A man has been jailed for life for murdering a man in a "brutal" attack in a Liverpool street.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found with serious head injuries in a Liverpool street in May 2009.
He was taken to hospital but died a short time later.

A third man has been jailed for murdering a flight attendant who was bludgeoned with a hammer and buried in a concrete tomb.

Article: The standardised average price of a home in the region is almost £117,000 - that is 7% higher than a year ago.
Figures issued through the Department of Finance show all areas of Northern Ireland, except mid-Ulster, saw a rise in the latest quarter (July - Sept).
Between 2005 and 2007, Northern Ireland house prices doubled before collapsing, reaching a low point in early 2013.
However, the market has been in recovery mode since then. Prices are still about 40% below what they were before the crash.

Summary: House prices in Northern Ireland continue to increase, according to the latest official figures.
###
Article: Because of their abundance of stars, these "globular clusters" were an early favourite in the Seti field.
But recent efforts to scour the sky for planets orbiting alien stars have had little success within star clusters.
Now, two astronomers say there is good reason to keep up the search.
Rosanne Di Stefano from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, US, and Alak Ray from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India, have described what they call the "globular cluster opportunity".
At an average age of 10 billion years (much wrinklier than the Sun, at four billion), globular clusters don't have many young stars, rich in the metallic elements needed to build planets.
But Dr Di Stefano, speaking in Florida at the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, pointed out that recent discoveries had placed exoplanets - especially small, rocky ones like Earth - around stars much less metal-rich than our Sun.
"When Seti first started in 50s and 60s, we didn't even know if there were exoplanets," she told reporters at the meeting.
"Now we can use the information that we've gleaned from other planet discoveries - and there are over 2,000 planets known today - to ask, is it likely that they'd be in globular clusters."
Dr Di Stefano also pointed to the remarkable example of PSR B1620-26 b, sometimes called "Methuselah". It is the only exoplanet so far detected orbiting a star - or in its case, two stars - within a globular cluster.
"I think most of us would say that the discovery of that one, bizarre planet indicates that there must be other planets in that cluster," she said.
Furthermore, Drs Di Stefano and Ray have identified a "sweet spot" in the dimensions of globular clusters.
Because most of their stars are old, cool red dwarfs, any habitable planets would have to huddle in very close orbits to sustain liquid water.
Staying wet, however, isn't the only challenge for a life-bearing planet in a crowded cluster. A ball of a million stars just 100 light years across is a raging turmoil of...

Summary: Ancient, tightly packed clumps of stars found at the fringe of the Milky Way are a good bet in the search for extra terrestrial intelligence (Seti), research suggests.
###
Article: It came from the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance (GAPA) which aims to counter the health problems created by alcohol consumption.
Alcohol causes more than three million deaths around the world annually.
But the number of deaths linked to drinking has been falling in Scotland in recent years.
GAPA said it selected Scotland for its annual conference - being held in in Edinburgh from 7-9 October - because of the progressive approach it is taking to prevent alcohol harm, in particular the government's attempts to tackle cheap alcohol through minimum unit pricing (MUP).
Although MSPs passed a law in 2012 imposing a minimum unit price to try to cut the harm it can cause, its implementation has been held up by a legal challenge from the Scotch Whisky Association.
Derek Rutherford, who chairs GAPA, said holding its annual conference in Scotland would acknowledge the work being done there to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.
"It provides the opportunity to acknowledge their advocacy strategies and to share in the experience of advocates in other regions and countries of the world," he said.
"Importantly, we can pay tribute to the Scottish government for the political courage it has shown to implement appropriate policy in the face of stiff opposition by the drinks industry."
Dr Mac Armstrong, chair of Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS), the national charity working to reduce alcohol harm, said: "The Scottish government's plans to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol will increase the price of the cheapest, strongest drinks.
"Unfortunately, the implementation of this innovative policy has been delayed due to a legal challenge from the alcohol industry.
"This action provides yet more evidence of the alcohol industry's role in seeking to prevent the implementation of alcohol policies that are going to be effective in reducing alcohol consumption and harm."
The main focus of the conference, which has attracted more than 400 delegates from 55 countries, is on protecting children from the promotion of alcohol.
Research...

Summary: The Scottish government has been praised for its "political courage" in attempting to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol.
###
Article: Frenchman Christophe Borgye's remains were found at a property in Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, in 2013 - four years after he was reported missing.
Manuel Wagner, 29, has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to a minimum jail term of 16 years following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Two other men were convicted in 2014.
Mr Borgye, 36, was killed in May 2009 and buried in the outbuilding of the house he shared with German national Wagner and fellow Frenchmen Sebastian Bendou and Dominik Kocher.
Bendou contacted Cheshire Police in May 2013 and led officers to Mr Borgye's body, which was wrapped in tarpaulin and encased in thick concrete.
Officers said a low brick wall had been built inside the outhouse with three layers of concrete placed over the body.
A post-mortem examination found My Borgye died from hammer blows to the head.
He had been reported missing by a work colleague, but after launching an investigation police said they believed he had left the country.
Det Sgt Steve Currie said the case had been "complicated" and "devastating" for Mr Borgye's family, but added "the final jigsaw piece in this shocking crime is now in place".
Wagner was previously found not guilty of assisting an offender and preventing a lawful burial.
However, was re-arrested in 2015 when new evidence came to light.
Bendou, now 39, and Kocher, now 38, were given life sentences for murder with minimum terms of 14 and 23 years respectively in 2014.

Summary:


A man who was paralysed in a car crash in Norfolk has been evicted from his care home.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was admitted to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, in 2014.
He was evicted from the hospital on Tuesday after the hospital

A patient evicted from hospital after spending more than two years in a bed "declined" all options offered, a council has said.

Article: Two of those mentioned are senior advisers to the king.
The cable was sent to Washington in January this year by the then American ambassador in Bangkok.
The ailing 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the world's longest-reigning current head of state.
The reverence in which the monarch is held is invariably evident whenever and wherever he appears in public.
Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn is in his late fifties.
The ambassador's cable quotes alleged conversations with General Prem Tinsulanonda, the head of the privy council, a former prime minister, Anand Panyarachun, and Air Chief Marshall Siddhi Savetsila.
It says all three had quite negative comments about  the crown prince and two of them - while asserting that the crown prince will become king - implied that the country would be "better off if other arrangements could be made".
The cable also cited concerns about the crown prince's private life.
The ambassador's conclusion in the cable is that "on the two most difficult and sensitive issues of the day in Thailand - [ousted Prime Minister] Thaksin [Shinawatra] and the monarchy - the Thai elite appear as unsure about the future as any other sector of society".
He says the stakes are significant for all sides.
Analysts point out that these views are reported in a cable sent at the start of what has been one of the most turbulent years in Thailand's recent history.
Dr Tim Forsyth, an East Asia expert from the Development Studies Institute at the London School of Economics, told the BBC:
"The Wikileaks cables certainly give the impression that the members of the privy council of Thailand are concerned about the suitability of the crown prince. Of course these cables are unconfirmed and it is very difficult for outside people to comment on it.
"But it does seem to suggest that some of the origins of the political problems in Thailand over the last few years are somehow connected to this worry about what will happen to the monarchy.
Dr Forsyth said some people in Thailand had told him that the 2006 coup which...

Summary: A leaked US diplomatic cable obtained by the Wikileaks website says three influential figures in Thailand expressed concerns about the prospect of the crown prince becoming king.
###
Article: The right to select their next leader is a key part of citizenship, they heard, as photos were shown of the three men running to become the city's next chief executive.
After the lecture, the students returned to their classrooms, where everyone took turns using computers to cast votes for the three candidates - Henry Tang, CY Leung or Albert Ho - as part of a city-wide mock election.
Hong Kong residents do not yet have the right to directly select their top official, but the desire for universal suffrage is strong, according to students and teachers at Fung Kai, one of the biggest schools in Hong Kong.
Eunice Leung, 16, is sharply critical of the current system, in which fewer than 1,200 electors largely loyal to Beijing will choose the Chinese city's top official on 25 March.
"They are given the right to choose the chief executive, but the decision they are going to make cannot represent all Hong Kong people. That's why it is a very unfair election," she said, after casting her vote.
Though it was meant to be a secret ballot, Ms Leung revealed she voted for Mr Ho, chairman of the Democratic Party, whose main platform is universal suffrage.
Because of his outspoken pro-democracy stance, Mr Ho is widely seen as being unacceptable to Beijing.
His two rivals are more familiar to the establishment.
Two systems
When Hong Kong rejoined China in 1997 after 150 years as a British colony, certain rights and freedoms not granted on the mainland were guaranteed here.
Among them was the right to elect the chief executive, a position roughly equivalent to mayor of Hong Kong, China's most international city and a global financial powerhouse.
But Beijing has dragged its heels on actually giving Hong Kong citizens that right.
Robert Chung, an influential pollster who organised the city-wide popular vote, said the desire for universal suffrage has been whipped up even more by a series of embarrassing scandals revealed during two months of campaigning.
"As it turns out, the election is getting more and more exciting. The...

