The charity said the new technology will provide an alternative to road ambulance journeys, offering significantly quicker transport of vulnerable babies between hospitals.

The most advanced flight incubators in the UK for sick babies will be used by Wales Air Ambulance later this month.

Article: Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) hopes its new mobile scanner will help to improve Scotland's sheep stocks.
Using low dose x-rays, the scanner produces images showing muscle shape, internal fat and pelvic shape of live animals.
SRUC's sheep geneticist Dr Nicola Lambe said the scans could help indentify "attributes" that produce the best lambs for meat.
Dr Lambe told BBC Alba: "The scanner is the same as you would get in a hospital and it is usually used for medical purposes.
"But we use it for CT scanning sheep.
"The interesting thing is that you can look at all the different body tissue and organs.
"We can use it to select the top animals for breeding with."
A number of pedigree sheep breeders have already made use of the mobile scanner to check for their best animals.

Summary: A medical CT scanner is being used to identify the best sheep for breeding.
###
Article: Stephen Henderson Jewellers in Union Street was targeted by two suspects who took items from the shop and ran off.
It is understood the man has been identified but not yet traced.
Officers issued descriptions of two men who were seen running towards Dundee railway station following the theft.
No description of the items stolen or their value has been released, although owner Stephen Henderson said the theft was "substantial".
A Tayside Division spokeswoman said: "Police Scotland can confirm that a 30-year-old man has been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with a theft from Stephen Henderson Jewellers, Union Street, Dundee that happened on Friday 6 February 2015."

Summary: A 30-year-old man has been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with a high-value theft from a Dundee jewellers in February 2015.
###
Article: Mr Clegg said the party had taken a "hard look in the mirror" since sexual harassment claims against the former Lib Dem chief executive first emerged.
Lord Rennard was suspended for bringing the party into disrepute after failing to apologise over the allegations.
But disciplinary action was dropped and the matter declared closed on Tuesday.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said the issue had been "very painful" for the party.
In a statement, Lord Rennard said he was "pleased" and pointed out that none of the allegations against him had been proven.
"I remain a committed member of the Liberal Democrats and a strong believer in the principles of the party, as set out in the constitution, and based on the values that led me to join the Liberal Party in my teens," he said.
He had initially refused to apologise over the allegations by four female activists last year. However, he later expressed regret, conceding that he may have "inadvertently" encroached upon "personal space".
By Iain Watson, BBC political correspondent
The long-running disciplinary process inside the Lib Dems wasn't just about the reputation of one man - it was about the reputation of the party itself.
The result of the independent investigation by a QC into allegations of sexual harassment produced the worst possible political outcome - the women's evidence was said to have been broadly credible, but the allegations weren't proven beyond reasonable doubt.
That led to the complainants claiming the party wasn't taking their concerns seriously, while it made Lord Rennard at first wary of apologising for what he later called inadvertent encroachment of personal space - in case that appeared to be an admission of guilt.
So the new disciplinary proceedings that followed his initial failure to say sorry also led to further bad headlines for the Lib Dems.
And despite Lord Rennard's subsequent apology, some of his accusers continued to press for his expulsion from the party.
Party officials knew a line had to be drawn under the row well before the...

Summary: Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has insisted the "party has changed" after Lord Rennard had his membership suspension lifted.
###
Article: The charity said the new technology would provide an alternative to road ambulance journeys, offering significantly quicker transport of vulnerable babies between hospitals.
The service began carrying Babypods for emergency missions in 2013.
But the new incubators will attach to existing equipment in the helicopter, providing warmth and oxygen.
They also have a transparent chamber, allowing babies to be monitored during flights.
Welsh medics went to Switzerland to help in the design process and, at a cost of Â£70,000 each, two new incubators have been bought by NHS Wales.
They will be used on Wales Air Ambulance's newest helicopter, the fourth in its fleet.
Weighing 15st 10lb (100kg), the incubators will be fitted to a sled and require two people to lift them into the air ambulance.
Since April 2015, helicopter crews have been joined on board by consultant doctors.
Dr Dindi Gill, the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service Cymru interim director, said: "Having the incubator system will further enhance the ability of the EMRTS teams to manage neonates born at home or in hospital.
"It is recognised that temperature control is extremely important to this group of patients and, therefore, we welcome the ability to carry the incubator on Wales Air Ambulance's helicopters."
Following crew training, the incubator service will run as a trial to the end of 2016.

Summary:


A late-night levy on Liverpool's bars and clubs will not be introduced after councillors rejected the proposals.

Article: The UK government has confirmed the change as peers prepare for one of the final Wales Bill parliamentary debates.
It means ministers in Wales will get responsibility for licensing gaming machines where the maximum stake is more than £10.
Wales Office Minister Lord Bourne said in November he was prepared to consider the change.
But campaigners say the move does not go far enough as it only applies to new licences and not existing machines, and fear any ban could open the Welsh Government up to a "minefield" of legal challenges.
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling estimates customers in Wales lost over £50m on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) between September 2014-15.
The terminals feature games including roulette, bingo, simulated greyhound and horse racing and slot machines, where people can gamble as much as £100 per spin, in theory every 20 seconds.
Adrian Parkinson, of the campaign, said he had seen people lose thousands of pounds in just a few hours playing roulette on the machines.
Mr Parkinson, who worked in the industry for 26 years, described customers going bankrupt, losing their jobs and homes, through their addiction to the terminals.
"When they are playing on the FOBTs it is just them and the machine, they get in the zone," he said.
"If you are playing five times faster than in a casino, you are going to lose money five times faster."
Betting shops are restricted to four machines in each shop, but critics say that had led to clusters of shops as companies try to increase the number of the terminals on the high street.
Mr Parkinson said the new licensing powers could see the Welsh Government or Welsh local authorities face legal challenges if they tried to impose further limits on new terminals - costing the taxpayer potentially tens of thousands of pounds.
"They look at this as if it is a power for the Welsh people, it is not, it's a potential minefield," he said.
But a spokesman for the Association of British Bookmakers said betting shops in Wales were the "safest place" to gamble as they were...

Summary: The power to ban high-stakes gambling machines in Wales will be given to the Welsh Government.
###
Article: In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.95% at 5,226.40.
Analysts said iron ore prices were continuing to move towards the decade low reached earlier this year.
The commodity is Australia's biggest export and was trading at $44.20 a tonne in China on Monday.
Independent economist and commodities specialist Andy Xie has predicted that iron ore prices will fall below $40 a tonne before the end of the year.
He said prices could even sink as low as $30 for much of next year as demand from China continues to decline.
Three of the biggest iron ore producers recorded falls in their Sydney-listed shares. BHP Billiton closed down 1.8%, Rio Tinto fell 1.5%, while Fortescue Metals was the biggest loser, sinking 3.2%.
Japan's Nikkei index spent much of the day flat but made gains late in the day to close up 0.23% at 19,924.89 points.
Shares in the country's troubled electronics maker Sharp surged more than 35% at one point on reports its lenders may waive some of its debts.
Without citing sources, Kyodo News said a state-backed fund may invest in Sharp if Japanese lenders agreed to write off an unspecified amount of its debt.
Investors seem to shrug off fresh numbers released earlier on Tuesday that showed Japan's manufacturing activity expanded in November as new orders and output increased.
The Markit/Nikkei Japan Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose from 52.4 in October to 52.8 in November. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
The PMI figure was the highest it had been since March last year - ahead of the introduction of the country's sales tax.
Marcel Thieliant from Capital Economics said the reading suggested Japan's economy had returned to growth this quarter.
"Today's survey confirms that economic activity is on the mend. But with large amounts of spare capacity dampening price pressures, we still think that the Bank of Japan may have to step up the pace of easing in coming months," he added.
In China, the Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.2% at 3,616.11, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng...

Summary: Asian markets experienced mixed fortunes on Tuesday following declines in the US and as slumping iron ore prices continued to hurt mining companies.
###
Article: The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 469,696 new cars were registered in the month, a rise of 1.6% from 462,517 last year.
It is the highest sales total for September on record, but the figures also showed sales to private motorists fell for the sixth month in a row.
The best-selling new car in September was the Ford Fiesta.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: "September is always one of the biggest months for Britain's new car market.
"The new 66-plate, combined with a diverse range of exciting new models featuring the latest technology, has certainly helped draw buyers into showrooms."
The total number of cars registered so far this year has now reached 2.15 million, according to the SMMT. Fleet sales continued to drive growth, climbing 7.3% year on year in September.
But registrations to private motorists slipped by 1.7%, the sixth consecutive month of decline.
This followed "record levels of growth in 2015", the SMMT cautioned. But Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, warned consumers were "recoiling" from making big-ticket purchases due to uncertainty about the economy.
"Car manufacturers also are beginning to raise prices in response to sterling's depreciation," he added.
"In addition, much of the pent-up demand from households that put off car purchases during the recession also has now been satiated.
"As such, with growth in households' real incomes set to slow sharply, as inflation revives and firms pause on hiring, and loan rates now at a floor, we expect [private] car sales to continue to fall over the next year."
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
Mr Hawes also said the car industry continued to face uncertainty.
"Business and consumers place September orders many months in advance," he said.
"So the ability of the market to maintain this record level of demand will depend on the ability of government to overcome political uncertainty and safeguard the conditions that underpin consumer appetite."
In September, Mr Hawes warned...

Summary: UK new car sales rose in September, helped by strong purchases from fleet buyers and the new 66 number plate.
###
Article: The council's licensing and gambling committee blocked a plan to introduce an annual charge for any establishment staying open after midnight.
Up to 800 licensed premises would have paid between Â£299 and Â£4,400 to offset the costs of the night-time economy.
The committee said the net income generated by the plan would be unlikely to produce "significant improvements".
Merseyside Police had estimated the annual cost of policing the city centre from midnight to 06:00 to be about Â£540,000.
Some bars and clubs in Liverpool had opposed the levy and pub chain JD Wetherspoon called it "an unfair tax on pubs".
A similar late-night levy was introduced in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2013.

Summary:

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The BBC's Andrew Marr reports on the latest developments in the Middle East.

Ever since Ukraine's February revolution, the Kremlin has characterised the new leaders in Kiev as a "fascist junta" made up of neo-Nazis and anti-Semites, set on persecuting, if not eradicating, the Russian-speaking population.

Article: Supporters of President Hassan Rouhani won 42% of the 290 seats, short of an outright majority but comfortable enough to pass his legislative plans.
Independents took nearly 30% and many of them are said to be reform-minded.
Women took a record 17 seats, the most since the 1979 revolution, and more than clerics gained.
Hardliners won just under a third of seats in a humiliating performance, a BBC correspondent reports.
Why Iran's moderates must capitalise quickly
The run-off was held on Friday in constituencies where no candidate had won the minimum 25% of the vote at the first round in February.
The results are regarded by many as an endorsement of the nuclear agreement that the government of President Rouhani signed with the US and other world powers to curtail Iran's nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
President Hassan Rouhani will look at the results of the run-off elections with a good deal of satisfaction. The moderate and independent candidates have dwarfed his hard-line opponents.
Many of the independents are generally believed to be supporters of the government. This means he will have little trouble in the next parliament, which is due to start work in less than a month from now.
His first priority, according to his Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, is the introduction of bill to guarantee citizens' rights - a major step, he hopes, that will improve human rights in the country and the rule of law.
But he still faces other centres of power that are in the hands of the hardliners, who may block his every effort to steer Iran towards moderation.
Of the 17 women who won seats, at least 11 are considered moderates, AFP news agency reported. It almost doubles the number of women in parliament, giving women the same share of seats as countries including such as Thailand, Nigeria and Haiti.
In February, reformists also made gains in elections for the Assembly of Experts, which appoints the country's most powerful official, the Supreme Leader.
Dr Sanam Vakil, an associate...

Summary: Run-off elections have given moderates and reformists a working majority in the Iranian parliament for the first time in more than a decade.
###
Article: The festival was founded in 2005 and is usually held on or near 6 August, Jamaican Independence Day.
In recent years the event, which is free, has attracted up to 15,000 people and closed roads in the area.
The organisers said they were "incredibly disappointed" by the decision.
Lambeth Council refused their application to hold the event this year, saying in a statement the 2015 event drew "a large number" of complaints from local residents.
The council stressed that the cost of policing and cleaning up afterwards "ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds".
A council spokeswoman said: "Sadly, last year's event became a victim of its own success and we need to pause it for this year, let the community take it back to its roots as a safe, fun event for everyone with professional organisation."
The founder of the festival, Ros Griffiths, joined the council in appealing for more people to get involved in order to ensure the event could go ahead in 2017.
She said: "The community needs to reclaim this as a celebration of Brixton, not a free-for-all that creates chaos, mess and unease."
But organisers who were in the process of planning this year's Brixton Splash spoke out against the decision, saying they feared it did not fit with the council's "gentrified image" of Brixton.
Brixton Splash director Shezal Laing claimed: "We've been trying to ensure we plan a safe event, we've been seeking meetings with the council and other stakeholders, including the police, and at every level we've been blocked."

Summary: The Brixton Splash music festival has been cancelled for 2016, with Lambeth Council saying it costs too much to police and to clear up afterwards.
###
Article: It concluded that the exhausts
          were definitely a cause of lung cancer
 and may also cause tumours in the bladder.
It based the findings on research in high-risk workers such as miners, railway workers and truck drivers.
However, the panel said everyone should try to reduce their exposure to diesel exhaust fumes.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization, had previously labelled diesel exhausts as probably carcinogenic to humans.
IARC has now labelled exhausts as a definite cause of cancer, although it does not compare how risky different carcinogens are. Diesel exhausts
          are now in the same group
 as carcinogens ranging from wood chippings to plutonium and sunlight to alcohol.
It is thought people working in at-risk industries have about a 40% increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Dr Christopher Portier, who led the assessment, said: "The scientific evidence was compelling and the Working Group's conclusion was unanimous, diesel engine exhaust causes lung cancer in humans.
"Given the additional health impacts from diesel particulates, exposure to this mixture of chemicals should be reduced worldwide."
The impact on the wider population, which is exposed to diesel fumes at much lower levels and for shorter periods of time, is unknown.
Dr Kurt Straif, also from IARC, said: "For most of the carcinogens when there is high exposure the risk is higher, when there is lower exposure the risk is lower."
There have been considerable efforts to clean up diesel exhausts. Lower sulphur fuel and engines which burn the fuel more efficiently are now in use.
The UK Department of Health said: "We will carefully consider this report. Air pollutants are a significant public health concern, we are looking at this issue as part of our plans to improve public health."
Cancer Research UK said employers and workers should take appropriate action to minimise exposure to diesel fumes in the workplace.
But director of cancer information Dr Lesley Walker said the...

Summary: Exhaust fumes from diesel engines do cause cancer, a panel of experts working for the World Health Organization says.
###
Article: This is demonstrably false. Far-right parties failed to pass a 5% barrier to enter parliament, although if they had banded together, and not split their vote, they would have probably slipped past the threshold.
Only one government minister has links to nationalist parties - though he is in no way a neo-Nazi or fascist. And the speaker of parliament, Volodymyr Groysman, is Jewish. He has the third most powerful position in the country after the president and prime minister.
But Ukrainian officials and many in the media err to the other extreme. They claim that Ukrainian politics are completely fascist-free. This, too, is plain wrong.
As a result, the question of the presence of the far-right in Ukraine remains a highly sensitive issue, one which top officials and the media shy away from. No-one wants to provide fuel to the Russian propaganda machine.
But this blanket denial also has its dangers, since it allows the ultra-nationalists to fly under the radar. Many Ukrainians are unaware that they exist, or even what a neo-Nazi or fascist actually is, or what they stand for.
This hyper-sensitivity and stonewalling were on full display after President Petro Poroshenko presented a Ukrainian passport to someone who, according to human rights activists, is a "Belarusian neo-Nazi".
The Ukrainian leader handed out medals on 5 December to fighters who had tenaciously defended the main airport in the eastern region of Donetsk from being taken over by Russian-backed separatists.
Among the recipients was Serhiy Korotkykh, a Belarusian national, to whom Mr Poroshenko awarded Ukrainian citizenship, praising his "courageous and selfless service".
The president's website showed a photo of Mr Poroshenko patting the shoulder of the Belarusian, who was clad in military fatigues.
Experts who follow the far right have strongly objected to President Poroshenko's decision.
They say Mr Korotkykh was a member of the far-right Russian National Unity party and also a founding member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Society (NSS) in...

Summary:


The price of oil fell to its lowest level since 2009 as global production continues to remain high.

Article: Former Scotland captain Coetzer, 31, joined Northants in 2011 and helped the side win the FLt20 in 2013.
But Coetzer, who went to the World Cup with Scotland earlier this year, only played four Championship matches this summer, with a batting average of 5.29.
Meanwhile, 28-year-old paceman Chambers moved from Essex in 2013 and played just five Championship games in 2015.
Northants head coach David Ripley told the club website: "Kyle has been a model professional during his time here, he deals with success and failure in equal measure, a very valuable thing in a cricket dressing room. We wish him and his family well in the future.
"After a slow start in 2014, Maurice has put in a big effort this year but has been unable to get past our other seam bowlers and play regularly in the first team."

Summary: Northants have released Scotland international Kyle Coetzer and bowler Maurice Chambers.
###
Article: That's how its been since the App Store's inception seven years ago.
But soon Apple will for the first time lower its App Store commission on one condition: if an app can retain a subscriber for over a year, the revenue split will be 85/15.
The change will apply immediately to existing apps with users that are more than a year old - potentially providing an injection of extra revenue for many companies.
Spotify, for example, boasted of having 20 million subscribers this time last year.
For the sake of argument, if even just half of those subscribers are still paying members today, the change could potentially represent around $15m (£10.3m) in extra subscription revenue for Spotify every month, and that's probably a conservative estimate.
As well as price, Apple will introduce another significant change to App Store subscriptions. Until now, only apps in certain categories - media and entertainment content - could charge subscription fees. Soon, any app will be able to offer such an option.
This is widely seen as a way for Apple to encourage high-end productivity apps onto its mobile operating system, iOS.
"This could be the change that makes the market for professional-calibre iPad apps possible," wrote John Gruber, a technology writer and long-time Apple watcher.
"I think this is terrific news both for developers and users."
The danger, of course, is by opening up subscriptions to every type of app, Apple risks creating a frustrating environment that's irritating for users who were accustomed to the simple model of paid or free apps.
Then again, subscriptions are surely more likely to encourage quality compared to one-off payments - the challenge for developers shifts from being convincing people to pay once, to convincing them to keep paying, again and again.
Mr Gruber noted, however, that there was still some uncertainty about whether all apps could use the new business model.
The revenue split change is just one piece of Apple's plans for its store, which now has 1.5 million apps on offer - second only to...

Summary: If you sell an app, subscription or other product through the App Store, Apple gets 30% of the money.
###
Article: A report carried out for the Education Select Committee said "questionable practices" were being signed off.
However, the report stressed that cases of deliberate fraud were rare.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan will be questioned about "loopholes" in academy regulation when she appears before the committee next month.
The research - carried out by the University of London's Institute of Education - found that while regulation had improved since 2010, problems were still occurring, including potential conflicts of interest.
One interviewee described an academy head teacher who had spent Â£50,000 on a one-day training course run by a friend.
Another cited the chairman of a multi-academy trust, who was also a lawyer specialising in education, who used his company to provide all legal services for the trust.
Another said the chairman of governors in one academy told staff they would be dismissed if they discussed with students or used textbooks referencing abortion or contraception.
The chairman of the committee, Graham Stuart, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that most academies were "working hard in challenging conditions to raise standards."
And he said the "greed, nepotism, and self-serving behaviour of a few" should not bring "the academies movement in general into disrepute".
"Issues around at-cost provision of services, and some other technicalities, are still pretty weak in regulatory terms," Mr Stuart added.
"I think we will want to question the secretary of state pretty strongly on that."
The report said the "vast majority of academy trusts" were staffed by "honourable people".
It added: "Cases of deliberate fraud are rare and many of the instances where real or perceived conflicts have arisen are the result of people being asked to work too fast with too few controls.
"Nevertheless, the general sense from the literature and the evidence collected for this study is that the checks and balances on academy trusts in relation to conflicts of interest are still too weak.
"In the course of the research...

Summary: Checks and balances on how academy schools in England spend large amounts of public money are "too weak", research commissioned by MPs has found.
###
Article: The price of West Texas crude sank to $37.65 (Â£24.99) a barrel, a drop of 5.8%, while Brent Crude fell 5.3% to $40.73 a barrel.
The slumping price comes as OPEC - a group of the largest oil producing nations- refused to cut oil production.
OPEC- whose production covers about 30% of the world's oil demand - met in Vienna last week to discuss production.
The group has faced growing competition from new supplies, including in the US where techniques like fracking are used to tap previously hard-to-reach oil reserves.
"The decision by OPEC members to keep oil production output at record high levels has seen oil prices plummet again," said Sanjiv Shah, chief investment officer of Sun Global Investments.
The group had traditionally kept a tight rein on oil production to regulate price, but announced last Friday it will continue to pump out approximately 31.5 million barrels of oil a day, going past the group's former 30 million barrel target.
In 2014 Saudi Arabia led OPEC in a decision to keep output high to defend its market share.

Summary:


The government has announced that it will introduce a new tax on the value of the value of property.

A judicial review has begun over the decision to exclude the former Kincora boys' home in east Belfast from a child abuse inquiry being held at Westminster.

Article: The college is to become a school of fine art with "inspirational and truly world class teaching and learning spaces".
The work at the former Stow College is part of a Â£80m campus development project being undertaken by GSA.
It is scheduled to be completed in time for it be in use in the academic year 2018/19.
The design is the work of BDP architects.
GSA director Prof Tom Inns said: "The Stow Building has been a distinctive part of Glasgow's educational landscape for over 80 years.
"BDP's design harnesses the full potential of the original 1930s building, with the new roof extension, while carefully considered to meet the very specific needs of fine art internally, plays tribute to Glasgow's industrial heritage externally."
BDP Scotland chairman and architect principal Scott Mackenzie added: "BDP is delighted to be part of the GTMS team working with the Glasgow School of Art to rejuvenate the former Stow College building as a School of Fine Art.
"This project not only brings new life to a cherished Glasgow landmark, but also provides the School of Fine Art with inspirational and truly world class teaching and learning spaces."

Summary: The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) has released details of how the former Stow College building will be converted.
###
Article: "Because I think the politics of Wales have changed quite profoundly in recent years and I think the picture you're going to see in the south Wales valleys will be similar to the results we've seen in the north east of England and some of these old industrial working-class areas which have shifted very markedly towards 'out'.
"And this will be one of the, I think, the stories of this referendum campaign - the way the spotlight has been shown on some of these quite marked social divisions and it poses a challenge not only to use as a Conservative government but to all the Westminster parties who increasingly look and sound the same."
It poses a challenge to parties in Wales too. Wales has 40 MPs; only five backed Brexit. Every single Welsh Labour MP backed remain. Many Labour supporters who voted for the party only last month in the Welsh Assembly elections clearly voted against the party line (if they knew what it was) on Thursday.
Some MPs are less surprised than others. One said he had been shouted at for the first time by a constituent during the referendum campaign. Others reported back on a virulent anti-politics mood and "our broken politics". One Labour source questioned the timing of Wednesday's announcement that the Assembly is to be asked to re-brand itself a Welsh parliament.
Not so long ago Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood advocated a Welsh veto on an English-led Brexit, warning: "An English vote for exit should not - by dint of sheer numbers - be able to trump a desire in Wales to stay in."
That challenge doesn't arise but Ms Wood warned at the time of a constitutional crisis if the UK's different nations voted in different ways, and with Scotland voting to remain, she may be proved right.
Welsh parties complained that the proximity of the vote with the assembly elections had made it difficult to campaign together effectively, although the timing didn't stop the Scots voting to remain.
In his resignation statement, the prime minister said Britain must prepare for negotiation with the EU. "This will...

Summary: It was shortly before 02:00 BST (I listen so you don't have to) when Stephen Crabb told radio listeners that he would not be surprised if Wales voted for Brexit.
###
Article: New legislation in the Queen's Speech will mean that the amount workers are allowed to earn before paying tax is likely to rise faster than inflation.
The national minimum wage for adults is due to rise by 3% in October, the largest real-terms rise in seven years.
Chancellor George Osborne has said it will rise from £6.50 to £8 by 2020.
The personal allowance is currently £10,600, but is due to rise to £12,500 by 2020.
As a result, the government is promising that no one working for 30 hours a week on the national minimum wage will pay tax.
At the moment, an adult working for 48 weeks a year at that rate earns £9,360, so is below the tax threshold.
However, the new law will prevent such workers having to pay tax when the national minimum wage rises at a faster rate than inflation, which is currently -0.1%.
It is also expected that the increases will feed through to the higher rate tax threshold, suggesting that the higher rate could also rise faster than inflation.
That will benefit workers who currently earn more than £42,385 a year.
Such taxpayers have been affected by so-called fiscal drag, under which more people were dragged into a higher tax bracket, as the allowance failed to be uprated in line with inflation.
Legislation being outlined will also prevent rises in income tax, VAT and national insurance during the current Parliament.

Summary: Future increases in the income tax personal allowance will be linked to rises in the national minimum wage, the government has announced.
###
Article: A victim is taking legal action to force an independent inquiry with power to compel witnesses and the security services to hand over documents.
Gary Hoy was abused by two men who were subsequently convicted.
There have been allegations that a paedophile ring at Kincora was linked to the British intelligence services.
The government has so far refused calls for the abuse scandal at the Belfast home to be included within the scope of the inquiry established by Home Secretary Theresa May and headed by New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.
The government has said that as child protection is a devolved matter, the right place for the Kincora allegations to be examined is Northern Ireland's Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, which has been sitting in Banbridge.
The victims of Kincora claim the Northern Ireland inquiry lacks the powers to compel evidence or witnesses from government agencies.
Amnesty International, which is supporting the victims' legal challenge, says two military intelligence officers have alleged that the security services blocked police investigations into the child abuse at Kincora in the 1970s.
The judicial review is expected to last several days.
Three senior care staff at Kincora were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys.
At least 29 boys were abused at the home between the late 1950s and the early 1980s.
One of the men who was later convicted, William McGrath, is believed to have been an MI5 agent.

Summary:


has been criticised for not disclosing the salaries of its presenters.

People who have served in the armed forces in the past 50 years are not at greater risk of suicide than those who have not, according to a new study.

Article: The clause will be included in a draft of the BBC's next Royal Charter.
Currently, the BBC only reveals the salary details of executives who earn more than £150,000, but the government wants it to go further.
But BBC Trust chairwoman Rona Fairhead said the move was not "in the long-term interests of licence fee payers".
Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Mrs Bradley said publishing the salaries would bring the BBC "in line with the civil service" on transparency.
The culture secretary said it would help ensure the BBC "produces value for money for the licence fee" and that more transparency could lead to savings that could be "invested in even more great programmes".
Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman - one of those expected to be on the list - said last week she was "all for" BBC stars' earnings being disclosed because they are "working for the public".
The BBC has said releasing stars' salary details would affect its ability to attract and retain top talent and that it has already cut the amount it pays its broadcasting stars by £8m.
Mrs Fairhead said: "We don't agree with the government on everything and are disappointed with the decision on the disclosure of presenters' pay. We don't believe this is in the long-term interests of licence fee payers."
Last month, a spokesman for the corporation said publishing stars' salaries would amount to a "poacher's charter" - which would give competitors an advantage, allowing them to make better financial offers to attract talent away from the BBC.
But the corporation must now publish the salary details of all of its staff, including on-air presenters, who earn more than £150,000 - and specify which £50,000 salary band they fall in to - in next year's annual report.
Director general Tony Hall said: "Our position on talent pay has not changed and all major broadcasters have questioned the merit of the proposal.
"The BBC operates in a competitive market and this will not make it easier for the BBC to retain the talent the public love."
The lower...

Summary: The BBC will have to name all employees and presenters paid more than £150,000 a year, culture secretary Karen Bradley has said.
###
Article: Jeremy Peat told MSPs that Scottish viewers might not have "free and unfettered" access to all BBC services.
He suggested that digital services could be cut off and viewers could be required to pay for other services.
The Scottish government said viewers "would still be able to watch all the BBC's output post-independence".
Mr Peat, appearing before the Scottish Parliament's education and culture committee, argued: "I don't think there can be the presumption that access would continue on a free and unfettered basis to all services."
In response to a question from Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur on what was likely to happen in the event of a Yes vote in September's referendum, Mr Peat said: "So far as access to BBC services is concerned post-independence, my understanding is DTT (digital terrestrial television) could be cut off close to the border."
He added: "Already so far as the iPlayer is concerned and the web is concerned, for countries outwith the UK there is a requirement to pay for access and a somewhat different service is provided.
"I would assume that the starting point again would be that those services would be available to Scotland as an independent nation in a different way from the way they are at the moment, for payment, and potentially a different service."
Mr Peat, who was a member of the BBC's governing body from 2005 to 2010, said viewers in Ireland had "access to the majority of BBC services" but that he believed it was on "a commercial basis".
Viewers in the UK pay a TV licence fee to fund the BBC. The Republic of Ireland's public service broadcaster, RTE, is funded through a licence fee and by advertising.
In 2010 the governments of the UK and the Republic of Ireland signed a memorandum of understanding enabling "the widespread availability of RTE services in Northern Ireland on a free-to-air basis, and BBC services in Ireland on a paid for basis".
In its White Paper on independence, the Scottish government proposed the establishment of a Scottish Broadcasting Service (SBS).
The SBS...

Summary: Access to BBC services in an independent Scotland "would require a great deal of negotiation", a former BBC Trust member has claimed.
###
Article: It comes over claims of irregularities in the use of Fifa grants.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied claims by Dalung that there is $802,000 (£656,500) unaccounted for in its finances.
The discrepancy has led to world football's governing body halting its annual $1.1 million grant to Nigeria.
The federation insists there were no distortions during an earlier audit and that 'the minister was clearly misinformed about the activities of the NFF board'.
The audit report must be made public so as to promote transparency, build credibility and enhance your market value.
But Dalung, who was speaking at the NFF's Annual General Meeting in Lagos, wants a fresh audit of federation finances to examine how Fifa money was awarded and spent.
"According to a report, Fifa has withheld all development funds to Nigeria for lack of proper documentation of $802,000 out of the funds released to NFF," said Dalung.
"This is a very serious issue that must be given urgent attention to avoid another international embarrassment.
"Even more so that the present administration under the leadership of Mr. President, His Excellency, Mohammadu Buhari has zero tolerance for any act of misappropriation, misapplication, embezzlement or fraud in any guise.
"To this end, the NFF is directed to immediately provide my office with detail information of receipt, disbursement and application of the Fifa development grant accordingly.
"In addition, a reputable audit firm should be appointed urgently to check the account books of the federation to ensure that funds are judiciously expended.
"The audit report must be made public so as to promote transparency, build credibility and enhance your market value."
However, the NFF released a communiqué after the AGM saying its congress expressed satisfaction with the explanation provided by the NFF board on the issues raised by the minister.
It states that: "the audited account of the Federation for the year, as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, an internationally reputable audit firm, was...

Summary: Nigeria's sports minister Solomon Dalung has called for a "reputable audit" of the country's football federation.
###
Article: However, there is an increased risk in certain groups, the University of Glasgow research found.
Overall, veterans were at no greater risk than the general public, whilst both Falklands and Gulf War veterans had a lower risk of suicide.
The team studied veterans in Scotland who served between 1960 and 2012.
The study compared suicide risk among 56,205 veterans born between 1945 and 1985 with 172,741 matched non-veterans.
While overall there was no significant difference in the figures for veterans and non-veterans, the risk increased for:
Young veterans were not found to be at increased risk - a finding at odds with an earlier study by the Centre for Suicide Prevention which suggested that ex-servicemen under the age of 24 had a much higher rate of suicide.
Asked to explain the differences, lead researcher Dr Beverly Bergman said the two studies used different data and methodologies.
She said: "We have a smaller number of veterans but have studied them over a longer time period.
"In our study we had only two veterans under the age of 25 who died by suicide. The two studies are not directly comparable."
Dr Bergman said there was growing evidence that there is no overall difference in long-term risk of suicide between veterans and non-veterans in the UK.
She added: "This is an important study which provides reassurance that military service in the last 50 years does not increase people's risk of suicide overall, but it draws our attention to those people whose increased risk may be overlooked, such as older veterans and women veterans.
"It also confirms that early service leavers have a slightly increased risk but that may not manifest itself until middle age."
The study, which used data from the Scottish Veterans Health Study to examine deaths classified as due to suicide or self-harm, is published in Occupational Medicine.

Summary:


Shutter Speed overcame rain-softened ground to win the Musidora Stakes at York under Frankie Dettori and will now be aimed at next month's French Oaks.

Article: In Wales, councils are responsible for funding and overseeing schools.
But in England, Mr Osborne's plan will mean local authorities will cease to have a role in providing education.
Academies are directly funded by central government and head teachers have more freedom over admissions and to change the way the school works.
It is a significant development in the continued divergence of schools systems on either side of Offa's Dyke.
And although the Welsh Government will get extra cash to match the money for English schools to extend the school day, it can spend it on any devolved policy area.
Ministers have no plans to follow suit.
At the moment, governing bodies are responsible for setting school hours and they need ministerial permission to make significant changes.
There are already more than 2,000 secondary academies in England and its extension to all state schools is unlikely to shake the Welsh Government's attachment to what they call a "community, comprehensive model" for schools.
It rejects claims that freedom given to academies can help drive up standards, and it points to academy-free Scotland as the best performing school system in the UK.
Education Minister Huw Lewis said there was "very little evidence to suggest" academies have a positive impact in driving up standards and Wales would not be following the model.
"The Tories have wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on academies and free schools and as the Chancellor finalises his budget plans to slash vital services even further, he is committing them to wasting even more on a failing endeavour.
"We have no plans to introduce the chaos and waste of academies and free schools here in Wales."
None of the main parties in May's Assembly election - including the Welsh Conservatives - have said they want to introduce academies in Wales.
Owen Hathway, NUT Cymru's policy officer, called the academy plans for England "scandalous.".
"There is no evidence that academies work, no evidence that they raise standards, no evidence that they offer better...

Summary: As Chancellor George Osborne announced all English state schools will become academies, the Welsh Government continues to reject the model here.
###
Article: A campaign group has launched a Twitter account: Shut Up Tube Chat.
It comes after travellers were handed leaflets with badges encouraging them to talk to one another on the Tube.
The Tube Chat pin is supposed to indicate to other commuters that the wearer is happy to have a conversation.
It has provoked a strong reaction, with many people making their own badges designed to discourage anyone from approaching them.
Volunteers from the Shut Up Tube Chat campaign began handing out their badges at Liverpool Street station on Friday morning.
Commuters were handed leaflets with the new badges reading: "Want nothing less than a 'chat' with one of your fellow passengers?
"Wear this badge to let them know that you'd rather drink a pint of bleach than talk with them."
The badges, which read "Don't even think about it" are designed to ensure wearers can make their way to work in peace.
The man behind the campaign, Brian Wilson from Hackney, told BBC London he had given out 500 badges.
"I can't stand the idea of having to talk to strangers on the Tube on my way to work.
"We handed loads out this morning and everyone was loving it. Proper Londoners know the score," he said.
Commuters who want nothing more than to listen to their music, read a book, stare at their smartphone screen or just ignore their fellow travellers have also expressed alarm at being encouraged to talk to one another.
Actress and writer Emma Kennedy tweeted: "Whoever came up with those Tube Chat badges has fundamentally misunderstood the misanthropy of the London commute."
Richard Cook tweeted: "Imagine being someone who willingly wears a #Tube_Chat badge, sitting there beaming, just waiting for a conversation that will never come."
And Madelaine Hanson tweeted: "The day I willingly talk to anyone on the tube will be the day I have to tell someone that their hat is on fire."
Jonathan Dunne, who came up with the idea of the Tube Chat badges and is originally from the US, admitted it was difficult to get commuters to take one of the free pins.
"I would...

Summary: London commuters have attempted to prove they are insular and unfriendly by wearing badges discouraging fellow passengers from talking to them.
###
Article: Matt Baggott told the BBC that a new way must be found to deal with such cases.
He made the comments in an interview marking his final day in office.
He told the BBC that there was a "need to separate the past from the present".
"I think how ever that is done, the PSNI should no longer be accountable for dealing with issues that pre-date the Good Friday Agreement," he said.
"We have to create a situation where police resources are focused on the here and now, without taking away from the needs of justice or victims.
"But that can be done in a different place, under a different authority."
Northern Ireland attorney general John Larkin QC said last December that there should be no further police investigations, inquests or inquiries into any killings pre-dating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century is known as the Troubles.
More than 3,600 people were killed and thousands more injured.
During a period of 30 years many violent acts were carried out, with the vast majority being committed by paramilitaries and a lesser number by the security forces.
Read more about the Troubles
Mr Larkin's proposal prompted First Minister Peter Robinson to say it was "effectively an amnesty" and that those who were victims of the Troubles had a right to expect prosecutions.
More than 3,500 people were killed during three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.
Mr Baggott, who has been a police officer for 37 years, first took up the job as head of the PSNI in August 2009.
His tenure in Northern Ireland included overseeing what was described as the safest G8 summit ever held, a policing operation praised by protesters and US President Barack Obama.
However, he also found himself heavily criticised by unionists and nationalists over how police dealt with flag protests and parades.
Protests over the flying of the union flag started in December 2012 after many people within loyalist communities were angered by the decision of Belfast City Council to restrict the number of days...

Summary: The outgoing chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said his force should not investigate Troubles-related murders from before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
###
Article: Trainer John Gosden let the unbeaten 4-7 favourite race after he walked the course and she beat runner-up Vintage Folly by a length and three quarters.
She goes to Chantilly next rather than the Oaks at Epsom, in which stablemates Enable and Coronet are top contenders.
Tasleet (14-1) took the Duke of York Stakes for trainer William Haggas.
Jim Crowley's mount won comfortably from Magical Memory in second, with Comicas third.
Shutter Speed, whose last run at Newbury saw her beat Enable into third, brought a fifth Musidora win for both Gosden and Dettori.
"We got away with it. The ground was very soft. It was hard work for her," said Dettori.
"She'll be a better horse on better ground. She's top drawer. Everything she does is very classy."
Gosden is concerned about the ground for his colt Cracksman in Thursday's Dante Stakes and will again walk the course before deciding whether he runs in the Derby trial.
BBC Sport horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght
Shutter Speed's clearly in very good order and she coped well with the soggy conditions.
She'll be off to France's Oaks, staged over 'her distance' of a mile and a quarter, and Gosden will rely on Enable and Coronet in the longer Epsom Oaks.
The trainer said he was pleased to now have a month to prepare Shutter Speed for Chantilly.
Meanwhile, the gap between Thursday's Dante Stakes and the Derby is just 16 days, so Gosden's colt Cracksman may not be asked to line up in what's sure to be an examining Dante, in terms of both quality and going.

Summary:


A new study has found that the average age of a woman who has breast cancer is significantly younger than the average age of a woman who has a colon cancer.

The Co-operative Bank says it is no longer up for sale, pending an announcement on fund-raising proposals aimed at safeguarding its future.

Article: The block measures about 720 sq km in area - roughly eight times the size of Manhattan Island in New York.
Scientists have been waiting for the PIG to calve since October 2011 when they first noticed a spectacular crack spreading across its surface.
Confirmation that the fissure had extended the full width of the glacier was obtained on Monday.
It was seen by the German TerraSAR-X satellite.
This carries a radar instrument that can detect the surface of the ice stream even though the Antarctic is currently in the grip of winter darkness.
The berg that broke away was part of the PIG's ice shelf - the front segment of the glacier that lifts up and floats as it pushes out into the ocean. The shelf will reach tens of km beyond the grounding line.
German researchers have been receiving images from TerraSAR-X every three days or so, hoping to understand better the processes that drive the glacier forward and prompt it to fracture.
This will help them improve the computer models that are used to forecast future changes in the Antarctic.
"We were very keen to see how the crack propagated," said Prof Angelika Humbert, a glaciologist with the Alfred Wegener Institute.
"We need proper calving laws, to be able to describe the evolution of ice sheets over centuries," she told BBC News.
Very big tabular bergs will come off the end of the ice shelf every 6-10 years. Previous notable events occurred in 2007 and 2001.
It is a very natural process and scientists say it should not be tied directly to the very real climate changes that are also affecting this part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Satellite and airborne measurements have recorded a marked thinning and a surge in velocity of the PIG in recent decades.
This has been attributed in part to warmer waters getting under, and melting, the ice shelf. The PIG's grounding line has pulled back further and further towards the land.
The glacier's behaviour means it is now under close scrutiny, not least because it drains something like 10% of all the ice flowing off the west...

Summary: Pine Island Glacier (PIG), the longest and fastest flowing glacier in the Antarctic, has spawned a huge iceberg.
###
Article: John Donnelly, 74, emigrated to Australia from Scotland 40 years ago.
He abused four girls when he made return trips to Scotland during the 1970s and 80s.
Donnelly was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow after being convicted of the offences following a trial in March.
The crimes had been reported to police in 2006, with the Crown Office then initiating lengthy extradition proceedings to bring Donnelly to trial.
It eventually led to the Australian justice minister granting Donnelly's return to Scotland in 2014.
Donnelly's trial heard he had preyed on the girls during return trips to Scotland between 1978 and 1988.
The abuse occurred at houses in Glasgow and Prestonpans, East Lothian.
One victim told a jury how she was left "terrified" at the hands of Donnelly.
She also recalled seeing Donnelly sneak into a young relative's bedroom before ordering him out.
Another girl was abused by him after he was allowed to stay overnight at the family home.
Passing sentence, judge John Morris QC said Donnelly had once been something of a "hero" to those who had known him.
The judge told the Donnelly that such serious offences meant a jail term had to be imposed.

Summary: A pensioner who was convicted of child abuse offences after being extradited from Australia has been jailed for four and a half years.
###
Article: From September 2017, up to 1,000 NHS staff will be able to take up the training without having to go down the conventional university route to get a nursing degree.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says it complements the nursing associate role announced a year ago.
Both initiatives aim to offer flexible routes into nursing in England.
They might also give students an affordable way to train, since ministers plan to scrap student bursaries for nurses in September 2017.
Student nurses at university are currently entitled to bursaries of £4,500 to £5,500 if they live in London - on top of a grant of £1,000 each year during their course.
The course fees are also covered.
But the government has proposed scrapping these and introducing university fees to bring health staff in line with other students.
The NHS will still provide some financial support towards expenses such as travel costs for placements.
Trainees on the apprenticeship scheme will typically be funded by the trust they work for and can join the course at different stages, depending on their qualifications and experience, and stay in work while learning.
Similarly, nursing associates get their training paid for while remaining in work.
At the end of the training - which will usually take five years - a nurse apprentice will have a nursing degree, whereas a qualified nursing associate would still need more training to become a registered nurse.
The Royal College of Nursing said it was great news that there would be more training places and opportunities for staff, but it would be important to ensure any new courses fulfilled educational needs.
Its chief executive, Janet Davies, said: "Nursing has progressed over many years, we must be careful to learn from the lessons of the past when student nurses were often seen as nursing on the cheap.
"We must be careful we do not create a two-tier system which reduces equality of opportunity.
"We need to attract people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds into the profession."
Mr Hunt said: "Nurses are the...

Summary: Aspiring nurses can soon enrol on a new on-the-job apprenticeship role, the government says.
###
Article: Co-op Bank was forced to put itself on the market in February after it was unable to reach a strong enough footing to satisfy Bank of England regulations.
But in June, it said it was in "advanced discussions" with a group of existing investors on recapitalisation.
Now the bank says the plan has been "substantially agreed".
The Co-op Bank, in which the Co-operative Group still has a 20% stake, was rescued from the brink of collapse by a group of hedge funds in 2013.
In a statement, the bank also said talks were continuing over the separation of its pension fund from the Co-operative Group's scheme.
Under the current arrangement, the bank must carry a share of the Co-op Group's £8bn pension liabilities, something which is proving unattractive to potential investors.
Earlier this year, it reported its fifth annual loss in a row, although the £477m deficit for 2016 was an improvement on the £610m loss recorded in 2015.
When it offered itself for sale, the Co-op Bank blamed low interest rates and the higher-than-expected cost of its turnaround plan for its failure to meet the Bank's Prudential Regulation Authority rules.
The Co-op Bank has four million customers and is well known for its ethical standpoint, which its board had said made it "a strong franchise with significant potential" to prospective buyers.

Summary:


Northern Ireland's economic growth will remain the lowest of the 12 UK regions in 2015, a new report has said.

Article: AB InBev, the owner of Budweiser, agreed last year to buy SAB Miller, the FTSE 100 beermaker that counts Peroni and Grolsch among a stable of brands that spans the world. It agreed to pay investors with shares of the new combined company - and gave them a less valuable alternative of taking cash and shares.
The cash element was in sterling. Since the Brexit vote, the pound has fallen about 10% against other big currencies, leaving shareholders demanding more. On Tuesday AB InBev delivered, increasing its offer by £1 a share to £45 a share - an increase that will in aggregate cost it about £2bn more. It said that its offer was final, preventing it from making another increase.
That was still not enough for some. Aberdeen Asset Management, a top-10 shareholder in SABMiller, said the offer "remained unacceptable".
SAB directors now face a turbulent few days as they decide whether to recommend the final AB InBev offer. Later this week the final, and arguably most important, remaining regulatory clearance is expected when China's competition authority, Mofcom, rules on the takeover.
If the Chinese give the go-ahead, the SAB board is expected to meet this weekend. If they reject the offer, they face the unenviable task of placating all those shareholders who have already agreed to back it, including the two big investors - Altria, the American tobacco giant that owns Marlboro cigarettes, and Colombia's Santo Domingo family. Together the two own nearly 40% of SAB.
There is also the unenviable task of withdrawing from giant disposals that have been agreed to get the deal past other competition regulators. In Europe, for example, Asahi of Japan has agreed to buy Peroni and Grolsch.
If the SAB board accepts, they risk alienating institutional investors such as Aberdeen Asset Management ahead of possible shareholder votes to approve or reject the deal.
On top of that, there is still a risk that a British court could upset their plans.
SAB told the stock market last year that because there were two different offers -...

Summary: The £50bn takeover of one of the world biggest brewers is expected to receive a vital green light from China this week - but remains under threat from the double threat of the Brexit vote and a UK court ruling.
###
Article: Mr Ward tweeted on Tuesday: "The big question is - if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a rocket? - probably yes."
In a statement subsequently released by the Lib Dems, he said: "My comments were not in support of firing rockets into Israel. If they gave the opposite impression, I apologise."
A Lib Dem spokesman had said the party "utterly condemned" the MP's tweet.
The spokesman later added: "In light of this apology, the party and the whips will decide in due course if further disciplinary action should be taken."
Mr Ward, the MP for Bradford East, was suspended from the Lib Dem parliamentary party in July 2013 and had the whip withdrawn for three months over comments he made about Israel.
He was asked on Wednesday morning by BBC Radio 5live if he stood by his tweet on Tuesday or would apologise for it.
Declining to apologise, he said he condemned violence on both sides of the conflict, but had been seeking to understand the motives of those firing rockets at Israel.
"The question is why would they want to fire missiles when they know that the missiles will result in further Palestinian deaths, to a disproportionate level? Why are they doing it?" he said.
"They are doing it because they are absolutely desperate and politicians in the West are failing them."
He continued: "The people in Gaza cannot escape... I understand the plight of the people firing the rockets."
Referring to his original tweet, the Lib Dem MP later added, in another BBC interview: "What I was saying was, if I was there, if I had been living for year after year after year, hemmed in by air, land and sea by a mighty military force that was brutally killing my people, and the world was not responding, I think I would have to do something."
Asked if he might decide to leave the Lib Dems in protest over the official party line on Gaza, he said: "I am not going to walk away from the Liberal Democrats. They may decide to walk away from me, but I certainly am not going to walk away from them."
His later statement released by the party, containing...

Summary: The Lib Dems say David Ward has given a "categorical apology" for his comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
###
Article: Hundreds of fans had queued outside London's Prince of Wales theatre on Monday to see the first UK performance.
The Book of Mormon, which lampoons religion and musicals, has already been a huge Broadway hit.
To deafening cheers, Parker said: "It's very cool to be here for the fan performance."
He added: "We heard that a lot of you lined up overnight for tickets... and we want to say from the bottom of our hearts, you're... crazy. We don't know that any show can live up to that."
By Will GompertzArts editor
The Book of Mormon's reputation is built on its biting satire, crude humour and the mocking of Mormonism. There is plenty of all three.
But having now seen the show twice, I suspect that at least some of its success is down to its rather conservative nature.
Strip away all the vulgarities and what you are left with is a traditionally structured, feel-good musical, which is chock-full of catchy show tunes.
The Book of Mormon follows the story of two missionaries who are sent from Salt Lake City to preach in a remote Ugandan village.
Written by Stone, Parker and Avenue Q's co-creator Robert Lopez, the show is directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw.
The Broadway show won nine Tony awards last year. It recouped its $11.4m (Â£7.3m) investment in nine months, making its money back in part by charging up to $477 (Â£304) for tickets.
The West End show is sold out until the end of July, with a small number of daily tickets available via a lottery system.
The show's content is not for the faint-hearted, with strong language and jokes about religion, Aids and female circumcision.
"We never sit down and say how can we shock," Parker told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme.  "It is unconventional material for a musical. That's the sort of stuff that we love."
Stone added: "It's about two white Mormon boys who grew up in Utah and are sent to a place with Old Testament problems - and nothing they've been taught helps them at all with these problems."
Elder Clifford Herbertson, a senior spokesman for the Church of Jesus...

Summary: South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have taken to the West End stage to introduce their satirical musical The Book of Mormon.
###
Article: PwC's Northern Ireland economic outlook said this was despite overall unemployment having fallen by more than 10,000 since June 2014.
It said poor productivity remains the single biggest challenge to Northern Ireland's sustained recovery.
PwC's Esmond Birnie said the pace of recovery was "decelerating".
"Over the past seven months business confidence has been mixed, sometimes negative but always lagging the GB regions," Mr Birnie, who is PwC's chief economist in Northern Ireland, said.
"There have also been recent mixed messages around consumer confidence, with June 2015 seeing the first rise in unemployment for more than two years; this may simply be a blip - or it may be indicative of a deeper malaise.
"Currently, Northern Ireland's output is still 8% below the pre-crisis peak of 2008 and is something of a two-speed economy with employment contracting in public sector and financial services but growing fairly rapidly in advanced manufacturing, pharma, food processing and tourism.
"PwC forecasts that Northern Ireland's economic growth will remain the lowest of the 12 UK regions at around 1.8% in 2015 - lower than the 2.2% growth experienced in 2014 - and will fall again in 2016 to around 1.7%."
The report said that Northern Ireland's unemployment claimant count increased by 200 between May and June, the first month-on-month increase since December 2008.
It said that 62% of those registered as unemployed have been out of work for more than 12 months, while 19.7% of young people aged 18-25 are unemployed - well above the UK average of 13.2%.
PwC said the recent budget "confirmed that welfare reform and austerity will continue and that Northern Ireland probably faces a further four years of challenging economic circumstances, particularly around public spending".

Summary:


Mafia criminals who are better educated tend to earn more, research suggests.

Article: Catriona Bhatia claimed that despite major investment the service was failing to live up to its name.
She said there were big differences in speeds being received by homes and businesses covered by the provision.
BT said it had invested heavily to ensure the service reached premises which would not have received it on a commercial basis.
Ms Bhatia was speaking after a report highlighted the progress made and challenges faced in improving broadband access in the south of Scotland.
Scottish Borders Council has invested Â£8.4m in the rollout of services across the region.
You shouldnt be getting 2MB when somebody down the road is getting 20MB and youre paying exactly the same amount of money.
However, she said the results were variable.
"If you pay for your electricity, you get 240 volts delivered to your house - it should be the same for your broadband speeds," she said.
"You shouldn't be getting 2MB when somebody down the road is getting 20MB and you're paying exactly the same amount of money."
Ms Bhatia said she felt the local authority was not getting the provision it had paid for.
"We have also invested a large sum of public money in this to get a contract that would deliver 94% superfast broadband across the Borders," she added.
"Not everybody within that 94% is getting the same level of service - I think it is actually a bit of a scandal and some further investigation needs to be done."
A BT spokeswoman said it had invested Â£126m in the Digital Scotland rollout on top of its commercial investment.
She said that the four-year programme was only just past its halfway point and had already benefited more than 23,600 premises in the Borders and more than 41,000 in Dumfries and Galloway.
"Every phone line is different and many factors can affect the speed of broadband, ranging from the length of the line from the fibre-enabled street cabinet, to faulty routers and existing wiring or equipment in people's homes," she said.
"When someone decides to move to a fibre-based service, their service provider should...

Summary: A Borders councillor has said she believes people are being short-changed by a superfast broadband rollout.
###
Article: However the study suggests performance has improved in other areas and there is no evidence that Wales is "lagging behind" any other part of the UK.
The research - comparing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - shows a significant deterioration in Welsh waiting times since 2009.
This was during an "unprecedented squeeze" on finances.
Those behind the research claim the performance on waiting times should "set alarm bells ringing amongst policy makers" at a time when governments across the UK are considering how to prioritise spending in a time of austerity.
But across a number of other measures - such as rates of avoidable deaths - the research suggests the NHS in Wales is broadly in line with the rest of the UK or has improved to a "similar level to England".
According to Health Minister Mark Drakeford the study proves Prime Minister David Cameron's recent attacks on the performance of the Welsh NHS had been "utterly unfounded".
"I would say this report shoots Mr Cameron's fox good and proper," he told BBC Wales.
The research, jointly commissioned by Nuffield Trust and The Health Foundation, also concludes that "the performance gap between England and the rest of the UK has narrowed in recent years" and that "there is little sign that one country is moving ahead of the others consistently across the available indicators of performance".
It also suggests differing health policies, introduced across the UK since devolution, may have had less effect on performance than may have been expected.
WAITING TIMES
In the years leading up to 2009/10, the length of time patients had to wait for a wide range of common procedures improved significantly in Wales and across the UK.
But since then waiting times in Wales for many of those procedures have lengthened substantially. This is in contrast to the trends England and Scotland.
The research notes that in 2012/13 patients in Wales waited on average about 170 days for a hip or knee replacement, compared to 77 days in England and 67 days in Scotland.
The study...

Summary: The Welsh government's decision to cut NHS funding may be responsible for longer waiting times, a report claims.
###
Article: Anyone walking into a busy pub in Manchester may well be confronted with a rather shocking sight.
At one table it looks like a group of friends are smoking, but there is no smell in the air and no ashtrays on the table. What they are using are e-cigarettes.
One of the women, Steph, says the e-cigarette has helped her to stop smoking.
"I've tried patches and inhalators," she says. "They're a lot better because you feel like you're having a cigarette."
"They're a great idea," says another woman, Lisa. "You've got the health benefits from it and it does taste like a cigarette."
The e-cigarette comes in two parts.
In one end there is liquid nicotine, in the other a rechargeable battery and an atomiser. When the user sucks, the liquid nicotine is vaporised and absorbed through the mouth. What looks like smoke is largely water vapour.
Because there is no tobacco in e-cigarettes, there is no tar and it is the tar in ordinary cigarettes that kills.
The e-cigarette market is growing fast. A survey by the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) suggests 700,000 people in the UK were using e-cigarettes last year.
The charity estimates that number will reach a million in 2013 and some medical experts see huge potential benefits.
"Nicotine itself is not a particularly hazardous drug," says Professor John Britton, who leads the tobacco advisory group for the Royal College of Physicians.
"It's something on a par with the effects you get from caffeine.
"If all the smokers in Britain stopped smoking cigarettes and started smoking e-cigarettes we would save 5 million deaths in people who are alive today. It's a massive potential public health prize."
There are however concerns about the safety and regulation of e-cigarettes.
They can legally be sold to children. There are few restrictions on advertising. Critics say some of the adverts glamorise something that looks like smoking.
Unlike patches and gum, e-cigarettes are not regulated like medicines. It means there are no rules for example about the purity of the nicotine in...

Summary: The number of people using e-cigarettes in the UK is expected to reach a million this year but while some believe the electronic alternative to tobacco could help save hundreds of thousands of lives others think they normalise what looks like smoking and may be unsafe.
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Article: The University of Essex study of 712 Italian-American mafia members in the 1960s showed their income had risen by 7.5-8.5% per extra year of education.
Those involved in complex crimes such as charging exorbitant rates for loans or extortion saw three times the boost of those who committed violent crimes.
But, on average, the 712 left education a year earlier than other white men of a similar age in their neighbourhoods.
"Criminal careers are known to start very early and are likely to be interwoven with schooling choices," the study says.
Lead researcher Prof Giovanni Mastrobuoni said education tended to have a protective effect against getting involved with crime, but he added: "It is also true that if you decide to be a criminal it's better to be a better-educated one."
The study says: "Private returns to education exist not only in legitimate but also in the illegitimate activities that imply a sufficient degree of complexity,"
"Mobster returns (in terms of income) to a year of schooling are around 7.5 to 8.5%, compared to 9-10% for the neighbour sample.
"Moreover, for mobsters who, according to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics records, were involved in white-collar crimes that require running an illegal business (ie racketeering, loan sharking, bootlegging et cetera) we found returns to education that are about three times as large as for those who are involved in violent crimes (ie robberies, murders et cetera)."

Summary:


The government is considering a £1.5bn tax on the sale of alcohol and tobacco.

The Scottish town which 'won' two Carbuncle honours for its ugly shopping centre has scooped Best Town at the Scottish Design Awards.

Article: The Treasury said that the "extensive" review would make sure that shoppers got the discounts they are entitled to.
Tax-free shops should not charge VAT, if passengers are going outside the EU.
In August it was revealed that some airside retailers were not always passing VAT savings on to customers, but were keeping the money instead.
The Treasury said some shops were keeping as much as half the money they should be giving to consumers.
"VAT relief at airports is intended to cut prices for those travellers - not be a windfall gain for shops," said Chancellor George Osborne.
"But many people could be paying over the odds for their purchases because the government's VAT concession isn't passed on. This is simply unacceptable," he said.
At the moment airport retailers are not legally obliged to provide a VAT discount, so it would need a change in the law to make them do so.
Some retailers have claimed it would be too difficult to introduce dual-pricing for EU and non-EU travellers - and that such a requirement would lead to delays for passengers.
WH Smith, one of the shops originally criticised, said it would co-operate with the inquiry.
Boots, which also came in for criticism, has already announced a review of its own policy.
"Since taking our decision in August 2015 to no longer ask customers to show us their boarding passes we have been continuing with our strategic review and, working together with the Airport Authorities, we are nearing conclusion," the retailer said.
"We will participate with the government review as we receive further details," it added.
Who is entitled to VAT savings?
Anyone travelling outside the 28 countries of the European Union (EU). Travellers within the EU or the UK have to pay existing rates of duty and VAT.
Do you have to show a boarding pass?
If you are buying cigarettes or alcohol in a duty free shop, you are legally obliged to show your boarding pass, to prove you are travelling outside the EU. If you are buying other goods - say books, snacks or cosmetics - you are still...

Summary: Airport shops could be forced to give VAT discounts to passengers travelling outside the European Union, following the launch of a government inquiry.
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Article: Mr Burnham told the Guardian the role was "a cabinet-level job, which needs cabinet-level experience".
The Leigh MP said Westminster had "become a bit of an irrelevance for some people" adding that "we really need to change the way politics works".
The first elections for the role, currently filled by interim mayor Tony Lloyd, will be held in 2017.
Mr Lloyd and another former Labour minister, Ivan Lewis, are also seeking Labour's nomination.
Mr Burnham, the former health secretary, had been expected to announce his candidacy on Thursday but his intentions became clear when one of his Twitter profiles was rebranded as "Andy4Manchester".
As a national political figure over many years, Andy Burnham will be seen as the first genuine big hitter to throw his name in the hat to become Greater Manchester mayor.
The Leigh MP's move will be read by many as him giving up on a Labour return to government in 2020, but it's also a sign of the shift in power from Westminster to the North West.
Mr Burnham wasn't part of any negotiation for devolution to Greater Manchester and he was completely taken by surprise by the deal to merge health and social care, claiming the area was taking responsibility for an "NHS funding crisis" rather than anything else.
But time passes quickly in politics and Mr Burnham now sees opportunity where he once predicted disaster.
He'll be up against two well-established candidates for Labour who have spent months visiting local party groups to garner support.
He may find that being a big player in the national game doesn't particularly endear you to those who've stayed home to hold the fort but he's a formidable addition to the panel Labour members will eventually choose from.
The race to be the mayor of Greater Manchester has just got a bit more interesting.
Powerful regional mayors are a key part of the government's drive to devolve more responsibility to local authorities for Whitehall.
About 2.7 million people live in Greater Manchester, which has been at the forefront of the devolution project...

Summary: Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham will put himself forward to become the mayor of Greater Manchester.
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Article: A firm in north Wales wants to bring the PooPrints service from the United States to the UK with up to 15 councils reportedly interested in the scheme.
Councils could make owners in problem areas register their dogs to a database which involves a mouth swab taken.
Then, DNA could be taken from mess left on a street, path or grass and used to find a match on the database.
Gary Downie, managing director of Streetkleen Bio in Ruthin, Denbighshire, believes local authorities can use new powers granted by the Antisocial Behaviour and Policing Act 2014 to force dog owners to comply.
"The purpose of the system is to get cleaner, safer open spaces," he said.
Councils the company is in talks with include Kingston-upon-Thames in south-west London, Aberdeen and Cheshire East.

Summary: DNA in dog mess could be used to catch owners who fail to clear up their pet's mess.
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Article: Cumbernauld has the dubious distinction of winning the Plook on the Plinth title for having Scotland's "most dismal" town centre in 2001 and 2005.
Judges have compared it to Kabul and described its shopping centre as a rabbit warren on stilts.
Now an online poll has seen it top a public vote for civic pride.
The Scottish Design Awards is organised by Urban Realm - which also organises the Carbuncle awards.
During the past few weeks of online voting, Cumbernauld residents helped the town move ahead of rivals such as Broughty Ferry, Dunkeld, East Kilbride, Eaglesham Linlithgow, Peebles and Pitlochry.
When the polls closed at midnight on Thursday, Cumbernauld had narrowly beaten Peebles.
The prize will be collected by a delegation from the town at a ceremony in Glasgow on Friday evening.
The Carbuncle Awards were created by Gordon Young, now editor of The Drum, one of the sponsors of the Scottish Design Awards.
He said: "The initial complaints against the town concerned the disastrous design of the town centre.
"There has been some investment in that area but the level of improvement is not great.
"However, Cumbernauld's real success story is how it has prospered despite these problems."
Mr Young said "the surrounding countryside, the high demand for housing, rich and diverse suburbs, transport links to Glasgow and Edinburgh and a vibrant community spirit" had all helped make Cumbernauld "a decent place to bring up a family".
He added: "Basically, economic success plus people power have made it a nice place to live."

Summary:


SeaWorld has been banned from bringing wild killer whales to its park in San Diego, America.

Article: With more than 10,000 people aged 11 to 25 responding, 53% wanted votes at 16, with 29% saying no and 18% unsure.
Presiding Officer Dame Rosemary Butler said it gave a "crucial insight" into young people's views.
But Conservative Monmouth MP David Davies has warned votes at 16 would undermine the legal protection 16 and 17-year-olds currently receive.
The report comes as the UK government plans further devolution which will including giving the assembly control over its own elections, including the voting age currently set at 18.
Supporters of a lower voting age claim it will boost young people's interest in politics, pointing to the Scottish independence referendum in which 16 and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote.
Dame Rosemary said she was "inspired" by many of the comments given by young people in the survey, including one who spoke of "citizens playing their part as equally as politicians".
"Young people are integral to the process of shaping the future of our nation - we must give them the right support so that we optimise their contribution," she said.
But she added politicians had to tackle the "information vacuum", as many young people said they wanted to vote but did not understand the political process.

Summary: Most young people in Wales want the voting age lowered to 16, according to consultation by the Welsh assembly.
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Article: Over the year, export volumes fell 2.1% compared to the previous 12 months.
Meanwhile, separate figures showed the value of retail sales remained flat between April and June, with growth much lower than levels across the UK.
The number of retail sales rose 1% in Britain in the second quarter of 2016, but north of the border the rise was 0.2%
Business minister Paul Wheelhouse said the export figures showed Scotland's place within the European single market was "absolutely vital".
He said: "These statistics remind us that Scotland's economy continues to face substantial challenges.
"Subdued global demand and the impact of a lower oil price environment have contributed to a drop in first quarter export volumes for companies working in several parts of the Scottish economy."
Mr Wheelhouse added: "While Scotland's economy is fundamentally strong, our continued EU status - and, thereby, our place in the world's biggest single market - is absolutely vital when it comes to promoting trade and protecting jobs, investment and long-term-prosperity, and this why we are committed to pursuing every possible avenue to maintain our place in the EU."
The figures showed a 3.3% increase in food and drink exports while the amount of textiles, clothing and leather goods sold abroad from Scotland went up by 2.1%.
The decline in exports was recorded ahead of the UK's vote for Brexit, which some economists have suggested could make British goods and services more attractive to overseas buyers as a result of falls in the value of the pound.
The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said the latest retail figures continued the recent "trend of effectively flat retail sales".
SRC head of policy and external affairs Ewan MacDonald-Russell said: "This comes against the backdrop of an industry going through an intense period of structural, economic and regulatory change.
"Retailers are responding to this environment by becoming more innovative and productive through investment in people, technology and more efficient logistics...

Summary: Scottish manufactured exports fell by 0.5% in the first three months of 2016, according to the latest figures.
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Article: He had an immune disorder that mean the weakened polio virus used to vaccinate him in childhood survived in his body.
Over time it has mutated into a form of the virus that can cause paralysis and he had no idea the jab had not worked.
Polio is only endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria although Nigeria has now gone more than a year without a case.
The discovery was made by a team from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.
They now warn that similar cases could trigger new outbreaks and hamper efforts to eradicate the disease.
They wrote in the journal PLOS Pathogens: "While maintaining high immunisation coverage will likely confer protection against paralytic disease caused by these viruses, significant changes in immunisation strategies might be required to effectively stop their occurrence and potential widespread transmission."
The man had a full course of polio vaccinations, including three doses of weakened live virus at five, seven and 12 months old, followed by a booster when he was about seven.
He was later diagnosed with a condition that suppresses the immune system, affecting its ability to kill viruses in the gut.
His stool samples contained high levels of polio virus - the researchers estimated the man had been shedding live polio in his stools for as long as 28 years.
The virus had also mutated dramatically and were no longer the weakened, or "attenuated", versions of the virus which are used in the vaccinations.
The infection was neutralised by using blood plasma taken from people with healthy immune systems who had been immunised against polio.
According to the scientific team, several highly mutated polio strains, originating from vaccines, had recently been isolated from sewage samples in Slovakia, Finland, Estonia and Israel.
All bore the molecular fingerprints of "iVDPVs" - vaccine-derived polio viruses from immunodeficient individuals.
The researchers are calling for enhanced surveillance including sewage sampling and stool...

Summary: A British man who was vaccinated against polio has been producing the virus for nearly 30 years.
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Article: It has also been told to stop breeding orcas in captivity in a ruling from the California Coastal Commission.
They gave the park permission to double the size of its orca enclosures on the condition that breeding and bringing in new whales stopped.
It comes after criticism of the way the whales are treated there, something SeaWorld has always rejected.
Animal rights activists have welcomed a ruling by the California Coastal Commission, an agency that makes big decisions on major building projects in that area of America.
SeaWorld had put in plans to spend $100m (Â£65m) to expand its orca facility, which the commission approved.
But their decision came with several conditions. SeaWorld cannot add any new whales from the wild to its San Diego tanks, and none of the 11 orcas currently at the park will be allowed to breed there.
SeaWorld said it was disappointed with the ruling. They issued a statement that said: "Breeding is a natural, fundamental and important part of an animal's life and depriving a social animal of the right to reproduce is inhumane."
Groups that have criticised the park said they were pleased with the decision.
The group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: "The commission's action ensures that no more orcas will be condemned to a nonlife of loneliness, deprivation and misery."
The breeding ban will not apply to the 13 other whales at SeaWorld attractions in San Antonio and Orlando.

Summary:


The Grenfell Tower fire has left more than 400 people dead.
The fire was caused by a fire at the Grenfell Tower, which was built in the early 1900s.
The fire was caused by a fire at the Grenfell Tower, which was built in the early 1900s.
The fire was caused

Being overweight in adolescence is linked to a greater risk of bowel cancer later in life, a study suggests.

Article: The team at Anglia Ruskin University analysed translations from ancient Iraq or Mesopotamia.
Accounts of soldiers being visited by "ghosts they faced in battle" fitted with a modern diagnosis of PTSD.
The condition was likely to be as old as human civilisation, the researchers concluded.
Prof Jamie Hacker Hughes, a former consultant clinical psychologist for the Ministry of Defence, said the first description of PTSD was often accredited to the Greek historian Herodotus.
Referring to the warrior Epizelus during the battle of Marathon in 490BC he wrote: "He suddenly lost sight of both eyes, though nothing had touched him."
His report co-authored with Dr Walid Abdul-Hamid, Queen Mary College London, argues there are references in the Assyrian Dynasty in Mesopotamia between 1300BC and 609BC.
In that era men spent a year being toughened up by building roads, bridges and other projects, before spending a year at war and then returning to their families for a year before starting the cycle again.
Potential triggers for post-traumatic stress disorder
How is PTSD diagnosed?
Prof Hacker Hughes told the BBC News website: "The sorts of symptoms after battle were very clearly what we would call now post-traumatic stress symptoms.
"They described hearing and seeing ghosts talking to them, who would be the ghosts of people they'd killed in battle - and that's exactly the experience of modern-day soldiers who've been involved in close hand-to-hand combat."
A diagnosis and understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder emerged after the Vietnam War. It was dismissed as shell shock in World War One.
Prof Hacker Hughes said: "As long as there has been civilisation and as long as there has been warfare, there has been post-traumatic symptoms. It's not a 21st Century thing."

Summary: Evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder can be traced back to 1300BC - much earlier than previously thought - say researchers.
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Article: At least 80 people died in the fire on 14 June, although the final toll will not be known for many months.
Nearly 400 holidays have been offered by the Grenfell Tower Holiday Appeal Facebook Group, set up by Angie Mays and Kay Gilbert from Devon.
The man and his family will have a week in a cottage in Marsden, Yorkshire.
More on the holiday offer for Grenfell victims and other Devon news.
The firefighter's wife, who wishes to remain anonymous to protect her husband, said: "What Kay and Angie have done from the kindness of their hearts will help so many families at such a distressing time in their lives.
"This has been the most horrific job of my husband's career and he has been utterly broken by it - as we all have - trying to support him emotionally, and trying to understand what he has been through, not to mention praying he comes home in one piece.
"Thanks to the utter kindness of these wonderful ladies and all of the generous donations to this cause, we will be able to go away for a week as a family for some much needed R&R.
"This means the world to me that I can take them away from it all, if just for a moment."
Ms Mays, a fundraiser from Ilfracombe, said short-stay offers have come mainly from small businesses, B&Bs and guesthouses all over the UK, but also in Spain and Cyprus, adding that other firefighter families are also in the process of taking up offers.
Other donations include counselling sessions, beauty treatments and meals.
Separate Facebook groups have been also set up to provide holidays in Cornwall and the Highlands.

Summary: A firefighter "utterly broken" by the Grenfell Tower blaze is to take up the offer of a free holiday with money raised by members of the public.
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Article: Because I have been told that Labour's leader, Ed Miliband, wants to next month announce an eye-catching policy of cutting maximum university fees for students by a third, from £9,000 to £6,000.
But this would not be cheap: it could cost around £2.5bn a year, based on the £7.6bn that is expected to be lent to students this year to pay for their tuition fees.
In practice the cost might turn out to be less, because the current system imposes a hidden charge on government - in that many thousands of students are expected to be unable to repay their loans over coming years. The IFS calculates this hidden cost to the public purse, the disguised public sector subsidy, as 43.3p for every £1 lent.
This cost, of expected loan write-offs, might be lower under Labour's lower-fee system, since the smaller loans might be more affordable for more students
Even so, to be a credible commitment - at a time when the public sector deficit is £91bn - Labour would have to find a new tax to cover the significant cost.
So the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, has been asked to make the sums add up.
As I understand it, he has not yet done so.
Ed Miliband told Labour's conference in the autumn of 2011 that he would cut student fees by a third if the party was in power then. But it has never been a manifesto commitment.
At the time, he said it would be paid for by increasing corporation tax paid by banks - but those funds are no longer available because they have already been tapped by George Osborne.
The preferred option, I am told, is to find an equivalent tax to the raid on the banks. But I understand that Ed Balls and Ed Miliband are also examining whether to replace the system of funding via student loans with a new tax on new graduates - by which those who benefit from a university degree would pay a higher tax rate.
The fee reduction would be aimed at reinforcing Labour's support among younger voters, especially those who turned against the Liberal Democrats when - as part of the government - they abandoned their opposition to fee...

Summary: We may be about to learn how much of a constraint Labour's promise to make no unfunded spending promises really is.
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Article: Researchers followed nearly 240,000 Swedish men for 35 years.
The analysis, published in the journal Gut, showed overweight teenagers went on to have twice the risk of bowel cancer. The figures were even higher in obese teens.
The World Cancer Research Fund said the link between obesity and cancer was "strong".
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the world, with nearly 1.4 million new cases each year.
Processed red meat and abdominal fat have been linked to the disease.
The participants in the study were aged between 16 and 20 at the start.
The overwhelming majority were a normal weight, but 6.5% were overweight and 1% were obese.
There were 855 cases of colorectal cancer in the study.
However, the results showed not all weights were affected equally.
Those who were obese were 2.38 times more likely to have developed a bowel tumour.
The study, led by Orebro University Hospital in Sweden and Harvard University, said: "Late adolescence marks the transition from childhood to adulthood and is a period of accelerated growth, especially among men, thus this period may represent a critical window."
"It is important that we understand the role of exposures in childhood and adolescence in the development of colorectal cancer.
"In fact, the strong association observed between adolescent obesity and early-to-mid-life colorectal cancer, coupled with the increasing prevalence of adolescent obesity, may shed light on the increase in colorectal cancer incidence among young adults," he added.
Rachel Thompson, from the World Cancer Research Fund, said the evidence suggested that obesity was a risk factor for bowel cancer.
"This finding is interesting because it gives an indication that bowel cancer risk might be affected by our lifestyle habits throughout the life course," she said.
"In some ways, research into the relationship between factors like obesity and cancer risk is still in its infancy.
"It will be interesting to see if further research emerges in the future to back up the apparent relationship between...

Summary: