Landslide Hits Seafront Funicular Railway

A huge landslide in Bournemouth has left a 108-year-old funicular railway badly damaged.

The seaside resort's East Cliff lift was battered by tons of stone, rock, soil and other debris as the pathway at the top of the 100ft verge collapsed.

Nobody was injured during the incident.

A public toilet block at the foot of the cliffs was destroyed.

The area, between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers, was cordoned off by council staff amid concerns over the stability of the cliff top.

It is thought heavy rainfall along the east Dorset coastline and cold weather may have triggered the landslide.

A Bournemouth Borough Council spokesman said a cordon would remain in place for the early part of the week amid concerns of further damage.

The spokesman said: "The seafront promenade remains open but areas at the top and bottom of the affected cliff area remain sealed off.

"Seafront staff noticed signs of cliff movement on Saturday and closed the area off as a precaution. No one was hurt."

Shell Office Closures To Affect 1,600 Staff

Shell is to close three UK offices in a move affecting 1,600 staff.

The company is extending a voluntary redundancy programme following a review of its enlarged operations since the £35bn takeover of BG Group.

Shell said the sites to be shut down were BG's headquarters in Berkshire and company offices in Aberdeen and Manchester.

It added that the 1,600 staff employed at the sites, who did not wish to relocate, would be offered voluntary redundancy under Shell's previously announced plan to cut 10,300 jobs in the wake of the merger - with 2,800 of those workers coming from BG.

Shell said the decisions were not only a result of tackling duplication in the enlarged business but also the low oil price environment which has forced rivals to also slash jobs and investment amid plunging profits.

The company's head of transition, Huibert Vigeveno, told staff in a speech at the Reading site earlier: "One of the review’s recommendations was to consolidate all Shell’s London and South East based operations into central London.

"Our intention is therefore to close the Thames Valley Park campus by the end of this year.

"The review also recommended that all Aberdeen-based onshore operations move to the Shell Aberdeen Tullos office, with BG’s offices at Albyn Place closing by the end of this year, and the closure of Shell's Brabazon House office in Manchester by the end of 2017. 

"We are also planning to open a voluntary redundancy arrangement at Thames Valley Park. At the same time, from today, we will also open up access to all Shell current internal vacancies for all BG employees to have equal access to all the available opportunities in Shell."

Boy Opens Lemonade Stand To Fund His Adoption

A nine-year-old US boy has raised thousands of dollars selling lemonade to help pay for his own formal adoption.

Tristan Jacobsen set up his stand outside his kinship guardians' home at the weekend in Springfield, Missouri, serving up drinks for $1.

Donnie and Jimmy Davis told the Springfield News-Leader the third-grader's stall raised $7,100, together with a yard sale, towards the adoption legal fees.

A further $10,000 has been donated to the adoption fund on YouCaring.com.

Tristan sold lemonade for $1 a drink

Ms Davis said Tristan's biological parents were her ex-husband and a 15-year-old girl.

The Davises took Tristan into their home after his birth mother - whose life spiralled into drug addiction and prostitution - abandoned him at a shelter in January 2012.

She says the boy was initially placed in a class for students with behavioural problems and was prescribed anti-depressants, but his well-being has since hugely improved. 

'This child will forever be ours,' says Ms Davis

Ms Davis says she and her husband already consider Tristan their son, but want to make it official.

The family only needed $5,000 for the legal and adoption fees, and say the extra will go towards Tristan's education.

"There's not enough words to say 'thank you' to everyone who has shown support or given us donations," Ms Davis told the News-Leader.

"Everyone has made this possible. We will make sure this child will forever be ours."

Tristan wants to change his name to Quill Tristan Davis.

Syria's civil war: Deadly car bombing near Damascus

At least 15 people have been killed and 50 others injured in a car bombing at an army checkpoint in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Monday's explosion struck the town of al-Diyabiyah, which serves as one of the gateways for the many foreign pilgrims who visit Sayeda Zainab shrine, a Shia holy site located south of Damascus.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

One of the guards manning the checkpoint told AFP news agency that his bomb detector began beeping when a suspicious truck pulled up.

"We stopped the car at the checkpoint and when we began a manual search, they detonated the bomb," he said.

"My colleagues were killed."

Windows of a small hotel across the checkpoint were shattered by the force of the blast.

The hotel is occupied mostly by displaced Syrians from Fouaa and Kefraya, two Shia-majority towns in the northwest that are under siege by armed rebels.

The holy site, believed to contains the grave of Zeinab, a venerated granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad, is heavily guarded by the government forces.

The area around the shrine has been hit by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group several times this year.

BHS Goes Into Administration, Spokesman Says

High street chain BHS is going into administration, putting 11,000 jobs at risk, a spokesman for the company has told Sky News.

The representative told Sky's Ashish Joshi, who is outside the company's headquarters in central London, that an announcement will be made at 11.30am and "the administrator will speak afterwards".

When asked to confirm if BHS had gone into administration, the spokesman said: "Yes, the process has started."

The collapse could potentially be the biggest retail failure since Woolworths folded in 2008 with the loss of almost 30,000 jobs.

David Gill, national officer of shopworkers' union USDAW, said earlier he was "very concerned" about the situation at the retailer.

The owner of BHS, Dominic Chappell, has said that "no one is to blame" for the retailer's collapse.

Mr Chappell told the Press Association: "No one is to blame, it was a combination of bad trading and not being able to raise enough money from the property portfolio.

"In the end, we just couldn't reach an agreement with Arcadia over pensions."

Using Phone Behind The Wheel 'Unacceptable'

Almost two-thirds of motorists saw at least one driver using a mobile phone while driving during their last hour on the road, a RAC survey has found.

The research, which questioned 2,120 motorists, suggests the problem of using phones illegally while driving has grown worse.

Some 6% of those polled reported seeing between five and seven drivers breaking the law.

Only 26% of people polled reported seeing no wrongdoing.

A RAC spokesman said: "Thirteen years after the introduction of the current law forbidding use of a hand-held phone at the wheel of a vehicle, this behaviour is far from being stamped out.

"In fact, the results of our research suggests the problem has got worse rather than better.

"Using a hand-held phone should be regarded as being as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving."

The Government is currently examining responses to a consultation held earlier this year which proposed tougher penalties for drivers who break the law.

MPs are considering raising the number of penalty points for those caught from three to four.

Fines may also be increased by 50%, to £150.

The use of a mobile phone was a contributing factor in 21 fatal accidents in 2014, according to Department for Transport statistics for Britain.

Cruz And Kasich Join Forces Against Trump

Donald Trump's rivals are joining forces in a last-ditch effort to deny the Republican presidential front runner the delegates needed to win the party nomination.

The campaigns of Ted Cruz and John Kasich issued statements on Sunday night announcing moves to co-ordinate their operations in future primary contests

Mr Cruz's campaign said it would "clear the path" for Mr Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico.

Minutes later, the Kasich campaign pledged to give Mr Cruz "a clear path in Indiana".

"Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans," said Jeff Roe, Mr Cruz's campaign manager.

"Not only would Trump get blown out by Clinton or Sanders, but having him as our nominee would set the party back a generation."

Mr Kasich's chief strategist, John Weaver, added: "Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee."

The move illustrates the growing concern amid the Republican Party that Mr Trump cannot otherwise be stopped from winning the nomination outright by vacuuming up the 1,237 delegates he needs.

Despite his current lead, Mr Trump has shown no signs of complacency and has vented his frustration, branding the nomination process "rigged" against him because establishment party members oppose him.

Trump tweeted his reaction to the deal: "Wow, just announced that Lyin' Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!

"Lyin' Ted and Kasich are mathematically dead and totally desperate. Their donors & special interest groups are not happy with them. Sad!"

If no candidate has enough support by the first vote at the Republican National Convention in July, many delegates will be allowed to switch sides on subsequent ballots.