The Palestinian Authority (PA) has said it will not pay for the construction of a new school in Gaza, despite a pledge from Qatar to do so.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has said it will not pay for the construction of a new school in Gaza, despite a pledge from Qatar to do so.

In a playground in Sheikh Hamad City, children shriek with delight, while their parents chat in the cool shade of their peach-coloured flats.

Article: Mr Xi was speaking at the swearing-in of the territory's new leader Carrie Lam, as Hong Kong marked 20 years since its handover to China from Britain.
On Saturday afternoon, after Mr Xi had left Hong Kong, thousands of people took part in an annual march calling for greater democracy.
During Mr Xi's visit there was little opportunity for protest.
An earlier protest had led to clashes with pro-Beijing demonstrators.
Mr Xi's visit to the city - his first since becoming Chinese leader in 2013 - came amid tight police security.
Several people were detained in the morning, when a small group of pro-democracy activists clashed with pro-Beijing demonstrators close to the site where the lavish ceremony took place.
Organisers said 60,000 people took part in the later pro-democracy march, though police said the figure was much lower.
Heavy rain affected the march, which started at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. Some protesters carried yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the demonstrations which gripped the city in 2014.
Lam Wing-kee, one of the five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing in 2015 and re-surfaced in detention on the mainland, addressed the march.
The Chinese leader oversaw the swearing in of Ms Lam, the newly-elected chief executive of the territory, along with the rest of her cabinet. She is Hong Kong's first female leader.
In a speech he said that Hong Kong needed to "improve its systems to uphold national sovereignty, security and development interests".
"Any attempt to endanger China's sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government... or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible," he said.
He added that Hong Kong now enjoyed more freedom than ever before.
But while the territory's Basic Law guarantees wide-ranging freedoms under the "one country, two systems" formula, Beijing's refusal to grant universal suffrage has triggered sometimes violent unrest.
In Saturday...

Summary: Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against "impermissible" challenges to Beijing's authority over Hong Kong.
###
Article: It found 87% of 1,000 GPs surveyed by ComRes, felt under pressure from the number of patients with worries including toothaches or ulcers.
The poll was carried out for the Association of Dental Groups, which represents private dentists.
It said dentists were best placed to spot problems - including mouth cancer.
November is Mouth Cancer Action Month. The risk of developing the cancer is increased by smoking, chewing tobacco or drinking too much alcohol.
Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) also increases the risk of some types of mouth cancer,
David Worskett, chair of the ADG, said: "With mouth cancer rates rising to over 7,500 new cases every year, and early detection vital, it is more important than ever that patients get the right care quickly.
"People often think that dentists are focus purely on teeth and gums, but actually, they are specialists in most aspects of oral health and we often find GPs refer patients back to their dentist if there is any treatment required.
"If you have any concerns about oral health related issues, be it a toothache or a long-term ulcer, you should be visiting your dentist rather than your GP.
Chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation Dr Nigel Carter said: "As a nation we have a habit of only visiting the GP when there's a problem or when we are in some pain, yet regular dental check-ups are recommended by a dentist.
"Dentists are in the best position to spot mouth cancer. They are trained to spot early warning signs, and they do visual examinations as part of every dental check-up."

Summary: Patients are going to their GP with concerns over their oral health when they should be going to their dentist, a poll suggests.
###
Article: The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner said they attempted to get police statements over the death of Sheku Bayoh, 31, in Kirkcaldy on 3 May.
His relatives claimed they were told five versions of what happened.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral on Sunday.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson confirmed there was a change in police operating procedure on their co-operation with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) to protect the rights of officers who may have been a witness to events.
Fife Labour MSP Claire Baker acknowledged that officers have the same right to protection from self-incrimination as any other citizen but said the change in regulations is impeding Pirc investigations.
Mr Matheson said he has received no complaint from Pirc about the scope of its powers.
Ms Baker said: "Sheku Bayoh died in police custody in Kirkcaldy on 3 May.
"There is an investigation ongoing into the circumstances of his death and his family understandably want answers.
"My understanding is that in a serious case such as a death in custody, the accompanying regulation five of PIRC Regulations 2013, which provides PIRC with the power to require information from police officers, does not apply and no witness can be compelled to give a statement.
"In addition, it has been reported that in March a Police Scotland memo was issued to police officers following an agreement with the Crown advising them that they do not have to provide operational statements relating to incidents that they have been involved with if there is a possibility of them being involved in a criminal complaint.
"It leads to a situation where at the exact stage where PIRC needs the strongest possible powers, its powers are restricted and officers are being advised that they do not need to co-operate where there is a possibility of criminal complaint."
She added: "I understand that police officers are entitled to the same protection as any other citizen.
"However, if there is to be policing by consent then surely there should...

Summary: Police officers can refuse to give a statement on custody deaths if there is a possibility they will be involved in a criminal complaint, the justice secretary has confirmed.
###
Article: This huge housing project - now one of the most desirable addresses in Gaza - was built since 2012 with money from Qatar and named after the former ruler of the wealthy Gulf state.
So far, more than 2,000 Palestinians - mostly low-income families - have moved in.
The complex has a new school, shops, an impressive mosque and plenty of greenery. There is a constant whirr of construction noise as more buildings are erected.
But as the regional crisis over Qatar escalates, Palestinians here - as elsewhere in the impoverished territory - fear the loss of their major donor and ally.
"We're going to be the victims," says one resident, Baha Shalaby. "Everything's going to stop - the money, the support, the infrastructure, the building work."
In recent years, Qatar has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new homes, a hospital and main roads in the Gaza Strip. It has pledged about $1bn (Â£780m) more.
It is not yet clear how its projects will be affected by the ongoing row with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries. They are trying to economically isolate Qatar, accusing it of fostering terrorism - a charge the emirate strongly denies.
However, the engineer in charge of fixing Gaza's main north-south road warns of the possible wider implications of any cuts.
"We have hundreds of workers, all supporting families," says Hanafi Sadallah.
"Levels of unemployment in Gaza are very high, so if the Qataris end our funding, they'll all just be left sitting at home."
Just over 40% of Gazans are out of work, according to Palestinian officials - one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.
One of Saudi Arabia's demands has been for Qatar to stop backing Hamas, which runs Gaza.
The Islamist group took over by force a decade ago - ousting Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces, a year after Hamas won legislative elections.
Hamas leaders insist that Qatari help to Gaza has been primarily charitable.
"The houses that were built are not for Hamas, the streets that were asphalted are not for Hamas," one senior...

Summary:


A judge has ruled that a man who exposed himself to three young women in the same area as a teenager who was raped by a man who later died of his injuries has been "unjustly" sentenced.
Article: The judge said the victim suffered serious psychological harm as a result of the attack.
Summary:

A rapist who attacked a student as she walked home during freshers' week has been given an extended sentence.

Article: That was the message from a fringe event at Labour's conference in Liverpool which examined the electoral threat from UKIP - and the effect of the marginalisation of working-class communities.
While the Conservatives remain the biggest obstacle to Labour getting back into power, Jeremy Corbyn faces challenges on multiple fronts. In Scotland, there is the SNP and across large swathes of England, there is UKIP.
The party is arguably the official opposition to Labour in much of the north west and north east.
Labour MPs who feel UKIP breathing down their necks are anything but complacent, but dealing with the challenge is another matter.
"For us, it is about how you fight an emotion," says Ruth Smeeth, who won Stoke on Trent North for Labour in 2015 but saw UKIP increase its vote by 18% in the constituency.
"They were not politicians in the way we recognise them," she says of her opponents. "They didn't run political campaigns in the way we recognise political campaigns."
UKIP, like Labour, may have had its share of internal strife recently but that doesn't mean it will be any less of a threat whenever the next election takes place, activists were warned.
"There are some people trying to write off UKIP saying they are busted flush and they have peaked because of the EU referendum and (Nigel) Farage going," says Nick Lowles, founder and director of campaign group Hope Not Hate.
"But we should really caution against writing them off or at least writing off a party like that. Even if that party did not exist, there is nothing to say that people who voted UKIP at the last election would come back to Labour.
"Political and culturally, there is a huge and growing gulf between the Labour Party and Labour voters and UKIP voters."
Its research points to a growing divergence between Labour and UKIP voters in their attitudes to immigration and the threat posed by multiculturalism, with Labour voters becoming more "tolerant, open, and relaxed" about immigration and its benefits while UKIP supporters' views have moved in the...

Summary: Labour must take a hard look at itself and the gap that has opened up with millions of people who used to vote for the party.
###
Article: Her boss said she was an "example to us all" by telling colleagues she was taking sick leave for her mental health - but would British managers be similarly supportive?
In an email titled "Where's Madalyn", she told colleagues: "I'm taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health. Hopefully I'll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%".
Chief executive Ben Congleton replied to the message, saying: "I can't believe this is not standard practice at all organisations," adding: "You are an example to us all, and help cut through the stigma so we can all bring our whole selves to work."
In the UK, there is no legal difference between taking a mental health sick day and a day off for a physical problem like a back problem.
Last year, Britons took 137 million sick days. Of these, 15.8 million days were for a stated mental health issue - whether that is stress, depression, anxiety or a more serious condition such as manic depression and schizophrenia - according to Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey statistics.
By contrast, 34 million days were "lost" to minor illnesses, like coughs and colds.
But Madeleine McGivern, head of workplace wellbeing at charity Mind, says "people are still wary" of admitting their sick day is actually due to mental health.
"There is definitely a fear it will affect your career, or that people will judge you and make assumptions that aren't fair or true," she says.
"If you're not in a supportive environment, if you do disclose a mental health problem it can be really harmful to you."
Despite the stigma, she says employers are legally required to protect the health and safety of those at work - and this includes mental health problem if it affects a person's day-to-day life.
"If you are unwell for any reason, you should be able to work in a place where you feel you can say 'I'm unwell today because I've got an inflamed back' or 'I've got really high feelings of anxiety at the moment' - they're actually the same thing," she says.
Lisa, a 42-year-old manager,...

Summary: Madalyn Parker, a US web developer, sparked a debate about workplace attitudes to mind problems after tweeting an email from her boss.
###
Article: The motion was co-sponsored by Labour's Frank Field and Tory Sir Edward Leigh.
Sir Edward described the Act as a "restriction on democracy" and said it had only been passed to prevent the coalition government from dissolving.
But Labour shadow minister Stephen Twigg said the Act had removed the previous "massive in-built advantage" for the governing party.
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act was passed in 2011 by the coalition government. Legally, an election can only be held every five years, and not sooner.
Previously, the prime minister could decide to call an election at any time in the life of a five-year parliament - a power Mr Twigg said led to "opportunistically timed elections".
Sir Edward said the fixed-term law had been falsely "marketed to us as a restriction on the power of the executive".
He added that it was a "hash job" that was "designed to keep both parties in the coalition from doing a runner on each other".
"Fixed-term parliaments were a pre-nup drawn up between two parties who were never in love."
Labour's Graham Allen disagreed, saying that "having the people knowing when the general election is going to take place, having the people know when the executive, the government, can be replaced, is one of the hallmarks of a modern democracy".
And Cabinet Office minister Sam Gmiyah argued that debates over the length of parliamentary terms had existed for centuries, and that the coalition was a "historic anomaly".

Summary: MPs have rejected an attempt to repeal the 2011 fixed-term Parliaments Act by 68 votes to 21.
###
Article: Remus Hamza, 41, of Riverside, Cardiff, was jailed for 12 years in February 2016 for raping the 20-year-old and was also given four years on extended licence.
He took his case to the Court of Appeal in London, arguing this was too severe.
But judges said his appeal was "totally without merit" and gave him an extra 28 days in prison for wasting court time.
Hamza claimed he had consensual sex with his victim, but was found guilty after a trial.
He had also previously exposed himself to three young women in the same area.
The woman was walking home along Museum Avenue in the early hours of 20 September 2015 after losing her friends while on a night out.
Hamza grabbed her and raped her in nearby bushes. He fled after a passer-by spotted him and called the police.
Judge Sarah Munro QC said the victim suffered serious psychological harm as a result of the attack.
Hamza's lawyers argued the crown court judge made the wrong assessment of how serious his crime was and did not take enough account of the fact he would have to serve two thirds of his jail term before his release can be considered.
Dismissing his appeal, Judge Munro said it was "not arguable" the sentence was excessive.
She added: "The provisions relating to early release and licence should be left out of the picture when determining sentence. There is no merit whatsoever in this appeal."

Summary:

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A team of Stanford University researchers has developed a computer program that can predict the likelihood of a person developing skin cancer.
The computer program, called DeepSkin, was trained to recognise the hallmarks of skin cancer, including the presence of a mole, the size of the mole, and the colour of the mole.

Artificial intelligence can identify skin cancer in photographs with the same accuracy as trained doctors, say scientists.

Article: The governor of Unity state says several people were killed in its capital Bentiu when a plane dropped  bombs on a market.
South Sudan also says its troops came under air attack in the oil-producing Heglig region which they have seized.
Sudan's ambassador to the UK, Abdullahi Al Azreg, said Sudan did not target civilians.
He insisted Khartoum had bombed military camps used by northern rebels supported by South Sudan.
"These people are occupying our land. Everybody is witnessing what they are doing. They have killed the civilians, they are doing very bad things. We will target the rebels as long as they are occupying our land," he told the BBC.
South Sudan said earlier on Saturday that it had repulsed an offensive on its positions near Heglig.
By James CopnallBBC News, Khartoum
The events of the last week are a reversal of the expected order of things. Sudan has struggled militarily, despite its greater resources.
Its troops lost the Heglig oilfield - one of its biggest sources of revenue - and so far have not been able to take it back. The Sudanese forces' one great advantage - air power - has not tipped the balance in their favour.
Sudanese political experts say the army's morale is low, and it is overstretched, as it has to fight South Sudan as well as several rebel movements who are co-ordinating together.
But - perhaps to its surprise - Sudan is winning the diplomatic war. The African Union said South Sudan's occupation of Heglig was "illegal and unacceptable".
Perhaps in reaction to these kind of statements, South Sudan then said it would withdraw its troops if UN peacekeepers were deployed to Heglig. This seems unlikely, and South Sudan simply hasn't been able to convince the world it's in the right.
So for the moment South Sudan is in the unusual position of winning the fighting - and losing the war of perceptions.
Vice-President Riek Machar said the ground fighting took place on Friday 30km (18 miles) north of Heglig.
South Sudan seized the oil field on Tuesday, sparking international condemnation and...

Summary: South Sudan has accused Sudan of launching further bombing raids on its territory and against its forces.
###
Article: It's the day when people show their affection for another person or people by sending cards, flowers or chocolates with messages of love.
And traditionally on Valentine's Day in a leap year - every four years - women can propose marriage to their partner!
The day gets its name from a famous saint, but there are several stories of who he was.
The popular belief about St Valentine is that he was a priest from Rome in the third century AD.
Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret.
When Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death.
There, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed "from your Valentine".
Valentine's Day is a very old tradition, thought to have originated from a Roman festival.
The Romans had a festival called Lupercalia in the middle of February, officially the start of their springtime.
It's thought that as part of the celebrations, boys drew names of girls from a box. They'd be boyfriend and girlfriend during the festival and sometimes they'd get married.
Later on, the church wanted to turn this festival into a Christian celebration and decided to use it to remember St Valentine too.
Gradually, St Valentine's name started to be used by people to express their feelings to those they loved.

Summary: Valentine's Day, or St Valentine's Day, is celebrated every year on 14 February.
###
Article: Donor and former candidate Michael Foster is contesting Labour's decision to allow Mr Corbyn on to the ballot paper without having to secure nominations from 50 other MPs and MEPs.
Labour's National Executive Committee backed the move by 18 to 14 votes.
Mr Corbyn is taking on Owen Smith.
As a challenger, Mr Smith, a former work and pensions spokesman, had to win the backing of 20% of Labour's MPs and MEPs to be eligible to stand - a hurdle he overcame easily.
But the NEC's decision that, as the incumbent, Mr Corbyn did not have to adhere to the same requirements has proved controversial.
The NEC backed Mr Corbyn's automatic inclusion following a highly charged meeting earlier this month. Labour's ruling body, of which Mr Corbyn is a member, is reported to have taken a range of legal opinions before making its decision.
Mr Foster, who unsuccessfully stood in the seat of Camborne and Redruth at the last general election, has expressed concerns about "apparent manipulation" of the party's rules and questioned whether the legal advice was given proper consideration.
Lawyers for Mr Foster told the High Court on Tuesday that Labour and Mr Corbyn made a "very problematic interpretation" of the party's rules.
Gavin Millar QC said there was no concept of "incumbent" or "incumbency" in the party rules. "There is no distinction in the rules between the leader candidate to be automatically on the ballot paper or the challenger candidate," he said.
Mr Millar said: "There's nothing whatsoever unfair to a leader to expect him or her to gather or have a minimum level of support in the combined group [of Labour MPs and MEPs] if the leader wants to stand again in the teeth of the challenge.
"It goes with the job description to maintain that minimum level of support in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party)."
Appearing for Labour's NEC, Mark Henderson said precedent suggested courts were wary of intervening in voluntary unincorporated associations such as the Labour Party except where their rules have "incoherence".
He said the...

Summary: A legal challenge to Jeremy Corbyn's right to automatically stand in the Labour leadership has been heard at the High Court in London, with a decision expected to be handed down on Thursday.
###
Article: The Stanford University team said the findings were "incredibly exciting" and would now be tested in clinics.
Eventually, they believe using AI could revolutionise healthcare by turning anyone's smartphone into a cancer scanner.
Cancer Research UK said it could become a useful tool for doctors.
The AI was repurposed from software developed by Google that had learned to spot the difference between images of cats and dogs.
It was shown 129,450 photographs and told what type of skin condition it was looking at in each one.
It then learned to spot the hallmarks of the most common type of skin cancer: carcinoma, and the most deadly: melanoma.
Only one in 20 skin cancers are melanoma, yet the tumour accounts for three-quarters of skin cancer deaths.
The experiment, detailed in the journal Nature, then tested the AI against 21 trained skin cancer doctors.
One of the researchers, Dr Andre Esteva, told the BBC News website: "We find, in general, that we are on par with board-certified dermatologists."
However, the computer software cannot make a full diagnosis, as this is normally confirmed with a tissue biopsy.
Dr Esteva said the system now needed to be tested alongside doctors in the clinic.
"The application of AI to healthcare is, we believe, an incredibly exciting area of research that can be leveraged to achieve a great deal of societal good," he said.
"One particular route that we find exciting is the use of this algorithm on a mobile device, but to achieve this we would have to build an app and test its accuracy directly from a mobile device."
Incredible advances in machine-learning have already led to AI beating one of humanity's best Go players.
And a team of doctors in London have trained AI to predict when the heart will fail.
Dr Jana Witt, from the charity Cancer Research UK, said:  "Using artificial intelligence to help diagnose skin cancer is very interesting, as it could support assessments by GPs and dermatologists.
"It's unlikely that AI will replace all of the other information your clinician would...

Summary:


The UK's biggest bank, HSBC, has announced it will be offering its customers the chance to buy and sell Bitcoin.
The bank said it will be the first UK bank to offer the digital currency, which is traded on the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase.
The bank said it will be offering its customers

The most important court in the UK, has made a decision that means parents are not allowed to take children on holiday during term-time, unless the school agrees.

Article: At the moment, they pay 90% of the amount due if the home was occupied.
However, Scottish Borders Council is now considering using powers which would allow them to charge twice the standard level.
It has been estimated it could generate an extra Â£900,000 although that figure might fall as homes are occupied.
The levy would not apply to homes which are unoccupied because they are being renovated unless they then lie empty for two years or more.
New build properties would also be exempt from the measure if they are being genuinely marketed for sale or let at a realistic price.
The charge would also not be applied to holiday properties.
A report to councillors has recommended that the new measure be brought in from 1 April.
It stressed that the driving force behind the measure was not to raise money but to encourage owners of long-term empty dwellings to bring them back into use.

Summary: Owners of homes in the Borders which have lain empty for a long period could see their council tax charges more than doubled.
###
Article: The collapse of the retaining wall in December 2013 caused a landslip next to the flats at 2 Gardner Street.
The block was evacuated after fears the collapse could affect its "structural stability".
Repairs to the wall have cost almost Â£777,000. Residents will be allowed back in on 7 December.
Dundee City Council said councillors had approved the work to repair the wall in March 2015.
Ken Guild, convener of the council's policy and resources committee said: "I am delighted that residents will be able to get back into their homes.
"When no one took responsibility for the necessary work, the council stepped in to carry out permanent repairs which has proved to be a success.
"Now that we have reached a conclusion, residents can get settled as soon as possible."
The council said work still needed to be done in the rear garden of the property.

Summary: Dundee residents who were forced to move out of their homes two years ago after a wall collapsed have finally been allowed to move back in.
###
Article: "It's a very efficient way for a company to accept payment, since they receive 100% of the value of a transaction," he says. "Very different from dealing with credit cards, which take at least 2% to 3%."
His company, which offers a popular electronic wallet for storing Bitcoins, now has three million users - plus a London headquarters.
Britain's first Bitcoin cash machine has been installed in a Shoreditch coffee shop in London, where you can pay for your coffee from your digital wallet.
And argue some, with other successful UK start-ups including Coinfloor, a Bitcoin trading platform, and Elliptic, which aims to offer unhackable ways to store them in offline vaults- Bitcoin is becoming increasingly 'Britcoin'.
Britain's tech empire normally shrivels beside that of the United States. Last year London's 'Silicon roundabout' district received $1.4bn (Â£930m) in investments, compared to Silicon Valley's $22bn (Â£14.6bn).
But the financial crisis forced an outflow of talent from banking to start-ups.
And more global financial institutions make their home in wet Britain than sunny California.
So London became the world's new financial technology centre, employing more people (over 44,000) in the sector than either Silicon Valley or New York.
Payment looms large in financial technology, and start-ups working with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple, which are the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation, are prominent.
Collectively, they're luring big bits of investment.
When Elliptic raised Â£1.2m ($1.8m) in seed funding last summer, it was regarded as an important coming of age for cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies offer an advantage in countries where official currency exchange is tightly controlled, like China.
Cryptocurrencies could revolutionise how banks handle payments, too.
Large retail banks currently use central clearing - everything goes to one place, and then back out.
But with Bitcoin, this exchange happens in different places and instantaneously.
At the moment, the small amount...

Summary: Two years ago, perhaps 4,000 or 5,000 merchants in the world accepted Bitcoin, says Nicolas Cary, co-founder of Blockchain, now there are more than 100,000.
###
Article: The ruling has come about because a dad was fined for taking his daughter out of school for a family holiday to Disney World in the United States, without her head teacher giving permission.
The man from the Isle of Wight appealed against the fine, and at first won the case, but now the UK Supreme Court has ordered him to pay the fine of Â£120.
It means that parents will now have to seek permission from the school and head-teacher to take children on holiday during a school term.
The case has caused lots of arguments because some people feel the price of holidays outside of school terms is too expensive, and many parents feel they should have the choice to go on cheaper breaks during a school term.
The Department for Education said: "We are pleased the Supreme Court agreed with our position - that no child should be taken out of school without good reason."
We've been speaking to some of you, to see what you think about the decision...

Summary:


The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help small businesses in Scotland.
The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help small businesses in Scotland.
The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help small businesses in Scotland. The fund

An "explosive creativity" of craft spirits has seen 50 new distilleries open across the UK last year, according to a study.

Article: In power virtually unchallenged since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Nursultan Nazarbayev has focused on economic reform while resisting moves to democratise the political system.
He remains popular among ordinary Kazakhs. His supporters say he preserved inter-ethnic accord and stability during the reform in the 1990s, and is widely credited for the country's impressive economic growth in first decade of the new millennium.
Mr Nazarbayev has concentrated extensive powers in his own hands and is accused by the opposition of suppressing dissent. Although he says he advocates democracy as a long-term goal, he warns that stability could be at risk if change is too swift.
Born in 1940, Mr Nazarbayev came to power in 1989 as first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and was elected president the following year. He was re-elected after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He was re-elected against largely token opponents in 1999, 2005, 2011 and - most recently - in 2015. In each case, his share of the vote rose, reaching more than 97% in the last vote, and the conduct of every election was criticised by foreign observers.
In 2007, parliament, in which the ruling party held all seats, voted to allow the president to stay in office for an unlimited number of terms. In 2010, MPs granted Mr Nazarbayev the lifelong title of "leader of the nation".
His 2011 victory came after judges ruled unconstitutional a plan to hold a referendum on whether to let Mr Nazarbayev to stay in power until 2020 without facing election.
The president thereupon said he rejected the changes, which had been strongly backed by MPs and by many voters.
When Mr Nazarbayev does step down from the president, he will have a permanent seat on the defence council and a role as head of the people's assembly, which unites members of different ethnic groups, according to a law approved in a 2007 referendum.
The president merged his Otan ("Fatherland") party with his daughter Dariga's party, Asar, in July 2006, in a move seen as...

Summary: President: Nursultan Nazarbayev
###
Article: Last week, Dropbox reset all passwords that had remained unchanged since mid-2012 "as a preventive measure".
In 2012, Dropbox had said hacks on "other websites" had affected customers who used their Dropbox password on other sites too.
But now what purports to be the details of 68.6 million Dropbox accounts have emerged on hacker trading sites.
The 5GB document has been acquired by a Motherboard reporter, who also said it had been verified as genuine by a "senior Dropbox employee" speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The data includes email addresses and hashed passwords.
But security researcher Troy Hunt, who has also seen the document, said the hashing algorithm that obscured the passwords was "very resilient to cracking".
"Frankly, all but the worst possible password choices are going to remain secure even with the breach now out in the public," he said.
Mr Hunt said he had managed to independently verify the hack by finding the password of his wife within the cache.
He told BBC News the document contained a "very unique, 20-character, completely random password" used by his wife to login to Dropbox.
It had been created by a password manager, he said, making the chance of it having been correctly guessed "infinitely small".
Mr Hunt wrote his blog: "There is no doubt whatsoever that the data breach contains legitimate Dropbox passwords - you simply can't fabricate this sort of thing."
Security researcher Ken Munro also said the hack appeared to be genuine and to have "taken place in 2012".
In a statement sent to the BBC, Dropbox said: "This is not a new security incident."
And there was "no indication" Dropbox user accounts had been improperly accessed.
"Our analysis confirms that the credentials are user email addresses with hashed and salted passwords that were obtained prior to mid-2012," said the statement.
"We can confirm that the scope of the password reset we completed last week did protect all impacted users.
"Even if these passwords are cracked, the password reset means they can't be used to...

Summary: A Dropbox security breach in 2012 has affected more than 68 million account holders, according to security experts.
###
Article: Rosa Zambonini was elected to represent the Wishaw ward on North Lanarkshire Council, replacing SNP colleague Marion Fellows.
In Falkirk, Paul Garner held a seat in Denny and Banknock ward for the SNP.
The Labour candidate in the by-election was suspended pending an investigation over sectarian comments he was said to have made on social media.
Andy Bell's name remained on the ballot paper for the election of the new Denny and Banknock councillor.
However, a Labour spokesman said the party had "withdrawn its support".
The by-election was called after John McNally was elected MP for Falkirk at May's general election.
In Falkirk, first-preference voting was: SNP 2,576, Lab 549, C 431, Green 170. The swing from Labour to the SNP was 23%.
In North Lanarkshire, first-count voting in the Wishaw ward was: SNP 1,915, Lab 1,230, C 385, Soc 117, Ukip 67, LD 37. Swing from Lab to SNP 21%.

Summary: The SNP has won by-elections in Falkirk and North Lanarkshire sparked by former councillors becoming MPs.
###
Article: Accountancy group UHY Hacker Young claimed new "boutique" distillers were pushing big brands off the shelf.
It said Scotland saw a 50% rise in new distilleries over the past year, from 12 in 2015 to 18 in 2016.
In England, a record 35 new distilleries were opened last year compared with 28 the previous year.
James Simmonds, of UHY Hacker Young, said: "Both the craft spirits and the craft brewery sectors are going through a period of explosive creativity.
"You can see that in everything from the logos, branding and advertising of these products.
"The quality of the product is streets ahead of their big brand competitors.
"It is no wonder that the global drinks giants are worried, and the best way they have found to deal with that new competition is get out chequebooks and buy them."

Summary:


The number of people who have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal condition of Ebola in the UK has risen to more than 1,000.
The number of people who have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal condition of Ebola in the UK has risen to more than 1,000.
The number of people who have been diagnosed

Pregnant women should visit countries with a risk of malaria only if their trip is essential, experts are warning.

Article: The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT) recorded its highest ever number of young whales in its latest survey of marine life. The surveys began in 2003.
Twenty-eight juveniles were counted this year, three times the average compared with previous years.
Whales coming in from other areas has also been suggested as a reason.
Survey team members documented 28 juvenile minke whales and 30 adults. HWDT said it was an "unusually high proportion" of young compared to adults.
The survey had an encounter rate of one juvenile minke per 177 miles (286 km).
It also recorded the highest annual number of common dolphin sightings since the charity's expeditions began, with 723 individuals observed over 63 encounters.
The species was once uncommon in the Hebrides, but the trust's encounter rate with the species has more than doubled over the past 12 years.
Kerry Froud, HWDT biodiversity officer, said: "These intriguing changes in Scotland's marine life highlight the importance of long-term monitoring of cetaceans - so that we can better understand what is happening in our waters, and then make management recommendations to better protect this world-class area of marine biodiversity."
The surveys are carried out between May to October by scientists and volunteers on board Silurian, the trust's dedicated research yacht.

Summary: Conservationists have suggested a "baby boom" as a possible reason behind increased sightings of juvenile minke whales off western Scotland this year.
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Article: Theresa May said the "sick and depraved" attack in Westminster, in which five people died, would not stop people going to work as normal or Parliament from sitting on Thursday.
Values of freedom of speech, liberty and democracy would prevail, she said.
She praised the "exceptional bravery" of the police officer who died.
Speaking outside No 10, Mrs May - who earlier chaired a meeting of the emergency response committee Cobra - said her thoughts were with the officer's relatives and those others who had been killed and injured in the "appalling incident".
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected - to the victims themselves, and their family and friends who waved their loved ones off, but will not now be welcoming them home," she said.
"For those of us who were in Parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risk their lives to keep us safe.
"Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way."
While the details of the incident - in which a single alleged assailant in a car struck a number of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer at the gates of the Palace of Westminster - were still emerging, she said, the UK would not be cowed.
Confirming that the terror threat level would remain at severe, she said it was no accident that Parliament had been targeted in the incident.
"These streets of Westminster - home to the world's oldest Parliament - are ingrained with a spirit of freedom that echoes in some of the furthest corners of the globe," she said.
"And the values our Parliament represents - democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law - command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. That is why it is a target for those who reject those values.
"But let me make it clear today, as I have had cause to do before, any attempt to defeat those values through violence and...

Summary: The terror attack in Westminster will not stop Britons from going about their lives and such attacks are ultimately "doomed to failure", the PM has said.
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Article: Non-EU citizens settling in the UK for longer than six months are also being required to pay a "health surcharge" as part of their visa applications.
The new rules from the Department of Health came into force on 6 April.
Primary care and A&E care continues to remain free.
Permanent residents of 32 European countries qualify for NHS treatment, which is then billed to their country of residence, but this new ruling applies to foreign migrants or visitors based in other countries, mainly those outside the EU.
These patients can be treated in an NHS hospital but are expected to repay the cost of most procedures afterwards.
But up to now, the DoH has only sought to reclaim the actual costs, without adding any extra charges.
The DoH hopes the changes will help it recoup up to £500m a year by 2017-18.
The new guidelines do not require patients on trolleys in hospitals to produce passports before getting access to urgent care.  Nor do they apply to accident and emergency or a visit to a GP.
What is covered is ongoing treatment on the NHS after an initial diagnosis or referral - for example an outpatient appointment.
The Department of Health is incentivising hospitals to be more vigilant in checking patient credentials by allowing them to charge more for treatment of people "not ordinarily resident" in the UK.
The department can recoup those costs from the patient's member state if they are from the European Economic Area.
In the paperwork filled in by the patient before the appointment they will be asked for proof they are "ordinarily resident".
This could be a utility bill, national insurance number or passport details.  Some hospitals were doing this already but many were not.
The guidelines are designed to increase the chances that the treatment costs for a non-UK resident can be recovered.  Critics may ask why it has taken so long for the initiative to be launched.
The charges are based on the standard tariff for a range of procedures, ranging from about £1,860 for cataract surgery to about £8,570 for a hip...

Summary: Visitors from outside the EU who receive treatment in NHS hospitals in England are now being charged 150% of the cost under changes brought in to discourage "health tourism".
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Article: Mothers-to-be are more likely to get malaria as their immunity is lowered, says the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).
Malaria carries serious risks for mother and baby including miscarriage, stillbirth and premature labour.
The tropical disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes a fever, flu-like symptoms, vomiting and diarrhoea.
There have been no malaria-related deaths in pregnant or recently pregnant women in the UK in the past decade but the RCOG says it has been receiving inquires from worried women.
In the UK, about 1,500 cases of malaria are reported each year and about 10 people will die, said the RCOG.
It says all non-essential trips to areas with a high risk of malaria should be avoided.
Risk areas include large areas of Africa, Asia including China and India, Central and South America, parts of the Middle East and some Pacific Islands.
If the trip is unavoidable, the college advises women to seek advice from a centre with expertise in malaria which will provide information on ways to reduce the risk of infection.
Women should make sure they are aware of the risk, take out measures such as mosquito nets for bite prevention and take anti-malarial medication.
Philippa Marsden, who chairs the RCOG's patient information committee, said although the risks were still relatively small it was important that women were well-informed.
Cath Broderick of the RCOG women's network said: "If women are worried about symptoms after returning from a high-risk country and think they may have malaria, they should see a doctor immediately and inform them of their recent travels."
Symptoms can take a week or more to develop after being bitten.

Summary:


The Home Office has announced plans to introduce a new test for migrants who have been granted a five-year settlement in the UK.
The test will be introduced in October 2016 and will be based on the English language.
The Home Office said the test would be "based on the English language and will be a test

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

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

Summary: Violent crime in Greater Manchester rose by 40% in the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
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Article: The Nigerian novelist was well known in literary circles but gained a far wider audience after Beyonce used an extract of her speech called called We Should all be Feminists in her 2014 track Flawless.
Now her words are being used again in a Boots advert released this week: "For a while I stopped wearing make-up and hid my high heels. And I became a false version of myself. But then I woke up and I saw in full colour, full confidence again."
As a feminist, she is aware that she has to explain her relationship with make-up.
In her talk at TedxEuston she said that the word feminist was "so heavy with baggage, negative baggage. You hate men, you hate bras, you hate African culture."
Instead, she said, she wanted to be identified as a "happy African feminist who does not hate men and who likes lip gloss and who wears high heels for herself but not for men".
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:
"Sadly, women have learnt to be ashamed and apologetic about pursuits that are seen as traditionally female, such as fashion and make-up"
While this highly specific definition of a feminist was tongue-in-cheek, she still felt the need to defend wearing make-up earlier this month.
In a 9,000-word Facebook post she wrote a guide to how to bring up a feminist daughter.
"If she likes make-up let her wear it; if she likes fashion let her dress up. But if she doesn't like either let her be."
She advised that raising a feminist didn't mean forcing her to reject femininity: "Feminism and femininity are not mutually exclusive. It is misogynistic to suggest that they are.
"Sadly, women have learnt to be ashamed and apologetic about pursuits that are seen as traditionally female, such as fashion and make-up."
This comes from personal experience.
In her TedxEuston talk, she revealed that when she was getting ready to teach her first writing class she felt a pressure to avoid looking feminine: "I really wanted to wear my shiny lip gloss and my girly skirt but I decided not to.
"Instead I wore a very serious, very manly, and very ugly suit. Because...

Summary: One of the world's leading feminists is not the obvious choice to be the face of a make-up brand, but Boots has just made Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie the face of No7.
###
Article: The points have been removed from the club's total with immediate effect, meaning they drop outside the Super League play-off positions.
Bradford now sit in ninth position, two points below Hull KR, who occupy the final play-off berth.
A consortium submitted a conditional bid for the Bulls last week and this was passed to the RFL on Tuesday.
The six-point penalty is two points more than Wakefield and Crusaders were given when they went into administration and is the largest the RFL could have handed out.
Bulls interim chief executive Gary Tasker said: "We expected a deduction of points by the RFL and we of course accept that penalty. We are not yet in a position to be able to offer any recompense to our creditors and as such a six-point deduction was what we expected.
"We are still in the competition and a place in the top eight - and with it the ability to make the play-offs - is still within our grasp and we will be travelling to Warrington on Sunday in a confident and determined mood."
Centre Chev Walker responded to the news of the points deduction by tweeting: "6 points of hard work on the field taken because of sloppy work off it!! Play-offs are still in reach long as we get our heads down."
Administrator Brendan Guilfoyle revealed last week that the bid put forward by the consortium would be conditional on the Bulls being allowed to continue in Super League and lease back Odsal, which is owned by the RFL.
"The best the RFL will get is a conditional bid," he told BBC Look North.
"The consortium I'm dealing with won't move forward with the club in the second tier. It would be a totally different business model.
"If this bid isn't accepted by them then this club will cease to exist and I will have failed."
Bradford Bulls entered administration on 26 June after attempts to raise £1m to keep the club running were unsuccessful.

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

Summary:


A man has been arrested after a drone crashed into a prison in Birmingham.
The drone was used to drop contraband into HMP Birmingham's exercise yard on 29 October and 6 November.
The drone was used to drop a consignment near N and P wings containing four phones, SIM cards, Black Mamba,

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

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

Summary: Google has said it is "thinking deeply" about ways to improve search, after criticism over how some results - including ones discussing the Holocaust - were ranked.
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Article: The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) carried out an "extraordinary review" of the system in July.
It followed moves by Bangor University to withdraw midwifery students from Glan Clwyd Hospital, and concerns flagged by Health Inspectorate Wales.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said it had developed an action plan.
Prof Angela Hopkins, executive director of nursing and midwifery at the health board, said: "Most of the recommendations made in the NMC reports have already been addressed."
The review by the NMC examined how closely rules on supervising midwives across north Wales were being followed.
But the investigators found on two measures the midwife services were falling short:
Jackie Smith, NMC chief executive and registrar, said: "The reports from our extraordinary review show that there are serious concerns around the nursing and midwifery education programmes.
"We need to be assured that our standards for education and for the supervision of midwives are being met, and that the public's safety is protected.
"It is essential that all the relevant organisations collaborate to address the issues raised by the review. We will work closely with Bangor University, Health Inspectorate Wales and other stakeholders to improve the situation and strengthen public protection."
Prof Hopkins said: "We would like to reassure our patients regarding the quality and standard of education for student nurses and midwives in north Wales, and to advise that issues raised regarding the supervision of midwives have been fully addressed."
The investigation was prompted by escalating concerns at the health board about how maternity services might be reorganised.
Officials wanted to remove consultant-led care from Glan Clwyd Hospital at Bodelwyddan in Denbighshire - but that faced being overturned by a judicial review.
It led Health Inspectorate Wales to flag the issue to the NMC in June, just weeks before the entire health board was put into special measures by the Welsh government.
At the same time, according to the...

Summary: "Serious concerns" have been raised over the education and supervision of midwives in north Wales following a review.
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Article: Ryanair  and IAG shares were up almost 3%, while Aer Lingus was up 1.8%.
The formal acceptance paves the way for the €1.3bn (£940m) bid by BA and Iberia owner IAG for Aer Lingus to go ahead.
It is subject to backing by competition authorities. European Union approval is now the last remaining hurdle to the tie-up.
IAG's plans include building a new transatlantic hub at Dublin airport.
Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement: "We believe the IAG offer for Aer Lingus is a reasonable one in the current market and we plan to accept it, in the best interests of Ryanair shareholders.
"The price means that Ryanair will make a small profit on its investment in Aer Lingus over the past nine years."
Ryanair has attempted to buy Aer Lingus three times. Its takeover quest began in 2006, just after Aer Lingus was floated on the stock market by the Irish government.
Ryanair's initial bid illustrates the wild swings in Aer Lingus's value since then. Its first offer was €2.80 a share. The second, two years later, was half that and its most recent offer in 2012 was €1.30 a share.
The Irish government, which sold its 25% stake in Aer Lingus to IAG in May, recommended that Ryanair accept IAG's offer.
The deal values Aer Lingus shares at around €2.50 (£1.87) per share.
Aer Lingus is Heathrow Airport's fourth busiest operator, behind BA, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic.
If the deal is approved, IAG would gain more take-off and landing slots at Heathrow Airport, allowing it to operate more flights.
Ryanair said it had planned to use Aer Lingus to gain slots at mainstream airports.
Travellers have been surprised in the past by the distance of some of Ryanair's airports from the city they thought they were flying to.
Michael O'Leary said Ryanair did not need Aer Lingus now: "Our original strategy for Aer Lingus (to use it as a mid-priced brand to offer competition to flag carriers at primary airports) has been overtaken by the successful rollout - since Sept 2013 - of Ryanair's "Always Getting Better" strategy,...

Summary: Shares in airlines have jumped after Ryanair voted to accept International Airlines Group's (IAG) offer for its 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus.
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Article: Michael Tovey, 27, formerly of Lakes Road, Erdington, Birmingham is accused of using two drones to fly contraband into HMP Birmingham last year.
In the first charges of their type brought by West Midlands Police, Mr Tovey faces 13 counts of conveying banned items into a prison.
He is set to appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 7 June.
Read more news for Birmingham and the Black Country
Mr Tovey is accused of using two drones to drop contraband into the prison's exercise yard on 29 October and 6 November.
He attempted to drop a consignment near N and P wings containing four phones, SIM cards, Black Mamba, steroids and cannabis, it is alleged.
It is claimed he was also responsible for a drone that crashed into the same yard eight days later, carrying two phones and further quantities of the same banned drugs.

Summary:


The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help local authorities tackle the problem of rough sleeping.
The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help local authorities tackle the problem of rough sleeping.
The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to

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

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

Summary: The rumours are hard to dismiss.
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Article: Astronomers predict it could be possible to see up to 200 meteors per hour in clear skies.
The best time to view it will be from 23:00 until 04:00 in north Aberdeenshire and Galloway.
Dark, countryside skies away from street lights offer the best possibility of a sighting.
BBC Scotland weather presenter Kawser Quamer said the skies will be mainly cloudy but there is a chance of clearer spells.
She said: "Tonight and early tomorrow is the peak of this year's season, which runs until 24 August.
"The best time to view it is from 23:00 until 04:00 if you look towards the north-eastern sky.
"But it's all dependent on the weather forecast and I'm afraid for tonight it will be rather cloudy.
"In the north east and south of the country there will be drier moments and the possibility of some clearer spells.
"So if you are heading out with a camera, the favoured spots for some clearer spells will likely be across Aberdeenshire, maybe northern Moray and across Angus.
"For Galloway, quite often a favoured spot for stargazers is heading towards Loch Trool."
Perseids are shooting stars or space debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet.
Every year, the Earth passes through this field of debris and it is normally possible to see 100 meteors or shooting stars per hour during the peak.
This year, that could double as experts predict a rare meteor "outburst", according to Armagh Observatory.

Summary: Stargazers in the north east and south of Scotland are expected to get the best view of the Perseid meteor shower when it reaches its peak overnight.
###
Article: Councillor Bob Badham resigned on Wednesday, soon after Helen Smith, Director of Children's Services, following the release of the report.
Ofsted inspectors found the department to be "inadequate" and failing vulnerable children in the area.
Councillor Simon Hackett has taken over from Mr Badham and said he was determined to improve the service.
"I see it as a challenge and something we can turn around. Like everyone else, a few days ago I read the report and frankly it was awful," he said.
During an inspection in February Ofsted found families of vulnerable children were insufficiently supported by the council and in some cases were at risk of "significant harm".
The local authority said it was aware of failings in the department and was taking action to improve performance.
It said 70 extra social workers had been taken on last year and it was improving relations between staff and the police.
The council said it had also started to work with a private sector partner, iMPOWER to improve services.
Mr Hackett said he was planning to spend time in each part of the department, looking at it from the perspective of a child or young person.
It is not the first time the council has been criticised by Ofsted over the service.
Sandwell Children's Services was judged to be "inadequate" in 2009, but following an inspection in January 2012 it was found to have improved and was rated "adequate".

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

Summary:


The haze has caused hazardous air quality across the region.
Article: The haze has caused hazardous air quality across the region.
Summary: The haze has caused hazardous air quality across the region.
Article: The haze has caused hazardous air quality across the region.
Summary: The haze has caused hazardous air quality across

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

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

Summary: An address to parliament by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has been halted by opposition MPs.
###
Article: Could it be a topic that persuades undecided voters on polling day?
Always an emotive issue, religious slaughter has become an unexpected political battleground as the general election approaches.
Animal rights campaigners have long called for a ban on halal or shechita slaughter, which amongst other requirements specify slitting an animal's throat quickly with a sharp knife while it is still conscious.
The British Veterinary Association, the RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming and the National Secular Society all want to see an end to the religious slaughter of animals or to slaughter without pre-stunning.
However, in the run-up to the general election, opposition to those methods of slaughter would also seem to have become dog whistle politics: shorthand for targeting a specific religious minority - Muslims - without saying as much.
UKIP last week said it would ban all slaughter methods that didn't involve pre-stunning - causing controversy amongst British Muslims and Jews, some of whom warned that any such ban would in effect drive those who observe religious dietary laws out of the UK.
For many of the UK's almost three million Muslims, halal slaughter is a strict religious requirement, as is eating kosher for many of the UK's 300,000 Jews.
According to the Halal Authority Board, there is a strong strand of religious opinion that livestock should not be stunned before slaughter, but others feel that light stunning is permissible.
Its standards permit both types of slaughter, and dictate a number of requirements regarding animal welfare for both.
"If followed properly, both unstunned and stunned are extremely humane forms of slaughter and the evidence to suggest otherwise is completely wrong," according to its head of certification, Shaykh Tauqir Ishaq.
"Being cruel to animals is a sin in Islam, and we do not permit any form of cruelty in abattoirs certified by us.
"The discomfort and pain experienced by any animal should be absolutely minimised if not eliminated, and our standards reflect such...

Summary: It's a passionate conflict - animal welfare campaigners opposing the slaughter practices of religious minorities.
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Article: Nick Weller, executive principal of Dixons Academies Trust, Bradford, was honoured in the Queen's birthday list.
Mr Weller said he was "humbled by the honour" and the schools' recognition.
After a teacher was stabbed at Dixons Kings Academy police arrested a 14-year-old boy on suspicion of attempted murder on Thursday.
Mr Weller said: "My main thoughts at the moment are with a colleague who is continuing to make steady progress in hospital and with a school which is also recovering from the event.
"Our academies and partnerships play a significant role in meeting the demand for new places in Bradford and improving schools in challenging circumstances."
The school where the stabbing occurred, formerly called the King's Science Academy, opened in 2011 and has since become part of the Dixons academy group. It has about 700 pupils.

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

Summary:


A council tax rise of 5% plus a further 6% to pay for social care has been rejected by Liverpool City Council.
The council's leader, Joe Anderson, said the plan would not go ahead after 57% of respondents said no.
He also revealed plans for a Liverpool lottery in his New Year message on

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

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

Summary: Canada has laid out its plan to legalise the sale of recreational marijuana by June 2018.
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Article: Philip Morant School and College in Colchester has told pupils and parents that they will no longer set homework and will instead select their own "appropriate" tasks.
The new scheme is optional but there will be rewards for completed tasks.
It said it believes the new approach will give pupils "greater responsibility for their own learning".
The school has called the new approach 'Prove It+' at Key Stage 3 & 4 and Independent Study Tasks at Stage 5.
In a letter, it explained how tasks will be uploaded onto the school's website and pupils can select what they want to do based on guidance from teachers, as well as their own targets and interests.
Some of the tasks "support community and charity awareness" to help "develop the whole child", the letter said.
Principal Catherine Hutley told the Daily Gazette that teachers will use the time previously spent on setting and marking home on planning lessons more precisely.
She said the move away from traditional homework had been discussed for about a year.
Parents have been involved in a consultation period which has included 30-minute workshops.

Summary: A high school has scrapped traditional homework in favour of a more "independent" approach to learning.
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Article: The letter to the prime minister has been signed by the heads of every state school in West Sussex, who argue they need £20m in emergency funding.
They say the "distraction" of grammar schools cannot be a priority ahead of basic funding and staffing.
The government has promised a complete overhaul of school funding in England.
But the plans for a national funding formula, which would address inequalities in school funding, have been postponed.
The head teachers, from more than 250 primary, secondary, special schools, academies and local authority schools in West Sussex, say that without £20m emergency transitional funding, ahead of the funding formula, they will have to make cuts.
A group of pupils and head teachers will go to Downing Street on Tuesday to deliver the letter, which is also being sent to more than 100,000 West Sussex parents.
The lack of progress on funding, they say, has meant "a crippling effect on our already dire financial position".
The head teachers have told the prime minister that without extra funds there will be cuts to schools from next spring.
This could include reducing school hours, bigger class sizes, not replacing staff and making teachers redundant.
The head teachers have told the prime minister that schools have "no more fat to trim".
"Schools are struggling to function adequately on a day to day basis, and, in addition, we are severely hampered in our ability to recruit and retain staff, work with reasonable teacher-pupil ratios and to buy basic equipment," says the letter.
Jules White, head of Tanbridge House School in Horsham, said heads were not "sabre-rattling" and these were not empty threats.
"We will look at every option to avoid such drastic steps," he said, but school finances were so stretched they would have to take such difficult decisions.
Mr White said head teachers wanted the government to focus on the practical necessities before being "distracted" by policies such as expanding grammar schools.
"There are fundamentals - finance and the supply of teachers....

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

Summary:


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

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

Summary: China's central bank has devalued the national currency, the yuan, to its lowest rate against the US dollar in almost three years.
###
Article: The security protocol is used to encrypt Voice Over Internet Protocol (Voip) calls.
In a blog, University College London researcher Steven Murdoch described vulnerabilities in how such conversations were encrypted.
GCHQ said it did not recognise the findings.
Dr Murdoch did not say that the vulnerability would give direct access to conversations, but that it would make it possible to undermine the system's security.
The network operator could listen in to calls, or authorise someone else to, and anyone who hacked the system would be able to eavesdrop, he said.
One of Dr Murdoch's chief concerns was that the security standard has "key escrow" by design - meaning, for example, that a third party has access to data sent between two people in a conversation.
This, he said, is an example of a backdoor.
In this case, it could allow an intelligence agency, or the organisation which is using the standard, to intercept phone calls, Dr Murdoch said.
"I think this comes from a conflict of interest within GCHQ in that they are there to prevent spying but they are also there to spy - so they facilitate spying," he told the BBC.
Dr Murdoch added that he was aware of two products which use the standard, both of which are government certified.
"They could be in use inside government," he said.
The protocol in question is known as Mikey-Sakke (Sakai-Kasahara key encryption in multimedia internet keying).
It works by generating encryption keys that are used to encrypt and decrypt voice conversations.
Although it is technically possible to create these keys on two separate computers and only share part of those keys publicly, the Mikey-Sakke protocol does not do this.
Instead, keys are distributed by a third party to the conversation participants - the process known as key escrow - meaning that they are much more vulnerable to interception.
There are cases in which this would be desirable, commented Prof Nigel Smart, a cryptography expert at the University of Bristol.
"It could make sense to have a form of key escrow where...

Summary: A security researcher has said software developed by the UK intelligence agency GCHQ contains weaknesses making it possible to eavesdrop on phone calls.
###
Article: The findings catch evolution in the act of making this adjustment - as none of the critters have eyes, but some of them still have stumpy eye-stalks.
Three different species were studied, each representing a different subgroup within the same class of crustaceans.
The research is published in the journal BMC Neuroscience.
The class  of "malocostracans" also includes much better-known animals like lobsters, shrimps and wood lice, but this study focussed on three tiny and obscure examples that were only discovered in the 20th Century. It is the first investigation of these mysterious animals' brains.
"We studied three species. All of them live in caves, and all of them are very rare or hardly accessible," said lead author Dr Martin Stegner, from the University of Rostock in Germany.
Specifically, his colleagues retrieved the specimens from the coast of Bermuda, from Table Mountain in South Africa, and from Monte Argentario in Italy.
The animals were preserved rather than living, so the team could not observe their tiny brains in action. But by looking at the physical shape of the brain, and making comparisons with what we know about how the brain works in their evolutionary relatives, the researchers were able to assign jobs to the various lobes, lumps and spindly structures they could see under the microscope.
They were also able to infer what the brain of the creatures' most recent shared ancestor might have looked like.
"What I've done is looked at the structure, and interpreted it in an evolutionary context," Dr Stegner told the BBC.
Interestingly, while the areas devoted to touch and to smell had remained the same or even expanded in the 200 million years or so since the animals' ancestry diverged, the bits of the brain devoted to seeing had shrunk.
It is perhaps not a huge surprise that animals living in total darkness might start to shed, over many generations, the parts of their brain devoted to seeing. But this vanishing act had never been confirmed for these species - and the rate of the change was...

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

Summary:


A man has been jailed for three years after he was caught driving at more than twice the speed limit.
The court heard that the defendant, who was driving a car with a faulty speedometer, was caught by police travelling at more than twice the speed limit on the A38 in North Wales.
The defendant,

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

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

Summary: The space rock that hit Earth 65m years ago and is widely implicated in the end of the dinosaurs was probably a speeding comet, US scientists say.
###
Article: The Mill O' Mains Community Pavilion is being demolished following Sunday's blaze, which is suspected of being started deliberately.
The volunteer-run pavilion was used for youth group and community activities, including providing meals for children.
The petition calls on Dundee City Council to build a replacement for the centre.
The council said it was left with "no other viable option" but to demolish the building.
The petition states: "The pavilion was a hub to the local community and a place for children from different backgrounds to have a place to play and relax.
"We would love to see it rebuilt for the community."
Dundee City Council leader John Alexander told the petitioners: "I'm currently working with officers to identify what led to the fire, what could have been done to prevent it and where we go from here.
"The bottom line is that we will absolutely be working with the community and local councillors.
"Local community officers have been working with key community activists and there will hopefully be some more detail and clarity in the coming days."
Police Scotland said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: "Following the fire at the Mill o' Mains Community Pavilion we are left with no other viable option than to demolish the site.
"The building suffered extreme structural damage, having entirely lost its roof and most of its internal fabric during the fire.
"Work is currently underway to demolish the remnants of the building.
"At this stage our main focus is to clear the site and remove the danger."

Summary: A petition to rebuild a Dundee community centre destroyed in a fire has been signed by over 700 people.
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Article: Widow Una Crown was found in her Magazine Lane home in Wisbech on 13 January. She had been stabbed and her body was burned.
A 58-year-old man was arrested in Wisbech earlier this week on suspicion of murder.
He has been released on bail pending further inquiries.
Mrs Crown was last seen alive on the morning of 11 January, but had spoken to a friend by telephone on the afternoon of the following day.

Summary: A man arrested on suspicion of murdering an 86-year-old woman found stabbed to death in her Cambridgeshire home has been released on bail.
###
Article: Avon and Somerset Police wants to raise the cost of the course from £80 to £95 to help pay for its road policing unit.
The Alliance of British Drivers said the police should not be funded by people "who hadn't done much wrong".
Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said she would not comment on the proposal, which would be discussed later on Monday.
Alliance spokesman Bob Bull described the courses as "not about safety", "more about making money" and a "self-funding merry-go-round.
He said people who were driving at "marginally over" the speed limit should not be penalised and that the police should be concentrating on catching drivers travelling at well over the limit.
In the report, the panel said it hoped the price rise would protect the unit from further cutbacks.
The course is offered to drivers who are caught travelling at 10% above the speed limit plus two mph, but not more than 10% plus nine mph.
At the new price the course would be £5 short of the £100 fixed penalty, but without drivers getting points on their licences.
A motorist who has attended one of the courses within the past three years is not eligible to have the option of attending again.
RAC head of external affairs Pete Williams described the increased cost as "an unwelcome surprise for drivers".
Mr Williams said with more than one million motorists attending the courses each year "there is big money to be made, either by the police or those running the courses".
Staffordshire £80
North Wales £85
Gloucestershire £90
Surrey £95
City of London & Metropolitan £97
Wiltshire Not offered
Source: National Association of Driver Intervention Providers

Summary: