The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) commission has recommended that Russian should be suspended from athletics competition.

The independent commission examined allegations of doping, cover-ups, and extortion in Russian athletics, which also implicated the governing IAAF. It also wants five athletes and five coaches to get lifetime doping bans.

Reacting to the findings, UK sports minister Tracey Crouch tweeted:

Simeon Hart will stand for election as a Green candidate in the Oldham West and Royton by-election, the party has announced.

The by-election has been sparked by the death of Labour MP Michael Meacher, who served the constituency since 1970.

Mr Hart contested the seat in the 2015 general election - the only deaf British Sign Language (BSL) user to stand as a parliamentary candidate, according to the party.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the most controversial claims of rendition involving the UK is being heard by the Supreme Court.

Ex-Libyan dissident Abdul Hakim Belhaj says MI6 helped to arrange his and his wife's rendition - saying they were covertly taken from Thailand to Libya.

The case, involving allegations against ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and an ex-MI6 chief, prompted an unprecedented battle over whether it can even begin.

The Supreme Court is to decide whether the couple can sue the UK government.

More here.

MPs will get their last chance to debate the Scotland Bill today, before the legislation is sent to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.

They will consider an amendment that proposes devolving abortion law to the Scottish Parliament. It is being supported by the government and the SNP.

But former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said in Sunday's Guardian that the changes would “open the door to a new round of intensive, targeted pressure for restrictions both north and south of the border, and the fragmentation of important healthcare rights”.

The debate begins at 16:30 GMT.

Image source, Pool pictures

Image source, Pool pictures

Image source, Pool pictures

Chancellor George Osborne and Justice Secretary Michael Gove visited Brixton prison after it was announced nine new prisons will be built to replace older prisons. 

Mr Gove said he wanted to turn prisons into places of "rehabilitation" and "redemption". He said prisoners should become "potential assets to society" instead of "liabilities that we have to warehouse".

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Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn says the EU needs reform but argues that the UK is stronger and more influential as part of the bloc. "It's given us jobs, investment, growth and a stronger voice," he adds. Mr Benn says the PM "in his heart" doesn't want Britain to leave the EU. He says David Cameron is trying to manage "difficulties" within his party over the issue of Europe.

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Ken Clarke says government departmental spending must be tackled. He adds:

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Ken Clarke defends the proposed cuts to tax credits, saying the Conservatives' manifesto included a pledge to cut £12bn from the welfare budget. He says cutting spending on anything "is always unpopular in the short term".

Put to him that pensioner benefits are too protected, Mr Clarke says that as a beneficiary of the 10 pensioner benefits "I think there is something in that". 

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Speaking about the chancellor's spending review, Conservative MP and former chancellor Ken Clarke says this is "a crunch year" complicated by the fact the government doesn't have a political majority in the House of Lords, noting peers' attempts to block cuts to tax credits.

He says "sensible" and "informed" decisions about what can and must be achieved, and an assessment of the political priorities of the government, are required. 

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Some Conservative MPs, fresh from the battle over tax credits, are concerned about possible cuts to Universal Credit.

Anne Marie Trevelyan, Conservative MP for Berwick Upon Tweed, told the World at One that Iain Duncan Smith's welfare reform is "revolutionary" and praises his work. But she says the government must ensure that marginal rates of tax for those on low incomes do not reach a level that acts as a disincentive to work.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny is visiting Downing Street this afternoon to discuss the prospects for a breakthrough in the Stormont inter party talks with the Prime Minister. 

Earlier Mr Kenny told a business conference in London that Ireland regards the prospect of the UK leaving the European Union as a major strategic risk. 

The Taoiseach said that the European Union had provided billions of euros in funding to help Northern Ireland overcome the challenges faced by emerging from conflict and research suggested it could be one of the most adversely affected regions in the UK in the event of a withdrawal from the EU. 

Negotiators from the five main Assembly parties have been back at Stormont House this morning for another round of talks, against a backdrop of increasing speculation that a deal could be announced this week. 

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Julian McCrae says the chancellor wants to reduce the welfare budget by £12bn over two years, which means "taking an awful lot of money out very quickly", including from benefits that people are already receiving - such as tax credits.

But when it comes to Universal Credit, many people aren't receiving it at the moment, he says, so future claimants will get a lower amount than they would have done a few months before "but they won't necessarily know that".

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Chancellor George Osborne has announced this morning that four government departments have provisionally agreed to cut their spending by an average of 30% over the next four years.

Julian McCrae, deputy director of the Institute for Government, says the biggest cuts will be to local government and says there will be "big implications" from some of the changes.

Asked about the heckling during the prime minister's CBI speech this morning, Downing Street said: "We said there would be noise in this negotiation and there was noise this morning."