A former adviser to Donald Trump, whose remarks in a London pub set off the investigation into possible collusion with Russia, has been jailed for 14 days after lying to the FBI.

George Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty last year to not being truthful with agents investigating whether members of the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia before the 2016 election.

At his sentencing on Friday he told a court in Washington: "In January 2017, I made a terrible mistake for which I paid dearly, I am ashamed. I was young and ambitious.

Russia investigation timeline: Every step in Robert Mueller's probe of Trump campaign alleged collusion

Papadopoulos had cooperated for more than a year with the probe being led by special counsel Robert Mueller in to possible collusion.

During the election he  was a foreign policy adviser to Mr Trump, and relayed to the campaign that he had been told by a Maltese academic, Joseph Mifsud, that the Russians had "dirt" on Hilary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails.

Papadopoulos also suggested to the Trump campaign that he could set up a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

US authorities were alerted in mid-2016 after Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat, during a drinking session in a London pub, about his meetings with Professor Mifsud.

The diplomat told US investigators, but Papadopoulos then lied and said his contact with the professor happened before he joined the campaign.

US District Judge Randolph Moss, sentencing, noted that he "lied in an investigation that was important to national security."

The judge said he took into consideration Papadopoulos’s "genuine remorse" in issuing the light sentence, which included a $9,500 fine, a year on parole and community service.

By lying to investigators, Papadopoulos had made "a calculated exercise of self-interest over the national interest," said the judge.

In cooperating with Mr Mueller’s investigation Papadopoulos has said that senior Trump campaign members encouraged him during 2016 to build ties with Russia.

Out of the 35 people and entities so far charged in the probe Papadopoulos is one of five who have pleaded guilty, and the second to be sentenced.

Mr Trump has regularly lashed out against the sprawling investigation, which he dubs a "witch hunt" driven by his Democrat enemies.

Papdopoulos’s lawyer Tom Breen said "the President of the United States hindered this investigation more than George Papadopoulos ever did".

Papadopoulos, from Chicago, was a petroleum analyst based in London when he joined the Trump campaign in March 2016 as one of a handful of members of the Republican candidate’s national security and foreign policy advisory board.

Within weeks he had made contact with Prof Mifsud, who introduced him to others including a woman who claimed to be Mr Putin’s niece.

At the end of March 2016 Papadopoulos told Mr Trump, then-senator and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and members of the national security team at their first meeting in Washington, that he had connections in London who could set up a Trump-Putin meeting ahead of the November election.

"While some in the room rebuffed the offer Mr Trump nodded with approval and deferred to Mr Sessions, who appeared to like the idea and stated that the campaign should look into it," Papadopoulos later claimed in a statement to a court.

The number of people infected with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has topped 100 – including 63 who have died, the World Health Organization said on Friday. 

The ongoing outbreak which has affected 103 people is largely focused in the east of the country in the province of North Kivu where a number militant groups currently operate.

Now, a case of the disease has been discovered in a doctor in the town of Oicho in North Kivu, 30 kilometres east of the trading city of Beni, raising concerns that more cases could be discovered in the area.

Although Oicho is designated by the UN as a security "yellow zone" which means that armed attacks are unlikely, the UN considers the road to Oicha to be a highly insecure "red zone". 

"It is the first time we have a confirmed case and contacts in an area of high insecurity. It is really the problem we were anticipating and at same time dreading," said Dr Peter Salama, WHO’s deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response.

Oicha is almost entirely surrounded by ADF Islamist militia and can only be accessed with an armed military escort. 

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Despite the challenging security situation, the WHO and the Ministry of Health have made the perilous journey to Oicha and have identified ninety-seven contacts of the doctor who are being inoculated using an experimental vaccine against Ebola. 

Although the WHO has a system of alerts in place in the region to try and pick up any cases of the disease as quickly as possible, it did not rule out that cases in "red zones" such as Oicha could be missed. 

"They’re blind spots because in many of these areas due to the conflict there are no health facilities functioning and very few health workers still operating, so there’s really no platform for surveillance and picking up cases", said Dr Salama.

He added that although it was unlikely the WHO were missing a large cluster of cases in one of these blind spots, small number of cases could be missed or picked up later. 

Last week, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of the severity of the outbreak given the security challenge in North Kivu. 

“This is a very dangerous outbreak,” he said. “What makes the outbreak in eastern DRC or northern Kivu more dangerous is there is a security challenge – there is active conflict in that area.”

Some 100 armed groups are active in North Kivu, which has seen over 120 violent incidents since January. Lack of access to the zones of active conflict makes finding, isolating and treating potential cases very difficult for both local and international responders.

Another issue complicating the current response is the relatively high number of health care workers who have been infected. 

FAQ | Ebola

"The other critical part of the response… is the issue of how healthcare facilities and healthcare workers seem to be driving the epidemiology of this response and particularly its amplification. We now have 14 healthcare workers with confirmed or probable infections, one death among healthcare workers and a part of our work really has been to ensure protection for the healthcare workers," said Dr Salama. 

He added: "We are at quite a pivotal moment in this outbreak in the terms of the evolution of the outbreak epidemiologically and in terms of the response. We are truly at the crossroads."

"Due to the trajectory of the initial set of cases and the likely amplification from healthcare facilities we are very likely to continue to see at least one additional wave of cases moving forward and we know from that particular incident now in Oicha that we are going to have to operate in some very complex environments due to security and access concerns,"  he said. 

More than 80 per cent of cases and deaths so far have been in or within a 20 to 30 kilometre radius of the village of Mangina – in areas accessible to international and local health responders.

The WHO has mounted a so-called "ring" vaccination campaign to vaccinate the contacts and contacts of contacts of people infected with the disease. Among the priority to receive the vaccines have been healthcare workers in areas where the disease have been detected. 

Are we prepared for the next Ebola-scale epidemic?

So far, 2,900 people – including 500 healthcare workers – have received the vaccine including people in 21 "rings" around the 40 most recent cases.

As part of the effort to fight the current outbreak, five experimental drugs to treat patients have also been approved under "compassionate use" grounds.

Two of these – mAb114, which was developed by the United States National Institutes of Health using the antibodies of an Ebola survivor from 1995 and remdesivir, developed by pharmaceutical company, Gilead have been used so far in the current outbreak. 

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Seven people were killed in New Mexico on Thursday after a Greyhound passenger bus collided head-on with a semi-trailer truck that jumped a highway median strip, state police said.

A tire blew out on the eastbound truck, which jumped the grass median to hit the bus travelling in the opposite direction, police officer Ray Wilson told a news conference.

The bus was carrying 49 passengers, a Greyhound spokeswoman said. It collided with the truck around 12 pm on Interstate 40 near the city of Thoreau, about 100 miles west of Albuquerque, the state police said.

All but six of those on the bus were taken to nearby hospitals, said Wilson, adding that their injuries were minor and treated at the site. Injuries to the driver of the semi-trailer truck were not life threatening, state police said.

Greyhound Lines spokeswoman Crystal Booker said the bus was headed from Albuquerque to Phoenix, but deferred comment on the crash to the state police.

The National Transportation Safety Board said a team of its investigators would arrive on the scene early on Friday.

Investigators were uncertain of the truck’s cargo, but Wilson said: "There are a lot of vegetables" at the crash site. He did not know if speed was a contributing factor to the crash.

Eric Huff was heading to the Grand Canyon with his girlfriend when they came across the crash.

Huff said the semi’s trailer was upside down and "shredded to pieces," and the front of the Greyhound bus was smashed, with many of the seats pressed together. Part of the side of the bus was torn off, he said.

"It was an awe-inspiring terrible scene," he said.

Truck driver Santos Soto III shot video showing the front of the Greyhound sheared off and the semi split open, with its contents strewn across the highway.

He saw people sobbing on the side of the road as bystanders tried to comfort them.

"I was really traumatised myself, because I’ve been driving about two years and I had never seen anything like that before," Soto said.

"I’m a pretty strong person and I broke down and cried for at least 30 minutes," he added.

Gallup Indian Health Services received 37 of the injured, said Jennifer Buschick, a spokeswoman for the Gallup hospital. Six people with injuries too severe to be treated there were stabilised and taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

Three of the six taken to UNMH were in critical condition but the condition of the rest had not been released, said spokeswoman Cindy Foster.

Researchers believe an Australian bee which produces a “cellophane-like” material for its nests could help to end the world’s reliance on disposable plastics.

The native Hylaeus nubilosus masked bee, known for the distinctive yellow badge on its back, does not sting or live in hives but it has generated interest because of the nesting material it produces, which is non-toxic, waterproof, flame-resistant and able to withstand heat.

A biotech company in New Zealand, Humble Bee, is trying to reverse-engineer the material in the hope of mass producing it as an alternative to plastic.

Veronica Harwood-Stevenson, the firm’s founder,  said she began investigating the potential plastic alternative after noticing a throwaway line in a research paper about the “cellophane-like” qualities of the masked bee’s nesting material.

"Plastic particles and chemicals have permeated ecosystems and organisms around the world, [from] foetal blood of babies [to] the most remote arctic lakes; it’s so pervasive, it’s terrifying," she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"It’s about biomimicry, about copying what’s in the natural environment, and we’ve been doing it in design for centuries, from plane wing design inspired by birds of prey to train shapes reflecting bird beaks."

Richard Furneaux, a chemistry professor  at the Victoria University of Wellington, said the discovery of the new material was “almost too good to be true”.

“Its robustness is beyond what you would have expected,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Scientists analysed the genetic makeup of the bioplastic by studying the bee’s glands.

Humble Bee plans to initially use the material to make outdoor apparel, such as camping gear, which often use toxic chemicals to keep them waterproof.

"Outdoor apparel is definitely what we’re most interested in because of the chemicals being used and because chances are, if you like the environment, you don’t want the products you enjoy to be screwing up the environment,"  Ms Harwood-Stevenson said.

Scientists believe chemicals used to change the properties of plastic – such as those that make it harder or waterproof – may be harmful and could increase the risk of heart disease, cancer or infertility.

The bioplastic could also be used for aviation, electrics and construction products. It is resistant to acid which could allow it to coat medicines and help them to pass through the stomach.

The firm hopes to start selling the bioplastic in five years.

The thickest sea ice in the Arctic has started to break up, opening waters north of Greenland that are normally frozen, experts have warned.

One meteorologist described the phenomenon – recorded for the first time this year – as “scary”.

Scientists said it could prove catastrophic for polar bears and seals, threatening their survival.

The sea off the north coast of Greenland had long been known as “the last ice area” because it was expected to be the last place to remain frozen, given it had the oldest and thickest ice.

Others said it could force scientists to revise their theories about which part of the Arctic will withstand global warming the longest.

The sea off the north coast of Greenland had long been known as “the last ice area” because it was expected to be the last place to remain frozen, given it had the oldest and thickest ice.

But now scientists are warning that the ice has broken up twice this year, due to warm winds and heatwaves in the northern hemisphere.

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The changes could force scientists to revise their theories about which part of the Arctic will withstand global warming the longest.

Professor Peter Wadhams, who heads the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University, said the trend would also have “serious” consequences for wildlife – and could prove catastrophic for polar bears and seals.

“The north coast of Greenland, with its very steep cliffs, is a denning area for polar bears,” Prof Wadhams said.

“They dig holes in the snow and come out in the spring and go hunting. But if the pack ice has moved offshore they come out hibernation and are left without an area to hunt.

“They can’t swim very far. If this becomes a permanent feature with ice away from the coast, polar bears won’t have any ice to hunt on. You would lose the polar bear habitat,” he told The Independent.

Ruth Mottram of the Danish Meteorological Institute said: “Almost all of the ice to the north of Greenland is quite shattered and broken up and therefore more mobile.”

“Open water off the north coast of Greenland is unusual. This area has often been called ‘the last ice area’ as it has been suggested that the last perennial sea ice in the Arctic will occur here. The events of the last week suggest that, actually, the last ice area may be further west.”

How fast is the Arctic ice melting? | Meet the British scientist who risked polar bear attacks and plagues of mosquitoes to find out

Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, said: “The ice there has nowhere else to go so it piles up. On average, it’s over four metres thick and can be piled up into ridges 20 metres thick or more. This thick, compacted ice is generally not easily moved around.

“However, that was not the case this past winter (in February and March) and now. The ice is being pushed away from the coast by the winds.”

Thomas Lavergne, a scientist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, described satellite pictures of blue water penetrating white ice as “scary”.

Even if the water closes over in a few days, the harm will be done, he told The Guardian.

“The thick old sea ice will have been pushed away from the coast, to an area where it will melt more easily.”

Imran Khan has said he will forego the lavish lodgings normally used by Pakistan’s prime ministers and instead live in a three-bedroom house, with only two servants rather than hundreds, as he prepared the country for an austerity drive.

The newly sworn-in leader used his first address to the nation to rail against waste as his country faces a severe economic crisis.

The former cricket hero said it was shameful that the sprawling prime minister’s house had 524 staff and a fleet of 80 vehicles, 33 of them bulletproof.  The cars are to be sold off with only two kept for the new prime minister.

“ I want to tell my people, I will live a simple life, I will save your money,” he said.

The 65-year-old will live in a three-bed residence normally reserved for the military secretary.

He also used his Sunday evening address to call on the rich to start paying taxes and for Pakistani’s living overseas to send their money back to domestic banks to help the country’s foreign currency crisis.

In a 70-minute speech he repeated many of his populist campaign talking points, but offered little detail of how he will stave off an impending economic crisis which his own finance minister has said is dire.

Opposition parties also complained that he failed to mention how the country would deal with growing extremism, which Mr Khan has been accused of emboldening by invoking hardline issues like blasphemy on the campaign trail.

Pakistan is said to need an urgent bailout of around $12bn to stave off a looming crisis. Loans from China, Saudi Arabia or the International Monetary Fund are all understood to be under consideration.

But he complained that the country was in a spiral of debt, borrowing to pay off the interest on earlier loans, and would lose respect by begging elsewhere for money.

Instead, he called on Pakistani expats to send their money back home.

He said: “I want you to bring your money to Pakistan. To keep your money in Pakistani banks. Right now we are short on dollars. There is a huge trade gap right now.”

Mr Khan also spoke of his country’s need to tackle poverty and malnutrition and promised to reduce some of the world’s highest maternal death rates and infant mortality rates.

He said Pakistan was in severe danger from climate change and spoke about the need to educate the 22.8 million Pakistani children who are out of school.

Meanwhile his new foreign minister said on Monday that he wanted talks with neighbouring India and Afghanistan.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, also stressed that the civilian government would determine foreign policy, potentially putting Mr Khan’s new administration on a collision with the powerful military. Pakistan’s generals have ruled the country for much of its history and view policy on national security, India and Afghanistan as their realm.

Mr Qureshi said that "the foreign policy of Pakistan will be formed here at the foreign office."