The council-commissioned review of the "Trojan Horse" allegations "ought to be reviewed itself", teachers have said.
The council-commissioned review of the "Trojan Horse" allegations "ought to be reviewed itself", teachers have said.
The council-commissioned review of the "

Police have been given more time to question five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences.

Article: A bottlenose dolphin has been photographed playing with an unfortunate fish.
The flounder was thrown into the air from the mammal's mouth and bounced off its nose, before being devoured.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation field officer and photographer Charlie Phillips captured the action on camera on Friday from Chanonry Point on the Moray Firth.
The firth is home to a population of bottlenose dolphins.

Summary: All images are copyrighted.
###
Article: French operators Orange and Bouygues Telecom ended talks late on Friday over the reported €10bn (£8bn) merger.
Bouygues shares are on course for their worst fall in 17 years, plunging nearly 15.2% in midday trading, while Orange shares were down 4.4%.
The news initially sent BT shares down 1.1% and Vodafone down 0.5%, although they later recovered those losses.
The potential merger of Orange with its smaller rival Bouygues was intended to prop up profits and would have reduced the number of mobile operators from four to three in France.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank said Orange had set clear conditions that were not met during talks, while Bouygues identified four reasons for the failure, including execution risk and governance.
"We believe that this was one of the last chances for consolidation within the French telecoms market," analysts at Berenberg said.
The Stoxx index of 600 European telecoms firms was down slightly in afternoon trading, amid heavy falls among other French telecoms stocks.
Iliad and SFR, which had both been in talks to acquire some of Bouygues' assets, shed 15.8% and 17.6% respectively on the Paris stock exchange.

Summary: European telecom stocks have stumbled after a deal to create France's biggest telecoms group collapsed.
###
Article: The tax, proposed by Commissioner Algirdas Semeta in Brussels, has been adopted by 11 eurozone states, including France, Germany and Spain.
The FTT aims to raise public funds and encourage more responsible trading by financial institutions.
But there are fears it will catch non-participating countries in its net.
The levy, set at 0.1% for shares and bonds and 0.01% for derivatives, will apply to all transactions "with an established link to the FTT-zone", the European Commission said in a statement, and could raise 30-35bn euros (Â£26-30bn; $40-47bn) a year.
Mr Semeta, commissioner responsible for taxation, said: "On the table is an unquestionably fair and technically sound tax, which will strengthen our single market and temper irresponsible trading."
The tax will apply if any party to the transaction is based in a participating member state, regardless of where the transaction takes place - the so-called "residence principle" - and it is this provision that is causing the most controversy.
Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) told the BBC: "This tax is actually quite draconian and bad for the eurozone. It will drive a coach and horses through the single market and force banks to relocate outside the FTT zone."
The tax, known as the Tobin tax after the economist who came up with the idea, was proposed by the EC in September 2011.
But the 27 member states could not agree, with Britain in particular voicing opposition to the proposal.
As a result 11 eurozone countries applied to go it alone under "enhanced co-operation" rules.
The Commission agreed and the European Union's Council of Finance Ministers adopted the proposal in January 2013.

Summary: The European Commission has tabled its controversial financial transaction tax (FTT), despite the fact that only 11 member states out of 27 support it.
###
Article: Members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said Peter Clarke's Government-commissioned report into allegations of a hardline Muslim take-over of schools was more thorough.
The two reports differed in their conclusions, although neither found evidence of extremism in the schools.
Birmingham City Council would not comment on the inquiry process.
It said: "This was an independent review. The terms of reference are published in Ian Kershaw's report."
Peter Clarke's report said there had been a coordinated attempt to introduce an "aggressive Islamist agenda" into some Birmingham schools and criticised the city council for not acting sooner.
Ian Kershaw's investigation for the city council found "no evidence of a conspiracy" and said individuals had encouraged certain Islamic principles in an attempt to "raise standards".
Rob Kelsall, from the NAHT, sat on the Kershaw review panel and said witnesses were put off giving evidence to that inquiry because they were asked for their names.
"It was a massive barrier. I know of one witness, a head teacher, who made a phone call to the inquiry hotline," he said.
"She was told she was not able to give a statement unless she gave her name, address and the school's details.
"I know she gave evidence to the Clarke inquiry but not the Kershaw inquiry."
He claimed the witness who volunteered details of a social media group called the Park View Brotherhood had not given evidence to the Kershaw report "because of issues of trust". Mr Clarke's report said that group included "grossly intolerant" messages.
Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, head teacher of Anderton Park Primary School in Sparkhill, said the inquiries were carried out differently.
She said she had an interview with a law firm which worked on the Kershaw review, and the firm said "tell us what you know with a blank piece of paper".
"With Clarke, the interviewer already had an incredible amount of information about me and my school going back years and asked specific, probing questions. It was more thorough," she...

Summary: The council-commissioned review of the "Trojan Horse" allegations "ought to be reviewed itself", teachers have said.
###
Article: Bomb disposal officers were sent to Birmingham's Lee Bank area on Friday and nearby roads were closed and cordoned off.
The men, two aged 32 and 37 were arrested in Stoke-on-Trent and three others, aged 18, 24 and 28, were arrested in Birmingham.
Magistrates granted police a further seven days to question the men.
Detectives from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit appeared before London's Westminster Magistrates' Court via video link on Saturday to submit their request for a warrant of further detention, a spokesman said.
The men were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Ch Supt Sue Southern, from West Midlands Police, said: "The arrests of the five men were intelligence led and our investigation continues at full pace."
A number of properties in the Stoke and Birmingham areas have been searched as part of the investigation.
The BBC understands the force was dealing with two suspect devices that were found at a business in Lee Bank on Friday.

Summary:


A fresh appeal to find the killer of a teenage girl who was raped and murdered in Manchester 45 years ago is to feature on BBC One's Crimewatch.

Article: Beijing's China Daily: "The agreement [on raising the US debt ceiling] is likely to avert default by Washington and it certainly is a relief for China... We still cannot rule out the possibility of a downgrade of the US credit rating if Washington fails to come up with a long-term and balanced solution to address its debt problem... For policy makers in Beijing, seeking alternative ways to invest the massive foreign exchange reserves and to reduce its rapid accumulation remain the crucial challenges." (Interview with Chen Daofu, director, Policy Research Centre, Financial Research Institute, State Council Development Research Centre)
Beijing's Global Times: "It is too early to cheer for this deal, since raising the debt ceiling simply means the US can now borrow itself into further debt... This does not seem a smart move. By using new debt to pay back the old, the US is sinking further into quicksand." (Editorial)
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: "Naturally, the problems of the USA and the dollar as well as of the EU and the euro cannot but disturb Russia. As we know, it holds its currency reserves in dollars and euros. We should assume that our government is not leaving matters to chance and is taking steps against possible risks... [There is] one unfortunate thing that Russia does not need to fear: at least, it will not face a default in the next few days." (Article by Yevgeniy Grigoryev)
Moskovskiye Novosti: "America has changed its mind about having a Judgment Day... But the obvious inability to reach an agreement that was demonstrated by political forces in the US has had an equally damaging effect on the country... The image of the country as a responsible borrower has suffered most." (Article by Denis Voroshilov and Igor Kryuchkov)
Sueddeutsche Zeitung: "State bankruptcy has been avoided, but the compromise announced by US President Barack Obama is flawed from an economic point of view. It does not resolve any of the real budgetary problems and some of its elements are even harmful to the economy." (Commentary by...

Summary: International press reaction to the voting of the US bill to avert a US debt default.
###
Article: HM Inspectorate of Prisons found standards have declined at HMP Onley and declared it unsafe.
The watchdog found conditions worse than in 2012, with staff blaming relocated London prisoners and gang issues for a near-tripling of assaults.
The National Offender Management Service said tackling the decline in safety was the governor's top priority.
More updates on this story and others in Coventry and Warwickshire
The category C prison, near Rugby on the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire border, held about 740 prisoners at the time of its inspection, from 25 July to 5 August.
Since its previous inspection in 2012 it has been designated as a resettlement prison for Greater London.
Inspectors found there had been a "dramatic decline" in standards in that time.
"Staff gave various explanations, including the change of prisoner population and gang-related issues that they brought with them, the impact of new psychoactive substances [previously known as "legal highs"], and the impact of reductions in staff numbers," the report said.
But despite the rise in violence, "not enough had been done to analyse the root causes".
Peter Clarke, chief inspector of prisons, acknowledged good work being done at the prison but called for the leadership to "get a grip" and "halt the decline".
Staff shortages "did not offer an excuse for a decline in standards of the severity that we found", he added.
Michael Spurr, CEO of the National Offender Management Service, welcomed the inspectors' recognition of work being done at the prison.
Additional staff were being recruited to drive forward improvements required, he said.
Inspectors' findings:

Summary: Prisoners moved from London to a jail on the Warwickshire border have been blamed for a "sharp rise" in violence.
###
Article: Damien Bancroft shared the photographs and videos from addresses in Dundee and Forfar over a four-and-a-half year period.
A court was told that the 36-year-old could not explain why he had distributed the material to others.
Bancroft will be sentenced at Forfar Sheriff Court on 3 August.
Depute fiscal Trina Sinclair told the court that police officers, acting on information, found more than 600 still images and 16 videos on two laptops and also on a mobile phone.
Miss Sinclair said Bancroft admitted to police that he was a pornography addict, having started watching adult material at the age of 19.
He accepted that he had downloaded and shared images with others but could not explain why that included indecent images of children.
Bancroft admitted taking or making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between 14 May, 2011 and 20 October, 2015.
He further admitted distributing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.
Sheriff Pino de Emidio continued Bancroft's bail and placed him on the sex offenders' register in the interim.

Summary: A self-confessed pornography addict who admitted possessing and distributing child abuse images has been placed on the sex offenders register.
###
Article: The more beards there are, the less attractive they become - giving clean-shaven men a competitive advantage, say scientists in Sydney, Australia.
When "peak beard" frequency is reached, the pendulum swings back toward lesser-bristled chins - a trend we may be witnessing now, the scientists say.
Their study has been published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
In the experiment, women and men were asked to rate different faces with "four standard levels of beardedness".
Both beards and clean-shaven faces became more appealing when they were rare.
The pattern mirrors an evolutionary phenomenon - "negative frequency-dependent sexual selection", or to put it more simply "an advantage to rare traits".
The bright colours of male guppies vary by this force - which is driven by females' changing preferences.
Scientists at the University of New South Wales decided to test this hypothesis for men's facial hair - recruiting volunteers on their Facebook site, The Sex Lab.
"Big thick beards are back with an absolute vengeance and so we thought underlying this fashion, one of the dynamics that might be important is this idea of negative frequency dependence," said Prof Rob Brooks, one of the study's authors.
"The idea is that perhaps people start copying the George Clooneys and the Joaquin Phoenixs and start wearing those beards, but then when more and more people get onto the bandwagon the value of being on the bandwagon diminishes, so that might be why we've hit 'peak beard'."
"Peak beard" was the climax of the trend for beards in professions not naturally associated with a bristly chin - bankers, film stars, and even footballers began sporting facial hair.
Some say the Rubicon was crossed in January when Jeremy Paxman, the BBC Newsnight presenter, shaved his beard off, saying "beards are SO 2013".
Paxman's beard - which briefly trended on Twitter - sparked a debate about pogonophobia - the fear of beards.
In this latest experiment, 1,453 women and 213 men were asked to rate the attractiveness of different...

Summary: The ebb and flow of men's beard fashions may be guided by Darwinian selection, according to a new study.
###
Article: Dorothy Leyden's body was found hours after she had been to a Jimmy Ruffin concert at the Golden Garter nightclub in Wythenshawe in April 1971.
The 17-year-old's body was found on waste ground in Collyhurst.
Her sister Pat Atkinson has made an emotional appeal for more information on her death.
The teenager spent the evening of 24 April 1971 at the concert before heading into central Manchester.
At about 02:30, she got out of a taxi she had shared with friends at Piccadilly Gardens bus station and it is thought she decided to walk home.
Her body was found the following day behind the now demolished Spread Eagle pub.
A reconstruction will show some of Dorothy's last known movements before she was attacked.
Previously, it had been thought she may have been murdered by serial killer Trevor Hardy but, this was dismissed in 2008.
Det Supt Martin Bottomley, from Greater Manchester Police, said forensic evidence proved he did not kill Dorothy.
"The suspicion that Hardy was responsible may have allowed the real killer to hide for all of this time."
Dorothy's sister recalled the moment officers broke the news of her sister's murder.
She told Crimewatch: "I remember the police coming to the front door and I just went out playing and when I came home my mum called me into the living room.
"I think she told us all one at a time and she just told me that Dorothy had been beaten and she'd died."
The appeal will be shown on Crimewatch later on BBC One at 21:00 BST.

Summary:

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Rain has fallen on the Glastonbury Festival as fans enjoyed the first day of music on the main stages.

Article: The authors warned a loss of diversity meant more people were dependent on key crops, leaving them more exposed to harvest failures.
Higher consumption of energy-dense crops could also contribute to a global rise in heart disease and diabetes, they added.
The study appears in the journal PNAS.
"Over the past 50 years, we are seeing that diets around the world are changing and they are becoming more similar - what we call the 'globalised diet'," co-author Colin Khoury, a scientist from the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture, said.
"This diet is composed of big, major crops such as wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar.
"It also includes crops that were not important 50 years ago but have become very important now, particularly oil crops like soybean," he told BBC News.
While wheat has long been a staple crop, it is now a key food in more than 97% of countries listed in UN data, the study showed.
And from relative obscurity, soybean had become "significant" in the diets of almost three-quarters of nations.
He added that while these food crops played a major role in tackling global hunger, the decline in crop diversity in the globalised diet limited the ability to supplement the energy-dense part of the diet with nutrient-rich foods.
Amid the crops recording a decline in recent decades were millets, rye, yams, sweet potatoes and cassava.
The study by an international team of scientists also found that the homogenisation of the global diet could be helping accelerate the rise in non-communicable diseases - such as diabetes and heart disease - which are becoming an increasing problem worldwide.
Crop failure fears
Co-author Luigi Guarino, of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, added: "Another danger of a more homogeneous global food basket is that it makes agriculture more vulnerable to major threats like drought, insect pests and diseases, which are likely to become worse in many parts of the world as a result of climate change.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is designed to protect the genetic...

Summary: Fewer crop species are feeding the world than 50 years ago - raising concerns about the resilience of the global food system, a study has shown.
###
Article: Lloyd has made the short film Doc Brown Saves the World, marking the 1985 film's end date of 21 October, 2015.
Universal has released a teaser for it, to be included in the 30th anniversary re-issue of the full Back to Future trilogy.
Michael J Fox, who played student Marty, does not feature in the teaser.
Lloyd's eccentric time-travelling inventor Emmett "Doc" Brown is seen getting out of the film's now legendary DeLorean time machine sports car.
What then goes on to unfold is left for fans to conjecture, in true "teaser" style.
Earlier this year, Lloyd also reprised the role in another teaser, this time for the video game Lego Dimensions.
The 30th anniversary re-issue has other extras, including a 2009 retrospective documentary on the trilogy and two episodes of the animated spin-off.
It will be released on 21 October.
The comic science-fiction Back to the Future films followed the adventures of Marty and the scatty inventor.
In the first 1985 film, teenager Marty is sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his future parents, then high school students.
His mother-to-be forms a crush on him, an infatuation he has to quash in order for his parents to fall in love.
The end of the movie sees Marty returning to his original timezone, where together with the inventor Doc Brown, he travels to 21 October, 2015.
The film became the highest-grossing of 1985, making more than $300m (Â£197m) worldwide.  It also received four Academy Award nominations, winning one Oscar for sound effects editing.
Two sequels were made, Back to the Future Part II, set in 2015,  and Back to the Future Part III, set in 1885.

Summary: Back to the Future's Christopher Lloyd has returned as inventor Doc Brown to celebrate the date on which he and Marty McFly first arrive in the future.
###
Article: Flying Scotsman is travelling from Carnforth on the West Coast Main Line following a £4.2m restoration project, which has taken 10 years.
The engine, which was retired from service in 1963, has been restored for York's National Railway Museum by Riley and Son Ltd, based in Bury.
Low-speed tests have taken place along the East Lancashire Railway.
The locomotive is in its black undercoat and sporting wartime numbers.
It will be painted in its new green livery next week after the test run.
Jim Lowe, head of operations at the National Railway Museum in York, said: "We have all been looking forward to the day when Flying Scotsman is once again running on Britain's tracks."
The train is travelling from Carnforth and into Carlisle with a return journey through Appleby and across the Ribblehead Viaduct to Farrington.

Summary: One of the world's most famous locomotives has returned to the West Coast mainline.
###
Article: Steinhoff said Poundland would be a "complementary fit" to its expansion plans in the UK and the rest of Europe.
Poundland operates more than 900 stores across the UK, Ireland and Spain, and employs 18,000 people, but recently announced falling profits.
Steinhoff owns 40 retail brands in 30 countries, including Bensons for Beds and Harveys in the UK.
Steinhoff has already built up a 23% stake in Poundland, and last month made an informal approach to buy the firm, which was rejected.
Last month, Poundland reported a fall in full-year profits as it admitted the integration of 99p Stores, which it bought in September last year, had placed a "strain" on its business.
Steinhoff is paying 222 pence per share for Poundland. The discount retailer's share price had fallen from 418p in February 2015 to below 200p before the deal was announced.
Poundland chairman Darren Shapland said: "The Poundland board believes that Steinhoff's all-cash offer presents Poundland shareholders with an opportunity to realise their shareholding at a certain and attractive price."
The pound has also dropped about 15% against the rand since Steinhoff made its approach for Poundland in June.
"The weak pound makes this all the more attractive for the South African retailer," said Neil Wilson, analyst at ETX Capital.
"Expanding its operations in Europe should act as a useful hedge against rand volatility and exposure to South Africa's stagnant economy."
Shares in Poundland, based in Willenhall in the English West Midlands, rebounded 12% to 220p on Tuesday following news of the deal.
Steinhoff has been trying to increase its exposure in Europe this year. The purchase of Poundland comes after an unsuccessful attempt to buy Argos owner Home Retail Group, when Sainsbury's ended up as the successful bidder.
Steinhoff also failed in an attempt to buy French electronic goods retailer Darty which lost out to French retail chain Fnac.
Analysts said the outlook for Poundland and other discount stores in the UK looked bright given that the vote to leave...

Summary: Discount chain Poundland has agreed to a £597m takeover by South African retail group Steinhoff International.
###
Article: A heavy shower on Friday afternoon brought out the wellies, ponchos and umbrellas and created puddles on site.
Friday's acts include Florence and the Machine, Motorhead, Mark Ronson and an unconfirmed band, rumoured to be The Libertines, on the Pyramid Stage.
However, Professor Stephen Hawking is unlikely to attend the event for an appearance in the Kidz Field.
A spokesperson for the physicist told The Telegraph he had pulled out "for personal reasons".
In other Glastonbury news:
Organisers have not confirmed the identity of the act who will fill the Pyramid Stage slot on Friday that was left vacant when Florence Welch was promoted to the headline slot.
Rumours about Pete Doherty and Carl Barat's band The Libertines circulated after the name "Albion" was pictured on a backstage running order. The Libertines have used the word Albion frequently during their careers.
Florence has replaced Foo Fighters, who pulled out when frontman Dave Grohl broke his leg.
The decision to promote Florence and the Machine to headline status was criticised by some fans, but organiser Emily Eavis said she made the decision "straight away".
"This is her moment," Eavis said. "She's had a number one record in America, a number one record here, and she's on fire."
'Culture of rebellion'
Meanwhile, feminist punk band Pussy Riot made an appearance in front of the Park Stage, using a theatrical protest to convey their anti-government message.
The appearance began with an actor posing as a Russian soldier standing atop a military van and declaring Glastonbury a pro-Russian republic.
Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who were imprisoned in Russia for almost two years for their protests, then climbed up, tied him up and put one of their trademark multi-coloured balaclavas on him.
Tolokonnikova told the crowd to "develop a culture of rebellion" and, in a remark possibly aimed at other bands, said they could not just "sit on a comfy coach and drink some beer".
They were then interviewed on top of the van by singer...

Summary:


The UK's exit from the EU is a major milestone on the road to recovery within Irish banking - which also sets an important precedent for other financial institutions.
The UK rate of inflation is currently 1.3% while in the Republic of Ireland it is just 0.2%.
The pay deal follows negotiations between the

Most Scottish firms believe Brexit is bad for their prospects and the economy, according to a survey by the Fraser of Allander Institute.

Article: Resuming on 39-3, Durham slipped to 63-6, with Ryan Sidebottom (4-34) taking the wickets of Graham Onions, Scott Borthwick and Paul Collingwood.
Ryan Pringle (57 not out), Michael Richardson (33) and Graham Clark (25) delayed the hosts into the afternoon.
But Jack Brooks (3-55) took the final wicket of Chris Rushworth as Durham were all out for 192.
Second-placed Yorkshire are a point behind leaders Middlesex, who beat Nottinghamshire by five wickets on Friday to relegate the East Midlands county.
Durham's target of 421 always looked out of reach, especially after losing three wickets in 16 overs before close on Thursday.
Sidebottom finished with season-best bowling figures and he struck in his first and second over of the day to rip the heart of the Durham middle-order.
Clarke and Richardson put on 49 for the seventh wicket to make sure the game went behind lunch, while Pringle hit a spritely half-century and brought up his 50 with a six off Tim Bresnan.
But Durham slipped to their third Championship defeat of the season and remain in relegation trouble.

Summary: Yorkshire beat Durham by 228 runs to remain in the hunt for a third successive County Championship title.
###
Article: It is the first pay rise at the bank since 2008.
Around 6,000 staff in Bank of Ireland, including 1,300 in Northern Ireland, will get an increase of 1.75% next month with a further 2% due in January.
Staff will also get a one-off lump sum payment equivalent to 5% of their salary, to recognise their part in the bank's return to profitability.
The UK rate of inflation is currently 1.3% while in the Republic of Ireland it is just 0.2%.
The pay deal follows negotiations between the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) union and the bank's senior management.
The IBOA General Secretary, Larry Broderick, said the deal was "an important milestone on the road to recovery within Irish banking - which also sets an important precedent for other financial institutions".
He described it as a "breakthrough in a sector that has experienced particular difficulties in recent years".
Mr Broderick added that the union was now "in the early stages" of talks with AIB and Ulster Bank.
The banking sector across the island of Ireland has shed thousands of jobs during the financial crisis.
Many workers who have kept their jobs have seen their pay fall in real terms.

Summary: Bank of Ireland staff, including those in Northern Ireland, are to receive an above inflation pay rise and a bonus.
###
Article: Hundreds of slippery fish scattered all over a busy road in Scotland.
A van shed its load of fish as it was making a delivery.
Drivers faced long delays as they were cleared up.
It was pretty smelly though.

Summary: This is an unusual scene.
###
Article: Russia's Interfax news agency reported the plan, quoting an unnamed ministry source, though it has not been officially confirmed. Other Russian media also reported it.
Russia has previously pledged to beef up its military forces in Crimea, which has been internationally isolated since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in March 2014.
Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia after the annexation and tightened them over Russian support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Russian commentators see the Tu-22M3 bomber move as a response to US plans to deploy surface-to-air missile interceptors in Romania.
Work at Romania's Deveselu airbase began in October 2013. It is part of a Nato missile shield plan to defend Europe from a possible "rogue state" missile attack.
The US missiles are a ground-based version of Aegis, a system used by the US navy since 2004.
The Russian bombers could be used against large surface ships, including aircraft carriers.
However, military expert Viktor Murakhovsky argues that sending them to Crimea will only make them an obvious target in the event of an armed conflict, and they will do little to improve Russia's combat capability there.
Russia also opposes the positioning of US missile interceptors in Poland. It threatened to put Iskander short-range missiles in its Kaliningrad region in response. However, despite reports of temporary deployments, Iskanders have not been moved there permanently.
In the late 1980s, the Tu-22M3 was based in Crimea, at the Vesyoloye base and the now disused airfield at Oktyabrskoye. Both were run by Soviet naval air regiments.
But in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became part of independent Ukraine.
A year after annexing Crimea the Russian military transferred several Tu-22M3s there during a combat readiness exercise.
Tupolev Tu-22M3
The defence ministry source quoted by Interfax said Russia had always felt a need for the bombers in the south. "But now there are suitable conditions for their return to Crimea, which used to be called...

Summary: Russian defence ministry sources say a squadron of Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers will be based in Crimea - but experts question the strategic value of such a move for Russia.
###
Article: The economic research institute questioned 320 businesses following the vote on leaving the EU.
The survey found more than 60% of Scottish firms believe Brexit would have a "negative impact" on them.
However, the institute said there was little evidence of companies cancelling investment or recruitment outright.
The Fraser of Allander Institute, an independent research body based at the University of Strathclyde, carried out the survey between 5 July and 12 July, in the aftermath of the EU referendum.
Just over 60% of Scottish firms surveyed said they believed Brexit will have a negative impact on their business, while only 19% said it would have a positive impact. One third said the impact would be "very negative".
About 40% believe that leaving the EU could lead to a decrease in their investment and expansion plans, and 34% said that they could cut back on recruitment.
More than 70% of firms surveyed as part of the research had done no preparation for the UK exiting the EU.
Two-thirds of businesses said resolution of the uncertainty in the economy was a key issue in the negotiation of the UK's exit from the European Union, while 49% of firms cited access to the single market as a key issue.
However, the survey found little evidence of companies actually cancelling investment or recruitment plans.
A quarter of firms said they had made a decision to change their investment and recruitment plans, though the vast majority - 95% - said that decisions had been postponed rather than cancelled entirely.
Prof Graeme Roy, director of the institute, said: "This is the first hard survey evidence post-referendum of what businesses in Scotland are thinking and how they are responding to the unexpected EU referendum result.
"A clear majority believe that the impact - certainly in the short to medium term - will be negative. The survey offers some evidence that investment and recruitment plans may be being put on hold.
"Resolving the current political and economic uncertainty must now be the key priority. The longer the...

Summary:


A new £20m-a-year cap on the cost of new drugs will be introduced in the NHS in England in an attempt to save money, health chiefs have announced.

Article: The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted the reprieve less than eight hours before killer Scott Panetti was due to receive a lethal injection.
His lawyers had argued he was too delusional to be executed and sought a delay so his competency can be tested.
Panetti was convicted in the fatal shootings of his in-laws in 1992.
The US Supreme Court in 2002 prohibited the execution of the mentally impaired, but have allowed it for mentally ill inmates with a rational understanding.
A number of conservatives leaders had joined the fight to save Panetti's life, writing a letter asking Texas Governor Rick Perry to commute the death sentence to life in prison.
"As conservatives, we must be on guard that such an extraordinary government sanction not be used against a person who is mentally incapable of rational thought," according to the letter.
"It would be immoral for the government to take this man's life."
Ellen Stewart-Klein, an assistant Texas attorney general, meanwhile told that appeals court Panetti's medical records "strongly indicate rational awareness of his impending execution and the reason for it".
"Panetti's mental status has at best been severely exaggerated by his counsel," she added.
On Monday, in a separate appeal to halt the lethal injection, Panetti's lawyers told the US Supreme Court the Texas inmate was severely mentally ill "before, during and after the crime for which he has been sentenced to death".
Panetti was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1978 and hospitalised more than a dozen times before killing Joe and Amanda Alvarado.
"Imposition of the death penalty on people with severe mental illness, as with people with intellectual disability, does not serve the two goals of deterrence and retribution because of their reduced moral culpability," his lawyers told the court.
The Supreme Court added a provision mandating that an inmate have a rational understanding of why he was being put to death in 2007 under a previous appeal from Panetti.
His case has gone to the high court for review at least...

Summary: A US appeals court has halted the execution of a schizophrenic Texas inmate who was due to be put to death on Wednesday.
###
Article: The word "jihad" is widely used, though often inaccurately, by Western politicians and media.
In Arabic, the word means "effort" or "struggle". In Islam, it could be an individual's internal struggle against baser instincts, the struggle to build a good Muslim society, or a war for the faith against unbelievers.
BBC Religion: Jihad
The term "jihadist" has been used by Western academics since the 1990s, and more widely since the 11 September 2001 attacks, as a way to distinguish between violent and non-violent Sunni Islamists.
Islamists aim to reorder government and society in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia.
Jihadists see violent struggle as necessary to eradicate obstacles to restoring God's rule on Earth and defending the Muslim community, or umma, against infidels and apostates. If the umma is threatened by an aggressor, they hold that jihad is not just a collective obligation (fard kifaya), but an individual duty (fard ayn) that must be fulfilled by every able Muslim, just like ritual prayer and fasting during Ramadan.
The term "jihadist" is not used by many Muslims because they see it as wrongly associating a noble religious concept with illegitimate violence. Instead, they use delegitimising terms like "deviants".
How Islam got political: Founding fathers
Jihadists share the basic aims of advancing Islam and countering danger to it, but their priorities can vary. A recent study by Thomas Hegghammer of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment identified five prominent objectives:
Jihadists divide the world into the "realm of Islam" (dar al-Islam), lands under Muslim rule where Sharia prevails, and the "realm of war" (dar al-harb), lands not under Muslim rule and where under certain circumstances war in defence of the faith can be sanctioned.
Muslim rulers and governments who jihadists believe have abandoned the prescriptions of Sharia are considered by them to be outside dar al-Islam and therefore legitimate targets for attack.
Jihadist groups targeted civilians before the emergence of...

Summary: A BBC investigation has found that more than 5,000 people around the world died during November as a result of violence caused by al-Qaeda, its offshoots and groups which subscribe to a similar ideology, commonly referred to as "jihadism".
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Article: It has become Wales' first and only the fifth destination in the world to be granted the status of an international dark sky reserve.
The park society and the national park authority began their bid in 2011.
Jim Wilson, Chair of Brecon Beacons Park Society, said it recognised the area as one of the best places in Europe "to truly see dark skies".
The park joins Mont Megantic in Quebec, Canada; Exmoor National Park in south west England; Aoraki Mackenzie in New Zealand; and NambiRand Nature Reserve in Namibia with the status.
The status means the night-sky is protected and lighting controls are in place to prevent light pollution.
The national park said it already possessed some of the UK's darkest skies, which was ideal for stargazing.
Officials claimed that on a clear night above the Beacons people could see the Milky Way, as well as numerous constellations, bright nebulas and even meteor showers.
Julia James, chair of Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, said attaining the status was a massive boost for the entire area.
She said it would bring many environmental, wildlife, economic, tourism and wellbeing benefits.
To get through the application process local astronomers conducted a survey to assess the levels of light pollution, and lighting engineers audited the existing external lighting in the national park.
Information leaflets and letters were distributed to residents living in the 'core zone' to help them understand the simple measures they could take, such as tilting outdoor security lights downwards instead of up, that could make  difference to how dark the night sky appears.
Local communities supported the bid, with residents in Talybont-on-Usk holding their own Star Party and organising a community light switch off.
Martin Morgan-Taylor, board member of the International Dark-Sky Association, the US based organisation which awards the status, said the gradual loss of the view of the night sky was a loss of part of culture.
"Whilst no-one wants all the lights to be switched off, we can improve...

Summary: The night sky above the Brecon Beacons National Park has been granted special protection.
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Article: Figures have revealed that footfall at five local VisitScotland facilities has dropped by more than 26,000 since 2010.
The agency claims an increasing number of tourists access information online.
Changes are likely to be made to the visitor centres (VICs) as part of a national review, according to a report to Scottish Borders Council.
It singled out facilities in Jedburgh and Peebles as "fully performing" centres with good footfall.
However there appeared to be little demand for services at Hawick, Melrose and Kelso.
The report also revealed that total booking numbers through VICs in the Borders fell from 738 in 2010/11 to 311 last year.
Senior managers from VisitScotland are expected to be invited to address the council on their plans for information centres in December.
They could include the installation of interactive visitor information screens at locations across the region.
Two have already been put in place in Kelso and the Galashiels Transport Interchange, at a cost of Â£13,000.
More screens are planned for Tweedbank, Stow, Melrose, Hawick and Abbotsford over the next 12 months.
Paula McDonald, VisitScotland's regional director for the Borders, confirmed that a review of "information provision" is underway.
She added: "We will continue working closely with Scottish Borders Council to provide high-quality information and inspiration to more visitors than ever before through the channels that they use the most, connecting them with businesses, and creating growth and jobs across Scotland."

Summary: The number of people using tourist information centres in the Scottish Borders has fallen by more than a fifth over the past five years.
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Article: The new measure could lead to delays of up to three years before new drugs are made available to give NHS bosses the chance to try to renegotiate the price with drug firms.
The plan was agreed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence amid mounting pressure on NHS funds.
It will be introduced from next month.
NICE chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon said the move was needed given the "significant financial challenge facing the NHS".
Patient groups and the drug industry have already objected to the plan - a consultation has been run over the past three months.
Currently, drugs that are assessed as being cost-effective by NICE are automatically recommend for use in the NHS.
Once that happens, the health service has 90 days to start offering the drugs.
But crucially that process just assesses the cost versus benefit of the drug on the basis of the impact to an individual.
It does not take into account how many people may take the drug and therefore the total cost to the NHS.
Under the new plan, widely used drugs and expensive but effective drugs that breach the £20m a year threshold will face a secondary process.
NHS England, which pushed for the change, will be able to halt the 90-day deadline and begin talks with the drug manufacturer to try to get the price down.
They will be able to apply for an extension of up to three years. At that point, NICE will review what is happening.
During this period, NICE will have the power to allow restricted use to patients deemed most in need.
The move comes as the drugs bill is on the rise. Last year £16.8bn was spent on drugs by the NHS, up from £13bn in 2011.
There is concern a breakthrough in fields such as dementia could end up costing the NHS billions of pounds.
Last year NHS bosses capped the number of patients that could be given a new drug for hepatitis C, to keep the annual cost at £200m.
The new arrangements will be applied only to new drugs.
Information provided by the industry suggested that if they had been in place they would have affected the...

Summary:


Manufacturers have reported positive business trends, in the latest survey from the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

Article: The union says the "comprehensive breakdown in industrial relations" is related to problems with the "ageing" fleet of Piccadilly line trains.
Transport for London (TfL) urged the RMT not to "subject Londoners to another pointless strike".
No strike date has yet been announced.
The Piccadilly line, the fourth busiest on the Underground, has been the focus of a long-running industrial dispute over safety.
In January, a door opened on a moving train as it approached Heathrow, prompting an inspection of the whole fleet.
TfL said it was an "isolated incident", but the RMT denies this.
"There are major problems with the rolling stock that are not being addressed," a spokesman for the union told the BBC.
"Despite the fact that we've got members in the depot working to try to keep the fleet going, we've got problems with doors opening between stations, wheel flats [that affect braking] and signals being passed at danger."
RMT general secretary Mick Cash added: "Those issues have left drivers in a vulnerable position and have been used by management as a tool to harass and threaten members through misuse of the disciplinary procedure."
Pat Hansberry, Operations Director for London Underground, said: "It is disappointing that the RMT is once again threatening unnecessary strike action without seeking to resolve these local issues with us first.
"We urge the RMT to continue talks with us to resolve their issues rather than threatening to subject Londoners to another pointless strike."
Piccadilly line trains are known as "1973 stock", although they came into service later that decade.
They are now among the oldest trains on the London Underground.

Summary: Piccadilly line Tube drivers have voted to strike after the RMT union accused London Underground managers of "bullying, harassment and intimidation".
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Article: The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) has made the request following an inspection of Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway in Lewis in September.
Inspectors said there was no record of what temperature breast milk was being stored at and no staff policy in place for handling and storing it.
However, HEI said the hospital was otherwise clean and meeting standards.
Inspectors only made the one requirement regards breast milk and no recommendations.
Jacqui Macrae, head of quality of care for HEI, said: "This was a good inspection in which we found that the ward environment and all patient equipment we inspected was clean.
"We also saw good staff compliance with standard infection control precautions."
NHS Western Isles chairman Dr Neil Galbraith said: "The board takes a close interest in maintaining the standards of cleanliness within our hospitals because of the high correlation with patient safety.
"The board welcomes the Inspection findings which largely corroborate the Western Isles Hospital's own self-assessment report and provide the external reassurance that our cleanliness and anti-infection regimes are being effective."
Dr Galbraith added: "The board notes the one requirement emerging from the inspection and will look to have the policy paper produced, and related practice brought into being, with immediate effect."

Summary: NHS Western Isles has been told to improve its handling and storage of expressed breast milk.
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Article: The 9-1 chance, trained by Adrian Keatley, was back in ninth at Newmarket when Minding won the English version earlier in the month.
But she beat the 4-11 shot by a head this time under Shane Foley, with Now Or Never 10 lengths back in third.
The winning filly was a bargain buy for her owners - snapped up for just over £12,000.
"It's a dream come true," said Foley.
After the defeat of Minding, trainer Aidan O'Brien O'Brien revealed she had hit her head against the starting stalls before the race.
"Ryan (jockey Moore) said that when he came in that she anticipated the gate, just before they came in, she banged her head, took the skin off the side of her head and her nostril and burst a sinus," he said.
O'Brien said he still hoped to get Minding to the Oaks at Epsom on 3 June, and had news on his team for the Derby a day later.
He said The Gurkha, who was favourite with some bookmakers, would miss the race and run at Royal Ascot instead.
"What a big Guineas weekend which demonstrated there are still fairytales to be had amongst the mega-rich that tend to dominate flat racing's highest levels.
"After being beaten in races at Leicester and Brighton, Jet Setting's little-known, but very much up-and-coming, trainer and his owners got her for a song and have won big, lowering some even bigger colours in the process.
"And, in the 2000 Guineas, 83-year-old veteran trainer Kevin Prendergast has been successful. Fantastic. Incidentally, that Prendergast winner, Awtaad, is sticking to mile races and won't go for the Derby."

Summary: Jet Setting shocked Minding to win the 1000 Irish Guineas and deny the odds-on favourite a Classic double.
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Article: Listeners can hear it in seven parts on Saturday, following the story of Leopold Bloom's journey through Dublin.
The five and a half hour dramatisation, by Robin Brooks, features Henry Goodman as Leopold Bloom.
On "Bloomsday" fans celebrate the landmark modernist novel and all things Joycean on 16 June.
Many of the locations mentioned in the book still stand in Dublin, the writer's home city.
For many enthusiasts, the day is mostly about getting dressed up and going on their own odyssey around the Irish capital, retracing the footsteps of the book's main characters Leopold Bloom and Stephen Daedalus and enjoying a pint or two of Dublin's most popular stout.
Named after lead character Leopold Bloom, the day usually includes walking tours, street theatre, period dress, music and traditional Joycean food.
But there are also many organised events, such as musical performances, street theatre, cycle rides, tours, museum exhibitions.
The BBC dramatisation features Andrew Scott as Stephen Dedalus, Niamh Cusack as Molly Bloom and Stephen Rea as the Narrator.
Some 25 actors have taken part and the music includes new recordings of songs by Irish soprano Daire Halpin.
Ulysses is regarded in some literary circles as the greatest modernist novel of the 20th century.
Producer Jeremy Mortimer said the Radio 4 dramatisation was "a delight" and had given him a new insight into the book.
"I had read the book but when I came back to it I realised that I had skimmed over the surface of it and I had no idea of the depth of this book," he said.
Mark Lawson is broadcasting live from various Joycean landmarks in Dublin to set the book in its local and historical context.
The scheduling of the drama throughout the day roughly corresponds with the order of events in the book.
Each part of the dramatisation will be made available as a free download for two weeks from the time of broadcast.
Irish radio station RTE broadcast every word of Joyce's novel in 1982 over a period of 29 and a half hours.

Summary: A dramatisation of James Joyce's Ulysses is being broadcast on BBC Radio 4 to mark this year's Bloomsday, the day when the book's events take place.
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Article: The end of last year saw growth across several sectors of the economy, but there are concerns about rising prices, skill shortages and falling sales.
Manufacturers reported their highest growth in new orders for nearly three years, with export demand still strong.
In retail, there was also a return to optimism - though only just, and despite profitability being squeezed.
In tourism, firms reported improving visitor numbers in the final quarter of the year, but falling sales revenues.
Responses to the survey, carried out for the Chambers of Commerce by Strathclyde University economists at the Fraser of Allander Institute, were more positive than the economic figures published on Wednesday.
The Labour Force Survey and the Gross Domestic Product figures showed weakness in the Scottish economy, while covering an earlier part of 2016 than the Chambers' survey.
While the GDP assessment from the Scottish government has seen a sharp contraction in the past year, the Chambers found a more positive picture, with growth in private commercial contracts.
However, there are warning signals survey, with tourism companies having difficulties in finding skilled recruits. Retail firms flagged up rising prices. Construction is expecting an investment dip.
The weakest of the five sectors covered was finance and business services. More firms in that large part of the economy saw employment fall than saw it rise. But on balance, firms say sales revenue is expected to increase.
Neil Amner, chairman of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce economic advisory group, said: "Our latest economic data shows that many Scottish businesses will have a successful 2017, with business optimism remaining positive for many sectors.
"This is good news for the economy, particularly as we continue to deal with international uncertainty and domestic issues including a rating revaluation and a potential divergence of Income Tax between Scotland and the rest of the UK.
"The overall business mood remains positive but firms expect business growth to be...

Summary:


In a playground in Sheikh Hamad City, children shriek with delight, while their parents chat in the cool shade of their peach-coloured flats.

Article: Mr Xi was speaking at the swearing-in of the territory's new leader Carrie Lam, as Hong Kong marked 20 years since its handover to China from Britain.
On Saturday afternoon, after Mr Xi had left Hong Kong, thousands of people took part in an annual march calling for greater democracy.
During Mr Xi's visit there was little opportunity for protest.
An earlier protest had led to clashes with pro-Beijing demonstrators.
Mr Xi's visit to the city - his first since becoming Chinese leader in 2013 - came amid tight police security.
Several people were detained in the morning, when a small group of pro-democracy activists clashed with pro-Beijing demonstrators close to the site where the lavish ceremony took place.
Organisers said 60,000 people took part in the later pro-democracy march, though police said the figure was much lower.
Heavy rain affected the march, which started at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. Some protesters carried yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the demonstrations which gripped the city in 2014.
Lam Wing-kee, one of the five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing in 2015 and re-surfaced in detention on the mainland, addressed the march.
The Chinese leader oversaw the swearing in of Ms Lam, the newly-elected chief executive of the territory, along with the rest of her cabinet. She is Hong Kong's first female leader.
In a speech he said that Hong Kong needed to "improve its systems to uphold national sovereignty, security and development interests".
"Any attempt to endanger China's sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government... or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible," he said.
He added that Hong Kong now enjoyed more freedom than ever before.
But while the territory's Basic Law guarantees wide-ranging freedoms under the "one country, two systems" formula, Beijing's refusal to grant universal suffrage has triggered sometimes violent unrest.
In Saturday...

Summary: Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against "impermissible" challenges to Beijing's authority over Hong Kong.
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Article: It found 87% of 1,000 GPs surveyed by ComRes, felt under pressure from the number of patients with worries including toothaches or ulcers.
The poll was carried out for the Association of Dental Groups, which represents private dentists.
It said dentists were best placed to spot problems - including mouth cancer.
November is Mouth Cancer Action Month. The risk of developing the cancer is increased by smoking, chewing tobacco or drinking too much alcohol.
Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) also increases the risk of some types of mouth cancer,
David Worskett, chair of the ADG, said: "With mouth cancer rates rising to over 7,500 new cases every year, and early detection vital, it is more important than ever that patients get the right care quickly.
"People often think that dentists are focus purely on teeth and gums, but actually, they are specialists in most aspects of oral health and we often find GPs refer patients back to their dentist if there is any treatment required.
"If you have any concerns about oral health related issues, be it a toothache or a long-term ulcer, you should be visiting your dentist rather than your GP.
Chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation Dr Nigel Carter said: "As a nation we have a habit of only visiting the GP when there's a problem or when we are in some pain, yet regular dental check-ups are recommended by a dentist.
"Dentists are in the best position to spot mouth cancer. They are trained to spot early warning signs, and they do visual examinations as part of every dental check-up."

Summary: Patients are going to their GP with concerns over their oral health when they should be going to their dentist, a poll suggests.
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Article: The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner said they attempted to get police statements over the death of Sheku Bayoh, 31, in Kirkcaldy on 3 May.
His relatives claimed they were told five versions of what happened.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral on Sunday.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson confirmed there was a change in police operating procedure on their co-operation with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) to protect the rights of officers who may have been a witness to events.
Fife Labour MSP Claire Baker acknowledged that officers have the same right to protection from self-incrimination as any other citizen but said the change in regulations is impeding Pirc investigations.
Mr Matheson said he has received no complaint from Pirc about the scope of its powers.
Ms Baker said: "Sheku Bayoh died in police custody in Kirkcaldy on 3 May.
"There is an investigation ongoing into the circumstances of his death and his family understandably want answers.
"My understanding is that in a serious case such as a death in custody, the accompanying regulation five of PIRC Regulations 2013, which provides PIRC with the power to require information from police officers, does not apply and no witness can be compelled to give a statement.
"In addition, it has been reported that in March a Police Scotland memo was issued to police officers following an agreement with the Crown advising them that they do not have to provide operational statements relating to incidents that they have been involved with if there is a possibility of them being involved in a criminal complaint.
"It leads to a situation where at the exact stage where PIRC needs the strongest possible powers, its powers are restricted and officers are being advised that they do not need to co-operate where there is a possibility of criminal complaint."
She added: "I understand that police officers are entitled to the same protection as any other citizen.
"However, if there is to be policing by consent then surely there should...

Summary: Police officers can refuse to give a statement on custody deaths if there is a possibility they will be involved in a criminal complaint, the justice secretary has confirmed.
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Article: Ferouz Myuddin, who is 11 months old, was born in Brisbane when his mother was transferred to hospital from a refugee detention centre on Nauru.
A judge backed the government's earlier ruling that the baby was an "unauthorised maritime arrival" so could not claim refugee status.
Lawyers said he and 100 similar babies could now be sent to Nauru.
The hearing comes as the federal government considers amending the Migration Act to retrospectively declare all babies born to asylum seekers who arrive by boat as unauthorised maritime arrivals, irrespective of whether they were born on Australian soil.
If the amendments are passed, babies born to asylum seeker parents in Australia will have no right to apply for a permanent protection visa and should be transferred offshore.
Ferouz's family are Muslim Rohingyas who said they fled to Myanmar (also known as Burma) to escape persecution.
They landed on Australian territory in September last year and were taken to the off-shore processing centre in Nauru. Ferouz was born prematurely after his mother was taken to hospital in Brisbane because of concerns over her pregnancy.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison had previously denied Ferouz a protection visa - which allows refugees to live permanently in Australia - on the basis that he had arrived on Australian territory by sea illegally.
Australia asylum: Why is it controversial?
His parents then appealed to the Federal Court but after examining how the family had entered Australia, Judge Michael Jarrett backed the government view.
He said the rule was intended to discourage people smugglers.
Lawyer Murray Watt said he was advising the Myuddin family, currently staying in a detention centre in Darwin, to appeal.
"This is a ludicrous decision given he was born here in Brisbane's Mater Hospital and he even has a Queensland birth certificate," ABC News quoted him as saying.
He said his firm - which is representing the families of 100 babies born in Australia to asylum seekers who arrived by boat - would be seeking assurance...

Summary: A federal court has ruled that a baby born in Australia to an asylum seeker is not entitled to a refugee visa.
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Article: This huge housing project - now one of the most desirable addresses in Gaza - was built since 2012 with money from Qatar and named after the former ruler of the wealthy Gulf state.
So far, more than 2,000 Palestinians - mostly low-income families - have moved in.
The complex has a new school, shops, an impressive mosque and plenty of greenery. There is a constant whirr of construction noise as more buildings are erected.
But as the regional crisis over Qatar escalates, Palestinians here - as elsewhere in the impoverished territory - fear the loss of their major donor and ally.
"We're going to be the victims," says one resident, Baha Shalaby. "Everything's going to stop - the money, the support, the infrastructure, the building work."
In recent years, Qatar has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new homes, a hospital and main roads in the Gaza Strip. It has pledged about $1bn (Â£780m) more.
It is not yet clear how its projects will be affected by the ongoing row with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries. They are trying to economically isolate Qatar, accusing it of fostering terrorism - a charge the emirate strongly denies.
However, the engineer in charge of fixing Gaza's main north-south road warns of the possible wider implications of any cuts.
"We have hundreds of workers, all supporting families," says Hanafi Sadallah.
"Levels of unemployment in Gaza are very high, so if the Qataris end our funding, they'll all just be left sitting at home."
Just over 40% of Gazans are out of work, according to Palestinian officials - one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.
One of Saudi Arabia's demands has been for Qatar to stop backing Hamas, which runs Gaza.
The Islamist group took over by force a decade ago - ousting Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces, a year after Hamas won legislative elections.
Hamas leaders insist that Qatari help to Gaza has been primarily charitable.
"The houses that were built are not for Hamas, the streets that were asphalted are not for Hamas," one senior...

Summary:


A rapist who attacked a student as she walked home during freshers' week has been given an extended sentence.

Article: That was the message from a fringe event at Labour's conference in Liverpool which examined the electoral threat from UKIP - and the effect of the marginalisation of working-class communities.
While the Conservatives remain the biggest obstacle to Labour getting back into power, Jeremy Corbyn faces challenges on multiple fronts. In Scotland, there is the SNP and across large swathes of England, there is UKIP.
The party is arguably the official opposition to Labour in much of the north west and north east.
Labour MPs who feel UKIP breathing down their necks are anything but complacent, but dealing with the challenge is another matter.
"For us, it is about how you fight an emotion," says Ruth Smeeth, who won Stoke on Trent North for Labour in 2015 but saw UKIP increase its vote by 18% in the constituency.
"They were not politicians in the way we recognise them," she says of her opponents. "They didn't run political campaigns in the way we recognise political campaigns."
UKIP, like Labour, may have had its share of internal strife recently but that doesn't mean it will be any less of a threat whenever the next election takes place, activists were warned.
"There are some people trying to write off UKIP saying they are busted flush and they have peaked because of the EU referendum and (Nigel) Farage going," says Nick Lowles, founder and director of campaign group Hope Not Hate.
"But we should really caution against writing them off or at least writing off a party like that. Even if that party did not exist, there is nothing to say that people who voted UKIP at the last election would come back to Labour.
"Political and culturally, there is a huge and growing gulf between the Labour Party and Labour voters and UKIP voters."
Its research points to a growing divergence between Labour and UKIP voters in their attitudes to immigration and the threat posed by multiculturalism, with Labour voters becoming more "tolerant, open, and relaxed" about immigration and its benefits while UKIP supporters' views have moved in the...

Summary: Labour must take a hard look at itself and the gap that has opened up with millions of people who used to vote for the party.
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Article: Her boss said she was an "example to us all" by telling colleagues she was taking sick leave for her mental health - but would British managers be similarly supportive?
In an email titled "Where's Madalyn", she told colleagues: "I'm taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health. Hopefully I'll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%".
Chief executive Ben Congleton replied to the message, saying: "I can't believe this is not standard practice at all organisations," adding: "You are an example to us all, and help cut through the stigma so we can all bring our whole selves to work."
In the UK, there is no legal difference between taking a mental health sick day and a day off for a physical problem like a back problem.
Last year, Britons took 137 million sick days. Of these, 15.8 million days were for a stated mental health issue - whether that is stress, depression, anxiety or a more serious condition such as manic depression and schizophrenia - according to Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey statistics.
By contrast, 34 million days were "lost" to minor illnesses, like coughs and colds.
But Madeleine McGivern, head of workplace wellbeing at charity Mind, says "people are still wary" of admitting their sick day is actually due to mental health.
"There is definitely a fear it will affect your career, or that people will judge you and make assumptions that aren't fair or true," she says.
"If you're not in a supportive environment, if you do disclose a mental health problem it can be really harmful to you."
Despite the stigma, she says employers are legally required to protect the health and safety of those at work - and this includes mental health problem if it affects a person's day-to-day life.
"If you are unwell for any reason, you should be able to work in a place where you feel you can say 'I'm unwell today because I've got an inflamed back' or 'I've got really high feelings of anxiety at the moment' - they're actually the same thing," she says.
Lisa, a 42-year-old manager,...

Summary: Madalyn Parker, a US web developer, sparked a debate about workplace attitudes to mind problems after tweeting an email from her boss.
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Article: The motion was co-sponsored by Labour's Frank Field and Tory Sir Edward Leigh.
Sir Edward described the Act as a "restriction on democracy" and said it had only been passed to prevent the coalition government from dissolving.
But Labour shadow minister Stephen Twigg said the Act had removed the previous "massive in-built advantage" for the governing party.
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act was passed in 2011 by the coalition government. Legally, an election can only be held every five years, and not sooner.
Previously, the prime minister could decide to call an election at any time in the life of a five-year parliament - a power Mr Twigg said led to "opportunistically timed elections".
Sir Edward said the fixed-term law had been falsely "marketed to us as a restriction on the power of the executive".
He added that it was a "hash job" that was "designed to keep both parties in the coalition from doing a runner on each other".
"Fixed-term parliaments were a pre-nup drawn up between two parties who were never in love."
Labour's Graham Allen disagreed, saying that "having the people knowing when the general election is going to take place, having the people know when the executive, the government, can be replaced, is one of the hallmarks of a modern democracy".
And Cabinet Office minister Sam Gmiyah argued that debates over the length of parliamentary terms had existed for centuries, and that the coalition was a "historic anomaly".

Summary: MPs have rejected an attempt to repeal the 2011 fixed-term Parliaments Act by 68 votes to 21.
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Article: The controller offers two trackpads which provide "haptic" feedback capable of delivering various physical sensations to the player.
Valve said it offers a better way to play games that have traditionally been controlled with a keyboard and mouse.
Gamers have been invited to test the device before it goes on sale in 2014.
"Traditional gamepads force us to accept compromises," the company said via its announcement page.
"We've made it a goal to improve upon the resolution and fidelity of input that's possible with those devices.
By John WalkerEditor, Rock Paper Shotgun
As innovative and successful a company as Valve certainly is, they're taking some risks here.
Not least their belief that the market they're aiming for is so large. PC games, those distinct to the platform, tend to be focused on more intimate interaction, with the vast complexity of a mouse and keyboard for controls.
It's not a medium that immediately lends itself to a handheld controller from the other side of a room.
It's also worth noting that their idea is not especially novel. Media boxes, and even wheezing PC towers, already sit by a lot of people's televisions, streaming appropriate games from machines in another room, or capable of gaming themselves.
A decent portion of that perceived audience who wants to play PC from afar has likely botched something for themselves. I know I have.
For this to work, Valve is going to have to pitch some really superb tech, running in a small, super-quiet machine, at a very competitive price.
Those are a lot of factors to get right, if they want to seriously compete with the behemoths of sitting room gaming.
"The Steam controller offers a new and, we believe, vastly superior control scheme, all while enabling you to play from the comfort of your sofa."
The controller is the third announcement the company has made this week. On Monday, it outlined plans to create an entire Linux-based operating system for running games, and followed up on Wednesday with details of the Steam Machine, essentially a new type...

Summary: Games developer and publisher Valve has shown off its Steam Controller, the final part of its strategy to bring its PC-based platform to the living room.
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Article: Remus Hamza, 41, of Riverside, Cardiff, was jailed for 12 years in February 2016 for raping the 20-year-old and was also given four years on extended licence.
He took his case to the Court of Appeal in London, arguing this was too severe.
But judges said his appeal was "totally without merit" and gave him an extra 28 days in prison for wasting court time.
Hamza claimed he had consensual sex with his victim, but was found guilty after a trial.
He had also previously exposed himself to three young women in the same area.
The woman was walking home along Museum Avenue in the early hours of 20 September 2015 after losing her friends while on a night out.
Hamza grabbed her and raped her in nearby bushes. He fled after a passer-by spotted him and called the police.
Judge Sarah Munro QC said the victim suffered serious psychological harm as a result of the attack.
Hamza's lawyers argued the crown court judge made the wrong assessment of how serious his crime was and did not take enough account of the fact he would have to serve two thirds of his jail term before his release can be considered.
Dismissing his appeal, Judge Munro said it was "not arguable" the sentence was excessive.
She added: "The provisions relating to early release and licence should be left out of the picture when determining sentence. There is no merit whatsoever in this appeal."

Summary:


Artificial intelligence can identify skin cancer in photographs with the same accuracy as trained doctors, say scientists.

Article: The governor of Unity state says several people were killed in its capital Bentiu when a plane dropped  bombs on a market.
South Sudan also says its troops came under air attack in the oil-producing Heglig region which they have seized.
Sudan's ambassador to the UK, Abdullahi Al Azreg, said Sudan did not target civilians.
He insisted Khartoum had bombed military camps used by northern rebels supported by South Sudan.
"These people are occupying our land. Everybody is witnessing what they are doing. They have killed the civilians, they are doing very bad things. We will target the rebels as long as they are occupying our land," he told the BBC.
South Sudan said earlier on Saturday that it had repulsed an offensive on its positions near Heglig.
By James CopnallBBC News, Khartoum
The events of the last week are a reversal of the expected order of things. Sudan has struggled militarily, despite its greater resources.
Its troops lost the Heglig oilfield - one of its biggest sources of revenue - and so far have not been able to take it back. The Sudanese forces' one great advantage - air power - has not tipped the balance in their favour.
Sudanese political experts say the army's morale is low, and it is overstretched, as it has to fight South Sudan as well as several rebel movements who are co-ordinating together.
But - perhaps to its surprise - Sudan is winning the diplomatic war. The African Union said South Sudan's occupation of Heglig was "illegal and unacceptable".
Perhaps in reaction to these kind of statements, South Sudan then said it would withdraw its troops if UN peacekeepers were deployed to Heglig. This seems unlikely, and South Sudan simply hasn't been able to convince the world it's in the right.
So for the moment South Sudan is in the unusual position of winning the fighting - and losing the war of perceptions.
Vice-President Riek Machar said the ground fighting took place on Friday 30km (18 miles) north of Heglig.
South Sudan seized the oil field on Tuesday, sparking international condemnation and...

Summary: South Sudan has accused Sudan of launching further bombing raids on its territory and against its forces.
###
Article: It's the day when people show their affection for another person or people by sending cards, flowers or chocolates with messages of love.
And traditionally on Valentine's Day in a leap year - every four years - women can propose marriage to their partner!
The day gets its name from a famous saint, but there are several stories of who he was.
The popular belief about St Valentine is that he was a priest from Rome in the third century AD.
Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret.
When Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death.
There, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed "from your Valentine".
Valentine's Day is a very old tradition, thought to have originated from a Roman festival.
The Romans had a festival called Lupercalia in the middle of February, officially the start of their springtime.
It's thought that as part of the celebrations, boys drew names of girls from a box. They'd be boyfriend and girlfriend during the festival and sometimes they'd get married.
Later on, the church wanted to turn this festival into a Christian celebration and decided to use it to remember St Valentine too.
Gradually, St Valentine's name started to be used by people to express their feelings to those they loved.

Summary: Valentine's Day, or St Valentine's Day, is celebrated every year on 14 February.
###
Article: Donor and former candidate Michael Foster is contesting Labour's decision to allow Mr Corbyn on to the ballot paper without having to secure nominations from 50 other MPs and MEPs.
Labour's National Executive Committee backed the move by 18 to 14 votes.
Mr Corbyn is taking on Owen Smith.
As a challenger, Mr Smith, a former work and pensions spokesman, had to win the backing of 20% of Labour's MPs and MEPs to be eligible to stand - a hurdle he overcame easily.
But the NEC's decision that, as the incumbent, Mr Corbyn did not have to adhere to the same requirements has proved controversial.
The NEC backed Mr Corbyn's automatic inclusion following a highly charged meeting earlier this month. Labour's ruling body, of which Mr Corbyn is a member, is reported to have taken a range of legal opinions before making its decision.
Mr Foster, who unsuccessfully stood in the seat of Camborne and Redruth at the last general election, has expressed concerns about "apparent manipulation" of the party's rules and questioned whether the legal advice was given proper consideration.
Lawyers for Mr Foster told the High Court on Tuesday that Labour and Mr Corbyn made a "very problematic interpretation" of the party's rules.
Gavin Millar QC said there was no concept of "incumbent" or "incumbency" in the party rules. "There is no distinction in the rules between the leader candidate to be automatically on the ballot paper or the challenger candidate," he said.
Mr Millar said: "There's nothing whatsoever unfair to a leader to expect him or her to gather or have a minimum level of support in the combined group [of Labour MPs and MEPs] if the leader wants to stand again in the teeth of the challenge.
"It goes with the job description to maintain that minimum level of support in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party)."
Appearing for Labour's NEC, Mark Henderson said precedent suggested courts were wary of intervening in voluntary unincorporated associations such as the Labour Party except where their rules have "incoherence".
He said the...

Summary: A legal challenge to Jeremy Corbyn's right to automatically stand in the Labour leadership has been heard at the High Court in London, with a decision expected to be handed down on Thursday.
###
Article: In effect, it confirms that the last three months of this latest recession were brought to you by the Queen. Or at least the extra Bank Holiday to celebrate her Jubilee.
If it had not been for that special factor pulling down output in the second quarter, it looks as though the UK's official GDP numbers would have shown the economy to be growing since the spring.
We can't say for sure how much the Bank Holiday or the Olympics have distorted these figures.
We do know that Olympic ticket sales worth 0.2 percentage points of GDP were included in this third quarter figures, regardless of when the tickets were actually bought.
We also know that the Bank of England, among others, believes the Jubilee will have knocked around 0.5 percentage points from growth in the second quarter - and then boosted the third quarter by a similar amount as companies make up the lost output.
One way to step back from this is to simply take the average quarterly growth for the past six months, which appears to have been 0.3%. That is half the long-term average, and a lot less than we would want to see in an economy that is still more than 3% smaller than it was in early 2008.
It also means the economy is no larger now than it was a year ago. This may or may not be a "lost decade". It has certainly been a lost year, if these preliminary figures turn out to be accurate.
But it is growth - even with all the one-offs - and faster growth than most in the City expected. It is even possible now that the UK economy will grow slightly over the course of 2012, though most still expect national output to decline a little. That is because the figure for the fourth quarter is unlikely to be nearly as good as Thursday's. Indeed, some expect it to shrink in the last three months of 2012 - though the average forecast is for modest growth.
The positive "surprise" in these figures is largely to be found in the service sector, which is estimated to have grown by 1.3% in the third quarter, after shrinking by 0.1% in the three months before.
For some,...

Summary: Thursday's first estimate for growth is welcome news to everyone, not least government ministers.
###
Article: The Stanford University team said the findings were "incredibly exciting" and would now be tested in clinics.
Eventually, they believe using AI could revolutionise healthcare by turning anyone's smartphone into a cancer scanner.
Cancer Research UK said it could become a useful tool for doctors.
The AI was repurposed from software developed by Google that had learned to spot the difference between images of cats and dogs.
It was shown 129,450 photographs and told what type of skin condition it was looking at in each one.
It then learned to spot the hallmarks of the most common type of skin cancer: carcinoma, and the most deadly: melanoma.
Only one in 20 skin cancers are melanoma, yet the tumour accounts for three-quarters of skin cancer deaths.
The experiment, detailed in the journal Nature, then tested the AI against 21 trained skin cancer doctors.
One of the researchers, Dr Andre Esteva, told the BBC News website: "We find, in general, that we are on par with board-certified dermatologists."
However, the computer software cannot make a full diagnosis, as this is normally confirmed with a tissue biopsy.
Dr Esteva said the system now needed to be tested alongside doctors in the clinic.
"The application of AI to healthcare is, we believe, an incredibly exciting area of research that can be leveraged to achieve a great deal of societal good," he said.
"One particular route that we find exciting is the use of this algorithm on a mobile device, but to achieve this we would have to build an app and test its accuracy directly from a mobile device."
Incredible advances in machine-learning have already led to AI beating one of humanity's best Go players.
And a team of doctors in London have trained AI to predict when the heart will fail.
Dr Jana Witt, from the charity Cancer Research UK, said:  "Using artificial intelligence to help diagnose skin cancer is very interesting, as it could support assessments by GPs and dermatologists.
"It's unlikely that AI will replace all of the other information your clinician would...

Summary:


The ruling has come about because a dad was fined for taking his daughter out of school for a family holiday to Disney World in the United States, without her head teacher giving permission.
The case has caused lots of arguments because some people feel the price of holidays outside of school terms is too expensive, and many parents feel

The most important court in the UK, has made a decision that means parents are not allowed to take children on holiday during term-time, unless the school agrees.

Article: At the moment, they pay 90% of the amount due if the home was occupied.
However, Scottish Borders Council is now considering using powers which would allow them to charge twice the standard level.
It has been estimated it could generate an extra Â£900,000 although that figure might fall as homes are occupied.
The levy would not apply to homes which are unoccupied because they are being renovated unless they then lie empty for two years or more.
New build properties would also be exempt from the measure if they are being genuinely marketed for sale or let at a realistic price.
The charge would also not be applied to holiday properties.
A report to councillors has recommended that the new measure be brought in from 1 April.
It stressed that the driving force behind the measure was not to raise money but to encourage owners of long-term empty dwellings to bring them back into use.

Summary: Owners of homes in the Borders which have lain empty for a long period could see their council tax charges more than doubled.
###
Article: The collapse of the retaining wall in December 2013 caused a landslip next to the flats at 2 Gardner Street.
The block was evacuated after fears the collapse could affect its "structural stability".
Repairs to the wall have cost almost Â£777,000. Residents will be allowed back in on 7 December.
Dundee City Council said councillors had approved the work to repair the wall in March 2015.
Ken Guild, convener of the council's policy and resources committee said: "I am delighted that residents will be able to get back into their homes.
"When no one took responsibility for the necessary work, the council stepped in to carry out permanent repairs which has proved to be a success.
"Now that we have reached a conclusion, residents can get settled as soon as possible."
The council said work still needed to be done in the rear garden of the property.

Summary: Dundee residents who were forced to move out of their homes two years ago after a wall collapsed have finally been allowed to move back in.
###
Article: "It's a very efficient way for a company to accept payment, since they receive 100% of the value of a transaction," he says. "Very different from dealing with credit cards, which take at least 2% to 3%."
His company, which offers a popular electronic wallet for storing Bitcoins, now has three million users - plus a London headquarters.
Britain's first Bitcoin cash machine has been installed in a Shoreditch coffee shop in London, where you can pay for your coffee from your digital wallet.
And argue some, with other successful UK start-ups including Coinfloor, a Bitcoin trading platform, and Elliptic, which aims to offer unhackable ways to store them in offline vaults- Bitcoin is becoming increasingly 'Britcoin'.
Britain's tech empire normally shrivels beside that of the United States. Last year London's 'Silicon roundabout' district received $1.4bn (Â£930m) in investments, compared to Silicon Valley's $22bn (Â£14.6bn).
But the financial crisis forced an outflow of talent from banking to start-ups.
And more global financial institutions make their home in wet Britain than sunny California.
So London became the world's new financial technology centre, employing more people (over 44,000) in the sector than either Silicon Valley or New York.
Payment looms large in financial technology, and start-ups working with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple, which are the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation, are prominent.
Collectively, they're luring big bits of investment.
When Elliptic raised Â£1.2m ($1.8m) in seed funding last summer, it was regarded as an important coming of age for cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies offer an advantage in countries where official currency exchange is tightly controlled, like China.
Cryptocurrencies could revolutionise how banks handle payments, too.
Large retail banks currently use central clearing - everything goes to one place, and then back out.
But with Bitcoin, this exchange happens in different places and instantaneously.
At the moment, the small amount...

Summary: Two years ago, perhaps 4,000 or 5,000 merchants in the world accepted Bitcoin, says Nicolas Cary, co-founder of Blockchain, now there are more than 100,000.
###
Article: Ms Mayawati, who uses one name, had earlier staged a walkout from the upper house after she was told to cut short a speech about violent caste clashes in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
"If I can't speak about our weaker sections in the House then I have no right to stay there," she said.
Ms Mayawati has been chief minister of Uttar Pradesh four times.
But she suffered what many analysts called a humiliating defeat in state polls held earlier this year.
She is an icon to millions of Dalits, most of whom are poor.
Analysts say the resignation could well spell the end of her parliamentary career. She cannot seek re-election until her tenure ends in April next year and even then, they say, that she does not have the numbers to stage a comeback.
On Tuesday, Ms Mayawati was attempting to speak about the recent caste violence in Saharanpur town in which two people were killed, when the deputy chairperson the upper house told her not to "monopolise" the discussion.
She later said that she was "not being heard, not allowed to speak".
Other opposition parties expressed support when she walked out, and many followed her out of the house.

Summary: One of India's top female politicians and Dalit (formerly untouchable) icon has quit her parliamentary seat.
###
Article: The ruling has come about because a dad was fined for taking his daughter out of school for a family holiday to Disney World in the United States, without her head teacher giving permission.
The man from the Isle of Wight appealed against the fine, and at first won the case, but now the UK Supreme Court has ordered him to pay the fine of Â£120.
It means that parents will now have to seek permission from the school and head-teacher to take children on holiday during a school term.
The case has caused lots of arguments because some people feel the price of holidays outside of school terms is too expensive, and many parents feel they should have the choice to go on cheaper breaks during a school term.
The Department for Education said: "We are pleased the Supreme Court agreed with our position - that no child should be taken out of school without good reason."
We've been speaking to some of you, to see what you think about the decision...

Summary:


HY Hacker Young said the UHY Hacker Young said the UHY Hacker Young said the UHY Hacker Young said the UHY Hacker

An "explosive creativity" of craft spirits has seen 50 new distilleries open across the UK last year, according to a study.

Article: In power virtually unchallenged since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Nursultan Nazarbayev has focused on economic reform while resisting moves to democratise the political system.
He remains popular among ordinary Kazakhs. His supporters say he preserved inter-ethnic accord and stability during the reform in the 1990s, and is widely credited for the country's impressive economic growth in first decade of the new millennium.
Mr Nazarbayev has concentrated extensive powers in his own hands and is accused by the opposition of suppressing dissent. Although he says he advocates democracy as a long-term goal, he warns that stability could be at risk if change is too swift.
Born in 1940, Mr Nazarbayev came to power in 1989 as first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and was elected president the following year. He was re-elected after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He was re-elected against largely token opponents in 1999, 2005, 2011 and - most recently - in 2015. In each case, his share of the vote rose, reaching more than 97% in the last vote, and the conduct of every election was criticised by foreign observers.
In 2007, parliament, in which the ruling party held all seats, voted to allow the president to stay in office for an unlimited number of terms. In 2010, MPs granted Mr Nazarbayev the lifelong title of "leader of the nation".
His 2011 victory came after judges ruled unconstitutional a plan to hold a referendum on whether to let Mr Nazarbayev to stay in power until 2020 without facing election.
The president thereupon said he rejected the changes, which had been strongly backed by MPs and by many voters.
When Mr Nazarbayev does step down from the president, he will have a permanent seat on the defence council and a role as head of the people's assembly, which unites members of different ethnic groups, according to a law approved in a 2007 referendum.
The president merged his Otan ("Fatherland") party with his daughter Dariga's party, Asar, in July 2006, in a move seen as...

Summary: President: Nursultan Nazarbayev
###
Article: Last week, Dropbox reset all passwords that had remained unchanged since mid-2012 "as a preventive measure".
In 2012, Dropbox had said hacks on "other websites" had affected customers who used their Dropbox password on other sites too.
But now what purports to be the details of 68.6 million Dropbox accounts have emerged on hacker trading sites.
The 5GB document has been acquired by a Motherboard reporter, who also said it had been verified as genuine by a "senior Dropbox employee" speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The data includes email addresses and hashed passwords.
But security researcher Troy Hunt, who has also seen the document, said the hashing algorithm that obscured the passwords was "very resilient to cracking".
"Frankly, all but the worst possible password choices are going to remain secure even with the breach now out in the public," he said.
Mr Hunt said he had managed to independently verify the hack by finding the password of his wife within the cache.
He told BBC News the document contained a "very unique, 20-character, completely random password" used by his wife to login to Dropbox.
It had been created by a password manager, he said, making the chance of it having been correctly guessed "infinitely small".
Mr Hunt wrote his blog: "There is no doubt whatsoever that the data breach contains legitimate Dropbox passwords - you simply can't fabricate this sort of thing."
Security researcher Ken Munro also said the hack appeared to be genuine and to have "taken place in 2012".
In a statement sent to the BBC, Dropbox said: "This is not a new security incident."
And there was "no indication" Dropbox user accounts had been improperly accessed.
"Our analysis confirms that the credentials are user email addresses with hashed and salted passwords that were obtained prior to mid-2012," said the statement.
"We can confirm that the scope of the password reset we completed last week did protect all impacted users.
"Even if these passwords are cracked, the password reset means they can't be used to...

Summary: A Dropbox security breach in 2012 has affected more than 68 million account holders, according to security experts.
###
Article: Rosa Zambonini was elected to represent the Wishaw ward on North Lanarkshire Council, replacing SNP colleague Marion Fellows.
In Falkirk, Paul Garner held a seat in Denny and Banknock ward for the SNP.
The Labour candidate in the by-election was suspended pending an investigation over sectarian comments he was said to have made on social media.
Andy Bell's name remained on the ballot paper for the election of the new Denny and Banknock councillor.
However, a Labour spokesman said the party had "withdrawn its support".
The by-election was called after John McNally was elected MP for Falkirk at May's general election.
In Falkirk, first-preference voting was: SNP 2,576, Lab 549, C 431, Green 170. The swing from Labour to the SNP was 23%.
In North Lanarkshire, first-count voting in the Wishaw ward was: SNP 1,915, Lab 1,230, C 385, Soc 117, Ukip 67, LD 37. Swing from Lab to SNP 21%.

Summary: The SNP has won by-elections in Falkirk and North Lanarkshire sparked by former councillors becoming MPs.
###
Article: Eamon Kelly, 52, was accused of cheating in this year's Tarbes Grand National, a blue riband event.
He allegedly registered 14 birds for the race, but kept them at home while sending decoys to Tarbes, France.
The National Flying Club said the 52-year-old, from Didcot, admitted to senior members that he cheated.
In a statement the association said: "This follows the falsification of [his] race entry for Tarbes Grand National race dated 19 July 2016.
"Mr E Kelly admitted [cheating] in telephone conversations with the president, chairman and secretary of the National Flying Club after the falsification was confirmed."
Mr Kelly won the 2015 Tarbes Grand National and was also an official race controller for the National Flying Club.
Before the allegations were uncovered, he was due to receive Â£1,500 in prize money and a Â£10,000 Ford Fiesta for defending the title.
Before the announcement of the decision to ban Mr Kelly, National Flying Club chairman Philip Curtis wrote on its website that "the committee is very saddened by the events that took place over the Tarbes weekend".
He added: "Such an occurrence put a huge cloud over the whole race.
"Compounded by national coverage of the event this is a very sad day for the sport of pigeon racing.
"We wish to inform members that the National Flying Club is satisfied that no other members of the organisation are involved in this occurrence."
Mr Kelly's partner told the BBC he was "distraught" after the claims surfaced last month, but has not yet commented on his expulsion.
The conventional form of pigeon racing is for each keeper to race birds from the same starting - or "liberation" - point, back to their individual lofts.
The distance between these points is calculated to the nearest yard and the birds of each club or group of clubs are all released together.
Each bird wears a secretly numbered ring or an electronic ring and when that bird arrives home, either the rubber ring is removed and placed in a clock which registers the time or the electronic ring registers on...

Summary: A pigeon racing champion has been handed a lifetime ban from the sport following allegations he cheated to win a race from France.
###
Article: Accountancy group UHY Hacker Young claimed new "boutique" distillers were pushing big brands off the shelf.
It said Scotland saw a 50% rise in new distilleries over the past year, from 12 in 2015 to 18 in 2016.
In England, a record 35 new distilleries were opened last year compared with 28 the previous year.
James Simmonds, of UHY Hacker Young, said: "Both the craft spirits and the craft brewery sectors are going through a period of explosive creativity.
"You can see that in everything from the logos, branding and advertising of these products.
"The quality of the product is streets ahead of their big brand competitors.
"It is no wonder that the global drinks giants are worried, and the best way they have found to deal with that new competition is get out chequebooks and buy them."

Summary: