The government's immigration cap on skilled workers has had no effect on bringing down net migration and is not "fit for purpose", MPs say.

Article: There were 1,874 repossession court cases started in 2015-16 - 82% fewer than in 2008-2009.
The latest Civil Justice Statistics also showed that the number of divorces in Scotland was it its lowest for almost 40 years.
There were a total of 77,721 civil law cases in 2015-16.
The number of cases has been roughly similar over the last three years, but is 41% fewer than in 2008-2009.
Last year there were 8,875 divorces, the lowest number recorded in Scotland since 1979.
Divorces and dissolutions made up 95% of the 12,892 family cases started in 2015-16, an overall figure which has fallen by 13% since 2008-2009.
Legal Affairs Minister Annabelle Ewing said: "I am pleased there has been such a dramatic fall in the number of people seeing their homes being repossessed, which continues a longer term downward trend.
"This is thanks largely to historically low interest rates and is a positive indicator of Scotland's general economic picture.
"The overall number of civil cases, which includes debt, damages and personal injury has fallen by over 40% in just seven years which is very encouraging."

Summary: The number of home repossession cases going through Scottish courts has fallen by more than 40% in a year, according to government figures.
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Article: The revision still indicates that the world's biggest economy is growing healthily.
Earlier this month, the US central bank raised interest rates for the first time in nine years amid optimism over the country's economic strength.
Strong consumer spending offset high stocks of goods.
Inventories reached record levels in the US in the first half of the year and high stocks mean manufacturers replace these unsold items at a slower rate.
Consumer spending, by far the largest element of the US economy, grew by 3% in the third quarter.
The latest growth estimate from the Commerce Department is the third for the July-to-September period.
The pace is almost half the 3.9% annualised rate recorded in the second quarter of the year, but that rate was boosted by businesses catching up ground lost during the cold winter weather at the start of 2015.
Last week, the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points to between 0.25% and 0.5%.
The Fed accompanied its rate rise with a forecast that the US economy would grow by 2.4% next year.

Summary: The US economy grew at an annual pace of 2.0% in the third quarter, according to official figures, slightly slower than the previous estimate of 2.1%.
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Article: University of Aberdeen researchers, who developed the tool, said it would help couples shape their expectations and plan their treatments.
The online calculator is based on data from more than 113,000 women who have gone through IVF.
A woman's age is the most important factor in her chances of having a baby.
After the age of 30, a couple's chances start to decline and keep on decreasing the longer the woman is unable to conceive.
There are other calculators that predict IVF success, but this is the first to give estimates for up to six IVF cycles and factor in the use of frozen embryos.
Couples can find out their chances both before and after their first IVF treatment - depending on the number of eggs that are collected, the health of the embryos transferred and the number of embryos collected for freezing.
Based on this information, a couples' chances can then be adjusted for further future cycles.
David McLernon, research fellow in medical statistics at the University of Aberdeen, spent four years setting up the calculator using data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which collects information on all licensed fertility treatments in the UK.
He said the calculator should not be used by couples to decide whether or not they should have IVF treatment.
Instead, he said, it would help "keep them better informed and help them prepare emotionally and financially for their treatments".
And he said the tool could be used by clinicians, funders and policymakers too.
Mr McLernon's research in developing the calculator was not able to account take account of the woman's BMI, ethnicity, smoking status or alcohol intake in calculating IVF success - which can also affect fertility.
Susan Seenan, chief executive of patient charity Fertility Network UK said she hoped the calculator, which they helped develop, would help patients make more informed decisions about their fertility treatment.
But she added: "It is important to stress that the calculator should not be used in isolation. Anyone considering...

Summary: Couples can find out their chances of having a baby over multiple cycles of IVF treatment, using a new online calculator.
###
Article: Within a few months she was hooked.
"I loved it but it didn't love me back," says Laura, not her real name, a wobble of emotion in her voice. She is now 25.
At her peak she was losing about A$5,000 ($3,650; Â£2,350) a month.
"It would be basically all the money I had until my last dollar was gone."
Laura had a decent job but she would pour all of her salary into the pokies and then borrow from friends and relatives to gamble more.
"I lost my relationship. I lost my job. I went to pretty desperate measures to fund my gambling."
Laura is far from alone. Australians are officially the world's biggest gamblers, with each adult losing on average more than A$1,380 a year.
That is double the amount lost by Americans and almost three times as much as the British.
"Australians lose more per head than any other country in the world," says Dr Sally Gainsbury from the Centre for Gambling Research at Southern Cross University.
"Australia definitely has a gambling problem," she says.
"One percent of adults have a serious gambling problem which is actually a clinical disorder. Four percent of adults have moderate gambling problems and eight percent a low range of gambling problems."
That means it is estimated there are a staggering half a million Australians at risk from problem gambling.
By far the biggest problem is slot machines, of which there are more than 200,000 across Australia.
"Pokies are the biggest revenue generator," says Dr Gainsbury. "Around two-thirds of all gambling losses are through the pokies and in Australia that amounts to around A$9.8bn a year."
It is incredibly easy to gamble in Australia. There are pokies in just about every pub or bar.
Many pubs contain betting shops, where punters are able to gamble and drink at the same time, and there's nearly always a handily placed cash machine near by, often even in the pub itself.
"My partner used to say it was like I was hypnotised," says Laura.
"I was chasing the adrenalin of having a big win. There was just something about the lights and the sounds of the...

Summary: Laura began gambling on slot machines, or pokies as they are known in Australia, when she was 20 years old.
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Article: The Melbourne Cup may be Australia's most prestigious horse race, but it's also one of the nation's biggest parties, and a free flow of alcohol across many hours can take its toll on some.
The crowd at this year's event was well-behaved. Only six people of the 94,000 who attended were arrested, and three of those were protesters who tried to interrupt the race.
But revellers made the most of the public holiday, drinking into the afternoon and finding some novel ways to entertain themselves between races.

Summary: It begins with fascinators, frocks and top hats, and ends with rubbish piles, seagulls and a bit of bruised dignity.
###
Article: While it limits recruitment from outside the EU, it has "stimulated recruitment" from EU countries, the home affairs select committee said.
Net migration rose by 30% in the year to June, to 336,000 - more than three times David Cameron's intended target.
The PM has said he will not abandon his aim to reduce the figure to 100,000.
Under the immigration cap, introduced in 2011, the number of "tier 2" visas issued to skilled workers from non-EU countries is limited to 20,700 a year.
But a report by the select committee concluded the limit had been "counter-productive".
It added that "a large number" of applications from nurses with job offers in the UK were being rejected because of limits on the number of visas issued each month.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz said the government's immigration cap was having "no effect" on bringing down net migration - the difference between those coming into the country and those going out each year - but "could have caused a crisis in the NHS this winter".
He said: "When the cap was reached earlier this year, we saw the perverse effects of the system, as the cap prioritises higher-paid jobs.
"In June, nurses were being prevented from working in the UK, which necessitated the government taking emergency measures to allow recruitment to continue.
"Whilst this was a very welcome move, it is clear to see that the system could have caused a crisis in the NHS this winter.
"A system which encourages panicked adjustments to be functional is not fit for purpose. Nurses should remain on the shortage occupation list."
A total of 641,000 people moved to the UK in 2014, the Office for National Statistics said.

Summary:


A man caught at Edinburgh Airport with knives, knuckledusters and CS gas canisters in his luggage has been jailed for three years.

Article: Tate said there had been 143,000 visits since the revamped and expanded modern art gallery opened on Friday.
On Saturday alone there were more than 54,000 visits - around double the usual visitor number and the highest ever attendance for a single day.
A new extension, a pyramid-like tower called the Switch House, increases the size of Tate Modern by 60%.
The structure, boasting panoramic views of London, was part of a Â£260m redevelopment project.
"We are absolutely delighted that so many visitors experienced the new galleries and performances at Tate Modern over the opening weekend," said Frances Morris, Tate Modern's director.
"Although we have almost doubled the number of regular visitors to the galleries during our opening weekend, we have space for it to feel comfortable even when busy.
"There has been a tremendous response from the public and we look forward to welcoming many more visitors over the coming months."
A weekend of special events to celebrate the opening included a specially-commissioned choral work by artist Peter Liversidge, performed on Saturday by more than 500 singers from community choirs across London.
Tate Modern's relaunch is accompanied by a complete rehang of the gallery's artworks which showcase more than 300 artists from about 50 countries. Half of the solo displays are dedicated to women artists.

Summary: A record number of people have visited the new Tate Modern in London in its opening weekend.
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Article: The BBC's online archive RemArc helps stimulates conversations between people with dementia and their carers.
It draws on photos, music, spoken word recordings and film from 1940 to 1980.
The universities' team advised on making best use of the archive with regard to psychology, design, and software engineering.
People with dementia can choose their own conversational path triggered by what is on the screen during the 20-minute sessions.
Dr Norman Alm from the Dundee and St Andrews computer interactive reminiscence and conversation aid (Circa) team said one of dementia's most distressing aspects was the inability of some patients to carry out simple conversations with relatives and carers.
He said: "With depleted short-term memory, people with dementia tend to repeat themselves endlessly and are unable to participate in a conversation.
"However, their long-term memories can be relatively well preserved. If the person's long-term memories can be prompted, they are able to enjoy relating events from their past."
Dr Alm said that while it was possible for someone well-acquainted with the person's past to support them telling their stories, it can be "hard work."
He said: "We have devised ways in which the person with dementia and their carers can again enjoy a conversation, by having easy access to a carefully-designed structure holding a rich array of reminiscence content."
The BBC has made the software behind it open-source, meaning that archives and museums around the world could provide a similar service using their own material.
Jake Berger, from the BBC's archive development team, said: "We hope that amongst the 1,500 items from our archives that are available on RemArc, there will be something that triggers a reminiscence for everyone.
"Dr Alm and colleagues from the universities of Dundee and St Andrews have spent many years working in the area and we benefited hugely from their knowledge, experience and passion."

Summary: The BBC's archive is helping trigger memories among dementia patients with help from Dundee and St Andrews universities' researchers.
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Article: A signal confirming its alert status was received by controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, at 18:17 GMT.
Rosetta has spent the past 31 months in hibernation to conserve power as it arced beyond the orbit of Jupiter on a path that should take it to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August.
Engineers will now finesse the probe's trajectory and prepare its instruments for the daring encounter.
One of the highlights of the mission will be the attempt to put a small robotic lander, Philae, on the surface of the 4.5km-wide comet. This will occur in November.
There were nail-biting moments in the Darmstadt control room as its flight engineers waited for the signal to come through. Three quarters of the way through the hour-long window of opportunity, they got what they were waiting for.
Gerhard Schwehm, mission manager for Rosetta, said: "After 31 months in hibernation, what is 45 minutes to wait?"
Andrea Accomazzo, the spacecraft operations manager, said: "I think it was the longest hour of my life, but also one of the most rewarding."
Monday's message, when it arrived, was a simple one - just a spike on the screens here at the European Space Agency's operations centre.
It was picked up in California by a 70m dish belonging to the US space agency, and then routed to Germany.
The signal contained no spacecraft telemetry, but its mere receipt from 800 million km away confirmed to controllers that Rosetta's automated systems were operating as expected.
In the coming hours and days, the Darmstadt team will talk to Rosetta to establish the full status of its systems.
It will be a slow process. The huge distance between the probe and Earth mean telecommands have a one-way travel time of 45 minutes.
Rosetta was put into hibernation in June 2011 because its trajectory through the Solar System was about to take it so far from the Sun that its solar panels would harvest minimal energy. The decision was therefore taken to put the spacecraft in a deep sleep.
Now that it is arcing back towards the Sun, more power is becoming...

Summary: Rosetta, Europe's comet-chasing spacecraft, has woken from its slumber.
###
Article: Parties have until Monday 27 March to reach a deal, or voters will face the prospect of going back to the polls for a second snap election within months.
Mr Adams was speaking at a Sinn Féin meeting in Newry on Wednesday evening.
"There cannot be continuous negotiation and re-negotiation of agreements already made," he said.
"So Sinn Féin is opposed to any extension of Monday's deadline.
"It is possible for agreement to be reached in the coming days," he added.
The assembly election held at the beginning of March saw an end to the unionist majority at Stormont, with Sinn Féin now holding just one seat fewer than the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
That election was held just 10 months after the previous one in May 2016.
Stormont's previous power-sharing government collapsed in January after Northern Ireland's then deputy first minister, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, resigned.
He stepped down after a row between Sinn Féin and the DUP over a green energy scheme scandal - the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
Mr McGuinness died on Tuesday after a short illness and his funeral will be held on Thursday.
Under Northern Ireland's power-sharing agreement, the executive must be jointly run by unionists and nationalists, with the largest party being invited to put forward a candidate for first minister.
Ultimately, if there is no agreement on forming an executive, direct rule from the UK parliament at Westminster could return for the first time in a decade.
However, Mr Adams also spoke out against any suspension of the assembly, in the event the parties fail to come to an agreement on the formation of a new executive.
"In 2006, the British and Irish governments agreed in a joint statement that the restoration of the political institutions would see the British government's power to suspend the assembly lapse for good," he said.
"They also agreed, if the executive was not formed, to begin detailed work on British-Irish partnership arrangements to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement is actively developed across its...

Summary: Sinn Féin is opposed to extending the deadline on talks aimed at forming a new Northern Ireland Executive, the party's leader, Gerry Adams, has said.
###
Article: The region was the most dangerous in the world for seafarers, with pirates becoming more violent, it added.
A total of 32 seafarers had been kidnapped so far this year compared with 15 in 2015, the report said.
Kidnapping for ransom took place mainly in the oil-producing areas off Nigeria's coast, it said.
The spike in kidnappings appeared to be linked to political developments in Nigeria, the report by the US-based group Oceans Beyond Piracy group said.
There had also been a sharp drop in oil theft last year, which the report put down to improved patrolling of Nigeria's waters, and the fall in oil prices making it less profitable.
One of the most high-profile cases was that of the Malta-flagged MT Kalamos, an oil super tanker, which was attacked in February 2015.
The tanker's abducted crew was freed after the $400,000 ransom was paid, the State of Maritime Piracy 2015 report said.
It did not say who had paid the ransom.
Analysis: Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent
The latest report on the state of maritime piracy around the world offers grounds for both optimism and pessimism.
The Somalia-based piracy that grabbed the world's attention in 2012 has all but vanished, due largely to the presence of armed escorts aboard merchant vessels that has completely disrupted the pirates' business model. There is good news too from south-east Asia where increased co-operation between states has seen piracy attacks fall off steeply in the last half of 2015.
But the Gulf of Guinea continues to be a hazardous place for seafarers with violence deliberately directed against sailors, including mock executions.
Unlike the Somali basin, where there is a high degree of international co-ordination and naval patrolling, the report says West Africa's coastal waters suffer from a lack of piracy prosecutions and a rule of law. While cargo theft is rare, kidnap for ransom is rife.
"In most kidnapping incidents the pirates board the vessel after firing at the bridge to suppress any opposition and intimidate the crew, and then...

Summary: Ransoms of up to $400,000 (£273,000) have been paid to gangs which hijacked ships in the Gulf of Guinea in 2015, a maritime report says.
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Article: Kevin McKell, from Dundee, had returned from a visit to Bavaria when his suitcase set off alarms going through an X-Ray machine.
McKell, 31. told security staff that he had a knuckle duster and a knife.
But a check revealed three CS gas canisters, seven knives and 10 knuckledusters.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that the items were "readily available" in Bavaria and that McKell was bringing them back for friends.
McKell admitted possessing the weapons without reasonable excuse or lawful authority at Edinburgh Airport on 1 June last year.

Summary:

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Two powerful earthquakes have struck China's north-west Gansu province, killing at least 75 people and leaving more than 400 others injured.

Article: Michel Barnier also said more work needs to be done to protect cross-Irish border co-operation "in particular".
He was speaking at the end of the second week of Brexit negotiations with the UK in Brussels on Thursday.
He described north-south co-operation in Ireland as being "embedded in the common framework of EU law".
Mr Barnier added that the EU needs to better understand how the UK intends to ensure the continuation of this co-operation.
North-south relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms strand two of the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 deal that agreed a framework for how Northern Ireland should be governed.
Stand two is overseen by the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC).
There are also six all-Ireland implementation bodies, which include the Special European Union Programmes Body, which oversees EU-funded cross-border programmes.
Mr Barnier said there was also agreement that, in the next round of talks, the UK should clarify how it intends to maintain the common travel area (CTA).
The CTA is a bilateral UK-Ireland arrangement that has existed since 1922 and allows for free movement of UK and Irish citizens between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland the rest of the UK.
It also allows Irish and UK citizens to access various services and benefits in each country such as the right to work, to access public services and to vote in certain elections.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has previously described the continuation of the CTA as "non-negotiable".
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Mr Davis described talks about the EU exit bill as "robust" after Mr Barnier said the UK must say where it stands on the issue before discussions over a trade deal can begin.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Mr Barnier said that talks on the operation of the Irish border will not happen until next year.
In evidence given to the House of Lords EU committee, he said: "In 2018 we will be working on the specific arrangements for border checks without there being any hard border."
He also gave...

Summary: More detailed discussions are needed on how Brexit will affect the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland, according to the EU's chief negotiator.
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Article: The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has published its assessment of the Smith Commission's plans, saying that "big issues have yet to be resolved".
Its main concern is with the calculation of the UK Treasury's block grant to the Scottish Parliament.
As more powers are devolved to Holyrood, it means the grant funding formula will have to be adjusted.
The IFS calculates the share of taxation under Holyrood control or assigned to it as a share of UK tax take would rise from 13% to more than 50% under the plans.
It says the changes to the block grant should be "relatively easy" in the first year. But in subsequent years it becomes more difficult to calculate what should happen if Westminster raises tax to pay for shared provision, such as UK debt reduction, but Scotland does not.
"Inflation and economic growth mean that the amount raised from a tax or spent on a particular area tends to grow over time," according to David Phillips, author of the IFS report.
"The Smith Commission recognises this, by stating that these block grant reductions or additions should be 'indexed appropriately'. But what does this rather cryptic phrase mean?"
One challenge it identifies is to find a balance between giving Scottish ministers the autonomy to adjust tax rates and benefit from growth in the tax base, while also providing UK protection against sudden shocks.
Another problem the IFS sees with the Smith Commission plans, published last month, is that there is supposed to be compensation between Westminster and Holyrood when a taxation decision has an impact on each other. This could be to compensate for loss to each other's treasuries, or as a penalty for harming one another.
But this is seen as very hard to calculate, and also hard to get to a common understanding of how this should be calculated.
"The Smith Commission has provided a set of proposals for further devolution of taxes and spending, agreed by the five main Scottish parties. This is a significant achievement," reports the Institute.
"But many difficult issues...

Summary: The cross-party agreement on devolving more tax powers to Holyrood may not be feasible or fair, it has been claimed.
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Article: Grower Chris Chinn, of Ross on Wye, said he was "absolutely astonished" to see the crop, usually harvested in early March, two months earlier.
But after the warmest December on record, he said it was "not that surprising".
The Met Office confirmed on Tuesday December was the wettest and warmest since records began in 1910.
Updates on this story and more from Herefordshire
Temperatures were about 7.9C (46F).
Mr Chinn, whose 1,000-acre family-run farm supplies Marks and Spencer with the vegetable, told BBC News his asparagus grows in temperatures above 6C (42F), and they normally expect to see the first spears by Valentine's Day.
"It's been the warmest December on record and this asparagus will grow over about 6C and if you look back at records over December, it was more or less 6C, including in the night time, so it's not that surprising I guess?," he said.
He said he came to check on the crop this week before sealing the polytunnels, but was stunned to see the fully-grown spears.
"It's just emerged through January and presumably started growing in December.
"I definitely didn't expect to see it.
"We came up here to check the tunnels had weathered the storms over Christmas... and thought we'd seal the doors down as normally we're harvesting in early March, so we're absolutely astonished."
The traditional start of the season is 23 April and runs through to mid-June.
Mr Chinn said the crops would reach chefs around the country this weekend and if the warm spell stays, they could start to appear in supermarkets in the coming weeks.
However, he said the predicted cold snap next week could slow growth, but would not ruin the crop.

Summary: Unseasonably warm temperatures have led to "chunky" asparagus spears sprouting nearly a foot tall in Herefordshire.
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Article: The costume, a full-body suit with brown skin, traditional tattoos, grass skirt and bone necklace, represents the character Maui, considered a demi-god and ancestor by many Polynesians.
Activists said it was "brownface", or mocking of the culture by creating stereotypes.
Disney said it regretted any offence.
"The team behind Moana has taken great care to respect the cultures of the Pacific Islands that inspired the film, and we regret that the Maui costume has offended some," it said in a statement.
"We sincerely apologise and are pulling the costume from our website and stores."
The film, due for release in November, tells the story of Moana, a young girl who teams up with the demi-god Maui to make an ocean voyage and save her people.
The character of Moana has been widely welcomed because she is feisty, independent and with a more realistic body shape than most Disney female leads.
She also has no love interest in the story, which was written by New Zealand Maori film-maker Taika Waititi.
But when the trailer for Moana was released in June, many people were offended by the depiction of Maui, saying he was an "obese" caricature of Polynesian men.
Among the merchandise promoting the film was the Maui costume, on sale for about $44 (Â£34).
It was advertised as helping children "set off on adventures", with his "signature tattoos" and clothing.
Among the angry responses were people saying "our skin is not a costume", and pointing out that white-skin outfits are never sold for white characters.
I understand the reasoning behind the grass skirt and the necklace, but the brown skin is too far, and the tattoos are culturally misappropriated.
Tattoos are deeply meaningful to Pacific people. Like a fingerprint, a tattoo is unique to each person.
Our markings tell a personal story that we carry with us on our skin, everywhere we go - constantly reminding us of our values, our people, and our identity.
It is considered taboo and extremely disrespectful in many Pacific cultures to wear the markings of a people or place...

Summary: Disney has withdrawn a children's costume promoting its forthcoming film Moana, after accusations of cultural appropriation.
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Article: Once completed, the deal will see Micron become the world's second-largest maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips.
These chips are key components of personal computers.
Elpida had filed for bankruptcy protection in February after being unable to repay debts of 448bn yen.
"We are creating the industry-leading pure-play memory company," said Mark Durcan chief executive of Micron Technology.
Mr Durcan added that the deal will help strengthen the combined companies' market position "through increased research and development and manufacturing scale" and "improved access to core memory market segments".
The deal will also see Micron get the ownership of Elpida's 65% stake in Rexchip Electronics, a joint venture between Elpida and Powerchip Technology.
Rexchip, which also makes DRAM memory chips, has manufacturing facilities in Japan and Taiwan.
Micron said that output from Elpida and Rexchip factories could increase its current manufacturing capacity by almost 50%.
"We've always had deep requirements for additional capacity and this puts us in great shape to respond to that," said Mark Adams, president of Micron.
At the same time, analysts said that given the high cost involved in setting up chip manufacturing units, Micron had acquired the Japanese rival for a fraction of the price it would need to invest to build similar infrastructure.
"We estimate this manufacturing capability would cost roughly $6bn - $8bn if built new," said Kevin Cassidy an analyst at Stifel.
DRAM chips manufacturers have been going through a rough patch in recent times due to falling prices and slowing demand.
While Elpida filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, Micron posted a net loss of $224m in the three months to 1 March, compared with a profit of $72m a year earlier.
The traditional DRAM chips are used in personal computers, the demand for which has been falling amid growing popularity of smartphones and tablet PCs.
Those gadgets mostly use NAND memory chips and that has hurt DRAM chip makers.
However, Micron...

Summary: Micron Technology has agreed a deal to buy embattled Japanese chipmaker Elpida in a deal worth 200bn yen ($2.5bn; £1.6bn).
###
Article: The first earthquake near Dingxi city had a magnitude of 5.98 and was shallow, with a depth of just 9.8 km (6 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
Just over an hour later, a magnitude 5.6 quake hit the same area, it added.
In 2008, an earthquake in Sichuan province left up to 90,000 people dead and millions homeless.
A factory worker in Minxian county told AFP that he felt "violent shaking" and "ran to the yard of the [factory] plant immediately".
"Our factory is only one floor. When I came to the yard, I saw an 18-storey building, the tallest in our county, shaking ferociously, especially the 18th floor," he said.
The area has been hit by 371 aftershocks, according to the Earthquake Administration of Gansu province.
Tremors were felt in the provincial capital, Lanzhou, and as far away as Xian, 400km (250 miles) to the east.
At least 5,600 houses in the province's Zhangxian county are seriously damaged and 380 have collapsed, while some areas suffered from power cuts or mobile communications being disrupted, the earthquake administration added.
"Many have been injured by collapsed houses," a doctor based in Minxian county was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. "Many villagers have gone to local hospitals along the roads."
The earthquake has caused a direct economic loss of 198 million yuan ($32m; Â£21m), the Dingxi government said on its microblog.
Both the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang had called Gansu province to express their concern for the victims and stress the importance of the rescue operations being conducted well, the Dingxi government added.
Crews of fire fighters and rescue dogs have already arrived at the scene, the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing reports.
In pictures: Quakes aftermath
The closer to the surface an earthquake strikes, the more damage it can cause, our correspondent adds.
The earthquake reportedly triggered a series of mudslides and landslides, making it difficult for rescuers to access some areas hit by the quake.
The Gansu military police have deployed...

Summary:


A charity has criticised a series of adverts which it claims are offensive to people with facial burns.

Article: Labour will set out its devolution offer for Wales, including giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote by May 2016.
Their plan also includes devolving fracking, and powers over transport such as the Wales and Border rail franchise, ports and speed limits.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems want a guarantee that funding for Wales will not fall below an agreed level.
Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith said Labour's proposals "map out a historic new chapter in Wales' devolution journey, creating a lasting settlement allowing us to advance social justice, improve equality of opportunity and create a fairer society for all".
The Liberal Democrats have said they would introduce a Barnett funding floor, set at a level which reflects Wales' needs.
They said they would also commission a study to update the Holtham Commission's analysis, which five years ago estimated a funding shortfall to Wales of Â£300m.
The party said it would then seek to increase the Welsh block grant to an equitable level.
Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Jenny Willot said: "The Liberal Democrats not only recognise that Wales is underfunded, but we will commit to putting in place practical measures to address this."
Labour also said it would deliver "fair funding for Wales" through introducing a Barnett funding floor.
But Plaid Cymru said it was "a smoke and mirrors solution".
The party's candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan, Ian Johnson, said: "A Barnett floor does not offer a lasting solution, and if austerity continues then a Barnett floor will not generate any additional resources for Wales at all.
"At best it will stop the situation getting worse, it will not make the situation any better. It will not give fair funding to Wales.
"Plaid Cymru will fight to deliver parity of funding and responsibility for Wales with Scotland."
The Conservatives have previously also proposed introducing a "floor", but said the exact level would be worked out later.

Summary: Devolution and funding for Wales are under the spotlight, as the general election campaign continues.
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Article: NHS patients in England will be able to access Kalydeco, also known as ivacaftor, from 1 January.
The Cystic Fibrosis Trust said not funding the drug in Scotland would cause "dismay and heartache".
The trust said it was appalled that people in Scotland were denied a potentially life-changing treatment.
Ed Owen, the trust's chief executive, has written to the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) on the day before the NHS in England begins to fund it for all people over the age of six with the G551D cystic fibrosis mutation.
A decision by the SMC over the drug is expected on 14 January, the charity said.
In his letter Mr Owen said: "We trust that the SMC will reflect carefully on the decision in England, and its rationale, before making its decision on funding in Scotland.
"As the organisation representing people with cystic fibrosis across the UK, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust would be dismayed and appalled at a situation where people in Scotland were denied a potentially life-changing treatment freely available to those in England.
"Such an outcome would cause considerable and unacceptable heartache for families across Scotland."
The charity said around 4% of patients across the UK have the G551D mutation, compared to around 11% of the Scottish cystic fibrosis population.
It said this equates to about 80 people in Scotland who would be eligible for Kalydeco.

Summary: A new drug for people with a particular form of cystic fibrosis, available in England, must also be prescribed in Scotland, a charity has said.
###
Article: The 11 medical experts are backing a bill proposed by MSP Margo MacDonald which would change the law in Scotland.
In a letter to The Herald newspaper, the doctors state that they believe the bill will add to the palliative care on offer in Scotland, not undermine it.
A previous attempt to pass the bill was voted down by MSPs in 2010.
One of the letter's signatories, surgeon Gillian MacDougall said more GPs support the proposed legislation but fear being labelled "Dr Death".
The group also stated that they believed that the proposals had sufficient levels of safeguards in place to prevent a doctor feeling coerced into participating in the process without being fully convinced of a case's merits.
The group's letter stated: "We believe the safeguards designed to protect the vulnerable are comprehensive and rigorous, with doctors being the best professionals to assess for any concerns regarding coercion.
"We are also reassured a doctor cannot be compelled to participate in the process, should they not wish to do so.
"As doctors, we support the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill."
The Bill is the second attempt to change the law by independent Ms MacDonald, who has Parkinson's disease.
Lothian MSP Ms MacDonald said she believed it could be successful this time.
She said: "I have sensed from the beginning that there was a change because of the volume of support that we can demonstrate."
Under the proposed legislation, only those who are terminally ill or who are suffering from deteriorating progressive conditions which make life intolerable will be able to seek assisted suicide.
Any requests to GPs must be backed up by a second professional opinion and followed by a 14-day "cooling-off" period.
This process is then repeated again with a second request, after which one of the doctors concerned would supply a licensed facilitator with a prescription to enable assisted suicide to take place.
This facilitator, or "friend at the end", has no relationship with the patient and is given the task of collecting the...

Summary: A group of doctors including a surgeon and a professor of neurology have spoken out in support a bill legalising assisted suicide.
###
Article: Mr Murdoch, 81, quit directorships at NI Group Ltd, NewsCorp Investments and Times Newspaper Holdings on Friday.
News Corp plans to split into two firms, separating its newspaper and book publishing interests from its now dominant TV and film enterprises.
Mr Murdoch is expected to chair both businesses but to be chief executive only of the TV and film side.
News International has sought to play down the significance of the resignations.
A spokesman said: "Last week, Mr Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the UK and US.
"This is nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the company split."
Media commentator Steve Hewlett told the BBC it was "no surprise" News Corporation was moving away from its newspaper investments because declining circulation in the industry and the phone-hacking scandal had made for "a nightmare".
He added: "For Rupert Murdoch to make this move, however, away from these titles, which he has invested 40 years of his life in, is plainly significant."
Labour MP Tom Watson, a long-time critic of the Murdoch empire, agreed that it was a significant move.
He said: "It was only a few months ago when he told the members of the Sun team that he'd lived and breathed the paper for the last 40 years and he wasn't going anywhere.
"Well, few of them believed that at the time and I think the resignation this week proves it. He's jettisoning those parts of the company that have become an embarrassment and he's leaving those people that stuck with him for many decades behind."
When News Corp announced on 28 June that it would divide itself into two separate businesses, it said that Mr Murdoch would chair both of them - although he would continue as chief executive of only the TV, film and entertainment one.
The split will see News Corp's film and television businesses - including 20th Century Fox and the Fox broadcasting network - grouped in one company.
The other company will hold all News Corp's publishing interests, such as...

Summary: Rupert Murdoch has resigned from a string of directorships controlling his News Corporation's UK newspapers.
###
Article: Alexander Bain was given the honour for his pioneering work in the transmission of images.
The inventor was born at Watten in Caithness in 1810 and died in poverty in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, in 1877.
The Emmys are a series of awards for television excellence - the equivalent of the Oscars in the film industry.
Bain's invention is said to be one of the fundamental principles of television.
The honour was awarded at the 67th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas in January.
During his lifetime, Bain's achievements included the invention of the electric clock and important contributions to the electric telegraph, but he is perhaps best known as the inventor of the fax machine, which he patented in 1843.
The invention, which came 33 years before the patent was given for the telephone, contained the fundamentals of what would become television.
It was the first time an image had been scanned from one location to another.
His invention was so advanced that it would be another 80 years before the breakthroughs which led to modern television's development.
East Dunbartonshire Council, which maintains Bain's gravestone in the Old Aisle Cemetery in Kirkintilloch, has been chosen as custodian of the Emmy award.
Council leader Rhondda Geekie said: "Arrangements are now being made to have the Emmy put on public display in the Auld Kirk Museum in Kirkintilloch so everyone can have the opportunity to see this prestigious award and learn more about the work of Alexander Bain.
"Bain's achievements have gone relatively unnoticed in the 138 years since his death and it is important that we play our part in helping to bring his innovative work to the attention of a new generation of budding young engineers and help inspire them."
The council said Kirkintilloch and District Society of Antiquaries played a "key role" in ensuring the Emmy was awarded to Bain.
The society's president, Dr Ivan Ruddock, said: "It is no exaggeration to state that he can be considered the father of...

Summary: An Emmy awarded to a Scottish inventor almost 140 years after his death has arrived in East Dunbartonshire.
###
Article: A poster for conference call firm Powwownow shows a man on an underground train surrounded by zombie-like characters in masks.
Changing Faces says the adverts are "insensitive" because of the similarity to masks worn by people recovering from burns.
Powwownow says the images are not targeting those with facial disfigurements and instead show characters from "fantasy horror".
In one advert, a woman is shown in the middle of a group of people wearing masks similar to that of Jason, the main character of the Friday The 13th movie franchise.
In a blog post, Changing Faces chief executive, James Partridge, said the tagline of the campaign - Avoid the Horror - was "disturbing".
He wrote: "It reinforces the harmful association that people who wear masks as part of their treatment and who have burn scarring, are to be feared and avoided."
Changing Faces says Powwownow originally agreed to take down the adverts.
In a statement to Newsbeat, a spokesman from the conferencing service said: "When we received a complaint from Changing Faces, we pulled the advert as a mark of respect to the charity's perspective and undertook a review of the advertising strategy.
"After this robust review, we reinstated the advert as a reflection of our belief in the creative concept, its clear reference to the fantasy horror genre and the fact that we are in no way targeting or discriminating against people with facial disfigurement, or indeed any people.
"The adverts focus purely on the horror of the commuting experience and in no way target any individuals."
Catrin Pugh from Wrexham sustained burns to her face and body when the coach she was travelling in crashed in France in 2013.
She's been undergoing treatment ever since.
Speaking to Newsbeat, she said: "Wearing my compression mask is why my face looks 'normal' and was one of the most important parts of my treatment.
"This advert, suggesting people in masks are 'horrors' makes me so angry."
"I remember when I first went out into the public wearing my mask, and due to my eyesight I...

Summary:


European aerospace giant Airbus and its partner, OneWeb, have begun the production of a satellite mega-constellation.

Article: In an email, the firm told buyers of self-balancing scooters with "non-compliant UK plugs" to dispose of the product at a recycling centre.
Such customers would be automatically refunded within three days, it said.
It comes after Trading Standards seized 15,000 unsafe boards being brought into the UK.
Many had faulty cables, chargers or plugs that could catch fire or explode, it said.
Amazon is understood to have stopped selling the devices. Retailers Argos, John Lewis have also reportedly pulled them from sale.
A Tesco spokesman said: "We've suspended the sale of all hoverboards both in store and online as a precautionary measure."
In the email, Amazon said: "We regret the inconvenience this may cause you but trust you will understand that your safety and satisfaction is our highest priority."
It advised customers to dispose of their product at a centre registered to recycle electrical items "as soon as possible", and said a refund was being automatically processed.
The company also sent a separate email to customers who had bought the so-called hoverboards with compliant UK plugs to give them tips on safe battery and plug use "as a precaution".
Such customers could contact Amazon customer services if they did not wish to keep the product, the firm said.
Earlier this month, Trading Standards officers said they had seized 88% of all scooters examined since October 15, mainly for having non-compliant electrical components that could explode or catch fire.
Many of the boards were found to have plugs without fuses, and cut-off switches which failed when tested.
Chargers, cabling and batteries were also found to fail safety standards.
The London Fire Brigade has warned that at least three house fires were caused by such devices over 10 days in October.
Trading Standards is giving these tips to consumers who have bought a "hoverboard", or are thinking of buying one:
Anyone who finds such products for sale is being urged to contact the Citizens Advice helpline on 03454 04 05 06.
The Retail Ombudsman watchdog urged...

Summary: Online marketplace Amazon has told customers who bought certain "hoverboards" to throw them out after concerns they can catch fire.
###
Article: Desmond Bartley, 21, was charged with the unlawful killing of Tommy Main at a birthday celebration in June last year.
The court heard Mr Main, 23, had collapsed and died during a "macho" game of "blow for blow" in which the two men exchanged punches.
Mr Bartley denied the charge, saying they had been "playing" and was found not guilty at Inner London Crown Court.
He explained they took turns to hit each other but each had no intention of seriously hurting the other man.
The court heard the men, who had known each other for 10 years, had both taken cocaine.
They were among 30 adults, teenagers and children attending a 16th birthday party at a house in Erith, south-east London.
Mr Bartley said that after being punched twice by Mr Main, he took his turn and struck him in the chest.
He told the jury: "Basically he (Mr Main) said 'ah, I felt that', looked at me, laughed and then collapsed."
Mr Bartley said he thought Mr Main had just lost his breath until he started turning blue and people began trying to resuscitate him.
The formal cause of death was given as cardiac arrest following blunt chest impact and the presence of cocaine and alcohol.
Mr Bartley told police he had "hardly touched him", adding in court: "The punch that I threw, I never thought it would do something like that, him collapsing."

Summary: A man accused of killing a father-of-two in a party prank that went wrong has been cleared of manslaughter.
###
Article: A survey by the US-based organisation has revealed that the world's 20 best-paid models together earned $154m (£117m) for the year after 1 June 2015.
Between them they boast close to 200 million Instagram followers.
One of the biggest gainers is Kendall Jenner, whose earnings rose to $10m.
"The highest-paid models list reflects the current lack of inclusion in fashion," Forbes staff writer Natalie Robehmed told the BBC.
"Though catwalks and editorial shoots are making an effort to include people of colour, the majority of high-paying contracts still go to white models."
Ms Robehmed said that although there are black supermodels such as Jordan Dunn and Joan Smalls, "high-paying fashion contracts still don't reflect the diversity of their consumers".
She says that in the autumn 2016 catwalk shows, more than three-quarters of the models are white.
The Forbes report cites a recent survey by FashionSpot, which examined 236 Spring 2016 print ads in the US.
It revealed that:
The Fashionspot report says that while "tentative progress has been made towards greater diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry, "it's a long road ahead and season to season, the numbers are ever fluctuating".
The Forbes report points out that fashion agencies have increased efforts to promote transgender or plus-sized models.
"But these women rarely secure the lucrative long-term deals that result in six-to-seven figure paydays."
One of the biggest gainers this year was Kendall Jenner, whose earnings increased 150% to $10m in 2016.
"She has leveraged her huge social presence of 64.4 million Instagram followers - more than anyone else on the list - into million-dollar deals with the likes of Estee Lauder and Calvin Klein, who likely see her social platforms as a new media buy," the report says.
Source: Forbes
BBC fashion
Nearly a third of this year's ranking are new, Forbes says, with the debutantes including three Victoria's Secret lingerie models: Lily Aldridge, Jasmine Tookes and 20-year-old Taylor Hill, who is the youngest member to...

Summary: Most of the world's highest-paid models are overwhelmingly white and slim, reflecting a serious lack of inclusion on catwalks and in advertisement campaigns, Forbes magazine has said.
###
Article: West Yorkshire Police confirmed last month that 16,000 tickets issued by police community support officers (PCSO) were not valid due because of an "administrative error".
But, the force said there was "no basis in law" for refunds, which would have "come from the public purse".
Many of the drivers paid up without challenging the ticket's validity.
After a review of PCSO powers in March, the force found some PCSOs who joined the force several years ago were not initially given powers to issue parking tickets.
In a statement, police said "an administrative error meant that the authorisation was invalid".
The force's current records system, which goes back to 2006, found 16,000 tickets were affected, resulting in total of £485,000 being paid to the courts.
The force admitted other tickets may have been issued in similar circumstances for up to three years earlier.
It said it had taken legal advice on the matter.
A spokesman said: "We are now satisfied that there is no basis in law that would entitle anyone to such a refund, which would in any case have had to come from the public purse.
At the heart of this assessment is that motorists had opportunity to challenge the validity of the process in court at the time, and only those found guilty in these circumstances were penalised.
"If, however, motorists elected to pay the penalty they effectively accepted having committed the offence and opted out of the court process, thereby waiving their right to contest the matter."
The force said the "anomaly" had since been corrected and PCSOs now had the full powers to issue the fines.

Summary: Nearly £500,000 worth of wrongly-issued parking fines will not be refunded, police have said.
###
Article: Southend News Network's stories include a mother demanding a Â£50 spend on gifts for her son's birthday and a restaurant introducing a Â£5 breastfeeding charge.
Its creator said he "never thought" his site would be officially recognised.
Southend Council said it was better to "have fun" with the spoof stories rather than get annoyed by them.
Other fake stories published on the site since its launch last October include school pupils being taught by cats because of a teacher shortage and the Dartford Crossing being closed because of "thousands of Kent residents trying to enter Essex illegally".
The local authority said it had received calls from concerned residents about some of the stories, including one about trick or treaters needing a council permit at Halloween.
Following a meeting with council officials, the spoof news site has been added to the authority's media database and is treated similarly to more traditional local newspapers and broadcasters.
The site's anonymous creator, who prefers to be known by the nom de plume "The Chief Reporter", said he had been inspired by satirical news sites such as The Onion, The Daily Mash and The Poke.
"My stories are tapping into the types of things people get wound up about. I like a heated, healthy debate," he said.
"Some of the things I write, I could actually see happening in real life. It's how people feel about their own town, their own lives - it taps into that and builds on it."
The reporter said Southend Council had "recognised we're building up town's public profile" with the site, which has more than 6,000 Facebook likes.
Adam Keating, a media manager at the local authority, said interacting with Southend News Network allowed the council to build on its own social media profile.
"Although their stories might not be correct, they've built up a following we could also engage with," he said.
"People have been commenting on the posts with real issues, and we've been replying with facts about 'the truth behind the spoof'.
"The media landscape is changing, and...

Summary: A spoof news website has been recognised as an "official media outlet" by a council after it gained thousands of followers on social media.
###
Article: The network will comprise at least 600 spacecraft in the first instance, but could eventually encompass more than 2,000.
The aim is to deliver broadband links from orbit to every corner of the globe.
In particular, the project wants every school to have a connection.
Building so large a constellation requires a step-change in the manufacture of satellites - especially for Airbus.
It can take Europe’s biggest space company many months and hundreds of millions of dollars to build some of today’s specialist platforms. But for the OneWeb venture, it is all about high volume and low cost.
That means new assembly line methods akin to those in factories producing cars and planes.
The idea is to turn out three units per shift at well less than a million dollars a piece.
The boss of Airbus, Tom Enders, concedes he initially thought the OneWeb concept to be fantasy.
"Everything in space as you know traditionally has been 'gold-plated'; it had to work perfectly, [and have] the most expensive materials, etc.
"Here, we’ve had to go other ways, to be really commercial and calculating according to the target cost because that is very decisive in the whole business case for OneWeb," he told BBC News.
Airbus and OneWeb have inaugurated the first assembly line in Toulouse, France. Two further lines will be set up in a soon-to-open factory complex in Florida.
The most obvious difference you notice between these new lines and the conventional satellite cleanroom is the trolley robot, which moves the developing satellites between the various work stations. But the "revolution" here goes far beyond automation; it requires a whole chain of suppliers and their components to scale their work to a different game plan.
The first 10 satellites to come off the Toulouse assembly line have a deadline to launch in April next year.
Another batch will follow into orbit around November. And then the launch cadence will kick on apace.
The establishment of the OneWeb constellation requires the greatest rocket campaign in the history of...

Summary:


Police are appealing for witnesses following a suspicious car fire in East Lothian.

Article: Marie Baltazar, from Llanelli, was secretly filmed by a member of staff at St James Care Home in Swansea.
The 36-year-old was also caught banging a metal pan next to the sleeping man before poking him with a wooden spoon.
Baltazar pleaded guilty at Swansea Crown Court to causing ill-treatment and was jailed for 20 weeks.
Robin Rouch, prosecuting, said the cruel treatment was not done to torment the victim, but to make Balatzar's life easier.
"The complainant suffers with Down's Syndrome and lacks mental capacity," he added.
"It would be right to say that he was restless and wanders.
"And in order to keep him on his chair the defendant would tie a small table to his chair to effectively stop him wandering off."
Mr Rouch said on one occasion, after returning from a visit to a day centre, the complainant was trapped between 17:00 and 21:00.
He added: "Mr Templeton could not freely go to the toilet or get up. This took place routinely."
The offences came to light thanks to the home's cleaner, who covertly filmed the neglect in November 2015.
Baltazar claimed she had the victim's interests at heart - but had gone about things the wrong way.
However, Judge Paul Thomas QC said the defendant had treated Mr Templeton with no dignity.
He said: "He was tethered like an animal for hours at a time.
"And when he needed to sleep you kept him awake by banging metal objects next to his head.
"Mr Templeton was in the early onset of dementia. He must have found this highly distressing, bewildering."
The court heard that the home - where the defendant's husband Ashley Bowen was the manager of - closed in March 2016 following an inspection by Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales.
Speaking after the sentencing, South Wales Police praised the whistle-blower who came forward.
"This case could not have been brought about without the commendable decision of a staff member to speak out about abuse being perpetrated within the care home," said Det Sgt Christopher Williams.
"The defendant's actions were both cruel and demeaning,...

Summary: A carer who "tethered" a man with Down's Syndrome for four hours by tying his chair to a table in order to make her shift easier has been jailed.
###
Article: But the reality in Europe's poorest country is more complicated than that.
It is a political crisis.
The anti-government camp is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Pavel Filip's government and early parliamentary elections.
They include two pro-Moscow groups and one pro-European group - the Dignity and Truth movement, led by Andrei Nastase.
They have put their differences aside, at least temporarily, and have given the government until Thursday to come up with a schedule for elections. Otherwise, they threaten to begin a campaign of civil disobedience.
At the heart of their demands, however, is a desire for sweeping change: to replace a political establishment, which they say is rotten with corruption and whose members are controlled by oligarchs.
The government's pro-European stance, they claim, is just a smokescreen to conceal this graft.
Last year, Moldova was rocked by what was for the country the mother of all scandals: more than â‚¬1bn (Â£710m) disappeared from three banks.
It was suspected that the money was embezzled. The loss also put a heavy strain on the financial system, since the â‚¬1bn represented about 14% of the country's GDP. Moldova's currency, the lei, was sharply devalued.
In the wake of the scandal, heads rolled:
But this unleashed another wave of outrage.
Pavel Filip's election was highly unorthodox, and may have violated protocol.
Deputies were suddenly called to vote within a couple of hours. Then Mr Filip was sworn in at midnight, seemingly in secret, since no media were invited.
Protesters stormed parliament, and more than 20,000 gathered on Sunday to demand that he resign immediately.
There is also some dispute about Pavel Filip's background.
Critics say he is closely connected to the country's richest man, Vladimir Plahotniuc, who they maintain is the main power broker behind the scenes, and in their eyes the man most responsible for official corruption.
"Moldova is a 'captured state' and Mr Plahotniuc is the symbol of this evil," said Oazu Nantoi, programme director at...

Summary: Some people say the street protests in Moldova are by pro-Russian protesters trying to unseat a European-friendly government in a former Soviet republic.
###
Article: Five vehicles were involved in the crash near junction 28 at Hele, Devon, in December 2012.
Alan Clements, 47, from Hengoed, near Oswestry, died from from his injuries.
Julian Ketcher, 44. from Warwick, was jailed at Exeter Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving earlier this month. He was also banned for five years.

Summary: A lorry driver has been jailed for six years for causing a crash on the M5 in which a man died.
###
Article: The Construction Employers Federation (CEF) said if passed in its current form, the budget would "threaten the foundations of economic growth".
It is concerned by a fall in the capital budget - money for building and maintaining infrastructure, like roads.
Finance Minister Simon Hamilton has said he was extremely disappointed by the CEF response to the draft budget.
He said it had had failed to recognise that the amount of capital investment that can be undertaken by the executive is largely dictated by the funding received from the Treasury.
The CEF has used figures from the Department of Finance to calculate that the capital budget will fall from ??1.31bn this year to ??1.17bn next year.
It is also worried that a steep fall in conventional capital spending is being partially offset by a rise in Financial Transactions Capital (FTC).
FTC differs from normal capital spending, taking the form of a loan or investment in a private sector project.
Stormont departments have had difficulty finding suitable FTC projects and by October this year the budget was underspent by ??35m.
John Armstrong, CEF Managing Director said: "Our detailed analysis of the draft budget shows that conventional gross capital investment in public buildings and infrastructure is due to fall by over 20% in real terms next year."
In contrast the FTC budget is due to more than treble, but Mr Armstrong said this would not fill the gap.
"FTC funding can only be used to provide loans to the private sector which must be repaid. The government has also struggled to allocate FTC funding," he added.
He also criticised the executive's intention to use money intended for capital budgets to deal with short-term pressures.
He said: "The current plan to divert capital funding away from delivering infrastructure in order to pay off the ??100m short term treasury loan and the ??100m redundancy scheme is a step too far."
However, Mr Hamilton said: "The executive, through its draft budget, is seeking to maximise capital receipts next year to help boost...

Summary: An organisation representing Northern Ireland's construction industry has strongly criticised the draft budget.
###
Article: The amount that families have to spend - after tax and benefits are taken into account - fell by 2% in the first quarter of 2017, compared to 2016.
The ONS said that was the biggest decline for more than five years.
It added that the main reason for the fall was the rise in inflation, which hit 2.3% in the year to March.
The real household disposable income measure is adjusted for inflation, meaning that rises in the cost of living result in lower disposable income.
Over the same period, wages rose by just 2.1%.
The fall in the value of sterling since the Brexit vote has increased the cost of imports, including food, so boosting inflation.
Real household income per head has now fallen for three months in a row - the first time that has happened since 2013.
The TUC said the government needed to create better-paid jobs.
"It's official. Britons are getting poorer," said Frances O'Grady, the TUC's general secretary.
"Having just lived through the longest wage squeeze since Victorian times, their living standards are in freefall again. The government cannot sit on its hands and watch this crisis unfold."
However, a different measure of income, which reflects the wider strength of the economy, showed an improvement.
Net national income per head - the economy's earnings divided by the number of adults - rose by 4.3% in the year to the end of March. This was because of an increase in earnings from abroad, also driven by a fall in the value of sterling.

Summary: Real household disposable incomes in the UK are falling at their steepest rate since 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
###
Article: A black Land Rover Discovery was set on fire in Cairds Row in Musselburgh between 23:30 and 23:55 on Monday.
Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Sgt Stuart Higginbottom, of Police Scotland, said: "Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of this fire but we are treating this extremely seriously."

Summary:


An investigation has been launched into the police response to a call from a 72-year-old man who was later found dead in a sheltered housing complex.

Article: The 165-hectare (408 acres) Dunsbury Farm borders the wildlife-rich chalk downland of Compton.
The trust intends to develop the farm habitat to support species including the Glanville fritillary.
Manager Tony Tutton said the Â£2.7m purchase was a "crucial piece of the coastal jigsaw" for the trust.
The trust said it was its largest coastal acquisition in England since 1993.
The Isle of Wight is home to the UK's main population of the Glanville fritillary, and Compton Bay is a traditional stronghold.
The butterfly relies on crumbling cliffs, and the downs behind the coast provide additional breeding habitat.
The National Trust said it would work in partnership with Butterfly Conservation to create the right conditions to safeguard its habitat.
Source: Butterfly Conservation
"Given time and lots of hard work the farm will also become a vital place where we can combine people's enjoyment of butterflies and farmland birds with the stunning views along the chalk cliffs towards the Needles."
Funding for buying the farm came mainly from the National Trust's Neptune Coastal Campaign appeal.

Summary: The habitat of a rare butterfly on the Isle of Wight is to be protected following a major acquisition of farmland by the National Trust.
###
Article: A House of Lords committee was told the devices were also being flown in protected airspace and that officers found it difficult to identify the people responsible.
The warning came from Ch Insp Nick Aldworth, of the Metropolitan Police, who is part of a nationwide group tasked with looking at the issue.
Civilian use of the aircraft, which can be legally flown, is increasing.
Drones, which are officially known as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, range in size from small craft operated by enthusiasts, TV companies, police forces and surveyors and weighing a few kilograms, to larger military versions.
Smaller ones can be flown without special permission although restrictions apply if they are used in congested areas or near people's homes.
The Lords Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment Committee has been holding an inquiry into their use by civilians.
Ch Insp Aldworth said the devices, which he described as "things that fly and do not have pilots in them", could be used in a "reckless" or "malicious" way.
Baroness O'Cathain, the committee chairwoman, said a number of concerns about privacy had been raised, but Ch Insp Aldworth said this was not a police matter as there was no criminal privacy law.
However, he said other legislation could be used, for example laws banning voyeurism, in the event of drones with cameras "hovering outside people's bedrooms for whatever nefarious reasons".
Footage posted posted on the internet was the most common way of drone use coming to light, he said, and the peers were told of the difficulties of finding the people responsible.
If a drone "whizzes past your window and catches something that you would rather it didn't catch", he said, it was difficult to catch the person flying it unless the police arrived immediately.
Ch Insp Aldworth said his group's task was to find a "sensible application" of existing laws to control the use of the drones.
He said there was no doubt drones had been used in London and around the UK, pointing to footage posted of football stadiums...

Summary: Unmanned drones are "undoubtedly" being used to harass people, police say.
###
Article: It comes after this year also saw the rainiest April on record, while the period from April to June was the wettest recorded for the UK.
June was also the second dullest on record with 119.2 hours of sunshine - the record of 115.4 hours was in 1987.
Total UK rainfall was 145.3mm - more than twice as much as normally expected, the Met Office said.
June saw long, prolonged rainfall and short but exceptionally heavy showers, which ended with storms battering Wales, the Midlands, the North East and Northern Ireland.
A Met Office spokesman said there had been unsettled weather in some parts of the UK for the whole of the past three months, with only the latter half of May seeing a spell of prolonged fine weather.
"Movements in the track of the jet stream, a narrow band of fast flowing westerly winds high in the atmosphere, have contributed to the weather we have seen," the spokesman said.
Wales and Northern Ireland had their wettest June on record, England experienced the second wettest and Scotland the eighth wettest.
Events throughout June were disrupted by the weather - race-goers at Ascot were drenched, the Olympic torch was doused and festival-goers on the Isle of Wight were mired in mud.
*New figures are compared with the 1971-2000 rainfall average, which was 72.6mm

Summary: Last month was the UK's wettest June since records began in 1910, provisional Met Office figures show.
###
Article: Prosecutors accepted James Richardson's alcohol dependency was a medical condition that substantially impaired his responsibility.
Natalia Czekaj died from multiple stab wounds in January.
A Met Police officer described it as a "tragic case" and a "frenzied attack".
The judge also imposed an extended licence period of five years during which Richardson will be supervised and receive help with his alcohol addiction.
Richardson, 35, from Berridge Green, Edgware, and Miss Czekaj, 34, were both believed to be functioning alcoholics.
They were celebrating the New Year at home when the defendant attacked the barmaid with a kitchen knife, the Old Bailey heard.
At the time, his blood alcohol level was four times the drink-drive limit.
Judge John Bevan QC told him Ms Czekaj had been "the gratuitous victim of your rage".
Det Insp Simon Pickford, of the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "Natalia died during a frenzied attack, which may have been fuelled by Richardson's dependency on alcohol.
"Richardson will have time to think about the consequences of his actions behind bars."
In accepting the plea of manslaughter by diminished responsibility, the prosecution had to be satisfied he had a recognised medical condition that substantially impaired his responsibility.
During the trial, Richardson's defence lawyer told the court although his client could not remember the killing, "his remorse and shock have been wholly genuine".

Summary: An alcoholic who almost decapitated his girlfriend has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
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Article: However, US President Barack Obama's remarks that Britain would find itself at the "back of the queue" when drawing up any potential post-Brexit trade deals with the US has also put the focus on Transatlantic commerce.
It is not the first time the US has threatened dire trade consequences should the UK vote to leave the EU on 23 June.
Last year, US trade representative Michael Froman warned that if the UK left the EU it would face the same tariffs and trade barriers as other non-EU countries such as China, or Brazil or India.
The tariffs which UK exporters pay (as a company based in an EU member country) on goods sent to the US are at present relatively low.
The heightening of the trade rhetoric seems curious when one examines the current mutually-beneficial trading relationship between the UK and US.
While the EU bloc of nations is the UK's largest export market, that is a large territory comprising another 27 countries.
When it comes to British exports to a single nation, then the US is the UK's biggest export destination, a market worth some £3.5bn.
The UK exports a huge variety of items to the US, from gin and industrial chemicals to live animals and vegetable fats.
Conversely, the US is the UK's third biggest source of imports, after Germany and China, buying some £2.9bn in goods from America.
According to the UK government around 17% of British exports went to the US in 2012.
In addition, the US and the UK are each other's largest foreign investors, and "this investment supports approximately one million jobs in each country," it says.
So far, so good, but the government has its eyes on what it says is an even bigger potential prize, the signing of a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US.
This is the deal which Barack Obama says the UK risks missing out on if it votes to leave the EU.
For the past couple of years negotiations have been taking place on this bi-lateral deal, which, the UK government says "could add as much as £10bn annually to the UK economy in...

Summary: The EU referendum debate has heard a lot of arguments about the future of the UK's trading relationship with Europe.
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Article: The man died in Inverness on 27 October this year.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc), Kate Frame, has been asked to scrutinise the initial police response to the man's call.
Police Scotland said it was "fully engaging" with the investigation and awaited its findings.
A spokesman for Pirc said: "The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has instructed the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner to undertake an investigation into the initial police response to a call from a 72-year-old man who was later found dead at a sheltered housing complex in Inverness.
"A report on the commissioner's findings will be submitted to the COPFS in due course."

Summary:


Kenya's Rita Jeptoo, winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons, has been banned for two years after failing a drugs test.

Article: They passed on variants involved in type 2 diabetes, Crohn's disease and - curiously - smoking addiction.
Genome studies reveal that our species (Homo sapiens) mated with Neanderthals after leaving Africa.
But it was previously unclear what this Neanderthal DNA did and whether there were any implications for human health.
Between 2% and 4% of the genetic blueprint of present-day non-Africans came from Neanderthals.
By screening the genomes of 1,004 modern humans, Sriram Sankararaman and his colleagues identified regions bearing the Neanderthal versions of different genes.
That a gene variant associated with a difficulty in stopping smoking should be found to have a Neanderthal origin is a surprise.
It goes without saying that there is no suggestion our evolutionary cousins were puffing away in their caves.
Instead, the researchers argue, this mutation may have more than one function, so the modern effect of this marker on smoking behaviour may be one impact it has among several.
Researchers found that Neanderthal DNA is not distributed uniformly across the human genome, instead being commonly found in regions that affect skin and hair.
This suggests some gene variants provided a rapid way for modern humans to adapt to the new cooler environments they encountered as they moved into Eurasia. When the populations met, Neanderthals had already been adapting to these conditions for several hundred thousand years.
The stocky hunters once covered a range stretching from Britain to Siberia, but went extinct around 30,000 years ago as Homo sapiens was expanding from an African homeland.
Neanderthal ancestry was found in regions of the genome linked to the regulation of skin pigmentation.
"We found evidence that Neanderthal skin genes made Europeans and East Asians more evolutionarily fit," said Benjamin Vernot, from the University of Washington, co-author of a separate study in Science journal.
Genes for keratin filaments, a fibrous protein that lends toughness to skin, hair and nails, were also enriched with...

Summary: Gene types that influence disease in people today were picked up through interbreeding with Neanderthals, a major study in Nature journal suggests.
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Article: The new rules will affect anyone taking money out of a personal pension from 1 April 2017.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said providers who already charge less than 1% will not be allowed to raise their fees.
Those taking out new pension contracts will face no early exit charge at all.
Workplace pensions will be subject to the same rules, but these will not come into effect until October 2017, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced.
Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA, said: "People eligible for the government's pension reforms should feel able to access them as they wish.
"The 1% cap on early exit charges for existing pensions, and the 0% cap for new contracts, will mean that current and future savers will not be deterred by these charges from accessing their pension pots."
Previously some pension providers were charging fees of up to 10%, after the government announced that anyone over the age of 55 could withdraw as much as they wanted from their pensions, subject to income tax.
The "pension freedoms" came into effect in April 2015.
However, some experts believe the 1% cap is still not low enough.
"The cap on early exit fees for pensions, including occupational schemes, is a start, but 1% of a Â£100,000 pension is still a Â£1,000 charge for accessing your own savings," said Tom Selby, senior analyst at investment platform AJ Bell.
"We hope the authorities continue to monitor the cap, to assess whether it should be lower or even abolished if early exit penalties continue to prevent people utilising the new flexible pension rules."

Summary: Early exit charges for people taking money out of their pension pots will be capped at 1%, the financial regulator has confirmed.
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Article: Secamb said it was disappointed its bid to provide the service from April 2017 had been unsuccessful.
The contract, which covers Surrey, Hampshire and Hounslow, has gone to South Central Ambulance Service.
The five-year contract was awarded on behalf of six clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).
Julia Ross, chief executive of North West Surrey CCG, said: "The new service will be more responsive and we have put steps in place to ensure the needs of patients are put front and centre."
James Underhay, deputy chief executive of South Central Ambulance Service, welcomed the news. He said: "We will continue to grow as an organisation while maintaining quality of service."
Secamb has been under intense scrutiny over its management of NHS 111 calls and has received a warning from the health regulator.
A spokesman said the trust had ensured its bid would allow it to provide a high-quality and responsive service.
But he said: "This news sadly sees the end of Secamb providing patient transport services in its region after a long and proud history."
Staff who were affected would be contacted to discuss next steps, he added.
Secamb covers Kent, Surrey, Sussex and north-east Hampshire, an area with a population of about 4.5m, and historically ran patient transport across the region.
Patient transport in Kent is now run by G4S and the service in Sussex by Coperforma.
From April, Secamb will provide emergency ambulances only.
South Central serves more than 4m people across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire.

Summary: South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) has lost a bid to continue running Surrey's patient transport service.
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Article: The first and deputy first minister revealed plans last May for 10 campuses where Protestant and Catholic children would be educated on the same site.
Letters have now been sent to primary and secondary schools, informing them of what criteria must be met.
Campuses must be cross-community and be supported by both local people and the education authorities.
Schools that can prove they have already been sharing across the sectors will be preferred.
Work has already begun on the Lisanelly shared campus for six schools in Omagh, but the Department of Education acknowledges that this project is probably unique.
Instead the most likely plans will be for smaller schemes, and for shared facilities to be built or expanded for the joint use of at least two schools.
Applications must be submitted by the end of March, and the first round of decisions will be made by June.
The programme is part of the Northern Ireland Executive's Together: Building a United Community strategy,
Stormont Education Minister John O'Dowd said: "The programme will complement the work already under way on shared education and area planning and will be targeted at infrastructure projects aimed at improving or facilitating sharing initiatives within local schools.
"It will have the potential to bring together a range of schools and aid shared participation in classes, sports and extra-curricular activities."

Summary: Schools across Northern Ireland can now apply for funding to set up shared education campuses.
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Article: A new group, the Scottish Native Honey Bee Society, has been formed to help protect the indigenous species.
It aims to convince more keepers to convert their colonies to native bees.
Experts say the Apis Mellifera Mellifera are hardier than other species which makes them more suitable to a Scottish climate.
The imported bees are more readily available but carry a greater risk of bringing in disease from the Varroa mite.
They also risk cross-breeding with the native species creating hybrids.
Beekeeper Gavin Ramsay said: "Scottish native honey bees are a brown bee with a reputation for frugality which helps them withstand even the dreichest of Scottish weather.
"But, like the Scottish Wildcat, it has been getting increasingly difficult to find good pure examples and if we don't take action to reverse their decline we may see them disappear."
It is estimated there are about 3,000 beekeepers in Scotland and the hobby has been increasing in popularity.
The new organisation wants to raise awareness of the native bee's importance and encourage government to help secure their survival.
It also aims to encourage conservation, maintenance and breeding.
Beekeepers are seen as vital for the survival of the insects with very few colonies surviving without human protection.
Honey bees are different to bumble bees, more commonly found in gardens, which don't produce any honey.
They are commonly used in areas such as Tayside to aid pollination in the fruit sector.
Dr Ewan Campbell, a biologist specialising in bee disease at the University of Aberdeen, said: "We want to raise awareness that there is a native honey bee in Scotland and that there is value in its conservation.
"Disease and hybridisation are putting the native honey bee in real trouble here.
"We know, thanks to modern genetics and morphology, that small pockets of native honey bees do still cling on in some parts of Scotland, but for how long?"

Summary: A leading biologist says Scotland's native honey bees are being threatened by imports brought in because of the hobby's growing popularity.
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Article: She became Kenya's first high-profile athlete to fail a test, when she tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in September.
Jeptoo, 33, says she may have been prescribed some banned substances at a local hospital after a road accident.
She has become the 45th Kenyan athlete to have failed a doping test.
David Rudisha, the Olympic 800 metres champion, said he fears for Kenya's hard-won reputation after repeat allegations of doping.
"Athletics Kenya followed due process in her matter and it was appropriate that she serves a two-year ban," said the governing body's chief executive Isaac Kamande.
The ban comes only a few days after Athletics Kenya announced that eight more Kenyan athletes have been suspended for between one to four years for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Over the last two years Kenya has been in the spotlight after a German television programme claimed that many Kenyan athletes are doping.
Jeptoo, one of most successful runners in Kenyan history, was due to be crowned world Marathon Major Champion for the year 2014 but the ceremony was called off soon after news of her failed test.
She has won the previous three Boston and two Chicago marathons and also previously won the Stockholm, Paris, Milan and Lisbon marathons.

Summary:


Eurotunnel passengers have faced fresh delays after "migrant activity" led to extra security measures in France.

Article: Sports scientists found the youngsters became mentally quicker and sharper after a series of short sprints and slightly longer periods of walking.
The Nottingham Trent University team said that by doing exercise the children were effectively speeding up their minds.
The effects on cognitive ability lasted for about an hour.
The study, published in the journal Preventative Medicine Reports, involved a group of 44 12-year-olds undertaking a series of ten-second sprints, interspersed with 50 seconds of walking.
These particular exercises were chosen to replicate the kind of activities that children usually do in the playground - running for a short while, then stopping then running again for a short while.
They were then required to sit some tests measuring brain function.
These measured attention and focus by asking participants to identify the colour a word is written in rather the word itself.
For example, if the word "green" is written in blue letters, then "blue" is the correct answer.
Dr Simon Cooper, the lead researcher, said: "These tests measure cognitive ability - concentration levels, ability to focus, memory, attention - all the things you need for learning.
"Essentially, following the exercise the children were mentally quicker, but still as accurate in their answers to the tests.
"By doing exercise, they are speeding up their minds ."
Dr Cooper added: "Our findings are of great importance to schools, demonstrating the importance of physical education in the curriculum. They support the inclusion of high-intensity sprint-based exercise for adolescent pupils during the school day."

Summary: Bursts of intense exercise during the school day improve pupils' focus and concentration in class, a study says.
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Article: The festival, which has been running for more than 30 years, has spilled out onto George Street from its traditional home of Charlotte Square.
It comes after the owners asked the festival to reduce its impact on the space and grass damage.
Organisers also believe the move will capture new audiences. The Edinburgh International Book Festival runs until Monday 28 August.
It opens with speakers including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Paul Auster, Zadie Smith, Richard Ford, Andrew O'Hagan and Ali Smith.
Comedians Andy Hamilton, Joe Lycett and Sara Pascoe will be appearing together with actors Simon Callow, Harriet Walter, Isla Fisher and Stephen McGann and from the world of politics Harriet Harman, Sayeeda Warsi, Vince Cable, Jess Phillips, David Owen and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
There will be conversations, performances, lectures, workshops and discussions featuring 1,000 writers including 50 debut novelists from more than 50 countries.
Nick Barley, director of Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: "I'm really proud that we are able to expand into George Street this year.
"For many years Charlotte Square has been home for the book festival and it still is the home of the book festival.
"But expanding into George Street is a chance to reach out to new audiences and people who haven't yet had the chance to take part in what goes on in Charlotte Square gardens."

Summary: The Edinburgh International Book Festival has got under way.
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Article: The more women are exposed to "selfies" and other photos on social media, the more they compare themselves negatively, according to a study.
Friends' photos may be more influential than celebrity shots as they are of known contacts, say UK and US experts.
The study is the first to link time on social media to poor body image.
The mass media are known to influence how people feel about their appearance.
But little is known about how social media impact on self-image.
Young women are particularly high users of social networking sites and post more photographs of themselves on the internet than do men.
To look at the impact on body image, researchers at the University of Strathclyde, Ohio University and University of Iowa surveyed 881 female college students in the US.
The women answered questions about their Facebook use, eating and exercise regimes, and body image.
The research, presented at a conference in Seattle, found no link with eating disorders.
But it did find a link between time spent on social networks and negative comparisons about body image.
The more time women spent on Facebook, the more they compared their bodies with those of their friends, and the more they felt negative about their appearance.
"Spending more time on Facebook is not connected to developing a bad relationship with food, but there is a connection to poor body image," Petya Eckler, of the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, told the BBC.
She added: "The attention to physical attributes may be even more dangerous on social media than on traditional media because participants in social media are people we know.
"These comparisons are much more relevant and hit closer to home. Yet they may be just as unrealistic as the images we see on traditional media."
A spokesperson for the Beat eating disorders charity said body image was a key part of our sense of identity and not a trivial matter or personal vanity.
A preoccupation with weight and shape was one of the key features of current popular culture, and was a global phenomenon,...

Summary: Spending lots of time on Facebook looking at pictures of friends could make women insecure about their body image, research suggests.
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Article: The research confirmed the presence of Zika virus in the amniotic fluid of two women who had had Zika-like symptoms during their pregnancies.
Brazilian experts say this suggests the virus can infect the foetus.
But WHO experts caution the link is not proven and expect to release more information in the next few weeks.
Brazil has seen a rise in microcephaly - babies born with abnormally small heads and, in some cases, problems with brain development - in the last year, at the same time as a rise in the number of people infected with Zika virus.
This has led to a number of studies investigating whether the virus is behind the rise.
The research, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, involved two women who had fever, rash and muscle aches during their pregnancies.
After ultrasound scans revealed their developing foetuses had microcephaly, scientists ran further amniocentesis checks.
This involved taking a small sample of the amniotic fluid that surrounds the foetus in the womb.
Genetic analysis of this fluid confirmed the presence of Zika virus - discounting similar viruses that may have been responsible.
Lead scientist, Dr Ana de Filippis, from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said: "This study reports details of the Zika virus being identified directly in the amniotic fluid of a woman during her pregnancy, suggesting the virus could cross the placental barrier and potentially infect the foetus."
She added: "This study cannot determine whether the Zika virus identified in these two cases was the cause of microcephaly in the babies.
"Until we understand the biological mechanism linking Zika to microcephaly we cannot be certain that one causes the other, and further research is urgently needed."
Prof Jimmy Whitworth, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine added that while the research cannot prove the link: "This study does strengthen the body of evidence that Zika virus is the cause of foetal microcephaly in Brazil."
Separately the paper suggests that the virus...

Summary: Scientists say a study involving pregnant women in Brazil "strengthens" the theory that Zika is linked to microcephaly birth defects in babies.
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Article: A team of UK and Ghanaian researchers found that the tree composition in these areas favoured species that were able to cope with drier conditions.
Previous studies suggested that drought conditions resulted in less carbon being stored as vegetation died.
The findings have been published in the journal Ecology Letters.
"Despite the long-term drought, there was no biomass loss in the forests. In fact, the biomass actually increased during that period," explained co-author Sophie Fauset from the University of Leeds.
Biomass is a vital component in the global carbon cycle. When plants grow, they absorb carbon dioxide and water in the photosynthesis process.
While oxygen is released into the atmosphere as a waste product of this process, the absorbed carbon primarily remains locked in the plant until it dies.
"We think it is the result of a shift in species composition," Dr Fauset said, explaining why the study showed an increase in biomass.
"Because you have got this long-term environmental shift, it is possible for the species composition of the forests to reshuffle slightly, so the species that can survive under those conditions are favoured.
"This means you are getting less negative impacts of the drought."
The team of UK and Ghanaian researchers tracked more than 10,000 trees between 1990 and 2010.
The West Africa region has experienced drought conditions since 1970. Rainfall has fallen by up to 23% compared with pre-1970 levels.
Dr Fauset said the study widened the current thinking on the consequences of drought conditions on an area's flora and fauna.
"It is generally thought that if you have droughts then you are going to see a decrease in biomass," she told BBC News.
"Certainly, studies that have looked at short-term, quite extreme droughts do seem to show biomass loss.
"It could be that the increase in biomass (recorded in this study) could be the result of something else, but we think that the maintenance of the forest structure, despite the drought conditions, is a result of a change in species...

Summary: The carbon storage capacity of protected forests in West Africa has increased despite the region suffering a 40-year drought, a study suggests.
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Article: The firm said there were waiting times of up to three and a half hours at the terminal in Folkestone and an hour in Calais.
It tweeted the delays were "due to increased security measures" and said it was working hard to minimise them.
On Thursday, a teenager thought to be from east Africa was killed by freight train near the tunnel in Calais.
The boy is the 11th person to have died in or near the tunnel while trying to reach Britain, since late June.
In a statement, Eurotunnel said: "There is a waiting time of approximately three and a half hours on the terminal.
"We regret that we are currently unable to sell tickets to non-reserved customers.
"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this will cause to your journey."
The rail operator also tweeted earlier that services had been affected by a power problem on the national French network but issues were later resolved.
It said security systems would be checked within the Channel Tunnel before any trains were allowed to enter.
There has been a fall in intrusion attempts at Eurotunnel's terminal in Calais after extra security measures were introduced in Europe.
The situation in Calais is part of a wider crisis across Europe, with migrants and refugees heading north from the Mediterranean.

Summary: