VIDEO: Risks of illegal tanning injections

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Potential dangers of illegal tanning injections

11 January 2014 Last updated at 00:30 GMT

Inside Out investigates the extreme measures some people are willing to go to for a year-round tan.

Whilst health warnings about sun beds are well publicised, the search for a constant tan has led some consumers to use tanning injections.

Reporter Dianne Oxberry discovers how injections with the unlicensed medicine melanotan are becoming increasingly popular.

The product is illegal to sell but not to use. It is available under the counter at some gyms and beauty salons, and on the internet.

Inside Out meets Ryan Ruckledge, a self-confessed tanning addict from Blackpool, who is still using the injections despite his concerns about the health side effects.

We also talk to Chris and Mark Johnson White from Liverpool who stopped using tanning injections after experiencing nausea, loss of appetite, changes in skin pigmentation and the development of moles.

Jim McVeigh, deputy director at the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, says it is unclear what the products contain and how they are being controlled.

Inside Out North West is broadcast on Monday, 13 January at 19:30 GMT on BBC One and nationwide for seven days thereafter on the iPlayer.

VIDEO: Where does Britain's tea come from?

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Where does Britain's tea come from?

11 January 2014 Last updated at 00:25 GMT

While we drink millions of cups of tea each day, how many of us know where our tea actually comes from?

Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to east Africa to uncover the stories behind Britain's favourite drink.

Most of the leaves that go into our teabags do not come from India or China, but are bought from an auction in the coastal city of Mombasa in Kenya.

From here, Simon follows the tea trail through the epic landscapes of Kenya and Uganda and meets some of the thousands of people who pick, pack and transport it.

In this clip he visits a tea plantation and has a go at picking tea leaves himself.

Watch The Tea Trail with Simon Reeve on BBC 2 at 20:00 GMT on Sunday 12 January or catch it later on the BBC iPlayer.

Murder charge over nightclub death

10 January 2014 Last updated at 22:53 GMT

Hassan Mohammed Omer Isman death: Man charged with murder

Hassan Mohammed Omer Isman, from Poplar in east London, was shot dead

A man has been charged with murdering a reveller who was shot dead at a nightclub on Boxing Day.

Danny Walker, 32, of Haldane Road, south-east London, is accused of the murder of Hassan Mohammed Omer Isman.

Mr Isman, 31, of Poplar in east London, died after being shot at the Avalon club in Shaftesbury.

Dean Robinson, 32, of Nevitt House, north London, has been charged with possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and hiding criminal property.

Both will appear at Thames Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

A third man, 31, who was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply drugs and assisting an offender has been bailed to return to an east London police station in February.

In December, two men - a 31-year-old and a 34-year-old - were arrested on suspicion of murder and were also bailed to a date in February.

A 24-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder on 3 January was also bailed to a date in the same month.

Reagan press secretary Speakes dies

11 January 2014 Last updated at 00:12 GMT

Reagan press secretary Larry Speakes dies

Larry Speakes served under Ronald Reagan for six years before resigning to work in the private sector (file photo)

Larry Speakes, the former press secretary to President Ronald Reagan, has died.

Mr Speakes, 74, assumed the role in 1981 after then-acting press secretary James Brady was severely injured during an assassination attempt on Mr Reagan.

After resigning in 1987, Mr Speakes worked in the private sector before retiring in 2008.

He had reportedly suffered from Alzheimer's disease prior to his death.

Kenny Williams of the Cleveland Funeral Home said Mr Speakes died on Friday at home in Cleveland, Mississippi, where he had lived for the past few years.

Mr Speakes passed away in his sleep, Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown told the Associated Press news agency.

After resigning from the Regan administration in 1987, Mr Speakes worked for financial management firm Merrill Lynch in New York.

He later returned to Washington in 1988 and worked in public relations for communications company Northern Telecom and the US Postal Service.

Alliance youth wing member deported

10 January 2014 Last updated at 23:34 GMT

Gary Spedding deported from Israel and back in UK

Gary Spedding is originally from England but had spent the last number of years studying in Northern Ireland

A member of the Alliance Party's youth wing has returned back to the UK after being deported from Israel.

Gary Spedding, 23, was detained by immigration officials on Thursday after he arrived at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.

He had travelled to Israel to meet Israeli politicians and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

After being detained overnight, he was put on a flight bound for the UK on Friday evening.

Alliance MP Naomi Long said Mr Spedding had been travelling in a personal capacity.

"He was detained on the basis that his campaigning for Palestinian rights was viewed by the authorities in Israel to be a threat to stability in that he could have arranged campaigns or protests while he was in the country and I think that was largely based on work that he had done, particularly campaigns led on social media," she said.

"However, I was concerned to learn he had been detained and I was understandably worried for his welfare.

"I contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on his behalf as soon as I learned of his circumstances and ensured he received consular assistance. I am glad he is safe and well, and is now on his way home."

After arriving back in the UK, Mr Spedding told BBC News the authorities deported him and issued him with a 10-year ban from entering the country because of his campaigning on the social media site Twitter.

Demolished dune repairs under way

10 January 2014 Last updated at 23:58 GMT

Demolished Dumfries and Galloway dune repairs under way

Work is under way to return the damaged dunes (below) to their previous state (above)

A clean-up is under way at the RSPB's nature reserves in Dumfries and Galloway after recent storms caused damage along the coastline.

The impact of the bad weather and storm surges was felt most at the Mersehead reserve near Southwick.

It suffered salt-water flooding that stretched far inland and altered the dune landscape of its beach.

However, RSPB Scotland said the damage could have been even worse without natural defences in the area.

The cost of clearing up the area is still estimated to run to thousands of pounds.

RSPB Scotland said the fact the land was run as a nature reserve meant there had been no damage to property or fields nearby.

New pools

Reserve manager Colin Bartholomew said: "We've got a lot of clean-up work to do at the reserve now, including collecting a vast amount of debris.

"The salt water will naturally be flushed from some of the wetland areas, but one of the most interesting prospects will be to see how the layout of the coastal strip has changed.

"New tidal creeks and pools will have been formed and whilst areas of dune have been lost, sand and sediments will have been shifted to form the very early beginnings of new dunes."

He said that only by managing the area as a nature reserve could such "dynamic forces of nature be allowed to act with a relatively free rein".

"This is a lesson for the future for other coastal strips, as with sea levels rising, there will inevitably be more tidal surges of this and even greater magnitude," he said.

RSPB Scotland said one of the "big unknowns" at Mersehead was the fate of its natterjack toads.

The reserve is home to one of the most northerly colonies of the amphibians in the UK, and the area in which they hibernate was inundated by floodwater.

As a coastal species, however, RSPB Scotland said they may be able to adapt to the sudden event and be found to be safe and well in new areas on the reserve by spring.

3D images created of ancient volcano

10 January 2014 Last updated at 23:53 GMT

3D images created of ancient Scottish volcano

This is one of the models the scientists used to challenge a traditional theory about the volcano

Scientists have used 3D modelling to help them better understand an extinct volcano in the north west Highlands.

The 58 million-year-old site in Ardnamurchan is well known to geologists interested in the study of rocks and structures in volcano cores.

Researchers led by Sweden's Uppsala University have challenged a long-standing theory that it had three magma chambers.

They suggest it only had one large chamber.

According to measurements from the 3D modelling, it was less than a mile (1.5km) below today's land surface and was more than three miles (6km) wide.

Researchers from St Andrews University in Fife, Durham University in north east England and also some from Canada were involved in the new study.

Dr Steffi Burchardt, of Uppsala University, said: "It came as a bit of a surprise to us that there is still so much to learn from a place that has received so much attention by geologists."

The senior lecturer added: "These types of magma chambers are known to exist, for example, within volcanoes in Iceland have have been detected in the North Sea bedrock."