06/05/2015

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Last night, Northern Ireland's five biggest parties took part in the final TV election debate before voters go to the polls. Our Northern Ireland correspondent Andy Martin reports.

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There’s a warning today that European countries are heading into an obesity crisis. World Health Organisation scientists will unveil research at a conference in Prague today that suggests by 2030 almost three quarters of men and two thirds of women in the UK are expected to be overweight or obese. But in the Republic of Ireland the situation could be even worse, with 89% of men and 85% of women overweight or obese. Tom Feilden is our Science Editor.

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Scientists have discovered two well-preserved bird fossils in China that push back the evolutionary record of modern birds by five or six million years. The specimens lived during the Early Cretaceous period 130 million years ago, making them the second oldest bird fossils known to man. The fossils are important because they allow scientists to understand the flight modes of ancient birds. Vera Domingues is the senior Editor for Nature Communications journal.

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The Daily Express has come out in support of UKIP – and the party confirms it has suspended its candidate for North East Hampshire after the Mirror reported that he had threatened to shoot his Tory rival if he ever became Prime Minister. Paul Nuttall is the deputy Leader of the UK Independence Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England

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The United States says it's investigating a claim by the Islamic State jihadist group that it was behind a failed attack in Texas on Sunday in which two gunmen were killed. It's the first time the group has claimed to have carried out an attack in the US. The White House said it was too early to say if I-S had any ties with the gunmen, who opened fire outside a contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. Mohammed Elibiary was until September last year an adviser to the US Secretary of Homeland Security, and lives in Dallas, a few miles from the scene of the foiled attack.

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The evolution of Western pop music over fifty years – from 1960 to 2010 – has been analysed by scientists.  A team from Queen Mary University, London and Imperial College looked at more than 17,000 songs from the major American chart, the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.  They found three music revolutions – in 1964, 1983 and 1991 – and traced the loss of blues chords from the charts, as well as the birth of disco.  The team also refutes claims that pop music is starting to sound the same. Dr Matthias Mauch is from Queen Mary University of London and co-led the research.

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From Aberdeen to Penzance, Belfast to Norwich, our reporters and presenters tested the mood across these great isles. Here's a few of the best bits of our 100 plus constituencies in 100 days:

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What makes a legitimate government and how do the political parties go about negotiating a coalition? Lord O'Donnell is a former Cabinet Secretary who coordinated the coalition negotiations in 2010.

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The General Election takes place tomorrow, the culmination of months of campaigning for voter’s support by candidates across the country. Today set itself the task of visiting one hundred constituencies in the past one hundred days. Matthew Price has visited many of them and he’s back where he began today – in the three way marginal of Thurrock.

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A High Court judge has ruled that a baby girl should live with her father and his boyfriend, rather than her mother, after a protracted legal dispute. The girl's father said the mother had agreed to be a surrogate - the mother said the father had agreed to be a sperm donor. Each claimed they were to be the little girl's main carer - and there was no formal agreement between the parents. Natalie Gamble is a solicitor specialising in surrogacy law who represented the fathers in this case.

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In our final interview with the party leaders ahead of the General Election we speak to the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron.

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With one day to go until the general election, what is the latest on where the parties stand and what they are saying? Norman Smith is the BBC’s assistant Political Editor.

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The Nigerian military says it has rescued almost 700 women and children from captivity over the past week. They had been held by the jihadist group Boko Haram but a military offensive against the rebel strongholds in the Sambisa forest freed them. They are some of the estimated 2,000 women and children that Amnesty International says have been abducted by Boko Haram since the beginning of last year. Our Nigeria correspondent Will Ross has been to a camp in Yola in north east Nigeria where several hundred of the former captives are being given help.  

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It is one of the most prestigious events in the arts world - the Venice Biennale. Hundreds of artists from across the globe will be showing their work when the exhibition opens later this week. Representing Britain is the YBA artist, Sarah Lucas, perhaps best-known for her self-portrait with two fried eggs placed strategically on the front of her t-shirt. Our Arts Editor Will Gompertz has been to the show and talked to the artist.

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Orson Welles was one of the great auteurs of the 20th century. He is often credited as being one of the most influential film directors of all time, but was also a distinguished actor and screenwriter, and made ground-breaking contributions to theatre and radio broadcasting. Despite this, he is sometimes regarded as an underachiever. Having left many projects unfinished, he produced a relatively small and inconsistent body of work over the course of his career. Today would be Welles' 100th birthday. How much of Welles’ acclaim is based on myth? Sarah Churchwell is Professor of American Literature at the University of East Anglia and actor Simon Callow is a biographer of Orson Welles.

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The election campaign officially started six weeks ago. Since then the party leaders, candidates and local activists have been out knocking on doors and trying to win crucial votes. But this year's campaign has been criticised as being boring, staged managed and flat due to a lack of interaction with the public. So six week on, given that the election is too close to call, will this campaign have made any difference to how people will vote? Will 2015 be a campaign to remember or one to forget? Rachel Sylvester is a columnist with The Times and Rafael Bher is a political columnist with The Guardian.

 All subject to change.