Apple and Tax

There has been widespread criticism in the US of the European Commission's ruling that Apple should pay up to €13bn (£11bn) in back taxes.

The US Treasury said that such tax investigations were "unfair" and undermined the tax rules of individual states.

Colin Kaepernick

NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick should "find a country that works better for him" said Donald Trump after the player's national anthem protest.

The Republican presidential nominee weighed in on the San Francisco 49er's decision to sit during The Star-Spangled Banner in a pre-game ceremony.

Australia

On the one hand, China is the country's biggest trading partner, but it also poses a potential regional military threat that's drawing the attention of the US, Australia's closest defence ally.

Chris Froome

Chris Froome moved back into third in the Vuelta but lost more ground on the red jersey as Nairo Quintana won stage 10 to regain the overall lead.

Kyle Edmund

Kyle Edmund powered past 13th seed Richard Gasquet to claim the best win of his career and reach the second round of the US Open.

Edmund, ranked 84th, beat the former semi-finalist 6-2 6-2 6-3 on a hot afternoon at Flushing Meadows.

The Briton, 21, will face American wild card Ernesto Escobedo in round two.

Sergio Aguero

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has been ruled out of Argentina's World Cup 2018 qualifiers with a calf injury.

Le Cenacle

A video showing a restaurateur in a Paris suburb apparently refusing to serve two Muslim women has sparked anger in France and calls for protest.

In the video, widely shared on social media, the man tells the hijab-wearing women: "Terrorists are Muslims and all Muslims are terrorists."

The incident took place at Le Cenacle restaurant in Tremblay-en-France on Saturday night.

Mary Berry

MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace has criticised Great British Bake Off star Mary Berry over her suggestion that no family should own a deep-fat fryer.

Sigmar Gabriel

Germany's vice-chancellor has warned the future of the EU could be in doubt if the UK's exit is handled badly.

Sigmar Gabriel said the EU would go "down the drain" if other states followed Britain's lead and that the UK could not keep the "nice things" about Europe while taking no responsibility.

Colin Kaepernick

A US National Football League (NFL) quarterback has refused to stand for the national anthem in protest at what he sees as racial injustice.

Colin Kaepernick, who plays with the San Francisco 49ers, remained seated as the anthem was played.

Juno and Jupiter

A probe flown by the US space agency Nasa has made its first close approach to the planet Jupiter since going into orbit in July.

Juno was commanded to pass just 4,200km above the cloud tops of the gas giant on Saturday.

No previous spacecraft has got so close to the world during the main phase of its mission.

Juno had all its instruments - and its camera - switched on and primed for the encounter.

Switched At Birth

Two men in a remote community in Canada have found out they were switched at birth 41 years ago.

Leon Swanson and David Tait Jr know each other and continue to live in the same town of 5,000 people, who are mostly indigenous from the Cree Nation.

This is the second such case to come to light in a year.

In November, local government officials said two other men at the same hospital were also switched at birth in the same year.

Luke Monias and Norman Barkman's case prompted Mr Tait and Mr Swanson to have their DNA tested.

Burkini

France's highest administrative court has suspended a ban on full-body "burkini" swimsuits that was imposed in a town on the Mediterranean coast.

The ban in Villeneuve-Loubet "seriously and clearly illegally breached fundamental freedoms", it found.

The ruling could set a precedent for up to 30 other towns that imposed bans on their beaches, chiefly on the Riviera.

Wolfram Gottschalk

An elderly Canadian couple who have been married for 62 years have been forced to live in separate care homes.

A photo of Wolfram Gottschalk, 83, and his wife, Anita, 81, went viral after their granddaughter shared their story.

Sarah Palin

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has warned Donald Trump of "massive disappointment" if he backs down on his plan to deport undocumented immigrants.

Clinton and Trump

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of being a "bigot" in his latest appeal to minority voters.

Speaking at a Mississippi rally, he said his opponent "sees people of colour only as votes not as human beings worthy of a better future".

Mr Trump added that Mrs Clinton and the Democratic party had taken advantage of the African-American community.

Mrs Clinton fired back, saying "he is taking a hate movement mainstream".

Languages

Languages are ever changing, mixing and mutating, and sometimes they give birth to new ones. Sanskrit gave birth to Hindi and others; Latin is ancestor to a set of languages including Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian; more recently, Afrikaans came from Dutch. But how about English? What will it give birth to?

Verbing

People have been turning nouns into verbs for centuries – so why does it grate so much?

Proxima Centauri

The nearest habitable world beyond our Solar System might be right on our doorstep - astronomically speaking.

Scientists say their investigations of the closest star, Proxima Centauri, show it to have an Earth-sized planet orbiting about it.

What is more, this rocky globe is moving in a zone that would make liquid water on its surface a possibility.

Proxima is 40 trillion km away and would take a spacecraft using current technology thousands of years to reach.

Camber Sands

Two more bodies have been found on the beach at Camber Sands, hours after three men were pulled from the water on the hottest day of the year.

A member of the public found the two bodies as the tide receded at about 20:00 BST, the RNLI said.

A search is underway for a third person missing at the East Sussex beach. Lifeboats and a helicopter are combing the water off the coast.

Seven other people have died around the coastline since Friday.

Earthquake in Perugia

At least 120 people have been killed and 368 injured in an earthquake that hit a mountainous area of central Italy, PM Matteo Renzi has said.

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck at 03:36 (01:36 GMT), 100km (65 miles) north-east of Rome, not far from Perugia.

Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors has unveiled a new battery pack for the performance versions of its Model S and X cars that will extend the range and mean faster acceleration.

Biggest Pearl

Philippine officials believe they may have recovered the biggest natural giant clam pearl in the world - weighing a whopping 34kg (5.2 stone).

The pearl was found 10 years ago by a fisherman who was unaware of its value and kept it as a good luck charm, Palawan official Aileen Amurao said.

"We were amazed when he brought it to us," she told local media.

Officials are awaiting confirmation from gemologists that the find is indeed the world's largest pearl.

The pearl is 61cm (2ft) wide and 30cm long and, if confirmed, will easily beat the current record holder, the Pearl of Lao Tzu, which weighs 6.4kg.

Industrial Disaster in Paris

Attacks by Islamist militants as well as strikes and floods have led to a big fall in tourism in Paris.

There were a million fewer visitors between January and June compared with the same period in 2015.

Paris welcomes 16 million visitors a year and is one of the world's top tourist destinations.

The drop is estimated to have cost about €750m (£644m) in lost revenue. One senior official described it as "an industrial disaster".

Speedo, Ralph Lauren and Ryan Lochte

The swimwear manufacturer Speedo and fashion label Ralph Lauren are dropping their sponsorship of the disgraced US Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.

Mass Deportation Plan

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has signalled he may drop his proposal to deport 11 million people who are living illegally in the US.

His campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said the mass deportation plan, which was a central plank of his campaign, was yet "to be determined".

Germany and National Emergency

For the first time since the Cold War the German government is advising citizens to stockpile food and water for use in a national emergency.

Some opposition MPs said the new civil defence concept, to go before ministers on Wednesday, was scaremongering.

Citizens are advised to store enough food to last them 10 days, because initially a disaster might put national emergency services beyond reach.

Five days' water - two litres (half a gallon) per person daily - is advised.

Pikachu in Singapore

Changi Village

Roman Roslovtsev

Ukrainian authorities say a Russian opposition activist has requested asylum in the country.

Roman Roslovtsev, known for protesting against Russian president Vladimir Putin in a Putin mask, crossed into Ukraine from Belarus.

Mo Farah

Mo Farah plans to end his track career after next year's World Championships in London - but has not ruled out running the marathon at Tokyo 2020.

Third Runway at Heathrow

Campaigners claim that Theresa May would run into trouble locally if she backed a third runway at Heathrow.

Ricky Gervais

Legendary funny man Ricky Gervais may have gone on to international stardom. But his alter ego David Brent is back where he started - in Slough.

Nicola Adams

Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to retain an Olympic title for 92 years by winning gold in the women's flyweight final at Rio 2016.

Sea Snails

A giant sea snail could be the answer to getting rid of coral-eating starfish from the Great Barrier Reef, Myles Gough reports.

Australian researchers are investigating whether the scent of a natural predator can help repel millions of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) from corals on the Great Barrier Reef.

Opel

German carmaker Opel plans to cut its workers' hours this year because it expects Brexit to hurt its UK sales.

A spokesman for Opel said about 5,000 workers at its Ruesselsheim and Eisenach factories would be affected. Opel is owned by US car giant GM.

The pound has weakened against the dollar and euro since the UK's 23 June vote to leave the EU, adding costs for firms exporting to the UK.

Paul Manafort

Paul Manafort, campaign chairman for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has resigned just two months after taking the helm.

Fine and Bribe

A Senegalese court has fined a woman $250 (£190) and given her a one-month suspended prison term for paying a bribe to a policeman, despite the fact she filmed him demanding the money.

Sakshi Malik

Female wrestler Sakshi Malik has delivered India its first medal of the 2016 Rio Games, sending a nation into ecstasy. But her journey to the Olympic podium has not been easy.

Gawker Media

The news site Gawker.com will shut down next week, just days after it was purchased by Univision.

Mooncakes Bengawan Solo

Is there any promotion?

Victory Tax

American Olympians are subject to a so-called "victory tax" - a tax on both the money they receive from the Olympic committee for winning and on the value of the Olympic medal.

Ryan Lochte and James Feigen

A judge in Brazil has issued an order preventing US swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen from leaving the country after police queried their evidence in a robbery case.

Patrick Hickey

Patrick Hickey, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee, has temporarily stood down from all his roles after his arrest in Rio over allegations of illegal ticket sales.

Nazi Gold Train

Treasure hunters have begun digging at a site in south-western Poland where they believe a Nazi train, laden with stolen gems and arms, is hidden.

Experts say there is no evidence that the legendary train exists there.

The explorers - led by Piotr Koper from Poland and Andreas Richter from Germany - said ground-penetrating radar results were "very promising".

They think the train was hidden in a tunnel in 1945. The dig, near the city of Walbrzych, may take up to 10 days.

Giles Scott

Giles Scott sealed gold in sailing's Finn class to give Great Britain their fifth successive Olympic title in the event.

The Weymouth-based 29-year-old succeeds Sir Ben Ainslie, who won three previous titles, and emulates Iain Percy in 2000.

Wayde van Niekerk

Wayde van Niekerk is no ordinary athlete, and not just because he is coached by a 74-year-old great-grandmother. In winning gold at the World Championships a year ago he got to within 0.30 seconds of Michael Johnson's 400m world record set 17 years ago

Michael Phelps

The most decorated Olympian of all time is inspiring Chinese people to copy his warm-up routine.

Michael Phelps has an incredible 28 medals to his name, 23 of them gold. And before diving into the pool, he needs to stretch his muscles. Using all of his 6ft 3in (193cm) he somehow manages to wrap his hands around his back. 

Jen Glantz

Jen Glantz, a 28-year-old New Yorker, has been working as a professional bridesmaid for two years now.

Extreme Vetting of Migrants

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that he would enact "extreme vetting" of immigrants.

Ai-chan

One Japanese Olympian has become a media darling in China.

Thousands of Chinese fans have been comforting the girl they call "Japanese doll" on social media, or by the affectionate Japanese term "Ai-chan".

She may have lost her match to a Chinese player, but she has won China's heart.

Team GB

How come British Olympic athletes compete as "Team GB" when this title excludes Northern Ireland?

Ryan Lochte

Gold medal-winner Ryan Lochte and three other members of the US Olympic swimming team have been robbed at Rio.

Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen were stopped by people posing as armed police, the US Olympic Committee (USOC) said in a statement.

Aida Hadzialic

Sweden's youngest ever government minister, Aida Hadzialic, has resigned after being caught driving over the alcoholic limit.

Hadzialic, 29, is minister for higher education in the centre-left government and Sweden's first Muslim minister.

Simone Manuel

Records, as the sporting cliche goes, are there to be broken, but while Simone Manuel's Olympic record time in the women's 100m freestyle final will eventually be surpassed, she achieved a first that no-one can take away.

Touching home at the end of a remarkable race, Manuel became the first black female swimmer to win an Olympic gold. She said she hoped her victory would encourage greater diversity in her sport.

Joseph Isaac Schooling

21-year-old Joseph Isaac Schooling has made history by winning Singapore's first Olympic gold medal in the 100m butterfly, doing it in an Olympic record time of 50.39s.

He edged out Olympic great, American Michael Phelps, who clocked a time of 51.14s to come in joint second place with both South African Chad le Clos and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.

Penny Oleksiak

The women's 100m freestyle final at the 2016 Olympics was a race marked by historic feats.

While American Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold in swimming, it was 16-year-old swimming prodigy Penny Oleksiak who burnished her reputation as one of Canada's premier athletes.

Oleksiak tied with Manuel to take the gold, setting a new Olympic record of 52.70 seconds and making history as the first athlete born in the 21st Century to win an Olympic gold medal in any sport.

John Catsimatidis

New York City billionaire John Catsimatidis is offering a financial reward for information leading to the arrest of ice cream shoplifters.

The grocery store tycoon and former mayoral candidate took to Twitter to offer a bounty of $5,000 (£3,870).

He told the New York Post newspaper that thieves are stealing cartons of ice cream in order to resell them to smaller shops, known as "bodegas".

Leonidas of Rhodes

Michael Phelps has broken a 2,000-year-old Olympic record by surpassing the 12 individual titles won by Leonidas of Rhodes.

Twitter

Truth doesn't often get in the way of a good social media rumour. But word that one of the giants of social media platforms has decided to shut down has got the microblogging community all fired up.

The hashtag #SaveTwitter was the world's top trend as of Thursday morning. Intriguingly Twitter didn't rush to debunk it either.

Lightning Marriage

In the case of one couple, whose "lightning marriage" has captivated Chinese social media.

Founder and Co-founder

Republican Donald Trump has described US President Barack Obama as the "founder" of the Islamic State group.

Mr Trump also attacked his Democratic rival for the White House, Hillary Clinton, calling her a "co-founder".

Eurostar Staff Strikes

Eurostar rail workers from two unions are to take part in two concurrent periods of strike action this month in a dispute over their work-life balance.

RMT members will walk out from 12 to 15 and 27 to 29 August while TSSA members will strike on 14 and 15 and 28 and 29.

Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor

The sudden death of billionaire landowner and philanthropist the Duke of Westminster means his 25-year-old son Hugh has now inherited an estate worth £9bn.

Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor, previously known by the honorary title Earl Grosvenor, has so far kept out of the glare of publicity that once contributed to his father becoming affected by depression.

Burka Ban

Germany's interior minister will back plans to ban the burka as part of a raft of anti-terror measures, local media say.

United Selfie

North and South Korea gymnasts at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games have shown the world a brief moment of unity, in the form of a selfie.

Lee Eun-ju of South Korea and Hong Un-jong of the North took a quick smiling snapshot during the training period before the start of the Games.

The pictures of the two women have been widely praised as capturing the Olympic spirit.

Simone Biles

An Olympics commentator has been criticised after suggesting US gymnast Simone Biles's adoptive mother and father were not really her parents.

NBC gymnastics announcer Al Trautwig referred to the Olympic gymnast's adoptive parents, Ron and Nellie, as her grandparents.

But the remarks have ignited a debate on social media, because as well as being her biological grandparents, they adopted her when her mother struggled with drug and alcohol addictions, in Columbus, Ohio.

Gun Rights Remark

Republican Donald Trump has sparked anger by suggesting his supporters could stop his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by exercising their gun rights.

He said that Mrs Clinton would put liberal justices on the Supreme Court if she wins, threatening gun ownership protected by the Second Amendment.

Burkini Day

Plans to hire a waterpark in Marseille for a "burkini day" attended only by women wearing the all-over swimming garment have sparked criticism from right-wing politicians, but the French media are on the whole suspicious of their motives.

Mistaken Migrant

A Chinese tourist spent nearly two weeks in a German migrant hostel after mistakenly applying for asylum when he actually wanted to report a theft.

German media say the 31-year-old backpacker, who spoke neither German nor English, underwent a medical check and his fingerprints were taken.

A Red Cross worker later found out that the man's wallet had been stolen in Stuttgart. But instead of going to the police the man registered as a migrant.

Most Reckless

An open letter signed by 50 Republican national security experts warned that party nominee Donald Trump "would be the most reckless president" in US history.

The group - which includes the former CIA director Michael Hayden - said Mr Trump "lacks the character, values and experience" to be president.

Japanese Corporate Sponsors

Japanese corporate sponsors of the Rio Olympics, which open here on Friday, are taking advantage of the quadrennial sporting event to gain a foothold in the local market.

Anna van der Breggen

Great Britain's Lizzie Armitstead was unable to put a difficult summer behind her by winning an Olympic medal in the women's road race at Rio 2016.

She fell away as Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen won gold.

Paul Pogba

Manchester United are on the brink of re-signing Paul Pogba from Juventus in a world record £89m deal.

United will pay 105m euros for Pogba and performance-related bonuses and other costs could see that figure rise.

The 23-year-old, who left United for £1.5m in 2012, is set to return for a fee that surpasses Gareth Bale's £85m move to Real Madrid in 2013.

Michael Gove

Former deputy PM Nick Clegg has told the BBC that Michael Gove was behind the Sun's "Queen Backs Brexit" story.

Airlander 10

The world's longest aircraft has been brought out of its hangar for the first time.

The Airlander 10, a plane-airship hybrid, was piloted out of the UK's biggest hangar at Cardington Airfield, Bedfordshire, at 04:00 BST on Saturday.

Voting in Thailand

People across Thailand are voting in a referendum on a new constitution, written by a military-appointed committee.

James Milner

England and Liverpool midfielder James Milner has retired from international football.

The former Manchester City man, 30, won 61 caps for England after making his senior debut in 2009.

He was a squad member at two World Cups and two European Championships but played just three minutes at Euro 2016.

2016 Olympic Games

The 2016 Olympic Games officially start in Rio on Friday with the opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.

Athletes from 206 nations and a refugee team are in Brazil to compete in 28 sports and be watched by a global audience of billions.

Sasha Obama

Sasha Obama, daughter of US President Barack Obama, has swapped the comforts of the White House for the counter of a seafood restaurant, US media report.

The 15-year-old has taken a summer job serving food at the business in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Wine Flooded Sete

A protest group has cracked open vats of wine in a southern French town, sending thousands of litres into the streets, local media have reported.

ANC

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) looks to be facing its biggest electoral setback since the end of apartheid, after the partial results of municipal elections.

With 85% of the votes in, the ANC trails its main rival, the Democratic Alliance, in the cities of Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

The two parties are in a close fight in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

But the ANC is still in the lead nationally.

Melania Trump

Melania Trump, the wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has rejected suggestions that she violated visa rules when she started working as a model in New York.

Paul Manafort

Donald Trump's top aide has denied reports of deep divisions within the campaign after a damaging series of missteps by the Republican nominee.

"The campaign is in very good shape. We are organised. We are moving forward," Paul Manafort told Fox News.

Moussa Dembele

An injury-time Moussa Dembele penalty sealed Celtic's place in the play-off round of the Champions League.

Andy Murray

Olympic and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has been chosen to carry the flag for Great Britain at Friday's Rio 2016 opening ceremony.

NHS HIV Drug

The High Court has told the NHS in England it can fund a drug that can prevent HIV - after health bosses argued it was not their responsibility.

Anton Yelchin

The parents of actor Anton Yelchin are suing the makers of his car, after it rolled downhill and killed him.

Obama and Trump

President Barack Obama has said Republican nominee Donald Trump is unfit to be president, and questioned why his party still supports the New York billionaire's candidacy.

HP Laptop Computers

HP has apologised after an error on its website let shoppers buy expensive laptop computers for less than £2.

One device was listed with a previous sale price of £2,378, but was "reduced" to £1.58.

The computer firm briefly took its UK store offline on Saturday to resolve the error, and said it would not honour the sales that had been made.

Fort McMurray

Torrential rains have flooded the Canadian city of Fort McMurray just months after wildfires gutted the area.

The Alberta city activated its emergency operations centre to deal with flooding for the first time since a massive blaze forced the evacuation of thousands of people in May.

Donald Trump and the Khan Family

Senator John McCain and other Republican leaders have condemned Donald Trump's remarks about the Khan family.

Ariya Jutanugarn

Ariya Jutanugarn became Thailand's first major champion after holding off the challenge of Mirim Lee to win the British Open by three shots at Woburn.

#Rio2016

Could you get into in trouble for using the hashtag #Rio2016? It depends on who, or what, you are.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Tens of thousands of people in Germany have turned out in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a rally that raised diplomatic tensions.