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Australia win the toss and will bat against England in the second Twenty20 international at Melbourne.
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Bovis Homes says it will start paying dividends to shareholders again after “significant improvements” in profits in 2010.
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Ford prison’s Independent Monitoring Board warned about low staffing levels two weeks before the riots Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke was warned about staffing concerns at an open prison a fortnight before inmates went on the rampage, it has emerged.
The local Independent Monitoring Board – a group of volunteers who carry out checks – also warned about alcohol being smuggled into Ford open prison.
Some 40 inmates rioted at the jail in West Sussex on New Year’s Day after officers attempted to breathalyse them.
The Ministry of Justice said it would consider the report’s findings.
At the start of the riot, which is estimated to have caused £3m worth of damage, two officers and four support staff on the night shift were in charge of almost 500 prisoners.
In a report from 16 December which has now been published, Ford’s Independent Monitoring Board said it had concerns about “minimal” staffing, as well as junior staff – who were only trained to a low level – patrolling alone.
“Whilst there have only been minor incidents in the last year, we do not consider that proper control is being exercised at night and are sceptical of the response received in the past that it must be adequate because there has not been a serious incident yet,” it said.
It went on to warn “drugs, alcohol, mobile telephones and other illicit substances” continued to find their way into the prison.
The report echoes concerns about low staffing levels from the Prison Officers Association.
Specialist prison officers in riot gear helped to quell unrest at Ford prison Last week the POA said only 43 prison staff are in charge of more than 3,000 inmates on a typical night shift at open jails.
Joe Simpson, of the POA, said the numbers were “totally inadequate” and he was surprised recent unrest at an open prison had not happened sooner.
Earlier this week Mr Clarke told the Commons that lessons must be learned about what happened at Ford.
The National Offender Management Service is carrying out an investigation.
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Eurostar announces a 12% rise in annual sales, thanks largely to a continued recovery in business travel.
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Flooding continues to bring disruption to parts of Wales after more heavy rain fell on already saturated ground overnight.
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Michaela McAreavey’s body is due to return to her family home on Friday The body of Michaela McAreavey will arrive back in Northern Ireland from Mauritius on Friday.
Mrs McAreavey, 28, daughter of Tyrone Gaelic football boss Mickey Harte, was found murdered in her honeymoon hotel room on Monday.
Three men have been charged in connection with the murder.
Her funeral will be held next Monday – in the same County Tyrone church where she married on 30 December.
On Friday afternoon, the Harte family home will be open to family and friends.
Members of the public can attend the wake on Saturday and Sunday.
A private Funeral Mass for Mrs McAreavey will take place on Monday at St Malachy’s Church, Ballymacilroy.
Police in Mauritius said on Thursday that one of the three men charged in connection with the murder of Michaela McAreavey has confessed to the killing.
Avinash Treebhoowoon, 29, appeared in court on Wednesday, along with two others.
Police told the BBC on Thursday he had confessed to the killing.
It followed the revelation that a lawyer for Raj Theekoy, who is charged with conspiracy to murder, said his client had spoken to police and implicated the other two men.
Sandip Moneea, 41, and Mr Treebhoowoon appeared in court on Wednesday accused of her murder.
All three were remanded in police custody for a week and will return to court next Wednesday, when they are expected either to be formally charged or released.
Detective Superintendent Yoosoof Soopun from the Mauritian police, who is leading the investigation, said they believed Mrs McAreavey interrupted the men stealing money from her room.
‘She is my life’
Mrs McAreavey’s husband, John, described his wife as “his rock”.
Sandip Moneea, 41, Raj Theekoy, 33, and Avinash Treebhoowoon, 29, have been charged over the killing He said their hopes, dreams and future were gone and he had been left heartbroken and totally devastated.
“I love my wife, very, very much and my world revolved around her.
“I can’t describe in words how lost I feel as Michaela is not just the light of my life – she is my life,” Mr McAreavey said.
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In India, the prices of fruit and vegetables have sky-rocketed India has announced a slew of measures to curb spiralling food prices.
The prime minister’s office said the government would review import and export of essential commodities and sell onions at a restricted price.
Admitting that food prices had risen to “unacceptable” levels, the authorities said it was proving difficult to manage inflation.
Experts, however, say the measures are too little, too late and a repeat of already failed steps.
The soaring price of vegetables, milk and other food products in the past month took food inflation to 18.32% – the highest in more than a year.
The price of onions, a staple food used in many dishes, has risen dramatically – even prompting India’s government to approach long-time rival Pakistan for help.
A kilogram of onions, which usually costs 20 rupees in India, went up to 85 rupees (£1.20; $1.87) last month. It is now about 60-65 rupees a kilo.
The government said state-run stores would sell the vegetable at 35 rupees a kilo. The expected arrival of 1,000 tonnes of onions from Pakistan soon would also ease the situation, it said.
The price rise has been blamed on unusually heavy rains in the bulk-producing western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat and in southern states, as well as on hoarders and speculators.
The ban on export of onions, pulses, cooking oil and cheaper varieties of rice will continue. State agencies would also retail edible oil and pulses at a reasonable rate, the authorities said.
Economists said the government had shied away from taking bold steps and that the steps would be unlikely to help much.
Discontent over food inflation has been a major headache for the government.
High prices of essential commodities such as onions have previously sparked unrest and helped bring down the national government in 2004.
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A woman in Brazil narrowly avoids being swept away
Rescuers are trying to find survivors in cut-off areas of south-eastern Brazil hit by deadly floods that have left more than 400 people dead.
Relatives have been joining in the search but often only find the bodies of loved ones.
Heavy rain has brought massive mudslides down on the towns of Nova Friburgo, Teresopolis and Petropolis. Thousands have been made homeless.
President Dilma Rousseff visited and expressed solidarity with communities.
Darkness has fallen in the mountainous Serrana region, north of Rio de Janeiro, bringing a pause in the work of more than 800 rescue workers.
Many have spent Thursday scrabbling with their bare hands through debris.
In the Campo Grande area of Teresopolis, which was earlier cut off, rescuers found family members pulling bodies from the mud.
One Campo Grande resident, Carols Eurico, told the Associated Press: “I have friends still lost in all of this mud. It’s all gone. It’s all over now. We’re putting ourselves in the hands of God.”
If you reach the city centre of Teresopolis, you might not think the scale of destruction was too great, but on the outskirts and other neighbourhoods – such as Campo Grande and Posse – there is a sense of just how much was affected.
In these places, there is mud everywhere – some of it more than 3m high. Cars are destroyed and turned upside down, from small sports cars to big trucks. The river that runs through the city is known to be calm, but it is now completely flooded. Most of the houses destroyed were poor quality, made out of timber. Emergency services are everywhere.
Many of the people who lost their homes have taken shelter in the local gymnasium. Every now and then a new list comes out of people that have been confirmed dead.
Surprisingly at the gym, most people managed to remain calm and were chatting, although many have lost a friend or family member. But everyone in Teresopolis can feel just how terrible this disaster has been.
Another resident, Nilson Martins, held a lucky pet rabbit that had survived.
“We’re just digging around, there is no way of knowing where to look,” he told AP.
Another resident of Teresopolis told AFP: “One woman tried to save her children, but her two-month-old baby was carried away by a torrent like a doll.”
The Brazilian armed forces have brought in a field hospital and hundreds of people have taken refuge in the gymnasium in Teresopolis.
But the number of injured was threatening to overwhelm the medical services.
Jorge Mario, the mayor of the Teresopolis, said: “There are three or four neighbourhoods that were totally destroyed in rural areas. There are hardly any houses standing there and all the roads and bridges are destroyed.”
In one dramatic filmed rescue, 53-year-old Ilair Pereira de Souza was pulled by rope from a destroyed house surrounded by raging water.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said.
Ms Pereira de Souza had jumped with her dog Beethoven but was forced to let him go to survive.
“If I had tried to save him, I would have died. The poor thing. He stayed for a moment looking me in the eyes, and then he was swept away.”
President Rousseff visited the area on Thursday and vowed a shipment of seven tonnes of medicines.
“It’s very overwhelming. The scenes are very shocking,” she said.
On Wednesday she had signed a decree authorising 780m reais ($480m; £296m) in emergency funding for the affected areas.
Ms Rousseff described the destruction as an act of God but she also expressed anger at illegal construction.
“We saw areas in which mountains untouched by men dissolved. But we also saw areas in which illegal occupation caused damage to the health and lives of people.”
Saying that building houses in risky areas was “the rule rather than the exception”, in Brazil she added: “When there are no housing policies in place, where will a person with an income of up to two minimum wages live? He will live where he is not allowed to.”
Ms Rousseff said the state would care for the victims but said stopping future tragedies would be a priority.
“We are here to guarantee that this moment of reconstruction will also be a moment of prevention.”
Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral blamed local governments for allowing poor building and illegal occupations.
“Unfortunately, what we saw in Petropolis, Teresopolis and Nova Friburgo, since the 1980s, was a problem similar to what happened in the city of Rio – letting the poorer people occupy risk areas.”
He said some rich mansions had been damaged but most of the victims were “humble people”.
Mr Cabral ended the press conference by asking people in risk areas to leave their houses and seek public shelter or in other families’ homes.
“The weather forecast is not reassuring, and new mudslides could occur,” he said.
About 200 people are so far known to died in Nova Friburgo, some 175 in Teresopolis and dozens more in Petropolis, media report.
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Under the Taliban regime women were not allowed to be educated and were forced to wear the burqa The Taliban have abandoned their opposition to schooling girls in Afghanistan, the country’s education minister has said.
Farooq Wardak told the UK’s Times Educational Supplement a “cultural change” meant the Taliban were “no more opposing girls’ education”.
Under the Taliban regime, women in Afghanistan were not allowed to work or get an education.
Mr Wardak made his comments while in London for the Education World Forum.
He told the TES: “What I am hearing at the very upper policy level of the Taliban is that they are no more opposing education and also girls’ education.
“I hope, Inshallah (God willing), soon there will be a peaceful negotiation, a meaningful negotiation with our own opposition and that will not compromise at all the basic human rights and basic principles which have been guiding us to provide quality and balanced education to our people,” he added.
Last October, Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed unofficial talks with Taliban leaders were under way in an attempt to end the bloody insurgency that has wracked the troubled country for more than nine years.
Mr Wardak’s words suggest the negotiations have gone beyond issues like the release of prisoners to touch on areas of government policy.
The education minister admitted historical opposition to schooling extended beyond the Taliban to the “deepest pockets” of Afghan society.
“That is the reason that in many provinces of Afghanistan we do not have either male or female teacher.
“During the Taliban era the percentage of girls of the one million students that we had was 0%. The percentage of female teachers was 0%.
“Today 38% of our students and 30% of our teachers are female,” he said.
Mr Wardak also criticised the UK government for not providing more money for schools in Afghanistan.
The UK’s Department for International Development spent £12m on schooling in Afghanistan in 2009-10.
A spokeswoman said the UK remained committed to improving education in Afghanistan.
“Last year, the British government financed the salaries of 169,000 teachers through the Afghanistan reconstruction trust fund.
“Through the national solidarity programme, we have helped Afghan communities to build schools in every province of the country,” she said.
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Frank Lampard likens Chelsea’s current form to that experienced ahead of former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari’s dismissal in 2009.
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A boy, 16, is charged with the murder of a care worker who died in hospital after a fight on New Year’s Day.
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The by-election is the first since the general election Polls have closed in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, the first such contest since the coalition government was formed last year.
The by-election was called after a specially convened election court found Labour Party candidate Phil Woolas had lied about his Lib Dem opponent.
Labour won the seat by just 103 votes in May from the Liberal Democrats with the Conservatives in third place.
The result is expected to be declared at about 0200 GMT on Friday.
The by-election is the first significant opportunity that voters have had to pass judgement on the policies of the coalition government and Ed Miliband’s performance as opposition leader.
All the main party leaders visited the constituency during the campaign, with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg making three appearances to support his party’s candidate.
Polls have suggested Labour are on course to hold the seat.
However, BBC chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said the indications were that the result would be close and that Labour were not taking victory for granted.
Labour sources have told the BBC they believe turnout in the contest was considerably lower than in the general election.
Between 40% and 45% of registered voters are thought to have cast their ballots before polls closed at 2200 GMT, compared with 61% in May.
Ten candidates are standing in the contest.
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Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi denies the rape charge Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have arrested a lawmaker for allegedly raping a teenaged girl.
Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi of the state’s governing Bahujan Samaj Party was arrested in Banda district.
Mr Dwivedi denies the charge. He says he is diabetic and impotent and hence incapable of rape.
Authorities ordered his arrest after the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a report confirming the lawmaker’s crime.
Two of Mr Dwivedi’s aides who are also accused of raping the girl – Rajendra Shukla and Surendra Neta – were arrested on Wednesday.
Another accused, Ravan Garg, has absconded, police say.
Reports say the girl had just begun working for Mr Dwivedi as a domestic servant when she made the complaint.
She has been in jail since 12 December, when she escaped from Mr Dwivedi’s house.
She was arrested on charges of theft on complaint from the lawmaker. She says she is innocent and campaigners say the theft charged are trumped up.
India’s women and child development ministry has called for an investigation by the federal investigative agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
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Funding for students in Wales is £900 a year less than in England Welsh universities are losing out by almost £80m per year compared to their English counterparts.
Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) analysis shows that in 2007/8 government funding per student was about £900 less than in England.
The assembly government says it expects to see the gap abolished with “more generous” funding over coming years.
News of the funding gap comes as the HEFCW announces funding cuts of 4% – £15m in total – this year.
“We’ve learned to cope,” said Swansea University vice chancellor Professor Richard Davies. “In fact, our motto is ‘more for less’,” he said.
He said if funding was the same as in England, Swansea University would receive an extra £6m a year in its budget – currently about £160m a year.
“The remarkable thing about Wales is how well we do in the annual national student survey which records the views of all final year students on the quality of the education they’ve received,” he said.
“Our proposals are more generous over forthcoming years than are predicted for England where teaching budgets are set to fall, thus effectively abolishing the so-called public funding gap.”
Spokesperson Welsh Assembly Government
In Wales, responsibility for education is devolved to the Welsh assembly.
In November, the assembly government announced plans to absorb a rise in basic tuition fees for students from Wales attending any UK university.
A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said: “We provide substantial investment to fund delivery of higher education in Wales – both in terms of student finance and institutional provision.
“In November, the minister made a significant announcement regarding the future of fees in Wales which will ensure that the level of teaching grant support available to Welsh HE institutions will be higher than that available to English institutions.
“Our proposals are more generous over forthcoming years than are predicted for England where teaching budgets are set to fall, thus effectively abolishing the so-called public funding gap.”
The HEFCW calculated that in 2007/8 it would have cost the assembly government up to £69m to plug the university funding gap with England.
It projected the figure would rise to £78m in the year 2008/9.
HEFCW chief executive Professor Philip Gummett said: “We have been working with the higher education sector in Wales to help prepare for changes in public funding.
“While we asked them to be prudent in their planning assumptions generally, we also advised them about the possible implications of the 2011-12 assembly budget on their funding for the 2010/11 academic year, recommending that they make contingency plans to accommodate any potential fluctuations.
“Subject to confirmation next month, we have asked universities to plan for a 4% reduction.”
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Potholes on the road network have caused problems for drivers Councils are to share an extra £15m from the Scottish government to cover the impact of winter conditions on Scotland’s roads.
The funding is three times the amount made available last year.
A government spokesman said the money would be available for urgent repairs on local roads and cover the extra costs of winter roads maintenance.
Previous estimates have set the cost of repairing the road network in Scotland at £100m.
Up to a tenth of Scotland’s road network is thought to require urgent work to repair damage caused by the severe weather.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “Scotland has faced its coldest December in 100 years and it is no surprise that significant additional costs were incurred.
“Both Transport Scotland, who maintain the trunk road network on behalf of the Scottish government, and councils who look after local roads, have worked extremely hard over the last couple of months to keep our roads passable.”
He said “the tremendous efforts” to keep Scotland moving and the cost of extra salt supplies came at a price.
“I have agreed to release an additional £15m for this financial year, allocated across all councils, to cover the exceptional cost of extra winter roads maintenance required this winter and to help councils deal with necessary road repairs,” he said.
“This is three times the extra amount we provided last year and I believe the severity of the conditions faced by councils merits an increase of that size.”
The money is for the financial year 2010/11 and the exact distribution formula is to be discussed further with Cosla, the umbrella group that represents Scotland’s 32 local authorities.
Earlier this week a massive pothole on the M74 motorway in South Lanarkshire caused damage to at least four vehicles.
A large pothole also caused major problems for motorists travelling on the M8 in West Lothian.
Potholes appear in winter when water seeps under a road surface and freezes to form ice. The process undermines the integrity of the carriageway when the temperature rises again, causing cracks or holes.
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