Australian radio presenter Kyle Sandilands said to the actress: "I told everyone you were clapping like that because you had the rings on and you didn't want to damage the rings." "You are so right Kyle," she replied. "It was really difficult because I had a huge ring on which was not my own, but was absolutely gorgeous and I was terrified of damaging it." Oscars 2017: Full coverage Speaking on the KIIS1065 radio station, Kidman sounded relieved the truth was finally out, after much social media speculation about her apparent inability to applaud properly. "It's so true, I'm so glad you clarified that," said Kidman. "It was really awkward and I was like gosh, I want to clap. I don't want to not be clapping, which is worse, right - 'why isn't Nicole clapping?'" She laughed when Sandilands joked: "They're putting it on the big screen at Sea World with an [sea lion sound] 'urgh, urgh, urgh' thing - it's just not fair!" Kidman was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Lion, but lost out to Viola Davis. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Question: Nicole Kidman has finally revealed why she @placeholder to be clapping like a seal at this year 's Oscars ceremony .


The amount of 7.5bn euros (£5.9bn; $8.4bn) is scheduled to be paid out early next week. The money is part of a larger deal agreed on in May but depended on a number of reform conditions to be be fulfilled by Athens. Greece owes its creditors more than €300bn - about 180% of its annual economic output (GDP). The country is in urgent need of the fresh money from Europe to service two debt payments to the European Central Bank next month. "This is a welcome breath of oxygen for the Greek economy," the EU's top economic affairs official, Pierre Moscovici, said. The Luxembourg-based European Stability Mechanism (ESM) said it approved the money to be transferred after Greece's government completed required reforms. Over the past weeks, the government in Athens pushed through with several reform packages and a plan on long-delayed privatisations. How bad are things for the people of Greece? Greece's debt jargon explained How has austerity worked out for eurozone countries? €86bn Eurozone bailout agreed in 2015 €3.6bn Debt repayments due in July €5.4bn Budget savings agreed 24.4% Unemployment 182.8% Public debt as % of GDP in 2016 (projected) Eurozone leaders and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remain at odds over how to move forward with the Greek debt crisis. "The IMF is not engaged in a programme with Greece," Lagarde told reporters after talks with the eurozone on Thursday. The international lender said it would not contribute to the latest bailout unless there were concrete plans to cut Athens' massive debt burden. Last month's deal for an overall amount of 10.3bn euros does not reduce the amount Greece will have to repay. Instead, debt relief will be phased in from 2018, after Germany's general election late next year. Berlin is one of the main opponents to forgiving part of Greece's debt. As such, the deal was being seen by many as a compromise intended to buy time.

Question: A fresh tranche of money for debt @placeholder Greece has been approved by the eurozone 's bailout fund .


The nation ranks at position 161 out of 179 countries in the 2012 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index. RSF includes President Obiang on its list of "Predators of Press Freedom". The watchdog says the national broadcaster obeys the orders of the information ministry. A "news blackout" was imposed on reporting of uprisings in Arab states in North Africa in 2011, says the Committee to Protect Journalists. Radio France Internationale and Gabon-based Africa No 1 broadcast on FM in Malabo. Satellite TV is widely available. There were more than 42,000 internet users by December 2011 (Internetworldstats.com). There are no reported government curbs on internet access.

Question: Equatorial Guinea 's media outlets are closely controlled by the government . There are few private @placeholder .


In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the British corporate investigator who became embroiled in GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) China corruption scandal tells me his story is "a cautionary tale which many people can learn from". The risks of doing business in China, he says, are "on the same scale as the opportunities", and governments, including the British government, "have not been doing a very thorough job of making business understand the risks". "Absolutely any company going to China could be the next party to suffer our fate if they fail to understand this," he says. The fate suffered by Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng was to spend two years in squalid and crowded jail cells, to be denied urgent medical attention and to be separated from each other and from their son. The corporate investigator says it was both a shattering experience and a miscarriage of justice. "None of our staff did anything illegal," he told me. "We engaged third parties to help us with some parts of our work. We always instructed them to follow legal means but had no control over the methods they used." So why the prosecution and the prison term? "It doesn't stack up at all when you analyse our case and the GSK case on the basis of the information you have. It doesn't stack up at all." The couple were corporate investigators who became embroiled in a Chinese police investigation of corruption at GSK. The British pharmaceuticals giant had bribed Chinese doctors and hospitals to buy its medicines. Mr Humphrey and his wife were in no way implicated in that corruption, but had been hired by the company to investigate the source of a secretly filmed sex video of GSK's top boss in China and of whistleblower emails sent to company headquarters in London. "I believe we were collateral damage in a wider dispute between a company and the authorities which led to us being dragged in," he said. Even now, Peter Humphrey is reluctant to discuss the details of the GSK case or of his relationship with his former client. Asked why, he tells me: "It's not impossible that we may sue some of these parties or through other means try to seek redress." He says he watched the TV coverage of the GSK trial from his Shanghai prison cell. The company was found guilty of systematic bribery and fined Â£300m. He was shocked by the contrast between his punishment and theirs. "Suspended jail sentences for three or four of the main culprits when I and my wife had been sentenced to years in prison," he says. "Someone asked me recently why someone like Mark Reilly (GSK China's boss) could be set free and we were in jail. I think it's very simple, we don't have half a billion dollars. That story was about money from the beginning. Money got them into trouble and money got him out." The events which led to these trials took place in the early part of 2013 when China's new President Xi Jinping had just declared nationwide campaigns against corruption and for the rule of law. Peter Humphrey says that at the time he welcomed these developments: "We felt hopeful that a new era with a genuine crackdown against corruption, had arrived. "What we were doing for companies in the private sector was very similar to what the government now seemed to be doing in the public sector. Unfortunately though, when such a crackdown is driven in a sort of campaign style, throughout China's history in the past 60 or 70 years, we have seen that campaigns are often taken advantage of and used to conduct personal vendettas and I think that's what happened to us. Someone took offence and then orchestrated an act of personal revenge." Having been deported from China, Peter Humphrey does not know whether he'll ever be able to go back. His two years in prison do not erase his 40 year affection for the country. "I love China. I love the Chinese people I've known over the years. I've had many positive memories and experiences. This does not erase them," he says. But once the investigator, always the investigator. From a world away in south-east England, Peter Humphrey needs to focus first on getting the medical treatment that he was denied in prison. But he is also determined to work out exactly what triggered his two year nightmare in Shanghai. "I and my wife are not vengeful people. But we are angry because an injustice occurred. We are pursuing justice not revenge," he adds.

Question: It 's exactly two years since the door of Peter Humphrey 's Shanghai bedroom was kicked in by police and he @placeholder into a prison nightmare which ended only three weeks ago with his deportation from China .


The Spanish-speaking film, starring Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, is set in Chile in 1988, when a public referendum was called on Pinochet's 15-year coup-seized leadership. The people were to be asked to vote Yes for a continuation of Pinochet's rule or No for him to go. While the Yes campaigners go down a hackneyed route of vaunting Pinochet's great leadership and trashing the opposition, the No camp realise a radical new approach is needed. The people are scared and sceptical of a corrupt process and will take some persuading to even go to the polls. The answer is to hire advertising hotshot Rene Saavedra, who says they must harness the strategies of product advertising, namely the power of the positive message. "Many people know how Pinochet got into power by overthrowing President Allende but very few know how he got out," says Bernal who plays Saavedra. "Even I, who am from Latin America, didn't know about the campaign that went on. I didn't know how important publicity was to the movement and what actually went on. "It was one of the most interesting things about the film and encouraged me to do it." Used to working on promotions for products such as fizzy drinks, Saavedra dismisses focusing on the atrocities of Pinochet's rule to take the sweet shop approach to the Nos' campaign: shiny imagery of rainbows and a beautiful future full of sun-soaked days of family fun. "The film sees the birth of democracy in Chile through the eyes of a publicist," says Bernal. "An archetypal publicist doesn't exist, but this character is fascinating because of his joyful attitude. "He has a childish fascination with toys and things like his new microwave. These kind of things gave the character an interesting way to see the story." The No camp, a group made up of 16 political parties, are unsurprisingly unconvinced. But they pull together behind Saavedra in a spirit of unity and camaraderie. It's a dynamic that followed through into the cast, many of whom are the real-life members of the No campaign. "There was the fraternal aspect to making the movie, which got me closer to the drama and to the freedom that that moment in history experienced," says Bernal. As for the members of the Yes campaign, they made a point of making themselves elusive. "All the protagonists from the campaign were very up for making the movie. Some acted as themselves and others play their antagonists," says Bernal. "They couldn't find people from the Yes campaign. There was only one person who was known but he didn't want to talk. A victory has many generals but a defeat has none." One of the original No team is Eugenio Garcia, on whom Bernal's character is based. Garcia, a smiling and gentle man, says he was taken aback when approached by Chilean director Pablo Larrain. "It was a surprise for me as this happened 25 years ago and then I forgot, did my job and got on with my life," says Garcia. "Now when I see the movie, it's very emotional.  It's a very good interpretation of how we all felt at the time, our fears and anticipation. It makes me remember all the emotions. It's beautiful." Meeting Garcia was a true honour and also valuable to understanding and playing Saavedra, say Bernal. It all adds to the film's air of authenticity, which Larrain has taken pains to achieve through the use of an old U-matic camera to help blend news footage from the era with the acting scenes. At heart, Saavedra is just a simple man of the people, deeply concerned for the young son who lives with him and longing to be reconciled with his estranged wife. When the Yes campaign hit back with underhand tactics, Saavedra feels the threats on a deeply personal level, rather than as part and parcel of the dirty game of politics. It sums up the other feeling pervading No: intimacy. This, Bernal explains, is down to Larrain.  No is the final part in Larrain's trilogy covering the Pinochet era. The first two films were Tony Manero and Post Mortem. No signals a closure for the director, who was a child at the time of the events of the film and whose parents were Yes voters. "It's a film that is very personal to Pablo. He was 12 when this happened," says Bernal. "It is, for him and other Chileans, a reconciliation, not just with society or the country, but with one's own history." Ultimately, the No campaign is triumphant. An unexpected 97% of registered voters turn out at the polls. The No campaign wins almost 56% of the vote. Pinochet stepped down in 1990 after losing democratic presidential and parliamentary elections. When he died in 2006, he was still to stand trial for human rights abuses, as ordered by the Chilean courts. This "injustice" is just one of the many issues that make No relevant to today's audience, says the politically-minded Bernal. But would he ever turn his interest into a career? "I am very interested in politics," says the actor, who is a big supporter of human rights group Amnesty International. "But as for going into it seriously in a formal way, I can't see that happening. Then again how many politicians have said the same?" No is released in the UK on Friday, 8 February. The Academy Awards are on Sunday, 24 February.

Question: Much has been documented on the rise and fall of Chile 's brutal military dictator General Augusto Pinochet yet little on the men who brought about his demise . The Oscar - nominated foreign - language film , No , seeks to redress the @placeholder .


CCTV footage was not good enough to identify sex crimes, he told the BBC. Police have identified 75 suspects in connection with the thefts and assaults that took place around Cologne station. A 23-year-old Moroccan man given a suspended sentence for theft has become the first person convicted for his part in the spate of attacks. The man, named only as Younis A, was handed a six-month suspended sentence and a â‚¬100-euro (Â£79; $100) fine for stealing a mobile phone. Another Moroccan, aged 18, was given two years' probation and community service for stealing a bag, and a 22-year-old Tunisian was handed a three-month suspended sentence as well as community service. They are among 13 men who have been arrested for stealing. The attacks have been largely blamed on people from North Africa who entered Germany illegally or have sought asylum. Younis A sat with his head bowed so close to the table that his lawyer had to tell him to lift his chin and face the court. The young Moroccan admitted he had snatched a mobile phone from a young woman on New Year's Eve and stood briefly to mumble an apology in her direction. His lawyer told the court that he had had nothing to do with the sexual assaults that were perpetrated that night and accused the court of turning him into a scapegoat. New Year's Eve was "a terrible event with terrible consequences", he said. "People are buying pepper spray, vigilantes run through the city and beat up foreigners. But don't hold my client responsible for these events." Spotlight on Germany's N African migrants Women describe 'terrible' assaults Attacks' profound impact on Europe Germans left feeling vulnerable Only one person, a 26-year-old Algerian asylum seeker, has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. "The CCTV footage is not good enough to clearly identify sexual assaults. We can see some thefts but that's all. We are relying on witness accounts and victims identifying their attackers," said Mr Mathies. Mr Mathies' predecessor Wolfgang Albers was fired over his handling of the wave of assaults and robberies. An official report found that Cologne police made "serious mistakes" in not calling in reinforcements and in the way they informed the public. About 1,000 men of North African and Arab origin gathered near Cologne's main station on 31 December. Smaller groups formed, first surrounding women and then threatening and attacking them, the report said. Chancellor Angela Merkel's immigration policy has since come under mounting criticism. About 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany in 2015.

Question: Most of the men who sexually assaulted women in Cologne on New Year 's Eve may never be @placeholder , the city 's police chief , Juergen Mathies , has said .


It is a move to stop the amount of emissions released by engines turning over at bus stands and coach parking bays. Starting this week, bus operators that allow idling of more than four minutes in the borough can be fined Â£80. Camden Council said that some areas in the borough were in breach of European and national air quality standards. A spokeswoman said that engine idling increased levels of nitrogen dioxide and fine particles, two major air pollutants. She added that "the lives of many who use or live alongside the capital's busiest roads are being shortened". The fines were introduced on 29 November. Sean Birch, Camden's cabinet member for sustainability and transport, said air quality in some locations was "in breach of European Commission standards and national objectives, which are there to protect the health of our residents, visitors and working population".

Question: A north London council has begun fining bus and coach operators that allow their @placeholder to idle for too long .


The fact that more than 1.5m British citizens voted not to remain part of the UK, the fact that a majority in Scotland's biggest city - Glasgow - backed independence, the fact that the Westminster establishment briefly thought this vote was lost, is the reason for that. The leaders of the three UK parties are now promising significant constitutional change and not just for Scotland but for England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well. They have agreed on a timetable for giving more powers to the Scottish Parliament but are a long, long way from agreeing proposals. Alex Salmond may have lost this vote but he remains Scotland's First Minister. He's unlikely to merely accept what is offered up by his opponents. The prime minister has also promised to produce reforms which deliver the soundbite - "English votes for English laws". It was a promise made in the last Conservative manifesto. It was and is very popular in England. There is a reason, however, why it hasn't been enacted. It could create two classes of MP. It might mean a government has a majority to pass certain laws but not others (if, for example, the next Labour government did not have a majority of MPs in England). What's known as the West Lothian question hasn't been answered since it was first asked in 1977. (The question was, Why should the MP for Blackburn in West Lothian in Scotland be able to vote on English matters when the MP for Blackburn in Lancashire can't vote on Scottish issues?) This referendum may have ended one debate in Scotland - for now. It has, however, lit the touchpaper on the explosive question of where power lies in the UK

Question: The people have @placeholder . Scotland has rejected independence . The result has been accepted by both sides . So that , you might think , is that . Not a bit of it .


The power cuts are mainly along the west of Ireland. A gust of 118km/h (73mph) was recorded at Mace Head off County Galway as Desmond, the fourth named storm of the winter, reached the west coast. In Northern Ireland, strong wind and heavy rain warnings are in force for Friday night. In counties Down and Tyrone, roads were closed due to fallen trees. The wet and windy weather is expected to continue on Saturday.

Question: About 2,000 @placeholder in the Republic of Ireland have been left without power and some flights have been diverted as Storm Desmond hits the country .


The 25-year-old Victoria and Melbourne Stars player will be available to play in all three formats of the game. He made his Test debut in November 2016 and scored 105 as Australia beat Pakistan this month. "We are getting a guy who is on the up. He is young and wants to prove himself on the biggest stage," said Yorkshire head coach Andrew Gale. He also scored 54 in Australia's second Test win over Pakistan.

Question: Yorkshire have brought in Australia international batsman Peter Handscomb as their overseas @placeholder for 2017 .


Detentions are a fixture of school life, but do they really improve behaviour? Here are some of your stories. Misbehaviour masterclass "We used to rip up work and make it 'snow' out the window, ignore teachers and keep chatting, put tacks on their seats, use it as choir practice, paint our nails, cornrow hair," says one former London comprehensive pupil, now a junior doctor. Some pupils collect detentions like trophies. "We were the outlaws, the desperadoes, members of a bad-but-fun gang, playing cat and mouse with authority," says a former private school pupil. Another, remembering detentions in the 1980s, says: "Collapsing of tables was a favourite for us. "We had real ink pots and trestle tables, so all you had to do was kick the support on the table and the whole thing would collapse and then ink all over the floor. "'Oops, sorry, don't know how that happened.'" A former Hertfordshire comprehensive pupil, now in her 20s, says: "We had so many, it turned into our after school club. "One of the teachers gave up in the end. And the next time we were in, she put a film on. "I think it was Romeo and Juliet, the Leonardo [DiCaprio] one. "If we weren't in trouble, we would wait outside for the ones that were. "One time I spent 100 minutes in a cupboard in the classroom with a friend. "We weren't meant to be there, but it was cold outside and it seemed like a fun thing to do whilst we were waiting. "They weren't a deterrent at all." What do you think? Join the conversation - find us on Facebook Forgetting to turn up Many teachers say detentions should take place on the day of the offence, when pupils will understand better why they are being punished. Same-day sanctions also improve pupils' chances of remembering the detention at all. In some schools, even if the original offence is small, such as wearing the wrong shoes, not turning up to detention can result in as much punishment as for someone who started a fight. "Not a fair system," says one recent school leaver from Hillingdon. Confused parents Schools in England do not need permission from parents to impose detentions, and in most cases they are not even required to inform them. So the first they know is when their child is late home, and even then they might not find out why. "Every other Monday over almost my entire 13th year, I told our parents I was at chess club, which worked well until they found out from talking to the parents of a fellow detainee who let the cat out of the bag," says one former London pupil. Another says: "My mum was too busy to even know I had it half the time. "So I didn't get into trouble at home." All for one Whole-class detentions are particularly controversial with better behaved class members. "So all 30 of us had to stay behind for a couple of obnoxious people. This is so unfair. How does this help anyone?" asks one school-leaver. "Surely, in an ideal world teachers should ask the class for their opinions on the problem and work with them to find a fair and creative solution. How hard can it be?" Socially useful Some schools make pupils on detention engage in socially useful activities such as litter picking the playground, which can be quite satisfying. And detention can be a chance to get all your homework done in one go, rather than having it last all week. But this approach can backfire too. "One of the chores we were given to do sometimes in detention was to clean board-rubbers, which was basically a licence to get everything and everyone in sight covered in chalk dust," says a former pupil from Cheshire. Detention for teachers With lesson planning, marking and a dozen more extracurricular jobs at the end of the day, supervising an after-school detention is not fun for teachers. "Deeply dull," says one. At some schools, pupils in detention must write an essay on "what action they did wrong and what choices they have in the future when in that position". This approach can "often work", say some teachers, but others disagree "I loathed the idea of making children write for a punishment and taking away their valuable time when they could be running around in the sun or staring at ants in the grass," says one recent retiree, who never gave a detention in 36 years of teaching. Even supporters of detention say it is futile without proper communication between pupil and teacher. "It shouldn't be about getting the kid to say sorry," says one London teacher. Basic conflict resolution techniques can help, she adds, "where both sides get to reflect on the situation from the other's point of view". Pupils need to think about how their behaviour can make teaching very difficult, while teachers could consider whether, in their drive to deliver the curriculum, they might be overlooking pupils' underlying learning difficulties, she says But others fear that in today's results-focused classrooms, "teachers too often lack the time and the skills" for this kind of approach.

Question: It is late November , the summer holidays are ancient history , September resolutions about behaviour and homework are forgotten , everyone is tired , behaviour has @placeholder and detentions are hitting an end - of - term peak .


"We're still awaiting findings," said Troy Vincent, an executive with American football's governing body. The Patriots beat Indianapolis 45-7 in driving rain and flat balls are said to be easier to catch in wet conditions. If they are found to have deflated balls intentionally, punishments could include losing a draft pick. It is unlikely the Patriots will lose their place in Super Bowl XLIX. They are due to face the Seattle Seahawks in Arizona on 1 February. Eleven of New England's' 12 allotted game footballs were under-inflated by two pounds per square inch of air, according to ESPN.

Question: The NFL says it is @placeholder to investigate the New England Patriots amid claims 11 balls were deflated in a win that sent them to the Super Bowl .


The proposals, which will see work on the existing retail precinct area of the school, are part of a Â£50m revamp. The University of Manchester said the plans would bring "improved teaching facilities and a new learning library". It would be the second phase of work, following the building of a hotel and education centre in the coming months. Developers Bruntwood said the "creation of a vibrant retail and leisure offer" at the Oxford Road site was vital. "At the moment, there is very little retail or leisure provision between the city centre and Whitworth Park. "We are confident demand for this location will see it become a thriving new destination in Manchester." Subject to planning permission being granted, the work will begin in 2015. The whole project is due to be completed in early 2018.

Question: Plans to redevelop Manchester Business School , which include a bridge being @placeholder and pavements widened , have been unveiled .


It said the scale of footpath erosion was "threatening Snowdonia's fragile nature". The number of walkers climbing Snowdon has doubled since 2007 and more than four million people visited Snowdonia last year. But the trust said grass species move in when pathways are eroded, strangling some plants. Rhys Thomas, National Trust ranger for Snowdonia, said: "I've been building and rebuilding paths in the area for eight years. "It's tiring, time-consuming and back-breaking work - involving hundreds of hours of volunteer time which requires shifting tonnes of stone by hand, vehicle and helicopter. "But it's vital if we want to protect the delicate upland habitats that make Snowdonia a special place for wildlife." Plants which could be at risk include purple saxifrage, moss campion and roseroot. It is also home to the endangered Snowdon beetle - which in the UK are only found in Snowdonia. The trust is trying to raise Â£250,000 to repair two-and-a-half miles of path. It comes as concerns grow over the amount of litter being left on Snowdon, with some calling for a walker's charge to be introduced. The appeal is supported by Hollywood actor Matthew Rhys, National Trust Wales's Snowdonia Ambassador. Mr Rhys, who is from Cardiff, but has strong family connections to the national park, said he had seen the "trail of destruction left by the eroded paths" during visits to the area. "There's a delicate balance to be struck between man and nature," he added. National Trust Wales looks after almost 58,000 acres of mountain and farmland across the Snowdonia National Park.

Question: Snowdonia 's pathways need to be @placeholder or plants and wildlife will be lost , National Trust Wales has said .


Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, burst into Comet Ping Pong on 4 December 2016 armed with a rifle and pistol. He drove from North Carolina to pursue bogus claims that the restaurant was the nexus of a child sex ring linked to Hillary Clinton's inner circle. No one was injured in what prosecutors described as an "armed invasion". Welch fired an assault rifle into a locked cabinet, believing that abused children were being kept there. Online conspiracy theorists had circulated a rumour that hacked emails from former Democratic presidential candidate's campaign manager contained clues to a paedophile ring. James Alefantis, who owns the restaurant, testified in court that Welch's "physical terror" had "left lasting damage on the people I love". He added that he hopes that "one day in a more truthful time we will remember this day as an aberration" when "lies were seen as real and our social fabric had frayed", the Washington Post reported. Welch, who has two young daughters, pleaded guilty in March to assault and firearms charges. In a letter to US District Judge Ketanji Jackson, Welch apologised for "endangering the safety" of the pizzeria customers, adding "it was never my intention to harm or frighten innocent lives, but I realise now just how foolish and reckless my decision was". Prosecutors had argued that a lengthy sentence was required to "deter other people from pursuing vigilante justice based only on their YouTube feed". "Beyond Pizzagate, the internet is full of wild conspiracy theories where people urge members of the public... to take action," wrote the assistant US attorneys Demian Ahn and Sonali Patel. Comet Ping Pong was forced to hire security and also unplugged their phone due to abusive callers, the court heard. One tourist testified that her six-year-old child, who had been dining during the attack, now suffers from anxiety whenever visiting restaurants.

Question: A US man who @placeholder fired in a Washington DC pizza restaurant because of an online conspiracy theory has been sentenced to four years in prison .


Officials say Mr Modi's office received dozens of mail bags containing nail clippings and hair in the past week. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar says Mr Modi hurt the pride of Biharis by casting aspersions on him. Last month Mr Modi said Mr Kumar's move to sever electoral ties meant something was wrong with his "political DNA". Mr Kumar said the comment implied that the DNA of the people of Bihar was poor. He said they would send five million DNA samples to Mr Modi in protest. Mr Modi receives two-to-three mail bags every day, said the head of Delhi's postal services. Each bag typically contains about 1,000 letters. But, according to a postal department official, they have delivered 47 bags to the prime minister's office in the last few days. Many are marked with the Hindi words "shabd wapsi" - "take your words back" - and contain letters with hair strands and nails. An official from Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU) party in Bihar says 600,000 DNA samples have already been sent to the PM's office. He said his office in the state capital, Patna, had so far received 1.5 million samples and was working to reach the target of five million samples.

Question: Tens of thousands of people from Bihar in eastern India have sent DNA samples to PM Narendra Modi , accusing him of @placeholder people from the state .


Zoe Gregory, 26, is accused of sending a message claiming an explosive had been left at Ormiston Victory Academy in Costessey, Norfolk, on 9 February. The 16-year-old girl's home was raided and she was questioned over the threat by police. Ms Gregory has been bailed to appear before Norwich magistrates on 14 April. She has been charged with communicating false information and unauthorised computer access. Ms Gregory, of Blackhill Wood Lane, Costessey, has been dismissed from her role, said a school spokeswoman.

Question: A teaching assistant has been charged with using a pupil 's email account to make a bomb threat against the school where she @placeholder .


17 May 2017 Last updated at 12:44 BST Adrien Gulfo, wearing red, who plays for the Swiss side Pully Football, tried to clear the ball away from his goal with a spectacular bicycle kick. Unfortunately for him it all went very wrong - watch the video..... There was a happy ending to the story for Gulfo though, Pully went through to the cup final on penalties after the match finished 3-3

Question: You wo n't believe this own goal that was @placeholder in the Swiss lower league !


Analysis by BBC News shows the equivalent of £168 was spent on each child in order to hire in extra staff to cover vacancies and absences. Teachers unions say the amount of money spent reflects a "serious teacher recruitment and retention crisis". The government said the number of quality teachers was at a record high. The latest data for schools in England shows spending on supply teachers accounted for 6% of the total amount spent on teaching staff wages.  The overall figure spent on supply teachers fell by £18m on the previous year. Schools in London collectively spent the most on supply teachers. Primary and secondary schools in the capital spent £212m on extra staff, the equivalent of £260 per child. The Robert Clack School, in Dagenham, east London, spent the most on supply teachers in England. According to the government's data the school spent £953,807 on extra staff - the equivalent of £526 per child. Dr Neil Geach, the school's chair of governors, said the figures included expenditure on counselling staff, extra-curricular sport staff and professional development spending. "The figures as reported do not reflect reality... We do not use unqualified staff or cover supervisors to cover teaching groups - our children's education is too important." Aside from London, Yorkshire and Humberside had the highest spending rate for supply staff of £161 per pupil, followed by schools in the West Midlands, which spent £160. Schools in the East of England spent the lowest amount per pupil - £137 for every child. Graham School in Scarborough, North Yorkshire spent £556,776 on supply teachers during the course of 2014-15, which was the highest amount in Yorkshire and Humberside. Two years ago, the school was in special measures owing to its poor performance and as a result the new head teacher Helen McEvoy said she had to replace 45% of the teachers who were working in the school. "Yes we have spent on a lot on extra teachers but that reflects the successful journey we've been on coming out of special measures," she said. "Our use of supply teachers reflects how in the past we've had a lot of vacant posts and that's because it can be hard to attract teachers to come and work in a remote part of the country." Government figures for 2014 show that teacher vacancy rate across England stood at 0.3%, which meant about 1,000 posts were vacant. Teachers unions have expressed concerns about the use of private supply teacher agencies, claiming that some firms are putting the pursuit of profit ahead of providing high quality teachers. The BBC found schools spent twice as much on buying in extra staff through private agencies than sourcing additional staff through local councils. 'Valuable role' Becca Morgan, who set up the supply agency Principal Teachers in Catterick 16 years ago, said her company was currently experiencing its busiest ever period. "We start dealing with schools looking for supply teachers at 6.30 in the morning and I often stop answering calls at midnight. To put it bluntly without companies like mine the reality is that the education system would grind to a halt." Chris Keates, the general secretary of the union NASUWT, said the spend on supply staff reflected a "serious teacher recruitment and retention crisis". A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "Supply teachers provide a valuable role for schools, and schools themselves are best placed to make staffing decisions to reflect their individual needs. It is up to head teachers and governors to decide who is required for the job and this includes how best to cover absences. "The number and quality of teachers is at a record high, with over 1,000 more graduates training to teach secondary subjects now than a year ago. The overall teacher vacancy rate is 0.3% and has remained around or below 1% for the past 15 years."

Question: Primary and secondary schools in England @placeholder to recruit teachers spent £ 821 m on supply staff last year , it has emerged .


Backpacker Chris Hesford, 22, from Jersey, lost his GoPro camera while kayaking in Byron Bay, New South Wales. Months later Australian Steve Carmody found the camera in a riverbed 60 miles (97km) away and took to social media in a bid to find its owner. After two weeks and 8,000 shares on Facebook, Mr Hesford was identified. Mr Carmody posted on Facebook saying: "If we can track down this bloke I have 32 GB of precious memories to be returned." The post went viral and the story was picked up by Australian TV news, which showed photographs from the camera's memory card of Mr Hesford, who is now working as a lawyer in London. The images depicted Mr Hesford on his travels around the world, including at top of the Empire State building, visiting the Grand Canyon and posing near the Sydney Opera House. Friends of Mr Hesford saw the pictures, told him the good news and he got back his long-lost photos, which were still on the broken camera's memory stick. He said: "I was just in shock, really. "It's amazing that Steve made such an incredible effort to find me. "Steve, I am extremely grateful for your efforts, and if you are ever in London the first pint is on me." Mr Carmody told ABC Gold Coast radio: "It's very cool, it just goes to show the power of social media."

Question: A camera lost six months ago in Australia has been reunited with its owner thanks to a social media manhunt by a stranger who found the @placeholder .


Arlene, who was 15 and from Castlederg in County Tyrone, went missing after a night out in County Donegal in 1994. The main suspect in her disappearance, Robert Howard, died in prison last year. Kathleen Arkinson said she she felt police had missed opportunities to question some witnesses. She complained to the Police Ombudsman in 2006 about the police investigation, the inquest heard. She said police searched her house, breaking her door down with a sledgehammer, dug in her garden, and arrested her partner, adding "insult to injury already caused by the lack of investigation". Ms Arkinson also felt Howard's trial in 2005 for Arlene's murder was mishandled because the jury was unaware of his many convictions. She added that after Arlene went missing, false rumours grew worse. "The rumours were that I killed Arlene," she said. "The whole world was talking about it." Later, Ms Arkinson was questioned by counsel for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, who asked if it was the service's "duty to investigate every opportunity to find out what happened". "It should have been," she replied, "but they didn't do it." Ms Arkinson also said she became more protective of Arlene after an incident when Arlene was abused by a man in 1993. The man was jailed for that assault. Their mother had died three years earlier. Ms Arkinson told the inquest of the last time she saw Arlene when she left for a disco in Bundoran, and how she had given her an money to buy chips on the way home. She never saw her sister again. She described confronting Howard and a family, the Quinns, who she believed had taken Arlene to Bundoran, and that she had become convinced they were telling lies over her disappearance. Earlier, the mother of one of Arlene's friends told the inquest she became scared of Robert Howard after he told her he had killed a six-year-old girl. Bernadette Timoney, giving evidence via videolink, said in the years before Arlene went missing she thought Howard was "an evil-looking man with drink in him". "I didn't like the look of him," she later said. "I didn't want to be in his company - he was very scary." She added that she had daughters of her own and wanted to protect them. She also said that two months before she went missing, Arlene had told her she wanted Â£200 to go to England for an abortion and insisted her family should not know. She said Arlene became hysterical when she asked her if she had gone to get the money from a bank machine with Howard, or if Howard had done anything to her. Ms Timoney said she had not told social services or the police about the incident because she did not want to get involved.

Question: A sister of Arlene Arkinson has told the inquest into her death police did not treat her disappearance with the " @placeholder and credence " it deserved .


They come to the Detroit Motor Show in droves, eager to get a peek at the latest offerings from the big three US car makers and the European manufacturers who are competing for market share in the lucrative car market. But car firms here, while continuing to focus on horsepower, are beginning to turn their attention to processing power. That's because most analysts agree that if car makers want to appeal to a younger generation, who are driving approximately 23% less than they used to, they'll need to shrink cars into, well, iPhones. "If you look at the buying decisions of the younger generation, they're a little worried about the navigation system that gets you from point A to point B, but mainly they're interested in texting and being able to communicate with their friends," says Gary Silberg, the national automotive sector leader at consultancy KPMG. "Whoever gets that right, that's who will win in the marketplace." Dieter Zetsche, the boss of Mercedes, put it more bluntly. "The car of the future [is] a smartphone on wheels," he told the BBC. While only about 10% of cars are connected to the internet today, that number is expected to balloon to 90% by 2020, according to the consulting group Machina Research. The big question is who will be behind the software that connects cars - traditional car manufacturers like Mercedes and General Motors, or Silicon Valley giants like Apple and Google, who have turned their attention towards Detroit? Both tech firms have come out with in-car entertainment operating systems in the last year. "There is a huge battle between the tech giants and auto firms right now," says Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) AgeLab and the associate director of the New England University Transportation Center. "The question is: are you going to go to the dealer five years from now and have the choice of an Apple interface, an Android interface or a [traditional] manufacturer's interface?" Special Report: Global Car Industry For now, most of the car firms, whose offerings are on display in Detroit, are playing it safe by keeping their options open - while keeping their ears to the ground about what's happening in Silicon Valley. Take Ford, for example. Mark Fields, the company's chief executive, told the BBC that the company was planning to open a Palo Alto office next week, to ensure that it remained close to Silicon Valley while considering its options. "I think there are a lot of interested parties in what they call the fourth screen now - the screen within the vehicle," says Mr Fields. "There are a lot of competitors that we recognised, a lot of competitors we didn't recognise, and there are probably a bunch of competitors that haven't been born yet that want a piece of the auto industry." Ford's strategy has been to continue to develop its software in house, while making sure that it is compatible with the latest tech offerings from elsewhere. It unveiled the latest version of its in-car entertainment software, Sync 3, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, which featured upgrades like the ability to update the software wirelessly, as well as enabling it to interact with apps such as Spotify and AccuWeather. Notably, the company also switched from using Microsoft software to Blackberry's QNX operating system. Yet Don Butler, Ford's executive director of connected vehicle and services, said the company was still committed to remaining "device agnostic". "Whether you've got a Blackberry, iPhone, or any of the various flavours of Android device, your phone will be compatible with the Sync system," says Mr Butler. The crucial challenge for everyone will be to keep up with changing technology. "We're willing to toss out a smartphone every year or so but vehicles need to last 10 years," says MIT's Mr Reimer. "No-one is going to have their iPhone 6 in their hands 20 years from now." This need to predict what consumers will want in five, 10 or 20 years is complicated by the fact the industry suffers from a data problem. Special Report: The Technology of Business The 'Uber' for India's tourist guides Lookahead 2015: 'The future is here' Technology predictions fly into 2015 Why 2014 was good for retail robbers While Apple might know every app you open on your iPhone, and Google may know exactly what you search for on its engine, car firms really don't have a good sense of what exactly people want to do and interact with while in their cars. Do we really want to be able to update Facebook while on the go? Or would we settle for being able to sync our Pandora playlists while in traffic? And then of course there is the possibility that all of this might be made semi-irrelevant by the introduction of driverless car technology, which would free up our hands altogether. "We're just at the beginning of a remarkable era where the car is going to change dramatically," says Guggenheim Partners senior managing partner John Casesa. "And all of us are at the moment just trying to figure out how long it will take us to get there."

Question: Detroit in January is largely @placeholder with just one group of people , petrolheads .


Researchers in London who have been carrying out preliminary tests of the fatty acid treatment, report their findings in Neuropharmacology journal. They came up with the idea because of a special diet used by some children with severe, drug resistant epilepsy to help manage their condition. The ketogenic diet is high in fat and low in carbohydrate. The high fat, low carbohydrate diet is thought to mimic aspects of starvation by forcing the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. Although often effective, the diet has attracted criticism, as side-effects can be significant and potentially lead to constipation, hypoglycaemia, retarded growth and bone fractures. By pinpointing fatty acids in the ketogenic diet that are effective in controlling epilepsy, researchers hope they can develop a pill for children and adults that could provide similar epilepsy control without the side-effects. In early trials, the scientists, from Royal Holloway and University College London, say they have identified fatty acids that look like good candidates for the job. They found that not only did some of the fatty acids outperform a regular epilepsy medication called valproate in controlling seizures in animals, they also had fewer side-effects. Source: BBC Health Discover how to live safely with epilepsy What do I do if someone has a seizure? But many more tests are needed to determine if the treatment would be safe and effective in humans. Prof Matthew Walker, from the Institute of Neurology, University College London, said: "Epilepsy affects over 50 million people worldwide and approximately a third of these people have epilepsy that is not adequately controlled by our present treatments. "This discovery offers a whole new approach to the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsies in children and adults." Simon Wigglesworth, deputy chief executive at Epilepsy Action, said: "We know the ketogenic diet can be a highly effective treatment for children with difficult to control epilepsy and it is starting to be used for adults. "The diet is high in fats and low in carbohydrates and the balance of the diet needs to be carefully worked out for each child. Although some children manage the diet very well, others find the diet unpleasant and difficult to follow. Children can also experience side-effects including constipation and weight loss. "The identification of these fatty acids is an exciting breakthrough. The research means that children and adults with epilepsy could potentially benefit from the science behind the ketogenic diet without dramatically altering their eating habits or experiencing unpleasant side-effects. "We look forward to seeing how this research progresses."

Question: A @placeholder made by the body when it uses fat as fuel could provide a new way of treating epilepsy , experts hope .


The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body which oversees the rules of the game, passed the law at a meeting in Zurich. It will come in to force on 1 June, in time for the World Cup in Brazil. The new law was proposed by the Football Association and will apply to domestic and international football. FA general secretary Alex Horne said: "The idea is to get some consistency. The simplest rule for the image of the game is to start from the basis that slogans will not be allowed." From the time the new rule comes in to place, incidents such as Mario Balotelli's infamous "Why Always Me?" message, which he revealed after scoring against Manchester United in 2011, will be banned and subject to a sanction. Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said: "It is definitely decided that players must not have any slogan or statement, and we are making the decision that it will apply to the World Cup." Law 4 of the game, which relates to players' equipment, will be amended. It states: "Players must not reveal undergarments that show political, religious, personal slogans, statements or images, or advertising other than the manufacturer logo. "A player/team of a player that reveals an undergarment that shows political, religious, personal slogans, statements or images, or advertising other than the manufacturers' logo will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by Fifa." Meanwhile, the IFAB rejected a proposal from Uefa to amend the so-called "triple punishment" which occurs when a penalty kick is given within a game, warranting a player being sent off and a possible goal being scored. It was agreed that a pilot project carried out by the FA and Scottish Football Association relating to revolving substitutes in amateur football will continue, as will a Uefa experiment into the use of a sin bin in recreational football. The IFAB also discussed the potential use of video replays for match officials but remains of the view that technology should be allowed only for goal-line incidents because "it is a clear yes or no decision". An IFAB statement read: "Concerns were raised about video replays slowing the game down and increasing the number of stoppages."

Question: Players who @placeholder messages on T-shirts worn underneath their strips will face punishment after new proposals were agreed .


The prime minister was asked how she could expect their support given the 1% cap on pay rises, leaving Theresa May battling to explain why such restraint was necessary. After all, in its manifesto, the Conservatives said that NHS spending was to increase. By the end of the Parliament, the Tories have promised that funding in England will be £8bn higher a year once inflation is taken into account. It does not set out how this will be paid for, although the party insists economic growth is key to spending more. However, as with all manifestos, you need to look at what is not being said as well as what is. The £8bn refers to only one part of the overall budget - the money allocated to front-line services. This accounts for just over three-quarters of the entire health budget. There was a lack of detail about much of the rest of the pot, which goes on things like staff training and public health programmes such as stopping smoking, apart from the promise of extra investment in buildings. During the last Parliament these pots were cut to help pump more money into the front-line services. The same could happen again - albeit with some protection this time for the buildings budget. What is also not obvious is that the £8bn is much less than the health service has been used to. Before 2010, the NHS had been getting an extra 4% a year over its history. This reflects the fact that the health service faces rising costs from factors such as the ageing population, the cost of new drugs and lifestyle issues like obesity. But those rises dried up between 2010 and 2017. Since then the NHS has been getting about 1% a year. What difference will the £8bn for the next Parliament make to that trend? Very little. Forecasts suggest the spending plans amount to just over 1%. But the Tories are not alone on this. The Nuffield Trust think tank has been looking at the spending plans set out by all three main parties - and concluded there is very little between them. And all three fall well short of the 4% average. It explains why, despite the promises of extra money, the Tories have felt it necessary to continue with the pay cap. It's not in the manifesto - instead that talks about "benefits" such as flexible working and new support for staff with mental health problems - but it remains very much a part of their wider NHS policy. Following the last election, the then chancellor George Osborne announced public sector pay was to be capped at 1% until 2019. That, as the nurse pointed out on live television, continues to remain in place. Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

Question: When Theresa May faced the BBC Question Time @placeholder on Friday , one of the trickiest questions came from a nurse .


The session began at a top security prison in Athens, without some of the key defendants present. Security forces are braced for trouble, with party supporters and anti-fascist groups vowing to stage protests. Golden Dawn polled third in the January general election. Critics describe the anti-immigrant party as a neo-Nazi group. All 18 of the far-right party's MPs in the previous Greek parliament are among the defendants, but only a handful of them were in the specially-built courtroom for the start of the trial. Leader Nikos Michaloliakos, 57, who was released recently from prison, is being kept under house arrest and was not in court on Monday. The trial follows a lengthy investigation into the 2013 murder of anti-racist rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a Golden Dawn supporter. Golden Dawn has also been linked to the murder of a Pakistani immigrant and beatings of political opponents. The trial is due to last at least a year.

Question: Leaders of Greece 's far - right Golden Dawn party are among 69 people who have gone on trial on charges @placeholder murder and being part of a criminal group .


The shooting happened at about 19:20 GMT on Saturday as armed officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) stopped a car in Culcheth. GMP Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said officers performed first aid on the man but he died at the scene. The dead man's next of kin have been informed. Two other men were arrested. Witness Jessica Brown, 15, said: "I saw loads of police cars driving past and I saw three men run past the pizza place with gasmasks on and guns and police chasing them. "Then my friend's dad came and picked us up and said it wasn't safe to be out here." Jessica's father Anthony Brown said: "I was just putting out my tea when Jessica ran in screaming. "I went to look but the police told me to get inside. It's shocking, Culcheth is normally a quiet village." A car has now been removed from the scene close to the village supermarket and a care home for the elderly. The scene of the shooting, on a public car park, has been cordoned off. The car park off Jackson Avenue is near shops, restaurants and bars including The Cherry Tree pub. Pub manager Mike Davies said his chef was in the rear yard at the time. "He said he heard what he thought was a firework. "He saw a whiff of smoke and then he heard screaming," said Mr Davies. "We are all pretty gobsmacked that something like this could happen here in Culcheth, a semi-rural village," he said. Mr Hopkins said: "Our thoughts are with the man's family during what will clearly be a very difficult and emotional time, and specially trained family liaison officers have been in contact with the family. "I want to assure them that ourselves, Cheshire Police and the Independent Police Complaints Commission will carry out a thorough investigation which will establish all the facts." Cheshire police said patrols had been increased in the area. It said the community of Culcheth "should be reassured that this is an isolated incident and there is no risk to the community as a whole". An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) spokesperson said: "The IPCC has been informed by Cheshire Constabulary of an incident near Jackson Avenue, Culcheth, Cheshire at approximately 7.20pm on Saturday 3 March where a man was fatally shot by armed officers from Greater Manchester Police. "The incident has been referred to the IPCC who will independently investigate. "IPCC investigators are at the scene and working with officers from both Greater Manchester Police and Cheshire Constabulary."

Question: A man has been shot dead after a car was stopped by armed police officers in Cheshire during " a @placeholder operation " .


Last summer, volleyball player Rachel Laybourne was part of a Team GB squad that helped light up a Games and inspire a nation. But post-Olympics she found herself struggling financially and looking for work. Dozens of the 553 athletes who represented Team GB in London are job-hunting. At least 64 have quit their sports for a variety of reasons, while a further 24 are undecided about their futures, according to research conducted by BBC Sport. For Laybourne, whose side beat Algeria at the Games but lost four other matches and subsequently £3.1m of funding, a career in sports education beckoned. Source: BBC Sport "The sense of pride, the satisfaction has been worth it without a doubt," Laybourne told BBC Sport of her London 2012 experience. "But I have to be able to put a roof over my head, to support myself and potentially a family in the future." Retirements are par for the course for top athletes, whether they are brought on by unexpected injury, a cut in funding, or simply the natural end to a competitive career. The British Olympic Association (BOA) recently hosted an inaugural Athletes Career Fair at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. The hunt for work continues for many who formed part of Britain's most successful Olympic team. In the broader economic climate 2.49 million are unemployed. In Reading, 150 Paralympians and Olympians met more than 40 exhibitors. For many attendees, the months immediately after retirement were proving as challenging as anything faced on the track. "There's a natural grieving process," admits former modern pentathlete Georgina Harland. "It's a very difficult time." Harland, a bronze medal winner at Athens in 2004, retired from her sport in 2008 after sustaining a calf injury two months before the Beijing Olympics. At 30, she immediately knew her competitive career had ended. "I was very well supported by my sport in terms of my transition period, but it was not easy to go through," she said. "You have had this one goal for so long and never questioned it. Then suddenly it's not there anymore." The two-time European champion and former world number one found herself unexpectedly searching for some form of paid employment. "You are used to aspiring to be, literally, the best in the world," she said. Media playback is not supported on this device "But you have to make compromises. What is success in the normal workplace and what does success mean to me?" Harland experimented with jobs away from sport, but quickly realised she wanted her future to have some form of sporting connection. Now she finds herself employed by the BOA as a sport engagement manager, responsible for the team that organised the career fair in Reading. "I am an ex-athlete and went through this process myself," she explained. "At the fair, we had the British Olympic Association, the British Paralympic Association, the Institute for Sport, UK Sport and the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust. We all recognise that there is that responsibility to ensure that athletes are supported during what is a very difficult time." England and Great Britain hockey captain Kate Walsh knows all about that difficult time. In 2007, her sport's funding was cut. Then, after London 2012, a gap in funding provision meant almost her entire squad has had to look for paid work elsewhere. "We all had to go out and get jobs," she said. "That took some time. "It's really scary for some athletes, devastating. We've all got rent and mortgages to pay." Georgina Harland (above) is a former Olympian and now works for the BOA. She tells BBC Sport why ex-athletes make excellent employees: "When you are in sport you are surrounded by driven people every day. In business, to have that drive and goal-setting, plus dealing with pressure situations, are very desirable skills in the workplace. "There are all sorts of natural skills that athletes just take for granted - self-confidence, leadership skills, decision-making. But they are actually very sought after." Walsh, 32, won bronze in London, has represented her country since 1999 and participated in two World Cups, three European Cups and two Commonwealth Games. She does not intend to retire from her sport yet - and has found part-time work in public relations for a firm in Berkshire. The Team GB captain is frank about how balancing employment and an ongoing playing career can be far from ideal. "There will be hard times when you have to train in the morning, go to work, train in the evening," she said. "You have to squeeze it in, do it during the lunch hour. That's far less ideal than doing your training and being able to recover properly." Harland is sympathetic to the plights of those out-of-work ex-athletes. "Don't panic" is her advice. "There is time to make mistakes in terms of finding the right path now. You may start something and realise it's not the job for you. It's all right. "You can find a job that will satisfy you. It may never be what it was like when you were competing, but you can find something that satisfies in a different way."

Question: " I am 30 and financially @placeholder . London 2012 feels like a million years ago . "


Denis and Aideen Jones faced charges of cruelty against two boys between the mid-1970s and 1980 at a north Wales care home. A Chester Crown Court jury unanimously cleared the couple, from East Sussex. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the couple had been subject to a "thorough and ethical investigation". The couple had spent more than two-and-a-half years on bail since being arrested in August 2013 under the NCA's Operation Pallial. It was claimed Mr Jones, 66, took one boy into an office and threw chairs at him while encouraged by Mrs Jones, 63. The couple said the main allegation against them related to 1973 and 1974 when the accuser was aged nine or 10, but during the nine-day trial, jurors heard they did not start working in north Wales until 1975. "We spent two-and-a-half years of not being able to clear our names and not being able to talk about it," said Mrs Jones, who was chief executive of Southdown Housing Association, based in Lewes at the time of her arrest. "On alleged victims' sites on Facebook and Twitter, people seem to feel they can talk about anything even if it's not factual or just. That was quite distressing." Mrs Jones was awarded an OBE in 2014 for her services to people with learning disabilities. Source: Key investigations into historical abuse At the time of their arrest, Mr Jones was a national research officer for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass). They have both now lost their jobs and have used their life savings on their £106,000 legal costs. Mr Jones called for a limit to the length of time people spend on bail and said people accused of crimes should be given anonymity until proven guilty. "It's had an impact on our health, with the worry and stress of it all," said his wife. "We have seen celebrities... falsely accused but there are hundreds of people in our position." Mr Jones said it would be hard to return to normality now the case is over. "We have got to accept that we are going to go through a post-traumatic stress phase," he said. "It has felt like two-and-a-half years of our lives have been put on hold and our plans for the future destroyed." The NCA said it accepted the jury's decisions. "We would like to thank all those who came forward and provided information or who gave evidence at the trial," it said in a statement. "This was a thorough and ethical investigation. "It was independently reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service who decided that there was sufficient evidence to be heard by a jury. "Channels are available if Mr or Mrs Jones wish to make any formal complaint."

Question: A couple have said their lives have been " @placeholder " after they were wrongly accused of historical child cruelty dating back more than 40 years .


Media playback is not supported on this device This South Africa team is the poorest we've seen in a long, long time but England still needed to put them away. England hadn't beaten them in 10 years, the weather wasn't ideal and they hadn't played since completing a whitewash over Australia in June, so Saturday's 37-21 victory at Twickenham was a good result. One of the biggest changes since Jones took over last November is the England players' fitness levels. Jones has bags of experience and is speaking to players straight. And one of the things he will have told them is that they won't be great players unless they get fitter. So the players have listened and got fitter. There's a great story about Ben Youngs: the Leicester scrum-half was considered to be overweight, so Jones kept showing him bags of sweets. If you don't get the message after that, you never will. Man of the match Youngs looked sharp against the Springboks. I don't know what Pieter-Steph du Toit's sight is like out of his right eye, because Youngs left him for dead twice with dummies, but Youngs spotted the opportunity and England had support runners on his shoulder both times to finish things off. Billy Vunipola has also been released as a result of improved fitness, while Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and Chris Robshaw were workaholics. Jones is clever psychologically. During the Six Nations, he kept talking about Robshaw and James Haskell. After Saturday's match, the first person he mentioned was Robshaw. The two back-rows are elder statesmen and he's telling everyone that they're his best players. That's no coincidence. It's a message to the rest of the squad: come and knock these guys off. Jonny May's try was beautifully crafted and executed, a genuine team try. The art of attack is fixing defenders, using dummy runners as smoke and mirrors, getting the ball in behind and finishing things off. At any time that move could have fallen down because of a poor decision or poor execution, but it didn't. The summer tour of Australia went great but they conceded more tries than they scored, which would have been a concern. Jones brought in a specialist defence coach, Jason Ryles, from rugby league outfit Melbourne Storm, and for a lot of the game against South Africa the defence worked reasonably well. There was a drop-off in intensity but that's to be expected given the gap between matches. The intensity will increase in the coming weeks. I like the fact Jones never seems to be happy and keeps saying he wants England to be number one in the world. It won't be easy, and staying number one will be even more difficult than getting there in the first place. But there aren't many positions - the flankers, inside centre, both wings? - that aren't competitive and this is a very good England team in the making. Media playback is not supported on this device To say South African rugby is in crisis is an exaggeration. But they are certainly not in a good situation, given their past status. When players started leaving South Africa, they were often vastly experienced and could adjust well to playing club rugby abroad and returning home for internationals. But bit by bit, those players - people like Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Jannie du Plessis, Schalk Burger, Francois Steyn - have either drifted away, retired or their form has dropped, and nobody has stepped up to replace them. Injuries have hurt them - they've had a host in the back row, including to Francois Louw and Duane Vermuelen - and they've not had a steady half-back partnership for the last few years. You're always going to struggle for stability and consistency if you don't have that. Media playback is not supported on this device You've got to feel for Scotland - they will be hurting. Again. The win over Australia was theirs and the celebrations were on ice. But it all melted away in slightly unspectacular fashion. Australia were down to 14 men, with Will Skelton in the sin-bin, but Scotland didn't play the percentages and the territory as they should have. As a result, Tevita Kuridrani ended up blasting through a couple of tackles - poor old Peter Horne is not going to be able to watch that replay - and scoring under the posts. But Scotland did play some decent rugby. The Gray brothers, Jonny and Richie, were everywhere, between them they made 40-odd tackles and didn't miss one. And Jonny Gray in particular never seemed to be without the ball in his hands. Glasgow fly-half Finn Russell is young and fearless and has some nice, deft touches. The fact that he's already got 20 caps to his name and is only 24 is good for the team. Outside him, Huw Jones' first try showed great speed and change of direction, while the second showed how explosive he can be in a tight, confined space. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him. Vern Cotter's side are waiting to click, and a victory over Australia might just have released them. It certainly would have locked away a few ghosts, following on from their last-gasp defeat by the Wallabies at last year's World Cup. Scotland should expect to beat Argentina next week, despite the Pumas being ranked three places above them in sixth. They should certainly embrace the pressure of playing at home and not be afraid to expect to win. Argentina will want to make it fast, loose and scary and put the likes of Joaquin Tuculet and Santiago Cordero in space. But Scotland will beat them with a more structured game. Media playback is not supported on this device After last week's poor display against Australia, it was just important for Wales to get a victory against Argentina. It wasn't a performance that made you go "wow" but the northern hemisphere sides are just getting back into the swing of things. Argentina are a very good side with some classy, quality players, so Wales were never comfortable and never able to get away from them. But the return of Alun Wyn Jones and Sam Warburton helped keep them cool under pressure. I liked the performance of Ross Moriarty at number eight. The Gloucester man is like a mini-explosion in a collision, whether he's carrying or putting in a tackle. Not many players manage to be that aggressive and maintain control. And if you're not winning collisions, you're going to be on the back foot. Liam Williams was a real livewire on the wing but he needs to get the ball into his hands more often. I'd like to see him play at full-back, because at least then he'd be behind the play, able to see what was happening and get involved, rather than waiting out on the wing for the ball to come to him. Wales are trying to build on what they started 18 months ago, which is using more dummy runners, putting the ball in behind, and looking for space either within that diamond shape or out wide. In the build-up to Williams' try, they got it spot on and Dan Biggar ended up bursting through a gap - and it's not often you hear anyone say that. Most sides can't do it because their fitness doesn't allow them to, but if you can execute it, it's pretty much impossible to stop you. Argentina play a very similar game to New Zealand, except they don't have as many world-class players. So they are going to make more mistakes, which will allow opposition teams to take advantage. When it sticks it's magnificent to watch; when it doesn't it looks as if they don't really know what they're doing. But in Martin Landajo and Nicolas Sanchez they have a formidable half-back partnership and because of the way they play, they were never out of the game. A second-string Ireland side did what they were expected to do against Canada. But it was nice to see Joey Carberry and Gary Ringrose showing what they can do. The Leinster fly-half and centre respectively have great poise and understanding of the game and could be challenging for first-team places soon. When Joe Schmidt took over as head coach in 2013, everyone was taken aback by the impact he had on Irish rugby. They won two Six Nations titles in a row but then big players retired and other teams seemed to have worked them out. Media playback is not supported on this device But Schmidt seems to have rejigged things, Ireland won in Cape Town in the summer and the performance in beating the All Blacks last week was incredible. New Zealand hadn't lost in 18 games and not in 111 years against Ireland. But Ireland showed you can beat them playing a controlled, structured game. You have to be phenomenally fit to implement that game plan and execute perfectly 99% of what you do, and even then New Zealand might only need that 1% to beat you. When it was loose and frenetic in Chicago, the All Blacks ruled the roost. There was a period of New Zealand dominance that stemmed from Sexton kicking the ball out on the full. Ireland struggled to get their foot back on the throat of the snake that was trying to bite them for about 15 minutes and became inhibited. I thought that maybe Ireland were gone, but they didn't freeze for long, maybe because they have been in the same situation in recent years and knew what they had to do. But a repeat result in Dublin would be even better than their first, because it's not as if New Zealand have suddenly fallen off a cliff.

Question: Every coach has high standards but I think England boss Eddie Jones ' standards are higher than almost anybody 's . Even more importantly , the players are @placeholder , as 10 wins out of 10 illustrates .


On the economic front, he's got some work to do. It's not that the US economy is in such bad shape. It's recovered better than the UK one. The problem is more that he has portrayed it as being wrecked, and he has raised expectations of doubling the growth rate to 4%, while "bringing millions of jobs back to America". "We're going to win so much. You're going to get sick and tired of winning. You're gonna be saying, Mr President, enough with the winning." The Texans talk about blowhards as being "all hat, but no cattle". Well, Donald Trump has certainly done the hat bit. So now... ? The economic plan is threadbare, and it's not clear who is going to be driving it in the Trump administration. Over at the US Fed, it could get a bit wobbly, as the president-elect is not a big fan of Janet Yellen or her management of monetary policy, and he may want her replaced. The key elements are a big push on infrastructure, particularly in transport: "Believe me, it'll be second to none." Good news for the construction sector. Market pundits are also talking up healthcare stocks, as Trump and his Republican allies set about dismantling Obamacare. There are profits to be made out of the wreckage there. You might also buy shares in the coal-mining industry, which has been tanking of late, and it's collapsed almost entirely on this side of the Pond. Targeting votes in rustbelt and mining states such as West Virginia, Candidate Trump went big on the prospects for reviving coal production. Yes, it's dirty, but the president-elect believes climate change is "a hoax" perpetrated by the Chinese. So that could upend a lot of the growing green economy in the US. And if eight years of Obama's climate change policy is to be thrown into reverse, repudiation of the commitments made to international limits on carbon emissions could entice signatories into doing the same. But the bit that gives the markets the jitters is trade. It's been the signature element of his populist pitch - that the governing elite have signed up to trade deals that have neglected the interests of Ordinary Joe. The signs have been there for a long time, but they are clearest in the stagnation of real earnings since the 1970s, and the reduced share of the economic pie that's gone to wages. The Trump Movement has, as its foundation, the giant shift in manufacturing and economic power, particularly to Asia. And there are clear parallels there with the de-industrialisation and hollowing out of much of the north of England, which led to the vote for Brexit. So the big question is what he is going to do about trade? Repudiating deals? Tearing them up? Imposing punitive tariffs in economic warfare? Or seeking to re-negotiate, with a mandate from the American people and the one trademark skill that he brings to the White House - deal-making. The UK will be looking for a post-Brexit deal with the US. Trump has sounded more positive about that than others in Washington. But what kind of deal would it be? The basis for international trading is that all sides win. The catch is that it can require painful adjustment within countries. Donald Trump doesn't like that adjustment, so the rhetoric points to a trade deal that is strongly favourable to Americans over its trading partners. Also worth watching in his economic policy is the approach to taxation and spending. He has said he wants to lower tax on high earners and to simplify federal tax bands to three levels: 12%, 25% and 33%. He also wants to cut headline corporation tax from 35% to 15%. That's not much below the level at which the UK Treasury has been aiming, and it's higher than Ireland's corporation tax rate. That could stimulate growth. But tax experts in Washington think, with the promises on infrastructure and defence spending, that it will instead make the federal debt balloon, by perhaps more than $5 trillion. That helps explain why the mighty US dollar is not in its customary role, acting as the safe haven for investors. The Japanese yen and the Swiss franc look more solid now. But it raises the question of how much of this plan President Trump can get through Congress. He may be a Republican, but he's far from sharing the fiscal conservatism of his party's representatives on the Hill.  Given their differences and Trump's mandate having been achieved without them, that relationship is going to take a lot of managing. What will also require managing is the Trump business portfolio. Unlike other presidents and prime ministers, he does not intend to put it into a blind trust. How could he, when the Trump brand is so prominent on his property and business interests? So his family will continue to manage it. And as he's proven already to be a rather divisive character, they may have their work cut out to secure these Trump assets. From the bling and buildings in the US to his golf courses north of Aberdeen and at Turnberry in Ayrshire, these are now extensions of the presidential brand. The Commander-in-Chief will surely want them to be protected as such.

Question: It 's hard to know where to start with the @placeholder that is president - elect Donald J Trump . But if we 're finding it difficult to make that transition , imagine what it 's like for him .


Of the 38 people who were killed in the incident, 33 were on Tui holidays. Announcing its third quarter results, the firm, which owns Thomson and First Choice Travel, said the attack and subsequent warnings about travel to Tunisia would cost it about £20m this year. Tui is also worried about the effect of migrants on its Greek business. Since the attack in Tunisia, the Foreign Office now advises against all but essential travel to the country. "This is the most tragic event and loss of human life that I have ever had to deal with or my company and we remain deeply shocked in terms of the loss of life, those customers that were injured and all the trauma that our customers had to go through, through these terrible events," Tui Group chief executive Peter Long told the BBC. "We were 100% focused on making sure that our customers were looked after and that was our number one priority." He also said that the company was reliant on Foreign Office advice on when to resume offering holidays in Tunisia. The company said that in the three months to the end of June the attack had caused repatriation and cancellation costs of about €10m ($11m; £7m). Tui also said it had been hit by the continued economic turmoil in Greece, which made withdrawing cash from banks more difficult. Mr Long said he thought it was time for other European governments to help Greece deal with migrants arriving at Greek islands, especially from Syria. "We know that tourism for Greece is so important, their economy is fragile and what we don't want to see [is] a deteriorating demand from our customers going to the Greek islands." However, Tui said that business had been resilient and that summer bookings were still ahead of last year's level. The company reported a group profit of €49.4m for the quarter, compared with a loss of €5.6m in the same period last year. Tourism is one of Greece's most important industries, worth about £20bn a year to the country. More than 650,000 people are employed in the holiday sector and more than 22 million people travel to Greece every year from around the world. In its third quarter results, Tui said that the economic turmoil of the debt crisis had affected demand for Greek holidays, especially from Germany.  A developing issue around immigration could pose a fresh threat to the sector. "I worry about the publicity putting people off going to the Greek islands," Mr Long said. "Therefore I hope the Greeks are able to process [the migrants] and I'm sure other European governments will look at ways of helping them through this difficult situation with so many migrants arriving at the same time." Read more of Kamal's blog

Question: Travel operator Tui Group has announced how much its business will be affected by the @placeholder attack in Tunisia in June .


Professional poker player David Michael Jenkins, 34, made more than £1m from his part in an underground business producing and supply steroids, Mold Crown Court was told. He was jailed in July. But he was back in court on Monday for a financial hearing under The Proceeds of Crime Act. Judge Niclas Parry formally made an order which said that the criminal benefit from the enterprise was £1,012,767. The recoverable amount available for confiscation was calculated at £101,862 which must be paid in three months or Jenkins will have to serve an additional two years in prison. Jenkins, from Connah's Quay, Flintshire, told the court that as he was still in prison he may be unable to sell a house within the timescale. The judge told him that if an application to extend the deadline was to be made in the future, he would have to show every effort had been made to sell the property. The court heard that assets included an Audi A3, money held on account in casinos in Merseyside, casino chips, cash and a half share in a house in Connah's Quay. Jenkins, a former roofer, had previously admitted being concerned in the supply of steroids, class C drugs, and money laundering between January 2009 and September 2012.

Question: A man jailed for three years for his part in a criminal enterprise selling steroids must @placeholder over £ 100,000 or face an extra two years in prison .


The South Antrim MLA led the cross-community party since 2001 and was the party's longest serving leader. He also held the post of Northern Ireland justice minister between 2010 and 2016 - the first local minister in that role for nearly 40 years. The married father-of-four, who is 65, has represented South Antrim as an MLA since 1998. Profile: David Ford The current deputy leader, Naomi Long, will take over as leader in an acting capacity, and party insiders are predicting she may be the only leadership candidate. "Tomorrow is actually the 15th anniversary of my election as party leader and I think that's an interesting milestone to reflect on," Mr Ford told the BBC. "The team is working well and I think it's an appropriate time to hand over to a new leader who will lead the party forward in the next stage of its development and growth." On his tenure as justice minister, Mr Ford said the key was proving that it was possible to devolve justice. "We were able to devolve it and indeed there was one DUP MLA who said 'David has made justice boring'," he said. "I think that is actually quite an achievement. "But it wasn't just boring, [there were] significant issues about reform to prisons, to legal aid, support for transformation within youth justice, major issues which have made changes to the way in which the system works for the good of the people of Northern Ireland." Mr Ford said that attacks on party members during loyalist flag protests represented a low point of his time as leader, but in another way a high. "When Naomi Long in particular was seriously threatened and other party representatives were threatened and had offices attacked over the flags protests it was clearly a low point at one level," he said. "But it really was a high point to see the way in which my colleagues  stood together, supported each other, stood absolutely firm by our principals." "I think that shows the kind of strength we have in Alliance. We may not have vast numbers, compared to some other parties, but we have a cohesion, and we work together and we support each other well." Any contenders for the party leadership have to be either MPs or MLAs. The party no longer has a Westminster seat, so that means only Mr Ford's seven Stormont colleagues are entitled to stand.

Question: David Ford is @placeholder as leader of the Alliance Party .


The congress, which happens once every five years in the one-party state, will run for eight days. Behind closed doors, the 1,510 members will nominate the next president, the prime minister, and most importantly, the party's general secretary. Who wins could determine Vietnam's relations with key partners including the US and China. Vietnam's closely controlled media are not allowed to cover the congress except for the opening ceremony. On Thursday, top leaders gave brief speeches emphasising the need to build Vietnam's economic prosperity, and also reviewed the leadership of the central committee, reported Viet Nam News. Nga Pham, BBC Vietnamese: 'Rumours and speculation' As most important meetings of the top echelon of the party are conducted behind closed doors and little information is ever made public, it is inevitable that rumours spread widely ahead of any congress. But Vietnam has never seen the level of speculation circulating this time. Right up to the opening day of the congress there are still divided opinions about who is going to become the party's general secretary on 28 January. Party officials themselves admitted that at the last three-day meeting of the powerful central committee before the congress, participants had to hold a staggering 13 rounds of voting to come up with a list of nominees. But whoever is elected, the delegates currently meeting in Hanoi's My Dinh National Convention Centre are determined to make sure that the country will continue to tread the "Socialist path", with the Communist Party secure in its rule over the nation of 94 million people. Death of a turtle: an ominous sign for Vietnam? The competition for the general secretary job pits current Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, seen as modern and friendly towards the US, against party stalwart and incumbent, Nguyen Phu Trong. Mr Dung has gained popularity domestically with strong anti-China rhetoric when it comes to disputed territory in the South China Sea. Mr Trong is seen to be more friendly towards China - Vietnam's largest trading partner. The congress takes place amid resurgent tension with China. On Tuesday, Vietnam said it had demanded China remove a controversial oil rig parked in waters claimed by both countries. In 2014, Beijing moved the same rig into contested waters, sparking violent anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam.

Question: Vietnam 's Communist Party delegates are meeting in Hanoi to begin the process of choosing a new @placeholder of leaders .


Leslee Udwin denies claims that she broke a contract with the prison by airing the interview with the rapist, convicted over the 2012 Delhi bus rape. She said India's legal actions, including a request for a global ban, had no legal or practical basis. The film has been banned in India, but the BBC showed it in the UK. In the interview, rapist Mukesh Singh, who is facing the death penalty, shows no remorse. The 23-year-old student, who died days after the attack in December 2012, was repeatedly beaten and gang-raped while being driven around Delhi in a bus. In the interview, Singh suggested she might have survived if she had not fought back. Earlier in the week a Delhi court issued an injunction against the film after police argued the interview contained offensive remarks towards women, and could cause a public outcry. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has since promised an inquiry into how access was gained to the prison, and threatened unspecified action against the BBC for airing the film. Tihar Jail, which allowed the interview, has alleged that Udwin broke an agreement by not allowing officials to vet her footage. But Udwin has insisted that she followed all the correct procedures. "I wrote an impassioned letter to the director general of prisons. She granted her in principle permission," Udwin told the BBC. "The Ministry of Home Affairs then granted a written signed permission. I got a signed permission from the convict in this case and a permission signed by the prison." Udwin earlier told a news conference she had given the prison all 16 hours of footage from her interview, but officials watched only three hours before telling her there was too much material. She then submitted a shorter version, which was approved. She added that she was confident the decision to ban the film would be overturned in Delhi's High Court. The documentary, India's Daughter, was due to be shown on the BBC and NDTV on Sunday. While NDTV has been forced to shelve its broadcast, the BBC changed its schedules and aired the documentary on Wednesday night. The director general of Tihar Jail said officials had issued a "legal notice" to the BBC on Wednesday requesting that it did not show the film, even in the UK. The notice apparently came from Rakesh Singh, an official in the ministry of information. The BBC's director of television, Danny Cohen, replied to Mr Singh, saying: "We do not feel the film as currently edited could ever be construed as derogatory to women or an affront to their dignity. "Indeed, it highlights the challenges women in India face today." He added: "We are not planning to transmit the film in any territory which lies under Indian legal jurisdiction." Some activists have criticised the film and accused the film-maker of giving a platform to the rapist. But the father of the victim described the film as "the bitter truth" and said everyone should watch it. "If a man can speak like that in jail, imagine what he would say if he was walking free," he told NDTV.

Question: A British film - maker has defended an interview with a convicted Indian rapist , hours after authorities there launched a slew of legal @placeholder .


The film will "document the journey from the moment in 1991 when Noel Gallagher joined his brother Liam's band" to their acrimonious split. According to a statement, the film-makers have been given "unprecedented access" to the band and their archives. Amy director Asif Kapadia has taken a production role on the film. Mat Whitecross will direct, having previously made the Stone Roses' film Spike Island - a fictional story about a wannabe rock band who tried to get their demo tape into the hands of their idols at their seminal outdoor show near Widnes. He also won acclaim for Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, his whimsical, mischievous biopic of punk pioneer Ian Dury, with a head-turning central performance by Andy Serkis. Amy broke box-office records on its release earlier this year, eventually becoming the highest-grossing British documentary of all time, with takings of Â£5.4 million. Oasis's story is less tragic and much more convoluted. Initially called Rain, they were signed to Alan McGee's Creation Records in 1993. A year later their debut album, Definitely Maybe topped the charts  - but the Gallagher brothers' fractious relationship was already a story. In September 1994, Noel walked out of the band after Liam made offensive remarks about American audiences, hitting him over the head with a tambourine during a Los Angeles gig. They reconciled to record the career-defining album (What's The Story) Morning Glory and, by 1996, were able to play two sold-out gigs at Knebworth, watched by 250,000 fans. Over the next decade, the band scored eight UK number one singles, 15 NME Awards, five Brit Awards, nine Q Awards and four MTV Europe Music Awards. But there was a constant backdrop of squabbles and in-fighting.  Things eventually came to a head backstage in Paris in 2009, after a row about Liam's fashion business led to a violent dressing room clash. Both brothers have continued to make music, with varying degrees of success. Last month, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' second record, Chasing Yesterday, won best album at the Q Awards.

Question: A feature - length profile of rock @placeholder Oasis is to be produced by the team behind the record - breaking film about Amy Winehouse .


The 29-year-old forward, who helped England to a series win over New Zealand on Saturday, joined the Giants from Castleford in July 2012. Injury limited him to just 13 Super League appearances last season. The Giants confirmed in a statement that they would not be making any further comment at this stage.

Question: Huddersfield Giants have @placeholder England international Brett Ferres " pending an internal investigation into conduct away from the club " .


The highest rise of £65 in Somerset is partly due to a one-year interim levy for flood defence work. North Somerset's council tax is likely to go up by £53 for a Band D property after a freeze for the past few years. Deputy leader, Elfan Ap Rees said: "I'm disappointed the government hasn't really been listening to all of the councils all of the time." The expected rises are: Gloucestershire £53; Bristol £60; South Gloucestershire £60; Wiltshire £52; Swindon £49 and Bath and North East Somerset £42. They all take into account police and fire services which are also expected to put up their share of the council tax bill. For the county council areas, there may also be further increases added in to the council tax bill from the town and parish councils precepts. West Somerset Council merged its services with neighbouring Taunton Deane to cut down on expenditure in 2013. West Somerset's Conservative leader, Anthony Trollope-Bellew said: "Our projections are we will not be able to produced a balanced budget in 2018-19. "How are we going to deal with that? Well we are starting to try and deal with it now, we've got two years to try to sort it out." The councils will be setting their budgets in February and March, ahead of the new financial year. Once the budget is set, the council tax rises will be confirmed. BBC Points West Political editor, Paul Barltrop: We're all going to pay more and get less for years to come. That is the picture emerging from our councils as they grapple with further reductions in the funding they get from central government. It has been falling for years, but the obvious savings - like being more efficient and having fewer offices and staff - have been made. So there is quiet relief in many corners of the West that the government's had a change of heart, and is pretty much expecting councils to put up tax. That may not go down well with residents, but they may have to get used to it. The expectation is that putting up tax by around a pound a week will be the norm in the next few years. Not that it will make life easy for our councillors. The extra money coming in won't match their rising costs and cuts in the funding they get from central government.

Question: A BBC investigation has shown council tax is likely to increase by up to £ 65 in the West @placeholder .