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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40761806 | Humans should embrace the change smart machines offer society, says former chess world champion Garry Kasparov.
In a speech at Def Con in Las Vegas he said the rise of artificially intelligent machines would not be a huge threat to humanity.
However, he said, there was likely to be huge social change as the "shaky hands" of humans were replaced.
Mr Kasparov welcomed the change and said it would be good if the effects could be accelerated.
In a wide-ranging speech that drew on his experiences playing chess against IBM's Deep Blue computer and many other so-called smart machines, he sought to put the current rise of AI into historical context.
Only now, he said, were we starting to get true AI by which he meant a "black box" which reached its decisions by itself and whose reasons for making those choices were impossible to unpick.
He cited Google's AlphaGo computer as an example of this kind of AI.
By contrast, he said, the Deep Blue supercomputer that beat him at chess in 1996 and 1997 was simply a very fast computer that used "brute force" techniques to win.
"Deep Blue was as intelligent as an alarm clock," he said "though losing to a $10m (£7.6m) alarm clock did not make me feel any better."
Image caption Stephen Hawking has warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
The arrival of more authentically intelligent machines did not spell doom for humanity, he said, because history showed that almost every novel technology or innovation was a force of creative destruction.
"The problem is not that machines are replacing human jobs and that they are going after people with college degrees and Twitter accounts," he said. "Technology, before it creates jobs kills them, it's always done that."
There were already examples of ways smart machines were helping some people do their jobs better by letting computers handle the bits that humans can struggle with. For instance, he said, expert systems that can diagnose conditions more accurately than people do the best job when paired with nurses that can then act on that diagnosis.
Future generations would look back and be amazed that 21st Century life was so people-centric, he said, especially in fields, such as car driving, where human fallibility put more lives at risk than was necessary.
When humans work with smart machines there were huge opportunities for creativity and change for the better, he said.
"We all have these fears that machines will replace us and we'll be extinguished but I believe there is plenty of room for creativity. And lots of it."
"It's up to us humans to do what only humans can do and that's dream and dream big so we can get the most out of these amazing new tools," he concluded.
Stephen Hawking - will AI kill or save humankind?
Is consciousness just an illusion? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4833460.stm | Two billionaire businessmen accused of stalling work on the London Olympics project could cost taxpayers £700m, Ken Livingstone has said.
Developers David and Simon Reuben have been accused by London's Mayor of destabilising the consortium behind Stratford's planned £4bn Olympic City.
The Mayor sparked a row on Tuesday when he told them to "go back to their own country" and has refused to say sorry.
The Reuben brothers said they were completely committed to the Olympics.
Speaking at his Question Time at City Hall, Mr Livingstone said deadlines for planning applications were already being missed and, if this continued, taxpayers may have to cover costs to get building work finished on time.
He said: "They (the Reubens) do not have a track record of successfully undertaking major developments, or of working in partnership...and without them, collapsing into squabbling and litigation."
He refused to apologise for his remark in which he told the brothers to "go back (to their own country) and see if they can do better under the ayatollahs".
"I would offer a complete apology to the people of Iran to the suggestion that they may be linked in any way to the Reuben brothers," he said.
"I wasn't meaning to be offensive to the people of Iran," he said.
London Assembly Conservatives said the brothers were not Iranian, but born in India of Iraqi-Jewish parents.
A spokesman for the Reubans brothers said the mayor appeared to have been "deliberately misinformed" about their role in the consortium.
"They have worked ceaselessly to try to move the project forward for the benefit of London and the Olympic project.
"If the Mayor cares to have discussions with either David or Simon Reuben, then we are confident that he would arrive at a more balanced view," he added.
Conservative London Assembly member Brian Coleman said Mr Livingstone should withdraw his remarks.
He said that even someone with the "business brains of a newt" should know that it is unwise to make such statements at such a commercially sensitive time. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12992540 | Is Britain to blame for many of the world's problems?
David Cameron has suggested that Britain and the legacy of its empire was responsible for many of the world's historic problems. But is that view fair?
Answering questions from students in Pakistan on Tuesday, the prime minister said: "As with so many of the problems of the world, we are responsible for their creation in the first place."
Here two historians give their view.
Mr Cameron's remarks about the painful legacy of colonialism could not be further from the truth and they reveal a disappointing lack of historical judgment. The British Empire in India, known as the Raj, was the greatest experiment in paternalistic imperial government in history.
By the time the British left India in 1947 they had given the subcontinent a number of priceless assets, including the English language, but also a structure of good government, local organisation and logistical infrastructure that still holds good today. Far from damaging India, British imperial rule gave it a head start.
At the centre of this was the Indian Civil Service, the 1,000 strong "heaven-born" group of administrators that ran the country. Their role in laying the foundations for strong, efficient government in India has never been accorded the respect and admiration it deserves.
While history has recorded that the ICS were aloof and disdainful of the "natives", in reality, the men who ran India were selfless, efficient and - most importantly of all - completely incorruptible.
Not only did they oversee the spread of good government, western education, modern medicine and the rule of law, they also put in place local works, famine relief, and irrigation projects, most notably in the Punjab, which benefited enormously from what was then the largest irrigation project in the world.
Perhaps the most priceless asset of all was the English language itself, which gave a unity to the subcontinent that it had never known before and which is allowing India's people to do business around the world today with great success.
Indeed, it is indicative of this that in February 2011, a Dalit (formerly untouchable) community in Uttar Pradesh built a shrine to the goddess English, which they believe will help them learn the English language and climb out of their grinding poverty.
Although Britain was not able to replicate its success in India everywhere across its vast colonial empire, it is still clear the empire gave its colonies real, tangible benefits. Wherever the British ruled, they erected a light, relatively inexpensive form of government that was not corrupt, was stable, and was favourable to outside investors.
Its imperial civil servants may not always have been completely sympathetic to local peoples, but they were always motivated by humanitarian impulses and did their best in often difficult circumstances. Indeed, when we look at Africa, many of the benefits of imperial rule were squandered in the generations after independence with a succession of corrupt and brutal regimes.
Does Britain's colonial legacy still poison its relations with Africa, the Middle East and Asia? Mr Cameron's remark raises important questions for society about how we relate to history.
There's the inheritance of colonial violence. What you saw in the later stages of empire was a series of British counter-insurgency operations, exported from one hot spot to another. In places such as Kenya, Palestine, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, and of course Northern Ireland, the British were forced to resort to repressive legal and military measures in what was to prove an ultimately vain attempt to curb the tide of political unrest and nationalist opposition.
Detention without trial, beatings, torture, and killings punctuated the twilight years of colonial rule. The disclosure this week of a large tranche of Foreign Office files, hitherto kept secret about full extent of British brutality against Mau Mau in Kenya, suggests there may be further revelations still to come. Will there be similar stories and claims from Palestine, Malaya, Cyprus or Nigeria?
There is also the question of whether the violence that characterised these counter-insurgency operations during decolonisation then set the scene for the way in which independent, post-colonial African and Asian governments dealt with political dissent from their own peoples.
The imperial past is far from being dead. On the contrary it is actually very much part of contemporary politics.
Perhaps we should not be surprised then when British foreign policy interests and interventions today are seen and perceived as "neo-colonial" in their nature.
The reaction of Iran in 2007 when 15 Royal Navy personnel were seized is instructive here. As heavy-handed as it may have seemed to people in Britain, it needs to be understood in the wider context of Iranian sensitivities over the presence of any western powers in or near its territorial waters - sensitivities arising in part from a very fraught and fragile 20th Century relationship over oil and territory.
In a deeper and more fundamental sense still, Britain's colonial legacy can be seen in the ways in which globalisation is being experienced today. From the 1870s onwards, the integration of labour, capital and commodity markets promoted by empire was very much skewed towards its "white" settler societies.
The economic benefits of empire for the so-called dependent colonies were much more meagre in comparison or did not exist at all. When we find critics of globalisation questioning whether economic integration and cultural diversity can comfortably co-exist, we should remember that for much of the last century the form of globalisation the world experienced rested on a view of social relations governed by racial hierarchies.
Finally, we might reverse the colonial encounter and think about how empire has left an imprint on British society. Despite its multi-ethnic empire, Britain did not embrace ethnic diversity at home.
There was the rhetoric of an inclusive imperial citizenship for the peoples of all Commonwealth countries. But in reality in post-war Britain there was little desire to promote integration for immigrants from the likes of the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent.
The consequences are perhaps reflected in experiences today, especially in terms of the so-called ethnic penalty many of these communities face in education, employment or housing. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/575219.stm | Wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill was the greatest prime minister of the 20th Century, according to a BBC survey.
The Conservative, whose leadership and speeches inspired the UK through the Second World War, beat the last Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George into second place.
Churchill's successor, Labour's Clement Attlee, was voted third greatest.
Twenty prominent historians, politicians and commentators were asked by BBC Radio 4's The Westminster Hour to rank the 19 prime ministers from Lord Salisbury at the turn of the century through to John Major in the 1990s.
Britain's current leader Tony Blair was not included because his spell in Downing Street is not complete.
The programme announcing the results of the poll was being broadcast on Boxing Day on Radio 4.
Andrew Rawnsley was asking five of the "voters" to have their say - political heavyweights Roy Jenkins, Barbara Castle and Kenneth Baker; and the historians Professor Ben Pimlott and Andrew Roberts.
Winston Churchill led Britain during the Second World War after returning from the political wilderness.
He lost the first election after the war but returned as a peacetime prime minister in the fifties.
David Lloyd George took over as PM at the height of the First World War, replacing another contender, Herbert Henry Asquith.
Her successor, John Major, whose premiership was blighted by Tory infighting over Europe, fared badly, rated 17th out of 19.
Only Neville Chamberlain (18th) and Sir Anthony Eden (19th) did worse.
Who do you think was the greatest? Send us your views using the form below. Here is what you have said so far.
The best 20th Century Prime Minister is Clement Attlee for the foundation of the welfare state, still a model of welfare worth preserving. The previous Liberal model proved woefully inadequate as Beveridge found, and the free market left to it's own devices will provide neither security nor choice for the majority. This was evident to the Liberals almost a century ago. Margaret Thatcher is unquestionably the worst 20th Century Prime Minister. Not just for her appalling record in government - the massive wealth distribution from poor to rich, the battering of workplace rights, the attacks on health and welfare provision etc. - but more insidiously for her poisonous political legacy. Thatcher has so mesmerised Labour that they see no alternative to actively supporting such disasterous Thatcherite measures as the privatisation of the health service through Public Private Partnerships, the impoverishment of pensioners and the preservation of massive and increasing inequality!
The result being that we will continue to pay a heavy price for Thatcher for many years to come.
Two of the rankings excite particular surprise: the high placing of Herbert Asquith and the relatively low placing of Margaret Thatcher. Mr Asquith's overall record should not, I think, justify him being placed in the top ten, let alone the top five. Many of the 'reforms' which occured during his Administration were the work of men other than him. If Mr Asquith is ranked too highly, then, Mrs Thatcher is, surely, ranked too low. Whatever one's personal views about Mrs Thatcher, her impact - both politically and otherwise - on the life of the nation was, and continues to be, profound, much more so than any of the other Prime Ministers of the century, including Mr Churchill during his 1955-55 occupation of the Premiership. She should, therefore, be ranked second in the list and if one were to judge on their peacetime record alone, Mrs Thatcher would have to be ranked first.
Atlee and Aquith deserve equal credit as PM of the 20th century for their achievements in the Welfare State. Thatcher was a dictator who led Britain into two of the worst recessions this century, and was reelected due to patriotism, a lack of opposition and the greed of society. I fully agree with Major's position - although Blair inherited a healthy economy, most of the benefits were a result of Britain pulling out of the ERM. Major spent billions trying to maintain our position within it.
Churchill, without doubt. He had the greatness to take risks, and dared to be wrong (which he was, often). But he had a hatred for tyranny that drove him throughout life, and fought it in every way he knew, and without compromise. He may have upset the working classes in the 1920's, but he preserved their freedom to detest him.
Churchill and then Thatcher without a doubt! These two PM's are known the world over for their strength and leadership and are the envy of many of the global electorate. Maggie is still in demand for public speaking all over the world. Some may not have liked the heavy hand that these two displayed, but look at the results!
Though I did not agree with all the changes Thatcher made I would be inclined to vote for her as she was the most courageous PM in my opinion. She changed so much and introduced many unpopular polices and therefore it takes someone who is extra special to win three general elections. She was also the first female leader of the Tory party.
For me, Churchill was by far the greatest PM this century but John Major has been sadly underrated. He not only left the economy in a good state but also kept a difficult and rabble Conservative Party together in spite of many problems left after its decline in the later years of Thatcherism. She herself was brilliant at the beginning of her reign but declined sadly towards the end - tending towards a dictatorship. In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better had she had left earlier and allowed someone else to continue for a few years. She could then have come back into active mainstream politics with fresh ideas and perhaps renewed popularity.
Brian B. Warren, England, U.K.
Having read Time Magazine's essays on the person of the century (Winston Churchill did not figure in the top three, but his relationship with Franklin Delano Roosevelt was praised), it is gratifying to see that history seems to paying him the compliment he deserves. I must say that John Major has been done a great injustice by your poll, and would ask that he be given a fairer hearing.
His economic policies may have led to some problems initially, but the UK survived better than most during the world-wide recession, bounced back quicker than most - and I believe is still the best all-round economy - and should continue to be.
History will be the final judge. There really needed to be two categories- best peacetime and best wartime prime minister. There is no doubt, Sir Winston saved the nation and the world, in their hour of need against nazi tyranny- and Margaret Thatcher did the same- but this time the tyranny was from within and was not of such major significance. Nevertheless, In my view she will go down as the greatest peacetime prime minister ever.
Churchill was a reactionary, war-obsessed and possibly xenophobic leader. He deserves none of the credit he receives, much of which stems from Britain's obsession with a small-minded and parochial nationalism that seems to engulf the nation whenever the world wars are mentioned. Thatcher, similarly, was a tyrant who ravaged this country and made it hospitable for the rich at the detriment of the poor. Atlee gets my vote. The welfare state was a noble principle and policy, and I find it abhorrent that successive Tory/New Labour governments have tried to dismantle it.
I think it is significant that the judges chose two successful wartime leaders as the greatest prime ministers and two disastrous ones as the most insignificant. I have no quarrel with the choice of Churchill as No. 1, but Lloyd George is a totally different matter. His plotting against the generals and his abuse of the honours system do not appear to justify his place as No. 2.
On the other hand, it must be remembered Chamberlain was a great social reformer, and though Anthony Eden's Suez campaign ended in shambles, had it been success, he would almost certainly be acclaimed today as the man who saw off militant nationalism in the region.
The two greatest peacetime leaders were undoubtedly Attlee and Asquith, the one put in the shade today by his predecessor and the other by his successor.
The greatest diplomatic triumphs were achieved by Heath and then again by Major in their negotiations in Europe. It should also be remembered the latter left the economy of the country in a remarkably healthy state.
Not only was Churchill the greatest PM, he was probably the greatest American citizen ever. (Remember that he was awarded honorary American citizenship by Congress.) There may be many talented PMs on the list, but Churchill displayed leadership beyond talent -- he was alone, in the wilderness, crying out against the gathering Nazi storm, when most Brits would not even care to listen. Churchill was a giant who ensured that Britain would survive WWII, even if the Empire would not. No one else on the list could have provided that necessary leadership. No one.
This says more about Radio 4 listeners than about the British population - the ordinary British public wouldn't have put a leader who wrecked the NHS, destroyed teachers moral and introduced the Poll Tax - 5th! She only won so many times because the opposition was in such a bad state in the 80s.
Sir Winston Churchill and FDR were the two greatest leaders of the 20th century without a doubt. Their leadership took us to final victory. Today we see no such leadership in the free world!
I am very surprised Thatcher placed as low as 5th. She was the one peacetime leader who challenged the prevailing orthodoxy, and against an incredible amount of opposition from the establishment revitalised the flagging UK economy and renewed our national self confidence. I can¿t see how Asquith, Atlee or Lloyd George measure up to this record - their actions were more a reflection of the general mood at the time they governed.
The choice of Winston Churchill conveniently forgets his less than kind treatment of British people during the General Strike. Churchill, like Thatcher, was a rabid warmonger. Both displayed a cavalier contempt for human life. I would look more to the individuals who had to pick up the pieces after the glory boys had gone away. Atlee would make a far better choice as a man who had to pick up a shattered nation. Why else did the nation reject Churchill so convincingly after the war? Why did people riot in the streets against Thatcher? Real leaders inspire confidence and respect, not hatred and disgust.
Winston Churchill was unquestionably the greatest PM of Great Britain during the last hundred years. Churchill deserves a "thank you" from every person on this earth who enjoys the greatness of freedom. During WWII, Sir Winston faced an enemy who had taken over most of Western Europe in one year. He faced a German air force numbering over 5,000 planes. Despite these drawbacks, Churchill led Britain with confidence through a dark period in time. Not only is Churchill the PM of the century, I believe he is the man of the century.
Churchill is the clear choice. I do not believe there are enough words in the English language to describe this great man. He is not only the greatest PM but the person of the century. I do not understand Atlee's second place finish. There must have been a concerted effort by Labour to put someone high on the list so they chose the socialist with who was a good and decent man though a failure as PM.
I vote for Clement Atlee. I lived and worked in Britain for most of the 1960s. I came to appreciate the nobility of the welfare state and do not join in the present denigration of that fine concept.The National Health service alone places Atlee at the top of the list.
Sir Winston Churchill and Mrs Thatcher would have to share the honour. He was the man who did more than any other to save the civilised world from Nazi terror and she saved it from socialist bungling.
Churchill is my choice. But for his courage and guts in 1940 resisting the strong pressures in his Cabinet for a negotiated truce with Hitler this country would have been occupied by German forces. I was a young man then and remember how Churchill's inspiring use of the English language reinforced our determination and strength. He was the most popular politician in the country. In 1945 the country rejected the Conservative Party, not Churchill himself who was returned with a handsome majority as MP for Woodford.
I did admire Maggie in her hey days but Winston is my first choice.
Winston Churchill would be my first choice followed by Margaret Thatcher.
Churchill was a great war leader, without him I doubt we would enjoy the freedoms we take for granted. However reading historians and other colleagues of his in his second spell, I really think he should have quit after the war, he spoiled his record by being PM in the 50's. Even Ted Heath admits that his mind was still in the war, when he created himself Minister of Defence. My own personal choice would be Asquith, who virtually reformed the constitution and gave way for the first tentative steps for the welfare state.
Without doubt Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of the Century. No other Briton, PM or not, had a larger influence on British politics than Churchill, and no other Briton could have rallied, and ultimately saved, the country as Churchill did during those dark months in the summer of 1940.
I disagree strongly with the notion that Winston Churchill was the greatest PM of the 20th century. He wasn't If he was he would have the general election immediately after the war, which was based on him being a successful war leader. My mother tells me of occasions in cinemas where Churchill would appear on newsreels and he would be booed by civilian and military cinema goers alike. His general election victory in the fifties was won under unusual circumstances, the Tories actually polled less votes than Labour. Churchill was never really popular with the people that mattered at that time, the electors. They saw what he was like, a vain and ambitious man who they never fully trusted. Churchill became more popular after his death than ever he was during life. Historians have made the basic mistake of associating a blustering drunken PM with the heroism of the civilian and military forces during that period.
Without a doubt, Winston Churchill was the greatest PM of the 20th Century. He was a man before his time and knew Hitler was up to something long before anyone suspected Hitler. However, no one listened to Churchill and that was a mistake.
Maggie has to be the best all round PM, she brought the UK kicking and screaming from the socialist backwater it was in the early 80's to a competitive Euro-player. Churchill was a PM for the wartime and a truly great man, but a wartime leader was his true calling.
Margaret Thatcher hands down!!!!!!! Us Yanks have the likes of the Clintons, who have no dignity. You Brits can hold your heads high with leaders like Margaret.
I think Major will be seen by history as a better PM than the participants in the discussion gave him credit for. I've never voted Conservative in my life and probably never will. However, Major left the Country with a considerable legacy of economic prosperity, and had a good record in holding his party together in the face of abject adversity. Europe moved on without the UK, but we continued to have the opportunity to take part in all EU activities via the Maastricht opt-out, bravely secured by JM despite having a minimal parliamentary majority and a very significant part of his party against it. Add to that an election victory no one expected, and with the highest number of votes for the Conservatives ever. I think you have a PM with the standing of at least a Heath, a Callaghan or a Wilson. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46762790 | Lifeboat volunteers have rescued a sheep and a dog after the animals fell from cliffs on the Ceredigion coast.
Murray the dog had been walking along the coastal path with his owners when he fell over 50ft (15m) off a cliff between Tresaith and Aberporth.
A volunteer crew set off from New Quay in search of Murray after 13:00 GMT on New Year's Eve.
"We had a bumpy run down the coast but luckily we were able to locate the dog quickly," volunteer Simon Rigby said.
The dog had broken one of its front legs, was in a lot of pain and had to be extracted from a small cove.
"We got him on board and handed him over to the Cardigan Coastguard rescue team on Aberporth beach where Murray was reunited with his owners."
On their way back to New Quay, the lifeboat was asked to rescue a sheep that had fallen over a cliff near Llangrannog.
"We couldn't believe that the sheep had fallen over 80ft (24m) but had survived completely unscathed. She must have landed in the water and swum to nearby rocks where we found her stranded," crew member Ben Davies said.
"I never thought when I joined the lifeboat crew I would be lassoing a sheep and getting the poor thing into a boat. Luckily the sheep was very calm on board but we had to tie her down for her and our safety."
The sheep was taken to Llangrannog where it was handed over to the New Quay Coastguard team. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-shropshire-42373355 | Good morning, we'll bring you all the latest news, sport, weather and travel updates between now and 18:00.
And we'll be covering Birmingham and the Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and south Cheshire.
If you'd like to get in touch to comment or share your photos, visit our BBC Midlands Facebook page, email us, or tweet @BBCMTD.
League One's top two sides cancel themselves out as leaders Wigan are held to a 0-0 draw by Shrewsbury.
An investigation is under way after two Severn Valley Railway train carriages were vandalised.
Engineers working to conserve the Iron Bridge said previous repair attempts had not always been successful.
M54 Shropshire westbound severe disruption, at J3 for A41.
M54 Shropshire - M54 lane closed on exit slip road westbound at J3, A41 (Albrighton). Traffic is coping well.
Why has eight-year-old Maggie asked her mum for toilet roll for Christmas?
Stefan Payne scores his 10th goal of the season as Shrewsbury Town beat Portsmouth to stay second in League One.
M54 Shropshire eastbound severe disruption, between J3 for A41 and J2 for A449.
M54 Shropshire - Slow traffic and one lane closed on M54 eastbound between J3, A41 (Albrighton) and J2, A449 (Wolverhampton), because of a vehicle fire.
Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Oswestry maternity units are to reopen on 1 January.
A4169 Shropshire both ways severe accident, between A458 Victoria Road and B4380 Buildwas Road.
A4169 Shropshire - A4169 Smithfield Road closed in both directions between Gaskell Arms junction in Much Wenlock and the B4380 Buildwas Road junction in Buildwas, because of an accident.
Shrewsbury Town's manager says they've held positive talks with Norwich City about the possibility of extending Ben Godfrey's loan.
The midfielder's current deal expires next month and boss Paul Hurst has been keen to keep Godfrey beyond January.
We've had dialogue and I think that's something we might be able to do. We've had a positive chat so hopefully that'll be one that we can get done."
The government's being asked to stop plans for police suspects in Shropshire to be taken to court in Kidderminster instead of Telford.
Under current proposals from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), five remand courts in the West Mercia Police area would be closed and replaced with just one in Kidderminster.
The MoJ says its proposals, which affect other courts in the country, are about modernising the justice system along with £700m in investment over four years.
But the plans have been criticised in Shropshire for the impact on police finances.
With the size and scope of West Mercia, to be taking everybody from both Hereford and Shropshire as well as Worcestershire to Kidderminster is going to increase those journeys and their costs to the police."
Flowers and other tributes have been laid at the scene where a young boy died after being hit by a car.
The 19-month-old victim died, police said, after he was hit on the forecourt of Minsterley Garage.
A document outlining why Shropshire Council wants to go ahead with Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road should be arriving at the Department for Transport today.
The road, which would cost more than £100m, is one of a dozen projects competing for government approval.
The council says it won't find out until March whether it's been successful in its bid for funding.
Police have released more details about a young boy who died after being hit by a car in Shropshire yesterday.
West Mercia Police says a 19-month-old boy died after he was hit by a silver Hyundai Santa De on the forecourt of Minsterley Garage.
Officers said the boy died from his injuries at the scene.
We are appealing for anyone who witnessed the collision or who may have any information to please come forward. This has been an understandably distressing incident within the community."
A fundraising campaign has been launched to save the former home of King Henry VIII's wife Catherine of Aragon.
Three maternity units in Shropshire will re-open in the new year after closing in 2017 due to staffing challenges, health chiefs say.
The sites in Ludlow, Oswestry and Bridgnorth were shut in July because of staff sickness and a drop in the number of midwives prepared to work overtime.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust says full services will resume from 11:00 on New Year's Day.
However, the long-term future of the three rural units is still uncertain as the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin clinical commissioning groups are planning to revamp them under a major review.
A thief stole £11,000 worth of post boxes from villages and sold them on eBay.
Mark Crowther stole post boxes from Wrexham, Flintshire and Shropshire, causing a total of £26,000 in damage.
Crowther, 37, of Chirk, Wrexham, admitted 33 counts of theft and five attempted thefts and got a 12-month sentence, suspended for 16 months.
Sitting in Mold Crown Court, Judge Niclas Parry called it "an attack on the way of life in rural communities". |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35496893 | Suggested new spellings for more than 2,000 French words have sparked controversy.
The Academie Francaise proposed changes in 1990, including the deletion of the circumflex accent (ˆ) and hyphens in some words, but they were optional.
Now publishers say they will include the new spellings in schoolbooks.
France's education minister has said the changes will not culminate in the end of the circumflex, and that old and new spellings will both remain correct.
Despite this, the news sparked furious reaction on social media, with users arguing the changes constituted dumbing down.
Some tweets even used the hashtag #JeSuisCirconflexe (I am circumflex).
The peaked accent (^) looks like a hat, or so children are told when they are learning French. It goes over vowels - in some cases it changes the word's pronunciation, in others it serves to distinguish homonyms (words that are spelled and pronounced like another word but are different in meaning).
The changes will see it being used on a, o and e, but dropped from i and u (with some exceptions).
The outrage reportedly started after a report by the TF1 website (in French) said the reforms would take effect in the upcoming academic year.
It quoted a note from the education ministry last year saying that the new spellings should be adopted and reported that publishers have decided to add the changes in textbooks from September.
Students will then have a choice to use either the old spellings or the new ones and teachers will have to accept both ways as correct.
The proposed changes followed a review of the French language to simplify learning, but they were not binding and had faced strong opposition in the country, Le Monde reported (in French).
They include the deletion in some words of the hyphens and the circumflex. The accent disappears from above the letter i and u in certain words and not from the letter o.
The new spelling would reportedly impact around 2,400 words.
Users on social media were furious over the changes, and the hashtags #ReformeOrthographe (orthographic reform) and #JeSuisCirconflexe (I am circumflex) were one of Twitter's trending topics in France on Thursday.
Many users shared pictures showing their dissatisfaction with the changes, and most of the anger was directed at the alleged end of the circumflex. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47967759 | Just months before Notre-Dame was severely damaged by fire, a French camera team filmed the iconic cathedral.
The interactive control in the 360° video above allows you to explore its stunning interior from all angles before the flames took hold.
Courtesy Forum des images - TV5Monde. Original footage directed by Raphael Beaugrand.
BBC VR Producer: Stephen Beckett. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-17330490/sporting-prince-harry-wins-hearts-in-brazil | Sporting prince wins hearts in Brazil Jump to media player Prince Harry's light-hearted charm has proved a big hit in Brazil - the destination for the last leg of his first solo overseas tour.
Harry 'bolts' for the finish line Jump to media player Prince Harry has taken part in a "race" with Olympic 100m champion Usain Bolt during his visit to Jamaica.
Prince Harry in Jamaican groove Jump to media player Prince Harry pays a personal tribute to the Queen during a visit to Jamaica and takes to the dance floor at a charity project.
Harry pays tribute to the Queen Jump to media player Prince Harry has paid a personal tribute to the Queen, describing her as a "wonderful, caring grandmother" to whom he is utterly devoted.
Prince Harry's light-hearted charm has proved a big hit in Brazil - the destination for the last leg of his first solo overseas tour.
The prince completed a charity run in Rio de Janeiro in eight-and-a-half minutes, while donning a Prince William paper mask.
Earlier he had said that Britain and Brazil were "forging bonds that will stand the test of time." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7165155.stm | An exhibition of major Russian and French artworks is to go ahead in London after a law to protect them came into force in the UK.
Russia's culture agency had blocked the export of the paintings to the Royal Academy of Art until a law guaranteeing their safety was implemented.
It feared they could be seized because of disputes about their ownership.
A spokesman for the Russian agency told Echo Moscow radio that a licence would be issued so the exhibition could open.
Some of the 120 paintings included in the exhibition were taken from private collections after Russia's 1917 revolution.
It was thought some of them could be seized to settle private legal claims.
The new legislation means that descendants of the original owners cannot bring forward their claims on British soil.
Anatoliy Vilkov, deputy head of Russia's cultural protection department, said the paintings would go to London as soon as any "technical questions" are resolved.
The UK government confirmed on Sunday that the "immunity from seizure" legislation had been brought forward from February.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that Culture Secretary James Purnell had made the order to bring the legislation in on 31 December.
From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings is due to open at the Royal Academy of Art on 26 January.
The exhibition is currently showing in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Both the British and Russian governments have denied the clash related to the fallout from the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London last year, which prompted strained relations between the two countries. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/6192997.stm | The last British serviceman to serve in both World War I and World War II has died aged 106.
Captain Kenneth Cummins served in the Royal Navy in WWI and in the Merchant Navy in WWII.
Until his death at home in Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire on 10 December, he was one of five WWI veterans living in the UK.
Dennis Goodwin, chairman of the WWI Veterans' Association, said: "Any death of a veteran of WWI means the end of a unique and special generation."
The four WWI veterans who survive him are: William Stone, 106, of Oxford; Henry Allingham, 110, from Sussex; Philip Mayne, 107, of Richmond, North Yorkshire; and Harry Patch, 108, from Somerset.
In WWII, Mr Cummins survived the torpedoing of his ship, the Viceroy of India, which was owned by P&O but used by the military.
In 1918 he witnessed nurses' bodies floating in the ocean after a Canadian hospital ship was illegally destroyed by the Germans.
"Ken was one of the icons," said Mr Goodwin.
"It was the likes of Ken and all the vets who survived WWI who put this country back on its feet and made Britain what it is today." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9156527.stm | Jo Kuffour's excellent hat-trick helped Bristol Rovers seal a thrilling nine-goal game in the area quarter-finals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
The striker headed in early on before exposing Wycombe's offside trap.
Scott Rendell then headed home for Wanderers before further strikes from Kuffour and Chris Lines and a Jeff Hughes penalty sealed Rovers' win.
Rendell sealed his own treble with a penalty and a late header, before Ben Swallow fired in the visitors' sixth.
Wycombe came out at the start of the second half all guns blazing and Rendell's fine finish from Ben Strevens' cross looked to have given them a fighting chance.
But their defence could not deal with the pace of Kuffour, who completed his hat-trick and the home side's off-form back-line fell apart with Lines finishing from Hughes' ball.
Alan Bennett fouled Kuffour as Hughes fired home the penalty to grab Rovers' fifth.
The hosts kept battling away with Rendell completing an excellent hat-trick, as he fired home from the spot after being fouled by Lines before nodding in Matt Bloomfield's cross.
Swallow then caught Wycombe on the break to add Rovers' sixth and seal an impressive away victory.
"Defensively it wasn't our best performance. With the attacking threat they've got, opportunities came and they took them.
"It's an incredible scoreline, it just goes to show we can score goals.
"But it shows that defensively tonight we weren't good enough as individuals and as a unit."
"The skipper (Stuart Campbell) immediately gave us the competitive edge that you look for, and others then followed suit.
"He (Ben Swallow) showed a fantastic bit of quality for the goal but we have talked about his defensive duties as well.
"It is a competition we're taking seriously and as it gets closer it gets more interesting."
94:27 The final whistle goes and the game is over.
90:00+3:39 The referee blows for offside. Free kick taken by Carl Regan.
90:00+1:43 GOAL - Ben Swallow:Wycombe 3 - 6 Bristol Rovers Ben Swallow finds the net with a goal from outside the penalty box to the top right corner of the goal. Wycombe 3-6 Bristol Rovers.
89:14 Matt Bloomfield concedes a free kick for a foul on Jo Kuffour. Jeff Hughes takes the free kick.
88:14 Assist by Matt Bloomfield.
88:14 GOAL - Scott Rendell:Wycombe 3 - 5 Bristol Rovers Scott Rendell finds the back of the net with a headed goal from deep inside the penalty area. Wycombe 3-5 Bristol Rovers.
87:18 Jo Kuffour is flagged offside by the assistant referee. Free kick taken by Nikki Bull. Stuart Campbell gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Scott Rendell. Matt Bloomfield takes the free kick.
82:59 Unfair challenge on Kieran Murtagh by Eliot Richards results in a free kick. Matt Bloomfield takes the free kick.
82:23 Matt Bloomfield takes the inswinging corner, Chris Lines gives away a Penalty for an unfair challenge on Scott Rendell.
82:23 GOAL - Scott Rendell:Wycombe 2 - 5 Bristol Rovers Scott Rendell scores a penalty. Wycombe 2-5 Bristol Rovers.
80:08 Kadeem Harris sends in a cross, clearance made by Carl Regan.
79:03 Substitution James Tunnicliffe joins the action as a substitute, replacing Danny Coles.
78:31 Substitution Eliot Richards replaces John Akinde.
77:21 Stuart Campbell concedes a free kick for a foul on Scott Rendell. Free kick taken by Matt Bloomfield.
76:04 Penalty awarded for a foul by Alan Bennett on Jo Kuffour.
76:04 GOAL - Jeff Hughes:Wycombe 1 - 5 Bristol Rovers Penalty scored by Jeff Hughes. Wycombe 1-5 Bristol Rovers.
72:24 Matt Bloomfield takes the outswinging corner, clearance made by John Akinde.
71:19 Corner taken by Matt Bloomfield played to the near post, Gary Sawyer makes a clearance.
71:07 Danny Foster produces a cross, Gary Sawyer makes a clearance.
70:23 Chris Lines gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Matt Bloomfield. Matt Bloomfield takes the free kick.
69:18 Kevin Betsy produces a right-footed shot from deep inside the area which goes wide of the left-hand post.
69:02 Marvin McCoy produces a cross, Ben Swallow manages to make a clearance.
64:23 Substitution (Bristol Rovers) makes a substitution, with Ben Swallow coming on for Wayne Brown.
64:23 Substitution Stuart Beavon leaves the field to be replaced by Matt McClure.
64:23 Substitution Ben Strevens leaves the field to be replaced by Kadeem Harris.
63:57 Corner taken by Matt Bloomfield from the right by-line played to the near post, Wayne Brown makes a clearance.
62:46 Booking Chris Lines is given a yellow card.
61:42 Jeff Hughes provided the assist for the goal.
61:42 GOAL - Chris Lines:Wycombe 1 - 4 Bristol Rovers Chris Lines gets on the score sheet with a goal from just inside the area to the bottom left corner of the goal. Wycombe 1-4 Bristol Rovers.
58:36 John Akinde provided the assist for the goal.
58:36 GOAL - Jo Kuffour:Wycombe 1 - 3 Bristol Rovers Goal scored by Jo Kuffour from the edge of the penalty box to the bottom right corner of the goal. Wycombe 1-3 Bristol Rovers.
57:43 Assist on the goal came from Ben Strevens.
57:43 GOAL - Scott Rendell:Wycombe 1 - 2 Bristol Rovers Scott Rendell scores a headed goal from deep inside the penalty box. Wycombe 1-2 Bristol Rovers.
56:24 The ball is crossed by Kevin Betsy, Wayne Brown manages to make a clearance.
55:07 Danny Coles gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Ben Strevens. Direct free kick taken by Kieran Murtagh.
53:59 Scott Rendell concedes a free kick for a foul on Gary Sawyer. Mikkel Andersen takes the direct free kick.
53:22 Corner taken by Matt Bloomfield.
51:25 Stuart Beavon produces a cross, Mikkel Andersen makes a comfortable save.
47:54 Unfair challenge on Scott Rendell by Danny Coles results in a free kick. Scott Rendell takes the free kick.
47:27 Jo Kuffour takes a shot. Save made by Nikki Bull.
47:03 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Wayne Brown by Stuart Beavon. Wayne Brown restarts play with the free kick.
45:00+1:13 It is the end of the first-half.
44:43 The ball is delivered by Stuart Beavon, save made by Mikkel Andersen.
44:28 John Akinde is flagged offside by the assistant referee. Nikki Bull takes the free kick.
43:29 Outswinging corner taken right-footed by Stuart Campbell from the right by-line, save by Nikki Bull.
39:58 GOAL - Jo Kuffour:Wycombe 0 - 2 Bristol Rovers Jo Kuffour grabs a goal from deep inside the penalty box to the top right corner of the goal. Wycombe 0-2 Bristol Rovers.
39:05 Chris Lines takes the outswinging corner, Leon Johnson manages to make a clearance.
33:23 Jeff Hughes crosses the ball, Effort from inside the penalty box by Wayne Brown strikes the post.
30:06 Unfair challenge on Stuart Beavon by Jeff Hughes results in a free kick. Direct free kick taken by Matt Bloomfield.
29:31 The ball is swung over by Marvin McCoy, save by Mikkel Andersen.
29:22 Kevin Betsy sends in a cross.
29:16 The ball is delivered by Marvin McCoy.
29:07 The ball is swung over by Marvin McCoy.
27:26 Charles Reece produces a right-footed shot from just inside the penalty box and strikes the post.
26:46 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Gary Sawyer by Stuart Beavon. Mikkel Andersen takes the free kick.
25:48 The ball is sent over by Ben Strevens, Chris Lines makes a clearance.
25:05 Foul by Byron Anthony on Stuart Beavon, free kick awarded. Direct free kick taken by Danny Foster.
22:54 Stuart Beavon delivers the ball, Mikkel Andersen makes a comfortable save.
21:57 Gary Sawyer provided the assist for the goal.
21:57 GOAL - Jo Kuffour:Wycombe 0 - 1 Bristol Rovers Jo Kuffour scores a headed goal from inside the six-yard box. Wycombe 0-1 Bristol Rovers.
20:49 Matt Bloomfield takes a outswinging corner from the right by-line played to the near post.
19:27 Kevin Betsy is adjudged to have handled the ball. Direct free kick taken by Stuart Campbell.
18:48 Jo Kuffour fouled by Leon Johnson, the ref awards a free kick. Stuart Campbell takes the direct free kick.
18:22 The referee blows for offside. Nikki Bull restarts play with the free kick.
15:40 Chris Lines gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Matt Bloomfield. Direct free kick taken by Matt Bloomfield.
14:21 Kevin Betsy is flagged offside by the assistant referee. Direct free kick taken by Byron Anthony.
12:14 Free kick awarded for a foul by Jeff Hughes on Stuart Beavon. Matt Bloomfield takes the free kick.
12:00 The ball is swung over by Gary Sawyer, Leon Johnson makes a clearance.
7:05 Corner crossed in by Matt Bloomfield, free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Danny Coles by Scott Rendell. Mikkel Andersen takes the direct free kick.
5:53 Outswinging corner taken right-footed by Matt Bloomfield from the right by-line, Byron Anthony fouled by Leon Johnson, the ref awards a free kick. Indirect free kick taken by Mikkel Andersen.
5:18 Matt Bloomfield takes a corner.
3:00 Leon Johnson fouled by John Akinde, the ref awards a free kick. Leon Johnson takes the direct free kick.
2:30 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Stuart Campbell by Matt Bloomfield. Byron Anthony takes the free kick.
1:39 Effort from outside the area by Jo Kuffour goes wide right of the goal.
0:59 Stuart Campbell gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Kevin Betsy. Direct free kick taken by Danny Foster. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-47936067 | A man is in danger of losing his sight after an "unknown substance" was hurled in his face by two men.
The man was standing by his car in St Helens, Merseyside, when the "unprovoked attack" took place at about 21:20 BST on Sunday, police said.
He then began to suffer breathing difficulties and "extreme irritation to his eyes".
A police spokesman said: "Early indications are that the victim could potentially lose his sight."
The man was assaulted in Milton Street, Sutton Manor.
His attackers were described as white, wearing bubble jackets and aged in their 20s. They were last seen heading towards Jubitts Lane.
Det Insp Lisa Ryan said: "This was an unprovoked attack and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances in relation to the incident." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-47463897/aston-martin-s-sales-growth-very-very-good | Aston Martin's sales growth 'very, very good' Jump to media player Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer tells the BBC's Theo Leggett that the firm's underlying performance last year was "very good" in a very volatile market.
'The most powerful Italian sports car ever made' Jump to media player Automobili Pininfarina's Battista "hypercar" is the fastest road legal car ever - and it's electric.
Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer tells the BBC's Theo Leggett that the firm's underlying performance last year was "very good" in a very volatile market, and that the one-off cost of going public would not be repeated. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1400333.stm | "10,000 people took part in the online quiz"
A computer science professor has been declared the Sexiest Geek Alive.
Ellen Spertus, who teaches at Mills College in California, beat off competition from thousands of entrants and eight other finalists to the title.
The competition, which emphasises "brains not beauty", aims to find the geek who combines a deep knowledge of computers with non-geeky traits such as social skills and even good looks.
Ms Spertus received her crown and scepter at a star-studded pageant held in San Francisco on Wednesday.
The search for the Sexiest Geek Alive started in April with the first of 11 regional competitions designed to slim down the thousands of entrants to a handful that would vie for the coveted title.
What US pizza franchise does not offer internet ordering?
Who holds regular "Geeks with Guns" parties?
In Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series, Hari Seldon lays down the precepts of what branch of fictional science?
Entrants to the regional finals were chosen by answering 40 questions to test their geekiness on the Sexiest Geek Alive website. To limit cheating some of the questions were chosen randomly and some had to be answered within a time limit. Questions were asked in categories such as mathematics, sciences, nerd culture, science fiction and, of course, computers.
The questions plumbed the depths of geek knowledge and required entrants to know the answer to such things as "What are you measuring if the result is -9.81 metres per second squared?" and "What is the width of the address bus on an Intel 486DX processor?".
High scoring entrants were then interviewed and those judged to be the sexiest went forward to one of the regional or online heats. From these contests nine finalists - four women and five men - were chosen to fight it out for the top title.
Ms Spertus has impeccable geek credentials owning an electric car, which has a registration plate that spells out Ohms law, and having successfully sued a company that sent her spam or unwanted commercial e-mail. Ms Spertus wins a state of the art PC and a Caribbean cruise for two.
The contest was thought up by Stephen Phenix reputedly after a row with his fianc� over the general state of geekiness in the US.
Perhaps fittingly the final pageant was held at the Broadband Year 2001 conference in San Francisco. Chase Masterson, who played Leeta on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine TV show, was the showbiz host for the event.
Just like the beauty contests it apes, all nine finalists have five minutes to show or explain to the judges why they should be crowned sexiest geek. Some of the entrants are planning to do some stand-up comedy; others are airing homemade videos to show off their technical prowess. Perhaps thankfully there is no swimsuit section.
Priyanka Chopra: Miss World 2000. Not an entrant.
Other finalists were the editor of a computer magazine and a handful of technology consultants.
Originally only men could enter the contest, but protests by girl geeks led the organisers to open it up to women too. About 18,000 people entered the competition in 2000.
Last year's winner Tony Northrup became a minor celebrity after the contest. Mr Northrup said in the biography that accompanied his application: "Like my father and his father before him, I am a geek. It's remarkable that my ancestors even managed to breed." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-11123947 | Two Scottish anglers are to take part in a legal test case over cross-border fishing rights.
The men are being prosecuted for fishing on a tributary of the River Esk without an Environment Agency rod licence.
Much of the River Esk is in Scotland, but the English agency is responsible for administering the entire river.
Over the past few years, anglers on the Scottish side of the border have opposed the agency's right of control.
But matters will now come to a head after charges were brought against two anglers who live in the village of Newcastleton, Roxburghshire.
Ross Blaikie, 31, of Douglas Square, and Brian Scott, 45, of Scotts Street, pleaded not guilty at Jedburgh Sheriff Court to fishing for salmon or sea trout on the Liddle Water - a tributary of the River Esk - near Newcastleton, on 20 August, 2009, without a valid rod licence.
Sheriff Kevin Drummond noted it would be a test case to challenge legislation brought in by the Environment Agency regarding the River Esk, and fixed a trial for 10 September.
The Esk rises in the mountains to the east of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, and merges with the Liddle Water on the England/Scotland border before entering the Solway Firth in Cumbria. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7869257.stm | Remarkable footage of elusive narwhal has been captured.
A BBC team used aerial cameras to film the creatures during their epic summer migration, as they navigated through cracks in the melting Arctic sea ice.
They believe the footage, which forms part of the BBC Natural History Unit's new series Nature's Great Events, is the first of its kind.
Narwhal are sometimes called "Arctic unicorns" because of the long, spiral tusk that protrudes from their jaws.
The appendages can reach more than 2m (7ft) in length; scientists believe males use them to attract potential mates.
The BBC crew headed to the Arctic in June 2008, to film the tusked animals' summer migration.
At this time of year, temperatures begin to rise above freezing and the thick sea ice starts to melt, creating a complex network of cracks that cover the white expanse.
Every year, thousands of narwhal use these narrow fissures to travel thousands of kilometres, from the south of Baffin Bay to the high Arctic fjords.
But tracking these animals down is not easy.
Justin Anderson, who produced the programme, said: "Even though they are quite large animals, the area we had to cover was enormous - the size of Scotland.
"It is like finding a needle in a haystack."
A "dive" crew, equipped with underwater cameras, spent four weeks on the ice trying to locate the mysterious whales. But just as they caught a glimpse of them, the sea ice had become so dangerously thin that filming was forced to halt.
However, an "aerial" team arrived by helicopter to take up the mantle.
Mr Anderson explained: "It took us seven days to travel to the place where the whales had been spotted [Lancaster Sound] - we were stuck by possibly the worst thing you can encounter in a helicopter in the Arctic - fog.
"But then we got there, we 'lucked out'; the skies cleared and we had eight days of 24-hour summer sunshine."
Using a special mount, cameraman Simon Werry filmed the creatures from the helicopter, as the narwhal swam through the melt-water leads.
Mr Anderson said: "This is the first time the narwhal migration has been filmed this way. It has been filmed from the ice, but this is the first time it has been filmed from the air.
"It was an amazing sight. These animals are just so completely unreal - they are like something from mythology - and we were all just completely gobsmacked when we saw them."
Thanks to their elusive nature, narwhal can prove difficult to study and there is still much to learn about these Arctic mammals.
Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen, from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, said the purpose of the creatures' summer migration remained a mystery.
He explained: "The interesting thing is that these creatures feed in the deep water in the central part of Baffin Bay during the winter.
"But when they are in the summer grounds, they hardly feed at all.
"They are following the retreat of the sea ice as they have done for thousands of years, and spending summer in front of glaciers for reasons we do not really understand."
With such a connection to the Arctic ice, researchers are trying to establish whether narwhal will be affected by changes in the Arctic ice cover.
Dr Heide-Jorgensen has been using satellite tags, which, as well as keeping track of the whereabouts of narwhal, are also able to monitor the temperature of the waters where the whales swim.
He said: "They give us the temperature profiles in the wintering grounds and we can see the temperature of the deep areas has been increasing over the past 50 years.
"However, we cannot yet see any direct effects of climate change on the narwhal." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-42902773 | Three days of arts, literature and science are kicking off in Scotland's national book town.
The Big Bang Festival in Wigtown - which runs until Sunday - is now in its second edition.
Director Jessica Fox said the aim was to "inform, educate, entertain and inspire people of every age".
Driverless cars, alien life on other planets and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein are among the topics contained in the programme.
American comedian Jono Zalay, who swapped the neuroscience lab for a career in stand up, said he "leapt at the chance" to take part.
"I loved the idea of a festival bringing together art, science, literature, music and comedy in Scotland's national book town," he added.
Ms Fox said Wigtown was the "perfect place" for the festival.
"We will be having world-leading scientists here to talk about the latest research into everything from life on other planets to creating machines that think for themselves," she said.
"There will also be a special appreciation of James Clerk Maxwell, one of the world's greatest scientists, who came from Galloway.
"As we are right next to Galloway's Dark Sky Park, which people come to from across the world to stargaze, we are really delighted to be having a planetarium show that introduces people to the wonders of the universe."
She said Scotland had a "fantastic tradition" in science and was at the forefront of a lot of exciting research.
"This weekend will not only share some of what is going on, but we hope it will inspire a new generation to take up the baton and consider careers in science," she added. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-40062556/donald-trump-s-first-g7-summit | US President Donald Trump has been meeting other world leaders at his first G7 summit in Taormina, on the Italian island of Sicily.
They were treated to a fly-past by the Italian air force before sitting down for a business lunch.
Mr Trump's wife Melania visited the Sicilian town of Catania with other leaders' spouses. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43766985 | A woman who was talking to her friend in Spanish was attacked and told to speak English in a racially aggravated assault.
Two women shouted at the 24-year-old when she was on a Central line train on the London Underground on 7 April, police said.
The victim was pulled around by her hair, which resulted in injuries to her scalp and cuts to her face.
British Transport Police said the women were black and had braided hair.
They are believed to be in their late 20s and one was wearing a brown jacket, while the other was wearing a black jacket.
A police spokesperson said the women shouted at the victim, "saying she should be talking English when in England".
The train was travelling from Liverpool Street to Stratford when the assault happened at about 03:45 BST.
Police said officers are looking at CCTV from the stations and would like to speak to any witnesses. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-41668151/kestrel-clings-to-branch-during-strong-winds | Kestrel hangs on during windy weather Jump to media player A kestrel has been caught on video battling against stormy weather to cling to a branch in North Yorkshire.
Kestrel befriends M5 traffic camera Jump to media player Young bird of prey becomes regular visitor to a M5 traffic camera in Gloucestershire.
A kestrel was caught on video by an artist in North Yorkshire during strong winds associated with Storm Ophelia.
The video filmed by Robert E Fuller was taken in Thixendale in the Yorkshire Wolds as part of his research into how animals and birds cope in extreme weather.
It's for an exhibition at his gallery. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-47419093 | A former leading NHS doctor has admitted spying on a person in a shower through a hole in a loft.
Anaesthetist Dr Jonathan Fielden pleaded guilty to a count of voyeurism between between 2014 and 2016 at a private address in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.
Fielden, 55, of Regents Mews, Biddenham, near Bedford, appeared at Luton Crown Court.
Fielden was arrested in December 2016 and suspended by the NHS.
He later resigned as deputy medical director and director of specialised commissioning at NHS England.
Fielden had been one of four medical directors at University College Hospital London.
In a statement issued on 26 July 2017, NHS England said that he had resigned from his post "to pursue other opportunities".
He will be sentenced on 13 May. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1885931.stm | Critics of a project to set up alternative open-access scientific journals on the internet say the idea is ill-conceived and will undermine quality.
Financier George Soros announced in February that he was giving a $3m grant to the Budapest Open Access Initiative to set up open-archiving systems.
But, says Sally Morris, of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, open-access initiatives will undermine existing journals without replacing them.
"People value peer review and they value research being gathered together in things called journals," she told BBC News Online.
"But open archiving means you don't have to go to the journal and we believe it could very rapidly undermine the journals without putting anything in their place," she said.
"The problem is that things happen in the loop and somebody has to pay for them," she added.
Ms Morris says she is concerned that open-access online-archives of the kind backed by George Soros will give free access to scientific research which, in effect, has been subject to the quality control process of a paid-for journal.
Her concerns are echoed by Albert Henderson, former editor of Publishing Research Quarterly.
"It is a sad day when a well intentioned philanthropist like George Soros is duped into foolishly spending millions undermining libraries, librarians, authors and referees," Mr Henderson said.
"Undoubtedly his goal was the opposite - to help students and researchers obtain the information they need.
"Those who don't drown in the flood may choke first on errors, propaganda, mysticism, and other garbage inserted into 'archives' presumed to have the same quality as refereed science journals," he added.
Supporters of open archiving say it will help free scientific research from restrictions on access placed by scientific publishers.
These publishers do not pay the scientists who contribute their articles, but do charge readers.
Ms Morris says that charges are needed to cover costs.
"The greatest cost is working out that a journal is needed in a particular field, then setting it up. Most journals don't make money for four to five years," she said.
"Most of the costs are people costs. Even if reviews are done for free, reviewers look and make suggestions and someone has to carry all that through with the author," she added. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-34614225 | Half a million unlicensed erectile dysfunction pills have been seized from a house near Slough.
Police and government officers raided a property in The Myrke, Datchet, and found the medicine worth more than £1m.
A 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing an unauthorised medication, knowing or believing it would be supplied to another person.
A government spokesman said: "Selling unlicensed medicines is both illegal and poses a serious health hazard."
Enforcement officers from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) joined police in the raid on Wednesday.
MHRA Head of Operations, Danny Lee-Frost said: "People should think very carefully before purchasing pills on the internet because you have no idea what you may be taking or where they come from.
"To protect your health, visit your GP, get a correct diagnosis and buy medicines from a legitimate high street or registered pharmacy which can trade online."
The arrested man has been bailed until 10 February. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43546199 | It's been almost two years since the UK voted to leave the EU - why was the decision made - and what happens next?
Here are some of the key moments.
Why is Brexit taking sooo long? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4705425.stm | German President Horst Koehler has agreed to dissolve parliament and allow early elections, probably in September.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder purposely lost a confidence vote on 1 July to pave the way for the early elections, but needed the president's backing.
Mr Schroeder's move followed a humiliating loss for his Social Democrats in regional elections in May.
The opposition Christian Democrats, led by Angela Merkel, are currently well ahead in opinion polls.
Despite the apparent prospect of defeat, Mr Schroeder opted for the early elections to seek a fresh mandate for a controversial reform package.
His government has lost much support because of Germany's poor economic performance, high unemployment and the tough welfare reforms it has been trying to push through.
On Friday, Mr Schroeder cut short his holiday and returned to Berlin.
At a news conference he welcomed the president's move, saying he would fight the election with all his energy.
While all the main political parties and the majority of Germans are in favour of early elections, Mr Koehler's decision could be overturned by Germany's highest court, the BBC's Tristana Moore in Berlin says.
Several lawmakers have threatened to mount a legal challenge, arguing that an early election is in breach of Germany's constitution, our correspondent says.
In a televised address, President Koehler said that the poll was most likely to be held on 18 September.
Mr Koehler - who holds a largely ceremonial post - said that the chancellor's calls for a new poll one year ahead of the original schedule complied with Germany's constitution.
He said the country faced "giant tasks" in attacking its high unemployment and swollen budget deficits.
"In this serious situation, our country needs a government that can pursue its goals with steadiness and vigour," the president said.
"For this, the federal government requires the support of a reliable majority that is able to function."
Recent opinion polls put the Social Democrats about 17 points behind Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats.
If Ms Merkel wins, she will become the country's first female chancellor.
Which way now for Germany? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-16520889 | Payday loan company Wonga has removed pages from its website after it was branded "incredibly irresponsible" for targeting students.
However the lender said it would still accept applications for short-term loans from working students.
The National Union of Students (NUS) said it was wrong for the company to push the loans - with a typical APR of 4,214%.
An official study said that these loans could prove useful for some people.
Wonga replaced an article on its website about short term loans for students with a statement saying the previous article was out-of-date and "gave rise to misunderstandings."
The company said the original article was written as part of a strategy to make its services easier to find on internet search engines.
Promoting such loans to students had prompted a flurry of protests on Twitter.
Customers of payday loan firms would typically borrow a few hundred pounds from a payday loan firm for a short time, then pay it back when they receive their next slice of income.
The industry is regulated, but there has been some criticism of the cost of these loans.
The NUS had criticised marketing that had been on the Wonga website which promoted the loans for occasional emergencies or unexpected events. The website suggested that official student loans can encourage people to live beyond their means.
The APR is a standard way of showing the costs of borrowing, so you can work out which option is the cheapest.
It includes the rate of interest, the term of the loan and any fees.
All lenders have to tell you the APR before you sign an agreement - except overdrafts.
"It is highly irresponsible of any company to suggest to students that high-cost short-term loans be a part of their everyday financial planning," said Pete Mercer, NUS vice-president.
"Students should think long and hard before choosing payday loans over any other form of borrowing, including government-backed student loans. If students are struggling to make ends meet there is often other support available, and anyone worried about their finances should talk to their students' union or financial advisers at their university.
"Wonga should immediately withdraw this predatory [offer], which contains information that appears to be inaccurate, and is aimed at financially vulnerable young people."
In response, a spokesman for Wonga said that to get a loan students would need a regular income.
"Our decisions about any students who do choose to apply are based on the same rigorous checks we perform on all applications, but we do not believe working, adult students should be excluded from a popular credit option," he said.
He also denied that the company was "actively targeting" students.
The Department for Business said that borrowers should be aware of the costs involved with any form of credit, considering their own financial circumstances.
"The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is clear that lending money to people who will clearly struggle to repay it, or where that product is clearly unsuitable for that individual is irresponsible," a spokesman said.
The government believes that official student loans to eligible English students should cover their tuition costs, and contribute towards their living costs while at university.
Despite the negative publicity surrounding payday loan firms, the OFT has said that payday loans and other high-cost credit businesses - such as pawn brokers or home-credit lenders - should not have their interest charges restricted.
It concluded that they provided a useful service for some people who would not otherwise be able to borrow legitimately and who might thus be forced to borrow from illegal loan sharks. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-40482983 | A stem cell donor asked the stranger whose life he saved to be the best man at his wedding.
Brett Dingwall survived life-threatening acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) after he was treated with Paul Rogers's donated cells 10 years ago.
The pair met up after the two-year prescribed anonymity window and struck up a close friendship.
Mr Dingwall said: "When Paul asked if I'd be his best man, he knew I owed him more than that. I owed him my life."
The 67-year-old joined Mr Rogers and his wife Laura as the pair were married at St Paul's Walden, near Hitchin.
Retired boat-builder Mr Dingwall, from Bricket Wood, was diagnosed with AML while on holiday in Monaco in October 2006.
He began treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital and was told his last chance of survival would be a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor.
Mr Rogers, 51, was found to be a perfect match.
After a transplant, donors and recipients must remain anonymous for two years, but are allowed to exchange correspondence anonymously through Anthony Nolan.
Mr Dingwall sent Mr Rogers a thank you letter and a Christmas card, and received replies.
After the two years were up, the men realised they lived close to one another and met up.
Mr Rogers, 51, whose dad died from leukaemia, said meeting Mr Dingwall was "pretty emotional".
They enjoyed days out on Mr Dingwall's boat and kept in touch on-and-off over the years.
"Six months ago I thought, oh my word, who's going to be my best man?
"Then I thought, wouldn't it be amazing to have Brett as my best man? I'm so proud to be his friend," said Mr Rogers.
Mr and Mrs Rogers married on 13 May. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39805153 | The French press dubs Emmanuel Macron the clear winner of the final presidential election television debate, in common with papers around Europe.
But few think that the heated exchanges will have won over the 15% who say they are still undecided over who to vote for.
Emmanuel Galiero and François-Xavier Bourmaud of conservative Le Figaro say "Macron held up and asserted himself against Le Pen" in a "debate of unprecedented brutality that lacked substance".
Marine Le Pen "launched all-out war in an attempt to stifle her rival", but Emmanuel Macron "dominated his opponent on economic issues".
Overall it was a "dialogue of the deaf… as the positions of the two candidates appeared totally irreconcilable", the correspondents conclude.
Centre-left Le Monde agrees that stark differences were on display in the "brutal debate", and sides clearly with Mr Macron over his "repeated denunciations of the 'nonsense' talked by the National Front candidate".
Left-wing Liberation accuses Ms Le Pen of "drowning the debate in an avalanche of disinformation". Like several other papers, it fact-checks her "false and exaggerated statements".
Image caption Liberation says Ms Le Pen "drowns the debate in an avalanche of disinformation"
Top-selling Ouest France says its fact-checkers found all of her accusations to be false or vague, and sometimes reflected the "agenda of pro-Russian or far-right internet sites".
Catholic La Croix's Francois Ernenwein, like Cecile Cornudet in Les Echos business daily, complains that the debate was "relentless without ever gaining clarity", but gives Mr Macron credit for "trying to answer his opponent's accusations without losing his cool".
In Germany, centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung's Leila Al-Serori thinks "neither candidate brought any new programme details to the debate, but rather wheeled out all their guns for the final TV duel".
She says that Emmanuel Macron "came across as presidential and self-confident, but also a bit arrogant: he gave as good as he got, but did not rise to her bait", while Marine Le Pen was "domineering, mocking and the more relaxed of the two, but did not appear stateswomanlike".
Like many commentators, she deems it "hard to see how either could have won over undecided voters".
Sascha Lehnartz of conservative Die Welt says the debate - "by far the worst of the Fifth Republic" - "went off the rails from the first minute", descending into "one long screaming match until an acceptable level was reached at the end".
Image caption Die Welt says the debate "went off the rails from the first minute"
He partly blames the two TV presenters, "who barely deserved the title", and agrees that undecided voters will not have been helped by the debate.
Like all commentators, he notes that a viewers' poll made Mr Macron the clear winner of the night. "One can only hope that the poll reflects reality. For either Emmanuel Macron wins on Sunday, or else it's all over for France," Lehnartz concludes.
Michaela Wiegel in the centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also deplores the level of exchanges in "the most vague and aggressive debate the history of French televised presidential run-offs", in particular highlighting Ms Le Pen's charge that Mr Macron would "take his orders from Berlin".
The paper also hopes the viewers' poll is correct, as "given Le Pen's anti-EU stance, the vote concerns the fate of Europe".
In Italy, Corriere della Sera's Stefano Montefiori says Ms Le Pen's poor poll ratings mean "she had nothing to lose and so went all out, not to present her programme but to attack her opponent".
Anais Ginori of La Repubblica thinks she "used the Trump strategy of alluding, insulting and confusing" in contrast with her efforts in the first debate to try to seem "calm and ready to rule".
The correspondent says Ms Le Pen "appeared more spontaneous and expressive than Macron", but "largely failed in her effort to unnerve her opponent, who mocked her for consulting her notes as a sign of not knowing her stuff".
Image caption La Repubblica says "it was almost a fight"
In Spain, centre-right El Mundo's correspondent Anric Gonzalez was dismayed by a "violent and messy debate… that degraded both contenders".
"Marine Le Pen appeared angry, as she represents the angry France damaged by globalisation and the single market… while Macron tended to get lost in the details, " he thinks, concluding that Mr Macron prevailed as the "lesser evil".
In Poland's liberal Gazeta Wyborcza, Piotr Moszynski of Radio France Internationale writes that the debate was "chaotic, with Marine Le Pen constantly referring to her prompt cards, avoiding the questions, and speaking off topic," and concludes that it is "unlikely to change voter preferences".
The lasting impression that many commentators took away from the debate was its unpleasant tone, and this was not lost on French viewers either.
Danish state broadcaster DR1's correspondent Stephanie Surrugue reports that the "atmosphere approached the hateful… shocking many television viewers who quickly expressed their disappointment at the level and tone on social media."
Macron v Le Pen: What are their visions for France?
What does French result mean for Brexit? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8090767.stm | Incheon airport in Seoul, South Korea has been voted the best in the world.
Hong Kong international airport came second, with Singapore's Changi Airport third, in a survey by the British-based Skytrax consultancy group.
The agency interviewed 8.6 million passengers at 190 airports about their experiences, from check-in, departures, transfers, through to arrivals.
Six Asian airports made the top 10, along with Zurich, Munich, Amsterdam and Auckland.
Skytrax said that the voting was very close between the top three airports, and at one point it thought there would be a dead-heat. Hong Kong won the award last year.
Skytrax CEO, Edward Plaisted, said that Incheon had been "in the global top five ranking for the World Airport Awards during the past five to six years, and it is a great achievement for them to secure this premier mark of customer satisfaction."
Incheon airport, about 60km (37 miles) from Seoul, opened in 2001 to replace Kimpo airport as the international gateway to South Korea.
It is one of only three airports in South Korea making a profit. In 2006, it was the 11th busiest in the world for international passenger traffic.
In the regions, Cape Town was named the best airport in Africa, Zurich in Europe, with Tel Aviv winning the award for the Middle East. Dallas/Fort Worth came top in North America, Lima in South America and Panama in Central America.
Skytrax found that Dubai had the best duty free shopping; Hong Kong the best dining; Helsinki the best baggage delivery, and Kansai in Japan the "cleanest airport washrooms".
Heathrow airport in London did not figure in the awards. However, it does merit "three stars" in the Skytrax consultancy rankings, along with airports such as Abu Dhabi, Bangkok and Johannesburg. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47906440 | India's Election Commission (EC) is charged with upholding the guidelines governing the world's largest election, but critics have often accused of it being nothing more than a "toothless tiger". Is this really the case? BBC Hindi's Vineet Khare reports.
To say that the election commission has had a challenging year would be an understatement.
In addition to ensuring the smooth functioning of the 2019 general election - the biggest the world has ever seen - it is also expected to ensure that political parties follow guidelines intended to ensure a level playing field for all candidates. This is known as the model code of conduct.
The code sets out rules for the "general conduct" of candidates, and also for whichever party is running the government. These include the prohibition of using government transport or resources for campaigning work, and issuing advertisements at the cost of public funds.
It also has a strict set of rules about what kind of campaigning is permissible.
But this year, the limits of all these guidelines have been severely tested, mostly by the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Its "unique" campaigning methods have elicited a furious response from opponents and observers, all of whom have complained to the EC.
In the past week it has made two rulings against the government.
On Thursday it said that NaMo TV - a channel dedicated to streaming speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - could no longer broadcast content without its certification. This decision came days after it said that a film about the prime minister - a "biopic" titled PM Narendra Modi - could not be released until the election ended.
The two rulings have served to allay some of the criticisms against the body which has been accused of being too "weak" to take on the government. But there are plenty of other things angering opposition parties and independent observers.
India's crowded trains are serving their passengers tea in paper cups emblazoned with BJP poll slogans, and the country's national carrier, Air India, came under fire for issuing boarding passes emblazoned with ads from a 2018 business summit featuring a picture of Mr Modi.
Then, despite a EC warning against using the military in poll campaigning, pictures of soldiers who died in a suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir adorned a stage from where Mr Modi addressed a public rally in the northern state of Rajasthan.
And pictures of an Indian pilot who was captured and then released by Pakistan have been used in political posters. The chief minister of the bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh referred to the army as "Modi's army" while a state governor - a constitutional post - publicly campaigned for the prime minister.
In many of these cases the EC issued notices and wrote letters, containing stern warnings.
But does a censure by the EC matter much in today's politics? Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami believes "it depends upon how much shame you have".
Other former commissioners the BBC spoke to believe that censure by the EC is effective since the issue gets widely picked up by the media, resulting in a loss of votes for the alleged offender.
But there is no study or evidence to prove this has actually happened.
Sanjay Kumar, the head of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) completely disagreed with this analysis.
BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj said that "whatever the EC does is good" but "it doesn't affect votes". He was pulled up by the EC for blaming Muslims for India's population growth which he said was "causing problems".
But former CEC VS Sampath believes the EC has sufficient powers to send a strong message to the political parties and candidates. He was the man at the helm during the 2014 general election.
Under his tenure, the EC banned BJP leader Amit Shah and the Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan from organising road shows and public rallies in Uttar Pradesh. Both had been accused of giving communally charged and divisive political speeches. The ban on Mr Shah was rescinded after he apologised, but Mr Khan was not allowed to address any rallies.
The EC also has the power to get police to investigate charges of a criminal nature.
"A large number of criminal cases are filed (during the polls). Unfortunately what happens is that after the elections are over, the election commission goes out of the scene, and it is the state police that has to pursue. It may or may not pursue vigorously," says Mr N Gopolaswami.
Part of the problem, experts say, is that the model code isn't a law, so it doesn't include punishments, is voluntary for all parties, and only remains in place until polls are completed.
"The EC works under limitations. We have suggested so many changes but no party seems interested. No party has mentioned electoral reforms in its manifesto. You cannot entirely blame the EC," said former CES TS Krishnamurthy.
"The election commission should have the power to disqualify and impose monetary penalties. These things are not given any importance by political parties." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/7868255.stm | A train line, which enthusiasts believe could be used to take spectators to the 2012 Olympic sailing events, has been taken over by a Dorset council.
Weymouth and Portland council voted to acquire the 150-year-old seafront track from Network Rail in a £50,000 deal.
Councillor Howard Legg said the line would either be scrapped, preserved for future use or left as it is.
The last service ran in the late 1980s but tracks to the quayside remain and the route is still regarded as viable.
Enthusiasts would like to see it saved and used for transport in the Olympics.
One idea is to incorporate the track into a light railway system to serve spectators to the sailing events on Portland.
Michel Hooper-Immins, a travel writer and train enthusiast, said reopening the line was a "wonderful opportunity" to take Olympic spectators to the seafront in 2012.
But Councillor Legg said the final decision, including any attempts to revive the line, would rely heavily on any funding available.
"As everything at the moment, any decision relies on money," he added.
"The track could be left, preserved as some sort of museum piece or removed, but the option must be financially viable."
Councillors wanted to take over the line because £6.6m plans to transform Weymouth's seafront in time for the Olympics require the redevelopment of the station.
The line used to take travellers to the Channel Island ferries.
There have been attempts to reopen it but the council said none had been financially viable. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3152724.stm | The first phase of an ambitious computing network designed to handle huge amounts of data has been launched.
The network, dubbed the Grid, has been set up by the Cern labs in Geneva to tap into the processing power of computers in 12 countries.
The aim of the project is to handle data from an experiment on how the Universe began.
Cern believes the Grid could eventually provide people access to a vast pool of processing power from their desktops.
The idea behind Grid technology is to link up computers around the world over the internet to create a new generation of enormously powerful machines.
The networks are needed because some problems in science are just too large for any one machine to tackle by itself.
Cern's Grid will initially be used to handle the terabytes of data generated by an upcoming particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The LHC is going to test the Big Bang theory by smashing protons together at high energies.
The data generate by the experiment are expected to fill the equivalent of more than 20 million CDs a year and some 70,000 computers would be needed to analyse the data.
With the LHC Computing Grid project, scientists will be able to access computing resources across the world as though they were on their machine.
"The Grid enables us to harness the power of scientific computing centres wherever they may be to provide the most powerful computing resource the world has to offer," said Les Robertson, project manager at Cern.
The first phase covers processing resources from research institutes in 12 countries - the UK, the US, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan.
The final goal of the Grid is to bring together the computing power of scientific centres across the world to create a virtual supercomputer network.
In the long-term, Grid technology is predicted to revolutionise the world of computing. Ultimately it is expected to be able to provide huge processing power on tap to anyone.
"The technology now being deployed for particle physics will ultimately change the way that science and business are undertaken in the years to come," said Ian Halliday, Chief Executive of the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, (PParc).
"This will have a profound effect on the way society uses information technology, much as the worldwide web did." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8647069.stm | Patients and their families expect miracles and are too quick to launch legal action when they do not happen, nurses say.
Unrealistic expectations are fostered by TV shows like Holby City, the Royal College of Nursing conference heard.
The number of legal claims topped 6,000 last year - a rise of more than 10% in 12 months, and nurses say this puts some off joining the profession.
Patient representatives said patients generally did not like to complain.
The NHS Litigation Authority bill now stands at £769m a year.
John Hill, an A&E nurse in Scunthorpe, said: "In A&E it is sometimes a fact that sadly we cannot get people through the trauma they have received.
"Unfortunately, unlike in Holby City, I am a mere mortal and cannot perform miracles.
"But many relatives believe because of that, you can. And the injury lawyers assure them that if you don't they will get recompense for it."
Marcia Turnham, from Cambridgeshire, said the litigious culture meant nurses were having to fill out more and more paper work, which took them away from patients.
She added: "Sometimes the expectations of the patient and the relatives are high and to meet those expectations with the time and resources we have available, it doesn't always match up.
"That could result in a complaint and whether you are at fault or not, you feel very, very guilty."
It can make people lose confidence and make nurses question everything they are doing.
"To have to second guess yourself all the time is not pleasant."
Jane Bovey, from Wiltshire, added the issue could have disastrous consequences.
"I am afraid we will fail to recruit sufficient nurses."
Catherine Murphy of The Patients Association said: "It's a difficult profession to be in because so much is expected of nurses.
"Patients see nurses as their advocates and rely on them. However, nurses often do not have the time because there is so much bureaucracy attached to their role.
"Patients do not want to complain and they are very forgiving." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25635719 | The Chinese government has temporarily lifted a ban on selling foreign video games consoles, paving the way for firms such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to enter a lucrative market.
A grey market in the sale of consoles has continued in the country.
But, partly as a result of the ban, PC gaming dominates - capturing two-thirds of the $13bn (£8bn) market.
In a statement, the government said that it would allow foreign firms to make consoles within Shanghai's free trade zone and sell them in China after inspection by cultural departments.
But China's State Council did not say how long the suspension would last.
In response to the news, Sony said: "We recognise that China is a promising market. We will continuously study the possibility, but there is no concrete plan at this stage."
China's video game market is rich in potential.
In 2013, it grew 38% from the previous year to reach 83bn yuan ($13bn), according to data released at the annual China games industry conference in December.
Chris Green, an analyst with Davies Murphy Group, told the BBC that the decision to liberalise the market was "huge news".
"This is an enormous market worth potentially tens of billions of dollars," he said.
"Now this is going to be a race to see who can be first to market, who can get a factory in the Free Trade Zone up and running and get consoles off the production line the fastest," he added.
He thinks Microsoft may have the edge on Sony and Nintendo.
"Sony and Nintendo have their own factories but Microsoft outsources its hardware and could be the best-placed to gear up and get a third party electronics contractor to start making the consoles," he said. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-24274645 | Plans for one of the world's largest offshore wind farms have moved a step forward.
About 600 turbines are proposed for the site at Dogger Bank, located 77 miles (125km) off the East Yorkshire coast.
The government has accepted developer Forewind's planning application, which means interested parties can register their views about the plans.
Energy Secretary Ed Davey will have the final say over whether the scheme can go ahead.
Dogger Bank Creyke Beck would comprise two offshore wind farms each generating up to 1.2 gigawatts of electricity, which would connect to the national grid in East Yorkshire.
The world's largest operational offshore wind farm is currently the London Array, which opened in July and comprises 175 turbines.
Sir Michael Pitt of the government's Planning Inspectorate said: "After careful consideration we have decided on behalf of the Secretary of State that the application submitted by Forewind met the required tests set out in the legislation to be accepted for examination."
Forewind general manager Dr Lee Clarke said the company had carried out the "most extensive offshore survey programme ever undertaken in the UK" as part of its application.
Once members of the public have registered as interested parties and given their views, the inspectorate will examine the application, which can take up to six months, before reporting back to the communities secretary. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24588149 | Brazilian union leaders have criticised a decision to deploy the army to ensure security at a controversial oil exploration rights auction on Monday.
President Dilma Rousseff has ordered that more than 1,000 troops be deployed outside the seafront hotel in Rio de Janeiro where the auction will be held.
Oil workers began a strike on Thursday to protest against the sale.
The strike has disrupted production on more than 40 oil platforms. Some main refineries have also been affected.
"It is absurd that the Brazilian government deploys army troops to guarantee that the Libra oil field is handed over to foreigners," said Jose Antonio de Moraes, president of the Unified Federation of Oil Workers (FUP).
The unions say 80% of services at state oil company Petrobras have been affected by the strike, which is due to go on at least until Monday.
The 40,000 Petrobras employees are also demanding a pay rise and changes to plans to have some services contracted out to private companies.
"Our aim is not to hurt the population, but we will carry on with the strike for an indefinite period, until our demands are met," said Mr Moraes.
Media captionThe BBC's Wyre Davies: "The figures are almost mindboggling and the opportunities almost endless"
Seven bidders are expected at Monday's auction.
Petrobras will be bidding against Anglo-Dutch Shell; Colombia's Ecopetrol; France's Total; a consortium made up of Spain's Repsol and China's Sinopec; China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC); and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).
The unions say the Libra oilfield auction will damage national interests by allowing foreign companies to share production rights with Petrobras.
They have taken legal action to try to halt the sale.
National Petroleum Agency president Magda Chambriard said the government was prepared to deal with such action.
"There is a small group of people in Brazil who still have monopolistic aspirations. Our job is to safeguard the security at the venue and the legal aspects concerning the auction to make sure it is successful," she said.
Thousands of demonstrators are expected to march towards the Windsor hotel in the Barra da Tijuca area of Rio.
But the army says it will block roads leading to the area early to prevent protesters getting there and to guarantee the security of those taking part in the auction.
Thursday saw demonstrations outside the Petrobras headquarters in Rio and government buildings in the capital, Brasilia.
The Libra field is a deepwater oilfield in the Santos basin, some 230km (140 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
It belongs to the Brazilian government's National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and is part of huge oil reserves discovered in 2010 under a layer of rock, sand and salt beneath the seabed.
The discovery potentially doubles Brazil's known oil reserves.
Ms Chambriard said that she expected production to peak in Libra at 1.4 million barrels a day in a decade.
The Libra field has estimated recoverable oil reserves of eight to 12 billion barrels, according to the National Petroleum Agency. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cumbria/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8369000/8369753.stm | Blood donor sessions due to be held at the The Shepherds Inn, Rosehill Industrial Estate, Carlisle, CA1 2PR on Tuesday, 24 November 2009 are cancelled.
Keswick and District Neighbourhood Forum meeting on Tuesday, 24 November 2009 has been cancelled, any rescheduling will be advised in due course.
The Catchment Sensitive Farming Event due to take place today at Greysouthen Farm in Cockermouth has been cancelled.
Hospice at Home for West Cumbria Support Group meeting will now meet at the Garden Room at the Methodist Church on Lawson Street in Cockermouth from 10am until 12 noon on Tuesday, instead of at the United Reform Church.
The Mince Pie and Mulled Wine evening due to be held at the Helena Thompson Museum at Workington on Wednesday 25th November has been cancelled due the current road problems. All monies paid will be refunded from your ticket seller.
Northern Rail expects to run a normal weekday service on the Cumbria coast line between Carlisle and Barrow on Monday, 23 November.
Some trains will have one additional carriage to help as many people as possible to make journeys by rail that are difficult or impossible by road or other forms of public transport.
Customers can check timetables and find out the latest travel information by visiting the Northern Rail website , calling Northern customer relations on 0845 0000 125 from 0800 to 2000, or contacting National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50.
Keep listening to BBC Radio Cumbria for details from the emergency services and other agencies. You can tune in on 95.6FM, 96.1FM, 104.1FM and 756, 837, 1458 MW or via your PC using the 'Listen Live' link at the top of this page.
Do not try and unblock drains yourself.
Look out for vulnerable friends and neighbours.
Have torches, mobile phones, waterproofs, water, radios with batteries, medication and other essential items at hand in case you cannot get home or need to be evacuated.
Cumbria police have opened a casualty bureau.
Members of the public can now telephone either of these numbers 0800 0560944 or 0207 1580010 should they have any concerns regarding relatives, friends and family who may have been involved in the flooding incident and who have not had any contact with them.
The Rural Payments Agency office in Workington will be closed today.
otherwise please don't come in.
Check on the company helpline from midday tomorrow for an update ... 0800 917 1812.
The Carlisle office is not affected and will open as usual.
1 bus an hour, at 5 minutes to the hour, from Northside to Maryport.
4 buses an hour from Maryport to Workington and return - times are dependent on road traffic conditions.
1 bus an hour, at 25 minutes past the hour, from Maryport to Northside.
Service 300 will be departing outside Northside School and operating as timetabled to Carlisle.
South Street Surgery in Cockermouth will hold an emergency surgery at Cockermouth Cottage Hospital from 9am.
Arrangements are being made to relocate some Cockermouth GP services to Cockermouth community hospital.
To accommodate the temporary move, some hospital day clinics due to take place may need to be rearranged for next week.
Patients can contact the South Street Surgery on 01900 324123, or the Derwent House Surgery on 01900 324100.
Patients with non-urgent appointments are asked to rearrange their appointments or contact NHS Direct on 0845 4647.
Those requiring information about changes to hospital clinic times can contact Cockermouth community hospital on 01900 822226. For an urgent GP service outside normal surgery hours call Cumbria Health On Call on 01228 401999.
Allisons Chemists have managed to open a temporary limited service in Tithe House on Station Street, opposite Sainsbury's in Cockermouth. Their shop on Main Street was flooded to the ceiling but they have their customers records and very limited supplies.
Keep listening to BBC Radio Cumbria to stay up to date will all the latest information about the weather, closures and cancellations and travel news. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/5304892.stm | Unlike TV or radio, the internet is a relatively new arena for advertisers. With the clever consumer knowing how to block the advertisers' pop-ups, companies are having to find new ways to sell their products online.
If you have the money, you can buy a totally immersive interactive online experience.
Makers of the American TV series Lost have created an entire online game based on the programme.
The game is spread across the web, involving fake websites for fake companies, as well as fake interviews and adverts which are then spread through online community sites like YouTube.
Some of the game's sites have even attracted big sponsors, hoping the hype around the game will draw people to the secret pages.
Sometimes you can create an online furore purely by accident. The new Samuel L Jackson movie Snakes on a Plane picked up an enormous following online before the movie was even made.
It spawned a torrent of spoof ads, and spin-off suggestions, including Snakes in a Minivan and Foxes in a Canoe.
But instead of shying away from the unintended hype, the studio embraced it - even incorporating some of the fans' suggested script lines into the final movie.
Of course, films and TV shows can build loyal online fan bases which can effectively become publicity machines themselves.
Everyday products, however, need a little more help with the hype.
Some advertisers are considering enlisting the help of popular blogs to spread their message.
So-called blogvertising involves paying respected bloggers to endorse products, but is that really in the spirit of what a blog is?
"The whole thing defeats itself," said technology journalist Tim Phillips.
"Either they don't say that they've been paid, in which case it becomes a time bomb and it immediately self-destructs if it comes out that they've been paid to do it.
"Or they do say they've been paid, in which case they lose the respect of the community they've built up."
In a web where pop-up windows are blocked, more advanced methods are needed to make adverts run in web pages.
The pop-up window has been replaced by overlays, which take over the whole web page.
Overlays cannot be blocked in the same way, because they are actually built in to the web page you are looking at.
It is just a case of finding the close button, if there is one.
But the largest area of online advertising does not involve fancy graphics or comic ideas - it is simply a case of paying a search engine to associate your product with search keywords.
"It's the dirty secret of online advertising," said Mr Phillips. "This is the stuff that really works, and the reason it works is because if you search for something on Yahoo! or Google then you actively want it, and these are the people you want to be putting your advertising in front of."
"Unfortunately, writing a cheque to a search engine is not terribly creative; this is not why advertising agencies have creative departments.
"So it does not really get talked about a great deal, but it really works and you can measure it works as well."
However, search advertising is becoming an overcrowded area, and ad agencies are looking for ways to get their clients turning up in the natural search results.
"Marketers can pay to be in the right hand side of the Google page. That's paid advertising, also known as pay-for-click," said Fadi Shuman of Pod1 Media Solutions, a web development company.
"However, the ideal place to be is in the centre of the search results, and the way to achieve that is through search engine optimisation. To optimise your site so it's as highly visible to search engines as possible requires a number of different skills - editing content, adding links, etc."
Search advertising is where most online ad money is spent, something which has helped Google negotiate a $900m (£470m) deal to become search engine of choice for social-networking site MySpace.
This will give advertisers access to that hard-to-crack youth market, which seems to be a law unto itself.
Users of MySpace typically ignore traditional adverts and meet to discuss the latest trends and fads, creating their own hype, something that has been credited with launching pop group the Arctic Monkeys without any other publicity.
"When it comes to online advertising you cannot underestimate the power of social networks," said Fadi Shuman.
"Millions and millions of users are building communities within communities on these networks. They're global, they're unstoppable, and they're big, big money to marketers if they know how to communicate with them."
The web is by far the fastest growing advertising medium, but with so many web pages out there, the chance of us happening upon a particular brand or website is pretty small.
Advertisers are hoping that search, and social networking, will help point us towards their carefully crafted ads.
Otherwise, all that creative investment is just going to go to waste. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-40879184 | A woman has been charged with murder following the death of a woman who was assaulted in the street.
Joanne Hemingway, 39, was attacked outside of a flat on Beverley Road, Hull on 29 June. She suffered "serious injuries" and later died in hospital.
Angela Burkitt 53, also of Beverley Road, appeared at the city's magistrates' court earlier accused of murder.
She was remanded in custody to appear at Hull Crown Court on Friday.
Glenn Foster, 42, of Beverley Road, Hull who was previously charged with Ms Hemingway's murder has had the charge against him dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Foster appeared at Hull Crown Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to affray, being in possession of an offensive weapon and having an article with a blade.
He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced in September. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-35587271 | The hospitality industry can be, well, pretty inhospitable at times. Chefs can be as fiery as a mouthful of chillies and tempers in commercial kitchens can flare like fat on a griddle.
It's in this pressured, yet rewarding, environment that Australia's fabled restaurant trade is offering refugees from the conflict in Syria the chance to forge new careers.
The idea has grown from a casual chat among friends into an exciting plan to offer training and work experience to migrants fleeing persecution and destitution.
The project's epicentre lies in Sydney's trendy inner city suburb of Darlinghurst, at Almond Bar, a Middle Eastern restaurant, run by Carol Salloum and her younger sister, Sharon.
With help from experienced hands in the industry, they are putting together a jobs and skills programme for those displaced by war.
"It makes good business sense for anyone," says Carol. "A lot of people who come from overseas … they want to work, they want to create a life for themselves.
"They are not lazy, they'll take on any jobs that they can. You can see that from the migrants that are already here and that we've employed."
Carol and Sharon's parents arrived in Australia from Syria more than 40 years ago.
It's early evening in summer, the tables are filling up and Carol is at the front greeting diners.
Back in the engine room chef Sharon is in full-flow preparing dishes that include shawandar, a roasted beetroot mix, mansaf, a Syrian-style slow-cooked chicken, and Syrian roast beef.
The sisters have owned the business for eight years, and it shows. It's a slick operation, and it's these well-honed skills and organisation they hope to pass on to those displaced by fighting.
They'll work with a professional refugee resettlement service and a cross-cultural psychologist.
Sharon tells me they simply want to do their bit to help.
They still have many relatives living in Syria, and she says, it could be any of them having to travel to Australia as refugees today.
"We're lucky enough that is not the case but that could very well have been one of the many aunties and uncles that we still have, or cousins that we still have, over there at the moment, so why wouldn't we help?" she says.
Sharon's parents were from Homs, which has been on the frontline of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
In late December, another former resident of Syria's third largest city landed in Sydney to start afresh. Fifty-year-old Iymen Baerli, his wife and three young children had previously sought safety in Egypt, before being offered sanctuary in Australia.
They arrived as refugees on New Year's Eve, just in time for celebrations of new beginnings.
Iymen tells me that that after so much destruction in Syria, Australia is the "best country for my safety and my family's future."
The former pharmaceutical salesman has ambitions in the catering industry making cakes and sweets, a move inspired by his brother-in-law Ibrahim, who owns a bakery in Sydney's Guildford district.
"It is very important for me to find a good job and I have started to establish my own business," Iymen explains through a translator.
"I am depending on my relatives to teach me and train me to run my own business.
"I am very thankful to the Australian government for everything it did (for) me but I don't want to depend on the Australian government.
"I want to establish my own business for my own sake and my family's sake, and I want to create (a) good income for me," he adds.
Iymen would no doubt benefit from the sort of help to be offered by the Salloum sisters and their cohorts. Their project is called "Ahlan," Arabic for welcome.
"We're in the hospitality industry and we're being hospitable," says Hugh Foster, who has been running Middle Eastern restaurants in Sydney for 20 years, and is one of the original brains behind the training scheme.
"We know people who would employ cooks, pastry chefs and bakers, but we also could find jobs for electricians. We could find people who maybe have worked in printing," he says.
"There's a myriad of industries which service the hospitality industry. It employs a lot of people.
"What we are trying to do is say 'here you go, we can help you into this industry if you're interested'."
It's not just the catering trade that is eager to help. Last year, several large companies came out in support of the "Friendly Nation" initiative, which aims to provide jobs and training for the 12,000 Syrian refugees arriving in Australia.
In January, a group of senior Australian business leaders toured refugee camps in Turkey and Lebanon to see the fallout from the Syrian conflict for themselves.
"The crisis is far worse than we expected. This is a real tragedy," says Tony Shepherd, a former head of the Business Council of Australia, who travelled with the delegation.
He believes the government in Canberra should offer protection to between 20-30,000 displaced Syrians.
"We have shown our great humanity in the past. It has worked for us. Refugees have made an enormous contribution to the development of Australia.
"I think it is within our economic and humane capacity to do it," he adds.
"The Syrians appear to be hard-working, entrepreneurial people who are prepared to have a go. All they want to do is get into jobs." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/6595341.stm | A new rail link between the North East and London has been postponed by several months.
Grand Central had planned to operate from Sunderland to Kings Cross from 20 May but an overhaul of second-hand rolling stock is behind schedule.
The firm now plans to launch the three-times daily East Coast Mainline service, calling at Teesside and North Yorkshire, in September.
Managing director Ian Yeowart blamed the delay on shareholder negotiations.
He said: "Our refurbishment programme was held up by negotiations over the change in major shareholder at the start of the year, but is now firmly on track.
"We are confident that our trains will provide comfort and reliability to match the best of what is currently available on the East Coast Main Line."
Company chairman Giles Fearnley said the delay was disappointing, but that the service would only commence once the entire fleet of six engines and 18 carriages were ready.
Grand Central is spending £5m refurbishing the 125mph High Speed Trains (HSTs), purchased last year.
In November, problems obtaining the stock initially delayed the launch of the service, which was first due to commence on 10 December 2006.
The company plans to replace the fleet with 140mph Chinese-built "Polaris" trains in 2010, if its five-year track access contract can be extended.
Grand Central is also pursuing plans to run trains between Bradford and London, after an application to launch a service between Newcastle and Manchester was rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-35890810 | A medical equipment firm is consulting its employees on plans to close one of its two Ayrshire factories and move more production work to China.
Guardian, formerly BDF Healthcare, makes products for surgical theatres and employs about 120 people at sites in Girvan and Patna.
Parent group, Berendsen PLC, said a consultation had begun on Tuesday and would run for 30 days.
The firm said redundancies were a possible outcome but not definite.
Berendsen spokesman Alistair Hopkins said: "We've got two plants in Scotland - one in Girvan, and one in Patna.
"A proposal has been put together and a consultation process has now started about closing one of those sites and moving some further work to China.
"We already do a lot of production work in China."
He added: "We are retaining a presence in Scotland, that is definite." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41252653 | Media captionBrexit is "a very sad and tragic moment in our history"
The UK will "soon regret" leaving the EU, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said.
Mr Juncker told the European Parliament that Brexit would be a "sad, tragic" moment for the EU but that the 27-member union would "move on".
"Brexit is not the future of Europe. It is not the be all and end all."
But, speaking in the same debate, ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the EU had "learnt nothing" from Brexit and was ploughing "full steam ahead".
In his state of the union speech in Strasbourg, Mr Juncker proposed an EU summit on the day after Brexit, 30 March 2019, in the Romanian city of Sibiu to map out the future of the European Union.
He called for closer economic and defence co-operation among member states, including more support for states outside the eurozone to prepare them to join the single currency, and reforms to the single market.
Reflecting on the economic and political challenges that the continent had faced in recent years, he said the "wind is back in Europe's sails".
While he respected the choice of the British people to go their own way, he said the UK's exit would prove a "very sad, tragic moment in our history" which we "will always regret".
Responding to UKIP MEPs in the chamber, who had cheered the mention of the UK's exit, he added - in an off-the-cuff remark not included in advance copies of the speech - "I think you will regret it as well soon, if I might say."
But he went on to stress that Brexit "was not everything" and an increasingly confident EU would continue to advance, focusing as he put it on the big strategic challenges rather than "the small things".
Mr Farage, the best known campaigner in the Parliament for the UK's withdrawal from the EU, attacked what he said were "truly worrying" plans to create a single president of the EU, an EU finance minister and a "strong EU army in a militarised Europe".
He said what was being proposed was "more Europe in every single direction... without the consent of the people".
He also warned the idea of allowing future candidates to the European Parliament to stand on transnational tickets, rather than representing nation states, was anti-democratic and "reminiscent of regimes of old".
"You have learnt nothing from Brexit. If you had offered David Cameron concessions, particularly on immigration, I would have to admit that the Brexit vote would never ever have happened," he said.
Telling MEPs "thank God we are leaving", Mr Farage said the EU was "deluding itself" if it believed the "populist wave" of protests against the established European political order was over.
Responding to Mr Juncker's comments, justice minister Sam Gyimah said his initial reaction was "he would say that, wouldn't he" and he had signalled a future direction for Europe that "Britain was never going to go in".
Rather than "berating Britain", the Conservative MP told the BBC's Daily Politics that the EU's best interests would be served by agreeing a Brexit deal which made the whole of Europe more prosperous and secure.
Negotiations between the UK and EU are continuing although the latest round of talks, due to begin on Monday, have been put back a week to allow "more time for consultation".
Speaking on Tuesday, former Brexit minister Lord Bridges said the UK must be "honest" about the "complexity and scale" of leaving the EU as well as the lack of time to reach agreement with the EU.
And France's economy minister has sounded a warning that it will aggressively target new business as it seeks to make Paris the pre-eminent financial centre on the continent.
Changes to the country's labour laws meant France would become the "place to be" for financial services, Benjamin Griveaux told BBC Radio 4's Today, while acknowledging London would remain a major player.
"We need to have a fair Brexit, but we need to move on and we need probably more clarity and less ambiguity from the British government regarding the target of Brexit," he added. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/4249420.stm | The restoration of part of the Ashby Canal in Leicestershire has been given the go-ahead by the government.
A two-and-a-half mile stretch of the canal, from Snarestone to Measham, will be restored in a project by Leicestershire County Council.
The work will reconnect Measham to the national canal network and give boaters a terminus in the village.
The canal currently stops in fields north of Snarestone, but will now run to a new Measham Wharf.
County councillor Ernie White said he was "delighted" that the government had approved the scheme.
He said the restoration will be of great economic and environmental benefit to Measham and the surrounding area.
When the restoration is complete, the Ashby Wolds Heritage Trail will connect it to another section of the canal at Moira.
The Ashby Canal transported coal and other goods for many years, but by the mid-20th century, the northern reaches were hit by mining subsidence. An eight-mile stretch north of Snarestone was abandoned in 1966. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/6327395.stm | Schoolchildren in Kent are being given role-play equipment as part of a road safety scheme run by the mother of a girl who died in an accident in 2000.
Jade Hobbs was eight when she and her grandmother, Margaret Kuwertz, 79, were killed on the A249 at Detling.
The Jade Appeal is donating Walking Bus tabards and lollipop person outfits to pre-school schemes and primary schools.
Jade's mother, Caroline Hobbs, said: "It's designed for the children to have fun and to learn road safety."
The accident happened on 16 December, 2000, as Jade and Ms Kuwertz were crossing the busy A249, which links the M2 and M20, to go to the local shops.
The campaigning and fundraising that followed led to the Jade's Crossing bridge being opened over the road.
The latest initiative means the amount of money raised by the Jade Appeal towards road safety schemes is £35,000.
The kits were presented to representatives of the playschemes on Saturday.
"There is jumbo chalk so that children can do their own road markings, and activity sets with traffic lights and lollipop signs," said Ms Hobbs.
"Every day you look in the newspapers and there is somebody who's lost a loved one on the roads, and it breaks my heart because I know what those people are going through."
It is the sixth anniversary today of the Jade Appeal being set up. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47244337 | US rapper YNW Melly has been arrested and charged with murdering two other rappers, both said to have been his childhood friends, in Florida.
Police say the rapper, real name Jamell Demons, conspired with another man to make the two male victims look like they had died in a drive-by shooting.
Before his arrest, he said on social media that "lies" were being told about the shootings.
The rapper, 19, has worked with such music artists as Kanye West.
Miramar Police Department announced the murder charges against him on social media, saying Mr Demons had been arrested for murder alongside another man named Cortlen Henry - who uses the rap name YNW Bortlen.
The victims, Christopher Thomas Jr and Anthony Williams, were both rappers from the same Florida-based crew.
Both died of multiple gunshot wounds on 26 October.
Police allege Mr Demons shot both men, and conspired alongside Mr Henry to stage a crime to make it appear that they were killed by other people.
They say Mr Henry drove both shooting victims to a local hospital at 04:35 local time - where they were declared dead.
Police allege Mr Henry's version of events was inconsistent with evidence, including forensics.
Both of the victims feature in a documentary about Mr Demons on his YouTube channel, where they are described as his childhood friends.
After their October deaths, a representative for the rapper said: "He's sad, he's upset, obviously,"
"Those were his best friends," lawyer Bradford Cohen told the Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper.
Before turning himself in on Wednesday, he told his 1m followers on Instagram that a "lot of rumors and lies" were being said about the shootings, and he included the hashtag #freeus.
The rapper appeared in court on Thursday, where he was ordered to be held in jail without bail.
Mr Henry was reportedly arrested in Texas last month and extradited to Florida this week.
The Florida-based rapper has been signed to Young Thug's label, YSL Records, since 2018.
He first found popularity after posting his music on hosting website SoundCloud aged 15 - and has since amassed tens of millions of streams and views online.
Last year he released a song, Mixed Personalities, alongside Grammy-award winning rapper Kanye West.
One of his best-known tracks is a song called Murder on My Mind - which has almost 90m views on YouTube. The lyrics include a graphic narrative detailing an imagined fatal shooting.
Mr Demons was arrested several times before - including last month for marijuana possession. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24830841 | An Australian man who spent five years in Guantanamo Bay before admitting terrorism offences has filed an appeal against his conviction.
David Hicks pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism in 2007 as part of a deal that saw him repatriated and later freed.
His US-based lawyers now want to see his conviction overturned.
They are arguing that a ruling in another case that struck down similar charges should be applied to Hicks.
They also say that agreeing to admit the charges was the only way he could secure his release.
Hick's lawyers are seeking to apply a ruling in the case of Osama Bin Laden's former driver and bodyguard, Salim Hamdan, to his case.
An appeals court ruled last year that providing material support for terrorism was not recognised as a war crime when Hamdan was in Afghanistan.
Both he and Hicks were prosecuted under a law enacted in 2006 and applied retroactively - something the court subsequently ruled could not be done.
"Years after Hicks was convicted and served his sentence, a federal court has concluded that the process by which he was convicted was unlawful," said Wells Dixon of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is representing Hicks.
He also said that Hicks saw a guilty plea as his only option.
The appeal was filed on Tuesday with the US Court of Military Commission Review.
A Pentagon spokesman said Hicks had waived his right to appeal as part of the plea deal - but Hicks' lawyers say the paperwork was improperly filed.
David Hicks, a convert to Islam who later renounced the faith, was captured with Taleban forces in Afghanistan in 2001.
He admitted attending paramilitary training camps in Afghanistan, but argued he did not believe they were linked to terrorism.
He is now living in Australia, after being released from prison in December 2007. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/311661.stm | Serbian television continues to devote a great deal of airtime to covering protests and demonstrations against Nato, in Yugoslavia and beyond.
The pattern continued on Sunday, with television clips of an open-air pop music concert in central Belgrade.
The stage acts played popular Serbian songs, even a Serbo-Croat version of the Motown classic "Reach Out, I'll be There", while demonstrators waved placards, some in English.
"Nato invented humanitarian bombs for Yugoslavia," said one. Another banner mutated the famous red and white Coca-Cola logo into "Nato-Cola".
In a more bizarre twist, one English-language banner read: "Lady Di, get up please, look: Tony Blair spreads mines, bombs."
Similarly, protesters in Leskovac were shown listening to live music, and waving banners and placards. "I don't want to run for cover, I want to run to school," said one.
Serb TV news report (dubbed into English): Refugees are "fleeing from Nato bombing and Albanian separatists."
State-run TV also broadcast footage of singing schoolchildren in Banja Luka, in the Bosnian Serb Republic. Each child wore a paper symbol of a target around his or her neck, as they sang: "We are for peace, let light shine all over the planet".
State television has also continued to broadcast regular English-language news bulletins.
One item, shown in the early hours of Sunday, repeated footage of the blaze which followed the Nato cruise missile strike on the Interior Ministry headquarters in Belgrade on Friday-Saturday night.
Mothers and babies from a nearby maternity unit were shown taking refuge in an air raid shelter.
As well as chronicling the latest strikes, the breakfast television programme featured patriotic statements by Yugoslav volleyball players.
The state-run media is continuing its outright condemnation of Nato in the wake of the alliance strikes which pounded Belgrade for a second night on Saturday and Sunday.
"On the 10th night of the aggression against our fatherland, the criminal, Nazi, US terrorist organisation has again showed its true face: the face of a murderer, monster and cannibal," Serbian radio said.
"Let us preserve our presence of mind and dignity, just as we have done over recent days. Let us not allow the criminals to triumph over us and enslave us," it added. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/7368618.stm | Crystal Palace confirmed their place in the Championship play-offs with an easy win over Burnley at Selhurst Park.
The Clarets were in trouble as early as the sixth minute when Clarke Carlisle was sent off for a professional foul.
Ben Watson scored from the penalty and just two minutes later Victor Moses made it 2-0 for the hosts.
Palace led 3-0 at the interval thanks to a Tom Soares strike, and goals from Scott Sinclair and Clinton Morrison completed the rout in the second half.
Relegation appeared to be the only route out of the Championship when Neil Warnock took charge of Palace in October.
But they now have the momentum to make a miraculous return to the Premier League, and will face Bristol City in the play-offs semi-finals.
Palace opened their account when a harmless looking goal-kick was misjudged by Carlisle and Sinclair stole in on his blind side.
The on-loan Chelsea winger was set to shoot but was felled by Carlisle, leaving ref Kevin Friend with little option but to award a penalty and show the defender a straight red.
Yesss, get in! Play-offs here we come!!
Watson stepped up to smash home low to Brian Jensen's right.
The visitors were still reorganising at the back when Sinclair collected a short corner to set off an a mazy run down the left.
His chipped cross was half-cleared to Jose Fonte who headed back into the area where 17-year-old Moses was all alone and onside to guide a left-footed strike into the far corner.
In the 37th minute, Morrison skipped round Jensen and pulled the ball back for Soares to slam home from inside the six-yard box.
Palace continued to dominate after the break, and Sinclair made it 4-0 on 61 minutes.
He picked the ball up on the left touchline, cut inside Chris McCann and then burst through two more tired challenges before drilling a low shot past Jensen.
Morrison made it five just four minutes later when Watson again carved open the defence with a run and clever pass.
Morrison kept his cool to slot past Jensen from just inside the area and usher in an exhibition of possession for the remaining 25 minutes.
"I can't think of a better achievement in my career. To go from second bottom in November into the play-offs, never mind winning them, is a great effort from all the lads.
"We have a 25% chance now and let's see what happens. It can come down to a lucky break or an individual piece of skill.
"I've won six promotions in my career - but my lucky number is seven."
"There is no getting away from the fact that for the first goal and the sending off the lad is five yards offside and the linesman didn't flag.
"The two centre-backs should have dealt with it but they let it bounce and all of a sudden we're one-nil down with 10 men.
"I've said before that you need good players and good luck in football and I don't remember one decision going our way."
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Butterfield, Hudson, Fonte, Hill, Derry (Fletcher 59), Watson, Soares, Sinclair, Morrison (Scannell 72), Moses (Ifill 32). Subs Not Used: Craig, Scowcroft. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8015740.stm | Thousands of civilians continue to pour out of Sri Lanka's war zone as they try to escape crossfire between government troops and Tamil Tigers.
The UN is sending a humanitarian team to northern Sri Lanka, where it says 50,000 people are trapped by fighting.
The BBC's Charles Haviland is travelling with the Sri Lankan army near the front line in the north east of Sri Lanka. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2549137.stm | The humble tapeworm could be the source of a new form of contraception for both men and women, researchers say.
A tapeworm found in fish contains a chemical compound that appears to make the fish infertile.
It seems to interfere with the fishes' hormone production, so females do not produce eggs and males do not produce sperm.
Researchers from Keele University say this chemical could form the basis of a contraceptive for humans that both men and women could use.
But they stress any Pill is years away.
The tapeworm, Ligula intestinalis, is found in freshwater fish in the carp family.
It suppresses the production of eggs and sperm by interfering in the function of the pituitary gland.
Professor Chris Arme, of the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele, who has spearheaded the research, told BBC News Online: "Fish are vertebrates and we are vertebrates, and though our endocrine and reproductive systems do differ in important ways, they do have important similarities, particularly in the hormonal areas."
"Our hypothesis was that if it does this in fish, it might do it in other vertebrates."
Tests were carried out on toads, and found that the tapeworm had the same effect.
Professor Arme says he does not yet know what the chemical in the tapeworm is which is responsible for the contraceptive action.
Further research to isolate the compound are planned, and also to see if it also occurs in mammals.
Professor Arme said he believed the effect of the chemical would be reversible.
He added: "The tapeworm contraceptive may yet come to occupy a place in our medicine cupboards.
"But, in contrast to the products currently available, this could be labelled 'For him or for her'."
The research was published in the journal Biologist. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-12037468/baa-sorry-for-travel-disruption-at-heathrow | BAA sorry for travel disruption Jump to media player Airport operator, BAA, has apologised to passengers facing travel disruptions as the UK's freezing weather continues and anger grows over a virtual shutdown at Heathrow airport.
'We were like the homeless' Jump to media player Sarah Randall was supposed to travel to Bali with her family on Saturday morning but her plans were ruined after they waited on plane for over five hours and disembarked at Heathrow without going anywhere.
Passengers stranded at Heathrow Jump to media player Thousands of people face further disruption to their Christmas travel plans as cold weather conditions continue to grip much of the country.
Airport operator BAA has apologised to passengers facing travel disruptions as the UK's freezing weather continues and anger grows over a virtual shutdown at Heathrow airport.
BAA spokesman, Andrew Teacher, told BBC Breakfast the situation was "improving slowly" after many people were forced to sleep at the terminal over the weekend.
Mr Teacher said thousands at the airport have been helped with accommodation, vouchers, food and blankets. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-47746965 | Parents have refused to send their children to a school after graffiti which suggested a shooting would take place there was found.
The message, daubed on a shelter near Royds School, in Oulton, Leeds, said it would be targeted on 29 March.
Police said there was no "substantive threat" and the graffiti was being treated as criminal damage.
But dozens of parents posted on Facebook that they were keeping their children at home for the day.
Officers were alerted to the graffiti on Thursday afternoon after it was found in a park off Manor Crescent in Rothwell.
Insp Lucy Leadbeater said: "This is being treated as an isolated incident of criminal damage and there is nothing to suggest that there is any substantive threat to the school or any increased risk to anyone attending there.
"The school is open as normal today and there is no reason for parents to keep their children off."
She said police were continuing to liaise with the school and there would be increased patrols, particularly at the start and end of the school day.
The officer added: "This is solely because of the level of public concern generated by social media and not because of any information that would suggest any increased threat to the school."
Parent Tina Appleyard said it was probably a "stupid prank" but she would not be sending her daughter to school.
Another parent posted on Facebook: "I'm not sending my son to school. I know a lot of my friends aren't sending their children either."
In a statement the school said it had been working with police and the council and would be open as normal.
It added: "Should students require additional support in light of recent events in community, support will be available from members of staff." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6982705.stm | More than £7m was spent on policing during the climate change protest at Heathrow Airport, Scotland Yard says.
Up to 1,800 police officers were on duty on busy days during the eight-day Camp for Climate Action last month.
Some 70 people were arrested as protesters demonstrated against the airport's expansion, the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) was told.
Commander Bob Broadhurst said £4.3m would have been spent anyway, as it included bills such as salaries.
The protest culminated with a blockade by hundreds of anti-aviation campaigners of the offices of airport operator BAA on 19 August.
The final day of action was marked by a series of demonstrations at businesses across the UK.
Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, the headquarters of BP in London and two carbon offsetting companies were singled out. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/1321837.stm | Harry Redknapp's seven-year reign as West Ham boss ended as it began - with the supporters stunned.
But no-one should have been surprised because the Redknapp years at Upton Park were an unpredictable mix of flair, failings and farce.
And as the 54-year-old bid farewell after guaranteeing the club's Premiership status, the bubble-blowing fans had more splits than a Russian gym.
Redknapp fans hailed his open approach, lovable humour, commitment to attacking football and the mere fact he was a diehard Hammer.
Opponents will point to tactical flaws, misguided signings, lack of a trophy and inability to take the club one step further.
But no-one will doubt the highs, when they happened, were pretty special, even if the silverware polish has become redundant.
Under Redknapp, West Ham achieved their highest top flight place, fifth in 1999, and a return to Europe via the Intertoto back door.
They delighted a nation jealous of Manchester United's success with an unlikely 1-0 FA Cup win at Old Trafford just months before Redknapp's departure.
West Ham harnessed some of England's brightest young talent - in Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick.
They also revived the flagging careers of players with such diverse expertise as Paolo di Canio, Stuart Pearce and Trevor Sinclair.
Admittedly, others flopped, and some of the foreign signings were laughable failures.
Redknapp said Romanian Florin Raducioiu was aptly-named because his performances for West Ham were "worth about two bob."
Portuguese star Paulo Futre got shirty on his debut. He would only play in the number ten shirt and only got his way by giving John Moncur a free holiday in his luxurious villa.
Marco Boogers was signed instead of Bristol Rovers striker Marcus Stewart.
Boogers mis-fired, and went absent without leave to a caravan in Holland!
Stewart went on to be one of the Premiership's top hitmen with Ipswich Town.
In his colourful biography, Redknapp says: "At the time I had no money, my hands were tied and I had to take some gambles.
"But as you know by now, I've been doing that all my life."
If Redknapp was not pushed out of West Ham, he may just have taken the biggest gamble of all.
He was well-liked by many Hammers fans who forgave him for succeeding Upton Park legend Billy Bonds, who did not have such a short memory.
They also seemed happy with brother-in-law Frank Lampard as assistant, although some cried foul particularly when Lampard junior made the first team.
But Redknapp's lasting legacy will be some great memories and some great hopes for the future.
The former Bournemouth boss clearly hoodwinked the fans when initially playing dumb over John Hartson's infamous training ground bust-up with Eyal Berkovic.
Yet Hartson was, after all, the signing who effectively saved West ham from relegation shortly after Redknapp took over.
Redknapp also turned round the career of di Canio, who went from an outcast - after pushing a referee - to one of the most entertaining players around.
And Redknapp has perhaps secured the future of a club, about to enter a new era with a re-developed stadium, by securing �18m for Rio Ferdinand.
What now for West Ham as Redknapp goes? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17593969 | Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest memory chip maker, has unveiled plans to invest $7bn (£4.4bn) to build its first chip factory in China.
Samsung will initially invest $2.3bn in the plant, which will make chips for smartphones, tablets and MP3 players, and increase its investment gradually.
The firm has been looking to tap into the lucrative Chinese market, but there have been fears of technology leaks.
Samsung won government approval to build the plant earlier this year.
In an emailed statement to the BBC, Samsung said the new facility would help it "rapidly respond to meet the fast-growing demand from customers and further strengthen competitiveness in the memory industry".
The plant is expected to start production by the end of 2013.
Over the years, China has become a leading manufacturing hub for consumer electronics.
Contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, have been making gadgets ranging from smartphones to tablet PCs for leading global brands.
Many of these products use memory chips manufactured by Samsung. Analysts said having a production facility in China would help Samsung to further strengthen its position with its customers.
"Inventory cycles are very short for electronics manufacturers," Tim Charlton of Charlton Media Group told the BBC. "You need to be close to your customers for inventory and delivery reasons."
He explained that being in China would help Samsung take out extra layers of transport and storage and ensure speedier deliveries to its clients.
"It makes perfect sense for them."
Along with becoming a global electronics manufacturing hub, China has also seen a rise in domestic demand for consumer electronics.
China's economic growth over the last few years has seen income levels rise in the country, giving more disposable cash to its consumers.
That has turned China into one of the biggest and fastest growing markets for high tech gadgets.
Domestic demand in China is likely to grow even further in the coming years, which analysts say will result in higher demand for memory chips.
They say Samsung's decision to open a production facility in the country will help it tap into the growing market and maintain an edge over its competitors. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7978280.stm | London mayor Boris Johnson left a House of Commons inquiry midway through answering a question after labelling criticism of him "pathetic".
The Transport Select Committee is looking into the travel chaos which followed heavy snowfall on 2 February.
Mr Johnson told the committee the difficulties in London were no worse than in the rest of the UK.
He added: "It is not within my competence to stop the biggest downfall of snow we have had... for 20 years."
The mayor had agreed to give evidence to the inquiry for 40 minutes and, with the time up, he left partway through giving an answer.
London's heaviest snowfall in 18 years severely disrupted transport, leaving very few buses and Tube lines running.
Committee chairman Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said that MPs were extremely concerned that "our capital city was virtually shut down in a way that did not happen in any other city in the country".
She said to Mr Johnson: "It appears that you didn't act in accordance with your responsibilities as mayor and as chairman of Transport for London."
The mayor said that Mrs Ellman's statement was "quite wrong", and added: "This smacks to me of an unnecessary amount of party political bias.
"To say that the situation in London was worse than anywhere else is simply not true.
"The people responsible for transport in London, those getting the buses and Tubes out, actually did an outstanding job."
Mr Johnson said there had been 30 road accidents before the decision to halt bus services had been taken at around midnight on 1 February.
"I would ask the committee to consider just how many accidents you would like to have seen?" he added.
Mr Johnson said "huge effort and huge preparations" had been made to grit roads but snow had fallen on the grit and the compacted snow had made conditions even more difficult.
While being questioned by David Clelland, Labour MP for Tyne Bridge, Mr Johnson said: "This is pathetic. You are trying to put the blame on a Tory mayor."
Earlier Greater London Authority transport committee chair Val Shawcross said Transport for London (TfL) had not made the mayor aware of the extent of the problems until 0600 GMT on 1 February.
"You would normally expect a leader in his position to be in amongst it to ensure things were being carried out as they should," she said.
"I personally found it quite strange that the mayor had not been proactive."
Ms Shawcross added: "The mayor seems not have been actively involved. It's fair to say that he seemed to be entirely out of things."
The committee asked Mr Johnson what action he had taken before he was made aware of transport problems on 1 February.
The mayor replied: "I observed that it had started to snow."
Last month a London Assembly report found the city was ill-prepared.
The Assembly found a lack of communication and support between emergency services, local councils and TfL. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/snooker/8658170.stm | Snooker chief Barry Hearn says any "sickness" in snooker will be removed "in a brutal manner" if the allegations against John Higgins are proved.
Higgins and his manager Pat Mooney were the victims of a News of the World sting in which the player allegedly agreed to take a £261,000 bribe.
Hearn said: "If there is a sickness in snooker, it will be the death knell of snooker if it is not removed.
"If John is proven guilty the penalties will be very harsh indeed."
Higgins was suspended pending an investigation on Sunday.
The world number one released a statement the same day in which he acknowledged that his reputation was at stake, but insisted his conscience was "100% clear".
He added: "Others have now damaged that reputation and it is now left to me to clear my name. I have never been involved in any form of snooker match-fixing."
The evidence against Higgins centres on an alleged verbal agreement by the 34-year-old Scot that he would be prepared to lose specific frames in various future tournaments for money.
"When it was suggested that I throw frames in return for large sums of money, I was really spooked, I just wanted to get out of the hotel and on to the plane home," added Higgins in his statement.
However, Hearn told an open media session in Sheffield on Monday that Higgins should have got in touch from the moment he was aware of any trouble.
"One of the reasons I was so upset with the video evidence etc was I didn't get a phone call," Hearn said.
"If someone approaches, and I can't stop people outside approaching players, what I can say is it's their responsibility to report that instance immediately so the authorities are aware and can act on them."
Hearn has pledged to look into all the allegations, which appeared in the News of the World, "in the fastest possible timetable".
Former Metropolitan Police detective chief superintendent David Douglas has been asked to examine the evidence.
Hearn said: "Obviously the guy [Higgins] is in bits. And I can sympathise, empathise, with him because it [snooker] has been his whole life.
"We had a very frank conversation because I was in a position to say 'look, I'm not judge and jury here, my job is to refer it to the appropriate authorities'.
"But as a friend, which I would classify myself to John Higgins because I've known him for 20 years, I told him 'it doesn't look good, John'.
"We all watched the video, we've all seen it. Now, whatever reason there may be behind the scenes - and John has subsequently come out with a statement - I can only judge on the visual evidence that is in front of me.
"I just stressed to John that this is something that is not going away but it will be treated as a very, very serious offence, potentially, and if he is found guilty will carry the most severe of penalties.
"And obviously that's very upsetting for him, which I can understand because it's his life, his living.
"I believe he's a proud man, I actually believe he's an honest man but I can't ignore the evidence in front of me and the damage potentially it could do to the game."
When something like this challenges the very fabric of what you believe in you look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself 'is this what I want?
The media session with Hearn happened two hours before the final of the World Championship between Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott was due to resume.
The mastermind behind darts' commercial rebirth, Hearn has been involved as a both a promoter and player manager in snooker since the 1970s, with Steve Davis one of his first high-profile clients.
Last December, he became the new chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.
Hearn admitted he had questioned whether he wished to continue in the job.
"Potentially this is our worst hour," he said. "When something like this challenges the very fabric of what you believe in you look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself 'is this what I want?
"This is huge backward step for me personally. Issues that involve integrity of the sport hurt me very badly.
"It's a body blow but it's not a knockout blow. If we can put our house in order we can preserve the integrity of the sport and the damage can be overcome."
Hearn invited Mooney on to the WPBSA board in January but ordered him to resign on Sunday in wake of the allegations. The Scot was subsequently told he had no future in snooker.
"As far as Pat Mooney's concerned, he will have his own defence I'm sure, but from what I've seen he is not to be any part of the process of moving World Snooker forward," said Hearn.
"Suffice to say that commercially the governing body won't be doing any business with Mr Mooney in the future."
On taking up his role at the WPBSA last December, Hearn promised a "fresh approach" to the sport, with Higgins one of the players voicing his approval.
Higgins said at the time: "The game has been slowly dying for years but I am sure Barry is the man to breathe life back into it."
The Higgins affair is the latest blow to snooker which had been looking to restore its reputation after a series of match-fixing allegations in recent years.
In February 2006, Australian Quinten Hann was handed an eight-year ban from the sport after being found guilty of plotting to lose a match at the China Open in return for large amounts of money.
Scottish pair Stephen Maguire and Jamie Burnett are still waiting to hear if they will face charges after the suspected fixing of their match at the UK Championship in December 2008.
And in February, former world number five Stephen Lee was arrested and bailed following an investigation into suspicious betting patterns.
Hearn now concedes that there may well be further revelations that could damage the sport and admits it is only the players who can repair snooker's reputation.
"We're not idiots. We know we have a police investigation by Strathclyde [Police] into two players [Maguire and Burnett]," said Hearn.
"We know we've got another player who's also being investigated in Stephen Lee.
"It's an issue we have to deal with and there may be other revelations we have to deal with in the future.
"The only people that cure this are the players themselves, that stand up and be counted and say, 'I am a professional sportsman. I started playing this game because I love it'.
"They have a God-given ability but with that comes a responsibility to play within the rules and maintain the credibility of the sport." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3164912.stm | BBC News Online profiles Alex Parks, winner of Fame Academy II.
Considering the wealth of plaudits heaped on 19-year-old Alex Parks, it was little wonder she seemed bewildered by it all.
As celebrity pundits fell over themselves to praise to her "unique talent", the former out-of-work clown from Cornwall retained the air of innocence that so endeared her to Fame Academy voters.
For nine weeks, she combined powerfully emotional vocal performances - seemingly beyond her years and experience of life - with a fragile vulnerability that mesmerised the judges - and millions of viewers.
What makes her victory even more remarkable is that she almost never appeared on the show at all. It was left to her father to send in a videotape demo after she was reluctant to enter.
That reticence and an appealing humility stayed with her throughout the two months as she dodged the limelight and continually expressed doubt in her abilities.
It seemed she just never believed she would win.
Her lack of faith was not shared by hundreds of thousands of viewers who lapped up her angst-ridden interpretations of melancholic pop classics - Everybody Hurts, Yellow, I Don't Wanna Talk About It and others.
Week after week, she put her own unmistakable stamp on the songs with her soaring, tremulous voice and a genuinely affecting anguish in her stage play.
Inside the Academy, her biggest champion Carrie Grant described her unique singing voice as coming from "the inside out" - meaning that she felt the songs emotionally first, rather than treating them technically.
Alex's family always knew she had a unique singing talent from an early age.
She grew up listening to Elvis and Michael Jackson, and made her first musical performance at the age of 13 when she was on school camp.
Two years later she entered and won a singing competition, winning £2,000. At this time joined a band, One Trick Pony, writing her first song, To You.
Tellingly, her role models are powerful, independent singer-songwriters such as Ani di Franco, Annie Lennox, Skin and Jimi Hendrix.
She says she prefers her music to be "gentle and soft", perhaps a reflection of her pastoral surroundings on the Cornish coast.
She grew up in the village of Mount Hawke and took part in the beloved local pursuits of surfing and hanging out by the beach.
A former pupil at Mount Hawke Primary School and The Richard Landers Secondary School in Truro, she was in the hockey, tennis and badminton teams. At 15, she was the county champion javelin thrower.
She got nine GCSEs, including drama and graphic design, and started A-Level English literature but gave up to attend a full-time theatre school in Cornwall called The Hub where she concentrated on clowning and physical theatre.
A member of the St Agnes Players amateur dramatics group, she was in their production of A Midsummer Night's Dream last summer.
The Academy was not her first brush with fame. Actor Steve McFadden (EastEnders' Phil Mitchell), a friend of her father, used to read her bedtime stories when he lived nearby.
Now Alex is starring in a soap opera of her own - one in which she is poised to become a national sensation. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6974284.stm | The Ministry of Defence has played down criticism of US post-war policy in Iraq by the former head of the British army.
In a Daily Telegraph interview, Gen Sir Mike Jackson, chief of general staff during the 2003 invasion, attacked the policy as "intellectually bankrupt".
The MoD said Sir Mike was entitled to express his opinion on his former job.
But John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN, dismissed Sir Mike's criticism as "very simplistic" and "way off the mark".
Sir Mike told the Telegraph that former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's claim that US forces "don't do nation-building" was "nonsensical".
He criticised the decision to hand control of planning the administration of Iraq after the war to the Pentagon.
He also described the disbanding of the Iraqi army and security forces after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein as "very short-sighted".
"We should have kept the Iraqi security services in being and put them under the command of the coalition," he said.
Politicians from across the spectrum have come out in support of Sir Mike's comments, made ahead of the serialisation of his autobiography in the Telegraph.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Conservative foreign secretary and defence secretary, told the BBC that Mr Rumsfeld was "incompetent".
He said it was an "extraordinary decision" by George Bush to put the Pentagon and Mr Rumsfeld in control of political nation-building after the war.
"It's like putting the British army in charge of finding a political settlement in Northern Ireland over the last couple of years," he said.
However, Mr Bolton told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that Sir Mike had "read into a version of history that simply is not supported by the evidence".
"And I can see where he'd have a parochial view from the military perspective. I don't think he saw some of the larger political debates.
"I'm not saying that we got it right in Washington because I've made my own criticisms. His just happen to be way off the mark, very simplistic, I think in a sense limited by the role that he had."
He said it was important to know whether Sir Mike had raised his concerns when he first had them.
On the matter of the Pentagon taking charge of post-war rebuilding, Mr Bolton said: "I think the problem from the American perspective was there was insufficient clarity of who was in charge.
"I can tell you from this side of Atlantic in the capital where things actually happened, the issue was not defence department dominance, it was confusion... he's got it wrong from where he's sat."
The Telegraph also reports that in the book Sir Mike says the US approach to fighting global terrorism was "inadequate" as it focused on military power rather than diplomacy and nation-building.
The US Department of Defense said: "Divergent viewpoints are a hallmark of open, democratic societies."
A spokeswoman for the US State Department said she would not comment on Sir Mike's views.
Sir Mike, who is now retired, also defended the record of British troops in Iraq after claims by US officials that UK forces had failed.
He said primary responsibility for security would be handed to the Iraqis in the south once Iraqi authorities and the coalition were satisfied training and development was appropriate.
All four provinces, except Basra, had been handed over in accordance with that strategy, he said.
His comments follow a series of critical remarks from US officials about the British attitude towards Iraq.
BBC defence correspondent Paul Wood said Sir Mike's comments may put further strain on the British-US operation in Iraq.
Mike Gates, Labour chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said a committee report from 2004 reached similar conclusions to those made by Sir Mike.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said Sir Mike's remarks reinforced his view that British troops should leave Iraq as soon as is practically possible.
He told BBC News 24 that Sir Mike was "a man well known for speaking his mind and not afraid to ruffle American feathers". |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22708711 | Canada has ordered an Eritrean envoy to leave the country following claims he demanded contributions from expatriates to fund Eritrea's military.
Semere Ghebremariam Micael, head of the Eritrean Consulate General in Toronto, has been under investigation for the practice.
It is in breach of both UN sanctions against Eritrea and Canadian law, the Canadian government said.
Mr Micael has been given until on 5 June to leave.
"Canada has taken steps to expel (declare persona non grata) Mr Semere Ghebremariam O Micael, consul and head of the Eritrean Consulate General in Toronto, effective immediately," Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Today's actions speak for themselves," he added.
The dispute centres on the African nation's efforts to impose a 2% "diaspora tax" and "national defence" fee on Eritreans living abroad.
The UN Security Council toughened sanctions against Eritrea in December 2011 over its alleged support for Islamist militant groups such as Somalia's al-Shabab. The sanctions include a block on remittance tax imposed on nationals overseas.
Mr Michael has previously been warned against collecting funds from Eritrean expatriates living in Canada. The consul said it would comply with the Canadian government's ruling in September.
But recent reports said Mr Michael had again started demanding the payments.
"You have to go to the consulate and they arrange how you have to pay the money," one Eritrean in Toronto, who asked not to be named, told Canadian broadcaster CBC.
"They want 2%… they don't give you a reason. You have to pay the money," he said.
"My family [in Eritrea] would get in trouble if I don't pay."
Mr Michael has denied breaking the law, saying he was merely providing "information" to those who want to donate, according to Canada's National Post.
Video Iran link to alleged al-Qaeda Canada terrorist plot? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24628442 | What is the Geneva II conference on Syria?
An international conference to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria has begun in Switzerland.
For months, UN, US and Russian diplomats struggled to persuade both sides to attend what has become known as "Geneva II".
The UN's Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has said it would be "unforgivable not to seize this opportunity" to end a conflict that has left more than 100,000 people dead and driven 9.5 million from their homes.
How come a peace conference is being held now?
In May 2013, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to try to "bring both sides to the table" to end the bloodshed. Mr Kerry said the alternative was that Syria "heads closer to an abyss, if not over the abyss and into chaos". However, initial attempts to convene a conference failed.
Their initiative gained greater impetus after a chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus killed hundreds of people on 21 August 2013. On 27 September, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2118, which demanded the destruction or removal of Syria's chemical stockpile by mid-2014.
It also called for the "convening, as soon as possible, of an international conference on Syria to implement the Geneva Communique", and for "all Syrian parties to engage seriously and constructively" and be committed to the "achievement of stability and reconciliation".
What is the Geneva Communique?
The communique was issued on 30 June 2012 after a meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva of the UN-backed Action Group for Syria.
Is the Syrian government attending Geneva II?
Image caption The Syrian government has said it will not negotiate with "terrorists"
The Syrian government announced on 27 November that it would participate in the talks, but added that its official delegation would not be going "to hand over power to anyone".
An uncompromising statement by the foreign ministry said representatives were being sent by President Bashar al-Assad to pursue "the Syrian people's demands, first and foremost eliminating terrorism". Officials routinely refer to those who oppose Mr Assad as "terrorists".
The ministry also criticised the UK and France for stating that the president had no role to play in Syria's future - also the stance of the main opposition alliance, the National Coalition.
In an interview three days before the conference, President Assad said there was a "significant" chance he would seek a third term in office in elections due this June.
He also ruled out sharing power with the opposition and called for the Geneva talks to focus on his "war against terrorism".
The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces long resisted calls to commit to participate without a guarantee that President Assad would step down, but intense pressure from its Western and Arab eventually saw it relent on 18 January.
A third of the coalition's 119 active members boycotted the vote in Istanbul on whether to attend, and less than half voted in favour. Many boycotters said they did so because they believed the activists and rebels inside Syria opposed Geneva II and rejected the coalition's authority.
Its president, Ahmed Jarba, said it had not compromised on its goals.
"The table for us is a one-way passage to fulfil all the demands of the revolutionaries, foremost among them stripping the murderer of his powers," he said after the vote. "I assure you that we are not few or weak and we have the free people of the world with us."
The biggest opposition bloc, the Syrian National Council, is reported to have subsequently announced that it was pulling out of the coalition because taking part in Geneva II would mean it reneged on its "commitments" not to negotiate until Mr Assad left power.
Other prominent groups have also said they will not take part in the conference. The National Co-ordination Committee (NCC) - an officially tolerated internal opposition alliance - announced on 16 January that it would not attend. Its leader, Hassan Abdul Azim, said he had refused to participate as part of a single opposition delegation led by the National Coalition without lengthy preparations.
The leadership of Syria's Kurds, who comprise just over 10% of the population, also want to send their own representatives and not be part of the National Coalition delegation.
On the ground, the head of the Supreme Military Council of the Western-backed rebel Free Syrian Army said on 26 November that forces aligned to him would not go to Geneva because it had not been made clear that the talks would result in President Assad stepping down.
Also, the Islamic Front, a powerful alliance of Islamist rebel groups, has warned it will consider participation in Geneva II as "treason".
Iran, a crucial ally of President Assad, was unexpectedly invited to join the start of the Geneva II conference by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on 19 January. Mr Ban said he strongly believed Iran had to be part of the solution to the crisis in Syria.
But as soon as it was announced that Tehran had accepted the offer and pledged to play a "positive and constructive role", the opposition National Coalition declared that it would refuse to attend the talks unless Iran was excluded. The US said it viewed Mr Ban's invitation "as conditioned on Iran's explicit and public support for the full implementation of the Geneva Communique". It also noted that Iran had deployed military personnel in Syria and supported the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to bolster Mr Assad's forces.
A day later, Mr Ban rescinded his offer after Iran refused to endorse the Geneva Communique, particularly its call for a transitional government.
"We will not accept a precondition that would narrow the solution within set parameters," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state television. "Everyone knows that without Iran the chances of a real solution to Syria are not that great," he added.
Will the talks be a success?
The US called the conference "the best opportunity for the opposition to achieve the goals of the Syrian people and the revolution". However, it is very difficult to see how tangible progress can be made.
The two main protagonists have irreconcilable objectives: Syria has repeatedly said President Assad's departure is out of the question, while the National Coalition has made it clear that President Assad must have no role in the transitional governing body called for in the Geneva Communique.
Days before the talks were due, Syria's National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said: "Don't expect anything from Geneva II. Neither Geneva II, not Geneva III nor Geneva X will solve the Syrian crisis. The solution has begun and will continue through the military triumph of the state."
Even if some kind of political agreement is reached, it will be virtually impossible to implement it on the ground, given that the talks are an irrelevance to most of the major fighting forces. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/6618255.stm | More than 50 police workers, including officers, were fined for speeding in the Avon and Somerset force area last year while not on an emergency call.
Figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show police vehicles triggered a speed camera 640 times.
In almost nine cases out of 10, the penalty was cancelled, but staff were fined in the remaining cases.
The charity Road Peace, which supports families of crash victims, condemned the figures as "horrifying".
Spokeswoman Rita Taylor said: "These officers were fined - they were found to be breaking the law.
"We feel the police are there to uphold the law, they must be shown they cannot break the law."
In a statement, the force said some of the speed camera activations could have been caused by members of other constabularies passing through the area.
But it said: "The high number of Notices of Intended Prosecution in Avon and Somerset Constabulary may relate to the fact we use strobe lights rather than revolving blue lights which are not always picked up by the safety cameras.
"We would stress that we are an open and accountable force and will prosecute officers when they are unable to demonstrate their actions were for a lawful policing purpose.
"If officers are prosecuted they can be put through a refresher course on the force's driver training programme."
The statement added that the vast majority of police drivers were highly skilled and operated within the law.
It said the figures must be put into context, as staff responded to nearly 50,000 call-outs last year.
"The information being supplied to you refers to activations by police- registered vehicles, not necessarily to vehicles being driven by operationally-deployed police officers," the statement said. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2640221.stm | The carrying of replica guns and air weapons is to be banned under a new government crackdown.
Home Secretary David Blunkett announced the plan on Wednesday, ahead of the publication of new firearms statistics.
The figures are expected to show a 20% increase in gun crime in England and Wales.
Home Office officials said legislation would be brought in to ban anyone carrying a replica or air weapon in a public place without a good reason.
The age limit for acquiring and using an air weapon without adult supervision will also be increased from 14 to 17.
The bans were flagged up in the Commons last Autumn and have been drawn up after consultation with police.
A Home Office spokesman said the fine details of the legislation had yet to be worked out.
But existing owners of replica weapons were likely to be able to apply for a licence or be offered an opportunity to hand in their guns voluntarily.
Low-powered air weapons would not require a licence, but new powers would allow police to confiscate them if they were being carried in a public place "without good reason".
The Home Office is also examining a ban on the sale, manufacture and the import of what are known as tandem air cartridge systems, such as the Brocock ME38 air pistol, which can be illegally converted to fire bullets.
According to the National Criminal Intelligence Service, this weapon accounts for half of all converted firearms seized by police in London.
Ministers are considering the licensing of weapons already held.
A spokeswoman said arrests of people with replica firearms would be down to the discretion of individual officers.
She said: "Officers would take into consideration the manner in which they have been alerted to the fact someone is carrying a firearm so they will have background knowledge.
"If someone is waving a cigarette lighter shaped like a firearm at police officers then that is very different from it being used to light a cigarette in a pub.
"It's about people causing difficulties for police officers and that's obviously different from a child in the street playing cowboys and Indians."
Having a replica gun for use in historical re-enactments or plays will be considered a reasonable excuse.
Commenting on the proposed ban, Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "We are determined to tackle gun crime.
"Our guns laws are already among the tightest in the world, and these new controls will help the police to deal effectively with anyone misusing replica weapons or airguns."
Mr Blunkett also plans to introduce a minimum five year sentence for carrying illegal firearms.
But he has insisted the new measures are not a snap response to the New Year party shooting in Birmingham, in which two teenage girls died.
The new proposals were welcomed by local MP Khalid Mahmood, who has been campaigning for tighter controls on replica weapons.
He told BBC News Online: "Obviously replica guns were not used in the New Year incident.
"But the moves announced today [Wednesday] start to address the culture that leads young people to think it is acceptable to carry guns."
He said teenagers as young as 14 were getting their hands on replica weapons and terrorising communities.
It was relatively easy - particularly in the West Midlands with its strong industrial base - to find someone to convert replicas to live firing weapons, he added.
The move was also backed by Conservative shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin.
But he said he did not think it was necessary to change the age limits as this was already addressed by the ban on use in public places.
Official figures due out on Thursday are expected to confirm that gun crime in England and Wales rose by 20% in a year.
About 9,000 incidents involving firearms are believed to have taken place in year to April 2002 - up from 7,362 in the previous year.
That excludes incidents involving airguns.
The figures break down to 22 firearm offences a day.
In 1997, when Labour first took power, there were 4,903 firearms incidents.
"The new changes will make our gun laws stricter than ever"
"There will be a ban on carrying replica weapons in public without good reason"
How can guns be made less accessible? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6361683.stm | Raising a glass: "I want to say thank you"
When you are told you have just months to live what do you do? Andy Fitchett, 56, decided to organise his own wake and is hosting it.
I'm a lucky man and have had a lucky life. Many people don't get a chance to say goodbye to people when they die but I have.
Others never live a life as long and happy as mine when they pass away. Take a 12-year-old killed in a car crash, they don't get a chance to live their life or say goodbye.
When I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer I was planning a new life in Majorca. I'd bought two bars and was getting everything ready.
A week after returning to the UK from a trip over there my chest started hurting and I was rushed into hospital with a suspected heart attack.
After eight-days of tests they told me I had a tumour on my lung and the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes in my neck. I had six months to live.
For days I was numb, I couldn't tell you what I felt because I felt no emotion at all. Then I realised I had two choices, I could sit in a corner and wait to die or I could get my life in order and enjoy what time I had left.
I can't imagine looking people in the eye knowing it is the last time I will see many of them.
My priority was my two grown-up daughters, they were devastated when I told them. Things were made harder by the fact my wife - their mother - died 10 years ago of liver failure.
I wanted to make it as easy for them as I could, so I've planned everything down to a list of people to call when I die and have paid for my funeral.
Sorting all my stuff out made me start to think about all the people who had come into my life and touched it. You meet loads of people, make lots of friends but sometimes you don't stay in touch, despite having the best of intentions.
I realised I wanted to thank them all for being part of my life and being my friend, that's why I decided to organise and go to my own wake. The next day I also want to ring up those who don't turn up and ask why, as a joke.
I do consider myself lucky and have had a hell of a life compared to some other people. My wake is not about mourning my loss, it is about celebrating that life. I have a chance to do that and others don't.
My wake is on 17 March, I have been given until May to live. It will be at Swindon Town Football Club. I have always been a supporter so it seemed a fitting place to hold it. I'm selling tickets and will give the money to charity.
There's a disco and a charity auction, but the rest of the evening will be off-the-cuff. I just want it to be a happy night.
I will stand up and say a few words during the evening and I know that's when the emotion will really kick in. I can't imagine looking people in the eye knowing it is the last time I will see many of them.
People's reaction to what I am doing has been superb. My daughters say they have taken strength from my attitude.
Someone I met at the football club the other day asked me if I was "the Andy". When I said yes he showed me his diary, in big letters he had written "inspirational man" under 17 March. He wanted eight tickets for the wake, which made me happy.
I find it all a bit baffling and don't understand what all the fuss is about. I don't see myself as brave, people die everyday. I am grateful for the time I have left and want to make the most of it. I just want to say thank you.
I'm in the same position, dying of terminal cancer. I have the time to enjoy what I have left after a pretty lucky and enjoyable life. I'm planning my own funeral in the style I want and taking the opportunity to try and contact everyone to whom I feel grateful. Plenty of people have brightened my life and I'd like to thank all of them for making it better in one way or another. The ones who had the other effect aren't worth troubling over. Take the chance to enjoy the end as much as you've enjoyed the journey - if you can.
You go for it! I hope if I'm ever in the same situation, I can be half as strong as you!
Although everyone has to die one day, the way Andy is facing up and reacting to all this is a unique thing. I have got so much inspiration from his personality. Andy, God bless you..
Congratulations to Andy for turning what for many would have been a reason to hide away from the world into a reason to celebrate the life he has lived. I will be raising a glass in his honour come the 17th.
My brother and I had a party for my Dad when he was told he only had a few months left - it was my father's idea and we had a wonderful time with his friends and ours. So all the very best, Andy, for a wonderful day.
If only we all had the opportunity to put right things that are often left unsaid. The unresolved issues that are left behind when someone dies are the ones that cause feelings of grief and guilt. Good luck and best wishes to a truly wonderful man.
We have too negative an attitude to death in this country. It should be a celebration of a life, just like you say. My father died earlier this year. Shortly before he passed away, he gave me the thumbs up and said, "I'm alright." He had peace of mind, knowing he had done some good in his life and touched a few people. How much happier we would all be just to have those simple things as our aim in life. I wish you a peaceful, dignified death. Just like my Dad had.
What a brilliant (and very brave) idea. When my husband died recently I remember looking around the room at everyone present and thinking 'If only he could have been here to see everyone' I found it really heartbreaking. Not everyone gets the chance to do this and I am full of admiration for Mr Fitchett. I hope he has a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
I've always thought it was such a shame to miss out on your own final party and hear what people really thought of you!
As I walked home from my night shift this morning, I was thinking about the very thing, that if I were to be diagnosed with something terminal, I'd like to hold my own wake. I had thought about it after seeing and speaking to a patient overnight on the A and E department where I work. I have already written down my own wishes in the event of my death, despite being in my twenties, as in my job I see too many people, of all ages, die suddenly. Good on you Andy, you have a fantastic attitude, and I hope you have a fantastic evening, and a very peaceful time afterwards. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-47337015 | A railway station opened 10 years ago has made a "massive" difference to a town that was once the largest in the UK not to have one, an MP said.
Corby station opened on 23 February 2009 with a service of one train a day to and from London ahead of the launch of a full service two months later.
MP Tom Pursglove said the station had "boosted jobs in our local economy".
The MP and rail staff cut into a birthday cake at a ceremony to celebrate the anniversary.
The original Corby railway station, built at the end of the 19th Century, was closed in the late 1960s.
That left Corby, with a population of about 60,000, as the largest town's in the UK not to have a station.
Conservative Mr Pursglove said: "Reviving rail connections to Corby has made such a massive difference to the town.
"Not only has it been a key part of driving the housing growth agenda locally, with thousands of people coming to live in our community from across the country, but I know it has also boosted jobs in our local economy," he said.
"Many national and international firms I visit cite our rail connectivity as one of the key reasons for them being based here."
David Fursdon, Corby rail user, said: "There can be no doubt the reopening of Corby Railway Station has boosted the town's ongoing regeneration and given Corby citizens access to the greater UK rail network."
Lawrence Bowman, commercial director for East Midlands Trains, said: "The station has grown in popularity over the last 10 years and, with the completion of electrification in December 2020, we hope that our passengers will continue to enjoy travelling through the station for business and leisure." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-47363942 | Wales was the hottest place in the UK on Monday as the country basked in the hottest February day on record.
The mercury hit 20.3C in Trawsgoed, near Aberystwyth in Ceredigion - beating the previous benchmark of 19.7C, recorded in Greenwich in 1988.
Meteorologists say it is the first time temperatures had exceeded 20C between December and February in the UK.
The Met Office said the balmy weather is the result of warm air combining with a period of sunshine.
It comes a year on from the Beast from the East which left people battling snow and ice.
On Monday, meteorologists said winds from Spain and Africa pushed air over a part of Wales that has the greatest "land track", causing it to get gradually warmer.
The further the air travels over land the more moisture it loses and faster it heats up, the Met Office said.
"It's exceptional for it to be this warm at this time of year." said Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill.
Average temperatures for the month of February in the UK are around 8C, the Met Office has previously said.
According to the Met Office, being a small island, the UK is usually a "relatively mild" country with weather mostly affected by conditions over the Atlantic and west of the country.
The Met Office warned that conditions could be chilly, frosty and cloudy overnight on Monday, with temperatures in some places getting below freezing.
But the warm weather is expected to be repeated on Tuesday with temperatures possibly reaching 21C.
UK weather: Is this the warmest February for 178 years? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-18316899/diamond-jubilee-river-pageant-s-rousing-musical-finale | Jubilee's rousing musical finale Jump to media player Members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir perform a musical finale to end a spectacular river pageant in London in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
Party time for royal revellers Jump to media player Thousands of parties are taking place all over the UK as part of celebrations to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
Surprise guests at Jubilee party Jump to media player Well-wishers greet the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, who were surprise guests at a street party in Piccadilly, central London.
Republicans protest at Jubilee pageant Jump to media player Tens of thousands of people are lining the Thames in London hoping to see the Queen. Republican protesters have also turned out to make a stand.
Jubilee babies born on pageant day Jump to media player As the Jubilee river pageant was in full swing, proud parents have been introducing their 'Jubilee babies'.
The Queen has led the largest river pageant in London for more than 300 years as part of the celebrations to mark her Diamond Jubilee.
The flotilla included more than 1,000 vessels and set a new world record for the number of boats taking part in a parade.
The final vessel to reach Tower Bridge was Symphony, carrying members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir.
The singers got drenched by rain as they performed several songs to the Royal Family including Land Of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia, and the national anthem.
Fireworks were then set off from the top of Tower Bridge before the bascules of the bridge were lowered as many boats sounded their horns. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-26090562/charles-dickens-statue-unveiled-in-portsmouth | 'Overdue' Dickens statue unveiled Jump to media player A life-size statue of Charles Dickens has been unveiled near his birthplace in Portsmouth on the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Dickensian parliamentary reporter Jump to media player Charles Dickens started his writing career as a parliamentary reporter, covering some of the most dramatic political events of the 19th century.
World's oldest Charles Dickens film Jump to media player The world's oldest surviving Charles Dickens film has been discovered a day after the 200th anniversary of the famous author's birth.
A life-size statue of Charles Dickens has been unveiled near his birthplace in Portsmouth on the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Professor Tony Pointon has campaigned for 20 years to have a statue of Dickens put up in the city, supported by the writer's great-great grandson Ian Dickens.
Mr Dickens said: "We absolutely believe it's 200 years overdue to have a statue that celebrates the life and work and achievements of Charles Dickens." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8517057.stm | When a huge earthquake hit Haiti a month ago, the jobs of rescuers and aid workers were made more difficult by the lack of information about the layout of Port au Prince.
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. This was the level of detail for Haiti’s capital at the time – major roads, no street names, no location of public buildings. Google's map had a little more detail.
But within 24 hours, two satellite firms released high-definition images of the island free of charge. This was a first, says Christopher Osborne, who works with OpenStreetMap. Users set about filling in the many blanks.
The map in this picture gallery shows the Cite Militaire district of Port au Prince. This is how its rubble-strewn streets looked on the ground in the aftermath of the quake.
As some 2,000 users added layer upon layer of detail to the map, aid workers and rescuers downloaded daily updates to help them make their way through the city from the airport, which lies to the top right of this area.
The Red Cross's Kjeld Jensen uses it on a handheld GPS. "Over just a few days, it saved me and my driver from getting lost twice, and the alternative would have been long delays. We are running fast trying to help people and your work makes it easier."
And a member of a US search and rescue team e-mailed OpenStreetMap to say what a boon it was to have downloadable maps with street-level detail. "Please be assured that we are using your data - I just wish we knew about it earlier."
... as planes queued at the nearby airport to off-load supplies and personnel. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7084801.stm | A 23-year-old who called herself the "Lyrical Terrorist" has become the first woman in the UK to be convicted under the Terrorism Act.
Samina Malik, from Southall, west London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of owning terrorist manuals.
The jury heard Malik had written extremist poems praising Osama Bin Laden, supporting martyrdom and discussing beheading.
Malik worked at WH Smith at Heathrow Airport until her arrest last October.
She had earlier been found not guilty of the more serious charge, under Section 57 of the Act, of possessing an article for a terrorist purpose. She denied the charges.
Malik burst into tears in the dock when the verdict was read out.
Following the verdict, Judge Peter Beaumont QC, the Recorder of London, told Malik: "You have been in many respects a complete enigma to me."
She had posted her poems on websites under the screen name the Lyrical Terrorist, prosecutors said.
Malik said the poems were "meaningless", but prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said: "These communications strongly indicate Samina Malik was deeply involved with terrorist related groups."
Police said they had found a "library" of extreme Islamist literature in her bedroom including The Al-Qaeda Manual and The Mujahideen Poisons Handbook.
The court also heard she had written on the back of a WH Smith till receipt: "The desire within me increases every day to go for martyrdom."
Malik said she had only called herself the Lyrical Terrorist "because it sounded cool".
She was convicted of having articles "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Malik held violent extremist views which she shared with other like-minded people over the internet. She also tried to donate money to a terrorist group.
"She had the ideology, ability and determination to access and download material, which could have been useful to terrorists. Merely possessing this material is a serious criminal offence."
Malik was bailed under what the judge described as "house arrest" until her sentencing on 6 December.
He warned her that "all sentencing options" remained open to him. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2230293.stm | Advocates of reform in Japan have received a major boost, with the victory of a provincial governor over his conservative opponents.
Yasuo Tanaka was removed from office in Nagano prefecture after attacking vested interests in the construction industry.
He has now been returned as governor with a landslide election victory.
Mountainous Nagano west of Tokyo is the front line in a battle between those who want to change Japan and those that benefit from the status quo.
Mr Tanaka, a flamboyant novelist, became governor two years ago and immediately attacked vested interests with sharp cuts in public works spending.
The local assembly responded this summer - with a vote of no confidence.
But now Mr Tanaka is back with a resounding mandate - winning twice as many votes as his nearest rival. He promised to continue his reforms and to change Japanese society from his rural power base.
Mr Tanaka's attack on the construction industry goes to the heart of the debate about Japan's future.
Public works account for a substantial part of the national economy - and they mean votes and money for the Liberal Democratic party that has dominated for half a century.
The reformers say that construction is out of control - it is bankrupting the country and destroying the environment.
Mr Tanaka cancelled work on seven new dams in Nagano - an Alpine region where it is already impossible to find a river that has not been dammed or lined with concrete.
National politicians are watching developments closely.
The Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, came to office promising radical reform. But he has made little progress during his 16 months in office.
The vote in a once deeply conservative area shows that the electorate is anxious for change. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/counties/8589866.stm | Michael Di Venuto and Kyle Coetzer both hit centuries as Durham piled on the runs to take early charge of the season curtain-raiser against the MCC.
Di Venuto (131) and Coetzer (123 not out) made light work of the pink Kookaburra ball in the heat of Abu Dhabi, sharing an opening stand of 181.
Dale Benkenstein also made 41 as the county champions closed on 329-3.
As well as using a pink ball, the match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium is being played partly under floodlights.
It is the first time the traditional curtain-raiser between the champions and MCC is being played away from Lord's.
The match was switched so that the MCC and the International Cricket Council could trial the pink ball under floodlights with the long-term aim of introducing day-night Test matches.
Di Venuto spent nearly three-and-a-half hours facing the pink ball and predicted it might need to be tweaked before being ready for Test cricket.
"It was pretty easy to pick the ball up, especially at the start when it was really good," said the veteran Australian, who was out before the night skies descended at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
"My only concern with the pink ball is the seam. The seam uses a green stitching which is pretty hard to see and if it was darker it would be pretty good.
"No disrespect to the two spinners I faced here but with the really top-class international spinners, if you can't pick up the revolutions on the ball and which way the seam is going it's going to be pretty hard work."
But asked whether he could envisage Test teams competing under similar playing conditions in the near future, Di Venuto added: "There's no reason why it can't work as long as the players go in with an open mind.
"Whenever there's something different, like a pink ball, people are going to have complaints - it's the nature of the game - but we're using a pink ball so just get out and get on with it."
Other than Jon Lewis beating Di Venuto with the fourth ball of the match there was little to trouble the Durham openers early on.
Di Venuto did the bulk of the early scoring on an excellent batting track, the Australian bringing up his century less than an hour after lunch off 145 balls, including a six and 14 fours.
He had taken his boundary tally to 20 when he was eventually dismissed, stumped by James Foster after coming down the track to James Middlebrook.
Middlebrook struck a second time soon afterwards when Durham captain Will Smith chipped the off-spinner to Scott Newman, who took a juggling catch.
Benkenstein then added 92 with Coetzer before being bowled by Dean Cosker. Coetzer went on to complete his own century off 194 balls in 307 minutes, and batted through to the close with Ian Blackwell.
The MCC were dealt a blow before the start of the game when former England batsman Mark Ramprakash flew home for personal reasons. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3272357.stm | A Briton who ran across six continents is planning to try to swim 25,000 miles across all the world's oceans and seas, in an odyssey lasting up to six years.
Robert Garside pounded 35,000 miles in more than 50 pairs of trainers during his epic run, which ended this summer.
The 36-year-old revealed on Friday that he will embark on his round-the-world swim in Greece next June.
He plans to sleep in an egg-shaped carbon fibre capsule that will be attached to his foot while he swims.
"I'm totally serious about doing this," the psychology student said.
"When I got back from my around the world run Tom Hanks said I was an inspiration. That was nice."
Mr Garside said he would be crossing the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, as well as a number of seas and islands during the journey.
Much of the time he will be "hugging" the coastlines and will cross seas and oceans via the shortest routes possible.
He plans to start off near Athens in Greece, on 1 June, and head to Morocco, before making his way south along the west coast of Africa.
He then intends to cross the Atlantic to Brazil and will swim along the north coast of South America to the Panama Canal.
From there he hopes to head south to Ecuador and west to the Galapagos Islands before passing through the South Pacific to French Polynesia and then New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia.
The final stage of the journey will lead him across the equator to the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and back into the Mediterranean.
Mr Garside, of Stockport, Greater Manchester, said he had been thinking about swimming around the world since he heard about a French man who swam across the Atlantic.
He will be tracked by satellite and hopes that boats and coast guards will help deliver water and food supplies.
He will be equipped with wet suits, flippers, a snorkel, goggles, satellite transmitters, cell phones and navigational equipment.
He plans to swim around six or seven hours a day during the challenge.
"Like the first run around the world, I think that the greatest problems will be isolation, politics and weather," Mr Garside - who wants to raise funds for an autism charity - added.
Critics were sceptical about Mr Garside's previous challenge, in which he ran around the world from 1997 to June this year.
Experts said they were astonished at claims he ran up to 110 miles a day for days on end, without a support team, through hostile environments.
In 2001 he reportedly admitted taking an aeroplane for more than 800 miles of the route from Mexico City to the US border, but insisted he had all the evidence proving his record attempt was authentic. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-45481196 | Image caption Ayrshire tourist Robert Watson told his mother that he nearly died after being attacked by a group of men during a holiday to the Spanish resort of Magaluf, reports The Scottish Sun. The paper says he was attacked on Sunday and four British men have since been arrested over the attack.
Image caption The Telegraph writes that Scotland's farmers have urged Theresa May's opponents to get behind her Chequers Brexit plan, which the National Farmers Union describes as a "workable compromise". However, the paper claims the call has been rejected by the Scottish government.
Image caption Meanwhile, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has raised hopes of a "Brexit breakthrough", according to The Herald, after he suggested it was realistic to expect a deal with Britain over its withdrawal from the European Union.
Image caption The Express is even more optimistic and says it could take just six weeks for the UK and the EU to set out terms for Brexit, after what the paper describes as a "shock climbdown".
Image caption Meanwhile, The Press and Journal claims that failure to reach a deal with Brussels could lead to a skill shortage and the closure of oil rigs in the North Sea.
Image caption The Scotsman also focuses on the industry and says a new report has suggested a recent revival of the oil and gas sector could be at risk because of a slump in exploration to find fresh deposits, which have hit a 50-year low.
Image caption The National claims that plans to redraw UK parliamentary boundaries will "silence Scotland" by reducing the number of MPs representing Scottish constituencies. The paper reports that only two people will represent the Highalands and quotes SNP MP Tommy Sheppard as describing the proposals as unacceptable.
Image caption Away from politics, the Scottish Daily Mail reveals how the Scottish government is considering plans to place diabetics on a low-calorie liquid diet in a radical move to reverse the hold of the disease on patients.
Image caption A mother has launched a desperate appeal to raise £100,000 to bring her son home to Scotland after he suffered a massive stroke while travelling in Cambodia, according to the front page of the Daily Record.
Image caption The Daily Star reports that Grease star Olivia Newton-John is battling cancer for the third time, but has reassured her fans that she can beat the disease.
Image caption Hundreds of manufacturing jobs are at risk after Dundee's Michelin tyre factory revealed plans to cut production by as much as a quarter, according to The Courier. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-29893893 | As mourners bury the woman known as the British Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter capable of knocking a pipe from between your lips while bent backwards over a chair, the question arises... How did a girl from Leeds with a self-confessed dislike of guns become a carnival crack shot?
You could say the Wild West was in Florence Shufflebottom's blood.
Her grandfather, William Shufflebottom, better known as Texas Bill, was a rider for legendary American showman William "Buffalo Bill" Cody.
Rumour has it Texas Bill travelled from the US as part of Buffalo Bill's show before settling down with a showman's daughter and opening up a show of his own in the UK.
Her father, Richard Shufflebottom, continued the family love affair with the Wild West, setting up the Colorado Family Troupe with his wife Laura and touring the fairgrounds of Britain.
Florence, born in 1931, was soon performing in the family show.
She was used as a target for her father's knife, axe and tomahawk throwing act and, from the age of five, performed as a snake-charmer.
Her final trick - named the Kiss of Death - was to place a snake's head inside her mouth.
But, it was her skills with a rifle that set Florence apart.
"My father wanted me to do the sharpshooting. I did not really want to do it because I did not like firearms then and I do not like them now, but I wanted to help my father, to make it easier for him. He trained me to do the shooting," she said prior to her death at the age of 82 last month.
"I used a Winchester .22 repeating rifle with live ammunition.
"I did various tricks. One was shooting a pipe bowl from my partner's nose [another was] shooting a pipe from my partner's mouth while bending backwards over the back of a chair."
She quickly developed a reputation as a gifted marksman and, combined with her skills as a snake-charmer, became an integral part of the family show.
Florence's flourishing popularity was given an extra boost when the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun - the story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley - toured London's West End.
"The smash hit musical Annie Get Your Gun was on in the West End and I went to see it," Florence said.
"Of course with doing the sharpshooting, wearing the costume and Annie Get Your Gun being popular, I got a lot of publicity out of that because I was known as the British Annie Oakley."
However, her career as a sharpshooter came to an end after an accident during a show.
While attempting to shoot three pipes from between her mother's fingers she was knocked by a boy in the audience, the rifle went off and she shot her mother in the knuckle.
"I lost my confidence, I really did. I knew I could do it, but I did not enjoy it anymore," she said.
In 1957 Florence married Robert Campbell and together they continued to present shows.
When interest in their shows began to wane the couple turned to other ventures, including catering and running a bingo hall in Selby.
She treasured her family's rich history and in 1994 she and her husband, who had also grown up on fairgrounds, donated their family collection to the National Fairground Archive (NFA), based at Sheffield University.
Her son Garry said that despite her remarkable talent, his mother was surprised by her celebrity status.
"They actually billed her as the youngest snake-charmer in the country," he said.
"These things people look on as extraordinary, she never thought she had done anything extraordinary. She just went out and did the job she had to do.
"She never thought she was a pin-up, she never thought she was anything special."
Professor Vanessa Toulmin, director of the NFA, described Florence as "one of the most gifted performers ever to grace a fairground".
She said: "Florence's beauty and talent became renowned on the fairground and her marksmanship skill, her beauty and her ability to bring the crowds soon made her the star of the show."
Britain's showmen: All the fun of the fair? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40437917 | Italy has threatened to stop vessels of other countries from bringing migrants to its ports.
The warning came as Italy's EU representative, Maurizio Massari, warned in a letter to the bloc the situation had become "unsustainable".
Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has accused other European nations of "looking the other way".
An estimated 10,000 people are believed to have attempted the journey from North Africa in the past four days.
More than 73,000 migrants have landed in Italy this year, an increase of 14% on the same period last year.
Some 2,000 have died or are missing feared drowned, the UN's refugee agency says, the vast majority attempting the crossing from Libya.
Libya is a gateway to Europe for migrants from across sub-Saharan Africa and also from the Arabian peninsula, Egypt, Syria and Bangladesh. Many are fleeing war, poverty or persecution.
Why is Italy reacting now?
The Italian coastguard takes the lead in co-ordinating rescue operations but many of the vessels run by non-profit groups sail under the flags of other nations including EU countries like Germany and Malta.
An Italian government source told Reuters: "The idea of blocking humanitarian ships flying foreign flags from returning to Italian ports has been discussed. Italy has reached saturation point."
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the Italian public were "exasperated" with the issue and a new long-term strategy was needed.
Would blocking rescue ships be legal?
Rules on disembarking are governed by international law and the EU office on migration said any changes to guidelines should give humanitarian groups time to prepare.
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea dictates that any ship learning of distress at sea must assist regardless of circumstances, and that the country responsible for operations in that area has primary responsibility for taking them from the ship.
It also clearly states that the relevant government "shall arrange for such disembarkation to be effected as soon as reasonably practicable."
For boats departing from western Libya, Italy is likely to be the closest port.
The European Commissioner for Immigration, Dimitri Avramopoulos, met Italy's Mr Massari to discuss the crisis.
"Italy is right that the situation is untenable," he said, adding that the country's management of the crisis was "exemplary".
It was time for EU member states to "step up", he said, and contribute financial support to Italy if needed, along with aid to African nations like Libya to reduce the numbers of people leaving - a promise made in February.
"Now is the moment to deliver, and we will hold them to this," the commissioner said.
"In everything we do, we all have a humanitarian obligation to save lives... we cannot leave a handful of EU countries on their own to deal with this."
Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres said it had been calling for more support from the EU for some time, urging that "all the states should take part", Ansa news agency reported.
Has Italy raised concerns before?
Yes. In April, an Italian prosecutor claimed humanitarian charities were "colluding" with people smugglers in Libya, alleging that phone calls were made between the two parties.
Italy has seen more than 500,000 migrants arrive by boat since 2014.
The closure of a land route north through the Balkans has added to the pressure.
Libya has been in chaos since long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in October 2011.
On Wednesday, seven UN staff who had been visiting a migrant detention centre in the western town of Surman were seized by gunmen as their convoy headed towards the capital, Tripoli.
They were later released unharmed to local security forces. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8889000/8889489.stm | A 'near miss' between a passenger plane and a UFO near Manchester Airport is included in a number of secret files released by the government.
The 'close encounter' was officially reported by the flight crew of a Boeing 737 back in January 1995.
The pilot and first officer described seeing a 'large grey object' fly so close past the plane it made them duck.
The details are included in the latest batch of MoD files to be released on alleged UFO sightings.
The alleged incident on 6 January 1995 involving a passenger plane in the night sky above Manchester is included in the latest batch of MoD files documenting alleged UFO sightings now released by the National Archives.
What makes this particular incident interesting is the credibility of the witnesses: the pilot and first officer of a British Airways aircraft who reported it as an 'air miss'.
In a detailed report to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the pilot confirmed that he was about 4,000 feet up over the Pennines, eight or nine miles south east of Manchester Airport, when the two men both saw something flash past the cockpit window.
His first officer - who instinctively 'ducked' as it went by - said it was a 'wedge-shaped' object possibly with a black stripe down the side which he estimated was 'between a light aircraft and Jetstream' (a small passenger plane) in size.
According to the CAA's Airmiss Working Party report, the captain and the first officer drew what they had seen.
The pilot was convinced it had 'a number of small, white lights, rather like a Christmas tree' adding that he was able to track the object for around two seconds looking through the windscreen and side window.
Both were convinced that what they had seen was 'a solid object and not a [meteorological] phenomenon, balloon or any other craft' with which they were familiar, including a Stealth bomber.
The investigation failed to identify the object.
The National Archive files also contains a sketch by a member of the public showing a UFO allegedly seen from the ground on the same day as the near miss with the Boeing aircraft.
It showed an oblong craft with a curved front and a series of small nozzles at the rear.
However, a UFO expert who sent the sketches to the MoD said he was "a little dubious" about aspects of the report, including a claim that the object was "20 times the size of a football field."
The 18 UFO files released on 5 August 2010 are the latest to come out as part of a three-year project between the MoD and the National Archives.
The files are made up of more than 5,000 reports, letters and drawings from members of the public.
Reports of sightings of UFOs peaked in 1996 in the UK - when science fiction drama The X Files was popular.
According to the files, there were more than 600 reports in 1996, compared with an average of 240 in the previous five years. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30933261 | In this digital age where information inequality is growing, the news industry is having to rethink the way it will keep everyone informed.
By the BBC's director of news and current affairs, James Harding.
This is an immersive story told through text, images and video, best viewed on an up-to-date browser.
BBC News App users click here.
You have been giving us your reaction to the ideas. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16828134 | A group of Hong Kong residents have placed an advertisement in a popular tabloid calling people from mainland China ''locusts''.
The full-page advertisement in Apple Daily was funded by donations from a web-based group.
The term is an insult commonly used on the web by some of the city's residents to refer to mainlanders.
It comes as tensions escalate in Hong Kong over China's increasing influence and the influx of mainland visitors.
The advert, which warned of possible social conflict, contained lines such as "Hong Kongers have had enough!" and "This city is dying, you know?".
The donors, who raised more than HK$100,000 ($13,000, £8,200) for the advertisement in less than a week, also called for the government to stop the ''unlimited infiltration'' of mainlanders.
"Why are mainland mothers flooding in to take up resources in public hospitals, getting our benefits and social welfare?'' one of the organisers of the campaign told the South China Morning Post newspaper.
''Why do mainlanders... refuse to follow our rules and order? We can't accept that," said the man, who used the alias ''Yung Jhon''.
Tensions erupted last month when Dolce and Gabbana allegedly banned locals from taking photographs outside its Hong Kong flagship store, seeming to show a preference for wealthy mainland shoppers.
The Italian fashion label later apologised but the incident sparked off a flurry of furious reactions from Hong Kong residents.
An influx of mothers travelling from the mainland to Hong Kong to give birth to obtain rights for their children to live and work there has also irked the city's residents.
The issue is a battle for resources, says the BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong. In part because of its British colonial legacy, Hong Kong is believed to have some of the best healthcare and education in China.
Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The ''locusts'' advertisement follows recent controversial remarks made by Peking University professor Kong Qingdong.
He called Hong Kongers "bastards" and "running dogs of the British government" when commenting on an earlier incident in which a mainland Chinese girl was reportedly told off by locals for eating on a Hong Kong train. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/welsh/7258303.stm | Wales assistant coach Shaun Edwards believes it could be time for the Six Nations to adopt bonus points to fall in line with other tournaments.
Edwards argues that giving teams bonus points to chase encourages adventure.
"It could be time to tinker with the format of the Six Nations," Edwards wrote in the Guardian.
"If bonus points were awarded for four tries and those bonus points helped settle the title, there would be no argument against a bit of adventure."
Edwards, who is also the head coach of Wasps, says that the bonus point system has improved every competition that has adopted it.
Do you think it's time the Six Nations started using bonus points?
"In every other tournament, the World Cup included, bonus points are awarded - one for scoring four tries and one for a losing side which keeps the gap down to seven points. The Six Nations gives two points for a win, one for a draw - and that's that," Edwards added.
Edwards points out that since 1994 the Six Nations title is decided on points difference if two or more teams finish on the same match points. Before that year the title was shared by tied teams.
The former rugby league great argues that system encourages teams to play safe even if they have a comfortable lead in a match, with penalties more likely to be taken as 'safer' kicks at goal to pad the winning margin rather than going for more tries.
"Say a team has scored a couple of tries and has a reasonable lead when, with 10 minutes to go, it is awarded a kickable penalty," Edwards said.
"The captain will signal to the posts, because he wants to widen the margin of victory. There's no argument with that.
"But if bonus points were awarded... the win is safe, so hoof the ball into the corner, win the line-out, drive the rolling maul over the goal line and, with eight or nine minutes to go, there is still time to think about a fourth try.
"The spectacle would be improved, as it would if the opposition had the extra incentive of clawing its way back to within seven points.
"Every Saturday bonus points add to the spice of the Guinness Premiership. Perhaps it could be time for the Six Nations to give them a go." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16600746 | A court in Turkey has jailed three people for involvement in the 2007 killing of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
The judge sentenced Yasin Hayal to life for incitement and two other men were given 12 years in prison.
Mr Dink, shot dead outside his Istanbul office, angered Turkish nationalists by describing the mass killing of Armenians a century ago as genocide.
His teenage killer, Ogun Samast, was jailed for 22 years last year.
After the verdict, a crowd of about 500 people including members of Mr Dink's family marched to the spot where he was shot dead to protest at what they said was state collusion.
The court in Istanbul also acquitted 19 people, including Yasin Hayal and the two other men convicted of involvement in the killing, of being members of a criminal organisation.
Mr Dink's supporters say they have uncovered evidence that suggests involvement by state officials and police in his murder.
But, they say, repeated requests to have those officials investigated have been ignored, and in some cases important evidence has been destroyed.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2010 that Turkey had failed to protect Mr Dink, despite being warned that ultra-nationalists were plotting to kill him.
The court has also criticised Turkish authorities over the investigation of his murder.
Hrant Dink, who was the editor of Agos, a bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper, had previously been prosecuted and convicted of denigrating "Turkishness".
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Turkey says there is anger among Mr Dink's supporters that no-one else has been convicted over his killing.
The government has promised sweeping reforms of the entire justice system, but after more than nine years in office it has yet to fulfil that promise, he adds.
The Turkish state strenuously denies that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Christian Armenians in 1915-16 amounted to genocide. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45411765 | However, the reward expired on the tenth anniversary of the robbery.
It is unknown if the shoes' recovery is related to any tip-offs.
In press conference on Tuesday afternoon, no specific details were given about where they were found or how.
FBI special agent Joan Sanborn indicated that the investigation was still ongoing. "We've gathered lots of information on this case. We believe there's lots more to give," she said.
Who stole Burma's royal ruby?
The slippers are often said to among the most valued props in movie history.
This pair was insured for $1m but experts have said they could be worth two times that now.
The Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Garland's birthplace, had been loaned the slippers from a collector named Michael Shaw.
The theft was described as a simple smash-and-grab, with the glass display case destroyed and the slippers snatched.
Almost no clues were left behind, neither footprints nor fingerprints, and the surveillance camera was not working that night.
"I literally felt like I was hit in the stomach when I got the call," Mr Shaw told Newsweek in 2015. "My knees buckled, and I went right down on the floor. I had taken care of those shoes for 35 years!"
Jon Miner, the museum's co-founder, told the magazine he was also devastated. "I cried," he said. "I couldn't believe this happened to us because it was the stupidest thing."
A documentary about the theft - Who Stole The Ruby Slippers? - was released in 2015. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47635706 | Gunmen have attacked a convoy of trucks carrying uranium fuel to a nuclear power plant near the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, police say.
The convoy came under attack as it drove past a community controlled by drug traffickers in Angra dos Reis, a tourist city 145km (90 miles) from Rio.
Police escorting the convoy responded and a shootout followed. No-one was injured or detained.
The convoy reached the Angra 2 plant safely 20 minutes after the attack.
The attack in the Rio-Santos highway is the latest in a series of violent incidents in an area popular with visitors.
In 2017, a British woman was shot and wounded after her family's car drove by mistake into a community run by gangs.
The convoy was carrying uranium fuel fabricated in Resende, in Rio de Janeiro state, to supply Angra 2, one of the two nuclear power plants in Angra dos Reis, which began operations in 2001.
The gunmen targeted the police officers that were part of the convoy as it passed the Frade community at around 12:00 local time on Tuesday (15:00 GMT), Brazil's federal highway police said in a statement.
"Sadly, attacks by criminals have become frequent in that area... Such a beautiful region, with great tourist demand has become a dangerous place," spokesman José Hélio Macedo was quoted by O Globo newspaper as saying.
The uranium was being transported in armoured containers in a "natural state" and would not have offered any risk as it had the same level of radioactivity as when it is found in nature, Brazil's nuclear agency Eletronuclear said.
The agency, however, said the convoy "had not been attacked by bandits" directly - it was passing in the area at the moment a shootout was happening.
Some bandits scared by the heavy police presence shot at a police vehicle in the convoy, it added in a statement.
Violence has increased in Angra dos Reis in recent years and heavily armed criminals are now present in once-peaceful communities, correspondents say.
Reports say the shootout in Frade was a result of fighting between rival gangs.
Angra dos Reis Mayor Fernando Jordão urged the state's government to improve security in the region. "We have nuclear plants here. It's a sensitive area." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/1038635.stm | Newcastle United have moved to draw a veil over an unseemly battle with six supporters by waiving court costs of �80,000.
The 'Save Our Seats' campaigners were left facing huge individual bills after the Court of Appeal ruled against them during the summer, leaving them liable for a total of �198,000 in costs, well in excess of the �118,000 provided by their insurance cover.
But United, who are currently desperately trying to rebuild their image after a series of public relations blunders, confirmed in a club statement that they would not pursue the claimants beyond the insurance limit.
The 'Save Our Seats' campaign was launched after Newcastle revealed plans to move 4,000 season ticket holders, many of whom had purchased a �500 bond which they believed entitled them to a specific seat for 10 years, to accommodate corporate clients at St James' Park.
Many of those affected accepted lucrative packages to move elsewhere in the stadium after a �42m redevelopment to increase the capacity to 52,000, but the campaigners were furious and vowed to battle all the way.
They received huge popular support in the early stages, collecting thousands of pounds to fund their court battle and encouraging stand-up protests and boycotts of club outlets.
But their High Court action was to fail when it was ruled that the club had the right to move them in exceptional circumstances, and the appeal too proved unsuccessful.
Campaigner Jane Duffy was delighted at the announcement but still bitter about the whole saga.
"I'm very relieved that it's over, but it would have been nice if the club had done this in August," she said.
"We ended up having to spend an additional �3,000 disputing their bill and then they have turned round and agreed to settle at our insurance limitation.
"They could have done that in August and the issue could have been resolved months ago.
"I can't speak for the other claimants, but I haven't been back to St James' Park this season and I certainly never had any intention of going back there while the club were chasing me for large amounts of money.
"Now I can take stock and decide if that has damaged my relationship with the club irreparably. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27421535 | A Londonderry man has said he fears his family will be broken up if the Home Office goes ahead with the deportation of his Colombian-born wife.
Artist Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh said the move would leave the couple with a difficult choice over the future of their one-year-old son, Emilio.
He described the prospect of his wife being forced to leave as "horrific", saying it "didn't bear thinking about".
His wife has been told she must leave the UK at the end of May.
"It is quite stressful," Mr Ó Dochartaigh said. "My main concern is for the baby and his future and what's right for him."
The couple said a procedural issue had created a "nightmare scenario" for them.
Ms Durán said she did not know what she would do if the deportation was carried out.
"We're trying to remain positive and hope that it isn't the case, because this is the best place for him, by my side," she said.
The couple met at a London art college in 2011.
Ms Duran was in the UK on a study visa, but after their marriage the following year they applied for permanent residence for her as the spouse of an EU national.
In October last year her request was refused. The couple believe that was because despite holding an Irish passport, Mr Ó Dochartaigh is considered a British national under Home Office rules and different conditions apply under such circumstances.
They appealed and, in April while it was pending, they travelled to America to visit Ms Durán's family. They took legal advice before leaving and were told it would not be a problem.
But on their return they were detained at Heathrow and questioned for several hours.
The couple have said they have since discovered that if you leave the jurisdiction while a residency appeal is pending, the Home Office considers the appeal to have been abandoned.
Ms Durán described the experience of being detained and questioned at Heathrow.
"We thought the peak of our problems was taking an overnight transatlantic flight with a one-year-old and getting no sleep," she said.
"Little did we know the nightmare we were getting into.
"I just remember when they handed me a care pack with a bar of soap, some toothpaste and some socks and I'm holding my one-year-old, bursting into tears thinking 'how has this happened and how long am I going to be here?'"
The family, who currently live in London, said if the deportation order was enforced their son would probably have to leave with his mother.
Ms Durán would be deported to America as she has dual Colombian and American citizenship. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/6161188.stm | Sunderland winger Liam Lawrence has joined Championship rivals Stoke City on loan until January.
The 24-year-old Irishman is then expected to make a permanent switch to the Britannia Stadium.
The £175,000 signing from Mansfield in June 2004 was part of the team which won the Championship title in his first season at the Stadium of Light.
He scored only three goals during their short stay in the Premiership and has made 13 appearances this season. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47414453 | A woman who claims she was sexually harassed by a Labour MP is calling on the party to improve its "flawed" complaints process.
Ava Etemadzadeh has written to Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson to say the process is mired in "factional politics".
She is awaiting the outcome of an investigation into Kelvin Hopkins.
The Luton North MP - who denies any wrongdoing - was suspended by the party in November 2017.
She has accused the MP of inappropriate physical contact, claims he "absolutely and categorically" denies.
Labour said all allegations were "fully investigated" in line with party rules.
Earlier this week, Mr Watson said he would personally record and monitor all allegations of anti-Semitism made against Labour members in an effort to improve the party's much-criticised handling of cases.
Ms Etemadzadeh has written to the party's deputy leader urging him to take equally "firm action" on harassment and to have a role in overseeing all such allegations of within the party.
She said her own experience had taught her that Labour's handling of harassment cases "shared many of the same flaws" as its approach to dealing with anti-Semitism.
The 29-year old alleges Mr Hopkins hugged her inappropriately after a event at Essex University, where she was studying, in 2014.
She further alleges that he subsequently made inappropriately personal comments when she visited the House of Commons and later sent her a suggestive text.
Mr Hopkins has been suspended by the party pending the outcome of the investigation.
In a letter to Mr Watson, Ms Etemadzadeh said her case would be heard by the party's National Constitutional Committee, which is responsible for disciplinary matters, next month.
But she warned that "under the current structure, I am not confident I will get a fair and impartial outcome".
She said the NCC was a "political body" and she was concerned she would not have direct legal representation at the hearing and had been told her barrister would not be allowed to speak.
She criticised the length of time it had taken for her and other cases to be heard, saying the extensive delays had led some other victims "simply to give up".
She also warned safeguarding procedures for hearings were inadequate and claimed confidential details relating to the case had been leaked to the media.
She questioned why a report by senior lawyer Karen Monaghan urging reforms to Labour's grievance procedures - completed in June - had not been published in full.
"When it comes to allegations of anti-Semitism or of sexual misconduct, there is no semblance of an independent procedure free from factional politics," she wrote.
"Allegations against members close to the party leadership appear to be treated differently from allegations against the leadership's critics.
"It is complainants, rather than perpetrators, who are accused of exercising a malign power and bringing the party into disrepute."
It is understood that all cases which come before the National Constitutional Committee are anonymised to protect the confidentiality of those involved and that as the organisation bringing the case against the MP, Labour instructs the lawyers on the complainant's behalf.
In a statement, Labour said it took all complaints of sexual harassment extremely seriously.
All allegations, a spokesman said, were "fully investigated and any appropriate disciplinary action taken in line with party rules and procedures".
Labour MP John Mann praised Ms Etemadzadeh for going public with her criticisms.
The NCC is a quasi-judicial body, made up of party officials and activists, separate from the ruling National Executive Committee and leadership of the party.
Since the Monaghan investigation, Labour has made a number of changes to its procedures, including a helpline for members to report complaints and an independent specialist organisation to offer confidential advice and support to any individual affected by sexual harassment.
Mr Hopkins has insisted he only "put an arm around" Ms Etemadzadeh at the 2014 event.
He has said he did not recall asking her about her personal life, but said he did send a text message saying she was "charming and sweet-natured".
It is understood Mr Hopkins was verbally reprimanded about his alleged behaviour. He went on to be promoted, albeit briefly, to Labour's front bench in June 2016. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39505117 | Gambians have voted for members of their one-chamber parliament in the the first polls since Yahya Jammeh left power after more than 22 years.
As part of his proposed reform, he is setting up a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate abuses committed under Mr Jammeh's rule.
Why is it The Gambia, not Gambia?
Reports say voter turnout has been relatively low.
"Jammeh was a determining factor which encouraged some people to vote and now that he is gone they are not really motivated," Pierre Gomez from Banjul University told the BBC.
Some of the candidates were also not well known to voters, he added.
Mr Jammeh sparked a political and constitutional crisis by refusing to leave office following his defeat in the December 2016 presidential election.
He finally headed for exile on 21 January after neighbouring countries threatened to remove him by force.
What happened in the last parliamentary elections?
Mr Jammeh's then-ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) won 43 out of 53 seats in 2012.
The opposition largely boycotted the polls and one opposition member was elected. Four independent candidates also won seats.
The president had the power to select a further five members, which he did.
A coalition of seven parties that supported President Barrow during the presidential election has collapsed.
And the list of parliamentary candidates shows parties formerly in the coalition vying against each other in various constituencies.
President Barrow used to be a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), but quit after being chosen as the opposition coalition's presidential candidate so as not to be seen as favouring one party within the grouping.
Mr Jammeh's APRC remains intact, and is taking part in the election as an opposition party for the first time since he seized power in a 1994 coup.
What is the electoral process?
The National Assembly is made up of 53 MPs who serve for a five-year term.
In the past, 48 were elected by voters while five were appointed by the president.
This time, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has declared that all 53 constituencies will be contested and it has published a list of the 239 candidates contesting seats.
To qualify a candidate must be at least 21 years old but a law requiring candidates to pay $10,000 (£8,000) has recently been repealed.
How is voting carried out?
Any citizen aged 18 years or older and of sound mind has the right to vote.
The IEC rules say voters must be on the electoral register and have a polling card. Also, they must attend the right polling station and avoid turning up drunk.
There are 886,578 registered voters, who will make their choice of candidate by dropping marbles into drums - the method The Gambia has long used in elections.
This is said to prevent possible multiple voting and presiding officers "listen to the sound of the marble/token hitting the drum".
Who are the electoral observers?
The European Union has deployed an observation mission, with 20 people who will monitor the ballot across the country.
The authorities banned the EU from monitoring the last presidential elections. However, African Union officials were allowed.
What is the likely outcome of the poll?
Local media have said that the vote will be one of the closest since the country's independence in 1965.
President Barrow needs a majority in the National Assembly if he is to successfully push through his political reforms.
But with the break-up of the coalition that sponsored him at the last election, there are doubts whether now independent parties will continue to back him.
Mr Barrow has campaigned for pro-government candidates, but it is unclear whether the poll winners will continue to support him.
And the opposition APRC may take advantage of the situation to win seats. If it succeeds, it is likely to frustrate the government's agenda. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39980933 | Just as Tech Tent was winding up last Friday, a message flashed on my screen about computer problems at NHS hospitals.
It rapidly became clear that one of the most damaging cyber-crimes we've seen was under way - and on this week's programme we look at what's emerged about the possible identity of the people behind the Wannacry ransomware.
But most of the programme comes from Paris, where we try to discover whether French technology is about to enjoy a renaissance under a youthful new president.
There are a few theories but no firm leads about who was behind the Wannacry ransomware that infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide.
But the intriguing thing about this hugely damaging crime is that the perpetrators could end up with a meagre return. They demanded that victims wanting their frozen files unlocked pay the ransom into just three Bitcoin wallets - and that suggests that they may not be the most sophisticated of criminals.
Tom Robinson of Elliptic, a firm which tracks Bitcoin transactions, tells us that in many cases ransomware gangs create a separate Bitcoin address for each of their victims.
He says around $90,000 (£70,000) has arrived in the Bitcoin wallets so far, but moving the money out might look just too risky for the criminals.
France is a country with a great tradition in engineering and design, the home of world beating firms such as Airbus and Renault. But when it comes to nurturing tech start-ups it has an image problem, being seen as a country with rigid labour laws, lots of red tape and an aversion to risk.
But one area where it excels is robotics, and at the annual Innorobo exhibition in Paris, we find a spirit of optimism about the future for this industry.
After a career in the aerospace industry, Norbert Ducrot has started a robotics firm with a big ambition - to solve the problem of caring for elderly people.
His Ubo robot is designed to keep an eye on its owner, sending health data collected from a smartwatch to doctors or relatives. It will be built in China, although the software and the design are made in France, and he aims to sell it for around the price of a high-end smartphone.
He says robotics is a vital industry for France. "The last 20 years was a revolution for the smartphone. The next 20 years will be a smartphone on wheels which is a robot."
Away from the show, in airy offices in the north of Paris packed with engineers, we find another innovative robotics firm. Keecker was started by Pierre Lebeau, who worked for Google both in France and in Silicon Valley.
His idea was to build a home media centre that you can summon to any room to project videos onto the wall, play music, or even allow a video call to friends. After four years of work, the product is due to go on sale in the autumn in France, the UK and the US.
It's an idea that seems more likely to have come out of Silicon Valley than France and he says his experience at Google taught him to think big.
But Pierre tells us to abandon our preconceived notions about his country: "Things have changed a lot in the past few years. We have a special status as a technology company, we pay a lot less taxes on employees and we have a great tax rebate. People's minds need to be changed - Paris is one of the leading capitals in Europe for start-ups."
And over at the former offices of newspaper Le Figaro, now the home to the leading venture capital firm Partech Ventures and some of the start-ups it backs, we found a similar mood.
"We French are not very good at promoting and marketing ourselves," admitted Marie-Hortense Varin but she reeled off a list of successful tech firms born in the past few years, including BlaBlaCar and adtech business Criteo.
And as for the idea that the French are risk-averse: "Electing a president who's 39 years old and has never held an elected mandate - if that's not risk-taking I don't know what is," she says.
Just a few years ago, the digital minister Emmanuel Macron was an obscure figure, but as the man who championed small tech businesses he was the toast of the start-up community. Now he is president and Marie-Hortense cites his victory as evidence that things are changing.
But while across the tech community there is a lot of hope invested in the new president, there is also a sense of realism about what can be achieved. Others have tried before to water down the labour laws and the unions have brought thousands onto the streets to oppose them.
Ms Varin hopes change will come "in our French way", with a humane attitude to healthcare and other protections. But she is one of a new generation determined that France should start making the most of its undoubted technology skills. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-17512260 | Firefighters dealt with numerous gorse fires in Cornwall at the weekend.
The biggest incident was on Sunday at Newmill, near Penzance, when more than 70 firefighters spent about 12 hours dealing with a fire on Treen Common.
Crews were also called to multiple gorse fires near Penryn, which may have been started deliberately, they said.
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said there were also gorse fires at Bolventor, St Dennis, Gurnard's Head and Coverack.
At Coverack there were two separate areas of fire at Lowland Point - one fire covering half a hectare, and the second covering one hectare.
The brigade said the fires were being fanned by winds.
March is classed as a "key period" for wild fires in the county, when many farmers carry out controlled burning or swailing as a way to manage the land.
But more than half the 81 wild fires the brigade dealt with last March were classed as suspected arson. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7407445.stm | Seanie Johnston's eight points proved the difference as Cavan eased to victory over a wasteful Antrim in Sunday's Ulster SFC opener at Casement.
Cavan led 0-3 to 0-0 and while CJ McGourty's goal got Antrim on terms, Dermot McCabe's strike helped Cavan edge 1-9 to 1-7 ahead at the break.
Antrim cut Cavan's lead to a point on two occasions but never got on terms.
Cavan then took control in the closing stages to consign the naive Saffrons to the Tommy Murphy Cup.
The Breffni County's victory means they will play Armagh in the Ulster first round on 15 June.
Antrim hit 15 wides but many of the attempts were speculative and Cavan were much more effective in forging genuine scoring opportunities.
The slow delivery of possession into the Antrim attack was in contrast to the direct and purposeful approach of the Breffnimen.
Cian Mackey pulled the strings for Cavan in the first half with Johnston finding his form after being shackled by James Loughrey early on.
The introduction of Lorcan Mulvey then bolstered the Cavan midfield in the second half while Paul Brady's arrival also helped the Breffnimen take control.
A minute's silence for Robert Dunlop and Cavan GAA stalwart Veronica Sharkey was impeccably observed before the throw-in and the Breffnimen were quickly into their stride as they knocked over the opening three scores.
However, out of nothing the Saffrons were level with CJ McGourty firing low to the net after Paddy Cunningham's clever lay off.
But Cavan quickly restored a two-point advantage and they would have been even further ahead but for Sean McGreevy's heroics in the 18th minute when he turned a Jason O'Reilly piledriver over the bar.
Two excellent Johnston scores helped Cavan lead 0-9 to 1-2 after 25 minutes but Antrim responded with four points in as many minutes with Cunningham, Thomas McCann, Ciaran Close and McGourty all on target.
However, the Saffrons then suffered a massive blow two minutes before the break when McCabe hammered in a goal from close range after he had fielded a high ball on the edge of the square.
Trialing 1-7 to 1-9 at the break, Antrim wasted a glorious chance to cut into Cavan's lead when Tony Scullion blazed wide after charging into Breffni County territory.
A McGourty point did cut Cavan's lead to the minimum but Martin Reilly immediately restored Cavan's two-point advantage.
A Kevin Niblock score reduced Cavan's margin to a point again in the 50th minute but Cavan then upped the pace with four unanswered scores to effectively kill off the Saffrons.
By that stage, Johnston was on fire in the Cavan attack although Mulvey and Brady were doing tremendous work out the field for the Breffnimen.
Johnston's eighth point increased Cavan's lead to 1-18 to 1-12 and while Antrim hit two of the last three scores, a comeback was never on.
Antrim: S McGreevy, K O'Boyle, A McClean, J Loughrey, T Scullion, J Crozier, S Kelly, A Gallagher, M McCann (0-1), P Close, K Niblock (0-1), T McCann (0-1), P Cunningham (0-4), CJ McGourty (1-4), C Close (0-1). Subs: M Magill (0-2) for P Close, T O'Neill for C Close, C Brady for Crozier, T Convery for Gallagher, E O'Neill for Niblock. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4223103.stm | The stress of returning to work on a Monday morning can trigger a dangerous increase in blood pressure, according to a study.
The Tokyo Women's Medical University study shows blood pressure readings are higher than at any other time of the week.
It may explain why deaths from heart attacks and strokes tend to peak on a Monday morning.
There are 20% more heart attacks on Mondays than on any other day.
Heart disease is Britain's biggest killer. Around 270,000 people suffer a heart attack every year and nearly one in three die before they even reach hospital.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects one in five people in the UK and is a major risk factor for heart disease. The higher it climbs, the greater the force exerted by blood on the walls of the arteries when the heart beats.
In some patients, it's possible to get blood pressure readings down by switching to a healthier lifestyle. But hundreds of thousands more need a daily quota of pills to control it.
Measuring blood pressure can be difficult because it can vary from one day to the next.
To see how it changed over the course of a week, researchers from Tokyo Women's Medical University in Japan, fitted 175 men and women with a device that would measure their blood pressure round-the-clock.
A week later the recruits returned the devices so that researchers could assess how blood pressure had changed.
The results, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, showed a surge in readings in those getting ready to go back to work on a Monday morning.
Volunteers who stayed asleep did not experience an increase, which suggests work-related stress is most likely to blame.
"Most people are free of the mental and physical burdens of work on a Sunday and experience a more stressful change from weekend leisure activities to work activities on Mondays," said Dr Shuogo Murakami, who led the research.
"There was a distinct peak on Mondays in this study."
Professor Keith Fox, from the cardiovascular research unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, told BBC Online an early morning rise in blood pressure is probably a normal part of the body's 24-hour rhythm and unlikely to be a problem for healthy people.
But he said: "If somebody already has cardiovascular disease then it might just tip them over the edge and trigger a heart attack.
He added that the return to early waking hours on a Monday morning, after a weekend of late nights and lie-ins, could explain the blood pressure surge.
"The increased risk of cardiac events in the early morning, such as heart attacks or strokes, is well-established."
Belinda Linden, Head of Medical Information at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Weekly variations in the incidence of heart attacks and strokes, and in death rates, have been observed by various researchers over the last decade, who have found that Monday is the most likely day these events have occurred.
"A morning peak in blood pressure has also been noted by researchers in recent years."
But she added: "This relatively small study looks at the weekly variations of blood pressure, and has found that Monday morning provides the highest peak.
"Although it is tempting to try and explain these findings, and to assume that the return to work is a factor, the constraints of this study mean we cannot be sure of the causes of this variation.
"The BHF believes it is important to try to understand any potential influences of peaks in blood pressure, but larger and better controlled studies are needed to help us do so." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-manchester-47447253/manchester-drag-queens-why-more-women-are-pushing-the-gender-boundaries | Aimee Waite, otherwise known as Ivy Profemme, has been performing on the Manchester drag scene for more than six years.
The 28-year-old is one of an increasing number of women taking on roles that were traditionally the preserve of men.
What do the men think of it all?
You can watch the full film, which is part of the BBC's Crossing Divides season, on BBC Inside Out North West at 19:30 GMT on Monday 4 March or for 28 days thereafter via the BBC iPlayer. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-37541508 | Fifty years ago 116 children and 28 adults were killed by a roaring avalanche of coal waste in the mining village of Aberfan.
Coal waste dumped in huge tips on the mountain above the village started to cascade down, becoming an unstoppable and deadly force.
It crashed into Pant Glas Junior School and houses directly below the tips, causing death and destruction.
Emergency services had a race against time to rescue survivors buried alive.
They were joined by local miners and people from the village in the painstaking process of searching for those engulfed in the slurry, before they suffocated or were drowned by water released from a broken water main damaged in the avalanche.
Survivors of the disaster on 21 October 1966 have spoken about their experiences that day, and how it changed them and their village forever.
When the school was hit Karen Thomas, who was seven years old at the time, and four other children had gone to pay their dinner money in the corridor.
"At the other end of the hall, glass started coming down the corridor from the head mistress's room and Nansi the dinner lady jumped on top of us," said Mrs Thomas.
"The wall I think more or less pushed us all together and she took the full impact."
The five children were trapped alive beneath the body of the dinner lady.
"We were shouting at the dinner lady and I was trying to pull her hair, because I could just touch her hair to see if we could have a response from her because she wasn't saying anything to us. I just thought to keep pulling her hair to try and wake her up.
"We just didn't know what was happening because we just couldn't hear anyone else. It was just our voices and our screams that we could hear."
Eventually a glimmer of daylight shone through as the rescuers found the children.
Mrs Thomas said: "It's only down to Nansi that I'm here today. I'll never be able to thank her enough for saving us. She gave her life to save the five of us. I was one of the lucky ones to come out. And I do feel very lucky to be here today. It is something you'll never forget but your life has got to go on."
Although he was a pupil in the junior school, Phil Thomas was outside when the slurry hit.
He said: "You couldn't see, you could hear, you couldn't see what was coming. It was as if someone was throwing stones at us.
"I ran straight forward. I remember something hitting me in the back of the head and I was falling.
"I woke pitch black buried, couldn't see a thing, started crying, shouting for my mum."
Mr Thomas was pulled from the waste with horrific injuries - he had almost lost an ear, had two head-wounds and a badly injured hand as well as three crushed fingers, which doctors were not able to save.
It is the first time Len Haggett, one of the first firemen on the scene, has spoken about the rescue operation that day.
"The spirit of the people there that day was incredible," said Mr Haggett.
"You went around doing what you thought you could for help where it was needed. If you were ever asked what resources you want at an incident of that nature we had the best in the world, we had the miners.
"They were the boys who could shift the slurry. And they worked a very good system. They would be working, and suddenly you would hear a whistle blow and they'd say silence. And how you could obtain silence in those circumstances with that number of people present, is difficult to imagine, and yet it was.
"You got absolute silence hoping you would hear a voice or a call so you could rescue them."
Mr Haggett was among the rescuers who found Phil Thomas buried alive.
He said: "He was terrified understandably. And he was trapped by his feet."
He added: "If hadn't come out within a few minutes he would have drowned. The fact that young boy was alive and he'd been saved that was elation, without a shadow of a doubt."
Teacher Hettie Williams had a classroom at the front of the school.
She said: "When I got out I couldn't believe what I could see, because our end of the room was still standing, that was up, but there was black behind where the classrooms were, you couldn't see anything. It was as if the mountain was right up on the school."
Mrs Williams, along with the three other surviving teachers, helped set up a school for the children who had survived the disaster at the local community centre.
"When they started to come back the ones that survived they were so frightened to begin with, but seeing us and knowing we had been there as well, they knew they could talk to somebody," said Mrs Williams.
"We knew what they had gone through and what we had gone through and we just needed to see one another and see the children smile at you.
"Our aim was to make that school as good as it had been, and to remember the people who had worked there. And for us it was to continue that with the children, and to make sure that those children were happy. They were in the same school in a different place, but it was still Pant Glas School."
The avalanche also consumed 18 houses on Moy Road, which was next to the school.
After working a night shift Gerald Tarr was trying to get some sleep at his home on the road when his dog Buster woke him up.
"The dog ran upstairs, banged the bedroom door open, ran into the bedroom," said Mr Tarr.
"With that the whole ceiling split right open all the way through, about a foot. With that, the back wall came down on top of me, squashing me down into the bed. The next thing I realised I woke up buried alive."
He was found by rescuers and dragged out in time, but had a broken pelvis, crushed shoulder and lacerations across his head.
"I can remember it like it was yesterday," said Mr Tarr.
"It is still in my mind now. And if I could have saved one of those kids I would go through it a dozen times, if I could just save one." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42720556 | A monkey from Ethiopia and Sudan with a "handlebar moustache" has been identified as a distinct species.
Scientists took a fresh look at the distribution and physical appearance of patas monkeys in Ethiopia, confirming there were two species rather than one.
It was originally described as a separate species in 1862, but was later folded in - incorrectly - with other patas monkeys to form a single species.
Details have been published in the journal Primate Conservation.
Patas monkeys are found from west to east across sub-Saharan Africa; they are among the fastest-moving of ground-dwelling monkeys - able to reach speeds of about 55 km/h (34 mph).
Spartaco Gippoliti, from the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group, reassessed the species status of patas monkeys in the Blue Nile region of Ethiopia and Sudan.
His analysis led him to revive the classification of the Blue Nile patas monkey (Erythrocebus poliophaeus) first proposed more than 150 years ago.
That designation was dropped in 1927, when the German zoologist Ernst Schwarz rearranged the primate group's taxonomy and decided there was just one species.
The newly recognised, bewhiskered primate lives in the Blue Nile basin in western Ethiopia and neighbouring Sudan, and geographically separated from other patas monkeys by Sudan's Sudd swampy region and the Ethiopian highlands.
Their faces and noses are black and they lack the characteristic band between the ear and eye found on other patas monkeys.
Mr Gippoliti commented: "The basic concept of the genus Erythrocebus was unchanged for about 100 years now, and the discovery of a distinct species living in eastern Sudan and western Ethiopia will put in the spotlight a little-known region of Africa, offering opportunities for new conservation projects in the area."
Anthony Rylands, from the conservation group Global Wildlife Conservation, commented: "There is notable variation in these remarkable primates. It's only through this kind of painstaking research that we get a proper handle on their diversity so that we can more effectively protect these species from the threats they face."
Several other discoveries are described in the same issue of Primate Conservation, including a new dwarf lemur in Madagascar, two new tarsiers in Indonesia, and two new sub-species of slender loris in Sri Lanka. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/2158906.stm | A new export delicacy is set to take off in southern Russia - frogs' legs.
And in a "coals-to-Newcastle" twist, farmers are hoping to move in to the French market.
The French import thousands of tonnes of frogs' legs every year.
Despite large-scale breeding projects, France cannot meet the demand itself.
Its own frog population has been ravaged by over-hunting and pollution from insecticides.
Russian TV says farmers in southern Russia are optimistic about cashing in on this international market.
It says frogs' legs are the diet-conscious gourmet's dream - "zero cholesterol, bags of protein and far tastier than beef or pork".
The project is still in its infancy, but frogs' legs from a farm in Russia's Kuban area are already on sale in restaurants in Moscow and St Petersburg.
And the Russians have an eye to the future.
At present the frogs are caught in the wild. Next year the management plans to open a breeding farm.
The international frog trade has come in for harsh criticism for both dangerously diminishing frog populations and increasing the use of pesticides.
Frogs play an important role in biological control: they eat flying insects such as locusts and mosquitoes. One frog eats 150 mosquitoes a day.
Several developing countries have banned the export of frog's legs since farmers found they had to use more pesticides without them. Malaria and other insect-borne diseases also spread.
Meanwhile, back in the Kuban, in Cossack country, the new export industry has an image problem. The farm chairman is one of the few who has ever eaten frogs legs himself.
"Cossacks don't eat things like that," he said. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26276641 | A convicted Mafia boss who had been hiding in west London for 20 years has told an extradition hearing "I want to cut every tie with my past".
Domenico Rancadore, 64, was arrested in Uxbridge in August where he was living with his wife and two children under the assumed name of Marc Skinner.
Westminster Magistrates' Court heard he wanted "a normal life" for his family.
The hearing was also told Rancadore, who was known as The Professor in his native Sicily, suffered from the heart condition angina.
Since taking refuge the UK in 1994, Rancadore and his family used the surname of Skinner, the maiden name of his wife's British mother.
Giving evidence, Rancadore explained why he had used a different name, saying: "I change my name, I change my life, I don't want to go back to Italy."
Referring to his stay in the UK he said: "I never commit any crime in this country. I love this country."
He said there were 460 defendants in the trial in Italy in which he was a defendant along with his father in the 1980s, and he described it as a "terrible experience".
Talking about his angina, he said: "I'm not very well. I feel destroyed. I feel very painful."
But prosecutor Hannah Hinton said Rancadore was "deliberately absent" from the 1999 trial, where he was subsequently sentenced, and had deliberately "hidden" his identity as he knew he was a wanted man and had changed his story.
Ms Hinton said: "What I'm going to suggest, Mr Rancadore, is that when you came to this country, that you were worried, concerned, that you were going to be arrested again and now you accept that.
"But previously what you were telling the court was that you only came here to make a new life for yourself, having collected your pension," she said.
Rancadore was also questioned as to why his signature was on a document instructing two lawyers to challenge an Italian judgment by appeal - implying that he knew he was wanted by police.
But Rancadore said it was not his signature and had not been in contact with lawyers or with his parents.
"I never gave my address to anyone in Italy. I never contacted anyone in Italy," he said.
Ms Hinton suggested Rancadore was aware when the trial began and also came to know about the sentence, but he claimed to have learnt about the sentence after his arrest in the UK.
Rancadore's wife, Anne, told the court the extradition would be "devastating" for her husband.
"If my husband was to go to Italy it would be difficult for me to visit him," she said.
"It would really be devastating for me and for family life as well."
She also said her husband's father was a Sicilian Mafia leader and her son would have been hassled by police if they had remained in Italy, forcing them to leave.
The judge also heard from law professor and Italian prison expert Patrizio Gonnella who said: "Italy has the highest rate of crowded prisons in the whole of Europe.
"Today the matter of safeguarding of health is the biggest, the most critical, issue in our prisons." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/8466345.stm | A late header from James O'Connor broke Brentford hearts and sealed Doncaster's place in the FA Cup fourth round.
Bees' goalkeeper Lewis Price kept his side in it with a string of fine saves from Billy Sharp.
But the League One side's resistance was broken when O'Connor converted Brian Stock's scuffed cross three minutes from time.
Bees' substitute Sam Saunders headed a gilt-edged chance wide late on as Rovers held on to book a trip to Derby.
"I've watched them twice here, they always make it difficult and they're a hard nut to crack.
"All week we've said this won't be a test of ability it will be a test of attitude, and for our boys, I feel we came through with flying colours.
"I thought our attitude today was first class."
90:00+3:38 The final whistle goes and the game is over.
90:00+3:09 Sam Saunders produces a right-footed shot from close in which goes wide of the left-hand upright.
90:00+2:06 Myles Weston gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on James Coppinger. James Chambers takes the direct free kick.
90:00+1:21 Substitution Marcus Bean leaves the field to be replaced by David Hunt.
90:00+0:54 Substitution Sam Saunders on for Sam Wood.
90:00+0:31 Substitution John Spicer joins the action as a substitute, replacing Dean Shiels.
89:45 Corner taken short by Dean Shiels, clearance by Sam Wood.
89:02 Short corner taken by Dean Shiels, James Coppinger takes a shot. Blocked by Alan Bennett.
88:44 Dean Shiels takes a shot. Save by Lewis Price.
88:13 Substitution Brian Stock leaves the field to be replaced by Sam Hird.
86:46 Assist on the goal came from Brian Stock.
86:46 GOAL - James O'Connor:Brentford 0 - 1 Doncaster James O'Connor scores a headed goal from close range. Brentford 0-1 Doncaster.
85:20 Free kick awarded for a foul by Alan Bennett on James Hayter. James O'Connor takes the free kick.
84:35 Ryan Dickson concedes a free kick for a foul on James Coppinger. James O'Connor takes the free kick.
81:20 Dean Shiels has an effort at goal from outside the area missing to the wide right of the target.
79:50 James Coppinger produces a right-footed shot from just outside the box that goes wide right of the target.
78:36 Kevin O'Connor concedes a free kick for a foul on Brian Stock. James O'Connor restarts play with the free kick.
77:34 Outswinging corner taken right-footed by James Coppinger played to the near post.
73:04 James Coppinger takes a short corner, Brian Stock takes a shot. Lewis Price makes a save.
70:50 Brian Stock challenges Myles Weston unfairly and gives away a free kick. Kevin O'Connor restarts play with the free kick.
69:59 Substitution James Hayter joins the action as a substitute, replacing John Oster.
68:49 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Sam Wood by Mark Wilson. Direct free kick taken by Danny Foster.
66:50 Sam Wood has an effort at goal from outside the penalty area which goes wide right of the goal.
66:28 Inswinging corner taken from the left by-line by Kevin O'Connor, Mark Wilson manages to make a clearance.
65:15 Dean Shiels has an effort at goal from just outside the box which goes wide of the left-hand upright.
62:54 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Myles Weston by James Chambers. Free kick crossed right-footed by Kevin O'Connor from left wing, clearance by James O'Connor.
61:24 The referee blows for offside. Neil Sullivan takes the free kick.
60:30 The assistant referee flags for offside against Billy Sharp. Alan Bennett takes the indirect free kick.
59:09 Inswinging corner taken by Sam Wood from the right by-line, Ryan Dickson has a headed effort at goal from deep inside the area missing to the left of the target.
57:01 The offside flag is raised against Billy Sharp. Lewis Price takes the indirect free kick.
55:50 Sam Wood fouled by Gareth Roberts, the ref awards a free kick. Marcus Bean restarts play with the free kick.
54:08 Foul by Marcus Bean on Mark Wilson, free kick awarded. Jason Shackell takes the direct free kick.
51:21 Unfair challenge on Mark Wilson by Marcus Bean results in a free kick. Mark Wilson produces a strike on goal direct from the free kick.
49:17 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Charlie MacDonald by Brian Stock. Ryan Dickson restarts play with the free kick.
48:26 Free kick awarded for a foul by Marcus Bean on Dean Shiels. Neil Sullivan takes the free kick.
47:36 Sam Wood takes a shot. Save by Neil Sullivan.
45:42 Kevin O'Connor takes the inswinging corner, clearance made by Dean Shiels.
43:04 Inswinging corner taken by Alan Bennett, Dean Shiels fouled by Ben Strevens, the ref awards a free kick. Free kick taken by Neil Sullivan.
40:17 Inswinging corner taken right-footed by Kevin O'Connor from the left by-line, Jason Shackell manages to make a clearance.
39:29 Billy Sharp takes a shot. Save by Lewis Price.
37:28 Charlie MacDonald is adjudged to have handled the ball. Direct free kick taken by Jason Shackell.
36:51 Shot by Billy Sharp from deep inside the penalty area misses wide to the left of the target.
36:29 Brian Stock takes a shot. Save by Lewis Price.
33:54 Close range header by Sam Wood misses to the right of the goal.
26:07 John Oster takes a shot from just outside the penalty area clears the crossbar.
25:16 Header by Ben Strevens from deep inside the penalty area misses to the left of the goal.
23:48 The referee blows for offside against James Coppinger. Lewis Price restarts play with the free kick.
22:05 Shot from just outside the box by Mark Wilson goes over the bar.
21:40 Leon Legge gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on James Coppinger. James Coppinger takes the direct free kick.
20:56 Corner taken by Dean Shiels, Brian Stock takes a shot. Leon Legge gets a block in.
19:15 Sam Wood takes a shot. James O'Connor gets a block in.
14:50 Free kick awarded for a foul by Brian Stock on Ben Strevens. Ryan Dickson restarts play with the free kick.
12:19 Charlie MacDonald takes a shot. Save by Neil Sullivan.
10:24 Sam Wood takes a shot. Neil Sullivan makes a comfortable save.
9:48 Ben Strevens concedes a free kick for a foul on James O'Connor. Direct free kick taken by James O'Connor.
9:09 Mark Wilson gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Marcus Bean. Danny Foster takes the free kick.
6:50 Dean Shiels has an effort at goal from close in which goes wide left of the target.
4:52 Unfair challenge on Sam Wood by Mark Wilson results in a free kick. Kevin O'Connor restarts play with the free kick.
4:24 Corner taken by Kevin O'Connor from the left by-line, James Chambers manages to make a clearance.
3:32 Jason Shackell gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Charlie MacDonald. Danny Foster takes the direct free kick.
2:42 Effort from deep inside the area by Billy Sharp misses to the left of the target.
0:21 Billy Sharp has an effort at goal from close range which goes wide left of the goal. |
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