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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8402327.stm

The government is planning to give anyone free access to postcode data. The move will be made as part of its commitment to make more use of technology and the web to transform official services. Currently organisations that want access to datasets that tie postcodes to physical locations cannot do so without incurring a charge. Following a brief consultation, the postcode information is set to be freed in April 2010. The announcement about releasing postcode data came as part of a much wider plan to use technology as part of the Smarter Government strategy. As part of this push, the government said it would start "consulting on making Ordnance Survey mapping and postcode datasets available for free reuse from April 2010." A spokesman for the Ordnance Survey said the consultation would begin before Christmas 2009. "It's a chance for anyone who has views on what can be given away to make those views known," he said. "It's more a question of how not if," he said. "It's something that's going to be happening." The dataset that is likely to be freed is that which ties postcodes to geographic locations. Many more commercial organisations use the Postcode Address File (PAF) that ties post codes to addresses. Currently access to either data set incurs a charge. In October 2009 the Royal Mail took legal action that cut off the access many websites had to such data. Sites that used the postcode feed included Job Centre Pro Plus, HealthWare (locates nearby pharmacies and hospitals), Planning alerts.com (monitors planning applications), Straight Choice (finds out who sent political leaflets). Harry Metcalfe, who helped sites get at postcode data, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the decision to open up the OS data sets. "If the right data is released in the right way, this will be a positive development," he said. Also included in the Smarter Government announced by Gordon Brown was the intention to get the "majority" of government services online in the next five years. It also pledged a further £30m cash injection for UK Online Centres to help another million Britons get to grips with the web for the first time.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-28542756/middle-east-crisis-bbc-at-gaza-mosque-ruins

BBC inside Gaza mosque ruins Jump to media player As strikes continue in Gaza the mood amongst civilians is becoming one of 'defiance', Chris Morris reports. Father in Israel: 'We want it over' Jump to media player Udi Tischler from Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv tells the BBC how the conflict in Gaza is impacting on his and his family's life, as Israel warns of a long conflict ahead. Strike destroys Hamas leader's house Jump to media player Israeli airstrikes have hit Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television and radio building in central Gaza, and the house of the former Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. Attacks claim ten Israeli soldiers Jump to media player Israel's army lost 10 soldiers on Monday - five when militants infiltrated the border, while an earlier mortar bomb killed four, a tenth dying in a clash in southern Gaza. Netanyahu warns of 'prolonged campaign' Jump to media player Speaking at a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a "prolonged" Israeli campaign in Gaza. Children pay heavy price in Gaza Jump to media player A lull in violence in Gaza is shattered as deadly explosions hit the Palestinian territory's main city. Kerry urges 'humanitarian' ceasefire Jump to media player US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for a "humanitarian ceasefire" following his recent trip to the Middle East. Divided West Bank united in anger Jump to media player The conflict in Gaza has caused a rise in tensions in the West Bank and thousands have protested against Israel's actions in Gaza. More than 100 Palestinians are said to have been killed after Israel intensified its bombardment of Gaza and warned of a long conflict ahead. Gaza's only power plant caught fire as Israel carried out 60 air strikes, targeting sites associated with Hamas, the Islamist group which controls Gaza. Following the overnight strikes, Chris Morris met defiant citizen Basman Al-Ashi, who said that the world was failing Gaza. This report was edited on 7 October 2014 to correct an error.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3436501.stm

Greg Dyke has resigned as director general of the BBC following damning criticism of the corporation's management in the Hutton Report. When Greg Dyke took over at the corporation four years ago, one newspaper headline reported Tony's Crony in BBC Storm while another stated Blair's Man is BBC Boss. But the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation that has culminated in Lord Hutton's conclusions and Dyke's resignation has demolished that line of attack. Mr Dyke's CV did not sport the normal credentials of a BBC director general. Born in west London in 1947, the third of three sons of an insurance office manager, he left Hayes Grammar School with an A-level in mathematics and was taken on by Marks and Spencer as a trainee manager, but they "let him go" after only four months. He persuaded the Hillingdon Mirror to employ him as a trainee reporter and showed his gratitude by trying to organise a rebellion of the poorly-paid juniors who were virtually running the paper. In his mid-20s, he went to York University as a mature student, where he graduated in politics and where he will take over in August this year as chancellor, whose official duties include conferring degrees. There were other short-lived jobs before Greg Dyke discovered his true metier was in television. He quickly climbed the ladder at LWT before TV-am approached him in 1983. The year was to prove particularly significant not only because of his happy association with a glove puppet but also, his first marriage over, because of his meeting with Susan Howes, who was to become his second wife and with whom he was to have a daughter and a son. Returning to LWT, Mr Dyke became a wealthy man when Granada's takeover of the company left him with an estimated £7m share windfall. Finally, after serving as chief executive at Pearson Television and chairman of Channel 5, Mr Dyke took the helm at Broadcasting House, where his relaxed, informal style has proved radically different from that of his predecessor, John Birt. He did not get off to the best start. In a potentially damaging conflict of interest, he "forgot" to sell an equity stake in Granada, and, while promising to "duck and dive" to get more football on BBC screens, the corporation lost out to ITV in the battle for rights to Premier League matches. The media had fun with his economy drive, when he clamped down on croissants at BBC breakfasts and imposed tighter curbs on the use of taxis. From the outset, Mr Dyke was outspoken. He told his staff to "cut the crap" and, inviting everyone to emulate football referees, suggested one way to reduce meaningless jargon at meetings was to show the offender a yellow card. He described BBC management as "hideously white" and just this week sent one of his familiar e-mails to staff, expressing his pleasure that the corporation had reached its first ethnic minority targets of 4.3% of senior managers and slightly more than 10% of all BBC employees. Mr Dyke also professed a desire to cut the BBC bureaucracy he believed was smothering creativity. Abandoning much of the internal market and the absurdities which frustrated staff, he has cut the cost of running the organisation from 24% of its income to 15%, providing more money for programme-makers. Greg Dyke has had an easy ride in winning viewers, with commercial competitors suffering a downturn because of falling advertising revenues. But in the wake of the Hutton Report and its damning criticism of the BBC management and policy, Dyke felt he would have to resign. He had pledged to ride out the storm during the BBC's row with the government but the criticism in the report was so stinging that first the BBC chairman Gavyn Davies and then the director general felt they had to stand down. "The criticisms were too strong and too fundamental for Greg Dyke to survive"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4135680.stm

Ehud Olmert became prime minister in the April 2006 election after the centrist Kadima party - which he then led - won the most seats. But his premiership was almost immediately overshadowed by what many Israelis saw as his bungled war against Lebanon's Hezbollah in the summer of that year. In the face of severe public pressure, the government established a committee - the Winograd commission - which examined the government's handling of the war. The commission accused him of "serious failure in exercising judgement, responsibility and prudence" during the 34-day war with Hezbollah. Mr Olmert's term in office was also shadowed by corruption allegations dating from earlier in his career. He denied any wrongdoing but, under growing pressure over multiple corruption investigations, announced in July 2008 he would step down as party leader. His trial on corruption charges opened in September 2009. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was elected party leader two months later but Mr Olmert remained prime minister after Ms Livni failed to put together an alternative government. He left office after general elections were held on 10 February 2009. Six months later, Mr Olmert was charged in connection with three corruption cases, accused among other things of accepting envelopes full of cash from an American businessman and defrauding Israeli charities by overclaiming travel expenses from them. In early 2010, he became embroiled in a further corruption scandal - the so-called Holyland Affair. Officials are alleged to have taken bribes while he was the mayor of Jerusalem to speed up a controversial residential development in the heart of the city. Mr Olmert rose to prominence under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, serving as deputy leader and finance minister in the previous government. He became leader of the Kadima party after Mr Sharon was admitted to hospital in January 2005 following a massive stroke - he is still in a coma. Mr Olmert was widely seen as one of Mr Sharon's closest allies. He unequivocally supported Mr Sharon through every step of the Gaza evacuation process when Israel withdrew from all its settlements in the territory and four others in the West Bank. He also followed Mr Sharon in November 2005 when he left the right-wing Likud party to set up the more centrist Kadima. Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 until he joined the cabinet in 2003, Mr Olmert has adopted a slightly more dovish line in recent years, relative to senior figures in his former Likud party. As deputy prime minister, he gained a reputation for floating controversial ideas, allowing Mr Sharon to gauge reaction and develop his strategy. As a reward for his support for the disengagement plan, Mr Sharon promised Mr Olmert a senior ministry post, starting with the deputy prime minister brief in February 2003. He caused uproar in political circles in December 2003, when he suggested Israel should pull out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He said in a Yediot Aharonot newspaper article, that a withdrawal was the only way for Israel to stay democratic and Jewish. He warned that the high Palestinian birth-rate meant Arabs would soon outnumber Jews in Israeli-controlled territories. For Israel to remain a Jewish state, he said, a new border would have to be created, with as many Jews as possible on the Israeli side. At the time, cabinet colleagues from parties representing Israeli settlers accused him of giving in to terrorism. Despite the initial controversy, the idea of disengagement became government policy, with a majority of Israelis backing the process. Mr Olmert was a long-standing rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he replaced as finance minister in August 2005 when the latter stood down in protest at the Gaza pull-out plan. Mr Netanyahu, of the Likud party, replaced Mr Olmert as prime minister following elections in February 2009. Mr Olmert was born in Binyamina in what was then Palestine in 1945 and trained as a lawyer. His father was also a Knesset member. Before being elected to parliament in 1973, aged 28, he served with the Israeli army in an infantry unit. As mayor of Jerusalem between 1993 and 2003, he invested substantial resources on developing the city's road, water and sewage infrastructure. He was also a strong advocate of the expansion of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank surrounding the city.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12292733

The European Commission says it has given approval for chip maker Intel's proposed $7.68bn (£4.8bn) takeover of data security firm McAfee. Approval is conditional upon Intel making its products compatible with software from rival firms. The deal has already been cleared by US regulators. PC security is a big and growing business, with the threat from viruses and malware, or malicious software, increasingly concerning consumers. "The commitments submitted by Intel strike the right balance, as they preserve both competition and the beneficial effects of the merger," said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. Intel's computer chips are inside 80% of the world's PCs and servers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-47773202

"Oh good, another mainstream celebrity getting endorsed by YouTube." It is a comment indicative of YouTube's fractious relationship with its users of late. The video-sharing site saw its annual highlights package become the most-disliked video of all time in December 2018, while in February 2019 it was criticised after deleting the accounts of several prominent YouTubers. Now a new storm is brewing, and it centres around A-list celebrities. Zac Efron is the latest Hollywood star to crossover to YouTube, with his first video published on 30 March 2019. Though he might not have expected such a divisive response when he started his channel. While there are plenty of Efron fans excited about the prospect - the video's comments section is overwhelmingly positive - there are others who are less convinced. The frustration for these people is not the star himself, but rather the way his new video has been promoted. A Twitter post from YouTube urging followers to watch his video has drawn consternation, with many asking why the celebrity is getting special treatment. For some people, this represents a cultural shift of sorts. The YouTube platform ostensibly gives the same opportunity to everyone who uploads a video - anyone could become "the next big thing". Popular personalities like PewDiePie, Zoella and MrBeast all started out as so-called "smaller creators", making videos that were being watched by a handful of people. For some, the frustration comes from fear that mainstream celebrities will draw attention away from smaller creators, making it even harder to break through. For others, it is simply that these celebrities are given an even bigger advantage by YouTube using its social channels to promote them. Zac Efron is not the first celebrity to make his way onto YouTube. Jack Black made his debut in December 2018, though he earned support by referencing popular YouTubers and leaving his teenage son in charge behind-the-scenes. On the other side of this is Will Smith, whose high production value videos including a helicopter bungee jump might seem more at home on traditional television. The difference between the two comes down to YouTube itself. The platform has not promoted Black's JablinskiGames channel on social media, while it promoted several videos by Smith in 2018 drawing tongue-in-cheek criticism from fans. YouTube has been approached for comment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-29918326

A council which destroyed a mural by Banksy was branded "moronic", "useless" and "cretinous", it has emerged. A stencil showing a group of pigeons holding anti-immigration banners towards an exotic-looking bird appeared in Clacton-on-Sea in October. But it was quickly removed by Tendring District Council, which said someone had complained it was "racist". The council received about 40 messages from the public about the mural, with just one in favour of its actions. Street artist Banksy, who chooses to remain anonymous, created the mural in the build-up to last month's by-election, which was won, as expected, by UKIP. By the time he unveiled the piece on his website, it had already been painted over by the council, which said it aimed to remove what could be deemed "offensive or racist" material within 48 hours of it being reported. "Congratulations on making yourselves internationally famous as a bunch of pusillanimous morons," one person told the council in a message seen by the BBC following a Freedom of Information Act request. "It is astonishing that people as cretinous as you have the power to make decisions affecting the public environment." Another said it was "a crass act of cowardly authoritarianism". "Is this what you are paid to oversee?" they asked. "Crude censorship that drives us back to the middle ages." After it realised the work was by Banksy, the council said it would be "delighted" if the artist decided to return to Clacton to paint an "appropriate" piece of art. One complainant said: "Would it be the pound signs that you'd welcome, you bunch of hypocrites?" Others pointed out the removal of the artwork cost the town in lost revenue from tourism, or a potential sale, as well as damaging its reputation. "Clacton has little enough culture as it is and a piece of art such as this would attract many people to the town who would never dream of visiting otherwise," said one complainant. Another said: "We are now the laughing stock of the country." Two complainants said the council's actions should be treated as a crime. But there was one message of support, from a woman currently living in the United States. "I absolutely applaud those that removed this painting," she said. "Banksy, whoever he is, is nothing but a cult artist who thinks he has the privilege of imposing his social comments on all of us. Nigel Brown, spokesman for the council, said: "It was very much a mixed bag with some strong opinions on both sides. As is often the case, you tend to hear more from those who object - but we did also receive support for the action we took. "The council has never said it was right or wrong to do what it did but that our staff were following our policy."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/house_of_commons/newsid_8558000/8558393.stm

Following a representative makes it simple to find out where and when they have spoken. Videos are listed in one place, allowing you quick and easy access. Former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has called for a major public inquiry to consider the law on assisted suicide and urged Parliament to "have the courage to tackle controversial issues". Leading an adjournment debate on 10 March 2010, Ms Hewitt welcomed recent guidelines on assisted dying from Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC but said they did not go far enough. The chief prosecutor in England and Wales said last month that anyone who acted with compassion to help end the life of someone who had decided they could not go on was unlikely to face criminal charges. He was forced to issue the new rules after a Law Lords ruling in favour of multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy, who wanted to know whether her husband would be prosecuted for helping her to die. Ms Hewitt - who was Health Secretary from 2005 to 2007 - told MPs: "If I am ever faced with the diagnosis of a terminal illness, I don't know what choice I would make for myself. "But I do know that I want that choice." She told of desperate people having to refuse food and water "in order to exercise control over how they die" and said some even had to resort to "violent, lonely and often botched" suicides. She said: "We now need a Royal Commission - an independent inquiry of that stature - to look at the evidence, to look at those places that have already legalised assisted dying and to consider the number of British people seeking an assisted death over here or abroad." This report would then form the basis for a wider debate in Parliament, she said. Junior justice minister Claire Ward said the government would not stand in the way of whatever Parliament decided but warned there was "still a long way to go". "We should not underestimate the magnitude of any change which says that we can help people to kill themselves rather than merely helping them to withstand their suffering," she said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-47790758

A new sleep and dementia research unit at a university in England hopes to learn more about the link between sleep problems and Alzheimer's disease. Scientists at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, will investigate with help from volunteers. Sleep disturbance is common in dementia sufferers but it is unknown if Alzheimer's causes sleep problems or if sleep issues are a sign of the disease. Sleep specialists will track volunteers overnight in a bid to learn more. Researchers hope treating sleep disturbances early on could help slow down the progression of the disease. There are no other treatments available that do this, the university said. An initial study at the new unit will investigate if healthy people who are at increased genetic risk of developing Alzheimer's could be more vulnerable to sleep loss and how their body clock was affected by sleep disturbance. The project's first study will look at healthy people who may, or may not, have an increased genetic risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in the future. After a screening process, volunteers will wear a small wrist-worn device to measure sleep and activity at home, and keep a sleep diary. They will then take part in a three-night lab session under one of two conditions - including one night of complete sleep deprivation, or taking multiple short naps. Lead researcher Dr Alpar Lazar, from UEA's School of Health Sciences, said: "We live in an ageing society, and sleep disturbances and dementia are two significant health problems in older adults. "Good sleep is central to maintaining cognitive performance - such as attention and memory as well as general brain health. "It may sound gruelling, but we hope it will help us understand more about the links between sleep, the body clock and the genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease. "This will help design future studies investigating specific sleep-related interventions that could potentially slow down the progression of the disease."

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-39879309/labour-manifesto-leak-these-are-popular-policies

'You've airbrushed him out of this campaign' Jump to media player Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood tackles First Minister Carwyn Jones over his failure to mention Jeremy Corbyn at Welsh Labour's general election campaign launch. Flagging the election campaign Jump to media player As some people celebrate or lament Europe Day, what have political leaders been up to over the last 24 hours? A leaked copy of Labour's general election manifesto is full of 'popular policies', according to the Daily Mirror political editor, Jack Blanchard.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-12015833

A 17-year-old motorist has died in an accident in Kent. Police said he was alone in the car when it slid on ice and overturned into a ditch in Ashford Road, Bilsington, just after midnight on Wednesday. They said the teenage boy was pronounced dead at the scene by the emergency services. An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way, and anyone with any information can contact police.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8643419.stm

A suspected suicide bomber has carried out an attack near the convoy of the British ambassador to Yemen in the capital, Sanaa. Ambassador Tim Torlot is safe, UK officials confirmed. One person - believed to be the attacker - was killed, say Yemeni security sources. The UK Foreign Office said it had closed the embassy to the public. No group has claimed the attack, but Yemeni and UK officials believe it bears the hallmarks of al-Qaeda. There are mounting fears that Yemen is becoming a leading al-Qaeda haven. Mr Torlot was reported to have been on his way to the embassy when the attack happened in an area of eastern Sanaa said to be popular with militants. British officials are working closely with the Yemeni government to tackle terrorism. British military trainers have been supporting the coastguard and the counter-terrorism unit for several years. Since 2006, the British have also taken a strong lead on development and anti-corruption measures. In January this year, UK PM Gordon Brown took a visible leadership role by convening a meeting in London in response to the attempted Christmas Day attack in Detroit. The British government is leading the Friends of Yemen, an informal contact group created at the London meeting in January. The overall security situation in Yemen has improved in recent months, with a ceasefire agreed between the security services and the Houthi rebels in Saada. Unrest in the south continues to bubble away but Sanaa has been mostly calm recently, until today's attack. Witnesses said the bomber was a young man who was wearing a school uniform, apparently as a disguise, the Associated Press new agency reports. The attacker, believed to be wearing an explosives belt, was said to have thrown himself at the convoy, but was too slow to hit his intended targets. Reuters news agency reports that three other people were wounded - two security officials in a police car escorting the convoy and a bystander. The attack appears to be similar to that carried out against a South Korean diplomatic convoy in Sanaa a year ago. A pedestrian suicide bomber targeted the vehicle on the main road from the city centre to the airport, but killed only himself. "We can confirm that there was an incident in Sanaa this morning," a foreign office spokesman in London said. "There was a small explosion beside the British ambassador's car. He was unhurt. No other embassy staff or British nationals were injured." The spokesman said the embassy would remain closed "for the time being" and urged British nationals in Yemen "to keep a low profile and remain vigilant". Mr Torlot has been the British ambassador to Yemen since July 2007, and was formerly number two at the embassy in Baghdad, so is well accustomed to the threats posed to British interests in the region, the BBC's Christian Fraser the region reports. Security has been stepped up at Western embassies in Yemen in recent months as the US, Britain and other European countries have signalled their intention to play a greater role in combating the extremist groups that threaten Yemen's stability, our correspondent adds. This came in the wake of the Christmas Day attempt to blow up an airline bound for Detroit in the US. The Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is said to have been trained by a Yemen-based group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Western embassies in Yemen are no strangers to attacks. Militants used car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades in a co-ordinated assault on the US embassy last year. The UK and US temporarily closed their embassies in January amid security threats from al-Qaeda. The British embassy was closed twice in 2005 due to threats to "Western interests".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-41737462

The Condor Liberation, which sails between the Channel Islands and Poole, will be out of action for two weeks after an engine fault. This has led to route changes and disruption for people in the UK and France during half-term week. Divers found damage had been caused to the jet propulsion buckets while the ferry was in Poole. In order to carry out the remedial work the vessel has been withdrawn from service until Monday, 6 November. Condor Rapide will operate between Channel Islands, UK and France while the work is carried out to the Liberation. As well as changes to the Condor Rapide route, there will be extra passenger space made available on the Commodore Clipper freight ship where possible. Customers affected, including those in the UK or France for half term holidays, are being called by Condor to arrange an alternative sailing. Chief executive Paul Luxon said: "We believe that with this plan in place, the overwhelming majority of customers will be able travel on the day they had originally booked. "We apologise that these regrettable, but vital, changes to our schedule will cause disruption to our passengers"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3107613.stm

Britain's technology managers have issued a warning about spam e-mails that act as a new way for Windows viruses to penetrate organisations. The spam message tricks people into clicking on a link that takes them to a website but also, unseen, delivers a virus too. Versions of the virus-bearing spam let people unsubscribe from bogus newsletters or claim to give away electronic greetings cards. Technology managers fear that the viruses delivered by the malicious message will include key logging programs that will steal login details, passwords or credit card numbers. Before now senders of unwanted commercial e-mail have used viruses to gain control of innocent machines that they use to send millions of messages on their behalf. But now in a reversal of this tactic, virus writers are adopting the tactics of spammers to spread their own malicious creations. A warning about these spam-viruses was released by the Corporate IT Forum (Tif), which is the industry association for senior technology managers working at more than 130 of Britain's largest organisations. Over the past few years many companies have got used to tackling viruses because of a surge in the numbers of malicious programs circulating via e-mail. Spam is becoming a big problem too and is often hard to filter out because it can resemble legitimate e-mail messages. By putting links to websites that download viruses, the creators of the viruses are avoiding the scanners and filters that stop malicious programs that typically travel inside e-mails. "Clicking on a link in a spam e-mail is the equivalent of handing a burglar the keys to your house," said David Roberts, chief executive of Tif. "People must understand that there could be a very nasty shock lurking behind each and every spam e-mail." Mr Roberts said spam was becoming an increasingly large problem and 80% of the e-mail dealt with by some Tif members was now unwanted commercial messages. He said the rise of the spam-virus turned what was an irritant into something more dangerous. Mr Roberts urged people to think before they click on links in e-mail messages and to be suspicious of any messages they get that they were not expecting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-47646463/gael-bigirimana-hibs-and-burundi-midfielder-on-how-he-talked-his-way-into-football

'How I talked my way into football' Jump to media player Hibs and Burundi midfielder Gael Bigirimana says he owes his career to a trip to the shops to buy milk. 'I never dreamt I'd be a sports star' Jump to media player Nigeria's star shot-putter Lauritta Onye on her rise to Paralympic gold and stardom. 'They call me the poor Olympian' Jump to media player Sprinter Gina Bass, the first Gambian woman to compete at the Olympics, says athletes are underfunded. 'Every time I score, I plant a tree' Jump to media player Lesein Yes decided to combine his love of nature and football after hearing about deforestation. Kenya's 11-year-old golfing sensation Jump to media player Eleven-year-old Chanelle Wangari has broken into the top 10, making her Africa's top-ranked junior. Gael Bigirimana plays for Burundi at international level, but his career in football started after he moved to the UK in 2004. The midfielder first played at Coventry from the age of 11 and here the Hibernian midfielder tells BBC Sport Africa his story of how a trip to the shops to buy milk kick-started his career. Video produced by Isaac Fanin and Maisie Smith-Walters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18539315

Media captionFestival-goer Kevin Arnold describes the "boggy conditions" Festival-goers had to sleep in their cars after traffic became gridlocked when heavy rain turned the Isle of Wight Festival site into a mudbath. The mud led to access problems at Seaclose Park in Newport on Thursday night leaving thousands unable to get into car parks. The Isle of Wight Council said traffic was clearing on Friday afternoon, with small delays to get into the site. About 55,000 people are expected at the three-day event. The Isle of Wight has a population of just 140,000. The problems came as various parts of the UK were braced for heavy rain and flooding. The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for various parts of England and Scotland and a more severe amber warning for the North West of England. Met Office forecasters said the island would see very windy weather, with sunny spells and scattered blustery showers over the weekend. Motorists queued for up to 10 hours to access the site. Linda Dawson, from Ashurst, said she had been stuck in her car with her partner and three daughters aged 12, 13 and 16 since 18:00 BST on Thursday. She said: "The two things I'm really annoyed about is this weather has been going on for weeks, so why were they not prepared for it? Second we weren't told the full story in Portsmouth and could have turned back if we had known we would be in the car all night. "Why did they let us get on the ferry when they knew there was nowhere for us to go?" Festival-goers have taken to social networking sites to complain about their treatment and a lack of communication from festival organisers. Some said they had given up and gone home. Jo Wendel ‏tweeted the message: "Awful! Would only recommend #iowfest to lovers of disorganisation, queuing and mudbaths." Simon Perry, co-founder of site VentnorBlog , which covers the island, said: "Many readers questioned why the relevant authorities hadn't planned for this, given the unseasonable recent heavy rainfall." Problems began on Thursday morning when the main car park had become waterlogged from heavy rain overnight. Organisers were forced to open extra fields and bring in metal tracks so vehicles could be directed to overflow car parks. Many had to be towed because of the mud. Festival organiser John Giddings said: "We did everything within our power but as soon as that 24 hour rain came down it became horrendous. "I'm really very sorry, I can only apologise, I know there's a couple of hundred still out there. "It's going to be a great weekend, don't give up on us." On Friday morning organisers urged anyone still waiting to get to the island to leave their cars and travel on the ferries as foot passengers. Mr Giddings said plans were also being put in place for people leaving on Sunday. He said: "The police want an emergency plan from me as to how I am going to get people off on Sunday. "I'll have tractors and people ready to take people off." Local resident Lynette Howes from Ryde said her son had not taken his children to school in East Cowes after waiting for a bus for three hours to get home from the school run on Thursday morning. She said: "He gave up waiting went back to the school, took them out of school and walked. "It's always been well organised, it's a good thing for the island but we've never had this chaos before, I wouldn't like to see the festival go though." Andrew Turner, MP for the Isle of Wight, called on the council to investigate the problems and review its decision to increase capacity last year. He said: "It appears that inadequate contingency plans and preparations were in place. "Lessons must be learned. Most people are not killjoys - they expect some inconvenience over the festival weekend - but there must be a limit. That limit has been reached. "The permitted festival size was increased to 90,000 this year - that is too many and not all the tickets have been sold. If they had been the problems would be even worse." An adult weekend camping ticket for the festival, which runs from Friday until Sunday, is £190 and headliners include Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen. The date of the event was moved from its normal slot in early June to avoid clashing with the Diamond Jubilee and half-term holidays.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-24805790

An Aberdeenshire firm has moved closer towards commercialising its unmanned oil platform concept, after signing a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese engineering contractor. The deal will see Offshore Oil Engineering (Zuhai) Co manufacture technical components for Unmanned Production Buoy under license in China. The 10-year agreement has an anticipated contract value of £2.5bn. It was announced during a trade visit to China by Scotland's first minister. The long-term plan involves state-controlled Offshore Oil Engineering making 100 platform shells and other components for Unmanned Production Buoy (UPB). The shells will be transported to a Scottish fabrication yard for assembly and fit-out. Last month, UPB announced it was pressing ahead with plans to build its first unmanned oil production platforms, after signing a memorandum of understanding with engineering consultancy Amec. UPB's first planned project involves three unmanned platforms in the UK North Sea. It is also looking to deploy the system in fields around Ireland and Denmark. The floating platforms are designed for use in marginal fields. Commenting on the latest development, UPB chairman and founder Richard Selwa said: "This is a crucial step in achieving our vision of mass manufacturing a high-quality, low-cost marginal field production system. "This agreement with an international conglomerate operating throughout the world, alongside the recent memorandum of understanding signed with Amec, further demonstrates the rapid transition of UPB's vision from concept to delivery."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-47265597

Masked men raided a woman's house as she was praying in her bedroom. The four armed men threatened the woman as they ransacked her room in Westhouse Avenue, Durham, about about 19:00 GMT on Friday. One of the men threatened her adult son with a knife as he returned home before the gang escaped with cash and jewellery. Durham Police said it was a "terrifying ordeal" and a "targeted attack". They are appealing for information. A force spokesman said the men, who were all masked and wearing black, smashed the glass on a patio door to get in before going upstairs to confront the woman. The intruders threatened the "terrified" woman and demanded the jewellery she was wearing. They then ordered her to look away as they ransacked the room, taking more jewellery and a "substantial" amount of cash. Both victims were physically unharmed but have been left distressed, the spokesman said. Det Con Laura Douglas said: "This has clearly been a terrifying ordeal for the victim. "We feel sure that this was a targeted attack and there is no reason for the wider public to be alarmed."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8782975.stm

World number one Serena Williams powered past Russian 21st seed Vera Zvonareva in 66 minutes to win a fourth Wimbledon and 13th Grand Slam title. The American came into the final having not dropped a set and with 80 aces, and she stormed to a 6-3 6-2 victory. Zvonareva, playing in her first Grand Slam final, was outplayed and could not force a single break point. The victory takes Williams past Billie Jean King to sixth in the all-time list of female Grand Slam singles champions. Looking towards her illustrious compatriot in the royal box afterwards, Williams said: "Hey Billie, I got you, it's number 13 for me." And she added: "It's amazing to be among such great people. Vera has been through so much and everyone should give her a big cheer - she really defines what a champion and never giving up means." Williams, 28, retains the crown she won in 2002, 2003 and 2009, and ensures that between her and sister Venus, the title has stayed within the family for nine of the last 11 years. With just one win in six matches against the world number one, and that victory four years ago, it was imperative that Zvonareva stayed in touch in the early stages. An ace and a backhand winner down the line in the opening game served notice that Williams was not suffering any pressure as the overwhelming favourite, but Zvonareva did well to see off the first break point of the match on her way to levelling at 3-3. Williams was furious with herself for missing a second break point in game eight when she hammered a backhand return into the net off a Zvonareva second serve, but a brilliant lob and a running forehand pass ensured the chance was not wasted. Fifteen winners could not mask the fact that it was not yet vintage Williams but she was serving well enough to stay ahead and wrap up the first set in 36 minutes. How many Grand Slam singles titles will Serena Williams win? Zvonareva, the second-lowest ranked woman to play in a Wimbledon final, had performed well enough without threatening to break the American's serve for only the fourth time in the tournament. And when the 25-year-old from Moscow dumped a mid-court forehand into the net to drop serve at the start of the second set, Williams was already within sight of victory. Zvonareva had remained impressively calm and focused on her way through the draw, but the emotional side of her character threatened to take hold when she double-faulted to fall two breaks down at 4-1. It was brilliant, brutal stuff now from Williams as she totally dominated on serve, moving forward at every opportunity, and although Zvonareva managed to stem the tide briefly with a final service hold, there was no doubting the outcome. Serving for the championship, Williams opened the game with a huge 122mph ace - her 89th of the tournament - and moments later thumped away a smash on match point before throwing her racquet into the air in celebration. Zvonareva, who slipped out of the world's top 10 last year after she underwent ankle surgery, said: "I'm a little bit disappointed at the moment, I was not able to show my best today. Serena just didn't allow me to. She was playing really well." The Russian added: "It means a lot - those people in my box were here for me today, also the surgeon who did my surgery last year, because of him I was able to be here today. I was doubting I would be able to play tennis again."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7958814.stm

Eighties pop group Spandau Ballet have put aside years of bad blood and court battles for a comeback tour. The band will begin a world tour in the autumn, announcing an initial eight dates across Ireland and the UK, starting in Dublin on 13 October. All five original members of the band, who had hits like Gold and True, got together publicly for the first time since they split in 1989. A battle over songwriting royalties ended up in the High Court in 1999. Singer Tony Hadley did not speak to brothers Gary and Martin Kemp for a number of years - but they have now set aside their differences. Journalists at a press conference on HMS Belfast in London, the scene of a landmark early gig in 1980, were told there had been a gradual reconciliation between the bandmates over the last 18 months. Gary Kemp, the group's songwriter and guitarist, explained: "This is my other family really and I just missed them for the last 20 years. "I wanted to get together just to have a chat about all those great experiences we had. To be able to make some new experiences is a really great opportunity and that's what we plan to do." Kemp's bassist brother Martin - also known to EastEnders fans as club owner Steve Owen - added: "Families go through terrible times sometimes and they argue. "But in the end we've got back together - which is the main thing." Hadley said they had buried the hatchet after "the realisation that time is a great healer". "We all realised how powerful the band were, the songs, and what we did as a band in the '80s," he said. "We first met in the pub, had a few beers, the stories came up and the anecdotes and we just realised that we're great mates." Spandau Ballet had their first hit in November 1980 with To Cut A Long Story Short. They went on to release six studio albums and had 10 UK top 10 singles, topping the charts with True in 1983. The world tour will focus on greatest hits, but if it goes well they will consider writing new material together, the band said. After the band split up, Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble sued Gary Kemp for a share of songwriting royalties. After winning, Kemp described the High Court battle as "like walking away from a car crash - you're glad to be alive but mortified and shocked by the wreckage". Until now, it had been feared that the band's relationships were permanently damaged. As recently as 2007, Hadley was quoted in The Daily Express as saying: "I know you should never say never, and bands in the past have said hell would freeze over before they got back together, but in our case I think hell is frozen and we still wouldn't do it." Since the split, the Kemp brothers have moved into acting, with starring roles in 1990 film The Krays. Hadley won ITV reality show Reborn In The USA in 2003 and appeared in the West End musical Chicago in 2007. Spandau Ballet are the latest in a series of groups to reunite - Take That and the Police have both staged successful comeback tours in recent years and Blur are reforming for a series of gigs this summer. Tickets for Spandau Ballet's first eight dates are on sale now through the band's website, and will go on general sale at 0900 GMT on Saturday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-36726195

Part of the Carlisle-to-Settle rail line damaged by a 500,000 tonne landslip in February is to stay closed until at least March 2017. Network Rail has begun a £23m project to repair the line at Armathwaite which was damaged following heavy rain. The scheme will see hundreds of concrete-filled steel piles driven into the surrounding bedrock in the hope of preventing further landslides. Network Rail has apologised for "continued disruption" to passengers. Engineers will build a steel, tunnel-like structure that will sit beneath the railway, 230ft (70m) above the nearby River Eden, to provide a stable base across the damaged ground. Two rows of high-strength piles will then be driven into the sloping bedrock to form a corridor on which a 100 metre-long concrete slab will be placed to provide a base for new tracks. Since February the line, which handles about 1.3m passenger journeys a year, has been shut, initially between Appleby and Carlisle,, Northern services began running as far as Armathwaite in June, with buses between Armathwaite and Carlisle. A Network Rail spokesman said: "The work we are carrying out will safeguard this section of railway for generations to come. "We recognise the impact the closure has had on local communities, especially during the summer tourist season, but we would remind people that the Settle-Carlisle Line remains very much open for business." David Sidebottom, passenger director of Transport Focus, said: "This isn't your traditional commuter line. It is very popular with tourists so there need to be measures in place to make sure passengers get the right information and the right help. "Most passengers will accept this as an act of God, but service providers need to work closely with the tourist industry to ensure inconvenienced passengers are treated appropriately." Douglas Hodgins, chairman of Friends of Settle-to-Carlisle Line, said: "We have been working closely with Network Rail and Northern to get the best of outcomes to what could have been a catastrophic event for the line's present and future. "The enormity of the repair task cannot be overstated."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4780017.stm

UK schools are letting down business by producing too few scientists, the Confederation of British Industry says. Director-general Richard Lambert said bosses had "serious anxieties" and that more children needed to be allowed to study three science subjects at GCSE. Alan Wood, UK chief executive of technology firm Siemens, said most 16-year-olds' knowledge was "dire". The government said it was working to improve science teaching to make it "a more attractive option" for pupils. The CBI said the current system, under which most pupils study for a "combined science" double GCSE - rather than chemistry, physics and biology separately - meant the curriculum had been "stripped down". Even universities had to offer remedial classes to science students to help fill gaps in their knowledge, it added. The CBI said the number of A-level students taking physics had fallen 56% in 20 years. In chemistry the decline was 37%. The CBI estimates that the UK will need 2.4 million more people to work in scientific jobs by 2014. Mr Lambert said: "Employers are increasingly worried about the long-term decline in numbers studying A-level physics, chemistry and maths, and the knock-on effect on these subjects, and engineering, at university. "They see, at first hand, the young people who leave school and university looking for a job, and compare them to what they need - and increasingly are looking overseas for graduates." China, India, Brazil and eastern European countries were producing hundreds of thousands of scientists and engineers every year, he added. Mr Lambert said: "This is not a criticism of young people - they work hard to achieve the best possible grades in the system provided. "But it is clear we need more specialised teachers to share their enthusiasm for science and fire the imaginations of pupils, and to persuade them to study the core individual disciplines to high levels. "We must smash the stereotypes that surround science and rebrand it as desirable and exciting; a gateway to some fantastic career opportunities. "But the UK risks being knocked off its perch as a world-leader in science, engineering and technology. We cannot afford for this to happen." Mr Lambert said the government had to set "more challenging" targets for getting people to study science. Universities had to receive extra funding to offer more science degrees, he added. Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "Increasing the number of scientists is a priority for this government and we are already making significant progress on delivering the actions being called for by the CBI." The number of science graduates had increased since 1997, as had spending on teaching physics and chemistry in schools, he added. Mr Knight said: "We have been working across government with employers, schools and experts in the field to both improve the quality of science teaching and make science a more attractive option. "It is this joint working that will ensure we deliver the scientists of the future."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7635423.stm

Loneliness and coldness are often associated in everyday language, but psychologists have found that social isolation does make people feel cold. The University of Toronto team found people feeling excluded said a room was colder than those feeling included. And people who felt left out also chose comforting hot soup, rather than an apple or soft drink. A UK psychologist said the findings could help people feeling isolated, particularly in the winter months. In the first study, 65 students were divided into two groups. One group recalled a personal experience in which they had been socially excluded and felt isolated or lonely, such as being rejected from a club. The other group recalled an experience in which they had been accepted. The researchers then asked everyone to estimate the room's temperature. The estimates varied from about 54F (12C) to 104F (40C) - with those who had thought about an isolating experience giving lower estimates of the temperature. In the second experiment, the researchers asked 52 students to play a computer-simulated ball game. It was designed so that some of the volunteers had the ball tossed to them many times, but others were left out. Afterwards, all the volunteers were asked to rate the desirability of hot coffee, crackers, soft-drinks, an apple, or hot soup. The "unpopular" participants were much more likely than the others to want either hot soup or hot coffee. The researchers suggest their preference for warm food and drinks resulted from physically feeling cold as a result of being excluded. Dr Chen-Bo Zhong, who led the research, which is published in the journal Psychological Science, said: "We found that the experience of social exclusion literally feels cold. "This may be why people use temperature-related metaphors to describe social inclusion and exclusion." The team suggests the findings could be used to treat people's feelings of sadness or loneliness. Writing in the journal, published by the American Association of Psychological Science, they say: "An interesting direction for research would be to determine whether experiencing the warmth of an object could reduce the negative experience of social exclusion. "Such an implication has been used metaphorically in the self-help literature, but our research suggests that eating warm soup may be a literal coping mechanism for social exclusion." They also suggest that raising the temperature could help someone who is feeling low - in the same way that people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) are helped with light therapy. They added: "Research on this disorder has predominantly focused on the connection between reduced daylight and increased likelihood of winter depression, although some evidence supports the idea that reduced temperature also contributes to an increase in depressive experience. "Our research suggests one reason why that may be. Perhaps cold temperatures in the winter serve as a catalyst to the psychological experience of social exclusion." Dr Lesley Prince, a lecturer in psychology at Birmingham University, said: "This is very interesting, and shows there are physiological correlates to emotions." He added: "I particularly like the idea that if people are feeling despondent or lonely, you could help them feel better by putting the temperature up." Is optimism the key to good health?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/17/newsid_2540000/2540123.stm

The head of the Renault car company, Georges Besse, has been assassinated in Paris. Mr Besse was shot several times at about 2030 local time (1930 GMT) outside his home. The killers, said to be a man and a woman, rode up on a motorcycle as Mr Besse emerged from his chauffeur-driven car. The car chief was shot in the head and chest and died where he fell on the pavement. No group has yet said it carried out the attack but French authorities suspect it is the work of the left-wing, anti-capitalist group, Action Directe. If confirmed, it would be the group's first attack on an individual since killing a defence ministry official, General Rene Audran, in January last year. It has since owned up to a number of bombings in Paris which targeted government buildings. Georges Besse had been the head of the state-owned Renault car firm since January 1985. He was credited with turning the loss-making company around and taking it into profit in September. However, his methods which included laying off 21,000 workers in his first 18 months in the post, led to bitter opposition from trade unions. President Francois Mitterand, who is on a tour of African nations, said the death of Georges Besse caused him "great pain". "This event confirms one more time that all our forces must unite against terrorism, without flinching and without compromise," Mr Mitterand said. In March 1987 two women, Nathalie Menigon and Joelle Aubron, were charged with killing Georges Besse. They were among four leading members of Action Directe arrested at an isolated farmhouse in north-central France the previous month. In January 1989 the two women were sentenced to life imprisonment. Two other Action Directe members, Jean-Marc Rouillan and Georges Cipriani, also received life sentences after being convicted as accomplices. In January 2001 Jean-Marc Rouillan and Joelle Aubron went on hunger strike to protest about being held in virtual isolation. The case of the four has been taken up by human rights group, Amnesty International.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-12091189/ni-water-shortage-crisis-sparks-fury-and-frustration

NI water crisis fury and frustration Jump to media player Northern Ireland's deputy first minister has said he feels "absolutely let down" by NI Water's handling of a crisis in water supplies. Martin McGuinness on the water crisis Jump to media player The Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, called Northern Ireland's lack of water a 'grave crisis'. 'Leaks to blame' for NI water shortage Jump to media player Paddy Cullen, Head of communications for Northern Ireland Water has told the BBC the problem with the supply of water is down to a large number of leaks in the system. Northern Ireland's deputy first minister has said he feels "absolutely let down" by NI Water's handling of a crisis in water supplies. Martin McGuinness was speaking as thousands of people across Northern Ireland struggled to cope without water - some for as long as 11 days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/8520028.stm

A driver became ill after encountering a light shaped like a "massive star", government UFO files released reveal. In his account to police he described how a "tube of light" surrounded his car in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, and later how he was sick. The incident on 27 January, 1997 is detailed in Ministry of Defence papers. Such an episode is classed by ufologists as a "close encounter of the second kind" - UFO sighting followed by an associated physical effect. It was one of many reports alongside countless "light in the sky" sightings, episodes in which eyewitnesses claim some form of physical effect and even contact with an alien being, in the National Archive files made public for the first time. The man in Ebbw Vale said he was driving on a clear and dry night around 2240 GMT when he encountered the UFO. His identity has been withheld, but his report to police shows he was from Newport. He claimed his car was surrounded for five minutes by a "tube of light" which swept towards him from the north east. During this time both his radio and mobile phone stopped working. The report goes on to describe the encounter: "First sighting seemed like a "massive star" moving towards the car. "[The man] was able to walk through the light which was very bright. There was no sound, no aircraft or helicopter noise, and besides feeling ill was very frightened." The report said the man's car was left covered in "dust and dirt". The National Archives release is part of a three-year project by the MoD and the National Archives to release files related to UFOs on the National Archives website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13744906

Peru's President-elect Ollanta Humala says he would pardon former President Alberto Fujimori on humanitarian grounds if his health worsens. Mr Humala told Peru's El Comercio newspaper that "nobody should die in prison, except people serving life sentences for abusing children". Fujimori is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and ordering killings by the security forces. He has been taken to hospital, suffering bleeding in his mouth. Doctors fear this might be linked to a recurrence of his tongue cancer. Mr Fujimori's doctor says he has also lost a lot of weight - some 15kg (33lb) - recently. The contentious issue of whether Mr Fujimori should be granted a pardon was raised during the closely-fought presidential run-off between Mr Humala and Alberto Fujimori's daughter, Keiko. Critics accused Keiko Fujimori of standing so that she could grant her father a pardon if she won. During the election campaign, she denied that she would. Under Peruvian law, he could only be pardoned on health grounds. Some analysts have also speculated that the current President, Alan Garcia, could grant Mr Fujimori a pardon before he leaves office at the end of July. Last week, a member of Mr Garcia's party called publicly for him to do so. But earlier this year, Mr Garcia said it was not something he was considering. Mr Garcia and Mr Fujimori have a history of disputes. In the 1990s, when Alberto Fujimori was in power, his government supported attempts to extradite Mr Garcia from Colombia, where he was in exile. The government wanted to prosecute him for alleged corruption during Mr Garcia's first period in government in the 1980s - charges Mr Garcia denied. The attempts to prosecute Mr Garcia ultimately failed. Will Alberto Fujimori go free?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1891155.stm

South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has criticised his country's decision to recognise the result of Zimbabwe's recent controversial presidential elections. Archbishop Tutu said he was "deeply, deeply, deeply distressed and deeply disappointed" after South Africa declared the elections to have been legitimate. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was returned to power in the polls, which foreign and independent observer missions said were marred by violence and intimidation. Despite sanctioning the outcome, South Africa backed a Commonwealth decision to suspend Zimbabwe from the organisation for a year. Speaking on South African public television, the archbishop said: "I think we do ourselves a very bad turn to claim that we hold to the ideals of democracy, freedom... freedom of speech and then to endorse, as seems to have been done, something that was so clearly flawed." "When democracy is not being upheld, we ought, for our own sakes, to say it is not so," said Archbishop Tutu. He said he supported the decision to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe "with a very heavy heart, hoping that President Mugabe and his government elected in a flawed election will draw back from the edge of the precipice". However, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) observer team said that "in general the elections were transparent, credible, free and fair". Meanwhile, opposition officials in Zimbabwe said on Sunday that hundreds of their supporters have been forced out of their homes in the Gokwe region by Mr Mugabe's followers. More than 100 people have been killed in political violence blamed on Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party in the past two years, including 10 white farmers murdered when their farms were taken over by militias.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36079014

At least 413 people are now known to have died in the earthquake that struck Ecuador, the country's government says. The 7.8-magnitude quake struck Ecuador's Pacific coast on Saturday, and the search for survivors continues. The cost of rebuilding is likely to be in the billions of dollars, President Rafael Correa said during a visit to the worst-affected region. He said it was the biggest tragedy to hit Ecuador in the past seven decades. Some 2,500 people were injured. How is cost of disasters calculated? Late on Monday, six people, including two girls - one three years old and the other nine months old - were rescued from the ruins of a hotel near the coastal town of Manta. Elsewhere, funerals for some of those killed were held in Portoviejo and Pedernales, two towns that were the worst hit. "I fear that figure will go up because we keep on removing rubble," a shaken Mr Correa said in a televised address. "There are signs of life in the rubble, and that is being prioritised." The quake comes at a time when the oil-producing country is already reeling from the slump in global crude prices. Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, said some of the group's rarely used emergency funds would be unlocked and given to Ecuador to help it rebuild. An hour inland from Pedernales, we come across a digger working its way through a mound of rubble. This, we are told, was Joselo's house - or what's left of it. A three-storey building turned to rubble. According to the neighbours, most had got out as soon as the earthquake struck. Joselo was trying to get his car out of the garage when the roof collapsed on top of him. A bloodied pillow and his T-shirt lie tossed in a corner of what now looks like a building site. Dozens of former residents climb on to the rubble and sift through broken stones to recover whatever belongings remain intact. "I had to make an unexpected trip out of town," says Emilio Solorzano. "Just as well, otherwise I would have been crushed, I'm standing on my bedroom." Western Ecuador was hit by a number of strong aftershocks on Monday, the largest of which measured magnitude 5.1. In Pedernales, close to the epicentre, as many as 400 people are feared dead. Mayor Gabriel Alcivar said the "entire town" had been flattened. "Pedernales is devastated," he told local media. "Buildings have fallen down, especially hotels where there are lots of tourists staying. There are lots of dead bodies. In Portoviejo, a city of 300,000 people 15km (10 miles) from the coast, rescuers rushed to search the debris of flattened buildings for survivors as residents reported the stench of decaying bodies beneath the rubble. Some looting was also reported in Portoviejo. "I have to take some advantage from this horrible tragedy," one man, Jorge Esquivel, told Reuters. "I need money to buy food. There's no water, no light, and my house was destroyed." Hundreds of people in Portoviejo and Pedernales are expected to have to sleep outdoors on Monday night. In Portoviejo, four members of the same family were killed when a building collapsed on their car, Associated Press reported. The Quinde family had travelled to the city to drop off 17-year-old daughter Sayira, who was due to start university next week. Elsewhere in Portoviejo, the vibrations reduced part of the city's prison to rubble, allowing 100 inmates to escape. Some were recaptured but others remained on the run, Justice Minister Ledy Zuniga said on Twitter. The quake was also felt in neighbouring Colombia. Are you in Ecuador? Have you been affected by the earthquake? Let us know about your experiences. Email [email protected] with your stories.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7568045.stm

Two people have been rescued from a light aircraft which hit power lines near Durach, in southern Germany. It took emergency services two hours to get the trapped occupants out of the plane which was left dangling 30 metres (100 feet) above the ground. Rescuers on the scene believe the plane's undercarriage clipped the 380,000 volt power line shortly after taking off from a nearby airport. The pilot and passengers had to wait in the stranded plane while a cherry-picker was brought to the scene. It was decided that the downdraft from a helicopter would risk dislodging the aircraft.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47937102

Police are investigating anti-Semitic remarks made in a Londonderry bar. Israeli author Tuvia Tenenbom filmed several men in the bar in a predominantly nationalist area making the comments last October. They made offensive remarks including references to Hitler's treatment of the Jews. The PSNI confirmed that a complaint had been received and enquiries were ongoing into the incident. The film-maker Mr Tenenbom is the founding artistic director of the Jewish Theatre of New York. He visited Northern Ireland as part of a seven-month book tour of Britain and Ireland looking into theatre, which was also being filmed as part of a documentary. Mr Tenenbom said he visited Derry upon recommendation and because it was close to the Irish border. The men made a number of anti-Semitic comments. The video was posted on social media on Sunday, and since then there has been widespread condemnation of the remarks. Steven Jaffe, a Belfast member of the Jewish Leadership Council, said anti-Semitism was an "evil danger". Mr Jaffe added that the Jewish community enjoys the respect of the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland, and called "upon faith and political leaders to educate their communities". Another Belfast-based Jewish representative, Katy Radford, said the remarks were "degrading" and "hate-inciting". "There is never any excuse for remarks which in turn can lead to inciting others to hate, hate incidents and hate crimes," she told BBC News NI. "We should actively work together to prevent and counter extreme viewpoints and understand the legacy of past traumas. This will aid our own healing here rather than promoting bar-room revolutionaries." The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster said on Twitter: "A disgusting comment. The small Jewish community in Northern Ireland will always have my support and that of all right thinking people". A Sinn Féin spokesperson said: "There is no place for racism, sectarianism, anti-Semitism or discrimination of any kind in our society." Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie condemned the video, but said he did not think it was reflective of "mainstream thinking in Londonderry or anywhere else in Northern Ireland". Alliance leader Naomi Long said there was "no place" for anti-Semitism in society, and said she hoped action would be taken. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: "These comments are totally unacceptable; both the language and sentiment is not reflective of the people of Derry. "I know the views expressed in the video will be widely and rightly rejected by the people of Derry." There are long-standing links between various groups in Northern Ireland and the opposing sides in the Israel-Palestine conflict. There is a history of nationalists and republicans supporting the Palestinian territories while many unionists are supportive of Israel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47872637

Nowhere in the official billing for this event did the word "hustings" appear, but it had the distinct feel of just that. Conservatives gathered in a room in Parliament dripping with history, to talk about the future. The wallpaper in the Jubilee Room was designed by a bloke who died in 1852 - Augustus Pugin. The people there had designs on the 2020s and beyond. And, perhaps, on leading us into that decade. This was a gathering organised by the Tory think tank Onward - which presented research concluding that age is the new dividing line in British politics and the Conservatives are appealing to fewer and fewer younger people. Onward's report said 83% of Conservative voters are now over the age of 45 and just 4% are under the age of 24 years old. "The 'tipping point age' - the median age at which a voter is more likely to be Conservative than Labour - is now 51 years old, up from 47 at the 2017 general election. "Before the 2017 campaign, the tipping point was 34 years old," it adds. Who could replace Theresa May as leader? The brand is so toxic among many younger women, the organisers said, the party did not even "pass rudimentary hygiene" tests for them. Add to that, they said, the UK was urbanising, and people who moved to cities tended to become more left wing, "shifting the soul of the Conservative Party from Kensington to North Yorkshire". Among those listening to the presentation are two cabinet ministers, teased by everyone else as leadership contenders when Theresa May stands down as prime minister. When the words were uttered, there was the odd awkward shuffle or looking down at notes from International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Health Secretary Matt Hancock. And both agreed the central conclusions of the research amounted to a "kick up the arse" for the Conservative Party. Incidentally, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Tom Tugendhat, was also on the discussion panel - although he suggested others were contenders rather than him. The pitch from Mr Hancock, who voted Remain, but said Brexit had to be delivered, went like this: "I'd like to change the subject. "We need to talk about everything else. Not just Brexit. We need to look and feel like a party that is a champion of modern Britain. "We can do that without changing the name. You can do it by providing the policies, the tone and the subject matter." Yes, Brexit was the elephant in the room, acknowledged as it had to be, while it was universally hoped that one day, eventually, it might be possible for politicians to actually talk about other stuff. Environment Secretary Michael Gove had hoped to do just that here, but pulled out at the last minute because, you guessed it, he was negotiating with Labour about Brexit. Ms Mordaunt voted Leave, but went out of her way to appeal to some who had voted in the opposite direction to her: "Those who, in my view, showed the greatest act of patriotism over the last few years weren't Leave voters. "It was Remain voters who accepted the result. "Because believe it or not they have faith in this institution and in our democratic traditions. And at times like this we are testing those institutions to the absolute limit." Classic signs of the contest to come were there to be witnessed. Mr Hancock appeared to address the camera at the back of the room, rather than those of us gathered within it. Ms Mordaunt started her spiel with the story of Femi, a disabled computer coder, aged 11. A classic of political communication - grounding a message in the story of an individual they have met. This was a party asking serious questions about the future, and its place within it. But it also amounted to this: pre-season training for the competition to come. The first evidence, in public, of the contest that awaits us. The battle to be our next prime minister. Tory leadership: Who could replace Theresa May?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47665603

Travel firm Thomas Cook is closing 21 stores across the country and cutting more than 300 jobs. The company said 102 customer-facing roles would be axed as a result of the store closures, while it planned to cut a further 218 jobs "following a review of the retail workforce". It said holidaymakers continued to switch bookings from stores to online. In September, Thomas Cook said profits would be hit after the summer heatwave saw many take their holidays in the UK. It issued a second profit warning in November, when it said winter bookings were also down. The shop closures will take the number of Thomas Cook outlets down to 566. It said a consultation with staff and unions had begun. The firm's chief of tour operating, Will Waggott, said: "Today's announcement reflects the wider challenges seen on the High Street, with more and more customers choosing to book online." Thomas Cook said 64% of all its bookings in the UK were made online last year. It added that the job cuts and store closures were part of plans to "streamline" the business. Manuel Cortes, general secretary of transport union, TSSA, said: "This is a devastating blow to all those involved. We are seeking urgent talks with the company and will be doing all we can to ensure the best deals possible for our members at Thomas Cook. "The company is reported as saying a sharp fall in holiday bookings has created the need for it to reappraise its business model. Make no mistake the uncertainty caused by Brexit is the underlying cause." The majority of stores being closed were not profitable, and were chosen for closure as their leases were due for renewal, a spokesman said. As well as weather-related woes, Thomas Cook has faced competition from online travel agents and low-cost airlines. It has also said political unrest in holiday destinations such as Turkey has been disruptive to its business. Thomas Cook: What's gone wrong at the holiday firm?

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-merseyside-39045841/shot-soldier-anthony-williams-in-le-mans-challenge

A soldier who was told he may never walk again when he was shot while serving in Afghanistan is preparing to take part in the Le Mans 2020. Anthony Williams, from St Helens, was shot six times as he treated a casualty on the frontline in 2010. He has now joined forces with three other injured veterans to create a racing team. Team BRIT aims to be the first group of all-disabled drivers to compete at Le Mans, the pinnacle of endurance motorsport.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-39392442

Hundreds of Muslims gathered in Birmingham to condemn the Westminster terror attack, which organisers vowed "will not define us". Families, students and mosque leaders joined the #notinmyname demonstration, in the city centre. Former government diversity advisor Dr Waqar Azmi, told them: "For far too long now we have had terrorists from all countries trying to define us. "We refuse to allow them to represent us. This is not in our name." Khalid Masood killed four people and injured 50 when he drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster bridge before stabbing PC Keith Palmer on Wednesday. The 52-year-old, who was born in Kent, had most recently been living in Birmingham and, with seven people from the city arrested in the wake of the killings, much has been made of the area's links to terrorism. But, former councillor Salma Yaqoob, who helped organise the demonstration, told the crowds the city did not deserve such a reputation. She spoke of the fatal stabbing of MP Jo Cox by Thomas Mair, in Birstall, West Yorkshire. "Stop bashing Birmingham, and stop bashing Muslims," she added, to a huge round of applause. It was organised by the Muslim community, but the rally attracted people from a range of faiths. Recalling the events outside Westminster on Wednesday, Mona Elshazly said she had wondered how to tell her daughters, aged five and six, what had happened. "We talk about things as a family. I picked them up from school, and I told them that a police officer had been stabbed trying to save people. "They were sad. They like the police. They visit them in school." It was enough for her youngest daughter to pen PC Palmer a letter, which Ms Elshazly, 37, carried on her placard in Victoria Square alongside her eldest's tribute to Aysha Frade, who died after being hit by the car Masood drove. "We are here to show solidarity," said the mother of two. "It doesn't matter about religion - we are all human. "We must come together as a community, we are stronger. These crimes are like a disease and together, we are the immune system." Yasser Siddique, 32, of Alum Rock, said: "What has happened, it is not from the teachings of Islam. These people are brainwashed. "It does worry me that Birmingham is getting a bad reputation. But I think we can do more as a community and speak to faith leaders and the police. "The faith leaders need to do all they can to educate and show the true message of Islam." The event took place after more than 200 mosque and community leaders in the West Midlands signed an open letter condemning the attacks. It reads: "We in the Muslim community were shocked and saddened by the hatred we saw in the attack at the heart of our democracy. "As a community we stand united in condemnation of those who sought to bring fear and division to the UK through this terrorist act. "Now more than ever, it is crucial for community and faith leaders from across this diverse city to stand united against hatred and division."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7905734.stm

The UK is seeing an explosion of diabetes linked to growing obesity rates, experts are warning. From 1997 to 2003 there was a 74% rise in new cases of diabetes. And by 2005, more than 4% of the population was classed as having diabetes - nearly double the rate of 10 years earlier. The bulk of cases are type 2 diabetes -which is linked to being overweight or obese - the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports. The findings suggest that rates of diabetes are increasing at a faster rate in the UK than they are in the US, where prevalence of the disease is already one of the highest in the world. Of more than 42,642 people who were newly diagnosed with the disease between 1996 and 2005, just over 1,250 had the "insulin-dependent" type 1 diabetes, and more than 41,000 had later-onset type 2 disease, which is linked to lifestyle. While the numbers of new cases of type 1 diabetes remained fairly constant over the decade, the numbers of new cases of type 2 diabetes did not. These shot up from 2.60 to 4.31 cases per 1,000 patient years, equivalent to an increase of 69% over the decade. The researchers from Spain and Sweden who analysed the data from almost five million medical records say the trends are not due to increased screening or the UK's ageing population, but from rising obesity rates. Over the course of the study, the proportion of patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who were obese increased by a fifth. The researchers said: "Our results suggest that, although the incidence of diabetes remains lower in the UK than in the USA or Canada, it appears to be increasing at a faster pace." Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said projections suggested the worst was yet to come: "Rates of obesity and diabetes will continue to rise unless we do something urgently." Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "This research is a sad indictment of the current state of the UK's health. Sadly, the statistics are not surprising as we know that the soaring rates of type 2 diabetes, are strongly linked to the country's expanding waistline. "Research shows that losing weight can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58%. It is imperative that we raise awareness of the importance of eating a healthy, balanced diet and doing at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day if we want to make any headway in defusing the diabetes time bomb." Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: "Early detection and treatment are crucial. We must do whatever we can to find the half-million people who don't know they've got it." There are currently over 2.5 million people with diabetes in the UK and there are more than half a million people with diabetes who have the condition and don't know it. Type 2 diabetes usually appears in people over the age of 40, however, recently, more children are being diagnosed with the condition, some as young as seven. According to Diabetes UK, statistics show that over 80% of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight. The NHS is spending £1m an hour - 10% of its yearly budget - treating diabetes and its complications, according to the charity. A Department of Health spokesperson said the rise in recorded diabetes cases was partly due to improvements in diagnosis, along with rising rates of obesity and an ageing population. As a result, more people were getting the support, advice and treatment required to prevent or delay complications. "We are committed to working with the NHS to help prevent people from developing diabetes," the spokesperson added. Shadow Health Minister Anne Milton said: "We need to see proactive policies which look to reduce obesity rather than policies that simply treat the effects of it."

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-41097308/star-observations-were-used-to-measure-the-mason-dixon-line

Mason and Dixon would spend weeks at a time measuring just one point of latitude by the stars, said Todd Babcock of the Mason and Dixon Preservation Partnership. Days of calculations would follow before the pair and their survey team could move on. But Mr Babcock added that the Mason-Dixon Line was not as accurate as first thought.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-16262593/women-to-sue-metropolitan-police-for-emotional-trauma

Eight women who claimed to have had relationships with undercover police officers are suing the Metropolitan Force alleging emotional trauma. Three of the women claim they had relationships with Mark Kennedy, the officer who infiltrated a group of climate change protesters in Nottingham. Harriet Wistrich, from the law firm Birnberg Peirce, is representing the women and said the relationships had "caused significant harm" to her clients. The Metropolitan police said it was considering a letter from the lawyers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/102339.stm

The policeman heading the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation has revealed that he did not meet the victim's parents until a year after the crime. Det Supt Brian Weeden told the inquiry into Stephen's murder and the police investigation that he first met Neville and Doreen Lawrence on May 4, 1994. "That was, of course, far too late to be as beneficial as an early meeting would have been," he said. Mr Weeden has already admitted that detectives failed to make early arrests in the case because he did not realise that under the law he could hold suspects as soon as he had reasonable grounds, rather than firm evidence of guilt. A-level student Stephen was killed in a racist attack at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London in April 1993. Mr Weeden, now retired, told the inquiry that he made efforts to see the parents in the two weeks after the murder. "I was creating the opportunities, but they were not being taken up," he said. When he was told by Michael Mansfield QC that the Lawrences never received a letter in which he claimed to have offered to meet them, Mr Weeden said: "That's the first I've heard of it." He said he was told twice during the first two weeks that the family did not wish to be disturbed. "I had made considerable approaches and efforts. I very much regret they had not been taken up," Mr Weeden said. "I'm disturbed to learn that some information and requests were not communicated clearly."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16645957

Q&A: What is Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection? Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the definition of a tough bacterial strain, able to survive in harsh environments. It is found widely in soil and stagnant water, and can infect humans and plants. It does not usually cause illness in healthy people, but is described as an "opportunistic" organism, causing serious infection when our normal defences are weakened. This means that it represents a genuine threat to the most vulnerable hospital patients, most commonly intensive care patients, those with depleted immune systems such as cancer patients, people with severe burns and premature babies in neonatal units. What kind of illness does it cause? The severity and type of the illness it causes depends on its route into the body. If it enters lung tissue, for example in a cystic fibrosis patient, it can cause a form of pneumonia. Infection of a skin wound or burn can lead to extensive tissue damage or even septic shock. If the bacterium infects the gastro-intestinal system of a vulnerable patient, then a condition called "necrotising enterocolitis" can follow, which again causes severe tissue damage. This is the form most associated with premature babies. How much of a problem is it in our hospitals? P. aeruginosa is a relatively common type of infection encountered in UK hospitals, and its tough nature and the severity of the symptoms it causes mean it is a priority for infection control departments. There have been a number of outbreaks in hospitals in the UK, with the source sometimes traced back to contaminated water in sinks and drains. It has the ability to survive for up to several days on surfaces, further increasing the risk of it being passed on to patients. Latest figures suggest that the number of Pseudomonas infections is fairly steady, with between 3,700 and 4,000 cases reported to the Health Protection Agency each year. Nine out of 10 of these were the P. aeruginosa strain. Rates were highest in the London region, and the majority of cases were in the elderly and babies under one year old. The usual route is through contaminated hands or medical equipment such as catheters and feeding tubes. Infection control measures such as regular handwashing and decontamination of equipment are the most effective tactics to prevent its spread. Once established in a weakened patient, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is potentially a severe problem which requires immediate treatment. While mortality from the infection varies depending on where the infection is, how soon it is treated and the underlying weakness of the patient, some studies suggest a third of infected patients may die. The bacterium appears to have an inbuilt resistance to antibiotics, as well as the ability to mutate into new, even more resistant forms. However, there are still a number of antibiotic drugs which can tackle it, and latest statistics in the UK suggest that the number of strains with resistance to any of these individual standard drugs remains fewer than one in 10.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36289890

The Machine Stops: Did EM Forster predict the internet age? The futuristic world portrayed in The Machine Stops is an eerily familiar one - people mostly communicate with each other via screens, the rarity of face-to-face interaction has rendered it awkward, and knowledge and ideas are only shared by a system that links every home. Yet that world was imagined not by a contemporary writer but by the Edwardian author Edward Morgan Forster. Best known for his novels about class and hypocrisy - Howards End, A Room With A View and A Passage To India - The Machine Stops was Forster's only foray into science fiction. Published in 1909, it tells the story of a mother and son - Vashti and Kuno - who live in a post-apocalyptic world where people live individually in underground pods, described as being "like the cell of a bee", and have their needs provided for by the all-encompassing Machine. It is a world where travel is rare, inhabitants communicate via video screens, and people have become so reliant on the Machine that they have begun to worship it as a living entity. Neil Duffield, who adapted the story for York Theatre Royal's stage, says it is "quite extraordinary" how much modern technology it predicts - and how sharply it observes the effects it will have on users. "He predicts the internet in the days before even radio was a mass medium. "It would have all seemed so far-fetched back in that time, when people weren't even used to telephones - and that makes it more relevant now than it was in his time - he was anticipating technology like the internet and Skype. "And he predicts, with astonishing accuracy, the effect the technology has on our relations with one another, with our bodies, with our philosophy and culture. "It's a warning for now for what we might be getting ourselves into." The play's director, Juliet Forster (no relation), brought the story to Duffield for him to turn into a play. She says she became enthralled by it in the late 1980s and "year on year, it's gained more and more relevance". "It's so eerily true and resonant. Very quickly I thought it was something that could be very interesting. Although he predicts all that technology, what's more interesting is how human beings react to it - that's what fascinates me. "Forster had such insight into human nature and the way we would adapt and lose parts of ourselves through technology. "It asks the question about how far we will go in allowing technology to be the thing that we rely on in order to function." The University of Manchester's Dr Howard Booth, a Forster expert, says that though the story is fascinating, it is those insights into human nature it offers that are more important than the predictions of technology. "People read it and say 'look, this is somebody over 100 years ago that seems to have imagined the world of the internet and the smart phone and many of the issues that we are addressing about people living their lives through technology and not looking up and seeing the world around'. "I would put that not in terms of him being some sort of great futurologist - the technology in The Machine Stops doesn't look like our technology - but in a long-standing tradition that he knew well, which questioned industrialisation and technology and the way it was starting to reach into the mind. "So he didn't see the machines of our day, but he was starting to see the issues that are involved - that what is there to supposedly aid and help us to perform certain tasks may actually become what we start to live through, need and be unable to imagine being without." Duffield agrees the story's real interest lies in what it reveals about human nature. "It's a very personal story, there's only two main characters - a mother and her son - who communicate by what we would know as Skype," he says. "That is central to the story, their very personal relationship, and the real genius of the piece is that he manages to explore the whole impact on society of that sort of technology through just two characters." And with themes discussing, as the play's director puts it, "the relationship between the material and the spiritual", it reveals how it links with the author's more familiar works. "As a genre, it's not like Forster's work, but actually, the themes are recurrent across all of his writing. "The drama between restriction and freedom. The trying to balance your physical nature and your spiritual. The need to connect across all classes and peoples. "All those things are in there that you find in his other work, but written in such a totally different world to what you might expect." Dr Booth says while the work is Forster's only overtly sci-fi story, the 12,000 word piece is "quite similar to many of his short stories, which do often have a fantasy element to them". "He did often when writing short stories take on a kind of science fiction - A Celestial Omnibus, for example, imagines going up to heaven and meeting writers there. "From Merchant Ivory [who made the film adaptations of A Room With A View and Howards End], we have a certain image of Forster, but actually the themes of The Machine Stops are Forster's themes." And the academic also has an answer for why Forster decided to write a sci-fi story. "There are a number of things that are coming to a head in 1908. One is that he's thinking more about religion - that doesn't mean orthodox Christianity, but a sense of the spiritual, of a contact with the natural world, and he thinks that things in modern life are getting in the way of that. "And those problems in modern life are also stopping people connecting with each other. "He's also reacting against a euphoric view of science and progress which, amongst the writers of the time, he associates in particular with HG Wells. And there's one very specific spur, which is an aircraft flight by a French aviator called Henri Farman, who was the first person to take a heavier-than-air aircraft - not an airship or a balloon - and do a circuit and land. "Unlike the Wright brothers, who take off and bump back to earth, this was the first time people had shown you could have air travel and navigate the aircraft. "That may seem a small thing to us, but to Forster, that suggested we were very much on the edge of a machine-like world. "He feared machines taking over, which is what The Machine Stops is all about - people losing their connection with life and the world and starting to live through machines instead." The Machine Stops is at York Theatre Royal until 4 June.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-44772354

The chief medical officer is to write to health trusts calling for a halt to the use of surgical mesh for urinary incontinence in Northern Ireland. Dr Michael McBride is "advising that a pause in mesh surgery be introduced". The announcement comes after NHS England said it was putting an immediate curb on operations after safety concerns. It accepted the advice of a new review looking at harm reported by women who received the treatment. The campaign group Mesh Ireland said: "The mesh injured do not benefit from today's news; they take comfort that injury to more unwitting women has been prevented. "Stopping the next cohort of mesh injured is the right thing to do. Now an action plan must be put in place for the twenty-year legacy of those injured by the "quick fix" mesh tapes." In February 2018, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review in the House of Commons. Mr Hunt said it would examine how the healthcare system had responded to concerns raised by patients on three issues - including surgical mesh. Baroness Julia Cumberlege, who chaired the review, said she had been "appalled at the seriousness and scale of the tragic stories that women and families" including some from Northern Ireland had recounted. As a result, the review team said they felt a pause to the procedure was necessary until a set of conditions to mitigate the risks of injury are met. That is expected to take place in March next year. In 2014 the Scottish government put in place a suspension in the use of mesh for stress urinary incontinence. Last year, BBC News NI revealed that some women in Northern Ireland were left 'physically and mentally scarred' after having mesh implants. A spokesperson for the Department of Health in Northern Ireland said: "The chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride will be writing to trusts advising that a pause in mesh surgery be introduced similar to that being put in place in England."

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-12082510/competition-in-motion-controlled-gaming-industry-heats-up

Motion controlled gaming drives sales Jump to media player The Nintendo Wii now has competition from the Sony Move and Microsoft Kinect. In the lead up to Christmas the battle for supremacy of the multi million dollar gaming industry reached new levels. The popularity of motion controlled games is driving sales and the Nintendo Wii now has competition from Sony and Microsoft. But which system was in the highest demand?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/scot_div_1/8660939.stm

Ross Campbell's late penalty gave Forfar a slender advantage going into the second leg of their Division Two play-off semi-final. The visitors came close to opening the scoring when Martyn Fotheringham's 25-yard effort struck the bar. Campbell also found the bar with a header in first half injury-time. Simon Lynch was denied by the woodwork for the hosts before Jamie Barclay fouled Bryan Deasley in the box and Campbell scored from the spot. East Stirlingshire: Barclay, Donaldson, Harding, Bolochoweckyj, Richardson, Weaver, Dunn, Forrest, Derek Ure (Rodgers 30), Stevenson (Johnston 69), Simon Lynch. Subs Not Used: Sorley, Maguire, Hay. Forfar: McLean, McCulloch, Bishop, Tod, Tulloch, Harty (Gordon 90), Ross Campbell, Martyn Fotheringham (Deasley 76), Watson, Templeman (Gibson 73), Mowat.Subs Not Used:Brown, Kevin Fotheringham. Goals: Ross Campbell 84 pen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47251643

The UK has struck a deal with the US to preserve £12.8bn of trade after Brexit. The mutual recognition agreement replicates the current deal between the EU and US on technical standards for exported goods. US President Donald Trump said the "very good trading relationship" between the countries had been "strengthened further". And International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said it would allow firms to "keep trading as freely as they do today". Earlier this week, Mr Fox came under fire for failing to ensure businesses trading overseas would be unaffected if the UK left the EU without a deal. In that scenario, British companies would no longer be able to trade on the preferential terms the EU has agreed with about 70 countries. Reality Check: What trade deals has the UK done? No deal: What does a 'WTO Brexit' mean? The government said it wants to replicate these agreements "as far as possible". But Labour's international trade spokesman, Barry Gardiner, told MPs that "precisely four" free trade deals had been signed, despite a promise that 40 would be ready immediately after Brexit. Mr Gardiner said he understood talks on 19 other deals were "significantly off track" and that "two are not even being negotiated". The UK-US agreement is not a free trade deal - which can relax trading rules, reduce taxes (tariffs) on imports and exports, and grant easier market access. However, the government says it will benefit a range of sectors, including tech, telecoms and pharmaceuticals. The latter accounts for £7.7bn of exports to the US - about 18% of the value of all goods. Mr Fox said: "We look forward to sitting down at the negotiating table with the Americans after we leave the European Union, to strike an ambitious new free trade agreement." The US ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, also welcomed the news, saying Washington was "determined that US-UK trade will continue to flourish". On Monday, the UK signed a "continuity agreement" to preserve the terms of the EU's free trade deal with Switzerland, covering some 15,000 British exporters and £32bn in trade. It has signed similar agreements with Chile, the Faroe Islands and the Eastern and Southern Africa bloc. President Trump indicated in 2017 he was working on a "major trade deal" with the UK which could be "very big and exciting" for jobs. However, he suggested last year that the agreement Theresa May struck with the EU could prove detrimental to that prospect. Brexit: What trade deals has the UK done so far?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6928694.stm

Women in their 40s are more likely to drink potentially harmful amounts on a night out than younger people, researchers in Cardiff have found. While men's drinking peaked in their late 20s, women's alcohol intake reached its heights among the over-40s. In a year, 893 people were breathalysed late at night in the city centre for the Cardiff University study. It found 40% of men and 20% of women had drunk over a level which put them more at risk of injury and ill-health. Researchers said their findings came as "something of a surprise". Binge-drinking is defined as eight units for men and six units for women, which is twice the daily recommended alcohol intake. Professor Jonathan Shepherd said the survey, funded by the Alcohol and Education Research Council, had shown a "clear difference" between men and women's drinking patterns. In men, blood alcohol concentration was highest in 29-year-olds, but then tended to decrease with the age of those surveyed. But in women, the levels continued to rise with the age of respondents, with levels peaking in the over-40 age group. Prof Shepherd said: "It's hard to explain and raises a whole lot of other questions. "We speculate younger women have more responsibilities at home, and once the children have left home, then the sky's the limit. "But to be honest, we don't really know why." He said underage drinking in the city centre late at night "wasn't really an issue". "What was more surprising was that students, unemployed people, young adults, had lower alcohol levels than older people and employed people." Younger drinkers, students and the unemployed are not the most "at risk" groups for heavy drinking. Drink consumption affected people's ability to recall how much they had drunk - "a key policy objective should be to keep intoxication levels below the point at which drinkers cease to be aware of consumption". Prof Shepherd said the findings supported the idea that the way to control heavy drinking was to put up alcohol prices. "The reasons students and the unemployed didn't feature much, or have higher alcohol levels was because they couldn't afford it," he said. "Our research also found that after a certain point, people lose track of the amount they have consumed and therefore need other people, such as police, bar staff or friends to prevent them drinking more." A team took to the streets of Cardiff on one Friday night and one Saturday night a month for 12 months, and drinkers were asked to take a breath test. Dubbed the Lion's Breath project, the initial findings were released in April 2006. Speaking as the final conclusions were published, Prof Shepherd said the findings had revealed a better picture of binge drinking in the capital than expected. He said: "There's good reason to think that other places are worse, and that Cardiff is doing well in this regard, but we could obviously do better." The research team was headed by Prof Shepherd and Dr Simon Moore of the university's Violence & Society Research Group. Should there be a minimum price for alcohol?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-47259099/the-gompertz-guide-to-diane-arbus

The Gompertz Guide to... Diane Arbus Jump to media player Known for documenting the different, the American photographer's wealthy parents had hoped she'd become a painter. The Gompertz guide to... Jeff Koons Jump to media player Work by the US artist are on display in the UK for the first time - but what do we know about his career? Three ways Dior changed fashion forever Jump to media player Almost everything you'll need to know about fashion designer, Christian Dior. More than 100 photographs by Diane Arbus are on display in Europe for the first time. Known for documenting the different, the American photographer's wealthy parents had hoped she'd become a painter. The BBCs Arts Editor Will Gompertz discusses Arbus' controversial work. Diane Arbus: In The Beginning is at the Hayward Gallery until 6 May 2019.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32246547

Pakistan's parliament has decided against military involvement in the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, after days of debate. Lawmakers voted unanimously in favour of a resolution that "Pakistan should maintain neutrality" in Yemen. Saudi Arabia had asked Pakistan last month to contribute ships, aircraft and troops to the campaign to restore President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Meanwhile, two planes have delivered relief supplies to Yemen's capital. The aircraft were carrying medicines, bandages and surgical equipment from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN Children's Fund (Unicef). The organisations had to wait days before receiving clearance from all sides in the conflict for the flights to Yemen, where the UN says basic services are unravelling, with widespread food and fuel shortages. Pakistan's parliament began debating whether to join the coalition on Monday. Although Saudi Arabia is an ally, many lawmakers spoke out against sending troops to Yemen. Friday's resolution backed the Pakistani government's commitment to protect Saudi territorial integrity and Islamic holy places located inside the kingdom. "The parliament of Pakistan expresses serious concern on the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Yemen and its implications for peace and stability of the region," the resolution said. "[It] desires that Pakistan should maintain neutrality in the Yemen conflict so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis." Saudi Arabia has been a major foreign donor to Pakistan - some say perhaps the third-largest after the US and China. Late last year, for example, what finance minister Ishaq Dar initially described as a $3bn (£2bn) "gift from a friendly source" turned out to be Saudi largesse that was used to stabilise a free-falling rupee against the US dollar. Soon afterwards Pakistan officially backed the Saudi position on Syria. So some resentment in Saudi quarters is to be expected from this vote. But Pakistanis have still left room for a troop deployment in Saudi Arabia if not in Yemen, which Saudis will certainly need if the conflict in Yemen drags on for longer. There is a precedent for this. During the first Gulf War in 1991, Pakistan deployed two brigades to "defend holy sites" in Saudi Arabia. The only other example of a Pakistani troop deployment abroad is to Jordan during the "Black September" of 1970, to help that government put down a Palestinian insurgency. The coalition of nine mostly Sunni Arab states is seeking to "defend the legitimate government" against the Houthis, a Zaidi Shia rebel movement that the US and Saudi Arabia allege is receiving military assistance from regional Shia power Iran. Analysts say Pakistan, which has a Sunni majority but also a sizeable Shia minority, fears being caught between the two if it sends troops to Yemen. Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif travelled to Islamabad to urge Pakistan's leaders to reject the Saudi request. The rebels and allied army units loyal to Yemen's ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh took full control of Sanaa in January and placed Mr Hadi under house arrest. He escaped and took refuge in Aden in February, but left the country at the end of March when the Houthis reached the outskirts of the southern port city. More than two weeks of air strikes have failed to halt the Houthi advance into Aden, as well as neighbouring southern and eastern provinces. Overnight, coalition aircraft targeted the defence ministry building in Sanaa and weapons storage sites. On Thursday, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Yemen called for a humanitarian "pause" in the bombardment and fighting on the ground to allow in urgent aid deliveries. Johannes van der Klaauw told reporters in Geneva that the conflict had now spread to 15 of Yemen's 22 provinces. He described the situation in Aden in particular as "catastrophic", a descent into urban warfare, with control of the air and seaports shifting daily between rival groups. A million people in the city risked being cut off from access to clean water within a matter of days unless additional fuel is brought in, he said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says almost 650 people have been killed and more than 2,200 have been injured since 19 March, but Mr van der Klaauw said the actual number of casualties was likely to be far higher because many were not being brought to hospital or were being buried immediately. Houthis - The Zaidi Shia Muslim rebels from the north overran Sanaa last year and then expanded their control. They want to replace Mr Hadi, whose government they say is corrupt. The US alleges Iran is providing military assistance to the rebels. Saudi-led coalition - A US-backed coalition of nine, mostly Sunni Arab states says it is seeking to "defend the legitimate government" of Mr Hadi.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10321449

Young cancer patients have told their stories in a cartoon that shows children and parents what it is like to have treatment. The six children, who received radiotherapy in Bristol, teamed up with the animation house Aardman for the production called One of a Kind! Their voices were recorded and given to the animated characters in the short film. It will be made available to hospitals all over the UK. The cartoon was the idea of Jancis Kinsman, advanced practice therapy radiographer at Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre. She said: "This film will be a valuable tool for preparing children and their families for radiotherapy and will compliment the wonderful work already done by specialist paediatric radiographers, oncologists and play specialists around the country." The film, which was funded by various charities, was directed by Emma Lazenby, lead designer on children's television programme Charlie and Lola, and winner of a 2010 Bafta award for her short animation Mother of Many. She said: "When I went into the hospital there wasn't really anything for children, just cold black and white leaflets which were quite technical. "This is quite simple and nice, from children to children." Cameron Short, 11, from Shirehampton near Bristol, had radiotherapy to treat a brain tumour. He said: "It was really good fun to be part of the film. I really hope it helps other children who need radiotherapy." The children were each given a framed picture of their cartoon character. The film will be shown in the hospitals that supported the project - in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Oxford and Southampton - and will also be made available to all hospitals in Britain.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-42321236

Image caption The children's mother said it "was intended as a joke" Two firefighters who bound a pair of visiting children up in cling film have been given written warnings. The incident, which involved the children of a crew member, was caught on camera at a fire station in Southend. Essex Fire Service investigated after the BBC notified it of photographs sent by a concerned party. The service said a "thorough investigation took place and appropriate action has been taken". The photographs were passed to the BBC by a third party who was concerned because of the role cling film - and other means of binding - had allegedly played historically in fire service initiation rites. However, the mother of the children in the photographs said what happened "was intended as a joke" and the youngsters enjoyed it. Initially, the fire service restricted the watch involved in the incident to just core duties, meaning it was barred from carrying out community work. Those restrictions have since been lifted. Image caption Roger Hirst, the fire and crime commissioner for Essex, said he was "clear that the behaviour" was "inappropriate" A fire spokesman said: "We can confirm that no harm was caused to the children, and that the parents were present throughout the event. "The pictures were selective and didn't reflect the full situation, although those involved are regretful for any damaging media publicity this has caused to the fire service. "Essex County Fire and Rescue Services now considers the matter closed." It is understood the two officers involved have been given first written warnings. Roger Hirst, the police, fire and crime commissioner for Essex, said he was "clear that the behaviour shown in these photos is inappropriate".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6518929.stm

The leaders of the four main Northern Ireland parties have announced how the ministerial portfolios will be shared in the new power-sharing executive. When it meets on 8 May, Sinn Fein will assume the education ministry - for the second time - along with regional development and agriculture. The DUP are taking finance, economy, environment and culture. The Ulster Unionists take health and employment and learning, while the SDLP take social development. Secretary of State Peter Hain described the dealings at Stomont as further evidence of the very positive approach that the parties are taking to the restoration of devolved government. Ulster Unionist party leader Sir Reg Empey said taking on the health portfolio was a huge challenge. "It is - if you like - something that's vital and important to everybody in the community," he said. "There was a lot of criticism the last time that people had run away from the issue, and the way the selections were made it would be difficult to not come to that conclusion. "The Ulster Unionist Party is not going to tun away from a challenge and we realise this is going to be difficult." Earlier on Monday, Sinn Fein announced its ministerial team for the new assembly: Martin McGuinness, Conor Murphy, Michelle Gildernew, Caitriona Ruane and Gerry Kelly. Mr Murphy said that it would be some time before his party revealed which person would be in which ministry. "Today was simply a matter of getting the departmental choices. What we'll do now is match people to that," he said. Mr McGuinness had refused to commit his party to the education department in a news conference before the departments were picked, although he said they were very interested in the issue. "The whole issue of education is obviously a huge challenge for whoever takes the position there is a lot of unfinished business to be dealt with," he said. There are two main thorny issues facing a new minister - the future of selection for post primary schools and the prospect of naming hundreds of schools for closure because of a shortage of pupils. Sammy Wilson of the DUP said there are many battles ahead for Sinn Fein in education, but he said his party had ensured safeguards were in place to prevent "any rogue education minister" implementing policies that the DUP does not support. DUP leader Ian Paisley had the first pick of the departments under the d'Hondt formula, which uses assembly seats won by parties to calculate ministerial entitlement. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams had second choice. December 1999 was the last time the party leaders agreed to select their departments. Secretary of State Peter Hain has promised to give ministers-in-waiting access to their departments. At the weekend he also agreed to a request from Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness to hand over offices at Stormont Castle. Last week, in a ground-breaking meeting at Stormont, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams agreed to share power in a restored NI Assembly on 8 May.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/vivians_story/html/1.stm

One year ago, Vivian Salem Mate lost her husband Nasim and three children - Husam, 15, Wasim, 12 and Merna, 6, - when an American tank shelled their car as the family attempted to flee heavy fighting in Baghdad. Since then she has struggled to rebuild her life, but can't forgive the Americans for killing her family. "If they want the oil, they can take it. Is it worth more than my children? They didn't even leave me one," she says.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-25220625

Media captionMartin Callinan, Commissioner of the Irish police, said he was "horrified" The commissioner of the Irish police has said he is "horrified" that any member of the force would have colluded with the IRA. It follows Judge Peter Smithwick's finding that there was Irish police collusion in the murders of two senior Northern Ireland policemen in 1989. Martin Callinan said he accepted the conclusions of the Smithwick report. He said the force would study the report and "will learn lessons and do whatever is necessary". Ch Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were shot dead in an IRA ambush in March 1989 in south Armagh. The attack happened as they crossed the border into Northern Ireland after a meeting in Dundalk Garda (police) station. The Smithwick Tribunal was set up by the Irish government in 2005 to investigate claims that officers based in Dundalk station had assisted the IRA gang who ambushed the two officers on 20 March 1989. In the report of his inquiry published on Tuesday, Peter Smithwick said he was "satisfied there was collusion in the murders". "It is intensely disappointing as commissioner of An Garda Síochána to learn that, on balance of probability, the tribunal has found that people in my organisation betrayed us," Mr Callinan said. "I am horrified that any member of the Garda Síochána would be involved in colluding with the IRA." He said the report required very serious consideration "and that is what I'll be doing in the next few weeks". Mr Callinan added that it should be remembered that members of the Garda had put their lives on the line in combating the IRA. Earlier, Irish prime minister Enda Kenny said the findings of the Smithwick inquiry were "absolutely shocking". Speaking from Japan, Mr Kenny said it was a revelation of another dark patch in Ireland's recent history. He endorsed his justice minister's apology to the victims' families and said he hoped to meet them. Meanwhile, the justice ministers and chief constables from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are to meet in the wake of the publication of the Smithwick Tribunal. The Northern Ireland justice minister David Ford called the report "damning". But he said that he and the Irish Justice Minister would continue their "exceptionally good cooperation". During the inquiry, suspicions fell on three gardaí. They denied leaking information to the IRA. Mr Ford and Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter are expected to meet on the fringes of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on Friday, 6 December. A meeting between the justice ministers, the PSNI chief constable Matt Baggott and Mr Callinan will take place in the coming weeks. "We are determined we will continue the exceptionally good cooperation which currently exists between our departments, between an Garda Síochána and the PSNI and we will ensure that there is a joint approach as we fight organised crime and terrorism together," Mr Ford said. Former garda sergeant Owen Corrigan: "I also find that what may have started out as a professional relationship with subversives for the legitimate purpose of intelligence-gathering ultimately developed into a relationship of an inappropriate nature" Earlier investigations: O'Dea and Camon investigations were "inadequate" Missed opportunity: "The best opportunity of establishing the truth of the matter arose in the days and weeks following the ambush. In these circumstances, it is particularly regrettable that both police services acted swiftly to dismiss speculation of the possibility of collusion rather than to deal with that by means of a thorough and credible investigation" Culture: "The culture of failing adequately to address suggestions of wrongdoing, either for reasons of expediency or by virtue of misguided loyalty, has been a feature of life in this state" The DUP's Arlene Foster said the Irish government must do more to acknowledge its failures in preventing terrorism. "Judge Smithwick poses a serious challenge to the Irish government that it must tackle the culture of failing adequately to address suggestions of wrongdoing from within that state," she said. "All too often, we have seen the Irish government call for investigations into events in Northern Ireland, but take grave offence at suggestions of wrongdoing from within their state." Following the publication of the report on Tuesday, two Irish cabinet minsters apologised on behalf of the state for the failings outlined in the tribunal's report. Deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore said he was "appalled and saddened" by the finding. Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter apologised unreservedly to the Breen and Buchanan families for the state's failings. The PSNI said its investigation was still open and it would take time to study the Smithwick report in detail. The head of the Irish police, Commissioner Martin Callinan, said his senior officers would also examine the findings carefully.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/430162.stm

Most of BBC Scotland's news and current affairs television and radio programmes are available on the internet. Each programme is broadcast live and remains available until the next edition goes out. Click on the links to watch or listen. Click here for our political programmes. Reporting Scotland at 1330 is BBC Scotland's lunchtime television news programme, rounding up the day's news, sport and weather so far Monday-Friday. Reporting Scotland at 1830 is BBC Scotland's flagship television news programme, providing in-depth coverage of stories from around Scotland plus sport and weather Monday-Friday. Reporting Scotland at 2225 is BBC Scotland's late television news programme, looking back at news and sport from around Scotland Monday-Friday. Newsnight Scotland, presented by Gordon Brewer and Anne Mackenzie, looks in depth at topical news and current affairs from the Scottish perspective. The programme is available from 2300 Monday to Thursday. Good Morning Scotland is Radio Scotland's agenda-setting morning news programme presented by John Milne, Derek Bateman and Mhairi Stuart. There are regular sport, business and travel updates throughout the programme, which is available from 0600 to 0900, Monday to Friday. You can e-mail your comments to the programme. 1300 news bulletin. Catch up on the day's news stories from around Scotland Monday-Friday in a specially extended news bulletin. Newsdrive brings you Scottish, UK and international news and comment, along with sport, traffic and travel from 1600 Monday-Friday. Newsweek Scotland provides news, analysis and discussion of the week's stories. Presented by John Milne from 0800 on Saturdays. You can e-mail your comments to the programme. Eye to Eye is an hour of discussion with Ruth Wishart, who leads a review of the Sunday newspapers along with guests from 1000 on Sundays. Frontline Scotland is BBC Scotland's weekly investigative series. Links to more Scotland stories are at the foot of the page.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-23860295/putin-underwear-painting-removed-from-russia-gallery

Putin 'underwear' painting removed Jump to media player Police in Russia have confiscated a painting of the Russian president and prime minister in women's underwear from an art gallery in the city of St Petersburg. Russia bans rockers over flag stunt Jump to media player US rock group Bloodhound Gang has been banned from a Russian music festival after a band member stuffed the Russian flag into his underpants on stage. Police in Russia have confiscated a painting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in women's underwear from an art gallery in the city of St Petersburg. The artwork depicts President Putin combing the hair of the prime minister. The gallery owner said he had been given no formal warrant or explanation for the removal of the paintings.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-33090285/does-blockchain-technology-work

Does Blockchain technology work? Jump to media player A fraud-proof system of transacting money is being developed - called Blockchain - based on the same technology that underpins Bitcoin. Bitcoin: MtGox exchange goes offline Jump to media player Bitcoin, a virtual currency which only exists on the internet, has become increasingly attractive as it does not involve exchanging currencies. How London is embracing the Bitcoin Jump to media player Emilia Papadopoulos reports on the trading of the virtual currency, Bitcoin, in London. Tech review: This week's headlines Jump to media player Bitcoin exchange MtGox went offline after an estimated 744,000 Bitcoins were believed to have been stolen, plus other tech news. There is a lack of trust in some sectors of finance. A fraud-proof system of transacting money is being developed - called Blockchain. It is the model on which Bitcoin - the virtual currency is built. Newsnight's technology editor David Grossman reports.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11492897

The adage "men perspire, women glow" is correct, according to Japanese researchers, who found men are much more efficient at sweating. Women unused to physical exercise had the worst sweating response, says the research in Experimental Physiology which confirms previous findings. This could mean women suffer more in hot temperatures as sweating helps the body deal with heat. A UK expert said women had less body fluid so could not lose as much as men. The researchers asked 37 people to cycle continuously for an hour in a controlled climate with increasing intensity intervals. They were divided into four groups - trained and untrained females, trained and untrained men - and the rate at which they produced sweat was measured. The results of the study showed that while physical training increases sweating in both men and women, the degree of increase is greater in men. And the difference in sweating between the sexes became more pronounced as the intensity of the exercise increased. The sweating rate depends on the sweat output per gland. But women needed to get hotter, or work harder, than men before they got sweaty, says the study. This was particularly noticeable in the untrained women. Sweating is known to help the body perform for longer when exercising. Previous studies have shown that men have a higher sweat output than women, in part because testosterone is believed to enhance the sweating response. Lead researcher Yoshimitsu Inoue, from the Laboratory for Human Performance Research at Osaka International University, said: "It appears that women are at a disadvantage when they need to sweat a lot during exercise, especially in hot conditions." Mr Inoue explained why he believes the sexes have evolved to sweat differently. "Women generally have less body fluid than men and may become dehydrated more easily. "Therefore the lower sweat loss in women may be an adaptation strategy that attaches importance to survival in a hot environment, while the higher sweat rate in men may be a strategy for greater efficiency of action or labour," he said. The findings could help to shed light on why men and women cope differently with extremes of temperature like heatwaves. But researchers says that exercising regularly before a heatwave comes will help both men and women acclimatise better. Professor Tim Cable, director of the school of sports and exercise studies at Liverpool John Moores University, said sweating is a good thing not a bad thing. "The cooling effect on the body happens more quickly when we sweat. Females can less afford to lose fluid than males because they have a smaller store of body fluids to start with." "It's likely that women lose heat by other mechanisms. They may lose more heat via the skin because of their size and surface area - in the same way that smaller animals lose more heat than big animals," he said. Why do we succumb to hot weather?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7152054.stm

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Did Coke really turn Santa red and white? Did Coke really turn Santa red and white? It's often said that Santa's red and white robes were the creation of a Coca-Cola advertising campaign. Is that true? He's got his own style and he sticks to it. Father Christmas is the universally recognised symbol of the festive season in his traditional robes. But the red suit and hat with the white fur trim have given rise to the belief among some that Santa's togs were dreamed up by canny ad men who recast him in the soft drink maker's corporate colours. But while there's some truth in the suggestion - Coke ran a campaign for 30 years featuring a jolly fat Santa - his colour scheme owes more to ecclesiastical vestments than a brainstorm on Madison Avenue. The colours are widely thought to derive from the original Saint Nicholas, who was the Bishop of Myra in the 4th Century. Red and white were the hues of traditional bishop robes, although some historians argue that he originally dressed in different colours. He was famous for his kindness to children and generosity to the poor. After he died the legend of Saint Nicholas grew and he is still remembered in some countries on 6 December. "To this very day St Nicholas arrives in Holland each November, dressed in a bishop's vestments," says a spokesman for the St Nicholas Society. "He rides through the streets to the enjoyment of thousands of onlookers, to begin his investigation into the behaviour of the children." In medieval England and for centuries afterwards, the figure of Father Christmas represented the spirit of benevolence and good cheer. In the 19th Century Dutch emigrants took their story of a legendary gift-bringer called Sinterklaas to America, where he eventually became known as Santa Claus. But while the names and legends may differ, there was little variation in the red and white outfits worn. However, over time the bishop cloak and mitre were replaced by the fur-trimmed suit. There are records of Santa wearing various coloured costumes, but red was by far the most popular and became known as the quintessential Father Christmas outfit. "Father Christmas is an evolutionary creation, influenced by folklore, legend and religion," says Tom Glamon, whose research into Santa will win him the envy of children the world over. "He didn't spring to life at a certain time, fully formed and wearing a red and white suit. It wasn't really until the late 19th Century that the image now recognised across the world became set." In recent history the red and white suit has been fixed and standardised by certain publishing events and advertising campaigns. Between 1863 and 1886, Harper's Weekly magazine ran a series of engravings by Thomas Nast. He developed an image of Santa very close to the modern-day one. From these engravings the concept of Santa's workshop and the idea of writing letters to him also developed. Coca-Cola's involvement kicks in in the early 1930s when Swedish artist Haddon Sundblom started drawing ads for Coke featuring a fat Santa in a red coat trimmed with fur and secured with a large belt. His drawings were used in the company's festive advertisements for the next 30 years, well and truly cementing the image. Of course, one sure fire way of putting the Coca-Cola story to rest would be to ask the man himself. Unfortunately, this time of year finds him so busy he has been unable to return our calls.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-39818923/children-learn-to-style-their-natural-hair-for-themselves

Children embrace their natural hair Jump to media player The youngsters learnt protective styles and also the independence of being able to do it alone. The dads learning to style girls' hair Jump to media player These dads are breaking stereotypes to learn how to style their daughters' hair. Black Studies degree 'first in Europe' Jump to media player Students are signing up for a black studies course at a university that says it is the first in Europe to offer the subject at degree level. Kids at a natural hair event have been learning to embrace their natural hair. The youngsters learnt different types of protective styles they could practise at home and also the independence of being able to do it alone. For many of the children it was the first time they had done hair for themselves.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33972247

Confusion over the types of coal being burned in Chinese power stations has caused a significant overestimation of the country's carbon emissions. Researchers, published in the journal Nature, say existing CO2 calculations had used a globally averaged formula. But when scientists tested the types of coal actually being burned in China, they found they produced 40% less carbon than had been assumed. The study says the error amounted to 10% of global emissions in 2013. China's drive for economic growth over the past 15 years has seen the rapid expansion of coal burning for the production of energy. Indeed, the widely quoted statistic about the country building a new coal power station every week was actually exceeded in 2006, when one and a half such plants were constructed on average. That rate of expansion has fallen away but this reliance on coal means that China's emissions of carbon dioxide topped the rest of the world for the first time back in 2007, a position it has retained ever since. In this study, an international team of researchers has cast doubt on the exact scale of Chinese carbon being pumped into the atmosphere. China routinely publishes energy statistics but it doesn't produce regular information on carbon emissions. International organisations try to work out accurate CO2 estimations using the energy data and established "emissions factors", which detail the amount of carbon produced by the fuel being burned. These factors, provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), are usually averages based on assumptions about the type of coal being used. This allows global comparisons to be made. However, this new study looked at the actual carbon content found in over 4,000 coal mines in China and in lab tests of 602 coal samples. The emission factors based on these tests were on average about 40% lower than the default values used by the IPCC and others. "For most of the developed countries, coal has been comprehensively washed but in China the process is not so comprehensive," lead author Dr Zhu Liu from Harvard University told BBC News. "Basically, the coal contains higher ash; more ash means there is less carbon. If we convert the same amount of coal, we get fewer carbon emissions. That's why we get a lower level than previous estimations." The scientists say that China is effectively using more poor quality brown coal than previously assumed. This skews the emissions figures because it contains less carbon than higher grade bituminous coal. The researchers say the discrepancy is significant. Over the period 2000-2013, they found that China emitted almost three gigatonnes of carbon less than previous estimates, which is around 10% of the global total in any one year. "The findings do have very significant global implications as China accounts for one-third of global total emissions. If we reduce China's emissions by 15%, we get a 5% less global total," said Dr Zhu. "The IPCC emissions factor number needs a revision and that should be at the global level. " Other researchers disagree. They say that the new study, while giving greater accuracy about China, doesn't change the overall global total on emissions. "China's emissions may be a bit less than we thought, but we know how much total CO2 there is in the atmosphere and it is monitored globally," said Prof Dave Reay from the University of Edinburgh. "This study therefore makes no difference to the total amount in the atmosphere; it simply means that accounting for Chinese emissions is getting better." The team behind the new study says that whatever the global picture, its work has implications for many other countries where information on the mix of coal being burned is unclear. "China is one of the biggest coal users in the world. There are also others like India, Indonesia and South Africa that haven't a very robust system for collecting data and verifying the statistics," said Prof Dabo Guan, another author of the paper from the University of East Anglia. "There is huge, even greater uncertainty for India and Indonesia - this is a starting point for the global south."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2003/denver_2003/2765077.stm

Computers of the future will be built not by factory machines, but by living cells such as bacteria. That at least is the vision which has been outlined by scientists speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Denver. They have described how wires can now be made by yeast organisms, and how solar panels could be built using substances produced by sea sponges. Researchers believe these kind of technologies will be essential if we are to continue to shrink the size of electronic devices. Plants and animals produce an extraordinary variety of chemical substances, all designed to help them in their lives. But some of these substances - proteins or other kinds of molecule - might also be useful in the electronics industry, as it seeks ways of making silicon chips smaller and faster. Another potential application is nanotechnology - science which is done at the scale of just billionths (nano) of a metre. Materials fabricated at this level have unusual electrical and optical properties but are costly to produce. Getting the "machinery" that already exits in biological organisms to do the work has obvious advantages. Some of the molecules that scientists are now investigating come from unlikely sources. Susan Lindquist, director of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is using yeast to produce tough wires. "We're using a protein from yeast that is actually called yeast prion," she said. "It resembles the prions that are responsible for mad cow disease. They form long, long fibres. "They are very thin - just 10 nanometres in width. But they go on for thousands and thousands and thousands of nanometres in length." Dr Lindquist has discovered how to coat these strands of prion protein in gold and silver so they conduct electricity. Through genetic engineering, it should be possible to make the protein strands - and so the wires - in different shapes and configurations, perhaps even forming entire electronic components. Another researcher speaking here, Daniel Morse from the University of California, found a number of years ago that substances developed by sea sponges could be used to make silicon-based materials. He has now discovered that the same substances could potentially make a new generation of solar cells. They make a material, a special kind of titanium dioxide, which is very efficient at turning the Sun's rays into electricity. Dr Morse believes that making devices through biology rather than through factories would have other benefits, including for the environment. He said: "Biology and bio-catalysis offers the prospects of synthesis without the recourse to toxic chemicals that are presently the basis of human manufacturing of silicon-based materials today." Computers made with these natural processes are not just around the corner - it will be many years before the technologies can be developed that far. But sea sponges and yeast offer us the possibility of making devices smaller, cheaper and cleaner than human ingenuity could develop on its own. Perhaps we should not be surprised, says Susan Lindquist. After all, nature has been working on the problem for a lot longer than the human brain. She said: "For a long time man has been harnessing horses to plough and we're just beginning to understand how to harness molecules to other kinds of purposes and just the prospect of being able to do this for the benefit of mankind is really an exciting thing." Links to more Denver 2003 stories are at the foot of the page.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31307449

Government spending on research and innovation needs to be doubled to stop Britain falling behind other countries, say science leaders. And ministers need to give clear messages on immigration to encourage science talent from overseas, according to the four National Academies. Public investment must rise from 0.5% to 1% of GDP to drive economic growth, say the research bodies. British research spending currently lags behind many other OECD countries. The four National Academies - the Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering, and The Academy of Medical Sciences - said investment was needed to stop the UK's world-leading research base being eroded. A target for investment in R&D and innovation of 3% of GDP for the UK as a whole - 1% from the government and 2% from industry and charities - in line with the top 10 OECD research investors. The government currently invests 0.5% of GDP; with 1.23% from the private sector. Clear messages and policies on immigration to minimise unnecessary barriers to talented students and researchers. "Clear messages and policies are crucially needed to counter perceptions that recent changes to immigration policy mean the UK is closed for business," said the report, Building a Stronger Future. Presenting the report to journalists in London, the National Academies described it as a "wake-up call" to the next government. Lord Stern of Brentford, President of the British Academy, said research and development drove innovation, which in turn drove economic growth. He said as the political parties approached the next election, they needed to take the next step towards staying competitive in scientific research to stop the UK falling behind. "If those investments are not made we risk slipping further behind, damaging our growth rate, damaging our ability to keep populations healthy, damaging our ability to attract students from overseas and thus detracting from our ability to have long-term collaborations with countries around the world in the future," he told BBC News. Prof Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said with international research networks growing in strength, the UK needed to have the right policies in place to encourage immigration that would benefit the nation. She said clear messages were needed across government. Prof Alex Halliday of the Royal Society said the UK was getting to the point where many researchers would go abroad to get research funding, to countries such as China. Cuts to research and innovation in the 1980s drove many scientists to the US.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/4660315.stm

The terror attacks on London's transport network have led to travel chaos across the South of England. The region's transport network has been hit hard, with a number of stations closed after Thursday's bombings. In Southampton, an area of the city around the main coach station was cordoned off by police after a suspect suitcase was found. Portsmouth Harbour, Basingstoke and Poole train stations later reopened, as well as Gosport ferry port. They had been closed after suspicious packages were found. Many services from the West Country were forced to terminate in Reading and Slough in Berkshire. Stagecoach and Megabus services to the capital from towns and cities in the South resumed after being suspended for part of Thursday. National Express coaches to London were only travelling as far as Heathrow. Dorset Police said they were stepping up security and intelligence gathering at stations and ports, as well as vigilance over possible attacks on the Muslim community in the wake of the bombings. Adrian Whiting, assistant chief constable of Dorset police, said: "Dorset Police is committed to working closely with all communities in the county - especially the Muslim community - to make sure that they are not targeted as a result of (the) bomb attacks in London. "Such targeting will not be tolerated by Dorset Police." Hampshire Constabulary also said it was increasing patrols around railway stations, airports, coach stations and other key transport locations. Chief Constable Paul Kernaghan said: "We have no information to suggest that there is going to be an incident in Hampshire or the Isle of Wight. However, you would expect us to be prepared and on standby to deal with any eventuality." All rail companies were urging passengers not to try to travel into London. A spokeswoman for South West Trains said: "We want to get trains into London so we can get people out." Ambulances from the Royal Berkshire Ambulance Services have been despatched to London and the county is now being covered by the Wiltshire service.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7543089.stm

The most powerful physics experiment ever built, the Large Hadron Collider will re-create the conditions just after the Big Bang in an attempt to answer fundamental questions of science and the universe itself. Find out more about the LHC with this BBC News guide, starting at the top of the page with an introduction from Science Correspondent David Shukman. You can then explore key elements of the experiment using the links above. Editorial: Jonathan Fildes, Chris Hamilton, Rebecca Morelle, James Morgan, Paul Rincon, David Shukman. Design: Scott Byrne-Fraser, Salim Qurashi. Development: Ransome Mpini, Tom Pearson. Photography: Emma Lynch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7699156.stm

A Royal Marine reservist who shielded his comrades from a grenade blast in Afghanistan has been awarded the George Cross by the Queen. Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher, 24, of Solihull, West Midlands, lay in front of the grenade after walking into a trip wire in Helmand Province. His rucksack took the brunt of the blast and he suffered severe bruising. He is among eight Royal Marines based at 40 Commando in Taunton, Somerset, to be honoured. The marines collected their medals from the Queen at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace earlier. The George Cross is awarded only rarely for "acts of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger". L/Cpl Croucher had been on patrol on 9 February with 40 Commando Royal Marines. His reconnaissance force had been investigating a Taliban compound where they suspected bombs were being made. He felt himself walk into a tripwire which pulled the pin out of a grenade. He said earlier this year: "I thought 'I'm going to get gravely injured whatever I do so I might as well jump in front of the grenade and try to save the lads'. "Being awarded the George Cross is a huge honour, for me and for 40 Commando. "But there are so many acts of bravery by the lads that don't make it into the press. "It's all part of the job - they would have done the same. You just do it." L/Cpl Croucher served as a regular Royal Marine for five years, including two tours of Iraq, before working as a director of a security company.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41551596

Apple is investigating a series of reports about battery problems with some of its new iPhone 8 Plus phones. Over the last week, six reports have come to light which show the phones splitting apart soon after they start to be used. In all cases the battery inside the phone has swollen rendering the phone unusable. It is not yet clear whether the swollen batteries are a few isolated cases or are indicative of a bigger issue. The first report about an affected iPhone 8 Plus came from Taiwan. Phones with similar problems have now emerged in Japan, China, Canada, Greece and Hong Kong. In a statement, Apple said it was aware of the reports and was "looking into" what might have caused the fault. Apple news site MacRumours, which reported the first incident, said given the huge number of iPhones that had been manufactured it was "common" for there to be a "very low percentage of defective units". In a blog, Sam Jaffe, from analysts Cairn Energy Research Advisors, said battery bloat typically happened at the end of a battery's useful life. To have it happen soon after a product launch was troubling, he said. "It could be a minor distribution of a random manufacturing error," wrote Mr Jaffe. "If it's a little bit more than that, Apple might quickly be able to identify the battery manufacturing line that's responsible, shut it down and keep making iPhone 8s without any more issues," he added. Apple's problems follow Samsung's experience with its Galaxy Note 7 last year. Hundreds of faulty Galaxy Note 7s were reported as faulty soon after that device launched. The scale of the failure prompted Samsung to recall and discontinue the handset. The problem was traced to a design flaw.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21709229

The space rock that hit Earth 65m years ago and is widely implicated in the end of the dinosaurs was probably a speeding comet, US scientists say. Researchers in New Hampshire suggest the 180km-wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico was carved out by a smaller object than previously thought. Many scientists consider a large and relatively slow moving asteroid to have been the likely culprit. Details were outlined at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. But other researchers were more cautious about the results. "The overall aim of our project is to better characterise the impactor that produced the crater in the Yucatan peninsula [in Mexico]," Jason Moore, from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, told BBC News. The space rock gave rise to a global layer of sediments enriched in the chemical element iridium, in concentrations much higher than naturally occurs; it must have come from outer space. However, in the first part of their work, the team suggests that frequently quoted iridium values are incorrect. Using a comparison with another extraterrestrial element deposited in the impact - osmium - they were able to deduce that the collision deposited less debris than has previously been supposed. The recalculated iridium value suggests a smaller body hit the Earth. So for the second part of their work, the researchers took the new figure and attempted to reconcile it with the known physical properties of the Chicxulub impact. Why do comets get attracted to our planet so often? For this smaller space rock to have produced a 180km-wide crater, it must have been travelling relatively quickly. The team found that a long-period comet fitted the bill much better than other possible candidates. "You'd need an asteroid of about 5km diameter to contribute that much iridium and osmium. But an asteroid that size would not make a 200km-diameter crater," said Dr Moore. "So we said: how do we get something that has enough energy to generate that size of crater, but has much less rocky material? That brings us to comets." Dr Moore's colleague Prof Mukul Sharma, also from Dartmouth College, told BBC News: "You would need some special pleading for an asteroid moving very rapidly - although it is possible. But of the comets and asteroids we have looked at in the skies, the comets are the ones that are moving very rapidly." Long-period comets are balls of dust, rock and ice that are on highly eccentric trajectories around the Sun. They may take hundreds, thousands or in some cases even millions of years to complete one orbit. The extinction event 65 million years ago is now widely associated with the space impact at Chicxulub. It killed off about 70% of all species on Earth in just a short period of time, most notably the non-avian dinosaurs. The enormous collision would have triggered fires, earthquakes and huge tsunamis. The dust and gas thrown up into the atmosphere would have depressed global temperatures for several years. Dr Gareth Collins, who researches impact cratering at Imperial College London, described the research by the Dartmouth team as "nice work" and "thought-provoking". But he told BBC News: "I don't think it is possible to accurately determine the impactor size from geochemistry. "Geochemistry tells you - quite accurately - only the mass of meteoritic material that is distributed globally, not the total mass of the impactor. To estimate the latter, one needs to know what fraction of the impactor was distributed globally, as opposed to being ejected to space or landing close to the crater." He added: "The authors suggest that 75% of the impactor mass is distributed globally, and hence arrive at quite a small-sized impactor, but in reality this fraction could be lower than 20%." That could keep the door open for a bigger, more slowly moving asteroid. The authors accept this point, but cite recent studies suggesting mass loss for the Chicxulub impact was between 11% and 25%. In recent years, several space objects have taken astronomers by surprise, serving as a reminder that our cosmic neighbourhood remains a busy place. On 15 February this year, 2012 DA14 - an asteroid as large as an Olympic swimming pool - raced past the Earth at a distance of just 27,700km (17,200mi). It had only been discovered the previous year. And on the same day, a 17m space rock exploded over Russia's Ural mountains with an energy of about 440 kilotonnes of TNT. About 1,000 people were injured as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings. Some 95% of the near-Earth objects larger than 1km have been discovered. However, only about 10% of the 13,000 - 20,000 asteroids above the size of 140m are being tracked. There are probably many more comets than near-Earth asteroids, but Nasa points out they spend almost all of their lifetimes at great distances from the Sun and Earth, so that they contribute only about 10% to the census of larger objects that have struck the Earth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11748776

A group of villagers have stripped off for a calendar to raise funds for their local church. Residents in Old Basing, Hampshire, bared all for the charity offering which hopes to raise about £4,000 for St Mary's Church. The calendar features the local butcher, bakery, estate agent and art group. Hairdresser Laura Haystaff, 28, who came up with the idea and also took part said the response had been great. A donation from the proceeds will be made to the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. Miss Haystaff had originally thought of asking her colleagues at the village hair salon and local football team, but was surprised by the response. "My mum said lets do the whole village and like a jigsaw, it just all fitted into place. "As a village we have got a bakery, a butchers and we wanted to get the most obvious companies involved because they are the most recognisable. "I have seen a whole lot of naked people but I haven't actually seen anything, you avert your eyes completely."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/2551707.stm

The man who led the Allied armoured forces into Iraq during the last Gulf War has criticised those planning renewed military action against Saddam Hussein. Major General Patrick Cordingley believes a second Gulf War would be pointless as it would only lead to tens of thousands of Iraqis being needlessly killed. As commander of the Desert Rats (the 7th Armoured Brigade) during the 1991 conflict, he led the Allied armoured forces into Iraq. But despite such heavy involvement last time around, Maj Gen Cordingley has told BBC One's Panorama programme that he has strong reservations about a fresh conflict. In the Gulf War, the British and Americans lost less than three hundred men, while the Iraqis lost tens of thousands. Maj Gen Cordingley now fears that the Iraqi land forces - which have been weakened by sanctions - could suffer even heavier losses if the armed forces are sent in again. He said: "I think it is the fact that fire-power today is so massive, so overwhelming, so catastrophic when it's used that inevitably the enemy will take a large number of casualties." The retired officer also feels that some British soldiers will not feel the cause is just - especially if President Bush decides to attack without the explicit backing of the United Nations. He added: "It is a great shame if you get a situation where they're being used in a way that the British public are not easy with. "I'm not going to dispute that and they will do their job and get on with it, but if I was a Commander out there, I would feel sad that we're being used in a way that did not have the support of the nation." Also opposed to another conflict in the Gulf is Robert Baer, a former CIA agent who was wrongly accused by the FBI of plotting to murder Saddam. In fact, he had been involved in a plot by Kurds and Iraqi dissidents to unseat the Iraqi dictator - encouraging an uprising which was brutally crushed by the Iraqi leader. But he is against another war in Iraq, believing it will create massive instability in the region. "What we're inviting is World War Three. In the Middle East. It's too late to invade Iraq a second time," he said. Mr Baer claims that his fears are echoed by his former paymasters in the intelligence business. He added: "I talk to people in the CIA. They're worried about the stability of the region." "A land war or a massive air war, against an Arab country is going to cause several governments in the Middle East to fall. Among them Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and possibly Egypt. "I think people in Washington are so hurt, so damaged by the attacks on September 11th, that they want to take revenge. And Saddam happens to be the vehicle." Panorama: the Case Against War, will be shown on BBC One on Sunday 8 December at 2240 GMT.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/carlisle_united/4652897.stm

Carlisle have signed Walsall left-back Zigor Aranalde on a two-year contract. The 32-year-old Spaniard was on loan at Sheffield Wednesday towards the end of last term and the move to Brunton Park ends a four-year spell at Wallsall. "I'm delighted to sign him - he's a quality player," Carlisle manager Paul Simpson told the club's website. "It's a very difficult position to fill, but he's had four good years with Walsall and I'm sure he'll be effective for us as well."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43624392

Two shootings in London in the space of an hour - including a drive-by attack - have left a 17-year-old girl and a boy, 16, dead. Friends said the girl, named locally as Tanesha Melbourne, was killed "for no reason" in Tottenham on Monday night. The Met has confirmed she died when "shots were fired" from a vehicle as it drove past a group of young people. Two miles away, in Walthamstow, the boy was found with gunshot wounds, with another boy, 15, who had stab injuries. The boy who suffered gunshot wounds died later in hospital, police said. Both attacks come amid concerns over rising violent crime in London. Police say the shootings are not linked. Tanesha, whose name has not been officially confirmed, was pronounced dead at 22:43 BST near Northumberland Park, Tottenham. Grieving family members and friends left floral tributes and candles at the scene in Chalgrove Road on Tuesday. One friend described her as a "very lovable little girl in the community, she was not involved in any sort of problems with anyone". Tyesha, 21, who knew Tanesha, told the BBC she was "just chilling with her friends" when she was shot. "The car just pulled up and just started shooting," she said. "Her friend came banging on my door so I came out quickly. I even tried to save her - had to, had to." She said the gunshot wound, below the victim's breast, was not immediately visible and it looked like she was "having a fit". "I put her on her side and I was just rubbing her back, saying 'Everything's going to be OK'. I just can't believe it - so young. It's ridiculous now." A witness said a woman, believed to be the victim's mother, began "screaming" when she discovered the girl shortly after the shooting. Det Ch Supt Richard Wood described the attack as "terrible". "At this stage we're keeping a completely open mind, it's too early to say what the motive is or indeed if it's just a case of wrong place, wrong time," he said. "We do know that a vehicle drove past a group of young people, shots were fired from the vehicle and sadly the young lady lost her life." Are black knife deaths being ignored? Can Scotland help London stop violent deaths? David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, said he was "deeply worried" about London's rise in violent crime - particularly in his area. "There is no single cause, but there has been a big spike in both gun crime and knife crime across London," he said. "Certainly my constituency finds itself at the epicentre of that." He said cuts to police budgets meant fewer neighbourhood officers on the streets who were "able to pick up intelligence" within communities. A local resident, who did not want to be named, said she heard multiple shots, which sounded like a "bomb" exploding. She said: "It's not nice. I've lived here for 40 years, and in the last two or three years it's become not a nice place. "There are so many drugs, stabbings and killings." The community in Tottenham has already been gripped with grief and shock that a young woman has had her life ended so tragically. I'm told there were dozens of people out until 02:00 BST consoling each other, while other residents woke to see police cordons and press at the scene. There was a poignant silence when the body of the 17-year-old was taken away, broken only by the sound of people crying. In this area there are people - no matter what age - who are fearful. Residents spoke about self-imposed curfews and mothers not letting their children out after 19:00. Amid the sadness, there is also anger and questions over what the Mayor of London is doing. Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said stabbings were common in the area. The Tottenham resident said: "It's so violent around here. I nearly got stabbed the other day. If you've been around Tottenham a long time you get it." Watch: "My kids don't see this side of me" One witness, who works in a nearby shop, said he heard three distinct bangs, which sounded like "fireworks". He said he saw the victim with blood on her chest sitting with friends following the shooting, before police cars and ambulances arrived. Close to the scene, residents held an impromptu celebration of Tanesha's life until the early morning. "We were out here until one o'clock in the morning," a neighbour said. "It was really heart-breaking. We were here for ages but clearly she was already gone." School friend Candice Hassan said she found out about the murder on social media just half-an-hour after the shooting. "It was shocking. Everyone's upset obviously - one minute I see her and the next minute I don't," she said. "One hour before her death, I saw her on Snapchat - one hour before she got shot. Everyone knows Tanesha, she's just a humble girl. "It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn't deserve any of that." The 17-year-old, who went to the Gladesmore Community School with Tanesha, added: "I have heard it was a drive-by shooting - obviously gang-related - Wood Green and Tottenham." Formal identification has yet to take place. However, Tanesha's next-of-kin have been informed of her death. The Walthamstow crime scene, in Markhouse Road, is just over two miles (3.5km) from the site of the Tottenham killing. Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, said the 16-year-old boy was taken to a hospital in east London. He had been in "intensive care". Scotland Yard said the 15-year-old boy who was stabbed in Walthamstow has life-changing but not life-threatening injuries. There have been no arrests in either investigation. It brings the total of fatal shootings in London this year to seven, including one man who died after being shot and stabbed. A Downing Street spokesman said: "There can be no place in our society for violent crime. The government is determined to do everything it can to break the cycle. "We have already consulted on new laws on offensive and dangerous weapons, including banning online stores from delivering knives to residential addresses and making it an offence to possess certain weapons in private."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3916599.stm

A 14th century Scottish castle has finally gone to a mystery American buyer after a failed attempt to auction it online. The new owner of Lee Castle in Lanark, South Lanarkshire, has also bought a feudal barony and now has a portfolio of 261 acres of land. Estate agents Re/Max Clydesdale declined to confirm the selling price or who the new owner might be. But it is thought the castle was sold for less than the $8.5m fixed price. The castle website's only reference to the sale is the simple message: "Best wishes to the 35th Baron of Lee." Last November the 30,000sq ft castle sparked a bidding frenzy when it was put up for sale on its official website, www.leecastle.com. It attracted more than two million hits but the auction fell through due to bogus bidders. Reports claimed interest from Hollywood star John Travolta, a wealthy French duchess and a self-proclaimed website entrepreneur. Ten bids were entered during an eBay auction, which closed in April with a top offer of $9.7m - but the reserve price was not met and the agents elected not to go through with the sale. Since then it has been marketed in the UK and extensively in America. Due to the different pricing structures on both sides of the Atlantic, it was advertised in the UK at offers over £5m and in the US for a fixed price of $8.5m. The 700-year-old castle, which lies in the Clyde Valley, comes fully furnished with all its historic and antique contents and heirlooms. It also boasts two lodge houses, a banqueting hall, grand ballroom, 14 bedrooms and heated swimming pool. The new owner will assume an ancient noble title and become 35th Baron of Lee, following a proclamation by the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Edinburgh. The Barony even comes with its own 25-member band, The Pipes and Drums of The Barony of Lee. The original lands of Lee were granted to William Locard, circa 1272, and lay between Lanark and Carluke on the north side of the Clyde. Robert the Bruce is reputed to have signed a charter under the branches of the Pease Tree, an ancient oak in front of the house, while, three centuries later, Oliver Cromwell is said to have dined at the same spot.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42787469

US comedian Bill Cosby has performed his first stand-up gig since 2015, just months ahead of his scheduled retrial for alleged sexual assault. The 80-year-old entertainer told jokes about aging and going blind at the LaRose Jazz Club in Philadelphia. His performance on Monday was met with criticism on social media. Mr Cosby went on trial in 2017 for allegedly molesting a woman at his home in 2004. The jury failed to reach a verdict and a retrial is due in April. The African American actor, who starred in the 1980s TV series the Cosby Show, denies all allegations and says any encounters with his accusers, including with the Canadian woman he faces trial for assaulting, were consensual. Monday's performance, which took place at an event to honour drummer and jazz great Tony Williams, was a last-minute gig and the entertainer's first in almost three years. Online video footage showed a casually dressed Mr Cosby, seated on a stool in the club in front of a small crowd. He can be heard joking about how he "used to be a comedian" and the reaction he receives when he walks into things. "There's a perfectly good word called 'stop'," he said, adding: "Not 'oh-oh-oh-oh-oh'." Mr Cosby was asked by a reporter for the US network NPR if he thought the #MeToo campaign would affect jury selection for his forthcoming trail. He simply said: "I don't know!" Mr Cosby's show was widely criticised on Twitter, with novelist Terry McMillan tweeting that she would not go along to such a gig even if she were invited. Around 60 women have publicly accused the Emmy award-winning actor of being a sexual predator over five decades, but statute of limitation laws mean that only one charge was brought to trial last June, which ended with a hung jury. Mr Cosby had enjoyed a family-friendly reputation for years before numerous sexual assault allegations came to light in 2015.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22154456

A £4.5m redevelopment of an Oxfordshire shopping precinct is not attracting new customers, traders have claimed. The Abbey Shopping Centre in Abingdon was refurbished over the past year but some shop units remain empty. The Chamber of Commerce said footfall had failed to recover after it went down during a year's worth of construction at the site. New River Retail, which manages the site, said it was confident it would attract a "major high street name". Bookshop owner Ian Collet said many shoppers went to Didcot, Witney or Oxford when the redevelopment work was going on. "We were a building site for 12 months. Although the customers stayed loyal, we lost footfall. "It looks lovely now but its easy to lose a customer base, not so easy to get it back." Martin Hughes from New River Retail, which managed the revamp on behalf of owners Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, said the area's difficulties reflected the economic climate. "We've seen a really nice upgrade of the town centre. It's quite challenging in the retail market and these are difficult times on the high street. "We are in advanced discussions with a major high street name which would entice other retailers to fill empty units." Mr Hughes added he was confident of a positive future for the area. Jill Carver, of the Chamber of Commerce, said shop owners would have to "pull together" to revive business. "We have seen a drop in footfall which has affected the whole town. "It looks really nice now but we did live with a building site - we need more promotion and to get the units filled."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/also_in_the_news/7900205.stm

A French battleship sunk in 1917 by a German submarine has been discovered in remarkable condition on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. The Danton, with many of its gun turrets still intact, is sitting upright in over 1,000m of water. Video courtesy: Galsi spa and Fugro N.V.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4541794.stm

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has ordered an inquiry into why two convicted criminals were free to kill a London banker in his own home. Damien Hanson, 24, had been released early from a 12-year term for attempted murder three months before he murdered John Monckton in November 2004. He was assessed as 90% likely to commit more violence, but the probation service managed him as a low risk case. His accomplice Elliot White, 24, was on bail at the time on drugs charges. On Monday, White was cleared of attempting to murder Mr Monckton's wife Homeyra. But he was found guilty by an Old Bailey jury of wounding her with intent and guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Monckton in Chelsea, west London. Both men will be sentenced in February. Mr Clarke said on Monday that serious questions had been raised about the release from prison and supervision in the community of Hanson and White. The head of the probation service, Andrew Bridges, will conduct the inquiry, which may consider whether there are wider implications for the release and management of convicted criminals. Mr Clarke added: "It is essential that we have in place systems to deal with violent offenders which are as rigorous as possible and minimise the risk to the public that such offenders may pose." Hanson had a string of serious convictions and had only been out of jail for a total of a few months since the age of 14. White, who had a series of drug convictions, was on bail at the time of the robbery, awaiting a court appearance on heroin and cocaine charges. In a joint statement, the National Probation Service (NPS), Metropolitan Police and the Prison Service, expressed their sympathy to Mrs Monckton, her family and "all those affected by this horrific offence". The statement said London Probation had reviewed the way it handled cases and was overhauling the way it manages offenders in the community. The statement read: "The NPS takes its responsibilities to the public very seriously and works in close partnership with all the other key criminal justice agencies. "Sadly there is no such thing as 'zero risk'." The probation union, Napo, welcomed the inquiry and said any findings that procedures needed to be improved should be acted upon without delay. A statement was released by Mrs Monckton's solicitor on Monday. It read: "Last year Mrs Monckton, her daughters and her family lost a husband, a father, a brother and in short lost John Monckton, an exemplary family man who was brutally murdered in his own house - a little under a month before Christmas."

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-11980684

The majority of UK retailers expect trading this Christmas to be no better than last year, according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The BRC found that 35% of firms believe trading will be better than 2009, with 29% saying it would be the same. The remaining 36% fear Christmas will be worse, with the recent snow and financial pressures on consumers cited as key reasons. The BRC surveyed 17 big retailers which make up 51% of the sector by turnover. The survey also found 71% of retailers think that the planned rise in VAT in January is encouraging consumers to bring forward purchases. BRC director general Stephen Robertson said: "It's reassuring to see a majority of retailers believe Christmas sales will be at least as good as last year... But considering inflation is now at 3.2%, growth of anything less than that would be a real-terms fall." Electricals retailer Kesa, computer games group Game, and music, DVD and games retailer HMV all reported disappointing updates. But other retailers are faring better, with John Lewis reporting another week of record sales. The group said sales hit £121m in the week to Saturday 11 December, up 16.7% on the previous week when bad weather kept many shoppers at home. Economist Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said the John Lewis figures may help ease fears over Christmas trading. "Retailers may still have a decent Christmas after all, despite the hit to activity from the bad weather," he said. "One proviso is that, in recent times, John Lewis have been comfortably outperforming the retail sector as a whole. "Another major concern for retailers is that more cold weather is forecast this coming week. With Christmas falling on a Saturday, next weekend's trading is going to be of major importance to retailers." Also, Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, has forecast that it expects to see its best ever Christmas.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-41737953

The mother of a man who was stabbed to death in a riot in Birmingham 12 years ago has "dared" those with information to "stand in her shoes". Isaiah Young-Sam was 23 when he was surrounded by a mob and stabbed during three days of rioting in Lozells. The council IT worker died on arrival at hospital on 22 October 2005. Three men were convicted of his killing but were re-tried and cleared by a jury in 2010. In a message to anyone who has information, Murna McLean said: "You've lived with that awful secret for the last 12 years, I'm appealing to your conscience if you do have one. Please break the silence, I'm begging you. "Just stand for a moment in my shoes, I dare you to. "If it was your child what would you want from those who were in a position to help you. Please help me to bring Isaiah's killers to justice." Det Ch Insp Pete Dunn said: "We will be re-examining all the forensic evidence that was collected during this investigation and, meanwhile, we would urge anyone who knows what happened that day to examine their conscience and do the right thing − call us." Ms McLean said there are a number of people who know "exactly what happened to my child". "It's just so painful having to do this again after all these years, just so painful." Isaiah was with his brother and friends making their way home after a trip to the cinema on the day they were attacked.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6999953.stm

Zimbabwe is closer to complete collapse than ever, and the regional initiative to find a negotiated political solution must be fully supported, a report says. The International Crisis Group, based in Brussels, says Southern African countries are the only ones with a chance of making a difference. South Africa's president is trying to mediate between Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party and the opposition. But the independent think tank says this regional initiative is fragile. It points out that some Southern African leaders remain supporters of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and there is a risk they will accept cosmetic changes that further entrench the status quo. But this new report says inflation in Zimbabwe is at least 7,500%, four out of five people live below the poverty line and a quarter of the country's population has fled. The International Crisis Group says Western sanctions have proved to be largely symbolic, and British and American condemnation of Zimbabwe has been counter-productive. It says all international actors should close ranks behind the mediation efforts of South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki. Southern African countries should also enlist a panel of retired African presidents to persuade Robert Mugabe to accept reforms and retire next year, the report says.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47893264

Image caption Antti Rinne: "We are the largest party in Finland" The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has narrowly won Finland's general election with 17.7% of the vote. But the far-right Finns Party was close behind on 17.5%, while the Centre Party of outgoing PM Juha Sipila saw its support crash by a third to 13.8%. "For the first time since 1999 we are the largest party in Finland," said SDP leader Antti Rinne. But with the vote split and no party winning by a clear margin, it may be hard to build a workable coalition. The Greens and the Left Alliance also increased their share of the vote. It is the first time in more than a century that no party has won more than 20% of the vote. The SDP won 40 seats in the 200-seat parliament, one more than the Finns Party. At the last election in 2015, the Finns Party won 38 seats, but MPs split after a leadership election in 2017. For Jussi Halla-aho, who has led the Finns Party since then, the rebuilding of the party's parliamentary block was cause for celebration. "I could not expect a result like this, and no-one could," he told supporters on Sunday evening. Before the election, most other parties ruled out any coalition with the Finns Party. Image caption Jussi Halla-aho: "I could not expect a result like this" Only three months ago the future didn't seem too promising for the Finns Party. Its support had collapsed to below 10%. The party's former popular leader and foreign minister Timo Soini had left his creation. Jussi Halla-aho is best known for criticising most kinds of immigration. The Finnish Supreme Court has sentenced him to fines for extreme opinions in his blog. Now he and his party seem eager to be part of a new government. But the SDP's Antti Rinne isn't likely to invite them in. It's obvious the Finns Party won second place over two issues: its main focus was to criticise immigration; and a little more unexpectedly, its position on climate change had an impact. A wide range of Finnish parties from right to left urged more intensive efforts to combat climate change. But the Finns Party was the exception: it thinks Finland has already been ambitious enough. It does not deny climate change, but argues that the burden of trying to stop it should be spread evenly worldwide. Last month, Mr Sipila's government resigned over its failure to achieve a key policy goal on social welfare and healthcare reform. His Centre Party had been in a centre-right coalition government since 2015. Concerned about Finland's expensive welfare system in the face of an ageing population, Mr Sipila made tackling the nation's debt one of his government's main aims, introducing planning reforms he hoped would save up to €3bn (£2.6bn; $3.4bn) over a decade. But while the introduction of austerity measures - such as benefits cuts and pension freezes - resulted in Finland reducing its government debt for the first time in a decade last year, the reforms proved politically controversial. Meanwhile, the SDP, a centre-left party with strong links to Finland's trade unions, saw its popularity grow. The SDP campaigned on a pledge to strengthen Finland's welfare system. Mr Rinne promised to raise the state pension for those taking home €1,400 a month by €100, a move he said would help "more than 55,000 pensioners escape poverty". Balancing taxes and spending is problematic for any government, and Finland has relatively high taxes. The top personal income tax rate is 51.1%. However, the average income tax rate, at 30%, is not the highest in Europe, according to OECD data. A poll commissioned by the tax authority in 2017 found that 79% of Finns questioned were happy with their taxes. Why is Finland's welfare system an issue? Like many developed nations, Finland has an ageing population that is putting financial pressure on its social welfare systems. As an increasing number of people live longer in retirement, the cost of providing pension and healthcare benefits can rise. Those increased costs are paid for by taxes collected from the working-age population - who make up a smaller percentage of the population than in decades past. In 2018, those aged 65 or over made up 21.4% of Finland's population, the joint fourth highest in Europe alongside Germany - with only Portugal, Greece, and Italy having a higher proportion, according to Eurostat. Finland's welfare system is also generous in its provisions, making it relatively expensive. Attempts at reform have plagued Finnish governments for years. In February this year, caring for the nation's elderly returned to the top of the political agenda amid reports that alleged neglect in care homes may have resulted in injury or death, according to broadcaster YLE. What are the other key issues? Immigration has become an important topic following reports of alleged sexual assaults by foreign men. As a result, support has risen for the Finns Party, which has promised to cut immigration and enforce stricter asylum rules. Other parties have also pledged to crack down on migrants who commit crime. Another key issue is climate change. Following the release of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, almost all parties have vowed to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees, the New York Times reports. But the Finns Party did not campaign for greater environmental controls. It has also announced an alliance with Germany's far-right AfD, Italy's League party and the Danish People's Party for the European elections in May. They plan to form a parliamentary group, the European Alliance for People and Nations, to challenge the power of centrist parties. Video Did Finland's basic income experiment work?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47427788

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she supports school students' protests about climate change. It appears to contradict some education officials, who have criticised participants for skipping school and threatened them with exclusion. Mrs Merkel said students might be frustrated at the time taken to move away from coal-based energy but asked them to understand it was a challenge. Across the world, some students have been leaving school to demand action. On Friday thousands of high school students in the city of Hamburg marched against climate change, with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg - who started the series of school strikes - present. But the city's education official, Ties Rabe, wrote on Twitter: "No-one makes the world better by skipping school." Will these strikes have an impact? Meanwhile the education minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has told schools that students face disciplinary action up to and including expulsion if they do not comply with their legal duty to go to school. In a video released on her official website, Angela Merkel said protecting the climate was a "challenge that people can only tackle together" (in German). Asked about the Friday school strikes, which in Germany have been dubbed "Fridays for Future", Ms Merkel said the country's climate goals could only be reached with the support of wider society. "So I very much welcome that young people, school students, demonstrate and tell us to do something fast about climate change," she said. "I think it is a very good initiative," she added, without making reference to the fact that they were protesting during school hours. But, she said, in her role she had to let them know that there were many steps to take before the full switch-off of coal, planned for Germany by 2038. "From the students' point of view," Ms Merkel continued, "that may seem like a very long way away, but it will challenge us very much so I ask them to understand that too." Two years ago a small survey suggested that Germans worried more about climate change than they did about terrorism. Climate strike: Why are students striking and will it have an impact?

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-31561702/uk-election-what-might-politicians-learn-from-sweden

How Sweden stood up to political chaos Jump to media player The BBC's James Landale reports from Sweden on the chaos caused by a newly-elected minority government - and how a steady path was steered through turbulent times. Proposed iron mine causes controversy Jump to media player A proposed iron mine is causing controversy in northern Sweden. The local Mayor says the mine could reverse the area's declining population. UK election: What might politicians learn from Sweden? The BBC's James Landale reports from Sweden on the chaos caused by a newly-elected minority government - and how a steady path was steered through turbulent times. A minority government is one of several possible outcomes in the UK, if no party wins a majority after the elections in May.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-11961692

Opposition MPs in Kuwait have accused the government of being behind a police crackdown on a rally that left at least five people injured. About 20 MPs have vowed to question the prime minister, a member of Kuwait's royal family, in parliament on Sunday. Opposition supporters were protesting against an alleged "government plot" to amend the constitution in a bid to suppress freedom and democratic rights. The government says the public gathering was not authorised. Kuwait was the first Arab state in the Gulf to usher in parliamentary democracy. Opposition leaders say members of Kuwait's special forces used batons to push back participants at an opposition rally west of Kuwait City on Wednesday. "This was an outrage unprecedented in Kuwait's political history. There was a deliberate will to beat the opposition physically," MP Jamaan al-Harbash told al-Jazeera television. "We have decided to quiz the prime minister [Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah] and the motion will be filed on Sunday," he said. Witnesses said that at least five people were injured, while the local media put the number at 14, including four lawmakers. Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the emir, has been under constant political pressure ever since he became prime minister in February 2006. Since then, the cabinet has resigned five times and the ruler has dissolved parliament three times. Oil-rich Kuwait has a 50-member parliament. Of the 16 cabinet ministers, 15 are unelected, but have similar voting rights as elected MPs. Does Kuwait need a political revamp?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42875352

Helen Dunmore has won the Costa Book of the Year prize for her 10th and final poetry collection, Inside the Wave. The Costa awards including the prize for poetry, which she won earlier this month, recognise authors based in the UK and Ireland. Dunmore died from cancer in June 2017 at the age of 64. The overall winner is chosen from five books which had already won prizes in the categories of novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children's book. The ceremony, previously known as the Whitbread Book Awards, has taken place annually since 1971. Judges described the collection as "an astonishing set of poems - a final, great achievement". Dunmore is now the second writer to win the overall prize posthumously, following Ted Hughes in 1998. He was awarded the poetry prize and Book of the Year for Birthday Letters. Inside the Wave is the eighth poetry collection to take the overall prize and beat bookies' favourite Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine to take the title. The collection, Dunmore's tenth, explores the borderline between the living and the dead. The debut novel from Honeyman tells the story of a survivor of a childhood trauma. It is set to be adapted for the big screen by Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine. The story of many lives haunted by one family's loss. The judges - who include BBC News presenter Sophie Raworth, actor Art Malik and presenter and author Fern Britton - described it as "hypnotic, compelling and original." A family memoir about her life - and her late father's life - inside the Exclusive Brethren, a Christian fundamentalist separatist cult. Inside The Wave explores the borderline between the living and the dead and includes Dunmore's final poem, Hold Out Your Arms, written shortly before her death. An adventure story set in the Amazon rainforest.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47850775

The chief executive of the company which owns British Gas received a 44% rise in his pay last year to £2.4m. It means Iain Conn, who runs Centrica, is paid 72 times that of an employee in the lower quartile of its salary range - a smart energy expert paid £33,718. The pay deal comes in what the company described as "challenging year" and after it warned profits this year would be hit by the energy price cap. The energy price cap rose to £1,254 at the start of April. Mr Conn's pay rose from £1.7m in 2017 because he did not receive a bonus that year, while in 2016 he received £4m. In the annual report, Centrica said Mr Conn had been "reshaping" the company against "the challenge of a constantly shifting operating environment". "Iain has shown significant resilience in the face of this challenge and has led the business through the shifting context, keeping the strategic objectives in sight and ensuring that the organisation remains adaptable and innovative". The company's shares fell to near 20-year lows after the warning in February that profits would be knocked by Ofgem's price cap, amid fears it would cut its dividend. A year ago, Mr Conn announced 4,000 job cuts, while British Gas has lost 742,000 energy supply accounts, as it rarely appears among the cheapest deals on price comparison websites when customers look to switch suppliers. It said this represented a reduction of between a half and a quarter in the pension benefit for affected executives and "represents appropriate alignment with the wider workforce". The company also measured Mr Conn's pay alongside that of an employee in the median salary range - £41,239 - which gave a ratio of 59:1, and in the upper band, a technical engineer receiving £55,107 - which was 44:1. Last month, energy company Shell said its chief executive Ben van Beurden's pay was 143 times larger than that of the average Shell employee in the UK.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23831663

An organised criminal gang was behind a drugs factory discovered in County Down, a court has heard. Phat Suong Chim, 46, and Tuyem Kim Nguyen, 24, both of Main Street, Greyabbey, appeared in court following the seizure of cannabis plants with an estimated value of up to £500,000. They were charged with having and cultivating cannabis, and possession with intent to supply on 23 August. The pair were remanded in custody. The drugs were discovered in rooms above a restaurant in the centre of Greyabbey on Friday. The detective constable investigating the case said police could connect both defendants to the charges. Mr Chim's lawyer applied for bail, saying that the married father-of-four had been living in the UK for 20 years. He said that while he owned the restaurant and the seven rooms above it, he sub-let them out and was not aware of what was going on. However, police objected to the application, saying that they believed an organised criminal gang was behind the drugs factory, that they would try to recoup their losses and Mr Chim would abscond. A special sitting of Ards Magistrate's Court also heard Mr Chim had previously been investigated for similar cases but had never been formally charged. The policeman added that Ms Nguyen was found with a bank book containing Mr Chim's details, and this book was linked to "expanding the factory". Mr Chim's lawyer said that his account details were in the book because that was how the tenants paid him rent. It was also noted that, when it was discovered, the cannabis had not been harvested, but it would have fetched between £350 and £500,000 on the street. Mr Chim was refused bail. Ms Nguyen, who did not apply for bail, was also remanded. They are both due to appear in court again next month.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7482537.stm

Andy Murray maintains his belief that he can win Wimbledon this year after an incredible fightback from two sets down to beat Richard Gasquet on Monday. Gasquet served for the match in the third set but Murray recovered to win 5-7 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 6-4 and seal a quarter-final against Rafael Nadal. The Briton thrilled the Centre Court crowd with victory in four hours. And asked if he felt he could win the title, he said: "I felt like that since the start of the tournament." The 21-year-old Scot, who was seeking a first-ever place in a Grand Slam quarter-final, had been in desperate trouble when the eighth-seeded Gasquet took command of the first two sets. "For pretty much the first three sets he completely outplayed me," said Murray, who had only dropped one set in his three previous matches before Monday's clash. "And then as soon as the pressure did start to get to him a little bit at the end of the third set, I obviously took advantage of it and came back well. "The end of the match was absolutely awesome. It was nearly pitch black but one of the best matches ever for sure, for me." The match moved dramatically in Murray's favour when he secured the third set tie-break with an outrageous backhand winner from way outside the tram lines. "That was obviously huge," he said. "To finish a set like that really got the crowd going and shifted the momentum hugely. "His head went down a little bit for a few games after that shot." And Murray admitted he had been lifted by the vociferous support of the 15,000 spectators on Centre Court. "The crowd were awesome. The whole tie-break and the fourth and fifth sets, once I got ahead they got behind me more than they ever have before. "He obviously tired at the end of the match and it almost takes your mind off your physical state when you've got so many people behind you. "I thought they made a big difference in the end, for sure." Next up for Murray on Wednesday is arguably the toughest challenge in tennis at the moment as he takes on the in-form Nadal, whom he has yet to beat in three meetings. "I'm going to have to try and recover really well, get enough food in me, enough sleep, and try and prepare the best that I can," said Murray. "Obviously he's the favourite for the match but I do think I can win. "When I have played him in the past on faster courts I have had chances against him, and I am definitely a better player than I was before and definitely fitter. "It is going to be really important to serve well again but if I do that there is no reason why I can't win." Gasquet, who reached the semi-finals last year, admitted that his confidence had drained away after he failed to see out the match in the third set. "I was winning two sets to love and 5-4, so I had to win," said the Frenchman. "But he fought a lot. And after, when I lost the third, my confidence was down. "He played better. He served better. He returned better. The crowd was for him. It was natural. But it helped Andy a lot, for sure." The 22-year-old did not blame the conditions for his defeat but felt the match could have been suspended earlier. "I understand they want to finish the match because it's better for Wimbledon, but maybe, yes," he said. "But that's not an excuse. He won the match. He played well. He fought a lot. I'm sure he fought more because he was in Wimbledon, so it was maybe the key. "He played with the crowd. It was difficult for me when I lost the third. But in the fourth and the fifth he returned better than me. It was maybe the key. He served and returned better than me." And Gasquet is keen to see the roles reversed one day at the French Open. "I hope to play against him in Roland Garros for sure," he joked. "I won't be alone this time. So I'm waiting (for) him." Does the crowd affect the result?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/the_open_2003/3082161.stm

American rookie Ben Curtis won the 132nd Open Championship after a rollercoaster final round at Royal St George's. Curtis, competing in his first-ever major, won by one stroke after shooting a 69 to end on one-under-par. His nearest challenger, Thomas Bjorn, self-destructed on the closing holes having held the lead for much of the final round. His double bogey at the 16th, where he needed three attempts to get out of a greenside bunker, effectively handed the Claret Jug to Curtis. "It's unbelieveable," said the 26-year-old from Ohio as he became the first first-time Open winner since Tom Watson in 1975. "It's the grandest tournament of them all and I'm very fortunate to share the title with all the great past winners." "I'm going to be up there with the elite. I feel I belong. And I'm looking forward to it." Curtis, ranked 396th in the world, began the day at one over, but enjoyed a fantastic start, racing to five under after 11 holes. He promptly squandered that advantage by making four bogeys on the last seven holes, but still reached the clubhouse with a one-under-par total of 283. And he ended up being the only man to finish under par for the whole tournament when Bjorn collapsed over the closing holes. The Dane bogeyed the 15th, took five at the 16th after his nightmare in the sand, and dropped another shot at the 17th. That meant he needed a birdie at the 18th to force a play-off, but could only make four, and had to settle for joint second alongside Fiji's Vijay Singh. "Obviously I'm disappointed. I thought I did all the right things all day long," said Bjorn. "I lost the Open on that 16th hole but 15 was more the key because I hit it in a fairway bunker and I let a three-shot lead go." Tiger Woods and fellow American Davis Love were tied for third on one over, with England's Brian Davis and Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson a shot further back. Woods, and the other big names in the frame, had threatened at various points during the day but failed to sustain a consistent challenge. The world number one enjoyed another good outward nine, but lost his touch with the putter after the turn, and ended with a level-par 71. Three-time former champion Nick Faldo finished on three over after leaking three shots in his last four holes for a 70. Defending champion Ernie Els, who had been off the pace from the start but never entirely out of contention, ended on six over. "I set out there to win" "It was an expensive mistake"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1682318.stm

US energy giant Enron, once the world's most admired company, is now better known for being the biggest failure in US corporate history. Its collapse has prompted a host of investigations, including a criminal one. BBC News Online takes a look at the firm and some of the charges it faces. What precipitated the collapse of Enron? When the firm reported its third quarter results in October, it revealed a large, mysterious black hole that sent its share price tumbling. The US financial regulator - the Securities Exchange Commission - launched an investigation into the firm and its results. Enron then admitted it had inflated its profits, sending shares even lower. A potential buyer for Enron, shied away from the company, leaving it no choice but to file for bankruptcy on 2 December. The rapid demise of Enron from one of the most admired companies in the world to the US' largest corporate failure has raised a great deal of suspicion surrounding its complex transactions. A host of different congressional hearings and regulatory investigations culminated in the announcement that a criminal inquiry is also underway. Why has a criminal investigation been launched? Because it is a possibility that senior executives at the firm were involved in fraud. In order to fiddle its balance sheets, the firm used complex financial partnerships in order to conceal debt. And many of the company's executives allegedly raked in massive profits, selling their shares before the stock collapsed. But Enron's 20,000 employees lost billions of dollars in their pension plans, after they were barred by the company from selling shares when their value plummeted. What sort of company is Enron? On the one hand, it is a traditional diversified utility, owning power plants, water companies, gas distributors and other units involved in the relatively straightforward delivery of services to consumers and businesses. But the company really made its name by applying Wall Street-style financial wizardry to these once-sleepy markets. The genius behind Enron was the realisation that energy, water, and even obscure products such as telecom bandwidth were essentially commodities that could be bought, sold and hedged just like shares and bonds. Enron was a huge "market-maker" in the US, meaning that it acted as the main broker in energy products, taking financial punts far bigger than its actual core business. The size of these dealings made Enron briefly one of the biggest energy companies in the world, with sales of $101bn last year, rivalling venerable names such as Shell and Exxon. And it dived into the liberalising utility markets of Europe and beyond, becoming a massive financial force - especially in the UK, where it also owns a power station in Teesside and Wessex Water. For a decade or so, Enron's revolutionary approach was universally applauded. The firm was seen as having cracked the puzzle of how to make huge money out of the reliable but dull business of supplying energy. Enron was repeatedly voted the world's most admired company, and its advice was sought by governments around the world. But that wizardry proved its downfall. Enron's trading operations relied heavily on exceptionally complicated financial transactions, some relating to deals many years in the future. Auditing this sort of business is never easy, but it seems the situation at Enron was exacerbated either by incompetence or criminality among certain senior managers. No one, it seems, really understands what Enron has been doing these past few years. What will be the effects of Enron's failure? Enron has left behind $15bn of debts. And many banks around the world are exposed to the firm, from both lending it money and trading with it. Amongst others, JP Morgan has admitted to $900m of exposure, and Citigroup to up to $800m. Some banks are already proceeding with legal action, and the New York based Amalgamated Bank is suing Enron top executives for $15bn. It seems likely that a few smaller firms that dealt extensively with Enron could go bust soon, too. On an individual level, many employees have lost their jobs and seen the value of their pensions - which had been invested heavily in Enron's own stock - wiped away. And Enron's shareholders have seen shares which were worth $85 just a year ago become virtually worthless. Enron's failure raises some uncomfortable questions about rampant free markets. In the longer term, the failure of Enron makes all-out market deregulation look a lot less attractive. Policy-makers used to be keen on the idea of applying Wall Street techniques to energy markets, hoping that it might result in greater efficiency and cheaper prices. Until recently, that hope seemed to be coming true. But now, governments are likely to be far more careful about allowing private companies to play too crucial a role in crucial areas such as energy supply. With luck, investors will also be more cautious about putting their money into companies that they do not understand.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34873057

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he would be open to having a "Muslim database" in the US in the wake of the Paris attacks. Mr Trump said in an interview with Yahoo Politics that he would consider "drastic measures" for monitoring the community. Asked if that may include registering Muslims in a database or using special ID cards, he did not rule it out. Islamic State militants said they carried out the attacks in Paris. The suicide bombs and shootings at various venues across the French capital killed 129 people on Friday. "We're going to have to do things we never did before," said Mr Trump, a frontrunner in the Republican race for the White House. "And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling security is going to rule." He told Yahoo Politics certain things would have to be done "that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy". The US is going to have to do certain things that were "frankly unthinkable a year ago," said the billionaire businessman, who has previously said mosques should come under surveillance and Syrians should be deported. Dozens of state governors and Republican lawmakers have called for a halt to the processing of Syrian refugees into the US. One of the suicide bombers in Paris is thought to have entered Europe with refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, another leading contender in the Republican race for president, compared Syrian refugees to dogs while talking to reporters in Alabama on Tuesday. "If there's a rabid dog running around in your neighbourhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog," Mr Carson said. "And you're probably going to put your children out of the way. That doesn't mean that you hate all dogs." A bill tightening the vetting restrictions is due to come before Congress on Thursday. This week, President Barack Obama criticised Republicans as hysterical and un-American for saying the US should not accept Muslim refugees.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lincolnshire/6187420.stm

A 74-year-old volunteer who has climbed a Lincolnshire church tower for the past six years to wind the clock is to get a rest. Doug Page has climbed the steep steps of St Nicholas Church tower at Snitterby near Market Rasen each week. But now the century-old clock is being restored and converted to an automatic mechanism, with a £10,200 Heritage Lottery Fund grant. An exhibition about the clock will also be created with the funding. The north-facing dial of the clock has not been working for years, but Mr Page has continued to wind up the south dial, so villagers can see the time. Mr Page said: "I have to climb up a spiral stone staircase and then up a dead straight ladder and have to hang on. "I will miss it but I'm sure I'll get used to it. It will be a good thing to have it automated because who will do it when I can't?" Avril Parsons from the local Parochial Church Council added: "The steps up to the clock are very hazardous and almost perpendicular, but without Mr Page and his brother before, the clock would have stopped and also the single bell which strikes when the hands reach every hour. "Without the clock being automated our village would lose a vital part of its heritage." The clock, which was installed to commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee in April 1899, will be restored in the New Year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/scot_cups/7341879.stm

Queen of the South reached their first ever Scottish Cup final by winning a seven-goal thriller against Aberdeen. Steve Tosh slammed home the opener for Queens, while a header from Andrew Considine levelled before half-time. Paul Burns finished from close range only for Aberdeen's Barry Nicholson to follow suit, while Sean O'Connor fired the Doonhamers back in front. Considine bagged his second header of the day but John Stewart responded by lashing in the winner on 60 minutes. The First Division side will meet either the winner of next weekend's semi-final, with St Johnstone waiting to play the winner of the Partick Thistle v Rangers replay. If Rangers were to progress, the Dumfries team would be assured of a place in next season's Uefa Cup. And some of Europe's finest may be quaking in their boots after an amazing display from Gordon Chisholm's men at Hampden. Queen of the South made a bright start and less than three minutes had passed when Soutar battered an attempted clearance against O'Connor, only for the ball to rebound behind for a goal kick. It was no surprise when the Doonhamers claimed the lead on 22 minutes. Soutar failed to punch clear Ryan McCann's deep free-kick into the and the ball broke to Andy Aitken, who slipped it back to Tosh. The former Aberdeen midfielder carefully side-footed his shot from 16 yards high into the top corner. Queens had the ball in the net again but Burns had strayed two yards offside before gathering Dobbie's pass. Palmerston goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald was called on for the first time as he gathered a header from Lee Miller. But the Scotland Under-21 international was soon picking the ball out of the net after Considine levelled matters on 36 minutes. The Dons defender rose above Jim Thomson to guide a header inside the post after Scott Severin had nodded Nicholson's free-kick back into the six yard box. Chisholm's team were dealt another blow three minutes from the interval when top-scorer Stephen Dobbie limped off to be replaced by another ex-Aberdeen player, Stewart. However, match-winner Stewart played a key role in Queens' second goal just four minutes into the second half. Burns gathered a pass from Stewart at the back post and, with the goal at his mercy, sent an awkward shot against Severin, but the midfielder got another opportunity and managed to slam the loose ball home. MacDonald made a fingertip save to deny Chris Maguire and Burns squandered a golden chance when he sent a shot over the top from eight yards as the game raged from end to end. Parity was restored when Nicholson was on had to finish after MacDonald had done well to keep out Miller's header from a Maguire cross. Fans of the Dons barely had time to celebrate before they were behind again. Considine misjudged a long upfield punt and O'Connor did well to slip the ball past Diamond before slotting a neat shot beyond Soutar from 18 yards. This time the supporters from Dumfries had their joy cut short with Considine making up for his blunder with a second goal. Nicholson's cross from the right was helped on by Miller and the young defender found himself alone at the back post with the easiest of tasks to head home. A breathtaking sequence of five goals inside 11 minutes was complete when Queens scored an almost identical goal to the one they had just lost, Stewart picking up a header from Thomson and powering a shot past Soutar. The Dons swarmed forward for the remainder of the game and Zander Diamond was incredibly unlucky to hit the bar with a header then the post with a shot from the rebound. Queen of the South: MacDonald, McCann (Paton 90), Thomson, Aitken, Harris, Burns, Tosh, MacFarlane, McQuilken, O'Connor, Dobbie (Stewart 42). Subs Not Used: Grindlay, O'Neill, Gilmour. Goals: Tosh 22, Burns 49, O'Connor 56, Stewart 60. Aberdeen: Soutar, Maybury (Young 80), Diamond, Considine, McNamara (Mackie 62), Nicholson, Severin, Foster, Aluko, Maguire, Miller. Subs Not Used: Langfield, Duff, Touzani. Goals: Considine 36, Nicholson 53, Considine 59. BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Queen of the South's Sean O'Connor 9.00 (on 90 minutes). * Please note that you can still give the players marks out of 10 on BBC Sport's Player Rater after the match has finished.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19353647

Sportswear retailer JD Sports has agreed a deal to sell the Canterbury rugby brand to sports and fashion retail group Pentland for £22.7m. As part of the deal, JD will buy the OneTrueSaxon brand from Pentland, which owns Berghaus and Speedo, for £50,000. JD, which says it does not sell much Canterbury product, does not see the brand as being core to future plans. The group only bought into the rugby kitmaker, which supplies the Scotland and South Africa teams, in 2009. Canterbury also supplies the kit to major rugby union sides such as Leicester Tigers. Leinster, Cardiff Blues and Glasgow Warriors. "Having reviewed the options for Canterbury, we are pleased to have agreed its sale to Pentland on terms which are attractive for JD and provide Pentland with the opportunity to further build and develop the Canterbury brand," said JD's executive chairman Peter Cowgill. The company said it would use the proceeds from the sale to invest in its core retail business.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-nottinghamshire-47446893/people-carrier-pirouettes-after-nottingham-police-chase

Car 'pirouettes' after police chase Jump to media player Two men are arrested and later released under investigation after the chase. Driver jailed after high-speed pursuit Jump to media player Jay Fenton had heroin, cocaine and knives in his car and £3,700 cash hidden in his underwear. Learner driver's 100mph police pursuit Jump to media player The 21-year-old led officers on a pursuit so dangerous they eventually called it off. Police car rammed during pursuit Jump to media player Officers were following the Ford Mondeo after a raid on a petrol station in Chattenden, Kent. Driver called 999 during police pursuit Jump to media player A driver who was being pursued by police dialled 999 to ask them to stop following him. A police chase through a city estate ended with a car "pirouetting" to a halt. The silver Citroen Picasso, believed to be using false number plates, was spotted at about 22:00 GMT on 28 February. Nottinghamshire Police officers pursued the vehicle through Bestwood, Nottingham, before stopping it in Erewash Gardens, Top Valley. Two men were arrested on suspicion of driving offences and possession with intent to supply a class B drug. They have since been released under investigation, the force said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-13318263

Swinley Forest in Berkshire will remain closed off over the weekend as crews continue to battle the fires there. They have been burning in woodland near Ascot and Bracknell since Monday as dry peat burns underground but the fire service said they were now contained. Up to 300 firefighters from seven county forces have been using hoses to dampen down "hot spots" more than 300 hectares (740 acres). Fire chiefs have said it is the largest blaze in the county's history. They said it exceeded the scale of the 1992 Windsor Castle fire in terms of resources deployed. Meanwhile, residents and workers evacuated from nearby houses and businesses have been told they may be allowed back this weekend, since the fires are now considered under control. However small fire keep breaking out across the forest and people have been told to stay away from the area over the weekend. Forest attractions, such as the outdoor activity attraction Go Ape, will remain shut. The fire service said torrential rainfall was needed for about a week "without stopping" for the fire to be put out. The Met Office has forecast wet weather for the area over the weekend, but warned significant rainfall was unlikely. Olaf Baars, deputy chief fire officer, said: "In the middle of the afternoon we're probably approaching 300 personnel on the ground and that effort is going to be sustained through [Saturday], with the possibility of reducing that effort on Sunday. "And when we do eventually leave here, the fire will not be completely extinguished. We will be handing it over to the Forestry Commission and the Crown Estate with some smouldering, but in areas that have isolated from any other fuel, which will be allowed to burn out. "If we were to try and extinguish it completely we'll be here all summer." Have you been affected by the fires in Berkshire? Send us your comments using the form below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-47959746

Two snakes were dumped in a town centre park after a failed bid to rehome them. The two baby boa constrictors were handed in on Tuesday after they were found in Ipswich's Christchurch Park, Suffolk Police said. Pet shop Viking Aquatics said a young couple had gone into the shop earlier in the day and asked if they could take the snakes in. The reptiles were found less than two hours later. Police said the snakes had been rehomed to an experienced herpetologist. Viking Aquatics manager Rickie Clarke said they did not have any space for the snakes so they turned down the couple's request to take them. He said he gave them a bit of advice about how to rehome them and they seemed to be "happy with that". He added he was then surprised when the police came into the store with the snakes, still in the same tub the couple had carried them in. He described baby boa constrictors, which were about 12in (30cm) to 15in (38cm) in length, as "harmless". Mr Clarke said they would "not have lasted long out in the park" as they may have become dehydrated in the tub and or fallen victim to predators such as birds and cats.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18260161

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has emphasised the importance of a strong US naval presence in Asia, on the eve of a trip to the region. Speaking at the US naval academy, he said the future of the US depended on ensuring security throughout the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. "America is a maritime nation and we are returning to our maritime roots," he said. He is due to travel to Vietnam, India and Singapore for a security summit. Speaking to naval graduates in Annapolis on Tuesday, he said the US should strengthen existing ties with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines, and form "robust partnerships" with South East Asian nations. "One of the key projects that your generation will have to face is sustaining and enhancing American strength across the great maritime region of the Asia-Pacific," he told the new naval officers. The Pentagon chief also spoke about the need to ''strengthen defence ties with China, even as its military is ''growing and modernising''. ''We must be vigilant. We must be strong. We must be prepared to confront any challenge," he said. But, he added, it was also key to develop a new era of military co-operation with China, in which both countries ''share security burdens in order to advance peace in the Asia-Pacific and around the world''. Mr Panetta says he will visit China later this year - his first trip as defence secretary. His speech underscores the new strategic focus of the US on the Asia-Pacific region, amid concerns over how the rise of China and its growing assertiveness over maritime territorial claims might affect the region. During a visit to Australia in November last year, President Barack Obama said that the region was now a "top priority" of US security policy. ''The United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay,'' he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/6167487.stm

Zara Phillips has been named 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year - 35 years after her mother, the Princess Royal, received the same honour. She won the public vote ahead of golfer Darren Clarke and gymnast Beth Tweddle. The award marked the climax to a thrilling year for Phillips, who holds both world and European equestrian titles on her horse, Toytown. "For two members of the same family to win the award for the first time is very special," Phillips said. "My mum said when she won it no-one else was in the running! In the build-up to it, I didn't think it would be a big thing for me. "I was thinking 'I'd rather have my world gold medal than the Sports Personality of The Year award'. "But when it actually came around to the night, and I was up there on the stage, it was unbelievable when you looked at all the top sporting people in the room." Phillips looked shocked and delighted as she collected her prize at a crowded NEC in Birmingham with one third of the public vote. "It's just amazing to be here among these people and to win this is absolutely amazing," she said. Clarke had been hot favourite to win the award after he helped Europe to victory over the United States in the Ryder Cup just weeks after the death of his wife Heather. But the 38-year-old from Northern Ireland had said beforehand that he did not want to triumph on a sympathy vote. The show was taking place outside London for the first time in the event's 53-year history, with 3,000 tickets snapped up by members of the public. "The atmosphere was brilliant and I was in awe of everyone," Phillips added later in an interview on BBC Radio Five Live. "There were so many fantastic people up for the award, I personally didn't expect to win. "It's great for my sport. The people that voted have obviously viewed what we did this year and seen what it's about. "Hopefully it'll encourage more people to come and get involved." Clarke, who won three matches out of three at the Ryder Cup, secured 21% of the vote, while world champion gymnast Tweddle earned 12%. Phillips won the individual gold in the three-day eventing competition at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen in Germany. The Queen's granddaughter produced a near faultless display over the three days of dressage, cross country and show jumping. She also helped Great Britain claim the team silver and has become only the third rider to hold the European and World titles at the same time. Phillips, whose partner is England rugby star Mike Tindall, won the world title in the aftermath of the death of her close friend Sherelle Duke at a horse trials in Brockenhurst a few days earlier. Her mother, the Princess Royal won the coveted BBC award in 1971. Zara Phillips - A worthy winner?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6522851.stm

Playing Jesus is never easy. Especially the bit where you try to walk on a lake. But for the people of one region in Mexico that is effectively what they can now do - walk on a lake. It is really quite easy, you just put one foot in front of the other and off you go. It is not a trick, more an illusion. On parts of Lake Patzcuaro, 231 miles (371km) north-east of Mexico City, you can walk. Except, of course, much of the lake is no longer there. It is the lake bed that entices you out where the water once used to be. And now large chunks are gone, local people employ religious mysticism to account for its absence. "It is God's hands," says Adriana Ortega Torres. "When I was a child the water was everywhere. But just look at it now. You can now walk where it was once five metres deep. God only knows what has happened," she says. Ms Ortega Torres is the region's environment director. We walked together several hundred metres from where the waters edge used to be. All around us is a dried-out cracked lake bed. It is like a combination of a river or sea tide having gone out, only permanently. If you lean over and look at a stretch of ground up close, it resembles one of those aerial photos of the patchwork of green fields of the South Downs, with all the lines of the fences between the fields. Except on this ground, the lines are the cracks in the earth and the earth itself is brown, not green. Ms Ortega Torres has no doubts why the lake has shrunk so much. "It's because of climate change," she says. "This area used to get around 300 days of rain a year. Now we are lucky to see 100 to 150 days. So the lake cannot be replenished." It is believed that 30% of the lake has been lost in the past 20 or 30 years or so. Ms Ortega Torres says that as the water has dried up, so humans have moved in. Deforestation and agriculture have added to the problem by draining and using the land. "I don't know who is to blame," she says. "Whether it is Mexican-made gas emissions doing this to our climate, or someone else, or a mixture, we simply don't know." Ms Ortega Torres is not alone in being alarmed. One recent survey found that 70% of Mexicans fear the effects of global warming. Further north, the United Nations has identified other areas of Mexico as places where the likelihood of global warming is taking effect. Certainly Mexico finds itself in a difficult position. By 2025, its expected to be using two and a half times the electricity it is using now. This is, after all, a developing country. It has a population of 105 million people which is rising - fast. It is far behind the carbon dioxide emissions of the United States. In the US they produce about 6.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per person per year. In Mexico 1.5 tons are produced. But population growth and economic development will likely see the Mexican numbers go up. Policies to counter greenhouse gases are not the first priority of the new government led by President Felipe Calderon. More basic stuff like law and order and poverty are the key issues. "The government could help if it wanted to," says Diego Librado Flores, a boat man on what is left of Lake Patzcuaro. For 48 years he has worked the waters, first as a fisherman and now taking tourists around its still-gorgeous reed and rushes-framed edges. "I am frightened not for myself, but for my children and grandchildren," says Mr Flores, now 60 years old. "I have heard of global warming. I don't know if that's the cause, but unless the government does something to stop the water disappearing it won't be here much longer." Mr Flores spoke his words with his face illuminated by the orange glow of a late evening sunset, the suns rays casting a path of splintered light across the surface to our boat. The loss of such an exquisitely beautiful place would be the equivalent of an ecological elbow in the ribs. Proving global warming is the culprit is hard. But here in Patzcuaro, the doubts are as rare as the fast disappearing water itself. They believe it is human-driven activity that is sucking the life force out of their cherished lake. They may now be able to walk on parts of it, but what they really want is a miracle to save it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/4854554.stm

A last-minute deal has been struck to stop a "lost" science manuscript from the 1600s - which charts the birth of modern science - being auctioned. The hand-written document, by Dr Robert Hooke, contains the minutes of the Royal Society from 1661 to 1682. It is thought to have lain hidden in a house in Hampshire for about 50 years. The script was expected to fetch £1m at Tuesday's auction, but an agreement was made for it to be sold to an anonymous bidder on behalf of the Royal Society. It was discovered in a cupboard in a private house where other items were being valued by an antiques expert. However, it was only when the valuer was leaving that the family, whose identity has been kept secret, thought to show him the manuscript. The Royal Society, Britain's leading academic institution, had stated before the auction that it had no hope of finding enough money to purchase the manuscript. However, President Lord Rees of Ludlow had appealed for a "white knight" to buy the document, which contains more than 520 pages of script and some drawings. On Tuesday - the day it was due to be auctioned at Bonhams in London - a Royal Society spokesman said a payment of about £1m had been made for the manuscript to preserve it for the nation. Lord Rees said: "This is great news for science and great news for Britain." He said the documents would be put on show to the public and samples were due to be displayed on the society's website. "We are keen that as wide an audience as possible, including scholars and the general public, should now be able to appreciate these documents," he added. "We intend to provide digitised versions on our website as soon as possible, and will put the originals on display during our Summer Science Exhibition this year between July 3 and 6." Dr Robert Hooke, who died in 1703, has been described as the unsung hero of science and "England's Leonardo" and he recorded hundreds of inventions, demonstrations and experiments by leading scientists, but his name is often forgotten. The physicist, chemist, cosmologist, biologist, horologist and mechanic also published the world's first comprehensive illustrated book on microscopy and coined the word "cell". He pioneered the modern watch, designed scientific instruments and devices, as well as the sash window, the velocipede, and the universal joint used in motorised vehicles. He also helped pave the way for the steam engine and, with Sir Christopher Wren, was responsible for rebuilding London after the Great Fire of 1666. However, he often fell out with other scientists accusing them of plagiarising his work. His most famous feud was with Sir Isaac Newton, who he accused of stealing his ideas about gravity.