A man who raped two women - one of them while he was on probation for grooming two teenage girls - has been handed a lifelong restriction order.

Article: The Walkley Library building, on the corner of South Road, will continue to house a library.
But True North Brew Company, which owns several pubs in the city including the York in Broomhill, plans to renovate and extend the 1904 building to accommodate a bar.
The plans were passed by Sheffield City Council on Monday.
Chris Reece, chair of the Walkley Carnegie Library charity, said it had been run by volunteers since November 2014.
He said the decision would allow the group "to concentrate on maintaining the service".
True North Brew Company plans to build a two storey rear extension with a mezzanine floor.
Mr Reece said although the library area would be reduced, increased opening hours and more events in the building would make it "vibrant".
True North Brew Company will address maintenance issues and implement health and safety legislation, such as creating level access to the building.
The front, currently the children's library, will remain a library while the cafe bar will be situated at the back in the new extension.
In July 2014 Walkley was one of 10 "associate" libraries to which the council committed to provide financial support.
He said: "The new arrangement means the library can finally receive the attention that this Grade II-listed building deserves."
Community groups objected to initial plans to create a bar in the library but Walkley Carnegie Group said it was the most sustainable way to keep the library.

Summary: Part of a Grade II-listed library in Sheffield will become a cafe bar under plans approved by the council.
###
Article: Seven national polls conducted after the close of the Democratic convention last week showed the former secretary of state receiving an average increase of nearly 7% compared with her pre-convention support.
Mrs Clinton's favourability ratings have also improved, rising to an average of four points to 41% in recent polls.
Though a larger share finds her unfavourable at an average of 53%, it is still four point less than it was before the convention.
But do the recent batch of surveys paint an accurate picture of what will happen when voters head to the polls in November?
Not quite, according to experts and pollsters.
While Mrs Clinton has gained a comfortable lead over Mr Trump, it will take more than polling to determine who will end up in the Oval Office.
With hundreds of surveys tracking the election, US polls tend to be good at gauging American opinion, according Clifford Young, the president of US Public Affairs for Ipsos polling.
"We have the luxury of large numbers," Mr Young said. "That makes it better and easier for prediction."
However, all of these polls use different methodologies to survey Americans and one of the biggest challenges is determining who actually will cast a ballot in November.
"Polling is very difficult these days," said Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth College.
"It's hard to get a representative sample of Americans to take a survey online or by phone, and even if you do get a good sample, it's difficult to tell who is actually going to turn out to vote."
Research has also shown polls tend to be the least accurate the further they are from Election Day.
During the early stages of the primary election, parties have yet to select their nominee while voters may not necessarily be paying attention to candidates or the issues, Mr Nyhan said.
For example, polls conducted in January 2003 showed former President George W Bush ahead of Democratic Senator John Kerry by 8% and 17%.
However, Mr Bush finished just 2.5% ahead of Mr Kerry in the popular vote, the...

Summary: A new round of US election polls have shifted momentum behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the three-month dash to November.
###
Article: The comment comes after the Welsh Government said deaths had stabilised following a significant rise towards the end of the last decade.
There were 463 deaths in 2015 and 504 in 2012, while all liver disease deaths were up 19.4% over the last five years.
But substance misuse charity Cais said there are still many older people who had drinking problems.
"I think we need to take cautious optimism from these figures," said Clive Wolfendale, the charity's chief executive.
"Deaths remain far too high. We still have decades of ill-health long stowed up in our population.
"There's certainly a culture of drinking to excess among the older generation and it's going to take some decades to play out.
"There are signs that alcohol consumption among teenagers are on the decline but, in some cases, they are turning to new psycho-active substances."
Mr Wolfendale added he was pleased to hear plans to introduce a new law setting a minimum price for alcohol in Wales could be revived by the Welsh Government.
Under the plans, the cost of alcohol would be determined by a formula based on its strength and volume.
However, the proposal depends on the result of a Supreme Court challenge against similar plans by the Scottish Government.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said the Welsh Government's annual report on liver disease shows there is still more work to be done.
As well as alcohol, obesity and blood borne viral hepatitis C are the other most preventable causes of liver disease.
"In Wales, we want to reduce the number of people getting and dying from liver disease," he said.
"We want to ensure people - whatever their age - value good liver health, and are aware of the dangers of excess alcohol, obesity and blood borne viral hepatitis.
"We want everyone to take personal responsibility for their lifestyle choices and reduce the risk of acquiring preventable liver disease."
He said during 2015-16 there had been "continued progress in the care of patients with liver disease in Wales".
"We've seen a reduction in the...

Summary: It will take decades to see the number of alcohol-related deaths fall significantly, a charity has warned.
###
Article: Cardiff University's survey of 152 hospitals found 188,803 people were admitted for injuries from a fight or assault - 10% fewer than in 2015.
The figures are the lowest since 2001, when the survey first recorded data.
But they are at odds with police statistics which have recently recorded increases in violent crime.
The study's lead author, Professor Jonathan Shepherd of the Violence Research Group at Cardiff University, said there had been a substantial decrease in violence-related injuries for both men and women in 2016 compared with 2015.
Since 2010, researchers found a decline of 40% in people needing treatment in emergency departments after violence, he added.
Decreases in drug uses and binge drinking were said to be possible reasons for falls in violent incidents.
But the group's latest report, which also assessed records from minor injury units and walk-in centres, said casualties peaked at weekends - suggesting that alcohol-related violence remained a significant problem.
The data showed males and people aged 18 to 30 continued to be at most risk from violence.
Violence-related injuries sustained by children aged up to 10 showed a year-on-year rise of 10% in 2016.
The research does not examine the reasons for the decline in violence but better detection and reporting of serious violence by emergency departments and more targeted policing were also cited in the report as possible factors.
Prof Shepherd told the BBC that increased CCTV which allowed police to target incidents quicker and efforts to reduce domestic violence should also be taken into account.
He said the substantial year-on-year decline meant "costs imposed on health services and the criminal justice system by violence have been substantially reduced".
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning
Earlier this month, Metropolitan Police figures showed sharp jumps in recorded knife and gun crime.
And police in England and Wales recorded an annual rise of 22% in offences recorded as "violence against the person" in the year to...

Summary: Injuries from violence in England and Wales fell "substantially" in 2016, an annual study of people treated in accident and emergency units suggests.
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Article: He wants pupils to plant rocket seeds that have been in orbit with him, and compare their growth with rocket plants that have stayed on Earth.
Mr Peake has outlined details of the project in a message from the space station which will be sent to schools.
The study will help find ways to grow food in space which will be essential if humans travel to distant planets.
In his message, the European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut explains that he will be sending more than a million seeds back to Earth in a month's time.
"Conditions here on the International Space Station are quite different from on planet Earth, due to us being weightless here in orbit."
In his hands are a bag of seeds which occasionally float away.  Unperturbed, he gently pulls them back towards him and continues.
"This experiment will aim to see if microgravity can affect the growth mechanisms in seeds," he adds.
The seeds will be distributed to up to 10,000 schools. Pupils will compare the growth of the space seeds with others that have remained on Earth.
This comparison has never before been made on this scale, according to Dr Alistair Griffiths, the scientific director of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
"This will be genuinely useful science," he told BBC News. "There will be impacts from zero gravity and from cosmic radiation and no one really knows what those will be.
"So the results really will contribute to the science of how to grow plants in space".
The massed experiment, called Rocket Science, could help researchers to develop hardier varieties of crops to be grown in space.
Each astronaut on the ISS requires 5kg of food and water each day, according to Esa. They receive regular supplies from Earth.
But it would be too expensive to do this for a permanent human colony on the Moon and would not be at all realistic for a return trip to Mars, according to Jeremy Curtis of the UK Space Agency.
He said that the proposed seed experiment would be an important contribution to solving one of the main stumbling blocks to living and working in...

Summary: British astronaut Tim Peake has asked schoolchildren to help him with one of his scientific experiments.
###
Article: Jamie Rudling, 28, from Dunoon, repeatedly raped one victim, between 2003 and 2011, at an address in Argyll.
He also raped a 22-year-old woman while she was asleep, in Argyll in 2014.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Rudling was jailed for a minimum of three years and six months and told he may never be judged safe enough to be released.
Passing sentence, judge Judge Lady Carmichael told Rudling: "You present a high risk to the public at large if you are at liberty.
"You were sexually offending while on an extended sentence which was intended to protect the public."
Lady Carmichael told Rudling that he showed a pattern of sexual offending from his teenage years and added: "It is significant that your pattern of serious sexual offending became as excessive as it did over a significant period."
She added: "I am imposing a life-long restriction order. It is possible you many never be released. It will be up to the parole board to decide if he is ever released."
Rudling was given three years probation in March 2010 after being convicted of attempting to rape a sleeping woman.
He was also jailed for 28 months at Ayr Sheriff Court in November 2011 and placed under supervision for two years after he persuaded two teenage girls to expose themselves on a webcam.
He also arranged to meet one for sex at Braehead Shopping Centre in Renfrewshire.
Following his conviction, Rudling's counsel unsuccessfully argued for him to be given an extended sentence rather that a life-long restriction order.
Lady Carmichael dismissed imposing an extended sentence saying: "That has been tried already and there was re-offending."

Summary:


People who have been flocking to Fife to see a whale which has been breaching in the Firth of Forth are being warned from "making any attempts to approach or actively pursue" it.

