Plans to reduce CrossCountry train services between Aberdeen and Edinburgh have been scrapped.

Article: The Welsh government is concerned e-cigarette use may normalise smoking.
A Liberal Democrat attempt to scrap the restrictions from the Public Health Bill is likely to fail with some Plaid Cymru AMs, including Elin Jones, supporting the regulations.
AMs will debate the ban, which has been watered down following opposition pressure, next week.
Previously the Welsh government wanted to restrict the use of e-cigarettes in all enclosed public and work places.
But a committee report found AMs were divided, with Plaid's Elin Jones suggesting imposing less stringent restrictions on e-cigarettes than those on tobacco.
In January, AMs approved amendments by Health Minister Mark Drakeford restricting the ban to establishments including schools, hospitals, train and bus stations and places selling food.
"Wet-only" pubs which do not serve food or have children on the premises are excluded.
The Welsh government will try to extend this list next week to a further list, including entertainment venues such as cinemas and zoos, shops and playgrounds.
Plaid Cymru is having a free vote on the issue. A spokesman for Elin Jones told BBC News she would be voting for the compromise proposal.
Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid AM for North Wales, also said he was likely to support the restrictions, although he had not made a final decision. Some other Plaid AMs said they were opposed to the ban.
A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said party leader Leanne Wood would consider the evidence before the vote, but was "generally not in favour".
The Liberal Democrats are tabling amendments to scrap the restrictions, which the Welsh Conservatives said they would support.
Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams said: "Labour and Plaid AMs have one last chance next week to join thousands of Welsh vapers in backing the Welsh Lib Dems, and consign this vaping ban to the dustbin of history."
Labour needs the support of one opposition member.
Some anti-smoking campaigners have opposed restrictions, saying e-cigarettes help smokers kick the habit.
A Welsh government...

Summary: A ban on e-cigarettes in some public places is likely to win support from the assembly.
###
Article: The gold solidus, found by a metal detector enthusiast in a field near Norwich, is thought to have been dropped or buried circa AD 410.
Adrian Marsden, a coin expert based at Norwich Castle Museum, said: "We see very few Roman gold coins. It would have a spending power of about Â£1,000."
The hoard was among a number of items declared treasure in April.
"This is a very late Roman coin hoard," said Mr Marsden.
"The mixture of gold and silver does happen, it's very similar to the hoard found in Hoxne in terms of the mix, they just had many more.
"We see very few Roman gold coins, just two or three a year if we're lucky. It could be a purse loss, or there's always the chance they are part of a much bigger pot."
Items also declared treasure by Norfolk's assistant deputy coroner David Osborne included an Anglo-Saxon silver pin found in Scoulton, a Middle Bronze Age Gold Bead discovered in Salthouse and a hoard of 59 silver Roman coins that date from the Roman Republic to Tiberius, the second emperor of Rome.
"As this hoard finishes with the coins of Tiberius, it could date to either the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, or possibly the Boudicca revolt in AD 61, it's difficult to say either way," said Mr Marsden.
"It's likely it was buried to have come from a Roman soldier or perhaps settlers trying to hide their hoard from the Iceni invasion. We tend not to see many of this type of Roman silver coins, so to have 59 is really quite unusual.
"Coins this size have a spending power of about Â£30-Â£40 in today's money - it'd certain buy a soldier a few jugs of wine."
A medieval gold pendant found in Foxley and a medieval silver seal matrix unearthed in Sustead, near Cromer, were also declared treasure.
Erica Darch, from Norfolk Historic Environment Services and the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), said: "It's important to record all archaeological finds, treasure or not, because when studied as an assemblage they add enormously to our understanding of Norfolk's past.
"Medieval 13-14th Century seal matrices are not...

Summary: A hoard of Roman gold and silver coins, described by an expert as a "lucky" find, have been discovered in Norfolk.
###
Article: Oskar Groening spoke at the beginning of his trial for being an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 Jews at the concentration camp.
He described his role of counting money confiscated from new arrivals and said he witnessed mass killings, but denied any direct role in the genocide.
If found guilty he could face three to 15 years in prison.
Addressing the judges, Mr Groening also said: "I ask for forgiveness. I share morally in the guilt but whether I am guilty under criminal law, you will have to decide.''
This is expected to be one of the final trials for Nazi war crimes.
Oskar Groening looked frail as he entered the courtroom leaning on a walking frame. But his voice was strong and steady as he spoke for nearly an hour.
Four survivors from the notorious death camp faced him across the room. Much of his testimony described his attempts to achieve his ambition of being an SS "executive", to work as a bookkeeper for the Nazis.
But there were haunting moments too; for a little while we saw the horrors of Auschwitz through his eyes.
The survivors watched him impassively but their younger relatives shook their heads in disbelief as he recounted his arrival at the camp as a young SS guard. He'd been plied with vodka by officers there, he said.
He even described the vodka bottles. As they drank the officers told him that the camp was for deported Jews. That those Jewish prisoners would be killed and disposed of.
Later, he pulled out a water bottle: "I'll drink from it like I drank from those vodka bottles in Auschwitz."
The nonagenarian has achieved notoriety as one of the few Germans to speak out about their role in the genocide, a decision he say he took to stop Holocaust deniers.
"I saw the gas chambers. I saw the crematoria," he told the BBC in the 2005 documentary Auschwitz: the Nazis and the "Final Solution".
"I was on the ramp when the selections [for the gas chambers] took place."
Profile: Oskar Groening, 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz'
Mr Groening, who began work at Auschwitz aged 21, has always...

Summary: A 93-year-old former Nazi SS guard, known as the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz", has admitted he is "morally" guilty.
###
Article: Chinese film studio Light Chaser Animation has taken an unusual approach to help to solve this problem - it bought a robot.
The device is a "telepresence robot", which it acquired from California-based Double Robotics. It consists of a battery-powered mobile platform to which an iPad is attached.
The wi-fi controlled device can move around the company's offices and it allows animation director Colin Brady  - who lives in Los Angeles and did not want to move to China - to communicate with the rest of the team in Beijing.
He says he uses the robot more than he initially expected to. "During meetings and interviewing new employees, it is very helpful to look people in the eye and then look at their screen," says Mr Brady.
"It is very weird to be a robot that can roll around independently and surprise people at their desks, but that's a little bit of the fun part too." The best thing for him about using it is it allows him to spend more time at home.
His assistant Mo Chen says: "It's a bit scary when Colin suddenly shows up from behind, but thankfully, this doesn't happen a lot." But she says she does not find it weird talking to Colin through the device, since she is used to using Apple's Facetime app.
Company founder Gary Wang says the robot is just one example of the new communication tools that are now available to make working easier for teams that are dispersed across the world.
He adds that recruiting and retaining the right staff is absolutely vital for start-up businesses.
"If you hire 'A' class people they will hire 'A' class people from that point on. If you hire 'B' class people thenâ€¦ it will just go downhill from there. So we want to find our 'A' class people."
Mr Wang says the goal of the company is to produce animated movies like those made by Pixar and Dreamworks, aiming to achieve the same level of quality as the giant US studios.
He believes that the time is right for his new venture. As China goes through a transition from an economy based on industry, to one more driven by domestic...

Summary: A familiar issue for many businesses these days is a scarcity of top talent.
###
Article: Proposed timetable changes could have seen four of six services being cut.
However, CrossCountry said there would now be no changes to timetables from this December, and that further discussion would take place on the future of the services.
It followed discussions with the Department for Transport and Transport Scotland.
A CrossCountry spokesman said: "Last year CrossCountry consulted widely on possible changes to its timetables from December 2017.
"These included the option of changing the number of CrossCountry services north of Edinburgh to and from north east Scotland, allowing the local train operator ScotRail to provide these.
"After discussions between the Department for Transport and Transport Scotland, it became clear that ScotRail would be unable to replicate these services at this time, so it was agreed there would be no changes to CrossCountry's Scottish timetables from this December and further discussion would take place to agree the future of these services."

Summary:


The Supreme Court has ruled that the US constitution does not require states to recognise gay marriages performed in other states.
The court said the US constitution does not require states to recognise gay marriages performed in other states.
The ruling is a victory for gay rights campaigners, who have been fighting to overturn bans in states that have

The US Supreme Court will rule this year on whether gay couples have a right to marry across all states.

Article: Swansea City striker Bafetimbi Gomis took questions in English from 40 pupils at Ffynone House School and answered in French.
The visit was also used to help the 29-year-old improve his English as he was taught by the school's French teacher Francoise Robert.
"When I first came to Swansea I could only say 'hello'," said Gomis.

Summary: Pupils at a Swansea school have been given an extra lesson in French by a Premier League footballer.
###
Article: Dr Ian Levy, technical director of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, made the accusation in a speech.
He said the firms played up hackers' abilities to help them sell security hardware and services.
Overplaying hackers' skills let the firms claim only they could defeat attackers, a practice he likened to "witchcraft".
In a keynote speech at the Usenix Enigma security conference, Dr Levy said it was dangerous to listen only to firms that made a living from cybersecurity.
"We are allowing massively incentivised companies to define the public perception of the problem," he is reported as saying.
He criticised security companies' marketing materials for depicting hackers as hugely skilled masterminds and for the hyperbolic language they used to describe cyberthreats.
Playing up the threats let security firms establish themselves as the only ones that could defeat hackers with hardware that he likened to a "magic amulet".
"It's medieval witchcraft - it's genuinely medieval witchcraft," said Dr Levy.
Often, he added, the attacks aimed at firms were not very sophisticated. As an example, he quoted an attack last year on a UK telecommunications firm that used a technique older than the teenager believed to be responsible for the incident.
Dr Levy pointed to work the NCSC had done to protect one UK government department from spam, phishing and other web-borne attacks. The system cut the number of potential threats reaching staff and had proved so successful that it was now being rolled out to other departments.
He urged other businesses to take a look at what the NCSC was doing and to read through its cyber security advice because the measures it recommended were "not completely crap".
The NCSC was set up in October to help protect the UK from cyber-attacks.
Dr Levy's comments came shortly before the Commons Public Accounts Committee issued a report that questioned the effectiveness of the UK's digital defences.

