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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3474529.stm | The Greek security forces and emergency services have just completed one of the biggest anti-terrorist exercises ever held in Europe.
The exercise, watched by more than 100 observers from around the world was in preparation for the Olympic Games being held in Athens in August.
There are concerns the Games could be targeted by terrorist groups.
The exercise, codenamed "Blue Odyssey", was designed by experts from the British Home Office.
The aim was to test the ability of around 2,000 members of the Greek police, military, coast guard, fire brigade and medical services to react to an attack involving a weapon of mass destruction.
They were told there had been an explosion at a train station near Athens in which nerve gas had been released.
At the same time they had to deal with the hijacking of a group of British and American tourists on board a cruise ship.
No journalists were allowed to watch the exercise, but afterwards, security officials said it had been a success.
The Athens Olympics, which begin in six months' time, will be the first summer games to be held since the 11 September attacks on the United States and the subsequent war on terrorism.
The Greek authorities are leaving nothing to chance and are preparing the biggest security operation in the history of the Olympics.
More than 50,000 members of the security forces and emergency services will be directly involved in protecting the athletes, officials and visitors.
Special equipment will be placed in the capital to detect a chemical, biological or nuclear attack. Nato surveillance aircraft will help patrol the skies.
The total cost for Greece could be more than $1bn.
The defence minister told the BBC they were now ready to face any threat. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1742197.stm | As BSkyB begins its provision of breakfast news for Channel 5 BBC News Online's Darren Waters looks at a broadcasting niche undergoing great change.
A 30-minute slot on Channel 5 breakfast television may not sound like much of a breakthrough but it is a significant step for Sky News.
From Monday Sky News' Sunrise programme will simulcast on Channel 5 weekdays from 0600, replacing news which was provided by ITN.
Sky News, like BBC News 24 and ITN News Channel, is a 24-hour news channel, often described as rolling news.
Maggie Brown, media writer for The Guardian, said: "Sky have been pushing all the time to have some access to terrestrial television.
"They are continually on the prowl.
"Sky have been bidding for most of the contracts whenever they have come up - most famously the ITV contract."
A spokesman for Sky News said: "This is obviously an opportunity for Sky News to be seen by a wider audience. Already over 5 million people watch Sky News in the UK alone on multi-channel TV."
Sky News pushed ITN hard in the recent battle to provide news services to ITV, but as on five previous occasions when the two broadcasters clashed over a contract it failed to win.
ITN won but only after reducing its charges to ITV, forcing job cuts.
But the broadcaster remains confident it can continue to provide the same level of service.
The reason Sky News is interested in broadening its exposure is two-fold, explained Brown.
"The big problem with rolling news channels is that they have tiny audiences.
"And it is very hard to make profit from news. Sky News have only just broken even and they launched in 1989.
"They are always looking at spreading the cost of their services over as many outlets as they possibly can."
The tragic events of 11 September in the US gave rolling news channels, including BBC News 24 and Sky News, a chance to show how crucial their services can be.
BBC One streamed live coverage of events straight from BBC News 24 and, to many people, justified the huge costs involved in running such channels.
Sky has long complained about the BBC's use of licence fee money to fund BBC News 24.
As part of its charter the BBC provides a service to outlets such as cable networks for free, which Sky News needs to charge for in order to recoup its costs.
"If news is not public service broadcasting then what is?" said Rachel Attwell, the BBC's deputy head of television news.
"News makes the BBC what it is," she added.
"More and more we are seeing aggressive niche broadcasting and news is a very obvious niche," said Brown.
The audiences for rolling news remain small but that is true of most channels in multi-channel homes.
"News on demand is a feature in multi-channel homes. People do not want to wait for the news," said Attwell.
She added: "All the channels proved their worth during 11 September. We had the experience with rolling news."
But Brown added: "The jury is still out on ITN's rolling news channel. My understanding is that they are going to rebrand it as ITV rolling news."
But a spokesman for ITN said the news channel had been very successful.
He said: "The ITN news channel is already the most best distributed news service in the UK and it remains our objective to achieve as wide a distribution as possible."
The ITN News Channel is more popular than Sky News in cable homes and neck and neck with BBC News 24 in digital satellite homes.
ITN will not comment on their plans for the news channel but if indeed it does rebrand then Channel 5's decision to take Sky News seem more expedient.
Channel 5 would be unable to use a news service so closely allied and branded to one of its main competitors, it would clearly be unable to use BBC News and so only Sky News, which is not a terrestrial rival, remains.
Brown said: "When Sky won the contract Channel 5 rushed out a statement saying that it did not affect their ITN news contract.
"Certainly that is the case in the short but in the longer term who knows?"
Sky has said it will continue to monitor the situation.
"Obviously bids will be considered on a case by case basis but Sky News is a commercial operator.
"Deals such as that with Channel 5, and as a supplier of news in the new Channel 4 breakfast show contract demonstrate its growing reputation as a versatile news provider," said a Sky News spokesman, highlighting the broadcaster's ambitions. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2846265.stm | The House of Lords has rejected a "pro-life" charity's challenge to laws allowing therapeutic cloning.
The procedure involves taking healthy cells from a patient and using them to create copies, which could be used to replace or repair damaged or diseased tissues and organs.
Scientists hope the procedure could one day help people who have had strokes or spinal cord injuries, or who have conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Five Law Lords unanimously dismissed the charity's appeal on Thursday.
It was the latest round in a court battle by pro-life campaigners to change the law on therapeutic cloning.
Therapeutic cloning is governed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
The Act was amended by Parliament in January 2001 to include cloning research.
But the Pro-life Alliance challenged that decision. It argued that embryo cloning for medical research purposes fell outside the scope of the Act.
The law allows researchers to create human cell clones but not whole embryos beyond 14 days old.
The idea is that the nucleus of an egg cell is removed and replaced with the nucleus of a cell from the person to be cloned.
The egg cell then develops into an embryo clone of that individual and is mined for stem cells which can be encouraged to grow into replacement tissues that are a perfect genetic copy of the person.
In their judgement, the Law Lords backed Parliament's ability to authorise therapeutic cloning, under strict licensing conditions, for research into the production of compatible cell tissue with which to fight disease.
Lord Bingham said that Parliament, in passing the 1990 legislation, could not rationally be regarded as having intended to leave cloned embryos outside the scope of the Act "had it known of them as a scientific possibility".
"There is only one possible answer to that question and it is negative," he said.
A spokesman for the Pro-life Alliance said: "This is a shameful day for British democracy.
"Such disregard for the principle of the separation of powers, by which judges only interpret the law rather than rewrite it, is a terrifying departure by the courts and creates an extremely dangerous precedent.
"It totally undermines parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law."
He added: "Cloning is wrong because it involves the experimentation and destruction of early human life.
"Future generations will look back in absolute horror at this government's wholesale disrespect for human dignity and will see the House of Lord's judgment today as an extremely sorry chapter in British judicial history."
Suzi Leather, chairman of the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority, said: "The assurance that the regulatory system in the UK applies to all types of embryos, provides a firm basis for research to take place in this country. It is reassuring that the five law lords who heard the appeal dismissed it unanimously."
The Pro-Life Alliance had earlier sought a judicial review, and won its case at the High Court in November 2001. But the Court of Appeal overturned the decision a few months later.
The Alliance then decided to go to the House of Lords. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/3948941.stm | A mother and her three-year-old son found dead at a house in the Cotswolds died from carbon monoxide poisoning, post-mortem examinations have revealed.
Police were called to a house in Otters Field, Greet, near Winchcombe, on Friday where they found the bodies of the 36-year-old woman and the child.
Ch Insp David Peak said: "We are investigating the circumstances surrounding this very tragic incident.
"However no-one else is being sought in connection with this inquiry."
The identities of the mother and son have not been released by police. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-42321756/us-ambassador-trump-tweets-misinterpreted | Will American democracy survive Donald Trump? Jump to media player In this Viewsnight, LSE fellow Brian Klaas sets out four scenarios for American democracy in 2020.
Unrest over Trump's Jerusalem declaration Jump to media player Israeli forces and Palestinians protesting at Trump's Jerusalem declaration have clashed.
Farage defends Trump's tweets Jump to media player The ex-UKIP leader says the "outrage from the liberal elite" is out of proportion to what happened.
US ambassador calls UN hostile to Israel Jump to media player Donald Trump's envoy Nikki Haley berates the UN for "outrageously" being hostile to Israel.
White House defends Trump's tweets Jump to media player Trump's spokeswoman said he was highlighting concerns about border security when he shared the videos.
The US ambassador to Britain has said he expects Donald Trump to visit the UK in the new year despite his recent Twitter row with Theresa May.
Woody Johnson told the Today programme that the disagreement was "probably misinterpreted".
Mrs May had said Mr Trump was "wrong" to share videos posted by the far-right group Britain First, prompting an online backlash from the US president.
Go to next video: Will American democracy survive Donald Trump? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/september/28/newsid_4290000/4290758.stm | The site of the Al Aqsa mosque and its compound in Jerusalem, known as Temple Mount to Jews and Haram al Sharif to Muslims, is sacred to both religions.
Ariel Sharon - then leader of the Israeli right-wing opposition - toured the site, surrounded by armed guards, provoking fury among Palestinians and others.
After he left the site there were pitched battles between police and protesters. They sparked a wave of violence which many believe led to the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
It never ceases to amaze me how the only person capable of getting Sharon back into leadership was Yasser Arafat.
Sharon knew Arafat was looking for an excuse to try and get further concessions re: Taba and was only too happy to give it to him. A pretty poor excuse to start a second Intifada, particularly one that rapidly spiralled out of control of its author.
I have been working in this region for years as an archaeologist, and Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount seemed to be the threshold event when everyone's temper boiled over.
It was sad to see, really.
In previous years, it was not uncommon to see an Israeli family walking though the bustling alleys of the Old City's Mulsim quarter. By 2002, many of the shops in the Muslim quarter were closed, some of my Arab friends were denied entry into Israel, and some of my Israeli friends were injured in the cafeteria bombing at the Hebrew University.
Sharon's Temple Mount visit was certainly not a singular cause for the intifada, but it does seem to be the point when the scales were tipped.
This was a defining moment for me.
I had supported and sympathized with the Israeli's struggle my whole life until this unconscionable act made it clear that it was no longer a defensive posture.
This one act was extremely offensive and totally unnecessary.
What was so important that Sharon, the commander in charge of a brutal masscre of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon nearly 20 years before, NEEDED to visit this holy spot right then?
Would a few years wait have made a difference?
Why hasn't he returned since?
I've never heard a straightforward response to these questions from anyone. The aftermath was predictable. I feel that Israel no longer deserves my sympathy.
I take issue with the reasoning that Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount sparked the intifada.
Very few political analysts hold by this position anymore.
The Palestinians used Sharon's visit as an excuse to attack innocent civilians.
Such behavior is repulsive, and anyone who still holds to the belief that Sharon's visit sparked the intifada needs to re-learn their facts.
At all our holy sites, starting with the Temple Mount, Muslims treat Jews the way that whites in South Africa or the southern US treated blacks.
We are not allowed to enter except under the most stringent circumstances. So long as the BBC upholds such racist policies, it has no credibility.
Arabs living in what used to be Palestine continue to find and seek their own defeat.
Since when is a peaceful visit a reasonable cause for violence?
I remember it as if it were yesterday, and every day for the next couple of weeks from the start of that bloody day, Palestinians were dying at the rate of about 15-20 per day.
Ariel Sharon, alone, bears the main brunt of responsibility. He is the one that wanted this endless cycle of violence and killing to go on. He brought down Barak so that he could break and disavow the hated Oslo accords.
Ultimately, his goal is to never allow a Palestinian state to ever come into being, or if it does as a puppet state of Israel.
We have seen escalation after escalation, culminating in the horror of the Jenin invasions of May 2002.
It is funny that we can become so desensitised to the violence.
Both sides have harmed each other immeasurably. The children and ordinary folks are the ones, of course, that suffer the most.
Everything is so one-sided now, and tilted in Israel's favour, that there is no hope.
Only a strong UN Multinational Peacekeeping force will stop it (killing & violence) now, and we can see that this will not happen, the USA is too busy with Iraq and Afghanistan - and Israel would object anyway.
I would like to ask, what makes Israel so special, that she can ignore UN resolutions, the Geneva Conventions, and common decency?
What we didn't know at the time, and only became clear later, was that the "Al Aqsa intifada" had been planned for some time, and only awaited a suitable pretext for launching.
As Palestinian Minister of Communication, Imad Al-Faluji, told a crowd in the Ein Al-Hilweh reffugee camp in Lebanon, "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong... This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat's return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-46605935 | The speed limit for a city guided busway is being reduced in the section where a cyclist was hit by a bus and later died.
Vehicles will now travel at a maximum of 30mph instead of 56mph on the city-bound route from Long Road Bridge to Hills Road Bridge in Cambridge.
Steve Moir died in the crash on the busway in Trumpington in September.
Cambridge City Council said the lower limit was brought in this week after discussions with the bus operators.
Nearly 4,000 people signed a petition calling for action after the death of the 50-year-old, of Plantation Road, Sawston.
A local youth football club, where he helped out, described him as "one of the nicest guys".
Trumpington councillor Katie Thornburrow, who presented the petition to the council, said she welcomed the authority's decision.
"It's like a Christmas present come early," she said.
The council's chair of the highways committee, Mathew Shuter, said: "We take safety on the busway very seriously and there is obviously a lot of local concern.
"As a committee we heard the petition and officers have considered the issues raised and recommended, following discussions with the bus operators, that we lower the speed limit at certain points."
In June this year, the council painted a white line with the warning "Beware of buses" on the southern section of the busway maintenance track to make that area safer. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19556796 | Brazilian police have occupied a Rio de Janeiro shantytown as they hunt for the killers of six teenagers, whose bodies were dumped at the side of a road.
Officers moved into the Chatuba slum early on Tuesday and made several arrests, Brazilian media reported.
Police believe the young men, who had gone to bathe at a waterfall, were murdered by local drug lords.
There were emotional scenes as family and friends gathered at the wake for the teenagers, who were aged 16 to 19.
Several mourners fainted, including the mother of one of the teenagers, the Globo website reported.
The young men went missing on Saturday.
Their bodies, displaying signs of torture, were found on Monday morning at the side of a road that is being widened for the 2016 Olympics.
Police say they believe local drug bosses were behind the killings. The victims, who had no criminal records, were probably targeted just for coming from an area under the control of a rival gang, officers said.
A dozen people, including the six teenagers, have been killed in the area in recent days.
Some 250 police officers took up positions early on Tuesday in the Chatuba favela, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro city.
Many of Rio's biggest slum areas have been occupied by police and the army as part of a "pacification programme" ahead of the 2014 football World Cup and the Olympics.
The authorities say their "pacification programme" has managed to reduce violence and restore the dignity of hundreds of thousands of people who live in the city's poorer quarters. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15104967 | The European Central Bank told Italy to make sweeping changes to its labour laws and take tough action to cut the deficit, a leaked letter has shown.
In the letter, sent to prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in August, the ECB said the severity of Italy's economic situation made "bold and immediate" action "essential".
The ECB said its list of demands should be enacted by the end of September.
The letter was published in the Italian media on Thursday.
Dated 5 August, the letter came from ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet and his designated successor, Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi.
In unusually clear language, the signatories told Mr Berlusconi to make deep reforms, including opening up public services and overhauling pay bargaining and hiring and firing rules.
The ECB called for "pressing action", "essential to restore the confidence of investors" as markets panicked over fears that Italy could be the next country to succumb to the eurozone debt crisis.
Days after the letter was sent, the ECB began its controversial programme to buy Italian bonds, a move aimed at reducing the country's borrowing costs.
The ECB has always rejected suggestions that its bond-buying programme was linked to demands for austerity cuts.
The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule.
The letter, published in Corriere della Sera, said Italy should aim to bring the deficit down to 1% of gross domestic product by 2012 and balance the budget by 2013, a year ahead of schedule, "mainly via expenditure cuts".
It said: "In view of the severity of the current financial market situation, we regard as crucial that all actions listed" be ratified by 30 September.
"We trust the government will take all the appropriate actions," it ends.
The Italian parliament passed a 60bn-euro austerity package earlier this month.
While some tax and budget changes were introduced, others, including pay and pension reforms, were implemented either partially or not at all.
On Thursday, opposition parties in Italy said the disclosure of the letter proved that Mr Berlusconi had placed Italy under the "trusteeship" of the ECB.
The ECB's bond-buying programme has as yet failed to dent Italy's borrowing costs.
On Thursday the central bank sold 6.9bn euros of bonds, but at sharply higher interest rates. The yield on the 10-year bonds rose to 5.86%, up from 5.22% last month.
David Schnautz, rate strategist at Commerzbank, described the yield as "eye-watering".
He said: "Obviously it's not a comfortable level on a sustained basis and the headlines don't help. Despite ECB intervention for more than one month Italy is still printing at these levels to get the paper out of the way." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12248439 | British comedian Ricky Gervais has defended jokes he made about Hollywood stars at Sunday's Golden Globes, insisting he did nothing wrong.
The Office star received mixed reviews as the award ceremony's host, after making jokes about Charlie Sheen, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.
"If they didn't want me, they shouldn't have hired me," he told Piers Morgan on his new US talk show.
"I don't think I did anything wrong," the 49-year-old said.
"I'm not going to apologise for being true to myself. My strategy is to make me laugh. If there's anyone in the world like me, that's a bonus."
At one stage during the evening, Gervais introduced Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr - who has a history of drug problems - saying: "Many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail."
Morgan asked Gervais whether he cared about what the stars might be going through in their private lives.
"I'm not judging them for what they did," Gervais said on the CNN programme.
"I'm confronting the elephant in the room. Like, I'm going to go out there and not talk about the issues in their industry.
"Don't forget, I've got to be an outsider there. I mustn't come out there as everyone's mate and schmooze - that's nauseating. I've got to come out there, and I've got to roast them."
The comic insisted that he only accepted the job on the condition that he could say what he wanted.
During the ceremony, viewers speculated whether Gervais had been asked to calm his performance down, after he disappeared from stage for nearly an hour.
But Gervais denied that was the case, insisting that he did "every single introduction I was meant to. There just happened to be a long gap". |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30738604 | Media captionThe BBC's Jonathan Head: "She was prime minister for nearly 1,000 days"
Thailand's ex-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has appeared at the National Assembly in Bangkok to defend herself against possible impeachment.
The accusations centre around a controversial rice subsidy scheme which critics say cost billions of dollars.
If found guilty she could be banned from political activity for five years.
Ms Yingluck was removed from office for abuse of power in May, days before the army seized control saying it needed to restore order after months of unrest.
Her supporters say the court action is a ruse to remove her from politics all together.
Image caption Ms Yingluck told MPs she had "no position left to be removed from"
In her hour-long statement, Ms Yingluck talked of her earnest efforts to help lift the living standards of poor farmers, and insisted she had been honest and transparent. Exactly how much money was lost in her rice subsidy scheme is a matter of hot dispute in Thailand, but it was a great deal, and the former prime minister did little to explain those losses.
Her argument that impeachment was not applicable to her, as she no longer holds political office, was more convincing. It is not clear that impeachment is even possible under the hastily drafted constitution the military brought in. Even more absurd are attempts to impeach the speakers of the lower and upper houses of parliament under Ms Yingluck for trying to amend the constitution - this by an assembly appointed after a coup that simply abolished the entire charter.
So it is inevitable that many Thais will reject this impeachment as a cynical ruse by her opponents to get Ms Yingluck, a vote-winner for her party, banned from politics for five years. This will do nothing for the military's professed goal of promoting reconciliation.
Making a rare appearance in public, Ms Yingluck told the National Legislative Assembly that the proceedings were futile because she no longer holds any political position.
"I was removed from my position as prime minister. I have no position left to be removed from," Ms Yingluck said.
"I ran the government with honesty and in accordance with all laws," she told the assembly, according to the AFP news agency.
The case concerns a scheme under which Ms Yingluck's government bought rice from Thai farmers - part of her rural support base - at a much higher price than on the global market.
It resulted in the accumulation of huge stockpiles of rice and hit Thailand's rice exports hard. Critics said the scheme was too expensive and vulnerable to corruption.
Ms Yingluck has always maintained that she was not involved in the day-to-day running of the rice subsidy scheme and that abuses were not her responsibility.
The National Legislative Assembly, which has been hand-picked by military leaders, has said a decision on impeachment could come by the end of January.
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says this is the first really divisive issue that has been allowed to bubble to the surface since the military took over and effectively suppressed all political debate.
There are fears a conviction could re-ignite the street protests which have repeatedly paralysed the capital in recent years. But only a handful of Ms Yingluck's supporters were at the parliament building on Friday.
Ms Yingluck is the sister of another ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed from office in 2006.
Both remain hugely popular among Thailand's rural poor, but are hated by an urban and middle-class elite who accuse them of corruption and abuse of power.
Ms Yingluck was removed from office in early May after the Constitutional Court ruled she had acted illegally when she transferred her national security head.
The ruling followed months of political deadlock. Anti-government protesters had been trying to oust Ms Yingluck since November 2013. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34795797 | Media captionThe BBC's Lina Sinjab says the attacks took place in a "highly condensed area"
At least 37 people have been killed and 181 wounded in two suicide bomb attacks in a residential area of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, officials say.
It is the deadliest bombing in Beirut since the civil war ended 25 years ago.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam condemned the attacks as "unjustifiable" and called on Lebanon's rival factions to unite against "plans to create strife".
Two bombers blew themselves up a short distance from each other in a street in Burj al-Barajneh at around 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT).
One security source told the Associated Press that the first bomber detonated his explosive vest outside a Shia mosque, while the second blew himself up inside a nearby bakery.
The body of a third suicide bomber was found nearby. He was apparently killed by the second blast before he could detonate his own explosive vest.
"I'd just arrived at the shops when the blast went off. I carried four bodies with my own hands, three women and a man, a friend of mine," one witness told a local television station.
Another said: "When the second blast went off, I thought the world had ended."
IS subsequently issued a statement saying that it was behind the bombings. It identified the three attackers as two Palestinians and a Syrian.
Hezbollah vowed to continue its fight against "terrorists", warning of a "long war" against its enemies, according to the Reuters news agency.
"They targeted civilians, worshippers, women and the elderly. It only targeted those innocent people. This is a Satanic terrorist act, carried out by apostates," Hezbollah MP Bilal Farhat told AP.
The group's strongholds in southern Beirut were the target of a series of bombings in 2013 and 2014 mostly claimed by Sunni jihadist militants -who denounced Hezbollah's decision to send fighters to neighbouring Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.
BBC Arab affairs analyst Sebastian Usher says it is no surprise that IS has claimed these bombings, but the ferocity will once again reawaken the spectre of Lebanon's 15-year civil war.
So far the country - locked in political stalemate and with a crisis over uncollected rubbish having mobilised mass protests in the summer - has managed to hold onto its fragile stability, he adds. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14258153 | A highly-toxic class-A drug is being sold in Scotland, according to senior police officers.
ParaMethoxyMethylAmphetamine (PMMA) has been found in tablets which look like ecstasy.
The substance has also been found in drugs being sold as "legal highs" in Scotland.
The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland said it had recovered quantities of PMMA after a series of raids.
It has been produced in pink tablets with a Rolex crown logo, and in white tablets with a four-leaf clover logo.
PMMA has also been recovered in powder form and police said it may also be present in other products and tablets.
Det Insp Tommy Crombie, of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: "PMMA is a stimulant similar to ecstasy but it is not as potent.
"Users... may be tempted to take more tablets to achieve the desired effect, increasing the risk of a potentially fatal overdose.
"I would strongly advise drug users to avoid such products and follow harm reduction advice where necessary." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-14525485 | A 33-storey student accommodation block in Portsmouth will be fitted with a sprinkler system, following a U-turn by developers.
Fire chiefs had warned the decision to build the 110m (360ft) Blade without sprinklers would put lives at risk.
Following further talks, developers Watkin Jones said it was now making a commitment to fitting a system.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue's Mick Crennell called it a "fantastic outcome".
The service was originally told that sprinklers would not be installed in the 110m (360ft) building designed for the site of the former Victoria Baths in Portsmouth city centre. When built, it will house up to 600 students.
Developers Watkin Jones had insisted the design was "fully in compliance" with current laws as the building was classed as "Residential (Other)", akin to a hotel so sprinklers were not a requirement.
The decision was reversed following discussions with the fire service.
A statement from Watkin Jones said: "We listened to the valid points raised by the fire service and we have now decided to fit sprinklers in this iconic development."
Mr Crennell said: "The Fire Service are able to assist in the design phase of any project in order to help balance the business imperative with occupants' safety and this project clearly demonstrates the benefits that can be gained.
"We have learned much from this experience and are committed to assisting developers and businesses during difficult economic times. We can do this by working together more closely at an early stage," he added.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue said the service had tackled 80 fires in high-rise blocks in two years which led to the deaths of four people, including two firefighters at Shirley Towers in Southampton in April 2010.
It described students as a "high risk group" as 11 of the fires had been in student accommodation. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3393971.stm | Love Actually star Bill Nighy and Martin Freeman from TV hit The Office are to star in a film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Nighy has been cast as alien planet designer Slartibartfast in the long-planned movie adaptation of Douglas Adams' cult novel.
Freeman - Tim in The Office - will play Arthur Dent, the everyday earthling thrust into interplanetary adventure.
Nighy said he was a fan of the book, and hailed the script as "really good".
He told BBCi Films: "The people who are making it are very cool people and I think they're going to do a good job.
"All the jokes are there and they're big fat jokes. It's wonderful. And with all the technology we have now, it can not only be a big satisfying comedy but I figure it could be quite exciting as well."
He said a director had not yet been set, although writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith have been linked with the project.
Author Adams had spent years trying to persuade Hollywood to film his book before his sudden death in 2001, aged 49.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy originally started out as a BBC Radio 4 series in March 1978. From there it became a series of best-selling novels and a hit BBC TV series.
It follows the adventures of Englishman Arthur Dent, who is taken on a tour of the universe by an alien after discovering the Earth is to be flattened for a hyperspace bypass. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1833974.stm | A Suffolk schoolgirl had her pink hair airbrushed out of her year group photograph because teachers said the colour was incompatible with school uniform.
Ashley Wallace, 16, claimed she had dyed her hair pink to complement what she said was her "extravagant" personality.
But the head teacher at Northgate High School in Ipswich asked the photographers to change Ashley's pink hair to a mousy brown colour on the finished photograph.
Ashley has complained she was not informed of the decision.
"I felt humiliated about it, it's just such a personal insult," she said.
"My friends were shocked and thought it was awful and couldn't stand it and are just as upset.
"The school has told me to change the colour but I'm not going to, I'm going to keep it this colour forever," she said.
Head teacher Neil Watts said the school had been trying to resolve the issue of Ashley's hair since before Christmas.
Despite his liaising with Ashley and her parents, her hair had stayed a pink colour, Mr Watts said.
"We have acted very reasonably - we have not excluded Ashley from school, we have allowed her to attend normal lessons in the final year of her GCSE studies," he said.
And the school had not excluded her from the photo, he added.
"As head teacher I have to be aware of the messages we send to other pupils and fundamentally pink hair is not acceptable at Northgate," Mr Watts said.
"We feel strongly that as the photograph is a record for the school and all the other pupils in the year group, Ashley's hair colour does not bring credit upon the other pupils and the school.
"Therefore we asked the photographic company to tone down the hair colour in the photograph."
The school had high standards, which he intended to maintain, he added.
Ashley's stepfather, Chris Andrews, said: "We are fully behind Ashley's decision to have that colour of hair.
"We do not feel it's going to be detrimental to her education and her future plans to be a website designer." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/7847333.stm | Union supporters are preparing to mark the 25th anniversary of the banning of trade unions at the government's GCHQ intelligence centre in Cheltenham.
The ban, on 25 January 1984, was said by the then Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, to be in the interests of national security.
It led to a political row and mass protests and 14 workers were sacked for refusing to give up their membership.
Unions were restored to GCHQ when Labour returned to power in 1997.
Secrecy surrounding the intelligence centre was once so tight, the government did not even acknowledge its existence.
But it was thrust into the limelight when Mrs Thatcher outlawed union membership, saying industrial action at the base, particularly during the 1981 civil service pay strike, had undermined the nation's security.
Trade unions said the ban was a breach of civil liberties and mass protests followed.
Labour put their weight behind the campaign, but it was 13 years before union rights were reinstated at GCHQ with the election of Tony Blair as Prime Minister in 1997.
Many of the 14 sacked workers have since retired.
Mike Grindley, leader of the union rebels, said: "I'm as enraged now in hindsight, as I was then, the appallingness of it.
"It was a vital fight to win and if we'd gone down, particularly in the early days, they'd have followed it up with attacks on other people, fire brigades, home office, foreign office, the more secret areas of private industry.
"All would've been attacked on the union side."
This weekend, some of the sacked workers will meet with other civil service union supporters to remember their campaign. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/tennis/606670.stm | "I got off to a great start and that helped me relax"
Julie Pullin acheieved her first ever win in a Grand Slam tournament with a straight sets romp past Jane Chi in the Australian Open.
The British qualifier beat her American opponent 6-1 6-3 in the first round in Melbourne.
Pullin took the first five games off Chi, at 107th in the world ranked 67 places above her, and never looked back, winning in just 57 minutes.
The 24-year-old had previously suffered four first round defeats at Wimbledon and had failed to qualify for the Australian, French and US Opens.
So the maiden Grand Slam success was particularly sweet for Pullin, who was British champion two years ago.
"It feels brilliant," said Pullin. "She was struggling and had a slight injury, but I did all I could ask for.
"My ambition for quite a while has been to get in the top 100. The women's game in Britain needs somebody to break through, and it would be nice if it was me."
Elsewhere in the women's draw, Anke Huber became the first seed to go out of the tournament when she lost 6-4 6-4 to Kristie Boogert.
The German 15th seed, who reached the final four years ago, slumped to defeat in just 68 minutes to her 88th-ranked Dutch opponent.
There were no such troubles for Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport, who brushed aside Sarah Pitkowski of France 6-3 6-1.
And the serve-volleyer then admitted the resurfaced courts in Melbourne had worked in her favour.
"It's going to take a little while to get used to. But fast courts are to my advantage and if I can get used to them pretty quick, I think it will help my game a lot here," she said.
Fallen-hero Jennifer Capriati continued her comeback with a 6-1 7-6 (7/1) victory over Austrian Barbara Schwartz.
The American, who at the age of 14 in 1990 became the youngest ever seed in a Grand Slam event, said she was pleased to be taken seriously once again following personal problems and two years in the tennis wilderness.
"I feel a little bit more like I'm in the top group now," she said. "I have more confidence, I can walk around with my head a little higher and my shoulders back a bit more."
French fourth seed Mary Pierce beat American qualifier Linda Wild 7-5, 6-3 in the first round. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7457294.stm | For centuries Urumqi has been a stopover for traders, linking China to Europe on the ancient Silk Road. Traders, travellers and tourists are still a presence notably in the city's atmospheric night market.
Urumqi is the economic centre of Xinjiang province. Recent years have witnessed the arrival of shopping centres, tower blocks, department stores and highways.
But development has brought it problems, and Urumqi is now thought to be one of the world's most polluted cities.
Xinjiang has a degree of autonomy from China but there is still a sense of dissatisfaction. An occasionally violent Uighur campaign continues to call for greater independence. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12575237 | Huawei, a Chinese telecom equipment maker, has said it would welcome a formal investigation by US authorities after a takeover bid was halted on security concerns.
Huawei made the appeal in an open letter on its website.
Last week, a US security panel rejected Huawei's purchase of American computer company 3Leaf systems.
Huawei was founded by ex-Chinese army officer Ren Zhengfei, and there are concerns it still has military links.
The company has played down any ties to either the military or China's government.
In its letter, Huawei said that "over the past 10 years, as we have been investing in the US, we have encountered a number of misperceptions".
It said that these included unfounded and unproven claims of close connections with the Chinese military, disputes over intellectual property rights, allegations of financial support from the Chinese government and threats to the national security of the US.
"We sincerely hope that the United States government will carry out a formal investigation on any concerns it may have about Huawei," the company said in the letter.
Huawei, which has also had earlier US deals blocked on security concerns, bought 3Leaf in May 2010 for $2m (£1.2m).
However, a review by the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States said the deal should not go ahead. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3537707.stm | Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart has accused Hollywood of featuring "extremely irresponsible" scenes of violence directed towards women.
The star was speaking out at the launch of an Amnesty International campaign on violence against women.
He singled out Quentin Tarantino for particular criticism, citing Kill Bill as a "deeply offensive film".
He admitted he now deeply regretted being involved in projects that sent the wrong message.
"I don't want to be specific, but I have been involved in sequences both in the theatre and in film which, with hindsight, I realise were offensive because they were perpetuating a stereotype," Stewart said.
"Violence against women diminishes us all.
"If you fail to raise your hand in protest you are part of the problem," he added.
Stewart, who starred in the Star Trek: Next Generation series and X-Men, was in London to help launch Amnesty's global Stop the Violence campaign.
"The entertainment industry has been extremely irresponsible in perpetuating and stereotyping the violent attitudes of men to women," he told reporters.
"It's a lazy and sensationalist approach. I condemn it entirely."
Talking about Tarantino's style of movies, Stewart said: "I condemn utterly films like Kill Bill which we are told are empowering women," he said.
"But they are apparently empowering women to kill other women which was the message that I took from the film."
Stewart, 63, also revealed he witnessed his own father hitting his mother as a child.
"It just so happens that here was an issue that I have a personal association [with] and after consultation with my brothers, we all felt that it was absolutely the right moment to speak out," he said. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39179098 | Can city 'smellfies' stop air pollution?
In Regent's Park in central London I am down on the grass, sniffing the air like a dog.
"Flare your nostrils, and get closer to the sources of the odours," says artist and designer Kate McLean from Canterbury Christ Church University, as we seek out the subtle smell of snowdrops.
"Normally you'd breathe in for one and a half seconds, so we're quite slow like that, whereas a dog will sniff much faster."
Sniffing and flaring as we go, Kate is taking me on a "smell walk", a guided ramble around London's streets and green spaces to detect the dominant whiffs and odours.
There is some serious science behind our scented stroll.
Kate is a part of a team that has published a research paper on the connections between smells and cities.
"When you are smell walking, you are often looking for the source of the odour, so the whole of our study was based on odour sources and what people actually noticed at and in specific environments," she explained.
"We then looked at the words and the descriptors that came from that and compared them to social media and with that we found that there were correlations between what people were actually describing in their photographs."
Armed with a "smell dictionary" that evolved from the city walks, Kate and the team analysed millions of images on Flickr and Instagram.
They then used the geographical information from these smell related images, dubbed "smellfies", to build the smell maps of London and Barcelona.
Clicking on a street on the London map allows you to zoom in and see how people have described the area, using terms related to emissions, nature, food, animals or waste.
So where people have tagged pictures with words including "cars" or "petrol" or "exhaust", these would be classified as emissions-related in the system and the map would show more red.
But can something built on people's subjective impressions of what they're smelling bear any relationship to objective data on air quality?
"Some people might say you're using social media, it's biased so you're just capturing most of the hipsters in East London," said Daniele Quercia, the computer scientist from Bell Labs who led the study.
"To double check we collected air quality indicators for each street sector for London and we looked at the relationship between these indicators and the profile from the smelly maps."
"We found that when there's a lot of nitrogen dioxide, then there are a lot of traffic emission related words. So, more or less the methodology works - there is a relationship between air pollution and the smelly maps."
There's growing scientific recognition of the power of our noses. A study in 2014 claimed that humans can discriminate at least 1 trillion olfactory stimuli.
While most of our nasal abilities are a bit more mundane, well trained noses can do important jobs in detecting air pollution.
In the Chinese city of Guangzhou, a team of "smell specialists" have been recruited to identify harmful pollutants in the air.
According to the People's Daily Online, air samples from different parts of the city are captured in sealed plastic bags. Sniffing the contents, the experts identify both the cause and scale of the dirty air.
So can the nasal-based information gleaned from smell walks also be put to practical uses?
Daniele Quercia says that the smelly maps could be used to change the way we work and play.
"If you go for a run next to a street full of traffic, it's the worst possible thing you can do - when you run your blood pressure goes up and your ability to absorb air pollution is far higher than if you were walking.
"But you could have technologies that would design a run for you next to nature based smells, and maybe smells that are more energising than calming. If you want to rest a bit you can do that on a public bench, where you have lavender which is a more calming smell."
A mobile phone app that would suggest walking or running routes for you based on smell based air quality information is in the works.
Other researchers are also building devices based on our nasal abilities.
When the Disney Corporation sent an exhibition of its archive material to China last year, officials were concerned about Beijing's notoriously dirty air.
Air pollution is bad for humans but it can also prove disastrous to works of art, causing damage at much lower levels.
So Disney turned to Professor Ken Suslick from the University of Illinois and his opto-electronic pollution detector, an array of carefully calibrated dyes that change colour when exposed to different odours.
"It's very difficult for human beings to accurately quantify what the concentration of different odorants are, and having a simple colour-o-metric based response allows us to do things in a quantitative fashion and that's an extremely useful tool."
Prof Suslick and his team discovered that the wooden crates in which the artworks were transported were at least as large a problem in terms of threat from the air as was the exhibition centre itself.
New devices to help in the fight against air pollution are coming on to the market all the time, including this portable air monitor being developed at the University of Leicester to help gather precise data at a personal scale.
But back in Regent's Park, smell walker Kate McLean says that relying on technology alone in big cities would be a big mistake. Common, nasal sense has a big role to play.
"The technical equipment is always going to be valuable for odour monitoring, for pollution control for large factories, but in terms of the moving, shifting smell-scape which most cities are, then the human nose can contribute just as much if we decide to contribute in the same we do to traffic reports," Kate says.
"We can all become smell-meisters, there's nothing specialist about it, any single one of us can do it. Just get out there - go sniff!" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/508077.stm | A leading opposition politician in Tajikistan has described as illegal the results of yesterday's presidential election which was won overwhelmingly by the incumbent, Imamoli Rakhmanov.
Davlat Usmon of the Islamic Revival party said the vote had been falsified in the Soviet tradition and wouldn't be recognised.
The presidential vote - the first since the end of the civil war in 1997 - was shrouded in confusion, with the opposition lifting a boycott only hours before voting began.
But Mr Usmon - who was the only other candidate on the ballot paper - continued to insist he was not taking part.
The BBC Central Asia correspondent said there will be disappointment both inside and outside Takijistan that the elections have been so clouded in controversy. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-wales-42328541/economic-action-plan-what-we-already-know-businessman | Hi-tech 'on doorstep' in rural Wales Jump to media player Edd Rayner of Invertek says he feels lucky he can work in a hi-tech business on his doorstep in rural Wales.
A new economic action plan for the next 10 years in Wales has been called "woolly" and short on detail by opposition parties.
Firms wanting grants will have to agree to an "economic contract", including reducing their carbon footprint and promoting workers' health.
But the Conservatives said they were "underwhelmed" and called it "50 pages of woolly words".
Plaid Cymru said there were "lots of words, not many numbers".
Chris Griffiths founded Open Genius, which develops hi-tech tools and products, without any Welsh Government help. He is also owner of Penarth co-working base TecMarina.
He told BBC Wales economics correspondent Sarah Dickins the action plan lacked focus or a big idea. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-29872426/pakistan-blast-kills-50-at-wagah-border-with-india | Pakistan 'suicide' blast 'kills many' Jump to media player At least 50 people have been killed and 70 hurt in a suspected suicide bombing at a Pakistan-India border town near the city of Lahore, officials say.
Pakistan polio plan 'a disaster' Jump to media player The polio vaccination programme in Pakistan has been described as ''a disaster'' by monitors reporting to the World Health Organization.
Acid attack survivors' refuge Jump to media player Musarat Misbah, the owner of a chain of beauty parlours in Pakistan, has set up a charity to help care for acid attack survivors whom she also employs in the salons.
More than 50 people have been killed and at least 100 injured in a suicide bombing close to Pakistan's only border crossing with India.
The blast was near the checkpoint at the Wagah border crossing, near Lahore.
At least three jihadi militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, have claimed responsibility for the attacks, as Shahzeb Jillani reports. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/matches_wallchart/south_korea_v_italy/newsid_2053000/2053083.stm | Millions of South Koreans are recovering after a nationwide celebration of their World Cup victory over Italy.
Police said more than three million people were on the streets of Seoul on Tuesday night - and no-one was arrested.
Koreans launched one of the biggest parties in the country's history following the co-hosts' 2-1 golden goal triumph, which takes them through to a quarter-final against Spain.
Hundreds of thousands of fans poured, screaming, through the capital after the winning goal.
President Kim Dae-jung had words of thanks for the players, coach Guus Hiddink, the fans and the police.
President Kim watched the match on TV at his presidential Blue House wearing a red scarf and hailed the historic victory, shouting "Long live the Republic of Korea!"
"I thank the coach Hiddink and the players for the excellent performance," he said in a statement.
"Also thanks to police officials and government officials who tried to keep safety and order."
Hiddink also got a surprise present from Korean Air - free first class travel for four years - for his team's performance. He has been showered with numerous gifts as the squad has progressed through the tournament.
There were few reports of trouble on the streets of the capital city and police told BBC Radio Five Live that no arrests had been made.
In one square in Seoul, hundreds of fans watching the match on a screen were reported to be so orderly that they remained sitting throughout the entire game so those at the back could see.
Few people were reported to be drinking to excess, drunk instead on the excitement.
But two fans, healthy men in their 20s, died of heart attacks during the match in Taejon.
One collapsed when South Korea equalised two minutes from the end of regulation time, police said.
The Korean media immersed itself in the team's success, with Hiddink widely hailed as a national hero.
"Hiddink troops have surprised the world and created new history", said the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
The second round win emulated North Korea's famous victory over the same opposition in 1966 - a result that still stands as one of the greatest World Cup upsets of all time.
"South Koreans have waited 40 years for their chance to emulate the North," said the Korean Times newspaper.
Striker Ahn Jung-hwan was the villain-turned-hero for Korea, scoring the winner in extra time after missing a first-half penalty.
"The God of soccer has provided a last chance for Ahn Jung-hwan," said the Chosun Ilbo Daily.
Police said there had been no trouble involving foreign fans.
"Foreign tourists staying in our country behaved really well and respected us," a spokesman added.
"Koreans know how to celebrate" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1035489.stm | If the burning of fossil fuels is forcing the Earth to warm up, the rapid rise in sea levels that some expect from the thermal expansion of the oceans has yet to show itself clearly.
Ahead of this week's global warming conference in The Hague, Pacific nations were told about the results of a scientific reassessment of historical tide-gauge data in their region.
The study found that Pacific-wide sea levels had risen at an average rate of about 0.8 millimetres per year. The trend was measured using only those recording stations with hourly data stretching back more than 25 years.
Dr Wolfgang Scherer, director of the National Tidal Facility (NTF) of Flinders University, South Australia, which undertook the review, told BBC News Online that the much larger increases in global sea level predicted by some climate models were not apparent in their regional data.
"There is no acceleration in sea level rise - none that we can discern, at all," he said.
The NTF study was presented to a recent forum of national leaders in the region, some of whom represent states that feel particularly vulnerable to climate change - notably, the low-lying atolls in the Pacific.
Dr Scherer said the NTF results fitted broadly with those produced by other studies around the world. And he said he was confident that the latest global climate assessment from the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due for release next year, would reflect these findings.
Dr Scherer said although there was mounting evidence that the oceans were getting warmer down to a considerable depth, it did not necessarily mean that any rise in sea levels that resulted from expanding waters had to accelerate. The rise could be just linear in nature.
"The ocean response time is clearly slow - perhaps of the order of a few hundred years," he added. "Even though the potential climatic effects of industrialisation might have been around for 150 years, let's say, in terms of ocean time that is relatively short.
"It is also true that if something does happen with the ocean, it will take a long time to turn it off, and that is why the precautionary principle absolutely has to apply."
Although the NTF's work indicated at least short-term good news for low-lying countries, the Pacific Island Leaders Forum used its closing communiqu� to reiterate concerns about the impact of climate change, and argued for early adoption of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
But Dr Scherer said their worst fears might turn out to be exaggerated. Recognising that a number of climate models were predicting sea level rises of tens of centimetres by 2100, the scientist said some of the assumptions that underpinned the computer work and the global warming hypothesis in general would almost certainly need to be reviewed.
As with all climate studies, Dr Scherer said, uncertainty was the key problem. This could only be removed by a programme of on-going monitoring that used the latest and most sophisticated technology.
"For us, the major uncertainty is land movement. All the historical records of sea level measure only relative sea level. If you have a land mass that is rising, it will look like a lowering of sea level. Inversely, if the land is sinking, it looks like the sea is rising.
"And if we are making the linkage to climate, it is the absolute sea level that is important. So the next phase of the work we are doing will measure land movements." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29179658 | A member of Chile's parliament has been charged with the killing of three left-wing militants during the dictatorship of Gen Augusto Pinochet.
Rosauro Martinez was an army captain at the time of the incident in 1981.
He led a patrol in southern Chile in search of members of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), which sought to overthrow the Pinochet regime.
A gun battle followed in which at least 11 people died, but the exact details of what happened remain a mystery.
Mr Martinez says he followed army protocol, but some former conscripts who were with him at the time say he used excessive brutality.
The 64-year-old member of the conservative National Renewal party has been a Congressman since the early 1990s, when Gen Pinochet relinquished power and Chile returned to democracy.
In June, he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity.
That paved the way for his arrest in city of Valdivia on Thursday - the 41st anniversary of the coup that launched Gen Pinochet's 17-year rule.
"Chile needs more truth and more justice so we never live the horror of dictatorship again," said government spokesman Alvaro Elizalde.
Some 3,200 people were killed and 38,000 others tortured during Gen Pinochet's rule, according to the government. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1310280.stm | Twelve per cent of girls have their first menstrual period before they leave primary school, showing a slight decrease in the average age at which menstruation begins.
A report published in the British Medical Journal shows the average age of menarche (age at first period) in British teenagers is 12 years and 11 months.
Concerns had been raised that girls are experiencing the physical changes into womanhood at a much younger age, creating health problems and adding to the rising rates of teenage pregnancy.
But there is little change, according to the authors of the latest report.
Previous surveys in the 1950s and 1960s found the average age was around 13-and-a-half.
The team at London's St George's Hospital Medical School, which carried out the survey, said their findings had highlighted the importance of providing health information and sanitary facilities for female pupils in primary schools.
Professor Peter Whincup, who carried out the survey, said: "The change has been small, but possibly it could be as much as six months, although that's unlikely.
"It is difficult to say whether it will fall further. At the moment it does seem to be pretty stable.
"But one thing we did find was differences of provision for girls in primary schools and I think this needs to be taken on board."
Over 1,000 girls aged 12-16 in schools across 10 British towns took part in the survey.
The Family Planning Association (FPA) says the findings illustrate the need for better communication on sexual health matters so that children are prepared for the way their bodies will change before the changes materialise.
FPA Director of Information Toni Belfield said: "We have always said that when a young woman asks a question, you need to answer it in the most appropriate way, both at home and at school.
"Young women need support and information about the changes they will see in their bodies as they get older."
The most significant changes in menarche happened in European countries (including Britain) between the late 19th and mid 20th centuries, when the average age fell by more than a year. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/4755020.stm | This will be the first time the England squad has come together since the fake sheikh episode and Sven-Goran Eriksson's decision to stand down.
But in football you don't talk about what happened six weeks ago.
The England players are professional and they will get on with the job in hand.
What has happened with Eriksson will not even be mentioned - it won't matter in the slightest.
There are only three warm-up games before the World Cup finals start.
What the manager and his team will be looking for this week is to make the most of this opportunity to be away for four or five days.
Eriksson will try to get as many of his starting line-up for the Paraguay game on 10 June in the team from the start and then have a look at the guys on the periphery.
It's a wonderful opportunity for those fringe players to impress and get on the flight to Germany.
I would imagine 20 or 21 of his squad are definites. There are possibly only two spots up for grabs - a central midfielder and a striker.
But we've seen time and time again that players can explode onto the scene in the last few months of the season and book their place.
Eriksson will look at his fringe players in training this week but not take too much heed.
Anyone can impress on the training ground, it's what you do when you go on the pitch that counts.
The major problem for these players is when you have multiple substitutes coming on, then it all gets very fragmented.
It's much easier for a player to come on for 45 minutes in a settled side that's playing well rather than impressing in a team that has just had nine subs, because they are all over the place.
This has been a problem for some time. Whenever Eriksson has had seven, eight or nine substitutes, I don't think we've seen a good performance from anybody.
It's a tremendous opportunity but it's so difficult for these players.
I can understand Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez asking for Steven Gerrard to be left out.
From their point of view he is right. Gerrard has played a lot of games and he plays with so much energy, vigour and enthusiasm that a rest would do him the world of good.
Liverpool have so many important games coming up in the Champions League and FA Cup while also going for second place in the league.
But from an England point of view Eriksson will look to play him for 45 minutes.
If you can get your best midfield quartet on the pitch it is invaluable for preparation and for getting used to how the others play.
The England manager has to be single-minded, while also making sure Gerrard is not going to the World Cup burned out.
It is a danger for a lot of the players and we have seen it before when they've gone to the World Cup and a lot of them are tired.
One player who I expected to be in the squad is Bolton's Kevin Nolan.
He's got two great feet, he's strong, aggressive, scores goals and he's the type that could muscle his way in.
Bolton are still in the FA Cup and could push for a Champions League place. They are difficult to beat and Nolan has had a fantastic season and has been one of their best players.
I'm very surprised he's not been given a chance. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/charlton_athletic/4203282.stm | Charlton have signed former Arsenal and Coventry striker Jay Bothroyd from Serie A club Perugia.
Details have not been disclosed but it is thought the 23-year-old moved on a free transfer because of Perugia's financial problems.
Bothroyd spent last season on loan at Blackburn where he scored just one goal in the Premiership.
He becomes Charlton's 10th signing of the summer and replaces Francis Jeffers who has moved to Rangers on loan.
Bothroyd came through the ranks at Arsenal where he showed potential but he was allowed to join Coventry for £1m. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4704390.stm | A former general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers has died at the age of 65.
Peter Smith died on Friday at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, where he was being treated for oesophageal cancer, his family announced.
He began his career as an English teacher, and joined the ATL as general secretary in 1988.
He retired from being general secretary in 2002, and was awarded a CBE for services to education in 2003.
Under his leadership, the organisation's membership tripled.
Current general secretary Mary Bousted said: "He turned the ATL from being a small association for grammar school teachers to being a major player in the union world with a huge increase in membership and influence across the political and policy world."
It now represents more than 160,000 teachers, lecturers and education support staff. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/13247240.stm | Nottingham Forest confirmed their place in the Championship play-offs with a stress-free victory over 10-man Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Forest, needing a point to secure their spot, went ahead when Lewis McGugan's rasping shot bounced in from 18 yards.
Dean Moxey was then sent off for a late lunge on Marcus Tudgay, who made it 2-0 with a header after the break.
And substitute David McGoldrick's stunning 25-yard shot sealed the win and a play-off date with Swansea City.
The Reds were already on top by the time former Derby County defender Moxey was shown a straight red card for his reckless, studs-up challenge on Tudgay after 25 minutes.
But even if Forest had failed to get the precious point they required, it would have taken an emphatic Leeds win over champions QPR at Loftus Road, and a six-goal swing, to nudge Billy Davies' side out of the top six.
Leeds did emerge victorious with a spirited 2-1 success but Forest fears that Rangers might adopt full party mood and a lackadaisical approach after escaping a points deduction over the Alejandro Faurlin saga proved unfounded.
The Reds looked like a side desperate to avoid having to rely on other sides anyway.
And despite a promising Eagles opening in which Nathaniel Clyde skipped down the wing and sent over a fine cross, Forest soon began to dominate.
Luke Chambers almost headed them ahead but Pablo Counago diverted the centre-half's effort up on to the bar and away to safety and then McGugan sent a rasping low drive narrowly wide of the far post from the edge of the box.
McGugan then settled Forest nerves when he drove his shot down into the turf and into the back of the net with deadly accuracy.
Palace hopes all but vanished with Moxey's dismissal which forced boss Dougie Freedman to sacrifice striker Counago in favour of another ex-Ram Claude Davis.
The hosts did regroup after the break and Davis and Patrick McCarthy both threatened from set-pieces while Neil Danns shot just wide after a fine run.
But Forest, who have now won four in row as they head into a two-legged semi-final play-off date with Swansea, always looked comfortable.
Tudgay's close-range header from Brendan Moloney's pinpoint right-wing cross settled any remaining nerves with 20 minutes left.
And McGoldrick scored the goal of the game when he turned unopposed to smash the ball home from distance on 80 minutes.
McGugan almost added his second with a vicious free-kick that went over but the travelling 3,500 Forest fans did not need another goal to start their celebrations.
"I am disappointed with the result, but for us to finish where we have from where we were when I took over is a huge success.
"I will have discussions next week about budgets but my early signs are we will be going the way of bringing young players through.
"I will try and stabilise the club over the next few years and build it slowly. I don't see us buying £1m players, we are not geared up for that yet."
"I am very proud of getting to the play-offs again. This group of players have been written off time and time again.
"But we know what the play-offs is about - it is a lottery, Lady Luck and refereeing decisions.
"If you get the breaks you can get there - and the good thing is that you are looking at a very confident Forest.
"It is a Forest that is scoring goals and one that is looking forward to the difficult challenge over the next two matches. Hopefully we will get those breaks."
90:00+4:13 The referee signals the end of the game.
90:00+3:49 Inswinging corner taken right-footed by Neil Danns played to the near post, Lewis McGugan manages to make a clearance.
90:00+3:00 Paul McKenna challenges Kemy Agustien unfairly and gives away a free kick. Kemy Agustien restarts play with the free kick.
90:00+1:49 Effort from the edge of the area by Paul McKenna goes wide of the right-hand post.
90:00+0:08 Darren Ambrose shoots direct from the free kick, Karl Darlow makes a save.
90:00+0:08 Booking Chris Gunter is booked.
89:44 Unfair challenge on Wilfried Zaha by Chris Gunter results in a free kick.
87:21 Inswinging corner taken right-footed by Neil Danns from the right by-line.
82:39 Chris Cohen gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Wilfried Zaha. Direct free kick taken by Nathaniel Clyne.
79:41 GOAL - David McGoldrick:Crystal Palace 0 - 3 Nott'm Forest David McGoldrick gets on the score sheet with a goal from long distance to the top right corner of the goal. Crystal Palace 0-3 Nottm Forest.
78:22 Chris Cohen takes the inswinging corner, clearance made by Claude Davis.
77:47 David McGoldrick fouled by Wilfried Zaha, the ref awards a free kick. Free kick taken by Luke Chambers.
76:28 Lewis McGugan challenges Sean Scannell unfairly and gives away a free kick. Kemy Agustien takes the direct free kick.
75:46 Wilfried Zaha concedes a free kick for a foul on Paul McKenna. Direct free kick taken by Luke Chambers.
73:16 Free kick taken by Lewis McGugan.
73:16 Substitution Karl Darlow replaces Lee Camp.
73:16 Kemy Agustien concedes a free kick for a foul on Paul Anderson.
71:48 Wilfried Zaha fouled by David McGoldrick, the ref awards a free kick. Julian Speroni restarts play with the free kick.
70:21 Substitution Wilfried Zaha joins the action as a substitute, replacing David Wright.
69:26 The assist for the goal came from Brendan Moloney.
69:26 GOAL - Marcus Tudgay:Crystal Palace 0 - 2 Nott'm Forest Marcus Tudgay finds the back of the net with a headed goal from inside the area. Crystal Palace 0-2 Nottm Forest.
67:54 Substitution David McGoldrick joins the action as a substitute, replacing Kris Boyd.
67:33 Outswinging corner taken right-footed by Lewis McGugan.
66:56 Inswinging corner taken by Chris Cohen, Kemy Agustien makes a clearance.
63:06 Neil Danns fouled by Paul Anderson, the ref awards a free kick. Direct free kick taken by Darren Ambrose.
62:45 Chris Gunter gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Neil Danns. Darren Ambrose crosses the ball from the free kick right-footed from right by-line, clearance by Wes Morgan.
61:51 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Kemy Agustien by Lewis McGugan. Direct free kick taken by Julian Speroni.
60:46 Substitution Sean Scannell is brought on as a substitute for Jermaine Easter.
60:46 Substitution Paul McKenna joins the action as a substitute, replacing Guy Moussi.
59:39 Effort from the edge of the area by Neil Danns goes wide of the right-hand post.
57:49 The referee penalises Kris Boyd for handball. Free kick taken by Julian Speroni.
54:12 Corner taken by Darren Ambrose from the right by-line.
53:22 Chris Gunter gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Neil Danns. The free kick is swung in right-footed by Darren Ambrose, Guy Moussi manages to make a clearance.
52:44 The referee blows for offside. Indirect free kick taken by Julian Speroni.
49:59 Guy Moussi challenges Jermaine Easter unfairly and gives away a free kick. Darren Ambrose crosses the ball from the free kick right-footed from right wing, Lee Camp makes a save.
47:17 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Darren Ambrose by Chris Cohen. Darren Ambrose takes the direct free kick.
45:00+2:45 The referee blows for half time.
45:00+1:25 Lewis McGugan takes a shot.
43:32 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Neil Danns by Chris Cohen. Free kick crossed right-footed by David Wright, save by Lee Camp.
38:58 Corner taken right-footed by Darren Ambrose from the left by-line to the near post, clearance by Lewis McGugan.
36:44 The referee blows for offside. Lee Camp takes the direct free kick.
28:57 Wes Morgan challenges Jermaine Easter unfairly and gives away a free kick. Strike comes in from Darren Ambrose from the free kick.
26:48 Substitution Pablo Counago leaves the field to be replaced by Claude Davis.
24:46 Chris Cohen delivers the ball from the free kick right-footed from right channel.
24:46 Sent off Dean Moxey shown a red card.
24:28 Marcus Tudgay fouled by Dean Moxey, the ref awards a free kick.
23:04 Corner taken by Chris Cohen.
22:26 Chris Cohen takes a outswinging corner from the right by-line to the near post, clearance by David Wright.
19:06 Free kick awarded for a foul by Jermaine Easter on Chris Cohen. Chris Cohen takes the direct free kick.
17:57 Chris Cohen is ruled offside. Julian Speroni takes the indirect free kick.
16:16 GOAL - Lewis McGugan:Crystal Palace 0 - 1 Nott'm Forest Lewis McGugan finds the back of the net with a goal from just outside the area to the bottom right corner of the goal. Crystal Palace 0-1 Nottm Forest.
14:00 Shot by Paul Anderson from 18 yards. Save made by Julian Speroni.
13:22 Darren Ambrose takes a outswinging corner.
9:41 Shot by Lewis McGugan from deep inside the penalty area misses to the right of the goal.
8:58 Corner taken right-footed by Lewis McGugan from the left by-line, Luke Chambers takes a shot.
7:54 Jermaine Easter concedes a free kick for a foul on Wes Morgan. Wes Morgan restarts play with the free kick.
5:44 Corner taken right-footed by Darren Ambrose, Kris Boyd makes a clearance.
5:05 Dean Moxey fouled by Kris Boyd, the ref awards a free kick. Darren Ambrose takes the free kick.
2:33 Corner from the right by-line taken by Darren Ambrose, Headed effort on goal by Patrick McCarthy from inside the penalty box misses to the right of the target.
1:49 Pablo Counago fouled by Wes Morgan, the ref awards a free kick. The free kick is swung in right-footed by Darren Ambrose, clearance by Chris Cohen. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11883660 | A bracelet owned by Wallis Simpson, whose affair with Edward VIII led to his abdication, has sold for a world record-breaking £4.5m ($7m) at auction.
The Cartier-designed diamond panther bracelet, was sold by Sotheby's.
It was the most expensive bracelet and most expensive Cartier item to be sold at any auction.
It was one of 20 pieces owned by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to go under the hammer in the sale, which raised a total of £7,975,550 ($12,417,369m).
The jewellery collection had been expected to fetch around £3m ($4.6m).
A ruby, sapphire, emerald, citrine and diamond Cartier flamingo clip was another big seller reaching £1,721,250 ($2,679,712). All prices include the buyer's premium.
David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's Jewellery in Europe and the Middle East, said the Duchess was "a leader of fashion and the epitome of elegance and sophistication for her generation and beyond".
He said: "The offering comprises not only incomparable examples of the genius of Cartier in collaboration with the Windsors, but also pieces whose inscriptions tell the story of perhaps the greatest love story of the 20th century, the romance that led Edward VIII to abdicate the throne of Great Britain." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-46275227 | Young people's views on Brexit are ignored "at our peril", according to the author of a new report for the Welsh Government.
Lynne Hill's research for Children in Wales found young people are "knowledgeable and keen to engage in any discussions on Brexit".
Over the past eight months the organisation has heard the views of more than 650 people aged eight to 21.
Ministers said the findings would "inform our policy development".
Opinions were gathered at youth clubs, in schools and on social media.
The report said: "While the young people expressed views reflecting both leave and remain, the stronger view from young people was to remain.
"A very wide range of issues were identified by young people including the environment, education, human rights and opportunities to travel and study abroad.
"Young people are very keen to understand how the new relationship with Europe will develop and how it will affect their future options."
Ms Hill, who is a lead researcher, said: "I think it demonstrates that we miss out talking to young people at our peril.
"They have lots of very positive views, they have lots of challenging ideas and they are keen to engage."
Image caption Connor said the report on young people's views was "incredibly useful"
A group of young people visited the Senedd to present the report to Children's Minister Huw Irranca-Davies.
"We just want the certainty to know we will be listened to and that our opinions do matter," said 15-year-old Amber from Burry Port.
Callum, 14, from Cardiff, believes schools should offer education around Brexit. He's also worried that Brexit is "pulling us apart".
Calling for young people to be given the right to vote so they can shape Brexit in the future, 14-year-old Victor from Cardiff said: "If you grant somebody the right to vote they will go out and they will research to make sure that their say is meaningful."
"This report is incredibly useful," said 16-year-old Connor from Cardiff.
"But I think the fact that we have to have a report for young people's views is a little bit silly."
The report says the Welsh Government "should consider how young people are given the information and tools to understand, learn about, and engage with democratic processes... thus enabling them to become more active and informed citizens".
And it said the UK government "should also have a role in informing and enabling young people to learn about and understand the political processes that impact on their lives".
Mr Irranca-Davies said: "The message from this important piece of work is very clear.
"Young people are frustrated they have not been given a say."
Mr Irranca-Davies added the report's findings would be shared across Welsh Government and they would "inform our policy development going forward". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7537326.stm | As international journalists jet in to Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games, Hugh Sykes takes a rather slower route on the overnight train from the west of China.
"Beijing time or Xinjiang time?"
You hear that a lot in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the far west of China, near Pakistan and Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.
A long way west, in other words, but officially, it is the same time zone as Beijing in the far east, near North Korea.
Imagine the US having the same time zone right across the country, from Miami to Los Angeles.
But in hotels and offices in Xinjiang there are sometimes two clocks, because Xinjiang does have its own unofficial time zone, two hours behind Beijing.
This makes sense, it means it gets dark at 2030 not 2230 at this time of year, and light at 0600 not 0800.
"What time is the flight to Urumqi?"
"Beijing time, of course. Planes and trains stick to Beijing time but buses run on Xinjiang time."
"What time do you start school in the morning?
"That depends. If it is a Han Chinese school, it is 0800 Beijing time. If it is a Uighur school, it is 0800 Xinjiang time, which is two hours later. And if it is a mixed school, they stick to Beijing time."
This was all related to me with much grinning and laughter as I set off to explore the Old Town in Kashgar on the ancient Silk Road.
There are mosques and traditional tea houses and narrow lanes and old brick homes with blue tile work and elegant wooden balconies, and more melon sellers than I have seen anywhere.
One street is full of shops selling musical instruments, mostly the two-stringed dotar, which is like a lute but with a much longer neck.
In one shop, Mohammed Imin, a man in his 30s with a genial, round face, sat and played a dotar for me, rapidly plucking the two strings with his right hand while his left flew up and down the neck using the 16 frets to generate complex chords and a tune to go with a love song.
The Uighur language is Turkic and some of the words are the same as in modern Turkish: One, two, three, four, five, for instance, is bir, iki, uech, dort, besh, in both languages.
Hello is yakshimesiz. Thank you is rakhmat.
And a foreigner simply learning those words and using them in shops, tea houses or in the street has a magical effect. Stony faces break into glorious smiles and children giggle, in a place which is already full of warmth and kindness.
I was free to roam Kashgar unescorted. Also free to decide when and how to leave.
I left for Urumqi by air, and then on by train - "hard class".
It is not hard at all. There are six bunks per cubicle instead of four in "soft", but you still get pillows and an immaculately clean white duvet.
The other difference is that there are no doors from the compartments to the corridor in hard class. So no privacy but much more fun. People talk to each other, share food, wander up and down, play cards.
Miao Miao started talking to me the moment I heaved my bags on to the top bunk of my compartment. A lovely face under rich, dark hair popped out from the middle bunk next door and said hello in English. She is a 19-year-old music student.
Our journey took 21 hours from Urumqi, near the Kazakhstan border, to Lanzhou which is the geographical dead-centre of China.
Most of the trip was taken up crossing the forbidding wastes of the western section of the Gobi Desert.
And as a deep orange sunset darkened into night, Miao Miao entertained the carriage with songs. She sang an aria from Mozart's Marriage Of Figaro, in Italian.
Twenty, 30 faces leaned out of their bunks and watched and listened. And everybody clapped.
And then she chose a traditional Chinese song, Jasmine Flower. And along the corridor on either side, as Miao Miao sang, others gently joined in.
China promised journalists freedom to travel the country during the Olympic period and to interview anybody they liked, so long as they agreed to be interviewed.
Not a very taxing condition, and I have experienced and enjoyed that freedom to travel and report.
Yes, a few websites are blocked in the Olympic press centre but that will not stop anyone reporting the Olympic sporting events.
And real China is not in the press centre.
The real China is infinitely varied and complex. And full of love and happiness, and generosity and tolerance, and strong family values, and moderate prosperity and astonishing economic progress, as well as human rights abuses.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 2 August, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44219769 | A US judge has ruled that federal law protects a transgender student's right to use the bathroom corresponding to his gender identity.
In the latest legal twist to a long-running case, a Virginia court rejected Gloucester County school board's bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Gavin Grimm, a student who has since graduated.
Mr Grimm sued after his school barred him from using the men's bathroom.
He said he felt an "incredible sense of relief" after the ruling.
"After fighting this policy since I was 15 years old, I finally have a court decision saying that what the Gloucester County School Board did to me was wrong and it was against the law," he said.
Mr Grimm's case has been the most prominent in the debate over which bathroom transgender people should be permitted to use, a debate that has come to the forefront of LGBT rights over the past few years.
This decision does not completely end his case, but the judge on Tuesday ordered the school board to arrange a settlement conference within 30 days.
"The district court's ruling vindicates what Gavin has been saying from the beginning," said Joshua Block, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.
US district judge Arenda Wright Allen's ruling said the school's argument was "resoundingly unpersuasive", and she refused to throw out Mr Grimm's claim as the school had requested.
Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which rules no state can deny "equal protection of its laws" to any of its people.
The school had initially allowed him to use the men's bathroom after he explained he had transitioned to male.
But several adults complained about the the move, and the school's principal said he would from then on have to use newly installed single-person bathrooms.
The lawsuit made its way up to the US Supreme Court after a series of cases in Virginia.
The country's highest court agreed to take the suit after an appeals court ruled in favour of Mr Grimm following a directive from then-President Barack Obama, saying federal law protects transgender bathroom rights.
But the US Supreme Court reversed its decision after President Donald Trump rescinded his predecessor's guidelines. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41772294 | A third of charity fraud cases in England and Wales are suspected to involve staff, trustees or volunteers, the charity watchdog has claimed.
The Charity Commission report said organisations should stay alert to "insider fraud", and make sure that "mutual trust" is not abused.
The commission said crimes committed could be opportunistic or due to a lack of charity oversight.
The organisation also issued an appeal on insider fraud incidents.
The statistics relate to instances of fraud between April 2015 and March 2016.
Director of investigations Michelle Russell said charities were trusting as they were "committed to making a difference in society".
But she added: "Unfortunately, for a range of reasons, that mutual trust can be abused. The reality is insider fraud does happen in charities.
"Ultimately, whether it happens in a small charity with no employees or a multi-million pound household name, fraud diverts money away from those the charity is helping and who need it."
The warning to charitable organisations comes as the boss of a defunct Welsh charity was jailed for five years for embezzling £1.3m to fund his lavish lifestyle.
Robert Davies, 50, who worked for Swansea-based Cyrenians Cymru admitted fraud by abuse of position and was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court in July.
He spent £100,000 on boats, £26,000 on airfares and £80,000 staying at The Savoy Hotel in London.
The charity, which tackled homelessness in Swansea, south west Wales, collapsed in 2015.
Mr Davies's offences were committed between 2008 and 2014.
The Charity Commission has urged donors to be vigilant and watch out for sudden lifestyle changes in its volunteers and staff.
It added that strange behaviour or unexplained cash withdrawals could be a sign of insider fraud.
Ms Russell added: "Our aim is to help charities increase their own resilience to this kind of abuse and protect donors' valued funds as well as protect public trust and confidence in charities." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-tyne-47258311/gateshead-lollipop-lady-quits-over-safety-concerns | Lollipop lady quits over safety concerns Jump to media player Jacqueline Carver says she loves her job but has suffered abuse from drivers.
The retiring lollipop man and his helper Jump to media player Retiring Sunderland lollipop man Ray Vickery says his job "means a great deal".
Fears over lollipop patrols review Jump to media player Concerns are raised as plans to reduce lollipop patrols at busy crossings in Sunderland are considered.
Parents call for lollipop crossing Jump to media player Parents are demanding urgent action after a boy was knocked over outside a Coventry school eight months after the last lollipop lady retired.
Camera for Lincoln lollipop man Jump to media player A lollipop man in Lincoln is being given a body camera following a number of accidents at a school crossing.
Lollipop lady Jacqueline Carver is leaving her job after suffering verbal abuse from drivers.
She has helped children cross the road outside Oakfield Infant & Junior School in Gateshead for almost five years.
She said she enjoyed the job but sometimes cars pass her while she is stood in the road and others hit her stick.
She said: "If I don't feel safe how can I cross the children safely?" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/scot_cups/7837175.stm | A glancing header early in the second half by Ryan Holms earned Queen's Park a last-16 tie away to Celtic in the Homecoming Scottish Cup.
The Spiders carried their recent good form into the match and dominated the tie, with Stevie Nicholas and Ian Watt going close in the opening period.
Peterhead's Michal Kula saved from Paul Cairney, then Paul Harkins pounced on a Kula spill, but David Donald cleared.
Holms' winner came in the 51st minute when he dived to meet Harkins' cross.
"I thought we played really well and passed the ball well and made chances. Ryan got his head onto a great ball by Paul Harkins and we deserved the win.
"The longer we played we felt we were on top in the game.
"It is a massive boost for this club to go to play against the Premier League champions at Celtic Park and hopefully it will motivate them for the league games coming up between now and then.
"It is an opportunity for the players to play at another wonderful stadium.
"We spoke before the game about the carrot of Celtic in the next round and not to get over motivated and I feel they did that and we got the result."
"That was utter garbage tonight.
"I'm a passionate person and was sent to the stands and I'm not proud of that.
"I was angry at half-time and words were spoken. From the goalkeeper right through the team we had nothing and it is unacceptable, especially with such a big prize at stake.
"The loss of the revenue a game at Celtic would have brought us is massive. It would have paid off a lot of debts and put the club on a sound footing."
Queen's Park: Crawford, Ure, Douglas, Sinclair, Brough, Quinn, Holms, Gallacher, Nicholas, Harkins, Watt.
Subs Not Used: Boslem, Ronald, Coakley, McGrogan, Cowie.
Peterhead: Kula, Donald, Moore (Mann 57), Smith, MacDonald, McVitie, Sharp, Ross (Gunn 59), Bavidge (Kozminski 72), Anderson, McKay.
Subs Not Used: Bagshaw, Jarvie. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46243072 | A Quebec father has launched a class-action lawsuit against McDonald's, alleging the company's Happy Meals break strict provincial laws against advertising to children.
Since its debut in 1979, the Happy Meal has been a staple of McDonald's menu and a go-to meal option on family road trips.
But some Canadian parents are decidedly unhappy about the hold the fast-food empire has over their children's stomachs.
Antonio Bramante is the lead plaintiff in a newly certified lawsuit that alleges McDonald's is unlawfully aiming advertising at children under 13 years of age.
That would violate the province's strict youth consumer protection laws.
Mr Bramante, a father of three young children, says he eats at McDonald's about once every two weeks on the urging of his children, according to the court documents.
He estimates he has spent hundreds of dollars on Happy Meals, which are children's meals that come with toys.
The Quebec father says the toys are often linked to popular film releases and his children often want to return to the restaurant so they can complete their set of toys.
He also claims the restaurant is directly targeting children by displaying the Happy Meals toys at their eye level.
"In today's world, parents have to choose their battles. And what's the easiest thing to give into? It's to feed your children," says Joey Zukran, the Montreal-based lawyer who filed the class action on Mr Bramante's behalf.
Quebec prohibits marketing to children under the age of 13, making it one of a handful of jurisdictions in the world to essentially ban all advertising geared towards children.
The province has also had a law since 1980 that restricts marketing unhealthy food to children.
"McDonald's has a legal obligation to respect that law and they're not, in Quebec at least," Mr Zukran told the BBC.
There are three exceptions, with conditions, to Quebec's advertising law: for ads in children's magazines, for promoting a children's entertainment event, and for advertising via store windows, displays, containers, packaging and labels.
Mr Zukran says he is ready to argue McDonald's is not covered by any of these exceptions.
A Quebec court judge issued a ruling certifying the lawsuit last week.
Anyone who purchased a McDonald's Happy Meal in Quebec from November 2013, even if they are not Canadian residents, can request to be part of the class action, Mr Zukran says.
It seeks both compensatory and punitive damages and an order to prevent McDonald's from continuing the alleged practice.
McDonald's has about 300 restaurants in the Canadian province.
In a statement, McDonald's Canada told the BBC it has received the ruling certifying the lawsuit and plans to examine it carefully.
"We are aware of our obligations under Quebec's advertising laws and reiterate that we do not believe this class action has merit," it said.
McDonald's is one of the world's biggest distributors of toys in the world, driven in large part by Happy Meals sales.
This is not the first time the Happy Meals toys have been the target of a lawsuit.
In 2015, the US Children's Advertising Review Unit, a self-regulatory body, advised the company to focus its advertising on food and not its Happy Meal toys.
The company agreed to take the advice into consideration for future advertisements.
In 2010, the restaurant chain faced a charge that its advertising violated California consumer protection laws.
The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group based in the US, was eventually dismissed.
The claim that the company exploits children in advertising also made its way into the longest court case in UK history.
The "McLibel" case pitted the fast-food empire against two Greenpeace activists who had distributed leaflets entitled "What's wrong with McDonalds - everything they don't want you to know"
It is estimated McDonald's spent millions in legal fees suing the couple for libel. The couple defended themselves after being denied legal aid.
In 1997, a judge ruled in favour of McDonald's, but found the leaflet's claim that the company exploited children in advertising to be true. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/americas/06/vote_usa/html/899.stm | The Democrats have taken control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, in a serious blow to Republican President George W Bush.
In the elections for state governors the Democrats also made gains, taking power in six more states, bringing their total number of governors up to 28, with the Republicans on 22.
A late victory in Virginia has given the Democrats control of the Senate by a tiny margin. James Webb's narrow victory over Republican George Allen took his party past the winning post for control of the US's upper house.
Of the 100 seats in the Senate, 33 were up for election. The Democrats needed to gain six seats for victory.
Two independent senators make up the rest of the party's wafer-thin majority as former Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont are expected to vote with the Democrats.
The Democrats needed to pick up 15 seats to end more than a decade of Republican dominance in the House; in the end they gained more than 30, giving them a clear majority. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12193111 | The last memory Ruth Parathasangary has of her daughter was as she left home on the morning of 7 July 2005, heading for work.
"She did not say anything when she left. She just gave me a sweet smile."
Born in Sri Lanka in 1974, Shyanuja Parathasangary was brought to the UK in the 1970s at the age of one, when her father, Sangary, was given the chance to study in Britain.
She and her older sister Sindhu quickly adapted to their adopted country.
Shyanuja - or Shyanu - attended primary school in Queen's Park, west London, and later John Kelly High School in north London, showing a love of sport and talent for singing.
She followed her mother's religion, Christianity, rather than her father's, Hinduism, and worshipped at the Fernhead Road Methodist Church in Paddington, west London.
After graduating from London's South Bank University in business and administration, Shyanuja joined the Royal Mail in 1997 and was working at the Old Street office as an assistant purchasing officer at the time of the bombings.
One of her closest friends was Nell Raut, a friend since childhood.
They would meet up often to go shopping, watch a film or go swimming. On Thursday evenings, they could often be found at Chiquito, a Mexican restaurant in Staples Corner, north-west London.
At the time of her death, the 30-year-old was living in the family home in Kensal Green, north-west London, but was just about to move out.
She and her sister were in the throes of refurbishing a house they had bought a couple of doors away from their parents.
At her inquest, her mother and father said: "To know that this desire did not reach fruition and was cut short, just like her life, is tantamount to depriving her of what she could have achieved, not having asked much from life itself."
Ruth and Sangary Parathasangary went on to describe their daughter as a "tower of strength" to the family who would champion the causes of those who were downtrodden.
"One of Shyanu's remarkable characteristics is that she never had a harsh word for anyone. Even if she did not agree with someone, she would accept what they said with a smile.
"She was kind and generous and had an outgoing personality.
"The grief... is insurmountable - the youth, the innocence, the pride, the joy, all taken away in a moment." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18468685 | Japan has announced that it will restart two nuclear reactors - the first to go back online since all the country's plants were closed following last year's Fukushima crisis.
Reactors at the Ohi plant in central Fukui prefecture will be switched on in three weeks, officials said.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has urged support for the move, saying Japan faces a summer of power shortages.
But widespread public opposition to nuclear power remains.
Japan's 50 reactors were shut down for routine maintenance after the meltdown at the Fukushima power plant, which was triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Prime Minister Noda made the announcement after meeting the governor of Fukui prefecture, Kazumasa Nishikawa, who gave his approval for the decision.
The owner of the Ohi nuclear power plant, Kansai Electric Power, has been asking residents to save electricity ahead of a hot summer and it has been planning rolling blackouts to cut energy usage.
But blackouts were extremely unpopular, especially among factory owners, when they were imposed in Tokyo last year and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has repeatedly said that it's crucial for the nation's economy to restart some nuclear reactors.
Despite the severe power shortages that Japan faces, many people are still against today's decision to restart the two Ohi power plant reactors and there have been protests against the decision.
Some local politicians, including Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto, say their approvals have been limited to the Ohi plant and only during the hot summer months.
But the prime minister has said he will continue to assess whether other nuclear reactors are safe to be restarted.
The prime minister then held talks with the minister of economy, the minister in charge of the nuclear accident and the chief cabinet secretary, before making the announcement.
"Now that we have the approval from the autonomous body where the reactors are relocated, the four ministers concerned made the decision to restart the reactors," Mr Noda said, according to AFP news agency citing local media.
Mr Nishikawa told reporters the agreement was reached to "help stabilise livelihoods and industry".
He said he had given his approval because he had been "assured of the government's safety efforts".
But Mr Noda still faces stiff opposition from lawmakers and the public, says the BBC's Mariko Oi in Osaka.
According to the latest poll by Jiji news agency, 46% of the public is still against the move to restart the reactors in Fukui, she says.
Nuclear power used to provide one third of Japan's electricity.
The government has asked households and businesses in parts of the country to cut electricity usage by 15% to avoid possible blackouts. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/review/2190596.stm | Prolific Irish writer William Trevor's latest novel.
"The Story of Lucy Gault" is about belonging and loss.
In order to enjoy this, did you have to buy the premise that Lucy's parents would not come back to the house ever, or would not be found? Could you enjoy it despite that?
I think, strangely enough, I found a way to enjoy it just by being absorbed in the central idea of it, which is really what happens.
How can you have a life when most things that you would consider essential, connection to other people, love, hope, ambition, all of these things are stripped away.
What happens when you have very little left in life? It reminds me somewhat of Dostoevsky. I was reading Crime and Punishment the other day.
There was a moment where a character considers suicide and he considers whether he would die or stand on a cliff ledge halfway down a cliff and stand there for the rest of his life. In a way, this book poses a similar question to that, which is that when you have very little left, is it better to give up or just to carry on?
This book looks at what happens when you choose to carry on. When you choose to live despite everything else. As a consequence, it has a tragedy to it but it also has a kind of fragile beauty as well. I was quite captivated by it.
Miss Haversham by any other name?
I think it's a very puzzling book, in a way, because it seems to be moving so slowly because of the detail and the attention that Trevor gives to it, and the way he creates these still, monochrome pictures with tiny little details of people eating cake or using sign language or playing with a dog, or whatever, but in fact it's moving terribly fast.
It's hurtling along. In a way, it's like old age itself where you are moving slowly but the days are telescoped and to you each takes a minute.
There is something extraordinarily allegorical about it. I don't want to sound too pompous about this, but in a way it's about the Irish concept of history. The Irish refusal to let go ideas that are totally unhelpful and they are living in a state of suspended animation.
Just as Lucy says, "I am not going to live. My life is on hold because I did a bad thing once and I was disobedient." It's so funny in 2001 mentality to think of this child as having done something naughty, when in fact no-one was paying her any attention and she slipped from their view.
I can see what he is doing with this narrative and it's extraordinarily subtle, but I am not sure that it works. In the end, there is something very unsatisfactory about it.
It's partly to do with the way the rest of Ireland is presented. The actual wild Irish are either mad, mute or keening. They do seem to me to be aliens in a way. You can't do that. Trevor cannot do that, whether he is an honorary knight or not.
It's not about Ireland. It's about people whose lives have been stilled or stopped by chance events and how they go on with their lives.
How they live without having anything to do, as in the rather implausible case, the parents go on with nothing to do for the next 30 years.
They spend the day without a backward glance to the house, even though they still own it.
If you put it all aside there is some wonderful thoughts and ideas in there. There is one particular passage; "How little comfort there is in the ghosts of day dreams." I found it quite disturbing and unsatisfying, but a sad book?
I didn't find it sad at all. I found the description of the stilled lives very lyrical. I found it very beautiful.
Exactly. There is a passage close to the end where Lucy says something like she should have died a child but she carried on living, because instead of nothing, there is what there is.
I loved that moment. I loved that line.
Links to more Review stories are at the foot of the page. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33853443 | One of the most prominent human rights activists in Syria, Mazen Darwish, has been freed after spending more than three years in prison.
The director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), he was arrested in the Syrian capital, Damascus, in February 2012 with two colleagues.
They were accused of "promoting terrorist acts".
His colleagues were released last month as part of an amnesty.
Mr Mazen - who has been awarded a number of international prizes - is still facing trial and is due to attend a court hearing later this month.
He was jailed for reporting on the government's crackdown on protesters in the early days of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23231206 | Scientists say they have found a more accurate way to measure time.
We currently use atomic clocks to count the seconds, but tests on an alternative atomic timekeeper have revealed that it is more precise.
The devices, called optical lattice clocks, lost just one second every 300 million years - making them three times as accurate as current atomic clocks.
Writing in Nature Communications, the team said they offered a better system for defining the second.
We once used the Earth's rotation to measure time, where one spin equates to a day.
But because our planet wobbles on its axis as it rotates, some days can be shorter or longer than others.
The atomic clock has proved to be a far more accurate method of keeping the world on time and since the 1960s has been used to define a second in the International System of Units (SI units).
But now scientists say the optical lattice clock could improve the precision.
Just as a grandfather clock uses the swing of a pendulum to measure intervals of time, an atomic clock uses the very regular "vibrations" of atoms.
Our current systems, called caesium fountains, expose clouds of caesium atoms to microwaves to get them to oscillate. But the new ones use light to excite strontium atoms.
Dr Jerome Lodewyck, from the Paris Observatory, said: "In our clocks we use laser beams. Laser beams oscillate much faster than microwave radiation, and in a sense we divide time in much shorter intervals so we can measure time more precisely."
The optical clocks are three times as accurate as caesium fountains, which are accurate to one second every 100 million years.
As well as comparing the optical lattice clocks with our current atomic timekeepers, the researchers compared two optical clocks with each other. They found that they kept time in agreement, and were also very stable.
"For instance, if you have your wristwatch, and one day you are one second late, and one day one second early, then your clock is not stable. But it could still have good accuracy if over a million days the time is correct," Dr Lodewyck explained.
It is important to measure both accuracy and stability, he added.
Many technologies such as telecommunications, satellite navigation and the stock markets rely on ever-better time measurements. The researchers said the new clocks could one day help to redefine the second.
Another clock is also undergoing development - an ion clock. This clock loses just one second every few billion years, but because it relies on a single ion, it is not yet deemed to be stable enough for widespread use. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-44470791 | Plans to demolish the former home of a 144-year-old pottery manufacturer to make way for flats have been submitted.
Poole Pottery, at the town's quay, closed in October after owner Denby failed to reach an agreement with the landlord.
Developer Fortitudo now hopes to create a mixed-use development at the site which will include a shop and 95 apartments.
The neighbouring former Swan Inn will be revamped into an apartment and unit.
The Swan, which will not be demolished under the proposals, is one of many buildings in the town where examples of work by Carter's Tiles, which became Poole Pottery, can be seen.
The proposals have been submitted to Borough of Poole council.
Poole Pottery was founded by a builder's merchant and ironmonger in 1873 and remained at its original site until the closure.
A petition by Poole Pottery Collectors Club to keep the pottery manufacturer shop open gathered more than 4,000 signatures.
Production of the pottery continues at Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/1321993.stm | Click on the dates above for a tour around some of the greatest FA Cup Finals in football history.
The 1970s were rapidly becoming the decade of shocks, and 1978, somewhat unfairly, went down as another major turn up.
Ipswich Town had been branded country cousins by wide sections of the media and were given little chance of beating an Arsenal side which boasted Supermac, the deadly England striker Malcolm Macdonald.
Yet, despite a season of struggle, Ipswich boss Bobby Robson boasted a side which had finished the previous year in third place in the league and, on their day, were more than a match for most sides.
So it proved. An absorbing match saw Ipswich threaten on a number of occasions, beginning as early as the 10th minute when Paul Mariner's shot hit the bar.
Both sides were hit by injuries but Ipswich coped better.
Macdonald was a virtual cup-final spectator as he struggled with a knee injury that prompted a premature end to his career.
This was, as predicted, a one-side final. But it was Ipswich who shrugged off the underdog tag to do all the attacking.
Pat Jennings was outstanding in the Arsenal goal and made one unbelievable save from young right-back George Burley, now Ipswich's boss.
But the Gunners' keeper was finally beaten 13 minutes from time when Willie Young steered David Geddis' cross straight into the path of Roger Osborne, who drilled home a first-time shot.
Osborne's spontaneous jump-on-the-spot celebrations were so frenetic that the midfielder promptly feinted and the match winner was immediately substituted. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-43004630/nigeria-s-soil-free-salad-farm | How 'cervical selfies' can help save lives Jump to media player A new smart mobile device is helping to catch cervical cancer early.
How one young entrepreneur is growing greens in shipping containers - no soil needed.
A film by Amelia Martyn-Hemphill and Sam Judah for BBC World Hacks. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21850011 | Media captionGeorge Osborne : "I am going to level with people"
Chancellor George Osborne has insisted his economic medicine is working, despite being forced to slash growth forecasts for the UK in his Budget.
In a package of measures aimed at "those who want to work and get on" he cut corporation tax to 20% and froze petrol duty rises.
He also cut beer duty by 1p a pint and axed future above inflation rises, and unveiled measures to help housebuyers.
Labour said it was a "more of the same Budget from a downgraded chancellor".
Ed Miliband said Mr Osborne had broken the deal he made with the British public when the coalition came to power, that all the pain of austerity would be worth it when the "good times" returned.
How will the Budget affect you?
"Three years on, what does he say? Exactly what he said three years ago," said the Labour leader.
"We still need four more years of pain, tax rises and spending cuts.
"In other words, after all the misery, all the harsh medicine, all the suffering by the British people, three years, no progress, deal broken."
Mr Osborne admitted it was taking longer than expected but insisted "we are, slowly but surely, fixing our country's economic problems".
He told MPs: "This is a Budget that doesn't duck our nation's problems. It confronts them head on. It is a Budget for an aspiration nation."
BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said it was "a very political speech from a man in a very tight economic straitjacket".
Figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility suggest the government's efforts to cut the deficit - the difference between money spent and earned in a year - have stalled and it will remain stuck at about £120bn for three years.
And Business Secretary Vince Cable refused to predict when the "age of austerity" might end - although he thought it "unlikely" to last until 2020.
Media captionEd Miliband: "A more of the same Budget from a downgraded chancellor"
It all meant Mr Osborne had little room for manoeuvre when it came to tax giveaways - but he found some extra cash by squeezing public spending further and other measures.
This allowed him to bring forward the introduction of a £10,000 income tax threshold by a year, to 2014 - in a move that pleased the Lib Dems, who campaigned on the issue at the last election.
Tory backbenchers cheered the announcement that small businesses would get a £2,000 allowance before paying employer National Insurance contributions, a move Mr Osborne described as "taking tax off jobs".
He ignored pre-Budget calls by Vince Cable and others to borrow more to boost growth with a big building programme.
But he did announce £2.5bn of spending on infrastructure paid for by a fresh public spending squeeze. Details of where the axe will fall will be announced in June when the government unveils its spending review.
He also announced that the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee had been given an updated broader remit, but keeps its 2% inflation target.
Labour leader Ed Miliband mocked the chancellor's failure to make any reference to Britain's loss of its Triple A rating with credit agencies during his hour long budget speech.
Off course, but determined to stick to it. Having no money to spend, but still able to deliver tax cuts for people and businesses. This was a Budget of paradoxes.
He also asked the chancellor how details of the Budget came to be published via a tweet from the Evening Standard before the speech had been delivered.
Ahead of the Budget the government announced plans for some parents in the UK to be able to claim back up to £1,200 a year for each child - or 20% of childcare costs - from 2015.
Mr Cameron said the plans, expected to cost £1.4bn, would be a "boost direct to the pockets of hard-working families" but it has been criticised in sections of the press for penalising stay-at-home parents.
The Scottish National Party described Mr Osborne's statement as a "miserable Budget" which "just continues along the austerity path that is clearly failing".
Plaid Cymru said the £2.5bn in infrastructure spending was just a "fraction" of what was actually needed.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said it was "yet another Budget that treats the public with contempt, continuing to peddle the myth that our national debt and deficit increased due to excessive public spending rather than bank bailouts".
UKIP leader Nigel Farage dismissed Mr Osborne's statement as a "Budget for headline writers" that failed to tackle "the serious problems in our economy".
Meanwhile, members of the UK's largest civil service union, the Public and Commercial Services Union, are staging a 24-hour strike on Wednesday in a dispute over pay, pensions and working conditions.
Government departments, driving test centres, museums and job centres are among workplaces hit, while meetings at the Welsh assembly have been rearranged because Labour and Plaid Cymru members will not cross a picket line.
A rally was being held at Westminster while Mr Osborne delivered his Budget. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/49787.stm | The former British Formula One racing champion, Nigel Mansell, has been banned from driving for six months for speeding.
He admitted breaking the speed limit in his new �200,000 turbo-charged Bentley, after being caught doing 92mph on a road in Somerset, south-west England, last month.
Magistrates in Yeovil also fined him �400, with �35 costs.
Mansell, who is a special constable with the Devon and Cornwall police force, was not in court.
Last July, the motor racing star helped to launch a learner driver training package from the RAC.
It included a video of winter driving techniques and advice on how to avoid crashes.
Although Mansell is obliged to inform race organisers of the ban, it will not affect his eligibility to take part in off-road motor sports.
The RAC Motor Sports Association, the UK governing body responsible for all competition driving licences, only bans drivers in extreme circumstances such as drink-driving or a conviction for dangerous driving.
"We certainly don't condone any action that breaks the law," said its spokesman, Colin Wilson.
"It is often said that someone of Nigel's talent driving at 100mph would be safer than you or I doing 50mph but the law has been broken so he has to be punished."
Road safety campaigners criticised Mansell for speeding, saying he risked encouraging other motorists to flout speed limits.
Roger Vincent, senior spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "There are already enough people using Britain's roads as race tracks - what we don't want is the professionals joining them.
"Nigel Mansell is an undoubted expert in his field but something like this is setting an extremely bad example, particularly to young people who will regard him as something of a hero."
Department of Transport figures show that 57% of drivers regularly exceed the 70mph limit on motorways. A further 19% drive at more than 80mph on dual carriageways. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2289466.stm | A chaplain is calling for a planned "naked night" to be cancelled.
Organisers for the dance party at Leicester University have already sold more than 1,000 tickets, and say no one will actually be completely naked at the event.
Leicester University chaplain Steven Crofts says students are being misled and the Naughty Naked Night should be stopped.
"The human body is a beautiful creation and is made by God. An event like this is looking at the body as an object and that is a negative point of view," he said.
Organisers Hot Dog Promotions say people will be scantily clad, but any completely naked students will be turned away.
Peter Lewis, student union president, said: "There are issues around decency and nakedness, and we are not expecting problems, but if this happens people will be asked to cover up."
One advertisement for the event says: "Rude revellers to reveal all at raunchy rave".
One of the event's organisers, Roman, said the idea started as an April Fool's Day joke that was an attempt to get people "back to basics".
He said: "People are getting a bit too conformed and people need to let their hair down.
"We will adhere to the licensing laws, but I expect some people to come in loin cloths and others in lingerie or fetish wear."
Leicestershire Police say they do not anticipate any problems at the weekend event. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-44733802 | Often the hype about a political event is in inverse proportion to the drama of what actually comes to pass. Maybe not this time.
Cabinet ministers will today meet at Chequers with the aim of approving the prime minister's blueprint for the UK's future relationship with the EU after Brexit.
But Brexiteer ministers have warned that the 120-page plan as written is flawed. They were discussing late on Thursday how to respond during the cabinet meeting.
And to say that they are a bit miffed with the plan, which they only received in its entirety on Thursday afternoon, is an understatement. There is plenty in there that they don't like, and it's easy to see why.
A commitment for a legally binding agreement to follow EU rules on goods, so that they can be traded freely under a "common rule book"
The paper also suggests that, while trade deals with other countries like the US would be possible, they might be harder to do because under rules agreed with the EU, it would be harder to meet other countries' "asks".
One cabinet minister also expressed unhappiness with the proposed customs model - the facilitated customs arrangement - saying that it was like "customs partnership minus" - simply a revision of the customs partnership model that was rejected by the inner Brexit cabinet committee weeks ago.
One senior Tory suggested that "the party wouldn't wear it". A senior Brexiteer minister said that a lot of the document was "problematic", and that there was a "lot of scope for argument".
Essentially, for those who want a dramatic break with the EU, it falls far short, even though Number 10 insists it is merely an evolution of what the prime minister has already promised.
Frankly, from what we have heard, language is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, with much of it "opaque".
It does sketch out a relationship with the EU that is much tighter than Brexiteers had argued for. Would it really be Brexit? Number 10 would say yes, Jacob Rees Mogg would say no.
For the rest of us? That depends what you think the country voted for.
Tension around the meeting is high, with ministers being instructed in an email that they will have to hand in their phones and Apple watches on arrival at Chequers.
Brexiteer ministers shared concerns at a meeting in the foreign secretary's office on Thursday night over the plan, with a source saying "it's not going to fly".
They said that they will "simply reject it if she tries formally to impose it". But another Brexiteer source said they would have to "talk it out" before coming to any conclusions about the plan.
But a cabinet minister who has been pushing for a tight relationship with the EU told the BBC that while the plan was "fiendishly complicated... no one had a better idea".
A former cabinet minister who advocates closer ties to the EU told the BBC that they had urged the prime minister to consider sacking Brexiteers who refuse to sign up.
They suggested that "blood on the carpet" might not be a bad thing. They said they believed the prime minister "has had enough steel put in her spine" to be able to command ministers to back her plan or carry out a reshuffle.
There is however concern in the City, too, over the suggestion of giving up the prospect of a close deal on services to guarantee an end to free movement. One insider suggested that Chancellor Philip Hammond may try to "wedge" services back into the draft agreement on Friday.
Sources on all sides of the argument suggest that it is too early to tell how the talks tomorrow will end. There are demands for "significant redrafting". The discussions start at around 10:00 BST and are expected to wrap up at about 22:00 BST.
Insiders also suggest that with the EU likely to reject much of the plan, the real debate will focus on what to do if and when Brussels says no, with Brexiteers pushing a "Canada plus" model.
Another cabinet minister told the BBC that even though the EU was unlikely to accept it straight off, the point of this week's talks was not to find a final agreement, but simply to "start a conversation" with Brussels so that vital talks on the future relationship can get going.
Until now, the negotiations have focused on the withdrawal agreement - the divorce deal - with no formal engagements over the long-term arrangements. An outline of the political agreement on that deal is supposed to be in place by October.
To have any hope of a genuine and substantial deal by the autumn, the prime minister needs Brussels to take her, and her approach, seriously. If she fails to get agreement, her ability to project the authority that's needed for that to happen will be seriously put into question.
But if she pushes ahead with the plan she will have to face down a powerful and vocal wing in her party.
Some of her colleagues might heave a huge sigh of relief, and think, "about time too". But her party, and the rest of us, have no way of knowing tonight if that decision - which would risk her leadership - is one she is really willing to take. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-45482434 | A number of suspected illegal immigrants, including children, have been found in the back of a lorry in Portsmouth.
A total of 31 people were discovered on Quartremaine Road at about 08:00 BST.
The Home Office said the group included 22 men - including 18 from Iraq and three from Iran - aged between 20 and 30, and five unaccompanied children.
There was also a family of four, including two children aged two and four.
The unaccompanied children, aged 16 and 17, and the family said they were Iraqi, a Home Office spokeswoman said.
One of the men in the group did not declare his nationality, she added.
The family members were taken to hospital as a precaution but later discharged into the care of the police.
They will be "released to report regularly to the Home Office while their case is progressed", the spokeswoman added.
The men remain in immigration detention for further interviews, while the unaccompanied children have been referred to social services.
Portsmouth City Council said the five teenagers were now in its care.
"All cases will be progressed in line with the UK immigration rules. Where someone has no right to remain in the UK, we will take action to remove them," the Home Office said.
Witness Gary Spurrier said about 20 police vehicles and ambulances were sent to the scene.
Another witness, Kevin Streeter, said: "A couple [of those detained] sort of lay on the path, dehydration maybe the cause.
"They did look pretty drawn out and really tired." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8096701.stm | European buyers of Windows 7 will have to download and install a web browser for themselves.
Bowing to European competition rules, Microsoft Windows 7 will ship without Internet Explorer.
The company said it would make it easy for PC makers and users to get at and install the web browsing program.
In response the European Commission expressed scepticism over the move and whether it would allay accusations of Microsoft abusing its market position.
"We're committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world," Dave Heiner, Microsoft deputy general counsel, said in a statement, "but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product.
"We believe that this new approach, while not our first choice, is the best path forward given the ongoing legal case in Europe."
In response the European Commission said "it would also have to consider whether this initial step of technical separation of IE from Windows could be negated by other actions by Microsoft".
In early 2008, Microsoft was fined 899m euros (£765m) by the European Commission for anti-competitive behaviour over bundling in the media player and browser into Windows.
In January 2009, Brussels reached a "preliminary view" that Microsoft was denting the chance for true competition by bundling its browser software in with its operating system.
Microsoft is due to defend itself against the charges in a hearing.
If Microsoft fails to convince the Commission that it is not harming competition could mean more fines and enforced changes to the way it does business.
"We're committed to launching Windows 7 on time in Europe, so we need to address the legal realities in Europe, including the risk of large fines," said Mr Heiner.
Windows 7 is due to be released worldwide on 22 October.
"In terms of potential remedies, if the Commission were to find that Microsoft had committed an abuse, the Commission has suggested that consumers should be offered a choice of browser not that Windows should be supplied without a browser at all," said the Commission in a statement responding to Microsoft's announcement.
It said Microsoft's approach of offering the program to computer manufacturers "may potentially be more positive" in terms of remedying its alleged abusive behaviour.
It added that if Microsoft were found to be abusing its position, the commission would have to work out if the uncoupling of IE offset that behaviour. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3266745.stm | Windfarms are the worst architectural eyesores in Britain, readers of Country Life magazine have declared.
Motorways and service stations also rank highly in the poll, which sought nominations on buildings and structures that blight the UK.
Second and third on the list are New Street rail station in Birmingham, and Oxfordshire's Didcot Power Station.
The majority of readers voted for examples that affected them locally, the magazine said.
3. Oxfordshire's Didcot Power Station.
"Some chose buildings they considered to be badly designed and thus insensitive to their surroundings," it said.
But the magazine expressed surprise at the inclusion in the top 10 of Knightsbridge Barracks, in London.
It defended Basil Spence's high-rise structure as a "dramatically modern and uncompromising building".
The inclusion of New Street station was more predictable, it said, calling the terminus an "airless and confusing warren housing one of the country's most important rail interchanges".
Leading figures with a background in art, architecture and design were asked to show how they might redesign an eyesore of their choice.
Janet Street Porter, the Independent on Sunday's editor-at large, chose to demolish the Victoria Shopping Centre in Harrogate.
Architect John McAslan took it upon himself to radically redesign Heathrow, which he described as "the world's worst airport".
Alan Powers, design historian and architect, recommended a streamlining of the 1950s Bowater House, on London's Hyde Park.
Artist Hugh Buchanan suggested Edinburgh University's 1970s Appleton Tower be redesigned as an 18th-century tenement block.
And Ptolemy Dean, architect and consultant to BBC Two's Restoration programme, felt passengers disembarking at Ashford station in Kent on the new, high-speed rail line from the Continent should be met with an attractive, low-rise housing development instead of the imposing Charter House Tower.
What is the worst eyesore in the UK? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-26631299 | A man has been jailed for life for murdering a war veteran at his home in Greater Manchester.
Widower Frank Worsley, 87, died almost three weeks after Daniel Crompton attacked him as he burgled his home in Bolton on 3 August.
Crompton, 24, of no fixed address, denied murder but admitted robbery and two counts of burglary.
He was found guilty by a jury at Manchester Crown Court and ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years in prison.
Judge Mr Justice Turner told Crompton his actions were "as brutal as they were cowardly".
The court was told Crompton had been taking drugs and drinking and had run out of money.
Police said he broke into Mr Worsley's house in Longfield Road, Daubhill, by climbing up a drainpipe and getting in through the bathroom window.
Mr Worsley was asleep in bed when he was woken by Crompton demanding money.
Crompton repeatedly punched Mr Worsley in the face and head, police said.
He then stole his bank book, wallet and cheque book and fled.
Mr Worsley, who lived alone, later suffered a stroke as a result of the blows and died in hospital 17 days after the attack.
Crompton admitted the burglary at Mr Worsley's home at an earlier hearing, along with another burglary earlier the same night.
Mr Worsley's family said in a statement after sentencing they were "very pleased" with the verdict.
However, they said they would never recover from "this traumatic loss".
The family said Mr Worsley had been a carer for his wife Mary, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and died 11 months earlier.
"We could be more accepting of his death if it had been of old age - peaceful and dignified," the family said in a statement.
"Instead it wasn't peaceful, he wasn't comfortable; he was scared, agitated and distressed as a result of this callous attack."
Crompton was given 18 months for two counts of burglary to run concurrently. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-47292029 | The Scottish government has committed in principle to introducing a charge on disposable drinks cups - a so-called "latte levy" - as part of its budget deal with the Greens.
The aim is to reduce the number of single-use coffee and other drinks cups that being are sent to landfill or incinerated every year.
What do we know about the scale of the problem?
Keep Scotland Beautiful estimates that almost 500 million single-use disposable cups are given out in Scotland every year.
These paper cups often are not or cannot be recycled - the basic materials which go into them generally are recyclable, but the process of doing it can be complicated, and costly.
The Confederation of Paper Industries told MPs that only about 0.25% of these cups actually are recycled, and that "paper cups cannot be regarded as generally recyclable".
Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell said: "They're very difficult to recycle because they're plastic and cardboard together. They end up being incinerated or in landfill a lot of the time, they end up in our communities as litter or even in the sea."
The Scottish government has already removed disposable cups from its own buildings, and says this will save 450,000 of them being thrown away every year.
What's to be done about it?
Some big coffee shop chains such as Starbucks and Costa have introduced in-store recycling systems and targets.
And many shops now offer a discount on hot drinks for customers who bring in or buy re-usable cups, rather than taking disposable ones.
However, some campaigners want to go further than this and introduce a charge for each cup given out - similar to the charge for plastic bags in supermarkets, which saw a huge drop in the number of disposable bags issued.
Having such a levy could give people an incentive to buy reusable cups, and encourage the industry to come up with alternatives.
Given the number of cups given out daily in Scotland, it could also raise a significant sum of money - which could potentially be ploughed back into environmental projects or local efforts to tackle litter.
Westminster's environmental audit committee called on the UK government to introduce a 25p charge on disposable cups in 2018, but this was ultimately rejected by Chancellor Philip Hammond.
So a levy on these cups in Scotland could be the first of its kind in the UK.
What are the arguments against the move?
One concern is cost. The charge can be passed onto customers via price rises, or swallowed by the company giving out the cups - and some small businesses fear that they couldn't afford either.
Gillian Hadden, who runs the Big Baps takeaway van in Aberdeen, told BBC Scotland that her customers "can't really withstand another price increase", and that carrying the cost herself would be a "huge outlay".
This is disputed by Mr Ruskell, who argued that the plastic bag charge "hasn't been damaging for businesses".
He said: "We're seeing many coffee houses around Scotland and the UK introducing reusable cups and selling those to consumers, and compostable cups are becoming popular too - so there are opportunities for business here as well."
There is also an argument that coffee cups are a drop in the ocean of plastic and paper waste, and that efforts might be better focused elsewhere.
The UK government has suggested that it would better for shops to offer voluntary discounts to customers bringing their own cups.
Rejecting calls for a "latte levy" in his Autumn Budget speech in 2018, Mr Hammond said that "a tax in isolation would not, at this point, deliver a decisive shift from disposable to reuseable cups across all beverage types".
Keep Scotland Beautiful meanwhile has launched the Cup Movement, a campaign in Glasgow to see more disposable cups recycled and a move towards reusable ones.
So what's the plan, and when might it happen?
The precise details of the Scottish scheme are still being worked out, but Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has committed "in principle to the use of charging in relation to disposable drinks cups", alongside other measures to reduce plastic waste.
The plans actually date back to the 2017 Programme for Government, when Nicola Sturgeon appointed an expert panel to "advise on the use of charges, similar to the successful plastic bag charge" to "end the throw-away culture".
An expert panel, led by Dame Sue Bruce, has been examining the issue and is due to report back in the coming months.
The Scottish Greens are calling for an initial 25p levy per cup, to increase annually, with the proceeds going to local environmental projects, councils and charities.
The government says its plans will "include consideration of whether revenue from any charge can be placed under the control of local authorities".
Ministers have promised to draw up legislation in the 2019-20 parliamentary year, although it will take some time for this to pass through parliament and be implemented.
So it could be 2020 or 2021 before any the new levy actually becomes a reality. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/4713226.stm | Powys Council has barred one of its councillors from debating and voting on planning applications relating to wind farms.
Bob Mills, who represents a Newtown ward, is believed to be the first Powys councillor to be banned in such a way.
Council chiefs said Mr Mills had prejudiced his position by making his opinions about wind turbines public at a meeting and in a newspaper.
But he claimed he had been "gagged" by the council for having an opinion.
The council said it had strict guidelines about impartiality when it came to planning issues.
In a letter to the Mr Mills, who sits on the authority's planning committee, the council's monitoring officer Jeremy Patterson reminded the councillor of them.
Mr Patterson said Mr Mills had formed a "clear and settled view" in relation to wind energy.
He added: "I am aware that you had a letter published in the County Times on 30 December which on my reading clearly indicates that you have formed a very clear and unequivocal view on the issue of wind power."
He said Mr Mills had also expressed "very strong views" about wind energy at a council meeting on 26 January.
As a result, Mr Patterson said Mr Mills would have to leave the council's debating chamber during discussions and voting on future wind energy applications.
Mr Mills, an independent councillor for Newtown south ward, said he was "very, very annoyed" by the decision.
"I am being gagged for having an opinion about wind farms," he said.
"It's very difficult not to have an opinion about something that is so emotive in Wales."
Conservative AM Glyn Davies sympathised with Mr Mills.
He said: "If anyone who publicly expresses either their support for or opposition to wind farms is going to be banned from the decision making process, the concept of free speech is dead.
"I have already accepted that because I have been elected chair of the national assembly's environment, planning and countryside committee that I am unable to publicly express my opinion on wind farms."
There are around 400 wind turbines in Wales, many of them in central areas of the country. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8322322.stm | Nick Griffin: "It was not genuine Question Time, it was a lynch mob"
BNP leader Nick Griffin is to complain to the BBC over his controversial appearance on Question Time, saying he had faced a "lynch mob".
Mr Griffin argues the normal format of Thursday's programme was changed and it should not have been held in London.
The fallout from the show - watched by eight million people - has intensified, with Mr Griffin's fellow panellists saying he had been "shown up".
But critics said the show had given the BNP huge publicity.
The BNP claims 3,000 people registered to join the party during and after the broadcast.
Meanwhile, an opinion poll carried out after Mr Griffin's appearance suggests 22% of voters would "seriously consider" voting BNP in a future local, general or European election.
Two-thirds of the 1,314 people polled by YouGov for the Daily Telegraph dismissed voting for the party under any circumstances, with the rest unsure.
However, more than half of those polled said they agreed or thought the party had a point in speaking up for the interests of indigenous, white British people.
Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, who led a campaign to exclude Mr Griffin from Question Time, said: "This is exactly what I feared and warned about.
"The BBC has handed the BNP the gift of the century on a plate and now we see the consequences. I'm very angry about this."
The BBC has defended Question Time, which was watched by four times its normal audience but also attracted a large number of complaints, saying it had a duty to be impartial and that audience members had selected the questions which set the programme's agenda.
More than 240 complainants felt the show was biased against the BNP, while more than 100 of the complaints were about Mr Griffin being allowed to appear on Question Time.
In addition, more than 50 people contacted the BBC to show their appreciation for the programme.
What did voters make of Griffin?
Mr Griffin, who was one of two BNP candidates to be elected to the European Parliament earlier this year, faced robust questioning about his views on race, immigration and the Holocaust from a largely hostile audience.
He criticised Islam, defended a past head of the Ku Klux Klan but insisted that he was "not a Nazi".
In a press conference on Friday, the BNP leader said he would be making an official complaint to the BBC about the programme, saying its normal format had been "twisted" so that it focused solely on his views.
"That was not a genuine Question Time, that was a lynch mob," he said.
He challenged the BBC to ask him on the show again and to allow a wider range of subjects to be discussed.
He also claimed the audience was not representative of the UK as a whole as levels of immigration in London meant it was "no longer a British city".
Mr Griffin's fellow guests on the show said his performance had exposed his real views and the true attitudes of the BNP.
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said Mr Griffin had been "taken aback" by the hostility of the audience which showed most people in the UK wanted "nothing" to do with his views.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw, also on the panel, said Mr Griffin had been subjected to proper scrutiny and his performance had been "catastrophic".
The BNP leader was booed at the start of the hour-long recording and accused of trying to "poison politics".
He insisted his views had been widely misrepresented in the media and denied a string of statements attributed to him.
The show covered topics including whether it was fair for the BNP to "hijack" images of Winston Churchill, whether immigration policy had fuelled the BNP's popularity and whether Mr Griffin's appearance was an early Christmas present for the party.
The only question not to relate directly to the BNP concerned a contentious newspaper article written about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.
The BBC said the questions had come, as usual, from the audience and were a response to issues in the news over recent days.
"The programme is topical," a BBC spokesman said. "People would accept that the BNP and Question Time have been prominent topics this week."
Members of the audience reflected a cross-section of political views and different backgrounds, the BBC stressed.
The BBC said the audience figures - which peaked at 8.2 million - showed the level of public interest in the scrutiny of elected officials.
"The BBC is firm in its belief it was appropriate for Mr Griffin to appear as a member of the panel," said deputy director general Mark Byford.
Six protesters were arrested and three police officers injured during demonstrations outside BBC Television Centre ahead of the broadcast.
Why exactly do people vote for the BNP? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11795159 | Westminster Abbey has been confirmed as the wedding venue for Prince William and Kate Middleton but, royalty aside, it symbolises many things to many people.
When Prince William and his bride walk down the aisle of the famous medieval church in London next year, their royal footsteps will echo down the ages.
No fewer than 38 kings and queens have been crowned there in an unbroken run since 1066, and it is the final resting place of 17 monarchs.
The royal association began with Anglo-Saxon monarch Edward the Confessor, who built the Abbey in the 11th Century on the site of an earlier 10th Century monastery.
He was buried there in 1066 - a tradition that lasted into the 19th Century - and in the same year on Christmas Day, William the Conqueror became the first monarch to be crowned at the Abbey.
In fact, the church is better known for burials than marriages.
The 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, gripped a nation and, for many people, the image of Prince William and his family walking behind the cortege of his mother is the abiding image of the building.
Royal weddings at the Abbey are a 20th Century phenomenon, according to Richard Jenkyns, author of the book, Westminster Abbey.
He said: "The tradition had been for quite a long time that the royals would get married at Windsor or the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace.
"Having a royal wedding on such a grand scale was quite an innovation."
When Princess Patricia of Connaught, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, married Alexander Ramsay in 1919, it was the first royal wedding there for 650 years.
Then in 1923, Prince Albert, the Duke of York (later King George VI) became the first prince to marry there. The Queen also wed there.
But beyond royalty, the Abbey has other deeply poignant associations.
On 11 November 1920, the remains of an unidentified soldier killed on the European battlefield of World War I were brought from France to be buried there.
The grave of the Unknown Warrior forever stands as a powerful symbol of war - representing all who fell and continue to fall.
For others, the Abbey is the place where famous thinkers, prime ministers, industrialists, scientists, writers and actors are laid to rest or commemorated.
Westminster Abbey's website lists 290 well-known figures through the ages, but says they are only the most famous.
The monuments and tombs tell the story of the men and women whose lives formed and changed British history.
In 1400 the poet Geoffrey Chaucer - author of the Canterbury Tales - was buried in what has since become known as Poet's Corner.
Charles Darwin's grave is near Sir Isaac Newton's - alongside the great and the good spanning more than 1,000 years.
The Abbey is known as a "Royal Peculiar" - which means it belongs directly to the monarch, not to a diocese or province of the Church.
Its formal name is the Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster and it has been called "the parish church of the world" because of its strong historic links with Europe, the US and the Commonwealth.
The present structure was started by Henry III in 1245 and has a capacity of about 2,000 - although during the Queen's coronation tiers and galleries were installed to seat 8,200 people.
The building is considered one of the UK's most important Gothic buildings, housing treasures including paintings, stained glass, pavements, textiles and other artefacts.
The library contains important collections of archives, books and manuscripts and a place to study them.
During World War II, immovable treasures and tombs were protected by about 60,000 sandbags, and tapestries, gilt bronzes, statues and manuscripts were removed to country houses for safety.
However, stained glass windows were blown out by a blast in 1940 and, in May 1941, fire bombs fell on the roof and in the precincts, burning beams and melting lead.
The Abbey remains a church of active worship, with daily prayers as well as a number of services throughout the year to mark anniversaries and special occasions.
None, currently, will be more eagerly anticipated than the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/snooker/4963566.stm | Graeme Dott defeated Peter Ebdon 18-14 in a monumental contest to win the World Championship at The Crucible.
Dott went into the last session leading 15-7 but Ebdon won six successive frames to reduce the deficit to two.
Runs of 66 and 68 took Dott to within one frame of victory and, although Ebdon had chances to win frame 32, it was Dott who fell over the line first.
It was the longest final in Crucible history, surpassing even the Dennis Taylor-Steve Davis classic in 1985.
After the match Dott, who lost the 2004 final to Ronnie O'Sullivan, admitted he thought his title chance was crumbling in the face of Ebdon's thrilling fightback.
"I thought it was slipping away from me," he said. "Before that frame I went and washed my face. I really thought my chance had absolutely gone.
"After that I decided to quicken up the pace and felt really comfortable."
Meanwhile, Ebdon, champion in 2002 and a beaten finalist in 1996, paid generous tribute to his conqueror.
"Graeme is tough, dogged and resilient and everything you would expect a world champion to be," said the Dubai-based Englishman.
"He outplayed me for three sessions and some of his safety play was brilliant. He thoroughly deserves his victory."
Scotland's Dott, who has never won a tournament before, resumed 11-5 ahead on Monday and took the opening frame with a 56 clearance.
Ebdon looked relaxed as he took the next with a 78 clearance, his second-highest break of the final to that point.
But normal service resumed in the next with both players spurning opportunities to take the frame and Ebdon just nicking it with a run of 28.
Frame 20 must have rocked Ebdon, who had a number of chances to win it after Dott broke down on 62 but was unable to hold his nerve.
Dott took the next with a 65 clearance after Ebdon missed a black into the middle pocket and the Scot took another scrappy frame, the last of the session, to establish an eight-frame lead.
But Ebdon came storming back after the restart, knocking in a 117 break, the highest of the final, to make it 15-9.
He proceeded to win the next three frames to make it 15-11 at the mid-session interval.
Both players climbed into the trenches for frame 27, which turned out to be the longest in World Championship history at 74 minutes.
Dott moved into a lead of 40 before a tense - and lengthy - safety exchange, punctuated by missed long potts, ensued.
Dott and Ebdon took turns missing the green before Ebdon mustered the composure to mop up and make it 15-12.
Ebdon then went from marathon man to sprinter, rattling up a run of 84, before Dott claimed his first frame of the evening courtesy of a 66 break.
Ebdon won the next frame to make it 16-14 before Dott inflicted a huge psychological blow by taking the next.
Ebdon had made a 51 break before running out of position and Dott, digging deep into his reserves, replied with a run of 69 to move to within one frame of victory.
On taking the frame, Dott let out a primeval roar, but Ebdon looked far from rattled at the start of frame 32.
However, looking well set, Ebdon missed a pink into the left-centre pocket and Dott was back in it.
Ebdon had other chances, but a missed red into the corner pocket opened the door for Dott, who held his nerve and cleared up - even finding time to kiss the trophy along the way. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47921885 | Officers opened fire in west London on Saturday morning during an incident involving a car that was colliding with vehicles.
The Ukrainian embassy said its ambassador's vehicle was "deliberately rammed" as it sat parked outside the building in Holland Park.
Officers used firearms and a Taser before arresting a man in his 40s on suspicion of attempted murder.
Police said the uninjured man was "taken to a central London hospital as a precaution".
They added that the situation was neither ongoing nor being treated as terror-related.
The Met said its officers arrived at the scene just before 10:00 BST after "reports of antisocial behaviour involving a car".
The embassy said none of its staff had been injured and that police were now investigating "the suspect's identity and motive for the attack".
The police arrested the man on suspicion of the attempted murder of police officers and criminal damage.
Local resident Heather Feiner, originally from the US, added: "From the time I heard the shots until I got to the window, which took about 15 seconds, all these police cars were already there.
"I could see a police officer that fired the shots. I could see them pointing their gun at the car.
"From what I could see [the suspect] didn't appear to be struggling at that point."
Emma Slatter, who witnessed the arrest, believes the man reversed into the diplomat's car while backing away from an oncoming police car.
"It seems like he was moving erratically or wanting to move away from being boxed in, maybe not realising there were police behind him as well," she said.
She added: "That was when he collided backwards."
Ch Supt Andy Walker, from the Met's specialist firearms command, said: "As is standard procedure, an investigation is now ongoing into the discharge of a police firearm during this incident.
Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan tweeted that he was "very concerned" to hear about the incident and added that he'd spoken with Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Natalia Galibarenko.
The MP for Rutland and Melton also thanked the police for their "swift response". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2040519.stm | Delays ahead: Could your mobile phone help?
A system that spots when drivers with mobile phones are stuck in a traffic jam could soon be used to help motorists dodge queues.
Network providers will be able to detect when congestion is building up on roads and motorways with the new program, which is being tested in the UK and Sweden.
It relies on the fact that, when switched on, cellphones are in regular communication with the nearest base station, giving a precise location for the phone.
As the user moves around, their phone sends signals to other base stations, allowing the network's computer to log their route.
By monitoring the activity of hundreds of users, the system can build up a picture of where delays are occurring.
It also detects peaks in the number of calls being made, as drivers reach for their mobile phones to say they will be late.
Applied Generics, which is based near Edinburgh, says the program will provide more accurate traffic information than that which is currently available.
It is accurate enough to help emergency services locate traffic incidents, according to a report in New Scientist magazine.
Joe Dixon of Applied Generics told BBC News Online: "We believe that nobody else has got as high a quality of traffic information.
"Within five minutes of being switched on the system is able to generate traffic information for over 90% of roads in the network."
Mr Dixon said he hoped the system would be up and working in Europe in the next few months and in the UK by next year.
Network providers will be able to sell the information on to subscribers or to motoring organisations.
But the Automobile Association says it has reservations about the scheme.
According to spokesperson Louisa Dean, similar systems have been trialled in the United States but have never been launched.
She said it was useful for telling how many cars were travelling at a certain speed but could not give information about such things as accidents or roadworks.
"It doesn't give information as to why there is a problem," she told BBC News Online.
Such knowledge is important to drivers, she added.
World Cup win for 3G phones? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15772773 | Wonky carrots, misshapen potatoes and tonnes of food rejected by supermarkets have been used to give 5,000 people a free curry lunch in Trafalgar Square.
The event organised by charities and farmers aimed to show that a lot of food binned in the UK could be eaten.
Official figures released this week suggest the average British family wastes £680 worth of food a year.
Organisers want people to sign a pledge promising to reduce their food waste and are asking firms to do the same.
"Feeding the 5000" is a partnership between farmers and a group of environmental charities that campaign for better use of surplus food - FareShare, FoodCycle, Love Food Hate Waste and Friends of the Earth.
It was organised by writer Tristram Stuart, who has described the amount of food thrown away in the West as a "global scandal".
Preparation for the enormous feast began a few days ago with more than 100 volunteers washing, peeling and chopping tonnes of vegetables in four-hour shifts.
Andrew Makin, 27, was among them: "We peeled masses of carrots. I've never seen such huge vatts of ingredients... I did get sore wrists."
All the food for the event has been donated by UK farms and butchers - food they would have thrown away for being the wrong shape or just not what customers want.
Offal chef Tom Hunt stands over steaming, fragrant pots of stock.
He said: "Offal is scary, it's insides, it's real life, it's meat. People have become detached from what that really is. It can be amazing."
The curry arrives in huge containers that come to my chest. The smell is amazing and by the time it is on your plate who cares if the carrot was twisty or the potato too small?
And if there are any leftovers a small huddle of pigs are on hand to scoff the lot.
"Over the last four decades food prices have come down and food has become more disposable," he said.
"But there are a billion hungry people in the world and demand for more food in the West is contributing to that by pushing up prices elsewhere but then we're throwing a third of it away.
"Personally you may be able to afford to do that but can the planet?".
Mr Stuart said the increasing demand for food production was contributing to deforestation, soil erosion, water depletion and the loss of biodiversity in other parts of the world.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson was on hand to dish up the first bowl of food. He said it was for politicians to take a lead and help change people's opinions.
He said the public had become prejudiced against misshapen veg.
"Mutant food, this stuff is great to eat. It's completely crackers that good healthy stuff like this is being sent to landfill," he said.
Results from the government's Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap) show there has been a 13% reduction in household food waste since 2006-7 but figures suggest £12bn worth of food is still wasted by families each year.
Part of the aim of the event was to give people ideas about how to create tasty meals out of leftovers and food they would otherwise throw away.
Chefs including Thomasina Miers, Valentine Warner and Arthur Potts Dawson helped prepare the food to demonstrate what is possible.
Mr Stuart said: "When people get a bowl of food in front of them and it's delicious they automatically ask why would that have been wasted and we have proved our point."
Journalist Rosie Boycott, who runs her own small organic farm and chairs the London Food Board, believes there are lots of creative ways to avoid food waste in our homes.
She said: "Making food go further helps us rediscover the pleasures of home cooking and saves pounds off the weekly food bill.
"Feeding the 5000 brings to life the idea that all food is good food, and every morsel of it is too good to waste."
As well as asking the public to pledge to change their ways, businesses are being asked to sign up to use the "Feeding the 5000 pyramid".
It is made up of promise to reduce as much waste as possible, redistribute surpluses to charity, use what is left as animal feed if possible, recycle through composting and anaerobic digestion and only put food waste in landfill if there is no other option.
Video Do celebrity chefs create more food waste? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46922989 | Car insurance costs are climbing for the first time since 2017, partly because of Brexit uncertainty, according to the AA.
Over the last three months, the cost of a fully comprehensive policy climbed 2.7% to £609.93 on average.
Premiums have also climbed because an expected cut in claims costs won't now take effect until April 2020.
"But underlying all of this are concerns surrounding Brexit," said AA's director of insurance Janet Connor.
She said: "Regardless of what the final deal looks like, the market has continued to battle with the value of sterling.
"This has led to the rising cost of imported car parts, further adding costs to the car repair industry which ultimately finds its way to the premiums we pay."
Another key factor is the Civil Liabilities Bill - which limits the cost of whiplash.
That was expected to take effect when the Bill became law last month, but will not now come into force for more than a year.
"Although the Civil Liabilities Bill has now been ratified, delaying the new provisions until April 2020 has meant that recent premium reductions in expectation that claims cost savings along with upward adjustment of the discount rate were premature, explained Ms Connor.
The AA survey echoes similar figures published earlier this month by MoneySupermarket which showed that premiums had hit their highest level since January 2017.
The website's editor-in-chief Tom Flack said: "It is often more expensive to buy insurance in December as there are more cars needing it so insurers don't have to compete as hard for business.
"That means it's harder to tell if the rise in the final quarter of 2018 signals a long-term rise or is just a blip."
The AA warned that younger drivers are feeling the biggest pinch having to face paying premiums averaging £1,317.
Ms Connor said: "Young and newly qualified drivers face a significant penalty when it comes to insurance pricing, not least because they have not built up a no-claim bonus.
"So it is no surprise that some take the risk of driving without insurance."
She said the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) issues some 3,000 insurance advisory warning letters to uninsured drivers every day.
John Blevins, pricing expert at Consumer Intelligence, said black box policies - which use technology known as telematics - are the best way to keep premiums down.
He said: "Average premiums are edging up with prices rising fastest for the over-50s.
"Telematics is making a major contribution to keeping prices under control in particularly for the under-25s who benefit from personalised pricing based on their good driving behaviour.
"If older age drivers want to take more control over premiums and to avoid broad-brush price rises based on their age, they should take a look at telematics."
The AA has called for new drivers using telematics to be exempt from Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) to help cut the cost of policies.
"Telematics policies track driver behaviour and premiums reflect the driving standard of individuals," Ms Connor said.
The number of claims made by drivers with telematics boxes in their cars is up to a third less than those without, according to the AA.
"Not only would a cut in IPT for young drivers using telematic policies discourage uninsured driving, it would also improve road safety for everyone," she said. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3857113.stm | The fossilised skull of a hominid that lived 930,000 years ago has been found in Kenya, Science magazine reports.
The creature may have belonged to the species Homo erectus, says the team which found it, even though its skull is smaller than previously seen.
But the fossil has fuelled a debate over how we group these ancient humans.
One camp claims H. erectus came in many shapes and sizes, while the other says it contains several species - which are incorrectly lumped together.
Both camps think the new find supports their argument. The diminutive skull could either demonstrate how variable H. erectus was - or it could belong to an entirely different species, forcing scientists to rethink hominid classification.
H. erectus lived between about two million and 400,000 years ago. According to one view, it evolved in Africa, but gradually migrated through the Old World.
The first fossil specimen was identified by Eugène Dubois during the late 19th Century, in Java, Indonesia. Since then a collection of remains and artefacts have been found but, especially in Africa, the fossil record is pretty patchy.
This has prevented scientists from gaining a clear picture of how much physical variation is "normal" for the species.
Most of the fossils uncovered have displayed a degree of uniqueness. But it is hard to know whether H. erectus was highly variable, or whether several different species were in fact present.
At the moment nearly every hominid find is placed under the "umbrella" of H erectus, but many researchers are unhappy about it.
"Palaeoanthropologists often have this assumption that every hominid found from that time period is a H. erectus," said Jeffery Schwartz, of the University of Pittsburgh, US. "They group hominids not on the basis of what they look like, but the time when they lived, which is totally unfounded.
"There is a tradition of confusing diversity with variation."
The new fossil, uncovered by a team led by Richard Potts, of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, US, is, once again, unique.
Although adult, it is much smaller than most other specimens and, according to Professor Schwartz, its skull is unlike the original "Java man" H. erectus.
"In the Java specimen the forehead is very long and backwardly sloping and it has very thin projecting brow ridges," he told BBC News Online. "But in Potts' specimen the angle of the forehead is different and the shape of the brow ridges is different."
But is it a different species? Professor Schwartz thinks so, but plenty of others do not.
"It is probably the cranium of a teenage female H. erectus," said Tim White of the University of Berkeley, California, US. "Many species exhibit sexual dimorphism. Gorilla males have a big crest on the top of their heads, but the females never do.
"Did H. erectus have sexual dimorphism? We don't know. But if there is no evidence of another lineage, why create one?"
There is other evidence too, which might support the "one variable species" theory.
Found near Professor Potts' fossil were hand-axes, typical of those associated with H. erectus. Not only that, but the hand-axes are quite big, suggesting they were made by larger individuals.
This has led Professor Potts to speculate that "his" hominid was part of a single population containing both large and small individuals.
And that could suggest broad physical variation existed happily within one species.
"By virtue of being small it extends our understanding of the variation of physical features available at that time," said Professor Potts.
Professor White and Professor Schwartz are very clear on where they stand in the dispute. So what does Professor Potts think?
He is distancing himself from the whole argument. Although he says the individual shared many characteristics with H. erectus, he avoids calling it one.
"We are not going to name this hominid, because we can't be sure," he said. "To my mind it is very difficult to say, just from the bones, where the species boundaries lie.
"This debate generates a lot of heat but not a lot of light. What we are trying to do is reconstruct a very intricate and important process of how our own species arose."
In Professor Potts' opinion, the only way to end the disagreement is to build up the fossil record.
If scientists have a large fossil data-base, they will see patterns of similarities and differences. And then the species boundaries should become clear.
He said: "We just have to undergo the hard work of going out to these field sites, and being really patient and accumulating enough fossils to answer these questions." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31170282 | Did this 100-year-old film make people racist?
When the first ever feature-length film premiered in LA 100 years ago, viewers were astonished by its cinematography, gripping battle scenes and three-hour running time. But it was also racist and helped revive the Ku Klux Klan. Did Birth of a Nation have a greater impact on real life than any other film?
D W Griffith's film tells the story of America during the Civil War and Reconstruction. It depicts black men (white actors in black face) as violent, stupid and obsessed with interracial marriage. In contrast, it paints the Ku Klux Klan as heroes on a mission to protect the country.
The film has an "evil, deeply racist side," says Melvyn Stokes, a film professor at University College London and the author of In the Shadow of 'The Birth of a Nation': A Centennial Assessment of Griffith's film. Despite this, the original audiences were "carried away with the drama of it," Stokes says. "It must have been a very emotional experience seeing it then."
Critics lavished the film with praise for its cinematic power, says Frank Beaver, a professor of screen arts at the University of Michigan - it completely defied their expectations of what a film could be.
It established techniques and tropes that would be used for years to come, which explains why it is listed as 44th on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Greatest Films.
But it also had a huge impact on race relations in America. At its first screening, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a fledgling organisation at the time, protested outside the theatre. Across the country, these demonstrations often flared into violence. They were particularly large in Boston, where local black leader William Monroe Trotter was briefly arrested.
In London, the film had a long run at the Drury Lane Theatre and was a critical success, though there were protests here too, mainly from the Anti-Slavery Society.
The Ku Klux Klan had largely died out in America in the 1870s, but when Birth of a Nation arrived in Georgia, a local white supremacist, William Simmons, used it as a tool to recruit new members. White-clad riders appeared on the streets.
While the Klan's resurgence may not have been a direct effect of the film, it certainly helped promote the KKK's message. "The word had been spread that this was a film that was a powerful attack on outsiders," Beaver says. And the KKK continued to use it as a recruiting film until 1970.
On the other hand, the newly-formed NAACP doubled its numbers in 1915, as it tried unsuccessfully to get the film banned. The outcry "helped build the NAACP's membership and some of its causes," Beaver says.
Perhaps the film had such an impact because of the way it was structured.
The first half "looks just like history in the making" says Beaver. "It led people to believe that this was accurate." It helped Griffith gain their trust before the deeply racist second half of the film.
"If you're going to show the film, you know there'll be a bunch of demonstrators outside your theatre," Stokes says.
So has it had a greater impact than any other film?
Yes, says Beaver. "There is no question. I can't think of another film that has had such a long political arm."
There are other films, though, that have had a non-political impact.
George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, was a graduate student when the film Jaws came out in 1975 - and while most of the audience gasped in fear, he and a few others spent their time at the back of the auditorium "laughing our heads off" at the mistakes.
Like Birth of a Nation, Jaws was a hugely successful film. Burgess hails it as an "excellent piece of cinematography" - as distinct from the later films of the Jaws franchise. It intensified the image many viewers already had of the shark as "the enemy", and even gave it human attributes, such as the desire for revenge.
The result was a "recreational onslaught" Burgess says, "a great spike in the number of fishers who decided to go out catch sharks", and this led to a significant decline of the shark population on the East Coast of the US post-1975, he says.
An increase in commercial shark fishing occurred at about the same time, resulting in a "double whammy" from which the East Coast sharks have yet to recover, Burgess adds. Though populations are now rising again, they are not predicted to return to their earlier levels for several decades.
The effect on the West Coast was not as marked because there is a less diverse shark population, and a greater proportion of Great White sharks - the kind depicted in Jaws - which are hard to catch without specialised equipment.
Another example of a film with a quantifiable impact is the Oscar-winning 2004 film, Sideways, about two friends on a trip through US wine country. Paul Giamatti's character refuses to drink Merlot and instead loves Pinot Noir. Soon after it came out, winemakers started noticing what they called "the Sideways Effect". Pinot Noir sales were up and Merlot sales were dropping.
Steven S Cuellar, a professor at Sonoma State University, researched whether this effect was actually real. He looked at sales of Merlot and Pinot Noir wines, and a control group of the red wines Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from 1999 - 2008.
Sure enough, he saw that Pinot Noir sales climbed after the release of Sideways while Merlot sales flattened - the film had indeed impacted wine sales.
But sharks and wine are not quite as central to life as the politics of race. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/3760405.stm | The controversial supertram project for the north of Bristol is to be officially dropped.
The city's cabinet, meeting on 8 June, will be asked to formally end the council's promotion of the first stage of the project.
The tram had been intended for the north of the city, linking Parkway Station with the city centre.
Several routes that could be used for other kinds of rapid transit or public transport schemes will be safeguarded.
Work will also continue with neighbouring authorities on a new Greater Bristol transport study.
The results of this study would be brought forward for possible inclusion in new regional and sub-regional strategies and the updated Local Transport Plan when it is reviewed in 2005.
Council leader Barbara Janke said: "Of course it would be sad to see the end of the ambitious scheme to deliver a tram link in the north of the city.
"However, we need to be realistic and honest with people about its viability in the light of recent government statements and our own financial situation.
"Now we have to get on with the job of finding other solutions. No one should underestimate the enormity of the task or pretend that we can reduce or remove congestion at a stroke."
Severn Beach Rail Corridor; South Bristol, via Hartcliffe and Bedminster; East Bristol, via the former Bristol to Bath railway route; Portishead, via the Avon Gorge and North Bristol via the Parkway to Temple Meads rail corridor. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44266135 | A landslide vote in favour of overturning Ireland's abortion ban gives "hope" to Northern Ireland, UK minister Penny Mordaunt has said.
The referendum result has sparked calls for the issue to be reassessed in Northern Ireland, where laws are much stricter than the rest of the UK.
But Democratic Unionist MP Ian Paisley said it "should not be bullied into accepting abortion on demand".
Voters in the Irish referendum backed a law change by 66.4% to 33.6%.
Following that result, Northern Ireland will soon become the only part of Britain and Ireland where terminations are all but outlawed.
Those taking part in Ireland's referendum were asked whether they wanted to repeal or retain a part of the constitution known as the Eighth Amendment, which says an unborn child has the same right to life as a pregnant woman.
The vote in favour of repeal paves the way for the Dáil (Irish Parliament) to legislate for change which would see the introduction of a much more liberal regime.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the referendum result was "a fantastic victory for women's rights".
After early results suggested a landslide, women and equalities minister Ms Mordaunt tweeted that it was a "historic" day for Ireland and a "hopeful" day for Northern Ireland, adding "that hope must be met".
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the UK government should take advantage of the current lack of a devolved administration in Northern Ireland.
He said: "Since there is, effectively, direct rule from Westminster, the government has responsibility and it can and should take the opportunity to deal with this issue properly.
"The position in Northern Ireland is now highly anomalous and I think, probably, action will now have to be taken."
The leader of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland, Naomi Long, responded to Ms Mordaunt by saying she could "effect change" in Northern Ireland and should use her "influence with others to ensure this happens".
Labour MP Stella Creasy also responded, tweeting that she hoped Ms Mordaunt would "stand up to colleagues in government stopping reform of our UK abortion laws".
The United Nations said in a report published in February that the UK frequently violated women's rights in Northern Ireland by restricting access to abortion.
And Amnesty International, which campaigned for the yes vote in the Republic, said nearly "three-quarters of people" in Northern Ireland wanted to see a change in abortion laws.
Colm O'Gorman, of Amnesty International Ireland, told Radio 4's Today programme: "It's entirely unacceptable that women and girls there still have to travel over to Britain to access abortion care."
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a charity which provides abortions, said the UK government "cannot continue to try and absolve itself of their responsibility to these women".
Clare Murphy, a director of the charity, said: "While the government can say that abortion is a devolved issue, human rights are not, and the collapse of the NI Assembly means that the power to right this wrong lies solely in Westminster." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43469758 | Cameroon's President Paul Biya has been in power for 35 years but is seeking another seven-year term. His longevity in office is a talking point at home, while the amount of time he spends out of the country has stirred international comment - as Paul Melly, an associate fellow of Chatham House, explains.
Criticised by some for a supposedly "hands-off" style of rule, Cameroon's President Paul Biya in March held a cabinet meeting for the first time in more than two years.
Mr Biya has been in power since 1982, making him one of Africa's longest serving leaders. Under his rule, Cameroon has survived an economic crisis and moved from being a one-party state to multi-party politics.
But it has also been marked by endemic corruption and reversal of democratic gains, leading to the abolition of term limits in 2008, which allowed the octogenarian to run for re-election in 2011.
Today's Africa is changing. The era of decades-old presidencies is slipping away. Satellite TV and the internet tell a growing urban audience about democratic changes of power in other sub-Saharan countries.
Some 60% of Cameroonians are under 25 and so were not even born when President Biya first came to power. There is massive demand for jobs and viable livelihoods.
The opposition Social Democratic Front has now recognised these generational realities. Earlier this year, the party's leader, John Fru Ndi, 76, stepped aside to make way for a new presidential candidate, 49-year-old businessman and former pilot Joshua Osih.
Mr Biya evidently thinks he still has something to Cameroon, even though his repeated absences from the country have riled critics.
His foreign travels have been the subject of an online spat between the state-owned Cameroon Tribune newspaper and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which calculated the amount of time the president spent abroad using reports from the daily newspaper.
The OCCRP estimates that the president spent nearly 60 days out of the country last year on private visits.
It also alleges that he spent a third of the year abroad in 2006 and 2009. The Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva is said to be his favourite destination.
The state-owned Cameroon Tribune called their investigation "a clear electoral propaganda".
Back home, President Biya adopts a low-key style, staying out of the limelight and sometimes retreating to his home village.
He entrusts the day-to-day running of the government to the Prime Minister, Philemon Yang, who holds monthly gatherings of a "cabinet council".
The prime minister is accorded wide latitude to manage the work of his ministerial team, while the head of state meets senior figures in private at the presidential palace in the capital, Yaoundé.
President Biya's hands-off approach has led critics to talk of an "absent president".
However, this relationship at least partly reflects Cameroon's unusual dual heritage of both British and French colonial rule. President Biya, like his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo, is from the Francophone regions, while the premier is always an Anglophone.
The president has to be seen to leave the head of government to get on with the job, says one non-partisan Cameroonian analyst.
So when President Biya does summon ministers to a rare formal cabinet gathering, it is usually for a special reason.
The most recent one was the official first meeting of a new ministerial team after a reshuffle earlier in the month. It is similar to the last cabinet meeting, in 2015, which had come soon after the previous government revamp.
For more than a year, Cameroon's Anglophone regions in the North-West and South-West have been mired in crisis.
This started as a protest by lawyers and teachers demanding better provision for the use of English.
But tensions rose, leading to confrontation between the security forces, a 93-day blackout of internet services across Anglophone Cameroon, and separatist militants fighting for an independent "Ambazonia", with a rising death toll on both sides.
The government took steps to address the language issues, but the situation still looks dangerous. Both the UK and France have discreetly pressed for dialogue.
President Biya responded with a cabinet reshuffle on 2 March, signalling a carrot and stick approach: firmness on security and law and order was balanced with the creation of a ministry for decentralisation, holding out the promise of greater local control over development and public services.
He used this rare cabinet meeting to show his full backing for his ministers as they pursue this twin-track strategy - a firm stance on security in the troubled Anglophone region, but, at the same time, decentralisation, to give local people more control over their own affairs.
So, the so-called absent president had to show a firm hand while also preparing to loosen his grip. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22476600 | The former military leader of Guatemala, Efrain Rios Montt, has protested his innocence at the end of his trial on genocide charges.
It was the first time General Rios Montt, 86, had spoken during the court proceedings.
He said there was no evidence he had ordered the extermination of the Ixil ethnic group during his time in office, in the early 1980s.
Gen Rios Montt is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.
An estimated 200,000 people were killed in Guatemala's civil war, the vast majority of them indigenous Mayans.
Gen Rios Montt has maintained a silence in the courtroom as the multiple charges have been laid out before him.
However, the BBC's central America correspondent Will Grant says that as the closing arguments were being made, he was not going to leave the hearing without protesting his innocence himself.
"I have never ordered genocide," he told the three-judge tribunal.
"I am innocent. I never had the intent to destroy any national race, religion, or ethnic group."
Speaking for nearly an hour, he argued that as president he was in charge of maintaining the integrity of the national territory of Guatemala rather than overseeing the civil war at a local level.
"The commanding officer in charge of the units in the El Quiche region is accountable for the actions," he said.
Our correspondent says that the former military leader - at times calm, at others angry and shouting - made occasional references to his advanced age, at one point saying: "Forgive me, I am a great-grandfather."
He said he would "never accept responsibility for the charges" adding that his "mission as head of state was to reclaim order, because Guatemala was in ruins".
Gen Rios Montt is accused of having ordered the killing of more than 1,700 members of the Ixil ethnic group during his 16 months in power between 1982 and 1983.
Members of the indigenous Ixil Maya group sat in the courtroom on Thursday listening to the proceedings.
Gen Rios Montt's former chief of military intelligence, Gen Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, is on trial alongside him.
Mr Rodriguez also protested his innocence and asked to be freed after "19 months of unfair detention".
Prosecutors said the two generals wanted to wipe out the Ixil group, which they suspected of supporting rebel fighters.
They have asked that both men be sentenced to 75 years in prison.
The trial has been beset with delays, legal loopholes and a temporary suspension.
The judge is expected to retire to consider the evidence before reaching a decision in the coming days or weeks. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47355968 | Theresa May has bowed to pressure from a group of Tory MPs and ministers and agreed to give Parliament a vote on delaying the UK's departure from the EU on 29 March.
This will take place only if MPs reject her Brexit deal for a second time when they vote on it next Tuesday - and then also say no to the UK leaving the EU without a comprehensive, legally binding agreement, the so-called no-deal scenario.
With just 22 days to go, Parliament has yet to approve the terms of withdrawal negotiated with the EU.
MPs will have another "meaningful vote" on Theresa May's deal on 12 March and insisted that if MPs back her, the UK can still leave as planned just over two weeks later.
In the event of MPs backing a pause in the Brexit process, the PM has said she will seek the "shortest possible" delay, while also refusing to rule out the UK still leaving without a deal later in the year.
So if not 29 March, when could the UK actually end up leaving?
The first thing to point out is that any decision to delay the UK's departure by extending the Article 50 process would have to be agreed by both the UK and every other EU member.
The EU has sent out slightly mixed messages on the question, with some senior figures saying a delay would be sensible while others argue there would have to be a good reason for it.
But assuming the EU agrees to it, the first alternative Brexit date that has been touted is 18 April, which happens to be Maundy Thursday.
The thinking behind this is that it is also the last day in which the European Parliament can vote on issues before it breaks up ahead of May's Europe-wide elections - more about those later.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) also have to approve the deal although unlike MPs, who rejected the agreement by a margin of more than 200 votes, they have yet to consider it.
If the UK and EU run out of time to come up with a solution to address MPs' concerns about the current deal - and EU leaders won't hold their next summit until 22 March - or if Mrs May loses MV2 by a narrow margin, there could be a short "technical" delay to allow everyone to regroup and make one last push to get it "over the line".
If the UK Parliament finally consents to the withdrawal agreement in late March or early April, it is thought that MEPs will soon follow suit - although expecting them to do so right at the last minute carries obvious risks.
And would this tight-ish timetable give the UK enough time to prepare for an orderly departure?
Irrespective of whether MPs agree to the deal, there are a number of other complicating factors.
First of all, MPs wrote the 29 March exit date into UK law when they passed the EU Withdrawal Bill last year. This would need to be superseded, although this is done relatively easily by way of a statutory instrument.
Furthermore, Mrs May has promised to enshrine the withdrawal agreement in domestic legislation by passing an Act of Parliament. It normally takes months for bills to pass through the Commons and Lords.
Although the PM has indicated the withdrawal and implementation bill could be fast-tracked, some MPs and peers may kick up a fuss saying two weeks does not leave enough time for proper scrutiny.
Thus 23 May or thereabouts has emerged as a possible new Brexit day. This, the thinking goes, would allow the UK two further months to fully prepare itself for leaving.
It would also see the UK leave before the outcome of May's European elections, due to take place between the 23 and 26 May, in which it will not play any part.
Simon Hart, a member of the Brexit Delivery Group of Tory MPs, has proposed tabling an amendment advocating a "strictly time-limited" delay until 23 May although this was withdrawn after Mrs May urged MPs not to "bind her hands".
Image caption Can Brexit wait until after the summer holidays?
If there are no signs of the two sides finding a solution to the thorny issue of the Irish backstop, then a slightly longer delay becomes a possibility.
Pushing back Brexit by about three months to the end of June would not be ideal for either side.
But it would be an admission that more time is needed for negotiations, particularly if the EU doesn't fancy, as has been reported, making further concessions that it can't be sure would be accepted by MPs.
Leaving on 23 June, on the third anniversary of the Brexit referendum, would be particularly sweet for many Brexiteers although the issue of ratification by the European Parliament would still be outstanding.
Newly elected MEPs from across Europe aren't due to take their seats until early July although they could conceivably convene a special session earlier or, possibly, approve the Brexit deal retrospectively.
There will be a big incentive to get the whole thing done and dusted before the end of July, both for political and more worldly reasons - no-one will want to see their summer holiday plans disrupted if at all possible.
Image caption Could British MEPs have "observer status" in Brussels until the UK leaves?
Once you get past the end of July and the evenings start to draw in, that's when things get trickier.
The EU may be willing to grant one extension to the Brexit process but a series of rolling delays is reportedly not to its liking and a lengthier hiatus may only happen if there were a general election or another referendum.
That said, senior EU officials are reported to have mulled delaying Brexit until 2021 - in the hope the two sides will have negotiated their future relationship by then and this will sort out all the issues relating to the backstop.
But this is likely to be unacceptable to Conservative MPs, and millions of Leave voters, as it would mean the UK was still part of the EU more than five years after it voted to leave in 2016.
There is also the small matter of Europe's parliamentary elections. Could the UK remain in the EU for an indefinite period without sending representatives to Brussels and Strasbourg?
Theresa May has suggested this would not be viable but experts, such as the Institute for Government, have pointed out that there may be ways round this dilemma - in the short term anyway.
These could include the UK's existing MEPs being granted "observer status" with no voting rights or the UK sending national representatives, as Romania and Bulgaria did for four months after they joined in 2007.
Another potential option would be for the UK to re-elect its 73 MEPs - whose seats would otherwise be re-allocated - on an interim basis but to hold the polls at a different time from the rest of the EU.
But the cost of doing this would be controversial and would the Conservatives be willing to put up candidates when they were likely to be accused of betrayal by, among others, Nigel Farage's new Brexit party? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5226076.stm | The UN has called for a three-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow for aid to enter southern Lebanon and for casualties to be removed.
UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said children, elderly and disabled had been left stranded by two weeks of fighting.
US President George W Bush has again dismissed calls for an immediate truce, arguing instead for an international force to be deployed in Lebanon.
President Bush said he would "work with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to seize this opportunity to achieve lasting peace and stability for both of their countries".
Ms Rice is expected to lobby for a UN Security Council resolution that would lead to an international force being deployed in southern Lebanon.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who met Mr Bush in Washington on Friday, said world leaders would discuss the deployment of a "stabilisation force" in Lebanon at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said countries who may be in a position to contribute troops to an international force would attend Monday's meeting.
"Obviously it will be preliminary discussions because we do not have the mandate of the Security Council yet," Mr Annan said.
The UN Security Council is due to discuss the issue later next week.
Mr Bush said the US and UK will push for a "Chapter Seven resolution setting out a clear framework for cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis and mandating the multinational force".
Briefing the Security Council on Friday, Mr Egeland said some 600 people had been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon, of which around a third were children.
"It's been horrific... There is something fundamentally wrong with the war, where there are more dead children than armed men," Mr Egeland said.
He said he would ask the parties involved in the conflict "for at least a 72-hour start of this cessation of hostilities so that we can evacuate the wounded, children, the elderly, the disabled from the crossfire in southern Lebanon".
He said existing humanitarian corridors were not adequate to meet the immense needs of people in the war zone.
Mr Egeland was speaking after completing a visit to Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip.
The UN's Deputy Secretary General has denied the world body feels powerless after the loss of four peacekeepers to Israeli fire in Lebanon this week.
Mark Malloch-Brown told the BBC the UN felt "concerned and frustrated, but not impotent".
The UN Security Council issued a statement on Thursday voicing "shock and distress" at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel.
Israeli army chief Dan Halutz said Israel has killed 26 Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, inflicting "enormous" damage on the Shia militia.
Ten civilians, including a Jordanian, also reportedly died in Israeli attacks in south Lebanon on Friday.
Earlier, Hezbollah said it had fired a new long-range rocket, called the Khaibar-1, into northern Israel.
Also on Friday, two mortar rounds hit a convoy of vehicles evacuating civilians from the village of Rmeish, close to the Israeli border. Two people travelling in a German TV car were wounded.
Refugees from Rmeish said conditions were deteriorating rapidly in the area.
They said some of those still trapped in the village were drinking water from a stagnant pond.
A senior official at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon told the BBC that supplies were "running out very, very fast" in southern Lebanon.
"The south is definitely where the critical needs are at the moment. You've got active combat going on, several tens if not hundreds of thousands of persons displaced within the south," Arafat Jamal said.
Aid agencies also said that many people in the area were in urgent need of medical treatment. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3355061.stm | Teenage soul singer Joss Stone has come fifth in BBC News Online's Sound of 2004 survey to find the best new music artists.
Tips from 60 influential music critics and broadcasters were compiled into a list of artists who they think are likely to enjoy success in the next 12 months.
We will be revealing one artist from the top five every day this week until Friday, when the winner and full top 10 will be announced.
Joss Stone's manager has a trick he likes to play on people who hear her music for the first time.
He plays the CD of her big-voiced, often emotional, sometimes troubled vintage-style soul while the singer is waiting in the next room.
Just as the listener is visualising an Aretha Franklin-style diva, he calls in Stone, a blonde 16-year-old from Devon, England.
This combination of strong, soulful voice with innocent looks and youthful experience has caused some raised eyebrows in her short career.
She "is a lot more Britney than Whitney" noted the New York Times. "That is - until she begins to sing."
The strength and depth of her voice have meant her age, looks and origins have been unimportant for many soul fans who have already discovered her.
The last three months has been a whirlwind of concerts, travelling, promotion in the US and UK for her debut album The Soul Sessions - and hype.
"Joss Stone and her Soul Sessions amount to a load of hype you can dare to believe in," wrote a critic in The Observer newspaper.
"It's been really good - I've been really, really busy, I've been on a million planes," Stone told BBC News Online.
"I've been to different places, met new people, it's been a completely different experience."
That hype has included press descriptions of her as "the white Aretha Franklin".
"I think it's kind of funny," Stone says. "Aretha Franklin? I wish. But it's never going to happen.
"It was a real huge compliment and people are being really nice," she adds.
The Stone story began when she got Franklin's greatest hits for Christmas aged 10, and went on BBC talent show Star for a Night four years later, singing Donna Summer's On The Radio.
Two London producers who saw a later charity show phoned Steve Greenberg, head of the US-based S-Curve Records, to tell him about the greatest British singer they had ever heard.
Greenberg says Stone has "not only a great voice but also the ability to put her own original stamp on classic material".
"She wasn't just mimicking - she was changing and interpreting the songs, and doing it with passion and feeling," he says.
"The level of nuance was just astounding for someone who was then 14 years old."
He hooked Stone up with Grammy-winning soul singer and producer Betty Wright, who described the teenager's voice as "a gift from heaven".
Wright then rounded up her old Miami soul band, some of whom she had not seen for years, to play on The Soul Sessions.
The album includes Stone's versions of songs like Aretha Franklin's All The King's Horses and the Isley Brothers' For The Love Of You.
She also enlisted jazz-rap band The Roots to back her on a soulful version of The White Stripes' rock song Fell In Love With A Girl - which will be her new single.
Her main musical ambition, she says is to play at the Glastonbury music festival - because "it just seems like a fun thing to do and all my friends would be there".
She does not have any other specific ambitions, she says - "just sing anywhere and meet new people and be successful I suppose".
The Sound of 2004 survey was compiled from the tips of almost 60 impartial music critics and broadcasters, who were asked to give three names of artists who they thought would be successful in 2004. The artists who got the most tips were then ranked in order to compile the Sound of 2004 list. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37915755 | Tesco Bank says it has refunded £2.5m to 9,000 customers who had money taken in an attack on their accounts.
The number given for the current account customers hit by the fraud is fewer than half of the 20,000 initially reported to have been affected.
Personal data "was not compromised" in the attack, and all accounts affected had been refunded, the bank said.
Tesco Bank has said it was hit by "a systematic, sophisticated attack" at the weekend.
"We've now refunded all customer accounts affected by fraud and lifted the suspension of online debit transactions so that customers can use their accounts as normal," said chief executive Benny Higgins.
Current account customers had been blocked from making online payments using their debit card since Sunday, an action the bank said it had taken "to prevent criminal activity".
"We'd again like to apologise for the worry and inconvenience this issue has caused," said Mr Higgins.
Mr Higgins said the bank knew "exactly" the nature of the attack, but could not say more because it was part of a criminal investigation.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) is leading the investigation into the case.
Despite a series of questions from BBC News, no more details have been given.
Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), earlier told MPs he was worried about weaknesses in banks' complex IT systems.
The more complex banks' IT systems were, the more potential "points of entry" were available for criminals, he suggested.
"The heart of concern is what is the root cause of this [Tesco attack] and what it tells us about the broader threats," Mr Bailey said.
Banks must refund unauthorised payments immediately in the case of fraud, unless they have evidence that the customer was at fault or the payment was more than 13 months ago.
Banks are also required to refund any charges or interest added to a customer's account as a result of the fraudulent payments. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-12397161 | Two chemical tanks have exploded during a blaze at a design manufacturing plant in Essex.
Six fire crews were called to the Sil-Die factory in Fullbridge, Maldon, at 1245 GMT.
Two phosphorus tanks have exploded and crews have been hampered by a number of potentially explosive chemicals.
The fire service said the two-storey property has been "totally destroyed" and a heavy plume of smoke can be seen over the town.
An Essex Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "First one tank exploded and then that made the second tank explode.
"There was a huge bang and the explosion created a bright white flash with pieces of phosphorus flying out everywhere.
"Crews are battling hard at this incident but the chemicals involved are creating problems. Parts of the building have already collapsed.
"A specialist chemical officer has been ordered to the scene as the basement is thought to contain magnesium developer and acetone fixer."
Roads in the area have been closed. An emergency refuge has been set up by the local authority to provide shelter for those unable to return to their homes.
At 1645 GMT Assistant Divisional Officer Nigel Dilley said the fire was coming under control but that crews expected to remain on the scene for some time.
He said: "The factory itself has been totally destroyed - the roof has collapsed, some of the walls are still standing but there was nothing crews could do to save it.
"The early call from the owner and the information he gave regarding the chemicals and their potential reaction to first crews at the scene averted a much more serious incident.
"We have a fire investigation officer involved in the incident although at this stage we are not treating it as deliberate."
Sil-die is a foiling and embossing manufacturer which produces artwork and design services. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-42972819 | More than 60 schools have been closed across Wales and vehicles are stuck on a road following snow.
Gwynedd has more than 30 schools shut, while snow has also closed dozens of schools across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Anglesey.
A number of vehicles also became stuck on the A4075 in Pembrokeshire between the A40 Canaston Bridge Roundabout and the B4586 near Yerbeston.
Gritters were sent to the road.
The Met Office said temperatures overnight in England and Wales were the coldest on record this year.
A Met Office 'be aware' yellow weather warning was in place for much of Wales for snow and ice until 10:00 GMT Wednesday and overnight temperatures in Sennybridge, Powys plummeted to -7.6C (18.3F).
Motorists were urged to take care on untreated roads.
Met Office meteorologist Martin Bowles said by Wednesday morning, snow flurries "would ease off" and most of the UK would have a "dry, sunny but cold day."
"For much of the country, a big chunk of England and Wales and southern Scotland is going to be dry and colder, with temperatures below average still," he added.
Image caption Motorists have been asked to take care on untreated roads.
National Trust Wales also announced the closure of Penrhyn Castle near Bangor. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34143566 | Andrea Palladio - an Italian who lived 500 years ago - is the only architect whose style is recognised with a suffix in English. As a new exhibition opens in London, we explore the enduring popularity of "Palladianism".
A world without Andrea Palladio's legacy would be a "very depressing one", says Charles Hind, chief curator of collections at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Hind has co-curated Palladian Design: The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected, which runs at Riba in London until January.
Palladio reinterpreted the architecture of ancient Rome for his own time, says Hind. He believed his flexible design principles could be applied to any type of building. From the grandest to the most humble. From an imposing seat of government, to a country cowshed.
"Palladio introduced the concept that Roman architecture could be adapted to benefit all social classes," says Hind, "and that's one reason why his influence has remained more potent than any other architect."
Born in 1508 in Padua in northern Italy, Andrea Palladio spent most of his adult life in the nearby city of Vicenza.
He trained as a stonemason initially, but his life was transformed when he worked for the humanist poet and scholar, Gian Giorgio Trissino, from 1538 to 1539. He was taken to Rome - which gave him the chance to study ancient ruins.
During the Renaissance period, says Hind, very little was known about domestic architecture from the Roman Empire - much of it was yet to be discovered.
Palladio looked instead at ruins of the larger public buildings which were on show, and used this classical inspiration in his designs.
Palladio became known for designing bespoke villas and country houses for aristocrats in north-east Italy - with simplicity and symmetry at the heart of each creation. His designs would have a central hall - with suites of rooms arranged around them.
He was also the first architect to integrate classical porticos - covered columned porches - into domestic housebuilding. Until then they had really only been used on religious buildings.
"Palladio reinvented the architecture of antiquity for contemporary use," Hind says.
"He was enormously successful, extremely quickly."
His first solo villa was built in 1540-1, but by 1545 there were documents showing demand for people wanting villas "alla Palladiana" - in the Palladian style.
More drawings survive from Palladio's hand than all the other Italian Renaissance architects put together, thanks to two English collectors.
Inigo Jones and Lord Burlington transported them in two batches at the start of the 17th and 18th Centuries.
And it is the presence of these drawings in England, argues Hind - plus Palladio's book, The Four Books of Architecture - that were key to his long-term global influence.
This is Inigo Jones' design for the Banqueting House on Whitehall, today one of the most visible 17th Century Palladian buildings in London.
And it was Inigo Jones's adoption of Palladian principles that sparked a revolution in religious architecture. He designed St Paul's in London's Covent Garden, the first classical church in the UK. It was completed in 1633.
It resembles a Roman temple - with columns and a portico.
In the image below, crowds have gathered for election hustings. Today, it is known as the Actors' Church and provides a backdrop for street entertainers.
Nearly 100 years after St Paul's was built, architect James Gibbs also embraced the Palladian style to create one of London's most prominent churches - St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square.
Like Inigo Jones he kept the Roman temple concept, but moved the tower from the far end of the building to behind the portico at the front.
The style has been reproduced many hundreds of times across the world - and is still popular today.
This image, from the US in the 1930s, shows the Palladian concept at a simple level - but it is still an echo of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
In the early 18th Century, the second big collector of Palladio's drawings - Richard Boyle the 3rd Earl of Burlington - was asked to design a townhouse in London for General Wade.
Lord Burlington turned to one of Palladio's original designs - for a palace in Vicenza.
He recreated it in London - keeping strictly to Palladio's guidelines. But despite its handsome frontage, it was not a practical place to live - a mistake which, says Hind, "Andrea Palladio would not have made".
At the time, Lord Chesterfield commented that General Wade "would have been better to rent a house across the street so he could look at his house".
The building was demolished in the 1930s.
Hind says that sticking strictly to Palladio's original designs did not necessarily work well for 17th Century builders in northern Europe - where the climate was cooler.
And so in time, a synthetic style developed - mostly Palladian, but blended with other elements.
When Lord Burlington designed Chiswick House in London, it is easy to see how his inspiration came from Palladio's Villa Rotonda.
But in fact Chiswick House - which was built to store Lord Burlington's collections rather than as somewhere to live - is more of a mix of styles, with Palladian symmetry, portico and pediment, the most significant.
Palladian features soon became part of the standard repertoire of fashionable architecture of the time - now referred to as "Anglo-Palladianism".
The theme spread west too. In the United States it was the main building style in the 40 years leading up to the American War of Independence.
The first house to be designed in the US with a Palladian portico - a columned porch - was in South Carolina. It was the creation of plantation owner John Drayton.
It had a central block, with covered arcades stretching out to pavilions.
The warm climate of South Carolina is similar to northern Italy - and so well-suited to Palladian architecture in its purest form.
Double porticos - with one covered porch on top of another - were particularly popular in the southern states.
By having a raised first floor seating area, residents could enjoy a breeze - and escape gnats and other insects which rarely fly more than 15ft off the ground.
Hundreds of architectural pattern books were published from the 1720s onwards.
Hind says many of them "stretched the definition of Palladianism - almost to breaking point". It meant people could mix and match on their own homes.
A country cottage or classical vicarage could have the same elements as US President George Washington's house at Mount Vernon in Virginia.
The window above, at Mount Vernon in the United States - is identical to one which features below, in an English pattern book from 1740.
But, as ever with fashions, Palladian popularity in the UK and Ireland was not to last. Victorians preferred more elaborate Gothic and classical Greek styles.
It took until the start of the 20th Century, into the Edwardian era, before there was a full-blown renaissance of Andrea Palladio's symmetrical concepts.
In Belfast, the Stormont parliament building - which was built from the late 1920s after the partition of Ireland - has strong Palladian elements, with its symmetrical front, central portico and pediment.
"Palladianism breathes permanence, deliberation and an Olympian calm," says Hind. It suggests "we're going to stay here".
More symmetry permeates this 1912 proposed design for the Viceroy's House in New Delhi, India.
Edwin Lutyens' initial plan was for a very grand Palladian country house.
But the design was eventually changed to include more Indian elements. It was completed in 1929.
The Palladian revival continued through the 20th Century. In the UK it offered a way of keeping a sense of grandeur, even when landowners were downsizing from a larger property.
Kings Walden Bury in Essex was built in the late 1960s.
Hind says the clients demolished a large unwieldy Victorian house, but wanted to keep their chandeliers which needed specific ceiling heights. Hence they settled on Palladianism.
Across the Atlantic, the USA has never really stopped using Palladianism as an architectural style.
"It gives people a sense of creating history," says Hind.
Palladio incorporated elements of the Venetian local style into his architecture 500 years ago - and in the 21st Century, Chadsworth Cottage in North Carolina does the same.
Built on a coast prone to hurricanes - where homes must be built on stilts so that storm water can rush underneath - the stairs and wooden slats which hide the stilts supporting this house resemble the base of a temple or grand house.
While perhaps not obvious at first glance, Palladian rules have been used in more modern architectural styles over the past 100 years.
Palladian elements of symmetry, pediment and the arrangement of windows can be seen in this 1919 design for the Lister County Court House in Sweden.
And this ski lodge in Canada, designed and built in the 1970s, purports to have classical Palladian elements - the symmetrical front and curved arcades.
But behind that "it's all a facade, a joke", says Hind. "The space behind it bears no relationship to what's in front."
The last section of the Riba exhibition looks at what it calls "abstract Palladianism" - where modern architects claim to have still been influenced by Palladio.
In the 1960s, John Penn created these bungalows in eastern England. On raised platforms, the room layouts follow Palladian principles, with a central space and rooms laid out around.
The rooms inside are laid out around a central hall and staircase.
It has been stripped of all Palladian ornament - and yet, says Hind, "you read it as a classical building".
Palladian Design: The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected - can be seen at the Royal Institute of British Architects in central London until 9 January 2016. Admission free.
All images subject to copyright. No reproduction without permission. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/5341270.stm | The number of properties in Weston-super-Mare at risk from coastal flooding has now been estimated at 5,009, not 1,800 as previously thought.
If the sea defences are breached, 54 properties face being under two metres of seawater and 1,129 properties could be flooded by one metre of water.
Research by North Somerset Council has found repairs could cost £2bn.
Councillor John Crockford-Hawley said: "There is a clear concern not just for buildings but for life itself."
The main areas at risk include the sea front between Knightstone and the Grand Pier as well as between Melrose Park and into town.
The council wants to strengthen the current Victorian sea wall by inserting concrete into it and raising the height.
It also wants to build a secondary splash wall from Knightstone to the pier which would contain any water which would otherwise head into the town centre.
The system, which is estimated to cost between £7.5 and £10m, is awaiting approval for funding from Defra.
The council has already spent £500,000 on strengthening the town's defences.
"I urge all townspeople to support the council's application for government financial support.
"We must build the new sea defences as a matter of extreme urgency; nothing must be allowed to hinder this urgent work.
"Rising sea level is not an hydrographer's theory - it is a reality and needs to be addressed," he said. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-26669924/tory-mp-jesse-norman-on-philosopher-edmund-burke | How Burke shaped modern politics - MP Jump to media player Political philosopher Edmund Burke shaped the UK politics of today, says his biographer who is a Conservative MP.
First feminist 'knew she was special' Jump to media player The status and standing of woman in public life is often in the political news as some claim David Cameron has a "woman problem" and Nick Clegg's Lib Dem have divisions over the Rennard affair.
Is Marxism relevant to the UK today? Jump to media player The teachings of Karl Marx have been back in the news with David Cameron accusing Ed Miliband of living in a Marxist universe after he announced a plan to freeze energy prices.
McGowan imitates economist Schumacher Jump to media player Impressionist Alistair McGowan headed to the allotments to explain why his favourite thinker is the green economist E F Schumacher, best known for his 1973 book Small Is Beautiful.
How lettuce explains Ayn Rand book Jump to media player Ayn Rand claimed to have invented a new code of morality based on reason alone in her novel Atlas Shrugged.
Why philosopher Mill is remembered today Jump to media player JS Mill has been described as one of the most influential English-speaking philosophers of the 19th century and his ideas about freedom and liberty are still at the heart of political arguments today.
'This Austrian upstart took on Keynes' Jump to media player Financial journalist Louise Cooper says Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek is a "fellow fighter" as she looks at his legacy - and influence on Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
The political philosopher Edmund Burke shaped the UK politics of today, said his biographer who is also a Conservative MP.
Jesse Norman claimed Burke wrote the "text book for what a really good MP should be" and claimed that without him "we could not understand modern politics at all". |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19634164 | The deaths of Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, during a routine operation in Tameside, Greater Manchester, are the latest in a long list of UK police fatalities.
It is the first such incident to involve two female officers.
Speaking about their deaths, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said: "Day in, day out, police officers go about their duty, go into dangerous situations, unexpected situations, and show great bravery, great courage and are with people at the very worst moments in their lives.
"This is exactly what these two officers were doing."
According to the National Memorial Day organisation, more than 4,000 police officers have been killed in the line of duty since 1792, when the first salaried constables went on duty.
The organisation said 256, including PC Bone and PC Hughes, have been shot since 1945.
Joe Holness, who founded the organisation, said the figures rose each year by an average of between 10 and 15 officers.
The charity, Police Roll of Honour Trust, has named every UK officer who has been killed in the line of duty.
They include PC Sharon Beshenivsky who was shot dead during a bungled robbery in Morley Street, Bradford, on 18 November 2005.
Two men were jailed for life for her murder. She had been responding to an armed robbery call with fellow PC Teresa Milburn.
PC Beshenivsky had been a police officer for just nine months and became the first female officer in 20 years to be shot dead by a criminal in England and Wales.
In one of the most notorious incidents of all - almost five decades ago, in 1966 - armed robber Harry Roberts and an accomplice shot and killed three officers.
Det Con David Wombwell, Sgt Christopher Head and PC Geoffrey Fox died when they stopped a van in Shepherd's Bush, west London.
Other more recent high-profile deaths include PC Alison Armitage, 29, who died after being run over twice by the driver of a stolen car in the car park of a derelict pub in Oldham, in 2001.
Thomas Whaley, 19, denied her murder and was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
PC Ian Broadhurst was shot dead after stopping a motorist on Boxing Day in Leeds in 2003.
David Bieber, a former US marine, was jailed for life for murder after Newcastle Crown Court heard the 34-year-old officer was shot in the head at point blank range despite pleading for his life.
In 2003, PC Stephen Oake was repeatedly stabbed during an anti-terror raid in Manchester. He was holding on to Algerian national Kamel Bourgass during the operation, to stop him escaping.
Bourgass was sentenced to life in prison on 29 June 2004 for the murder of PC Oake and the attempted murder of three other Greater Manchester officers.
Northumbria Police officer PC Joe Carroll, 46, died following a crash on the A69 near Hexham in April 2006 as a prisoner tried to escape from his patrol car.
Army instructor Steven Graham, 39, was jailed for five-and-a-half years for his manslaughter.
In 2007, 37-year-old PC Gary Toms from the Metropolitan Police died after suffering serious head injuries while investigating a robbery.
Armed officers had attempted to stop a car in Stratford, east London and followed it to Ashlin Road in Newham.
In 2008, PC Ian Terry, 32, from Burnley died after being shot in the chest by a Greater Manchester Police colleague during a training exercise at a disused factory.
PC Terry's widow, Joanne, has said she is "bitterly disappointed" no-one will face criminal charges over his death.
Drug addict David Parfitt was found guilty of manslaughter after PC Ged Walker died after being dragged more than 100 yards trailing from a car door before suffering fatal injuries.
Parfitt, who was at the wheel of a stolen taxi when he dragged the officer at a speed of 30mph along a street in Bulwell, Nottingham, was jailed for 13 years.
Father-of-three Stephen Oake, a 40-year-old plain-clothed special branch officer, was stabbed in the chest and died soon afterwards in hospital in 2003.
Four others were injured during a counter terrorism operation in Manchester.
Officers had been arresting a man in a raid linked to the discovery of the deadly poison ricin in London when they were attacked after holding him for an hour.
Traffic officer PC Jon Odell, who lived in Margate, died in hospital after being dragged about 50 yards down a road while carrying out speed checks in December 2000.
His hat, shoes, belt, baton and CS spray were strewn along the path of the car, and driver Wayne Rule, 25, was jailed for nine years after admitting manslaughter.
In 2004, Det Con Michael Swindells, 44, died from a single stab wound in Birmingham.
Police admitted he had not been wearing a stab-proof vest when he was attacked on a canal tow path which heads under the M6 toward Spaghetti Junction.
Earlier this year PC Ian Dibell, 41, of Essex Police was killed while taking action, despite being off duty.
He had intervened in an incident close to his home in Clacton-on-Sea to protect a member of the public from an armed man. PC Dibell was shot dead.
PC David Rathband, who was found dead earlier this year, had been shot in the face and blinded by fugitive Raoul Moat in July 2010 while sitting in his patrol car in Newcastle. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-47939113 | The jury has been discharged in the trial of a British man who says he travelled to Syria to fight against the Islamic State group.
Aidan James, 28, from Formby, Merseyside, denies two charges of attending terrorist training camps.
Earlier in the trial he was acquitted of preparing terrorist acts, after the Old Bailey judge said he had "no case to answer" to the charge.
The jury, which had deliberated for 14 hours, was unable to reach verdicts.
Jurors had received a majority direction from the trial judge on Friday.
Prosecutors said they would seek a retrial on the two outstanding counts.
The judge - Mr Justice Edis - directed that a retrial should take place at the Old Bailey on a date to be fixed.
Mr James had no previous military knowledge when he set out to join the war in 2017, the Old Bailey was told.
The trial heard he went to join the Kurdish YPG militia in August 2017, after deciding he wanted to combat the "evil" Islamic State.
He first spent time at an Iraqi refugee camp, where another Kurdish group, the PKK, was present, and later at a Syrian YPG training facility.
Unlike the YPG, the PKK is classed as a terrorist organisation by the UK, jurors were told.
Halfway through the trial, Mr James was acquitted of a count alleging he prepared for terrorism by taking the steps he did to travel to the Middle East.
Prosecutors were not seeking a conviction on the count if he had been solely preparing to fight IS, since they did not define that as terrorism.
The judge said there was "no evidence" of any other intention.
The case against Mr James on the two YPG charges was put on the basis he had joined a wider struggle than the battle against IS.
The jury was unable to reach unanimous or majority verdicts on either count. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-46265808 | Doctors and researchers have long been warning of alarmingly high Caesarean-section rates globally. Among countries with such high C-section rates, only one has managed to change - China. The story of how China succeeded where others failed is exemplary but also somewhat troubling.
Less than a decade ago, China was criticised by the World Health Organization for having one of the highest Caesarean-section rates in the world. Things have changed very quickly.
China's C-section rate is still double that of Scandinavian countries and the rate is going up - but that rate of increase is slowing. And remarkably, researchers say, the numbers show China is on track to reverse its high C-section rates.
"China has managed to make a dent in C-section growth rates when other countries like Brazil have not managed to crack it," said Dr Susan Hellerstein, a Harvard University professor who co-wrote a study with Peking University researchers, analysing more than 100 million births in China.
Part of this success is down to serious investment in maternity care and the rise of "wellness" culture among the middle classes in Chinese cities - but the key factor here is the punitive element, which experts fear means women do not really have free choice when it comes to childbirth.
"Why are you saying this now when you are having contractions? Your cervix has already dilated 4cm [1.5in]. A Caesarean is bad for you and the baby... you can't get one," a nurse is recorded telling a mother pleading for a C-section, in a 2016 study by University of Pennsylvania researcher Eileen Wang.
Nevertheless, many acknowledge that it's remarkable for a country that recorded 17.2 million live births in 2017 to effect such a shift - it has not been replicated elsewhere.
So, what's wrong with a Caesarean birth? In many situations, it is a life-saving procedure - but it is also risky and, as with any major surgery, recovery takes time. The World Health Organization cautions against it when not medically necessary.
Some places, such as the Scandinavian nations, have always had low C-section rates and they remain low because this is the prevailing culture. The difficulty arises in those nations that have attained very high C-section rates, such as Brazil, and this has proven hard to shift. With China, however, researchers point to a reversal of trends virtually within a generation.
To explain this, experts have looked to all kinds of significant social shifts, from the rise of wellness culture to the impact of the one-child policy. But one factor sticks out as decisive: the power of the state.
China's health bureaucracy sprang into action in 2001, when the National Health and Family Planning Commission highlighted reducing C-section rates as a national priority in their 10-year plan, and in 2010 after a WHO paper showed the country's rate at 46%.
There are now compulsory natural birth and breastfeeding classes, retraining for physicians to strengthen obstetrics skills and more midwifery training institutes.
But the most striking difference in China's approach compared with the rest of the world is just how strictly hospitals are held accountable for their Caesarean-section rates.
"Hospitals which offer delivery in a region are compared against each other and fines are issued if targets are not met," said Dr Liangkun Ma, senior obstetrician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
Other penalties include linking state subsidies with C-section rates and revoking hospital licences. In 2012, hospitals with high C-section rates in Hubei province were told they would be shut down and "reformed".
The WHO's Dr Ana Pilar Betrán, who, studies interventions to reduce C-section rates globally, knows of no other country that penalises healthcare providers for high rates. The only other country with a similar policy is Portugal - but there, hospitals are rewarded for having lower rates.
Dr Betrán said setting ceiling rates and penalising healthcare providers was a "dangerous" path to take. "A rate doesn't tell you if the women who need it are getting it," she said.
Even in countries where Caesarean rates are high, women are dying because they are not accessing this life-saving surgery. In Peru, Dr Betrán said, Caesarean rates among the richest women were about one in two but only 5% of women in the poorest segment of society delivered via C-section.
The changes in China's guidelines had taken choice in the childbirth process away from Chinese mothers, said Dr Carine Ronsmans, co-author of a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2018.
"Part of government policy is something quite unique to China and is something we in the West would worry about - that is doctors are allowed to go against the will of the woman. In the legal guidelines, not just the clinical guidelines, doctors are told they can go against the woman's wishes," she said.
In one case that dominated local headlines last year, an expectant mother in labour, Ma Rongrong, jumped out of a hospital window to her death after she was refused a C-section. More recently, a man was detained for assaulting a medical professional after his wife was denied a C-section.
But it's not all about a climate of fear and refusal. The women of China's burgeoning middle class are part of this change as well and making positive choices, nudged by the state.
As soon as she had found out she was pregnant with her first child, Daisy Lan said, she had consumed information voraciously and concluded a natural birth would be better for her and baby. Her friends who had babies earlier, though, had made a different choice.
"Some feared labour pain so they chose a C-section. But things are different now," Ms Lan said.
"Chinese mothers want better quality of life and this means a healthier life and greater awareness of what is good for them," said Dr Liangkun Ma.
"It's this same desire to live healthier that drives patients to actively seek information about childbirth through apps and WeChat groups, which raises awareness of the risks that come with C-sections," she said.
Image caption A brochure at a Shanghai hospital reads: "Going natural is best. For a healthy mum-to-be, when you choose green foods, appreciate natural sceneries, and pursue natural beauty, why not let your delivery process be more natural and beautiful?"
Ms Lan said educating herself online about the options for easing pain during childbirth had helped her settle on natural birth - that and the possibility of a cleverer baby, a popular but obviously unproven claim made in Chinese parenting blogs.
Some hospitals now even provide more alternative therapies for mothers' pain relief, such as yoga, mindfulness and music.
So, it's perhaps unsurprising that the phenomenon is most dramatic in China's super-cities, where mothers are turning away from the knife in large numbers, as the 2017 study of 100 million births in China published by the Journal of American Medical Association shows.
But there are still wide gaps between urban and rural China. Improved facilities and costs have broadly seen C-section rates rise in rural regions - but in some areas rates remain so low, there is concern about lack of medical care access at birth for women in need.
China's population, in cities and in rural areas, has been controlled for years, so it would be natural to consider one of China's biggest social shifts in recent years - the scrapping of its one-child policy - as another possible factor affecting C-section rates. But the evidence for this is inconclusive.
Meanwhile, other changes to the law now mean patients don't need to just prove harm but also negligence and causation for a legal case to be credible. And this is crucial in a country where obstetricians run the highest risk of being sued for medical malpractice.
Whatever the reasons behind the change, Dr Betrán said this focus solely on C-section rates distracted from the ultimate goal of providing the best care for mother and child. Northern European countries, which had consistently kept C-section rates low, had not achieved that by employing policies specifically to keep rates down but by ensuring quality care, she said.
"We should be careful not to lose perspective," she said. "What happens when a woman needs or wants a Caesarean section [including] for psychological reasons and in this whole atmosphere of Caesarean-section focus, they don't get it?"
Ultimately, the real key to tackling the growth rate is to persuade more first-time mothers to have natural births, many argue, and the study in the BMJ suggests this might already be happening.
China is certainly well ahead of the game for having implemented a multi-pronged approach to reducing the rates - but the difference is the punitive threat behind failure to comply.
Ms Lan was not forced into a natural birth but, she said, she had never truly had a choice. At 34, she had been an older first-time mother by Chinese standards, she said, and her peers who had given birth earlier had congratulated her for her bravery in undergoing a natural birth.
"They were allowed to choose but now it is different," she said. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yorkshire/6312339.stm | A Labour MP is to step down at the next general election to campaign full time for global action on climate change.
Colin Challen, 53, who represents Morley and Rothwell in West Yorkshire, is a founding chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group.
In a letter to party members, he said: "The world must grasp the nettle and take very serious and urgent action to address the climate change problem."
He expects to work in Africa and focus on the economics of global warming.
Mr Challen said he would be working with Sir Nicholas Stern, author of last year's Stern Review, which warned about the economic impact of climate change.
"I will be spending more time on this work than ever before, and eventually I want to devote 100% of my time to this campaign," he said.
In his letter, Mr Challen explained how his concern for the environment went back many years.
"The now very obvious warming of the Earth means political leaders around the world must grasp the nettle and take very serious urgent action to address the climate change problem, he said.
"My experience at the Nairobi climate change talks last November made two things very clear.
"The first is that young Africans are already dying because of global warming.
"The second is that there is no agreement to change that situation at the pace the world needs to give their sisters and brothers a better hope of life.
"So we must quickly come to some agreement on how to do that and, specifically, how to find a new international framework by 2012 to replace the present international Kyoto Protocol."
He said he would continue to represent Morley and Rothwell until the next general election "to the best of my ability".
Mr Challen was first elected in 2001 and at secured a majority of 12,343 in 2005.
A Boundary Commission reorganisation means his constituency will form part of a new one to be called Morley and Outwood. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12553089 | Image caption Col Gaddafi has advocated a "United States of Africa"
Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, tells the BBC World Service that Africa would be a quieter place without Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Gaddafi's main contribution to Africa since 1999, when he turned away from the Arab League and the Middle East to try to form a United States of Africa, has been to bribe and buy his way to the chairmanship of the African Union, to promote this idea of a borderless Africa, presumably led by him.
He did this in two ways. Firstly, he sought simply to buy the smaller, poorer states by bribing their presidents. Secondly, in states where he was opposed, he would fund opposition movements. So he has been extremely divisive in his relations with Africa, and his removal will quiet things down a bit.
The presidents of Nigeria and South Africa had to fight a running battle with him to stop his crazy ideas of subverting Africa, trying to make it into one, single country, just like that.
It is hard to say if he has ever genuinely been seen as a fellow African leader by other African leaders. He supported the ANC in South Africa, and Swapo in Namibia, and when Nelson Mandela came out of prison, he went to Libya almost straightaway to thank him.
But while he continues to support groups like that, he has also sided with appalling movements in western Africa which he saw as revolutionary. He has backed Charles Taylor, now on trial in The Hague, and Foday Sankoh, the dreadful rebel leader in Sierra Leone who led the Revolutionary United Front, which cut off hands and legs. So he has a very mixed record in his very idiosyncratic way.
Libya was the main route for ambitious young Africans trying to get to Europe and make a life for themselves. Libya's own, booming economy also absorbed a lot of Africans. Yet Gaddafi actually encouraged xenophobia against them.
Rather than protecting them, he would expel them en masse from time to time. So there is this tension between sub-Saharan, black Africans and the Libyans, which the government has never properly dealt with.
I think that some of them now have probably nothing to lose. If they are given guns and told to use them, they may well do so. Many of them may be mercenaries in the pay of Gaddafi. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8177561.stm | British hacker Gary McKinnon has lost his latest High Court bid to avoid extradition to the United States.
The US wants to try the 43-year-old, from Wood Green, north London, for what it calls the biggest military computer hack of all time, in 2001 and 2002.
Mr McKinnon admits hacking, but denies it was malicious or that he caused damage costing $800,000 (£487,000).
Whether or not he can appeal to the UK Supreme Court will be decided at a later date, Lord Justice Burnton said.
He said it was a matter which should be dealt with "as expeditiously as possible".
Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon had challenged refusals by the home secretary and the director of public prosecutions (DPP) to try him in the UK.
The home secretary insists he has no power to demand the trial take place in the UK.
The DPP refused to order a UK trial, saying the bulk of the evidence was located in the US and Mr McKinnon's actions were directed against the US military infrastructure.
He had also asked the court to rule on whether his Asperger's Syndrome meant he could not be extradited to the US.
His lawyers argued extradition was "unnecessary, avoidable and disproportionate" and had not taken place in other cases.
But, in a 41-page ruling, the judges said extradition was "a lawful and proportionate response to his offending".
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: "Mr McKinnon is accused of serious crimes and the US has a lawful right to seek his extradition, as we do when we wish to prosecute people who break our laws.
"The court judgement has also made absolutely clear that the DPP's decision not to prosecute in the UK was the right one.
"My predecessor has already sought and received clear assurances from the US that Mr McKinnon's health and welfare needs would be met, should he be extradited.
"It is open to Mr McKinnon to seek to appeal to the House of Lords."
Mr McKinnon faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted in the US of what prosecutors have called "the biggest military computer hack of all time".
He has always insisted he was looking for classified documents on UFOs which he believed the US authorities had suppressed.
Speaking outside the High Court, his mother, Janis Sharp, said her son - who did not attend court - had been "naive enough to admit to computer misuse without having a lawyer and without one being present".
To extradite an American from the US, British must prove "probable cause"
"We are heartbroken. If the law says it's fair to destroy someone's life in this way then it's a bad law."
She said she feared for his health.
"He's very ill, he's got really bad chest pains, it's affected him emotionally, mentally, every way, he's terrified," she said.
Ms Sharp appealed directly to US President Obama to intervene in the case.
"Stand by us and make this world a better place, a more compassionate place," she said.
"Obama wouldn't have this. He doesn't want the first guy extradited for computer misuse to be a guy with Asperger's, a UFO guy. He wouldn't want this.
"I'm just praying, please hear us, Obama, because I know you would do the right thing," she added.
In a statement, his lawyer Karen Todner, asked: "What does it take to make this government sit up and listen to the clear public view that Gary McKinnon should not be extradited?
"The extradition treaty with America was brought in to facilitate the extradition of terrorists and it must be clear to anyone following this case that Gary McKinnon is no terrorist.
"Why aren't they stopping the extradition of a man who is clearly vulnerable and who on the accepted evidence suffers from Asperger's?
"Gary is clearly someone who is not equipped to deal with the American penal system and there is clear evidence that he will suffer a severe mental breakdown if extradited."
Mr McKinnon accessed 97 government computers belonging to organisations including the US Navy and Nasa.
In February the Crown Prosecution Service refused to bring charges against Mr McKinnon in the UK.
The decision followed a ruling last October by then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to allow his extradition.
Mr McKinnon has already appealed unsuccessfully to the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights and his latest judicial reviews in the High Court are likely to be his last chance.
His lawyers say the authorities have not given proper consideration to his Asperger's Syndrome, which could have "disastrous consequences," including suicide, if he was to be extradited.
They argued he was "eccentric" rather than malicious and should be tried on lesser charges in the UK to protect his mental health. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17217826 | Public broadcaster HRT is funded by advertising and a licence fee. It faces stiff competition from private networks, including leading national station Nova TV, which is owned by a US investment company.
TV is the main source of news, followed by the internet. As well as a digital terrestrial TV (DTT) service, there are established cable, satellite and internet protocol TV (IPTV) operators.
Radio is a popular medium, with national and local commercial networks operating alongside public HRT.
Austrian and German media companies have stakes in the print media. A tabloid, 24 Sata, is the best-selling newspaper. In line with worldwide trends, circulation figures for the printed press are falling.
Reporters face harassment and occasional attacks, says US-based Freedom House. Reporters without Borders says government "meddling" at HRT is a problem.
Around 3.8 million Croatians are online (InternetWorldStats.com, 2017). |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/i/ipswich_town/8810587.stm | Winger Luciano Civelli has set his sights on being fit enough to feature in Ipswich's curtain raiser against Middlesbrough on 7 August.
The 23-year-old Argentine has now played an hour of pre-season football as he stepped up his recovery from an 18-month injury lay-off against Histon.
He told the club's website: "My return is going better than I thought.
"If I carry on as I am I will be ready for the start of the season. If not the start, then two or three games in."
Civelli had been sidelined since March 2009 when he suffered extensive knee ligament damage during a league game against Burnley.
He played 30 minutes in Town's first pre-season friendly of the summer, a 9-1 win over Newmarket, and then played another half an hour as Histon were beaten 6-0.
"I have been a long time out injured but it's good to be back playing football again and I am happy with how things are going," he added.
"When you are injured for a long time you worry sometimes about whether you will come back but I always tried to stay positive and I'm happy with the progress."
Connor Wickham scored twice against the Stutes in his first pre-season outing while David Norris, Gareth McAuley, Lee Martin and Jonathan Stead added the rest. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6249300.stm | Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has been questioned for a third time by detectives investigating allegations of "cash-for-honours", it has emerged.
Mr Blair, who left Downing Street on Wednesday, had already become the first PM to be interviewed by police in the course of a corruption inquiry.
Prosecutors had asked Scotland Yard to carry out further inquiries before deciding if charges should be brought.
Those questioned so far, including two of Mr Blair's aides, deny wrongdoing.
A spokesman at Scotland Yard said the Metropolitan Police was "not prepared to discuss" the inquiry, which has already seen at least 136 people being interviewed.
And a spokesman for Mr Blair refused to confirm or deny the latest development.
On Tuesday morning the then prime minister's official spokesman was asked by BBC News website if there had been any further contact between the police and the prime minister and he replied his previous answers "had not changed".
According to the Evening Standard newspaper, however, the prime minister had been interviewed for the third time about three weeks previously.
The second time Mr Blair was interviewed, the spokesman explained he had not told journalists because he had not been informed himself.
Earlier this month, No 10 fundraiser Lord Levy and Ruth Turner, who worked in Downing Street, were re-bailed by police.
Both of them had been arrested and questioned as part of a year-long investigation which was, at first, checking if honours had been "sold".
This was because after secret loans were made to Labour ahead of the 2005 general election, it emerged that some lenders had gone on to be nominated for peerages.
However, it was then widened to look into any attempt to cover up certain activities, and also went on to cover the other main parties.
Mr Blair was then questioned twice as a potential witness.
There have been two other arrests during the inquiry, with Labour donor Sir Christopher Evans re-bailed earlier this month, and head teacher Des Smith informed that he would not be charged.
No-one has been charged with any offences and have all consistently denied any wrongdoing. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-45486685 | A suspected bomb discovered by workers building a Costa coffee shop was a World War Two practise device.
Police were called at around 11:00 BST to the site on Victoria Road in Milford Haven docks, Pembrokeshire.
They cordoned off the area while bomb disposal experts examined the suspicious object, unearthed by construction staff.
Dyfed Powys Police said: "The device that was full of concrete and never posed a threat as it was inert."
The area was closed off and public warned to stay away for three hours.
The device was later taken away by the bomb squad.
Reality Check: How common are WW2 unexploded bombs?
How dangerous are unexploded bombs?
Unexploded bombs: How common are they? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7895505.stm | Texan billionaire and cricket promoter Sir Allen Stanford has been charged over a $8bn (£5.6bn) investment fraud, US financial regulators say.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the financier had orchestrated "a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme".
The SEC said the fraud was "based on false promises and fabricated historical return data".
English cricket bosses have pulled out of sponsorship talks with Sir Allen.
The charges against Sir Allen, three of his companies and two executives of those companies followed a raid by US marshals on the Houston, Texas, offices of Stanford Financial Group.
A US judge has frozen the assets of Sir Allen and the other defendants as well as those of the Stanford Group, its Antigua-based subsidiary Stanford International Bank (SIB) and another subsidiary, investment advisor Stanford Capital Management.
A receiver has been appointed to "preserve assets for investors", the SEC said.
Sir Allen last year promoted the Stanford cricket series which saw a West Indian all-star team - the Stanford Superstars - beat an England team for a $20m prize.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) suspended sponsorship negotiations with him following the fraud charges.
The ECB has a five-year deal to play games against the Stanford Superstars.
The SEC said that the Stanford International Bank - the largest in the Caribbean - sold approximately $8bn worth of certificates of deposit to investors, promising "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates".
The bank was "operated by a close circle of Stanford's family and friends", the SEC said in a statement.
"We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world," said Rose Romero of the SEC.
The SEC began investigating Stanford Group last year and intensified their probe following the arrest of US financier Bernard Madoff in December over an alleged $50bn (£35bn) investment fraud.
In the wake of that scandal, SIB falsely told its investors it had no exposure to the funds involved in the alleged Madoff fraud.
The Stanford Group lists its worth as more than $40bn. Antigua and Barbuda granted Sir Allen citizenship about 10 years ago and knighted him in 2006.
Forbes magazine lists him as the world's 605th richest man, with assets of $2.2bn. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7466457.stm | A year ago, 88-year-old Jean Lavender used to find walking any distance a struggle.
Now she is keen to get outside for a walk most days.
And she puts the transformation down to the most simple of medicines - water.
She is one of a group of residents at a care home in Suffolk who have been encouraged to increase their intake of water.
And they have all reported dramatic results.
Jean says she feels 20 years younger.
Staff at The Martins care home in Bury St Edmunds started a "water club" for their residents last summer.
Residents were encouraged to drink eight to 10 glasses of water a day, water coolers were installed, and they were each given a jug for their room.
They report significant improvements in health as a result - many fewer falls, fewer GP call-outs, a cut in the use of laxatives and in urinary infections, better quality of sleep, and lower rates of agitation among residents with dementia.
Doctors have long highlighted the risks of dehydration for elderly people. It can cause dizziness and potentially serious falls, constipation, and confusion.
While most people's systems can adjust to insufficient water, frail old people are far less equipped to cope.
So when Wendy Tomlinson, a former nurse, took over the management of the charity-run home, she suspected that drinking more water might help the residents feel better.
Even she has been surprised by how much difference it's made, though.
"It's been fantastic," she said. "The whole home buzzes now; there isn't that period after lunch when everyone goes off to sleep."
For Baroness Greengross, a cross-bench peer, it reinforces a conviction she has had for some time now - that many old people simply are not drinking enough, and it is harming their health.
She wants to see tougher regulations in care homes across the UK, so that staff have to make sure residents drink enough.
"We hear a great deal about malnutrition among old people," she says.
"But we forget about the need for them to have enough water. It shouldn't be very difficult to change the habits of care staff." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45409140 | Body language has a considerable role to play in parliamentary discourse. One thinks of dismissive hand gestures or the occasional satirical smile.
We witnessed a different - but still significant - variant of the genre in play at Holyrood today.
It emerged during one of the opposition speeches, that of Willie Rennie, he who has the enviable task of shepherding the Liberal Democrats.
Nicola Sturgeon had set out her programme for government. It was delivered, mostly, in a deliberately workaday fashion, perhaps in recognition of the presumption that mid-Brexit Scotland is in no mood for flamboyance.
What new laws are the Scottish government planning?
But opposition leaders chose to interpret this in an alternative fashion. Ruth Davidson of the Tories said the speech reflected a mid-point parliament, somewhat stuck.
She said the FM's approach was "knee jerk, backside covering, just-in-time-ism". No, me neither.
Richard Leonard, for Labour, listed the summer visits he had made. Thankfully, he had forgotten to bring the holiday snaps.
Still, the message he had garnered from these sojourns was that the government lacked oomph. Where, he asked plaintively, was the vitality, where the driving force, where the real radical vision?
For the Greens, Patrick Harvie also lamented the absence of radicalism. But he wanted the Green version, turning away from such irritating matters as GDP and export growth.
He also wanted substantial change to the system of local government finance. Without which, he said once more, the Greens would not contemplate a budget deal when those discussions arise.
So far, so familiar. But, on the day, it fell to Willie Rennie to provoke an outbreak of body language responses on the front bench.
The speech, he said, was "light on content". Jeane Freeman looked as if she had swallowed a wasp, with no resort to the vegetarian option.
Mr Rennie then declared that "every government runs its natural course". This one, he added sardonically, was "well past its sell by date". John Swinney studied his papers. Nicola Sturgeon looked at her mobile phone.
We were, he continued, into the end game (Nicola Sturgeon glanced at her feet). There had been a "special air of desperation" since the independence referendum in 2014 (Ms Sturgeon gazed in mute rapture at the ceiling, perhaps hoping a beam would come loose again).
The first minister, he continued, should "get out of her bunker". Ms Sturgeon stared, purposefully, into the middle distance while Mike Russell fidgeted, elegantly.
And the speech itself? The programme? It was substantive, without pursuing a bold or obviously new narrative. But, then again, as noted earlier, perhaps that is in keeping with the zeitgeist.
Ms Sturgeon had signalled in advance that this programme would build upon last year - indeed upon the last decade.
There was nothing wrong with that, she insisted. It was not necessary to invent the wheel anew each time she stood up.
Snag is that our impatient, restless body politic - and its accompanying wicked media - demand persistent novelty. So you've invented a wheel, eh? Tchah. Pshaw. We want more. We want a car without wheels. We want a rocket to Saturn.
Secondly, she is not - yet - in a position to set out her new thinking on the subject which most fascinates her supporters. That of independence.
She has promised a statement on such matters when there is clarity on Brexit. I suspect we may have to wait quite some time before we get a substantive update, as opposed to a stand-by analysis.
Thirdly, the business of daily government - as opposed to political rhetoric - is consumed mostly by hard, detailed work.
And so Ms Sturgeon offered an extensive litany of the challenges ahead - in education, in the health service, in the justice system - and the policies she intends to introduce to tackle these challenges.
In particular, she announced additional money - and initiatives - to enhance mental health care. To be fair to the FM, she has made this a core personal issue - although, largely, that has been in response to parliamentary pressure, again most notably from Mr Rennie.
One could also see parliament doing its job in the announcements from Ms Sturgeon on measures to reduce hospital waiting times. She has been asked about this week after week by Richard Leonard, Ruth Davidson and others.
To be fair further, there was one biggish idea in Ms Sturgeon's remarks - although, once again, that was building upon existing policy.
This was to increase capital investment over a prolonged period - and perhaps including innovative funding methods - in order to bolster the economy. The focus, most notably, would be upon the low carbon economy.
All designed, again, to mitigate the damaging economic impact which she foresees arising from Brexit. The dominant concern, at all points. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19060444 | Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny has been charged with embezzlement in a case he describes as "strange and absurd".
Federal investigators in Moscow brought charges over a timber deal in the Kirov region in which he was involved as an unofficial adviser three years ago.
The case was previously investigated and dropped by regional prosecutors.
Mr Navalny, who was also ordered not to leave the country, suggested the new charges were aimed at discrediting him.
Supporters of the anti-corruption lawyer, who led mass protests in Moscow against Russian leader Vladimir Putin this winter, demonstrated outside the offices of the Investigative Committee (SK) in Moscow, where he was charged on Tuesday.
Under Article 160 of the Russian criminal code on "misappropriation or embezzlement", Mr Navalny faces between five and 10 years in prison if convicted.
Reacting to news of the case, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter: "We should be concerned with attempts in Russia to silence fierce opposition activist Alexei @navalny."
The original case related to a loss-making contract concluded by a state-owned timber company in Kirov, a region just west of the Ural Mountains, with another company.
The Kirov regional budget for 2009-10 reportedly suffered a loss of 1.3m roubles (£26,000; $40,000) and Mr Navalny was investigated as he was acting at the time as an adviser to Kirov's governor, Nikita Belykh.
Federal investigators initially sought to charge Mr Navalny with causing "damage to property by means of deceit or abuse of trust" but they proceeded to more serious charges after reviewing the evidence, SK spokesman Vladimir Markin told reporters.
The new charges were posted on the website of the SK, a federal body set up to act as the equivalent of the FBI in Russia.
Mr Navalny is now accused of colluding with the heads of the two companies involved to organise the theft of timber worth 16m roubles (£300,000; $500,000).
The anti-corruption campaigner pointed out that he had gone to the SK expecting to be charged with the lesser offence, only to find the case had been altered against him into something much more serious.
"This charge is strange and absurd," he said after emerging from the building. "They have completely changed the essence of the charge."
"This is a mega-strange thing," he added. "Even the very figure of 16m roubles has not been explained at all."
This winter saw the biggest anti-government demonstrations in Moscow since the fall of the USSR. Protesters rallied around Mr Navalny, who accused Mr Putin's allies of rigging elections.
Since Mr Putin was re-elected president in March, legal action against opposition figures has increased markedly. A tough new law was passed on public order offences and tight curbs were placed on non-governmental organisations.
In recent weeks, Mr Navalny, a lawyer by training, turned his fire on the SK's chief, Alexander Bastrykin, reports the BBC's Moscow correspondent, Daniel Sandford.
Mr Bastrykin denied Mr Navalny's allegations that he had undeclared business interests in the Czech Republic.
He admitted once owning a flat there but said he had given it to his first wife. As for commercial activity, he said: "I was never in business. Business in the sense of aiming to make a profit. If they can find a single euro in profit, I'll resign."
Mr Navalny vowed on Tuesday to continue his political activities despite the case against him.
"I will continue doing what I did before - nothing has changed for me," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7439406.stm | A network of tiny pipes of water could be used to cool next-generation PC chips, researchers at IBM have said.
Scientists at the firm have shown off a prototype device layered with thousands of "hair-width" cooling arteries.
They believe it could be a solution to the increasing amount of heat pumped out by chips as they become smaller and more densely packed with components.
The technology was demonstrated in IBM's 3D chips, where circuits are stacked one on top of the other.
Laying chips vertically, instead of side by side, reduces the distance data has to travel , enhancing performance and saving critical space.
"As we package chips on top of each other....we have found that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip don't scale," explained Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory.
"In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling."
Heat is seen as one of the major hurdles of producing ever smaller and quicker chips.
It is the by-product of the movement of electrons through the tiny wires connecting the millions of components on a modern processor.
As more and more components are packed on to chips - Intel recently launched a processor with two billion transistors, for example - the problems become worse.
As a result, researchers around the world are engaged in a search for the most efficient way to take the heat off the chip industry.
For example, in 2007, US researchers built tiny wind engines that created a "breeze" made up of charged particles, or ions, to cool computer chips.
But the problems are exacerbated in the multi-storey chips which IBM, as well as others, believe offer "one of the most promising approaches" for building future processors.
Each 4 sq cm sandwich is just 1mm thick but pumps out close to 1kilowatt - equivalent to that generated by a hotplate.
Conventional cooling techniques such as fans and heat sinks do not work as well with the 3D technology, particularly as heat has to be drawn away from between the individual chips.
To get around this, researchers piped water through sealed tubes just 50 microns (millionths of a metre) in diameter, between individual layers.
Water is much more efficient than air at absorbing heat and so even with tiny amounts of liquid flowing through the system the researchers saw a significant effect.
The idea of pumping liquids around computers is not entirely new. Early mainframe computers had water pumped around them.
High end computers have been "modded" for a number of years with water coolers and various researchers and companies have put forward proposals for directly cooling chips with fluids.
In 2003, Stanford University spin-out company Cooligy showed off its Active Micro-Channel Cooling (AMC) technology which allowed fluids to circulate through hundreds of tiny channels on the upper surface of a chip.
The technology was used in some versions of Apple's Power Mac G5 desktop computer, released in 2004.
IBM has said its water-cooling technology could be in products within five years. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cumbria/4241353.stm | Details of a £174m project to fill in the missing link in the motorway network between England and Scotland are to be explained.
The plans are to build the 'Cumberland Gap', which would involve widening the existing A74 into a three-lane motorway in both directions.
The road was completely closed for 24 hours in December after a fatal three-lorry crash.
A public exhibition is being held in Rockcliffe on Monday.
The nine-kilometre stretch of the A74 is the main route between England and Scotland and carries 42,000 vehicles a day, including around 10,000 heavy goods vehicles.
As well as widening the existing road, the plans include creating a separate road for local traffic to run alongside.
Other work will involve building a new bridge over the River Esk to carry non-motorway traffic and replacing the Mossband Viaduct, which carries the A74 over the West Coast Mainline.
People will be able to see the proposals at a public exhibition at Rockcliffe Community Hall, Rockcliffe, on Monday between 1400 and 2000 GMT and on Tuesday at the same times.
Staff from the Highways Agency and project team will be there to answer questions. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lancashire/3497436.stm | An ex-BNP councillor in Burnley says she is backing an anti-fascist group at the next local and European elections.
But Maureen Stowe has refused to explain in detail the reasons for her apparent political U-turn.
She said "the time was right" to leave the BNP and would probably support the Unite Against Fascism anti-BNP campaign at the May elections.
The group will not field candidates, but aims to raise awareness and urge people not to vote BNP.
Mrs Stowe said she joined the BNP because she thought it would do good for the town and had become disillusioned with the Labour council.
But she said she had become equally disillusioned with the BNP shortly after being elected and her only regret was not leaving sooner.
She said she did not know the details of the BNP's policies when she was elected in May 2003.
She told BBC News Online: "At the time, they said they could change things in the town, everyone had got upset with Labour.
"They were going to deal with anti-social behaviour and that sort of thing."
When told that the BNP backed the voluntary resettlement of non-whites to "their lands of ethnic origin", the councillor for Brunshaw ward said: "I hadn't heard that."
She said: "I have always said I am not a racist. I believe that the council has worked hard for this town and it would be a shame for the BNP to step in and spoil it all."
She added she believed those who had voted for her would not be upset with her, saying: "I think people voted for me because they knew me - the people in the ward.
"I am still there for them as their councillor, I haven't changed for them."
She added: "I don't regret joining. What I do regret is taking so long to realise."
But she refused to explain which of the party's policies she had become dissatisfied with.
Ron Spencer, from Burnley Trades Council, which supports the Unite Against Fascism campaign, said: "I'm very pleased that Councillor Stowe has seen through the lies and the deceit and the hatred that the BNP and other fascist organisations try to breed.
"I hope that there will be many more who see through this and will come to join us to unite against this threat to democracy and peace and people's very liberty, in fact."
The BNP has denied it is a fascist party and has claimed opposition parties are trying to prevent freedom of speech.
The leader of the BNP party in Burnley, Councillor Leonard Starr, said: "I doubt she can even spell fascism, let alone understand what it means.
"I've nothing but disgust for her. She has turned so many times it's unbelievable.
"I can't believe that someone can go through so many changes in the space of a few weeks." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17738207 | The US authorities say they have busted a secret internet drugs market, where people around the world could buy LSD, ecstasy and other illegal substances.
The ring - The Farmer's Market - is said to have operated through a computer network which allows users to communicate anonymously.
At least eight people have been held in the US, the Netherlands and Colombia.
They have been charged with drug trafficking and money laundering and will face trial in the US.
The arrests were the culmination of the two-year Operation Adam Bomb, officials from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced late on Monday.
The sophisticated ring had tried to hide its activities "through the use of advanced anonymising online technology," said Briane Grey, the DEA's acting special agent in charge.
He added that the arrests "should send a clear message to organisations that are using technology to conduct criminal activity that the DEA and our law enforcement partners will track them down and bring them to justice".
The US authorities have identified Marc Willems, 42, as the "lead defendant", who is believed to have created and run the network. He has been arrested at his home in the Netherlands.
It is alleged that more than $1m (£630,000) worth of drugs sales were processed through the sophisticated ring which used the TOR computer network between 2007-09.
The Farmer's Market reportedly provided order forms, customer service and accepted payments through PayPal, Western Union and other means.
It had customers in every US state as well as in 34 countries around the world. |
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