Article: "He came up with the title, the concept of the record, the whole everything," he said.
"I was trying to be the artist on this without being the CEO of it.
"I wanted him to basically control it and tell me where I should be at, what I should sound like, what I should look like. Basically the hole nine [yards]."
Explaining why he was so comfortable, he said it was down to his long-term friendship with Pharrell.
"This is not our first merry-go-round," he said.
"We've been doing this for years and so for him to finally do a whole album on me and tell me what I should be doing - that's what I was looking for.
"I've been doing it for so long now and sometimes it gets to a point where it's too hectic because I've got to do everything.
"I've got to come up with the concept, the look, the style - whereas with this one I've just got to worry about being Snoop."
Bush, due for release in May, is Snoop Dogg's 13th studio album.
The first single from it, Peaches and Cream, was released on Tuesday.
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Summary: Snoop Dogg has told Annie Mac on her new Radio 1 evening show that the sound of his new album, Bush, is down to Pharrell acting as "CEO" on it.
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Article: The homes would instead be converted into accommodation for older people, in proposals being considered by the council over the next few weeks.
If the plans are approved, 210 of the council's 626 sheltered housing units would become retirement housing.
The council said it needed to develop a "more sustainable and affordable" housing solution for those over 60.
The report will be considered by the Social Work and Health Committee on 12 January and by the Communities Committee the following week.
Council leader Iain Gaul said there was a "lessening demand" for other sheltered housing in Angus.
"Five years ago the total losses from void properties was just over Â£91,000 - last year it was just under Â£217,000," he said. "We cannot sustain that level of lost income to housing.
"It is well known that the overall financial position for council services has never been so severe. In that context we have to ensure that all of our services operate as effectively and efficiently as possible."
The committee has recommended that community volunteers are used to support the sheltered housing provision for adults of any age that have medical or support needs.
It said that "universal provision" of sheltered housing did not comply with the Scottish government "self-directed support" policy which was introduced in 2013.
The new policy requires that individuals can choose who provides care and support services.
Mr Gaul added: "The council remains committed to ensuring that tenants care and support needs are met, but we must also comply with the requirements of self-directed support."
The council also plans to expand the caretaker service and invest in the communal facilities at the elderly housing complexes over the next four years.
The report follows a consultation with sheltered housing tenants.

Summary: Angus Council's sheltered housing provision should be reduced by a third, a report has recommended.
###
Article: Badreddine's death near Damascus airport was announced on Friday and initially blamed on Israel, Hezbollah's chief enemy.
Badreddine was believed to have run all Hezbollah's military operations in Syria since 2011.
Thousands of Hezbollah troops are supporting President Bashar al-Assad.
This has pitted it against several groups of anti-Assad rebels - from so-called Islamic State (IS) to the al-Nusra Front.
Without naming any group, the Hezbollah statement said: "Investigations have showed that the explosion, which targeted one of our bases near Damascus International Airport, and which led to the martyrdom of commander Mustafa Badreddine, was the result of artillery bombardment carried out by takfiri groups in the area."
Takfiri is used to describe militants who believe Muslim society has reverted to a state of non-belief.
However, the BBC's Arab Affairs Editor Sebastian Usher says questions still remain over Badreddine's death.
A monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there had been no recorded shelling or firing in the area for more than a week, although Hezbollah has not said when Badreddine died.
Many political assassinations involving Lebanese and Syrian political figures have remained unsolved, our correspondent says.
Obituary: Mustafa Badreddine
Profile: Lebanon's Hezbollah
Who stands accused of Hariri killing?
The Lebanese Shia Islamist movement has played a major role in helping Iran, its main military and financial backer, to prop up the government of President Assad since the uprising erupted in 2011.
Thousands of Hezbollah fighters are assisting government forces on battlefields across Syria, particularly those near the Lebanese border, and hundreds are believed to have been killed.
The Hezbollah statement said Badreddine's death "will increase our determination... to continue the fight against these criminal gangs and defeat them".
Born in 1961, Badreddine is believed to have been a senior figure in Hezbollah's military wing. He was a cousin and brother-in-law of Imad...

Summary: Hezbollah's top military commander in Syria, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, was killed in artillery fire by jihadists, the Lebanese group says.
###
Article: The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership submitted a bid in January, which was backed by the chancellor in the March budget.
Supporters claim it could create 3,000 new jobs by 2030.
Other proposals include the return of regular commercial flights to the airport, which were stopped last year.
The news paves the way for Blackpool and The Fylde College to submit a planning application for an Energy Headquarters to be developed on the site, to train onshore oil and gas specialists.
Councillor Mark Smith, cabinet member for business and economic development at Blackpool Council, said it was "fantastic news and a key element of Blackpool Council's vision for jobs and growth".
"With this in place we can move forward with our plans that will create up to 3,000 jobs - from manufacturing to office jobs and crucially taking advantage of the Fylde Coast's unique opportunities in the energy sector including renewables and off-shore oil and gas," he said.
A spokesman for Balfour Beatty said the company was "delighted" at the decision, adding: "We have been working closely with both local and national government to secure the opportunity for this important site in the north west as a focus for redevelopment."
Balfour Beatty bought the site in 2008 and have been working with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council to develop the area after closing the airport in October last year.
Enterprise zones are part of the government's long-term economic plan to support business growth by giving cheaper business rates, superfast broadband and lower levels of planning control.
The enterprise zone status at Blackpool Airport comes into effect in April 2016.

Summary: Blackpool Airport could be transformed into a site for up to 140 new businesses after the government granted the site "enterprise zone" status.
###
Article: It is a year since Prof Graham Donaldson published his plans, which include making computer skills as central to learning as literacy and numeracy.
Curriculum content is expected to be available to schools by 2018.
But one union said the timetable set by the Welsh government was too ambitious.
The new curriculum is set to be the biggest shake-up in what is taught in schools in more than 25 years.
Education Minister Huw Lewis in October said schools should begin teaching it in 2021, with the content available to teachers by 2018.
He is stepping down in May's election and one union leader urged his successor to look again at the timetable.
Dr Philip Dixon, director of ATL Cymru, believes it is too ambitious and there needs to be a debate on the detail over the next three or four years.
"We've go to be careful we don't rush this, we don't botch it and we get a curriculum that's fit for purpose and will last for several decades," he told BBC Wales.
"Why do it in a rush, let's do it properly instead."
Prof Donaldson said he had spoken to a lot of head teachers who were impatient to get moving with it and others who were worried about having enough time to come to terms with it.
"I think the process which has been put in place has a pretty fair chance of getting us to the point at which by 2018 and beyond schools will be able to move forward with thinking about the curriculum and its implications for their young people," he said.
"The important point is this is not a delivery in terms of a point in time, a cliff that's reached and everything's suddenly different. This is a process which will take place."
What has been suggested for the new curriculum?
Prof Donaldson said for parents it would not be "year zero" where everything changes but would build on the strengths already in schools.
He also welcomed the level of support and enthusiasm for the proposals so far.
"I'm also really encouraged by the maturity of the political debate about the curriculum," he said.
"It can become very easy for it to become a political...

Summary: A new curriculum for Welsh schools has a "fair chance" of being delivered on time, the author of the report which proposed the reforms has said.
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Article: The humpback has been seen at Pettycur Bay, Kinghorn in Fife.
Humpback sightings are not uncommon in Scotland, but a large whale so far up the Forth estuary is a lot more unusual.
Police Scotland is warning boat owners to keep a safe distance from the whale.
Lindsay Kerr, Police Scotland wildlife liaison officer, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for wildlife watchers and marine tourism but it is essential that the health and well-being of the animals is considered at all times.
"The Forth estuary is subject to large tidal changes and any disturbance to the visiting whale could cause significant risk of it becoming distressed and moving further into shallow water and then becoming stranded by a rapidly outgoing tide.
"Legislation is in place to protect these marine mammals. Please enjoy this wonderful occurrence but do show respect to the whales and be aware of the protection afforded to them.
"I recommend boat and vessel owners follow the Wildlife Safe (WiSe) scheme. In this particular case, commercial and recreational users should not make any attempts to approach or actively pursue the whale.
"The scheme, which is a UK standard for commercial marine wildlife watching, includes a code of conduct and sets out best practice for wildlife watching."
Endangered species such as dolphins, porpoises and whales are protected by wildlife legislation including the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Under the Act, it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb them.

Summary:

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The High Court has banned publication of photographs allegedly stolen from Pippa Middleton's iCloud account.

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.
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Article: Transport Minister Edwina Hart has announced the new services will create 20 new train crew and depot jobs.
The changes, which will be on an initial three-year trial basis, will come into place from May 2015.
Rail users welcomed the move, saying both lines provide "vital services".
On the Cambrian line, four new return services will operate between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury from Monday to Saturday, with hourly services for peak morning and afternoon times.
There will also be two new return Sunday services and an improvement to evening services on the Cambrian coast between Barmouth and Pwllheli.
On the Heart of Wales line there will be extra journeys between Llandovery, Gowerton and Swansea, and between Llandrindod, Shrewsbury and Crewe from Monday to Friday.
Other return services will become more conveniently timed, and the Heart of Wales Line Forum will get £150,000 to explore the possibility of further improvements to the line.
Announcing the new services, Mrs Hart said: "I am very pleased that we have been able to secure the extra train services on these two popular lines.
"I recently commissioned a survey which clearly demonstrated the benefits to commuters, local businesses and university students of an hourly service on the Cambrian line."
The Cambrian Rail Implementation Group was formed by Mrs Hart to look into new services in mid Wales last November.
It included representatives of Network Rail, Arriva Trains Wales and Aberystwyth University.
It followed a report by The Shrewsbury Aberystwyth Railway Liaison Committee which said hourly services could boost employment and tourism.
Its report included 6,570 responses from residents, students and businesses in mid Wales, and also called for more trains on the coast line in the summer months.
The Welsh government announcement was welcomed by Mansel Williams, chair of the Shrewsbury Aberystwyth Railway Liaison Committee and Heart of Wales Line Forum.
He said: "Both the Cambrian and Heart of Wales lines provide a vital service for residents, commuters,...

Summary: New peak hourly trains between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury will be among extra services to be funded by the Welsh government on the Cambrian and Heart of Wales rail lines.
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Article: The top-flight's executive chairman Richard Scudamore has posed this question while defending the division's elite sides' right to buy foreign players.
The 55-year-old was unable to provide a clear answer: "Would they win it, or finish 10th? I don't know."
But Scudamore suggested England could still compete at major tournaments with a side comprised of players from the bottom half of the top-flight and top half of the Championship.
"We get hung up about how players can't possibly be good enough unless they're playing for Chelsea or Manchester United," he said.
"Of course they can be good enough. How are they going to get into the first teams of Chelsea and Manchester City? Widen your horizons.
"Why shouldn't the England team come from the top 12 teams in the Championship and the bottom 10 teams of the Premier League?"
Media playback is not supported on this device
While the English top-flight revels in its stellar reputation and record television deals, the national team are without a major trophy since winning the World Cup in 1966 and have not reached the semi-finals of the competition since 1990, crashing out at the group stage in Brazil last summer without a win to their name.
With only 35% of last season's Premier League players eligible to play for England, there have been calls to impose a quota on foreign players to aid the growth of homegrown talent, with Football Association chairman Greg Dyke particularly vocal.
"I'd love to see a decent sprinkling of English talent in our top clubs," said Scudamore. "But that is a desire and an aspiration.
"My objective is to put on the best possible show and for our clubs to attract the best players.
"If that means they buy some foreign players, well, they've been doing that since the league began and nothing is going to stop that now."
"Costa Rica played very well in the last World Cup and where were they playing their league football," declared Scudamore.
"We believe in the investment and progress we are making in youth development. You've just got to produce...

Summary: How would the current England team perform in the Premier League?
###
Article: But David Mundell warned against using Brexit as a pretext for a "rehash" of the independence referendum.
In a conference speech on Sunday, Theresa May referred to "divisive nationalists" who she accused of seeking to "undermine" the UK.
The reference was widely interpreted as being an attack on the SNP.
The Scottish government's Brexit minister, Mike Russell, said Mrs May's language had been "inflammatory" and designed to reject the involvement of the devolved administrations, including Scotland, in Brexit talks.
He added: "I think we have seen a very unfortunate performance both from Theresa May and David Mundell, and from others, and I think they should calm down and consider the implications of it."
Mr Russell and Mr Mundell were both speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme in the wake of Mrs May revealing that she would trigger Article 50 - which will formally start the process of the UK leaving the EU - by the end of March next year.
Mr Mundell told the programme: "I think Theresa May is still very clear that she wants to engage with all parts of the United Kingdom, including Scotland, as we move forward with the negotiations."
But he said the UK government would not be giving a running commentary on negotiations, which he acknowledged would "provide an opportunity for people who like to snipe from the sidelines".
Mr Mundell added: "What I am looking to do is to build a negotiating position within the overall UK negotiating position that gets us the deal that people want.
"What I absolutely don't want to do, and the prime minister is very clear, is she doesn't want people who support breaking up the United Kingdom to use Brexit as a pretext for rehashing the independence referendum."
Mr Mundell also said he had not seen any evidence to suggest the Scottish government or Scottish Parliament could veto any Brexit developments.
And he repeated Mrs May's insistence that Scotland cannot stay in the EU while the rest of the UK exits.
Mr Russell and Ms Sturgeon are only too well aware of the...

Summary: The prime minister still wants to engage with the Scottish government ahead of the UK's Brexit negotiations, the Scottish secretary has insisted.
###
Article: Mathew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society for the Arts, was appointed last month to lead the review into the impact of "disruptive" businesses such as Uber and Deliveroo.
New technology combined with new business models has led to a rise in workers doing short-term, casual work.
Many are not eligible for the minimum wage, sickness or maternity pay.
The review will address questions of job-security, pension, holiday and parental leave rights. It will also look at "employer freedoms and obligations".
Mr Taylor will be joined by the entrepreneur, Greg Marsh, who founded onefinestay, a company which helps upmarket home-owners let their properties to visitors, Paul Broadbent chief executive of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority and employment lawyer, Diane Nicol.
The team will be talking to businesses and workers across the UK, including in Maidstone, Coventry and Glasgow. It will look into practices in manufacturing and rural economies as well as the "gig" economy.
"The most important part of our process is getting out and about to talk to businesses and workers across Britain about their experiences of modern work," said Mr Taylor, who was formerly the head of the Number 10 policy unit under Labour leader, Tony Blair. His current role at the RSA think-tank is politically neutral.
"As well as making specific recommendations I hope the Review will promote a national conversation and explore how we can all contribute to work that provides opportunity, fairness and dignity," he said in a statement.
Typically workers in the "gig" economy use mobile phone apps to identify customers requiring delivery services or small practical jobs. The Department for Business says 15% of those working in the UK's labour market are now self-employed.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is also set to launch a research project into the scale of the gig economy, which will examine the motivations of those engaging in "gig" work.
"Helping us to understand what impact modern employment practices have on...

Summary: A team of four experts is preparing to tour the UK to explore how the "gig" economy is affecting workers' rights.
###
Article: The Duchess of Cambridge's sister took civil court action against a "person or persons unknown" after her account was said to have been hacked.
The Sun reported it was offered the images, which included shots of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
A 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of an offence under the Computer Misuse Act and later bailed.
The allegations emerged after private pictures were said to have been offered to the newspaper via encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.
The Sun said it had been approached by someone using a pseudonym and asking for Â£50,000 within 48 hours.
Barrister Adam Wolanski, who led Miss Middleton's legal team, said she thought there had been a "genuine hack".
He said it was a "flagrant" and "criminal" act which had caused Miss Middleton "considerable distress".
Police said they were investigating the allegations and a 35-year-old man had been released on police bail pending further inquiries. He was arrested at an address in Northamptonshire late on Saturday.
In the summer, Miss Middleton and hedge fund manager James Matthews confirmed their engagement, with a wedding planned for next year.
Several high-profile figures have had images stolen from their iCloud accounts, including actress Jennifer Lawrence and singer Rihanna.
In July, American Edward Majerczyk pleaded guilty to running a phishing campaign to steal private pictures and videos from film and TV stars, in what was known as the "celebgate" affair.

Summary:


A fact-finding mission by chemical weapons watchdog the OPCW has concluded that the banned nerve agent Sarin was used in an attack in northern Syria in April that killed dozens of people.

Article: The group, which calls itself al-Murabitoun, is based in the Sahara desert in northern Mali and contains fighters loyal to the veteran Algerian militant, Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
In November 2015, it said it was behind the hostage-taking at the Radisson Blu hotel in the Malian capital, Bamako.
A statement reported by Mauritania's al-Akhbar news agency said the attack had been carried out jointly with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Then, in January 2016, a statement issued by AQIM said al-Murabitoun was behind a deadly raid on the Splendid Hotel in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou.
Belmokhtar, a one-eyed commander who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, was formerly a senior figure in AQIM. But he left in late 2012 after falling out with its leaders.
Shortly afterwards, in January 2013, he achieved international notoriety for ordering an attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria.
Gunmen under his command took numerous hostages and by the time Algerian forces regained control of the plant three days later, 40 staff (and 29 militants) had been killed.
Later that year he took his men - an unknown number of Touaregs, Arabs and some others by then called the Masked Men Brigade - into a new group called al-Murabitoun.
The statements announcing joint operations with AQIM cannot be verified by the BBC. If true, they suggest there may have been a rapprochement between Belmokhtar and rival militant leaders in the Sahara, home to a myriad different armed groups with shifting allegiances.
Although Belmokhtar had been the one to announce the establishment of al-Murabitoun, it was not immediately clear if he was its leader.
Belmokhtar had called for other jihadists to pick up the reins of leadership - the new group was formed in a merger with another group known as the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao).
That group was led by a Mauritanian ethnic Touareg, Ahmed Ould Amer, who used the nom de guerre Ahmed Telmissi or Tilemsi.
No leader's name was given in al-Murabitoun's...

Summary: A jihadist group formed about three years ago has said it was behind two attacks on hotels in West Africa in two months.
###
Article: The meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Australia had sought to protect the Ross Sea and an area off East Antarctica from exploitation.
But delegates from 24 countries, plus the EU, failed to reach a consensus.
Environmental groups called it called it a "dark day" for the Antarctic.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is made up of countries with an interest in Antarctica.
The continent and its waters are home to more than 10,000 species, including most of the world's seabirds, penguins and whales.
CCAMLR includes Australia, the US, China and Russia, and the European Union among its members. Any decisions taken require consensus among all parties.
Plans for a marine reserve in the Ross Sea - a deep bay on the Pacific Ocean side of the Antarctic - have been under discussion for a decade, and have been blocked on several previous occasions, with the main sticking point restrictions on fishing.
According to the environmental advocacy group, Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, the Ross Sea comprises 3.3% of the area of the Southern Ocean, but "it provides habitat for significant populations of many animals, including 38% of the world's Adelie penguins, 26% of Emperor penguins, more than 30% of Antarctic petrels, 6% of Antarctic minke whales, and perhaps more than 30% of 'Ross Sea' killer whales".
"Moreover, it has the richest diversity of fishes in the high latitude Southern Ocean, including seven species found nowhere else."
A revised proposal by the US and New Zealand - reducing the scale of the Ross Sea reserve by 40% to about 1.25m sq km (482,000 sq miles) - had been thought more likely to succeed at the Commission's meeting in Hobart.
Also on the table in Hobart was a proposal to create a protected zone of 1.6m sq km (618,000 sq miles) off East Antarctica.
The two zones were intended to conserve parts of the Southern Ocean from fishing, oil exploration and other commercial exploitation.
But they were both...

Summary: Plans to create two huge marine sanctuaries in Antarctica have failed for a third time, after Russia again headed nations which blocked the bids.
###
Article: The device has arms and legs and is suspended by ropes from a metal frame. Its only other tether is a thick umbilical cable plugged into its back.
After a few final checks, research engineer Gianluca approaches the machine, turns, and puts his feet on its feet and buckles them in. He straps himself in across his chest and puts his arms into its arms.
With a finger he then presses a button, and the machine jolts into life, lights flashing and joints whirring as he cautiously steers his body suit across the floor.
The machine is called the "Body Extender" and has been developed at the Perceptual Robotics Laboratory (Percro), part of the Pisa's Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
It can lift 50kg (7st 12lb) in each extended hand, can exert 10 times the force the user applies to an object, and its makers claim it is the most complex exoskeleton yet built.
"This is the most complex wearable robot that has been ever built in the world," says Percro's Fabio Salsedo who leads the project. "It's a device which is able to track the complex movement of the human body and also to amplify the force of the operator."
The machine has 22 degrees of freedom each actuated with an electric motor, and is made up of modular components, which means the robot can be easily rebuilt to suit the application, says its designer.
"There are several possible applications. For example if you have to assemble a very complex product like an aircraft, this is a machine which is very flexible. You can lift the panel, rotate it and position it in the right position."
"Another application is the rescue of victims in case of an earthquake. You need something very flexible in order to intervene rapidly without damaging the victim."
Meaning "outer skeleton", exoskeletons are common in nature. Grasshoppers, cockroaches, crabs and lobsters have exoskeletons rather than an inner endoskeleton like humans, providing both support to the body and protection against predators. Turtles and tortoises have both an inner skeleton and an exoskeleton shell.
Robotic or...

Summary: On the outskirts of Pisa in a back room of a modern block, a machine is waiting for its operator.
###
Article: The Woldgate Woods landscape depicts trees near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. The piece, measuring 10.5ft (3m) wide, is made up of six individual canvases.
Auctioneers Sotheby's said the sale had set a new record for the artist, breaking his previous auction record of $7.9m (£6.3m), set in 2009.
The work had a guide price of between $9m and $12m.
Grégoire Billault, head of contemporary art at Sotheby's, said: "David Hockney stands alongside Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud as one of the pillars of post-war British art."
Hockney, who was born in Bradford, started painting the scenes at Woldgate, a Roman Road between Bridlington and Kilham, and Warter 10 years ago.
His method of connecting multiple canvases to create one huge piece of artwork was devised because he was not able to fit the large-scale painting up the stairs of his Bridlington studio, Sotheby's said.
The picture of Woldgate Woods was included in a Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy in London in 2012.
A major retrospective of the artist's work is due to open at Tate Britain in February following his '82 Portraits and 1 Still-life' show at the Royal Academy earlier this year.

Summary: A painting by David Hockney has sold for $11.7m (£9.4m) at an auction in New York.
###
Article: He will become the world's top diplomat on 1 January when Ban Ki-moon's second five-year term ends.
Mr Guterres, 67, who led the UN refugee agency UNHCR for 10 years, was chosen from among 13 candidates last week.
He told the BBC that ending the civil war in Syria would be his biggest challenge.
"I believe it is the international community's first priority is to be able to end this conflict and use this momentum created by it to try to address all the other conflicts that are interlinked," he told the BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet.
He said the world was facing a dangerous time and he wanted to see people across the globe working together to achieve a safer future.
"I hope people will understand that it's better to put aside different opinions, different interests and to understand that there is a common, vital interest to put an end to these conflicts, because that is absolutely central if you want to live in a world where a minimum of securities are established, where people can live a normal life," he said.
The UN's new man at the top
UN secretary general: The hardest job in the world?
Wonder Woman made UN champion
Mr Guterres, who trained as an engineer, entered politics in 1976 in Portugal's first democratic election after the "Carnation Revolution" that ended five decades of dictatorship.
As head of the UNHCR refugee agency from 2005 to 2015, he led the agency through some of the world's worst refugee crises, including those in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
During that time, he repeatedly appealed to Western states to do more to help refugees fleeing the conflicts.
Mr Guterres' nomination came despite a concerted effort to appoint the UN's first female secretary general. Of the 13 candidates, seven were women, among them Unesco director-general Irina Bokova from Bulgaria, and Helen Clark, 66, a former prime minister of New Zealand and current head of the UN development programme.
Mr Guterres told the general assembly: "The dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire...

Summary: Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been officially appointed as the next UN secretary-general.
###
Article: A UN panel will now try to determine if the Syrian government was responsible, as the US has alleged.
The attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province was the most deadly in Syria in more than three years.
It prompted a retaliatory US missile strike against a Syrian air base.
The fact-finding mission for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is based in The Hague, concluded that, after interviewing witnesses and examining samples, "a large number of people, some of whom died, were exposed to Sarin or a Sarin-like substance".
"It is the conclusion of the FFM (fact-finding mission) that such a release can only be determined as the use of Sarin, as a chemical weapon," a summary said.
The new report has been circulated among OPCW members but has not been made public.
A joint UN and OPCW investigation will now investigate who was to blame for the attack.
US President Donald Trump ordered a cruise missile strike on Shayrat air base after US officials concluded that the facility was where a Syrian Air Force jet had been armed with a Sarin-filled bomb.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has previously said that the incident was fabricated.

Summary:


A group of hackers claims to have stolen the script for a forthcoming Game of Thrones episode and other data in a breach at entertainment firm HBO.

Article: The region's rural crime team said the end of production of Defenders in January could be one of the reasons why thieves are targeting them.
It said 25 Defenders were stolen "force-wide" last year with a "definite increase" in the past two months.
Farming insurance firm NFU Mutual said it had seen a recent rise in claims.
PC Katie Drabble, from Avon and Somerset police, said: "Since the production [of Defenders] finished in January, we've definitely seen an increase in theft.
"Not just for the parts but for the actual vehicle, because they're stolen to order and then exported out of the country.
"Don't leave the keys in. It sounds ridiculous but people do, especially on farms because different people are using the vehicle - use a key safe."
She added it was "important to highlight" that it was not just farms being targeted, with thefts also happening in the centres of Bath and Bristol.
Tim Price, from NFU Mutual, said the company had "certainly" seen an increase in claims for Defenders.
He said: "NFU Mutual insures three quarters of the farmers in Somerset and many other country people, so we probably cover the majority of the Land Rover Defenders that are on Somerset's roads.
"Like the police, we're working hard to get the message out to people to increase security measures.
"We work very closely with the police and we do feel that, unless people take more precautions, it is going to be a growing crime.
"We want to do everything to keep Somerset's Land Rovers safe."

Summary: Land Rover Defenders are "being stolen to order" with reported thefts rising in both rural and urban parts of Avon and Somerset, police have said.
###
Article: Jayden Wilson, from Basingstoke, was given a year to live in September 2013 when he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour.
Jayden's father Michael Wilson, who was unmasked as Spider-Man, said he died peacefully in his bed on Christmas Eve.
The video has been viewed more than eight million times on YouTube.
Writing on the Hope For Jayden Facebook page, he said: "Jayden fought an amazing battle. By far he was the bravest person we know.
"Jayden had such a happy life. What an incredible five years."
Mr Wilson said he and his wife told their young daughter Ella of the news on Boxing Day.
He added: "We wanted to ensure Ella enjoyed her Christmas Day, and not [for it] to be a sad, emotional one.
"We now remember Jayden as that cheeky little chappy, always smiling, playing with his favourite toys, on his scooter, enjoying school, and playing with his friends x will never forget this little Spartan Warrior x."
Jayden was diagnosed with a "grade four" brain tumour - the fastest-growing and most malignant - after undergoing a CT scan following a bump on the head last year.
Mr Wilson said 2015 would be a year to "give back" by raising money for the Naomi House Children's Hospice in Hampshire, which cared for Jayden, and the charity Children with Cancer.

Summary: A five-year-old boy who became an internet star when "Spider-Man" paid him a surprise birthday visit has died after battling cancer.
###
Article: The North Belfast MP claimed she had been deceptive when answering questions about her powers in respect of a controversial Orange parade ruling.
Mr Dodds had asked what she was going to do about a Parades Commission decision to restrict a 12 July march.
The parade is due to pass a sectarian flashpoint in Ardoyne, north Belfast.
Mr Dodds, who is the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party at Westminster, was ordered to leave the chamber by the Speaker, John Bercow, for using unparliamentary language.
The DUP MP had first asked Ms Villiers about her response to the parade ruling during Northern Ireland Questions (NIQs) earlier on Wednesday.
Dissatisfied with her answer, Mr Dodds later raised the matter in a point of order.
He told the Commons he had asked Ms Villiers what she intended to do about what he called the "outrageous and scandalous decision of the Parades Commission last night in Northern Ireland, which is causing enormous pain and tensions to be rising in north Belfast and across the province and has the potential for severe trouble on our streets."
"In reply to my question, the secretary of state did not address the point of her powers on an application by the chief constable. I have to say Mr Speaker, in my view that was deliberately deceptive and I think that was absolutely outrageous and will not go down well in terms of the people back home.
"The secretary of state has the responsibility to do something about the outrageous decisions of the Parades Commission in Northern Ireland and unless she acts there will be difficulties ahead," Mr Dodds said.
The Speaker repeatedly asked Mr Dodds to withdraw his comments, which he said were unparliamentary.
Mr Bercow told Mr Dodds: "You must withdraw the words 'deliberately deceptive'.
"It is not appropriate to accuse any member of this House of seeking to deliberately deceive or mislead it. Please withdraw the words now."
However, Mr Dodds refused to do so, telling the Speaker that "reluctantly" he could not comply with his demand.
Mr Bercow then ordered...

Summary: The DUP's Nigel Dodds has been ordered from the Commons chamber after accusing the Northern Ireland Secretary, Theresa Villiers, of "deliberate deception".
###
Article: As the Greek debt crisis continues, he told the German newspaper Der Spiegel the single currency could not survive through "fiscal discipline alone".
But he admitted the coalition had at times been too "dogmatic" in its own rhetoric on cutting spending.
Labour warned it would be "incredibly dangerous" if Greece left the eurozone.
The country is due to hold a second general election next month, after parties were unable to form a coalition government following an inconclusive result earlier this month.
There is widespread speculation that it will leave the eurozone, amid opposition to German-led demands that it cuts public spending, and default on its debts.
At the Nato summit in Chicago, Prime Minister David Cameron said he believes the Greek elections amount to a referendum on Greece's membership of the euro.
He said: "We now have to send a very clear message to people in Greece: there is a choice. You can either vote to stay in the euro, with all the commitments you've made, or if you vote another way you're effectively voting to leave."
Gavin Hewitt: Dangerous days
He warned that the eurozone had to prepare "decisive contingency action" for a possible Greek departure from the single currency.
Several eurozone economies are currently in recession, as is the UK's.
In recent days US President Barack Obama has asked European countries to focus on "jobs and growth", while French President Francois Hollande has made similar recommendations.
Speaking to Der Spiegel, Mr Clegg called for greater integration by eurozone economies, saying: "You have to have something which creates a fiscal accompaniment to monetary union.
"Whilst I have a huge amount of sympathy with German taxpayers and German politicians who are reluctant, understandably because Germany is the paymaster of the European Union, to entertain these ideas, I fear that they are unavoidable.
"It is not sustainable to believe that the eurozone can thrive through fiscal discipline alone - it also has to, at some level, include an ability to either share...

Summary: A collapse in the eurozone would create the "ideal recipe for an increase in extremism and xenophobia", Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned.
###
Article: Christopher Cambray, 42, from Shrewley in Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to six sexual offences against children. He was jailed for four years and two month at Birmingham Crown Court.
The charges included sexual activity with a child and making indecent images of children.
Cambray was an award-winning sergeant with Warwickshire Police.
As well as a custodial sentence, he was also sentenced to five years on licence and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order prohibiting unsupervised contact with any child under 18 years of age, which runs for life unless lifted by a court order.
Following his arrest in September 2014, Cambray was immediately suspended by Warwickshire Police and dismissed by Chief Constable Martin Jelley after a special case hearing in July.
Det Supt Gary Watson, of Warwickshire Police, said the force is "completely focused" on the victim, adding Cambray's actions were not representative of the behaviour of other officers.
"It is distressing for all concerned when [an officer] is found guilty of a crime that is amongst one of the most challenging and incomprehensible with which we deal," he said.
"We would like to reassure the public that the great majority of people in policing act with honesty and integrity."

Summary: A police sergeant has been jailed after admitting paying a child for sexual services.
###
Article: The group says it has 1.5 terabytes of the company's data and has posted episodes of Ballers and Room 104 online.
It added that more material would be released "soon".
HBO confirmed it had experienced a "cyber incident" in a statement.
In an email published by Entertainment Weekly, the hackers appeared to offer more details in exchange for favourable coverage.
"Hi to all mankind," they wrote. "The greatest leak of cyber space era is happening."
They encouraged recipients to download the material and added: "Whoever spreads well, we will have an interview with him."
Reports have said the allegedly stolen Game of Thrones script appears to be from the fourth episode of season seven, which is currently being broadcast.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify that the hackers possess the material they claim to have stolen.
HBO confirmed that a "cyber incident" had resulted in the compromise of information.
"We immediately began investigating the incident and are working with law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms," the firm added.
"Data protection is a top priority at HBO, and we take seriously our responsibility to protect the data we hold."
The intrusion was "obviously disruptive, unsettling, and disturbing for all of us," said chairman and chief executive Richard Plepler in an email to HBO employees.

Summary:


Plans have been unveiled for a glass lift to take tourists to the top of one of Humber Bridge's 510 ft (155m) high towers.

Article: A vial of unmatured malt from the Ardbeg Distillery on Islay was blasted up to the International Space Station in a cargo spacecraft in October 2011, along with particles of charred oak.
Scientists hope to understand how they interact at close-to-zero gravity.
It is expected to land in Kazakhstan aboard a rocket on 12 September.
The vial of Ardbeg has already been orbiting the Earth's atmosphere for 1,045 days.
Ardbeg was invited in late 2011 by Texas-based space research company NanoRacks to take part in the space experiment.
The vial, launched by Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan in late 2011, contains a class of chemical compounds known as "terpenes".
An identical bottle has been housed at the distillery on Islay to act as a control sample.
The two samples will then be reunited at a laboratory in Houston, Texas, where scientists will compare them to see what differences there are between Earth whisky and space whisky.
Bill Lumsden, Ardbeg's director of distilling and whisky creation, said: "This is one small step for man but one giant leap for whisky.
"The team hope to uncover how flavours develop in different gravitational conditions - findings which could revolutionise the whisky-making process.
"We hope to shine new light on the effect of gravity on the maturation process but who knows where it will lead us? It could be to infinity and beyond."

Summary: Whisky that was fired into space three years ago as part of a scientific experiment is to return to Earth next month.
###
Article: The Team Ireland star returned home to County Londonderry last week, fresh from success at the World Para-athletics Championships in London.
The visually impaired athlete won two golds in the T13 100m and 200m.
The 30 year old said he is aware that his career has a limited shelf life.
In an interview with the BBC's Sunday News programme, Smyth said he was delighted with his latest performance and still plans to compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
"As long as I feel I can kick on and sustain at that level, I will continue to do so, and once I get to Tokyo I'll probably reassess and see where I'm at and where the future is," he said.
The Eglinton para-athlete, however, acknowledged that he is "not getting any younger" and said he had already taken steps for life after his sporting career.
"The hard thing is that people often look at sport and think 'lots of money, flashy lifestyle', and yes, that is the case within certain sports, but a for a lot of sports that's a long way from the reality of the situation," said Smyth.
"I don't think there are a lot of things in place for athletes as they try to transition, because you give 100% to something constantly and so you have to let everything else sit on the backburner."
Far removed from his running career, he revealed that he is interested in finance, and on Monday, he is starting the first of two stints of work experience.
"One is more retail banking, and the other is more in investing and stock-broking, just to get an overview of things to see if I can gain some experience and over the next few years help me transition from sport," said Smyth.
Asked about pursuing a coaching career, he said he had not ruled it out - but added that he would like the opportunity to try something different from the life he has led so far.
"When it comes to things like coaching, there's not really the opportunities, there's no money in it," he said.
Smyth is confident that the qualities which brought him success in his professional sporting career will propel him further in...

Summary: The world's fastest paralympian, Jason Smyth, has revealed he is planning ahead for life after competitive sport, by starting work experience in the financial sector on Monday.
###
Article: Carwyn Jones said the OECD report "nails the lie that the NHS in Wales is being out-performed by England".
The Welsh Conservatives pointed out the OECD had not looked at waiting times.
Plaid Cymru said the report backed its view that local health boards were "not fit for purpose".
Mr Jones claimed David Cameron and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had "denigrated" NHS staff in Wales to gain political advantage.
He said the UK government should examine its own record on health in England.
"There is a good reason that junior doctors are not on strike in Wales," he said.
"It is because we value our NHS workforce, and work with them to modernise and bring through change.
"With a growing social care crisis in England, and the continuing doctors' strike, it is time the Tories focused on getting their own house in order.
"We accept that the NHS in Wales has challenges ahead - just like every healthcare system in Europe - and we are up for meeting that challenge.
"That is why we spend more on the NHS and on social care than in England; why access to cancer drugs is faster and why we are investing more than ever in training nurses and other NHS staff."
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said Labour needed to apologise for longer waiting times in Wales, availability of cancer treatments, and £1bn of budget cuts since 2011.
"Let's be clear - this report is not a comparison study, and it fails to take into consideration one of the most important aspects of the patient experience - waiting times," he said.
"Previous reports by the House of Commons Library, the Wales Audit Office and the Nuffield Trust have showed that spending has been slashed by Labour since 2011 and that waiting times are much longer here in Wales."
Plaid Cymru's health spokeswoman Elin Jones pointed to the OECD's criticism of the local health boards in Wales, and recommendation of "a stronger central guiding hand".
"The health board model that currently exists in Wales is too cumbersome and unwieldy, and Plaid Cymru is proposing a model to create...

Summary: NHS staff in Wales deserve an apology from the Tories, the first minister has said, after a major report said the health service was no worse in Wales than elsewhere in the UK.
###
Article: On offer, some quite repulsive fare:  burgers made of human flesh.
All rather stomach churning, even after you realise they are actually made of veal, pork and bone marrow - although the taste was based on first hand accounts of cannibalism - and were a publicity stunt to publicise a television horror show.
The event, as was intended, generated masses of coverage online, in newspapers and on television. All of it for free.
Yet the concept didn't come from a huge ad agency with a multi-million pound budget. It was the brainchild of a one woman publicity machine, London-based, Emma Thomas, who works under the title Miss Cakehead.
A couple of years earlier she went even further down the road of bad taste, organising a pop-up shop selling what appeared to be freshly-butchered human body parts. This included arms, hands, feet and even penises which in fact were crafted from prosciutto ham, pork ribs and other ordinary meat cuts.  For that, Ms Thomas wrote the press releases in her own blood.
And hers is not the only small scale business learning how to generate vast amounts of publicity by going out on a limb.
Earlier this year, New York creative partnership Thinkmodo unveiled the latest in a line of headline grabbing videos. "The Super Strong Meter Maid", has had more than  a million and a half Youtube hits and miles of column inches both in the UK and the US. As in all Thinkmodo's campaigns it relies on a carefully rigged public staging of an event that makes onlookers gasp.
In this one, publicising an online car dealership start-up, a traffic warden confronted by a rude taxi driver, picks up and moves his cab with seeming superhuman strength.
But it's rather tame compared to Thinkmodo's previous videos. One was nicknamed the "Devil Baby Attack" and was part of a promotion for horror film, "Devil's Due." The stunt featured a pram with a doll inside which cried and then, when approached, rose up suddenly and vomited.  Another involved turning a cafe upside down, as an actor, posing as a customer, was apparently...

Summary: If you were walking down Brick Lane in East London this time last year I can guarantee you would remember one particular stall.
###
Article: The airport operator raised an action against the council over work at Sumburgh Airport.
It had contracted the council to provide engineering works and services for a runway extension project.
The Court of Session has ruled that HIAL had not left it too late to make a claim for payment.
The council said it now expects the case to go to a full hearing.
The court action raised in 2011 originally sought declarations that there had been a breach of contract.
It alleged defects had arisen and not been remedied.
There was no conclusion for damages. HIAL maintained the extent of the alleged loss could not properly be assessed.
But it added a further amendment later seeking payment of £14.2m plus interest from the council.
Shetland Islands Council maintained the claim for payment came too late.
But judge Lady Scott said the terms of the action gave fair notice of the claim to the council.
Lord President Lord Gill, sitting with Lord Menzies and Lord Drummond Young, have now rejected the council's challenge to that ruling.
Lord Gill said: "It is not disputed that if the claim can be said to have been made only when the amendment was allowed, the claim has prescribed.
"The short question therefore is whether the declaratory conclusions in this action constituted the making of a relevant claim."
He added: "On a fair reading, the summons left the defender (the council) in no doubt that a claim was being made, that it was a claim for payment and that precise quantification of it would follow in due course.
"It was plainly a claim in part-implement of the defender's alleged obligations, being a definitive step in the process of enforcing them."
Shetland Islands Council said the case was now likely to proceed to a full hearing.
In a statement, it said: "The appeal court in Edinburgh has ruled against Shetland Islands Council in a technical legal matter over the Sumburgh airport runway extension dispute with Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.
"The issue before the Court of Session was whether or not the airport authority...

Summary: Shetland Islands Council has lost the latest stage of a court action in a £14.2m dispute with Highlands and Islands Airports (HIAL).
###
Article: The proposed tourist development would also include a visitors' centre and hotel, with a restaurant overlooking the water.
The Humber Bridge Board said it hoped to submit a planning application by the end of the month.
If approved the new centre could be open at the end of 2017.
The proposal would see visitors travelling under the bridge in a glass gondola before changing to a glass lift to ride to a platform on the top of the North tower.
Construction began in July 1972, taking eight years to complete
It is held up by 44,117 miles (71,000km) of steel wire, almost enough to travel twice around the world
The bridge is 7,283 ft (2,220 m) long from shore to shore
It weighs more than 500,000 tonnes
With a central span of 4,626 ft (1,410m), it is the seventh longest suspension bridge in the world
It was officially opened by HM the Queen on 17 July 1981
Source: Humber Bridge Board
Bridge Master Peter Hill said the scheme was about "making the best of what we've got".
"People have for years had wanted to get more access to their bridge, so we're going to make it happen, " he said.
Mr Hill said the project would be financed by the bridge board but "would not be funded from bridge tolls".
A public exhibition of the proposals has gone on display at the bridge.

Summary:


Scientists have used a gene-editing tool to stunt tumour growth in mice.

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: Dave Sykes, from Dewsbury, has landed at Truscott on Australia's north west coast 103 days after leaving Yorkshire.
Mr Sykes, who broke his back in a motorbike accident in 1993, is thought to be the first paraplegic to fly from England to Australia in a microlight.
Mr Sykes, 43, used the 12,000 mile journey to help raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Speaking to ABC News in Darwin, Mr Sykes said it had not been an easy journey.
"It's been really difficult at times with the bad weather, permissions holding me up and things going wrong with the aircraft," he said.
In November 1993, a motorbike accident left Mr Sykes with a broken back, clavicle and thigh bone, together with broken ribs and punctured lungs.
However, he was released from hospital in May 1994 after doctors had said he would remain there for at least two years.
Mr Sykes took up microlighting in 2000 and gained his pilot's licence in 2001.
He said: "I started flying 10 years ago and saw a video of a guy who flew around the world.
"I've always wanted to do something similar so I decided on Australia because I couldn't afford to fly around the world."
Mr Sykes now plans to fly to Sydney in his microlight.

Summary: A paraplegic microlight pilot from West Yorkshire has reached Australia after a three-month solo flight from England.
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Article: Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) expert Matthew Oliver grew the gourd from a seed which cost Â£1,250 and came from the current world record holder.
His pumpkin's weight was confirmed as 95st (605kg) at the weekend.
"Unfortunately giant pumpkins are not known for their culinary properties," a spokeswoman for the RHS said. "So we will be making this one into a boat."
Horticulturalist Mr Oliver, from Essex, said he was "over the moon" at the weekend when his fruit's credentials were confirmed at the Autumn Pumpkin Festival in Southampton.
The spokeswoman for the RHS said the pumpkin would be on display at Hyde Hall, near South Woodham Ferrers, where Mr Oliver works, between 22 and 30 October before its floating credentials were tested.
"We will cut a lid off, hollow it out, pop an external motor on it and send Matthew Oliver into the middle of the lake at the RHS Garden Hyde Hall," she said.
The parent pumpkin was grown in Switzerland in 2014 by Beni Meier, who still holds the world record for the heaviest gourd, at 166st (1,054kg).
Mr Oliver's pumpkin seed, which was bought by Ipswich-based seed company Thompson and Morgan, was planted in mid April. He said it took six days to germinate before becoming a "vigorous grower".

Summary: A giant pumpkin which set a new record for the UK's heaviest to be grown outdoors is to be turned into a boat.
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Article: He announced four options for "English votes for English laws" in Parliament, including giving English MPs enhanced scrutiny and a veto over new laws.
He said new arrangements for England were a "fundamental issue of fairness".
But Labour said the plans, which follow the pledge of new powers for Scotland, were a "backroom stitch-up".
Plaid Cymru said the principles involved were "reasonable" but it would be "unjust" if Welsh MPs were unable to vote on laws which affected funding for Wales under the existing Barnett formula.
The options announced by Mr Hague in a Commons statement include three Conservative proposals and one Lib Dem suggestion. They are:
Many Conservatives argue that it is unfair that Scottish MPs should currently help decide how things such as schools and the health service are run in England when English MPs have no such say over how they are run in Scotland.
"Devolution to other parts of the United Kingdom has created the situation in which MPs representing constituencies outside England may vote on legislation which does not affect their constituents while English MPs are not able to influence these policies in other nations where they are devolved," Mr Hague said.
The Commons leader said the proposals built on the recommendations of last year's McKay Commission, which supported the principle that Commons decisions with a "separate and distinct effect" for England should "normally be taken only with the consent of a majority of MPs sitting for constituencies in England".
Analysis by UK editor Mark Easton
It all sounds so straightforward - only English MPs should vote on matters that affect only England. But defining an English law is far from easy.
For a start, any law that involves government departments spending extra money in England, or which reduces the amount of money spent in England, will have a knock-on impact on how much money other parts of the United Kingdom receive under the Barnett formula - the system for allocating Treasury funds to devolved administrations.
How much...

Summary: Commons Leader William Hague has said legislation affecting just England should only be passed "with the consent of the majority" of English MPs.
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Article: Lee Jefferies-Jones, 31, stabbed three people in the attack on a street in Yeovil, Somerset, last June.
Jefferies-Jones, who was told he would serve at least 10 years, shouted "I'm going to kill 20 people" as he went on the rampage, Taunton Crown Court heard.
The attacks only stopped when one of his victims overpowered him and held him until police arrived.
Jefferies-Jones, of no fixed address, had already pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted murder, one of wounding with intent and one of attempted wounding at an earlier hearing.
The court heard he was suffering from mental health problems, had a personality disorder and was addicted to drugs when the the attack took place in King Arthur's Drive.
Judge Jamie Tabor QC said Jefferies-Jones was a "danger to the public".

Summary: A man who carried out a series of unprovoked knife attacks on members of the public has been jailed for life.
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Article: Crispr-Cas9 replaces harmful DNA with new code that kills cancerous cells while leaving healthy ones unharmed.
Mice with the reprogrammed code developed tumours that were much smaller than cancers in mice that did not get this treatment.
Experts call the study, in Nature Methods, promising but say it is unclear yet whether the technique would work in humans.
Dr Weiren Huang, from the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, in China, and colleagues used Crispr-Cas9 to reprogram a cell-signalling pathway that would normally feed tumour growth in mice.
How gene editing works
Gene editing: A game-changer
Crispr-Cas9 is a DNA cutting and pasting system scientists have borrowed from nature.
Bacteria use it to protect themselves against foreign DNA from viruses.
Scientists have already begun using it in the lab to target and cut out faulty DNA in human cells that cause illnesses.
But it is not without risks.
While effective, the editing process is less than perfect and can cut out too much DNA.
These unwanted or "off-target" edits could alter other important genes, inadvertently triggering cancer, for example.
Dr Chris Lord, a gene expert at the Institute of Cancer Research, said: ""The key to translating this technique into the clinic will be to see how specific to the tumour cell the Crispr activation will be and how specific, in terms of genes, the Crispr-mediated gene cutting will be.
"These are essentially the same two issues you have with all cancer treatments - how specific for the tumour cell and how specific for the target."

Summary:


There has been a dramatic rise in the number of technology patents filed that relate to reading brainwaves.

Article: The institution spent £168,747.16 on Prof John Hughes' house between 2010 and 2015.
The NUS said it was wrong that, "those who get paid the most money also get the greatest perks".
The university said it owned the building, and that it was a, "normal arrangement".
Freedom of information (FOI) figures reveal that the institution spent almost £130,000 refurbishing the house.
Payments for new furniture include £2,080 for a Laura Ashley bedframe and mattress, £1,289 for Laura Ashley curtains, as well as £1,499 for a sideboard.
Prof Hughes' broadband and telephone bills are also covered.
The university bought the residence for £475,000 in 2010 when Prof Hughes took up his position.
Fflur Elin, Bangor NUS president, said: "Is it right that people who get paid the most also get the most perks?
"Nobody has done anything illegal. But we should be moving to a system where this doesn't happen.
A Bangor University spokesman said a June 2011 independent report valued the property at £750,000 at that time.
They added: "The university has invested in a house for the vice-chancellor which is also used for events and meetings with the vice-chancellor.
"This is a normal arrangement for universities and the university own the house.
"It's important to note that the house is a university asset like many other buildings and can be sold at any point in the future, should the university wish to do so.
"During the same period, the university has also invested over £100 million in facilities for students at Bangor."

Summary: Bangor University has been criticised for spending over £150,000 refurbishing and furnishing its vice-chancellor's home.
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Article: In the past 542 million years, the average size of a marine animals has gone up by a factor of 150.
New research suggests bulkier animals generally fare better at sea.
Today's tiniest sea creature - with a body covered in a hard shall - is less than 10 times smaller than those from hundreds of millions of years ago, when measured in terms of volume.
At the other end of the scale, the mighty blue whale is more than 100,000 times the size of the largest animal 542 million years ago.
This was a crustacean with a clam-like, hinged shell.
The idea that natural selection could make animals gradually gain weight over millions of years isn't new.
The American fossil specialist Edward Drinker Cope - who was a 19th-Century palaeontologist - who examined fossils, found that the ancient ancestors of modern mammals were often smaller.
For example horses, can be traced a dog-sized animal from 50 million years ago.
But this pattern isn't the same across the whole animal kingdom.
Most groups of dinosaurs got bigger until they died out - but the birds that evolved from them, grew smaller and lighter because they needed to fly quicker.
Dr Noel Heim, from Stanford University in California, wanted to test Cope's findings in the vast realm of the ocean.
For five years he got dozens of workmates, students and even high school pupils, to look through all the scientific record for body size data.
They also measured hundreds of illustrations from old books about fossils.
Eventually they put together information on more than 17,000 groups of species, called genera. That's over 60% of all the animal genera ever to have lived.
This information showed animals were getting bigger and bigger over time.
The team also wanted to work out whether their massive size was driven by evolution, or was simply a matter of chance.
They put their size data from the oldest animals into a computer model where each species could die out, stay the same, get bigger or smaller.
The results that best matched the real fossil history was one where animals were...

Summary: Sea creatures in all our oceans are getting bigger.
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Article: The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) said it saw a 7.2% increase across all its UK sites last year but Scotland went up 15.6%.
The 10 most popular sites in the UK were all in London.
The National Museum of Scotland, which opened 10 new galleries in 2016, was the most-visited attraction in Scotland, with 1.8 million visitors.
It was the most popular museum outside London and 15th on the UK visitor attraction list, one place above Edinburgh Castle.
The castle was the most-visited paid-for attraction in Scotland, with 1,778,548 visitors, up 13%.
The Scottish National Gallery was at 18 on the UK-wide list.
Glasgow attractions the Kelvingrove Museum and the Riverside Museum were at 24 and 25 on the ALVA list.
The first visitor attraction outside Glasgow and Edinburgh was Stirling Castle at 68, with 481,970 visitors.
Bernard Donoghue, director of ALVA, said: "Like the 2015 figures, Scotland has continued to outperform the rest of the UK with a substantial increase in their visitor numbers.
"2016 was a great year for Scottish Tourism - proving that Scotland is reaping the benefits of significant capital investment in attractions and creative programming by its institutions."
Scottish government Tourism Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "As these figures illustrate, this has been a record year for Scotland's leading visitor attractions.
"Our wide range of attractions and excellent heritage and museum collections continue to provide high-quality and exciting experiences, both to people who live here, and to our visitors.
"The success of our leading visitor attractions will continue to play a vital role in making Scotland a destination of first choice for visitors from the UK and across the world."

Summary: Scottish leading visitor attractions "outperformed" the UK average last year, according to new figures.
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Article: The suggestion is in a discussion document launched at Stormont by Unite.
It says the Executive has "considerable unused borrowing powers" of about Â£1.2bn that could be used to fund a public sector investment programme.
The document also calls on London "to provide special support for Northern Ireland."
Unite's Ireland secretary Jimmy Kelly said: "Unite recognises that the NI Executive is facing significant budgetary constraints as a result of Conservative austerity cuts.
"But there are always choices. We want to start a dialogue about those choices."
Other proposals in the document which is entitled Growing the Economy & Living Standards are:
Unite said its ideas are "realistic and realisable", but it warned against "brutal cuts to the public sector" as a way of rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy.
"Our paper identifies some options for a more proactive approach to growing the economy," Mr Kelly said.
"The Executive needs to investigate options to invest to grow a high-value added, outward looking, export-oriented economy based on a strong manufacturing sector, a robust skills-base and world-class infrastructure."

Summary: The Northern Ireland Executive needs to borrow more money to boost the economy, according to proposals from Britain's biggest union.
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Article: Many are in prison or have fled abroad, while others are restricting their activism to social media.
Pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison last February for violating a 2013 anti-protest law.
He was a leading secular figure in the 2011 uprising. Since his imprisonment, calls for his release have regularly trended on social media.
His mother, Laila Soueif, says her son "feels very upset for his son, family and what is happening in the country".
"None of the goals of the revolution have been achieved," Mrs Soueif explains. "The current regime is the most abusive Egypt has ever seen."
Ahmed Douma also played a key role in the uprising and was jailed for life in February after being convicted of rioting, inciting violence and attacking security forces.
He was already serving a three-year prison sentence for organising protests without a permit.
His wife, Nurhan Hifzi, says he is "frustrated after spending two years in jail", but still believes in the "dream of change".
Wael Ghonim is an activist who has found refuge by leaving Egypt.
The former Google executive was seen as the man who helped trigger the uprising with the "We Are All Khaled Said" Facebook page, which called for demonstrations in January 2011 to protest against the beating to death of a man by two plainclothes police officers the previous June.
Despite his role, Mr Ghonim left Egypt after the fall of Mubarak and stayed out of the spotlight.
"Unfortunately, the post-revolution events were like a punch in the gut," he says.
The situation worsened after the overthrow by the military of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013, Mr Ghonim adds.
"It was a moment of defeat... I stayed silent for more than two years."
Mr Ghonim lives in the US and recently set up an online platform with an anti-government stance.
Another face from 2011 is Esraa Abdel Fattah, a co-founder of the 6 April Movement that was at the forefront of the 2011 uprising.
"Five years after the revolution, some people consider us as traitors and agents,"...

Summary: Five years on, the activists who spearheaded the protests in Egypt that led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak have met different fates.
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Article: Fewer than 400 so-called neuro-technology patents a year had been filed in 2000-09, research company SharpBrains said. But that had doubled to 800 in 2010. And 1,600 such patents had been lodged in the US in 2014.
Research company Nielsen holds the most neuro-technology patents - with 100.
Microsoft holds 89 patents for software that can assess mental states.
The expansion into non-medical uses represented a dawn of the "pervasive neuro-technology age", said SharpBrains chief executive Alvaro Fernandez.
"Neuro-tech has gone well beyond medicine, with non-medical corporations, often under the radar, developing neuro-technologies to enhance work and life," he added.
There has been a rise in the number of companies such as Thync, a start-up working to connect to the brain sensors that can alter mood in the same way as a coffee or energy drink.
And there are moves afoot to come up with ways of controlling video games via brainwaves - such as a collaboration between EEG headset-maker Emotiv and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
There are also plenty of so-called neuro-marketing companies using with Electroencephalography (EEG) - a way of recording the electrical activity of the brain by placing sensors on the scalp - to try to find out what someone thinks about a new product or advert.
Matt Wall, of the Centre for Imaging Science, at Hammersmith Hospital, said: "There probably are some decent companies doing work in that space, but there are a massive number of neuro-marketing companies that have sprung up in the last few years.
"Because of the wide availability and low-cost of the EEG hardware these days, they all seek to define their [unique selling point] and intellectual property (ie patents) based on their fancy analysis techniques and claim to measure things like 'engagement' or 'interest' from EEG signals.
"Any EEG researcher knows this is absolute rubbish, but they do succeed in producing fancy sciencey-looking graphs and results that appear convincing enough for the marketing...

Summary:


A town centre footfall study in the Borders has recorded a 6% rise across eight main towns in the region in 2015 compared with the previous year.

Article: Anthony Osmond, 52, of Velindre, Carmarthenshire, admitted unlawfully wounding Gareth Jones after he started dating his daughter Oasis, 20.
Swansea Crown Court heard Mr Jones, 29, needed surgery in September 2015 to repair a cut to his heart.
Osmond fled but was caught by police.
Helen Randall, prosecuting, told the court the couple kept their relationship secret at first because Osmond was "overprotective and obsessed with Oasis".
When they eventually met, Osmond and Mr Jones got into a fight at the Nags Head pub in Pembrokeshire, and Osmond stabbed him with a 15cm-long (6in) kitchen knife.
Osmond made off in his car and police later stopped him as he approached the Second Severn Crossing in Monmouthshire.
During police interviews, Osmond told officers he did not think Mr Jones was "appropriate" for Oasis.
Janet Gedrych, defending, said Osmond had not picked up the knife deliberately and was "devastated at how close he came to killing that young man".

Summary: An "overprotective" father who stabbed his stepdaughter's new boyfriend in the chest because he did not approve of him, has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
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Article: John Akomfrah was chosen for his "substantial body of outstanding work" over a number of years, including his latest video installation Auto Da Fé.
The international prize was awarded in Cardiff, where an exhibition of the six shortlisted artists is being held.
London-based Akomfrah said he was "absolutely touched" by the award.
The Ghanaian-born filmmaker is founder of the Black Audio Film Collective, whose work has involved use of archive film, newsreel and still photos.
The winning video installation, which lasts 40 minutes over two screens at National Museum Wales, was inspired while he was teaching in Barbados in 2009.
Akomfrah, 59, saw a cemetery containing 17th Century graves of Sephardic Jewish refugees who had fled Brazil.
"I was asking 'how did they get here?'" he said.
Themes of migration and global politics dominated the shortlist for the seventh biannual prize.
Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams, whose giant video installation imagined a futuristic city built on the slopes of Cadair Idris, won The Derek Williams Trust Purchase Award.
Williams' entry, Tyrrau Mawr, will now be added to National Museum Wales' permanent collection.
Karen Mackinnon, Artes Mundi director said: "The judges felt that all the shortlisted artists showed outstanding work.
"However the prize is awarded not just for the work in the exhibition but for the continued excellence of their practice over the past eight years.
"The Artes Mundi 7 Prize was awarded for Akomfrah's presentation of Auto Da Fé and for a substantial body of outstanding work dealing with issues of migration, racism and religious persecution. To speak of these things in this particular moment feels more important than ever."
The filmmaker came to prominence in the mid 1980s for his award-winning documentary for Channel Four, Handsworth Songs, made in the aftermath of riots in that district of Birmingham.
As well as films examining black British identity and the migrant experience in the UK, Akomfrah has directed documentaries on Louis Armstrong and Martin Luther...

Summary: The £40,000 Artes Mundi contemporary art prize has been won by a filmmaker inspired by migration and religious persecution over four centuries.
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Article: Orion is Nasa's next-generation astronaut vehicle, which will take humans to Mars and other destinations.
The American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is developing the front section, which includes the crew capsule.
The structural test article, despatched by Airbus, will be used to check the overall design is on track.
It is the first time the US has gone outside its territory for a key component of an astronaut transportation system.
Engineers are working towards an unmanned demonstration flight in 2018, and a first crewed outing no later than April 2023.
The European Space Agency's contribution - being primed industrially by Airbus - is what is called the "service module".
This is the element that pushes Orion through space after coming off the top of the launch rocket.
It also provides the electrical power, and holds the air and water needed by the crew in their protective capsule.
The structural test article is an exact replica of the eventual module - but without the final functionality.
It has gone from Airbus's subcontractor on the project, Thales Alenia Apace in Italy, to Nasa's Plum Brook Station in Ohio where it will be evaluated.
The module's mass and interfaces with the American element will need to be checked.
The article will also be loaded and stressed to ensure it can handle the intense vibrations of launch.
Any lessons learned will then be fed back into the fully functional flight hardware being made ready for 2018.
That mission will see the debut of Nasa's new "monster rocket" - the Space Launch System.
It will send the complete Orion system on a trip around the Moon.
The capsule itself has already had one demonstration trip into space - in December 2014, again with no-one onboard.
On that occasion, the service module was a dummy used just to replicate the size and shape of the real element.
Europe's design for the future service module borrows heavily from the unmanned cargo truck it used to re-supply the space station.
At one time, Europe thought of adapting this vessel into a human...

Summary: The test model for what will become the European-built "back end" of America's Orion spaceship has been despatched to the US.
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Article: The study, led by the University of Hull, studied sightings and population numbers for creatures introduced into Britain over the last 150 years.
It found 13,000 yellow-tailed scorpions and between 30,000 and 50,000 ring-necked parakeets in south-east England.
About 10 coatis, which are also known as Brazilian aardvarks, and about 20 snapping turtles were also found.
The coatis, which are members of the racoon family and hail from North America, are thought to be living wild in Cumbria.
The snapping turtles, also from North America, are believed to be living in parts of Kent, London, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
The scorpions originate from north-west Africa and southern Europe and the ring-necked parakeets come from Africa and Asia.
Report author Dr Toni Bunnell, of the University of Hull, said it was thought some of the animals had originally been kept as pets but were released when their owners could no longer look after them.
"If you get enough turfed out in the same area and they can survive and the habitat suits them, then you have got a breeding population. That seems to be what's happening."
She added that other species were thought to have escaped from private collections.
The report was commissioned by the Eden television channel.

Summary: Scorpions, parakeets and turtles have all been found living wild in the UK, according to a new study.
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Article: Prosthetic limbs, a living room carpet and even a box of maggots are some of the things Jean Scott has witnessed people leaving behind on First Glasgow buses over the years.
The 59-year-old is shortlisted for an Unsung Hero title in the UK Bus Awards.
The event highlights the achievements of those working in the bus industry.
In total, 97 finalists have been selected from more than 250 entries across 19 categories and winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony next week.
Ms Scott, who has worked for more than 37 years in the bus industry, said: "You wouldn't believe what I've seen over the years.
"I remember when I opened a fisherman's bag and discovered tubs of worms which I later released in the park. Once we even managed to return a lost suitcase to Australia.
"Being nominated for this award is very humbling, I just love doing my job and I get great satisfaction returning as many lost belongings to our customers as I possibly can."
Fiona Kerr, managing director for First Glasgow, said: "We're delighted that Jean has been shortlisted for this prestigious award. It's clear recognition of her hard work and dedication to reuniting our customers with their lost property items."

Summary: A woman who works in the lost property office of a bus company has been nominated for an award for her efforts in reuniting people with missing items.
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Article: Kelso, Galashiels, Peebles, Hawick, Selkirk and Eyemouth saw increases but numbers fell in Duns and Jedburgh.
Figures in Melrose also rose sharply compared with 2014 but exceptionally low levels were recorded that year due to "atrocious weather".
Councillor Stuart Bell said it was "pleasing" to see numbers rising.
A survey has been carried out across the region since 2007.
The latest figures were collected during September and October 2015 with the rise in the region higher than the Scottish average of 2%.
Last year numbers fell by 11% but this was largely blamed on the very low levels recorded in Melrose.
Mr Bell said: "These figures are only ever going to give us a snapshot of a short period of time and can fluctuate depending on weather, however it is pleasing to see that overall average footfall has increased and the figures for several towns are particularly encouraging.
"We need to build on these increases in footfall and the council, partner and community organisations and businesses can all play their part in that, making our town centres as attractive as possible to local shoppers and visitors to the Borders.
"This study started in 2007 and has in effect charted the impact of the recession and increase in internet shopping on our town centres, which largely accounts for the 23% reduction in footfall over that period."
He said the issues were not unique to the Borders and would remain challenges in the longer term.

Summary: