British billionaire Richard Branson has revealed the extent of devastation to his luxurious Necker Island home in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

The entrepreneur posted a video online showing how the storm has destroyed his British Virgin Islands home, with buildings blown away and trees ripped from the ground.

The 67-year-old locked himself in his wine cellar as the hurricane, the most powerful to have ever hit the Atlantic, started raging outside on Wednesday.

The tycoon has now travelled to Puerto Rico where he is helping coordinate the effort to deliver aid and a rebuilding plan for the British Virgin Islands.   Writing on his blog, he said: 'As you can see from the photos, much of the buildings and vegetation on Necker has been destroyed or badly damaged.

'We felt the full force of the strongest hurricane ever in the Atlantic Ocean.  'But we are very fortunate to have a strong cellar built into Necker's Great House and were very lucky all of our teams who stayed on Island during the storm are safe and well.'

He added: 'I am writing from Puerto Rico, where I have travelled in order to further mobilise aid efforts and rebuilding plans for the British Virgin Islands and wider Caribbean.

'Communications remain mostly down in the BVI after Hurricane Irma. 'After sharing these updates and talking to various governments, aid agencies and media, we will be heading straight back to the BVI to continue helping the recovery effort on the ground.'

Mr Branson said he and his team have spent the last two days visiting people who live on the island of Gorda, handing out aid and supplies.

He said the visit showed 'first-hand just how ferocious and unforgiving' Irma has been.

The billionaire also called on the UK Government to play its part, demanding a 'disaster recovery Marshall Plan' for the British Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands. 

Google pays women less than men at most job levels despite claiming it is a progressive place to work.

Women earn up to $15,600 (£11,800) a year less than men even though they are in similar positions, according to a spreadsheet drawn up by the tech giant’s own workers.

Female employees also earn lower bonuses than men and are awarded up to $7,100 (£5,400) less than their male counterparts.

The spreadsheet was drawn up by a former Google employee who wanted to help colleagues negotiate better salaries. The figures are likely to add to the debate about sexism in Silicon Valley - and they come after Google fired one of its senior engineers who said the gender pay gap is down to biological differences between men and women.

Despite its lofty ambitions, Google admits there is ‘more work to be done’ on equality and its own statistics reveal that women make up 31 per cent of the company compared to 69 per cent for men.

The spreadsheet revealed pay for men and women covering six bands of jobs covering everything from entry level programmers to executives.

It was self-reported by 1,200 US staff - 2 per cent of the global workforce - meaning it is not a comprehensive analysis.

But the disparities are startling and at five of the six job levels women are paid less than men.

At level one, the lowest, women earned $40,300 (£30,500) compared to $55,900 (£42,300) for men, a difference of $15,600 (£11,800), the biggest out of all employees.

At level two women earned more than men, $76,600 (£58,000) compared to $71,200 (£53,900) for men.  At level three, the entry level for technical positions, women earned $106,700 (£80,800) compared to $112,400 (£85,100) for men.

At level four women earned $125,000 (£94,600) versus $136,600 (£103,400) and at level five the numbers were $153,500 (£116,200) for women compared to $162,200 (£122,800) for men.

At level six, executive level, women were paid $193,200 (£146,300) versus $197,600 (£149,600) for their male counterparts.

For bonuses women were awarded less than men at three of the six levels.

The biggest disparity was at level six where women earned $40,700 (£30,800) in bonuses compared to $47,800 (£36,200) for men, a difference of $7,100 (£5,400).

Natasha Lamb, director of equity research and shareholder engagement at Arjuna Capital, an activist wealth management firm, said: ‘Silicon Valley has established itself as the boys’ club of the West, just like how Wall Street has established itself as the boys’ club of the East’.

Google recently suffered a backlash over a 10-page memo written by James Damore, a former engineer at the company.

He argued that biological differences between men and women are the cause of the gender gap at Google and the broader tech industry. 

Masked gang members have been filmed hurling packages of drugs over the walls of Britain's most troubled prisons.

The shocking footage was captured outside HMP Birmingham just days after inmates smashed up a wing and flooded cells at the facility.

The category B and C prison has had a huge problem with drug smuggling recently despite putting up protective nets to help combat the issue.   A source told the Star on Sunday that there were not enough police at the facility to stop the gangs.

The source said: 'The screws know it's coming over but there's nothing they can do.

'Spice, puff (cannabis), prescription pills like Subutex, booze, phones, food. Anything they want they can get. It comes over the back yard and cons go and pick it up. Simple as that. The footage consists of three videos, two of which were filmed during the day and one at night.

The gang members can be seen getting off their mopeds to chuck the contraband over the wall.

One of them can be heard shouting: 'Over the wall we go. Prison inspectors have said the prevalence of drugs at HMP Birmingham has contributed to an increase of violence within the facility.

In December last year, elite prison officers were called in to deal with a 12-hour riot which saw inmates rip their cells apart.

And last weekend prisoners left taps running before throwing furniture around the building. 

The jogger who pushed a woman into traffic may have targeted his victim, according to the bus driver hailed a hero for swerving out of her way.

Oliver Salbris, 45, managed to steer his double-decker London bus away from the 33-year-old at the last second, missing her by inches.

But a month after police released footage of the incident on Putney Bridge, the culprit has still not been identified.

Speaking for the first time about the attack, Mr Salbris said the jogger had singled out the woman. ‘The consequences could have been terrible for her – and for me,’ he said.        Asked if the push was intentional, he said: ‘Yes – unless he’s a blind jogger.’ Police have refused to rule out the possibility that the victim, who has not been identified, was known to the attacker dubbed ‘the Putney Pusher’.

CCTV footage of the attack in May showed the woman walking along the bridge heading to work at 7.40am with the jogger coming towards her.   The father-of-two, who moved to Britain from France in 2005, said: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before.

‘I was focusing on the road and I just saw the collision between the jogger and the woman.

‘It was a fairly close call. I thought I was going to touch her. If I hadn’t swerved, I would have smashed her head. It was reflex – and I would say thanks to God.’ 

Mr Salbris said the jogger had chosen to push the woman rather than a man walking directly in front of her, adding: ‘He looked like he was doing it on purpose. He needs to be caught and to explain himself. He needs to be prosecuted.’ 

1. Exercise your brain. Brain games and certain puzzles and brainteasers help create new associations between different parts of the brain, which keeps it sharp. Other exercises that challenge the brain are things like doing normal activities with your non-dominant hand like brushing your teeth or combing your hair.   
2. Vary activities. Most of us here are already physically active, which is extremely important for brain health, but consider challenging your body – and brain – in a variety of ways from time to time. Mix up exercise routines, do something you haven’t done in a while whether it’s hiking or tossing a ball around. This variety is as healthy for your brain as it is your body.      
3. Eat brain food. We all know that a good, clean diet will improve all areas of our health, but there are many studies and an increasing amount of evidence that certain foods slow mental decline. Topping the list of brain-boosting food is any food high in Omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, which has been linked to a lower risk of dementia and improved focus and memory And you were just taking your fish oil to keep your joints from hurting.    
4. Try new things outside of the gym.Take up a language, an instrument, memorize poetry. Asking your brain to do some new tricks keeps it active and able to learn. 
5. Volunteer. Research shows that this can lower your stress levels and increase mental functioning. Volunteering adds to a person’s well-being and overall health. Not only does it feel good, but it promotes brain health by raising self esteem.      
6. Socialize. We are social animals and according to a recent study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, we need a variety of brain stimulation, including social activity, to keep our minds sharp. This is especially true later in life, when aging takes its toll on memory and other complex neurological processes. In the study, older adults who were less socially active than those who were socially active had both cognitive and physical limitations.

Babies are born with just about all the neurons they'll ever have -- about 100 billion of them. Though only one quarter the size, a baby's brain looks exactly like ours.

Over the next three years, that brain triples in size, establishing more than 1,000 trillion intricate and complicated connections between neurons. Anyone who has cared for a child has witnessed this explosive growth, from that ungainly infant to a running, shouting toddler with a sense of self and opinions to share.

This magical and sometimes stressful window of rapid growth, when the brain's malleability is at its peak, can set the stage for future learning and healthy development throughout life, according to neuroscientists and child development experts. "Most aspects of brain development after birth depend on experience occurring during this sensitive period," he says. If those experiences don't happen, "then development can go awry. The longer the brain goes without those critical experiences, the harder it is to recover from that."

Our understanding of this sensitive period has helped explain why Romanian orphans raised in institutions with little normal stimulation, children Nelson has researched for more than a decade, can suffer from profound deficits in learning and behavior. It's also why many can recover if they're placed in good foster care before too many years have passed.

It's also why there's so much attention, funding, resources and interventions for low-income children, who are the most likely to suffer neglect, aimed at this time period. Children can learn and grow throughout their lives, but the payoff for heading off trouble early is theoretically the highest, the experts say. 

Coronation Street legend Liz Dawn is fighting for her life after being rushed to hospital. 

The actress who played Vera Duckworth for 34 years has been taken to hospital after suffering fluid on the lungs and chest pains.

The 77-year-old is a former heavy smoker who has lung condition emphysema. Last year she had a pacemaker fitted following a health scare. 

She has recently been restricted to a wheelchair and has been housebound for weeks.  

A family source said her usually upbeat demeanor had been affected by her ailing health.

'She's been in and out of hospital quite a few times in the last few years and normally the family are quite upbeat, but this time they seem more concerned,' they told The Sun. 

'She's not in a good way and her loved ones are obviously very worried. Liz was on the programme 4 years before quitting the cobbles through ill-health in 2008. 

In June she had surgery linked to a heart condition. 

At the time she said: 'I've got no energy but once the operation is done I will be looking forward to being as back to my normal self and getting my energy back.'

In 2013 she had a pacemaker fitted after a heart attack while on holiday in Spain.

She admitted at the time: 'My health is very bad these days.'

The actress first appeared on the famous soap in 1974. 

Her chemistry with on-screen husband Jack kept fans delighted for decades. 

Actor Bill Tarmey who played Jack died in 2012. 

Amir Khan 'had sex with a beauty therapist in an airport hotel before calling her a "daft white shit" as he publicly accused his wife of cheating on him' Boxer Amir Khan had sex with a beauty therapist before calling her a 'daft white s**t' in a vicious string of messages, she claims.

Emily Volkova, 21, of Crawley, West Sussex, says she met up for sex with the former world champion at an airport hotel last month.

At the time Khan, 30,  was involved in a very bitter split with his wife Faryal Makhdoom, 26, in which he publicly accused her of having an affair with fellow boxer Anthony Joshua. Ms Volkova, a Muslim convert, told the Sunday People the star was initially very 'respectful' and repeatedly told her she was beautiful when they spent the night together.

But it all turned sour after a friend of hers allegedly posted their messages online.

Ms Volkova claims she was subject to abuse from the star on Whatsapp. She said: 'Maybe I got carried away when he said I was the kind of girl he would like to take home with him.

'But the abuse he gave me when he made it clear the one night we spent together was all it was showed him up for the horrible piece of work he is.

'Calling me a 'daft white shit' and 'dirt bag' was really uncalled for. I would never have ­spoken about him if he hadn't turned that nasty.'  

Ms Volkova said she sent Khan a message on August 10 when his feud with his wife was at its peak and the two began chatting before arranging to meet up. They allegedly stayed at Heathrow's Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel before the star caught a plane to Las Vegas where he attended the Mayweather-McGregor fight.

Ms Volkova's claims come just days after Khan announced to his followers on Snapchat that he had filed for a divorce from his wife.

He also addressed his wife's claims that she was expecting a second child after she posted a photo of a baby scan on the app. The couple already have a three-year-old daughter called Lamaisah.

Khan said on Friday: 'So me and Faryal are not together. I have filed for a divorce. I hear that she has just announced that she is pregnant. She didn't tell me. I had to read it on social media.

'I'm always going to be there for my kids [if] we're not married. We're not together but my kids are everything to me.  

'I don't know if it's true that she is pregnant or not, time will tell, but in the meantime I'm there for Lamaisah. She's everything to me.

'If there is another kid then I am going to be there to show my support and be there for Faryal, but we both think it's not healthy to be together. 

The United Kingdom (UK) has a relatively small HIV epidemic, with an estimated 101,200 people living with HIV in 2015. This equates to an HIV prevalence of 1.6 per 1,000 people aged 15 and over.1 In the same year, 6,095 people were newly diagnosed with HIV and 594 people died of AIDS-related illnesses. 

Despite testing and treatment being free and universally available in the UK, around 13,500 people are unaware of their HIV infection.

In 2015, 96% of people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART).3However, late diagnosis of HIV remains a key challenge in this country, despite declining rates.

Although the figure for undiagnosed cases has fallen by 11% since the estimate of 24% in 2014, it still means that around 13,500 people are unaware of their infection, despite testing and treatment for HIV being free and universally available in the UK.

The annual number of new diagnoses – 6,095 people – represents a notably high rate of 11.3 per 100,000 people. Western Europe’s average is 6.3 per 100,000.

The epidemic in the UK mainly affects men who have sex with men and black African women. But in its 2016 report, Public Health England emphasised the diversity of people living with HIV in the UK. In 2015, for the first time since the 1990s, the proportion of people diagnosed with HIV who were born in the UK (52%) exceeded the proportion born abroad (48%). Since the 1980s, men who have sex with men have remained the group most at risk of HIV in the UK. In 2014, the most recent data available, an estimated 45,000 men who have sex with men were living with HIV. This means roughly 1 in 20 men who have sex with men aged 15 to 44 are living with the virus. The prevalence rate is 4.9% nationally among this group, rising to 9% in London.

The number of men who have sex with men newly diagnosed with HIV continues to rise, from 2,860 in 2010, to 3,320 in 2015.

In 2014, men who have sex with men aged between 25 and 44 years old accounted for two-thirds of new diagnoses. 6% were over 55 at the time of their diagnosis. Over half (51%) of these new diagnoses were made in London. Four out of five men who have sex with men newly diagnosed with HIV were white (81%), 2% were black African, 2% black Caribbean and 14% described as other/mixed race.8

Increases in HIV diagnoses can be partly explained by increased HIV testing as well as ongoing HIV transmission. 14% of men who have sex with men living with HIV in the UK are believed to be unaware of their infection. Those living in London have a lower rate of late diagnosis (23%) than those who live outside of the capital (36%).

Heterosexual men, women, and black Africans

In 2014, an estimated 21,300 heterosexual men and 32,700 heterosexual women were living with HIV in the UK. Of this number, 55% of men and 62% of women were of black African ethnicity (much higher than the percentage of black Africans in the UK population). Indeed, the number of black Africans living with HIV continues to rise.

In 2015, there were 2,360 new HIV diagnoses as a result of heterosexual sex – 1,350 among heterosexual women and 1,010 among heterosexual men. This is about half the diagnoses made ten years ago when this figure stood at 4,340. The fall is largely due to changing migration patterns, with fewer people born in sub-Saharan Africa being diagnosed with HIV in the UK.

Of the 88,769 people accessing HIV treatment in the UK in 2015, 41,945 were men and women who had acquired HIV through heterosexual sex and 41,016 were men who had acquired HIV through homosexual sex.

Of those who acquired HIV via heterosexual sex, 16,291 men and 25,654 women were accessing care. Among this group, 60% of people were black African, 24% white, 4% black Caribbean, 4% Asian and 3% of other black ethnicity.

Just over half (51%) of the heterosexual men and 60% of the heterosexual women living with HIV were aged 25 to 44. As with other groups in the UK, the proportion of heterosexual people diagnosed at an older age has increased. The median age of HIV diagnosis for heterosexuals has risen from 34 in 2005 to 40 in 2014. 24% of all heterosexual men and 18% of heterosexual women living with HIV were unaware of their HIV status. This difference is largely due to the effectiveness of the UK’s antenatal screening programme. 

Among the black African population living with HIV, roughly 16% of men and 12% of women were living with an undiagnosed infection. HIV prevalence is comparatively higher among this group. For example, nearly 18 (17.9) out of 1,000 black African heterosexual men and nearly 44 (43.7) out of 1,000 black African women were living with HIV in 2014 compared to 0.5 per 1,000 non-black African men and nearly 1 (0.7) per 1,000 non-black African women. 

Conor McGregor at higher risk of dementia? MMA fighters display signs of long-term brain damage linked to the disease, study finds.     Conor McGregor, the Irish UFC star known by many as 'The Notorious', may be at risk of dementia, research suggests.

The MMA fighter, who recently, and unsuccessfully, turned his hand to boxing, has spent his career taking powerful jabs to his head.

Scientists claim these repeated blows, which have led to McGregor being worth almost $40 million (£30.4 million), cause build-ups of proteins in the brain.

Accumulations of the toxic clumps are considered a hallmark of the disease and are deemed responsible for the memory loss symptoms in old age.

The Cleveland Clinic findings, dubbed 'interesting', add to a growing body of evidence that show a link between repeated blows to the head and dementia. Despite not being confirmed, experts have previously claimed boxing to be a risk factor for the devastating disease that needs further investigation.

The new research furthers calls for more investigations to explain why jabs to the head to the head can trigger dementia.

How was the study carried out? 

For the latest study, a team of neurologists measured two biological markers of brain injury in 438 participants.

More than half of these were active professional fighters, involved in boxing or MMA somehow. The rest were retired fighters and ordinary adults. Blood samples were then taken from all of the volunteers to measure the markets, both of which were brain proteins. 

One, called tau, accumulates when the brain suffers damage. It occurs naturally with age and can be found in abundance in dementia patients.

The other, neurofilament light chain, has also been suggested as a potential blood marker of dementia.