Alan was the Syrian three-year-old whose photograph - lying dead on a beach - focused world attention on the refugee crisis in September 2015. Mufawaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, both Syrian nationals, are being tried in Bodrum, the same Turkish seaside city where his body was washed up. Mr Alabash and Mr Alfrhad face up to 35 years in prison each if found guilty. They are charged with human smuggling and with causing the deaths of five people "through deliberate negligence". Both said they were innocent of the charges at the hearing on Thursday, which, the BBC understands, has already finished. Their next hearing will be in early March and the men will remain in custody until then. Alan's five-year-old brother Galib and his mother Rihan also drowned when the boat they were on sank during an attempted crossing to the Greek island of Kos. The father of the family, Abdullah, survived. He is currently thought to be living outside Turkey. The story of Alan Kurdi's family Why Alan Kurdi's picture cut through

Question: Two @placeholder people - smugglers are on trial in connection with the death of Alan Kurdi and four other people .


Among the massed ranks, a portrait of his late father held out in front of him, was President Vladimir Putin. This surprise appearance amid crowds in Moscow honouring ordinary people who served in World War Two seems to be part of a change of image for the Russian president - portraying him more as a down-to-Earth man of the people, rather than the all-action hero TV viewers have become used to seeing. For over 30 seconds, TV commentators made no reference to his surprise appearance. But then anchor Vladimir Solovyev supplied the meaning of what was undoubtedly a carefully choreographed media event. "There were no loud announcements and no commotion. Why?" said Mr Solovyev. "Because this is an amazing event at which politics moves into the background. It is a day when all are equal." Brand Putin still in fashion In pictures: Russian WW2 Victory Day Not everything went completely smoothly. As the president paused for a short interview surrounded by his security entourage, an old man button-holed him to ask about the benefits he was due as someone affected by the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. The cameras quickly moved away. But Solovyev continued in the same lyrical vein. "Victory Day - everyone is equal. People just come up to the president of the Russian Federation and talk to him." The message of the people's president was reinforced in other parts of the media. "Putin acted like an ordinary man," proclaimed a headline on the popular news website Gazeta.ru. Commentator Aleksey Malashenko described it as a political masterstroke. "I would not be surprised if at that moment the president's rating had reached 100%. Yes, it was populism, but sincere populism," he blogged on the Ekho Moskvy radio station website. Putin as man of the people was also one of the key themes of Prezident, a 150-minute film recently shown on official channel Rossiya 1 to mark the 15th anniversary of the beginning of his rule in 2000. The film dwelt on the Russian leader's humble origins and his attachment to his late parents. "He comes from a working family in the suburbs, just like millions of others, millions of his compatriots, same as me, same as you," popular singer Nikolay Rastorguyev said over footage of Putin discussing people's problems in the street. In the film, President Putin himself stressed that he was not from an "elite background". "This connection with the people and sense of closeness to them, to ordinary people, are hugely important and a great help to me in my work," he said. Prezident also featured an episode from 2006 in which Putin visited a coffee shop in Dresden and stood in the corner with his coffee and cake, apparently unnoticed by other customers. The sequence was shown without commentary as if its only purpose was to reinforce the idea of Putin as the "ordinary man". This portrayal of Putin is in marked contrast to the image of the derring-do hero of the TV stunts for which he has become famous - the bare-chested hunting expeditions, the dive for Greek wine vats in the Black Sea and saving journalists by shooting a Siberian tiger with a tranquilizer, to name but a few. But it has been some time since Russian TV viewers were treated to Putin in full-blown action-man mode and is a far cry from the image given by a film aired three years ago to mark his 60th birthday. That NTV film showed the president working late at night, alone in his office, breakfasting on health foods and swimming and exercising in his private gym, watched over by his beloved black labrador Koni. Media academic Anna Kachkayeva believes it portrayed a person who "for a long time has been living in the special dimension of power and has, of course, lost touch with reality". The wish to show President Putin as an "ordinary man" may be related to the political imperatives of Russia's current economic difficulties. But there may also be a more personal element. At the end of "Prezident", Vladimir Solovyev asks Mr Putin what he has had to give up as leader of his country. The president sighs deeply, frowns and answers: "A normal, everyday life." One journalist, Oleg Kashin, suggested the film may have been less about propaganda than psychotherapy. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

Question: As viewers watched Russian @placeholder TV coverage of Victory Day on 9 May , their eyes will have been drawn to one face in particular among the crowds carrying photographs of family members who took part in the struggle against Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945 .


Terry Bradbury, 75, played alongside Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables in the late 1950s. Mr Bradbury, who also made appearances for Southend United, Leyton Orient and Wrexham, won ¡ê5,517,016 in Saturday's National Lottery draw. He and his wife Eleanor said they planned to buy a family villa in Spain. The pair, who live in Buxton, Derbyshire, told reporters they would use the winnings to provide security for their four sons and nine grandchildren. Mrs Bradbury, also known as Ann, said: "The villa will be a place where our family can always go to for holidays. "It is wonderful to think that none of our children will have a mortgage or any stress for the rest of their lives. "This win provides our family with security and this is what pleases Terry and myself more than anything." The couple, who used to run a pub in Tideswell, Derbyshire, said they bought their lucky dip ticket from a WH Smith in Buxton. Mr Bradbury told reporters the most he earned during his professional football career was ¡ê25 each week, getting a ¡ê4 win bonus and ¡ê2 for a draw. "I was getting about ¡ê20 for playing football but a tradesman was only getting ¡ê8 to ¡ê10, so it's all relative," he said. He said Jimmy Greaves was "the greatest goal machine I ever saw" but "ruthless" Dave Mackay was the hardest player he came up against. Asked about modern players, he said: "Good luck to them. You can't blame the sportsmen. If someone offered you another ¡ê1,000 a week you would go." Mr Bradbury said: "I had a good time at Chelsea, enjoyed every minute - all through my playing career. This is just the icing on the cake for Ann and I."

Question: A former Chelsea midfielder - who made ¡ê 25 a week as a professional footballer in the 1950s - has @placeholder a ¡ê 5.5 m Lotto jackpot .


Scottish Borders Council (SBC) has been successful in a first stage bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the project in Duns. Development funding of more than ¡ê50,000 has been awarded to help work up a full bid for about ¡ê645,000. The council has already committed almost ¡ê620,000 to the scheme. Community fundraising aims to bring in a minimum of ¡ê300,000 towards the project. It would see the existing Jim Clark Room in Duns expanded and enhanced to allow cars and trophies to be put on display. A total project cost of about ¡ê1.65m has been attached to the scheme. It is hoped the development could be completed by 2018 - the 50th anniversary of Clark's death at Hockenheim in Germany, aged just 32. The driver was born in Kilmany in Fife, but raised in the Borders, and was crowned Formula One world champion in 1963 and 1965. He won a total of 25 grand prix races.

Question: Plans for a museum celebrating the achievements of two - time Formula One world champion Jim Clark have @placeholder another funding landmark .


Mr Hamill, a 25-year-old Catholic, was beaten to death by a loyalist mob in Portadown, County Armagh, in 1997. The public inquiry's finding's will not be released until three prosecutions in connection with the case have concluded. The government said the report had been placed in a secure location. Last month, NI Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, announced the report delay. The inquiry began its public hearings in January 2009 and held closing submissions in December 2009. It heard evidence in person from 174 witnesses and witness statements from a further 37 witnesses. Mr Hamill, a father-of-three, suffered serious head injuries and died 11 days after the attack.

Question: The public inquiry panel examining how the police @placeholder the sectarian killing of Robert Hamill have completed their report .


It is May 1917 and the early hours of a new day at the western front in France. Heavy German machine-gun fire is being trained on advancing soldiers of the East Yorkshire Regiment who are pinned down sheltering from the bullets.  Two attacks by the troops have been already been repulsed. A lone figure stands up and races towards a wood containing the machine-gun emplacement, he silences the gun by blowing it up and is then seen to fall. BBC Local Radio stories of a global conflict The footballers caught out by war's outbreak How the English munitionettes claimed victory Discover how WW1 changed your world With the firing lifted a number of the attacking soldiers do get into the enemy-held strongpoint in the wood but are eventually pushed back, finishing the day back in the trenches they set out from. The attack cost the East Yorkshire Regiment more than 800 men, including 12 officers and 215 men who were killed. One of those casualties was the man who dashed forward to silence the machine-gun, temporary Second Lt John Harrison - posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery that day. John 'Jack' Harrison had been a star rugby league player for his home town team Hull FC before he joined the carnage of World War One. A teacher, he had played his first game for the club in September 1912 and was a winger in the team that won the club's first Challenge Cup in 1913-14, scoring a try in the final. He scored 52 tries in that pre-war season, a club record that still stands, and crossed for 106 tries in his 116 matches before his last game for Hull FC on Boxing Day, 1916. Within days he left for the trenches of France with fellow Hull Pals of the East Yorkshire Regiment. Bill Dalton, Hull FC historian, has studied what happened on the fateful May morning, in Oppy Wood, close to Arras. He said: "Various battalions were under great pressure. Jack Harrison led the troops to within a few hundred yards of the German position. "Under heavy attack from one particular machine gun battery they couldn't advance any further so Jack ordered his troops to take cover. "He had to negotiate through three lines of barbed wire but he took it upon himself to dash out with a single Mills bomb across no-man's land and succeeded in depositing that bomb with the German battery and blew it up. "The machine gun didn't fire again but Jack was observed by his troops to fall face down and was never seen again." Harrison's body was never found. He is commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's memorial in Arras. Mr Dalton said: "You would like to think when he was dashing across that battleground... his rugby skills would have come into play." Johnny Whiteley, 83, played more than 400 games for Hull FC from 1950 and said Harrison would come to mind at times when he captained the team. T/ 2nd Lieutenant John Harrison, MC "This gallant officer... made a dash at the machine gun, hoping to knock out the gun and so save the lives of many of his company. His self-sacrifice and absolute disregard of danger was an inspiring example to all. " "He was part of Hull FC folklore, someone we all looked up to," he said. "Jack Harrison got out of a trench and led men, to his death.  We were not going to die playing rugby league but he was an inspiration. "He will be long-remembered for the courage he showed." In 2003, a service took place to unveil a memorial to Harrison at the city's KC stadium, present home of Hull FC. The Reverend Alan Bagshaw, chair of the Jack Harrison Memorial Trust and the club's former chaplain, said: "He was one of Hull's true heroes in the First World War winning both the Military Cross and posthumously the Victoria Cross." Special battalions for groups of local men who had enlisted together. They meant the men fought alongside friends, neighbours and work colleagues. Harrison enlisted in the Hull Pals. Harrison is also remembered with a charitable trust that bears his name and a silver medal is awarded annually in his honour, to a young person who has overcome adversity through sport. Harrison's widow Lillian was presented with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace in 1918. A small oak, ash and willow wood on the outskirts of Hull has been re-named Oppy Wood in honour of the hundreds of Hull men who died in that action in France.

Question: World War One took professional Hull FC rugby league star and teacher Jack Harrison to the battlefield , where he found bravery under fire to become an inspiration to @placeholder anew in the East Yorkshire city .


The 20-year-old winger has agreed a five-and-a-half year deal but will be loaned back to Palace until the summer. Zaha said: "I am delighted to be joining Manchester United. However, my focus for the next five months will be solely at Crystal Palace." United will pay ¡ê10m up front, with an extra ¡ê5m in additional fees. The two clubs confirmed they had reached an agreement on Friday morning, with Palace also announcing they expect the move to be finalised next week. The skilful wide-man has already agreed personal terms with the Premier League leaders and will now undergo a medical in Manchester. "We like to sign players with potential," manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. "We develop players and that's been proven many times. Hopefully the boy enjoys it here." Media playback is not supported on this device Zaha joined Palace as a 12-year-old, and could be in line to win his second England cap against Brazil in February. He has excelled since making his debut for the Selhurst Park outfit in March 2010, scoring 15 goals in 124 appearances and being named the Football League Young Player of the Year last season. "I have been at Palace for more than 10 years, I will always love the club and I want to help get them back to the Premier League, particularly for the fans who have always been so good to me," Zaha added. Media playback is not supported on this device Palace are currently fourth in the Championship table, two points behind Leicester who fill the last automatic promotion place. Co-chairman Steve Parish had always insisted Zaha would not leave the club on a permanent basis in January and he expressed his delight with the terms that will see the attacker continue to play a pivotal role in their bid to reach the top flight. He said: "I feel this is a great deal for the club and the player. It was essential to Wilf and ourselves that he stayed at Palace for the remainder of this season to help the club with its main aim of promotion to the Premier League."

Question: Wilfried Zaha says he is delighted at his summer move to Manchester United but insists his " focus " @placeholder on winning promotion with Crystal Palace .


Ms Yellen signalled that the Fed was likely to raise rates in March, a move which markets have increasingly been expecting. The Dow Jones closed up just 0.01%, or 2.74 points to 21,005.71. The S&P 500 index inched up 1.20 points to 2,383.12, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 9.53 points to 5,870.75. Ms Yellen told an audience in Chicago: ''Looking ahead, we continue to expect the evolution of the economy to warrant further gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate.'' The New York indexes shrugged off the Federal Open Market Committee chair's commentary. "At some point, maybe later in the year or next year, the market may not look at a rate hike as a positive thing," said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management. "But right now, the market is willing to see this as an indication that economic growth is accelerating." Meanwhile, shares in Snap, the owner of Snapchat, continued to climb after surging 40% on Thursday on its market debut. The social media company's shares closed up a further 10.66% to $27.09.

Question: Stocks on Wall Street closed flat on Friday as investors digested a @placeholder by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen .


At this week's European Council, David Cameron will call for "greater co-operation" and a halt to the traffic in "guns from the western Balkans". Mr Cameron will also propose a "new EU-wide ban on all high-powered semi-automatic weapons". The EU's response to the Paris attacks will be discussed at the meeting, which begins on Thursday in Brussels. Number 10 said that alongside a ban, measures would include greater sharing of ballistics data, a plan to improve intelligence about firearms in the western Balkans, action to take firearms out of circulation and a "clear implementation" plan for all member states. Mr Cameron said the "horrific terrorist atrocities" in Paris showed the scale of the threat facing Europe. "A terrorist threat in one country is a danger to all of us, so I believe there is more we must do together to tackle the terrorist threat posed by Daesh," Mr Cameron said. "We need to ensure that terrorists do not have the weapons with which they can wreak such tragedy." Mr Cameron will also call for greater efforts to undermine online radicalisation and the ideology of so-called Islamic State, referred to by the government as Daesh. Nils Duquet, a researcher at the Flemish Peace Institute in Brussels, said in an article for the BBC that in several recent attacks, including in Paris, there was a connection between the guns used and Belgium. He said an increase of heavy firearms on the illegal market in Belgium was mainly linked to smuggling from the Balkans. Hundreds of thousands of military weapons stayed in the hands of citizens after the Balkan wars of the 1990s, he said. A semi-automatic firearm is self-loading, firing a single round each time its trigger is pulled. A total of 130 people died and hundreds were wounded in the 13 November Paris attacks, when gunmen and suicide bombers attacked a concert hall, a stadium, restaurants and bars almost simultaneously.

Question: The EU should crack down on the illegal gun trade , the prime minister will @placeholder in the wake of the Paris attacks .


He side-stepped the question - choosing instead to say that it was up to voters to decide. So, should we take what he has said today with a massive pinch of pre-election salt? The answer, I believe, is no. Love him or loathe him, the former prime minister has said what he thinks today - nothing more, nothing less - on both his successor as Labour leader and what is one of the critical issues facing the country at this election. It's no secret that Blair is no fan of his successor. Why would he be? Ed's rationale for standing against his brother was because David Miliband did not represent the break with New Labour that he believed was needed. So, whether on the deficit, public spending control, reform of the public services - let alone matters of peace and war - there is a gulf between them. No wonder they chose not to appear together to give journalists the chance to remind them of all they've said about each other. But - and it is an important but - the former prime minister knows that Ed Miliband came under sustained pressure to match the Tory promise of an EU referendum. He was told "you can't afford to oppose giving people a say, you'll never face down the pressure from the press, a referendum's inevitable" and more besides. Even some pro-Europeans joined in arguing that this was a chance to close the gaping wound that had been open for decades by settling Britain's place in the EU once and for all. Tony Blair had come under precisely the same pressure more than a decade ago when he was in Number 10. The issue then was on whether there should be a referendum on a proposed new EU constitution. He executed a humiliating U-turn on the issue, saying "no" for months before finally conceding defeat and declaring "let the battle commence". All the more reason, he believes, for admiring his successor's resolve not to follow suit and for being contemptuous of David Cameron who has. Of course, the Conservatives will tell you all of this makes their point precisely - that Labour is still led by people who will not make a stand in Brussels, won't deliver reform and won't give you the right to decide directly at the ballot box on this country's future. Whoever's view you share, there's no denying that putting into question the UK's central economic relationship is one of the biggest decisions this country will take for decades. If David Cameron remains prime minister it will dominate his next period in office and define his place in history. What's more, there is a real and clear choice between the parties which are promising you a vote come what may and those, like Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who say you'll only get one if there is a further transfer of powers to Brussels. So, today you don't need a degree in statistical analysis or those nice chaps from the Institute of Fiscal Studies to understand something very, very simple. On 7 May this issue alone means the country faces a very significant choice because the two men who want to be your prime minister have themselves made two very different choices about how to handle calls for an EU referendum. And isn't that, ladies and gentlemen, one of the things voters say they want?

Question: Not so long ago I @placeholder Tony Blair to say that Ed Miliband was a strong leader .


The move involves three oil exploration companies, Falkland Oil and Gas (FOGL), Edison International and Noble Energy. They will continue their operations in other parts of the region, but need "disciplined capital management in the current oil price environment". The price of Brent Crude has almost halved in the last year. The announcement also follows Argentina's ramping up of political pressure on the companies last week. The disputed sovereignty of the Falklands makes drilling there controversial. FOGL initially planned to explore five oil wells in the region in 2015. Oil explorers globally have scaled back drilling work to control costs amidst the steep decline in oil prices. Shares in FOGL opened 4.3% higher as investors saw the news as positive.

Question: Oil drillers in the Falklands have shelved plans to drill a second well in the @placeholder and east of the region , following the steep drop in oil prices .


Work to raise Drayton Road, the main road into Muchelney, was due to have been finished at the end of last month. Bad weather now means it will not be completed until mid February, a Somerset County Council spokesman said. Last winter large parts of the Levels were deluged with flooding, leaving villagers cut off for two months and a trunk road closed for several weeks. A 547 yard-stretch (500m) of Drayton Road is being raised by more than 3.9 ft (120 cm) at its lowest point. A council spokesman said: "We have been saying since the beginning of November that the Muchelney road raising was likely to run into the New Year. "As things stand, we are hoping to be able to complete the works in February. However, as they have been from the beginning, all scheduled completion times will be subject to factors such as the weather."

Question: A scheme to prevent a community on the Somerset Levels from being cut off by flooding has been @placeholder .


Parents raised a near 4,000-name petition calling on the council to save the service which provides music lessons in schools and runs ensembles. The new Denbighshire Music Co-Operative will teach over 2,200 pupils each week from September, said the council. The not-for-profit organisation has also protected the jobs of 34 teachers. "We have offered a long term loan of the council's musical instruments to the new co-operative, which means that our children and young people can continue to use their instruments," said Councillor Eryl Williams, the council cabinet's lead member for education.

Question: A school music service has been taken over by a new @placeholder after it was threatened with closure due to cash cuts by Denbighshire council .


The local council is to relinquish its shares in the company that owns and manages the 96-year-old  stadium. Those shares will be transferred to the club, with the council recovering its original ¡ê100,000 outlay. The council became one of three shareholders in the company when it was set up in 1991 to safeguard the stadium, which is also used by Rochdale Hornets rugby league club. The Rugby League Facilities Trust were also involved in that deal, but the League One club now owns 100% of shares in the stadium company. Rochdale Hornets have signed a new long-term lease to continue playing at Spotland as part of the new agreement. Loans of ¡ê529,000 the stadium company has with the council will be repaid over a period of nine years. "It has been our desire for the last 10 years to secure a deal to regain ownership of Spotland," said Dale chairman Chris Dunphy. "The board has worked tirelessly during that time to bring our vision to fruition and today is a proud day in the club's history."

Question: Rochdale have secured full ownership of their Spotland @placeholder .


Media playback is not supported on this device The sport was told last month it would receive no money for Rio 2016 - a cut of ¡ê8.5m from the London 2012 cycle. NBA All-Star Deng, 27, wrote: "I refuse to sit back and let that legacy be completely demolished for basketball." Source: BBC Sport All sports affected have a chance to present their case for a reversal to funding body UK Sport on Wednesday. Deng - who was born in Sudan but became a British citizen seven years ago after going to school in Croydon, south London - was the star name in the Team GB side that was knocked out in the group stage at London 2012. The women's Team GB outfit also exited the competition at the bottom of their group. The small forward has excelled since joining the Chicago Bulls in 2004 and will play in his second successive All-Star Game - a representative match featuring the best players in the NBA - on 17 February. In December, UK Sport announced a record ¡ê347m worth of funding for Rio 2016, 11% up on London 2012, but basketball, handball, table tennis and wrestling lost all support. Those disciplines missed out due to the organisation's "no compromise" approach to focus on sports with genuine future medal prospects rather than the more general approach adopted for the home Games. "I, along with other people involved in the game, have put too much in and care too greatly to let this happen," Deng added. Media playback is not supported on this device "The sport of basketball is a pathway, a pathway that teaches so many valuable lessons on and off the court, how are we supposed to motivate these kids to carry along their journey when there's now nothing at the end. No Team GB, no Olympic dream, no goal." The original decision about the level of funding was made after each Olympic discipline supplied UK Sport with a detailed plan evidencing their business case for investment which was allied to their potential to gain podium places in future events. Basketball - along with the other sports unhappy with the 2013-17 allocation that followed - have been invited to London on 30 January to make an "informal representation" to the full UK Sport board. Each representation will involve a 10-15 minute presentation followed by a discussion about each argument's merit, with a decision to follow on Friday. If the sports are still unhappy, they will have 20 working days from that date to make a formal appeal. Aside from that process, British Basketball is also considering lodging a formal appeal to the Sport Dispute Resolution Panel. An adjournment debate in Parliament on 'Funding for Basketball' will also take place on Monday night.

Question: Britain 's top basketball player , Luol Deng , has written a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron demanding that the sport 's funding is @placeholder .


The BBC One comedy reached 9.69 million viewers, up from a live Christmas Day audience of 7.61 million. Call the Midwife was the second most popular show, attracting 9.4 million. Viewing figures were generally down on last year, with nearly two million fewer people watching the number one rated show than last year. Irish-based sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys, starring Brendan O'Carroll, also topped the Christmas Day ratings last year, but the number of viewers dropped from the 11.5 million it attracted then. The Queen's Christmas Message, the most watched programme live, fell to 7th position with a total of 8.04 million viewers. BBC One had six of the top 10 most watched programmes while ITV had four - the channels shared the Queen's Christmas Broadcast at 15:00 GMT, which was also aired on Sky News and Sky One. The Queen used her broadcast to highlight the importance of reconciliation between people, speaking of the impact of the Scottish independence referendum, and recalling the moment German and British soldiers put down their weapons and met on Christmas Day in 1914. Strictly Come Dancing's Christmas special, which saw gymnast Louis Smith scoop the champion title for a second time, attracted 8.98 million viewers, putting it in third position. Sitcom Miranda, which drew to a close on 1 January in a two-part special, was in fourth position with 8.65 million viewers and an audience share of 30.6%. BBC drama Doctor Who was in 6th position with 8.28 million viewers, a decline on the 11.1 million viewers last year, when former Doctor Matt Smith was seen regenerating into Peter Capaldi. ITV's highest rating Christmas Day show was for Coronation Street with 6.65 million viewers tuning in. ITV's figures do not include ITV+1.

Question: Mrs Brown 's Boys was the most -watched Christmas Day show , according to @placeholder data that includes catch - up viewings .


Burnley Empire Theatre defaulted to the care of the Duchy of Lancaster as an "owner of last resort" after the ownership could not be established. Last used as a bingo hall in 1995, the Cow Lane venue was recently named the fifth most at risk theatre in the UK. Campaigners who want to restore the building to its former glory said the decision was a blow to their plans. Sophie Gibson from the Burnley Empire Theatre Trust (BETT), said: "This news came as something of a surprise and a disappointment. "The viability study, which the council contributed to as well, is currently taking place and the results are due very shortly. "If, as we hope, the verdict is a positive one we can then move on to stage two, the architectural planning phase for the project, when we also begin applying for funding. "All of this could have been for nothing if it is auctioned off before we are able to get that far." The Duchy of Lancaster, said it had been left with "no alternative" but to put it to bidders after offering it free of charge to both Burnley Council and the Theatre Trust - an offer that "remains open". A spokesman added: "The Duchy remains hopeful that the building will remain in local ownership." BETT said it could not yet afford the legal costs that would be incurred to take on the building. The four-storey building, designed by  G. B. Rawcliffe, opened in 1894 as a music hall, before being converted to a cinema in 1938. It is to be auctioned in Manchester on 16 October.

Question: A @placeholder Grade - II listed theatre , which has stood empty for over 20 years , is to be sold at auction .


In the blinding artificial light, she homes in on a monster-sized flapjack and devours it, washing it down with a glass of water before returning to bed. Two hours later and the alarm is full of vim again. The double Olympic champion, ignoring the devil on her shoulder begging for rest, glances in the direction of her trainers. It wasn't like this when the 46-year-old was training for Olympic gold. There were no brutal long-distance runs on country lanes at hours when only milkmen are truly alert. It is the day she will run 18 miles for the first time in her life. She stretches, puts on a woolly hat - her must-have accessory on every run - and charges out on a morning cold enough to freeze breath. Media playback is not supported on this device The humdrum pounding of tarmac over a daunting distance plays with her mind. Manipulative voices become louder with every mile; one telling her to stop, to give in, the other demanding she ignores the pain. It is torture. She is constantly checking the clock, counting down the miles. One hour becomes two, on and on she goes. Holmes, the first British woman to win two Olympic gold medals at the same Games, is not a marathon runner. Even when she was in her athletic prime, her body would often cave in; stress fractures, ruptured Achilles, chronic fatigue. They would lead to self harm, to suicidal thoughts. More than a decade on and her mind is better equipped to deal with failure, but the body is still not coping with punishing training routines. She hobbles home, wincing as she puts one foot in front of the other. Eighteen miles on the clock, but her hips ache, her nerves are inflamed. It feels like ants are crawling all over her body. Holmes knows she will have to go to the hospital again for spinal injections to release the tension. The doctor will order her not to run for another seven days. "I wish I'd done this training under the radar, but I've opened my mouth now. I can't not do it," she says, three weeks after her crippling 18-mile run, a hint of seriousness hidden in the laughter. "I didn't think about how training for the London Marathon would affect my body. I expected it to be hard, I expected it to hurt somewhere, but the body is in shock. "I've always had problems with my lower back, but it's more intense now because of the way I'm running. I run on my toes, it's a lopey stride, and the way my hips are twisted allowed me to do what I did. Now I'm doing longer stuff it's changing me biomechanically - it's changing the way my body is reacting to running. "Because I'm feeling pain everywhere, my stride is shortening and I'm having a lot of bad hip pains. "I haven't the mentality I had when I was an elite athlete. There's been no training plan. Refuelling? I'm rubbish at that. When I did the 18-miler I woke myself up to eat and then went back to sleep just so I had a bit of fuel. "When I come back from a run I know I should have an ice bath, but when the alternative is a hot bubble bath I think 'sod that'." Some friends, Holmes admits, are "laughing their heads off" at her antipathy towards three months of miserable training. When it comes to marathon running, this two-time Commonwealth champion, the 2004 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is almost like the rest of us. "They're saying 'you're a mess, you're too old,'" says a chuckling Holmes. And then there's mum, Pam, non-competitive and unable to fathom why her daughter has chosen to drag her body around the streets of London for 26.2 miles. "'Why are you putting yourself through that?'" says Holmes, wagging her finger, mimicking her mum. "I just tell her: 'Mother, a challenge is a challenge!'" Despite the motherly concern, Holmes' mum is one of the reasons why the Dame will be among thousands of runners raising money for charity this Sunday because, last year, her mum was diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer of the blood. "She's now in remission, but it's an incurable cancer," Holmes explains. She is trying to raise ¡ê250,000 for five charities - Mind, Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, Hospice in the Weald, MyelomaUK and The Pickering Cancer Centre - and there is a personal story to each. Media playback is not supported on this device It is no surprise to hear the former soldier describe herself as the sort of person who pushes herself to the limit. How else could two Olympic gold medals be won the year after grappling with depression? In 2003, the former soldier sank to the lowest of lows because of injury, locking herself in a bathroom and slashing her left arm with a pair of scissors. "One cut for every day I was injured." It was, she would admit, the worst period of her life. She describes her life as a "journey and a half", one which went from rock bottom to historic peak when, in six glorious days, she twice crossed the finishing line at the Olympic Stadium in Athens ahead of her rivals; arms aloft, goggle-eyed incredulity at becoming the 800m and 1500m Olympic champion. The first Briton for 84 years to achieve the Olympic middle-distance double. "I've missed not having a personal, physical challenge because that's what makes me me," says Holmes, going on to add that raising money for charity is what has sustained her motivation these past few months. "I have to have challenges, go through the trauma of doing it. That's what I fight for. "I want to do one big charity push now and take some time out. I need something that's just for me. Everything's been for other people in the past few years. I need time and I don't give myself time." Choose which celebrity you'd like help from in the new Couch to 5K programme, designed for people who have done little or no running. Is Holmes concerned she might not complete Sunday's terrifying assignment? A stupid question. There is no doubt. After all, Holmes was twice told to retire by doctors before the Sydney Olympics in 2000. "I will finish it," she says, eyes widening. "When I was an athlete I knew my sport inside out. I knew what I needed to do to be good. If I went to an event I'd pretty much know the outcome whereas with this I don't know what's going to happen, but I'll finish the race. "I'm hoping I just run round but if I end up having to walk for whatever reason then I'm going to have to deal with that. "When I'm going down The Mall, I'll be sprinting like Usain Bolt and I'll be so proud of myself." You can follow the full coverage of the 2016 London Marathon on the BBC and we will be featuring more inspirational stories from you in our live text commentary on Sunday. Get involved: Send us your London Marathon stories and messages by using the hashtag #GetInspired on social media

Question: The alarm chirps , annoyingly energetic at such an unwelcome hour . It 's 5 am . Dame Kelly Holmes , eyes acclimatising to the darkness , mind @placeholder to being abruptly stirred , bumbles out of bed to the kitchen .


Media playback is unsupported on your device 15 October 2014 Last updated at 13:18 BST The steppe eagle flew 45 times over the Brecon Beacons wearing a miniature rucksack packed with scientific instruments. The experiment showed that by collapsing his wings in heavy wind, Cossack can fly in conditions that would have grounded an aircraft. Scientists say birds such as vultures and kites may use the same technique. During each "wing tuck" Cossack's wings are, for a split-second, folded beneath his body so that he is effectively falling. This occurs up to three times a minute in some conditions. Study leader Professor Graham Taylor, from Oxford University's Department of Zoology, said: "Soaring flight may appear effortless but it isn't a free ride...it also puts an enormous strain on its flight muscles." He compared the technique to suspension on a car stopping a disturbing ride. The 75g (3 oz) "black box", which does not interfere with flying, tracks his position and records acceleration, rotation rate and airspeed. Prof Taylor believes the lessons learned from Cossack could be useful to human aviation. "This kind of technique could potentially be used to keep micro air vehicles aloft even in very windy conditions," he said.

Question: An eagle @placeholder Cossack has been fitted with a " black box " to reveal his secret weapon against turbulence .


Thanks for all the good wishes you've been sending. I thought I'd use this column to answer a few of your questions. Q) When you are all not talking about tennis (or football) what does team GB discuss at the dinner table? (@AndiMillman) We're discussing my snooker victory over Ken Skupski on Tuesday night - we talked about that quite a lot. It wasn't comprehensive at all - I had to pot the brown, blue, pink and black in a row to get the win. It was a decent break. I've probably done better than that, my best is around mid-20s, but Tuesday's would have been up there. I think it was the highest break of the night to win. It was a bit lucky, to be fair. Q) Who's the biggest prankster in the changing room and what's the best prank you've seen? (@MoWilson18) We don't really play pranks, it's really just everyone constantly dishing out stick to each other. Shane Annun, our physio, takes a lot of it actually. Q) Would winning the Davis Cup with Team GB mean more to you than winning a Grand Slam? (Linda Farnhill) I think it would be different. The enjoyment you get out of winning as part of a team I would say is greater than on your own. When we win Davis Cup matches it's nicer celebrating with everyone and having a big team around. It would be comparable but completely different to a Slam. Media playback is not supported on this device A Slam also happens in the space of a couple of weeks, whereas the Davis Cup - this year has been over the course of nine or 10 months but it has actually been a much longer road, like five or six years. Q) Given the tour is so worldwide, is there a difficult aspect to playing away from home? (Aidan Williams) It makes a difference but playing in front of a home crowd can help or also hinder in an individual sport. Some players don't enjoy it - they can lift you when you're down but you can also put a lot of pressure on yourself to perform. When you play away from home, the crowd is against you but it does feel like there's a little bit less pressure. The expectation tends to be with the home team. Q) Do you like having a coach/captain on the court during games and would you like to see that introduced on tour? (Greg Edwards) I guess it's nice - it's different. I don't see it as being a negative in any way. The thing with the on-court coaching on the rest of the tour is I don't think it really works. Some players are at a huge disadvantage depending on the language they speak, because if you speak a language that the commentators and others don't understand then the whole tour and locker room don't know what the coach is telling you at the side. If you speak English or Spanish then everyone does, and I don't think that's so fair. Q) Would you ever consider being Great Britain's Davis Cup captain in the future? (William Smith) I've never really thought about it, to be honest. I don't think it would happen immediately after I stop playing because I would want to do other stuff first, but maybe when I'm quite a bit older. It's obviously completely different to what I do now. Obviously I would have  the experience of playing in the matches, so would have a good understanding of how the players are feeling and what they're going through. But you have to be able to communicate well with different people; you have to be able to manage a team, which I think is what Leon Smith has done extremely well. He doesn't have the experience of having played in the matches but his management of the team has been excellent I think. So there are different ways of doing the job, and whether I'd be good at it, I don't know. Q) Will you play the Davis Cup again next year? Please do! (Nicola Jade) The plan is to play the first tie against Japan in March, and then it will be difficult. If we win, the tie after Wimbledon but before the Olympics is not easy timing. Both the Davis Cup and the Olympics events are important, both are for your country, but it's better to prepare properly for one rather than a little bit for both. I would rather prepare as best I can for one and give it my best shot. I'll definitely be playing the tie against Japan, that's for sure, and then after that we'll have to see what happens with my schedule. Media playback is not supported on this device

Question: We @placeholder in Ghent on Monday before the Davis Cup final and so far everything has been great , if a bit cold ! The court is good , the town is nice and , most importantly , I won at snooker .


On Wednesday the UN's food relief agency said the government set prices too high and  malnutrition was rising. But an official at Pakistan's food ministry told the BBC farmers would simply switch to more lucrative crops if wheat prices went down. Devastating floods across Pakistan in 2010 damaged acres of arable land. Although crop yields in 2011 are projected to be healthy, prices are too high for an impoverished population, the director of the UN's World Food Programme told journalists on the sidelines of humanitarian meetings in Geneva on Wednesday. "The crop outlook is not bad but the food security situation remains difficult because prices remain so high," Wolfgang Herbinger said. Malnutrition levels in the southern province of Sindh had reached 21% to 23%, according to the WFP. "That is well above African standards. The emergency standard is 15%," Mr Herbinger said. But lowering prices would do little to help the situation, an official at the food and agriculture ministry, who wished to remain unnamed, said. He also warned that much of the crop would end up in the hands of smugglers. "Low farm-gate prices lead to lower acreage of wheat crop as farmers switch to other crops and it works as an incentive for smugglers seeking international prices in the neighbourhood. "It is nearly impossible to stop smuggling across the Afghan border, which is extremely porous," he said. So if prices are lowered, the official said, the risk is that they would eventually rise to even higher than the level they are currently set at. In the 1990s and between 2007 and 2009 there were severe wheat shortages across Pakistan, leading to extremely high prices. Pakistani officials also say that malnutrition in Sindh province is not a new phenomenon and is unrelated to the food supply. "Government statistics show that food consumption has not gone down despite the doubling of food prices since 2007-08," Kaisar Bengali, advisor to Sindh's chief minister said. A lack of public hygiene facilities and safe drinking water were more important factors in child nutrition, he said. "These are neglected areas, and there has been hardly any development in the public health sector here in decades," Mr Bengali said.

Question: Lowering wheat prices would create food shortages in Pakistan and encourage smuggling , officials say , @placeholder to criticism from the UN .


The singer was shooting a video for his first solo single, Sign Of The Times. Mitchell Partridge, who runs the firm Skye Ghillie, was taking clients fishing at the Storr Lochs when scenes for the music video were shot. Wednesday's stunt in north east Skye saw Styles dangling from a helicopter while being filmed from another. In April last year, Kanye West visited Skye to make a music video. The US musician's trip prompted a pun-filled tweet from Police Scotland and tongue in cheek report in a local newspaper. Sign Of The Times is Styles' first material since One Direction declared a hiatus in January 2016.

Question: A stunt involving One Direction 's Harry Styles dangling from a helicopter on Skye has been @placeholder by a local photographer .


In the heat of the EU upset following Britain's June vote to leave, it probably seemed very sensible to get the other 27 EU countries round a table - after a cooling-off period - to discuss the "what next". It could visibly demonstrate that, despite Brexit, the EU project was very much alive and kicking. But the day of that planned meeting has now dawned, and unity of purpose couldn't be a more distant prospect. At EU summits, leaders traditionally pose for what's known as the "family photo". But, as is the reality behind most family snaps, these 27 kids are variously bickering, sulking and winding each other up, while Jean Claude Juncker, the helicopter mum, and Donald Tusk, the more laissez-faire dad, fall out over parenting techniques. Yet these are difficult times in the EU with its Brexit, migrant and monetary woes. "An existential crisis" said European Commission President Juncker this week. "Turbulent times marked by crisis and conflict," said European Council President Tusk, the host of today's summit. That the meeting takes place in Bratislava is an irony that cannot be ignored. Slovakia was loudly accused of betraying the very notion of EU solidarity after it objected to (and took legal action against) the EU migrant quota scheme to "share the burden" of last year's migrant crisis more equally amongst European partners. Slovakia is also a member of the Visegrad group made up of four central and eastern European countries. That group has been vocal in its constant criticism of EU policies, and demands powers be taken away from Brussels and given back to national parliaments. The Visegrads have announced they'll unveil a reform plan for Europe at this Bratislava summit - though their critics mutter that they are as divided amongst themselves as they are disconnected from Brussels. But EU squabbles aren't solely East-West focused, as we saw at the recent meeting in Athens of the so-called Club Med group of southern Europe. The Mediterranean seethes with resentment at perceived injustices in Eurozone regulations and at German austerity edicts. Meanwhile, Angela Merkel's crown as Queen of Europe has slumped. Her role in last year's migrant crisis - when she declared all Syrians welcome and asylum seekers poured into Germany and across the continent - damaged her standing at home and the rest of Europe. She no longer has the same power to chivvy or bully other EU countries to follow her lead. So while Mr Juncker now desperately calls for better defence projects and job-creating schemes in an attempt to demonstrate the bloc's value to the European public, Donald Tusk has woken up and smelled the pungent coffee notes wafting across the continent. He's seen the increasing influence of nationalist-minded Eurosceptic parties that challenge elites - bankers, traditional politicians and yes, Brussels bureaucrats - all of whom are perceived to be self-serving at the expense of growing sections of society. He knows now is not the time for grand pan-European announcements. Today's meeting on the future of the EU must be "brutally honest", he said. In fact, the 27 EU leaders will probably row behind closed doors and then produce platitudes for the public: pledges on migration and security that Europeans won't believe and their governments will struggle to honour. Because it's not just the EU that's fighting for survival. The leaders of many of its member states are running scared from the populists. They fear for their political lives - and EU projects and visions are not vote winners. So will this Bratislava meeting be the "turning point" Donald Tusk billed it to be, nudging the EU on a path back to stability and credibility? Unlikely. It's far more likely, in true Brussels style, that the can will be kicked further down the road and the EU will muddle on. For now.

Question: It 's essentially a high - level public relations exercise that @placeholder falling humiliatingly flat .


The walled city or Shahjahanabad, as old Delhi was earlier known, was built by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. Few yards away from its historic 17th Century Mughal mosque and within a stone's throw of an old cloth market stands the famous Lala Chunnamal's haveli (mansion). Many such palaces and mansions were built in this city, which was the power centre of the Mughal rule in India, but only a handful of them have survived. The Delhi government's planned work to restore 554 crumbling mansions in the area is yet to begin. But the owners of Lala Chunnamal's haveli take pride in keeping it in a reasonably good condition without any government support. It was built in 1848, nearly a decade before the sepoy mutiny of 1857. Anil Pershad, one of the current owners of the mansion, explains why his haveli is considered grand. "It covers an area of one acre, there are 128 rooms which could house 30 family members, excluding the servants. But now most of the family members have locked up their share of the mansion and shifted to other localities in the city," he says. The once grand facade of the building is now crowded and lined with many shops selling clothes, hardware and spices. But once you step inside the haveli, it's a different world. Two flights of a narrow stairwell open in front of a heavily decorated mirror hung on top of the doorway, which leads to a beautiful courtyard that looks like a structure straight out of a period film. The drawing room is spread over an area of 700 sqft (65 sqm) and its walls are 18ft high. The room has three wooden chimneys and the ceilings are decorated with handmade chandeliers. Huge Belgian mirrors positioned at an angle on the sturdy walls catch the reflection of the breathtakingly beautiful chandeliers, ancient fans suspended from the high ceiling and finely-crafted glass lamps from Europe. Mr Pershad says that his family is the 10th generation of Lala Chunnamal's descendants. Chunnamal was a wealthy man. He used to lend money to the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II and was also a supplier of shawls, silks and brocades to the royal household, Mr Pershad says. He even had great trading relations with India's British rulers. "We actually owned half of old Delhi but now this [mansion] is the only ancestral property that remains with us," says Mr Pershad. He adds that the haveli's old-world charm has attracted many famous people in the past. "India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi used to visit the haveli for dinners," he says "Actress Kate Winslet has also visited the haveli. Even today, Bollywood actors and director often come to see the place as a possible shoot location." The mansion has been listed as a heritage property by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, an organisation that works towards conservation of unprotected architectural heritage and sites in India. But Mr Pershad says nobody has come forward to  help him with the upkeep or preservation of the building. "I do what I can to take care of the mansion and the rooms which are in use with my own money," he says. Maintaining this building is tough, but he has no plans of leaving the area. "I can't imagine living in any other part of Delhi where living quarters are so cramped. I wake up in this house where my forefathers have lived and have witnessed so many important twists and turns of history," he adds. "Even my grandchildren refuse to move out of this old mansion."

Question: Old Delhi draws thousands of tourists every year because of its old - world charm , street @placeholder and heritage buildings . Anasuya Basu visits one such building to explain what makes it special and how the owners are trying to save it from crumbling . Pictures by Mansi Thapliyal .


"They have a fantastic squad and a financial conveyer belt coming from their European exploits, which they have earned," said Shiels. "They have huge advantages over us and we are the underdogs but that doesn't stop us from thinking we can win. "We have lost our last two against them but we must believe we can win." The last of those two defeats for the Candystripes came in a 3-1 reverse in the Premier Division at the same venue just a few weeks ago. "They were better than us that night and they will be buoyant after that, so we have had a lot of preparation to do this week. "They also know how to play on their pitch and it's difficult for teams going there, but we will regard it as a huge challenge. "Players should not need motivation for an FAI Cup semi-final, given the reward for the winners, so we will go there and try to create the impossible." Derry, who reached the last four stage by beating Wexford Youths in the quarter-finals, have appeared in 10 finals to date, winning five of them. League of Ireland champions and leaders Dundalk enjoyed a 1-0 win over Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv in the group stages of the Europa League on Thursday night. St Patrick's Athletic host Cork City in the other semi-final on Sunday.

Question: Derry City manager Kenny Shiels says the " @placeholder are stacked in Dundalk 's favour " ahead of Sunday 's FAI Cup semi-final between the sides at Oriel Park .


Media playback is not supported on this device Lisa Knights, BBC Sport "Anything goes under the water and players compete to gain whatever advantage they can. For Team GB, the women should fight for the bronze medal. They are led by Sam Leighton, who sets a great example to her team. For the men, Craig Figes's side have been given an incredibly hard draw for the group stage with heavyweights Serbia and Hungary in there with them. London 2012 will be the swansong for Hungary's Tamas Kasas, who is looking to end his Olympic career with a fourth successive gold medal. Brenda Villa is tiny by water polo standards but she'll be hoping to inspire the United States' women to success." For Great Britain, there has been nothing to cheer since winning four of the first five Olympic tournaments and the country has not even qualified since 1956. Host nation status means both men and women will have teams at London, although medals are unlikely to be on the cards. Hungary are the sport's most successful Olympic team with 15 medals, including nine golds, and have won the last three men's titles. However, they are yet to win a medal in the women's event, which was introduced at the 2000 Games in Sydney. Russia (previously the Soviet Union), Serbia (previously Yugoslavia), Italy and the USA have also performed consistently well down the years. Water polo combines the shooting skills of handball, the ball-handling skills of basketball or netball, and the speed and stamina of swimming. Players can swim up three miles at a high tempo in the course of a match. This means you can burn approximately 465 calories during a game, making it an excellent way to lose body fat. As it is a team game, water polo is an excellent way to develop communication skills and learn to work effectively with other people. Clubs also offer a variety of social events beyond simply playing the sport. Water polo works many of the muscle groups in the body. The leg muscles are in constant motion as players keep themselves afloat, while the ball-throwing action strengthens arm muscles. The effort of intensive swimming combined with fighting for possession helps boost cardiovascular fitness and lower blood pressure. For those looking to take part, there are more than 300 water polo clubs in the United Kingdom. People in England, Wales and Scotland can visit the British Swimming team sports page for details of where you can play. The Swim Ulster websites contains information for where people in Northern Ireland can find their nearest club. Get your performance under pressure analysed in just 20 minutes by four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson Start the experiment Further details about training schemes and events can be found on the Amateur Swimming Association,Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales websites. Water polo clubs provide balls, nets, referees and coaches to members. For beginners, all you will need is a swimming suit or swimming trunks, and a swimming cap. Many clubs offer mini water polo sessions for children aged eight to 11. This activity teaches the fundamentals of aquatics and the sport as a whole. British Swimming is working with the BBC to get the UK into the pool in a celebration of swimming events called the Big Splash. A wide range of activities, including competitive races, swimming lessons and aqua aerobics, are being put on in swimming pools throughout the country. Sign up to British Swimming's mailing list to be sent details of the latest events and use their pool finder to find out where you can get started. More on the British Swimming website 'Join In Local Sport' aims to get as many people as possible to turn up and take part in activities at their local sports facilities on 18/19 August, 2012 - the first weekend between the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The aim of the initiative is for every sports club and community group in the UK to put on a special event in a bid to encourage more people to get involved as members, supporters or volunteers. More than 4,000 local sports clubs will be opening their doors to host events and show people just how they can get involved. As well as tips on playing sport there will be information on coaching, supporting and how to help out. Find an event near you. More on the London 2012 website Each nation has a 13-man squad, with seven allowed in the pool at any one time. The number of substitutions are unlimited. Matches consist of four periods, each of them eight minutes long. A team has just 30 seconds to attempt to score before the ball is returned to the opposition. Hungary came from 7-5 down to beat Serbia 8-7 in the Athens 2004 final, with Gergely Kiss scoring the winning goal Whenever the referee whistles, the clock and play both stop. At the start of each period, players line up on their goal line and the ball is released from a special float in the centre of the pool. Only the goalkeeper can touch or hold the ball with both hands, but a goal can be scored by any part of the body apart from the clenched fist. Players are not allowed to touch the sides or the bottom of the pool during play. In each group stage match, two points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a defeat. If, at the end of a knockout match, the score is tied, two further three-minute periods will be played. A penalty shoot-out of five penalties per team will take place if no winner emerges. If the match still remains tied, a sudden-death shoot-out will take place. More on the Team GB website Both the Team GB men's and women's sides will have their work cut out against the powerhouses of world water polo. The women, already through to the quarter-finals as the group stage is used to determine who plays who in the last eight, will struggle to go further. The men will do well to reach the quarter-finals, with four teams set to bow out after their group games. Serbia are men's World League, World Cup and European champions, but Italy beat them in the final of the World Championships last year. Croatia and Montenegro are also strong, while Hungary are looking for a fourth straight gold. The women's event is wide open, with USA, Italy, Greece and China among the contenders for the title. So called because in its earliest days players rode on floating barrels that resembled mock horses, and swung at the ball with mallet-like sticks, water polo was developed in Europe and the United States as two differing sports. The modern form of the game is based on the European version and made its Olympic debut at the Paris Games in 1900 when Great Britain won gold. Wedgies - where players pull up an opponent's swimming costume to cause eye-watering discomfort - are so commonplace in the women's game that some teams, including the Spanish, have taken to giving themselves wedgies before matches in order to prevent them during play Their superiority over Belgium in the final was such that they limited the amount of shots they took to spare their opponents' embarrassment. The early version of the sport bore a key difference to the one we now know - swimming was not necessary. Instead, those first Olympic medals were contested in pools only deep enough for a spot of advanced wading. As a result many of the players could not actually swim. During the 1920s though, games were switched to larger, deeper pools. Swimming became a prerequisite and the sport advanced from little more than a holiday pastime to a skilled and physically demanding sport. It was not included in 1904 but has appeared at each subsequent edition of the Games, with the women's event introduced in 2000. More on the IOC website

Question: Water polo is fast , furious and easy to understand , with players needing to combine skill and @placeholder with endurance .


Wales have lost all three of the games they have played in their current second strip of grey and charcoal hoops with a green detail - including both of their defeats in Euro 2016. And although it may seem unlikely that a group of professional footballers would allow themselves to be unnerved by such a quirk, Wales do appear to be spooked by their unlucky away kit. The Euro semi-finalists might have to don the unwanted shirt again on Thursday for their World Cup qualifier away against Austria, whose red home strip clashes with Wales' usual colour. "I am not sure if they [Austria] will play in red or white, but I can tell you no-one wants to wear our grey kit. I will be happy if I never see that kit again," says Coleman. "The red kit is the kit that we will always want to play in, we love being in the red. "In years gone by I would have said to you that players do not care what kit they wear, but they do." Coleman smiles at this point, but his admission is a startling one. Welsh football is at an all-time high following the national team's run to a first major tournament semi-final in France earlier this year. Yet there is a brittle apprehension among the players about swapping their familiar red shirts for the unlucky grey. Wales lost their first game in the shirt - a 1-0 friendly defeat in Ukraine in March - and they were beaten by England when they wore it for the first time at Euro 2016. Russia allowed them to wear red for their pivotal final group game, which Wales won handsomely, and they stayed in their home kit for the knockout victories over Northern Ireland and Belgium. However, semi-final opponents Portugal decided Coleman's men would wear grey for their encounter - and the curse struck again. "Portugal made us wear the away kit in the semi-final in the Euros, even though they were in their own away kit," Coleman adds. "Russia thankfully allowed us to wear red when we beat them, but they could have made us wear grey." With Wales likely to wear grey again in Austria, the game in Vienna could provide the chance to end their away kit hoodoo. It may seem a trivial matter, but Coleman thinks Austria might try to exploit a potential Welsh weakness. "If you are Austrian it is something you would look at, if you know the opposition prefer playing in a certain colour," he says. "The players will talk about it, the Austrians will know about it, they should know about it. "If we have to wear it we have to deal with it, but ideally we will be in red."

Question: The lime green piping of Wales ' grey away kit bears more than a passing resemblance to kryptonite - and the shirt seems to have as detrimental an effect on Chris Coleman 's side as the fictional @placeholder does on Superman .


Britain First did not get permission to use royal emblems on T-shirts and hoodies. Organisations wanting to feature certain royal symbols have to contact the Royal Household. Britain First failed to do so. Now the Cabinet Office has intervened, ordering the party not to use the crown. The Royal Household has issued guidance showing three "conventional representations" of the Royal Crown that must not be used without permission. But it says there is nothing to stop the use of other crown designs that do not resemble the Royal Crown. The Cabinet Office - the government's link to the Royal Household - said it had written to Britain First, whose campaign slogan is Taking Our Country Back. Asked what would happen if the party did not comply, a Cabinet Office spokesman refused to say what the next steps would be. The Advertising Standards Authority has also ruled that the party should remove images of the Crown from its website. It followed a complaint from an "internet user". In a statement, the ASA said:  "We understood from the Cabinet Office that the Lord Chamberlain's Office, responsible for authorising official use of the Royal Crown and Scottish Arms, had not granted permission for Britain First to use the royal emblems on their merchandising. "The design on the clothing was clearly visible on the website pages and in the ad on Facebook and, because we had seen no evidence to show that Britain First was entitled to use the emblems, we considered that the images of the Royal Crown and Scottish Arms had been used without prior permission and therefore breach the Code." The ASA wrote to Britain First about the issue but did not get a response. Britain First leader Paul Golding told the BBC he was ignoring the ASA's ruling, describing the organisation as a "toothless, powerless quango". Mr Golding said he had not received a letter from the Cabinet Office. He insisted that the crown used by Britain First was not a royal crown which meant permission was not required. In its "mission statement", Britain First says: "Our policies are pro-British, our approach is no-nonsense and our principles are not open to compromise. "We love our people, our nation, our heritage and culture and will defend them at all times and no matter what odds we face." A photo of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh is featured next to the statement. The party stood at this year's European elections, gaining 1.02% of the vote in Scotland and 0.9% in Wales - in the only two constituencies where it fielded candidates.

Question: A breakaway group from the British National Party has been ordered to remove images of the Royal Crown from @placeholder material and merchandise .


Super League side Cas are understood to want ¡ê500,000 in compensation after the 23-year-old quit to join Sale. He was contracted at the Tigers until 2018, but moved to the Premiership team in December on a three-year deal. Solomona scored 42 tries in 2016 and has added nine tries in eight games since his cross-code switch. BBC Sport understands an out-of-court settlement for the former Samoa rugby league international could now be decided between the clubs. His form since his move to Sale has prompted suggestions that the New Zealand-born wing could play for England when he becomes eligible. Prominent sports lawyer David Seligman suggested the legal battle over the contract could affect both rugby codes, in a way the Bosman ruling affected football.

Question: Castleford 's court case against Sale winger Denny Solomona , his @placeholder Andy Clarke and the Sharks at the High Court will be adjourned .


O'Hare led a remarkable Scottish 1-2-3-4 at the World Championships team trials, qualifying along with Edinburgh AC team-mate Josh Kerr. The 26-year-old is enthused by younger rivals coming through as he strives to stay ahead. "Once they do well, that drives me on to work harder and train smarter," he told BBC Scotland. Jake Wightman, also of Edinburgh AC, and Neil Gourlay from Giffnock North AC came in behind O'Hare and Kerr in Birmingham on Sunday. And O'Hare, a European bronze medallist in 2014, admits he has has lost sleep over the coming generation of Scottish runners. "The day after Josh ran his 1500m qualifying time I had a 5K and I woke up a three o'clock in the morning and stupidly looked at the results," said O'Hare. "I couldn't get back to sleep. "I was excited for him but also excited by the prospect of having to fight even more people for a spot on the team." Having clinched his spot in London in August, O'Hare believes a mixture of the Scottish psyche and American collegiate system is behind the rise. "The depth of 1500m running in Britain is incredible at the moment," he said. "If you compare it to something like football, for the four best players in Britain to be Scottish has never happened and, arguably, never will. "Scottish people, in general, have a chip on their shoulder. In terms of competing against the rest of Britain, we work extra hard to make sure the small Scots get their piece of the pie. "In junior championships, the English dominate. In international schools and stuff like that, the English win most of the team prizes. That puts our guard up." O'Hare, Kerr and Gourlay all left Scotland as teenagers to continue their athletic careers in America. "It's a fantastic system to develop not just ability but racing prowess," said O'Hare, who will be running in Sunday's London Anniversary Games. "We saw that at the weekend with first second and fourth all coming through the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association]. "But we had a platform to succeed and we must thank Scottish Athletics for that."

Question: British 1500 m champion Chris O' Hare says the success of fellow Scots is a @placeholder for his good form .


Those assertions were outlined in a report from the Tech City UK quango and innovation charity Nesta a little while back, which highlighted how many of the innovation-focused enterprises had benefited from clustering together. To mark the BBC's Tech Talent week, we've revisited the study and focused on the areas where there are at least 7,000 digital tech jobs. What's striking is that at first glance, the numbers seem to confirm that London's cluster is well ahead of any other - and indeed the capital hosts several of tech's better-known names. But once you combine the data with official population statistics, another picture emerges. Based on a calculation of how many tech jobs there are per head of the local population, Cambridge, Reading and Bracknell, and Oxford and Abingdon take the lead. It's no coincidence that all three have universities with strong reputations for science, engineering and computing. Southampton and Manchester also do well. And Ipswich is another standout, thanks to the fact that many firms there have congregated around the headquarters of BT Research - the telecoms firm's R&D division. The figures should still be treated with caution: Tech City UK may have been generous in the way it defined some of the jobs as being tech-related. And it's also notable how few of the firms in the list below are the kind of household names you would associate with Silicon Valley. Digital tech jobs: 328,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: four Specialisms: Financial tech, social networks, digital media Foreign-owned firms: Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft Locally headquartered: Shazam, Transferwise, Deliveroo, Citymapper Digital tech jobs: 52,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: 10 Specialisms: App development, digital marketing, digital entertainment Foreign-owned firms: Google, Priceline Locally headquartered: Apadmi, The Lad Bible, PushDoctor, UKFast Digital tech jobs: 40,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: 14 Specialisms: Cybersecurity, business software, data analytics Foreign-owned firms: Nvidia, Microsoft, Symantec, Wipro Locally headquartered: Altitude Angel, Cloud Direct, Fantoo Digital tech jobs: 37,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: six Specialisms: Education tech, semiconductors, video games Foreign-owned firms: Amazon, HP, Oracle, Unity Locally headquartered: Opposable Games, Tribal Group, Xmos Digital tech jobs: 36,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: three Specialisms: Business software, Online gambling Foreign-owned firms: N/A Locally headquartered: Majestic, Yumzee, Intouch Games Digital tech jobs: 26,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: four Specialisms: Cloud computing, e-commerce, financial tech Foreign-owned firms: Cloudwick Technology, FanDuel Locally headquartered: Iomart, M Squared Lasers, SwarmOnline Digital tech jobs: 25,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: 13 Specialisms: Cybersecurity, cloud computing, video games, health tech Foreign-owned firms: Proofpoint, Tripadvisor, Zynga Locally headquartered: Rebellion, Sophos, Oxford Instruments Digital tech jobs: 25,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: 10 Specialisms: Hardware, e-commerce, data analytics Foreign-owned firms: Artificial Solutions, Pivotal Software Locally headquartered: Symetrica, nquiringminds, SPI Lasers Digital tech jobs: 24,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: three Specialisms: App development, e-commerce, video games Foreign-owned firms: Rockstar Games Locally headquartered: Double Eleven, Sky Bet, Instantcart Digital tech jobs: 22,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: three Specialisms: Financial tech, analytics, video games Foreign-owned firms: Ubisoft, Epic Games, CCP Games Locally headquartered: Sage, Orchard Systems, ZeroLight Digital tech jobs: 21,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: four Specialisms: Financial tech, health tech, e-commerce Foreign-owned firms: Amazon, Rockstar, FanDuel, Toshiba Locally headquartered: Axios Systems, Craneware, Skyscanner Digital tech jobs: 21,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: six Specialisms: Business software, app development, financial tech Foreign-owned firms: IBM, West Corp Locally headquartered: Signature Digital, Jadu, Boop.js Digital tech jobs: 20,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: four Specialisms: App development, video games Foreign-owned firms: ConcertCare Locally headquartered: Lucid Games, Firesprite, LivingLens Digital tech jobs: 19,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: three Specialisms: Financial tech, business software development, medical tech Foreign-owned firms: Alert Logic Locally headquartered: Confused.com, Energist Medical Group, Dezrez Digital tech jobs: 19,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: 15 Specialisms: Artificial intelligence, internet-of-things, data analytics Foreign-owned firms: ARM, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Spotify, Thales Locally headquartered: Darktrace, Frontier Developments, Featurespace Digital tech jobs: 16,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: six Specialisms: Video games, app development, data analytics Foreign-owned firms: American Express Locally headquartered: BossAlien, Brandwatch, West Pier Studio Digital tech jobs: 14,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: two Specialisms: Hardware, business software development, e-commerce Foreign-owned firms: Wandisco, Ultimate Drone, NXP Locally headquartered: Desq, Sumo Digital, Xactium Digital tech jobs: 14,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: four Specialisms: App development, telecommunications, video games Foreign-owned firms: Wanda Group Locally headquartered: Amuzo, Oak Innovation, Redweb Digital tech jobs: 11,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: seven Specialisms: E-commerce, education tech Foreign-owned companies: N/A Locally headquartered: Crowdcube, Dashboard, Sparx Digital tech jobs: 10,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: seven Specialisms: E-commerce, digital advertising, app development Foreign-owned firms: Intel, Huawei, Ericsson Locally headquartered: BT Research, Coderus, Kcom Digital tech jobs: 8,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: two Specialisms: Business software development, cybersecurity Foreign-owned firms: Oracle, Philips, SpotX Locally headquartered: Neueda, Kainos, RepKnight Digital tech jobs: 7,000 Tech jobs per 100 residents: four Specialisms: Cybersecurity, app development Foreign-owned firms: Blackberry, Lockheed Martin, Yamazaki Mazak Locally headquartered: Deep-Secure, D-Risq, Titania

Question: There are more than 1.5 million " digital tech " jobs in the UK , and the @placeholder is said to be growing faster in terms of turnover and productivity than the wider economy .


The rail and bus operator cut its full-year earnings forecast as it said passengers had cut back on trips to big cities since last month's attacks. The company also said there had been "softer than expected revenue" for several of its regional UK bus businesses. Shares in Stagecoach closed down 14.4% to 304.7p in response. However, the fall in the share price was also due to other factors mentioned in the statement released with its half-year results, said Nomura analyst James Hollins. "The combination of a cautious outlook, withdrawal from the East Anglia rail bidding process and clear indication from management that exceptional shareholder returns should not be expected near-term are likely to drive market concerns," he said. Chief executive Martin Griffiths admitted that "challenges remain in our sector in the short-term". Stagecoach said that discretionary travel had been worst hit, with fewer journeys to London on its South West train network outside usual commuter times. There were also fewer journeys between Oxford and the capital on its regular coach service. Finance director Ross Paterson said passenger journeys had started to return to more normal levels. "We are certainly seeing it recovering, the growth rates, particularly over the last week - they're starting to pick up again," he said. Stagecoach runs East Midlands Trains and operates the East Coast and West Coast rail franchises in partnership with Virgin. The company also has bus operations in cities including London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield and Cambridge as well as Megabus long-distance coaches in North America, Europe and the UK. Lower motoring costs in the US and Canada had reduced demand for Megabus inter-city services, Stagecoach said, prompting a review of its operations there. For the six months to 31 October, revenue rose ¡ê430m to ¡ê1.97bn, with pre-tax profit up ¡ê12.9m to ¡ê121.5m. The interim dividend was raised by 9.4% to 3.5p.

Question: Stagecoach has blamed the Paris terror attacks for a slowdown in revenue growth at the transport @placeholder .


Broadband suppliers will now have to show upfront and monthly costs, without separating out line rental prices, according to the changes brought in by the Advertising Standards Authority. The rules were originally due to be implemented in May, but firms asked for more time to comply with the changes. The ASA said customers were now much less likely to be misled. "The effect should be a real positive difference in how consumers understand and engage with ads for broadband services," said ASA chief executive Guy Parker. The move comes after research by the ASA, conducted with regulator Ofcom last year, found that most users could not correctly calculate bills based on the information given in a selection of broadband ads. People were "likely to be confused and misled" by price claims in the adverts, the ASA found. Geoff Roberts, from Northampton, told the BBC that he found broadband adverts "completely misleading". "What was advertised up front - when you really went into it - was nothing like what they were offering. The monthly amount was not clear." He was paying nearly ?¡ê45 for his phone and broadband, but reduced that amount to ?¡ê26.50 when he switched to another provider. To comply with the new rules, broadband providers will now have to: Digital and Culture Minister Matt Hancock welcomed the ASA's move. "Making broadband providers show all-inclusive, upfront prices in their advertisements means consumers will be much better placed to make an informed choice when deciding on a service," he added. Technology expert Chris Green told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's going to level the playing field, and make pricing more transparent. "But mostly it's about providing a lot more clarity to customers." However, there will be no change to the rules on the way providers are allowed to advertise the broadband speeds on offer. "If a broadband company advertises a particular speed, actually only up to 10% of people need to get that speed, which a lot of people would say is quite misleading," said Steve Nowottny from Moneysavingexpert. One reason for that rule is that different customers will experience different speeds, according to how far they live from the telephone exchange.

Question: New rules @placeholder broadband firms to be clearer in adverts on the costs of their contracts have come into effect .


The fighters have achieved significant victories against the Sunni extremists of the so-called Islamic State (IS), driving them from a swathe of territory south-west of Mosul. They claim to have cleared more than 2,000 sq km (772 sq miles). This is now the terrain of the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMUs). It's a coalition of mostly Shia paramilitaries, backed by Iran. We were taken to see one of their most recent gains: a rough dirt and gravel road linking Mosul to Raqqa, the self-declared IS capital across the border in Syria. It was a crucial artery for IS, with two-way traffic of fighters and weapons. "That used to be a very heavy logistics road so they can export car bombs from Syria," said the PMU spokesman, Ammar al-Musawi, standing by the roadside. "There were three routes and we took all of them. There is no way out. Right now I can say that loud and clear Mosul is surrounded 100%." While PMU forces have completed the encirclement of Mosul, the Shia-led Iraqi government has promised they won't enter the mainly Sunni city. Some there say they fear the paramilitaries more than extremists of IS. Shia militias have been accused of serious abuses in previous operations against IS, including war crimes. As trucks full of fighters passed, heading for the frontline, Mr al-Musawi gave his response. "Let me put it that way: we are army, and we are not angels," he told me. "I mean, let's talk about big armies in the world, the great armies in the world. Let's talk about US army, what happened in Abu Ghraib. So if there is someone who did a mistake, he will go to the judge." That may not reassure human rights groups like Amnesty International, who are worried about a repeat of the past. "The immediate concern is definitely a recurrence of what happened before in Fallujah," said Razaw Salihy, Iraq campaigner at Amnesty International. Amnesty says that during operations to retake the city in May and June, Shia militias detained 1,300 men and boys from a Sunni tribe. "More than 600 are still missing," said Ms Salihy. "Witnesses spoke of incidents of torture, beatings and death." Critics are also worried about legislation, recently passed by the Iraqi parliament, fully legalising the PMU as part of the armed forces. It is now an authorised but separate military corps. "We are concerned that the law is vague," said Ms Salihy. "They will be under the prime minister but not the ministry of defence. How will they be answerable? What oversight will there be?" Iraq's Western allies - who also have their concerns about the Shia paramilitaries - will be watching carefully to see where they direct their firepower as they continue their advance. In the weak sunlight of a winter morning, we witnessed them closing in on the mostly Sunni village of Tal Faris. They said it was empty of all but IS fighters. Convoys of military vehicles approached from two directions, enveloped in clouds of desert dust. IS fighters were quick to respond. By noon, four suicide bombers in improvised armoured vehicles came speeding from the village. A pair of Iraqi army helicopters swooped in, targeting them from above. On the high ground overlooking the battlefield PMU commander Gen Ali al-Hamdani choreographed the attack shouting orders into a walkie-talkie. "Use the cannons and rockets," he said. "Pound this area. They are there and I don't want any of them to escape. Hurry. Let's burn the village." He told his men to keep their distance. "Do a circle, one kilometre back," he ordered. "Please don't go closer. Watch from left and right because we are in an open field. You are heroes." By early afternoon some had paid with their lives. The PMU refused to disclose how many. As air strikes rained down on IS positions, there were cries of  "Labaik Ya Hussein" from his fighters - a phrase used in times of battle, invoking the memory of the revered Shia Imam Hussein ibn Ali. As to whether they will ultimately enter Mosul, Gen al-Hamdani said they would follow orders. "We have our leadership and they will tell us that. We have a commander and our commander will go to the prime minister." He was dismissive of allegations of abuses by Shia paramilitary units, and of respected international human rights groups. "I was in intelligence," he said. "I know what these people were doing here. They pretended to be helping Iraqis but they were transferring information to Daesh (IS)." "Anyone who is against the PMU is supporting Daesh."

Question: In hues of red , green , and gold , the flags are hard to miss . When Iraq 's powerful Shia militias take control of an area , they plant their banners liberally , like seeds in the soil . In a country blighted by sectarian bloodshed , some think it 's a poisonous @placeholder .


Mohammed Ali Abboud is on trial for murdering Agnieszka Szefler at the home they used to share in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, in January. The jury were shown video footage of Mr Abboud telling detectives Ms Szefler "fell" with the knife in her hand. The 57-year-old denies all the charges against him. The High Court in Edinburgh heard Mr Abboud told officers that Ms Szefler's temper changed just before she had her period and that she often threw household items at him during this time. He said the 27-year-old teacher sustained serious injuries during the struggle on 23 January. He said: "She fell. She had the knife in her hand." The video footage of the police interview was shown on the fourth day of proceedings against Mr Abboud, who also denies a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by covering up his role in his former partner's death. In the footage, a detective told Mr Abboud that he did not believe his claims that he did not murder Ms Szefler. The policeman then asked the accused to admit that he murdered her. But Mr Abboud said the pair got into a struggle and he was trying to stop her from causing any of them serious injury. He said: "I was trying to stop her. It got out of hand." Mr Abboud's lawyers have lodged a special defence of self defence. The trial, before judge Lord Uist, continues.

Question: A man accused of stabbing his ex-partner to death told police she came at him with a knife and they @placeholder to struggle , a court has heard .


And it's important to remember that behind all the statistics about hundreds of thousands of grades are personal stories of hopes and fears. But it's also an annual ritual to use A-level results as a way of taking stock of the education system. This year it will be hard to throw accusations of "grade inflation" or slipping standards because the results are almost exactly the same as last year. "Stability", this year's watchword from exam board chiefs, is not exactly going to set pulses racing. But it will be what exam regulators intended, promoting reassurance and continuity rather than volatility and turbulence for the "gold standard" qualification. Head teachers, including those in independent schools, have often been vociferous in their doubts about the reliability of marking and the exam system. And they have also complained about how an exam system which now promotes stability in results is reconciled with pressures on schools to keep getting higher grades, or else be accused of "coasting". But this year could also be something of a calm before the storm. The results announced this week are for exams taken under the old system of A-levels. The plans for tougher, non-modular exams and the decoupling of A and AS-levels, announced by former education secretary Michael Gove, have still to be introduced. In many ways these results have been the closing act of the old exam system. In a couple of years, when the redesigned A-levels are being taken for the first time, outcomes could be less predictable. And when results seem so similar it's easy to miss the big underlying patterns. The number of school leavers heading to university continues to rise relentlessly. Regardless of government, economic cycles, fees and exam results, year after year, decade after decade, more young people sign up for undergraduate courses. There will be more people starting university this autumn than were getting five good GCSEs a couple of decades ago. It's a major social change. In 1980, about 68,000 people were getting undergraduate degrees, by 2000 that had risen to 243,000. On Thursday morning, even before clearing had begun and second choices had been weighed up, there were 409,000 places confirmed. The removal of a limit on university numbers introduced this year is budgeted on the assumption that there is not much extra demand left in the system, perhaps another 30,000 or so. But this has been a remarkably resilient, aspirational, upward curve. It's also worth noting that despite the irresistible rise in young full-time students, the number of part-time and mature students has never really recovered from the hike in tuition fees, despite repeated warnings about the skills gap and the need for re-training. The gender divide is another pattern that seems to deepen. Last year saw the widest gap, with 58,000 more women getting university places than men. And the first admissions figures from this year show an even wider gap than at the same stage last year. The headline UK figure for top A* and A grades fell marginally this year to 25.9%. But in the south east of England the proportion was 38.8% and in London it was 36.2%. In Wales, the figure is 23.1% and in Northern Ireland 29.3%. This year's A-level figures show maths, English and biology to be the most popular subjects, with maths having steadily increased in recent years. But there is an even longer-term trend in the decline of French. When the gender divide and national differences overlap, it means that in Wales there were only 128 boys taking A-level French this year. The changes about to be introduced for A-levels in England will also accelerate devolution within the exam system. England, Wales and Northern Ireland might continue to call their exams A-levels, but they are going to be increasingly different. How long will the grades be published together as though they were equivalents? But for the students and their families getting results there will be more immediate concerns with celebrations and commiserations.

Question: A - level results have arrived , @placeholder good news and disappointment .