Russia has said bomb attacks which killed at least 140 people in Syria were aimed at "subverting attempts" to reach a political settlement.

Article: The Financial Conduct Authority said it was the largest fine that it or the former Financial Services Authority had imposed for retail conduct failings.
The bonus scheme pressurised staff to hit sales targets or risk being demoted and have their pay cut, the FCA said.
Lloyds Bank has accepted the regulator's findings and apologised to its customers.
"The findings do not make pleasant reading," said FCA director Tracey McDermott.
By Simon GompertzPersonal finance correspondent, BBC News
There was a grim atmosphere in some Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches, as staff tried to avoid being demoted and having their pay cut for failing to meet sales targets.
"I left just before I was likely to have had a breakdown," one staff member told the BBC.
Another reported that "The only thing that matters is hitting sales numbers, not the customer."
And one who lost his job said: "I can only describe my nine months in a branch as a disgrace."
Lloyds has embarked on a trawl of sales to 692,000 customers to see how many may have lost out.
About 11,000 cases are being prioritised - cases where the behaviour of advisers seemed to be most questionable.
There are suggestions that Lloyds may have set aside as much as £100m to cover compensation for failings including the ones highlighted today.
The fine could have been £35m had Lloyds not agreed to settle early, the FCA said.
Lloyds has already set aside £8bn for mis-selling loan insurance and £400m for mis-selling interest rate swaps. And in 2003 it was fined £1.9m and handed a £100m compensation bill by the Financial Services Authority for mis-selling so-called "precipice bonds".
Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer organisation Which?, said: "This should send a clear message to the banking industry that mis-selling won't be tolerated and that customers, not sales, must come first."
He called for the FCA to deliver "a big change in banking culture across the industry".
"In one instance, an adviser sold protection products to himself, his wife and a colleague...

Summary: Lloyds Banking Group has been fined £28m for "serious failings" in relation to bonus schemes for sales staff.
###
Article: That pledge was made as the league launched a new scheme to boost player safety at all levels of the game.
It comes after a $1bn settlement to compensate former players for brain injuries was agreed earlier this year.
"When it comes to addressing head injuries in our game, I'm not satisfied - we can and will do better," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.
The settlement figure with former players was agreed in April following a lawsuit by 5,000 former players who successfully claimed the NFL hid the dangers of repeated head trauma.
The Play Smart, Play Safe initiative will fund further medical research into such injuries as well as engineering research - looking into more protective helmets, for example.
It will also look to develop schemes that raise awareness of head injuries and concussion among players, and examine how the game can improve the way it deals with such injuries.
Goodell said: "While we can never completely eliminate the risk of injury, we are always striving to make the game safer.
"The NFL has been a leader on health and safety in many ways, and we've made some real strides in recent years. But when it comes to addressing head injuries in our game, I'm not satisfied, and neither are the owners of the NFL's 32 clubs."
This season, the NFL has come under scrutiny after Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton suffered four 'helmet-to-helmet' clashes in an opening-game defeat by the Denver Broncos. Denver safety Darian Stewart and linebacker Brandon Marshall subsequently received fines for the hits.
Only one of the hits was penalised by the game's officials, and Newton was at no point checked for concussion.
But Goodell said the new scheme would be "an initiative to drive progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of head injuries, enhance medical protocols and further improve the way the game is taught and played by all who love it".
An independent, scientific advisory board will also be created to lead the way on how the league implements the latest research and advice on head...

Summary: The NFL is to spend $100m (£75m) on medical and engineering research to increase protection for players.
###
Article: The FBI says Apple's lack of co-operation is hindering its investigation.
Here's a plain English guide to the debate, and an explanation of what may happen next.
Before we begin, let's establish what the FBI isn't asking for: it doesn't want Apple to break the encryption on the device. Why? Because it can't.
Apple made the conscious choice in 2014 to remove itself from being able to access encrypted devices, mainly to avoid ethical dilemmas like this. So...
Here are the FBI's specific demands, as outlined in court documents.
The FBI wants Apple to alter what is known as a SIF - System Information File. In this context, the FBI is basically referring to the software that runs on the device. The FBI wants Apple to create a new SIF to place on Farook's iPhone that will allow it to carry out several functions normal iPhones do not allow.
The FBI wants to be able to:
As this row goes through the courts, expect that final element to be a key point the FBI makes - it will argue that the SIF will only work on Farook's phone, and will be known only by Apple, who could choose to destroy it.
In a letter to customers, Apple boss Tim Cook said he did not want to introduce what is known in IT security as a "back door". Like a literal back door, it's simply a different way in. In this case, a different way to get into the phone other than by using the passcode, i.e. the front door.
Back doors are a big deal in security. Hackers make their money from finding them - a back door into a major piece of software or popular device can be highly lucrative. Buyers range from criminals to governments looking to spy or obtain data they otherwise wouldn't be able to reach.
Apple says introducing a back door into the iPhone wouldn't just make Farook's phone insecure and accessible to the US government - it would make every iPhone inherently weaker.
"You can't have a back door that's only for the good guys," Mr Cook said in an interview in 2015.
"Any back door is something that bad guys can exploit."
Most experts the BBC has spoken to...

Summary: Apple chief executive Tim Cook says the FBI's court order to access the mobile phone of San Bernardino killer Syed Farook is "dangerous", "chilling" and "unprecedented".
###
Article: Russia's foreign ministry condemned the "atrocious crimes of extremists".
Sunday's attacks hit the Shia shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, south of Syria's capital Damascus, and the city of Homs.
So-called Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the attacks. Both targeted areas dominated by Islamic minorities reviled by IS.
Four blasts in Sayyida Zeinab killed at least 83 people, according to state media. A monitoring group reported that 57 people, mainly civilians, were killed in a double car bombing in Homs.
The UK-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) put the toll from the Damascus attacks at 120 and said they were among the deadliest to occur during the whole of Syria's civil war.
SOHR also reported on Monday that heavy fighting had cut off the government's only supply route to the northern city of Aleppo.
IS and other Islamist militia had cut the road between Aleppo and the town of Khanasser to the south-east, it said.
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed in the conflict.
Some 11 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad - including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe.
History of the conflict - how the civil war has spread
Maps of the conflict - the shifting territorial gains
The Sayyida Zeinab district is the location of Syria's holiest Shia Muslim shrine, said to contain the grave of the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.
The district was hit by suicide attacks last month that left 71 people dead and which IS fighters also said they had carried out.
On Sunday US Secretary of State John Kerry said a "provisional agreement" had been reached with Russia on a partial truce.
However he admitted issues remained to be resolved and said he did not expect any immediate change on the ground.
Earlier this month, world powers involved in the crisis in Syria agreed to seek a "cessation of hostilities", but the Friday deadline came and went.
In Homs, the blasts happened in a predominantly Alawite district, the sect to which...

Summary:


A man who was told he had a "ticking bomb" of cancer in his body has been cleared of 20 counts of wounding with intent.
He denied 20 counts of wounding with intent against nine women and one man at Nottingham Crown Court.
He said he had never told alleged victims they had "a ticking bomb

A breast surgeon accused of carrying out unnecessary operations has told a court that witness statements against him have been "coached".

Article: The service was stopped after concerns were raised over the number of organs rejected by Leicester General Hospital.
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust called for an external review which found problems with its procedures.
It has suspended the service while changes are made affecting about seven patients.
Experts were called in January after it was revealed the hospital appeared to refuse a higher than average number of kidneys offered to Leicester's Renal Transplant Service.
By Rob SissonsHealth Correspondent, BBC East Midlands Today
Kidney transplants are one of the miracles of modern medicine, something that truly transforms people's lives.
Without it, they face months, years, on dialysis, wired up to a machine every few days and with restrictions on food and drink.
The news that Leicester's unit may have turned down kidneys that might have been used locally, will not sit well with people waiting for that phone call.
People die waiting for a kidney.
The decision on whether or not to accept an organ for transplant can be a tricky one for surgeons and sometimes they might think it's worth waiting for a better match.
The review team visited last week to speak to staff, examine paperwork and patients' outcomes.
It found no patients had been harmed, the trust said, but it raised questions about the "policies, processes and guidelines" and also the way the team worked together.
Andrew Furlong, the trust's deputy medical director, said it was "incredibly disappointing".
He added: "We have decided to pause the surgery because for this, or any other kind of complex surgical procedure, we have to have cast iron processes, policies and procedures underpinning the surgery itself and good team working between the clinicians, until it can be independently verified that these are in place we would prefer to err on the side of caution."
The review team will return in two weeks and will make further recommendations including whether kidney transplants should resume.
Three patients were due to have live...

Summary: Kidney transplants in Leicester have been suspended for at least two weeks while an urgent review is carried out.
###
Article: Charles Bloch, 22, was with his girlfriend and dog Carlo on Friday when he was told by a taxi driver he could not take the dog for religious reasons.
It is the second time this year Mr Bloch has been refused a taxi because of his dog but this time his girlfriend shared a video of it on social media.
ADT Taxis admitted its driver broke the law and he has since been sacked.
Commenting on the case, Leicester City Council said religion was "not a sensible excuse" and drivers are told about the law on their licence and during exams.
"It's extremely frustrating," said Mr Bloch, a student at De Montfort University in Leicester. "But, it's a very common thing and happens a lot."
Mr Bloch has deteriorating eyesight due to glaucoma and in April was refused a ride by an Uber driver who also cited religious reasons.
"I have no hatred towards the driver and his religion, and I would respect that if the law wasn't there, but the law is there to help people be more integrated into the community," he said.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act, it is illegal for a private hire vehicle to refuse to take a disabled person because they have an assistance dog, nor can they charge more.
Anyone found guilty of an offence under the act is liable to a fine.
Assistance dogs are defined as dogs trained to guide someone who is blind, deaf, epileptic or suffers a condition which affects mobility.
Drivers can apply to a licensing authority for exemption from carrying assistance dogs, but only on medical grounds.
Source: UK Government
ADT Taxis posted a statement on its Facebook page, saying it was "deeply ashamed" by the driver's conduct.
A city council spokesman said: "Drivers are legally required to accept bookings from passengers with assistance dogs unless the driver has a medical exemption certificate.
"We're not aware of any taxi drivers in Leicester to which this applies."
He said they were considering whether to revoke the driver's licence and had contacted Mr Bloch with regards to legal action being taken.

Summary: A blind man was barred from using a taxi by a driver who took religious exception to his guide dog.
###
Article: The Local Data Company (LDC) which compiled the figures said the vacancy rate during the period increased by 1.3% to 16.7% - more than 2% higher than the average across the UK.
All Scottish cities apart from Aberdeen and Stirling saw an increase in the number of empty shops.
Paisley has more empty shops than anywhere else.
The figures, released ahead of Scotland's Towns Conference in Perth, suggest vacancy rates in shopping centres, at 17.9%, are higher than in high streets, at 16.7%, and in retail parks, at 9.1%.
However, the LDC said although the number of empty shops was rising, the "negative trends of 2011 have slowed".
Matthew Hopkinson, director of the LDC, said: "Scotland's retail centres are under the same national pressures of weak consumer spend and the decline of multiple retailer shop numbers.
"As with the rest of UK, independent retailers have remained positive in their growth rates and the multiple closures have slowed but still remain negative."
In the first half of 2012, the number of independent retailers in Scotland increased by 2.3% while the multiple retailers declined by 0.48%.
Professor Leigh Sparks, from the Institute for Retail Studies at Stirling University, commented: "We need data on retail change in town centres and we need regular reporting of activity.
"We need town centres and those interested in them, to recognise this need and act on it."
The Scottish government announced earlier this month that it was reviewing town centres to "scope out" potential solutions to the issues facing them.

Summary: The number of empty shops in Scotland has increased in the first half of this year, according to a new report.
###
Article: Dr Ian Paterson denies 20 counts of wounding with intent against nine women and one man at Nottingham Crown Court.
He said he had never told alleged victims they had "a ticking bomb" of cancer inside them.
He said the phrase appears in three witness statements which was "clear evidence" statements have been coached.
"It's a scary thing, why would I intentionally scare a patient, that you've got a time bomb?" he said.
More updates on this and other stories in Birmingham and the Black Country
The 59-year-old also said one patient, John Ingram, who had a double mastectomy after tests showed only potentially abnormal cells, was a "quivering mass of anxiety", convinced he would get cancer.
Nothing he told him would have changed his mind, Mr Paterson said.
Mr Ingram gave evidence saying Mr Paterson, who worked at hospitals run by the Heart of England NHS Trust and Spire Healthcare, told him in 2006 he was "on the road to developing breast cancer".
But Mr Paterson, of Ashley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, said on Wednesday that Mr Ingram's memory had become "confused" over time.
He described his patient as a "troubled gentleman with multiple phobias - one of them breast cancer, because his mother had died of breast cancer, aged 42".
"So the minute he had an abnormality in his chest wall, in his head he was on the way to getting breast cancer," he said.
"Very little I told him thereafter would disavow him of that view."
Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC asked whether it was "quite wrong" to say he would "travel in time towards cancer".
Mr Paterson said: "I doubt I said that, simply because nobody has a crystal ball."
The trial continues.

Summary:

Article: {{document}}

Summary: ||| {{target}}


the supply of illegal drugs, including the supply of drugs that

A new "blanket ban" on so-called legal highs will carry prison sentences of up to seven years, the government says.

Article: The change will eventually mean swapping the home routers of millions of customers as older devices cannot work with the new system.
About 1.5 million BT customers already use IPv6-ready hardware.
Rival Sky has converted about one million customers to IPv6, and many mobile operators use it widely.
The net is steadily moving to adopt IPv6 because stocks of the older addresses have run out.
In a presentation to an industry conference, BT said it planned to "enable" IPv6 on half of its network by April 2016 and complete the transition by the end of the same year.
BT currently has about 7.8 million customers, and 6.3 million of those use its Homehub 4, which cannot currently work with IPv6.
BT said it was "looking at options" for how to upgrade that hardware to use v6 addressing.
As hardware is changed, BT intends to support both old and new addressing systems on its network to avoid disruption.
Sky said it was running extensive trials that had, so far, converted more than one million customers and staff to IPv6. The BBC understands that the majority of Sky customers should be switched over by early 2016.
TalkTalk and Virgin are currently running smaller scale trials.
Adrian Kennard, who runs the A&A ISP and has been offering IPv6 for 13 years, welcomed news of BT's plans and wished it luck with the project.
"Our experience deploying IPv6 was that we did not find any serious problems and that it all 'just works'," he said. "Hopefully, other major providers will follow soon."
Mobile networks have been among the most aggressive adopters of IPv6, because the addressing system is widely supported on modern handsets.
"It's easier for the mobile operators to do this due to the nature of the smartphone devices they sell, and the rate at which consumers refresh them," said Dr Tim Chown, co-chairman of the UK's IPv6 Council and a computer science lecturer at the University of Southampton.
Already, he said, 30-50% of all the browsing that people do would be via IPv6, because widely used content networks and websites,...

Summary: BT has announced that by the end of 2016 its entire network will be able to use IPv6 - the next version of the net's core addressing system.
###
Article: Details of the cost, sign posting, and enforcement are due in a report in March.
Work on the scheme is due to begin later this year with it being completed over three financial years.
The plans were approved by members of the council's transport and environment committee.
About 25 miles of Edinburgh's roads, from Arthur's Seat to Blackford Hill, are already covered by a 20mph limit.
The scheme is designed to improve safety and encourage more people to walk or cycle.
Environmental campaigners welcomed the move but some cautioned that more needs to be done to tackle air pollution and encourage active transport.
The local authority said the new arrangements will come into effect on a phased basis from the end of the year onwards, provided the necessary speed limit orders are secured.
Limits of 30mph and 40mph will be maintained on key arterial routes in the city.
Transport convener Lesley Hinds said: "I'm pleased that committee has today given the green light for our 20mph plans.
"This initiative has been under development for nearly three years and we've carried out a huge amount of public consultation.
"The most recent and most extensive consultation last autumn found that 60% of respondents were supportive or strongly supportive of our proposals."
Friends of the Earth Scotland's air pollution campaigner Emilia Hanna said: "We welcome Edinburgh Council's decision to introduce 20mph zones across the city.
"20mph zones will create safer, more attractive and more enjoyable streets for everyone. They will encourage more cycling and walking and help to fight dangerous air pollution.
"One of the biggest barriers to walking and cycling is fear of speeding traffic, so 20mph zones, if accompanied by greater investment in active travel infrastructure, could transform how people move around the city."
Figures released by the charity at the weekend showed that some streets in Edinburgh are still breaking Scottish and European standards for clean air.
It said 20mph zones can lead to traffic flowing more smoothly, cutting...

Summary: Councillors have passed plans for more than 80% of Edinburgh's roads, including the whole of the city centre, to have a 20mph (32kmph) speed limit.
###
Article: Last week, China announced a ban on coal imports during 2017, in response to North Korea's continuing ballistic missile tests.
The statement did not name China, but referred to a "neighbouring country" which "often claims" to be friendly.
"This country, styling itself a big power, is dancing to the tune of the US," the state-run news agency said.
In a direct reference to the ban on imports, the statement said China had "taken inhumane steps such as totally blocking foreign trade", which would help its enemies "to bring down the social system" in North Korea.
The country relies on the coal trade with China for cash income.
Although China backs North Korea, alone among the international community, it has been a critic of its nuclear programme, and has backed UN sanctions against it.
Its ban on coal imports came a week after North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
The following day, Chinese media reported that a coal shipment from Korea worth $1m (Â£0.8m) had been stopped at Wenzhou port, on China's eastern coast, before the ban was officially announced a few days later.
North Korea claims to have advanced nuclear capabilities that have never been verified. The country said it created a nuclear weapon in just a few years without any external aid.
If it successfully created a fully functional inter-continental ballistic missile, it could conceivably threaten the United States - about 9,000 km (5,500 miles) away - as well as closer neighbours.
But the government remains defiant in the face of international pressure.
"It is utterly childish to think that [North Korea] would not manufacture nuclear weapons and inter-continental ballistic rockets if a few [pennies] of money is cut off," it said in its statement.
The words "dancing to the tune of the US" may refer to President Donald Trump's remarks, before taking office, that China should bring North Korea "under control".
"China hasâ€¦ total control over North Korea," he said in an interview with...

Summary: North Korea has lashed out at its only international ally, China, accusing it of giving in to American demands.
###
Article: Ministers are to publish draft laws they say are a "landmark" in prohibiting the substances' production, distribution, sale and supply.
Legal highs, officially called new psychoactive substances, have been linked to a number of deaths.
Ministers said young people who took them were "taking exceptional risks with their health".
A blanket ban on legal highs, which are often sold online or on the high street, was in the Conservative Party's election manifesto and featured in the Queen's Speech.
Labour also promised to ban their sale and distribution in its manifesto.
The Psychoactive Substances Bill applied to "any substance intended for human consumption that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect", the government said.
Alcohol, tobacco and caffeine will be excluded, and there are also exemptions for food and medical products, while controlled drugs will continue to be regulated by existing laws.
The new restrictions will also extend to the sale of nitrous oxide - also known as laughing gas or "hippy crack" - for human use.
What are legal highs?
The government said the "legitimate sale" of nitrous oxide, which is also used for food processing, medicinal and industrial purposes, would not be affected.
Home Office minister Mike Penning said the measures would "fundamentally change the way we tackle new psychoactive substances".
They would end the "game of cat and mouse" whereby new drugs appeared on the market more quickly than the government could identify and ban them, he said.
He added: "The blanket ban will give police and other law enforcement agencies greater powers to tackle the reckless trade in psychoactive substances, instead of having to take a substance-by-substance approach."
Legal highs are not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, although individual substances, such as mephedrone, have been outlawed.
The government's proposals would apply throughout the United Kingdom, and would include powers to seize and destroy legal highs and to search people, premises and vehicles.
Civil measures -...

Summary:


The Japanese carmaker is planning to cut up to 1,000 jobs in Britain.
Article: Toyota is planning to cut up to 1,000 jobs in Britain, the company said on Tuesday.
The company said it would cut jobs in its UK operations, including in its Swindon plant, as part of

Toyota says its full-year profits will be better than expected thanks to a pick-up in sales and a boost from currency fluctuations.

Article: Tim Farron said the Labour leader was "blinkered" to the risk of an exit in the 23 June referendum.
Mr Corbyn was forced to defend himself after criticism he was not making a more "passionate" case to Remain.
Mr Farron urged unhappy Labour members to switch to his "united force".
At the Lib Dems' spring conference in York, he said: "Jeremy Corbyn, please do not let your own internal party chaos get in the way of winning this campaign.
"I know you may have wanted to leave in the past, but we treat your conversion as genuine and so I ask you to show the zeal of the convert and get on board."
He added: "If your party leadership remains blinkered to the risk, then your party is sleepwalking to the exit. So, come with us, share a platform, and let's make the positive, unified case that we all believe in."
Mr Corbyn, a longstanding critic of the EU, has defended Labour's campaigning on the referendum, saying his party is pushing for "a social Europe".
Speaking on a visit to Dagenham on Tuesday, the Labour leader said there were issues on which the EU should be challenged, but "at the moment we're campaigning because we want this sense of unity across Europe".
His spokesman added he would be making a "big" speech on the EU "in due course".
Mr Farron also attacked Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith for "appalling" claims last month that staying in the EU would leave the country vulnerable to a Paris-style terrorism attack.
"Some of the rhetoric in the campaign recently has been unpleasant, to put it mildly," Mr Farron told a rally of party activists.
"People on both sides have tried to scaremonger about borders, refugees and migrants. Using desperate people fleeing war and terror as pawns to score points is appalling and it is weak.
"This campaign needs the opposite. This campaign needs strength and compassion."

Summary: Jeremy Corbyn should not allow "internal party chaos" to jeopardise the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said.
###
Article: He initially planned to speak at the event in June but pulled out following advice from Palestinian academics.
Pro-Palestinian campaigners said the 71-year-old wrote to the organisers on 3 May saying that he had planned to criticise the Israeli government.
The conference chairman criticised the move as "improper".
Previous speakers at the Israeli Presidential Conference include former UK prime minister Tony Blair, former US president George W Bush and former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace laureate Dr Henry Kissinger.
A statement published on Tuesday by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, with Prof Hawking's approval, said: "This is his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there."
A spokesman for the University of Cambridge - where Prof Hawking is a director of research - said the scientist had written to the Israeli president's office regarding his decision.
"We had understood previously that his decision was based purely on health grounds having been advised by doctors not to fly," the spokesman added.
The withdrawal follows representations Prof Hawking received from Palestinian academics and pro-Palestinian groups.
But he was sharply criticised by conference organisers.
"The academic boycott against Israel is in our view outrageous and improper, certainly for someone for whom the spirit of liberty lies at the basis of his human and academic mission," conference chairman Israel Maimon said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Fair Play group, which campaigns against boycotts of Israel, described the scientist's withdrawal as "bizarre".
"Prof Hawking could have joined the conference and explained his views on the conflict in the region, just as many other participants have done.
"By boycotting the conference, he has thrown away this opportunity and will help nobody."
The Israeli Ambassador in London said it was a shame Prof Hawking would not be attending.
"Rather than caving into...

Summary: UK cosmologist Prof Stephen Hawking has withdrawn from a high-profile Israeli conference, in support of an academic boycott of the country.
###
Article: A full collection of the books, from its first edition to the most recent published this year for the comic's 80th anniversary, went under the hammer at Curr and Dewar in Dundee.
The very first book fetched £2,800, with the second and third selling for £1,500 and £900 respectively.
An original piece of artwork by Beano artist Dudley D Watkins sold for £950.
The third edition of the Broons annual fetched £1,400 at the auction.
Auctioneer Steven Dewar said there had been "significant interest" in the comic collection from buyers.
The set of books was discovered by a man in his loft years after they had been handed down to him by his father.
The vendor, who opted to remain anonymous, was in the saleroom to see the books go under the hammer.
Mr Dewar said: "He is delighted, and so are we. There was a lot of interest and the sale has gone really well."
The full-size framed Lord Snooty cartoon, an original hand drawn by Dudley D. Watkins, shows German bombers suspending a bee hive from swastika adorned planes.
The artwork, which was published in the Beano in April 1940 was described by auctioneers as "an outstanding work".
Mr Dewar said the Oor Wullie books had been found in an attic by their owner after he had spotted an identical one on the BBC's Antique Roadshow.
Mr Dewar said: "He saw it and thought 'I've seen that' and went into the loft and there it was.
"They were his father's, but he has no family and so the time was right to sell them."
Mr Dewar said another seller approached him with the Dudley D. Watkins artwork after he put a note about the Oor Wullie books on the auctioneer's website.
Mr Dewar said: "The vendor says he almost certainly bought it from my father at auction in the 70s - and wouldn't have paid more than £20 for it.
"It was drawn for Beano number 92 and appeared on 27 April 1940.
"Whether there was a little bit of a government push to boost the people's morale we don't know.
"It is a great story - it really is."

Summary: A rare set of the earliest Oor Wullie books has sold for more than £5,000 at auction.
###
Article: The Japanese firm expects net profit in the year to March of 1.7 trillion yen ($15.1bn; Â£12.1bn), compared with a previous forecast of 1.55 trillion yen.
That is despite losing its top-selling carmaker status to Volkswagen in 2016,
Meanwhile, Toyota said it had begun formal talks to work with Suzuki on projects including safety technology.
Analysts said the partnership - which could also involve collaboration on vehicles that were less damaging to the environment - would give Suzuki access to Toyota's technology. Benefits for Toyota are likely to include tapping in to Suzuki's strong market position in India.
The forecast for 2016-17 profits is still below the 2.1 trillion yen profit it recorded a year earlier.
But with Japan's yen weakening against the dollar, it will benefit from sales overseas which are worth more when converted back into the local currency.
Like other Japanese carmakers, Toyota is watching closely for any trade tariffs introduced by the new US administration.
At the moment, only about half of the cars it sells in the country are manufactured locally. Last month, US President Donald Trump criticised it for making vehicles in Mexico to sell over the border.
The US is its biggest market, and it is struggling to meet demand for bigger vehicles such as sport utility vehicles. Lower petrol prices have made such models more affordable to drive.

Summary:


The US economy added 209,000 jobs in October, beating analysts' expectations, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%.
The Dow Jones closed at a record for the eighth consecutive day, rising 0.3% to 22,092.81.
The wider S&P 500 index closed up 0

Stronger than expected jobs figures helped to lift US stocks on Friday, leading the Dow to another record.

Article: Colin Evans, 39, was found dead at home in Broomfield Road, Chelmsford, Essex, in September 2014.
He had been stabbed multiple times by Jose Correia Agrela, of no fixed address, who fled wearing his victim's clothes and taking his pet dog.
Agrela, 30, was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years and three months at Chelmsford Crown Court.
On sentencing, Judge Christopher Ball QC told him he had abused the help of a man who "had befriended you, offered you food and friendship".
Agrela denied murder - trying to claim someone else killed Mr Evans while he had been out walking the dog, Sweep - but was convicted in court last month.
Det Ch Insp Martin Passmore, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said Mr Evans had invited Agrela into his home "as an act of charity after he became homeless".
"It beggars belief that Agrela could launch such an attack on a man who had given him a roof over his head," he said.
He added the sentence length reflected the "savage nature of the attack".

Summary: A homeless man who brutally murdered a cafe worker who had "befriended" him has been jailed for more than 20 years.
###
Article: -6%
Overall use since 2006
-12% Bus passengers
-7% Ferry passengers
+29%  ScotRail passengers
The National Transport Strategy also said that in the same period, traffic on the country's roads went up by 2%.
Transport Minister Derek Mackay said the Scottish government had "invested heavily" in transport since the first strategy was published in 2006.
He added that progress in key areas had been made, "despite the recession".
The updated strategy looked at trends and statistics over the last nine years and said;
The report also detailed the "significant" fall in road deaths.
It said the number of people killed was down from 314 in 2006 to 200 in 2014, a reduction of 36%.
Director of lobby group Transform Scotland, Colin Howden, said it was "tragic" that there had been "absolutely no progress" in moving people from cars to public transport.
He added: "As the new strategy sets out, the past decade has seen a 2% increase in traffic levels, while public transport use has declined by 6%.
"Whether one wants to tackle congestion, improve connectivity, or cut emissions, the evidence in this new strategy highlights a wasted decade in improving Scotland's transport."
However, Mr Mackay believed the review had produced "good news" on a range of issues including;
He said: "Rail has performed particularly strongly with more passengers than ever before now choosing to travel on Scotland's railways, with the newly opened Borders Railway leading the line in this success.
"The Scottish government has committed Â£5bn to transforming Scotland's rail network, including Â£475mn for the largest-ever train improvement programme seen in Scotland.
"This will see 10% more trains for the ScotRail fleet, providing 23% extra seats for passengers, and mean that 90% of all Scotland's trains will either be new or fully refurbished by 2019."
And Transport Scotland said that despite the economic squeeze investment in the infrastructure had continued since 2006.
A spokesman pointed to the growth in rail passengers which had recorded a 30%...

Summary: The number of people using public transport in Scotland over the last nine years has fallen by 6%, a new report has revealed.
###
Article: It was the worst performing part of the UK last October, according to a regular survey of 3 and 4 star hotels by accountants BDO.
Scotland was the only part of the UK to see a fall in both occupancy rates and in revenue in the year to last autumn.
Occupancy across Scottish cities fell 5.6% to 81% of capacity.
Revenue was down 9.5% to average revenue per room of Â£51.73.
Revenue per room rose 10% in England and by 42% in Wales, though both had averages below that of Scotland.
Aberdeen hotels faced a fall in occupancy of 20% since October 2014, to 65%, and revenue was down 46% to Â£43.05.
Taking the evidence for January to October, Aberdeen occupancy was down 14%, and revenue by 18%. The bigger fall for October indicates an acceleration of the hotel sector's problems during autumn.
Edinburgh hotel occupancy in October fell 5% compared with the previous year, to 85%, and revenue by less than 1%.
Both Glasgow and Inverness saw occupancy drop slightly, but revenue per room rose.
Alastair Rae, a partner at BDO and specialist in the hospitality sector, said that, apart from Aberdeen, the decline was not a cause for concern.
He said the drop in oil company activity has been "substantially dampening demand in the city".
"The fall in occupancy and revenue in Edinburgh is perhaps an early indication of consumer confidence being slightly dented in the autumn and a small reduction in leisure activity," he added.
"Inverness continued to have a good year and has the best occupancy and revenue to date figures for 2015 of any of Scotland's main cities."

Summary: Aberdeen hotels have suffered a 46% one-year drop in revenue per room, as the oil industry downturn has seen business spending cut.
###
Article: Official data showed the US economy added 209,000 jobs last month, beating analysts' expectations, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%.
The Dow Jones closed at a record for the eighth consecutive day, rising 0.3% to 22,092.81.
The wider S&P 500 index closed up 0.19% at 2,476.83, while the Nasdaq rose 0.18% to 6,351.56.
Analysts said the latest jobs report meant the Federal Reserve was still on track to raise interest rates later this year, which would be the third increase in 2017.
Shares of banks, which benefit from higher rates, saw some of the most significant gains on Friday. Goldman Sachs was among the biggest winners on the Dow, rising 2.6%.
Among individual stocks, Viacom shares sank nearly 14% after it forecast a drop in sales to US pay-TV companies and streaming services in the current quarter.
Consumer review website operator Yelp saw its shares jump by more than a quarter after it announced the sale of its Eat24 business to Grubhub for $287.5m.
Yelp also reported revenues of $209m for the second quarter of the year, which beat analysts' expectations.
US stocks are in record territory this year. The Nasdaq is up almost 17% since January. The Dow has risen 11% and the S&P 500 is climbed almost 10%.

Summary:


The WGA has announced its shortlist for the 2016 Academy Awards.
The guild has nominated 14 screenplays across three categories: Adapted, original and documentary.
The nominees are: Boyhood, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Whiplash vie in the original screenplay category

Two men arrested in connection with the suspected murder of a missing man have been released on bail.

Article: It is the terminus where the heroine of Leo Tolstoy's 19th Century novel Anna Karenina watches a man being cut in two by a train - a warning of the tragedy to come.
Today the station is still a busy place, with long-distance trains setting off for St Petersburg and the Arctic.
This month, on a Tuesday night, well after midnight, an elderly woman made her way through the crowds and bustle to board the "Arktika" express to Murmansk. It was the start of a long journey in a two-bed sleeper compartment.
Marina Khodorkovskaya was not heading for Murmansk. She was planning to alight a few stops earlier at Segezha - a scruffy town close to the Arctic Circle, known for its pulp and paper factory and for the gulag of the Stalin era.
These days there is still a prison in Segezha - Penal Colony No 7.
That is where Mrs Khodorkovskaya was heading to visit her son Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, and now seen by many as its longest serving political prisoner.
She makes the journey every three months, and this month she agreed that we could travel with her.
She told me she had lost count of the number of times over the last 10 years that she had made the journey either to Segezha or to Eastern Siberia where her son use to be held.
"I used to collect tickets," she recalled. "But then I threw them all away."
When she described the visiting room, it sounded more suited to violent criminals than those convicted of economic crimes.
"It is a long room divided into two with prisoners on one side and relatives on the other," she explained. "Then there are partitions - each with a little desk and a phone set on either of the thick glass. If somebody talks loudly next to you, you can hardly hear anything."
The journey to Segezha takes 20 hours in each direction. The three-monthly visits last four hours.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky is also allowed a 15-minute weekly phone call from a booth outside.
"It's very cold there in winter," Mrs Khodorkovskaya said. "Once we thought he was ill, because he was speaking very strangely....

Summary: Moscow's Leningradsky Vokzal is the best known railway station in Russia.
###
Article: About 86% were ranked in these top two categories of school effectiveness by Ofsted, up from 84% in August.
Primary schools performed better, with 87% judged good or outstanding, compared with 76% of secondaries.
There are still big regional variations, with fewer good schools in large parts of northern England and the Midlands.
In these areas, there are 17 local authority areas where fewer than 60% of secondary schools are judged good or outstanding.
In the south and east of England, there are seven local authorities in this situation.
At the lower end, Ofsted said: "Primary schools continue to perform more strongly than secondary schools, and at the end of March 75% of primary schools that required improvement had improved at their next inspection.
"However, the proportion of secondary schools that improved from 'requires improvement' has increased from 45% in August 2015 to 52% as at March 2016."
The Department for Education said: "In this academic year alone 100,000 more pupils are now benefiting from attending good or outstanding schools."
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said: "We are determined to spread educational excellence everywhere and today's figures reveal that we have come a long way in doing just this.
"Since 2010 over 1.4 million more children attend the best schools in our country - a triumph for hard-working teachers and pupils everywhere."
Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "This continued progress has come despite severe funding pressures and teacher shortages.
"These issues must be tackled urgently in order to maintain and raise standards further.
"Young people only get one chance to go through their school and college career and a successful education system is essential for the future economic and social wellbeing of our country."

Summary: There has been a slight increase in the proportion of schools and academies in England judged good or outstanding.
###
Article: The Disney space adventure is joined by The Imitation Game, Clint Eastwood's American Sniper, Gone Girl and Wild.
Guardians, based on a Marvel comic, topped the US box office in 2014, with ticket sales of $332.8m (Â£203.9m).
The guild nominated 14 screenplays across three categories: Adapted, original and documentary.
Boyhood, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Whiplash vie in the original screenplay category.
Finding Vivian Maier, The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, Last Days of Vietnam and Red Army are nominated in the documentary category.
WGA winners have a reliable track record for predicting the Oscar screenplay winners.
However, this year there exists some disparity as Whiplash, the Sundance winner about a jazz drummer, is nominated as an original screenplay in the WGA shortlist but is considered a contender in the adapted category for the Oscar nominations.
Damien Chazelle's tale was inspired by his own life. However, it first appeared as short film at the 2012 Sundance film festival in order to drum up finance.
Academy rules considers a "short" to qualify under their guidelines of  "screenplays based on previously produced or published material".
Sony Pictures submitted it as an original screenplay to both bodies, but did not learn until earlier this week that the Academy had marked it for consideration in the adapted category.
Strict
Musical adaptation Into the Woods and Angelina Jolie's Unbroken did not make the WGA nominations.
Other notable absences included Stephen Hawking drama The Theory of Everything, Hollywood satire Birdman and Martin Luther King drama Selma.
They did not qualify under the guild's stringent rules - which require that scripts be written by a WGA member and produced under WGA jurisdiction.
Last year, 12 Years a Slave was also ineligible according to WGA rules - but the script, by Britain's John Ridley, went on to win the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.
Spike Jonze's Her won best original screenplay at both the guild awards and the...

Summary: Guardians of the Galaxy has received a surprise nomination in the adapted screenplay shortlist, as selected by the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
###
Article: Chris May, 28, was last seen by family at his home in Kelvedon on 25 May 2015. His abandoned Volkswagen Golf was found 10 miles (16km) away in Fairstead.
His case was formally declared a murder by Essex Police investigation exactly a year later.
A 35-year-old Braintree man and a 25-year-man from Kelvedon have been released pending further inquiries.
The two men will have to report back to police in late July.

Summary:


A new study has found that the number of people who have been sexually assaulted by a stranger has increased by more than a third in the past decade.
The study, by the University of Exeter, found that the number of people who had been sexually assaulted by a stranger had risen from 1.3 million in 2005

The UN has ended its campaign with comic book heroine Wonder Woman, a spokesman says, less than two months after her appointment sparked outrage.

Article: Norman Davies, 56, took the Patterdale terrier for a walk in May to a secluded area before holding her collar and cutting her with a kitchen knife.
Misty managed to escape and was found the next day before being taken to the vets, who were able to save her.
Davies, of Grafton Road, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, admitted causing unnecessary suffering at an earlier hearing before magistrates in Chester.
He admitted in an interview to slitting the three-year-old dog's throat because she was "urinating inside", the RSPCA said.
Davies has also been banned from keeping animals for life.
RSPCA inspector Lisa Lupson said: "Misty would have been absolutely terrified and it would have been excruciatingly painful for her.
"Davies cut clean through her skin but missed her main arteries. If Misty had not managed to get free when she did then she may not be here today - she had an incredibly lucky escape."
Misty has since been rehomed and is "making progress", she added.

Summary: A man who slit his pet dog's throat has been jailed for 18 weeks.
###
Article: Dumfries and Galloway Council has terminated the lease for the fixed nets near Annan.
It followed warnings that the nets may be intercepting salmon destined for the River Eden in Cumbria.
The Salmon and Trout Association (Scotland) said the council could be breaching the EU's Habitats Directive.
It threatened a judicial review if the local authority did not agree to halt stake net fishing immediately.
A spokesman for the council said it ended the lease "with much regret".
"However, we take our environmental responsibilities seriously and understood that to continue at this point in time without having conducted a proper scientific assessment with conclusive results would be in breach of the Habitats Directive," he added.
"Our council maintained the stake nets licences for as long as possible in the face of challenge until the legal advice indicated that this position was untenable."
He said the matter will be kept under review and the decision will not affect traditional haaf and poke netting on the River Annan.
Andrew Graham-Stewart, the director of the Salmon and Trout Association (Scotland), welcomed the move by the council.
He said: "Against a background of declining wild salmon stocks across almost all of the North Atlantic, the Solway rivers have been particularly badly affected with precipitous declines.
"The evidence from rod catches is compelling."
The River Annan's rod catch of 317 in 2014 compared to a five-year average of 1,557.
In the Nith in the same year, the rod catch was 520 - significantly lower than the 1,658 average.
Mr Graham-Stewart said the River Eden's rod catch in 2014 was 40% of the five-year average.
He added: "In the circumstances there can now be no justification for any commercial salmon netting in the Solway."
Nick Chisholm, director of the Royal Annan District Salmon Fisheries Board, said: "I think it's a brave and right decision by Dumfries and Galloway Council. It wasn't an easy one for them to make."
Stake nets are fixed into the ground on parts of the Solway coast.  At...

Summary: Fishermen have been banned from using stake nets in the Solway Firth in an effort to boost salmon numbers in nearby rivers.
###
Article: Divers have recovered a series of objects from the ship called The London, which exploded off the coast of Southend in 1665.
The haul so far includes pewter spoons, coins and navigational dividers.
A project spokesman said: "The artefacts we can recover may be similar in scope to those... from the Mary Rose, but 120 years later in date."
The Mary Rose saw 34 years of service before it sank while leading an attack on a French invasion fleet in 1545. Around 19,000 artefacts were found on board after it was raised from the seabed of the Solent in 1982.
The London was built in Chatham in Kent and mysteriously exploded on a journey along the coast to Gravesend in 1665.
Specialist divers have undertaken 10 dives of the site of the wreck, which lies in two parts on the seabed.
Mark Dunkley, a maritime archaeologist at English Heritage, said: "There are still five dives to go but what we have confirmed so far is that the well preserved and vulnerable remains of the wreck of the London are consistent with the historical records that she did in fact blow up."
Steve Webster, project manager at Cotswold Archaeology, said: "This two-year project is the only ongoing excavation on an underwater wreck in England.
"This will allow us to better understand a whole range of changes that occurred between the first half of the 16th Century and the second half of the 17th Century, a period that saw the expansion of Britain's sea power and marks the start of the British Empire."
The London was rediscovered during preparatory works before the start of the London Gateway Port development in Thurrock in 2005.
The objects found will be curated by Southend Museums Service.

Summary: The excavation of an underwater wreck could be "similar in scope" to the Mary Rose warship, archaeologists have said.
###
Article: The superhero had been declared an honorary ambassador to promote messages about women's empowerment and gender-based violence.
The character's "sexualised" appearance was one element critics seized on to deem the choice inappropriate.
A petition against the selection gathered nearly 45,000 signatures.
The UN did not explain why the project with Wonder Woman, announced in October, would end on Friday.
But spokesman Jeffrey Brez said campaigns using fictional characters often lasted no longer than a few months, Reuters news agency reported.
DC Entertainment, which publishes DC Comics, said it was pleased with the exposure Wonder Woman had brought to the cause.
Warner Bros and DC Entertainment are supporting a year-long campaign by the UN and its children's agency, Unicef, for gender equality and women's empowerment.
In the petition against the character's appointment, opponents said the image she projected was "not culturally encompassing or sensitive".
"It is alarming that the United Nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualised image at a time when the headline news in United States and the world is the objectification of women and girls," it said.
Wonder Woman - an Amazonian from the all-female paradise of Themyscira - masquerades as Diana Prince, whose occupations include an army nurse, until her services are called on by a society in peril.
She first came to the public's attention in October 1941, and was most famously played by actress Lynda Carter in the hit US TV series that ran from 1975-79.
The announcement came as the UN itself was under criticism for having a lack of gender parity in senior roles.
Despite campaigns there has never been a female secretary general and one analysis found that in 2015 nine of 10 senior leadership jobs went to men.

Summary:


The town's MP, Robert Halfon, has been accused of being a "racist" after he was pictured with a Polish man who was killed in Harlow.
The MP was pictured with the man, who was killed in the town, in a photograph taken at a Polish festival in Harlow.
The man

Harlow is celebrating the 70th anniversary of being designated a new town.

Article: The fund, which pays for drugs not routinely available on the NHS, has cut the number of treatments offered in order to balance the books.
Four appeals were subsequently rejected, but Regorafenib will now continue to be offered on the scheme.
Charities had criticised the decision to remove the other drugs.
All the drugs on the Cancer Drugs Fund have been rejected by the NHS as a whole for not being cost-effective.
Meanwhile NHS England announced that this fund was due to go Â£100m over budget in 2014-15.
In a large review of how the fund operated, NHS England decided to continue paying for only 59 of the 84 treatments it had previously offered as recently as January.
At the same time, three new drugs were added to the scheme.
Many of the companies who had drugs removed from the list appealed against the decisions, and five drugs were reappraised.
As a result just one, Regorafenib which is developed by Bayer, will now continue to be offered.
Prof Peter Clark, the chairman of the fund, said: "We have been through a robust, evidence-based process to ensure the drugs available through the Cancer Drugs Fund continue to offer the best clinical benefit, getting the most for patients from every pound that we have.
"These are difficult decisions, but if we don't continue to prioritise the drugs that offer the best value, many people could miss out on promising, more effective treatments that are in the pipeline."
Olaparib, an ovarian cancer therapy, will not be funded on the scheme.
Katherine Taylor, from Ovarian Cancer Action, said: "Women living with ovarian cancer deserve the right to have access to effective, proven treatments.
"We strongly urge NHS England to make this ground-breaking treatment available to the patients who so desperately need it."
Paul Catchpole, from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said: "The ABPI believes that the CDF re-evaluation process is fundamentally flawed and the CDF remains a sticking plaster covering a seeping wound.
"A sustainable solution is urgently required."

Summary: The Cancer Drugs Fund in England will continue to pay for a stomach cancer drug after an appeal by the manufacturer.
###
Article: The accord, signed with the left-wing rebel group last month, was narrowly rejected in a national referendum.
Mr Santos has spent the past few days meeting those who campaigned for a "No" vote.
He will take new proposals to a meeting with Farc leaders in the Cuban capital, Havana.
The original ceasefire ended with the referendum and has already been extended until 31 October.
In a televised address, Mr Santos said he had made the decision to extend the ceasefire further after meeting student leaders who had organised marches through Bogota in support of the peace deal.
"One of the students reminded me that in the army and in the guerrilla ranks, there are young people waiting to see what happens, hoping that they don't need to fire another shot," he said.
"For that reason, and at the request of the students, I have taken the decision to extend the ceasefire until 31 December."
Mr Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for reaching the peace agreement, which took more than four years to negotiate.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Ivan Marquez, the Farc's lead negotiator at the peace talks in Havana, denied that the original agreement was moribund.
"This final accord is the key, is the formula, is the roadmap to peace - a peace with dignity, which is what we want, and with democracy," he said.
Mr Marquez acknowledged the "no" campaign's victory in the referendum, but said: "It was a technical draw between the 'no' and the 'yes'. The 'no' didn't obtain an absolute majority. But they have an Achilles heel: the 'no' campaign was constructed on a base of lies."
Former president, Alvaro Uribe, who led the "no" campaign, has called for the Farc's top leadership to serve prison sentences, but that concession is unlikely to come from the guerrillas.
"If Alvaro Uribe couldn't win the war [in the eight years he was president]," Mr Marquez said, "then he should move aside and let Colombians make peace."
But Mr Marquez insisted a process of consultation between all sides, including the millions who abstained in...

Summary: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has extended a ceasefire with Farc rebels until the end of the year to give more time to save a peace deal.
###
Article: The filmmaker got word that Gil - also a famous musician - was hosting a prestigious viewing session of Padilha's first feature film "Elite Squad" at his house.
Padilha was furious, as his movie had just been released in cinemas. But a copy of the film leaked during post-production, and hit file sharing websites four months before its official release.
It became a piracy "super-hit" in Brazil. Some analysts estimated that more than a million people watched illegal copies of "Elite Squad" before the movie ever hit the big screens.
When Padilha heard that the culture minister was about to be part of that statistic, with an illegal copy of his movie, he evaded security and knocked on Gil's door demanding the pirate DVD be handed to him - which was promptly done by an embarrassed servant.
Brazil has long been a haven for movie piracy.
A government study found that 41% of Brazilian internet users have downloaded content illegally from the internet.
Piracy is also prevalent on the streets - with DVDs being openly sold in most commercial places and roads, and even outside movie theatres.
So Brazil is an unlikely place for movie subscription service Netflix to be successful.
Yet, since it was launched in Brazil in 2011, Netflix subscriptions have soared in the country.
The company does not release country-specific numbers, but two independent studies suggest Brazil has over the years become the fourth-largest market for Netflix - after US, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company has 69 million users worldwide.
Netflix's chief executive Reed Hastings - who usually refrains from commenting on countries - says Brazil is a "rocket ship" for its company.
When Netflix's Brazil and Latin Americas service started in September 2011 it was the firm's first venture outside of North America.
The region was chosen for three primary reasons - broadband penetration was considered big enough as a market, incomes at the time were rising rapidly, and there was an appetite for Hollywood content.
Netflix's chief communications...

Summary: In 2007, the acclaimed Brazilian movie director Jose Padilha pulled a daring stunt on the country's then Culture Minister, Gilberto Gil.
###
Article: It became one of the UK's first post-war settlements in 1947 following the previous year's New Towns Act.
It is credited as having the first modern high-rise residential tower block, The Lawn, which opened in 1951.
Designed for 60,000 by English architect, Frederick Gibberd, the town also included the first all-pedestrian shopping precinct.
In April 1964, councillor Reginald Ward, chairman of the Harlow Urban District Council, showed off Harlow to visiting Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, from the roof gallery of the Town Hall.
Today, Harlow is a thriving town with a population of 85,500, which includes residents from a wide range of countries.
A mural featuring Harlow citizens, including its MP Conservative Robert Halfon, was created by Polish artist Jola Kudela for the book festival this month.
The artwork, called "We're all the same boat", was created after a Polish man was killed in the town.
The artist Ms Kudela said: "The message is just relax guys and let's live together peacefully and quietly."
A large number of events are being planned to celebrate the town's 70th birthday and more information is available on the Harlow 70 council website.

Summary:


A 30-year-old man has been released on bail after being arrested by police investigating phone hacking at the News of the World.

Article: Belfast City Council pulled funding of about Â£1,000, some of which was to be used for a children's fun day at Sandy Row on Tuesday.
One of the organisers said local people had been told the council had expressed concerns about the height of the nearby bonfire.
The council said discussions were ongoing in relation to the funding.
Sandy Row's children's fun day and bonfire celebrations have been taking place on the eve of the annual Twelfth of July commemorations, which mark the victory of William III at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The bonfire, that contains hundreds of wooden pallets, is in a car park near a hotel.
One of the organisers of the street party, John Cameron, said he believed the bonfire builders had complied with the council's policies.
He added that there was a lot of disappointment in the area that the council had pulled its support for a children's party at such short notice - but that the event had gone ahead with the support of local businesses.
"Children don't understand that, so the community has got together, along with local businesses, and they have managed to pull together a fun day," he said.
"It's a real tribute to the people of Sandy Row to make sure that it goes ahead."
An MLA for the area, Christopher Stalford, was among those who criticised the council's move and is seeking an explanation.
In a letter to council officials, the DUP MP said Sandy Row residents were "absolutely aghast at the decision that has been taken and feel very saddened and offended".
Mr Stalford asked: "If the issue is related to the bonfire in Sandy Row, why is the event which is held hundreds of yards away being penalised?"
Mr Cameron said the Sandy Row bonfire had been in the news for weeks and those responsible for building it had tried to abide by the advice of the council.
The police and the council are holding separate investigations into the alleged theft of hundreds of wooden pallets that had been placed in storage on council-controlled land in advance of Eleventh Night bonfires.
Mr Cameron said...

Summary: A loyalist community in Belfast has expressed anger that council funding has been withheld for a street party.
###
Article: This year its near neighbour, Newcastle, is aiming to come hot on its heels, and also finish finish its three counts before midnight.
Previously, its results came in at about 04:00 BST, described as "not great for a core city".
It is hoped a new, larger venue, and an electronic system will aid the process.
A Newcastle City Council spokesman said: "We just want to be as effective as a core city should be.
"It's not like we're bringing ballot boxes in from remote regions, so we've streamlined our systems to bring them up to date."
The main difference is the location, with the count taking place at Northumbria University's Sport Central.
"Historically it's always been at the Civic Centre, where space has been quite constrained," the spokesman said.
"It looks big but there's not much space to move around.
"The move means we can operate three counts simultaneously instead of just one at a time, and use more staff which will be much more effective.
"Students will be running in with the 128 ballot boxes, and we have a new electronic system to count them in, because it's not just about speed but also accuracy."
The cost of hiring the Sport Central venue will be offset by not having to do two separate counts.
Sunderland began its run of first declarations in 1992, when officials decided to mark its new city status by delivering results on polling day.
The process is now down to a fine art, with schoolchildren passing ballot boxes down the line and bank tellers counting the votes.
Lighter paper with a weight of 80g per sq m, rather than 100g, is used for the ballot papers, making them easier to handle, and voters are instructed to fold them only once, from north to south.
For the past two general elections the council has declared its three result before midnight, and this year Newcastle is hoping to do the same.
However, while it might be taking a leaf out of its rival's book, Newcastle's first result is not expected until an hour after Sunderland's.
In addition, both councils have categorically dismissed any idea of...

Summary: For the past five general elections the counting team at Sunderland has been the first to declare, with a result less than an hour after polls close.
###
Article: The firm said the money will keep its balance sheet steady as it ramps up manufacturing of its newest car.
Tesla aims to make 5,000 of its mass market Model 3 a week by the end of this year.
It has estimated it is already spending about $100m a week to hit that target.
On 4 August Tesla said was looking to raise $1.5bn by selling bonds, but said on Friday it now expected to raise $1.77bn from the sale.
The fundraising is limited to major institutions and not private investors.
Junk bonds are ones that pay a higher yield than normal bonds (5.3% in Tesla's case), but also carry a higher risk of not being  paid back.  The bonds are set to be repaid in 2025.
Analysts said Tesla's ability to raise more than $1.5bn indicated an appetite for risk among investors, as low interest rates have limited returns in many other types of investments. High stock market valuations have also made it harder to make a profit.
"Without the proceeds from the note offering, Tesla's liquidity position would be stressed," analysts at Moody's said, warning of risks to potential investors.
Tesla had about $3bn in cash at the end of June, but it spent more than $2bn in the most recent quarter.
The company founded by Elon Musk has frequently turned to investors to overcome persistent operating losses.
Tesla plans to eventually make more than 500,000 of the new Model 3 cars a year at its Fremont factory - or about 10,000 per week.
Moody's said the target was ambitious given the relatively small size of the US electric car market.

Summary: Tesla expects to raise nearly $1.8bn (Â£1.4bn) by selling "junk" bonds to private investors - even more than the electric car-maker aimed for when it announced the offering this month.
###
Article: The man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The arrest took place by appointment at a north London police station; the man is in police custody.
He has been bailed to a date in mid January 2012.
He was arrested by officers from Scotland Yard's fresh investigation into phone hacking, Operation Weeting.
On Tuesday, a 71-year-old Stuart Kuttner, an ex-News of the World managing editor, was rearrested and bailed as part of the phone-hacking probe.
Mr Kuttner was originally arrested on 2 August on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and corruption, and bailed.
He has now been bailed to a date in September, the Metropolitan Police said.
The Met's Operation Weeting is investigating illegal hacking of the mobile phone voicemails of public figures by the now-defunct News of the World newspaper.
The latest arrest is the 15th to be made on suspicion of phone hacking since Operation Weeting was launched in January. It happened just after midday.
BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds said the age of the arrested person suggested someone more junior compared to some of the more senior executives who have been arrested by the police so far.
It is a long-running investigation and there would almost certainly be further arrests, our correspondent added.
Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson are among those who have already been arrested as part of the inquiry.
The scandal has led Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates to resign, and the News of the World to close down after 168 years.

Summary:


The Scottish government has apologised for its handling of the dispute with crofters over common grazings.
It also asked convener Colin Kennedy to resign.
But Mr Kennedy told BBC Scotland's Sunday Politics Scotland he was staying in the post.
The dispute relates to the running of common grazings, including at Manger

The convener of Scotland's Crofting Commission has reiterated he will not stand down amid a heated public dispute over common grazings - unless he is forced to by the Scottish government.

Article: The program - Moments - was released in some countries in 2015, but withheld elsewhere because of local data privacy rules.
The company has created a different version of the software to get around these restrictions.
But it acknowledged the new edition required "a little bit of work" for users to get the most out of it.
Moment's core features are that it automatically groups together photos featuring the same friend or friends, and then makes it easy to share the pictures with them if they have installed the same app.
In the original version, the snaps are automatically tagged with people's names, because Facebook is able to match them to other photos in its wider database.
But data protection watchdogs in the EU and Canada had expressed concern their citizens would have no way to opt out of the process.
To address this, the adapted app now links together photos of similar-looking faces but requires the user to identify who they are.
Moments is not the only app to use facial recognition to sort images.
Google Photos is the most popular alternative to do so.
But the search giant has yet to extend the facility to Europe, to avoid falling foul of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.
Facebook has not disclosed how many people have signed up to Moments since its release on the US's iOS and Android stores 11 months ago.
However, the company has said more than 600 million pictures have been shared via the app so far.
"Our primary purpose is to solve a problem that we know that people have, where they never get the photos that their friends take of them," the app's product manager Will Ruben told the BBC.
"We view that as a pretty different type of sharing than might happen on Facebook, where people share photos more broadly with a large group of friends or even publicly.
"Moments is closer to the type of sharing that might happen these days on Whatsapp or other [private] messaging apps - but it places the photos together into a collection."
Users decide which photos are shared with the people labelled in them,...

Summary: Facebook has launched its facial-recognition-powered photo-sharing app in the EU and Canada.
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Article: City Hall said as of May 2015, 14,350 of private sector landlords had signed up to the London Rental Standard.
Labour said the scheme was "failing renters" and the mayor's pledge to sign up 100,000 landlords by May 2016 would take decades.
But, the deputy mayor of housing said the scheme had been a "huge success".
The standard, launched last May, offers letting agents and landlords a badge if they meet a set of criteria, including improved property conditions and quicker repairs and maintenance.
It combines seven separate accreditation schemes under a single framework.
About 331 letting agents managing an estimated 121,000 properties have signed up, the mayor's office said.
Richard Blakeway, deputy mayor for housing, said: "Most landlords own just one property, whereas signing up a single branch of a letting agency reaches an estimated 200 homes.
"This is a huge success in one year and we look forward to working with thousands more landlords and agents to help get a better deal for renters as this scheme grows."
But, London Assembly's Labour group claims of those landlords counted as members, 13,512 were already signed up to various other accreditation schemes, meaning there were fewer than 1,000 new joiners.
Member Tom Copley said: "We need real change in the private rented sector. Londoners need the peace of mind and security of longer tenancy agreements, caps on rent increases and an end to no fault evictions.
"Instead, Boris Johnson's soft touch and self-regulatory approach is leaving private renters with little protection from bad landlords."

Summary: A voluntary scheme aimed at improving rental standards has been criticised after only 12% of London landlords signed up in a year.
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Article: The men kicked in the door of a flat in Skegness and savagely beat the occupants with baseball bats, an axe and a knuckle duster.
One of the victims almost bled to death from a severed artery and was cut across the face, scarring him for life.
At Lincoln Crown Court Judge John Pini QC told the men: "This was an extremely serious and grave matter."
The court was told the two victims, aged 19 and 23, were friends of a local man who was involved in a turf war with rival dealer Thomas Barraclough, who had recently moved to the resort.
Barraclough, joined by four men from his home city of Bradford, broke into the flat in South Parade on 7 March and carried out what police described as a "brutal attack".
Stephen Kemp, prosecuting, said the "extreme violence" used in the attack was an attempt to "destroy the local competition".
Passing sentence, Judge Pini said: "It is drugs that are entirely behind this dreadful episode.
"Extreme violence was brought to Skegness over drug dealing. This court will send out a message that it will not be tolerated."

Summary: Five men who used baseball bats and an axe in an attack on friends of a rival drug dealer have been jailed.
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Article: Last month, the board of crofting's regulatory body apologised for its handling of the dispute with crofters.
It also asked convener Colin Kennedy to resign.
But Mr Kennedy told BBC Scotland's Sunday Politics Scotland he was staying in the post.
The dispute relates to the running of common grazings, including at Mangersta and Upper Coll on Lewis.
Mr Kennedy said: "I have no intention of resigning.
"As matters stand, I believe the commission have acted wholly within the law at all times and until such times as we have legal advice to the contrary, I will maintain my position."
Last week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scottish government ministers had the power to intervene in the affairs of the troubled commission.
She said ministers would not ordinarily get involved in the internal operations of the commission.
However, during First Minister's Questions in Holyrood on Thursday, she said legislation did give them the power to intervene if required.

Summary:


The Australian swimming team has been accused of "toxic" behaviour after a review of the sport's performance at the London 2012 Games found that amid a lack of leadership a "toxic" team culture developed that led to bullying and misuse of drugs.
The review, conducted by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC),

Members of Australia's Olympic swimming team said they used the sleeping medication Stilnox during a "bonding" session before the Games last year.

Article: The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also showed the annual rate of sales growth slowed to 4.0% last month from 4.7% in May.
That was the slowest annual growth rate since September 2014, and was below analysts' forecasts.
However, the ONS said the annual growth rate was still "strong".
Sales volumes in the April-to-June quarter were up 0.7% from the previous quarter.
The value of online sales in June increased by 1.4% compared with May and accounted for 12.4% of all retail sales.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, said June's sales data was "a little disappointing" but added that the figures were "not a body blow to improved second quarter growth hopes".
He noted that retail sales volumes "still rose by a decent 0.7%" in the second quarter, suggesting consumer spending made "a healthy contribution to GDP growth".
Many analysts have been expecting retail sales to do well, with recent statistics showing wage increases are picking up while inflation remains near zero.
The ONS said average store prices were 2.9% lower in June compared with the same month a year earlier.
Ross Walker, senior UK economist at RBS, argued that sales volumes were being "flattered" by low inflation, and that sales values data painted "a much more subdued picture".
The value of sales in the second quarter rose 0.7% from the previous three months, and rose 1.3% from the second quarter of 2014.
"We are not suggesting that UK consumer demand is weak... merely that there is little evidence of demand accelerating to above-trend rates," said Mr Walker.
In the past week, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney has hinted that UK interest rates could rise "at the turn of this year", while minutes from the last meeting of Bank rate-setters suggested some members were close to voting for a rate rise.
However, Chris Williamson, chief economist at research firm Markit, said the dip in June's sales volumes and the fall in prices would strengthen the arguments for those arguing against a rate...

Summary: UK retail sales volumes fell unexpectedly by 0.2% in June, after consumers bought fewer household goods, and less food and petrol.
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Article: The results for Highland Council have seen the first Conservatives to be elected in 22 years, with six so far in wards in and around Inverness.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has said her party has won its first ever seat in the Western Isles.
Ranald Fraser is among the newly-elected councillors to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
The comhairle's count in Stornoway on Lewis, which has finished, has seen none of the women among the candidates elected.
Independents have dominated the Western Isles election, as they have done previously, with 23 Independent candidates being elected, followed by seven SNP, one Conservative and no Labour councillors.
Labour had three candidates elected at the last vote in 2012.
Paramedics were called to the Stornoway count after veteran SNP figure and Barra and South Uist candidate Donald Manford fell ill.
No details were available on his condition. Mr Manford is a well known figure in Western Isles politics and has been re-elected as a councillor.
In the Highlands, the five Conservatives councillors are in the wards of Inverness Ness-side, Aird and Loch Ness, Inverness Millburn, Nairn and Cawdor, Inverness South and Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh.
The results from Highland Council's count have also seen the re-election of veteran figures.
They include the council's former leader, Independent councillor Margaret Davidson, the SNP group's leader before the election Maxine Smith, former Inverness provost Helen Carmichael and long-time Labour councillor Jimmy Gray and Lib Dem Jamie Stone.

Summary: The Scottish Conservatives have made historic gains in the Highlands and the Western Isles.
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Article: Attacks by the Boko Haram group that provoked the move included an assault on a military barracks, detonating a bomb at a bus station in the northern city of Kano and the kidnap of a French family, including four children, which grabbed the world's attention.
The declaration would bring "extraordinary measures" to bear against the insurgents in order to "restore normalcy" to the region, the president said.
"The troops have orders to carry out all necessary actions within the ambit of their rules of engagement to put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists," President Jonathan said.
Now, after 12 months of state of emergency powers being in force, in the past few weeks Boko Haram has attacked several military bases, bombed a busy bus terminal in the capital, Abuja - twice - and launched an audacious kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok which has set the world on edge.
"When they declared it I thought it had to be tried," says Habeeb Pindiga, editor of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, "but honestly it has not succeeded."
In the year leading up to the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe state, there were 741 civilian death reported, according to data collected by the University of Sussex in the UK.
In the 12 months since the figure of civilian causalities has more than tripled to 2,265.
Mr Pindiga says the military has not dealt with big problems it faces.
Because of the military's human rights record people do not trust them, plus they lack modern equipment, training and motivation.
A UK military officer who has worked closely with the Nigerians says they are stuck in a Catch-22 situation.
"The trouble with the Nigerian government is that they want a big red button, which you can press and it will fix everything," says James Hall, a retired colonel and former UK military attache to Nigeria.
"I was asked by a senior commander if we could sell them the machine that can tell if a car driving down the road contains a terrorist," he added.
"I tried to tell them that such a...

Summary: Exactly a year after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a "state of emergency" in north-eastern Nigeria, it seems to have had little effect in curbing the Islamist insurgency.
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Article: The six male athletes also said they engaged in disruptive behaviour.
The admission follows a report that assessed Australia's poor swimming performance at the London 2012 Games which pointed to a "toxic" team culture.
Swimming Australia said the swimmers will face an inquiry panel.
Stilnox, used to treat insomnia, is not considered a performance enhancer and is not a banned substance, but the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) put it on the prohibited list ahead of the Games.
In their statement, the six members of the men's 4x100 freestyle relay team said the prescriptions "were filled in Australia before their departure to their staging camp in Spain and prior to the AOC's announcement the drug was (prohibited)".
But they "acknowledge that at the time Stilnox was consumed it had been recently prohibited for use".
"We stand here collectively to confirm that we did take part in a bonding exercise during which members of the relay team took Stilnox," the six swimmers said.
"We acknowledge by our recent action in continuing a recent tradition in the Australia swim team, we have let ourselves down and the people who have supported us."
All but one team member took the medication, they said. Then they engaged in pranks they described as "childish" and "stupid", such as knocking on the doors of other athletes and making phone calls. They said they were asleep by 22:30.
"I think one of the reasons I agreed to go along with it was all the pressure I was under," one of the swimmers, James Magnussen, said. "Completely inappropriate in hindsight."
The relay team, nicknamed Weapons of Mass Destruction before the Olympics, came in fourth in the event, in which they had been expected to deliver a medal.
Magnussen, a favourite to win the men's 100 metres freestyle, won a silver.
Their admission follows the release of a review of the sport after the country's worst Olympic swimming performance in two decades.
It found that amid a lack of leadership a "toxic" team culture developed that led to bullying and misuse of...

Summary:


The UK's Information Commissioner's Office has fined a telecoms firm £400,000 for failing to protect customer data.
Article: The Information Commissioner's Office has fined a telecoms firm £400,000 for failing to protect customer data.
Summary: The UK's Information Commissioner's Office has fined a telecoms

Companies must prepare for new tougher EU rules on data protection, or face big fines, PwC has warned.

Article: About 70 people attended the meeting at Kesgrave Town Council on Monday night.
On Thursday evening residents blocked green spaces with wheelie bins and cars amid reports of more travellers descending on the town, after 13 caravans arrived last month.
The Gypsy Council called the blockades "pathetic" and "shameful".
Caravans were already in Kesgrave when rumours on social media last week suggested 100 more travellers were set to join an unauthorised camp at Grange Farm.
It led to dozens of people blockading parks, verges and gardens, with agricultural machinery also used to block off an access road.
But despite the reports, just five children and their families attended Holy Family Church for a normal daily Mass on Friday morning.
The travellers at the site are expected to leave soon, but if they do not go, the local council is due to attend another court hearing later to get them evicted.
After the meeting, one resident told the BBC: "The police have got no intention of moving them on. It's like they're scared of them, it's just a big joke really.
Suffolk Coastal District Council leader Ray Herring, who oversaw the meeting, said: "When the last caravan goes we will put in a team to clean up the site and put some temporary measures in to restrict travellers returning."
Speaking about last week's blockades, Candy Sheridan from the Gypsy Council said it was "pathetic" and "un-Christian" when people had travelled miles to celebrate a first communion for the children.
There are 185 authorised travellers pitches in Suffolk, but none in the Suffolk Coastal area.

Summary: A meeting to discuss travellers in a Suffolk town had to be held in a car park because so many residents turned up.
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Article: Now 89% of the population of the world have access to improved water supplies, up from 76% in the base year of 1990.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon hailed the achievement of halving the number of people without access to improved drinking water.
He said it was thanks to people who had seen it not as a dream, but a vital step to improve health and well-being.
Improvement to clean water supplies has not been even: 40% of those still without access to improved drinking water live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Worldwide, almost 800 million people still drink dirty water. But in the past 20 years, two billion people have gained access to improved drinking water.
While this was the first significant Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to be reached, the charity Water Aid says that the other part of the target, for safe sanitation, is more off track than any other MDG.
The biggest challenge for this target is in India, where more than half of the population, 626 million people, do not have access to a toilet.
The other MDGs, including those on reducing poverty and improving access to education, are unlikely to be hit by 2015. The global economic downturn and greater pressure from increased population have pushed success even further out of reach.

Summary: The Millennium Development Goal for access to clean water has been reached, ahead of the target date of 2015.
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Article: "What election madness!" tabloid Bild exclaims in a banner headline, while the a report in Sueddeutsche Zeitung predicts: "These elections will change Germany."
Several papers believe Ms Merkel and her Christian Democrats are "paying the price" for her liberal policy on immigration.
"The refugee crisis has re-shaped the party landscape," an editorial in Die Welt says, adding that not everyone in her party will forgive her for putting its interests behind those of "Europe and her country too".
A commentary in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung agrees, saying Ms Merkel was "punished" for her course.
"Merkel stood in none of the federal states where people went to the polls on Sunday," it says, "but everywhere was a vote on her policy".
But - reaching for Biblical allusions - it adds that it is more likely "for a camel to go through the eye of a needle" than for Ms Merkel to change her mind.
A commentary in Bild, however, rejects the idea that the result is a rejection of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy, despite her Christian Democrat party's "crushing defeat".
It points out that the pro-immigration Social Democrat and Green premiers of two states - Rhineland Palatinate and Baden Wuerttemberg - gained votes.
The Tageszeitung agrees. Under the front-page headline "85% stay cool", it points out that the "overwhelming majority" have voted for parties that support Ms Merkel's course.
"The winners of these elections are fear, exclusion and authoritarianism," a commentary in the paper concedes.
But it adds that the rise of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany is largely the result of the mainstream parties' "confusion and loss of trust" in their own programme, in their own supporters and even in Germany.
A commentary in business paper Handelsblatt says the results are a "wake-up call" for Germany's mainstream parties - the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.
It adds that the crisis goes beyond the refugee issue, and that neither of the two seems able to provide answers to people's...

Summary: Germany's press is reeling from the dramatic - and partly contradictory - results of Sunday's elections in three federal states.
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Article: The financial services firm said new rules, coming into effect next May, could see fines soar to 20m euros (£17.4m) or more.
Fines for data breaches had already risen, from 18 in 2015, to 35 in 2016, amounting to £3.2m in total, said PwC.
There were also 23 enforcement notices, where organisations were required to improve compliance - a 155% increase.
According to PwC's research, the UK is one of the most active places in Europe for regulatory enforcement in this area, along with Italy.
Penalties issued by the UK Information Commissioner's Office in 2016 included a record £400,000 fine for telecoms firm TalkTalk over security failings that allowed a cyber attacker to access customer data "with ease".
In 2015 the online pharmacy Pharmacy 2U was also told to pay £130,000 after it sold details of more than 20,000 customers to marketing companies without their consent.
However, PwC said that when the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes law across the EU next May, firms would face much tougher obligations and penalties.
In particular, the Information Commissioner's Office will be able to issue fines of up to 4% of global turnover, or 20m euros - whichever is highest. The regulator can only issues fines of up to £500,000 at present.
"UK organisations must use the remaining time to prepare for GDPR compliance before May next year," said Stewart Room, an expert in global cybersecurity and data protection at PwC.
The UK is due to adopt the new rules before it leaves the EU, but PwC said it was unlikely to water down the protections after it left the union.

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