The last lump of coal mined in South Yorkshire has been presented to Doncaster's mayor at a ceremony marking the end of mining in the region.

Article: The National Association of Head Teachers said reducing the per-place funding for such units from £10,000 to £6,000 a year would be "disastrous".
It also said the plans would not address the wide disparity in funding for children with similar needs.
The government says it has boosted high needs funding by £90m this year.
In its report, Getting it right: Funding pupils with complex needs, the NAHT looks at the impact of the proposed changes to the funding for children with high special educational needs.
The changes include basing the way funds are allocated to local authorities on the number of two- to 18-year-olds in the area.
This will then be modified by three factors - the number of children in bad health or on a disability benefit, low attainment and deprivation levels in the area.
But the NAHT says the proposals do not address the so-called "top up" funding for children with very complex needs, where there are big differences in funding.
The variability in funding levels means children with very similar needs could attract £2,000 of education funding in one local authority but £20,000 in another.
"This is clearly unacceptable and the DfE needs to develop parameters and controls to ensure that funding is fairly distributed within local authorities," the NAHT said.
Kim Johnson, president of NAHT and principal of Bradfields Specialist SEN Academy, says: "Those of us who are passionate about the education of children with high and complex needs have been pressing for this review of high needs funding for a long time.
"We desperately need a new approach that creates greater consistency and transparency.
"But we also need to be mindful that local authorities have taken very different approaches and that the transition to such an approach could result in some significant changes."
The NAHT also opposes plans to cut funding for special units within mainstream schools from £10,000 to £6,000 per pupil.
"Such a move would be disastrous for such units, leading to potential closures," the heads' union said.
Heads...

Summary: Plans to shake up special educational needs funding could see special units in mainstream schools close, a teaching union says.
###
Article: The footage revealed that the clever primates habitually make special water-dipping sticks - chewing the end of the stick to turn it into a soft, water-absorbing brush.
Primate researchers examined the "dipping sticks" and concluded they were made specifically for drinking.
The findings are reported in the American Journal of Primatology.
Lead researcher Juan Lapuente, from the Comoe Chimpanzee Conservation Project, in Ivory Coast, explained that using similar brush-tipped sticks to dip into bees' nests for honey was common in chimpanzee populations across Africa.
"But the use of brush-tipped sticks to dip for water is completely new and had never been described before," he told BBC News.
"These chimps use especially long brush tips that they make specifically for water - much longer than those used for honey."
The researchers tested the chimps' drinking sticks in an "absorption experiment", which showed that the particularly long brush-tips provided an advantage.
"The longer the brush, the more water they collect," said Mr Lapuente.
"This technology allows Comoe chimpanzees to obtain water from extremely narrow and deep tree holes that only they  - and no other animal - can exploit, which [gives] them a superb adaptive advantage to survive in this dry and unpredictable environment."
This suggests that this particular population of chimpanzees has what the researchers call a "drinking culture" - a custom shared throughout this group of making these special water-dipping sticks to help them through the dry season.
The population belongs to the Western Chimpanzee sub-species, now critically endangered.
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Summary: Researchers have used camera traps to film tool-use that is unique to chimpanzees in Ivory Coast.
###
Article: "If I was giving individual feedback on a daily basis as a teacher I would see my kids scores just skyrocket, but in some classrooms there might be 70, 80 students, and you can imagine how overwhelming that is for one teacher."
From her experience, Ms Maraviglia, a 32-year-old American who had moved to Kenya to help start a program to support teachers, came up with the idea of teaching via mobile phone text messages.
Together with co-founder Kago Kagichiri they set up their business in Nairobi in 2011.
Eneza says it wants to make "50 million students in Africa smarter".
"Eneza is a virtual tutor and teachers' assistant," explains Ms Maraviglia.  "It's a way for students to access courses through a low-cost cell phone.
"A lot of people [wrongly] think that our company is non-profit, because I am a woman, and because it's in education.
"We are a mission-based, for-profit company - what we do is charge an extremely low cost to our users and our business model is based on large scale."
For many young people across Africa, the education available to them is often both under-resourced and costly to students and their families.
Limited public funds leave classrooms over-crowded, teachers over-stretched, and textbooks in short supply, while private schooling is prohibitively expensive for many.
Ms Maraviglia, who started out as a teacher in inner city New York after graduating from the University of California, jokes that she is the teacher who hated technology, and her Kenyan co-founder Mr Kagichiri is the techie who hated teachers.
"What really changed my mind about what's possible is Kago," she says. "When a technologist and a teacher put their heads together they are able to really think of solutions that work."
Eneza's 500,000 users access courses and quizzes almost exclusively by text messages, for a cost of just 10 Kenyan shillings (10 cents; six pence) per week, which is deducted from pre-paid airtime on their mobile phones. The company has also developed Android and web-based versions of the app, but text...

Summary: "I realised the burden of what teachers go through here when I was living in this rural village," says Toni Maraviglia, co-founder of Eneza Education, a mobile phone based education tool in Kenya.
###
Article: For the first time, Apple will allow adverts to be blocked by the iPhone and iPad versions of Safari.
The move is likely to please users, but will concern the many companies that depend on advertising.
In a nutshell, the term covers a variety of technologies used to prevent adverts appearing on  internet-connected devices.
They are already widely used on PCs, where the most common technique is to install a browser plug-in, but are relatively rare on smartphones and tablets.
That's not to say it's impossible to use them on mobile kit.
Apple and Android devices can already run specialised third-party ad-blocking browsers or be made to stop ads appearing by altering their network settings, but the point is that only a small percentage of people do this.
Apple's decision to open up Safari, however, could take the activity mainstream.
Webpages should be decluttered of distracting content.
Pages should also load more quickly, mobile data allowances should come under less strain and iPhone batteries could also last longer between charges.
Apple's iOS 9 operating system will allow content blocking extensions to be added to Safari.
These browser add-ons can be set to block certain cookies, images, pop-ups and other content from being downloaded.
Until now, the only way to do something similar was to "jailbreak" the handsets, which also made them more vulnerable to malware.
Apple will not offer its own ad-blocking software.
Instead, people will be able to download extensions made by others from its App Store in a similar way to how they can already install third-party keyboards.
By detecting and stripping out scripts in the code of web pages meant to make browsers pull content from ad networks' computer servers.
They will also act to prevent scripts from doing things like tracking how long a user has been looking at a webpage and monitoring how far they have scrolled down a page in order to serve up more ads.
Absolutely. There have already been loud complaints about the spread of ad-blockers on PCs and several of...

Summary: Faster iPhones and a new TV box are likely to dominate Apple's launch event on Wednesday, but a tweak to the firm's mobile web browser will arguably be just as far-reaching.
###
Article: Hatfield Colliery closed in June with the loss of 430 jobs after almost a century of production.
The short ceremony took place at the mine, near Doncaster.
John Grogan, chairman of the Hatfield Employee Benefit Trust, which has run the mine since 2013, said it was "the end of an era".
He said: "On Monday the company will be wound up in the High Court and that will represent the end of coal mining in South Yorkshire after many generations.
"In 1980 there were 50,000 miners in South Yorkshire. On Monday morning when we're in the High Court there will be none.
"We're presenting this piece of coal as a symbol of our respect for all the miners who have gone before us in South Yorkshire and helped build the economy of our country and keep the lights on for many decades."
Accepting the gift the Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said: "On behalf of Doncaster and South Yorkshire I'm humbled to accept this."
The only remaining deep coal mine in England, Kellingley colliery in North Yorkshire, is due to close later this year.

Summary:


The man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend whispered to a friend "she'll pay for what she's done" five days before she was killed, a court heard.

Article: Up in the hills of central Laos, it shimmers to the horizon, punctuated by treetops breaking the surface and long-tail fishing boats buzzing past.
"I think they could turn this place into a tourist attraction," says 75 year old Kam Kong, as he untangles his nets on the edge of the water.
This postcard-perfect scene is actually the reservoir for the Nam Theun 2 dam - one of the biggest hydroelectric projects in Southeast Asia.
Its opening may mark a turning point for Laos as it hopes to move from being the sleepy, under-developed backwater of Indochina to, as its government has put it, the "battery" for this increasingly power-hungry region.
As the water is released from the reservoir, it rushes downhill and into a rather utilitarian white-and-green power station, where turbines hum as they produce more than a thousand megawatts of electricity.
Pylons march across the hill into neighbouring Thailand, which is taking almost all the power produced by Nam Theun 2.
In theory, the figures should add up nicely for Laos. Revenue from the project may bring the government some $2bn over the next 25 years, a serious amount for one of the world's least-developed countries.
According to one of the project's backers, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Nam Theun 2 could provide almost a tenth of the national budget in a good year.
But the spectre of the so-called "resource curse" hangs over any developing country that suddenly gains a windfall from energy, with funds siphoned off by a greedy few instead of being used for the greater good.
Laos insists that is not going to happen this time, despite its low ranking on Transparency International's "perceptions of corruption" index.
"Nam Theun 2 is business, but we need the revenue for the development of the country," says Sivixay Soukkharath, a government worker in charge of resettling villagers affected by the dam.
"The government will give people education, healthcare and infrastructure, and it will allow us to protect the environment throughout the country."
The financial...

Summary: At first glance, the vast body of water stretching across the Nakai plateau does not seem to have much in common with a set of Duracells.
###
Article: For the 2016 Games, in addition to changes in the sporting arena - with sports like rugby sevens and golf added - there are also important sponsor changes.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has relaxed the rules around athletes - such as six-time gold medal winner Usain Bolt - who have commercial deals with firms that are not official Olympic sponsors.
For the first time those athletes can feature in promotions for their brands during the Rio 2016 period. Previously the IOC's Rule 40 had imposed a blackout period throughout the Games for this type of "non-official" advert.
In the case of the UK, as long as advertising campaigns were up and running by 27 March, and were approved by the British Olympic Association, they can continue throughout the duration of Rio 2016 - something unheard of before.
"There was a lot of negative feedback from the athletes at London 2012 about the advertising restrictions they faced, and the IOC said they would review the rules because of this unhappiness," says Karen Earl of the European Sponsorship Association (ESA).
"Athletes, who are often at their earnings peak during an Olympic Games, became angry four years ago as they could not financially capitalise on their fame at a time when they were in the global spotlight.
"There was never much possibility that there would be a total relaxation by the IOC of Rule 40. But what they have done has allowed athletes and their backers to think carefully outside the box and come up with creative advertising."
However, certain restrictions remain in place, with certain banned phrases still not allowed, including "Olympic", "Rio", "gold" and "Games".
And any adverts from non-sponsors must also "not create any impression of a commercial association with the Olympic Games".
(In addition, if an advertising campaign is to be run in a number of countries during the Games period, then it needs the approval of the IOC as well as the home Olympic association.)
The IOC says Rule 40 is in place for various reasons, including:
Among those...

Summary: As the greatest sporting show on earth gets under way in Rio, there is an Olympic buzz not only among fans, but in the world of sports sponsorship too.
###
Article: The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Tories had very few tax or spending commitments in their manifesto.
Labour, in contrast, was proposing very big increases in tax and spending.
However, the IFS said Labour's plans for paying for its proposed expansion in state activity would not work.
IFS deputy director Carl Emmerson said neither manifesto gave voters an honest set of choices or addressed the long-term challenges the UK faced.
"For Labour, we can have pretty much everything - free higher education, free childcare, more spending on pay, health, infrastructure. And the pretence is that can all be funded by faceless corporations and 'the rich'," he said.
"There is a choice we can make as a country to have a bigger state - that would not make us unusual in international terms. But that comes at a cost in higher taxes, which would inevitably need to be borne by large numbers of us."
Meanwhile, the Conservatives offered spending cuts the party had already promised, Mr Emmerson said.
"Additional funding pledges for the NHS and schools are just confirming that spending would rise in a way broadly consistent with the March Budget," he told a briefing in London on Friday.
"Compared with Labour, they are offering a relatively smaller state and consequently lower taxes. With that offer come unacknowledged risks to the quality of public services, and tough choices over spending."
The IFS said the Tory plans "imply at least another five years of austerity, with the continuation of planned welfare cuts and serious pressures on the public services including on the NHS".
Labour's calculations that £49bn a year could be raised from the wealthiest individuals and companies were flawed and would raise £40bn at most in the short term, and less in the long term, it said.
The Conservatives' plan to impose what the IFS called "very big cuts" to working-age welfare benefits would save £11bn annually by 2021-22, but would significantly cut the incomes of the poorest working age households.
"Labour's manifesto in fact commits...

Summary: Neither the Conservatives nor Labour are being honest with voters about the economic consequences of their policy proposals, an influential think tank has warned.
###
Article: The leftist movement's leader, Pablo Iglesias, said the result spelt the end of traditional politics in Spain, which has been dominated by two parties.
Podemos-backed candidates in Barcelona and Madrid both fared strongly.
The PP suffered heavy losses, amid voter discontent over economic policy.
With the count almost completed, the party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won the most votes nationwide - 27%. Its traditional rival, the Socialists (PSOE), came second.
But the two parties fell short of overall majorities in many areas that they have governed, losing ground to Podemos and to the party Ciudadanos, which campaigned on a pro-business platform.
Mr Iglesias said the PP and PSOE "have had one of the worst results in their history".
"This spring of change is irreversible," he said. "We will take up the challenge of winning the [parliamentary] elections against the Popular Party."
Anti-eviction activist Ada Colau, who is supported by Podemos, won the most votes in the mayoral race for Barcelona, Spain's second largest city.
"I want to be a mayor at the service of the people, so there will never again be first-class citizens and second-class citizens in this town," she said, as quoted by El Pais newspaper.
As expected, in the wake of the economic crisis and high-profile corruption scandals which have tarnished the reputation of the traditional political parties in Spain, the country has now entered a new political era.
Anti-austerity parties, linked to the Podemos movement on the far left, which is barely one year old, have the prestige of holding power in Barcelona, and could form a coalition to rule in the Spanish capital.
Across the country the ruling Popular Party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been punished.
The PP will hold on to the fact that they still have the highest share of the vote of any single party. However, they have lost absolute majorities in regional parliaments across the country, including in traditional heartlands like Valencia, where the party has been badly damaged by...

Summary: Spain's anti-austerity Podemos movement has vowed to defeat the governing Popular Party (PP) in national polls this year, after its dramatic gains in Sunday's local and regional elections.
###
Article: Shana Grice ended her relationship with "obsessed" Michael Lane who stalked her when she started up a new relationship, Lewes Crown Court has heard.
The 19-year-old's body was discovered with her throat slit in her bedroom, which had been set alight, in August.
Mr Lane denies murder.
Giving evidence, his friend Natalie Fines said she bumped into him during an evening out with her parents on Saturday, 20 August.
Ms Fines told the court: "He told me she'd dumped him and gone back to her ex. He wasn't very happy about it, he told me he was depressed.
"As we were all leaving and hugging goodbye, he whispered in my ear 'she'll pay for what she's done'."
During cross-examination by Simon Russell Flint QC, defending, she added: "I didn't think that much of it. He'd often say things like that.
"For example, that he'd kill himself, and do it that night, but he didn't act on it."
The trial has previously heard Mr Lane, of Thornhill Rise, Portslade, East Sussex, put a tracker device on Miss Grice's car after hearing about her rekindling of the relationship with Ashley Cooke.
He was also cautioned by police after he stole a key to her back door before letting himself into her bedroom in Chrisdory Road, Portslade, to watch her sleep.
The trial continues.

Summary:

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The number of marriages in Scotland has fallen by more than a third in the past decade, according to a new report.
The number of marriages in Scotland fell by 3,541 in 2015 compared with the previous year, according to a new report.
The number of marriages in Scotland fell by 3,541

The number of marriages in Gretna topped 3,500 last year - a slight rise compared with the previous 12 months.

Article: The gains came at the expense of all the other parties though it lost one seat - Tadcaster - to an independent.
UKIP failed to hold its two seats on the authority whilst the Liberal Party lost its two county councillors.
The Conservatives now have 55 of the 72 seats. There are 10 councillors who are independent and have no party affiliation.
Labour lost three of the seven seats it was defending and the Liberal Democrats lost two of the five seats they held previously.
Election 2017: Full results from across England
Conservative leader of the council, Carl Les, said: "It is a vindication of the way the party has been leading the council now for almost a quarter of a century.
"I do not believe we have a monopoly on wisdom and we will listen to other parties and other members if they come forward with practical and reasonable suggestions for us to consider.
"We have not finished with austerity, we will still have to find savings and we will do that."

Summary: The Conservatives have strengthened their hold of North Yorkshire County Council gaining 10 seats.
###
Article: If passed, the childcare bill will grant the entitlement to families where all parents are working.
The changes aim to help 600,000 children a year from 2017.
However, nursery providers say the existing scheme is underfunded with the budget for free childcare falling 20% short of the cost of provision.
Neil Leitch, of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said: "As a result, many are being forced to increase the cost of paid-for hours [those hours above and beyond the free entitlement], resulting in higher childcare costs for parents."
The group represents the owners of 14,000 childcare groups across England.
The plans had been outlined in the Conservatives' election manifesto and Mr Cameron said at the time that its Â£350m-a-year cost would be funded through reductions in tax relief on pension contributions.
Currently, all three-and-four-year-olds in England are entitled to 570 hours a year of free early education or childcare at nurseries, play and pre-school groups, Sure Start children's centres, or with childminders. Two-year-olds from the poorest families also qualify.
The 570 hours equate to 15 hours a week over a 38-week school year but can be spread over the year.
Mr Cameron had said this was an improvement on the "shocking" situation the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition inherited in 2010, "where couples were spending as much on childcare as one of them took home in earnings".
Previously "for many second earners, work didn't pay because the cost of childcare was so high", he had said.
The measures announced in the Queen's Speech only apply to England because responsibility for childcare is devolved to national governments.
The Scottish government offers all three and four-year-olds 600 hours of funded nursery provision per year, while all those in Wales are entitled to 10 hours per week in term time.
In Northern Ireland, pre-school education is funded for two-and-a-half hours a day, five days a week during term-time.
New legislation will require councils to publish information about childcare in...

Summary: Access to free childcare for three-and-four-year-olds in England is to double to 30 hours a week under measures announced in the Queen's Speech.
###
Article: There will be a grace period for projects which already have planning permission, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.
Energy firms had been facing an end to subsidies in 2017.
The funding for the subsidy comes from the Renewables Obligation, which is funded by levies added to household fuel bills.
After the announcement was made, Fergus Ewing, Scottish minister for business, energy and tourism and member of the Scottish parliament, said he had warned the UK government that the decision could be the subject of a judicial review.
Analysis: Roger Harrabin, environment analyst
The Conservatives promised in their manifesto to hold down bills and increase renewable energy.
But onshore wind is the cheapest readily-available form of clean energy in the UK. That's why some experts have described their decision to kill the onshore wind programme as bizarre and irrational.
Speaking to business leaders in London last night, Amber Rudd said it was time to shift subsidies from onshore wind to other technologies that needed them more. But she did not say what those technologies would be, and the government has not announced compensatory subsidies for other forms of energy.
Some of the business leaders are baffled why ministers will give local people a unique veto over wind turbines, when they cannot veto shale gas fracking or even a nuclear power station on their doorstep.
The government's policies are seen by green groups as nakedly political. Another reason may be partly at play - the right-leaning think tank Policy Exchange calculates that the energy subsidies programme has simply run out of cash.
If this is accurate, it presents a formidable challenge to an energy secretary who says she is committed to transforming the UK into a low-carbon economy.
"The decision by the UK government to end the Renewables Obligation next year is deeply regrettable and will have a disproportionate impact on Scotland, as around 70% of onshore wind projects in the UK planning system are here," he added.
The move was part of a...

Summary: New onshore wind farms will be excluded from a subsidy scheme from 1 April 2016, a year earlier than expected.
###
Article: Ofcom's preferred option is for responsibility for the switch being placed entirely in the hands of the new provider.
That would mean an end to the process of contacting the existing provider in order to end the current contract.
A final decision will be made in the autumn.
There are an estimated 47 million mobile phone contracts in the UK, and approximately 5.9 million people have never switched provider at all, nor considered switching in the past year.
Ofcom research suggests that, of those who have switched, some 38% have been hit by one major problem during the process. One in five of them temporarily lost their service, and one in 10 had difficulties contacting their current supplier or keeping their phone number.
The regulator has outlined two options to improve the process:
Sharon White, Ofcom chief executive, said: "It is unacceptable for people to be missing out on better mobile deals because they fear the hassle of switching, or are put off having had a poor experience in the past.
"We want mobile customers to benefit from speedier, simpler switching, making it easier for them to vote with their feet and take advantage of choice in the market."
Dan Howdle, from switching company Cable.co.uk, said: "I am elated that Ofcom is finally looking to expose the convoluted switching process for what it is - not merely a series of laborious administrative hoops, but a set of sticking points designed to actively dissuade us from switching provider."
The regulator also wants customers to be given the chance to defer a switch to prevent double paying on both contracts during the handover process.
Customers can already switch without a penalty during a 30-day period after a provider announces an unexpected price rise.
The plans will now go to consultation before a final decision later in the year.

Summary: Switching mobile phone providers should be made simpler, the regulator says, under plans that mirror bank account swaps.
###
Article: A National Records of Scotland report said the Dumfries and Galloway village remained a "popular venue".
There were 3,511 marriages registered in 2015 compared with 3,499 in 2014.
However, last year's total is more than a third down on the record total for Gretna which dates back to 2004 when there were 5,555 weddings.
Nonetheless, it can still claim to be the "marriage capital" of Scotland and accounts for 12% of all weddings.
It is particularly popular for "tourism marriages" and some 84% of the weddings held in Gretna last year did not involve a resident in Scotland.

Summary:


A huge naan bread made by firefighters has been confirmed to be the biggest the world has ever seen.

Article: The claim: The cost of borrowing for the UK government is at record low levels. The government should take advantage of this to improve the UK's economic performance.
Reality Check verdict: The yield on UK government bonds has been falling to record lows, making borrowing cheaper, despite the recent cut in the UK's credit ratings. Borrowing to invest has the potential to reduce the need for future borrowing, but that's not guaranteed and it could further damage the UK's credit.
He's right about the cost of borrowing. The yields on 10-year UK government bonds have indeed been at record lows in trading over the past week, and that's a good indicator of the sort of amount the government would have to pay to borrow money.
You can only tell what will actually happen when there is a bond sale, as there was on Tuesday morning.
The government sold £2.5bn of bonds maturing in five years, at a record low yield.
The low bond yield is in some ways a bit surprising, as the downgrades from the ratings agencies S&P and Fitch mean they reckon that lending money to the UK government has become less safe.
But, in fact, what has happened is that the yield on government bonds has fallen because in uncertain times people look for relatively safe investments, such as government bonds.
It's not just the yields on UK government bonds that have been falling. The Swiss 50-year government bond has a negative yield for the first time, meaning that investors are prepared to pay to be able to lend money to the Swiss government. German government bonds also have negative yields, while US 10- and 30-year Treasury bonds are also at record low yields.
The rate of interest the government pays on its debt is important because the UK is currently in debt to the tune of £1.6 trillion (excluding holdings in public sector banks), so a small rise in interest rates would be very expensive for the public finances. The amount the country borrows each year (the deficit) has been falling, but the total debt has kept rising.
The Office for Budget...

Summary: Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday that the price of borrowing was at "record lows", and that if he became prime minister he would take advantage of this to invest in infrastructure.
###
Article: Leader Tim Farron, whose party campaigned to stay in the EU, says it would be "completely unfair" if voters were not given a say on the deal devised by Brexit ministers.
He denied suggestions he was trying to overturn the 23 June referendum, when a majority backed the UK leaving the EU.
Brexit Secretary David Davis wants a "national consensus" for the UK's exit.
But Mr Farron says voting for Britain's departure from the EU "is not the same as voting for a destination".
"What the British government is now, one assumes, in the process of doing... is putting together the potential deal for what Britain will get in the future - what will free movement look like? Will there be a points based system? Apparently not. Will there be additional money for our health service? Apparently not. What will the relationship be with the single market? What will that mean for pricing?
"Our proposal today is the deal would come to the British people - we'd vote on that. If we voted 'yes' for that deal, then Britain would leave the European Union as we've already indicated... If we voted 'no' to that deal - if that's not satisfactory to the British people - we'd remain members of the EU."
Mr Farron told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that despite being opposed to the UK leaving the EU, he remained a critic of the institution and continued to campaign for it to be reformed.
He insisted that he "respected" the referendum result and did not want to see "a re-run" of the vote - just an opportunity for the people to decide on any deal put forward by the government over Britain's departure.
The 23 June referendum resulted in 52% of people voting for Britain to leave the EU and 48% voting for it to remain.
"None of us voted for whatever it is that we might get from the deal that is arranged or negotiated by David Davis and co," said Mr Farron.
Referring to Theresa May, who succeeded David Cameron as prime minister after he quit over the result, Mr Farron added: "It seems completely wrong for an unelected prime minister to enforce a deal...

Summary: The British public should have a chance to vote on government plans for the UK to leave the EU, the Lib Dems say.
###
Article: Wales and Real Madrid football star Gareth Bale surprised children at a Cardiff hospital by turning up unannounced with bags full of toys.
Lucy Griffiths, whose son Jayden was at the Children's Hospital for Wales with breathing difficulties, said: "It made our Christmas."
She said Bale, who is from Cardiff, wished the children a merry Christmas as he gave out the gifts.
"He just turned up as a surprise - not even the nurses knew about it," said Ms Griffiths, from Newton Abbot in Devon, who was visiting her sister in Cardiff when Jayden became ill.
"It was a lovely thing to experience. He gave Jayden two presents, wished him a merry Christmas and said to get well soon.
"There were quite a few children there and to have someone like that come to do that was amazing. Jayden had a huge smile on his face."
Ms Griffiths said Bale turned up at the hospital with his pregnant girlfriend, Emma Rhys-Jones, at about 16:30 GMT on Thursday.
Jayden, who has asthma, was allowed home later that evening.

Summary: Santa Claus was not the only one handing out presents on Christmas Eve.
###
Article: Joshua Komisarjevsky, 31, was ordered to face lethal injection after emotional statements from family members of the victims.
The crime shocked America and helped defeat a bill to abolish the death penalty in the state of Connecticut.
Komisarjevsky's accomplice, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death in 2010.
The two were on parole for burglary when they broke into a home in Cheshire, Connecticut.
While Dr William Petit was tied up, his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit was forced to withdraw money from her bank.
She was then raped by Hayes and strangled to death.
Hawke-Petit's 11-year-old daughter, Michaela, was sexually assaulted by Komisarjevsky.
Both girls were tied to their beds and left to die as the house was doused in petrol and set on fire.
The only survivor, Dr Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat and tied up but escaped.
He testified during Friday's sentencing hearing that the crime had been a "personal holocaust".
"I lost my family and my home,'' he said. "They were three special people. Your children are your jewels.''
Defence lawyers had argued that Komisarjevsky, convicted of sexual assault and murder in October, should be spared execution in light of the abuse he suffered as a boy.
But Judge Jon Blue disagreed and told the convicted man he had brought the harshest sentence on himself.
In court on Friday, Komisarjevsky acknowledged he had hurt many people, but insisted that he never raped the girl and had not intended to kill.
"They were never supposed to lose their lives," said Komisarjevsky, who will become the 11th man on Connecticut's death row.
"I know my responsibilities, but what I cannot do is carry the responsibilities of the actions of another,'' Komisarjevsky said. "I did not want those innocent women to die.''
During the trial, Komisarjevsky and Hayes blamed each other for escalating the crime.
Being condemned to death was a "surreal experience", Komisarjevsky added.
Talking about the penalty, he said: "I wonder when the killing will end."
They are not likely to be put to death soon, as both...

Summary: A man convicted of murdering a woman and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion has tried to deflect blame, as a judge sentenced him to die.
###
Article: Led by fire officer Dave Curry, the team created a giant Indian bread, weighing 26kg (57lb 5oz) and measuring 3.79m (12ft 5in) by 1.4m (4ft 7in).
The cooking feat, carried out at the Eastleigh Mela in Hampshire on 6 July, was confirmed as successful on Tuesday by the Guinness World Records.
This beats the 2008 record naan, which weighed 9.5kg (20lb 15oz).
That creation was cooked by Loblaw Companies Limited in Brampton, Ontario, Canada and measured 2.89m (9ft 6in) by 1m (3ft 4in).
Mr Curry said they were "absolutely thrilled" to have the record confirmed.
"We were also able to raise several hundred pounds for charity through selling the naan at the Eastleigh Mela," he said.
"As well as being a record-breaker, it tasted good too as it quickly sold out."
The Hampshire firefighters' enormous naan bread, which was sold for Â£3 per portion with a curry, raised money for The Fire Fighters Charity, Water Wells Project and Hampshire Hurricanes.
It was created with the help of Badi Mirchi and Sanjha restaurants.

Summary:


Almost 1,000 people in the South Eastern Health Trust are waiting for an urgent appointment to see a cardiologist, according to a report.

Article: 17 March 2016 Last updated at 07:14 GMT
George Osbourne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is responsible for setting out how the government plans to spend its money each year in his budget.
In his budget speech he announced that he wants head teachers of English secondary schools to scrap traditional "home time" and decide for themselves what time the school day will end.
He's offering these schools a pot of money to help pay for additional classes or extra-curricular activities like art and sport.
Schools in other parts of the UK won't be affected.
The Chancellor says his plans mean "every child gets the best start in life".
But some teachers say it's more complicated, and that they're already offering after school activities.
Malcolm Trobe, who is in charge of the Association of School and College Leaders, an organisation that represents head teachers across the UK, said that the money on offer wouldn't be enough to help all schools in England, and that "potentially youngsters in some schools would be in an advantageous position over others."
Ricky's been finding out what you think...
Read our full guide to the Budget here.

Summary: Head teachers in England will be allowed to extend secondary school hours, it's been announced.
###
Article: An advertising campaign is being launched to publicise the change, which means from 20 June people can be fined without actually driving the car.
There are estimated to be about 1.4 million motorists without insurance.
At the moment uninsured drivers are prosecuted only after they have been caught actually driving.
Although police cars have number plate recognition technology which can check cars against a database, it still requires police time to enforce.
The new offence will allow motorists to be prosecuted for simply owning a vehicle without insurance.
Letters will be sent to drivers and, if they do nothing, they face a £100 fine followed by court action.
If the vehicle remains uninsured - regardless of whether the fine is paid - further action will be taken. If the vehicle is on public land it could then be clamped, seized and destroyed.
Alternatively court action could be taken, with the offender facing a fine of up to £1,000.
Motorists who have declared their car as off the road will not be fined.
Ministers say the change will allow police to concentrate their efforts on hard core offenders, who drive unregistered cars which the automatic system will not be able to trace.
Road Safety minister Mike Penning said: "Uninsured drivers are a danger on our roads, killing 160 and injuring a further 23,000 people each year, and they cost honest motorists £500m in extra premiums.
"That is why we are introducing this tough new law which will leave uninsured drivers with nowhere to hide.
"Our message is clear - get insured or face a fine, court action or seeing your car seized and destroyed."
Ashton West, chief executive at the Motor Insurers' Bureau, said the change in law is a "stepping up of enforcement activity".
He added: "Now the registered keeper must make sure that their vehicle is insured all the time.
"Around four percent of vehicles have no motor insurance at any given time, and this needs to change so that is why this new enforcement approach is so important."

Summary: Motorists are being reminded that a new law comes into force in a month's time which will require them to make sure their vehicle is insured.
###
Article: The new .22-calibre revolver is named Nidar, it weighs a mere 250g (8.8 ounces) - that's half of .32-calibre Nirbheek's 500g (1.1lb); and it costs 35,000 rupees ($513; Â£357) - Nirbheek came with a steep price tag of 122,360 rupees ($1,990; Â£1,213).
Manufacturers say Nidar is made with an aluminium alloy which makes it very light, but has "strength similar to steel", it has a 40-mm barrel and is just 140mm in length which makes it "small enough to fit into a palm".
Both Nirbheek and Nidar are synonyms of Nirbhaya - the nickname given by the Indian press to Jyoti Singh, the 23-year-old victim of December 2012 fatal gang rape on a bus in in Delhi. All three words mean fearless in Hindi.
They are produced by government-owned factories, and their manufacturers say carrying them will make people more confident and "fearless".
An official at the state-run Rifle Factory Ishapore, near the eastern city of Kolkata (Calcutta), said Nidar was aimed at "professional Indian men and women".
"I believe our customers would be people who travel a lot, who have security risks. They will buy this gun for their personal safety," factory in-charge PK Agarwal told the BBC.
He said he expected the gun to be more popular with women.
"I think it will be ideal for women. If a woman takes a taxi at night, the driver will think 10 times before trying anything with her because he knows she has a gun in her purse," he added.
But can carrying a gun make people safer?
Not really.
Most places in India do not allow guns - even the licensed ones - and there are metal detectors at many offices, malls, cinemas, markets and other public places to enforce this.
So even if "professional Indian men and women" were to get a gun, it will be of little use to them because they will not be able to carry it around with them.
Anti-gun campaigners also say that arming citizens is never a good idea - and that the way to tackle women's safety and reduce crimes is by better policing and changing attitudes.
The manufacturers of Nidar, however, are confident...

Summary: Two years after India launched Nirbheek, a handgun pitched as the country's "first gun for women", a state-run arms factory has launched a similar gun which it says is India's lightest gun.
###
Article: The planet in question is Kepler-7b, a large gaseous world like Jupiter, roughly 1,000 light-years away.
The researchers used data from Nasa's Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes to study the exoplanet, which orbits close to its parent star.
Their results suggest the hot giant is marked by high clouds in the west and clear skies in the east.
The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"By observing this planet with Spitzer and Kepler for more than three years, we were able to produce a very low-resolution 'map' of this giant, gaseous planet," said co-author Brice-Olivier Demory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, US.
"We wouldn't expect to see oceans or continents on this type of world, but we detected a clear, reflective signature that we interpreted as clouds."
Astronomers have previously been able to make temperature maps of planets orbiting other stars, but this is the first look at cloud structures on a distant world. Kepler-7b is something of an oddity - bigger than Jupiter, but lower in mass - with a density about the same as polystyrene.
The Kepler telescope's visible-light observations of this distant world's moon-like phases led to a rough map of the planet that showed a bright spot on its western hemisphere. But these data were not enough on their own to decipher whether the bright spot was coming from clouds or heat.
So the team used Spitzer to gather further clues about the planet's atmosphere. They determined that light from the planet's star was bouncing off cloud tops located on the west side of Kepler-7b.
"Kepler-7b reflects much more light than most giant planets we've found, which we attribute to clouds in the upper atmosphere," said Thomas Barclay from Nasa's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, US, who works on the Kepler telescope team.
"Unlike those on Earth, the cloud patterns on this planet do not seem to change much over time - it has a remarkably stable climate."
Nasa says the findings are an...

Summary: Astronomers have created the first map of the clouds on a planet outside our Solar System.
###
Article: That compares with just 300 people in the largest trust area, Belfast.
It is thought that the problem in the South Eastern Trust is down to staffing issues in that area.
The trust - which covers Newtownards, County Down and Lisburn, said it has been unable to fill two consultant cardiologist posts.
There is also the added problem of staff sickness and increase in the number of referrals.
The South Eastern Trust serves a population of approximately 345,000 people with a budget of almost Â£500m.
The figures also show that 364 people are waiting up to a year for their first urgent consultant-led appointment at the Ulster Hospital, while in every other trust the waiting list for this type of appointment is zero.
In a statement, South Eastern Trust said:  "We have recently lost two consultant cardiologists who both required to relocate.
"Despite strenuous efforts, we have, so far, been unable to fill these vital posts and, combined with the constant increase in the number of cardiology referrals, this has led to an unfortunate increase in waiting times for appointments.
"We are taking every possible measure to address this."

Summary:


Transplanting cells into livers has the potential to completely regenerate them, say scientists.

Article: Women and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) contacted the BBC after being told home births would not be possible.
In response the Health and Social Services Department said there had been no change to its policy on home births.
Anita Davies, from NCT, said the number of women giving birth at home was small, but uncertainty was leaving people distressed and anxious.
A spokesman for the Health and Social Services Department said there had been occasions in the past when the department had not been able to support home birth requests to "ensure appropriate resources are available to provide safe clinical care".
They said home births were given careful consideration but it is by no means a routine approach.
He said: "If assurance of safe care cannot be achieved at the same time as scheduling for two midwives to attend a planned home birth, this is when alternative arrangements have to be made.
"This has meant that on some occasions, requests for planned home births have to be managed in discussion and with agreement of mothers-to-be."
The news follows major changes at the Loveridge Ward, the island's only maternity ward, after the release of a critical report into the supervision of midwifery services.
Among the expectant mothers to comment on the BBC Radio Guernsey Facebook page was Louise Gallienne who is 17 weeks pregnant and wrote "just been told I am not allowed a home birth due to the lack of staffing".
"I was very disappointed. I am hoping they will be able to get the staff so in the future it will be a service they can offer again," she added.
Joey De Mouilpied, due in May, told a similar story saying she had been told last week her home birth would not be possible due to "staffing issues".
However, Amber Furby, who is due on Thursday, said there had been no suggestion her home birth would not go ahead, but suggested maybe no new bookings were being approved.
Ms Davies said normally fewer than 10 women in Guernsey gave birth at home each year, but the core of the issue was a woman's right to choose.
She...

Summary: Home births are not available due to a lack of staffing, according to some pregnant women in Guernsey.
###
Article: The authors of a new study say there was a 48% fall in planned coal units, with a 62% drop in construction starts.
The report, from several green campaign groups, claims changing policies and economic conditions in China and India were behind the decline.
However, the coal industry argues the fuel will remain essential to economic growth in Asia for decades to come.
Between 2006 and 2016, India and China together accounted for 85% of the coal plants built around the world.
But according to the Boom and Bust 2017 report, put together by Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and CoalSwarm, there has been a huge swing away from coal in these two countries in just 12 months.
The main causes of the decline are the imposition of restrictive measures by China's central government - with the equivalent of 600 coal-fired units being put on hold until at least 2020.
The Indian go-slow was prompted, according to the authors, by the reluctance of banks to provide funds. Work at 13 locations is currently not going ahead.
However, there have also been significant retirements of coal plants in Europe and the US over the past two years, with roughly 120 large units being taken out of commission.
"This has been a messy year, and an unusual one," said Ted Nace, director of CoalSwarm.
"It's not normal to see construction frozen at scores of locations, but central authorities in China and bankers in India have come to recognize overbuilding of coal plants as a major waste of resources.
"However abrupt, the shift from fossil fuels to clean sources in the power sector is a positive one for health, climate security, and jobs. And by all indications, the shift is unstoppable."
The study comes as other groups analyse the potential for investments in coal to become stranded assets if governments continue to restrict CO2 emissions. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that hundreds of billions of dollars could be at risk.
"The decline in new coal plants in Asian countries is truly dramatic, and shows how a perfect storm of factors is...

Summary: Twenty-sixteen saw a "dramatic" decline in the number of coal-fired power stations in pre-construction globally.
###
Article: A judge ruled Ashers Baking Company discriminated by refusing to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan.
Melissa and Aaron Klein, who run Sweet Cakes in Oregon, were fined $135,000 (Â£87,000) in April for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.
They have now closed their shop and sell cakes from their home.
Mrs Klein said it had been a difficult few years for her family but they were going to appeal and "fight it as far as they can".
Mr Klein said he did not regret what had happened and believes he made the right decision by refusing to serve the couple.
"I believe in the Bible and I believe the Bible is God's inherent word. He said that marriage is between a man and a woman and also said not to take part in another man's sin," he told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.
"Even though there has been a lot of stress it's a pure joy to stand on God's word."
In the case in Northern Ireland, Ashers was found to have discriminated against gay rights activist Gareth Lee on the grounds of sexual orientation as well as his political beliefs.
The judge said she accepted that the County Antrim-based firm had "genuine and deeply held" religious views, but said the business was not above the law.
Damages of Â£500 were agreed in advance by legal teams on both sides of the dispute.
The firm's general manager Daniel McArthur said they were "extremely disappointed" by the ruling and were considering an appeal.
Mrs Klein said she felt the judgement against the McArthur family, which owns the bakery, was "ridiculous".
"They should have the right to be free not to express something they don't agree with," she said.
"To me, being a baker, the cake is our canvas and we get to put our artwork on it.
"When you make a cake, you are putting your signature on it and they should have the right not to do it."
The Democratic Unionist Party is attempting to build into Northern Ireland's equality law a conscience clause that would allow businesses to refuse to provide some services if they clash with their strongly...

Summary: A US couple who run a Christian bakery have encouraged a Northern Ireland firm to appeal against the judgement that it discriminated against a gay customer.
###
Article: Media playback is unsupported on your device
2 June 2015 Last updated at 17:12 BST
The fossil was discovered after it fell from a cliff face onto a beach near Whitby.
Scientists at the University of Manchester said it is probably about 176 million years old.
The fossil will go on display at the Yorkshire Museum from 8 June.
Sauropods were some of the largest plant-eating dinosaurs to have walked on Earth.
They had long necks and tails, small heads, a large body and walked on all fours.
Some species, such as the Argentinosaurus, grew up to 115ft long and possibly weighed as much as 80 tonnes.

Summary: The UK's oldest sauropod dinosaur has been identified from a fossil bone discovered in North Yorkshire, experts have revealed.
###
Article: The Medical Research Council team showed severely damaged organs in mice could be restored to near-normal function.
They say the findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, could eventually help people stuck on a waiting list for a transplant.
Further tests are now taking place with human tissue.
The liver does have a remarkable ability to heal itself. Even if half of the organ is removed, it can grow back.
The team, based at the University of Edinburgh, has been investigating the regenerative potential of the liver.
Normally, the main type of cell in the liver - hepatocytes - is able to restore the organ.
But one of the researchers, Prof Stuart Forbes, said: "The hepatocytes normally divide beautifully, but eventually they give up that ability to keep dividing, they become senescent, and that is something we see in all forms of severe liver injury."
So the Edinburgh team turned to a closely related group of stem cells from the biliary duct.
Injecting these cells into damaged mouse livers led to near compete regeneration.
Prof Forbes added: "The big aim would be to develop a clinically applicable cell therapy for patients with severe liver failure where transplantation is not an option."
The team say tissue from livers unsuitable for transplant could be a source of these cells.
However, Prof Forbes said liver transplants would remain the main option for patients and encouraged people to join the donor register.
Further studies will now focus on repeating the results with human tissue.
Dr Rob Buckle, the director of science programmes at the Medical Research Council, said: "This research has the potential to revolutionise patient care by finding ways of co-opting the body's own resources to repair or replace damaged or diseased tissue."

Summary:


A petrochemical company is threatening legal action over the National Trust's refusal to allow testing for shale gas on its land.

Article: He said businesses will have to pay higher wages but will pay lower taxes in return - while  workers will get higher pay but fewer benefits.
This created a "new centre" in British politics and was a "fair deal" for all, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Labour has attacked the Budget for being too hard on the poor and called the National Living Wage a "con".
Budget Calculator: How will the Budget affect you?
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, in its Budget analysis, said Mr Osborne was "plain wrong" to argue that the National Living Wage he announced on Wednesday would compensate for benefit cuts and said it will cost three million families an average of £1,000 a year.
IFS director Paul Johnson told BBC News: "The cuts will be bigger for people in work than they will be for people out of work and in the new universal credit system it will reduce the incentive for people to move in to work."
He also questioned whether another of Mr Osborne's announcements, a four year freeze on public sector pay, was sustainable as it will leave public sector pay at its lowest level compared to private sector pay since records began.
"The tax and welfare changes between them mean that poorer households have lost quite significantly and as a result of yesterday's Budget, much more significantly than anything that has happened to richer households," added Mr Johnson.
Downing Street said the combination of the living wage, higher personal tax allowance and welfare changes meant the typical family with a full time worker on the minimum wage would be better off in 2020.
Mr Osborne unveiled the National Living Wage in a surprise announcement at the end of his Budget speech on Wednesday. Paid to over-25s, it will start at £7.20 and rise to £9 an hour by 2020.
But a £4.5bn cut to tax credits, part of a £12bn package of welfare cuts announced on Wednesday, will kick in next April, leading Labour to accuse Mr Osborne of "pulling the rug from under" many poor families.
Shadow Chancellor Chris Leslie said: "Don't underestimate how...

Summary: Chancellor George Osborne has rejected criticism of his Budget insisting it offers the country a "new contract".
###
Article: Ms Hanson won a Senate seat in Australia's recent election, and has called for an inquiry into Islam and "zero-net" migration.
She also repeated claims that Australia was being "swamped by Asians".
Her One Nation party could win several Senate seats once votes are counted.
"We have plenty of examples about how licensing hate can lead to serious violence and ugliness in our streets and communities," racial discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"We shouldn't be doing anything to compromise the remarkable success story of Australian multiculturalism," he said.
Australian PM urged to quit after vote
Cartoon: Planet of Forbidden Prime Ministers
The massive scale of Australia's election
Who's who in Australia's 2016 federal elections?
Neither of Australia's major parties have been able to form a majority government after Saturday's election, and whoever can once the count is finalised will likely need to negotiate with Ms Hanson and other minor party senators to pass legislation.
A record number of Australians voted for minor parties such as One Nation, with commentators speculating that she secured a conservative vote that would have traditionally gone to the Liberal-National coalition government.
During a news conference Ms Hanson said she was "not sold" on climate change, and was against foreign ownership of Australian agricultural land.
She also called for a royal commission into Islam, said no new mosques should be built in Australia and suggested existing mosques should face increased surveillance.
However, she said her policy priorities would be a royal commission into the banking sector and reform of the family court system, which makes decisions on child-custody disputes.
Ms Hanson first entered Australia's lower house as an independent MP in 1996, using her maiden speech to warn that Australia was at risk of being "swamped by Asians".
She repeated this view after her recent election victory, saying "a lot of Australians feel Asians are buying...

Summary: Comments made by Australian senator-elect Pauline Hanson could lead to violence, according to the country's racial discrimination commissioner.
###
Article: A so-called "Brexit" would disrupt established trading relationships and cause "major challenges" for both the UK and the rest of Europe, it said.
The IMF said the referendum had already created uncertainty for investors and a vote to exit would only heighten this.
Vote Leave said the IMF had been "consistently wrong" in past forecasts.
The IMF, one of the main pillars of the global economic order with a mandate to oversee the international monetary and financial system, also cut its UK growth forecast.
It now expects 1.9% growth in the UK this year, compared with its January estimate of 2.2%. For next year, it expects 2.2% growth, unchanged from its earlier forecast.
If the 23 June referendum in the UK were to produce a vote in favour of leaving the EU, the IMF would expect negotiations on post-exit arrangements to be protracted, which it warned "could weigh heavily on confidence and investment, all the while increasing financial market volatility".
It also believes a UK exit from the EU would "disrupt and reduce mutual trade and financial flows" and restrict benefits from economic co-operation and integration, such as those resulting from economies of scale.
However, the Fund said that domestic demand, boosted by lower energy prices and a buoyant property market, would help to offset the impact on UK growth ahead of the EU referendum.
Chancellor George Osborne said the IMF's comments reinforced the case for staying. "The IMF has given us the clearest independent warning of the taste of bad things to come if we leave the EU," he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "The IMF is right - leaving the EU would pose major risks for the UK economy. We are stronger, safer and better off in the European Union."
Maurice Obstfeld, economic counsellor to the International Monetary Fund and the organisation's chief economist, says there could be "severe regional and global damage" if Britain were to vote to leave the European Union.
An exit would present "major challenges" and a prolonged period of...

Summary: The UK's exit from the European Union could cause "severe regional and global damage", the International Monetary Fund has warned in its latest outlook.
###
Article: A 20km (12 mile) evacuation zone affecting about 70,000 people has been imposed around the plant, and is being extended to five communities outside the zone to the north west of the plant, where radioactive contamination is most significant.
Residents living within 30km (18 miles) have been advised to leave the area, or to stay indoors, and try to make their homes airtight.
Experts believe that swift action of this sort should have minimised the risk to human health, but there are worries about the level of radiation to which emergency workers have been exposed, and about possible contamination of food and water supplies.
What are the immediate health effects of exposure to radiation?
Exposure to high levels of radiation - above one gray (the standard measure of the absorbed dose of radiation) - can result in radiation sickness, which produces a range of symptoms.
Nausea and vomiting often begin within hours of exposure, followed by diarrhoea, headaches and fever.
After the first round of symptoms, there may be a brief period with no apparent illness, but this may be followed within weeks by new, more serious symptoms.
At higher levels of radiation, all of these symptoms may be immediately apparent, along with widespread - and potentially fatal - damage to internal organs.
Exposure to a radiation dose of four gray will typically kill about half of all healthy adults.
For comparison, radiation therapy for cancer typically involves several doses of between one and seven gray at a time - but these doses are highly controlled, and usually specifically targeted at small areas of the body.
A sievert is a gray weighted by the effectiveness of a particular type of radiation at causing damage to tissues, and is used to measure lower levels of radiation, and for assessing long-term risk, rather than the short-term acute impact of exposure. There are 1,000 millisieverts (mSv) in a sievert.
People are exposed on average to around 2mSv of radiation a year from the natural environment, although there is considerable...

Summary: Concern remains over the potential effect on human health from radiation leaks at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
###
Article: Ineos wants to conduct seismic surveys at Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire to see if there is potential for fracking.
The firm said the charity had blocked any contact for almost a year and it was considering seeking a court order.
The National Trust said it opposed any activities leading to the extraction of fossil fuels, so rejected requests.
Moves to look for shale gas in the Sherwood Forest area have proved controversial due to environmental concerns over extraction - known as fracking - and expansion of fossil fuel use.
Ineos said it already had permission from nearby landowners for the the non-invasive survey and its ability to extract gas would be "significantly limited" if it could not get on to Clumber Park.
"If the National Trust refuses to change its position, Ineos will have no choice but to write to the Oil and Gas Authority, asking for permission to seek a court order enforcing its rights to carry out these surveys on National Trust land," it said in a statement.
The company said government licences gave it a legal obligation to investigate shale gas deposits around the country and criticised the charity's position as "overtly political" as shale gas had lower carbon emissions than either oil and gas.
A National Trust spokesman said: "The National Trust is opposed to fracking on its land and will reject any fracking requests or inquiries.
"Consistent with this, we say no to surveying on our land for fracking purposes."

Summary:


A bride-to-be who wanted a "no-fuss and low-key" hen party had to be rescued by the RNLI after their hire boat ran aground in a river.

Article: The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee said it was concerned ministers, not the watchdog, set the appointments code.
MPs said they were not assured that candidates would not be deliberately excluded from high profile public appointments on an arbitrary basis.
The government has said that changes have strengthened the process.
Public appointments are ministerial appointments to the board of a public body, such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence or UK Sport, or advisory committees.
Last year, officials said changes stemming from a review by the businessman Sir Gerry Grimstone would strengthen current procedures and that transparency and accountability would remain "key elements".
It came amid reports of increasing intervention by ministers over appointments to key positions, including on behalf of those with links to the Conservative Party.
The committee said it had expressed "serious concerns" about the content of the Grimstone proposals.
Its inquiry into the review said that "without extensive amendment, the Grimstone proposals will not and cannot sustain public confidence".
The inquiry said the proposals "significantly weaken" the powers of the public appointments commissioner - who is in charge of ensuring major public jobs are handed out on merit - as previous powers such as appointing independent assessors were taken away.
Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin said: "We remain concerned that there seems to be an effort by government to weaken the robustness and transparency of public appointments according to the principles established by the very first Committee on Standards on Public Life, under Lord Nolan."
He added: "We hope that the new commissioner for public appointments will do all he can to defend the Nolan principles on public appointments."
The committee also said it was "a matter of great concern" that the government, rather than the public appointments commissioner, set the Public Appointments Code.
The government said it had implemented the Grimstone...

Summary: The process for filling senior jobs at public bodies is not transparent despite changes, MPs have said.
###
Article: EU tourists booking a break will be told whether the deal constitutes a "package holiday".
Operators ensure that anyone on a package deal is flown home if an airline goes bust, or is given a refund or replacement if hotels go under.
UK travel organisation Abta argued that the rules should have gone further.
It said that the extra protection failed to cover all trips that "look and feel like a package holiday" to consumers.
The new rules were given approval by the European Parliament and must be adopted by member states in the next two years.
European officials decided to review rules made in 1990 owing to the changing way that holidaymakers buy holidays, with many more now booked online.
Protection for package holiday deals has been in place for some time, with an operator responsible for all aspects of the holiday, should things go wrong. For example, a refund or replacement of a hire car would be the responsibility of the tour operator if the provider went bust.
New Flight Plus arrangements were added in the UK a few years ago, giving greater protection to those who book a flight and then a hotel through the same website than to those who book everything independently.
Now the new EU rules ensure that it is clear to holidaymakers whether their deal is a full package holiday, and which consumer protections that includes.
A new "linked travel arrangement" system relates to those who book a flight online and are then invited to click through for other services such as a hotel, which they then book in the next 24 hours.
The new rules will make it clear which operator is liable at each stage of the holiday and customers will be guaranteed the right to compensation if services provided are not up to standard.
Business trips arranged by an organiser through a general agreement are excluded from new rules, as these agreements usually offer separate protection for travellers.

Summary: Protection for holidaymakers if operators go bust is to be strengthened and made clearer, following new rules approved by MEPs.
###
Article: PM Theresa May refused to give a "running commentary" on the talks when pressed by the SNP's Angus Robertson on membership of the single market.
Mrs May said her government would not "reveal our hand prematurely" over the UK's negotiating position over Brexit.
The first minister said "there must be greater transparency" from Westminster.
Mr Robertson, leader of the SNP at Westminster and a candidate to be the party's deputy leader, accused Mrs May and her ministers of "waffle" for repeatedly insisting that "Brexit means Brexit".
During the weekly session of prime minister's questions, he pressed Mrs May to say whether she would argue for the UK to remain part of the single market post-Brexit.
She replied that she would seek "the right deal" on trade in goods and services, but added: "We will not take decisions until we are ready, we will not reveal our hand prematurely and we will not provide a running commentary on every twist and turn of the negotiations."
In a later statement at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that she was "concerned" by this approach.
The first minister said: "I accept that while negotiations are under way there are aspects of that which have to be done behind closed doors. But I do not think it is acceptable to have a cloud of secrecy hanging over the UK government's negotiating position.
"I don't think it's acceptable to have a prime minister who is unable or unwilling to answer the simple question of whether we should remain in the single market or not.
"The UK government I suspect right now I think is using phraseology like that to mask the fact that it doesn't yet have a clue what it is seeking to achieve let alone what its chances are of achieving that are.
"But before we get too much further into this, there must be greater transparency from the UK government so people from across the UK can judge whether or not what the UK is trying to achieve meets our national interests or not."
Ms Sturgeon, who also said she did not believe that the prime minister had a "mandate" to take the UK...

Summary: Nicola Sturgeon has hit out at the UK government for maintaining a "cloud of secrecy" around its plans for the Brexit negotiations.
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Article: The Wycombe-based club are considering a possible move to the Midlands.
Worcester director of rugby Dean Ryan has already expressed concerns.
And the Sky Blue Trust, who proved a loud voice during the League One club's year-long exile in Northampton, say that Wasps coming to the city would again make the future "uncertain".
Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), the Ricoh owners, first looked at Wasps as potential tenants as an alternative revenue stream during the long battle over rent with the Sky Blues.
That has been settled in the short term, with City having played two games back at the stadium since their emotional return to Coventry at the start of September.
But, although any move is still subject to both Premiership and Rugby Football Union approval and would also be an issue for the city's three rugby union clubs, Coventry, Broadstreet and Barkers' Butts, the City fans are already making their feelings known.
"The recent story about Wasps taking a majority stake in ACL, the Ricoh Arena operating company, raises some major concerns among Coventry City supporters," said the Sky Blue Trust statement.
"The Sky Blue Trust has stated it believes that for the good of the football club its long term future lies at the Ricoh Arena, either as tenants or owners, with access to all relevant income streams and, on the face of it, this news makes that future uncertain.
"We are in contact with all the relevant parties to establish the facts and the potential implications on the future of Coventry City. Once we have obtained these, we will be in a position to make a decision on what stance the Sky Blue Trust should take."
Wasps were also reported to have looked at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium - primarily an athletics venue.
The near-century old rugby club spent the vast majority of their amateur days playing in their traditional home at Sudbury, in north west London.
They started their existence as a Premiership club at Loftus Road before moving to their current home at Adams Park in 2002.
Having failed to find a new home...

Summary: Coventry City fans have added their weight to concerns over media reports linking Premiership rugby union club Wasps with a move to the Ricoh Arena.
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Article: Four women were celebrating on the River Dart, Devon, on Saturday when the vessel became stuck in mud as the tide went out.
An RNLI spokesperson said the party were were travelling to Dartmouth when they got into difficulty.
The spokesman said the group were "cold but otherwise unhurt".
Posting on the Dart RNLI Lifeboat Facebook page the crew said: "They came back to the lifeboat station for a warm drink and to meet and thank the lifeboat crew.
"The girls were on a hen party and the irony is that the bride to be had requested a 'no-fuss and low-key day'.
"The hens who had arranged the day thought an afternoon afloat on the beautiful River Dart would set the mood for dinner in Dartmouth in the evening.
"Best laid plans and all of that. I don't think they will ever forget the hen party."

Summary:


The UK government has announced plans to introduce a new law to tackle the "unfair" practice of letting out properties to tenants who have not paid their rent.
The government said the new law would be introduced in England and Wales in the next few months.
The law would require landlords to check the credit history of

Thailand's military-run government has forced Human Rights Watch (HRW) to cancel an event in Bangkok to launch a report into alleged abuses in Vietnam.

Article: Stormont Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said it was the first major shake-up in the law since the alcohol limit was introduced in 1968.
Under the plans, the permitted blood alcohol limit would be reduced to 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood - down from the current UK limit of 80mg.
It is thought the bill could become law by early next year.
The legislation also proposes changes for driver training and testing:
Mr Durkan said Northern Ireland's drink-drive laws would be brought into line with Europe, including the Republic of Ireland.
"Radical measures are necessary if we are to pursue an ambition of zero road deaths," he said.
"This new legislation will tackle drivers who shamelessly continue to drink and drive.
"It will provide powers to radically overhaul how we train, test and protect our vulnerable new drivers.
"It will also reduce the risk to riders of quads on public roads by requiring them to wear helmets."
The chairman of the Driving Instructors Association in Northern Ireland said the lowering of the minimum age for learner drivers "has been sprung on us".
"It wasn't in the consultation paper that we responded to, and we are told it was a ministerial decision," said Tom Burns.
"We are going to be completely out of kilter with the mainland, who are talking about raising the age to 18 - it doesn't seem to have been thought out.
"Also, the one-year minimum period for learning is too long for many people, and it doesn't suit people like pregnant women for example, who have to get their test as soon as possible."
The legislation proposes a number of other measures on drink-driving:

Summary: The drink-drive limit in Northern Ireland would be reduced by almost 40% under a proposed new law.
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Article: The special maps, called Tate Worlds, are based on real-life pictures and sculptures on display at the Tate gallery.
Each world is different, and has many challenges and activities based on the theme of the artwork.
Paintings such as Soul of the Soulless City by Christopher Nevinson have been turned into a playable world.
It shows 1920s New York, with towering skyscrapers and a rollercoaster train ride.
Martin went to chat to one of the Minecraft experts who helped to build the special maps to find out more.

Summary: A famous art gallery has teamed up with Minecraft experts to create 3D worlds inspired by paintings.
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Article: The NHS Atlas of Variation - published by NHS England and Public Health England - looks at service performance in more than 200 local areas.
It found a two-fold variation in early cancer diagnosis and quick stroke treatment between the best and worst.
The atlas also pointed to "unwarranted" differences in diabetes monitoring.
Patient groups called the findings "extremely concerning", while NHS bosses warned action must be taken by local health chiefs as the variations in care would be costing lives and harming health.
The atlas found:
NHS England medical director Prof Sir Bruce Keogh urged local health bosses to take action.
"The atlas exposes some inconvenient truths about the extent of variation in care for some common conditions."
And Prof Julia Verne, from Public Health England, said: "It is really important to tackle this unwarranted variation because patient lives are being put at risk.
"If we can iron them out then more patients will survive, they will have fewer complications and they will have better quality of life."
The report is effectively an annual stocktake of what is happening in each of the 211 clinical commissioning groups in England.
It has been compiled using official data across more than 100 different areas of care. Extreme outliers - the very best and worst - are excluded to try to ensure the figures are not skewed by possible data collection errors.
This, the authors believe, is a more accurate way of reflecting the true differences in performance.
There are some areas - liver disease and tooth decay in children for example - where the variation is as much, if not more, to do with how people are living their lives as it is about the quality of care.
But in other areas, such as stroke and diabetes, the differences are more likely to be down to how the NHS is performing.
Alexis Wieroniey, of the Stroke Association, said: "Immediate treatment on a stroke patient is essential as this helps to minimise the long-term effects and can prevent death.
"The wide-ranging variation in the time it...

Summary: Differences in access to key NHS services, including stroke and cancer care, are putting patients at risk, an official report suggests.
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Article: The Private Housing (Tenancies) Bill creates a streamlined system aimed at protecting tenants from the threat of unfair eviction and big rent increases.
The Scottish Association of Landlords had claimed the bill could drive some renters out of the market.
After a lengthy debate in which a number of amendments were considered, MSPs voted for the bill by 84 to 14.
The provisions are aimed at creating a modernised system which is easier for tenants to understand.
During debate of the bill, Housing Minister Margaret Burgess announced that if the SNP are re-elected in May, fees will not be charged for tenants or landlords going to a tribunal.
Ms Burgess, who is stepping down at the Holyrood election in May, said the bill as it stands will allow tenants to feel "more secure in their homes".
She it was necessary to legislate to "rebalance" the relationship between landlords and tenants a fairer one, adding that there had been a "collaborative" approach to the bill.
Student accommodation is exempted from the bill, but Ms Burgess said in the private rented sector all tenants should be treated the same, including students.
Labour supported the government, with Ken Macintosh said the bill could have been done better and done sooner, but described it as "a good step forward".
The Scottish Conservatives did not support the legislation, with Alex Johnstone saying the government had come down on the side of the tenant and saying more should have been done for landlords.
He said: "We should have done more to create a proper balance between landlord and tenant."
The Lib Dems also backed the bill, while Green MSP Patrick Harvie said Holyrood should be more "bold" and "radical" to close the gap between the social rented sector and the private rented sector.
Provisions of the Private Housing (Tenancies) Bill include:

Summary: MSPs have approved new rules for landlords and tenants to regulate the private rental sector.
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Article: Thai officials said the event, which was halted minutes before it was due to start, could have affected relations between the two countries.
The HRW report focuses on the treatment of a Christian group in Vietnam.
The group said the Thai response showed how freedom of speech had been eroded since the army seized power last year.
Thai police said the event at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand could "have an impact on the country's security or could affect the friendship and cooperation between Thailand and Vietnam".
It is the third human rights event at the venue that has been halted by authorities in the past month.
The HRW report describes what it says is the persecution of Montagnard Christians in Vietnam's central highlands. Their religious practices have been described by the Vietnamese government as "evil".
Sunai Phasuk, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher in Asia, said the decision to cancel the report's launch was "very disappointing".
"Thailand is now going to be known as the defender of human rights violators in [Southeast Asia], which adds more damage to Thailand's already tarnished international reputation under the military rule," he added.
Thai authorities have launched a crackdown on critics since the military seized power from a civilian government in May 2014.

Summary:


A student has pleaded for the return of her prosthetic hand after losing it on a night out.

Article: Shane Logan made the comments during a meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly's social development committee.
It is taking evidence as part of its review of the Licensing Bill.
The bill would allow outdoor stadiums to apply for licences to sell alcohol.
Currently, stadium operators have to apply for temporary licences.
Mr Logan said, as it stands, there are up to 19 professional games played a year at Ulster Rugby's Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.
Each time, Ulster Rugby has to apply to a court for an occasional licence, and it has "no certainty" of a licence in advance, as these are only granted on the day of the match, he said.
He said that while Ulster Rugby had never been refused an occasional licence, it had "bid for events with certainty of licensing".
"This precludes us from bidding for major events," Mr Logan said.
"We would not be able to fulfil the criteria for access to alcohol bars and family access to entertainment that is required to allow us to bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup."
"[With] the law as it stands, we would have to withdraw from that."
The Licensing Bill is a private member's bill proposed by Judith Cochrane, the Alliance Party MLA.

Summary: A bid for Ireland to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup would have to be withdrawn unless Northern Ireland's licensing law is changed, the chief executive of Ulster Rugby has said.
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Article: When bullying claims at South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) emerged in February the trust commissioned an independent review.
About half the workforce surveyed experienced bullying in the past year.
The trust said the report revealed "unacceptable" behaviour.
In his report, Prof Duncan Lewis from the University of Plymouth said: "Common decency is a right, not a privilege, and harassment or bullying, including sexual harassment must end now."
He pinpointed Coxheath in Kent and Tangmere in West Sussex as areas "plagued by poor practices/behaviours".
In parts of Kent there are "serious questions of sexual harassment and sexual grooming", with newly qualified women often targeted.
42%
of staff reported exposure to bullying
50%  said they had been treated in 'disrespectful or rude way'
30% reported feeling 'threatened and intimidated'
2,000 employees responded to survey
The survey revealed good "peer support" between colleagues, with the reasons for bullying firmly located in manager behaviours and often "militaristic" leadership.
Prof Lewis added: "Whilst it is possible sexual harassment might not have been known to the executive because employees are fearful of speaking out against a macho, boys club culture in Kent and in other parts of Secamb, ignorance is no defence."
Key issues raised in focus groups:
Employees also frequently spoke of a fear of reporting bullying.
Those who voiced concerns had "suffered" for it, with more monitoring, work, and pressure because "managers default to supporting each other".
The frequently changing leadership at Secamb was also said to be contributing factor.
Chief executive Daren Mochrie, who has been in the post since April 2017, said: "I am truly disappointed and upset that so many of our staff have experienced bullying and disrespectful behaviour in the workplace.
"Secamb is full of extremely dedicated and professional people who are concerned about caring for their patients as well as each other.
"However, I was also aware that the trust is facing a number of...

Summary: A damning report into an ambulance trust has revealed a culture of bullying and harassment with concerns over "toxic" atmospheres, sexual grooming and a fear of speaking out.
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Article: Iran's oil minister has reportedly repeated that the country will continue to increase production and exports.
The slight rise follows big falls on Friday after Saudi Arabia said it would freeze production only if other major producers did the same.
Oil producers are to meet on 17 April to discuss a deal to freeze output.
Brent crude crept up by 0.5% to $38.86 in morning trading.
In February, Saudi Arabia struck a deal with Russia and other Opec nations to freeze oil output at January levels.
But Iran wants production to hit pre-sanction levels before beginning talks.
Over the weekend, Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh told Iran's Mehr News agency that the country would continue increasing its production and exports until it reached the market position it held before the imposition of sanctions.
Mehr quotes him as saying he would attend the meeting in the Qatari capital "if he had time".
His latest comments reinforce similar comments he made last month. Then, he made it clear Iran would only join discussions to cap output after its production reached four million barrels per day.
Oil prices hit a peak of $116 in June 2014, but have subsequently dived because of oversupply and sluggish demand.
The producers' meeting later this month will take place in the Qatari capital, Doha. It will involve Opec and non-Opec members and will discuss freezing supply at January levels to help push the oil price back up.
However, in an interview with Bloomberg last week, Saudi Arabia's deputy crown price Mohammed bin Salman said: "If all countries agree to freeze production, we will be among them."
He was asked if Iran had to be among those countries, to which he replied: "Without doubt."
Despite the late morning's slight rise in Brent crude, the price is still hovering around its lowest level for a month.
"It's not very strange to see a wave of profit-taking and some unwinding of long positions, and some people even saying they could reposition for a move towards lower prices," said ABN Amro chief energy economist Hans van...

Summary: Oil prices have rebounded slightly after early falls, although doubts still remain that output will be curbed at a meeting later this month.
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Article: The site at West Stow near Bury St Edmunds was excavated 1965-1972 on land where a village is believed to have existed from 420-650.
The reconstruction of huts and farming pens was begun by a team of students from Cambridge University in 1973.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council is hosting a reunion on Saturday.
The excavation was led by Suffolk archaeologist Stanley West, who concluded that the Anglo-Saxon huts had wooden floors, whereas it had previously been thought people lived in dirt pits covered with wooden roofs.
Ian Alister was a 21-year-old reading Anglo-Saxon history at Cambridge when he began the reconstruction project in 1973 with three fellow students.
"It's very satisfying that the thing has survived, because a lot of people were very dubious and thought the huts would blow down in the first gale," he said.
"We used contemporary materials including a cow hide which we bought at the abattoir in Bury St Edmunds and it's still there.
"We were living in a beautiful place without running water and electricity and, having been engaged in dry, academic activity for three years, it was fun."
Alan Baxter, heritage manager at West Stow, said: "It's a 40-year commitment to a most unusual archaeological experiment - there is no other Anglo-Saxon village reconstructed on its original site and these are the roots of our nationhood here.
"Hopefully, the students will be very pleased that a lot of what has happened, since that is exactly what they wanted to happen all those years ago.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council spends about £200,000 a year subsidising the Anglo-Saxon village.

Summary: Suffolk's reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the return of some of the original archaeologists.
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Article: Amelia Welch, 20, from Axminster in Devon, was partying with friends in Plymouth on Friday when she lost her hand, which cost about Â£3,000.
The Plymouth University marine biology student said she only realised the cosmetic prosthetic was missing the following morning.
She thinks she could have left it in a nightclub and forgot to pick it up.
Click here for live updates on this story
Amelia, who was born with a congenital malformation in her right hand, said she had gone to Oceana nightclub after a university ball.
Her hand is "more functionable" without the prosthetic which has very little movement, she said.
"I do take it off to go to the toilet, but most of the time when I go out I put it on because it gives me confidence," she said.
"I must have been drunk when I took it off and forgot about it.
"I went back to halls with friends and went to bed and the next day I realised that I did not have it."
It is the first prosthetic she has had and fits on her hand "like a glove" she said.
Another one could cost as much as Â£5,000 and mean many hours of visits to orthopaedic specialists.
"Someone might have picked it up and not realised what it was," she said.
"It's worth everything to me, but nothing to anyone else."

Summary: