temporarily closing schools and banning some public gatherings.
Article: The Ukrainian government has introduced a number of urgent measures to head off an outbreak of swine flu in the country, such as temporarily closing

An Essex town buoyed by the popularity of a reality television show needs to plan for when the "bubble bursts", businesses have been told.

Article: The Kiev city government has introduced a compulsory "mask regime" for its workers.
So far, the virus has killed 60 people, and is approaching, or has reached, epidemic levels in parts of the country - including the eastern Donetsk region, where fighting continues against Russian-backed insurgents.
Still, health authorities insist there is no reason for undue concern - an outbreak of swine flu was anticipated for this winter. The measures are primarily "prophylactic," they say, in order to prevent the disease from growing into uncontrollable levels.
"There is no reason for panic," Alexander Kvitashvili, the country's health minister, said on Tuesday. "Ukraine is in the same situation as its neighbours in Central and Eastern Europe."
Still, the disease seems to have caught Ukrainian officials flat-footed. And the number of fatalities, which has surged in the last week, is a cause for worry.
"From the point of view of doctors, the situation is serious," said Dr Fyodor Lapiy, Kiev's chief immunologist. "The number of cases of sickness are growing, and very many young people have fallen ill."
According to Dr Lapiy, one of the main reasons for the increase is the lack of a "culture of vaccination" among both doctors and the general population.
The number of physicians recommending to their patients to be immunized is extremely low, and the percentage of those who have actually received their flu shots is "practically non-existent," he says.
Another factor contributing to the seriousness of the outbreak is that many people do not seek treatment until the flu has progressed to an acute - and difficult to treat - stage.
"I encourage all people who suspect they have the flu, whether it is actually the flu or not, to go immediately to your physician," said Health Minister Kvitashvili.
Also, needed equipment, such as respiratory devices or surgical masks, are in short supply - or are misused.
However, this instance of swine flu also points to deeper and more chronic problems within Ukraine's health system. Seemingly,...

Summary: Ukrainian officials have introduced a number of urgent measures to head off an outbreak of swine flu in the country, such as temporarily closing schools and banning some public gatherings.
###
Article: ITV's The Only Way is Essex (Towie) has been "largely positive" for Brentwood, where it is set, but "everything has a shelf-life", the council leader said.
Lisa Bone, of Visit Essex, added: "If its bubble bursts we could be left with stereotypes, not economic benefits".
A meeting is being held on Tuesday to discuss the town's "sustainability".
The show Towie, now in its 11th series, features ordinary people appearing in modified situations based on their actual lives.
Many run their own businesses in Brentwood, including shops, salons and nightclubs, which feature in the programme.
"Towie won't always be around and while it brings in a lot of tourism it has also given the town a certain stereotype, perception and image," Ms Bone said.
"Brentwood is full of beautiful historic buildings and family-friendly parks and we need to ensure we emphasise those, making the town attractive to everyone and ensuring its sustainability."
Borough council leader Louise McKinlay, said: "The popularity of the show has been very good for the town centre, retailers and the tourism trade, bringing so many people in to the area.
"Whether we like it or not, Towie has put Brentwood on the map. Yes, there's a lot about tans and nails in Towie, but there's also a great entrepreneurial spirit and that's evident everywhere in the town.
"I'd like to say that the only thing that's orange in Brentwood is our recycling bags."
Businesses in the town are being asked to consider Brentwood's "unique selling point and future branding" at Tuesday's meeting hosted by the council and Visit Essex.

Summary:


A new report has found that the number of people killed or seriously injured on the M4 in Wales has fallen by more than a third in the last decade.
The report, by the Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership, shows that the number of people killed or seriously injured on the M4 in Wales has fallen by

More than 500 speeding drivers have been caught by new cameras on the M4 in just five days.

Article: 'GcMAF' is an injectable product made from blood which was offered for sale at a health food shop in Bournemouth.
Cancer Research UK say the evidence for GcMAF is "scientifically extremely dubious".
The BBC has handed a file to the medicines regulator, the MHRA, which is now investigating.
In the UK it is illegal to sell an unlicensed medicine.
5 live Investigates received a tip-off that the unlicensed product was available from a man called Nick Greenwood, who works at Earth Foods, a health food shop in Bournemouth.
An undercover reporter posed as a customer seeking GcMAF for a relative with cancer, and was told: "It is one of the best ways to try and tackle it".
She was offered a month's supply for Â£600 and told the product would need to be taken for six to 12 months.
Patients are told to self-inject 0.5ml of GcMAF every four days, and spray the product under the tongue twice daily.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told the BBC that GcMAF is "an injectable blood product, the source of which we have no knowledge. We take this issue very seriously".
Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK and a professor of medical oncology, warned there was no credible evidence to support the claims made for GcMAF.
He said: "The papers that have been published about GcMAF are scientifically extremely dubious and several of them have been retracted after publication because of doubts about the evidence that they presented.
"If it was me, I wouldn't take it," he added.
At the small high street shop in Bournemouth, surrounded by shelves stacked with herbs and homeopathic remedies, Mr Greenwood told the BBC reporter about five cancer patients who had taken GcMAF, and none had reported side effects.
He said that two of them, who had late-stage cancer, had died.
He implied that they had not taken enough of the product, saying in his opinion: "You need to spend more".
Mr Greenwood took a medical history from the reporter and said it would be passed on to the shop's supplier - a British...

Summary: An undercover investigation by 5 live Investigates has found an unlicensed blood product being sold illegally in the UK to treat cancer.
###
Article: Four average 50mph enforcement cameras were installed in October on a two-mile stretch at Port Talbot and they went live on Monday.
But around 125-a-day have been caught in less than a week.
The cameras are the first to go into operation on a Welsh section of the M4, and during a pilot before Christmas around 700 drivers a day were caught.
However, Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership GoSafe welcomed the reduction in drivers caught compared with the trial period.
Partnership manager Chris Hume said: "There is a clear indication that there has been a decrease in the numbers of people exceeding the limit.
"Excessive and inappropriate speed remains a factor in collisions and associated fatalities and serious injuries on our roads in Wales.
"Our main priority is to continue to educate motorists about the effect of inappropriate speed with enforcement being the last resort after engineering solutions are considered."

Summary:


The UK's intelligence agency GCHQ has set up an official account on Twitter.
Article: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) gave £20,000 towards the Lap of Wales Challenge.
But the Wales Audit Office found the board breached its own rules and regulations in handling the funding

Auditors have questioned the way a health board handled funding awarded to a celebrity-led charity event.

Article: It said it had taken the step as part of an ongoing strategy to be more accessible and open about the work it does for the UK.
The first tweet that it sent from the @GCHQ account was just two words: "Hello, world."
It said it would be sending messages about its history as well as languages, maths, the outcomes of missions and technology.
In a statement, GCHQ media head Andrew Pike said the agency would not share intelligence updates or give away the "tradecraft" it employs. Instead, he said, it would be a way for GCHQ to get involved in debates on technology and cyberspace which was key for a "technical organisation with computing at its core".
This technical focus also drove GCHQ's choice of its maiden message, said Mr Pike. The short phrase is often the first that people learning to code get displayed on screen as they wrestle with a programming language.
One of the first accounts @GCHQ followed was @007 - the official account for fictional spy James Bond.
Many people on Twitter said it was ironic that they were now following GCHQ, given the agency's widely reported work on large-scale surveillance.
The Twitter account follows other moves by GCHQ to engage with the technical world. It also maintains a repository on the Github code-sharing site through which it has shared one of its internal tools called Gaffer. The tool helps with the analysis of large-scale graphs.

Summary: The UK's intelligence agency GCHQ has set up an official account on Twitter.
###
Article: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) gave £20,000 towards the Lap of Wales Challenge.
But the Wales Audit Office found the board breached its own rules and regulations in handling the funding.
Board officials said they would learn from the experience after auditors highlighted a lack of transparency and poorly-managed conflicts of interest.
Auditors also found the health board failed to follow procurement rules when appointing suppliers for the event.
The Lap of Wales Challenge was organised by Cerddwn Ymlaen under the leadership of its national organiser Eryl Vaughan and was fronted by the Welsh opera singer Rhys Meirion.
The event cost more than £150,000 to arrange and the surplus was £1,368.
The challenge saw a number of Welsh celebrities undertaking a week-long journey through Wales in July 2015 to raise awareness of the Welsh Government's changes to the organ donation law.
It was arranged in aid of Cronfa Elen. The fund was set up by Mr Meirion in memory of his sister who died in 2012, and was incorporated within BCUHB's own official charity, Awyr Las/Blue Sky in 2014.
The health board awarded £20,000 towards the event, with another £20,000 coming from Cardiff and Vale Health Board and £45,000 from the Welsh Government.
The report found £10,000 of BCUHB's contribution was awarded as a loan, but the paperwork was not processed by the health board's financial team.
Despite that, the funds were transferred.
Cerddwn Ymlaen said it was not aware it received a loan rather than a grant and would not have agreed to it, had it known.
To ensure the Lap of Wales project was not in deficit, Cerddwn Ymlaen undertook additional fundraising to meet the £154,054 cost of completing the challenge.
Concerns were also raised about a breach of the health board's financial regulations in relation to the challenge.
A spokesperson for BCUHB said: "The health board was very keen to learn from this experience which is why it asked the Wales Audit Office to carry out this review, as we recognise that to achieve the...

Summary:


The deal is a "step in the right direction"
The deal is a "step in the right direction"
The deal is a "step in the right direction"
The deal is a "step in the right direction"
The deal is a "step in the right direction"
The deal is a

London Underground train drivers with the Aslef union have voted to accept a pay deal for a new all-night Tube service.

Article: European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the "future of Ukraine belongs with the EU" while US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US backed Ukraine's "fight for democracy".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western countries of double standards over violent protests.
Ukraine has been in turmoil since November, when it scrapped an EU accord in favour of a Russian bailout.
The security conference is an annual event held to discuss military and political affairs.
Mr Van Rompuy's opening speech referred to the EU's offer of close association with Ukraine.
"The offer is still there and we know time is on our side. The future of Ukraine belongs with the European Union," he said.
Mr Kerry launched a broad attack on "a disturbing trend in too many parts of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans".
He said: "The aspirations of citizens are once again being trampled beneath corrupt, oligarchic interests - interests that use money to stifle political opposition and dissent, to buy politicians and media outlets, and to weaken judicial independence."
By Lyse DoucetChief international correspondent
Tug of war over Ukraine
Mr Kerry added: "Nowhere is the fight for a democratic, European future more important today than in Ukraine. The United States and EU stand with the people of Ukraine in that fight."
He said the "vast majority of Ukrainians want to live freely in a safe and prosperous country - they are fighting for the right to associate with partners who will help them realise their aspirations".
In an apparent swipe at Moscow, he added that "their futures do not have to lie with one country alone, and certainly not coerced".
Mr Lavrov said that a "choice is being imposed [on Ukraine] and Russia is not going to be engaged in this".
He asked: "What does incitement of violent street protests have to do with the promotion of democracy? Why do we not hear condemnation of those who seize government buildings and attack police and use racist, anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans?"
Mr Lavrov said: "Why...