Summary: Computer security companies have been accused of "massively" exaggerating the abilities of malicious hackers.
###
Article: Harare's stock market has fallen heavily this week, with some companies' share prices falling up to 20% on Monday, following the news that Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had been decisively beaten for the third time by President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
Mr Tsvangirai has said he will seek to challenge what he has called a "sham" result, and has until the end of the week to make his case with the courts.
The United States and European Union also questioned the election, but observers from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (Sadc) said the vote had reflected the "will of the people".
But whatever the politics, of immediate importance to ordinary Zimbabweans is whether the country's frail economy can survive the end of the MDC and Zanu-PF unity government and the return to Zanu-PF rule.
Before the coalition was formed in 2009, the country had gone from being one of Africa's strongest economies to one of its weakest - as Zimbabweans grappled with hyperinflation, mass unemployment and widespread poverty.
Hyperinflation was largely brought under control when Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency and adopted the US dollar in 2009.
The question for many investors now is what kind of policies the new government will pursue.
At the heart of this is Zanu-PF's indigenisation law - a policy to acquire 51% ownership of 1,100 foreign-controlled companies operating in the country.
The world's two largest platinum producers, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum Holdings, have already had to sell majority shares in their local operations.
The mining sector is key to Zimbabwe's earnings, accounting for 71% of its exports, $720m (Â£465m) in the first four months of 2013.
Despite Zanu-PF's victory, the mining firms are likely to stay put, says Justin Froneman, platinum analyst at SBG Securities in Johannesburg.
"There is no rush to do anything right now," he says.
"The elections do not change the status quo for these companies."
Before the vote, some observers had voiced...

Summary: Zimbabwe's election may have been a triumph for President Robert Mugabe, but the economic impact looks uncertain, with the country now facing "huge challenges", say analysts.
###
Article: The inquiry is being carried out by a committee set up by the Lord Speaker.
But the Electoral Reform Society said it was "disappointed" they would not consider wider questions of Lords reform.
A House of Lords spokeswoman claimed the Electoral Reform Society had "misunderstood" the committee's role.
The Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, announced the review in December after peers unanimously voted to support a motion stating the size of the House of Lords "should be reduced, and methods should be explored by which this could be achieved".
The committee is tasked with capping the total size of the House without seeking to alter the fact that the vast majority of peers are appointed and not elected.
In its submission to the inquiry the Electoral Reform Society said: "We are disappointed that the inquiry is not accepting submissions about whether peers should be elected or appointed."
The submission continues: "Limiting the size alone does nothing to address... its lack of representativeness, the 'cronyism' it is perceived to embody, and its fundamental lack of accountability.
"This limitation risks creating a public perception that the inquiry is a 'stitch-up'."
A House of Lords spokeswoman told the BBC "it is not within its terms of reference to consider whether members should be elected" and the Electoral Reform Society "appears to have misunderstood the committee's role".
The spokeswoman added: "We are getting our own House in order. The committee is the next step in that process."
Lords reform has been in the spotlight recently after a government source suggested the upper chamber could be abolished altogether if its members try to block the bill authorising ministers to trigger Article 50.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has urged peers to "do their patriotic duty" and ensure a smooth passage for the bill.
Electoral Reform Society chief executive Darren Hughes told the BBC that Lords reform should not be used "as a threat in the event that peers try to amend the Brexit bill, but as a vital step in genuinely taking...

Summary: An inquiry intended to address the size of the House of Lords is too limited in scope and risks being seen as a "stitch-up", campaigners have warned.
###
Article: The justices said they would hear a combined case about marriage bans in four states.
But a supreme court ruling on the cases could fully legalise gay marriage in the US.
The court previously struck down a US law preventing federal recognition of marriages in states allowing same-sex unions.
After that ruling, a wave of decisions in the regional federal appeals courts ended numerous state gay marriage bans.
Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia now issue marriage licences to same-sex couples. Fourteen state bans remain.
On Friday, the justices said they would take up cases from gay and lesbian plaintiffs in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
In November, a US appeals court overturned rulings striking down marriage bans in those four states, the first appeals court to do so since the Supreme Court's initial gay marriage ruling.
The US high court previously declined to intervene in cases that had made it to the appeals court level, effectively allowing marriages to go forward.
During two-and-a-half hours of arguments, the justices will consider two related questions - whether the US constitution requires states to issue marriage licences to gay and lesbian couples and whether states must recognise such marriages performed in other states.
The case will be argued in April and a decision is expected by late June.

Summary:

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A funeral is being held for a family who were found stabbed at their home in Didcot, Oxfordshire.

Article: Some 20,000 participants are meeting in Marrakech for two weeks, starting on Monday, to agree new rules to limit warming on the planet.
These plans were boosted when the Paris Climate Agreement came into force last week.
However Mr Trump, who calls climate change a "hoax", has vowed to cancel the deal if elected.
Signed by 193 countries in the French capital last December, the Paris Agreement is now international law, having been ratified by at least 55 countries representing over 55% of global emissions.
The UN deal, hammered out after years of failed talks, aims to keep the rise in global temperatures under 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, and "will pursue efforts" to limit the rise to 1.5C.
When countries put forward their own plans, or intended nationally determined contributions (INDCS) on what they will do to cut emissions and transition to renewables, much of the detail about how to verify these plans was left vague.
This will be one of the tasks that negotiators from all over the world will face in Marrakech at the Conference of the Parties (COP22) over the next two weeks.
But the early days of the talks will be dominated by the prospect of Donald Trump gaining the White House.
Earlier this year Mr Trump said he would "cancel" the Paris agreement if elected. The deal was "bad for US business" and would allow "foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use", he said.
Concern over the rise of Mr Trump helped galvanise the global push to bring the Paris agreement into force.  Now that it is operational and binding on countries, taking the US out of the deal would not be easy.
"The Paris agreement prohibits any exit for a period of three years, plus a year-long notice period, so there will be four stable years," said Segolene Royal, the French environment minister who played a role in negotiating the treaty.
While Mr Trump would not be able to withdraw easily from Paris, his scepticism about climate science and his determination to revive the coal industry put him at odds with most...

Summary: Concerns over a Trump presidency are set to dominate the early days of global climate talks in Morocco.
###
Article: The average rent was up 6.3% in the year to the end of September, to Â£816 a month, said the owner of letting agents Your Move and Reeds Rains.
The survey said the cost of renting rose 1.6% between August and September.
London (up 11.6%) and the East of England (up 8.8%) saw the biggest rises over the year to the end of September.
House price surveys have suggested that property values rose by between 3.8% and 8.6% over the same period in the UK.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of charity Shelter, said: "These figures highlight the plight of an entire generation stuck in insecure and expensive private renting, unable to put down roots in a home of their own."
He called on the government to do more to build affordable homes.
The latest figures from the official statistics authority suggest that private rental prices paid by tenants in Britain rose by 2.5% in the 12 months to June.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) releases figures on the rental sector every three months.

Summary: The rise in the cost of renting a home in England and Wales is matching or possibly exceeding house price growth by some measures, a survey suggests.
###
Article: The Lib Dem leader threw down the gauntlet as he pledged to spend an extra £3.5bn over six years on mental health.
He said the issue had been neglected by successive governments.
Conservatives say they have cut red tape to invest in NHS staff. Labour would halt privatisation of the NHS.
Mr Clegg outlined his party's health policy ahead of a grilling from The Only Way is Essex star Joey Essex, who said he had thought the party was called the Liberal Demo-cats.
Essex is currently making the Educating Joey Essex programme, which he said was "to show the youth they should vote and it's a good thing".
False impressions?
Last year Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, said there was an £8bn-a-year funding gap between what the NHS gets and what it needs.
Mr Clegg said the Lib Dems would meet the shortfall from £2bn already allocated in the Autumn Statement and by closing some of the reliefs on capital gains tax and the Conservative shares for rights scheme.
By "balancing the books" the Lib Dems would also be able to invest £3.5bn over six years on mental health care in England, which would include £250m for new services for mothers suffering from depression and to help reduce waiting times.
"It's a plan that means we can commit to giving the NHS the money it needs - an extra £8bn by 2020 - that's how much Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, has asked for," he said.
"Labour hasn't committed to it. The Conservatives try to give the impression that they have, but they haven't."
'Time to come clean'
Mr Clegg said the Conservatives "won't ask the wealthiest to pay a penny more, so every spending commitment they make has to be made by deeper and deeper cuts elsewhere.
"The Conservatives are trying to pull the wool over your eyes by not telling you how they will give the NHS the resources it needs.
"It's no good, as Labour do, to just say you love the NHS but offer no commitment to find the money it so badly needs....
"It's only the Liberal Democrats who will make sure spending on the NHS rises with the economy later in the...

Summary: Nick Clegg is challenging David Cameron and Ed Miliband to show how they would find the £8bn NHS bosses in England say is needed to preserve services.
###
Article: But when they did, they noticed that the crumbling building - which had recently been used for cold storage and was covered in layers of insulation - was actually something much grander than its decaying exterior would suggest.
"There was a little opening on the south façade and we thought we should really put a gate in here," recalls Bradley Samuels, one of the four founding partners of the architecture and fabrication firm, which was started in 2005.
"We started removing material and we just kept removing more and more until we realised, oh my god, there's this enormous door that steam engines used to come through," he says.
Built in 1905, it turned out that Building 132 was once a steam engine repair shop - and that its "bones", in Mr Samuels words, were perfect for the cutting-edge 21st century manufacturing that the firm was planning to do.
That a building which was purpose built for late 19th century technology could still be useful - even ideal - for an innovation-focused firm like Situ might seem surprising, but it makes perfect sense to Mr Samuels and others like him who have moved into the Navy Yard.
Today, the Navy Yard has gone from a Brooklyn eyesore that once symbolised the decline of urban manufacturing to a model for keeping production in urban centres.
At the Navy Yard's peak during the boom years of World War II, the site employed more than 70,000 people.
Even during peacetime, the premises had around 15,000 full-time employees working in the "classic manufacturing jobs that made the American middle class," says Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) president David Ehrenberg.
But when the Navy decided to move out in 1966, almost 12,000 people lost their jobs overnight. By the 1970s, when Mr Ehrenberg was growing up in Brooklyn, only 100 people worked at the 300 acre (121 hectare) site.
"It was really symptomatic and [an] example of the industrial flight from New York," says Mr Ehrenberg.
"You could see all up and down the Brooklyn waterfront—formerly very active, dynamic...

Summary: When Situ Fabrication moved into Building 132 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2013, they were so busy constructing work for clients that included Harvard University, the Brooklyn Museum, and some of the country's biggest artists that it took them awhile to catch their breath and look around.
###
Article: Janet Jordon, 48, her daughter Derrin, aged six, and her partner Philip Howard, 44, were found in a house in Vicarage Road, Didcot, on 23 May.
The body of murder suspect, Janet's son 21-year-old Jed Allen, was found two days later in woodland near Marston Ferry Road, Oxford.
The private funeral is being held at Oxford Crematorium.
The families of the murder victims described their deaths as an "unimaginable" tragedy.
Post-mortem examinations confirmed all three died from multiple stab wounds.

Summary:


A new sixth form college for 1,150 pupils has been unveiled.
The new college, which will be built on the site of the former Beckfoot Upper Heaton School, will be built on the site of the former Beckfoot Upper Heaton School.
The new college will be built on the site of the

An 11-year-old boy told another pupil he felt "unsafe" in his new school on the day he was found hanged, an inquest hearing has been told.

Article: Kearan Tongue-Gibbs, 11, from Redditch, is a spin bowler who grips the ball in the fold of his arm.
He has been identified as a talented young disabilities player by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Volunteers from WellChild's Helping Hands project have cleared a space in Kearan's back garden and installed cricket nets.
Kearan, who uses no artificial aids when batting and bowling, plays alongside able-bodied children at Walkwood Middle School and at Astwood Bank Cricket Club.
His mother, Carrie, said her son's talent was first noticed when he was playing beach cricket on a family holiday.
"At the time Kearan's uncle was playing cricket for his university and he said that Kearan had a knack for playing and that we should do something about it."
Kearan lists England batsmen Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott among his cricketing heroes.
He regularly attends special training sessions for cricketers with disabilities at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham.

Summary: A young cricketer born with no hands or forearms has had practice facilities installed in his garden by a charity.
###
Article: Lord Morris of Aberavon said the inquiry committee was a "disgrace" for delaying its report, and parliament could vote to force it to publish.
Chairman Sir John Chilcot has previously written to the PM to say he cannot set a timetable for publication.
The independent inquiry was set up in 2009 and was meant to report in 2011.
Costing Â£10m to date, it was commissioned by the Labour government under Gordon Brown to investigate the background to UK involvement in the Iraq War, which began when Tony Blair was prime minister in 2003.
Speaking during a visit to Norwich on Friday, Mr Cameron said: "It's frustrating. We want this inquiry finished, it's for the good of the families, it's for the good of the country.
"People want to know the truth, they want this inquiry out, and so do I."
He has previously demanded a timetable for publication be set out "pretty soon".
British forces lost 179 personnel during the conflict, of whom 136 were killed in action.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians died, and many were also killed later as a result of sectarian attacks and a violent insurgency.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Morris said families of those killed, and the public, had waited for "an unfair amount of time" for its findings, and were "not served well".
He said the prime minister "could pull the plug if parliament gives a decision".
"It's parliament ultimately that is the guardian of independence, if an inquiry of this kind shows no sign of resolving itself.
"The prime minister has said repeatedly he's lost patience, the chancellor has said he's lost patience - but there they are wringing their hands, and parliament hasn't had a debate in months and months on this issue."
A spokesman for the Chilcot inquiry told the BBC in a statement that "Sir John and his colleagues understand the anguish of the families of those who lost their lives in the conflict".
He added: "A timetable for the completion of the report will be provided once the Maxwellisation process is complete."
Much of the anger over the...

Summary: Prime Minister David Cameron could step in and "pull the plug" on the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, Tony Blair's former attorney general has said.
###
Article: This creature would have looked like a seagull on steroids - its wingspan was between 6.1 and 7.4m (20-24ft).
The find is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The 25m-year-old fossil was unearthed 30 years ago in South Carolina, but it has taken until now to identify that this is a new species.
Daniel Ksepka, curator of science at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut, said: "This fossil is remarkable both for the size, which we could only speculate on before the discovery, and for the preservation.
"The skull in particular is exquisite.
"And given the delicate nature of the bones... it is remarkable that the specimen made it to the bottom of the sea, became buried without being destroyed by scavengers, fossilised, and then was discovered before it was eroded or bulldozed away."
The researchers believe this huge bird surpasses the previous recorder-holder, Argentavis magnificens - a condor-like bird from South America with an estimated wingspan of 5.7-6.1m (19-20ft) that lived about six million years ago.
Scientists have called the new giant Pelagornis sandersi. They believe it would have been twice the size of the wandering albatross, the largest living bird.
Like the albatross, it was a seabird, spending most of its time swooping above the ocean, preying on fish and squid.
Despite its scale, it would have been an elegant flier.
While theoretical models suggest that it would be tricky for a bird of this size to stay airborne by flapping its wings, researchers believe it used air currents to soar above the ocean.
Its long, slender wings and light, hollow bones would have made it a powerful glider.
"It would have been fast and very efficient," said Dr Ksepka.
"Computer models suggest that it had high lift-to-drag ratios, which would allow it to glide for a very long distance for every unit of altitude it could attain.
"It could likely glide at speeds over 10m per second - faster than the human world record for the 100m dash."
On land, though, the seabird was probably far less...

Summary: The fossilised remains of the largest flying bird ever found have been identified by scientists.
###
Article: Barnsley College wants to build the school on the site of the town's Central Library, in Shambles Street.
A £5.3m grant from the government's Skills Funding Agency will help pay for the proposed college, which is due to be discussed by the cabinet this month.
Councillors will also be asked to approve a recommendation to relocate the library and a Citizens' Advice Bureau to Wellington Street.
If approved, it is hoped the college will be completed by summer 2015.
The remainder of the funding would be raised by the college through selling assets and borrowing.
Council leader Sir Steve Houghton said: "The proposal indicates the sixth form college would have the potential to bring £7.7m into the local economy.
"Following on from the recently completed town hall square modernisation, it would create an inspirational and vibrant building, at a key location, that would dramatically improve this gateway into the town centre."
The proposal will be discussed by the cabinet on 23 October.

Summary: Plans for a new £17m sixth form college for 1,150 pupils have been unveiled.
###
Article: Asad Khan, from Bradford, died three weeks after starting at Beckfoot Upper Heaton School in the city.
His mother, Farheen Khan, found her son after forcing her way into his locked bedroom on September 28. He died in hospital a short time later.ã€€
His family maintain he had been bullied.
Bradford Coroner's Court heard Asad had told a boy - who cannot be identified - a number of things, including that he felt "unsafe" in school and was "going to skive for a very long time."
Coroner Martin Fleming heard on another occasion, Asad told the boy: "Life is unfair. I would say it's 90 to 95 per cent life is hard".
Mr Fleming said he would now consider whether to call the boy in person to give evidence.
The inquest will resume next month.

Summary:


Dan Biggar's decision to renew his national dual contract is "fabulous" news for Wales and Ospreys, according to Martyn Williams.

Article: Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons the government was "committed to maintaining" the target.
But he said if the standard was to be "protected" it might need to be applied to only those patients with urgent needs rather than minor problems.
It comes as hospitals are reporting unprecedented pressures this winter.
Department of Health sources said there were no immediate plans to change the target but ministers wanted an honest conversation with the public about A&E.
Currently, every patient who goes to an accident and emergency department should be seen in four hours.
But hospitals have been struggling to achieve that - the target has not been met since the summer of 2015.
Mr Hunt said it was time to look at how the target - one of the most high profile in the health service - was measured.
He said no other country in the world had such a stringent standard for A&E treatment.
"This government is committed to maintaining and delivering that vital four-hour commitment to patients.
"But since it was announced in 2000, there are nearly nine million more visits to our A&E, up to 30% of whom, NHS England estimate, do not need to be there, and the tide is continuing to rise.
"So if we are going to protect our four-hour standard, we need to be clear it is a promise to sort out all urgent health problems within four hours - but not all health problems, however minor."
As well as raising the prospect of re-defining the target, Mr Hunt said he would be looking at new ways of managing the way patients used A&E services.
Some hospitals have started piloting a new system called streaming, which sees staff assessing patients when they walk through the door and sending them elsewhere if they are deemed to have only minor ailments.
Mr Hunt said it would allow hospitals to focus quick care on those "who actually need it".
But Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb criticised the idea.
"This is a slippery slope towards the downgrading of standards," he said.
"If the health secretary thinks it is acceptable for patients...

Summary: Patients attending A&E units with less serious problems may no longer be guaranteed to be seen in four hours, the health secretary has suggested.
###
Article: Origami and kirigami, a sister technique where cutting is allowed, have increasingly influenced engineering and scientific research.
Some mechanical properties of graphene mimicked those of a sheet of paper.
The findings could pave the way to better flexible and stretchable electronics.
The research was carried out at Cornell University, New York, and published in Nature.
The team used micro-manipulators, or small remote controlled needles, to create the graphene structures.
"We also attached magnets to the structures and waved another magnet nearby, causing it to bend," Prof Paul McEuen, lead author, told BBC Science in Action.
"The ratio of how stretchable versus how bendable paper was, was almost identical to that for graphene. The technical term for this is the Fopple-von Karman number but really it just tells you that, as a material, it will behave in a crumply and bendy way about the same as paper."
Kirigami ideas can therefore be used to make micro-scale resilient and movable parts like stretchable electrodes, springs and hinges from graphene.
Unlike metals, which can lose their function if they are bent too much, graphene sheets are extremely robust. They can be stretched hundreds of times without degradation. The material is also much thinner than anything currently available for microelectronics so softer devices can be made which are more suited to being worn on the skin.
Of particular interest is putting these soft electronics onto nerve cells to see if they can sense the electrical impulses travelling between them.
As preceded by electronics, robotics is entering a trend of miniaturisation where graphene could play an important role.
"If you want to measure the weight of a body, you can attach it to a spring and measure the elongation distance," Nicola Pugno, professor of solid and structural mechanics at the University of Trento and involved in the Graphene Flagship at the Bruno Kessler Foundation, told BBC News.
"If you know the stiffness of the spring, you can calculate the weight. Similarly,...

Summary: Graphene, a sheet of single carbon atoms, has been manipulated into tiny complex structures like springs using the paper art technique of kirigami.
###
Article: The 60-year-old woman was appealing against the UK regulator's refusal to allow her to take her only child's eggs to a US clinic.
Her daughter, who died in 2011, was said to have asked her mother to carry her babies.
The mother lost a High Court case last year.
She was subsequently granted permission to challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal in London, before a panel of three judges.
The UK fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said, in 2014, that the daughter's eggs could not be released from storage in London because she had not given her full written consent before she had died from bowel cancer at the age of 28.
But, in the latest legal proceedings, lawyers acting for the mother told the judges she wanted to fulfil her daughter's wishes to carry a child created from her frozen eggs and "raise that child".
The mother's wish is to take the eggs to a clinic in New York to be used with donor sperm.
Jenni Richards QC said that if the judges did not overturn the High Court's ruling, the "inevitable" consequence would be that the eggs "will simply be allowed to perish".
Ms Richards argued that there was "clear evidence" of what the daughter, known only as 'A', wanted to happen to her eggs after she died, and that "all available evidence" showed she wanted her mother "to have her child after death".
The appeal was opposed by the HFEA, which said it had great sympathy for the parents of the dead daughter, known only as Mr and Mrs M.
The HFEA said: "The law requires us to consider whether there is sufficient evidence of informed consent. After looking at the matter in great detail we decided that there wasn't, a decision which was supported by the High Court last September.
"Today's judgment by the Court of Appeal reaffirms the need for informed consent but concludes that there is sufficient evidence of Mr and Mrs M's daughter's true wishes."
The HFEA said it would now reconsider the case as soon as possible.

Summary: A woman who wants to use her dead daughter's frozen eggs to give birth to her own grandchild has won a Court of Appeal battle.
###
Article: David Lisnar issued the ordinance on the grounds that burkinis, which are popular with Muslim women, "could risk disrupting public order while France was the target of terrorist attacks".
He also said burkinis were a "symbol of Islamic extremism" which are "not respectful of [the] good morals and secularism" upon which the French state was founded.
Muslim women from around the world have been quick to react to news of the ban.
"This is just an Islamophobic attack on Muslim women in Cannes," Aysha Ziauddin, who lives in Norfolk, told the BBC.
"The burkini allows me the freedom to swim and go on the beach, and I don't feel I am compromising my beliefs for that.
"No-one has ever told me to wear it - it's my own choice.
"How is a woman on a beach swimming in a wetsuit with her head covered a symbol of Islamic extremism?
"Even Nigella Lawson wore one!"
"I own a burkini and I love it," Sabrina Akram told the BBC. She grew up in Pakistan, and now lives in the US state of Massachusetts.
"I am a practising Muslim, and I believe there should be a choice," she said.
"I honestly don't like exposing my body in public, and I like to work fashion into my preferences on how I wish to clothe myself.
"A big part of being in a modern society, part of living in freedom, is allowing people to live their life how they want to live it.
"By putting forward this ban [the mayor of Cannes] is infringing upon a human's basic right to live how they wish to.
"It's not the responsibility of a public servant to dictate how I choose to cover my body."
"I don't have a burkini, but I do swim wearing a headscarf, tracksuit bottoms and long T-shirt," Kerry Amr told the BBC.
Kerry, who lives in the town of Telford in the west of England, converted to Islam eight years ago, and although she chooses not to wear a burkini, she believes women should be free to choose what to wear when they go to the beach.
"I think [the ban is] slightly ridiculous," she said.
"In Victorian times swimmers would wear long baggy trousers, full tops and swimming caps and...

Summary: The mayor of Cannes in France has banned full-body swimsuits, or "burkinis", from the French city's beaches.
###
Article: The 26-year-old fly-half has agreed a new deal which could keep him in Wales until the 2019 World Cup.
Williams, who played 100 times for Wales, believes it will help Ospreys keep and recruit players.
"It's fabulous news for Welsh rugby and the Ospreys in particular," he said on BBC Wales' Scrum V TV programme.
"Not only is Dan committing himself to Wales for the next four years, but it helps the Ospreys with recruitment for the next couple of seasons.
"If players were looking to sign and come to the Ospreys if they can see Dan Biggar is going to be there for the next three or four seasons that helps them as well."
Biggar's current deal was due to expire at the end of this season.
He is the first of Wales' 17 dually contracted players to re-sign on the deals which are 60% funded by the WRU and 40% by the region.
In addition to potentially attracting new players to the region, Biggar's decision to stay may help negotiations with his Ospreys and Wales colleagues scrum-half Rhys Webb and second row Alun Wyn Jones.
Both players' contracts expire in the summer of 2016, with Ospreys skipper Jones saying in November that he was still weighing up his options.
Scarlets are in talks with Wales centre Scott Williams over extending his dual contract, and have secured the return of British and Irish Lions centre Jonathan Davies from Clermont Auvergne next season.

Summary:


two children in a crash in Morley, near Leeds.
The court heard that the defendant, who was driving a Ford Fiesta, was travelling at a speed of up to 100mph when he crashed into a tree in the town.
The court heard that

A motorist was driving "like a lunatic" when he caused a crash which killed two teenage passengers and severely injured two others, a court heard.

Article: Manchester County Court said Ryanair could not cut the time a passenger has in which to claim from six years to two by adding a clause to its small print.
The ruling sets a precedent for delayed EU passengers on all airlines.
Ryanair said the six-year rule was "unnecessary and unreasonable" and that it would appeal against the decision.
The Supreme Court ruled last year that delayed passengers in England and Wales have six years to claim, but Ryanair says passengers who book with it accept their terms and conditions, and therefore the claim limit is two years.
But at Manchester County Court, Judge Platts ruled Ryanair could not use a clause in its small print to impose a limit.
Ryanair disputes the suggestion from some lawyers that it could be exposed to hundreds of millions of pounds worth of compensation claims from customers who suffered delays.
The airline says that even if its appeal against the Manchester County Court ruling is unsuccessful, its maximum potential liability is €5m (£3.6m).
The low figure is the result of the fact that, according to Ryanair, more than 90% of passengers affected by delays make a valid claim within two years.
That means that very few would need to submit one between two and six years after the event, even if they realised that they had the option.
Nevertheless, Ryanair and other airlines are deeply unhappy about the EU-wide system triggering payouts which can be way in excess of the cost of the ticket.
The consumer group, Which?, said airlines should hold their hands up and pay compensation where it is due.
Lawyers say the ruling stands to affect millions of air passengers, because if Ryanair had won, all airlines may have been able to impose a two-year time limit on all existing and future flight delay claims.
Passengers can claim between £180 and £440 for a delay of at least three hours, depending on the length of the wait and the distance to be travelled.
The Independent's travel editor, Simon Calder, said airlines were "absolutely furious" with the ruling.
He added:...

Summary: Ryanair has lost a test case over flight delays, which could affect compensation claims being made by millions of passengers.
###
Article: In a statement, the army said it had "returned security to Aleppo" and called it a "crushing blow" for rebels.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed "all civilians who wished to be evacuated have been, as well as the wounded and fighters".
This is the biggest victory for President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising against him began in 2011.
At least 34,000 civilians and rebel fighters have been removed from eastern Aleppo over the past week, a UN official said earlier.
Heavy snow, strong winds and the poor state of vehicles have slowed the evacuation, forcing thousands of people to wait for hours in freezing conditions.
The UN, which is monitoring the pull-out, called the process "traumatic, with crowding and vulnerable people waiting for hours" in freezing temperatures.
The evacuees from eastern Aleppo are being taken to rebel-held territory in the countryside west of the city, and in Idlib province.
As part of a deal brokered by Russia and Turkey, residents of the government-controlled towns of Foah and Kefraya in Idlib province, besieged by rebels, are also being removed.
ICRC spokeswoman Krista Armstrong said that everyone from each side who wanted to be evacuated had now been moved, and the process was complete.
"This victory represents a strategic change and a turning point in the war against terrorism on the one hand and a crushing blow to the terrorists' project and their supporters on the other hand," the Syrian army statement said. The government usually refers to the rebels as "terrorists".
The statement said the victory was a further incentive for the army to carry on fighting to "eradicate terrorism and restore security and stability to every span on the homeland".
Yasser al-Youssef, of the rebel Nureddin al-Zinki group, said the return of Aleppo to full government control was a "great loss".
"For the revolution, it is a period of retreat and a difficult turning point," he told the AFP news agency.
Aleppo was once Syria's largest city and its commercial and industrial hub...

Summary: The Syrian army says it has retaken full control of Aleppo, following the evacuation of the last group of rebels.
###
Article: In its election guidelines, the broadcaster said its programmes should ensure that the party get a "proportionate share of the coverage".
The Scottish Greens said the move was a "victory for common sense".
But it attacked a ruling by Ofcom that could limit the amount of coverage it gets on commercial TV stations.
The broadcasting watchdog, which regulates commercial broadcasters such as STV, has formally classed the Scottish Greens as a "smaller party" for the purposes of the election, meaning it will get less guaranteed airtime.
The Scottish Greens said they were "angry" about the Ofcom ruling, which they said risked "relegating us from daily coverage of the election campaign" on commercial stations.
The BBC's draft guidelines had previously suggested that the Scottish Greens - who had two MSPs elected in 2011 - should be classed as a smaller party, meaning they would get less coverage.
But the corporation confirmed earlier this week that the Scottish Greens would be represented in both of its televised leaders' debates ahead of the election on 5 May.
In its finalised election guidelines, which were released on Friday, the BBC said that the SNP, Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats should receive broadly similar levels of coverage during the election campaign.
The guidelines added: "In some programmes and formats, the Scottish Green Party may receive similar levels of coverage to the four largest parties.
"This may include debates, items detailing distinctive policies, as well as sequences of interviews with party leaders or other senior party figures or candidates.
"In BBC Scotland, programmes should ensure that the Scottish Green Party is getting a proportionate share of the coverage each week."
Responding to the move, a Scottish Greens spokesman said: "With our positive polling, surging membership and a strong figurehead in Patrick Harvie, we look forward to taking part in the full range of BBC programming in the run-up to an election that will be crucial in deciding the future direction of...

Summary: The Scottish Greens have welcomed a decision by the BBC that should increase the coverage the party gets ahead of the Holyrood election.
###
Article: Loo-Loo, formerly called Armitage after the toilet she was found in, was rescued from Cashinos in Morden last month.
She has now joined two other chickens living with the RSPCA's hen expert.
"She's missing quite a few feathers but she's on the mend and settling in well," said Mia Fernyhough.  "It's an absolute mystery how she ended up where she did."
"We'll never know what happened to her."
Loo-Loo is believed to be an Aseel hen, a particularly intelligent breed that originated in India and Pakistan.
When she was found in the Surrey casino, she was dehydrated and too exhausted to fly, said Ms Fernyhough.
"My hens Matilda and Rachael were a bit unsure of Loo-Loo at first as she's quite different to them, both in appearance and - at first - in behaviour too. Loo-Loo didn't seem to recognise chicken food or the trough it's fed to them in so I think she may have been fed kitchen scraps.
"She watches my other hens and copies them so she is quickly getting the hang of things."

Summary: A chicken that was found drinking from a toilet in a casino has a new home.
###
Article: George Wharton, 14, and Rhy Baker, 13, died when Thomas McMeekin crashed into a tree in Morley, near Leeds, on 7 March.
The defendant and a teenage passenger were also left paralysed by the crash, Leeds Crown Court was told.
McMeekin, of Bruntcliffe Road, Morley, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
One witness told the hearing McMeekin had driven "like a lunatic".
He was accused of "showing off" while driving the car, which had been bought for him by his mother just five days before the crash.
The court heard he had advertised "lifts cheaper than taxis" on social media.
He will be sentenced next month.

Summary:


The Oculus Rift is finally available to buy from high street stores and online in the UK, six months after it was released in the US.

Article: It was in Japan and all he could have was a milkshake.
He loved it.
He is now the man behind McDonald's in India, responsible for the phenomenal growth the company has had in the country.
When the American fast-food giant first contacted him in 1994 Amit's first challenge was close to home, convincing his vegetarian family to invest in the business.
"From my family's point of view we thought through this carefully," he tells the BBC.
"What convinced us was that McDonald's was willing to localise. They promised that there would be no beef or pork on the menu.
"Nearly half of Indians are vegetarian so choosing a vegetarian to run their outlets here makes sense."
Across the world the Big Mac beefburger is the company's signature product. Amit and his partners had to come up with their own signature product for India, so the Chicken Maharajah Mac was born.
Originally Amit was the local partner in the south and west of India, running the chain as a joint venture with the global McDonald's company.
Later he bought out the McDonald's stake and now solely runs the chain in the south and west of the country.
It hasn't been an easy journey.
"From a consumer point of view I had to start with the message that a burger is a meal," he says.
His research shows that in 2003, of 100 meals that people ate in a month, only three were eaten out.
They introduced a 20 rupees (20p) burger called Aloo Tikki Burger, a burger with a cutlet made of mashed potatoes, peas and flavoured with Indian spices.
"It's something you would find on Indian streets, it was essentially the McDonald's version of street food. The price and the taste together, the value we introduced, was a hit. It revolutionised the industry in India," he says.
Now eating out has gone up to 9-10 times per 100 meals and McDonald's in India has more than 320 million customers a year.
"Whether you love or hate McDonald's, they deliver a formula very well," says Edward Dixon, chief operating officer of Sannam S4, which provides market entry advice and support for...

Summary: A staunch vegetarian, Amit Jatia was 14 when he walked into a McDonald's for the first time.
###
Article: Tech firm Bijou Commerce believes so. Its platform enables fashion and beauty apps to offer single-image browsing - customers can swipe right if they like a product, and left if they don't.
Working with retail companies like Nobody's Child, Bijou is on a mission to make fashion shopping simpler and more engaging for customers.
"Most retailers' apps and mobile sites put between four and 12 products on a single screen," chief executive Beth Wond tells the BBC.
"These images look small on most mobile phones, meaning individual products struggle to stand out."
She also believes retailers should understand that this Tinder-style swipe technology isn't just a gimmick.
"For fashion brands the biggest asset is your image, so single-image browsing is crucial," she says.
This is just one example of how fashion retailers are responding to the new world of smartphones and social media.
How about "liking" your way to an outfit choice?
Charese Embree co-founded a US-born site and app called Fynd, a fashion search engine that lets shoppers "like" their way to the look they want.
Say you search for "cocktail dresses" and a wide selection comes up, you can home in on the style and colour you're after by clicking the heart icon on the ones you like. An algorithm narrows down the search for you based on your preferences - "speed dating for dresses" as the website describes it.
"The like button works because of our familiarity with it," says Ms Embree. "Our concept is just an extension of your Facebook or Instagram page, but helps you find that perfect outfit you've been looking for."
Fynd works with department stores such as Bloomingdales to give them the ability to showcase their wares.
"We enable retailers to reach social media-savvy consumers much quicker than they can do in store," she says.
Tammy Smulders, managing director of online fashion platform Luxhub, believes smartphones have made us into impatient buyers.
"We are seeing a shift. It's not that people are more demanding, it's just that the norm is to have everything...

Summary: We use smartphone swipe technology to find a date on Tinder, so can we use it to find the perfect outfit as well?
###
Article: The Baden-Wuerttemberg state justice ministry, heading the investigation, said 49 guards had been investigated, of whom 30 should be prosecuted.
The 30 are spread across Germany, and another seven are living abroad. They are said to be aged up to 97.
Auschwitz was the biggest Nazi death camp. More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered there.
The case of Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk two years ago changed the legal situation concerning people who worked at the death camps.
Demjanjuk died last year while appealing against his five-year jail sentence for complicity in the murder of more than 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
A judge had ruled that even though there was no clear evidence that he had committed murder directly, his mere activities as a worker at the death camp facilitated mass murder.
Previously German courts only considered cases where Nazi suspects were accused of personally committing atrocities.
In July, the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish organisation which investigates Nazi war criminals, launched a poster campaign in Berlin seeking evidence on such fugitives from justice, with the slogan "Late - but not too late".
The justice agency in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, which heads German investigations into Nazi war crimes, said that of the 49 ex-guards from Auschwitz, in Nazi-occupied southern Poland, nine had died.
The agency said it was now handing over its findings to prosecutors in the German states.
Six of the cases will be handled by Baden-Wuerttemberg, seven by Bavaria, two by Saxony-Anhalt, four by North Rhine-Westphalia, four by Lower Saxony, two by Hesse and one each by Rhineland-Palatinate, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
An official said the focus was now on bringing to justice the thousands of people who helped to manage the Nazi camps.
"The accused... are all former guards at the concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau and we take the view that this job - regardless of what they can be...

Summary: German justice officials have said 30 former Auschwitz death camp guards should face prosecution.
###
Article: The man, understood to be Mohammed Murtaza, 47, from Kirkcaldy, was convicted for continuing as a landlord after his registration was refused.
He was found guilty on 27 April of breaching the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004, and the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.
He was fined Â£500 and banned as a private landlord for 12 months.
Sheriff Gilchrist said it was "a flagrant breach of legislation".
The landlord had previously been convicted at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court in November 2014 for failing to comply with his private landlord duties under the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 and for being in breach of Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998.
He had six convictions with fines of Â£540.
He was refused entry onto Fife's landlord register, as a result of the convictions, in June 2015, making it a criminal offence for him to rent out a residential property in Fife.
John Mills, Fife Council's head of housing said: "A significant proportion of private landlords are of good character and comply with the law, however, there are some who act unlawfully.
"The outcome of this particular case sends a clear message to private landlords in Fife that the council will continue to take all appropriate action to protect tenants and improve property standards in the private sector."

Summary: A disqualification order against a Fife private landlord has been granted - the first to be agreed by a Scottish court.
###
Article: It's a virtual reality headset which when worn will allow gamers to experience a virtual gaming world.
It won't be cheap though, it's being sold for Â£549 and you'll need a very powerful computer to even be able to use it.
Similar products on the market include HTC's Vive VR headset which was launched earlier this year and Sony will be releasing it's own virtual reality headset called the PlayStation VR in October.
Earlier this year Ricky got to try out the Oculus Rift and some of it's accessories.

Summary:


The charity has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol.
The campaign, called Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, is aimed at people who drink alcohol and drive.
It is being launched in partnership with the Road Safety Trust.
The charity said it

The most advanced flight incubators in the UK for sick babies will be used by Wales Air Ambulance later this month.

Article: Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) hopes its new mobile scanner will help to improve Scotland's sheep stocks.
Using low dose x-rays, the scanner produces images showing muscle shape, internal fat and pelvic shape of live animals.
SRUC's sheep geneticist Dr Nicola Lambe said the scans could help indentify "attributes" that produce the best lambs for meat.
Dr Lambe told BBC Alba: "The scanner is the same as you would get in a hospital and it is usually used for medical purposes.
"But we use it for CT scanning sheep.
"The interesting thing is that you can look at all the different body tissue and organs.
"We can use it to select the top animals for breeding with."
A number of pedigree sheep breeders have already made use of the mobile scanner to check for their best animals.

Summary: A medical CT scanner is being used to identify the best sheep for breeding.
###
Article: Stephen Henderson Jewellers in Union Street was targeted by two suspects who took items from the shop and ran off.
It is understood the man has been identified but not yet traced.
Officers issued descriptions of two men who were seen running towards Dundee railway station following the theft.
No description of the items stolen or their value has been released, although owner Stephen Henderson said the theft was "substantial".
A Tayside Division spokeswoman said: "Police Scotland can confirm that a 30-year-old man has been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with a theft from Stephen Henderson Jewellers, Union Street, Dundee that happened on Friday 6 February 2015."

Summary: A 30-year-old man has been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with a high-value theft from a Dundee jewellers in February 2015.
###
Article: Mr Clegg said the party had taken a "hard look in the mirror" since sexual harassment claims against the former Lib Dem chief executive first emerged.
Lord Rennard was suspended for bringing the party into disrepute after failing to apologise over the allegations.
But disciplinary action was dropped and the matter declared closed on Tuesday.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said the issue had been "very painful" for the party.
In a statement, Lord Rennard said he was "pleased" and pointed out that none of the allegations against him had been proven.
"I remain a committed member of the Liberal Democrats and a strong believer in the principles of the party, as set out in the constitution, and based on the values that led me to join the Liberal Party in my teens," he said.
He had initially refused to apologise over the allegations by four female activists last year. However, he later expressed regret, conceding that he may have "inadvertently" encroached upon "personal space".
By Iain Watson, BBC political correspondent
The long-running disciplinary process inside the Lib Dems wasn't just about the reputation of one man - it was about the reputation of the party itself.
The result of the independent investigation by a QC into allegations of sexual harassment produced the worst possible political outcome - the women's evidence was said to have been broadly credible, but the allegations weren't proven beyond reasonable doubt.
That led to the complainants claiming the party wasn't taking their concerns seriously, while it made Lord Rennard at first wary of apologising for what he later called inadvertent encroachment of personal space - in case that appeared to be an admission of guilt.
So the new disciplinary proceedings that followed his initial failure to say sorry also led to further bad headlines for the Lib Dems.
And despite Lord Rennard's subsequent apology, some of his accusers continued to press for his expulsion from the party.
Party officials knew a line had to be drawn under the row well before the...

Summary: Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has insisted the "party has changed" after Lord Rennard had his membership suspension lifted.
###
Article: The train operator has carried out ticket monitoring at stations.
It has started a new campaign aimed at urging customers to pay their fare before boarding.
The firm said it had also invested in ticket vending machines at 26 new sites in a bid to help customers purchase tickets in advance.
ScotRail said its recent monitoring exercise revealed that 132 people had travelled without a ticket on 10 services they examined.
Some 450 flexible journey tickets were found to be used incorrectly during four days of monitoring at Glasgow Queen Street station.
At Glasgow Central station, 19 customers declared a shorter journey than the one they had actually travelled during one morning peak-time focus on the East Kilbride and Barrhead lines.
That type of dodge is the most common form of fraudulent travel, according to the train operator.
The new Buy Before You Board campaign aims to tackle premeditated fare fraud.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail's head of revenue protection, said: "We provide a service and it's only fair that everyone pays the correct fare for the service they use."
The rail operator said its surveys showed that honest passengers were frustrated by fare dodging.
Other analysis suggested customers were fed-up with long queues in peak times at major stations.
ScotRail said it was upgrading ticket vending machines at a further 100 sites.
There are now 260 machines across the network, with 20 more to be installed by the end of the year.
Mr Campbell added: "We've invested heavily in facilities to make it much easier for our customers to buy tickets in advance.
"This means that staff on trains have more time to help customers with travel or other queries.
"Buying before boarding will result in much shorter queues to get through the gates at busy destination stations such as Glasgow Central."

Summary: About 900,000 rail journeys are made each year in Scotland by people who deliberately avoid paying the fare, according to ScotRail.
###
Article: The charity said the new technology would provide an alternative to road ambulance journeys, offering significantly quicker transport of vulnerable babies between hospitals.
The service began carrying Babypods for emergency missions in 2013.
But the new incubators will attach to existing equipment in the helicopter, providing warmth and oxygen.
They also have a transparent chamber, allowing babies to be monitored during flights.
Welsh medics went to Switzerland to help in the design process and, at a cost of Â£70,000 each, two new incubators have been bought by NHS Wales.
They will be used on Wales Air Ambulance's newest helicopter, the fourth in its fleet.
Weighing 15st 10lb (100kg), the incubators will be fitted to a sled and require two people to lift them into the air ambulance.
Since April 2015, helicopter crews have been joined on board by consultant doctors.
Dr Dindi Gill, the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service Cymru interim director, said: "Having the incubator system will further enhance the ability of the EMRTS teams to manage neonates born at home or in hospital.
"It is recognised that temperature control is extremely important to this group of patients and, therefore, we welcome the ability to carry the incubator on Wales Air Ambulance's helicopters."
Following crew training, the incubator service will run as a trial to the end of 2016.

Summary:


A late-night levy on Liverpool's bars and clubs will not be introduced after councillors rejected the proposals.

Article: The UK government has confirmed the change as peers prepare for one of the final Wales Bill parliamentary debates.
It means ministers in Wales will get responsibility for licensing gaming machines where the maximum stake is more than £10.
Wales Office Minister Lord Bourne said in November he was prepared to consider the change.
But campaigners say the move does not go far enough as it only applies to new licences and not existing machines, and fear any ban could open the Welsh Government up to a "minefield" of legal challenges.
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling estimates customers in Wales lost over £50m on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) between September 2014-15.
The terminals feature games including roulette, bingo, simulated greyhound and horse racing and slot machines, where people can gamble as much as £100 per spin, in theory every 20 seconds.
Adrian Parkinson, of the campaign, said he had seen people lose thousands of pounds in just a few hours playing roulette on the machines.
Mr Parkinson, who worked in the industry for 26 years, described customers going bankrupt, losing their jobs and homes, through their addiction to the terminals.
"When they are playing on the FOBTs it is just them and the machine, they get in the zone," he said.
"If you are playing five times faster than in a casino, you are going to lose money five times faster."
Betting shops are restricted to four machines in each shop, but critics say that had led to clusters of shops as companies try to increase the number of the terminals on the high street.
Mr Parkinson said the new licensing powers could see the Welsh Government or Welsh local authorities face legal challenges if they tried to impose further limits on new terminals - costing the taxpayer potentially tens of thousands of pounds.
"They look at this as if it is a power for the Welsh people, it is not, it's a potential minefield," he said.
But a spokesman for the Association of British Bookmakers said betting shops in Wales were the "safest place" to gamble as they were...

Summary: The power to ban high-stakes gambling machines in Wales will be given to the Welsh Government.
###
Article: In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.95% at 5,226.40.
Analysts said iron ore prices were continuing to move towards the decade low reached earlier this year.
The commodity is Australia's biggest export and was trading at $44.20 a tonne in China on Monday.
Independent economist and commodities specialist Andy Xie has predicted that iron ore prices will fall below $40 a tonne before the end of the year.
He said prices could even sink as low as $30 for much of next year as demand from China continues to decline.
Three of the biggest iron ore producers recorded falls in their Sydney-listed shares. BHP Billiton closed down 1.8%, Rio Tinto fell 1.5%, while Fortescue Metals was the biggest loser, sinking 3.2%.
Japan's Nikkei index spent much of the day flat but made gains late in the day to close up 0.23% at 19,924.89 points.
Shares in the country's troubled electronics maker Sharp surged more than 35% at one point on reports its lenders may waive some of its debts.
Without citing sources, Kyodo News said a state-backed fund may invest in Sharp if Japanese lenders agreed to write off an unspecified amount of its debt.
Investors seem to shrug off fresh numbers released earlier on Tuesday that showed Japan's manufacturing activity expanded in November as new orders and output increased.
The Markit/Nikkei Japan Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose from 52.4 in October to 52.8 in November. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
The PMI figure was the highest it had been since March last year - ahead of the introduction of the country's sales tax.
Marcel Thieliant from Capital Economics said the reading suggested Japan's economy had returned to growth this quarter.
"Today's survey confirms that economic activity is on the mend. But with large amounts of spare capacity dampening price pressures, we still think that the Bank of Japan may have to step up the pace of easing in coming months," he added.
In China, the Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.2% at 3,616.11, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng...

Summary: Asian markets experienced mixed fortunes on Tuesday following declines in the US and as slumping iron ore prices continued to hurt mining companies.
###
Article: The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 469,696 new cars were registered in the month, a rise of 1.6% from 462,517 last year.
It is the highest sales total for September on record, but the figures also showed sales to private motorists fell for the sixth month in a row.
The best-selling new car in September was the Ford Fiesta.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: "September is always one of the biggest months for Britain's new car market.
"The new 66-plate, combined with a diverse range of exciting new models featuring the latest technology, has certainly helped draw buyers into showrooms."
The total number of cars registered so far this year has now reached 2.15 million, according to the SMMT. Fleet sales continued to drive growth, climbing 7.3% year on year in September.
But registrations to private motorists slipped by 1.7%, the sixth consecutive month of decline.
This followed "record levels of growth in 2015", the SMMT cautioned. But Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, warned consumers were "recoiling" from making big-ticket purchases due to uncertainty about the economy.
"Car manufacturers also are beginning to raise prices in response to sterling's depreciation," he added.
"In addition, much of the pent-up demand from households that put off car purchases during the recession also has now been satiated.
"As such, with growth in households' real incomes set to slow sharply, as inflation revives and firms pause on hiring, and loan rates now at a floor, we expect [private] car sales to continue to fall over the next year."
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
Mr Hawes also said the car industry continued to face uncertainty.
"Business and consumers place September orders many months in advance," he said.
"So the ability of the market to maintain this record level of demand will depend on the ability of government to overcome political uncertainty and safeguard the conditions that underpin consumer appetite."
In September, Mr Hawes warned...

Summary: UK new car sales rose in September, helped by strong purchases from fleet buyers and the new 66 number plate.
###
Article: Andrew RT Davies, a prominent Leave campaigner, said the Welsh Government had failed to reflect public opinion.
The Welsh Government said it saw "no merit" in appointing a Leave supporter to advise it in negotiations.
On Tuesday, AMs will debate the impact on Wales of the UK leaving the EU.
Prime Minister David Cameron said all the devolved governments would be involved in Brexit negotiations.
Conservative MP David Jones called for the first minister to appoint a Leave supporter to advise him on Wales' exit from the EU.
Mr Davies said, despite the expectations of many, "Wales has proven itself to be a Eurosceptic nation".
"As negotiations in relation to the UK's withdrawal from the EU continue, the Welsh Government must ensure public opinion is better reflected as part of this process."
He said the country needed "strong leadership that reflects the wishes of its people, and ensures the best deal for our country in this new era.
"That should include a role for those politicians of all parties who campaigned for a vote to leave."
In response to Mr Jones's suggestion, a Welsh Government spokesman said: "We don't see any merit in this idea.
"The Welsh Government will work through the consequences of the vote in good faith in the interests of the people of Wales."
Meanwhile Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood told BBC Wales she wanted to hold a special conference of Plaid Cymru members to decide where the party would go next and where Wales should go.
She has already proposed a new union of independent nations for the UK.
She said: "We want to keep the option open of remaining part of the European Union. We see our future as using pound sterling; we see the potential for pooling other functions, and that remains to be seen what they are.
"There's a discussion to be had between the different countries that make up the United Kingdom. We'll need to look at resources, the constitution.
"Everything has been thrown up in the air by last Thursday's vote."

Summary: The Welsh Government should include politicians who campaigned for Brexit in its negotiations over withdrawal from the EU, according to the leader of the Welsh Conservatives.
###
Article: The council's licensing and gambling committee blocked a plan to introduce an annual charge for any establishment staying open after midnight.
Up to 800 licensed premises would have paid between Â£299 and Â£4,400 to offset the costs of the night-time economy.
The committee said the net income generated by the plan would be unlikely to produce "significant improvements".
Merseyside Police had estimated the annual cost of policing the city centre from midnight to 06:00 to be about Â£540,000.
Some bars and clubs in Liverpool had opposed the levy and pub chain JD Wetherspoon called it "an unfair tax on pubs".
A similar late-night levy was introduced in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2013.

Summary:


Ever since Ukraine's February revolution, the Kremlin has characterised the new leaders in Kiev as a "fascist junta" made up of neo-Nazis and anti-Semites, set on persecuting, if not eradicating, the Russian-speaking population.

Article: Supporters of President Hassan Rouhani won 42% of the 290 seats, short of an outright majority but comfortable enough to pass his legislative plans.
Independents took nearly 30% and many of them are said to be reform-minded.
Women took a record 17 seats, the most since the 1979 revolution, and more than clerics gained.
Hardliners won just under a third of seats in a humiliating performance, a BBC correspondent reports.
Why Iran's moderates must capitalise quickly
The run-off was held on Friday in constituencies where no candidate had won the minimum 25% of the vote at the first round in February.
The results are regarded by many as an endorsement of the nuclear agreement that the government of President Rouhani signed with the US and other world powers to curtail Iran's nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
President Hassan Rouhani will look at the results of the run-off elections with a good deal of satisfaction. The moderate and independent candidates have dwarfed his hard-line opponents.
Many of the independents are generally believed to be supporters of the government. This means he will have little trouble in the next parliament, which is due to start work in less than a month from now.
His first priority, according to his Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, is the introduction of bill to guarantee citizens' rights - a major step, he hopes, that will improve human rights in the country and the rule of law.
But he still faces other centres of power that are in the hands of the hardliners, who may block his every effort to steer Iran towards moderation.
Of the 17 women who won seats, at least 11 are considered moderates, AFP news agency reported. It almost doubles the number of women in parliament, giving women the same share of seats as countries including such as Thailand, Nigeria and Haiti.
In February, reformists also made gains in elections for the Assembly of Experts, which appoints the country's most powerful official, the Supreme Leader.
Dr Sanam Vakil, an associate...

Summary: Run-off elections have given moderates and reformists a working majority in the Iranian parliament for the first time in more than a decade.
###
Article: The festival was founded in 2005 and is usually held on or near 6 August, Jamaican Independence Day.
In recent years the event, which is free, has attracted up to 15,000 people and closed roads in the area.
The organisers said they were "incredibly disappointed" by the decision.
Lambeth Council refused their application to hold the event this year, saying in a statement the 2015 event drew "a large number" of complaints from local residents.
The council stressed that the cost of policing and cleaning up afterwards "ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds".
A council spokeswoman said: "Sadly, last year's event became a victim of its own success and we need to pause it for this year, let the community take it back to its roots as a safe, fun event for everyone with professional organisation."
The founder of the festival, Ros Griffiths, joined the council in appealing for more people to get involved in order to ensure the event could go ahead in 2017.
She said: "The community needs to reclaim this as a celebration of Brixton, not a free-for-all that creates chaos, mess and unease."
But organisers who were in the process of planning this year's Brixton Splash spoke out against the decision, saying they feared it did not fit with the council's "gentrified image" of Brixton.
Brixton Splash director Shezal Laing claimed: "We've been trying to ensure we plan a safe event, we've been seeking meetings with the council and other stakeholders, including the police, and at every level we've been blocked."

Summary: The Brixton Splash music festival has been cancelled for 2016, with Lambeth Council saying it costs too much to police and to clear up afterwards.
###
Article: It concluded that the exhausts
          were definitely a cause of lung cancer
 and may also cause tumours in the bladder.
It based the findings on research in high-risk workers such as miners, railway workers and truck drivers.
However, the panel said everyone should try to reduce their exposure to diesel exhaust fumes.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization, had previously labelled diesel exhausts as probably carcinogenic to humans.
IARC has now labelled exhausts as a definite cause of cancer, although it does not compare how risky different carcinogens are. Diesel exhausts
          are now in the same group
 as carcinogens ranging from wood chippings to plutonium and sunlight to alcohol.
It is thought people working in at-risk industries have about a 40% increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Dr Christopher Portier, who led the assessment, said: "The scientific evidence was compelling and the Working Group's conclusion was unanimous, diesel engine exhaust causes lung cancer in humans.
"Given the additional health impacts from diesel particulates, exposure to this mixture of chemicals should be reduced worldwide."
The impact on the wider population, which is exposed to diesel fumes at much lower levels and for shorter periods of time, is unknown.
Dr Kurt Straif, also from IARC, said: "For most of the carcinogens when there is high exposure the risk is higher, when there is lower exposure the risk is lower."
There have been considerable efforts to clean up diesel exhausts. Lower sulphur fuel and engines which burn the fuel more efficiently are now in use.
The UK Department of Health said: "We will carefully consider this report. Air pollutants are a significant public health concern, we are looking at this issue as part of our plans to improve public health."
Cancer Research UK said employers and workers should take appropriate action to minimise exposure to diesel fumes in the workplace.
But director of cancer information Dr Lesley Walker said the...

Summary: Exhaust fumes from diesel engines do cause cancer, a panel of experts working for the World Health Organization says.
###
Article: Researchers asked 345 women about their sexual preferences and compared these with their arousal levels when shown videos of attractive men and women.
They found 28% of straight women were mostly aroused by their preferred sex, compared with 68% of gay women.
The University of Essex study concluded that no woman is "totally straight".
The new study, led by Dr Gerulf Rieger from the University of Essex and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, measured the arousal of women using eye tracking devices and direct measures of physiological sexual response.
Previous studies had already suggested that straight women were aroused by both sexes when tested, but researchers had never looked at whether the same was true for gay women.
Dr Rieger said the study's conclusion that women who identified as being completely gay were much more aroused by their preferred sex was "amazing".
He said their sexual arousal patterns were much more similar to men, whose responses tend to very accurately mirror their stated sexual preferences.
Dr Rieger said: "In the past we thought it was true of all women that they were aroused by both sexes. The fact that it appears this is not the case is amazing."
Dr Rieger said it was not known why gay women were more often only aroused by their preferred sex, but he believes it may be to do with the amount of testosterone female babies receive in the womb.
It was possible, he said, that women who experienced testosterone early in pregnancy had sexual behaviours that were more similar to men, but this has not yet been proven.
He said tests showed similar behaviours occurring in monkeys.
Dr Rieger said the wider conclusions of the study was that, while the majority of women identified as straight: "Our research shows that, when it comes to what turns them on they are usually bisexual or gay, but never totally straight".
However, he added the research did not necessarily mean women were repressing their true sexual preferences, but that their sexualities were simply more...

Summary: Gay women tend to be exclusively sexually attracted to women, while straight women are more likely to be aroused by both sexes, a study says.
###
Article: This is demonstrably false. Far-right parties failed to pass a 5% barrier to enter parliament, although if they had banded together, and not split their vote, they would have probably slipped past the threshold.
Only one government minister has links to nationalist parties - though he is in no way a neo-Nazi or fascist. And the speaker of parliament, Volodymyr Groysman, is Jewish. He has the third most powerful position in the country after the president and prime minister.
But Ukrainian officials and many in the media err to the other extreme. They claim that Ukrainian politics are completely fascist-free. This, too, is plain wrong.
As a result, the question of the presence of the far-right in Ukraine remains a highly sensitive issue, one which top officials and the media shy away from. No-one wants to provide fuel to the Russian propaganda machine.
But this blanket denial also has its dangers, since it allows the ultra-nationalists to fly under the radar. Many Ukrainians are unaware that they exist, or even what a neo-Nazi or fascist actually is, or what they stand for.
This hyper-sensitivity and stonewalling were on full display after President Petro Poroshenko presented a Ukrainian passport to someone who, according to human rights activists, is a "Belarusian neo-Nazi".
The Ukrainian leader handed out medals on 5 December to fighters who had tenaciously defended the main airport in the eastern region of Donetsk from being taken over by Russian-backed separatists.
Among the recipients was Serhiy Korotkykh, a Belarusian national, to whom Mr Poroshenko awarded Ukrainian citizenship, praising his "courageous and selfless service".
The president's website showed a photo of Mr Poroshenko patting the shoulder of the Belarusian, who was clad in military fatigues.
Experts who follow the far right have strongly objected to President Poroshenko's decision.
They say Mr Korotkykh was a member of the far-right Russian National Unity party and also a founding member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Society (NSS) in...

Summary:


The price of West Texas crude oil fell to $37.65 a barrel, a drop of 5.8%, while Brent Crude fell 5.3% to $40.73 a barrel.
Article: The price of West Texas crude oil fell to $37.65 a barrel, a drop of 5.

The price of oil fell to its lowest level since 2009 as global production continues to remain high.

Article: Former Scotland captain Coetzer, 31, joined Northants in 2011 and helped the side win the FLt20 in 2013.
But Coetzer, who went to the World Cup with Scotland earlier this year, only played four Championship matches this summer, with a batting average of 5.29.
Meanwhile, 28-year-old paceman Chambers moved from Essex in 2013 and played just five Championship games in 2015.
Northants head coach David Ripley told the club website: "Kyle has been a model professional during his time here, he deals with success and failure in equal measure, a very valuable thing in a cricket dressing room. We wish him and his family well in the future.
"After a slow start in 2014, Maurice has put in a big effort this year but has been unable to get past our other seam bowlers and play regularly in the first team."

Summary: Northants have released Scotland international Kyle Coetzer and bowler Maurice Chambers.
###
Article: That's how its been since the App Store's inception seven years ago.
But soon Apple will for the first time lower its App Store commission on one condition: if an app can retain a subscriber for over a year, the revenue split will be 85/15.
The change will apply immediately to existing apps with users that are more than a year old - potentially providing an injection of extra revenue for many companies.
Spotify, for example, boasted of having 20 million subscribers this time last year.
For the sake of argument, if even just half of those subscribers are still paying members today, the change could potentially represent around $15m (£10.3m) in extra subscription revenue for Spotify every month, and that's probably a conservative estimate.
As well as price, Apple will introduce another significant change to App Store subscriptions. Until now, only apps in certain categories - media and entertainment content - could charge subscription fees. Soon, any app will be able to offer such an option.
This is widely seen as a way for Apple to encourage high-end productivity apps onto its mobile operating system, iOS.
"This could be the change that makes the market for professional-calibre iPad apps possible," wrote John Gruber, a technology writer and long-time Apple watcher.
"I think this is terrific news both for developers and users."
The danger, of course, is by opening up subscriptions to every type of app, Apple risks creating a frustrating environment that's irritating for users who were accustomed to the simple model of paid or free apps.
Then again, subscriptions are surely more likely to encourage quality compared to one-off payments - the challenge for developers shifts from being convincing people to pay once, to convincing them to keep paying, again and again.
Mr Gruber noted, however, that there was still some uncertainty about whether all apps could use the new business model.
The revenue split change is just one piece of Apple's plans for its store, which now has 1.5 million apps on offer - second only to...

Summary: If you sell an app, subscription or other product through the App Store, Apple gets 30% of the money.
###
Article: A report carried out for the Education Select Committee said "questionable practices" were being signed off.
However, the report stressed that cases of deliberate fraud were rare.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan will be questioned about "loopholes" in academy regulation when she appears before the committee next month.
The research - carried out by the University of London's Institute of Education - found that while regulation had improved since 2010, problems were still occurring, including potential conflicts of interest.
One interviewee described an academy head teacher who had spent Â£50,000 on a one-day training course run by a friend.
Another cited the chairman of a multi-academy trust, who was also a lawyer specialising in education, who used his company to provide all legal services for the trust.
Another said the chairman of governors in one academy told staff they would be dismissed if they discussed with students or used textbooks referencing abortion or contraception.
The chairman of the committee, Graham Stuart, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that most academies were "working hard in challenging conditions to raise standards."
And he said the "greed, nepotism, and self-serving behaviour of a few" should not bring "the academies movement in general into disrepute".
"Issues around at-cost provision of services, and some other technicalities, are still pretty weak in regulatory terms," Mr Stuart added.
"I think we will want to question the secretary of state pretty strongly on that."
The report said the "vast majority of academy trusts" were staffed by "honourable people".
It added: "Cases of deliberate fraud are rare and many of the instances where real or perceived conflicts have arisen are the result of people being asked to work too fast with too few controls.
"Nevertheless, the general sense from the literature and the evidence collected for this study is that the checks and balances on academy trusts in relation to conflicts of interest are still too weak.
"In the course of the research...

Summary: Checks and balances on how academy schools in England spend large amounts of public money are "too weak", research commissioned by MPs has found.
###
Article: Ulster Farmer's Union president Ian Marshall told MPs that there were "husbands and wives who are completely opposed on this".
He said it was a "head versus heart" debate for many.
Mr Marshall said farmers were balancing the need for access to European markets against concerns over loss of identity.
But he repeated the union's position that in the "absence of a compelling case" for exit, it believed continued EU membership was the better option.
He told MPs that farming was not delivering profits and the industry relied on subsidies to survive.
Mr Marshall and the union's chief executive Wesley Aston were giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into issues around the referendum.
During more than an hour of evidence they were asked about subsidies, red tape and access to markets.
The officials said Northern Ireland's 30,000 farmers needed "information, guarantees and assurances to come to an informed decision".
The DUP's Ian Paisley said in "every day" of his 18 years as an elected representative he had had complaints from farmers about the complexity of the Common Agricultural Policy.
And he insisted that after an exit, the UK government would continue to provide financial support to farmers.
Mr Aston said key elements of any new UK arrangement post-Brexit would be a continuation of subsidies and measures to reduce red tape.
MPs were told that in 2013/14 farmers received Â£266m in direct subsidy support and a further Â£83m went to the wider rural economy.
The union officials questioned whether the UK government would replace EU subsidies to the same level.
Mr Marshall said in the absence of guarantees they would have "huge concerns" about what any new UK scheme would potentially look like.

Summary: Some Northern Ireland farm families are split down the middle over the EU referendum debate, a Westminster committee has been told.
###
Article: The price of West Texas crude sank to $37.65 (Â£24.99) a barrel, a drop of 5.8%, while Brent Crude fell 5.3% to $40.73 a barrel.
The slumping price comes as OPEC - a group of the largest oil producing nations- refused to cut oil production.
OPEC- whose production covers about 30% of the world's oil demand - met in Vienna last week to discuss production.
The group has faced growing competition from new supplies, including in the US where techniques like fracking are used to tap previously hard-to-reach oil reserves.
"The decision by OPEC members to keep oil production output at record high levels has seen oil prices plummet again," said Sanjiv Shah, chief investment officer of Sun Global Investments.
The group had traditionally kept a tight rein on oil production to regulate price, but announced last Friday it will continue to pump out approximately 31.5 million barrels of oil a day, going past the group's former 30 million barrel target.
In 2014 Saudi Arabia led OPEC in a decision to keep output high to defend its market share.

Summary: