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New rules to allow planes to fly at higher ash densities for a limited time will be introduced at noon on Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Authority has said.

To fly in the ash zone, airlines will need to get agreement from their aircraft and engine manufacturers.

The authority’s move has been welcomed by airlines, regulators and manufacturers.

It comes after heavy criticism of the current no-fly zone system by airline chiefs.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded by the latest raft of flight cancellations following airport closures across the UK.

All restrictions have now been lifted, after the volcanic ash cloud over UK airspace moved away, but knock-on disruption continues.

Airport operators are advising passengers to check for delays to their flights with airlines.

‘Exceptional features’

Air traffic control company Nats said it was "delighted" by the new measures, which meant there were "no predicted restrictions on UK airspace in the immediate future".

CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said "unprecedented situations" required "new measures" and the challenge posed by the volcano could not be underestimated.

"The world’s top scientists tell us that we must not simply assume the effects of this volcano will be the same as others elsewhere.

"Its proximity to the UK, the length of time it is continuously erupting and the weather patterns are all exceptional features.

"The answer can only come, therefore, from aircraft and engine manufacturers establishing what level of ash their products can safely tolerate," he said.

Jim French, chief executive of budget airline Flybe – the only airline so far to satisfy the CAA’s conditions – said he welcomed the move.

He said the airline had been forced to cancel 381 flights during the past 48 hours but if the new criteria had already been in place, it would have only affected 21 flights.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the CAA, aircraft and engine manufacturers and airlines had been working "extremely hard" to "get people flying".

Airline criticism

Airlines had been calling for the system – which uses Met Office data to set out no-fly zones – to be revised.

Earlier, British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh had said blanket bans on flying were "a gross over-reaction to a very minor risk" and called for a "much better and more sensible" approach.

Ash cloud forecast17 May 1800 GMT18 May 0000 GMT

Meanwhile Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said reliance on "outdated, inappropriate and imaginary" computer-generated volcano concentration charts was "ridiculous".

On Sunday, Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson called the closure of Manchester airport "beyond a joke".

The CAA had already raised the density threshold level that forces a flight ban once, following six days of airport closures in April.

Since the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted last month, throwing huge amounts of ash into the air, thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled across Europe due to fears that ash could turn into molten glass within a hot jet engine, crippling the aircraft.

Stranded passengers

The latest UK disruption saw airspace over Northern Ireland close first on Saturday, before the cloud moved south and grounded flights in many parts of the UK on Sunday.

On Monday, thousands of passengers were left to rebook their flights or to wait in airports for new departure times.

Virgin Trains said 7,000 extra seats had been made available on Monday, mainly on routes between Birmingham and Glasgow and Edinburgh, and between London Euston and Glasgow.

Eurostar laid on six extra trains through the Channel Tunnel on Monday, amounting to about 5,500 additional seats.

In the Netherlands, Amsterdam’s Schiphol and Rotterdam airports reopened from 1300 local time (1200 BST) after being closed for seven hours.

Among the affected travellers who contacted the BBC News website was Matt Pope, from Guildford, who e-mailed to say it was the third time the ash had disrupted his travel plans. On the first occasion he was stuck in North Carolina for six days.

He wrote: "Last weekend the Easyjet flight from Prague to Gatwick was cancelled due to aircraft positioning problems after ash in central Europe.

"This was after we ran the marathon and I missed my flight to Singapore the next day causing expensive rescheduling.

"Now I am sat at Heathrow awaiting for a flight to NY. Will this ever end?"

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US actor Dustin Hoffman is to make his directorial debut with a British comedy starring Dame Maggie Smith, for BBC Films.

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Men are more likely to tell lies than women and feel less guilty about it, says a survey.

In a poll of 3,000 people, researchers found that the average British man tells three lies every day, that’s equivalent to 1,092 a year.

However the average woman appears more honest, lying 728 times a year – around twice a day.

Mums are the people mostly likely to be lied to, says the Science Museum who commissioned the survey.

Twenty-five per cent of men say they’ve lied to their mother, but only 20% of women admit to having lied to their mum.

In comparison, only 10% of people said they are likely to lie to their partner.

Concerning the kind of lies we tell, men said that they most often lie to their partner about their drinking habits. "I didn’t have that much to drink" is men’s most popular fib.

Whereas women use the line, "Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine" most often to hide their true feelings.

"It’s just what I’ve always wanted" is the least likely lie to be told to a loved one by either men or women, suggesting that men and women are quite discerning when it comes to buying presents for each other.

Women are most likely to feel guilty after telling a lie. Eighty-two per cent say it eats away at their conscience, compared to just 70% of men.

Is there such a thing as an acceptable lie? Eighty-four per cent of people think there is. Three quarters of those surveyed believe it’s alright to fib if it’s to save someone’s feelings.

When it comes to the quality of the lie, 55% of Brits think women are the better liars, even though they tell fewer lies.

The survey found that 71% of people think it is fine to protect someone by telling a lie, and 57% would be happy to fib if they didn’t like a gift they’d been given.

Katie Maggs, associate medical curator at the Science Museum, says the jury’s out as to whether lying is a result of our genes, evolution or our upbringing.

"Lying may seem to be an unavoidable part of human nature but it’s an important part of social interaction," she says.

The museum in west London is launching a gallery called "Who am I?" which makes sense of brain science, genetics and human behaviour.

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A fast growing invasive plant spreading through parts of the US could increase ozone pollution near the ground, a study warns.

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At least 12 people have been killed in a bomb blast near a police vehicle in the north-western Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan.

Officials say the bomb was planted on a bicycle and targeted the town’s deputy police superintendent, who was killed along with his guard and driver.

Nobody has yet said they carried out the attack.

Dera Ismail Khan borders the tribal region of South Waziristan, where the army took on the Taliban last year.

Many people fled to the town after the army launched its offensive against militant strongholds in the volatile region.

While there has been a relative lull in violence in Dera Ismail Khan since the offensive, correspondents say many insurgents simply shifted to the nearby regions of Orakzai and Khyber.

"The target was Deputy Superintendent Iqbal Khan," a local police official told the BBC.

DSP Khan had been leaving his house in the Kutchi Painda Khan area of the city and getting into his car when the bomb was detonated by remote control, police said.

Hospital officials said the dead included women and children.

Are you in the area? Did you witness the explosion?

Send your comments using the post form below.

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Midfielder Tim Cahill has signed a new four-year deal that is set to keep him at Everton until 2014.

The 30-year-old Australia international had two years remaining on his previous contract but Everton were keen to secure his long-term future.

The World Cup-bound midfielder has scored 56 goals in 209 games since arriving from Millwall in 2004.

Cahill told the club website before the end of the season: "The chairman knows my thoughts, I will sign for life."

He added: "He knows my thoughts on what I love about this club. I respect everyone so much and hopefully I am here for a long time."

More to follow

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A claim for damages against the chief constable and the NI Secretary brought by the husband of one of the victims of the Omagh bomb has been struck out.

Laurence Rush brought the case over "the failures in the apprehension, detection and pre-emptive arrest of the Real IRA members who planted the bomb".

Mr Rush’s wife Elizabeth was one of the 29 people murdered in the attack.

On Tuesday, a high court judge ruled that Mr Rush’s case "did not enjoy the potential prospect of success".

Mr Rush had claimed that the police failed to act upon information received regarding the planting of the Omagh bomb in August 1998 and failed to give adequate warnings and implement sufficient and adequate evacuation procedures.

The defendants applied to have Mr Rush’s claim struck out on the basis that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action or that it was frivolous or vexatious.

Adjudicating in the high court, Master Bell, said: "Those who committed the civil wrong against Mr Rush, as a result of which he tragically lost his wife, were the members of the Real IRA who organised and carried out the Omagh bombing.

"It was not the police or the secretary of state".

He granted the application by the chief constable and the secretary of state and struck out Mr Rush’s action.

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British Airways has won a High Court injunction to stop the latest strikes by its cabin staff. Do you agree with the decision?

The judge ruled that the union had failed to tell its members about a number of spoilt ballot papers in the latest strike votes. The union said it would appeal.

The union’s joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, said the decision brings into question whether we have the right to strike in this country” and announced the union would appeal the ruling.

Should courts stop strikes on technicalities? Does this bring to question the right to strike? Should both parts try to solve the dispute? Are you flying today? Has your flight been affected?

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The NHS in Scotland is to increase the amount of weight loss surgery it carries out, BBC Scotland can reveal.

Extra operations are to be offered at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, Glasgow.

It will provide bariatric surgery – procedures to fit gastric bands and stomach stapling to restrict the amount of food people can digest.

The move comes after Scottish ministers announced plans in February to tackle the country’s obesity "timebomb".

NHS guidelines state that anyone who is so overweight that their life is at risk should be offered weight loss surgery, such as a gastric band, to restrict the amount of food they can eat.

In reality, however, severely obese people in Scotland face a long wait, if they ever get surgery at all.

First referrals

Last year more than 250 people were referred for weight loss surgery, but only 165 operations were carried out.

Most Scottish health boards do not offer it and the few that do often say they are overwhelmed by demand.

The Golden Jubilee Hospital will announce on Tuesday that it is to start performing gastric band operations.

A total of 60 procedures will be carried out next year for patients from the west of Scotland although health boards anywhere in Scotland will be able to refer patients in future.

In February, Scottish ministers announced plans to work with the food industry, business and schools to try to tackle Scotland’s obesity "timebomb".

The move came after a report suggested 40% of the population could be classed as obese by 2030.

Ministers believe the condition is a huge threat to Scotland’s future.

Obesity is thought to cost the NHS £475m a year, but projected estimates state this could rise to £3bn a year in two decades.

The Golden Jubilee Hospital was built as a private hospital in 1994 by Health Care International.

It was purchased by the NHS in 2002 at a cost of £37.5m to help reduce waiting times for treatment.

As well as that specialised function, it is also home to the West of Scotland Heart and Lung Centre.

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International Rowing 2010World Cup – Bled 28-30 May, Watch live on red button/online (UK only), highlights on BBC Two, 31 May, 1300 BSTWorld Cup – Munich 18-20 June, World Cup – Lucerne 9-11 July, World Championships – New Zealand 31 Oct-7 Nov

Greg Searle will return to the British squad after a 10-year break later this month, aiming to take part in the 2012 Olympics, when he will be 40-years-old.

Searle won gold in Barcelona in 1992 with brother Jonny and cox Garry Herbert, and bronze in a four in 1996.

He will compete in the GB eight at the opening World Cup event in Bled, Slovenia at the end of May.

Scot Katherine Grainger will race in two boats, while men’s pair Andy Hodge and Pete Reed have been kept together.

Zac Purchase returns from a year out through illness but Mark Hunter, his partner in the lightweight double scull that won Olympic gold in Beijing, is ruled out through injury.

The rowers are raring to go after a long winter of training

"Getting into a racing boat for Bled is a big stepping stone on the way to 2012," Searle told BBC Sport.

"I have proved I can train, now I get the opportunity to prove I can race.

"It’s been such a journey of discovery the whole way, and for much of the way I have not known whether I can do it. Now I’ve got the belief and confidence.

"I can’t wait to get out to Bled and see where I stand and where the crew stand against the rest of the world."

Searle has been added to a young men’s eight, which came fourth at last year’s World Championships in Poland.

He retired after the 2000 Olympics, when he came agonisingly short of a medal in a pair with Ed Coode, and went on to take part in sailing’s America’s Cup as a grinder and compete in the BBC’s Superstars series.

He went to Poland, in August 2009, as a race commentator but decided soon afterwards to make a competitive return.

Grainger, who is bidding to follow her three successive Olympic silver medals with gold in 2012, won world silver in a single scull last year but will now partner Anna Watkins in a double and also compete in a quad – the boat she raced to an agonising second place in Beijing.

Hodge and Reed were second behind New Zealand last season but have proved in trials over the winter that they are significantly faster than other members of the GB squad.

Purchase will race in the lightweight single in Slovenia but could be rejoined by Hunter – who took 2009 off to coach at university in California – for the second of three World Cup regattas, in Munich in June.

Welshman Tom James is another Olympic champion whose return from a year off is likely to be delayed by a further month because of injury.

Olympic silver medallist Debbie Flood returns from a year off working in the prison service, and will race in the single scull in Bled.

The men’s four of Alex Partridge, Richard Egington, Alex Gregory and Matt Langridge – Great Britain’s only reigning world champions – have retained the same line-up from last season.

But the 2008 Olympic bronze medal double scull of Matt Wells and Steve Rowbotham looks likely to be broken up after a disappointing 2009, when they missed the world final.

Marcus Bateman joins Wells in the double, with Rowbotham missing the season-opener through injury.

"We have an interesting season ahead with early-season World Cups but a World Championships in early November in New Zealand," said GB Rowing performance director David Tanner.

"The rowers are raring to go after a long winter of training. They will also get the chance in Bled to familiarise themselves with the 2011 World Championships venue, where the 2012 Olympic qualifying process will begin."

Bled will also offer the only World Cup racing this year for the Paralympic boat classes, including world record-holder Tom Aggar.

Great Britain squad for opening World Cup regatta:

Openweight women:

Pairs (three boats): Olivia Whitlam, Louisa Reeve; Jessica Eddie, Alison Knowles; Helen Glover, Heather Stanning

Eight: Jo Cook, Louisa Reeve, Natasha Page, Victoria Thornley, Jessica Eddie, Lindsey Maguire, Olivia Whitlam, Alison Knowles, Caroline O’Connor (cox)

Single scull (two boats): Melanie Wilson, Debbie Flood

Double scull (two boats): Katherine Grainger, Anna Watkins; Beth Rodford, Annabel Vernon

Quadruple scull: Annabel Vernon, Beth Rodford, Anna Watkins, Katherine Grainger

Openweight men:

Pair (two boats): Peter Reed, Andrew Triggs Hodge; Cameron Nichol, Tom Burton

Four: Alex Partridge, Richard Egington, Alex Gregory, Matt Langridge

Eight: Tom Wilkinson, James Clarke, James Orme, James Foad, Mohamed Sbihi, Greg Searle, Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell, Daniel Ritchie, Phelan Hill (cox)

Single scull (two boats): Alan Campbell; Brendan Crean

Double scull (two boats): Matthew Wells, Marcus Bateman; Bill Lucas, Sam Townsend

Lightweight women:

Double scull (two boats): Hester Goodsell, Sophie Hosking; Stephanie Cullen, Andrea Dennis

Lightweight men:

Pair: Chris Boddy, Adam Freeman-Pask

Four: Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick, Rob Williams, Chris Bartley

Single scull: Zac Purchase

Double scull: Ben Rowe, Peter Chambers

Adaptive:

Mixed coxed four: Kelsie Gibson, James Roe, Ryan Chamberlain, Naomi Riches, Rhiannon Jones (cox)

Arms-shoulders single (two boats): Tom Aggar, Andy Houghton

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Chinese tycoon Huang Guangyu has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of bribery, insider trading and illegal business practices.

Huang, who was for a time the richest man in China, was also fined 600 million yuan ($88m; £59m), the official Xinhua news agency said.

He built a billion-dollar business from almost nothing, after dropping out of school nearly 30 years ago.

His business grew into a chain of more than 1,300 stores across China.

The Gome chain of domestic appliance shops was the second largest in the country.

The BBC’s southern China correspondent, Chris Hogg, says canny investments in property helped Mr Huang build a fortune estimated to be between $2.7bn (£1.72bn) and $6.3bn at the time of his arrest.

The case was the highest profile yet involving an entrepreneur in China.

In 2008 Mr Huang topped the Hurun Report’s China rich list.

A few months later he was arrested and he went on trial in Beijing last month.

He had been accused of manipulating share trading for two listed companies – Sanlian Commercial Co and Beijing Centergate Technologies Co, Xinhua reported before his trial.

Gome Appliances Co, a mainland subsidiary of the firm Mr Huang founded, was also accused of corporate bribery.

He stepped down as Gome’s chairman last year.

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A French court has ordered the release of an Iranian convicted for the 1991 murder of Iran’s ex-Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar.

Ali Vakili Rad was expected to be released from prison and flown home to Tehran, his lawyer said.

The move comes just days after Iran freed a French teacher, Clotilde Reiss, who was charged with spying after Iran’s disputed presidential election.

France has denied it made any pact with Iran to secure her release.

Vakili Rad was convicted in 1994 for assassinating Mr Bakhtiar, who had fled Iran after the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

He had become eligible for parole last year.

The French interior minister signed an order for Vakili Rad’s deportation on Monday.

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American rock singer Ronnie James Dio, who died on Sunday, popularised a hand gesture commonly used by heavy metal fans. But what does it mean?

It’s a gesture commonly seen at rock concerts.

The index finger and the little finger are upright and the thumb is clasped against the two middle fingers.

Ronnie James Dio, who sang with Black Sabbath and Rainbow before forming his own band, was partly responsible for it becoming a common symbol among metal fans.

But it has other uses too, depending on the position of the thumb, and the context. Here is a round-up of some of the common meanings.

‘WE ARE LOVING THIS GIG’

"Ronnie started throwing the horns shortly after replacing Ozzy Osbourne as Black Sabbath’s vocalist in 1979," says Simon Young, news editor of heavy metal magazine Kerrang!.

"Many metal fans began to reciprocate the gesture and along with headbanging, it became synonymous with metal."

Dio wasn’t the first, says Young. In the 1960s, there had been Coven frontman Jinx Dawson, and the cartoon version of John Lennon on the cover of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine was seen using it too. But it really took off from Dio.

It has been misinterpreted as a sign of allegiance to the devil, because the shape of the fingers have been associated with 666, the number of the beast, says Young.

But Dio, says Young, explained that he was taught the so-called corna sign by his Italian grandmother, as a way to scare off the "evil eye", a look which is said to cause bad luck. It’s like knocking on wood for superstitious purposes (more on this meaning at bottom of page).

Fans copied Dio because they thought it looked cool, and it became a sign of appreciation at gigs. But it has more recently crossed over into mainstream youth culture, says Young.

"Rihanna, Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne have all done it – perhaps they’re all secret metal fans – but it has led to several internet groups forming in protest over the ‘egregious overuse and inappropriate use’ of throwing the horns. Quite right. Leave it to the metal fans."

WARDING OFF THE EVIL EYE

When Dio’s Italian grandmother taught him the corna sign, she was drawing on a much older superstition.

Bram Stoker mentioned it in his novel Dracula, published in 1897. In the first chapter, protagonist Jonathan Harker notes the following in his journal while in Eastern Europe’s Carpathian Mountains:

"When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil eye."

This superstitious belief is especially common in Italy, but it is also shared in other countries.

‘GO, THE TEXAN LONGHORNS’

The slogan of the University of Texas is "Hook ’em, horns" and the hand sign that illustrates this motto is the same as the one used by heavy metal fans.

It is intended to symbolise the head and horns of the university mascot, the longhorn, and has been used since the 1950s.

Fans use it as a greeting or just to emphasise their Texan identity, a demonstration most famously seen in recent years by George W Bush.

His wife Laura and daughters were also fans.

‘I LOVE YOU’

With the thumb sticking out, it has a different meaning entirely.

"It is the American sign for ‘I love you’," says Sarah Murray of the British Deaf Association.

"It would probably be recognised by people here [in the UK] but you wouldn’t see it often used."

American politicians like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney have been photographed using it in the same way, although some believe that Jimmy Carter was its first exponent when running for president in the 1970s.

When the Obamas use it with their thumb sticking out, it is different from the specifically Texan use by George Bush, says Trevor McCrisken, a professor in US politics at the University of Warwick.

"They want to show that they care about people that need to use sign language," he says. "If you’re at a political event in the US, there will be a couple of people down the front signing to the audience, so they’re more careful [than in the UK] to ensure that everyone with special needs is catered for."

‘HANG LOOSE’

At his presidential inauguration, President Obama was seen doing what is known as the "shaka" greeting, which has the thumb and little finger extended.

It is also exercised by Brazilian footballer Ronaldhinho as part of his goal scoring celebrations.

In Hawaii, where the president was born, the sign conveys affection or "aloha".

It has been adopted by the wider surfing community as a greeting meaning "hi", "cool" or "hang loose".

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CCTV footage of robbers dressed as police forensics officers stealing diamond jewellery from a Lincoln shop has been released by police.

The footage shows one of the masked men threaten a staff member with a hammer at James Usher & Son in Guildhall Street in the raid on Saturday morning.

Managing director James Frampton said about £80,000 of jewels were stolen and security is now being reviewed.

The robbers escaped in a car later found abandoned and on fire.

The green Vauxhall Astra was set alight in Lindum Terrace.

‘Dangerous individuals’

The robbers and getaway driver then made their escape in a white Transit-type van parked on Arboretum Avenue, police said.

Officers said the two robbers – wearing white hooded-boiler suits with a "police forensics" logo and dust masks which covered most of their faces – took various pieces of diamond jewellery.

They appeared to target the most valuable items in the shop.

Mr Frampton said: "We are relieved that our staff are physically unharmed although some are struggling to come to terms with the shock of these events.

"We appeal to all members of the public who were in the vicinity and saw anything at all to help the police with their inquiries. It is important for us all that these dangerous individuals are apprehended."

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