Brian Newman guilty of abusing boys at children's home

A man has been convicted of sexually abusing boys at a children's home in Ayrshire after his victims came forward following the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Brian Newman, 58, from Kilmarnock, was convicted of 10 charges of indecency and sexual assault against six boys at the home during the 1990s.

He was found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Judge Lord Glennie deferred sentence on Newman and continued bail but told him to to expect a "significant" jail term.

He also placed Newman on the sex offenders register.

Victims exploited

The trail heard how a police investigation into Newman's activities began after his first victim contacted police in 2012 amid publicity over the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The victim had been 13 when he was abused at the home between October 1991 and March 1992.

Newman had gone into his private bedroom and molested him and made inappropriate sexual remarks.

Other victims described how they got on well with Newman but were later left with feelings of confusion, shame and embarrassment after they were exploited by him.

With some boys there had been an escalation in the abuse, moving on from touching to sex acts.

Some youngsters were given sweets and cigarettes and others were subjected to threats by the care worker.

Newman, a grandfather, who previously worked in another children's home in Ayrshire during the 1980s, said he was "hands on" but denied abusing the children.

My friend the monster

When I was 10, I believed that all Corvettes were just like the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06. They weren’t.That year, 1980, the 305 California was the newsmaker among Corvettes – and not in a good way. Created by General Motors as a way to continue selling its sports car in California as the state tightened its emissions rules, this model featured between its fibreglass fenders a wheezing 180-horsepower 5-litre V8 engine from the Biscayne sedan and a three-speed automatic transmission.Not that Californians had much to envy: the 350-cubic-inch engine found in Corvettes sold in the other 49 states churned out all of 190hp. Tthe Corvette was America’s only sports car, and that year, it was an embarrassment.

Being 10, I nevertheless wanted one rather badly – because, being 10, I hadn’t driven one, or anything else. It looked fast – unspeakably, illegally fast – and that was all that mattered. The trim and tidy Porsche 911, with which the Chevrolet has been compared countless times over the years, looked too sensible to be naughty. But the Corvette – particularly designer Larry Shinoda’s third-generation car – looked like a natural-born killer. I had seen Mark Hamill’s 1978 Star Wars follow-up, Corvette Summer, and loved it beyond common sense. It was a plain, unsubstantiated fact to me that nothing was faster than a C3 Corvette – never had been, never would be.

Mark Hamill's Stingray does its thing in the 1978 film, Corvette Summer (Credit: Warner Bros Entertainment)

I was wrong, of course. The Corvettes of my youth, including Mark Hamill’s red menace, were lame: creaky old chuffers with metal-flake paint jobs and mom-sedan mechanical bits. Without having driven either car, I would venture that the engine-donor 1980 Biscayne sedan, with whitewalls and button-tufted velour seats, was quicker off the line than the 1980 Corvette. And I’m probably right.

The 2015 Corvette Z06 is not lame. It is a monster, a barbarous mythical creature like those boulder-throwing Laestrygonians from Homer’s Odyssey. It is everything – every last inch – the Corvette I thought all Corvettes were when I was 10.

Before my stint with the Z06, I enjoyed back-to-back weeks in a Chevrolet Camaro SS with the 1LE performance package and a standard Corvette Stingray. To my surprise, I liked the Camaro more, so much so that I spent my entire week with the Stingray missing the 1LE. Why? The standard Corvette is certainly not a bad car. But with the 1LE package, the Camaro is, if you will indulge me once more, the Camaro I thought all Camaros were when I was a kid. It is raucous, cartoonish and angry. It is one of those cars that has strange effects on the driver – a swagger, for instance. I don’t normally have a swagger, but I swear the 1LE gave me one. My voice dropped by a good octave that week. Very odd. I called these physiological changes “Camannerisms”. They went away when I took delivery of the Corvette.

Even in blazing Torch Red, my manual-transmission-equipped Stingray test car felt, dare I say, a touch too civilised for its own good. It had perforated Napa leather seats and a 3D navigation system and an onboard wi-fi hotspot. It was very fast, certainly quicker and more agile than the 1LE Camaro, but it didn’t necessarily seem faster. And because I live in Los Angeles, a part of the world where appearances can matter more than reality, and where traffic citations are handed out like Halloween candy, seeming fast is more important that being fast.

The Z06 is different. For starters, it wields a 190hp advantage over the standard Stingray – as much as the 49-state 1980 Corvette produced in total. But unlike, say, the Dodge Challenger Hellcat, there is more to the Z06’s appeal than extra power. I have driven a good many fast cars over the years. There were exactly three that truly intimidated me: a 1999 Dodge Viper ACR with a huge wing, a 1981 Lamborghini Countach LP400S with six carburettors and this Corvette Z06. (OK, four if you count the terrifying, three-wheeled Campagna T-Rex, but let’s not.) Among those cars, the Z06 was both the most deserving of my fear, and the least. It was the fastest and most powerful by some margin, but also the most balanced and benign.

In reviewing the Z06 for BBC Autos, Dan Carney referred to the car as a “track-optimised variant of the seventh-generation Corvette.” It is a tidy descriptor for a superhero among supercars, and while not inaccurate, it does not capture the screaming outrageousness of Chevrolet’s achievement. I appreciate the technical challenges of building a truly quick track car, but building a great track car that is also a great road car – a car that is totally drivable on public roads yet somehow still feels comically inappropriate in such a setting – is some sort of black art. A great track car lapping a racetrack is expected; a great track car parading down Santa Monica Boulevard, its nasty, blatty bark setting off the alarms of parked cars along the way, is madness of the very best sort.

In hindsight, as much as I wanted to drive when I was 10, I am glad I couldn’t. And I am awfully glad that Chevrolet waited until I was old enough to build the Corvette of my dreams.

Why is Senegal sending troops to Saudi Arabia?

The decision by Senegal to send 2,100 troops to Saudi Arabia may come as a surprise to many. However, this is not the first time that the "jambars" will set foot in the kingdom.

A much smaller contingent was sent to help "protect the holy sites" of Mecca and to honour "the historic ties between the two countries" 24 years ago.

That operation ended tragically with a plane crash that killed 92 Senegalese soldiers.

The latest deployment will join a Saudi-led coalition fighting to secure the kingdom's border with Yemen.

Even so, Senegalese leader Macky Sall is using more or less the same reasons for taking troops to Saudi Arabia used then by former President Abdou Diouf all those years ago.

Except that this time, the rejection is much wider.

Senegalese forces are among the best trained in Africa

It seems that the younger generation of politicians and citizens does not buy the argument of "protecting the holy sites of Islam" being served to them.

"Why would Senegalese troops go to Yemen to fight a war that is not theirs?" is a widely shared view on social media today.

And many did not go far before making the link between President Sall's recent announcement that Saudi Arabia would invest heavily in the government development programme known as Programme Senegal Emergent 2035 (PSE), and the decision to send troops to the kingdom.

A well-known columnist went as far as saying that "the blood of the jambars will be funding the PSE".

Senegal, a majority Sunni Muslim country, is the only non-Arabic country to join the Saudi-led coalition.

Windows 'open' for Apple and Android

Microsoft is releasing software tools that make it easier to run popular Apple and Android apps on Windows mobile devices.

By changing a "few percent", Apple app makers should be able to run code on Windows 10 mobile devices, it said.

And many Android apps should run with no changes.

Experts said the move was an "imperfect solution" to Microsoft's problems persuading people to use Windows mobile.

Popular vote

For iOS, Microsoft has unveiled an initiative called Project Islandwood, which has led to the creation of a software interpreter that works with the development tools Apple coders typically pick.

By piping code through this interpreter and changing a few other parts, it would be possible to transfer or port iOS apps to Windows 10, Microsoft said in a presentation at its Build developer conference in Seattle.

Already developers working for game-maker King have ported the massively popular Candy Crush Saga to Windows using these tools.

A separate initiative, called Project Astoria, is aimed at Android and involves code built in to Windows itself that spots when an Android app is running and gives it the responses it expects.

Microsoft said this meant many Android apps would run with no changes on Windows mobile devices.

However, the way that Android is built means changes will have to be made to some apps.

The tactic is seen as a way for Microsoft to to boost its popularity and persuade developers to include Windows 10 in their plans.

While many apps are already available on the Windows store, some popular ones, such as Pinterest and Plants v Zombies 2, are absent.

Microsoft has also added tools that let Android apps reach some parts of Windows, such as its Cortana personal assistant, they would not otherwise be able to use.

CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber said: "The decision to embrace Android and iOS applications is an imperfect solution to an undesirable problem.

"Nonetheless, it's a necessary move to attract developers otherwise lost to Apple and Google."

Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

Windows 10 is going to be the last major revision of the operating system.

Jerry Nixon, a Microsoft development executive, said in a conference speech this week that Windows 10 would be the "last version" of the dominant desktop software.

His comments were echoed by Microsoft which said it would update Windows in future in an "ongoing manner".

Instead of new stand-alone versions, Windows 10 would be improved in regular instalments, the firm said.

Mr Nixon made his comments during Microsoft's Ignite conference held in Chicago this week.

In a statement, Microsoft said Mr Nixon's comments reflected a change in the way that it made its software.

"Windows will be delivered as a service bringing new innovations and updates in an ongoing manner," it said, adding that it expected there to be a "long future" for Windows.

'No Windows 11'

The company said it had yet to decide on what to call the operating system beyond Windows 10.

"There will be no Windows 11," warned Steve Kleynhans, a research vice-president at analyst firm Gartner who monitors Microsoft.

He said Microsoft had in the past deliberately avoided using the name "Windows 9" and instead chose Windows 10 as a way to signify a break with a past which involved successive stand-alone versions of the operating system.

However, he said, working in that way had created many problems for Microsoft and its customers.

"Every three years or so Microsoft would sit down and create 'the next great OS'," he said.

Microsoft has developed the HoloLens augmented reality system for use with Windows 10

"The developers would be locked away and out would pop a product based on what the world wanted three years ago."

Microsoft also had to spend a huge amount of money and marketing muscle to convince people that they needed this new version, and that it was better than anything that had come before, he explained.

Moving to a situation in which Windows is a constantly updated service will break out of this cycle, and let Microsoft tinker more with the software to test new features and see how customers like them, he added.

'Positive step'

Most of the revenue generated by Windows for Microsoft came from sales of new PCs and this was unlikely to be affected by the change, Mr Kleynhans pointed out.

"Overall this is a positive step, but it does have some risks," he said.

"Microsoft will have to work hard to keep generating updates and new features, he said, adding that questions still remained about how corporate customers would adapt to the change and how Microsoft would provide support.

"It doesn't mean that Windows is frozen and will never move forward again," Mr Kleynhans told the BBC.

"Indeed we are about to see the opposite, with the speed of Windows updates shifting into high gear."

Russia stages massive WW2 parade

Russia is staging its biggest military parade, marking 70 years of victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Thousands of troops are marching on Red Square in Moscow, and new armour being displayed for the first time.

More than 20 heads of states are in Moscow, but many world leaders are boycotting the event because of Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.

As the event began, President Vladimir Putin said international co-operation had been put at risk in recent years.

Russia denies claims by the West that it is arming rebels in eastern Ukraine. More than 6,000 people have been killed since fighting began in April 2014 in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Live coverage of the parade

Show of strength

In his speech, President Putin paid tribute to the sacrifices of Soviet troops during World War Two. He also thanked "the people of Great Britain, France and the United States for their contribution to victory".

But he added: "In recent decades the basic principles of international co-operation have been ignored ever more frequently. We see how a military-bloc mentality is gaining momentum."

The remarks echo previous complaints by Mr Putin about what he says are efforts by the US and its Nato allies to encircle Russia militarily.

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Media captionThe Armata T-14 tank was driven through Moscow in a parade rehearsal

The victory parade started at 10:00 local time (07:00 GMT). Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Pranab Mukherjee of India and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are among more than 20 world leaders watching the event.

Military units from across Russia - some dressed in WWII-era uniforms - are marching, and more than 100 aircraft have been flying over Red Square.

The most talked-about new high-tech Russian armour is the T-14 Armata battle tank, which has a remote-controlled gun turret and reinforced capsule for the crew.

The RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles - each capable of delivering three nuclear warheads - are also on show.

It is the biggest military parade ever held in Moscow

Russia's Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

• 22 June 1941: Nazi German troops invade Soviet Union, despite 1939 non-aggression pact
• Winter of 1942-43: German advance blocked at Stalingrad, south Russia - about two million soldiers and civilians die in long battle
• 1944: Soviet offensive spreads across Eastern Europe as German troops retreat
• 21 April 1945: Soviet troops enter Berlin
• 30 April 1945: Hitler commits suicide
• More than 60 million war dead globally - heaviest losses were Soviet, an estimated 26 million

In a sign of closer ties between President Vladimir Putin's Russia and China, a column of Chinese troops are marching in Moscow for the first time.

Military parades on a smaller scale are also being held in other cities, including Sevastopol in Crimea - Ukraine's southern peninsula annexed by Russia in March 2014.

'Parade of cynicism'

The US, Australia, Canada and most of the EU heads of state are boycotting the celebrations in Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis.

On Friday, Poland organised an alternative event for those leaders who refused to go to Moscow.

Events in Gdansk were attended by the presidents of several countries including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Ukraine. Mr Ban was also there.

Addressing the gathering, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said: "Crimes are committed today in the 21st Century amid the aggression against my country Ukraine, despite the cruellest lessons of the past."

The Ukrainian leader also described Saturday's event in Moscow as a "parade of cynicism".

David Booth jailed for biting off ex girlfriend's lip

A man who bit off his ex-partner's lip after he saw her talking to another man in a bar has been jailed for 27 months.

David Booth, 54, attacked Catherine Byrne in the Storm Queen pub on Glasgow's Dumbarton Road on 2 January.

Booth, from Dunfermline, admitted biting Ms Byrne's lower lip to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard the victim's lip was reconstructed by stitching the outer edges of her wound.

Jailing Booth, Sheriff Ian Miller told him: "It was a single horrible and repellent act."

Break-up

He also placed Booth on a non-harassment order for three years meaning he cannot contact or attempt to contact Ms Byrne during that time.

The court heard that Booth and Ms Byrne met on a dating website and had been in a relationship for around a year before she ended it due to him constantly attempting to monitor her movements.

On 2 January, she put his possessions on her porch and made arrangements for him to collect them.

That night Booth stopped off at her home and told Ms Byrne he wanted to get back together.

She refused although invited him out for a drink with her.

The court heard they went to a pub in Anniesland then to the Storm Queen pub in Partick.

A bouncer told the court he saw Booth being aggressive towards Ms Byrne and her move away from him to sit with a group of others.

'Very jealous'

A short time later Ms Byrne was dancing when Booth approached her.

When she tried to push him away he grabbed her by the shoulders and bit her bottom lip and spat it out on the floor.

Ms Byrne screamed: "He bit my lip, he bit my lip" as blood poured from her face. She yelled to get Booth away from her and he was escorted out of the pub.

When police and paramedics arrived an officer saw "a piece of lip" on the floor and gave it to ambulance staff.

Ms Byrne was taken to the Western Infirmary then the Southern General where she had surgery the following day.

Part of her lip was missing and another part cut away and her lip reconstructed by stitching the outer edges.

The court heard she struggles to form certain letters and suffers numbness in her lip and the injury has resulted in her drooling from the right side because of a gap.