A majority of Scottish councils want the right to buy for council and social housing tenants scrapped, a government report has said.

Article: Critics had claimed that well-documented problems over some of their candidates would continue to plague them.
It's early stages but so far in Wales at least it has followed that script.
Rows over the selection of candidates have continued to bubble away and the entire local branch committee in Brecon and Radnorshire was suspended by UKIP Wales.
And now the national organiser has stepped down just as we head into the campaign. The significance of the timing will be lost on no-one.
UKIP Wales leader Nathan Gill told me there's never a good time for this to happen and in politics you have to cope with the hand that you're dealt. He says that overall the party is light years ahead of where it was five years ago.
John Atkinson had been in the role during last year's successful campaign in the European elections, in which it failed by just 4,000 votes to beat Labour and come top in Wales.
Despite the problems, the party still has plenty to build on.
UKIP has opened shops in Holyhead, Penarth, Shotton, Merthyr and Llanelli. It says it has 22 constituency branches and is fielding candidates in every Welsh constituency.
However, it operates in a radically different way to the other more established parties.
Plaid Cymru, for example, has already launched its campaign and manifesto, while UKIP don't have a date for its manifesto launch which will be the party's one set-piece event in Wales.
And yet UKIP have been higher in the polls than Plaid.
In fact the lack of organisation has been a factor which has worked in its favour as its members portray themselves as the outsiders and natural home of the protest voter.
The question is whether that is going to work in the full glare of a general election campaign.

Summary: Many people have been wondering what kind of election campaign UKIP would be running.
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Article: They are investigating tiny changes in the length of the collider's 27km-circumference ring, which occur on a daily and a seasonal basis.
The short cycle is explained by normal tidal forces.
But the winter-summer pattern which affects the huge underground facility is not so obvious.
Except researchers think they can now show that winter rain and snow is gravitationally pulling on the ring.
"My hypothesis is that in winter there's a lot more water in the ground, and even snow sitting on the ground. So, basically, this mass pulls on the ring. And when that extra mass melts away and evaporates away in summer - the ring stretches a bit," said Rolf Hut from Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
If that's true, you could use the LHC to study precipitation and other aspects of hydrology - not just the secrets of the Universe.
"I can make a rain gauge out of anything," said Dr Hut.  He was speaking here at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly.
Changes in the size of the LHC's ring are known from the behaviour of the beam of particles whizzing around inside it at near-light-speed.
The length of the particles' orbit is fixed and controlled by the collider's operators such as to position the beam in the centre of the ring's vacuum chamber.
An alteration in the circumference will force the particles to move inwards or outwards relative to this centre point.
This movement can be measured with micrometre accuracy and is corrected. The adjustments made by the operators therefore represent a very precise measure of the change in the circumference of the LHC.
This issue was first noticed in the LEP accelerator, which occupied the mighty tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border before the LHC.
The daily changes were quickly attributed to the flexure of the surrounding rock by the Moon's tides, but the longer seasonal cycle could have a number of explanations.
One of these is the change in temperature between summer and winter months: the rock could simply be flexing as it warms and cools. Except, temperatures...

Summary: The LHC is not just the world's most powerful particle accelerator, it could also be its biggest rain meter, scientists say.
###
Article: Many tenants and social landlords also want to see an end to the policy, according to a consultation.
The Scottish government has already ended right to buy for new tenants, amid concern over a shortage of rented affordable homes.
Right to buy has also been suspended by a number of local authorities.
Ministers are currently considering proposals to protect and increase the supply of affordable housing.
The government's consultation on the issue got 169 responses in total from registered social landlords, tenant and resident groups, councils, charities and others.
Of the 161 respondents which answered the question on ending right to buy altogether, 83% said the policy - introduced in the early 80s - should go.
In all, 92% of social landlords, 81% of councils and 80% of tenant and resident groups which responses said right to buy should be scrapped.
The policy was introduced by the Thatcher government to make owning a home more affordable and, since its introduction, more than 500,000 homes have been sold in Scotland.
But in recent years councils have been forced to suspend the policy, as their stock of social housing to rent has dwindled.
The Scottish government's 2010 Housing Act brought in several changes, including ending right to buy for new council and social housing tenants, alongside a three-year £1.5bn house-building plan.
Ministers said stopping all new tenants from buying their homes could see up to 18,000 properties retained over 10 years.
The Scottish government said it would respond to the consultation in due course.

Summary:


The government has announced a £1.5 billion package of funding for the East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to help it meet its £1.5 billion budget deficit.
The funding will be used to help ESCC meet its £1.5 billion budget deficit, which is expected to be £1.

Every pupil in England will be tested on their times tables before leaving primary school, under government plans.

Article: The spacecraft - model numbers five and six - went up on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.
Galileo is now finally moving towards full deployment after years of delay.
The European Space Agency, which is building the system on behalf of the EU, expects to have a 26-satellite constellation in orbit by 2017.
To that end, it has just ordered three big Ariane-5 rockets at a cost of half a billion euros.
Europe's premier launch vehicle can loft four spacecraft at a time, and this should allow for six to eight satellites to be put in space every 12 months from now on.
"Every spacecraft is, after in-orbit commissioning, put into operation, and is broadcasting a navigation signal that is a valid signal for users with a combined Galileo/GPS receiver; and there are already receivers on the market that have this capability. So, you have to see the service as being increased one by one," explained Esa Galileo project manager, Javier Benedicto.
Friday's Soyuz lift-off occurred on schedule at precisely at 09:27:11 local time (13:27 BST; 14:27 CEST).
The "instant launch window" was required to get the satellites into just the right part of the sky demanded by the network's multi-plane configuration.
The latest platforms, dubbed "Doresa" and "Milena" in a public competition, are somewhat different to their four predecessors, which were used to validate the Galileo technology in orbit.
Formally described as the first Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites, they have been produced by a new manufacturing consortium, comprising the German outfit OHB System and the UK firm SSTL.
This pair have been contracted to supply the next 20 spacecraft as well.
SSTL's role is to integrate all the Galileo system components inside a satellite.
"It's been a high-volume operation," said SSTL director John Paffett, "and we're now turning out a payload every six weeks.  By the middle of next year, all our payloads will have shipped to OHB, and it won't be long after that that all the finished satellites will have been handed over to...

Summary: Europe has launched the next two satellites in the Galileo network - its version of the American Global Positioning System (GPS).
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Article: The letter, from all political group leaders at East Sussex County Council (ESCC), said the county faced cuts that would significantly reduce the quality of life for many people.
It comes as the council considers raising council tax by 3.99%, which includes the 2% social care precept.
The government said ESCC's spending power was forecast to grow by 1%.
Conservative-run ESCC said it had saved more than £78m since 2010 but faced a further £70m to £90m savings by April 2019, including £40m from its adult social care budget.
The letter said the government's approach to local government did not reflect the "varying needs" of different areas and East Sussex's ageing population made it particularly vulnerable to cuts.
And it said there would be significant savings in adult social care, withdrawal of early help and support to young people, significant reductions in library services, and reductions in the integrated transport offer.
Council leader Keith Glazier said savings being made would place a heavy burden on some residents.
A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "This government is providing a long-term funding settlement for the first time allowing local authorities to plan with certainty.
"Councils will have almost £200bn to spend on local services, including a £3.5 billion social care package, over the lifetime of this parliament.
"East Sussex County Council core spending power is forecast to increase by 1% and the county will still have over £1.4bn to spend between now and 2020."

Summary: Politicians in East Sussex have raised "concerns" in a letter to the Prime Minister over government funding cuts.
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Article: Pupils aged 11 will be expected to know their tables up to 12x12, and will be tested using an "on-screen check".
The checks will be piloted to about 3,000 pupils in 80 primary schools this summer, before being rolled out across the country in 2017.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said maths was a non-negotiable aspect of a good education.
The "on-screen check" examination will involve children completing multiplication challenges against the clock, which will be scored instantly.
The Department for Education says it is the first use of on-screen technology in National Curriculum tests.
Ms Morgan has also said teachers will be judged by the results of the tests: "Since 2010, we've seen record numbers of 11 year olds start secondary school with a good grasp of the three Rs. But some continue to struggle.
"That is why, as part of our commitment to extend opportunity and deliver educational excellence everywhere we are introducing a new check to ensure that all pupils know their times tables by age 11.
"They will help teachers recognise those pupils at risk of falling behind and allow us to target those areas where children aren't being given a fair shot to succeed."
In 2015, 80% of Year 6 pupils achieved Level 4 in maths, reading and writing, up from 78% last year.
But Labour says standards are being threatened by a shortage of teachers, and in the past some teaching unions have warned additional tests can place unwelcome pressure on teachers and pupils.

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The US president has been accused of using his Twitter account to attack the media, but he has not been accused of using it to attack the US media.
The New York Times has reported that the president has been tweeting about the media, but has not been tweeting about the media.
The Times said that the president

With just 20 days to go until Americans go to the polls, millennials suggest they'd rather die than vote for the two main parties, while Canadians try to keep their neighbours' spirits up.

Article: The 35-year-old is moving to French side Toulon after the tournament having being released early from his dual Munster and Ireland contract.
Iain Henderson, who replaced O'Connell, is likely to start Sunday's quarter-final game with Argentina in Cardiff.
Number eight Jamie Heaslip will lead the team in O'Connell's absence.
"Paul O'Connell suffered a significant hamstring injury and will undergo surgery this week," said an Irish Rugby statement.
"Paul will not play again at Rugby World Cup 2015 and his time out of the game will depend on the outcome of the surgery."
The end of O'Connell's involvement in the campaign follows Peter O'Mahony  while fly-half Johnny Sexton is a doubt for the quarter-final because of a groin injury.
Flanker Sean O'Brien may also be missing for the match against the Pumas after he was cited for an apparent punch on France second row Pascal Pape.
Leinster's Mike McCarthy has been called into the Ireland squad as O'Connell's replacement.
Media playback is not supported on this device
O'Connell began his international career with a try-scoring debut against Wales in 2002 and has been a key member of the Ireland side since.
After playing a leadership role alongside captain Brian O'Driscoll in Ireland's Six Nations Grand Slam in 2009, O'Connell captained the British and Irish Lions in their 2-1 Test series defeat by South Africa later that year.
England 2015 was O'Connell's fourth World Cup campaign with Ireland. He has never been beyond the quarter-finals in the tournament.
He finishes his international career with 108 Ireland caps and another seven for the British and Irish Lions.
Former Ireland team-mate Peter Stringer paid tribute to O'Connell, describing him as an "inspirational leader".
"What a captain he has been. He is the first second row I have played with who has been the complete player," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"I have never met anybody like him. He demands the highest of standards from everyone within an organisation to make sure the team succeeds.
"It is devastating for...

Summary: Paul O'Connell's international career is over after the Ireland captain tore his hamstring during Sunday's World Cup victory over France.
###
Article: The Yadav family, reported to have 20 members and counting in politics, dominates the Samajwadi Party (SP) at all levels.
Its founder and patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is the national president of the party.  His elder son Akhilesh Yadav is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother Shivpal Yadav is a minister in the state government. All SP members of the lower house of the Indian parliament are from the Yadav family. Other members occupy local and regional offices.
Even though political families now dominate, or are found burrowed within most major political parties in India, no other political family has the sheer numbers and sprawl across political offices at all levels of Indian politics that the Yadav family does.
Is India's politics becoming less dynastic?
But last month, old tensions among the Yadavs broke out into open conflict.
Akhilesh Yadav moved against his uncle Shivpal by sacking ministers and bureaucrats believed to be loyal to him.
Mulayam Singh Yadav backed his brother, removing his son from the position of state president of the Samajwadi Party and appointing Shivpal Yadav to the position instead.
For the past month, son and uncle and their respective factions have been fighting it out, with the patriarch playing mediator.
The drama is still unfolding. As of today, several of Akhilesh Yadav's loyalists, including family members Ram Gopal Yadav and Udaiveer Yadav, have been expelled from the party, while Shivpal Yadav and his loyalists have been sacked from the cabinet.
It is also not clear who the party's chief ministerial candidate is: although the SP had on 17 October named Akhilesh Yadav as its candidate for chief minister, the Shivpal Yadav faction is now proposing Mulayam Singh Yadav's name for the position.
In the meantime, the SP's election campaign has come to a standstill.
The Yadavs are only one of several families in charge of India's regional governments.
According to data I collected after India's most recent round of regional elections this year, the...

Summary: As India's largest state - Uttar Pradesh - prepares to go to the polls early next year, its largest political dynasty - the Yadavs, whose Samajwadi Party heads the state government - is in disarray.
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Article: The third and final debate is upon us but Donald Trump has shown little interest in ditching the campaign trail for prep sessions.
Speaking at a rally in Colorado on Tuesday, he told supporters he was "gonna take back the White House" and "deliver real, real change". And, for a real, real change he even mentioned some policy, saying he wanted to end government corruption and "drain the swamp in Washington DC". We've spoken to some transparency advocates about his plan and you can see what they think here.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has disappeared from the public eye to prepare. Once again, her ability to focus will be tested by Mr Trump, who is reported to have invited two interesting guests to the show: President Barack Obama's Kenyan-born, Trump-supporting, half-brother Malik; and Pat Smith, the mother of a US officer who was killed in the Benghazi attack in September 2012.
Polling in recent days has suggested that voters are finding the increasingly fractious campaign a bit of a turnoff, meaning we could see a decline in turnout come 8 November. One group that is particularly exasperated with the candidates appears to be younger voters, with one survey finding that many of them would rather see a giant meteor destroy Earth than vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
"Obviously we don't think that they're serious," Joshua Dyck, co-director of UMass Lowell's Center for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey, told Reuters. But it "tells you something about the political disaffection that is being shown by American youth," he added.
Perhaps sensing this moment of misery, some cheery folk across the border in Canada have launched a campaign to #TellAmericaItsGreat. Their uplifting video has had nearly a million views in the last couple of days, winning praise from Star Trek star George Takei, who tweeted: "O, Canada! My ears are moist seeing these. Thank you. This election has been exhausting us all." It sure has.
Bruce Springsteen tells the BBC that he thinks Donald Trump is a conman
15
The number of...

Summary:


The Scottish government has said it will not be able to fund the police force in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The Scottish government has said it will not be able to fund the police force in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The Scottish government has said it will not be able to fund

Sports Direct has warned that the extreme swings in the pound overnight will hit its profits.

Article: The Tories said "failings" over local policing and IT systems had not been addressed since the force was created.
And they urged the Scottish government to heed the warnings it had been given by communities and police officers.
The government recently set seven new priority areas for the force, including localism, inclusion and adaptability.
As part of the consultation phase for the new priority framework, Edinburgh City Council submitted feedback saying it was "difficult" for officers to maintain relationships at a local level due to police being moved around different areas within the force.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) also listed a range of concerns which included Scottish government funding of the force for tools such as an effective IT system.
Conservative justice spokesman Douglas Ross said these were "very severe warnings that cover a range of areas where Police Scotland is struggling".
He added: "This falls completely at the SNP's door, which created the single force and has overseen its first few years.
"Ministers said local policing wouldn't be hampered, but here we have Scotland's capital city saying otherwise.
"This message is replicated across the country and I hear concerns about local policy everywhere I go."
He added: "Communities and police officers alike are highlighting failings which we were assured by the SNP would not occur.
"The Scottish government has to take heed of this, and make sure the police can deal not only with current challenges, but future ones too."
A Scottish government spokeswoman said the new Strategic Police Priorities would strengthen the community focus of policing, ensuring that national priorities take account of the needs of local communities.
She added: "In terms of funding, the Scottish government is committed to protecting the police revenue budget in real terms for the entirety of this parliament, delivering an additional Â£100m of investment over the next five years, in addition to Â£55m of reform funding in 2016-17.
"It is for the Scottish Police...

Summary: Concerns about the performance of Police Scotland "fall completely at the SNP's door", the Scottish Conservatives have claimed.
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Article: In a video to sports fans, the FAA warns the stadium is a "no-drone zone".
The restrictions cover anywhere within 32 miles of the Super Bowl stadium in Santa Clara, California, between 14:00 and 23:59 PST on 7 February.
FAA regulations also advise that "deadly force" may be used if a drone is perceived as a security threat.
The Super Bowl is the climax of the football season, and a crowd of 70,000 is expected for this year's game.
"Bring your lucky jersey, bring your facepaint, bring your team spirit," the video announces, "but leave your drone at home."
No-drone zones have become commonplace in the United States at sports and entertainment events at which large crowds gather.
Furthermore, permanent restrictions are in place over sensitive buildings - such as airports and the White House.
FAA regulations state: "The United States government may use deadly force against the airborne aircraft, if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat."

Summary: Drones have been banned from flying within 32 miles of American Football's Super Bowl, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.
###
Article: In a statement, the company said the move will hit next year's profit by about £15m.
In addition, if the pound averages $1.20 over the financial year, it may lose another £20m.
Overnight on Friday the pound temporarily plunged by 6%, in a flash crash that is thought to have been triggered by automated trading.
Shares in Sports Direct closed down 9% on Friday.
The company had expected to report underlying profit of £300m based on the pound trading at $1.30 against the dollar.
However, the retailer said that "extreme movements overnight" would result "in a negative impact of approximately £15m" on its results for the current financial year.
The swings overnight hit the company's hedging arrangements, which are designed to protect a business against volatile currency prices.
It also sustained a large loss in its last financial year because of currency movements.
In that case, because of a fall in the value of the pound against the euro, it took a £65m hit.
As a result, Sports Direct reported underlying earnings of £381.4m for the year to 24 April against expectations of £420m, resulting in staff missing out on a bonus.
It has been a tumultuous year for Sports Direct which has been criticised for working conditions at its Shirebrook distribution centre. Most recently, its chief executive Dave Forsey stepped down and was replaced by Mike Ashley, the founder and majority shareholder of the retail chain.
The company has an acting finance director after its former financial chief Bob Mellors stepped down in December 2013 after a decade with the business.
Matt Pearson was appointed as interim chief financial officer on 2 June 2015.

Summary:


The government has announced it will introduce a new tax on the sale of alcohol.
The new tax will be levied on the sale of alcohol in pubs, bars and restaurants.
The government has also announced it will introduce a new tax on the sale of tobacco.
The new tax will be levied on the sale of

Isle of Wight Council begins a High Court appeal after the case against a father who took his child on holiday during term-time was thrown out by magistrates.

Article: Specialisterne Northern Ireland plans to link people with high functioning autism with employers.
More than 50 digital content and film production companies will be attending.
Young people and adults on the autistic spectrum from across Northern Ireland and university staff are to take part.
The audience at the Skainos Centre in east Belfast will gain insight into the abilities of people with autism to organise and make systems.
Specialisterne has traditionally helped people with autism get jobs in IT and software development.
The initiative is the final and flagship event of Creativity Month in Northern Ireland.
Autism and Asperger syndrome are part of a range of conditions known as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). They affect the way the brain processes information.
Since its launch in April 2014, Specialisterne NI has identified 120 people who are on the autistic spectrum and who have the skills and talent for IT and creative roles.

Summary: An initiative aimed at matching the specific skills of people with autism with the creative industries is to be launched later.
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Article: The education minister has written to councils advising them head teachers should instead exercise discretion.
Pupils are allowed to have up to 10 days away, but schools are judged on absenteeism rates.
Campaign group Parents Want a Say said the advice was a "terrific result".
Nearly 2,000 people signed a petition after hundreds of parents were fined over term-time holidays.
In his letter to councils on Wednesday, Huw Lewis said he was concerned some councils were advising "head teachers should not exercise their discretion and should instead refuse all requests for term-time absence as a matter of course", regardless of the circumstances.
"This is contrary to the regulations which allow a margin of discretion for the school in such matters so that each request can be considered fairly and on its merits," the minister wrote.
A BBC Wales Freedom of Information request in 2015 found wide variations in policy of imposing fines.
While Cardiff council issued 370 fixed penalty notices between January and May, 10 other councils did not issue any.
After receiving the petition in December, petitions committee chairman, William Powell AM, wrote to Mr Lewis saying some parents may have been dealt with unfairly and unlawfully.
He welcomed the minister's response, saying some councils had been "engaging in a cynical game of 'pass the parcel' on this issue".
"It is clear that the minister's intention, contrary to what applies in England, is for the discretion of individual head teachers to be respected," Mr Powell said.
"The Minister's response to the petitioners, in the light of compelling evidence received, is, in my view, a victory for common sense."
Craig Langman, chairman of campaign group Parents Want a Say, said it was a "terrific result" for parents in Wales.
"We hope this will encourage Westminster to reconsider its position on the policy in England," he added.

Summary: Campaigners who petitioned against parents being fined for taking term-time holidays are claiming a victory after it was agreed a blanket ban breached regulations.
###
Article: Jon Platt was taken to court after refusing to pay a Â£120 fine for taking his daughter, aged six, to Florida.
He had argued the law only required children to attend school regularly.
The council said it wanted to know why the court decided there was no case to answer.
Mr Platt, a solicitor, took his daughter on holiday with the extended family, despite an absence request being rejected by the school.
At a magistrates' court earlier this month he successfully argued Section 444 of the Education Act required parents ensured their children attended school "regularly", and did not put restrictions on taking them on holidays in term time.
His daughter had a 93.8% attendance rate the previous academic year.
Isle of Wight Council said it has started the formal process of appeal to the High Court for clarification on a matter of law.
Council leader Jonathan Bacon said: "The recent media attention given to this case shows that there is interest, concern and, above all, uncertainty as to what constitutes 'regular attendance' for the purposes of the legislation in question.
"The Isle of Wight Council has received clear advice that the magistrates may have failed to interpret and apply the law correctly in making their decision.
"Where the law created by Parliament is uncertain, the appeal courts have the ability to lay down a binding ruling as to the correct interpretation of the law."

Summary:


Voting has begun in local elections across Merseyside.

Article: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it wanted to raise awareness among people who may get a drone as a gift.
Research carried out by the CAA suggests about 39% of owners know about the safe-flying regulations.
The update comes after four near-misses between between drones and civil aircraft were reported in October.
"Drones are an incredible, inspiring technology but it's vital that people are using them safely," said Andrew Sage from air traffic control body NATS in a statement.
"With the number of reported drone incidents on the rise, it's important that people understand their legal obligations and fly safe," he said.
The revised code turns the five main safety tips into a mnemonic, spelling drone, to make it easier to remember.
The CAA has also updated it dronesafe website which collects information about how to operate the unmanned craft safely.
The CAA and NATS are also working with online and high street retailers to ensure that customers are told about their responsibilities when they buy a drone.
CAA research suggests that only 36% of drone buyers get guidance about safe flying at the point of sale.
The UK Airprox Board reported four separate near-miss incidents in October involving drones. One took place near Liverpool Airport and the other three happened on consecutive days at Heathrow.
The Airprox board said 56 near-miss incidents had been recorded so far in 2016 compared to 29 in 2015.
Some European bodies are pushing for drone makers to include "geo-fencing" systems that automatically stop the craft being flown into danger areas such as airfields.

Summary: The UK's drone code has been revised and updated to help pilots of the unmanned craft ensure they fly the gadgets safely.
###
Article: The train drivers' union Aslef said its 24-hour action would start at 21:30 BST on Wednesday.
London Underground (LU) had offered four unions a deal aimed at improving work-life balance.
BBC London correspondent Karl Mercer said all four unions had rejected the offer as talks continued.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has also rejected the deal while Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) is yet to make official its response to the offer.
Unite previously said its action "would go ahead". Talks are being held at conciliatory service Acas.
LU said the new offer included an extra £200 per night Tube shift for drivers and a £500 bonus for station staff by next February as well as a further guarantees for a 32-hour, four-day week.
After a short transition period while the service is introduced, drivers will have the choice whether to work nights, said LU, and everyone will be entitled to two days off in seven.
But Aslef said LU should postpone the planned launch of the all-night Tube on 12 September so further negotiations could be held.
It said the new deal was "completely inflexible", leaving it with "no other choice" than to walk out.
Finn Brennan from the union said the main concern was the "complete lack of firm commitments on work life balance for train drivers" and the number of weekend rest days they would get.
The RMT said it had also rejected the "re-packaged" offer, saying its reps were "furious" when they examined details of the proposed deal.
It said: "They are a re-hash of previous plans and would continue along the course of smashing up long-standing agreements and destroying work-life balance."
LU's managing director Nick Brown said he was "hugely disappointed" the unions had rejected the "very fair" offer for "pretty thin" reasons, but that LU remained open to further talks.
Transport for London (TfL) has warned that Tube services will stop running at 18:30 BST on Wednesday, with services "exceptionally busy" from 16:30 BST.
There will be no Tube services all day on...

Summary: A 24-hour Tube strike is set to go ahead in a row over pay and conditions for the new night Tube service for London, a union has said.
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Article: Polling stations opened their doors at 07:00 BST and will close at 22:00.
Votes are being cast in council elections in Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. In Liverpool, voters will also elect a city mayor.
Voters across Merseyside will also be asked to choose a police and crime commissioner. In England, elections are taking place for more than 120 councils and the London Assembly.

Summary:


A couple who created a World Cup sticker album with their own drawings of players have picked up their pens again to sketch for charity.

A man has been jailed for life for the "motiveless and brutal" murder of a Brighton man in his city centre flat.

Article: Anne McTaggart's Organ Donation (Scotland) Bill has secured cross-party support, and is backed by 22 Labour MSPs, four SNP, two Lib Dems and one each from the Conservatives and Greens.
The Bill proposes to change the current "opt-in" system of organ donation.
It would mean people would have to opt out or their name would be added to the NHS Organ Donation Register.
Ms McTaggart said: "I would encourage those MSPs who have previously indicated that they support a change - including Nicola Sturgeon - to back us and change the lives of those people on organ waiting lists.
"With three people dying every day across the UK, we simply cannot afford to wait any longer on this issue."
She added: "Promoting organ donation is vital but on its own it will not deliver the much-needed increase in organs that we need just now and that's why my Bill is essential.
"It represents a shift to a more positive, proactive approach which will save people's lives."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "This government is committed to continuing to increase donation and transplantation rates in Scotland and continue the success that the Donation and Transplantation Plan for Scotland 2013-2020 is already delivering.
"Thanks to these efforts, the numbers of donors in Scotland have increased significantly and the number of people waiting for a transplant has fallen by 25% in the last seven years.
"Whilst we welcome any debate in relation to the important issues of organ donation and transplant, we do need to examine the evaluation of the impact of opt-out on organ donation on Wales before making a decision on any changes within Scotland.
"This is because there is not, as yet, a consensus amongst experts as to whether opt-out will make a significant difference, and the international evidence is not clear."

Summary: A Labour MSP has called on the first minister to support the introduction of her organ donation bill later.
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Article: Dubbed the "Panini Cheapskates", Alex and Sian Pratchett, from Oxford, created all 639 stickers of the World Cup Panini album in 2014.
Last year, the duo then turned their hands to politics, sketching party leaders ahead of May's election.
They now hope to create 800 stickers for the Euro 2016 album, for charity.
They plan to start their latest challenge on 10 June - the day the tournament starts - and finish when it ends on 10 July.
Raising cash for Cancer Research UK and Macintyre Charities would give the pair "the motivation to keep churning out our dishevelled little men even when our brains and bodies are telling us to stop", Mr Pratchett said.
He admitted the couple, who "have actual jobs and, in many ways, actual lives" had not got any better at drawing since 2014, describing their attempts as "uniformly awful".
As well as creating all 800 players, Mr and Mrs Pratchett have also pledged to sketch personalised pictures of the top 100 donors.

Summary: A couple who completed a World Cup sticker album with their own drawings of players have picked up their pens again to sketch for charity.
###
Article: David Sole, 33, of no fixed address, had denied murdering Jonathan Ellison but was found guilty at Lewes Crown Court of beating him to death.
Denise Antonia, 33, of Appledore Road, Brighton, was cleared of murder but found guilty of assisting an offender. She was jailed for five years.
Mr Ellison was found dead in his flat in Gloucester Street on 8 April 2011.
Sole and Antonia were arrested in Winchester, Hampshire, on 16 April following an investigation by Sussex Police's major crime branch.
Following the two-week trial, Sole was told he would serve a minimum term of 18 years.
Det Ch Insp Trevor Bowles said: "Jon Ellison was killed by a man who had befriended him and who he trusted.
"His trust led to his death, as the result of a motiveless but brutal drug and drink-fuelled assault, which caused some of the worst injuries any of us have ever seen."
Mr Bowles said Mr Ellison was a "vulnerable man with many health and personal problems" but he was regarded as "a kind and trusted person".
In a statement issued through Sussex Police, Mr Ellison's brothers said: "He did not deserve to be taken in such a brutal way.
"It was completely at odds with his kind and gentle spirit."

Summary:


The Scottish Government has announced that it will be investing £1.5 million in the development of a new £1.5 million cinema in the city.
The new cinema will be located in the city centre, and will be the first in Scotland to be built on the site of the former Royal National Theatre.

The coastguard has called off a search for a kayaker after it declared the alarm an "elaborate hoax".

Article: The claim: Rail fares have increased at double the rate of wages since 2010.
Reality Check verdict: Rail fares have risen by double the rate of wages since 2010, but the rate of growth has slowed considerably in the second half of that period.
As a result, we know that fares have risen by about 24% since January 2010.
We also know from the ONS that average weekly wages have risen by about 12% over the same period.
So the TUC is correct when it says that average train fares have risen by double the rate of wages since 2010.
But, there has been a change in government policy since 2010, which means that looking at the average since then does not give a fair picture.
After widespread criticism of rising fares, the coalition government, which took office in 2010, decided to act.
In 2013 it cut the cap on regulated fares from RPI inflation plus one percentage point, to July's RPI inflation rate. A year later it further tightened the rules, removing train companies' ability to increase certain fares within the cap.
The new rules meant regulated train fares - which cover about half of all tickets - could rise no faster than RPI inflation in July of the previous year until the end of the Parliament in 2015. That policy looks set to continue until 2020.
It means that the rise in rail fares has slowed considerably.
In fact, since January 2013, wages have risen by 5.7% while train fares have risen by 5.6%.
In 2015, the low rate of inflation meant that fares rose by less than wages.

Summary: Average rail fares are one of the items in the basket of goods that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses to measure inflation.
###
Article: Film critic Mark Adams will replace Chris Fujiwara, who stepped down from the role this year.
Mr Adams, who writes reviews for the Sunday Mirror and trade magazine Screen International, said he would help the annual festival "develop and grow".
He was head of programming at the National Film Theatre in London and at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Next year marks the 69th Edinburgh Film Festival. The celebration of UK and world cinema has seen admissions increase by about a third in recent years.
Mr Adams, who will take up the role in March, said: "I'm thrilled to be helping the Edinburgh International Film Festival develop and grow, and am looking forward to bringing new, challenging, entertaining and exciting cinema to the city.
"This is a great festival that deserves its recognition and can only get better and better."
Ken Hay, EIFF chief executive, said: "We are delighted to have Mark joining the team.
"His passion for film, his fantastic experience as a programmer, journalist and critic, along with his reputation in the UK and internationally, make him the ideal choice to drive the future success of the festival."

Summary: The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has appointed a new artistic director.
###
Article: The search was launched after the coastguard received reports from an individual claiming to be in difficulty off the coast of County Down.
Two RNLI boats and a coastguard helicopter from Scotland were launched to assist in the search.
The kayaker was reported to be near Mew Island, one of the Copeland Islands near Donaghadee.
A coastguard spokesman said it received several calls from a person claiming to be in difficulty.
However, the alarm was declared to be a hoax following a thorough search.

Summary:


Outgoing ministers in Ghana could be forcibly evicted from their official residences if they fail to move out in time, under new laws.

Article: Andrew Crook, 48, struck 46-year-old Robert Allaway head-on in the crash on the A65 near Settle in October.
Crook, of Swinnow Grove, Leeds, pleaded guilty to causing Mr Allaway's death by driving without due care and attention.
He was jailed at Bradford Crown Court for four years and eight months and banned from driving for five years.
North Yorkshire Police said Crook had 83mg of alcohol per 100mg of breath when he hit Mr Allaway, from Long Preston, near Skipton - the legal limit is 35mg.
Mr Allaway's wife Lorraine, who lost her sister to cancer on the same day, said: "It is impossible to find the words to describe how we feel about Bob's death.
"He was my soul mate and is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.
"This is without doubt the hardest and most painful experience of my life."
Mrs Allaway said she planned to campaign for tougher sentencing for drivers convicted of causing death by dangerous or careless driving or while under the influence of drink or drugs.
Traffic constable Dave Seavers, from North Yorkshire Police, said: "Crook gave no consideration to the safety of other road users that day and got behind the wheel with a blatant disregard for the law.
"The bad choice Crook made meant that a man has lost his life through no fault of his own and his family faces a future without a loved one."

Summary: A man who was more than twice the drink-drive limit and driving on the wrong side of the road when he hit and killed a motorcyclist has been jailed.
###
Article: An area of ancient woodland in the rolling hills of the South Downs in West Sussex, Markwells Wood is a world away from rain-lashed oil rigs in the North Sea or sun-bleached oil refineries in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
Yet hidden behind the trees is one of the UK's newest onshore oil wells.
With testing work continuing, the owner, London-based Northern Petroleum, estimates it could produce about five million barrels of oil.
This is tiny in comparison with reserves in the Middle East, but with the UK's offshore oil supplies in the North Sea running low, Northern's argument is that such small onshore oil fields - of which there are currently 28 scattered across Britain - together play a vital role in reducing our dependence upon imports.
As Derek Musgrove, Northern's managing director, drives up to Markwells Wood in his Land Rover, the only obvious sign it houses anything at all is a basic gravel access track.
"As you can see, the facility is very much hidden away," he says.
"The trees all the way around the site are not just a visual barrier, but excellent sound proofing - you would be surprised at just how effectively trees absorb noise."
At present all is quiet at Northern's site - two acres of levelled land cut from the wood, with the small wellhead roughly in the middle.
Beneath the flooring of basic compacted stone is a thick plastic membrane, which covers the entire site, including a trench running all the way around the perimeter.
"While it is highly unlikely that there will be any leaks, we don't take any chances, and the membrane is there for containment," says Mr Musgrove.
"Everything we do is about best environmental and safety practice. We wish to be the best possible neighbour, and behave with the utmost care."
But while Northern Petroleum is keen to stress its environmental credentials, it has a fight on its hands to win planning permission to start actual production.
Especially as Markwells Wood, near Chichester, lies within the new South Downs National Park, which came into being on 1 April...

Summary: A Â£500m battle is welling up over a picture postcard piece of English countryside.
###
Article: Ministers and other government officials are being given a three-month deadline to hand over state-owned homes and vehicles, from the date of the new president's inauguration.
The law targets presidential appointees who try to cling on to the perks of office after a new leader is elected.
Ghana goes to the polls on 7 December.
After previous transfers of power, some officials have had to be forcibly evicted and had their state-owned vehicles seized after failing to hand them back.
The law does not apply to presidents and vice-presidents as we earlier reported.
The bill, which was passed by MPs on Wednesday evening, will now go to the president to sign into law.
Existing legislation requires officials to hand back government property after they leave office, but this is the first time a strict time limit has been applied.
Ghana's current leader John Mahama is standing for re-election and his main opponent is Nana Akufo-Addo. The winner will be inaugurated on 7 January 2017.
Ghana's presidential candidates:

Summary:


The NHS has been criticised for its use of private ambulances in the capital.

Spending on private ambulances in London grew by 1,000% between 2011 and 2013, the Labour party has claimed.

Article: CorporateHealth International ApS is to invest Â£5.7m in establishing a new diagnostics centre at the Inverness Campus.
The centre's staff will analyse images captured by video camera capsules - small devices swallowed by patients.
The capsules offer an alternative to diagnostic endoscopies and colonoscopies.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise is supporting the project with investment of Â£600,000.
CorporateHealth International UK Ltd, a subsidiary of the Danish firm, will run the centre.

Summary: A Danish life science company is to create 30 jobs over the next three years in the Highlands.
###
Article: It has produced advice for scientists and the media on choosing names.
The WHO says Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Spanish Flu are examples of what to avoid because they mention specific locations.
Instead, names should contain generic terms that are "easy to pronounce".
The WHO said several new human infectious diseases had emerged in recent years and some had stigmatised certain cultures, regions and economies.
Dr Keiji Fukuda, assistant director general for health security at the WHO, said: "This may seem like a trivial issue to come, but disease names really do matter to the people who are directly affected."
Dr Fukuda said certain disease names had created a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities.
They had also put up barriers to travel, commerce and trade, he added, and in some cases triggered the needless slaughtering of animals.
"This can have serious consequences for people's lives and livelihoods."
The WHO has listed a number of best practices for naming new diseases which have not been recognised in humans before.
They include using specific or generic descriptive terms if they are known, such as 'severe', 'progressive' or 'respiratory disease' and making names short and easily pronounceable.
Any acronyms for longer names should be checked, the advice adds.
Disease names which incite fear, include people's names, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or refer to specific occupations, for example Legionnaires' disease, should be avoided.

Summary: New human diseases should be given socially acceptable names which do not offend people and countries or mention animals, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
###
Article: The NHS spent £8.84m on private ambulances in the capital last year compared to £795,000 in 2011, according to Freedom of Information data.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) conceded it was losing staff due to "pressure on the organisation".
But LAS denied claims it had employed private staff previously sacked by the NHS.
Heidi Alexander, Labour MP for Lewisham East, claimed London ambulances were taking "on average two minutes longer than three years ago" to respond to the most serious call-outs.
Labour said its research discovered private ambulance usage by ambulance trusts across the country grew by 82% between financial years 2011/12 and 2013/14, from £37m to £67.5m last year.
Private ambulance spending In Yorkshire and the North East more than quadrupled to hit £3.56m and £2.9m respectively, said Labour, although other ambulance services maintained low spending during the two years, while one trust reduced its reliance on private vehicles.
Shadow health minister Jamie Reed raised concerns over the figures and the "increasing use" of private ambulances during health questions in the House of Commons.
But his comments were branded "absolute nonsense" by public health minister Jane Ellison, who said that previous Labour government "occasionally deployed private ambulances too".
Brendan Kemp, regional organiser for the GMB union, questioned the hiring practices of ambulance trusts and their ability to keep staff.
"Who's checking the qualifications of the staff that man these vehicles?" he said on BBC London 94.9.
"Often staff that have been dismissed by London Ambulance Service for something, often they'll reappear working for a private contractor."
But Jason Killens, director of operations for the LAS, said every private contractor "is checked by us before we use them".
"Staff that leave the LAS for reasons of clinical safety would not be redeployed on those private contracts with us," he told BBC London 94.9.
Mr Killens said increasing demand each year "is adding pressure in the organisation" and conceded...

Summary:


The government has announced that it will be cutting the number of jobs in the public sector by a quarter in the next five years.
The government has also announced that it will be cutting the number of jobs in the public sector by a quarter in the next five years.
The government has also announced that it will be

The Archbishop of Canterbury is working with other Christian churches to agree on a fixed date for Easter.

Article: Mark Carney, speaking at the annual Jackson Hole convention in the US of central bankers and economists, said: "The prospect of sustained momentum in the UK economy and the gradual firming of underlying inflationary pressures will likely put the decision as to when to start the process of gradual monetary policy normalisation [or interest rate rises] into sharper relief at the turn of this year."
Which is another way of saying that he stands by the economic timetable for possibly raising rates that he set out in Lincoln Cathedral on 16 July.
He was giving his first response to the rout in shares on the Shanghai stock market over the past few days - a rout which for a couple of days infected stock markets all over the world.
Mr Carney said an interest rate rise was by no means inevitable in the opening months of 2016.
But he wanted to dampen speculation that "developments in China" have changed "the process of rate increases from limited and gradual to infinitesimal and inert".
What the Bank of England has to weigh up, he said, was whether domestic demand - spending by British consumers, investing by British investors - was strong enough to offset the potential for further "material slowing of growth in China and more broadly in non-Japan Asia", coupled with the deflationary impact of falling currencies of China and other emerging markets.
Although Wall Street and European stock markets have since recovered from last week's shocks, central bankers and economists are concerned that a pronounced deceleration of growth in China is having a big negative impact on other emerging market economies, and therefore on the prosperity of the world as a whole.
There has therefore been widespread speculation that the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England would delay the first rises in interest rates since the great crash of 2008 in the US and UK.
Mr Carney made clear that the decision on whether to increase the so-called Bank Rate - the interest rate set by the Bank of England - by 0.25% from 0.5% would depend on...

Summary: The decision on when to raise interest rates is still likely be at the top of the Bank of England's agenda at the turn of the year, the governor said this afternoon - even though he acknowledged that China's economic slowdown means the world's second biggest economy is likely to be a drag on growth in the whole world.
###
Article: Their funding was cut by a quarter from 2011 to 2016, according to an investigation by the agency.
The government is committed to raising parks' budgets between now and 2020.
However, funding in 2020 will be as much as a fifth below 2010 levels, said the study, even before inflation is taken into account.
Among the parks affected were the Peak District, with annual funding cut from £8.3m to £6.3m, and the Lake District from £6.9m to £5.2m.
The investigation found that once inflation was taken into account cuts over the five years were even more severe, at 40% in real terms.
In 2015, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) pledged to increase the direct grant for National Parks by 1.72% a year for most parks up to 2020.
The figures exclude South Downs National Park which did not become fully operational until April 2011.
The park saw funding fall from £11.4m in 2011-12 to £9.8m in the last financial year.
The Yorkshire Dales will see a bigger boost in its grant in the next two years as a result of the extension of the park area by almost a quarter in 2016.
The Campaign for National Parks said that since 2010, the Norfolk Broads had closed three out of six information centres, Dartmoor had reduced staff by 35% and various parks had cut bus services transporting people to the attractions.
Chief executive Fiona Howie said the charity welcomed the government's desire for more people to benefit from National Parks.
"If we want the parks to inspire current and future generations we need to make sure they receive the resources necessary for them to be maintained and, ideally, enhanced," she said.
A Defra spokeswoman said: "National Parks are treasured landscapes and an important part of our country's identity, attracting 90 million visitors and generating £4bn a year.
"We are committed to helping them thrive, which is why we have protected their budgets to 2020, committing over £350m for English National Parks, AONBs (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and public forests."
National Parks in...

Summary: National Parks in England have lost millions of pounds of government funding in the past five years, says the Press Association news agency.
###
Article: Justin Welby made the announcement after a meeting of primates from the Anglican Communion in Canterbury.
In the UK, an act of Parliament passed in 1928 allowed for Easter Sunday to be fixed on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April.
However, this has never been activated and Easter has remained variable, determined by the moon's cycle.
Easter is the most important Christian festival, as it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ following his death by crucifixion on Good Friday.
The archbishop said he was in talks with Pope Francis, Coptic leader Pope Tawadros, and the leader of the Orthodox church Patriarch Bartholomew.
Mr Welby said he hoped the change would happen "in between five and 10 years time".
"I would love to see it before I retired", he said, although he warned the first attempt to make such a change was in the 10th Century.
An Anglican source told the BBC there had been 15 attempts to agree a common date since then.
Easter is on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon following the spring equinox, meaning it can be celebrated on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April.
But the Orthodox church follows the Julian calendar, hence has later Easter celebrations compared with those of Western Christianity.
In 1990, the Vatican approved a proposal for a fixed date, which was subject to agreement with other Christian churches and governments. It has not yet been reached.

Summary:


Girls are being invited to audition to join Gloucester Cathedral's Choir for the first time in its 477 year history.

Article: The footage revealed that the clever primates habitually make special water-dipping sticks - chewing the end of the stick to turn it into a soft, water-absorbing brush.
Primate researchers examined the "dipping sticks" and concluded they were made specifically for drinking.
The findings are reported in the American Journal of Primatology.
Lead researcher Juan Lapuente, from the Comoe Chimpanzee Conservation Project, in Ivory Coast, explained that using similar brush-tipped sticks to dip into bees' nests for honey was common in chimpanzee populations across Africa.
"But the use of brush-tipped sticks to dip for water is completely new and had never been described before," he told BBC News.
"These chimps use especially long brush tips that they make specifically for water - much longer than those used for honey."
The researchers tested the chimps' drinking sticks in an "absorption experiment", which showed that the particularly long brush-tips provided an advantage.
"The longer the brush, the more water they collect," said Mr Lapuente.
"This technology allows Comoe chimpanzees to obtain water from extremely narrow and deep tree holes that only they  - and no other animal - can exploit, which [gives] them a superb adaptive advantage to survive in this dry and unpredictable environment."
This suggests that this particular population of chimpanzees has what the researchers call a "drinking culture" - a custom shared throughout this group of making these special water-dipping sticks to help them through the dry season.
The population belongs to the Western Chimpanzee sub-species, now critically endangered.
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Summary: Researchers have used camera traps to film tool-use that is unique to chimpanzees in Ivory Coast.
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Article: Meeting in secret and banned from using mobile phones or electronic recording devices, the 124 members will propose candidates, vote to create a shortlist and pick a winner.
A member of the voting committee will call the winner. If they do not want the job, the orchestra will reconvene.
Sir Simon said two years ago he would leave when his contract ended in 2018.
He will join the London Symphony Orchestra as its music director.
The Berlin Philharmonic, founded in 1882, has had three chief conductors over the past six decades:
Among the possible successors are:

Summary: The Berlin Philharmonic orchestra is electing a chief conductor and artistic director to succeed Sir Simon Rattle.
###
Article: The choir was established by Henry VIII in 1539 and is currently made up of 20 boys and 12 adults.
The Dean of Gloucester said including girl choristers would be an "exciting new chapter" in the choir's history.
The aim is to find youngsters from local schools and a range of backgrounds who may not have considered singing in a cathedral choir before.
Adrian Partington, director of music at Gloucester Cathedral, said the aim is to "discover" some very talented girls.
New recruits will play a full part in the cathedral's musical worship, beginning with rehearsals in September before singing at evensong each Monday from October as well as at Christmas and Easter services.
The dean, the Very Reverend Stephen Lake, said: "This will ensure that young girls and boys will be lifting their voices in song at Gloucester Cathedral for many years to come."
The cathedral is hosting a "come and sing" open day on 9 April with girls and boys aged between seven and 12 invited to experience singing in the cathedral.
Auditions for girls will be held on 23 April.

Summary:


The bedroom where the Duke of Wellington died at Walmer Castle has been recreated to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

Article: Fewer international journalists come here nowadays, she tells me. There is less interest now that the city is no longer murder capital of the world.
Back in 2011, Honduras had a murder rate of 86.5 per 100,000 people, according to the National University's Violence Observatory.
The country's industrial capital, San Pedro Sula, was the worst-hit.
But by 2015, the national murder rate had decreased to 60 per 100,000. Still not low, but quite a drop.
At the same time, neighbouring El Salvador has been climbing the ladder of violence.
Its national murder rate last year was closer to 100 per 100,000 people. El Salvador is currently the most deadly country outside a war zone.
Ms Cruz points out how much has changed in the past couple of years. Security cameras have been installed on street corners across San Pedro Sula.
More than 2,000 in the past few months.
"The Honduran government has real political will to clean up," she tells me.
"To heal the wounds of the violence, the statistics and deaths through drug trafficking and organised crime."
Ms Cruz says funding from the United States has helped too; programmes that have helped bring the violence down.
Latin America makes up just 8% of the world's population but accounts for nearly a third of all murders.
How did Central America in particular get so bad?
A combination of organised crime and weak institutions has played a huge part, as well as regional instability.
"We've practically got two generations who've grown up in an environment of ideological warfare," says Ramon Renaud, a political analyst who explains that even though Honduras - unlike many of its neighbours - escaped civil war, violence has made its mark.
"The violence in Honduras doesn't have its roots in social issues or a class war. It's more about the bridge that drug-trafficking has formed in Honduras and the Northern Triangle of Guatemala and El Salvador.
"Previous governments have not taken the right decisions to tackle this problem head on. So what happens? It's infiltrated and rooted itself in...

Summary: The first person I meet when I land in San Pedro Sula, in north-western Honduras, is local journalist Ingrid Cruz who gives me a tour of her city.
###
Article: John Burke stole money from the 83-year-old from Warrington, Cheshire, over five years, using the cash to buy a Mercedes and a new kitchen.
Burke, 74, of Teal Close in Altrincham, admitted fraud by abuse of position.
He was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
Burke befriended the woman and gained her trust between 2007 and 2012, persuading her to give him cheques, Greater Manchester Police said.
He promised she would see good returns on her investment, despite not being a registered accountant or qualified to give financial advice.
Burke was arrested in January 2015 after a family solicitor became concerned about a lack of paperwork and interest payments from the victim's purported investments.
An investigation then found he had stolen £160,000 and prepared a homemade will, which the victim had signed, appointing him as sole executor.
As well as the car and kitchen, Burke had spent most of the money on loans to another company, paying off his own debts, loaning money to a friend and other living expenses.
By 2014, the woman had been repaid just over £25,500 from the accounts held by Burke.
Det Con Laura Watson said Burke was a "callous fraudster" who had "gained and then obliterated" the trust of a "vulnerable" woman.
She added: "This is a sad case where an elderly woman has lost her savings and has been left extremely upset by what has happened."

Summary: A "callous fraudster" who conned an elderly woman out of £160,000 by convincing her he would invest her savings has been jailed.
###
Article: The military hero who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815 stayed at the Kent castle regularly from 1829 until 1852.
Copying a watercolour made shortly after his death, English Heritage has recreated the carpet and wallpaper in the room when he died aged  83.
A pair of his original Wellington boots and his death mask are also on show.
The bed and armchair he used are also on display as part of the new exhibition at the castle, which opens on Friday.
Displays in other rooms explore the career of Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley and his "celebrity" status and state funeral, where more than 1.5m people lined the route.
Wellington's body lay in state at Walmer for two months while preparations for his funeral at St Paul's Cathedral were taking place.
"In 1852, the eyes of the world fell upon Walmer Castle as one of the most important figures of that century died within a small and modest room there," said senior curator Rowena Willard-Wright .
Walmer Castle, near Deal, was completed in 1540 as one of a chain of coastal artillery forts.
From 1708 it became the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, a position occupied by Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as well as the Duke of Wellington.
The Lord Warden is now a ceremonial post but the holder was originally in charge of five port towns on England's south east coast.

Summary:


The UK government has announced it will be introducing a new tax on the sale of mobile phones, which will be levied on the sale of phones that are not connected to the internet.
The new tax will be levied on the sale of phones that are not connected to the internet, and will be levied at a rate of

Apple has expanded its use of "two-step verification" checks to protect data stored online by its customers.

Article: Jackson held a 50% stake in Sony ATV Music Publishing as part of a business partnership that began in 1995.
The purchase will give Sony the rights to about three million songs, including works by the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift.
However, the deal does not include Jackson's master recordings.
His estate will maintain its holdings in Mijac Music, which owns all the songs written by Jackson, as well as EMI Music Publishing.
The agreement will reportedly help reduce the Jackson estate's remaining $250m debt and give the late musician's three children more financial flexibility.
The purchase of Jackson's stake also strengthens Sony's US entertainment business, which includes a film studio and music recording company.
"The entertainment businesses have long been a core part of Sony and are a key driver of our future growth," Kazuo Hirai, Sony's president and chief executive, said in a statement.
"These businesses will continue to contribute to our success for years to come."
John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the Jackson estate, said the deal "further validates Michael's foresight and genius in investing in music publishing".
"His ATV catalogue, purchased in 1985 for a net acquisition cost of $41.5m, was the cornerstone of the joint venture and, as evidenced by the value of this transaction, is considered one of the smartest investments in music history."

Summary: Sony is paying Michael Jackson's estate $750m (£526m) for the late pop star's share of a joint music publishing venture that it does not already own.
###
Article: The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) spoke to 7,300 businesses in the manufacturing and services sectors, and found the percentage seeking to hire had grown by up to 9% in the last quarter.
But most also experienced "high levels of recruitment difficulties" which the BCC said was a risk to growth.
The government said it was working to deliver a highly-skilled workforce.
According to the trade group's quarterly economic survey, both manufacturing and services firms reported "solid growth" in their businesses in first three months of the year, with domestic and export sales up since the previous quarter.
It also found "confidence in turnover and profitability is improving", and that some 86% of manufacturing firms, up from 77% in the last quarter, and 59% of services companies, up from 53%, wanted to find new recruits.
But despite this, around 74% of manufacturing firms and 58% of services firms said they were struggling to find staff.
Suren Thiru, head of economics at the BCC, told the BBC: "The main issue is finding enough people with the right skills, and of course the workforce is aging.
"A lot firms are also finding their costs rising and this is deterring business investment, including investing in training their staff."
He said new upfront taxes were partly to blame, such as the recently introduced immigration skills charge and new National Living Wage.
But he also said that the rising cost of imported raw materials, resulting from the weakness of the pound since the Brexit vote, had squeezed business spending.
"Another emerging issue is whether firms can continue to get workers from overseas both in the run-up to, and after, Brexit," he added. "Industries like hospitality and construction are heavily dependent on EU workers."
A government spokesman told the BBC: "The UK economy has shown sustained momentum since the EU referendum and it's encouraging to see continued investment and growth in important sectors like manufacturing and services.
"We know that businesses need a highly-skilled workforce to...

Summary: UK firms want to recruit more workers but cannot find or afford the right staff, a survey has found.
###
Article: It follows suggestions third-party software had been used to steal intimate photos of celebrities - posted online last month - from iCloud.
The action should stop the tool from being able to infiltrate Apple's internet storage service if the safety measure is implemented.
However, the security facility remains an opt-in choice.
One expert suggested that Apple should instead make it the default option.
The process works by introducing an extra step after an account holder has typed their username and password into a device they have not used before.
They are also required to enter a four-digit code that is either texted to a trusted mobile phone number or sent via Apple's Find My iPhone app.
If the person does not enter the code, they are refused access to iCloud and are blocked from making an iTunes, iBooks, or App Store purchase.
They can, however, use a 14-character recovery key to regain access to the account in the event their trusted device is lost or stolen. They are told to keep this in a safe place to avoid being locked out.
While Apple had offered the two-step verification system in the past, until now it had not come into play when device owners used the firm's back-up service.
That meant that even if people had switched on the two-step feature to prevent cyber-thieves logging into their accounts with a stolen or guessed password, the attackers could still download a complete back-up of their data by using Elcomsoft's Phone Password Breaker.
Several hackers' forums contain discussions about using of pirated copies of Elcomsoft's "forensic" software, which is marketed as a tool for law enforcement agencies to access iCloud content without needing to be in possession of a suspect's iPhone or iPad.
ElmcomSoft's Moscow-based owner told the BBC earlier this month that he believed his software had been used in the recent hacks, as it was "the only one able to do that".
He has now acknowledged that Apple's changes guard against the technique he had used.
"I think that implementation is secure, and so there...

Summary:


The Pope's visit to the Central African Republic (CAR) is likely to be a success, with the Pope's message of hope and reconciliation to be welcomed by the people of the region.

Pope Francis will go to Africa for the first time this week, visiting a refugee camp, a slum and a mosque.

Article: The money, invested over three years, will be used to help health boards and councils provide support packages for people in their own homes.
Figures from last October showed a rise in number of patients waiting longer than four weeks to be discharged.
The health secretary said the funding would "ease pressure" on the system.
Delayed discharge, often referred to as bed-blocking, is when a patient is judged clinically ready to go home but continues to occupy a hospital bed while plans are made for appropriate follow-up care.
Health Secretary Shona Robison has said cutting the number of people stuck in hospital waiting for a care package to be arranged is an "absolute key priority" for the Scottish government.
The plans for the funding were announced on a visit to Cowan Court care home in Penicuik.
It is part of wider efforts to better integrate health and social services.
Meanwhile, Holyrood's presiding officer, Tricia Marwick, has accused Ms Robison of "gross discourtesy" for making a major policy announcement outside the Scottish parliament.
At the start of parliamentary business, Ms Marwick told MSPs she found the decision to reveal the funding at a Midlothian care home "unacceptable".
Ms Robison earlier told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that the funding was a three-year package.
She said: "It gives the integrated partnerships - health and social care coming together - a three-year ability to plan and develop services."
The health secretary said the fact that health and social services were being integrated showed there had been a "realisation that those systems had to be brought together if we were really going to be able to tackle delayed discharge in a sustainable way".
She said that health boards and councils would work together with an aim of discharging patients within 72 hours of clinical readiness.
Ms Robison said: "My plan is to get rid of delayed discharge, for it to become something of the past, and move to a 72-hour standard where people are discharged within 72 hours of being...

Summary: The issue of patients stuck waiting to be discharged from hospital is to be tackled with £100m of funding from the Scottish government.
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Article: Nathan Gill said he would quit as an MEP if elected as an AM, but with no UKIP member to replace him he said he did not want to force a by-election.
The party's ruling National Executive Committee had threatened him with expulsion if he did not resign from one of the posts by Sunday.
But on Monday it voted to put the matter to the membership.
UKIP chairman Paul Oakden told BBC Wales it was the right thing to do.
Mr Gill did not respond to the request to step down by the deadline so was briefly expelled from the party.
But the NEC voted to reinstate him and let members decide his fate.
Mr Oakden said: "The NEC believes, as I do, that members in Wales are the best people to make this decision.
"I will now decide how to do this fairly, cleanly and as soon as possible."

Summary: UKIP members in Wales will vote on whether their leader should be allowed to continue in his two elected roles.
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Article: He will make 19 speeches during his tour of Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) and they will probably address these issues:
He is expected to focus on religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence at a time of rising political instability and extremism in much of the region.
Security is expected to be tight throughout the trip, as the faithful flock to see this popular Pope, who has previously said that Christians would be wrong to equate Islam with violence.
His first stop, Kenya, has seen some of the worst Islamist violence: Two years ago, gunmen from the Somali militant group al-Shabab massacred at least 67 people inside Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall.
In Uganda, his second stop, al-Shabab bombed sports bars in Kampala where fans were watching the 2010 football World Cup on TV.
Many think the third stop on his trip, the CAR, is too dangerous for him to visit.
The Pope's visit to the capital, Bangui, where many have died in violence between largely Muslim Seleka rebels and mainly Christian "anti-balaka" militias, is seen as his most dangerous yet - but potentially also one of his most fruitful as a peace-maker.
In short: He will probably urge Christians and Muslims to get along.
2. Poverty
This is a Pope who has been hailed as the champion of a church for the poor.
His emphasis on the developing world, and the example of simplicity he sets in his own life, will be welcomed in countries where corruption in public life is often seen as an issue.
His capacity to look beyond Europe and embrace the concerns of people around the world is also likely to endear him to the faithful, and to those of other faiths, as this Pope from the southern hemisphere offers a message of hope to the dispossessed, and the struggling.
In Kenya, 75% of the wealth is owned by around 1% of the population, so Pope Francis's message may well prove popular among many of the remaining 99%.
He is likely to criticise inequality and corruption and will visit Kenya's multi-ethnic Kangemi slum - home to around 100,000...

Summary:


The government has been forced to publish the unredacted report after a decision by data watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office.
Defra said the report was incomplete and "not analytically robust".
It added that the conclusions of the draft report "amount to unsubstantiated conjecture".
United Kingdom Onshore Oil

The finance minister has said she cannot move the budget bill forward because of the inability of the Stormont parties to resolve the deadlock over welfare reform.

Article: The figure is down 1% on the equivalent number for last year which was a record high.
The drop across the UK as a whole is significantly greater.
The Scottish government noted that the number of 18-year-old applicants from deprived areas still went up.
However, the number of applicants from EU countries fell 5%, suggesting uncertainty surrounding Brexit may have deterred some people from applying to study in Scotland.
Universities Scotland noted the number of Scottish applications was down by about 2,000 but said this followed a record high last year and it did not see the fall as a cause for concern.
A spokeswoman said: "The appetite for university remains very high amongst Scots. This year's applications by the January deadline are still 13% up on just four years ago.
"The very modest levelling-off from last year's peak in applications will do little to take the pressure off places given the very high standard of applicants."
The number of applications from EU countries also fell by around 2,000. EU students who start courses this year will be entitled to free tuition on the same terms as Scottish applicants.
This is currently required under EU law and the Scottish government has confirmed it will ensure EU students who begin their courses this year will be entitled to free tuition until they graduate although the expectation is that the UK will have left the EU by then.
The number of applications from other parts of the UK and countries outside the EU - all of whom are charged tuition fees in one form or another - rose.
Scottish and EU students in effect compete against each other for the same free places - the drop in the number of applicants could make it slightly easier for some applicants to get in. Universities can decide for themselves how many paying students from the rest of the UK and countries outside the EU to let in.
Scottish government education minister Shirley-Anne Somerville said: "The initial UCAS applicant figures for 2017 show that, in the face of a general decline in applicants to...

Summary: The number of Scots applying to university has fallen slightly, according to the latest official figures from admissions service UCAS.
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Article: The government was forced to publish the unredacted report after a decision by data watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office.
Defra said the report was incomplete and "not analytically robust".
It added that the conclusions of the draft report "amount to unsubstantiated conjecture".
United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG), the industry lobby for the UK onshore oil and gas industry, said the report was "in danger of extrapolating the experiences of other jurisdictions that have different regulation, planning regimes and geologies."
The internal document - called 'Shale Gas: Rural Economy Impacts' - had several key sections obscured when it was published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last summer in response to a request under freedom of information laws.
Energy and climate campaigner Daisy Sands of Greenpeace, which led the request, said: "It's a complete vindication of Lancashire County Council's decision to reject Cuadrilla's bid to frack in their region, and provides other councils with compelling reasons to do the same."
Defra has now been forced by the Information Commissioner's Office to publish the document in full.
It reveals that potential negative impacts of the controversial process of fracking had been redacted.
Among the deleted sections were suggestions that house prices could fall by up to 7% in close proximity to shale gas exploration sites, while rental prices in the area could be pushed up by people coming to work on the developments.
Properties located up to five miles from the fracking operation could face additional insurance costs to cover losses in case of explosion on the site, the study suggested.
While the redacted version of the report flagged up the job opportunities created by fracking, the unredacted version also sounds a note of caution, warning it was less clear how sustainable shale gas investments would be and if rural communities would be able to take advantage of them.
"New York state has just made its fracking ban permanent," said...

Summary: Fracking could reduce house prices, increase traffic and noise and damage the landscape in rural communities, according to a draft official report.
###
Article: Arlene Foster was speaking after a meeting of the executive on Thursday afternoon.
She told the BBC there were no solutions on the table.
The Stormont parties failed to pass the Welfare Reform Bill on Tuesday.
Mrs Foster said failure to pass the legislation meant that there was a £600m hole in her budget.
She said she cannot move the budget bill required to give Stormont officials the legal authority to carry on spending money after the end of July.
The minister said she is seeking a meeting with the Treasury in London early next week to assess her options.
Sinn Féin's John O'Dowd said Stormont ministers should present a united front and seek a joint meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron.
However, both the Alliance Party and Ulster Unionist ministers said they were pessimistic about the chances of a resolution to the executive's difficulties.

Summary:


Disney has announced it will produce a sequel to its runaway hit Frozen, which last year became the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Article: The government wants parents to agree their child maintenance agreements "amicably" or face a charge.
It said the changes were necessary as the old set-up was costly for taxpayers.
But a charity said the changes could force some parents into "unstable" arrangements.
Child maintenance is financial support that helps towards a child's living costs when its parents have separated.
If parents split, maintenance should be paid to the person who takes care of the child on a day-to-day basis.
Under the old system many single parents used the Child Support Agency (CSA) to sort out maintenance payments, but ministers announced last year the CSA would be abolished.
A government spokesman said the old CSA was using an IT system that was "totally inadequate and notoriously riddled with defects", and as such it was costing £74 million per annum to run in operating costs alone.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions
The spokesman added that the old maintenance system "took responsibility away from parents, encouraging conflict and hostility at huge expense to the taxpayer".
In an effort to improve the situation the new replacement "Child Maintenance Service" has been gradually rolled out, which the government said is designed to act as a backstop for parents having trouble.
This week more than 50,000 letters are being sent out by the Department for Work and Pensions to parents in England, Scotland and Wales who currently pay and receive child maintenance through the old CSA.
Ministers want to encourage people to come to voluntary arrangements but if that is not possible - and the new statutory service is used - then both parties will be charged.
Under the new rules if an amicable arrangement cannot be reached the paying parent - usually the father - will have a 20% fee added to the maintenance payment, while the receiving parent will pay 4% to get the money.
The charges will be introduced later this year, and all single parents will be charged an upfront fee of £20 for registering with the new service.
However, the chief...

Summary: Thousands of letters are to be sent to single parents in Britain informing them of changes to their child maintenance arrangements.
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Article: The timing on triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty means the UK looks set to leave the EU by summer 2019.
Mrs May told the Tory Party conference - her first as prime minister - the government would strike a deal with the EU as an "independent, sovereign" UK.
Voters had given their verdict "with emphatic clarity", she said, and ministers had to "get on with the job".
In a speech on the first day of the conference in Birmingham, she also gave details of a Great Repeal Bill which she said would end EU law's primacy in the UK.
She attacked those who "have still not accepted the result of the referendum", adding: "It is up to the government not to question, quibble or backslide on what we have been instructed to do, but to get on with the job."
She told delegates: "We are going to be a fully independent, sovereign country - a country that is no longer part of a political union with supranational institutions that can override national parliaments and courts.
"And that means we are going, once more, to have the freedom to make our own decisions on a whole host of different matters, from how we label our food to the way in which we choose to control immigration."
Mrs May said a "truly global Britain is possible, and it is in sight", adding: "We don't need - as I sometimes hear people say - to 'punch above our weight' because our weight is substantial enough already."
Reacting to Mrs May's comments about Article 50:
The PM, who had previously only said she would not trigger Article 50 this year, ended speculation about the government's timetable on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning.
She said it would be done by "the first quarter of 2017", marking the start of a two-year exit process.
The process of leaving the EU would be "quite complex", she said, but added that she hoped there would now be "preparatory work" with the remaining EU members so that "once the trigger comes we will have a smoother process of negotiation".
She added: "It's not just important for the UK, but important for Europe as a...

Summary: The UK will begin the formal Brexit negotiation process by the end of March 2017, PM Theresa May has said.
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Article: The Oscar-winning picture made $1.27bn (Â£857m) at box offices worldwide, and led to record sales of related merchandise.
Frozen 2 will reunite the team behind the original feature, including director Chris Buck, writer Jennifer Lee and producer Peter Del Vecho.
The studio did not name a release date.
Shares in parent company Walt Disney were up by almost 4% following the news.
Toy-maker Mattel, which currently owns the license to sell Frozen products, saw its shares rise by almost 5%.
Last month, Disney credited the continuing success of toys based on Frozen for an "incredibly strong quarter".
Net income rose 19% to $2.2bn (Â£1.5bn) in the three-month period, with revenues up 9% to $13.4bn - both figures better than forecast.
In December, Frozen became iTunes' biggest-selling movie of all time, while the soundtrack sold more than any other album in the US in 2014.
Additionally, DVD and Blu-ray sales of the animation broke the three million mark on the first day of their release.

Summary:


The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the death of a Jordanian pilot, who was killed in a raid on a German air base in Syria.

A set of rare photographs showing the impact of the Dambusters' "bouncing bomb" raids have been sold at auction.

Article: State-run al-Iraqiya TV said government forces were "advancing" but progress has been slowed by roadside bombs.
Security sources said they had captured villages and oil fields east of the city, and blocked a key IS supply line to neighbouring Diyala province.
The offensive is being overseen at least in part by an Iranian general.
On Tuesday, the top US general said Iran's role in Tikrit could be positive, as long as it did not fuel sectarian tensions.
Some 30,000 soldiers and militiamen from the Popular Mobilisation (al-Hashd al-Shaabi) force, backed by Iraqi jets and helicopters, have advanced gradually since the offensive began on Monday.
On Wednesday, a source in the Samarra Operations Command told the BBC that government forces had taken control of the village of al-Maibdi, on the road between Tikrit and the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk, as well as the nearby Ajil and Alas oilfields. The road was a key supply route for IS between Salahuddin and Diyala provinces, the source said.
Another official told All Iraq News that the villages of Siha and Mazraat al-Rahim, just to the north of Tikrit in al-Alam district, had also been retaken.
However, the soldiers and militiamen have not breached IS defences around Tikrit and al-Dour, a town 19km (12 miles) to the south, which officials say is another stronghold of the jihadist group.
Military officials said on Tuesday that al-Dour had been surrounded and sealed off, but that an assault on the town had not yet been launched.
Can Iraq's army dislodge Islamic State?
How Iran is involved in battle for Tikrit
Tikrit campaign key to rolling back IS advance
A senior army commander said the operation was focused on preventing IS from launching more attacks, and cutting supply lines to stop reinforcements and weapons reaching Tikrit.
The next step would be to "surround the towns completely, suffocate them and then pounce," Lt Gen Abdul Amir al-Zaidi told the AFP news agency.
Gen Zaidi said progress along roads into Tikrit had been slowed by sniper fire and roadside...

Summary: Iraqi army soldiers and Shia militiamen are seeking to encircle Islamic State fighters in Tikrit, on the third day of a major operation to retake the city.
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Article: The woman, failed suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi, and al-Qaeda operative Ziyad Karboli - both Iraqi nationals - were hanged at dawn, officials said.
The executions came hours after IS posted a video appearing to show pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh being burned alive.
He was seized after crashing during an anti-IS mission over Syria in December.
Jordan had attempted to secure Lt Kasasbeh's release in a swap involving Rishawi, but IS is believed to have killed him a month ago.
The militants initially sought Rishawi's release as part of a deal to free captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, but later killed him.
Rishawi had been on death row for her role in attacks in Jordan's capital, Amman, which killed 60 people in 2005. Karboli was convicted in 2008 of killing a Jordanian national.
The two prisoners were executed at 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT), government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said on Wednesday morning.
The BBC's Paul Adams in Amman says talk of an exchange appears to have been a IS tactic to string Jordan along and foster doubt among Jordanians over its role in the US-led coalition.
Jordan vowed an "earth-shattering" response after IS posted a video online appearing to show the pilot standing in a cage engulfed in flames.
One of the leading authorities in Sunni Islam condemned the killing, saying the burning to death of Lt Kasasbeh violated Islam's prohibition on the mutilation of bodies.
In a statement released on Tuesday night, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar University in Egypt, called for the "killing, crucifixion of IS terrorists".
Mamdouh al-Ameri, a spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces, said on Tuesday that Lt Kasasbeh had "fallen as a martyr", saying their "revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians."
Safi al-Kasasbeh, the pilot's father, called for the Jordanian government to do "more than just executing prisoners".
The blood of his son was the blood of the nation, he said, "and the blood of the nation must be avenged."
"I call for [IS] to be eliminated...

Summary: Jordan has executed two convicts, including a female jihadist, following the killing of one of its air force pilots by Islamic State (IS) militants.
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Article: The raids by 19 RAF Lancaster bombers destroyed two strategically significant German dams and damaged a third.
Taken by the Nazi authorities before and after the raids - on 16 and 17 May 1943 - the aerial images are stamped "Secret Command Document".
The photographs were sold in Nottingham for Â£2,100 - considerably more than the list price of Â£1,200.
As well as the time and date of the images, they also carry a warning forbidding them to be copied.
The revolutionary bombs skipped across the lakes behind the dams and showed how precision attacks were possible in an age when most missions were lucky to get within miles of their target.
Eight aircraft were lost and 56 of 133 aircrew were killed or captured.  An estimated 1,600 people died on the ground.
International Autograph Auctions, of Nottingham, offered a set of reconnaissance images showing the Mohne and Edersee dams.
Two pairs show the Mohne and Edersee dams before and after the attacks and a fifth image of a reserve dam on the Mohne reservoir shows how part of it had emptied out.
Carl Buck, senior researcher at International Autograph Auctions, said: "The usual pictures we see of the dam raids are from photo-reconnaissance Spitfires despatched after the mission or close ups from Germany."
Dambusters expert Charles Foster said: "The fascination with the Dambusters themselves is because it combined so many different things which contributed to the war effort - a revolutionary new weapon, supreme airmanship skills and raw courage in pressing home an attack under fire.
"The fact that it was then immortalised in what is now regarded as one of the best ever British war films just adds to its mystique."

Summary: