The Ukrainian Cyber Troops are a group of hackers who are believed to be backed by the Ukrainian government.
The group is believed to have been set up in late 2012.
The group is believed to have been set up in late 2012.
The group is believed to have been set up in late 2012.

Throughout the bitter violence of the Ukrainian conflict, another hidden war has been waged, involving several groups of computer hackers.

Article: The giant, flightless beasts that roamed South America for more than 50 million years following the demise of the dinosaurs were fearsome predators.
New research shows the birds' huge beaks could deliver swift and powerful pecks, very probably killing their victims in one blow before ripping the flesh from their bodies.
"They had the full kit," said palaeoscientist Steve Wroe.
"These birds had enormous beaks with big hooks on the end. But we've shown they had to use those beaks with some precision and caution," Dr Wroe, a researcher from the University of New South Wales, Australia, told BBC News.
Dr Wroe was part of an international team that has been investigating the predatory behaviour of these extraordinary creatures.
Referred to by scientists as phorusrhacids, the birds flourished when South America was an island continent. Ranging in height from under a metre up to three metres (3ft to 10ft), at least 18 species are known to have evolved before the animals became extinct just a few million years ago.
But because nothing on Earth today resembles the terror birds, it has been difficult to say much about their life habits.
To try to get on top of the issue, the team examined the skeleton of one particular creature called Andalgalornis.
This animal lived in northwestern Argentina about six million years ago. It was mid-sized, standing about 1.4m high (4ft 6in) and weighing about 40kg (88lb).
Like all the terror birds, its skull was big (37cm; 15in) with a deep narrow bill armed with a hawk-like hook.
The team scanned the skull to picture its internal architecture and then applied an engineering technique known as finite element analysis (FEA) to assess its capabilities.
FEA is a common approach in advanced design and manufacturing that allows engineers to test the performance of load-bearing materials.
It involves creating a computer model of the skull which can then be subjected to the sorts of forces a real skeleton would experience in different types of attack behaviour.
The results demonstrated that...

Summary: They are popularly called "terror birds", and with good reason.
###
Article: Mr Cable said he was concerned there was "some exploitation" of staff on the contracts which give no guarantees of shifts or work patterns.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found up to 4% of the UK workforce were on such contracts.
It surveyed 1,000 firms.
"I think at one end of the market there is some exploitation taking place," said Mr Cable.
However, he pointed out that in many cases the level of flexibility offered by the contracts suited employees. "It can work for the worker as well as the employer," he told the BBC.
Mr Cable has been leading a review on the issue for the government since June and will decide in September whether to hold a formal consultation on specific proposals.
Unions have called for them to be banned.
Dave Prentis, general secretary of the Unison union, said: "The vast majority of workers are only on these contracts because they have no choice. They may give flexibility to a few, but the balance of power favours the employers and makes it hard for workers to complain."
Despite controversy over their use, just 16% of those affected said their employer often fails to provide them with sufficient hours each week.
Zero-hours contracts: What is it like living on one?
This was higher amongst those who described themselves as part-time, where 38% said they would like to work more hours.
Under zero-hours contracts employees agree to be available for work as and when it is required.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics last week suggested 250,000 workers were on zero-hours contracts.
CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese said the reason his survey showed up to four more times the number of people on zero hour contracts compared to official figures could be down to a lack of precision in the measurement, as well as confusion over definitions.
"I think even sometimes employers themselves are not fully clear on the absolute nature of their contracts and whether it is genuinely zero hours," he said.
"There does need to be a closer look at what is meant by a...

Summary: The Business Secretary Vince Cable fears zero-hours contracts are being abused after research suggested a million people could be working under them.
###
Article: Little is beyond their reach. Official documents and private communications are made public, and websites blocked. They hijack CCTV cameras, electronic billboards and network printers.
The best known of the virtual warriors are the Ukrainian Cyber Troops, the Cyber Berkut and Anonymous International.
All three present themselves as independent activists, separate from other, government-sponsored groups.
The most prominent pro-Ukrainians hackers are the Ukrainian Cyber Troops, led by Kiev-based programmer Yevhen Dokukin.
Most recently, he claimed to have hacked into two Russian interior ministry servers and an email account used by police in Russia's Rostov region - bordering Ukraine's eastern separatist regions.
"I gave all this data to Ukraine's security service, but they still can't get round to analysing it, so do it yourselves," he urged readers on Facebook.
Volunteer activist group Inform Napalm sifted through more than 35 gigabytes of the data and found what looked like official reports confirming that Russian military servicemen were among the hundreds of people evacuated to Russia after being wounded in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Cyber Troops make extensive use of one of the most tried and tested tools in cyber warfare, the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
"DDoS attacks are the Ukrainian Cyber Troops' artillery," Mr Dokukin likes saying. Scores of rebel websites were made inaccessible when the Ukrainian Cyber Troops relentlessly bombarded them with fake service requests.
To disrupt separatist funding, they target accounts held by rebels in electronic payment systems such as PayPal and WebMoney.
The Cyber Troops have also hacked into public CCTV systems in rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine and monitor them for the movement of troops and military hardware.
On 8 December, Yevhen Dokukin claimed to have hijacked network printers in eastern Ukraine and Crimea to print pro-Ukrainian messages and insults against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some media reports suggest that Ukraine's security...

Summary:


The study found that the length of telomeres in the blood cells of patients with myeloma and MDS was linked to the severity of the disease.
The study, led by the University of Cambridge, also found that the length of telomeres in the blood cells of patients with myeloma and M

A new test that could hold the key to predicting blood cancer patients' survival has been developed by Cardiff University.

Article: The RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) unions met Tube bosses at conciliation service Acas earlier.
But the talks were adjourned "without any significant moves towards a resolution", according to the RMT.
The dispute centres around ticket office closures.
Transport for London (TfL) warned that the majority of central London Tube stations could be closed if the planned 24-hour strike goes ahead on Sunday.
It said there would be a severely reduced service across the network from 18:00 GMT if the walkout goes ahead.
The parties are due to meet again on Friday for further discussions, but both unions said plans for industrial action remained in place.
RMT leader Mick Cash said he expected London Underground to "come back with a radically improved package that fully covers the issues of jobs and safety at the heart of this dispute."
Manuel Cortes, TSSA general secretary, said: "Our negotiating team remains available for further talks throughout the weekend should they become necessary".
TfL said it was committed to addressing recommendations in a recent report by London Travelwatch into the closure of ticket offices and has started working with the unions to review staffing and restore station roles where needed.
Steve Griffiths, London Underground's Chief Operating Officer, said: "It is clear that some more staff for stations are needed. We have started to recruit them and will continue to work with the unions to implement the recommendations made in the review."
TfL said it expected services to be severely reduced on Monday and that there would be no Underground services from stations such as Victoria, King's Cross, Waterloo, Paddington, Euston, Bank and London Bridge.
Piccadilly line services are expected to still run between Hammersmith and Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3, but not to Terminals 4 or 5.
There would be no service at all on the Victoria or Waterloo & City lines, and all other lines were expected to be severely affected with limited services in outer London.
Buses, roads and...

Summary: Commuters have been warned to expect mass station closures on the London Underground after talks to avert an impending strike stalled.
###
Article: The world's heaviest flying bird was hunted to extinction in the country, with the last bustard shot in 1832.
Since 2004, the Great Bustard Group (GBG) has released hundreds of chicks on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.
David Waters, from the GBG, said if it was a "reasonable year" it would be the first "new great bustard population" to be established "anywhere in the world."
Over the past 13 years, a population of about 50 birds has been established from chicks brought in from Russia and Spain.
It is hoped that by 2019 the number of "release birds" will have reached 100.
"The birds have started to breed.  We had six nests last year and we'll have a theoretical maximum this year of 21 nests," said Mr Waters.
"And if we have a reasonable year - it will be first time a new great bustard population has been established anywhere in the world."
Mr Waters, who set up the GBG 19 years ago, said once the Wiltshire population was "self sustaining" the group would "stop bringing birds in".
"We'd like to increase it a little bit more to make it more secure but we're at that point where it's starting to happen on its own," he added.
An adult great bustard can be up to a metre (3ft) tall and weigh up to 44lb (20kg). Its wingspan can reach nearly eight feet (2.4m).
The bustard's size made it an easy target for hunters, leading to its extinction.

Summary: Great bustards are "on the point" of becoming self sustainable in the UK for the first time in 185 years.
###
Article: Researchers said measuring DNA sections in cancer cells gave an "accurate indicator" of disease progression.
Shorter DNA structures can leave chromosome ends exposed, accelerating cancer progression and drug resistance.
The team believe the study could help doctors in choosing the most effective treatment for individual patients.
Researchers from the university's School of Medicine said the tests can be used to predict the outcomes of patients with two different types of blood cancer - the bone marrow cancer myeloma and pre-leukaemia myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
The latter is a bone marrow disorder often leading to life-threatening bone marrow failure and even acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
Results from two studies, which were funded by the charities Bloodwise and Cancer Research UK, have been published in the British Journal of Haematology.
The researchers analysed samples from 134 myeloma patients, 80 MDS patients and 95 AML patients as part of the study.
Prof Duncan Baird, who led the research, said: "Our research provides strong evidence that shortening of telomeres [the DNA sections] plays a vital role in the progression of these blood cancers and that a significant number of patients should be receiving different levels of treatment.
"The next step is to assess telomere length in larger studies to establish how it can be integrated into existing assessments that predict patient outcome."

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The Old Bailey heard that the pair were "in a relationship" and "in love".
The Old Bailey heard that the pair were "in a relationship" and "in love".
The Old Bailey heard that the pair were "in a relationship" and "in love".
The Old Bailey heard that the pair

A couple accused of carrying out a sex act at a BBC Radio 2 concert in Hyde Park must wait to hear if they face a retrial after the jury was discharged.

Article: Statistics for the second quarter of this year, April to June, show the proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds who were Neet was 9.1% - 168,000 in total.
This is a drop of 1.4 percentage points - 28,000 - on the same period in 2012.
The government hailed the rate for the second quarter of the year as the lowest for more than 10 years.
The Department for Education stressed there had been five consecutive quarters where the 16-24 age group rate was lower than it had been the year before.
Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: "With GCSE results out today, I am heartened to see the fall in the number of young people not in work, training or education.
"We are heading in the right direction, but one young person out of work, education or training, is one too many.
"That is why we are continuing to work hard to give young people the skills, confidence and experience demanded by employers and universities.
"Only then can we say we have done everything we can to ensure young people reach their potential and help us compete in the global race."
Analysis of the figures suggested the decrease was driven by two factors:
The figures come out as 16-year-olds are receiving their GCSE results. This group of teenagers will be the first to have to stay on in education or training after their 16th birthday.
Under the new rules, young people will be required to continue their education to the end of the academic year in which they turn 17. From summer 2015, this will rise to staying in education until their 18th birthday.

Summary: There has been a slight dip in the proportion of teenagers not in education, employment or training (Neet) in England.
###
Article: The report questions Olam's accounting practices and says it bears "uncanny" similarities to failed US firm Enron.
Muddy Waters, a US short-seller that has previously gone after Chinese firms, first attacked Olam last week.
Singapore-based Olam said there was "no substance" to the report's broad allegations.
"We will clear our name and hold Muddy Waters accountable for their damaging actions," Olam said.
It added that it would continue to study the report in greater detail and would provide a fuller response in due course.
It has denied Muddy Waters' earlier claims and has started legal action against the firm.
Olam said Muddy Waters made the claims to "create panic among shareholders" and to profit from its short position on its shares.
Short sellers look for assets they believe to be overvalued. They then borrow shares in the firm, sell them and hope to buy them back at a cheaper price, pocketing the difference.
Olam's shares fell 6% in Singapore after the report was published.
Muddy Waters has trained its eye on a number of other firms in the past, most notably China's Sino Forrest, with varying degrees of success.
In its report on Olam, Muddy Waters said that it carried out three months of research into the business and stood by its claims.
The US firm alleges that Olam has produced some of the "worst accounting gaffes", adding that some of Olam's accounting revisions "are so unusual as to suggest irregularities".
Muddy Waters also said that it could not account for 996.2m Singapore dollars ($815m; Â£510m) worth of capital expenditure made by Olam over the past four years.
"We believe that the bondholders in particular should be asking where their money has gone, and how they will get it back," Muddy Waters said in its report.
Muddy Waters claimed that some of the practices being followed by Olam were similar to those of Enron, which went bankrupt in 2001.
It pointed out that Olam's profits were also being boosted by "non-cash accounting gains".
But Olam said it had "complete confidence in its strong,...

Summary: Muddy Waters Research has released a report it says will back up claims that agricultural commodities trader Olam International "will collapse".
###
Article: Lisanne Beck, 47, allegedly performed a sex act on Simon Murphy, 48, during a Paloma Faith set in September.
The Old Bailey heard the couple were filmed conducting the alleged behaviour, but the jury failed to reach a verdict and were discharged.
The pair, from Swansea, denied outraging public decency.
Judge Peter Rook QC has given the prosecution until Thursday to decide whether to pursue a retrial.
He said: "Whatever the Crown says, it will have been a chastening experience over the last few days, I'm sure everyone will agree with that."
During the hearing prosecutor Tom Cleeve told jurors while "there are some amusing aspects to it... it was not funny at the time" and a 16-year-old girl had to be shielded from what was going on.
He said the two defendants were of "previously good character, but in that afternoon I'm afraid they blotted their copybook".
During the hearing Ms Beck said the film showed she was trying to wake her boyfriend up, while Mr Murphy's legal team said he was completely unaware of what his girlfriend was doing.

Summary:


The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help councils tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour.
The money will be used to help councils tackle anti-social behaviour in their areas.
The Scottish Government said it would be used to help councils tackle anti-social behaviour in their areas.

Edinburgh is closer to becoming the country's first 20mph city after councillors approved plans to begin rolling out the speed limit.

Article: Recorded during the 28-year-old's stag party, he and his friends sing 70s disco hit "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie".
Former team-mate Jamie Langfield said: "It was meant for his wedding only for the people who went there.
"And it has come out and he'll be a bit sheepish about it. But he's the type who'll just take it on the chin."
Langfield admits he was shocked when he first viewed Considine in drag for the rendition of the Baccara song.
"Andrew's a very quiet lad in the changing-room," the goalkeeper who moved from the Dons to St Mirren this summer told BBC Scotland.
"He's very reserved and, when I first seen it, I thought 'that's a bit naughty, a bit risque' and a lot of people have said that as well.
"Probably manager Derek McInnes might have had a wee word with him today, but he will need to take it on the chin and will need to take the banter from the boys as well."
Langfield was famously transfer-listed by Aberdeen in 2007 after his own stag party took place while then manager Jimmy Calderwood was also in Majorca.
"Let's just say I'm not one who is going to complain about people doing stupid things on their stag do," said the 35-year-old.
"I went away with some friends and obviously the one person you don't want to bump into three days into a three-day bender is your manager.
"I didn't realise what had happened and I got back home and I was sitting in the house and I got a phone call from him."
Langfield, who stressed that there had been "no fighting" between himself and the manager, had been entering the final year of his contract.
"I was offered a new deal and I was going to sign it as soon as I came home from Magaluf," he recalled.
"And he just said to me that my behaviour wasn't becoming of an Aberdeen player and that the contract had been withdrawn and I was put on the transfer list.
"Me and Jimmy still get on really well. I accepted what he said to me. I have apologised for it profusely, but he said to me the only thing I could do is work hard and that's what I did.
"It was one of those stupid moments....

Summary: Aberdeen defender Andrew Considine has been backed to shrug off the publicity over a cross-dressing music video that has made the Scot an internet hit.
###
Article: The Discovery Project will offer 14 to 19-year-olds with ASD help with their homework, revision and applications to college or university.
They can also attend yoga and circus skills classes to boost their co-ordination and social skills.
The initiative aims to ease anxieties and prepare them for further education.
One in three people on the autistic spectrum aged between 16 and 24 are not in education, employment or training, Cardiff University said.
That figure is more than double the number among the general population despite those with ASD often displaying above average levels of intelligence.
People with ASD often struggle to interact in social situations and to adapt to change, the institution said.
Only 15% of adults with autism are employed full-time and of those who graduate from university, 26% are unemployed - the highest rate in any disability group.
Scott McKenzie, widening access officer at Cardiff University, said that while there was a lot of help available once students get to university, getting there in the first place was a big challenge for some.
"New environments can generate a lot of anxiety for young people on the autism spectrum, but it needn't be a barrier to entering further or higher education," he said.
"With the right support, pupils can have the confidence to overcome their anxieties and go on to become experts in their chosen field, with the ultimate aim of helping them gain a foothold on the career ladder."
Cardiff University vice-chancellor, Prof Colin Riordan, said it was vital prospective students with ASD knew support was available.
"I'm hopeful that this bold and worthwhile initiative will serve to encourage more prospective students on the autism spectrum to continue their education and realise their academic potential here at Cardiff."

Summary: Students at Cardiff University will mentor teenagers with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) as part of a new scheme to encourage more to attend university.
###
Article: Members of the city council's transport and environment committee agreed on Tuesday a traffic regulation order enabling the charges.
It is now planned to introduce the 20mph network over six phases.
Phase one of the Â£2.2m project covers much of the city centre, from Queen Street to the Meadows.
Lesley Hinds, Edinburgh city council's transport convener, said: "The aim was to create safer, more attractive streets for all road users."
The limit, which will eventually cover 80% of the capital's roads. The roll out will be complete by 2018.
The scheme is designed to improve safety and encourage more people to walk or cycle.
Despite the change, speed limits on key arterial routes into the city will remain at 30 or 40mph.
About 50% of the city's roads are already 20mph.
Phase two of the project, in the north of the city, is due to begin in October.
Phase three is to start in February 2017, then phase four in June 2017, phase five in October 2017 and phase six in February 2018.

Summary:


The German car giant is to publish its first-quarter results on 4 May.
The German car giant is to publish its first-quarter results on 4 May.
The German car giant is to publish its first-quarter results on 4 May.
The German car giant is to publish its first-quarter results on

BMW's first quarter profits rose more than expected after the value of its stake in the mapping service Here was boosted by an investment by Intel.

Article: The National Trust wants to introduce charges at Pont ar Daf car park near Storey Arms on the main A470.
The trust owns and manages the central Beacons, and says it wants to build a visitor centre and improve the car park's safety and security.
Ramblers Cymru criticised the move, saying walking should be free and accessible for everyone.
The trust, which spends more than Â£100,000 a year on the upkeep of Pen y Fan and other parts of the Brecon Beacons, is to submit a planning application later this year.
Pont ar Daf car park was created in the 1960s after road improvements left a section of the A470 isolated from the main carriageway.
'Brew and a view'
It was soon adopted by walkers because it offered easy access to Pen y Fan.
The mountain stands at 886m (2,907ft) and is the highest peak in southern Britain.
"If you arrive at the car park you have access to the three most important things, a loo, a brew and a view," said National Trust property manager Philip Park.
"If we are successful in gaining permission the offer will remain essentially the same, but it will be designed to meet the higher expectations of visitors to the area nowadays.
"We believe this development can really improve the enjoyment that visitors can experience in this wonderful part of Wales."
Recovering addicts
Mr Park said the trust's initial plans had gone out to consultation.
But director Angela Charlton said: "Ramblers Cymru believes walking should be free and accessible to all and we are disappointed that the National Trust feel they have to start charging for parking.
"People have been freely walking Pen y Fan for many years.
"Ramblers Cymru works with groups such as Turning Point who use Pen y Fan for inspirational training for recovering addicts.
"We hope this will not have a detrimental effect."

Summary: Walkers could be charged to visit Pen y Fan, the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons.
###
Article: They are worried mistakes could be made with vulnerable adults and children resulting in a situation like Baby P.
Toddler Peter Connelly died in north London in 2007, after suffering more than 50 injuries. A report found he was "failed by all agencies".
Some staff in Wales have 43 child cases to deal with, which Unison said is double the recommended number.
Concern has also been raised over the "relentless" cutting of social work budgets.
Councils said there was a real need for government "at all levels" to ensure the system can meet demand.
The figures, which were obtained by BBC Wales, were described by the British Social Workers' Association (BASW) as "worrying".
BBC Wales asked each council about social workers who had been allocated the most cases - and what their caseloads were.
This included cases classed as being "on review" which may not need constant attention.
One social worker in Ceredigion had 29 cases, while another in Conwy had 144.
Conwy council said the 144 cases were adults and many did not require checking more than once a year.
When asked specifically about child social work, seen by some as more complex cases, numbers ranged from 22 in Newport to 43 in Merthyr Tydfil and Gwynedd.
Robin Moulster, from BASW said: "I don't think I could guarantee with those sort of numbers that there couldn't be another big public inquiry.
"This may appear a bit overdramatic but I think sometimes it's a bit like 'there for the grace of God' that we haven't got another Baby P situation."
Mr Moulster said it should not have to wait until councils are put into special measures for issues to be addressed.
He said he had heard of some councils with newly-qualified social workers given large caseloads "in very high pressured areas of work".
"There is a risk things can get missed and serious situations can happen," he added.
Dominic MacAskill, head of local government for Unison, said there were some worrying signs.
"It's possible perhaps to retain a fairly large caseload and juggle things around a bit, but...

Summary: A warning that some social workers in Wales have workloads which are too high has been raised by unions.
###
Article: The German car giant reported pre-tax profits of 3bn euros (Â£2.5bn), a 27% jump from the same period in 2016.
BMW said the value of the stake in Here had risen by 183m euros.
The car manufacturer also cited improved earnings from its Chinese joint venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive, for its higher profits.
The US chip giant Intel said in January it would buy 15% of Here, which is co-owned by Audi, BMW and Daimler.
Here develops technology that feeds mapping information to autonomous and semi-autonomous cars.
It also makes digital products that provide information on the location of upcoming hazards, traffic, road signs and charging points for electric vehicles, as well as an alternative positioning system to GPS.
BMW is due to publish its detailed first-quarter results on 4 May.

Summary:


The Conservatives are defending the seat, which they have held since the last general election in 2010.
The Conservatives are defending the seat, which they have held since the last general election in 2010.
The Conservatives are defending the seat, which they have held since the last general election in 2010.
The Conservatives are defending

Voters across England are going to the polls for council elections and a parliamentary by-election in South Shields.

Article: The recording was made in 2012 at a time when Mr Cushnahan was still working as an adviser to Nama.
The payment was made by the County Down property developer John Miskelly during a meeting in a hospital car park.
Mr Miskelly said "payments made by me to any persons have been lawful".
Mr Cushnahan has denied any wrongdoing and told BBC Spotlight NI he would not be providing any further responses because of the ongoing National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
The chairman of the Irish Parliament's Finance committee has said an all-island commission of enquiry into Nama may be required.
Fianna Fail's John McGuinness said a "cross-border effort must be made to get to the end of this, to get to the truth".
The recording was broadcast by the Spotlight programme on Tuesday.
Nama is the Republic of Ireland's "bad bank" which was established in 2009 in the aftermath of the Irish banking and property crisis.
It took effective control of a huge property loan book in Northern Ireland and formed a committee to advise on that part of its portfolio.
Mr Cushnahan, a former banker, was appointed to that committee by the DUP in May 2010 and served until November 2013.
According to what Mr Cushnahan says on the recording he was going to help Mr Miskelly with a refinancing deal which would get his assets out of Nama.
Mr Cushnahan also claimed he could influence a senior Nama official, Ronnie Hanna.
There is no direct evidence of wrongdoing by Mr Hanna and he firmly denies that he had any improper dealings with Mr Cushnahan.
In a later recording of Mr Cushnahan, also broadcast by Spotlight NI, he appears to encourage Mr Miskelly to lie to police if they ask questions about their Nama-related dealings.
In a statement, Mr Miskelly said: "Since 2007/8 I have consistently and truthfully reported financial crime and corruption with the relevant authorities…
"My overriding aim has always been to highlight wrongdoing and corruption and have all of these matters fully investigated by the appropriate authorities.
"I have at all time...

Summary: Businessman Frank Cushnahan, who has been at the centre of the £1bn Nama deal controversy, was recorded accepting a £40,000 cash payment from a Nama borrower.
###
Article: Dr Gethin Thomas, a coaching science lecturer, also believes children should be split by ability as young as possible.
The Irish and Welsh rugby unions suggest starting scrums at under-nine level; they start at under-10 in England and under-11 in Scotland.
But Dr Thomas said children should not be in scrums until they are 13.
The call comes after World Rugby's chief medical officer, Dr Martin Rafterty, said changes could be made to tackle laws in order to reduce the risk of concussion.
When it comes to tackling, the home nations are almost unanimous in the way they introduce it to young players.
They all begin with tag rugby and bring in tackling at under-nine level, except for Ireland, where they start contact a year earlier.
Dr Thomas, who lectures at Cardiff Metropolitan University and Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, recently worked with the Rugby Football Union in England.
He said: "I wouldn't introduce scrums until 13 or 14 years old and when I spoke to a number of elite coaches, they agree.
"The same goes with lineouts - there's no reason to begin lineouts unless you can lift and individuals aren't strong enough to lift."
Last month, Wales and Worcester Warriors forward Jonathan Thomas was forced to retire from rugby on medical advice, after he was diagnosed with epilepsy thought to have resulted from multiple head traumas.
Wales wing George North also suffered from concussion in the run up to the World Cup, after suffering four blows to the head in a five-month period last season.

Summary: Banning scrums in children's rugby could help cut the number of injuries in the game, an academic has said.
###
Article: Elections are being held in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, last contested in 2009, as well as in Anglesey in Wales.
Labour are defending the South Shields seat in a contest caused by the resignation of David Miliband in March.
Mayoral contests are also being held in Doncaster and North Tyneside.
Polls for all the contests opened at 07:00 BST, and close at 22:00 BST.
Blue sky and sunshine are covering much of England, as millions of voters choose who will represent them on their local council.
More than 2,300 seats are up for grabs in county councils and unitary authorities across the length and breadth of England, including Derbyshire, Lancashire, Somerset, Essex, Surrey, Leicestershire, Kent, Durham, Bristol and Cornwall.
The Conservatives and Labour are putting up candidates in most seats, with 2,263 and 2,168 candidates respectively.
The Lib Dems have 1,763 candidates. UKIP is fielding 1,745 candidates, three times as many as it did the last time these seats were fought in 2009, and the Greens have 893 candidates.
Other parties standing include the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, which is fighting 120 seats, the BNP, with 99 candidates and the English Democrats, with 38 candidates. There are around 900 independent candidates.
No elections are taking place in London, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The majority of council results are expected on Friday between 11:00 BST and 18:30 BST, although six councils - Lincolnshire, Dorset, Somerset, Essex, Gloucestershire and Hampshire - will declare their results in the early hours of Friday morning.
The result for the South Shields by-election is also expected early on Friday morning.

Summary:


The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that the horses' heart rates increased by up to 10 beats per minute when they saw the angry faces, compared to the happy faces.
The study, led by Dr Amy Smith from the University of Sussex, is the first to show that the brain's emotional response

Horses can tell if people are happy or angry, according to a new experiment.

Article: The exams regulator said an increase in 15-year-olds sitting exams early was mainly to blame.
The A* to C pass rate fell to 62.8% after it had remained stable at 66.6% for three years.
The percentage of the highest A* to A grades also dipped to 17.9%, down from 19.4% in 2016.
Qualifications Wales had warned that an increase in early entries in some subjects was likely to mean lower results.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which collates exam data for Wales, England and Northern Ireland, said changes in entry patterns - particularly for 15-year-olds - and the high proportion of pupils who took the two new mathematics GCSEs early in November, had a substantial impact on the results.
It said more students had "banked" a result and not returned to sit the exam again this summer - many whom have achieved a Grade C or above that would otherwise appear in these latest results.
As a consequence, it warned that reliable conclusions could not be drawn from direct comparisons between results this summer and the previous one, or between summer results across the UK.
Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said Wales has seen "some of the biggest changes in qualifications in decades" which had been "really challenging for pupils and teachers".
She said this was reflected in this year's overall GCSE A* to C grade pass rate.
Ms Williams said she was "concerned" about the high number of pupils being entered early for their exams and that the current situation was "unsustainable".
"We have signalled to schools that early entry should only be considered if it is in the interest of individual children, but what we've seen is entire cohorts of children being entered," she said.
Ms Williams added the "perverse incentives" that drive some schools to enter children early "should be taken out of the system".
The overall A* to G pass rate was also down from 98.7% to 96.9%, but the percentage of the highest A* grades remained at 6.1%.
While the fall in grades has been linked to the increase in 15-year-olds sitting exams early,...

Summary: The GCSE A* to C pass rate in Wales has fallen to its lowest level since 2006, after some of the biggest changes in decades to the exams system.
###
Article: Hotel Chocolat's push to increase online gift-giving is paying off, according to boss, Angus Thirlwell.
The firm's website sales rose 20% in the year to the end of June.
And Mr Thirlwell says in uncertain economic times he expects more people to switch from giving more extravagant presents to his firm's products.
Customers bought £91.1m worth of chocolate from the luxury chain between June 2015 and June 2016. That was 12% more than in the previous year.  Sales in stores grew as well as on the website.
The company's annual profits before tax were sharply higher, rising from £2.9m to £8.2m.
"We've been upping our marketing efforts. We've got a lot of new customers who've discovered the gift-sending side of what we do," the company's chief executive and co-founder Angus Thirlwell told the BBC.
The company, which sells its premium chocolate online and in 83 stores in the UK and abroad, is still emphasising its "hedonistic" credentials at the luxury end of the market, and continues to focus marketing on its high cocoa and relatively lower sugar content, to tap into the "wellness" trend for healthier eating.
But Mr Thirlwell said he thought there were also opportunities for the company to benefit from people "trading down".
"For example a corporate 'thank you' in the past might have been a hamper [but] you can send [our large] Chocolatiers Table for £100 pounds."
For that you'd get a 1.5kg box of chocolates including tiramisu, raspberry pannacotta and carrot cake flavours.
"It's expensive for a box of chocolates, but it's not expensive when you see the effect it has on people," said Mr Thirlwell.
Hotel Chocolat was floated on London's AIM market for smaller companies at the end of May this year, and these are the first set of results it has issued.
The company began as an online retailer in 1993, founded by Mr Thirlwell and his business partner Peter Harris, and was originally named Chocs Express. In 2003 it changed its name and a year later opened its first physical store in Watford.
It introduced an innovative...

Summary: This Christmas, instead of a luxury hamper, you may find a 'hedonistic' box of chocolates arriving at home or at work.
###
Article: 10 February 2016 Last updated at 14:11 GMT
A team at the University of Sussex put heart monitors on horses and showed them pictures of faces to see how they reacted to different emotions.
They found that the angry faces made the horses' heart rates speed up quicker than the happy faces.
Amy Smith, one of the researchers, explains more.

Summary:


The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the UK has fallen to a five-year low.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the UK has fallen to a five-year low.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the UK has fallen to a five-year low.
The number of people

The removal of the Elephant and Castle roundabout has been causing chaos for commuters, with motorists complaining of queues of more than an hour.

Article: The claimant count was down by 600 over the month to 30,500, which was the 16th consecutive monthly decrease.
However, the figures also suggest that economic inactivity is rising again.
Economic inactivity refers to people of working age who are neither in work or looking for a job.  The rate in Northern Ireland is persistently above the UK average.
It had been on a downward trend from 2013/14 but has now increased over the last three quarters.
The inactivity rate now stands at 27.4% compared to a UK rate of 21.5%.
Of the estimated 321,000 economically inactive people in Northern Ireland, just under a third were long-term sick or disabled.
Just over a quarter were students, 23% were looking after the family/home, 10% were retired and 8% cited another reason for inactivity.
In 2015, the Northern Ireland Executive published a strategy for tackling economic inactivity.
It aimed to support people with work-limiting health conditions, lone parents and people with caring commitments to get back into work.
The strategy has not been implemented due to budget pressures.

Summary: The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Northern Ireland continued to fall in June.
###
Article: Criticism included claims they have been pressured to remain silent and of misrepresentation of information.
The two sides of the debate said the comments raised questions about the rival campaigns.
The claims, made in a programme for Channel Four, came ahead of the 18 September referendum.
The Dispatches documentary, entitled "The Great British Break Up?", contacted 50 companies and business leaders believed to have concerns over independence.
Five told the programme privately they had been contacted by the Scottish government and said they "felt pressured to stay quiet about their views".
Of the five;
A further 14 claimed to know of other businesses who felt under pressure.
The programme also heard from London School Economics professor, Patrick Dunleavy, who previously said UK ministers misrepresented his research when they published its analysis of the fiscal implications of independence.
The economist later said the initial set-up costs to duplicate core Westminster functions would be around Â£200m.
He told Dispatches: "It's very hard to describe it in polite terms actually, it's very crude, it's alarmist, it's not been checked and it rests on a whole series of, you know, false steps . . . that makes this a very dubious document.
"A dodgy dossier, you might call it."
In addition, Gavin Hewitt, former chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said he or senior members of his staff had met with SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson, on at least six occasions over the past two years.
He told the programme: "He [Mr Robertson] and the SNP have regularly tried to get the message to the Scotch Whisky Association that the Scotch whisky industry should stay out of the independence debate.
"He was, I think, trying to neuter business comment. There was a genuine fear that in fact if we were seen to scupper by coming out publicly against independence, there would be retribution down the track."
Prof Dunleavy spoke to the programme, to be shown on Monday evening, after the Treasury used his figures to...

Summary: Business leaders and an academic have hit out at the Scottish and UK governments over their conduct in the independence referendum debate.
###
Article: The roundabout, which saw more than 80 collisions and 90 people injured in 2012-14, was replaced with two-way traffic on Sunday.
Transport for London (TfL) said congestion was due to "traffic getting used to the new layout".
"It's a very busy junction and it always will be," a spokesman said.
The reintroduction of two-way traffic at the junction for the first time in 50 years was a "key milestone" in the £25m transformation at Elephant and Castle, TfL said.
In addition to the new road layout, left turns from Newington Causeway towards New Kent Road and right turns from New Kent Road to Newington Causeway have also been banned.
But road users took to Twitter to complain about their Monday morning commute.
"It's 8am and the queue for the new #elephantandcastle junction starts somewhere south of Camberwell. allow extra 1hr 4 journey (or walk!)", a Twitter user posted.
"Shock horror! All approaches to Elephant and Castle worse than ever. Only TfL could spend millions and millions to make something worse!" tweeted @tango97.
Andy Woodward tweeted: "Delays around Elephant and Castle even worse today. If this was the tube there would be outcry. Commuters use buses too!"
Road users had been advised of traffic changes with a countdown to the traffic switch and advisors and police were on site to help keep traffic moving, the TfL spokesman said.
A spokesman for London TravelWatch said: "It's early days - we need to wait and see how it pans out."
TfL plans to convert the space created by removing the roundabout into a new public area.
It will replace subways with new pedestrian crossings, create new cycle routes and introduce a 20mph speed limit, TfL said.

Summary:


The company's chief executive, Dominic Chappell, has been in the Commons to explain the turnaround plan.
The company's chief executive, Dominic Chappell, has been in the Commons to explain the turnaround plan.
He has been in the Commons to explain the turnaround plan.
He has been in the

"A bit of a punt" - the BHS business plan.

Article: Debbie Wilcox was speaking after Friars Walk was sold to a Canadian investment firm last month, wiping out the debt.
But under the deal the council will pay a £500,000 annual subsidy for up to 15 years if rental incomes do not rise.
Ms Wilcox said front-line services would not be affected as funds have been set aside to cover any costs.
She admitted there had been many sleepless nights because councils should not be about running shopping centres.
Friars Walk was completed in 2015 by the developers Queensberry Real Estate.
The firm had failed to raise enough private sector funding but went ahead with construction after the council agreed to provide them with a loan which at the time it described as "unprecedented".
The sale of Friars Walk to Talisker Corporation wiped out £84m worth of borrowing and interest charges on Newport council's books.
The local authority is in line to receive extra funds, depending on future revenues, but it also liable to pay the 15-year £500,000 annual subsidy if extra revenue fails to materialise.
The council believes the subsidy will only last a few years.
Ms Wilcox said: "I cannot deny that we had many sleepless nights over it because it is not the normal every day thing that we do.
"It did actually determine a lot of the other business because until that was settled, we could not move on untrammelled.
"It did not dominate business in so far as we have our public services to run but nevertheless it took an increasing amount of officers' time."
At the time the original loan was agreed in 2013, when the former council leader Bob Bright was in post, the authority said it was the first in the UK to borrow money on that scale in order to fund a development project.
The council insisted the loan was needed to prevent the scheme from failing and to continue with the regeneration of the city centre.
Ms Wilcox said that if the deal had collapsed then the council would have been forced to take on the ownership of Friars Walk.
She said: "We would look to have sold it at a later date but...

Summary: An £84m debt to fund a shopping centre in Newport had hung over the local authority, preventing it from moving on, the council's leader has said.
###
Article: That's the equivalent of almost four work days a month and doesn't include the time spent thinking about meals or shopping for ingredients.
Just imagine how much more we could achieve if we did something else instead.
That's the thinking behind a small but growing market of beverages led by the Silicon Valley start-up Soylent, Finland's Ambronite and UK based Huel - companies aiming to liberate us from the tyranny of food while offering a healthy and sustainable alternative.
All three claim to offer a complete meal in a drink. You don't even have to worry about the washing up.
"We are living in a real period of overwork. We think the more we do the better we are," says Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed and director of the Better Life Lab at New America, a non-partisan think tank in Washington.
"We place value on having a crammed calendar, rushing around trying to show how busy and important we are. It's no wonder people don't take time to eat any more."
Commercial meal replacements and food supplements have been around for decades and are frequently used by athletes and people trying to lose weight. But what makes these drinks different is the notion of saving time rather than calories.
Elon Musk, the 44-year-old multi-billionaire head of SpaceX and Tesla, spent one dollar a day on food when he was a struggling entrepreneur. Musk once remarked "if there was a way that I could not eat, so I could work more, I would not eat. I wish there was a way to get nutrients without sitting down for a meal".
Soylent and its competitors appear to offer the solution.
"Soylent in particular is very popular in the tech community," says Anthony Shop, head of Social Driver, a Washington-based digital marketing agency.
"Tech start-ups often have a philosophy that they're there to crush it for a few years and hopefully get a payout.
"That's the reason many start-ups provide food for employees. It's to keep them [in the office] so that they work even more. So some people are sucking down Soylent so they can spend an extra hour...

Summary: The average American spends 67 minutes a day eating or drinking, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
###
Article: That's how one financier described Dominic Chappell's plans for acquiring and reviving BHS to MPs today.
Andrew Frangos of Cornhill Capital was approached by the three-time bankrupt Chappell to raise money secured against property to use as working capital - the money you need for day to day running of a company.
Mr Frangos said that BHS was not the limit of his ambitions and that Chappell had plans to one day buy Arcadia - the parent company run by Sir Philip Green. Ultimately, Chappell didn't use Cornhill Capital and the two of them are in dispute over unpaid bills.
He was joined in the commons by representatives from accountants Grant Thornton and lawyers Olswang to explain their involvement as advisers to Mr Chappell.
Both made extensive use of client confidentiality protection but several important themes emerged.
Retail Acquisitions Limited did not delve very deeply into the pension problems. Meetings between Chappell and the Chris Martin, chair of the BHS pension scheme, totalled less than half an hour and Grant Thornton's Mark Byers said he was denied the usual access to the pension trustees and their advisors.
On the bigger picture, MPs asked what the professional advisers made of this "punt". Why did they believe that a retail novice with a chequered financial background could succeed in turning BHS around when a feted retail tycoon had failed? We got two interesting answers.
First, a central part of the turnaround plan involved getting the landlords for the 164 stores to agree to reduce the rent. Mark Byers, from Grant Thornton said it would be difficult to have that negotiation, for BHS essentially to plead poverty, as long as BHS was part of the bigger Arcadia group.
Second, it wasn't their job.
So far there is no smoking gun. What is emerging from these sessions is that lots of professional firms were tasked with making sure small bits of the deal ticked a number of boxes. No one, it seems, was there to look Mr Chappell in the eye and judge whether he had the ability, or even the intention, of...

Summary:


The Scottish government has announced that it will not be renewing Trident.
The Scottish government has announced that it will not be renewing Trident.
The Scottish government has announced that it will not be renewing Trident.
The Scottish government has announced that it will not be renewing Trident.
The Scottish government has

Jeremy Corbyn has accused the chief of the defence staff of political bias after he criticised the Labour leader's anti-nuclear stance.

Article: However, for a pair of kestrels nesting on the Forth Road Bridge, it has become home.
Bridge workers discovered the birds of prey while repairing steelwork underneath the carriageway.
They have built a nest with six eggs inside the end of a girder hanging over the Firth of Forth estuary.
The birds have been named Mr and Mr Younger, after Younger's Kestrel Lager.
David Gill, Amey maintenance supervisor, said: "When we saw the eggs, we immediately cleared the area and instructed staff to avoid carrying out any works that might disturb the nest.
"I've heard of kestrels nesting on the bridge before, but it's pretty unusual. You'd think they might prefer a quieter location.
"We're happy to have them here though, and have affectionately named them Mr and Mrs Younger.
"We'll come back and finish our repairs once the chicks have hatched and flown the nest.
"In the meantime, we've carried out a temporary repair on a local defect quietly and there won't be any impact on users of the bridge."
Kestrels are fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to kill, injure or take a kestrel, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents.

Summary: For most young couples, the inside of a steel girder with 80,000 vehicles a day thundering overhead would not seem like an ideal location to start a family.
###
Article: The proposal followed a consultation which attracted more than 600 responses.
It would also see the introduction of a licensing scheme for the killing of wild salmon caught in rivers.
The moves have been welcomed by the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards.
Scotland's biggest salmon netting company, Usan Salmon, said it was confident it would be allowed to start catching again once accurate salmon stock measurements have been taken.
A Scottish government notice states: "In terms of paragraph 11 of schedule 1 to the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 (the Act) notice is hereby given that the Scottish ministers propose to make conservation regulations under section 38 of the Act to introduce a licensing system for the killing of wild salmon in Scotland and a prohibition on the taking of salmon outwith inland waters."
It said: "The general effect of this proposal will be: (a) to prohibit the taking of Atlantic salmon outwith inland waters. (b) to prohibit the killing of salmon in Scotland without a licence."
Objections to the regulations must be submitted by 19 August.
The Scottish government said no decision had yet been taken but it would consider all the responses.
A spokeswoman said: "Our consultation on wild fisheries reform is ongoing and we are in the process of engaging with stakeholders."

Summary: Plans for a complete ban on catching wild salmon using coastal nets have been announced by the Scottish government.
###
Article: Gen Sir Nicholas Houghton told the BBC's Andrew Marr that refusing to launch nuclear weapons would "seriously undermine" Britain's "deterrent".
And he said he would be worried if such a view "translated into power".
Mr Corbyn called on the defence secretary to "take action" against Sir Nicholas over his comments.
In a statement, the Labour leader said: "It is a matter of serious concern that the chief of the defence staff has today intervened directly in issues of political dispute.
"It is essential in a democracy that the military remains politically neutral at all times.
"By publicly taking sides in current political arguments, Sir Nicholas Houghton has clearly breached that constitutional principle. Accordingly, I am writing to the defence secretary to ask him to take action to ensure that the neutrality of the armed forces is upheld."
Mr Corbyn, a leading member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, sparked a row with his shadow cabinet at his party's annual conference when he revealed that would never press the "nuclear button" - and he has since praised Scottish Labour's rejection of Trident.
Mr Corbyn has said he was elected Labour leader on a platform of opposing Trident renewal and that he is committed to "promoting an international nuclear weapons convention which would lead to a nuclear-free world".
Asked about Mr Corbyn's refusal to use nuclear weapons, Sir Nicholas said: "It would worry me if that thought was translated into power as it were."
He added: "The whole thing about deterrence rests on the credibility of its use.
"When people say you're never going to use the deterrent, what I say is you use the deterrent every second of every minute of every day and the purpose of the deterrent is that you don't have to use it because you successfully deter.
"If a prime minister said they would never press the nuclear button, "the deterrent is then completely undermined," he added.
"Most of the politicians I know understand that and I think that, dare I say, the responsibility of power is probably...

Summary:


The US space agency has announced that it will be launching a new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), in the next few years.
The SLS is a new rocket that will be used to launch the Orion spacecraft.
The SLS is a new rocket that will be used to launch the Orion spacecraft

The company that conducts most of America's rocket launches has released details of its next generation vehicle.

Article: Figures from the Labor Department showed the US economy created 178,000 jobs in November, while the jobless rate fell to 4.6% from 4.9% in October.
The data adds to recent evidence of healthy growth in the economy, although wage growth was weaker than expected.
Most analysts think the Federal Reserve will raise rates at its next meeting.
"This was the last hurdle on the path to a December hike, and it has been cleared convincingly," said Luke Bartholomew, investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management.
"It is now incredibly hard to imagine what would stop the Fed from going [for a rate rise]."
The Federal Reserve will hold its next two-day policy meeting on 13-14 December.
Last month, the chair of the Fed, Janet Yellen, indicated that the US central bank could raise interest rates "relatively soon", adding that the US economy was "making very good progress".
Recent figures indicated that the US economy grew at an annual pace of 3.2% in the third quarter of the year.
The US economy has been creating jobs at an average of 180,000 jobs a month this year, although that is down on the average of 229,000 recorded in 2015.
Despite November's robust jobs figures, earnings grew by less than expected. Average hourly earnings fell 0.1% from the month before, and that reduced the annual increase in wages to 2.5% from 2.8% in October.
The job creation figures for September and October were also revised, with the latest estimates indicating that 2,000 fewer jobs were added in the two months than previously thought.
Before these figures the markets were pretty clear about what they think the Federal Reserve will do when it meets later this month; it will raise interest rates. The jobs numbers have further reinforced that expectation.
It was a pretty robust figure for job creation, well ahead of economists' estimates of what is needed to keep up with a growing population.
Also striking was a decline of 220,000 in the number who are working part-time for economic reasons.  This is another measure of what economists call...

Summary: The US unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low in November, adding to expectations that US interest rates will rise later this month.
###
Article: The average home in Dwyfor put 22% less waste in their black bins in November 2014 than in the same month in 2013.
As a result, recycling and composting rates in the county have increased from 54% in March to 57.4% last month.
The council said the waste reduction in the Dwyfor area alone would save it Â£100,000 a year.
The first phase of three-weekly bin collections was introduced in October, with 19,000 households in Meirionnydd and 26,000 in Arfon set to follow suit next year.
Food waste and recyclable products are still collected weekly.
The council said it was now well placed to hit Welsh government targets, which require councils to recycle at least 58% of their waste by March 2016, and 64% by 2020.
Councillor Gareth Roberts said: "The people of Dwyfor have delivered an early Christmas present for our environment and for the Gwynedd council taxpayer."
Waste collection changes were introduced in Gwynedd to help the council bridge a Â£50m funding shortfall between now and 2017/18.

Summary: The amount of waste sent to landfill in Gwynedd has fallen since controversial three-weekly bin collections were introduced to the first 15,000 homes.
###
Article: The concept will be known as Vulcan, and it is expected to start operations in 2019.
United Launch Alliance - the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin - currently flies the Atlas and Delta rockets.
These are routinely used to loft Nasa science probes, spy satellites and other US national security missions.
In time, both vehicles will be retired as the new Vulcan components come on stream.
The first element to be introduced will be the first-stage booster, which will feature an all-new, all-American liquid-fuelled engine.
This will enable ULA to end its use of Russian-made RD-180 rocket motors – something Congress has mandated.
Politicians on Capitol Hill dislike the fact that American national security missions are launched with the aid of Russian propulsion technology.
ULA's preference is to incorporate a liquid methane-oxygen power unit currently being developed by Blue Origin, the space company run by Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos.
When the new Vulcan booster makes its debut, it will initially be married to the current Centaur upper-stage of the Atlas.
But early in the 2020s, this too will be replaced by a bespoke upper-stage that should give the new rocket a performance that allows it to exceed even the Delta IV Heavy – the biggest, most powerful rocket in the world today, capable of putting upwards of 25 tonnes in a low-Earth orbit.
Critically, though, the Vulcan will be substantially cheaper to build and operate.
"A Delta IV Heavy at today’s launch rates costs about $400m, give or take, depending on the mission and its complexity. I fully expect the Next Generation Launch System to be less than half that," said Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance.
Some cost savings will be made by recovering and reusing the engines on the first-stage booster following a flight.
The idea is that after separation from the upper-stage, the engines would detach from the propellant tanks and fall back to Earth, deploying an inflatable shield to protect them from burning up on re-entry into...

Summary:


The BBC's Hausa Service has learnt that the military has been deployed to the school.
The BBC's Hausa Service has learnt that the military has been deployed to the school.
The military has not confirmed this.
The BBC's Hausa Service has learnt that the military has not confirmed this

Mystery surrounds the fate of more than 100 teenage girls who were abducted from a school in the remote north-east of Nigeria.

Article: A machine that can "smell" dollars - like a sniffer dog senses narcotics - is being developed.
For the first time, chemists have captured the unique fragrance of US paper money.
They announced their discovery at the American Chemical Society meeting.
"Money sniffing is an unknown art. No-one had ever tried to find these aromas," said Dr Joseph Stetter, of KWJ Engineering.
"We found that US currency emits a wide range of volatile organic compounds that make a 'fingerprint' we can identify in less than a minute."
His firm is developing a handheld cash detector for border police, called the Bulk Currency Detection System (BCDS).
In the past fiscal year, US officials seized more than $106m in smuggled cash heading to Mexico - the bulk of it laundered drug money.
But that's only a whisker of the estimated $39bn that crosses the border undetected every year - hidden in clothing, baggage and vehicles.
Current checks are done by guards with dogs - but training is expensive and time-consuming.
Airport-style X-ray scanners have had some success detecting currency - but they are large and impractical for busy border checkpoints.
To find a swifter solution, the US Department of Homeland Security made a public challenge to scientists to develop "a device that will search for and identify bulk quantities of currency - secreted on persons, in hand baggage and luggage, and/or in privately owned vehicles."
This money-sniffing machine must pass three intimidating challenges.
First - it must be precise enough to pick up the whiff of dollar bills amid a cacophony of background aromas.
"It has to work even in the presence of car exhaust, perfumes, food, and at a range of temperatures and humidity," said Dr Suiqiong Li, a researcher at KWJ.
"You need a smart algorithm to sort the needle from the haystack."
Next - it has to deliver a reading within seconds at hectic border crossings. There is no time to send samples off to a lab.
And finally, the probe has to be portable - light enough for a guard walking up and down a line of...

Summary: Criminals are smuggling billions in US bank notes into Mexico every year, but help could be on the way for border guards.
###
Article: Palaeobiologist Matt Friedman told the BBC that the fish provided crucial evidence about the evolutionary development of jawed vertebrates.
As a remote relative of humans, it provides important evolutionary clues.
"It is the deepest branch of our family tree that bears the kinds of jaw bones found in humans," Dr Friedman said.
The fossil was found at China's Xiaoxiang Reservoir, and was reported by the journal Nature on Thursday.
Scientists say that the heavily armoured fish, Entelognathus primordialis, is a previously unknown member of jawed vertebrates also known as gnathostomes. It has a complex small skull and jaw-bone structure.
"This is an unexpected discovery that inverts schoolbook teaching on the evolution of bony skulls," Dr Friedman told the BBC.
"Up until now it had been thought that the anatomical peculiarities of bony fishes - the group that would eventually give rise to human beings - are specialisations that arose later in vertebrate evolutionary history in our own bony fish lineage."
"But now that narrative has been turned on its head."
Dr Friedman said that the fish's jaw was much more like that of a modern bony fish - which is why its discovery may offer a new perspective on the early evolution of these creatures.
His review of the significance of the fossil find also appears in the latest edition of Nature.
Scientists say that the evolution of jaws is one of the key episodes in the evolution of vertebrates, but the gap between jawed and jawless vertebrates is so large that it is hard to work out the individual evolutionary steps in the transition.
"While this fossil does not tell us anything about the origin of jawed fishes from jawless ones, it does tell us about subsequent modifications to jaw structure that we thought were unique to bony fishes," Dr Friedman said.
It is thought that modern jawed vertebrates, such as sharks and bony fishes, emerged from a collection of jawed, armoured fishes known as placoderms.
Entelognathus primordialis has jaw-bone features previously restricted to...

Summary: A leading British scientist has said that the discovery of a 419-million-year-old fish fossil in China is a stunning and spectacular development.
###
Article: The military says all but eight of the 129 girls have escaped, but parents of the girls say many are still missing.
It is thought Islamist militant group Boko Haram took the girls to forested areas near the Cameroonian border.
The group is waging a bloody campaign for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
Nigerian students living in fear
What is Nigeria's Boko Haram?
Also on Wednesday, 18 people were killed in an attack in the Gwoza district of north-eastern Nigeria, local officials told the AP news agency.
The BBC's correspondent in Lagos, Will Ross, says the Nigerian military's statement that most of the girls had escaped their captors contrasts sharply with other information available to the BBC, including the claims of parents of pupils at the school. They insist "many" of their children are still missing.
The raid on the boarding school is a great source of embarrassment for the Nigerian authorities who say their military campaign against the militants is succeeding, he adds.
Hours before the military issued its statement, the governor of Borno state Kashim Shettima said the vast majority of the girls were still missing and offered a reward of 50m naira ($308,000; Â£184,000) for information.
The air force, army, police, local defence units and volunteers have all been involved in the search for the schoolgirls.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the "shocking" mass abduction and called for the girls' immediate release.
"The targeting of schools and schoolchildren is a grave violation of international humanitarian law," he said in a statement.
"Schools are, and must remain, safe places where children can learn and grow in peace."
The BBC's Hausa Service says Boko Haram has kidnapped civilians in the past - usually women to work as sex slaves.
Gunmen reportedly arrived at the school in Chibok, a remote area of Borno state, late on Tuesday, and ordered its teenage residents on to lorries.
A local politician said about 50 soldiers had been stationed near the school ahead of annual exams, but were...

Summary:


The UK's first ever national survey of young people has found that a quarter of 16-24 year olds are not in work, education or training (NEET) and that the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has increased by a fifth in the past year.
The survey

Throughout the election campaign BBC Wales News is answering young voters's questions and reflecting their views through our interactive #iNeverKnew project.

Article: The Foreign Office warned the Home Office against giving the teenage athlete "special treatment" to enable her to compete at the 1984 Olympics.
Ministers said any circumvention of the ban on South Africans competing may hurt the UK's anti-apartheid stance.
But the Home Office said Budd's "talent" made the case a priority.
Budd, who set a world record for the 5,000m at the age of 17 and became a household name for running barefoot, registered as a British citizen in April 1984 in time for her to compete at the Los Angeles games four months later.
She ran for Britain in the 3,000m - where she tangled with the American Mary Decker in one of the most famous moments in Olympic history and ultimately finished down the field.
A media campaign was launched to encourage Zola Budd's father to urge her to apply for British citizenship, by virtue of her paternal grandfather being British, thereby bypassing the boycott on South African athletes taking part in international competition because of its apartheid policy.
Previously unseen files, released by the National Archives, reveal wrangling over the issue broke out at cabinet level with the then Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe urging the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan to delay the decision on whether to grant the runner a British passport.
In a draft letter to Mr Brittan in March 1984, in which Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was copied in, Mr Howe wrote: "I think the consequences for the government could be very damaging if we laid ourselves open to the charge that this young girl was receiving special treatment, gifted and exceptional though she may be."
The letter warned that the move could lead to possible withdrawals by other nations from the Olympic Games and the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, and suggested it would undermine the Gleneagles agreement, a Commonwealth pact discouraging sporting contact with South Africa and be seen as a "device to circumvent anti-apartheid politics".
It added: "To give exceptional treatment to a South African national to...

Summary: A campaign to fast-track British citizenship for South African runner Zola Budd triggered a major government rift, newly released documents show.
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Article: Like bats who emit sounds in order to navigate, researchers can now plug sounds into a computer algorithm to map a room.
The team were able to build a full 3D image of a room using four microphones to record echoes bouncing off walls.
Writing in the journal PNAS, the researchers say the technology could one day help solve crime.
The ability to use sounds to navigate the world, called echolocation, is already used by dolphins and bats. Though rare, some blind people have also been known to possess this skill.
But now with the help of a computer algorithm, the echoes from a chirp like sound can reveal the shape of a room.
The algorithm could also distinguish between stronger and weaker echoes and whether they had bounced one or more times around the room.
Walls made from different materials all reflect sound differently, but it was not the amplitude that the algorithm was looking at, rather the differing arrival times between the echoes. The same result could therefore be achieved from any sound, according to the researchers.
"Our software can build a 3D map of a simple, convex room with a precision of a few millimetres," said lead author of the study, Ivan Dokmanic from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland (EPFL).
"Each microphone picks up the direct sound from the source, as well as the echoes arriving from various walls.
"The algorithm then compares the signal from each microphone. The infinitesimal lags that appear in the signals are used to calculate not only the distance between the microphones, but also the distance from each microphone to the walls and the sound source," added Mr Dokmanic.
There are numerous potential applications for the research, Mr Dokmanic told BBC News.
Architects building a concert hall for example, might know the specific acoustics they want a new building to have. Using this new algorithm they could now "plug" certain echoes into a computer and "get the kind of space needed to produce those echoes".
He also explained that virtual reality could benefit from...

Summary: The shape of a room can be modelled using echoes produced from sound, new research has found.
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Article: The aim is to cut through the jargon and present election news in a different way.
If you've got a question about the election or want to know what the parties will do for you, let us know.
Follow our reporter Steffan Messenger on Facebook, where he'll be posting all our #iNeverKnew coverage and focusing on the issues you feel passionately about - your cash, your career, your future.
And check out our guide to what the parties say they'll do for young people here.

Summary:


A new study has found that children who eat school lunches are more likely to eat fruit and vegetables at home.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that children who ate school lunches were more likely to eat fruit and vegetables at home.
The study was carried out by researchers from the University

School lunches can tempt fussy eaters to try new foods, a survey for the School Food Trust has suggested.

Article: Alan Hepper, an MOD engineer, was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of 11-year-old Francis Rowntree.
He said there was limited testing on rubber baton rounds before their introduction in July 1970.
Francis, known as Frank by his family, was shot by a soldier with a rubber bullet in west Belfast in April 1972.
He died in hospital two days later.
That same year, accident and emergency doctors at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital had wanted to publish their findings in the British Journal of Surgery, but were told by a scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence that it would not be in the public interest.
The information pointed out that 80% of inpatients hit by the rounds had injuries to their head and neck.  It also suggested that Frank Rowntree had been hit from two to three yards.
'Tumbled in the air'
It suggested that soldiers must be made aware of the consequences of using  the weapon, that it could kill, blind, or seriously injure some organs.
The tests on potential wounding by the baton rounds had been carried out at the Defence, Science and Technological Laboratory, Porton Down, Wiltshire, by firing them in controlled circumstances at sheep.
The court heard also that tests showed that the batons tumbled in the air and often hit their targets side-on, although they could also hit end on, causing rather more injury or damage.
Mr Hepper, who works at Porton Down, agreed with a barrister for the Rowntree family that the chances of a target being struck end-on increased if a round was fired within 5-6 metres.
It is thought that Frank Rowntree was struck from close range.
Mr Hepper told the inquest that the effect and accuracy of the rubber baton round was tested more after its initial introduction.
'Far too dangerous'
He also said that the amount of gunpowder used was increased twice in a bid to make it more accurate.
A wooden baton round had been tested but quickly deemed to be far "too dangerous" and was never used operationally here.
The rubber baton round was then developed at the request...

Summary: An inquest has heard that information about serious injuries caused by rubber baton rounds fired by the Army was not made public in the early 1970s.
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Article: A software update was released last week to iPhone, iPad and iPod owners to protect users from "an attacker" who may "capture or modify data".
It was later discovered that the problem also existed on Apple laptops and desktop computers running OS X.
On Tuesday, Apple issue a security fix through its software update service.
The problem was first spotted on Apple's mobile devices which run the iOS 7 operating system. It related to the way secure connections are made between Apple's safari browser and websites, including banking sites, Google and Facebook.
These sites have digital security certificates that allow an encrypted connection to be established between a user's computer and the website. This means any data that is sent over the connection should be secure.
However, a vulnerability in the code for Apple's iOS and OS X operating systems meant the security certificates were not being checked properly. This meant hackers could impersonate a website and capture the data that was being sent over the connection before letting it continue its journey to the real website.
Apple released a fix for mobile devices running iOS 7 last week but a spokesperson issued the following statement about OS X: "We are aware of this issue and already have a software fix that will be released very soon."
The fix was released on Tuesday.
According to researchers the security flaw had existed for months but no-one had reported it publicly.
Graham Cluley, a security analyst, said it was a failing by the company that it had not been identified earlier.
"It's pretty bad what Apple have done, they've seriously dropped the ball. How much the problem has been exploited is hard to say. Hackers may now be trying to take advantage while users wait for the security fix."

Summary: Apple has issued a fix to a flaw in its OS X operating system which previously left users vulnerable to security breaches while browsing online.
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Article: Researchers found that four out of five children in England who ate school lunches had tried food at school that they had not tried at home.
Half of parents questioned said their children had asked for foods they had eaten at school to be cooked at home.
The survey, of about 1,000 parents, found the most popular vegetables were carrots, sweetcorn and peas.
Aubergine, chickpeas and spinach were among the least popular.
Of the parents questioned, 628 had children who ate school lunches.
(% denotes proportion of parents who said their child would eat each vegetable)
England's School Food Trust commissioned the research after a survey by the Mumsnet website suggested some parents gave their children packed lunches because they thought they were too fussy to eat anything else.
Trust chairman, Rob Rees, said: "Every parent knows it's a nightmare watching their child push food around the plate.
"School meals can be a great way to help parents encourage their children to try new foods and to increase the variety of foods in their diet."
Mumsnet co-founder, Carrie Longton, said: "Getting children to eat healthily is every parent's dream, but meal times at home can often be a battle ground and emotionally charged.
"From Mumsnetters' experience it seems that once at school there's a desire to fit in with everyone else and even some positive peer pressure to boast about the variety of what foods you can eat.
"School meals have also moved on quite a bit from when Mumsnetters were at school, with healthier options and more variety."
School meals in England now have to comply with strict nutritional guidelines.
About four in 10 primary school children in England now eat school lunches, slightly more than in secondary schools.
More children in Scotland eat school lunches - about 46%.
The survey was conducted online between 26 February and 5th March among a panel of parents who had at least one child in school aged 4-17 years old.

Summary:


The UK government has announced a new £1.4bn fund to help the North East and the North West of England to develop their economies.
The fund will be used to help the two regions to develop their transport links, including the North East's £1bn Northern Powerhouse Rail project.
The government said

A new deal to secure the air link between Dundee City Airport and London Stansted for another two years has been announced.

Article: Sir Peter Fahy is concerned the force "will not be able to deploy enough officers and PCSOs into the local community to gather intelligence".
GMP has lost 1,100 officers since 2010, leaving about 6,800.
Policing Minister Mike Penning said there was "no question" police would have enough resources to do their work.
In 2010, GMP said 3,100 jobs - 1,500 officers and 1,600 civilian workers - had to go over a four-year period to meet the government's 25% spending cuts.
Sir Peter said: "It's really pretty stark now.
"I can't reduce much further the number of officers for instance investigating rapes and domestic violence.
"We then have to look at day-to-day neighbourhood policing and that is the risk - we end up being a reactive police force.
"We need to be in communities, preventing things before they happen."
Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner, said crimes including violent crime and domestic violence rose by 8% this year.
He said: "We have already lost 1,100 police officers from the streets of Greater Manchester and this year we are facing another cut of £41m, which [means] there will be hundreds of fewer police officers on our streets.
"To be losing almost half the policing budget by 2020 is unpalatable."
Ian Hanson, chairman of the area's Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: "We are in a position where we are going to ask ourselves 'Can we afford the luxury of community policing?'
"In the 1970s and 80s we went to crime after it happened."
He added: "We've got one of the best police forces in the country and now we're under threat and once it's gone, it's gone."
Mr Penning said: "While we acknowledge that the police funding settlement is challenging there is no question that the police will still have the resources to do their important work.
"What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are in total.
"The reduction in crime nationwide demonstrates there is no simple link between officer numbers and crime levels, the visibility of...

Summary: Greater Manchester Police (GMP) risks "being a reactive force" if up to 400 officers are axed to save £41m next year, the chief constable said.
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Article: Oil and Gas UK found more than 100 platforms are expected to be completely or partially removed from the UK and Norwegian continental shelves by 2025.
More than 1,800 wells are also scheduled to be plugged and abandoned and 7,500km of pipeline decommissioned.
But the industry body said there was not "a rush to decommission".
It pointed out that while 52 new projects appeared for the first time in its annual Decommissioning Insight survey, most had been "a long time in the planning".
Total decommissioning expenditure in the UK and Norway last year was £2.1bn, compared with just under £1.6bn in 2014.
The total amount forecast to be spent on decommissioning on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) between 2016 and 2025 is £17.6bn - up on the 2015 survey's 10-year forecast of £16.9bn.
Forecast activity on the UKCS is higher than on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, where fewer fields are reaching the end of their field life. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has estimated that annual expenditure on decommissioning will average about £1bn per year until 2020.
Mike Tholen, Oil and Gas UK's upstream policy director, said: "With low oil prices continuing, you might expect decommissioning to be a key focus for the sector in the years ahead, however we are not witnessing a rush to decommission.
"Different factors are at play and the picture is much more complex.
"Some companies are deferring cessation of production as field life has been extended by sustained efficiency improvements; others are delaying activity due to cash-flow constraints; while elsewhere, companies may be expediting decommissioning to take advantage of falling costs in the current downturn."
The Scottish government's minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse said he would be visiting the north east later this month to focus on the opportunities of decommissioning.
He added: "Work is well under way with Scottish Enterprise to develop a decommissioning action plan by the end of the year and we are also working closely with Scottish ports...

Summary: An industry survey has forecast a "gradual but steady" rise in offshore oil and gas decommissioning in the UK and Norway over the next 10 years.
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Article: The UK and Scottish governments and Dundee City Council have agreed a public service obligation (PSO) contract worth almost Â£3.7m.
Loganair will continue to operate the route from 26 March.
The service will see two return flights each weekday and one return flight on a Sunday.
The UK Government will contribute 50% of the total funds, with the Scottish government putting in Â£1.4m and Dundee City Council providing Â£400,000 of funding.
UK Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said: "I am delighted that Loganair will continue to operate this direct air service between Dundee and London Stansted for another two years.
"Passengers and businesses will continue to benefit from the connectivity this route provides. It will further boost trade and tourism opportunities will continue to flourish in Scotland."
Scotland's Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said: "The award of this contract to Loganair is welcome news which provides continuity of service on this important route.
"This flight not only provides a direct link to London, but also offers passengers a wide number of onward connecting destinations from Stansted. This will continue to benefit business and leisure travellers alike."
Dundee City Council leader Ken Guild added: "Securing the route for a further two years through this latest PSO gives the council and its partners an opportunity to build on the service and attract other routes."
The UK government funding is through the Regional Air Connectivity Fund, which aims to maintain connectivity between London and smaller regional airports, where routes are at risk of being withdrawn.

Summary:


The Scottish Government has announced that it will be introducing a new law to make it an offence to drive a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The new law will be introduced in the next few months.
The Scottish Government has announced that it will be introducing a new law to make it an offence to

A motorist who fatally injured a cyclist has been convicted of causing death by careless driving.

Article: The Confederation Internationale de la Peche Sportive says accepting fishing as an Olympic discipline would enlarge the universality of the Olympic idea because angling is so popular.
Fish caught would be returned to the water unharmed.
But critics say fishing involves too much luck, is incomprehensible to outsiders and too boring to watch.
They reject Confederation president Ferenc Szalay's assertion that angling's "ancient and fair competition system" matches Olympic ideals.
Fishing is among a raft of sports aiming to secure Olympic status.
Skateboarding, surfing, climbing, Karate and baseball/softball have already been confirmed for Tokyo 2020.
The IOC said it hopes the "innovative" move will draw in new audiences by focusing inclusions on youth-oriented sports.
The five extra sports, which do not replace any of the 28 already on the Tokyo schedule, will include 18 events and involve hundreds of athletes.
Baseball and softball featured separately between 1992 and 2008, but made a joint bid to be readmitted.
Fishing has featured at the Olympics once before - it was an unofficial sport at the 1900 Paris games. Only six nations took part and there is no record of the eventual winner.

Summary: The international governing body for fishing has applied for angling to be part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
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Article: The Hang Seng index closed up 2.7% at 26,944.39, its highest closing level since January 2008.
The surge in interest was triggered by Beijing's move last month to let mutual funds invest in Hong Kong through the connect plan.
The Shanghai Composite ended down 0.9%.
The mainland index closed at 3,957.53 as investors rushed to buy relatively cheaper Hong Kong shares.
Chinese investors had used the entire 10.5bn yuan ($1.69bn) daily investment quota for buying Hong Kong stocks under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme for a second day.
Shares in the rest of Asia were mixed despite a rise in US markets on Wednesday.
Investor sentiment remained cautious following the latest committee minutes from the Federal Reserve, which showed the central bank was split over when to raise interest rates.
Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.75% at 19,937.72, edging closer to the key threshold of 20,000 which was last seen in 2000.
Analysts said the psychologically important level was likely to be hit soon.
Shares in Asia's biggest clothing retailer, Japan's Fast Retailing, closed up nearly 2% after it raised its annual profit forecast by 20% on Thursday.
The owner of Uniqlo, which has been expanding aggressively overseas, said its net income would be 120bn yen ($998m) for the year ending in August, up from its previous forecast of 100bn yen.
The company's profits were boosted by sales outside Japan.
In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 0.48% at 5,932.20 as a result of falling oil prices, which analysts said would affect the energy sector.
US-based oil and gas giant, Apache, said it was selling its Australian operations for $2.1bn (Â£1.4bn) as it shifts its focus back to North America.
"Following the sale of our Australian assets, about 70% of Apache's production will come from North America onshore," said the firm's chief executive, John Christmann.
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index closed down 0.02% at 2,058.87.
After a surprise cut in March, South Korea's central bank said on Thursday it would hold...

Summary: Hong Kong shares surged to seven-year highs on Thursday as mainland Chinese investors poured money into the market via the new stock connect trading link.
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Article: Alasdair Dudgeon was killed near the Kincardine Bridge on 6 January 2013 when James Sneddon knocked him off his bike in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Dudgeon suffered a broken neck and internal injuries as he commuted to his work at a bakery near Falkirk at 02:00.
Sneddon, 42, was found guilty of causing the 51-year-old's death, after a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Mr Dudgeon, of High Valleyfield in Fife, regularly cycled to and from his work as a baker at Tesco in Camelon, just outside Falkirk.
He was cycling on the A985 road between the Longannet roundabout and the Kincardine Bridge when he was hit by a Vauxhall Astra driven by Sneddon, of Falkirk.
Sneddon called an ambulance, but paramedics found no sign of a pulse on the victim before taking him to Forth Valley Hospital in Larbert, where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses said weather conditions were clear and visibility was reasonable on the night of the crash, with a police officer noting that the red flashing light on Mr Dudgeon's bike was bright enough to be seen from 300m away.
Prosecutors said that although Mr Dudgeon had not been wearing a high visibility jacket, Sneddon should have seen him well before the collision and should have taken steps to avoid the cyclist.
The Crown originally charged Sneddon with causing Mr Dudgeon's death by dangerously failing to observe the cyclist and colliding with the rear of his bike, which he denied.
After a trial, the jury found him guilty on the lesser charge of death by careless driving. He will be sentenced later after background reports are compiled.

Summary: