A cyclist who was killed when he was hit by a car police were pursuing has been described by his family "as a respected and dedicated academic".

Article: The statement comes as a committee of AMs found the number of stillbirths in Wales to be "unacceptably high" at an average of 180 each year.
They say evidence from a one-day inquiry into stillbirths held last June showed 64 babies could be saved each year if Wales could emulate Scandinavian success in reducing the rate.
Julia Chandler, national officer for the RCM in Wales, also told BBC News the way foetal growth was measured needed to be standardised, and customised growth charts which made allowances for things like the mother's ethnic group should be rolled out across the country.
A study published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in January concluded better monitoring of pregnancies including measuring foetal growth, using scans at a later stage and recording the movements of foetuses more accurately could save up to 600 babies a year in the UK.
It came two days after the RCM warned a shortage of midwives and a fall in students and any future cuts would risk the quality of services.
Ms Chandler said all midwives used tape measures to monitor foetal growth past around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
However she said one thing which both midwives and doctors seemed to find very hard to do was to talk to pregnant women about the possibility of stillbirth occurring.
A sign that something may be wrong is often a reduction in foetal movements, and getting that investigated promptly can make a difference to the outcome.
"What the reduction of midwives will do is reduce the amount of time midwives have with women. You need some continuity with someone so that they trust them," she said.
"You need some time with people and it's not the sort of thing you can do if you only have two minutes with them.
"It's easier to have a difficult conversation if the mother knows someone.
"If you have just met somebody it's difficult to say midway through, 'we need to have a chat about stillbirth'."
She said since the inquiry into stillbirths had begun, many people had commented on how common stillbirth was but it was not in the...

Summary: The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) says a drop in midwife numbers in Wales could be taking vital time away from appointments which could be used to talk to women about the risks of stillbirth and how to help avoid it.
###
Article: The Conservative leader told the BBC the idea of SNP influence over a Labour PM was a "frightening prospect".
But Ms Sturgeon said the SNP "want to be constructive, to get better politics coming out of the Westminster system".
Labour's Ed Balls said the Tories and SNP wanted each other to do well. "They are in bed together," he told Sky News.
The possible role of the SNP in a post-election government has been one of the key issues in the campaign so far.
Labour has rejected the idea of a coalition or deal with the SNP - who are threatening to take a swathe of seats from them in Scotland, if opinion polls turn out to be accurate.
But the Conservatives have demanded that Labour also rule out any prospect of operating as a minority government and relying on SNP support on a vote-by-vote basis.
The SNP have said that they would seek to prevent a Conservative government and would seek to ensure any Labour government was "progressive".
SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie told the BBC's Sunday Politics the party would vote against "cuts that we didn't like", highlighting the SNP's opposition to the Trident nuclear weapons system.
In the absence of a five-year deal, he said: "There would be no deal so we would be perfectly at liberty to table amendments to Budgets and legislation, vote against or table amendments to estimates, perfectly sensible."
Earlier on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Cameron said: "The SNP is a party that doesn't want to come to Westminster to contribute to a government; it wants to come to Westminster to break up our country.
"When you have a group of Nationalists that want to be involved with the government of a country which they don't want to belong to you have to ask yourself if you're a voter in England, or Wales, or Northern Ireland would these people care at all about what happens in my life and my constituency? The answer is 'no'."
Ms Sturgeon rejected the view the SNP would attempt to cause disruption at Westminster to further its goal of independence - while also ruling out any deal with the...

Summary: Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed David Cameron's claim that they would be "coming to Westminster to break up our country".
###
Article: The firm went into administration last month.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise has been selected as the preferred bidder to take over the assets of the company.
But administrators KMPG said they had been unable to sell the business as a going concern, so the remaining staff will now lose their jobs.
Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power had employed more than 50 staff in the design, manufacture and operation of wave energy converters which it had been testing at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
Administrators were called in after Pelamis failed to secure enough funding to develop its technology.
The majority of Pelamis employees were made redundant following the joint administrators' appointment.
By Douglas FraserBusiness and economy editor, Scotland
Administrators found the best option was to sell the assets to the government.
That suggests a lack of other options.
Now, the challenge taken on by the Scottish government, its agencies, and the Wave Power Forum it set up when Pelamis went into administration, is to find a way to make use of the invention.
The aim is to stop it becoming another technology lost to foreign competitors.
The Scottish government announced it was establishing a public innovation company Wave Energy Scotland following Pelamis' demise and pledged to offer job opportunities for some of its staff.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise is responsible for setting up the new body and delivering on its remit.
Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland, said: "Following the sales process, I am pleased to confirm that Highland and Islands Enterprise has been appointed preferred bidder in relation to acquiring the assets of Pelamis Wave Power Limited.
"Over the coming days we will be working to finalise the sale and are hopeful that the transaction can be concluded in the near future.
"Unfortunately, as no going concern solution has been found, the remaining staff will shortly be made redundant. We are working with government agencies to ensure...

Summary: The 16 remaining staff at collapsed wave power company Pelamis are to be made redundant after no final offers were made for the business.
###
Article: He needed £120 and says he didn't have a problem convincing them to lend him cash by saying he worked full-time.
But the 20-year-old admitted lying on his application and told Newsbeat it was "too easy" to be accepted.
He's now likely to be one of 330,000 people whose debts will be written off after a ruling that Wonga lent money to people who couldn't repay it.
"My bank couldn't give me an overdraft or anything, and so I went to them [Wonga]," he says.
He received his money and went on holiday, but a few weeks later he says the firm started calling him and he says they were "constant".
"They were ringing me every day," he says. "They were telling me how much I owe and that there was added interest."
Elliot says that a few months later he was being told his debt had risen to more then £800 and it began to affect his day-to-day life.
The longer it went on, the more he says he worried he would get about his situation getting out of control.
Elliott is likely to be one of those to have his loan cancelled and says it's come as a relief.
He says the amount of the debt was making him feel depressed and that he had "no idea" what he would have done if this ruling hadn't come.
In Elliott's opinion, the whole process is too simple and he wants payday lending to be banned.
"It's so easy to go online and get one that you don't really look at the small print and they don't really tell you that much," he says.
He also said it would have been easy for him to lie about his salary and increase the amount he could get.
He describes the payday loan system as a "vicious circle" and warns that you can end up owing more and more money each month.
Newsbeat have approached Wonga for a response but we've yet to hear back from them.
If you're struggling with debt, the Citizens Advice Bureau says not to use payday lenders.
They offer a service to help people re-organise and manage their repayments to make them more affordable.
There's a chance you may have also been treated unfairly and they'll deal with the lender on your behalf to...

Summary: When Elliott Gomme needed money for a holiday, like many people he turned to payday lender Wonga.
###
Article: Mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, was able to confirm the impact had occurred when radio contact to the ageing spacecraft was lost abruptly.
The assumption is that the probe would have been damaged beyond use.
In the hours before the planned collision, Rosetta sent back a host of high-resolution pictures and other measurements of the icy dirt-ball.
"I can announce full success of this historic descent of Rosetta towards Comet 67P," said European Space Agency mission manager Patrick Martin.
"Farewell Rosetta; you've done the job. That was space science at its best."
Researchers expect all the data gathered at 67P in the past two years to keep them busy for decades to come.
How Rosetta ended its mission
In pictures: Rosetta's final descent
Social media reaction
The loss of signal, which happened at 11:19 GMT (12:19 BST; 13:19 CEST), was greeted by muted cheers and handshakes - not so surprising given the bittersweet nature of the occasion.
Some of the scientists watching on here in Darmstadt have spent the better part of 30 years on this project.
"People are very sad today but I think they really understand how proud we are and how proud they should be that we've pulled this mission off," said Esa's senior science advisor, Mark McCaughrean.
Throughout Friday morning, the instrument teams had followed every twist and turn as the probe aimed for a touchdown spot on the head of the 4km-wide, duck-shaped comet.
The researchers had wanted the descending probe to get a look inside one of the many pits that pockmark the surface.
These sinkholes are often the places where 67P ejects gas and dust into space. But they also afford an opportunity to look at the object's interior, to see the lumpy ice blocks that may have come together to build the comet billions of years ago.
Some of the images that came back were acquired just seconds before the collision. These pictures will have resolutions that can be measured in millimetres. "They're super-duper," enthused Holger Sierks, the head of the Osiris camera team. "I've...

Summary: Europe's Rosetta probe has ended its mission to Comet 67P by crash-landing on to the icy object's surface.
###
Article: Andrew Platten, 55, from Bingley, died at the scene in Cottingley Cliffe Road in the town on Tuesday.ã€€
West Yorkshire Police said officers had tried to stop the car after seeing the driver "acting suspiciously".
Police said the car then "sped off and collided" with Dr Platten a short distance away.
The matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
A 22-year-old Bradford man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He has been released on bail.
Dr Platten worked at Leeds Beckett University. Its website describes him as an associate dean for international and collaborative provision in the Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology.
In a statement, his family said: "Andrew excelled as a respected and dedicated academic, with a love for art, poetry and music. For anyone that knew him, cycling was his true passion as he became a recognised competitive rider on the roads. ã€€
"Most importantly he was a loved friend, loyal brother and uncle, loving partner and a truly inspirational father. He will be deeply missed, but he has left his stamp on all who met him.
"He will always be cherished and never forgotten, living on in all our hearts."

Summary:


People concerned with traffic congestion in villages near Stonehenge are stepping up a campaign for "urgent action" to be taken.

Article: The leading UK authority on sports ground safety has distanced itself from a report seen by some as a 'route map' to getting the scheme back on track.
The report was published last month. It is called a "project assessment review" and was compiled by Cabinet Office officials.
The BBC understands that the Sports Grounds Safety Authority is unhappy with parts of it.
That is even though it referred to them as specialist contributors.
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is planning to build a 38,000-capacity stadium at its existing west Belfast sports ground, Casement Park.
However, the project has been dogged by issues of safety in its design.
Paul Scott, a safety chief on the project, raised concerns. He said that any design must allow for the ground to be evacuated in an emergency within eight minutes and that the pitch itself cannot be part of the emergency exiting plan.
His comments prompted several investigations.
Last month the project assessment review, commissioned by the Culture and Leisure Minister Carál Ní Chuilín and carried out by the Cabinet Office, recommended Mr Scott's removal as head of the safety group and concluded the new stadium was still achievable.
It said there could be flexibility on the eight minutes and that the pitch could be used as part of the plan.
Now, information has been provided to Stormont MLAs by the Sports Ground Safety Authority.
Known as the SGSA, it is the leading UK body on stadium safety.
Its chief executive said that while its experts were referred to in the Cabinet Office report, they had been asked general questions and were not asked to comment in detail on the specifics of the Casement plans.
It went on to say the conclusions "should not be taken to represent the SGSA's advice on the specifics" in relation to Casement.
Crucially, when it comes to the disputed eight-minute timescale and the pitch being used as a place of safety, the SGSA appears to agree with Paul Scott.
The SGSA also told MLAs that in new stadia, the exit routes should "allow all spectators to...

Summary: The GAA's Casement Park stadium project looks set for more problems.
###
Article: Mutations in BRCA genes can give women up to an 80% chance of developing breast cancer.
A trial involving 1,034 Ashkenazi Jews, who are at high risk, suggested more than half of their cases were not being picked up under the current NHS guidelines.
The Eve Appeal charity said wider testing would save lives and money.
Mutations in BRCA genes stop DNA repairing itself and increase the risk of cancer developing.
As well as breast cancer, they are also linked to ovarian and prostate cancers.
Around one in 800 people carry a BRCA mutation. But in the Ashkenazi Jewish population the figure reaches one in 40.
The research team, based at University College London and the University of Manchester, compared the effectiveness of screening all Ashkenazi Jews with just screening those who were identified as being at risk because of their family history.
They showed that 56% of those carrying a mutation would not have had a test for BRCA based on family history alone.
The findings, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, show extra screening could save lives and money.
There are an estimated 114,400 Ashkenazi Jewish women in the UK.
A separate analysis showed screening all of them over the age of 30 would lead to "a reduction in ovarian cancer and breast cancer by 276 and 508 cases, respectively, at a discounted cost savings of Â£3.7m."
Prof Ian Jacobs, one of the researchers at the University of Manchester, said: "For the Ashkenazi Jewish community specifically, this suggests that population testing for BRCA1/2 mutations could save lives."
He told the BBC: "This can save lives and money, why wouldn't the NHS want to do something that could achieve both objectives.
"But the NHS does need to do its own proper evaluation."
The cost of this kind of screening, both for BRCA and other risk genes, is plummeting.
The NHS will eventually have to deal with questions about screening the whole population.
"No-one is suggesting we test the entire UK population for BRCA right now," Prof Ian Jacobs told the BBC.
He...

Summary: More people in high risk groups should have their DNA tested for breast cancer risk genes, a cancer charity says.
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Article: The report gives details of a study into the potential for seals coming into contact with the renewable energy devices in the Pentland Firth.
The research suggests collisions could happen, but were not likely to be fatal to grey seals, a large seal species.
Smaller harbour seals might be "less robust", the report noted.
The report and analysis was commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
The study examined the movements of tagged seals in the Pentland Firth, a narrow stretch of sea separating mainland Scotland and the Orkney Islands.
Scientists based their research on a hypothetical array of up to 86 tidal turbines.
In their report, the researchers said there was potential for seals to collide with turbines, adding that larger grey seals were unlikely to be fatally injured.
But they also pointed out that seals should be able to detect turbines "both visually and acoustically and are also likely to be able to modify their behaviour to avoid collisions".
The scientists said this avoidance behaviour required additional research.

Summary: The ability of seals to avoid collisions with tidal turbines has still to be properly understood, a new report has suggested.
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Article: Dr Bart van Es says the turning point for Shakespeare's writing career was when he became a shareholder in a theatre company.
It meant that he had much more control over his plays than other writers.
"This separated Shakespeare from the world of the jobbing playwright," says Dr van Es.
In 1594, Shakespeare bought a share in the Lord Chamberlain's Men theatre company, which Dr van Es describes as a "daring decision".
It was an unprecedented step for an Elizabethan author to take a stake in the ownership of of a theatre company and it put Shakespeare in a "unique position", compared with his literary contemporaries, claims Dr van Es, from Oxford's faculty of language and literature.
It made Shakespeare much richer, but it also gave him much more freedom over his writing and allowed him to innovate.
Until this point, says Dr van Es, Shakespeare had been on the path of a "conventional playwright", supplementing writing with some acting, depending on the patronage of the wealthy and having to accept that his work could be re-written and adapted by other people.
Dr van Es says Shakespeare would probably have borrowed the money to buy his eighth share in the theatre company, but his financial timing was as successful as his dramatic timing.
The Elizabethan theatre proved to be extremely lucrative and Shakespeare was able to take a share of the profits. In such a moment "fortunes are made," says Dr van Es, a fellow of St Catherine's College.
Instead of acting out a caricature of a starving author, Shakespeare was now able to buy property and lend other people money.
This also changed the trajectory of his writing, says Dr van Es, whose research has been published in a book, Shakespeare in Company.
He had the financial security to develop his own literary voice and themes and no longer had the "breadline existence" of having to compromise to meet the whims of rich sponsors.
This close relationship with one theatre company allowed him to develop characters for particular favourite actors, giving him much more artistic...

Summary: William Shakespeare was the first great "writer entrepreneur" and his financial success gave him artistic independence, an Oxford University researcher claims.
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Article: In the worst cases it can lead to postpartum psychosis, also known as puerperal psychosis, a mental illness which affects one in 500 new mothers and can result in suicide or them killing their baby.
BBC Newsnight has spoken to people affected by this devastating but poorly understood condition, which often goes undetected because doctors and midwives can fail to recognise the symptoms.
The majority of women who have postpartum psychosis will have no family history of mental illness or experience of it themselves, experts say.
Jo Lyall was one such woman. After her second son, Finlay, was born, Jo suffered a devastating episode. It happened one night, just a few days after leaving hospital:
"I placed his sleeping body down on the bed beside me, and my brain simply snapped," she said. "It felt as though somebody had flicked a switch in my head, and I looked at him and was filled with an urge to kill him."
"I put my hand around his tiny neck, not yet strong enough to hold up his own head, and began to squeeze. I wasn't trying to harm him. I knew I mustn't do that, but I wanted to know if I was capable of it."
Jo knew something was badly wrong, but she was too scared to seek help because she thought her children would be taken away from her.
Without treatment she became sicker and began planning how to kill both herself and her two young sons.
"One day I thought about smothering the boys while they had their lunchtime sleep," she said.
"I had to make sure the boys and dog were dead before I took my own life because I couldn't risk them surviving if I didn't," she added.
Jo made several suicide attempts, but after six months in a secure psychiatric hospital and four years on medication, she is now fully recovered.
She is now campaigning for greater awareness of the symptoms of postpartum psychosis to enable doctors and midwives to offer better treatment to women who are ill.
"I survived, largely due to one consultant and an extraordinary amount of luck," she said. "But women should not have to rely on luck to...

Summary: Women are more at risk of severe mental illness after giving birth than at any other time in their lives.
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Article: The A344 next to the monument was shut in June to "restore the dignity" of the stone circle as part of a Â£27m project.
Residents of villages including Shrewton and Orcheston say their lanes have become "rat runs" for drivers avoiding congestion on the A303.
Campaigners will collect signatures for a petition this weekend.
Janice Hassett, from the Shrewton Traffic Action Group (Stag), said: "The A344 should not have been closed before the A303 was dualled.
"The A303 at Stonehenge Bottom was bad before, but it's a nightmare now.
"Traffic is stupidly backing up to Thruxton on a holiday weekend.
"Sat-navs are sending people right through our villages. There's going to be an accident."
The petition is asking for "urgent action" to be taken to tackle high volumes of non-local traffic using the B3086 through Shrewton, a 20mph speed limit to be introduced and better signage to be installed.

Summary:

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Rescuers used helicopters to pluck families from rooftops in the southern German town of Deggendorf on Wednesday as the Danube flood crisis continues.

Article: The rail network wants to pilot a ticketing system that scans people's phones to detect when they get on and off a train.
Each journey's fare is calculated and deducted from the user's bank account.
The tests are scheduled for 2017 and the technology could be available nationwide by 2018.
But one analyst claims the tech would result in only a modest improvement in convenience for passengers.
Using a smartphone's Bluetooth signal, the app allows passengers to open ticket barriers automatically, as well as get on and off trains, all without needing to hold a ticket.
Bluetooth sensors at the gates will detect when passengers enter and leave stations, and from this, calculate the journey each passenger has taken. The app will be connected to each user's bank account and charge for train fares in a manner similar to Uber does with taxis.
A design brief, written by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) and seen by the BBC, suggests that the tech could eliminate consumers' problems in choosing the most affordable ticket.
It could also eliminate long queues at ticket machines, as well as provide a "seamless customer journey", the RSSB said.
A further benefit of the tech would be to track each train's performance, potentially leading to real-time journey and delay info, as well as simplifying the compensation process for delays.
For rail firms, each customer's smartphone could provide rich data on which journeys are most popular, potentially allowing them to reallocate trains to suit demand.
However, one analyst is not convinced that the tech is much of a breakthrough in terms of convenience.
"It's not too different from tapping an Oyster card on a ticket gate and tapping out the other end," said Ian Fogg, principal analyst at IHS Technology.
"All this is really saving is the trouble of taking a smartcard out and tapping it at the gate. That's a fairly small improvement."
But he said that simpler ways of proving a train has been delayed, as well as congestion tracking, would be a distinct advantage.
If Chiltern...

Summary: Smartphones could soon be used instead of rail tickets if an experiment by Chiltern Railways is successful.
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Article: Owners Magnox said the workforce was being cut to 357, down from 522 staff, and about 25 agency workers by May.
Earlier this year, it said 1,600 jobs would be lost at 12 sites by 2016.
Anglesey's planned new nuclear power station, Wylfa Newydd, will employ more than 1,000 people once it begins working in the first half of the 2020s.
A company statement said: "When a nuclear power station moves from generation into the next phase of its lifecycle, which is defuelling, a reduced number of staff are needed for operational work.
"This is not unexpected and we've engaged fully with our staff and the trades unions about the planned changes.
"Wherever possible we will seek to make voluntary redundancies, as we have at our other Magnox stations."

Summary: A total of 165 jobs will be lost at Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey when the plant moves from energy generation to defueling, say bosses.
###
Article: But Sir Alan, the former judge who heads the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), said papers were unlikely to face exemplary Â£1m fines.
In a speech to the Society of Editors, he said Ipso would use a "slim, clear book of rules" not an "iron fist".
He insisted he did not want a "boring, defensive" press, but an "unruly" one.
"Mistakes and errors of judgement will always occur," said Sir Alan.
"But if you do so deliberately, flagrantly, without caring one jot whether you break the code or not, Ipso will damn you.
"We want a free, fair and unruly press ruled only by an independent regulator, Ipso, who will support you and encourage you to remain free, fair and unruly."
Most newspapers have signed up to Ipso, which replaced the much criticised Press Complaints Commission in the wake of the Leveson report into press standards.
The Guardian, Independent and Financial Times are three of those that have declined to embrace the new watchdog.
Campaign group Hacked Off, which wants tougher press regulation, has dismissed Ipso as a "sham".
Sir Alan has said Ipso will prove its independence with its actions.
Referring to the prospect of exemplary fines, Sir Alan said: "When Ipso was launched we were all told how different the regulatory regime would be now that there was power to fine up to Â£1m or 1% of annual turnover.
"And they said, 'There you are... now you can show your mettle by fining someone Â£1m, that's what you need.'
"You only have to say that, to see how unlikely it is. Proper successful independent regulation will not be established by manic firing of a big bazooka."
Sir Alan said Ipso's decisions would occasionally be unpopular.
"But we are not here to be popular. We are not here only to secure agreement but to manage disagreement.
"Of course it is important that there should be urgent and speedy resolution of complaints. Publications should be encouraged to settle disputes, with fairness, clarity and above all without delay."
One of the first tests for the new watchdog is the case of the...

Summary: Newspapers that break press rules "deliberately" or "flagrantly" will be "damned" by the new industry watchdog, its chairman, Sir Alan Moses, has said.
###
Article: A small stone lying just to the side of the vehicle at its landing site on the floor of Gale Crater has been selected as a test target for the ChemCam laser.
The brief but powerful burst of light from this instrument will vaporise the surface of the rock, revealing details of its basic chemistry.
Dubbed N165, the object is not expected to have any science value, but should show ChemCam is ready for serious work.
"I'd probably guess this is a typical Mars basalt - basaltic rocks making up a large fraction of all the igneous rocks on Mars," Roger Wiens, the instrument's principal investigator, told BBC News.
"A basalt, which is also common under the ocean on Earth, typically has 48% silicon dioxide and percent amounts of iron, calcium and magnesium, and sodium and potassium oxides as well.  We're not expecting any surprises," said the Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher.
Curiosity touched down in its equatorial crater two weeks ago.
Its mission is to investigate the rocks at its landing site for evidence that past environments could have supported life.
The rover carries a suite of instruments for the purpose, but its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) experiment has probably garnered most attention because nothing like it has ever been flown to Mars before.
ChemCam sits high up on the rover's mast from where it directs a laser beam on to rocks up to 7m (23ft) away.
The spot hit by the infrared laser gets more than a million watts of power focused on it for five one-billionths of a second.
This produces a spark that the instrument observes with a telescope. The colours tell scientists which atomic elements are present in the rock.
ChemCam is going to be a key part of the process of selecting science targets during Curiosity's two-year mission.
If the laser shows up an interesting rock, the vehicle will move closer and deploy its other instruments for a more detailed investigation.
Assuming the test with the 7cm-wide N165 object goes well, ChemCam will move on to its first science target.
This will be rock...

Summary: Nasa's Curiosity rover is getting ready to zap its first Martian rock.
###
Article: The number comes from Europe's Cryosat mission, which has just restarted its near-real-time data service.
It is slightly higher than for the same period in 2010, but 1,500 cu km below the 2013 high point seen by the space sensor, now in its sixth year in orbit.
A rapid data feed is aimed at those sectors that need to be aware of the position of the most robust floes.
These include shipping and oil and gas operations.
Users can get snapshots of the Arctic basin covering two days, two weeks or one month.
New data is added just a couple of days after being acquired by the spacecraft and its radar instrument.
Volume of Arctic autumn sea ice: First two weeks of October (average)
2010: 5,900 cubic km; 2011: 4,500 cu km; 2012: 4,600 cu km;
2013: 7,800 cu km; 2014: 6,800 cu km; 2015: 6,200 cu km
Cryosat first introduced the service in April, but then had to suspend it in May because its complex, three-dimensional measurement technique of sea-ice thickness does not work in the peak of the summer melt season.
Now, with the autumn freeze-up well under way, the observations can be made again.
But even though Cryosat cannot produce reliable numbers in July, August and September, its early October figure is still a useful gauge of what happened during the summer period.
And this year's Crysosat volume measurement agrees well with the assessment, published by other satellite teams, of the area, or extent, of sea ice. This is a plain two-dimensional measurement that is much easier to make from orbit, even in the warmest months.
It witnessed the floating pack decline to a minimum of 4.41 million sq km by mid-September - the fourth lowest extent in the satellite era.
"Similarly, our number for volume in early October is our fourth lowest, but you have to remember that with Cryosat we've only got six years of data, whereas for the extent measurement the satellite record goes back several decades," explained Rachel Tilling from the Nerc Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) at University College London, UK.
Her CPOM...

Summary: Arctic sea-ice volume during the first two weeks of October was about 6,200 cubic km.
###
Article: Meanwhile more than 30,000 people in the eastern city of Halle have been told to leave their homes after rivers reached their highest level in 400 years.
Floodwater is also threatening parts of Austria and the Czech Republic.
At least 13 people have died and two are missing as a result of the floods.
Rising waters have been triggered by heavy rain following a wet spring.
Eight deaths were recorded in the Czech Republic and three in Germany, while two people were reported dead and two missing in Austria, according to a European Commission update on Tuesday evening.
Parts of Germany have not seen such severe flooding in centuries. However, in the Czech Republic, the water level has stabilised in the capital Prague, where there had been fears of a repeat of disasters in 2002 and 1997.
Helicopters started removing residents from their homes in Deggendorf on Wednesday after two levees along the Danube and Isar rivers broke.
Firefighter Alois Schraufstetter said the floodwater in the Bavarian town was 3m (9.8ft) high. "This is a life-threatening situation," he was quoted as saying by Germany's DPA news agency.
Four farmers were rescued at the very last minute by a helicopter before their tractor was submerged, he added.
German newspapers said water levels in the eastern city of Halle were at their highest for four centuries.
Officials said the city was in acute danger after floodwaters from the Saale river damaged a section of dykes.
The level of the River Elbe in the historic German city of Dresden, where at least 600 people were evacuated, is not expected to peak until Thursday morning.
Coaches reportedly ferried people out the town of Muhlberg, about 40km (25 miles) northwest of Dresden, as thousands were told to leave on Wednesday afternoon.
Chemical plants next to the swollen rivers have been shut down and their chemicals removed over safety concerns, the Associated Press reports.
Meanwhile, the floods were receding in the south German city of Passau. People could be seen sweeping up muck from their...

Summary:


A row between a Police and Crime Commissioner and his deputy, who was found guilty of serious misconduct, has been resolved following a payout.

Article: Some infections are becoming almost impossible to treat, because of the excessive use of antibiotics.
And more than half of those used around the world are used in animals, often to make them grow more quickly.
The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance called for new targets on the amount of antibiotics used.
The great threat of excessive antibiotics use in agriculture was highlighted in China last month.
Scientists warned the world was on the cusp of the "post-antibiotic era" after discovering bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin - the medication used when all others have failed.
It appeared to develop in farm animals before also being detected in hospital patients.
In some cases, antibiotics are used in agriculture to treat infections - but most are used prophylactically in healthy animals to prevent infection or, controversially, as a way of boosting weight gain.
Using antibiotics as growth promoters was banned in the EU in 2006.
Such uses are more common in intensive farming conditions.
Based on current rates, the global consumption of antibiotics is expected to increase by 67% by 2030.
In the US alone, every year, 3,400 tonnes of antibiotics are used on patients, while 8,900 tonnes are used on animals.
The economist who led the review, Jim O'Neill, said such figures were simply "staggering" and 10 million people would die each year from drug-resistant infections by 2050.
He said a reasonable target for agricultural antibiotic use would be 50mg for every 1kg of livestock - a level already achieved by one of the world's biggest pork exporters, Denmark.
The UK uses just over 50mg/kg, the US uses nearly 200mg/kg, while Cyprus uses more than 400mg/kg.
Mr O'Neill told the BBC: "I'm sure many farmers will immediately think, 'Well, if we have to do this, that means the price goes up and I'll go out of business'.
"The Danish example shows that, after a very initial transition cost, actually over the long term prices weren't affected and Denmark has continued to maintain its market share."
Antibiotics are...

Summary: Farmers need to dramatically cut the amount of antibiotics used in agriculture, because of the threat to human health, a report says.
###
Article: International ballroom champion Shirley Ballas has been named as the new head judge on Strictly Come Dancing.
Nicknamed the Queen of Latin, the 56-year-old will replace Len Goodman when the BBC show returns this autumn.
Highly regarded in the world of ballroom, she has numerous titles to her name and is also the mother to Dancing with the Stars professional champion Mark Ballas.
Strictly professional Anton Du Beke and former judge Arlene Phillips were among the favourites to take on the head judge role.
Although not widely known to UK audiences, Ballas has been frequently seen on Dancing with the Stars, the US version of Strictly - on which Mark appeared for 10 years - giving masterclasses and commentary.
"I am so excited and over the moon to have been given this wonderful opportunity," she said.
"I can't wait to get in to the ballroom and be part of the incredible and respected judging panel. Strictly is so loved by the British public, I have always been a massive fan.  I just can't wait!"
Read more:
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Summary: It's the announcement everyone has been waiting a year for.
###
Article: These are the words of Graciela Yorio, the sister of Orlando Yorio - a priest who was kidnapped in May 1976 and tortured for five months during Argentina's last military government.
Ms Yorio accuses the then-Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio of effectively delivering her brother and fellow priest Francisco Jalics into the hands of the military authorities by declining to endorse publicly their social work in the slums of Buenos Aires, which infuriated the junta at the time.
Their kidnapping took place during a period of massive state repression of left-wing activists, union leaders and social activists which became known as the "Dirty War".
Orlando Yorio has since died. But, in a statement, Fr Jalics said on Friday he was "reconciled with the events and, for my part, consider them finished".
The Vatican has strenuously denied Pope Francis was guilty of any wrongdoing.
"There has never been a credible, concrete accusation against him," its spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, told reporters in Rome.
For Estela de la Cuadra, the election of Cardinal Bergoglio as Pope, was "awful, a barbarity".
Her sister Elena was "disappeared" by the military in 1978 when five-months pregnant. Their father asked Fr Bergoglio for help in finding her.
"He gave my dad a handwritten note with the name of a bishop who could give us information on our missing relatives," Ms de la Cuadra says.
"When my father met the bishop, he was informed that his granddaughter was 'now with a good family'," she adds.
In 2010, then-Cardinal Bergoglio was asked to testify in the trial over the "stolen babies" - children born to the regime's opponents who were taken and handed over to be raised in suitable military families after their mothers were killed.
The cardinal said he had only known about that practice after democracy returned to Argentina in 1983.
Ms de la Cuadra believes the handwritten note contradicts this account, and testified under oath on the subject in May 2011.
Argentina's last military government left a deep scar on Argentine society that...

Summary: "I see a lot of joy and celebration for Pope Francis, but I'm living his election with a lot of pain."
###
Article: The green mamba was found on a ship that had docked on Wednesday from west Africa.
It is understood workers on the vessel put the snake into a box before calling animal welfare experts.
A police escort was used to transport the animal to a Scottish SPCA animal centre in Drumoak. However, the snake was later euthanised.
The SSPCA said the nearest anti-venom was held in London and that the snake was destroyed amid health and safety concerns.
The western green mamba feeds on small animals and rodents and is mainly found in the coastal tropical rainforests of western Africa.
Experts say its bite can be fatal in as little as 30 minutes.

Summary: One of the world's most deadly snakes has been discovered on a boat at Aberdeen Harbour.
###
Article: Something of a triumph, according to the rail industry. "The railways are actually incredibly successful," says Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the industry.
Certainly the headline statistics look good:
But drill into the performance statistics, and a different picture emerges.
Take those posters the train operating companies like to pin up on stations about punctuality.
While they often convey an upbeat picture, blow away the smoke and remove the mirrors and you find that overall punctuality is now worse than at privatisation.
And that can't just be blamed on strike-hit Southern railway. Punctuality has been declining for four years.
Ironically, the number of incidents causing delays has also declined.
The headline official punctuality statistics also mask big drops in punctuality during peak hours.
On some commuter lines out of Manchester, more than six out of every 10 trains are late each day. On one commuter line into Birmingham, four out of every 10 trains have been late.
Then there are the official overcrowding statistics.
Until 2013, the rail industry liked to boast that trains were no more overcrowded than at privatisation - even though passenger numbers more than doubled between 1994 and 2014.
It sounds like a conjuring trick - until you decode something called "PiXC".
That's Passengers in Excess of Capacity, the official definition of overcrowding.
This measures the difference between the number of seats of each train journey into and out of London during the peak hours against the actual number of passengers (excluding First Class) sitting and standing at its most crowded point on the journey.
Here's the catch: before kicking in, PiXC makes a big allowance for the numbers standing.
So, like a tank filling up with water, until 2013, carriages could continue to fill up with standing "customers" but because they hadn't hit the critical "overflow" mark, they didn't score on the official PiXC statistics - even though their "customer experience" was becoming...

Summary: As Southern railway passengers brace for a very unhappy Christmas, and a lousy New Year from strikes targeted at the festive season, what, you may wonder is life like on the rest of the rail network?
###
Article: Yvonne Mosquito, the West Midlands Deputy PCC, was suspended after visiting a murder victim's family without informing officers.
Following a disciplinary in May 2016, Ms Mosquito had an employment tribunal listed to take place in May 2017.
A joint statement said "all outstanding matters" were resolved.
A BBC source said Ms Mosquito had received a payout. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner said it would not comment on whether money had exchanged hands.
Allegations against Ms Mosquito related to a visit she paid to the family of Kenichi Phillips, 18, who was shot dead in a car in Birmingham, on 17 March 2016.
Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said her actions "caused ongoing upset and distress" and "damaged the relationship" between the family and police "in the middle of a complex and sensitive murder investigation".
Her supporters insisted she visited as an ordained minister who wanted to offer condolences to relatives.
Her union Unite rejected the allegations, saying it was "deplorable" the hearing went ahead in Ms Mosquito's absence.
She was issued with a final written warning and her contract was never renewed.
The BBC previously reported Ms Mosquito wrote a letter of complaint about the PCC's behaviour towards her, of which the PCC was aware, four weeks before her suspension.
A joint statement issued by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and Ms Mosquito said they were "happy to announce that they have amicably settled all outstanding matters between them".
"Litigation is a stressful business and the parties acknowledge and regret the effects that inevitably follow from that," it added.
The former colleagues thanked each other for their work around issues of equality, the statement added.

Summary:


Within days of an Iranian missile test and a subsequent warning from the Trump administration, the US has now followed up by imposing a new round of economic sanctions.

Article: They were investigating how the 4mm-long insect decides when to pounce.
Apparently the flies are not much good at judging the size of a target, so they use a strategy based partly on how fast a potential meal is buzzing past.
That means the researchers could trick the flies into going for targets that were far too big, but further away and faster-moving than expected.
The experiments, published in the journal Brain, Behaviour and Evolution, used a species called Coenosia attenuata, which is so good at killing other airborne critters - including fruit flies - that organic farmers use it as a biological control mechanism.
C. attenuata is an unfussy eating machine, explained Dr Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido - and that was partly why she started to study the little predators.
"It didn't look like they have a template for what they're looking for," she told BBC News.
"They go after things that are very slow, after things that are fast, after things that are white, things that are black..."
But a fly can't just pounce on everything. So what cue is the creature's brain looking for?
Many predators are able to gauge the size of their prey, using information like the comparison between two eyes to judge how far away it is and then calculate its size accordingly, before they decide whether to strike.
This includes dragonflies, which have much bigger eyes and brain than C. attenuata.
Dr Gonzalez-Bellido and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge set out to see whether these diminutive diners could do the same sums.
"We don't really know how well such small animals see; we don't really know what the constraints are on the system," she said.
In video experiments, her team presented the flies with moving beads of different sizes and speeds, as well as real fruit-fly meals. Every pounce was monitored using two cameras, so that the movement could be tracked precisely.
The cameras witnessed some extremely poor decisions, in which the 4mm insects set off after beads 12mm across. And the team saw similar mistakes when they...

Summary: Neuroscientists have recorded the first video footage of a tiny killer fly catching its prey in mid-air.
###
Article: Wiltshire Police said it was looking into the feasibility of a second unit in the Warminster area, instead.
It currently operates two units in Swindon and Melksham but will also be looking into closing the Melksham site.
Wiltshire's PCC Angus Macpherson, said the "heavy costs" of three units could not be justified and a second suite needed to be in an "optimum location".
According to the police, the three custody units in Swindon, Salisbury and Melksham, were costing "in excess of Â£4.5m a year to run".
Last June - in a bid to make Â£3m of cuts - the Salisbury unit was temporarily closed.
Now, following a review of the county's "custody needs", the Salisbury unit looks set to remain closed while Melksham could also face losing its custody suite.
"We are tied in contractually to the custody unit in Swindon because it was built under the Private Finance Initiative," said Mr Macpherson.
"That means we need our second unit in Wiltshire. We have agreed to carry out a feasibility study on the Warminster area because of its geographic location and the quality of transport links.
"The present custody unit in an estate on the outskirts of Melksham does not have that."
A feasibility study is due to begin in July and run through to the end of this year.

Summary: A new police custody suite will not be built in Salisbury, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has announced.
###
Article: The duo, who created Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son, are credited as "the trailblazers of the situation comedy format".
They were awarded OBEs in 2000 and will receive their Fellowship at the annual Bafta television awards on 8 May.
Alan Simpson said they were "extremely delighted" to receive the Fellowship in honour of their 60 year career.
"We always wanted a Fellowship, even though we did not know what a fellowship was. Not the sort of thing one associates with a couple of Cockney lads, apart from Alfred Hitchcock of course," he said.
Ray Galton added that they were "happy and honoured" to accept the award "on behalf of all the Blood Donors, Test Pilots, Radio Hams and Rag and Bone Men of the 20th Century without whom we would probably be out of a job. Thank you all".
Anne Morrison, Chair of Bafta, said it "comes as no surprise" that the duo were being honoured as they had "created some of the most iconic characters and programmes over the past few decades".
"Alan and Ray have had such successful careers, spanning over 60 years, with credits such as Steptoe and Son and Hancock's Half-Hour, two hugely popular sitcoms. They are rightly considered the trailblazers of the situation comedy format," she said.
The duo met while being treated in a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1949, and started writing for the hospital's radio station.
They went on to create the template for situation comedy with their popular series Hancock's Half-Hour, which started as a radio show in 1954.
It later transferred to TV and was aired on the BBC from 1956 to 1960.
Steptoe and Son, about a father and son rag and bone team, was their biggest TV hit.
It ran for 12 years from 1963-1974 and reached an audience of 28 million viewers.
Harold Steptoe and his father Albert lived in a squalid home, and the comedy and drama centred on Harold's constantly scuppered attempts to improve his lot.
Galton and Simpson are credited with bringing social realism to British comedy which helped lay the foundations for modern day classics like The...

Summary: Comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson are to be honoured with a Bafta fellowship at this year's ceremony.
###
Article: The Treasury said that the "extensive" review would make sure that shoppers got the discounts they are entitled to.
Tax-free shops should not charge VAT, if passengers are going outside the EU.
In August it was revealed that some airside retailers were not always passing VAT savings on to customers, but were keeping the money instead.
The Treasury said some shops were keeping as much as half the money they should be giving to consumers.
"VAT relief at airports is intended to cut prices for those travellers - not be a windfall gain for shops," said Chancellor George Osborne.
"But many people could be paying over the odds for their purchases because the government's VAT concession isn't passed on. This is simply unacceptable," he said.
At the moment airport retailers are not legally obliged to provide a VAT discount, so it would need a change in the law to make them do so.
Some retailers have claimed it would be too difficult to introduce dual-pricing for EU and non-EU travellers - and that such a requirement would lead to delays for passengers.
WH Smith, one of the shops originally criticised, said it would co-operate with the inquiry.
Boots, which also came in for criticism, has already announced a review of its own policy.
"Since taking our decision in August 2015 to no longer ask customers to show us their boarding passes we have been continuing with our strategic review and, working together with the Airport Authorities, we are nearing conclusion," the retailer said.
"We will participate with the government review as we receive further details," it added.
Who is entitled to VAT savings?
Anyone travelling outside the 28 countries of the European Union (EU). Travellers within the EU or the UK have to pay existing rates of duty and VAT.
Do you have to show a boarding pass?
If you are buying cigarettes or alcohol in a duty free shop, you are legally obliged to show your boarding pass, to prove you are travelling outside the EU. If you are buying other goods - say books, snacks or cosmetics - you are still...

Summary: Airport shops could be forced to give VAT discounts to passengers travelling outside the European Union, following the launch of a government inquiry.
###
Article: Actor Brian Cox appears in two of the films, a comedy, The Carer, and a western, Forsaken, which also stars Donald and Kiefer Sutherland.
Braveheart actor Angus Macfadyean will bring his first film as a director, Macbeth Unhinged, to the festival.
The film is a modern, black and white retelling of the Shakespearean tragedy.
Scot Dougray Scott will be starring in the apocalyptic thriller The Rezort.
The 70th edition of the film festival runs from 15-26 June. It will include feature films, shorts, documentaries and animations.
The opening night gala will feature the world premiere of Jason Connery's drama Tommy's Honour, about Scottish golfing pioneer Old Tom Morris and starring Peter Mullan and Jack Lowden.
It is based on a true story and focuses on Morris's turbulent relationship with his son, Tommy.
The festival will close with the world premiere of Gillies Mackinnon's Whisky Galore, featuring Gregor Fisher, James Cosmo, Kevin Guthrie, Sean Biggerstaff and Eddie Izzard.
Mark Adams, artistic director said: "We are delighted to once again cast the spotlight on great Scottish talent at this year's festival. It speaks so much about the breadth and variety of filmmakers, craftspeople and performers that our selection of projects featuring local talent shines so brightly."
Natalie Usher, director of screen at Creative Scotland, said: "EIFF is a key event in Scotland's cultural calendar, offering audiences inspirational, world-class cinema.
"EIFF is recognising and celebrating the wealth and depth of home-grown filmmaking talent supported by Creative Scotland."
The festival will also have a special screening to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Danny Boyle's Trainspotting and a world premiere screening of the newly 4K restored Highlander, attended by the film's star Clancy Brown.

Summary: The Scottish films to be screened at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival have been announced in Cannes.
###
Article: The sanctions focus upon suppliers to Iran's missile programme and groups that help to arm what Washington sees as terror organisations in the region.
It is hard to see what practical impact these sanctions will have, since few of these organisations or individuals probably do business in the United States.
But the sanctions sends a clear warning to Tehran the guard has changed in Washington.
The Obama administration saw its relationship with Iran largely through the prism of the need to negotiate a deal to constrain Tehran's nuclear programme.
Iran's regional activities - support for Hamas and Hezbollah, military support for the Assad regime, backing of the Houthis in Yemen, and its growing influence in Iraq  - were all played down to ensure that the nuclear deal might go ahead.
For the Obama team, restraining Iran's nuclear activities was the overarching goal.
This was seen as an end in itself, one that might stave off military action, but also a step that might, over time, also lead Iran away from its relative economic isolation towards an improved relationship with the West.
Opinion was deeply divided on the nuclear deal.
The US and its major western allies, along with Russia, saw merit in the nuclear agreement that effectively "kicked the can down the road", postponing any confrontation with Tehran over its nuclear programme.
Washington's regional allies though - countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, who have watched Tehran's rise with alarm - were much less impressed.
And many of them may well have been hoping that the Trump team - which includes several vocal opponents of Tehran - might seek to undo the agreement.
Things are a little more complex than that. On a recent trip to Israel's major annual security conference last week, many experts and officials there took the view that a bad deal, if properly implemented, might be better than no deal at all.
What worries Israelis is the fact that Iran is now becoming a major player in the region.
Its support for the Assad regime in Syria...

Summary:


Northampton's Kieran Brookes has been banned for two weeks after admitting charging into a ruck without using his arms in Friday's loss to Newcastle.

Article: Liberal Democrat Mick Longhurst, 82, had been due to stand for Mole Valley District Council in Surrey's Holmwoods ward.
Returning officer Yvonne Rees said she was cancelling Thursday's election and will set a new date in due course.
Mr Longhurst, who died on Saturday, had served as a councillor in the ward since 2000.
Voting in the general election will take place as planned.
Ms Rees said: "We will send out poll cards to let people know.
"I am following the protocol set out by law and will announce a new date for the election in the near future."
Other candidates who had also been due to contest the race for two council posts, will not need to be re-nominated.
"There will be an opportunity for other candidates to put their names forward," Ms Rees said.

Summary: A district council election has been cancelled at the last minute after one of the candidates died.
###
Article: Comhairle nan Eilean Siar's leader Angus Campbell said the airline serving the route offered cheaper prices to get to the Algarve than Stornoway.
More than 11,000 people have "liked" the Facebook campaign.
Loganair, which flies the islands routes for Flybe, has defended the pricing structure.
It said children, student, people visiting family members in hospital and islanders were entitled to discounted travel.
Mr Campbell said bringing down the cost of air fares was a priority of Our Islands Our Future, a project seeking more powers for Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles councils.
He said: "A number of islanders have questioned why fares are so high.
"As an example, after a quick look on the Flybe website this afternoon I notice that a flight from Stornoway to Glasgow tomorrow, Wednesday, and returning Thursday would cost a total of Â£351.
"Just a few days later, the same company is offering a return flight from Aberdeen to Faro in Portugal for just Â£21 more."
Loganair said that like all commercial transport providers it offered a tiered fare structure and prices were determined by flight, by day and by season.
A spokesperson said: "As is the case with most airlines, fares purchased in close proximity to the time of departure are generally more expensive.
"Loganair is one of the few airlines which continues to offer a 33% discount for children as well as concession fares for students and family members visiting a relative in hospital.
"With the Scottish Government's Air Discount Scheme, island residents benefit from a 40% discount of the fare excluding airport charges and Air Passenger Duty."

Summary: Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney councils have backed a campaign on social media that criticises the cost of air fares to Scottish islands.
###
Article: The new material is thin as well as hard and is made using alumina, an oxide of aluminium.
If successfully commercialised, it could increase the durability of glass used in the windows of buildings, cars and in smartphone displays.
The team from the University of Tokyo and Japan's Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute have published their findings in Scientific Reports journal.
The material belongs to a category known as oxide glasses, which mainly consist of silicon dioxide - but with their strength boosted by alumina.
However, attempts to increase the amount of alumina have faltered in the past because it would cause the mixture to crystallise when it came into contact with the sides of its container, preventing a useful glass from being formed.
Atsunobu Masuno from the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo and colleagues used oxygen gas to push the ingredients into the air and then used lasers to melt them.
The resultant glass was colourless, transparent and extremely hard. A property called Young's modulus, which is an indicator of stiffness, was greater than that of some metals, and on its way to values associated with steel.
Another mechanical property, called Vickers hardness, was comparable with the highest values previously reported for oxide glasses.
"We will establish a way to mass-produce the new material shortly," Dr Masuno told the Asahi Shinbun newspaper. "We are looking to commercialise the technique within five years."

Summary: Scientists in Japan have developed a type of ultra-hard glass.
###
Article: Members will be able to add multimedia to tweets - including pictures and videos - without eating into the 140-characters-a-post limit.
The service is also changing the way it handles conversations between users.
Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey told the BBC his aim was to ensure that "when people tweet, it makes sense".
One analyst said the moves marked a "positive change", but added that they only addressed "one symptom" of Twitter's difficulty in increasing its audience.
Despite constant references to tweets in the news, over the past year Twitter has struggled to attract fresh users to its platform - a problem partly blamed on it being confusing.
"One of the biggest priorities for us this year is to really refine our product, to make it simpler," Mr Dorsey said.
"I think there's a story to be told about what Twitter's for, and to continue to strengthen why you would use Twitter."
Some of the details were reported by the Bloomberg news agency a fortnight ago, and were, for the most part, welcomed by users.
The changes, as outlined by Twitter, will be:
In addition, any new tweet - ie one that isn't a reply to someone else's tweet - that starts with a username will now be seen by all of a person's followers.
That last change does away with one of Twitter's more baffling systems, in which posts beginning with a username would only be seen by a person's followers if they too were following the member mentioned at the start of the tweet.
To override the rule, people have been adding a full stop to their tweets, so that they read ".@username".
"It doesn't make sense to anyone," Mr Dorsey told the BBC. "And people have had to work around it. That just looks ugly, and it's confusing."
Brian Blau, an analyst at the consultancy Gartner, said Twitter's problems in gaining new users would not be solved with these changes.
"The core problem is attracting new users and getting them to be loyal users over time," he explained.
"And we haven't seen anything from Twitter yet that leads me to believe that...

Summary: Twitter is overhauling some of its rules to try to make itself simpler to use and more attractive to newcomers.
###
Article: From Monday, monthly charges on the Santander 123 account - held by 3.6 million people - will more than double.
At the same time HSBC is cutting interest payments to customers on both current accounts, and Individual Savings Accounts (Isas).
Barclays also announced more cash rewards for those who switch.
The change in Santander fees - announced in September - will see customers paying £60 a year, instead of the previous fee of £24.
The charge for its 123 credit card rises from £24 a year to £36.
Last year the Santander account proved very popular, with more than 27,000 people switching to it in a single month.
But experts said that - even after the changes -it still offered relatively generous interest payments of up to 3% a year, and cashback of up to 3% on some household bills.
"Don't jump ship until you've done the maths," said Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of advice site Money.co.uk.
"To put it simply, you need to look at how much you're earning in interest and cashback. If it's less than the new £60 a year fee you need to take it as a wake-up call to seriously consider your options."
This is a sign of how dramatically current accounts are changing.
For years there was little to choose from between banks - the accounts were described as free but paid no interest and had hefty charges for going into the red.
Now switching is easier and banks are jostling for business with offers of interest and perks but adding new fees as well, features which can change at any time.
Santander said it was raising fees because of the increased cost of running a bank, such as capital requirements and the government's bank levy.
It was raising the cost of owning a credit card because of new European limits on interchange fees - the amount that banks can charge retailers for processing payments.
But Kevin Mountford, banking expert with Moneysupermarket.com, said banks were simply trying to improve their profitability.
"Banks are trying to increase their margins, through stealthy changes in fees," he said.
From Monday, HSBC...

Summary: Millions of current account customers are being advised to consider their options, following an increase in fees, and changes in interest rates.
###
Article: The 26-year-old England tight-head prop, who was sent off, pleaded guilty at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.
Brookes will miss Saints' Premiership game at Leicester on Saturday and their Champions Cup game with Leinster.
Newcastle lock Calum Green, 26, has also been banned for a week after admitting striking with his arm.
Green, who will miss Falcons' home game with Harlequins on Sunday, struck Brookes with his forearm during the same game and was cited by the citing commissioner after the incident was missed by referee Andrew Jackson.
Brookes was dismissed in the 38th minute of Saints' 22-16 defeat when he charged into the ruck and struck the head of Newcastle hooker Scott Lawson with his shoulder.

Summary:


Iceland's parliament is examining a bill that would require companies to prove they offer equal pay to employees.

Article: Stage three on 8 September will start in Cumbria but finish at Floors Castle in Kelso via Gretna.
The following day the race will resume in Edinburgh before heading south to Northumberland.
Paul Bush of EventScotland said the "stunning scenery" of the area would provide a "perfect stage" for the race.
"The Edinburgh start in particular will be of particular interest to Scottish cycling fans as we see the peloton ride through the capital for the very first time," he said.
"With excitement and passion for cycling at a record high following the hugely successful road race at the Commonwealth Games last year, we look forward to welcoming some of the world's top riders to Scotland once again."
The first stage to come into Scotland starts in Cockermouth but will cross the border at Gretna and head through Dumfries and Galloway before racing through Hawick, Selkirk and Melrose before finishing in Kelso.
The following day it will leave Edinburgh and pass through Musselburgh, East Lothian, Duns and Coldstream before crossing back into England.
"The return of such a prestigious event emphasises our ability to host high-profile events here in the Borders and is further recognition of the fact that the Scottish Borders is Scotland's leading cycling destination," said Stuart Bell of Scottish Borders Council.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Edinburgh's new festivals and events champion, said it was an "exciting event" for the city.
"Elite cyclists from all over the world will descend on the capital and the dramatic backdrop of Edinburgh's winding streets will make for a spectacular sight," he said.
"This is going to be a must-see event for both local people and visitors to the city."
Race director Mick Bennett said: "This year's route gives us the fantastic opportunity to have two days of racing in Scotland and to make first visits to the east of the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh," he said.
"I am sure many cycling fans will be excited, just like we are, at the prospect of seeing the world's top riders on the streets of the...

Summary: The Tour of Britain cycling race will see two separate days of action in Scotland this year through the Borders, East Lothian and Edinburgh.
###
Article: Head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw said goodwill would "only go so far" and governors signing up to boost their CVs were not welcome.
He repeated his belief that chairs and vice-chairs of governors, at least in challenging areas, should be paid.
The National Governors' Association said it recognised the need to improve governance in struggling schools.
In an online note, Sir Michael said Ofsted came across too many schools where the  governing board was ineffectual.
He said: "In the last academic year alone, there were nearly 500 schools [of a total of 5,000 inspections] where inspectors were so concerned about the performance of the governing board that they called for outside experts to be drafted in to carry out an urgent external review of governance."
Schools were now complex institutions, he went on, subject to far greater external accountability than they had been in the past.
Changes including the rapid growth of academies and free schools in England had put more power into the hands of governing boards than ever before.
"In short, the role is so important that amateurish governance will no longer do. Goodwill and good intentions will only go so far," he said.
"Governing boards made up of people who are not properly trained and who do not understand the importance of their role are not fit for purpose in the modern and complex educational landscape."
He went on: "The role demands commitment. There can be no place for those who have signed up to become a governor because they think it will boost the credentials on their CV and are content to sit passively through meetings where important aspects of the school's performance are being put under scrutiny."
Sir Michael also said he was disappointed that his recommendation to the government that all governors and trustees should receive compulsory training had seen little progress.
He said the weakest governance was too often operating in the most challenging schools in the poorest areas of the country - the very schools that stood to gain most from strong...

Summary: "Amateurish" school governing boards in England's schools "will no longer do", the chief inspector of schools warns.
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Article: Tobacco is the biggest culprit, causing 23% of cases in men and 15.6% in women, says the Cancer Research UK report.
Next comes a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in men's diets, while for women it is being overweight.
The report is published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Its authors claim it is the most comprehensive analysis to date on the subject.
Lead author Prof Max Parkin said: "Many people believe cancer is down to fate or 'in the genes' and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it.
"Looking at all the evidence, it's clear that around 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change."
For men, the best advice appears to be: stop smoking, eat more fruit and veg and cut down on how much alcohol you drink.
For women, again, the reviews says the best advice is to stop smoking, but also watch your weight.
Prof Parkin said: "We didn't expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. And among women we didn't expect being overweight to be more of a risk factor than alcohol."
In total, 14 lifestyle and environmental factors, such as where you live and the job you do, combine to cause 134,000 cancers in the UK each year.
About 100,000 (34%) of the cancers are linked to smoking, diet, alcohol and excess weight.
One in 25 of cancers is linked to a person's job, such as being exposed to chemicals or asbestos.
Some risk factors are well established, such as smoking's link with lung cancer.
But others are less recognised.
For example, for breast cancer, nearly a 10th of the risk comes from being overweight or obese, far outweighing the impact of whether or not the woman breastfeeds or drinks alcohol.
And for oesophageal or gullet cancer, half of the risk comes from eating too little fruit and veg, while only a fifth of the risk is from alcohol, the report shows.
For stomach cancer, a fifth of the risk comes from having too much salt in the diet, data suggests.
Some cancers, like mouth and throat cancer, are...

Summary: Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year - over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.
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Article: Mr Trump on Saturday accused Barack Obama of ordering surveillance at Trump Tower in New York during the election, but has offered no evidence.
FBI Director James Comey has reportedly rejected the allegation - one report said he was "incredulous".
But White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Tuesday the president has yet to speak to him about it.
The "smartest way" to address this is for Congress to extend its current investigations to include this issue, he said.
Mr Comey has asked the US justice department (DOJ) to publicly refute the president's claim, according to the New York Times and NBC.
He is said to have asked for this because the allegation implies the FBI broke the law. The DOJ has not commented.
When pressed about wire-tapping at the daily news briefing, Mr Spicer said the president has "absolutely" no regrets about the explosive claims.
"The House and Senate intelligence committee have the staff and the capabilities and the processes in place to look at this in a way that's objective, and that's where it should be done".
He added that the media should let the Senate and House intelligence committees "do their job" and "then report back to the American people".
Mr Spicer argued that if Mr Trump spoke to Mr Comey it could be viewed as interfering with an investigation.
"It's a no-win situation," he said.
US Senator John McCain on Monday also called for Mr Trump to release any evidence he has to support his claim.
"I think the president of the United States, if he has any information that would indicate that his predecessor wiretapped Trump Tower, then he should come forward with that information. The American people deserve it," said Mr McCain, a Republican from Arizona.
The president has offered no evidence to back his claim that he was monitored.
James Clapper, the director of national intelligence at the time of the election, said there no wire-tap activity mounted against Mr Trump or his campaign.
Mr Trump's allegations are the latest twist in a controversy over whether his campaign had been...

Summary: President Donald Trump has not spoken to the FBI about his claim that his predecessor wiretapped his phones.
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Article: But one system invented some 200 years ago lives on.
In the mountains of western Switzerland, one company still makes automatic music boxes for enthusiasts around the world.
Reuge is considered the last major manufacturer of a traditional device that once rivalled watches as one of Switzerland's greatest exports.
Founded in 1865 by watchmaker Charles Reuge, the company has survived the advent of the phonograph - as well as more recent inventions - to continue making music boxes in a small factory in Sainte-Croix.
The village once specialised in the industry and had dozens of cylinder music box manufacturers, but they have all but disappeared.
"It's a musical medium out of its time," says Jean-Claude Piguet, author of the book The Music Box Makers, The History of the Music Box in Sainte-Croix.
"I think it's interesting that an ancient art is capable of adapting and renewing itself to suit modern tendencies."
The Reuge factory in Sainte-Croix, which is the subject of a new short documentary by UK film-maker Florence Kennard, has been celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Inside, a team of fewer than 40 workers use specially-made machinery to produce rotating barrels with pins that will pluck finely-tuned steel combs to play melodies.
It is a skill that is not taught at college but instead passed down through the generations in Sainte-Croix.
Powered by springs, some music boxes can have tens of thousands of pins and play a variety of 'airs' - from Mozart to the Star Wars theme.
Hearing the comb play its first notes can be "spectacular", says music box maker Didier Cote, "because each and every musical box comb is unique".
Cylinder music boxes reached the height of their popularity in the second half of the 19th Century when they were a principal form of entertainment.
More common nowadays are the novelty musical jewellery boxes, perhaps with a pirouetting ballerina inside, given to children.
But enthusiasm for the traditionally crafted machine endures.
"Music boxes are somehow quite captivating," says Alison Biden,...

Summary: Devices for playing music come and go - cassette tapes, MP3 players and CDs have all had their time as digital downloads take over.
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Article: The law, which is set to become a world first, aims to close the wage gap between men and women.
Companies face auditing and possible fines if they do not comply.
Iceland was ranked first in the World Economic Forum's 2015 Global Gender Gap Index, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden.
However, according to Iceland's statistics for the same year, the unadjusted gender pay gap remained at 17%.
The bill, which was presented on Tuesday, is supported by the centre-right coalition government and the opposition.
Applying to both the public and private sector, it would prohibit any discrimination not just on gender, but also on race, religion, disability, occupational disability, age and sexual orientation grounds.
"The bill entails that companies and institutions of a certain size, 25 or more employees, undertake a certification of their equal-pay programmes," Thorsteinn Viglundsson, the minister of social affairs and equality, told news agency AFP.
The bill will now be subject to a series of debates, and if it passes, it will take effect from January 2018.
In Iceland's parliament, nearly 50% of lawmakers are women, and a voluntary measure for equal pay across the country was introduced in 2012.
However, many still do not think enough is being done.
In October, thousands of women left work early and headed out on to the streets of the capital, Reykjavik, to protest against earning less than men.
It echoed the 1975 Icelandic women's strike, when women did not go to their paid jobs, or do any housework or child-rearing at home for one day.

Summary:


McDonald's has been accused of abusing its market power by imposing unfair and restrictive contracts on people operating its franchise restaurants in Europe.

Article: Ransomware encrypts data on infected machines and then asks for money before restoring access to information.
The FBI is analysing a strain of ransomware called MSIL/Samas that tries to encrypt data across entire networks rather than single computers.
The plea comes as security firms warn about other novel strains of the fast-growing, data-scrambling cyber-threats.
The FBI sent out the request for help after discovering that the group behind MSIL/Samas had stepped up its efforts to find victims.
In the confidential advisory obtained by Reuters, the FBI said the group used a publicly available security program called Jexboss to scan networks looking for vulnerable versions of the widely used JBoss software.
When a vulnerable system is found, the malware launches an attack that seeks to scramble data on servers. It also finds and deletes the back-up files firms could use to restore data scrambled by ransomware.
Cisco said it had seen a "widespread campaign" using Samas targeting firms involved in healthcare. Early versions of the malware charged a ransom of one bitcoin (£300) for every machine hit but later versions upped this to 1.5 bitcoins.
"It is likely the malware author is trying to see how much people will pay for their files," wrote Cisco security analyst Nick Biasini in an advisory. "They even added an option for bulk decryption of 22 bitcoin (£6,600) to decrypt all infected systems."
The FBI's request for aid comes as security firms warn about recently created ransomware variants that use different methods to lock up systems and force victims to pay.
The Petya malware targets a key Windows system file called the Master Boot Record that helps a PC get started. By overwriting this file, people are prevented from getting at any data on their PC unless they pay up.
Trend Micro said it had seen Petya distributed in email messages crafted to look like they are from someone looking for work. The CV attached to the message is a booby-trapped program that launches Petya, said Trend security engineer Jasen...

Summary: The FBI is seeking help from US firms as it investigates a nasty strain of ransomware, Reuters reports.
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Article: The Labour leadership challenger said his party should not give the Tories a "blank cheque" on negotiations.
But rival Jeremy Corbyn said Parliament had to "work with" the result of the referendum.
Ministers said they would deliver on the "decisive" referendum verdict.
The UK voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48% in a referendum on 23 June but the manner and timing of the country's departure remains uncertain.
The prime minister has said she will not begin the formal legal process of separation by activating Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty this year, insisting that a "sensible and orderly departure" from the EU will take time.
However, she has come under pressure from some senior Conservatives to begin the process in early 2017 amid press speculation about possible delays.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Smith said the British people were "lied to" by those campaigning to leave the EU and they deserve to have a say on the terms of the exit.
He told BBC Radio 5 live: "It would be irresponsible of Theresa May to simply trigger Article 50 and sleepwalk out... Labour still believes that we should be a part of the European Union."
Mr Smith says he will "fight tooth and nail" to keep the UK in the EU and said that under his leadership, Labour would oppose the triggering of Article 50 in a future Commons vote unless certain conditions were met.
He rejected accusations he was trying to override democracy, saying if Labour believed working people were worse off by the settlement he could "legitimately put it back to the British people".
"Theresa May says that 'Brexit means Brexit' - but nobody knows what Brexit looks like," Mr Smith said.
"It could involve trashing workers' rights and environmental protections, opening our NHS up to foreign competition, making it harder for us to trade with our neighbours and damaging our economy."
He added: "Under my leadership, Labour won't give the Tories a blank cheque.
"We will vote in Parliament to block any attempt to invoke Article 50 until Theresa May commits to a second referendum...

Summary: Owen Smith says he will try to stop Theresa May formally triggering Brexit unless she promises a referendum on the final deal or calls a general election to approve it.
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Article: Russell Hobby closed the National Association of Head Teachers' conference by calling for a fundamental review of assessment of pupils.
Pupils should only be formally assessed at the start and end of primary school, he said.
A government spokesman said it was committed to measuring pupil progress.
Reception tests were due to be introduced last month but the plans were axed.
The government had approved three separate baseline tests, which were to be used to measure the progress of pupils from when they start primary school to when they leave at age 11.
Thousands of schools had adopted one of the three, only to be told they were not going to be used to measure progress as had been intended.
Ministers say they are committed to a new baseline test and are working on new plans for this.
Teachers have also been grappling with a new curriculum, new tests and assessments, and complained of a lack of information.
Heads expressed their anger with the situation on Saturday when they heckled and jeered Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.
Mr Hobby told delegates in Birmingham: "We cannot and will not endure another year of chaos.
"School leaders cannot do their duty to children under these circumstances."
He also called for a new approach to assessment of pupil's progress in primary schools.
Currently pupils are assessed formally through national tests at age seven and 11.
He said: "If you are going to measure progress you need a start measure and an end measure.
"And you should start at the beginning of school, not in the middle, missing out the most important years of a child's education."
But any Reception baseline test would have to be "one that works" and "not the mess that we've seen this year", he said.
He argued that statutory assessments for Year 2 pupils should be scrapped: "We cannot have two high-stake tests for young children."
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "We are committed to measuring pupil's progress through primary school and are continuing to look at the best way of assessing children...

Summary: Head teachers cannot and will not endure another year of the "chaos" that has raged in England's primary schools, a union leader has said.
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Article: Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said he was making Â£2.5m available to take the project to the next stage
First Hull Trains is planning to spend Â£94m electrifying 70 miles (112km) of track to improve connections with the wider rail network.
Work is already under way to electrify the line from Manchester to Leeds, York and Selby and is due to be completed by December 2018.
Will Dunnett, managing director at First Hull Trains, said: "[It] follows over a year of very detailed technical and commercial negotiations led by First Hull Trains which has moved the programme through two stages of approvals.
"Electrification is a must-have for the region and will drive improvement to our rail services for many years to come with the promise of new rolling stock in time, better connectivity and faster services."
Brigg and Goole Conservative MP Andrew Percy said the announcement followed a cross-party campaign by all the region's MPs, who met Mr McLoughlin last month.
"The problem if you are not included in the electrification is the risk that you then become just a shuttle service connecting into the main line," Mr Percy said.
"The Department for Transport is keen for the work to be taken forward as soon as possible."
Hull West Labour MP Alan Johnson said he hoped the work could be completed by 2017, when Hull becomes UK City of Culture.
"We need this now, not some unspecified date the other side of 2019, so this announcement today means we can start work next year and have it completed well before 2017," he said.
"It means you can run electric trains rather than diesel trains - it's quicker, smoother and cheaper for passengers."
The plans still need to be given final approval by Network Rail.

Summary: The government has backed plans to electrify the Hull to Selby rail line.
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Article: He has also been ordered to complete a compulsory education course, following a two-day Football Association hearing.
Anelka, 34, denied his use of the sign during a draw with West Ham on 28 December and described as an "inverted Nazi salute", was anti-Semitic.
Read the full details on BBC Magazine Monitor
West Brom have suspended him until the outcome of any appeal and club inquiry.
Anelka is considering whether to appeal against the FA's ruling; if he does, his five-match ban and fine would be put on hold pending the outcome.
The Frenchman and his legal team had defended his actions to the FA's independent regulatory commission hearing, saying the controversial gesture was in support of his friend, the French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala - the person who first brought the quenelle to prominence.
The action, which the striker made after scoring in the 3-3 draw at West Ham, was described afterwards by France's sports minister Valerie Fourneyron days as "shocking and disgusting".
It also led to Zoopla, co-owned by Jewish businessman Alex Chesterman, ending its sponsorship of West Brom.
Anelka responded at the time by saying the salute was "anti-establishment", rather than anti-Semitic. The French government is trying to ban M'bala M'bala's shows over his use of the gesture.
We did not find that Nicolas Anelka is an anti-Semite
The commission's three-member panel, headed by a QC, said in its ruling that both charges against Anelka had been proven - that the gesture was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper, and that it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief.
However the panel added it did not believe Anelka had been deliberately anti-Semitic.
The commission statement said: "So far as the basis for our finding on charge 2 is concerned, we did not find that Nicolas Anelka is an anti-Semite or that he intended to express or promote anti-Semitism by his use of the quenelle."
His five-match punishment is the most lenient that could have been imposed under...

Summary: West Bromwich Albion have suspended striker Nicolas Anelka after he was banned for five matches and fined £80,000 for his "quenelle" gesture.
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Article: A formal complaint has been made to the European Commission by a group of Italian consumers' organisations.
They accuse McDonald's of forcing franchisees to pay excessive rents and high fees.
McDonald's said it shared risks and rewards with its licencees.
In a statement, McDonald's said: "We are proud of our franchisees and are committed to working closely together so that they have the support they need to operate their restaurants and their businesses.
"This approach, with the principle of sharing risk and reward, has been successful for many years and has helped create the best business opportunities for our franchisees and the best overall experience for our customers."
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and European unions, including the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union in the UK, are supporting the formal antitrust complaint.
"McDonald's abuse of its dominant market position hurts everyone: franchisees, consumers, and workers. We strongly urge the European Commission to investigate the charges and to use all of its powers to hold McDonald's accountable," said SEIU organising director, Scott Courtney.
The European Commission said it would now study the submission. It has the powers to launch an investigation if it believes the allegations are founded.
The consumer organisations claim franchisees are prevented from switching to competitors because McDonald's makes them sign longer-than-average contracts.
They also said licensees lease premises from the company at above market rates.
It is claimed this leads to poorer consumer choice and higher prices in franchise stores as opposed to those owned directly by the company.
Franchisees own and operate 73% of McDonald's restaurants in Europe.
McDonald's received $9.27bn (Â£6.40bn) in revenues from its franchised restaurants worldwide in 2014.

Summary: