The BBC's election coverage is being given a makeover.
The corporation is launching a new election channel, which will be available on Freeview and Sky.
The channel will be hosted by a team of journalists, including the BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson.
The channel will be available on Freeview channel

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

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

Summary: A campaign to fast-track British citizenship for South African runner Zola Budd triggered a major government rift, newly released documents show.
###
Article: Like bats who emit sounds in order to navigate, researchers can now plug sounds into a computer algorithm to map a room.
The team were able to build a full 3D image of a room using four microphones to record echoes bouncing off walls.
Writing in the journal PNAS, the researchers say the technology could one day help solve crime.
The ability to use sounds to navigate the world, called echolocation, is already used by dolphins and bats. Though rare, some blind people have also been known to possess this skill.
But now with the help of a computer algorithm, the echoes from a chirp like sound can reveal the shape of a room.
The algorithm could also distinguish between stronger and weaker echoes and whether they had bounced one or more times around the room.
Walls made from different materials all reflect sound differently, but it was not the amplitude that the algorithm was looking at, rather the differing arrival times between the echoes. The same result could therefore be achieved from any sound, according to the researchers.
"Our software can build a 3D map of a simple, convex room with a precision of a few millimetres," said lead author of the study, Ivan Dokmanic from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland (EPFL).
"Each microphone picks up the direct sound from the source, as well as the echoes arriving from various walls.
"The algorithm then compares the signal from each microphone. The infinitesimal lags that appear in the signals are used to calculate not only the distance between the microphones, but also the distance from each microphone to the walls and the sound source," added Mr Dokmanic.
There are numerous potential applications for the research, Mr Dokmanic told BBC News.
Architects building a concert hall for example, might know the specific acoustics they want a new building to have. Using this new algorithm they could now "plug" certain echoes into a computer and "get the kind of space needed to produce those echoes".
He also explained that virtual reality could benefit from...

Summary: The shape of a room can be modelled using echoes produced from sound, new research has found.
###
Article: Residents in Peterborough complained after hearing Wajid Hussain's van driving along to Teddy Bears' Picnic.
Officials say he was using the tune for longer than the four seconds he was allowed to play it.
The city council also refused his licence because of complaints relating to his parking and where he was operating.
Licensing regulatory officer Darren Dolby said it sent a strong message to other vendors to abide by trading laws.
The council received a total of 14 complaints about Mr Hussain, who trades as Adam Ices, over a three-month period.
These included parking his van dangerously, trading without consent in certain areas of Peterborough and playing his chimes for longer than allowed.
Only two of the complaints related to the van's chimes.
Members of the city council's licensing team gave evidence that Mr Hussain had been given a number of verbal and written warnings to comply - but this advice had been ignored.
Mr Dolby said: "We are pleased that the decision to revoke Hussain's licence was upheld by the committee."
A spokesman from the Ice Cream Alliance, the UK trade association for ice cream manufacturers and retailers, said: "The restrictions on chimes are part of a national code of practice which ice cream sellers have to adhere to.
"We have asked the government to relax these restrictions but until they do, all our members are advised to work within this code."
Mr Hussain told the BBC he did not wish to comment.

Summary: An ice cream van owner has been banned from trading - because he played his chimes for too long.
###
Article: The draft report, apparently written for the UK government, was obtained by the Intercept website from US whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
It suggests that "life-saving intelligence data" could be missed.
Its release comes as the Investigatory Powers Bill goes through Parliament.
Extracts from the the document read: "The security service... can currently collect significantly more than it is able to exploit fully.
"This creates a real risk of intelligence failure from the service being unable to access potentially life-saving intelligence from data that it has already collected."
The report is marked classified and dated 12 February 2010.
It was allegedly prepared by British spy agency officials to brief the government's Cabinet Office and Treasury Department about the UK's surveillance capabilities.
Those capabilities are currently due to be updated via the controversial Investigatory Powers Bill, which is now at the report stage in Parliament.
It aims to give legal backing to the bulk collection of internet traffic, as well as requiring service providers to store browsing records for 12 months.
The government said these added powers were necessary in the fight against terrorism
A revised version was drawn up earlier this year after a raft of concerns about whether it had got the balance between privacy and security right.
The government needs the bill to go through before the end of year, when the current laws regulating surveillance expire.
Critics of the bill said the alleged leaked document showed mass surveillance was not the answer.
Open Rights Group communications director Pam Cowburn told the BBC:  "We have been calling on the government to make the operational case for costly bulk surveillance programmes that allow the collection of vast amounts of data.
"As today's leaks show, there are genuine concerns that mass surveillance is making us less, not more, safe.
"If the Investigatory Powers Bill is passed, even more of our data will be collected, with internet service providers being forced to record...

Summary: Spy officials allegedly voiced concerns back in 2010 that so much data was being collected by the UK security services, they risked overlooking useful intelligence.
###
Article: The aim is to cut through the jargon and present election news in a different way.
If you've got a question about the election or want to know what the parties will do for you, let us know.
Follow our reporter Steffan Messenger on Facebook, where he'll be posting all our #iNeverKnew coverage and focusing on the issues you feel passionately about - your cash, your career, your future.
And check out our guide to what the parties say they'll do for young people here.

Summary:


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

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

Summary: An inquest has heard that information about serious injuries caused by rubber baton rounds fired by the Army was not made public in the early 1970s.
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Article: A software update was released last week to iPhone, iPad and iPod owners to protect users from "an attacker" who may "capture or modify data".
It was later discovered that the problem also existed on Apple laptops and desktop computers running OS X.
On Tuesday, Apple issue a security fix through its software update service.
The problem was first spotted on Apple's mobile devices which run the iOS 7 operating system. It related to the way secure connections are made between Apple's safari browser and websites, including banking sites, Google and Facebook.
These sites have digital security certificates that allow an encrypted connection to be established between a user's computer and the website. This means any data that is sent over the connection should be secure.
However, a vulnerability in the code for Apple's iOS and OS X operating systems meant the security certificates were not being checked properly. This meant hackers could impersonate a website and capture the data that was being sent over the connection before letting it continue its journey to the real website.
Apple released a fix for mobile devices running iOS 7 last week but a spokesperson issued the following statement about OS X: "We are aware of this issue and already have a software fix that will be released very soon."
The fix was released on Tuesday.
According to researchers the security flaw had existed for months but no-one had reported it publicly.
Graham Cluley, a security analyst, said it was a failing by the company that it had not been identified earlier.
"It's pretty bad what Apple have done, they've seriously dropped the ball. How much the problem has been exploited is hard to say. Hackers may now be trying to take advantage while users wait for the security fix."

Summary: Apple has issued a fix to a flaw in its OS X operating system which previously left users vulnerable to security breaches while browsing online.
###
Article: He retained his seat with a total of 50,915 votes. The total turnout for County Durham was 17.7%.
Praising staff at Durham Constabulary, he said: "Four more years of success, four more years of giving you the police service that you deserve."
Mr Hogg was a senior police officer in Durham and Cleveland during a 30-year career.
The Labour candidate won the race to become Durham's first police and crime commissioner in 2012.
Mr Hogg was assistant chief constable in Durham and deputy chief with neighbouring Cleveland before retiring in 2008.
He became an expert on policing football hooligans and worked at international tournaments including the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Last year, Mr Hogg offered cannabis users the chance to avoid prosecution by giving users of the class B drug the option to take part in a course to deal with their habit rather than being arrested.
He also said drug addicts should have access to "consumption rooms" where they could inject prescribed heroin legally to help take drugs off the streets and reduce crime.
Elections for police and crime commissioners were held in the 41 police force areas of England and Wales on Thursday.
Candidates which were standing in Durham Constabulary are listed below.
Candidates are listed alphabetically by surname. BBC News App users: tap here to see the results.
More information is available on the Choose my PCC website.

Summary: Labour's Ron Hogg has been re-elected Durham's Police and Crime Commissioner.
###
Article: Last year, almost 10 million bottles were sold in the UK, less than half the 22 million bottles sold in 2005, according to The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA).
Other fortified wines have also seen UK sales slide over the decade.
The number of bottles of port sold has declined by a quarter and vermouth has seen sales tumble by two-thirds.
In contrast, sales of gin have boomed.
The WSTA earlier this month dubbed 2016 "the year of gin" after reporting UK sales broke the Â£1bn mark for the first time ever.
The WSTA blames the plunge in fortified wine sales - which include port and sherry - on increasing taxation.
It says that since 2007, fortified wine duty has increased by 53%, adding Â£1 to a bottle of port or sherry.
The sharp drop in the pound since the Brexit vote is also likely to weigh on sales as the cost of importing wine from overseas increases.
The body has launched a "Save Santa's Sherry" campaign to and revive the sector.
"Whether it's the sherry shared as an aperitif or left out for Santa, a port to accompany the cheese course at the end of Christmas lunch or vermouth shaken or stirred in a classic Martini - these drinks have been enjoyed by the British for centuries," said WSTA chief executive Miles Beale.
"It would be incredibly sad to see the British traditions associated with these drinks, which have been passed down through the generations, disappear," he added.

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

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

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

Summary: Greater Manchester Police (GMP) risks "being a reactive force" if up to 400 officers are axed to save £41m next year, the chief constable said.
###
Article: Oil and Gas UK found more than 100 platforms are expected to be completely or partially removed from the UK and Norwegian continental shelves by 2025.
More than 1,800 wells are also scheduled to be plugged and abandoned and 7,500km of pipeline decommissioned.
But the industry body said there was not "a rush to decommission".
It pointed out that while 52 new projects appeared for the first time in its annual Decommissioning Insight survey, most had been "a long time in the planning".
Total decommissioning expenditure in the UK and Norway last year was £2.1bn, compared with just under £1.6bn in 2014.
The total amount forecast to be spent on decommissioning on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) between 2016 and 2025 is £17.6bn - up on the 2015 survey's 10-year forecast of £16.9bn.
Forecast activity on the UKCS is higher than on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, where fewer fields are reaching the end of their field life. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has estimated that annual expenditure on decommissioning will average about £1bn per year until 2020.
Mike Tholen, Oil and Gas UK's upstream policy director, said: "With low oil prices continuing, you might expect decommissioning to be a key focus for the sector in the years ahead, however we are not witnessing a rush to decommission.
"Different factors are at play and the picture is much more complex.
"Some companies are deferring cessation of production as field life has been extended by sustained efficiency improvements; others are delaying activity due to cash-flow constraints; while elsewhere, companies may be expediting decommissioning to take advantage of falling costs in the current downturn."
The Scottish government's minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse said he would be visiting the north east later this month to focus on the opportunities of decommissioning.
He added: "Work is well under way with Scottish Enterprise to develop a decommissioning action plan by the end of the year and we are also working closely with Scottish ports...

Summary: An industry survey has forecast a "gradual but steady" rise in offshore oil and gas decommissioning in the UK and Norway over the next 10 years.
###
Article: Yet Starbucks' founder, Howard Schultz, came up with the idea for his coffee chain whilst sipping espresso in a Milan bar.
So what? you may say. He took a good product, repackaged it and globalised it.
But to many Italians, the coffee served by Starbucks and other branded outlets is as far away from proper Italian coffee as you can get, despite the Italian-sounding offerings on their menus.
Now - time for disclosure - I am part-Italian and like most Italians, I like to think Italy represents the height of coffee culture, the standard against which all coffee should be measured.
When Italian friends and family shudder in disgust at the idea of sullying their precious cappuccino with a dash of hazelnut syrup or a sprinkling of cinnamon, I nod knowingly.
At home I have a moka machine, which is to the Italian kitchen what the kettle is to the British. As far as I'm concerned, the cappuccinos, lattes and espressos served in branded coffee chains taste scorched and bitter, a shabby imitation of the real thing.
But am I missing the point? Is my palate so provincial that it hasn't caught up with the changing tastes of the global coffee market? Because it appears that not only has Italian coffee been taken out of Italy, but the Italian is also being taken out of the coffee.
The International Coffee Organization says that globally consumption has grown by nearly 42% since the beginning of this century. So we're drinking more of it than ever before, which explains the expansion of many coffee chains in the past few decades, but we're not drinking it in the Italian way.
"I think a caricature of Italian espresso was what was exported," says award-winning barista James Hoffmann of London's Square Mile Coffee Roasters. He's part of a generation of highly-trained baristas driving innovation in the sector through more sophisticated espresso-based brews.
"Global espresso culture is now a long way from what is considered traditional Italian espresso," Mr Hoffmann says.
8.5bn
kilos of coffee is consumed globally every...

Summary: Starbucks is everywhere, but not in Italy.
###
Article: The first release of Android Wear is designed for smartwatches and helps them follow voice commands.
Google said it was also working with electronics firms, chip makers and fashion labels on wearable gadgets running Android.
One of the first Android Wear devices will be Motorola's Moto 360 smart watch that will go on sale in the summer.
The search giant's work on Android Wear builds on its experiences with Google Glass augmented spectacles.
Android Wear was announced via the official Google blog and marks a significant move for the company into the wearables sector.
In a blogpost Sundar Pichai, head of Android at Google, said the software would prove useful for gadgets that monitor key health parameters or which people use when they go running or cycling.
It could also lead to a class of devices that respond quickly to spoken commands including answering short questions, booking a taxi or sending a text without having to tap anything on a smartphone touchscreen.
Google said it was working on a new user interface for Android that reacted quickly, was driven by a person's voice and which drew on contextual information, such as a user's location, to be useful.
Software development kits which application developers can play with have also been released.
"We're always seeking new ways for technology to help people live their lives and this is just another step in that journey," wrote Mr Pichai.
The decision to move into wearables would pitch Google into more intense competition with arch-rival Apple, said Stuart Miles, founder of tech news site Pocket-lint.
"It's a threat to Apple because the Android ecosystem is growing so fast," he said.
Some of the early designs for Android Wear smart watches looked great, he added, and if that were combined with a good second-screen notification system it could win people over and get them to defect from Apple,
However, he said, his experiences of living with a Pebble smart watch for the last four months showed that people had yet to adapt to the appearance of such...

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

Summary:


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

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

Summary: The international governing body for fishing has applied for angling to be part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
###
Article: The Hang Seng index closed up 2.7% at 26,944.39, its highest closing level since January 2008.
The surge in interest was triggered by Beijing's move last month to let mutual funds invest in Hong Kong through the connect plan.
The Shanghai Composite ended down 0.9%.
The mainland index closed at 3,957.53 as investors rushed to buy relatively cheaper Hong Kong shares.
Chinese investors had used the entire 10.5bn yuan ($1.69bn) daily investment quota for buying Hong Kong stocks under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme for a second day.
Shares in the rest of Asia were mixed despite a rise in US markets on Wednesday.
Investor sentiment remained cautious following the latest committee minutes from the Federal Reserve, which showed the central bank was split over when to raise interest rates.
Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.75% at 19,937.72, edging closer to the key threshold of 20,000 which was last seen in 2000.
Analysts said the psychologically important level was likely to be hit soon.
Shares in Asia's biggest clothing retailer, Japan's Fast Retailing, closed up nearly 2% after it raised its annual profit forecast by 20% on Thursday.
The owner of Uniqlo, which has been expanding aggressively overseas, said its net income would be 120bn yen ($998m) for the year ending in August, up from its previous forecast of 100bn yen.
The company's profits were boosted by sales outside Japan.
In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 0.48% at 5,932.20 as a result of falling oil prices, which analysts said would affect the energy sector.
US-based oil and gas giant, Apache, said it was selling its Australian operations for $2.1bn (Â£1.4bn) as it shifts its focus back to North America.
"Following the sale of our Australian assets, about 70% of Apache's production will come from North America onshore," said the firm's chief executive, John Christmann.
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index closed down 0.02% at 2,058.87.
After a surprise cut in March, South Korea's central bank said on Thursday it would hold...

Summary: Hong Kong shares surged to seven-year highs on Thursday as mainland Chinese investors poured money into the market via the new stock connect trading link.
###
Article: A million listeners is a big drop. However, quarterly radio listening figures have a habit of bouncing around.
Look over the long term and what's surprising is that in an era of huge technological change, radio listening has stayed so stable overall.
In March 2006, Radio 1 had a weekly reach of 9.9 million listeners aged over 15. In March 2016, it had 9.9 million.
However, there are trends hidden in the figures.
The number of hours that 15-24 year-olds listen to radio has gone from 29 million hours in 2010 to 16 million in 2016.
That young audience has dropped from 3.7 million (45%) to 2.9 million (36%).
But why do people care so much about Radio 1's figures?
The BBC worries about it because it is their most successful youth brand and the corporation as a whole struggles to reach young people.
The external attention is harder to fathom. The era of Radio 1 being the most listened-to radio station passed long ago.
The big shift has not been the decline of Radio 1, it has been the rise of Radio 2. In 1999, Radio 2 had 9.6 million listeners - it now has 15.5 million.
Radio 1's success in the 1970s and 80s means that the middle-aged people who are avid consumers of news retain an interest in the one bit of youth culture that they still recognise.
Indeed, Radio 1 has 4.1 million listeners over the age of 35 - and around 800,000 of them are over the age of 60.
It is worth noting that this 4.1 million figure hasn't changed much, even though BBC 6Music - which is aimed at this older audience - has seen its reach go from 200,000 to 1.4 million.
Around 11 million hours of Radio 1's listening is by people over the age of 45. The problem for Radio 1 is that today's generation gap is more about the way we consume music than the music itself.
No wonder Radio 1's press release wants to point out how many hits the station's channel is getting on YouTube.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Summary: BBC Radio 1's audience has dropped to its lowest level for more than a decade after the station lost a million listeners over the past year.
###
Article: Ten years ago there was terrible post-election ethnic violence in the country, which nobody here wants to see repeated.
But with opinion polls predicting a very close race between incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga, there are fears there could be trouble ahead.
What happens to Kenya is less about who wins the elections and more about how those who lose take their defeat.
The success of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) computerised voting system is key to the process being considered free and fair.
If it fails - as it did in 2013 - the votes will be counted manually, and in a country where vote-rigging has been alleged in the past, the loser will no doubt challenge the result.
In 2013, Raila Odinga turned to the courts claiming electoral fraud, and lost.
This time - his fourth and probably last attempt to become president - he may turn to the streets if he considers the election to have been stolen.
In theory, the voting system is a good one:
But if the computer system goes down, verifying the voters' roll will be a lot harder, and may raise suspicions.
More on Kenya's elections:
The murder of a key figure a week before the poll - the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) head of technology - has really put the country on edge.
Chris Msando was in charge of the electronic system, and was the man who appeared on TV to reassure the public it would work - and couldn't be hacked.
When his tortured, strangled body was found dumped in a forest, it raised suspicions that somebody was planning to interfere with the election.
The IEBC insists the system will still work and successfully carried out a public "dry run" to prove it.
But a quarter of polling stations are apparently outside cellular data range.
On top of that, on Friday armed men raided a Nairobi building where the opposition is running its own parallel count and took computers. Later two foreign data analysts working for the opposition were expelled from Kenya.
More than 180,000...

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

Summary:


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

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

Summary: Scotland are hoping to put together a beach volleyball team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
###
Article: The code will be made freely available for manufacturers who want to launch their own gaming hardware.
The announcement is the first of three due this week as Valve lays out what it calls the "future" of gaming.
The company is widely anticipated to launch its own machine to run SteamOS, believed to be called the Steam Box.
The console could potentially disrupt a market currently dominated by the Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Wii.
Ahead of a hardware reveal, Valve outlined its plans for the Linux-based operating system that will be available for download "soon".
"As we've been working on bringing Steam to the living room, we've come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself," a message on Steam's website read.
"SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen."
Linux is a open-source operating system - meaning people can freely build-upon and adapt its source code.
Crucially, there are no licensing costs involved, so manufacturers can distribute Linux-powered machines more cheaply than those running systems such as Windows.
SteamOS will encompass Steam's already huge customer base, estimated to be about 50 million active users.
Steam is Valve's distribution service through which it sells both its own games and those of its various publishing partners.
It began life in 2002 as a way for Valve to make it easier for users to update games, but it now is a significant channel for selling titles - and is also used as a community tool for setting up multiplayer matches and other online events.
Valve does not release sales statistics for games sold through Steam - but estimates from consultancy IHS Screen Digest suggest it is responsible for 75% of PC game sales, bringing in about $1bn (Â£620m) in 2012.
There are more than 2,000 games on the service.
However, despite the service's popularity, it is currently reliant on something of a sinking ship, argued...

Summary: Video games developer and publisher Valve has announced SteamOS, a free operating system it hopes will help bring PC gaming into the living room.
###
Article: The 11-year-old bird, called Arthur, was swept away by strong winds during a display at the Royal Bath and West Show on Wednesday.
The "massive great" bird has since been spotted in Castle Carey in Somerset and Devizes in Wiltshire.
Birds of Prey Displays is asking anyone who sees him not to approach him and to contact them instead.
The white-headed vulture was taking part in an Eagle and Vulture show on the opening day of the show in Shepton Mallet, when it was blown off course.
Ben Potter, the bird's owner, said the "massive great big glove puppet of a vulture" should be easy to spot.
"He's a 12lb vulture, with a 6ft wingspan - you can't miss him," he said.
"And he will make himself really obvious to people because he knows people are part of his life so he will be quite visual."
Since Wednesday, the massive bird has been spotted in a field in Castle Cary, been seen being "harassed by two rooks" as it flew over Sparkford in Somerset, and surprised a driver in Devizes in Wiltshire.
"If you see it give me a call and I'll come and get it," said Mr Potter.
"The only thing I do ask is that people don't go to him - not because he's dangerous - mainly because he'll be spooked and keep moving and moving and moving."

Summary: A vulture that went missing in Somerset four days ago has still not been caught despite several sightings.
###
Article: The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said members will walk out from 21:30 GMT on 7 March to 03:59 on 8 March.
The union claims the type of breathalyzer used did not account for people with diabetes.
London Underground said the man was dismissed for failing two breath tests which were unaffected by the condition.
It said the case had gone through a full disciplinary hearing and appeals process, as well as a separate independent director's review.
The transport authority said it had explored in detail the suggestion that diabetes could affect the breathalyser result, but concluded that the type of test it used was not affected by acetone, which is produced in the bloodstream of people with the condition.
Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, said there had been a campaign of "misinformation and smears" against his organisation.
He said: "This action is the first stage as part of a rolling programme of industrial action and I urge all RMT London Underground train operators and instructor operators to stand firm together against this and any future injustices against RMT members."
Nick Brown, chief operating officer of London Underground (LU), said: "This indefensible strike is about one RMT member dismissed for failing two alcohol breath tests.
"We will not be swayed by it as we will never compromise on the safety of our customers and staff. You wouldn't let someone who had been drinking alcohol drive your family in a car, and we don't let people who have been drinking alcohol drive people's families in Tube trains.
"For the RMT leadership to announce a strike regardless shows how completely out of touch they are, just as the timing demonstrates that they know they have very little support from their members on this issue."
Members voted by 299 votes to 221 to take action. The turnout was 42%.
LU said the number of drivers who had voted to take strike action represented 8% of all drivers.
In December, RMT workers held a 24-hour strike on the Northern line over the same issue.

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

Summary:


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

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

Summary: Households in the Republic of Ireland will receive their first bills for water services on Wednesday.
###
Article: Last week, the head of  exam watchdog Ofqual suggested some schools were making "strategic" use of challenges to A-level and GCSE grades.
But the chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference said the "real issue is inaccurate marking".
Ofqual has said it is planning improvements to the appeal process.
The university sector's Supporting Professionalism in Admissions organisation has also called for "greater clarity" about the rising numbers of appeals and grades being changed.
Director Janet Graham said: "This is an area that the awarding organisations and Ofqual could explore in more depth."
Ofqual chief Glenys Stacey faced questions last week from the Education Select Committee about the process of challenging exam results.
Ms Stacey told MPs she wanted a system that was "swift, effective and fair".
In the past four years, the number querying results has more than doubled to more than 400,000 and the number getting their grades changed after re-marking has also more than doubled to more than 77,000.
But Chris King, Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) chairman and headmaster of Leicester Grammar School, said there needed to be much more transparency and information about the grades being challenged and changed.
He also criticised the suggestion the increase in appeals was being driven by schools gaming the system to improve their grades
"It is misleading to imply that schools who appeal wrong grades are actually a cause of the problem. This is a smokescreen," said Mr King.
Instead he blamed "inconsistent marking and grading and a Byzantine appeals process, which Ofqual itself acknowledges is inadequate".
"Any suggestion that schools of any kind are 'gaming' the appeals system is unfair and underserved," said Mr King.
Exam boards charge for re-marking, unless there is a grade changed, with schools and parents paying millions of pounds each year.
"Independent schools submit proportionally more appeals but naturally state schools put in far more than we do, and we welcome this....

Summary: Head teachers of leading independent schools have accused exam regulators of creating a "smokescreen" around soaring numbers of appeals over exam marking.
###
Article: On Tuesday ministers said a Welsh bid was not feasible after a study revealed costs of between £1.3bn and £1.5bn.
On Wednesday Plaid said ministers' estimates appeared to be "deliberately skewed" to appear more expensive.
Labour's Ken Skates said the figures were "based on a robust assessment".
The Commonwealth Games Federation had earlier said it was "surprised" by the figures provided by the Welsh Government.
In a letter to Economy Secretary Ken Skates, Shadow Sports Secretary Neil McEvoy said: "Given that the Commonwealth Games Federation has issued a statement seriously questioning your government's costing of £1.3bn to host the games, could you please issue your methodology and assumptions which underpin the feasibility study?
"The Glasgow games came in £32m under budget at £543m. Why would it cost more than double that figure to host the games in Wales?"
Speaking about the letter, Mr McEvoy called ministers' estimates "ambiguous at best" that seemed to have been "deliberately skewed to appear more expensive".
"That's why I want to see the detailed methodology behind these costs and proposals so that we can make an informed judgement of whether they are accurate - or whether we are being deliberately misled," he said.
But Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure Ken Skates said Plaid Cymru was not "comparing like with like", saying the figures were "based on a robust assessment of the total cost of delivery".
"They include the construction of necessary sporting facilities and additional infrastructure, the Games legacy, the delivery of all Wales benefits and the recommended contingency.
"Our understanding is that the Glasgow figure focuses solely on the operational delivery of the two week event."
The minister argued that a more accurate comparison would be the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, which he said had been widely quoted as being expected to cost more than $2bn in Australian dollars (£1.13bn).
Those games, he said, were "very much in line with our own projections".
Mr Skates added:...

Summary: Plaid Cymru has demanded that the Welsh Government explain why it believes that holding the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Wales would cost twice as much as the 2014 event in Glasgow.
###
Article: It said it had taken the step as part of an ongoing strategy to be more accessible and open about the work it does for the UK.
The first tweet that it sent from the @GCHQ account was just two words: "Hello, world."
It said it would be sending messages about its history as well as languages, maths, the outcomes of missions and technology.
In a statement, GCHQ media head Andrew Pike said the agency would not share intelligence updates or give away the "tradecraft" it employs. Instead, he said, it would be a way for GCHQ to get involved in debates on technology and cyberspace which was key for a "technical organisation with computing at its core".
This technical focus also drove GCHQ's choice of its maiden message, said Mr Pike. The short phrase is often the first that people learning to code get displayed on screen as they wrestle with a programming language.
One of the first accounts @GCHQ followed was @007 - the official account for fictional spy James Bond.
Many people on Twitter said it was ironic that they were now following GCHQ, given the agency's widely reported work on large-scale surveillance.
The Twitter account follows other moves by GCHQ to engage with the technical world. It also maintains a repository on the Github code-sharing site through which it has shared one of its internal tools called Gaffer. The tool helps with the analysis of large-scale graphs.

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

Summary:


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

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

Summary: Campaigners have expressed fears thousands could miss out under a new compensation scheme for those with the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.
###
Article: It came after Mr Watson told the Guardian Labour was being infiltrated by "Trotsky entryists" who had "come back" to bolster Mr Corbyn.
Mr Corbyn's campaign team said he should be trying to "unite" the party, rather than "patronising" members.
The Labour leader is embroiled in a contest with challenger Owen Smith.
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband earlier announced he is supporting Mr Smith in the contest, the outcome of which is due on 24 September.
There has been Labour in-fighting over the massive influx of new members that have signed up to the party since Mr Corbyn became leader last September, under new rules introduced by Mr Miliband.
Mr Corbyn's supporters have repeatedly faced claims by "moderate" Labour MPs - always firmly denied - that they are attempting to take over the party and transform it into a revolutionary socialist movement, in the way that the secretive Militant faction tried to do in the 1980s.
Momentum - the grassroots network that supports Mr Corbyn - insists they are trying to democratise the party's structures and give ordinary members more of a say.
Mr Watson said he did not believe that the "vast majority" of Labour members that have joined the party are "all Trots and Bolsheviks".
But he added: "But there are some old hands twisting young arms in this (leadership) process, and I'm under no illusions about what's going on.
"They are caucusing and factionalising and putting pressure where they can, and that's how Trotsky entryists operate."
"Sooner or later", he added, "that always ends up in disaster. It always ends up destroying the institutions that are vulnerable, unless you deal with it."
Mr Watson said the "Trots" did not have the party's "best interests at heart", but saw it as a "vehicle for revolutionary socialism" and were "not remotely interested in winning elections".
A spokesperson for the Jeremy for Labour campaign, which is being led by shadow chancellor John McDonnell, said Mr Watson's remarks were "disappointing" and Labour members wanted a "politics of hope" rather...

Summary: Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has been accused of "peddling baseless conspiracy theories" by Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign.
###
Article: The party has tabled an amendment to the Wales Bill currently making its way through the House of Commons.
The idea is unlikely to gain UK government support, although Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has backed the idea in the past.
The amendment said the assembly should be "renamed the National Parliament of Wales, or Senedd Cenedlaethol Cymru".
Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said: "This amendment, if passed, would enforce a simple change - that the assembly be officially named the National Parliament of Wales.
"The Wales Bill already makes provision for officially changing the name of the Welsh Assembly Government to the Welsh government.
"It is only right and proper that the institution's name also reflects its status as a full law-making body, as it has been since the 2011 referendum on further powers.
"The leaders of other parties in Wales have already spoken in favour of this change. We hope that our straightforward and common sense amendment attracts them and their parties' support."

Summary: Plaid Cymru hopes to force a vote which would see the Welsh assembly renamed the Welsh parliament.
###
Article: Mr Christie dropped out of the 2016 presidential race after a lacklustre showing in polls and state races.
"I'm happy to be on the Trump team and I look forward to working with him," said Mr Christie during a press conference.
Mr Trump gives Republicans the best chance to win the White House, he adds.
He said junior senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both running for president, were "unprepared" for the job.
There is "no question" that Mr Trump will turn around Washington, Mr Christie continued, and keep Democratic candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from winning the White House.
If Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio generated any momentum from their ferocious attacks on Donald Trump during Thursday night's Republican debate, that's all gone now.
Mr Christie's endorsement allows Mr Trump to boast that he's drawing bona fide support from mainstream Republican officeholders - and not just a ragtag collection of politicians on the fringes of the party.
The New Jersey governor will help assure voters wary of Mr Trump's brash style that he's an acceptable candidate. He can also serve as an attack dog, tearing into Mr Rubio the way he did during that fateful debate in New Hampshire.
The Christie endorsement could signal a new phase of Mr Trump's presidential campaign, when prominent politicians begin to make peace with the reality of a Trump nomination.
Mr Christie, and others, may see a benefit to being among the first major figures on board the Trump bandwagon. Already rumours are floating that former candidate Mike Huckabee is on the verge of joining Mr Trump's ranks as well.
This is what happens when a frontrunner draws close to victory. And just because the man approaching the finish line is Donald Trump doesn't make it any less true.
Frontrunner Donald Trump, a businessman from New York, is leading in many state polls and has already won three consecutive state contests in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, despite never having worked in politics.
He shouldered some criticism from Mr Rubio...

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

Summary:


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

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

Summary: A new species of black tarantula that lives near Folsom Prison, California, has been named after Johnny Cash.
###
Article: Since then millions have taken to social media to have their say on the apparent Islamist attack.
Some wrote messages of solidarity, while others followed breaking news as the hunt for the two gunmen continued in northern France.
Here are some of the popular topics that have emerged as the story has unfolded.
The hashtag expressing solidarity with Charlie Hebdo magazine and its staff - #JeSuisCharlie - was tweeted about 3.4 million times in the first 24 hours following the attack.
The phrase, appearing on placards, the media and across the internet, has become shorthand for support for freedom of speech and a free press.
One victim of Wednesday's shootings was a Muslim policeman Ahmed Merabet, who was shot in the street outside the Charlie Hebdo offices.
Thousands have paid tribute to the 42-year old using #jesuisahmed (I am Ahmed).
The first person to use the hashtag was a French magazine publisher living in Morocco, Julien Casters, who told the BBC: "It is a snub to the stigmatisation of Islam and a reminder that Muslims in France are not all Islamist radicals."
Just as many supported Charlie Hebdo - others saw it as magazine that could be racist or intolerant and pointed to a recent cartoon depicting the Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira, who is a black woman, as a monkey.
Many of these people - and those who were acknowledging that the 12 dead included a Muslim victim - chose to actively not identify with #JeSuisCharlie.
In a similar vein to #jesuischarlie, #NousSommesCharlie (We are Charlie) is being used to show solidarity to those who lost their lives in the shootings.
The phrase is being used worldwide (pictured above in the Dominican Republic) to reflect global support for the idea behind the #jesuischarlie trend with newspapers and magazines using the phrase.
A number of those using this hashtag - which translates to "against terrorists" - also shared a picture with the words: "I am Muslim. Islam is perfect, but I am not. If I make a mistake, blame me but not my religion!"
Despite Islamic...

Summary: On Wednesday morning, 12 people were killed in attacks on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
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Article: Today the Liberal Democrats set out their proposals to treble paternity leave. They believe it is good for families and good for businesses.
And they took Nick Clegg to a soft play area in Scotland to ensure nice pictures to go along with the story.
However, when the Liberal Democrat leader was interviewed, paternity was one of the last subjects he was asked about.
Door knocking
Instead the first question centred on Nick Clegg's own parliamentary seat.
A poll by the Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft has suggested that the Liberal Democrats are currently trailing behind Labour in Sheffield Hallam, and that Mr Clegg could be in danger of losing his place in the Commons.
He was quick to fire back saying he was sure he would retain his seat.
"I am confident but not complacent that I am going to win," Mr Clegg insisted.
"And I will be out knocking doors this weekend."
It is a reminder that this is not one election - hundreds are being held across the UK and every constituency matters. Particularly when it is your own.
Both Nick Clegg and the UKIP leader Nigel Farage know they face battles to get elected.
But both also have a responsibility to be seen supporting their party's candidates and drumming up support more widely around the country.
In the case of Nick Clegg he has been very busy, travelling to key areas in England, Scotland and Wales in the first few days alone.
It is all part of the Lib Dems' plan for their big yellow battle bus to clock up a lot of miles between now and polling day.
The campaign team wants Mr Clegg to be the most "visible and accessible" of the party leaders.
He is viewed as a key asset as they try to improve their wider poll ratings.
In the last election he made a particular mark in the televised leaders' debates - cast your mind back if you can to a time when they talked about 'Cleggmania'.
As he prepares to face the cameras again Nick Clegg is working out a strategy for the studios.
'Watchable spectacle'
At this election there will be seven leaders involved in the next debate rather...

Summary: Weeks of opportunities to sell your message but you are always at the mercy of the news agenda.
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Article: Teaching assistants are staging a 48-hour strike over Durham County Council's proposal to only pay them during term time.
But Councillor Jane Brown, Labour cabinet member, said resolving the dispute would cost millions of pounds and "hundreds of jobs".
Unison said cutting low-paid workers salaries was "heartless and appalling".
About 100 schools had to close or cut lessons during a two-day stoppage earlier this month.
The latest action will affect 87 schools - 70% will be partially closed and 19 will shut for both days, the county council said.
Ms Brown said the council could not afford to raise the wages of other employees in line with those of teaching assistants and it was facing equal pay claims.
"It was brought to our attention that the teaching assistants were on a contract that was very different from the rest of our workforce.
"They also get paid for more hours than they actually work and almost six weeks extra holiday fully paid a year than the rest of our employees - we really had to address this situation", she said.
Union bosses said the council's proposals would mean a 20% drop in support staff salaries.
Unison northern regional secretary Clare Williams said: "It's very simple, there can be no justification to say you are tackling an equal pay issue by slashing pay by up to 23%.
"Teaching assistants are dedicated to their jobs and the children they teach.
"They don't want to be taking strike action, but the council has left them with no option."

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

Summary:


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

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

Summary: MPs' salaries will rise from £67,060 to £74,000, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced.
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Article: Is this dress blue and black or white and gold?
Scottish singer Caitlin McNeill, 21, started the whole debate after posting a picture of #TheDress on her Tumblr blog.
"Two of my very good friends were getting married and they asked me to put together a band to come and play at their wedding in Western Scotland," she's told Newsbeat.
"This was a wedding on the tiny island that we come from on the west coast of Scotland called Colonsay and about 100 people were there.
"A week beforehand the bride had been sent, by her mother, a picture of the dress she was going to wear and when the bride showed her fiance, they disagreed about what colour it was.
"She was like, 'It's white and gold' and he said, 'It's blue and black'.
"So they posted it on Facebook to try and see what their friends were saying but that caused carnage on Facebook.
"We forgot about it until we saw it at the wedding, which the mother of the bride was wearing, and it was obviously blue and black.
"When I got off the island last night, I was sitting in my hotel room and I thought, 'I'll maybe put the picture to my Tumblr followers.' Sometimes Tumblrs debunk these things and I thought they might have some ideas.
Listen to the full interview on Newsbeat's SoundCloud
"I posted it onto Tumblr, it somehow got onto Twitter and then it just went crazy after that."
That craziness has translated into #TheDress trending around the world.
Also trending are #blueandblack and #goldandwhite as well as various other versions of those colours.
Caitlin says she never expected this reaction after posting the picture on Tumblr.
"It's just incredible. I can't comprehend it.
"People have been messaging me saying that all their favourite celebrities are tweeting about it. I can't even believe it's real. I feel like I'm dreaming."
Even though Caitlin originally thought the dress was gold and white herself, she says after seeing it in person it's definitely blue and black.
"When my friend originally posted this picture on Facebook I thought they were just playing an...

Summary: It's the latest story to break the internet - and an optical illusion.
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Article: Greater Manchester - which will take on the powers when electing a mayor in two years - should become a blueprint for other large cities, he said.
A Cities Devolution Bill will be in the Queen's Speech later this month.
Labour claimed the government's "piecemeal approach" could mask big cuts to local councils' spending.
BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said the chancellor hoped the move would "reignite" areas such as Manchester, not just economically but also to renew a sense of civic pride.
But it is also designed to "wrong foot" Labour in their northern heartlands, and to "re-present" the Tories in the north where they have traditionally been "on the back foot", he added.
Speaking in Manchester, the chancellor said the "old model" of running everything from London was "broken" and had unbalanced the economy.
He said it has "made people feel remote from the decisions that affect their lives", and added: "It's not good for our prosperity or our democracy."
Mr Osborne stressed that the government would deliver the devolution to Scotland and Wales it promised.
But he said he wanted to go much further and "deliver radical devolution to the great cities of England" and give them the "levers to grow their local economy".
As part of the devolution plan, only cities that elected their own mayor would be given control of local transport, housing and skills.
"I will not impose this model on anyone," Mr Osborne said, "but nor will I settle for less."
"My door now is open to any other major city who wants to take this bold step into the future."
This is a "revolution in the way we govern England", said.
Last year, leaders of Greater Manchester's 10 councils agreed to the area's first mayoral election, described by Mr Osborne at the time as "a massive moment for the north of England".
The move came two years after the people in Manchester had voted against having a mayor for the city alone.
Under the devolution plans, the mayor would lead Greater Manchester Combined Authority, chair its meetings and allocate...

Summary: English cities will get powers over housing, transport, planning and policing under plans set out in George Osborne's first post-election speech.
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Article: Female knights will battle against male counterparts at Bolsover, Kenilworth, Pendennis and Carisbrooke castles.
The grand medieval joust competitions see the knights on horseback, dressed in full armour and armed with a lance.
Traditionally, no women took part in jousting tournaments as all the elite knights were male.
But following in the footsteps of Game of Thrones' Brienne of Tarth, English Heritage said it had made the decision to allow visitors to see the "most accomplished knights on the circuit".
Emily Sewell, English Heritage's head of events, said: "Historically, the knights who took part in jousting tournaments were an elite band, the best of the best.
"No women were amongst that group.
"Now they are, and in order to bring our visitors the opportunity to witness some of the most accomplished knights on the circuit, it made complete sense to invite the leading female jousters to join us this summer."
Source: History
Nicky Willis will joust at Kenilworth and Pendennis, whilst Dutch jouster Alix van Zijl will compete against her male counterparts at Bolsover and Carisbrooke.
Ms Willis said: "I have heard how much fun it is to joust at Kenilworth, and I can't wait to be part of the action this year.
"Kenilworth is famed for some of the most elaborate tournaments in medieval England - as well as playing host to one of England's strongest women, Queen Elizabeth I - so it's the perfect place to sort the women from the boys."

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

Summary:


The European Parliament has voted to ban the burka in the European Union.
The vote was passed by a majority of 348 to 39.
The ban will come into force in January 2015.
The vote was taken after a debate on the issue in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
The vote was taken after a

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

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

Summary: England's largest housing authority does not "systemically" turn away homeless applicants, a judge has ruled.
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Article: It came as 86 out of 100 MPs asked in another survey said they thought they were trusted by constituents.
The polls were published by campaigners calling for changes to the government's Recall of MPs Bill, which goes before the Commons on Tuesday.
The 38 Degrees campaign group said public trust in politicians had sunk to "crisis point".
Under the government's plans, an MP could be recalled after being convicted of an offence and receiving a sentence of 12 months or less.
MPs could also be recalled if they were suspended from the House of Commons for at least 21 sitting days.
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith has said the criteria for recall are "too narrow" and has tabled amendments aimed at making MPs more accountable.
Mr Goldsmith believes an MP should be recalled if 5% of voters in a constituency sign a "notice of intent to recall" and 20% of voters then sign a "recall petition".
Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, David Cameron suggested the government would listen to proposed changes.
He told MPs: "I will look very carefully at all amendments that come forward because, frankly, in getting this Bill together we have come up with the minimum acceptable for recall, but I think there are a lot of very good arguments to be had about how we can go further, and I look forward to having them in the House of Commons."
YouGov carried out the public poll, of more than 1,600 people. Respondents were asked if they trusted their MP to represent them in Parliament - 24% said Yes.
The survey of MPs was carried out by Dods Polling.
David Babbs, executive director of 38 Degrees, said: "Giving voters the power to get rid of bad apple MPs would be the first step towards restoring people's faith in politics.
"This vote will be the acid test of whether MPs trust their constituents - or whether they want to keep real power locked within Westminster."
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Quite simply, the voters who have the power to hire MPs should also have the right to fire...

Summary: Less than a quarter of people trust their MP to represent them in Parliament, a survey has suggested.
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Article: Workers directly employed by Holyrood already receive at least the living wage.
But from next year staff employed by contractors will also be included.
The parliament's Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick said that about 26 cleaning and catering staff would see their wages rise.
The living wage is more than the UK's National Minimum Wage, which is currently £6.50 per hour.
Ms Marwick said: "I am delighted that - as an employer - the parliament has moved to ensure the Living Wage guarantee now extends to all staff who work directly at the parliament.
"The cost of meeting this commitment is relatively small in financial terms but is hugely symbolic to employees and employers alike.
"Ensuring that employees receive decent pay and conditions is the hallmark of a good employer and I hope that our decision will encourage other organisations across Scotland to make the same commitment to their staff."
Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance, welcomed the move and said it demonstrated that the Living Wage was a "well-regarded concept that has benefits for individuals, employers and wider society".
£6.50 - UK National Minimum Wage - hourly rate
£7.85 - Scottish Living Wage - hourly rate
26 - Holyrood cleaners and caterers who will benefit

Summary: Cleaning and catering staff at the Scottish Parliament are to be guaranteed the Living Wage of £7.85 per hour.
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Article: The Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) has said about 20,000 students in universities and colleges could potentially access the loan.
It will become available next year. Students with lower incomes will still be able to access existing grants.
The DEL minister said grants were often not enough to cover the full cost of tuition and were also means tested.
"In reality, most part-time students are ineligible to receive any support and the vast majority must self-fund their studies," Stephen Farry said.
"Following a public consultation exercise, I am now pleased to announce a new, non-means tested, 'top-up' tuition fee loan for part-time students.
"Students from lower incomes will continue to be able to access the existing grants, but they will also be able to top them up with a loan for their tuition fees should they need to, providing them with the same level of tuition fee support over the lifetime of their course as their full-time counterparts.
"Students ineligible to receive the existing fee grants will also be able to access these new loans.
"This combination of grants and loans for part-time tuition fee support is unique within the UK."

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

Summary: