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Police say dissident republicans were responsible for shooting a photographer during trouble in east Belfast on Tuesday night.
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Greek PM George Papandreou tries to persuade MPs to pass further austerity measures that have sparked nationwide strikes and riots.
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Errors this year have included impossible questions A series of at least nine errors in this year’s GCSE, A-level and AS-level exam papers is “not an acceptable situation”, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
He said England’s exams watchdog Ofqual would take the “toughest possible action” to stop further errors.
Ofqual said it was meeting with exam board heads and would launch an inquiry this summer.
Three more mistakes emerged on Tuesday, in AQA and OCR exam papers.
Both exam boards apologised for the mistakes, which affected OCR’s A-level physics and GCSE Latin papers, and AQA’s GCSE maths foundation paper.
Speaking at prime minister’s questions, Mr Cameron said he had discussed the issue with Education Secretary Michael Gove, who had spoken to Ofqual.
The qualifications regulator was “taking the toughest possible action to root out this failure and make sure it doesn’t happen again”, he said.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, Ofqual said it was “unacceptable” that candidates had faced fresh errors after exam boards had provided written promises that additional quality checks would take place after the first wave of errors.
“Our concerns are serious enough that our director of regulation is meeting with the chief executive of OCR today to understand how these recent errors occurred and to make sure, so far as possible, that there will be no more avoidable errors,” the statement said.
Regulators would be meeting on Thursday with heads of other exam boards and would “again ask for confirmation that there will be no more avoidable errors”, Ofqual said.
When the exams are over, full details of an inquiry will be announced, it said.
“We want to understand how this pattern of errors occurred, how errors remained after additional checks had been made and what needs to be done to prevent any recurrence of such avoidable errors.”
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Department for Education said the latest errors were “completely unacceptable” and that Mr Gove was “angry”.
“He has said repeatedly that the exam system is discredited and action must be taken,” the spokesman said.
In the Latin GCSE error, a paper taken by up to 8,000 pupils contained three errors, representing 14 out of 50 marks.
An error in a question in the A-level physics paper, taken on Tuesday morning, meant that pupils were asked to answer a question which included incorrect units of measurement.
And a printing error on a maths GCSE foundation paper, also taken by pupils on Tuesday morning, had questions from a previous paper accidentally printed in the middle of it.
An OCR spokesman said the exam board was “deeply unhappy” about the latest errors. It said there would be an investigation, and jobs could be lost as a result.
AQA said it was sorry that the error had caused some students distress. It said the batches of papers that were checked were all fine, and it was investigating with its printer how the problem had arisen.
Six other errors in previous papers taken this year have included a multiple-choice question where all the answers were incorrect, and a question where the information needed to make a calculation was missing from the paper.
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BBC Radio 5 live Breakfast hears from a squatter and a member of the Residential Landlords Association to find out if squatting can ever be justified.
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A Vincent van Gogh painting, which had always been believed to be a self-portrait, is actually a depiction of his brother, experts have concluded.
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Just how painful will Greece’s ‘rescue’ be?
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It’s safe to assume the strip wouldn’t look like this A “historic deal” paving the way for a united UK football team at the 2012 Olympics has been announced. But how will supporters used to celebrating rivalries between the home nations adjust?
It is, depending on your viewpoint, either a neighbourly display of unity or an affront the proud traditions of four nations.
The British Olympic Association has declared that it has struck an agreement with England’s Football Association over fielding teams at the 2012 Games.
It means that, for the first time since 1960, a team made up of players from all England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales nations could compete in the competition.
The football associations of the latter three have reacted angrily to the move, fearing that it puts their national sides’ independence at risk as well as complaining that they were excluded from the decision-making process.
But what has received less attention is the question of how exactly four distinct groups of supporters, each with their own identities, traditions and songs, are meant come together and put their rivalries aside.
Even the players are divided about the impact on their sense of nationhood. On the one hand, the Wales defender Gareth Bale has indicated that he will go against the wishes of the Welsh FA and play for Team GB, citing approvingly the example of the British and Irish Lions in rugby who “come together as a unit and play against other countries”.
The former Wales captain Neville Southall was, however, less sanguine, fuming: “What flag are they going to put up if they win it? [The] Union Jack? It’s not my flag. My flag’s a dragon.”
If the players are split, then the fans can be forgiven for experiencing an identity crisis of their own.
Mark Perryman, author of Ingerland: Travels with a Football Nation, says the fusion of supporters who are accustomed to decades of rivalry is the equivalent of asking north London’s opposing fans coming together to cheer on an “Arsenal Hotspur” side.
“It’s going to be a very strange tournament,” he says. “I don’t think there will be a public order problem. But I really can’t see many regular football supporters from the four nations showing much enthusiasm towards it.”
Sat alongside each other on the stands, the fans will not be able to draw on their usual songs or chants, he says. God Save The Queen may be a UK-wide anthem, but its line about crushing “rebellious Scots” means it is unlikely to be sung enthusiastically by many Tartan Army followers.
Likewise, it is difficult to imagine England fans joining in a rousing chorus of Flower of Scotland, which celebrates Robert the Bruce’s victory over England’s Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. “I’m really not quite sure what the protocol will be,” says Perryman.
Gareth Bale would be a likely choice The colours worn by the squad and its followers is a potential minefield as well, he warns, with white associated with England, red with Wales and blue with Scotland.
Perryman suggests the best solution will simply be to, literally, drape the players in the UK’s flag.
“That’s one thing I can see working,” he says. “I’m a big enthusiast for the St George’s cross, but there’s quite a lot you can do with the Union Jack – it’s an iconic design. Just think of Oasis’s guitars and so on.”
All this fails, however, fails to answer the broader question of how exactly these long-standing rivals will cope with sitting alongside each other.
Former Scotland international Pat Nevin is one of those who was opposed to Team GB on the basis that it potentially threatened the long-term status of his former national side.
In principle, he says, he has no problem cheering on an all-British squad, which will comprise 18 players – 15 under-23s and three of “open age”.
But he suspects that most keen followers of football will be put off for reasons that have little to do with patriotic sentiment.
“Now that it’s going ahead, I have no problem getting behind a Great Britain team,” he says. “But the crowds who go to watch them won’t be the sort of fans who go along week in week out to see Motherwell versus Aberdeen with their scarves.
“They’ll be people who want to see the Olympics – which is fine. But I suspect most core football supporters will shrug their shoulders and go, ‘So what, it’s only an under-23s tournament.'”
If Nevin is right, all four sets of fans can unite around their shared apathy. And what could be more British than that?
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The British fashion designer, John Galliano, has gone on trial in Paris accused of racism.
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The smoking ban plan was debated in the Commons
A Labour MP has called for a ban on adults smoking in cars where children are present, saying it would bring “tremendous” health benefits.
Alex Cunningham said children were particularly vulnerable to the effects of passive smoking and could not “remove” themselves from cars where cigarette smoke was circulating.
Parents simply exercising restraint was “not good enough”, he told MPs.
But one Tory MP called the plan “over the top” and “ludicrous”.
Mr Cunningham said the “science was clear” about the dangers of passive smoking and that societal attitudes had changed on the issue in the past decade – reflected by the ban on smoking in public transport, planes and taxis.
Research suggested more than 300,000 children visited doctors every year with health problems associated with passive smoke, he said, while there were 20,000 new cases of asthma and wheezing among children every year.
“This proposal is excessive, intrusive and insulting to British parents who smoke”
Philip Davies Conservative MP
The Labour MP acknowledged many people felt the car was a “private space” but he believed it was children’s space as well and “some people were invading it with dangerous smoke”.
He told MPs: “Adults can make up their mind about the dangers of smoking. It is children we need to protect,” he added.
“The fact that children can be exposed to such an environment in cars is reason enough to bring in a ban on smoking in private vehicles where they are present.
“I can’t see how it would be any real hardship to anyone to stop smoking in private vehicles and the benefits will be tremendous.”
Mr Cunningham said a ban had been introduced in several US states, including California, as well as in parts of Canada and Australia and had growing support in the UK among health campaigners and the public.
But Tory MP Philip Davies – who campaigns against political correctness – said it should be up to parents to decide whether they smoked in cars and there was a “complete lack of evidence” about the beneficial impact of the proposal.
“This proposal is excessive, intrusive and insulting to British parents who smoke,” Mr Davies said.
“The suggestion of banning smoking in private vehicles with a minor present is yet another unwarranted intrusion on individual freedom. The government should have no role at all in regulating the private lives of adults who make decisions as adults.”
MPs voted to allow Mr Cunningham’s ten-minute rule bill to be considered at a future date by 78 to 66.
However, as a private member’s bill, the likelihood of it becoming law is slight.
The Department of Health has previously said parents should keep cars smoke free “voluntarily”.
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European vegetables are expected to be back on sale in Russia this week Russia has said it will resume importing vegetables from the European Union (EU) three weeks after it banned them over the E.coli outbreak.
The European Commission says the EU is expected to start exports this week.
Russian authorities signed the agreement on Wednesday during a visit by European Union health commissioner John Dalli.
The visit was intended to ensure Moscow would stick to its pledge to lift the ban.
EU produce could be reappearing in Russia as early as Thursday.
The commission’s health spokesman, Frederic Vincent, said: “We are heading towards an immediate resumption of European vegetables, based on EU certificates that will explain to the Russian authorities that in each EU state there are labs and a surveillance and verification system.”
The E.coli outbreak has so far affected more than 3,000 people, causing the death of 35 and leaving about 800 with a complication that can be fatal.
The source of infection, which initially focused on cucumbers from Spain, has been identified as bean sprouts from an organic farm in northern Germany.
The European Commission has offered 210m euros (£186m; $303m) to European farmers who have seen a dramatic loss of income since the outbreak started in early May.
The EU estimates the value of fresh vegetable exports to Russia at 600m euros a year, a quarter of the total exported.
Spain, France, Germany and Poland are the biggest exporting producers.
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The activists were tried by a special security court Bahrain has sentenced eight Shia activists to life in jail for plotting to overthrow the government, the state news agency BNA reports.
They were among 21 opposition figures tried by a special security court. Others got sentences of up to 15 years.
Ahead of the verdict, Shia protesters blocked roads and staged rallies.
Bahrain’s mainly Shia protesters have been calling for democratic reforms and more rights for the country’s Shia majority in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
In addition to the life sentences, 10 activists were given 15 years in jail, two others were given five years and one man received a one-year jail term.
Fourteen of the activists appeared in the military court, while the rest were sentenced in absentia.
The authorities claim that they plotted to overthrow Bahrain’s Sunni rulers “by force and intelligence with a terror group colluding with a foreign country” – in an apparent reference to Iran.
Ahead of the trial, witnesses told the AP news agency that Shia demonstrators made roadblocks with sand and debris, and called for marches to oppose the trial. No violence was reported.
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A man who urinated in a reservoir, leading to the flushing of eight million gallons (32 million litres) of Portland, Oregon, drinking water, has said he felt “guilty” after committing the act.
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Venus Williams plays her second round match against Kimiko Date-Krumm under Wimbledon’s Centre Court roof.
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Hollywood star George Clooney will open this year’s Venice Film Festival with a political drama which he has directed, produced, co-written and acted in.
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Mrs Obama said that people in both South Africa and the United States of America had fought for freedoms the current generation were enjoying
US First Lady Michelle Obama has paid tribute to apartheid victims on a visit to South Africa’s township of Soweto.
She was speaking to young women from across Africa in a church that became a landmark in the 1976 Soweto uprising.
Mrs Obama said the successful fight against apartheid as well as the US civil rights movement should inspire them to overcome the problems of today, such as HIV or violence against women.
On Monday, Mrs Obama met the former South African President Nelson Mandela.
The trip to South Africa is the first lady’s second official solo visit abroad since her husband Barack Obama became president in 2009.
It is just more than 35 years since the Soweto uprising, a black student protest against a policy forcing them to learn in Afrikaans.
“You can be the generation that holds your leaders accountable for open, honest government at every level, government that stamps out corruption”
Michelle Obama
The riots spread to other townships and was seen as a milestone in the growth of the movement against white minority rule, which was finally ended in 1994.
Mrs Obama delivered her keynote address in the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, which was at the heart of the uprising.
Introducing the first lady, Mr Mandela’s wife, Graca Michel, spoke of the symbolism of her visit.
“You may have been a toddler when [the] 1976 uprising took place. Now, in your adulthood, you come to us and you connect that history, and to say the triumphs of yesterday have to be the triumphs of today,” she said.
“Regina Mundi’s name in Latin means queen of the world. And we welcome you as a daughter of African heritage, and we can call you ‘the queen of our world.'”
More than 70 young women leaders from across the continent were brought to the church to hear the speech and to meet Mrs Obama.
Nelson Mandela, 92, does not usually accept visitors anymore She reminded the audience about the struggle for freedom in South Africa and the US.
“The story of young people 20 years ago, 50 years ago, who marched until their feet were raw. Who endured beatings and bullets and decades behind bars. Who risked and sacrificed everything they had for the freedom they deserved,” she said.
“And it is because of them we are able to gather here today.
“It is because of them that so many of these young women leaders can now pursue their dreams. It is because of them that I stand before you as first lady of the United States of America.”
Mrs Obama said the successful fight against apartheid should inspire young people today.
“You can be the generation that ends HIV/Aids in our time, the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease,” she said.
“You can be the generation that holds your leaders accountable for open, honest government at every level, government that stamps out corruption.”
Correspondents say her speech was often interrupted by applause and ended with cheers from the congregation.
But the BBC’s Pumza Fihlani says outside the church, where there was a huge security presence, the crowds who had gathered to hear the speech were disappointed.
The promised big screen was erected a block away from the church at the last minute, which was not communicated to residents, so they could not hear the first lady’s speech.
Mrs Obama is accompanied on her trip by her mother, two daughters, niece and nephew.
The visit will also include going to Robben Island, where Mr Mandela spent 18 years of his 27 years in jail.
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