In the Irish Republic, social media has been blamed for the death of at least one young man who played an internet drinking game. But now videos criticising "NekNominations" are trending.
The drinking culture in Ireland has been both condemned and romanticised for decades. But the terrible consequences of a new social media drinking game are making people sit up and take notice of the country's relationship with alcohol.
"NekNominate", also known as "neck and nominate", involves young people "downing" alcoholic drinks and then nominating someone else to out-drink them. The activities are filmed and posted to social media sites. It's widely reported that the trend started in Australia, although there are claims that a less extreme version originated in the UK among university students.
The craze appears to have taken off in the Republic of Ireland in January, with Facebook pages dedicated to it getting thousands of likes. But then tragedy struck. The death of a young man whose family said he had played the game, as well as a second death being linked to the game, have prompted concern about its impact. Two government ministers in Ireland have condemned the practice and question the role of social media platforms. It has also led to a public backlash against the trend.
Spoof videos are being posted and shared online as part of the call for an end to the practice. One video shows 22-year-old Eoin Healy, from County Wexford, accepting the challenge of a "NekNomination", but then opting to make a cup of tea instead. "I'm a local DJ and I've seen so many NekNominations that I thought something had to be done," Healy told BBC Trending. "I wanted to send out a message that wasn't too stern. Young people don't want to be preached to. Drink to enjoy, not destroy."
Healy's video was posted before the recent fatalities. It has since been "liked" more than 16,000 times. "The response to the video has been huge. Most of the reaction has been positive" he says. "But my video alone will not be enough to bring about change."
Jaguar and Chrysler went head-to-head in the biggest advertising arena on the planet - the Super Bowl. But who came off best, asks Brian Wheeler.
Everybody loves a villain. And the Jaguar F-Type ad has three of them - Sir Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong and Tom Hiddleston. The three actors are all British, of course. Because that's how Hollywood likes its bad guys - and that is also the riff that this advert plays on. Why are movie villains always British? Because they are evil geniuses, cool, commanding and super-suave. And they drive Jaguars.
This is the first time Jaguar has shelled out for a Super Bowl slot - and they have thrown everything at it. Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) puts together a glossy, high-octane production with jets, helicopters and car chases.
It doesn't always make too much sense.
"Feels muddled instead of the sexy beast it should have been," sniffs industry bible Adweek, referencing Sir Ben's scariest creation of all, foul-mouthed Cockney psychopath Don, from Sexy Beast. Now that would have been an ad. Adweek gives Jaguar a C-grade in its round-up.
Chrysler and Bob Dylan Super Bowl Commercial 2014
That, incidentally, is how big this thing is in the US - there are websites dedicated to discussing and rating the new Super Bowl ads as if they are the latest Hollywood blockbusters. It is advertising as event.
"What could be more American than America?" he asks as the stock footage of iconic Americana begins to roll. You've got us there, Bob. The pay-off is priceless: "Let Germany brew your beer/Let Switzerland build your watch/Let Asia assemble your phone/We will build your car."
So that's the American brewing and watch-making industry finished, then
Having Bob Dylan in an ad feels like an event in itself (it shouldn't - he's been in several of them before, including one for Victoria's Secret underwear) but it got Adweek, which gave it an A, raving: "Dylan is a cool cat, and this ad has a hell of a lot of swagger."
Some critics have questioned whether its bombastic appeal to patriotism really works now that Chrysler is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Italian car giant Fiat.
Jaguar is no longer British-owned either - it is part of Indian conglomerate Tata. But their ad plays on its outsider status, daring the car buyer to go with something a little bit edgy.
Jaguar also steals a march on Chrysler in the event stakes - with online teasers ahead of the main event, a making of video and a website with tips on how to be a super-villain. Its twitter hashtag is doing good business.
Chrysler, by contrast, kept their ad under wraps until the third quarter of the big game.
By which time, as Forbes magazine points out, the Super Bowl was all but over as a contest and many viewers had switched off.
Muredach Doherty cleared of manslaughter of Colin McLeister
Colin McLeister died after falling down stairs at the Playhouse complex in Portrush
A 36-year-old County Antrim man has been cleared of killing a doorman out celebrating Christmas.
The jury at Antrim court took just over two and a half hours to acquit Muredach Martin Doherty of the manslaughter of 48-year-old Colin McLeister.
He fell to his death down a flight of stairs at an entertainment complex.
After the verdict, Mr Doherty, of Hawthorn Crescent, Dunloy, County Antrim, offered his sympathies to Mr McLeister's family.
As Mr McLeister's three young children wept in the public gallery, a defence lawyer told the court: "Regardless of what the verdict might have been, my client had provided me with specific instructions to express his deepest sympathy to the McLeister family for what was a very unfortunate accident."
Mr McLeister died as he was helping another doorman escort a drunken Mr Doherty from the Playhouse complex in the seaside town of Portrush, County Antrim, in the early hours of 17 December 2011.
Mr Doherty claimed it was a tragic accident which occurred as he "misfooted" and stumbled into Mr McLeister.
Christmas party
The prosecution case was that a drunken Mr Doherty deliberately pushed the doorman to his death.
Mr Doherty's week-long trial heard that Mr McLeister was with a number of other doormen attending their company's Christmas party, run by their boss who is also leaseholder of the Playhouse complex.
Judge Desmond Marrinan heard that Mr Doherty was initially "shown the door" by the company boss, who left him at the top of the stairs as he appeared to have accepted "his night was over".
Left to his own devices, Mr Doherty turned and was walking back into the nightclub when stopped by doorman, Billy Oliver, who was soon joined by Mr McLeister.
Together they began to "march" him back down the stairs. Again Mr Doherty appeared to be compliant, and "everything was going to to go off peacefully... with no pushing or shoving".
Stumbled
However, at some point Mr McLeister ended up in front of Mr Doherty, and the tragic devastating accident occurred.
Mr Oliver said in "a bolt out of the blue" Mr Doherty give his friend a 40% push, with both hands, before both tumbled down the stairs. However, under cross-examination he conceded that Mr Doherty may have stumbled and pushed into Mr McLeister.
For seven of his police interviews Mr Doherty denied pushing Mr McLeister, telling police: "It wasn't me... I never pushed this guy".
However, when told of Mr Oliver's evidence, he said: "They were marching me down the stairs and whenever I was going down the stairs I misfooted and I just put my hands out to save myself and I just went tumbling down the stairs and the big lad went with me... pure accident."
Survivors of Hillsborough have said they were intimidated and threatened by police from the independent force asked to investigate the football disaster.
BBC Newsnight has heard that witness criticisms of police who had been at the scene were not properly recorded.
This is the first time fans have come forward to question how West Midlands police took their statements.
The force declined to comment pending ongoing inquiries and the forthcoming inquests into the deaths of 96 fans.
The Liverpool fans died when a crush developed on an overcrowded terrace at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground, during an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest in April 1989.
The Hillsborough Independent Panel reported 18 months ago that 164 accounts from South Yorkshire police - the local force - had been changed, apparently to shift the blame for the disaster from the police on to the fans.
Nick Braley, who was a teenage student at the time, said that when he told West Midlands officers three weeks later that South Yorkshire police failings had caused the disaster, he was told he could face prosecution.
'Scared, traumatised'
He says he was "scared and intimidated" by a West Midlands officer.
"I'm a 19-year-old boy, three weeks out of Hillsborough, traumatised, and he's threatening me that he's going to put together a case for wasting police time because he didn't like my evidence," he says.
Newsnight has found that his experience is typical of those cited by a number of Hillsborough survivors.
Some of the West Midlands officers seemed to regard them not as vulnerable and invaluable witnesses keen to make truthful statements, but more like suspects.
"John" - not his real name - was 17 when he went to the match.
He struggled to survive in pen three, behind the goal on the Leppings Lane terrace.
At one point he lost consciousness and came to among the dead and dying.
"I remember standing next to a guy with dark, greasy hair, obviously from the sweat. We were totally pushed against each other in such a way that it's impossible to describe," he says.
"It was just me and him fighting for our lives. And I don't know if he was one of the 96 [who died], but I know that I had to stand on him to get out."
'I was broken'
Once on the pitch, John helped carry bodies to the gymnasium before collapsing. "I was broken," he says.
He tells how when two West Midlands officers arrived to take his statement at his home in Huyton, Merseyside, they sent his parents out.
John told them of police mismanagement at Hillsborough and how he planned to join the police to help prevent anything like it recurring.
According to John, the officers refused to let him read his own statement, saying, "I've written what you told me. All you need to do is sign this now."
He says he felt physically intimidated and powerless as the pair stood around him. He signed.
Families have campaigned for "Justice for the 96" ever since the disaster
Nick Braley went to the semi-final as a neutral, excited to have been given a ticket by a friend.
He says the officer taking his statement was not impressed.
"I'd been wearing a Free Mandela T-shirt," he says.
This prompted aggressive questions. "Was I a student agitator? Was I a member of the Socialist Workers Party? I'm just a fan at a game of football. He then turned on me and said I was a criminal with a grudge against the police."
At one point, he says, the police suggested he had not even been at the game. When he produced his ticket, he was told he could have found it.
Professor Phil Scraton, of Queens University, Belfast, who was the main author of the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report, which led to the scrapping of the 1990 inquest verdicts and the setting up of two fresh investigations, believes many witnesses were subjected to what were effectively interrogations.
'Suicide attempt'
He sees a clear parallel between the way South Yorkshire police questioned the bereaved on the night of the disaster - asking whether they or those they had lost had been drinking and checking for criminal records - and the statement-taking of the West Midlands force.
He says both forces shared the same mindset and this has deepened the trauma for survivors.
For John, what he calls "survivor guilt" reached a peak 15 years after Hillsborough.
He was a detective in the Metropolitan Police's murder squad, frequently blotting out his feelings about Hillsborough with drink.
There is a permanent memorial to the victims at Liverpool's Anfield stadium
By 2004, overwhelmed, he attempted suicide by driving his car into a tree. He resigned from the force after a disciplinary hearing.
Following the independent panel report, he finally got to see the statement he was refused sight of 25 years ago. He says there were no surprises: "It's as I thought. It's not my account." He says it even places him in the wrong part of the ground.
Nick Braley also feels his statement does not reflect the truth. He's also now got access to internal West Midlands police memos and notes referring to his case. And there, handwritten, are the lines "came across as totally anti-police... at first doubted had been at the match".
And then there's his Nelson Mandela T-shirt. "Was wearing a 'left wing' type 'T' shirt, actual motif not known."
Watch Peter Marshall's film in full on Newsnight on Monday 3 February at 22:30 on BBC Two, and then afterwards on the Newsnight website and BBC iPlayer.
Tube strike: London Underground talks end with no agreement
There are plans to close all ticket offices on the London Underground
Talks intended to avert strikes on the London Underground have ended without agreement.
Members of the Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) are due to walk out for 48 hours from 21:00 GMT on Tuesday and again on 11 February.
Union leaders have offered to suspend strikes if plans for ticket office closures are put on hold.
Talks were held earlier at the conciliation service Acas and may resume on Tuesday.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow told a news conference: "We are prepared to suspend the industrial action if the mayor is prepared to suspend the job losses.
"In the meantime, the action remains on. These cuts will be followed by more and more cuts unless we do something about it."
He described criticism of a holiday he took to Brazil last week as "cobblers", saying Boris Johnson was refusing to meet him wherever he was.
In his Daily Telegraph column on Monday, Mr Johnson accused Mr Crow of trying to hold the capital to ransom.
He reiterated his call for legislation to render any strike ballot void unless at least 50% of the workforce took part.
The RMT said 40% of members voted, with 76% of those supporting strikes. TfL said the turnout was 30%.
"It is absolutely outrageous that London, the motor of the UK economy - now contributing 25% of GDP - should be held to ransom by this tiny minority," said Mr Johnson.
London Underground (LU) managing director Mike Brown said: "We're committed to implement these changes without compulsory redundancies and there'll be a job for everyone at LU who wants to work for us and be flexible."
London Underground has announced contingency plans for the strike days, but passengers face travel chaos if the action goes ahead.
TfL warned services would start later than usual at 07:00 GMT and finish earlier than normal at about 23:00 GMT.
Syrian government forces have killed dozens of civilians in air raids in the northern city of Aleppo, activists say.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says about 90 people - most of them civilians - died when helicopters dropped barrel bombs on Saturday.
Unverified amateur footage appears to show the aftermath of attacks on the city, which has seen bitter fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels.
Ex Cumbria Chief Constable Stuart Hyde criticises inquiry
Stuart Hyde's 30-year police career came to an end in December
The former Chief Constable of Cumbria Police has spoken of "an unfair process" after a year-long probe into misconduct allegations against him.
Stuart Hyde was on secondment in the role from his post as Deputy Chief Constable when he was suspended in September 2012.
He was eventually cleared of misconduct but then retired in December.
Cumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes said the suspension was "in accordance" with regulations.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission cleared Mr Hyde in 2012, but an investigation by South Wales Police continued.
That second inquiry found no evidence of misconduct but made recommendations covering breaches of guidelines on using the force credit card, overseas trips, social media and recording gifts and hospitality.
Mr Hyde, who had a 30-year police career, was then re-suspended from his job by Mr Rhodes, who was unhappy with the report's findings.
"I don't think that's what justice is about. It doesn't feel like a fair process at all. What it feels like is a one-sided view," he told BBC Inside Out North East and Cumbria.
"People that made allegations... their information and allegations were treated as correct without an opportunity for me to address them.
"I never thought I would understand why people take their own life, but I think I understand that now."
Pie lover
One tweet that may have caused offence included a photograph of a pie.
Mr Hyde's use of social media was investigated after he tweeted this picture of a pie
Mr Hyde said: "If [someone said] it caused them offence I would've removed it.
"Will I stop eating them? Absolutely not. I thoroughly enjoy them. In fact they're delicious."
Mr Rhodes criticised a him over a photo taken at a charity event in Tunisia which showed him in swimming trunks.
But Mr Hyde said: "I think if I was engaged in a swimming event people would expect me to be wearing swimming trunks. Had I been stood there in uniform it would have looked a bit daft to say the least."
After being re-suspended, he was asked to retire immediately or resign - a move Mr Hyde fought.
He said: "I think it would have said [to people] 'you were guilty of something and ran away'."
Mr Hyde, second right, was criticised by Cumbria's PCC over this photograph from a charity swimming event
The investigations cost almost £500,000.
This covered the South Wales Police investigation, legal advice to the Police Authority and Bernard Lawson's secondment from Merseyside Police to be Cumbria's temporary Chief Constable.
Mr Hyde said he was given little information about the content of the allegations and he had not ruled out taking legal action.
A statement from Mr Rhodes said: "The suspension was undertaken in accordance with the police regulations.
"As a public body, there are strict legal rules as to what information can and should be released.
"The office of the PCC will always endeavour to be as open and transparent as possible."
The attacks have highlighted racism and discrimination against indigenous minorities from India's north-east
Police in the Indian capital, Delhi, say they have arrested one person in connection with an alleged attack on two women from north-eastern India.
The women from Manipur state say they were beaten and molested by a group of men in a busy area on 25 January.
There has been uproar in Delhi over last week's beating and subsequent death of a student from north-east.
The incidents highlight discrimination against indigenous minorities from India's north-east, observers say.
Reports said the police arrested a 32-year-old resident of Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur on Sunday in connection with the alleged attack and molestation after facing allegations of inaction and delay.
The two women complained that they had gone shopping in the area when they had an altercation with a man and were attacked by him and some other men.
They told the police that they were subjected to "racist comments" from local people when the incident took place.
Separately, three people have been held in connection with the death of 21-year-old student Nido Tania from Arunachal Pradesh state who was beaten on Wednesday by shopkeepers who had ridiculed his appearance. He died the next day.
He was the son of a member of the Arunachal Pradesh state assembly.
Hundreds of people protested against the attack in Delhi over the weekend.
Indigenous people from India's north-east, who are ethnically closer to people in Burma and China, often say they encounter racism and discrimination in the rest of the country.
French fishing boat crew rescued off Cornish coast
2 February 2014 Last updated at 15:53 GMT
The crew of a French fishing boat have been rescued off the coast of Cornwall.
The vessel was disabled after large waves smashed through the bridge, disabling its power and steering.
Five of the fisherman were winched to safety by a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose, while the sixth member of the crew was rescued by the Padstow lifeboat.
Falmouth coastguard Peter Bullard said the crew of the boat had to get into the sea so that they could be rescued.
Landowners in the Sussex Downs National Park are mounting a "legal blockade" to protect a potential fracking site.
Solicitors for residents near Fernhurst, in West Sussex, have written to Celtique Energie and the Energy Secretary Ed Davey to explicitly deny permission to drill under their land .
It comes after the government said it may alter trespass law to make drilling under property easier for companies.
Plans to frack were vehemently opposed in Balcombe, also in Sussex, last year.
Fracking is a method of extracting energy, such as shale gas, from rocks by forcing it out under high pressure.
Shale gas exploration typically involves drilling down vertically and out horizontally, often for more than a mile.
Celtique Energie is not yet applying for permission to start fracking, but wants to explore the terrain to see if it contains shale gas.
Support
Under the current legislation, shale gas prospectors need permission from landowners before drilling under their properties or must obtain special permission from a court.
The government has given strong support to fracking, saying it believes the potentially large reserves of shale gas could reduce energy bills, create jobs, boost the economy and encourage businesses to come back to the UK.
It has plans to reward councils and homeowners who allow fracking in their area.
Last year Prime Minister David Cameron pledged a "simplified system" for companies to get permission for fracking.
Environmental activists are against the technique, claiming it can increase climate change, cause small earthquakes and pollute water supplies.
'Blueprint'
Marcus Adams, one of the landowners involved in the legal blockade, said: "People right across the country have legitimate concerns about the impact of fracking on their communities - from water contamination to air and noise pollution from heavy lorry traffic - but all this happening in a national park just doesn't bear thinking about."
The environmental group, Greenpeace, launched a mass legal block against fracking in October.
The organisation's energy campaigner, Anna Jones, said she thought the Fernhurst action would inspire others: "As ministers' desperate charm offensive is given the cold shoulder, the Fernhurst legal blockade is likely to become a blueprint for local resistance right across the country."
Celtique Energie said there were no firm plans for the drilling site as yet: "The horizontal well is only an option at this stage and would be drilled on the basis of positive data from the vertical well."
There is "no bottomless purse" for flood defences and "difficult but sensible choices about where and what to protect" must be made, the head of the Environment Agency has said.
Chairman Lord Smith, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said "tricky questions" included "town or country, front rooms or farmland"?
The agency has been criticised for its response to the Somerset Levels floods.
Meanwhile, forecasters are warning of further gales and heavy rain to come.
'Extraordinary combination'
The Environment Agency (EA) has been accused of failing to dredge rivers in order to protect the Somerset Levels, which have been badly hit by flooding in recent weeks.
Villages such as Muchelney have been cut off for almost a month and about 11,500 hectares (28,420 acres) of the Levels are flooded.
Dredging normally refers to increasing the depth of the river channel by removing silt that builds up over years.
Last week Lord Smith said dredging would "probably make a small difference", adding: "It's not the comprehensive answer some people have been claiming it is."
Writing in Monday's Telegraph, Lord Smith said the country had faced "an extraordinary combination of weather conditions over the past eight weeks".
"Prolonged periods of heavy rain and gale-force winds have affected almost every part of England," he said.
'No quick fixes'
Lord Smith praised EA staff for "working the whole time to help communities at risk".
"They've been running pumping stations, erecting defences, issuing warnings and clearing blockages from rivers - often in the most challenging conditions," he said.
But he said there were "no quick fixes in the face of this kind of extreme rainfall".
He said that, while agricultural land was important, government rules placed the highest priority on lives and homes, adding: "Most people would agree that this is the right approach.
"But this involves tricky issues of policy and priority: town or country, front rooms or farmland?" he said.
"Flood defences cost money; and how much should the taxpayer be prepared to spend on different places, communities and livelihoods - in Somerset, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, or East Anglia?"
He added: "More than a million homes have been defended, up and down the country, over the past couple of months - in the face of everything that nature could throw at us.
"I'm proud of what the Environment Agency and its staff have done.
"We now need to try to do even better, especially for Somerset."
Forces stand-by
The agency says it is now running pumps 24 hours a day to drain the huge amounts of water that have made it a miserable start to the year for people living on the Somerset Levels.
Members of all three branches of the armed forces are on stand-by to help villages in Somerset cut off by the floods.
An angler went missing at Tangle-Ha, north of St Cyrus, off the Aberdeenshire coast, in the early hours of Sunday
A third covers the south Cornwall coast between Land's End and Plymouth.
More than 90 flood warnings and more than 230 flood alerts are also in place in England and Wales.
And the Scottish Environment Protection Agency says there are 14 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, in Scotland, while there are three flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, in Tayside.
Rescue teams have been searching for a sea angler who was night fishing off the Aberdeenshire coast when he went missing in the early hours of Sunday.
The man was at Tangle-Ha, north of St Cyrus, when he disappeared from rocks in rough conditions.
The Environment Agency said the flood risk would continue over the next week.
Australia announces inquiry into asylum child detainees
More than 1,000 children are currently in immigration detention - both in Australia and offshore
Australia's Human Rights Commission has announced an inquiry into the mandatory detention of children seeking asylum.
The inquiry would focus on the well-being, health and development of the detained children, AHRC President Professor Gillian Triggs said.
More than 1,000 children are currently in Australia's immigration detention facilities, the AHRC said.
This included more than 100 in Nauru - the offshore centre condemned by the UN and rights groups for poor conditions.
"These are children that, among other things, have been denied freedom of movement, many of whom are spending important developmental years of their lives living behind wire in highly stressful environments," Prof Triggs said in a statement.
The commission's first report on the subject, in 2004, found that mandatory detention of children of asylum-seekers was inconsistent with Australia's human rights obligations, and that long-term detention placed children "at high risk of serious mental harm".
In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Prof Triggs highlighted a lack of co-operation from the immigration department.
"I think I'd have to say over the last few months, we've had minimal co-operation in relation to the kinds of details that I need to know, particularly mental health, self-harm and the processes for those that are transferred," she said.
"In particular, we'd like to understand more about the mental health of these children. The instances of self-harm, how they're being treated when they're manifesting conditions of extreme anxiety."
Prof Triggs said the AHRC did not oppose detention for an appropriate period to establish the identity and health of a child.
"However, we are concerned that when the time moves beyond three to four months - to six, to 12, to 15 months - the likelihood is that we will be finding that there are breaches of international law."
'Chaotic mess'
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said officials would co-operate with the inquiry.
"But the reason there are children in detention is because over 50,000 turned up on illegal boats on Labor's watch so we're dealing with Labor's chaotic mess here,'' he told local radio.
Those who arrive in Australia by boat to seek asylum are placed in mandatory immigration detention. The number of boat arrivals rose sharply in 2012 and the first half of 2013.
In response, Australia re-opened offshore processing camps in Nauru, a tiny Pacific island, and in Papua New Guinea. The previous Labor government also introduced the deterrent "PNG solution" - an agreement whereby those found to be refugees would be settled in PNG, not Australia.
Under the new Liberal-National coalition government, "Operation Sovereign Borders" - putting the military in charge of anti-people-smuggling efforts - has been introduced.
Reports suggest Australia has been turning asylum boats back to Indonesia - and in January, Australia apologised for "inadvertently" violating Indonesia's territorial waters on multiple occasions.
The government is strictly controlling the release of information around its asylum policy, prompting critics to accuse it of excessive secrecy. The government says it has drastically cut the number of boats arriving in Australia.
Rights groups and UN agencies, meanwhile, continue to criticise conditions in Australia's offshore processing centres and to question whether its current asylum strategy violates its international obligations.
The inquiry could be concluded before the end of the year, Prof Triggs said.
Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd to stand down at election
Ann Clwyd said she would continue her campaigns after leaving Parliament
Veteran MP Ann Clwyd has announced that she is to stand down at the 2015 general election.
The 76-year-old Labour politician has represented the Cynon Valley since winning a by-election in 1984.
She revealed her decision at the monthly meeting of the Cynon Valley Labour Party on Friday, after informing party leader Ed Miliband.
But Ms Clwyd said she would still campaign and called it "not her swansong", but a "pause for breath".
In a statement, she said by the next general election she would have been an MP for 36 years.
"It is a long time but I feel very privileged to have had a job I enjoyed so much," she said.
Broke down
Most recently the MP led a government-commissioned inquiry on how NHS hospitals handle complaints.
The review, published last October, said the culture of delay and denial over NHS complaints in England must come to an end.
Ms Clwyd was asked to lead it after she broke down in a BBC interview in December 2012 while describing the poor care her late husband had received.
She said her husband Owen Roberts died "like a battery hen" at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff in October 2012.
She had previously tackled David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons about how he would respond to complaints about nurses who failed to show care and compassion to patients.
'Backing me'
In her statement she said: "I still have a lot of energy left to fight for a better health service for the people of Wales over the next year and to ensure that the system improves throughout the UK.
"The letters and emails keep coming so I will still be shouting long and hard on their behalf.
"I hope my late husband Owen Roberts can hear me - I know he would be backing me all the way, as he always did."
A former journalist, she was a lone Welsh female MP for a long time in a career which began when she was elected MEP for Mid and West Wales in 1979.
In 1994 she went underground to stage a sit-in protest against the closure of Tower Colliery at Hirwaun.
Ms Clwyd said: "I am particularly proud to have been elected in the constituency of Keir Hardie, and the first woman to be elected in an industrial seat in Wales.
"The miners who always gave me their backing I hope would not be disappointed."
A long-time campaigner for Kurds in Iraq, she served as special envoy to the Middle Eastern country under former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"I will continue to speak out on domestic and international affairs, especially on human rights," she said.
Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle Seahawks thrash Denver Broncos
By Ian ShoesmithBBC Sport
The Seattle Seahawks utterly dominated Super Bowl XLVIII, thrashing a badly misfiring Denver Broncos 43-8.
Marshawn Lynch's one-yard touchdown run and Malcolm Smith's 69-yard interception return helped Seattle into a deserved 22-0 lead at the break.
Percy Harvin returned the second-half kick-off 87 yards for another touchdown to all but end a horribly one-sided affair in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
It was the first Super Bowl staged outdoors in a cold-weather state.
Pre-match fears of an 82,500-strong crowd having to endure sub-zero conditions proved groundless, with the temperature at the roofless MetLife Stadium just outside New York hovering around 7C (44F).
The week leading up to biggest annual event in the US sporting calendar was also dominated by talk of whether Denver's top-rated offence - led by veteran quarterback Peyton Manning - could be contained by Seattle's top-rated defence.
In Superman's New York, when an apparently unstoppable force meets an immovable object, they surrender.
And that is exactly what happened to Manning in the shadow of Gotham City.
Despite winning the National Football League's Most Valuable Player award for a fifth time following a record-laden regular season, and already owning one Super Bowl winner's ring from his time with the Indianapolis Colts, the 37-year-old has long been accused of choking when it really counts, in the play-offs.
His third appearance on the sport's biggest stage seemed to begin with the kind of nervy performance most would have expected from his opposite number, second-year quarterback Russell Wilson.
The opening play from scrimmage ended in high farce as the snap sailed over Manning's head and into Denver's endzone. Rather than risking giving up a touchdown, running back Knowshon Moreno fell on the lose ball to concede the two points awarded for American football's equivalent of an own goal.
Seattle extended their lead to 8-0 courtesy of a pair of Steven Hauschka field goals before Manning threw the first of two costly interceptions.
Under pressure from the blitzing Seattle defence, his wild pass sailed straight into the grateful hands of Kam Chancellor, part of the Seahawks' feared secondary which has been dubbed the "Legion Of Boom".
Chancellor's team-mate Marshawn Lynch, known as "Beast Mode", then bulldozed his way into the endzone for the game's first touchdown.
Just when it looked like the Broncos were getting their act together offensively, Manning was again picked off.
Under huge pressure on 3rd & 13 on Seattle's 35-yard line, the veteran's throwing arm was hit as he released his pass. Linebacker Malcolm Smith gobbled up the wobbling ball and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown.
Even the choice of songs in the spectacular, pyrotechnic-filled half-time show was cruelly ironic for the Broncos. After Grammy Award-winner Bruno Mars performed one of his biggest hits, Runaway Baby, the Red Hot Chili Peppers followed with Give It Away.
At least Denver's head coach John Fox had an extended break in which to rally his troops and work out how his offensive line could better protect Manning and give him more time in which to find his targets through the air.
But his team-talk was blown to smithereens immediately when Percy Harvin evaded at least three tackles to return the second-half kick-off 87 yards for a touchdown.
Trailing 29-0, Manning was facing the biggest challenge of his illustrious 16-year career.
And any hopes of an improbable comeback evaporated almost as quickly as the half-time show set had been disassembled and carried away from the field.
Harvin picked a bouncing kick-off up on his own 13-yard line and waltzed his way up the field to score with ease.
Jermaine Kearse further humiliated the Broncos when he received Russell Wilson's pass, spun 360 degrees to evade a pair of converging defenders, and trotted into the endzone for a 23-yard score.
The Broncos eventually got on the board with the final play of the third quarter, Manning's well-judged 14-yard pass caught in the endzone by Demaryius Thomas.
Manning found Wes Welker on the two-point conversion attempt, but it was little consolation.
Seattle rubbed salt into Denver's wounds when Doug Baldwin caught Wilson's short pass and ducked under more woeful tackling for yet another touchdown, making it 43-8.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is to return to work on Monday after four days of illness, with protesters still demanding he give up power.
The political crisis has continued unabated in his absence, with thousands on the streets of the capital, Kiev.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Dmytro Bulatov has arrived in Lithuania for medical treatment.
Mr Bulatov appeared on TV last week saying he had been abducted and tortured.
Mr Yanukovych has not been seen in public since last Wednesday. His office says he had been suffering from a fever and breathing problems but that he was feeling well again and will go back to work.
Opposition leaders had previously expressed scepticism about his illness - on Sunday they again called on him to stand down while speaking to crowds of protesters in Kiev's Maidan square, the BBC's Duncan Crawford reports from the capital.
Thousands are currently in the square, which has become a focal point for the opposition.
Mr Yanukovych has offered a number of concessions and his cabinet quit their jobs.
But the demonstrators, many of whom want to see closer ties with the EU rather than Russia, have not been placated.
Graphic images of Mr Bulatov's injuries were broadcast on Ukrainian TV
Rallying point
Mr Bulatov arrived in Vilnius in the early hours of Monday morning and was immediately taken to hospital, the Baltic News Service reports.
Lithuania has promised to treat any protesters injured in the crisis.
He went missing on 22 January and re-emerged eight days later on the outskirts of Kiev.
He appeared on TV with a gash on his face and part of his ear cut off. He said he had been held and beaten for eight days.
His case became a new rallying point for anti-government protesters.
Mr Bulatov was a leader of a group called Automaidan, made up mainly of drivers who would protect the protest camps and blockade streets.
He told the media he had been "crucified" by his abductors, who he could not identify other than to say they had Russian accents.
Opposition politicians Western diplomats expressed outrage at the incident.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the "deliberate targeting of organisers and participants of peaceful protests".
Officials had suggested Mr Bulatov's account of the abduction might have been fabricated.
"The only thing he has is a scratch on one of his cheeks," Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told broadcaster al-Jazeera.
"It looks like the alleged story that he was kidnapped and tortured is not absolutely true."
The ministry later said the comments did not reflect his "real attitude to the tragic situation", and said the minister wished Mr Bulatov a speedy recovery.
Woody Allen calls renewed sex abuse claim 'disgraceful'
Allen has always maintained his innocence
Woody Allen has called renewed claims by his adopted daughter that he sexually abused her as a child "untrue and disgraceful", his publicist says.
In an open letter published on Saturday, Dylan Farrow accused Mr Allen of molesting her in a "dim, closet-like attic" at the age of seven.
Mr Allen was investigated over the abuse allegations at the time of the incident, but was not charged.
Publicist Leslee Dart said Mr Allen would respond directly "very soon".
Ms Dart pointed out that "a thorough investigation was conducted by court-appointed independent experts" when the allegations were first made.
"The experts concluded there was no credible evidence of molestation; that Dylan Farrow had an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality; and that Dylan Farrow had likely been coached by her mother Mia Farrow," Ms Dart continued.
Mr Allen has previously accused Dylan's mother, Mia Farrow, of fabricating the claims after their highly publicised break-up in 1992 and has always maintained his innocence.
At the time a panel of psychologists, appointed by US prosecutors and the police, concluded that Dylan had not been molested.
However the case caused controversy when a prosecutor later said there had been "probable cause" to charge Mr Allen, but he had chosen not to, in order to protect the child.
Allen has previously accused Dylan Farrow's mother Mia of being behind the allegations
'Turning a blind eye'
In the letter from Dylan Farrow, published on the New York Times website,, she recounts an incident in which she says Allen "told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train set. Then he sexually abused me".
Ms Farrow, now 28 and living in Florida under a different name, said she developed an eating disorder and was self-harming following the abuse.
"That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up," she writes.
Of the panel who dismissed her claims back in 1992, Ms Farrow says: "Sexual abuse claims against the powerful stall more easily. There were experts willing to attack my credibility."
She said she decided to break her silence after two decades, when Woody Allen's latest film, Blue Jasmine, was nominated for an Oscar last week.
Ms Farrow explained that Hollywood had made her "torment worse" by turning "a blind eye" to her story and took aim against actors who have appeared in Allen's movies.
"What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?"
Ms Farrow's letter has sent ripples through Hollywood.
Blue Jasmine star Cate Blanchett responded to the piece saying: "It's obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace."
Actress Mia Farrow became romantically involved with Woody Allen in the early 1980s. The pair, who never married and kept separate homes, jointly adopted Dylan and her brother, Moses.
The couple split in 1992 amid revelations that Mr Allen had an affair with another adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, Soon-Yi.
The molestation allegations surfaced shortly after the breakup.
At the time, Woody Allen released a public statement, calling the claims "an unconscionable and gruesomely damaging manipulation of innocent children for vindictive and self-serving motives".
Vote counting started soon after the closing of the polls in El Salvador
El Salvador's left-wing presidential candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren, from the FMLN party, is leading the polls with more than 50% of votes counted.
The current vice-president has more than 49% of the votes, but is still short of the 50% plus one needed to avoid a run-off election.
Trailing more than ten points behind is the right-wing opposition candidate Norman Quijano, from the Arena party.
Former President Antonio Saca, is trailing with 11%.
The campaign has been dominated by the sluggish economy and gang crime.
El Salvador's murder rate is among the highest in the world.
Correspondents say there are signs that a recent truce agreed between the two main street gangs is falling apart.
Mr Sanchez Ceren. 69, was a rebel commander when the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) was a guerrilla group during the 1980-1992 civil war.
He has promised to tackle crime through education and social programmes.
Candidates have clashed on how to deal with gangs, as Will Grant reports
Opinion polls suggest he had a lead over Mr Quijano, who stood down from his position of mayor of San Salvador to stand for president.
Many voters are critical of the 2012 truce with gangs, and Mr Quijano has accused the administration of outgoing President Mauricio Funes of negotiating with criminals. He is advocating tougher policies against drug gangs.
The truce has led to a decrease in El Salvador's murder rate, but gradually the number of killings is going back up.
The three-way race may lead to a run-off vote
Analysts say the vote may hinge on the popularity of the third candidate, former President Antonio Saca who is running for the new Unidad party.
The second round of voting, if needed, is to be held on 9 March.
London Critics' Circle: Awards race a 'privilege', says McQueen
3 February 2014 Last updated at 02:02 GMT
Director Steve McQueen has spoken of his pride at the success of his film 12 Years a Slave at the London Critics' Circle Film Awards.
The film topped the awards, being named film of the year, while Chiwetel Ejiofor won actor of the year, and co-star Lupita Nyong'o won best supporting actress.
McQueen praised the debates that the film had inspired, describing the question-and-answer sessions conducted as part of the film's promotion as a "privilege".
Sinkholes: A deadly threat from Florida's 'underworld'
By Prof Iain StewartPresenter, Horizon: Swallowed by a Sinkhole
Guests left just in time before this resort building near Disney World slumped into a 20m-wide hole last year
"It's like this thing was alive…it was churning, moving around…making noises, you know…like a growl".
It's an image that still haunts police officer Deputy Douglas Duvall who, on the evening of February 28th 2013, responded to an emergency call in the suburban calm of Tampa, and found himself face to face with the Florida underworld.
Inside a detached bungalow, the ground had opened and swallowed the sleeping body and bed of 37 year- old Jeff Bush.
His brother Jeremy was frantically trying to dig him out, but Jeff's body was sucked into the depths and never found.
Only the efforts of first responder Douglas Duvall hauling Jeremy out of the churning pit prevented a second tragedy.
The natural trapdoor that opened up and claimed the life of Jeff Bush is called a "sinkhole". It is far from the only case.
In the last few years, vast sinkholes have appeared overnight from as far afield as China and Guatemala, but it's Florida where the fear is greatest.
Just last August, a resort complex near Disney World collapsed into a huge 20m hole.
It was to investigate this devastating phenomenon that I travelled to Florida to try to understand what caused the sinkhole that killed Jeff, and why the geology of this state makes it the sinkhole capital of the world.
It's possible to explore some of these natural shafts and descend within the voids beneath, at places like Ladder Cave in Citrus County.
Here you can see how acid-tinged rain and ground water slowly eats away at limestone bedrock below, producing cavities in the subsurface.
There was initially little external sign of the sinkhole that had swallowed up Jeff Bush
Only after demolition crews moved in to raze the house was the deep depression exposed
Often, surface sand and mud gets washed into these to fashion a pockmarked landscape of pits and depressions which we call karst.
The trouble is, sometimes, the subterranean world of caves and caverns break through the surface cover to drag down whatever lies above.
These "cover-collapse" sinkholes are the deadly threat that lurks in the Florida underworld.
Investigations revealed that a cover-collapse sinkhole had lain directly beneath Jeff Bush's bedroom.
Bill Bracken, the structural engineer who worked with the emergency workers at Jeff's house, showed me the footage that he took from within the hole that fateful night.
It makes chilling viewing. When it opened and soil began to fall inward, a suction force was exerted on the concrete floor above, eventually wrenching it down along with everything in that room.
Sinkhole collapses are pretty commonplace across Florida. Virtually the whole of the Sunshine state, from the Keys in the south to the border with Georgia in the north, is a vast limestone platform that is flushed with groundwater below and has a humid climate that rains down plenty from above.
How limestone sinkholes are formed
That water keeps the lawns green, fills the swimming pools and provides drinking water for millions. But the waters are also consuming Florida's soluble limestone foundations.
The result is a state collapsing in on itself. Amid the city streets, quiet suburbs and citrus groves, holes are often opening up to reveal a new hidden Florida.
Residents are, understandably, nervous about the Florida concealed beneath. As soon as any cracks appear in their buildings, nervous homeowners call in geotechnical experts.
Over 6,500 sinkhole insurance claims are reported each year. All of which makes Florida's sinkholes a boom for lawyers and geologists.
Like a scene in a disaster movie, this vast cavity opened at a street intersection in Guatemala City in 2010
Here, policemen observe another huge hole that formed in Guatemala in 2007
Some sinkholes, such as Mexico's Gran Cenote, open into spectacular subterranean landscapes
This collapse in Beijing swallowed up a truck. Sinkholes in China are often blamed on construction work
What is not commonplace are sinkhole tragedies. Jeff Bush's death is Florida's first fatal sinkhole collapse in decades.
His suburban district of Seffner lies in a sinkhole "sweetspot" - a cluster of collapses pepper the west central part of the state around the city of Tampa.
Iain Stewart went in search of the reasons for Florida's first fatal sinkhole collapse in decades
His death has created unease among the sedate, retiring gated communities of west Florida. Because the sinkhole scourge is on the rise.
Quite why sinkholes are becoming ever more prominent in Florida is uncertain. Their triggers are enigmatic, though the fact that there is a "sinkhole season" suggests that Florida's climate has something to do with it.
In the summer months, the Gulf Coast's hurricanes deluge the state, dumping tonnes of water on the land over a matter of hours, weighing down the soil and collapsing the roofs of caves below.
In the dry season, drought conditions can lower the water table, reducing pressure in water-filled voids and causing their unsupported sides to implode.
Dramatic changes to the Floridian water table can also come from another more surprising source. The state's warm, wet weather and fertile soil cover has made it ideal for agriculture, and makes it, alongside California, the fruit basket of America.
Its famous citrus groves and fruit fields are irrigated in part from groundwater drawn from Florida's underground aquifer.
Unlike the year-round warmth of California, the winter months in Florida can be cold and its fruit, particularly its vast strawberry crop, is prone to frost damage.
This sinkhole in Dunedin, Florida, pulled down the rear portion of a house
This aerial shot shows the extent of damage to the resort building in Clermont, near Disney World
So when sudden cold snaps strike, farmers respond with an intense spraying of warm groundwater onto the strawberry fields.
This aggressive groundwater pumping, however, can drop aquifer levels by tens of metres overnight. When this has happened in the past, large numbers of sinkhole collapses have occurred.
There is no evidence that groundwater pumping for agriculture was the trigger for last year's lethal collapse in Seffner.
However, it is a reminder of the growing human pressures that are being placed on Florida's natural support system.
The lure of the Florida sun is drawing ever more people to the state, and our urban sprawl is advancing into wild land primed with lethal sinkhole traps. In the past, they would have gone unnoticed. But not now.
So, in a way, the real reason for Florida's growing toll of sinkhole damage is ourselves.
