The battle to prove whether these bones actually are Richard's is a bit like quibbling about the authenticity of Wolf Hall
There's been a twist in the strangest cold case of our times: Richard III's bones, thought to have been discovered in 2012, may yet prove as elusive of those of the princes in the tower who he is alleged to have murdered. Two senior academics have cast doubt on claims by Leicester University that his skeleton has been found, its spine bent out of shape by scoliosis, using DNA and carbon dating. There are other noblemen of the time who would have shared the crucial genetic material, they argue, meaning that the match with a swab taken from Richard's distant relative, Michael Ibsen, is inconclusive.
The university has hit back. There's other evidence, it says, that supports a positive identification. But the point is that it doesn't really matter. A couple of dissenting voices may be just what this story needs.
Scottish leader says unnamed minister's comments on currency union indicate 'sterling bluff' is a campaign tactic
Alex Salmond said the British government's scaremongering tactics over Scottish independence had been demolished after an unnamed minister told the Guardian that the threat to deprive an independent Scotland of the pound would not be carried out.
Treasury ministers have repeatedly said they would not accept monetary union in the wake of independence, and reiterated that assertion in the wake of the Guardian story published on Saturday.
Families of Chinese passengers criticise officials over handling of disaster, as search for missing plane enters fourth week
Dozens of angry relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the missing flight MH370 have demanded that Malaysia apologise for its handling of the investigation as they arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Beijing on Sunday.
About 50 more family members joined those who had earlier flown to Malaysia, saying they hoped to get more information from officials in the capital. Around two-thirds of the 239 people on board the flight were Chinese.
Bill to propose removing privileges such as tax exemptions, powers of veto and immunity from planning and other legislation
Prince Charles is facing a Westminster campaign to strip him and his estate of special privileges including tax exemptions, a power of veto over new laws and immunity from legislation covering everything from squatting to planning.
A radical bill is to be put before the House of Lords proposing to remove special treatment of the prince and the Duchy of Cornwall, his inherited £800m estate that provides him with a £19m a year private income.
Javier Espinosa and Ricardo García Vilanova released but Islamist extremists still hold over 40 other western hostages
Two Spanish journalists kidnapped in northern Syria last September were freed by their captors on Saturday night, ending a six-month ordeal in the hands of an extremist Islamist group that continues to hold more than 40 other western hostages.
Javier Espinosa, a veteran correspondent for the Spanish daily El Mundo, and Ricardo García Vilanova, a freelance photographer working with him, were handed over to Turkish authorities near the Syrian town of Tal Abiyad, not far from where they were seized 194 days ago.
Actor best known for playing Alexis Colby's sister Cassandra 'Caress' Morrell in long-running US soap in 1980s
Kate O'Mara obituary
Kate O'Mara: a life in pictures
The actor Kate O'Mara, once as ubiquitous on British television screens as the test card, has died aged 74: "a shining star has gone out," her agent said.
She played a procession of glamorously tough cookies in television soaps and dramas, all menace, narrowed eyes and tossing red hair most famously in the long-running US series Dynasty, as the manipulative Cassandra 'Caress' Morrell, sister of Alexis Colby played by Joan Collins. She also appeared as another schemer in Howards' Way, the BBC's attempt to rival the glamour of Dynasty and Dallas.
Pakistan 190-5 beat Bangladesh 140-7 by 50 runs
Bangladesh and Australia eliminated from World T20
Ahmed Shehzad became the first Pakistan batsman to hit a Twenty20 international century as the 2009 champions thrashed Bangladesh by 50 runs in this Group Two match to keep alive their semi-final hopes in the World Twenty20.
The right-handed Shehzad remained unbeaten after a sparkling 111 from 62 balls inspired Pakistan to a commanding 190 for five before they returned to restrict Bangladesh to 140-7.
Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two alongside Nico Rosberg
British driver ends run of nine F1 races without podium finish
There is a line on Lewis Hamilton's fastidiously decorated helmet taken from the American poet and author Maya Angelou which reads "Still I Rise".
But for Nico Rosberg and the other Formula One drivers who trail in his phosphorescent wake there should be another message: Mind The Gap. The letters should be very large, and placed on the back of the helmet.
World Cup referee Nicola Rizzoli initially gave Sassuolo penalty
Later changed his mind after five minutes of player protests
Italian World Cup referee Nicola Rizzoli was involved in an extraordinary incident when he awarded a penalty and then changed his mind after five minutes of angry protests during second-placed Roma's 2-0 win at Sassuolo on Sunday.
Rizzoli initially awarded Sassuolo a penalty when their forward Nicola Sansone went down under a seemingly innocuous challenge by Roma defender Mehdi Benatia in the 36th minute of the Serie A match.
Sophie McKenzie shares her favourite mothers and mother figures from books for children and teenagers, just in time for Mother's Day!
Ah, mothers and mother figures. They get a mixed press in children's books.
There are two basic types that appear again and again: saints and monsters. Saints are those loving and reliable mums who hover in the background of their children's lives while the kids themselves go on adventures. Monsters are mothers or more likely stepmothers or substitute mums who exist in stories to thwart the hopes and dreams of the young main characters.
The perfect tear-jerker to read on Mother's Day: Meet Liv, an 11-year-old photography fanatic on a heart-wrenching journey from "Thirteen Weeks Before" to "Six Months After" her mum's death.
Described as "gripping" by site member HGirl1000, read the first chapter here
Greek entrepreneur Andreas Raptopoulos saw drones being used to deliver pizza and set about solving a real problem
When Domino's sent two pepperoni pizzas on a 10-minute drone flight last summer in a publicity stunt to demonstrate how takeaways may be delivered in the future, Andreas Raptopoulos reacted with scorn.
"This is total nonsense. Why the hell would you do that? The public risk to transport a pizza around when you can do it perfectly well with all of the infrastructure you already have there? Why don't you use the same technology to save somebody's life when a mother needs medicine or a child needs medicine instead of it being stuck on a lorry on a muddy road. To me, this is where technology works best," the Greek entrepreneur said.
Join Catherine Shoard on the sofa to review the week's big UK releases. Chris Evans is back as Captain America takes on The Winter Soldier in another chapter of Marvel's Avengers franchise; the Muppets return in Muppets Most Wanted, aided and abetted by Ricky Gervais; and Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet From Stardom highlights the art, craft and hard graft of the humble backing singer. With Peter Bradshaw and Andrew Pulver
Listen to an audio-only version of the show
More from the Captain America interviews
More from the Muppets interviews
The historic wine city is being spruced up and updated for the 21st century thanks to a massive regeneration effort. Our writer raises a glass to its reinvention
It's Sunday night and my final meal in Bordeaux. I'm talking with a local called Brigitte in Le Plat à Oreilles, a popular husband-and-wife-run restaurant in the city centre that serves traditional country food. So far, so Bordeaux. But as I dig my spoon into the fricassée de lapin and try not to slurp my glass of Graves, I'm finding it hard to recognise the city that Brigitte is describing.
"Growing up in Bordeaux, I never really saw the river," she says. "It was physically blocked off by the port until about 10 years ago. In the city centre, the buildings were dark and dirty, and you couldn't really sit outside in the squares because of all the cars. It wasn't a very inspiring place to be."
Musical production telling the story of Islam's main prophet has premiered in Sharjah, the small emirate adjoining Dubai
It was quite a challenge, even for the crack team of theatrical experts summoned from around the world: less than six months to produce a hi-tech musical extravaganza about one of the most renowned figures in human history. Oh yes, and the title character can't appear on stage.
But somehow it happened and on Sunday night a lavish production about the life and teachings of Muhammad, Islam's main prophet, intended as a rejoinder to more militant interpretations of the faith, premiered at a specially built £20m mock-Roman amphitheatre in Sharjah, the small emirate adjoining Dubai.
David Park's evocative novellas examine the impact of art through the lives of three poets' wives
The thorny relationship between art and life is probed powerfully by David Park in three absorbing novellas depicting the lives of the wives of three poets, and moving ambitiously from 18th-century London to 1930s Moscow, to contemporary Ireland.
These are poets who suffer for their art, who are at odds with society. We meet William Blake's wife, Catherine, at a time when society scorns him; Nadezhda, the fascinating wife of Russian poet Osip Mandelstam, who was killed during Stalin's regime; and finally the grieving widow of a fictional contemporary Irish poet.
Jean Hanff Korelitz's pacy thriller examines the fear that we might not know our nearest and dearest as well as we think
If you're a successful couples therapist, secure in your happy marriage to a quietly heroic paediatrician and about to publish a book called You Should Have Known, which berates women in failed relationships for ignoring their partners' faults, it's a pretty safe bet that dramatic irony will force you to swallow some of your own bitter medicine before too long. For Grace Reinhart Sachs, the heroine of Jean Hanff Korelitz's fifth novel, the blow is delivered when one of the mothers at her son's elite school is murdered and the police arrive at her door, looking for her husband, Jonathan.
You Should Have Known occupies similar territory to Gone Girl or The Husband's Secret, domestic suspense novels built on the universal fear that we might not know those closest to us as well as we think. Though it begins as a sharp comedy of manners around the lives of New York's super rich, the tone quickly grows darker as the tension mounts. The result is a witty, often insightful examination of marriage with the pace of a psychological thriller.
The theory that mothers become infertile in middle age so that they can help care for their grandchildren is under attack, raising new questions about female identity
Sitting at my desk today is a benefit made possible by my mother-in-law. She is taking care of my son, leaving me free to do other work and ideally, in biological terms, have more babies. That, in short, is the leading explanation for why she and other women of her age have evolved to stop having babies of their own and live long post-menopausal lives. It's known as the grandmother hypothesis.
However, this idea, and its comforting portrait of family cooperation, is being challenged. It has been half a century since scientists began to explore why human females were one of only a couple of species to became infertile so early in their lives. The American evolutionary biologist George Williams wrote in 1957 that the menopause may have emerged to protect older women from the risks linked to childbirth, keeping them alive long enough to make sure their children grew up to have grandchildren.
The tsar's daughters, murdered in the Russian revolution, take centre stage in Helen Rappaport's powerful account of the end of the Romanovs
The four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II were murdered almost by accident. "I will never be the Marat of the Russian revolution," pledged the prime minister, Alexander Kerensky, after the February revolution in 1917. He tried to find the family refuge outside Russia (Britain's George V couldn't help, although Nicholas's wife, Alexandra, was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria) and then sent them to Siberia hoping that the Russian populace would forget about them. But revolutions demand their victims. The entire family was moved to Ekaterinburg and shot. Helen Rappaport has already written about the Romanovs' terrifying final weeks in prison. Now she moves from nightmare to fairytale, placing the four beautiful grand duchesses centre stage for the first time.
What is most surprising in this story is quite how unsuited the family is to power. They all live chiefly for each other. Alexandra finds the business of state "a horrid bore" that keeps her husband away from her. Nicholas comes home for the children's bathtime every night and records episodes of teething and weaning in his diary. When Nicholas abdicates, his first thought is that now he can "fulfil my life's desire to have a farm, somewhere in England".
Bérénice Bejo is outstanding in Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi's rich study of people trapped in physical and emotional limbo
In the Oscar-winning drama A Separation, the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi painted a piercingly insightful picture of a failing marriage framed within the strictures of a rigidly regulated society the personal and political intertwined, with painful consequences. Although the film depicted (and was indeed made under) often difficult circumstances, its characters were as rich, vibrant and diverse as any that have graced our screens in recent memory, their trials and tribulations at once regionally specific yet oddly universal. In The Past, Farhadi returns to the theme of broken marriage, this time in the altogether more laissez-faire world of a Parisian suburb, where the issue of self-determination seems both open and secular. Yet even in this very different society, Farhadi finds his characters trapped, not by the constraints of an overbearing authority but by the spectre of the past.
Cannes prize-winner Bérénice Bejo brings both heft and mercuriality to the role of Marie, a soon-to-be divorcee who has unfinished business with her estranged Iranian husband, Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa). Summoned to France to sign the final legal papers several years after their initial separation, the apparently unreliable Ahmad arrives from Tehran to find Marie pregnant with the child of her new lover, Samir (the brilliant Tahar Rahim), whose own wife, Céline, has drunk poison, to the horror of Marie's alienated teenage daughter, Lucie. Marie wants Ahmad to talk to the troubled girl, but is there something more aggressive about her insistence that her ex stays in the small residence that now houses her new partner and his angry, bewildered son?
Charlotte Mendelson invents a satisfying fairy tale starring a misfit teenager and a trio of elderly Hungarian ladies
Families, Charlotte Mendelson's delicious fourth novel confirms, are as unknowable from within as from without. Marina's is no exception. Westminster Court, the apartment building in which she has largely been raised, squats in a poky corner of unlovely Bayswater. Inside, it's a little patch of Hungary.
With her very English mother, Laura, she moved there to live with her maternal grandmother and two great-aunts after her father vanished. Rozsi, Zsuzsi and Ildi are refugees from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and their extravagant hand gestures, dramatic eyebrows and fondness for cold sour-cherry soup make them irresistible. "Dar-link!" they cry out in greeting, their accents dusting everything with "snow and fir and darkness".
Is your car a let down at the pumps? There's a simple reason why fuel- efficiency figures are always way out
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My youngest daughter used to struggle with what was "real" and what was "made up". Books and films were real, but the stories in them were made up. Cartoon characters were made up, of course, but one day we met an 8ft Percy Pig in Hyde Park. That really messed with her little blonde head.
Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh has written a brutally honest account of his work and bungling NHS bureaucracy
Why has no one ever written a book like this before? It simply tells the stories, with great tenderness, insight and self-doubt, of a phenomenal neurosurgeon who has been at the height of his specialism for decades and now has chosen, with retirement looming, to write an honest book. Why haven't more surgeons written books, especially of this prosaic beauty? Of blood and doubts, mistakes, decisions: were they all so unable to descend into the mire of Grub Street, unless it was with black or, worse, "wry" humour?
Well, thank God for Henry Marsh. His speciality is drilling into people's heads and sucking out or cauterising various problem globules, usually life-threatening. Those are the bald basics, but they disguise a multitude of traumas, not least those of a very human surgeon. He writes with near-existential subtlety about the very fact of operating within a brain, supposed repository of the soul and with myriad capacities for emotion, memory, belief, speech and, maybe, soul: but also, mainly, jelly and blood. He has been 4mm away, often, even with microtelescopes, from catastrophe.
Hurray for the Riff Raff rage against violence on their impressive fifth album of rootsy rock
Everyone loves a good murder ballad even some feminists, for whom the cognitive dissonance is particularly brutal. In traditional song, women are forever being lured to grisly ends, "and the whole world sings, like there's nothing going wrong", notes Alynda Lee Segarra, who, together with her fiddle player Yosi Perlstein and a cast of New Orleans musicians, go by the name Hurray for the Riff Raff.
Their faultless fifth album pays homage to a variety of roots forms. There are easy-going country laments here, harmonicas, a blues or three and even a doo-wop number, all doffing hats to tradition. Segarra's caramel voice goes down spectacularly easily, and the effortless swing of these songs suggest she was born and bred under a bandstand south of the Mason-Dixon line (spoiler alert: she wasn't).
An end to the 'bulk collection' of phone records won't stop the NSA from snooping on us online
Last week in the Hague, Barack Obama seemed to have suddenly remembered the oath he swore on his inauguration as president that stuff about preserving, protecting and defending the constitution of the United States. At any rate, he announced that the NSA would end the "bulk collection" of telephone records and instead would be required to seek a new kind of court order to search data held by telecommunications companies.
This policy change is a tacit admission of what Edward Snowden (and 2001 whistleblower William Binney before him) had been claiming, namely that the warrantless surveillance of US citizens by the NSA and other government agencies does, in fact, violate the constitution of the United States. Obama's announcement looked to some observers as the first crack to appear in the implacable facade of the national surveillance state. This looked promising because, as we know from second world war movies, the first crack is inevitably the harbinger of the eventual total collapse of the dam.