Summary: Ukraine's future has sparked angry exchanges at a summit in Munich.
###
Article: Drivers from the Rail, Maritime and Transport union have unanimously backed the deal.
Aslef officer Finn Brennan said the new agreement offered "real improvements in conditions".
Maintenance workers represented by the TSSA and RMT have rejected the proposal, as have Unite members.
Aslef said its members voted by almost nine to one to accept the deal, clearing another hurdle in plans for a Night Tube.
The service was due to start on some lines at weekends last September but has been delayed because of failure to reach agreement with the unions over pay and conditions.
Aslef officer Finn Brennan said union members' "strength and solidarity have achieved an above-inflation pay rise and real improvements in conditions that will give drivers, and other grades, much more flexibility and control over their work-life balance".
Steve Griffiths, London Underground's chief operating officer, said: "I'm pleased that Aslef members have voted to accept our offer.
"This is a fair and affordable pay deal."
Mr Griffiths added LU wanted to "deliver the night Tube for London as quickly as possible".

Summary:


A new report has found that the UK's nuclear industry is facing a "crisis" in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
The report, by the Committee on Climate Change, says that the UK's nuclear industry is "at risk of collapse" unless it is given more support.
The report says that the

The family of a six-year-old girl suffering from leukaemia are celebrating pioneering treatment which they say has "saved her life".

Article: The Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) achieved criticality, a nuclear term referring to the balance of neutrons in the system, in 1958.
The site at Dounreay, near Thurso, was built using 600 tonnes of steel. It was shut down in 1969.
Large parts of the DMTR site have already been demolished as part of wider work to decommission the Dounreay nuclear power site.
The control room desk and panels for the reactor were moved to Caithness Horizons, a museum in Thurso, in 2015.
A contractor has been sought for the work of demolishing the reactor.
Notice of the contract has been released on 60 years since the first criticality was achieved in Scotland.
A system known as a rig and named the Zero Energy Thermal reactor installed at Dounreay in 1956 went critical for the first time on 13 August 1957.
This was the first artificially made criticality in Scotland.
Bill Lambie, DMTR project manager, said: "This month we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first criticality in Scotland, which took place in a temporary test rig.
"That was an immense achievement, and we are now poised to demolish its successor and the oldest reactor on site, DMTR.
"The removal of DMTR from the skyline will be a significant step for Dounreay, and will be a real and visible sign of the decommissioning progress being made."

Summary: Scotland's first operational nuclear reactor is to be demolished.
###
Article: Erin Cross, from Chester, received gene editing therapy in the USA after a Â£100,000 appeal raised the cash.
Doctors have told her parents she is now in remission after the therapy which took place in August.
Her mother Sarah Cross said: "It means she is now able to have a bone marrow transplant in Manchester."
She added: "I'm so glad I pushed for her to get on the trial here at Seattle, if I hadn't she wouldn't be here today."
Erin was treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia using CAR (Chimaeric Antigen Receptor) T-Cell therapy which re-engineers the cells in the lab to attack and kill cancer cells when injected back into the patient's body.
"We got a call from the hospital who told us the cancer cells have gone - we couldn't believe it as she has never come back clear from any treatment before," said Ms Cross.
"She is running round now like any six year old," she added.
Erin is due to return to the UK within the next month for a transplant at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital where a donor has already been found.

Summary:


The former Top Gear host has been left with a broken leg after a crash in a Rimac Concept One electric super car.
Article: Hammond has been left with a broken leg after a crash in a Rimac Concept One electric super car.
The former Top Gear presenter has been left with a broken leg after a

The Grand Tour presenter Richard Hammond is vowing to be "back in action soon" following surgery on his knee after a car crash in Switzerland.

Article: The 59-year-old, who missed out on the England job in 2012, was approached by the RFU after the World Cup in 2015.
No European side made the semi-finals of the World Cup, with New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina reaching the last four.
"I think it is a mindset thing," said South African Mallett.
"Teams will have learned after the World Cup that in order to win major events, you have to be very effective in attack," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
Why do Six Nations teams lag behind?
"In the final game of the Six Nations last year, when teams were forced to score points to win the competition, we saw three absolutely brilliant games [featuring 27 tries], which weren't replicated in the World Cup by any of the northern hemisphere teams."
"Four years away from a World Cup, [you need] to develop a game plan to match New Zealand, Australia or Argentina going into 2019," he said.
Mallett, a former Springbok international, coached South Africa to a record-breaking run of victories in 1998, and was in charge of Italy from 2007 to 2011.
Media playback is not supported on this device
He is working as a rugby statistical analyst with Accenture during the Six Nations, and the numbers from last season's championship are revealing. In the Wales against Ireland match in Cardiff, Ireland carried a substantial 415 metres, but only scored 16 points. This is a problem that needs addressing, according to Mallett.
"You have to create try-scoring opportunities, which northern hemisphere teams haven't done," he said.
"Ireland against Wales in the Six Nations last year, I remember clearly a period when Ireland hammered away around the fringes with their wide players completely and utterly unmarked. You would never see New Zealand making that mistake."
However, Mallett does feel northern hemisphere sides have the potential to match their southern counterparts.
"Weather really makes a massive difference to how you play the game, but if you go in with a positive intent - as all the teams did on the final weekend of the Six...

Summary: Six Nations sides must change their approach if they are to compete with the best in the world, says ex-Italy and South Africa coach Nick Mallett.
###
Article: The 47-year-old was on a practice run for a race in an electric car for the Amazon Prime show when the vehicle burst into flames.
Hammond injured his knee and leg and in a blog entry says he had "two sleepless nights and several hours' surgery".
The ex-Top Gear host posted photos of himself on crutches and his stitches.
Another image shows his X-rays and the metal pins he has had inserted in his knee.
The presenter had sustained a fracture to the knee, a spokesperson for The Grand Tour said.
Writing on the Drive Tribe website, Hammond says: "I'm pleased to announce that after two sleepless nights and several hours' surgery, my Swiss Army Knee is finished and works.
"It bends in the middle and whilst a problem at airport security, is at least rustproof.
"Back in action soon."
The incident on 10 June, which took place as Hammond completed a hill climb in the Hemberg area, was described as a "serious crash" by The Grand Tour.
He had been driving a "Rimac Concept One", an electric super car built in Croatia, during filming for the show's second season.
A photograph shows the burned out car overturned in a field.
The Grand Tour said Hammond had "climbed out of the car himself before the vehicle burst into flames".
It added: "The cause of the crash is unknown and is being investigated."
The crash came 11 years after the presenter suffered life-threatening head injuries in a high-speed crash as he filmed for BBC's Top Gear.
He was in a coma for two weeks after losing control of a Vampire dragster at Elvington Airfield, near York.
The presenter suffered brain injuries and was in a coma for two weeks but made a full recovery.

Summary:


(Close): Wall Street markets rose on Friday, extending the previous day's rally and bringing the S&P 500 into positive territory for the year.

Article: Uber said the launch would take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It added that it was teaming up with Volvo.
At first, the vehicles will be supervised by a driver, who can take control if necessary, and an observer, Bloomberg reported.
The firm first revealed plans to replace human drivers two years ago.
More than one million people drive vehicles linked to its app, but are not directly employed by the company.
A spokeswoman for the firm told the BBC: "Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones, crossing an important milestone that no automotive or technology company has yet achieved.
"In Pittsburgh, customers will request cars the normal way, via Uber's app, and will be paired with a driverless car at random. Trips will be free for the time being, rather than the standard local rate of $1.30 [Â£0.98] per mile."
She added that Volvo had already sent a small number of sensor-equipped XC90 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to Uber, which would be used in the initial trials. The carmaker intends to have delivered 100 such cars to its partner by the end of the year.
Uber had previously used modified Ford Fusions to test its self-driving tech.
Volvo has confirmed it is taking part in a "joint project" between Uber and the carmaker.
"Both Uber and Volvo will use the same base vehicle for the next stage of their own autonomous car strategies," the firm said.
"This will involve Uber adding its own self-developed autonomous driving systems to the Volvo base vehicle."
Engineers from both companies would collaborate on the project, the firm added.
"This alliance places Volvo at the heart of the current technological revolution in the automotive industry," said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo.
The Bloomberg story notes that the Volvo deal will not be an exclusive one and that Uber plans to work with other carmakers.
Uber's hard-charging founder Travis Kalanick has been outlining a vision of a self-driving fleet for some...

Summary: The ride-sharing firm Uber will, for the first time, allow users to hail self-driving cars within a fortnight, the company has confirmed.
###
Article: The S&P 500 climbed 8.7 points to 2,049.29, as it ended the day above where it had closed at the end of 2015.
The Dow Jones was up 117.59 points to 17,599.08, having itself moved into positive territory for the year on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the tech-based Nasdaq rose by 20.66 points to 4,795.65.
Investors remained positive after Wednesday's Fed decision to maintain interest rates between 0.25% and 0.50%.
The Fed also signalled that there would be fewer 2016 rate rises than previously expected.
The news helped raise banking stocks. Goldman Sachs shares climbed 3.1%, while JP Morgan gained 2.9%.
Microsoft was one of the Nasdaq's main movers, losing 2.4%.

Summary:


The BBC has been told that the US government is considering a request from the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch to interview two Libyans who were named as possible suspects in the Lockerbie bombing.
The BBC understands that the two men are Mohammed Abouajela Masud and Abdullah al-Senussi.

The Pirate Bay website has been relaunched.

Article: They believe the two suspects acted along with Abdelbaset al-Megrahi - the only person to have been convicted of the atrocity.
The BBC understands the pair are Mohammed Abouajela Masud and Abdullah al-Senussi.
A total of 270 people died when the Pan Am 103 flight was blown up on the evening of 21 December 1988.
The flight was on its way from London to New York when it exploded above Lockerbie, in southern Scotland, killing everyone on board and 11 people on the ground.
Senussi was the brother-in-law and intelligence chief of former Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi. He is currently awaiting execution in a Libyan jail.
Masud is reported to be serving a prison sentence in Libya for bomb making.
Both men were named as possible suspects in the bombing by an American TV documentary last month.
Scotland's Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC recently met the US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, in Washington to review progress made in the ongoing investigation.
They have now requested permission from the Libyan authorities for Scottish police and the FBI to interview the two new suspects in Tripoli.
A Crown Office spokesman said: "The Lord Advocate and the US Attorney General have recently agreed that there is a proper basis in law in Scotland and the United States to entitle Scottish and US investigators to treat two Libyans as suspects in the continuing investigation into the bombing of flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.
"The Lord Advocate has today, therefore, issued an International Letter of Request to the Libyan attorney general in Tripoli which identifies the two Libyans as suspects in the bombing of flight Pan Am 103.
"The Lord Advocate and the US Attorney General are seeking the assistance of the Libyan judicial authorities for Scottish police officers and the FBI to interview the two named suspects in Tripoli.
"The two individuals are suspected of involvement, along with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, in the bombing of flight Pan Am 103 in December 1988 and the murder of 270 people."
The Libyan attorney...

Summary: Scottish prosecutors want to interview two Libyans they have identified as new suspects over the Lockerbie bombing.
###
Article: A counter at thepiratebay.se showed a countdown to 1 February, but it appears to have come back online a day early.
The website, which provides links to pirated content, was taken offline following a raid in Sweden in December.
Police officers seized servers in Stockholm after a complaint was filed by a group called the Rights Alliance, which targets internet crime.
The police operation took place in an area in Nacka, south-east of Stockholm, with the area's cold weather used as a natural cooling system for computer servers.
The site was taken down in 2006 after another raid by police but reappeared online three days later.
The Pirate Bay is one of the internet's most-visited websites, and the film, music and software industries blame it for losses running into billions of pounds.
Internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK were ordered by the High Court to block access to the site in 2012.
In October Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Warg was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for hacking into computers and illegally downloading files.
Another co-founder, 35-year-old Peter Sunde, was arrested in Sweden last year after two years on the run and was sentenced to eight months in prison for violating copyright laws.
Meanwhile a third co-founder, Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij (known to hackers as TiAMO), was arrested while trying to cross into Thailand from Laos in November.
A message from "Winston" on the newly-relaunched site reads: "So, first we ditched the trackers. We even got rid of the torrents. Then we left the servers to enter the clouds.
"Now, we're about to take the biggest step in our history."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Summary:


The CQC has rated the Penberthy home in Newquay as inadequate.
Article: The CQC previously rated the Penberthy home in Newquay as inadequate.
New reports highlight problems at three other homes run by Cornwall Care: Headlands in Carbis Bay, Trevern in Fal

"Action is needed" at homes for the elderly run by Cornwall Care, after the company took its "eye off the ball", the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

Article: It analysed 40 years of observations of six big ice streams draining into the Amundsen Bay and concluded that nothing now can stop them melting away.
Although these are abrupt changes, the timescales involved are likely measured in centuries, the researchers add.
If the glaciers really do disappear, they would add roughly 1.2m to global sea level rise.
The new study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, but Nasa held a teleconference on Monday to brief reporters on the findings.
Prof Eric Rignot said warm ocean water was relentlessly eating away at the glaciers' fronts and that the geometry of the sea bed in the area meant that this erosion had now entered a runaway process.
By David ShukmanScience editor, BBC News
West Antarctica is one of the least accessible parts of the planet and it takes a huge effort to research the changes under way there. Nearly a decade ago, I joined a flight on an old US Navy patrol plane that made a gruelling 11-hour round trip from the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas to Pine Island Glacier, which lies among the glaciers featured in these latest studies.
There was no possibility of landing and, if the worst were to happen, there was no-one close enough to offer any kind of rescue.  This is research at its most daring. On board was a team from Nasa whose instruments were measuring the elevation and thickness of the ice below us. Even at this stage, it was clear that the glacier, far larger than anything you might see in Europe or North America, was speeding up.
Now the scientists have the benefit of repeated flights, copious satellite images and data from field trips. There is still a lot they do not understand about the pace of change and therefore the speed with which the melt will contribute to sea level rise. But the more detailed the research, the sharper the picture of rapid change.
"We present observational evidence that a large section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has gone into a state of...

Summary: Key glaciers in West Antarctica are in an irreversible retreat, a study team led by the US space agency (Nasa) says.
###
Article: The CQC previously rated the Penberthy home in Newquay as inadequate.
New reports highlight problems at three other homes run by Cornwall Care: Headlands in Carbis Bay, Trevern in Falmouth and Blackwood in Camborne.
Cornwall Care said it was rare for an inspection not to point out areas for improvement.
The CQC said Headlands was "unsafe" and overall "was not caring".
At Trevern "one person had not been able to have a bath or shower for eleven months due to the home not obtaining the appropriate bathing equipment to meet the person's needs," the report stated.
Action was also needed to address the "care and welfare of people who use services" and the "safety and suitability of premises," it was claimed.
The report on Blackwood said "people did not always have access to meaningful activities" and action was needed regarding the "safety and suitability of premises".
Due to changes in CQC reporting procedures the reports did not give an overall rating as it has done for Penberthy.
Adrian Hughes, the commission's deputy chief inspector of adult social care, said there had been "slippage" in services provided by Cornwall Care.
He said: "They have taken their eye off the ball in some aspects of that care."
A spokesman for Cornwall Care said: "We have worked closely with CQC and commissioners for many years and it is rare that an inspection of any care service does not point out areas for improvement.
"We welcome that feedback and always act quickly to make sure we are offering the best possible service to our clients."

Summary:


The government has announced plans to give people with rare diseases a voice.
Article: The government has announced plans to give people with rare diseases a voice.
The government has announced plans to give people with rare diseases a voice.
The Rare Disease Partnership will be a new independent organisation, created with the Patient Client Council

A new organisation has been set up in Northern Ireland to support people who suffer from rare diseases.

Article: From April 2017, a new levy on company payrolls will help to double government spending on apprentices, say ministers.
Under the scheme, businesses will be able to use vouchers from the levy to pay for apprenticeships.
Labour says the revisions are a U-turn by ministers, after a "huge outcry" and a "sustained campaign".
From next April, firms will pay into the apprenticeship levy, a new tax based on the number of people on their payroll in England.
And from May they will be able to draw down vouchers from the levy to fund apprenticeships.
The government says the aim of the £2.5bn apprenticeships plan is to boost the number of people of all ages able to gain high-quality skills and experience, and to improve the overall skills of the workforce.
Skills Minister Robert Halfon said the latest changes would "boost our economic productivity, increase our skills base and give millions a leg up on the ladder of opportunity".
Business critics of the scheme had originally feared it would be inflexible, while colleges said that amendments announced during the summer recess would have seen cuts of up to 50% for apprenticeships for the poorest teenagers.
Businesses were also concerned that a demand that they spend their vouchers within 18 months did not fit with their existing recruitment and training cycles.
The latest changes include:
The detailed plans gained support from TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady, who said the levy would give apprenticeship funding "a welcome boost".
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said it was clear the government had listened but warned that these "big shifts in the apprenticeship programme... will need sensitive and watchful handling".
Labour's shadow minister for apprenticeships said the government "have had to make a major U-turn to their original proposals".
"It is a credit to the new minister that he recognised that this needs to be done to preserve any credibility for the government's social mobility position," said Gordon Marsden.
"We need to see the...

Summary: Updated government plans for apprenticeship funding in England have been welcomed by critics who feared they would exclude the poor.
###
Article: The Northern Ireland Rare Disease Partnership aims to give sufferers and their carers an independent voice.
The group, created with the Patient Client Council, aims to improve treatment and care for those affected by rare diseases.
Jane Stewart is one woman who hopes that the new partnership will help families like hers.
She suffers from Spondylo Ephysial Dysplasia (SED) - a genetic condition which her young son, Saul, has inherited. It is a form of restricted growth or dwarfism.
"I wouldn't change myself or my son or children like him for the world. But I would change the world for them," she said.
"I feel a partnership for rare disease is going to be extremely useful for families like ours living with a rare condition.
"In the information that I have about the rare disease partnership, the focus is on education, provision of special services and support."
Richard Dickson from the Patient Client Council said: "This partnership aims to be a voice for those people scattered across Northern Ireland affected by rare disease with no other means to speak up for themselves."
The partnership will lobby and advocate on their behalf.

Summary:


A man has been arrested after a robbery at a jewellery shop in Barcelona.
The man was arrested in the city's Gracia district on Tuesday.
The robbery happened at a jewellery shop in the Passeig de Gracia shopping street.
The man was armed with a knife and demanded money from the

Police in Barcelona have arrested five suspected members of the so-called "Pink Panthers" gang as they tried to rob a jewellery shop.

Article: All 30 volunteers were told by York Minster that bell-ringing activity had "ceased with immediate effect".
A spokesperson for York Minster said their "agreements were terminated" for a fully trained professional team led by a new head bell ringer.
The Minster said: "The main bells will be silent until we have recruited a new team in the New Year."
Volunteers were immediately denied access to the Minster's bell tower, the BBC understands.
York Minster confirmed key fobs had been withdrawn from the current volunteers, for "safety reasons as the Minster has to know who can access the building at any time".
In a letter sent to all the volunteers on Tuesday, the Reverend Canon Peter Moger said the Minster's key objective was to "have a fully trained, motivated and engaged community of staff and volunteers" by 2020.
"In order to begin this process, all current bell ringing activity will cease at the Minster, from today, Tuesday 11th October. The only exception is the ringing of the carillion."
Mr Moger said applications to join the new bell-ringing team would be "invited from everyone".
He said he wanted to bring the bell ringing team "in line with other teams across the organisation" following similar changes to its flower-arranging, brodery, collections and its police teams, which were "all adopting new structures and embracing new working practices.

Summary: The bells at York Minster have been silenced because the volunteer bell-ringers have been sacked.
###
Article: A special unit was waiting for the man inside the shop Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona's biggest shopping street.
Interpol believes the gang carried out at least 380 armed robberies jewellery shops between 1999 and 2015.
Most of those arrested are from eastern Europe.
One of the men robbing the shop was armed, police said. German and Serbian authorities were involved in the build-up to the raid.
In February 2014, Pink Panther gang member Borko Ilincic was arrested in Madrid. He was accused of being involved in the spectacular robbery of a jewellery store in Dubai's al-Wafi Mall in 2007.
He appeared in court in Dubai for the first time in June after his extradition to the United Arab Emirates.
Many of the gang's members hail from the Balkans and have also hit Tokyo and London. Interpol estimates they have stolen close to â‚¬334m ($371m; Â£283m) of jewellery.
The Pink Panthers were given their name when police in London made an arrest in 2003, and found a diamond ring hidden in a jar of face cream - a ploy used in the original Pink Panther comedies starring Peter Sellers.

Summary:


A US-based environmental lobby group has accused Olam of turning a blind eye to the environmental damage caused by its palm oil.
Mighty, a US-based environmental lobby group, has accused Olam of turning a blind eye to the environmental damage caused by its palm oil.
The group says Olam's

Palm oil giant Olam has been accused of using suppliers that may use unsustainable practices in parts of Southeast Asia.

Article: Enda Dolan, 18, from County Tyrone, was in his first term at Queen's University when he was struck by a van on Belfast's Malone Road in October 2014.
David Stewart, 31, of Gray's Park Avenue, admitted a series of charges linked to the teenager's death.
He was sentenced to seven years - three-and-a-half years in prison and the same on licence - last April.
During his trial, the court heard that Stewart, who had consumed drink and drugs before driving his van, drove with the teenager on the roof of his van for about 800 yards before he stopped.
The court was told that the 13 drinks Stewart consumed included six pints of beer and  four Jagerbombs - a mix of a spirit and an energy drink.
Traces of drugs, including cocaine, were also found in his system.
On Monday, following an appeal, the Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan increased the time Stewart would spend in prison by one year.
Making the ruling, he said: "Nothing this court can do can turn the clock back.
"What happened was senseless needless and entirely avoidable."

Summary: A drunk driver who knocked down and killed a student has had his sentenced increased by one year.
###
Article: The claims against the agricultural commodities trader were made in a report by Mighty, a US-based environmental lobby group.
Mighty also accuses Olam and its main stakeholder, Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek, of turning a blind eye to these practices.
Both companies reject the allegations.
Singapore and Malaysia regularly suffer from haze caused by slash-and-burn practices by small-scale farmers and rogue palm oil traders in Indonesia.
Indonesia is often blamed for not doing enough to tackle the agriculture fires used to clear vegetation for palm oil, pulp and paper plantations in the Riau province in East Sumatra, South Sumatra, and parts of Kalimantan on Indonesian Borneo.
Singapore-based Olam has confirmed that it buys 99% of its palm oil from third party suppliers and while it is a relative newcomer to the industry, it says it accounts for less than 1% of the global market.
Mighty's report says Olam and Temask could be unwittingly encouraging unsustainable palm oil trading practices that may contribute to the haze that is caused by the fires.
It also says Olam created a "secretive market for rogue palm oil companies" that allowed the vast majority of its product to be bought from unknown sources.
But Olam chief executive Sunny Verghese told the BBC that the firm had a "very vigorous sourcing policy and we insist that there is zero tolerance for burning, so it's a 'no burn-no peat-no deforestation' compliance policy".
The company only agreed to release the names of its 14 suppliers on Monday, having previously resisted calls by Mighty to do so.
Mr Verghese said he believed the firm's current suppliers all met Olam's strict requirements, but added that the vetting and verification process would take several more years to complete.
He added that producers who do not comply with the company's sustainable principles would be removed from its supply chain.
Since Temasek is the majority stake holder in Olam, Mighty's allegations could link Singapore's state fund to the devastating annual haze...

Summary:


A farmer in the northern Indian state of Bihar is using magic shows to promote organic farming, Amarnath Tewary reports from Govindpur village in Muzaffarpur district.
Article: It began in November but 20 cases have been notified in the last week and the total is more than for the whole

An outbreak of 189 cases of measles has been reported in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot, Public Health Wales says.

Article: Shreekant Kushwaha, in his late 40s, is a farmer who is a trained magician and has been using his skills to convince farmers in the state to convert to organic farming methods.
In the last few years, he has conducted more than 1,000 magic shows and converted thousands of farmers to organic farming to "increase both their yield and incomes".
"Magic and farming are both science and need use of hands for their execution. Both become obsolete if denied new tricks," he says.
Most of his magic shows begin with some popular trick like making a small ball vanish into air, or pulling a pigeon out of a hat.
"Once I've grabbed the attention of the crowd, I go for the real thing," he says.
"I show them two boxes and tell them that one box has seeds with organic fertiliser while the other has seeds with synthetic fertiliser. Then I put a lid over both the boxes and say let's see which grows faster.
"When the lid is lifted, the seeds treated with organic fertiliser seem to have grown into small plants but those treated with synthetic fertiliser have not grown at all," he says.
"And then I explain why and how it is done."
He says most among the audience return home convinced that organic is the way to go.
Mr Kushwaha himself learnt the benefits of organic farming in 2001 from a training camp held in his village by a non-governmental organisation.
He says moving to organic farming changed his fortunes: he grows rice, wheat and more recently, medicinal plants on his farm and yields are high.
Once a poor farmer who could not even afford two daily meals for his family, he now owns a double-storey house, has a beautiful kitchen garden with decorative lights and flowers, a cow, a colour television, a computer and printer and a motorbike.
"I couldn't go to school, but I sent my children to school for a proper education," he says.
"It was all made possible once I started organic farming on my two-acre plot of agricultural land," he says.
"And, now my only mission in life is to promote organic farming."
The idea to promote organic...

Summary: A farmer in the northern Indian state of Bihar is using magic shows to promote organic farming, Amarnath Tewary reports from Govindpur village in Muzaffarpur district.
###
Article: It began in November but 20 cases have been notified in the last week and the total is more than for the whole of Wales in the last three years.
So far, 32 secondary schools, primary schools and nurseries are affected.
Parents are being urged to make sure their children receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.
The outbreak only affects the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board area and eclipses the number of cases across the whole of Wales since 2010.
Last year's figure of confirmed cases for Wales stood at 116, while there were just 19 in 2011 and eight the year before, according to Public Health Wales.
There were 159 cases in 2009, still lower than the current outbreak in south west Wales.
Dr Marion Lyons, director of health protection for Public Health Wales (PHW), said: "We continue to be concerned at the number of cases of measles we are seeing in the Swansea and Neath Port Talbot areas.
"We cannot emphasise enough that measles is an illness that can kill, or leave patients with permanent complications including severe brain damage, and the only protection is two doses of the MMR vaccination."
She added that people most at risk of catching measles are children of school age who have not had two doses of MMR.
Children should receive the first dose of the vaccine at 12 to 13 months of age and the second at three years and four months of age
PHW estimates there are more than 8,500 school children at risk of measles in the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg area.
Many people who catch measles will have a fever, cough, red eyes, and blocked nose and feel generally unwell.
The blotchy rash appears a few days later beginning on the face and spreading downwards to the rest of the body over several days.

Summary:


A new report has found that the number of people who have been scammed by bogus investment schemes has risen by more than a third in the past year.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that the number of people who had been scammed by bogus investment schemes had risen by more than a third in the

Commuters were given a surprise upgrade when a luxury train arrived for their daily journey to work.

Article: Individuals are typically told they should invest their pension money in fine wines or overseas property.
But many of the companies involved are not regulated and are not qualified to give financial advice.
It is thought that the fraudsters may be capitalising on the new pension freedoms, introduced in April.
Those freedoms allow people over the age of 55 to access their cash, subject to income tax.
Citizens Advice - which offers official guidance through Pension Wise - said that emerging scams include:
"Opportunistic fraudsters are finding new ways to go after people's pension pots, including offering free pension reviews and promising to invest in funds that don't necessarily exist," said Gillian Guy, the chief executive of Citizens Advice.
A number of sites on the internet advise investors to transfer pension money into fine wine.
Most are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
They typically suggest that investors can achieve long-term average returns of 12-15% a year, or that wine is a better investment than shares.
One pension advisory firm, Portal Financial, has reported 11 such websites to Google this year, to try to get their adverts removed.
"Unless you know that it is a legitimate investment, you should be very careful," said Jamie Smith-Thompson, the managing director of Portal Financial.
He said other investment scams included land banks and carbon credit schemes.
Previously, so-called pension liberation scams have targeted the cash in a pension pot, charging a fee for "liberating" it.
But victims can lose more than half their money in such scams, as anyone under the age of 55 is liable for tax at 55%, while others may have to pay 45%.
Action Fraud - part of the City of London Police - said that cases of liberation fraud tripled in May, the month after the reforms were introduced.
However, the pensions minister, Ros Altmann, said she was not convinced that fraud was increasing as a direct result of the pension freedoms.

Summary: Fraudsters trying to steal money from people's pension funds are increasingly offering to invest the cash into other scams, says Citizens Advice.
###
Article: The Belmond British Pullman arrived at Ashford International at 07:00 GMT as passengers waited for a London train.
The train, dating back to the 1920s, is the sister of the Venice Simplon-Orient Express.
Travel firm Belmond put on the service to treat commuters on a 90-minute journey through Charing, Maidstone, Otford and Swanley to London Victoria.
Some of the passengers had registered for the journey after seeing a social media campaign, while others had a surprise upgrade.
The train is usually reserved for leisure travellers on trips to major sporting fixtures or for special events, such as an afternoon tea hosted by Great British Bake Off's Mary Berry.
Gary Franklin, managing director at Belmond, said: "We wanted to sprinkle some magic on the rails and do something that reminded people just how wonderful train travel can be when you have the luxury of time."
Commuters on the service were treated to a three-course breakfast and musical entertainment.
Tamzin Crook, 41, said: "I turn up every day, stand in the same spot and wait for the same train.
"The standard experience is to fight for a seat and then put your head down and read.
"Here, it's like something out of an amazing film. It's opulent. It feels like we're going on holiday, not to work."
'Come on board'
Nathan Charlton, 25, and his fiancee Alicia Ray, 26, said they were running late for their train and saw the Pullman from the car park.
"We spoke to the staff and they said 'You're more than welcome to come on board'," Mr Charlton said.
"The only problem is that we'll want to do this every day."

Summary: