Parliament might have to scrutinise up to 15 new bills to deliver Brexit, leaving little time for other legislation, the Institute for Government has warned.

Article: Smaller developers will be able to buy sites in England with planning permission in place - with 40% of the new-builds to be so-called "starter homes" aimed at first-time buyers.
PM David Cameron said it was a "huge shift in government policy".
But Labour said he was using "rhetoric to hide his failure on new homes".
Shadow housing minister John Healey said the announcement did not promise new investment or affordable homes beyond those already announced.
Direct commissioning allows the government to assume responsibility for developing land, instead of large building firms.
Communities Secretary Greg Clark told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the government was "pulling out all the stops to get the country building".
"We know that consistently 90% of people aspire to own their own home, and for many years now home ownership has been in decline," he said.
He added that the eight biggest building firms accounted for 50% of the house-building market, and there was a need to involve smaller and medium-sized companies.
Downing Street said the move marked a "radical new policy shift", with up to 13,000 homes set to be built on five publicly-owned sites in 2016 - with up to 40% being affordable "starter" homes.
In December 2014 former Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander announced a pilot plan for the government to "directly commission, build and even sell homes" at a former RAF base in Northstowe, Cambridgeshire.
BBC home editor Mark Easton said the extent of government involvement marked something of an ideological shift for a Conservative administration, adding that starting 13,000 homes represented a "tiny proportion" of the million the government wants built by 2020.
The government wants to build 200,000 starter homes - to be offered to first-time buyers under 40 at a minimum 20% discount price - by 2020.
The discounts apply to properties worth up to £250,000 outside London, or £450,000 in the capital.
A pilot for the scheme will start on five sites:
Where can I afford to live?
Why 'starter...

Summary: The government is "pulling out all the stops" by directly commissioning the building of up to 13,000 homes on public land, ministers say.
###
Article: Mohamed Nasheed obtained 45% but needed more than 50% to avoid a run-off against his rival, Abdulla Yameen, who got 25% of the vote.
After decades of autocratic rule, the Maldives held its first free election in 2008, which was won by Mr Nasheed.
But he was ousted as president 18 months ago in an alleged coup.
Officials said the run-off was due to be held on 28 September.
Mr Nasheed's rival, Abdulla Yameen, is the half-brother of the Maldives' former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who led the country for 30 years.
Mr Nasheed resigned in February 2012 when army and police personnel joined opposition-led protests over the arrest of a senior judge.
The judge, Abdulla Mohamed, was detained in January 2012 after ordering the release of an opposition politician.
Mr Nasheed said he was stepping down to prevent "bloodshed", but later said he was forced to resign at gunpoint by police and army officers.
He was replaced by President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, who had also been running in Saturday's election but polled only 5% of the vote.
Mr Waheed has consistently rejected claims of a coup by Nasheed supporters.
The leadership change sparked political unrest, leading to fears that the protests would have an impact on the islands' tourism industry.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last week that he hoped the elections would be "credible and peaceful".
Key issues for voters included religion, nationalism, education and the economy.
Thoriq Hamid, a representative of poll monitoring group Transparency Maldives, said that the campaigning had been conducted "smoothly and peacefully".
However, there was still "some apprehension and confidence issues about the security forces", he said.

Summary: The presidential elections in the Maldives will go to a second round after frontrunner Mohamed Nasheed failed to win an outright majority.
###
Article: The beetle has killed about 38 million ash trees, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The USDA approved the release of four species of wasps, which lay eggs inside the ash borer larvae and prevent them from developing into adult beetles.
The treatment and removal of the affected trees costs up to $25bn.
The wasp program is not likely to save any current trees, but is aimed at preventing the ash borer from decimating future tree populations, according to entomologist Ben Slager.
"It's really a long-term management thing," said Mr Slager, an entomologist at the Michigan laboratory producing the wasps for the federal program.
The emerald ash borer, which feeds on a tree's tissue and prevents nutrients from moving to branches, is believed to have been accidentally introduced in North America during the 1990s through wood-shipping crates from Russia, China, Japan or Korea.
The wasps have been released in 24 of the 26 states where the insect has been found. The two remaining states, Texas and Georgia, are also expected to introduce the wasp program.

Summary: Millions of tiny, parasitic wasps have been deployed across 24 US states in an effort to stop the spread of the tree-killing emerald ash borer.
###
Article: The IFG says legislation will be needed to establish new policies on areas such as customs and immigration.
The extra measures will place "a huge burden" on Parliament and government departments, the think tank says.
The attitude of the SNP may also affect the passage of Brexit laws, it adds.
In its report, Legislating Brexit, the IFG says that with the average Queen's Speech announcing only 20 new bills, the introduction of 15 Brexit bills before the UK even exits the EU "will leave very little space for non-Brexit related legislation".
The report comes as Theresa May travels to Swansea with Brexit Secretary David Davis, where she will talk about the "precious union" of the UK.
The prime minister will meet First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, as well as local businesses, as she tries to show she is including all areas of Britain in negotiations with the EU.
Mrs May will say: "I want every part of the United Kingdom to be able to make the most of the opportunities ahead."
The IFG report anticipates the new bills will be in addition to the Great Repeal Bill, which will scrap the 1972 European Communities Act that paved the way for the UK to enter the then-EEC, ending the legal authority of EU law.
The IFG - an independent charity that aims to increase government effectiveness - says departments will need "ruthlessly to prioritise" other legislation and find non-legislative routes to get the laws through, particularly given the government's narrow Commons majority.
It warns that this will mean ministers having to achieve a fine balance between giving too little parliamentary scrutiny and too prolonged, in-depth examination of Brexit-related legislation.
The IFG also argued that "a lack of clarity" about the role the devolved legislatures will play in legislating for Brexit could pose a problem.
"The attitude that the Scottish National Party (SNP) takes to the passage of Brexit-related legislation in Westminster could affect the smoothness with which that legislation passes through Parliament if they join...

Summary:


Voters in Tunisia have been choosing their first freely elected president in a run-off election seen as a landmark in the country's move to democracy.

Article: Attention has fallen on Seddique Mateen, who runs a Facebook page where he describes himself as the "Provincial Government of Afghanistan", and refers to some sections of the Taliban as "our brothers".
Seddique Mateen has also appeared on his own online Afghan nationalist TV programme. Last year, he declared himself a candidate for the presidency of Afghanistan -  a year after the election took place.
His video posts are something of a laughing stock in Afghanistan, where he's viewed as somewhat odd and incoherent, BBC analysts say.
Mr Mateen's video message addressed to the people of Afghanistan mourns the death of his son, saying "I do not know what caused him [to carry out the attack] last night... I was not informed that he had a grudge. I am deeply saddened about what he has done".
"The issue of homosexuality and punishment for that is up to God alone, this is not in the hands of human beings," he adds.
Changing the subject somewhat, he finishes the message by saying he supports the Afghan armed forces in their recent border clash with Pakistani troops, saying "Death to Pakistan, which supports killing and terrorism".
The video was one of several posted on his Provincial Government of Afghanistan Facebook page, where it provoked a stream of abuse from other Facebook users.
BBC analysis of Mr Mateen's online presence shows him to be a proud Afghan nationalist, whose "Durand Jirga" TV programme calls for the Afghan people to rise up and unite.
Despite being of Pashtun descent, he always addresses the Afghan people in the Dari language rather than Pashto, presumably to reach a larger audience. However, his speeches can come across as incoherent and erratic.
In May 2015, a year after the Afghan presidential election, he took to YouTube to declare himself a presidential candidate. "Given the fact that the territorial integrity of Afghanistan is in danger... I declare myself as presidential candidate and founder of the National Salvation Movement of Afghanistan," he said.
However, his videos aren't taken...

Summary: The father of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen said his son had "a grudge in his heart" when he killed 49 people at the Pulse night club in Orlando.
###
Article: The band kick off their 19-date European tour at Dublin's Slane Castle on 22 May, 2017; and visit the London Stadium on 16 June.
Other dates are scheduled in Paris, Stockholm and Madrid.
Eagle-eyed fans have spotted a gap in the band's schedule during the Glastonbury festival, suggesting they could be the Sunday night headliners.
Guitarist Slash previously played there as a solo artist in 2010.
The original members of Guns N' Roses reformed in January after years of acrimony.
Singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan launched their comeback in April with two well-received performances in Las Vegas; followed by a headline set at the Coachella festival, where Rose had to sing from a "throne" after breaking his foot.
The band spent the rest of 2016 touring North and South America; while Rose also played several shows with AC/DC, whose singer Brian Johnson had to quit touring due to hearing difficulties.
By playing Slane Castle next year, the band will be revisiting one of the most tense shows of their two-year Use Your Illusion Tour.
Twenty-five years ago, Rose skipped a sound check at the venue, and arrived by helicopter long after he was due on stage. While they waited, the rest of the band were sent a crate of Irish whiskey and a barrel of Guinness by U2.
"Axl Rose nearly induced a nervous breakdown," wrote the castle's owner Lord Henry Mountcharles, years later. "However, it was a magic show. It kicked off the 90s."
Despite starting the show more than an hour late, Guns N' Roses appeared to enjoy the show, too.
"Playing in sunshine - it's a new concept," remarked Axl, who played impromptu covers of Black Sabbath's It's Alright and U2's One alongside hits like November Rain, Paradise City and Welcome To The Jungle.
Speaking on Monday, Lord Mountcharles said he was "thrilled" to be welcoming the band into his back garden after 25 years.
Tickets for Guns N' Roses European tour go on sale this week. Full information is available on the band's website.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter...

Summary: The classic line-up of Guns N' Roses have announced their first concerts in the UK and Ireland since 1993.
###
Article: The manoeuvres, in Russia's Far East, are part of efforts to boost military mobility and combat readiness.
Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said that the exercise was not directed against any particular nation.
Mr Antonov said Russia warned its neighbours about the exercise and provided detailed information to China.
The two countries have an agreement that envisages a mutual exchange of data about military activities along their border.
Russia's army has been undergoing drills in its central and eastern military districts for several days.
State-owned daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta described the drills as "the  most intensive combat readiness check in the modern history of the Russian army".
President Putin watched some of the drills on Tuesday on Sakhalin Island in the Pacific, just north of Japan.
Konstantin Sivkov, a retired officer of the Russian military's General Staff, told the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta that "the Sakhalin part of the manoeuvres was intended to simulate a response to a hypothetical attack by Japanese and US forces."
Russia and Japan have a dispute over a group of Pacific islands, which Russia calls the Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories.
Deputy Defence Minister Antonov said "the large-scale military exercise by the  Russian Armed Forces in the Far East is not a flexing of muscles, but work to enhance the army's combat readiness".
At a meeting with foreign military attaches accredited in Moscow, Mr Antonov explained why the exercise was necessary and said the drills were "not directed against other states' interests".
Mr Antonov also stressed that "the Russian side showed maximum openness" during the drills and that "extensive  information about the exercise is being supplied to the  media".
However some experts voiced concerns that the massive exercise held in the areas along the border with China could be aimed at Beijing.
Alexander Khramchikhin, an independent Moscow-based military analyst, said that "the land part of the exercise is directed at China, while the sea and...

Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin has inspected the country's biggest military drills since Soviet times, involving around 160,000 troops.
###
Article: Beji Caid Essebsi, who won the first round with 39% of the vote, is challenging interim leader Moncef Marzouki.
Mr Essebsi represents the secular-leaning Nidaa Tounes party.
Tunisia was the first country to depose its leader in the Arab Spring and inspired other uprisings in the region.
Polls closed at 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT). Voter turnout had reached 36.8% after four and a half hours of voting, Tunisia's election authority said.
Shortly after polls closed, Mr Essebsi's office said that there were "indications" that he had won.
However, a spokesman for Mr Marzouki said the claims were "without foundation".
Mr Essebsi, who turned 88 this week, held office under both deposed President  Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali and Tunisia's first post-independence leader, Habib Bourguiba.
He is popular in the wealthy, coastal regions, and based his appeal to voters on stability and experience.
His opponent, Moncef Marzouki, is a 67-year-old human rights activists forced into exile by the Ben Ali government.
He has been interim president since 2011 and is more popular in the conservative, poorer south.
After casting his ballot, Mr Marzouki said Tusinians "should be proud" of themselves "because the interim period has come to a peaceful end".
Mr Marzouki was thought likely to attract support from the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which has played a key role in Tunisian politics since the Arab Spring but did not field a candidate.
Whoever wins faces restricted powers under a constitution passed earlier this year.
The president will be commander-in-chief of the armed forces but can appoint or sack senior officers only in consultation with the prime minister.
The president will also set foreign policy in consultation with the prime minister, represent the state and ratify treaties.
Tunisia boosted security for the elections and closed border posts with Libya, which has been plagued by unrest.
A group of at least three attackers targeted a polling station near the city of Kairouan on Sunday morning. Security forces say they...

Summary:

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The report authors said more should be done to vaccinate dogs, particularly in low-income countries.
Polling stations opened at 07:00 BST and closed at 22:00 BST in the proportional representation election.
Depending on the constituency, as many as 18 or as few as 12 candidates are contesting the six

The Chinese government is cracking down on home-grown cyber thieves seeking to steal online banking details.

Article: Jockey Andrea Atzeni rode the John Gosden trained three-year-old to victory in the two-mile race, which has been upgraded to Group One status.
Big Orange, ridden by Frankie Dettori, was looking to become the first horse in Goodwood's 205-year history to win the £500,000 race three years in a row.
"Coming in I thought Big Orange was the one to beat," said Atzeni.
It was a third success on Tuesday for the 26-year-old Italian jockey as Stradivarius finished ahead of Big Orange in second and Desert Skyline in third.
"It's a great day," Atzeni, who also rode winners in the Lennox Stakes and the Qatar Vintage Stakes, told ITV.
Trainer Gosden added: "He's not the biggest of horses and it was a bit rough on the first bend. He didn't panic and it opened up for us. He's a lovely little horse."
Double Trigger has come the closest to claiming three Goodwood Cup wins on the bounce, having been successful three times in four years - 1995, 1997 and 1998.
Having already steered Eagle Eye to victory in the Vintage Stakes, Atzeni caused a shock in the Lennox Stakes as 50-1 shot Breton Rock came from last to first to win.
Limato hit the front a furlong out and looked like collecting victory, before fading inside the final 50 yards as David Simcock's seven-year-old swept down the outside.
"I didn't expect this at all. I dropped him out last to pick up the pieces, but he picked them all up," said Atzeni.
"I thought the ground would be too quick for him."
BBC Sport horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght
Under the conditions of the race, Big Orange, three years older than Stradivarius, had to concede the winner nearly a stone; that, plus the fact the going was softer than ideal made all the difference.
Having, like everyone else, heard all the hype and the talk of history-making, members of the Big Orange camp were understandably disappointed, but that soon turned to pride in what was another fine effort.
Stradivarius is now aiming to be his very much in-form trainer John Gosden's fifth win - but first since 2011 - in...

Summary: Stradivarius won the Goodwood Cup as favourite Big Orange missed out on a record third successive victory.
###
Article: Two hundred and seventy-six candidates are competing for 108 seats across Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies.
Polling stations opened at 07:00 BST and closed at 22:00 BST in the proportional representation election.
Depending on the constituency, as many as 18 or as few as 12 candidates are contesting the six assembly member posts.
Counting in the election will begin on Friday morning.

Summary: Polling stations have closed across Northern Ireland for the 2016 Assembly election.
###
Article: The report authors said more should be done to vaccinate dogs, particularly in low-income countries.
Vaccines for bite victims should also be more affordable and more widely available in these areas.
Rabies is a fatal viral infection which is almost 100% preventable.
The infection can infect all mammals, but domestic dogs cause more than 99% of all human deaths from rabies, the report said.
Most developed countries, including the UK, have eliminated rabies from their dog populations.
But in many developing countries, rabies is still present in domestic dogs and is often poorly controlled.
The report estimated that around 160 people die every day from the disease, with the vast majority of these occurring in Asia, which accounts for 60% of deaths, and Africa (36%).
On its own, India accounts for 35% of human rabies deaths, more than any other country.
The report said that the proportion of dogs vaccinated in almost all countries in Africa and Asia is far below that necessary to control the disease.
It said the best and most cost-effective way of preventing canine rabies was by vaccinating dogs.
And this had to be supplemented by improving access to human vaccines as well.
The authors wrote: "Collaborative investments by medical and veterinary sectors could dramatically reduce the current large, and unnecessary, burden of rabies on affected communities.
"Improved surveillance is needed to reduce uncertainty in burden estimates and to monitor the impacts of control efforts."
They added that countries which had invested most in dog vaccinations were the ones where human deaths from the disease had been virtually eliminated.
The study, by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control's Partners for Rabies Prevention Group, also showed that rabies cost the world US $8.6bn through premature deaths, lost income for victims of bites and spending on human vaccines.
Dr Katie Hampson, who led the study from the University of Glasgow, said the study was the first to estimate the impact of canine rabies and how it was being...

Summary: Around 59,000 people die every year from rabies transmitted by dogs, with the poorer regions of the world worst affected, says a report by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.
###
Article: The crackdown combats phishing by ensuring that the websites of legitimate banks appear at the top of search results.
The move comes as the personal details of more than 45 million Chinese people were stolen in separate attacks.
The government is investigating the thefts and said that the wave of attacks "threatened internet safety".
The 10 biggest search engines in China have signed up to the anti-phishing scheme to ensure that users looking for bank websites go to the right place.
Phishing attacks involve messages that look like they come from a bank or other organisation and direct people to a website that mimics the real thing.
When people visit the fake site and enter their login details these are recorded by cyber criminals who may loot the account soon afterwards.
By ensuring that the websites of banks appear first, the government hopes to limit the numbers of people falling for phishing scams and visiting the fake sites.
Some of the search engines will put a special icon next to the bank links in lists of results to flag them as legitimate.
The anti-phishing initiative comes at the end of a week in which the personal details of almost 10% of China's 485 million web users were stolen.
On Christmas day, the hugely popular Tianya chat site revealed that the login names and passwords from 40 million of its users had been stolen. All risk being plundered by attackers as the information was held in plain text.
Tianya has contacted the affected users and urged them to change their passwords as soon as possible.
Soon after, CDSN, one of China's largest forums for programmers, reported that the details of all its six million users had been stolen. The attackers got away with email addresses, login names and passwords. Again, all the details were stored in plain text.
The scale of the attacks prompted government action and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it would investigate who was behind the attacks.
"The department believes the recent leak of user information is a serious...

Summary:


The new ICS rules on the issue of driving offences are based on input from the regulator, the regulator's own internal regulator, and the regulator's own internal regulator.
The regulator's own internal regulator, the regulator's own internal regulator, is also based on input from the regulator's own internal regulator.
The

A proposal to introduce life sentences for the offence of careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs does not go far enough, according to the parents of one victim.

Article: Statistics from July show 75.3% of vehicles responding to life threatening "red calls" arrived within eight minutes - exceeding the target of 65%.
It comes as the average number of calls handled by the ambulance service each day went up by 3.4% in a month.
But Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said there was more work to do.
July was the second successive month that the service met its target in all local health boards areas.
The current targets were introduced last October as part of a new clinical response model pilot, which prioritises the most critically-ill patients.
The decision meant ambulance response time targets for all but the most serious calls were scrapped.
Previously the eight-minute target applied to about 40% of the 999 calls the ambulance service received but now applies to only to fewer than 10% - only those judged to be immediately life-threatening.
For all other calls - categorised as amber or green - the ambulance service is given more time to judge the most appropriate response.
Mr Gething said he was "proud" of the work done to ensure the target was met.
"It is very encouraging to see that all LHBs in Wales have surpassed the national target for red calls for the second consecutive month, despite steadily rising demand," he said.
"In July there were over 39,500 emergency calls made to the Welsh Ambulance Service - an average of 1,277 calls per day.
"We have much to be proud of here in Wales, however we will not be resting on our laurels.
"The Welsh Ambulance Service - and the wider health and social care system - is already planning for the coming months and the difficult winter period.

Summary: Ambulances around Wales have met their response times target for the tenth month in row - an achievement hailed as "encouraging" by the health secretary.
###
Article: Troy Hunt reported that a flaw with the electric vehicle's companion app also meant data about drivers' recent journeys could be spied on.
Mr Hunt said he gave the firm a month to fix the issue before he decided to make it public.
Nissan said there was no safety threat.
The problem remains unresolved but Mr Hunt said car owners could protect themselves by disabling their Nissan CarWings account. Those who have never signed up are not at risk.
Mr Hunt acknowledged that the issue was not life-threatening, but said hackers could still exploit the app's vulnerability to cause mischief by running down people's batteries.
"The right thing to do at the moment would be for Nissan to turn it off altogether," Mr Hunt told the BBC.
"They are going to have to let customers know. And to be honest, a fix would not be hard to do.
"It's not that they have done authorisation [on the app] badly, they just haven't done it at all, which is bizarre."
A spokeswoman for Nissan said it was tackling the problem.
"Nissan is aware of a data issue relating to the NissanConnect EV app that impacts the climate control and state of charge functions," she said.
"It has no effect whatsoever on the vehicle's operation or safety.
"Our global technology and product teams are currently working on a permanent and robust solution.
"We are committed to resolving the issue as a matter of priority, ensuring that we deliver the best possible experience for our customers through the app now and in the future."
Mr Hunt said the root of the problem was that the firm's NissanConnect app needed only a car's vehicle identification number (Vin) to take control.
The code is usually stencilled into a car's windscreen, making it relatively easy to copy.
The initial characters of a Vin refer to the brand, make of car, and country of manufacture/location of the firm's headquarters.
So, Mr Hunt said, it would only be the final numbers that varied between different Nissan Leafs based in the same region.
"Normally it's only the last five digits that differ," he...

Summary: Some of Nissan's Leaf cars can be easily hacked, allowing their heating and air-conditioning systems to be hijacked, according to a prominent security researcher.
###
Article: The German Association of Judges (DRB) said there was "neither a legal basis nor an actual need for such a court".
But in response the European Commission said the Investment Court System (ICS) would not affect national or EU law.
The role of commercial courts is one of the thorniest issues in the EU-US trade negotiations, known as TTIP.
There are fears that big firms could put excessive legal pressure on states.
The Commission abandoned the idea of using existing arbitration courts, called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), because of the accusation that powerful multinationals use them to force changes in public policy.
Rejecting the German judges' criticisms, a Commission trade spokesman told the BBC that the new ICS plan was based on input from parliaments in the EU and other stakeholders.
"The ICS only rules on matters of international law, contained in the agreement.  It does not rule on member state law or EU law, and hence the ICS in no way alters the established court system within the EU," spokesman Joseph Waldstein said.
He said ICS proceedings would be transparent, with fully qualified judges and a right to appeal.
National and EU laws offer more protections for investors, he said, so they would be "unlikely to need to go to the ICS system".
TTIP stands for Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The Commission hopes to complete the wide-ranging talks by the summer, to avoid the disruption of the US presidential election.
Why the TTIP deal matters
The thorny issue of trade arbitration will be on the agenda of EU-US talks later this month.
There is widespread concern about the "chilling" effect that company lawsuits can have on governments trying to legislate on public health or the environment.
Critics point to the example of tobacco giant Philip Morris, which sued the authorities in Australia and Uruguay over plain cigarette packaging.
According to Mr Waldstein, the new ICS courts will "protect" - not undermine - governments' right to regulate.
Germany's DRB - representing 16,000...

Summary: German judges have objected to a new court system for investors to sue governments, which would be set up as part of an EU-US trade deal.
###
Article: Chris and Sue Moores's son Wayne died when his motorbike was struck by a drink driver in 2010.
The couple spoke out in response to consultation on proposed reform of sentencing for driving offences.
They believe increased sentences should be backed up by manslaughter charges.
Mr Moores, 28, was killed by a Vauxhall Astra driven by Donna Hackett on the M4 near Swindon.
Hackett, then aged 26, fled and was found by police asleep in a ditch. She served half of a six-year jail term after she was found guilty of causing death by careless driving while drunk.
The Ministry of Justice consultation suggests offenders who cause death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs could soon be handed a life sentence - an increase on the current 14-year upper limit.
Source: Crown Prosecution Service
But Mr and Mrs Moores, from Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, also want the offence to be upgraded to a charge of manslaughter.
Mr Moores said: "Somebody can drive drunk and kill my son. Why is that not manslaughter?
"Nothing can prepare a parent for seeing their child in the mortuary. That will stay with me every day, every day that vision comes into my mind.
"Our life is ruined."
Mrs Moores added: "There's nothing careless about drink driving. I don't want anybody else to feel like us."
Ms Hackett, who lived in Radnor Street, Swindon, at the time of the offence, appealed against her sentence in September 2011, but was refused.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We are determined to make sure those who kill whilst driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs face the full force of the law.
"That is why we are consulting on plans that will see the maximum sentence for a number of offences in this area increase from 14 years to life."
A response to the Ministry of Justice consultation, which closes on 1 February, is due to be published by May.

Summary:


The RSPB has been working on a new system for the UK, which is based on the UK's own data.
The RSPB has been working on a new system for the UK, which is based on the UK's own data.
The RSPB has been working on a new system for

Wildlife conservators have said they are "extremely concerned" that the number of little terns nesting in the UK's biggest breeding colony dropped by almost half in a year.

Article: The Lower House passed the bill to create the post of "state counsellor", which now requires only presidential approval to become law.
Unelected military representatives holding a quarter of parliamentary seats boycotted the vote, calling the bill unconstitutional.
Ms Suu Kyi's party won elections but she is not allowed to be president.
Clause 59(f) of the Burmese constitution bars candidates with foreign spouses or children, and Ms Suu Kyi's two sons hold British passports.
The clause was widely considered to have been written specifically to prevent Ms Suu Kyi from taking office.
The bill has gone through both the lower and upper houses and now must be approved by President Htin Kyaw.
Htin Kyaw is Myanmar's first elected civilian leader in more than 50 years, and a close aide to Ms Suu Kyi.
At the heart of power: Analysis by Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Naypyidaw
The Burmese parliament in Naypyidaw has not seen a session like this before.
The army representatives refused to vote, stood in protest and complained repeatedly that this new bill is unconstitutional.
But it was all in vain - they are now hopelessly outnumbered by elected MPs from Aung San Suu Kyi's party.
So this - the first bill proposed by the civilian government - passed unchanged.
Having been denied the presidency by a clause in the constitution, this job will formally place Ms Suu Kyi at the heart of Myanmar's new administration.
In addition to state counsellor, Ms Suu Kyi will also be foreign minister and minister in the president's office.
The NLD won 80% of contested seats in the elections last year, ending decades of military rule.
But the army has kept considerable power. In addition to its seats in parliament, it heads three key ministries - defence, home affairs and border affairs.

Summary: Myanmar's parliament has passed a bill that gives Aung San Suu Kyi a role similar to that of prime minister.
###
Article: A Mobile Phone Theft Ratio compiled by the Home Office indicates the iPhone 5, 5C, 5S and 4S were most targeted, followed by the Blackberry 9790.
The findings were based on analysis of crime data in London. Samsung and HTC phones were also on the index.
Apple said it was leading the industry in protecting people's devices.
The research concurred that the introduction of stronger security features in phones is likely to have reduced theft levels.
Women and 14 to 24-year-olds are the two groups most likely to have phones stolen, according to the data.
People are most likely to have their phones stolen directly from their person, through pick-pocketing, or when the handset is briefly left unattended, the research adds.
Home Secretary Theresa May said that while crime had fallen under the coalition government, the level of mobile phone theft remained "a concern" and she hoped the new index would inform consumers about the habits of thieves.
She said: "People are increasingly carrying their lives in their pockets, with bank details, emails and other sensitive personal information easily accessible through mobile phones.
"This is why it is vital that government, police and industry work together to tackle this crime."
She said that the mobile phone industry was also taking action against criminals and had introduced features that enabled phones to be tracked and wiped if they were stolen.
There were 742,000 victims of mobile phone theft in England and Wales during 2012-13 - according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
In London alone, almost 100,000 mobile phones were reported stolen to the Metropolitan Police during 2013.
The Home Office says it recognises the picture may have changed following the "widespread introduction" of security features by manufacturers and intends to publish further analysis next year.
It also notes that Metropolitan Police intelligence indicates there was a reduction in thefts of iPhones after Apple introduced new security measures in its iOS 7 operating system update in...

Summary: Apple's latest iPhone models were the smartphones most likely to be stolen in England and Wales between August 2012 and January 2014, figures suggest.
###
Article: The campaign concluded that "health tourism from the EU has cost us billions".
This is not the case, because the figures show the amount the UK pays for having its citizens treated elsewhere in the EU, and is not the amount the UK spends treating the citizens of other EU countries.
But is the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign right when it says that ending the current system would force UK holidaymakers to pay the full cost of medical treatment when they fall ill or suffer an accident in an EU country? Would it leave them with a bill of £773m a year?
Treating UK holidaymakers when they get sick or have an accident in another EU country is only one part of the average figure of £773m a year. The sum also includes the cost of medical care for UK pensioners who live in another EU country, and the cost of treatments that the NHS funds for UK patients in other EU countries.
Citizens of all EU countries can get the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which entitles them to state-provided emergency medical treatment within the EU country they are visiting.
The treatment received is identical to the treatment the nationals of that country get. The EU country that provided the treatment can claim the cost of it from the home country of the patient. The EHIC covers Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein as well, even though they are not EU members.
The average annual figure of £773m also includes the money the UK pays to other EU countries for providing healthcare to UK pensioners who have retired there.
Under EU rules, each country is required to reimburse the healthcare costs of its pensioners residing in other EU countries. UK pensioners receive an S1 form when they leave the UK, which they then register with the local health authority in the EU country where they end up. The host EU country will provide them with healthcare that is identical to the provision that local pensioners receive, and can then ask the UK to reimburse the cost of the care provided.
There are a few other categories of citizens...

Summary: On Tuesday, the Vote Leave campaign published the Department of Health figures, which show that the UK pays an average of £773m a year to other EU countries for the medical treatment of UK nationals, while it receives only £51m a year back for treating EU nationals here.
###
Article: In 2014, the largest colony of the rare seabirds was at Winterton, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk but the birds have since moved north to Sea Palling.
Two years ago there were 300 pairs of the rare seabird. This year there are just 190 pairs at Sea Palling.
The RSPB said the species is declining.
Little terns travel 3,000 miles from west Africa to breed on the UK coast but, according to the RSPB, the numbers returning to the UK have declined by between 30-50% since last year.
It said the site near Sea Palling is still the country's largest colony, despite the significant drop in numbers.
Fabienne Fossez, the Little Tern warden for RSPB East Norfolk, said: "We're extremely concerned, it's a species in decline and they are in real trouble.
"What we don't know is what goes on out in west Africa in the winter but it is something to do with the climate, weather and food.
"Nevertheless, we have a really good success story here near Sea Palling, despite all of the odds."
Ms Fossez said 380 chicks have hatched at the east Norfolk site since mid May.
Her team has been maintaining a 24-hour surveillance of the colony in order to protect the birds.
But she said the breeding birds have not had the same level of success elsewhere.
"The little terns have had a really difficult time this year," she said.
"On the north Norfolk coast they were completely washed out at the beginning of June. We were protected here on the east coast and we are fortunate that there are just little terns nesting here."

Summary:


is about one in five, with the average number of teachers in the UK being about one in five.
The report also says that the average number of teachers in the UK is about one in five, with the average number of teachers in the UK being about

Teachers in England and Scotland have more teaching hours and bigger primary classes than in most other developed countries, according to an OECD annual education report.

Article: As one of the most influential writers of the 20th Century, George Orwell's impact is still felt decades after his death.
Big Brother, the ominous leader of Oceania in his chilling dystopian novel 1984, is mentioned frequently whenever CCTV or surveillance is on the agenda, while the concept of Room 101 has become a shorthand for people's pet hates and biggest fears.
But Orwell's influence is not restricted to debates about the security state, as a trip to a local pub can show.
On 9 February, 1946, Orwell wrote an article for the Evening Standard warmly describing his favourite pub, the Moon Under Water, a small backstreet establishment with no music, china pots with creamy stout and that crucial ingredient: a welcoming atmosphere.
The Moon Under Water may itself have been a fiction, a composite of Orwell's favourite London pubs, but its importance as a symbol of the friendly local lives on.
DJ Taylor, who has written an acclaimed biography of the author, said the essay shows Orwell's love of the pub as a traditional institution.
"The whole question about Orwell and pubs is very interesting," he said.
"It was a symbol of working class life that he tended to sentimentalise."
What constitutes the perfect pub was the topic of Orwell's last essay for the Evening Standard, with previous articles covering other aspects of typical British life, such as how to make a good cup of tea.
And, despite never existing, Moon Under Water left a sizeable legacy.
Seventy years on the essay's criteria for the perfect pub - which includes old-fashioned Victorian decorations, a snack counter, barmaids who know their customers and a garden - are still cited by ale aficionados looking for the ideal spot for a pint.
And landlords running a new breed of pub say Orwell's rules are key to a revival in real ale drinking in the UK.
The micropub does what it says on the label: it's a small pub, often only one room, and it focuses on providing good beer, a good atmosphere and a quiet, friendly place for people to talk, perhaps while...

Summary: Seventy years after George Orwell published an essay on what makes the perfect pub, BBC News examines how the author's views are influencing the micropub movement.
###
Article: This was the year when 5,650 farmers killed themselves in the country.
So the number of suicides by housewives was about four times those by farmers. They also comprised 47% of the total female victims.
Yet the high number of homemakers killing themselves doesn't make front page news in the way farmer suicides do, year after year.
In fact, more than 20,000 housewives have been killing themselves in India every year since 1997, the earliest year for which we have information compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau based on occupation of the victim. In 2009, the grim statistic peaked at 25,092 deaths.
Forget raw numbers.
The rate of housewives taking their lives - more than 11 per 100,000 people - has been consistently higher than India's overall suicide rate since 1997. It dropped to 9.3 in 2014, yet suicide rate for housewives was more than twice those for farmers that year.
Suicide rates of housewives vary from state to state.
In 2011, for example, their rates - more than 20 per 100,000 people - were higher in states like Maharashtra, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, West Bengal and Gujarat. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar showed lower suicide rates.
Peter Mayer, who teaches politics at the University of Adelaide and has spent much time studying the sociology of suicide in India, wonders why suicide rates of housewives in India is so high, and why it gets so little attention in the  media.
After all, as Mr Mayer says, research in western societies suggests that "marriage confers protection from suicide to married women".
Therefore, married people are less likely to kill themselves - studies have found suicide rates for married people in the US and Australia, for example, are lower than others in the same age group.
India, clearly, is an outlier.
Nearly 70% of people who took their lives in 2001, for example, were married - 70.6% of the men and 67% of the women.
A study published in the medical journal The Lancet in 2012 found that the suicide rate in...

Summary: More than 20,000 housewives took their lives in India in 2014.
###
Article: UN investigators say the payments by Soma Oil & Gas amount in some cases to "acts that undermine Somali public institutions through corruption".
The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into the allegations.
The firm, which is chaired by former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, denies any wrongdoing.
The report details payments totalling $490,000 (Â£315,000) from Soma Oil & Gas to the Somali Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, beginning in June 2014.
The money was part of a "capacity building programme" which was ostensibly intended to cover the salaries of a small number of experts, including geologists and geoscientists.
In reality though, the United Nations investigators say the scheme appears to have been used to "fund systematic payoffs to senior ministerial officials", some of whom were "instrumental in both securing the company's initial contract, and negotiating subsequent agreements".
One recipient of money under the scheme was Dr Farah Abdi Hassan, the director general of the ministry. He received $36,000 (Â£23,000) over a period of 12 months - about three times his Somali government salary, which investigators say he continued to draw.
The report claims that Mr Hassan suggested in emails that Soma's contractual agreements with the government - both past and prospective - could be subject to review if financial "assistance" was not forthcoming.
In one email, dated 27 March 2014, he writes: "If the Soma questions the assistance [to] the ministry then so many things goes [sic] to review, while the parliament is asking to ratify the SOA agreement."
"SOA" refers to the seismic option agreement, the deal signed in August 2013, which grants the company exclusive rights to conduct an offshore seismic survey, and then bid for up to 12 oil and gas blocks.
Another email, written on 17 April 2014 to two of Soma's directors, appears to suggest that signing off on the capacity building programme - referred to as an "amendment" - could protect the Soma deal from official...

Summary: A British oil company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars which went to senior Somali civil servants, according to a UN report seen by the BBC.
###
Article: The think tank says teachers' pay has declined in real terms.
The report also shows students in public higher education institutions in England pay the highest tuition fees.
But the OECD says high fees are accompanied by the highest levels of student support.
The Education at a Glance report compares the costs and characteristics of education systems in industrialised countries, from early years through to university.
How UK education compares:
It highlights that many countries face a challenge to recruit teachers - particularly when on average a primary school teacher earns 22% less than someone with similar qualifications.
"These uncompetitive salaries will make it harder to attract the best candidates to the teaching profession," says the report.
In England, head teachers have warned of a worsening teacher shortage, with recruitment targets being missed for several years running.
Teachers' unions have complained that an excessive workload is deterring people from staying in teaching - and the OECD's report shows how teachers in the UK compare with their classroom counterparts.
It shows that primary classes are bigger than average. For state schools in the UK - not broken down into devolved administrations - there were 27 pupils per class, compared with an OECD average of 21 pupils per class.
In secondary schools, teachers spent an unusually high proportion of their working days in the classroom, rather than preparing lessons or training.
In secondary schools in England, teachers taught for about 100 hours more than the average for OECD countries per year. In Scotland, the proportion of time spent teaching was even higher, more than 200 hours above average.
The report also shows that teachers' pay in England has had an above-average decline in real terms, between 2005 and 2013.
Despite the recession, countries such as Poland, Germany, the United States and Australia had increased teachers' pay in real terms.
But in England, based on an analysis of secondary school teachers, pay had fallen, with only...

Summary:


An animal rights group is calling for the Skegness mascot, the Jolly Fisherman, to be replaced with a fish.

Article: Many readers wrote to Gwen asking for advice about a friend or family member who is transitioning.
Here Gwen, from Pennsylvania, addresses some questions from BBC website readers.
"There are going to be a lot of people out there who might hate her for who she is, but tell her that she has plenty of people in her life who are going to love her much more than any amount of hate she could receive.
"My personal rule is: Just don't read the comments. If you're going to read any comments people make, don't bother responding. They usually have their minds made up and no amount of arguing is going to make them apologise."
"The best advice is to just listen to what they have to say and try not to make it a big deal.
"When I was starting to transition, all I wanted was for life to feel 'normal' again.
"I didn't really want to talk about transitioning too much, but it was nice to have friends who just listened to me on the days where it was especially hard and told me they loved me anyway."
"The best thing would be to address someone by what it looks like they're going for. If this customer comes in every day in a dress and make-up, I would assume they wanted to be greeted as 'Ms'.
"It's always best to go by what you see and then, if they correct you, just go by what they'd rather be called instead.
"Maybe this person isn't comfortable being called 'Ms' yet, but that's something only they could know."
"I don't tell people until they need to know. I've found that letting people get to know me as everything I am first, aside from my trans status, helps them see me as someone other than a token trans friend after I disclose, if I ever choose to.
"If I'm not going to be having a sexual relationship with someone, they really don't need to know because it's not relevant.
"For jobs, it has to come up when listing former names on applications. But I don't treat it like a big deal and they follow suit.
"A lot of my colleagues still don't know that I'm trans, although my manager does and was really supportive."
"My biggest advice...

Summary: A transgender woman who let people ask her questions about her life on an internet forum was inundated with even more when the BBC reported on her story.
###
Article: The Bevan Foundation said eight new taxes would help make Wales "greener, healthier and better off".
The Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru welcomed the report.
But UKIP said the taxes would make Wales "more miserable" and the Conservatives said the report "smacks of nanny statism".
Under the Wales Act 2014, the Welsh Government has the power to establish new taxes in devolved areas.
The taxes proposed by the think tank are:
Bevan Foundation director Victoria Winckler said the sunbed tax would need to be "fairly substantial" to deter people.
She said: "We think taxes are actually really important. We've got used to talking about taxes as if they're a bad thing.
"But actually taxes pay for all the good things we have."
Cabinet secretary for finance Mark Drakeford said: "The power to introduce new Welsh taxes could be used to improve the lives and wellbeing of people across the country.
"This is a very helpful report and raises awareness of these new powers."
UKIP assembly group leader Neil Hamilton said: "The Bevan Foundation wants to make Wales a more miserable place by taxing the people's pleasures."
He added: "Mark Drakeford's refusal to rule out these killjoy taxes shows the danger of giving tax-raising powers to a Welsh Labour government, as the Tory government in London proposes in the Wales Bill now going through Parliament.
"Wales should be given the referendum on tax-raising powers we were promised before giving Labour the power to tax us out of existence."
Welsh Conservative economy spokesman Russell George said: "The report, while well-intentioned, smacks of nanny statism and will serve only to discourage entrepreneurs, boost the black market economy and create another unnecessary layer of bureaucracy."
He added: "Arbitrary taxes will do nothing but leave the people of Wales worse off at a time when gross disposable income already lags behind the rest of the UK."
The Bevan Foundation's research was funded by a grant from the anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Trust.
Plaid Cymru's shadow cabinet...

Summary: Charges on sunbed use and take-away food packaging are among a number of taxes the Welsh Government should introduce, according to a think tank.
###
Article: First Milk, one of the UK's largest dairy farmer co-operatives, announced in June many farmers would be paid 1p less per litre from the start of July.
National Farmers Union (NFU) Cymru say the move is a "nightmare" for farmers, leaving prices below the cost of production in many instances.
First Milk said it had to "factor in" lower commodity prices.
Last Wednesday, Paisley-based First Milk announced the cut alongside news that its chairman, Sir Jim Paice, would stand down. It also confirmed a loss of about Â£22m for 2014-2015.
Sir Jim said commodity markets were continuing to decline and, despite his "regret", this had to be reflected in lower milk prices.
NFU Cymru chairman Stephen James said the price per litre for some had dipped from to 32p a year ago to 16.6p this month.
He said: "It's a bit of a nightmare for us in the milk industry at the moment.
"We're down to half and it's not sustainable, we can't manage at that sort of price.
"First Milk have to get their act together and get this price up from here sooner rather than later."

Summary: A cut to the price of milk may make production unsustainable for many Welsh farmers, a union has warned.
###
Article: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) wants the mascot to be replaced with a modern animal-friendly version.
The group has suggested a fish with the slogan Skegness - A Happy Plaice.
The mayor of Skegness said all suggestions were welcome but said he did not think there would be much support for Jolly to be axed.
The original Jolly Fisherman poster was commissioned by the Great Northern Railway to encourage visitors to take the train on their seaside breaks to Skegness.
The poster featured the slogan "Skegness is so bracing".
It was commissioned in 1908 for 12 guineas and has became synonymous with the Lincolnshire resort.
However, Dawn Carr, of Peta, said Jolly "evokes images of cruelty to animals".
"Fish being tricked into impaling themselves in the mouth, animals being pulled out of the ocean in giant nets where they are so crushed together the pressure pushes their stomachs out through their mouths and their eyes pop out."
"This is what the Jolly Fisherman represents," she said.
She said Peta's suggestion would give the resort an opportunity to rebrand itself as a progressive holiday destination.
"One where the mutilation and killing of sea animals is not being celebrated."
Skegness's mayor, Carl Macey, said the Jolly Fisherman was loved by adults and children alike.
He said: "Animal cruelty is something we don't want to be portrayed for, but I don't feel Jolly has ever come across in that manner.
"He is just accepted as happy and friendly and he does such a wonderful job for Skegness.
"It [Peta's suggestion] will go before council, but if it isn't broken we won't try and fix it."

Summary:


The HS2 railway is expected to be closed in 2019.
The centre is expected to be closed in 2019.
The centre is expected to be closed in 2019.
The centre is expected to be closed in 2019.
The centre is expected to be closed in 2019.
The centre is expected to be closed

Any move to close a sports centre would be a "declaration of war" on the local community, a councillor has warned.

Article: There was plenty of talk from the leader and his supporters ahead of the result of "coming together" after a second bruising campaign.
He even provided proof on BBC TV that he was growing a diminutive olive tree outside his office - the presumed purpose of which is to break off a branch and proffer it to his internal opponents.
But some of the MPs who voted for a motion of no confidence in him believe that those around the leader will only sue for peace on their terms.
Jeremy Corbyn - with a strong interest in the politics of the Middle East - will be familiar with the speech of the late PLO leader Yasser Arafaf to the UN general assembly in 1974 when he said he came bearing an olive branch in one hand and a freedom fighter's gun in the other.
Arafat beseeched the UN "don't let the olive branch fall from my hand".
One former frontbencher welcomed Jeremy Corbyn's pledge to "wipe the slate clean" following his re-election but said that if he continued to criticise the leadership then he fully expected them to "unleash the dogs of war".
And he is not the only one expecting to be mauled.
He believes Momentum - the group set up by veteran leftwinger Jon Lansman - is likely to pursue a strategy of deselection of anti-Corbyn MPs.
"Jeremy will stay above it all, of course, adopting his 'see no evil' approach. He will say it's just a matter of local Labour parties taking individual democratic decisions. The boundary changes will unlock the whole process."
Of course, motivated by loyalty to their party - or in some cases by personal ambition - some of the 172 MPs who voted for no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn at the start of the summer will - as the sun sets on Owen Smith's challenge - sue for peace and signal their willingness to serve on the frontbench.
But just how many will do so depends on what decision Labour's ruling national executive comes to on holding elections to the shadow cabinet - discussions were set to resume within hours of the leadership election result.
If MPs were to be permitted to elect most of the...

Summary: So Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected as Labour's leader with a larger mandate than a year ago.
###
Article: Sarah Brennan, 36, from Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, gave birth to Eryn in September.
She was born seven weeks premature, weighing 3lb 11oz (1.7kg).
Mrs Brennan and her husband Mark have thanked the special care baby unit (SCBU) at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, where Eryn spent three weeks.
The couple had just been placed on the IVF waiting list when they found out Mrs Brennan was pregnant.
But her waters broke in her 29th week of pregnancy and she spent two weeks being closely monitored in Singleton Hospital, Swansea.
She returned home but had an emergency Caesarean on 30 September at Princess of Wales Hospital as the baby was in a breech position.
Mrs Brennan, who works as a project manager at RAF St Athan, said: "Although Eryn was born nearly two months early she is a right little bouncer now.
"You would never think she was a premature baby."
Mrs Brennan's employer has donated Â£500 to the SCBU.

Summary: A woman who gave birth to a baby girl after suffering 10 miscarriages is preparing to celebrate her child's first birthday.
###
Article: Patrick McLoughlin told the Commons the new projected cost of £42.6bn, up from £33bn, included "contingency" money.
He said the final cost could be lower than the new estimate, but said revising the figure was "right".
Several MPs criticised the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill in a debate, but a bid to quash it was defeated by 325 to 37 votes.
The new high-speed railway line is intended to link London to Birmingham by 2026, with branches to Manchester and Leeds, via Sheffield, planned by 2032.
The first phase budget is now £21.4bn, with £21.2bn for phase two. These figures include a contingency fund of £14.4bn across the scheme.
Mr McLoughlin said contingency money was built into the London Olympics budget but the cost ended up "below the price that had been set by the government".
"While I expect the final costs to be lower than those I have just outlined... this is the right way to plan the project," he told MPs.
He also said the new budget took account of "design and environmental changes to improve the scheme", including alterations to the route such as a tunnel under the M6 near Birmingham.
By Richard WestcottBBC transport correspondent
How much will HS2 actually cost? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
The government has now put a new "ceiling" price on the completed project that is almost £10bn more than the previous "ceiling" price we had all been using.
The Department for Transport tells me they don't actually plan to spend £42.6bn - it just includes a huge contingency fund in case of problems.
The thing is, as anyone who has ever built an extension on their house will tell you, if you tell someone they've got a certain amount of money to spend, they tend to spend it, or even more.
So has the DfT made a rod for its own back by floating a bigger figure?
The headlines will probably now start calling HS2 a £43bn project (if you round it up).
In a few years time, will we all just assume that's the new price?
Follow Richard on Twitter
Mr McLoughlin said scrapping HS2 would be the "easiest thing in...

Summary: The proposed budget for the HS2 railway has risen by nearly £10bn to more than £40bn, the transport minister has said.
###
Article: Meden Sports Centre in Warsop, Nottinghamshire, has faced ongoing maintenance issues with a temporary closures and Â£500,000 spent on repairs.
Mansfield District Council has said it is "unsustainable" and has launched a consultation on its future.
However, Warsop Parish Council said it was "essential" to the area and it would fight to keep it open.
The centre, which dates from the 1960s, was closed for six months in 2014 after an inspection identified fire safety concerns.
Officials have said renovation or rebuilding costs could cost between Â£1m to Â£8m.
Andrew Tristram, district council portfolio holder for the environment, said: "The council has undergone a review of leisure services at Meden Sports Centre and concluded that the current operating model is not sustainable for the future.
"There are increasing uncertainties about the running costs and capital investment due to the condition of the building".
However, parish council chairman Andy Wetton said: "The centre is essential to the area but this administration seems hell-bent on closing it.
"There was money available to replace it but this has been spent on other things.
"Any attempt to close it would be a declaration of war on Warsop and we would fight it hard."
The district council said no changes would be made before April 2018.

Summary:


report, which was published in the US on Tuesday, said that the government had "no plans to release any new information on the situation at the heart of the country's economy".
The

Samsung's second recall of its Galaxy Note 7 handsets is an unprecedented disaster for the company and the wider mobile phone sector.

Article: The GM Health and Social Care Partnership Board said the move would make 24/7 urgent primary care provision easier for patients to access.
The additional access will revolve around neighbourhood hubs and "clusters" where weekend and evening appointments will be available.
The board said it hopes the plans will reduce pressure on hospital A&E units.
The investment will also provide patients access to a range of other health and social care services such as diagnostics, blood tests and X-rays as well as supporting nursing and residential homes.
Partnership chairman Lord Peter Smith said: "This £41m investment will ensure that our GPs across Greater Manchester are supported to provide high quality care now and in the future.
"Putting primary care back at the heart of our local communities is absolutely the right thing to do and shows how devolution can make gains for patients' right across Greater Manchester."
The plans do not mean that every GP practice in the region will have extra opening hours.
Instead it is envisaged patients having enhanced access at the neighbourhood level through "clusters" of practices working together, supported by a designated hub serving around 50,000 patients.
Dr David Wrigley, a Lancashire GP and BMA Council Deputy Chair, said: "It is good to hear about some new investment into general practice but I am concerned seven-day routine working is being rolled out when GPs struggle to provide a good five-day service, Monday to Friday, due to the years of under investment.
"We are short of thousands of GPs across the country and this new seven-day plan will seek to stretch my colleagues even more thinly across the week."
The board, which took control of the region's £6bn health and social care budget in 2016, was told 2,500 patients who could be treated elsewhere are dealt with every day in A&E units across the region.
The plan will build on some schemes already in operation in Greater Manchester, such as in Bury.
Bury has had full extended GP access in place since January 2015 with...

Summary: A £41m plan to give everyone in Greater Manchester seven-day GP access has been approved.
###
Article: The State Department has released satellite images of the facility which it said was used to hide evidence.
Rights groups say thousands of inmates have been tortured and hanged at the military prison outside of Damascus.
Syria has not responded to the latest claims but it has in the past strongly denied any abuse at the jail.
In February, Amnesty International said that mass hangings had taken place every week at the jail between 2011 and 2015.
The government at that time dismissed Amnesty's claims as "baseless" and "devoid of truth", pointing out that all executions in Syria followed due process.
More allegations of abuse at Saydnaya resurfaced on Monday.
"Credible sources have believed that many of the bodies have been disposed in mass graves," Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Stuart Jones told reporters.
Thousands hanged at Saydnaya prison, Amnesty says
'How I was tortured in a Syrian jail'
"We now believe that the Syrian regime has installed a crematorium in the Saydnaya prison complex which could dispose of detainees' remains with little evidence," he said.
Evidence of the crematorium hiding or disguising mass murders at the prison will be presented to the international community, Mr Jones said.
He said that newly de-classified documentation "underscore the depths to which the Syrian regime has gone, with the continuing support of its allies, Russia and Iran".
"The facts we're presenting today are based on reporting from international and local non-governmental organisations, press reporting and also intelligence community assessments."
Mr Jones said the Syrian government had modified a building within the Saydnaya complex "to support" the suspected crematorium.
"Although the regime's many atrocities are well documented, we believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison," he said.
According to Amnesty's report in February, which was based on the testimony of witnesses, it was estimated that between 5,000...

Summary: The Syrian government has constructed a crematorium at a military prison to dispose of the remains of thousands of murdered prisoners, the US has alleged.
###
Article: The 10% pay rise has been approved despite Downing Street and a succession of MPs saying it was "not appropriate".
IPSA chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said that MPs' pay had been a "toxic" issue "which had been ducked for decades".
He said the pay rise would not cost any money because it was being combined with cuts to expenses, pension and severance payments for MPs.
The independent watchdog, set up to bring in and run a new expenses and pay system for MPs after the expenses scandal of 2009, says in future MPs' pay would rise in line with average rises in the public sector.
Analysis: By BBC political correspondent Iain Watson
The pay rise for MPs is something which is seen to be perhaps not entirely politically sensible at the moment. Still in an age of austerity, still paying down the deficit, restrictions on public sector pay.
But that said, it's an independent body, IPSA, that's doing it. Their assessment is that MPs are underpaid but that they had far too many generous allowances.
So what they've decided to do is have a series of reforms that don't cost the taxpayer a penny more. So for example, MPs will have a restructured pension scheme and lose some of their expenses, such as for evening meals.
IPSA says this is a very sensible package, but it comes at not a very sensible time if you're an MP, because it looks as though you're getting more than 10% while your constituents are probably having their pay restrained.
That was a change from its earlier suggestion that their pay would be linked to average earnings, which is likely to be higher over the next five years.
The measure being used by IPSA has also been negative in the past as a result of job cuts - and the watchdog's report stated: "If these data show that public sector earnings have in fact fallen, then MPs' pay will be cut too."
A number of MPs - including Education Secretary Nicky Morgan - have said they would give the money to charity, while Labour leadership contenders Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall have said they would forgo the...

Summary: MPs' salaries will rise from £67,060 to £74,000, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced.
###
Article: There have been huge battery-related recalls before - Nokia had to ask consumers to send back 46 million batteries in 2007 because of overheating fears, but because they were removable it did not mean a well-reviewed flagship had to be scrapped.
"Stop using your device, back up your data and switch it off," the Samsung told Note 7 owners the day after it confirmed it had shut down its assembly lines following a spate of fires.
A compensation scheme is being put in place - users will be offered the choice of either getting all their money back or swapping the phablet for an older, smaller-screened Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge phone plus a partial refund.
But several questions remain unanswered.
When Samsung instituted the initial recall last month, it pointed to a "battery cell issue" being the cause.
A report sent by the company to regulators was more specific, saying a production fault had caused some of the batteries to be slightly larger than intended, which had put pressure on them when they were fitted inside phones, according to a leak reported by Bloomberg.
The issue was blamed on the components' manufacturer - Samsung SDI  - and was supposed to have been fixed by putting  batteries made by another company, ATL, in the replacements.
Now that several of that second batch of phones have overheated too, it is unclear whether the original problem was misdiagnosed.
According to the New York Times, Samsung's engineers were never able to get the phones to explode when they tried to recreate the fault.
"We are working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note 7," was the only comment a Samsung spokesman was willing to make on the matter.
Samsung has yet to reveal exactly how many Note 7s it made before pulling the plug on Tuesday.
On 2 September, the South Korean company said 2.5 million devices were subject to its initial recall.
On 27 September, it added that more than 60% of the Note 7s that had been sold in South Korea and the US had been replaced with new...

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A woman was found dead in a car in the village of Bala on Sunday, the court heard.
The woman was taken to hospital in the village of Bala on Sunday.
The court heard the victim's family were taken to hospital in the village of Bala on Sunday.
The court heard the victim

A German holidaymaker has been fined Â£1,000 after causing a crash which killed a motorcyclist in Conwy county.

Article: Paul Croft, 19, died in hospital in March 2005, a week after being attacked in an alleyway in Pendlebury, Salford.
Greater Manchester Police's Cold Case Unit reopened an investigation into his death in 2015.
Paul O'Neill, 35, of Broomhall Road in Pendlebury, was remanded into custody by Manchester magistrates.
A 28-year-old man from Swinton was charged with Mr Croft's murder in November.

Summary: A cold case investigation into the death of a teenager who was beaten with a baseball bat has led to a second man being charged with his murder.
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Article: Angus Carpenter, 62, has played the Scottish instrument in Liverpool city centre for more than 30 years, usually dressed in kilt and piper's regalia.
Liverpool Crown Court heard he gave the impression he was collecting for charity three times in 2015.
He denied three charges of fraud and told the court he was busking.
Sgt Chris Gaynor told the court Mr Carpenter was spotted by police on three occasions in 2015, each time giving the impression he was collecting cash for charity.
On one occasion his collecting bucket was adorned with stickers resembling the Help for Heroes logo and the other two with a Hillsborough Justice Campaign banner draped on his bagpipes.
Passers-by would have assumed he was collecting on behalf of those organisations, the court heard.
Mr Carpenter said he has piped for charity in the past but on these occasions he was busking.
The court heard Kenneth Derbyshire, chairman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, said he had given Mr Carpenter permission to design and display a banner featuring the eternal flame and the word justice.
But he said he had made it clear to Mr Carpenter he was not use it to collect funds for the charity.
Mr Carpenter told the court the banner was a tribute to the victims not an attempt to deceive anyone.
He told the court he was a busker who made money from performing on the streets and he never intended to give the impression he was raising money for charity.
On occasions when he did fundraise, he said, he always insisted that representatives from the relevant charities collected the cash.
The trial continues.

Summary: A bagpiping busker used a Hillsborough charity banner to dupe big-hearted Scousers into handing over money, a court has heard.
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Article: The co-payment scheme would have required doctors to decide whether or not to charge patients an extra A$5 ($4.1, Â£2.6) for a visit.
Health Minister Susan Ley said on Tuesday that the idea had been dropped because of a lack of support.
Critics of the policy said it shifted the burden of financing healthcare to doctors and patients.
The proposed scheme had been heavily criticised by medical professionals.
It replaced a previous and equally unpopular plan in December to charge patients a A$7 fee to see a GP.
How does Australian Medicare work now?
Under the updated version of the scheme, doctors would have seen their Medicare rebates for some patients cut by A$5, with doctors given the option to pass that cost on to the patient.
The government claimed the scheme would save A$3.5bn over five years but critics said the cost to patients would rise.
Professor Heather Yeatman, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, said in December that GPs were "being forced to do the dirty work of the government".
Ms Leys said it was clear the proposal for a co-payment did "not have broad support and will not proceed".
"We recognise that we cannot introduce reforms to build a strong, sustainable Medicare without the support from the public and the parliament."
She said she would be consulting on short, medium and long-term policy options to ensure the government could continue to support high quality care and treatment.
Australian Medical Association President Dr Brian Owler welcomed the move, telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the policy was "never one which was going to improve general practice or make the healthcare system more sustainable".

Summary: Australia's government has scrapped plans for a widely criticised medical payment scheme.
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Article: Hospital radiographer Aidan McNicholl, 36, died following the collision on the A5 at Cerrigydrudion on Sunday.
Andreas Werner, 46, of Leipzig, failed to spot the motorcyclist as he turned his VW Transporter right causing the fatal crash.
The father-of-four pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at Llandudno Magistrates' Court.
He was fined Â£1,000 and also banned from driving in the UK for two years.
Prosecutor Sarah Marsh told the court the victim's family saw no value in Werner, who was staying in a cottage with his family near Bala, being sent to jail.
She said: "They accept it was a momentary lapse and nothing will bring him back."
Craig Hutchinson, defending, said Werner was remorseful and could offer no explanation for the crash.

Summary:


The Khumbu glacier is a major source of water for the region, with the region's largest population of water bodies.
The Khumbu glacier is a major source of water for the region, with the region's largest population of water bodies.
The region's largest population of water bodies is the Khumb

Lakes that have been forming near Mount Everest could threaten settlements downstream if they overflow.

Article: The ambitious plans for the revamp includes demolishing many of the existing buildings on The Kingsway.
They also include a large raised public square bridging Oystermouth Road, linking the city centre to the marina.
The plans will go before Swansea council for approval on 20 January.
If the council gives the proposals the go-ahead, developers would need to be found with the aim of of work starting in 2016.
Part of the plans also include selling off the civic centre on the seafront to help fund the plans.
Council leader Rob Stewart told the South Wales Evening Post the plan was to build something with a "Swansea flavour" rather than just copying developments in other cities.
He said: "The regeneration of the city centre is a key priority not just for the council but for the people of Swansea as a whole.
"A new, vibrant Swansea city centre is of benefit not just to the residents and businesses of Swansea, but to people across the Swansea Bay City Region.
"We want to develop a thriving, vibrant and viable city centre. We don't want to copy from elsewhere but we do want to learn from successful development elsewhere.
"Our new city centre needs to be unique and retain a special Swansea identity and character that is not found anywhere else."

Summary: A proposed redevelopment of Swansea city centre could see the construction of a "business district" and a major shopping, leisure, cinema, office and housing complex.
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Article: The demonstration involved Racetrack memory - a system which stores information as magnetic patterns on tiny wires.
IBM said the technology promised faster data access speeds than were possible using hard drives or flash disks.
However it faces a challenge from other next-generation memory technologies being explored by other companies.
The team - based in New York, California and Taiwan - has been working on the process since 2008.
The prototype chip consists of 256 Racetrack cells.
Each cell consisted of a single magnetic nanowire, 60-240 nanometres wide and 15-20 nanometres thick. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre.
Electric pulses are applied to the wires creating "domain walls" with "regions" between them.
These regions pass over a magnetic read/write head which faces them in one direction or another, representing the 0s and 1s of computer data.
The small magnetic regions can be "raced" at speed along the wires - giving the technique its name.
Advocates of Racetrack claim it could potentially read and write data hundreds of thousands of times faster than is possible on commercial hard disks.
That would put access speeds at roughly the rate offered by DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chips. These are already used in current PCs to run programs, but "forget" data as soon as the computers' power supplies are switched off.
"This breakthrough could lead to a new type of data-centric computing that allows massive amounts of stored information to be accessed in less than a billionth of a second," said a statement from IBM.
The scientists noted that the circuitry involved was created using IBM's standard microchip-making technologies, highlighting its potential as a realistic replacement to existing memory storage techniques.
Racetrack may also prove more durable. IBM aims to create a device that can be wiped and rewritten millions of times. By contrast many flash memory drives can become unreliable after any single bit has endured about 100,000 writes.
However, the researchers acknowledge that more work...

Summary: Details of the first real-world test of a new memory chip technology have been revealed by IBM scientists.
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Article: Leader Nick Clegg said the party's candidate Mike Thornton had pulled off a "stunning victory" which had been secured "against the odds".
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said its best-ever performance in a Westminster poll showed it had "connected with voters".
David Cameron said the Tories would recover from a "disappointing" result.
The by-election was called after former Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne resigned as an MP following an admission he had perverted the course of justice over driving licence points.
But the party, which has held Eastleigh since another by-election in 1994, won despite a fall in its share of the vote of more than 14 percentage points since the 2010 general election.
Nick Robinson: Disbelief, despair, concern
UKIP candidate Diane James got 11,571 votes, on a 19.3% swing from the Lib Dems.
Conservative Maria Hutchings won 10,559 votes, representing a 14 percentage points fall in her share of the vote since the general election, when she came second to Mr Huhne.
Labour's John O'Farrell was fourth with 4,088 votes.
Lib Dem Mr Thornton, who has been a parish and borough councillor since 2007, said: "The people of Eastleigh recognise that the Liberal Democrats have always had a superb record of delivery, we've always listened to what people want, and we always make sure that we do a good job."
By Robin  BrantBBC News political correspondent
What does this result mean?
At a victory celebration in the constituency, Mr Clegg said the party had won in the "most exceptionally difficult circumstances" - given the manner of Huhne's departure and allegations surrounding the party's former chief executive Lord Rennard.
"We held our nerve. We stood our ground... We overcame the odds with a stunning victory," he said, adding that the result proved the Lib Dems "can be a party of government and still win".
UKIP's Nigel Farage said the surge in support for his party was not a "freak result" but a continuation of a trend which had seen it rise in the national polls.
"We have really connected with...

Summary: The Liberal Democrats have won the Eastleigh by-election, with the UK Independence Party pushing the Conservatives into third place.
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Article: Ponds on the surface of the Khumbu glacier in the Himalayas have expanded and joined together to form larger bodies of water.
Climbers need to cross the glacier, including the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, to climb the mighty peak.
The accelerated meltdown of glaciers in the region is causing concern against a backdrop of rising global temperatures.
Scientists say the warning is the first of its kind for Khumbu, although other glaciers in the Himalayas have seen an increase in the number of lakes formed.
Such newly formed glacial lakes can overflow causing flooding, and with it loss of life and damage downstream.
This is the first scientific team to visit the region after the devastating earthquake last April.
"A decade or so ago, there were individual ponds on the Khumbu glacier but in the past five years or so they have begun to get larger and join up," said Ann Rowan, who led the field study team from the universities of Sheffield and Leeds.
Dr Rowan's team has been studying the behaviour of debris-covered glaciers, focusing on Khumbu.
"Particularly, on the left hand side of the lower reaches of the glacier, there is a series of about seven or eight large ponds that are now starting to link and form a big chain," she told the BBC.
"There is water flowing from the upper part of the glacier through the series of these ponds and that is going to encourage them to join up.
"At present, the glacier appears to be disintegrating, and may form a few large and potentially hazardous lakes on the glacier surface."
Dr Rowan's team has studied satellite images of the Khumbu glacier dating back 15 years and has also conducted three ground surveys since 2009.
The scientists found that parts of the lower region of the debris-covered glacier have been shrinking because of loss of ice underneath. This has allowed the formation and expansion of water bodies.
The study says measurements for the past 15 years show that the surface of the debris-covered glacier has been declining at the rate of two metres per year.
Unlike the...

Summary:


the spread of terrorism in the Middle East, but the US has been trying to prevent it.
The US has been trying to prevent it.

Nineteen people, including 17 foreign tourists, have been killed in a gun attack on the Bardo museum in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, the PM says.

Article: Analysis of data on vehicle accidents showed that drivers aged 70 are involved in 3-4 times fewer accidents than 17-21 year old men.
By observing older drivers, the study found that most mistakes made occurred on right turns and overtaking.
Young men are more likely to be involved in incidents resulting from driving too fast and losing control.
The research findings were outlined at the British Science Festival in Swansea.
Charles Musselwhite, associate professor of gerontology at Swansea University's Centre for Innovative Ageing, found that dangerous driving is not generally an issue for older people.
While the elderly are more likely to be involved in an accident than the safest-driving cohort in their 40s, they are less likely than very young drivers to be involved in accidents.
Older drivers tended to make mistakes when they felt under pressure from other road users, the study found.
The most accident-prone age group, by a substantial margin, is young men. Indeed, 17 to 21 year-olds are three to four times more likely to have an accident than 70 year-olds.
There is an increase in accidents among the over-75 age group, which Prof Musselwhite puts down to increasing physical frailty.
Older and younger drivers are also involved in different types of accident. While young men are more likely to be involved in single vehicle incidents, usually caused by speeding and losing control, older people tend to have smaller impact collisions.
Older women are more likely to have small accidents when doing tight manoeuvres. Older people are also more likely to be involved in accidents involving other older drivers, suggesting they make similar errors.
However, Prof Musselwhite said that older drivers compensate for their declining powers by driving more carefully, slowing down, leaving larger gaps, and choosing better weather and quieter times to go out in the car.
He also noted that this may change as people work and live longer.
Road safety concerns have prompted discussion about re-testing older drivers, but such...

Summary: New research from Swansea University challenges the idea that older people are dangerous drivers.
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Article: On the wall behind his counter, a sign announces that besides the real - Brazil's legal tender - he accepts the "bem", an alternative currency from a local community development bank, Banco Bem.
The bank was founded in 2005 by an association of seamstresses who decided to lend their profits to a group of furniture makers so that they too could start their own collective.
There are some 100 similar microfinance banks in Brazil, as well as many barter initiatives that also involve social currencies. The banks' aim is to promote the principles of a "solidarity-based economy" which, in their view, is fairer and more sustainable than the dominant capitalist model.
Their clients can pay with colourful bills called, for example, palm-trees (palmas), chestnuts (castanhas), sunflowers (girassois), and kisses (beijos).
Even Cidade de Deus, the Rio de Janeiro's favela made famous through Fernando Meirelles's film City of God, has its own money, the CDD.
Like Cidade de Deus, Sao Benedito used to be extremely violent and drug trafficking was rife. But like several Rio slums, it has now been heavily occupied by the police and local people say they feel much safer.
Sao Benedito residents also say life has improved in recent years thanks to the social policies of the governments of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his successor, Dilma Rousseff - and thanks to local projects like Banco Bem.
"Through Banco Bem, they started to encourage me, to help me, to support me," Mr Rodrigues da Silva, a former bricklayer, said.
He has taken out two loans from the bank, the first one to build his shop and the second one to enlarge it.
"Trade has grown a lot recently. Many more people are coming to spend their money here and a lot of them are paying with bens," he added, with a big smile.
Banco Bem was inspired by Banco Palmas, Brazil's first community bank founded 15 years ago in the north-eastern city of Fortaleza.
"The goal of having a social currency is to encourage people to use that money within their community and...

Summary: Shopkeeper Heraldo Rodrigues da Silva, 55, owns a small store in Sao Benedito, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Vitoria, the capital of the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo.
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Article: The manifesto pledges to launch fast 5G mobile networks in every country within the European Union by 2020.
However, it also says current net neutrality regulations could hamper innovation and cause "significant uncertainties".
The signatories include BT, Nokia, Orange, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom.
The concept of net neutrality refers to all internet data traffic being treated equally, with no content provider able to gain an advantage over another.
Campaigners believe it is the best way to enable free and open competition on the internet.
"The EU and member states must reconcile the need for open internet with pragmatic rules that foster innovation," the 5G manifesto says.
"The telecom industry warns that the current net neutrality guidelines, as put forward by BEREC [the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications], create significant uncertainties around 5G return on investment.
"Investments are therefore likely to be delayed unless regulators take a positive stance on innovation and stick to it."
The document also outlines the businesses' commitment to launching 5G in a minimum of one city per EU country by 2020.
5G is the fifth generation of mobile networks, and is likely to be significantly faster than the currently available 3G and 4G.
In October 2015, the European Parliament voted against amendments backed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Netflix and Reddit designed to safeguard net neutrality, creating an unequal internet campaigners fear could stifle future innovation.
"Telecom companies cannot blackmail Europe into weakening net neutrality in exchange for investment in 5G networks, and it is disappointing that the European Commission appear to have endorsed their manifesto," said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group.
"True innovation is not about protecting the vested interests of large telcos.
"BEREC need to publish net neutrality guidelines that will protect the free and open internet for small businesses and consumers as well."
One analyst told the BBC the telecom...

Summary: Some of the world's largest telecoms companies have signed a 5G manifesto, aimed at driving forward the deployment of next-generation mobile networks.
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Article: Those killed included citizens from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Australia, France, Poland and Spain, PM Habib Essid said.
Two Tunisians, one a police officer, were also killed, he said.
Security forces killed two gunmen and were searching the surrounding area for accomplices, Mr Essid added.
At the time of the attack, deputies in the neighbouring parliamentary building were discussing anti-terrorism legislation. Parliament was evacuated.
Following the attack, Mr Essid said: "It is a critical moment in our history, and a defining moment for our future.
"We have not established the identity of the two terrorists... Reports are not final, these two terrorists could have been assisted by two or three other operatives."
Security operations were "still under way", he added.
According to Prime Minister Essid, 19 people were killed, although some of the countries involved have different totals:
Earlier reports said that a total of 20 tourists had died, with at least 22 tourists and two Tunisians injured. Other reports suggest up to 50 could have been hurt.
Italian, Polish, South African, French and Japanese tourists were among the injured, Mosaique FM radio reported.
Parliament held an extraordinary session on Wednesday evening.
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said: "We are in a war against terrorism... we will fight them without mercy."
Analysis: BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner
Sadly, this attack did not come out of the blue.
While Tunisia has been spared the catastrophic levels of violence that have plagued other Arab Spring countries like Syria, Yemen and Libya, the country has still suffered from occasional but deadly attacks carried out by Islamist extremists.
In 2013, 22 people were killed. This included a suicide bomber who attacked a beach resort in Sousse. Last year 45 people were killed and already this year the death toll has reached 23, with Wednesday's museum raid following an attack on a mountain checkpoint in February that killed 4 police officers.
In all cases the perpetrators are believed...

Summary: