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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24409321 | Police in Mexico have arrested one of Guatemala's most wanted men - a drug lord suspected of masterminding the killing of eight policemen in June.
Eduardo Villatoro Cano - also known as Guayo Cano - was detained in the southern Chiapas state and later handed over to Guatemala.
Mr Cano and another 36 men are blamed for the attack on the police station in north-western Guatemala.
President Otto Perez Molina said Mr Cano's gang had now been dismantled.
Nine police officers were on night duty at the remote police station in Salcaja on 13 June when heavily armed men entered the building and shot at them at least 40 times, investigators said.
The police station is located near the Pan-American highway, in Quetzaltenango department.
Eight policemen were killed on the spot. Their commander was taken away by the gang and is presumed dead.
The massacre had a big impact in Guatemala and angered the authorities, who have vowed to punish the perpetrators.
The Central American nation is being increasingly used as a transit route for cocaine produced in Colombia and smuggled into Mexico and the United States.
Guatemala has one of the world's highest homicide rates, says the the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with 38.5 crimes per 100,000 population in 2011. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-latin-america-47345148/venezuela-crisis-the-moment-troops-crash-through-border | The moment Venezuelan troops crash through border Jump to media player The troops deserted to Colombia, according to the country's migration authorities.
Clashes at the Venezuela-Colombia border Jump to media player Security forces use tear gas to try to disperse Venezuelan protesters at the Colombia border.
Rival border concerts held for Venezuela Jump to media player One had the support of embattled President Nicolas Maduro, while the other was backed by opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Venezuela protests: 'This is for the young people' Jump to media player Thousands of demonstrators call for President Nicolás Maduro to go - but others turn out to support him.
US 'warmongering' in Venezuela - Maduro Jump to media player Speaking to the BBC, Venezuela's president accuses Donald Trump of undermining the country to his own ends.
Guaidó on Venezuela's 'abuse of power' Jump to media player Self-declared interim leader, Juan Guaidó, says he's right to take over as president among political unrest and protests.
Three Venezuelan National Guard troops have driven through a security barrier on the Simon Bolivar bridge, while civilians fled the scene.
The troops deserted to Colombia, according to the country's migration authorities, amidst rising tensions over an opposition-led effort to bring humanitarian aid into the country. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/406859.stm | The best images ever taken of Saturn's mysterious moon Titan reveal a complex surface that may be home to icy landforms and frigid hydrocarbon seas. They would be the only known open oceans in the Solar System, other than on Earth.
Astronomers from the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of California have captured the images using the world's largest telescope, the Keck reflector on Hawaii.
Sharper than those obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck images show dark regions that may be seas of liquid hydrocarbons as well as bright regions that may be ice-and-rock continents or highlands.
Titan is 5,120 kilometres (3,200 miles) in diameter, larger than the planet Mercury and is the only body in the Solar System with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere like the Earth's. Being 1,200 million kilometres (800 million miles) from the Sun, Titan is much colder than Earth, with a surface temperature of minus 180 degrees Celsius (-290 F).
Scientists believe that Titan could be one of the most important objects for scientific scrutiny in the entire Solar System as it may contain some of the secrets of the beginning of life.
The new observations confirm that Titan is chemically rich. It contains many of the molecules that were on the Earth before life arose on our planet.
When the Voyager spacecraft passed by in 1980, it saw only the orange-brown top of Titan's smoggy skies. Now, using the Keck telescope, scientists can get a more detailed view.
"With the tremendous power of the Keck Telescope we are able to map surface features 150 miles in size on a moon that is more than 1,200 million kilometres (800 million miles) from Earth. I find this tremendously exciting to think about," said Claire Max of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
"These models give the first quantitative map of Titan's surface. The bright region shaped somewhat like a rubber duck seems to be made of a mixture of rock and ice," astrophysicist Seran Gibbard added.
A kidney-shaped region near the left edge of that image is made of an extremely dark material. Scientists have long suggested that ethane smog could condense and rain onto Titan's surface as a black liquid.
The dark material could be a sea of liquid methane, ethane or other hydrocarbons," Livermore's Bruce Macintosh said. "It's one of the darkest things in the Solar System. It could also be solid organic material."
Either possibility is exciting to scientists. If it is a sea, it represents the only such open body of liquid known beyond planet Earth.
Using this information, it is possible to imagine standing on Titan's frozen surface.
The ground beneath your feet would have the reddish colour that dominates everything around you. As you look towards the horizon, you would see undulating hills of ice with dark red and yellow peaks and rivulets of ochre on their flanks.
Looking down you could see how the Ethane sea has eroded the base of one hill and you could see the scars made by recent icefalls.
It may even rain on Titan, but not rain as we know it. Methane rain would fall more slowly and in bigger drops than on Earth. They may lead to streams, rivers and oceans, with rolling waves larger and slower than on our own planet.
The Cassini spacecraft is currently en route to Saturn. When it reaches it in 2004, it will drop a probe into Titan's atmosphere that, with luck, will land on the moon's surface and send back pictures.
Do nanobacteria rule Earth and Mars? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1574658.stm | Ailing carrier Swissair has run out of cash and suspended all its flights "indefinitely".
But there is a sliver of hope for the airline. Chairman Mario Corti told Swiss television that it would receive fresh money from two banks, as first instalment of a 1.36bn Swiss franc rescue package.
However, flights were unlikely to resume before Thursday, Mr Corti said. In the hours before the shut-down, some of Swissair's planes had been impounded, while suppliers refused to fuel up the remaining planes.
Swissair aeroplanes at foreign airports have now been recalled to Switzerland, and stranded passengers were told they will get no compensation.
Trade unions warn that up to 10,000 jobs could be lost if Swissair can not be rescued.
The grounding of the Swissair fleet is the culmination of a long, drawn-out financial crisis, brought on by an ambitious but ultimately disastrous expansion programme.
Trading in Swissair's shares remains suspended, but even before the termination of flights analysts at investment bank Merrill Lynch said the shares were now "effectively... worthless".
The Swissair collapse threatened a rescue deal that would have seen its subsidiary Crossair take on the lead role in the troubled group, by acquiring two-thirds of what was left of Swissair's operations.
Two Swiss banks - UBS and Credit Suisse - would have injected 1.36bn Swiss Francs into the company, in return of a 70% stake in Crossair. To help the deal go through, Swissair filed for protection from total bankruptcy.
But on Tuesday, the first instalment of the promised money failed to materialise, dealing a blow to the carrier's hope to relaunch most of its services as normal. Mr Corti blamed UBS for the delay, saying he had "begged on his knees" for the money.
Swissair was then immediately hit by a series of blows, including the seizure of two of its aircraft at London's Heathrow airport, and the refusal of fuel companies to supply its operations in Zurich.
The failure of the banks to act caused a huge outcry in Switzerland. President Moritz Leuenberger described the shutdown "unacceptable" and called on the banks to act responsibly.
At the same time, the Belgian government said it was considering legal action over Swissair's refusal to commit funds to Sabena, the airline in which it holds a 49.5% stake.
The Sabena board is due to meet later on Tuesday in order to discuss ways to keep Belgium's troubled carrier going, which could include voluntary bankruptcy.
Swissair had suspended its flights on Tuesday morning, in the hope of being able to restart operations later in the afternoon.
But the airline failed to find the money to pay for its immediate needs like jet fuel to keep its aeroplanes flying.
Earlier, a spokeswoman had admitted that there were "some problems" associated with the rescue deal.
Even before the suspension, flights to Brussels were not operating, having been cancelled for "security reasons", after Swissair was unable to pay its portion of a rescue plan for Belgian airline Sabena.
Swissair was due to provide 60% of the bailout funds for Sabena, which were jointly agreed with the Belgian government.
But Swissair's decision to seek protection from creditors - part of the deal hammered out over the weekend - meant that it effectively defaulted on its Sabena obligations.
The Belgian government, which called the decision a "flagrant violation" of the agreements, has said it may take Swissair to court. Sabena itself may follow suit.
The future of Sabena is now in doubt, with some Belgian analysts saying the country's flag carrier may have to file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks.
The company's board is meeting on Tuesday evening in the hope of hammering out a rescue plan.
Sabena grounded more than one-quarter of its flights on 1 October as a pilots' strike went into a fourth day in protest against plans to restructure the ailing Belgian airline.
The Belgian Cockpit Association, which represents 900 staff at Sabena said it will resume strike action unless the chief executive resigns and the airline abandons plans to cut 2,000 out of 12,000 jobs.
Swissair's had hoped to save itself by getting rid of 24 aircraft, and reorganising schedules for the remaining 52 planes under its European regional arm Crossair.
The non-flight operations would have sought bankruptcy protection, jeopardising thousands of jobs in catering, airport retailing and ground services.
Swissair chairman and chief executive Mario Corti emerged from emergency talks on 1 October to say the airline would sell the 70% stake it currently holds in Crossair to Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse.
Mr Corti had blamed the suicide airliner attacks in the US on 11 September for causing billions of Swiss francs in costs for the cash-strapped group.
But the company was already struggling under a mountain of debt caused by a failed expansion strategy, before the US tragedy.
"Swissair is the biggest casualty yet of the downturn in the global aviation industry"
"At the moment we have people stranded"
"The key issue is ensuring you have enough cash" |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-47700743/it-s-like-a-coin-toss-the-million-acre-search-for-olivia-lone-bear | The million-acre search for Olivia Lone Bear Jump to media player When Olivia Lone Bear went missing, the authorities were notified - and according to her family, working with them was a problem from the start.
'My sister just vanished 30 years ago' Jump to media player Rochelle Ihm disappeared in 1986 and hasn't been seen since. Her sister refuses to give up hope.
Family of missing woman still 'hopeful' Jump to media player Rebecca Carr was 22 when she went missing in Gillingham, Kent, 16 years ago.
When Olivia Lone Bear went missing, the authorities were notified - and according to her family, what followed was a revolving door of officers and agencies. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/6170838.stm | Two schoolgirls have been arrested in connection with an attack on a 14-year-old girl which was filmed by fellow-pupils on mobile phones.
The victim suffered cuts and severe bruising in the assault by pupils of All Saints College in West Denton, Newcastle, a week ago.
Police said they have arrested and bailed two girls, aged 13 and 14, in connection with the assault.
The girl is making a good recovery, police said.
David Scott, principal at All Saints College, said: "This was a violent and frightening attack on a student and we are working with the police to identify those responsible.
"Although this incident did not take place on college premises this is clearly something that we are very concerned about.
"We make it very clear to all students that this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will not hesitate in taking the appropriate action against any student found to have been involved." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-12619375 | An estimated 2,000 jobs are to go at the Dounreay nuclear power complex over the next 15 years, the Caithness site's operator has said.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL), which has the largest single workforce at the plant, has shed about 300 staff over the last five years.
A £2.2m programme has been launched to help DSRL employees and those of its contractors to find new work.
The project is being led by Caithness Chamber of Commerce.
About 50 companies are involved in demolishing and cleaning up Dounreay. DSRL employs about 900 people.
The site's operator has previously said jobs at the plant would be reduced as more of the facilities were flattened and less work was available. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41400190 | A musical inspired by the film Twin Town and thousands re-creating Bonnie Tyler's biggest hit on a beach are proposed events in Swansea's final bid for the 2021 UK City of Culture.
The culture and arts programme would also include a city-wide theatre production led by Michael Sheen.
The city aims to attract 1.1m extra visitors and a £31m economic boost if it becomes the host city.
Swansea is up against four other cities and finds out in December.
The actor from Port Talbot has backed the bid and would stage a new production at locations around Swansea, provisionally called Sally Rhubarb. It is a local term for Japanese knotweed, the invasive yellow plant which has spread across Swansea since being introduced in the 19th Century. Most of Sheen's plan is under wraps, but he is likely to bring the plant to life at sites across the city.
A musical inspired by scenes from cult classic Twin Town could be performed in the city centre. The idea is devised by the film's writer, Kevin Allen, and its star, Rhys Ifans, are both supporting the bid.
'Bonnie on the Beach' would see Bonnie Tyler's biggest hit re-created on the Swansea sand as choreographers work with a large crowd to perform what is expected to be an unforgettable rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart.
The poet and playwright, who is also professor of creativity at Swansea University, would use academic research into the dark web as the basis for a new theatre production.
Rachel Whiteread would be Swansea's artist-in-residence during its period as City of Culture. Born in London and with a home in Llandeilo, she was the first woman to win the Turner Prize in 1993. She is best known for creating House, a life-sized concrete cast of the inside of a condemned terraced house from London's east end. During 2021 she would work with local artists and students on new works to celebrate Swansea's status as UK City of Culture.
As well as specific projects, national arts companies have committed to staging large-scale productions. Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre and National Dance Company Wales are among those to pledge support. Previous cities of culture, including Hull this year, have attracted UK institutions such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Turner Prize, and there is an expectation that Swansea will also draw the best of British cultural events to the city.
Twin Town star Rhys Ifans officially handed over the bid in London on Thursday evening.
He told an event back at Swansea's National Waterfront Museum: "I just want to send my heartfelt congratulations to all of you gathered there tonight in Swansea for all your incredible hard work and diligence over the months and years leading up to this moment. I'm feeling lucky. I'm feeling very lucky!"
Marc Rees, from the team, said it had decided to be more forward thinking and less nostalgic, while harnessing the bay and local people's humour and personality.
"I think it's our time, it's time for Swansea to shine and we're ready to deliver a very exciting programme which will draw attention to the UK and the world," he said.
"Often Swansea is bridesmaid to Cardiff's bride - so it's time to don that frock and show off."
Eluned Haf, from Wales Arts International, said it was a "unique opportunity" to tell our story to the world in a period immediately after Brexit.
"Rethinking how we relate to the rest of the world and all the different European nations, supporting our arts and industries to continue to be mobile, and welcoming the best of the world to Swansea, Wales and the UK is of paramount importance," she said.
"In context of a City of Culture, it's the opportunity to tell that story of a confident, forward, outward-looking and multi-lingual culture, that welcomes people who need sanctuary."
Coventry: Aims for a thriving programme of events to change the reputation of a city, beyond its ring-road. "We weren't sent to Coventry; we chose to come." Cultural icons: Poet Philip Larkin, 2 Tone bands The Specials and The Selecter, thriller writer Lee Child.
Paisley: Aims to create 4,700 jobs over a decade and provide a £172m economic boost across Renfrewshire. Cultural icons: Hollywood star Gerard Butler, former Doctor Who David Tennant, Downton Abbey actress Phyllis Logan and musician Paolo Nutini.
Stoke-on-Trent: Aims to deliver "the biggest historical landmark to occur in our city since the Potteries industry was thriving". Cultural icons: Pottery and ceramic heritage including Josiah Wedgwood; singer Robbie Williams, novelist Arnold Bennett, actor Neil Morrissey and TV presenter Nick Hancock.
Sunderland: Aims to build on regeneration "and as well as world class cultural assets like the Empire and the National Glass Centre, there's never been a better time for Sunderland to win". Cultural icons: Coronation Street actress Melanie Hill, BBC radio presenter Lauren Laverne, The Futureheads, singer Emeli Sandé and actor James Bolam.
Graeme Farrow, artistic director of Wales Millennium Centre, was executive director of the first UK City of Culture in Derry in 2013.
He admitted to being a "bit torn" as he is originally from Sunderland, but added: "It's really exciting for Swansea and the combination of the urban and the rural. I think they're doing it in the right way."
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said it was a "key opportunity to accelerate the city's regeneration". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/441068.stm | Better-qualified graduates are entering teaching and the recruitment crisis appears to be diminishing - but there are concerns over a shortage of modern languages teachers.
The Teacher Training Agency has published figures showing that more than half of graduates training to become primary school teachers have a 2:1 or higher - rising from 49% to 53% of entrants.
Students training to teach in secondary schools are not as well qualified - only 34% of maths teachers have a 2:1 or higher - but the trend is also upwards.
Anthea Millett says the overall picture for recruitment is "very encouraging"
Application figures also show that the acute shortages of teachers for subjects such as maths and science have been alleviated by the introduction of �5,000 cash incentives for student teachers.
An increase of 33% in applications for maths and 24% for science will help to fill vacancies, although there was a downturn in applications for teacher training courses for English and history.
But for modern languages, the overall number of applicants and their levels of qualifications are falling - a position described as "very worrying" by Anthea Millett, chief executive of the TTA.
The number of applications for teaching modern languages fell by 5% and there has been a 3% fall in the number of graduates with a 2:1 or better - from 44% to 41%.
Ms Millett expressed fears that a shortage of modern languages teachers could mean schools being unable to offer the option of a second modern language - which in turn would reduce the number of pupils learning languages.
In an attempt to tackle problems with staff for modern languages, the Prime Minister has already announced that the �5,000 'golden hello' scheme will be extended for student teachers of modern languages.
The figures on applications are drawn from the Teacher Training Agency's 'performance profiles' of teacher training colleges and university education departments.
These show an analysis of colleges under a range of different criteria, including the ethnic backgrounds of students, gender and the highest rated colleges.
The highest proportion of students from an ethnic minority background is at the University of North London (54%) and the highest proportion of male students for primary teaching is in the Billericay Educational Consortium (32%).
The best qualified entrants for undergraduate teacher training are at Homerton College, with the best qualified graduates at Nottingham Trent University (96% with a 2:1 or higher).
For primary level teacher training, five colleges have been given an A grade for high quality - Canterbury Christ Church University College, University of East Anglia, Homerton College, Manchester Metropolitan and St Mary's College.
Of the 18 subjects, no provider gets an A grade in six: classics, design and technology, drama, information technology, physical education, and social science/social studies.
Of those subjects in the A category, Homerton College features six times and the University of Oxford five. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18523300 | Boris Johnson's failure to officially declare he had dinner with Rupert Murdoch has sparked an inquiry call by the London Assembly Labour group.
The group said the mayor had "dropped into dinner" with the media tycoon on 24 January 2011.
The meeting has been detailed on the assembly website, but not declared on City Hall's register of hospitality.
Mr Johnson's office confirmed: "Details of the two meetings in question have been on our website for almost a year."
However, Labour group leader Len Duvall has written to City Hall's monitoring officer to formally complain the information has not been dealt with properly.
The dinner took place three days after the Conservative Party's head of press, Andy Coulson, resigned.
Details of it were published after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by the Political Scrapbook website, and does appear on the FoI disclosure log .
However, there have been no declarations in the mayor's register of interest and hospitality or in his reports to the London Assembly .
On 25 May, the mayor said all his meetings with News International had been declared .
The response from the mayor's office, dated 15 June this year, states that on the 24 January 2011 the mayor "dropped into dinner with Rupert Murdoch and others".
Mr Johnson said because the value of the meal was less than £25, he did not have to declare it.
Mr Duvall said: "This is extremely serious.
"For the mayor to not declare a meeting with Rupert Murdoch at the height of the phone-hacking crisis is truly scandalous.
"To think he could 'drop into dinner' with Rupert Murdoch and not declare it is jaw-droppingly arrogant, especially at the height of the phone-hacking inquiry."
In April, BBC London learned that Mr Johnson had looked at securing commercial deals with News International at the same time the Metropolitan Police was investigating the company over phone hacking.
He has also defended comments made in 2010 when he described the phone hacking claims as "politically-motivated codswallop", saying he had "misunderstood the severity of the allegations". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6457357.stm | BBC education correspondent Mike Baker considered they way children are taught in the early years.
Starting school at a early age is better. I started school when I was three, starting at a young age, makes you more responsability and strong. You learn to take parts in activities, you learn numbers, everything and certainly makes you ready for the wider society and further study.
I definitely believe children who attend an early years setting benefit and will settle in to school life with less difficulty than those who don't. However the problem is often nursery fees are very high so low income families may loose out as parents cannot afford to send their children to a private nursery setting. The introduction to reception at four is definatley a better option, it eases children into school life before too much formality.
I think it is important for children to learn about social relationships, and the ability to play with each other. This strengths the social bonds, and the older they are when they start formal education, the more they will undersand that education is another factor in their life experience. Basic social skills must be learnt as early as possible, as it is more diffult to change destructive social behaviour when people are older.
Comparisons with other European countries need to take account of two important differences. Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Spanish, Italian and Welsh all have simple orthographies, with all or a very high proportion of words pronounced in a very predictable manner. Learning to read English is more complicated. In the UK, extended families in one house have become rare. I learnt to read from my grandmother, who lived in the same house as my (very busy) parents, before I went to school. Households with two working parents and no other adults are unlikely to provide this sort of intellectual foundation. Single parents are likely to be even less capable.
I strongly agree that there is too much emphasis on early formal education. My three-year-old is having the same lessons at school nursery that her brother received in reception/year one just four years ago. I believe better quality education begun at age five to six would be at least as effective.
This is a very interesting and timely column, I think. Mike is right to emphasise the important of giving children a play-based curriculum with a strong emphasis on care and their emotional and social development. But the generalisation that there is an English/French tradition that in the early years the focus should be on "preparing children for school" isn't quite right. There is a very long, well-documented tradition in England that puts the emphasis in early childhood on play, movement, being outdoors, making choices etc - it's been happening in English nursery schools for decades, inspired most notably by the work of Margaret and Rachel Macmillan. By nursery school, I mean very specifically the local-authority maintained schools for children before the start of compulsory education.
As headteacher of an infant school I wholeheartedly endorse the views expressed in this article. My children are drawn from a mixed catchment area and there are pockets of great deprivation. What on earth is the point in trying to teach some of these four year olds to read and write when they don't have the language to string together a proper sentence? Some of our children are language poor - this needs to be addressed first and can be done very successfully through each of the areas of learning of the Foundation Stage. Some of our children have not had the play experiences that enable them to develop their co-ordination or fine motor skills to a sufficient point to be able to write. When will those outside education acknowledge that our children need to experience a childhood full of all sorts of rich experiences and language if they are to grow up to be at least reasonably successful adults?
Extend the Foundation Stage curriculum to the end of KS1. Place an emphasis on speaking and listening, investigation and learning through play. Create powerful indoor and outdoor learning worlds which mesh seamlessly as the child travels through on his/her quest for answers, discussion, nurture and stimulation. We know it works. We want out children no matter what their age to see their work as play.
I quite agree with Mike Baker's comments. An early stimulating environment either in the home or in pre-school activities should be much more than preparing them for school. There is too much presuure to perform for certain narrow criteria that growing as individuals with individual gifts gets squashed in the rush to make them read and write. Other skills are important also, verbal skills, fine motor skills, learning to be active are far more important than learning to fail and yet will aid reading and writing later on.
I am a deputy head in a secondary school with two daughters in nursery and I must say seeing this report last week made my blood boil. I take a great professional interest in the progress of students and have been involved with many projects to engage boys through better provision and delivery of education. My two and three-year-old girls are very happy in nursery, interacting with others through play, taking pride in the paintings they produce and gaining life skills that will enable them to master calculation and language when the need arises - much later. Ofsted really needs to worry about improtant things.
The problem with choosing a school starting age is that all children develop at different rates. Some have the maturity and skills to undertake formal learning at five whilst others are slower to mature and would benefit from a less structured curriculum up to the age of seven.The ideal 'diet' is an extended, creative Foundation Stage for the under 7's with opportunities for children that are ready and motivated to turn to formal literacy/numeracy activities as they are ready. What is crucial is motivation and enjoyment. The current system tries to treat all children the same and this holds back the progress of some and imparts a sense of failure to others.
Since the introduction of the foundation stage curriculum guidance there has been a growing awareness of the developmental needs of young children, and teachers in this stage plan to meet these needs, placing a greater emphasis on their social and cognitive progress than on the more "academic" areas. This does not mean that literacy and numeracy are neglected - rather the understanding is developed through practical and play activities. Many children enter the reception class with limited vocabularies and few conversational skills. Spoken language skills must be developed before children can learn to read and write, but this does not mean that they are not encouraged to enjoy stories and information books, play matching games, sort and count in situations that are relevant to them and engage in mark making and pre-writing activities. The problem is, and has been over a long period, that Ofsted is dominated by "experts" who do not understand child development, or the needs! |
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41945654 | It's 60 years to the day that Britain launched its first Skylark rocket.
It wasn't a big vehicle, and it didn't go to orbit. But the anniversary of that first flight from Woomera, Australia, should be celebrated because much of what we do in space today has its roots in this particular piece of technology.
"Skylark is an unsung British hero really," says Doug Millard, space curator at London's Science Museum.
"The first one was launched during the International Geophysical Year of 1957, and almost 450 were launched over the better part of half a century. It was the Skylark space rocket that really laid the foundations for everything the UK does in space."
Millard is opening a corner of the museum's Space Gallery to the memory of the Skylark.
It contains old rocket components and illustrations of the type of work in which the vehicle became engaged.
That year, 1957, also saw the launch of the first satellite, the Soviets' Sputnik, so we really are talking about the beginning of the "space race".
Skylark was what is called a sounding rocket. It would go just fast enough and high enough - a few hundred kilometres - to gather new data on the upper atmosphere or to observe space and its unique environment.
At the top of the rocket's climb, for example, experiments would get a few minutes to sample what happens in weightlessness.
Skylark was doing important pathfinder work on the UK's Blue Streak nuclear missile programme. And it was also performing novel types of astronomy by carrying up instruments that could sense deep space in ways that simply weren't possible from the ground.
Many of the young researchers who cut their teeth on these early endeavours would go on to define British space activity in the years ahead.
"Almost all that I know about rocket science, I learnt from the Skylark programme," says John Zarnecki, who later worked on the Giotto comet-chaser, the Hubble space telescope, and the Huygens probe to Titan.
"The Skylark programme gave PhD students like myself the opportunity to be real rocket scientists. We were given enormous responsibility to run a small space project from the very start.
"The Skylark programme gave access to space for only a few minutes at a time. But it gave us a glimpse of the electromagnetic spectrum beyond the visible and helped to lay the foundations of the 'new astronomies', such as X-ray and ultraviolet which were to have such a major impact on astronomy over the last 50 years."
Another Skylark veteran is Chris Rapley, a former director of the British Antarctic Survey and of the Science Museum itself.
In the 1970s, he too was a PhD astronomer, at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
"The short timescales from proposing a Skylark mission to its launch - sometimes as little as two years - allowed new ideas and new technologies to be exploited on human timescales, and invoked a real sense of purpose and accomplishment.
"The downside was that the failure rate could be quite high. But the MSSL Director Prof Boyd (later Sir Robert Boyd) memorably said: 'If we are not suffering failures, we are not working at the edge, and if we are not working at the edge, we shouldn't be here'. It was more than career-forming; it was life-forming."
Skylark was developed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, in conjunction with the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott.
The solid-fuel, plastic propellant motors were prepared by the Royal Ordnance Factory Bridgwater.
One the preparation testing consoles is in the new Science Museum exhibition.
"It's just a riot of bakelite, dials, knobs and switches - it's real, unadulterated boffin territory," says Doug Millard.
Media captionDoug Millard: Testing console was "a riot of bakelite, dials, knobs and switches"
Having been enthusiastically supported at the outset, the programme eventually lost favour in Whitehall and the last motors came off the production line in 1994.
That wasn't an immediate end for Skylark because enough components had been stockpiled that flights could be continued through to 2005.
The very last mission, on 2 May that year, was recorded by the BBC.
You can see my colleague David Shukman's archive report from the Esrange space centre in Sweden on this page.
In many ways, the Skylark's story mirrors that of British space activity itself: pioneering early days that were then followed by a period of neglect and decline.
But as we remember this 60th anniversary, it's good to see UK space activity again in the ascendant. And it's remarkable to think rockets are once more being developed in this country.
There are perhaps a dozen different projects being marshalled by start-ups right now.
I can't say how many, if any, will match the 441 launches of the Skylark, but it's important to realise that spirit hasn't gone away. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27186339 | Media captionOrla Guerin in Minya: " There are extraordinary scenes of grief and anger"
A judge at a mass trial in Egypt has recommended the death penalty for 683 people - including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie.
The defendants faced charges over an attack on a police station in Minya in 2013 in which a policeman was killed.
However, the judge also commuted to life terms 492 death sentences out of 529 passed in March in a separate case.
Also on Monday, a court banned a youth group that helped ignite the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The decision passed in Cairo to outlaw the April 6 pro-democracy movement was based on a complaint that accused the group of "tarnishing the image" of Egypt and colluding with foreign parties.
The verdict hit waiting relatives like a body blow. Several women collapsed on the ground, and had to be carried away. Others clustered together in their grief, some holding photos of their loved one. A man stood weeping in front of a line of riot police, protesting that his brother was an innocent man.
One woman told us her 15-year-old son was among the almost 700 men who received a preliminary death sentence.
Confusion added to the torment for those whose loved ones were among 529 men in a separate mass trial in which 37 life sentences were upheld, and the rest commuted to life imprisonment.
In the chaos outside the court relatives could not find out which men had been condemned to hang. One woman told us her son - who died three years ago - had been convicted in the case.
Ahmed Maher, the group's leader, was sentenced to three years in prison in December for violating a law that bans all but police-sanctioned protests.
The cases and speed of the mass trial hearings have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and the UN.
The trials took just hours each and the court prevented defence lawyers from presenting their case, according to Human Right Watch.
The sentences have been referred to the Grand Mufti - Egypt's top Islamic authority - for approval or rejection, a step which correspondents say is usually considered a formality. A final decision will be issued in June.
The BBC's Orla Guerin says relatives collapsed in grief after hearing the verdict. A large crowd chanted: "Where is the justice?"
Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since President Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, was removed by the military in July.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested.
The verdict was the first against Mr Badie in the several trials he faces on various charges along with Mr Morsi himself and other Brotherhood leaders.
Of the 683 sentenced on Monday, only about 50 are in detention but the others have a right to a retrial if they hand themselves in.
The group were accused of involvement in the murder and attempted murder of policemen in Minya province on 14 August, the day police killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in clashes in Cairo.
Defence lawyers boycotted the last session, branding it "farcical."
The final judgement on the sentencing of the 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of attacking another police station in the same province on the same day means 37 will now face the death penalty.
Defence lawyer Khaled Elkomy said 60% of those defendants, including teachers and doctors, have evidence that "proves they were not present" when that station was attacked, a statement released by human rights group Avaaz said.
Amnesty International warned that Egypt's judiciary "risks becoming just another part of the authorities' repressive machinery".
"The court has displayed a complete contempt for the most basic principles of a fair trial and has utterly destroyed its credibility," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the group's Middle East and North Africa deputy director, said in a statement.
The government had defended the court's handling of the first mass case, insisting that the sentences were passed only "after careful study."
At least 1,000 opponents of the military-installed regime have been sentenced since December.
The authorities have designated the Brotherhood a terrorist group, blaming it for a series of bombings and attacks. The group has strongly denied the accusations. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7138992.stm | Freddie Mac, the company that provides financing to US mortgage lenders, has become the latest firm to admit to higher losses in the sub-prime crisis.
It now expects $10bn (£4.89bn) to $12bn in credit losses on its mortgage book, its chief executive told investors.
A string of banks have registered losses because of their exposure to investment products linked to US sub-prime mortgages.
Freddie Mac is the second largest buyer and guarantor of home loans in the US.
"We would expect that our total future credit losses on our current book of business would total approximately between $10bn and $12bn, " Richard Syron, chief executive told investors.
Shares in Freddie Mac slid more than 5% on the news to $33.07.
Last month, the firm set aside $1.2bn (£580m) to cover bad debts between July and September and reported a $2bn loss.
Freddie Mac then announced that it would sell $6bn of shares to cover more bad debt losses.
"Our fourth quarter results are not going to be effectively better than they were in the third quarter," Mr Syron told investors at a conference in New York.
"We are not promising a silver bullet, a short-term quick fix."
Freddie Mac was created in 1970 by the US government, but later privatised.
Investors, however, rate its bonds as if they were still backed by a government guarantee.
Its fellow government-sponsored lender, Fannie Mae, has also admitted big losses in the credit crisis. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38812944 | Asia star John Wetton has died aged 67 after a battle with colon cancer, his bandmate Carl Palmer has said.
According to a brief statement released by the band, Wetton passed away in his sleep on Tuesday morning.
Wetton played bass and sang in King Crimson, Uriah Heep and Roxy Music before fronting supergroup Asia.
Palmer said on Facebook: "With the passing of my good friend and musical collaborator, John Wetton, the world loses yet another musical giant."
He said that Wetton - who co-wrote and performed on Asia's debut hit in 1982, Heat Of The Moment, as well other tracks including Only Time Will Tell - had been a "gentle person".
"As a musician, he was both brave and innovative, with a voice that took the music of Asia to the top of the charts around the world," he said.
"His ability to triumph over alcohol abuse made him an inspiration to many who have also fought that battle. For those of us who knew him and worked with him, his valiant struggle against cancer was a further inspiration."
Palmer said Wetton's death came as "quite a shock", although he had been aware his friend's health had been "pretty bad" in recent weeks.
Wetton recently pulled out of the supergroup's forthcoming US tour supporting rock group Journey to have chemotherapy, and he also stood down from other touring commitments before that.
Palmer, 66, said: "We weren't being told exactly what was going on. John wanted to keep a positive face - he wanted to try to get better, which is understandable."
Palmer's Emerson, Lake & Palmer co-stars Keith Emerson and Greg Lake died last March and December respectively.
Wetton is survived by his wife Lisa and son Dylan. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47943705 | Hundreds of millions of euros have been pledged to help rebuild Notre-Dame after a devastating fire partially destroyed the French cathedral.
But firefighters who worked through the night managed to save the Paris landmark's main stone structure, including its two towers.
Paris public prosecutor Rémy Heitz said his office was "favouring the theory of an accident", but had assigned 50 people to work on what he believed would be a "long" and "complex" investigation.
Other officials have suggested it could be linked to extensive renovation works taking place at the cathedral.
Thoughts are now turning to how Notre-Dame will be rebuilt.
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to reconstruct the historic building even as the fire still burned, while a number of companies and business tycoons have so far pledged about €600m ($677m; £519m) between them.
Offers of help with the reconstruction have also poured in from around the globe, with European Council President Donald Tusk calling on EU member states to rally round.
The blaze was discovered at 18:43 (16:43 GMT), and firefighters were called. The flames quickly reached the roof of the cathedral, destroying the wooden interior before toppling the spire.
Fears grew that the cathedral's famous towers would also be destroyed.
But while a number of fires did begin in the towers, French Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said they were successfully stopped before they could spread.
By the early hours of Tuesday, the fire was declared under control, with the Paris fire service saying it was fully extinguished by 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT).
The pavements here on the Left Bank across the Seine are packed with people shuffling along, stopping to take photos or pose for selfies, staring over at the huge, grey bulk of the cathedral.
Police stop the crowds getting any closer, as firefighters use a tapering crane to inspect the facade by the cold light of day. The shrill whistles of traffic police cut the air as the sirens of emergency vehicles pass through the hum of the traffic. But every so often, the birdsong reminds you it's spring in the City of Light.
In the little square, the charred odour is unmistakable, mingling with the scent of food from cafés.
A group of excited Dutch 14-year-olds has come back to see the ruin after the drama of the blaze they witnessed last night, on their first trip to Paris. They have a packed agenda but they are solemn and respectful when they talk about the disaster. It's a sad moment for Dutch people too, they say. Everyone knows Notre-Dame.
Fire brigade spokesman Lt-Col Gabriel Plus said: "The whole of the roof has been devastated... a part of the vault has collapsed, the spire is no more."
Photos appear to show that at least one of the cathedral's famed rose windows has survived, although there are concerns for some of the other stained-glass windows.
Franck Riester, France's culture minister, warned that while the principal structure had been saved, the building was still unstable.
Mr Nuñez said that "overall", the structure was in good condition, but that "some vulnerabilities" had been identified in the stone vaults and the remainder of the building's ceiling.
Experts have not yet been allowed on site to assess the damage, due to the dangers.
Individuals and groups are mobilising to help rebuild Notre-Dame. Hundreds of millions of euros have already been pledged.
Air France said in a statement that the company would offer free flights to anyone involved in the reconstruction.
French cosmetics giant L'Oreal and its founding Bettencourt family have promised to give a further €200m to the reconstruction effort. Total, the French oil giant, has also pledged €100m.
Media captionFrench President Emmanuel Macron: "We will rebuild this cathedral"
"We'll rebuild this cathedral all together and it's undoubtedly part of the French destiny and the project we'll have for the coming years," said Mr Macron, in an emotional address on Monday night.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was happy to send experts to help restore the cathedral.
The British government is also looking into what it can do to help, according to Ed Llewellyn, the UK ambassador to France.
Spanish Culture Minister Jose Guirao said his country was also seeking ways to help. "Right now, above all, it's about moral support, solidarity and from there, whatever they need," he said.
Emergency teams managed to rescue valuable artwork and religious items, including what is said to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus before his crucifixion.
A tunic King Louis IX is said to have worn when he brought the crown of thorns to Paris was also saved.
Historian Camille Pascal told French broadcaster BFMTV that "invaluable heritage" had been destroyed.
"Happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre-Dame. We can be only horrified by what we see." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/scunthorpe_utd/8701803.stm | Scunthorpe will have to pay a fee for Grant.
Scunthorpe United have agreed terms to sign striker Bobby Grant from Accrington Stanley.
Grant, 19, will complete the move when his contract expires at the end of June and will sign a two-year deal.
Both clubs are still in talks over the transfer fee and are hopeful an agreement can be reached without the need for a tribunal.
Grant has scored 19 goals in 53 starts for the League Two club, where he made his professional debut in 2007.
Scunthorpe have already lost striker Paul Hayes to Championship rivals Preston whilst leading scorer Gary Hooper could also be lured away this summer despite having a year remaining on his existing deal with the Lincolnshire club. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26559034 | Despite record numbers of patients, accident and emergency departments are struggling to recruit and retain staff, the College of Emergency Medicine says. So why are doctors leaving to find work elsewhere?
"The work's better, the hours are better, the pay's better, the training's better, work's more fun and outside of work it's more fun too."
Dr John Thompson, 46, trained and worked as a consultant in the A&E department at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton, but now works in emergency medicine in Fremantle, Western Australia.
He has no regrets. Since his move in 2004, he lives a three-minute walk from the beach, gets leave when he wants it and has a "vastly superior" working environment.
Unfortunately for the NHS, Dr Thompson is not alone in his decision to head to Australia for work.
The number of UK medical graduates working in Australian emergency departments has risen 60% in recent years - from 251 in 2008 to 407 in 2012, according to the Australian College of Emergency Medicine.
Many more A&E doctors are joining other parts of the NHS, leaving emergency departments facing a serious problem with recruitment and retention.
Prof Keith Willett, NHS England's director for acute care, told Panorama that while there will always be doctors available, "we may have a situation where emergency medicine doctors are insufficient".
NHS figures show a million extra people have attended A&Es in England since 2010, and the UK College of Emergency Medicine says the shortfall in the number of doctors is having serious consequences.
"There's a lack of about 350 to 375 registrars around the country. That equates to three quarters of a million patient consultations per year that can't happen because those doctors don't exist," its president, Dr Clifford Mann, told Panorama.
For those heading to Australia for work, the reasons are clear, says Dr Thompson.
"The pressures are less in Australia and the emphasis primarily for my working day is on patient care."
There are fewer of the targets and demands from managers that make working in the NHS "just too hard", he says.
Increasingly, he meets doctors who arrive in Australia planning to stay six months, but then decide to stay on.
"I would say that more than 50% now are asking how to get on to the emergency medicine training scheme because they think that's better in Australia," he says.
Within the NHS itself there can also be a feeling that life as an A&E doctor is too pressured.
Dr Alex Muirhead, 42, was an A&E consultant at Stockton hospital until last December. Now she is a local GP instead.
"I used to love working in A&E but it got to the stage where I just didn't enjoy my job and I didn't want to spend another 20 years working as an A&E consultant.
"I don't think you get an awful lot of respect from the rest of the hospital. To some extent, A&E is now seen as everyone's dumping ground."
While she feels some guilt at leaving "a sinking ship", Dr Muirhead says urgent reform is needed to keep staff.
The staffing problems could mean that A&E departments will cease to work properly, the College of Emergency Medicine told Panorama.
"My real fear if we don't do something about recruitment and retention in emergency medicine is that you will turn up in an ambulance to an emergency department and there will be no doctors there to see you," says Dr Mann.
While he does not think things will get that bad, Prof Willett agrees that action is needed.
"What we will have to do in the short term is to look at how we use the wider skills that are available in the hospital... to look at the extended role of nurses, of paramedics, of physicians' assistants."
The Department of Health declined to be interviewed.
Panorama - 7 Days in A&E: Condition Critical?, BBC One, Monday 17 March at 20:30 GMT and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10738882 | A BBC News app for the iPhone and iPad has been launched in the UK, the BBC has announced.
The free-to-download apps for Apple products were originally due to be made available in April 2010.
The UK launch was delayed while the BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body, assessed the proposals and their impact on the rest of the industry.
Apps for other devices such as Android phones will launch later in the year.
Similar apps for BBC Sport and iPlayer will also be coming soon.
The apps do not "represent a significant change to the BBC's existing public services," ruled the BBC Trust, meaning that further scrutiny was not required.
BBC Trustee Diane Coyle said that the body would continue to monitor the launch.
Many news organisations already offer apps that give people a quick and easy way to keep up with events.
Earlier in 2010, the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) said it feared the corporation would "damage the nascent market" for apps by entering the market with a free product.
"The concern the newspaper industry has is that the survival of our big independent news organisations largely depends on them being able to make money from new platforms other than print," said Dominic Ponsford, editor of Press Gazette.
"Mobile is a massive part of that and there is concern that the BBC could blow their fledgling apps out of the water by being such a dominant brand."
However the apps market was a space that the BBC could not ignore either, he added.
"The other side of it is that the BBC is also doomed unless it can embrace new readers on new platforms." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22966374 | Careers advice is on "life support" in many schools in England with teenagers having little knowledge of the workplace, the head of the CBI claims.
John Cridland says careers guidance must improve for young people faced with a rapidly changing labour market.
Mr Cridland is critical of a government move which saw schools take over the duty to secure independent careers guidance for pupils from last autumn.
The government says schools should decide what is right for their pupils.
Speaking at the Grammar School Heads' Association annual conference, the CBI director general said it was clear the careers advice system had not worked for employers or students for many years.
Young people were hit by a "double whammy" of slow economic growth and a rapidly changing labour market, said Mr Cridland.
"A job for life has been and long gone - today's jobs market is much more complex. Young people need reliable, high-quality advice but the system is too dependent on individual teachers or it's left to family and friends to try and pick up the pieces - that's simply not good enough.
"We know careers advice is on life support in many areas, as schools struggle with the new statutory duty. It's right that schools should have the freedom to run their own affairs - but the government may have adopted too laissez-faire an approach with serious consequences for our young people.
"Careers must be a priority not a bolt-on afterthought or optional extra. It's clear the National Careers Service is needed in schools.
"Young people need its brand of informed face-to-face advice, as well as needing to be better targeted, more actively online, through social media channels."
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education spokesperson said: "For the very first time this government has introduced a legal obligation on schools to deliver independent and impartial careers advice, replacing the previous system which was patchy, costly and often of poor quality.
"We also launched the National Careers Service, which provides a helpline and webchat service used more than 67,000 times by young people in its first year alone, and a website which has attracted seven million visits.
"It is clear that head teachers are best placed to judge the needs of their pupils and the type of careers advice they will most benefit from.
"We have issued guidance to schools to help them fulfil their obligation, and Ofsted has said it will prioritise the inspection of careers guidance from September."
Paul Chubb, executive director for Careers England, said: "This is a highly significant statement by the CBI.
"It is a telling moment when the voice of the nation's employers, the CBI, adds its weight to the calls for the government to act to redress the problems caused by legislation which is not supported by sufficient statutory guidance to schools, with inadequate accountability measures, and far too laissez-faire an approach to quality assurance."
This year, many concerns have been raised about the quality of careers advice available to young people.
In January, the Education Select Committee warned of problems with "the quality, independence and impartiality" of current careers advice, saying services for young people in England showed a "worrying deterioration".
In March, a survey of teenagers by the Education and Employers Taskforce found a "massive mismatch" between young people's career expectations and the reality of the jobs available.
The study also indicated that teenagers had a very weak understanding of potential earnings for different types of jobs.
And in June, the National Careers Council said face-to-face information was needed as part of a major upgrade in careers advice for young people in England. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2909769.stm | The United Kingdom has warned a UK company against recruiting mercenaries to work in Ivory Coast.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said such an enterprise would seriously undermine the Ivorian peace process.
He said he was gravely concerned at reports that Northbridge Services Group - a security company - was recruiting ex-servicemen from Britain, South Africa and France.
But a release denied that they were a mercenary firm.
"This contract was to provide humanitarian support and increased governmental security", the statement said.
Services the company website says it offers, includes demilitarisation of warring factions, mine clearance, and special forces to counter terrorists and narcotics.
Mercenaries from eastern Europe, South Africa and Angola have been accused of fighting on the side of the government since September's military uprising against the government of President Laurent Gbagbo.
A peace agreement was signed in January and a power-sharing government has been named.
The rebels have so far refused to attend cabinet meetings citing security concerns but now say they will be present at Thursday's meeting.
The government has denied claims this week by the opposition Le Patriote newspaper that it has hired 1,000 South Africans to fight on its side.
Reuters news agency quotes diplomats in Ivory Coast as saying that they have heard of the hiring of 300 fresh mercenaries.
"Any deployment of foreign military units at this time would seriously undermine the peace process and the efforts of the UK and the wider international community," Mr Straw said.
But Northbridge says Mr Straw's comments "come as a great surprise when it was he that strongly supported the use of private military companies in a office Foreign and Commonwealth Office". document.
Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, is now a divided country with the three groups of rebels controlling the north and a big part of the west of the country.
The government controls the rest, including the economic capital Abidjan and the main capital Yamoussoukro. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/6362783.stm | On Thursday 15 February a high court judge in London will rule whether so-called vulture fund can extract more than $40m from Zambia for a debt which it bought for less than $4m.
There are concerns that such funds are wiping out the benefits which international debt relief was supposed to bring to poor countries.
Martin Kalunga-Banda, a Zambian consultant to Oxfam told Newsnight, "That $40m is equal to the value of all the debt relief we received last year."
Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and Gordon Brown amongst others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest - which might be ten times what they paid for it.
Caroline Pearce from the Jubilee Debt campaign told Newsnight it makes a mockery of all the work done by governments to write off the debts of the poorest.
"Profiteering doesn't get any more cynical than this. Zambia has been planning to spend the money released from debt cancellation on much-needed nurses, teachers and infrastructure: this is what debt cancellation is intended for not to line the pockets of businessmen based in rich countries."
Debt Advisory International manages a number of vulture funds which buy up the debts of highly indebted poor countries cheaply and then sue for the original value of the debt plus interest. Zambia - where the average wage is just over a dollar a day - is one of the highly indebted poor countries which the world's governments agreed needed debt relief.
In 1979 the Romanian government lent Zambia money to buy Romanian tractors. Zambia was unable to keep up the payments and in 1999 Romania and Zambia negotiated to liquidate the debt for $3m.
Before the deal could be finalised one of Debt Advisory International's vulture funds stepped in and bought the debt from Romania for less than $4m. They are now suing the Zambian government for the original debt plus interest which they calculate at over $40m and they expect to win.
Like the other vulture funds Debt Advisory International refuse to do interviews but reporter Greg Palast caught up with the company founder Michael Sheehan outside his home in Virginia.
Greg Palast: "I just want to ask you Mr Sheehan - why are you squeezing the poor nation of Zambia for $40 million - doesn't that make you a vulture?
Michael Sheehan: "No comment I'm in litigation. It's not my debt."
Greg Palast: Aren't you just profiteering from the work of good people who are trying to save lives by cutting the debt of these poor nations?
Michael Sheehan: Well there was a proposal for investment. That's all I can talk about right now.
Five years ago Gordon Brown told the United Nations that the vulture funds were perverse and immoral: "We particularly condemn the perversity where Vulture Funds purchase debt at a reduced price and make a profit from suing the debtor country to recover the full amount owed - a morally outrageous outcome". But the vulture funds are still operating.
The London case is just one of many which are running around the world.
Newsnight went to New York to try to interview Paul Singer - the reclusive billionaire who virtually invented vulture funds.
In 1996 his company they paid $11m for some discounted Peruvian debt and then threatened to bankrupt the country unless they paid $58m. They got their $58m.
Now they're suing Congo Brazzaville for $400m for a debt they bought for $10m.
We didn't get our interview. His spokesman told us, "We have nothing to hide; we just don't do interviews".
The vulture funds raise most of their money through legal actions in US courts. Those actions against foreign governments can be stayed by the word of the US President and that is where lobbying and political influence becomes important.
Debt Advisory International are very generous to their lobbyists in Washington. They have been paying $240,000 a year to the lobby firm Greenberg Traurig - although recently they jumped ship to another firm after Greenberg Traurig's top lobbyist was put in jail.
Paul Singer has more direct political connections. He was the biggest donor to George Bush and the Republican cause in New York City - giving $1.7m since Bush started his first presidential campaign.
Rudi Guiliani is the favourite to be the next Republican presidential candidate and a leaked memo from his campaign shows that Paul Singer has pledged to raise $15m for Guiliani's campaign.
The vulture funds have teams of lawyers combing the world for assets which can be seized to settle their claims. There have also been claims of dubious tactics.
Back in Britain the Zambian case has seen much legal discussion about allegations of bribery. The Zambian legal team - led by William Blair QC - Tony Blair's brother, has argued that a $2m bribe was offered to the former Zambian President to make it easier for the vulture funds to claim their money.
They showed the court an email disclosed in the Zambia case saying that a payment to the "President's favourite charity" had allowed them to do a more favourable deal.
When we caught up with Michael Sheehan outside his house in Virginia he told us it was not a bribe but a charitable donation.
He told us, "We offered to donate debt to a low income housing initiative which was a charitable initiative which did end up building several thousand houses" before adding "you're contorting the facts, you're on my property and I would ask you to step off".
The Jubilee Debt Campaign told Newsnight that they are calling on Gordon Brown to turn his moral outrage about vulture funds into action if he becomes Prime Minister and change the law to make the Zambian case the last to appear in a British court.
Meirion Jones produced Greg Palast's Newsnight report on vulture funds.
Newsnight would like to make it clear that Debt Advisory International are not linked to companies with similar initials, such as DAI and DAI Europe Ltd. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8650603.stm | A UK-wide helpline for victims of stalking has been launched.
The phone service, which is funded by the Home Office and private donations, was developed with the police.
Campaigners say stalking is under-reported because victims fear they will not be taken seriously. They estimate there are up to two million UK victims.
Tricia Bernal, whose daughter Clare, 22, was shot dead in a London Harvey Nichols store by her ex-boyfriend in 2005, helped to set up the helpline.
At the time of the shooting in Knightsbridge, Michael Pech was awaiting sentencing after admitting harassment. The former soldier stalked Ms Bernal after the end of their brief relationship earlier that year.
Would you know if you were being stalked?
After killing Ms Bernal, from Groombridge on the Kent/Sussex border, he turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.
The confidential helpline has one number for callers anywhere in the UK and there will be a single point of contact in every police force.
The service will be run by Protection Against Stalking, formerly the CRT Trust, the charity Mrs Bernal helped to start in 2008, in collaboration with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Network for Surviving Stalking.
Alexis Bowater, chief executive of the Network for Surviving Stalking, said it was important people who thought they were being stalked had someone to turn to.
"Of course the first point of contact if you are being stalked or think you're being stalked should be the police. But some people feel that they can't talk to the police about it and this is where the helpline will come in," she said.
Tracey Morgan, who founded the network after her own personal experiences, said many victims are still not taken seriously enough despite new laws introduced in 1997.
"This is not just a nuisance crime, this is about murder prevention.
"If victims are questioning 'am I being stalked?' because they are isolated, because they're questioning their own sanity, it will be somewhere for them to call to say 'I'm not sure, what do you think?'.
"They'll be given lots of advice on keeping a diary and where to go for help, and the police will then take it seriously," she said.
A survey by the University of Leicester, which was the biggest of its kind in Europe, found that three-quarters of victims wait until there have been at least 100 incidents before they approach the police.
Can dangerous stalkers be tackled? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/316954.stm | British audiences have been spared another sobbing Gwyneth Paltrow acceptance speech, as Cate Blanchett won Best Actress at the 51st Bafta Film Awards.
The BBC's Rosie Millard: "It was a great night for anyone called Elizabeth"
The "deeply shocked" Ms Blanchett was among five winners from the 12-times nominated Elizabeth, which narrowly triumphed over period-drama rival and Oscar sensation Shakespeare in Love.
Cate Blanchett: "I am so shocked"
After the presentation, the Australian actress said: "I thought I needed to go to the loo, and I still do. I am excited, and I am thrilled."
Despite Ms Paltrow's failure to complement her Oscar win with a Bafta, Shakespeare In Love did secure the coveted Best Film award - but took away just four wins from its 15 nominations.
The BBC's Louise Minchin: "Cate was over the moon"
Elizabeth, which recounts the tumultuous early life of England's Queen Elizabeth I, won Best British Film.
Roberto Benigni reprised his Oscar win with the Best Actor title for Life Is Beautiful, his Italian-language comedy set in a Nazi concentration camp.
In a tamer acceptance speech that - unlike his reaction at the Oscars - did not involve jumping on furniture, he said: "This is my first prize in England.
"Really, I'm full of joy like a water melon, there's something that explodes. I cannot restrain this joy."
He beat hotly-tipped Michael Caine, who staged a return to form after a series of indifferent films with his powerful role in Little Voice.
Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor made a rare public appearance to receive her Fellowship Award from Mr Caine.
She used her acceptance speech to promote her campaign on behalf of Aids sufferers and blamed British quarantine restrictions on her dog for keeping her out of the UK for the last seven years.
"I am here to thank you for this most incredible award, but I never in my lifetime thought I would receive, I guess because I don't think of myself as an actress and I don't think any of you did," she said.
Roberto Benigni: "Full of joy like a water melon"
Best Supporting Actor went to Geoffrey Rush for Shakespeare In Love. The Oscar-winning star of the 1996 film Shine was a fairly safe bet with two nominations - the other for Elizabeth - in the same category.
Dame Judi Dench showed consistency as she added the Best Supporting Actress award to her Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, in which she portrayed the Tudor queen in the prime of her power.
She adds the trophy to last year's Best Actress Bafta for playing another queen - on that occasion Victoria - in the film Mrs Brown.
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, dubbed by some critics the "best British movie ever", walked away with the Orange Audience award.
The award is the only one chosen by cinema-going audiences and caps a year of triumphs for the low-budget heist caper set in London's East End.
Saving Private Ryan, which won Steven Spielberg Best Director at the Oscars, had a disappointing night with just two awards, for Best Special Effects and Best Sound.
The Truman Show did marginally better with three awards, including Best Director for Peter Weir.
The Best Make-Up Bafta went to Jenny Shircore for Elizabeth and Best Costume to Sandy Powell for British glam rock extravaganza Velvet Goldmine.
The Carl Forman Award for best newcomer to British film was taken home by director Richard Kwietniowski, whose films include Love and Death on Long Island.
Actor John Hurt said he had been chosen to present the award because he was the only person who could actually pronounce Kwietniowski.
Other notables attending the star-studded ceremony at the Business Design Centre in Islington were Gwyneth Paltrow, Pierce Brosnan, Alicia Silverstone and Lynn Redgrave.
Absentees included Judi Dench and Geoffrey Rush, both of whom are overseas working on their latest projects.
The number of winners who failed to attend prompted host Jonathan Ross to promise: "A lot of the people who have won awards are actually here."
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts last year split its film and TV award ceremonies. Nominations for the TV awards will be announced on 19 April, with the ceremony to come on 9 May.
For a full list of Bafta winners, click here.
Brit flicks: But are they really British? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36617396 | Two of the UK's five districts with the highest percentage of people which backed Brexit were in Essex, figures show.
In Castle Point 72.7% of the electorate voted to leave, while in Thurrock the figure was 72.3%.
Every district in Essex has voted to leave the European Union in what Nigel Farage has called "Britain's Independence Day".
The county turnout was 999,283 - more than 75% - with 62.3% voting Leave.
The other three districts with the highest Brexit vote were Boston (75.6%) and South Holland (73.6%), both in Lincolnshire, and Great Yarmouth (71.5%) in Norfolk.
Uttlesford had the highest Remain share in Essex with 49%.
Clacton's UKIP MP, Douglas Carswell, tweeted a photo of the Vote Leave campaign office saying: "Yes we did!".
Five of the county's 18 MPs had said they wanted to remain in the EU, with the remainder saying they wanted to leave.
Every area in Essex voted out and 62% of the county backed Brexit.
Despite the rain, thunder and floods yesterday, turnout was significantly higher than at the last general election - it was 80% in Brentwood and Uttlesford.
A large majority for Leave in Essex was anticipated. Many will be cheering and some will be partying today.
But there were 376,371 people who voted Remain. Since then, they've travelled to work, taken the kids to school, or gone to the supermarket and worried about what their future holds.
Harlow's Conservative MP Robert Halfon said "the people had spoken" and it was a "wake-up call to do what the people want us to do".
Pro-Leave Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex, Bernard Jenkin, said Chancellor George Osborne needed to "start being reassuring" to stablise markets following Britain's decision to leave the EU.
"The markets are responding to what the Chancellor's told them is going to be a terrible thing," Mr Jenkin said.
"He's got to change tack very quickly and say 'I was wrong, there isn't going to be an earthquake, there isn't going to be a plague of frogs' - he needs to start being reassuring, otherwise he'll be out of a job."
Labour MEP Richard Howitt, who had campaigned on behalf of Remain, said: "We have to accept that we live in a democracy and respect the rules of the game.
"I don't believe, however pro-European I may be, that could ever trump the decision of the people in an elected vote."
Witham's Conservative MP and Leave supporter Priti Patel said she was saddened to see David Cameron announce his resignation.
"His statement was dignified and honourable and he deserves great credit for the character he has shown," she said.
Of the referendum result, Ms Patel said: "Hope has prevailed over fear and we now have a huge range of possibilities ahead of us as we embark on a new chapter in our country's history."
Stephen Metcalfe, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, said: "I am pleased the UK has voted to start the process of leaving the EU and look forward to us taking back control over our own destiny.
"This is a momentous moment in our country's history and one which I believe presents us with many opportunities. There will be many hurdles to overcome over the coming months, but as I have always said I am confident we can meet any challenges that come our way and that the UK has a bright future outside the EU."
Get the results in full. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4289516.stm | The two leading candidates for the presidency of Brazil's ruling Workers Party will face a run-off vote against each other, officials said.
Former minister Ricardo Berzoini led the original poll but did not receive enough votes for an outright victory.
He now faces second-placed candidate Raul Pont, a former mayor of the southern city of Porto Alegre.
Previous president Jose Genoino resigned in July after the party admitted to receiving illegal funds.
The Workers Party's reputation for integrity was hit by the corruption scandal that forced the resignation of three other senior officials.
The run-off vote between the two candidates will take place on 9 October. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3283089.stm | Rapper Eminem has been accused of writing and recording racist lyrics in his teens, after a taped rap denigrating black women was unearthed.
The white rap star, who has sold millions of albums, admitted he wrote the lyrics in 1988, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The tape was given to influential US hip-hop magazine The Source.
Eminem apologised for the lyrics, saying they were "foolishness" written when he was a "stupid kid".
On the tape, Eminem sings about his unhappy experience with a black girlfriend and warns about dating black women.
Raymond Scott, co-owner of The Source, said the lyric suggested that "black women are bad and white women are good".
"I don't care if he's redeemed himself now, that's not the message," he said. "If that's who he is then he has to be held accountable for that."
In a statement released on Tuesday, Eminem said he had made the tape "out of anger, stupidity and frustration when I was a teenager".
"I'd just broken up with my girlfriend, who was African-American, and I reacted like the angry, stupid kid I was. I hope people will take it for the foolishness that it was, not for what somebody is trying to make it into today."
Eminem said the row was the result of an ongoing feud with Mr Scott, who raps under the name Benzino.
In a separate tune of Eminem's, Nail in the Coffin, Eminem calls Mr Scott "the softest fakest wannabe gangster in New York". Mr Scott, in a song called Die Another Day, labels Eminem " the rap Hitler" and "the culture stealer".
BBC Radio 1 hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood said it was "crazy" to brand Eminem racist. He said the spat was inspired by rivalry among hip-hop magazines.
"I think you have got to understand it in its context. I don't think you can judge a man by some madness at the age of 10," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32086196 | The question has been raised - is 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz a mass murderer for bringing down a plane full of passengers, killing everyone on board?
Reports of a "mass murder" investigation in France and pictures of German policemen carting bags of evidence from his parents' home suggest that officials are determined to find out.
But this appears to be a case of murder-suicide, which is very different and extremely rare.
In these incidents, one person wishing to end their life takes the lives of others - in this case, complete strangers - at the same time.
The statistics show that most murder-suicides happen in domestic settings, and involve a man and his spouse.
Murder-suicides involving pilots or in gun massacres are, in fact, much, much rarer.
What drives people to these acts is therefore virtually impossible to determine because there is no common theme and the perpetrators don't leave notes explaining their actions.
In contrast to the motivations of a suicide bomber, which are intentionally well-publicised, those behind a murder-suicide are usually more difficult to fathom.
No-one, of course, can pretend to know what was in Lubitz's mind as he locked the cockpit door and instigated the plane's devastating descent.
Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says it's unlikely we will ever know.
"It's possible something will emerge, but in most suicides people leave clues or a message.
"Incredibly extreme events like this are sometimes just inexplicable."
Despite this, the media has been quick to point the finger at Lubitz's history of depression.
German newspapers have also reported that he had received psychiatric treatment and may have been experiencing a "personal life crisis".
In reality, there is a multitude of factors, feelings and personality traits which could push someone to such an extreme course of action.
Alcohol problems, drug misuse, broken relationships or marriages, personality disorders, work stresses - in the past or at the time of the act - can all play a part.
Mental health charities agree, and have been queuing up to plead for more understanding about depression, and less sensationalist language.
They say the vast majority of people with depression do not hurt anyone, and research shows that their risk is primarily to themselves.
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity Sane, says: "There are thousands of people with a diagnosis of depression, including pilots, who work, hold positions of high responsibility and who present no danger whatsoever.
"We do not know what part depression played in this tragedy but it is a condition that should never be trivialised."
Charities said there was a danger that mental health problems could be stigmatised by coverage of the crash, making people more afraid to talk about their experiences.
Dr Paul Keedwell, consultant psychiatrist and specialist in mood disorders, also says mental health problems are not a sufficient explanation for what happened.
"Among cases of murder-suicide in general, the rate of previously diagnosed depression varies from 40% to 60%, depending on the context."
But he does say that of those who are depressed, very few are being treated for it.
It is clear that men find it particularly difficult to seek help if they have a history of mental illness.
In the UK, for example, 75% of suicides are in men.
Lubitz passed the tests set by his employer which indicated he was fit to fly, but it has since come to light that he may have been hiding an illness from them.
This illness and his seeming inability to talk about it or come to terms with it may hold some small clue to his actions.
But, in reality, there is never going to be an adequate explanation for murder-suicides - particularly for the families of those killed.
Germanwings crash: Who was co-pilot Andreas Lubitz?
Alps plane crash: What happened? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7855216.stm | Russia's military has announced it will halt its plans to deploy short-range missiles in its Baltic enclave Kaliningrad, Interfax news agency says.
A Russian military official said a change in US attitude had prompted the latest decision, Interfax reports.
The US envoy to Nato, Kurt Volker, said that if true, the suspension would be a "very positive step", the Reuters news agency reported.
Russia had said the US missile shield plan in Europe was a direct threat.
In November last year, Mr Medvedev announced that short-range Iskander missiles would be deployed in Kaliningrad, bordering Poland, to neutralise the perceived US threat.
The US has insisted that its plan to base radars and interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic is designed solely to guard against attack by "rogue states", such as Iran.
While the Russian defence ministry has not confirmed the latest Interfax report, the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says the agency is often used by the Kremlin to float proposals.
Interfax quoted an unnamed military official as saying that "the implementation of these plans has been halted in connection with the fact that the new US administration is not rushing through plans to deploy" parts of its missile defence shield in eastern Europe.
If the official's statement is borne out it may signal a wider hope in the Kremlin that the US under President Barack Obama will roll back the plans for the missile defence shield, our correspondent says.
Before he took office on 20 January, Mr Obama's transition team said he had not made a commitment to deploying the missile defence system in eastern Europe and would wait to see if the technology proved workable.
If Russia does shelve its Iskander deployment, it would be a substantial conciliatory measure to the new US administration, our correspondent adds.
President Obama spoke to President Medvedev by telephone on Monday. The two men pledged to stop the "drift" in their countries' relations, the White House said.
Any decision not to deploy the Iskanders could also provide impetus to wider strategic arms talks between Russia and the US, says BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds.
The 1991 Start I treaty, which provides a mechanism to monitor the two countries' nuclear arsenals, is up for renewal in December.
The US has agreements in place with Poland and the Czech Republic to plug what the US has said is a gap in its global system of missile defence.
The proposed system has Nato-wide backing.
The US has said Iran is working on long-range missile technology and that the US missile shield would counter this.
The US plan infuriated Moscow and soured relations with the US. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-47651350 | Five mosques in Birmingham have been targeted in a string of violent attacks overnight and into the morning.
Reports of a man smashing windows with a sledgehammer on Birchfield Road were received at 02:30 GMT, police said.
Officers were then alerted to a similar attack in Erdington about 45 minutes later, with more in Aston and Perry Barr reported. Another on Albert Road was struck at 10:00 GMT.
West Midlands Police said it was yet to establish a motive.
Officers from its Counter Terrorism Unit were investigating, the force said.
Yousef Zaman, chairman of Masjid Faizul Islam mosque in Aston, said: "My initial reaction was shock that this had happened.
"There's a fear factor now in that adults are saying they're going to keep their children away from the mosque today because they're worried that it's not safe.
"But we're not going to stop worship, we're going to carry on as normal, we won't let them win, we will defy them."
He said a summit was planned to discuss security around the mosques.
A spokesperson for Witton Islamic Centre on Witton Road, also in Aston, said CCTV captured a man smashing windows at about 01:30.
"The whole of the front windows, about six, were smashed," he said.
"Because of the force he used it's gone through the windows and into the mosque itself".
Councillor Majid Mahmood tweeted a video of the clean-up taking place at the centre.
In a press conference held outside the Witton Islamic Centre, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: "What we have today is broken windows, but what people are doing who are breaking those windows are trying to break [is] our spirit, and break the cohesion that exists between all the people of the varied faiths and diverse community that we have here in the West Midlands.
"What I'm here today to say is that those people are not going to succeed and people who carry out this type of criminality will be hunted down relentlessly."
Officers said they will talk to mosques about extra security at Friday Prayers.
Chief Constable of West Midlands Police Dave Thompson said: "At the moment we don't know the motive for last night's attacks.
Mr Thompson added: "Since the tragic events in Christchurch, New Zealand, officers and staff from West Midlands Police have been working closely with our faith partners across the region to offer reassurance and support at mosques, churches and places of prayer."
Councillor John Cotton, cabinet member for social inclusion, community safety and equalities at Birmingham City Council, said he was "appalled" by the violence and was working with police to find those responsible.
He tweeted: "These thugs do not speak for Birmingham and will not divide us."
Home Secretary Sajid Javid called the vandalism "deeply concerning and distressing", while MP for Birmingham Ladywood Shabana Mahmood said the attacks were "truly terrible".
In the Commons, the Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington, Jack Dromey, spoke out in support of the city's Muslim community.
While the leader of the Commons, Andrea Leadsom, was scathing of those responsible for the attacks.
She said: "Our hearts go out to those who are affected by these attacks in mosques in Birmingham last night, it's absolutely unacceptable to see any form of religious or racial, or any form of prejudice whatsoever in our free and open society." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/623459.stm | A 19-year-old Japanese woman has been rescued after nine years of being held captive in a man's home.
The last time anyone saw Fusako Sano was almost a decade ago at a school baseball game in Niigata, 250 km (160 miles) northwest of Tokyo.
After that she disappeared. A huge search was mounted, but she was never found.
In fact, she had been abducted by a man, now 37, who confined her in the upper storey of a house where he lives with his mother.
Ms Sano was discovered after the man's mother called hospital officials to the house to examine her son.
The mother lived downstairs, but told police she had no idea a girl was in the house.
She said her son would turn violent if she tried to go to the room upstairs.
She summoned the medics because, she said, her son had been acting strangely. He is now being treated in hospital.
Ms Sano was weak and dehydrated, but she had been fed three times a day by the man.
She told police he gave her men's clothes to wear and cut her hair.
"For nine years, I did not take a step out of the house," she told police. "Today I went outside for the first time."
She has now been reunited with her parents. Her mother did not recognise her at first; the last time she saw her she was only a child.
Both parents were profoundly relieved and said they had never stopped thinking about their missing daughter. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4564384.stm | British diplomats secretly floated the idea that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could be brought to the UK for a back operation, official papers show.
He was seen as a figure to be courted when discussions took place in 1975.
A senior UK official found Saddam's need for an operation "most encouraging" for the UK, files released by the National Archives at Kew show.
The UK's Baghdad ambassador was informed, but the files do not indicate whether further action was taken.
In early 1975, the attention of the Foreign Office had been caught by comments made by the Finnish ambassador in Baghdad, that there was a 90% chance that the operation he needed would leave him lame for life.
Officials asked the government's own medical advisers whether the treatment could be carried out successfully in Britain.
The outcome was reported to Britain's ambassador John Graham by Terry Clark, a senior official in the Middle East department in a letter.
"I am advised that, if Saddam is suffering from a broken disc pinching the sciatic nerve, there is an operation, by name a laminectomy, regularly and successfully undertaken in various hospitals in the UK, by which there is a very good chance of total recovery," Clark wrote.
"If the operation fails doctors usually advise a further operation, a spinal fusion. If the latter fails too, it usually means that there has been an erroneous diagnosis in the first place.
"This is all most encouraging and, while I am by no means suggesting that we offer Saddam advice on the availability of such treatment in the UK, you may find the information useful should you ever receive and approach from the Iraqis." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33740776 | Image caption Before he was killed on 1 July, Cecil was a major attraction for visitors as he would allow vehicles to get close to him - and even followed this one allowing them to get close up images.
Image caption Cecil led two prides containing six lionesses and 12 cubs along with another lion called Jericho.
Image caption Following his death, his own six cubs will be killed as the new lion who takes over the pride will not allow them to live, conservationists say.
Image caption The 13-year-old was recognisable because of his large size and distinctive shaggy black mane.
Image caption He was being studied by lion conservation researchers at Oxford University and wore a GPS collar that allowed them to track him.
Image caption Walter Palmer, a US dentist from Minnesota, is believed to have paid about $50,000 (£32,000) to hunt down Cecil.
Image caption Trophy hunting is big business and in 2013, 49 lion head "trophies" were exported from Zimbabwe.
Image caption It is alleged that bait was used to lure the lion outside Hwange National Park during a night-time pursuit. Mr Palmer says he thought the hunt was legal and was unaware Cecil was protected. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-47280296/shamima-begum-s-family-tried-to-get-her-away-from-is-lawyer | The family of Shamima Begum tried to get her away from the Islamic State group "from day one", their lawyer Tasnime Akunjee has said.
Shamima Begum, from Bethnal Green, east London, fled the UK to join the Islamic State group in Syria in 2015. She was found in a Syrian refugee camp last week and has since given birth to a boy. She now wants to come home.
Mr Akunjee said the family hopes that professionals in the UK can help Ms Begum deal with the "damage" to her mental health caused by IS.
The government does not have consular staff in Syria, and says it will not risk any lives to help Britons who have joined a banned terrorist group. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-wales-politics-35785126/welsh-tory-says-lazy-labour-has-run-out-of-steam | 'Lazy Labour has run out of steam' Jump to media player Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies tells his party conference it is time for a change after 17 years of Welsh Labour in power.
'Blue when I was born and I'm blue now' Jump to media player Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies was born on the family farm, but now has his eye on winning the assembly election.
Chancellor slams 'old' Labour Jump to media player The assembly election is a choice between "pro-job, pro-growth" Conservatives and "old and discredited" Labour ideas, the chancellor says.
Ministers' pay cut to fund youth schemes Jump to media player The Conservatives will introduce a 10% pay cut for Welsh government ministers if they win May's assembly election.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has said it is time to secure "real change" after 17 years of Welsh Labour in power.
He told his party conference in Llangollen, Denbighshire, that a "lazy, complacent" Welsh Labour government had "run out of steam".
Mr Davies claimed other parties would simply prop them up for a "sniff of power". |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14851455 | Millions of Microsoft users were left unable to access some online services overnight because of a major service failure.
Hotmail, Office 365 and Skydrive were among the services affected.
Microsoft was still analysing the cause of the problem on Friday morning, but said it appeared to be related to the internet's DNS address system.
Such a major problem is likely to raise questions about the reliability of cloud computing versus local storage.
Especially embarrassing is the temporary loss of Office 365, the company's alternative to Google's suite of online apps.
Its service also went offline briefly in mid-August, less than two months after it launched.
The latest disruption is believed to have lasted for around two-and-a-half hours, between 0300 GMT and 0530 GMT.
In a blog, posted at 0649 GMT, Microsoft said: "We have completed propagating our DNS configuration changes around the world, and have restored service for most customers."
The Domain Name System (DNS) is responsible for translating URL web addresses , such as bbc.co.uk into the internet's native system of IP addresses, e.g. 212.58.246.95.
Microsoft is not alone in suffering problems with its cloud-based applications. Google Docs was unavailable for a period on Wednesday.
However, the fact that Microsoft's Office 365 is a paid-for service, with users charged £4 per month, may raise expectations of a more robust setup.
Moving applications from installed software on individual computers, to web-based "software as a service" has been a major trend in computing in recent years.
Such systems are seen as easier to manage, simpler to scale-up and down, and potentially offering more robust security.
But a number of high profile failures have dented confidence in cloud computing.
Among them have been several failures of Amazon's EC2 - the company's remote computing service, which allows businesses to hire additional processing power and storage on demand.
The system failed in April 2011, impacting several large websites, including Foursquare and Reddit.
Another period of down time in August affected many of the same websites.
"There will be an element of confidence shaken," said Ken Moody, data centre services manager at the Cloud Computing Centre.
Avoiding major cloud problems in future would depend on IT companies' ability to spread the risk, according to Mr Moody.
"People should look at smaller data centres which are divided up where resilience could be guaranteed," he told BBC News.
"Our service level agreements are 99.99% because we don't put everything into one large data centre."
Mr Moody said that no-one, including its users, knows exactly how Microsoft's cloud computing systems are structured.
Building future confidence in the platform may depend on sharing more information.
"There's a requirement for transparency and communication to prospective clients," he said. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/895598.stm | There is one Pokemon phenomenon that isn't proving popular and doesn't seem to be catching on.
An email-based computer virus, that plays on the popularity of Pokemon, has been found infecting machines in the US.
Anti-virus companies say it is the first virus aimed at children and it tries to exploit the fact that they tend to be less careful about security than their parents.
Experts say that so far the virus has done little damage.
Like many other malicious programs, the Pokemon virus travels in an email message with the subject line: "Pikachu Pokemon".
The message itself reads: "Great Friend! Pikachu from Pokemon Theme have some friendly words to say. Visit Pikachu at http://www.pikachu.com. See you."
Travelling with the message is an attachment that, when clicked, launches animation of a bouncing Pikachu - the yellow mouse-like Pokemon that fights with electricity.
But at the same time that the Pikachu is bouncing around the screen the program is also making changes to a key configuration file on the PC.
The change means that the next time the machine is switched on all the files in the Windows and Windows/System directories are destroyed.
The virus seems to have done little damage because users get a warning when it tries to delete important files and asks them to approve the action.
If a person contracting the virus uses the popular Microsoft Outlook program the program attempts to email itself to every person it finds in the address book.
In May this year the ILOVEYOU virus wrought havoc around the world by travelling this way.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at anti-virus company Sophos, said the virus had been known about since the end of June and anyone with up to date anti-virus software was unlikely to be infected by it.
So far the virus only seems to be doing damage in the US. Sophos said it had been detected in Europe and Japan but no-one seems to have been caught out by it.
"The virus author is deliberately targeting children and parents in an attempt to spread his virus further," said Mr Cluley.
"What we are seeing here is another example of virus writers using psychology as well as technology.
"It underlines the importance of teaching all computer users, especially children, to follow safe computing practice," he said. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47420316 | The proportion of Northern Irish students at universities elsewhere in the UK is at a 10-year high.
Figures published by the Department for the Economy (DfE) show 17,440 NI students were in higher education in England, Scotland or Wales in 2018.
That was more than a quarter (27.7%) of all Northern Irish students last year.
Of those, 5,335 were at universities in the north-west of England, while 4,175 were studying in Scotland - the two most popular regions.
Liverpool's John Moores University had 1,985 students from Northern Ireland.
The figures include undergraduate and postgraduate, full and part-time students.
DfE said that the rise was likely to be the result of a number of factors, including changes in tuition fees, the lifting of student number caps, and increased applications and offers.
"The numbers studying in GB are generally on an upwards trajectory, particularly among full-time students," its analysis said.
Previous statistics from DfE have shown that two-thirds of Northern Irish full-time students who studied elsewhere in the UK did not return home to work after graduating.
Meanwhile, the number of students at universities in Northern Ireland - including the Open University - fell slightly from last year.
There were 54,460 student enrolments here in 2018, down by 110 (0.2%) on the previous year.
That decrease was primarily down to a fall in the number of part-time students.
In 2018, 45,490 students learning in Northern Ireland were from Northern Ireland, but DfE's figures also show a diverse student population.
There were 8,970 students from more than 110 countries in higher education here in 2018.
While most came from elsewhere in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, there were 1,255 from China.
Women made up 57% of all Northern Irish students in 2018, but a slightly higher proportion of male students were in full-time study.
Subjects linked to medicine, business and education were the most popular among local students. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2946963.stm | There has been widespread support both within the European Union and in countries due to join it, for Hungary's overwhelming vote in favour of accession to the EU.
Nearly 84% of those who took part in Saturday's referendum backed the Hungarian political parties' pro-Europe stand - but only 46% turned out to vote.
The huge majority in favour of membership had been expected.
However, while the low turnout came as something of a surprise - opinion polls had predicted that two-thirds of the electorate would take part in the referendum.
In the end, the only thing that mattered was that the Yes vote should be at least one-quarter of the electorate.
That requirement was comfortably exceeded with the vote in favour at 38%.
Hungary was the first of the formerly communist-ruled countries of central Europe to apply for EU membership, back in 1994. Although membership is not due for another 13 months, many Hungarians already feel virtually part of the EU.
An overwhelming vote in favour was widely expected. With the result a foregone conclusion, the silent majority simply decided it was not worth their while to turn up and vote for - or against - accession.
The low turnout has already led to recriminations among Hungary's politicians.
The governing Socialists have accused the centre-right opposition, led by the Hungarian Civic Party, Fidesz - which at one point referred to EU accession as a "forced marriage" - as being far too lukewarm in their support for membership.
For its part, Fidesz retaliated by dubbing the governing coalition's pro-Europe publicity campaign as simplistic because it ignored some of the pitfalls of EU accession.
There is general expectation that Hungary, as a whole, will benefit from EU membership.
We - the government and political parties - should wage an active campaign among people.
There will be direct assistance from Brussels as Hungary qualifies for farm subsidies - though not at the same level as existing members - and regional aid.
And there will be indirect benefits: some multi-national companies are already beginning to step up production in Hungary for export to the EU.
But there will also be increased competition for Hungary's farmers and its industries.
And some fear that the existing division between the country's prosperous west and the less developed east on the other side of the Danube may be accentuated by membership.
For now, though, politicians across the EU and in Hungary's partner-candidate countries are focussing on the present.
They have welcomed the big majority in favour of membership which makes Hungary the third country after Malta and Slovenia to have said Yes in a referendum.
The Hungarian vote is also significant because after two very small states, it is - with a population of 10 million - the first of the larger countries to have voted in favour.
But the absentee voters remain a possible problem for other countries where a turnout of 50% of the electorate is required for a ballot to be valid.
Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda - who completed the London marathon on Sunday - is now facing the last lap before Slovakia's membership vote.
"This referendum should be a kind of reminder for us," he said.
"It should be conducive to us making a full use of the period that lies ahead of us, a period in the course of which we shall be waging a robust referendum campaign."
"The turnout was extremely disappointing" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7787513.stm | The long-running advice to use a wet tea towel to tackle chip pan fires is being scrapped by the government.
When faced with a blazing pan of fat the public will now be advised to "get out, stay out and dial 999".
The Department for Communities and Local Government has changed its advice for fear it did more harm than good.
Most chip pan fires are caused by men cooking after they have been drinking, officials said, and caused 4,900 injuries in 2006.
The DCLG found 43% of chip pan casualties took place between 8pm and 4am and more than 30% between 10pm and 4am.
Many of the fires were "caused by late night cooking, particularly by men under the influence of alcohol," officials said.
For decades the public has been advised to run a tea towel under a tap, wring it out and then place it over the rim of the burning chip pan.
But the advice, contained in public information films, most recently featuring celebrity chef Keith Floyd, could be putting people in harm's way.
In new guidance Britain's fire and rescue authorities are urged to review what they tell the public "in view of the significant number of people who are injured in fires started by cooking appliances".
"As householders are not trained to deal properly with fires, they would potentially face severe injury or death if their attempts to extinguish fat or chip pan fires were unsuccessful," the document says.
"The wet tea towel advice is also contrary to all other advice we give to the general public about not tackling fires."
The new advice, contained in a leaflet, is "don't take any risks. Turn off the heat if it's safe to do so. Never throw water over it. Don't tackle the fire yourself. GET OUT STAY OUT AND CALL 999".
Firefighters have also been advised to change their demonstrations to the public of the dangers of leaving chip pans unattended.
But, the policy update adds, demonstrations "can still be used to show the devastating effect of putting water on a flaming chip or fat pan". |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13064928 | The consumer products giants Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G) have been fined 315m euros (£280m, $456m) for fixing washing powder prices in eight European countries.
It follows a three-year investigation by the European Commission following a tip-off by the German company, Henkel.
Unilever sells Omo and Surf, P&G makes Tide, and Henkel sells Persil in certain European countries.
The fines were discounted by 10% after the two admitted running a cartel.
Unilever was fined 104m euros and P&G was fined 211.2m euros.
Henkel was not fined in return for providing the tip-off.
The Commission called the investigation "Purity".
The EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement: "By acknowledging their participation in the cartel, the companies enabled the Commission to swiftly conclude its investigation."
The cartel operated in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands between 2002 to 2005, the regulator said.
P&G, the world's largest consumer products group, owns the Tide, Gain and Era brands of washing powder while the Anglo-Dutch group Unilever makes detergent products under the brand names Omo and Surf.
Henkel owns the Persil brand in most of Europe, while Unilever owns it in Britain, Ireland and France.
The EU watchdog raided the three companies in June 2008 on suspicion of price fixing, and also sought information from the US-based household products firm Sara Lee.
Unilever has already set aside an undisclosed sum to cover any fine. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3060633.stm | Legitimate questions have arisen about how remarks on alleged Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium in Africa made it into the president's State of the Union speech.
Let me be clear about several things right up front.
First, CIA approved the president's State of the Union address before it was delivered.
Second, I am responsible for the approval process in my agency.
And third, the president had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound.
These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president.
For perspective, a little history is in order.
There was fragmentary intelligence gathered in late 2001 and early 2002 on the allegations of Saddam's efforts to obtain additional raw uranium from Africa, beyond the 550 metric tons already in Iraq.
In an effort to inquire about certain reports involving Niger, CIA's counter-proliferation experts, on their own initiative, asked an individual with ties to the region to make a visit to see what he could learn.
He reported back to us that one of the former Nigerian officials he met stated that he was unaware of any contract being signed between Niger and rogue states for the sale of uranium during his tenure in office.
The same former official also said that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that the former official meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss "expanding commercial relations" between Iraq and Niger.
The former official interpreted the overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales.
The former officials also offered details regarding Niger's processes for monitoring and transporting uranium that suggested it would be very unlikely that material could be illicitly diverted.
There was no mention in the report of forged documents or any suggestion of the existence of documents at all.
Because this report, in our view, did not resolve whether Iraq was or was not seeking uranium from abroad, it was given a normal and wide distribution, but we did not brief it to the president, vice president or other senior administration officials.
We also had to consider that the former Nigerian officials knew that what they were saying would reach the US Government and that this might have influenced what they said.
In the fall of 2002, my deputy and I briefed hundreds of members of Congress on Iraq.
We did not brief the uranium acquisition story.
Also in the fall of 2002, our British colleagues told us they were planning to publish an unclassified dossier that mentioned reports of Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium in Africa.
Because we viewed the reporting on such acquisition attempts to be inconclusive, we expressed reservations about its inclusion, but our colleagues said they were confident in their reports and left it in their document.
In September and October 2002 before Senate committees, senior intelligence officials in response to questions told members of Congress that we differed with the British dossier on the reliability of the uranium reporting.
In October, the Intelligence Community (IC) produced a classified, 90-page National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's WMD programmes.
There is a lengthy section in which most agencies of the intelligence community judged that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons programme.
Let me emphasise, the NIE's key judgments cited six reasons for this assessment; the African uranium issue was not one of them.
But in the interest of completeness, the report contained three paragraphs that discuss Iraq's significant 550-metric-ton uranium stockpile and how it could be diverted while under IAEA safeguard.
These paragraphs also cited reports that Iraq began "vigorously trying to procure" more uranium from Niger and two other African countries, which would shorten the time Baghdad needed to produce nuclear weapons.
The NIE states: "A foreign government service reported that as of early 2001, Niger planned to send several tons of pure 'uranium' (probably yellowcake) to Iraq. As of early 2001, Niger and Iraq reportedly were still working out the arrangements for this deal, which could be for up to 500 tons of yellowcake."
The Estimate also states: "We do not know the status of this arrangement."
With regard to reports that Iraq had sought uranium from two other countries, the Estimate says: "We cannot confirm whether Iraq succeeded in acquiring uranium ore and/or yellowcake from these sources."
Much later in the NIE text, in presenting an alternate view on another matter, the state department's bureau of intelligence and research included a sentence that states: "Finally, the claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in INR's assessment, highly dubious."
An unclassified CIA white paper in October made no mention of the issue, again because it was not fundamental to the judgment that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons programme, and because we had questions about some of the reporting.
For the same reasons, the subject was not included in many public speeches, congressional testimony and the Secretary of State's United Nations presentation in early 2003.
The background above makes it even more troubling that the 16 words eventually made it into the State of the Union speech. This was a mistake.
Portions of the State of the Union speech draft came to the CIA for comment shortly before the speech was given.
Various parts were shared with cognizant elements of the agency for review.
Although the documents related to the alleged Niger-Iraqi uranium deal had not yet been determined to be forgeries, officials who were reviewing the draft remarks on uranium raised several concerns about the fragmentary nature of the intelligence with National Security Council colleagues.
Some of the language was changed.
From what we know now, agency officials in the end concurred that the text in the speech was factually correct, ie that the British Government report said that Iraq sought uranium from Africa.
This should not have been the test for clearing a presidential address.
This did not rise to the level of certainty which should be required for presidential speeches, and CIA should have ensured that it was removed.
"The White House has put the ball back in the CIA's court" |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-47633279/brexit-the-choice-facing-british-citizens-living-in-germany | The continued uncertainty surrounding Brexit means the rights of UK citizens living in EU countries are still to be guaranteed.
Instead of waiting to see what's in store, an increasing number of British people abroad are applying for citizenship in the European country where they live and work.
Germany was the place that welcomed most new citizens from the UK in the year following the referendum.
Jean Mackenzie met some of them in Berlin for BBC Scotland's The Nine.
Go to next video: Will Brexit happen on time? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7029260.stm | Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is expected to seal a reconciliation deal with President Pervez Musharraf.
The deal would take some of the pressure off Gen Musharraf ahead of a presidential election on Saturday.
He still faces last-minute challenges to his candidacy in the Supreme Court, which could delay the vote.
Ms Bhutto plans to return to Pakistan from self-exile on 18 October to fight general elections due by mid-January.
The agreement cancels corruption charges against Benazir Bhutto and other politicians in the name of national reconciliation, says the BBC's Barbara Plett, in Islamabad.
Ms Bhutto has now dropped her threat to join the rest of the opposition in a parliamentary walk-out aimed at discrediting Saturday's presidential poll.
Opponents say it is unconstitutional for a military officer to be elected president.
They are challenging Gen Musharraf's candidacy in the Supreme Court for a second time, and the court is due to rule about whether to postpone the vote.
If the verdict favours Gen Musharraf, he is expected to formalise the reconciliation deal with Ms Bhutto.
This would pave the way for Ms Bhutto to return to Pakistan for forthcoming general elections.
If her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) does well, she could end up sharing power with Gen Musharraf, our correspondent says. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-22778899/household-products-during-pregnancy-a-gp-s-advice | Pregnancy research: A GP's advice Jump to media player GP Dr Arun Ghosh says that the best advice is for pregnant women to use organic products where possible, and to be aware of the research that is available.
Pregnancy chemical advice 'unhelpful' Jump to media player There has been sharp criticism of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists after it advised pregnant women to "play it safe" by avoiding chemicals found in common household products.
Row over pregnancy safety advice Jump to media player Pregnant women are being advised by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to avoid chemicals found in many household products, but other experts have criticised the advice.
New guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists claims there is not enough information about potential risks to unborn children from chemicals found in many household products including moisturisers and shower gel.
It has advised pregnant women to "play it safe" and avoid using the products.
But the advice has been criticised by other experts for being unhelpful and causing unnecessary worry.
GP Dr Arun Ghosh says that the potential risk to health from household chemicals discussed in the research paper remains unproven, and that pregnant women and new mothers should not change their habits.
He says that the best advice is for pregnant women to use organic products where possible, and to be aware of the research that is available. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-suffolk-38559154 | Britt Assombalonga scores twice as Nottingham Forest cruise past Ipswich to avoid relegation on goal difference.
The team here is about to shut up shop and head home, but before we go, we'd like to thank you for your company during the week.
It's been a great day for the Conservatives, who've increased the number of county councillors at Endeavour House, but disappointing for UKIP, who will no longer be represented there.
Scroll down to get more details on the elections, and other stories that have been making the news during the day.
Have a great weekend, and we'll see you from 08:00 on Monday.
These elections have seen UKIP wiped off the county council political map. Most surprisingly, they lost every single seat in Essex, an area that fostered their growth and of course, until recently boasted their only MP. In all they lost 48 seats across the east and now have no representation across its six counties.
The Conservatives appear to be the beneficiary. They have regained control of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk and strengthened their grip on Essex, Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire.
Labour held on in some of its heartland seats but suffered elsewhere, particularly in Stevenage and Harlow, where the Conservatives made gains.
It was a mixed picture for the Liberal Democrats who lost seats on Essex, Suffolk and Northamptonshire but they made some gains from the Conservatives in Norfolk.
The Green Party lost their stronghold in Norwich but made a gain in Suffolk where they now hold three county council seats.
The vote share from yesterday's local elections confirms that across the east the Conservatives are once again the dominant party.
With all the votes counted, the Tories share of the vote ranged from 43% in Suffolk and Essex to a staggering 51% in Northamptonshire. The national average appears to be about 38%.
Labour saw a small surge in support in its traditional heartlands and its average share across the region was 13.7%. But that's way below the national average of 27% and shows how little support the party has in our region.
In Suffolk, the Conservative party gained 112,778 votes in yesterday's local elections - 45.65% of the vote.
It's higher than the national projected vote share for the Tories, which stands at 38%.
The projected national share figures are what the share of the vote would be if all parts of Britain had local elections and had voted in the same way as Thursday's English County Council elections.
This evening it will be staying mostly fine with some areas of cloud at times. One or two spots of drizzle possible overnight, but staying mild.
Winds will be moderate, with lows of 7C (45F).
It will be a rather cloudy start to the day tomorrow. Generally cloudier than today with some brighter spells, but feeling cooler.
Winds light to moderate and highs of 10C (50F) on the coast and 14C (57F) inland.
There's more at BBC Weather.
Video caption: Ed Sheeran on the power of songwriting.Ed Sheeran on the power of songwriting.
Figures from Suffolk County Council show there was a turnout of 44.19% (247,073) for this year's elections.
Beccles achieved the highest figures, with a massive 80.63% (9,455) turn-out, followed by St Margaret's & Westgate at 77.85% (11,852), and Felixstowe Coastal at 74.18% (11,432).
Residents of Newmarket and Red Lodge were the most reluctant to get involved, with 25.65% of eligible voters (2,384) marking a cross in the box.
Suffolk County Council has apologised after its local elections website crashed, due to unprecedented demand.
It may be due to the turnout, which was higher than expected at just over 44%.
We'll bring you more details on that shortly.
The areas being searched at the landfill site for missing RAF Honington serviceman Corrie Mckeague are to be expanded, it has been announced.
Officers say they've found material that indicates they are searching in the right area.
But towards the edges of the area they noticed the waste may have shifted.
When work gets under way again next week at the site at Milton in Cambridgeshire, the area being searched will take into account the possibility of the waste having moved.
Police say the work has been reviewed while the search has been taking place.
Inquiries have also continued away from the site, gathering further information about Corrie's lifestyle and background.
Police searching for Corrie Mckeague at a landfill site said the hunt had so far cost more than £1m.
Police say they have completed work on searching the area at the landfill site at Milton for missing RAF Honington serviceman Corrie Mckeague and are now expanding the search parameters.
We'll bring you more details shortly.
It's been a good day for the Conservatives, and a poor day for UKIP.
The Green Party has lost the seat of its leader, Mark Ereira Guyer, but has won a couple of previously Conservative seats.
The 50 seats won by the Conservatives are well over the 37 they needed to have control of the council.
Labour's group has decreased from 15 to 9.
There are five Liberal Democrat councillors, three Green and three Independent.
Labour and Co-operative have two seats, as do Conservative and Unionist.
West Suffolk Independents have one.
Know any young children who might be interested in having a go at cricket?
Now's the time to get them involved with the England & Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) grassroots programme for five- to eight-year-olds called All Stars Cricket.
All Stars Cricket is an eight-week course that is being introduced in May through local cricket clubs and centres, offering youngsters a first experience of the sport.
Sign up here and children will receive a backpack of cricket gear.
The Conservatives have seen the number of seats they hold at Suffolk County Council increase from 37 to 50, now that all the votes have been counted.
Labour have dropped from 15 to nine, and UKIP now have no councillors at all.
We'll bring you a map showing you the areas controlled by the different parties next.
The painting on the right, we mean left, wait... what?...Kidding aside, Ed's first ever portrait - painted by Belfast-based artist Colin Davidson - was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.
Ed sat for the artist for three hours in 2015, during which Davidson made twenty drawings and took reference photographs.
Colin said: ‘When painting a portrait I am looking for the moment when the person is almost unaware of me being there and I feel I got it with Ed.
"I deliberately didn’t want Ed to perform and that was odd for him."
We're sure we've seen his painting before?
After an unconfirmed report at the start of the week, the One Direction star appeared to confirm the name of their firstborn after he was publicly congratulated by the child's namesake..
The band spent a couple of weeks teasing fans, first with billboards and then with cryptic video messages.
On Wednesday, the band announced the release of OKNOTOK, a re-issue of their seminal 1997 album - to mark it's 20 birthday.
Ed O'Brien spoke to 6 Music to talk about why Lift is only just seeing the light of day.
Jonathan Schwatz, who pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $5m (£3.9m) from Alanis Morissette, is to be jailed for six years, a judge in the US ruled.
The former business manager pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return in January.
Alanis - who appeared at a hearing in California - told the court her ability to trust "has been shaken to the core" because of Schwartz.
She added he "not only stole $5m in cash from me, he stole a dream".
Last month, her disgraced ex-manager apologised and told The Hollywood Reporter that his behaviour was driven by a gambling addiction.
Now, it could just have been a magnanimous gesture from a bigger star but it seems that Adele is a genuine fan of the grime artist and showed it by, not only showing up for his three-night residency at Brixton Academy in London, but rapping along too.
And, we were pleased to find out, the love is reciprocated.
Former Ipswich Town captain Mick Mills believes the club needs to clarify manager Mick McCarthy's position as soon as possible.
After having several chats over the past few weeks, McCarthy and club owner Marcus Evans are set to have a more formal get-together soon after the season ends on Sunday.
"The statement has got to be made as quickly as possible," Mills told BBC Suffolk.
"If there is to be a change of manager you've got to get a new man in as quickly as possible because the whole playing squad is in need of a revamp.
"Even if there's no change at management level, I think Mick McCarthy will decide that he's got to freshen this squad up. He must feel this squad of players has gone as far as it can."
A 10-year-old boy who has only been doing ballet for two years has won a full scholarship to the Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham.
A man has been arrested in connection with a dangerous driving incident in Stowmarket on Tuesday, in which a police pursuit of a white Renault Clio ended when the car mounted a pavement and entered a walkway, leading to a pedestrian having to take evasive action.
The 20-year-old from the town was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and released pending further inquiries. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5093832.stm | BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Should tourists go to Burma?
Should tourists go to Burma?
In the last of a series of articles from inside Burma, the BBC's Kate McGeown asks whether tourism helps or hinders the local people.
It has golden pagodas, beautiful beaches and welcoming people who badly need a better income.
It also has a repressive military regime accused of serious human rights abuses, and a detained opposition leader who has repeatedly urged people not to visit.
So should tourists go to Burma, or is it better to stay away?
According to Burma Campaign UK, which lobbies for human rights and democracy in the country, the decision is obvious.
"Once people know what the issues are, they invariably choose not to go," said Mark Farmaner, a spokesman for the group.
Have your say: Should tourists visit Burma?
"It's impossible to go there and not give money to the government. From the moment your plane hits the tarmac, you're lining the military's pockets."
In fact, according to Mr Farmaner, Burma is unique in that many of its human rights abuses are directly connected to the military's decision to promote tourism.
"Much of the country's tourist infrastructure is developed by the use of forced labour," he said. "People have been made to construct roads, airports and hotels, and thousands more have been forcibly relocated to make way for tourist areas."
It is because of the close link between the tourist industry and the government that Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has on several occasions asked tourists to stay away from Burma.
"Tourism to Burma is helping to prolong the life of one of the most brutal and destructive regimes in the world," she told reporters once. "Visiting now is tantamount to condoning the regime."
But the problem is that, on the ground, many local people are extremely glad to see foreign visitors.
"It's very difficult," one tour guide said. "I really respect Aung San Suu Kyi, and I understand why she wants a boycott, but then we desperately need tourists' money here - not just for me but for other people too."
Even people not employed by the tourist industry seemed genuinely happy to see me during my trip.
Arriving there, I was greeted by an elderly man who thanked me for coming - a remark which was repeated throughout my trip.
Many people were anxious to ask about life outside the country - not just about politics but literature, art and, of course, football.
Others said they wanted foreigners to understand what was happening in Burma - which a steady stream of politically conscious tourists will undoubtedly help to do.
One BBC News website user, Emma Smale, had a similar reception when she visited Burma with her boyfriend last year.
"The people were so nice and friendly, and we were always well-received. I think they definitely wanted us there," she said.
"Once they were confident enough to speak to us, they were also really interested in asking about life outside their own country."
Ms Smale made sure she was well-informed about the issue before making her decision to travel to Burma.
"I definitely respect what Aung San Suu Kyi said, but I felt I had to see the place for myself," she said.
Ms Smale does not regret her decision to go. "It's the best place I've ever been to," she said. "It's had a huge influence on me."
There are compelling arguments either way, and the subject even divides the publishers of some of the world's best-known guide books.
Lonely Planet has made the decision to publish a guide to Burma because it believes its role is to provide balanced information so travellers can reach their own conclusions.
"We can ensure people know the facts so they can make an informed decision," said spokesman Stephen Palmer.
"We can also advise people so they can minimise the money they give to the government, and maximise the amount that goes to ordinary people."
But critics say that by publishing in the first place, Lonely Planet is encouraging tourists to visit the country.
The Rough Guides travel company has taken a different stance, choosing not to publish a book on Burma until the political situation improves.
"We don't believe the benefits of travel outweigh the disadvantages, so we actively encourage people not to go," said spokesman Richard Trillo.
The debate goes on. But whatever governments, campaigners and tour agents have to say on the matter, the decision is ultimately up to you.
Do you think tourists should visit Burma? Have you been to Burma as a tourist? Send us your comments and experiences. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-41051469/deadly-bomb-and-gun-attack-on-shia-mosque-in-kabul | Militants storm Shia mosque in Kabul Jump to media player A bomb and gun attack on a Shia mosque in Kabul has left at least 10 people dead.
Deadly car bomb hits Afghan capital Jump to media player The Taliban say they carried out a car bomb attack in Kabul that killed and injured dozens.
Afghan pop star defiant despite threats Jump to media player Aryana Sayeed performed in Kabul in front of hundreds of people, but clerics were opposed.
A suicide bomber detonates explosives at the mosque's gate and gunmen then enter.
So-called Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the attack. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40343755 | India is the land of inventors and industry, spices and spirituality - and 1.3 billion human genomes. But although the subcontinent contributes around 20% of the world's population, the DNA sequences of its people make up around 0.2% of global genetic databases.
In a similar vein, 81% of the world's genomic information has been collected from people with European ancestry. Still, this is an improvement from a staggering 96% back in 2009.
At the same time, there's a growing interest in developing new, more effective therapies tailored to an individual's genetic makeup - an idea known as precision or personalised medicine.
Missing out on mapping worldwide genetic diversity is a big mistake, according to Sumit Jamuar, chief executive of Global Gene Corp.
It's a company aiming to democratise healthcare by capturing anonymised genetic data from populations around the world and share it with the global community of academic and pharmaceutical industry researchers. It will start by focusing on populations in South Asia.
"Healthcare is broken," Mr Jamuar says. "We spend $1 trillion on drugs every year, of which 40% or more are deemed to be ineffective. That's $400bn wasted. What's more, the burden on healthcare systems is only going to increase.
"We realised that with the power and possibility of genomics and precision medicine, you can change the health outcome for any individual and allow them to have not just a longer but a better quality of life. What was lacking was genomic data to realise that promise, and that's what we've set out to achieve."
As deaths from infectious diseases fall, particularly in the developing world, there's a rise in chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes - something the World Health Organization (WHO) has described as a "slow-motion catastrophe".
Treatments for these conditions are moving away from "one size fits all", becoming more precisely targeted to an individual's genetic makeup. Yet these drugs are currently designed and tested on the basis of predominantly "pale, stale and male" genomic information, and may not work for people with regional variations in their DNA.
Mr Jamuar believes the key to fixing this problem lies in gathering genetic data - as much of it as possible - along with harnessing the technical tools to analyse and share it.
And with the cost of genome sequencing falling rapidly, with quotes for the $1,000 genome dropping to just $100 within a year or two, it's definitely doable.
"If we take the example of GPS technology, it used to just provide longitude and latitude. Now we have Google maps and that has changed everything," he explains.
"It allows us not to focus on what goes on underneath the technology, but how we can use it to navigate our way round the world. What we want to do is create a high-fidelity genomic map of the world. And instead of looking for things like restaurants or traffic in a city, we can look at mutations or diseases in different areas."
Right now, Global Gene Corp is focusing its genomic firepower on India, although it has plans to expand into Africa and other parts of Asia. Other initiatives are also springing up to plug the global data gap.
For example, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute'sAfrican Genome Variation Project is looking in depth at 2.5 million genetic variations in 100 people from more than 10 ethnic groups across sub-Saharan Africa.
Similarly, consumer genetics firm 23andMe recently launched a dedicated African Genetics Project. These populations are woefully under-represented in today's genomic databases, yet make up a significant and widely-dispersed fraction of the world's inhabitants, including many millions of African Americans.
At Stanford University in California, Prof Carlos Bustamante's Population Genomics and Global Health team is focusing on people from Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean. And in 2015, South Korea launched its own genomics project, initially aiming for 10,000 participants but planning to expand in the future.
But it's not as simple as just sequencing a load of people's genomes from different countries and sticking it all in a big database. At the relatively trivial end, genetic data gathered by different teams around the world may not be in the same format (akin to the old Mac versus PC incompatibility problem).
The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health - an international coalition formed to enable DNA data sharing - highlights the challenge of harmonising genomic data across countries that may have very different legal frameworks for gathering and managing data.
Then there's the question of storage: a single human genome contains roughly three gigabytes of data, and it quickly adds up. With plans in place to sequence tens or even hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world, keeping all this information safe and secure is a growing issue.
If these problems can be solved and researchers start filling databases with genetic information from under-represented countries, the potential impact is huge.
It costs around a billion dollars to develop a single new drug, but 95 out of every 100 promising candidates never make it to the end of the journey. Treatments that seem promising in identikit animals or cells in the lab often falter when faced with the genetically complex reality of human patients.
Understanding more about the impact of genetic variations on the function of potential drugs - or identifying population-specific targets - could help to cut the cost of failure in the pharmaceutical industry's development pathway. And purely from a business angle, more genomes mean more customers for novel treatments.
Most importantly, providing more tailored healthcare solutions for the diverse and growing global population has the potential to save lives on a grand scale.
"This is the future," says Mr Jamuar. "Just imagine if we can change the health outcome for every individual - that is a phenomenal promise." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1872491.stm | Infections caught in British hospitals are more likely to involve drug-resistant bacteria than anywhere else in Europe, says research.
According to figures released by the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (Earss), the rate of "superbugs" is "alarmingly high" in the UK.
Catching a drug-resistant infection means it is more difficult to treat with certain types of antibiotics, and for many patients, this can mean a longer stay in hospital and delayed recovery.
Some particularly weak patients could even die as a result.
In the first six months of last year, 46.1% of all Staphylococcus aureus infections tested in a selection of UK hospitals and labs were positive for drug-resistant bacteria.
MRSA is a well-known bacteria known to produce resistant strains.
The next worst European country is Greece, with 38.6% testing positive.
Some European countries such as Belgium reported just over 20%, and the lowest proportions were found in northern European countries such as Iceland, Sweden and Denmark, where fewer than 3% were resistant.
Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow claimed that the high figures could be attributed to poor hospital hygeine.
He said: "NHS hospitals must ask themselves searching questions about these results.
"There are still too many cases of poor cleaning and hygiene practice. Poor standards are putting people's lives at risk.
"Just getting NHS staff to pay attention to the basics such as washing hands could make a real difference."
A National Audit Office report published two years ago suggested that "hospital-acquired infections" in general were costing the health service �1bn a year and causing thousands of deaths.
A recent change in the reporting system for resistant infections has meant a 33% rise in cases.
Drug-resistant bacterial strains are created in hospitals because not only is there a large population of weakened patients with open wounds to infect, but the use of antibiotics is widespread.
A course of antibiotics tends to weed out weaker strains of bacteria by killing them off, and promotes the evolution of strains that have the ability to resist the treatment.
Over time, particularly if antibiotic courses are not completed, the resistant strains become dominant in hospitals.
A spokesman for the Public Health Laboratory Service said that while hygiene was vital, there were other factors which encouraged the growth of superbug strains.
She said that the UK had been unlucky to develop two particularly virulent strains, which had spread rapidly in comparison with strains in other European countries.
She added: "The methods used to collect the data may also be varying from country to country, which might influence the results."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The Government takes the issue of hospital-acquired infections very seriously and believes infection control and basic hygiene should be at the heart of good management and clinical practice in the NHS.
"Higher rates of infection do not necessarily indicate an infection control problem in a hospital - this could be due to a higher numbers of vulnerable patients and the number and type of invasive and high-risk procedures that may be carried out." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22186833 | Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been ordered back to prison from military hospital.
Mr Mubarak's retrial will open on 11 May, a Cairo appeals court says.
He is charged alongside his former interior minister and six former security chiefs with complicity in the murder and attempted murder of hundreds of protesters in January 2011.
The retrial was meant to begin on 13 April but collapsed when the presiding judge withdrew from the case.
AFP news agency quotes judicial sources as saying that Judge Mahmud al-Rashidi will preside over the case at the North Cairo Criminal Court.
Mr Mubarak will also face a retrial or corruption charges, along with his sons, Alaa and Gamal, and businessman Hussein Salem. They were found not guilty the first time round.
Mr Mubarak was convicted last June of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 revolt. He was sentenced to life in prison.
January 2013 - Retrial is ordered because of "procedural failings"
However, a retrial was ordered in January after he appealed against the sentence, with the court citing "procedural failings".
The retrial began on 13 April, but presiding Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah withdrew immediately, stating his "unease" about reviewing the case.
On Monday, a court ruled Mr Mubarak could no longer be held in prison on the charges related to the killings of protesters. His lawyer successfully argued that he had spent the maximum time in prison under temporary detention.
However, he remains in custody on the corruption charges.
The former leader has been in poor health since his arrest and appeared on a stretcher during his first trial and at the 13 April hearing.
About 850 people were killed in the crackdown during the 2011 uprising that ended Mr Mubarak's rule.
Deaths during the uprising were largely blamed on the police at the time, but a recent leaked report implicated the army in serious human rights abuses, including the killing and torture of protesters.
The leaked chapter, reportedly presented to President Mohammed Morsi late last year, contains testimony relating to civilians detained at military checkpoints who were never seen again and reports that the army delivered unidentified bodies to coroners.
Egypt's Defence Minister Abdel Fatah al-Sissi denied the accusations, calling them a betrayal. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2743961.stm | Net freedom fighter Lawrence Lessig has urged the UK Government to ensure that laws designed to prevent digital piracy do not trample over the right of fair use.
On his recent visit to the UK, the Stanford University law professor held a private meeting with government media policy advisers at Number 10 Downing Street.
The meeting, organised by Damian Tambini, Director of the Program for Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP) at Oxford University, was attended by Ed Richards, the prime minister's media policy adviser and the man behind the recent Communications Bill.
At the meeting professor Prof Lessig spoke about ways in which the UK Government can ensure that new laws protecting digital information from piracy do not result in the erosion of the public's right to share and use intellectual property.
His views may influence the government's approach to proposals to change the Patent Act to implement the European Union Copyright Directive.
These were so widely criticised by copyright campaigners that the original timetable for implementation was put back by three months.
Prof Lessig's intervention at a senior level may result in a rethink of plans to make it illegal to use a multi-region DVD player or copy DVDs for personal use.
He was in the UK to speak at the Politics of Code conference at Oxford University, jointly organised by the PCMLP and the Oxford Internet Institute.
At the event he strongly criticised large media corporations for abusing copyright law in order to exert complete control over all aspects of copyright work.
He explained how a reader of the Adobe eBook version of George Eliot's Middlemarch is only allowed to cut and paste 10 sections of the book every 10 days, even though the work is out of copyright.
By contrast, no cutting and pasting is allowed of the eBook version of his latest book, The Future of Ideas, even though both UK and US copyright law would allow quoting from the book in a review or academic study.
The problem arises because the technology used to protect the material from copying - in this case Adobe's program code - is itself protected by law. In the United States the Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it an offence to break the protection even if the purpose is to do something allowed by copyright law.
Soon we may have a similar law here under the European Union Copyright Directive.
Prof Lessig pointed out that this means that unregulated use of copyright material becomes impossible, "entering the jurisdiction of the law because of an accident of design".
He believes that this matters because "it affects creativity. [Creativity] has never been more controlled in our history - ever".
The result, he claims, is that the scope for creative use of other people's work becomes more and more limited, and the end result is a reduction in innovation, both artistic and commercial.
Composers can no longer take inspiration from each other, but neither can programmers or industrial entrepreneurs. This, he argues, leaves us all poorer.
Little is done to counter this because, as he pointed out "where I come from the presumption is that what is good for AOL is good for America", and as a result only corporate interests are reflected in government policy.
Prof Lessig is trying to do something about this other than just offer advice to the prime minister's advisers.
Just last month he represented US online publisher Eric Eldred in a case before the US Supreme Court seeking to overturn a US law which extended the term of copyright by 20 years and took many works out of the public domain.
That case was lost, but Prof Lessig is determined to fight on to re-establish the principle that copyright is a bargain between creators, rights holders and the people, not an absolute property right as media giants seem to think.
A related issue is computers which are being altered to support this model of intellectual property. And chip-maker Intel's plans to build copyright control measures into new generations of processors also came under attack at the conference.
In another conference session on digital rights management, systems which control the distribution and use of copyright material when it is sent over a network or played on digital devices, Intel's plans were outlined by Jens-Henrik Jeppesen from the Intel's Government Affairs team.
His argument that Intel was against the destruction of the public domain and was only providing technology for "keeping honest people honest" provoked one delegate to claim that "the level of control you are proposing is a dictator's dream", accusing Intel of planning to "take us into a digital dark ages".
Intel's position received little support from Ian Brown of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, who listed the many problems with attempts to control digital material solely through technology.
He pointed to the "break once, play anywhere" flaw - if you have a system for licensing digital music or movies, then once someone has cracked it then anyone can use the cracked version freely - as evidence that such systems are simply not viable.
The conference ended with a stirring call to action from Professor Lessig.
He said that his pessimism about the prospects of fighting for copyright had been overcome by the quality of argument and passion for creative freedom he had heard during the day.
Who decides who's a digital criminal? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40678881 | Why didn't Japan's First Lady speak to Trump?
Japan woke up with surprise on Friday morning to see the intense scrutiny of its First Lady's proficiency in English.
It followed US President Donald Trump's comment, as part of his broad-ranging New York Times interview, that the wife of the Japanese prime minister, Akie Abe, cannot speak any English.
When netizens discovered the YouTube video of her giving a speech in English, however, they went on to speculate that she must have pretended to not know the language to avoid having a conversation with Mr Trump.
His critics treated her as their hero and American media have taken an intense interest in the story. But the truth may not be as black and white.
While the president's remark that she cannot even say "hello" may be an exaggeration, being able to read a scripted English speech does not mean that one is capable of having a spontaneous conversation over dinner.
Her previous diplomatic encounters have almost always been through an interpreter and when the BBC requested an interview with her in the past, they said she would only accept if it is conducted in Japanese.
Responding to the uproar over Mr Trump's re-telling of his encounter with Akie Abe at the G20 summit, Japan's foreign ministry spokesman told the BBC there would be no official comment, as it was a private conversation.
"In the meantime, we acknowledge in that interview that President Trump stated that he enjoyed the evening with her [Mrs Abe], and she is really a lovely woman," the ministry added.
But Japanese people have been weighing into the debate, and they divide broadly into three camps.
Why should she be able to speak English?
The editor of the Huffington Post Japan, Tomoko Nagano, asked if Mr Trump could say hello in Japanese while one Twitter user, @cevicherohack, said he finds it annoying that English speakers assume everyone should be able to speak their language.
Given English isn't her first language, couldn't President Trump start the conversation?
@hidezumi thought the president was impolite not to have led the conversation while New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi said the issue may be Mr Trump's conversational skills, not Mrs Abe's.
As a non-native English speaker myself, it took me years before feeling comfortable enough to start a conversation at a dinner party.
@Riepyan agreed that it is a mistake to assume everyone would be friendly and speak to you in simple English.
Japanese media have so far been neutral on the topic and just reported what has been said in American media. It may be partly because she remains a controversial figure, being in the spotlight for her role in the ongoing scandal over nationalistic schools.
Whatever the truth may be, it is fair to say that no-one in Japan expected Mrs Abe to make it into the top highlights from Mr Trump's interview.
Trump-Putin: Did dinner chat break diplomatic protocol? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-41609231 | Thieves who broke into a football stadium and stole giant TVs raided fridges to stage a food fight with frozen cheesecakes.
Police said the break-ins at Ipswich Town Football Club's Portman Road ground took place overnight on Saturday and in the early hours of Wednesday.
During the first raid, the intruders partied on wine and food, the BBC understands.
A club spokesman said they have increased the stadium's security.
It is understood the thieves got into hospitality boxes - one next to chairman Marcus Evans' personal box - and helped themselves to "expensive vintage" wine and food.
They then took the lift down to the kitchens beneath the stands to raid the fridges.
The same gang of at least four people carried out the raids on both occasions, it is understood.
Suffolk Police said officers were called to the ground at 07:50 BST on Sunday and at 06:00 on Wednesday.
A number of plasma television information screens from public areas around the ground were stolen on the gang's second visit, it is understood.
Police said no arrests have been made and inquiries are ongoing.
An Ipswich Town spokesperson said: "We can confirm there have been two incidents over the last week of intrusion at the stadium.
"The police are aware and are investigating. We have increased our security as a matter of course." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11989594 | London was meant to be a place of refuge where Atique Sharifi could put behind him the atrocities of his homeland.
The young Afghan national was one of the few members of his family to escape death at the hands of the Taleban.
But three years after fleeing Kabul, the 24-year-old Muslim was killed by a suicide bomber on a Piccadilly Line train at Russell Square.
A resident of Hounslow in west London, Mr Sharifi had been studying English at West Thames College since September 2002, where he drew praise from staff.
He worked in a pizza take-away in his spare time to send money back to his younger sister still in Afghanistan. Both of their parents had perished in the Kabul war.
His college tutor, Harminder Ubhie, described Mr Sharifi as a highly-motivated student who could make the others laugh.
"He was a delight to have in the group," she said. "From the first month I knew I could push this student. I knew he would be one of our high achievers.
"I admired him for his dedication to come to my classes. He said it was because I was an excellent teacher and he was learning so much."
She said he had a "youthful and energetic nature" and helped new members of the group to settle in.
And his college principal, Thalia Marriott, pointed to the "deep irony" that Mr Sharifi had left his native Afghanistan to seek safety in the UK "only to find his fate at the hands of extremists here".
When Afghan President Hamid Karzai later visited the victims' memorial garden at King's Cross station, he paid tribute to Mr Sharifi, laying a floral tribute of white roses and standing in silence.
But it was Mr Sharifi's sole surviving close relative, his sister Farishta, who described most clearly the impact of his loss.
She said in a statement to the 7 July victims' inquests: "He was not just a brother, he was also my friend and I still miss his telephone calls.
"He was also protective of me, not just sending money home, but also making sure that he shouldered life's difficult responsibilities because he did not want me to worry about any concerns that he had or problems that he faced.
"I feel that Atique's greatest achievement in life is the respect that he earned from all those who knew him during his lifetime and the good name he left for himself after his death." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1937023.stm | China plans to spend $1m to save what is believed to be the world's only language used exclusively by women.
The language, on the verge of extinction, is spoken only by elder women of the Yao ethnic group in Hunan province.
Some linguists say the language may be one of the oldest in the world.
Now China plans to set up a special protection zone and a museum in Hunan province's Jiangyong county.
The Xinhua news agency says the museum will house written examples of the language, which has 1,200 characters, though fewer than 700 are still in use.
Experts believe much of the language's written heritage, mainly preserved on paper fans and silks, has already been destroyed.
Dr Zhang Xiasheng, of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, says the language was handed down from mothers to daughters and developed in cut-off rural areas.
Men were not interested in the secret coded-language, he says.
A publishing house in Hunan is putting together a dictionary covering the language's history and the pronunciation, meaning and written style of its characters.
According to China's People's Daily, the Yao ethnic group has a total population of 2.9 million. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/705922.stm | Cult sci-fi TV series Blake's 7 is set to fly again - on film.
The 1970s BBC One series, about a group of freedom fighters battling against a ruthless Federation, won an adoring audience with its cheap, low-budget sets and wacky gadgets.
It is currently enjoying success on BBC Two with a round of repeats following a successful re-run on UK Gold.
Now, producer Andrew Sewell, who bought the Blake's 7 rights from the estate of its creator, the late Terry Nation, wants to turn the series into a multi-million pound TV film.
He is even lining up original cast member Paul Darrow, who played charismatic anti-hero Avon, to reprise his role.
Mr Sewell said: "The plan is to set it 20 years on from when the last series ended. When Paul did the last one he was in his mid-30s. He's now in his mid-50s."
But the days of props that looked like they had been put together by Blue Peter presenters - one spaceship on the original series was made from an old hair-dryer - are over.
Mr Sewell said: "The beauty of Blake was the characters and it's not going to be overloaded with special effects, but when they are there they will be state-of-the-art."
Mr Sewell said the film would retain the name Blake's 7, despite the fact that the title character was killed by Avon in the last episode to date in 1981.
But he declined to give a hint as to how Avon, last seen surrounded by Federation stormtroopers before apparently perishing with his companions in a hail of gunfire, managed to survive.
Mr Sewell, whose recent projects with BBC Worldwide have included working on the global new media marketing of recent BBC hit Walking with Dinosaurs, said he did not yet know who would broadcast the film.
But he added: "It would be nice to think maybe the BBC would go with it, but the new nature of the broadcasting markets gives us a lot of options." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7346789.stm | Engineer Neil Wallace peers into a huge vacuum chamber designed to replicate - as far as possible - the conditions of space.
Cryogenic pumps can be heard in the background, whistling away like tiny steam engines.
Using helium gas as a coolant, they can bring down the temperature in the vacuum chamber to an incredibly chilly 20 Kelvin (-253C). The pressure, meanwhile, can drop to a millionth of an atmosphere.
This laboratory in a leafy part of Hampshire is where defence and security firm Qinetiq develops and tests its ion engines - a technology that will take spacecraft to the planets, powered by the Sun.
Ion engines are an "electric propulsion system". They make use of the fact that a current flowing across a magnetic field creates an electric field directed sideways to the current.
This is used to accelerate a beam of ions (charged atoms) of xenon away from the spacecraft, thereby providing thrust.
Neil Wallace, technical lead of the electrical propulsion team at Qinetiq, winds open the door of the testing chamber.
He points to some large metal blocks at the bottom of the chamber.
"These are the xenon pumps and these are cooled down by the helium compressors to approximately 20 degrees Kelvin," he explains.
"So any gas atoms that strike those panels, they freeze. After you've been running the engines for a number of hours you can see a frost - it looks like snow - which is actually frozen air and xenon."
During testing, the engine fires ions towards the opposite end of the chamber, which has a protective coating of graphite.
"The ions are travelling very fast, at approximately 50km a second," he says.
"When they strike the other end of the chamber, they actually knock atoms off the surfaces they strike; it's analogous to sand-blasting on an atomic level."
The ion engine developed by Qinetiq, the T5, will be flown for the first time on the European Space Agency's Goce spacecraft. The mission will fly just 200-300km above the Earth, mapping the tiny variations in its gravity field.
A replica of the T5 engine sits in the test facility at Qinetiq. It is tiny - weighing 3kg, and looks rather like the oil filter of a car.
Yet despite this humble appearance, it took 20 to 30 years to develop, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.
In space, ion engines will draw electric power from solar panels, generating a thrust equivalent to the weight of a postcard.
This incredibly gentle thrust could, in theory, take a spacecraft beyond our Solar System, if sustained for long enough.
Goce is staying very close to Earth, flying in an ultra-low orbit, where it will encounter wisps of air.
The benefit of an ion engine on this mission is to provide drag compensation, or cruise control.
"This spacecraft is [travelling] at a speed of about eight and a half kilometres per second," says Neil Wallace.
"As it travels around the Earth, it's going through the upper atmosphere and it experiences a buffeting.
"They need to compensate that buffeting very accurately and that's what we're doing, so we're actually providing cruise control for that spacecraft."
Ion engines of various types are becoming increasingly common on space missions, including Smart-1, the European mission to the Moon, and Nasa's Deep Space 1, which flew by a comet.
Future Esa missions such as BepiColombo, bound for the innermost planet, Mercury, will also use the technology.
Qinetiq gets to test its T5 engine for real this summer, when Goce is launched from the Russian space port of Plesetsk. It will go up on the same type of rocket that failed three years ago, destroying Europe's Cryosat ice mission.
Neil Wallace says the nature of the space business makes watching any launch a dramatic event.
"You spend 10 years working on a mission, treating the components and equipment like a newborn baby. You never take it out of the clean room, and then you put in on the top of 100 tonnes of high explosive and set light to it," he says, laughing nervously.
"But no, the most exciting time for us will be when that spacecraft comes over the horizon and the ground station picks it up, and you can see the engines are doing what we've always said they will do." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2083862.stm | There is nowhere else in the United Kingdom, maybe nowhere else on earth, where people talk about winning or losing a census.
But Northern Ireland is different. From the moment it was created in the 1920s, its political life has been governed by the simple fact that Protestants outnumber Catholics - its original borders were after all designed to make sure of it.
The precise size of that gap is not a subject of daily discussion in Northern Ireland but in the end you can argue it is the only statistic that really matters.
It is easy to become obsessed with the manoeuvrings within unionism and nationalism that hold the province's fragile power-sharing arrangements together.
But they would immediately cease to have any meaning if a majority voted to scrap the border in a referendum.
A referendum conducted in 1973 on exactly this issue produced a meaningless result because only unionists voted - next time around things will be very different.
Nationalists and republicans are now fully engaged in the province's political life and have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to get their vote out.
Curiously though, the most recent suggestion that it might be time to hold a border poll came from the Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble.
It may be that he calculates that the sooner it is held, the likelier it is to go his way.
There is evidence that an overwhelming majority of Protestants - maybe as many as 99% - would vote to preserve the union. Clearly a large number of Catholics would vote to end it.
So the closer the two communities come to parity, the more the result will be determined by the number of Catholics who vote "United Kingdom" instead of "United Ireland".
Professor Paul Bew, a historian at Queen's University, Belfast, who's close to David Trimble, says that crucial figure too is changing.
"There is a Catholic unionism which exists. But it's falling. Most surveys placed it at 30% five years ago, it's now 18%.
"The economic arguments against unification are not as strong as they once were and there is a perception amongst many Catholics that a united Ireland is inevitable."
There are different interpretations about exactly what the provisions for a referendum in the Belfast Agreement really mean.
In practice, it's up to the Northern Ireland secretary to determine whether or not the political conditions are right - and the assumption has always been that would mean circumstances where a "yes" vote to a united Ireland seemed likely.
Once a poll has been held, there can't be another for seven years, a figure which suggests that within 20 years or so, there could have been three border polls, with the demographic gap narrowing all the time.
Republicans have already said they believe it's possible that Ireland could be unified - or re-unified - by the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mitchel McLaughlin, says the sooner talks begin about what shape such a new Ireland will take, the better.
"We need to engage with the unionist community on the basis of what kind of united Ireland we can all live in," he explains.
"I do believe we can move away from discussion on the basis of sectarian opinions."
That's easy for republicans to say of course, because they believe they're working with the grain of history, but from the unionist perspective things look rather different.
The Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim, David Burnside, says he believes a vote now would go his party's way and warns a vote for a United Ireland could mean chaos.
"You're looking at a worst-case scenario from a unionist point of view," he explained.
"I don't think the vote would go against the union but if it did, the uncertainty and insecurity within unionism would frighten the hell out of the Irish Republic."
No-one really knows what the census figures due to be published later this year will say, but they will be subjected to a degree of scrutiny that would seem faintly ludicrous anywhere else.
At the back of everyone's mind perhaps, was always the thought that politics in Northern Ireland was always going to boil down to a crude sectarian head count.
It's just starting to seem that way a little sooner than anyone expected.
Figuring out state of the Union? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-41690913 | The Daily Mirror leads with news that a three-year-old boy is in a critical condition in hospital after a canister of foam soap exploded in his bath.
The child is in intensive care at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital suffering from "burns to the outside and inside of the body," the paper reports.
The boy was initially taken to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry.
There have been calls to remove the product, Paw Patrol Mouldable Foam Soap, from shop shelves following the incident.
There is still a lot of politics in Friday's papers but there is some movement away from the stricken talks process.
The News Letter tells us: "MLAs cost £10m since collapse of Stormont."
The paper has reckoned that MLAs have spent just 46 minutes in the Northern Ireland Assembly since January.
The News Letter calculates, however, that MLAs have cost a total of £10m in total since then.
We cannot give them full marks for this question, however, as they have not showed all their working out.
Speaking of costs, a former Stormont deputy speaker and former South Down MLA makes the front page of the Irish News.
Caitríona Ruane resigned her position as deputy speaker yesterday after it emerged that she was still receiving a salary for the role, which she said she donated to charity.
She remained as deputy speaker as no new deputy speaker had been elected due to the political impasse at Stormont.
The Belfast Telegraph tells its readers Ms Ruane lost her seat at the last election, in actual fact she did not stand.
The Telegraph reports TUV leader's Jim Allister's delight at the resignation ,for which he claims credit having brought the story to the attention of the media.
The story is mentioned in two of the four Northern Ireland daily papers but is not the lead story in any of them.
Both the News Letter and Irish News interpret Sinn Féin's response as its distancing itself from its former MLA.
Staying in the political world, the Irish News tells us in its lead that the "DUP is facing pressure to distance itself from loyalist paramilitaries after police revealed the scale of a probe into UDA activity in west Belfast".
The Irish News reports that a court has heard almost 30 people are being investigated by the PSNI in relation to the Shankill unit of the UDA (Ulster Defence Association).
The paper says this "follows weeks of controversy over the DUP's response to issues involving loyalist paramilitaries".
The DUP, however, issued a statement saying it did not endorse paramilitary activity of any kind and that there is "no place for any paramilitary organisation in our society".
The News Letter has a two-page feature on the murder of Paul Quinn.
The 21-year-old from Cullyhanna, County Armagh, was beaten to death in County Monaghan 10 years ago.
His family says he was murdered by the IRA and have called on those responsible to hand themselves in to "clear up your conscience".
The News Letter reports that there is considerable political anger with former Sinn Féin minister Conor Murphy, who appeared to label Mr Quinn "a criminal" following the murder.
He has faced calls ever since to "remove the slur".
The Belfast Telegraph also covers the anniversary of Mr Quinn's death and his family's call for justice.
The Telegraph's editorial calls for a power-sharing deal to restore Northern Ireland's political institutions in order to deal with problems in the health service.
In the News Letter's opinion pages, former rugby player and conservative politician, Trevor Ringland, writes that "Northern Ireland is actually as 'British as Finchley'... and it is also as 'Irish as Cork', referencing recent arguments over identity.
In non-political news, the Irish News reports that planners have been urged to stop development at Knock Iveagh, near Rathfriland, County Down.
It is feared that plans to build a 15m telecommunications mast on the hill could damage a Neolithic cairn. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-11981639 | The company behind a controversial waste treatment site in Derby has withdrawn its appeal against a decision to refuse planning permission.
Derby City Council refused to grant planning permission for Cyclamax to build a waste site on Raynesway, which is part of Derby's inner ring road.
The firm lodged an appeal which was due to be heard at a public inquiry next year.
But Cyclamax said it remains committed to building the plant.
The proposed facility at Raynesway would have processed 100,000 tonnes of waste a year.
Rick Twomey, technical director at Cyclamax, said: "Due to a redesign required to accommodate all the activities envisaged for the Raynesway Resource Park, Cyclamax have decided to withdraw the planning appeal but is still committed to Raynesway Resource Park and will explore submitting a new revised planning application in 2011." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7602107.stm | The Wrestler has won the coveted Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival.
The film stars Mickey Rourke as a has-been professional wrestler pitifully loath to throw in the towel. It marks Rourke's return from acting obscurity.
The Silver Lion for best director was won by Russia's Alexei German Jr for Paper Soldier.
Italy's Silvio Orlando and Dominique Blanc were winners in the best male and female categories respectively.
Orlando starred in Il Papa di Giovanna and Blanc was in L'Autre.
The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky, drew praise from critics and the public alike.
"I need to thank Mickey Rourke, for opening up his heart and soul for the camera, for trusting me and giving me the honour of reminding the world what a great talent he is," Aronofsky said after receiving the award.
Rourke congratulated the jury on making "the right decision".
"Darren could make other kind of movies if he wanted to, make a lot of money in the United States," Rourke said.
"I love and respect him because he doesn't compromise and he wants to make movies that are not that expensive, that have a lot of integrity."
Jury chair Wim Wenders said Rourke put in a "a truly heartbreaking performance".
The 11-day cinema showcase has been under fire for what some critics said was a generally weak selection of 21 films in the main competition.
It is often perceived as the unofficial start of the long run-in to the Oscars the following year, where Rourke is widely expected to be nominated in the best actor category. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/england/4436109.stm | Mr Oaten described the act as "rather annoying"
An election row has broken out after a Conservative candidate used a web address naming his Lib Dem rival.
Voters wanting to visit Winchester Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten's site by using markoaten.co.uk end up at Tory candidate George Hollingbery's site.
Mr Oaten called on Mr Hollingbery to cancel the "trick", which he condemned as "pretty pathetic".
Mr Hollingbery says he has just used "smart campaigning". Labour's Patrick Davies said it was a "piffling issue".
Mr Hollingbery said a third party had bought the domain name markoaten.co.uk and offered it to him for use.
Mr Oaten, the Lib Dems' home affairs spokesman, uses the domain name markoaten.com. He said: "It's a silly thing to do and rather annoying for people who are trying to find my website when they find they are looking at a Tory site.
"I guess they feel the only way anybody would visit their site was to trick them into it via mine.
"I would like my name back and I hope they cancel the trick as soon as possible. It is pretty pathetic."
Labour candidate Patrick Davies said of the row: "It is a matter of no consequence as far as I can see. People can play these silly games. It's a piffling issue."
But Mr Hollingbery said: "All it does is divert to my website and if someone does not like the Tories they can just type in markoaten.com.
"I just wanted to make sure that Lib Dem voters have a chance to see my views.
"If he gets really upset about it and he really thinks it appalling rather than smart campaigning I will devote it back." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/8595361.stm | World 800m champion Caster Semenya has vowed to return to athletics at a meeting in Zaragoza, Spain on 24 June.
The 19-year-old has not raced since winning her world title last year, when a controversy over her gender erupted.
Semenya has agreed to wait for gender-test results to be revealed after a previous comeback in March was blocked by Athletics South Africa (ASA).
Athletics' world governing body the IAAF is expected to reveal its long-awaited findings in early June.
The outcome of the tests was originally expected to be announced in November 2009, but the IAAF said in March that its investigation was not not yet complete.
"I have considered the request by ASA that I await the conclusion of the IAAF's processes by the beginning of June this year before I return to competitive athletics," she said.
"Together with my coach and agent, I have therefore decided that I will return to competitive athletics at the European Athletic Association meet to be held on 24 June in Zaragoza," said Semenya.
Semenya had previously indicated she may launch a legal challenge to ASA's decision and her treatment by the IAAF, claiming her "fundamental and human rights" had been breached.
"Since my victory in the female 800m event at the Berlin World Championships in August last year, I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being," she stated in March.
"Some of the occurrences leading up to, and immediately following, the Berlin World Championships have infringed on not only my rights as an athlete but also my fundamental and human rights, including my rights to dignity and privacy."
The South African also described the gender verification case as "a very simple matter".
"It is vital for my competitiveness, my well-being and for my preparations for events during the European summer that I measure my performance against other athletes," she said.
"I am of the firm view that there is no impediment to me competing in athletics competitions."
The gender verification tests were performed after Semenya's victory at the World Championships in Berlin in August 2009.
In January the IAAF had said Semenya was free to run competitively despite its ongoing investigation into her gender, but that was quickly contradicted by South African Olympic Committee president Gideon Sam who said she would not be eligible until the IAAF had made its ruling.
Semenya stormed to victory in the 800m final in a time of one minute, 55.45 seconds - 2.45 seconds faster than defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei, from Kenya, who finished second with Britain's Jenny Meadows winning the bronze. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-14785501 | Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch's young children, it has emerged.
Mr Blair was present last March when Mr Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife, Wendi Deng, were baptised.
The revelation comes in an interview with Ms Deng in a forthcoming issue of fashion magazine Vogue.
Tony Blair's office declined to comment on the report, which sheds new light on Mr Blair's ties with the media mogul.
Mr Blair, who is said to have been "robed in white" during the ceremony, is the godfather to Grace, the second youngest of Mr Murdoch's six children.
The nine-year-old was baptised with her younger sister Chloe, on the banks of the river Jordan, at the spot Jesus is said to have undergone the same ceremony, according to Vogue.
Photographs of the event, which took place a few weeks before the UK general election, were featured in Hello magazine, but Mr Blair's involvement was not revealed at the time.
Australian actors Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were named as godparents to the two children but there was no mention of the former Labour leader, whose presence at the ceremony has only now been revealed by Ms Deng in a rare interview.
In the Vogue article, Mr Blair is described as "one of Murdoch's closest friends".
When he was Labour leader Mr Blair angered many in the party, including former leader Neil Kinnock, who had been vilified by Mr Murdoch's Sun newspaper ahead of the 1992 general election, with his decision to woo Mr Murdoch.
The two struck up a friendship after he accepted an invitation to address a News Corporation conference on Hayman Island, Australia, in 1995, when Mr Blair was the leader of the opposition.
In his autobiography A Journey, Mr Blair describes how he came to like and admire the media mogul, despite his right wing, Eurosceptic views.
"He was hard no doubt. He was right wing. I did not share or like his attitudes on Europe, social policy or on issues like gay rights, but there were two points of connection: he was an outsider and he had balls," writes the former prime minister.
Wendi Deng made headlines round the world in July when she dramatically jumped to the defence of her husband, who was attacked by a foam pie-wielding protester as he gave evidence on phone hacking to the Commons culture committee.
In the Vogue interview, which took place before the select committee hearing, Ms Deng said the phone hacking scandal, was giving her sleepless nights.
She says: "Of course, as Rupert's wife, I think it's unfair on him to be going through this. I worry about him being alone.
"He has no PR people advising him. He tells me not to come but I'm flying to London for the hearing. I want to be with him."
Mr Murdoch's son James, who gave evidence to the committee alongside his father, faces the prospect of being recalled by MPs, after a key part of his testimony was questioned by former News of the World editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone.
Mr Myler and Mr Crone are due to be grilled on Tuesday by the culture committee on their version of events. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1648159.stm | The FBI has given its closest indication yet that it believes the anthrax outbreak originated at home rather than abroad.
In a rare glimpse into the investigation, agents say they have built up a psychological and linguistic profile of the culprit.
The announcement came as President George W Bush ordered security to be beefed up at airports for the holiday season, which begins with Thanksgiving on 22 November.
Tom Ridge, the US homeland security director, said on Wednesday he was "hopeful" that the anthrax outbreaks were over but another four postal facilities in New Jersey have since tested positive for the disease.
The FBI say they have not ruled out links with a terrorist organisation, but behavioural and linguistic evidence points to - as they put it - an opportunist of domestic origin.
At least three letters containing anthrax spores have been sent since the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington. Four people have died, two of them postal workers.
The letters were posted on 18 September and 9 October.
The FBI say the suspect is probably an adult male who may have referred to the US attacks in his messages only as a decoy.
He may have no more scientific knowledge than a lab technician and his equipment need not have cost more than $2,500.
He could have set it up in his garage, or in his attic.
He is, agents believe, a loner, someone not given to face-to-face confrontation, nor, as they put it, to speeding through stop signs. He is rational and methodical but "lacks the personal skills necessary to confront others".
BBC Washington correspondent Tim Franks says the FBI hopes that its detailed analysis of the culprit will prompt a friend or relative to tip them off.
The latest contaminated post offices - named as Palmer Square, Rocky Hill, Trenton Station E and Jackson - all send mail to a sorting centre which handled letters containing anthrax spores sent to Washington and New York.
US Postal Service spokesman Bob Anderson, who confirmed the finds, did not specify their origin or how fresh they were.
About 20 US post offices have tested positive for anthrax and thousands of postal workers have been put on preventive antibiotics since the outbreak began.
On Friday, President Bush ordered America's states to put an additional 2,000 National Guardsmen on guard at airports for the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday period.
He confirmed that 6,000 guardsmen had already been deployed at airports since the 11 September attacks.
Their duties include monitoring passengers and screening baggage, as well as guarding airport facilities.
"This increase in security will last through the busy holiday period ... and we believe they'll help a lot," said Mr Bush.
In another development, America's largest airport security company, Atlanta-based Argenbright, announced it was tightening its own procedures, including checks on staff.
"So far, 17 people have been diagnosed"
"It does not seem to be a new source of anthrax" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/6555225.stm | Arsenal moved up to third above Liverpool in the Premiership table after sinking hard-working Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.
Tomas Rosicky fired the Gunners into a 12th-minute lead when he slotted home Emmanuel Eboue's right wing cross.
But City hit back when DaMarcus Beasley finished well just before the break.
The visitors looked the better side early in the second half but were undone when Cesc Fabregas and Julio Baptista netted with two fine strikes.
Arsenal went into the game fresh from their victory over Bolton which ended their longest winless run of the season.
City were themselves hitting better form, having moved away from relegation danger thanks to a five-match unbeaten run.
But despite City boss Stuart Pearce setting his stall out by trying to get as many men behind the ball as possible, there was a sense of the inevitable when the Gunners made the early breakthrough.
Vassiriki Diaby dispossessed Darius Vassell with a crunching tackle and fed Eboue, whose whipped cross from the right was clinically despatched by Rosicky.
But despite losing Diaby minutes later to a head injury, Arsenal added even more firepower when Baptista was handed his chance by Arsene Wenger.
The Brazilian striker was soon in the thick of the action when he was fouled just outside the City penalty area by Richard Dunne.
Dunne, who was the visitors' stand-out player of the half, then blocked Baptista's subsequent 25-yard free-kick by heading over.
Fabregas saw a superb 30-yard strike well parried by City keeper Andreas Isaksson as the Gunners continued to pile on the pressure.
But totally against the run of play, City were level.
Jens Lehmann's weak clearance was intercepted by Joey Barton that enabled Michael Johnson to thread the ball in for Beasley to finish.
The goal lifted the visitors and they nearly went ahead in the 44th minute when Barton danced his way passed the Arsenal defence before forcing Lehmann to save well to his right.
City started the second half as they finished the first, with Arsenal looked rattled by some uncompromising tackling.
Rosicky and Fabregas, in particular, felt the force of two solid blocks as they looked ready to shoot.
Wenger's side nearly retook the lead when first Emmanuel Adebayor's effort was well saved by Isaksson and then Alexander Hleb flashed a left-footed strike just wide.
Adebayor was then denied twice inside three minutes - the first by a brilliant block from Sylvain Distin before Isaksson got down to keep out his powerful header.
But Arsenal's renewed pressure finally paid off in the 73rd minute when City's defending for once let them down.
They failed to clear their lines and Fabregas collected a loose ball just out the box before lashing home an unstoppable volley.
Beasley had the ball in the back of the net at the other end three minutes later but was ruled offside after lobbing Lehmann.
And City's brave resistance was finally ended when Hleb jinked his way into the penalty area and his cross was converted by Baptista.
"We didn't expect City to get back to 1-1 after we took the lead but we had to wait for the win.
"I think we deserved the victory as we created a lot of chances and when we got our second it made it easier because they had to change their shape.
"But now we must try to build on this and win as many points as we can."
"I thought the endeavour of the players was fantastic tonight and I was disappointed for them when they didn't get the result.
"It was touch a touch of brilliance, a really fantastic strike that got them get back in front after we equalised.
"Now I hope we can try to get 50 points before the end of the season."
Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Hleb, Fabregas (Denilson 85), Silva, Rosicky (Senderos 90), Diaby (Julio Baptista 30), Adebayor.
Goals: Rosicky 12, Fabregas 73, Julio Baptista 80.
Man City: Isaksson, Onuoha, Dunne, Distin (Corradi 78), Ball, Jihai (Samaras 78), Hamann, Barton, Johnson, Beasley, Vassell (Ireland 90).
Subs Not Used: Weaver, Trabelsi. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-42144231 | Police have suspended all contracts with a drug-testing company amid allegations of data manipulation.
Randox Testing Services (RTS) in Manchester was investigated after two scientists were arrested on suspicion of tampering with data.
Police minister Nick Hurd understands the RTS is no longer working for the National Police Chiefs' Council.
He said the firm was "co-operating" in retesting samples after the probe led to a review of more than 10,000 cases.
The council said forensic tests across 42 police forces, including rapes and murders, were being considered possibly unreliable and needed re-examining.
Mr Hurd told MPs: "The police have suspended all contracts as I understand it with Randox.
"Randox are co-operating with us fully on the priority, which is to identify the priority cases [and] get the retesting done as quickly as possible."
He also said the cases of alleged wrongdoing could go back to 2010.
Five people have also been interviewed under caution by Greater Manchester Police over the alleged manipulation by individuals working at an RTS site.
The alleged misconduct emerged earlier this year when a data anomaly in a drug-driving case was reported to RTS.
Potential data manipulation at a separate facility, Trimega Laboratories, is also being investigated.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott claimed the "scandal" "flowed directly" from the decision to privatise the industry.
Mr Hurd accused Ms Abbott of "trying to squeeze" the issue into a Labour narrative of "public good, private bad". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/251229.stm | The Britannia Building Society has chosen not to pursue the issue of former Trade Secretary Peter Mandelson's mortgage application any further.
The BBC's John Pienaar: "Peter Mandelson's political rehabilitation has begun"
The Britannia had been investigating whether the former trade secretary broke any rules when he filled in his mortgage application.
Mr Mandelson, who resigned from the government over the affair, took a �0,000 mortgage from the building society after receiving a loan of �3,000 from the former Paymaster General, Geoffrey Robinson.
Peter Mandelson: "I'm very pleased"
The building society announced on Friday it would not take the issue any further and the matter will not be referred to the police.
Mr Mandelson said, in a statement, he was "delighted" he had been given a "clean bill of health" by the building society.
The former Cabinet minister said the "intense speculation" about whether he had broken building society rules had contributed to the pressure on him to resign.
He said: "It is behind me now and I just want to get on with rebuilding my life and career."
The inquiry was prompted by concerns Mr Mandelson may have misled the society when applying for the mortgage on his home in Notting Hill, London, by failing to disclose details of the loan from Mr Robinson.
In his statement, Mr Mandelson said at no stage had he intended to mislead the building society or withhold information.
He said: "I have explained that throughout, my mortgage was not prejudiced by any other private arrangement to pay the balance of the purchase price.
"When I filled in the application form those other arrangements were not yet clear, but in whatever way it was to be finalised, the building society's interests were never jeopardised.
"Britannia have accepted this. They have made extensive inquiries and spent a great deal of time making sure everything is clear and above board and I respect their professionalism."
In a statement, the society's chief executive John Heaps said Mr Mandelson had written to the society.
He added: "Mr Mandelson has written to the society clarifying his present personal financial position.
"We responded as we would in any case where a member brought new information to our attention, reviewing the mortgage arrangement in accordance with our normal procedures, and there have been no special courtesies extended to Mr Mandelson.
"Having completed this review, I am satisfied that the information given to us at the time of the mortgage application was accurate."
The statement concluded: "Having regard to all the circumstances, I have therefore decided not to pursue the matter further with Mr Mandelson."
The low-interest loan from Mr Robinson to his colleague was revealed before Christmas. Both Mr Mandelson and Mr Robinson resigned within hours of each other on 23 December.
The affair claimed a third scalp earlier this week with the decision by Chancellor Gordon Brown's press secretary Charlie Whelan to resign. Although many believed he had behind the revelations about the loan, he denied leaking the story.
The former minister would have been required to give Britannia details of all loan agreements when he applied for the mortgage.
Questioned at the time of his resignation, Mr Mandelson said he could not remember exactly what he had put on the application form.
Tory party chairman Michael Ancram told BBC Radio 4's The World At One "many unanswered questions remain".
He said: "The real question is if all this was perfect and above board, why did these resignations take place."
Mr Ancram repeated the Conservative's calls for more information about who else in government Mr Robinson had bankrolled. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-47896786 | Faster treatment could have saved the life of a 78-year-old woman who waited more than nine hours for an ambulance, a coroner has said.
Diana Gudgeon died on 25 May 2018, two days after calling 111 with symptoms of a water infection and sepsis.
A Northampton coroner has raised concerns over how her emergency call was graded and an ambulance shortage.
East Midlands Ambulance Service said it was recruiting more staff to plug the "fundamental gap" in its resources.
Northampton assistant coroner Hassan Shah issued the Regulation 28 report, intended to prevent future deaths, to the non-emergency 111 and ambulance services.
He said Mrs Gudgeon had "collapsed, passed out, been confused and had been vomiting" when she called 111, which passed her call to the EMAS call centre.
"These are signs of central nervous/neurological problems but were not regarded as urgent," wrote Mr Shah.
Mrs Gudgeon's first call was categorised as requiring a 120-minute response.
A nurse called at 23:42 BST and was told Mrs Gudgeon may be suffering from a urinary tract infection but the call was not escalated.
The ambulance service was dealing with a high volume of calls and had activated its "capacity management plan", but it did not lead to extra resources.
A single responder arrived at Mrs Gudgeon's home at 04:50 the following morning, and a double-crewed ambulance at 06:28.
Paramedics recognised signs of infection and sepsis and she was taken to Northampton General Hospital, arriving at 07:10. She died of multi-organ failure two days later.
Mr Shah's report highlighted that an intensive care consultant said earlier antibiotic treatment "may have saved her life".
EMAS said its fleet was short by six double-crewed ambulances and four fast-response vehicles at the time.
Mick Jones, a service delivery manager at the ambulance service, said more than 200 new frontline recruits had been made since new funding was granted by commissioners last year, with the same number expected in 2019-20.
"We know this comes too late for Mrs Gudgeon and her family and deeply regret this," he said. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/20/default.stm | The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is killed in a car bomb attack in Madrid.
The Queen has urged the Prince and Princess of Wales to seek "an early divorce".
President George Bush orders the invasion of Panama but US troops fail to capture dictator Manuel Noriega.
More than five million council house tenants in Britain are to be given the right to buy their home.
A desperate search is underway for eight members of a life boat crew missing feared dead.
The United Nations General Assembly elects Yugoslavia to the hotly-contested temporary seat on the Security Council. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6337759.stm | A new pay structure for teachers will ensure part-time teachers are paid for all the hours they put in.
The recommendations will see part-time teachers receive the same contractual conditions as full-time colleagues.
This means the 93,000 part-time teachers in England and Wales will be paid for work done outside class, such as marking and lesson preparation.
The proposed changes to teachers' pay and conditions were announced by the Education Secretary, Alan Johnson.
The recommendations, based on advice from the independent School Teachers' Review Body (STRB), are designed to make sure teachers' wages "remain competitive and attract the best candidates".
The plans include financial incentives for teachers who complete accredited qualifications in priority subjects and increasing use of existing local "flexibilities" to reward teachers.
Teachers who progress along incremental pay scales must have a performance management review and a teacher's performance must satisfy explicit performance-related criteria.
Mr Johnson said: "Teaching is both a challenging and rewarding job and it's right that we recognise this in the pay and conditions that we give them.
"We have increased pay by 18% in real terms since 1997 to reflect this.
"It is vital that we continue to offer a competitive package in a strong economy."
The recommendations were welcomed by the Association of School and College Leaders.
"The proposals will contribute to the further development of performance management in schools and to the internal consistency of the teachers' pay scheme," said general secretary Dr John Dunford.
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "We will now have parity of pay and conditions for part-time teachers.
"Thousands of part-time teachers will now have access to all the contractual conditions of their full-time colleagues and there will be a standard national formula for calculating their pay."
The National Union of Teachers said the unions' campaign for fair treatment of part-time and supply teachers was "paying off".
But the Association of Teachers and Lecturers was less enthusiastic.
"We have still got a long way to go to achieve fair and transparent pay and conditions for all teachers," said general secretary, Dr Mary Bousted.
"We also need much a much clearer and more precise statement of teachers' professional duties with an emphasis on teachers teaching and learning, as the current statement is out of date and no longer fit for purpose." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/1388647.stm | Click here to have your say on West Ham's new manager.
West Ham supporters have organised a demonstration at the club's Upton Park ground following the appointment of Glenn Roeder as boss.
The disgruntled fans are unhappy with Roeder as the choice to replace Harry Redknapp.
But supporter Colin Scriven told BBC Sport Online their concerns run deeper.
"I have received countless numbers of e-mails from supporters," he said.
"We are demonstrating purely out of frustration with the board and expect to have a much more organised demo in the coming weeks."
Roeder has promised to win over the disillusioned fans after being handed the managerial reins.
He was the surprise choice after the Hammers failed to land chief targets Steve McClaren and Alan Curbishley.
His appointment sparked anger among West Ham fans, who flooded BBC Sport Online with e-mails hitting out at the club's board of directors.
As one fan put it, supporters have been totally underwhelmed by the decision.
"I was looking forward to the appointment of someone who could take the club a step further," said Jason Becker.
He added: "I am horrified that the club think Glenn Roeder has the credentials to do this. I was happy to see Redknapp go - now I want him back."
Mark C of Horsham sarcastically quipped: "As a lifelong Hammer, I'll support whatever decisions the club makes, no matter how short-sighted, unambitious, half-baked and ill-conceived they are.
"West Ham have obviously been able to attract the level of talent that matches the infrastructure and ambition within the club. Lord help us all."
The board came in for widespread criticism from a number of fans, including David Williams who said: "This is a totally underwhelming appointment. "We arrogantly assumed that Curbishley would join us at the drop of a hat and he chose Charlton. The Board had better be prepared for the ramifications. The fans' patience will last all of three games."
But Roeder, who was sacked from both of his previous managerial posts at Gillingham and Watford, was quick to hit back.
"I understand the fans and I accept what they are saying.
"I have got to prove as quickly as I can I am the man for the job, and I'm sure I can change their minds and do that, particularly with good backroom staff behind me."
Roeder is expected to have �15m to spend on new players after the �11m sale of Frank Lampard goes through.
That will also enable him to buy some time with the fans, though Roeder again pleaded for patience.
"Unfortunately, other clubs I will be trying to buy from now have an idea of what I have to spend," he said.
The new Hammers boss added: "It makes it very important for me to invest the money wisely and improve the team.
"Hopefully we will have two or three players in by the start of the season." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/7891120.stm | A pilot was injured when his microlight aircraft crashed at an airfield in Berkshire.
The plane came down at Brimpton Airfield, Wasing Lane, Aldermaston, on Saturday afternoon.
The pilot was trapped for more than an hour while emergency crews from Berkshire and Hampshire worked to cut him free from the wreckage.
He was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he is said to be in a stable condition.
A Brimpton Airfield spokesman said the microlight was carrying out "routine flying procedures within the recognised circuit of the airfield" before the crash.
"During one of these procedures, when the aircraft was climbing away from the airfield, the aircraft appeared to lose height and banked to the left," he said.
"At this point, the aircraft continued to lose height and crashed.
"The pilot was treated by airfield members until the arrival of emergency services." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3407781.stm | It must be every drinker's dream and it has now become a reality, at least if you believe the manufacturer.
Keep young and beautiful by drinking beer - that is what Bavarian entrepreneur Helmut Fricher is promising.
Anti-ageing beer was presented to the world at a German agricultural fair this week - a drink which the brewer says will bring body and soul into harmony.
But the new wonder drink may fall foul of Germany's oldest valid law, the Beer Purity Regulation.
The anti-ageing beer that Mr Fricher presented to the Green Week trade fair in Berlin is supposed to help strengthen the immune system and make you feel good in a way that other beers just do not.
It is brewed in the normal way, but then key ingredients are added.
There is spirulina algae, which, as the German version of Men's Health magazine notes, is well known to health fanatics as an extra source of minerals.
Another key element is the protein flavonoid, which is supposed to work against cancer.
But this great hope for health-conscious beer lovers has encountered a legal problem.
The Reinheitsgebot, the world's oldest valid law, dating from 1516, states strictly that beer can contain only four ingredients: hops, barley, yeast and water.
A court hearing in the next few days is likely to order Mr Fricher to rename the product. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/3581544.stm | Sections of the South West Coast Path near Boscastle in Cornwall have been closed because of flood damage.
The decision has been taken by rangers working for the county council's Countryside Service.
The council says the Boscastle and St Genny's sections of the path will be shut until further notice.
Local people and holidaymakers are being urged to use alternative routes between Bude and Tintagel instead of the Coastal Path.
The force of the floodwater on Monday caused major ditches to be opened up along the footway.
Trees were uprooted and 14 bridges in the area were washed away.
The council estimates the damage will cost more than £250,000 to put right.
Countryside Service Land Access Manager Mike Eastwood says they are making it a high priority to fix the damage caused.
Meanwhile, residents have power again thanks to the Army which flew in emergency generators on Thursday evening.
The Army has also lent firefighters special equipment to detect all of the cars that remain submerged in the village's harbour.
On Thursday, the overall command of the post-disaster operation at Boscastle was handed to North Cornwall District Council by Devon and Cornwall Police.
Fire crews remain at the scene, helping residents who need to inspect the extent of the damage to their properties.
One year after the devastating deluge, how is the village coping? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-17006924 | "We're quite happy to talk about what is inappropriate belief when it comes to terrorism or paedophilia," said African studies expert Dr Richard Hoskins.
"But when it comes to fundamentalist religious belief affecting child protection, we don't seem to want to talk about it."
Dr Hoskins, who gave evidence at the trial of a couple who have been convicted for brutally torturing and killing a teenager in their east London flat, is among experts and charities calling for more to be done to tackle the problem of child abuse linked to witchcraft.
Eric Bikubi, 28, and Magalie Bamu, 29, from Newham, east London, have been found guilty at the Old Bailey of killing 15-year-old Kristy Bamu on Christmas Day 2010.
"What happened to Kristy is horrendous and scandalous," said Dr Hoskins.
"We've got to take action because I'd hate to think a child in our capital goes through anything like this ever again."
Scotland Yard said it had conducted 83 investigations into faith-based child abuse in the past decade. They include other high-profile cases such as Victoria Climbie in 2000 and the headless torso of "Adam", a five or six-year-old boy, which was found in the Thames in 2001.
Child abuse linked to belief in witchcraft is a growing phenomenon, according to evidence submitted to the Commons Select Committee's current inquiry into child protection. The government has said it is due to publish an action plan to tackle faith-based child abuse later this year.
Bikubi and Bamu were originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where witchcraft - called Kindoki - is practised in some churches.
In 2010 Unicef reported 20,000 children accused of witchcraft were living on the streets of DR Congo capital Kinshasa.
However, Dr Hoskins said the Newham incident went way beyond any accepted practices in the DR Congo.
"What happened in the flat was feral," he said.
"It was the most ferocious onslaught.
"It's pretty inconceivable two people could do that for five days in Kinshasa - there is a community glue in place.
"But in London it is very easy to be anonymous and hidden."
The police investigation found Bikubi visited a number of African churches in north London.
Debbie Ariyo, the head of the charity Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (Afruca), said a belief in witchcraft in the UK was "endorsed by various African churches, putting children at risk".
"If you look at how fast new African churches have grown since 2005, it's quite astonishing," she said.
2000 - Five year old Victoria Climbie died after being tortured in 2000 in Haringey, north London. Experts later linked the case to a belief in spirit possession.
2001 - The torso of a five or six-year-old boy "Adam" was found floating in the River Thames. Officers believe his death was a ritualistic killing and he had been poisoned.
2005 - Sita Kisanga convicted of aiding and abetting cruelty to eight-year-old "Child B" who was beaten, cut and had chilli rubbed in her eyes in a flat in Hackney, east London, because she was thought to be a witch.
"One of the key beliefs of these churches is in witches and exorcising them."
She said Afruca had worked with dozens of churches to improve their policies and practices.
"But we have churches who preach witchcraft - and this can lead to inciting people to harm children," she added.
"Dozens of rogue churches don't want to change their practices. Small churches can be hidden away in a living room or a garage."
Some churches are held in public centres, including leisure centres and school halls, and "no-one knows what's going on," she added.
Ms Ariyo said financial profit motivated some of these churches.
"The idea is to extort money from parents because if your child is branded a witch you will need to exorcise that child," she said.
There is currently no obligation for faith organisations to register with the Charity Commission or any other organisation in the UK, something which Ms Ariyo said needed changing.
However, the government said regulation would not change the behaviour of such churches and it was working with "faith and community leaders" and child protection charities to "improve awareness and understanding in different faiths and communities about child safeguarding".
Afruca has also been campaigning to prosecute those who verbally brand children as witches.
Dr Hoskins said he agreed this should happen.
"When the first prosecution happens because someone is being accused of telling a child they're possessed, then we'll know action's happening," he added.
"For every case that we hear about there are at least 10 others," he said.
Ms Ariyo said there was a "lack of adequate training for police officers" to detect these abuse cases.
Scotland Yard set up Project Violet in 2004 to tackle faith-related child abuse.
Det Supt Terry Sharpe, who heads the project, said they knew it was an "under-reported crime" and the Metropolitan Police would be training officers better over such issues.
"Officers are now encouraged to consider not just the immediate family, but also the extended family and wider faith, culture or community links," he added.
However, some campaigners said they believed the fundamental problem was that politicians did not want to tackle the issue because they thought it would be too racially sensitive.
"There isn't the commitment by the government to bring this thing wide open," said John Azah, chairman of the British Federation of Race Equality Councils.
"They are too scared of being accused of racism."
The Department for Education (DfE) insisted it was a matter it was taking seriously.
A spokeswoman said: "Over the past year, voluntary, faith and community organisations, the Metropolitan Police, Association of Directors of Children's Services and the London Safeguarding Children Board have been working with the government on proposals to tackle faith-based child abuse.
"The proposals will be shared with a wider group of professionals, voluntary sector organisations, faith and community groups to build on what has been developed so far." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34312606 | With a view of a shimmering stream and the words: "It's tingling fresh," Britain was introduced to its first television advert on ITV's launch night exactly 60 years ago. Brian Palmer, who made the ad, explains how it came about - and why commercials were so controversial.
The ad's opening shot zoomed in to show a toothbrush and a tube of Gibbs SR toothpaste apparently encased in a block of ice, before a model demonstrated her brushing prowess and a bar chart warned of the dangers of gum disease.
It looks primitive now, but was revolutionary in the UK at the time. And it was highly contentious, with some politicians and grandees warning that TV adverts would somehow debase society.
Brian Palmer, a 26-year-old advertising executive at the time, had no such qualms.
Did you know what would work on TV and what wouldn't?
None of us knew very much about it at all. It's hard to imagine now, but it was completely new to England.
The only thing we had to guide us was the way they did it in America, which was actually rather different because they had sponsored programmes and we only had spot ads. So I had a minute to try and tell a little story that would persuade people to buy toothpaste.
Didn't it contain the first advertising trick - the block of ice in the close-ups wasn't actually ice?
That's true, because it melted in the lights. The lights they used in those days were very hot indeed, and in close-up the block of ice would have melted very quickly. So in the close-ups we used a plastic block. We didn't really know what we were doing, and to some extent we were learning on the job, and so were the technicians.
Did you know it was going to be the first advert?
No I didn't. Our clients were Unilever and they had booked quite a lot of advertisements in the first night, but you couldn't book specific spots at that time. The order was drawn out of a hat, I believe, so it was pure chance.
Where did you watch it?
I was one of the very few people in England with a television set. I had not long been married and I had a little flat in Notting Hill Gate and gathered a few friends and colleagues to watch the first night of commercial television.
And imagine my surprise when suddenly there was this starburst on the screen and it was my ad. I was thrilled to bits. I was completely amazed - and a bit frightened. Would it be all right?
Did toothpaste sales rocket up as a result?
I'm not sure they rocketed up, because not many people had ITV in those days. Not many people had television at all. But yes, it did have a favourable effect on sales.
Were you convinced by the power of television as an advertising medium?
Very much so. I bet my career on it because, when it was first mooted about a year before, I said to my ultimate boss that I'd like to specialise in that medium.
My immediate boss, who was a great friend, said: "Brian, I think you're crazy. It will never be a major medium." But I believed very much and still believe that it was and is an enormously powerful medium.
Was there a debate over whether TV advertising was a good thing?
There was a tremendous debate. It was terribly attacked. Even a Labour MP said it was disgraceful because it would make people want things that they couldn't afford. You have no idea of the intensity of the debate. It really was very controversial.
How does the ad compare to modern TV adverts?
It looks like a slide presentation today. It's slow, it's a bit ponderous, and it has none of the attributes that we've come to accept in modern advertising, and in modern television.
The attention span of the audience today is much shorter and the terms of reference are much wider. We had to either straightforwardly explain what we were trying to do or try to entertain people into being interested.
What do you think of adverts today?
Because the media has become so fragmented, the ads have become very specialised in lots of ways. A lot of them are not meant for me, and I don't understand them. They've got references to films I haven't seen or celebrities I don't know about. So I find a lot of advertising quite hard to understand.
Do you have a favourite TV advert?
It would be the one for Volkswagen where it's a terrible snowy day, and, suddenly, out of the snow, you hear a car starting up and it emerges as a Volkswagen. The line is: "Do you ever think how the man who drives the snow-plough gets to the snow-plough?" |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32825211 | The body of a New Zealand hiker has been formally identified, more than 40 years after he disappeared.
David Erik Moen was 19 when he was caught in an avalanche on the Tasman Glacier, in South Island's Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, in 1973.
It was not until earlier this year that his remains were found, and his identity confirmed through DNA testing.
Mr Moen's family paid tribute to a "great outdoorsman" whose loss "was felt enormously by us and his friends".
"We cannot put into words what it feels like to have David returned to us after all this time but we are taken back to when he first went missing in 1973," they said in a statement.
"David's spirit still remains in the beautiful, peaceful environment which claimed the life of a wonderful and dearly loved young man in the prime of his life," they added.
David Moen had been out climbing with a friend in September 1973 when they were swept away by a wall of snow.
The body of the friend was found, alongside David Moen's bag.
But Mr Moen's body remained undiscovered for 42 years until it was found, in what local media described as a "well-preserved" state, by two climbers in February this year.
Another set of human remains was found at the nearby Hochstetter Glacier in March, but police have yet to make an identification. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-47317743 | A man who murdered a Teesside grandmother of six by smothering her following a row has been jailed.
Paul Plunkett killed his partner Barbara Davison, 66, at her home in William Street, Redcar, on 15 August.
He had previously been jailed for manslaughter after strangling a girlfriend in 1995.
At Teesside Crown Court, the 62-year-old, of Station Road, pleaded guilty to Ms Davison's murder. He must serve a minimum of 23 years.
The court was told the killings had "haunting similarities".
In a statement released after his sentencing, Ms Davison's family said Plunkett was "a lying manipulative evil coward who will never face up to what he has done and the lives he has ruined".
"No sentence will ever bring our mam back," the statement continued.
"Even changing his plea to guilty is a coward's way out so he doesn't have to listen to the truth. He could have pleaded guilty [on] day one but chose to drag it out.
"He's denied six grandchildren of the love and caring they had with their gran."
Det Insp Darren Birkett, of Cleveland Police, said Plunkett's admission of guilt before the trial did "nothing to bring Barbara back or ease the devastating loss felt by her family".
He added: "Plunkett is a danger to women and will now likely spend the rest of his life in prison." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2611207.stm | A 27-year-old Londoner has become the youngest ever Briton to reach the South Pole on foot.
Adventurer Tom Avery suffered frostbite to his face during the 702-mile expedition, which ended with a final 31-hour trek.
After reaching his goal he said: "Coming to the South Pole is a dream I have had since I was around eight years old, and to finally achieve it is indescribable."
Mr Avery was part of a team which also included Patrick Woodhead - who is just one month older.
They began the trek 100 years after Captain Scott's first expedition to the Antarctic.
Mr Avery, who works for a ski company, and Mr Woodhead, a television production assistant, battled exhaustion, 30 mph Antarctic winds and temperatures plunging as low as minus 30C.
The British Centenary Expedition also includes Canadian Paul Landry, 45, and South African Andrew Gerber, 28, who has become the first South African to make it to the South Pole.
Speaking by satellite telephone Mr Avery said the team had pitched a tent around 20 yards from the Pole.
"It really hasn't sunk in yet," he said.
"We have just got the tent up and put our feet up, so we're all very well.
"We have gone through the night without sleep so we are pretty bushed."
Mr Avery said weather conditions were "pleasant" for the final stretch of the expedition.
Before walking the last few miles to the South Pole he said: "There is not much wind, a few clouds and a temperature of around minus 20C."
His father Julian, 57, said: "This has been an aim of his for many, many years and I think Scott and Shackleton have really been his heroes."
Mr Avery said that in June 2000 Tom led an expedition to mountains in Kyrgyzstan, and named two previously unscaled peaks after his mother, Quenelda, and the expedition's patron, Ranulph Fiennes.
The four men began their journey from the Hercules Inlet in the Chilean Antarctic on 17 November.
It followed months of intensive training, including mountaineering in New Zealand.
They will now be picked up by a twin-engine Otter aircraft and taken back to their base camp at Patriot Hills in the Antarctic.
The team have skied to their goal, pulling sleds loaded with equipment and supplies weighing over 100lbs.
They hope to raise �500,000 for children's charities and The Prince's Trust.
"He became the youngest Briton to reach the South Pole on foot"
"I feel very relieved to finally be at the South Pole" |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18038650 | A World War II RAF fighter, which crash-landed in a remote part of the Egyptian desert in 1942, has been discovered almost intact.
There was no trace of the pilot, Flt Sgt Dennis Copping, but the British embassy says it is planning to mount a search for his remains.
The RAF Museum in Hendon, north London, says it is hoping to recover the plane as soon as possible.
There are fears souvenir hunters will start stripping it.
The 24-year-old pilot, the son of a dentist from Southend in Essex, went missing over the Western Desert in June 1942, flying an American-made P40 Kittyhawk single-engine fighter.
Two-and-a-half months ago an aircraft believed to be his was discovered near a remote place called Wadi al-Jadid by a Polish oil worker, Jakub Perka.
His photographs show the plane is in remarkably good condition, though the engine and propeller have separated from the fuselage.
The original paintwork and RAF insignia are said to be clearly visible, almost perfectly preserved in the dry desert air.
But of the pilot there is no sign. He appears to have executed a near-perfect emergency landing, perhaps after becoming lost and running out of fuel, and to have survived the crash.
He rigged a parachute as an awning and removed the aircraft's radio and batteries but then apparently walked off into the desert in search of help.
Almost 100 miles from the nearest settlement, he stood virtually no chance.
David Keen, an aviation historian at the RAF Museum, says the pilot broke the first rule of survival in the desert, which is to stay with your plane or vehicle.
But the very same conditions which made the pilot's prospects so bleak have helped preserve the plane.
Mr Keen says of the many thousands of aircraft which were shot down or crashed during the Second World War, very few survive in anything like this condition.
He said: "Nearly all the crashes in the Second World War, and there were tens of thousands of them, resulted on impact with the aircraft breaking up, so the only bits that are recovered are fragments, often scattered over a wide area.
"What makes this particular aircraft so special is that it looks complete, and it survived on the surface of the desert all these years. It's like a timewarp."
The RAF Museum has a P40 Kittyhawk on display, but it has been put together from parts of many different aircraft.
Recovering Flt Sgt Copping's plane will not be easy.
It is in a part of the desert which is not only remote but also dangerous, because it is close to a smuggling route between Libya and Egypt.
The defence attache at the British Embassy in Cairo, Paul Collins, says he is hoping to travel to the area in the near future, but is waiting for permission from the Egyptian army.
He told the BBC: "I have to go down there. This is a serviceman who was killed, albeit 70 years ago. We have a responsibility to go and find out whether it's his plane, though not necessarily to work out what happened.
"He went missing in action. We can only assume he got out and walked somewhere, so we have to do a search of the area for any remains, although it could be a wide area.
"But we have to go soon as all the souvenir hunters will be down there," said Mr Collins.
He said the British authorities are trying to find out whether Flt Sgt Copping has any surviving close relatives, because if his remains are found a decision will need to be made about what to do with them. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46779779 | The carnage in a house where five men were attacked by a gang with baseball bats was like a scene from the Troubles, a woman has said.
A gang forced their way into the house at Hollybank Drive, Newtownabbey, at about 20:20 GMT on Sunday and beat the occupants, who are Romanian.
The woman who went to their aid said there was blood and glass everywhere.
She said she saw teenage boys who were very frightened and a man was bleeding on the floor with severe head injuries.
Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime. One man was taken to hospital.
"When I went in, every window was smashed, the house was wrecked. The bathroom and toilet had been kicked in, there was blood everywhere, glass everywhere and wee teenage boys were upstairs in the back room, really really frightened," the woman, who does not wish to be named, said.
"In the main bedroom, a man aged 28 or 29 was lying on the floor with severe head injuries. He had been beaten with a baseball bat on his leg and it looked like it was broken.
"He had a dislocated or broken shoulder. It looked like a bullet or stab wound to his shoulder. His head was bleeding very badly. He was crying and really in shock."
The scene was horrific, she said.
"It was unbelievable. The last time I remember seeing something like that was during the Troubles.
"It was really, really frightening for all the neighbours and the elderly. It was a horrific scene, not something I ever want to see again."
"People are shocked and disgusted at the thought of somebody being really badly injured."
SDLP councillor Noreen McClelland said it was a vicious attack.
"Under no uncertain terms can such a brutal attack be justified," she said.
"There is no place for violence in our society and those who are responsible for this assault must face the full force of the law. " |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7805191.stm | One of the most famous sites in Hinduism, the Pashupatinath Temple in Nepal, has experienced a significant break with tradition.
Its prayers always used to be led by high caste, Brahmin priests recruited from south India.
But now they have been replaced by local priests - ending centuries of tradition and long-held rituals.
The development can be seen as a reflection of wider changes that have swept Nepal over the past year.
The Pashupatinath Temple sits on a sacred river on the edge of Kathmandu.
The complex rises up from the bank amid a mass of pagoda-style buildings. Pilgrims and holy men climb the steps between them.
They perform prayers and make offerings to the gods as smoke from funeral pyres rises into the air.
The temple moves to ancient rhythms. And one of its many traditions has been to recruit its priests from Brahmins from far-away south India. No more though.
For the first time in nearly 250 years, the south Indians have been replaced by local, Nepali priests.
It used to be that the temple authorities would appoint its priests in conjunction with the king - and he was always happy to maintain the link with south India.
But the new power in Nepal is the Maoist party. And earlier this year, it swept away the monarchy.
This made the Maoist prime minister a patron of the temple. Although the government is saying nothing, it is widely believed that the decision to employ local priests is a result of the new, Maoist influence.
The fiercely secular communists would have few qualms about dispensing with the services of the south Indian Brahmins.
And the Maoists would be aware that there has long been some resentment among ordinary Nepalis that foreigners have always presided over the temple's rituals.
This has been a year of huge and historic change in Nepal.
The Maoists have been ready to set aside some very deeply rooted traditions, and now that mood seems to have made itself felt even within the walls of the famous old temple. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4015231.stm | The new Band Aid single has received its world premiere on BBC Radio 1.
Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid 20, was broadcast at 0800 GMT during the Chris Moyles Breakfast show on Tuesday.
The song, featuring artists including Bono, Coldplay's Chris Martin and Dido, is a remake of the 1984 original.
The new version features a reworked chorus, rapping from Dizzee Rascal, guitar riffs from The Darkness, and Martin on the piano.
The single will raise money for food aid in Darfur, Sudan, when it is commercially released on 29 November.
Bono was persuaded by Bob Geldof to perform the powerful line "Well, tonight thank God it's them instead of you" after singing it on the 1984 original.
The U2 frontman returned from Ireland to record the new rendition and said he took a different approach to his first "raw" contribution.
His version was used instead of one recorded by Justin Hawkins from The Darkness.
Will Young, who duetted with R&B star Jamelia on the single, told the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show recording the song had been an "emotional" experience.
He said: "We all got into the studio and it was slightly overwhelming to see everyone in there together.
"But then Bob Geldof showed us a video of what it was like 20 years ago for children and their parents in Africa.
"Everyone was in tears but it focussed us on why we were there. Suddenly we realised there was a point to it all."
The video, which premieres on BBC One this Thursday, features stars including Joss Stone, Jamelia, and Busted, who also took part in the recording sessions at the weekend.
The single will be titled Band Aid 20 to mark the 20th anniversary of the original song, which involved stars such as George Michael, Duran Duran and Phil Collins.
It was organised by Geldof after he saw news footage of the starving in Ethiopia, and sold more than 3.5 million copies in the UK alone.
The funds from Band Aid 20 will mainly go to fighting famine in Africa, particularly in the war-ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur.
But the World Development Movement - which campaigns for international development - said many of the song lyrics were "patronising, false and out of date".
The organisation condemned the "negative stereotypes" depicted in the song and regretted it did not "provide a more accurate reflection of Africa and its problems".
Director of WDM, Mark Curtis, said: "The song perpetuates the myth that Africa's problems can somehow be blamed on lack of rainfall and failed harvests.
"It conjures up an image of a continent inhabited entirely by starving children with flies on their faces sitting in the sunbaked bed of a dried up stream."
But the organisation added that it did not want to discourage people from buying the record.
Sold on CD for £3.99 and also available as a download, the new version is hot favourite to be Christmas number one in the UK this year.
Retailers expect to sell about 500,000 copies in its first week on sale.
Woolworths and Virgin Megastores will give their proceeds to the Band Aid Trust charity.
Dido - And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy. Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time.
Robbie Williams - But say a prayer, Pray for the other ones. At Christmas time it's hard, but when you're having fun.
Sugababes - There's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear.
Group of 10 and Joss Stone - Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
Joss Stone and Justin Hawkins - Do they know it's Christmas time at all? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4052971.stm | Worries over the political situation have sparked a run on Ukraine's banks, the country's central bank has said.
"Politicians started making political statements and people got scared," said central bank chief Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
"And now we can see that in a few regions of Ukraine, people are withdrawing their deposits."
Mr Yatsenyuk said the bank would strive to meet the demand for cash, and insisted that the financial system was still functioning correctly.
Until Monday morning, Mr Yatsenyuk refused to admit that Ukraine's week-long political crisis had any serious financial ramifications. On Friday, he told reporters that the banking system was above political conflicts and was operating "like a Swiss watch".
But earlier on Monday, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma warned that cash was running out.
"A few more days and the financial system could fall apart like a house of cards," he said.
"Neither the president nor the government can be held responsible for this... The government cannot work in a normal fashion."
Credit-rating agency Moody's said it viewed "with caution" the situation, and might downgrade its assessment of the country's creditworthiness if matters did not improve.
There is increasing evidence of economic disruption during the past week.
According to local media reports, the country's foreign trade revenue is falling by some $4m per day, and there are warnings that a shortage of hard currency could soon hit the state budget.
The number of freight lorries entering the country has reportedly dropped to one third of its usual level.
The central bank has spent some $400m of its $10bn reverves in defending the hryvnya, which is coming under pressure as savers exchange their cash into dollars and euros.
Establishing a true picture is difficult, however: backers of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych are keen to spark fears of economic crisis, since their popular base is the industrialised and trade-dependent east of the country.
The government has warned that miners' wages may soon be disrupted, something likely to cause agitation among the most militant and influential Yanukovych supporters. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38022380 | A British tourist has become the third person this week to die on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
The 60-year-old man was scuba diving at Agincourt Reef in Far North Queensland when he was seen to be in trouble, tour operator Quicksilver said.
The tourist, a certified diver, was helped to the surface but could not be revived.
It comes after two French tourists died while snorkelling on the reef at Michaelmas Cay on Wednesday.
They are both believed to have suffered cardiac arrests.
Paramedics were alerted to the latest tragedy just after 12.30 local time (01:30 GMT) on Friday.
"CPR was performed on a male patient in his sixties by a nurse on board a vessel and subsequently by a doctor," a Queensland Ambulance spokeswoman said.
The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators (AMPTO) said the alarm was raised when the diver was spotted without a regulator in his mouth 15m (49ft) below sea level on the ocean floor.
"We're not sure as to what has happened at this stage," a Quicksilver spokeswoman said.
The man was travelling with his wife. It was his second dive of the day from a boat called Silver Sonic.
AMPTO executive director Col McKenzie said the boat was carrying oxygen and defibrillation equipment and had operated for 11 years without serious incident.
"Accidents like this are a tragedy for the surviving family members, the crew and the passengers," he said.
Agincourt Reef is about 100km (62 miles) north of the city of Cairns, and about 60km north of Michaelmas Cay.
Will the Great Barrier Reef be gone in 35 years? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12498249 | Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin have left the capitol to try to slow a bill aimed at curtailing public employees' collective bargaining rights.
Wisconsin teachers, prison guards and others crowded into the capitol to protest against the Republican bill.
They described it as an attack on workers' livelihoods.
Republicans in Washington DC and state capitals have moved to cut government spending this year, including on public worker pay, in a bid to curb deficits.
The legislation had been expected to pass the Republican-led Wisconsin state legislature on Thursday.
But Wisconsin Senate rules require 20 senators to be present for a quorum; Republicans hold 19 seats and the Democrats 14. Senate Democrats did not show up for the session, and aides told reporters they did not know where the legislators had gone.
The Democratic senators said they would not return before Saturday.
Democratic Senator Jon Erpenbach said Democrats had left to slow down the bill in the hope of forcing Republican Governor Scott Walker and Republican legislators to negotiate.
"What we're trying to do is get the governor to sit down and at least try to talk with people who have some issues with what he's trying to do," said Mr Erpenbach told a Wisconsin radio station over the telephone from Chicago.
"This isn't about the money. This is all about the collective bargaining rights that the governor wants to take away from the unions."
Mr Walker, meanwhile, called on the Democrats to return.
"The state senators who are hiding out down in Illinois should show up for work, have their say, have their vote, add their amendments," he told CBS news on Friday, "but in the end, we've got a $3.6bn (£2.23bn) budget deficit we've got to balance."
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, stepped into the issue, describing the bill as "an assault on unions" during an interview with a Milwaukee, Wisconsin television station.
The union workers and their supporters cheered the move.
"The fact that the Democrats have walked out, it shows they're listening to us," Neil Graupner, a 19-year-old technical college student told the Associated Press late on Thursday.
In Madison, the capital city of the mid-western state, the legislature on Thursday had been set to pass a bill pushed by the governor that has been described by commentators as the most aggressive anti-union law in the nation.
The bill would eliminate most public workers' right to collective bargaining, except for matters of salary, and dramatically increase the amount they must contribute to their pensions and health insurance coverage.
With teachers - and some students - massing in Madison to protest, dozens of schools were shut across the state.
Republicans, who were handed election victories in November in Wisconsin, say they have a mandate to cut government spending.
They say that despite the protests, voters approve of the cuts, which they say are needed to balance the state budget and avoid job losses.
"We're at a point of crisis," Mr Walker said.
The state faces a $3.6bn (£2.23bn) budget deficit in the coming two-year period. The public employee bill is expected to save $300m in that period. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-47737117 | Two children were among 18 migrants intercepted off the Kent coast in two small inflatable boats after crossing the Channel.
Five men, who said they were from Iran, were found in one boat about four miles south of Folkestone at about 04:00 GMT.
A second boat with 10 men, one woman and two children on board - who claimed to be from Iran and Iraq - was found two miles from Folkestone at 05:00.
They were all brought to Dover and transferred to immigration officials. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4906974.stm | BBC NEWS | Africa | How has Christianity changed?
As people flock to celebrate Easter and considering the rise of the so-called super churches in Africa, has Christian faith changed?
A majority of Africans put religion above any other self-defining factor in a recent BBC survey. Millions belong to Pentecostal and Evangelical movements, the fastest-growing strand in the Christian faith.
These super churches emphasise faith through fever-pitch gatherings, spiritual rebirth and using the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives. They also use broadcasting, the internet and 24-hour telephone lines..
However critics say that the movements are based on shaky theology and are used to enrich pastors through their so-called prosperity gospel which encourages followers to pay tithes they can't afford.
Where do you pray? Why? What do you pray for? What do you think the role of church leaders should be?
Many pastors are there to give direction and hope in people's lives. Some have left their good-paying jobs. They deserve to be blessed by God. How can one preach prosperity which he doesn't experience it themselves? Please people let those genuine pastors prosper, they have a lot to think about and to make their flocks and church better by the grace of the Almighty. Criticise the politicians who just think of themselves.
"Trust in no man for he shall deceive you". My faith and the love of the Lord is within me.
The role of church leaders should be more of leadership, leading the congregation by example. The current trend for churches is for miraculous wealth, healing, and the focus of attaining higher members resulting in larger than life church structures. The problem here is that, although religion promises rewards, there needs to be a balance of expectation and the ability to realize that these church leaders are accountable to God and not Gods in any right.
I agree that some pastors today are out there to enrich themselves but there are some who are genuine. Yes they should preach about tithes and offerings. Through my own experience if one pays tithes and offerings one will never lack. God has promised to open the floodgates of heaven and that's what he does for those who tithe. Whilst pastors prosper so does the congregation. Problem is we don't do it so how will we ever know?
Most Nigerians are now oppressed by two entities; the pastors of the churches and the corrupt officials. Both entities tell the masses that their rewards are not here on earth but in heaven. This is not good for the suffering masses.
Very valid point, Roland (Liberian in the US). Whilst there is indeed a lot of scam that needs to be cleared out, we don't have to throw out the baby with the bath water.
I would rather see men of God (Pastors) getting rich than people like musicians and footballers. The Pastors are used by God to give people life changing messages (whether prosperity gospel or not), hope, joy and peace. What do musicians or footballers give us?
The problem with modern churches, especially in Nigeria, is that they have become business venture. Salvation is now mostly determined by the amount you able to give. If this were not to be so, with the number of churches we have in Nigeria today, the level of corruption and other social vices would have been completely reduced. It is only the almighty that can remedy the situation.
Religion is the Opium of the Masses! With the average African living in a cycle of hardship from birth till death, the promise of divine redemption/elevation clearly has its appeal, hence people pray for a better life than one they currently live. Funny thing is No-one has come back to tell the tale of how good the afterlife is!
As a member of the Pentecostal denomination, I am convinced that God is actively involved in the day to day happenings in my life. I pray to my God every day for his guidance and protection. It is the duty of religious leaders to guide their members to God, while church members in turn have a duty to support the church through tithes and offerings. I can vouch from my own personal experience that God unfailingly rewards such faithfulness and devotion, as promised in the Bible.
Church leaders are meant to guide people through a religious life in however, as many things go out of fashion, today's church leaders, mostly in Pentecostal churches, preach for financial gain. My uncle, who is a church elder, has advised my father to do the church thing because there is money in that business. I stand by the opinion that religion has changed and become the one of the new African colonisers in a different form.
Many small churches have mushroomed in Bunia, Eastern D R Congo. Here religion should play a very important role, to reconcile the people who have been involved in the interethnic clashes which claimed 50,000 dead. However, many pastors live solely on money, food stuff and other things collected from the Christians.
African Pastors do not come no where near to the corruption based on "Transactional Theology" called Prosperity Gospel in churches in especially, the U.S. and the U.K. This is not to say that some African church leaders are not driven by prosperity Gospel to gain wealth too. Rather, charging them with corruption and neglecting their hard work in the communities is equally so unfair. For me, if it had not been for the church in Liberia, I am not sure where I would be by now. The African church has brought many of us closer to God and has prepared us to be respectable and decent men and women today.
I do pray during my quire time at about dawn in my parlour. The reason is very simple because my scripture told me that I should go in secret and pray and God who hears me in secret will reward me openly.
The role of pastors in the society is to change lives but in our society prosperity enriching pastors is the order of the day. Instead of praying and preaching the gospel they preach prosperity and the unsuspecting members donate to them without having anything in return. Nevertheless I will never leave the blame solely on them because poverty in Africa has partly contributed to this change in religion. I guess a government ruling could change religion for the better.
Some church leaders of these days, are not playing the role they should play in our society but making money out of our poor and innocent people or flock. Most women are defrauded most of the time and those church leaders doing that are putting the rest in bad light. For me as I can read and pray to God I would not let pastors who make money out of their people take advantage of me.
The good news of the Bible (which it is indeed) is always more welcome amongst the poor and suffering. This accounts for its popularity in Africa. Unfortunately the church like every other good thing will get infiltrated by counterfeits. Some of those pastors started out with a true calling on their lives, but have evolved into the very wolves the Bible warns us about. Their sermons are full of psychology, philosophy and low and behold; actual Biblical principles on gaining wealth.
The new so-called super churches of Africa have their pros and cons. Africans have been marginalised for a very long time in various places around the world. These super churches have been able to bridge that gap for a lot of disenfranchised Africans. I believe they have helped in representing and empowering many Africans all over the world, which is positive. However, corruption is a problem everywhere, therefore African Churches are not immune to corruption.
Religion is what it's always been in Africa. Religion in Africa is that aspect of Africans' life where they go close or feel close to God. In saying this, I must admit there are people who champion the leadership of churches purely for its financial rewards, but nowhere near what people do with churches here in the West.
Here in the West, we've seen some unthinkable things done in churches and put on national television, makes you wonder sometimes what exactly religion is. But in Africa it is simply devotion and praises to God and if you're sincere about it, you might just find God right close to you.
Religious leaders in many African countries have gone to another level. People are being brainwashed from birth with the wrong teachings. Mixing common sense and mythology. Blaming homeless children of being witches. Business men using the lack of education in the countries to make money by using religion. A lot of churches are led by priests with a reasonable amount of wealth, given by the followers of the church, who themselves are so ignorant.
Ours is not religion but an encounter with Jesus Christ. I agree some pastors enrich themselves, however a purposed church based on God and the Bible does not make only the pastor rich but a prosperous congregation and nation.
It is unfortunate that while people in other parts of the world are sanitising their adherence to established religion, Africans are getting even more attached to their religious beliefs. The more we get attached to religion, the slower we catch up with the rest of the world in socio-economic development. Therefore, my advice to my fellow Africans is to reduce our dependency on a non-visible spiritual being to help solve our problems and start tackling them head on.
I worship and pray at Trinity Methodist Church as it is an Orthodox Church. The role of church leaders should be to preach the gospel and encourage the spiritual welfare of the congregation.
We are said to be the most religious people in the world by embracing mainly Christianity and Islam which are the religions of love and peace. Looking at the reality of the continent, aren't we being hypocrites within ourselves? The zeal of church leaders should not emphasise on promising Africans the heaven only but also on making them peaceful and prosperous people before they get there. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8632331.stm | Trading standards has issued a warning after an eBay seller from County Durham became the first in the UK to be prosecuted for online auction fixing.
Paul Barrett is facing a fine of up to £50,000 after using two separate eBay accounts to bid against himself.
North Yorkshire Trading Standards said those who bid on their own items, or who get friends and family to do it for them, are breaking the law.
The 39-year-old minibus hire firm boss will be sentenced on 21 May.
Jo Boutflower, from North Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: "I think people do it either themselves or by getting friends and family to bid on their items and don't think they're doing anything wrong but actually they are breaking the law.
"We certainly hope this case is a bit of a wake-up call to people who do trade on Ebay, or other auction sites."
Barrett was investigated after a complaint that he had advertised and sold a minibus on Ebay with false low mileage.
Officers found he was 'shill bidding', selling goods on the auction website under one username and bidding on them with another.
He told Skipton Magistrates' Court that he did not know it was a criminal offence to do so.
Barrett admitted 10 breaches of recent fair trading regulations, with each offence carrying a maximum fine of £5,000.
His case was adjourned for sentencing at Bradford Crown Court. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1771687.stm | The US Government has released photographs of the Taleban and al-Qaeda suspects held at its prison camp in Cuba which show them being subjected to sensory deprivation.
The prisoners are shown kneeling down, wearing goggles, ear muffs, surgical masks and heavy gloves.
The chief medical officer of the human rights group, Amnesty International, Jim West, said the photographs were reminiscent of torture methods used in eastern Europe in the 1970s.
The concerns were raised as a new group of 34 prisoners arrived at Guantanamo Bay, taking the total number being held there to 144.
As with earlier groups, the latest arrivals were shackled and wore eye-masks.
But the US military stressed that the photographs showed prisoners who had just landed at the base and the pictures were not representative of daily life at the camp.
Prisoners were normally free to walk around their cells without shackles or any sensory deprivation whatsoever.
They are only shackled when they are taken to shower or for medical checks, the military said.
Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are currently interviewing the 110 detainees amid international concern over their treatment.
The US says the ICRC has been given full access the prisoners and is being allowed to interview them privately and on a voluntary basis.
The commandant at the camp, Brigadier General Mike Lehnert said the ICRC team had already made a number of private recommendations and these would be accommodated where possible.
According to the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday, the US military says the prisoners are forced to wear masks because there is a risk they could spread tuberculosis.
But Mr West disputed this, saying that TB was unlikely to pose a risk outside as it only breeds in confined spaces.
The prisoners were issued with goggles and ear muffs when they boarded the planes to Guantanamo. The US said the goggles were a security precaution and the muffs blocked out the sound of the transport planes in which they were travelling.
But Mr West said he was shocked to see them still wearing the goggles and ear muffs.
"There is no obvious explanation of these measures except an attempt to degrade the man," he told the newspaper.
Another human rights group said that not being able to see, hear, smell or touch would leave the prisoners feeling disorientated and suffering from hallucinations.
Washington has refused to give the detainees prisoner-of-war status, although it says standards of detention outlined in the Geneva Conventions are being met.
Even before these latest pictures were released, questions had been raised about conditions at the camp.
Amnesty International said that, at eight-by-eight feet, the cells are below US standards for ordinary prisoners.
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley of Canada urged the US to treat the detainees "in accordance with humane norms and international law".
And in Britain, the chairwoman of Parliament's Human Rights Committee, Ann Clwyd, warned against "playing with human rights".
UK officials are in Cuba to question three detainees thought to be British members of al-Qaeda, which is widely held responsible for the 11 September terror attacks on America.
Despite the furore over the prisoners' treatment, the US is pressing ahead with its expansion of the camp.
General Lehnert said it would be able to hold 320 detainees - more if there were two to a cell - until a permanent prison was ready.
That would have a capacity of up to 1,000. Hundreds of detainees are in custody in Afghanistan awaiting transfer.
Officials at the base stress that the vast majority of prisoners are quiet and well-behaved, despite an incident last week when one detainee bit a guard on the arm and others made death threats against their captors.
"The human rights of the prisoners are not a big talking point at Ground Zero"
"We're treating them humanely, firmly and fair" |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36013468 | Bryan Adams has cancelled a concert in Mississippi over the US state's new controversial religious liberty law.
The law, which allows some private businesses and religious groups to refuse service to gay people, was passed last week.
The singer issued a statement saying he could not "in good conscience" perform in the state.
He added he found it "incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against".
He was due to play the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on Thursday.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed HB1523 into law on 5 April amid opposition from equal rights groups and businesses.
The law offers protection for Christians who adhere to traditional views of marriage and gender roles, which Governor Bryant said "protects sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions".
The new law will take effect from 1 July.
Adams said he was using his voice to "stand in solidarity with all my LGBT friends to repeal this extremely discriminatory bill".
"Hopefully Mississippi will right itself and I can come back and perform for all of my many fans. I look forward to that day."
Adams's cancellation comes after Bruce Springsteen cancelled a show in North Carolina last week because of a new law in that state.
Springsteen joined business groups in condemning the law which rolls back local anti-discrimination measures that protected gay and transgender people. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8369377.stm | Scientists have identified an enzyme that is crucial for turning breast tissue into tumours, according to a study published in the journal Cell.
The Institute of Cancer Research says blocking the enzyme lysyl oxidase (LOX) reduced the size and frequency of tumours in mice.
They say LOX stiffens collagen, a major component of the supportive tissue in the breast.
A cancer charity said the study added to knowledge about how tumours develop.
The supportive tissue surrounding cancer cells is shaped differently to healthy tissue as well as being stiffer and more fibrous.
These properties have helped doctors to detect breast cancers, but until now scientists have not known what was causing these changes.
The team at the Institute for Cancer Research, using mice, found that LOX caused the collagen to change in a process known as cross-linking, which makes the tissue more fibrous.
Higher levels of LOX increased the levels of collagen in mammary glands, made the tissue stiffer and correlated with a higher number of tumours invading the breast tissue.
When the team used chemicals or an antibody to block the enzyme, they found collagen in the mammary glands contained fewer cross-links and was less fibrous.
The tissue also contained fewer, smaller tumours and they were less aggressive.
Professor Valerie Weaver of the University of California in San Francisco, who led the team, said: "This study may also help explain why the rate of breast cancer increases dramatically with age - aged tissues are stiffer and contain higher levels of abnormal collagen cross-links.
"I'm cautiously optimistic. We still have a lot more work to do, but this is certainly exciting."
Dr Janine Erler from the Institute of Cancer Research, said the study showed that stiffening of the breast tissue controlled by enzymes such as LOX was a key factor in cancer development. These enzymes could be a promising candidate drug target, she added.
"The enzyme triggers a clear physical change in breast tissue and, if we could stop this happening, we expect it would slow the growth of any cancers that did develop and make them easier to eradicate."
Dr Alexis Willett, head of policy at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "This early stage research in cells and mice increases our understanding of how breast cancers develop and grow and suggests that enzymes such as LOX could be a potential target in the treatment of breast cancer.
"The next stage will be to test whether LOX has the same effect in humans, but it is likely to be some time before any potential new treatment is developed." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33105128 | Pakistan has ordered the charity Save the Children to leave the country, with an official accusing the NGO of "anti-Pakistan" activities.
Police have sealed off their offices in Islamabad and foreign staff given 15 days to leave the country.
Save the Children said it "strongly objected" to the action.
Pakistan has previously linked the charity to the fake vaccination programme used by the CIA to track down Osama Bin Laden.
The charity has always denied being involved with the CIA or Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, who carried out the programme.
The charity has had no foreign staff in the country for the past 18 months in response to the accusations.
It now has 1,200 Pakistani staff working on projects in health, education and food.
Speaking after the charity was shut, Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan said that NGO's were operating beyond their remit with backing from US, Israel and India.
"Local NGOs that use foreign help and foreign funding to implement a foreign agenda in Pakistan should be scared. We will not allow them to work here whatever connections they enjoy, regardless of the outcry," he said in a live television broadcast.
Save the Children, which has operations all over the world, has worked in Pakistan for more than 30 years.
The Pakistani government has not given a formal announcement explaining the decision.
But one official told the AFP news agency: "Their activities were being monitored since a long time. They were doing something which was against Pakistan's interest."
A police official said that the charity's phone calls and offices had been placed under surveillance. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, he added that the charity's activities were "very suspicious".
Condemning the move, Save the Children said it was "raising our serious concerns at the highest levels", adding that its workers were all Pakistani nationals.
A Save the Children official told Reuters that the Pakistan government had been stopping aid shipments entering the country, "blocking aid to millions of children and their families".
It comes after the Pakistani government announced it was tightening the rules for NGOs, revoking several of their licences.
The BBC understands that one of those NGO's, the Norwegian Refugee Council, has ceased all operations in Pakistan as its licence has not yet been renewed. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-41686948 | The owners of Cardiff Arms Park have said they are willing to discuss a new lease with the Cardiff Blues to "secure the future" of rugby at the ground.
Cardiff Blues want to give it a multi-million pound facelift but the plan was rejected by the ground's owner Cardiff Athletic Club (CAC) earlier this year.
CAC called the proposal a "risk" due to concerns over the Blues' finances but has asked for more details and clarity.
It said a new lease was a "more appropriate" option instead.
The Blues share the stadium in a lease which runs until 2022.
Plans were announced in 2015 to secure a new 150-year lease which would allow the Blues to redevelop the ground and build a hotel, exhibition centre and flats.
A 15,000-seater stadium with a retractable pitch and sliding roof would also have been created so it could be used as a concert venue.
A document seen by BBC Wales revealed the CAC rugby section chairman said it was "on the point" of signing this deal earlier this year, until the Blues' annual accounts were published.
The Blues have been asked to comment. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-28887542 | The construction of a major tidal energy project in the Pentland Firth is set to begin later this year.
Atlantis Resource's MeyGen scheme planned for the firth's Inner Sound has secured £50m in funding.
More than £20m will come from the Scottish government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). The UK government has given grants worth £10m.
Atlantis said the completed scheme would have up to 269 turbines submerged on the seabed.
The Crown Estate, which manages the UK seabed, has also invested £10m in the project, which would generate enough energy for 175,000 homes.
The first phase will involve installing four turbines over the next two years.
By 2020, 61 turbines could be installed and producing enough power for about 42,000 homes.
Tim Cornelius, the project's director, said: "MeyGen is one of the most exciting and innovative renewable energy developments in the world, marking the long-awaited arrival of tidal stream generation as a serious, large-scale player in global energy markets.
"I am proud that Atlantis will become the first company to successfully develop a project of this kind, at this size, making Atlantis the first independent power producer from a tidal array."
The turbines will be installed in the Pentland Firth's Inner Sound, a stretch of water separating the Scottish mainland from Stroma, an island abandoned by its last inhabitants in the 1960s.
Atlantis Resources has described the tidal conditions in the sound as "excellent".
When fully completed, the 398MW, 269-turbine scheme will have the potential to power 175,000 properties.
About 100 people would be needed to maintain the scheme.
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing MSP said "innovative and exciting plans" were being brought to life.
He added: "Our ambition for Scotland's emerging wave and tidal sectors remains great.
"The Pentland Firth development takes our ambition to the next level and further cements Scotland's reputation as a world leader in deploying renewables technology."
UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey said the project put Scotland and the UK "on the map as a global leader in marine technology".
He said: "Meygen will be the biggest tidal stream array in the world.
"Wave and tidal power have the potential to provide more than 20% of the UK's electricity needs, and Meygen could pave the way for future projects in the Pentland Firth."
The Crown Estate's director of energy and infrastructure, Rob Hastings, said: "This is part of our strategy to explore the potential of tidal stream energy on a commercial scale with a project that offers a crucial stepping stone on the path towards unlocking the nation's tidal energy potential over the long term."
Calum Davidson, HIE's director of energy and low carbon, said the MeyGen project was making a "huge step" forward after 11 years of testing and prototype development.
He said: "The Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth has first class tidal resources, appropriate current speeds and crucially the site has good access to the grid.
"In addition, the water depth in the area suits the extent of the project." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12700491 | Raul Castro became Cuba's leader when his elder brother, Fidel, stepped down in 2006 to undergo intestinal surgery.
For 18 months, Raul's presidency was considered temporary, but he was officially elected president in 2008 when Fidel decided to withdraw from office permanently.
In February 2013 Raul was elected by the National Assenbly to a second five-year term, but he said it would be his last.
For many years Raul Castro seemed content to lurk in Fidel's shadow.
Quieter and a head shorter than his sibling, he was thought to lack the stature of a brother famous for his long, rousing speeches and defiance of the West.
However, Raul held numerous key positions before assuming the presidency, including being the head of the Communist Party and the senior official in the armed forces.
Once elected president, he was quick to introduce some small, but significant changes.
An early move to relax restrictions on owning mobile phones and computers and a rise in salaries and state pensions was widely celebrated by Cubans.
Raul also allowed unused state-owned land to pass over to private farmers and cooperatives in an attempt to boost domestic food production.
However, some who predicted he would be more of a pragmatist than his brother have been disappointed with the pace of change.
They argue not enough has been done to open up Cuba's economy and pursue a rapprochement with the United States.
In April 2009, US President Barack Obama announced that he was easing restrictions on travel and remittances to the island by Cuban-Americans.
But the US trade embargo, in place since the early 1960s, remains.
In 2010, Raul began a long process of reassessing the structure of Cuban socialism, which according to some analysts is an attempt to move towards a Chinese model which allows more private commerce.
Raul himself has said that, "Many Cubans confuse socialism with freebies and subsidies, and equality with egalitarianism."
In September 2010, the government announced plans to reduce the size of the state, beginning by cutting 500,000 jobs from the sugar, farming, construction and health and tourism industries within the first three months of the year.
However in March, Raul admitted that the cuts were behind schedule and predicted that the overhaul of the economy would take at least five years.
Raul and Fidel have worked together since the 1950s, when they plotted the Cuban Revolution.
The current president can claim an earlier commitment to socialism than his brother, whose early defining political characteristic was nationalism.
Some say that he has always been more of a hard-liner than Fidel. In the first few months of the Revolution, he was kept out of the limelight because his militancy was thought unpalatable.
Raul was born in 1931 in the eastern province of Holguin, to Angel Castro and Lina Ruz, the youngest of three brothers - five years younger than Fidel.
He attended school first in Santiago and then in Havana, where as a university undergraduate he joined a communist youth group.
In 1953, he took part with Fidel in the assault on the Moncada barracks - an attempt to oust the authoritarian regime of Fulgencio Batista.
But the assault failed, and Raul served 22 months in jail alongside his brother. In 1955, the two were released, and went to Mexico to prepare the ship Granma for a revolutionary expedition to Cuba in late 1956.
During this time, Raul is said to have befriended Che Guevara, introducing him to Fidel.
Upon their arrival back in Cuba, the band of revolutionaries conducted a guerrilla warfare campaign from the Sierra Maestra mountains, finally overthrowing Batista in early 1959.
That early guerrilla army has evolved under Raul's leadership into a fighting force of some 50,000, which assisted pro-Soviet forces in conflicts in Angola and Ethiopia during the 1970s.
The army played a crucial role in peacetime efforts to prop up the ailing Cuban economy following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Through a state-run tourism company, Gaviota, it also plays a primary role in the - now key - sector of tourism.
Raul is also reported to have influenced financial policy from behind the scenes.
In 1959 Raul married Vilma Espin, a fellow revolutionary guerrilla fighter and high-level party official, who died in June 2007.
The couple had four children. Raul is said to be a doting father and enthusiastic climber.
Is Cuba set for major changes in 2011? |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-47673826 | A diabetic prisoner died after being restrained and left on her cell floor for 21 hours, an inquest heard.
Four staff members at HMP Peterborough were called in to deal with Annabella Landsberg after she grabbed prison officer Amy Moore's leg in 2017.
Ms Moore told the hearing the mother-of-three was "trying to be difficult".
She also said Ms Landsberg, 45, had water thrown over her and was accused of "attention-seeking" by a nurse after she appeared to have wet herself.
The inquest in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, heard that Ms Moore had asked Ms Landsberg to stand for her medication on 2 September 2017.
"She said her legs didn't work so she was reaching for the sink," Ms Moore said. "When I stepped over her, she grabbed my leg with both arms."
A second female officer then activated an alarm and with the help of two male officers, Ms Landsberg - who was serving four years for offences committed under a suspended sentence - was physically restrained at about 18:00 GMT.
Ms Moore told the hearing that the next day, she noticed Ms Landsberg - who was still on the floor - was "mumbling incoherently" so called duty nurse Lesley Watts, who "felt Ms Landsberg was attention-seeking so wouldn't attend".
The prison officer said that by 15:00, Ms Landsberg, who was from Worthing, West Sussex, had not moved or eaten her breakfast and appeared to have wet herself so she called Ms Watts again.
When the nurse came to the cell, Ms Moore recalled how she told the inmate to "get up" and that she was "pathetic" before throwing a cup of water over her.
When a second nurse attended, the inquest heard she "quite quickly" realised the prisoner was in "a bad way" and an ambulance was called.
Ms Landsberg, who moved to the UK from her native Zimbabwe, died on 6 September 2017. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28045161 | A Kenyan regional governor has been charged with terrorism and murder over attacks in the coastal Lamu district in which scores of people were killed.
Issa Timamy was charged over the attacks on the Mpeketoni town area. He faces several charges including murder.
Kenya's president has blamed the attacks on political networks, despite Somali Islamist group al-Shabab claiming responsibility.
Opposition parties have dismissed the president's claims.
Most of the dead were ethnic Kikuyus, like the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Non-Muslims were singled out to be killed.
Mr Timamy belongs to a political affiliate of Mr Kenyatta's governing Jubilee coalition.
He will remain in police custody until 30 June, while investigations continue.
The attacks earlier in June killed at least 60 people, as gunmen descended on hotels and a police station.
It was the most deadly attack in Kenya since last September, when at least 67 people were killed by al-Shabab fighters at Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre.
Governor Timamy is a high-profile politician, so the case has attracted much interest.
Senior politicians from the coastal region accompanied him to court while supporters thronged the court precincts in a show of solidarity.
The charges levelled against Mr Timamy are perhaps an indication of how serious the government wants to stick to its line - that local politics were behind the killings.
But it is not clear why a politician affiliated to the ruling coalition would be the first target of arrests.
Most of the people killed in the attacks were ethnic Kikuyus. Mr Timamy is an ethnic Bajuni, an indigenous group from Lamu County. Many of the native communities have had long-standing differences with members of the Kikuyu community, who they say came to the area and "took over their land".
But whether this is a simmering dispute over land, or a terror attack by al-Shabab, this case will be a defining moment in the fight against terrorism in Kenya - and the fragile relationship of the communities in the area.
Five people were killed in another attack on Tuesday by an armed gang on the village of Witu, about 15km (9 miles) from Mpeketoni.
The following day the authorities said they had arrested 13 alleged separatists accused of planning more attacks on the coast.
Lamu island is a well-known tourist resort. However, the attacks happened on the mainland, in Lamu County.
Correspondents say there are long-standing political and ethnic divisions in the area around Mpeketoni, as well as disagreements over land ownership.
Land disputes were behind much of the ethnic violence which broke out across Kenya after the disputed 2007 elections. |