Newly-capped Scotland forward Sam Skinner says his country are in an "exciting place" ahead of the Six Nations.

Chris Quevatre
BBC News Online

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has apologised after cancelling a woman's operation four times.

Katie Flack, 30, from Pool in Cornwall, had to have a hysterectomy after suffering from endometriosis.

On one occasion, she was already wearing her hospital gown and prepped for surgery when she was told it was cancelled.

The hospital declared the highest alert - Opel 4 - on more than 130 days in a 12-month period from September 2017 to September 2018, according to a response to a Freedom of Information request.

Image source, Katie Flack

BBC Radio Devon

Just over a year after he broke his back surfing a 60ft wave at Nazare in Portugal, Braunton surfer Andrew Cotton has suffered what appears to be a serious leg injury competing in Spain.

Cotton tweeted that a wave landed on his back leg and "lit me up pretty intensely" at the Punta Galea Challenge near Bilbao., external

"What can I say, you gotta pay to play," he said. "Absolutely gutted to get injured."

Two men in their 20s are arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm after a violent assault.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

A package containing a small bottle with liquid has triggered an alert in Exeter, police say.

Officers said they, fire crews and ambulance personnel were called to a property belonging to the University of Exeter, on St German's Road, at about 08:30 after the alarm was raised.

Devon and Cornwall Police said, external: "The recipient was not expecting this item which appears to have been sent from outside the UK, and subsequently called the police.

"Fire have tested the item and have confirmed that it is safe and the cordon has since been lifted."

There was no wider risk to the public, officers added.

Johanna Carr
BBC News Online

Image source, Family photo

A jury has been sent out to consider its conclusion in the inquest into the death of a bar manager who disappeared from a private island.

Josh Clayton, 23, was reported missing after vanishing from a staff party on Tresco, Isles of Scilly, on 13 September 2015.

His body was found 10 days later but investigations have been unable to find a cause of death or information about how he ended up in the sea.

Coroner Ian Arrow told jurors they could record either an accidental or an open conclusion.

They have heard how an initial inquest in January 2017 was halted after new claims emerged of Mr Clayton, from Taunton, being involved in a row at the party.

Mr Arrow said police had reinvestigated but were unable to corroborate the claims, nor had they found any evidence of third party involvement in Mr Clayton’s death.

The three-day hearing is being held at Plymouth Coroner’s Court.

The site owned by the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust helps more than 800 adults and children.

BBC Politics

Theresa May will face a fight for her leadership after at least 48 members of her own party put in writing that they have lost confidence in her.

Any time the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives receives letters from 15% of the party's MPs, a secret ballot is triggered.

If Mrs May wins, they cannot challenge her premiership for another year. But, if she loses, there will be a leadership election and she will not be allowed to run.

Which MPs in Devon and Cornwall have publicly said they have done so?

We are aware of two:

Anne Marie Morris, MP for Newton Abbot, said in November she had written her letter.

Sheryll Murray, MP for South East Cornwall, tweeted her letter, external, saying her decision was due to the fishing policy and the Northern Ireland backstop.

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Further details of a masterplan for a major development to the east of Axminster have been revealed., external

The preferred plan for the North East Urban Extension of the town, which will see 650 new homes built, as a well as a relief road to end the gridlock in the town centre, was presented to the public at a consultation event last week.

The plans revealed the location of the new £16.7m relief road, changes to the quantity, type and location of employment space, and that rather than a new school being built, additional space in the town's existing schools will be found.

East Devon District Council has secured £10m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund, and the council’s cabinet last month agreed to borrow the remaining £6.7m so they could fund the road.

The council’s strategic planning committee will meet in January to decide whether to endorse the masterplan.

It includes:

• Three hectares of employment space located adjacent to existing industrial area at the north of the town
• Six-hundred-and-fifty new homes which will be located through the eastern extension
• Planting to create a green edge to the north
• A local centre, which will include office, retail, and a workshop space
• Millbrook Park. A landscaped area of publicly accessible green space

The relief road will run from Weycroft at the north of the town, around the east of the town, across Sector Lane, before joining up with Lyme Road before running down to the A35.

The chairman of a Devon agricultural show says he believes ladies are "not bothered" about a men-only evening dinner.

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Exeter City Council will be asked to reverse its controversial decision to close Clifton Hill Sports Centre.

In June, the fate of the sports centre was confirmed when the council voted to close it permanently, when 20 councillors voted for the closure, seven voted against and four abstained from voting.

Clifton Hill, built in 1984, had been shut since March due to heavy snowfall which caused a major leak in the roof.

The council said the cost of repairing the building was estimated to be in the region of £700,000, and would have taken up to a year to complete and that many of Clifton Hill’s facilities would have been replaced by the St Sidwell’s Point Swimming Pool and Leisure complex scheduled for opening in December 2020.

Campaigners though have persistently asked why the decision to close and sell Clifton Hill was rushed through so quickly, with only 24 hours between the council’s executive meeting and the (extraordinary) full council meeting. A Freedom of Information request confirmed that no structural survey was carried out prior to the closure.

At next Tuesday’s full council meeting, a motion submitted by Councillor Chris Musgrave calls for the council to reverse its decision.

Devon Live

A 45-year-old woman has been found dead in Torquay sparking a murder investigation., external

Emergency services were called to Temperance Street, and have arrested a 47-year-old man on suspicion of murder.

Twitter

Rebel Conservative MPs have made a bid to oust Theresa May as party leader.

However the prime minister said she would will fight the vote "with everything I have got".

Mr Cox is Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon and the attorney general.

Devon Live

A teenager has been seriously injured after an alleged stabbing in Plymouth city centre., external

Chris Quevatre
BBC News Online

A leading health union has called new hospital pressure statistics "horrifying, but hardly surprising".

A BBC investigation found two NHS trusts were under extreme pressure for more than a third of the year.

The trust in Cornwall spent 134 days on Opel 4 alert, while Leicester had 123 days.

Opel 4 is the highest escalation level that a hospital can declare - it's used when a hospital is "unable to deliver comprehensive care" and patient safety could be compromised.

Image source, Getty Images

GMB said the NHS had been "stretched to breaking point" after "a decade of cuts".

"NHS trusts need increased funding and our NHS staff deserve proper pay so they can get on with doing what they do best – saving lives," it said.

Another union that represents NHS workers, Unison, said emergency plans to get hospitals through "huge peaks in demand" were meant to be used rarely, but the NHS is now "so stretched they're becoming much more of an everyday occurrence".

NHS England said it was crucial local health services and councils "co-ordinate their response to winter pressure".

In winter 2016-2017, eight trusts reported Opel 4 on more than 10 occasions., external

The Department for Health and Social Care said nearly 15,000 fewer people were waiting over a year for non-urgent operations compared with eight years ago.

BBC Radio Cornwall

Two of Cornwall's six Conservative MPs have said they will vote for a change of leadership in the party, which would see Theresa May have to step down as prime minster.

Mrs May is due to face a vote of no confidence in her leadership later after a required 48 letters from MPs on her party calling for a contest were delivered.

Mrs May, who has been prime minister since shortly after the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, has faced criticism in her party for the Brexit plan she has negotiated. She said she would fight for her leadership "with everything" she has got.

At 08:40, two of Cornwall's MPs, South East Cornwall's Sheryll Murray and St Austell & Newquay's Steve Double have said they will vote for change.

Truro & Falmouth's Sarah Newton said she was backing the PM.

St Ives' Derek Thomas has declined to comment.

Camborne & Redruth's George Eustice and North Cornwall's Scott Mann have been contacted to comment.

You can see the latest on the Tory confidence vote here.

Brent Pilnick
BBC Sport

Truro City came from a goal down to beat Slough Town 2-1 in National League South.

James Dobson gave Slough an early lead before the visitors leveled through Dan Rooney midway through the first half.

Rooney got what proved to be the winner on the stroke of half time to give the White Tigers the win.

The result leaves City 18th in the table - five places above the relegation zone with a game in hand.

Chris Quevatre
BBC News Online

The University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust was the fourth most under-pressure in England in a 12-month period.

Figures obtained by the BBC show that the hospital in Derriford was on Opel 4 alert for 98 days between September 2017 and September 2018.

Opel 4 is the highest level of pressure, declared when a hospital is "unable to deliver comprehensive care" and patient safety could be compromised.

The longest period the trust was on Opel 4 was 28 days in January.

A spokesperson for the NHS in Devon said there was increasing demand "across the country", and Devon was "no different".

“NHS organisations across Devon work closely together to ensure we are fully planned and prepared for inevitable winter pressures."

The spokesperson added there was more funding coming for the Plymouth emergency department.

More on this story:

• Plymouth hospital staff 'over the moon' with funding
• Health services in South West to share government cash

Janine Jansen
BBC Spotlight

Women in farming have called on a men-only awards dinner "to get with the times" and allow them to attend.

The Dartmouth Fatstock Show in Devon currently sees prizes distributed to men and women at an afternoon ceremony, before the men's awards are presented for a second time at a hotel dinner.

The Dartmouth Young Farmers' Association currently has more female than male members, and there are four women on the show committee of 17.

Female critics said the men needed "to stop being a bit sexist and let us in there".

However, show chairman Phil Bond said the men-only evening dinner was "a tradition" and he believed ladies were "not bothered" about it...

Lisa Hay
BBC News Online

Plymouth's Central Library is opening on Christmas Day to offer warmth and festive cheer to people who are on their own.

Staff from libraries across the city are giving up three hours of their day off to host the event.

Visitors will receive gifts, tuck into mince pies and share Christmas messages written by local primary school children.

Transport is being arranged for people who think they will struggle to get there on the day.

Library manager Mel Rawles says they are trying to make the day special for people who may not have anyone else in their lives...