The catch-up: Your daily 5pm round-up of today's top stories

Alex Salmond charged with two counts of attempted rape

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has been charged with two counts of attempted rape alongside multiple further sexual assault charges.

Mr Salmond said he is ‘innocent of any criminality’ in a statement outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court following his arrest this morning.

It came after a police investigation followed a Scottish government inquiry into complaints of sexual harassment against Mr Salmond.

Search for missing Cardiff footballer and pilot ended

Rescue workers have called off their search for the missing plane carrying footballer Emiliano Sala and the aircraft’s pilot.

Guernsey’s Harbour Master Captain David Barker said that despite the search covering approximately 1,700 sq miles they had ‘been unable to find any trace of the aircraft, pilot or the passenger’.

The plane has been missing since it disappeared from radar over the English Channel on Monday night.

Violent crime recorded by police up 19% in a year

Violent crime has risen by 19% in England and Wales in the past year, official figures reveal.

The number of murders and manslaughters not including terrorism rose to 739 from 649 in the year up to September 2018, Office for National Statistics data shows.

Overall crimes recorded by police went up by 7% in that period, with a total of 5,723,182 offences.

Why ‘super-poopers’ are in big demand

People known as “super-poopers” are in demand as their stools have been found to medically benefit people receiving faecal transplants.

Poo transplants can be a successful treatment for recurrent gut problems such as ulcerative colitis – and new research suggests “super stools” can lead to substantial clinical improvements in transplant recipients with other bowel issues.

Donors are anonymous and screened in advance to test for viral, bacterial and parasitic infections.