Trending topics on Twitter in the US include #PrayForNewton, #newtown, CT State Police, #CTshooting, #SandyHook, Paul Vance, 27 Dead, NRA, and Columbine
Android 4.2 "Jelly Bean", found on Nexus smartphones and tablets, does not allow users to add birthdays or anniversaries next to friends' names if they were born in December
The job advert for his replacement, published on the BBC's website, reads: "After a period of intense external and internal scrutiny and challenge Newsnight is looking for a tough, innovative and creative individual with sound editorial judgment to be the next editor."
The new England kit, which is set to be worn for the first time against the Republic of Ireland on 29 May at Wembley, has been unveiled.
England and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere tweeted a picture of a student from his old school wearing the shirt.
Nike have
taken over from Umbro
as the Football Association's kit supplier this year.
The deal with Nike lasts until 2018 and brings a 60-year association with Umbro to an end.
Wilshere said on his
official Twitter account:
"Like this kid, my England dream began here, so he was first in #theshirt."
The shirt is also emblazoned with the FA's 150th anniversary badge.
Former England international and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker said on his
Twitter account:
"Smart move by the FA and Nike to go slightly German with the strip. If you can't beat 'em..."
The new England round-neck shirt bears resemblance to West Germany's 1974 World Cup-winning kit, as worn by captain Franz Beckenbauer (pictured above).
Nike
sold UK sports brand Umbro
to US clothing company Iconix Brand Group for $225m (£140m) in October 2012.
Police have searched the Commons office of MP Nigel Evans in relation to a "serious arrestable offence".
The search, which took place on Sunday, was conducted after a warrant was approved by Preston Crown Court.
Commons Speaker John Bercow said he had considered the warrant personally and taken advice from the attorney general before allowing the search.
Mr Evans was arrested this month in relation to allegations of sexual assault. He denies the allegations.
The Ribble Valley MP, who was questioned by police earlier this month, has said the allegations are "completely false".
'Appropriate procedures'
Mr Evans, who is also a deputy speaker of the House of Commons, has agreed that he will not resume his duties in the chamber while police continue to investigate allegations against him but will continue his constituency work.
In a statement, Lancashire Police said they had searched offices in London in connection with an investigation, adding that they had "gone through all the appropriate and necessary procedures before taking this step".
Mr Bercow said he had consulted the attorney general and the solicitor general before granting the police's request and had also sought the advice of the Clerk of the House, who advises the Speaker on procedure and parliamentary privilege.
In a statement at the start of parliamentary business, Mr Bercow said he had been advised "there were no lawful grounds on which it would be proper to refuse its execution".
He told MPs that the "precincts of Parliament are not a haven from the law".
"The Serjeant at Arms and Speaker's Counsel were present when the search was conducted," he added.
"Undertakings have been given by the police officers as to the handling of any parliamentary material until such time as any issue of privilege is resolved."
Everybody felt so strongly that they wanted to continue"
End QuoteAntti SaarnioChairman, Jolla
These changes could include, for example, team colours for a football team.
"You connect it to the phone, and the user interface reflects the players and colours of the team," Mr Saarnio told the BBC.
"It's an interesting way to show you 'belong' with something."
He would not confirm how exactly this feature works - but many speculate the use of near-field communication (NFC) technology.
Splinter group
Mr Saarnio left Nokia in 2011, along with several other employees who had been working on a joint Nokia-IBM project to create a new mobile operating system to rival the likes of Apple's iOS and Google Android.
Nokia released one handset running the MeeGo software, the N9-00.
Mr Saarnio felt it was not given enough of a chance to succeed.
"The team really felt that this was one of the best phones in the market, even though it was quite under-marketed," he said.
"Everybody felt so strongly that they wanted to continue."
Several of the team left the Finnish mobile giant to start their own company and remain working on MeeGo, which it has renamed Sailfish.
Despite leaving the company, Mr Saarnio said he wished Nokia well - and that Jolla was open to letting them use Sailfish in future handsets.
"We are actually quite open - we are offering this operating system for other smartphone makers to use.
"Let's wait and see and we will just do our best in our business."
His agent, Peet van Zyl, said the six-time Paralympic champion was not mentally ready to return to the track.
"There was never any pressure from me or his coach (Ampie Louw) to return, it's his decision," said van Zyl.
Oscar Pistorius factfile
• Pistorius had his lower legs amputated at the age of 11 months, having been born without a fibula in either leg
• His parents, Henke and Sheila, were advised that having the amputation done before he had learned to walk would be less traumatic
• By the age of two, Pistorius had his first pair of prosthetic legs
• He played water polo and rugby in secondary school. He also played cricket, tennis, took part in triathlons and Olympic club wrestling and was an enthusiastic boxer
• In June 2003, he shattered his knee playing rugby and on the advice of doctors took up track running to aid his rehabilitation
• Pistorius has won six Paralympic gold medals
It means the South African will not compete in the IPC World Championships in Lyon in July.
Pistorius was arrested after shooting Steenkamp dead on 14 February and has not competed since.
The double amputee, known as Blade Runner because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he races in, claimed he
mistook Steenkamp for a burglar
and has denied murder.
On 22 February, Pistorius was
granted bail
and had certain conditions lifted which meant he could compete in events outside his homeland.
Coach Louw was quoted by Eye Witness News in South Africa as saying his athlete was "nowhere close" to being in a position to train.
Pistorius had not been invited to compete in July's
London Anniversary Games,
with UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner saying he did not want the meeting to turn into a "media circus".
However, Pistorius's agent said plenty of meeting organisers had been in touch to invite Pistorius to compete in their events.
"[There] were a good number, enough to keep him busy through the year," added van Zyl.
At London 2012, Pistorius became the first double amputee to run at an Olympics, taking part in both the 400m and 4x400m relay.
He then won gold medals in the T44 400m and T42-46 4x100m at the Paralympics, as well as silver in the T44 200m.
He is next due in court on 4 June and a trial is expected to take place before the end of this year.
Heavy fighting has taken place between government and rebel forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
These are the first clashes between the two sides since the rebels pulled out of the regional capital, Goma, last year.
They come after the UN began deploying an attack force to the area last week.
Meanwhile, Rwandan President Paul Kagame told the BBC that UN troops had "in some cases" made the situation in DR Congo worse.
The UN has nearly 20,000 peacekeepers in eastern DR Congo, where armed groups have wreaked havoc for two decades.
'No plan to advance'
The BBC's Maud Jullien in the capital, Kinshasa, says the government believes the M23 is trying to disrupt the deployment of the UN force.
North Kivu provincial governor Julien Paluku told the BBC that security was being increased in Goma, as he feared the rebels would try to cut the city off from the provincial army headquarters in Bueremana.
He said rebel fighters from across the province were taking part in this offensive.
M23 rebels attacked government troops about 12 km (7 miles) north of Goma, said army spokesman Olivier Hamuli.
The army pushed back the rebels after two hours of heavy fighting, but sporadic clashes were continuing, he added.
But the M23 accused government troops of attacking them first.
It repelled the offensive and captured key positions overlooking Goma, said M23 spokesman Viannay Kazarama.
The M23 was not planning to advance towards the city, he added.
Some 800,000 people have fled fighting since the M23 launched its rebellion last year.
This led the UN to deploy a new 3,000-strong intervention brigade to eastern DR Congo to neutralise and disarm the rebels.
The first contingent of the force arrived last week.
UN officials say the force, made up of troops from Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa, had the most robust mandate ever given to a UN mission to end instability caused by rebel groups.
Paul Kagame denies that Rwanda has proxy forces in DR Congo
Our correspondent says the M23 has been hit by a wave of defections since the UN Security Council adopted a resolution in March to send the force.
One defector told the BBC earlier this month that the M23 had drawn up plans to disrupt the deployment by cutting off one of the main roads to Goma.
In an interview with the BBC, Rwanda's leader said any military effort to bring peace to DR Congo needed to be "properly co-ordinated" with political efforts.
He dismissed long-standing UN allegations that Rwanda backed the M23.
Asked how he viewed the record of the UN force, Mr Kagame said: "If you see what we had last year, the resurgence of the fighting and chaos and displacement of people and so on and so forth... what we witnessed last year - actually the situation got worse."
Rwanda was accused of backing armed groups in DR Congo as a way to fight Hutu rebels who fled there after the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Mr Kagame came to power as the head of a Tutsi rebel force, which ousted the genocidal Hutu leadership.
Radical cleric Abu Qatada has been refused bail by an immigration tribunal in his latest bid for freedom.
His lawyer said he should be freed from prison so he could spend time with his family before leaving the UK for Jordan - which he had agreed to do once the countries ratified a fair trial treaty.
But a judge ruled he was a national security risk with a wide support network who might try to escape.
The cleric faces a retrial for terror charges if he returns to Jordan.
At a hearing of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) in London, immigration judge Mr Justice Irwin ruled Abu Qatada must remain in custody.
He has been held at Belmarsh prison in south-east London since March after he allegedly breached a bail condition which stops him from turning on mobile phones in his house.
He is highly intelligent, has a range of sympathetic and supportive contacts, and his risk to national security is undiminished"
End QuoteMr Justice IrwinImmigration judge
'Proud and dignified'
In his ruling, Mr Justice Irwin said the breaches were "serious".
He highlighted an instance of jihadist material being found on a memory stick in his son's room, which Abu Qatada had assured them only contained school work.
The judge went on to say there was "no doubt" Abu Qatada presented a national security threat.
"The essence of that is promulgation of his views in support of violence, and the potential effect on others of that promulgation," he said.
Mr Justice Irwin went on: "This appellant has in the past fled in order to avoid a court order, equipping himself with a false passport.
"He is highly intelligent, has a range of sympathetic and supportive contacts, and his risk to national security is undiminished.
"We reject the submission that he can, even now, be relied on to comply with his legal obligations and not to attempt to abscond."
Abu Qatada's lawyer Daniel Friedman QC described his client as a "proud and dignified man" who has been "deprived of his liberty more than any other non-convicted person in British history".
"Against this background, he wants to spend time with his family to prepare to leave the country in a manner that safeguards the dignity and security of all involved," he added.
'Lost fight'
Robin Tam QC, representing the Home Office, said Siac had once described Abu Qatada - also known as Omar Othman - as a "truly dangerous individual" and there was "no reason to believe that was no longer true".
He said the fair trial treaty between the UK and Jordan should pass through parliament within weeks.
"At this time, Mr Othman definitively accepts he has lost his fight against deportation," he added.
In 1999, the cleric was convicted of terrorism offences in his absence and sentenced to life imprisonment in Jordan.
The UK government has been trying unsuccessfully to deport him for nearly eight years.
During that time he has been in and out of jail despite never being charged with an offence in the UK.
Last month, the UK and Jordan signed a mutual assistance treaty which includes guarantees on fair trials, as part of the home secretary's efforts to deport him.
Theresa May hoped it would allay fears that evidence extracted through torture would be used against him in a retrial in Jordan.
The Home Office has welcomed the ruling, describing Abu Qatada as "a dangerous man".
"The best place for him is behind bars until he can be lawfully removed from this country," a Home Office spokesman said.
"The government remains committed to securing his deportation as quickly as possible."
An eyewitness in Basra described a tea seller "disappearing" in the blast
At least 60 people have been killed and many others injured in a series of car bomb attacks in central and southern Iraq, officials say.
Baghdad was worst hit, with several explosions at bus stations and markets in the mainly Shia Muslim districts.
Blasts killed 15 people in the southern city of Basra, and in and around Samarra, north of Baghdad.
The attacks are part of the recent rise in violence in Iraq linked to growing political and sectarian tension.
It has raised fears that Iraq could see a re-emergence of the levels of sectarian violence seen in 2006 and 2007.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to make immediate changes to Iraq's security strategy and told Iraqis that militants "will not be able to return us to the sectarian conflict".
In a separate incident, 10 policemen kidnapped on Saturday in western Anbar province were found dead.
'Showered with wreckage'
Police said at least 200 people were injured in Monday's violence.
One of the bloodiest attacks in Baghdad happened in the northern Shia neighbourhood of Shaab, when a car bomb exploded near a crowded market place killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 20.
The bombs in Basra, a mainly Shia Muslim city, killed at least 14 people outside a restaurant and the main bus station.
One of the injured, Mohammed Ali, said he was standing near a food cart in a crowded area "when all of a sudden it turned dark, dust filled the area".
"I was showered with metal wreckage and wounded in my legs," he told Reuters news agency.
Three people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb attack in Samarra, a city some 113km (70 miles) north of Baghdad. The blast reportedly happened near a gathering of members of the pro-government Sunni militia, the Awakening Council.
In the town of Balad, not far from Samarra, eight pilgrims from Iran - a mostly Shia country - were killed after the bus they were travelling in was hit by a car bomb blast.
No group has said it carried out Monday's bomb attacks, but tension between the Shia Muslim majority, which leads the government, and minority Sunnis has been growing since last year.
Sunni demonstrators have accused the government of Prime Minister Maliki of discriminating against them - something the government denies.
Syrian impact
Iraqis have not witnessed violence on the scale of the last few weeks for nearly five years, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Baghdad.
The Shia-Sunni fault line, with Syria currently at its epicentre, is certainly contributing, he notes.
But Iraqis do not see their own politicians doing enough to unite people on both sides of the sectarian divide, and they do not see the international community showing the urgency they think it should in averting further chaos, our correspondent adds.
Violence has increased since more than 50 people died in clashes between security forces and Sunni Arabs in April, when an anti-government protest camp was raided in Nawija near Kirkuk.
At least 60 people died in three bombings in Sunni Muslim areas in and around Baghdad on Friday. Those bombings followed deadly attacks on Shia targets across Iraq.
On Sunday, at least 10 policemen were reported killed in north-western Iraq in attacks blamed by the authorities on Sunni militants.
Basra had been seen as relatively peaceful, but there too, violence has risen in recent months.
In March, a car bomb in the city killed 10 and wounded many others. On Saturday gunmen there shot and killed a Sunni Muslim cleric.
Wikpedia's Jimmy Wales gives his reaction to Yahoo's deal with Tumblr
Yahoo has agreed a deal to buy New York-based blogging service Tumblr for $1.1bn (£723m; 857m euros) in cash.
Yahoo's chief executive Marissa Mayer said that as part of its promise "not to screw it up", Tumblr would operate independently.
David Karp, will continue as chief executive officer of Tumblr.
The deal is the largest made by Ms Mayer since she took the helm at Yahoo last July, and she described the acquisition as a "unique opportunity."
"On many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo couldn't be more different, but at the same time, they couldn't be more complementary," added Ms Mayer.
Mr Karp, 26, who owns 25% of the privately-owned company he co-founded with Marco Arment in 2007, said he was "elated" to have the support of Yahoo.
"Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from," he added. Mr Karp emphasised that neither its aims or team was changing as a result of Yahoo's purchase.
Can Yahoo become hip again? In buying Tumblr, the company is trying to change its reputation with hipsters.
Yahoo was once a name synonymous with the internet, but its lead has been eclipsed by Google and it doesn't generate the same kind of buzz as Twitter or Facebook.
The odds of success may be stacked against it. Websites such as Mashable.com are already reporting a backlash among Tumblr's user base in reaction to reports of the Yahoo acquisition.
Simply buying a company like Tumblr doesn't guarantee street cred. Remember when News Corporation bought the social networking website MySpace? (MySpace was eventually sold for a fraction of the price News Corporation paid for it.)
Yahoo is hoping that its purchase of Tumblr will boost traffic to its other properties, such as the photo sharing site Flickr. But the $1.1bn question is: will it also help boost revenue?
Mobile devices
The $1.1bn price tag for Tumblr represents a significant premium on its $800m valuation when it last raised money from private investors.
Tumblr's 2012 revenue was just $13m, according to a report by Forbes magazine, leading analysts to suggest Yahoo had overpaid for the deal.
"Even if revenue was $100 million, it means Yahoo paid 10 times revenue," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. "Ten times is what you pay to date the belle of the ball. It's on the outer bands of M&A."
Tumblr combines elements of blogging with social networking, and its simple design has attracted millions of users since its launch.
According to its homepage, it now hosts 108 million blogs, with a total of 50.7 billion posts.
It also has a significant presence on mobile devices.
But despite its fast-growing user base, it has struggled to make money and has traditionally resisted advertising.
It said in April 2012 that it would roll out limited use of adverts.
Ms Mayer said Yahoo would now work with Tumblr to create ads that "are seamless and enhance the user experience".
Brian Wieser, analyst at Pivotal Research Group, said that the quickest way for Yahoo to boost Tumblr's revenue would be to combine its sales force with the blogging site, but that this would risk alienating users.
"It's not clear that this deal will be favourable from a return-on-capital perspective," Wieser said. "One billion [dollars] for one company is a big bet."
Yahoo remains a giant in the internet world, with around 700 million visitors to its website every month. The majority of its revenues come from advertising.
But it has limited mobile reach and lags behind Google in the search engine rankings.
It also shed more than 1,000 jobs during 2012 and has long been divided over whether it should focus on media content or on tools and technologies.
The doping scandal involving Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation has widened after seven more racehorses failed tests for anabolic steroids.
All seven horses, including the
2012 St Leger winner Encke,
were trained by the now disgraced Mahmood Al Zarooni.
He is appealing against the severity of an eight-year ban, imposed last month, after admitting doping 15 horses.
Tests on about 200 horses at a stable run by fellow Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor came back negative.
Analysis
"Sheikh Mohammed and his Godolphin operation will be hugely relieved that while there are seven new positives, they are all amongst the ex-Mahmood Al Zarooni horses.
"The disgraced trainer will get the blame, but, crucially, horses under the care of Saeed bin Suroor, including Saturday's Newbury winner Farhh, all received the all-clear.
"The process for Bin Suroor to take over the entire string will now begin.
"So, although racing's biggest modern-day drugs scandal can be said to have grown in terms of numbers of horses involved, it does remain confined to just one Godolphin team. "
The new results take the total number to 22 of Godolphin-owned thoroughbreds which have been doped, and are consequently suspended from racing for six months.
Godolphin - founded by the ruler of Dubai,
Sheikh Mohammed
- is one of the world's biggest racehorse operations with two major stables at Newmarket in Suffolk.
Racing manager Simon Crisford said: "It is obviously very disappointing that seven further horses have tested positive for stanozolol.
"These results highlight why H.H. Sheikh Mohammed took the decision to
lock down the stables
at Moulton Paddocks until every Godolphin horse in training at Newmarket had been tested.
"All of Saeed bin Suroor's horses have tested clear and we are working with the BHA to put everything back in order at Moulton Paddocks."
Encke, who passed a drugs test after victory in the St Leger at Doncaster in September 2012, was the surprise 25-1 winner of the race when he denied the Aidan O'Brien-trained Camelot a Triple Crown of Classic victories.
Al Zarooni, who was in Dubai before taking over the Moulton Paddocks stable in Newmarket in March 2010, claimed he did not realise the use of anabolic steroids were banned out of competition in the United Kingdom.
After his admission of a "catastrophic" mistake, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) suspended the 15 horses he admitted doping - including 1000 Guineas contender Certify - from running for six months.
The BHA ordered tests on the remaining horses at his stable, and also at the yard run by Bin Suroor "for the sake of completeness", although there is no suggestion there has been any wrongdoing at the second stable.
Between 29 April and 2 May, blood samples were taken from 391 Godolphin horses and sent for analysis at the HFL Sport Science drugs laboratory.
The tests identified further positive tests for stanozolol, a banned anabolic steroid, in seven horses: St Leger victor Encke, Royal Ascot winner Energizer, Genius Beast, Improvisation, Stamford, Steeler, and Zip Top.
Godolphin and Al Zarooni - via his solicitors - have been informed of the test results, and have until Thursday to decide if they want B sample analysis to be carried out.
If the results are confirmed all seven horses (as with the previous 15) will be suspended from running in Britain for a period of six months, until 29 October.
The BHA has approved an application for Bin Suroor to take charge at Moulton Paddocks, which means horses formerly trained by Al Zarooni could run for him in a fortnight's time.
Since late April, the yard has been "in lockdown" under the orders of Sheikh Mohammed - the vice president of the United Arab Emirates - pending the completion of an internal inquiry.
Meanwhile, the BHA is investigating a second Newmarket trainer, Gerard Butler, after nine of his horses tested positive for an anabolic steroid contained in a substance called Sungate which he said was recommended by a veterinary practice.
Al Zarooni, who was not legally represented at his original disciplinary inquiry, has appealed against the severity of his ban. The BHA says no date has been set for the hearing, but it will not take place until the final week in June at the earliest.
BHA director of integrity Adam Brickell said: "We will not be taking any separate action in respect of these additional positive results whilst Mr Al Zarooni's appeal process is ongoing.
"From the outset, one of the aims of the investigation, in addition to trying to understand the environment within which such serious breaches came to be committed, has been to identify what measures are needed to ensure the yard operates in accordance with the rules in future.
"The findings will be shared with Godolphin and will also assist the BHA with regard to the future licensing of the yard."
Al Zarooni was banned on 25 April, just three days after it was announced 11 of 45 horses tested at Moulton Paddocks were positive for banned anabolic steroids. He admitted doping another four.
Some observers had questioned the speed of this hearing, but BHA chief executive Paul Bittar said the further positive samples "endorsed the swift action."
He added: "Whatever the outcome of of his appeal before the independent appeal board, the gravity and scale of the infringements warranted Mahmood Al Zarooni being removed from the control of the yard as quickly as possible.
"We welcome the news that Saeed bin Suroor's horses tested negative and this clears the way for him to now take charge of Moulton Paddocks."
Plans to legalise gay marriage in England and Wales will proceed in Parliament despite opposition from some MPs after the government reached agreement with Labour on the issue.
Conservative critics had tabled a proposal to let heterosexual couples enter into civil partnerships, if gay couples were allowed to get married.
Supporters warned that this could delay the bill or derail it entirely.
Ministers will now back Labour plans to consult on changing civil partnerships.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said ministers will claim that the government was always clear that it was open to an immediate review on their future status but Labour is likely to claim it has saved the gay marriage bill.
MPs gave their support in principle to gay marriage in February but are now discussing proposed amendments amid calls from some Conservatives for the government to focus on other priorities.
The bill is being debated over two days, with its third reading - the final hurdle in the Commons - on Tuesday. If approved, it will go to the House of Lords on Wednesday, where it is expected to face further opposition.
David Cameron has said equal marriage would help build a stronger and fairer society but nearly half of all Tories voted against it in February and many party activists remain deeply opposed to it in principle.
The bill's fresh scrutiny by MPs comes amid other divisions within the Conservative Party on Europe and attitudes towards the party's grassroots.
Far from being a wrecking measure, some of the strongest support for my amendment to extend civil partnerships comes from the biggest supporters of same-sex marriage in the Labour and Lib Dem parties"
A group of Tory MPs, led by former Conservative minister Tim Loughton, have been attempting to amend the bill, with a plan to extend civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.
'Scaremongering'
Mr Loughton said the amendment would make the bill "less unpalatable", since extending civil partnerships to co-habiting heterosexuals would address a "glaring inequality" in the current proposals as well as encouraging family stability.
"This is all about equality. If the government is serious about equality they should be backing my amendment and not scaremongering about it."
Cllr Mary Douglas: "This policy is way out of step with our core values"
Ministers initially said the status of civil partnerships should be reconsidered at a later date, potentially in 2019, and doing so now would throw up a whole new set of "complex" issues, such as pension entitlements for heterosexual civil partners.
Labour's equalities team, led by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, had been thought likely to support Mr Loughton's amendment - which could have endangered the entire bill.
But it later put forward its own compromise amendment which would start an immediate consultation on whether to extend civil partnerships to opposite sex couples.
Speaking earlier on Monday, Ms Cooper said: "Labour votes have got this bill through so far and Labour votes will get this through the next couple of days, when the government is deeply divided and fighting itself."
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said it was his party's position to extend civil partnerships to everybody, irrespective of their sexuality and he had "no problem" with the principle.
"I don't want anything to interfere with the central purpose of this legislation," he said.
"The bottom line is that I will do whatever I judge is best to safeguard the bill and to make sure that it does not become hijacked by those whose ulterior motive is actually to discredit or to derail the legislation."
'Crisis of conservatism'
Several Cabinet ministers remain opposed to the plans. Last week, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said too much time had been spent on a policy which had angered many.
On Sunday, 34 current and former local party chairmen delivered a letter to Downing Street opposing the gay marriage policy as "flawed, un-Conservative, divisive and costing us dearly in votes and membership".
They complained of a "crisis of conservatism" and said Europe, same-sex marriage and the "contempt" for party membership from the leadership were currently "destroying the party".
However, a separate letter, signed by more than 100 Tory activists, praised Mr Cameron for his stance, saying it was an issue of particular importance to younger voters, and MPs risked appearing out of touch if they pandered to a vocal minority.
Stonewall, which campaigns for equality for gay, lesbian and bisexual people, said it would be a "terrible pity" if the legislation got "bogged down" and urged MPs from all parties not to "play politics" with it.
Nick Clegg pledges to do "whatever I judge is best to safeguard the bill"
Under the bill, the Church of England and the Church in Wales would be banned from offering same-sex marriages because of their strongly stated opposition, unless they changed canon law.
Other religious organisations would be able to "opt in" to holding ceremonies. There are currently no plans for similar legislation in Northern Ireland, but there are already plans for a bill to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland.
The UK debate comes the week after France became the ninth European country, and 14th in the world, legalise gay marriage. Earlier this month Rhode Island became the 10th US state to allow same-sex marriages.
Google had hinted at a move towards touchscreen laptops in May, when Sundar Pichai, senior vice president in charge of Chrome and Google Apps, told CNET: "We are deeply incorporating touch so if people want to ship something with a touch screen, we can do that as well."
Earlier this week, Carphone Warehouse announced that Google's Nexus 7 tablet, released in July, was the best selling Android tablet in its history. The Nexus 7 might still trail Apple's iPad in sales but it has already overtaken such Android devices as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Asus Transformer Prime.
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Nigeria's army has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew across the north-eastern state of Adamawa to curb attacks by militant Islamists.
It is the first area to fall under a curfew since a state of emergency was declared in three states.
A BBC reporter in Adamawa says the decision is surprising, as the security situation there is less serious than in Borno and Yobe states.
Boko Haram militants have waged an insurgency in Nigeria since 2009.
More than 2,000 have been killed in the conflict, which has its roots in north-east Nigeria.
Mobile phones down
Nigerian military spokesman Brig Gen Chris Olukolade said "every resource available" to the armed forces would be used in the operation against Boko Haram.
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says this is confirmation that fighter jets and helicopter gunships are likely to be deployed.
When asked whether this would not put civilians in harm's way, Brig Gen Olukolade said the enemy bases to be targeted were in unpopulated areas close to Nigeria's borders.
Our reporter says the hardest part of this campaign will be in urban areas like the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, where the Islamist militants are living among the civilian population.
Mobile phone networks were not functioning in many parts of north-east Nigeria on Thursday, but our reporter says it is not clear if this is related to the current military offensive.
Militants have previously attacked mobile phone masts in the area in an effort to disrupt communications.
The BBC's Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar reports from Adamawa city that most people he spoke to felt the curfew was unnecessary and it would merely disrupt their lives.
Our reporter adds that there is no sign of a huge military build-up in the city since President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in the three states.
The president said the army would take "all necessary action" to "put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists".
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state in the north.
Although they often attack Christians and government targets, they have also killed many Muslim civilians.
A man in his 50s has shot himself in front of a dozen children at a primary school close to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, French officials say.
He is said to have entered the school in the 7th arrondissement with a sawn-off shotgun.
The man then turned the weapon on himself and pulled the trigger in front of the children and a teacher, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said.
Police have opened an investigation into the incident.
Earlier reports put the man in his 60s and said the incident had occurred at a nursery.
Authorities said he may have had personal issues but released no further information about his identity or motives.
The shooting took place at the La Rochefoucauld school. The Catholic establishment is located in the rue Cler, a well-known market street close to the Eiffel Tower.
'It was horrible'
The incident happened shortly before noon on Thursday as children were leaving the school premises for the lunch break, police officials said.
The man forced his way into the building, pushing aside two adults.
A dozen children witnessed the shooting, the office of Mayor Delanoe said in a statement.
French Education Minister Vincent Peillon, who cut short an official visit to Brussels, said the man had no link to the school.
"It is a very painful matter because it has happened at a school, but the security inside the school isn't to blame," he told reporters on Thursday.
One of the children told French broadcaster Europe 1 she heard a gunshot and "saw all the blood".
"I saw the man fall backwards when he killed himself," she said, adding "It was horrible."
A boy who also witnessed the incident, said he was "very frightened".
"I thought there were terrorists who had guns and were coming into the school. Then I saw the man on the ground with a lot of blood."
Authorities are establishing a psychological trauma unit to provide support to children and school staff, local media report.
Resident Matthew Fraser, who lives near the school, described the area as an upmarket area of Paris that is home to many foreign embassies.
"It's a safe, quiet, upper-class area," he told the BBC. "No-one would expect this sort of thing to happen here."
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16 May 2013Last updated at 07:54 ETBy Alex MansfieldBBC Radio Science Unit
A $15m computer that uses "quantum physics" effects to boost its speed is to be installed at a Nasa facility.
It will be shared by Google, Nasa, and other scientists, providing access to a machine said to be up to 3,600 times faster than conventional computers.
Unlike standard machines, the D-Wave Two processor appears to make use of an effect called quantum tunnelling.
This allows it to reach solutions to certain types of mathematical problems in fractions of a second.
Effectively, it can try all possible solutions at the same time and then select the best.
Google wants to use the facility at Nasa's Ames Research Center in California to find out how quantum computing might advance techniques of machine learning and artificial intelligence, including voice recognition.
The gate model... is the single worst thing that ever happened to quantum computing"
End QuoteGeordie RoseChief technology officer, D-wave
University researchers will also get 20% of the time on the machine via the Universities Space Research Agency (USRA).
Nasa will likely use the commercially available machine for scheduling problems and planning.
Canadian company D-Wave Systems, which makes the machine, has drawn scepticism over the years from quantum computing experts around the world.
Until research outlined earlier this year, some even suggested its machines showed no evidence of using specifically quantum effects.
Quantum computing is based around exploiting the strange behaviour of matter at quantum scales.
Most work on this type of computing has focused on building quantum logic gates similar to the gate devices at the basis of conventional computing.
But physicists have repeatedly found that the problem with a gate-based approach is keeping the quantum bits, or qubits (the basic units of quantum information), in their quantum state.
"You get drop out… decoherence, where the qubits lapse into being simple 1s and 0s instead of the entangled quantum states you need. Errors creep in," says Prof Alan Woodward of Surrey University.
One gate opens...
Instead, D-Wave Systems has been focused on building machines that exploit a technique called quantum annealing - a way of distilling the optimal mathematical solutions from all the possibilities.
Annealing is made possible by physics effect known as quantum tunnelling, which can endow each qubit with an awareness of every other one.
"The gate model... is the single worst thing that ever happened to quantum computing", Geordie Rose, chief technology officer for D-Wave, told BBC Radio 4's Material World programme.
"And when we look back 20 years from now, at the history of this field, we'll wonder why anyone ever thought that was a good idea."
Dr Rose's approach entails a completely different way of posing your question, and it only works for certain questions.
But according to a paper presented this week (the result of benchmarking tests required by Nasa and Google), it is very fast indeed at finding the optimal solution to a problem that potentially has many different combinations of answers.
In one case it took less than half a second to do something that took conventional software 30 minutes.
A classic example of one of these "combinatorial optimisation" problems is that of the travelling sales rep, who needs to visit several cities in one day, and wants to know the shortest path that connects them all together in order to minimise their mileage.
The D-Wave Two chip can compare all the possible itineraries at once, rather than having to work through each in turn.
Reportedly costing up to $15m, housed in a garden shed-sized box that cools the chip to near absolute zero, it should be installed at Nasa and available for research by autumn 2013.
US giant Lockheed Martin earlier this year upgraded its own D-Wave machine to the 512 qubit D-Wave Two.
David Beckham is to retire from football at the end of this season after an illustrious 20-year career.
The former England captain made 115 appearances for his country and 394 for Manchester United, winning six Premier League titles and the Champions League.
"I'm thankful to PSG for giving me the opportunity to continue but I feel now is the right time to finish my career, playing at the highest level," he said.
PSG have two more games before the end of the season, at home against Brest on Saturday and away to Lorient on 26 May.
Beckham, who donates his salary with the
newly crowned French champions
to charity, has made 13 appearances since moving to Paris.
The Leytonstone-born midfielder has played for United, Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy, AC Milan and PSG, lifting 19 trophies including 10 league titles.
He is the only English player to win championships in four countries.
"If you had told me as a young boy I would have played for and won trophies with my boyhood club Manchester United, proudly captained and played for my country over 100 times and lined up for some of the biggest clubs in the world, I would have told you it was a fantasy," he said.
"I'm fortunate to have realised those dreams.
Beckham joined United as a trainee in 1991, making his first-team debut the following year and signing his first professional contract in 1993.
He became one of the world's most high-profile sportsmen during his time at Old Trafford - and a global celebrity following his marriage to Victoria Adams of pop group the Spice Girls in 1999.
He was loaned to AC Milan during the MLS off-season in 2009 and 2010, and his stay in the US ended when he signed for PSG.
Beckham made his England debut against Moldova in 1996 and captained the side from 2000 to 2006, making his 115th and final England appearance in a
3-0 win over Belarus in 2009.
"To this day, one of my proudest achievements is captaining my country. I knew every time I wore the Three Lions shirt, I was not only following in a long line of great players, I was also representing every fan that cared passionately about their country," he said.
"He's been a fantastic ambassador for football and sport. What he has achieved has been remarkable. Whatever he goes on to do I'm sure he will achieve a lot"
Lee SharpeEx-Man Utd midfielder and former team-mate
"I want people to see me as a hardworking footballer - someone who, when he steps on the pitch, he gives everything he's got. When I look back on my career that is how I look back on it and that is how I hope people have seen me."
Beckham was the first English player to score at three consecutive World Cup finals and has the joint-second most goal assists in European Championship finals history.
He played a significant role in the successful bid to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to London and in March of this year became the first sportsman from outside of China to be invited to become
the ambassador for the sport
in the country.
"Nothing will ever completely replace playing the game I love," added Beckham. "However, I feel like I'm starting a new adventure and I'm genuinely excited about what lies ahead.
"I'm fortunate to have been given many opportunities throughout my career and now I feel it's my time to give back."
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: "David Beckham has been an outstanding footballer throughout his career.
"Not only that - he has been a brilliant ambassador for this country, not least if we remember all the work he did in helping us win London 2012."
England manager Roy Hodgson added: "He's had a glittering career, iconic status, and I wish him well in the future."
Beckham concluded his statement by thanking his family.
"I wouldn't have achieved what I have done today without my family. I'm grateful for my parents' sacrifice, which made me realise my dreams," he said.
"I owe everything to Victoria and the kids, who have given me the inspiration and support to play at the highest level for such a long period."
Google is at the top of its game. It presides over, if not ruling outright, enormous swaths of modern life. Its market value has never been higher, and keeps heading north. As the company is demonstrating this week at its annual conference for developers, it innovates and experiments at a breathtaking rate. And it exudes an abiding confidence that the best is yet to come.
If all that doesn't have Google CEO Larry Page and his colleagues absolutely terrified, they're not nearly as smart as I think they are.
I write this from Google I/O, where thousands of engineers and hundreds of journalists have gathered to experience the latest and in some ways greatest advances in modern computing and communications. This year hasn't featured a gaudy product announcement like the 2012 first look – via parachute drop from the skies above San Francisco's downtown convention center – at the (still) upcoming Google Glass heads-up computing platform.
But the breadth and depth of Google's current initiatives is more than impressive. There are far too many to list, but consider Google Maps, which is evolving into a deep and rich offering that leverages the company's other data and services, especially search, and moves it well beyond what once was simply a map. Look something up and you can get a host of information about it, including what people you know from the Google+ social network have posted. Get directions as you drive, and based on real-time information you'll be told of alternate routes if traffic gets too heavy. (That feature has been in the competing Waze map product, and I now expect Waze to be bought by Facebook, Microsoft or Apple as a result of Google's move).
Maps is part of a growing array of Google services that grow more and more personal – adjusted for you and your habits – every day. The powerful integration of Maps and other Google services is testament to the company's core infrastructure: unimaginably vast server farms, industry-leading software development and intra-Google communications capabilities that translate to better and better results for users. It's hard to see how competitors can catch up in some cases, Maps being a key case.
No wonder there's such visible confidence among the employees, and delight among the outside developers who have cast at least part of their lot with Google. It's fine to be self-assured. But when that morphs into hubris, danger looms – and Google, from the outside, looks perilously close to that point today.
The company's engineering culture assumes it will solve problems; that data is king; and that anyone with common sense will use the company's solutions. It's true enough, as Google notes, that its search dominance is always one click away from melting. Competition does exist. But the company's culture has has been a factor in some bad ideas and worse moves, and I suspect it could be real trouble down the road.
There have been several privacy mini-debacles that Google appeared to shrug off a little too cavalierly, for example, and as its influence expands in the markets it already dominates, there's every potential for a situation that will scare everyone, not just privacy and policy wonks.
More worrisome, at least to me, is Google's key role as a re-centralizer of data and services. The internet was, from the beginning, all about decentralizing what we do – moving innovation and, ultimately, control to the edges of networks. Google and others are bringing control back to the center in ways that we all may come to regret some day.
I don't see Google's current leaders as the kind of people who would use their potential (and real) power to clamp down to the extent that they could, but I have no reason to believe their successors won't. I don't see what the company is doing now to prevent such an outcome. If I believe it's happening, I'll do my best to extricate myself from its ecosystem; I'll hope I'm one of millions who will do so, and that our combined acts have the kind of financial impact that punishes bad behavior.
That said, Larry Page's appearance at the end of the long, long keynote on Wednesday was reassuring in key ways. He chided the tech industry for its zero-sum mentality, even as his colleagues fired shot after shot across the bow of competitors earlier in the morning, and called for more cooperation to improve the ecosystem as a whole. Yes, there was an element of hypocrisy, but Page seemed to mean it.
Yet what stuck with me at the end of the keynote was a posting – on another worryingly centralized technology platform, Twitter – by an employee for another Silicon Valley "cloud" technology company that inevitably must see Google as a dangerous competitor. She wrote,
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