Summary: In an airy auditorium at Fung Kai Number One Secondary School in Hong Kong, about 900 students sat and listened as one of their teachers gave them a civics lesson.
###
Article: While having a flutter at the bookies has long been associated with horse racing, the growth of online betting could see football challenge that position in Britain.
However, betting on football is now a worldwide phenomenon with much of the trading carried out on illegal markets in Asia, where the huge sums wagered bring with it the threat of match-fixing.
Here we look at the rise in betting, the risks of corruption and the history of cheating in the sport.
"The current estimations, which include both the illegal markets and the legal markets, suggest the sports match-betting industry is worth anywhere between $700bn and $1tn (£435bn to £625bn) a year," says Darren Small, director of integrity at betting and sports data analysts Sportradar.
About 70% of that trade has been estimated to come from trading on football.
Sportradar has contracts to monitor betting on some 55,000 matches a year, running algorithms which cover 350 global bookmakers, to spot suspicious betting patterns. Concerns are raised with about 1% of fixtures monitored.
"It doesn't sound a great deal but it is still 500 or so matches that are potentially fixed and we are talking potentially millions of pounds in turnover on these matches which is running through criminal activities," says Small.
International crime investigation body Interpol says its Operation Soga has carried out more than 2,300 raids on properties worldwide as part of its drive to disrupt match fixers.
It has seized over $27m (£16.8m) in cash, and closed down illegal gambling dens which handled bets worth more than $2bn (£1.2bn).
While betting in Asia is usually restricted to a limited range, the array of options in Europe are far more than the traditional straightforward choices of win, lose or draw.
Licensed bookies offer upwards of 200 different markets on matches around the globe.
You can bet on the first and last goalscorer, the correct score, the half-time score, number of goals, whether there will be a sending-off, a hat-trick, penalty or the amount of corners.
Some...

Summary: Gambling on football is a huge and growing global industry worth billions of pounds per year.
###
Article: Adriano Guedes, 63, who was paralysed by a stroke in 2008, was admitted to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, in 2014.
He was evicted two weeks ago after the hospital obtained a court order and is now in a council flat in Suffolk.
It was granted as Mr Guedes repeatedly turned down offers of care and housing.
In a statement, Suffolk County Council - which is responsible for his care since he left hospital - said it had worked "extensively" with the patient, along with other agencies.
"We explored all options available, but they were declined by him," it said.
"We will continue to work with our partners and Mr Guedes to ensure he continues to receive appropriate levels of care and support."
On Tuesday, Mr Guedes told the BBC the hospital had "forced" him to to stay.
He said: "It's very bad to occupy a place which should be used by someone in need, but I didn't cause the situation. On the contrary - I tried to get out of there.
"I wanted to leave but they always offered what they knew I would refuse."
Mr Guedes said he had been admitted to hospital on mental health grounds.
He said he has been on a hunger strike since he left on 10 January.
It is understood he is visited by carers four times a day in his new home.

Summary:

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The Shanghai Composite fell 2.2% to 2,944.
The Shanghai Composite fell 2.2% to 2,944.
The Shanghai Composite fell 2.2% to 2,944.
The Shanghai Composite fell 2.2% to 2,944.
The Shanghai Composite fell

Asian markets headed lower after a survey of China's manufacturing sector indicated it is shrinking at the fastest pace for six-and-a-half years.

Article: Mike Johnson said the elite Fife institution had outreach programmes which connected with local communities.
Recent figures showed that the number of 18-year-olds from Scotland's poorest areas going to university was down.
Mr Johnson said a good university needed "diversity of thought" from its "diversity of students".
The admissions' director was speaking to BBC radio presenter Bill Whiteford who was hosting Thursday's Good Morning Scotland programme from St Andrews, Scotland's oldest university.
Mr Johnson said: "We meet our funded places allocation with Scottish students, we cannot go above that cap but we always meet that number in terms of Scottish students.
"What we want to see is the diversity of the student, wherever that student comes from.
"It shouldn't be seen as some charitable venture at universities - this is about the diversity of a student bringing diversity of thought, we want many world views.
"When students are in tutorials we want them to come from different backgrounds, this is good for universities, there is no doubt about that."
The Scottish government has placed a major focus on cutting the attainment gap between rich and poor, and increasing the number of Scots from the worst-off communities making it to university.
However, some politicians and education experts believe the cap on funded university places needs to be lifted if the system is going to target poorer students without impacting on the wider student population.
Convenor of Universities Scotland, Andrea Nolan, told the programme it was important to give "as many opportunities as we can to people who we believe have the potential and the ability to succeed".
She explained "In Scotland we have a fixed number of places for Scottish and EU domicile students and as we seek to widen access to people from communities that are underrepresented at universities that is going to put pressure in a fixed system."
Ms Nolan said lifting the cap on places was one way of "expanding the system".
She added: "There are other ways where we can...

Summary: The head of admissions at the University of St Andrews said it had a good "student diversity" policy without having to be a "charitable venture".
###
Article: Instead, a study concluded, the only way to prevent a hangover is to drink less alcohol.
More than 800 students were asked how they tried to relieve hangover symptoms, but neither food nor water was found to have any positive effect.
The findings are being presented at a conference in Amsterdam.
A team of international researchers from the Netherlands and Canada surveyed students' drinking habits to find out whether hangovers could be eased or if some people were immune to them.
Among 826 Dutch students, 54% ate food after drinking alcohol, including fatty food and heavy breakfasts, in the hope of staving off a hangover.
With the same aim, more than two-thirds drank water while drinking alcohol and more than half drank water before going to bed.
Although these groups showed a slight improvement in how they felt compared with those who hadn't drunk water, there was no real difference in the severity of their hangovers.
Previous research suggests that about 25% of drinkers claim never to get hangovers.
So the researchers questioned 789 Canadian students about their drinking in the previous month and the hangovers they experienced, finding that those who didn't get a hangover simply consumed "too little alcohol to develop a hangover in the first place".
Of those students who drank heavily, with an estimated blood alcohol concentration of more than 0.2%, almost no-one was immune to hangovers.
According to lead author Dr Joris Verster, from Utrecht University, the relationship was pretty straightforward.
"The more you drink, the more likely you are to get a hangover.
"Drinking water may help against thirst and a dry mouth, but it will not take away the misery, the headache and the nausea."
Dr Verster said part of the problem was that scientists still do not know what causes a hangover.
"Research has concluded that it's not simply dehydration - we know the immune system is involved, but before we know what causes it, it's very unlikely we'll find an effective cure."
He said the next step was to carry out more...

Summary: Raiding the fridge or downing glasses of water after a night of heavy drinking won't improve your sore head the next day, Dutch research suggests.
###
Article: BBC Worldwide said "a small number" of fans had been sent pre-ordered DVDs three weeks early.
It asked those with the DVD not to reveal plot details which would ruin the "viewing pleasure" of others.
It promised footage of current Doctor Matt Smith with predecessor David Tennant "if everyone keeps the secret".
"A small number of US Doctor Who fans have received their series seven part two DVD three weeks early," BBC Worldwide said in a statement.
"We are asking fans who may have the discs not to divulge plot details so that fellow fans who have yet to see the episodes do not have their viewing pleasure ruined."
It said BBC Worldwide was "currently investigating how this has happened".
It added executive producer and lead writer Steven Moffat had promised the special video featuring Smith and Tennant if the secret was kept.
Saturday's episode of the BBC One show, The Name of the Doctor - written by Moffat - comes ahead of a 50th anniversary 3D special, due to air on 23 November.
Tennant and Billie Piper, who played his on-screen companion Rose Tyler, are among those who will guest star.
Tennant starred in Doctor Who from 2005 to 2010, while Piper first appeared in 2005 opposite Christopher Eccleston, who played the ninth Doctor.
In May 2011, Moffat criticised those "who call themselves fans" who revealed crucial plot lines ahead of transmission.
"You can imagine how much I hate them," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"I wish they could go and be fans of something else."
He said it was "heartbreaking" when a fan, who had been invited to a press screening but asked not to give away spoilers, had posted the entire plot of two episodes on an internet forum "because you're trying to tell stories and stories depend on surprise".
"So to have some twit who came to a press launch, write up a story in the worst, most ham-fisted English you can imagine, and put it on the internet [is heartbreaking]."
The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who was marked at Sunday night's TV Baftas with a video montage while Jenna-Louise Coleman, who...

Summary: US Doctor Who fans are being urged to keep the plot of Saturday's finale secret after DVDs of the series were sent out early in error.
###
Article: The preliminary Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 47 in September, below forecasts of 47.5 and down from 47.3 in August.
A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector, while one above shows expansion.
The Shanghai Composite dropped 2.2% to 3,115.89 on the disappointing data.
The private survey also marked the seventh consecutive month of contraction in the sector.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed down 2.3% at 21,302.91.
Japanese markets are closed for a three-day public holiday and will reopen on Thursday.
In Australia, shares in mining companies were hit by falling commodity prices.
Oil prices continued to decline after US crude fell 2% overnight on global growth concerns, while copper prices slipped further on slowing Chinese demand.
Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 2.1% at 4,998.10.
In South Korea, the Kospi index ended 1.9% lower at 1,944.64 following the release of the data from China.

Summary:


A new study has found that the number of people who have been killed by a shark in the last decade has been on the rise.
The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, found that the number of people killed by a shark in the last decade has been on the rise.
The study, led

Scientists at Oxford University have developed a machine that can lip-read better than humans.

Article: Widow Una Crown was found in her Magazine Lane home in Wisbech on 13 January. She had been stabbed and her body was burned.
A 58-year-old man was arrested in Wisbech earlier this week on suspicion of murder.
He has been released on bail pending further inquiries.
Mrs Crown was last seen alive on the morning of 11 January, but had spoken to a friend by telephone on the afternoon of the following day.

Summary: A man arrested on suspicion of murdering an 86-year-old woman found stabbed to death in her Cambridgeshire home has been released on bail.
###
Article: New forensic analysis on the teeth of the unidentified "Isdal woman" found chemical traces which may tell investigators where she grew up.
The results narrow the search to an area along the French-German border.
The case received fresh impetus after journalists from Norway's national broadcaster NRK began an inquiry.
The NRK team, which has been researching the case for over a year, hailed the new information as a "major breakthrough".
And a scientist at the Norwegian Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) said the results were "much more specific than I could have dreamed of".
The unusual circumstances surrounding the case, and speculation over her mysterious past, have made it an enduring popular mystery for 46 years.
Someone had cut the labels off her clothes, and scraped distinctive marks off her belongings - as if to stop her from being identified.
And as police started investigating her death, they uncovered a trail of coded messages, disguises, and fake identities - but never cracked the case.
Forty-six years later, Norwegian police and NRK journalists have decided to reopen the investigation.
This is the story of the Isdal Woman - and the perplexing trail of clues she left behind.
NRK's investigation discovered the Isdal woman's jaw had been preserved in a forensic archive - opening up the chance that modern scientific methods could reveal more about her origins.
Investigators at Kripos and University of Bergen started an isotope analysis on her teeth - looking at the chemical "signature" left as her teeth were being formed.
It is the first time Norwegian police have used the technique - but the findings have been so specific they may now make it much easier to find people who knew the woman.
"It's actually quite a narrowed-down area that she most probably originated from," associate professor Jurian Hoogewerff at the University of Canberra in Australia - an expert in the technique - told NRK (in Norwegian).
Past analysis of her DNA and handwriting has already suggested the Isdal woman may have come...

Summary: Scientists believe they may have made a major breakthrough in efforts to solve a decades-long mystery of a burned body found in Norway 1970.
###
Article: Great Yarmouth and Gorleston lifeboats were called to reports of a man, 22, in a dinghy near Britannia Pier, Great Yarmouth on Thursday afternoon.
He did not have any paddles when he was found. He was taken to Gorleston.
Lifeboat crews said it was a "prank gone wrong", and Coxswain Paddy Lee added: "He is a very lucky man".
"This could have easily been a different outcome. He was being blown offshore into wind farm traffic and shipping lanes.
"The dinghy was losing air. The sea is still very cold," he said.

Summary: A man who was pushed out to sea in a dinghy for a joke by his friends and then carried off by strong winds has been rescued by lifeboat crews.
###
Article: The artificial intelligence system - LipNet - watches video of a person speaking and matches the text to the movement of their mouths with 93% accuracy, the researchers said.
Automating the process could help millions, they suggested.
But experts said the system needed to be tested in real-life situations.
Lip-reading is a notoriously tricky business with professionals only able to decipher what someone is saying up to 60% of the time.
"Machine lip-readers have enormous potential, with applications in improved hearing aids, silent dictation in public spaces, covert conversations, speech recognition in noisy environments, biometric identification and silent-movie processing," wrote the researchers.
They said that the AI system was provided with whole sentences so that it could teach itself which letter corresponded to which lip movement.
To train the AI, the team - from Oxford University's AI lab - fed it nearly 29,000 videos, labelled with the correct text. Each video was three seconds long and followed a similar grammatical pattern.
While human testers given similar videos had an error rate of 47.7%, the AI had one of just 6.6%.
The fact that the AI learned from specialist training videos led some on Twitter to criticise the research.
Writing in OpenReview, Neil Lawrence pointed out that the videos had "limited vocabulary and a single syntax grammar".
"While it's promising to perform well on this data, it's not really groundbreaking. While the model may be able to read my lips better than a human, it can only do so when I say a meaningless list of words from a highly constrained vocabulary in a specific order," he writes.
The project was partially funded by Google's artificial intelligence firm DeepMind.

Summary:


The fire was discovered by a neighbour who called the fire brigade.
The fire was discovered by a neighbour who called the fire brigade.
The fire was discovered by a neighbour who called the fire brigade.
The fire was discovered by a neighbour who called the fire brigade.
The fire was discovered by a neighbour who

Thirty homes had to be evacuated after a gas pipe was damaged in a fire that was started deliberately.

Article: The state department says the agency supports or participates in a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation in China.
But the UNFPA says this is an "erroneous claim", and that its work does not break any US laws.
In total $32.5m (Â£26m) in funds will be withdrawn for the 2017 financial year.
This is the first of the promised cuts to US financial contributions to the UN by the Trump administration.
Saving Mosul's mothers-to-be
The UNFPA, like other UN agencies, is funded by governments voluntarily.
In 2015, it received $979m in donations, with the US being its fourth-largest donor.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump reinstated a ban on US funding of any international organisation that provided any kind of abortion service or advice.
The state department referred to the presidential directive from January and a provision called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment in its statement on Monday.
"This determination was made based on the fact that China's family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilisation, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chinese government agency responsible for these coercive policies," the state department said.
The UNFPA calls those claims "erroneous" and says that "all of its work promotes the rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination".
It says its programmes have saved the lives of tens of thousands of women. Its works include:
The UN Population Fund has often been the target of conservative Republican administrations, the BBC's Nada Tawfik in New York reports. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and George W Bush withheld funding for the same reason.
The money that had been allocated to the UNFPA for the fiscal year 2017 will be "transferred and reprogrammed to the Global Health Programs account," the state department said.
The account will be used by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to support family planning, maternal and...

Summary: The US says it is withdrawing funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency that promotes family planning in more than 150 countries.
###
Article: The move follows years of briefings by the police and security sources which said that while dissidents had a high level of intent to mount attacks outside Northern Ireland, they lacked the capacity or capability to do so.
That has now changed.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) warned earlier this year that dissidents have shown a range of capabilities over the past 18 months which they described as deeply concerning.
These include the use of home made bombs, referred to by the police as Improvised Explosive Devices, improvised rocket launchers, close quarter shootings, and under vehicle bombs.
While the government announces updates on threat levels, the assessment is made by the security service MI5, with input from the PSNI.
This recalibration of the threat level clearly suggests they believe dissidents are actively planning to exploit their increased capabilities by exporting them to Great Britain, and that they have the capacity to do so.
No organisation was named in a written statement about the increased threat level by Home Secretary Theresa May on Wednesday, but it is understood this assessment reflects concerns about the activities of the group widely referred to as the New IRA.
It was formed in the summer of 2012, from the amalgamation of a number of dissident organisations.
The group killed prison officer Adrian Ismay using an under car bomb in March.
In a statement to the BBC at the time it warned that further attacks would follow.
Increasing the threat level from "moderate" to "substantial" means the likelihood of an attack in Great Britain has gone up from "possible but not likely" to "a strong possibility".
It does not mean MI5 has intelligence which suggests that a dissident republican attack on a target in England, Scotland or Wales is about to take place some time soon.
If that was the case, the threat level would have been raised to "severe", which means an attack is regarded as "highly likely."
The threat level dissidents pose in Northern Ireland has been characterised as...

Summary: The escalation of the level of threat dissident republicans pose to potential targets in Great Britain means that the security service MI5 believes their capacity and capability has grown significantly.
###
Article: Peter Gill told the BBC that UK courts would not accept forensic tests whose details are kept secret due to commercial confidentiality issues.
He said this would prevent proper scrutiny of forensic techniques.
Professor Gill also warned the National DNA Database needed upgrades urgently.
And that without them, the UK resource would fall behind comparable systems used in other countries.
Late last year, the government said the Forensic Science Service would be wound up, adding that as many of its operations as possible were to be transferred or sold off.
The Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) agreed to set up a working group to ensure a "smooth transition" as the Forensic Science Service (FSS) was wound down.
Now based at the University of Oslo, Norway, Peter Gill helped develop the DNA fingerprinting technique used widely by crime scene investigators - along with Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester.
"Courts will not accept secret tests that have not been subject to rigorous peer review and challenge," Professor Gill has said in his submission to the House of Commons science committee's inquiry into the closure of the Forensic Science Service (FSS).
"The public will not accept sub-standard tests being used in any laboratory."
He added: "An exploratory framework is needed to discover whether laboratories are providing sub-standard results."
Professor Gill cited one recent court case where the judge criticised the FSS for using an internally developed "commercial in confidence" database.
"This case... demonstrates that a serious mismatch exists between the government's aspiration to privatise forensic science, versus the court requirement for openness, disclosure, and scientific peer review," said Professor Gill.
"It is easily demonstrated, therefore, that the framework to utilise forensic science in the UK, where the market is entirely privatised, is already fatally flawed."
The FSS analyses evidence from crime scenes in...

Summary: There is a serious mismatch between the government's aim to commercialise forensic science and the requirement of courts for openness, according to a top forensic expert.
###
Article: Firefighters were called to the scene in Craigton Place, Winchburgh, at about 01:30 after a wheelie bin was set on fire.
The bin had been resting against the house, which caused the fire to take hold quickly.
Firefighters swiftly extinguished the blaze, when it was discovered that a gas pipe had been damaged in the fire.
Thirty homes in the area were evacuated, with 38 residents temporarily housed at a local community centre.
They were eventually allowed to return home at about 06:30.
'Young children'
Police are treating the blaze as wilful fire-raising and appealed for information about the West Lothian incident.
They are keen to trace anyone who may have seen someone in the area just before the bin was set alight.
Det Con Adrian Wallis said: "This was a serious incident which could have had devastating consequences.
"It also resulted in the evacuation of over 30 people, including young children and elderly residents. This caused much alarm and upset to those who had to leave their homes in the middle of the night.
"Anyone who saw anything suspicious at around 01:00, or has any other information regarding this incident, is asked to contact us immediately."

Summary:


The man, who was in his 20s, was found dead in a flat in the city of São Paulo.
The man, who was in his 20s, was found dead in a flat in the city of São Paulo.
The man, who was in his 20s, was found dead in

Brazil's interim President Michel Temer has called an emergency meeting of state security ministers after a gang rape of a teenage girl in Rio de Janeiro triggered wide condemnation.

Article: The Londoner's role was announced on BBC One during half time of the FA Cup semi-final match between Everton and Manchester United.
Mackie, 28, replaces Jenna Coleman, whose character Clara Oswald left the show in 2015.
Filming for the next series of the long-running science fiction show will start this year but air in 2017.
Mackie, who graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2010, played Anne-Marie Frasier in Doctors in 2014 and is currently performing in the National Theatre's West End production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
"I'm incredibly excited to be joining the Doctor Who family," she said. "It's such an extraordinary British institution, I couldn't be prouder to call the Tardis my home."
She added: "Peter Capaldi is such a brilliant actor, and his Doctor is such a wacky and wonderful character, I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for him and Bill throughout time and space."
Mackie said her new character "Bill" was "wicked", describing her as "cool, strong, sharp, a little bit vulnerable with a bit of geekiness thrown in".
Capaldi said: "It is a genuine delight to welcome Pearl Mackie to Doctor Who. A fine, fine actress with a wonderful zest and charm, she's a refreshing addition to the Tardis and will bring a universe of exciting new possibilities to The Doctor's adventures."
Doctor Who, which was first shown in 1963, is heading for its 10th season since it was reintroduced to schedules in 2005 after a gap of nine years.
Coleman joined the show in 2012, and starred alongside two Doctors, Matt Smith and Capaldi, the 12th Doctor who joined in 2014.
She asked to be written out and left to take on the role of Queen Victoria in a major ITV drama series.
In January, it was announced that the head writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat, was stepping down from the show.
The next series will be his last, after which he will be replaced by Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall.

Summary: Pearl Mackie has been named as the new Doctor Who companion alongside Peter Capaldi's Time Lord in the Tardis.
###
Article: Anne Longfield says the current system can add to the trauma for children, with some facing hostile cross-examination by defence lawyers.
She wants to use "children's houses" - a system pioneered in Iceland - where complainants have a single interview.
She is due to meet with police and crime commissioners.
The children's house system, which is to be piloted in Greater London and County Durham, sees children testify to a trained psychotherapist while a judge, police, prosecution and defence lawyers watch via video link.
In Iceland, the single interview takes place in a children's house or "Barnahus", where it is used both by police to gather evidence, and prosecutors as witness testimony.
The house - one of which can be found in a quiet Reykjavik residential street - is where a child is taken within a week of an abuse allegation being made.
Bragi Gudbrandsson, the director of the Icelandic government's child protection agency, pioneered the Barnahus scheme, which began in 1998.
He said: "The basic idea is to ensure a child-friendly intervention in child sexual abuse cases with the aim of complying to the general principle of human rights.
"It's an environment that children are used to, familiar with, and is natural for them.
"We believe it can be harmful to take child victims to police stations because all children relate police stations to where people in conflict in the law are taken to.
"So we are really conveying a message to children by the place we are taking them to."
Inside the house, a specially trained interviewer asks questions, while other parties watch via a video link.
Any questions they have are fed through an earpiece to the interviewer.
Lawyers for the accused have to put all their questions at this point.
Ólöf Ásta Farestveit, who runs the Reykjavik Barnahus, says one benefit of the system is that children need only recount their ordeal once.
"If the parents have been asking them maybe two or three times, they get tired of answering the same questions so they say sometimes 'Ask Ma, she knows...

Summary: The children's commissioner for England will call for a radical rethink of the way children are interviewed in abuse cases, at a meeting later.
###
Article: The 22-year-old, who has not been named, was stuck by a black Audi A5 at about 04:10 GMT in Bramhall Moor Lane in Hazel Grove, Stockport.
He was taken to hospital where he died, police said.
A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving alongside his passenger, a 27-year-old woman.
The man has also been arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Summary: A man and woman have been arrested after a man was killed in a suspected hit-and-run crash.
###
Article: He vowed to form a federal police unit to deal with violence against women.
The girl, 16, believes she was doped after going to her boyfriend's house last Saturday and says she woke up in a different house, surrounded by 30 men.
Hundreds of protesters on Friday demanded an end to sexual violence.
The video of the attack was put on social media, shocking Brazil.
Police are hunting more than 30 male suspects. Arrest warrants have been issued, including one for the boyfriend.
"I condemn most forcefully the rape of the teenager in Rio de Janeiro," Mr Temer said.
"It is absurd that in the 21st Century we should have to live with barbaric crimes such as this."
He said the authorities were working "to find those responsible" for the attack.
Rio police chief Fernando Veloso told a news conference that investigators will review forensic evidence.
"If these images hadn't been posted, maybe we wouldn't be here right now,'' he said, adding that many rapes go unreported.
The rape is said to have taken place in a poor community in western Rio over the weekend.
A 40-second-video was widely shared and followed by a wave of misogynistic comments, before the users' accounts were suspended.
In a message posted on Facebook, the victim said she was thankful for the support she had received and added: "I really thought I was going to be badly judged."
She later said: "All of us can go through this one day. It does not hurt the uterus but the soul because there are cruel people not being punished!! Thanks for the support."
The girl's grandmother told Brazilian media the family had watched the video and cried.
"I regretted watching it. When we heard the story we didn't believe what was happening. It's a great affliction. It's a depressing situation," she told Folha de S Paulo newspaper.
The assault has provoked an online campaign against what campaigners call a culture of rape in Brazil.
Experts say many cases of rape in Brazil go unreported as victims fear retaliation, shame, and blame for the violence they have suffered.
Hundreds...

Summary:


The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has backed a new initiative to raise awareness of the importance of lifejackets and buoyancy aids.
The RYA has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the importance of lifejackets and buoyancy aids.
The RYA has launched a new campaign to

The family of a teenage girl who drowned on a sailing trip have launched a safety code in her memory.

Article: The move follows years of briefings by the police and security sources which said that while dissidents had a high level of intent to mount attacks outside Northern Ireland, they lacked the capacity or capability to do so.
That has now changed.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) warned earlier this year that dissidents have shown a range of capabilities over the past 18 months which they described as deeply concerning.
These include the use of home made bombs, referred to by the police as Improvised Explosive Devices, improvised rocket launchers, close quarter shootings, and under vehicle bombs.
While the government announces updates on threat levels, the assessment is made by the security service MI5, with input from the PSNI.
This recalibration of the threat level clearly suggests they believe dissidents are actively planning to exploit their increased capabilities by exporting them to Great Britain, and that they have the capacity to do so.
No organisation was named in a written statement about the increased threat level by Home Secretary Theresa May on Wednesday, but it is understood this assessment reflects concerns about the activities of the group widely referred to as the New IRA.
It was formed in the summer of 2012, from the amalgamation of a number of dissident organisations.
The group killed prison officer Adrian Ismay using an under car bomb in March.
In a statement to the BBC at the time it warned that further attacks would follow.
Increasing the threat level from "moderate" to "substantial" means the likelihood of an attack in Great Britain has gone up from "possible but not likely" to "a strong possibility".
It does not mean MI5 has intelligence which suggests that a dissident republican attack on a target in England, Scotland or Wales is about to take place some time soon.
If that was the case, the threat level would have been raised to "severe", which means an attack is regarded as "highly likely."
The threat level dissidents pose in Northern Ireland has been characterised as...

Summary: The escalation of the level of threat dissident republicans pose to potential targets in Great Britain means that the security service MI5 believes their capacity and capability has grown significantly.
###
Article: The breach came after the laptop of an employee at Hewlett Packard Enterprise working on a naval contract was "compromised", the Navy said.
It added that "unknown individuals" accessed the sensitive information on current and former sailors.
The data included names and social security numbers, but the Navy does not currently believe it was misused.
"The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously - this is a matter of trust for our sailors," said Vice Adm Robert Burke, the chief of naval personnel.
"We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach."
The US Navy has about 430,000 sailors on active duty or in ready reserve.
Sailors are being contacted in the coming weeks and the Navy said it was looking into credit monitoring services for those affected.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which separated from US computer firm HP last year, informed the Navy on 27 October about the laptop.
After a Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigation, it was found that the data of 134,386 sailors had been accessed.
A spokesman for Hewlett Packard Enterprise said: "This event has been reported to the Navy and because this is an ongoing investigation, HPE will not be commenting further out of respect for the privacy of our Navy personnel."

Summary: The US Navy is investigating a data breach after personal information of more than 130,000 sailors was accessed.
###
Article: They are now to ballot members on taking industrial action short of a strike.
Health Minister Simon Hamilton said the majority of health care workers, including nurses, would receive a one-off payment.
The 1% increase would equate to about £300 for most.
The RCN has said the increase should be added to salaries as has been the case in other parts of the UK.
It said nurses in Northern Ireland are worse off than their counterparts in England and Scotland.
However, the health minister has said it is a fair deal.
Following Monday's meeting, Janice Smyth, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland, said: "Board members considered the imposed pay award, the manner in which the Minister made this announcement and the tone of the announcement.
"They have considered the views and opinions expressed by members who contacted the RCN over the weekend, and taken account of the detail of the Minister's announcement."
She added: "Today, members of the RCN Northern Ireland board voted unanimously to consult RCN council seeking authorisation to ballot RCN members in Northern Ireland in relation to the imposed pay award announced by the minister and taking industrial action short of strike action."
For the health minister this is about the best allocation of scarce resources, for nursing unions it's about fairness and recognition of hard working health care staff.
The pay settlement announced by the minister last Friday afternoon falls far short of what the unions wanted.
It sets out a 1% rise for the 60% of health care staff who are at the top of their pay band.
That rise is non-consolidated, which means it is effectively a one-off bonus which won't necessarily be added into next year's pay.
The 1% payment will equate to around £300 for most, with a maximum of £985.
The other 40% of staff who aren't at the top of their pay band, will get their normal annual incremental rise.
This will on average be 3.7% rise which will equate to a minimum of £1,588.
The unions want the 1% rise to be consolidated, meaning it...

Summary: The Royal College of Nursing has held an emergency board meeting later in response to a pay award which unions have described as an insult.
###
Article: Emily Gardner, 14, from Gloucester, drowned when an ill-fitting buoyancy aid snagged on a speedboat which capsized in Brixham, Devon in May 2015.
Parents Clive and Debbie Gardner set up Emily's Code to highlight safety issues for small boat owners and users.
They said something as simple as checking a buoyancy aid or lifejacket fits properly could save a life.
Emily was with two friends and her best friend's father, Paul Pritchard, on a 16ft (4.8m) speedboat when a wave hit the vessel, causing it to overturn.
An inquest into Emily's death heard all four were thrown into the water. Emily was trapped underneath the boat after one of the straps on her buoyancy aid caught on a cleat.
Mr and Mrs Gardner said: "Many parents like us have no awareness of recreational boating safety guidelines and have never used a boat before.
"When Emily went on a day trip with her friends we were reassured that safety was paramount and that the equipment was top notch.
"If just one family sees this and takes action to protect their children on the water, then Emily's Code will have succeeded and Emily's name will live on."
The code has the backing of the Royal Yachting Association, HM Coastguard, British Water Ski and Wakeboard, and the RNLI.
Emily's Code:

Summary:


A man has been charged with a number of offences after a woman was found dead in a car in Derbyshire.
The body of a woman was found in a car in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Police said the death is not being treated as suspicious.
The body of a woman was found in

Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has accused MPs of being "deliberately antagonistic" after he was threatened with being in contempt of Parliament.

Article: James Don took covert photographs and video recordings of two women at various locations in Dundee.
The 60-year-old recorded footage in one of his victim's homes, including her bedroom, and repeatedly followed her.
A sheriff told Don his actions were "particularly horrifying".
Don was found guilty of three charges by a jury at Dundee Sheriff Court.
One of the women told the trial that she felt "terrified, violated and in shock" following the incident.
She said: "I can't believe somebody had been in my house.
"I don't feel safe, even now.
"The thought that he was in there, in my living room, in my bedroom, I just don't know how he got in."
Defence solicitor Ian Houston said: "He is hoping that the period of imprisonment won't be so long to end his marriage."
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC imposed a four-year extended sentence on Don, with three years to be served in jail and a year on licence.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Sheriff Drummond said: "You went to the lengths of entering the privacy of one woman's home uninvited and videoed her bedroom and took photos of her underwear.
"That is particularly horrifying, that you invaded the sanctity of her home.
"It is clear to me that your behaviour has had a devastating impact on these women."

Summary: A serial stalker who left one of his victims "terrified and violated" after entering her home and taking pictures of her underwear has been jailed for three years.
###
Article: The rate as measured by the Consumer Prices Index rose to 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Transport costs, alcohol and tobacco prices were the main contributors to the rise in the rate, the ONS said.
However, this was partially offset by a drop in clothing prices, which for the first time fell between October and November.
This is usually the time prices rise as shoppers buy Christmas gifts. The ONS said that it logged prices before Black Friday sales discounts took effect.
Monthly inflation has been between -0.1% and 0.1% for the past 10 months, with low oil prices and a fiercely competitive environment for supermarkets keeping prices down for consumers.
November's inflation rate compares with a rate of -0.1% a month earlier. Analysts had expected a figure of about zero.
Last week, UK interest rates were left unchanged again at 0.5% by the Bank of England's rate-setters.
The nine policymakers on the Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 for no change, with the Bank predicting that inflation will stay below 1% until the second half of next year.
Inflation remains well below the Bank's 2% target, and the absence of inflationary pressures has led analysts to push back their estimates of when UK interest rates might rise.
"UK inflation remained largely absent in November, and looks set to remain weaker for longer than forecasters have recently been expecting," said Chris Williamson. chief economist at data firm Markit.
"Falling prices for oil and other commodities are helping drive down companies' costs.
"Weak wage pressures and fierce competition in the retail sector are also helping keep a lid on prices. Hence clothing prices showing a record fall between October and November."
Ben Brettell, senior economist at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said that while core inflation - which strips out volatile components such as food and energy - had risen slightly, it "remained weak at 1.2%".
"This offers little suggestion that underlying inflationary pressures are building in the UK economy. Furthermore...

Summary: The UK's inflation rate turned positive in November for the first time in four months, official figures show.
###
Article: The New Zealand Flatworm eats native earthworms - which are a vital part of healthy soil - but also has a slime that can cause skin rashes.
Accidentally introduced in the 1960s, it was first spotted in Scotland but has been moving south.
Now a University of Nottingham team has asked gardeners in the Midlands to report sightings.
The flatworms attack by wrapping themselves around the earthworm and secreting digestive mucus to dissolve them.
Dr Sarah Pierce, from the University's School of Life Sciences, said: "The flatworms are a problem but we don't know how big a problem as we don't know how far they have spread.
"It is very important that we build up as accurate a picture as possible in the Midlands region as our earthworms may be under attack.
"Every record we receive will help us to understand the distribution and impact of these flatworms, so we can develop the best response."
While a two year survey began in 2015, experts said they now needed more information to gauge the level of threat.
Walkers and gardeners are encouraged to look in sheltered spots and report all sightings to them.
The flatworm is ribbon-flat, slimy, and pointed at both ends, growing up to 15cm long and 1cm wide, with purplish-brown on top with buff-coloured edge and a pale buff underside.

Summary: An invasive species that could put UK gardens under threat has prompted an appeal by scientists.
###
Article: Mr Ashley failed to appear before a business select committee regarding working terms and conditions at the company's warehouse in Derbyshire.
In a letter, he accuses MPs of "abusing parliamentary procedures" in order to "create a media circus at Westminster".
Chris Bryant MP said the House could "force" Mr Ashley to attend a meeting.
The row follows a BBC investigation into the work practises at the company's warehouse in Shirebrook.
Updates on this story and more from Derbyshire
The Newcastle United FC owner was given a deadline of 21 March to respond to a letter from MP Iain Wright - who chairs the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee - following his no-show.
The letter said the committee reserved the right to "take the matter further" should he not attend future dates.
In response, Mr Ashley said: "I was disgusted to learn that you have adopted a stance that is deliberately antagonistic.
"By refusing to visit Sports Direct to see things with your own eyes, you are missing out on a genuine opportunity to gain a detailed and balanced understanding of the matters you wish to discuss.
"I believe you are abusing parliamentary procedure in an attempt to create a media circus in Westminster, which is not in the best interests of any of the people who work at Sports Direct."
It is thought that no one has been charged with contempt of Parliament since the 1950s.
Mr Bryant said in the Commons on Thursday: "[Mr Ashley] may be the 22nd richest man in Britain, but he is running a modern day sweatshop and this House will get to the truth."
The committee is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the next steps following Mr Ashley's correspondence.

Summary:


The police have been accused of "failing to protect" the public from the threat of terrorism.
The force has been criticised for not doing enough to protect the public from the threat of terrorism.
The force has been criticised for not doing enough to protect the public from the threat of terrorism.
The force has

A blogger who launched a "campaign of harassment" against a council chief executive has had the criminal case against her dropped.

Article: Andrus Nomm was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty on Friday to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement while working for the now defunct file-sharing site.
The US is currently trying to extradite Mr Dotcom, who founded Megaupload, from New Zealand to stand trial.
Mr Dotcom denies wrongdoing.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has alleged that Megaupload's staff had "operated websites that wilfully reproduced and distributed infringing copies of copyrighted works" over a period of five years, causing more than $400m (Â£260m) of harm to copyright owners.
Nomm - a 36-year-old Estonian citizen - agreed to this damages estimate as part of his plea, according to a press release from the DoJ. He had been living in the Netherlands before he travelled to Virginia to make the deal with the US authorities.
The DoJ added that Nomm had acknowledged that through his work as a computer programmer for Megaupload, he had become aware of copyright-infringing material being stored on its sites, including films and TV shows that had contained FBI anti-piracy warnings.
It said he had also admitted to having downloaded copyright-infringing files himself.
"This conviction is a significant step forward in the largest criminal copyright case in US history," said assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell.
Hong Kong-based Megaupload was one of the world's most visited "cyber locker" sites when its domain names and assets were seized in January 2012, at the request of the US authorities.
Mr Dotcom has long maintained that he had not encouraged users to upload pirated material, and has said he cannot be held responsible for what others had stored on his service.
At the end of last week Friday he tweeted: "I have nothing but compassion and understanding for Andrus Nomm and I hope he will soon be reunited with his son."
In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Mr Dotcom's lawyer attempted to play down the significance of the latest development.
"Mr Nomm [was] interested in just getting one year and being done with this,...

Summary: Kim Dotcom's US lawyer has denied that a guilty plea by one of the Megaupload's former employees has major implications for his client's case.
###
Article: That military aide will be carrying a satchel over his or her shoulder containing a briefcase known as "the nuclear football". Inside will be a piece of digital hardware measuring 3in (7.3cm) by 5in, known as "the biscuit".
This contains the launch codes for a strategic nuclear strike. The briefing for the incoming president on how to activate them will have already taken place out of public sight, but the moment President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office that aide, and the satchel, will move quietly over to his side.
Donald Trump will then have sole authority to order an action that could result in the deaths of millions of people in under an hour. The question on a lot of people's minds right now is, given his thin skin and impulsive temperament, what are the safeguards, if any, to prevent an impetuous decision by one man with catastrophic consequences?
First off, it should be said that Donald Trump has rowed back on some of his earlier, provocative comments on the use of nuclear weapons. He has recently stated he would be "the last person to use them", although he has not ruled it out.
Other senior figures are also involved in the chain of command, such as the incoming US Secretary of Defence, retired US Marine Gen James Mattis, But Mark Fitzpatrick, a nuclear non-proliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington, says that ultimately, the sole authority to launch a strike rests with the president.
"There are no checks and balances on the president's authority to launch a nuclear strike," he says. "But between the time he authorises one and the time it's carried out there are other people involved."
The idea of a rogue president taking such a monumental decision on his own is unrealistic. He gives the order and the secretary of defence is constitutionally obliged to carry it out.
The secretary of defence could, in theory, refuse to obey the order if he had reason to doubt the president's sanity, but this would constitute mutiny and the president can then...

Summary: On 20 January, inauguration day in the United States, a nameless, unknown military aide will be seen accompanying President Barack Obama to the handover ceremony at the US Capitol in Washington.
###
Article: The force said mental health issues resulted in 141,230 lost days among front-line officers.
The Liberal Democrats said the figures showed evidence of a force "being stretched to breaking point".
The Scottish government said the welfare of officers and support staff was taken "very seriously".
Police Scotland released the figures to the Lib Dems under Freedom of Information laws.
The party's justice spokesman Liam McArthur said police officers and civilian staff were not getting the support they needed from the Scottish government.
He said: "The savings that were promised by the SNP before the creation of Police Scotland have not materialised.
"As a result, officers and civilian staff are being asked to do more and more with less. With the chief constable warning that further cuts are coming, the pressure on staff is only likely to get worse."
He added: "We have already seen staff surveys which show morale is at rock bottom. The shortages are affecting the health of officers and civilian staff and these new figures are a huge concern.
"Policing is a high-stress profession at the best of times. The changes that the SNP forced through are stretching the mental health of officers and civilian staff to breaking point.
"This means giving police management the freedom to put resources where they are needed.
"Extra money is also required to plug the hole in the national force's budget and avert the loss of staff which would only put those remaining further under the cosh."
A Scottish government spokesman said Police Scotland would be expected to have "robust policies" in place to support staff and manage their health at work.
The spokesman added: "They have a number of targeted activities to support wellbeing and occupational health across the organisation.
"We have committed to protecting the police revenue budget in real terms, safeguarding policing from Westminster budget cuts and delivering an additional Â£100m of investment by the end of this parliament, in addition to Â£55m of reform funding in 2016-17."
A...

Summary: Police Scotland officers and staff suffering psychological problems took nearly 200,000 sick days over the last three years, new figures show.
###
Article: Jacqui Thompson was arrested in 2011 for filming a Carmarthenshire council meeting and sued Mark James for libel.
He counter-sued for posts made on her blog and received £25,000 in damages.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Mrs Thompson had been charged with an harassment offence but a decision was taken to discontinue her case.
Mrs Thompson, of Llanwrda, said she was "relieved" at the news and had been worried about her impending court case, which was due to take place on Thursday.
A CPS spokesman said: "Following a review, prosecutors were no longer satisfied there was a realistic prospect of conviction due to insufficient evidence and therefore made the decision to discontinue the case."
Mrs Thompson became embroiled in the legal row after she was arrested in June 2011 for refusing to stop filming a council meeting for her blog, in which she was critical of the authority.
She sued Mr James the following November and he successfully counter-sued in a private lawsuit.
In 2016, the High Court found Mrs Thompson had run a campaign of "harassment, defamation and intimidation" against Mr James.
She was told to pay back £250 a month to him over the next 10 years to cover the damages.
Carmarthenshire council covered Mr James' legal costs, a decision the Wales Audit Office later found to be unlawful.
But the authority is pursuing Mrs Thompson for £190,393 in legal costs.
The council would not comment on the latest development in the case, which it said was a private matter for Mr James.
Mr James has been asked to comment.

Summary:


The body of a man has been recovered from the River Soar.
Police were called to the river at about 14:00 GMT on Sunday.
A spokesman for Humberside Police said: "We were called at 14:00 to the River Soar in Spalding.
"A man has been

The death of a man found in a Lincolnshire waterway is not being treated as suspicious, police have said.

Article: Demos found that 63% had been born or educated within 20km (13 miles) of their seat, or had worked within this distance from it in the five years before seeking election.
It suggested the Lib Dems had the most "local" MPs of the main parties.
Labour came second and the Conservatives third, Demos said.
It was once common for MPs, particularly those who represented seats furthest from London, to return very rarely to meet their constituents.
But in recent years the nature of the job has changed so that weekly "surgeries" are normal and much political campaigning stresses candidates' links to the area.
Demos, seen as a centre-left think tank, has attempted to quantify the level of localness of the 650 current MPs.
Spokesman Ralph Scott described the 63% figure, based on the criteria of birth, education and work, as "pretty strong" but added that "perhaps not as many" MPs had long-lasting links "as the public would like".
The think tank said it had "trawled through" all the publicly available data, including Wikipedia and MPs' own websites, and found that 82% of Lib Dems were local, compared with 73% on the Labour benches and 51% of Conservatives.
Some MPs had been given "the benefit of the doubt" over their claims to localness, meaning that "if anything we have overestimated the number of local MPs".
Demos found that among all parties MPs were becoming more local, by comparing the figures available for the intake years of the current Parliament. This is not a direct comparison, as no such research exists for previous Parliaments.
The Conservatives were getting "rapidly more local", with 65% of the 2010 intake described as such, and just 30% of the remaining 1997 intake.
Mr Scott said that "these preliminary results show that, by our definition, the political class is perhaps more local than most people think".
He added: "However, unlike some other identities, 'localness' is more porous and more easily acquired - and therefore equally liable to being questioned and revoked.
"Most importantly, it is not identified...

Summary: Almost two-thirds of the UK's members of Parliament are "local" to the area they represent, research by a political think tank suggests.
###
Article: Leatherdale, 48, will leave New Road in March to end a 30-year association with the club as a player and administrator.
"It is a sad day for Worcestershire and a massive loss to the club," said chairman Stephen Taylor.
"It's one of those prestigious roles and I can fully understand David taking it."
An all-rounder, Leatherdale spent his entire playing career at New Road, making his debut in 1988 and helping the club win and retain the Championship title in his first two seasons.
In all, he won six major trophies, scored more than 15,000 runs and took more than 300 wickets in all forms of the game.
Leatherdale became commercial director after retiring in 2005 and replaced Mark Newton as CEO five years later.
With Leatherdale staying at New Road until mid-March, Taylor said there was no rush to find a successor - especially as the role may change.
"There are not many chief executives out there now who are past professional cricketers and, as a club, we will start the process of looking at finding the right person for the right role," Taylor added.
"The role may look slightly different to the current role is as these will be big shoes to fill."

Summary: David Leatherdale is to leave his post as chief executive of Worcestershire to take up a similar position with the Professional Cricketers' Association.
###
Article: Lord Wallace advised the UK government on Scots law during the Conservative-LibDem coalition.
He argues there is a "clear role" for the Scottish Parliament in plans to repatriate laws from Brussels in a Great Repeal Bill.
The UK government said the implications for devolved areas would be discussed.
The Supreme Court will consider next week whether the UK Parliament must vote to trigger Article 50 - starting the formal process of leaving the EU.
The Scottish government's top law officer, Lord Advocate James Wolffe,   will argue in that case that Holyrood should have a say too.
Lord Wallace believes it is unlikely the court will give Holyrood a formal role in triggering Article 50.
But he argues incorporation of European law into UK statute raises the question of the Sewel Convention, whereby the UK parliament does not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.
The Liberal Democrat peer is one of a few politicians to have served in both the Scottish and UK governments.
At Westminster, he was Advocate General between 2010 and 2015.
He was deputy first minister of Scotland between 1999 and 2005 and served as acting first minister on two occasions.
Prime Minister Theresa May promised a Great Repeal Bill in the next Queen's Speech, to remove the European Communities Act 1972 from the statute book and enshrine all existing EU law into British law.
The repeal bill will enable the UK Parliament to amend and cancel any unwanted legislation and also end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK.
Lord Wallace's argument focuses on the need for legislative consent for laws which cover matters devolved to Scotland.
He says: "My view is it will repeal the European communities act of 1972, as there's so much legislation affecting vast areas of our lives, which have been made under that act, it's more likely to be a great re-enactment act.
"I think at that point there is clearly a role - for the potential of a legislative consent motion,...

Summary: Holyrood may have to be given a legal role in the Brexit process, according to a former Advocate General for Scotland.
###
Article: A dog walker spotted the body in Vernatt's Drain, near the Pinchbeck Road bridge in Spalding, on Sunday.
Police recovered the body from the water after being alerted shortly after 14:00 GMT.
Officers had been initially treating the death as unexplained, but said they were now classing it as not suspicious.
The man's details are yet to be released.

Summary:


The Scottish Government has launched a new online tool to help schools and colleges improve the attainment of their most disadvantaged pupils.
The Scottish Attainment Challenge is a new national strategy to raise attainment for all pupils.
The Scottish Attainment Challenge is a new national strategy to raise attainment for all pupils.
The Scottish Attainment

An online education resource showcasing the best way to increase attainment in Scotland's schools has been launched by the country's education secretary.

Article: Plans for a "power of recall" for MPs who have committed "serious wrongdoing" have been abandoned following a dispute between the Tories and Lib Dems.
Lib Dem Party President Tim Farron said the "modest" plan was blocked by the prime minister David Cameron.
But Tory MP Zac Goldsmith said he was "disgusted" by the Lib Dems' actions.
The Independent reported that the plans would not be included in May's Queen's Speech, the last chance for them to become law before the 2015 election.
The idea, which was proposed in response to the public anger about the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, was included in both the Conservatives' and Lib Dems' last general election manifestos.
In their 2010 Coalition Agreement, both parties promised "early legislation" to allow voters to force a by-election "where an MP is found to have engaged in serious wrongdoing".
When a draft bill setting out plans was published in 2011, there was some criticism that the threshold for triggering the recall of an MP had been set too high.
As well as 10% of constituents having to sign a petition demanding it, a committee of MPs would first have to decide if serious wrongdoing had taken place.
But there were also concerns that a system of recall - which is in place in many US states - could lead to vexatious and politically-motivated campaigns against MPs.
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said it is understood the decision to drop the plan was taken following a meeting of the "quad" group of senior Lib Dem and Tory ministers, Prime Minister David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Chief Secretary Danny Alexander.
Mr Farron told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was "no obvious excuse" for ditching the idea.
"We understand the prime minister has blocked it," he said.
He added: "It seems to me very wrong that an MP can get up to things that all of us would agree are inappropriate and be in a position where they would not be able to be held to account.
"It looks like certain MPs are running scared of...

Summary: Politicians look like they are "running scared", a senior Lib Dem has said, after plans to allow voters to remove MPs between elections were dropped.
###
Article: In a long-awaited report, the so-called Quartet said ongoing violence, Israeli settlement-building and Palestinian splits were undermining peace hopes.
Israel insisted it was a "myth" that settlements were an obstacle.
The Palestinians said responsibility should not be "equalised" between "people under occupation" and a "foreign military occupier".
The Quartet - made up of the US, UN, EU and Russia and formed in 2002 - called on both sides to take positive action and said only direct bilateral negotiations could end the conflict.
The last round of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians came to an end amid acrimony in April 2014.
Friday's report identifies three main areas driving the conflict:
The report comes at a time of heightened tension between Israel and the Palestinians, with a wave of deadly attacks by Palestinians on Israelis and a tightening by Israel of security measures against Palestinians.
Thirty-five Israelis have been killed in knife, gun and car-ramming attacks since October. More than 200 Palestinians - mostly attackers, Israel says - have also been killed in that period.
Israel says Palestinian incitement has fuelled the attacks. The Palestinian leadership has blamed frustration rooted in decades of Israeli occupation.
"Palestinian leaders have not consistently and clearly condemned specific terrorist attacks. And streets, squares and schools have been named after Palestinians who have committed acts of terrorism," the report says.
It called on the Palestinian Authority to "act decisively" against incitement "including by clearly condemning all acts of terrorism".
Israel's Prime Minister's Office welcomed "the Quartet's recognition of the centrality of Palestinian incitement and violence to the perpetuation of the conflict".
However, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was critical.
"It does not meet our expectations as a nation living under a foreign colonial military occupation; wherein it attempts to equalise the responsibilities between a people under occupation and a...

Summary: A group of key world powers has warned of "perpetual occupation and conflict" between Israelis and Palestinians.
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Article: There are also dozens of other-worldly 3D-printed structures, some of which seem to resemble buildings.
This much you might expect at the annual Bartlett School of Architecture degree show.
But held aloft above them in a corner, is a monitor playing a haunting film - an animated  journey through a labyrinth - with a dramatic voiceover.
Why is an architect making a film like this?
It turns out that architecture students, who can spend five-figure sums on their seven-year training courses, are using their newly-learned digital animation and design skills to break into the world of film.
The film's creator, Angelika Vasileiou, explains the appeal of animation.
"I've never been so close to designing a space, realising how it feels, before I started making films," she says.
She looks exhausted as the show comes to a close. Her mind is on what to do after graduation.
"There are many possibilities for architects to work in film," she says. "It's exciting, we have the skills. A lot of students are considering film."
Ms Vasileiou is a product of Unit 24 at The Bartlett.
The unit, explains tutor Penelope Haralambidou, explores the relationship between architecture and film.
"Ever since architects began to draw digitally, a crossover with film has been a natural progression," she says.
On the one hand, this is practical. Architecture firms need to make animation films to dazzle prospective clients. And of course they use 3D software to originate designs and make plans for engineers and builders to follow for construction.
But Unit 24 encourages students to go beyond this.
In many ways the unit's output resembles that of a film school, at times more David Lynch than Sir Norman Foster.
The films encourage imaginative thinking and project management skills, says Bartlett tutor Simon Kennedy. And they also teach students the fundamental principles of design, he emphasises.
Most students arrive with no animation skills, but within two years are up to speed. They use animation modelling software like 3ds Max, Maya and After...

Summary: In a warehouse in north London, I'm surrounded by hundreds of painstakingly made card models and framed architectural plans, all meticulously presented.
###
Article: John Swinney said the tool would help "all of our children to succeed".
The resource details examples from around Scotland which have improved the wellbeing and learning of children in the classroom.
Approaches include parent questionnaires, a family breakfast club and a walk-to-school programme.
Mr Swinney said: The information now available gives teachers and school leaders access to effective interventions based on practice examples from around Scotland.
"This suite of materials will be developed further in the coming weeks and months to include successful approaches based on the best available international evidence as we work with the Education Endowment Foundation to develop a Scottish specific version of their highly-regarded Teaching and Learning toolkit."
The online resource will be added to in the coming weeks.
Bill Maxwell, chief executive of Education Scotland, hoped the tool would help schools make decisions about closing the attainment gap between their "most and least disadvantaged children".
He added: "The interventions highlighted in this resource represent the wide range of different approaches which have been developed in Scotland, and which have proved to be effective.
"Education Scotland has a key role in ensuring that schools have easy access to evidence about 'what works' as they plan to address the priorities of the Scottish Attainment Challenge and the National Improvement Framework."

Summary:


The man arrested in connection with the death of a man in Rochdale has been released on police bail.
The man, who is in his 20s, was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The man was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The man was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The man was

A man thought to have been killed by the drug MDMA had taken a "much more potent version" of Spice, Greater Manchester Police has said.

Article: Special Report: The Technology of Business
Taj Mahal comes to your living room
Sochi 2014: Hi-tech Winter Games
DIY apps and the rise of 'citizen developers'
Virtual games bring pinball to new audiences
China hopes to dispel 'copy others' reputation
It shows that there's still a place in the Â£40bn video games industry for independent makers, or indies, working alone.
And it's easier than you may think to build your own game that could potentially become a global hit, thanks to a growing number of marketplaces for off-the-peg games templates.
It turns out you don't even have to know how to write a single line of code to make a living selling mobile games on sites like Apple's App Store or Google's Play Android store.
Code marketplaces, like Binpress, Apptopia, Chupamobile and CodeCanyon, are offering game templates for a few hundred pounds.
These templates provide the program code required for a basic game, which buyers then flesh out by adding their own graphics, music and overall theme to make an app which is ready to be sold.
These types of games are usually offered as free apps, generating money through advertising included in the game. Even the code to display the ads, which are provided by online advertising networks, is included in the game template, so the buyer needs only add an account number with each network to start earning money.
"What you are buying with a template is a simple game mechanic - something like pressing on the screen to shoot something, or swiping the screen to slice," says Jonathan Kay, one of the founders of US-based code marketplace Apptopia. "That forms the basis of your app."
Buyers of a "swipe to slice" template could then create a fruit-slicing game similar to the popular Fruit Ninja app, or something with a different theme, like slicing the heads off leaping zombies, he says.
"If you have some design skills, then the only programming experience you need is knowing how to drop the graphics you create into the code."
"There are definitely still opportunities for independent...

Summary: Flappy Bird, the mobile-phone game that was making as much as $50,000 (Â£30,000) a day for its developer before he pulled it from online stores, took one man just two or three days to write.
###
Article: Bus operator Lothian Buses is to use a fleet of 30 new vehicles on the route through St John's Road in Edinburgh, an air quality management zone.
The Euro 6 Volvo double-deckers will operate on Service 26, which runs between the west of the capital and East Lothian.
All buses on the route will be low emission by the end of 2018.
A report published last year showed that 65 microgrammes of nitrogen dioxide per cubic metre were detected in St John's Road in 2015, making it the most polluted in Edinburgh.
The new vehicles are part of a Â£7m investment.
Lothian Buses said the fleet would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25%, nitrous oxides by up to 98% and particulates by about 75% compared with the existing fleet.
The buses will also have USB charging points on board.
Richard Hall, managing director of Lothian Buses, said: "St John's Road has always been a main artery within the city that we had earmarked for improvement and investment.
"The introduction of 30 new low-emission buses to this route, combined with our ongoing fleet replacement strategy BUS2020, ensures that we as a business are doing our part to improve air quality across the city.
"Buses are the lifeblood of the city and economy, transporting thousands of customers every day."
The announcement was welcomed by City of Edinburgh Council and Friends of the Earth.
Charity campaigner Emilia Hanna said: "We welcome Lothian's launch of a cleaner 26 route along the St John's Road corridor, which is Edinburgh's most polluted street.
"Air pollution is still a public health crisis in Scotland, responsible for over 2,500 early deaths each year. Buses are a key part of the solution to air pollution and are essential for the majority of Edinburgh residents who do not travel by car.
"One full double-decker bus can hold the equivalent number of passengers as 75 cars can, so buses are a clear winner when it comes to tackling congestion and toxic air pollution, especially when they offer a clean and comfortable experience."

Summary: Low-emission buses are being introduced for journeys along one of Scotland's most polluted streets.
###
Article: South Korea is top, with three other Asian countries and Finland making up the top five, in rankings from education and publishing firm, Pearson.
The rankings include higher education as well as international school tests - which boosted the UK's position.
Pearson chief executive John Fallon highlighted the economic importance of improving education and skills.
These latest international comparisons, compiled for Pearson by the Economist Intelligence Unit, emphasise the success of Asian education systems, with South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong in China rated as the highest performing.
But it shows a strong performance from the UK, which is ranked sixth, behind only Finland in Europe and ahead of countries such as Germany, France and the United States.
Finland, which was previously in first place, has slumped to fifth, and there has been a wider downward trend for a number of Scandinavian countries.
It also records the rise of Poland, which has been hailed for reforming its post-Communist education system and sits in the top 10.
Source: Pearson/ Economist Intelligence Unit
These rankings are based upon an amalgamation of international tests and education data - including the OECD's Pisa tests, and two major US-based studies, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls).
They also include higher-education graduation rates, which helped the UK to a much higher position than in Pisa tests, which saw the UK failing to make the top 20.
The UK's Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "The UK has a global reputation for excellence in higher education, attracting overseas students who make huge economic and cultural contribution to Britain.
"To maintain our position, we must continue to attract international students and promote the UK as a knowledge economy."
A Learning Curve report accompanying the ranking says that the success of top-performing Asian countries reflects a culture in which teachers and schools are highly respected...

Summary: The UK is in second place among European countries and sixth overall in a global education league table.
###
Article: Police now believe that the 26-year-old man from Rochdale took a crystallised and unrefined version of the drug Spice.
Ch Supt Neil Evans, described the development as "extremely worrying".
Ten people were admitted to hospital after taking the drug over the weekend, with four kept in intensive care.
A police spokesman said they were hospitalised after taking what was thought to be a new form of MDMA, known as "pink champagne".
But he added: "It is now believed that this substance was in fact a synthetic cannabinoid, like 'Spice', however it was sold as MDMA."
Ch Supt Neil Evans said: "This is the first time we have seen 'Spice' in crystallised, and much more potent and unrefined form and it's now being mistakenly taken as MDMA."
He added: "Anyone thinking of taking MDMA must seriously consider what they are doing.
"You may feel that you know and accept the risks of taking MDMA, but you never know what you are actually taking and the reaction your body could have to it."
A 26-year-old man, held on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs, was released while inquiries continue.

Summary:


The Conservatives have won the county council by a comfortable majority.
The Conservatives have won the county council by a comfortable majority.
The Conservatives have won the county council by a comfortable majority.
The Lib Dems have won the county council by a comfortable majority.
The Lib Dems have won the county council by a comfortable

The Conservatives have taken control of Derbyshire County Council with a massive swing from Labour.

Article: Although less than originally suggested by regulator Ofcom, the price hike is likely to infuriate operators who have previously warned higher spectrum fees could put up consumer prices.
Ofcom defended the rise, saying it reflected the value of the spectrum.
Mobile companies said they were considering their response.
Fees are paid annually by mobile network operators for the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum bands, used to provide voice and data services using a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies.
Operators will now pay a combined annual total of £80.3m for the 900MHz and £119.3m for the 1800MHz band.
For Vodafone and O2, this will mean a tripling of spectrum costs - up from £15.6m a year to £49.8m. EE's charges will rise from £24.9m to £75m. Three will pay £25m, up from £8.3m.
In a statement Vodafone said: "We will be reviewing Ofcom's proposed spectrum fees over the coming days as they represent a significant increase when we are already investing around £1 billion on our network and services this year."
The new fees come into effect in two phases - one half of the increase will come into effect at the end of October this year, with the second half kicking in from October 2016.
Ofcom was asked by the government to revise licence fees back in 2010, but it did not begin a full consultation until after the 4G auction in 2013.
That auction provided £2.4bn for government coffers, less than the £3.5bn that it had hoped to raise.
Philip Marnick, Ofcom's director of spectrum, said: "We have listened carefully to the arguments and evidence put forward by industry, and conducted a complex and comprehensive analysis to determine the new fees.
"The mobile industry has not previously had to pay market value for access to this spectrum, which is a valuable and finite resource, and the new fees reflect that value."
Kester Mann, an analyst at mobile research firm CCS Insight, said that it was a pill "the providers are going to have to swallow".
"In one of Europe's most competitive markets, they have no choice but to continue to...

Summary: The amount the government charges mobile operators to use airwaves space - known as spectrum - has risen from £64.4m to £199.6m per year.
###
Article: PM Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc pushed it through the upper house early on Thursday, despite vocal opposition.
The government argues the law is needed to improve security ahead of the 2020 Olympics, and to comply with a UN agreement Japan has signed.
But critics say it weakens civil liberties and could be abused to monitor and target innocent citizens.
The law has sparked protests, including one on Wednesday night outside the parliament building which was attended by thousands of demonstrators.
The law, which criminalises the plotting and committing of 277 acts, amends an existing law against organised crime syndicates.
It bans the procurement of funds or supplies and the surveying of a location in preparation of any of these offences.
An entire group - defined as two or more people - can be charged if at least one member is found to have been plotting the crime.
It also bans the expansion or maintenance of illicit interests of organised crime groups.
Japan has signed a UN convention against transnational organised crime, but not yet ratified it. The government said the news law was needed for ratification to go ahead.
Mr Abe told reporters the law would allow Japan to "firmly cooperate with international society to prevent terrorism".
The ruling bloc has been attempting to push through the legislation for months. An earlier draft had listed 676 crimes, but it was pared down to 277.
The law bans the plotting of serious crimes such as terrorism but also lesser offences such as;
Though the government has promised that the law will not be used unfairly, critics remain unconvinced.
They say the law is too broadly worded and gives the authorities sweeping powers.
They have also questioned the inclusion of certain acts and asked how they could be linked to terrorism and organised crime.
The government argues some could be used in association with criminal operations - for example, a gang or terror cell could fund its operations from the sale of illegally picked mushrooms.
But an editorial by newspaper The Mainichi said...

Summary: Japan's lawmakers have passed a controversial bill allowing authorities to target terror conspiracies.
###
Article: Those with higher levels of emotional investment in social media, and who use it at night, were more likely to feel depressed and anxious, they say.
Glasgow University researchers questioned 467 teenagers about their use of social media and state of mind.
They found many felt a pressure to respond immediately to texts or posts.
Lead researcher Dr Heather Cleland Woods and Holly Scott asked the teenagers about how and when they used social media.
Sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety, depression and the subjects' emotional investment in social media were also measured.
This related to the pressure to be available 24/7 and any anxiety around, for example, not responding immediately to texts or posts.
Dr Cleland Woods said: "Adolescence can be a period of increased vulnerability for the onset of depression and anxiety, and poor sleep quality may contribute to this.
"It is important that we understand how social media use relates to these. Evidence is increasingly supporting a link between social-media use and wellbeing, particularly during adolescence, but the causes of this are unclear."
General and night-time specific social-media use along with emotional investment in social media were related to poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem as well as higher anxiety and depression levels.
Dr Cleland Woods said: "While overall social-media use impacts on sleep quality, those who log on at night appear to be particularly affected.
"This may be mostly true of individuals who are highly emotionally invested. This means we have to think about how our kids use social media, in relation to time for switching off."
The study was presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference in Manchester.

Summary: Teenagers are getting more anxious and depressed because of the 24-hour demands of their social media accounts, researchers say.
###
Article: The Tories won 37 of 64 seats to claim a majority and wipe out Labour's 22-seat majority from 2013.
Labour picked up 24 seats this time around, the Liberal Democrats won three and UKIP finished with none.
Towns where seats turned from red to blue included Swadlincote, Matlock, Glossop, Buxton, Ripley, Belper and Ilkeston.
Turnout was 38%.
Election 2017: Full results from across England
Conservative leader Barry Lewis described the result as "brilliant".
"We didn't think at this point in the electoral cycle we'd be taking control of Derbyshire County Council," he said.
"We fought a really good campaign on local issues and I think that's really helped. We got our manifesto out early and really hit the doorsteps."
This was Labour's last stand - its last county council to be defended in England. And its defences have proven to be weak.
The Conservatives have won across the south and centre of the county - in places like Heanor, Ilkeston and Ripley.
They've also taken seats off the Lib Dems. And it was a bad night too for UKIP - their share of the vote in Derbyshire collapsed.

Summary: