There are many things about it that have attracted comment from US columnists to the blogosphere: that he oversaw such controversial and costly wars but should ultimately fall on a matter of personal behaviour; that President Barack Obama was not apparently informed until election day that Gen Petraeus was under investigation by the FBI; and that the issue is now drawing in more people, including General John Allen, who replaced Gen Petraeus as the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan. The inquiry resulted from complaints by a woman that she had received threatening e-mails from Paula Broadwell, Gen Petraeus' biographer and for several months apparently also his lover. The FBI investigation is now moving on to issues such as whether the author had unauthorised access to classified material. Some have written of the general's vanity, suggesting he liked to be surrounded by admiring staffers, academics and indeed journalists. Having met and interviewed him several times, I can certainly confirm that he took particular care of his image (for example preferring to be filmed favouring the patch on his right shoulder - the combat one of the 101st Airborne Division, which he commanded during the 2003 invasion of Iraq), and that lately his staff tried hard to discourage challenging lines of questioning, whereas during our earlier meetings he had proven more than happy to tackle whatever we threw at him. It was during one of these later meetings with Gen Petraeus that he introduced me to Mrs Broadwell, who at that time was working on her book about him and with whom, it emerged last week, he was having an affair. I will not pretend that I had any great presentiment or intuition about what was going on, but did note that during our off-camera conversations, he and I reflected in a humorous way on the ageing process and how it played out in men. Gen Petraeus had gone through cancer treatment in 2009 and it is in this context that a friend of his, a fellow general, sought to explain to me today what had happened: "Almost everyone considered him to be immortal, but he had been shaken by the cancer business and continually deployed for five-and-a-half years." The same officer concluded that while his friend was right to offer his resignation once the extramarital affair with Ms Broadwell had come to light, that "the president shouldn't have accepted it". Some reports today suggest that the CIA director did not even himself feel it was a resigning matter, but was persuaded to write the letter by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper. The head of the wider US intelligence community apparently felt it would not be possible for Gen Petraeus to discipline CIA staff accused of marital indiscretions, if he had shown himself fallible in the same regard. General Stan McChrystal, Gen Petraeus' predecessor as Nato commander in Kabul, also suffered a public fall from grace in 2010, stepping down after staff members were quoted by Rolling Stone magazine being critical about the Obama administration. Some used a similar formula at the time, about the president not needing to accept a tendered resignation. Both generals had been lionised in the US press and in Congress, particularly for reversing the slide to civil war in Iraq. It is also true to say that many of the commanders, including British as well as American, whom I have spoken to in Iraq and Afghanistan were completely in awe of these two men and their abilities. As for what they achieved in their attempt to replicate the success of the Iraq surge in Afghanistan, that is a different matter, for many now consider it to have failed. That two commanders who wielded power of life and death over so many, and were widely praised as soldier-scholars, should fall on issues of PR and an affair is itself a stark measure of the degree to which personal failings that might once have been kept private can now be the decisive factors in professional ruin. And how serious are the charges that led to their fall? The FBI cleared the CIA boss of any involvement with sending threatening emails, even if he still has serious issues to address with his wife Holly Petraeus. And an inquiry into Gen McChrystal's conduct towards the Rolling Stone reporter exonerated him of any misconduct. Some once talked of Gen Petraeus - his physical fitness, charging intellect, and devotion to duty in almost super-human terms. Ultimately though he has proven himself all too fallible.

Question: The fall of David Petraeus , director of the US Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) and the general who successfully commanded America 's troop surge in Iraq during 2007 - 8 is a modern morality @placeholder , even if it did arise from one of the most ancient human failings , marital infidelity .


Little did he know that from that moment on, his boys would become internet megastars! In the video, Harry (the older brother) puts his finger dangerously near to Charlie's mouth - and his little brother bites him. And the famous line 'Charlie bit me!' was born! The boys' dad Howard could never have imagined that, tens years later, the video would have got almost 850 MILLION views on YouTube, becoming one of the most-watched and most famous videos ever to have gone on the internet. Since the Charlie Bit Me video went online, the boys have been all over the world to be on television and appear in adverts. Happy birthday, Charlie Bit Me!

Question: Ten years ago , one dad uploaded a video of his sons to YouTube so that relatives could watch it , because the file was too big to @placeholder by email .


"It's hard to understand what happened. We read about it. We've seen the movies. But I don't think you can fully understand what happened out there," says Trond Henry Blattman, who lost his son Torjus on Utoeya island on 22 July 2011. "It was the most secure place to be in Norway that day." Mr Blattman is now leader of the 7/22 National Support Group for bereaved families, who have gathered for a weekend every six months since the attacks to share their experience of grieving. It is part of a series of initiatives that offer intensive, targeted, psychological support to survivors of the massacre and the bereaved. "It is a kind of support to feel that the other families had the same kind of thoughts that you had. How did it happen? Did he suffer a lot?" he says. "You get support from that, to feel that everybody is in the same kind of position." Source: London Bombings Trauma Response Programme Collective therapy on a national scale like this had never been attempted before. The group met for the fourth and final time in February and though many families would have liked them to continue, Mr Blattman says they have done their job. "The most important thing after the fourth gathering is that people can move on. Of course we lost our child, life will never be the same. It will be different, but hopefully it will be good." These meetings are part of a co-ordinated effort by the Norwegian authorities to bring help to everyone affected by the attacks. "Faced with this very large terrorist attack we realised we had to do something special in order to co-ordinate all the groups and organisations," says Dr Bjorn Guldvog, Norway's chief medical officer. Just two days after the massacre, a group of government agencies and voluntary groups met to form a plan to deal with those affected by trauma. They set up a proactive system of support. Survivors and the bereaved would not have to go find help, it would come to them. Those affected by the bombing in Oslo, most of whom worked for the government, would get help through their workplace. The survivors and bereaved from Utoeya Island, who had come from all over the country, would be looked after within their local municipalities. Local health authorities would be responsible for knocking on doors and making phone calls to them. If help was refused the first time, the idea was they should return later. However, not everyone necessarily wanted or needed help. Research shows that there is a natural healing process which, over time, means most people recover from trauma. Statistics range widely and it is thought that anything from five to 35 per cent of people will experience an adverse psychological reaction in the immediate aftermath of trauma. Without psychological intervention a smaller number will go on to develop serious psychological problems such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Figures released this year in Norway reveal that around half of all Utoeya survivors are experiencing psychological difficulties. Dr Alte Dyregrov, head of the centre for Crisis Psychology in Bergen, says there are many reasons why this is higher than average. The age of the victims and the nature of the attack and where it happened had a profound effect. The young people were somewhere that should have been a very safe place but instead they found themselves being hunted down. "They struggle with the brutality of the assault, the intrusive images," Dr Dyregrov says. "This was an hour of fighting for their life. It was a different kind of experience for civilians, they are not military personnel." Norway learned from previous disasters. After the tsunami in Thailand in 2004 - in which many Norwegians were caught up - they found that bringing people back to the scene of the disaster helped them to deal with trauma and loss. "It is important for people who have lost their loved ones to be able to go back to the place where that person spent their last minutes and their last seconds, to get a feeling of connection," says Dr Guldvog. Only a month after the attacks, survivors and the bereaved were taken back to Utoeya island. With the help of the police they were able to give the exact position where each young person had died and relatives could lay a flower or hold some sort of ceremony on the site. "Everyone has a lot of imagination in these kind of situations and it is important for them to have as real a picture of what happened as possible. It helps them with coping later," says Dr Guldvog. This "proactive approach" depended on the expertise within individual municipalities or councils. With more than 400 municipalities in Norway there has been criticism the service was patchy, some saying it was "inadequate" or "lacking altogether". The outreach programme focused on victims and bereaved family members, it ignored friends of victims. Anecdotal reports say there may have been some suicide cases in this group, linked to the attacks. The Day Norway Cried - report into Norway's response to the Breivik attacks, Jan 2013 "Controlled re-exposure" like this was not new. After a maritime disaster in 1999 in which 69 people survived and 16 died, survivors and the bereaved were taken back to the scene together. "We had some saying, 'This is how I survived,' while there were others there who had lost their loved ones. That was not a good way of doing it, " says Atle Dyregrov. "We learned from that not to do it again." Survivors of Utoeya were taken back to the island but on a different day. Supporting Utoeya victims was made more complex because so many of them were teenagers. The killing spree happened during the summer holidays and four weeks later young survivors had to start a new school year. Schools and universities across Norway had to find a way of supporting them as well as those who had lost friends and classmates. Ronja Breisnes, 18, survived the killing spree on Utoeya by hiding in a toilet for three hours with seven other young people. She texted her mother throughout the ordeal, all the time well aware that her friends had already been killed. "I experienced a lot of flashbacks and nightmares. I still have them sometimes, repeating themselves," she says. Often she woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. When she returned to school, she was regularly late or absent from class. She found it hard to study and struggled with what to tell her classmates. Healing Norway will be broadcast on BBC World Service as part of The Truth About Mental Health Season Listen to the programme here More from this series More on mental health More from BBC World Service Her head teacher Hans Vibe had formulated his own plan to deal with the tragedy - he relaxed rules on attendance and performance, usually very strict in Norway. He also assigned sensitive teachers to teach the classes he knew would be worst affected. He acted on his own initiative but the same advice from the Education Directorate was then rolled out across Norway. Though what happened on the 22 July 2011 will haunt Norway for many years to come, the way it dealt with its collective trauma offers a blueprint for communities dealing with a national tragedy. Of course, it helps that Norway is a small and wealthy country but it was the collective, unified response that made the recovery effort possible. For some like Trond Henry Blattman the act of bringing people together was as much a part of the healing process as the treatment received. "I think if I had asked Torjus then he would have said, 'This is very important work Dad, I think you need to (do it). This is something you can focus on because you can help a lot of people.'" says Mr Blattman. "He's an inspiration for me." Healing Norway will be broadcast on BBC World Service as part of The Truth About Mental Health season.

Question: It 's been nearly two years since Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik murdered 77 people , most of them teenagers . Nearly a quarter of Norwegians knew someone directly affected . But as the country began to grieve together , it also @placeholder on a unique process of healing .


The swan has reportedly attacked river users on a number of occasions. The Conservators of the River Cam, who manage the waterway, confirmed they had met the criteria set by Natural England to legally move the bird and his mate. If approved, the pair will be taken to a site more than 50 miles away and outside the county before the spring nesting season begins. Dr Philippa Noon, of the conservators, said: "We have on-going concerns for the safety of river users, especially those in small vessels such as kayaks and canoes. "A suitable receptor site has now been found and we have located a 'competent person' capable of overseeing the move." Suitable sites need to be more than 50 miles away from the birds' original territory to prevent them finding their way back. Steve Austin, whose house backs onto the River Cam close to the swan's territory, said he and other residents would be sad to see Mr Asbo go. "He's never been any trouble to us and I look after him in my garden when busy rowing races take place," he said. "If I'm perfectly honest, though, it would be for the best. He has five or six cygnets each year and some of them will be killed by the rowers' oars. "It's not really anyone's fault but they are just babies and they can be pretty stupid." The application to move Mr Asbo and his mate must be approved before the pair begin to nest, after which it is illegal to move swans.

Question: An aggressive swan , whose @placeholder earned him the nickname Mr Asbo , could be moved from his Cambridge home .


Police said the attackers - three white men and one Asian man - were racially motivated. The victims were black. Protesters have been gathered since 25-year-old Jamar Clark was shot during a struggle with police on 15 November. People who claimed to witness the incident said that Clark was handcuffed, though police dispute this. Around two dozen tents and canopy shelters have been erected around the 4th Precinct police station. Demonstrators have also barricaded the roads with wood and pallets and lit campfires. According to criminal complaints, the four men went to the camp on 23 November. After a group of protesters attempted to escort them away, eight shots were heard. The city's mayor, Betsy Hodges, said the camp has become unsafe and has asked people to disband their week-long protest. These request have been rejected by protesters, who have vowed to continue camping out despite cold weather and attacks. One of the shooting victims, Wesley Martin, said they refuse to leave. "They can have the street. We can take the sidewalk," said Martin. "To be honest, we're not going nowhere."

Question: Four men have been charged in a shooting at outside a Minneapolis police station that left five protesters @placeholder .


A video emerged of the driver at the controls on the same line on which a crash killed seven people in Croydon, south London, on 9 November. The Sun said it had been recorded in April, about three miles from the derailment scene of the derailment. FirstGroup said the driver had been removed from duty pending an inquiry. He is not the same driver involved in last week's fatal crash. A spokesman for the company said: "We have not seen this video before (we saw the footage for the first time when the Sun sent it last night) and it will now be subject to a full investigation. "If the situation is as it appears, then this is completely unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken." In a 30-second clip the driver appears to struggle to stay awake as the tram moves forward. He is seen apparently struggling to remain upright as passengers are heard expressing shock as the tram approaches the next stop. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was "extremely concerned" by the footage. The BBC has not been able to verify the footage, but Transport for London (TfL) said it was also carrying out urgent inquiries. A TfL spokesman said it had asked operators FirstGroup to take all necessary action and report back as soon as possible. Crystal Palace and Manchester City fans fell silent ahead of their Premier League fixture on Saturday as they paid tribute to the victims of the Croydon tram crash. Both sides and their supporters observed a minute's silence in honour of the six men and one woman killed in the tragedy on November 9. Two of the victims - Dane Chinnery and Philip Seary - were Crystal Palace supporters. In addition to the tram crash victims, the supporters also remembered Harry Davies - a 19-year-old Crystal Palace fans who passed away last month. The derailed tram was carrying about 60 passengers. An interim crash report found it was travelling at 43.5mph in a 12mph zone. It found no evidence of any track defects or obstructions. An investigation also found no malfunction of the braking system. The seven people killed in the crash were Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Logan, 52, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, and Robert Huxley, 63, all from New Addington, and Mark Smith, 35 and Donald Collett, 62, both from Croydon. A further 51 people were taken to hospital, eight of them with injuries described by London Ambulance Service as serious or life-threatening. The driver of the tram, Alfred Dorris, from Beckenham, south-east London, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and released on bail until May.

Question: A tram driver has been @placeholder after footage in The Sun appeared to show him struggling to stay awake , transport company FirstGroup has said .


At the time, not only was homosexuality illegal, but those in the armed forces could be shot for having gay sex. The letters, which emerged after Mr Bradley's death in 2008, are therefore unusual and shed an important light on homosexual relationships during the war. What do we know about this forbidden love affair? Wednesday January 24th 1939 My darling, ... I lie awake all night waiting for the postman in the early morning, and then when he does not bring anything from you I just exist, a mass of nerves... All my love forever, G. Information gleaned from the letters indicate Mr Bradley was a reluctant soldier. He did not want to be in the Army, and even pretended to have epilepsy to avoid it. His ruse did not work, though, and in 1939 he was stationed at Park Hall Camp in Oswestry, Shropshire, to train as an anti-aircraft gunner. He was already in love with Gordon Bowsher. The pair had met on a houseboat holiday in Devon in 1938 when Mr Bowsher was in a relationship with Mr Bradley's nephew. Mr Bowsher was from a well-to-do family. His father ran a shipping company, and the Bowshers also owned tea plantations. When war broke out a year later he trained as an infantryman and was stationed at locations across the country. February 12 1940, Park Grange My own darling boy, There is nothing more than I desire in life but to have you with me constantly... ...I can see or I imagine I can see, what your mother and father's reaction would be... the rest of the world have no conception of what our love is - they do not know that it is love... But life as a homosexual in the 1940s was incredibly difficult. Gay activity was a court-martial offence, jail sentences for so-called "gross indecency" were common, and much of society strongly disapproved of same-sex relationships. It was not until the Sexual Offences Act 1967 that consenting men aged 21 and over were legally allowed to have gay relationships - and being openly gay in the armed services was not allowed until 2000. The letters, which emerged after Mr Bradley's death in 2008, are rare because most homosexual couples would get rid of anything so incriminating, says gay rights activist Peter Roscoe. In one letter Mr Bowsher urges his lover to "do one thing for me in deadly seriousness. I want all my letters destroyed. Please darling do this for me. Til then and forever I worship you." Mr Roscoe says the letters are inspiring in their positivity. "There is a gay history and it isn't always negative and tearful," he says. "So many stories are about arrests - Oscar Wilde, Reading Gaol and all those awful, awful stories. "But despite all the awful circumstances, gay men and lesbians managed to rise above it all and have fascinating and good lives despite everything." February 1st, 1941 K . C. Gloucester Regiment, Priors Road, Cheltenham My darling boy, For years I had it drummed into me that no love could last for life... I want you darling seriously to delve into your own mind, and to look for once in to the future. Imagine the time when the war is over and we are living together... would it not be better to live on from now on the memory of our life together when it was at its most golden pitch. Your own G. But was this a love story with a happy ending? Probably not. At one point, Mr Bradley was sent to Scotland on a mission to defend the Forth Bridge. He met and fell in love with two other men. Rather surprisingly, he wrote and told Mr Bowsher all about his romances north of the border. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Mr Bowsher took it all in his stride, writing that he "understood why they fell in love with you. After all, so did I". Although the couple wrote throughout the war, the letters stopped in 1945. However, both went on to enjoy interesting lives. Mr Bowsher moved to California and became a well-known horse trainer. In a strange twist, he employed Sirhan Sirhan, who would go on to be convicted of assassinating Robert Kennedy. Mr Bradley was briefly entangled with the MP Sir Paul Latham, who was imprisoned in 1941 following a court martial for "improper conduct" with three gunners and a civilian. Sir Paul was exposed after some "indiscreet letters" were discovered. Mr Bradley moved to Brighton and died in 2008. A house clearance company found the letters and sold them to a dealer specialising in military mail. The letters were finally bought by Oswestry Town Museum, when curator Mark Hignett was searching on eBay for items connected with the town. He bought just three at first, and says the content led him to believe a fond girlfriend or fianc?? was the sender. There were queries about bed sheets, living conditions - and their dreams for their future life together. When he spotted there were more for sale, he snapped them up too - and on transcribing the letters for a display in the museum, Mr Hignett and his colleagues discovered the truth. The "girlfriend" was a boyfriend. The revelation piqued Mr Hignett's interest - he describes his experience as being similar to reading a book and finding the last page ripped out: "I just had to keep buying the letters to find out what happened next." Although he's spent "thousands of pounds" on the collection of more than 600 letters, he believes in terms of historical worth the correspondence is "invaluable". "Such letters are extremely rare because they were incriminating - gay men faced years in prison with or without hard labour," he says. "There was even the possibility that gay soldiers could have been shot." Work on a book is already under way at the museum, where the letters will also go on display. Perhaps most poignantly, one of the letters contains the lines: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time. Then all the world could see how in love we are."

Question: While on military training during World War Two , Gilbert Bradley was in love . He exchanged hundreds of letters with his sweetheart - who merely @placeholder with the initial " G " . But more than 70 years later , it was discovered that G stood for Gordon , and Gilbert had been in love with a man .


The claim: Air pollution cuts short 40,000 lives a year in the UK. Reality Check verdict: The 40,000 figure for the UK stems from extensive research over decades in the US. It's a statistical construct not a count of actual deaths. There is no question that air pollution is a serious health problem but it's difficult to assess its precise impact. This means that comparisons between numbers of people killed by air pollution and, for example, tuberculosis or malaria are generally bogus. Air pollution tends to make existing conditions worse, especially cardiovascular disease and lung conditions. The 40,000 early deaths figure is a statistical construct, which originated in a report from the Royal College of Physicians last year. That report combined figures for deaths contributed to by PM2.5 (which is particulates in the air that are smaller than 2.5 micrometres) and those from nitrogen dioxide. The figure it used for PM2.5 was 29,000, which was calculated in 2009 by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution (COMEAP), which provides independent advice to government on the effects of pollution. The nitrogen dioxide (NO2) figure was 23,500 attributable deaths - it came from a 2015 report from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Clearly those numbers do not add up to 40,000, but there is some overlap between them, so the combined estimate of 40,000 was taken. A week of coverage by BBC News examining possible solutions to the problems caused by air pollution. The COMEAP report that came up with the 29,000 figure takes as its starting point the findings of this report that looked at what happened in various parts of the US between 1980 and 2000 and concluded that for every extra 10 micrograms per cubic metre of PM2.5 in the air, there is about a 6% increase in the mortality risk per year. The COMEAP report goes about using this in a different way, but Prof David Spiegelhalter from Cambridge University, works it out with a simpler, back-of-an-envelope calculation, which is that the average level of PM2.5 in the UK is about 9 micrograms per cubic metre, which means that risk should be rising by about 5%. There are 600,000 deaths a year in the UK, and 5% of that is 30,000, which is close to the COMEAP figure of 29,000. But the authors of this report stressed the uncertainty of their findings. In particular, COMEAP said when it used the 6% figure that it was 75% confident the actual figure was between 1% and 12%. That translates as meaning that that the number of early deaths, for which 29,000 was the central estimate, was probably between 5,000 and 60,000, but there was a one in four chance that it was even outside that range. Also, the 29,000 early deaths figure was based on an average shortening of life of 11.5 years. If you're considering how many people actually had their lives shortened at all in a particular year (the report was looking at 2008) then the number of people affected would be much higher. The authors of the report actually prefer to say that air pollution causes 340,000 years of lost life in the UK, but they are concerned that people will not understand that as well, so they translate that figure into damage equivalent to 29,000 deaths, an average of 11.5 years early instead. The NO2 figure is reached in much the same way, except that its central estimate is of a 2.5% increase in mortality for an extra 10 micrograms per metre cubed. The key difficulty is that there is no way of checking whether this is the case and whether 40,000 people died earlier than they would otherwise have done as a result of air pollution in the UK. So instead we have to rely on statistical estimates to help us understand the severity of the problem. Read more from Reality Check

Question: It is not possible to count the number of people who have died early as a result of pollution because nobody has air pollution @placeholder as the cause of death on their death certificates .


Cuthbert, 25, was the subject of social media criticism following Wales' 23-19 quarter final defeat by South Africa. Rush played in the same Blues team as Cuthbert and thinks he can rediscover better form and retain his Wales place. "He needs to put the World Cup behind him, get back to the Blues and pick it up," said the ex-All Blacks forward. 'It's about his attitude now, he needs to... prove the public wrong and to win his place back for the Six Nations. "There's going to be a lot of pressure on him so he needs to get it right back at club level." Cuthbert scored 15 tries in his first 29 appearances for Wales, including two against England in the match that clinched the 2013 Six Nations title. That form earned him a British and Irish Lions tour in 2013, where he scored a try in the first Test win over Australia. Media playback is not supported on this device However, he has scored just once in his last 12 Wales Tests, was dropped during the 2015 Six Nations, and did not impress during the World Cup. Rush, who was at the Blues from 2005 until 2012, believes Cuthbert has to get back to "doing what he enjoys" on his return to domestic rugby. 'With the ball in hand he can do a lot of damage, he needs to go looking for those opportunities and start enjoying his rugby again," added Rush. Blues head coach Danny Wilson believes Cuthbert has been unfairly singled out following Wales' defeat by the Springboks. "We've all seen over the long haul what a quality 'finishing' winger he is - he scores tries," he said. "If I'm honest he's come in for a little bit of unfair criticism for a player we all know is quality. "I think he did some really good things and some things I know he won't be as happy with himself about, knowing the standard he holds himself to. "But I'm sure when he's back on the field with the Blues he'll produce the quality rugby we all know he's capable of." Wilson has opted to give his Wales World Cup contingent a rest for Blues' Pro12 trip to Ulster on Friday while Gareth Anscombe is out after undergoing ankle surgery.

Question: Cardiff Blues wing Alex Cuthbert needs to prove his critics wrong by playing well for his @placeholder after the World Cup , says former captain Xavier Rush .


England will take the Triple Crown if they win at Twickenham, but, after four successive second-place finishes in the Six Nations, Hartley wants more. "The older guys are worried about walking away without winning anything big," said the 29-year-old hooker. "We're running out of time. I want to leave with something substantial." While Hartley, who will win his 70th cap at the weekend, was part of the team that won the Six Nations in 2011, that came after a chastening and heavy defeat in Dublin. England have won just one Grand Slam in two decades, while Wales have won three in the past 10 years alone. However, England go into the match top of the table with a 100% win record, one point ahead of Warren Gatland's men with two matches remaining. "It's talking to the young guys about not just drifting through this opportunity we've got now," Hartley added. "The time is now for them to win something. Don't wait five or six years, because you might not ever get the chance. "We've been runners-up for the last four years, so we were lacking something minuscule. It may be that mental edge. "At the time, 2011 was weird, an anti-climax. We'd been thrashed by Ireland and then we got given the trophy. "When you've been in and out of an England shirt like me, when you look back at things, what are you going to say you've achieved? "At the time when we won that, I didn't feel I enjoyed it. Was I too young? Was I too immature? Or was it because of the loss? So I want to make sure we win something and I enjoy it." Listen: Hartley excited to have Tuilagi back in England team The Northampton Saints hooker has played under four different England coaches and believes the current regime is pushing the squad harder than ever before. "You go from game to game and we play rugby every week, so it's hard not to plod along," he said. "What we've got to realise is that it's two months of sacrifice and hard work, and the rewards can be huge. "It's not squad meetings when we talk about this, it's catching up with someone in the swimming pool or at lunch, and saying: 'Are you doing everything you can to be ready for the weekend? Because we've got a hell of an opportunity here.'" The England captain singled out Saracens second row Maro Itoje as someone who "epitomises" what he and Jones demand from the squad after the 21-year-old made his first start in the victory over Ireland on 27 February. "I've watched the way Maro Itoje trains," said Hartley. "The energy and intensity he brings to a session is exactly what I want from my younger players. So when we talk about drifting, he's definitely not." Media playback is not supported on this device

Question: England must @placeholder the chance to win the first silverware of the Eddie Jones regime when they meet Wales on Saturday , says captain Dylan Hartley .


The midfielder was making his way home in the early hours of Sunday morning when the assault happened, just yards from Belfast City Hall. He is being treated for his injuries at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. Ards Manager Niall Currie visited him on Monday. He said the player was conscious but "not in great shape". "He was obviously quite sedated with the painkillers, so he was drowsy but his spirits were good." Mr Currie said the club was "sickened" by the incident. "We're all just so shocked," he said. "It's just sickening that this could happen to such a lovely, decent fella. "He's the last person who would attract any kind of confrontation - a gentleman who wouldn't say boo to a goose." "He's got a lovely family, he's in a lovely relationship with his girlfriend who he's engaged to. "But fingers crossed he'll make a full recovery and we can bring him into the Ards family again and hopefully he'll be celebrating at the end of the season. "All of us at the club are thinking about him and praying for him. But he's a strong boy, he'll pull through."

Question: Ards footballer Gary Warwick has suffered a fractured skull and bruising to the @placeholder after being attacked on a night out in Belfast city centre .


News that the company, which provides short-term loans, has itself fallen into the red was met with glee by some, while others point out it remains a huge player in a strictly regulated market. With the company reporting a loss of ¡ê37.3m for 2014 and predicting more losses in 2015, many on social media were quick to jokingly offer the company a loan at an interest rate of 5,000%. So what happened to the company that made a pre-tax profit of ¡ê84.5m in 2012, and what does this say about the wider health of the payday lending industry? Wonga's new management team has been highly critical of the "problems of the past". Chairman Andy Haste, who arrived last summer, says that the company needs to repair its reputation and only lend to those who can afford to repay loans. Scandals, including letters from fake legal firms when chasing debts, and advancing a host of unsuitable loans, have caused such damage to the brand that a name change is not off the cards. But key data that explain the big shift into the red include a 36% fall in lending volumes and a fall in customer numbers from a million in 2013 to 575,000 last year. This restriction in lending came as the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), squeezed the life out of some lenders in a bid to stop vulnerable borrowers being pulled into spiralling debt. The regulator's main weapon is a cap on the cost of payday loans of 0.8% of the amount borrowed per day, which came into force in January. In addition, there is a ¡ê15 cap on default charges. No borrower has to pay back more than twice the amount they initially borrowed, lenders can no longer roll over a loan more than twice, nor can they attempt to reclaim payment from a borrower's account more than twice. It is not only Wonga that has been affected, according to trade body the Consumer Financial Association (CFA). It claims that stricter regulation has changed the face of the High Street. Its analysis suggests there has been a 58% fall in the number of stores offering short-term loans since 2013. Even more striking is its estimate that the volume of payday loan approvals has shrunk by 75% from its 2013 peak. The attention of the regulator has resulted in some big names slashing their workforce or exiting the market altogether. The Cheque Centre, which had 451 branches, announced that it would stop selling loans that needed to be paid back in one lump sum. Meanwhile, The Money Shop, a payday lender owned by US firm Dollar Financial, axed a host of stores. The FCA says that there have been about 400 short-term lenders with permission to operate in the UK, but nobody is in any doubt that the total will plummet. Now all payday lenders need to pass strict FCA assessments in order to get permission to carry on. The deadline for applications for those licences was the end of February. The FCA has yet to say how many applications were made and processing those applications will take many months. So the scale of any exodus is not yet clear. Richard Griffiths, of the CFA, says many of the smallest payday lenders will not have bothered putting in an application and so will stop lending. He estimates that only around 30 lenders are actively making loans subject to the new cap on the cost. Still, that is many more than the three or four that the regulator itself believed would eventually get through the tough assessment process. Wonga has put in a "good application", according to its chairman, who pointed to the strengthening of its lending criteria and introduction of the new price cap. Asked if it is still possible to run a profitable payday loan business under the new industry regime, he says it is, but his company is suffering from "legacy issues". "Could you start a payday business today within the cap and be profitable? Yes," he says. But he predicts that Wonga will no longer rely solely on "one product and one price", although he did not spell out what the new products might be. Mr Griffiths argues that many lenders have already moved away from the one month, short-term, high-interest loan to tide borrowers over until the next payday. Instead, many now offer mini personal loans for six months or so. Some payday lenders may have given the industry a "tarnished image" in the words of its own trade body, but there is no doubt that payday loans have been popular. In its results, Wonga makes an unusual estimate - claiming that its research suggests around 13 million people across the UK are "cash and credit constrained" and are under-served by mainstream financial services. These are people who may have defaulted on loans, overdrafts and credit cards in the past and so struggle to secure more credit from banks or building societies. So, if the payday lending industry starts turning them away or providers disappear entirely, where can these borrowers go? A recovering economy and rising wages might reduce demand and increase the supply of loans from traditional lenders. If not the regulator says many people will find a way to tighten their belts, or turn to family and friends for help. Some, it is feared, might turn to illegal loan sharks. Consumer groups and charities argue that loans are the cause, not the cure, of financial stress. "More loans are not always the answer," says Mike O'Connor, chief executive of the StepChange debt charity. "We must do more to help people on low incomes to save for a rainy day so that they are less likely to need to borrow in emergencies."

Question: The rags to @placeholder to rags story of payday lender Wonga has made it a household name but left it with a sullied image .


The 20 cattle escaped from their nearby paddock and decided to feast on front lawns and flowers in Peacehaven. Residents are used to straying sheep but say the rogue cattle have become a nuisance. Blaenau Gwent council says it is monitoring the situation. Resident Sonya Gould, 70, said: "We are used to having pints of milk delivered to our doorstep but not the whole cow. "They were everywhere. We are all treading cow muck into our carpets because it's all over our garden paths. "We held a fund-raising event to plant flowers around the communal gardens but the cows have eaten them all." The cows also caused consternation by leaving cowpats on garden paths and trampling over lawns in the incident at the end of last week. Ann Ingram, who was woken up by the cows mooing, said:  "It used to be sheep, and that's bad enough, but cows are a whole different kettle of fish. "It's frightening for many of the older people here to have cows walking down the street, peering in their windows, it's ridiculous. "They're obviously big animals, and an elderly person can't just shoo them off - there's no telling what an animal might do." People living in Peacehaven have brought in the council in a bid to get the herd to move back to their paddock. A spokesperson for Blaenau Gwent Council said: "We've done our utmost to tackle this problem, and have responded to all call-outs. "We continue to monitor the situation at least once a week and any roaming animals will be impounded." The council added that they may take legal action against the farmer if he is unable to keep his cows under control.

Question: A quiet street in Tredegar , Blaenau Gwent , was @placeholder by a herd of cows which trampled on gardens and peered into windows , say residents .


Small, isolated communities of a few hundred monks, seemingly unperturbed with their white and gold stupas and prayer flags set against the almost impossible blue sky. But anyone who stops to ask a few questions (although they are the kind of questions the busloads of Chinese tourists will never ask) notices something else too. Fear. We are winding our way up the long road from the central city of Chengdu to the Aba Tibetan region in north-west Sichuan Province. Seen as part of "greater Tibet" by exile groups, it is an area that lies just outside the borders of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and so, in theory at least, foreign journalists do not need special permission to be here. But many a reporter has been turned away in the past and we are moving quickly, trying not to linger too long in any place. With the gantries bristling with video cameras it is clear that a careful watch is being kept on these monasteries. So the introductions need to be brief and the questions direct. But we find that many monks, despite the risks, are keen to talk - although not on camera. "What do you think of the Dalai Lama?" I ask one elderly monk. His response is typical; a hesitation, a glance round, and then, in hushed tones: "He is always close to our hearts." "Is it dangerous to talk about him?" "It is, it is," he replies. "I'd be taken away like this," and he gestures by crossing his hands to show me where the handcuffs would go. He speaks of his resentment over the restrictions on his religious freedom, about how - despite reports that China has been relaxing the penalties for carrying or displaying portraits of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader - they have to worship him in secret. And then he bends down and briefly kisses my translator's hand. "I've been here for 20 years and I've never spoken to a foreigner," he says. "These things have been burning inside of me, just to say it is enough." These are sentiments we hear repeated time and again. A Chinese state visit to Britain might not seem like an obvious premise for a reporting trip to this country's remote Tibetan regions. With President Xi Jinping 8,000km (4,970 miles) away and talking of common ground and closer economic ties, his officials would likely see our attempt to gather testimony here as the usual foreign media mischief-making. But while the tight control of coverage of Tibet domestically is nothing new, we wanted to ask Tibetans what they thought of Beijing's recent efforts to keep it off the diplomatic agenda too, the shadow of which looms large over the pomp and ceremony in London. The deep displeasure over the British Prime Minister David Cameron's May 2012 meeting with the Dalai Lama, a man China considers a dangerous separatist, was made abundantly clear. UK-China relations were only put back on track after a great deal of fence-mending, bridge-building, and a statement from the PM's office that he had no plans to meet the Dalai Lama again. He has so far kept his word on that promise, and many critics see a dangerous precedent in Britain's readiness to allow the Chinese Communist Party to demand a foreign policy price in exchange for economic grace and favour. We eventually pass unnoticed through the checkpoints on the edge of Aba County, some 10 hours drive from Chengdu, and reach our ultimate destination, Kirti Monastery. One of the most important centres in Tibetan Buddhism, Kirti has also been at the centre of one of the biggest challenges to Chinese authority in decades. The Tibet-wide rioting of 2008 began here, and many of the more than 140 gruesome self-immolations have taken place in or around Aba. The recent one-man protests, with monks carrying portraits of the Dalai Lama through the centre of Aba along what they now call "Heroes Street", have been met with a heavy response. The punishment for such defiance can be up to four years in prison. During our visit, the whole town of Aba was undergoing one of its periodic internet blackouts - completely cut off since early last month - and the monks told us that people had been taken away for simply forwarding prayers and messages from the Dalai Lama. China has long been trying in vain to force people here to turn their backs on their spiritual leader. So what do they think of the attempts to force foreign governments to do the same? Remarkably, in a quiet corner, outside the monastery walls and at great risk to themselves, some of the monks agree to talk to us on camera, providing we disguise their identities. "The Dalai Lama is the biggest living Buddha for all Tibetans, and he is the only master in our heart," one of them tells me. "He is like the sun to us," another adds. "All the Tibetan people think the same." "When China tells foreign governments not to meet him, should they listen?" I ask. "They should meet him," the monks insist. And then that fear again, palpable and real. "If the government knows [we're talking to you] they'll arrest us. It happened before." "Some of us tried to contact reporters overseas online and talk about the Chinese government's control over Tibet. As soon as the government finds out, they'll make the arrest." After just a few short minutes, they melt away. There's so much more I'd like to ask them but, fleeting as it is, it is at least real testimony, real voices from one of the most closed and controlled places on the planet. And it is proof that 50 years in exile have done nothing to diminish the Dalai Lama's popularity and authority here. It is that popularity perhaps that lies at the heart of China's continual preoccupation with a man who has spent over five decades in exile, and why it tries so hard to limit his influence on the global stage. The more foreign governments comply, critics say, the more the human rights abuses here slip from international view - and the more isolated Tibet's fearful monks become.

Question: The first thing that strikes you about the monasteries @placeholder to the side of the mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau is their beauty .


But there has been an eerie silence in Pakistani quarters in the 24 hours since the Afghan government announced that Mullah Omar died in a Pakistani hospital in April 2013. This was despite reports that the top leadership council of the Taliban had been meeting in the Pakistani city of Quetta to choose the successor. Pakistan's state television has ignored the news for the most part since it first broke. The private media mostly followed the BBC line, and held debates in which the usual ex-military analysts, while refraining from confirming or denying the death, focused on the timing of the leak, saying it was meant to defame Pakistan and undermine Taliban-Kabul talks, which Pakistan had been set to host. Some even suggested the Indians might have forced the hand of the Afghan officials who leaked it to the BBC. A day after Kabul's announcement, a Pakistani foreign office spokesman said he wouldn't like to comment on "rumours" of Mullah Omar's death. Few are impressed at Pakistan's stance. Osama Bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan even though for years Pakistan denied he was present on its soil. Now Afghan intelligence officials have gone ahead with the claim that Mullah Omar died in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi. While there may never be official Pakistani confirmation of this, few doubt claims that he lived most of his post-9/11 life in southern Pakistan. The reason lies in the origin of the Taliban movement, and its symbiotic relationship with Pakistan. The movement was originally confined to some parts of Kandahar province, and was mainly a localised reaction to extortion and moral crimes by local warlords. But it gained strength in the later part of 1994 when Pakistanis dressed as madrassah students descended on the border town of Spin Boldak, busted a huge arms cache of a former mujahideen group, and then rolled up the Kandahar highway to free a Pakistani trade convoy to central Asia which had been held hostage by local warlords. Subsequent years saw former mujahideen fighters joining the Taliban movement in their hundreds in a blitzkrieg in which the southern cities fell to the Taliban one after the other. Security analysts in Pakistan and the US have long held that Pakistan provided the Taliban with logistics and tactical leadership to capture such important regional centres as Herat in the west, Jalalabad in the east and finally Kabul in 1996. Post-9/11, when the US-led coalition dislodged the Taliban regime, Pakistan allowed the fleeing militants to carve a sanctuary on its soil in the border town of Wana in South Waziristan tribal district. This sanctuary later expanded to an entire north-western belt along the Afghan border, called the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). This played a major role in the Taliban's ability to survive, and finally take the battle to the US-led coalition troops inside Afghanistan. All this while, and despite Pakistan's denials, it was common knowledge the entire Taliban leadership set up bases in Quetta and Peshawar, and later in Karachi, from where they guided operations inside Afghanistan. After the end of Nato's mission in Afghanistan last year, Pakistan moved to clear these sanctuaries of unwanted groups that the Taliban-al-Qaeda militant network had spawned over a decade. In recent months, it has also reverted to securing peace in Afghanistan, without which it cannot successfully implement a major economic corridor the Chinese are building across the length of the country to connect China with the Arabian Sea. But Pakistan's need to keep Indian influence out of Afghanistan continues to cause suspicions among some sections of Afghan ruling circles, who believe Pakistan will manipulate peace talks to achieve its own objectives at the cost of Afghan interests. Many believe the Pakistanis would have kept Mullah Omar's death a secret in order to prevent rifts within Taliban. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials believe that the Afghan intelligence service, the NDS, has been leaking news of the Taliban's engagement with Kabul to embarrass the Taliban leadership and to encourage defections from their ranks. They feel by confirming the news of Mullah Omar's death on Wednesday, the NDS pushed President Ashraf Ghani, who was opposed to making the news public, into a corner. Whether this move by the NDS will achieve peace in Afghanistan is a question only time will answer, but many believe that the Taliban movement will no longer be the monolithic force it remained until about three years ago. And the NDS will also now be able to sell their long-held view to domestic and international audiences that the Taliban leadership is but a lackey of Pakistan.

Question: The Taliban have confirmed that their leader Mullah Omar is dead , and are thought to have appointed Mullah Akhtar Mansour as the movement 's official @placeholder .


Heidi Agan, 32, now has a "bump made in various sizes", she said. The single mother-of-two from Corby, Northamptonshire quit her job at a Kettering restaurant last May after customers repeatedly said she looked like Kate Middleton. She now travels across the UK and around the world to make appearances as a royal doppelganger. "To have done 12 years of something you know and then to leap into an industry that gives with one hand and takes with another is difficult, but I'm just really happy and feel blessed that I did," she said. Since the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge announced their forthcoming baby, lookalike Ms Agan has now prepared to appear with child. "As Kate grows I will too - to be authentic I thought it was important," she said. "It's difficult at the moment as she's not big enough yet to change her entire wardrobe so it's difficult to see how she's' going to dress it." Since taking the showbiz plunge Ms Agan has made regular television, radio, corporate and newspaper appearances as the duchess. "I did the Alan Titchmarsh Show and everywhere you turned there was another celebrity, " she said. "You just have to pinch yourself as I can't believe it's happened. "It was the same in New York. I went to Times Square with Good Morning America and was ferried around with security. "It's just something I never thought would happen to me, but has turned out to be the most wonderful thing ever." Ms Agan follows social media news about Kate Middleton to ensure her own wardrobe matches the duchess', and practices "her look" daily. "The most expensive shoes I've bought as Kate were about ¡ê200, the dress was about ¡ê300 - which I don't think is that bad considering her original evening wedding dress by Alexander McQueen would have cost ten of thousands of pounds. "I have to get the clothes, the mannerisms, the way she stands and interacts with William right. Things like that are all very important if I want to be the best." Ms Agan said her children, aged 11 and four, are "proud" of what she's doing. "It's just been incredible and I feel so blessed with it and without the support of my family I just couldn't do it," she said. "Appearing as Kate has given me the opportunity to spend more time with my own children than if I was doing my waitressing job and that's priceless." But she refused to be drawn on who she found most attractive between the royal brothers. "I don't think either William or Harry are my type, they are too tall... is that diplomatic enough?," she said. People in Corby were treated to a "royal appearance" on Saturday when Ms Agan appeared for an event in the town's Corporation Street.

Question: A former waitress who swapped her ¡ê 6 - per - hour job to become a ¡ê 650 - per-appearance Duchess of Cambridge lookalike has " become pregnant " to maintain @placeholder .


President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said they hoped for a peace deal in 2016. The latest round of negotiations aiming at reunification have been going on for more than seven months. The Turkish-controlled north broke away in 1974 after a Greek-inspired coup. 'Optimism' at peace talks Rocky road to reunification Mr Anastasiades said his wish was for Greek and Turkish Cypriots to be able to live peacefully together in a reunified Cyprus, while Mr Akinci said he hoped 2016 would bring lasting peace for all. "I wish the new year will bring lasting peace, serenity and prosperity to all Cypriots," Mr Akinci is quoted as saying by the Cyprus Mail. The newspaper said the leaders will meet three times in January. In 2004, Greek Cypriots rejected a UN plan to reunify the island. They were unhappy at limits on their right to return to property in the Turkish north. Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of the plan. The self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is diplomatically isolated, recognised only by Turkey. UN peacekeeping forces estimate that 165,000 Greek Cypriots fled or were expelled from the north, and 45,000 Turkish Cypriots from the south, although the parties to the conflict say the figures are higher.

Question: Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the @placeholder island of Cyprus have for the first time given a joint TV address to wish residents a happy holiday .


Then a choir of podgy teenage girls troops out, all dressed in sky-blue party frocks, like something out of the 1950s. The mostly elderly spectators, sitting in their raincoats on wooden chairs, listen attentively. It is a fitting mid-afternoon concert to find in Oryol, a Russian provincial town which prides itself on its cultural heritage, and its links to an extraordinary number of Russian authors. Ivan Turgenev, the 19th-Century Russian novelist of elegant love stories, came from here. So did Ivan Bunin, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. So did the ingenious storyteller Nikolai Leskov, the poets Tyutchev and Fet, the short story writer Leonid Andreeva€| It is as if one small English town had produced Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters, T S Eliot and Philip Larkin and many more. "How did this one place give rise to so much literary talent?" I asked the mayor, Sergei Stupin, who was taking me on a personal tour in his car, to show me all the writers' statues. "Who knows?" he answered obliquely. "Something in the air, perhaps." The director of the Turgenev Museum, an enthusiastic bibliophile called Vera Yefremova, was clearer. "We are in the very middle of Russia," she said. "And in tsarist times Oryol was at the heart of a huge guberniya, or province, which covered a large area and included many estates. "We like to call this the third literary capital of Russia, after Moscow and St Petersburg. Last year we had 65,000 visitors. But it could be so much more," she added wistfully. Like everywhere else in provincial Russia, Oryol is looking to Moscow to furnish more federal funding for upcoming anniversaries. "To rebrand ourselves," says the mayor, a former marketing man. But there's a long way to go before Oryol becomes a mecca for tourism. It feels trapped in time. When I arrived by train from Moscow I was struck by how reminiscent it was of the Soviet towns I had known as a student. The town centre had some charming streets and nice views over a high bank where its two rivers meet. But overall it looked as though it had been largely bypassed by the Russian boom years - roads filled with potholes, abandoned factory sites. And in some older parts of town residents did not even have indoor toilets or running water. They were collecting water in plastic buckets from a standing tap in the street. In political terms Oryol is also a throwback. Curiously, the town council is half-controlled by Communists. And far from focusing on the upcoming 200-year anniversary of Turgenev, their current obsession is to put up a statue to Joseph Stalin - to commemorate his role as wartime leader. It's a talking point which has split Oryol. One young journalist launched an online protest petition, which has already gathered thousands of signatures. But most people I spoke to told me a Stalin statue was a good idea: yes there had been repressions during Stalin's years, but what he had done during the war should never be forgotten. "And anyway Russia always needs a harsh leader," said one of the leading campaigners. "A firm hand at the top, like Stalin or Putin." Meanwhile the mayor, though he is allied to the Communists politically, says he's against it. "A statue to Stalin would be too divisive in these difficult times," he told me. Possibly toeing the official line from Moscow, was what I thought. So is this the old story of the Russian provinces - caught in a time-warp through lack of investment and opportunity? Possibly Oryol's problem is at heart economic - the loss of factory jobs, with nothing to fill the gap. Hence the protest vote for the Communists, whose rule has not helped, given their lack of interest in helping private enterprise to create local wealth. So everyone is beholden to the authorities. Everyone watches their back. Below the radar, however, there were some whispered criticisms of President Putin. But only in private. One man even followed me down the street afterwards, scared in case I didn't understand that I shouldn't use his name. And now Russia is in economic difficulties, and for these provincial towns life has just got much worse. My guess is that people here will keep their heads down - unless the crisis becomes so deep that they have nothing to lose by speaking out.

Question: On a small stage in a community hall , still grandly called a Palace of Culture , a powerfully @placeholder lady belts out an old Russian gypsy ballad .


Northampton Town chairman Kelvin Thomas said phase one of the redevelopment would be completed by early April. The East Stand at Sixfields will include 1,924 seats when completed. Police are investigating alleged financial irregularities associated with the development. It relates to a period of time before Mr Thomas took over the running of the club. In 2013, Northampton Borough Council lent the club ?¡ê10.25m for the work, none of which was completed. Former club chairman David Cardoza was arrested in January as part of the investigation, which police say is ongoing. Mr Thomas, who took over the club at the end of last year, said the Cobblers had worked closely with builders Buckingham Group. "It is important to us all that the club has a four-sided stadium again and this is the beginning of that work," he said. He hopes work on the East Stand will be completed in time for the final home games of the season, so the club can benefit from "possible increased income". Planning permission for the redevelopment of the stadium was granted in November 2013. It will increase the capacity of the ground to just under 8,000. A conference centre and hotel might also be built as part of the redevelopment. Work began in May 2014, but has been halted on a number of occasions, most recently in May 2015.

Question: Builders will resume work on a football stadium nine months after they @placeholder tools in a dispute over payment .


The leftist Syriza government's surprise decision to call that vote scuppered its bailout talks with eurozone ministers. The Greeks have very little time to prepare for a referendum whose outcome could decide their future in the euro. What is the point of the referendum? The government says the EU-IMF bailout terms are unacceptable, but cannot simply be rejected without the Greek people having their say. The issue is so important for Greece's future that "we decided to turn to the citizens, to explain our negative attitude to it [the bailout], but to give them the choice", Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in a letter to eurozone leaders leaked by the Financial Times, said holding a referendum "is a sovereign democratic right of the Greek people, necessary to ensure ownership over the financial assistance programme that will be eventually agreed with the institutions". He told the Greek people that the lenders had resorted to "blackmail" in order to impose more austerity. After five years of recession and welfare cuts many ordinary Greeks feel bitter that they have suffered while Europe's business elite recovered quickly from the financial crisis. More than democracy is at stake - a vote to reject the bailout could trigger a "Grexit", a Greek exit from the euro. A No vote would formally cut the euro pipeline from lenders, and the Greek government could be forced to issue IOUs or a "new drachma" currency to prevent a banking collapse. However, the EU has no mechanism for a country to leave the euro - it has never happened before. What will the question be? The language is quite technical, and many Greeks may struggle to understand it: "Should the proposed agreement be accepted, which was submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund in the Eurogroup of 25.06.2015 and consists of two parts, which constitute their unified proposal? "The first document is entitled 'Reforms for the Completion of the Current Program and Beyond' and the second 'Preliminary Debt Sustainability Analysis'." Beside the question are two boxes: "Not approved/No; Approved/Yes". Uncertainty still surrounds the referendum. Mr Tsipras's political opponents say he has not told the Greek public exactly what the lenders were proposing, and what in particular he rejected. It is not impossible that Greece's tortuous negotiations with lenders could resume in the coming days. And the current bailout expires on Tuesday - the day that Greece is supposed to pay back €1.6bn (¡ê1.1bn; $1.8bn) to the International Monetary Fund. Greece is teetering on the brink of default, and if that happens events could unfold dramatically before 5 July. Who wants a No vote in the referendum? Syriza, the nationalist Independent Greeks, and far-right Golden Dawn say "No" to the bailout terms. Opposition parties object to holding a referendum, and their supporters are likely to vote "Yes" or abstain. The main opposition parties are New Democracy (centre-right), To Potami (centrist) and Pasok (centre-left). What was the lenders' reaction? Anger. Eurozone finance ministers had been preparing for last-ditch talks on 27 June to hammer out a deal on reforms. Agreement would mean releasing the final €7.2bn bailout instalment that Greece desperately needs. But Mr Tsipras pulled his delegates out of talks the night before and announced the referendum. In an unusual move, the European Commission later published the detailed reforms that it wanted to negotiate with Greece. But the Commission complained that "neither this latest version of the document, nor an outline of a comprehensive deal could be formally finalised and presented to the Eurogroup due to the unilateral decision of the Greek authorities to abandon the process". Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he felt betrayed by Mr Tsipras's move. "Playing off one democracy against 18 others is not an attitude which is fitting for the great Greek nation," he said. IMF chief Christine Lagarde said any referendum would relate to "proposals and arrangements which are no longer valid". Lenders' proposals - key sticking points Source: European Commission document, 26 Jun 15 (pdf) Why couldn't Greece get a bailout extension? There remains a big gap between what the lenders want and the Greek government's agenda. Syriza - a grassroots coalition of leftists - won elections in January promising to end austerity. The price for Greece's massive €240bn bailout, which started in 2010, was austerity. The budget cuts demanded by the lenders have thrown many Greeks into hardship and a quarter of the workforce is unemployed. Syriza has urged the lenders to release the last €7.2bn of bailout money. But the lenders say Greece must agree to widen the scope of its sales tax (VAT) - to boost revenue - and drastically reduce the numbers entitled to early retirement. The pension system is unsustainable, they argue. Those are the main sticking points, but the lenders also want much more action against corruption and tax evasion. The lenders are not convinced by Syriza's tax income projections. They also suspect that Syriza is unwilling to reform deeply-entrenched working practices.

Question: Greece 's cash - strapped banks are to remain shut for a week , until after a key 5 July referendum on the country 's bailout @placeholder .


Chappell, 49, of Blandford Forum, Dorset, was caught driving 63.9mph (102.8km/h) in a 40mph (64km/h) speed limit in Andover, Hampshire, on 6 April. He was driving a Range Rover on Churchill Way at the time, Aldershot Magistrates' Court heard. Chappell pleaded guilty to the offence through an online court system. He already has 10 points on his licence for three other speeding offences in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the court was told. Magistrate Kathryn Sharp said: "Looking at the speed and driving records we would be looking at five points and the possibility of a totting disqualification." The case was adjourned and Chappell, who was not at the hearing, is set to appear in court on 8 August. Chappell bought BHS off Sir Philip Green in 2015 through his company Retail Acquisitions. Last month he denied the ¡ê2.6m package he took, including a ¡ê600,000 salary, contributed to the demise of the brand.

Question: Former BHS boss Dominic Chappell , who bought the retail @placeholder for ¡ê 1 , has pleaded guilty to a speeding offence .


People in the Democratic Republic of Congo expect very little from the state, government or civil servants. In fact, ordinary Congolese often repeat expressions like "the state is dying but not yet dead" or "the state is ever present but completely useless". It seems they also expect little from the upcoming elections and there can be little argument that DR Congo is indeed a failed state. Ordinary citizens are poor, hungry and under-informed. The government is unable to provide decent education or health services. The country - two-thirds of the size of western Europe - is a battleground. The citizens of DR Congo pray to be delivered from the brutal militias that still control parts of the eastern provinces, where rape has become so commonplace that one senior UN official called the country "the rape capital of the world". I asked a university colleague if he thought things could get worse. Andrew Harding: Eastern DR Congo is my favourite place in Africa "When you are rock bottom, you can still dig deeper," was his response. Public administration is in shambles. Civil servants have mutated into predators. Ferdinand Munguna is a retired railway worker in Lubumbashi, the mineral capital of DR Congo in the south of the country. He has to bribe the man working in the pension office who requires "motivation" before processing the old man's file. Mr Munguna complains that his pension is "hardly enough to buy soap". Starting a business in DR Congo takes 65 days compared to the sub-Saharan African average of 40 days. In neighbouring Rwanda it takes three days. And guess which country has one of the worst air safety records worldwide? The prestigious Foreign Policy magazine's Failed States Index puts DR Congo in the critically failed category. Only Somalia, Chad and Sudan (when it included South Sudan) have worse rankings. The recently released UNDP report on human development indicators put the former Belgian colony at the bottom of the 187 countries it surveyed. On the political front, President Joseph Kabila has shown much more interest in regime consolidation than implementing his five-point development agenda - which most Congolese consider more as a political slogan than a development initiative. When criticised, Mr Kabila's henchmen resort to the ultimate force of dissuasion. Take Zoe Kabila, the president's brother, who reportedly ordered his Republican Guard escort to beat up two traffic officers because they did not give his 4X4 priority. Usually immune to the brutality of the security forces, even people in Kinshasa were shocked by this alleged incident at a busy downtown intersection. Numerous cases of journalist beatings and killings have also been reported. Floribert Chebeya, a highly respected human rights activist was murdered, allegedly by members of the president's inner circle. Poor leadership is a major problem for DR Congo. In the absence of a functioning state or similar, even the best-intended projects can have perverse side effects if they are carried out without comprehensive feasibility studies or efforts to understand local culture and practices. An international medical NGO provided mosquito nets to a poor village in the Upemba region of Katanga. Many lakeside villages in the mineral-rich province suffer from a high rate of malaria-induced child mortality. Sleeping inside these nets is the best way to avoid mosquito bites and malaria. But this laudable action created a human and ecological catastrophe. As the mosquito nets were free and abundant, fisherman used them as fishing nets. Given their extremely fine mesh, not only were fish removed from the lake but all other forms of micro-fauna and micro-flora too. The lake gradually became covered with a black scum. Villagers lost their sources of livelihood and food supply. It took a Belgian priest two years to get the villagers, who believed they had been cursed, to realise what had happened and before the lake was able to regenerate. There are few figures on the political landscape with vision, leaders able to bring an end to corrupt government, reduce poverty, solve the country's security problems or improve the well-being of ordinary people. DR Congo bashing has become a mantra amongst academics, humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and policy makers. But I think that this is unfair. While it is important to maintain pressure on Kinshasa's unabashedly corrupt political establishment, we also have to consider the country's troubled past. Few societies have accumulated so many woes. Those old enough to remember say the whip and chain is what they associate most with Belgian colonialism. Others however are nostalgic and wish for the Belgians to return to solve the country's problems. Cold War policies facilitated the maintenance of the brutal dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko. He ruled what was then named Zaire for 32 years, supported by the West because of Cold War strategic interests. Two wars - the liberation war that toppled Mobutu and "Africa's first world war", from 1997-2002 - are overwhelming obstacles to development, state-building and well-being. DR Congo is also victim to what is commonly referred to as "the resource curse". The central government cannot control borders with its nine neighbours. Much of DR Congo's coltan, a mineral used in computers and mobiles, is illegally exported through Rwanda. Precious tropical hardwoods are siphoned off through Uganda. DR Congo's financial and technical partners - the so called "international community" - are also to blame. They have no master plan for reform. They do not share a common vision and often implement contradictory programmes. Belgium supported the idea of decentralisation arguing that it could bring government accountability down to the grassroots level. The World Bank blocked the process. Bank experts have some control of the treasury in Kinshasa but they have absolutely no idea of how resources in the provinces are managed. Data collection is a surreal concept in DR Congo - many offices do not have electricity, let alone computers. Absence of national sovereignty is another hallmark of a failed state. DR Congo is a country under international trusteeship. Important decisions are taken by World Bank technocrats, UN officials and increasingly by international NGOs. When the electoral campaign officially opened last month, candidates travelled to Europe and the US to garner support. The UN mission, Monusco, is playing a key logistical role in the elections by transporting ballot boxes across the vast nation. People would not be able to vote without this kind of support. Whatever accountability there is in DR Congo is directed towards international backers, not the Congolese people. Congolese authorities have abdicated from the development agenda. Road rehabilitation and bridge building have been delegated to the World Bank and Belgian Technical Cooperation. Monusco is supposed to look after the security sector. The World Health Organization and medical NGOs try to deal with the public health challenges. The UK is involved in reinforcing governance programmes, while churches provide primary education. The state is an absentee landlord - outside partners do its work. So DR Congo is on an artificial life-support system. But replacing the state, or acting on its behalf, is not viable in the long-term. It undermines state-building momentum. Sources: Estimated figures from the UN and World Bank DR Congo and its partners are clearly confronted by the tragedy of powerlessness. The system is such that when things do not work, go wrong or do not move forward, it is never really anyone's fault. There are plenty of good excuses. A colleague told me when asked why he did not show up for an appointment: "Well, there was an eclipse that day." While DR Congo is clearly a failed state, Congolese society has not failed. On the contrary it is strong, vibrant, dynamic, tolerant and generous. People have a sense of taking charge of their own destinies. Women form rotating credit systems to compensate for the absence of an accessible banking system. Farmers band together to hire a lorry to get their cassava or charcoal from the central city of Kikwit to market in Kinshasa. Bebe, who lives in the Paris suburb of Griney, sends money home to Kasai via Western Union. Some months it contributes to school fees, others it pays for medicines for her ailing mother-in-law. Her father will spend some of it on Primus, the beer of choice in Kinshasa. "Elikia" means hope in Lingala and there is much of it throughout the country. Hopes for positive change will come from the people, not from the Congolese political establishment, and certainly not from outside interventions. Theodore Trefon is senior researcher at the Royal Museum for Central Africa and author of the blog Congo Masquerade: The political culture of aid inefficiency and reform failure. On 25 November, the BBC World Service is broadcasting a special one-hour debate in front of a Kinshasa audience: Is DR Congo a failed state? Tune in at 1900 GMT.

Question: As the Democratic Republic of Congo prepares for just its second general elections in four decades on 28 November , Congolese affairs analyst Theodore Trefon considers whether this failed state , still recovering from a war which led to an estimated four million deaths , can ever be @placeholder .


The map of Cornwall was discovered in the private collection of a historian who died in June. Mapmaker George Withiell created it in 1690 to keep track of the new town of Falmouth, which was rapidly expanding. It was last on public display in the 1880s and will be made available to the public by the county's record office. David Thomas, archivist at Cornwall Record Office, said: "It is one of the most significant early Cornish maps to emerge into the public domain in recent years and we are delighted to have it in our collections, where it will help researchers further understand the growth and development of Falmouth." The map was discovered in the private collection of Alan Pearson who bought it from a manuscript dealer in Bristol about 10 years ago. His widow, Mollie, said he was "extremely excited" when he discovered the map, but did not tell her how much he paid for it. She said: "Alan was so passionate about the history of Falmouth, and of course Cornwall in general. "It's a lovely legacy that the map is now safely stored in its rightful place; somewhere safe where its long-term security is assured and other people can make the most of the information it contains. "I know Alan would be delighted by this result." The map, titled A True Map of all Sir Peter Killigrew's Lands in the Parish of Mylor and part of Budock Lands, was last on display in the 1880s when it was kept in Arwenack House - the oldest building in Falmouth. The map was commissioned by the Killigrew family to record the land they owned.

Question: An important map which was lost for generations has been found more than 300 years after it was @placeholder .


Police in Hamelin, in Lower Saxony, say the woman's ex-partner later handed himself in to authorities. The 28-year-old woman, who has not been identified, was found lying on a pavement late on Sunday with serious injuries. She underwent an emergency operation and was flown to a specialist clinic. Police say she had been dragged by the neck through several streets. The man now in custody is described as 38 and from nearby Bad Muender. Both the victim and the suspect are German citizens of Kurdish origin, a police spokesman said. A spokesman for Hannover prosecutors, Thomas Klinge, said the motive for the attack was not yet clear. Police have secured the area where the woman was found and have called for witnesses to come forward.

Question: A woman has suffered serious injuries after being dragged through the streets of a German town by a cord tied around her neck and @placeholder to a car .


Cheltenham Borough Council said it was probing "substantial work" carried out on the listed building where the 'Spy Booth' artwork appeared in April. Days ago vandals attacked the wall for a second time, with large drill holes appearing around the mural. The council said it was investigating a potential criminal offence. "Evidence is being gathered and investigations continue" said the council, which earlier confirmed no listed building consent had been sought for the house. Listed building consent is required from the local authority, before any work is done to the fabric of a listed property. The holes drilled in the wall around the mural could be seen a contravention of the regulations. Gloucestershire Police said its officers were present when council officials went into the house but "purely from a public safety perspective" to ensure there was "no breach of the peace in the area". After the holes appeared, businessman Hekmat Kaveh - who has offered funds to buy the house to ensure the mural stays in the town - said he thought an attempt was being made to remove it. Since the end of June campaigners have been working to reverse a plan to remove and sell the mural by raising up to ?¡ê1m to buy the building and the graffiti on it. The GCHQ-themed mural remains covered in silver and red graffiti, after it was vandalised two weeks ago. A professional art conservator has visited the mural and said it could be saved but might take months to restore. "We've established it's possible to get the [graffiti] tags off safely without unduly affecting the materials underneath," said Tom Organ. "Now we have to also look at the anti-graffiti coating, and assess whether that, in itself, might cause any problems in the long term." Mr Organ added it would take "weeks if not months" to restore the mural. Campaigners have spent months trying to keep the artwork in situ on the corner of Fairview Road and Hewlett Road, after the owners of the house claimed it had been sold and workmen arrived to remove it. However Cheltenham Borough Council issued a temporary stop notice preventing further work from taking place on the Grade II* listed building.

Question: A man has been @placeholder by council officers who used a warrant to enter a Cheltenham house which has been at the centre of a Banksy graffiti tussle .


Zarifah Anuar didn't find out she had been circumcised as a child until she was 23. She was just two weeks old when her mother handed her over to her bidan, a traditional midwife, to have part of her clitoris cut. Years later, a colleague asked her if she had undergone the procedure. "I answered very confidently that I would know if I had," said Zarifah.  "'You should ask your mother', she told me." So she did. "What was a previously casual and happy mood turned sour and antagonistic very quickly", said Zarifah. "'Did I cry? Was I asleep? Did I wake up?' I asked my mother. She didn't answer and told me the conversation was over." The WHO estimates more than 200 million women and girls worldwide have been cut, varying from a partial nick to a complete removal of the clitoris or sewing-up of the labia. Most Singaporeans have little idea of the procedure's existence in the city-state, but it is observed, typically among Malay Muslims, who make up some 13% of the total resident population. Sunat Perempuan, as it is known in Malay, is usually carried out on girls before the age of two, who normally have the tip of the clitoris cut, with a tiny piece of skin sometimes removed. "Many of my Indian Muslim friends didn't have the procedure done on them, and were shocked that such practices still exist within the Malay community," said Filzah Sumartono, who found out she had undergone the procedure as a baby when she was in her teens. Singapore has no legal ruling against FGM, but many Muslims take guidance from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), a statutory board that provides advice on religious matters to Muslims. Ibrahim Sawifi of MUIS has said the body "does not condone any procedures which bring harm to the individual", adding that the council has "always held the position that FGM should be avoided". But many Malay Muslims, especially amongst the older generations, believe the procedure reduces a woman's libido and decreases the risk of extramarital sexual affairs. Others believe it is a compulsory part of Islamic law, though it is not listed as mandatory in the Koran. "I had it done, my daughter had it done, and I would definitely like my granddaughter to do it too," said a 45-year-old Muslim Malay woman the BBC spoke to. "It's something compulsory for us to do in Islam." "If performed, one gets extra merit but if not performed, it is not considered sinful or going against the precepts of Islam," said Dr Maznah Mohamad of the Department of Malay Studies at the National University of Singapore. "But people are still afraid of going against Islam if they don't subject their young daughter to it." Yet it is not the procedure itself that many find fault with, but rather the lack of consent that it signifies. "We start trying to control women's bodies at infancy. It's the first sign to a child that her body is not hers, it's the community's," said Filzah, who is a project co-ordinator at gender equality rights group Aware. "An infant at two weeks wouldn't know anything at all. How could she possibly consent to anything?" adds Zarifah. According to her, all the Malay Muslim girls in Singapore she knows have undergone this procedure. All of them were unaware of it until they asked their parents. "Parents should be responsible for keeping their children safe, this goes completely against that. There is a part of me that regrets asking, because I now know just how much my body is not mine," she said. But not everyone agrees. "There are many things parents do without the consent of the child, out of love and their best interests." said 28-year-old civil servant Siti*, who also underwent the procedure as a baby. "What parent would intentionally put their child through harm?" "I have no knowledge of how different things would feel with or without [the procedure] but I can feel what needs to be felt," Siti added. "It doesn't make me less of a woman." What all the women can agree on, is that more awareness is needed on the subject. "The community itself is divided," said Siti. "MUIS must create a conversation regarding this topic to help the community move forward and equip young parents with the knowledge they need to make an informed decision." "The Muslim Malay community needs to talk about the issue an understand and accept that it is against the human rights of girls," said Zarifah. "I refuse to accept that this conversation is over." *Names have been changed

Question: Female genital mutilation is carried out by communities around the world . But though it is not commonly associated with modern , cosmopolitan Singapore , it is quietly happening all the time , as the BBC 's Yvette Tan @placeholder .


The former health secretary, who was in Wrexham last Sunday, held a question-and-answer session at Penlan Social Club. He has promised more freedom for Welsh Labour and devolution that "holds us together as a United Kingdom". Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall are also in the battle to be crowned Labour leader in September. Speaking on Saturday, he said: "I am for the second time in a week in Wales because of the importance of Wales to our party, both [in the] past but also looking to the future. "We've got the Holyrood elections and Welsh assembly elections next year so Wales and Scotland will be very big in our immediate plans going forward." Mr Burnham has said Labour has been "too out of touch with its grassroots" and has pledged to do "whatever I can" to hold the party together. Several senior Labour figures have claimed the party faces years out of power if Mr Corbyn is elected leader, although the veteran left-winger has the support of more constituency parties than any other candidate.

Question: Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham @placeholder Wales for the second time in a week to campaign in Swansea .


The NHS pays for 24-hour healthcare, while general care needs are funded privately or by the council. But health boards and Welsh councils cannot agree who should pay when a person needs certain healthcare - but not around the clock. Care home companies claim the row has left them waiting to be paid. It prompted a group of care home owners to secure a judicial review which ruled in their favour. But the health boards won an appeal - and that has now gone before the Supreme Court for a final ruling. Richard Gordon QC, on behalf of Ceredigion council which is leading the councils' case, told law lords that Wednesday's hearing was "not just a technical dispute between two public bodies". He said it "very much affects service users" in care homes in Wales. The lawyer argued that whether a registered nurse was carrying out non-nursing duties, or doing nothing, for some of that time they were on duty and on call to carry out nursing tasks when needed. In those circumstances, all funding should be provided by the health boards, he said. Fenella Morris, QC for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and the six other Welsh trusts, argued that if a nurse carried out a social care task, it did not make it an NHS obligation but work for a local authority. "We say the NHS is entitled to decide that where a local authority is required to provide social care and a nurse is present to provide social care, it is not necessary for the NHS to pay the cost of that social care." Clive Sheldon, the QC representing the secretary of state for health, added: "Local authorities can be required to arrange for and pay for services carried out by a registered nurse that do not need to be carried out by a registered nurse." He added councils are arguing that an on-site qualified nurse was needed, whatever they did, and they should be paid for by the health service. "We say that is an absurd consequence," said Mr Sheldon. Judgement has now been reserved and the final decision by the five law lords hearing the case will be made later this year. The case is already said to have run up a highly criticised legal costs bill of about ¡ê1m.

Question: A ¡ê 250 m dispute over who pays for nurses @placeholder social care in residential homes in Wales has been heard by the Supreme Court .


The government wants to allow fees to rise with inflation if universities have a high standard of teaching. Mr Marsden said it gave universities "cash-in coupons" to raise their fees. Education Secretary Justine Greening defended the need to protect the value of fees for "high quality providers". Ms Greening, heading a department now responsible for higher education as well as schools, presented plans which will encourage more competition within higher education. The education secretary told the House of Commons the changes would not reduce parliamentary scrutiny of the maximum level of fees in England, which is currently ?¡ê9,000 per year. "But what we are saying to high quality providers is you can access fees up to an inflation-linked maximum fee cap if, and only if, you can demonstrate that you are providing high quality teaching and you have an agreed access and participation plan in place." But Mr Marsden said that in unpredictable economic times after the EU referendum, with no certainty on future levels of inflation, this could mean "significant rises in fee costs". Raising fees in line with inflation will depend on universities providing high quality teaching, which would be measured by a "teaching excellence framework". Mr Marsden said this would become a "Trojan horse" for raising fees. "This is particularly problematic for students post-Brexit with the fragility of our current economy and there are no guarantees on the level of inflation for the next few years." Mr Marsden said "all bets were off" on how much fees might rise in the years ahead. Ms Greening was also pressed by MPs on a lack of information for universities about what will happen to their EU staff and students and EU research funding. The government's plans, in the Higher Education and Research Bill, will encourage more universities to be created and to make it simpler for institutions to gain their own degree awarding powers. Ms Greening said research showed that increasing the number of universities would improve the economy. "But the current system for creating universities can feel highly restricted, with new providers requiring the backing of an incumbent institution to become eligible to award its own degrees. "This Bill levels that playing field by laying the foundations for a new system where it will be clearer, simpler and quicker to establish high quality new providers." Ms Greening also set out plans for an Office for Students, which would help to protect value for money for students. This followed concerns from students on issues such as a lack of teaching hours. Neil Carmichael, chairman of the education select committee, said the result of the EU referendum made higher education even more important for the economy. "Brexit is a call to arms for our education system because we have got to provide more skills, the skills that we need, because we won't necessarily be able to allow anyone from the European Union to do that for us," said Mr Carmichael Labour's Stella Creasy said that pushing up fees would limit social mobility. "The biggest division in our society today is who is able to turn to the bank of mum and dad and who is not," she said. The Scottish National Party's education spokeswoman, Carol Monaghan, warned against changes putting "profit before students". "The drive towards the marketisation of student experience is one which we should all view with caution," she told MPs. The Liberal Democrats said the bill was no longer "fit for purpose" in the "instability" following the EU referendum decision. "The bill totally fails to address the challenges universities will now face around securing funding for research or ensuring student numbers remain level. "It cannot be allowed to go ahead in its current form," said Lib Dem education spokesman John Pugh.

Question: University tuition fees in England would face " significant rises " under plans being put forward by the government , says Labour 's @placeholder education minister Gordon Marsden .


Both feature a girl in a yellow dress against a starry backdrop, which has led some people to confuse the two. As far as director Christopher Wheeldon is concerned, however, An American in Paris has dibs on the image. "We got there first," he told the BBC at the West End show's opening night on Tuesday. Inspired by the Oscar-winning Gene Kelly film from 1951, An American in Paris tells of US GI Jerry Mulligan, who falls in love in the French capital after World War Two. The show, which won four Tonys after opening on Broadway in 2015, features classic songs by George and Ira Gershwin, among them I Got Rhythm, 'S Wonderful and I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise. Wheeldon, who also choreographs the show, said the success of La La Land was clearly having an impact on audiences at London's newly refurbished Dominion Theatre. "I think we're seeing a younger audience at our show because of the movie," he said. "Perhaps we're all seeking a bit of innocence in a dark and troubled time." "In difficult times, musicals cheer you up," agrees Jane Asher, whose role as a Parisian matriarch sees her sporting a French accent on stage. "I went to see Beauty and the Beast the other day and was totally transported," says Britain's Leanne Cope, who plays the young French dancer who steals Jerry's heart. "I think this show can do the same thing. It transports you to another time when things were more innocent." Critics have been heaping praise, and stars, on the opulent production, which is currently taking bookings up to the end of October. Here's a rundown of what The Guardian, the Daily Mail, The Telegraph and Time Out have been saying. Daisy Lowe, Louise Redknapp and "Judge" Robert Rinder were among the Strictly Come Dancing stars in attendance at Tuesday's performance. Their presence, though, was not enough to make Asher consider appearing on the BBC's popular competition. "I've very flatteringly been asked many times to do Strictly but it's not for me," the 70-year-old revealed. "The chances of me injuring myself are so great I think I'll leave it to others. I'm too old!" Leslie Caron, who appeared with Kelly in the 1951 film, was also among the audience. Cope likened the veteran actress to a "fairy godmother" who had given her some "wonderful advice". La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, won six Oscars last month. 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: The brains behind An American in Paris say they 're glad La La Land has revived interest in the Hollywood musical , even if their @placeholder look kind of similar .