The Caixin manufacturing PMI fell to 47.5 in September, below forecasts of 47.5 and down from 47.3 in August.
A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector, while one above shows expansion.
The Shanghai Composite dropped 2.2% to 3,115.89 on the

Asian markets headed lower after a survey of China's manufacturing sector indicated it is shrinking at the fastest pace for six-and-a-half years.

Article: Mike Johnson said the elite Fife institution had outreach programmes which connected with local communities.
Recent figures showed that the number of 18-year-olds from Scotland's poorest areas going to university was down.
Mr Johnson said a good university needed "diversity of thought" from its "diversity of students".
The admissions' director was speaking to BBC radio presenter Bill Whiteford who was hosting Thursday's Good Morning Scotland programme from St Andrews, Scotland's oldest university.
Mr Johnson said: "We meet our funded places allocation with Scottish students, we cannot go above that cap but we always meet that number in terms of Scottish students.
"What we want to see is the diversity of the student, wherever that student comes from.
"It shouldn't be seen as some charitable venture at universities - this is about the diversity of a student bringing diversity of thought, we want many world views.
"When students are in tutorials we want them to come from different backgrounds, this is good for universities, there is no doubt about that."
The Scottish government has placed a major focus on cutting the attainment gap between rich and poor, and increasing the number of Scots from the worst-off communities making it to university.
However, some politicians and education experts believe the cap on funded university places needs to be lifted if the system is going to target poorer students without impacting on the wider student population.
Convenor of Universities Scotland, Andrea Nolan, told the programme it was important to give "as many opportunities as we can to people who we believe have the potential and the ability to succeed".
She explained "In Scotland we have a fixed number of places for Scottish and EU domicile students and as we seek to widen access to people from communities that are underrepresented at universities that is going to put pressure in a fixed system."
Ms Nolan said lifting the cap on places was one way of "expanding the system".
She added: "There are other ways where we can...

Summary: The head of admissions at the University of St Andrews said it had a good "student diversity" policy without having to be a "charitable venture".
###
Article: The preliminary Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 47 in September, below forecasts of 47.5 and down from 47.3 in August.
A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector, while one above shows expansion.
The Shanghai Composite dropped 2.2% to 3,115.89 on the disappointing data.
The private survey also marked the seventh consecutive month of contraction in the sector.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed down 2.3% at 21,302.91.
Japanese markets are closed for a three-day public holiday and will reopen on Thursday.
In Australia, shares in mining companies were hit by falling commodity prices.
Oil prices continued to decline after US crude fell 2% overnight on global growth concerns, while copper prices slipped further on slowing Chinese demand.
Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 2.1% at 4,998.10.
In South Korea, the Kospi index ended 1.9% lower at 1,944.64 following the release of the data from China.

Summary:


A new artificial intelligence system can read lips and identify the words spoken by a person, a new study has found.

Scientists at Oxford University have developed a machine that can lip-read better than humans.

Article: Widow Una Crown was found in her Magazine Lane home in Wisbech on 13 January. She had been stabbed and her body was burned.
A 58-year-old man was arrested in Wisbech earlier this week on suspicion of murder.
He has been released on bail pending further inquiries.
Mrs Crown was last seen alive on the morning of 11 January, but had spoken to a friend by telephone on the afternoon of the following day.

Summary: A man arrested on suspicion of murdering an 86-year-old woman found stabbed to death in her Cambridgeshire home has been released on bail.
###
Article: The artificial intelligence system - LipNet - watches video of a person speaking and matches the text to the movement of their mouths with 93% accuracy, the researchers said.
Automating the process could help millions, they suggested.
But experts said the system needed to be tested in real-life situations.
Lip-reading is a notoriously tricky business with professionals only able to decipher what someone is saying up to 60% of the time.
"Machine lip-readers have enormous potential, with applications in improved hearing aids, silent dictation in public spaces, covert conversations, speech recognition in noisy environments, biometric identification and silent-movie processing," wrote the researchers.
They said that the AI system was provided with whole sentences so that it could teach itself which letter corresponded to which lip movement.
To train the AI, the team - from Oxford University's AI lab - fed it nearly 29,000 videos, labelled with the correct text. Each video was three seconds long and followed a similar grammatical pattern.
While human testers given similar videos had an error rate of 47.7%, the AI had one of just 6.6%.
The fact that the AI learned from specialist training videos led some on Twitter to criticise the research.
Writing in OpenReview, Neil Lawrence pointed out that the videos had "limited vocabulary and a single syntax grammar".
"While it's promising to perform well on this data, it's not really groundbreaking. While the model may be able to read my lips better than a human, it can only do so when I say a meaningless list of words from a highly constrained vocabulary in a specific order," he writes.
The project was partially funded by Google's artificial intelligence firm DeepMind.

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Police are treating the blaze as wilful fire-raising and are appealing for information about the West Lothian incident.

Thirty homes had to be evacuated after a gas pipe was damaged in a fire that was started deliberately.

Article: The state department says the agency supports or participates in a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation in China.
But the UNFPA says this is an "erroneous claim", and that its work does not break any US laws.
In total $32.5m (Â£26m) in funds will be withdrawn for the 2017 financial year.
This is the first of the promised cuts to US financial contributions to the UN by the Trump administration.
Saving Mosul's mothers-to-be
The UNFPA, like other UN agencies, is funded by governments voluntarily.
In 2015, it received $979m in donations, with the US being its fourth-largest donor.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump reinstated a ban on US funding of any international organisation that provided any kind of abortion service or advice.
The state department referred to the presidential directive from January and a provision called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment in its statement on Monday.
"This determination was made based on the fact that China's family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilisation, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies," the state department said.
The UNFPA calls those claims "erroneous" and says that "all of its work promotes the rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination".
It says its programmes have saved the lives of tens of thousands of women. Its works include:
The UN Population Fund has often been the target of conservative Republican administrations, the BBC's Nada Tawfik in New York reports. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and George W Bush withheld funding for the same reason.
The money that had been allocated to the UNFPA for the fiscal year 2017 will be "transferred and reprogrammed to the Global Health Programs account," the state department said.
The account will be used by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to support family planning, maternal and...

Summary: The US says it is withdrawing funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency that promotes family planning in more than 150 countries.
###
Article: Firefighters were called to the scene in Craigton Place, Winchburgh, at about 01:30 after a wheelie bin was set on fire.
The bin had been resting against the house, which caused the fire to take hold quickly.
Firefighters swiftly extinguished the blaze, when it was discovered that a gas pipe had been damaged in the fire.
Thirty homes in the area were evacuated, with 38 residents temporarily housed at a local community centre.
They were eventually allowed to return home at about 06:30.
'Young children'
Police are treating the blaze as wilful fire-raising and appealed for information about the West Lothian incident.
They are keen to trace anyone who may have seen someone in the area just before the bin was set alight.
Det Con Adrian Wallis said: "This was a serious incident which could have had devastating consequences.
"It also resulted in the evacuation of over 30 people, including young children and elderly residents. This caused much alarm and upset to those who had to leave their homes in the middle of the night.
"Anyone who saw anything suspicious at around 01:00, or has any other information regarding this incident, is asked to contact us immediately."

Summary:


A video of a young woman being raped in Rio de Janeiro has been widely shared on social media.

Brazil's interim President Michel Temer has called an emergency meeting of state security ministers after a gang rape of a teenage girl in Rio de Janeiro triggered wide condemnation.

Article: The Londoner's role was announced on BBC One during half time of the FA Cup semi-final match between Everton and Manchester United.
Mackie, 28, replaces Jenna Coleman, whose character Clara Oswald left the show in 2015.
Filming for the next series of the long-running science fiction show will start this year but air in 2017.
Mackie, who graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2010, played Anne-Marie Frasier in Doctors in 2014 and is currently performing in the National Theatre's West End production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
"I'm incredibly excited to be joining the Doctor Who family," she said. "It's such an extraordinary British institution, I couldn't be prouder to call the Tardis my home."
She added: "Peter Capaldi is such a brilliant actor, and his Doctor is such a wacky and wonderful character, I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for him and Bill throughout time and space."
Mackie said her new character "Bill" was "wicked", describing her as "cool, strong, sharp, a little bit vulnerable with a bit of geekiness thrown in".
Capaldi said: "It is a genuine delight to welcome Pearl Mackie to Doctor Who. A fine, fine actress with a wonderful zest and charm, she's a refreshing addition to the Tardis and will bring a universe of exciting new possibilities to The Doctor's adventures."
Doctor Who, which was first shown in 1963, is heading for its 10th season since it was reintroduced to schedules in 2005 after a gap of nine years.
Coleman joined the show in 2012, and starred alongside two Doctors, Matt Smith and Capaldi, the 12th Doctor who joined in 2014.
She asked to be written out and left to take on the role of Queen Victoria in a major ITV drama series.
In January, it was announced that the head writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat, was stepping down from the show.
The next series will be his last, after which he will be replaced by Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall.

Summary: Pearl Mackie has been named as the new Doctor Who companion alongside Peter Capaldi's Time Lord in the Tardis.
###
Article: He vowed to form a federal police unit to deal with violence against women.
The girl, 16, believes she was doped after going to her boyfriend's house last Saturday and says she woke up in a different house, surrounded by 30 men.
Hundreds of protesters on Friday demanded an end to sexual violence.
The video of the attack was put on social media, shocking Brazil.
Police are hunting more than 30 male suspects. Arrest warrants have been issued, including one for the boyfriend.
"I condemn most forcefully the rape of the teenager in Rio de Janeiro," Mr Temer said.
"It is absurd that in the 21st Century we should have to live with barbaric crimes such as this."
He said the authorities were working "to find those responsible" for the attack.
Rio police chief Fernando Veloso told a news conference that investigators will review forensic evidence.
"If these images hadn't been posted, maybe we wouldn't be here right now,'' he said, adding that many rapes go unreported.
The rape is said to have taken place in a poor community in western Rio over the weekend.
A 40-second-video was widely shared and followed by a wave of misogynistic comments, before the users' accounts were suspended.
In a message posted on Facebook, the victim said she was thankful for the support she had received and added: "I really thought I was going to be badly judged."
She later said: "All of us can go through this one day. It does not hurt the uterus but the soul because there are cruel people not being punished!! Thanks for the support."
The girl's grandmother told Brazilian media the family had watched the video and cried.
"I regretted watching it. When we heard the story we didn't believe what was happening. It's a great affliction. It's a depressing situation," she told Folha de S Paulo newspaper.
The assault has provoked an online campaign against what campaigners call a culture of rape in Brazil.
Experts say many cases of rape in Brazil go unreported as victims fear retaliation, shame, and blame for the violence they have suffered.
Hundreds...

Summary:


The family of a teenage girl who drowned on a sailing trip have launched a safety code in her memory.

Article: The move follows years of briefings by the police and security sources which said that while dissidents had a high level of intent to mount attacks outside Northern Ireland, they lacked the capacity or capability to do so.
That has now changed.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) warned earlier this year that dissidents have shown a range of capabilities over the past 18 months which they described as deeply concerning.
These include the use of home made bombs, referred to by the police as Improvised Explosive Devices, improvised rocket launchers, close quarter shootings, and under vehicle bombs.
While the government announces updates on threat levels, the assessment is made by the security service MI5, with input from the PSNI.
This recalibration of the threat level clearly suggests they believe dissidents are actively planning to exploit their increased capabilities by exporting them to Great Britain, and that they have the capacity to do so.
No organisation was named in a written statement about the increased threat level by Home Secretary Theresa May on Wednesday, but it is understood this assessment reflects concerns about the activities of the group widely referred to as the New IRA.
It was formed in the summer of 2012, from the amalgamation of a number of dissident organisations.
The group killed prison officer Adrian Ismay using an under car bomb in March.
In a statement to the BBC at the time it warned that further attacks would follow.
Increasing the threat level from "moderate" to "substantial" means the likelihood of an attack in Great Britain has gone up from "possible but not likely" to "a strong possibility".
It does not mean MI5 has intelligence which suggests that a dissident republican attack on a target in England, Scotland or Wales is about to take place some time soon.
If that was the case, the threat level would have been raised to "severe", which means an attack is regarded as "highly likely."
The threat level dissidents pose in Northern Ireland has been characterised as...

Summary: The escalation of the level of threat dissident republicans pose to potential targets in Great Britain means that the security service MI5 believes their capacity and capability has grown significantly.
###
Article: Emily Gardner, 14, from Gloucester, drowned when an ill-fitting buoyancy aid snagged on a speedboat which capsized in Brixham, Devon in May 2015.
Parents Clive and Debbie Gardner set up Emily's Code to highlight safety issues for small boat owners and users.
They said something as simple as checking a buoyancy aid or lifejacket fits properly could save a life.
Emily was with two friends and her best friend's father, Paul Pritchard, on a 16ft (4.8m) speedboat when a wave hit the vessel, causing it to overturn.
An inquest into Emily's death heard all four were thrown into the water. Emily was trapped underneath the boat after one of the straps on her buoyancy aid caught on a cleat.
Mr and Mrs Gardner said: "Many parents like us have no awareness of recreational boating safety guidelines and have never used a boat before.
"When Emily went on a day trip with her friends we were reassured that safety was paramount and that the equipment was top notch.
"If just one family sees this and takes action to protect their children on the water, then Emily's Code will have succeeded and Emily's name will live on."
The code has the backing of the Royal Yachting Association, HM Coastguard, British Water Ski and Wakeboard, and the RNLI.
Emily's Code:

Summary:


A Newcastle United FC owner has been given a deadline of 21 March to respond to a letter from MP Iain Wright - who chairs the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee - following his no-show.

Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has accused MPs of being "deliberately antagonistic" after he was threatened with being in contempt of Parliament.

Article: James Don took covert photographs and video recordings of two women at various locations in Dundee.
The 60-year-old recorded footage in one of his victim's homes, including her bedroom, and repeatedly followed her.
A sheriff told Don his actions were "particularly horrifying".
Don was found guilty of three charges by a jury at Dundee Sheriff Court.
One of the women told the trial that she felt "terrified, violated and in shock" following the incident.
She said: "I can't believe somebody had been in my house.
"I don't feel safe, even now.
"The thought that he was in there, in my living room, in my bedroom, I just don't know how he got in."
Defence solicitor Ian Houston said: "He is hoping that the period of imprisonment won't be so long to end his marriage."
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC imposed a four-year extended sentence on Don, with three years to be served in jail and a year on licence.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Sheriff Drummond said: "You went to the lengths of entering the privacy of one woman's home uninvited and videoed her bedroom and took photos of her underwear.
"That is particularly horrifying, that you invaded the sanctity of her home.
"It is clear to me that your behaviour has had a devastating impact on these women."

Summary: A serial stalker who left one of his victims "terrified and violated" after entering her home and taking pictures of her underwear has been jailed for three years.
###
Article: Mr Ashley failed to appear before a business select committee regarding working terms and conditions at the company's warehouse in Derbyshire.
In a letter, he accuses MPs of "abusing parliamentary procedures" in order to "create a media circus at Westminster".
Chris Bryant MP said the House could "force" Mr Ashley to attend a meeting.
The row follows a BBC investigation into the work practises at the company's warehouse in Shirebrook.
Updates on this story and more from Derbyshire
The Newcastle United FC owner was given a deadline of 21 March to respond to a letter from MP Iain Wright - who chairs the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee - following his no-show.
The letter said the committee reserved the right to "take the matter further" should he not attend future dates.
In response, Mr Ashley said: "I was disgusted to learn that you have adopted a stance that is deliberately antagonistic.
"By refusing to visit Sports Direct to see things with your own eyes, you are missing out on a genuine opportunity to gain a detailed and balanced understanding of the matters you wish to discuss.
"I believe you are abusing parliamentary procedure in an attempt to create a media circus in Westminster, which is not in the best interests of any of the people who work at Sports Direct."
It is thought that no one has been charged with contempt of Parliament since the 1950s.
Mr Bryant said in the Commons on Thursday: "[Mr Ashley] may be the 22nd richest man in Britain, but he is running a modern day sweatshop and this House will get to the truth."
The committee is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the next steps following Mr Ashley's correspondence.

Summary:


The High Court has ruled that a Carmarthenshire council's decision to pay a former employee's legal costs was unlawful.

A blogger who launched a "campaign of harassment" against a council chief executive has had the criminal case against her dropped.

Article: Andrus Nomm was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty on Friday to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement while working for the now defunct file-sharing site.
The US is currently trying to extradite Mr Dotcom, who founded Megaupload, from New Zealand to stand trial.
Mr Dotcom denies wrongdoing.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has alleged that Megaupload's staff had "operated websites that wilfully reproduced and distributed infringing copies of copyrighted works" over a period of five years, causing more than $400m (Â£260m) of harm to copyright owners.
Nomm - a 36-year-old Estonian citizen - agreed to this damages estimate as part of his plea, according to a press release from the DoJ. He had been living in the Netherlands before he travelled to Virginia to make the deal with the US authorities.
The DoJ added that Nomm had acknowledged that through his work as a computer programmer for Megaupload, he had become aware of copyright-infringing material being stored on its sites, including films and TV shows that had contained FBI anti-piracy warnings.
It said he had also admitted to having downloaded copyright-infringing files himself.
"This conviction is a significant step forward in the largest criminal copyright case in US history," said assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell.
Hong Kong-based Megaupload was one of the world's most visited "cyber locker" sites when its domain names and assets were seized in January 2012, at the request of the US authorities.
Mr Dotcom has long maintained that he had not encouraged users to upload pirated material, and has said he cannot be held responsible for what others had stored on his service.
At the end of last week Friday he tweeted: "I have nothing but compassion and understanding for Andrus Nomm and I hope he will soon be reunited with his son."
In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Mr Dotcom's lawyer attempted to play down the significance of the latest development.
"Mr Nomm [was] interested in just getting one year and being done with this,...

Summary: Kim Dotcom's US lawyer has denied that a guilty plea by one of the Megaupload's former employees has major implications for his client's case.
###
Article: Jacqui Thompson was arrested in 2011 for filming a Carmarthenshire council meeting and sued Mark James for libel.
He counter-sued for posts made on her blog and received £25,000 in damages.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Mrs Thompson had been charged with an harassment offence but a decision was taken to discontinue her case.
Mrs Thompson, of Llanwrda, said she was "relieved" at the news and had been worried about her impending court case, which was due to take place on Thursday.
A CPS spokesman said: "Following a review, prosecutors were no longer satisfied there was a realistic prospect of conviction due to insufficient evidence and therefore made the decision to discontinue the case."
Mrs Thompson became embroiled in the legal row after she was arrested in June 2011 for refusing to stop filming a council meeting for her blog, in which she was critical of the authority.
She sued Mr James the following November and he successfully counter-sued in a private lawsuit.
In 2016, the High Court found Mrs Thompson had run a campaign of "harassment, defamation and intimidation" against Mr James.
She was told to pay back £250 a month to him over the next 10 years to cover the damages.
Carmarthenshire council covered Mr James' legal costs, a decision the Wales Audit Office later found to be unlawful.
But the authority is pursuing Mrs Thompson for £190,393 in legal costs.
The council would not comment on the latest development in the case, which it said was a private matter for Mr James.
Mr James has been asked to comment.

Summary:


A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found in a drain in Spalding.

The death of a man found in a Lincolnshire waterway is not being treated as suspicious, police have said.

Article: Demos found that 63% had been born or educated within 20km (13 miles) of their seat, or had worked within this distance from it in the five years before seeking election.
It suggested the Lib Dems had the most "local" MPs of the main parties.
Labour came second and the Conservatives third, Demos said.
It was once common for MPs, particularly those who represented seats furthest from London, to return very rarely to meet their constituents.
But in recent years the nature of the job has changed so that weekly "surgeries" are normal and much political campaigning stresses candidates' links to the area.
Demos, seen as a centre-left think tank, has attempted to quantify the level of localness of the 650 current MPs.
Spokesman Ralph Scott described the 63% figure, based on the criteria of birth, education and work, as "pretty strong" but added that "perhaps not as many" MPs had long-lasting links "as the public would like".
The think tank said it had "trawled through" all the publicly available data, including Wikipedia and MPs' own websites, and found that 82% of Lib Dems were local, compared with 73% on the Labour benches and 51% of Conservatives.
Some MPs had been given "the benefit of the doubt" over their claims to localness, meaning that "if anything we have overestimated the number of local MPs".
Demos found that among all parties MPs were becoming more local, by comparing the figures available for the intake years of the current Parliament. This is not a direct comparison, as no such research exists for previous Parliaments.
The Conservatives were getting "rapidly more local", with 65% of the 2010 intake described as such, and just 30% of the remaining 1997 intake.
Mr Scott said that "these preliminary results show that, by our definition, the political class is perhaps more local than most people think".
He added: "However, unlike some other identities, 'localness' is more porous and more easily acquired - and therefore equally liable to being questioned and revoked.
"Most importantly, it is not identified...

Summary: Almost two-thirds of the UK's members of Parliament are "local" to the area they represent, research by a political think tank suggests.
###
Article: A dog walker spotted the body in Vernatt's Drain, near the Pinchbeck Road bridge in Spalding, on Sunday.
Police recovered the body from the water after being alerted shortly after 14:00 GMT.
Officers had been initially treating the death as unexplained, but said they were now classing it as not suspicious.
The man's details are yet to be released.

Summary:


The toolkit will be added to in the coming weeks.

An online education resource showcasing the best way to increase attainment in Scotland's schools has been launched by the country's education secretary.

Article: Plans for a "power of recall" for MPs who have committed "serious wrongdoing" have been abandoned following a dispute between the Tories and Lib Dems.
Lib Dem Party President Tim Farron said the "modest" plan was blocked by the prime minister David Cameron.
But Tory MP Zac Goldsmith said he was "disgusted" by the Lib Dems' actions.
The Independent reported that the plans would not be included in May's Queen's Speech, the last chance for them to become law before the 2015 election.
The idea, which was proposed in response to the public anger about the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, was included in both the Conservatives' and Lib Dems' last general election manifestos.
In their 2010 Coalition Agreement, both parties promised "early legislation" to allow voters to force a by-election "where an MP is found to have engaged in serious wrongdoing".
When a draft bill setting out plans was published in 2011, there was some criticism that the threshold for triggering the recall of an MP had been set too high.
As well as 10% of constituents having to sign a petition demanding it, a committee of MPs would first have to decide if serious wrongdoing had taken place.
But there were also concerns that a system of recall - which is in place in many US states - could lead to vexatious and politically-motivated campaigns against MPs.
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said it is understood the decision to drop the plan was taken following a meeting of the "quad" group of senior Lib Dem and Tory ministers, Prime Minister David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Chief Secretary Danny Alexander.
Mr Farron told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was "no obvious excuse" for ditching the idea.
"We understand the prime minister has blocked it," he said.
He added: "It seems to me very wrong that an MP can get up to things that all of us would agree are inappropriate and be in a position where they would not be able to be held to account.
"It looks like certain MPs are running scared of...

Summary: Politicians look like they are "running scared", a senior Lib Dem has said, after plans to allow voters to remove MPs between elections were dropped.
###
Article: John Swinney said the tool would help "all of our children to succeed".
The resource details examples from around Scotland which have improved the wellbeing and learning of children in the classroom.
Approaches include parent questionnaires, a family breakfast club and a walk-to-school programme.
Mr Swinney said: The information now available gives teachers and school leaders access to effective interventions based on practice examples from around Scotland.
"This suite of materials will be developed further in the coming weeks and months to include successful approaches based on the best available international evidence as we work with the Education Endowment Foundation to develop a Scottish specific version of their highly-regarded Teaching and Learning toolkit."
The online resource will be added to in the coming weeks.
Bill Maxwell, chief executive of Education Scotland, hoped the tool would help schools make decisions about closing the attainment gap between their "most and least disadvantaged children".
He added: "The interventions highlighted in this resource represent the wide range of different approaches which have been developed in Scotland, and which have proved to be effective.
"Education Scotland has a key role in ensuring that schools have easy access to evidence about 'what works' as they plan to address the priorities of the Scottish Attainment Challenge and the National Improvement Framework."

Summary:


The man was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning after police were called to a house in the town of Rochdale.

A man thought to have been killed by the drug MDMA had taken a "much more potent version" of Spice, Greater Manchester Police has said.

Article: Special Report: The Technology of Business
Taj Mahal comes to your living room
Sochi 2014: Hi-tech Winter Games
DIY apps and the rise of 'citizen developers'
Virtual games bring pinball to new audiences
China hopes to dispel 'copy others' reputation
It shows that there's still a place in the Â£40bn video games industry for independent makers, or indies, working alone.
And it's easier than you may think to build your own game that could potentially become a global hit, thanks to a growing number of marketplaces for off-the-peg games templates.
It turns out you don't even have to know how to write a single line of code to make a living selling mobile games on sites like Apple's App Store or Google's Play Android store.
Code marketplaces, like Binpress, Apptopia, Chupamobile and CodeCanyon, are offering game templates for a few hundred pounds.
These templates provide the program code required for a basic game, which buyers then flesh out by adding their own graphics, music and overall theme to make an app which is ready to be sold.
These types of games are usually offered as free apps, generating money through advertising included in the game. Even the code to display the ads, which are provided by online advertising networks, is included in the game template, so the buyer needs only add an account number with each network to start earning money.
"What you are buying with a template is a simple game mechanic - something like pressing on the screen to shoot something, or swiping the screen to slice," says Jonathan Kay, one of the founders of US-based code marketplace Apptopia. "That forms the basis of your app."
Buyers of a "swipe to slice" template could then create a fruit-slicing game similar to the popular Fruit Ninja app, or something with a different theme, like slicing the heads off leaping zombies, he says.
"If you have some design skills, then the only programming experience you need is knowing how to drop the graphics you create into the code."
"There are definitely still opportunities for independent...

Summary: Flappy Bird, the mobile-phone game that was making as much as $50,000 (Â£30,000) a day for its developer before he pulled it from online stores, took one man just two or three days to write.
###
Article: Police now believe that the 26-year-old man from Rochdale took a crystallised and unrefined version of the drug Spice.
Ch Supt Neil Evans, described the development as "extremely worrying".
Ten people were admitted to hospital after taking the drug over the weekend, with four kept in intensive care.
A police spokesman said they were hospitalised after taking what was thought to be a new form of MDMA, known as "pink champagne".
But he added: "It is now believed that this substance was in fact a synthetic cannabinoid, like 'Spice', however it was sold as MDMA."
Ch Supt Neil Evans said: "This is the first time we have seen 'Spice' in crystallised, and much more potent and unrefined form and it's now being mistakenly taken as MDMA."
He added: "Anyone thinking of taking MDMA must seriously consider what they are doing.
"You may feel that you know and accept the risks of taking MDMA, but you never know what you are actually taking and the reaction your body could have to it."
A 26-year-old man, held on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs, was released while inquiries continue.

Summary:


The Conservatives won 37 of 64 seats to claim a majority and wipe out Labour's 22-seat majority from 2013.
Labour picked up 24 seats this time around, the Liberal Democrats won three and UKIP finished with none.
Towns where seats turned from red to blue included Swadlincote, Matlock,

The Conservatives have taken control of Derbyshire County Council with a massive swing from Labour.

Article: Although less than originally suggested by regulator Ofcom, the price hike is likely to infuriate operators who have previously warned higher spectrum fees could put up consumer prices.
Ofcom defended the rise, saying it reflected the value of the spectrum.
Mobile companies said they were considering their response.
Fees are paid annually by mobile network operators for the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum bands, used to provide voice and data services using a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies.
Operators will now pay a combined annual total of £80.3m for the 900MHz and £119.3m for the 1800MHz band.
For Vodafone and O2, this will mean a tripling of spectrum costs - up from £15.6m a year to £49.8m. EE's charges will rise from £24.9m to £75m. Three will pay £25m, up from £8.3m.
In a statement Vodafone said: "We will be reviewing Ofcom's proposed spectrum fees over the coming days as they represent a significant increase when we are already investing around £1 billion on our network and services this year."
The new fees come into effect in two phases - one half of the increase will come into effect at the end of October this year, with the second half kicking in from October 2016.
Ofcom was asked by the government to revise licence fees back in 2010, but it did not begin a full consultation until after the 4G auction in 2013.
That auction provided £2.4bn for government coffers, less than the £3.5bn that it had hoped to raise.
Philip Marnick, Ofcom's director of spectrum, said: "We have listened carefully to the arguments and evidence put forward by industry, and conducted a complex and comprehensive analysis to determine the new fees.
"The mobile industry has not previously had to pay market value for access to this spectrum, which is a valuable and finite resource, and the new fees reflect that value."
Kester Mann, an analyst at mobile research firm CCS Insight, said that it was a pill "the providers are going to have to swallow".
"In one of Europe's most competitive markets, they have no choice but to continue to...

Summary: The amount the government charges mobile operators to use airwaves space - known as spectrum - has risen from £64.4m to £199.6m per year.
###
Article: The Tories won 37 of 64 seats to claim a majority and wipe out Labour's 22-seat majority from 2013.
Labour picked up 24 seats this time around, the Liberal Democrats won three and UKIP finished with none.
Towns where seats turned from red to blue included Swadlincote, Matlock, Glossop, Buxton, Ripley, Belper and Ilkeston.
Turnout was 38%.
Election 2017: Full results from across England
Conservative leader Barry Lewis described the result as "brilliant".
"We didn't think at this point in the electoral cycle we'd be taking control of Derbyshire County Council," he said.
"We fought a really good campaign on local issues and I think that's really helped. We got our manifesto out early and really hit the doorsteps."
This was Labour's last stand - its last county council to be defended in England. And its defences have proven to be weak.
The Conservatives have won across the south and centre of the county - in places like Heanor, Ilkeston and Ripley.
They've also taken seats off the Lib Dems. And it was a bad night too for UKIP - their share of the vote in Derbyshire collapsed.

Summary:


The RPA has said the new global calendar will "further overwork players" and "undermine player welfare".

The Rugby Players' Association has "unanimously rejected" proposals for an extended 10-month Premiership season.

Article: The ex-News International chairman said he had thought hacking a "thing in the past" when he took over his father's UK newspaper operations in 2007.
It remained his position that he did not know of the "For Neville" email until 2010, he told the inquiry.
He was also asked about meeting David Cameron during News Corp's BSkyB bid.
Mr Murdoch's father, News Corporation head Rupert Murdoch, will appear before the inquiry on Wednesday and Thursday.
It is the first time either of them have appeared in front of the Leveson Inquiry.
James Murdoch, who resigned from News International in February, having been appointed to run the company in 2007.
The inquiry is tackling the Murdochs' awareness of allegations that the practice of illegally intercepting voicemails went beyond News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007.
Last year James Murdoch told MPs he had no prior knowledge of the scale of wrongdoing on the newspapers he controlled.
By Robert PestonBusiness editor
BBC News - Correspondents - Robert Peston
He told Lord Justice Leveson he had a "general awareness that a reporter had illegally intercepted voicemails, had gone to jail along with the private investigator involved".
"It was a general understanding of an event in the past."
The inquiry questioned Mr Murdoch in detail over the "For Neville" email, which was sent by a junior News of the World reporter to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2008, and contained the illegally obtained transcripts of voicemails belonging to football union boss Gordon Taylor.
In December, another email from 2008 was released indicating Mr Murdoch had been copied into messages referring to the "rife" practice of phone hacking at the News of the World and also citing the "For Neville" email.
Mr Murdoch has said although he was copied into the email, he did not read it fully.
He told the inquiry: "I didn't read the email chain. It was a Saturday, I had just come back from Hong Kong, I was with my children. I responded in minutes."
He said he now accepts...

Summary: James Murdoch "stands by" testimony he never saw an email revealing phone hacking went beyond a single reporter, the Leveson Inquiry has heard.
###
Article: Following the announcement of the new global calendar in March, Premiership Rugby confirmed the 2019-20 domestic season will start in early September and finish at the end of June.
Leicester's Tom Youngs had said the proposal "fills players with dread".
The RPA has now said a shortened two-month off-season will be "seriously detrimental to player welfare".
Premiership Rugby has previously said the 10-month campaign will allow clubs to become "more sophisticated" in their management of players, with chief executive Mark McCafferty insisting player welfare remains the priority.
But an RPA statement on Monday read: "The Premiership season is already longer than comparable contact sports, including Super League, NFL and AFL.
"Extending an already arduous season from nine months to 10 has serious implications for players, given the potential increase to the game, training and psychological loads they face.
"The physical and mental strain placed on participants of professional contact sport cannot be underestimated."
England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland will all be playing international matches in June this summer, while the British and Irish Lions are also touring New Zealand.
The RPA has concerns that an extended season could overwork any players involved in future international summer tours - a worry shared by Tigers captain Youngs.
"Perhaps most worryingly is the incredible strain these proposals would place on international players," the statement continued.
"If the Premiership season retains its current start date, the addition of a July tour schedule will lead to an 11-month season for these players.
"This cannot be avoided unless these players start their domestic season later, which brings into question the need for the season extension."

Summary:


The world's biggest pizza chain has agreed to buy a German pizza chain for up to A$120m ($86m).

The companies that own Domino's Pizza in the UK and Australia have set up a joint venture to buy Germany's biggest pizza chain.

Article: The DB4GT Coupe sold for £3,249,500 in the Bonham's auction at Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell.
The car, which retailed for about £4,500 when it was new, had been restored at the works by its last owner.
Bonham's said bidding was rising at increments of £100,000 at a time.
Aston Martin Works said the previous record was for an Aston Martin DB5, which was used in one of the James Bond films, which sold for £2.5m in 2010.
The record is for road cars and does not take racing cars into account as they can go for over £10m.
This record-breaking car, called The Jet, was the last DB4GT off the Newport Pagnell production line and was the only one with coachwork by Italian designers Bertone.
The sale also featured three "barn finds" which had been hidden in storage for over 30 years - a 1966 DB6 Vantage Sports Saloon Project, a 1964 DB5 Sports Saloon and a 1963 DB4 Series V Vantage Sports Saloon.
They fetched £609,300 between them, while overall the auction of 197 lots sold for £10m.
James Knight, Bonham's motoring director, said: "I really did not think we could eclipse the record-breaking total achieved at this sale last year, but I am thrilled that  in Aston Martin's centenary year we have achieved just that.
"To sell every lot in an auction is almost unprecedented."

Summary: An Aston Martin road car has fetched a record price at auction in Buckinghamshire - where it was made in 1960.
###
Article: Joey's Pizza has 212 stores across Germany with annual sales of â‚¬143m ($156.5m; Â£103.9m).
Germany is the world's fourth-biggest pizza market and the deal is worth up to A$120m ($86m).
The deal will increase the number of stores owned by Sydney-listed Domino's Pizza Enterprises to 1,870.
The joint venture will be two-thirds owned by the Australian company, with the remainder owned by the London-listed Domino's Pizza Group, which already has operations in Germany.
Don Meij, chief executive of Domino's Pizza Enterprises, said that entering the German market represented a long-term growth opportunity.
"The acquisition of the market-leading Joey's Pizza business provides immediate scale and marketing presence which we can build from," he said.
The company's Sydney-listed shares jumped more than 12% after the deal was announced. The stock has soared more than 125% in the past 12 months.
The Australian company also raised its profit outlook for the year to June by 30% -  to A$166.1m net income before tax and other items.
The Domino's brand globally is owned by the New York-listed Domino's Pizza Inc.
The London-listed company has more than 800 stores in the UK, and holds franchises in Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. Up to 15 of its German stores will be bought by the joint venture.
Shares in Domino's Pizza Group have risen by 38% this year and the company is valued at Â£1.6bn.
Domino's Australia is the world's largest franchisee for the pizza brand. It holds the Domino's brand network in Australia, Belgium, France, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Monaco.
The Joey's Pizza deal is expected to be completed early next year, subject to regulatory approval.

Summary:


A new study has found that the number of people who are overweight or obese in the UK has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

Richard Carpenter has said he is owed at least $2m (Â£1.6m) in royalties for the hits he recorded in The Carpenters, including Yesterday Once More.

Article: Nick Higgs is jetting off to study the mysterious Osedax worms which eat bones and mainly live off the skeletons of whales deep on the ocean floor.
They are just one of a range of creatures that make their home around the carcasses of the giant mammals, in communities known as "whale falls".
Mr Higgs will join the research trip led by senior scientist Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
He will take part in a week-long cruise in which they will survey four whale falls - three artificial and one natural.
By studying the worms, scientists hope to learn more about these communities evolved.
Whale falls occur when a whale dies in the deep ocean and sinks to the sea floor. Unlike whales that die in shallow waters (less than 200m deep), whose carcasses are quickly devoured by scavengers, the whale carcasses in the deep oceans can provide a feast for a complex community of organisms.
Species found around whale falls range from clams and shrimp to larger creatures like octopuses, lobsters and even sharks.
Osedax worms were not discovered until 2002 when they were observed living on the bones of a decaying grey whale in Monterey Bay, California.
The worms, named after the Latin osedax or "bone-eating", are commonly called bone worms or zombie worms because of their strange feeding practices.
Even though the worms have no mouth or stomach, they are able to burrow into the solid bone to feed and can eventually destroy an entire whale skeleton, leaving virtually no trace of the fossil record.
Nick is particularly interested in how they bore into the bone: "Because Osedax worms were only discovered a few years ago, there's still an awful lot we don't know about them.
"For example, different species of worm appear to like different parts of the bone, with some staying around the surface and others burrowing deep into the middle.
"I can also use CT scans to generate a 3D image of the bore holes and what they look like from the inside. Armed with this information, I hope to explore fossilized...

Summary: A University of Leeds PhD student is heading to California to study what have been termed "zombie worms".
###
Article: He claims Universal Music have only paid the band a "miniscule fraction" of the money they were owed from downloads on sites like iTunes and Amazon.
The musician is suing for compensation, according to legal documents filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The claim is also filed on behalf of his sister, Karen, who died in 1983.
Carpenter hired accountants to examine financial statements from Universal Music and its subsidiary, A&M Records, which has released The Carpenters' music since their debut album in 1969.
He says they found multiple errors, and that the labels "improperly classified" revenue from digital downloads of The Carpenters' music as sales of physical records  - which attract a lower royalty rate. He also claims that digital downloads were undercounted.
In a statement, Carpenter said he had been unable to resolve the dispute without suing.
"The Carpenters recordings are among the best sellers in the history of popular music, and after 48 years continue to contribute a substantial amount to [Universal's] annual bottom line," he wrote. "It seems only fair that these companies account fairly to my sister's estate and to me."
Specialising in radio-friendly soft rock, The Carpenters sold millions of records in the 1970s. The brother-sister duo won three Grammy Awards in 1970 and 1971, including best new artist and best vocal performance for the ballad (They Long to Be) Close to You.
The band's career was cut short when Karen developed anorexia nervosa in 1975. Although they continued to record, the condition eventually led to her death, from heart failure.
Richard Carpenter's legal claim is one of many filed in the US after a 2010 court case involving Eminem, which resulted in a ruling that artists should receive higher royalty payments for digital downloads than they do when a CD or vinyl album is sold.
The difference is substantial. According to Billboard, artists get 15% of the money generated by the sale of a record. For downloads, which are counted as "licensed content",  the figure 50%.
Artists...

Summary:


The party officials who decided not to automatically reselect Mohammad Asghar are being accused of "political bias"

A Conservative AM forced to face a ballot of party members has come top of the South Wales East regional list for the 2016 assembly election.

Article: "Hedge" has been used as a verb meaning to "avoid commitment" since at least the 16th century; it's used in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, for example.
It started being used in relation to financial transactions in the early 17th century.
Technically it is a way of managing a financial price risk. But let's take it back to basics.
If you've ever packed an umbrella so you aren't caught out by the weather, you've adopted a hedge position. Chances are you have also taken out a financial hedge in the form of health or life insurance. You pay the premiums to cover yourself if something bad happens - it's a hedge on your health.
Businesses do the same thing. They will take steps to try to offset the possible losses that may be incurred by investments or by changes to financial markets.
Hedging is an important part of doing business. When investing in a company you expose your money to risks of fluctuations in many financial prices - foreign exchange rates, interest rates, commodity prices (oil and so on) and equity prices.
If a company makes sweet treats, the price of sugar is going to be watched closely. If a business relies on a fleet of lorries to move goods, then the price of petrol is key. More often than not, though, in today's global business world, the killer movers are currencies.
Foreign Exchange (FX) is by far the largest market in the world, dwarfing the size of stock and bond markets. The daily trading volume in FX markets is about $5 trillion (£4 trillion) - that's about four times more than all the trading in companies listed on the FTSE 100 for a whole year.
"It is often a good idea for companies to use hedging to protect themselves from swings in the exchange rate of a foreign country they are investing in," says Jasper Lawler, a markets analyst at CMC Markets.
The impact of changes to market prices can have a devastating effect on profits, so companies will seek to shield the sensitivities of their core business.
"Companies hedge for a variety of reasons, but they all come down the same...

Summary: We've all heard the phrase hedging your bets - but do you know what it actually means?
###
Article: Party officials opted not to automatically reselect Mohammad Asghar, prompting an open contest.
On Thursday night it was announced Mr Asghar had topped the poll.
A second AM forced to follow the same procedure, William Graham, finished outside the top  four - meaning he is effectively de-selected.
Second on the list will be Laura Anne Jones, previously an AM between 2003-07.
In a statement, Mr Graham said: "Whilst I am personally disappointed that I will not be part of an expanding Welsh Conservative team after the elections in May, I remain as invested as any of my colleagues in the goal of bringing an end to this tired Labour government."
The Conservatives currently hold two of the available four seats in South Wales East.
The 60 AMs include 20 elected via regional lists, aimed to give a fairer reflection of support for each party.

Summary:


An exhibition showing thousands of blue nudes in Hull has been announced as the City of Culture's flagship exhibition.

Article: Sally Hunt, head of the University and College Union (UCU), said in a speech "every penny" should be donated.
Last week, union members took action over a 1.1% pay rise offered by universities, calling it "an insult".
The Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA) said students faced no major disruption.
Speaking at the UCU annual conference in Liverpool, Ms Hunt said: "Vice-chancellors and principals are so busy defending their own exorbitant pay that they have forgotten that universities and colleges are nothing without students and staff.
"Not so long ago, most institutions would give money docked from striking staff to their student hardship funds - these days it is far less likely.
"Therefore, today I am calling on all vice-chancellors and principals to do the right thing and commit every penny they took from our members for striking last week to their student hardship funds."
The UCU says the two-day strike over a 1.1%  pay rise for academic staff comes as vice-chancellors enjoy high salaries.
But UCEA said the offer to staff was generous when compared with that of public sector workers, such as those working in local government and the prison service, who received a rise of 1%.
A spokesman said: "Higher education institutions are reporting either no or low disruption on either of UCU's two strike days on 25 and 26 May.
"It is therefore not surprising that the number of UCU members actually declaring themselves to have been on strike appears to be very low, with the early reports averaging at less than 45 per institution.
"It is up to each institution to decide what they will do with pay withheld from those who did strike, though we know many have policies for making a donation to their student hardship fund or, for example, to support onsite nursery provision."
According to Ms Hunt, students supported the industrial action and she will thank them in her speech for their support.
She said "that this fight is their fight - and that we will support them when they defend education".
She also...

Summary: Any money universities saved by docking wages of lecturers who went on strike last week should be given to student hardship funds, a union says.
###
Article: Artist Spencer Tunick photographed 3,200 people at locations around Hull on 9 July for the Sea of Hull project.
The photos will be displayed alongside major works by Lucien Freud and Ron Mueck in the Ferens Art Gallery's SKIN exhibition from 22 April.
Sea of Hull featured people from around the world and is said to be the largest nude installation in the UK.
The models were painted blue to represent water.
New York-based Mr Tunick said he noted shades of blue from various maritime paintings at the Ferens gallery during a scouting trip in 2015 and made them into body paint.
He said: "By bringing the colours of the Ferens' canvases into the streets and on to the bodies, I was able to successfully realize my vision of recreating the lost waterways of Hull with the brilliant and vibrant colours of the water."
Ferens' art curator Kirsten Simister said the SKIN exhibition examines how the nude continues to fascinate and inspire artists.
She said it was a "very exciting, long-awaited moment" which had been planned for four years.
"The idea for SKIN was developed at the time of the bid for UK City of Culture and it's incredibly exciting to see this vision now becoming a reality," Ms Simister said.
"SKIN acts as a major centrepiece for the year and through a variety of partnerships we have secured works of the very highest quality.
Since reopening following refurbishment in January, Ms Simister said footfall at the Ferens had risen from 10,000 to 92,000 when compared to January and February 2016.
Hull City Council said visitor numbers at the city's other attractions had also increased.
SKIN is a free exhibition at the Ferens from 22 April to 13 August.

Summary:


The project aims to improve the look of the closes, which date back to the medieval origins of the city.

Twelve of Edinburgh's "dilapidated and neglected" closes are to be transformed as part of a major project to improve the Old Town.

Article: Some 25,000 native and heritage bulbs are being planted at English Heritage gardens, including Queen Victoria's former home Osborne House.
The flowers are under threat from hybrids and non-native species such as the Spanish bluebell.
English Heritage wants people to join in by planting a native daffodil or bluebell bulb in their own gardens.
These can be collected for free from various English Heritage sites.
John Watkins, head of gardens and landscapes at English Heritage, said native daffodils and bluebells were a "vital part of our horticultural and cultural heritage".
He said: "Our native species and historic cultivars are increasingly under threat from cross-pollination with non-native species and hybrids that flower at the same time.
"The resulting offspring will be hybrids and likely to outperform and out-compete the native species.
"Historic gardens and landscapes are often the last refuge for ancient cultivars and native species.
"Our major spring bulb planting campaign - across some of the most important historic gardens in England - will help arrest that national decline and ensure that the daffodil celebrated by Wordsworth over 200 years ago can still be enjoyed by visitors today and in the future."
Other sites taking part in the scheme include Belsay Hall in Northumberland, Eltham Palace and Kenwood, both in London, and Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden in Warwickshire.

Summary: Gardeners are planting thousands of daffodils and bluebell bulbs in efforts to help save native spring blooms.
###
Article: Bakehouse Close and Riddle's Close - once home to philosopher David Hume - are among those selected for a makeover by Edinburgh World Heritage.
Fleshmarket Close, which is famously a setting for an Inspector Rebus novel, has also made the final list.
Lighting and artwork will be installed in the little-used closes.
The people behind the project hope the improvements will encourage more people to use the historic network of narrow streets.
Adam Wilkinson, the director of Edinburgh World Heritage, said: "Our aim is for this project to re-connect the people of Edinburgh with the closes of the Old Town.
"The intricate network of closes and courtyards that bind the Old Town together gives it a unique identity, is underused but has the opportunity to be revitalised, used and celebrated by all."
The closes date back to the medieval origins of the city.
Originally, individual plots of land were set up lining the main street, with paths to gain access to the land behind.
As each plot became built up over time, so they developed into narrow lanes connecting courtyards and streets behind the Royal Mile.
The Twelve Closes project was welcomed by city leaders, including John Thompson, of the Old Town community council.
He said: "This is a project to be welcomed, changing dilapidated and neglected closes into useful routes linking different parts of the Old Town.
"The closes were once busy thoroughfares, buzzing with all the life of the city, and it would be wonderful to see some of that atmosphere return."

Summary:


The theory that women get paid less than men because they are not sufficiently pushy in the workplace is not true, a new study suggests.

Article: The UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said he had serious doubts as to whether capital trials there met fair trial standards.
Mr Mladenov added that he was disturbed by reports that some of the executions might be carried out in public.
One Palestinian group has documented 67 executions in Gaza since 2007.
However, that figure does not include the killings of people accused by Hamas of being collaborators during wartime. At least 25 were shot dead after the 2014 conflict with Israel.
On Wednesday, Hamas-affiliated members of the Palestinian parliament announced they had approved a measure allowing executions to be carried out in Gaza without having first been ratified by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank.
"We found it was important to implement the death penalty rule to maintain civil peace in society and to prevent cases of murder," Hamas MP Yehia Mousa told the New York Times.
It was not clear what authority the MPs had to authorise executions in the coastal territory, given that the full Palestinian Legislative Council has not met since Hamas reinforced its power in Gaza in 2007 following a violent rift with Mr Abbas' Fatah movement.
But the move came a week after Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said 13 Palestinians had been sentenced to death by courts in Gaza and would be executed as soon as possible.
Last month, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said a military court had sentenced three men to death for collaborating with Israel. That took the total number of death sentences issued so far this year in Gaza to 10, it added.
The Hamas authorities mostly stopped carrying out the death penalty in June 2014, when a government of national consensus was formed and officially placed in charge of Gaza.
However, that government never exercised authority there and, in July 2015, it was reshuffled without Hamas' inclusion or input.
In February, Hamas' military wing executed one of its commanders "for behavioural and moral violations"....

Summary: The UN has expressed alarm after Hamas said it intended to implement a number of death sentences in Gaza, where the Palestinian Islamist group is dominant.
###
Article: Women are as likely as men to ask for a pay rise - but are less likely to get one, the research found.
The study, by the Cass Business School and the universities of Warwick and Wisconsin, looked at 4,600 workers.
It found "no support" for the "reticent female" theory, whereby women avoided asking for more money.
For what it claimed was the first time, the study eliminated any impact from part-time workers earning less than their full-time counterparts, by comparing full-time males with full-time females, and part-time males with part-time females.
When like-for-like male and female workers were compared, men were 25% more likely to get a pay rise when they asked, the study found.
The research also concluded there was no evidence for the idea that women were reluctant to ask for a salary increase because they were more wary of upsetting their boss, or deviating from a perceived female stereotype.
When analysing the results, the researchers took into account the size of the employer and the industry, whether the workers were a parent, as well as their qualifications.
The study was based on data from the 2013-14 Australian workplace relations survey. Australia is thought to be the only country to systematically record whether employees had asked for a pay rise, and why they had or had not done so.
Andrew Oswald, professor of economics and behavioural science at the University of Warwick, said he was surprised by the findings.
"The fact that women don't ask for pay rises as often as men is a popular theory. It's a very common thing for women to say and believe, but all of the evidence is anecdotal, so it's very hard scientifically to do a proper test of this."
He said one possibility was that unsuccessful men who asked for a pay rise, but did not get it, kept it to themselves, while women "were more straightforward and tell their friends".
"Having seen these findings, I think we have to accept that there is some element of pure discrimination against women," Prof Oswald added.
"It could be that Australia is odd....

Summary:


Mercedes and Ferrari are both free to continue with their research into the 'halo' concept, but Red Bull is not.

Formula 1 bosses have a set a deadline of 1 July for a decision on the introduction of cockpit head protection for the 2017 season.

Article: Dr Andreas Dombret, executive board member for the German central bank, the Bundesbank, said that even if banking rules were "equivalent" between the UK and the rest of the European Union, that was "miles away from access to the single market".
Mr Dombret's comments were made at a private meeting of German businesses and banks organised by Boston Consulting Group in Frankfurt earlier this week.
They give a clear - and rare - insight into Germany's approach as Britain starts the process of leaving the European Union.
And that approach is hawkish.
"The current model of using London as a gateway to Europe is likely to end," Mr Dombret said at the closed-door event.
Mr Dombret made it clear that he did not support a "confrontational approach" to future relations between the UK's substantial financial services sector and the EU.
But he argued there was "intense uncertainty" about how the Brexit negotiations would progress and significant hurdles to overcome.
The Bundesbank executive, who is responsible for banking and financial supervision, said he was concerned that the trend towards internationally agreed standards was under pressure.
And that Britain might try to become the "Singapore of Europe" following Brexit, by cutting taxes and relaxing financial regulations to encourage banks and businesses to invest in the UK.
"Brexit fits into a certain trend we are seeing towards renationalisation," he said.
"I strongly believe that this negatively affects the well-being of us all.
"We should therefore invest all our efforts in containing these trends.
"This holds for the private sector as well as for supervisors and policymakers in the EU and the UK.
"Some voices are calling for deregulation after Brexit," he continued.
"One such example is the 'financial centre strategy' that is being discussed as a fallback option for the City of London.
"Parts of this recipe are low corporate taxes and loose financial regulation.
"We should not forget that strictly supervised and well-capitalised financial systems are the most...

Summary: One of Germany's most senior banking regulators has warned London that it is likely to lose its role as "the gateway to Europe" for vital financial services.
###
Article: "It would be unreasonable if we didn't have a clear path by that time," said Charlie Whiting, F1 director at motorsport's governing body the FIA.
The 'aeroscreen' tested by Red Bull on Friday and the 'halo' run by Ferrari pre-season are concepts in contention.
Red Bull will run the aeroscreen again at the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix.
Russian Grand Prix qualifying results
Russian Grand Prix coverage details
These tests will evaluate the effect of coatings on the aeroscreen to ensure good visibility.
Whiting said: "This time we hope they will have sourced, and they are optimistic they can, some anti-glare coating for the inside - as we understand it can be quite difficult where you have tall buildings, trees, low sun, and those sorts of effects that you will probably get in Monaco and Monza, where there are natural features.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"And there will also be a coating for the outside that will repel rain and prevent things sticking to it."
Mercedes and Ferrari - the teams who have done most research on the 'halo' concept - are free to carry on with evaluation of that should they wish to.
The 1 July deadline is to ensure teams have sufficient time to incorporate the design into their 2017 cars.
Each structure has its own effect on the chassis, as they are mounted in different ways at both the front - the halo by a single central strut, and the aeroscreen by two side struts - and the rear.
One single design solution will be imposed, either supplied centrally or to a specification for the teams to build themselves, to ensure no-one can gain an advantage.
Whiting said the next stage of testing would focus on allaying concerns about the possibility of the driver's head hitting the structure in an accident.
He said F1 cars have a "free head volume", which is the space that has to be free for a driver's head to move about in a high-speed accident without hitting anything other than the cockpit sides, which are fitted with impact-absorbing material.
Whiting said: "At the moment...

Summary:


John Adams' short story "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" is set in a future where the world is run by a powerful corporation.
The story is set in a future where the world is run by a powerful corporation. The corporation is called "The Machine".
The story is set in a future where the

Schoolchildren will perform their own work at this year's Proms.

Article: He made the endorsement at a joint news conference in Florida with Mr Trump, ahead of primaries there on Tuesday.
The winner of the Republican nomination will face Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders for the Democrats, in November.
Mr Carson is the second former candidate to endorse Mr Trump after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
A retired neurosurgeon, Mr Carson was an early favourite but dropped out last week after failing to gain significant popular support.
The endorsement came a day after an elderly white man was charged with assault for allegedly punching a young protester during a rally for Mr Trump in North Carolina on Wednesday.
Video footage taken by bystanders shows John McGraw, 78, apparently hitting 26-year-old Rakeem Jones as he was being escorted away by police.
There are two sure-fire ways to draw Donald Trump's ire. The first is to directly criticise the New Yorker. The second is to pose a threat to his success.
Ben Carson never did the former but for a few weeks last autumn he challenged Mr Trump in Iowa polls and was rewarded with a full dose of the real estate mogul's derision.
Bygones, however, seem to be bygones. Now the retired neurosurgeon is endorsing the man who once compared him to a child molester.
A Trump-Carson alliance should not come as much of a surprise, however. Both candidates tapped into the desire among disenchanted conservative voters to find a candidate outside the traditional political world. Both offered sharp critiques of the Republican "establishment".
Mr Carson still has a loyal following, particularly among evangelical voters, and he could be a valuable asset to Mr Trump on the campaign trail as the New Yorker looks to secure the Republican nomination in the weeks ahead.
Republican debate: Civility breaks out
Obama: 'Don't blame me for Trump'
Who are the Muslims supporting Trump?
Mr Carson said Mr Trump had a "cerebral" side.
"I have found in talking with him, that there's a lot more alignment, philosophically and spiritually, than I ever thought that there was,"...

Summary: Former Republican hopeful Ben Carson has confirmed his support for his former rival and front-runner Donald Trump in the US presidential race.
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Article: Two special concerts at the Royal Albert Hall will see pupils perform their own response to 10 pieces of classic music.
The Ten Pieces project was announced last year as part of an initiative to inspire primary school children to learn more about classical music.
Each Prom will feature pupils playing music, as well as dance, film and animation.
The schoolchildren's work will run alongside the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which will play the original 10 pieces of music, which include Mozart, Handel and Holst.
Blue Peter's Barney Harwood and children's TV presenters Dick and Dom will host the concerts on 18 and 19 July, the opening weekend of this year's Proms.
The Saturday concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, while the Sunday concert will be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
Last June, the BBC announced ten pieces of classical music aimed at inspiring schoolchildren to create their own works.
Since October 2014, some 8,500 primary school pupils have signed up to take part in the scheme, which offers musical workshops from local arts organisations as well as an online film about classical music, which has been seen by more than 120,000 children so far.
The schoolchildren are being invited to submit their "creative responses" to the music to the Ten Pieces website, as either films, audio recordings or images, by the end of March.
The full 2015 BBC Proms season will be announced in April.
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (1st movement)
Britten: 'Storm' Interlude from Peter Grimes
Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt
Handel: Zadok the Priest
Holst: Mars from The Planets
Anna Meredith: Connect It
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 (3rd movement)
Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain
Stravinsky: The Firebird - suite (1911) (Finale)

Summary:


The Welsh Government has announced that it will be holding a referendum on EU membership in the autumn.

Police are likely to apply for extra powers to stop and search people at this weekend's Champions League final.

Article: Mr Salmond, the former Scottish first minister and SNP leader, was speaking during a televised BBC EU debate.
He argued that Scotland being "dragged" out of the EU would be sufficient to trigger a second referendum.
But Tory MP Dr Liam Fox, who backs Leave, said membership of the EU was a decision taken by the UK as a whole.
Other panellists in the hour-long How Should I Vote? TV debate - which was filmed before an audience of young voters in Glasgow - were Labour's Alan Johnson, who backs staying in the EU, and UKIP MEP Diane James, who wants the UK to leave.
Mr Salmond, who is backing the Remain campaign ahead of the referendum on 23 June, was asked by an audience member whether Scotland voting one way and the rest of the UK the other would lead to another "unwanted" independence referendum.
He responded by saying that the SNP's successes in both the Westminster and Holyrood elections had given the party a mandate to hold a second independence referendum if Scotland voted in favour of EU membership but the UK as a whole voted to leave.
But he said it would only be possible to hold one if a majority of the Scottish Parliament voted for it - which would need the pro-independence Scottish Greens to vote with the SNP.
Host Victoria Derbyshire asked Mr Salmond when he thought any second independence referendum might be held.
He replied: "It would have to be within the two-year period of the UK negotiating withdrawal.
"If you had the situation where Scotland in four weeks' time votes Remain and the rest of the UK, or England, drags Scotland out by voting to Leave, then that would justify in my opinion another referendum.
"During the (independence) referendum in 2014, the people of Scotland were told that voting 'No' would secure Scotland's position within the European Union."
He later added: "In the circumstances of Scotland being threatened with being dragged out of the EU against our will, I think the result would be 'Yes' this time."
Dr Fox - a Scot who represents an English constituency in the House of...

Summary: Alex Salmond has predicted that Scotland would vote for independence within two years of the UK voting to leave the European Union.
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Article: About 170,000 people are expected in Cardiff over four days around the match between Real Madrid and Juventus.
South Wales Police's Assistant Chief Constable Richard Lewis said the force could invoke temporary powers allowing officers to search anyone without the usual reasonable grounds.
He described safety and security at the event as "our absolute aim".
He added: "We have powers to stop and search every day of the week and we will be utilising these, but we can also apply for extra powers to allow us to stop and search specifically in an area which we may apply for and use this weekend."
These powers, which must be approved by a senior officer, allow random searches if serious violence may take place in a specific area.
Streets immediately surrounding the National Stadium of Wales will be off limits for anyone without a match ticket on Saturday and no bags will be allowed in the stadium.
Real Madrid and Juventus fans have two different bag drops and their belongings will be held in articulated lorries.
ACC Lewis advised against attempting to drive into the capital on match day due to additional security barriers preventing vehicles from getting into the centre.
Over 24 hours on Saturday there will be 2,000 deployments of police officers throughout the city.
Between Thursday and Sunday, when the festival around the match runs, there will be 6,500 deployments, including 550 armed officers.
ACC Lewis said the Champions League "even trumps Nato" in terms of the impact on the city.

Summary:


The BP Statistical Review of World Energy said global energy consumption "slowed sharply" to an increase of just 0.9% in 2014.

Article: The US shale revolution is continuing to grow, with the US now the world's biggest oil producer.

Summary: The US shale revolution is continuing to grow

The growth in global demand for energy slowed to levels not seen since the late 1990s, a new report suggests.

Article: Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have developed the technology to help amputees learn to use new prosthetic limbs.
The Body and Mind exhibition enables visitors to visit a virtual kitchen to see how amputees use everyday objects.
The exhibition is part of a Virtual Reality Prosthetics team project, funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Madelynne Arden, professor of health psychology, said the team is made up of experts from across the university who are developing "genuine working solutions for real-world problems".
Dr Arden said: "Virtual reality is a completely immersive experience and we are keen for all members of the general public, children and adults, to come along and see the exhibition for themselves," she said.
"The project itself is a perfect example of academic collaboration and we are very proud with the impact it is having."
Visitors can use the new technology - which uses the new HTC Vive technology, Oculus Rift - to pick up drinks cans and apples, open cupboards, and smash plates.
They can design their own limb, see how prosthetics have developed over the last century and hear from people with prosthetic limbs, including Paralympian Jon-Allan Butterworth.
The role of sculpture in developing realistic and useable prosthetic limbs since World War One was explored in an exhibition in Leeds in July.
Body and Mind is at Sheffield Millennium Gallery from 25-27 October, and at Weston Park Museum from 12-13 November.

Summary: The everyday challenges of living with a prosthetic limb are explored in an interactive virtual reality exhibition.
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Article: BP's Statistical Review of World Energy said global energy consumption "slowed sharply" to an increase of just 0.9% in 2014.
BP said slow growth for energy demand was largely due to China's economy moving away from "energy-intensive sectors".
Separately, it said increased US shale supply was a "continuing revolution".
The BP review also said the mixture of fuels which the world was using was changing.
BP's chief executive Bob Dudley said 2014 was characterised by "volatility and uncertainty" and "may well come to be viewed as symptomatic of a broader shifting in some of the tectonic plates that make up the energy landscape".
The growth in Chinese coal consumption slowed to "unusually weak" levels, due to the slowing pace of industrialisation in the country.
Globally, production increased for all fuels except coal.
Meanwhile, worldwide demand for all other fuels increased the report said.
'Fuel mix'
Global growth in natural gas was weak, due to a mild European winter - which led to a sharp fall in the continent's gas consumption.
But renewable energy continued to see the fastest growth in demand, now fulfilling 3% of the world's energy needs, the report said.
Overall, carbon emissions from energy use grew by 0.5%.
The report also said that supply for oil continued to outstrip demand - global oil consumption grew by 0.8%, while oil production grew by 2.3%, with the US continuing to be the world's biggest oil producer.
BP said: "The big picture remains one of abundant reserves, with new sources of energy being discovered more quickly than they are consumed.
"Total proved reserves of oil and gas in 2014 were more than double their level in 1980."

Summary:


Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Monday that its operating profit fell 7.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier, as the company's smartphone business struggled to gain traction in the face of a global economic slowdown.

Article: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Monday that its operating profit fell 7.5%

Samsung Electronics says its operating profit is likely to rise 15% in the fourth quarter from a year ago, missing market expectations.

Article: The Jay Report said taxi drivers played a prominent role in moving around children who were abused in the town between 1997-2013.
One recommendation was to provide training so taxi drivers could help agencies spot and report abuse.
The council said compulsory courses were being planned.
Authorities in a number of others areas including Leeds, Calderdale and Harrogate have already brought in the training as a direct result of what happened in Rotherham.
The delay in Rotherham has been because of problems in bringing in a new licensing policy.
Rotherham Council did start a review of its licensing policy after the Jay report was released.
It was decided last November that CSE training should be given to taxi and private hire vehicle drivers.
But the council was in chaos and the plans were scrapped after another report, by Louise Casey, deemed the council unfit for purpose. Government commissioners were put in charge of council functions and the licensing department.
A new policy has now been approved and compulsory training is included for taxi licence holders.
It's due to get under way in the next three months, but a year on from the Jay Report, the public will be left wondering if valuable time has been wasted.
The council said taxi drivers that had specific contracts dealing with vulnerable children already received safeguarding training.
It said the new licensing policy, which was brought in last month, now made it a compulsory requirement.
A spokesman said: "The council is in the process of organising 60 sessions that will ensure all drivers receive the training within a three-month period.
"The cost of these sessions will be met by the council."
There are 1,200 drivers registered in Rotherham, 80 operators and 800 vehicles.

Summary: New training for taxi drivers on how to spot signs of child sexual exploitation has yet to be implemented in Rotherham a year after a report called for it.
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Article: The preliminary figures show that operating profit will be 6.1tn won ($5.1bn; Â£3.5bn) for the October to December period, from 5.29tn won a year earlier.
Analysts had expected the amount to be 6.6tn won, fuelling growth concerns.
Samsung products have been hit by weak demand in China and currency woes.
Operating profit fell 7.5% from the previous quarter.
Sales at the world's biggest maker of memory chips and smartphones also missed forecasts at 53tn won for the period.
Samsung does not break down its earnings results in the preliminary report, leaving analysts to speculate on how each business division is doing.
But analysts predict that the latest forecast is a sign that the tech giant will face another tough year of weaker gadget sales as the smartphone market is saturated.
Samsung is facing stiff competition at the top end of the market from Apple, while cheaper Chinese rivals are gaining ground in the mid to low level range for mobile devices.
On Monday, chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun had warned that the firm faced challenges on weak global economic growth prospects.
Final earnings results for the quarter are due to be released at the end of January.

Summary:


The BBC's technology correspondent, James Ball, has been investigating the use of Google's search engine to find out how many NHS staff are using it.

NHS staff using Google's search engine has triggered one of its cybersecurity defences.

Article: The bank's commitment is included in the new charter for small and medium enterprises by its parent company Lloyds Banking Group.
The group has set a target of supporting 5,000 new exporters across the UK in 2016 and 25,000 by 2020.
The charter also pledges to boost lending to small businesses by Â£1bn.
Graham Blair, from the Bank of Scotland, said: "The future success of the Scottish economy hinges on small businesses looking to overseas markets for growth.
"Through this new pledge, we want to support a new legion of Scottish exporters, and ultimately to help the Scottish economy to prosper."
Lloyds Banking Group said it planned to invest Â£450m in digital technology and training in the next three years, including creating a new international trade portal enabling UK businesses to discover opportunities across the globe.
The group has trained more than 300 UK staff in international trade and has a network of export specialists across the country to help develop and advise on overseas trading opportunities.
UK Trade and Investment Minister Lord Price said: "This government has committed to having 100,000 more UK companies exporting by 2020 and this pledge by Lloyds is a welcome contribution towards this target.
"It's great to see the banks doing their bit to support small and medium-sized businesses looking to invest and create jobs."

Summary: The Bank of Scotland has pledged to help Scottish businesses become first-time exporters to boost the nation's economy.
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Article: NHS Digital confirmed so many NHS staff use the search engine that it had started asking them to take a quiz to verify they were "not a robot".
News site the Register reported one NHS Trust had told staff to "use Bing" instead.
Google indicated its systems were designed to spot unusual traffic and were working as intended.
Detecting suspicious traffic from one network can help defeat potential cyber-attacks, such as attempts to try to overwhelm a website.
The BBC understands Google is not deliberately singling out NHS traffic.
A Google spokeswoman said: "Our systems are simply checking that searches are being carried out by humans and not by robots in order to keep web users safe. Once a user has filled out the Captcha [security check], they can continue to use Google as normal."
The NHS is one of the biggest employers in the world, with more than a million members of staff.
An email sent by an NHS system administrator suggested the number of staff using the search engine was "causing Google to think it is suffering from a cyber-attack".
NHS Digital told the Register: "We are aware of the current issue concerning NHS IP addresses which occasionally results in users being directed to a simple verification form when accessing Google.
"We are currently in discussion with Google as to how we can help them to resolve the issue."
NHS Digital was unable to suggest what NHS staff may be searching for using Google.

Summary:


Photographs capturing some of the most important moments and inspirational figures of the Rock Against Racism movement are to go on show in Bradford.

Article: Baggage-handling company Swissport has drafted in 40 extra staff to avoid a repeat of the problems where some travellers went home without luggage.
The company apologised for last week's delays, blaming a staff shortage.
Travel organisation Abta has advised air passengers to carry essential items in their hand luggage.
Gatwick's management has also laid on staff to assist with the baggage operation.
It had been critical of Swissport's performance, saying it had failed to meet standards.
An airport spokesman said early indications on Saturday showed all flights had so far met the time targets for returning luggage to the baggage claim area.
"The average wait time in the hall this morning so far has been 30 minutes, which is no different to most other weekends.
"Going into the weekend we are not expecting any issues but we have put extra staff in place," he said.
All of the 41 flights to arrive at Gatwick between 01:00 and 06:00 BST returned baggage to the carousel within 55 minutes of arrival.
About 132,000 passengers are expected to pass through the airport on Saturday, with about 144,000 expected on Sunday.
On Thursday, it emerged airline Monarch had ended two contracts with Swissport, following last weekend's problems.
The BBC understands a new baggage handler will be appointed by November.

Summary: Passengers reclaiming their baggage at Gatwick Airport have had little or no delay after extra staff were brought in following last weekend's disruption.
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Article: The images, taken by Syd Shelton, from Pontefract, include pictures of The Clash, Misty in Roots and The Specials.
The collection also features photos taken at the Rock Against Racism Carnival at Victoria Park, Hackney, which attracted a crowd of 100,000.
The show runs from Friday to 3 September at the Impression Gallery.
The Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement formed in response to controversial remarks made by Eric Clapton in 1976.
In the following years, RAR staged marches, festivals and more than 500 concerts in the UK in a bid to fight racism through music.
Shelton, who studied Fine Art in Leeds and Wakefield, said he became involved with the movement after returning to the UK from America in 1976.
He said: "I was appalled at the state of race relations in Britain, in particular things like the Black and White Minstrel Show and the signs I saw in some windows saying 'No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish'.
"It was a pretty serious situation and I always loved music and very quickly hooked up with the people that had set up RAR.
"It was a bizarre mixture of people, photographers, graphic designers, writers, actors and, of course, musicians.
"We were very lucky in the sense that we tuned in to that explosion of punk and UK reggae and brought the two together. That said more about what RAR was about than any of the slogans we may have shouted from the stage."
He added: "I hope the exhibition shows that you can change things and you can actually take a stand, even in the most difficult of situations.
"If it inspires people to be photographers that would be great but I hope it will also inspire people to fight against racism and inequality."

Summary:


The Welsh Government has approved the use of a new drug to treat Morquio Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects the bones and joints.

A schoolgirl with an "ultra-rare" genetic condition is celebrating a decision to fund life-changing medication on the NHS in Wales.

Article: Alex Neil made the pledge after a Scottish government paper said ministers were "considering the eligibility criteria".
Alternative options included a fuel bill rebate or using the funding to provide warmer homes, the paper said.
The government said no-one who receives the benefit currently would lose it.
The winter fuel allowance, of up to Â£300, is currently available to everyone aged over 62 and is paid to about 1.1m people in Scotland each year.
In 2013/14 the total amount spent on winter fuel payments in Scotland was Â£186m.
The government paper on social security stresses the need to "target resources" to make the most of a "limited budget".
It said ministers could look at "converting the payments into a fuel bill rebate or using the funding to provide warmer, more affordable homes".
A Scottish government spokesperson later clarified the plans, saying: "There is absolutely no question of means-testing eligibility for the winter fuel allowance - or of removing entitlement from anyone who currently receives it.
"What the consultation is aimed at, is seeing if it would be appropriate and effective to use winter fuel payments as part of our aims to tackle fuel poverty and make homes warmer.
"This includes looking at whether it is appropriate to extend eligibility and if fuel bill rebates should be considered. We want to help people who are struggling to keep their homes warm - and this is one area we are exploring to see if are able to do that."
Last year the SNP called for an increase in winter fuel payments, and pledged to protect the allowance in its 2015 election manifesto.
There have previously been calls to means-test fuel payments. A BBC investigation found that across the UK only about 400 out of 12 million recipients had chosen to decline the allowance.
The new paper on social security in Scotland says "tackling fuel poverty" is "a priority for the Scottish government", but calls for views on how effective the payments are in doing this and what changes "might be welcomed".
An Age Scotland...

Summary: Scotland's social justice secretary has promised not to abolish, cut or means-test the winter fuel payment when it comes under Holyrood control.
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Article: Nine-year-old Gracie Mellalieu, from Flintshire, is one of just five people in Wales with Morquio Syndrome, which affects the way bones and joints grow.
She has been trialling a new drug called Vimizim, which has now won Welsh Government approval.
It will cost about Â£880,000 a year to treat eligible patients in Wales.
"We were just fingers crossed waiting around for a long time, it's been constant waiting, hoping things are going to happen," said Gracie's mother, Yvette.
"It's just a huge weight off our shoulders. We just feel so happy that the result has been a positive one."
The drug was approved for use in England in December last year, but a decision had to be made on whether it would be available on the Welsh NHS.
"Yes, it is an expensive drug, but what you have to think there is it is an ultra-rare disease being treated by a drug that can't just be pushed out like paracetemol," argued Gracie's mother.
"It's going to take a lot more research to develop the drug, which is the enzyme that Gracie is missing, that is putting it back into the body.
"I think it is wrong to say somebody like Gracie doesn't deserve that because it is expensive. She has a lot to give to life and a lot to give to society."
Gracie, who lives in Mynydd Isa near Buckley,  has been receiving weekly therapy with the drug at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
It has led to a great improvement in her condition, with better lung function, improved eyesight and she does not need to use a wheelchair to get about.
The campaign to get the drug approved for Gracie received a huge boost when the schoolgirl was captured on camera singing a song to thank hospital staff.
Announcing the decision to fund the new drug, the Health Minister Mark Drakeford said he had listened to the advice of the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group.
It said the medicine was both a clinically and a cost effective way to treat the disease.
"Up until now we've only had therapies that are things that help people to manage with the condition," explained Mr Drakeford.
"This new drug...

Summary: