It's been 10 years since the current world record for running the mile was set - so why hasn't it been broken Does the mile still matter as a middle-distance event, and who runs it these days
A decade ago, Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj broke the record for running the mile by clocking in at three minutes and 43 seconds.
El Guerrouj, often called the King of the Mile, was the second north African in a row to take this coveted title. But for years, this had been a distance held most dear by those in the English-speaking world.
Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile, in 1954, is still a household name in Britain. And by the early 1980s, a trio of British runners battled each other to break, and break again, the world record for running a mile.
Between 1979 and 1985, British middle-distance legends Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram traded the world record title between each other six times - at one point Coe ran away with the title just two days after Ovett had earned it. Ultimately Cram secured the record for several years, at three minutes and 46 seconds.
But a glance at the record books reveals that since then there have been just two world-beating times. El Guerrouj's record in 1999 has stood for longer than any other since 1913 - when the International Association of Athletics Federations began keeping pace.
So what's happened since Have times got so tight it's becoming ever more difficult to be a world beater, or has the mile simply fallen out of favour among the world's top runners
One expert firmly believes it's the latter.
"The mile has been devalued, there's no doubt about it," says John Bale, a professor at Keele University and author of Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute Mile. "There's no gossip that 'so and so' or 'so and so' is getting close to the record. It's kind of static in a way."
Bannister, now Sir Roger, concurs. "It's not as serious as it was before the four-minute mile had been done," he tells the BBC News Magazine.
A £5m funding package could be made available to help secure the future of English language news on ITV Wales, says communications regulator Ofcom.
Its director in Wales Rhodri Williams said the BBC could be made to share part of the TV licence fee under government plans to be announced later.
The Digital Britain report will suggest ways to help commercial broadcasters cope with the impact of the internet.
It is also expected to include plans to bring broadband to the whole of the UK.
Last week a Welsh assembly committee said an independent commission funded by £25m worth of public money was needed to safeguard ITV Wales.
The communities and culture committee said cuts on the channel in recent years were "deeply troubling".
'Survive'
But it was critical of plans for a pilot news project by Welsh language broadcaster S4C.
Ofcom director Mr Williams said it cost ITV Wales £5m a year to produce its news programmes.
He added: "The £5m figure is the cost of the current arrangement, but what I am confident of what the report will include is provision to maintain that service.
"I expect there will be an intervention, but I don't know where the money will come from and how it will be delivered, but sharing the TV licence fee with the BBC's commercial rivals is one option that has been mooted.
"The key here is not where the money comes from, the key is plurality in English news in Wales and other parts of the UK.
"What we said to government was, do you want these programmes to survive or do you want the market to decide"
In October 2008, Minister for Communications Lord Carter began work on a plan aimed at securing the UK's place at the head of the new media age.
Among 22 specific actions announced in his interim report in January was a commitment to establishing a universal broadband service for every home and business by 2012.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said fast internet was now "an essential service, as indispensable as electricity, gas and water".
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At least three foreign women, thought to be part of a group which was kidnapped in Yemen, have been found dead, local officials have said.
The group of nine foreign hostages - mostly women and children - was kidnapped by Shia rebels in a mountainous area in the north.
It included seven Germans, a British engineer and a Korean female teacher.
One unconfirmed report citing unnamed security officials said the bodies of more of the foreigners had been found.
Yemen's Interior Ministry earlier said the foreigners were kidnapped while on a picnic on Friday in the north-western province of Saada.
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said on Monday that it was investigating reports of the deaths.
The Huthi Zaidi rebel group, which has been fighting the government for the last five years in the area, denied any part in the kidnapping, AFP reported.
More than 200 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in Yemen in the last 15 years. Most have been released unharmed.
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Malawi's constitutional court has dismissed an appeal by former President Bakili Muluzi against a ban on him standing for a third term in office.
The court said allowing him to run in next week's election would have meant an end to the limit on how long a president can serve.
The ex-president's lawyer says he will appeal to the supreme court.
Mr Muluzi, who served as president between 1994 and 2004, said the ban breached his political rights.
His lawyer, Kalekeni Kaphale, said the issue was an important one and they wanted to "pursue it all the way."
But he added that they did not wish to postpone the election.
Mr Muluzi's team had argued that he was entitled to stand again as he has had a period out of office.
The decision to stop him from running for a third term was taken by the electoral commission in March.
No repeat of Banda
Representing the commission, Attorney-General Jane Ansah said the constitutional court's decision was a good one.
"It clarifies the point - it's a maximum of two five-year terms and no more," she said.
The two-term limit was introduced to prevent a repeat of the rule of veteran leader Kamuzu Banda, who declared himself president-for-life before losing power to Mr Muluzi in the first multi-party poll in 1994.
Mr Muluzi is also facing charges over the alleged theft of $12m (£8m) in aid money during his time in office. The case goes to trial later this year.
Tuesday's presidential election will see the incumbent, President Bingu wa Mutharika, of the Democratic Progressive Party, seeking a second term in office.
Standing against him is John Tembo, of the Malawi Congress Party.
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