Burnley’s players were made to wait to receive their prize after winning the Championship this past weekend - and one man in particular will wait a little longer than others for his medal.

Joey Barton, voted the club’s player of the season after proving a key cog in Sean Dyche’s midfield, missed out on a medal at the celebrations - because there weren’t enough!

Barton, 33, was set to be the penultimate player to receive his medal from the Football League, at the event held outside Burnley town hall, ahead of the trophy parade.

However, with skipper Tom Heaton set to lift the trophy and only one medal left, Football League representatives refused to hand Barton a medal.

It came because league officials were insistent that Heaton, set to be front and centre of the celebrations as the trophy was lifted for the first time, needed to be wearing a medal.

Burnley would later take the blame for the situation, after putting forward 27 players - despite being told they'd only be presented with 25 medals.

Yet, it was an embarrassing situation for the Football League, who have already come in for criticism for not allowing Burnley to celebrate with the trophy on the pitch at the weekend - because they were playing away from home.

The incident prompted Barton to tweet: "No medal? What's going on? :-)”

Initially upset with the incident, Barton took it in good humour, but refused to lift the Championship trophy.

However, the one-cap England international did lift a trophy of sorts - after claiming a blow-up replica from the crowd, and waving that about his head as he continued the celebrations with his teammates

On the incident, Burnley took the blame, declaring: "Burnley Football Club would like to apologise for the mix-up during the medal ceremony.

"The Football League advised the club that 25 medals were to be presented, but the club put forward 27 players.

"We would like to apologise to the Football League for this administrative error and every player will be receive one."

Barton and Tarkowski both took to Twitter to play down the incident afterwards.

The latter wrote: "It was only banter, as if I'd refuse a Championship winning medal! The ribbon wouldn't fit over my ears so waiting for one with more give!"

Defender Ben Mee, who was voted players' player of the year on Sunday evening, expressed his disappointment at the Football League's decision to make Burnley wait to get their trophy.

Mother who stabbed daughters said: 'If I can't have them, he can't'

Amother who stabbed her two daughters to death after escaping from her allegedly abusive boyfriend is said to have told support workers: “If I can’t have them, he can’t have them.”

Samira Lupidi made the comment about Carl Weaver, 31, after emerging from a self-contained safe house on November 17 last year with blood-soaked hands, a court heard.

Her two daughters - Evelyn Lupidi, three, and 17-month-old Jasmine Weaver - were later found dead in their beds. Both had been stabbed nine times with a kitchen knife.  

Lupidi, 24, has denied murder but admits killing the girls on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Bradford Crown Court today heard Italian-born Lupidi had met Mr Weaver over the internet when they were both in Italy and had been dating for around four-and-a-half years at the time of the incident.

Peter Moulson, prosecuting, said Mr Weaver had become controlling shortly after the couple moved to England following the birth of Evelyn in 2012.

"Lupidi told officers that Mr Weaver had become controlling of her and had only allowed her to contact her family by telephone. He didn't allow her to take contraception and she was given very little money," he said.

On November 16 last year, Lupidi called police and claimed that she had been assaulted by Mr Weaver at their home in Heckmondwike the night before.

She was taken to a woman’s refuge and a meeting between Lupidi, Mr Weaver and the children was arranged for the following day. "She told a support worker that Mr Weaver would want the children and would kill her and the children if he found her," Mr Moulson added.

The following day a support worker went to the flat and discovered Lupidi on the phone speaking in English and Italian.

Mr Moulson said: "She was heard to say: 'I hurt them, I killed them'. She was heard repeatedly to say that she had killed them.

"Her hands were covered in blood. A worker, Farzana Kauser, went into the room and saw the girls with stab wounds to the chest."

Staff also claimed Lupidi had wanted to stab herself after killing her daughters but was unable to go through with it.

The mother was said to have been pacing around the refuge office in an agitated state and constantly on her mobile to her mother in Italy as staff called emergency services. The court heard she was saying: "He said I'm a bad mother… I am now."

Refuge worker Nazmeen Ashgaar said Lupidi kept saying she was scared Mr Weaver was going to take her children.

"She kept saying that she loved her kids," said Mrs Ashgaar. "She was showing me pictures of her girls on her mobile phone."

Mr Moulson added to the court: "At the time of her arrest, the defendant said she wanted to kill herself. She said: 'I know what I have done. My life is nothing now'. She said she had hurt her children and wanted to hurt herself too."

Lupidi, dressed in black trousers, a white blouse and a grey cardigan, wept throughout the prosecutor’s opening. She broke down and had to retire to an anteroom after Mr Moulson told the jury they must set aside feelings of “revulsion, anger and sympathy”.

PC Kirsty Wright, who took Lupidi to the refuge after responding to the allegation of domestic abuse, said in a statement read to the court that Jasmine and Evelyn were due to be baptised on November 21.

"She [Lupidi] was scared what Carl was going to do with her and [said] that she wanted to move back to Italy," she added.

Lupidi had also told officers that she had previously heard Mr Weaver say in conversation with his brother, Chris Weaver, and brother's girlfriend, Amy Sutton, that he was going to abandon her.

Mr Weaver is alleged to have said: "On Saturday someone won't come back with us."

PC Wright's statement added: "He said he would take her in the car and leave her so 'some paedo' will find her. She said Mr Weaver had said the children would be 'better off without her'."

The court heard Mr Weaver had allegedly prevented her from having her own bank account and took control of the family tax credits.

He also allegedly refused to allow her to have a job and she was forced to ask him for money for clothes and food. She had asked him for money, shortly before the killings, to buy a new coat but he had turned her down, it was said.

The court also heard Lupidi had tried to leave Mr Weaver in September 2015 but he had managed to convince her to stay with him.

The trial continues.

Touted by its creators as the "world's largest solar-powered computer," it could offer a quantum leap for development across rural Africa.

The Watly machine, created by an Italian-Spanish start-up of the same name, resembles a futuristic space capsule. But its mission is to provide electricity, clean water, and Internet services that could transform lives and economies across rural Africa.

Around 625 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are currently without electricity -- more than two-thirds of the population -- while 39% lack access to safe water.

"This is an infrastructure solution for people without access to three fundamental pillars of civilization," says Watly founder Marco Attisani. "We are (taking) people to the heart of the 21st century."

The system works by capturing solar energy through photovoltaic panels on the surface of the Watly module, which is converted into electricity through an internal 140 kwh battery.

This powers a patented water treatment system that uses a graphene-based filtering process, before the water is boiled and then distilled. The process can deliver 5,000 liters of safe drinking water each day.

The battery also powers a connectivity hub that provides wireless internet access within an 800-meter radius, and a charging station for electronic and mobile devices.

During its 15 years of service, one Watly can reduce emissions to the tune of 2,500 tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to 5,000 barrels of oil, its makers say.

Watly has already tested a prototype in rural Ghana, and the next step is to roll out units across the continent, starting with Nigeria and Sudan.

Key Rousseff impeachment vote annulled in Brazil -- or maybe not

A Brazilian lawmaker's surprise announcement Monday sent the country's scandal-plagued government spinning as a key question looms: Will a Senate vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff go forward as expected this week?

So far, there are more questions than answers.

The confusion began Monday when Waldir Maranhao, acting speaker of Brazil's lower house, said he wanted to annul last month's vote by the legislative body approving a motion to impeach Rousseff.

That vote was the first major legislative step in the impeachment process, paving the way for another vote that was expected to occur this week. Senators were slated to vote Wednesday on whether Rousseff should face an impeachment trial.

But it's not clear what impact the acting speaker's announcement will have on the high-profile case, which has cast a harsh spotlight on Brazil's government just months before the country is set to host the Olympics.

The president of the Brazilian Senate, Renan Calheiros, subsequently told his chamber that he didn't "recognize" the motion from the lower house annulling the impeachment vote, and was going to go ahead with the Senate schedule. The vote to impeach Rousseff is planned for Wednesday.

Shortly after he made his announcement Calheiros was forced to suspend the Senate session briefly due to shouting and arguing. Source: CNN

We'll only use nuclear weapons if sovereignty threatened

 

Kim Jong Un: We'll only use nuclear weapons if sovereignty threatened

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country would not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached by "invasive hostile forces with nuclear weapons," according to the country's state news agency KCNA.

He made the remarks Saturday at the ruling Workers' Party of Korea's Seventh Congress in Pyongyang, which began the day before.

Kim also reportedly said North Korea will faithfully fulfill its nuclear nonproliferation obligations and make an effort to realize global denuclearization.

In his 15-minute opening speech Friday, Kim touted the country's weapons development, saying they had "elevated our respect to the world and enemies."

In January, Pyongyang announced that it had successfully tested a thermonuclear device, which, if true, would mark a significant advance in its nuclear capabilities.

It has since made a number of public demonstrations of its nuclear program's advancement, including rocket and submarine-based missile tests. It also announced it had miniaturized a warhead in early March. Source: CNN