Scholars have hit their target of raising £1.1m to secure the future of an early Biblical manuscript.

Article: The couple, who were married in England last year, have begun a court challenge to Northern Ireland's marriage laws.
It is the only part of the UK and Ireland that bans same-sex marriage.
Their barrister said they were stripped of lawful marriage at home, with their rights "returning and disappearing" as they cross state lines.
The couple have taken a case at the High Court in Belfast in an attempt to get the court to declare that their marriage remains fully constituted throughout the UK.
The men, who want full legal recognition as spouses rather than civil partners, claim that failure to recognise their marriage within the UK amounts to unlawful discrimination.
The couple cannot be named as they have been granted anonymity by the court but their legal action is being supported by the gay rights group, The Rainbow Project.
Last week, Stormont MLAs voted to support the introduction of gay marriage, but it was vetoed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) using a blocking mechanism known as a petition of concern.
Opening the court case on Monday, the couple's barrister said: "The petitioner and his spouse find themselves in a particularly arbitrary situation where lawful marriage is stripped from them whenever they reside in Northern Ireland, returning and disappearing as they cross state lines."
She said the petitioner "takes the view that his marriage has been demeaned, devalued and undermined by virtue of the (society) in which he lives".
She added that the couple's legal status was "perplexing and distressing" and "caused them to feel acute embarrassment and alienation".
In a sworn statement submitted as part of their case, the couple set out their future plans to adopt children, saying they believed marriage offered the most appropriate relationship and best foundation for a family.
Their barrister said most people struggle to understand why they are not married in Northern Ireland.

Summary: A gay couple's marriage has been "devalued" by the fact that it is not legally recognised when they are home in Northern Ireland, a court has heard.
###
Article: But what are they, why do people wear them, and why have they been banned?
Here's Newsround's guide to what's going on.
A burkini is a type of swimming costume that some Muslim women wear, which covers the arms, legs and hair.
To some Muslims, wearing clothes that cover these parts of the body is seen as a sign of modesty and of faith.
There are lots of different types of headscarves that Muslim women wear and some don't wear any.
A burkini is a version of these that can be used when swimming or on the beach.
It's called a burkini because it's a mix of the words 'burqa' - which is a type of Islamic clothing - and 'bikini'.
Some towns in France have banned women from wearing a burkini on public beaches or in the sea.
If they break the ban and wear one, they will have to pay a fine.
This is because in France religion is supposed to be completely separate from other parts of life in public.
This means that symbols of religion are banned in some public places.
Some politicians have now argued this should include the burkini.
Tensions have been high in France since a number of attacks by Islamist extremists and many people are arguing about the best way to respond as a country to what has happened.
Many people in France and in other countries think that it is not right to tell women what clothes they can and can't wear.
They say that it should be a choice whether to wear a burkini or not.
But others think that it is right for the burkini to be banned, as they say that it goes against the values and laws of France.
Some people also think that the burkini is a symbol of women's inequality to men in the Islamic religion.

Summary: Burkinis have been in the news because they have been banned on some French beaches.
###
Article: But they tell patients not to "try it at home" since the treatment is still experimental and can irritate the skin.
Their study involved 36 patients with non-melanoma skin cancer lesions.
Although not the most serious form of skin cancer, non-melanoma lesions are very common, accounting for a third of all cancers detected in the UK.
They include basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and usually occur in older people.
Most cases of non-melanoma skin cancer can be easily treated and cured with surgical removal or freezing, or using a special kind of light therapy that kills the cancer cells.
However, for some people these treatments will fail or are not deemed suitable.
The study involved 36 of such patients who collectively had a total of 48 non-melanoma lesions.
Each was treated with the sap of the petty spurge plant, or Euphorbia peplus, which was applied to the skin once a day for three days.
The plant sap has been used for centuries as a traditional medicine, and the researchers wanted to put it through its paces in a proper clinical trial.
After a one month, 41 of the 48 cancers had shown a complete clinical response to the treatment, meaning no trace of the tumour could be found on clinical examination.
Patients who experienced only a partial response to the first round of treatment were then offered a second course.
The lesions which responded positively to one or two courses of treatment were then followed up further for between two and 31 months. .
After an average of 15 months following treatment, two thirds (68.5% or 30 of the 48) of the skin cancer lesions were still showing a complete response.
The researchers say large-scale studies are now needed to test the active ingredient in the weed's sap, a substance called Ingenol mebutate, as a potential new treatment option.
Studies show that when Ingenol mebutate is applied to the skin it not only kills the cancerous cells but also recruits white blood cells known as neutrophils that appear to reduce the risk of relapse by...

Summary: Sap from the common garden weed petty spurge appears to treat non-melanoma skin cancers, experts are reporting in the British Journal of Dermatology.
###
Article: It delivers 2.5 volts and can power a desktop calculator for 15 minutes.
It could be used to keep military secrets confidential, and in environmental monitoring devices .
Iowa State University mechanical engineering professor Reza Montazami said it was the first practical transient battery.
While this particular battery could not be used in the human body as it contain lithium, researchers have been examining how batteries could dissolve harmlessly within the human body, and prevent the pain of removal, for several years.
Prof Montazami developed the lithium-ion battery with a team of scientists who recently published details of their discovery in the Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics.
It measures 5mm in length, is 1mm thick and 6mm wide, and is similar to commercial batteries in terms of its components, structure and electrochemical reactions.
It contains an anode, cathode and an electrolyte separator within two layers of polyvinyl alcohol-based polymer.
When dropped in water, the battery's polymer casing swells and the electrodes are broken apart, causing it to dissolve. However, it contains nanoparticles which do not degrade, meaning it does not dissolve entirely.
The entire process takes around half an hour.
"Unlike conventional electronics that are designed to last for extensive periods of time, a key and unique attribute of transient electronics is to operate over a typically short and well-defined period, and undergo fast and, ideally, complete self-deconstruction and vanish when transiency is triggered," the scientific paper stated.
While it would be possible to create a more powerful battery, it would take longer to break down.
Dissolvable batteries could play a part in helping to reduce the waste caused by discarded electronics.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are working on electronic circuit boards capable of dissolving in water.
Once in a landfill site, the boards could break down within three to six months, according to the University's prof John Rogers.

Summary: Scientists have developed a self-destructing battery capable of dissolving when exposed to heat or liquid.
###
Article: The Cambridge University Library has housed the Codex Zacynthius since 1984.
It was offered first refusal to buy the New Testament manuscript and had until the end of August to find the funds.
The fate of the historical text had been in doubt after the Bible Society in Swindon, which owned it for almost 200 years, decided to sell it off to raise money.
The society, which was presented with the 176-page volume in 1821, wanted to shore up funds for a new £1m visitor centre inside a deconsecrated church in North Wales.
Dr Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury who supported the Cambridge University Library's fundraising campaign, said securing the text would allow further study.
The bible features an early seventh century script which has been partially scraped away and written over to make way for a 13th century entry.
It is regarded as an important text in studying the development of the New Testament.
"The discovery and identification of the under-text represents a fascinating detective story," Dr Williams said.
"By securing the manuscript, we hope that multispectral imaging techniques will enable scholars to recover fully the hidden text."

Summary:


A man has been arrested after a man was stabbed in the face in a street in Glasgow.
Police said the victim was playing on a fruit machine in the Rosevale Tavern in Partick at about 18:00 on Saturday when a stranger assaulted him.
The attacker fled via a side entrance and CCTV showed him heading

A man has been left scarred for life in an unprovoked attack in a Glasgow pub.

Article: Kris Sale, from Sale Appliances in Westcliff-on-Sea, came up with the idea because he had a soft "baby Henry" toy and said he enjoyed making "quirky" window displays.
The five cleaners represent the kings, Mary and Joseph.
"Kids love it," said Mr Sale who has also built a stable, topped with a star, to house the vacuum cleaners.
Mr Sale has a reputation for his window displays. In the past he has turned a washing machine into a fish tank, and put a dummy repair man inside a cooker to make it look as though the appliance was being mended.
He said: "We're planning to change the nativity for New Year's Eve. The Henrys are going to have a party. It'll be one heck of a bash."

Summary: A nativity scene using Henry vacuum cleaners has been created in the window of an electrical goods shop in Essex.
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Article: Mr Harvie will contest the Glasgow Kelvin constituency in next May's poll.
He has been a Green MSP for the Glasgow region since 2003, elected under the proportional "list" system.
Mr Harvie will remain top of his party's list for the election, but said the "time is right" for him to contest the constituency seat.
The voting system for Holyrood means MSPs for the Scottish Parliament can be elected in one of two ways: under a constituency first-past the post system like that at Westminster, or in a second vote where parties are allocated additional members on a proportional basis.
Mr Harvie was elected under the latter method.
He said he was "delighted" to be standing for the Kelvin constituency, which is currently help by the SNP's Sandra White.
He added: "It's been an honour to represent the city in the Scottish Parliament for the past 12 years and I believe the time is right to contest the constituency vote.
"We have a strong team in Glasgow, with four Green councillors who have made a huge impact in their communities.
"With that track record, we are campaigning to win Kelvin in 2016."
The Greens said polling put them on about 10% on the regional vote for next year's election, suggesting they could get eight to 12 MSPs, with at least one in each of the eight regions.

Summary: Patrick Harvie, the co-convener of the Scottish Greens, has announced he will stand in a first-past-the-post seat at next year's Holyrood election.
###
Article: The Labour leader's opponents said his actions had torpedoed talks on having some shadow front bench positions elected by MPs, rather than appointed.
Ms Thornberry said negotiations were continuing and Mr Corbyn should not be criticised for acting decisively.
Parliamentary Labour Party chairman John Cryer said he was not informed.
Mr Cryer said in a letter to MPs that the party leadership had not told him, or sacked chief whip Rosie Winterton, about the changes.
The PLP had held talks with party leaders over possible shadow cabinet elections.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said he was willing to continue the discussions on the idea of the party electing some of the shadow cabinet.
Ms Thornberry told BBC Radio 4's Today programme criticism of Mr Corbyn was unfair.
"On the one hand people criticise Jeremy for being weak and taking too long on his reshuffles and yet when he decides that he needs to do one in order to fill vacancies and reach out, people then criticise him for being too decisive and too strong. You can't play it both ways," she said.
"We stop fighting among ourselves".
"We have a job to do. We were elected to be MPs, represent our constituents and stand up to the government. That's what our priority ought to be and we need to get on with it."
In this week's reshuffle several MPs who quit the shadow cabinet in the summer in protest at Mr Corbyn's leadership returned to the fold.
In other appointments, deputy leader Tom Watson was appointed shadow culture secretary and Jon Ashworth became shadow health secretary. John Healey returned to housing and Diane Abbott became shadow home secretary.
Labour's new shadow cabinet in full
In his letter to Labour MPs, Mr Cryer said the PLP in early September voted "overwhelmingly" for the return of elections to the shadow cabinet.
"This led to negotiations involving myself and the then chief whip, Rosie Winterton, and people from the leadership team," he wrote.
"As far as Rosie and I were concerned, the talks were held in good faith with the aim of striking an...

Summary: Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has strongly defended Jeremy Corbyn following criticism over his shadow cabinet reshuffle.
###
Article: The Shenzhen Connect was supposed to be launched more than a year ago but was postponed due to market volatility.
It is now expected to go live by the end of the year.
The move comes as China looks to open up its $6.5 trillion (Â£5 trillion) equity markets to foreign investors.
Beijing has also been pushing to have its bourses included in global index providers MSCI but their bid was last rejected in June.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as saying the scheme "marks another steady step towards building a law-regulated capital market with international features".
The overall quota limits for the link between Hong Kong and Shanghai's stock exchange, which was launched in late 2014, was also lifted. Daily quota limits, however, remain in place.
The approval of the Shenzhen Stock Connect scheme may boost market sentiment, Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics said.
"It is a welcome signal that policymakers are keen to press on with financial reform as concerns over market volatility and capital outflows fade," he wrote in a report.
"But limited appetite overseas for mainland equities means the direct impact on equity valuations and capital flows will be small."
Hong Kong is the world's second-busiest bourse and has benefited from the Stock Connect scheme as mainland investors look to buy overseas assets to counter the weakening Chinese yuan currency.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen is Asia's busiest exchange with monthly turnover of more than $1 trillion, according to the World Federation of Exchanges data.
But some investors believe the new link won't see huge demand due to the high valuations of mainland stocks.
"In the short term, I very much doubt this will drive significant flows into Shenzhen shares as a lot of stocks are expensive," Caroline Yu Maurer, head of Greater China equities at BNP Paribas Investment Partners said.
The quota usage for the Shanghai to Hong Kong Stock Connect was more than 80% when southbound while the northbound quota used was around 50%.
Investors have been nervous...

Summary: China has approved a long-anticipated trading link between Hong Kong and Shenzhen's stock markets and abolished an overall quota limit that investors considered restrictive.
###
Article: Police said the 33-year-old victim was playing on a fruit machine in the Rosevale Tavern in Partick at about 18:00 on Saturday when a stranger assaulted him.
The attacker fled via a side entrance and CCTV showed him heading down Dumbarton Road towards the city centre.
The victim was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for treatment to a serious facial injury.
Det Con Jen Adams, of Police Scotland, said: "This was a completely unprovoked attack which will leave the victim scarred for life.
"Officers have been conducting extensive enquiries including examining CCTV and speaking to people who were within the pub at the time of the incident."
The attacker is described as being aged in his mid 20s with brown hair which was longer at the top and shaved at the bottom.
He was wearing a black quilted waist-length jacket, dark blue jeans and dark trainers.

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Fans of the Twilight film series have been warned that they could be putting their sight at risk by sharing cosmetic contact lenses bought online.

Article: John Fleming believes the challenges facing referees are greater than ever but insists a good relationship exists between managers and top officials.
Fleming was speaking exclusively to BBC Scotland at the referees' winter training camp in Spain.
"There's many occasions in the six years I have been in here when referees have been really down," said Fleming.
"They have been down because they feel as if the criticism they are getting is way over the top, and I would agree with that."
Without naming individuals, Fleming says he is sometimes angered by comments made by pundits when it comes to refereeing decisions.
"I will never be obstructive to working with the media, but there is a line that can be crossed and it has been crossed several times," he said.
"It is very frustrating. Sometimes I get angry, especially if the comments made are not technically sound. Especially if they are personalised, which they have been recently.
"That becomes very frustrating when the individual making the comments has not had the common courtesy to perhaps contact me prior to it just to find out if what they are saying is factually correct.
"My door is always open, the phone line is always open."
Although Fleming has issues with recent media comments he says his relationship with managers is more positive.
"I have a good relationship with the SPFL Managers and coaches and other managers and coaches in Scotland, and I want to protect that," he added.
"The only way I can do it is to speak to them. Speak to them after matches, and accept the decision was wrong. Accept it was a big error. It was a clear important mistake as we phrase it in refereeing.
"And on the other hand I will tell them if the referee is right.
"It is up to me to coach the managers and the players to say [in this example] the referee is correct, and here is the reason why he is correct. So you either adopt the practice to combat that, or the referee will be correct and penalise you going forward."

Summary: Scotland's head of referees has been angered by what he calls "over the top" criticism of match officials.
###
Article: Speaking on German TV, she called for "more Europe", including a budgetary union, saying "we need a political union first and foremost".
"Step by step we must from now on give up more competences to Europe, and allow Europe more powers of control."
However, she has resisted calls for the joint issuing of eurozone debt.
She will hold talks on Thursday with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who has urged the 17-nation eurozone to speed up measures to build a budgetary union to shore up the embattled monetary union.
Ms Merkel's insistence on economic austerity and budget discipline has alienated many Europeans who say the policy is strangling growth and piling more debts on the struggling "periphery" countries like Greece and Spain.
Spain has to find at least 80bn euros (Â£65bn) to shore up its banks, which are struggling because of bad property loans.
Spain's finance minister has said the credit markets are "effectively shut" to his country, but so far Madrid has avoided asking the EU for a bailout.
On Wednesday the European Commission set out
          plans for a eurozone "bank union",
 which could make it easier for troubled eurozone banks to access EU credit.
In her TV interview Ms Merkel reiterated that "budget consolidation and growth are two sides of the same coin".
"Without solid finances, there is no growth, but solid finances alone are not enough; there are other points - above all, questions of competitiveness," she said.
Ms Merkel remains very cautious about the idea of pooling eurozone debts in "eurobonds", despite growing calls - including from the European Commission - for the eurozone to launch them.
Germany, as the strongest EU economy, wants to avoid a situation where it would end up shouldering the debt burden of weaker EU countries.
Direct bailouts of eurozone economies by the European Central Bank are banned under the "no bailout" clause in the Maastricht Treaty, which launched the single currency.
But next month the eurozone will have a new 500bn-euro rescue fund, the European Stability...

Summary: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the EU needs a political union even if it means some countries integrating faster than others.
###
Article: The Facebook-owned company also revealed it is working on its own handheld controller system called Oculus Touch.
The Rift headset will be released early next year. Until now, only a "developer" version had been sold.
It will compete with rival VR headsets such as Sony's Morpheus and HTC's Vive.
Google has made a more basic entry into the market with its Cardboard product, which uses a person's smartphone to create a VR effect.
The deal with Microsoft means Oculus owners will be able to stream Xbox One games to the headset and see them as if they are being viewed on a huge "home cinema" screen.
Microsoft's gaming boss Phil Spencer made a surprise appearance at the event to introduce the partnership.
But he did not discuss whether the Xbox One would offer VR games of its own - allowing players to experience immersive 360-degree views - via the headset.
However, Mr Spencer hinted that more information would be shared at next week's E3 conference in Los Angeles.
"The Microsoft deal with Oculus seems like a risk-free way to try and undermine Morpheus' advantage," commented Piers-Harding Rolls, a video games industry analyst at the IHS consultancy.
"But streaming XBox One games... is not going to sell Oculus.
"The video of the experience didn't look compelling."
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey said his firm had been looking at new ways for gamers to interact with virtual reality beyond using a console gamepad.
He showed off the prototype Oculus Touch system, which consists of two wireless handheld controllers fitted with buttons, joypads and sensors.
He said they were designed to make sense of the kinds of gestures people made naturally with their hands.
Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight, said the launch put Oculus in the "driver's seat" in the VR market.
"With Facebook's resources it has a huge head-start over rivals and its already delivered two iterations of its developer platform," he told the BBC.
"Furthermore, it's the brand that is synonymous with virtual reality technology."
The Rift headset began its life...

