Craig Taylor

Just like it was a week-and-a-half ago, the battle between the Thunder and Chicago Bulls was one with playoff-level intensity.
Oklahoma City Thunder

A review of the business rates system in England has been launched, with its findings due in time for the Budget in 2016.
BBC News – Business

A senior member of the Saudi royal family warns that a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme could prompt other states to develop atomic fuel.
BBC News – Middle East

Hundreds of thousands of people across Brazil join demonstrations against President Dilma Rousseff over a corruption scandal at Petrobras oil company.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

Crimea’s leader tells the BBC the territory has returned to Russia and will never form part of Ukraine again, a year after its disputed referendum.
BBC News – Europe

Three teenagers who were stopped from travelling to Syria after UK police alerted Turkish officials are released on bail.
BBC News – UK

A US tycoon arrested for murder just before the finale of a TV documentary on the crime is caught on tape saying he “killed them all”.
BBC News – US & Canada

Dozens of people die in a raid on a Nigerian village in an attack believed linked to tensions between herdsmen and farmers.
BBC News – Africa

When Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb went down to the boathouse district of Oklahoma City on Saturday, they didn’t know much about rowing.
Oklahoma City Thunder

George Osborne is set to extend pension freedoms to retirees who already have an annuity as part of next week’s Budget, the BBC understands.
BBC News – Business

Pro-government Shia militias battling to oust Islamic State from Tikrit tell the BBC they hope to retake the Iraqi city within a week.
BBC News – Middle East

Chile declares a state of emergency as a raging forest fire near the city of Valparaiso forces thousands of people to flee their homes.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

National mourning is declared in Serbia after a rescue helicopter crashes while carrying a baby for medical treatment, with the loss of seven lives.
BBC News – Europe

A missing London schoolgirl who travelled to Syria ahead of her three friends is named by her father as 15-year-old Sharmeena Begum, from Bethnal Green.
BBC News – UK

Ten US aid workers who were possibly exposed to Ebola are being evacuated back to America from Sierra Leone, US officials say.
BBC News – US & Canada

Sierra Leone’s Vice-President Samuel Sam-Sumana tells the BBC he has gone into hiding as he seeks US asylum after troops surrounded his home.
BBC News – Africa

Sometimes in an NBA game, especially one at Chesapeake Energy Arena, a little spark does the trick.
Oklahoma City Thunder

People planning to cash in their pension savings under new rules taking effect have been warned “not to book the cruise now”.
BBC News – Business

Iraqi government forces are pushing into Tikrit on several fronts, forcing Islamic State militants to fall back to the city centre, officials say.
BBC News – Middle East

Haiti sets dates for delayed legislative and municipal elections, the cause of months of protest in the country.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean