And finally…school girl raises £10,000 on crowdfunding site after claiming parents cut her off over boyfriend race row 

An American teenager who claims her parents cut her off from the money to pay for her university education because she had a black boyfriend has raised thousands of pounds through an appeal posted on an internet crowdfunding site.

Allie Dowdle, 18, from the southern state of Tennessee, made her plea for support on the GoFundMe page she set up after deciding to continuing seeing her African-American boyfriend Michael Swift secretly against her parent’s wishes.

The private school student, who lives near Memphis, said that over Christmas her parents had decided to “no longer support my future” after the ongoing relationship became known to them.

“My parents have chosen to no longer support my future, stripping me of all my resources including my personal savings, my car, my phone, and my education and leaving me on my own to pay for college”’ she writes.

Her father, Bill Dowdle, however, has denied the allegations and told New York Daily News “it was never about race”.

He added that while issues with interracial dating in the South meant their relationship wouldn’t have been his “preference”, he and his wife would accept whoever their daughter wanted to date.

Mr Dowdle said he decided to cut off Allie’s college money because she has been spoiled and “it became obvious that she needed to go out in the world and grow up”.