Summary: Oculus VR has shown off the version of its virtual reality headset that will be sold to consumers, and revealed it will come with an Xbox One controller.
###
Article: The doctor at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital told BBC Scotland that surgical teams were prevented from seeing patients to manipulate figures.
The whistleblower said the system was putting patients at risk.
NHS Tayside said patient safety was its "overriding priority".
Health Secretary Shona Robison said the Scottish government had been assured by NHS Tayside "that their ways of working are effective and safe".
For several years, NHS Tayside has boasted the lowest accident and emergency waits in Scotland, with 99% of patients treated in four hours.
However the whistleblower, who wants to remain anonymous, said surgical teams were being bullied and prevented from seeing potentially seriously ill patients in order to manipulate the figures.
The doctor, a member of the general surgical team at Ninewells Hospital, said patients were not allowed to be assessed by surgeons until they are moved to the surgical department. This, he claimed, is so hospital managers can tick a box saying the patient has been discharged from accident and emergency, and the waiting time 'clock' stops.
"On paper, it would seem that the patient was in the A&E department for a short time," the doctor told BBC Scotland.
"The surgical service is often actively barred from assessing sometimes critically ill patients in A&E, as this would increase the time spent by the patient in A&E.
"Patients presenting to A&E with abdominal pain - the bulk of surgical patients - are not treated there in any way. They are quickly seen by a junior doctor, who then discusses the case with a consultant.
"The patient is then referred to the surgical ward where actual assessment, investigations and treatment takes place."
It is claimed surgical specialists are not allowed to order blood or imaging tests on the patient in the emergency department, as they would normally do, in case this causes delays.
This is despite the fact that the department which carries out the imaging tests is next to A&E, and patients often have to be transported back again.
Across Scotland,...

Summary: Surgeons are being banned from seeing people in accident and emergency so one of Scotland's biggest hospitals can meet waiting time targets, a whistleblower has claimed.
###
Article: Cosmetic lenses are available to buy on the internet, in novelty stores or at market stalls, close to Hallowe'en.
Trading standards officers said the law stated that lenses should be sold with an optician or medic present.
Youngsters buying the lenses may wish to recreate the look of the Twilight films and Vampire Diaries TV show.
Cosmetic lenses are used to change the colour of the eye, and are also known as plano or zero-powered lenses.
Trading standards officers and health experts say young people are known to share them, leading to an increased risk of corneal ulcers and infections.
Alistair Bridge, director of strategy at the General Optical Council said: "Opticians make sure that contact lenses fit properly and that wearers receive expert advice on how to wear and store them safely.
"They will also offer important advice such as not to sleep in contact lenses and to never share or swap lenses, which can spread eye disease."
Leon Livermore, Chartered Trading Standards Institute chief executive, said: "Cosmetic contact lenses are often made and distributed on a one size fits all basis and not tailored to the wearer's needs which can increase the risk of eye health issues."
"We would advise against buying products like these online or from retailers as without professional supervision there are more likely to be health concerns for the individual."

Summary:


Highland Council has said it remains committed to giving more schoolchildren access to technology.

Article: Where once low-wage workers churned out clothes for export, today a new company has taken up residence that is riding the wave of China's consumer spending boom.
In fact Mr Wedding - a small business employing 16 people - is part of an industry that has been booming like few others anywhere in history.
According to state media, China's marriage market - the money spent on ceremonies, catering, honeymoons and hospitality - has grown from almost nothing a couple of decades ago to a whopping annual 800bn yuan ($130bn; £78bn).
And Mr Wedding, from its old factory base, is trying to carve out a little slice of that economy by offering Shanghai's brides-and-grooms-to-be a familiar service with a twist.
"People can do a lot of almost impossible postures under water," the founder and owner, Tina Liu, tells me.
"The sense of losing gravity creates the beauty of floating."
Underwater wedding: In pictures
Two of her customers Lin Enxiao and He Huan introduce themselves by their English names - Lamea and YY.
They're not getting married until next year, but like many Chinese couples they've decided to get the wedding photographs out of the way early.
"Most of our friends did their photo shoot on dry land," YY tells me. "We wanted something different."
"When people think about wedding photos it's always grassland, white walls and doves," Lamea agrees.
"It feels good to change that picture."
China did not invent the underwater wedding shoot but it has embraced it like nowhere else.
There are dozens of studios offering the service in Shanghai alone, and it is a crowded, competitive market.
"Some talented people have a good concept and good creativity but they don't make it because they lack persistency," Tina says.
Each individual photo shoot is a painstaking, time-consuming process.
Mr Wedding's team of stylists gives Lamea and YY a full makeover, spending a couple of hours on their hair and make-up.
"We suggest that for underwater wedding pictures brides should wear a white wedding dress with a long trail," Tina says.
"And...

Summary: In a suburb of Shanghai, a shabby old textile mill serves as a model of the wider economic transformation China is trying to achieve.
###
Article: Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Budget that the rate for Class 4 NICS would rise from 9% to 10% in April 2018, and to 11% in 2019.
That compares to 12% currently paid by employees.
"The difference in National Insurance Contributions is no longer justified," Mr Hammond said.
Self-employed people have traditionally paid lower NICS than employees, as they receive fewer state benefits.
But the chancellor said the self-employed now had equal access to the new state pension. He also said that the government would consult on parental benefits, some of which self-employed people cannot claim.
The chancellor said all self-employed people who earned less than £16,250 would be better off.
Around half of the 4.8 million workers registered as self-employed earn less than £13,000, according to the think tank the Resolution Foundation.
As a result it said most such workers - such as low-paid hairdressers - will be better off by 2019/20.
source: Resolution Foundation
But the rise, which will cost those affected an average of 60p a week, was criticised by entrepreneurs.
"Increasing National Insurance rates for the self-employed could be a further step by the government to penalise those who are taking risks and starting a business," said Lucy-Rose Walker, the chief executive of Entrepreneurial Spark.
Others said it was unfair that the self-employed would have to pay more, when they do not receive the same level of state benefits.
"Self-employees are subject to a lower national insurance contribution because they do not receive the same entitlements and benefits as their employed counterparts - such as holiday and sick leave," said Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of tax at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Those paid less than £16,250 will be better off because of a planned abolition of a different class of NICS - Class 2 - in April 2018.
Under Class 2 NICS, self-employed workers pay 2% on qualifying earnings between £5,965 and £8060, amounting to £2.80 a week.
The increase in the NICS rate will raise...

Summary: Rises in National Insurance Contributions (NICS) for self-employed workers have been criticised as "penalising entrepreneurs".
###
Article: The British Medical Association's Dr Chaand Nagpaul said GP services were already at breaking point.
He will tell a conference that pledges to recruit 5,000 GPs in England would "fail dismally" as doctors were fleeing the profession.
The Department of Health said it was an "overly negative, pessimistic view".
During the election campaign, the Conservatives pledged access to GPs between 08:00 and 20:00, seven days a week, by 2020 in England.
The party also pledged everyone over 75 would get a same-day appointment.
But the proposals have been lambasted in the first major speech by GP leaders since the election.
Dr Nagpaul, the chairman of the BMA's GP committee, , will tell the annual conference of local medical committees: "The government must halt its surreal obsession for practices to open seven days when there aren't the GPs to even cope with current demands.
"It would damage quality care by spreading GPs so thinly, and replace continuity of care with impersonal shift work, and will reduce our availability for older, vulnerable patients."
He will argue no other country was attempting such a plan, while the NHS was pressing ahead with "fewer GPs per head than in Europe, while spending less on health compared to virtually all other comparable nations".
General practice is key to plans to shift more care out of hospitals into the community.
But Dr Nagpaul will use the speech to say demand on services has soared as practices are used as the "backstop for every problem in the NHS and beyond".
There were 40 million more GP appointments annually than five years ago, yet the proportion of NHS funds spent in general practice was falling, he will say.
Dr Nagpaul also pointed to a survey of 15,000 GPs which showed one in three intending to retire and one in five planning to move abroad in the next five years.
Many cited overwhelming workloads.
"It's absolutely pointless promising 5,000 extra GPs within this Parliament if we lose 10,000 GPs retiring in the same period," Dr Nagpaul will say, adding that it would be...

Summary: David Cameron needs to "get real" and ditch his "surreal obsession" with opening GP surgeries seven days a week, a senior GPs' representative says.
###
Article: Local politicians hope to have more say on how the region's budget of more than £22bn is spent each year.
The plans would mean one of the leaders of the 10 councils stepping up to run the Combined Authority full-time.
The ideas are set out in a memo sent to councillors and seen by BBC News.
It reads: "Greater Manchester is a single economy bigger than Wales or Northern Ireland, yet has considerably less freedom over its strategic priorities.
"The platform we have created through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, providing clear leadership and a track record of delivery, means we are ideally placed to be a trailblazer for city devolution."
The document also sets out a list of changes council leaders would pursue under the new structure, if it is approved by Westminster.
This includes the re-regulation of Greater Manchester's bus services, potentially bringing routes and fares under council control, rather than commercial operators.
Council leaders also want control over funding for business and trade and investment, alongside "significant influence if not control" over £500m which the government currently spends on skills and training schemes.
Discussions on the devolution of spending powers have been ongoing for years with local leaders believing they are better placed than civil servants in Westminster to decide how billions of pounds of funding should be spent in Greater Manchester.
David Cameron's promise of more powers for Scotland during the recent referendum campaign led the region's leaders to push their case further and Chancellor George Osborne has indicated he's ready to make some form of an announcement on devolution in the Autumn statement.
Mr Osborne has made it clear he wants Greater Manchester to have an elected mayor but the region's council leaders don't think that would work. Instead, they're offering to appoint an "11th leader" who would oversee the Combined Authority and be a full-time figurehead for the region.
It's not yet clear how this "11th leader" would be selected. Greater...

Summary: Greater Manchester's council leaders want to appoint an "11th leader" as part of efforts to convince the government to devolve more power to the region.
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Article: It was responding to a global study that suggested investing heavily in computers and classroom technology does not improve pupils' performance.
Highland Council has a plan to give every P6 to S6 students access to a tablet computer.
The local authority said the study also suggested that good teaching coupled with technology could benefit pupils.
The study of schoolchildren in more than 70 countries was carried out for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The think tank said frequent use of computers in schools was more likely to be associated with lower results.
The OECD's education director Andreas Schleicher said school technology had raised "too many false hopes".
But he added that the findings of the report should not be used as an "excuse" not to use technology, but as a spur to finding a more effective approach.
A spokesperson for Highland Council said: "Highland Council is committed to providing technology rich environments in schools, this includes appropriate access to technology for learning purposes.
"We are also committed to reducing inequalities where pupils do not feel excluded due to not having access to appropriate technology for their learning.
"We welcome the OECD report which demonstrates that when good teaching is coupled with appropriate technology it leads to improved outcomes for children and young people."
Highland Council plans to increase the availability of the devices for P1 to 5 pupils to share and give every P6 to S6 student their own tablet.
The proposal is also expected to help the council save money.
The project could form part of the local authority's new IT contract.
The aspiration was first discussed at a meeting of Highland Council's education, children and adult services committee in February.
Councillors heard that the use of tablets at Alness Academy and other schools had led to pupils producing better work.

Summary:


An inquest into an IRA massacre of 10 Protestant workers has been delayed because there is no coroner to hear it.

Article: But the Fraser of Allander Institute said the Scottish economy would  be "cushioned" from the likely impact compared with the rest of the UK.
A report suggested that Brexit could lead to more migration to Scotland from other parts of the UK.
Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted Scotland and the UK could "get a better deal abroad" after leaving the EU.
Holyrood's Europe committee convener Joan McAlpine said the outlook was "grim", and warned there could be a "huge constitutional crisis" if Holyrood was not consulted about the "Great Repeal Bill", which severs ties between the EU and the UK.
The report from the Fraser of Allander Institute examines a series of potential post-Brexit scenarios. These range from an "optimistic" model similar to Norway's relationship with the EU to a "pessimistic" one based on a so-called "hard Brexit" outside the single market, based on World Trade Organisation rules.
The group said the most optimistic outlook would see Scottish GDP drop by 2% within 10 years, causing the loss of 30,000 jobs. The most pessimistic model would see GDP 5% lower within a decade, with 80,000 fewer jobs in the economy.
Prof Graeme Roy, director of the Strathclyde University institute, said the "detailed assessment" had found Brexit was likely to have "a significant negative impact on the Scottish economy".
However, the report noted that "throughout all scenarios, the estimated negative impact of Brexit on the rest of the UK is greater than it is on Scotland, in terms of GDP, employment and other measures".
This is because the rest of the UK's economy has greater exposure to EU trade than Scotland's, while the financial relationship between Scotland and the rest of the UK dampens certain effects.
The report notes that "to a degree this acts to cushion the impacts on the Scottish economy", adding the "shock" of Brexit could "induce net migration into Scotland from the rest of the UK".
The prime minister has insisted Brexit will "enhance" Scotland's standing in the world rather than diminish it.
Mrs May...

Summary: Scotland could lose between 30,000 and 80,000 jobs as a result of Brexit, according to an economic analysis.
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Article: The scheme was first considered in February 2015 by then-Prime Minister David Cameron.
But an independent review published on Monday warned it would not help people get back into work.
A Downing Street spokesman said "withdrawing benefits from obese people is not under consideration, no."
Before the last election, Mr Cameron said too many people were stuck on sickness benefits because of issues that could be addressed but were not.
"Some have drug or alcohol problems, but refuse treatment," he said.
"In other cases, people have problems with their weight that could be addressed, but instead a life on benefits rather than work becomes the choice.
"It is not fair to ask hardworking taxpayers to fund the benefits of people who refuse to accept the support and treatment that could help them get back to a life of work."
However, an independent review from Dame Carol Black has come to the conclusion the proposals would not work.
The report said: "We are clear that benefit claimants with addictions should, like all other claimants, do all they can to re-enter work.
"However... we doubt whether mandating addiction treatment - one of the possibilities mentioned in our terms of reference - should be the first response to the evidence problems for the cohorts under discussion."
The review also said making people have treatment could lead to more people hiding their problems rather than seeking help.
"We also heard from health professionals serious concerns about the legal and ethical implications of mandating treatment and whether this would be a cost-effective approach," it said.
The review also did not find evidence that obesity was a causal factor for unemployment or that weight-loss achieved through non-surgical treatment led to employment.

Summary: Controversial proposals to withdraw benefits from people who refuse treatment for obesity or addiction have been dropped.
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Article: Meyne Wyatt, 24, will make his debut as Nate Kinski on 13 August. The episode will be shown on 27 August in the UK on Channel 5.
The soap has featured indigenous actors before but not in the main cast.
The show, based in a fictional suburb outside Melbourne, has been accused of not reflecting ethnic diversity during its 29-year history.
Previous indigenous actors who have appeared in the soap include Tony Briggs in the late 1980s.
He was the first Aboriginal actor to appear on the show.
In 2012, a South Asian family, called the Kapoors, moved into Ramsay Street, but they were written out of the soap a year later.
Actor Sachin Joab, who played Ajay Kapoor, told Digital Spy last year: "It was more of a shock to us knowing that it wasn't just one multicultural actor who was being written out, it was every single multicultural full-time actor on the show.
"All four of us were written out in the first year of our full-time contracts, which felt like a massive step backwards in terms of cultural diversity on the show.
"Australia is stuck in some sort of time capsule... For some reason when it's fiction over here, the industry chooses to exclude non-whites and include whites only. It's very unrealistic given that Australia is a very multicultural country," he added.
But speaking to the Guardian about casting Wyatt, Neighbours' series producer Jason Herbison said: "While cultural diversity is definitely important, in cases where we don't need a specific ethnic background, our brief to agents is to put forward their best people and that was the case for this character."
Born in the remote town of Kalgoolie in western Australia, Wyatt's passion for acting emerged when he attended boarding school in Perth.
He graduated from the country's National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), and was named best newcomer in the 2011 Sydney theatre awards.
He recently completed the feature film Strangerland starring Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes and Guy Pearce, due for release in 2015.
His Neighbours character already has a...

Summary: Australian soap Neighbours has cast an indigenous actor in a leading role for the first time.
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Article: For most people the logos of such firms immediately connect our minds to the business in question, without the need to see its name.
Think of the golden arches of a popular fast-food chain, or the apple with a bite taken out of it representing a certain computer company.
This type of instant recognition is the holy grail for a business.
Which is why the world's multinational companies can spend millions on their logos - like UK oil group BP, which back in 2000 spent Â£136m introducing its current sunflower design.
Other firms of a similar size, whose logo is simply their name written out in a stylised way, can spend hundreds of thousands on a new font, or a different colour.
But how easy is it for a business to pick a good logo, and how important is it at the end of the day?
If you are presented with a design for your company logo that is immediately likeable and resonates with your values, you might be wise to take a long hard look at it, bin it, and start again.
That's the opinion of Sagi Haviv, partner at New York graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismer & Haviv (CGH).
"It's never love at first sight," he says. "A good logo, a good trademark, gains meaning and power over time."
CGH has been responsible for some of the most recognisable US business logos of the past 50 years, such as Chase Bank, National Geographic, Mobile, NBC and HarperCollins.
But Mr Haviv says some of the firms' clients had to be dragged kicking and screaming towards accepting what have since become some of the world's best-known logos.
"We remind our clients - and we open every presentation with a slide that says - it's never love at first sight," he says.
A recent presentation by CGH for a large corporation was a case in point. The chief executive, says Mr Haviv, could live with any of the six designs apart from number two.
"Two hours later at the end of the presentation, he wanted number two and he wouldn't hear of anything else," says Mr Haviv. "This is why the relationship between the client and the designer is extremely...

Summary: From Nike's "swoosh" symbol to Starbucks' twin-tailed mermaid or siren, the world's largest companies take great care of their logos.
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Article: Republicans ambushed a mini-bus carrying the men at Kingsmill in County Armagh in 1976 and murdered them after checking what religion they were.
Senior coroner John Leckey is retiring this year and told a preliminary hearing of the inquest in Belfast that no replacement has been appointed.
His retirement could leave only one coroner in Northern Ireland.
Kingsmill is among dozens of inquests dating from the early days of the Troubles that face delay because not enough money is available to investigate or there is nobody to oversee fresh hearings.
Mr Leckey said: "I feel for the bereaved families, not exclusively Kingsmill but for other inquests I am involved in.
"It is a disappointment that is widespread."
A lawyer for some of the Kingsmill victims' families said they would be pressing Stormont's justice department for more resources to allow an inquest to go ahead.
Karen Armstrong, a sister of one of the murdered men, said the lack of resources was "a political problem".
"We are not going to lie down and accept it," she said.
"We will fight until we get another date and they have to make sure there are enough coroners in Northern Ireland to deal with our and many other cases."
Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy said he would be asking Justice Minister David Ford to ensure the matter was referred to the relevant authorities so that "action can be taken as soon as possible".
"Justice has been denied for almost 40 years and it is totally unacceptable that this inquest should be delayed further due to the unavailability of a coroner," he said.
"This was one of the most shocking and cruel events of the Troubles and the inquest must be treated with the seriousness this crime merits."
A Department of Justice spokesman said: "Officials are actively working to ensure that all necessary resources are provided for the conduct of inquests in Northern Ireland.
"There are currently three full-time coroners in Northern Ireland. In addition, one High Court judge and one County Court judge have also been appointed as coroners."

Summary:


Pope Francis has condemned the "complicit silence" about the killing of Christians during a Good Friday service in Rome.

Article: Mr Obama, the first black US president, said ensuring economic opportunity was "our great unfinished business".
He also linked his own rise to the White House with the efforts of the civil rights protesters decades ago.
Members of Martin Luther King's family and veterans of the march also spoke.
Mr Obama gave his address at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC almost 50 years to the minute after Martin Luther King Jr culminated the march with his celebrated I Have a Dream speech
The time - 15:00 local time (19:00 GMT) - was marked by ringing bells.
Mr Obama began by honouring King, as well as the many African-American and white marchers who descended on Washington to protest for equal rights for black citizens 50 years ago.
"They assembled here, in our nation's capital, under the shadow of the great emancipator, to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress and to awaken America's long-slumbering conscience," Mr Obama said.
"Because they marched, city councils changed and state legislators changed and Congress changed, and yes, eventually the White House changed," Mr Obama said to great cheers. "Because they marched, America became more free and fair."
He praised "those maids, those labourers, those porters, those secretaries" who had transformed the US into the nation "our children now take for granted", in which individuals of different races mix freely in public and private life.
"To dismiss the magnitude of this progress," he said, "to suggest, as some sometimes do, that little has changed - that dishonours the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years."
But Mr Obama argued "the very significance of these victories may have obscured a second goal of the march" - jobs and the promise of equal economic opportunity.
"They were there seeking jobs as well as justice," he said.
"We must remind ourselves that the measure of progress for those who marched 50 years ago was not merely how many blacks had joined the ranks of...

Summary: US President Barack Obama has linked the ongoing struggle for economic equality in America with the goals of the 1963 March on Washington, in a speech marking its 50th anniversary.
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Article: Daithí McKay said DFP has not co-operated with the committee regarding the inquiry since July.
The committee is investigating the sale of property loans by the National Assets Management Agency (Nama).
The inquiry was set up after claims a politician was set to profit.
The claim was initially made in the Irish Parliament in July, where an independent member, Mick Wallace, alleged a politician in Northern Ireland was in line to gain from the deal, via a £7m bank account in the Isle of Man.
Politicians, Nama officials, businessmen and companies involved in the deal have all denied any wrongdoing.
Nama: The key figures and background you need to know
Timeline of Nama's NI property deal
The inquiry chairman told MLAs that the DFP has not responded to the committee's requests for information, nor has its permanent secretary returned to appear before its members to answer questions.
"I think its position, in regard to the Nama review, is totally untenable," Mr McKay said.
"The department is remarkably shy about issuing papers. If the department has nothing to hide they need to bring these papers forward," the Sinn Féin MLA added.
"The public will come to their own conclusions, whether they are right or wrong, the more the department continue to pull down the shutters in regard to our review."
The Stormont inquiry is one of five international investigations into the loan sale, known as Project Eagle.

Summary: The relationship between Stormont's Department of Finance (DFP) and its scrutiny committee is at "rock bottom" in relation to the Nama inquiry, the committee's chairman has said.
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Article: The payment to shareholders and co-operatives is also being brought forward after first-half profit more than doubled to NZ$409m (Â£194m; $276m).
Milk prices have tumbled to multi-year lows because of a global supply glut.
The fall in dairy and other commodity prices has made it cheaper for Fonterra to make products such as cheese.
But conversely it has also dramatically reduced the incomes of its farmers.
The Auckland-based company has faced a challenging global environment over the past two years, including slowing demand in its top export market China.
Fonterra chairman John Wilson admitted there was "unprecedented pressure" on their farmers.
"The timing of these payments will help farmers' cash flows at the time of the season that they need it most," he said in a statement.
"The months May through to August are typically the most difficult financially for farmers, with lower forecast milk payments in these months".
Fonterra has more than ten thousand farmers working for it in New Zealand.
The country's central bank estimates 80% of them will operate at a loss for a second straight season because of the low milk prices.
During Fonterra's interim results briefing, Mr Wilson added its farmers could not be held accountable for movements in the commodity markets.
"They know they have to hang in there and farm through the cycles," he said. "I do not take their grit and determination for granted".
Shares of Fonterra fell by 0.3% in New Zealand following its results.

Summary: The world's biggest dairy producer, Fonterra, has increased its dividend to help struggling farmers in New Zealand cope with the collapse in dairy prices.
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Article: In this rare case, a man with tinnitus was being monitored to trace his epileptic seizures, with 164 electrodes placed directly onto his brain.
Researchers compared brain activity when his tinnitus was loud, with periods when it was quiet.
They spotted differences spread over a surprisingly wide set of brain areas.
The study appears in the journal Current Biology.
Tinnitus, the constant presence of phantom sounds, affects around 10% of adults in the UK; for 1% it is severe enough to affect their quality of life. Often it takes the form of a ringing sound, but it can be anything from a roar to a hiss.
In many cases it begins with partial hearing loss, sometimes due to loud noise wearing out the hair cells that convert sound waves into neural signals, inside the inner ear. The brain adjusts to that loss of input by boosting certain types of activity, creating the impression of a noise that nobody else can hear.
Previous efforts to pinpoint those changes within the brain have used scanning techniques (such as fMRI), which are much less precise than the electrodes used in the new study. Others have used models of tinnitus in laboratory animals.
Only one other team has recorded directly from inside the brain of a human tinnitus sufferer; that study was part of an effort to treat tinnitus itself with surgery, and involved just four electrodes.
These much more extensive recordings were a fortunate coincidence.
"It is such a rarity that a person requiring invasive electrode monitoring for epilepsy also has tinnitus, that we aim to study every such person if they are willing," said Dr Phillip Gander, from the University of Iowa in the US.
The patient concerned was a 50-year-old man with intractable epilepsy. To try and find the source of his seizures, electrodes were implanted across his left hemisphere for two weeks, ahead of surgery to try and eliminate them.
At the heart of the study is a method for manipulating tinnitus, called "residual inhibition". On 60 occasions over the course of two days, researchers played...

Summary: For the first time, signals relating to the constant ringing noise of tinnitus have been mapped across the brain of a patient undergoing surgery.
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Article: Tens of thousands of pilgrims joined him for the Way of the Cross ceremony, recalling Jesus' crucifixion.
Among the cross bearers were Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and Nigerians who had escaped Boko Haram persecution.
The service came a day after almost 150 people were killed in an al-Shabab attack on a Kenyan university.
"We still see today our persecuted brothers, decapitated and crucified for their faith in you [Jesus], before our eyes and often with our complicit silence," Pope Francis said, presiding over the ceremony at the Colosseum.
Earlier, he condemned the attack in Kenya, where Christians were singled out and shot, as an act of "senseless brutality".
In another Good Friday ceremony, Pope Francis listened as the Vatican's official preacher Raniero Cantalamessa denounced the "disturbing indifference of world institutions in the face of all this killing of Christians".
He too mentioned the Kenya attack, as well as the beheading of 22 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya in February.
Pope Francis has spoken out against the persecution of Christians before, saying that the world would be justified using military force to combat the "unjust aggression" by IS.

Summary:


The US poverty rate has fallen to a record low, but the number of Americans living in poverty has risen.
The US poverty rate fell to 15.1% in 2011, the lowest level since 1993, the US Census Bureau said.
The poverty rate is the percentage of the US population living in poverty.

The percentage of Americans living in poverty is statistically unchanged from 2010's record high, even as household income fell, a US Census report says.

Article: Russian warplanes have now been seen carrying air-to-air missiles and a Russian warship - the Moskva - was moved closer to the Syrian coast, to enable its air defence missiles to provide additional cover over the Russian air base near Latakia.
But the most significant reinforcement has been the deployment of a sophisticated S-400 air defence system. Its large tubular launchers and associated radar and command vehicles are now in position at the Russian base.
The S-400 is one of Russia's most modern air defence systems with an extraordinary reach. From the airbase near Latakia the S-400's surface-to-air missiles could strike targets in an arc that takes in much of Israel; the eastern Mediterranean (including Cyprus where British jets are based); and northwards to cover a large part of Turkey beyond the Syrian border.
Russia's powerful radars - that reach even further than its missiles - enable it to have a detailed picture of the wider "aerial landscape".
For example, they can see developing coalition air operations and can keep a close track on what the Israeli Air Force is doing.
Manufacturer: Almaz-Antey arms firm; Deployment: Hmeimim airbase near Latakia - entered service in Russia in 2007; Range: 400km (248 miles); Speed: up to 4.8km (3 miles) per second; Max target height: 30km - can track hundreds of targets simultaneously; Types of target: aircraft, cruise missiles, medium-range missiles, drones, other airborne surveillance systems. (Sources: RIA Novosti, Russian 1TV.ru)
There is of course no suggestion that Russia intends to disrupt coalition air operations. Moscow is making a point by deploying the S-400. It sends a robust signal, not just to Turkey, but to public opinion at home that Russia intends to protect its air assets in Syria by whatever means necessary.
However it is very hard to imagine the S-400 actually engaging a Western warplane. Given the number of aircraft operating over Syria it would be difficult, for example, to specifically pick out a Turkish jet. But the presence of the missile...

Summary: The shooting down of a Russian Su-24 warplane by Turkish fighters has prompted Moscow to reinforce its contingent in Syria.
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Article: Five days of military exercises were scheduled to take place across the island this month, said the state-run newspaper, Granma, as Cuba's armed forces readied themselves for "a range of enemy actions".
In reality, those exercises take place every few years and, by the end of the day, President Raul Castro had sent his formal congratulations to Mr Trump, who will take office in the wake of last year's re-establishment of ties between Havana and Washington.
Even that brief congratulatory message represents an important break with the past.
Quite what the 85-year-old communist leader makes of the former reality TV star isn't clear. He has seen 10 US presidents come and go since he and his brother, Fidel, took power in 1959, some of them vehemently opposed to the Castro government and intent on forcing them from office.
Raul Castro is unlikely to have dealt with a US political figure quite like Donald J Trump.
The extraordinary mixture of braggadocio and brash populism is more often compared with a very different Latin American leader: the late Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez.
Beyond their personal differences, though, it is Mr Trump's position on the much-vaunted process of thaw that is most under scrutiny in Cuba at this stage. Early in his campaign he said he was "fine" with the Obama administration's policy of rapprochement.
"Fifty years is enough time, folks," he said during a CNN televised debate.
However, by the end of the arduous campaign, he was in Little Havana in Miami, drinking coffee with Cuban-American opponents of the thaw in the well-known Cafe Versailles.
He promised anti-Castro Republicans that he would roll back on Mr Obama's detente, would keep the decades-long US economic embargo on the island firmly in place and would even close the recently reopened US embassy in Havana.
"I want to believe that this was last-minute election opportunism, a kind of old-style form of it and one which I don't think benefited him that much," says Mike Bustamante, an assistant professor in Latin American...

Summary: The headline greeting Cubans the morning after Donald Trump won the US election sounded alarming.
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Article: The Government Development Bank made a $355m (Â£235m) payment that was due to creditors on Tuesday.
Despite the move the territory is struggling to find money for government services and future debt payments.
Speaking to members of the US senate Puerto Rico's Governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, said the island's government, "had not cash left".
Puerto Rico has $72bn (Â£48bn) in outstanding debts.
If the government had missed Tuesday's payment it could have sparked law suits from creditors.
The prospect for future payments is still unclear.
The Governor said the territory is facing a situation where it must decide between defaulting- failing to make the payments on its debt- or cutting public services.
In his comments to a senate judiciary hearing Governor Garcia Padilla said, "Starting today the commonwealth of Puerto Rico will have to claw back revenues pledged to certain bonds issued in order to maintain public services."
Though Puerto Rico is a territory of the US it is not entitled to restructure its debt in the same way that state and city governments are.
Representatives from Puerto Rico - including the Governor - have been making the case that the island should be allowed to undertake the same process Detroit used when it faced bankruptcy.

Summary: Puerto Rico has narrowly avoided a default by making a last minute payment on its outstanding debt.
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Article: In a feedback report, the Independent Advisory Panel for the competition also said  the city's application was "relatively Leicester focused".
Geoff Rowe, chair of Leicester's City of Culture bid team, said it would be "foolish not to listen to the feedback".
Leicester competed against Swansea Bay, Hull and Dundee. Hull won the title.
The panel also felt Leicester's bid and case was "not quite far enough advanced at this stage" and there were not enough international links to award it the next UK City of Culture title.
Mr Rowe said: "There's a lot of stuff in the feedback and we need to learn from that.
"One of the points was that it was very Leicester focused and yes it was.
"It was deliberately very Leicester focused and we worked very closely with the county and the districts to put together a really strong bid that celebrated what Leicester has to offer."
On Leicester's strong points the panel thought the quality of the presentation by the team added "credibility and really brought aspects of the bid to life".
Other positives was the city's track record in "delivering cultural excellence", the level of commitment including funding and the support of both the city and county councils, as well as the amount of community engagement in the bid.
Leicester's Mayor Peter Soulsby had said the city did not "need to wait until 2017 to show ourselves off" following the announcement in November that it lost out to Hull.
The UK Government chooses a new destination every four years, with the aim of helping tourism and the economy.
UK's first City of Culture title was awarded to Derry Londonderry for 2013, beating Birmingham, Norwich and Sheffield.

Summary: Leicester's bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2017 "lacked slightly in ambition and innovation".
###
Article: The poverty rate was 15% in 2011, meaning 46.2 million Americans were in poverty, staying flat after three previous years of increases.
Real median income of households in the country dropped by 1.5%.
The average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2011 was $23,021 (Â£14,300).
Income inequality, as measured by the Gini index, increased by 1.6% in 2011, the first time there has been an annual rise in the index since 1993.
The percentage of Americans lacking health insurance fell to 15.7% from 16.3%, the report also said.
Poverty in the US reached a record high in 2010, at 15.1%.

Summary:


Scientists are trying to find out if bees make different sounds depending on where in Wales they are.

Article: The Weeping Window was first seen at the Tower of London and commemorated those who died in World War One.
The exhibition has been at The Silk Mill, Derby, since 9 June and has had about 200,000 visitors.
Derby City Council culture spokesman Peter Ireson said he hoped people had been "inspired" by the installation.
Artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper's poppy installation, named Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, saw more than five million people visit the Tower of London in 2014.
The Weeping Window, a cascade of sculptured poppies, has been on tour across the UK and ends in Derby on Sunday.
Mr Ireson said: "[The exhibition] has been massive culturally in terms of numbers of people who have engaged with this wonderful exhibition, but also in terms of the local economy."
Ashley Lewis, spokesman for the Cathedral Quarter Business Improvement District, said: "It certainly has put Derby on the map nationally and we have had visitors from all around the world and all over the UK.  It's been a really positive thing to have here."
Derby businessman Steve Owens, who runs Jack Rabbits Kitchen, said: "It has pretty much doubled our take. To have something this iconic come to Derby has really increased salesâ€¦ and it is brilliant," he said.
Mr Ireson added: "This proves that â€¦ a fantastic piece of art can inspire people and have an economic  knock-on effect for the rest of the city."

Summary: An exhibition featuring thousands of handmade ceramic poppies has had a "massive" cultural and economical impact on Derby, the city council says.
###
Article: Hundreds of fast food workers and supporters converged in front of McDonald's corporate headquarters on Thursday morning before the company's annual shareholder meeting.
They demanded the fast food giant raise wages to $15 per hour, from $9.
Separately, investors voted to change how board members are elected.
They are unhappy with the firm's slumping sales.
McDonald's - the once invincible-seeming US corporate food giant whose arches are seen across the globe - is struggling, as health-conscious consumers eschew its food in the US and workers stage day-long protests against the company.
That has made this shareholder meeting - the first since British-born chief executive Steve Easterbrook took over the firm in January - a crucial focus of both worker angst and investor frustration.
McDonald's banned media from attending the event, and has sought to dismiss both worker complaints and investor efforts to change the management of the firm.
On a chilly morning outside the company's headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, hundreds of protestors chanted slogans such as "supersize my wages" as shareholders arrived at the meeting.
A dozen police prevented the protestors from interacting with the attendees, who were required to show their shareholder ballots emblazoned with a large red 2015 stamp to a security guard before being allowed in.
Some protestors carried oversize checks with the weekly wages of "actual McDonald's workers" - $62.18 and $34.07.
Many had travelled from across the country - New York City, Tampa, and Philadelphia - to hand in a petition of a million signatures demanding McDonald's raise the minimum wage it pays workers.
They said they were energised by the Los Angeles' city council's announcement on Tuesday that it had voted to increase the minimum wage in the city to $15 per hour by 2020.
Since 2012, the group - known as the Fast for 15 coalition - has been putting pressure on corporations to increase wages from the current US federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour to a "living wage" of $15.
Many...

Summary: Fast food giant McDonald's is facing pressure from both workers and investors, who are increasingly unhappy with the firm's business strategy.
###
Article: Her eyes are locked on us and we freeze. The men who work in the Ulu Segama forest reserve in Malaysia's Sabah state say it's safe to go closer to the endangered ape, but we cannot be certain.
Orangutans are territorial and this is one of the few left in the wild. Their plight has been blamed on palm oil.
"The impact of the cultivation of oil palm plantations on orangutans is devastating, it has wiped out virtually their entire habitat to this point," says Doug Cress, co-ordinator for the United Nations' Great Apes Survival Partnership.
However, he says it's not too late to save the orangutans as long as consumers insist on sustainably produced palm oil.
Demand for the vegetable oil is expected to rise by 50% over the next decade.
In theory, the oil palm tree couldn't be more environmentally friendly.
Its spiky reddish-brown fruit bunches ooze out oil so cheap and clean that Europe wants to put it in its  cars as biodiesel.
Yet it's also versatile enough to be in half the products in our supermarkets, such as bread, soap, lipstick and even dog food.
"This is definitely the golden crop", says Khairudin Hashim, a senior manager with palm oil giant Sime Darby.
Malaysia, along with Indonesia, produces more than 80% of the global supply of palm oil.
It has lifted many poor farmers out of poverty, but at what cost?
Every year, forest fires are set in Indonesia to clear land for palm oil. During the dry season, the smoke chokes the region.
In a new study, researchers with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimate that on the island of Borneo - divided between Malaysia, Indonesia and tiny Brunei - 30% of the forest has vanished over the last four decades mainly because of oil palm plantations and logging.
Pressure from green groups has forced big players in the palm oil industry, including Sime Darby, to show it cares about the planet.
"Right now 95% of our products that come from the plantations are sustainable," says Khairudin Hashim, the company's head of sustainability.
They are certified through the...

Summary: Deep in the dense jungles of Borneo, a female orangutan hangs from a tree branch with one arm to form a straight line.
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Article: But Fon, the first social wi-fi network, took off, and what was intended to be a not-for-profit enterprise has grown into a substantial business, with backing from investors ranging from BT to Google. It is in 13 million homes and claims to be the world's biggest wi-fi network, reaching 200 million people.
Now Mr Varsavsky, who from his Madrid base has become one of Europe's most successful telecoms entrepreneurs, has a new and perhaps equally unlikely mission. He wants to turn us all into the kind of people who are happy for our friends to play their music in our homes.
Today sees the launch of Gramofon, a joint venture with Spotify, to enable social sharing of music.  It involves plugging in a new version of the Fon router - a small attractively designed black or white device - and connecting it to the internet and to your home music system. You then pair it with an app which allows you - or your Facebook friends - to stream music from Spotify and a number of other services.
"It's going to be the Apple TV for sound," Martin Varsasvsky told me when he  popped by for a coffee yesterday to explain the service. He told me he'd been lecturing on entrepreneurship in New York when after giving his students a start-up project task they'd challenged him to come up with his own idea. "I went to a party where everyone was arguing over whose music from whose smartphone they wanted to play - that's when the idea came to me."
Now, despite some impressive design, I struggled to understand why Gramofon would take off. It seems to combine a number of things - streaming music services, hardware that distributes your music around the house - that are already done very well by existing businesses. I suppose it adds a social element but how many people really want to invite guests to take over the control of their music when they come to visit? It sounds to me like quite a small niche.
Still, like so many new technology ideas, Gramofon is launching on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, which is a good way of testing the...

Summary: Nine years ago, Martin Varsavsky unveiled what sounded like a barmy idea - getting people to plug in a piece of kit to their home router and share their wi-fi with anyone who happened to be passing by.
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Article: A team from Cardiff University has appealed to more than 3,000 beekeepers to send them photos, videos and audio files from hives over the summer.
The noises will be analysed at the School of Pharmacy.
The research will also help them learn where the bees find their feed by mapping the exact locations they were pictured or recorded.
"The Africanised honey bee makes different sound to the European bees," said microbiology professor Les Bailie.
"The bees we have on the roof of the school here are Italian. Do the bees in Cardiff make the same sound as those in Aberystwyth or Wrexham?"
Prof Bailie said bees could make up to 10 different noises depending on their mood, including angry, calm or ill.
Analysing the "known noises" can help determine where bees are from, but could also be used to play to bees to help their mood.
"A happy bee is a productive bee. If you can make the bee happy by playing them the right sound they can produce more honey," Prof Bailie said.
"Plotting these differences could ultimately help us in our bid to find out which plants help bees the most.
"Gathering photos, video and sound files will help us understand where gaps lie and will help put plants in the right places to make bees more productive."
If enough beekeepers respond, and investigators detect initial differences, the project could be rolled out to include more than 40,000 beekeepers across the UK.

Summary:


A man accused of kidnapping his partner allegedly drove at a police officer who tried to save her, a court has heard.

Article: A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fires.
Patients were "dragged outside" Royal Stoke University Hospital when fire broke out in the main building at about 18:00 BST on Wednesday.
An hour earlier, there was a blaze in toilets at Staffordshire University.
On Thursday, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said the hospital fire was started deliberately, with Staffordshire Police later saying it was linking that incident to the university fire.
See more stories from across Stoke and Staffordshire
A force spokesperson said a 39-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.
Disrupted hospital patients were returned to wards by 23:15 BST on Wednesday, according to University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust which runs the site.
The A&E unit reopened on Thursday.
Deputy chief fire officer Rob Berber said: "The fact that this fire was deemed to be deliberate is very concerning and we are working closely with Staffordshire Police to aid in their investigation into this incident."
He said one man was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.
No one was injured, police said, in the university fire which happened at about 16:45 BST on Wednesday in the Beacon building on College Road, Stoke-on-Trent.
The hospital trust said people should continue to attend outpatient appointments unless contacted directly.
On Wednesday, eyewitness Paul Bradbury, who had gone to the hospital to visit his mother, said people were "dragged outside in their beds and on mattresses" and "it was quite surreal to see".

Summary: A fire which forced patients to be evacuated from hospital while still in their beds is being treated as arson - and linked by police to a university blaze on the same day.
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Article: Mothers treated with valproate for epilepsy were up to four times likelier to give birth to a malformed child, the preliminary study found.
Introduced in France in 1967, valproate is prescribed widely worldwide.
Doctors in France are now advised not to give it to girls, women of childbearing age and pregnant women.
The drug's manufacturer, Sanofi, responded in a statement that it had been "totally transparent with health authorities".
"We are aware of the painful situation confronting the families of children showing difficulties that may have a link with the anti-epileptic treatment of their mother during pregnancy," it said.
Some of those affected say France and the company were too slow to warn of side-effects.
The risk of birth defects associated with valproate, marketed as Epilim, Depakine, Depakote and Stavzor among other names, has been known since the 1980s, especially for spina bifida.
In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) issued an alert earlier this month saying valproate should only be given to girls and women of childbearing age under specialist supervision and only when other medications had been found not to work.
Valproate - prescribed in France, the UK and many other countries - now carries a clear warning : serious risk of birth defects.
In France, it turns out that it took far too long for this danger to become apparent. The drug was first introduced here in 1967. By the early 1980s, there were fears that the drug might be a factor in birth defects, including spina bifida, but prescription rules were only finally tightened in 2014.
France is now working out the damage caused during this long period. Families of children with birth defects want to know why it took so long for this country's authorities to identify the serious risks associated with taking the drug during pregnancy.
According to the new report (in French) by France's National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM), between 2,150 and 4,100 children suffered severe malformations linked to the drug.
"The study confirms...

Summary: A drug given to pregnant women for epilepsy and bipolar disorder caused "serious malformations" in up to 4,100 children, a French study suggests.
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Article: Official figures reveal 15,074 cases of people in hospital with illicit drug poisoning in 2015-16, 51% more than 2005-06.
Mental health issues had drugs as a cause in 81,904 cases.
Public health experts say falling investment in drug treatment services may explain the rise.
Deaths related to drug misuse are at their highest level since comparable records began in 1993, NHS Digital said.
Yet in a summary accompanying the statistics NHS Digital said that while the number of admissions to hospital had increased, drug use was actually falling.
"In 2015-16, around 1 in 12 (8.4%) adults aged 16 to 59 had taken an illicit drug in the last year." it said. "This equates to around 2.7 million people.
"This level of drug use was similar to 2014-15, but is significantly lower than a decade ago."
In 2015 there were 2,479 registered deaths from drug misuse, 10% more than the year before 2014 and 48% more than in 2005.
The 2015-16 figures revealed Blackpool had the highest rate of people admitted to hospital because of poisoning by illicit drugs.
There were 116 admission "episodes" for every 100,000 people in the area. An episode is a period in hospital under the same consultant.
Liverpool had the highest rate of admissions for drug-related mental health or behavioural disorders, with 491 per 100,000 residents.
Ed Morrow, drugs policy lead at the Royal Society for Public Health, said part of the explanation for the rise in admissions "may be the disinvestment in drug treatment services that has taken place alongside wider cuts to public health in recent years".
"Without adequate funding, increases in drug harm are likely to continue - and to hit the most deprived areas hardest," he said.
Rosanna O'Connor, director of drugs, alcohol and tobacco for Public Health England (PHE), said there was a need for an "enhanced effort" to ensure the most vulnerable could get help.
"Wide variations across the country mean that some areas need to pay particular attention to the issue and PHE has a programme of work supporting local areas...

Summary: More patients  are being admitted to hospital in England for drug-related mental health issues or poisoning than at any time in the past 10 years.
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Article: The transgender US army private, born Bradley Manning, is due to be freed on 17 May, after former President Barack Obama commuted her sentence.
Manning had been scheduled for release in 2045, after receiving a 35-year sentence for her role in leaking diplomatic cables to Wikileaks.
She confirmed the release was going ahead on her Twitter feed on Tuesday.
"Freedom was only a dream, and hard to imagine. Now it's here! You kept me alive <3," Manning wrote, linking to a longer statement which referred to some of the treatment she had received behind bars, including "periods of solitary confinement, and... routinely forced haircuts".
"For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea," she said. "I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world."
Manning said she would be "forever grateful" to all those who had supported her and President Obama, and now hoped to make "life better for others".
President Obama commuted her sentence in January, with just three days left in office. The move did not satisfy all her supporters, as some felt she should have been pardoned.
A joint statement from her lawyers, Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward, noted: "Chelsea has already served the longest sentence of any whistleblower in the history of this country. It has been far too long, too severe, too draconian.
"President Obama's act of commutation was the first time the military took care of this soldier who risked so much to disclose information that served the public interest."
The US army charged Manning with 22 counts relating to the unauthorised possession and distribution of more than 700,000 secret diplomatic and military documents and videos.
Included in those files was video footage of an Apache helicopter killing 12 civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
Manning also passed on sensitive messages between US diplomats, intelligence assessments of Guantanamo detainees being held without trial and military records from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The disclosures were...

Summary: Chelsea Manning has released a statement ahead of her planned release from prison next week.
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Article: Matthew Gillard, of Connsbrook Avenue in east Belfast, pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping and false imprisonment.
The defendant, 25, also denied charges of common assault, assaulting a police officer and driving dangerously.
The charges relate to incidents in east Belfast and Comber on Saturday 4 April.
Newtownards Magistrates Court heard that the defendant and the woman were in his car in east Belfast when he began questioning her about who she was seeing.
A detective giving evidence in court said the woman tried to get out of the Seat Toledo car but the defendant allegedly drove off at speed, through a red light on Bloomfield Avenue.
When the car stopped on the Belfast Road in Comber, the woman escaped along a lane but was carried back to the car by the defendant, the court heard.
An off-duty police sergeant saw this and went to help the woman.
When the sergeant tried to intervene, the defendant allegedly drove his car at the officer, forcing him to get out of the way.
The sergeant was able to pull the keys from the ignition through the car's open window, but the defendant wrenched them from his grasp.
He then drove to the Grand Parade area of east Belfast where the woman was released.
He is also alleged to have sent the woman a message threatening that if she went to police about the incident he would "ruin her life in every possible way".
The court heard that the defendant handed himself over to police on Wednesday, despite being aware since Saturday that he was wanted by the PSNI.
But during police interviews he refused to answer questions put to him.
An application for bail was made but this was refused.
Mr Gillard will appear again in court on 1 May.

Summary:


The company which manages Southampton port has bought industrial estates close to its western side.

Article: The lens module features optical image stabilisation (OIS) tech to counteract the effect of shaky hands - marking the first time the feature has appeared in a handset's front camera.
The firm also says the HTC 10's rear camera is ranked as one of the best.
But analysts are doubtful whether such features are enough to improve the Taiwanese company's fortunes.
Five years ago, HTC was the world's fourth bestselling smartphone maker with a market share of about 9%.
But in 2015, it fell to 17th place with a share of about 1%, according to research firm IDC.
HTC posted a 15.6bn Taiwanese dollar ($480.5m; Â£335.8m) loss in its last financial year, leaving it with cash reserves of just over double that sum.
It blamed its ill fortune on a lack of demand for its last top-end handset - the HTC One M9.
"To be very candid, our flagship did not perform well," the firm's chief financial officer Chialin Chang told analysts in February.
"Actually I would say our flagships are falling far short of our expectations for the entire cycle of 2015."
One company watcher said the new Android handset addressed complaints about the M9's camera, display, battery life and ageing design - but said it might still struggle.
"HTC has righted all the wrongs with the last two generations of products and delivered the phone that it needed," said Ben Wood from the consultancy CCS Insight.
"But it still has a mountain to climb to gain any traction despite the fact this looks like a beautiful device.
"That's because there are many, many other manufacturers out there with stunning products too, and HTC can't afford the marketing firepower to match rivals like Samsung and Huawei."
HTC says that by adding OIS to both the 10's cameras they should cope well in low light conditions since they can keep their shutters open for longer without risking blurred results.
"It's a world's first - optical image stabilisation in the front-facing camera," explained its executive Graham Wheeler.
"It was incredibly difficult to do because OIS is quite a large module...

Summary: HTC has announced a smartphone with an "ultraselfie" front camera designed to reduce the risk of blurry shots.
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Article: BBC Urdu's Asif Farooqi in Islamabad says that Gen Raheel Sharif - who is not related to the prime minister - is seen by many as a straight-talking, professional soldier with no political ambitions, a factor which is of some importance in Pakistan, with its history of military coups.
But others question whether he is really the best choice.
Gen Sharif's last appointment was as the inspector-general of training and evaluation at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
He has also been the head of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) at Kakul, Abbottabad.
In both these positions his role was primarily to deal with the evaluation of military doctrines and war strategies - with a view to shaping future training programmes.
It is believed that the general played a key role in presiding over a change of military thinking since 2007, under which the focus of the army's work is geared more towards fighting Taliban militants rather than confronting traditional arch-enemy India.
"Sharif has played a big role in convincing the army that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and assorted militants inside Pakistan are as big a threat [as India]," one senior officer told the Reuters news agency.
In addition he has led the Gujranwala Corps, based at one of the army's more important corps headquarters.
Our correspondent says that he brings a sound mix of academic and field experience to the job, which many consider to be the most powerful in Pakistan.
Those who know Gen Sharif say that during his last tenure he reshaped nearly all the important training courses, bringing them in line with the challenges of internal terrorism.
He has also developed training manuals for counter-insurgency operations, an area which was not previously part of the traditional military training courses.
Gen Sharif, 57, has put many of these manuals into practice during his time at the PMA, introducing training courses in low-intensity warfare for army recruits.
During his time as the Gujranwala corps commander he introduced field exercises that focused...

Summary: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has finally nominated a new army chief, choosing an officer who was number three on the seniority list.
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Article: President Jacob Zuma is already facing an official investigation over the multi-million dollar renovation of his homestead in KwaZulu Natal.
It and a proposed building of a nearby town has been dubbed "Zumaville".
Provincial authorities have said the road development plan preceded Mr Zuma's presidency.
But the Democratic Alliance has questioned why so much emphasis is being placed on this area of South Africa.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani, in Johannesburg, says many development plans and road upgrades across the country, some of which are urgently needed, never get off the ground often because of lack of finance or corrupt tenders.
On Sunday, it was revealed that South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had opened an investigation into the publicly funded construction of Mr Zuma's private residence in the district of Nkandla.
The chalets and state of the art security are said to have cost $27m (£17m).
The unveiling by the KwaZulu Natal government of two new nearby road networks, costing $67m, happened two days later.
The Democratic Alliance's Ian Ollis said that he would request that Ms Madonsela extend her investigation to include the road upgrades leading to Mr Zuma's homestead.
"KwaZulu Natal certainly has enough road and transport infrastructure projects which could have been considered as alternatives to the Nkandla projects," Mr Ollis said.
But KwaZulu Natal's Transport Minister Willies Mchunu said the road project was above board and various villages had been marked for development before Mr Zuma came to power in 2009.
"In fact, former President Thabo Mbeki identified Nkandla and Msinga as priority areas needing development. This has nothing to do with President Zuma," South Africa's Mercury newspaper quoted him as saying.
In recent months, there has also been controversy over proposals for a town to be built about 3km (two miles) from Mr Zuma's Nkandla homestead.
"Public funds should not be spent to service the home and the hometown of the president to the detriment of other projects that are meant...

Summary: The spending of taxpayers' money on the upgrade of roads near the rural home of South Africa's president should be investigated, the opposition says.
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Article: But with most parties and candidates lining up behind the country's leader, will the House of Representatives just be a rubber stamp for President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi?
The House of Representatives, or Lower House, will comprise 596 MPs. Four hundred and forty-eight will be elected as independents, 120 as party-based deputies, with 28 appointed by the president.
Egypt has been without a parliament since 2012, when the Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved the Islamist-led Lower House, elected the year before.
Currently, President Sisi holds legislative powers until the new parliament is sworn in.
The turnout is likely to be low, with people suffering "election fatigue" after having been to the polls many times over the past four years since the 2011 revolution.
The banning of the Muslim Brotherhood and the jailing of activists and members has left many with little faith in the democratic process. Apathy is running high among young people, with many angry at the ruling government and its policies.
With revolutionary icons behind bars, they see little point in voting to maintain the status quo.
Nobody is expecting anything less than a resounding win for a parliament loyal to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. While many candidates are standing as "independents", they're likely to be loyal to one of the coalitions which will dominate the new parliament.
The pro-Sisi, centre-right For The Love of Egypt coalition is likely to dominate. Another pro-Sisi coalition expected to win seats is the Egyptian Front, led by former President Hosni Mubarak's former premier Ahmed Shafiq.
With the Muslim Brotherhood now banned, Al-Nour is the only Salafist party standing, and they are avowedly pro-Sisi. Few left-leaning or secularist candidates have any chance of winning seats.
The legislature will have more influence on state policy and budgets than previous governments. It also has the power to approve or veto any prime minister appointed by the president, and may approve a motion of no-confidence in President Sisi with a...

Summary: Egyptians are set to vote for a new parliament that which will have more constitutional powers than before, in much-delayed elections.
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Article: The Marchwood Park and Cracknore Hard industrial estates, covering 113.73 acres, were acquired by Associated British Ports (ABP) for an undisclosed amount.
Port director Nick Ridehalgh said the estates would provide "strategic long term value" for the company.
Local councillor David Harrison called for a "statement of intent" from ABP.
The estates are located on the western side of Southampton water, opposite the cruise terminal and Southampton Docks, and are six miles (9.5km) from the M271 motorway.
The sites had been owned by Oceanic Estates for the last 15 years and and are among the largest self-contained industrial and warehouse holdings in the South East with occupiers including Ocado and Royal Mail, according to property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton.
Mr Harrison, who represents Totton South and Marchwood, said: "In the longer term, local people in Marchwood and Totton South will be particularly concerned about any change to future usage of the site. For example, any increases in traffic and more pressure on our overburdened local roads will be completely unacceptable".
Mr Ridehalgh said: "Our intention is to continue to develop the estates to increase the income... and directly contribute to the economic success of the Port of Southampton and the wider region."

Summary: