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

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

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

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

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

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

Summary:


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

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

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

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

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

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

Summary:

Article: {{document}}

Summary: ||| {{target}}


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

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

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

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

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

Summary: Nearly £500,000 worth of wrongly-issued parking fines will not be refunded, police have said.
###
Article: The network will comprise at least 600 spacecraft in the first instance, but could eventually encompass more than 2,000.
The aim is to deliver broadband links from orbit to every corner of the globe.
In particular, the project wants every school to have a connection.
Building so large a constellation requires a step-change in the manufacture of satellites - especially for Airbus.
It can take Europe’s biggest space company many months and hundreds of millions of dollars to build some of today’s specialist platforms. But for the OneWeb venture, it is all about high volume and low cost.
That means new assembly line methods akin to those in factories producing cars and planes.
The idea is to turn out three units per shift at well less than a million dollars a piece.
The boss of Airbus, Tom Enders, concedes he initially thought the OneWeb concept to be fantasy.
"Everything in space as you know traditionally has been 'gold-plated'; it had to work perfectly, [and have] the most expensive materials, etc.
"Here, we’ve had to go other ways, to be really commercial and calculating according to the target cost because that is very decisive in the whole business case for OneWeb," he told BBC News.
Airbus and OneWeb have inaugurated the first assembly line in Toulouse, France. Two further lines will be set up in a soon-to-open factory complex in Florida.
The most obvious difference you notice between these new lines and the conventional satellite cleanroom is the trolley robot, which moves the developing satellites between the various work stations. But the "revolution" here goes far beyond automation; it requires a whole chain of suppliers and their components to scale their work to a different game plan.
The first 10 satellites to come off the Toulouse assembly line have a deadline to launch in April next year.
Another batch will follow into orbit around November. And then the launch cadence will kick on apace.
The establishment of the OneWeb constellation requires the greatest rocket campaign in the history of...

Summary:


A man was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after he was found with a knife in his pocket.

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

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

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

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

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

Summary: An organisation representing Northern Ireland's construction industry has strongly criticised the draft budget.
###
Article: A black Land Rover Discovery was set on fire in Cairds Row in Musselburgh between 23:30 and 23:55 on Monday.
Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Sgt Stuart Higginbottom, of Police Scotland, said: "Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of this fire but we are treating this extremely seriously."

Summary:


A man who was found dead in a sheltered housing complex in Inverness has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

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

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

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

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

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

Summary: An alcoholic who almost decapitated his girlfriend has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
###
Article: The man died in Inverness on 27 October this year.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc), Kate Frame, has been asked to scrutinise the initial police response to the man's call.
Police Scotland said it was "fully engaging" with the investigation and awaited its findings.
A spokesman for Pirc said: "The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has instructed the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner to undertake an investigation into the initial police response to a call from a 72-year-old man who was later found dead at a sheltered housing complex in Inverness.
"A report on the commissioner's findings will be submitted to the COPFS in due course."

Summary:


Kenya's first female athlete to fail a test, when she tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in September.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Summary:


Article: The government has announced plans to cut

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

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

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

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

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

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

Summary:


A group of performing Christmas elves has been left "traumatised" after being attacked by a gang of teenagers.

Article: The storm has crossed the coast near Cape Flattery and is expected to head south-south-west overnight, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said.
Residents in low-lying areas have been warned to prepare for damaging waves, strong currents and flooding.
It is the strongest storm to hit since Cyclone Yasi, which struck in 2011.
Previously classed as a category-five storm, Ita was downgraded by the BOM to category four and then to category three when it hit the Cape York Peninsula,
In its bulletin at 02:06 local time (16:06 GMT), the BOM said the storm was 11km from Cooktown and 180km from Cairns.
"Very destructive winds with gusts up to 170km/h are possible between Cape Melville and Cooktown", which are in the path of the cyclone, the bulletin said.
Residents in those areas have been urged to "stay calm and remain in a secure shelter".
Everyone in coastal areas has been warned to expect a "dangerous storm tide overnight" and rising sea levels that could flood low-lying areas.
"People living in areas likely to be affected by this flooding should take measures to protect their property as much as possible and be prepared to follow instructions regarding evacuation of the area," BOM said in its advisory.
BBC Weather's Tomasz Schafernaker says that although the very destructive winds will remain close to the centre of the storm, gale force winds and heavy rainfall could extend out as far as 180km (111 miles).
If the eye of the storm heads inland it is likely to blow itself out, but if it stays close to the coastline gales and heavy rain are likely to continue battering communities for days to come, he adds.
The Cape York peninsula is sparsely populated, with residents concentrated in a number of towns.
A cyclone warning is in place for areas from Cape Melville to Cardwell, including Cooktown, Port Douglas, Cairns and a number of inland areas.
Cooktown Mayor Peter Scott said in quotes carried by ABC that around 350 people were in the town's cyclone shelter.
"In polite terms it's blowing its guts out at the...

Summary: Cyclone Ita, a category-three storm packing "very destructive" winds of up to 170km/h (105mph), has hit northern Queensland in Australia.
###
Article: The prime minister and Nick Clegg are expected to discuss plans for new measures to tackle the threat.
Their talks come after the UK's terror threat level was raised to "severe" from "substantial" in response to the deepening conflict in Iraq and Syria.
Labour has called for more action to stop Britons being drawn to extremism.
Mr Cameron will make a Commons statement on Monday, proposing new powers to stop would-be terrorists travelling abroad.
He has urged European leaders in Brussels to take co-ordinated action to tackle the group calling itself Islamic State (IS), which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
Speaking before the meeting, he said: "Today in Brussels is an opportunity to talk with other EU leaders and to make sure we all co-ordinate to stop people travelling to Iraq and Syria to stop radicalisation, to confront extremism."
He had previously said the "threat is growing" from Britons travelling to fight with IS, adding that there were "gaps in our armoury" that needed to be strengthened.
The new alert level rates the risk of an attack on the UK as "highly likely", although Downing Street said there was no evidence to suggest one is "imminent".
The rating is the second highest of five possible UK threat levels and is the highest since 2011.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has suggested the introduction of a "mandatory programme" of deradicalisation for people "drawn into the fringes of extremism".
Writing in the Independent, he also urged the government to revisit the decision to scrap the control orders regime for terror suspects.
Talks between Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg, the deputy prime minster and Liberal Democrat leader, come after the Conservatives said they wanted to make it easier to seize the passports of would-be terrorists travelling abroad.
The home secretary already has the power - under the Royal Prerogative - to withhold a passport if it is in the public interest to stop somebody travelling.
Mr Cameron is also likely to consider strengthening terrorism prevention and...

Summary: The terrorist threat posed by Islamist extremists is as much a concern for countries in mainland Europe as it is for the UK, David Cameron has said.
###
Article: The scheme revolves around a website that connects victims and police, gives advice and helps with data recovery.
The number of ransomware victims tripled in the first three months of 2016, according to one estimate.
Ransomware is malware that typically demands a fee to unscramble important data on a compromised device.
The No More Ransom site will be updated as ransomware gangs are tackled, one of the project's partners said.
Co-ordinated by Europol, the initiative also involves the Dutch national police, Intel Security and Kaspersky Labs.
"For a few years now ransomware has become a dominant concern for EU law enforcement," said Wil van Gemert, Europol's deputy director of operations.
"We expect to help many people to recover control over their files, while raising awareness and educating the population on how to maintain their devices clean from malware."
No More Ransom brings together information about what ransomware is, how to avoid falling victim and what to do if a person or company is caught out.
"Right now the only option victims have is to pay the ransom or not," said Raj Samani, European head of Intel Security. "This gives people another option."
Often, people struggle to find out what they can do when they are hit.
With this website, victims will be able to upload scrambled files to identify which strain of ransomware has locked up their data, he said.
"We've seen a threefold increase in infected victims from January to March this year," he added. "And we're seeing a rise in new families of ransomware coming up all the time."
In June, one site that tracks ransomware logged more than 120 separate families of the malicious code being used in different campaigns.
"It's becoming a hugely profitable economy for the criminals," said Mr Samani. "They know there's real money to be made here.
"What's particularly telling is that historically ransomware victims have been consumers and small businesses," he said. "But we are now seeing bigger institutions, hospitals and universities, getting hit."
The site...

Summary: European police agency Europol is teaming up with cybersecurity companies in an initiative aimed at slowing an "exponential" rise in ransomware.
###
Article: Marking a major turning point in the Hundred Years' War, the battle on 25 October 1415 was fought over the English kings' claim to the French throne.
However, legend has it that at Agincourt - like at the 1346 Battle of Crecy - Welsh longbowmen held the key to English success.
Henry V's army of around 8,000 was outnumbered by as much as five to one, yet 500 nimble-fingered Welsh archers were able to cut the heavily-armoured French knights to ribbons after cornering them in a narrow clearing.
Most of them came from Monmouthshire, the birthplace of Henry V, where their exploits are remembered in Monmouth's Agincourt Square - as well as a stained glass window in Brecon Cathedral.
To mark the 600th anniversary of the battle, throughout 2015 a group of enthusiasts from around Brecon and Monmouthshire have been staging a series of events to explain this unlikely medieval alliance.
Bryan Davies, the organiser of Agincourt 600 Wales - Cymru, has been fascinated with the competing folklores ever since he saw the Agincourt roll of honour at Brecon Cathedral as a boy.
"Even then I remember wondering why so many Welshmen from these small towns and villages strung out along what would eventually become the A40 went to fight in an English army; especially considering that this was all taking place at the same time as Owain Glyndwr's rebellion," he said.
"The biggest draw - then as now - was money.  A longbowman could earn sixpence a day while a ploughman made twopence.
"But also some owed loyalty to Norman Marcher lords, while others signed up to make amends for having backed the wrong side after Glyndwr's rebellion failed."
Yet Swansea University's Welsh historian, Dr Matthew Stevens, believes that perhaps the English and Welsh were not ever such strange bed-fellows after all.
"Glyndwr's rebellion really had its popular support in north Wales," he said.
"When he marched south he burnt-out as many Welshmen as he did Norman settlers.
"But even going back as far as Edward I's reign, Welsh archers were an integral part of...

Summary: The Battle of Agincourt 600 years ago is one of the most famous English military successes - but should it really be remembered as a victory for Wales?
###
Article: Entertainers Starkidz were "cornered" by the gang after a Christmas lights switch-on in Formby, Merseyside.
The performers, including one as young as 13, were abused, with one punched and another threatened with an airgun, said the troupe's manager Jan Hayes.
"We may not return to Formby next year," she said.
"We've been going for five years and we have never had any trouble like this.
"It started off with these teenagers trying take their hats or telling the children they are not real elves.
"Later on, a gang of about 20 cornered our group and one member was punched in the stomach as they were abused."
Ms Hayes said the one of the performers had an airgun held to his head.
"It was a very traumatic experience," she added. "The group member is extremely upset by this."
The elves have received dozens of messages of support via social media from parents.
One local mother, Nicola Cowie, said: "Starkidz bring so much to our community, they bring magic to life.
"Her Elves give it their all, they live and breath as elves while they're dressed in those costumes. I'd be so disgusted if my child acted they way those youths did."
A Merseyside Police spokesman said it was investigating a report of anti-social behaviour by a group of youths at the event.

Summary:


The Welsh Assembly could be renamed the Welsh Parliament before AMs have the legal right to make the change.

Article: Fraudsters are able to work out expiry dates and security code numbers by making multiple invalid attempts on different websites, the team claims.
It is thought a similar method was used in the recent Tesco Bank fraud hack.
Visa said the research did not take into account other layers of security such as its Verified by Visa system.
According to the research, which has been published in the journal IEEE Security & Privacy, fraudsters use a so-called Distributed Guessing Attack to get around security features put in place to stop online fraud.
Mohammed Ali, a PhD student at the university's school of computing science and lead author, said: "The current online payment system does not detect multiple invalid payment requests from different websites.
"This allows unlimited guesses on each card data field, using up to the allowed number of attempts - typically 10 or 20 guesses - on each website.
"Also, different websites ask for different variations in the card data fields to validate an online purchase. This means it's quite easy to build up the information and piece it together like a jigsaw.
"The unlimited guesses, when combined with the variations in the payment data fields make it frighteningly easy for attackers to generate all the card details one field at a time."
The team said MasterCard's security network detected similar attacks after less than 10 attempts.
A spokesman for Visa said: "The research does not take into account the multiple layers of fraud prevention that exist within the payments system, each of which must be met in order to make a transaction possible in the real world.
"Visa is committed to keeping fraud at low levels and works closely with card issuers and acquirers to make it very difficult to obtain and use cardholder data illegally."
It said it also had its own Verified by Visa system which offered improved security for online transactions.

Summary: It is "frighteningly easy" for criminals to get security details for a Visa debit or credit cards, according to research from Newcastle University.
###
Article: A Los Angeles district judge said there were enough similarities between the song and an instrumental by the band Spirit to let a jury decide.
The trial has been scheduled for 10 May.
Stairway to Heaven, released in 1971, is widely seen as one of the greatest rock compositions of all time.
The copyright infringement action has been brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe, who played on the same bill as Led Zeppelin in the 1960s, and claims he should be given a writing credit on the track.
Led Zeppelin guitarist Page and lead singer Plant are reputed to have written Stairway to Heaven in a remote cottage in Wales.
However, Mr Skidmore has suggested the song came about after the band heard Spirit perform the instrumental Taurus while the bands toured together in 1968 and 1969.
US district judge Gary Klausner said a jury could find "substantial" similarity between the first two minutes of Stairway and Taurus.
"While it is true that a descending chromatic four-chord progression is a common convention that abounds in the music industry, the similarities here transcend this core structure," Judge Klausner ruled.
"What remains is a subjective assessment of the 'concept and feel' of two works... a task no more suitable for a judge than for a jury."
He also said the trustee can get only 50% of any damages awarded, citing a 1967 contract Wolfe signed.

Summary: Led Zeppelin founders Robert Plant and Jimmy Page must face trial in a copyright row over the song Stairway to Heaven, a US court has ruled.
###
Article: Net income for the quarter stood at 10.9bn yuan ($1.6bn, Â£1.23bn), beating analysts' expectations.
Revenue grew at its fastest rate in more than three years, the firm said, climbing 52% to 35.7bn yuan.
Tencent is best known for its messaging app WeChat, which dominates the local market.
Out of China's three internet titans, the online gaming and social media company Tencent is the biggest, but also the least known in the West.
Tencent has not attracted the same global attention as its rivals: Alibaba, with charismatic millionaire entrepreneur Jack Ma at the helm, and Baidu, the local equivalent of Google.
However, its WeChat service is just about the biggest app there is in China. According to many Chinese users, it is way ahead of anything people use elsewhere in the world.
Its key element is the integration of a wide spectrum of online services all bundled in one single app.
WeChat offers just about everything from messaging to calling, mobile games, food deliveries and online shopping, payments, even down to splitting the bill when you're out with friends.
The app has more than 700 million people using it and has an unrivalled dominance in the Chinese market, but it is not Tencent's main source of revenue.
"Online gaming has long been the driver for Tencent and it's key to understanding the revenue mix," Duncan Clark, technology analyst and chief executive of consultancy BDA in Beijing, told the BBC.
In June, it was announced that Tencent Holdings and its partners are to buy a majority stake in the Finnish maker of the Clash of Clans game.
The deal values Supercell at around $10.2bn (Â£6.95bn) and Tencent will buy the stake from Japan's SoftBank Group, which invested in Supercell in 2013.
Founded in 2010, Supercell's other games include Hay Day, Boom Beach and Clash Royale.
Like so many other Chinese tech companies, Tencent was initially labelled as being a copycat, filling the gap created by Beijing banning Western online companies to enter the Chinese markets.
Youtube was substituted by Youku, Google by...

Summary: Tencent, China's biggest online entertainment and social network company, has reported a 47% jump in second-quarter profits.
###
Article: Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones inherited the Arriva Trains Wales contract in 2007.
He told BBC Wales of his frustration at the franchise and said it should undergo a radical overhaul in 2018.
Arriva said it had invested tens of millions in services, in many cases over and above its commitments.
The Welsh government said it was looking at how to get better value for money.
BBC Wales has been examining spending on rail subsidies as part of an analysis of government expenditure.
The Welsh government is committed to paying Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) a subsidy of £170m a year under the terms of a 15-year deal signed in 2003. It is due to expire in 2018.
According to figures from the Office for Rail Regulation, last year ATW received the highest public subsidy per passenger mile of any franchise across the UK.
Mr Jones said: "What was obvious is that this wasn't a contract that recognised the substantial increase in train passengers that there's been since 2003.
"It was predicated on the basis that it would grow far more slowly than it has, so you have the examples of many trains, particularly the Valley Lines services, where you had severe overcrowding and you hadn't got more services available."
He added: "Because the franchise was written in the way it was, Arriva was under no obligation to provide extra services, and because we felt that it was necessary to meet some of the demand, we had to pay for that under our own revenue, so we were paying over and above the franchise money simply to order to deal with capacity issues.
"The original contract was flawed because it didn't anticipate the increase in passenger numbers."
The former minister now wants to see major changes, including a "not for dividend" model for the franchise after 2018, where profits would be re-invested in the service, rather than being paid to shareholders.
Transport expert Prof Stuart Cole, from the University of Glamorgan, said the model could deliver real improvements for Welsh travellers.
"It has the potential to keep the profits that...

Summary: A £170m railway franchise is "flawed" and has led to a decade of overcrowding, a former transport minister has said.
###
Article: Naming rights are among the powers set to be devolved in the Wales Bill now going through the UK Parliament.
But Jane Hutt, Labour's chief whip in the assembly, will call for the Welsh Parliament name to be adopted "at the earliest opportunity", and used unofficially until formalised.
AMs will debate the issue in the Senedd next Tuesday.
Ms Hutt will table a motion proposing that "the National Assembly for Wales agrees that: (a) its name should be changed to the "Welsh Parliament" at the earliest opportunity; and that (b) it should be known unofficially by that name until such a name change can be formalised".
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "The First Minister is opening up debate among Assembly Members, early in the life of this Assembly, to consider the most appropriate name for the institution.
"It is ultimately a matter for the National Assembly itself; legislation is not required to change what the institution calls itself."
Asked for a response, a Wales Office spokesman said: "The Wales Bill will give the Assembly the power to call itself what it wants."
Glyn Davies, the Conservative backbench MP for Montgomeryshire, said he would refer to the assembly as a parliament, saying on Facebook that AMs "should have done it years ago".
In May, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns spoke of the Wales Bill offering opportunities "to deliver a real parliament for Wales, with greater powers and a government responsible for raising as well as spending money".
However, differences remain between the two governments on whether powers over income tax should be devolved without a referendum.
Welsh Labour ministers claim that alleged underfunding of Wales by the UK Treasury should be addressed first, while some Tory MPs say their party should keep its promise to voters to hold a referendum.

Summary:


The council is to be given a new £1.5m budget for the next three years.

Aer Lingus has apologised to customers after it cancelled all its September flights from Belfast to Majorca and from Belfast to Alicante, Spain.

Article: The think-tank said that, on average, most people will see tax and benefit changes which will reduce their income.
If the Tories win, and implement £12bn of social security cuts, they will need to cut benefits by 10%, the IFS said.
Labour's plans for a 10% tax band were dismissed as pointless.
The IFS accuses all the parties of planning to extract a huge amount of money by clamping down on tax avoidance -"mysteriously missed" in all previous clampdowns.
And all of the parties have "a shared lack of any attempt to paint a coherent strategy on tax reform".
Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats plan to increase the personal allowance - the amount one can earn before paying income tax - to £12,500 by the end of the next parliament.
But the IFS said that would not help the 44% of people who now pay no tax.
Instead it said the main beneficiaries would be those in "the middle and upper middle parts of the income distribution".
Under Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the number of higher rate tax-payers would increase from 4.9m now to 6.5m by 2020/21.
But Labour's plans to introduce a 10% starting rate for income tax also came in for criticism.
The IFS said this change would be worth a "princely" 50 pence a week to most tax payers.
"There is no point in introducing such a band," it said.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats plan to introduce a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2m.
But the IFS said it would be much more sensible to let the council tax take care of wealth in the housing market.
"Setting up an entirely separate tax is unnecessarily complicated", it claimed.
It said that Labour's plan to raise £1.2bn from the tax annually would mean that owners of properties worth more than £3m would have to pay around £16,600 a year each.
"Setting a revenue target is not a sensible way to make policy," it concluded.
On tax avoidance and evasion, the Conservatives plan to raise £4.6bn by further clamp-downs , Labour plans to raise £6.7bn, and the Liberal Democrats £9.7bn.
"Yet none of the parties has...

Summary: In a withering analysis of the major parties' plans, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has concluded that households can expect lower incomes, whoever wins the election.
###
Article: Ms Chornovol, who was born in Kiev in 1979, is known for her investigative reports on the murky business affairs and conspicuous wealth of Ukraine's top officials, published regularly by the pro-opposition websites Ukrayinska Pravda and Levyy Bereg, as well as for her sometimes daring direct action stunts.
In a blog entry published on Ukrayinska Pravda on the evening of 24 December under the headline "A hangman lives here", Ms Chornovol posted photographs of what she said was the out-of-town residence of Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko in Kiev Region.
On the morning of 25 December, Ukrayinska Pravda quoted fellow activist Oleksiy Hrytsenko as saying that Ms Chornovol had called him the previous evening to say that she had been followed by Berkut riot police officers while taking photographs at the residence of Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka.
In earlier blogs, Ms Chornovol described visits by activists to the residences of other senior officials, including Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. In one, she reported that she had personally thrown eggs and written slogans on the fence at the home of Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of the pro-Russian public organization Ukrainian Choice.
Tetyana Chornovol has also organised several marches on foot to the gates of President Viktor Yanukovych's out-of-town residence at Mezhyhirya.
On 25 November, Ms Chornovol was involved in an incident during a pro-EU rally on Kiev's European Square in which opposition supporters attacked a van that they suspected was carrying out covert surveillance.
In video of the incident, Ms Chornovol was seen climbing onto the roof of the van and smashing the roof-window with a heavy object before climbing inside. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) later said that its employees were using the van for standard anti-terrorism precautions.
In August 2013, Ms Chornovol was detained for "disorderly conduct" after she spent six hours on a cornice in the Kiev city hall during a protest intended to draw attention to the "illegitimacy" of the Kiev...

Summary: Journalist and opposition activist Tetyana Chornovol, who was severely beaten after her car was rammed on a road outside Kiev on the night of 24-25 December, is one of the more colourful figures on the Ukrainian media scene.
###
Article: Justine Allingham from Portchester, Hampshire has been photographed standing on her hands at hundreds of sites in southern England.
The former martial artist, 24, has flipped upside down on a bouncy castle, outside an EU referendum polling station and at several fire stations.
She is raising money for The Fire Fighters Charity.
Ms Allingham, who works as a licensing officer, is more than 300 days into her challenge and has performed handstands at Winchester Cathedral, Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower and the Ageas Bowl cricket stadium.
She was inspired to begin the quest by her stepdad, Ian Harper, is a firefighter for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.
"My connection with the fire service is through my stepdad, and it is through him that I know how much they do,
"I think it takes a very special kind of person to do the things they do and risk their lives to keep other people safe. They are heroes," she added.
Many of her hand stands have been captured on camera and shared on her social media feeds.

Summary: A gymnast is carrying out a charity challenge to perform a handstand every day for a year.
###
Article: The former Hulme Library building and the former Beech Mount Children's Home in Harpurhey are the first to be opened up from next month.
Homeless organisations will be able to refer people to the temporary accommodation.
The council is also assessing other empty buildings across the city.
It is part of an ongoing campaign to improve services for homeless people and increase the amount of bed spaces over the winter, the council said.
It said the move would result in an extra 165 bed spaces.
Last month two former Manchester United players allowed a group of about 30 homeless people to stay in the former Stock Exchange building.
Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs are renovating the building into a luxury hotel.
Three buildings in other areas of Manchester, which had previously operated as shared houses, will also provide temporary accommodation, the council confirmed.
The council's rough sleepers team will provide support and help occupants access medical, mental health and drug and alcohol services
Councillor Paul Andrews, executive member for adult health and well being, said the announcement came after months of planning.
He added: "While providing shelter and a roof over their heads is obviously a good start, what's really important is working with charities, faith groups and our own homelessness services to make sure the right help and support is available to rough sleepers so we can help them make the first steps towards getting off the streets for good."

Summary: Empty council buildings in Manchester are to be used as overnight shelters for the city's rough sleepers, the council said.
###
Article: The summertime routes were due to end in late September but due to poor seat sales, the airline is stopping the service at the end of August.
The airline said it had reallocated its planes to "routes with greater demand".
It said it would offer a "full refund or alternative flights" to customers who were booked to fly in September
"We apologise sincerely for the inconvenience caused," said an Aer Lingus statement.

Summary: