UK workers are three times more likely to go into work when ill than pull a sickie, a survey has suggested.

Article: The economy contracted by 1.9% in annual terms from July to September, well above a preliminary reading of 1.6%.
It also shrank 0.5% on a quarterly basis, compared with an initial estimate of 0.4%, data showed.
A big fall in business spending plunged the economy into a deeper recession.
The revised figures, which come just days before Japan's national elections, showed that business spending dipped by 0.4% from the previous quarter, instead of the 0.2% estimated in the preliminary reading.
The world's third largest economy unexpectedly fell into a technical recession after shrinking for the second consecutive quarter in July to September.
It had contracted 7.3% in the second quarter, which was the biggest fall since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
An increase in the country's sales tax, which was first raised in April from 5% to 8%, had hit growth in the second quarter and still appeared to be having an impact on the economy.
The dire data had led Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call a widely-anticipated snap election last month, to seek a mandate to delay an increase in the tax to 10%, scheduled for 2015.
The tax increase was legislated by the previous government in 2012 to curb Japan's huge public debt, which is the highest among developed nations.
Adding to the downbeat data, a Reuters poll on Monday showed that confidence among Japanese manufacturers fell in December and is expected to deteriorate further.
The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers fell to 10 in December from 13 in November, with automakers taking a hit.
Manufacturers expect a further decline to 7 in March.

Summary: Japan's economy shrank more than initially estimated in the third quarter of 2014, according to revised gross domestic product (GDP) figures.
###
Article: Leave declared almost £3.6m in donations compared with Remain's £2.9m, during the period from 13 May.
In total, registered EU referendum campaigners have reported more than £27m in donations and £6m in loans and credit facilities since 1 February.
Voters go to the polls on Thursday to decide on the UK's future in the EU.
The figures published by the watchdog - in the latest of their pre-poll donation reports - details money reported by campaigners spending more than £10,000 in the referendum and individual donations of more than £7,500.
They show that registered campaigners for both Remain and Leave declared a combined total of £6,484,911 over the 25-day period.
The various campaigns for Britain to leave the EU declared a combined £3,596,994 in donations, of which £2,708,994 was to the officially designated Out campaign, Vote Leave.
Grassroots Out - which lost out to Vote Leave in the race for the official campaign designation - declared £125,000.
A total of £2,887,917 was donated to the Remain campaigns, with the official Britain Stronger in Europe receiving £1,886,055 of that.
Five of the top eight biggest individual donations went to Vote Leave, including £1m from Diana Van Nievelt Price.
Britain Stronger in Europe also received a £1m donation - from travel company Trailfinders Limited.
There was just one loan, of £10,000, from Referendum Facts Ltd, to Remain.
Vote Leave and Britain Stronger In Europe have now each received the £600,000 public grant that they are entitled to as the designated campaigns.

Summary: Remain and Leave campaigners in the EU referendum reported almost  £6.5m in donations in the four weeks to 9 June, says the Electoral Commission.
###
Article: The show vacated its old set in central Manchester earlier this year and moved to a new site on Salford Quays.
The old set has since been opened up for guided tours and its indoor Studio One has now been given permission to host wedding ceremonies.
The studio houses the interior sets for the Rovers Return, the knicker factory and the Platt and Duckworth houses.
Andy Begg, general manager of Coronation Street The Tour, said it was "a real must for any die hard Corrie fan wanting to tie the knot in style".
He added: "We are currently in the process of working out what packages can be made available, but rest assured, you can guarantee the Rovers will play a big part."
Weddings will be available on weekday evenings during school term time, when guided tours do not happen, he added.
ITV sold Granada's Quay Street site for Â£26m to Allied London and Manchester City Council last year.
The set is currently scheduled to be open to the public until October but the long-term plans for the site have yet to been confirmed.

Summary: Coronation Street fans can get married in the Rovers Return after the soap's old set was granted a wedding licence.
###
Article: He was speaking in the UK Government appeal against a High Court ruling that it needs the approval of MPs to trigger the Article 50 process to leave the EU.
Mr Gordon said the constitutional issues at stake "go far beyond Brexit", such as the legal basis for devolution.
The UK Government denied using royal prerogative to give notice to leave the EU undermined the rule of law.
The Welsh Government has been allowed by the Supreme Court to have its case heard at the appeal, alongside a number of other parties including the Scottish Government.
It comes after MPs voted on Wednesday to back the government's plan to start formal talks on Brexit by the end of March next year.
Presenting the Welsh Government's view to the court on Thursday, Mr Gordon said: "The Brexit vote split the United Kingdom - it split it into four parts.
"We have absolutely no quarrel with the vote - it is a United Kingdom vote and it's a majority for the implementation of Brexit.
"But the point is this - it is almost the most divisive political event that has happened over the last several decades - and who is going to judge what happens next?
"According to law, in our submission - whether one approaches this matter from the perspective of the dispensing principle or whether you approach this matter from the perspective of the common law - it must be Parliament."
Mr Gordon claimed a "child of six" could see the flaws in the UK Government's argument, saying that while it could use royal prerogative to make and unmake treaties, it could not "dispense with laws passed by Parliament".
Quitting the EU without consulting Parliament, he said, could "crucify human rights".
In the run-up to the Supreme Court hearing, the Welsh Government's top legal advisor - Counsel General Mick Antoniw - argued that a "constitutional principle" was at stake.
The Pontypridd AM claimed that allowing the UK Government to trigger Article 50 would "modify the competence of the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Government" in such a way that required the approval...

Summary: The Welsh Government is not trying to stop Brexit, its lawyer Richard Gordon QC has told the Supreme Court.
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Article: Under the scheme, film production companies can claim tax relief of 25% payable towards the cost of production.
Chancellor George Osborne said he hoped the move - first announced in the Budget - would help attract more blockbuster productions to the UK.
But it needed to be passed by the EU under state-aid rules that control government support for companies.
EU state-aid rules control the giving of a competitive advantage to companies through government support.
In the March Budget, the government announced that it would increase the rate of film tax relief to 25% for all qualifying productions.
Previously, the rate was 25% for the first £20 million of qualifying expenditure and 20% for spending above this threshold.
The British Film Institute said the expansion of the tax relief put all productions on "a parity" with each other.
Recent British film successes that would have benefited from the new rate include Far From the Madding Crowd and Woman in Black 2.
Mr Osborne said: "These tax credits, that support both film and TV production, create around £2bn worth of business for Britain.
"That's many thousands of jobs and lots of different industries, not just acting but film-making and costume design and set design.
"All of those things are really brilliant jobs supported by this brilliant industry. It's also a great advert for the country."
The chancellor made the announcement on the set of Agatha Raisin, a Sky One TV detective series being filmed in Wiltshire. The show, starring Ashley Jensen, is one of the TV series which is benefitting from the scheme.
The measure means a British film costing £40m would get an extra £1m towards production costs.
Amanda Nevill, chief executive of UK film body the BFI, said: "The film tax relief is a key ingredient in the UK's winning combination of outstanding film-making talent and crews, world-leading studios and facilities, and iconic locations.
"It keeps us competitive on the world stage, and helps grow our economy and create jobs at home.
"We warmly welcome this...

Summary: Government plans to extend tax breaks for the British film industry have been approved by the EU.
###
Article: Some 69% of those asked said they had worked when unwell, the report by Aviva UK Health claimed, with many fearing a mountain of work when they returned.
This compared with 23% of those surveyed admitting to having been absent when perfectly healthy.
The survey comes after official figures showed fewer days were lost to sickness last year than any year on record.
The TUC described UK workers as "mucus troopers" after the Office for National Statistics said that sickness absence totalled 137 million working days last year, the equivalent of 4.3 days per worker.
When records began in 1993, the equivalent of 7.2 days were lost.
Aviva's Working Lives report backs up this view of staff attending work when ill. The insurer's survey suggested that two-fifths of private sector employees were worried that their workload would pile up if they were off sick.
It also claimed that having staff in the workplace when they were ill was a false economy for businesses.
"Businesses need to ensure they create a working culture whereby people do not feel pressurised into coming to work when they are unwell, safe in the knowledge their absence can be effectively managed," said Dr Doug Wright, medical director at Aviva UK Health.
"Presenteeism, driven in part by an increased 'always-on' culture, poses a genuine threat to overall business performance through the adverse impact on productivity and morale in the workplace."

Summary:


Designs for a new development on the site of the old Cornwall Coliseum building at Carlyon Bay have been approved by Cornwall Council.

Article: Members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) who work in estate agents said London and East Anglia would be most affected.
Surveyors expecting prices to drop outnumbered those expecting prices to rise by a majority of 10%.
Average house prices last fell on an annual basis in the Autumn of 2009.
However Rics said the fall was likely to be short-lived.
It cited the EU referendum, and a cooling of the market following stamp duty changes in April.
"What we are looking at is a short term drop caused by the uncertainty resulting from the forthcoming EU referendum, coupled by a slow-down following the rush to get into the market ahead of the tax change on the purchase of investment properties," said Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist.
"Sadly, for the many young people looking to enter the property market, it is unlikely that we are seeing the emergence of a more affordable market."
The survey of 326 surveyors, representing 600 offices across the country, reported that prices are already falling in London.
A majority expected forthcoming price reductions in a further four areas:
However prices in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Midlands and the North are expected to rise.
The survey also suggests that the number of properties coming on to the market is at a record low.
Surveyors who saw fewer new instructions last month outnumbered those who saw more instructions by 30%.
That is the largest figure since the current survey began in 1999.
Find out where you can afford to live in the UK
Read more about the history of house prices in the UK, and advice on renting v. buying in this BBC guide

Summary: Chartered surveyors are predicting a short-term drop in UK house prices over the next three months - the first fall in more than six years.
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Article: The regional competition was the catalyst for previous success for national teams as it offered extra competitive matches for cash-strapped associations in the region by paying all their expenses and offering them prize money.
But after Castle Lager, which financed the annual event, pulled out in 2007, the annual southern African championship floundered and even had to be scrapped for several years because of the lack of a sponsor.
Now its immediate future has been secured by a new deal with the beer-producing company, although the financial details were not revealed - and Namibia will host the 2016 tournament, organisers said at a launch in Windhoek.
The tournament was at its peak from 1997 to 2005 when all expenses of the teams were paid plus they earned lucrative prize money.
Coaches claimed countries benefitted greatly from forum particularly when they then competed in the qualifying competitions for the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. Added matches allowed them to not only hone the players' skills at a top level but also gave many teams much-needed confidence.
For the last two years, the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations have managed to obtain limited sponsorship and government backing to stage the tournament in Zambia and South Africa.
Next year the finals will be staged from 15-29 May and hosted at the Sam Nujoma Stadium and Independence Stadium. Both are in Windhoek but on opposite sides of the city.
The dates for the tournament have been strategically chosen to ensure practice for countries who will be playing vital Nations Cup in June, said Cosafa general secretary Sue Destombes.
Cosafa is to keep the same format which means countries ranked 7-14 in the region play in a first round group competition. They are divided into two group of four teams each and only winner advances onto the knockout stage where they are joined by the top six ranked countries.
A plate competition is also held for quarter-final stage losers which guarantees each participating country gets to play in...

Summary: The return of their long-standing sponsor means southern African teams have the guarantee of added international competition for the next five years as they seek to return the Cosafa Cup to its previous prominence.
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Article: Andrei Lugovoi said the inquiry presented "invention" and "supposition" and its chairman had "gone mad".
The inquiry said Russians Mr Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun deliberately poisoned Mr Litvinenko and the killing was "probably approved" by President Putin.
Russia has accused Sir Robert Owen's public inquiry of being "politicised".
Sir Robert's long-awaited report into Mr Litvinenko's death found the two Russian men deliberately poisoned the 43-year-old in London in 2006 by putting the radioactive substance polonium-210 into his drink at a hotel. Both men deny any involvement in the killing.
Mr Litvinenko died as a result of his poisoning in November that year.
'Supposition, invention and rumours'
What Litvinenko report means for UK
Russian media dismiss Litvinenko report
Mr Lugovoi told the BBC:  "I've seen the nonsense conclusions of your judge who has clearly gone mad.
"I saw nothing new there. I am very sorry that 10 years on nothing new has been presented, only invention, supposition, rumours.
"And the fact that such words as 'possibly' and 'probably' were used in the report, means there is no proof, nothing concrete against us."
Sir Robert Owen, the public inquiry chairman, said he was "sure" Mr Litvinenko's murder had been carried out by the two men and that they were probably acting under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service, and approved by the organisation's chief, Nikolai Patrushev, as well as the Russian president.
He said Mr Litvinenko's work for British intelligence agencies, his criticism of the FSB and Mr Putin, and his association with other Russian dissidents were possible motives for his killing.
There was also "undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism" between Mr Putin and Mr Litvinenko, he added.
The use of polonium-210 was "at the very least a strong indicator of state involvement" as it had to be made in a nuclear reactor, the report said.
What is polonium-210?
Mr Lugovoi said there was no chance of him coming to Britain to face criminal charges.
"You know, it's...

Summary: A man accused by a public inquiry of being one of the killers of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has branded the report's conclusions "nonsense".
###
Article: The warning applies to TV viewers who control their Samsung Smart TV using its voice activation feature.
When the feature is active, such TV sets "listen" to what is said and may share what they hear with Samsung or third parties, it said.
Privacy campaigners said the technology smacked of the telescreens, in George Orwell's 1984, which spied on citizens.
The warning came to light via a story in online news magazine the Daily Beast which published an excerpt of a section of Samsung's privacy policy for its net-connected Smart TV sets. These record what is said when a button on a remote control is pressed.
The policy explains that the TV set will be listening to people in the same room to try to spot when commands or queries are issued via the remote. It goes on to say: "If your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party."
Corynne McSherry, an intellectual property lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which campaigns on digital rights issues, told the Daily Beast that the third party was probably the company providing speech-to-text conversion for Samsung.
She added: "If I were the customer, I might like to know who that third party was, and I'd definitely like to know whether my words were being transmitted in a secure form."
Soon after, an activist for the EFF circulated the policy statement on Twitter comparing it to George Orwell's description of the telescreens in his novel 1984 that listen to what people say in their homes.
In response to the widespread sharing of its policy statement, Samsung has issued a statement to clarify how voice activation works. It emphasised that the voice recognition feature is activated using the TV's remote control.
It said the privacy policy was an attempt to be transparent with owners in order to help them make informed choices about whether to use some features on its Smart TV sets, adding that it took consumer privacy "very seriously".
Samsung said: "If a...

Summary: Samsung is warning customers about discussing personal information in front of their smart television set.
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Article: She told European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Germany's Angela Merkel she was committed to triggering Article 50 by March 2017.
Three judges ruled that she cannot do so without Parliament's support.
It comes as a Conservative MP said he was quitting due to "irreconcilable" differences with the government.
Stephen Phillips has been among Tory MPs pushing for Parliament to be consulted over the UK's strategy for negotiating its exit from the EU, accusing ministers of trying to "ignore their views".
The government is appealing against Thursday's ruling to the Supreme Court - all 11 judges are due to hear the case in early December.
If it loses its appeal, it is expected that the government will have to publish some form of new law for MPs - and the House of Lords - to vote on.
The prime minister's spokesman said she had expressed "disappointment" at Thursday's court ruling in a phone call to Mr Juncker and Mrs Merkel but had said "the focus of the government is on the Supreme Court case. We are confident of winning that case and proceeding with Article 50".
But former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg - now the Lib Dems' Europe spokesman - said his party would seek to join with others "in both the Commons and the Lords to amend the legislation" to tell the government to pursue a "soft Brexit" that would keep the UK within the EU's single market.
"If they believe the government is pursuing an unnecessarily hard, in other words an unnecessarily self-harming version of Brexit, then of course MPs should be free to reject that," he told the BBC.
Conservative peer Lady Wheatcroft told BBC Radio 4's Today she was willing to table an amendment to future legislation to delay the Brexit process, saying it was "only right to delay triggering Article 50 until we have a clearer idea of what it actually entails".
But former Conservative cabinet minister Theresa Villiers told the programme: "Frankly I think it would be a constitutional outrage if unelected Liberal Democrat peers were to stand in the way of...

Summary: Theresa May has said she is "confident" that the government will win its appeal against a High Court ruling on triggering Brexit talks.
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Article: Demolition of the existing buildings is still subject to a bat mitigation licence being granted by Natural England.
Commercial Estates Group (CEG) was granted permission in 2011 to redevelop in Carlyon Bay.
The Â£250m redevelopment project would include housing and leisure facilities.
The site, near St Austell, was previously home to the Cornwall Coliseum complex, which hosted acts such as Cliff Richard, Status Quo and The Who.
CEG development director John Kenny said the company was planning a "major development which will have major benefits", including providing more than 400 construction jobs and 500 jobs after completion.

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Councils should consider selling off their most expensive houses to build more cheap homes, the government says.

Article: The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) said the gender pay gap stood at 29.2% and was the worst gap in the UK.
It follows conclusions by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, which found the wage gap in the UK became even wider when new mothers returned to work.
From April 2017 companies with more than 250 staff will be required to publish any gender pay gap data.
The CMI study also showed that male managers were 40% more likely than female managers to be promoted into higher roles.
Analysis of salary data of more than 60,000 UK employees found that in the past year, 14% of men in management roles were promoted into higher positions compared to 10% of women.
In Scotland, the gender pay gap was 29.2%, representing a £10,862 difference between genders and was the worst regional gap in the UK.
Petra Wilton, director of strategy at the organisation, said progress to address the gender pay gap had stalled.
She told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that Scotland's strong manufacturing tradition combined with a "motherhood penalty" for women had resulted in less opportunity for promotion for female staff.
"That probably accounts for, in part, why Scotland is particularly suffering that 29% pay gap, compared with 23% nationally", she said.
"In Scotland there's much bigger industries in construction, financial services and some of those professional services where we do see those pay gaps bigger and also less women represented at the senior levels."
She said transparency would help highlight pay gaps at individual firms.
She added: "We're very much welcoming gender pay guidelines in reporting requirements from April next year because that will help shine a spotlight on all other sectors.
"Hopefully it will trickle through the economy and a lot of smaller organisations are looking at what best-practice looks like, otherwise they'll be missing out on talent and the female contribution in the workplace."
Earlier this year the UK government announced plans which will see 8,000 employers with more than 250 staff...

Summary: Men in Scotland are paid almost £11,000 a year more than women, according to new research.
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Article: The lamb, nicknamed Skippy because "he looks like a kangaroo", was born on a farm at Chilton Foliat in Wiltshire.
Described as a "freak of nature" by farm hand Sally-Ann Fisher, Skippy was "completely abandoned" by his mother and is now being hand-reared.
Ms Fisher said: "We've made a little jacket for him to wear out of an old jumper to keep him warm at night."
Ms Fisher, who farms with her partner near Ramsbury, said the lamb had been born 10 days ago but they were "not aware" that its lack of wool was a condition or a "health problem".
"He's just unlucky, but he's doing great," she said.
Hannah Park, from the National Sheep Association, said the condition was "not common".
"Some breeds with less wool might be susceptible but it is extremely unusual and not something we would see," she said.

Summary: A lamb born without its own wool coat is being kept warm in a borrowed fluffy fleece.
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Article: Alongside tents and drinking water, RAF planes dropped more than 1,000 solar-powered lanterns attached to chargers for all types of mobile handsets to the stranded members of the Yazidi religious community below.
It is the first time the lanterns have been airdropped in such a relief effort, but humanitarian workers say it is part of growing efforts to develop technology designed to make a difference in disaster zones.
In 2010, Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen, a computer systems researcher at Flinders University in Australia, was driving to work in his car when he first heard radio reports of the devastation of the Haiti earthquake, more than 10,000 miles away.
With roads blocked, infrastructure reduced to rubble and mobile networks down, he realised something needed to be done, and quickly.
"You typically have about three days to restore the communications before the bad people realise the good people aren't in control any more," he says.
His solution was to develop the technology that allows mobile phones to communicate directly with each other even where there is no network coverage, or when mobile masts have been knocked out of action - a system known as "mesh networking".
His Serval Project work means users can send text messages, make calls and send files to other users nearby, creating a mobile network through a web of users.
It is just one example of the dozens of technologies developed in the wake of Haiti to help relief efforts in disaster zones.
"There's plenty of technology for rich white men," Dr Gardner-Stephen says. "It's the rest of the world that we need to help."
Another project born out of the Haiti disaster was the Trilogy Emergency Relief Application (Tera), a mass text messaging programme now being rolled out by the Red Cross in 40 countries around the world.
It allows aid workers to navigate a disaster-hit country from a computer screen, identify all the mobile phones being used in a given area, and blast them all with urgent 140-character updates with a click of a button.
It was first...

Summary: When the British government delivered emergency aid to people fleeing Islamic militants in northern Iraq last month, one of its primary concerns was how the refugees might charge their mobile phones.
###
Article: Ms Clinton, the liberal daily said in an editorial, is "one of the most broadly and deeply qualified candidates" in modern history.
An outsider in the Republican race, the NYT called Mr Kasich the "only plausible choice".
The backing comes days before Iowa voters become first to make their pick.
The endorsement of Ms Clinton from one of the top-selling titles in the US is no surprise; the NYT backed the former secretary of state in her losing bid for the presidency against Barack Obama in 2008.
The NYT had praise for Ms Clinton's main rival, Bernie Sanders, but the paper said he "does not have the breadth of experience or policy ideas that Mrs Clinton offers".
Assessing the Republican field, Saturday's editorial gave a damning verdict on the two leading contenders.
Frontrunner Donald Trump "has neither experience in nor interest in learning about national security, defence or global trade", the paper said. Ted Cruz "will say anything to win".
Instead, the NYT plumped for Ohio Governor John Kasich as "the only plausible choice for Republicans tired of the extremism and inexperience on display in this race".
Mr Kasich tweeted he was "proud" to gain the NYT's support, which may be something of a mixed blessing given that the paper has been a frequent focus of criticism for US conservatives.

Summary: The New York Times has endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John Kasich in their bids to become their parties' presidential candidates.
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Article: A CIA internal watchdog has been tasked with determining if the agency accessed the computers of Senate staff.
The Senate committee was tasked with investigating potential past CIA abuse at the time of the alleged breach.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee called the reports, if true, an "extremely serious matter".
Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein told US media that CIA inspector general David  Buckley was looking into officer actions.
The alleged improper monitoring is said to have taken place as the committee investigated allegations of CIA abuse stemming from a detention and interrogation programme in use under former US President George W Bush.
Ms Feinstein has told US media in the past that the committee's 6,000 page "comprehensive review", completed in 2013, found the CIA programme yielded little or no significant intelligence.
The New York Times initially reported the allegations of CIA monitoring of Senate computer networks, citing an anonymous official.
"Such activity, if it occurred as alleged, would impede Congress' ability to carry out its constitutional oversight responsibilities and could violate federal law," chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
CIA director John Brennan reacted swiftly to the Senate allegations on Wednesday.
"I am deeply dismayed that some members of the Senate have decided to make spurious allegations about CIA actions that are wholly unsupported by the facts," he said. "I am very confident that the appropriate authorities reviewing this matter will determine where wrongdoing, if any, occurred in either the Executive Branch or Legislative Branch."

Summary: The Central Intelligence Agency is investigating allegations it improperly monitored members of the US Senate intelligence committee.
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Article: Downing Street backed a report by think tank Policy Exchange which said selling high value homes when they become vacant would raise £4.5bn a year.
That would be enough to build 80,000 to 170,000 social homes, the report said.
Labour said new homes were urgently needed but "driving out hard-working families on low wages from whole neighbourhoods" was not the answer.
In its Ending Expensive Social Tenancies report, Policy Exchange argues the move could create the largest social house building programme since the 1970s - giving the economy a kickstart.
Neil O'Brien, the think tank's director, told the BBC that social housing would still exist in very expensive areas under its proposal, but there would just be "less of it".
"The truth is I don't believe anybody has the right to live in the most expensive parts of town.
"People do have a right to get housed, just not in the very most expensive areas," he said.
He also suggested that the overall number of people waiting for social housing, currently around 1.8 million, could be reduced by about 500,000 if the scheme was implemented.
The prime minister's official spokesman said: "This is something that councils can choose to do already.
"Councils should be looking for ways to use their social housing stock as efficiently as they can. The waiting list for social housing has increased a lot over passing years.
"They need to think about how they can use that social housing stock efficiently.
"If they can sell high-value housing to invest in more social housing and find more homes for more people, then that is certainly something they should look at."
But Labour said the coalition's "failed" polices were "making the housing crisis worse not better".
Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey said: "Councils and housing associations should make effective use of their housing stock but the government should not force them to arbitrarily sell off social homes, breaking up mixed communities and driving out hard-working families on low wages from whole neighbourhoods."
He said the...

Summary:


YouTube is to scrap "unskippable" 30-second advertisements on the video-streaming service, from 2018.

Article: McIlroy goes into 2017 with only Jason Day above him in the world rankings and with four major titles to his name.
Nicklaus believes the 27-year-old from Northern Ireland now has to decide whether he wants to try to become the sport's greatest player.
Speaking to BBC Sport, the 18-time major champion was also optimistic about golf's future but renewed his call for a cut in the distance the ball travels.
In recent years Nicklaus has developed a strong friendship with McIlroy, who often practises at the 76-year-old American's Bears Club in Jupiter, Florida.
"Rory is one of those young men who has got a tremendous amount of talent," Nicklaus said.
"He has won and played on his talent to this point. If he wishes to dominate and go forward then he's got to improve."
Nicklaus warned that standing still at the top of the game means only one thing - quickly being passed. And he believes the UK's leading player is now approaching the prime of his career.
"He has to work hard, he's got to focus on what he is trying to do and it is up to him. Certainly he has all the tools to be able to do it - it is just whether he has the desire and the willingness to give up some other things.
"And that's his call. I mean, whatever Rory does, he has established himself as one of the great players that has ever played the game.
"Whether he wants to be the greatest player to have played the game, that's his determination and it's his decision whether he wants to make that effort to try to do that."
The 2017 season is likely to be a pivotal year in McIlroy's life with his wedding to fiancee Erica Stoll rumoured to be scheduled for the weeks following April's Masters.
Nicklaus famously combined a successful family life, bringing up five children, with collecting a record number of majors and an astonishing 118 tournament victories worldwide.
"It's just management of time," Nicklaus said. "When you are young and single and just one dimensional you pretty much can do things at your leisure.
"Once you start getting married, having a family,...

Summary: Golf's most prolific major winner, Jack Nicklaus, says Rory McIlroy must improve if he is to dominate the sport.
###
Article: The blasts, near mosques, are thought to be the deadliest attack in Lebanon since the end of the civil war in 1990.
War in neighbouring Syria has raised sectarian tensions between the city's Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities.
The blasts came a week after a car bomb in a Shia district of the capital Beirut killed 27 people.
Prominent Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Salem Rafii could have been the intended target of the latest attacks, BBC Arabic reports from Beirut. He was unharmed.
By Yolande KnellBBC News, Beirut
Local television channels here are showing dramatic security camera footage from inside the al-Salam mosque. At 12:16, as worshippers were sitting quietly inside listening to the preacher, a powerful explosion shakes the building.
Since the uprising against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011, there has been concern that violence could spill across the border and exacerbate Lebanon's sectarian divisions.
Now there is growing evidence that is happening.
The latest attacks will increase tensions in Tripoli between the Sunni Muslim majority, which supports opposition fighters in Syria, and its Alawite community that remains loyal to the Syrian president.
These blasts come exactly a week after a bombing in southern Beirut killed more than 20 people.  The suburbs hit in that attack were a stronghold of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, that is also allied with the Syrian government.
These are worrying times for the Lebanese.
The cleric is opposed to Lebanon's militant Shia Hezbollah group and has previously urged young Lebanese men to join opposition fighters in Syria.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the attacks and called for calm and restraint. Meanwhile the UN Security Council called for "people to preserve national unity".
The first bomb hit the al-Taqwa mosque shortly after Friday prayers ended. Minutes later, the second blast struck the al-Salam mosque in the Mina area.
It is not clear if Sheikh Salem Rafii was at the al-Taqwa mosque, although some reports say he...

Summary: At least 42 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in two huge bomb attacks in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli.
###
Article: Yanis Varoufakis said "too much time, hopes, lives" had been wasted by Greece's forced austerity programme.
He was speaking after talks with his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said a reduction of Greece's debt was off the agenda.
Mr Varoufakis has been seeking support for Greece's plan to renegotiate its massive international bailout.
On Thursday evening, thousands of people gathered in front of the Greek parliament to back the radical leftist Syriza party, which won last month's general election with a pledge to write off half the country's debt.
"It's the first demonstration in favour of a Greek government," Telemaque Papatheodorou, an engineer attending the rally, told the AFP news agency.
The demonstrators were also protesting against what they described as "blackmail" by the EU. Earlier on Thursday, the Greek stock market fell sharply after the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would refuse to accept Greek bonds in return for lending.
The ECB's move, a response to Greece's efforts to rewrite the aid-for-reform terms of its €240bn bailout, will force the Greek central bank to provide tens of billions of euros more emergency liquidity to the country's banks.
Greece's finance ministry played down the move, saying the country's banking system remained fully protected by alternative sources of funding.
Speaking after the meeting with Mr Varoufakis, Mr Schaeuble was quick to rule out a so-called "haircut" of Greece's debt, which stands at more than €320bn (£240bn; $366bn).
He said that Greece "belonged in the euro" and that Germany had offered to help the country meet its debt conditions by strengthening its tax system.
But he added: "I also could not conceal my scepticism that some of the measures the new government announced ... don't necessarily go in the right direction in our view."
Greece's debt plans: What we know
Germany is seen as the strongest opponent among eurozone countries to the Greek government's plans to renegotiate the terms of the bailout.
Mr Schaeuble said he and Mr...

Summary: Greece's new finance minister has urged Germany to help end the "gross indignity" of the Greek debt crisis.
###
Article: Wada announced in September that it was adding the heart disease medicine to its banned list from 1 January.
Since the start of the year, there have been more than 120 positive tests.
But numerous athletes have claimed they stopped taking the drug last year, prompting many to question how long the drug can stay in an athlete's system.
"There is currently a lack of clear scientific information on excretion times," the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said in new guidance distributed on Monday.
"For this reason, a hearing panel might justifiably find (unless there is specific evidence to the contrary) that an athlete who has established on the balance of probabilities that he or she ingested meldonium before 1 January could not reasonably have known or suspected that the meldonium would still be present in his or her body on or after 1 January.
"In these circumstances, Wada considers that there may be grounds for no fault or negligence on the part of the athlete."
This apparent climbdown has already been celebrated by media outlets in Russia, which has borne the brunt of the scandal so far.
Tennis player Maria Sharapova was the first high-profile athlete to test positive for the Latvian-made drug - in a test taken at the end of January - but since then leading Russian athletes from boxing, skating, swimming and winter sports have all failed tests for meldonium.
In a statement, issued via the official news agency Tass, the Russian Sports Ministry said it "supports and welcomes the decision made by Wada because it has showed a willingness to understand the situation, rather than stick to the rulebook."
This follows recent comments from sports minister Vitaly Mutko that the meldonium crisis would soon be "settled".
Last week, the International Biathlon Union said it would not be ruling on any cases until more was known about excretion rates for meldonium.
Wada's new guidance acknowledges that trace elements of meldonium can remain in the body "for a few months" if somebody has been taking the drug for a sustained...

Summary: Athletes caught using meldonium could avoid a ban after anti-doping chiefs said it was not clear how long it takes the drug to leave the body.
###
Article: Ant and Dec dedicated their Bafta TV Award to the Queen after winning a prize for their presentation of her 90th birthday celebration event.
But Netflix's lavish royal drama The Crown left empty handed even though it had the most nominations.
Here are seven things we learned from some of the winners backstage:
"I am not going to be the first female Doctor," said Phoebe Waller-Bridge after winning the prize for best female comedy performance.  "Not that I know of."
The Fleabag star had been the bookies' favourite to take over the lead role in Doctor Who after Peter Capaldi bows out.
But speaking after her Bafta win she seemed to settle the rumours once and for all.
The actress, who has a role in the untitled Han Solo Star Wars spin-off, admitted she hadn't even started writing series two of Fleabag.
"I had an idea on a bus and I thought I might be able to open it up again," she said.
"It's galvanizing because you feel like there's something that resonates with people."
Planet Earth II won the public vote for TV's must-see moment award for its snakes vs iguana chase.
Its makers revealed how every 400 minutes of film shot produces just one minute of screen time.
But fans of the natural history show, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, have a long wait before the next one.
For a start, Planet Earth III hasn't even been commissioned. And even if it had it wouldn't be on TV screens until 2022 at the earliest.
"These things take five years to make even if we started today," said Mike Gunton, the show's executive producer.
Sir David wasn't at the ceremony, and the team admitted they hadn't been able to send him a message about the win.
"Sadly, texting is not an option," Gunton added. "He doesn't do texting."
"It was a horrible year," said Charlie Brooker, after he and his team won best comedy for his satirical review series Wipe.
"At one point I said I don't want to do the show because it was so depressing - and then I was reminded we had a contractual obligation and so we had to push on.
"We've done these shows for...

Summary: The Bafta awards are over for another year, with BBC shows Happy Valley and Damilola, Our Loved Boy winning two awards each.
###
Article: Google confirmed the plan to the BBC's Newsround programme, saying it wanted to focus on "formats that work well for both users and advertisers".
Long unskippable adverts are seen as a nuisance by many viewers, and Google has introduced shorter formats.
One media agency said the move reflected the difference between online video and linear television services.
"The 30-second ad is a legacy from TV times," said Will Smyth, head of media at the Agenda21 agency.
"It's a standard TV unit which has been put online, but it's not the most effective way to advertise.
"This will encourage advertisers to be more creative about the way they use the platform."
Many other websites, including the BBC's international offer, feature unskippable 30-second ads on video content.
"Demand from advertisers for video content is high, but there's a shortage of quality content," said Mr Smyth.
"It's good business for everyone to focus on 'skippables' - people aren't forced to sit through ads, and advertisers don't need to pay if their ad is skipped."

Summary:


New scheduled flights have been introduced between Inverness and Amsterdam.

Article: Sainsbury has started a campaign to encourage use of blemished bananas, while Morrisons has a new "wonky" range that includes avocados for 39p.
Others, including Waitrose, Tesco and Asda, have also branched out into selling misshapen fresh items.
Shops have been criticised for being too fussy, causing farmers to throw away perfectly edible fruit and veg.
But if customers will only accept blemish-free produce, there's little point in a supermarket putting it on the shelf only to throw it away unsold later.
That's one reason why retailers are giving such goods clear labelling and other promotional pushes.
Sainsbury says it is trying to half the amount of food the average family throws away each year from its current Â£700.
This week it is turning its attention to the banana, with pop-up "banana rescue" stations in about 500 stores to encourage consumers to use fruit that is overripe or past its best.
The Government's food waste awareness service, Wrap, found that 1.4 million bananas are thrown out every day for having minor bruises or black marks on their skin, which it says add up to Â£80m in waste a day.
Sainsbury's suggestions include using them to make banana bread or muffins.
For those without the time to bake, Sainsbury reminds us that bananas can be blended into smoothies, and even chopped up to be added into fruit salads.
Paul Crewe, Sainsbury's head of sustainability and environment, said: "Sixty one per cent of Britons admit they never use otherwise discarded bananas in baking, so we want to inspire customers to use their fruit in different ways. There's no need to bin the bruised ones any more."
Tesco, which has a Perfectly Imperfect range, has a strategy that no food safe for human consumption will go to waste from its UK outlets by the end of 2017.

Summary: UK supermarkets are making more space for increasing amounts of less-than-perfect produce.
###
Article: He concluded by challenging the Democratic candidate for president, Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson, to do the same. Governor Stevenson took the challenge one step further, releasing his personal tax returns - the clearest account of an individual's income for the year.
The move was not reciprocated by Nixon or his running mate for president, Dwight Eisenhower.
Two decades later though, at the height of the Watergate scandal and under audit by the US tax authority - the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - then-President Nixon made his tax returns public in hopes of clearing the air.
The move did not work, but it set a precedent for making tax filings public.
"It's proof you have nothing to hide," says Joe Thorndike, a tax historian at Tax Analyst.
Donald Trump says he needs no such proof.
Claiming to face his own audit the presumptive Republican nominee has refused to release his tax returns, even as public pressure mounts for him to do so.
Every US presidential candidate since 1976 has released their tax returns, but there is no law requiring it.
Mr Trump's refusal to release them has led to mounting speculation about what he could possibly be hiding.
"Tax returns are sort of black and white and you sign your name to say this is accurate. It's not open to interpretation," says Mr Thorndike.
The first thing the public would find is what tax rate Mr Trump pays. The candidate has bragged about paying a very low tax rate and taking advantage of the complex US tax code with its many loopholes.
"Mr Trump is proud to pay a lower tax rate, the lowest tax rate possible," one of his top aides has said.
An investigation by the Telegraph newspaper found Mr Trump was involved with a deal to evade $20m (Â£13.5m) in US taxes.
It's possible his returns may hold similar bombshells, but Mr Trump's admission that he does his best to avoid taxes will likely make these less explosive.
One line of thinking has it that the returns would give a better sense of how much Mr Trump is worth. The New York billionaire has given several...

Summary: On 23 September 1952, vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon gave a speech laying out "everything I have earned, everything I have spent and everything I own".
###
Article: York Quilt Museum and Gallery opened in June 2008 expecting 30,000 visitors a year, but only gets a maximum of 12,500.
The Quilters' Guild trustees, which runs the museum, said it was "profoundly disappointing".
It displays three exhibitions at a time and has the oldest patchwork in the UK.
In June, Californian fabric designer Kaffe Fassett designed 15 new quilts inspired by exhibits at the museum on Peasholme Green.
A statement from the Quilters' Guild, also based in York, said: "The Museum is not financially viable and since opening has been heavily subsidised through donations and from subsidy from The Quilters' Guild.
"The donated funds are now exhausted and in spite of efforts to increase visitor figures and to raise significant funds from commercial activities they have not been able to find a dependable, long-term way of supporting the museum and gallery."
The Guild said it would run the 2015 exhibition programme from its reserves, and would maintain the quilt collection with a view to making it publicly accessible through other venues.
The Quilters' Guild said: "We can take comfort in the knowledge that since the museum opened we have welcomed over 70,000 people to over 50 exhibitions and introduced many visitors to the joy of quilts and quilting."

Summary: The first museum in Britain dedicated to the history of quilt-making has folded because of insufficient funds.
###
Article: Defendant Ross Compton, who faces aggravated arson charges, claims he was woken by a fire at home, packed a case, broke a window and threw out the bag.
A cardiologist told police his explanation was "highly improbable" based on his heart rate and cardiac rhythms at the time.
Mr Compton's lawyer said allowing pacemaker evidence expanded government snooping into private data.
"We take the strong position that medical data regarding the inner functions of one's body, designed to assist a doctor in keeping a patient alive, should be safeguarded against government overreach," he told tech news website CNet.
"As was argued to the court, what is next on this slippery slope as technology advances?"
The fire, which caused $400,000 (Â£309,000) in damages, broke out in September last year.
According to local paper Journal News, Judge Charles Pater said: "There is a lot of other information about things that may characterise the inside of my body that I would much prefer to keep private rather than how my heart is beating. It is just not that big of a deal."

Summary: An Ohio judge has ruled that data from a pacemaker can be used in court.
###
Article: This suggests that the chemistry needed to gather the molecular ingredients for life could be more common than previously recognised.
Earth scientists from Japan carried out experiments to mimic comet impacts that occurred on early Earth. They found chemical reactions to make the primordial "soup for life" can occur anywhere that comets collide.
Presenting their work at the Goldschmidt conference of geochemists in Prague, Dr Haruna Sugahara and Dr Koicha Mimura reported that after mixtures of ice, amino acids and rock were impacted with a projectile, the amino acids joined up to make complex organic molecules, peptides, which are important building blocks in biochemistry.
Reactions to make peptides could, therefore, occur widely on bodies across the Solar System, including places like comets, as well as around other stars across the Universe, it seems.
Prof Mark Burchell, from the University of Kent, UK, who was not involved in the work, commented to BBC News: "What this new work does is to show that if a comet containing such material were to hit a planet, the energy from the impact will drive further chemistry to help form short peptides, chains of amino acids that are useful to make proteins"
Scientists have already seen that amino acids and complex organic molecules exist on comets, from space missions like Stardust (a US space agency mission that returned cometary samples from comet 81P/Wild-2 in 2006) and the recent data from the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission.
Dr Sugahara said: "This finding indicates that comet impacts almost certainly played an important role in delivering the 'seeds of life' to the early Earth. It also opens the likelihood that we will have seen similar chemical evolution in other extraterrestrial bodies, starting with cometary derived peptides."
The idea that life, or the precursors to life, is present in outer space and was delivered to Earth on comets or meteorites to allow life to start here is not new. These results suggest that the impact of such comets themselves...

Summary: New results show how collisions between comets and planets can make molecules that are the essential building blocks of life.
###
Article: KLM has added a 06:00 weekday flight from the Highlands airport and an evening flight from Schiphol.
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (Hial) said the flights would allow people to spend a full day in the Netherlands before returning home.
It is the latest addition from KLM since it started Inverness-Amsterdam flights last year.

Summary:


Dartmoor Hill ponies should be bred for human consumption to ensure their survival on the moor, says a pony group.

Article: The High Peak Trail is a 17m (27km) route through the Peak District along a former railway line in Derbyshire.
Most of the path is wide enough for horses, cyclists and walkers to use at the same time, but a stretch from Newhaven Crossing is just 30in (75cm).
Thanks to a Â£42,000 grant from Natural England, the section will be widened and resurfaced over the winter.
The Peak District National Park Authority, which maintains the trail, provided a further Â£18,000 towards the project.

Summary: A traffic free path through a national park is to be widened and resurfaced to increase safety.
###
Article: The 27-year-old England batsman will skipper the side in all three formats of the game.
Ballance said: "It is an absolute honour to be named the club captain and to follow in the footsteps of some great captains over the years.
"It was impossible to turn down. Being captain is something that I enjoy doing and hopefully I will do a good job."
He made his England debut against Australia in 2014 and has scored 1,413 runs in 21 Test appearances, the most recent in October.
But the out of form left-hander failed to reach double figures in any of his four innings during England's two-Test series in Bangladesh and has not featured in the current series in India, in which England trail 3-0 with one Test remaining.
Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott has said Ballance "must be soul destroyed" and called for him to be "sent home" from the tour.
"If Gary gets called up [by England], he gets called up, but obviously it looks at the moment as though he's going to have to score a lot of runs for Yorkshire to get a chance again," director of cricket Martyn Moxon told the Yorkshire Post.
"If he scores a lot of runs, it gives us a better chance of winning, and if he does get picked, we'll have someone to take over."
The Zimbabwe-born batsman joined Yorkshire from Derbyshire in 2007 and helped them win back-to-back County Championship titles in 2014 and 2015.
Ballance added: "I'm experienced now, I have played a bit of cricket over the years, so I have seen how different captains work. I think that I am a calm person and like to think that I have a decent cricket brain.
"I'm not a massive speaker, but I will be looking to lead by example on the field and get the lads to follow me."
Gale, 33, led Yorkshire in the Championship last summer, with opener Alex Lees given the chance to lead in white-ball cricket.
"I wanted to take my time when deciding who to appoint as new captain and Gary is the right man to take the team forward," said Gale.
"Gary is respected on and off the field, has a good cricket brain and knows the...

Summary: Yorkshire have appointed Gary Ballance as their new captain after Andrew Gale retired to become head coach.
###
Article: White rhino Lucy, who weighs two tonnes, has been moved to Blair Drummond, near Stirling, from West Midland safari park in Worcestershire.
A team of experts used a crane to lower her into the rhino enclosure after the journey of more than 300 miles.
In exchange, two-year-old female Ailsa has been transported to the Worcestershire park from Scotland.
The swap aims to avoid in-breeding within rhino populations.
Lucy will be given time to adjust to her new surroundings before being introduced to the park's other rhinos - Dot, Graham and their five-month-old calf, Angus.
It is hoped that Lucy and Graham - Blair Drummond's only mature bull rhino - will eventually mate.
Chris Lucas, head of large mammals at Blair Drummond safari park, said it was necessary to swap the rhinos because Ailsa did not have an appropriate male rhino with which to mate.
He said: "The only mature bull rhino we've got here is her father (Graham) so it's not practical to keep her here."
He added: "Exchanges are becoming more common now.
"Lots of zoos and safari parks across Europe are working together with the idea of exchanging their rhinos in order to maximise the breeding potential of the captive European population."
White rhinos are classed as "near threatened" in the wild, with a population of only 17,500.

Summary: Two rhinos have been swapped between UK safari parks as part of a European breeding programme.
###
Article: Both Yahoo Mail and Gmail are named in the 30 April email, published on Thursday by Gizmodo, saying the attacks had increased "in the past 48 hours".
Yahoo Mail will be blocked "until further notice" it adds.
Ransomware encrypts victims' files and demands a ransom be paid for unlocking.
Meanwhile, an unnamed House of Representatives employee has told Reuters devices connected to the internet via its wi-fi or ethernet cables have been barred from accessing appspot.com, the domain where Google hosts custom-built apps.
"We began blocking appspot.com on 3 May 3 in response to indicators that appspot.com was potentially still hosting a remote access Trojan named BLT that has been there since June 2015," the news agency was told.
Reuters' sources said the FBI had originally warned Congress of the potential vulnerabilities.
Former House of Representatives employee Ted Henderson told Reuters two Google-hosted apps he had created to allow members of Congress to discuss politics and share notifications about votes had been hit by the ban.
Both Yahoo and Google said they were working with Congress to resolve the issue.

Summary: A series of ransomware attacks on the House of Representatives has led US Congress to ban members from using Yahoo Mail, according to a leaked email.
###
Article: A panel of experts was asked to perform a "sanity check" on the endeavour, which is likely to cost well in excess of one billion euros.
The Gravitational Observatory Advisory Team (Goat) says it sees no showstoppers.
It even suggests Esa try to accelerate the project from its current proposed launch date in 2034 to 2029.
Whether that is possible is largely a question of funding. Space missions launch on a schedule that is determined by a programme's budget.
"But after submitting our report, Esa came back to us and asked what we thought might be technically possible, putting aside the money," explained Goat chairman, Dr Michael Perryman.
"We are in the process of finalising a note on that, which will suggest the third quarter of 2029. So, 13 years from now," he told BBC News.
The agency has stated its intention to build a mission that investigates the "gravitational Universe", and is set to issue a call to the scientific community to submit a detailed proposal.
Ripples in the fabric of space-time
Gravitational waves - ripples in space-time - have become the big topic of conversation since their first detection last year by the ground-based Advanced Ligo facilities in the US.
Using a technique known as laser interferometry, the labs sensed the fantastically small disturbance at Earth generated by the merger of two black holes more than a billion light-years away.
The discovery opens up a completely new way to do astronomy, allowing scientists to probe previously impenetrable regions of the cosmos and to test some of the fundamental ideas behind general relativity - Einstein's theory of gravity.
The Goat says the stunning detection by Ligo is a game-changer: "In a single step, gravitational wave astronomy has been placed on a secure observational footing, opening the panorama to the next robust steps in a space-based gravitational wave observatory."
That was not the case when the panel started its work. Then, there were many people who thought a detection might be beyond our measurement capability.
The Goat...

Summary: A European Space Agency effort to try to detect gravitational waves in space is not only technically feasible but compelling, a new report finds.
###
Article: Dartmoor Hill Pony Association (DHPA) said it had put forward the idea "reluctantly".
The group claims numbers have dropped from about 30,000 at the beginning of the century to just 1,500 in 2011.
The DHPA said if numbers continued to fall, the breed could lose its hardiness to survive on the moor.
It said demand had dropped for the ponies as pets because of the economic downturn.
The ponies were traditionally used for farming, postal deliveries and pulling carts.
Charlotte Faulkner, founder of the DHPA, said in a letter to South West Equine Protection (Swep): "It has taken years of considering reports and listening to the outcome of meetings to recognise and reluctantly accept that Dartmoor pony herders will only carry on keeping their herds if they have a sustainable market for them.
"We are in real danger of ponies disappearing from Dartmoor altogether."
Ms Faulkner said selling ponies for riding and driving would continue.
"The Dartmoor Hill Pony Association believes the meat trade should be (used) too," she said. "Strangely, having a meat trade should improve a pony's chances of finding a new home at sale."
Becky Treeby, of Swep, said: "Dartmoor hill ponies were there for a reason, for ecology purposes to keep grass on the moors down, and they have been there for thousands of years. People have never eaten them before. It is promoting over-breeding for profit."
You can see more on this story on Inside Out SW on BBC One, Monday 29 September, at 19:30 BST.
Correction 2 December 2014: This story has been amended to clarify that it refers to Dartmoor Hill ponies rather than Dartmoor ponies.

Summary:


A campaign group has been granted a hearing to examine the case for a judicial review of the decision to build student flats near a beauty spot.

Article: The university needs to ask the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) for permission to apply for a loan to pay for work at Pantycelyn halls.
But a report said the university must attract more students before applying.
The university said work was continuing to ensure funding can be obtained.
Students climbed on to the roof of the halls last June to protest against the proposed closure, claiming the university did not value the Welsh language enough to keep it open.
A board was later set up to secure its future and Â£8m of improvements, including the refurbishment of 200 en-suite rooms, were suggested.
The university has said it planned to reopen the halls in September 2019, but the necessary funding needed to be secured before it could give a definitive commitment.
Now, a report to the university's council has been made public which confirms "HEFCW's agreement to procure such finance will only be forthcoming once the university has achieved the required sustained growth in student numbers".
It added the outcome of Brexit also threatened the future sustainability of the university.
The report continued that while the case for refurbishing Pantycelyn to provide Welsh-medium accommodation was "persuasive", the project must be considered in the context of others.
Other funding options suggested in the report include fundraising from individuals or trusts.
An Aberystwyth University spokeswoman would not comment on current recruitment figures, but said: "The university has stated clearly that Pantycelyn is one of its spending priorities.
"A team of Welsh-speaking architects has been appointed to work on the detailed plans for upgrading the building.
"In the meantime, work continues to ensure the required funding can be obtained, in line with the project timetable to reopen the building in September 2019.
"Loans are expected to be part of the funding of the university's priority capital projects. In common with all other universities in Wales, HEFCW's agreement will be required for any loan finance...

Summary: Funding for the refurbishment of a closed halls of residence for Welsh-speaking students at Aberystwyth University could face uncertainty.
###
Article: Thomas Docherty, who is originally from Bellshill, took his inspiration from the wreath that lies at the foot of The Royal Mint's own on-site war memorial.
His Â£5 coin features a full-colour wreath surrounded by the inscription: Their name liveth for evermore.
He is the fourth designer to be chosen to produce a Remembrance Day coin.
What is Remembrance Day?
The coin will be struck at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taff.
Thomas, who has worked at the Royal Mint for 11 years, said: "This wreath is not only personal to us at The Royal Mint but also reflects the 'everyman' we all commemorate on Remembrance Day; from the wreath-layers to the poppy wearers all over the country.
"I wanted to paint the colours of the poppies boldly and vibrantly, hopefully emphasising that the poppy is a symbol of remembrance, but also one of hope for the future."

Summary: A Royal Mint designer from North Lanarkshire has been selected to design this year's special Remembrance Day coin.
###
Article: John Penrose said the report's author, Sir John Chilcot, would understand the frustration at how long it was taking.
Conservative MP David Davis said the delay could cost lives as subsequent deployment decisions are taken without the lessons learned from Iraq.
Sir John set himself a deadline of next week to finish writing the report.
The inquiry, which is considering how UK forces came to participate in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its aftermath, began in 2009 under former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
In October Sir John said the text of the report would be finished on 18 April, at which point national security checking could begin, with a view to publishing in June or July 2016.
Mr Penrose, a minister in the Cabinet Office, told MPs the government was expecting to receive the report next week but that the publication timetable would be controlled by Sir John.
"The government's contribution, which is the national security checking, will be done in two weeks or less, and we will deliver on our pledge," he said.
Mr Penrose said Sir John would "understand the thirst to see the results of his work" and would have "listened to the tone and tenor of this debate".
He also said there was nothing in the rules governing the EU referendum that would mean the report could not be published until after the 23 June poll.
Mr Davis and other MPs called for publication in the first week of May.
The former shadow home secretary said: "The longer we leave it the less useful these lessons will be and the more likely it is that we will make the same mistakes.
"A decision such as those that were made in Libya, Syria and Iraq are made without the knowledge or facts, mistakes are made, and sometimes people die as a result.
"It's not hyperbole to say delay to the Iraq Inquiry could cost lives because bad decisions could be made - I would go further, I'd say it probably did cost lives because bad decisions were made."
Downing Street said the prime minister wanted the report to be published "as soon as possible".
Mr...

Summary: Security checks on the Iraq War inquiry will take two weeks to complete - but publication is not expected until June or July, a minister says.
###
Article: But the media company said 205,000 new customers joined Sky in the UK and Ireland in the second quarter, its highest rise there for 10 years.
It was also announced that James Murdoch would become the chairman of Sky. He had previously been chairman of what was then BSkyB.
Operating profits were their highest for a first half at £747m, up 12%.
But operating expenses were a hefty £223m - primarily the result of paying for financial adviser and "transaction fees" incurred as part of its buyout of the remaining minority shareholdings in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia, which left pre-tax profits lower.
BSkyB merged with its two sister broadcasters, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland in 2014 in a £7bn deal. It was renamed Sky.
In Germany and Austria, Sky gained 120,000 new customers in the second quarter of the latest financial year, which it said made Germany one of European's fastest-growing pay TV markets. In Italy it attracted 12,000 new customers over the same three months.
Revenue in Germany and Austria rose by 10% to £693m, driven by the new customers. However, it made an operating loss of £34m  for various reasons, including an increase in Bundesliga football costs and a rise in Champions League costs under the new 2015-16 deal.
In Italy, revenue fell by 3% to £953m because of a fall in customers over the past year and the fact that in the previous year the broadcaster had benefited from advertising around the World Cup. Operating profit fell by £6m to £25m.
Charlie Huggins, Investment Analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown described the company's first half performance as "excellent". He highlighted the fact that customers in the UK and Ireland stay with the group for an average of 10 years giving it a secure revenue base.
"Sky has built a very strong brand in the UK. It is the clear market leader in pay TV but it faces the challenge of margin pressure, as competitors like BT bid against it for key content rights," he said.
"If it can raise the performance of Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia, the impact of rising sports...

Summary: Sky has reported a £12m fall in pre-tax profits to £524m for the six months to the end of December.
###
Article: The talks will be launched in Ecuador's capital, Quito, on 27 October.
President Juan Manuel Santos urged both sides to be realistic in their demands, saying: "Time is the biggest enemy."
Mr Santos is trying to salvage a peace accord with Farc rebels, which was rejected by voters earlier this month.
Informal talks with the ELN began three years ago, he said.
The announcement of an "open phase" in the negotiations was made in Venezuela, which will be one of the guarantors of the process.
The others will be Norway, Cuba, Chile, Brazil and Ecuador.
It was six months ago that the ELN appeared in Caracas, together with government envoys, saying they were ready to begin proper negotiations.
But President Santos said that would not happen until they had freed all the people they held hostage.
The ELN insisted that the issue of the hostages should be part of the actual negotiation.
They seemed to have met each other half way - in the past two weeks the ELN has released three people.
And although they have not freed everyone they have kidnapped, they said they would release two more people before talks begin in Quito on 27 October.
The rebels have made a commitment not to carry out any more kidnappings, Mr Santos said in a recorded televised statement.
They have now freed three hostages in the past two weeks and have agreed to release two others in the next few days.
Earlier on Monday, the ELN freed a hostage in a remote location near the border with Venezuela.
He has been identified as Nelson Alarcon Jarro, a rice producer from the northern province of Arauca, who was kidnapped three months ago.
How significant is Colombia's ELN rebel group?
The Farc agreement was rejected by 50.2% voters in a referendum on 2 October.
It had been signed by Mr Santos and the Farc leader, Timoleon Jimenez, better known as Timochenko, a few days earlier, after nearly four years of talks held in Cuba.
On Friday, Mr Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts to secure a peace deal with the Farc and put an end to 52 years of...

Summary: The Colombian government and the country's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), have announced the beginning of formal peace negotiations later this month.
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Article: The Â£21.5m Castle Mill development at Port Meadow, by the River Thames, has been widely criticised as ugly and spoiling the view of Oxford's skyline.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) will put its case to a High Court judge on 23 October.
The five-storey university blocks provide 439 accommodation units.
The flats overlook a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
CPRE is seeking the judicial review on the basis of Oxford City Council not carrying out an environmental impact assessment.
The council has said the challenge was late as the housing had already been built, and it believed the group's claims were unfounded.
Helen Marshall, director of CPRE Oxfordshire, said the West Area Planning Committee "should under no circumstances be rushed into making further poor decisions".
"We are not yet convinced that the planning condition on contamination has been met," she added.
"And the mitigation proposals currently suggested by the university are woefully inadequate to counteract the devastating impact of the buildings on Port Meadow and Oxford's historic skyline.
"A few trees growing to approximately half the height of the buildings in 15 years' time will not meet the brief of 'hiding the buildings in summer and softening their impact in winter'
"Key issues such as the height of the buildings and light pollution still need to be addressed."
A University of Oxford spokesman said it had "thought carefully" about how best to mitigate the impact of the buildings.
"Some measures have already been put in place, and discussions with the city council and others are ongoing about what more we can do," he added.
"The University will be making representations at the interim hearing in October on the procedural issues raised by the challenge.
"In the meantime, we intend to finish and occupy the buildings by the start of the next academic year in October as planned."
The city council said last month it was carrying out an independent review into the case.
An online petition against...

Summary:


A council has been accused of a "major administrative cock-up" after failing to make an insurance claim for up to £1m.

Article: The Lothians MSP and former deputy leader of the party said she would "stand up to vested interests".
She is going up against Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh, who launched his campaign on Friday.
Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson and MSPs Alex Rowley and Richard Baker are standing as deputy.
Ms Dugdale said: "Now more than ever, Scotland needs a voice that will stand up to the vested interests.
"Scotland needs a strong opposition that asks tough questions, not a one-party state where every institution and every cause is linked to just one political party.
"That wouldn't be good for Scotland. People need a champion against the cosy consensus in Scottish politics."
Ms Dugdale also argued that there was a need to "think outside the box" when it came to reforming Scotland's state schools.
She also said she would end the charitable status of private schools, saying it was a "question of fairness".
She told BBC Scotland: "Twenty-four per cent of people here in Edinburgh go to private schools and I don't begrudge any parent that wants the best for their children.
"But the reality is that private schools get charitable status, they get tax relief because of that status, and at a time when state schools are really struggling for resources, when teachers are at their wit's end, I think this is fundamentally a question of fairness."
On state education, she said: "Education is everything. It can lift people out of poverty, help them live a healthy lifestyle and open up doors that would otherwise remain shut.
"If we are to compete with the big economies around the world in future then we need people finishing school with the skills they need to get on."
She added: "There can be no sacred cows in Scottish state education. The inequality is too ingrained, the problems too deep to tip-toe around vested interests. It's time to be bold and radical."
The leadership contest was sparked by the resignation of Jim Murphy after Labour lost all but one of its 41 seats in Scotland in May's general election.
In a change from...

Summary: Kezia Dugdale has launched her campaign to become the new leader of Scottish Labour with a pledge to "shake things up".
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Article: "Since that famous telephone call you made, you have changed the course of Nigeria's political history," Muhammadu Buhari said.
He was referring to the moment President Jonathan conceded victory and put paid to the daunting prospect of a disputed and probably violent aftermath to the election.
It was the first time ever in Nigeria's history that an opposition politician had won an election and both men were ready for the historic transition.
Many Nigerians have huge expectations of their next head of state, but one man who has worked for three different presidents including the former military ruler Sani Abacha says Muhammadu Buhari needs to be aware that it is easy to get cut off from reality once ensconced in "The Villa".
"As cocooned as Abacha was, I remember he was very fond of talking to the gardener. He would ask him 'Danzaria, what is happening in town?'" former minister Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar told the BBC.
"'Today there are a lot of queues at the fuel stations', Danzaria would say or 'We have not been paid our salary'," said Dr Modibbo recalling the early 1990s when he was a special advisor in the presidency.
"If you are taciturn like some of the heads of state it is very easy to be in a cocoon and to only listen to a few people," Dr Modibbo said, adding that another President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was one of the few former heads of state to have kept his finger on the pulse of the country.
He put this down to his exuberant and outgoing nature.
As well as working as a minister under President Obasanjo, Dr Modibbo was also in Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's government.  He believes that like Mr Yar'Adua, Goodluck Jonathan had also allowed himself to become isolated with just a few officials around him.
"How could you come out and not believe the Chibok girls had been kidnapped if you were not cocooned?" he said, referring to the fact that the president and his ministers were at first reluctant to admit that more than 200 schoolgirls had been seized by jihadists in April 2014.  The 219 girls are still missing.
Some...

Summary: They may not have been slapping each other's backs and smiling ear-to-ear but as Goodluck Jonathan welcomed the man who defeated him in the election, he did give Muhammadu Buhari a sneak preview of the presidential villa and presented him with a box containing the outgoing president's handover notes.
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Article: The technique involves binding the arms and legs with blankets and is used to help calm a baby and prevent crying.
But Prof Nicholas Clarke, of Southampton University Hospital, said swaddling was damaging developing hips.
The Royal College of Midwives and other experts advised parents to avoid tightly swaddling a child.
Swaddling has been widely used in many cultures globally. It is thought the blanket wrapping can simulate the feelings of being in the womb and calm the child.
But the technique holds the legs out straight and restricts movement, which can alter the development of the hip joint.
Writing in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, Prof Clarke argued: "There has been a recent resurgence of swaddling because of its perceived palliative effect on excessive crying, colic and promoting sleep.
"In order to allow for healthy hip development, legs should be able to bend up and out at the hips. This position allows for natural development of the hip joints.
"The babies' legs should not be tightly wrapped in extension and pressed together."
Jane Munro, of the Royal College of Midwives, said it was a "seemingly innocuous" thing to do, but it posed "significant problems" for the baby.
She said there was also the risk of the baby overheating and a raised risk of cot death.
She added: "We advise parents to avoid swaddling, but it is also crucial that we take into account each mother's cultural background, and to provide individualised advice to ensure she knows how to keep her baby safe, able to move and not get overheated."
Andreas Roposch, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: "Similar effects may be seen in all devices or manoeuvres that place the legs in a purely straight position for prolonged periods in this critical age of early infancy.
"Swaddling should not be employed in my view, as there is no health benefit but a risk for adverse consequences of the growing and often immature hips."
Rosemary Dodds, of parenting charity the NCT, advised against tight...

Summary: Parents are risking their babies' health because of a surge in the popularity of swaddling, according to an orthopaedic surgeon.
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Article: The city council said it had already introduced a team to crack down on litterbugs in the city centre and was considering further measures.
Anyone caught dropping rubbish currently must pay an on-the-spot penalty of Â£80.
The course alternative would be similar to a speed awareness course offered to motorists, the council said.
Councillor Nigel Murphy, executive member for neighbourhoods, said: "We have already introduced a special team to crack down on litter in the city centre to send out a clear message that dropping litter is not acceptable in Manchester.
"Following this, we're looking into ideas which could have a long-term impact on people's attitudes and behaviour.
"This includes offering those spotted dropping items, such as crisp packets, cigarettes, or sandwich wrappers, special 'litter awareness courses' - similar to speed awareness courses offered to motorists - to make them understand why they shouldn't drop litter. "
Penalties for people who drop litter could reach as much as Â£150 under plans set out this month by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Summary: People who drop litter in Manchester could be offered a "litter awareness course" instead of paying a fine.
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Article: It says some of its existing maps may underestimate the risks to coastal communities.
It is updating its National Flood Risk Assessment which informs members of the public and local authorities about the likelihood of flooding.
The Environment Agency grades coastal areas at risk of flooding from very low to high.
Environment Agency flood risks:
High: Greater than one in 30 chance in any given year
Medium: One in 30 to one in 200 chance in any given year
Low: One in 200 to one in 1000 chance in any given year
Very low: Less than one in 1,000 chance in any given year
Last winter massive storms hit the South West coast with waves up to 15m (50ft) high, destroying part of the main railway line out of the region at Dawlish.
Marcus Salmon, planning liaison technical specialist with the agency, said: "The storms have definitely reflected areas where our maps are not as representative as they can be.
"That is something that we are working to address as quickly as possible.
"Last winter's storms showed the susceptibility of our coastal communities and infrastructure to flooding and erosion.
"The challenges presented by flooding and coastal erosion are expected to become more acute as a result of climate change, due to a combination of sea level rise, increased storminess and increased wave heights.
"So as to better understand the risks we are updating the National Flood Risk Assessment to take account of wave, wind and storm surge which are underrepresented in our current mapping."

Summary: The Environment Agency is reviewing the flood risk around the English coastline from high waves.
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Article: Thanet District Council (TDC) was court ordered to lift a ban on live animal exports through the Port of Ramsgate.
It paid more than £5m in compensation to traders but has not submitted an insurance claim to retrieve any money.
Campaigners said taxpayers had been left to foot the bill as the council missed the deadline.
Ian Driver, a community campaigner and former councillor, said the figures had only just come to light after a Freedom of Information request.
Mr Driver, said: "So there you have it: a major administrative cock-up by TDC means that taxpayers have been forced to foot a £5.1 million bill some, if not all, of which would have been covered by insurance payments had the claim been submitted in time. But it wasn't."
TDC said the maximum payment under the policy was £1m.
A spokesman said: "The legal claims against the council have all been settled and accounted for in previous year's budgets."
TDC banned live animal exports in 2012 after the deaths of more than 40 sheep.
The decision was overturned by the High Court in 2014 after a long legal battle.
Mr Justice Birss said the council was liable to pay damages to three companies affected by the ban.
Two sheep drowned at Ramsgate in September 2012 and 44 had to be destroyed as they were sick and lame.
The animals were put down after the lorry carrying them was stopped at Ramsgate by animal health inspectors.
In a separate incident, a loading area floor also collapsed while sheep were taken off a lorry carrying 548 animals.
Six fell in the water, with four rescued by RSPCA officers while two animals drowned.
The live animal export trade resumed through Ramsgate in July 2015.

Summary:


Syrian refugees facing their first Christmas in Wales are sure to get a "warm Welsh welcome", the first minister has said.

Article: The Council of the Isles of Scilly says it has been told it will need to borrow up to £3.5m to cover costs until April.
Debts have been building up for several years and the council says it only has £500,000 in the bank.
The authority governing about 2,200 inhabitants said it underestimated its income and was also hit by new environmental laws.
More on the Scilly finances story, plus more Devon and Cornwall news
The council has been issued with a Section 24 notice by its external auditors Grant Thornton under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 saying its had "inadequate financial controls".
The council has said it will need to review its financial strategy for the next few years.
The authority has also voted to take out a loan of up to £3.5m because council tax is collected for only the first 10 months of the year, with no income for the last two.
The authority expects to have overspent this year by nearly £500,000 and may have just over £40,000 left in the bank at the end of this financial year, it said.
Steve Sims, the council's vice chairman and chair of the finance, audit and scrutiny committee, said the council had been running at a deficit of about £400,000 "for about four years" and "it has hit us now".
"We have made £500,000 of savings," he said.
"But we underestimated the income we were going to get."
Debts have been mounting since 2013 because the council "has to be compliant with environmental laws which we've ignored before," Mr Sims added.
He also blamed a "pretty creaking software system of finance" which it was working with Cornwall Council to improve.

Summary: A remote group of British islands is about to run out of money for the day-to-day running of the community.
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Article: More than 600 people were caught three times and one driver five times, data from a BBC Radio 5 live freedom of information request to the DVLA shows.
Road safety charity Brake says the findings show authorities are not taking the offence "seriously enough".
The government says it is pushing ahead with plans for tougher penalties.
The data refers to the number of drivers who have received CU80 endorsements in the past four years, which is how long the DVLA keeps its records.
CU80 endorsements cover a range of breaches in requirements regarding the control of a vehicle, and include being distracted by a mobile phone.
Although 238,694 people have been caught driving while distracted at least once, just 284 have received a ban as a result, the DVLA said.
The findings come in the same week that Tomasz Kroker was jailed for 10 years for causing a crash which killed a mother and three children.
He was filmed using his mobile phone just before his lorry ploughed into a queue of vehicles on the A34 in Berkshire.
How many times drivers have received points for CU80 offences from 2012-2015:
The data for 2012-2015, released to the Emma Barnett programme on BBC Radio 5 live, shows the total number of drivers being caught is falling: in 2014, 68,409 motorists received a CU80 endorsement, however in 2015 this fell to 42,950 drivers.
According to campaigners, this is caused by a reduction in the number of road policing officers in the UK.
The total number of traffic officers in the police dropped from 5,635 at the end of March 2010 to 4,356 by the end of March 2014, according to Brake.
SOURCE: HOME OFFICE
Gary Rae, campaigns director for Brake, described the statistics as "astonishing and worrying".
"It's further evidence that the authorities are not taking illegal use of mobiles behind the wheel seriously enough.
"We need tougher sanctions on drivers who use their devices when driving, and that includes increasing both the fines and penalty points," he said.
So why do people feel the need to use their phones so frequently,...

Summary: Almost 10,000 drivers have been caught twice for being distracted while driving, including using a mobile phone, in the last four years.
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Article: The companies, which place the adverts on patient advice leaflets, say NHS trusts are paid up to £200,000 a year, with some using the money to cover staff overtime and buy heart monitors.
Some hospitals are also given gifts of items like uniforms and tea trolleys.
The Department of Health says its discourages the adverts, but it is ultimately for trusts to decide.
NHS England has declined to comment.
Legal claims against NHS clinical services rose last year by 27% to £1.48bn.
Advice cards
Blackpool-based BOE Publishing and Pro Vision Systems, in Lytham St Annes, are two of the leading providers of NHS patient advice cards.
The companies have contracts with hospital trusts across the UK - including in Blackpool - to provide racks of cards in accident and emergency wards, giving information on problems such as head injuries and nose bleeds.
The front of the cards are branded with the logos of the NHS and the local trust and the reverse show adverts, most commonly for personal injury lawyers.
One senior NHS manager described the leaflets as "ethically, not ideal," adding: "You know we're not the only ones doing this."
Pro Vision Systems has told You and Yours it has over 200 NHS contracts to supply and maintain the A&E unit racks.
BOE Publishing claims to be contracted to 129 sites in addition to other NHS supply agreements.
Visitors to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, which carries the leaflets, expressed confusion at who had published them and one person described them as "very misleading."
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust declined to comment.
'Royalties'
Pro Vision Systems says its "royalty" payments to NHS trusts vary from a few thousand pounds per annum up to £200,000, with contracts lasting an average of eight years.
"The only advertisers who will spend the money required to fund this free service are personal injury lawyers," Pro Vision told You and Yours.
"Certain hospital A&E departments, especially around the North and Midlands, can generate very large numbers of claims.
"Companies have...

Summary: Hundreds of NHS hospitals are hosting adverts for personal injury lawyers, marketing agencies have told the BBC.
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Article: Edinburgh was the only Scottish institution to improve its standing in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
But Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews and Dundee all saw their ratings drop dramatically.
The editor of the ratings warned UK universities were in danger of falling behind Asian rivals.
The California Institute of Technology retained the top spot in the survey - with Oxford University coming in second.
The UK was the second best represented country overall in the rankings, and three English universities were in the top ten.
But while the University of Edinburgh climbed from 36th to 32nd, Glasgow University fell 37 places to 139th, while Aberdeen dropped 25 places to joint 176th.
St Andrews went from 85th to 108th, and Dundee fell out of the top 200 altogether.
A spokesman for the University of Dundee said: "While we are disappointed with the drop in our overall position in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, it is important to look at the context.
"Dundee actually recorded a slightly higher overall score than last year, according to the metrics used in the table. This includes higher scores for teaching, international outlook, and research."
Education Secretary Mike Russell said: "Scottish universities are well known around the world for the quality of education they offer.
"We have invested significant funding in our universities to ensure they can continue to offer a world-class degree and compete internationally.
"We will continue to deliver access to university based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay, and this year more students will be studying at our world-class universities - unlike universities in England where, overall, the number of acceptances has fallen."
However, Scottish Labour MSP Hugh Henry said: "Despite generous settlements for universities paid for with money from Scotland's hard-pressed colleges, this clearly shows that Scottish universities are facing major challenges both within the UK and internationally.
"Many universities are...

Summary: Scottish universities have slipped down an annual list of the world's top 200 institutions.
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Article: The prospect of an embarrassing parliamentary defeat will have focused the minds of ministers on a compromise.
But what do the unimpressed Tory MPs dislike about the academy plans? And what will be the sticking points in negotiations with ministers?
Very well-placed Tory backbenchers have highlighted some of the main areas of concern:
Compulsion: These MPs are supporters of the achievements of academies and the principle of autonomy. But if there is a high-achieving school that doesn't want to become an academy, where is the justification in forcing such an unwanted change? This carries the risk of damaging rather than improving schools and it goes against the grain of school choice and parental involvement.
There is already legislation to turn struggling schools into academies and successful schools can already choose to convert. So why would the government want to force good and outstanding schools, against the wishes of heads and parents, to change status? The MPs would prefer more carrot than stick.
And compulsion, above all else, would be the line in the sand - as many of the other concerns would be diminished if one-size-fits-all academy status became something that was encouraged rather than compulsorily required.
The suggestion that local authorities could become chains is not seen as a positive step, but something that reverses autonomy, giving them more power with less electoral accountability.
The timetable: If thousands of schools, many of them primary schools, are put under a deadline to become academies, there will need to be hundreds more academy trusts to accommodate them. Where are these going to come from? What will be quality of these rapidly-assembled trusts? Will they have to be unmanageably large to take in the number of new academies? Will they be strung across the country in a way that doesn't take into account local needs.
If the pace is forced, is there a danger that excellent schools will have to be stuck into not-so-excellent academy chains?
Accountability: If all schools were put...

Summary: If the government is going to push through its plans to force all schools in England to become academies, it will need to persuade its own Conservative backbenchers, many of whom seem deeply unenthusiastic about the proposals.
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Article: Carwyn Jones said Wales had a "proud tradition of being a friendly and hospitable nation".
"The message of peace and hope is particularly poignant this year," he said, referring to the terrorist attacks in Tunisia and Paris.
About 50 refugees from Syria have been re-settled in Wales with more to come.
Torfaen, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot and Caerphilly have been the first councils to welcome refugees, with more to be dispersed to other areas in the new year.
In his seasonal message to the nation, Mr Jones said:  "At Christmas, it's more important than ever that we spread the message of togetherness and unity in our Welsh communities.
"We have a proud tradition of being a friendly and hospitable nation.
"As fifty Syrian refugees make their home in Wales, they will be experiencing their first festive season in the UK - I'm sure they'll get a warm Welsh welcome and we wish them well in their new lives."
The first minister also asked people to "spare a thought" for those working over Christmas - such as the emergency services, medical professionals, charities, care workers and the armed forces - who "all deserve our thanks".
"They work tirelessly while we enjoy ourselves," he said.

Summary: