Northern Ireland to deliver ruling over Brexit challenge

Northern Ireland's High Court will deliver judgment today in the first legal challenge to the EU referendum result. 

A cross-party group of politicians has questioned the validity of the UK's exit without a vote in either parliament or the Stormont Assembly.

Raymond McCord, father of a terrorist-murder victim, had a separate Brexit challenge heard alongside that of the politicians.

"We are confident," said Mr McCord. "I believe, and my legal people believe, we have a very strong case."

Image Caption:Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire: 'the Brexit ship has sailed'

His lawyers argued that the consent principal, enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement, had given people in Northern Ireland control of their sovereignty.

Ronan Lavery QC, representing Mr McCord, said withdrawal from the EU would have a "catastrophic effect" on the peace process.

David Schofield QC, representing the politicians, said the British government was not obliged to trigger Article 50 after the result.

He suggested government plans to use the Royal Prerogative rather than seek the authorisation of parliament to begin proceedings was unlawful.

His clients, including Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and Green Party politicians, want parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly granted a vote.

But the use of the Royal Prerogative in this context is "not illegal, unorthodox or undemocratic," a lawyer for the government told the court.

Tony McGleenan QC, representing Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire MP, told those trying to halt Brexit that "that ship has sailed".

Northern Ireland's Attorney General intervened in the case himself in support of the government's position.

John Larkin QC said: "Not one word or phrase in the Belfast Agreement or the British-Irish Agreement has been affected."

Earlier this month, Belfast newspaper the Newsletter revealed that the challenge brought by politicians had been funded by Irish-American philanthropist Chuck Feeney.

Brown pebble found on beach is first known dinosaur brain fossil

A brown pebble discovered on a beach more than a decade ago is actually the world's first known example of a fossilised dinosaur brain, scientists have confirmed.

The remarkable find is thought to have come from a large plant-eater such as the Iguanodon, which walked the earth about 133 million years ago.

It is believed the creature must have died near water with its head buried in sediment in a swamp or boggy ground, allowing its brain to be "pickled" and preserved.

Dr Alex Liu, from Cambridge University's Department of Earth Sciences, said: "The chances of preserving brain tissue are incredibly small, so the discovery of this specimen is astonishing."

Analysis of the fossil has revealed similarities with the brains of birds and crocodiles - both close relatives of dinosaurs - living today.

The 'pebble' was discovered by fossil hunter Jamie Hiscocks on a beach near Bexhill-on-Sea in 2004, but it has taken until now for its significance to come to light.

"I have always believed I had something special," Mr Hiscocks said. "I noticed there was something odd about the preservation, and soft tissue preservation did go through my mind."

The find's importance was first recognised by the late Oxford University professor Martin Brasier, who was one of the world's leading palaeobiologists and co-led the research before his death in a road accident two years ago.

It has now been highlighted in a special publication of the Geological Society of London published in tribute.

Mr Hiscocks said the professor had realised the potential significance "right at the beginning".

He said: "In his initial email to me, Martin asked if I'd ever heard of dinosaur brain cells being preserved in the fossil record. I knew exactly what he was getting at.

"I was amazed to hear this coming from a world-renowned expert like him."

Dr David Norman, from Cambridge University, who worked with Professor Brasier, said: "What we think happened is that this particular dinosaur died in or near a body of water, and its head ended up partially buried in the sediment at the bottom.

"What's truly remarkable is that conditions were just right in order to allow preservation of the brain tissue.

"Hopefully, this is the first of many such discoveries."

School airstrikes in Syria 'could be war crime', UNICEF says

Airstrikes on a Syrian school that killed scores of children could be a "war crime", the head of the UN children's agency has said.

The strike in rebel-held Idlib province on Wednesday may have been the deadliest attack on a school since the beginning of the war five years ago, said UNICEF.

According to the agency, 22 children and six teachers were killed when a series of airstrikes hit the school complex in the village of Hass as children gathered outside.

But estimates on the death toll vary.

The Syrian Civil Defence first responder team and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes killed at least 35, most of them children. 

Image Caption:The exact number of victims remains difficult to ascertain

Russia says it was not involved in the attack.

UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake called the airstrikes an "outrage". He added if it is determined that the airstrikes were deliberate, "it is a war crime".

"This latest atrocity may be the deadliest attack on a school since the war began more than five years ago," Mr Lake said. 

"When will the world's revulsion at such barbarity be matched by insistence that this must stop?"

Idlib is the main Syrian opposition stronghold, though radical militant groups also have a large presence there. 

It is regularly hit by Syrian and Russian warplanes but also by the US-backed strikes targeting Islamic State militants. 

An activist at the scene said as many as 10 airstrikes were believed to have hit the residential area where the school is located on Wednesday.

Children across Syria have suffered from the conflict.

Juliette Touma, regional UNICEF chief of communication, said 591 children were killed in 2015 as a result of the war, including in attacks on schools.

Over 1.7 million Syrian children remain out of school in 2016, a staggering figure but a drop from 2014 when 2.1 million were recorded as out-of-school children, UNICEF said.

Another 1.3 million are at risk of dropping out this year.

In Aleppo, the besieged rebel-held city that has been hit by a punishing bombing campaign, teachers and volunteers set up some schools underground to ensure some classes continue amid the airstrikes.

As the conflict rages, Vladimir Putin appeared to blame Barack Obama for the failure to reach an agreement to end the bloodshed.

"A united front to defeat terrorism has in fact not been created," the Russian President said.

"In Washington there were forces that did their best to ensure our agreements did not take off."

Video:Proxy war? The role of the US and Russia in the Syrian war

Moscow has also dismissed a NATO suggestion that Russian ships in the Mediterranean would join the bombing of Aleppo.

:: Russian ships escorted through the Channel

The RIA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying NATO had no reason to worry about the battle group.

Andrei Kelin, a senior Russian foreign ministry official, was quoted as saying: "The concerns are not based on anything as our planes have not come near Aleppo for nine days.

"Our battle group is in the Mediterranean. Our ships have always had a presence there," he added.

"Why make some spurious suggestions and then make some political recommendations based on them? It is of course absurd."

Economy hit by ignoring tourism

It's the fourth-largest employer in the UK and the economy's sixth-largest export earner.

Around one in 10 Britons work in tourism and, during the last Parliament, it accounted for one in every three jobs created.

So why do politicians insist on regarding tourism as a Cinderella industry?

George Osborne, when Chancellor, loved to be filmed on a building site wearing a hard hat and high-vis jacket.

He was less frequently shown in a hotel, pub or restaurant, at the seaside, at a cinema, a dog track, a racecourse or at one of Britain's great visitor attractions.

His attitude, sadly, typifies how politicians, of all parties, have seen tourism as somehow inferior to sectors such as manufacturing, construction, financial services and even retail.

Australia, a country with a population less than half that of Britain, spends more than twice as much promoting itself as a tourist destination.

Ian King

The budget for Visit Britain, the Government agency that promotes inward-bound tourism, was cut continually during the last parliament and now scrapes along on much less than equivalent bodies in the United States, France and Spain.

Australia, a country with a population less than half that of Britain, spends more than twice as much promoting itself as a tourist destination.

Part of the problem is that tourism is overseen not by the Department of Business, as it once was, but by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, generally regarded across Whitehall as the most lightweight of government departments.

There is not even a minister for tourism: the sector comes under the remit of the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, currently Tracey Crouch, whose personal interests - at least according to her ministerial biography - are more sporting than in tourism.

This is a pretty shoddy way to treat a sector that employs 2.4 million people and a further 1.2 million in support businesses, a sector that annually brings into the UK £17.7bn of export earnings.

Even the debate over increasing runway capacity has largely been about creating more opportunities for British business people to travel to China and other locations, rather than about making it easier for foreign tourists to visit the UK.

Britain is not helped by being one of the most expensive places to visit worldwide.

The British Hospitality Association, the main industry body, notes that the UK is the 138th out of 140 countries for price competitiveness.

This is largely due to the fact that VAT is levied at 20% on UK tourism - getting on for twice the EU average.

Hotel accommodation in France and Germany, for instance, attracts VAT of 7%. Ireland charges just 9% VAT on tourism.

A feisty campaign to cut tourism VAT to 5% is being waged but is likely to meet short shrift from ministers in spite of research by Deloitte that, within a decade, it would actually contribute an extra £2.6bn to the Treasury.

Sadly, ministers are likely to view the recent drop in sterling as having raised competitiveness, excusing them from further action.

However, as protectionism mounts globally and it becomes harder to sell our goods overseas, tourism is going to be more important than ever in helping Britain pay its way in the world.

Apple’s Newest Product Just Got Delayed

When Apple in September took the controversial step of announcing an iPhone without a headphone jack, it announced an accessory that provides a workaround: A pair of wireless earbuds called AirPods, which it said would ship in October for $159.

Now Apple is changing its tune.

The Cupertino, Calif. tech titan told tech news site CNET it needs “a little more time” to ship the AirPods. “We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers,” a company spokesperson told the site. It’s unclear exactly when the AirPods will be available.

That’s not to say iPhone 7 owners are completely without headphone options. The device comes with an adapter making it possible to use standard-issue headphones via the smartphone’s Lightning charging port, as well as wired earbuds that connect the same way.

Still, it’s an unusual misstep for a company that isn’t known to miss self-declared deadlines. Apple fans may find solace Thursday, when the firm is expected to unveil new Mac desktop and laptop computers.

National Geographic 'Afghan Girl' cover star faces jail for fraud

A green-eyed Afghan girl who became a cover star for National Geographic magazine as a 12-year-old has been arrested for living in Pakistan with forged identification papers.

The haunting image of Sharbat Gula was taken at a Pakistani refugee camp in 1984, and became the most famous photograph in the magazine's history.

She now faces up to 14 years in prison and a heavy fine for fraud following a two-year investigation in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Many Afghans take desperate measures to try and avoid being returned to their homeland, and Pakistan has been cracking down on undocumented foreigners.

Shahid Ilyas, an official of the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), said Ms Gula had been arrested for obtaining a fake ID card.

Image Caption:McCurry speaking an exhibition of his work in 2009

Officials say she applied for a Pakistani identity card in Peshawar in April 2014, using the name Sharbat Bibi.

She was one of thousands of Afghan refugees who managed to dodge Pakistan's computerised system to get an identity card.

Authorities are looking for three NADRA officials who issued the identity card to Ms Gula.

Photographer Steve McCurry took the 1984 photograph, entitled Afghan Girl, when Ms Gula was a refugee during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. 

After a 17-year search, he tracked her down to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters.

Pakistan provides safe haven for millions of refugees who fled after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Officials say NADRA has so far verified 91 million ID cards and detected nearly 70,000 cases of fraud.

The UN says more than 350,000 Afghan refugees have returned home from Pakistan this year, with the number of people crossing the border expected to continue.

But they face an uncertain future with Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by large numbers of internally displaced people fleeing fighting and officials have warned of a humanitarian crisis.

National Geographic 'Afghan Girl' cover star faces jail for fraud

A green-eyed Afghan girl who became a cover star for National Geographic magazine as a 12-year-old has been arrested for living in Pakistan with forged identification papers.

The haunting image of Sharbat Gula was taken at a Pakistani refugee camp in 1984, and became the most famous photograph in the magazine's history.

She now faces up to 14 years in prison and a heavy fine for fraud following a two-year investigation in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Many Afghans take desperate measures to try and avoid being returned to their homeland, and Pakistan has been cracking down on undocumented foreigners.

Shahid Ilyas, an official of the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), said Ms Gula had been arrested for obtaining a fake ID card.

Image Caption:McCurry speaking an exhibition of his work in 2009

Officials say she applied for a Pakistani identity card in Peshawar in April 2014, using the name Sharbat Bibi.

She was one of thousands of Afghan refugees who managed to dodge Pakistan's computerised system to get an identity card.

Authorities are looking for three NADRA officials who issued the identity card to Ms Gula.

Photographer Steve McCurry took the 1984 photograph, entitled Afghan Girl, when Ms Gula was a refugee during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. 

After a 17-year search, he tracked her down to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters.

Pakistan provides safe haven for millions of refugees who fled after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Officials say NADRA has so far verified 91 million ID cards and detected nearly 70,000 cases of fraud.

The UN says more than 350,000 Afghan refugees have returned home from Pakistan this year, with the number of people crossing the border expected to continue.

But they face an uncertain future with Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by large numbers of internally displaced people fleeing fighting and officials have warned of a humanitarian crisis.