The Egyptian government has announced a new law that will allow the military to arrest and detain people without charge for up to 30 days.
The new law, which was passed by the parliament on Wednesday, will allow the military to detain people for up to 30 days without charge.
The law will also allow the military to

"Go, go, Mubarak go" and "the people need to end this regime" shouted the angry crowds around al-Istiqamma mosque in Cairo's Giza Square, as they shook their fists at the lines of helmeted riot police after Friday prayers.

Article: Team Katusha's Eduard Vorganov tested positive for meldonium in an out-of-competition test last month.
Meldonium is used in Latvia and other eastern European countries to treat serious heart problems and aid the circulation of oxygen.
The 33-year-old joined the team in 2010 and was the Russian road race champion in 2012.
He finished 19th at the Tour de France in the same year.
Vorganov's Italian team-mate Luca Paolini failed a test for cocaine at last year's Tour and under UCI rules Katusha could now be banned from competition for 15-45 days.
Under the guidelines, if two riders and/or staff within a team commit a breach of the rules within a period of 12 months, the team shall be suspended from participation in any international event.
The team issued a statement regarding Vorganov in which it insisted: "This substance has never been used by the team in any form and was not provided to the rider by the team.
"Eduard Vorganov has been suspended from all team activities, effective immediately.
"In the event that Eduard Vorganov took this product on his own initiative we will conduct an investigation, as such conduct is in breach of the team's strict medical and anti-doping internal rules."

Summary: A leading cycling team could face a suspension after one of its riders failed a test for a banned substance.
###
Article: Within minutes, water cannon showered the demonstrators and there were loud thuds as tear gas canisters were fired.
People ran into the side streets of this poor neighbourhood, on the edge of the capital, with their eyes streaming.
"Let the world see what is happening in this country," yelled one elderly man. "We will never stop until this... government goes."
Ordinary Egyptians appear to be losing their fear of direct confrontation with the security forces. There have been bloody and drawn out clashes all over Cairo and in some of Egypt's main cities.
They have a long list of grievances and the demands are an explicit challenge to their rulers.
"We want a real democratic system. This regime of Hosni Mubarak has been in power for 30 years," declared Ahmed, a man in his 20s.
"I was unemployed for five years. I had to move to the United Arab Emirates. This is what I was dragged into. My son will not suffer what I have suffered. This ends here."
When you talk to people, they tell you economic reforms have not eased the poverty of Egypt's masses, education and social services are inadequate, and they complain of high levels of corruption and  political stagnation.
"We are so furious. We must have change, better chances to work, to buy a flat and have just the life's basics," said a bank clerk clutching an Egyptian flag.
"What happened in Tunisia has changed things a bit. It knocked some sense into people."
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei - who joined worshippers in Giza - was swiftly moved inside the gates of the mosque as clashes began.
"One, two, ElBaradei where are you?" was the cry that then went up outside.
Some expressed disappointment that the Nobel Laureate - who set up the National Association for Change opposition coalition when he returned home to Egypt a year ago - had not taken a more prominent role in protests.
He has put up supportive messages on his Twitter account but was absent, in Vienna, for the first "Day of Rage" on Tuesday. He returned to Cairo on Thursday night.
"I support ElBaradei,...

Summary:


The number of people who have been diagnosed with cancer in the UK has risen by more than a third in the last decade, according to new figures.
The number of people diagnosed with cancer in the UK has risen by more than a third in the last decade, according to new figures.
The number of people diagnosed

UK workers are three times more likely to go into work when ill than pull a sickie, a survey has suggested.

Article: The economy contracted by 1.9% in annual terms from July to September, well above a preliminary reading of 1.6%.
It also shrank 0.5% on a quarterly basis, compared with an initial estimate of 0.4%, data showed.
A big fall in business spending plunged the economy into a deeper recession.
The revised figures, which come just days before Japan's national elections, showed that business spending dipped by 0.4% from the previous quarter, instead of the 0.2% estimated in the preliminary reading.
The world's third largest economy unexpectedly fell into a technical recession after shrinking for the second consecutive quarter in July to September.
It had contracted 7.3% in the second quarter, which was the biggest fall since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
An increase in the country's sales tax, which was first raised in April from 5% to 8%, had hit growth in the second quarter and still appeared to be having an impact on the economy.
The dire data had led Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call a widely-anticipated snap election last month, to seek a mandate to delay an increase in the tax to 10%, scheduled for 2015.
The tax increase was legislated by the previous government in 2012 to curb Japan's huge public debt, which is the highest among developed nations.
Adding to the downbeat data, a Reuters poll on Monday showed that confidence among Japanese manufacturers fell in December and is expected to deteriorate further.
The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers fell to 10 in December from 13 in November, with automakers taking a hit.
Manufacturers expect a further decline to 7 in March.

Summary: Japan's economy shrank more than initially estimated in the third quarter of 2014, according to revised gross domestic product (GDP) figures.
###
Article: Some 69% of those asked said they had worked when unwell, the report by Aviva UK Health claimed, with many fearing a mountain of work when they returned.
This compared with 23% of those surveyed admitting to having been absent when perfectly healthy.
The survey comes after official figures showed fewer days were lost to sickness last year than any year on record.
The TUC described UK workers as "mucus troopers" after the Office for National Statistics said that sickness absence totalled 137 million working days last year, the equivalent of 4.3 days per worker.
When records began in 1993, the equivalent of 7.2 days were lost.
Aviva's Working Lives report backs up this view of staff attending work when ill. The insurer's survey suggested that two-fifths of private sector employees were worried that their workload would pile up if they were off sick.
It also claimed that having staff in the workplace when they were ill was a false economy for businesses.
"Businesses need to ensure they create a working culture whereby people do not feel pressurised into coming to work when they are unwell, safe in the knowledge their absence can be effectively managed," said Dr Doug Wright, medical director at Aviva UK Health.
"Presenteeism, driven in part by an increased 'always-on' culture, poses a genuine threat to overall business performance through the adverse impact on productivity and morale in the workplace."

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The government has announced that it will not be introducing a stamp duty surcharge on second homes.
The announcement comes after the government was forced to back down from plans to introduce a surcharge on second homes.
The surcharge was due to be introduced in April, but was delayed after the government was forced to back

Designs for a new development on the site of the old Cornwall Coliseum building at Carlyon Bay have been approved by Cornwall Council.

Article: Members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) who work in estate agents said London and East Anglia would be most affected.
Surveyors expecting prices to drop outnumbered those expecting prices to rise by a majority of 10%.
Average house prices last fell on an annual basis in the Autumn of 2009.
However Rics said the fall was likely to be short-lived.
It cited the EU referendum, and a cooling of the market following stamp duty changes in April.
"What we are looking at is a short term drop caused by the uncertainty resulting from the forthcoming EU referendum, coupled by a slow-down following the rush to get into the market ahead of the tax change on the purchase of investment properties," said Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist.
"Sadly, for the many young people looking to enter the property market, it is unlikely that we are seeing the emergence of a more affordable market."
The survey of 326 surveyors, representing 600 offices across the country, reported that prices are already falling in London.
A majority expected forthcoming price reductions in a further four areas:
However prices in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Midlands and the North are expected to rise.
The survey also suggests that the number of properties coming on to the market is at a record low.
Surveyors who saw fewer new instructions last month outnumbered those who saw more instructions by 30%.
That is the largest figure since the current survey began in 1999.
Find out where you can afford to live in the UK
Read more about the history of house prices in the UK, and advice on renting v. buying in this BBC guide

Summary: Chartered surveyors are predicting a short-term drop in UK house prices over the next three months - the first fall in more than six years.
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Article: Demolition of the existing buildings is still subject to a bat mitigation licence being granted by Natural England.
Commercial Estates Group (CEG) was granted permission in 2011 to redevelop in Carlyon Bay.
The Â£250m redevelopment project would include housing and leisure facilities.
The site, near St Austell, was previously home to the Cornwall Coliseum complex, which hosted acts such as Cliff Richard, Status Quo and The Who.
CEG development director John Kenny said the company was planning a "major development which will have major benefits", including providing more than 400 construction jobs and 500 jobs after completion.

Summary:


The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help councils and housing associations to tackle the growing problem of rough sleeping.
The Scottish Government has announced a new £1.5m fund to help councils and housing associations to tackle the growing problem of rough sleeping.
The Scottish Government has announced a

Councils should consider selling off their most expensive houses to build more cheap homes, the government says.

Article: The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) said the gender pay gap stood at 29.2% and was the worst gap in the UK.
It follows conclusions by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, which found the wage gap in the UK became even wider when new mothers returned to work.
From April 2017 companies with more than 250 staff will be required to publish any gender pay gap data.
The CMI study also showed that male managers were 40% more likely than female managers to be promoted into higher roles.
Analysis of salary data of more than 60,000 UK employees found that in the past year, 14% of men in management roles were promoted into higher positions compared to 10% of women.
In Scotland, the gender pay gap was 29.2%, representing a £10,862 difference between genders and was the worst regional gap in the UK.
Petra Wilton, director of strategy at the organisation, said progress to address the gender pay gap had stalled.
She told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that Scotland's strong manufacturing tradition combined with a "motherhood penalty" for women had resulted in less opportunity for promotion for female staff.
"That probably accounts for, in part, why Scotland is particularly suffering that 29% pay gap, compared with 23% nationally", she said.
"In Scotland there's much bigger industries in construction, financial services and some of those professional services where we do see those pay gaps bigger and also less women represented at the senior levels."
She said transparency would help highlight pay gaps at individual firms.
She added: "We're very much welcoming gender pay guidelines in reporting requirements from April next year because that will help shine a spotlight on all other sectors.
"Hopefully it will trickle through the economy and a lot of smaller organisations are looking at what best-practice looks like, otherwise they'll be missing out on talent and the female contribution in the workplace."
Earlier this year the UK government announced plans which will see 8,000 employers with more than 250 staff...

Summary: Men in Scotland are paid almost £11,000 a year more than women, according to new research.
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Article: Downing Street backed a report by think tank Policy Exchange which said selling high value homes when they become vacant would raise £4.5bn a year.
That would be enough to build 80,000 to 170,000 social homes, the report said.
Labour said new homes were urgently needed but "driving out hard-working families on low wages from whole neighbourhoods" was not the answer.
In its Ending Expensive Social Tenancies report, Policy Exchange argues the move could create the largest social house building programme since the 1970s - giving the economy a kickstart.
Neil O'Brien, the think tank's director, told the BBC that social housing would still exist in very expensive areas under its proposal, but there would just be "less of it".
"The truth is I don't believe anybody has the right to live in the most expensive parts of town.
"People do have a right to get housed, just not in the very most expensive areas," he said.
He also suggested that the overall number of people waiting for social housing, currently around 1.8 million, could be reduced by about 500,000 if the scheme was implemented.
The prime minister's official spokesman said: "This is something that councils can choose to do already.
"Councils should be looking for ways to use their social housing stock as efficiently as they can. The waiting list for social housing has increased a lot over passing years.
"They need to think about how they can use that social housing stock efficiently.
"If they can sell high-value housing to invest in more social housing and find more homes for more people, then that is certainly something they should look at."
But Labour said the coalition's "failed" polices were "making the housing crisis worse not better".
Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey said: "Councils and housing associations should make effective use of their housing stock but the government should not force them to arbitrarily sell off social homes, breaking up mixed communities and driving out hard-working families on low wages from whole neighbourhoods."
He said the...

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Google has confirmed it is planning to launch a new video ad format that will be available on YouTube and Google Play.
The new format will be available on YouTube and Google Play, and will be available to all advertisers.
The new format will be available on YouTube and Google Play, and will be available to all advertisers

YouTube is to scrap "unskippable" 30-second advertisements on the video-streaming service, from 2018.

Article: McIlroy goes into 2017 with only Jason Day above him in the world rankings and with four major titles to his name.
Nicklaus believes the 27-year-old from Northern Ireland now has to decide whether he wants to try to become the sport's greatest player.
Speaking to BBC Sport, the 18-time major champion was also optimistic about golf's future but renewed his call for a cut in the distance the ball travels.
In recent years Nicklaus has developed a strong friendship with McIlroy, who often practises at the 76-year-old American's Bears Club in Jupiter, Florida.
"Rory is one of those young men who has got a tremendous amount of talent," Nicklaus said.
"He has won and played on his talent to this point. If he wishes to dominate and go forward then he's got to improve."
Nicklaus warned that standing still at the top of the game means only one thing - quickly being passed. And he believes the UK's leading player is now approaching the prime of his career.
"He has to work hard, he's got to focus on what he is trying to do and it is up to him. Certainly he has all the tools to be able to do it - it is just whether he has the desire and the willingness to give up some other things.
"And that's his call. I mean, whatever Rory does, he has established himself as one of the great players that has ever played the game.
"Whether he wants to be the greatest player to have played the game, that's his determination and it's his decision whether he wants to make that effort to try to do that."
The 2017 season is likely to be a pivotal year in McIlroy's life with his wedding to fiancee Erica Stoll rumoured to be scheduled for the weeks following April's Masters.
Nicklaus famously combined a successful family life, bringing up five children, with collecting a record number of majors and an astonishing 118 tournament victories worldwide.
"It's just management of time," Nicklaus said. "When you are young and single and just one dimensional you pretty much can do things at your leisure.
"Once you start getting married, having a family,...

Summary: Golf's most prolific major winner, Jack Nicklaus, says Rory McIlroy must improve if he is to dominate the sport.
###
Article: Google confirmed the plan to the BBC's Newsround programme, saying it wanted to focus on "formats that work well for both users and advertisers".
Long unskippable adverts are seen as a nuisance by many viewers, and Google has introduced shorter formats.
One media agency said the move reflected the difference between online video and linear television services.
"The 30-second ad is a legacy from TV times," said Will Smyth, head of media at the Agenda21 agency.
"It's a standard TV unit which has been put online, but it's not the most effective way to advertise.
"This will encourage advertisers to be more creative about the way they use the platform."
Many other websites, including the BBC's international offer, feature unskippable 30-second ads on video content.
"Demand from advertisers for video content is high, but there's a shortage of quality content," said Mr Smyth.
"It's good business for everyone to focus on 'skippables' - people aren't forced to sit through ads, and advertisers don't need to pay if their ad is skipped."

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The UK's biggest supermarket chain has launched a campaign to encourage shoppers to buy more misshapen fruit and veg.
Tesco has launched a campaign to encourage shoppers to buy more misshapen fruit and veg.
The supermarket chain has launched a campaign to encourage shoppers to buy more misshapen fruit and

New scheduled flights have been introduced between Inverness and Amsterdam.

Article: Sainsbury has started a campaign to encourage use of blemished bananas, while Morrisons has a new "wonky" range that includes avocados for 39p.
Others, including Waitrose, Tesco and Asda, have also branched out into selling misshapen fresh items.
Shops have been criticised for being too fussy, causing farmers to throw away perfectly edible fruit and veg.
But if customers will only accept blemish-free produce, there's little point in a supermarket putting it on the shelf only to throw it away unsold later.
That's one reason why retailers are giving such goods clear labelling and other promotional pushes.
Sainsbury says it is trying to half the amount of food the average family throws away each year from its current Â£700.
This week it is turning its attention to the banana, with pop-up "banana rescue" stations in about 500 stores to encourage consumers to use fruit that is overripe or past its best.
The Government's food waste awareness service, Wrap, found that 1.4 million bananas are thrown out every day for having minor bruises or black marks on their skin, which it says add up to Â£80m in waste a day.
Sainsbury's suggestions include using them to make banana bread or muffins.
For those without the time to bake, Sainsbury reminds us that bananas can be blended into smoothies, and even chopped up to be added into fruit salads.
Paul Crewe, Sainsbury's head of sustainability and environment, said: "Sixty one per cent of Britons admit they never use otherwise discarded bananas in baking, so we want to inspire customers to use their fruit in different ways. There's no need to bin the bruised ones any more."
Tesco, which has a Perfectly Imperfect range, has a strategy that no food safe for human consumption will go to waste from its UK outlets by the end of 2017.

Summary: UK supermarkets are making more space for increasing amounts of less-than-perfect produce.
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Article: KLM has added a 06:00 weekday flight from the Highlands airport and an evening flight from Schiphol.
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (Hial) said the flights would allow people to spend a full day in the Netherlands before returning home.
It is the latest addition from KLM since it started Inverness-Amsterdam flights last year.

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The National Trust has announced that it will be closing its historic house at Haddon Hall in Wiltshire.
The Grade I listed building, which dates back to the 15th century, is set to be sold to a private owner.
The National Trust said it was "very sad" to be closing the house

Dartmoor Hill ponies should be bred for human consumption to ensure their survival on the moor, says a pony group.

Article: The High Peak Trail is a 17m (27km) route through the Peak District along a former railway line in Derbyshire.
Most of the path is wide enough for horses, cyclists and walkers to use at the same time, but a stretch from Newhaven Crossing is just 30in (75cm).
Thanks to a Â£42,000 grant from Natural England, the section will be widened and resurfaced over the winter.
The Peak District National Park Authority, which maintains the trail, provided a further Â£18,000 towards the project.

Summary: A traffic free path through a national park is to be widened and resurfaced to increase safety.
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Article: Dartmoor Hill Pony Association (DHPA) said it had put forward the idea "reluctantly".
The group claims numbers have dropped from about 30,000 at the beginning of the century to just 1,500 in 2011.
The DHPA said if numbers continued to fall, the breed could lose its hardiness to survive on the moor.
It said demand had dropped for the ponies as pets because of the economic downturn.
The ponies were traditionally used for farming, postal deliveries and pulling carts.
Charlotte Faulkner, founder of the DHPA, said in a letter to South West Equine Protection (Swep): "It has taken years of considering reports and listening to the outcome of meetings to recognise and reluctantly accept that Dartmoor pony herders will only carry on keeping their herds if they have a sustainable market for them.
"We are in real danger of ponies disappearing from Dartmoor altogether."
Ms Faulkner said selling ponies for riding and driving would continue.
"The Dartmoor Hill Pony Association believes the meat trade should be (used) too," she said. "Strangely, having a meat trade should improve a pony's chances of finding a new home at sale."
Becky Treeby, of Swep, said: "Dartmoor hill ponies were there for a reason, for ecology purposes to keep grass on the moors down, and they have been there for thousands of years. People have never eaten them before. It is promoting over-breeding for profit."
You can see more on this story on Inside Out SW on BBC One, Monday 29 September, at 19:30 BST.
Correction 2 December 2014: This story has been amended to clarify that it refers to Dartmoor Hill ponies rather than Dartmoor ponies.

Summary:


The University of Oxford has been accused of "shamefully" failing to protect the historic buildings at its new campus in the city.
The university has been accused of "shamefully" failing to protect the historic buildings at its new campus in the city.
The university has been accused of "shamefully

A campaign group has been granted a hearing to examine the case for a judicial review of the decision to build student flats near a beauty spot.

Article: The university needs to ask the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) for permission to apply for a loan to pay for work at Pantycelyn halls.
But a report said the university must attract more students before applying.
The university said work was continuing to ensure funding can be obtained.
Students climbed on to the roof of the halls last June to protest against the proposed closure, claiming the university did not value the Welsh language enough to keep it open.
A board was later set up to secure its future and Â£8m of improvements, including the refurbishment of 200 en-suite rooms, were suggested.
The university has said it planned to reopen the halls in September 2019, but the necessary funding needed to be secured before it could give a definitive commitment.
Now, a report to the university's council has been made public which confirms "HEFCW's agreement to procure such finance will only be forthcoming once the university has achieved the required sustained growth in student numbers".
It added the outcome of Brexit also threatened the future sustainability of the university.
The report continued that while the case for refurbishing Pantycelyn to provide Welsh-medium accommodation was "persuasive", the project must be considered in the context of others.
Other funding options suggested in the report include fundraising from individuals or trusts.
An Aberystwyth University spokeswoman would not comment on current recruitment figures, but said: "The university has stated clearly that Pantycelyn is one of its spending priorities.
"A team of Welsh-speaking architects has been appointed to work on the detailed plans for upgrading the building.
"In the meantime, work continues to ensure the required funding can be obtained, in line with the project timetable to reopen the building in September 2019.
"Loans are expected to be part of the funding of the university's priority capital projects. In common with all other universities in Wales, HEFCW's agreement will be required for any loan finance...

Summary: Funding for the refurbishment of a closed halls of residence for Welsh-speaking students at Aberystwyth University could face uncertainty.
###
Article: The Â£21.5m Castle Mill development at Port Meadow, by the River Thames, has been widely criticised as ugly and spoiling the view of Oxford's skyline.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) will put its case to a High Court judge on 23 October.
The five-storey university blocks provide 439 accommodation units.
The flats overlook a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
CPRE is seeking the judicial review on the basis of Oxford City Council not carrying out an environmental impact assessment.
The council has said the challenge was late as the housing had already been built, and it believed the group's claims were unfounded.
Helen Marshall, director of CPRE Oxfordshire, said the West Area Planning Committee "should under no circumstances be rushed into making further poor decisions".
"We are not yet convinced that the planning condition on contamination has been met," she added.
"And the mitigation proposals currently suggested by the university are woefully inadequate to counteract the devastating impact of the buildings on Port Meadow and Oxford's historic skyline.
"A few trees growing to approximately half the height of the buildings in 15 years' time will not meet the brief of 'hiding the buildings in summer and softening their impact in winter'
"Key issues such as the height of the buildings and light pollution still need to be addressed."
A University of Oxford spokesman said it had "thought carefully" about how best to mitigate the impact of the buildings.
"Some measures have already been put in place, and discussions with the city council and others are ongoing about what more we can do," he added.
"The University will be making representations at the interim hearing in October on the procedural issues raised by the challenge.
"In the meantime, we intend to finish and occupy the buildings by the start of the next academic year in October as planned."
The city council said last month it was carrying out an independent review into the case.
An online petition against...

Summary:


A new report has found that the number of people in the UK who are obese has increased by more than a third in the last 30 years.
The report, published by Public Health England, said the number of adults in the UK who are obese has increased by more than a third in the last 30 years.

A council has been accused of a "major administrative cock-up" after failing to make an insurance claim for up to £1m.

Article: The Lothians MSP and former deputy leader of the party said she would "stand up to vested interests".
She is going up against Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh, who launched his campaign on Friday.
Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson and MSPs Alex Rowley and Richard Baker are standing as deputy.
Ms Dugdale said: "Now more than ever, Scotland needs a voice that will stand up to the vested interests.
"Scotland needs a strong opposition that asks tough questions, not a one-party state where every institution and every cause is linked to just one political party.
"That wouldn't be good for Scotland. People need a champion against the cosy consensus in Scottish politics."
Ms Dugdale also argued that there was a need to "think outside the box" when it came to reforming Scotland's state schools.
She also said she would end the charitable status of private schools, saying it was a "question of fairness".
She told BBC Scotland: "Twenty-four per cent of people here in Edinburgh go to private schools and I don't begrudge any parent that wants the best for their children.
"But the reality is that private schools get charitable status, they get tax relief because of that status, and at a time when state schools are really struggling for resources, when teachers are at their wit's end, I think this is fundamentally a question of fairness."
On state education, she said: "Education is everything. It can lift people out of poverty, help them live a healthy lifestyle and open up doors that would otherwise remain shut.
"If we are to compete with the big economies around the world in future then we need people finishing school with the skills they need to get on."
She added: "There can be no sacred cows in Scottish state education. The inequality is too ingrained, the problems too deep to tip-toe around vested interests. It's time to be bold and radical."
The leadership contest was sparked by the resignation of Jim Murphy after Labour lost all but one of its 41 seats in Scotland in May's general election.
In a change from...

Summary: Kezia Dugdale has launched her campaign to become the new leader of Scottish Labour with a pledge to "shake things up".
###
Article: Thanet District Council (TDC) was court ordered to lift a ban on live animal exports through the Port of Ramsgate.
It paid more than £5m in compensation to traders but has not submitted an insurance claim to retrieve any money.
Campaigners said taxpayers had been left to foot the bill as the council missed the deadline.
Ian Driver, a community campaigner and former councillor, said the figures had only just come to light after a Freedom of Information request.
Mr Driver, said: "So there you have it: a major administrative cock-up by TDC means that taxpayers have been forced to foot a £5.1 million bill some, if not all, of which would have been covered by insurance payments had the claim been submitted in time. But it wasn't."
TDC said the maximum payment under the policy was £1m.
A spokesman said: "The legal claims against the council have all been settled and accounted for in previous year's budgets."
TDC banned live animal exports in 2012 after the deaths of more than 40 sheep.
The decision was overturned by the High Court in 2014 after a long legal battle.
Mr Justice Birss said the council was liable to pay damages to three companies affected by the ban.
Two sheep drowned at Ramsgate in September 2012 and 44 had to be destroyed as they were sick and lame.
The animals were put down after the lorry carrying them was stopped at Ramsgate by animal health inspectors.
In a separate incident, a loading area floor also collapsed while sheep were taken off a lorry carrying 548 animals.
Six fell in the water, with four rescued by RSPCA officers while two animals drowned.
The live animal export trade resumed through Ramsgate in July 2015.

Summary:


A council in the north-west of England has been told it will need to borrow £3.5m to cover costs until April.
The council says it has been hit by new environmental laws and the cost of a new IT system.
The authority governing about 2,200 inhabitants says it has been hit by

Syrian refugees facing their first Christmas in Wales are sure to get a "warm Welsh welcome", the first minister has said.

Article: The Council of the Isles of Scilly says it has been told it will need to borrow up to £3.5m to cover costs until April.
Debts have been building up for several years and the council says it only has £500,000 in the bank.
The authority governing about 2,200 inhabitants said it underestimated its income and was also hit by new environmental laws.
More on the Scilly finances story, plus more Devon and Cornwall news
The council has been issued with a Section 24 notice by its external auditors Grant Thornton under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 saying its had "inadequate financial controls".
The council has said it will need to review its financial strategy for the next few years.
The authority has also voted to take out a loan of up to £3.5m because council tax is collected for only the first 10 months of the year, with no income for the last two.
The authority expects to have overspent this year by nearly £500,000 and may have just over £40,000 left in the bank at the end of this financial year, it said.
Steve Sims, the council's vice chairman and chair of the finance, audit and scrutiny committee, said the council had been running at a deficit of about £400,000 "for about four years" and "it has hit us now".
"We have made £500,000 of savings," he said.
"But we underestimated the income we were going to get."
Debts have been mounting since 2013 because the council "has to be compliant with environmental laws which we've ignored before," Mr Sims added.
He also blamed a "pretty creaking software system of finance" which it was working with Cornwall Council to improve.

Summary: A remote group of British islands is about to run out of money for the day-to-day running of the community.
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Article: Carwyn Jones said Wales had a "proud tradition of being a friendly and hospitable nation".
"The message of peace and hope is particularly poignant this year," he said, referring to the terrorist attacks in Tunisia and Paris.
About 50 refugees from Syria have been re-settled in Wales with more to come.
Torfaen, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot and Caerphilly have been the first councils to welcome refugees, with more to be dispersed to other areas in the new year.
In his seasonal message to the nation, Mr Jones said:  "At Christmas, it's more important than ever that we spread the message of togetherness and unity in our Welsh communities.
"We have a proud tradition of being a friendly and hospitable nation.
"As fifty Syrian refugees make their home in Wales, they will be experiencing their first festive season in the UK - I'm sure they'll get a warm Welsh welcome and we wish them well in their new lives."
The first minister also asked people to "spare a thought" for those working over Christmas - such as the emergency services, medical professionals, charities, care workers and the armed forces - who "all deserve our thanks".
"They work tirelessly while we enjoy ourselves," he said.

Summary:


A man has been charged with perverting the course of justice after police found the body of a baby in a bin in his home in north London.
The body of a baby was found in a bin in a home in the London borough of Barnet on Monday.
Officers were called to the property in the early

A woman has been remanded in custody charged with covering up the death of a one-year-old for more than a decade.

Article: The Older People's Commissioner for Wales has expressed concerns that people will not get a hot meal every day or see another person.
In some areas private companies have filled the gap but provision is patchy, with no service in some council areas.
The Welsh Local Government Association said councils faced Â£300m budget cuts.
The freedom of information request by Radio Cymru showed a fall of 32% from 2009 to 2014 across the 19 councils which responded.
Some local authorities now only provide a fortnightly service and deliver frozen meals.
Iwan Williams, from the Older People's Commsioners' office, said: "The meals on wheels service is vital to the health and wellbeing of older people across Wales, not only for physical reasons but also mentally.
"In terms of the meals, it's important old people have a warm nutritious meal at least once a day.
"It is imperative not only for their physical health, but also the relationship they develop over time with meals on wheels providers.
"It is also important in terms of mental health and how to combat loneliness."
The WLGA said councils in Wales were facing huge financial challenges.
A spokesman said: "With public sector austerity expected to last well into the future it is unavoidable that all councils in Wales will need to consider new ways of delivering services, new ways of charging for services and, where unavoidable, ways they can scale back existing levels of provision."

Summary: The number of meals being provided by council meals on wheels services has dropped by a third in five years, a BBC investigation has found.
###
Article: Victoria Gayle, 31, was charged with preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body after police discovered the remains of a baby at her home last month.
Ms Gayle, previously of West Hendon, north London, appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Monday afternoon.
She spoke only to confirm her name, address, and date of birth.
The court heard a post-mortem examination took place at Great Ormond Street Hospital on 2 June but the cause of death could not yet be determined.
Ms Gayle was also charged with perverting the course of justice.
She was not asked to submit a plea and will appear at Kingston Crown Court on 8 July.
The charge follows a case review of an investigation into a child who went missing in 2004, which was sparked by the death of another child at an address in Barnet in 2015.
The investigation led to the arrest of a 50-year-old woman in Fryent Crescent, West Hendon in north London.
A 52-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of preventing a lawful and decent burial.
Both were bailed until mid-July.

Summary:


A man has been jailed for four years after he was filmed using his phone while driving.
The incident happened on the A34 in Oxfordshire on 31 October.
The driver, who was not named, was filmed for 30 seconds driving with no hands on the steering wheel.
He was stopped by police and found

Police have used a "covert lorry" to spy on drivers using their phones.

Article: Eight-year-old Harapan, born in Cincinnati, was the last Sumatran rhino in the Western hemisphere.
Conservationists hope he will mate with females in a rhino sanctuary.
The Sumatran rhino has been threatened by rampant deforestation and poaching. Researchers believe there are fewer than 100 left in the wild.
Harapan, whose name means hope, travelled more than 16,000km (9,941 miles) over land, air and sea to reach the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary at the Way Kambas National Park.
His sister, Suci, also lived with him in Cincinnati Zoo but died from an illness last year.
Harapan's trip marked the end of a programme by his zoo to breed rhinos in captivity.
Sumatrans are the smallest of the rhino species and the only Asian rhino with two horns. They are prized by poachers as their horns are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The rhinos natural habitat in the forest of Sumatra is being devastated illegal logging and forest fires by farmers clearing land for palm oil and pulp plantations.

Summary: A critically endangered male Sumatran rhino born in a US zoo has been flown to Indonesia to mate, as part of efforts to save his species.
###
Article: Thames Valley Police caught 12 drivers on the A34 and M40 in Oxfordshire using phones on a single day during the operation.
It comes after a lorry driver was sentenced to four years for killing a family-of-four by getting distracted when using his phone on the A34.
Police said that one driver was filmed for 30 seconds driving with no hands on the steering wheel.
Chief inspector Henry Parsons said: "Sometimes HGV drivers think as they are high up we cannot see them using a device, but with this tactic we definitely can."
On 31 October Tomasz Kroker was sentenced to four years after he pleaded guilty to using his phone while in charge of a lorry.
After getting distracted he ploughed into a number of cars killing Tracey Houghton, her two sons and her stepdaughter.

Summary:


The Scottish Wildlife Trust has welcomed the announcement that the Royal Dornoch Golf Club will be closed for a year to allow for a new course to be built.
The trust said the move would help protect the area's wildlife.
The trust said: "The Royal Dornoch Golf Club is a special place and

The developers of a planned 18-hole championship golf course have sought to allay concerns about their proposal's impact on a protected coastal area.

Article: Sir Stanley Wells, who lives in Stratford-upon-Avon, has dedicated his career to studying the life and works of England's most famous playwright.
The 86-year-old is also a professor emeritus of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham.
He said he was "delighted" by the honour.
"I feel myself most fortunate in having been able to spend so much of my life in the company of Shakespeare and of those who admire and enjoy his works," he said.
"Throughout my career as teacher and scholar I have enjoyed and benefitted enormously from collaborating with fellow scholars from all over the world, and I hope they will share my pleasure in receiving this award."
Peter Kyle, chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said Sir Stanley's knighthood comes at a "particularly wonderful time in the year" as the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death is marked.
"We offer him the warmest congratulations on this very prestigious honour."

Summary: The honorary president of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has been awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
###
Article: US-based golf course designers Mike Keiser, Bill Coore and Todd Warnock have proposed creating the course at Coul Links, near Dornoch.
Four conservation charities have joined forces to oppose the project.
The developers said they were aiming for "minimal intrusion on the landscape".
The Scottish Wildlife Trust, RSPB Scotland, Buglife and Plantlife have concerns the course will result in the loss of a protected sand dunes habitat and rare wildlife.
The developers, who have held two meetings in the local area as part of public consultation on the plans, said the building of the course would involve laying turf over less than 55 acres (22ha) within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
SSSIs are areas indentified as having a diverse range of wildlife and geology.
The developers said their planned new course, close to Embo, would compliment nearby Royal Dornoch golf course and others in the East Sutherland area.
Mr Keiser, who owns Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to deliver a spectacular championship links golf course which represents all that is natural about golf, in the home of golf.
"Our golf course developments aim for minimal intrusion on the landscape and the utmost care and respect for the environment.
"Our team of environmental advisors is ensuring complete sensitivity to the land, and its location."

Summary:


A new report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found that the trust has made "significant improvements" in the care it provides to people with learning disabilities.
The CQC said the trust had made "significant improvements" in the care it provides to people with learning disabilities.
The CQ

The family of a woman who killed herself after being discharged from hospital has labelled a report into her death "psycho babble and twaddle".

Article: The 25-year-old, who has played for Gloucestershire since 2010, has agreed a three-year contract with Middlesex.
"We have been looking to sign a fast bowler with white-ball pedigree," said Middlesex managing director of cricket Angus Fraser.
"In James I believe we have found a bowler that will add extra bite and quality to this area."
Fuller was a key part of Gloucestershire's winning One-Day Cup campaign this year, taking 15 wickets including 2-34 in the final at Lord's.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, he holds a UK passport and has taken 101 first-class wickets at an average of 33.90 with best figures of 6-24.
He also has 58 List A one-day wickets at an average of 25.17 and 62 Twenty20 wickets in 46 games.
"I have watched James bowl on numerous occasions and have been impressed with what I have seen," added Fraser.
"He is a fine athlete with a strong, easy action that allows him to bowl with good pace. James is extremely ambitious and is the sort of character that fits what Middlesex are looking for."

Summary: Middlesex have signed James Fuller after the fast bowler turned down a new deal with Gloucestershire.
###
Article: Jo Deering died in 2011, aged 52,  just months after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Under-fire Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust admitted it could have made better decisions about her care.
However, Ms Deering's sister, Maureen Rickman, said the trust's findings "deserved to be binned".
In December, the BBC revealed that the trust, which provides services to about 45,000 people in Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, had failed to investigate hundreds of unexpected deaths since 2011.
Ms Deering, from New Milton, Hampshire, had paranoid schizophrenia and was discharged from hospital two weeks after being sectioned.
She was sent home where she was the main carer for her 89-year-old mother, who had dementia. Four months later she took her own life.
Her family said the trust should not have allowed her to go home while she was still ill.
In its 2012 report, the trust said the medical team based at Waterford House who cared for Ms Deering should "be commended for their ongoing efforts to work with Joanna and her whole family in as an inclusive a way as possible, despite significant complications".
Ms Rickman said: "There isn't an investigation here, nothing of the sort. I could have carried out a better investigation myself to be quite frank."
She added: "It deserves to be binned - nobody would have known anything from this at all, there is nothing to take away from this other than a load of psycho babble and twaddle."
In a statement, Dr Lesley Stevens, medical director at the trust, said the report found its "decision-making process about granting leave, and how we communicated this with Jo and her family, could have been better".
"Robust actions to learn from this incident were fully implemented at the time," she added.
She said the trust had provided community support to help Ms Deering with her role as a carer.
"The way we investigate and learn when things go wrong, has changed substantially," she added.

Summary:


The death toll from a magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan has risen to at least six, with more than 200 injured, officials said.
The quake struck at 01:25 local time (16:25 GMT) on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said.
The USGS said

A more powerful earthquake has rocked the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto in the middle of the night, a day after an earlier tremor killed nine people.

Article: It was an understated reaction from the woman likely to go down in history as the person who rattled President Jacob Zuma more than any other figure in contemporary South Africa, exposed the growing fissures in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and went from being a shy trade unionist to an internationally feted global leader.
Ms Madonsela's inquiries over her years in office as public protector have led to the sacking of some of the most senior figures in the country.
She has investigated police chiefs, opposition politicians - and even the president himself over multi-million dollar security upgrades to his private Nkandla home.
It was probably not a surprise that on Friday, the woman many just call Thuli spent her final hours in office in court, seeking to defend her country's hard won democratic ideals and the release of her interim report on corruption and cronyism - what's rather clumsily called "state capture" here.
In short, it expected to describe how unelected businessmen - who allegedly wield huge influence over President Zuma - were able to call the shots on who should and should not get a ministerial job.
Much of her interim report is believed to focus on a family known as the Guptas, but the practice of patronage politics and opaque practices over the awarding of government contracts and jobs goes much deeper than just one family.
For some, it is perhaps surprising that the softly spoken mother of two has survived seven years in her role. But it is a credit to South Africa's robust constitution that the public protector has withstood attempts to remove her, harm her physically with death threats and smear her name.
If anything, her popularity has grown, with a prominent international think-tank recently voting her among the world's top five most "extraordinary women".
In her most recent investigation, she has been accused by the Guptas' lawyers of abusing her position and overshadowing the legal process.
Others say she has overstepped the mark, with the ANC Youth League dismissing her...

Summary: When Thuli Madonsela's daughter asked her over breakfast how it felt to be "South Africa's biggest tell-tale", the public protector just smiled.
###
Article: The magnitude-7.3 quake hit at a depth of 10km (six miles) at 01:25 on Saturday (15:25 GMT on Friday) in Kyushu region. At least three people died and hundreds were injured.
A village has been evacuated after a dam collapsed, media reports say.
A tsunami warning was issued, and lifted some 50 minutes later.
Japan is regularly hit by earthquakes but stringent building codes mean that they rarely cause significant damage.
This new earthquake in Kyushu was much bigger and hit a wider area than the one that struck Kumamoto on Thursday night, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo.
In one town near the coast, the city hall has been so badly damaged there are fears it could collapse. A hospital has been evacuated because it is no longer safe.
Thousands of people have fled on to the streets and into parks - where they are huddled under blankets looking dazed and afraid, our correspondent says.
But there are numerous reports of people trapped inside buildings, including at least 60 inside an old people's home.
Public broadcaster NHK says the dam collapsed in the Nishihara village.
Television pictures showed thousands of people filling streets and parks, looking dazed across the region.
NHK had warned of sea waves of up to 1m (3ft).
Japan's nuclear authority said the Sendai nuclear plant was not damaged.
The quake was originally assessed as magnitude 7.1 but revised upwards to 7.3 later.
Gavin Hayes, a research geophysicist with the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Colorado, told the BBC that the latest earthquake would hamper the earlier rescue operation that was already under way.
He said more damage could be expected as the earthquake had been shallower and the fault-line had been much longer.
"The ground surface would have moved in the region of 4-5m. So, you are talking very intense shaking over quite a large area. And that's why we'll probably see a significant impact from this event."
The Associated Press news agency said guests at the Ark Hotel near the Kumamoto Castle, which was damaged, woke up and...

Summary:


The Syrian government has announced that it will hold a national conference on 10 July to discuss the future of the country.
The announcement came after a meeting of the ruling Baath Party and the opposition in the capital, Damascus, on Monday.
The meeting was attended by the head of the opposition-dominated National Coalition,

At least 150 Syrian dissidents have met publicly for the first time at a hotel in the capital, Damascus, to discuss the current crisis in their country.

Article: The new group's leader has been named as Hashim al-Sheikh, who previously served as the head of the powerful Islamist rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham.
Ahrar al-Sham itself has refused to join the new body and has been at loggerheads with JFS in northern Syria.
On 9 February, al-Shaikh delivered the group's first leadership message in which he insisted the new entity was independent and not an extension of former organisations and factions.
By reinventing itself again, JFS appears to be trying to distance itself from its al-Qaeda past and embed itself more deeply within the Syrian insurgency.
No mention has been made of JFS leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani in any of the new group's communications. But he is widely believed to be serving as its military commander.
JFS announced the creation of "Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham" (which translates in English as Liberation of Levant Organisation) in a statement that was released on 28 January via its channel on the messaging app Telegram.
The statement indicated that the groups which had agreed to join would dissolve themselves and "merge fully" into the new entity.
This was further reiterated in al-Shaikh's recent message which described the new body as a "melting pot for all factions".
In addition to JFS, Tahrir al-Sham founding groups included: Nur al-Din Zinki Movement (one of the most important opposition factions in Aleppo); jihadist Ansar al-Din Front; the Homs-based Jaysh al-Sunnah; and Liwa al-Haqq (operates in Idlib, Aleppo and Hamah).
The new entity also received the endorsement of six prominent Syria-based jihadist clerics, including the charismatic Saudi-born Abdullah al-Muhaisini. The clerics signed a separate statement announcing their intention to join Tahrir al-Sham.
Since the creation of the new entity, JFS has issued no new propaganda under the JFS brand, suggesting that it has been dissolved.
The head of the new group, Abu-Jabir, had been appointed as Ahrar al-Sham leader after the group's entire leadership was wiped out in a bomb blast in September 2014. He held...

Summary: The Syrian jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), known as al-Nusra Front until it broke off formal ties with al-Qaeda last July, has merged with four smaller Syrian factions and rebranded itself as "Tahrir al-Sham".
###
Article: The meeting's organiser, Louai Hussein, called for an end to the government's brutal crackdown on protesters and for a peaceful transition to democracy.
The event took place after government officials said they would not object.
Afterwards, the opposition was invited to joint talks to discuss the framework for a national dialogue conference.
The state news agency, Sana, said amendments to the constitution would be on the agenda at the conference on 10 July, including Article 8, which grants the Baath Party unique status as the "leader of state and society".
Participants would also examine proposed new laws on political parties, elections, local administration and the press, it added.
Sana said there was no alternative but to "open the door wide" to all Syrians, and to take part in building a "democratic, pluralistic society meeting the aspirations of the people".
The BBC's Lina Sinjab in Damascus says the government is making a show of looking for the middle ground to solve the crisis, but they are also seen to be playing for time.
Monday's meeting at the Semiramis hotel in Damascus was attended by several leading opposition figures, including Mr Hussein, Anwar al-Bunni and Michel Kilo, who have served time in prison for their political activities.
They began by singing the national anthem and holding a moment of silence to honour those killed in the revolt, which represents the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's rule since he succeeded his father in 2000.
In the opening address, Mr Hussein said it was an unprecedented event, and that no such conference had been held in Syria for decades.
"Those attending this meeting are not armed, [as they are not] terrorists or saboteurs," he said.
"We are meeting today... to put forward a vision about how to end tyranny and ensure a peaceful and secure transition to the hoped-for state: the state of freedom, democracy and equality."
In a final communique, the participants declared their support for the "popular uprising seeking a peaceful transition to...

Summary:


The former head of the Northern Ireland Office has said the UK should not be "wasting time" on a Brexit deal that does not include a customs union.
Theresa May has said she will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement if she loses the vote on the deal on 12 April.
Theresa May has

A former deputy chief constable has said it may be time to reconsider de-criminalising cannabis.

Article: Tories Michael Gove and Boris Johnson and Labour's Gisela Stuart wrote in the Sun that the tax on energy bills cannot be scrapped because of EU rules.
But Chancellor George Osborne accused them of "fantasy land" economics.
Remain campaigners said Vote Leave were promising a "make-believe land of milk and honey" if the UK left the EU.
There is one week left to register to vote in the EU referendum on 23 June.
In their article, the Vote Leave politicians said they would seek to spend some of the cash saved by quitting the EU on cutting VAT from household gas and electricity bills, a tax imposed by the then Conservative government in 1993.
This issue covers energy availability and environmental protections.
"The least wealthy are hit particularly hard," they wrote.
"The poorest households spend three times more of their income on household energy bills than the richest households spend. As long as we are in the EU, we are not allowed to cut this tax.
"When we Vote Leave, we will be able to scrap this unfair and damaging tax.
"It isn't right that unelected bureaucrats in Brussels impose taxes on the poorest and elected British politicians can do nothing."
VAT on domestic fuel bills was cut to 5% under the Labour government - the lowest rate allowed under EU rules.
In 2014, the average bill for a customer of a big six energy firm was £1,190.
Mr Gove told the BBC it had been a "mistake" of the previous Major government to introduce the tax, adding: "The Conservative government at the time did so because of the economic damage that the exchange rate mechanism of the European Union had caused.
"I think it is now time to acknowledge that that was an error."
The justice secretary said it would be up to the prime minister and the chancellor to axe VAT, but said he backed such a move because it was "an unfair tax that hits the poorest people hardest".
Mr Osborne tweeted his attack on Vote Leave's claim, saying leaving the EU would lead to a smaller economy, "a hole in public finances" and higher taxes including...

Summary: Leading figures in the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union say they want to be able to scrap VAT on fuel to help the poorest households.
###
Article: Alan McQuillan told the BBC the current attitude to drugs was "creating a cash cow for organised crime, especially in relation to cannabis".
He said police needed to focus on paramilitaries as the source of the drugs problem in Northern Ireland.
The former policeman was taking part in a BBC Talkback discussion about drug dealing in Northern Ireland.
"I think there is real scope for de-criminalising cannabis," he said. "The time has come to consider it."
Mr McQuillan said the focus needed to be on teaching parents and children about the reality of the drugs trade.
"We need to invest in education, to be aware that often the people who are dealing drugs are corrupted young people who are paying for a habit by dealing to other children," he said.
Former Ulster Unionist MLA Adrian Cochrane-Watson told a local newspaper on Wednesday he would "break the legs" of any drug dealers he caught.
He was speaking after a family emergency in which a young relative became unwell after smoking cannabis.
Speaking in the Radio Ulster discussion on Wednesday, Mr Cochrane-Watson said he made no apology for his outspoken remarks.
He said: "When I see drug dealers driving about in their fancy sports cars - money to burn - it does make me angry.
"When I know who these people are, it makes me frustrated.
"If I had got my hands on the guy who dealt these drugs to 13-year-old kids, I'd rather the police would have gotten there before me."

Summary:


The Metropolitan Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in London in 2006.
The inquiry will examine the circumstances surrounding his death and the circumstances surrounding his death.
The inquiry will also consider the circumstances surrounding his death and the circumstances surrounding his death.
The inquiry will

For three weeks Alexander Litvinenko desperately tried to fight off the radiation that was destroying his body from within.

Article: Sherratt worked with Blues head coach Danny Wilson at Bristol.
"I'm thrilled to be able to take the opportunity to work at Cardiff Blues and alongside Danny once again," said Sherratt.
Paul John will take on the role of skills coach while he studies for a master's degree, and Graham Steadman will continue as defence coach.
Steadman will be assisted by Richard Hodges.
Sherratt joined Bristol's coaching staff in 2011 having previously worked with Worcester.
"I'm delighted that Matt Sherratt will join us," said Wilson.
"I worked closely with him at Bristol and he always impressed me with his attention to detail and we share a similar coaching philosophy and view of the game."

Summary: Bristol's Matt Sherratt will join Cardiff Blues as attack and backs coach at the end of the season.
###
Article: His wife Marina can still recall the last time she saw him. He was smiling in what she recalls was a sad way. She said she would be back tomorrow.
"He suddenly just said 'I love you so much'," she remembers.
"I said 'Yes, of course. I love you too'."
But when she got home, she received a call from the hospital telling her to rush back in. She did not get the chance to speak to him again.
As he lay dying in his hospital bed, Alexander Litvinenko had remained the trained operative he had always been and tried to recall for police every detail that might hold a clue to his poisoning.
For the police, he was something unique - a living murder victim - a man who was going to die but had time to talk to them.
So who did he hold responsible for the mysterious illness which was taking such a terrible toll on his body? "Everything that happened to him and he was able to speak - able to sign - he said Putin was responsible for his death," his widow told the BBC.
The public inquiry will examine the central question - who was responsible for what was described by a lawyer in a previous hearing as 'an act of state sponsored nuclear terrorism on the streets of London'?
It was one of the most remarkable and sensitive murder cases in modern times.
"This inquiry was different from any other investigation that I've ever been involved in," says Peter Clarke, who at the time ran the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command which handled the investigation.
"It was not only a murder inquiry but there were other key areas that we had to think about: public safety - over 40 sites of radioactive contamination in public places, on public transport, aircraft, offices, restaurants... And then there are the international dimensions, the diplomatic dimensions and the intelligence areas that came into this inquiry."
Much is already known about the broad brush of events - that Alexander Litvinenko was killed by radioactive Polonium 210 and that two Russians, Alexander Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtun, are believed by police to be...

Summary:


The Syrian army has recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group, the country's antiquities chief said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army had retaken the city from the jihadists on Wednesday.
The group has been trying to take Palmyra, which is located in the desert

Palmyra, one of the archaeological jewels of the Middle East, is said to be under threat from Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.

Article: Mohammed Rehman, 25, discussed targeting the London Underground and Westfield shopping centre on social media under the name "Silent Bomber".
He and his wife Sana Ahmed Khan were convicted of preparing terrorist acts.
Jailing them both for life at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Baker told Rehman he had been "determined to fulfil the Islamic State's call for jihad".
The couple's trial had heard how bomb-making chemicals were found at Rehman's Reading home, where he had filmed himself setting off a small explosion in the back garden.
He had been planning an attack to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the 7 July London bombings, the trial was told.
The role of 24-year-old Khan was to fund the chemicals needed to make a "huge" bomb.
Rehman, who was also convicted of possessing an article for terrorist purposes, was a "prolific" user of Twitter, the trial was told, posting extremist rhetoric alongside images of homemade devices and instructional material.
One tweet from his account read: "I have rigged my house to blow at the push of a button by my bedside if the popo [police] try to raid man. Nobody gets in the way of my jihad."
The judge told Rehman that the reason for his conversion "may never be fully known", adding that he was satisfied he had intended to carry out an act of terrorism within the United Kingdom.
"The type of act which you envisaged not only encompassed the use of explosive substances which would be used to maximum effect so as to cause multiple injuries and fatalities, but specifically included a suicide bombing; an act which envisaged martyrdom, a notion specifically resurrected by Islamic State in order to encourage this type of venture," Mr Justice Baker said.
Ahead of the sentencing hearing, Khan had sent the judge a handwritten letter saying she had divorced Rehman a couple of weeks previously and that she should have "distanced myself from him a long time ago".
The judge rejected her argument, telling Khan: "I am satisfied that it was you who became interested in the theological...

Summary: A husband and wife who plotted a terror attack in London have been jailed for a minimum of 27 and 25 years.
###
Article: The jihadists seized buildings on the eastern edge of the adjacent city of Tadmur on Thursday, but their push was reportedly halted by the Syrian army.
Syria's antiquities chief warned that if IS seizes the Unesco World Heritage site it will destroy everything there.
The group has ransacked and demolished several ancient sites in Iraq.
Palmyra has already suffered some damage during the four-year civil war.
It is situated in a strategically important area on the road between the capital, Damascus and the contested eastern city of Deir al-Zour, and close to gas fields
On Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that IS militants were mounting an assault on Tadmur, the modern town next to the ruins of Palmyra.
Twenty-six civilians in a village outside Tadmur were summarily killed by IS - at least 10 by beheading - on Thursday after being accused of collaborating with President Bashar al-Assad's government, Mr Abdul Rahman said.
IS itself claimed on Twitter that it had taken control of northern and eastern parts of Tadmur, and that it had shot down a Syrian air force MiG jet in the area.
Homs provincial governor Talal Barazi confirmed that al-Sukhanah, a town to the north-east, had fallen on Wednesday and said 1,800 families from the town were sheltering in Tadmur.
The Syrian Observatory said more than 70 soldiers and 40 militants had been killed in the battle for al-Sukhanah.
Rising out of the desert and flanked by an oasis, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world, according to Unesco.
The site, most of which dates back to the 1st to the 2nd Century when the region was under Roman rule, is dominated by a grand, colonnaded street.
At the southern end of the 1.1km street is the great temple of Bel, considered one of the most important religious buildings of the 1st Century in the East and of unique design.
Syria's director of antiquities, Maamoun Abdul Karim, said that if Palmyra were to fall to IS, it would be an...

Summary:


The UK government has announced it will be reviewing its policy on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which is home to around 3,000 people.
The government said it would be "looking at the best way to ensure that the UK's policy on the British Indian Ocean Territory is in line with our international obligations

A petition calling for residents of the Chagos Islands to be allowed to return to their Indian Ocean homeland has been handed in to Downing Street.

Article: The scandal erupted less than two weeks after Michel Temer took over as the acting president of Brazil.
The story dominates the top headlines of the country's major media outlets, with many newspapers devoting several articles to the latest revelation.
Right-leaning newspaper O Globo leads with the headline "11 days later: Recording topples Juca, challenges Temer and alarms the PMDB", in reference to upheaval now facing the country's largest political party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), to which both the president and the minister belong.
O Globo's online coverage takes a different approach and highlights interim President Temer's reaction to the scandal.
The site features an editorial entitled "Temer's hour", which argues that Mr Temer's presidency is legitimate but that he would be better off removing Mr Juca from office permanently.
Many see this latest revelation as a serious challenge for the interim president.
Carolina Bahia, a columnist for newspaper Zero Hora, writes that "Michel Temer has hardly started to govern and already faces his first scandal" in a piece entitled "Juca is just the beginning".
Centre-left publication Carta Capital takes the same view, with the headline "Juca: Understand the first crisis of Temer's government".
The article notes that Mr Juca saw President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment as an opportunity to divert attention away from the massive corruption investigation dubbed Lava Jato, or Operation Car Wash.
Folha de Sao Paulo, which first published news of the leaked recordings, also notes the link to Ms Rousseff's impeachment.
In his weekly column for Folha, left-wing politician Marcelo Freixo says the recordings "show that the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff had nothing to do with combating corruption".
Several publications feature Ms Rousseff's reaction to the leaked tapes.
Centre-right daily Correio Braziliense writes "Dilma says the recording shows the need to remove her from post so as to stop the Lava Jato corruption investigation", in an article...

Summary: Brazilian press have been provided with yet more drama to dissect, following the leaked recordings of Planning Minister Romero Juca allegedly conspiring to obstruct a huge corruption investigation.
###
Article: They were evicted from the British overseas territory in the 1960s to allow the UK government to lease Diego Garcia to the US to use as an airbase.
Many residents of what is the largest of the Chagos Islands ultimately resettled in Crawley, West Sussex.
The petition demands the islanders' right to return home is respected.
TV presenter Ben Fogle, patron of the UK Chagos Support Organisation, handed in the petition, which had been signed by more than 2,500 people.
"Diego Garcia, which is one of the main prohibiters to the islanders returning, is up for renewal in the next year or so," Mr Fogle said.
"We're asking this government to think about whether these islands should belong to the people who inhabited them for a very long time, or to the US government who have used it for renditions - for effectively torture."
He said he had visited the islands and found "houses still as they were left" and "the graveyard strangled by vegetation having been left untended".
"For me, being a Brit, it was probably one of the things I'm most ashamed about, that I'm part of a country that forcibly evicted these people and is now refusing their right to return," he said.
Mr Fogle added: "How wrong is that, that I've been able to be there and they can't?"
Henry Smith, the Conservative MP for Crawley, said: "I think we can't turn back time but what we can do is rectify the problem as soon as possible."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The government is committed to its ongoing review of resettlement policy towards the British Indian Ocean Territory."

Summary:


The Bank of England has cut its growth forecast for the UK economy to 1.5% in the second quarter of this year.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said the economy was growing at a "moderate pace" and that the recovery was "broadly supported".
The MPC said the

Continued expectations of an interest rate rise are prompting more homeowners to lock into a new mortgage deal, figures suggest.

Article: NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) said only those under 40 who had not previously been treated for a drink problem would be eligible.
Severe alcohol-associated hepatitis patients would account for 1% of all liver transplants each year.
One in five liver transplants currently performed in the UK is alcohol-related.
Transplanting livers in heavy drinkers has always been a controversial issue.
In the past, debate has focused on the fact that alcohol-related liver disease is self-inflicted, and concerns that patients would not look after their new liver post-transplantation.
This has led the public and the medical profession to be wary of supporting transplantation in patients with alcoholism.
People with severe alcohol-associated hepatitis (SAAH) had not previously been considered for transplants because the severity of their illness meant they were often very ill when first seen by a clinician and were unlikely to survive a period of abstinence before transplantation.
However, a French study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011 suggested that early transplantation in some patients with SAAH could produce positive outcomes and increase survival rates.
As part of the pilot scheme run by NHSBT, 20 people with severe alcohol-associated hepatitis will be identified and put on waiting list for a liver transplant, provided they meet the strict criteria.
This process could take up to two years, NHSBT said.
An NHSBT spokesperson said: "We are looking at a small group of people in the UK who are eligible for the scheme and we want to see if the results we get are similar to those of the French study."
Around one in five liver transplants currently performed in the UK is alcohol-related.
Approximately 900 liver transplants are carried out every year.
The government's chief medical officer said recently that growing numbers of people in England were dying from liver disease caused by heavy drinking and unhealthy eating.
Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said he welcomed the...

Summary: People with a severe alcohol-related liver disease will be eligible for liver transplants for the first time in the UK under a pilot scheme.
###
Article: Remortgaging loans approved in July hit the highest level for nearly seven years, the Bank of England data show.
Mortgage approvals for house purchases also rose to a 17-month high.
Both remain far below the peak of housing market activity, but signal an assumption of imminent rate rises despite market turmoil in recent days.
The economic situation in China created a shock across world markets and some analysts suggested this could delay a rise in the Bank rate in the UK.
The governor of the Bank of England was more circumspect in a recent speech and has hinted that a rate rise could be seen next year.
Homeowners have been increasingly signing up to mortgage deals, especially by remortgaging, in anticipation of a rate rise. This has been encouraged by competition between lenders battling over borrowers' custom.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist for IHS Global Insight, said the Bank's latest figures were "compelling evidence" that housing market activity was firming up.
"It is possible that July's performance may have been lifted by some house buyers looking to move quickly to try and lock in a low mortgage interest rate before they start rising," he added.

Summary:


The former Conservative minister and ex-wife Vicky Pryce were both jailed after she took his speeding points in 2003.
Some 360 former MPs were granted passes for the Parliamentary estate, according to the Press Association's FOI request.
Labour MP John Mann said Huhne should not have been given the pass.

Former Energy Secretary Chris Huhne - who was jailed for perverting the course of justice in 2013 - has been granted a Commons pass, a Freedom of Information Act request has revealed.

Article: The prime minister said it was "absolutely vital" police could access communications data via social media.
"We need to know who called whom and when," he told ITV's This Morning.
Wednesday's Investigatory Powers Bill would let police see websites people have visited but not the specific pages they have viewed without a warrant.
The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera said the plan may be resisted in the House of Lords amid concerns about the degree of intrusion into people's browsing histories and who would authorise police warrants.
The new security bill is the latest in a series of attempts to update the law to allow police and security services to access communications data, as more and more takes place online rather than on phones.
Police sources have told the BBC they expect the new bill to require communication firms to retain data on website addresses for a year. This will mean existing powers allowing authorities to see which websites people have visited become practical to implement for the first time.
Such data would consist of a basic domain address, and not a full browsing history of pages within that site or search terms entered. For example, police could see that someone visited www.bbc.co.uk - but not the individual pages they viewed.
Explaining the thinking behind the plans, Mr Cameron said the police needed to be able to track suspect behaviour online in the same way as they already did elsewhere.
"As prime minister, I would say to people, 'Please let's not have a situation where we give terrorists, criminals, child abductors, safe spaces to communicate.'
"It is not a safe space for them to communicate on a fixed line phone or a mobile phone.
"We should not allow the internet to be a safe space for them to communicate and do bad things."
Speaking on Sunday, Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC there would be "world-leading" oversight of warrants to access digital records, details of which would be announced on Wednesday.
Labour has insisted that warrants should have to be approved...

Summary: David Cameron has defended proposed new web surveillance powers, saying the internet cannot become a "safe space" for terrorists and criminals.
###
Article: The ex-Lib Dem MP and ex-wife Vicky Pryce were both jailed after she took his speeding points in 2003.
Some 360 former MPs were granted passes for the Parliamentary estate, according to the Press Association's FOI request.
Labour MP John Mann said Huhne should not have been given the pass.
Mr Mann said: "I do not think someone who has committed a criminal offence that has meant they went to prison should get privileged access to the Houses of Parliament.
"Let them queue with the general public if they want to get in."
Huhne and Pryce both served two months of an eight-month sentence.
Huhne had quit the Cabinet and stood down as Eastleigh MP after pleading guilty.
Speaking after his release, he said prison had been "a humbling and sobering experience".
Also on the passholders list was ex-Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, who was jailed in 1999 for perjury and perverting the course of justice, and Derek Conway, who had the Conservative whip withdrawn and then stepped down as an MP after his employment of his son was heavily criticised.

Summary:


A man has been arrested after a woman was found dead in a flat in Aberdeen.
The woman, who has not been named, was found in the flat in the city's West End on Monday.
Police said the woman had been found with a stab wound to her neck.
A post-mortem examination is

A complaint about the Scottish SPCA putting what was thought to be one of the world's most deadly snakes to sleep is being investigated by police.

Article: In its latest update on the attack in June, the Commons says 39 mailboxes were hit - fewer than 0.5% of 9,000 Parliamentary accounts.
But among them was a select committee mailbox, which contained emails with personal information.
The Commons has not confirmed which committee was affected.
The hack prompted officials to disable remote access to the emails of MPs, peers and their staff as a safeguard and the fact some access was gained has been blamed on "weak passwords".
The Commons says 26 people were affected by the cyber attack, including six MPs and one peer. Among the 39 accounts affected were 11 "generic organisational mailboxes" - two people had more than one account.
"In the case of one compromised generic organisational mailbox, a Commons select committee mailbox, 77 people have been notified that personal data - information on personal circumstances provided to support the work of the Committee - was contained in the mailbox and so may be at risk of compromise," the Commons update says.
"We have invested heavily in cyber security measures and will continue to do so. A series of technology changes, including multi-factor authentication, have already been made to increase security."
The National Cyber Security Centre and National Crime Agency are investigating the incident which came weeks after 48 of England's NHS trusts were hit by a cyber-attack.

Summary: Seventy seven people who sent personal information to a Commons select committee have been told it may have been compromised in a cyber attack.
###
Article: The suspected green mamba was found on a ship that had docked in Aberdeen from west Africa last month.
The snake died after it was placed in a freezer by the animal charity after attempts to rehome it with specialist reptile keepers failed.
The snake was later identified as a harmless green tree snake.
Police Scotland said a complaint was under consideration.
Scottish SPCA Ch Supt Mike Flynn said: "We were called out after a green snake arrived in Aberdeen on a boat from Africa.
"The snake was thought to be a green mamba, one of the deadliest snakes in the world. The snake was taken by police escort to our Aberdeenshire animal rescue and rehoming centre.
"Sadly the snake, which staff genuinely believed to be a green mamba, had to be put to sleep after our attempts to rehome it to specialist reptile keepers were unsuccessful."
He added: "We could not keep the snake in our centre due to severe health and safety concerns, as the closest anti-venom is held in Bedford. Green mambas also require a Dangerous Wild Animal Licence which the society does not have.
"The safety of our staff and the public is paramount and as such the snake was placed in a freezer where it passed away.
"The Scottish SPCA is proud of its policy not put healthy animals to sleep. Animals are only put to sleep on veterinary advice if they are too ill or too aggressive to be rehomed, or where we are legally required to do so.
"The decision to euthanise the snake was not taken lightly. Unfortunately, the snake has since been identified as a harmless green tree snake. This has been an honest mistake on the society's part as we genuinely believed this was an extremely deadly snake."
The western green mamba feeds on small animals and rodents and is mainly found in the coastal tropical rainforests of western Africa.
Experts say its bite can be fatal in as little as 30 minutes.

Summary:


The Guardian's political editor, Mark Mardell, has written a piece for the Daily Telegraph in which he argues that the UK's political parties are in a state of "political paralysis" and that the only way to get things moving is for the Conservatives to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
The piece is

West Yorkshire's chief constable has had his suspension lifted.

Article: His conclusion: "The world needs to prepare for a climate sceptic defeating Obama".
The analysis rests on the quantifiable. In the first place, virtually all declared Republican presidential candidates have man-made climate change down as a hoax, or at least as something where the jury is out.
In the second place, President Obama's approval numbers are the worst they've been since he took office - 43%, as opposed to 53% who disapprove.
To be sure, climate change isn't the issue that's put him there - it's the economy, stupid.
But that doesn't alter the conclusion that he is potentially beatable.
There are of course many months to run in this campaign, and the shape and persuasion of the eventual Republican candidate is far from certain.
It's also possible that the Republicans will end up in the situation that befell the UK Conservative Party just a few years ago, wherein hard-core party members chose leaders on the basis of ideological purity, and in doing so ended up with prime ministerial candidates who were so unpalatable to the wider and more moderate electorate as to be virtually unelectable.
In particular, the question arises of whether the public approves or disapproves of the shenanigans in Congress over the recent budget.
An analysis by retired Republican staffer Mike Lofgren raises the really profound question of whether the current crop of congressmen actually want to make the government work, or whether their anti-big-government credo now permeates their thinking and tactics to the extent that they actually work towards gridlock, stalemate, and general public dissatisfaction with the political process.
"Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care," he writes of the budget negotiations that threatened to put the US in default, and that did lead to a downgrading of the nation's credit rating.
"The...

Summary: Leo Hickman, among other talents a realistic candidate for the title of "world's most prolific enviro-tweeter", posts an analysis of the US political scene in The Guardian this week.
###
Article: Mark Gilmore was suspended in June 2014 by the county's police and crime commissioner (PCC) in connection with an investigation into the awarding of vehicle contracts in Northern Ireland.
PCC Mark Burns-Williamson said prosecutors had concluded there was no criminal case for the chief constable to answer.
However, Mr Gilmore will not return to his post immediately.
In a statement, Mr Burns-Williamson said: "There remains however a legal requirement for me to consider conduct matters in relation to the police standards of professional behaviour and an independent investigation will be carried out by Lancashire Police.
"While this conduct investigation takes place Mark Gilmore has agreed to work on a transition project for the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and to delegate day-to-day operational control of West Yorkshire Police to his deputy Dee Collins who has, in his absence, acted as the temporary chief constable."
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had arrested a total of seven men on suspicion of offences including bribery, misconduct in public office and procuring misconduct in public office.
Mr Gilmore, originally from Belfast, joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the predecessor of the PSNI, in 1983.
He was appointed Chief Constable of West Yorkshire in April 2013.

Summary:


The number of children in Scotland living in relative poverty has risen by 60,000 over the last year, according to a new report.
###Article: A new website has been launched for farmers to find practical advice on dealing with the disease on their land.
The number of children in Scotland living in relative poverty has

The government has unveiled new tools and advice for farmers as part of a fresh campaign to tackle bovine TB.

Article: The social mobility and child poverty commission said Scotland had lost its position as the country with the lowest levels of child poverty in the UK.
However, Scotland had a lower level of relative poverty after housing costs.
The report called on the Scottish government to widen access to higher education for disadvantaged pupils.
The Scottish government should have a target of 10% of the most deprived school pupils getting places at the most selective, "ancient" universities, the commission recommended.
The State of the Nation 2014 report is the second annual publication from the commission, which was established under the Child Poverty Act 2010.
Its findings showed there were 180,000 children in relative poverty in Scotland - 30,000 more than last year - while 200,000 children were in absolute poverty - also up 30,000 on the previous year.
The report also pointed to a forecast from think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which suggested 50,000 more children could be in relative poverty by 2020.
The authors defined relative poverty as living in a household with less than 60% of the contemporary median income, while absolute poverty applied to households with less than 60% of the median income as it stood in 2010-11.
Despite the increase in the numbers living in poverty, the report said that "progress in Scotland has been more rapid than elsewhere in the UK, particularly when looking at poverty after housing costs".
Scotland has a lower level of relative poverty before housing costs than Wales and Northern Ireland, but about the same as England.
After housing costs Scotland had a lower level of relative poverty than the other UK nations.
Scotland also had a lower level of absolute poverty before housing costs than England, Wales or Northern Ireland and "a considerably lower level of poverty after housing costs".
The proportion of pupils entering higher education from the most advantaged areas was 32.5%, compared to 9.7% in the most disadvantaged areas.
The percentages entering the highly selective...

Summary: The number of children in Scotland living in poverty has risen by 60,000 over the last year, according to a new report.
###
Article: A new website has been launched for farmers to find practical advice on dealing with the disease on their land.
A five-point biosecurity action plan and poster campaign are also included in the initiative.
The measures are being promoted by organisations such as Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the National Farmers' Union.
Recommended actions include asking for a herd's TB history before buying cattle, and taking steps to minimise wildlife access to cattle, their feed and housing.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, Farming Minister George Eustice said "good progress" is being made to  eradicate TB in England.
However, he said reducing the risk of disease entering a farm is a "crucial element" to end the "devastation" it causes for farmers and rural communities.
"There are simple and practical ways for farmers to reduce risk to their herds and neighbouring businesses from bovine TB which are set out in this new action plan approved by vets and farming experts," he added.
Mr Eustice encouraged all cattle farmers to visit the new website and "think about the actions they could take to make a difference to improving the security of their herd".
Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of cattle and is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), which can also infect and cause TB in badgers, deer and other mammals.
Badgers, which some claim transmit TB to cattle, have been subjected to culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire for three years running. A pilot cull in Dorset is also being held this year.
According to Defra, about 30,000 cattle were slaughtered in Great Britain in 2014 because of bovine TB.

Summary:


The European Union is considering a new regulation that would require all online platforms to remove content that is illegal in the EU.
The proposal, which is being discussed by the European Parliament's civil liberties committee, would require platforms to remove content that is illegal in the EU.
The proposal, which is being discussed by the

Russia's leading independent polling agency has been labelled a "foreign agent" by the justice ministry and says it cannot now work.

Article: Andreas Schleicher said international evidence suggested that selection was not linked to improving schools.
He said bright pupils in England were not getting enough opportunities, but grammar school tests were not reliable.
"Any kind of one-off test is likely to favour social background over true academic potential," he said.
Education Secretary Justine Greening has published plans calling for more selective schools in England, and a Department for Education spokesman said any new grammars would "prioritise the admission of disadvantaged pupils".
Mr Schleicher, the think tank's education director, was presenting the OECD's annual report comparing education systems across the industrialised world.
He said there was no relationship between increasing selection and how well school systems performed.
And countries such as Germany and Switzerland, where selection was widely used, were not more likely to produce high-achieving students.
"You might expect that where you have more grammar schools, you will have more of the really top students, that's not what we've seen," said Mr Schleicher.
The OECD education expert said access to selective schools was often unfairly biased towards wealthier families - and that contradicted the aim of stretching the most talented.
"I can see the case for introducing more meritocracy in the school system. Bright students here don't always have the educational opportunities they deserve," said Mr Schleicher.
"But what happens in most European systems is that academic selection becomes social selection.
"Schools are very good at selecting students by their social background, but they're not very good at selecting students by their academic potential."
When admission to school was based on a one-off test, he said, "wealthy parents will find a way through it".
But there were Asian school systems, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, that seemed to be more effective in how they selected pupils.
"They are selective, but they seem to be very good at figuring out how good students really are,"...

Summary: Grammar schools are likely to benefit wealthy families without raising overall standards, says the OECD's head of education.
###
Article: The Levada Centre surveys political opinion among Russian people.
Its director, Lev Gudkov, said the move, which comes two weeks before parliamentary elections,  amounted to "political censorship".
Laws require all NGOs receiving any overseas funding to register as foreign agents and so face restrictions.
The Levada Centre cannot now conduct any work linked to the election campaign.
Mr Gudkov told Agence France-Presse news agency: "The consequences of such a decision for us are devastating - with such a label, we won't be able to work.
"This practically means the imposition of political censorship and the impossibility of independent polls. It's the typical behaviour of this repressive regime."
The other main pollsters are state-controlled.
The justice ministry said Levada had been "included in a register of non-commercial organisations that fulfil the functions of a foreign agent" following an unannounced document check.
Legislation passed in 2012 has designated as foreign agents a number of rights groups,  including Memorial, and the independent election monitoring group Golos.
The Moscow Times said the latest move followed a complaint by the pro-Kremlin Anti-Maidan movement over alleged US funding of Levada.
In May 2013, Levada had said it was being targeted for branding as a foreign agent and had suspended foreign funding.
The Russian authorities say the law is needed to protect Russia from outside attempts to influence internal politics.
But critics say it could be used to prevent NGOs denouncing vote-rigging and other abuses.

Summary: