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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14203419 | Media captionRupert Murdoch: "This is the most humble day of my life"
Prior to his appearance before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Rupert Murdoch prepared a statement which he requested to read out at the start of his evidence.
John Whittingdale, who chairs the committee, allowed Mr Murdoch to submit the statement below but declined permission to read it aloud at the start of the session.
"With your permission, I would like to read a short statement.
"My son and I have come here with great respect for all of you, for Parliament and for the people of Britain whom you represent.
"This is the most humble day of my career. After all that has happened, I know we need to be here today.
"Before going further, James and I would like to say how sorry we are for what has happened - especially with regard to listening to the voicemail of victims of crime.
"My company has 52,000 employees. I have led it for 57 years and I have made my share of mistakes.
"I have lived in many countries, employed thousands of honest and hard-working journalists, owned nearly 200 newspapers and followed countless stories about people and families around the world.
Media captionRupert Murdoch struggling with MP's questions: "That is the first I've heard of that"
"At no time do I remember being as sickened as when I heard what the Dowler family had to endure - nor do I recall being as angry as when I was told that the News of the World could have compounded their distress.
"I want to thank the Dowlers for graciously giving me the opportunity to apologise in person.
"I would like all the victims of phone hacking to know how completely and deeply sorry I am. Apologising cannot take back what has happened. Still, I want them to know the depth of my regret for the horrible invasions into their lives.
"I fully understand their ire. And I intend to work tirelessly to merit their forgiveness.
"I understand our responsibility to co-operate with today's session as well as with future inquiries. We will respond to your questions to the best of our ability and follow up if we are not capable of answering anything today.
"Please remember that some facts and information are still being uncovered.
"We now know that things went badly wrong at the News of the World. For a newspaper that held others to account, it failed when it came to itself. The behaviour that occurred went against everything that I stand for.
Media captionRupert Murdoch: "I was absolutely shocked... when I heard about the Milly Dowler case"
"It not only betrayed our readers and me, but also the many thousands of magnificent professionals in our other divisions around the world.
"So, let me be clear in saying: invading people's privacy by listening to their voicemail is wrong. Paying police officers for information is wrong. They are inconsistent with our codes of conduct and neither has any place, in any part of the company I run.
"But saying sorry is not enough. Things must be put right. No excuses. This is why News International is co-operating fully with the police whose job it is to see that justice is done.
"It is our duty not to prejudice the outcome of the legal process. I am sure the committee will understand this.
"I wish we had managed to see and fully solve these problems earlier. When two men were sent to prison in 2007, I thought this matter had been settled. The police ended their investigations and I was told that News International conducted an internal review.
"I am confident that when James later rejoined News Corporation he thought the case was closed too. These are subjects you will no doubt wish to explore today.
"This country has given me, our companies and our employees many opportunities. I am grateful for them. I hope our contribution to Britain will one day also be recognised.
"Above all, I hope that, through the process that is beginning with your questions today, we will come to understand the wrongs of the past, prevent them from happening again and, in the years ahead, restore the nation's trust in our company and in all British journalism.
"I am committed to doing everything in my power to make this happen.
"Thank you. We are happy to answer your questions." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/544766.stm | Victoria Beckham: "I'm not anorexic, I'm not bulimic and I'm not a skeleton"
Posh Spice Victoria Beckham has hit back at reports she is suffering from an eating disorder.
The 25-year-old pop star admitted having lost weight since giving birth to her son but said "vicious" reports about her weight were getting her and her family down.
The Spice Girl told the Mirror newspaper: "They keep saying how thin I am, hinting I must be anorexic or bulimic or something. It is so upsetting."
"I'm not anorexic, I'm not bulimic and I'm not a skeleton. I'm 7.5 stone, very fit and I feel great," she added.
Victoria, who is married to Manchester United footballer David Beckham, said she had lost about a stone since Brooklyn was born eight months ago, but insisted she was healthy and eating well.
"I haven't changed what I eat or anything. I honestly feel my metabolism has changed as I've got older and had Brooklyn, I just seem to burn up food faster," she told the Mirror.
To prove her point, Victoria rattled off a typical day's menu, saying: "For breakfast I had two bowls of Sugar Puffs, for lunch two chicken fillets with loads of vegetables. I'm eating some cod and more vegetables now, and when I get home my mum will have a dinner ready."
The singer said she was working all hours in preparation for the forthcoming Spice Girls tour and was worried about the impact reports about her weight might have on fans.
"With the other girls I have a responsibility as a role model. Some young fans might get the wrong idea."
She told the newspaper: "All that matters is I'm healthy, and so are my lovely baby and my lovely husband. I would never put myself in danger by going on crash diets or anything because of them." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4304490.stm | Boots is to merge with rival retailer Alliance UniChem in a £7bn ($12bn) deal, creating one of Europe's biggest drugs, beauty and healthcare groups.
BBC News takes a look at the two companies which plan to shake-up the British - and European - pharmacy industry.
Boots is one of Britain's most recognisable High Street names. Along with the likes of Marks & Spencer and WH Smith, it is a hugely trusted retail brand with a thoroughbred history.
But the Nottingham-based company has fallen on hard times in recent years, faced with increasingly fierce competition from supermarket giants Tesco and Wal-Mart owned Asda.
Both supermarkets have been targeting Boots' core toiletries and over-the-counter medicines markets, grabbing market share from the chemist.
Profits at Boots fell 11% last year and the company has warned of "difficult" trading for the current year.
The company can trace its history back to 1849, when John Boot opened a herbalist shop in Goose Gate, Nottingham.
After his death, Mr Boot's widow Mary and son Jesse took over the running of the firm and in 1883 Boot & Co was formed.
During the First World War, Boots supplied vermin powder and anti-fly cream to British soldiers in the trenches, while it was a source of penicillin and saccharin for troops during World War Two.
Although firmly established as a British company, Boots was for a time owned by the United Drug Company of America during the inter-war years.
The company splashed out £900m in 1989 to diversify its business with the takeover of Ward White, owners of Halfords and the Payless DIY chain.
Analysts were widely sceptical of the move, and Halfords and Payless were later sold off.
Boots' boss Richard Baker recently cut the price of core products in a bid to halt a decline in sales and fend off competition from supermarkets.
The company operates 1,400 pharmacies in the UK and employs 68,000 staff in the UK. It reported profits of £481m in 2004-05, on sales of £5.4bn.
Although arguably a lesser known High Street name - at least in Britain - Alliance UniChem is a major player in the European pharmacy sector.
It describes itself as a "truly pan-European organisation...with the aim of improving the delivery of healthcare products and services to pharmacists and patients across Europe".
Alliance UniChem operates the third largest pharmacy network in Europe, running more than 1,250 outlets in the UK, Norway, the Netherlands and Italy.
Most of its UK stores are situated close to hospitals and doctors' surgeries, in contrast to Boots outlets which are mostly based in shopping centres and High Street locations.
The company was formed in 1997 through the merger of Alliance Sante SA and UniChem Plc.
Quoted on both the London and Paris stock exchanges, Alliance UniChem was promoted to the UK's top-flight FTSE 100 index in 2002.
Earlier this year the company dropped its Moss Pharmacy brand, replacing it with the Alliance Pharmacy.
In May, Alliance UniChem bought Northern Ireland's largest independently owned pharmacy chain Bairds for £81m.
The company, which whose corporate headquarters are in Weybridge, Surrey, employs 33,000 staff.
It reported profits of £234m in 2004, on sales of £8.8bn. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-31635709 | A suicide attack on a Turkish embassy vehicle in Kabul has killed at least one person, Afghan officials say.
The bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into the car in the Afghan capital's diplomatic quarter, killing a Turkish soldier. The bomber also died.
The Taliban later said it carried out the attack, with a spokesman saying the target was "a convoy of US troops".
There have been sporadic attacks in Kabul recently. In November, a British embassy car was targeted by a bomber.
Five people were killed in that attack, including one British national.
Another attack took place in January, when a suicide bomber hit a European Union police vehicle, killing a passer-by.
Thursday's attack happened at about 08:00 local time (03:30 GMT) outside the Iranian embassy, which is next to the Turkish mission.
Eyewitness Mohammad Yousuf told the AFP news agency that the suicide bomber was in a Toyota sedan.
"He detonated himself causing a big bang, soon after the explosion there was black smoke everywhere," he added.
It is believed the convoy was picking up Nato ambassador Ismail Aramaz, who was staying at the Turkish embassy. He was waiting to be picked up.
However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later tweeted: "the purpose of today's attack in Kabul was a convoy of US troops - the embassy or any other country nationals were not objective [sic]".
This looks like a carefully planned attack, the BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Beale reports. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4115507.stm | I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Sir Alan Budd and those working with him for the detailed and thorough job they have done investigating the allegations that I misused my official position regarding Miss Leoncia Casalme's application for indefinite leave to remain.
Within hours of the allegation being made about the leave to remain of Miss Casalme, I indicated that I wanted an independent review to be established.
I did so purely because I wanted to get to the truth.
I wanted to get to the truth so that I could take responsibility for my actions and ensure public confidence in both my integrity and that of the officials who work with me.
Sir Alan Budd has ensured that any accusations of a whitewash or cover up cannot be made.
I am grateful to him for that.
I want to make it clear that I fully accept the findings of Sir Alan's report, where his findings differ from my recollections this is simply due to failure on my part to recall details.
What I uniquely failed to remember was that Kimberly Quinn had given me a print copy of a letter concerning the progress of Miss Casalme's application having already discussed it with me sometime earlier.
Where print material is handed to me I forward it (as on this occasion) with other overnight work completed on tape.
All this work would have been dealt with as a matter of routine.
Whilst the original allegation concerned the application form it was in fact this letter which triggered subsequent actions within the system.
I had as I made clear when this came to public attention a full recollection of the fact that an application form had been discussed with me.
I also had a clear recollection of the content of the letter and that it was authentic.
As I indicated at the time, and repeated to Sir Alan Budd in my first interview, it highlighted wider policy implications, mainly that if delays of this kind were taking place universally we would fail to fulfil our commitment to reduce the backlog of applications subsequently.
This in turn would adversely affect the preparations for the introduction of a new charging system intended to yield tens of millions of pounds in substituting fees for investment from the tax payer.
With hindsight I should have been explicit in separating the particular example I was using and the broader policy which required addressing.
I had raised the issue and made no bones about the fact that this was on the back of information that Kimberly Quinn had given me.
I had done so not just in terms of the backlog exercise but also in terms of the length of time applicants' passports were being held.
I had raised this on a number of previous occasions as being a real problem.
I have apologised unreservedly for the use of the spouse travel voucher, which I have refunded.
I believe it was the right thing to do to be open and honest about the event even though the investigation has found that no misdemeanour would otherwise have been identified .
It was a genuine mistake and I am grateful to the committee for their understanding. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37890287 | The restoration of Donald Campbell's Bluebird has reached its most significant milestone yet, with the testing of the boat's new engine.
Campbell died in January 1967 while trying to break his own speed record on Coniston Water in the Lake District.
Volunteers have been working for the past 15 years on reconstructing the vessel, from wreckage salvaged in 2001.
Now Bluebird's return to Coniston is a step closer after an almost identical engine was successfully tested.
Campbell was 46 when the jet-powered Bluebird, travelling at more than 300mph, somersaulted repeatedly before crashing to the bottom of Coniston.
The fuselage has been painstakingly rebuilt by a team led by North Shields engineer Bill Smith, with almost all the parts having to be specially made.
The replacement engine was donated by De Havilland Aviation in 2007 and is almost identical to the original Bristol Orpheus engine.
It was successfully tested in the reconstructed chassis for the first time, at Mr Smith's engineering yard.
Mr Smith, who sat in the cockpit during the test, described it as "fantastic" and "absolutely amazing".
"The ghost of Donald Campbell must be looking down at me now and falling about laughing," he said.
"We only ran it at 65% power and it was just amazing. That's about as much as we can give it in the yard, because it'll have the building down.
"I absolutely loved it, not just because it's a fun thing to do to sit in Donald's boat and give it some beans. But because of all the work we have all put in to get to this point where it's working.
"The last time it did that was the 4th of January 1967. This is a bit of history."
Once fully rebuilt, Bluebird will undergo further testing at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire next spring, with the hope of it returning to the water in Coniston some time after that.
Campbell's daughter Gina has visited the yard recently and has supported the restoration work.
Once complete, Bluebird is expected to be put on show at the Ruskin Museum at Coniston. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34345208 | The owner of the Hinkley Point nuclear power station has defended the plan to build a new plant at the Somerset site.
Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of France's EDF Energy, told the BBC the project was not too expensive.
He said power from nuclear plants would cut bills compared with low carbon without nuclear power.
The project has come under fire for both its £24.5bn cost and delays to investment decisions and the timetable for building.
The original plan was for it to start generating electricity by 2023.
There is still no start date for the new facility, which will be built next to two existing generation plants at Bridgewater in Somerset.
Three days ago, the chancellor, George Osborne, who is visiting China, secured investment from the Chinese by guaranteeing a £2bn deal under which China will invest in Hinkley Point.
The deal will be signed next month during the Chinese president's State visit to the UK.
Another controversial issue is a government guarantee that EDF will receive £92 per megawatt hour, twice the current wholesale price for power.
EDF said it needed that because the price of energy would be much higher in the future: "You cannot compare the price in the next decade with the price of today, which is being depressed by the current low price of gas. We have to protect our self against volatility."
Mr de Rivaz said it was a similar situation to a consumer replacing their car with a new one, "more expensive but you will get a much better car".
He rebuffed suggestions that building gas power plants would be more cost effective, saying that would mean the UK importing billions of dollars of gas from elsewhere, putting the country at the mercy of geopolitics.
What is becoming clear is Britain's increasing reliance on Chinese investment for major infrastructure projects.
On his visit to China today, the chancellor has called for Chinese bids for more than £11bn of contracts to build HS2, the proposed high speed rail link between London, Manchester and Leeds.
Mr de Rivaz said that China was now an essential partner, and that safety and security were the top priorities.
"We know these companies, we have been working with them for 30 years building nuclear power plants in China," he said.
Meanwhile, EDF announced that the engineering firm Rolls-Royce would take a big share of £100m worth of contracts to supply the new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point.
EDF, the French firm in charge of the project, has selected Rolls-Royce to supply heat exchangers worth £25m.
In partnership with Nuvia, Rolls-Royce will also supply systems to treat nuclear waste in a contract worth £75m.
The contracts awarded to Rolls-Royce and Nuvia are subject to the final investment decision from EDF and the new timetable for its construction.
Mr de Rivaz said: "Hinkley Point C offers the UK a tremendous opportunity to boost employment and skills in the crucial manufacturing and construction sectors, as well as leading the revitalisation of the new nuclear programme."
Video Why is Hinkley Point nuclear power station controversial? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47660269 | Shares in Levi Strauss were flying off the shelves as the blue jeans company made its return to the stock market.
The price shot higher immediately Wall Street opened, and closed up 31.8%, valuing the company at $8.7bn (£6.7bn).
The 166-year-old business, which struck gold when the founder patented the use of rivets in clothing, has about 5% of the global jeans market.
Some money raised from the flotation will be used to broaden Levi's clothing range and expand into more countries.
"The IPO [initial public offering] is not a finish line, it's a new starting line for us," chief executive Chip Bergh told the BBC.
"I don't feel like my job is done. I came here to get this company turned around, to make the Levi's brand what it was when I was a kid, back the way I remembered it. There's still a lot of work ahead of us," he said.
The flotation comes at a time when fashion experts say there is a new popularity in denim among consumers, driven by the resurgence of 1990s styles such as high-waist and pinstriped jeans.
"Denim continues to prove prevalent in streetwear and on the runway, so we're not expecting it to go anywhere any time soon," an analyst at retail analytics firm Edited said. "That's why now is a great time for Levi's to capitalize on this momentum."
Levi first went public in 1971. But after 14 years, it was taken private by the Haas family, the descendants of founder Levi Strauss, in a $1.6bn buyout. That saddled the company with big debts, something which Mr Bergh said weighed down the business for years.
Shares for Thursday's IPO were priced at $17, above the expected range, in an offering that was heavily oversubscribed offering. At the close the price was $22.5.
"The company and the underwriters targeted a reasonable valuation and allowed the true investor demand to dictate price," said Jeff Zell, senior analyst at research firm IPO Boutique.
The Haas family will retain 80% of voting control of the public company.
Founder Levi Strauss moved to San Francisco in 1853 during the California gold rush, opening a dry goods business. In 1873 he and a partner received a patent on using rivets to make clothes more durable.
Analysts said the success of the listing bodes well for investor appetite for other flotations planned this year, including Lyft, Uber, Pinterest, Airbnb and Slack. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47884038 | Bespoke web or phone-based psychological therapy should be offered to people with severe irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), researchers say.
Their work, published in the journal Gut, shows cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could reduce symptoms - even when not delivered face-to-face.
England's health watchdog already recommends face-to-face CBT for people who have IBS, despite other treatment.
But researchers say many people are unable to access it.
Irritable bowel syndrome is a common and often life-long condition that affects the bowels - it can cause stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation.
There's no cure, but changes to diet and medicines can help control the symptoms.
The team of scientists from the University of Southampton and King's College London, say their newly designed phone and web-based CBT requires fewer therapist hours and could be offered more widely to people who need it.
"I don't have symptoms anymore."
Laura Day, 31, a freelance journalist living in London, told the BBC that taking part in the web-based therapy was "the best thing she had ever done".
She remembers being "the kid with the nervous tummy" from the age of about five, and finding mornings particularly difficult.
She said she would often spend a long time on the loo, opening her bowels two or three times before she left the house and everything had to revolve around her IBS.
She used to plan emergency toilet stops on her way to work and made sure she had diarrhoea tablets with her at all times.
She told the BBC: "I was sceptical about the therapy at first and could not understand how changing my mindset could change my bowels.
"But one of the most helpful things was understanding the strong link between how you think and how your body reacts.
"Now when I have nervous moments I don't dwell on them, I don't worry about it being something more sinister any more and I understand what is going on."
The trial involved 558 people who had long-standing IBS, with symptoms despite medication and lifestyle advice.
Both web and telephone therapy covered a number of topics, including detailed information on how the gut works, what IBS is, how to spot unhelpful behaviour and how to change and develop stable, healthy eating habits.
At the end of 12 months, researchers found patients who had had either therapy reported fewer symptoms, more ability to manage work and relationships and less anxiety and depression than people on standard treatment alone.
Lead researcher Dr Hazel Everitt told the BBC: "What often happens when we have chronic conditions that impact on our ability to get on and do what we want in our lives, is that we adapt and try and live our lives despite the problem and sometimes the adaptations that we make in the long term are unhelpful.
"An example might be that if you are concerned about your bowels you might be checking where the toilets are.
"Using CBT we can help people work through those behaviours and unhelpful thoughts."
Alison Reid, chief executive officer of the charity the IBS Network, said she welcomed the recommendations for further care and support.
She added: "I think it is indisputable that current health provision is wholly failing those living with IBS who, after a diagnosis, often feel cut adrift.
"But a significant number of those we talk to take some time to acknowledge they have a role to play in their health and well-being and resist the suggestion that the way they think plays any part in their condition.
"And while the current system of care under the NHS is not giving people living with IBS the support they need, many of the charity's members who are not digital natives feel marginalised by an increasing number of services going online."
Researchers are currently training NHS therapists in England to deliver telephone-based therapy through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapy programme.
And they are working with commercial companies to develop the internet-based version. They have also submitted it to the NHS for consideration. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1695601.stm | A pastor has told the inquiry into the death of abuse victim Victoria Climbie he prayed and fasted for the child because her great aunt believed she was possessed by evil spirits.
Alvaro Lima, a pastor at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in London, said the eight-year-old told him Satan had told her to burn herself.
She died less than a week later.
Victoria had 128 separate injuries to her body when she died in Tottenham, north London, in February 2000 after suffering months of abuse, torture and neglect.
Her great aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, 44, and Kouao's boyfriend Carl Manning, 28, are serving life sentences for her murder.
Pastor Lima told the inquiry that at first he had no concerns about Victoria's medical welfare, despite her being withdrawn and having virtually no hair.
He also said in a written statement to the inquiry the little girl had told him "that Satan controlled her life, that Satan had told her to burn her body".
Pastor Lima said: "She said she liked doing bad things. I thought this was all part of her nightmares and a result of past traumas.
"She had an angry look on her face when she said this."
Pastor Lima told the inquiry in central London he did not believe her, but decided to pray and fast with an assistant because he believed she had "spiritual problems".
He said: "I was concerned but the mother was so desperate to find help for her child."
The minister said he believed people could be possessed by evil spirits and thought she might have heard the words from television, books or her great aunt, whom at the time he believed was her mother.
Kouao had visited his church in Finsbury Park, north London in February last year with Victoria and Manning in a bid to find a "cure" for the young girl.
The youngster was taken to a "deliverance from witchcraft" service before seeing the pastor the next day.
The trio returned to the church five days later - the day before Victoria's death.
On this visit the pastor admitted to the inquiry he had suspicions the young girl was being neglected.
He described how Victoria's eyes were opening and closing as though she was fainting, and she was cold and wet.
Under questioning from Caroline Gibson, counsel for the inquiry, he admitted he did not call the police, hospital or social services. With hindsight, he agreed he should have done.
Pastor Lima described a conversation with Kouao when he asked if she been doing something to the child.
"She said, 'No I love this child'. That is when I said, 'so take her to the hospital'."
The inquiry also heard from husband and wife, Julian and Chantal Kimbidima, who became friends with Kouao.
They too told the inquiry Kouao had said Victoria was possessed by evil spirits.
Asked what the demons were making her do, he said: "Wetting herself, soiling the whole house, prostituting herself (in the Ivory Coast), putting faeces in food and cockroaches on everything she could find."
He said at the time he believed the little girl was possessed.
"Possession is something we learn from the Bible. I generally do not question the Bible," he said.
Asked by Ms Gibson if he did not think it was bizarre that Victoria would sit in the corner when invited to his house, while his children played, Mr Kimbidima replied: "The child was possessed, it is not very bizarre."
The couple had at one time agreed to look after Victoria for six months, after being asked by social services when the great aunt accused her boyfriend of sexually abusing the little girl.
But they withdrew the help the same day. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7447668.stm | Oscar-winning actor Paul Newman has responded to unconfirmed reports he is gravely ill with cancer.
The star issued a statement through his spokesman, who told journalists: "Newman says he's doing nicely."
Several websites and US TV stations claimed the actor had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was undergoing out-patient treatment in New York.
His business partner AE Hotchner told reporters that Newman, 83, had been battling cancer for at least 18 months.
Mr Hotchner, who helped the actor launch his Newman's Own salad dressing line in the 1980s, said the star had undergone surgery "somewhere in the area of the lung" some years back.
"I know it's a form of cancer and he's dealing with it," he told the Associated Press news agency.
"He's battling," Mr Hotchner added. "He's doing all the right stuff. Paul is a fighter. He seems to be going through a good period right now."
Asked about Newman's prognosis, Hotchner said: "Everybody is hopeful. That's all we know."
Newman starred in films like The Color of Money and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
In May 2007, he announced he was to give up acting, and said he was no longer able to perform to the best of his ability.
"I'm not able to work anymore... at the level that I would want to," he told US broadcaster ABC.
Last month, he pulled out of directing a stage production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in Connecticut because of unspecified health problems. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-11451429 | Many new mothers are being let down by the care they receive after having a baby, a survey suggests.
In a survey of 1,260 first-time mothers by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), under half said they got the advice and support needed after giving birth.
The parenting charity said the survey showed a "shocking" level of postnatal care and warned the NHS had to improve.
The Royal College of Midwives said more money should be invested in maternity services.
The survey was carried out online between October 2009 and January 2010 on a self-selecting group of women who had given birth in the previous 12 months.
The majority of those who completed the survey had given birth in hospital and 95% were NCT members.
The survey found that 42% of mothers thought there were "sometimes" or "never" enough midwives to help them in hospital.
And while 56% said they got all the physical care they required, only 45% said they got all the information and advice they needed.
Guidance from NICE (the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence) says all women should have a personalised postnatal care plan, yet 96% said they did not have one.
Clare Perriss, who lives in Dorset, had a traumatic time giving birth to her daughter Emily, now nearly two-years-old.
A long, painful labour was followed by an emergency caesarean.
Thirty-six hours later, having not seen a doctor since the operation, she was moved to a postnatal ward.
"But I didn't see any midwives again. I was in a very vulnerable position, I was shell-shocked and trying to recover from abdominal surgery and I had difficulty breast-feeding - but nobody was checking on me or offering support."
Less than 72 hours after the birth, she was at home dealing with a screaming, colicky baby.
"I saw lots of different midwives at home but never saw the same one twice.
"They all had different viewpoints so although the physical care I received at home was good, there was no emotional or psychological support.
"I could feel myself tipping back into postnatal depression."
In the end it was a year before Clare started to feel better.
"There needs to be a special type of care which caters for women who've gone through a traumatic birth or pregnancy," she says.
"I feel that my midwives were trained to recognise postnatal depression but not to help me through it."
Of the women surveyed, 52% had given birth with forceps, ventouse or by caesarean section, which is slightly higher than the latest figures for women who had operative births in England in 2007-2008 (48%).
These women generally have the greatest needs when it comes to postnatal care, but the survey found that they experienced the biggest gaps in care.
Of mothers who had a caesarean, 43% said their emotional needs were not met within 24 hours to a month after the birth.
And 30% who had a caesarean found that midwives were only kind and understanding some of the time, or never.
Postnatal care in a birth centre or after birth at home was rated more positively.
Support for baby feeding is a recurring topic for many new mothers, but less than half said they got all the help and support they need in the early days.
Anne Fox, head of campaigns and public policy at the National Childbirth Trust, said postnatal care urgently needed improvement.
"Our report paints a dreadful, shocking picture of care in the UK - we're letting women and their babies down. Evidence shows that supporting women and babies at this vital time can have a major impact on future health and learning."
She added: "Many of the problems these women highlight seem to be due to staff shortages or lack of visits once they had left hospital - and this issue needs to be addressed if the quality of postnatal care is to be improved, particularly for vulnerable women."
Louise Silverton, deputy general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "This report paints a disappointing picture of postnatal care.
"The extra money and additional midwives from the previous government, whilst very welcome, still leaves us playing catch-up with the birth-rate, and we are still a long way short of bridging the gap."
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said it was working to improve the quality of maternity care and extend the choices available to every pregnant woman, and to recruiting an extra 4,200 health visitors to help support to women after birth. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42285441 | Cold-callers trying to sell pensions could be banned by next summer if the government takes action now, a group of MPs has demanded.
Members of the Work and Pensions Committee said that otherwise, the ban may not happen until 2020.
The MPs want the government to include the measure in a bill, which is before Parliament.
At least £42m has been lost to pension scammers since 2014, according to the City of London Police.
Many fraudsters make their first approach to consumers by phone and subsequently persuade them to move their savings to unregulated pension schemes.
Such schemes include diamonds, forestry, overseas property developments and store pods. Savers have lost an average of £15,000 each in such investments.
The chancellor first announced a plan to ban cold-calling in last year's Autumn Statement.
However, the idea was dropped ahead of this year's general election and then failed to make it into the original Financial Claims and Guidance Bill.
The MPs said a ban on cold-calling would not stop all pension scams, but it would be an important preventative measure.
"Every day that passes without a ban, people are being avoidably conned out of their life savings," said Frank Field, chair of the committee.
"There is no need to overcomplicate this: our proposal would see an enforceable ban in place by summer, closing at least one door on rafts of scammers at a stroke."
The House of Lords has already amended the Bill, to empower the forthcoming Single Financial Guidance Body to recommend a ban.
However, that would still mean waiting over two years for any effective action.
"People's life savings must not be left vulnerable to scammers and con artists," said Yvonne Braun, policy director at the Association of British Insurers.
"With mortgages already protected by a cold-calling ban, it is high time pensions were given the same level of protection. Further measures to prevent fraudsters switching to spam emails and texts will also be important," she said.
However, Tom McPhail, head of policy at Hargreaves Lansdown said a ban on cold calling would "have to be policed and avoid interfering with legitimate business activity". |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-42921085 | A grandmother has made an emotional plea to burglars who stole her jewellery while she was in hospital having brain surgery.
Christine McCartney's engagement ring and a chain given to her by her late husband, before they were married, were both taken.
Rings given to her by her daughter, who died suddenly in April last year, were also stolen.
The 78-year-old said it would mean "everything" to get the pieces back.
It is thought the thieves took a crowbar to Mrs McCartney's door in Shanreagh Park in Limavady, County Londonderry, while she was at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast between 26 and 31 January.
"All the cupboards and drawers were pulled out and looked through," said Mrs McCartney.
"They have taken all my good, gold rings, my engagement ring and sapphire rings and my mother's wedding ring.
"The only one I have now is my eternity ring because it was safe at the jewellers being resized.
"Everything else in that box was taken. I have no idea what the value of the rings is, but they meant everything to me.
"There was a wee cross and chain that my husband got me the day we got engaged."
Mrs McCartney said it was "horrible" to think about the thieves being in her house.
"I am really furious that someone would do that to me when I was in the hospital, I think it's absolutely diabolical."
Her son, Gordon McCartney, believes the thieves knew his mother.
"Nothing else was taken from the house," he told BBC News NI.
"How else would they have known she wasn't around?"
Police in Limavady said they were appealing for information following the report of a burglary at a house in the Shanreagh Park area on 31 January.
Det Sgt McColgan said: "Sometime over the past week, entry was forced into the property and rooms were ransacked. It is understood various items of sentimental jewellery were stolen." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37962425 | Lego has announced its promotional giveaways with the Daily Mail have ended - amid a campaign to stop firms advertising with some newspapers over "divisive" coverage of migrants.
The firm regularly gives away free toys via the paper, but said there would be no more "in the foreseeable future".
Lego did not say why the tie-up had ended - but said it had listened carefully to parents and grandparents.
Stop Funding Hate has lobbied firms to stop advertising with some newspapers.
The group, formed in the summer, has criticised several national newspapers for "portraying migrants in overwhelmingly negative terms" and whipping up hatred before and after the EU referendum.
It has urged companies including John Lewis, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer to stop advertising with the Daily Mail, the Sun and Daily Express.
Responding to a tweet from Stop Funding Hate, Lego confirmed its promotional agreement with the Mail had ended.
A spokesman said: "We don't comment about dialogues with 3rd parties. But our main purpose is to create Lego experiences for kids.
"The agreement with the Daily Mail has finished and we have no plans to run any promotional activity with the newspaper in the foreseeable future."
Lego told the BBC it spends "a lot of time listening to what children have to say. And when parents and grandparents take the time to let us know how they feel, we always listen just as carefully."
It added: "We are both humbled and honoured to see how much consumers all over the world express their care for our company and our brand.
"And we will continuously do our very best to live up to the trust and faith that people all around the world show us every day."
The Mail has not commented on Lego's announcement, other than to say: "Our agreement with Lego has ended and we have no plans to run any promotional activity with Lego in the foreseeable future."
Lego's Daily Mail promotions - in which readers are offered a coupon with which they can claim a free Lego toy at a specific retailer - have been run at regular periods dating back to at least 2013.
Before that, the Danish firm ran similar giveaways with the Sun.
The Mail is the UK's second most-read daily newspaper and boasts almost 15m readers a day online - the biggest of any British newspaper.
Last week, a letter from a British father to Lego was shared online, in which he criticised the toy manufacturer for advertising with the Mail.
Bob Jones said the newspaper had "gone too far" and said he believed Lego's links with the Mail were "wrong".
He wrote: "Lego, to me has always been an inclusive product. Breaking barriers between gender, building children's imagination and confidence to do their own thing. Something adults and children can and do, bond over."
"Your links to the Daily Mail are wrong. And a company like yours shouldn't be supporting them.
The news was announced a week after the Daily Mail and Daily Express faced criticism for their headlines reporting the High Court ruling that Parliament must be given a vote before the government can trigger Article 50 to formally start the process of the UK's exit from the EU.
The Daily Mail branded judges "Enemies of the people", while the Daily Express said it was "the day democracy died".
The Bar Council demanded that the Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss, defend the judges who made the ruling, saying that they were coming under an "unprecedented" attack just for "doing their job". |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20694019 | A smartphone with two screens - one of which uses e-ink technology - has been announced by a Russian company.
Yota says having an added low-power screen will help users keep across social network updates and show critical information that stays visible even if the handsets run out of power.
It plans to put the 4G Android device on sale by the second half of 2013.
But one analyst said the innovation was a "gimmick" which might struggle to do well in western markets.
Saint Petersburg-based Yota is best known for making modems and router equipment.
It says it plans to sell its handset at the premium end of the market which is currently occupied by phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X and Sony Xperia T.
E-ink displays are commonly used for e-book readers and are easier to read in the sun than their LCD equivalents, but offer a slower refresh rate making them unsuitable for videos or most games.
Yota says both the colour LCD and black-and-white e-paper displays would be 4.3in (10.9cm) in size, and placed on opposite sides of the device's body.
Both would be protected by impact-resistant "gorilla glass" developed by the US company Corning to reduce the risk of breakage.
Yota's chief executive said he believed other companies had not previously launched similar devices because in the past there had not been a clear need for users to want a second screen.
But, he added, changing habits had created a gap in the market.
"Two years ago we were not so dependent on all the kinds of information we consume now, from Facebook and Twitter to news and other RSS feeds," Vlad Martynov told the BBC.
"The smartphone is now a window onto this virtual life, but today there's a lot of disappointment when you miss information.
"Our electronic paper display with our applications will remove this irritation."
In addition to letting users dedicate different tasks to different screens, Mr Martynov suggested users might want to display important information such as an airline boarding pass or a map on the e-ink screen to take advantage of the fact that the technology only uses power to refresh - and not maintain - its image.
As a consequence the phone keeps showing the last graphic or text sent to its second display even if its battery has died.
Yota says it has been working on the project for two years, but that it still needs to complete work on the five or six apps that will be bundled with the device to make use of its second screen.
Ultimately if the handset proves popular, it says it hopes third-party developers will customise their programs for the innovation.
However, one industry watcher cast doubt over whether that would happen.
"I don't see many users wanting this device in the US or Western Europe," said Francisco Jeronimo, research manager at consultants IDC.
"China may be different - they like more gimmicky phones that can handle several Sim cards and feature unusual types of display - but none of those devices have done well elsewhere.
"Brand is quite a strong purchasing decision factor in western markets as well, so unless this were being promoted by a company like Samsung or being sold at a very low price I can't see much demand."
Yota says it plans to debut its handset at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.
It says it then aims to manufacture the device in Asia so that it can go on sale in Russia "in the summer", and Europe, North America and the Middle East before the end of the year. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27708489 | The last of the 29 Navajo Americans who developed a code with their native language to encrypt military messages in World War 2 has died.
Chester Nez, 93, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, had told US media he was "very proud" of his part developing the cipher the Japanese never broke.
It was credited with saving the lives of thousands of US troops in the Pacific.
Nez, who was also a painter, died of kidney failure on Wednesday.
"It saddens me to hear the last of the original code talkers has died," Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly told Reuters, adding he was ordering flags to be flown at half-mast in Nez's honour.
"We are proud of these young men in defending the country they loved using their Navajo language."
Nez was chosen from among 250 Navajos who arrived at the Army base in Arizona for the project. He was in high school at the time of his enlistment and lied about his age.
The code took words from the Navajo language, which was spoken by less than 30 non-Navajos at the time, and matched them to military terms. The Navajo word for turtle became "tank", chicken hawk became "dive bomber" and "our mother" meant America.
About 400 code talkers used the cipher to relay messages sent from field telephones and radios throughout the Pacific. Messages read aloud by the code talkers were immediately destroyed.
"It's one of the greatest parts of history that we used our own native language during World War II," Nez said in 2010. "The Japanese did everything in their power to break the code but they never did."
The Code Talker mission was only declassified in 1968. But the original group received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2001, and the programme was dramatised in the 2002 movie Windtalkers.
After World War 2, Nez volunteered in the Korean War, and retired in 1974 after a 25-year career as a painter at the Veterans Administration hospital in Albuquerque.
Despite difficulties travelling since both of his legs were partially amputated, he loved to tell his story, said Judy Avila, who worked with Nez on his memoir. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-42300430 | Several flights to and from Northern Ireland have been cancelled due to heavy snow in other parts of the UK and northern Europe.
Belfast International Airport's spokeswoman said 16 Easyjet flights had been cancelled so far on Sunday.
Affected routes include London Stansted, Luton, Birmingham, Glasgow and Amsterdam.
A number of flights at Belfast City Airport are also cancelled. Passengers are advised to contact their airline.
What does yellow, red and amber mean?
British Airways flights between Heathrow and Belfast City Airport are still continuing to operate.
While there have been no cancellations at the City of Derry airport, some flights are subject to delays.
The widespread disruption follows heavy snowfall, rain and gale force winds in parts of Great Britain.
Up to 30cm (12in) of snow has fallen in Brecon in Wales and gusts of 90mph have been recorded in the English Channel.
While Belfast International Airport is clear of snow, the weather is causing disruption at other airports in the UK and further afield.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Birmingham Airport while snow was cleared from the runway.
Much of Northern Ireland woke up to a blanket of snow on Friday and the Met Office has issued a yellow "be aware" warning for snow and ice from midday on Sunday to midday on Monday.
Temperatures could fall as low as -9C around Belfast on Sunday night.
Scattered wintry showers will spread from the north, bringing a widespread frost and localised snowfalls, mainly over high ground in County Antrim.
The Roads Service resumed salting main roads considered to be at risk of ice on Sunday afternoon.
Its spokesman, Simon Wells, said: "Road users are reminded that even when salting has been undertaken, ice-free roads cannot be guaranteed.
"Motorists are again advised to exercise caution when travelling, particularly when driving on untreated roads." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/5053416.stm | An oxygen chamber of the kind used to help speed up England footballer Wayne Rooney's recovery from injury has been unveiled at a Swansea clinic.
Rooney used oxygen therapy to try to help heal his broken foot ahead of England's World Cup campaign.
Swansea City's Owain Tudur Jones is using the chamber after hearing it may halve his recovery time from surgery.
Philip James, who opened the clinic, said the chamber healed injuries better than if patients breathed just air.
Since breaking a bone in his foot in April, Rooney has spent time in an oxygen chamber to encourage the bone to heal more quickly.
He will receive a further scan on Wednesday to help determine his level of involvement in the World Cup.
Hyperbaric chambers are believed to aid recovery from injury by increasing the amount of oxygen in the body.
Patients are sealed into a pressurised container, where they breathe 100% oxygen instead of the 21% oxygen found in normal air.
The pressure in the chamber increases the amount of oxygen that dissolves in the bloodstream and the body's tissues.
The dissolved oxygen reduces inflammation, speeding up the healing process.
As well as sports injuries, the chambers are also used in the treatment of bone infections, gangrene, smoke inhalation, skin grafts, burns and crush injuries - and even in anti-ageing treatments.
Professor Philip James, a hyperbaric medicine specialist, who opened the new O2 Therapy Centre in Swansea on Tuesday, said he wrote to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the wake of Rooney's injury to reassure him about the treatment.
Prof James said: "I wrote to him because I think his fear was that Rooney may have a temporary quick fix and he might be well enough to play and then get injured - obviously then it might become a chronic injury.
"But, in fact, all the evidence is that if you give hyperbaric therapy to a player with this kind of injury the tissue recovery is better than if you heal just breathing air."
Swansea City midfielder Owain Tudur Jones has already tried the oxygen chamber to aid his own recovery from surgery after hearing it could potentially halve his recovery time.
He said: "I don't want to miss too much of pre-season. That's when you lose your fitness and you are just playing catch-up with the rest of the lads which is not ideal.
"To halve how long you're out for is unbelievable and if that ends up being the case then I'm sure any little niggle, I'll be in here every chance I get."
"The tissue recovery is better than if you heal just breathing air"
What are oxygen chambers all about? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19808911 | Georgia's leaders have been praised for a vote that is expected to deliver the country's first democratic transfer of power in post-Soviet history.
President Mikheil Saakashvili admitted defeat after the Georgian Dream bloc of his rival, Bidzina Ivanishvili, won Monday's parliamentary election.
Four years after Russia went to war with Georgia, Moscow said it hoped for an improvement in relations.
The European Union and the US both hailed the vote.
The White House called it "another milestone in Georgia's democratic development", and said the country had set a "regional and global example by conducting a competitive campaign".
The EU said Georgia had shown "a healthy respect for fundamental freedoms".
With almost all the results in from Georgia's 3,766 polling stations, Mr Ivanishvili's opposition coalition was heading for 55% of the vote in the party list vote which accounts for 77 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Georgian Dream supporters celebrated in the capital for a second night.
Mr Saakashvili's United National Movement was trailing with 40% of the vote. It was also behind in the first-past-the-post vote in the 73 constituencies that make up the other seats in parliament.
As the scale of the Georgian Dream bloc's victory became clear, Mr Saakashvili appeared on live television to say his party respected the will of the voters.
"We, as an opposition force, will fight for the future of our country," he said.
While Mr Ivanishvili, 56, is set to become prime minister, his rival, who has led the country since 2004, is due to remain in power until presidential elections next year.
The billionaire businessman-turned-politician said the "only right decision" would now be for Mr Saakashvili to resign and call a snap presidential election.
President Saakashvili came to power after Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution and by law has to step down in 2013 after two terms in office.
He steered Georgia closer to the West and took the country into a disastrous war with Russia in 2008 when he tried to bring about the return of the breakaway territory of South Ossetia, where Russia kept a peacekeeping force.
Mr Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s with stakes in metals, banking and then property, promised to rebalance relations with Moscow when he appeared before reporters on Tuesday.
"We'll do our best to sort out relations with Russia," he said, but added that he was committed to maintaining ties with the EU and Nato.
His success was welcomed in Moscow where Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said it showed that Georgians wanted change and "probably means that more constructive and responsible forces will appear in parliament".
"Anything that would keep Saakashvili further away from the instruments of power is a plus for Russian-Georgian relations," said Vyacheslav Nikonov, deputy head of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee.
Washington appealed to the president and Mr Ivanishvili to work together, praising Georgia's citizens for a "significant step in the consolidation of Georgian democracy".
EU officials said the conduct of the vote was "generally positive", choosing not to criticise what observers had described as "a very polarising campaign". |
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-43489661 | The US central bank has said it will raise its benchmark interest rate citing a strengthened economic outlook.
The Federal Reserve said it had decided to raise the rate by 0.25% to a target range of 1.5% to 1.75%.
Policymakers also signalled they would increase rates twice more this year, while raising the forecast for rate hikes in 2019.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome "Jay" Powell also sounded a warning about rising trade tensions.
The Trump administration recently announced steel and aluminium tariffs and is weighing sanctions against China, actions that have led to threats of retaliation.
Mr Powell said some Fed members are worried about the possibility of a trade war, referencing conversations between central bankers and business leaders.
"They're seeing it as a risk to the outlook," Mr Powell said at a press conference at the close of the Fed's two-day meeting in Washington.
What does the Fed expect?
Members of the Federal Open Markets Committee, which votes on rates, predicted the US economy will grow by 2.7% this year, faster than the 2.5% predicted in December.
Officials are also expecting slightly higher interest rates in 2019 and 2020 than they did in December, according to projections released after the meeting, which reflect the median of estimates by committee members.
"This is clearly a firming up of the future trajectory of policy tightening," said Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings.
The Fed has been raising rates slowly since 2015, moving the US away from the ultra-low levels put in place following the financial crisis.
The central bank is trying to balance a low unemployment rate with the potential for higher inflation.
Wednesday's rate increase was widely expected, but there are new faces on the committee, raising questions about whether policymakers will move more quickly in coming months.
Economic conditions have also shifted. The US economy grew at an annualised rate of more than 3% during some quarters last year, while the unemployment rate is hovering at 4.1% - the lowest since 2000.
A new man takes over the Fed: What will he do?
Inflation has continued to lag the Fed's 2% target rate, but analysts have said they expect wages and prices to increase this year.
Mr Powell said the Fed is "alert" to the possibility of inflation and expects inflation to rise in coming months, but is not expecting a sharp increase.
"There's no sense in the data that we're on the cusp of an acceleration in inflation," he said.
An increase in the Fed's benchmark federal funds rate typically leads to higher rates for consumers and businesses.
Savers benefit, but borrowing becomes more expensive, which can dampen activity in industries such as housing and car sales and raise costs for businesses that rely on debt.
Jerome Powell: Who is Trump's Fed chair nominee? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/5153380.stm | Sir Sean Connery has signed a publishing deal to write a book about his life and views on Scotland.
Connery's Scotland is expected to be published in September 2007 to mark the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England.
The 75-year-old actor will co-write his first major book along with author and film maker Murray Grigor.
It is expected to be a mixture of memoir and Sir Sean's take on Scots history and events.
Sir Sean, who went on to become a star after beginning working life as an Edinburgh milkman, has already started the book.
He said: "Our goal is to produce a very readable, visually stimulating and hopefully intriguing history of Scotland, with personal discoveries."
The book will draw on archive photographs and chapters will explore Scottish humour, literature, art, architecture and sport as well as focus on Sir Sean's native Edinburgh.
It will be released by publishers Canongate, an Edinburgh-based firm, and Polygon.
Jamie Byng, publisher at Canongate, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to be publishing Connery's Scotland.
"Not only is it going to be a fascinating and revelatory book about Scotland, but Sir Sean is a natural storyteller with his own great story to tell." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1874481.stm | The ten finalists of ITV1's Pop Idol took to the road on Thursday with their first concert at Wembley Arena but while the screaming fans were impressed, the press had reservations.
The Mirror's Kevin O'Sullivan described the concert as a "show of two halves", heaping praise on winner Will Young, runner-up Gareth Gates and Darius Danesh but slating the "amateur" dance routines and some of the performances.
While praising former train driver Aaron Bailey's version of Walking in Memphis, it described his attempt at I Get A Kick Out of You as "abysmal".
"Some of these young hopefuls' attempts at the standards of yesteryear were so awful that I believe there could be serious legal grounds for criminal prosecution."
The Independent agreed, picking out Eurovision entry Jessica Garlick and Korben out for particular criticism, although reviewer Nick Hasted praised Laura Doherty, who spent a considerable amount of time on the Pop Idol sofa waiting to be voted out.
The paper generally viewed the tour as a cynical exercise to exploit youngsters.
"Many of the teenagers screamed their hormonal lungs out with a force that can't be faked, amd must be feeling something their Beatle-adoring grandmums would recognise with a wince. It's just that now, they're screaming into a vacuum."
It was not all bad though.
The Star's Peter Dyke thought that Will and Gareth stole the show and also praised Zoe Birkett, who sang the Aretha Franklin classic, Say A Little Prayer.
The Daily Express' Mel Myers described the "electric atmosphere" and noted Will's disclosure of his sexuality at the weekend seemed to have made little difference to his popularity.
"The legions of female fans in the audience seemed unfazed by his recent revelation and screamed the house down as he began his number one hit Evergreen."
But the highest accolade was given to Gareth Gates.
"The real star was Gareth who caused mayhem when he performed Mac the Knife. Could this be the new Elvis Presley?"
"Hear a clip from Evergreen"
"Hear a clip from I Will Always Love You"
"Hear a clip from Unchained Melody!
Links to more Reviews stories are at the foot of the page. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7343833.stm | Fans of pop star Rick Astley descended on London's Liverpool Street train station for a "flashmob" event.
The "flashmob" - where a group of people assemble in a public place for a brief period of time - happened just before 1800 BST.
Some of the fans donned Astley masks in honour of the 1980s hitmaker, before the crowd sang his trademark hit Never Gonna Give You Up.
Police said the incident passed peacefully - if not quietly.
Witness Paras Barot, 22, from Golders Green in north London, said he heard about the event on social networking site Facebook and decided to head to the station.
"I got there with some friends just before 6pm, and there were lots of people there - the whole station was at a standstill."
He said he thought there were some 300 or 400 people taking part in the event.
"There was a countdown from 5.59 to 6pm. Some guys put their masks on, and a lot of them started singing the song.
"For those of us who knew what was going on it was really funny."
Mr Barot said he did not join in the singing. "I don't know the words."
A British Transport Police spokeswoman said: "We monitored the incident. There were no problems, no arrests. They did what they had to do and then left."
An estimated 13 million internet users have been tricked into watching the video for Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up in recent weeks.
As soon as I found out, I knew it was something I couldn't miss! I rushed from Canary Wharf where I work and it was most definitely worth it - 500 people sharing a common goal to entertain the nation - what can be better? |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-47378084 | A student who told an undercover MI5 officer he wanted to travel to fight in Libya has been jailed for eight and a half years for terror offences.
Aqib Imran, 23, from Birmingham, was convicted of preparing an act of terrorism in December after a retrial.
On Tuesday, a judge jailed him for eight and a half years for preparing to join IS, with a further three and a half on extended licence.
The judge accepted Imran was "immature" and "more of a follower than a leader".
During the trial, Imran - who was also convicted of possessing a terrorist handbook - denied having terrorist intentions, saying he had been sucked into a fantasy that began when he was attracted to a girl online.
Prior to his arrest, Imran had become friends online with Naa'imur Rahman, 21, who in July was convicted over a plot to kill the prime minister in a suicide attack and jailed for life.
Prosecutors told the Old Bailey that Imran and Rahman began talking online to people they thought were commanders from the Islamic State group.
But the mysterious personas were in fact a series of undercover investigators, starting with one from the FBI and eventually officers from the UK's MI5.
While Imran did nothing to put off Rahman from carrying out his plot, Mr Justice Hilliard said he would not sentence Imran on the basis that he encouraged it.
He said: "Mr Rahman was a very dangerous man and that must have been evident from any time spent with him but also from the messages the defendant exchanged with him.
"I am afraid nothing I have seen demonstrates a change of heart by the defendant or a real insight into what would be necessary to achieve that.
"His defence was simply this was talk, he never intended to follow through and the jury rejected that."
Alexis Boon, acting commander for the Met Police counter-terrorism command, said he was "pleased" with the outcome.
He added: "Our police investigation has stopped Imran from joining Daesh on the ground in Libya, where his subsequent actions could have assisted the terrorist organisation to further their aims." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43499698 | Buying a piece of art has long been considered an investment, of time as well as money, requiring visits to galleries and trips to auction houses.
But technology is changing the way we interact with, buy, and sell art. And artists are adapting their creative processes to suit a changing landscape.
"There's never been a better time to be an artist in the world," says Ashley Longshore.
The US artist's paintings can be found hanging in the homes of Hollywood celebrities such as Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz and Blake Lively.
"Art school teaches you that galleries are where you have to be. Galleries told me that I would never make it so I started to think; how could I build my own empire?" she says.
Ashley started using social media - Facebook, Instagram and others - to showcase her art and attract new buyers. Selling direct cuts out the middleman and puts artists back in control, she says.
Image caption Ms Longshore says her dream "is a world full of wealthy artists"
"When you buy through a gallery you're investing 50% in the middle man - it screws up the pricing of art. I want artists to see themselves as entrepreneurs - 'artpreneurs' - who have control over what they're putting out," she says.
It's a strategy that has worked well. She has sold multiple works online, including one for $50,000 (£35,000). Paying subscribers get access to limited-edition works as well.
Online art sales are growing worldwide. Online sales reached an estimated $3.75bn in 2016, up 15% from 2015. This represents an 8.4% share of the overall art market, up from 7.4% the year before, according to the 2017 report on the online art market from insurers Hiscox.
In contrast, global auction sales fell 19% over the same period.
Iain Barratt, owner of the Catto Gallery in London, recognises that an online presence is important, but is sceptical that social media is the answer to increased sales.
"A lot of social media is just noise. Our artists are on Instagram but they're followed by other artists most of the time, not clients," he says.
"We've had a few indirect sales on social media, but nothing to speak of really."
His gallery typically sells works for £5,000-20,000, and Mr Barratt believes that the more expensive the painting the more reluctant customers are to buy online.
"Above a certain price people want to come in and see the art. On a computer, it just doesn't come across the same way. You want to find out more about it," he says.
"Seeing a piece of art in the flesh - nothing quite beats it."
For the auction house Christie's, which was founded 250 years ago, embracing new technology has been an interesting journey.
"We test and learn with online all the time," says chief marketing officer Marc Sands.
"At the beginning we thought no-one would spend a lot online. Five years ago the average sale online was $2,300, now it's just under $8,000."
In 2017, a third of Christie's new buyers came via the web and online sales totalled £56m, up 12% on the year before.
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The company now runs 80 to 100 online-only auctions a year, but Mr Sands points out that not all types of art sell well online.
Old masters, paintings created before about 1800, have an older buying demographic "so that market doesn't lend itself well to being sold online", he says.
Does he see online-only art platforms, such as Artsy and Artfinder, as a threat?
"They're a little bit of competition," he says. "Their user base is a bit cooler. They're the new kids on the block so they're quite interesting to work with."
Christie's has recently worked with Artsy on some online auctions, and Mr Sands thinks such collaborations will become more common.
"We want elements of their audience and they need the supply of art. This sort of model could be the future," he says.
Artsy co-founder Sebastian Cwilich certainly thinks the traditional model of selling art at galleries and auction houses is changing.
"The notion that you can open a location to sell your art and hope that the right people just walk through the door is almost quaint," he says.
"Every industry is leveraging technology to run their business better. We need to embrace new technology. Consumers are much more comfortable buying online, so why not art?"
Having a good online and social media presence certainly allows galleries, auction houses and artists to access a wider customer base and to connect with new buyers.
But for emerging artists like Emily Ursa, it can feel difficult to get noticed.
"Social media is an amazing platform for so many," she says, "but you have to beware because you're one of thousands and thousands.
"Things lose their value on social media and become very throwaway, so it's hard to stand out."
At a gallery exhibition customers can see the work that's gone in to a painting up close, she says.
"It gives it a sense of importance... it's a whole experience, it changes the value of the work."
To artists who say online platforms are the future, Catto Gallery's Iain Barratt has a rather bleak response: "Good luck to you. Where will you be in 30 years time? We've had a 20-year relationship with some of our artists here."
But from her studio in California, Ashley Longshore has little time for that sort of opinion.
"With a gallery you never know who your clients are. I'm creating something tangible - I'm a business person, I want to create money from it. Why wouldn't I use every single avenue I can?
"My dream is a world full of wealthy artists." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-40575379/uk-s-first-nursery-in-care-home-to-open-in-london | UK's first nursery in care home to open Jump to media player A joint site for children and elderly residents is opening in September in London.
Care funding 'masks deeper problem' Jump to media player Chairman of Care Forum Wales Mario Kreft says the care sector is in a "dysfunctional state".
Nurseries 'need better quality workers' Jump to media player The chief inspector of schools in England Sir Michael Wilshaw has said that he wants to get tougher on nurseries and childminders that are currently judged "satisfactory".
Two-year-old leaves nursery unnoticed Jump to media player A two-year-old girl left a nursery unnoticed and walked half a mile home on her own.
Keeping people out of care homes Jump to media player Leeds City Council has being making good progress keeping people out of care homes by investing in new technology that can keep people safe and well in their own homes.
The joint site for children and elderly residents is opening in September. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-47332105 | Image caption Coastguard rescue teams worked with the police to remove the vehicle from Irvine Beach Park.
A car had to be recovered by the coastguard after a driver followed sat-nav instructions on to an Ayrshire beach and got stranded.
The Vauxhall Corsa with two women on board had travelled from Glasgow and was following instructions to get to Irvine Beach Park.
However, the sat-nav directed them down an access road onto the beach.
Both the driver and passenger were safe and the vehicle was pushed off the beach before high tide.
On its Facebook page, Ayr and Ardrossan Coastguard Rescue Teams said the vehicle was in a position that it would have ended up in the water once high tide arrived.
They explained that "with the assistance of officers from Ayrshire police division, the team's off-road track mats and some old-fashioned muscle the vehicle was able to be recovered from the beach".
The statement adds: "We would always advise people to only use their sat-nav system as a guide and not a replacement for traditional navigation and observation".
The incident took place around 01:00 and the vehicle was still fully driveable, the statement added.
A spokeswoman for HM Coastguard said: "At around 12.50am today we received a report that two women were stuck in a car at Irvine Beach.
"Both Troon RNLI lifeboats, Ayr and Ardrossan Coastguard Rescue Teams were sent.
"Coastguards ensured the persons were no longer at risk before the vehicle was recovered." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2176566.stm | Civil war and difficult weather conditions have a devastating effect on the Angolan population. Ben Brown presents a special series on their plight.
The country's harvests have been wrecked by the civil war and the onset of rains next month is threatening to hamper food deliveries. Many children may starve to death.
The United Nations says an extra �150 million is needed to provide enough food for the next 18 months. Aid agencies face a difficult task operating in a country torn apart by civil war. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-25727558 | Unmanned flying drones are to be used in the hope of recovering more oil reserves by studying geology from the sky.
Academics at the University of Aberdeen are using the remotely-operated machines to scan rock formations with the aim of improving understanding of subsurface reservoirs.
They are in collaboration with a group at the University of Bergen in Norway.
The research programme is supported by more than 20 oil firms.
Prof John Howell, a geoscientist at the University of Aberdeen, said: "When you drill a well in the North Sea, you can directly measure the rocks in the borehole, however you have much less certainty about what is going on away from the well.
"Given that two wells are often several miles apart, predicting what the rock layers in between the boreholes look like is a huge challenge.
"To solve this problem we look at similar rock units which occur in cliffs above sea level and we use the drone to make extremely detailed 3D models, which we can then adapt for the subsurface.
"This gives us a much better idea of what conditions are like between these two bore holes and then allows us to predict how the oil will follow and how much we can recover."
He added: "The advantage of the drone is that it allows us to collect large volumes of data from otherwise inaccessible cliff sections in remote and often dangerous places."
The work is part of a project called Safari which started in the late 1980s.
"The original workers on the project have seen data collection technology come on in leaps and bounds since then but the introduction of laser scanning was one of the biggest improvements," Prof Howell said.
"We're now able to create virtual rock formations that are accurate to within less than a few millimetres.
"The overall project's goal is to develop a fully searchable database of these relevant rock formations which will help oil companies build better models of the subsurface and improve recovery from oil fields." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23929124 | In 1950 the East German government claimed the Americans were dropping potato beetles out of planes over GDR fields in an attempt to sabotage their crops. Was it true, or an example of Cold War propaganda?
On 23 May 1950, farmer Max Troeger noticed two American planes flying over his fields in the East German village of Schoenfels bei Zwickau.
The next morning - according to an East German government leaflet - he was shocked to discover that his fields were covered with Colorado potato beetles, an insect which can devastate potato crops.
First described in 1824, the beetle had presented a major threat to European crops when it had first arrived with potatoes imported from the US in the late 19th Century.
Was America deliberately dropping these beasties over the socialist East German state to sabotage its harvest and undermine its post-war reconstruction?
The East German press reported a number of other cases in which planes flying overhead had been followed by a plague of potato beetles. Politicians raged against the "six-legged ambassadors of the American invasion" and a government report described "a criminal attack by American imperialist warmongers on our people's food supply".
So the country began to mobilise against the enemy insects.
There was a huge propaganda campaign - leaflets, posters, stories in the press - depicting the potato beetles as tiny American soldiers in army boots or helmets. They were called Amikafer - Yankee beetles.
Children all over East Germany were sent out to collect the beetles after school.
"We were told that potato beetles were pests, and that they were eating our fields bare," says Ingo Materna, who was 18 at the time.
"We would go down the rows of potatoes and everyone would try to pick up as many beetles as they could, maybe 20 or 25 in a day. And then we would put them in pots or little glass jars and they would be taken away and destroyed.
"The really dangerous ones were the larvae, because they eat the most," says Materna.
"They were sort of fleshy and soft, and we had to pick them up with our fingers - we didn't have tweezers or rubber gloves.
"The girls in particular didn't like it… We didn't want to touch them either, but what could we do?"
Colorado beetles had already been common in Germany before the war, says Erhard Geissler, an expert in biological warfare at the Max Delbruck Centre for Molecular Medicine, who has researched the history of the pests.
And in 1950, there were indeed many more of them in the fields. But, there were plenty of other reasons why that might have been the case, says Geissler.
"There was not enough pesticide available because not enough was being produced, and what was produced was mainly sent straight to the Soviet Union.
"There was not enough technical advice on pesticides, and motivation among farm workers was also very low at that time - a lot of male workers who had been soldiers, were still in the Soviet Union."
Many East Germans did believe that the Americans were to blame, however.
"I found that a majority of older people, particularly in rural areas, remembered it had been the US imperialist who spread the beetles from the aeroplanes," says Geissler.
Eighteen-year-old Ingo Materna, had a different view. "We didn't take it seriously at all," he says.
Even though he and his friends were dutifully picking the beetles up, they weren't convinced by the story of the capitalist plot.
"The idea that the Americans were dropping them - of course, that was nonsense."
This was the period of the Cold War, a time of heightened mistrust between East and West.
For Materna - who shared his memories as part of an oral history project, Memory of the Nation - the government was seizing every opportunity to accuse the Americans of bad behaviour.
"Some of the stories were probably true and some of them definitely weren't," he says. "This beetle story was one of the ones that wasn't."
Whatever the origin of the beetles, they did pose a serious threat to East German crops.
"Potatoes were the main thing we had to eat in East Germany at the time," remembers Geissler, who grew up in Leipzig.
"My father and mother and I would all share a single potato for breakfast. We were shocked to hear that our food supply was under threat."
Materna, too, recalls the importance of eliminating the beetles.
"We had just survived World War II. I had lived under all four occupying powers - we had been through a lot," he says.
"So if there were potato beetles, we needed to get rid of them, so we had enough potatoes. It was as simple as that."
The idea of planes dropping potato beetles over enemy fields was not entirely far-fetched.
For one thing, US planes were often flying low over some parts of East Germany at the time - delivering supplies to West Berlin.
And, says Erhard Geissler, several governments had already considered the possibilities of the potato beetle as a weapon - although he has found no evidence that they were ever actually used in practice.
The British considered dropping them over Germany during World War I, for example. And although Hitler had prohibited active research into biological weapons, a small group of German scientists performed a number of tests dropping specially-bred potato beetles out of planes in 1943. The idea was soon abandoned.
In East Germany in 1950, the Ministry of Agriculture commissioned a report to back up its allegations that the Americans were dropping beetles out of aircraft, including interviews with eyewitnesses and experts.
But the "experts" quoted in the research had never published previously on potato beetles or any other invasive species, Geissler says, and the committee was mainly made up of politicians, not scientists.
And so, he concludes, the story was aimed at covering the government's own inability to fight the beetles, and provided a handy extra accusation to hurl at the Americans.
He believes that the East German government did not believe the story themselves. "They were not stupid. They had political convictions and they were concerned by the increasing danger of the developing Cold War, but I do not think they were stupid enough to believe their own propaganda.
"There is no factual basis for the story about the Yankee beetles at all."
Lucy Burns was reporting for Witness - which airs weekdays on BBC World Service radio. You can hear her report on the potato beetles here. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3727553.stm | The World Health Organization has said China has contained the latest outbreak of the Sars virus.
In a statement, the WHO said no new Sars infections had been reported in China for more than three weeks.
The first outbreak of the pneumonia-like illness killed nearly 800 people worldwide, after it first appeared in China 18 months ago.
Sars emerged again last month when two researchers at Beijing's Institute of Virology contracted the disease.
The WHO said it still did not know exactly how the latest outbreak began.
But it said in a statement on Wednesday that "the chain of human-to-human transmission appears to have been broken."
All the nine cases in the latest outbreak can be traced back to the same Beijing laboratory, health officials have said.
Sars was first reported in the southern province of Guangdong in late 2002.
That outbreak killed 774 people worldwide and infected more than 8,000 others before abating in July 2003. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35299619 | In India, several professions which were passed on within families from one generation to the next have become redundant in 21st Century modern India. In her new book, The Lost Generation, author Nidhi Dugar Kundalia chronicles the "dying professions" of India.
Back in the Mughal era, calligraphy was considered a virtuous and pious act and katibs (scribes) were deeply revered by the kings, princes and noblemen.
Calligraphy was considered the pinnacle of divinity, and the artist was uplifted along with it.
Members of the royal family often learnt calligraphy from the finest experts and offered them high positions in their courts.
Wasim Ahmed, a scribe and teacher of Urdu, Persian and Arabic calligraphy, has been practising the art for over 30 years.
He once inscribed books and made hand-drawn posters, both flawless in terms of fine design and flawed in the slight caprices of an artist's hand.
They then went to the printers to be replicated and sold to be hung in the homes and offices of people who believed that the sacred verses would bring them good vibes and luck.
Their final death knell came with the introduction of Urdu font on computers which had been difficult to create until now.
In the Thar desert in the western states of Rajasthan, where women from privileged and upper-caste backgrounds are expected to preserve their dignity by not exhibiting their emotions in front of commoners, the lower-caste rudaalis are called in to mourn for them.
As soon as a man is on his deathbed, the rudaalis are called in for the imminent death rituals.
After death, the rudaalis sitting amidst the women in their black scarves, break into action - crying out aloud, tossing their heads, and wailing to the heavens, beating their chests and slapping the ground in front of them.
"Arrey, tharo toh suhag giyore (Oh, your husband is now dead)," they cry, holding the widow's hands.
"What is the reason for your existence in this world now," they wail, beating their chest.
This performance goes on for 12 days after a death. A longer mourning period better explains the family's affluence, and the more theatrical the act, the more it is spoken about in the homes of the neighbours.
Over the years, with rising literacy rates and migrations, families now prefer sophisticated, quieter funerals and the rudaalis are increasingly losing their relevance, being pushed to the realms of obscurity.
Amrit Singh's humble office is a tidy, albeit dusty, street shop outside the iconic structure of the MS Baroda University.
Beyond the periphery of its walls, wraith-like domes and minarets, in the looming dusk, Mr Singh squats on a cobbled pavement, his tools arrayed on a cloth - a few dentures, blindingly white and intended to dazzle, are displayed along with jars, bottles and a tin box that holds extra dental tools.
There's no mortar-and-brick structure, no ritzy chairs, no surgical light head.
He won't give you long names for diseases and you can drop in when you pass by the shop; patients just pull up a bamboo stool and Mr Singh will wipe hands on his pants and boot out any pain from their mouth with his corroded set of pliers.
The street dentists in modern India learned their skills mostly from the Hubei community of China, who came looking for work in India in the early 1900s.
Post-independence, regulations in dentistry practices were introduced, rendering street dentistry illegal but they continued to thrive in the dark underbelly of the country, tending to those for whom licensed dental services are still unaffordable.
But the government is anxious to clean up the pavements for the recent plans to develop a world-class tourism industry, where the street dentists are nothing but a source of embarrassment.
Haridwar is the Mecca for Hindus - it's a kind of magnificent crematorium and, at the same time, an address for temples and influential gurus with millions of followers.
After a death in the family, male members travel down to Haridwar to cremate their kinfolk by pouring their ashes in the Ganges, the holy river, in a ceremony conducted by the family "panda" - priests who double up as genealogists.
They are also in charge of the family register, of updating the family's genealogical tree with details of marriages, births and deaths.
The reason for their existence has to do with the Hindu belief that the family is everlasting and comprehensive and that each Hindu must "look out" for his ancestors and perform ceremonies for their journey heavenwards and immortalise them by recording their names in the genealogical registers known as "vahis".
Over the years, digitisation of their records and increasing scientific worldview are eating into the pandas' work, raising greater doubts about the value of ritual and religious actions.
Many have dropped out of the profession, finding lucrative options in the growing tourism industry in Haridwar as hotel managers and owners.
But some pandas like Mahendra Kumar continue to work, bound to their clients by inherited religious pledges and for financial reasons.
Before they bought a box-sized shop, Syed Abdul Gaffar's ancestors sold their wares from a wooden box that hung around their necks, walking the streets with many other hawkers, including bear dancers, rope walkers, mango sellers, carders who buffed cotton in old quilts and pedicurists who cleaned the feet of royal women with rose water.
They moved about the lanes of the old city that were lined with the nouveau riche homes of nobles and relatives of the Nawabs, former rulers of the region.
The ittarwallahs would be invited in and the women would buy their scented wares - a vial of "raat ki rani", a flowery scent reminiscent of breathing the warm night air, or jasmine that would lure their husbands to their beds.
Mr Gaffar now sells the ittar (perfumes) he makes to the few discerning customers who still have a nose for it.
"I have never made synthetic perfumes. It's immoral," he says.
There is an increasing demand for branded synthetic perfumes which are more cost effective.
"But this is all I know," he says. "I can't sit at home with my granddaughters and do nothing but eat and sleep, can I?" |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18517477 | UK government ministers will not attend England's quarter-final Euro 2012 match against Italy in Kiev on Sunday.
Downing Street said there were still concerns about the rule of law and selective justice in Ukraine.
However, if England make it to the semi-finals, which are going to be held in Poland, ministers will attend.
Downing Street say no decision has been made about the final, which is being held in Ukraine. A spokeswoman said: "Let's just see how we go on Sunday."
The UK is particularly concerned at what it terms the "selective justice" meted out to jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Ms Tymoshenko played a key role in the Orange Revolution in 2004 and says her imprisonment, for alleged corruption, is an act of political revenge by Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych.
The authorities have rejected Ms Tymoshenko's allegations. She was jailed for seven years in October for abuse of power during her time as prime minister.
Ukraine's ambassador to the UK said "sport and politics do not mix" and concerns must be raised in other ways.
Before the tournament started, the Foreign Office said no officials would attend the three group games and it was keeping attendance at later stages of the tournament "under review in the light of ministers' busy schedules ahead of the Olympics and widespread concerns about selective justice and the rule of law in Ukraine".
Asked about the boycott at the time, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Ukraine had "serious problems" and the UK government did not want its backing for the England team to be interpreted as "giving political support to some things which have been happening in Ukraine which we don't agree with".
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Voloshin said Britain's concerns were understood, but the boycott would only damage football and would not affect Ms Tymoshenko's case.
England reached the quarter-final stage after defeating Ukraine on Tuesday.
For Labour, Douglas Alexander, shadow foreign secretary, said: "The Government's failure to clearly set out what the official guidelines are for ministers attending football matches in the Ukraine is simply inexplicable.
"They should immediately put an end to the damaging uncertainty by ruling out any official ministerial attendance at all future England matches in the Ukraine at whatever stage of the tournament." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45293912 | For the first time, the card game bridge has been featured as a sport at the Asian Games. The BBC's Vandana Vijay speaks to two elderly women representing India.
Until her 50s, Hema Deora was busy taking care of her sons in Delhi, or touring the country with her politician husband Murli Deora, a former petroleum minister.
Now at the age of 67, she is representing India in a sport she often played with her friends at home every Saturday.
Her teammate Rita Choksi is 79 and one of the oldest competitors at the Games, which began in Jakarta on 18 August and will end on 2 September.
Ms Deora and Ms Choksi never thought they would play bridge at the Asian Games, let alone represent their country. Their dreams came true after the organisers of the Asian Games recognised bridge as a sport in 2018.
Bridge and chess are the only "mind sports" recognised by the International Olympic Committee but they were not found eligible for the Olympics.
However, the card game is the fourth "mind" sport to appear at the Asian Games after board games like chess, go and xiangi, which have been featured at previous events.
Bridge is a game played by millions of people across the world in competitions and at social events.
The World Bridge Championship, a series of competitive rounds that debuted in 1962, is the most popular sporting meet for bridge players.
Ms Deora says her parents didn't allow her to play cards while she was growing up because it was seen as an activity for adults. But things changed after she got married. Her husband, who liked the game, would often call his friends home to play.
She said it soon became a weekly routine and guests would come to play even during heavy rains or thunderstorms.
"I used to wonder what was it about this game that made people forget everything around them," Ms Deora said.
Asian Games - Is this eclectic mix of 40 events the Olympics+?
At first, she didn't take much interest in the game. But once her children left home for university, she had more free time and decided to learn bridge.
"I thought to myself, why not learn a game that I had watched people play all my life?"
It was "hard work at first" but once she learned the basics, she found a coach to become an expert player.
How do you play bridge?
In bridge, or contract bridge, all the cards are dealt from a standard 52-card deck.
Two players from each of two teams sit opposite each other across a table and through a bidding process (auction) agree to win a number of tricks.
Suits are ranked upwards - clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades and no trumps.
If they achieve the number of tricks agreed at auction they win the game but if not, they lose.
The team with the highest number of games wins.
These are the basic rules. At higher levels, the game includes bonus points, complex dealing and other rules.
Soon she started playing in local clubs and tournaments, winning trophies along the way. One of her fondest memories is playing against Bill Gates and Warren Buffet at an event.
For Ms Choksi, the game holds a special place in her heart.
"Bridge gave me my second husband," she said.
After her first husband died, she met Haren Choksi during a game of bridge and they decided to become playing partners.
They soon became friends and eventually fell in love.
However, Dr Choksi died in 1990. She was once again alone, but bridge helped her overcome the loss.
"It was a tough period in my life. I was alone, but I wasn't lonely because I had my cards," she said.
Ms Choksi and Ms Deora are not the only elderly bridge players in the Indian team.
Many of them are over 60 years old, which makes for a rather unusual sight at any major sporting event.
But Ms Choksi said age was not a factor in the game. "Bridge is beautiful because it is about the mind - it keeps you agile and refreshed," she said.
Commonwealth Games: A turning point for Indian sport?
Their presence at the Games is expected to boost bridge's popularity in India.
"It would be great if this exposure can remove the gambling stigma attached to bridge, and also help in finding sponsors," says Anand Samant, one of India's most successful bridge players.
In many Indian households, playing cards is still considered a man's game because it's often associated with gambling.
But for women like Ms Choksi and Ms Deora, playing cards is far from a taboo. "It is a sport that has given me a lot of personal gratification," says Ms Deora, whose husband died in 2014.
"Let me tell you something - if you invest in bridge, you will never be lonely in your old age." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-47283965 | A 77-year-old woman who was found dead at a house in a Derbyshire village has been named by police.
Dorothy Bowyer's body was discovered by officers in Western Lane, Buxworth, in the early hours of Thursday.
A dog was also found dead at the property.
William Blunsdon, 25, of Buxworth, who was arrested shortly afterwards, has been charged with her murder and criminal damage. He is due to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on 15 March. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1568505.stm | The funeral has been held of murdered teenager Leanne Tiernan, the day after what would have been her 17th birthday.
The service was held less than a mile from where Leanne disappeared, close to her home, in November last year.
Her body was found nine months later at a beauty spot near Otley, on the border of West and North Yorkshire. She had been strangled.
Leanne's mother, Sharon Hawkhead, sister Michelle and best friend Sarah Whitehouse, the last person to see her alive, were joined by other friends to carry the white coffin into Sandford Methodist Church, in Bramley, Leeds.
A floral tribute bearing the words "Night Night Baby" was taken into the service to the song November Rain, by American rock band Guns 'N' Roses.
Miss Tiernan had also been baptised at the church.
The congregation included Detective Superintendent Chris Gregg, who is leading the hunt for Leanne's killer.
About 100 people packed into the small church, and the service was relayed to dozens of mourners outside.
They sang the teenager's favourite hymns, including Give Me Oil in My Lamp and Ye Shall Go Out With Joy.
Sister Janet Durbin, the Deaconess who led the service, said: "Leanne was a normal, happy, fun-loving teenager, half child and half young lady.
"She still loved to spend time with her Grandma and Grandad, enjoying walking to church on Sunday mornings.
"One of her uncles still called her his 'chocolate chip niece', because of her love of chocolate."
Sister Durbin said Miss Tiernan was a "special member" of the church family.
"You are naturally sad because you won't physically see Leanne again," she said.
"Whether you knew her as a daughter, granddaughter, sister, or niece, she was always a friend.
"Whatever your memories cherish them - they are like gifts that no one can take away from you."
After the hour-long service, friends and family wept as the coffin was taken to the nearby Hill Top Cemetery for a private burial.
Miss Tiernan disappeared after a shopping trip in Leeds with Miss Whitehouse.
They had parted company and Miss Tiernan started walking home through dark woodland.
Her disappearance sparked a massive police hunt, before her body was discovered in August, at the beauty spot.
A post-mortem examination revealed she had been strangled with a scarf and plastic cable ties.
Her body had been wrapped in plastic bags and a duvet cover. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4750576.stm | Several police officers and a journalist have been hurt during a republican riot in Dublin.
Disturbances broke out in O'Connell Street in the city centre, where a unionist rally to remember the victims of republican violence was to start.
Stones and fireworks were thrown after republican demonstrators mounted a counter-march. The loyalist rally was cancelled as a result of the trouble.
Several cars were set on fire and up to 40 people have been arrested.
It is understood a total of 14 people were injured, including six police officers who were taken to hospital for treatment.
A number of protesters were also injured during the clashes.
The demonstrators said they would "not allow a loyalist march to pass".
Republicans threw missiles at police in riot gear.
It is understood the counter-march was organised by Republican Sinn Fein - a political party which broke away from Sinn Fein in the 1980s.
Sinn Fein maintained they were in no way involved in the violence.
The loyalists who had intended parading along O'Connell Street staged a short rally outside Leinster House before returning north.
One of the buses carrying them home was attacked by stone throwers as it approached the border town of Dundalk in County Louth.
Ulster Unionist, Michael Copeland, who was on board, said the rioters had nothing to offer society.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said the unionists should have enjoyed the freedom to demonstrate their views.
"There is absolutely no excuse for the disgraceful scenes in Dublin," he said.
"It is the essence of Irish democracy and republicanism that people are allowed to express their views freely and in a peaceful manner.
"People who wantonly attack gardai (police) and property have no respect for their fellow citizens."
Up to 1,000 people had been expected to take part in the Love Ulster rally to remember those affected by republican violence.
DUP and Ulster Unionist politicians were among those who had hoped to parade through the centre of the city, in a march organised by the victims group Fair.
A delegation was to meet the Republic's Justice Minister, Michael McDowell after the march.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the rioting was "entirely wrong and reprehensible".
"There is no justification for what happened this afternoon in Dublin. Sinn Fein had appealed to people to ignore this loyalist parade and not to be provoked by it.
"Our view was that it should not be opposed in any way and we made that clear. Regrettably a small, unrepresentative group, chose to ignore our appeal."
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson, who had been due to speak at the event, said: "We have received a warm welcome from ordinary Dubliners, but its clear these republicans have come from north of the border and other areas intent only on causing trouble.
"They have done that and once again [republicans] through the threat of violence have denied unionists civil liberties."
Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy and Fair director William Frazer handed a letter of complaint to Michael McDowell.
Mr Kennedy said: "It's ironic that republicans are telling unionists that speaking rights are available to us in the Dail (Irish Parliament) and yet here we were denied speaking rights because of republicans.
"They completely showed themselves for what they are."
Mr McDowell said "acts of thuggery, brutality, cowardice and inhumanity" had been unleashed on the people of Dublin by "an organised mob".
"The only message these people have managed to convey to the people of Dublin and of Ireland is that sectarian violence is, once again, being unleashed against all of the principles of the Good Friday Agreement and the overwhelming wishes of the Irish people."
Irish President Mary McAleese said the rioting was "totally unacceptable".
The SDLP's Alban Maginness strongly condemned the republican rioters.
"It is disturbing that marchers have been prevented from peaceful demonstration," he said.
"This action of extreme republicans simply plays into hands of those of the unionist right who cannot conceive unionist rights being upheld in a new Ireland." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13887202 | A selection of quotes from world leaders on the announced withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, we have inflicted serious losses on the Taliban and taken a number of their strongholds. Along with our surge, our allies also increased their commitments, which helped stabilise more of the country.
After this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead. Our mission will change from combat to support.
We will not try to make Afghanistan a perfect place. We will not police its streets or patrol its mountains indefinitely. That is the responsibility of the Afghan government.
Given the progress we have seen [in Afghanistan], France will begin a gradual withdrawal of reinforcement troops sent to Afghanistan, in a proportional manner and in a timeframe comparable to the withdrawal of American reinforcements.
In consultation with the government, the president confirmed that France remained fully committed with its allies alongside the Afghan people to bring to its conclusion the transition process.
The people of Afghanistan will be protecting their homeland. The transition of the security and the withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan means the Afghan forces must be strengthened.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan once again wants to make it clear that the solution for the Afghan crisis lies in the full withdrawal of all foreign troops immediately and until this... happens, our armed struggle will increase from day to day.
We can see the tide is turning. The Taliban are under pressure. The Afghan security forces are getting stronger every day. And the transition to Afghan security lead is on track to be completed in 2014.
We all want our troops to come home as soon as possible, but we shouldn't adhere to an arbitrary timetable. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22867364 | A US judge has sentenced a Chinese national, Xiang Li, to 12 years in prison for selling more than $100m (£62m) of pirated US software.
Mr Li is accused of stealing software from 200 US manufacturers and selling it for a fraction of their prices.
He was arrested in the US Pacific territory of Saipan in June 2011 and pleaded guilty earlier this year.
US officials have said that this is the first time a Chinese national had been prosecuted in the US for such crimes.
The firms that were targeted by Mr Li include Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Rockwell Automation.
He operated by searching for hacked software on internet forums. He then put it up them for sale on his websites, which offered more than 2,000 pirated titles, US prosecutors had claimed.
The pirated software was said to be sold for as little as $20 to up to $1,200 - while the retail value of the products were much higher, ranging from several hundred dollars to more than one million dollars apiece, according to US officials.
The pirated programmes were transferred to customers via email, and Mr Li and a second suspect collected payment through money transfer services.
The scam came to light after a US manufacturer discovered his company's software was being sold on Mr Li's website and notified authorities.
US authorities have said that Mr Li will be deported after he is released from prison.
Last month, a report released in the US called China the world's largest source of intellectual property (IP) theft.
The study, which was led by Dennis Blair, Mr Obama's former director of national intelligence, and Jon Huntsman, former US ambassador to China and Republican presidential candidate, claimed that IP theft was costing the US an estimated $300bn each year.
It added that China was thought to be behind 50-80% of the theft.
It recommended US authorities introduce strict measures including import or investment curbs on companies failing to protect IP rights. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1628785.stm | The United States has dismissed a Taleban claim that it has captured up to 40 US servicemen in Afghanistan.
The US Defence Department told the BBC that the ruling militia had produced no evidence to prove it was holding American prisoners.
Earlier, the deputy Taleban ambassador to Pakistan, Sohail Shaheen, said the regime had caught a number of American soldiers during a US raid on the Taleban's southern stronghold of Kandahar earlier this month.
The US said all its troops returned from the operation safely.
The Taleban's claim comes after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed US troops were operating inside the country.
As the air raids on Afghanistan continued on Wednesday, the Taleban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said 1,500 people had been killed since the bombardment began 25 days ago.
Ambassador Zaeef denounced the bombing as "the worst type of state terrorism".
There is no independent confirmation of the casualty figures given by the Taleban.
The US, while admitting there had been civilian casualties, said Taleban numbers were greatly exaggerated.
Ambassador Zaeef's comments came amid growing anger in the Muslim world at the bombing campaign.
Earlier on Wednesday American jets launched one of the heaviest raids yet on Kandahar.
US bombers could be heard flying at high altitudes for several hours of the night.
The BBC's Simon Ingram, who is among a handful of western journalists allowed into Taleban-controlled Afghanistan for the first time since the US bombing began, said he heard a powerful explosion at about 0520 local time, which shook the windows of his guest house.
Witnesses say aircraft also pounded positions held by the Afghan regime just north of Kabul, sending a cloud of smoke hundreds of feet into the air.
For the first time in the campaign, B-52 bombers were used.
Ending weeks of speculation, Mr Rumsfeld revealed on Tuesday that a "modest number" of allied ground troops were inside Afghanistan.
He said the troops, which are thought to number less than 100, were there to liaise with opposition groups, to co-ordinate the delivery of supplies, and to help US planes find their targets.
BBC World Affairs correspondent Nick Childs says their deployment seems to mark a shift in US tactics - to provide more direct support for the opposition Northern Alliance forces.
Mr Rumsfeld said that, of the latest wave of attacks, 80% had been directed at Taleban front-line forces.
And Turkey says it is sending between 40 and 50 military instructors to help the Northern Alliance at the request of the Americans.
Our correspondent says the timing of the announcement about the presence of US ground troops seems designed to disarm critics of the campaign. The Northern Alliance offers the best hope of tangible military progress.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and senior US officials have been trying to rally public opinion in the West to the bombing campaign.
Mr Blair said there was a "flood of evidence" confirming the guilt of Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden, who has been living under the protection of the Taleban.
He insisted that the US-led response to the 11 September terror attacks was just and the UK must "stay the course".
As the US military bombarded Kandahar, music could be heard in the city for the first time in years as the US hijacked radio frequencies.
The US appears to be trying to focus on Taleban military positions and Bin Laden's suspected underground complexes of tunnels and caves.
But a medical facility belonging to the Red Crescent society in Kandahar was reported to have been hit, killing at least 11 people, including patients and staff at the facility.
In a separate report, the Arabic TV network al-Jazeera reported that Kandahar's hospital had been struck, broadcasting pictures of a bomb crater and injured patients.
It was not clear whether both reports referred to the same building.
Our correspondent in Kandahar said journalists were also shown a row of shops that had been hit, which were adjacent to a Taleban ministry.
He says the city is in virtual darkness, as repeated US air strikes have cut off electricity supplies.
Residents have said sanitary conditions in Kandahar are appalling, and people have been forced to scavenge for food.
"There's no panic, just a strange mood of confidence"
Analysis: Who is winning the war? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8008571.stm | JG Ballard's classic novel, Empire Of the Sun, is based on his own childhood.
It follows the story of a young boy, Jim, as he is interned in a Japanese camp during World War II.
In this extract he sees the aftermath of an unsuccessful American air raid on the camp.
The two parachutes fell towards the burial mounds. Already a squad of Japanese soldiers in a truck with a steaming radiator sped along the perimeter road, on their way to kill the pilots. Jim wiped the dust from his Latin primer and waited for the rifle shots.
The halo of light which had emerged from the burning Mustang still lay over the creeks and paddies. For a few minutes the sun had drawn nearer to the earth, as if to scorch the death from the fields.
Jim grieved for these American pilots, who died in a tangle of their harnesses, within sight of a Japanese corporal with a Mauser and a single English boy hidden on the balcony of this ruined building. Yet their end reminded Jim of his own, about which he had thought in a clandestine way ever since his arrival at Lunghua.
He welcomed the air raids, the noise of the Mustangs as they swept over the camp, the smell of oil and cordite, the deaths of the pilots, and even the likelihood of his own death. Despite everything he knew he was worth nothing. He twisted his Latin primer, trembling with a secret hunger that the war would so eagerly satisfy. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3718329.stm | More than 100,000 Israelis have attended a rally calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The rally in Tel Aviv was organised to show support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pullout plan.
The controversial plan has been rejected by the ruling Likud party but polls show most Israelis support it.
Meanwhile, Palestinians won a small victory when an Israeli Court imposed a temporary ban on the demolition of houses in the Gaza Strip.
The ruling was announced after Israeli troops pulled out of the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah, having bulldozed dozens of homes.
And early on Sunday morning, Israeli helicopters fired more missiles at targets in Gaza City.
They hit buildings used by Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and a newspaper that has supported the Hamas militant group.
The blasts caused heavy damage to the buildings. There is no word on casualties.
The Israeli demonstration, organised by the opposition Labour Party and a coalition of peace groups, began with a moment of silence for the 13 Israeli soldiers who were killed in Gaza this week.
"I'm here because we can't take it anymore," said Tali Rosen, 34. "What got me out of the house was the deaths of the soldiers."
The soldiers were killed in three separate ambushes by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Clashes also left about 30 Palestinians dead.
Under Mr Sharon's proposals, Israelis would leave Gaza but keep parts of the West Bank.
Labour leader Shimon Peres told the demonstrators that their numbers far outstripped the Likud members who rejected Mr Sharon's plan in a referendum earlier this month.
"We will say good-bye to Gaza," Mr Peres told the crowd.
The rally organisers claimed it was one of the largest protests of its kind since the demonstrations against Israel's invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s.
In a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei in Jordan earlier on Saturday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell urged the Palestinians to "seize the opportunity" presented by Israel's proposed withdrawal from Gaza.
After Israeli troops left Rafah on Saturday, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said the soldiers had destroyed 88 buildings there, home to more than 200 families.
The Israeli military said it only destroyed homes used by Palestinian militants to launch attacks.
The temporary ban on further demolitions was issued after an injunction was sought by a Palestinian rights group. Judges were due to discuss the issue later on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, Israel also carried out a series of missile attacks in Gaza against Islamic Jihad, the militant group which claimed responsibility for two of the attacks on Israeli armoured vehicles this week. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4541788.stm | Download sales look set to play a vital role in who will scoop the coveted Christmas number one in the UK charts.
The race for number one and demand for digital music players will push sales to an all-time high, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) predicted.
The top chart slot could be decided by downloaders for the first time, the Financial Times said.
Weekly digital sales now regularly top 650,000, but may reach the one million mark for the first time, says the BPI.
The trade association said download sales had already topped 23 million this year, a 400% increase on last year.
Downloads now account for about 70% of weekly singles sales, compared to just 25% this time last year.
Downloads made up 24% of sales of Nizlopi's single JCB the week before it reached its current number one position, a spokeswoman for the band said.
The BPI also anticipates an expected boom in CD sales and says the week leading up to Christmas or the following week could see the biggest week for the British single for years.
As Christmas singles were "perfect stocking fillers", the final week of the year always saw a "massive boom in sales", said BPI spokesman Matt Philips.
"Although you can't put a download under the tree, seven out of 10 singles are sold as downloads and they are going to play a significant part in deciding this year's Christmas number one," he added.
Downloads are also expected to be boosted by online sales of X Factor winner Shayne Ward's single, available as a download before it is in the shops.
Bookmaker William Hill are calling his single That's My Goal a certainty to reach number one for Christmas.
It has slashed his odds of topping the charts from 1/7 to 1/9.
Spokesman Rupert Adams said: "Even at these odds we are still taking weighty bets on Shayne and it now looks like a certainty that he will have the Christmas number one.
"If it carries on like this we might even close the betting."
The BPI has forecast that 2006 will be an even bigger year for digital music. MP3 players were a popular gift last Christmas, and prompted a 30% increase in download sales in the last weeks of 2004.
Last week a study from Motorola suggested British consumers were the biggest legal downloaders in Europe, spending 75p a month - three times more than in Germany, Italy or France.
However, a survey for AOL found that only 40% of UK consumers said they understood the law in respect of music downloads.
The survey by IpsosMORI found 77% of people who download music had used an illegal website at least once. And 51% said they used only illegal download services.
It also revealed that illegal file-sharing networks such as Limewire and Kazaa were still more popular than legal download sites.
AOL launched its Play Legal campaign on Monday to help people understand how to enjoy online music legally. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47955061 | Money needed to complete 45-year project to build a railway line between two Denbighshire towns has been raised, volunteers have said.
Ten miles (16km) of the Llangollen steam railway line has been rebuilt between Llangollen and Corwen, with a platform created at the end.
But £10,000 was needed to fill a gap in the embankment between the new Corwen station and the rest of the line.
The gap was created to allow access to a sewage farm and must now be filled.
George Jones, from the Llangollen Railway Trust, said: "This week we've got a contractor with a digger and a dumper truck bringing in spoil - 10 tonnes at a time - to spread at the base of the embankment to build up the area.
"It's got to rise to a height of 10 feet. When the gap is levelled we'll be able to connect the existing railhead with the rails in the new station."
When the work is done, steam trains will be able to travel down the full length of the track, possibly later this year. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38215653 | Israeli MPs have given preliminary backing to a controversial bill to legalise thousands of unauthorised Jewish homes in the West Bank.
It applies to "outposts" - settlements built without official approval in the area occupied by Israel since 1967.
The international community regards all settlements as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Palestinians see settlements as a major obstacle to a peace deal with Israel.
They want all settlements and outposts to be removed from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which they seek for a future Palestinian state.
According to the anti-settlement movement Peace Now, there are 97 outposts, as well as more than 130 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The bill, which would legitimise about 4,000 settler homes, still needs to pass three readings in Israel's parliament to become law.
Its main backer, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, has called it the eventual start of Israel's annexation of most of the occupied territory.
The move has drawn international criticism, including from the US, Israel's closest ally. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2591957.stm | The court heard Clarke was "deeply disturbed"
A senior school teacher who murdered a pensioner and left a teenager permanently disabled has been jailed for life.
Thomas Clarke, of Victoria Road, Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, developed the urge to kill from watching scenes of murder and torture on his computer, a court heard.
The 30-year-old, who was suffering from a personality disorder, admitted murder and attempted murder at Manchester Crown Court.
Both attacks happened in April when Clarke was off work with stress from his job as head of science at Egerton Park School, Denton.
His first victim was a teenage student, Michael Kay, who he stabbed in the arm and chest in the street.
He later murdered 71-year-old Dennis Cotterill, who he had spotted at random while on an evening stroll, in Ashton-under-Lyne.
The retired dustman had been stabbed in the heart and died in hospital.
Clarke rang the police two days after the killing and asked them to arrest him, telling a detective: "I won't be any trouble... I just need to stop doing this."
Alan Conrad QC, prosecuting, said detectives found evidence on Clarke's computer relating to various sites dealing with torture and murder.
Peter Wright QC, defending, said his client was suffering from a personality disorder, but had now expressed the desire to receive treatment.
Manchester Recorder, Judge Sir Rhys Davies, told Clarke he was "an intelligent but deeply disturbed and dangerous man".
He jailed him for life for murder and sentenced him to 15 years to run concurrently for the attempted murder. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45765458 | A US professor has established a rock used as a doorstop is actually a meteorite worth thousands of dollars.
Mona Sirbescu from Central Michigan University was asked by a local man to inspect the object he had kept for 30 years after finding it on a farm.
The 22lb (10kg) meteorite was the biggest the geologist had been asked to examine in her career.
The rock, which came down on farmland in Edmore, Michigan, in the 1930s, could be worth $100,000 (£77,000).
Most meteorites typically consist of approximately 90-95% iron.
What makes the meteorite found in Michigan unique is that it is 88% iron and 12% nickel.
"A piece of the early solar system literally fell into our hands," Dr Sirbescu said in a video made by the university to promote its discovery.
Dr Sirbescu sent a sample of the rock to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, which confirmed her findings.
The renowned science centre is now interested in buying the rock, Central Michigan University said.
Meanwhile, the university has been using the meteorite as a teaching material.
The meteorite's anonymous owner is promising to donate 10% of sale proceeds to the university.
Video Meteor bursting into flames caught on camera. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5047034.stm | Iran has allowed a leading dissident journalist to leave the country to receive a journalism award in Moscow.
Akbar Ganji, who was freed from jail in March, told the BBC he was given permission to go at the last minute.
On Monday, he will collect the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom award in Russia's capital.
Mr Ganji, 46, spent five years in prison since 2001 for writing articles in which he linked senior officials to the murder of five dissidents in 1998.
He is expected to deliver a speech on human rights and on the controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear programme to more than 1,000 journalists from 110 countries attending the forum in Moscow.
Mr Ganji will then go on to Germany, Italy and the United States.
He spent much of his jail term in solitary confinement and went on hunger strike for several months last year.
When brought to court to stand trial, Mr Ganji complained he had been beaten.
He came to prominence after his investigation of the 1998 murders of the dissidents.
The intelligence ministry said "rogue agents" had carried out the killings, but Mr Ganji maintained senior officials were behind them.
His imprisonment came amid a media crackdown by hardliners as the then reformist President Mohammad Khatami appeared to be threatening their power.
Mr Ganji is a hero to Iran's reformists for standing up to hardliners, and many world leaders have called for his release, correspondents say.
They say many Iranians thought Mr Ganji would never be freed from jail, even though his sentence was due to end. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4305438.stm | Artist Jack Vettriano has brushed aside claims that he privately copied some of his most famous works.
The painter said he had never made any secret of using a 1987 illustrators' guide for some of his figure drawing.
Vettriano denied newspaper reports that he had copied the work or that he had kept his use of the book to himself.
He said he had always been upfront about being self-taught and that, like many other artists, he used a reference book for some of his figure drawing.
The UK's most popular living artist insisted he had done nothing wrong.
The characters in his most noted work, The Singing Butler, are among those he is alleged to have copied.
The iconic painting sold for a record £744,800 last year.
The painter argued it would not have been practical to use real models in a real setting for that painting or any of the others.
His spokesman at the Portland Gallery in London, said: "It has been interesting to see the level of media interest in the 'story' being run in today's Daily Record concerning Jack Vettriano's use of a teaching manual as an aid to some of his early paintings.
"It is widely known that Jack is a self-taught artist and it seems unsurprising that as, in his early painting years he had neither time nor the money at his disposal to work with real life models, that he should use a teaching manual such as this."
He added: "Vettriano's skill lies in his ability to create narrative paintings with which the viewer becomes involved.
"In this way, he transforms mundane characters into extraordinary ones and everyday scenes into special occasions."
Vettriano's work is largely snubbed by the art establishment but is bought by stars like Jack Nicholson and Madonna.
Born in 1951 to a Scottish father and Italian mother, Vettriano taught himself to paint in a Fife bedsit after being given water-colour paints for his 21st birthday. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4343555.stm | An investigation is under way after another one of London's bendy-buses caught fire.
Firefighters were called to New Cross, south east London, on Saturday after the engine of a 436 bus caught fire. No one was injured.
One year ago all of the capital's 130 bendy buses were taken out of service following three separate fires.
Transport for London, in charge of bus services, said while the incident was cause for concern it was not serious.
The spokesman told BBC News the bus had been taken to a garage for inspection.
"While we're expressing concern about the incident, it's not what we would term as a serious fire.
"No damage was caused to the passenger compartment and the bus was evacuated promptly."
Between December and March 2004 fires gutted three of the £200,000 buses and the whole fleet was taken out of service.
A hose used in the bus engines was identified as the problem. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6443259.stm | A US jury has awarded damages of $20m (£10.3m) against drugs giant Merck in a case arising from its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.
The judgement means the jury may now move on to assess punitive damages against Merck.
Vioxx was pulled from the market in September 2004 after a study found it could double the risk of heart attacks.
The New Jersey jury ruled that Vioxx had contributed to a 61-year old man's heart attack.
The jury awarded $18m to Frederick Humeston, who suffered the heart attack after taking Vioxx for knee pain, and a further $2m to his wife.
This was the second case brought by Mr Humeston after an earlier suit failed.
Fresh evidence on the dangers of Vioxx prompted the new trial.
The jury in the second case found that Merck had failed to provide adequate warnings about the health risks associated with Vioxx.
Vioxx was launched in 1999 and became a best-selling anti-inflammatory drug, used primarily to treat arthritis.
Merck faces some 7,000 outstanding lawsuits connected to Vioxx, and experts have estimated its potential liabilities in the matter at over $5bn.
Sallie Booth, a partner at UK law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represents over 120 British claimants who used Vioxx, said the judgement was the latest in a string of US court case decisions.
"We hope that each decision will clarify the position for all parties" Ms Booth told BBC News. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-44612842 | Two men died when a double-decker bus and a lorry were involved in a crash on the A47 in Cambridgeshire.
Twelve other people were injured in the crash at about 07:30 BST on Thorney Road, Guyhirn.
The driver of a First Eastern Counties bus, in his 50s, died, along with a passenger in his 70s.
The collision, on a stretch of road with a 60mph speed limit, involved a Bretts Transport lorry near the entrance to its depot.
Police said the bus "collided into the lorry". The lorry driver was not hurt.
A Bretts spokesman said: "At this stage we are giving the emergency services our full support and co-operation."
First Eastern Counties managing director Steve Wickers said: "Two people have lost their lives in this incident, one being a driver based in our King's Lynn depot.
"I am shocked and saddened by what has happened. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and we will be providing as much support to them as we can through this difficult time."
Cambridgeshire Police said five people were seriously injured and seven had minor injuries.
Police said those who were seriously hurt had a combination of broken bones and head injuries, including brain injuries.
The East of England Ambulance Service said the casualties had been transferred to Peterborough City Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn.
Insp Jamie Langwith, of the county's roads policing unit, said: "What we do know is that they have a coming together where the HGV has pulled out of the yard and the bus has collided into the side of it."
The East of England Ambulance Service sent seven ambulance crews, three ambulance officers, two rapid response vehicles, and a Hazardous Area Response Team to the scene on Tuesday morning.
Highways England confirmed the road had reopened shortly after 17:30 BST. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34111855 | Thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails while US secretary of state have been released, including many that have been censored after being deemed classified.
Mrs Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election, has been under fire for using a private computer server for work emails while in office.
But she says no classified information was sent or received.
However, 125 emails were deemed confidential by the state department.
The state department disclosed that Mrs Clinton used a private server during her time as secretary of state (2009-13) after journalists requested copies of her government emails.
Mrs Clinton's opponents have accused her of putting US security at risk by using an unsecured computer system.
The presidential hopeful has admitted that her decision to use a private email server at her New York home was a mistake.
The state department released 4,368 emails - totalling 7,121 pages - late on Monday.
On Monday, the state department said about 150 of the messages had to be censored because they contained information considered to be classified. On Tuesday, it revised the figure to 125 messages.
One of the emails - sent in November 2013 by Mrs Clinton's then foreign policy adviser Jacob Sullivan - was published heavily redacted and marked classified until 2025.
Mr Sullivan, who is now a policy adviser for Mrs Clinton's presidential campaign, forwarded her boss the email with the subject line: "No go on Burma (Myanmar) travel."
In another email - from September 2010 - Britain's David Miliband admitted that losing the Labour leadership race to Ed Miliband was "tough", adding: "When it's your brother..."
State department spokesman Mark Toner was quoted by AFP as saying the process of re-evaluating the remaining unreleased emails was continuing.
The emails were not marked as classified at the time Mrs Clinton sent or received them. The vast majority of the correspondence concerned mundane matters of daily life at workplace, including phone messages and relays of daily schedules.
One particular email eliciting laughs among the US political reporter set is an email about Gefilte fish, a traditional Jewish food eaten on the holiday Passover.
The Washington Post explains that the Gefilte fish email was about a shipment of the product to Israel from the US Mrs Clinton was trying to save from a high tax.
Many of the emails show the influence of Sidney Blumenthal, an outside Clinton adviser. In one email, Mr Blumenthal describes former UK Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as having "misplayed almost every turn" and being full of "inbred arrogance."
Associated Press says the emails revealed that Mrs Clinton and her aides were acutely aware of the need to protect sensitive information.
It says Mrs Clinton also expressed frustration with the state department's treatment of certain ordinary documents as classified.
In one email, a state department IT staffer is trying to determine why Mrs Clinton's non-governmental email is bouncing back.
More than a quarter of Mrs Clinton's work emails have now been released, after she provided the state department with 30,000 pages of documents last year.
Polls indicate that the email scandal has affected Mrs Clinton's ratings, though she remains the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
At this point the novelty of peering into Hillary Clinton's email correspondence is starting to wear off for the general public. Although the former secretary of state's attempts to explain why she used of a private email server have damaged her political standing, the steady release of her electronic missives has faded into the background noise of the presidential campaign.
There may yet be some scandalous message lurking in the trove of yet-to-be-released messages, but given the fact that the files were screened by Mrs Clinton or her staff, that seems unlikely.
Image caption Hillary says she set up the private server for "convenience"
Mrs Clinton says the primary reason she set up her own email was for "convenience" but sceptics say the real reason she did it was because it gave her total control over her correspondence.
According to Mrs Clinton, she sent or received 62,320 emails during her time as secretary of state - she says half of them were official and have been turned over to the state department.
Probably not. Mrs Clinton's email system existed in a grey area of the law - and one that has been changed several times since she left office.
It's a big deal because Mrs Clinton is asking the US public to trust that she is complying with both the "letter and the spirit of the rules". Critics on the left and the right are concerned she made her communications on sensitive national security issues more susceptible to hackers and foreign intelligence services. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-47693815/south-africa-power-crisis-the-human-cost-of-coal-fired-power-stations | 'SA coal pollution is harming my children' Jump to media player South Africa's coal power stations can't meet demand and are polluting the air local communities breathe.
South Africans turning to solar power Jump to media player Frequent electricity cuts in South Africa are prompting some residents to seek ways to generate their own power.
How to solve South Africa's energy crisis Jump to media player Sasol says companies should generate their own power to ease stress on the national grid.
From garden city to garbage city Jump to media player Plastic pollution is blighting the lives of locals in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt.
In South Africa, rolling blackouts known as "load-shedding" have been leaving large swathes of the population in the dark.
But as the state utility Eskom tries to keep the electricity switched on, there has been growing concerns over the health cost of its coal-fired power stations, most of which are based in one province.
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko has been to that province – Mpumalanga – to find out more and meet some of those affected. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-45467885 | After a weekend in the limelight, many of Monday's front pages carry a photo showing Boris Johnson sat on the ground outside his house, head in hand, looking down.
The Daily Mail says his comments likening Theresa May's Brexit strategy to a suicide vest have created "Tory Mayhem".
In an editorial, the paper calls his intervention "reckless".
And it reports that a senior Conservative has warned that 12 or more of the party's MPs would refuse to serve under him if he became leader - depriving the government of a majority.
The Times notes that Mr Johnson's remarks have been condemned by the father of the youngest victim of the 2005 London bombings.
But as far as the Sun is concerned, the former foreign secretary was deploying "a harmless metaphor" and describes the outrage as "confected".
"Like it or not," the paper says, "Boris Johnson remains the most popular Conservative politician in the country."
According to the Guardian's lead story, the Metropolitan Police is increasingly dropping investigations into serious crimes such as sexual offences, violent attacks and arson, within hours of them being reported.
It says Britain's largest force screened out just over 36,000 crimes without further inquiry on the day they were reported last year, compared with 13,000 the year before.
A retired police officer tells the paper that increased demand, budget cuts and recruiting difficulties meant things were falling through the cracks.
The Metropolitan Police says investigations must be proportionate and timely, and inquiries could be re-opened if, for example, forensic evidence came to light.
The Financial Times says the EU is preparing to give its chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, new instructions to help close a deal with the UK over Brexit.
Its lead story - which is picked up by many other papers - says the informal EU summit in Salzburg is emerging as a significant moment in the Brexit talks.
British officials have blamed the deadlock on Mr Barnier being too rigid.
The paper quotes an unnamed European diplomat as saying the new guidance would help to serve as "a mandate to do the deal".
In its lead, HuffPost UK reports that thousands of patients in Hertfordshire could be at risk because of a massive computer blunder at Lister Hospital in Stevenage.
The website says the failure meant that 25,000 letters, which gave family doctors medical information about patients after they had been discharged, were not sent.
Labour is demanding an inquiry into what it describes as a scandal.
In a statement, the trust says that, at present, there is no evidence patients have come to harm.
Several papers have the story of how fake Nazi medals were used by MI5 to trick German sympathisers at the end of World War Two.
The honours were given to two British Nazis who thought they were handing state secrets to Berlin, when in fact they were part of a group being run by an MI5 agent to prevent the material from being passed on.
Details of the deception come from the journalist Robert Hutton, who says the bogus medals were actually forged at the Royal Mint on the orders of Victor Rothschild - the banking heir who joined MI5 in 1940. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45407558 | Monica Lewinsky walked out of an interview in Israel after she was asked about her relationship with Bill Clinton.
Ms Lewinsky explained on Twitter that she had walked off after she was asked about the "off-limits" topic.
Israeli news outlet Channel 2 News thanked Ms Lewinsky and said it respected her "sensitivity".
The former White House intern has said her affair with Mr Clinton was a "gross abuse of power" on his part.
Ms Lewinsky was 22 when she became romantically involved with the then president, who was 27 years her senior.
Ms Lewinsky had been giving a speech in Jerusalem on the perils and positives of the internet and social media.
She calmly walked out of the gathering after Channel 2 News anchor Yonit Levi asked her about the affair.
In a 2017 Vanity Fair essay, she said the case had led to her being diagnosed with PTSD after she was "publicly outed and ostracised" in the press, online and in court.
But she said the interview in Jerusalem was supposed to be a "conversation to follow up on the subject of my speech, not a news interview" in a statement on Twitter.
Channel 2 News said that it had sought to honour Ms Lewinsky's requests.
It said it felt that "the question asked was legitimate, worthy and respectful, and in no way went beyond Ms Lewinsky's requests". |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-47256691/students-miss-school-to-protest-climate-change | Students 'strike for climate change' Jump to media player One student protester said she would accept whatever consequences there were for missing a day of lessons.
London school children went "on strike" as part of a global campaign for action on climate change, on Friday.
Students walked out of schools for a day of protest to call on the government to declare a climate emergency and take active steps to tackle the problem.
Organisers Youth Strike 4 Climate said protests took place in more than 60 towns and cities, with an estimated 15,000 taking part.
The Association of School and College Leaders said it supported students but called the protest a "misguided step".
BBC London's Jamie Moreland spent the day with some of those who took to the streets. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-45493904 | A man has died following a crash involving a car and a van.
Police said the collision happened at about 21:25 on Tuesday on the A90, at its junction with an unclassified road leading to Marykirk, in Aberdeenshire.
John Stewart, 78, of Marykirk, who was driving a Dacia Duster, died.
The 19-year-old driver of Ford Transit Connect van was uninjured. Police have appealed for anyone who may have seen either vehicle prior to the crash to contact them. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11337077 | John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman has told the parole board in New York he thought by killing the Beatle he would become a somebody.
Instead, Chapman told the board that "I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies", according to the published transcript of the interview.
Chapman was denied parole for the sixth time last week.
Chapman, now aged 55, shot and killed Lennon outside his New York apartment in December 1980.
The former security guard, who experienced bouts of depression, told the parole board he had a list of people he wanted to kill, including the talk show host Johnny Carson and the actress Elizabeth Taylor. Lennon was at the top of the list.
"I wasn't thinking clearly," Chapman stated, "I made a horrible decision to end another human being's life, for reasons of selfishness."
"I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies," he said.
In prison, Chapman works as a porter and a clerk in the law library.
He told the parole officers a judge was willing to help him find a job and give him a place to stay if he was released.
In a closing statement, Chapman said his life had changed because of Jesus.
"I know him, he is with me, he is with me now, he is helping me speak to you now. Without him I am nothing, I would have been an even bigger nobody."
After the interview, Chapman was denied parole yet again. The board said it remained concerned about the disregard he showed for the norms of society and the sanctity of human life. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-11966860/charles-and-camilla-route-was-cleared-amid-protests | Protest violence 'unacceptable' Jump to media player The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson, has called the violence at student protests in London "unacceptable".
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said Thursday's attack on a car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall was a regrettable and "shocking incident".
The royal couple escaped unhurt after the car was attacked in demonstrations against the government's plans to increase university tuition fees in England.
Sir Paul Stephenson said the route was cleared minutes before the royal couple were due to make their journey. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-47320462 | Three gang members who smuggled four Vietnamese men into the UK in a dinghy have been found guilty of a people-trafficking plot.
The trio's operation, last summer off the Kent coast, was monitored and recorded by undercover police.
Thomas Mason, 36, Hoa Thi Nguyen, 49, and Chi Tan Huynh, 41, were convicted of conspiracy to facilitate the illegal entry of foreign nationals into the UK.
They and four others will be sentenced at St Albans Crown Court next week.
Nazmi Velia, 32, of Park Street Lane, St Albans, Egert Kajaci, 35, of Turner Drive, Oxford, Erald Gapi, 27, of Abinger Grove, Deptford, and Wayne Lee, 46, of Grasmere Close, Watford, had previously admitted their roles in the conspiracy.
During the trial, the court heard that the smugglers used a dinghy, bought by Mason, of High Street, Eyeworth, near Biggleswade, and Velia, to ferry illegal migrants across the English Channel.
During surveillance by the Serious Crime Squad, they were seen repeatedly launching the small rigid inflatable boat (RHIB) before landing with four migrants on board on the beach at Walmer on 3 August 2018.
Prosecutor Wayne Cleaver told the jury some migrants were "so desperate" for asylum they were prepared to undertake "such a treacherous journey".
"They seldom do so without the connivance of criminal gangs whose primary interest is financial profit rather than any more noble motive," he said.
The migrants, who did not speak English, were taken into custody after a car driven by Kajaci was stopped nearby.
Mason, who was carrying a life-jacket and walkie-talkie, was also arrested.
Hoa Thi Nguyen, 49, of Bisterne Avenue, Walthamstow, and her partner Chi Tan Huynh, 41, of Pickford's Wharf, Hoxton, also denied the charge.
Mr Cleaver said luxury items valued at nearly £30,000 were found at her home at a time when it appeared she had "very little legitimate income".
Sentencing is due to take place on 27 February. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-12043376 | Central government departments spent more than £1bn on consultants and temporary staff in 2009-10, a report by the Commons spending watchdog says.
It said departments should negotiate more fixed price contracts and develop "core" skills among their own staff.
And it warned "uninformed" cuts to spending and training could end up costing more in the long term.
The Cabinet Office says spending on consultants dropped 46% in the months after the election.
And in his evidence to the committee, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell said that spending on consultants, as a share of spending on goods and services, was about 4% - while in the private sector it was about 15%.
The report by the public accounts committee says that, in 2009-10, departments spent £789m on consultants and an estimated £215m on interim managers. In 2006-7 £904m was spent on consultants - that dropped by £126m in 2007-8.
The report said new measures brought in by the coalition to control the use of consultants seemed to be having some effect but some departments' spending was "unacceptable".
It flagged up the Department for Transport, which spends £70 on consultants for every £100 it spends on its own staff while HM Revenue and Customs spent only £2 per £100.
A further £700m a year was estimated to be spent on consultants by arms-length bodies, which should be required to report their spending, the report said.
It said departments did not control what they spent on consultant, with 70% of contracts based on the amount of time spent on a project, while only 29% were based on a fixed price and only 1% were based on achieving specific goals.
It also warned against a "stop-go" approach. It pointed out that the Department of Health appeared to be reducing consultancy spending by 95% in 2010-11 but that Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell was anticipating a resurgence in consultancy spending "as new policies are developed and implemented".
Why should the Department for Transport, for instance, be so dependent on consultants?
Cabinet Office figures suggest overall spending on consultants dropped 46% in the six months between April and September 2010, compared with the previous year.
Ian Watmore, who heads up the Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform group, told the committee that the drop was largely due to the number of projects and programmes cancelled by the coalition. But he also thought spending would rise again within the five-year parliament, when new programmes were implemented.
The committee said reducing what was spent on consultants "in an uninformed way to make short term gains" could cost more in the long run, adding that HM Revenue and Customs had stopped hiring consultants for six months, which had put an end to revenue-raising tax collection campaigns.
And it warned the pressure to save money could mean cuts to training, which would undermine commitments to develop staff skills to reduce reliance on consultants.
More work was needed on improving civil servants' skills - particularly in project management and IT, the committee said.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus said more graduates were being recruited into those specialist areas but the government was at a disadvantage in recruiting senior people because they "can often earn significantly more in the private sector". He said it was also difficult to persuade staff to stay in project management roles "due to a preference for policy related work".
Committee chairman Margaret Hodget said Whitehall was "largely in the dark" about whether consultants were good value for money.
"There are of course legitimate reasons for a department to buy in specialist skills where they are in short supply internally. But departments have become too reliant on buying in core skills rather than developing them in their own staff.
"Some departments depend far more on consultants than others. In itself, that is not surprising. What is unacceptable is the poor understanding of whether the extent of a department's use of consultants is justified by the nature of its business. Why should the Department for Transport, for instance, be so dependent on consultants?"
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said it had brought in "new, more rigorous controls which require close examination and approval of any requests to appoint consultants".
It said the department had spent £12.5m less in the 6 months to September 2010, compared with the same period in 2009 but added sometimes the use of consultants was "the best value for money option". |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33703097 | Taliban leader Mullah Omar died two years ago in Pakistan, a spokesman for Afghanistan's security services says.
Abdul Hassib Seddiqi told the BBC's Afghan Service that Mullah Omar had died of health problems at a hospital in Pakistan.
Afghanistan's government says information on his death is "credible".
The latest reports of Mullah Omar's death are being taken more seriously than previous such reports. The Taliban are expected to issue a statement soon.
Sources at the Taliban's two main councils in Quetta and Peshawar in Pakistan told the BBC they were in intensive talks to agree on a replacement for Mullah Omar.
A statement from the office of Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said that it believed, "based on credible information", that Mullah Omar died in April 2013 in Pakistan.
The Afghan government, elected last year, has embarked on a peace process with the Taliban. In its statement, the government called on "all armed opposition groups to seize the opportunity and join the peace process".
A security official in Pakistan, the country hosting the talks, told AP news agency that the claims of Mullah Omar's death were mere "speculation", designed to destabilise the negotiations.
Pakistan has always denied that Mullah Omar was in the country.
The White House says it believes reports of his death are credible.
Lyse Doucet: What is the future for the Taliban?
The Taliban leaders and members of their religious council (shura) have been locked in talks since Tuesday to elect the new supreme leader.
Who they choose is crucial. The selection of his successor will have a big impact on the war and peace in Afghanistan as well as on the future of the Taliban movement itself. The decision will affect the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Mullah Omar's death and the choice of his successor will also have an impact on the unity and cohesiveness of the Taliban.
Mullah Omar was the glue that held the movement together since it was launched in 1994. He had become a mythical figure within the group and was "religiously" obeyed by the ranks and files all along.
The selection of a weak person or someone with a questionable legitimacy could result in the fragmentation of the Taliban and possible defections to the Islamic State.
Mullah Omar led the Taliban to victory over rival Afghan militias in the civil war that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops.
His alliance with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden prompted the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Mullah Omar has since been in hiding, with a $10m (£6.4m) US state department bounty on his head.
Over the years, the Taliban have released several messages purported to be from the fugitive leader.
The latest of these statements, from mid-July, expressed support for the peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
However, the message was in the form of a text published on a Taliban website, rather than an audio or video recording - fuelling rumours that the leader was dead or incapacitated.
The failure to prove that Mullah Omar was alive was a major factor behind the defection of several senior Taliban commanders to the so-called Islamic State group, according to the BBC's former Kabul correspondent, David Loyn.
Earlier this year the Taliban published a biography of him saying he does not own a home and has no foreign bank account, and saying he "has a special sense of humour" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/8686360.stm | Sunderland winger Boudewijn Zenden has signed a new one-year contract extension with the club.
The 33-year-old former Netherlands international has struggled to break into the first team since arriving at the club from Marseille last October.
Zenden, who was out of contract this summer, has made only one league start while at The Stadium of Light.
But the Black Cats have decided to take up the option of a further year's deal for the ex-Chelsea and Barcelona man.
"I'm delighted Bolo has agreed to stay with us," said Sunderland boss Steve Bruce.
"He has played at the top level for a long time and has a wealth of experience which is so valuable both on and off the pitch.
"He has a great influence on his team-mates, and that is vital when you are bringing through the promising young players that we are."
Zenden, who started his career with PSV Eindhoven, also played for Liverpool and Middlesbrough during his spells in England.
He scored two league goals last season, including a stunning volley after coming on as a substitute in the 3-1 win over Tottenham. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-11991702 | The missing link on Scotland's busiest motorway is to be completed after ministers gave the go-ahead for an upgrade to the M8.
The motorway, which links Glasgow and Edinburgh, becomes an A-road for a six-mile stretch between Baillieston and Newhouse in North Lanarkshire.
This will be upgraded to full motorway status following the improvements.
It is hoped tenders for the work will be approved in 2011/2012. A completion date will be confirmed at a later date.
A public inquiry into the proposed M8 upgrade was held in 2008 and the reporter's conclusions were submitted to ministers in October of that year.
A separate report on other M8/M73/M74 improvements was submitted to ministers in July 2009.
Earlier this year, ministers were accused of causing unnecessary delay to the M8 upgrade by failing to act on these reports.
Scottish Labour claimed that work should have been completed on the scheme by 2010 but that had now slipped to 2013/2014.
Finance Secretary John Swinney gave the go-ahead on Tuesday after considering the findings of the public inquiry.
He said: "The M8 is a key section of Scotland's strategic road network, linking Scotland's two biggest cities and connecting businesses and communities.
"Having given careful consideration to the issues and arguments, I agree with the reporter's findings and reasoning, and with his recommendation to proceed with the long awaited upgrade to motorway status of the A8 stretch between Baillieston and Newhouse.
"Along with the M74 completion scheme and the M80 Stepps to Haggs, which are both programmed to be completed next year, this upgrade will complete the Scottish motorway network."
Confirmation of the upgrade was welcomed by CBI Scotland director, Iain McMillan.
He said: "The completion of the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh has been a long-standing priority for our members.
"Improved connectivity is essential for the success of Scotland's economy and the building of this stretch of motorway is a welcome step forward."
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour's transport spokesman, Charlie Gordon, accused the SNP of showing a lack of commitment to the project.
"Motorists and businesses all want the project to be completed but delays by the SNP government mean it has slipped further and further behind the original schedule," he said.
"If the procurement process is not going to start until next year and a financial backer has still to be found it's hard to see how this project will be completed before the Commonwealth Games in 2014, which would be deeply disappointing."
Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman, Alison McInnes, said: "I'm glad this has finally been approved. The previous transport minister was sitting on this decision for far too long.
"I hope we will finally see some other stalled projects get moving, such as dualling the A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty."
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman, Jackson Carlaw, said everyone would welcome the announcement "however long overdue" it was.
He added: "Given that Scottish Labour did precisely nothing when in government themselves, their complaints of further delay are risible.
"The fact remains that both the M74 and M8 completion are progressing in spite of Labour and not because of any muttering by them from the sidelines." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45892109 | Tens of thousands of people on sickness benefits will receive backdated payments averaging £5,000 following government errors.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has revealed it is paying more than £1.5bn due to the mistakes.
Some people have already received payouts of more than £10,000.
The mistaken calculations were made when people were moved on to the main sickness benefit, the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The errors were first revealed by BBC News in November, but the scale of the underpayments has now emerged.
Philip Stanton, 58, got a letter earlier this year about the backdated payments, followed by a cheque for £2,250 in July.
"You feel brilliant at first because when you're living on £73 a week, that's a heck of a lot of money - though of course it won't last forever," he told BBC News.
"But then you think, 'what if they hadn't found out? What else is there?'. I have no idea how it was worked out or even if it's the right amount."
Mr Stanton, who has been receiving sickness benefits "on and off for 10 years", has anxiety and depression as well as problems with his back. He said he was told his payment went back to 2014.
"A couple of my friends are in the same situation and one of them got more than me, which is why I thought I would query it," said Mr Stanton, from Northampton. "But someone else hasn't heard anything.
"I'm very grateful to get the money, but with my dealings with them, I tend not to trust them."
He said he has asked how the payment was calculated and is waiting for a response.
Assessors wrongly calculated the income of thousands of people during the process that resulted in people moving from incapacity benefit and severe disability allowance onto ESA.
Most of the errors occurred between 2011 and 2014.
In a newly published document, the DWP said: "We estimate that around 180,000 people could be owed arrears payments, with around 105,000 estimated to be repaid during 2018-19 and 75,000 during 2019-20."
The government had previously said that all the backdated payments would be completed by April 2019.
The DWP said that the backdated payments totalled £970m. It now also faced a larger bill for ongoing ESA awards, costing the department more than £700m extra until 2024-25, bringing the total cost to £1.67bn.
Frank Field, who chairs the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, said: "It is welcome news that the government is finally making progress towards repaying people who have missed out on ESA.
"Its best estimate is that it owes claimants £970m - but the final bill could be even higher. The government must learn lessons from this appalling failure, as it faces the much bigger challenge of moving people onto Universal Credit."
The government has 400 people working on claims, with the priority on those who are terminally ill. Around 18,000 arrears payments have already been made totalling £120m. The average payment so far is about £7,000.
The government's original decision to only backdate payments to 2014 was legally challenged by the Child Poverty Action Group.
CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said it was good news that 180,000 people would now receive backdated compensation, but said "it should concern us all that [the DWP] so significantly underestimated the number of people affected".
She added: "It should not have taken legal action to get vulnerable people the money they were entitled to from the outset to avoid hardship."
In a statement, the DWP said: "Anyone affected by this historic error will receive all of the money they are entitled to.
"We have worked with charities and other disability organisations to make sure that we are providing the right support to all affected claimants and are hiring and allocating more staff to do that."
Labour introduced ESA in 2008, claiming the change would move a million people off sickness benefit and save the Treasury £7bn. The shift from incapacity benefits to ESA was then accelerated by the coalition government.
The payments have come to light in a week when the government has faced severe criticism for its flagship welfare reform, Universal Credit.
On Tuesday, BBC News revealed that ministers were further delaying the rollout of the system, which merges six benefits into one. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7580778.stm | Sudanese troops have opened fire inside a Darfur refugee camp, leaving 27 people dead, a rebel group has said.
Some 100 government trucks surrounded the Kalma camp, home to some 90,000 people who have fled their homes in Darfur, a rebel spokesman told the BBC.
An army spokesman has confirmed there was an exchange of fire after a patrol was sent to investigate reports of a weapons cache in the camp.
More than two million people have fled five years of conflict in Darfur.
The US has said it is concerned "by indiscriminate weapons-fire by Sudanese government forces" in Kalma.
"Attacks on vulnerable populations in Sudan are deplorable and violate international law," Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.
Ahmed Abdel Shafie, who heads a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, told the BBC that the government wants to force people to leave the camp.
Another rebel leader puts the number of those killed higher. Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur, said that 50 people had been killed.
"This really is a catastrophe. People are being killed while the world just watches," he said.
Reports from inside the camp put the toll lower. Adam Mohamed, a community leader in Kalma, near South Darfur's capital Nyala, told the AFP news agency that eight people had been killed and 30 wounded.
The international aid agency MSF which works inside Kalma said at least 65 people had been injured.
It is appealing for a safe passage to evacuate the most seriously wounded.
A spokesman for the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur said they had sent patrols to check the reports and were very concerned about the situation.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in Sudan says Kalma has long been a centre of unrest, awash with weapons.
Sudan's government has accused armed rebel supporters of taking refuge inside the camp while residents have accused government-backed militias of mounting a series of raids on the settlement.
The reports came on the day that the new joint UN-African Union mediator Djibril Bassole was due to arrive in Khartoum to take up his position.
Violence in Darfur began in 2003 when rebel groups complaining of discrimination against black Africans began attacking government targets.
The government mobilised what it called "self-defence militias" in response, but denies any links to the Janjaweed, accused of trying to "cleanse" black Africans from Darfur.
The UN estimates that more than 300,000 people have been killed and two million displaced during five years of fighting. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41373977 | The Spanish authorities have moved to place all policing in Catalonia under central control to stop the disputed independence referendum on 1 October.
Col Diego Pérez de los Cobos has been put in charge of Catalan and central police forces in the autonomous region.
Madrid said the order was aimed at achieving better co-ordination. But the Catalan authorities rejected it, saying it was an unacceptable interference.
Thousands of extra police are being sent to the region to block the vote.
The Constitutional Court says the vote is illegal but Catalan leaders are determined to hold it.
Could FC Barcelona be kicked out of La Liga?
The Spanish authorities have sought to stop the independence vote by seizing voting materials, imposing fines on top officials and arresting temporarily dozens of politicians.
The public prosecutor's office justified the the appointment of Col Pérez de los Cobos on the basis of a law governing joint operations in an autonomous region.
The order will remain in place until 1 October, Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia reports.
Joaquim Forn, Catalonia's interior chief, said the local government did not "accept this interference" in the regional police, known officially as the Mossos d'Esquadra.
"The Catalan government does not accept this intervention of the state because it does not take into account all the legal framework that we have in order to take care of the security in Catalonia," he said.
"The leader of the Catalan police will not hand over his functions," he said.
At an event held by his conservative Popular Party in Mallorca, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy repeated that the vote would not take place.
"It would be sensible, reasonable and democratic to stop and say, there won't be a referendum, which they know won't happen," he was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
Some demonstrators gathered in Barcelona on Saturday while hundreds of farmers, many on tractors, joined a protest in the city of Lleida.
Image caption Catalonia's pro-referendum tractor rallies have been dubbed "tractoradas" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1461368.stm | An American couple have made history by getting married on the wreck of the Titanic, inside a submersible on the ship's deck.
New Yorkers David Leibowitz and Kimberley Miller descended to the wreck - four kilometres (2.4 miles) under the North Atlantic - in one of the submersibles used in the Hollywood movie Titanic.
They have rejected allegations that their wedding is in bad taste - an "insult" to the 1,523 people who died when the ship sank in 1912.
Captain Ron Warwick, Captain of the cruise liner, QE2, performed the extraordinary ceremony from the operations room of the Russian research ship, Akademik Keldysh.
Dressed in flame retardant suits, the couple had to remain on their knees throughout because the submersible is so small.
The BBC's John McIntyre who is on the scene said Mr Leibowitz could be heard, albeit sounding robotic, making his vows before placing the ring on his new wife's finger.
Mr Warwick then told the couple via a hydrophone they were man and wife and they could now kiss.
The couple's chance to get married on the wreck came after Mr Leibowitz won a contest organised by a new diving internet company, Subsea Explorer.
The company was flooded with about 28,000 entries to win the trip of a lifetime.
Visits to the Titanic cost $36,000 per person - money that the Russian Academy of Sciences says it needs to fund its research projects.
But the trip has been criticised by people in Southampton whose relatives died in the Titanic disaster.
The British Titanic Society condemned the wedding as a publicity stunt.
Brian Ticehurst, of the British Titanic Society, said it was "an insult to each one of those people that this couple should spoil the site by getting married".
"We don't really view this as a gravesite," Mr Leibowitz responded, "Still if you were to be married at a church, you'd have to treat that with reverence because you'd be near a graveyard, too."
"Titanic has to be one of the eeriest places on earth" |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6263709.stm | TV personality Barbara Kelly, known for her appearances on quiz show What's My Line, has died aged 82.
Born in Canada, she made her UK TV debut in 1951's An Evening at Home with Bernard Braden And Barbara Kelly, where her co-star was her real-life husband.
The couple appeared together in further BBC series, including the sophisticated sitcom B-and-B, before Kelly set up a showbusiness consultancy.
She died of cancer in London surrounded by her family, said her grandson.
Kelly and Braden married in Canada in 1942, and the couple moved to the UK seven years later.
Braden, who had a background in radio, soon found success on the BBC with the light-hearted variety show Breakfast with Braden.
In 1950, the programme graduated to a later time slot, where it gained a new title - Bedtime with Braden - and regular appearances from Kelly.
The pair soon made their TV debut on An Evening at Home with... where Kelly got equal billing with her husband.
The off-beat sitcom invited viewers to spend informal evenings at home with the couple and their regularly visiting neighbours - but it only lasted for one series.
Kelly continued to appear in her husband's shows throughout the 1950s and '60s, but was most often seen as a panellist on What's My Line?
Alongside other regulars such as David Nixon, Gilbert Harding and Lady Isobel Barnett, Kelly's role was to guess the occupation of members of the public.
The show, which ran from 1951-1963, was immensely popular and made household names of its panellists. The show's format was later revived by ITV in the 1980s.
Kelly teamed up with her husband again in 1968 for B-and-B, another domestic sitcom which this time featured their daughter, Kim.
The show, which began life on the Comedy Playhouse strand, dealt with challenging social issues such as drug-taking and divorce.
But Kelly gradually stepped out of the limelight and later established a showbusiness agency representing celebrities such as Joan Collins, Barbara Windsor and Sir John Harvey-Jones.
She also launched a consultancy, Lion's Share, in 2000 which employed celebrities to train corporate bosses in public speaking.
Bernard Braden died in 1993 following a series of strokes, and Kelly also lost her son, Christopher, to cancer.
The actress was being treated in a Marie Curie home in Hampstead, London, when she died.
She is survived by daughter Kim, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/8065294.stm | Ex-world cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli will face Denis Lebedev at the O2 Arena on 27 June, his first bout since leaving trainer Enzo Calzaghe.
Moscow southpaw Lebedev, 29, has won all 17 of his fights, and the victor may be in line for a world title shot.
Swansea's Maccarinelli, now trained by Karl Ince, knows this could be his last shot at glory at 28-years-old and with two defeats in his last three fights.
"I've been a world champion before and I want to be one again," he said.
"This is a great chance for me to prove myself against an undefeated fighter, and I can't wait for 27 June.
Can Maccarinelli return to glory?
"Working with [Preston's] Karl Ince has been fantastic and I've got my hunger back.
"I'm going to knock out Lebedev and then I'm going after [Ola] Afolabi for a rematch."
The bout, for the vacant WBO intercontinental cruiserweight title, will be on the undercard of Amir Khan's WBA light-welterweight title challenge against Andreas Kotelnik.
Maccarinelli's last appearance at the O2 Arena was in March 2008 when he suffered a second-round knock-out in a cruiserweight unification clash with David Haye.
He stopped heavyweight Matthew Ellis in two rounds at London's ExCeL Arena last December, before the shock ninth-round knock-out to Afolabi in March, his third defeat in 32 fights.
Now Lebedev - who, like his opponent, is promoted by Frank Warren - is out to shatter Maccarinelli's dream of becoming the first Welshman to regain a world title.
"I've seen Maccarinelli's fights and he is a good boxer," said the Russian, who is untested at the highest level.
"I know that he wasn't himself against Afolabi, and I have to prepare for a world-class opponent.
"But I am so confident of winning this fight. Last time out I boxed a very dangerous puncher in Eliseo Castillo and I stopped him in five rounds, and I believe that I will do the same against Maccarinelli.
"Ever since I was a little boy I have wanted to be a world champion, and I am just a couple of fights away from fulfilling my dream."
Warren added: "This is a real crossroads fight for both men, and I know they are going to come out and give it their all because there is so much on the line.
"I'm confident that whoever wins will find themselves fighting for a world title before too long." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6623791.stm | Taxi to the Dark Side, about the Bush administration's policies on prison torture, has won best documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Alex Gibney's film looks at the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gibney's 2005 film, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, was nominated for an Academy Award.
Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's directorial debut, The Education of Charlie Banks, also won an award.
He picked up the Made in NY feature film prize.
The award for best actress went to Marina Hands in Lady Chatterley, a French version of the DH Lawrence novel.
Lofti Edbelli was named as best actor for his turn as a breakdancer who falls in with a fundamentalist group in Tunisian film Making Of.
The film, written and directed by Nori Bouzid, also won best screenplay.
Jewish drama My Father My Lord, directed by David Volach, won the award for best narrative feature.
The film follows an Orthodox rabbi struggling to keep his faith and family.
Andrew Piddington's The Killing of John Lennon won special jury recognition, while Enrique Begne's film Two Embraces won the award for best new narrative film-maker.
The film festival, which concludes on Sunday, was founded by Robert De Niro after the September 11 attacks, with the aim of revitalising lower Manhattan. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6452013.stm | Penalty shoot-outs to decide drawn games is one of the ideas a Football League working party will investigate.
The League's 72 club chairmen set up the working party to look at ways of making the game more attractive.
The idea of shoot-outs to award a bonus point has been roundly condemned by managers and some club chairmen.
League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "It's important to look from time to time at what we're offering and whether it's as good as it could be."
The proposal for drawn games would see each side awarded a point, but a penalty shoot-out would decide the destination of a bonus point.
If the idea gains enough support, it will be presented as a motion for a rule change at the Football League's annual general meeting in June.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said: "I saw this in my first year managing in Japan - it did not have spectacular results."
He added: "In extra-time they played a sudden death goal and if no-one scored they had penalties.
The idea was originally put forward in the recent Football League Fans Survey.
Lord Mawhinney added: "Managers may hate shoot-outs but fans love them. The chairmen decided to use this proposal to have a broader look at a range of ideas that might refresh our product.
"Some people were strongly against it, some people were in favour of it, but on both sides people said: 'let's be constructive and have a broad examination of what we have on offer'."
Bournemouth boss Kevin Bond told the Daily Echo newspaper said: "Why can't we just have a draw?"
"I don't agree with it because I think it's too much of a radical change. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44251337 | Philip Hammond has warned the EU the UK will "go it alone" and build a new satellite navigation system if shut out of the Galileo project after Brexit.
The chancellor said the UK wanted to remain a "core member" of the EU-wide scheme, which it has helped pay for.
But if this was not possible, he said the UK would develop a rival scheme as access to the data satellites provided was vital for national security.
The issue has become an emerging dividing line in the Brexit talks.
The UK has demanded £1bn back from the EU if the bloc carries through on its plan to exclude Britain from Galileo, which was developed by the European Commission and the European Space Agency.
Brussels has cited legal issues about sharing sensitive information with a non-member state - but the UK has said the row could harm wider post-Brexit security co-operation and "risks being interpreted as a lack of trust in the United Kingdom".
Arriving for a meeting of European finance ministers on Friday, Mr Hammond - regarded as the cabinet's chief advocate of the closest possible links with the EU after Brexit - issued a stark warning.
"We need access to a satellite system of this kind, our plan has always been to work as a core member of the Galileo project, contributing financially and technical to the project," he said.
"If that proves impossible then Britain will have to go alone, possibly with partners outside Europe and the US to build a third, competing system. But for national security strategic reasons, we need access to a system and we'll ensure that we get it."
There is nothing like a common enemy to unite a divided group.
The EU's threat to freeze the UK out of its satellite navigation system has riled both Brexiteers and Remainers at the very top of government.
Philip Hammond, one of the most Brexit-sceptic figures in the cabinet, has talked of the UK "going it alone" with its own rival project.
In stark contrast, just the day before he'd spoken of "shared challenges" and "unshakeable commitments" between the UK and the EU.
If the line from Brussels that the UK is chasing a "fantasy" was designed to anger the other side it appears, at least in part, to have worked.
But it may also have helped galvanise UK officials' resolve to negotiate hard with the full backing of the cabinet.
Britain's aim of turning Galileo into a shared post-Brexit project is "a big ask" according to the EU, but that is different to saying it cannot or will not happen.
So it may also be the case that the government senses this is a fight it can win, and is upping the ante accordingly.
Labour seized on Mr Hammond's comments, suggesting they showed the government was willing to spend "billions of pounds" on an alternative space programme at a time of continuing austerity in public services.
"It's time the chancellor came down to Earth to prove he is on the same planet as the rest of us," said the shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
Amid growing tensions over post-Brexit security co-operation, a senior EU official on Thursday attacked the UK's "fantasy" approach to negotiations which they described as "let's just keep everything we have now".
Mr Hammond said such comments were "not particularly helpful" given the clock was ticking down to the UK's March 2019 exit and both sides needed to make significant progress by the next month's summit of European leaders.
"There are obviously a wide range of views on both sides but everybody that I've engaged with has been very constructive and very keen to find a way to move forward," he said.
The UK, which has one of Europe's largest military budgets and most sophisticated intelligence operations, has said it wants a separate defence and security treaty with the EU to enshrine existing co-operation.
On Friday, the UK published a paper making clear that agreement on the exchange of classified information was essential for future co-operation in a range of areas, such as common EU security and defence operations.
Among "ongoing commitments" that could be put in doubt include Operation Sophia, the Italian-led naval mission combating illegal migration in the Mediterranean which is being assisted by the Royal Navy and Operation Althea, a peacekeeping mission which upholds the 1995 Dayton Agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"Without access to documents of this kind, the UK would not be able to manage the risk of deployments and would not be able to commit personnel or assets," the document says.
The UK says it is in both sides' interest for it to maintain its "significant" role within the EU's Intelligence and Situation Centre and also points out that the UK's National Cyber Security Centre regularly shares intelligence with EU partners and helps attribute major attacks across the continent.
The UK wants a similar agreement to those the EU has with the US and Canada but says "existing networks" should be used to ensure no interruption in co-operation and that different security protocols should apply depending on how widely information is disseminated. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38995205 | Think fake news is a new phenomenon? Think again. Dr David Clarke from Sheffield Hallam University looks at a 100-year-old story that fooled the world.
Fake news, false stories that masquerade as real news are not new.
In the spring of 1917 some of Britain's most influential newspapers published a gruesome story that has been called "the master hoax" - and I think we finally have proof about where it came from.
Britain was at the time trying to bring China into the war on the Allied side.
In February a story appeared in the English-language North China Daily News that claimed the Kaiser's forces were "extracting glycerine out of dead soldiers".
Rumours about processing dead bodies had been in circulation since 1915 but had not been presented as facts by any official source.
That changed in April when the Times and the Daily Mail published accounts from anonymous sources who claimed to have visited the Kadaververwertungsanstalt, or corpse-utilisation factory.
The Times ran the story under the headline Germans and their Dead, attributing the claim to two sources - a Belgian newspaper published in England and a story that originally appeared in a German newspaper, Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger on 10 April.
That German account by reporter Kal Rosner described an unpleasant smell "as if lime was being burnt" as he passed the corpse factory.
Rosner used the word "kadaver", which referred to the bodies of animals - horses and mules - not human bodies.
Later, The Times carried a longer article quoting from an unnamed Belgian source who described in grim detail how the corpses were processed.
A cartoon published soon afterwards by Punch presented the ghoulish story with the caption "cannon fodder - and after".
The German government protested loudly against these "loathsome and ridiculous" claims.
But their protests were drowned out by public expressions of horror from the Chinese ambassador. China declared war against Germany on 14 August 1917.
However, until now no one has been able to discover conclusive proof that would settle the mystery of who created the story - and who authorised its transformation from a false rumour to officially-sanctioned "fact". I believe we now can.
It was in 1925 that Sir Austen Chamberlain admitted, in a Commons statement, there was "never any foundation" for what he called "this false report".
In the same year the Conservative MP John Charteris - who served as head of intelligence - reportedly admitted, while on a lecture tour of the US, that he had fabricated the story.
The New York Times revealed how Charteris said he had transposed captions from one of two photographs found on captured German soldiers. One showed a train taking dead horses to be rendered, the other showed a train taking dead soldiers for burial.
The photo of the horses had the word "cadaver" written upon it and Charteris reportedly said he "had the caption transposed to the picture showing the German dead, and had the photograph sent to a Chinese newspaper in Shanghai".
On his return to Britain, Charteris denied making the remarks. Since that time, no one has been able to discover the photographs or any clear documentary evidence that would prove the intelligence services connived with the press to promote the corpse factory lie.
Image caption Cuttings from the Times, Daily Mail and Daily Express reporting the "corpse factory"
But I have found what I believe to be one of the photographs mentioned by Charteris in a collection of Foreign Office files at The National Archives.
The black and white image, dated 17 September 1917, clearly shows bodies of German soldiers, tied in bundles, resting on a train behind the front line just as Charteris had described in 1925.
The covering letter, from a military intelligence officer at Whitehall, is addressed to the government's Director of Information, Lt Col John Buchan, author of The 39 Steps. The letter from MI7, the military's propaganda unit, offers the War Office "a photograph of Kadavers, forwarded by General Charteris for propaganda purposes".
In 1917 MI7 employed 13 officers and 25 paid writers, some whom moonlighted as "special correspondents" for national newspapers. One of their most talented agents was Major Hugh Pollard who combined his work in the propaganda department with the role of special correspondent for the Daily Express.
After the war Pollard confessed his role in spreading the corpse factory lie to his cousin, Ivor Montague.
Writing in 1970, Montague recalled "we laughed at his cleverness when he told us how his department had launched the account of the German corpse factories and of how the Hun was using the myriads of trench-war casualties for making soap and margarine."
But lies have consequences. During the 1930s the corpse factory lie was used by the Nazis as proof of British lies during the Great War.
Historians Joachim Neander and Randal Marlin remind us how these false stories "encouraged later disbelief when early reports circulated about the Holocaust under Hitler".
Video How do fake news sites make money? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7598549.stm | Musical tastes and personality type are closely related, according to a study of more than 36,000 people from around the world.
The research, which was carried out by Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, is said to be the largest such study ever undertaken.
It suggested classical music fans were shy, while heavy metal aficionados were gentle and at ease with themselves.
Professor North described the research as "significant" and "surprising".
What does your musical taste say about you?
He said: "We have always suspected a link between music taste and personality. This is the first time that we've been able to look at it in real detail. No-one has ever done this on this scale before."
Prof North said the research could have many uses in marketing, adding: "If you know a person's music preference you can tell what kind of person they are, who to sell to.
"There are obvious implications for the music industry who are are worried about declining CD sales.
"One of the most surprising things is the similarities between fans of classical music and heavy metal. They're both creative and at ease but not outgoing.
"The general public has held a stereotype of heavy metal fans being suicidally depressed and of being a danger to themselves and society in general. But they are quite delicate things."
More than 36,000 people from all over the world were asked to rate 104 musical styles and also questioned about aspects of their personality.
The study is continuing and Prof North, who is head of the university's department of applied psychology, is still looking for participants to take part in a short online questionnaire. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-nottinghamshire-41721383 | Ayeeshia-Jayne Smith was murdered by her mother Kathryn Smith in May 2014.
Regular live coverage on this page has ended for the day - breaking news, sport and travel updates will continue to appear through the night.
A serious crash involving a motorbike and a van has closed Diamond Avenue in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
Emergency services are at the scene of the collision, which happened at about 16.40 this afternoon.
Trent Barton said buses on the road have been diverted.
It’ll be cloudy with rain clearing to the south overnight and into the early hours but it will feel breezy.
Showers will soon clear to the south first thing tomorrow morning.
After that a dry day is expected with bright and at times sunny spells where the cloud thins and breaks.
Temperatures will reach highs of 15C (59F).
Police have named the 30-year-old man killed in a crash near New Whittington on Sunday as Daniel Spooner from Newbold.
The car he was driving collided head-on with another on Whittington Road between New Whittington and Barrow Hill.
The driver of the other car was a 72-year-old man. He suffered life-threatening injuries and remains at hospital in Sheffield in a critical but stable condition.
Police are appealing for any witnesses who have not yet come forward to get in touch with them - particularly if they've captured footage of the vehicles on a dashcam.
Heptathelete Niamh Emerson has been named in the Team England squad for the Commonwealth Games.
The 18-year-old from Derby will compete in Australia next April.
Her team mates will include Adam Gemili, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Greg Rutherford and Dina Asher-Smith.
M1 Leicestershire northbound severe disruption, between J24 for A6 and J24A for A50 Derby.
M1 Leicestershire - Heavy traffic and one lane closed on M1 northbound between J24, A6 (Kegworth) and J24a, A50 (Derby), because of a broken down vehicle.
The Environment Agency has been in Nottingham clearing a blockage from the River Maun at Ollerton.
The blockage was caused by a large branch lodged across the bridge channels. It was causing weeds and debris to get caught restricting the flow of the river.
An investigation is under way after a team of track workers narrowly avoided being hit by a train.
It happened on the East Coast Mainline at the Egmanton level crossing near Newark on 5 October.
The train was approaching at 125 mph when the driver saw a group of track workers in the distance.
The driver sounded the train's warning horn but could see no response from the group and after sounding the horn again he applied the emergency brake.
The group moved out of the way shortly before the train passed.
There were no injuries but the driver mistakenly thought he'd hit someone.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch will establish whether the line side work was competently planned and authorised.
A 31-year-old motorcyclist has died after a crash involving a car this morning.
It happened in Drayton Road between East Drayton and Stokeham at about 06:40, Nottinghamshire Police said.
Former Nottingham Forest forward Matty Fryatt is training at Walsall after more than two years out injured.
Councillors have this afternoon approved plans to spend nearly £8.5m to fit sprinklers in high-rise flats.
Nottingham City Council has agreed to foot the bill after the government refused to pay for the work following the Grenfell Tower Fire.
City council leader councillor Jon Collins has warned it might delay other projects.
Mr Collins said: "Our MPs raised this matter on a regular basis and from our perspective we have now made a commitment that we will be doing this work come what may, but we would like a contribution from government."
Fish have been poisoned and items have been damaged at a memorial garden to murdered toddler Ayeeshia-Jayne Smith.
Ricky Booth dedicated an area in his front garden to his 21-month-old daughter who was murdered by her mother in 2014.
Mr Booth told the BBC the garden is the only thing that's kept him sane while he's been grieving for the toddler.
The vandalism was discovered on Saturday morning. Police were contacted and are investigating.
A 10-year plan is being drawn up on how to best maximise Nottingham's cultural offering.
The University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham City Council are working together on ideas for the next decade and comes just days before the bid for European Capital of Culture.
Nottingham City Councillor David Trimble said: "We will have a real coming together of everybody working together over the next 10 years.
"A major part of that will be putting a bid in for the European Capital of Culture...we will have everybody working together...we want to reach every school and community."
Mansfield Conservative MP Ben Bradley says "inspiring" people is the key to attracting young voters.
The 27-year-old, who is the first Tory MP for the town, said his party didn't have the positive messages which Jeremy Corbyn campaigned for during the general elections.
Mr Bradley has now set up a new group of young Conservative MPs in the hope of reconnecting with young voters.
Video caption: Mansfield Conservative MP Ben Bradley hopes to reconnect with young voters.Mansfield Conservative MP Ben Bradley hopes to reconnect with young voters.
James Sarson, 26, who was driving a silver BMW car died in hospital at the weekend.
The fact this game is probably the third talking point in the bars ahead of tonight's clash tells you that it’s either not very exciting prospect as a clash, or a lot is going on at King Power Stadium at the moment.
Personally, I think it's the latter.
The game provides a good chance for the Foxes to progress through to the quarter finals of the competition against a Leeds side who are expected to make a number of changes.
Leeds are focused solely on promotion from the Championship into the Premier League and this competition could get in the way of the busy fixture schedule in England’s second tier.
So the conversations will likely be on who the next Foxes boss will be, how they’ll cope without midfielder Adrien Silva until January, then maybe a word or two on the game before the fans file into the stadium tonight.
Police have confirmed a fire engine involved in a fatal crash in Leicester at the weekend was not responding to an emergency call at the time.
The fire engine collided with a car on Lubbesthorpe Way early on Sunday morning killing the 26-year-old driver James Sarson.
Health bosses have reassured rural communities they will still get an ambulance when they dial 999 even though they're reviewing where crews are based.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) said it is looking at proposals which could mean some stations will have fewer ambulances.
David Whiting from EMAS said: "It is about making sure we have got the right number of resources in each area and then we will have less drift from particularly the rural areas into the urban patches.
"These moves are positive for rural communities."
Police say a 27-year-old man was struck by a car as he walked along the pavement. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9547125.stm | Mark Webber has warned his Red Bull team they must improve after losing the last two races to Ferrari and McLaren.
Sebastian Vettel has a 77-point lead in the drivers' championship, but the reigning champion could only manage fourth in Sunday's German Grand Prix.
"We need to improve the car on Sundays," said third-placed Webber.
"It's been brewing for the last two races, we need to address it soon. The last two races we've been done and we've not had much to punch back with."
Webber started from pole position at the Nurburgring but lost the lead to eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton heading into the first corner.
The 34-year-old Australian was involved in a tense battle with Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso for the first two stints but struggled to keep in touch with the pair after the second round of pits stops.
And Webber is determined that Red Bull are in better shape in time for the Hungarian GP next weekend.
"We got beaten fair and square at Silverstone too," added Webber, referring to Alonso's victory in the British Grand Prix two weeks ago.
"This is the second race we've been beaten. Is it the form for the second half of the championship? It's difficult to say. We're going to a track next weekend which should be better than this track for us.
"We've got company on Saturdays, and Sundays are more than a handful for us.
"I think we were more dominant last year [when Vettel won the drivers' title at the last race of the season] but this year we've always put things together and have been there at the end.
"Last year we were probably more dominant, it's just that Seb had a good run this year."
And Vettel admitted he was not satisfied with his car's performance in Germany.
The German, who has never won his home grand prix, started from third on the grid - his worst qualifying performance of the season - and battled hard with Alonso during the opening few laps.
But he never really recovered after spinning on lap nine after touching the white line coming down into Turn 10.
He ended the race fighting with Ferrari's Felipe Massa for fourth and he managed to come out on top by leapfrogging the Brazilian in the pits on the penultimate lap.
"I think fourth was probably our maximum today, which is not satisfying," said the 24-year-old, who has only won one of the last four races after winning five of the first six.
"We need to work harder on our car to get back on to the podium, and maybe on to the top step again.
"We have to accept that today other people were quicker than us, and surely I'm not happy, I'm not satisfied. I didn't feel too good all weekend, I never got to the pace Mark [Webber] had in his car."
Team boss Christian Horner admitted there was work to do before Hungary but was happy with the points his drivers were able to pick up.
"Seb has not found a balance with the car that he was particularly happy with," Horner told BBC Sport. "He had that spin which flat-spotted the tyres.
"But his pace picked up dramatically in the second half and ultimately his race came down to a pit stop against Massa at the end but as always in F1 there is work to do.
"We have to attack every single weekend. Seb is not looking at the leaderboard, he is conscious of it but on a weekend where he hasn't been the stand-out quickest driver, obviously consolidating and picking up those points on a bad day is not too bad." |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-41112374 | The "jewel in the crown" of local TV has broadcast for the last time.
Mustard TV owner Archant made the announcement after selling the station to the That's TV Group, which runs channels in 10 different regions.
The company said the new owners had indicated they would not need current staff to operate the station.
The station, which has broadcast from Norwich for three years, bowed out with an hour-long Mustard Show special at 18:00 BST.
It was set up as part of a UK-wide government scheme funded by the BBC licence fee.
Its presenters include former Norwich City player Darren Eadie and ex-Anglia TV presenter Helen McDermott.
Chris Carnegy, the BBC's editor for Local TV, described Mustard TV as "one of the jewels in the crown of the local TV emerging sector".
He said "they gave it a good go" but were defeated by the "economic reality" of running a TV station with a small number of potential advertisers and viewers.
As part of the deal, Archant will take a stake in the That's TV Group.
A company spokeswoman said: "We have consistently said that the success of local TV will come from consolidation and are excited to be a minority shareholder in a company with a significantly larger portfolio of local licences."
She added it was not company policy "to disclose details around confidential staff matters".
In a letter to Mustard TV staff, seen by the BBC, Archant chief executive Jeff Henry said the company was "seeking where at all possible to avoid making redundancies by retaining as many employees as we can within Archant".
That's TV Group's franchises includes a Cambridge branch.
The BBC has contacted That's TV Group for a statement. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3775177.stm | The site of a fire which destroyed more than 100 works of art was burgled before the blaze began, say police.
The fire spread through factory units at the Cromwell industrial estate in Leyton, destroying a warehouse owned by art storage company Momart.
Work by artists Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, many owned by collector Charles Saatchi, were among those destroyed. Police said arson was a possible cause but it was too early to know if the fire had been started deliberately.
The fire, which is thought to have destroyed more than £50m of art, broke out at the storage facility on 24 May.
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "It is now believed that the fire began in a particular unit. The warehouse had 34 units in total - two main ones and 32 smaller ones.
"One of the smaller units where the fire actually began appears to have suffered a burglary, but it is yet to be established if the fire was deliberately started."
Momart's managing director Eugene Boyle said the company was still not able to access the site due to ongoing police investigations.
"Whilst they (the police) have not concluded their investigations, indications are that it started following a break-in to premises containing watches, computers and mobile phones.
"It was at the opposite end of the complex of business units from the Momart warehouse," he said.
More than 100 artworks from Charles Saatchi's famous collection were destroyed in the fire.
Author Shirley Conran and artist Gillian Ayres had £2m of art at the Momart facility in Leyton, east London.
Damien Hirst's 22ft (6.7m) Charity, based on the old Spastic Society collection boxes, was one of the artworks thought destroyed later found to have been saved.
The owners of some of the artworks destroyed in the fire are considering legal action against Momart.
But a Momart spokesperson insisted the company had not been negligent. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8502623.stm | People were making the most of the conditions in a mass snowball fight in Dupont Circle, Washington DC, which was snapped by Felicity Harvest.
The heaviest snow storms for decades have struck the eastern US. Rory Kay could hardly find his own car in Warrenton, Virginia, due to the heavy snow.
Brad Slater took this picture of Federal Hill, a historic neighbourhood just a few blocks from the Inner Harbour of Baltimore.
Hemant Tiwari in Herndon, Virginia, wanted to clear a path for his car after the snow had stopped, and found he was thigh-deep in snow.
David Trotter was watching a rugby match when a pine tree fell on his roof.
Angela Batman was due to fly to the UK for business but has been stuck at a hotel near Washington Dulles airport. This is the view from her window.
Ben Sheppard found the shelves of a Washington supermarket nearly empty due to people stocking up on food to brave a long period of snow.
People have found more inventive ways to travel around Washington DC. Photo: Rudy Riet.
Bob Wenzelburger realised it was "gonna be one of them days" when he woke up to this snow scene.You can send your picture to [email protected]. Terms and conditions below. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47933984 | Faulty brakes have forced Lyft to remove thousands of its electric bikes from three US cities.
Riders complained that front braking was "stronger than expected" on the assisted bikes, it said.
About 3,000 Lyft bikes currently in use in New York, Washington and San Francisco, are being removed.
It said an "abundance of caution" led to the withdrawal of the bikes from the 17,000-strong fleet which it operates across the three cities.
The assisted bikes, which are fitted with an electric motor to help people get around urban areas, will be replaced by traditional pedal-powered alternatives.
"Safety always comes first," said Julie Wood from Lyft partner Citi-Bike, which operates the services in the three locations on behalf of the ride-sharing company.
Ms Wood said riders had made a "small number of reports" about the problem, which led to brakes being jammed on sharply during some journeys.
Updated electric bicycles which do not suffer the glitch are being prepared for deployment in the cities, she added. No date was given for when the replacements will be available.
Lyft debuted on the New York stock exchange in late March.
Reports of problems with the bikes came soon after the scooter hire firm Lime reported that a software bug led to injuries for a "small number" of its riders.
The bug meant that the scooters suddenly applied the brakes when riders were travelling at full speed downhill. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35648918 | Boston Dynamics - the robotics firm owned by Google - has created a humanoid that is able to withstand all manner of bullying and still achieve its task.
Researchers push, kick and tease the remarkable new Atlas robot, which is an upgrade of models we've seen from the firm previously.
Despite the distractions, Atlas continues with its task of picking up and moving boxes.
In one instance, a member of the Boston Dynamics team gives Atlas such a severe whack to its upper back that it falls over, face first on to the floor.
After a moment of reflection, the robot pushes its arms out and jolts itself upright, before somewhat dejectedly walking out of the building.
Other demonstrations shown in the video posted by Boston Dynamics show Atlas walking around in the snow, righting itself whenever it encounters difficult terrain.
"It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated," the company explained.
"It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain and help with navigation."
The robot is 5ft 9in (175cm) tall and weighs 180lb (82kg).
We learned in December last year that plans to develop a four-legged dog-like robot had been shelved after it was deemed too noisy for its purpose on combat zones.
It had been hoped that the robot would be able to follow troops while carrying extra kit. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/6696473.stm | Music fans are being asked to give their views on the future of a nuclear power station which is due to be decommissioned.
Staff from Oldbury power station were at the Coleford Music Festival in the Forest of Dean to talk to visitors about what could happen to the site.
It is part of a public consultation effort which began earlier this year.
The South Gloucestershire installation is due to stop generating electricity at the end of 2008.
Festival visitors were given the chance to look at an "environmental statement" outlining proposals for dismantling the plant, expected traffic movements and efforts for protecting wildlife.
Project manager Jon Bishton said: "Publishing our environmental statement is a major milestone for the station and a huge step forwards in the decommissioning process.
"We hope people will take the opportunity to visit us in Coleford to find out more about what is included in this important document."
More than 1,000 residents who responded to an earlier survey said they wanted the site left to nature and not developed. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-33104865 | An NHS whistleblower has said staff morale has hit "rock bottom" at a hospital criticised by the Care Quality Commission for its "bullying culture".
The member of staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, who asked not to be named, said there was concern about bullying and poor communication.
"On the ground floor we just feel like we're firefighting," she said.
Hospital chief executive Anna Dugdale said managers were improving services and tackling bullying.
The hospital worker told the BBC: "I think staff morale is at rock bottom. I believe communication is very poor. We are not really aware of what the main focus of the trust is or in what direction we're going.
"I do know of staff members [in some departments] that feel there is a bully culture and staff turnover in those areas is fairly significant.
"I hear staff moaning regularly and actually the time taken while they are chatting and moaning is not productive for the organisation, and sickness goes up."
On Thursday the findings of an inspection report by the Care Quality Commission were announced.
Its chief inspector of hospitals, Prof Sir Mike Richards, said there were some areas of good practice, but there were "serious concerns" about a "bullying culture within the leadership team".
Ms Dugdale said: "Our NHS staff survey results put us in the bottom 20% nationally for bullying and harassment.
"This is something we take very seriously and we have been working with staff members and staff representatives in forums and meetings to develop our action plan to address this issue." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3141780.stm | Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has left hospital and returned home under effective house arrest in the capital Rangoon, reports say.
Ms Suu Kyi, who was recovering from a gynaecological operation in a private Rangoon medical centre, was discharged on Friday.
A government spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency did not clarify the conditions of Suu Kyi's return to her home after more than three months in detention.
"She will continue to rest at home under the supervision of her doctors while the government stands ready to provide and assist her with medical and humanitarian needs," the spokesman said.
But anyone wanting to visit her will need to apply to the military government for permission, and her doctor said earlier on Friday she would be in custody at her home.
The BBC's Burma analyst, Larry Jagan, says the ruling military junta is using her operation as a excuse to allow her home without appearing to back down to foreign pressure.
Earlier, Ms Suu Kyi's physician stood outside the Asia Royal Hospital in Rangoon to announce that his patient was due to go home "but will still be effectively under house arrest".
"Anybody who wishes to see her once she is home can make arrangement through the authorities," said Dr Tin Myo Win.
Aung San Suu Kyi was detained on 30 May, following violent clashes between her supporters and a government-backed mob.
Despite international outrage and Western sanctions, the Nobel prize winner has remained in detention ever since.
Dr Tin Myo Win read out a statement by Ms Suu Kyi in which she thanked her supporters, who have maintained a vigil outside the medical centre, but asked "specifically that nobody should want to see me leave the hospital."
The physician said he would accompany the pro-democracy leader to her lakeside residence outside Rangoon on Friday, and then visit her regularly.
"I'm still worried about her health, but she is improving and she is perfectly well to go home," he said.
Aung San Suu Kyi, aged 58, has been under house arrest twice before - the first time for six years between 1989 and 1995, and the second time for 20 months until she was freed in May 2002.
There has been a massive international outcry over her continued detention, with constant demands for her immediate and unconditional release.
Her imprisonment has also strained relations within the region.
Friday's development came after the Indonesian envoy to Burma, Ali Alatas, and the Thai foreign minister visited Rangoon earlier this week.
Indonesia has been keen for Rangoon to make concessions before next month's Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit in Bali, which Burma is due to attend.
By allowing Aung San Suu Kyi to return home - albeit under house arrest - the junta may assume it has done just that.
But according to our correspondent, international pressure will not stop until the Burmese Government unconditionally frees Aung San Suu Kyi, and starts substantive political talks with her about the future of the country.
"Her release may give the military a chance to save face" |
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-42212270 | All four members of the board of the government's Social Mobility Commission have stood down in protest at the lack of progress towards a "fairer Britain".
Ex-Labour minister Alan Milburn, who chairs the commission, said he had "little hope" the current government could make the "necessary" progress.
The government was too focused on Brexit to deal with the issue, he said.
The government said Mr Milburn's term had come to an end and it had already decided to get some "fresh blood" in.
The commission is charged with monitoring the government's progress in "freeing children from poverty and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential".
In his resignation letter to Theresa May, published in The Observer, Mr Milburn said he did not doubt her "personal belief" in social justice, but he saw "little evidence of that being translated into meaningful action".
He said individual ministers, such as the education secretary, had shown a deep commitment to social mobility.
But it had "become obvious that the government as a whole is unable to commit the same level of support".
Sour grapes? Political point scoring?
Neither, according to the former Labour minister and his colleagues on the board who include a former Conservative education secretary.
Their frustration demonstrates the extent to which Brexit is all-consuming for the government.
Leaving the EU is taking up so much time, energy and effort that there is little capacity for anything else to get done.
Even on an issue which is a personal priority for the prime minister.
Mr Milburn, a former health secretary, took up his role at the commission in July 2012, under the coalition government led by David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, he said divisions in Britain were becoming wider - pointing to the ongoing squeeze on wages.
The government lacked the "bandwidth" to tackle social division while also dealing with Brexit, he said, describing his task as being like "pushing water uphill".
Mr Milburn said Education Secretary Justine Greening had been a "champion for the cause" and had wanted him to stay in post - which Ms Greening, who also appeared on the show, would not be drawn on.
"He has done a fantastic job, but his term had come to an end and I think it was about getting some fresh blood into the commission," she said.
She denied the government lacked the will to tackle inequality, but admitted more needed to be done.
In a report published last week, the commission said economic, social and local divisions laid bare by the Brexit vote needed to be addressed to prevent a rise in far right or hard left extremism.
It said London and its commuter belt appeared to be a "different country" to coastal, rural and former industrial areas, with young people there facing lower pay and fewer top jobs.
The resignations come as Mrs May, who entered Downing Street in July 2016 promising to tackle the "burning injustices" that hold back poorer people, faces questions over the future of senior minister Damian Green - who is effectively her second in command - and is under pressure as Brexit talks continue.
In an interview in the Sunday Times, Mr Milburn said: "There has been indecision, dysfunctionality and a lack of leadership."
The government said it was making "good progress" on social mobility and focusing on disadvantaged areas.
It said it had already told Mr Milburn it planned to appoint a new chair and would hold an open application process for the role.
It said it was committed to fighting injustice "and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to go as far as their talents will take them".
It highlighted its increase of the national living wage, cuts in income tax for the lowest paid and doubling of free childcare in England.
The process of appointing a new chairperson and commissioners would begin as soon as possible, it added.
The other board members standing down include deputy chair of the commission and Tory former education secretary Baroness Shephard.
Paul Gregg, a professor of economic and social policy at the University of Bath, and David Johnston, the chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation charity, are also leaving.
Shadow cabinet office minister Jon Trickett said the resignations came as "no surprise".
"As inequality has grown under the Tories, social mobility has totally stalled," he said.
"How well people do in life is still based on class background rather than on talent or effort."
Mr Milburn said he would be setting up a new social mobility institute, independent of the government. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2722629.stm | The threat to health from mercury emissions is far more widespread than previously supposed, the United Nations says.
A United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) report says 70% of mercury emissions of human origin come from the burning of coal and the incineration of waste materials.
Yet the technology to eliminate most of them already exists.
The report, Global Mercury Assessment, will be discussed at the meeting here of Unep's governing council from 3 to 7 February.
Mercury is a naturally occurring metal released into the environment from rocks and soils, and in volcanic eruptions. But human activities, including mining, industry and power generation, are continually adding more.
Once released, mercury can travel long distances.
Dr Klaus Toepfer, Unep's executive director, said at the report's launch: "Mercury is a huge problem, a traveller without a passport, that spreads around the world in air and water.
"Action is necessary. We have to reduce drastically and as soon as possible the risk it poses to a lot of people."
Dr Toepfer told BBC News Online: "With another global health threat that especially affects children, lead in petrol, I am absolutely convinced we can reach agreement by 2005 to phase it out worldwide.
"I believe the aim of drastically reducing mercury from man-made sources is a must, too."
One of the commonest ways mercury affects people is in one of its organic forms, methylmercury.
This was the cause of Minamata disease in Japan nearly 50 years ago, when more than 1,400 people died after eating contaminated seafood.
Methylmercury attacks the central nervous system; symptoms include numbness and unsteadiness, tiredness, ringing in the ears, and problems with vision, hearing and speech.
It is a particular risk to pregnant women and their foetuses, infants, children, and people whose diet includes a lot of fish.
Emerging evidence also links mercury to cardiovascular, thyroid and digestive problems.
The Unep report says that while fish provide nutrients often not available in other foods, mercury is a major threat to consumers, especially in large predatory species like tuna, shark and barracuda.
A study of women in the US found almost five million had mercury levels above the level considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
In northern Greenland 16% of the people have levels above that which can be toxic to non-pregnant adults.
Animals and birds that prey on fish are also at risk, especially otters, mink, eagles and ospreys.
Mercury levels in Arctic ringed seals and beluga whales have risen by between two and four times over the last 25 years in parts of Canada and Greenland.
There is recent evidence that mercury is damaging the soil over much of Europe and possibly elsewhere.
The report says coal-fired power stations and waste incinerators produce about 1,500 tonnes of atmospheric mercury emissions a year, with a further 4-500 tonnes estimated to come from mining of gold and silver using basic, non-industrial methods.
It says higher temperatures, increased storminess and more extreme weather will increase releases of mercury from soils and sediments.
High levels of acidity in rivers and lakes also appear to trigger releases.
In Sweden, 50% of the lakes contain pike whose mercury limits exceed international health limits.
James Willis, head of Unep's chemicals division, told BBC News Online: "There are technologies available already, like wet scrubbers, which will reduce mercury emissions from power stations by about 80%.
"Getting down to zero is something else. But what we can do now is often cheap - and it can cut other pollutants as well." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8062166.stm | The record label that brought Bob Marley, Roxy Music and U2 to the world's attention has turned 50 - and as part of the celebrations a month-long exhibition, Island Life, is opening in London on Friday 22 May.
Here - with the help of archive interviews with Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell, and artists including Bryan Ferry, Jimmy Cliff and Bono - we have dug through the label's back catalogue to tell the Island story.
Cat Stevens, Free, Roxy Music, Grace Jones, U2 and The Killers.
Most photos courtesy PA and Getty Images.
Slideshow by Paul Kerley. Publication date 22 May 2009. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1469608.stm | Palaeontologists have pieced together the most complete skeleton yet of a titanosaur, finally putting a face on one of the world's most common, but least understood dinosaurs.
The juvenile creature, which lived 65-70 million years ago, was discovered in a quarry in Madagascar.
The Titanosauria were the last surviving sub-group from the giant sauropod dinosaurs, famed for their huge bodies, long necks and tails, but small heads.
And yet, the dearth of fossil skull specimens from these dinosaurs has left scientists wondering what the animals really looked like - face to face. The new creature should help fill in some of the knowledge gaps.
The fossils were pulled out of soft sandstone in Berivotra in the northwest of Madagascar. They have been detailed in the journal Nature and the animal from which they came called Rapetosaurus krausei.
The bones must have been buried very fast after the creatures died to have allowed such good preservation. Sauropod specimens, in particular, were notoriously incomplete, often with no skull, said Kristina Curry Rogers, from the Science Museum of Minnesota, US, who co-authored the Nature paper.
"Sauropod bones, except for the limb bones, are very fragile," she told BBC News Online. "Because they had such long necks and because they were so enormous, their bones showed a lightening of the skeleton - they were filled with air. And that means they broke apart easily and had only a low chance of being incorporated into the fossil record."
Having now recovered an exceptional specimen, with both head and body intact for the first time, Kristina Curry Rogers said palaeontologists could build a more realistic picture of titanosaurs.
It settled, she said, the argument over whether these animals had a slender-snouted, horsey look with nostrils on top of the head and small teeth positioned to the front of the jaw; or rather a bulldog-shaped head with nostrils on the side.
Rapetosaurus krausei shows the former to be the case.
"That's our key finding here," Kristina Curry Rogers said. "We now have a complete dinosaur, so we have the data here to compare all the other titanosaurs, which are known from only fragmentary specimens. It gives us a benchmark."
The first titanosaur was found in 1842. Since then, their bones have been located on every continent except Antarctica. At least 30 of these herbivores have now been identified.
The largest, Argentinosaurus huinculensis, was found in Patagonia, was more than 40 metres in length and weighed about 90 tonnes. It was one of the largest creatures to ever walk the Earth.
Titanosaurs were the most successful of the sauropods. They survived right up to the mass extinction of species 65 million years ago. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41095162 | Second-hand gadget and video games retailer Cex has said up to two million customers have had their data stolen in an online breach.
The company said the stolen data included customers' names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and some old credit card information.
It has urged customers to change their password, especially if they reused their Cex password on other websites.
The company said it was working with the police following the breach.
Cex has more than 300 stores in the UK where people can trade in gadgets and video games, and operates the webuy.com online marketplace.
It said an "unauthorised third party" had accessed online account holder data, but stressed that in-store data had not been affected.
Affected customers have been sent an email offering guidance.
The company said some encrypted credit card information had been compromised, but since the retailer stopped storing credit card information in 2009, those details were likely to have expired, making them useless to criminals.
"It's surprising that Cex still stored customer card details prior to 2009," said Javvad Malik from security firm AlienVault.
"One would struggle to think of a legitimate business reason for storing expired card details," he said.
In a statement, Cex said it had employed a cyber-security specialist to review its systems, to prevent a "sophisticated breach" from happening again. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-devon-41697933/mobility-allowance-for-under-3s-under-review | Mobility allowance for under-3s under review Jump to media player Disabled children under three currently do not qualify for government help to get specially adapted vehicles.
Sick baby 'may die before car funding' Jump to media player Parents of a terminally ill boy say their son may die before they get funding for a specially adapted car.
A mother of a two-year-old with a life-limiting illness, who has been fighting for children under three to be helped with transport costs, has welcomed a statement from a government minister.
Children under three are currently not eligible for a mobility allowance to help them get specially adapted vehicles through the Motability scheme.
The government has said it's looking at changing the policy after the issue was highlighted when Stanley Murphy from Newton Abbot in Devon was denied help.
Penny Morduant MP, Minister for Department for Work and Pensions, told Parliament the move was "a big step forward to enable families to go out together if they have small children who have heavy equipment".
A spokesperson for Motability said the charity was "working closely with Family Fund to explore how we might be able to support the mobility of families with severely disabled children aged under three who have exceptional mobility needs". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4684453.stm | It was standing room only in Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening as thousands of people shouldered their way in to attend a vigil for last week's bomb victims and applaud calls for unity among Londoners.
The mood was calm, people chatting among themselves while waiting for the speakers to begin.
Some had been in the square since the two-minute silence at noon, others were clearly tourists who had got caught up in events while visiting the square.
Cyclists and students lined up alongside men in suits and others in bandanas along the square's steps, fountains and walls.
Clusters of matching signs could be seen held above the heads of the crowd.
To one side were A4 sheets saying simply "Peace", to the back were groups of white balloons. But by far the most numerous were banners reading: "Students against terrorism, against racism, against war".
Many non-students were happy, in a gesture of solidarity, to hold the banners, apparently handed out by the National Union of Students.
Among them was Alison Cameron, 39, from Chelsea, who suffered post-traumatic stress a few years ago after identifying her colleagues' bodies when they drowned in an accident in Belarus.
"I very much identify with the families and the people involved in the aftermath because I know how traumatic it can be, what a devastating effect it can have on people's lives," she told BBC News.
"An event like this is very important for this city, so we can put it behind us and carry on living."
Queues of people on two sides of the square waited in soaring temperatures to sign the books of condolence.
Sister Margo Murphy, 60, who belongs to Our Lady of the Mission, an international religious congregation with a base in Harrow, had been queuing for half an hour.
"We have had messages throughout the week from our convents all over the world expressing their sorrow and pain and love for the people of London," she said.
"I felt it was important in a sense to bring that [message] here."
Some packed out the square to see the speakers line up by the "London United" signs in front of the National Gallery - others chose to shelter in the shade or dip their feet in the fountains.
As an audibly emotional Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, took the stand as first speaker, he was greeted by a huge round of applause and an attentive crowd.
They seemed to appreciate his message of unity and his praise for London's tolerance and diversity.
He looked back to bombing campaigns London has survived in the past, and looked forward to the London Olympics in 2012.
"In seven years' time, when the Games begin, sitting at the front of the stadium, and watching the 200 teams that will come from every nation, will be those who were maimed but survived, and the relatives of those who died," he said.
"Those who came here to kill last Thursday had many goals, but one was that we should turn on each other, like animals trapped in a cage, and they failed, totally and utterly."
Speakers - ranging from celebrities such as newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald and London Olympic bid chairman Seb Coe, to leaders of different faiths and emergency services workers - did readings stressing the theme of togetherness.
The crowd listened patiently and applauded each speaker.
But in the south-west corner of the square, Sandy Dunn, from Camden, north London, felt the arrangements had been inadequate.
She had been sitting since 11.30am surrounded by a collection of newspaper cuttings, candles, flowers and hand-made signs she had constructed for the vigil.
"I did it quickly this morning - I just feel it was a catharsis I suppose, the need to get it out, come down here and do it. It would've been easier not to but I'm glad I did," she said.
"The mayor should have the photos [of the missing and dead] up - there should be something more." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34020734 | A message in a bottle that washed up more than 108 years after it was thrown into the sea may be the world's oldest, a marine association has said.
The bottle was released in the North Sea between 1904 and 1906 and found by a woman on a beach in Amrum, Germany.
Inside a postcard asked that it be sent to the Marine Biological Association of the UK, where the bottle was returned.
The association in Plymouth said the bottle was one of some 1,000 released as part of marine research.
The research, looking at ocean currents, was carried out by George Parker Bidder, who went on to become MBA president from 1939 to 1945.
Inside each bottle was a postcard that promised a shilling to anyone who returned it.
An old English shilling was sent by the association to retired postal worker Marianne Winkler, who found the bottle in April during her holiday to the German island, about 310 miles (500km) away from the UK.
The association said it was waiting to hear whether it was a world record for the oldest message in a bottle found.
The existing world record for the oldest message in a bottle is 99 years and 43 days, found west of the Shetland Islands in July 2013. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-13868655 | Image caption Mr Ban has pledged to work as a "bridge-builder"
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been re-elected to serve a second five-year term, in a vote at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mr Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, was the only candidate after the UN Security Council unanimously recommended his re-election.
Critics say he is too deferential to major powers, but he has won praise for his policies on climate change and the protests sweeping the Middle East.
He took over at the UN in 2007.
His second term will formally begin on 1 January 2012 and run until the end of 2016.
Mr Ban smiled and bowed to ambassadors and diplomats gathered at UN headquarters, who backed the reappointment through applause without a vote.
"In a complex, difficult international environment, you have strengthened the role and the visibility of the United Nations by adopting reform measures, launching exciting, innovative initiatives, and calling faithfully and constantly for respect for human rights, the rule of law and the other values rooted in our charter," UN General Assembly President Joseph Deiss told him.
When he announced his candidacy two weeks ago, Mr Ban pledged to keep leading the world body as a "bridge-builder" in a time of unprecedented global change.
He has referred to himself as a "harmoniser, balancer, mediator"
Correspondents say when Mr Ban was first elected, powerful nations in the Security Council seemed to want a low-profile leader after the schisms of the 2003 Iraq war.
However, his low-key approach has sometimes been criticised. He came under heavy attack from human rights activists for failing to take a public stand on the jailing of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.
More recently, he has spoken out in support of pro-democracy activists in the Middle East and North Africa.
He has also taken a strong stand on climate change. |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26443312 | Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage are to go head-to-head on BBC television in a debate on Britain's future in Europe.
The hour-long debate will be shown on BBC2 from 7pm on Wednesday, 2 April, and will be hosted by David Dimbleby.
Mr Clegg's Liberal Democrats are the most pro-EU of the main parties at Westminster, while Mr Farage's UKIP advocates withdrawing from the EU.
They have been involved in a growing spat over the issue, ahead of May's European elections.
Last month, Mr Farage accepted Mr Clegg's invitation to a televised "open debate" on whether the UK should stay in the EU.
The BBC said the televised debate would take place in front of an audience "selected by a reputable polling organisation to be demographically representative and with an equal number of people for and against British membership of the EU". Questions will come from the audience members.
James Harding, Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, said: "We are delighted to have negotiated successfully to broadcast this important debate. Europe is always a highly charged issue in British politics and this is a fantastic opportunity to test the arguments."
Mr Clegg last month challenged the UKIP leader to a debate on his weekly phone-in programme on LBC radio, which will also host a clash between the two party leaders.
He said: "I will challenge Nigel Farage to a public, open debate about whether we should be in or out of the EU, because that is now the choice facing this country and he is the leader of the party of 'out'; I am the leader of the party of 'in'.
"I think it's time we now have a proper, public debate so that the public can listen to the two sides of the argument and judge from themselves."
In response, Mr Farage said he wanted the Conservative and Labour leaders to join in a four-man debate, which he suggested should take place during the European election campaign in April or May.
But he said he would take on the Lib Dem leader in a head-to-head debate even if the other party leaders declined.
Downing Street said David Cameron will not be taking part in the debate with Mr Farage and Mr Clegg.
A spokesman said the prime minister would be setting out his views on Europe during the European election campaign and did not want to start "another process", adding the Lib Dems were "a bit needy of publicity".
The Labour Party said the party's priority was to reach agreement on TV debates between the two prospective prime ministers ahead of the next election.
"Anything else will be a matter for negotiation after that is agreed," he added.
Leaders debates have long been a feature of election campaigns in the United States, but took place for the first time in Britain at the 2010 general election.
But there is some doubt over whether the exercise will be repeated in 2015, amid behind-the-scenes wrangling over the likely format and timing of the programmes and battles about who should be allowed to take part.
The BBC's chief political correspondent Norman Smith said the debate between Mr Clegg and Mr Farage could encourage the party leaders to sign up to general election debates or, alternatively, "provide some room to argue against them".
UKIP is consistently ahead of the Lib Dems in national opinion polls, with Mr Farage claiming his party is in with a chance of topping the polls at the European elections.
The Liberal Democrat party president Tim Farron, by contrast, is warning his party it faces the "fight of their lives" to retain its 12 MEPs.
Mr Clegg, who has known Mr Farage since his days as an MEP, between 1999 and 2004, has opted to launch an all out attack on his Eurosceptic rivals, focusing on their voting record in Brussels and Strasbourg.
In a speech on the EU's role to the Centre for European Reform, Mr Clegg accused Mr Farage and his colleagues of failing to "stand up for Britain" in the European Parliament.
"Nigel Farage and deputy leader Paul Nuttall rarely turn up to vote in the European Parliament, despite being happy to take their taxpayer-funded salaries," he said.
"UKIP MEPs refuse to roll up their sleeves and get down to work. Nigel Farage hasn't tabled a single amendment to EU legislation since July 2009."
Mr Farage hit back at his rival's claims, saying: "Nick Clegg has some cheek raising attendance and voting records. Although Nick Clegg lives in London, between 2010 and 2014 he has voted in Westminster only 22.6% of the time.
"By contrast I live eight hours away from Strasbourg, lead a national party and have voted 55% of the time in the European Parliament."
He also said that the group of MEPs that he leads, the "Europe of Freedom and Democracy", had "put down hundreds of amendments since 2009, so factually Nick Clegg is quite wrong in what he's saying here".
He said he would use the TV debate with Mr Clegg as a "platform for the majority of British people who want our relationship with Europe to be one of trade and co-operation but not one of political union". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/6181993.stm | Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says he has "no respect" for Charlton boss Les Reed after the way he treated him during England's Euro 2000 campaign.
Reed, who faces Gerrard at The Valley on Saturday, was part of Kevin Keegan's coaching team in Germany.
And Gerrard said in his autobiography: "To this day I have no respect for Reed or (England coach) Derek Fazackerley.
"I felt they could have shown me more sympathy. They were always pushing me, telling me to buck up my ideas."
He added: "They didn't seem to understand that not everyone can board a plane, settle in a strange hotel far from the family they love and find it easy.
"My homesickness worsened whenever I was forced to be in their company."
Reed did not appear aware of Gerrard's ill-feeling towards him when he discussed their meeting when in-form Liverpool travel to Charlton.
He said: "Steven Gerrard came into the senior England squad for the first time when I was working with Kevin Keegan.
"I've got his framed Euro 2000 shirt hanging on my wall saying 'best wishes Steven Gerrard', so I have come across him.
"I think he's such a dedicated player, he loves playing for Liverpool and he loves playing for England. He'll do whatever his coach asks him to do." |
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-35161750 | Image caption Lemn Sissay says he wants to show young people who have left care they are wanted by society and are "worth something"
Young people who have spent part of their childhood in care have been invited to special Christmas dinners by Manchester poet Lemn Sissay.
The Christmas Day meals will take place in Manchester, Leeds and London after Mr Sissay, who is Chancellor of Manchester University, raised £38,000.
The poet, who was in a Wigan children's home from the age of 12 to 18, said he wanted to create happy memories.
A group of volunteers has sourced the venues, transport, food and presents.
The dinners are being provided for care leavers in the three cities who are aged between 18 and 30.
"At its most simple the Christmas dinner offers a memory so next year the person can look back and think I was worth something then," Mr Sissay said.
"Christmas Day actually exposes the inadequacies of a system which treats children as if they are a problem because that day the child stands alone thinking 'I must be a problem, I'm obviously not worth anything because there is nobody here'."
The 48-year-old said his own early Christmas memories were "without family in virtually empty children's homes with staff who didn't want to be there".
"You have this secret room inside yourself and as Christmas approaches you draw back to that room. Each time you hear or feel the nature of family you are reminded of what you just do not have."
Mr Sissay said he believes people continue to feel isolated at Christmas after leaving care.
The first Christmas dinner took place in Manchester in 2013 and was extended to a second city, London, in 2014.
The money has been raised through crowd funding. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_2524000/2524387.stm | President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt has broken all relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen.
He has ordered their diplomats to leave Egypt within 24 hours and recalled his envoys from the countries.
The move is in retaliation to the four nations and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation signing the Declaration of Tripoli.
The document is an official pledge to "freeze" relations with the Egyptian Government.
Hostilities have been growing between Egypt and her former allies in the region after Mr Sadat visited Israel last month and became the first Arab leader to recognise the state.
The agreement in Tripoli is said to have formed a unified military front against Egypt which includes sanctions against any Egyptian company or individual doing business with Israel.
The coalition is also considering moving the headquarters of the Arab League from Cairo.
It called on all Arab states to give full financial, political and military assistance to Syria as the main confrontation state and it condemned Mr Sadat's visit to Israel as "high treason".
Egypt is now expected to expel an estimated 200 diplomats with the Syrians leaving first.
It is not yet known if Egypt will take any action against Iraq which walked out on the talks in Tripoli.
Iraqi president Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr refused to agree to the declaration because the remit was too vague and he wanted tougher sanctions against Egypt.
The Egyptian move is seen as a damper on the forthcoming visit to the Middle East by the US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
Mr Vance will be seeking Arab support for Mr Sadat's peace initiative and his plans for preliminary talks on the subject in Cairo.
The following September the Egyptian and Israeli leaders met with American president Jimmy Carter and signed the Camp David Peace Accords.
That same year President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize.
But when the peace treaty between the two countries was signed in March 1979 Egypt was condemned by the other Arab nations and excluded from the Arab League.
In October 1981 Present Sadat was assassinated by Islamic militants angered by his deal with Israel.
Since then Egypt has regained favour with Arab states and become pivotal to diplomacy throughout the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. |