Sony has given up selling its line of Reader devices for e-books after failing to find a big enough market.

Article: Ashley Coe was working on a new solar plant for British Solar Renewables in Devon when a digger operating beneath the overhead cable caused the accident.
He suffered a serious brain injury and two other workers were also hurt, Exeter Crown Court heard.
Sub contractor Pascon was fined £35,000 for failing to manage the work safely.
Mr Coe was working for Walsall-based Pascon when the incident happened in March 2013 at Knockworthy Farm near Huntshaw.
The digger which struck the 33,000 volt cables was reversing while laying a cable in a trench and Mr Coe was helping to control the drum when he suffered the shock.
British Solar Renewables, of Butleigh, Somerset, admitted breaching the construction, design and management regulations by failing to ensure the safety of power cables.
Pascon admitted failing to plan, manage and monitor construction work adequately.
The court was told Mr Coe was left with mobility problems which prevented him from working again.  Fellow workers Malcolm Stewart and Andrew Capper suffered less serious injuries.
Simon Morgan, prosecuting, said the cables should have been protected by fencing, goal posts, and bunting to prevent vehicles operating beneath them and a banksman should have been used to ensure safe movement of plant.
BSR were fined £250,000 with £72,000 costs and Pascon were fined £35,000 with £25,000 costs.

Summary: A solar power company has been fined £250,000 after a worker suffered life-changing injuries when he received an electric shock from a high-power cable.
###
Article: Sky won five of the seven TV packages on offer, but paid 83% more than it did in the last auction three years ago.
However, shares in BT rose 3.65% after it paid £960m for two of the TV packages, 30% more than last time.
Analysts at Jefferies said the outcome had been "sobering" for Sky, but "reassuring" for BT.
Sky and BT paid a combined £5.136bn for the live TV rights deal - far in excess of what had been expected.
Jefferies said the deal would be "challenging to explain" to Sky shareholders.
"For Sky, a sobering result," Jefferies said. "Even with some claw back on costs/pricing, we expect [analyst] forecasts to move lower," it said.
The price Sky paid per year was about £330m more than City analysts had predicted.
Jefferies estimated that Sky would try to claw back about £200m a year through cost-cutting and £100m through incremental price rises.
Analysts estimate that Sky Sports has about five million subscribers, out of a total TV subscriber base of between 10.5 and 11 million people.
The BBC understands Sky plans to mainly fund its bid by taking costs out of its non-programming budget.
Sports and entertainment programming will not be affected, but areas such as customer services will find efficiencies by moving more online rather than being focused on call centres, for example.
Sky will also try to reduce the need for service visits by increasing the reliability of its set-top boxes, which are currently around 85% reliable, the BBC understands.
Subscribers are also likely to face some price rises, analysts believe.
Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown, said BT appeared to have got the better deal.
"Sky has paid dearly and is going to have to squeeze costs and customers to keep its finances on track," he said.
"BT has ended up with a good hand - Premiership, Champions League, FA Cup and European leagues, all for a fraction of the annual cost that Sky is paying for its Premiership position," he added.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme...

Summary: Sky's shares ended the day 2.2% lower after the company agreed to pay £4.1bn to show live Premier League football between 2016 and 2019.
###
Article: Naloxone was introduced in Northern Ireland in 2012 and is funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Health and Social Care Board (HSCB).
The PHA said the medication was used 112 times, and 98 were "successful".
"That's 98 incidents when someone could have died but didn't thanks to naloxone being administered," the agency said.
The main risks for people who use heroin or other opioids are transmission of blood-borne viruses through sharing of injecting equipment, and accidental overdose.
Naloxone temporarily reverses the effects of overdose, allowing more time for emergency treatment.
It can quickly restore normal respiration to a person whose breathing has slowed or stopped as a result of overdosing with heroin or prescription opioid pain medications.
The 'Take Home Naloxone' programme was introduced in July 2012, as part of the Department of Health's strategy to reduce the harm related to substance misuse.
It comes in a pack containing syringes, and is supplied by the PHA to health trusts for distribution to homeless organisations, pharmacists, drug users and their carers.
Victoria Creasy, health and social wellbeing improvement senior officer at the PHA, said: "While only a very small portion of the population here use heroin or other opiate type drugs, those people who do are at a high risk of illness or death.
"It is therefore important that we look at ways that we can reduce the danger that these people face.
"Our priorities are to reduce these risks, through ensuring access to needle exchange services with trained staff, and providing access to naloxone.
"For the past five years, Take Home Naloxone has been available to anyone who is at risk of opiate overdose, through their local Trust Addiction Services or the Prison Service.
"By the end of March 2017, 1,250 packs had been supplied to those at risk."
She added: "The PHA is aware of 112 occasions when the Take Home Naloxone had been used to reverse an overdose, and of these 98 were successful; that's 98 incidents when someone could have died but...

Summary: A medication that reverses an overdose from opioids, including heroin, has helped prevent deaths in 98 potentially fatal overdoses in the past five years.
###
Article: Code-named "Adeline", the system would see a booster's main engines fly themselves back to Earth after a launch.
The returned elements would then be refurbished and put on another mission.
Airbus says it has been working on the concept since 2010 and has even flight-tested small demonstrators.
Reporters were let into the Ariane production centre at Les Mureaux on the outskirts of Paris on Friday to inspect them.
The European aerospace giant is in a fierce multi-billion-dollar battle to defend the market position of Ariane, which has launched roughly half of all the large telecommunication satellites in orbit today.
Competitors such as America's SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are also working towards making their rockets re-usable - an approach that is expected to drive down prices across the industry.
Airbus has recently begun development of its next-generation Ariane, and, in the present design, the recovery of components is not envisaged. But the company says the Adeline concept could be grafted on to this vehicle in due course.
"The current design for Ariane 6 is fixed. For its maiden flight in 2020, it will not change," explained Francois Auque, the head of space systems at Airbus Defence and Space.
"But it is absolutely normal that in parallel we begin to think about what will be the evolution of Ariane 6, because if we don't already pave the way for those evolutions we will not be in a position to implement them somewhere between 2025 and 2030."
The firm's engineers believe the basic Adeline idea could be incorporated into any liquid-fuelled launcher, however big or small.
It takes the form of a winged module that goes on the bottom of the rocket stack.
Inside are the main engines and the avionics - the high-value parts on all rockets.
The module would be integral to the job of lifting the mission off the pad in the normal way, but then detach itself from the upper-stages of the rocket once the propellants in the tanks above it were exhausted.
The Adeline module's next step would be re-entry...

Summary: Airbus, which leads the production of Europe's Ariane rocket, has developed a concept that could make future vehicles partially re-usable.
###
Article: "We do not have plans to develop a successor Reader model at this time," the Japanese firm told the BBC.
The PRS-T3 was the last version made and will exist as long as supplies remain in Europe.
Earlier this year, Sony pulled out of selling e-books and directed its users in the US and Europe to the e-bookstore of rival Kobo.
North American customers using Sony Readers have been directed to buy books from Kobo since February this year, and European and Australian customers since May, a Sony spokeswoman said.
But users in Japan, Sony's home country, can continue to still get its line of Readers and access Sony's Reader Store.
The news was first reported by German site Lesen.
The dominance of Amazon's range of Kindles and the growing smartphone, tablet and so-called phablet market have made it hard for Sony's suite of e-readers and rivals like Nook to carve out a niche for themselves. According to The Bookseller, Amazon has around 90% of the dedicated e-reader market in the UK.
Canadian firm Kobo was bought by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, which is looking to grow its business globally in a bid to challenge Amazon.
The global market in dedicated e-readers peaked in 2011 with 23 million devices sold, but is expected to fall to 10 million by 2017 as phones and tablets eat into the overall market, according to the research consultancy Gartner.
Still, the sale of printed books will be outstripped by e-books by 2018, a report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers suggested.

Summary:


Council tax bills in England could cost an average of £200 more for band D properties by 2020, the Local Government Association has warned.

Article: The group, which refers to itself as Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, had not previously maintained an established online channel for its propaganda or any official social media presence in any language.
But on 18 January, an Arabic-language Twitter account purporting to be the official outlet for a new Boko Haram media group called Al-Urwah al-Wuthqa was launched and immediately promoted by key pro-IS media operatives.
Since then, the group has used the feed to publish a stream of propaganda, including several new videos, although there has been some disruption to its media activities following the suspension of the original account by Twitter.
The increased sophistication and organisation of the propaganda that followed the launch of the Twitter account bore signs of the influence of IS, which has honed its social media exploitation over the past year.
This appeared to indicate that the group may have been assisted by IS media operatives, or influenced by IS in an indirect way.
Boko Haram has followed the example of IS by publishing branded photographs of its militants and the areas under its control to illustrate its successes on the ground.
The Twitter feed has also been posting a stream of short statements about the group's activities, claiming operations in a timely manner, in the mould of Islamic State's one-line tweeted claims.
The videos released so far via the new Boko Haram Twitter account have been more slickly crafted than the group's standard grainy offerings, with professionally designed graphics and high-quality opening sequences.
This improvement and the use of multiple languages and well-presented subtitles - using English, Arabic, French and Hausa - suggested the group may have had outside help from IS media operatives.
Arabic-language jihadist anthems have also been used, one of which has been routinely used in IS propaganda.
The latest video, showing the beheading of two Nigerian "spies", bore remarkable similarities to IS beheading videos. The staging, slow motion techniques...

Summary: Following the launch of an official Twitter feed for the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram in January, there have been multiple signs that the group's media operation has been influenced by the expansionist Islamic State (IS, formerly Isis or Isil).
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Article: The think tank uncovered an "inequality of opportunity" for children taking National 4 and 5s, which replaced the old standard grade exams in 2014.
Freedom of information requests found that some pupils were permitted to sit eight exams in S4, while others were limited to five.
The Scottish government said councils made their own decisions.
A spokesman said this ensured that they best met the needs of their pupils.
Reform Scotland said it was "ironic and disappointing" that Curriculum for Excellence reforms, brought in to broaden pupils' education, were in fact narrowing it and placing some young people at a disadvantage.
Keir Bloomer, a member of the Reform Scotland advisory board and chairman of the Commission on School Reform, said: "Our research shows that inequality of opportunity is now built into our examination system, not by the SQA but by decisions made mainly at council level.
"This is an unintended consequence of the way Curriculum for Excellence is being interpreted."
The research found while some local authorities imposed a blanket decision on the maximum number of exams across the council area, others allowed individual schools to decide.
Mr Bloomer, a former director of education at Clackmannanshire Council, said: "Decisions to reduce the number of subjects a student may sit seem to have been based on a crude calculation of the number of hours of study available in S4.
"However, this is effectively saying that nothing studied in earlier years counts towards the knowledge of the subject required for the exams."
He added: "This is not an issue of the preferences or ability of the student. Instead, it is a lottery based on the school a young person attends.
"The result is that a very able student at one school could emerge with fewer qualifications than a similarly-able student at a different school."
Scottish Conservative young people spokeswoman Liz Smith accused the SNP of "turning a blind eye" to inequalities in the exam system.
"It is not just national 4 and 5s that are suffering but highers...

Summary: Pupils face a "lottery" in the number of exams they can sit at Scottish schools, Reform Scotland has claimed.
###
Article: The activity lets people roll down a hill in a large plastic ball.
Proposals for the centre, situated on Holyhead Road next to the Menai Strait, attracted 365 letters of objection, compared to 85 in support.
Anglesey council's planning committee met on Wednesday and was advised to refuse permission as it would have "a detrimental impact on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty".
Members also agreed the impact on nearby listed buildings outweighed the economic and tourism benefits.
Plans included a zorbing run which would have been 640ft (195m) long and 39ft (12m) wide, the construction of a lodge and the demolition and rebuilding of a 590ft (180m) long stone wall.
Among the reasons given for refusal included the demolition of the stone wall, which would "result in the loss of a feature which contributes significantly to the appearance and character of this important sensitive location".
Zorb Snowdonia said it chose the site because "people want to visit beautiful areas".
Before the meeting, Anna Matthews from the company said plans fitted well for developments in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Summary: Controversial plans for an Anglesey zorbing centre have been refused.
###
Article: Mr Pataki, who served as governor from 1995 to 2006, is positioning himself as a moderate in a heavily conservative field.
He joins seven other Republicans who have announced their campaigns, and several others who are expected to announce in the coming weeks.
After leaving the governor's office, he served as a UN delegate.
Mr Pataki launched a fundraising "super-Pac" earlier this year - a standard move for a politician considering running for America's highest office.
But his campaign was officially kicked off in a video posted to his website on Thursday morning.
In the video, titled George Pataki For President, he played up his role as a Republican governor in a state dominated by Democrats.
"Washington has grown too big, too powerful, too expensive and too intrusive," he said. "This is exactly what the founding fathers feared...It is time to stand up, protect our freedom and take back this government".
Amid thumping music, the campaign video pointed to his leadership during the attacks of 11 September 2001, and stressed that he would be a unifying candidate.
Since leaving elected office in the middle of the last decade, Mr Pataki has struck a moderate tone in the news media.
Could a former Republican governor from a large state who hasn't held public office in more than eight years have a shot at winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2016?
If the man's last name is Bush, the answer is yes. If it's Pataki, the odds are significantly longer.
So why does Jeb Bush of Florida consistently sit near the top of polls and dominate campaign fundraising, while George Pataki - the man who, along with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, became the face of New York's response to the September 11 attacks - barely move the needle?
There's the name, of course. But it's also likely the fact that Mr Pataki is part of a dying breed of Northeast Republican moderates who blend fiscal conservatism with social positions closer to those of the political left. He's in favour of same-sex marriage, supports legalised abortions and backs...

Summary: Former New York Governor George Pataki has entered the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.
###
Article: The claim comes after extra fundraising powers for councils were outlined in last week's government Spending Review.
But the LGA said councils would still face a combined shortfall of £6.8bn by the end of the Parliament.
The government said council tax was expected to be lower in real terms in 2020 than a decade earlier.
In the Spending Review, Chancellor George Osborne said local authorities responsible for adult social care would be allowed to increase council tax by 2% above existing limits.
By adding in the maximum new levies allowable without a referendum, the LGA estimated that Band D bills could cost an average of just under £200 more over the next five years.
It said this would not be enough, particularly as budgets continued to face new pressures such as those caused by an aging population.
Any shortfall might have to be made up by further increases to costs such as car parking charges, it added.
One senior councillor said councils were now also facing "a reckless gamble" of having to use cash reserves to fund services.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "In reality councils will have almost £200bn to spend on local services over the lifetime of this Parliament, a cash terms increase and a reduction of just 1.7% in real terms each year.
"The Spending Review offers a £3.5bn package for adult social care to ensure councils can support their older and most vulnerable residents, while at the same time council tax is expected to be less in 2019-20 in real terms than it was in 2010-11.
"With councils accounting for a quarter of all public spending it's right they continue to play their part in paying off the deficit."

Summary:

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risks and the management of complaints.
The CQC said the university was "not meeting the standards

A failing health trust has been placed in special measures, meaning all Cumbria hospital trusts are now getting extra help to boost performance.

Article: It follows media coverage claiming the institution is banning "prep" - a public school term for homework - to "save pupils from depression".
Principal Eve Jardine-Young said: "The headline about homework being banned was not entirely accurate."
She said it was being looked at as part of an "overall review of learning".
Claims the prestigious independent school was considering scrapping homework were made in The Times after an interview Ms Jardine-Young gave to the newspaper.
Although the principal admits the girls' school is looking into the "daily" prep being handed out to its 850 students, she said it was not abolishing "traditional homework".
"It's about stepping back and asking what is homework for, what is the effectiveness of the prep?," she said.
"It's an important debate to have but it's complex and it's very easy to turn it into a binary issue of 'yes or no' on homework."
In October, the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) reported that the college's set homework was "appropriate and stimulating".
But Ms Jardine-Young said the regimented "Victorian approach to homework" needed to be reviewed to make it "relevant for the 21st Century learner".
"It's about transforming and evolving from that Victorian model of the past," she said.
"It's a really important issue for all schools; the potential young boys and girls have just cannot be maximised if they are unhappy or really stressed about things in life.
"There's a lot of complexity on this so we're involving parents in that discussion and it's really crucial that the pupils themselves have a voice."
The school caters for day pupils and boarders aged between 11 and 18.

Summary: The head of Cheltenham Ladies' College has had to "break the news" to pupils that the "end of homework is not quite as imminent" as they might have hoped.
###
Article: Six cats which went missing in the Croydon and Norwood areas in south London were later found dismembered.
It was initially thought the animals had been killed by foxes.
But animal rescue workers have now urged owners to keep their pets indoors "where possible", saying it had become clear that "something sinister" was going on.
Boudicca Rising of South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (SNARL) said her organisation had received a "deluge" of further concerns from local residents.
The animals had suffered "gruesome" injuries which appeared to have been made by a blade, she told BBC Radio 5 Live.
She urged anyone who comes across an injured animal in the area to contact her group.
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: "We will be surveying any evidence we are given to see if there is deliberate cruelty involved here."
"Thankfully acts of deliberate violence against dead cats are rare and thorough research has shown that these kind of injuries can be caused by wildlife after death."
She added the police were leading on the investigation but said the RSPCA will provide any support as needed.
The Met confirmed it had received reports of animals being harmed and was working with Surrey Police.
Sgt Ross Spanton, of Surrey Police said:  "I would like to reassure the local community that active enquiries are under way to identify those responsible and I would urge anyone with any information to contact the police."

Summary: Animal welfare workers believe the same person may be responsible for a string of "gruesome" cat killings.
###
Article: The proposed new ground at Burringham was given the green light earlier by North Lincolnshire Council.
It will replace the League One side's 9,000-capacity ground at Glanford Park, which itself only opened in 1988. Plans include a bar, gym, hotel and offices.
Scunthorpe United said its aspirations were "no longer met by the existing stadium".
When Glanford Park was built in the 1980s, it was the first new stadium built by a Football League club since the end of World War Two and the move began an era of dozens of new stadiums opening across the country.
Scunthorpe, who previously played at the Old Show Ground, which is now the site of a supermarket, would become the first Football League club to have built a new stadium since the 1980s to subsequently move again to another newly-built ground.
The club said it wanted another ground so it could realise its "ambitions of playing in a higher division".
Scunthorpe were in the fourth tier of the league when Glanford Park was built, currently play in the third tier and have spent three seasons in the past decade in the Championship, the Football League's second level.
It has also submitted outline planning permission for a multi-use arena and outdoor football pitches at the site.
The new stadium would be at a 23 hectare-site to the west of the town, by Brumby Common Lane.
The club must adhere to conditions set by the council regarding ecology and construction.
The council said the site was within the northern part of the Lincolnshire Lakes Area Action Plan, due to be developed by 2028 with 6,000 houses, retail and leisure facilities  on "a modern campus environment".
The option to redevelop Glanford Park was dismissed because the club said the pitch size, existing buildings and access would cause "significant" problems.
Scunthorpe United fan Rich Gwynne tweeted: "So, last season at GP for @SUFCOfficial. Time to build a team that'll christen the new ground with an opening game in The Championship!"
Grimsby fan Wayne Green wrote: "Local rivalry aside, you have to...

Summary: Scunthorpe United's plans for a new 12,000-seater football stadium have been approved.
###
Article: Staff will be offered voluntary redundancy and early retirement packages under the proposals.
The university currently employs about 3,000 people, with staff wages making up 60% of its costs.
It said the cutbacks would provide financial stability in a very challenging funding environment.
The move is aimed at saving Â£10.5m.
The university said it needed to tackle staff costs in order to maintain and grow its position in an increasingly competitive international market.
University and College Union (UCU) Scotland official Mary Senior said: "The news that the University of Aberdeen are looking to cut 150 jobs is deeply disappointing and this is a very worrying time.
"Cutting the very staff who make the university the world class institution it is can't be done without impacting on both the student experience and the university's reputation.
"UCU opposes these cuts and will be meeting with the university."

Summary: The University of Aberdeen is to cut about 150 jobs as part of efforts to save millions of pounds in the coming months.
###
Article: University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust was rated as inadequate in an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
It said the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Furness General Hospital in Barrow needed to improve the quality of care.
The trust said it was "part-way through a process of significant improvement".
Last year, a separate trust covering the north of the county, North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust, was one of 11 put into special measures after the Keogh review found higher-than-expected mortality rates.
The CQC inspection took place in February and while inspectors said care in services such as maternity and A&E had improved since previous checks, they added other areas of concern had not been addressed.
Medical care in one part of the Royal Lancaster was said to be "of particular concern".
The overall recruitment of nurses and doctors was identified as a "fundamental" worry with "too much reliance" on temporary staff.
The chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: "There is a long history of concern with the quality of service provided by the trust, so it is disappointing to report that a number of the issues that have been identified in the past remain unresolved.
"I do not believe that the trust is likely to resolve its challenges without external support."
As well as the hospitals in Barrow and Lancaster, inspectors also visited the Westmorland General Hospital, near Kendal, which was said to be providing a good service overall.
The trust's chief executive, Jackie Daniel said: "The reports reflect the fact we are part-way through a process of significant improvement which is still going to take a number of years to complete.
"It isn't an overnight job to change the culture of a large, complex organisation."
Full reports of the inspection have been published on the CQC website.

Summary:


The government's watchdog has issued a warning to students about the dangers of taking "smart drugs".

Article: The attorney general's office said he was suspected of signing a contract that was "unfavourable to Fifa" and making a "disloyal payment" to European football chief Michel Platini.
Mr Blatter was being questioned, and his office was searched, it added.
The 79-year-old, who has run Fifa since 1998, has always denied any wrongdoing.
Fifa, which has been hit by a string of corruption allegations in recent years, said it was co-operating with the investigation.
"Swiss criminal proceedings against the president of Fifa, Mr Joseph Blatter, have been opened... on suspicion of criminal mismanagement... and - alternatively - misappropriation," the Swiss attorney general's office said in a statement.
It said Mr Blatter was suspected of signing a contract with former Caribbean football chief Jack Warner in 2005 that was "unfavourable to Fifa" and in doing so "violated his fiduciary duties and acted against the interest of Fifa..."
The contract they mention is thought to refer to a TV rights deal agreed between Fifa and Mr Warner's organisation Concacaf which, according to an investigation by a Swiss broadcaster earlier this month, allegedly resulted in a multi-million pound profit for Mr Warner's own company.
Fifa owns the TV rights to the World Cup and sells them to regional federations which then sell them on to broadcasters.
Mr Blatter's lawyer, Richard Cullen, said he was confident the inquiry would clear Mr Blatter of any wrongdoing.
"We are confident that when the Swiss authorities have a chance to review the documents and the evidence, they will see that the contract was properly prepared and negotiated by the appropriate staff members of Fifa who were routinely responsible for such contracts, and certainly no mismanagement occurred," he said.
According to the Swiss attorney general, Mr Blatter is also suspected of making a "disloyal payment" of two million Swiss francs ($2m; Â£1.3m) in 2011 to Mr Platini, the statement said.
It said the payment was "at the expense of Fifa, which was allegedly made for work...

Summary: Swiss prosecutors say they are investigating Sepp Blatter, the head of football's world governing body Fifa, on suspicion of criminal mismanagement.
###
Article: While 70,000 retired Brits use Spain's health system, 81 Spanish pensioners are registered as covered by the NHS.
Across the European Economic Area (EEA) there are 145,000 UK expat pensioners registered, compared with 4,000 EEA pensioners registered to use the NHS.
The figures were obtained after a BBC Freedom of Information request.
Citizens of the EEA - EU states and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein - can get public healthcare in all EEA states, which is ultimately claimed back from their home country.
The Department of Health figures show that the UK and Spain have the biggest disparity in numbers of pensioners covered by the reciprocal healthcare agreement, as of December 2016.
And while 43,000 British pensioners were registered to use the French health service, only 201 French pensioners were registered as covered by the NHS. In Cyprus 12,000 British pensioners are covered by the health service, but fewer than five Cypriot pensioners were covered by the NHS.
Britain paid Â£674.4m to other EEA countries to cover expat British citizens' health costs in the 2014-2015 financial year, while it claimed back Â£49.7m to pay for EEA citizens' treatment in the UK.
Questioned about the small numbers of Spanish pensioners that were choosing to retire in the UK in November, Department of Health civil servant Chris Wormald told a Public Accounts Committee hearing on reciprocal healthcare: "We are not the retirement place of choice."
When Britain leaves the EU, these arrangements would cease to apply if it also left the EEA and would need to be renegotiated as part of any exit deal.
Switzerland, for example, is not a member of the European Union but has negotiated access to EEA reciprocal healthcare arrangements.
Professor Catherine Barnard, Professor of EU law at the University of Cambridge, says that much will depend on the Article 50 Brexit negotiations and any transitional arrangements.
If the terms are not as good as the current ones, she said, pensioners may no longer get the same access to public healthcare in...

Summary: Many more expat UK pensioners rely on European healthcare under reciprocal healthcare agreements than UK-based European pensioners rely on the NHS.
###
Article: The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said many sets were designed to perform well in government tests, but used more energy in regular use.
It said energy consumption could be twice the expected amount.
But the US Consumer Technology Association (CTA) said modern TVs were an "efficiency success story".
The NRDC said it found many television sets disabled energy saving features with little or no warning when a viewer adjusted other settings, such as the picture brightness.
It also found that a test video produced by the US Department of Energy to determine energy consumption typically used less energy than real-world television broadcasts.
The group suggested that the short scenes in the test video triggered screen dimming features in some televisions, lowering their energy use.
It also warned that energy efficiency tests did not analyse how a television performed when displaying high dynamic range (HDR) video.
HDR allows a much larger number of colours to be shown, but consumes more energy than standard high definition pictures. Manufacturers are gradually beginning to produce HDR-capable sets.
"In some cases, a TV's annual energy use will be twice the levels that manufacturers reported," said Noah Horowitz from the NRDC.
However, CTA president Gary Shapiro said "fundamental changes in video screen technology" meant television sets were now more energy efficient than before.
"Innovation is constantly driving TV models to become thinner, lighter and more energy efficient," he said.
He also defended the eco-friendly modes included on some sets, saying that they provided viewers with choice.
"The TV settings used in the energy efficiency testing processes can be and are used in the real world, unless consumers want a different viewing experience," he said.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission said: "The Commission is involved in discussions on a completely new test loop that will not only make defeat devices far more difficult to be conceived and implemented, but will also be able to capture...

Summary: Energy efficiency ratings on televisions are flawed and likely to mislead consumers, a US environment advocacy group has claimed.
###
Article: The Syrian National Council (SNC) comprises groups from across Syria's fractured opposition landscape. Chairman Burhan Ghalioun has said the SNC unites the "forces of opposition and the peaceful revolution".
The SNC is a coalition of seven Syrian opposition factions aimed at offering a credible alternative to Mr Assad's regime. Its formation recalls that of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), which earned international recognition through its opposition to the rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and is now leading the country's affairs.
Ghalioun has said the body is "an independent group personifying the sovereignty of the Syrian people in their struggle for liberty" and is "open to all Syrians".
The SNC plans to elect a chairman and stage a general assembly of 190 members next month.
Among the seven groups included are:
•The Damascus Declaration for Democratic Change grouping - a movement born during the so-called "Damascus Spring" of 2000/2001 which called for broad democratic reform, and was suppressed by the Assad regime.
•The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood - A banned Islamic political party, membership of which can be punishable by death under Syrian law.
•Local Coordination Committees - Grass-roots movements that have led demonstrations across the country.
•Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) - a coalition of 40 opposition blocs.
•Kurdish factions, tribal leaders and independent figures make up the rest of the council.
Since May, there have been several attempts to unite the various anti-government movements in Syria.
An early incarnation of the council was established in August during the opposition conference in Istanbul, but failed to unify the ethnically, religiously and politically fragmented factions of the opposition. There were a number of disputed issues and the Local Coordination Committees declared that the council did not represent them.
Opposition leaders like Ghalioun insisted on the importance of achieving unity within the council and ensuring that all factions were adequately...

Summary: Opposition groups in Syria have announced the formation of a united front against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
###
Article: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency says young people are gambling with their health by using prescription medicines in a bid to get higher marks in exams.
Many websites illegally sell drugs like Ritalin and Modafinil without a valid prescription.
The drugs can cause dependency, heart problems and psychosis.
So far this year, the MHRA has closed nearly 5,000 websites selling fake or unlicensed medicines.
Modafinil is designed to be used for a health condition called narcolepsy - a rare but serious brain disorder that causes a person to suddenly fall asleep at inappropriate times. But some students take it to stay alert.
Others take Ritalin, a treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), for a cognitive boost.
MHRA Senior Policy Manager Lynda Scammell said: "You may be offered 'smart drugs' or 'cognitive enhancers' at university - some of them may be potent medicines which should only be prescribed by a doctor.
"Modafinil is licensed for specific medical conditions - not for use as a 'boost' during exams. Don't put your health at risk by self-medication - it could have serious side-effects.
"It's a criminal offence to supply prescription-only medicines without a valid prescription - websites offering them are acting illegally.
"Be smart - don't put your health at risk by buying medicines online and don't give your student loan to a criminal."

Summary:


A council which installed Braille paving stones branded "gobbledygook" has said the slabs were only intended to be "creative".

Article: A total of almost £6.5m in donations were registered for July to September, Electoral Commission figures show.
The Labour Party reported £2,027,371 in donations, while the Liberal Democrats received £928,888.
Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru reported £11,000, the BNP reported £94,428 and UKIP £42,943.
These figures relate to the period between 1 July and 30 September 2016.
The Electoral Commission said the £6.5m was £8.5m down on the second quarter of 2016 - which involved elections and the UK's EU referendum - but around £363,000 more than the same quarter in 2015.
The seven political parties to report the most donations were:
The Conservative Party received 160 donations, with Michael Davis making the biggest donation at £269,000, followed by Alexander Fraser handing over £260,000.
The party also received £200,000 from the Conservative Draws Society and £165,000 from David Brownlow.
Labour received 91 donations, including £689,362 from the UK's largest trade union UNISON, £429,928 from Unite the Union,  £308,049 from the GMB and £247,923 from the Communications Workers Union.
Transparency
Liberal Democrats received 167 donations, with Graham and Susan Tobbell contributing the most at £125,000 each. Of the Co-operative Party's four donors, £312,800 from the Co-operative Group Ltd was the largest.
Bob Posner, the Electoral Commission's director of political finance and regulation, and legal counsel, said: "This data is hugely important in ensuring that our political finance system is as transparent as possible and it is therefore always disappointing where there is a failure to meet the statutory deadline.
"Where there is no reasonable explanation for such a failure, we will take a robust approach in dealing with this."
In addition to the donations registered, five parties accepted more than £2.3m from public funds - money and assistance to parliamentary opposition parties to assist with costs.
The value of outstanding loans to political parties stood at £4,358,508 on 30 September - a decrease of £191,080 compared to...

Summary: The Conservatives reported over £2.8m in donations in the three months after the EU referendum - the highest amount of the major parties, figures reveal.
###
Article: The Bank of Scotland recorded the fastest rate of expansion for 14 months, while firms also saw higher levels of new business and employment.
Its latest purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 51.2 in September, up from 49.1 in August. Any figure above 50 represents growth.
The increase came despite a rise in business costs, the report found.
The PMI measures month-on-month changes in combined manufacturing and services output.
In its report, the bank said the upturn in September was driven by the sharpest increase in new business intakes since August 2015.
Moreover, the rise in total output was broad-based as both manufacturers and service providers reported higher levels of business activity during the month.
Jobs growth continued in Scotland's private sector for the second consecutive month, but the rate of increase was only marginal. A number of panellists linked the rise in headcounts with efforts to support the expansion in output.
Nick Laird, from Bank of Scotland, said: "The improvement in the economy was equally shared between service providers and manufacturers, who both registered modest increases in output during the month.
"Demand for Scottish goods and services also rose, highlighted by a rise in new business.
"On another note, firms faced the fastest increase in input costs for 33 months, putting pressures on firms' margins as we approach the end of the year."

Summary: Output from Scotland's private sector has increased for the first time in three months, according to a report.
###
Article: She becomes the sixth Labour MP to declare that they want to succeed Harriet Harman in post.
Ms Ali told 5 live's Pienaar's Politics: "We should be radical and imaginative. What have we got to lose?"
"I'm going to start with going after UKIP voters who left Labour. We have to talk to people who rejected us."
Asked how that would work with voters who have problems with multi-culturalism, she said: "I grew up in a working-class community. Some of my neighbours were not very friendly.
"I'm used to rejection so I think I have something to offer... I know what it feels like to be an outsider trying to get in... I think a lot of our voters feel like that - that they just couldn't get through to us."
Asked who she would back for leader, Ms Ali says: "I'm going to meet every single one of them. I will reserve my right to use my nomination powers to help someone struggling in the race get what they need to stand."
She says Keith Vaz and Tristram Hunt are two MPs who have said they would back her bid.
The other declared candidates for deputy leader are Stella Creasy, Tom Watson, Ben Bradshaw, Angela Eagle and Caroline Flint.
The candidates for Labour leader are Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Mary Creagh and Liz Kendall.
Earlier on Sunday former deputy Labour leader Lord Prescott told the Sunday Mirror he would be backing Andy Burnham for leader.
And Harriet Harman told the Andrew Marr Show that the leadership contests must not just be about who the best leader was, but what direction the party should take.
She said it would be "quite wrong" for Labour to "minimise the scale of our defeat", especially given that it came despite a "lack of love for the Tories".
Ms Harman also said she thought that either the leader or deputy leader positions must be filled by a woman, saying she had never been a fan of all-male leadership teams.
She also said that hundreds of thousands of people who voted Labour "but would never join the party" would be able to vote in the leader and deputy leader elections - something welcomed on the same...

Summary: Rushanara Ali is entering the contest to be deputy Labour leader, with a pledge to target former supporters who have switched to UKIP.
###
Article: Almost 40% of the rental bikes are out of action due to vandalism or for routine maintenance.
Tracking technology is being installed on 200 of the 576 bikes during the next year to try to keep more on the road.
The public bicycle hire scheme started two years ago and, in spite of the vandalism, has proved popular - being used by more than 10,000 people.
The tracking devices, created by County Down-based technology company See.Sense, monitor the whereabouts of the bike and also gather environmental information about the journey.
"Use of sensor technology allows us to collect never-before-seen data from bikes, including road surface and near-miss events," said Philip McAleese, the chief executive of Newtownards firm See.Sense.
"Our ability to communicate this data in a very low power way from the bike is also unique, requiring only the power generated from the bike's own dynamo.
"The benefit of the technology from the cyclist viewpoint is that they do not need to fuss with apps or other devices to contribute data to their city, they simply hop on."
Belfast's Lord Mayor Nuala McAllister said: "We are delighted to collaborate on this world-first pilot project.
"It allows us to access innovative technology for the collection and analysis of data, which can be applied to make cycling safer and more enjoyable for everyone in our city."
Some 233 of the total stock of 576 Belfast Bikes are off the road as a result of damage or necessary repair work.

Summary: Tracking devices are being installed on Belfast Bikes to try to stop them being stolen and to improve cycling safety.
###
Article: Hull City Council had hoped the decorative stones would help raise the profile of those in the city who were visually impaired.
They were supposed to spell out the poem, The City Speaks, by Shane Rhodes.
But Braille teacher Barry Wheatley said it made no sense as the Braille is too big and lacks spaces between words.
The council said it was only intended to be "creative" tactile paving.
Read more about this and other stories from East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire
Mr Wheatley said he initially thought the stones along Jameson Street and King Edward Street were a great idea but soon realised they were pointless.
"Braille is the size of your fingertips and to get down on your knees and feel this, well it is meaningless," he said.
"Even if you are a sighted Braille reader then it is like reading a sentence in print without any spaces in it.
"It is just gobbledygook."
He also said it did not work to guide blind or partially sighted people down the street, as it ran into street furniture.
Councillor Martin Mancey said he did not believe anything had "gone wrong" with the paving, which had only recently been installed.
"It was never intended to be a clearly legible form of the poem, it was an artistic interpretation.
"It has already achieved one of its purposes which was to raise the awareness of the needs of blind and partially sighted people in the city centre."
He said he was not aware of any obstacles that prevented it being used as a navigational guide.

Summary:


The Royal Yacht Britannia has been judged as Scotland's best visitor attraction every year for the past decade.

Article: A report in January revealed proposed changes that NHS bosses have since said could save Â£31m.
The 14-week consultation began in March and is to finish at midnight.
A petition against the Huddersfield hospital's closure plan currently has more than 63,000 signatures.
More than 4,300 people have already completed the consultation survey organised by the NHS Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Under the proposals all emergency, acute and high-risk planned care would be brought together at Calderdale Royal Hospital in neighbouring Halifax.
A new site in Acre Mills, Huddersfield would be developed as a hospital for planned care - but with no A&E.
The plans would eventually see 612 beds at Calderdale Royal Hospital and 120 at the proposed hospital at Acre Mills.
Several demonstrations against the closure of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary have been staged in the town.
Demolishing the infirmary and relocating emergency services to Calderdale would cost Â£470m compared with Â£501m under proposals considered for Huddersfield, said a draft public consultation document.
The proposed changes would "result in the greatest overall benefits" for people living in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield, according to the CCGs.
The final decision on the plan is expected to be made public in October.

Summary: Plans to demolish Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and replace it with a new facility with no A&E have entered a final day of public consultation.
###
Article: Their conduct is one of a series of issues that will be examined by The Charity Commission in its inquiry into 1st Knight Military Charity.
BBC Scotland secretly filmed the charity's founder selling T-shirts emblazoned with offensive messages.
Andy Linihan also sold badges alluding to the shooting of suicide bombers.
The Charity Commission announced it had launched an investigation shortly after the BBC documentary, The Great Military Charity Scandal, was broadcast earlier this month.
The programme revealed the charity was selling Nazi-themed T-shirts and hooded jumpers, some emblazoned with neo-Nazi emblems.
Velcro badges, designed to be placed on uniforms or baseball caps, featured a picture of an assault rifle and the words '72 Virgins Express'.
The Charity Commission has now outlined the issues that will be examined by the inquiry:
Mr Linihan said he accepted the items filmed by the BBC were "products which ought not to be sold by the charity".
He added: "As a result of your visit, we have withdrawn the products from the shop and removed them from the internet."

Summary: The trustees of a military charity found selling Nazi-themed and anti-Islamic goods are to be investigated by a watchdog.
###
Article: Unlike in most other team sports, cricket umpires have no power to eject players from the field of play, with any penalties imposed by officials - such as the International Cricket Council's match referees - after the match.
Introducing football-style red and yellow cards would enable umpires to deal with misdemeanours as and when they occurred, but would be a fundamental change to a sport proud of its gentlemanly traditions.
The concept has been frequently considered by the MCC and was discussed by the ICC earlier this year.
Here are the cases for and against, plus your chance to have your say.
Behaviour on a cricket field is getting worse and will continue to get worse unless the umpires are given more power to intervene.
We need a system that operates throughout the formative years of a cricketer's career and acts as a deterrent against bad behaviour. Players need to understand that if they behave in a certain way they will be punished, and if they repeat their offence then the punishment will escalate.
That is where the idea of red and yellow cards comes in. It may sound radical but they said the same about bringing in coloured clothing 20 or so years back.
The exact working of the system would need more thought and discussion, but I would suggest a yellow card should be shown to a bowler for persistently abusing a batsman. I am not talking about sledging, but personal abuse and foul language that has no place in the game.
The card would result in them having to leave the field at the end of the over for a fixed period of time. If that bowler was in the middle of a great spell, or if the captain has a strategy based around him, it could be really harmful to the team. That evening, in the team meeting, the player could be singled out for having cost his side the game.
If a batsman is repeatedly wasting time, then the umpire could show him a yellow card, meaning he is is retired for an hour or until the next wicket falls. If a fielder misbehaves, he is demoted down the batting order, and so on.
And if...

Summary: The fracas between England's James Anderson and India's Ravindra Jadeja during the first Test at Trent Bridge has raised the question: is cricket too soft on bad behaviour?
###
Article: Nigel Farage said 300 public meetings had already been planned in "village halls, working men's clubs and arenas".
Speaking at the launch of UKIP's referendum campaign, he said he would welcome a Jeremy Corbyn victory in the Labour leadership contest.
He said the political left was "waking up to what the EU is".
The in/out referendum on the UK's EU membership will take place by 2017.
Mr Farage said he was planning to go "on tour" around the country from now until the referendum.
He said 12 regional co-ordinators had been appointed and party activists would be doing the "old-fashioned thing of putting leaflets through doors".
UKIP's campaign will be separate from the two existing groups vying for designation as official leaders of the leave campaign.
But Mr Farage said he would "work with anybody".
"We will share a platform with anybody. We will do whatever it takes," he said.
"We want our country back. We do not want to stay members of the European Union. We recognise that we won't win this referendum unless we get significant numbers from the centre left of politics to vote to leave the EU as well."
Mr Farage said that while he did not agree with Mr Corbyn on "almost everything", a win for the veteran left-winger would ensure a "proper debate about the European Union".
"I think the left of British politics is waking up to what the EU is," he said. "They have seen Greece trampled upon, they see a transatlantic trade treaty which they are worried could threaten the viability of the NHS."
While there was "genuine concern" that Britain was "shovelling Â£55m a day into a club whose accounts had not been signed off", he said, immigration was likely to be the dominant issue during the campaign.
He also said the immigration debate was currently focused on the migrant crisis in Europe and he accused Germany in particular of giving "huge incentives for people to come to the European Union by whatever means".
"The EU has got this wrong. Anybody that comes, from whatever background and virtually for whatever reason, can...

Summary: UKIP's campaign for Britain to leave the EU will "get outside the confines of Westminster" and "reach real people", its leader has said.
###
Article: And this year the yacht received a record score of 96%, the highest mark ever awarded to a visitor attraction in Scotland.
It was rated by national tourism organisation VisitScotland.
VisitScotland's quality assurance scheme, is the official measure of quality for tourism businesses.
Tourism businesses are assessed on the welcome, attitude, knowledge and efficiency of staff, as well as audience level, interpretation, maintenance and cleanliness.
With 308,906 visitors in 2015, the Royal Yacht last week announced 2015 as its best since its opening year in 1999.
Almost five million people from around the world have visited The Queen's former yacht since it opened to visitors in Edinburgh in 1998.
Britannia's chief executive Bob Downie said: "To be the best in Scotland once is a fantastic achievement, but to do this for 10 consecutive years is a phenomenal tribute to our staff who go the extra mile to ensure that all our visitors have a great experience when they visit Britannia.
"The true test of any great organisation is consistency of performance, delivering great value for time and money, year in year out, and there is no doubt that our pioneering approach to providing great customer experiences has underpinned our success."
Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland's chief executive, said: "I'd like to congratulate Britannia on this fantastic achievement, which demonstrates an outstanding commitment to quality and excellence in every aspect of the business.
"Retaining the accolade of Scotland's best attraction for 10 years running, Britannia is setting the standards for tourism in Scotland, and it is a real testament to the total commitment shown by their staff to consistently deliver a world-leading customer experience."

Summary:


a new £1.5bn fund to help farmers adapt to climate change.
The fund will be administered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The money will be used to help farmers adapt to the effects of climate change, such as drought, flooding and

Many species will not be able to adapt fast enough to survive climate change, say scientists.

Article: The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said emissions in Scotland fell by 9.9% in 2011.
The drop for the UK as a whole was 6.9%.
However, climate campaigners said the figures showed that the Scottish government still had more to do to meet future emission levels targets.
Much of the reduction was due to the weather and a switch from coal-fired electricity generation to nuclear and renewable sources.
The CCC said the reduction also reflected additional investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The committee is an independent statutory body set up under the Climate Change Act to advise the UK government on setting carbon budgets, and to report to parliament on the progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This is the latest Scottish breakdown of the UK emission figures for 2011.
There were drops of more than 20% in emissions from the the power and residential sectors, and a 15% reduction in emissions in the public sector.
Despite the fall in emissions, Scotland narrowly missed the legislated annual target of 53.4 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).
The CCC said this was due to a change in the way estimated emissions were calculated.
The committee's latest report, which is done for the Scottish government, said meeting future targets remained "very challenging".
It has highlighted several areas that will required further action in order to meet future targets.
They included developing the electric vehicle market through more investment in the charging infrastructure, and focusing on pilot projects for new farming practices.
David Kennedy, chief executive of the CCC, said: "There has been good progress in Scotland on reducing emissions in key sectors of the economy, notably through investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
"This should not be obscured by the fact that emissions in 2011 were above the level targeted because of a change to the accounting methodology. But much remains to be done in terms of policy development and implementation to achieve very...

Summary: Scotland has continued to make "good progress" on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the body which advises the UK government on the issue has said.
###
Article: But not immediately.
The focus now will be on the negotiations for leaving the EU, expected to take at least two years, and what domestic arrangements are arrived at to support agriculture.
Leave campaigners said EU subsidies would be replaced and possibly improved if there were a Brexit.
For Northern Ireland farmers, that would mean at least Â£260m a year coming from the exchequer in support payments.
Remain campaigners had cautioned that successive British governments had been no fans of subsidies.
They had also claimed agriculture would be well down the pecking order when it came to the re-allocation of the UK contribution to the EU budget.
The other big issue for our export orientated agri-food industry will be whether we would have unfettered access to the EU's single market.
If not, what tariffs and other non-tariff barriers might our exporters face to trade into Europe?
Part of that will be what the border with the Republic of Ireland will look like and how it will operate.
We sold them Â£560m worth of dairy, bakery, sheep and beef, animal feed, pig and poultry and other products in 2014.
Producers will want to keep their market share and will hope customs arrangements will not add cost or delay.

Summary: The result of the referendum means significant changes for farming in Northern Ireland.
###
Article: London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it was "concerned" the 13 February release could lead to a "spike" in people being stuck or trapped in handcuffs or rings.
Since April it has attended 393 such incidents.
LFB said people should use "common sense" but always call 999 in a genuine emergency.
The film, based on the novel by EL James, has been described as a "mummy-porn romance" and follows an affair between student Anastasia Steele and billionaire Christian Grey.
Dave Brown from LFB said: "The Fifty Shades effect seems to spike handcuff incidents so we hope film-goers will use common sense and avoid leaving themselves red-faced.
"I'd like to remind everyone that 999 is an emergency number and should only be used as such."
The brigade said on average it was called to more than one embarrassing incident every day at a cost of about Â£295 to the taxpayer each time.
In November, firefighters were called by doctors at King's College Hospital to cut two steel rings from a man's genitals, which he had been unable to remove for three days.
On another occasion, the brigade was called by a woman whose husband had become locked in a chastity belt.
A spokesman added that while there could sometimes be a "funny side" to some of these predicaments, they could be painful and "end up wasting emergency service time".
He added: "Our advice is to try and avoid getting in that position in the first place."

Summary: Firefighters have said they are anticipating an increase in call-outs with the release of Fifty Shades of Grey at the cinema.
###
Article: West Midlands Police has a fleet of 109 Vauxhall Corsa cars intended for neighbourhood policing.
The federation, which represents rank and file officers, said the vehicles had been used for more than 100 urgent calls in the past 12 months.
The West Midlands force said the Corsas were "not intended for response work".
The federation's health and safety official Pete Harkness said: "Officers are ordered to drive the Corsa at patrol speed and obey the rules of the road.
"But the absence of a siren means they often cannot get traffic to move out of their way and this, in turn, can delay them getting to an emergency situation.
"This is very frustrating for the officers and they feel they are letting the public down by not getting to them as quickly as possible in a crisis situation."
The federation blames cost-cutting for the use of cars without sirens.
Supt Kerry Blakeman, from the force's operations department, said officers who respond to call-outs in cars without sirens have to follow the Highway Code and cannot break the speed limit to cut through traffic.
He said: "Incidents graded as 'immediate' are responded to as soon as possible, usually in a matter of minutes and on many occasions require the use of lights and sirens.
"At no point was the Corsa intended for response work as it is a low performance vehicle."
West Midlands Police, which has had to make Â£120 million of budget cuts since 2010, must find further savings of Â£100 million over the next five years. The force has also shed 1,500 officers.

Summary: Police cars with no sirens are being used for emergency responses, delaying officers and potentially preventing arrests, the Police Federation says.
###
Article: A study of more than 250 plants and animals suggests their ability to adapt to changes in rainfall and temperature will be vastly outpaced by future climate change.
Amphibians, reptiles and plants are particularly vulnerable, according to US researchers.
And tropical species are at higher risk than those in temperate zones.
Some animals might be able to move geographically to cope with rising temperatures, but others live in isolated areas where they cannot move, such as in nature reserves or on mountains or islands.
Ecologists analysed how quickly species had changed their climatic niches (the conditions where they can survive) over time, and how these rates compared with that of global warming.
They analysed 266 populations of plants and animals, including insects, amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles.
Rates of change in climatic niches were much slower than rates of projected climate change, by more than 200,000 fold for temperature (on average), they said.
"Overall, our results show that rates of climatic niche change among populations of plants and animals are dramatically slower than projected rates of future climate change," said Tereza Jezkova and John Wiens, of the University of Arizona.
Mammals and birds might be better placed to survive than amphibians and reptiles, because they had the ability to regulate their own body temperatures, said Dr Wiens.
And, while some species might be able to move to higher latitudes or elevations to survive, "for a lot of organisms, that is not an option".
"It's a double jeopardy of climate change and habitat destruction," he told BBC News.
The research is published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Follow Helen on Twitter.

Summary:


DNA from ancient remains seems to have solved the puzzle of one of Europe's most enigmatic people: the Basques.

Article: PCBs were once used in electrical gear, paints and flame retardants, but were banned from the 1970s because of their toxic effect in humans and animals.
However the manmade chemicals have persisted in the environment, and are accumulating in top predators.
The study finds Europe's cetaceans have levels of PCBs that are among the highest found in on the oceans.
Lead author Dr Paul Jepson, a wildlife veterinarian from the Zoological Society of London, said: "For striped dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and killer whales, we have mean PCB levels that are excessive - they are really high - probably the highest in the world right now, by some way.
"Europe is a big big hotspot."
The contamination is so high that some populations of killer whales are facing extinction, he added.
The research is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, were manufactured from the 1920s, but were banned in the US in 1979, in the UK in 1981 and in the rest of the EU in 1987.
They were found to have a wide-ranging impact on human and animal health, from links to cancer, to suppressing the immune system and causing reproductive problems.
However, these chemicals are extremely durable and despite the ban they are still found in the environment.
"Europe produced about 300,000 tonnes of PCBs from 1954 to 1984. That was about 15% of the world's total," said Dr Jepson.
"A lot of this PCB, we don't know how much, has not been disposed of and is slowly leaking into rivers and estuaries, from landfills, and eventually into the marine environment."
The chemicals then gradually work their way up the food chain and into the top marine predators, where they accumulate in the cetacean's blubber.
The researchers analysed samples taken from more than 1,000 killer whales and dolphins in Europe's waters.
"Our findings show that, despite the ban and initial decline in environmental contamination, PCBs still persist at dangerously high levels in European cetaceans," explained Dr Jepson.
The levels are higher than those...

Summary: A pollutant is present at "dangerously high levels" in Europe's killer whales and dolphins, scientists say.
###
Article: A black police chief who had worked diligently to improve community relations, and reduce the use of force, now had to confront a racially motivated attack by a young black man against his officers.
"We're hurting. Our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken," he said.
He spoke on behalf of the Dallas Police Department, but his words echoed a personal statement he made six years earlier, in the wake of another Dallas police death.
In June 2010, just weeks after he was sworn in as police chief, a young Dallas officer and father was shot dead on father's day. The killer was Mr Brown's 27-year-old son.
"My family has not only lost a son, but a fellow police officer and a private citizen lost their lives at the hands of our son," he said.
"That hurts so deeply I cannot adequately express the sadness I feel inside my heart."
Mr Brown's son, David O'Neal Brown Jr, first shot dead a private citizen, Jeremy McMillan, as McMillan drove his family to his sister's house. He then shot police officer Craig Shaw, who was responding to the first shooting, more than a dozen times.
Mr Brown took a leave of absence, according to local news reports from the time, and there was speculation that he would resign.
It was not the first time he had suffered loss - in 1988, his former partner Walter Williams was killed in the line of duty. Three years later, his younger brother was shot dead by a drug dealer.
But Mr Brown returned to work, determined to improve the Dallas Police Department's relations with the community. The department began to focus on de-escalation rather than force. Mr Brown placed emphasis on community policing and increasing transparency, even at the cost of clashing with department figures.
He made enemies of the police unions by publicly sacking crooked officers, the Dallas Observer reported. He was told community policing was a waste of time.
But by 2014, five years after his appointment, excessive force complaints against Dallas officers had fallen by 64%.
"In my opinion, how...

Summary: When five Dallas police officers were shot dead by a sniper on Thursday, it fell to David Brown, the city's police chief, to sum up the shock and grief of the force and the community.
###
Article: The air force said some staff had texted answers to the routine tests to others, while others had known about the cheating but failed to report it.
The ranks involved range from 2nd lieutenants to captains.
The allegations emerged during investigations into alleged drug use by personnel at other bases.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the cheating had involved officers based at the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, and related to a monthly test all nuclear missile staff must take.
"Some officers did it," she said of the cheating. "Others apparently knew about it, and it appears that they did nothing, or at least not enough, to stop it or to report it."
Ms James said it was "absolutely unacceptable behaviour" but that the security of the nuclear programme was not in doubt.
"This was a failure of some of our airmen. It was not a failure of the nuclear mission," she said.
The 34 officers have had their security clearance revoked and the entire team in charge of overseeing missile launches will be re-tested.
A further three officers have been suspended for allegedly possessing recreational drugs.
It is the latest scandal to hit the air force and nuclear missile force.
In August, a nuclear missile unit at Malmstrom failed a safety and security inspection, leading to a senior security officer being relieved of duty.
And in May, it was reported that 17 officers in charge of maintaining nuclear missiles were sidelined over safety violations at Minot Air Force base in North Dakota.
In October, the general in charge of America's long-range nuclear missiles, Maj Gen Michael Carey, was sacked, with officials citing a "loss of trust and confidence".
It later emerged he had engaged in conduct "unbecoming of a gentleman" during a work trip to Russia in July.
Gen Carey's removal came days after the Navy sacked Vice-Adm Tim Giardina, second-in-command of the US Strategic Command, over illegal gambling.
Strategic Command oversees everything from America's land-based nuclear missiles to space operations governing...

Summary: Thirty-four US Air Force officers in charge of launching nuclear missiles have been suspended over accusations that they cheated in proficiency tests.
###
Article: Gareth Stephenson, 25, of Reading, was found guilty of six counts following a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.
He was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Offences included sexual assault on a male under 13. They took place when he was a pupil at Stanbridge Earls School, Hampshire, and in Aberystwyth.
Hayley Porter-Straw, of the Crown Prosecution, said: "This was a complex case where the defendant abused children over a period of 10 years.
"Gareth Stephenson was himself a vulnerable adult who suffers from ADHD. It is disturbing that he started abusing children when he was a child aged 11."
She added: "When he was aged 15 he started abusing young fellow pupils, some of whom were two years younger than him. He would bribe them and punch them if they refused to submit to his sexual requests."
When he was 18, Stephenson sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy when he went back to Wales.
He was given a 12-month supervision order and was ordered to do 175 hours of unpaid work.
During the trial he was found not guilty of a further three counts of sexual activity with a male child under 16.
Stephenson, of Anstey Road, Reading, was sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court.
Stanbridge Earls closed in 2014. The independent school, which once commanded fees of Â£40,000 a year, taught 191 boarding and day pupils with special needs, aged from 10 to 19.
He will be on the sexual offender register for 10 years and has received a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

Summary: A former pupil of a special-needs school has been given a suspended sentence after being convicted of sexual offences.
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Article: The distinct language and genetic make-up of the Basque people in northern Spain and southern France has puzzled anthropologists for decades.
One theory proposed that they were an unmixed pocket of indigenous hunters.
Now, a study in PNAS journal suggests they descend from early farmers who mixed with local hunters before becoming isolated for millennia.
The Basques have unique customs and a language - Euskera - that is unrelated to any other spoken in Europe, or indeed the world.
Nestled in a mountainous corner of Atlantic Europe, they also show distinct genetic patterns to their neighbours in France and Spain.
It seemed logical that they were representatives of an older layer of population settlement, but just how far back their roots went has been a topic of debate.
Mattias Jakobsson from Uppsala University in Sweden analysed the genomes of eight Stone Age human skeletons from El PortalÃ³n in Atapuerca, northern Spain.
These individuals lived between 3,500 and 5,500 years ago, after the transition to farming in southwest Europe.
The results show that these early Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to present-day Basques.
Comparisons with other ancient European farmers show that agriculture was brought to Iberia by the same migrant groups that introduced it to central and northern Europe. These pioneers expanded from a homeland in the Near East, sweeping across Europe about 7,000 years ago to usher in the period known as the Neolithic.
Once the farmers settled down, they mixed with local hunter-gatherers - the descendants of people who lived in Europe during the last Ice Age.
Indeed, the El PortalÃ³n individuals had more hunter-gatherer ancestry than pioneer farmers from Germany, Hungary and Spain who lived several thousand years earlier.
The new study also goes some way to explaining some of the differences between the Basques and their neighbours in France and Spain.
After the initial farmer-hunter mixture was set, the ancestors of the Basques became isolated from surrounding groups - perhaps due to...

Summary:


As the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate heats up in the United States, the left-leaning Bernie Sanders has become a surprising star on social media, with young voters using mobile phone apps to push others to #feelthebern.

Article: The accused in the city of Atlanta face counts of racketeering, making false statements and conspiring to improve test scores to win cash bonuses.
Several of the defendants have already reported to jail in Fulton County.
Former Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly Hall is among those named in the grand jury's indictment.
In 2009, she was named national superintendent of the year by the American Association of School Administrators - the same year much of the alleged cheating is said to have taken place.
According to prosecutors, Ms Hall was given a $78,000 (Â£51,000) bonus from the public school system.
"The money she received, we are alleging, was ill gotten and it was theft," Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told reporters on Friday, when the grand jury indictment was made public.
By Tuesday morning's deadline, five educators - not including Ms Hall - had turned themselves in, the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reported. They were being held on bail bonds of up to $1m.
All those identified by the grand jury must surrender, or face arrest at home or at work.
A 65-count indictment alleges a major conspiracy to cheat, conceal cheating or retaliate against whistleblowers, while inflating student test scores.
The defendants include senior administrators, principals, assistant principals, teachers, testing co-ordinators, a school secretary and a school improvement specialist.
Ron Carlson, professor of law emeritus at the University of Georgia, told the Associated Press news agency: "It's the largest school teaching scandal yet recorded in the country."
Each accused is charged under a Georgia state law modelled on a federal statute enacted to target organised crime.

Summary: Thirty-five former school officials implicated in a test cheating scandal have until Tuesday to surrender to authorities in the US state of Georgia.
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Article: It revealed plans to connect 10 million homes to ultrafast broadband by the end of 2020 and raise the minimum broadband speed for homes that cannot get fibre to  5-10Mbps (megabits per second).
It comes in a week when rivals have denounced the quality of UK broadband.
In a letter to the Financial Times on Monday, they said BT should be split.
Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk  were among signatories to the letter which claimed that millions of customers currently have a "substandard" broadband service.
The letter said it was time for "radical reform" and called on Ofcom to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to undertake a full market investigation of BT.
Ofcom is in the process of considering whether BT Openreach, which runs the telecoms network, should be separated from the rest of the firm.
"Ofcom is conducting the most fundamental review of the communications market in a decade, and has identified serious problems with the ownership of the national telecoms network by BT Openreach," the letter reads.
"These include a conflict of interest in the role of BT, poor quality of customer service and difficulties in enforcing the existing regulatory regime. The result is a substandard experience for millions of customers and diminished opportunity for alternative providers to compete effectively."
Hitting back at critics, BT's chief executive Gavin Patterson said his firm could cement the UK as the G20's leading digital economy.
Among its plans were:
"We want to forge an ultrafast future for Britain and stand ready to help government deliver the broadband speeds necessary for every property to enjoy modern day internet services, such as high definition TV streaming and cloud computing," he said.
Ofcom has just published its latest data on the volume of consumer complaints among broadband providers.
Although BT saw its complaints fall, it still generated more than the industry average.
Sky had the smallest number of complaints, followed by Virgin Media.
EE generated the most complaints for broadband while...

Summary: BT has hit back at rivals calling for its break-up, with a strategy to make the UK the fastest broadband nation.
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Article: Authorities found the pills - usually used to treat erectile dysfunction - while investigating corruption allegations against Ms Park.
The government says the Viagra was bought to combat altitude sickness.
The South Korean leader is accused of allowing her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to influence her decisions.
The presidential office confirmed it bought 364 Viagra and similar generic pills to deal with altitude sickness on official trips to East Africa, although the pills were never used.
The BBC's Stephen Evans in Seoul, says the discovery of Viagra will add an air of remoteness to the president. Many Koreans believe Ms Park is living in a "different world" which will exacerbate political pressure on her to resign.
Some early rumours among Koreans alleged Ms Park could have been involved with cultish rituals with her friend Ms Choi.
Ms Choi, a long-time friend of Ms Park's, is the daughter of Choi Tae-min, a shadowy quasi-religious leader who was closely linked to Ms Park's father, then-president Park Chung-hee.
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The discovery of Viagra grew out of the drug UK92480, a new treatment for angina, a heart condition that constricts the vessels that supply the heart with blood.
It failed in treating angina, but during drug trials many volunteers reported an unusual side effect - lots of erections. Scientists ran more tests and discovered its effectiveness at treating erectile dysfunction.
Because of biological similarities between the lungs and penis, scientists also discovered it could help protect against pulmonary hypertension, common in climbers.
At high altitudes decreased levels of oxygen can trigger high blood pressure in the lungs, which in extreme circumstance can be fatal.
Viagra reduces high blood pressure and improves the transport of oxygen in the blood.
Meanwhile, South Korean authorities have raided the offices of Samsung and the national pension fund as...

Summary: The scandal in South Korea involving President Park Geun-hye has taken an unexpected twist with news that Viagra has been found in her offices.
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Article: The centres, sometimes run by private firms, vet GP referrals and decide if patients should receive hospital care.
The British Medical Association (BMA) called them "inefficient" and a "block between the GP and patient treatment".
NHS Clinical Commissioners said "in many cases" the centres "provide a useful and effective role".
All but 12 of the 209 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England responded to a BBC Freedom of Information (FoI) request. Sixty-one of them said they used some form of referral management centre.
These centres were introduced in about 2003 and were designed to reduce NHS spending by limiting unnecessary referrals to hospital. However, one GP claimed cancer diagnoses were being delayed because of the extra bureaucracy.
Since 2005 there has been a 10-fold increase in the use of referral centres.
A BBC investigation revealed there had been a rise in referrals being rejected for administrative, rather than clinical reasons, with delays due to administration queries rising from 28% in 2013-14 to 41% last year.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, from the BMA, said: "It's a blunt instrument which is not sensitive to the needs of the patient and is delaying patient care.
"It has become totally mechanistic. It's either administrative or not necessary for the patient. It's completely unacceptable. Performance seems to be related to blocking referrals rather than patient care."
MPs in North Durham have complained about a centre which is paid £10 for every referral letter it blocks.
Some doctors in England are being offered thousands of pounds by CCGs to cut the number of patients being referred to hospital.
About £19m was spent on the centres in 2015-16 and about two-thirds of the CCGs which responded to the BBC FoI request were not able to say whether the system was saving the NHS any money.
Referral management centres
One doctor in north-east England, who wished to stay anonymous, told the BBC: "The system is dangerous.
"In one case referral of a patient to a dermatologist was rejected by the referral...

Summary: NHS patients face "dangerous" treatment delays due to a 10-fold increase in "crude, expensive" referral management centres, doctors have warned.
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Article: As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed in their first one-on-one debate it was the senator from Vermont who started to trend worldwide.
So what are Bernie's supporters doing differently to bolster his support amongst younger voters? One place where he is a surprising hit is the dating app Tinder.
Kevin Smit from Alkmaar in the Netherlands has used Tinder to spread the Bernie gospel. "I'm not a heterosexual male and I too believe he's sexy" he joked to BBC News.
"He's a hit because there's a lot of millennials on the app and he polls amazingly with them".
Fans of Bernie's Tinder triumphs share their success on Facebook and Tumblr.
Logan Jantzi from New York told BBC News that it was Bernie's policies which lead to his Tinder appeal.
"He discusses problems that are of actual concern to young voters"  he said.
"Gender inequality, low wages, high student loan debt, climate change, these are the things that 18-30 somethings are concerned with."
Nelson Evans, a Bernie Sanders supporter from California, told BBC News that the popularity of Bernie on social media was because his supporters didn't think their candidate received enough attention in traditional media.
"There's people who even pay the full Tinder membership fees in order to reach others across the country" he said.
"I think it's effective because, prior to the Iowa caucus, the media has completely shut Bernie out of the news cycle. For every 81 minutes of election coverage he'd get 10 seconds and Bernie supporters know that."
"But people who get their election news from the mainstream media, they have no idea what Bernie is all about. That's sort of what started the Tinder thing.
"It's amazing how you see people from 17-29 who have gone from never being interested in politics to being completely enveloped by it.
"This election represents more than just a candidate. It's an indication that the youth know what direction they want our country to go, and they're ready to work vigorously for it," he added.
The hashtag #demdebate has been used more than...

Summary:


Three cleaners who went on strike over a pay dispute have been sacked in a move branded Scrooge-like by one MP.

Article: Copernicus will fly a constellation of satellites known as the Sentinels to take a continuous "health check" on the planet and to acquire data that can help inform and enforce EU policies.
It has been announced that the first spacecraft in the series will go into orbit, most likely, in early April.
Sentinel 1a will use radar to map the surface of the Earth.
Its information will find myriad uses, from monitoring European coastal waters for oil spills to investigating subsidence in cities.
A key role also will be to provide rapid damage maps to enable emergency services and aid agencies to respond to natural disasters such as earthquakes and severe flooding events.
Sentinel 1a is undergoing final testing at prime contractor Thales Alenia Space, at its facility in Cannes, France.
Shortly, it will be transferred to Turin, Italy, where it will take an Antonov transport plane to the Guianese spaceport in South America.
There it will be fuelled and attached to its Soyuz rocket, ready for an ascent no earlier than 28 March.
"We're making every effort to meet this date, but it's tight," said European Space Agency (Esa) director general, Jean-Jacques Dordain.
"The industrial teams are working double shifts, pretty much seven days a week," he told BBC News. 1 April is his anticipated launch date.
Copernicus is one of two flagship EU space projects, the other being the Galileo satellite-navigation system.
European states have so far committed some 7.5bn euros (Â£6.2bn; $10.2bn) to the end of the decade to build and operate Copernicus.
As such, it represents the biggest civilian Earth-observation project ever conceived, says Josef Aschbacher, the head of Esa's Copernicus office.
"Typically in Europe, we're always looking across the Atlantic and if we see something we like, we build a smaller version of it here. But something like Copernicus doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, and that's why our American and other international partners are extremely interested in collaborating."
Satellites are at their most powerful...

Summary: The date has been set for the roll-out of the European Union's multi-billion-euro Earth observation project.
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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.
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Article: Ottoman princes were held there; Trotsky made the islands his home following his escape from Stalin's Russia; and a Turkish prime minister was executed there after a military coup in 1960.
The island of Imrali is now famous for one prisoner - a man Turkey often calls The Chief Terrorist.
His hair is white and he has lost weight. He spends his days reading academic works in his prison cell. He has an AM radio, and was recently given a television set.
For almost 14 years now, no-one apart from a handful of prison guards, politicians, lawyers and family members has seen him or heard his voice.
But Abdullah Ocalan remains the unquestioned leader of the Kurdish armed movement, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Turkey's capture of Ocalan in Kenya in 1999 did not end his role in the conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish rebels.
History shows that imprisonment can often increase a rebel leader's standing. Any doubts about Ocalan's continuing influence ended in November 2012.
He passed a message from his prison cell, ordering the ending of a hunger strike by hundreds of Kurdish activists.
His order was immediately obeyed.
This action may have forced the Turkish government into a profound decision: If it is to solve its 30-year-long conflict with the PKK, it may have to do so with the involvement of Ocalan himself.
Last December, reports emerged that the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had sent a senior intelligence official, Hakan Fidan, to Imrali island for talks with Ocalan.
Two Kurdish MPs were also allowed to visit the PKK leader.
These were rare new faces for Abdullah Ocalan. For years, the only person regularly allowed to visit the PKK leader on Imrali island has been his younger brother Mehmet, who works as a farmer in eastern Turkey.
"His amazing willpower is what keeps him alive," says Mehmet Ocalan from the family home in the village of Omerli.
A picture of Abdullah Ocalan playing in the snow hangs on the wall. "His conditions in prison are very tough."
The two men are usually...

Summary: For decades, the islands on the Sea of Marmara outside Istanbul have been home to Turkey's most dangerous exiles and prisoners.
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Article: Currently people such as beauticians with no medical training can administer anti-wrinkle Botox injections, even though it is a potent neurotoxin.
The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) wants to put an end to "Botox parties" and rogue traders.
The government has been assessing whether tougher laws are needed.
NHS medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh, has been conducting a review into the cosmetic industry and will report back to government in March.
The RCS in England wants a clampdown, and has set out a list of standards for the industry.
RCS president Prof Norman Williams said: "While the colleges and professional organisations involved in cosmetic practice are neither regulators nor legislators, the profession has a responsibility to provide standards to which we would expect our members to work.
"We have serious concerns that not all those who offer cosmetic procedures are adequately qualified, or that patients are getting accurate information prior to treatment. We hope these standards will feed into the ongoing review of the industry led by the NHS medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh, and improve quality of care for patients going forward."
The RCS makes several recommendations, including a proviso that anyone planning to have a cosmetic procedure should have a thorough psychological assessment beforehand.
Only those who have medically recognised qualifications and training and should carry out cosmetic procedures, such as breast surgery, liposuction and Botox treatment, and in a registered clinic with resuscitation equipment on hand in the event of an emergency, it recommends.
Practitioners have a duty to manage a patient's expectations of how they will feel after treatment, the RCS says.
They should not imply that patients will feel "better" or "look nicer", for example, and should instead use unambiguous language like "bigger" or "smaller" to describe what that patient is trying to change, it says.
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), which represents about a third of plastic...

Summary: Only trained doctors, nurses and dentists should provide non-surgical cosmetic treatments such as Botox, say surgeons.
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Article: The women, who worked at Kinsley Academy, claimed their pay had been cut after the contract switched from Wakefield Council to C&D Cleaning.
The three women were reportedly dismissed by C&D Cleaning on Monday.
C&D have been approached for comment but confirmed to the Guardian the trio had had their employment terminated.
Labour MP for Hemsworth Jon Trickett said: "With only days till Christmas it looks like Scrooge has been brought back to life from Victorian times."
For updates and more stories from across West Yorkshire
Lesley Leake, Karen McGee and Marice Hall went on strike in September saying their pay had been slashed and their pensions, holiday and sick pay had also been cut when the contract changed hands after the primary school became an academy.
In October about 100 people joined the women on a protest march through Barnsley, where C&D Cleaning is based.
According to reports the women were sacked following a disciplinary hearing on 19 December.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I am angered that three striking primary school cleaners from Kinsley have been sacked.
"When I met them, they explained how their wages were cut following the outsourcing of their contracts to a private company.
"Outsourcing is bad for our public services and workers. The cleaners' jobs must be brought back in-house with fair pay and conditions."
The BBC has approached C&D Cleaning for a comment.
In a statement published in the Guardian, the company said the women had been invited to a disciplinary hearing to "respond to allegations of gross misconduct".
It said: "The outcome of the hearing was termination of employment.
"The company will not comment further at this stage so as not prejudice any internal process."
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "These women bravely took action to protect their wages and employment rights.
"To then sack them just days before Christmas is heartless in the extreme."

Summary: