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Mike Phelan: Hull City sack head coach after less than three months in permanent role - BBC Sport

2017-01-04

Premier League strugglers Hull City sack head coach Mike Phelan less than three months after his caretaker role was made permanent.

Phelan, 54, took over as caretaker manager following Steve Bruce's departure in the summer, becoming a permanent appointment in October. But with City in the relegation zone, picking up three points from their last nine games, the club announced they had "parted company" with Phelan. Hull said they were already searching for a replacement, with an announcement to be made "in due course". Phelan made a promising start to his Hull City career, winning the manager of the month award for August, but the Tigers' last league win was on 6 November, a 2-1 victory over Southampton. Swansea's victory over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night sent Hull to the bottom of the table, three points from safety. Former Manchester United assistant Phelan was in charge of the club for just 85 days as a manager, plus 81 days as caretaker boss. Assistant Neil McDonald, goalkeeping coach Bobby Mimms and chief scout Stan Ternent have also left the club. On Twitter, the club said: "We would like to thank Mike for his efforts both as assistant manager and head coach over the last two years." Phelan's last game in charge was a 3-1 defeat by West Brom on New Year's Eve. City were leading 1-0 at half-time but collapsed in the second half, falling to a fifth defeat in seven games. Hull will next play fellow strugglers Swansea in the FA Cup third round before taking on Manchester United in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals on 10 January. It has been a tumultuous season for the club, which is up for sale. In July, Bruce left as manager after gaining promotion to the Premier League with a breakdown in his relationship with vice-chairman Ehab Allam contributing to his departure. At the beginning of the season injuries had left the Tigers with only 13 fit senior players although Phelan, while in temporary charge, did begin the campaign with successive league wins. Victories have been harder to come by since September, however, and with fellow strugglers Swansea and Crystal Palace sacking their managers over Christmas, Phelan paid the price as newly promoted Hull attempt to maintain their Premier League status. Stoke manager Mark Hughes, whose team beat Watford 2-0 on Tuesday, said: "Mike got the job under difficult circumstances and I thought recent performances had markedly improved, so it showed he was having an impact. "He's a great football guy, but that's the Premier League for you - it's ruthless and sometimes, at this time of year, owners get panicky." The dash to avoid the drop from the Premier League has claimed another victim with Hull City's sacking of Mike Phelan. Phelan has gone the same way as Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace and Bob Bradley at Swansea City as further evidence that patience simply does not - indeed some clubs feel it cannot - exist when the threat of relegation looms. And yet here is a manager who took his time to accept the Hull job when contenders were hardly queuing outside the door of the KC Stadium and after being named Premier League manager of the month in August. Phelan has also guided Hull to the EFL Cup semi-final against his former club Manchester United but this has simply not figured in the club's calculations when weighed against the fact they are bottom of the table with only 13 points from 20 games. Phelan has hardly had massive backing in the transfer market and in many games Hull actually played well without getting points on the board. This has ultimately cost him his job. The Tigers now need to choose carefully and see if they can find a way to back a new manager in the January market - with former Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett the name being mentioned after Phelan's departure. Premier League management is a brutal business but there must still be a large measure of sympathy for Phelan after taking on a task which plenty thought was a thankless one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38503364

Laura Muir smashes a 25-year-old British indoor 5,000m record in Glasgow - BBC Sport

2017-01-04

Laura Muir breaks Liz McColgan's 25-year-old British indoor record over 5,000m at the Glasgow Miler Meet at the Emirates Arena.

Last updated on .From the section Athletics Laura Muir broke the British indoor record over 5,000m at the Glasgow Miler Meet at the Emirates Arena. "I am delighted to get it and it is nice to know now where I am at in terms of the 5,000m," said Muir, 23. "I've been in South Africa training, and the sessions there since we came back were at PB times for 5,000m so I felt good going into tonight's race." Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday, McColgan described Muir as "world class", but questioned if her feat satisfied all the criteria to make the record stand. British Athletics has since confirmed that Muir's time is official. Muir broke her own British 1500m record at the Diamond League meeting in Paris in August and reached the 1500m Olympic final at Rio 2016. The Scot will next captain the Great Britain team competing at Saturday's Great Edinburgh International Cross Country, which will be shown live on BBC One from 13:15 GMT. Muir lines up as part of the mixed 4x1km relay team, while Sir Mo Farah competes in the men's 8km race and Gemma Steel and Steph Twell in the women's event over 6km.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38514094

Duchess of Cambridge honoured by Royal Photographic Society - BBC News

2017-01-04

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The Duchess of Cambridge accepts a lifetime honorary membership of the Royal Photographic Society.

UK

The duchess took this photo of her two children at Anmer Hall in Norfolk The Duchess of Cambridge has accepted a lifetime honorary membership of the Royal Photographic Society for her family portraits and tour photos. Chief executive Michael Pritchard praised the duchess for her "talent and enthusiasm" behind the lens. Kate, 34, took the first official photograph of Princess Charlotte when her daughter was born in 2015. She had previously published photos from her and Prince William's Asian and Pacific tour in 2012. Since becoming a mother, the Duchess has released a number of family photos including Prince George's first day at nursery school and Princess Charlotte's first birthday. In a picture taken by his mother, Prince George on his first day of nursery school near Sandringham in Norfolk The palace released Kate's photo of Princess Charlotte on her first birthday She also took this one of Charlotte learning to walk Older shots include a photo of Mount Kinabalu, the highest point in Borneo, and a black-and-white image of an orangutan from when she travelled there with Prince William in 2012. Mr Pritchard said the society chose to recognise Kate for her "long-standing" interest in photography and its history. "She is latest in a long line of royal photographers and the society is pleased to recognise her talent," he said. While on tour in 2012, Kate took a photo of an endangered Borneo Orangutan She also captured this view of the rainforest during her and William's trip to Borneo Kate and William visited Borneo as part of a tour of South Asia and the Pacific to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were also patrons of the 1853-founded Royal Photographic Society. The duchess joins fellow lifetime members Annie Leibovitz, who has photographed the Queen, along with the recently-knighted war photographer Sir Don McCullin. The Queen herself took cine films to capture family memories and royal trips. Kate, who graduated in History of Art from the University of St Andrews, is also a patron of the Natural History Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Her first commission was in 2008 for her parents' company, Party Pieces. The Queen taking a cine-film in 1953 of a Royal Navy cruiser, HMS Sheffield • None The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38494382

The guide dog that spies on people who ignore its owner - BBC News

2017-01-04

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The guide dog filming evidence for its blind owner of the discrimination he may unknowingly face.

Disability

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Amit Patel's guide dog, Kika, carries a camera which records the discrimination he can't see Unable to see the world around him, Amit Patel fitted his guide dog with a camera and set about recording evidence of the discrimination he faced but could not see. "The city is a scary place. It's like someone put you in the middle of Trafalgar Square, turned you in a circle and said 'find your way home'." That is Amit Patel's new reality after he lost his sight unexpectedly in 2012, 18 months after he got married. He now relies on guide dog Kika to get him around the once familiar streets of London. But the footage captured by his canine guide hasn't always shown a city willing to help him. "The video came out of necessity," Patel says. "Kika was getting hit by peoples' bags and she was getting a lot of abuse. A woman stopped me one day and had a go at me for holding everyone up and said I should apologise, which was a real shock." The former doctor found a solution - attach a GoPro to Kika's harness and film every journey. Patel's wife, Seema, can then review the footage if it is felt there was something amiss about that day. And when alterations were made to a London train station the camera came into its own. "I asked for help and no one came," Patel recounts. "The video shows lots of staff standing around me and this one guy looking over many times. "Eventually when the staff member actually came to me the first thing he said was 'sorry I didn't see you' and that really bugged me. He wouldn't say that to someone who wasn't visually impaired. "It really makes me angry. It's the fact that someone is fobbing me off." An image from Kika's footage of the Network Rail incident in London The footage was sent to Network Rail giving Patel the "valuable evidence" needed to lodge a formal complaint about an incident he couldn't see. "It made me feel vulnerable but having the footage was a godsend," he says. "Having the camera, having the voice, having the actual scenario played out in real time it actually gives me something to go back to the company and say 'this is what happened to me and it needs to be sorted'." The video had an impact and Network Rail investigated before giving further training to its staff. Kika's camera captures an image of Amit on the London Underground "While in this instance the event and associated disruption was not organised by or held at the station itself, we do recognise that the station can be a complicated place to navigate," a spokesman says. "That is why we have hired many extra staff to look after passengers." For newly blind Patel, standing alone for several minutes can feel like hours. "One of the things I noticed with losing my sight is how lonely it is. If I'm travelling by public transport I will be the scared little boy sat in the corner. You can't listen to music because you're listening out for dangers or to station announcements." Patel says it is only since he lost his sight that he has become aware of the discrimination visually impaired people can face. Patel learned he had keratoconus - a condition which changes the shape of the cornea - in the final year of medical school. Lenses to push the corneas back into shape stopped working and six cornea transplants were rejected by his body until he was told "no more". It was a series of burst blood vessels which caused the unexpected loss of sight within 48 hours. Patel says: "I woke up every morning thinking I'd get my sight back. For about six months I was quite shut off, depressed and I would go to the bathroom and have a cry. "The one thing that stayed in my mind was that I would never see my loved ones. It was holding on to the last memories I had." "There are taxi drivers who will see you and won't stop. You phone the company and they say they didn't see you, but you look at the footage and see them having looked at you and driving right past." Other incidents he says highlight a lack of thought - especially on London's Underground. "People assume, because I have a guide dog, I can walk around them but they make us walk near the tracks or I can say to Kika 'find me a seat' and I'll put my hand down on one and someone will sit on it and refuse to get up." The loss of his sight led Patel to change his life dramatically. The former University College Hospital doctor moved to New Eltham in south London so his wife didn't have to travel so far for work and wouldn't spend so much time away from him. The view of New Eltham High Street from Kika's camera Patel says he had assumed, as a doctor, he would know where to get support, but he found that wasn't the case and he became frustrated at the simple mistakes he made - miscalculations led to stair falls and fingers were burnt from trying to find out how full his coffee cup was. Beyond the major life changes there were more subtle experiences too. "Your balance goes awry. I felt like I walked on a cloud sometimes, and if I find a pair of shoes I'll buy three pairs because a change in grip makes a real difference. "My hearing's increased and my sense of smell, and the way I touch things." There have also been more unexpected side effects. The camera has given Amit the confidence to go out alone with Kika and his baby son "I have small pixels of light coming into my eyes and my brain interprets that as images. It'll put four pixels together and build a photo - so you may be sitting on the couch while thinking a car's coming towards you." Patel now supports people who have lost their sight unexpectedly and gives talks to community organisations using the GoPro footage to demonstrate what Kika sees. Despite all the challenges he has faced, including coming to terms with never seeing his baby son, Patel has accepted his new world. "My life at the moment is so much more vivid, it's more colourful than it was when I had sight. "It still fills me with dread leaving the house, because I have no control and am completely reliant on Kika, but we're out all of the time - any excuse." For more follow on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the weekly podcast. Join the BBC Stories conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-38027203

Sweden's Queen Silvia says palace is haunted by ghosts - BBC News

2017-01-04

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Sweden's Queen Silvia says the royal palace is haunted but the spooks are 'very friendly'

Europe

Queen Silvia told documentary makers that she is not scared of the ghostly visitors Queen Silvia of Sweden believes her royal palace is haunted, according to a documentary to be aired on Swedish public television on Thursday. She said she shares 17th-century Drottningholm Palace, with "small friends ... ghosts". "It's really exciting. But you don't get scared," she said. The building, near Stockholm, is the permanent residence of the queen and her husband, King Carl XVI Gustaf. The documentary, Drottningholm Palace: A Royal Home, was made by public broadcaster SVT and airs in Sweden on Thursday. "You sometimes feel that you're not completely alone," the queen told the filmmakers, insisting her alleged cohabitants are "all very friendly". Princess Christina, the king's sister, backed the queen's claims when she was interviewed for the film. "There is much energy in this house. It would be strange if it didn't take the form of guises," the princess said. Swedish website The Local joked that "brave amateur ghost hunters" could visit the palace to put the rumours to the test. It said: "Drottningholm Palace is open to the public year round, with the exception of the rooms in the southern wing, which are reserved for the royals. And their spooky friends, presumably." Queen Silvia and King Carl (pictured in a scene from the documentary) married in 1976 Queen Silvia, 73, married King Carl 40 years ago and is now Sweden's longest-serving queen. She is the daughter of a German businessman and a Brazilian woman. In a 2015 book, The Royal Year, she told an interviewer that she had been lonely in her first year as queen and found it hard living in a palace dominated by men. "Everybody had kind intentions. Everyone wanted to support me and was there. And the king was wonderful. [...] But it could be lonely," she said. She was admitted to hospital just before Christmas, after experiencing dizziness, but was released two days later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38507015

Bournemouth to appeal against Simon Francis red card in Arsenal draw - BBC Sport

2017-01-04

Bournemouth are appealing against Simon Francis' red card in the 3-3 draw with Arsenal on Tuesday.

Last updated on .From the section Football Bournemouth are appealing against Simon Francis' red card in the 3-3 draw with Arsenal on Tuesday. Defender Francis, 31, was dismissed for a challenge on midfielder Aaron Ramsey as the Gunners came from 3-0 down to rescue a point at the Vitality Stadium. Cherries boss Eddie Howe said it was a "harsh" decision by referee Michael Oliver to send off Francis, before Olivier Giroud equalised in added time. "It was a foul but I don't think it was a sending-off," said Howe. The club expect to hear the outcome of their appeal by the end of the week. If the appeal is unsuccessful, Francis will miss Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie with Millwall as well as Premier League games against Hull City and Watford.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38508038

Premier League festive fixtures 2017-18: Six games in 17 days next Christmas - BBC Sport

2017-01-04

If Premier League managers were annoyed at this season's festive fixture list, what about next season's?

Last updated on .From the section Football Arsene Wenger calls it "unfair", Jose Mourinho says it "creates problems" and Sam Allardyce thinks the person responsible for it should be sacked. But with a shortened season next year to help England prepare for the 2018 World Cup, fixture congestion over the festive period could be even worse. The Premier League has confirmed that a draft fixture schedule for next season could see six rounds of games over Christmas and New Year in 2017-18, as opposed to four this year. That could see clubs playing six games in 17 days from 16 December 2017 to 1 January 2018 inclusive. There are still several stages of the fixtures process to go, with nothing confirmed until June and final dates remaining subject to change after that announcement. Yet should those factors result in two extra games during the festive period, the debate over the difference in rest between games for each side and calls for a winter break looks set to continue. What is the draft fixture schedule for 2017-18? On Monday's Match of the Day, host Gary Lineker revealed next season's draft fixture schedule includes six games between the dates of 16 December 2017 and 1 January 2018 inclusive. It is unlikely there will be a full round of 10 fixtures on each of the six matchdays, with games set to be moved in order to be televised. But if the six potential matchdays represent separate rounds of top-flight action, then fans can look forward to 60 Premier League games in total over the course of that period. How does this compare? This season saw 40 Premier League games over a similar period, with each club having four fixtures between Saturday 17 December 2016 and Wednesday 4 January 2017 inclusive. Those 40 fixtures were played on 12 separate matchdays, including a particularly busy run which saw at least one Premier League match on every day bar one between 26 December and 4 January. The 2015-16 campaign also included 40 games played between Saturday 19 December 2015 and Sunday 3 January inclusive, but the fixtures were played on nine separate matchdays. Perhaps the biggest difference between the last two seasons is evident in the Boxing Day fixture lists, with all 10 games played on 26 December 2015 whereas only eight games took place on the same day this season - with televised games between Liverpool and Stoke and Southampton and Tottenham following on 27 and 28 December respectively. That greater spread of games resulted in widespread debate amongst Premier League managers over discrepancies in the amount of rest between games for each club. Hours taken to play all three festive matches 26 Dec-4 Jan Hours from start of first game, to end of third What have the managers said? Arsenal manager Wenger was especially critical of this year's festive fixture list, calling it the "most uneven Christmas period" he has seen in 20 years. He added: "The difference of rest periods is absolutely unbelievable, compared to the other teams it is unbelievable." Wenger was far from alone, with Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho claiming, "it looks like the fixtures are chosen to give rest for some and to create problems to others". All the way back in October, an incredulous Jurgen Klopp looked at Liverpool's festive fixture list and simply asked: "How do you prepare a team for this?" Not all title-chasing managers were fazed by the fixture list though, with Chelsea boss Antonio Conte saying his rivals were "angry for our position [as leaders] not for the fixtures". The stakes are just as high at the bottom of the table with Sam Allardyce claiming the fixture scheduling contributed to his "shattered" Crystal Palace side losing to relegation rivals Swansea on Tuesday. Even Swansea first-team coach Alan Curtis acknowledged the discrepancy, adding: "We had 24 hours more rest compared to them and that may have made a difference." Referring to the lucrative television rights deal signed by the Premier League, Wenger said: "I don't know any more whether the Premier League is the master of the fixtures." While TV broadcast selections alter the specific dates of games, the initial fixture list is compiled by international IT services company Atos, on behalf of the Premier League. The first step is inputting international dates from world governing body Fifa, then dates of the European club competitions from Uefa, before the Football Association adds in their competitions, leaving the dates on which league and League Cup matches can be played. This process is complicated for the 2017-18 season due to an agreement with the FA to finish seasons early in tournament years - in this instance to give the England manager a month with his squad to prepare for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Where possible, the Premier League and FA will also try to establish a stand-alone date for the FA Cup final. There are then numerous other factors including the distribution of home and away games and travel issues to consider, as well as further discussion and checks before the fixture list is released in mid-June. The live TV broadcast selections for December 2017 will not be confirmed until four to six weeks before the start of the month, so managers will have to wait to see how they fare in terms of rest between games. But two extra fixtures to fit in are unlikely to be a welcome Christmas gift for most.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38497382

Trump starts a 'sanctuary city' war with liberal America - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Donald Trump takes aim at US jurisdictions that don't co-operate with immigration officials

US & Canada

Mr Trump's border wall announcement will make most of the headlines today, given that it was a central focus of his presidential campaign and has increased diplomatic tension with the Mexican government. His plan to target US "sanctuary cities", however, likely sets the stage for a much tougher, uglier domestic political fight. More than 400 jurisdictions across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle - major cities in left-leaning states that did not vote for Mr Trump - have enacted policies protecting undocumented immigrants within their boundaries. Officials in these designated areas, including local law enforcement, are not allowed to enquire as to an individual's immigration status in the course of their duties. Candidate Trump pledged to end this practice, and on Wednesday he put some teeth into his promise - authorising the federal government to withhold funds from cities that do not co-operate with immigration officials or comply with federal law. His executive order frames the issue as one of national security. "Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States wilfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States," it reads. "These jurisdictions have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our republic." This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The US government has often used the power of the purse to compel states and localities to bend to its will on matters like highway speed limits, educational policies and setting a minimum drinking age. So far, however, some of the biggest cities are preparing to go toe-to-toe with the federal government over the issue. They assert that they need to be able to provide services to all their residents to avoid public health crises and encourage co-operation between undocumented immigrants and police. "Building and maintaining trust between local law enforcement and the communities they bravely serve is vital to ensuring public safety," New York Attorney General Eric T Schneiderman said in a press statement. "Any attempt to bully local governments into abandoning policies that have proven to keep our cities safe is not only unconstitutional, but threatens the safety of our citizens." According to estimates, New York City alone could risk losing more than $7bn in federal funds - although Mr Trump's executive order clarifies that funding for law enforcement won't be affected. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose city could lose $1bn in funding, took a similarly confrontational tone. "There is no stranger among us," he said. "We welcome people, whether you're from Poland or Pakistan, whether you're from Ireland or India or Israel and whether you're from Mexico or Moldova, where my grandfather came from, you are welcome in Chicago as you pursue the American Dream." This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Larger cities may be willing to stand and fight the Trump administration, but they're not the only jurisdictions that could be in the crosshairs. Smaller towns, like Maywood, California, also have set themselves up as sanctuary cities, and they may be less able to survive the threatened federal cutbacks - unless they get help from their state governments. "California is going to fight Trump all the way, and that's great to have the support from state leadership," Eduardo De La Riva, mayor pro tem of Maywood, told the Los Angeles Times. "I think we're sending a clear message when you have several of the largest cities also saying we're going to take a stance." In 2004 then-Senator Barack Obama condemned those who tried to divide the US into red states and blue states - Republican and Democratic. Mr Trump, in his inaugural address, took a more confrontational tone, and he appears ready to follow through with a policy that sets his conservative administration in a direct and highly visible confrontation with liberal cities.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38738423

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger to accept FA charge at hearing on Friday - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will attend an FA hearing on Friday, where he will accept a misconduct charge.

Last updated on .From the section Football Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he will accept a Football Association misconduct charge for his behaviour during the 2-1 league win over Burnley. Wenger, 67, was charged with verbally abusing and pushing fourth official Anthony Taylor after being sent off in the closing stages of the game. He had been dismissed for reacting angrily to a 93rd-minute penalty given to Burnley, who trailed 1-0. Wenger, who later apologised, has been called to an FA hearing on Friday. The Frenchman will appear in person and is likely to learn his fate on the same day. Arsenal face Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday. "I've said what I have publicly and the rest will be more discreet," Wenger said. "I don't know if I will be punished and how I will be punished. "The only thing I can say is that when I was sent off I was surprised and then I was in the tunnel which is where I thought I could be." After being sent to the stands by referee Jon Moss, Wenger moved away from the pitch but stood at the tunnel entrance and refused to move as he tried to watch the remaining few minutes of Sunday's match. As Taylor encouraged him to move away, Wenger was seen to push back against him. When asked if he would accept the charge, Wenger said: "Yes. I am big enough to stand up for what I do. "When I don't behave like I think I should behave, I am big enough to say I am not right. I'm a passionate guy and I believe that I am completely committed in my job and want to win football games." In 2012, then-Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was fined £20,000 and given a two-match touchline ban for pushing an assistant referee during a match against Tottenham.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38755704

Australian baby Brian Junior weighs in at 6.06kg - BBC News

2017-01-26

Brian Junior was born in Melbourne and weighed in at 6.06kg (13.5lb) and was 57cm long.

Brian Junior was born in Melbourne and weighed in at 6.06kg (13.5lb) and was 57cm long. His mum, who always wanted "a little fat baby" says she was shocked to find out he was twice the size of an average baby.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-38743296

Health inequality research offers UK wake-up call - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Research shows that health inequality is blighting children's lives, but the gap between rich and poor is making it hard to remedy the problem.

Health

Health inequality has been much discussed at learned seminars. In 2010 a ground-breaking report for the government in England by Sir Michael Marmot set out the social factors governing health and pointed to the role of a child's early years in determining life chances. Now, leading child health experts are saying that little progress has been made since then and that health inequality is still blighting the lives of young people. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is arguing that what it calls the wide gap between rich and poor is damaging infant health around the UK. The college president, Professor Neena Modi, points out that in general the health of young people has improved dramatically over the last 30 years. But she argues that a lot more needs to be done to improve child health and that it is "particularly troubling" that "stark inequalities" have widened in the last few years. The report says that the UK ranks high amongst Western European countries on mortality rates for infants under the age of one. The relative position, according to the report, has worsened since the UK sat around the average in 1970. Deprivation, it says, is strongly linked to death rates among children. The college believes that many of the causes of infant mortality are preventable and asserts that issues such as fetal growth restriction disproportionately affect the least advantaged families in society. Reducing child poverty, with benefits and housing policy playing a part, are crucial for improving infant survival, according to the report. Reducing child poverty - partly through benefits and housing policy - is crucial in improving infant survival, the report says New mortality data have been published this week by the Office for National Statistics. They underline again the scale of inequalities. Within England, the West Midlands had double the infant mortality rate of the South East in 2015, at 6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. For the whole population (age-standardised), Blackpool, Glasgow, Belfast and Blaenau Gwent had considerably higher death rates than areas like Monmouthshire and City of London. The ONS release accompanying the data notes: "The substantial variation in mortality rates between different local areas reflects underlying differences in factors such as income deprivation, socio-economic position and health behaviour." The nation's statisticians are confirming the thrust of the Royal College report - that inequality is a key driver in health outcomes. Income inequality on some measures has fallen in recent years in the UK. But this followed a sharp decline in earnings and investment returns for the wealthiest households after the financial crisis at a time when benefits for the poorest were being protected by government policies. Inequality is higher than it was in the 1970s and is still relatively high compared to other advanced economies. Real wages for much of the population have stagnated since the start of the recession in 2008. It has been described as a "lost decade" even by the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney. A recent ONS report on household inequality, noting the relative generosity of pensioner benefit increases compared to other parts of the population, stated: "While retired households' incomes have soared in recent years, non-retired households still have less money, on average, than before the crash." While most people close to or at average income levels remain financially stretched and there are no signs of a significant reduction in the gap between rich and poor, health disparities will be hard to shift. The latest Royal College report and data are a wake-up call if one were needed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38743574

Steven Gerrard: Liverpool return makes ex-captain 'nervous and anxious' - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Ex-Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard tells BBC Sport he is "nervous and anxious" about his impending return to Anfield as a youth coach.

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says he is "excited" but also "nervous and anxious" about his impending return to Anfield as a youth coach. Gerrard, who made his Reds debut in 1998 and retired from playing last year, will begin the job in February. "Liverpool are prepared to help me an awful lot. They want to help me to become a better coach or a better manager," Gerrard, 36, told BBC Sport. "But at the same time I've got to commit to it and put in the hard work." • None said he is in no rush to take up a managerial role as he does not yet know if he'll be "good enough"; • None revealed Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has "gone out of his way" to welcome him back to the club; • None backed Liverpool to overcome their current "blip" and said he was "absolutely delighted" to have Klopp as manager Midfielder Gerrard left Anfield at the end of the 2014-15 season to join MLS side LA Galaxy before retiring in November after a 19-year playing career. Jurgen does it his way and we all respect that and we're happy to have him The former England captain said he was "really happy" to be "back at the club I love and being back home with my family" - but insisted his return was not down to sentiment. "With me and Liverpool there will always be an emotional pull. But the decision to go back as a coach and what that entails, I couldn't really make that decision on sentiment or emotion because I'd have been doing it for the wrong reasons," he said. "I'm very excited but at the same time a little bit nervous and a little bit anxious because it's a brand new role, one that I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into." • None Listen: Lawrenson feels move is good for Gerrard and Liverpool When will Gerrard move into management? Gerrard was linked with the manager's job at League One side MK Dons soon after announcing he would leave LA Galaxy, but said at the time the opportunity had come "too soon" for him. He is working towards his Uefa A coaching licence, which is required to manage in the Premier League, but he says it is still too early to predict the path his future career will take. "There's no rush, no timescale," he said. "The silly thing for me would be to rush and go in when I'm not ready. "I've got incredible people around me and hopefully in the future there'll be some exciting opportunities. "I've a lot of dreams and aspirations to be the best I can be in terms of coaching and management - but we'll have to wait and see if I'm going to be good enough." Gerrard was at Anfield on Wednesday to see his club knocked out of the EFL Cup after a 2-0 aggregate defeat by Southampton in the semi-finals. That result continued a difficult start to 2017 for Klopp's side, who have managed just one win in seven games this year - a third-round FA Cup replay victory at League Two Plymouth Argyle. "I hope it's just a blip," added Gerrard, who was speaking at a media event for Star Sixes, a new football tournament for former international players to be held at The O2, London, in July, in which he will be a team captain. "I've experienced it myself and blips are difficult to play your way out of, but I believe we've got the talent and personnel to do it. "We've been one of the most exciting teams to watch [during Klopp's time in charge]. "There's a bit of a sticky patch the past three or four weeks - but I'm absolutely delighted he's our manager."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38762265

My idol turned out to be my sister - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Jennifer Bricker was born without legs but still became a gymnast, after watching an Olympic champion on TV. The two had more in common than they could ever have guessed.

Magazine

Aerial performer Jennifer Bricker was born without legs, but she never let it stop her. By the age of 11 she was a gymnastics champion - having fallen in love with the sport after watching Dominique Moceanu win a gold medal for the US at the 1996 Olympics. And it turned out the two had a lot more in common than athletic talent. Wrapped in a loop of red silk suspended from the ceiling Jennifer Bricker climbs and twists to the music. Her head hangs down and her strong arms let go as she balances on her back, high above the ground - a move that's all the more daring because she has no legs. Jennifer was a few months old when she was adopted by Sharon and Gerald Bricker. She had big brown eyes, a radiant smile, and huge amounts of energy. When a doctor advised her adoptive parents to carry her around in a kind of bucket, they refused. Jennifer soon learned to walk - and run - on her hands and bottom, and grew up fearlessly climbing trees and bouncing on the trampoline with her three older brothers. "They encouraged all of that by having me jump off everything and scare everybody half to death," she says. At the age of three she was fitted with prosthetic legs, but she never really took to them - she moved more freely without. At school Jennifer loved competing in ball games. "I was right there with everyone else," she says. "My parents didn't treat me differently so I didn't grasp the concept that I was different. I knew I didn't have legs but that wasn't stopping me from doing the things I wanted to do." The Brickers had always been open with her about her adoption. "I knew that I was Romanian and that probably a good reason why I was given up for adoption was because I didn't have legs," says Jennifer. Sharon and Gerald even encouraged her to understand her birth parents - Romanian immigrants to the US who had given her up on the day she was born. "You didn't walk in their shoes so you really don't know what was going on in their life. They were from a different country. They had a different mindset," they would explain. At the same time, they made sure she felt loved and wanted, telling her she was the answer to their prayers. Jennifer grew up in a tiny community in Illinois. The first time she saw a fellow Romanian was on TV. It was 1996 and the Olympic Games were taking place in Atlanta. Jennifer loved to watch the women's gymnastics team, but there was one member of the team she especially idolised - 14-year-old Dominique Moceanu. She was only six years older, and, as Jennifer puts it, "very small" like her. "I was drawn to her because we looked alike and that was so important to me," says Jennifer. "No-one looked like me growing up. I didn't know any other Romanian people. I just saw myself in her in so many ways and that was a big deal for me." Dominique Moceanu during the Women's Beam event in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia Moceanu and the women's team went on to win gold, and it was at that moment Jennifer decided she was going to be a gymnast, too. She took up power tumbling, which involves performing floor exercises down a runway. But Jennifer did not want any allowances to be made for her disability. "That way when I compete, I know that it's legit," she says. She remembers spectators being surprised when they saw her: "Wow, this girl doesn't have legs - is she competing?" "But the love, the support when I did compete was amazing," she says. "They would always applaud and cheer because I made sure that there were no exceptions made for me - nothing." This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. At the age of 10 she took part in the Junior Olympics and by age 11 she was tumbling champion for the state of Illinois. Jennifer continued to follow the ups and downs of her idol, who was now making headlines for different reasons. In 1998, when Dominique was 17, she took her parents to court, accusing them of mis-spending $1m of her post-Olympic earnings. During the court case, stories came out about her father's harsh treatment of her. She succeeded in legally breaking free from her parents and taking control of her own finances. Dominique Moceanu takes an oath in court with her father in the background When Jennifer was 16 she asked her mother if there was anything they hadn't told her about her birth family. She really wasn't expecting her to say, "Yes," because her parents had always been so open. But to her surprise, her mother did have something important to tell her. She sat her down and said: "Your biological last name would have been Moceanu." There was no doubting what that meant. "Immediately when she said that I was like, 'Wow, that means Dominique's my sister,'" says Jennifer. The Brickers had found out purely by accident. Jennifer's was meant to have been a closed adoption, but her birth parents' names appeared on some documents. Then, during the 1996 Olympics, the TV cameras had cut to Dominique's mother Camelia and father Dumitru in the crowd. As their names flashed up on the screen, the Brickers realised they were looking at Jennifer's parents. But they decided not to tell their daughter until she was older. When she found out, Jennifer wanted to get in touch with Dominique, but she was determined to do it properly. "I couldn't just call her and say 'Hey, I'm your sister' - I didn't want her to think I was crazy." Her uncle happened to be a private investigator so she asked him to contact her biological parents. They didn't deny putting her up for adoption, but after that first phone call they no longer responded. "It was clear they wanted to continue keeping me a secret," she says. Four years later, Jennifer wrote her sister a letter, explaining the situation and telling her how she had inspired her to take up gymnastics. "I almost could not believe it myself, you had been my idol my whole life, and you turned out to be my sister!" she wrote. She included copies of all the documentation she had and lots of photographs - all from the waist up. "I instinctively made the choice not to tell her I didn't have legs because I thought it might be a little bit much," explains Jennifer. "She's already finding out she has a sister she didn't know about. I'll just wait and tell her about the no legs afterwards." By now, Dominique was 26 years old and no longer competing professionally. It was a busy time in her life. She had married a fellow athlete and they were expecting their first child. She was trying to finish her college exams before giving birth. On 10 December 2007, after finishing a statistics exam, Dominique drove to the post office to collect a package. She tore open the envelope when she got back to the car - the first thing she saw were some court documents with her parents' signatures. That piqued her interest. Then she shifted her attention to the photographs of a girl who looked just like her younger sister, Christina. "The resemblance was unbelievable," she says. Finally she turned to the neatly-typed letter. One sentence leapt out at her: "My biological last name is Moceanu." "That letter was the biggest shock of my life and I'll never forget it," says Dominique. She needed to know if it was true. Still sitting in her car, she called her mother, who lived a few time zones away, and woke her up with the words: "Did you give up a baby girl for adoption in 1987?" "She had the wake-up call of her life - it was just so blunt," she admits. Her mother burst into tears. She said "Yes" but could barely say anything else. "My heart broke for her because she had to keep this a secret for all these years and she could never have had the opportunity to deal with it," says Dominique. The next few weeks were an emotional rollercoaster. Dominique wrote back to Jennifer, asking for time to process the news and explaining that she was about to have a baby. "I needed to answer some of my own questions and figure out how this could have happened," says Dominique. At the time her father was very ill so it was difficult to communicate with him, but Dominique found out that he had made the decision to give Jennifer up at the hospital out of fear that they would not be able to pay her medical bills. Her mother had not had a say in it, and had never even got the chance to hold her. Dominique's own daughter was born on Christmas Day and a few weeks later, on 14 January, she felt ready to call her sister for the first time. She was nervous and had even prepared notes, but the conversation soon flowed. Then Jennifer bit the bullet. "By the way, you know I don't have legs right?" she said. Dominique was stunned into silence. How did this fit with what she knew? "She told me that I was the reason she started gymnastics, and I thought that was a beautiful thing," says Dominique. "I never imagined she would do all of these sports without having legs." That spring, Dominique, Jennifer and their younger sister Christina met for the first time in Ohio, where Dominique lived. "On one hand it was surreal and a bit like a dream," says Jennifer. "But on the other hand it was very natural. The DNA was very clear at that point. When I met my younger sister it was like looking in a mirror." The sisters marvelled at all the things they had in common - the way they laughed, even certain hand gestures - but when they spoke about their upbringing, their stories could not have been more different. "They did not have the love and support that I had. They had some abuse and turmoil and secrets so it was not an easy childhood for them," says Jennifer. The Moceanus, themselves former gymnasts, had come to the US in 1981, after fleeing the Ceausescu regime in Romania. Dominique was born shortly after they arrived, and they dreamed she would be the next Nadia Comaneci. When she was six months old they hung her on the washing line to test her strength - she held on until the line broke. "That was a sign to them I'd be a great gymnast," says Dominique. It was a story her father loved to tell - unfortunately the training methods he and the coaches espoused were a hangover from the communist era. Dominique says she was constantly humiliated and berated about her weight and any shortcomings in her performance. "People thought these measures were the way you had to succeed," she says. "But those kinds of things are really damaging to the self-esteem when you're a young, growing, pre-pubescent child." There was also the threat of physical punishment from her father if her performance was not up to scratch. He was an authoritarian figure who dominated the household. "We all agree that it would not have been a great childhood environment for me to grow up in," says Jennifer. "My parents had never been around many children with disabilities," says Dominique. Their father died before Jennifer could meet him, but in January 2010, at the age of 22, she met her biological mother, Camelia, for the first time. "I remember it in slow motion," says Jennifer. "She was wearing a fur hat - it was such a stereotypical Eastern European thing. "She couldn't believe how much I looked like my sisters and so she was instinctively speaking in Romanian." Dominique had to translate for her mother, who was too stunned to switch to English. The women hugged, and Jennifer showed her videos of her performances, including a trampoline act she had performed on tour with Britney Spears. "She was so amazed and she knew that she could have never given me that life," she says. Jennifer felt no anger towards her. She credits her adoptive parents for this. "They gave me the freedom not to be bitter," she says. Jennifer with her parents, Sharon and Gerald Bricker In fact, she says her heart went out to her mother. "You know, my biological mother was very much a victim of an abusive marriage," she says. "She did not have an easy life - and that's not me making an excuse for her, that's just the truth." The sisters live in separate states but try to see each other when they can, making up for lost time. Jennifer now travels the world as an inspirational speaker and performs as an aerial acrobat. "She's wonderful, she's up there in the air and you can see her passion," says Dominique. "I'm proud of her as an older sister - she's really living her dreams." Listen to Dominique and Jennifer speak to Outlook on the BBC World Service Images of Jennifer Bricker taken from Everything is Possible by Jen Bricker with Sheryl Berk. Baker Books, © 2016. Used by permission Dominique Moceanu has also written a book about her life, Off Balance Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38697627

Reality Check: Did millions vote illegally in the US? - BBC News

2017-01-26

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President Trump claims that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for fraud. Is he right?

US & Canada

The claim: Donald Trump would have won the popular vote in last year's US presidential election had it not been for people voting illegally. Reality Check verdict: There is no evidence to support the assertion that at least 2.86 million people voted illegally. White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed on Tuesday that President Donald Trump stands by his concerns about illegal voting. The disclosure came after the president was reported to have claimed in a closed meeting on Monday that between three and five million unauthorised immigrants had voted for Hillary Clinton. At the end of November, Mr Trump tweeted: "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." While the president won the election via the electoral college, he actually received 2.86 million fewer votes than his rival. So his suggestion is that at least 2% of the people who voted did so illegally, assuming that they all voted for Mrs Clinton. Non-citizens of the United States, including permanent legal residents, do not have the right to vote in presidential elections. Voter registration requires applicants to declare their citizenship status, and they could face criminal punishment if they falsely claim citizenship rights. In addition to being registered voters, in two-thirds of states, voters are required to bring identification to the polls in order to be allowed to vote. In all states, first-time voters who register to vote by post must provide valid identification before voting. Donald Trump and his team have referred to two studies they say show the threat posed by unauthorised voting; both have been challenged. A 2014 study published in Electoral Studies found evidence that suggested non-citizens do vote and "can change the outcome of close races". Donald Trump referred to this study on the campaign trail in Wisconsin on 17 October. The research has been roundly criticised by political scientists who said it misinterpreted the data. The team behind the research used data collected by the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), which is a national survey taken before and after elections. The CCES published a newsletter that disputed the findings and said "the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0". During the campaign, Mr Trump also referred to a 2012 Pew Center on the States study that found 1.8 million dead Americans were still registered. The deceased, alleged Mr Trump, were still voting. The report, however, does not make any statements about this claim. Although it is not impossible for non-citizens to break voting laws, there is no evidence that millions of immigrants without the right to vote influenced the outcome of the popular vote. Election officials, including those from the Republican Party, have said there was no evidence of mass electoral fraud and senior Republicans such as House Speaker Paul Ryan have distanced themselves from the claim. But President Trump tweeted from his personal account on Wednesday to say that he would be asking for a major investigation into voter fraud. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38744612

Dylan Hartley: England captain feared for international career following ban - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

England captain Dylan Hartley says he feared that his latest ban would cost him his international career.

Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley says he feared that his latest ban would cost him his international career. The 30-year-old has been confirmed as England's captain for the Six Nations by coach Eddie Jones - two days after his six-week suspension for hitting Leinster's Sean O'Brien ended. Hartley will not have played for nine weeks before England's opening game against France on 4 February. "I did think that maybe that was it," Hartley told BBC Sport. "But again, a conversation with Eddie - a very clear and direct conversation - and I know where I stand," he added. Hartley, who led England to the Grand Slam last year, was banned in December after he caught the Irish flanker with a swinging arm during Northampton's 37-10 Champions Cup loss. It was the third red card of his career. The subsequent suspension took the total number of weeks he has been unavailable during his career to 60. "I obviously came back to Northampton and wanted to make a positive impact in a big game for the club," said Hartley. "It obviously went horribly wrong. "Positive, dominant, hard tackle. That's what I was thinking. Obviously the outcome was different to what I intended. "That walk off the field is never a quick moment. It seems to drag on for quite a while, but obviously gives you time to reflect and I understand I could have jeopardised a lot. "I put myself and the team in a difficult position and since then I've had clear directives from the management of what they expect and here I am." Hartley said that part of the directive from Jones was to improve his tackle technique. "I've worked very hard with [England defence coach] Paul Gustard on that," added Hartley. "It's not something that just finishes now that I'm back playing. It's an ongoing thing." Hartley was dropped from England's 2015 Rugby World Cup squad after he headbutted Saracens' Jamie George, but was recalled by the Australian after he replaced Stuart Lancaster. The hooker went on to lead the side to a Six Nations Grand Slam as they embarked on a run of 14 consecutive Test match victories.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38751283

Usain Bolt: Jamaican Olympic Association considering appeal after Nesta Carter tests positive - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Jamaica may appeal against the decision to strip the rest of its Beijing 4x100m relay squad of their gold medals after Nesta Carter's failed drugs test.

Last updated on .From the section Athletics Jamaica may appeal against the decision to strip the rest of its Beijing 4x100m relay squad of their gold medals after Nesta Carter's failed drugs test. Usain Bolt stands to lose one of his nine Olympic golds after a retest of Carter's sample from the 2008 Games was found to contain a banned stimulant. "We have to decide what the best legal process is," Jamaican Olympic Association chief Mike Fennell said. "It is a team and we are interested in ensuring they are properly protected and given a fair chance of clearing their names." Nevertheless the association has written to the athletes requesting they return their medals, he said. Carter's lawyer confirmed on Wednesday that the sprinter will lodge his own appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. • None An Olympic career in 325 seconds - Bolt in numbers • None Bolt having to return gold 'is disgusting' - Darren Campbell Bolt, 30, completed a 'triple triple' in Rio last summer. He won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay to add to his successes in the same events in 2008 and 2012. Carter, 31, was also part of the squad that won the event in London five years ago and helped Jamaica win at the World Championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He ran the first leg in Beijing for Jamaica's 4x100m relay team, which also included Bolt, Frater, Powell and Thomas, who ran in the heats. The retesting process: where does it stand? The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is responsible for authorising the retests for both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, released updated statistics about the process on Wednesday. • None The number of tests carried out during the event was 4,800 • None The number of samples subsequently selected for reanalysis was 1,053 • None And the resulting number of athletes sanctioned up to 25 January 2017 is 61 • None The number of tests carried out during the event was 5,000 • None The number of samples subsequently selected for reanalysis was 492 and that process remains ongoing • None And the number of athletes sanctioned to date is 37

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38757620

What would you do for your best friend? - BBC News

2017-01-26

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From being "best woman" at his wedding to donating a kidney - what one woman is doing for her best friend.

Liverpool

"It takes a special kind of person" to donate their kidney, Andy said of his friend Helen About 3,000 people have kidney transplants each year in the UK and about a third of these are from living donors. Helen Crowther has given one of her kidneys to her best friend Andy Clewes. He has suffered with chronic kidney disease since birth and has recently started to need dialysis treatment. When Helen first offered Andy her kidney he laughed along, thinking it was a joke. "But she really meant it and as I got worse she became more insistent until about 12 months ago she said 'right, I definitely want to do it'," he said. Helen's kidney was removed at the Royal Liverpool Hospital on Tuesday morning. Helen said it "feels like a privilege" to be able to give her kidney to her best friend It was then "whisked down the M62" to Andy in the Manchester Royal Infirmary. "The last 12 months have gone so slowly and to finally get to this end point is fantastic," the 46-year-old said. "I was just on the cusp of dialysis, feeling exhausted all the time and unable to concentrate in work - now I can't wait to get my life back. I'm really excited." Andy, a radio DJ in Macclesfield, said: "I'm incredibly lucky and grateful. It's hard to put into words such a massive thing... it takes a special kind of person to do this." The pair are hoping to encourage others to sign up to the organ donor register Born a week apart, the pair struck up their friendship in 2006 after meeting at a charity fundraising event. Last year Helen, 46, was Andy's "best woman" at his wedding. Helen, a charity worker from Runcorn, said she thought donating a kidney was "the obvious thing to do". "I do appreciate it's a huge thing. I just didn't want to see Andy poorly. I was aware you can live well with one kidney so couldn't see why you wouldn't do it." Helen's kidney was removed at the Royal Liverpool Hospital When Andy's mum met Helen for the first time at his wedding and thanked her, she "was in tears". "It's a bit embarrassing when people are saying you're so brave," she said. "His family were so lovely at the wedding and I was overwhelmed really. I was just doing it as Andy needed to get well. I had the ability to help him. "It feels like a privilege. I am just so grateful I can do it." For Andy, he is planning on getting back to a normal life. "I've been restricted physically up to now but the doctors say I'll get a burst of energy. "I'm going to want to go off on holiday... to do everything. I think I'm going to be quite annoying." He said it had made him very aware that others "aren't so fortunate and rely on the kindness of strangers" so he hopes his experience will encourage people to become organ donors as they "really will be changing lives". Kidneys filter waste products from the blood and convert them to urine. These waste products can build up in people whose kidneys fail, which is potentially life-threatening and the reason a transplant is needed. Kidneys are the most common organ donated by a living person and a healthy person can lead a normal life with one working kidney. Before 2006, living kidney donation was limited to exchanges between family members and friends but since the UK allowed "non-directed altruistic donation" by strangers, more than 500 people have gone ahead with the operation. There were 1,035 living kidney donor transplants performed in the UK in 2015/2016 - but as of September 2016, there are 5,338 people waiting for a kidney. You can find more information on the NHS Organ Donation website. Andy said the friends were "always there for each other" "Nobody wants to see anyone they love on dialysis," said Helen. "This should improve his quality of life. He'll be healthier and that's all I want." "It's just a couple of months out of my life when I'll feel a bit tired and sore, but for Andy it will be a whole new life." Andy said: "It's a totally selfless act and she's got a friend for life whether she wants it or not." The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-38682073

In Pictures: National Television Awards 2017 - BBC News

2017-01-26

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A look at the stars on the red carpet at this year's National Television Awards in London.

Entertainment & Arts

Cheeky chaps Ant & Dec went into the ceremony with three nominations - best entertainment programme, best TV presenter and best challenge show for I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! - and collected all three awards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/38749226

Obituary: Tam Dalyell - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Veteran Labour MP who first articulated the West Lothian Question.

UK Politics

Tam Dalyell was a political contradiction, an aristocratic Old Etonian who became a socialist politician. It was he who articulated what became known as the West Lothian Question, which festered at the heart of Scotland's relationship with Westminster. A former Conservative activist, he became a thorn in the side of the Thatcher government. But he won admiration from across the political spectrum as an honourable and principled member of parliament. Thomas Dalyell Loch was born in Edinburgh on 9 August 1932. His father Gordon Loch, a civil servant, adopted his wife Nora's maiden name in 1938. It was through his mother that Dalyell later inherited the Dalyell baronetcy, although he never used the title. The Suez crisis made him an opponent of British military intervention He went to Eton before doing his National Service as a trooper with the Royal Scots Greys, having failed his officer training. After he was demobbed, he went to Cambridge where he was chairman of the University Conservative Association. It was while working as a teacher that he experienced a political conversion, brought about by the Suez Crisis in 1956. The debacle, in which Britain, together with Israel and France, unsuccessfully attempted to gain control of the Suez Canal, made a deep impression on him Not only did he join the Labour Party, but the aborted invasion made him a committed opponent of future British military involvement overseas. In 1962, he won the seat of West Lothian in a by-election, fighting off a strong challenge from a future SNP leader, William Wolfe. Less than two years after he entered parliament, Dalyell was appointed parliamentary private secretary to Dick Crossman, then Minister for Local Government. Dalyell (r) arrived at Westminster in 1962 as the newly elected member for West Lothian The position of PPS was seen as the first step to a ministerial career, but Dalyell's independent stance on issues irritated the party establishment. That irritation turned to anger in 1967 when he was heavily censured for leaking minutes of a select committee meeting about the Porton Down biological and chemical warfare establishment to the Observer newspaper. Dalyell claimed he thought the minutes were in the public domain but he did not escape a public dressing-down by the Speaker. In a parliamentary debate on devolution in 1977, Dalyell first proposed what would become known as the West Lothian Question. A vocal opponent of Scottish devolution, Dalyell contrasted the town of Blackburn in his own constituency, and Blackburn in Lancashire. "For how long," he asked, "will English constituencies and English Honourable Members tolerate at least 119 Honourable Members from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland exercising an important and often decisive effect on English politics?" It was Enoch Powell who coined the term West Lothian Question, in his response to Dalyell's speech. He fought to uncover the truth about the Lockerbie bombing When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 she found Dalyell a persistent critic of her policies. He supported the Troops Out movement in Northern Ireland and attacked the prime minister's proposed boycott of the Moscow Olympics. But it was the Falklands War that raised his public profile. He described the conflict as "like two bald men fighting over a comb," quoting the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. He strongly condemned the decision to sink the Argentine cruiser, General Belgrano, insisting the vessel had been steering away from the conflict when torpedoed by a British submarine. His political opponents called him Daft Tam, ignoring the methodical and painstaking preparation he put into sourcing the facts to back up his arguments. He was no slave to parliamentary protocol and was suspended from the House on numerous occasions, twice for calling Mrs Thatcher "a liar" over the Falklands campaign. "She is a bounder, a liar, a deceiver, a cheat, a crook and a disgrace to the House of Commons," was one notable contribution during a 1987 debate. However, some felt that his intemperate language did nothing to win him support. Former Conservative MP and later political commentator, Matthew Parris said that "this element of personal vendetta seriously weakens his case". Dalyell was persistent in trying to uncover the truth about the Lockerbie bombing and consistently said he did not believe Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi was responsible for the outrage. He was, predictably, bitterly opposed to the Gulf War, "Kuwait is the 19th bloody state of Iraq," and went to Baghdad in 1994 to negotiate with Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz. The election of a Labour government under Tony Blair in 1997 failed to deter Dalyell from speaking his mind. In 1999, he decided that he would no longer vote at Westminster on purely English issues, defying a number of three-line whips. He was one of 25 MPs who opposed military action in Kosovo. "I am one of a dwindling number of MPs who have actually worn the Queen's uniform," he said. He continued to live in the ancestral home "Perhaps we are a bit less relaxed about unleashing war than those who have never been in a military situation." He had little time for the New Labour project, describing Tony Blair as the worst of the eight prime ministers who had held power while he was a parliamentarian. In 2001, he became Father of the House, the longest continuous serving MP, using his position to attack the US led invasion of Iraq. "These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who want to control the world," he said. "I am appalled that a British Labour prime minister should have got into bed with a crew which has this moral standing." Dalyell stood down from the House of Commons in 2005, after serving 43 years as an MP, first for West Lothian, then, from 1983, the redrawn constituency of Linlithgow. Behind Tam Dalyell's somewhat shambling and eccentric demeanour was a keen analytical brain and a passion for meticulous research. Unrepentant about his dogged approach, he claimed that "you must not be afraid to be thought a bore". He was that rare thing among politicians, a man who stuck to his principles, regardless of how unpopular it made him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29367988

CCTV catches Asda delivery driver ramming car in Oldbury - BBC News

2017-01-26

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An Asda delivery van driver is caught on camera ramming a parked car out of its way and driving off.

Birmingham & Black Country

Asda has apologised after a delivery driver was caught on a security camera ramming a parked car out of the way and driving off. The van pulled alongside a parked Renault Megane in the footage before reversing and moving it out of the way. The crash happened in Oldbury, West Midlands, the Express & Star reported. The supermarket chain said it was "very sorry" for the "unacceptable incident" and the car had been repaired and returned. Car owner Ian Peacock was visiting his uncle on 20 December and heard a "loud bang and a car alarm going off" before realising it was his car that had been hit. Mr Peacock said the crash had "snapped in half his bumper support bar, the lights and smashed to pieces the casing holding the exhaust and the stuff on bottom of the car together". After speaking to the Express & Star about the crash, Mr Peacock said he had a call from the supermarket's head office who would be sending him a "goodwill gesture". "I'm not bothered about the goodwill gesture but they must have sent it by carrier pigeon anyway as that was last Thursday," Mr Peacock said. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-38743945

Daily Politics coverage of PMQs - BBC News

2017-01-26

Prime Minister's Questions on the BBC's Daily Politics.

This video can not be played.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27901933

The 19-year-old Dunkin' Donuts worker behind Ashley Judd's viral #NastyWoman poem - BBC News

2017-01-26

Meet the 19-year-old Dunkin' Donuts worker behind Ashley Judd's viral #NastyWoman poem.

Actress Ashley Judd's performance of the feminist slam poem #NastyWoman was one of the most shared videos of the Women's March in Washington DC. But alongside the praise, many have condemned the poem - particularly the personal attacks it makes against President Trump. Trending spoke to the unlikely author of the poem, 19-year-old Dunkin Donuts worker Nina Mariah Donovan from Tennessee. You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38738645

More national parks appear to defy Trump on Twitter - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Several parks tweet messages highlighting climate change fears or apparently opposing immigration plans.

US & Canada

Death Valley National Park's Twitter account joined in posting messages seen as critical of President Trump A US national park's Twitter account has inspired an online movement protesting against President Donald Trump's policy on climate change. The Badlands National Park account's tweets about global warming were swiftly deleted after they appeared to undermine Mr Trump's position. But if President Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, hoped it would silence his critics, he was wrong. Instead, it was the catalyst for a host of people and parks to follow suit. Badlands National Park, in South Dakota, posted a series of tweets highlighting climate science data a few days after The National Park Service briefly shut its Twitter operation following an apparent clampdown. It had retweeted photos about the turnout at President Trump's inauguration, suggesting numbers at the ceremony were lower those at President Obama's ceremony. The national park accounts were eventually reactivated with an apology message. It did not deter Badlands. "Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate," one of its tweets said. The posts were widely shared - including by the Democratic National Committee under the hashtag #Resist - but had all been removed by Tuesday evening. Then on Wednesday Redwoods National Park tweeted about climate change and the role of trees as a carbon sink, adding: "More redwoods would mean less #climatechange". Golden Gate National Recreation Area had earlier posted that "2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row", adding a link to a Nasa report on climate change. Death Valley National Park's account, meanwhile, tweeted about Japanese-Americans interned at the park during World War Two. While it made no mention of the president, other Twitter users interpreted the message as an objection to his pledge to ban Muslims from entering the country and to restrict the flow of refugees to the US. An account called AltUSNatParkService, which describes itself as the "unofficial 'resistance' team" of the US Park Service, has also been set up to more directly protest against the president. "We believe that today in Trump's America, science and the environment have a place at the forefront of society and policy," the account tweeted on Thursday. It was quickly joined by Alt Nasa, described as "the unofficial #resist team of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration", while Rogue Nasa says it offers "real news" and "real facts". The National Parks Service has refused to comment. Meanwhile, a media blackout has been introduced at the US's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the Associated Press news agency. Staff there have been banned from posting on any of the agency's social media accounts, The main EPA account has not posted anything since 19 January, a day before Mr Trump's inauguration.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38745829

Australian Open 2017: Rafael Nadal eyes Roger Federer final - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Rafael Nadal takes on Grigor Dimitrov in the Australian Open semi-finals on Friday with the aim of reaching a final against old rival Roger Federer.

Last updated on .From the section Tennis Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online. Rafael Nadal is hoping to meet old rival Roger Federer in the Australian Open final by beating in-form Grigor Dimitrov in their semi-final on Friday. Spaniard Nadal, 30, has not reached a major final since winning his 14th Grand Slam at the 2014 French Open. Federer, 35, is going for a record 18th major title after an epic semi-final win over fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka. "I have to play my best because Grigor is playing with high confidence," said ninth seed Nadal. The pair meet at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne about 08:30 GMT on Friday. • None Watch highlights of Thursday's matches on BBC Two from 17:00 GMT • None 'Federer v Nadal final could be most important in Grand Slam history' - Roddick Nadal has been troubled by injuries in recent years, but reached his first Grand Slam semi-final since 2014 with a superb quarter-final victory over Canadian third seed Milos Raonic. If Nadal beats 25-year-old Dimitrov then all four singles finalists will be aged over 30, as 35-year-old Serena Williams meets older sister Venus, 36, in the women's final. Dimitrov, who has never reached a Grand Slam final, is aiming to prevent Federer, Nadal and the Williams sisters contesting the two finals at a major for the first time since 2008 Wimbledon. The Bulgarian 15th seed is playing some of the best tennis of his career having won the Brisbane International earlier this month and then carrying on his form in Melbourne. He beat 11th seed David Goffin of Belgium in straight sets in the quarter-finals to record his 10th successive victory. "I feel like I have all the tools to go further and my job isn't over yet," he said. "I'm looking forward to my match. I think I'm prepared. "I'm ready to go the distance. I don't shy away from that. I'm confident enough to say that as I feel good physically, and overall on the court." If Nadal wins his semi-final, he and Federer would contest their ninth Grand Slam final - and their first since the French Open in 2011, when the Spaniard won in four sets. "Rafa has presented me with the biggest challenge in the game," said Federer, who is seeded 17th after returning from a six-month lay-off to rest his left knee. "I'm his number one fan. His game is tremendous. He's an incredible competitor. "I'm happy we had some epic battles over the years and of course it would be unreal to play here. I think both of us would never have thought we would be here playing in the final." Federer has a perfect record against Dimitrov, winning all five of their previous meetings. "He has got a very complete game. He can mix it up really well. He's very confident and you never want to play confident players, but it's him or Rafa," said Federer, who last won a Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2012. "It's going to be tough either way."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38760568

Donald Trump: 'Waterboarding absolutely works' - BBC News

2017-01-26

US President Donald Trump backs waterboarding and says "we must fight fire with fire".

In Donald Trump's first broadcast interview as US president, he defended his call to resume using waterboarding - a torture technique - to interrogate terror suspects. "When Isis [so-called Islamic State] is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about waterboarding? As far as I'm concerned, we have to fight fire with fire," he told ABC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38751516

Mrs May goes to Washington - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Five things on the UK prime minister's agenda as she meets Donald Trump

UK Politics

There are frequent and regular meetings between British prime ministers and American presidents, but few will have been as significant as the visit to Washington this week by Theresa May. It is not just an occasion for old allies to renew vows of friendship. These two new, uncertain leaders need concrete achievements and not just gestures. The two could not be more different. Mrs May is serious-minded, steely, attentive to her briefing books, insular, dependent on a tightly-wound inner circle. Donald Trump is brash, abrasive, instinctive, revelling in his newly won power to change America. One of them is a vicar's daughter; the other a star of reality TV. Both of them are in office because of a people's revolt. So what will be on Mrs May's agenda as she becomes the first foreign leader to meet the new president? British leaders tend to attach more importance to the special relationship than the US. But with Britain about to divorce from the European Union, the long-standing link with Washington has assumed more importance. It is an anchor in a less certain era. Mrs May will stress that the relationship between the two countries helped forge the "modern world" and, by implication, can do so again. The White House has indicated that it would welcome the closeness of the Thatcher/Reagan years. Mrs May will emphasise her belief in the continuing importance of the special relationship President Trump needs to demonstrate that he has the seriousness to be the leader of the West and that he has command of the issues. The American audience will be watching. Theresa May needs to tread carefully. There is much she needs from America, not least a trade agreement, but many in the UK would question deepening a "special" relationship with a president they intensely distrust. The prime minister has promised to be "frank" in her discussions, but Britain outside the EU needs a close ally in Washington and Donald Trump is likely to get his invitation to visit Britain and stay in Buckingham Palace and risk the demonstrations such a visit may spark. For the UK, trade is the centrepiece of the visit. With the UK leaving the EU and its single market, Britain will need new trading relationships. Already trade between Britain and the US is worth £150bn ($188bn). What the prime minister is looking for is a "bold and ambitious free-trade agreement" with the US. Such a trade deal cannot be concluded while the UK remains part of the EU but preparatory work can begin so that a trade agreement can be in place shortly after the UK leaves the EU in 2019. The prime minister is a strong advocate of free trade versus protectionism There will be discussions about reducing existing tariffs and making it easier for American and British citizens to work in each other's countries. Progress surely will be made but there are deep underlying differences. The president's core policy is "America First". Theresa May's slogan is "Global Britain". Donald Trump has spent this week signalling he is pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and bent on re-negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Britain outside the EU, on the other hand, needs an open global trading system. Theresa May has to be an advocate for free trade in the house of a leader determined to protect first and trade second. Downing Street will also know that a deal with the US will strengthen its hand in its negotiations with Brussels. During the election campaign Donald Trump caused consternation in Europe and in the foreign policy establishment in Washington when he declared Nato "obsolete". On one level it was an expression of American frustration that its European allies refused to share the burden of defence. Theresa May will surely support the president in calling on Europe to spend 2% of GDP on its military. There are calls for more Nato countries to share the alliance's financial burden But May will be looking for much more. She wants to hear the President commit to Nato's Article Five, that an attack on one member will be treated as an attack on all. For her, Nato is part of the post-war international order. Britain outside the EU needs Nato more than ever. In the future it will be Nato that will be the UK's link to its European neighbours. One of the ironies of the visit is that Theresa May will fight for the EU. It will be a case of a divorcee speaking up for a former partner. Europe has been shocked by Donald Trump's comments about Europe breaking up, about the EU being a "vehicle for Germany". For the first time since the Treaty of Rome was signed 50 years ago, Europe does not have a friend in the White House who shares the mission and belief in European integration. So Theresa May has an opportunity to win friends in Europe's capitals by standing up for the EU. It is not in Britain's interest, as she has said, for the European Union to unravel. "It remains overwhelmingly and compellingly in Britain's national interest that the EU should succeed," she believes. Despite Brexit, Mrs May could speak up for the European Union A global Britain needs a strong international order and part of that is Nato, the EU, and open trade. In the past it has been the US underpinning this global order. Theresa May will need to be the great persuader. The UK views Moscow and Putin differently from the new administration in Washington. Donald Trump has signalled that he can open a new era with Russia. The UK remains deeply suspicious of the Kremlin. It is not just a question as to whether sanctions should be retained against Russia for its military actions in Crimea and Ukraine. The UK and US have the strongest intelligence-sharing relationship in the world. The UK will want reassurance that any tilt towards Russia does not compromise its intelligence assets. Regarding the Middle East, Donald Trump has made it clear that Israel will have his full support. Already, Israel has taken heart from its new friend in the White House by announcing the building of new settlements in the West Bank. Donald Trump has suggested he may move the US embassy to Jerusalem. Theresa May's words will be scrutinised closely. In seeking a close relationship with Donald Trump, will there be any change in emphasis in supporting a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians? Downing Street will seek reassurance over the effects of closer ties between the US and Russia The British prime minister will also want to talk about energy and her commitment to the Paris agreement on reducing global warming. In the end it is in both Britain and America's interest to forge a close relationship. Theresa May has spoken of "renewing our nation's ties". Outside the EU, the UK needs the American embrace. The Trump administration brings opportunities. Donald Trump remains an enthusiast for Brexit. He wants Brexit to succeed and has promised to give his backing to a trade deal. But many of his policies are opposed by Theresa May and many British voters. She cannot risk getting too close to a man despised by many in the UK. Her priority will be trade but what she wants from the 45th president is a commitment to supporting the post-war international order without pulling away at the threads that bind it. On a personal level they are unlikely allies, but self-interest may yet rekindle the Reagan-Thatcher alliance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38757528

First meetings: US presidents and UK prime ministers - BBC News

2017-01-26

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From Churchill to Barack Obama, a look back at some first encounters between new US presidents and UK prime ministers.

UK Politics

Theresa May is preparing to meet new US President Donald Trump. Here's a look back at some first encounters of UK prime ministers and new US presidents: This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Gordon Brown's first meeting with Barack Obama came amid a global economic crisis The election of Barack Obama came at the tail end of the Labour government. Embroiled in both economic and political crisis, Gordon Brown spotted President Obama's election as an opportunity to be touched by the gold dust of the newly elected president. In March 2009, Downing Street proudly boasted that Mr Brown was the first European leader President Obama had met. The first meeting was dominated by the global financial crisis and the upcoming G20 summit in London. However, there was some embarrassment when President Obama gifted a box of US films to Brown - on DVDs that did not work on UK players. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The two leaders went on to form a close bond Tony Blair and George W Bush's first summit came at a snowy Camp David - the US president's official retreat - seven months before the 9/11 attacks that would come to define their relationship. The two leaders would eventually form a tight bond, with both countries going to war in Iraq despite the opposition of some European allies. But the Camp David summit is remembered for something rather more trivial. Upon being asked what the two leaders had in common, President Bush replied: "Well, we both use Colgate toothpaste." This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. There were trade tensions between Europe and the US when the two leaders met The first encounter between John Major and Bill Clinton was just a month after the president's inauguration. There was a certain degree of nervousness before the meeting. Mr Major had been a ferocious backer of George H W Bush in the 1992 presidential election. And between 1993 and 1997, the relationship between Mr Major and Mr Clinton never really blossomed. They fell out over the US issuing a visa to Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and the brewing conflict in the Balkans. There are shades of the present-day debate in the BBC's Martin Sixmith's report, as he says trade tensions between the European Community and the USA, and accusations of protectionism, are a "cloud" over Mr Major's visit. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Margaret Thatcher and president-elect George H W Bush's first official visit took place during her trip to Washington DC in November 1988. The visit was planned before the election to say goodbye to her ally Ronald Reagan, and the BBC report at the time wondered whether her relationship with President Bush could be "as special". She spent some time with the incoming president to discuss the end of the Cold War and the tensions in the Gulf. A year after she left Downing Street, President Bush invited Thatcher back to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. When Margaret Thatcher met President Reagan just a month into his presidency, they weren't strangers - their first meeting took place in 1975, when he was the former governor of California and she was leader of the UK opposition. In 1981, the British economy was entering its sixth quarter of recession, and her government seemed on course for electoral defeat. At her lowest point, no-one placed themselves by her side as much as the incoming president of the United States, who made her his administration's first visitor and treated her with a warm welcome, in stark contrast to the frugality of his predecessor, Jimmy Carter. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan became political soulmates and good friends. "Your problems," said the British prime minister, "will be our problems, and when you look for friends, we shall be there." This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. James Callaghan flew to Washington to meet new US president Jimmy Carter James Callaghan's arrival in Washington - on Concorde - came amid an ongoing siege nearby, which led to the cancellation of the traditional 19-gun salute in case it alarmed the gunman. But there was still "a very relaxed feeling" about the ceremony, the BBC reported. President Jimmy Carter hailed the special relationship between the two nations, while James Callaghan said "concerted intergovernmental action" was needed for the global economy to emerge from recession. He promised a "very warm welcome" when the US president visited London. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Harold Wilson meets new US President Richard Nixon in 1969 The Labour prime minister and the Republican president were poles apart, both politically and in their approach. Richard Nixon recoiled from Harold Wilson's suggestion, made at their first meeting in London in February 1969, that the two men use each other's first names. Another incident had ratcheted up the tension. Before the 1968 election, when Mr Nixon was expected to lose to vice-president Hubert Humphrey, Mr Wilson appointed his old ally John Freeman as ambassador in Washington. Unfortunately, Mr Freeman had once described Mr Nixon as a "man of no principle", and the president was not best pleased. Mr Freeman offered to resign, but Mr Wilson said he should stay. Fortunately, at a banquet on his visit to Britain, Mr Nixon greeted the ambassador with generosity. Mr Wilson wrote the president a note thanking him for "one of the kindest and most generous acts I have known in a quarter of a century in politics". On his trip to Britain, Mr Nixon also visited ministers in Downing Street and came for one-on-one talks at Chequers. The president enjoyed his visit, and was soon writing notes to "Dear Harold" and signing them off "Dick Nixon". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. After their first meeting, in April 1961 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and President John F Kennedy were close allies, despite the stark contrast between the ageing British patrician and the glamorous president 23 years his junior. Harold Macmillan was said to have a very real and lasting affection for a man who was of the same generation as his own son, Maurice. According to his biographer, Macmillan watched JFK on the national stage with "a combination of nervousness and pride an accomplished actor might feel for a mercurial young protege stepping up to take his first starring role in public". Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower, seen together in Bermuda in 1953 Winston Churchill arrived in New York to a rapturous reception. He met President-elect Dwight Eisenhower at the apartment of Bernard Baruch, a wealthy businessman, on two separate occasions in the weeks before the inauguration. They came from different backgrounds, Mr Eisenhower, a Kansas boy, born in a shack beside the railroad tracks in rural Texas, and Mr Churchill, a British aristocrat, born in Blenheim Palace. Yet they had a friendship that was forged in the darkest periods of World War Two and lasted until Churchill's death in 1965.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38720850

What would happen if Donald Trump tries to bring back torture? - BBC News

2017-01-26

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BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner asks what would happen if Mr Trump brought back torture.

US & Canada

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. President Trump has indicated that he is considering a return to the sort of harsh interrogation techniques of "enemy combatants" that have been widely condemned as torture, as well as a return to so-called CIA "black sites". In his first interview since becoming US President, Mr Trump said intelligence officials had told him that "torture absolutely works", but that he would defer to advice from his new CIA director and his secretary of defence. The latter, retired Marine Corps officer Gen James Mattis, says torture does not work. So what are the global implications if the president goes ahead, asks BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner. There is a South African proverb, dating from the apartheid era, that goes like this: "How do you catch an elephant? You catch a mouse and keep beating it up until it admits it's really an elephant." Ridiculous as this may sound, there is an echo of truth here. Torture hurts. That's the whole point of it. So if someone is tortured badly enough they will say anything to make it stop, including making things up that they think their tormentors will want to hear. Prisons in certain Middle Eastern countries, especially Syria, are crammed full of people who are being abused so badly they will eventually sign any "confession" to make the treatment stop. In some countries forced confessions remain to this day the primary tool in the prosecutor's armoury. In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 the US intelligence community, having failed to prevent the worst attack on the US since Pearl Harbor, became convinced that a second catastrophic attack was on its way. As President George W Bush's "war on terror" got underway, the normal safeguards of respect for human rights and the rule of law were cast aside in a desperate hunt to find "the ticking bomb". Top al-Qaeda planners like Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, Abu Zubaydah and Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, all caught in Pakistan, were "rendered" (transported) to so-called "black sites" for extreme interrogation. These were secret, unacknowledged prisons, run by the CIA and scattered around the globe in Afghanistan, Thailand, Poland, Romania and other countries. There they were subjected to repeated waterboarding, which makes the bound and helpless victim feel like they are drowning. Khaled Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded a staggering number of times, well over 100. And yet years later, when in 2014 the US Senate's Intelligence and Security Select Committee issued its report on the use of torture under the Bush administration it concluded that torture was "not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees". On Thursday, the US House Speaker, Paul Ryan, said torture was not legal and that the committee agreed it was not legal. Senator John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, also opposes it. "The president can sign whatever executive order he likes," he said, "but the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the USA." There would be strong resistance too from both America's allies and from within the intelligence community itself. There is a general acceptance now, in most of the world, that those practices carried out in the early years after the 9/11 attacks - extraordinary rendition, detention without trial, enhanced interrogation - were not only morally wrong, they were also counter-productive. They very rarely produced useful, actionable intelligence. They traumatised not only the victims, some of whom were completely innocent, but also those who witnessed the shocking dehumanising of an individual. Undoubtedly this has given the green light to some unscrupulous practices by regimes who see America's earlier use of torture as a license to do what they like to their own citizens. Unthinkable as it sounds now, the US even rendered one "high value detainee" to his own country - Syria - for interrogation, knowing that there would be few restraints on his treatment there. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. John McCain said he'd have Donald Trump in court in 'a New York minute' if he reinstated waterboarding There is also the legal aspect. In 2010 David Cameron, who was then UK prime minister, set up a judge-led, independent inquiry into allegations of complicity by MI5 and MI6 officers in torture. Career intelligence officers who had thought they were doing the right thing at the time - such as, hypothetically, being within earshot of the harsh interrogation of a suspect in a Pakistani jail - found themselves being questioned by detectives from the Metropolitan Police. The inquiry was eventually scrapped but it has at least led to a widespread rethink on respect for human rights inside intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Senior intelligence officers who lived through this difficult period are likely to strongly resist turning the clock back and returning to those days. It is also questionable whether the US would find willing partners to host black site prisons amongst those countries only too relieved to have closed that chapter in their national histories.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38763801

Egypt activist 'tortured for his T-shirt' - BBC News

2017-01-26

Mahmoud Hussein, 21, describes how he came to be arrested in Egypt, and what happened to him in detention.

It is six years since the outbreak of the 18-day revolution in Egypt which swept its leader, Hosni Mubarak, from power. Human rights campaigners say the situation in the country is now far worse than before the uprising, and Mahmoud Hussein, 21, is one of thousands who have been detained in recent years under Egypt's latest strongman, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. He told the BBC's Orla Guerin how his ordeal began.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38742237

Newspaper headlines: UK and US 'can lead together again' - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to the US to meet President Donald Trump features on most of the front pages.

The Papers

Many of the papers lead on Theresa May's visit to meet Donald Trump There is widespread coverage of Prime Minister Theresa May's trip to the US on the front pages of many of the newspapers. The i predicts it will be a "tricky visit" amid transatlantic tension about Mr Trump's comments on using torture. The Guardian thinks Mrs May will shrug off concerns about Mr Trump's presidency - and pledge to rekindle the special relationship between the two countries. The Daily Express says she will begin her two-day visit with an optimistic and heartfelt call for the renewal of the relationship. The papers also report on Mrs May's decision to publish a White Paper policy document on the government's plans to leave the EU. For the Daily Mirror the decision is a U-turn, but the Daily Telegraph sees it as a sensible and straightforward move. The paper challenges the prime minister's opponents on the issue to explain their European policy to voters. The Sun sees the political logic of the White Paper, but worries that her Labour opponents and Tory rebels will not hesitate to push for more. The i acknowledges that Mrs May's pledge to publish the document was an olive branch to pro-EU Tories, but it thinks it will probably amount to her 12-point plan being cut and pasted into an official-looking paper. The Guardian feels the document will be a fairly minimalist statement of the government's Brexit aims. It urges Mrs May to say in the White Paper how she wants to consult and take the devolved governments into account. The Financial Times believes Labour Party divisions over Europe are likely to dominate debate in the coming weeks, with a sizeable minority of pro-EU Labour MPs expected to vote against triggering Article 50. The political sketch writers seize on Jeremy Corbyn's performance after Mrs May made her announcement about the White Paper at Prime Minister's Questions. Patrick Kidd in the Times describes how he was caught off balance by her decision - and when he needed to think on his feet he was as twinkle-toed as a rhinoceros. Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail is scathing, saying he made a right Horlicks of it. Mr Corbyn, says the Guardian's John Crace, achieved the near impossible by making the prime minister look more like a decisive world leader than a badly-programmed robot. The financial pages consider the reasons for the Dow Jones Index in the US breaking through the 20,000 barrier for the first time. The Guardian feels investors have shown their approval for Mr Trump's growth agenda. The Daily Mail suggests the rally has been ignited by some of his executive orders restoring the primacy of home-grown energy industries over environmental concerns. Many of the papers lead on Theresa May's visit to meet Donald Trump However, the i suspects it has more to do with the forthcoming fiscal boost than the impact of Mr Trump's trade policies. The Financial Times attempts to put the rise into context, pointing out that just five of the 30 companies in the index account for half of the Dow's rise since election day. The Times, Daily Telegraph and the Mail all report that the Department for Transport is considering taking direct control of Southern rail, whose services have been disrupted by delays and months of strikes. The Mail thinks an internal investigation will decide whether Southern's performance is so poor that it has breached the terms of its contract. The Times says the company could be sacked within weeks. The Telegraph believes such a decision would be politically sensitive because it would be claimed as a victory by the unions and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. The Times believes plans which would allow some GPs in England to charge patients for out-of hours appointments and minor surgical procedures are controversial but deserve a fair hearing. It suggests it would be a simple way to offer more appointments as well as raising money that would help to pay for new doctors. However, the paper insists that safeguards would be needed to ensure that a sick person is always seen, regardless of their bank balance. The author and former Royal Marine, Neal Ascherson, reveals in the Times how he shot two badly-wounded men in Malaya 65 years ago to - as he described it - "put them out of their misery". Mr Ascherson tells the paper that he has spoken for the first time about what he had done to lend his support to the campaign to quash the conviction and sentence of a marine, Alexander Blackman, for murdering an injured Taliban fighter. He says the conviction of Blackman is a "piteous miscarriage of justice". A number of papers showed Mary Berry punching the air after being named best television judge at the National TV Awards The Sun expresses concern about a 15% rise in the number of people sleeping on the streets in England. It says it is too easy to point the finger at Tory cuts, but it acknowledges that Labour is partly right to blame the government's housing strategy. Far too many people spend freezing winter nights on our streets, concludes the paper. In short, it says, the government has to get to grips with this. Mary Berry is known for her calm and genteel manner on the Great British Bake Off, but the Daily Telegraph is among a number of papers that show her punching the air with delight after being named best television judge at the National TV Awards. Miss Berry will not be on the programme when it moves to Channel Four. And according to the Mail she has ruled out an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing - saying her husband would leave her, and her children would chuck her out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38753170

The economy - pain cancelled or delayed? - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Preliminary figures show the economy performed more strongly than expected in 2016, but the chancellor told me there are still uncertainties ahead.

Business

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. EU no longer wants to "chastise" the UK, says Philip Hammond It is the big question swirling around government. After another set of economic figures stronger than expected, is this economic pain cancelled, or simply postponed? On that central issue rests the fate of the government's economic policy. If it is pain cancelled that means better real incomes for voters. It means higher tax receipts for the government, lower levels of borrowing and more leeway to spend money on public services. And, of course, confidence tends to beget confidence. If consumers - the most important drivers of the UK economy - feel the world around them is feeling positive, they tend to spend. For businesses, it is not a lot different. Larry Fink, the head of the world's largest asset managers, BlackRock, made an interesting point at the World Economic Forum at Davos last week. Asked why consumer confidence hadn't collapsed following the referendum - or at least had recovered strongly after some initial uncertainty - Mr Fink answered that for lots of people who voted for Brexit or who voted for Donald Trump, the victories were not a negative event. "They won," he said, simply felt good and kept spending. "Car sales went up." For the UK economy, it is worth considering two points. The Bank of England increased financial support for businesses after the Brexit vote First, the gloomy forecasts before the referendum about the possible effects of a vote to leave the European Union were based on Article 50, the mechanism for leaving the EU, being triggered immediately after the vote as David Cameron promised. That could have led to a chaotic departure from the EU and certainly would have created greater economic dislocation. Second, the Bank of England cut interest rates and increased financial support for businesses and banks, soothing market fears. These two points are not enough to explain all of the resilience in the economy, but they go some of the way. In my interview with the chancellor, he admitted that he was now "more optimistic" about the process of leaving the EU and the single market. He said that European leaders were no longer in chastising mood over Brexit, that had now past. A good deal is on, he said. A weaker pound is set to push up the price of everyday goods But, and of course there has to be a but when considering how an economy will perform - a judgement at its most basic on how a million different decisions by human beings will play out. The rate of inflation is increasing as the value of sterling declines. Jobs are being moved out of the UK and on to the continent in sectors such as banking and finance as businesses prepare for Brexit. The UK has, of course, not actually left the EU yet and at the moment is enjoying the stimulus of being in the EU's huge single market with a considerably weaker currency. That goldilocks situation will not last and the chancellor told me of his concerns about business investment. It was the Austrian economist, Joseph Schumpeter, who argued that shocks to an economy can boost growth. "Creative destruction" may be a little strong to describe the Brexit vote, but innovation can flow when the demands of uncertainty rise. After Britain fell out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism, the precursor of the single currency, many predicted that inflation would rise and economic growth would stutter. In fact, the UK economy bounced back, inflation remained in check and the pound rose - after an initial fall. That is not to say that all "dynamic" shocks have such an effect. The financial crisis of 2008-09 has negatively affected economic growth for far longer than most expected as the financial services sector contracted rapidly, liquidity disappeared and businesses and consumers paid down debt. That is why it is still too early to say definitively whether the robust state of the UK economy today means the forecasts for economic pain made before the Brexit vote can now be safely ignored.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38754634

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2017-01-26

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Chinese man cycles 500km in wrong direction to get home - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Police paid for the man's ticket home when they realised he had been cycling off course for 30 days.

China

The man (not pictured) was stopped by police after cycling for 30 days A man hoping to cycle home cross-country for Chinese New Year realised 30 days into his trip that he had been travelling in the wrong direction. The young migrant worker from China was aiming for his home in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province, after setting off from Rizhao - over 1,700km away. But he was stopped by traffic police 500km off course, in the central Chinese province of Anhui. When they found out, the police paid for a train ticket to get him home. The man had set off from Rizhao, in Shandong province, in December. A report from the People's Online Daily said the man had been living in internet cafes and was low on funds. But he was determined to make it home so he chose to cycle the route. The unnamed man could not read maps, meaning he had to rely on others for directions. Police stopped him when he was riding on a highway, which cannot be used by cyclists. After discovering his mistake, both police and people working at the toll station he was stopped at contributed to his ticket home.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-38748373

Trump's 'control-alt-delete' on climate change policy - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Are the Trump team's actions on climate and energy the opening shots in a war on knowledge?

Science & Environment

Amid concerns over his attitude to climate change, the new President has signed orders to push forward with two major oil pipelines Are the recent actions taken by the Trump team on the issues of climate and energy the opening shots in a war on knowledge? Or are they simply what you'd expect from a new administration of a different political hue? Let's examine what we know. Just after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president, a range of information on the White House website related to climate change was moved to an Obama online archive. The only references to rising temperatures on the new Trump White House site are a commitment to eliminate "harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan". This was President Obama's broad-based strategy to cut carbon emissions. The brief White House document now contains a further indication of the green priorities of the new administration. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), should focus on its "essential mission of protecting our air and water". The Twitter account of Badlands National Park has seen a number of tweets relating to climate change deleted While the administration figures out how to achieve that re-focus, staff at the EPA have been told to freeze all grant making, and to be quiet about it. This means that no external press releases will be issued and no social media posts will be permitted. It is unclear when these restrictions will be lifted. Reports from news agencies indicate that the roll-back will not stop there, with climate information pages hosted by the EPA expected to be shut down. "My guess is the web pages will be taken down, but the links and information will be available," the prominent climate sceptic and adviser to the Trump transition team, Myron Ebell, told Reuters. "If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear," said an anonymous EPA staff member, according to reports. The Trump team has also taken immediate steps to push forward with two controversial oil pipelines. So are all these moves evidence of a malevolent mindset, determined to crush all this snowflake climate change chatter? Definitely, according to Alden Meyer, a veteran climate campaigner with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "President Trump and his team are pursuing what I call a 'control-alt-delete' strategy: control the scientists in the federal agencies, alter science-based policies to fit their narrow ideological agenda, and delete scientific information from government websites," told BBC News. "This is an across-the-board strategy that we are seeing at multiple federal agencies on a range of issues, though climate denialism is clearly the point of the spear." Not according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer. "I don't think it's any surprise that when there's an administration turnover, that we're going to review the policy," he said. However the disappearance of tweets of basic climate change information from the Badlands National Park Twitter account has raised serious concerns that the Trump team is not just seeking to roll back regulation, but is also taking an ideological stand against what they might see as "warmist" propaganda. Protesters have maintained a long-term presence to stall progress on the Dakota Access Pipeline Back in 2009, President Obama enacted rules that federal agencies should have scientific integrity policies, that guaranteed the rights of free speech of employees, following on from the gagging of some researchers and the altering of reports under the Bush administration. While the current steps being taken by the Trump team may turn out to be less restrictive than feared, on this side of the pond there's a great deal of concern. Scientists see the forthcoming visit of UK prime minister Theresa May to Washington as an opportunity to press the President to rein in his approach. "We are beginning to see our fears realised less than a week after President Trump has taken office," said Bob Ward, from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. "I hope that the Prime Minister will challenge President Trump about this censorship and political interference in the process of gaining and sharing knowledge about climate change during their meeting on Friday." Climate scientists in the US are also rallying to fight back. A march on Washington by scientists is being proposed, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts have been created based on the the idea that "an American government that ignores science to pursue ideological agendas endangers the world". Meanwhile, another national park - Golden Gate NPS - has started tweeting climate facts. Follow Matt on Twitter and on Facebook

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38746608

Texas tornado lifts woman in bath outside - BBC News

2017-01-26

A woman describes her lucky escape after a tornado ripped through 12 homes in Madison County, Texas.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38765376

How tea-maker brewed a Brexit bonanza - BBC News

2017-01-26

Tea-maker Andrew Gadsden explains how his business made a five-figure 'bonanza' from the Brexit vote.

Tea-maker Andrew Gadsden explains how his business made a five-figure 'bonanza' from the Brexit vote. He spoke with video journalist Dougal Shaw, who went to meet him at his store in Portsmouth, All About Tea. You can learn more about the store in this video from the My Shop series.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38748296

Ant and Dec net trio of National Television Awards - BBC News

2017-01-26

Ant and Dec won three prizes at the National Television Awards, including best TV presenter for the 16th year.

This video is no longer available because rights have expired Ant and Dec won three prizes at the National Television Awards, including best TV presenter for the 16th year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38752785

India v England: Eoin Morgan, Joe Root and bowlers seal T20 win in Kanpur - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

An impressive England bowling display lays the foundation for a seven-wicket victory over India in the first Twenty20 international.

Last updated on .From the section Cricket An impressive England bowling display laid the foundation for a comfortable seven-wicket victory over India in the first Twenty20 international. Expertly varying pace and length, England restricted India to 147-7, off-spinner Moeen Ali's 2-21 the standout. Sam Billings took 20 from the second over of England's reply, with Eoin Morgan (51) and Joe Root (46 not out) completing the chase in 18.1 overs. The second of the three T20 matches is in Nagpur on Sunday. England will look to wrap up the series after putting in their best performance of a tour that saw them heavily beaten in the Tests and squeezed out in the one-day internationals. The home side rested spin-bowling tormentors Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, but even their presence would have been unlikely to derail an England side that won their first T20 match in India since an agonising defeat in the final of the 2016 World T20. It was England's bowling which was found wanting in what turned out to be the highest-scoring three-match ODI series of all time. But in Kanpur they learned quickly after initially bowling too full, pace quartet Tymal Mills, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett and Ben Stokes mixing back-of-a-length with changes of pace. Moeen also went through his repertoire, conceding only one boundary and having the incredibly dangerous Virat Kohli superbly held at mid-wicket by Morgan from his first delivery. KL Rahul, Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya fell to the short ball, the latter giving pacy left-arm T20 specialist Mills his first international wicket. India found the boundary only three times between the 10th and 19th overs and it was left to former captain MS Dhoni, who took 12 from the final over, to add some respectability. Still, the hosts seemed at least 20 below par on a good pitch, with England so in control that leg-spinner Adil Rashid was not called on to bowl. Any suggestion that India would find a way back was snuffed out by Billings, opening in place of the injured Alex Hales. Jasprit Bumrah was battered for three fours and a ramped six as England's chase began with a sprint. A slight wobble came when Jason Roy, who himself hit two sixes, and Billings were both bowled in the same over by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. But, with the required rate under control, Root and Morgan were afforded time to rebuild with pressure-free accumulation. In between taking the singles on offer, Morgan lofted four sixes over the leg side before holing out to long-off from off-spinner Parvez Rasool one ball after reaching an eighth T20 half-century. That ended a stand of 83 with Root, who was joined by Stokes and survived being bowled off a Bumrah no-ball to accelerate England home. 'Our bowlers were outstanding' - what they said England captain Eoin Morgan: "Our bowlers were outstanding. Everyone in the unit executed the plans we talked about. We showed a lot of experience. "The opening batsmen got off to a flier and that releases any pressure on the guys coming in after them. Sam Billings hasn't played much this tour but he has taken his chances when he has had an opportunity." India captain Virat Kohli: "England played better cricket - with the ball and the bat they were precise. They were deserving winners and we need to stand up and applaud them. "This is a format you need to enjoy and play at your intense best. We need to address the things we want to and not take too much stress from this. We need to just enjoy and not put too much pressure on the youngsters." Former England captain Michael Vaughan on Twitter: "Not many teams give India a T20 masterclass, especially not in their own back yard. England have to find a way of getting Sam Billings in the ODI team."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/38760089

Don Hale: One man's fight for justice - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Celebrated justice campaigner Don Hale reveals the pressures he has faced in his years as a righter of legal wrongs.

Derby

Don Hale has helped to clear Barry George, Stephen Downing and Ched Evans Fifteen years ago Stephen Downing was acquitted after spending 27 years in prison for murder, overturning one of Britain's most notorious miscarriages of justice and putting into the spotlight the local newspaper editor who helped to bring the police's case tumbling down. Don Hale could hardly have foreseen that by championing the case he would go on to suffer police intimidation and receive death threats - there were even two apparent attempts on his life - forcing him to leave his Derbyshire home. But the Downing case would eventually change the law, win Hale an OBE and make him a go-to journalist to investigate major miscarriages of justice. In the years since the release of Mr Downing, Hale has also helped to free Barry George, the man who spent eight years in jail for the murder of Jill Dando, and to clear the name of footballer, Ched Evans, after a controversial rape retrial. Don Hale was editor of weekly local newspaper, the Matlock Mercury, during his battle to free Stephen Downing For Hale, the brutal trigger for his life of campaigning was the 1973 killing of 32-year-old Wendy Sewell. She was found badly beaten but still alive in a Bakewell graveyard by Mr Downing, a council gardener. He was arrested and questioned without a solicitor for several hours but, aged 17 and with a reading age of 11, officers pressured him into signing a confession to the attack, filled with words he did not understand. When Mrs Sewell died two days later, the charge was upgraded to murder. Mr Downing immediately retracted his confession but was found guilty at a trial at Nottingham Crown Court. Legal secretary Wendy Sewell, dubbed "the Bakewell Tart" in the press, was left for dead in the cemetery After their son had spent two decades in prison, Mr Downing's parents approached Hale, editor of the Matlock Mercury, for help. He faced obstacles at every turn, with police telling him all the evidence had been "burnt, lost and destroyed". A turning point came when Derby Museum staff informed him that the murder weapon - a pickaxe handle - was on display there. With Hale's help, Mr Downing won £13,000 from the Legal Aid Board. This paid for a modern forensic examination of the weapon, crucially revealing Mr Downing's fingerprints were not present - although there was a bloody palm print from an unknown person. The clothes Mr Downing had been wearing, which had been returned to his parents, were flecked with spots of blood which Hale believed were consistent with him having tried to help Wendy Sewell as she lay dying. Twenty years after the murder Hale reshot scene of crime photographs in Bakewell cemetery "I reported developments through the Matlock Mercury - it became like The Archers, a bit of a saga," he joked. But the articles prompted real-life drama in the form of anonymous death threats and what Hale claims was police harassment. "They made my life absolute hell for five or six years," he said. "I was pulled up for speeding, stopped and searched, victimised." Letters were sent to his home and a brick was thrown through the newspaper's window. Most seriously, on two occasions a vehicle was driven at him at speed, which he believes were attempts to kill him. Police even gave him a mirror on a stick to check for bombs under his car. "I was very worried for my family. There weren't threats against other journalists, it was simply against me. It turned into a rollercoaster," he said. But all of this merely strengthened his resolve: "If Downing had done it, why should anyone want to threaten me?" Mr Downing was ineligible for parole under the law at the time because he had refused to admit his guilt. Hale believed this was unfair and took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, winning the case in 1996. It was adopted into law that prisoners who maintained their innocence after conviction could apply for parole. Derbyshire Dales MP Patrick McLoughlin became one of the Downing campaign's high-profile supporters By now, the Downing case was attracting attention from far and wide: "I became a hero in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Argentina, because I had taken on the British government and won," Hale said. Closer to home, Hale said then Prime Minister Tony Blair asked him for help in setting up an independent body to investigate miscarriages of justice, which became the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC). Stephen Downing's was one of the first cases to be looked at by the CCRC. It recommended his conviction should be overturned on the basis that the circumstances in which he gave his confession made it unreliable evidence that should not have gone before a jury. The conviction was quashed in 2001 with Mr Downing finally walking free in January 2002. Hale and Stephen Downing on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice in January, 2002, after his conviction was overturned Hale was pleased but also disappointed: "He had got off on a technicality," he said. "He didn't get his day in court because police were bang to rights. Somebody should have been called to account." The legal challenge to Mr Downing's conviction focused on the way detectives had conducted the original investigation in 1973. He had been questioned without a lawyer and there were serious doubts about whether he had been properly advised of his legal rights. These facts were never made known to the jury that convicted him, but they were enough to overturn the conviction. But Mr Downing, for his part, was not angry: "Who would I feel bitter against? The system? I think I would be punishing myself," he said. With much more to say himself, Hale wrote the book, Town Without Pity, which was turned into BBC drama, In Denial of Murder, in 2004. In Denial of Murder starred Stephen Tompkinson as Don Hale and Jason Watkins as Stephen Downing Police reopened their investigation, interviewing 1,600 witnesses, at an estimated cost of £500,000, but failed to identify any alternative suspect - although Hale has previously said he believes he has a "very good idea" who killed Wendy Sewell. Mr Downing was later awarded £900,000 in compensation. The huge press attention the case attracted finally forced Hale to relocate to north Wales. "One of the reasons I moved away from Derbyshire was to get relief," he said. "It wasn't fair on my family." Jill Dando's killer has never been brought to justice But he was soon called on to help with another miscarriage of justice. BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando was shot dead on her fiancé's west London doorstep in April 1999. A year later, after interviewing over hundreds of people, the Met Police charged 41-year-old Barry George, a self-confessed stalker and loner, with her murder. He was tried, convicted and jailed for life. But there were serious concerns about the police investigation, and in 2004 Hale was asked to get involved. "Quite quickly, I found a lot of evidence that didn't match up," he said. Barry George was "an oddball but not a killer", Hale said He went to see Mr George in prison where he was "like a lion in a cage", pacing the floor. "How could he do a clinical murder like that?" Hale said. "Everyone that was dealing with him said he's a bit of an oddball but he's not a killer." Gunpowder residue on Mr George's clothing had played a large part in convicting him. But Hale said there was so little of it that it could have come from weapons armed police were carrying when he was arrested. The CCRC referred Mr George's case to the Court of Appeal and a retrial took place at the Old Bailey in 2008, when he was cleared of murder and released. Ched Evans was serving a five-year sentence for rape when his family approached Hale for help. "I didn't want to touch it because it was so high profile," he said. But Mr Evans' mother had serious doubts about the "rushed" investigation. The then-Sheffield United striker had been convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman at a Premier Inn in Denbighshire in May 2011. At the same trial, footballer Clayton McDonald was acquitted of the offence. Hale believed the guilty verdict was an "emotional response" from the jury, owing to Mr Evans' "cockiness". "He thought he was God's gift to women," Hale said. He spent six months working on the case, in which time Mr Evans was released having served half of his sentence. "My knowledge and experience meant I could cut corners and had an important point that I knew the IPCC would look at." This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A timeline of events leading to Ched Evans clearing his name That point was the woman's sexual history and, after the CCRC agreed there was enough evidence to quash the conviction, this evidence controversially formed part of the retrial. Unlike during the original trial, her previous sexual partners gave evidence recounting similar encounters to the one in the hotel room that night. It led to plans to review the law protecting alleged rape victims from disclosing details of their sex lives. Mr Evans was cleared in October 2016 but it left a bitter taste for Hale. "In this case it was right - you have got to look at each case on its own merit," he said. "But the whole thing was a bit unsavoury and not good for the girl herself." Hale said at the time he hoped the case did not deter women from coming forward to report sexual offences. But, had that evidence been used in the original trial, "Evans would have been cleared," he said. The case took its toll on Hales, now 64, and he has decided not to investigate any more miscarriages of justice, focusing instead on writing books. "I am proud of what I have done," he said. "If it wasn't for people like me you'd have no-one to say, 'this isn't the way we should interview people, this is not the way we should treat people'." Yet he still insists modestly that much of the credit for overturning the miscarriages of justice he has worked on belongs to others, seeing himself more as a catalyst for change. "You have got to have somebody who gets the ball rolling."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-38581779

Liverpool 0-1 Southampton (Agg: 0-2) - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Southampton reach a first major final since 2003 with a determined display to beat Liverpool in the EFL Cup at Anfield.

Last updated on .From the section Football Southampton reached the EFL Cup final at Wembley with a fully deserved victory over two legs against Liverpool - crowned by Shane Long's late winner at Anfield. Claude Puel's side, defending a 1-0 lead from the first leg, should have put the tie out of Liverpool's reach inside the first 45 minutes but Dusan Tadic's close-range shot was blocked by keeper Loris Karius and captain Steve Davis blazed another great chance wildly over. Liverpool raised the tempo in front of the Kop in the second half but Daniel Sturridge wasted their two best chances, Fraser Forster acrobatically hooked an Emre Can shot off the line and the hosts also had a late penalty appeal turned down when substitute Divock Origi tumbled under Jack Stephens' challenge. But Southampton broke clear in the closing moments and Long finished convincingly from Josh Sims' pass to send them into the their first final in this competition since 1979, where they will meet either Manchester United or Hull City - a feat achieved without conceding a goal. Southampton's date at Wembley on 26 February is a rich tribute to this brilliantly run club and their understated French manager Claude Puel. Saints were vastly superior over two legs against Liverpool and, despite the home side's complaints about that late penalty claim, no-one could seriously begrudge them their victory. And it was all done without their talisman and key defender Virgil van Dijk, out through injury. Southampton were dangerous on the break in the first half and then, when they needed to be, were superbly organised, disciplined and determined defensively before breaking for Republic of Ireland international Long to strike the killer blow. Southampton have once more demonstrated their ability, as a club, to take the blows of key departures and still achieve. They lost manager Ronald Koeman to Everton in the summer - as well as important components such as Victor Wanyama and Sadio Mane to Spurs and Liverpool respectively - and have carried on undisturbed with a Wembley appearance as their reward. Liverpool lose their way - one win in seven matches Liverpool's laboured performance was in stark contrast to the all-action attacking displays that briefly took them to the top of the Premier League earlier this season. Jurgen Klopp's side looked jaded and have lost their way, with only one win in seven games this year, a third-round FA Cup replay victory at League Two Plymouth Argyle. Liverpool look shorn of threat without £34m summer signing Mane, away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal, and lacking an alternative plan when teams as disciplined as Swansea and Southampton have been in inflicting two successive home defeats. Sturridge felt the frustration of Liverpool's supporters for a poor performance and two missed chances, while substitute Origi looks short of confidence. Klopp's decision to play Can and Jordan Henderson together in midfield backfired badly and his decision to leave out Georginio Wijnaldum was questionable. Southampton's players enjoyed every second of their celebrations with their fans in the Anfield Road end as they looked forward to the chance to win their second major trophy, following an FA Cup triumph over Manchester United at Wembley in 1976. Saints had several anxious moments in the second half, especially when goalkeeper Forster dropped Can's shot behind him then recovered miraculously to claw it off the line as Sturridge closed in. They also survived two penalty appeals - for handball against Long and that fall from Origi - but this was a glory night for Southampton and one they fully deserved. BBC Radio 5 live pundit Mark Lawrenson: "Absolutely, totally and utterly deserved. They always, always carried that goal threat. They played with so much pace, so much directness. Over the two legs they have totally outplayed Liverpool. They thoroughly deserve the Wembley appearance." A first for Klopp - the stats you need... • None This is the first time Jurgen Klopp has lost a semi-final as a manager, progressing from the previous six. • None Southampton have reached the final without conceding a single goal. • None Liverpool have failed to score in all three games v Southampton this season in all competitions. • None Claude Puel is unbeaten in six games against Liverpool as a manager (W3 D3). • None This is just the second time Liverpool have been eliminated in six League Cup semi-finals (the other v Chelsea in 2014-15). • None The last time Liverpool failed to score in either leg of a semi-final was in the 1970-71 Fairs Cup v Leeds. 'Seven good chances' - what the managers said Southampton manager Claude Puel: "It is fantastic for all the squad and a good reward for their hard work. It was difficult to find this opportunity to play a final at Wembley. In the two legs we deserved the win. We were fantastic in the first leg at home and tonight we had chances in the first half. "In the second half it was difficult but now we go to Wembley, not just to participate but to win this cup. I have been there once, just to watch France beat England." Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: "They won both games, they deserved it. We did really well. We cannot create more chances than we did in the second half - we were dominant. It is difficult because you have to take risks but too many risks plays to their strengths. "We had seven good chances. You have to score, and we didn't do, so we lost. I'm fine with the performance but not the result." Liverpool host Championship side Wolves in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday at 12:30 GMT, while Southampton travel to Arsenal in the same competition at 17:30. • None Goal! Liverpool 0, Southampton 1. Shane Long (Southampton) right footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Josh Sims following a fast break. • None Attempt blocked. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. • None Attempt missed. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Adam Lallana. • None Attempt blocked. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Emre Can. • None Attempt blocked. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (Southampton) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Nathan Redmond. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38659708

Trump 'will handle US-UK trade talks' - BBC News

2017-01-26

President Trump says he will handle UK trade talks himself, as he waits for Senate to approve his commerce secretary.

US President Donald Trump has said he will handle trade discussions with the UK himself, ahead of a meeting with the British prime minister. The president said he would have to deal with the talks because his chosen commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, has yet to be officially confirmed by the Senate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38763689

Touring Tokyo with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima - BBC News

2017-01-26

Newsbeat's gaming reporter meets Hideo Kojima, the man behind Metal Gear Solid, who rarely gives interviews.

Legendary game designer Hideo Kojima says games, novels and films will "merge into one type of entertainment". Described as the Spielberg of gaming, he was speaking to Radio 1 Newsbeat during an exclusive tour of his new studio in Tokyo. "We want to be there when that time comes, to help show people a new kind of experience. "We're already preparing for that future, but first we're focusing on our next game."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/38754386

Claude Puel: Southampton boss wants EFL Cup path to Europa League - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Southampton manager Claude Puel hopes for a second shot at Europe if his side win the EFL Cup.

Last updated on .From the section Football Southampton boss Claude Puel has stressed the importance of securing European football next season after his side reached the EFL Cup final. Saints won at Liverpool and will face Manchester United or Hull, with the winners entering the Europa League. Puel faced criticism when his side drew with Hapoel Be'er Sheva to exit the Europa League group stage this season. "It's important to put this experience for next year in European games. It'll be important to qualify," said Puel. "It will be important for the squad to continue the work, to improve, and know the possibilities to play European games." Before the match, the Southampton manager, 55, faced questions on his style of play, with some supporters deeming his tactics negative. Southampton had just 27% possession at Anfield but added to their first-leg lead in injury time when Shane Long struck to earn a 2-0 aggregate win and seal a place in the final on 26 February. The result means former Lyon boss Puel has not lost in all six of his meetings with Liverpool and he has guided the south-coast club to a first major final since 2003 in his first season at St Mary's. "Now we go to Wembley, not just to participate but to win this cup," he added. Liverpool's main threat over two legs arrived as they chased the tie in the second half of the second leg, but wasted chances by Daniel Sturridge and a fine save from Saints' keeper Fraser Forster saw Klopp taste defeat in a cup semi-final for the first time. Forster smartly hooked a ball off the line after spilling an Emre Can shot and Klopp was frustrated his side were not given a penalty when Long handled in the area. "They won both games, they deserved it," said Klopp. "We had big, big chances and no luck. A lucky save, a good save but a lucky save by Forster. The referee again didn't see the handball by Shane Long and that doesn't help in a game like this. "I'm happy with the performance, I'm fine with a lot of things but of course it's a cup so no-one cares how you play - you have to win and get to the final." Klopp, 49, guided Liverpool to the League Cup final last season but his side have now won just once in seven matches. BBC Radio 5 live pundit Mark Lawrenson: "Absolutely, totally and utterly deserved. They always, always carried that goal threat. They played with so much pace, so much directness. Over the two legs they have totally outplayed Liverpool. They thoroughly deserve the Wembley appearance."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38753260

Usain Bolt loses one Olympic gold medal as Nesta Carter tests positive - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Usain Bolt has to hand back one of his nine Olympic gold medals after Jamaican team-mate Nesta Carter tests positive for a banned substance.

Last updated on .From the section Athletics Usain Bolt will have to hand back one of his nine Olympic gold medals after Jamaican team-mate Nesta Carter tested positive for a banned substance. Carter was part of the Jamaican quartet that won the 4x100m in Beijing in 2008. His was one of 454 selected doping samples retested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, and has been found to contain the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine. Bolt, 30, completed an unprecedented 'triple triple' in Rio last summer. He won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay to add to his successes in the same events in 2008 and 2012. Carter, 31, was also part of the squad that won the event in London five years ago and helped Jamaica win at the World Championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He ran the first leg for Jamaica's 4x100m relay team in Beijing, which also included Michael Frater, Asafa Powell and Bolt. • None An Olympic career in 325 seconds - Bolt in numbers • None Usain Bolt having to return Olympic Gold 'is disgusting' - Darren Campbell The team won in a then-world record of 37.10 seconds, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago and Japan, who could have their medals upgraded. Brazil would then receive bronze. The head of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, Dr Warren Blake, said he did not expect the whole team to be penalised: "I didn't rule out he'd be found guilty but my personal opinion is that I'm surprised they'd go that route." Carter's lawyer has confirmed that the sprinter will lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The test and what happened next? Carter was tested on the evening of the Beijing final in 2008 but that was found at the time to contain no "adverse analytical finding". More than 4,500 tests were carried out at those Games, with nine athletes caught cheating. An anomaly was discovered in Carter's submission following the IOC's decision to retest 454 samples from Beijing using the latest scientific analysis methods. Carter and the Jamaican National Olympic Committee were told of the adverse finding in May - before the Rio Games - and told his B sample would be tested. It was reported by Reuters in June that Carter's A sample had been found to contain methylhexanamine, which has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) prohibited list since 2004. It was reclassified in 2011 as a "specified substance", meaning one that is more susceptible to a "credible, non-doping explanation". Sold as a nasal decongestant in the United States until 1983, methylhexanamine has been used more recently as an ingredient in dietary supplements. Speaking in June, Bolt said the prospect of having to return the gold was "heartbreaking". He told the Jamaica Gleaner: "For years you've worked hard to accumulate gold medals and you work hard to be a champion, but it's one of those things. "I'm more concerned about the athlete and I hope he gets through it." Analysis - 'It takes the shine off Bolt's achievement' It takes the shine off Bolt's achievement. Eight doesn't have the same ring - 'double treble, plus two'. It will be really frustrating for him. You can only account for yourself, you cannot account for your team-mates. We know it has nothing to do with Usain Bolt - it will not damage his reputation - but it will affect it, take shine off it and he won't be a happy man. When I hear stories like this, a part of me does celebrate. If athletes think they have got away with it, then with retrospective testing they can never sleep peacefully. It has to be the strongest deterrent the sport now has. Even when athletes retire they can still have their medals taken away. Marlon Devonish, 40, was part of the British 4x100m relay team which lost the silver medal at the World Championships in 2003 following Dwain Chambers' failed drugs test. He went on to win Olympic relay gold with Britain at Athens 2004. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, he said: "With relays you work together, you build a relationship, but you never know what goes on behind closed doors and clearly Carter was taking drugs. "Carter has tarnished the team. It's a massively selfish act and I'm sure Bolt and the rest of the team are bitterly disappointed. "The relationship between me and Dwain, we get on, we are cool. He apologised to me I and accepted it. Dwain has to live with it for the rest of his life, it was a sincere apology. "I was devastated when I found out, but you have to move on." Russia's Tatyana Lebedeva has also been stripped of her Beijing long jump and triple jump silver medals after dehydrochlormethyltestosterone was found in one of her samples. The 40-year-old has told Russian news agency Tass that she plans to appeal against the decision to strip her of her medals, adding that she "will always fight to the end". Lebedeva has resigned from the executive committee of the World Olympians Association (WOA), the umbrella organisation that represents 148 national associations of former Olympic athletes. Now a Russian senator, she won gold in the long jump at the 2004 Athens Games and has two other Olympic medals, won in Sydney and Athens. She retired from competition in 2013.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38744846

Doomsday Clock: Countdown to catastrophe? - BBC News

2017-01-26

Here's how the Doomsday Clock changed from 1947 up to last year.

The minute hand on the Doomsday Clock is a metaphor for how vulnerable the world is to catastrophe. Amid concerns over climate change, the clock has been close to midnight for the past few years. Here's how the Doomsday Clock changed from 1947 up to last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/38761562

Art Deco ceiling found at Khan's Bargains, Peckham - BBC News

2017-01-26

Restoration work in Rye Lane, Peckham, has revealed its long-forgotten history as the Oxford Street of the south.

Restoration work in Rye Lane, Peckham, has revealed its long-forgotten history as the Oxford Street of the south.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38763681

Australian Open 2017: Venus & Serena Williams to meet in ninth Grand Slam final - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Venus and Serena Williams will meet in a Grand Slam final for the ninth time after winning their semi-finals in Melbourne.

Last updated on .From the section Tennis Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online. Venus and Serena Williams will meet in a Grand Slam final for the ninth time after the American sisters came through their semi-finals in Melbourne. Thirteenth seed Venus, 36, beat fellow American Coco Vandeweghe 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-3 to reach her first major final since 2009. World number two Serena, 35, saw off unseeded Croat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2 6-1 in the second semi-final. Serena is attempting to win an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam singles title. It would also be a seventh Australian Open victory for the younger Williams sister, while Venus hopes to win an eighth major title, first in Melbourne and first since Wimbledon in 2008. Saturday will be their first Grand Slam final against each other since Wimbledon 2009 when Serena won in straight sets. "It is unbelievable to watch Serena play tennis - the way she hits the ball and the competitor she is," Venus Williams said after the first semi-final. "It would be a dream to see her on the opposite side of the net on Saturday." Speaking after her win, Serena said: "I am really proud of Venus - she is a total inspiration. I am really happy for her and to be in the final together is a dream for us. "She is my toughest opponent, no-one has ever beaten me as much as Venus. "I feel no matter what that we have both won after all we have been through. I know a Williams is going to win this tournament." Vandeweghe, 25, had played superbly in seeing off world number one Angelique Kerber and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza to reach the last four, but she could not maintain that level in the semi-final. The world number 35 deservedly took the first set on a tie-break but it was the experience of Williams that eventually prevailed. Williams converted four of five break points, but more importantly reduced Vandeweghe to just one from 13 as the younger American was reduced to throwing her racquet in frustration as the chances slipped by. Two double faults handed Williams a decisive double break in the second set and the seven-time Grand Slam champion broke again at the start of the third. Vandeweghe stayed close enough to keep the pressure on, saving three match points before finally cracking with an error on the fourth, prompting a jubilant twirl of celebration from Williams. "Everyone has their moment in the sun. Maybe mine has gone on a little longer than other people, but I have nothing else to do," joked Williams. Lucic-Baroni was playing her first Grand Slam semi-final for 18 years, but it only lasted 50 minutes as Serena Williams dominated in her 34th major semi-final. It was their third meeting but their first since 1998, when the pair were teenagers. The story of Lucic-Baroni's comeback from a series of personal issues that saw her career all but finished had captured the attention, and she ended the tournament by taking a selfie with the crowd on her way out of Rod Laver Arena. "Mirjana is an inspiration and deserves all the credit today," said Williams. "To get so far after all she has been through inspires me and I wanted to give her all the congratulations. "It is great to see her out here. I was rooting for her through the whole tournament." Williams will return on Saturday to try to make history once again by surpassing Steffi Graf and winning a 23rd major singles title. Once she broke Lucic-Baroni's serve in the third game there was only going to be one winner, runs of five straight games and six straight games bringing her each set. "The serve was a little better today. I want it to be a little better. I knew it needed to be good because Mirjana is a great returner," added Williams. Australia Day was graced by two remarkable achievements by two remarkable players in their mid-thirties. One, Roger Federer, has spent six months out of the game after knee surgery, and the other, Venus Williams, has lived for many years with an auto-immune disorder which causes fatigue and joint pain. Venus Williams' defensive skills were also crucial as she resisted the firepower of Coco Vandeweghe to reach her first Australian Open final for 14 years. She is now the only person with the power to prevent her younger sister from making history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38754239

Menai the rare Olive Ridley turtle's scan is 'good news' - BBC News

2017-01-26

A rare sea turtle discovered washed up on an Anglesey beach is closer to full health after scans reveal why she found it difficult to dive.

A rare sea turtle discovered washed up on an Anglesey beach is closer to full health after scans revealed why she found it difficult to dive. The turtle, nicknamed Menai, was taken to Hertfordshire's Royal Veterinary College amid concerns she might be unable to return to sea. Scans discovered Menai has gas on her lungs and is suffering lung damage. But Anglesey Sea Zoo, who are caring for Menai, called the results "good news" and said the scans were "part of her journey" back to full health.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38762154

Chichester Roman houses found under Priory Park - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Ground-penetrating scans of a Chichester park reveal three near-complete Roman buildings.

Sussex

A small dig carried out after the scan confirmed the findings Ground-penetrating scans of a park have revealed three near-complete Roman buildings in Chichester. Archaeologists, who were left stunned by the degree of preservation, have said the only reason they survived was because Priory Park was never built on. Two houses and a third building were found. Moving images from a scan show the shapes of two buildings emerge. It is thought the houses in Noviomagus Reginorum - the Roman name for the town - were owned by people of importance. Local geophysics specialist David Staveley, who had set out to identify all the city's Roman roads, was given permission to scan the parks because some might have survived there. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Following his scans, a small dig was carried out in Priory Park. It is thought the houses were originally on a street but the road did not survive. James Kenny, an archaeologist at Chichester District Council, said the scans showed a townhouse with rooms and a freestanding building in the corner. "It's difficult to say what it might have been, but the walls did survive. It might have been part of a bathhouse, or a cellar, or a winter dining room with under-floor heating," he said. Mr Kenny admitted there was "nothing exceptional" about a Roman house in a Roman town. But he said: "What's exceptional is in a Roman town like Chichester, most of the archaeology has been interrupted by all sorts of house building." Added to that, the city had no sewers until the 1880s and people had to dig holes in the ground, he said. "An awful lot of archaeology was lost." However, Priory Park, originally home to a monastery, had not been developed, and the buildings buried 0.5m below the surface showed a "remarkable degree of preservation", Mr Kenny said. Further exploration will take place this year and there may also be a larger investigation in the future. Scans also revealed another Roman street under the park, but this will not be uncovered. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-38746952

Hull City 2-1 Manchester United (Agg: 2-3) - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Manchester United are beaten for the first time since November but reach the EFL Cup final with an aggregate win over Hull.

Last updated on .From the section Football Manchester United set up an EFL Cup final against Southampton despite their 17-match unbeaten run ending with defeat at Hull City in the semi-final second leg on Thursday. Jose Mourinho's side led 2-0 from the first leg but, making five changes, they struggled to impose themselves at the KCOM Stadium. Tom Huddlestone put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot after four players had tangled in the area after a set-piece, Marcos Rojo's pull on Harry Maguire's shirt the most visible offence. It gave Hull, 19th in the Premier League, poise and confidence, but their hopes of just a second domestic cup final in their 113-year history were dashed when Paul Pogba poked through the legs of Maguire and into the bottom corner from 10 yards. Rojo headed against the bar for United and the Tigers' Oumar Niasse also struck the woodwork before he turned in David Meyler's cross to set up a tense finale. But the visitors held on and former Chelsea boss Mourinho could move level with Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson on four League Cup wins at Wembley on 26 February. • None 'It was 1-1' - Mourinho says Man Utd 'didn't lose' Former boss Ferguson said earlier in the week that Mourinho had "got to grips" with the managerial role at Old Trafford - and a major final will surely only further build confidence as United remain in the hunt for a Champions League qualification berth and in three cup competitions. The EFL Cup may not top the list of objectives for Red Devils fans, but their team have shown a hunger to beat three Premier League teams on the way to Wembley in Hull, West Ham and Manchester City. On his 54th birthday, Mourinho shuffled his pack. Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard were preferred to Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and United were deservedly beaten. There were contentious moments, notably the penalty award which BBC Radio 5 live pundit Ally McCoist deemed "soft" and United had calls for their own spot-kick when Chris Smalling went down under Tom Huddlestone's challenge after the break. Mourinho seemed irked by officiating after the match, but on the night his side had less of the ball, fewer shots than their hosts and were probably asked to work far harder than he would have liked. There were positives. Marcus Rashford's pace on times troubled the hosts, Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed touches of flair - notably when bringing a fine save from David Marshall - and most importantly, United will bid for a fifth League Cup win. However, with progress comes dilemmas. Mourinho will now see the depth of his squad tested, with the final arriving on the same day United were scheduled to face Manchester City in the league and four days after the second leg of a Europa League tie at Saint-Etienne. Hull, on paper at least, stood no chance before kick-off. On 26 of the 27 previous occasions a side had lost a League Cup semi-final first leg by two or more goals they have gone out. But ploughing on through adversity is a necessary pre-requisite at the KCOM Stadium. Robert Snodgrass - who has created 30 more chances than any other Hull player this season - was left out amid two bids for his services, midfielder Jake Livermore has been sold and recent acquisition Ryan Mason will likely face a long lay-off after fracturing his skull. All things considered, this was a display to be applauded. The fact the starting line-up included four players who have each played less than five games this season in Shaun Maloney, Jarron Bowen, Niasse and Josh Tymon, perhaps underlined coach Marco Silva's priorities. But Bowen was neat and tidy, while Everton-reject Niasse proved a constant nuisance. The experience of Tom Huddlestone was key as he picked intelligent passes in midfield and new recruit Lazar Markovic came off the bench to help craft the second goal. With Hull's league position so precarious, would the distraction of a cup final proved a nuisance for Silva? He has a bigger battle to fight but this win showed that even with key names out, he has a squad which may have the character needed for a successful scrap against the drop. • None Listen: Spirit is being ripped from Hull - McCoist For all the Hull vigour, semi-finals belong to winners and United will now compete in their ninth League Cup final. Victory in this competition of course kick-started Ferguson's success in 1992, and a quarter of a century on Mourinho will bid to maintain his unbeaten run in League cup finals. "Wembley is Wembley, it is for professionals with passion for football. It has a special meaning, a special feeling," said the United boss. 'I behaved on the bench' - what the managers said Hull manager Marco Silva: "It was a good win but not enough for our goal. It is important to win the game but the result in the first leg caused problems for us. It was a good performance again, a good attitude and we controlled the game in large periods against a big team. It is impossible at this moment to feel really happy. "The goal we conceded is not a normal goal, we lost control at the vital moment." Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho: "I just want to say congratulations to my players. It was a difficult road to be in the final and we are in the final. I don't want to say anything else. It is enough, I am calm, I behaved on the bench, no sending off, no punishment so no more words." Home fortress - the stats you need to know • None Manchester United have reached their ninth League Cup final - second only to Liverpool in the history of the competition (12). • None Paul Pogba scored his seventh goal of the season in all competitions - only Zlatan Ibrahimovic has more for the Red Devils this season (19). • None Tom Huddlestone's penalty was his first goal in 31 games in all competitions for the Tigers, while Oumar Niasse scored his first goal in English football (11th game). • None This was Jose Mourinho's first ever defeat at the hands of the Tigers (W6 D0 L1). • None Hull have won their last three home games in all competitions, having won just two of their previous 11 at the KCOM Stadium this season. Manchester United host Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup on Sunday in a 16:00 GMT kick-off, after Hull travel to meet Fulham in the competition at 12:30. • None Attempt blocked. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a headed pass. • None Offside, Manchester United. Paul Pogba tries a through ball, but Marcus Rashford is caught offside. • None Attempt blocked. Harry Maguire (Hull City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Lazar Markovic. • None Marcos Rojo (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. • None Goal! Hull City 2, Manchester United 1. Oumar Niasse (Hull City) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by David Meyler. • None Offside, Manchester United. Ander Herrera tries a through ball, but Paul Pogba is caught offside. • None Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) wins a free kick on the right wing. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38672990

Two Premiership rugby union players test positive for cocaine use - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

The Rugby Football Union confirms two Premiership players tested positive for recreational drug use over the past two years.

Two Premiership players tested positive for recreational drug use last season, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) has confirmed. However, the latest RFU annual anti-doping report revealed there were only four violations for performance-enhancing drugs - all at amateur level. "It's an extremely low number of positive cases," said RFU anti-doping manager Stephen Watkins. "That's not to say it's not there, but if you compare those stats with wider general society, it's an incredibly low number of players who have been detected." The RFU insists it is "doing everything it can" to detect doping in the professional game. Although only around a third of top-flight players were tested as part of the RFU programme, Watkins is confident in the process. "We have tested a great deal in the Premiership consistently for over 10 years, with no violations," he said. "In terms of the amateur game, there's certainly work to be done in terms of education, especially in terms of the lower levels." What has the RFU done? Watkins feels rugby union in England is at the cutting edge of anti-doping testing, despite fears some substances - such as the use of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) - are notoriously difficult to detect. "We utilise all the latest techniques: we operate the biological passport, there is blood and urine testing, in and out of competition," he added. "We go to players' homes regularly, we obviously have regular intelligence meetings with other sports, with World Rugby and UK Anti-Doping (Ukad). "I would say we operate at the sharp end here. We obviously can't rest on our laurels, we can't allow ourselves to be complacent in this area. I would say we are doing everything we can. It's a very tough arena this, [and] given some of the other sports' issues with sophisticated doping it's not something we can take too lightly. "Every sport out there will be looking to use the latest and most sophisticated techniques to detect drug use. But if you look at our stats and World Rugby stats, I think as a sport we stand up pretty well." The illicit drugs programme was introduced following the Bath cocaine scandal in 2009, when four players were subsequently banned. "We feel very confident those issues don't exist in the Premiership any longer. While we can never rule it out, we feel pretty confident we don't have some of the issues which maybe occurred in the past," Watkins said. Phil Winstanley, rugby director at Premiership Rugby, added: "We had one big problem at Bath and that was a catalyst for this programme," "This is slightly different to the anti-doping programme. Unless it's being used in competition, cocaine isn't a performance-enhancing drug. Clearly we don't want it in our sport, and what's why we are doing the programme." The players who have tested positive have been fined, but the RFU will not reveal their identity when it is a first offence. A second positive test will lead to a ban. "All the violations have been one-off occasions, [the player] has received treatment and education, and that's followed up with monitoring tests," said Watkins. A total of 386 illicit drugs tests were conducted across the Premiership last season. "That would cover off around half of the players," Winstanley added. "So if we did have a problem we would be identifying drug-takers on a regular basis, and we are not."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38761246

I had an abortion when money made the difference between life and death - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Diane Munday, 80, had an abortion back at a time when gin and knitting needles could be used by backstreet abortionists - and were sometimes fatal.

Magazine

Diane Munday had an abortion in 1961, six years before the Abortion Act - now 50 years old - made abortion legal in Britain. While she could afford a Harley Street operation, she knew her neighbours were facing backstreet procedures with knitting needles. Here she explains how this inspired a life-long campaign for reform. It wasn't until I was about 21 years old that I first heard the word "abortion." In those days you had clothes made by a dressmaker and a local young married woman was making me a party dress; I went to her house for fittings. She had three young children and lived in a small post-war prefab house. I remember a very happy family. The father worked in a local factory and the children went to dancing lessons. One day when I came home from work - I was a research assistant at Barts Hospital - my mother told me the dressmaker had died. I discovered she had had a backstreet abortion that went wrong. I hadn't heard of this before - probably because the word was considered unmentionable. At that time a pregnant woman having an abortion and anyone who helped her could go to prison for it. I was so shocked by this that I mentioned it to colleagues at lunch the next day. The doctors I worked with said it was a common experience and invited me to "stay behind on Friday evening and we'll show you what the world is really like". I discovered then that all the London teaching hospitals set a few wards aside each Friday for women who were septic, bleeding or dying from having backstreet abortions. There would be a spate of cases on Friday because it was payday. They were often performed by people with some nursing experience using hot solutions and knitting needles or coat hanger hooks. A big problem was their inability to diagnose the stage of pregnancy accurately and the more advanced a pregnancy the more dangerous what they did became. Diane joined the Abortion Law Reform Society following the thalidomide scandal I put the incident to the back of my mind and over the next few years got married and then had three children of my own (in less than four years - there was no "pill" back then). During my third pregnancy the doctor gave me a prescription for thalidomide because I had problems sleeping. I left it on the mantelpiece and did not take the drug. The thalidomide scandal broke shortly afterwards and I got to thinking that if I had been carrying a deformed foetus I would have wanted the option of ending the pregnancy. So I joined the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) but initially did no more than pay my membership fee. This organisation had been founded in the 1930s but it wasn't really active as, post war, people preferred more polite social causes such as housing and education. Then I discovered I was pregnant again - my fourth in four years - and something in me just said: "I cannot, I will not have this child." My husband said he would much rather I continued the pregnancy but that it was my decision and he would support me whatever I decided. After much asking around I found my way to Harley Street where there was a semi-legal procedure. The gynaecologist sent me to a friend who was a psychiatrist who said my mental health was so damaged by the pregnancy that my life was endangered. This was an accepted reason for an abortion because of a recent court case called the Bourne Case. It was only available to those who could afford to pay. I was quoted £150 - which was thousands in 1961 - but the doctor later halved it. He arranged for me to go to a private nursing home in north London The procedure was done under general anaesthetic and I was in overnight. I found the nurses very unsympathetic - many of them disapproved because they were Roman Catholic. When I vomited due to the after effects of the anaesthetic, one nurse was extremely unpleasant. Coming round from the anaesthetic, I remembered the young dressmaker who had died and realised how similar our situations were; we were both young women with three young children but where we differed was that , because I had a chequebook, I was alive and because she had no spare money she was dead. This seemed totally and unacceptably wrong. At that moment I vowed to myself that I would do everything I could to prevent women dying because they were poor. So I went along to the next ALRA annual meeting, spoke to some people who had also joined because of the thalidomide scandal and within a year I was on the committee. That was when I started speaking out about abortion and that became my main role in the organisation. A poster from the 1960s printed by the Abortion Law Reform Association I gave talks to groups and, from the start, decided to be open about it and say, "I have had an abortion." I clearly remember an early Townswomen's Guild meeting when, in the tea interval, members came up to me one after the other and said words to the effect of "You know dear, I had an abortion in the 30s. My husband was out of work and we couldn't afford any more children." From then on this was a common experience and I realised abortion was an unmentionable but routine part of women's lives. I became infamous. I was boycotted by the grocers in the village because they said my money was tainted - that I had been doing backstreet abortions on my kitchen table. My sons were affected by comments at school when I was on TV and I think my husband found it difficult. But it needed to be done, the work was so important as women were desperate. They would try to self-induce by drinking gin, having scalding baths and moving heavy furniture around. Some travelled across the country and knocked on my front door as well as that of our secretary, Dilys Cossey, because her address was on the ALRA literature. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Two different perspectives on abortion from Woman's Hour Despite being shunned by some in the village, women would come to me themselves or with their daughters when they were unmarried and pregnant. I'd drive them to a clinic and hold their hand while their daughter's pregnancy was ended but next time I saw them they'd cross the road. Later when ALRA needed money for its campaigning (it was run by unpaid volunteers) I approached the doctor who performed my own abortion to ask for a donation. It seemed to me that many doctors had benefited over the years and they could put some money back to help women who couldn't afford fees. He agreed and also gave me names of other doctors who might contribute. I asked him why he performed abortions and he told me that, when he was a young doctor, a patient said she would kill herself if she didn't get an abortion. He told her the usual tale about loving the baby when it was born: that night she drowned herself and he felt that he had killed her. Diane is concerned that there is still a taboo about admitting to having had an abortion After much lobbying of MPs and a number of Bills in the Commons and the Lords the 1967 Abortion Act was passed. This was a great victory and a big step forward for women. But, for me, even then, it was not enough. I always believed that the only person qualified to make a decision about a pregnancy was the woman herself. We had had to make the concession that every abortion would be approved by two doctors. It was the price we paid for legalising any abortions at all. Nevertheless the beneficial effect was almost immediate with the numbers of women admitted to London hospitals for "septic miscarriages" dropping hugely within a year of the Act coming into effect. But still there were battles to fight. Particularly in areas of the country where medical opposition to legal abortion had been most ferocious, surgeons said they wouldn't perform abortions. I helped set up the Birmingham (later British) Pregnancy Advisory Service to help women where NHS doctors refused to comply with the Act. Initially it opened as a counselling service in someone's house. Women who could afford it were charged two shillings a visit and counselled and referred on to sympathetic doctors who would help them. This ensured that there was equitable treatment wherever somebody lived. Later, for 17 years, I worked for Bpas which had become a national organisation ensuring women were sympathetically and professionally treated wherever they lived and whatever the beliefs of local doctors. I'm proud of what I have done and of the benefits it has brought to so many women's lives. However, my concern now is the future. There's still a taboo around the subject making women reluctant to say: "I feel all right about having had an abortion." Half a century after reform we live in a very different world. Women's' rights have moved on. Medical technology has moved on. But we still require two doctors to sanction the termination of a pregnancy that the pregnant women herself has decided on. It's unbearable. We were among the first in Europe to allow abortion and now are almost the last to have stringent laws controlling it. I would like to think that, before I die, the job I helped to start is finished by abortion being taken out of the criminal law and the decision as to whether or not a pregnancy is to be ended is firmly placed where it belongs - in the hands of the pregnant woman. Diane Munday was interviewed by Claire Bates and Jane Garvey Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38722929

Drone shows Poland pile-up aftermath - BBC News

2017-01-26

Five people have been seriously injured on the A1 highway near Lodz in central Poland.

Five people have been seriously injured on the A1 highway near Lodz in central Poland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38764352

Australian Open 2017: Mirjana Lucic-Baroni reaches semi-finals - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

BBC Sport charts the return to form of 34-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who is into the last four of the Australian Open 18 years after her last Grand Slam semi-final appearance.

BBC Sport charts the return to form of 34-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who will face Serena Williams in the last four of the Australian Open, 18 years after her last Grand Slam semi-final appearance. READ MORE: Lucic-Baroni 'in shock' at return to semis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38751600

Donald Trump and Theresa May - Do opposites attract? - BBC News

2017-01-26

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The prime minister has joked that 'opposites attract', but how will she get on with Donald Trump?

UK Politics

As she made her way across the Atlantic, Theresa May joked with the press pack on her flight that "sometimes opposites attract". A wisecracking way of trying to cover the question about how she and Donald Trump can work together - the reality TV star billionaire and the self-described hard working vicar's daughter. Voters will decide for themselves how funny they find it. But Number 10 has already invested a lot in the early days of this relationship. Perhaps, that is in part due to the early embarrassment of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage's adventures in Manhattan. However, it is also certainly due to her conviction that whoever the US president is, a British leader needs to, and should, cultivate their friendship. Downing Street sources say they have had more contact with the Trump team since its victory than any other country has - and the conversations between the two leaders have focused on how to develop their personal relationship and the bond between the two countries. But even before the two politicians meet tomorrow in the Oval Office, Mrs May is trying to put forward serious arguments about Britain and America's relationship as the world changes at warp speed around the two countries - making a major foreign policy speech at a gathering of the Republican Party in Philadelphia just hours after she touches down. It is plain to see that while she is deadly serious about creating an extremely close relationship with the new president, she will continue to disagree with him on some issues. When repeatedly questioned about his view that torture works, the prime minister told us: "We condemn torture, I have been very clear, I'm not going to change my position whether I'm talking to you or talking to the president." And crucially, she said guidance stating that UK security services cannot share intelligence if it is obtained through torture will not change, telling me: "Our guidance is very clear about the position that the UK takes, and our position has not changed." Despite President Trump's very public doubts about Nato, she says he has already assured her on the phone that he is committed to the alliance. A public restatement of that in the next 24 hours would no doubt be a political boon for her. While the prime minister is plainly uncomfortable with some of Mr Trump's positions, she also wants to emphasise some of the areas where they do agree - the "shared values" of looking out for "ordinary working class families". In her speech to senators and congressmen tonight she will also emphasise how, in her view, Conservative values are Republican values. The Republicans - the Tories' sister political party - are now in charge at all levels on Capitol Hill, as well as inside the White House. For the GOP and Mrs May's Conservative Party, patriotism, flag and family are not values to shy away from. And despite the squeamishness, even in Tory ranks, about her eagerness to be seen alongside the president, the prime minister is unapologetic about her friendly stance. When asked about appearing to be too close to the controversial new president, she said: "Donald Trump was elected president of the United States of America. "The UK and the US have shared challenges, shared interests, that we can work together to deal with. We have a special relationship, it's long standing, it's existed through many different prime ministers and presidents." A more different prime minister and president are hard to conceive. What they make of each other, and the relationship between our two countries, will affect us all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38760718

Lovelorn red panda escapes from Virginia Zoo - BBC News

2017-01-26

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The racoon-like creature may have become agitated because this is breeding season, officials say.

US & Canada

Sunny, a 19-month-old red panda, has been missing since Monday Zoo officials say that a female red panda named Sunny has been missing from its enclosure since Monday afternoon. Norfolk police are helping workers at the Virginia Zoo using a "geothermal camera" to search the grounds for her, officials said on Wednesday. People living near the zoo have been asked to keep an eye out for the reddish-brown mammal. Zoo director Greg Bockheim told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper love may have driven 19-month-old Sunny to run away. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Red pandas have a natural love for snow and cold weather "This is panda breeding season, so the animals become a bit more agitated," Mr Bockheim said. "We're super hopeful we'll find her today," he added. Officials are hopeful that she may still be on zoo grounds. "Red pandas are generally not considered aggressive animals, but like any wild animal its behavior can be unpredictable and you should not try to touch, feed, or capture Sunny yourself," zoo officials said in a statement. The zoo asks that the public call their hotline if they spot Sunny. One neighbour told local news that she plans to follow that advice. "The panda's probably scared himself," Lazara Jorrin told CBS News. "This is new to him, so we don't know how he'll react." Red pandas - which are native to China and the Himalayas - have been known to escape zoo enclosures in the past. Rusty the red panda escaped from the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC in 2013 and was later found roaming the streets. In 2007, the same Virginia Zoo lost sight of another red panda named Yin before discovering it in a nearby tree. And in 2009 a red panda escaped from the London Zoo and was discovered on a park bench in Regent's Park in the early hours. In 2013, an escaped Red Panda was rescued when Twitter users spotted him roaming the streets of Washington DC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38749925

RAF Typhoons escort Russian ships - BBC News

2017-01-26

Three RAF Typhoons and a British warship escort a Russian aircraft carrier and other ships up the English Channel.

Three RAF Typhoons and a British warship escort a Russian aircraft carrier and other ships up the English Channel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38750696

Mary Poppins remake: Will Dick Van Dyke reprise his Cockney accent? - BBC News

2017-01-26

Dick Van Dyke said he worked with an entire cast of "Brits" and not one told him to work on his Cockney accent

Dick Van Dyke, best known for his role in Mary Poppins as Bert, a Cockney jack-of-all-trades, says he "never got" the Cockney accent. He told Radio 4's Today programme that despite being in a whole cast of "Brits", not one had ever told him the accent needed some work.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38754730

'Thousands' of knife crime victims aged 18 or younger - BBC News

2017-01-26

A knife or blade was used in a crime every 16 minutes on average last year in the UK, according to figures.

A BBC investigation has revealed the extent of knife crime across the UK. Figures show that a knife or blade was used in a crime every 16 minutes on average last year. The number of incidents involving machetes has risen by more than 60% over the last 3 years in England and Wales according to Freedom of Information request responses from just over half of police forces. Knife crime across England and Wales is up 11% in the last year and nearing levels of five years ago. The Home Office says knife crime remains below levels in 2010 but it recognises there is more to be done. The BBC's Ed Thomas visited Liverpool to meet people who say they carry knives every day.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38752258

Brexit white paper: Climbdown or goodwill gesture - BBC News

2017-01-26

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Giving MPs a white paper is a clear concession by Theresa May but one that is unlikely to affect her Brexit timetable or damage her authority.

UK Politics

It was only yesterday that the Brexit Secretary, David Davis, told MPs it just might all be a bit tricky to have a White Paper, a formal document outlining the government's plans for Brexit, and stick to the timetable they want to pursue. Rebel Remainers though were "delighted", that, stealing Jeremy Corbyn's thunder, a planted question from a loyal Tory MP at PMQs today produced in fact a promise from the Prime Minister that, after all, there will be a White Paper. It is a climbdown, no question, a last-minute change of heart. Late last night Brexiteers were being assured there would be no bending, no delay to the government's plans and no giving in to the Remainers. Even early this morning, government sources were privately suggesting that they were quite happy to have the white paper option up their sleeve, but there were no immediate plans to make that promise. Then voila, at 1205 GMT, the pledge of a white paper suddenly emerged. As one senior Tory joked, "welcome to the vacillation of the next two years". It may be being described as a "massive, unplanned" concession but it doesn't seriously hurt the government. First off, it shows goodwill to the rebel Tory Remainers, many of whom feel their Eurosceptic rivals have had the upper hand of late. Schmoozing matters round these parts. It takes one of the potential arguments that could have gathered pace off the table, before the Article 50 bill is even published. And, rightly or wrongly, no one expects a white paper will contain anything new that the prime minister has not yet already said. It's largely a victory for the Remainers about process, rather than substance. For her critics this is evidence of weakness, that's she has been pushed into changing her mind. But it doesn't need to change the government's timetable, and today's embarrassment of a climbdown might be worth the goodwill that Number 10 will get in return.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38747976

Euro 'could fail', says man tipped as US ambassador to EU - BBC News

2017-01-26

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The man tipped to be Donald Trump's ambassador to the EU has told the BBC the single currency "could collapse" in the next 18 months.

Business

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Professor Ted Malloch is gloomy about the euro's future The man tipped to be Donald Trump's ambassador to the European Union has told the BBC the single currency "could collapse" in the next 18 months. Professor Ted Malloch said he would "short the euro" - taking a market position which bets on the value of the currency falling. He also said Britain could agree a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal with America in as little as 90 days. And that it was best for the US if Britain executed a "clean" Brexit. Once outside the single market and the customs union, the UK could bypass "the bureaucrats in Brussels" and forge a free trade deal, he said. Mr Malloch added that any attempt by the EU to block Britain beginning negotiations with the US would be "absurd" and like a husband "trying to stop his wife having an affair". Theresa May will be the first foreign leader to meet the new president when she arrives in Washington at the end of the week. The possibility of an early trade deal with America, once the UK has left the EU, will be on the agenda. "I remind people that the largest merger and acquisition deals in history are often done in about that time frame [90 days]," Mr Malloch, a professor at Henley Business School, said. "Some of us who have worked on Wall Street or in the City know that if you get the right people in the right room with the right data and the right energy, and Trump is certainly high energy, you can get things done. "I think this will cut out the bureaucrats in effect and it won't take two years, it won't take seven years to actually come to an agreement." He added: "Obviously there are things to iron out, certainly there are differences and compromises to make, but it can be done. "So, there won't be a deal signed in the White House on Friday, but there could be an agreement for a framework going forward where people are empowered to have that kind of conversation behind closed doors and it could take as little as 90 days. "That is very positive and it sends a signal that the United States is behind Great Britain in its hour of need." Although not yet confirmed, Mr Malloch has been widely reported as being the president's choice for the Brussels role. The economist and former deputy executive secretary to the United Nations in Geneva went for an interview with the president's team at Trump Tower earlier this month. If successful, he will be officially nominated by the Secretary of State elect, Rex Tillerson. The EU has made it clear that Britain cannot enter substantive free trade talks with countries outside the union until it has left the EU, a position Mr Malloch - a supporter of Mr Trump and the Brexit campaign - dismissed. If successful, Mr Malloch will be officially nominated by the Secretary of State elect, Rex Tillerson "I think it is an absurd proposition and may be a legalism," he said. "There are going to be all kinds of things happening behind closed doors and you can call them what you like. "The fact is that when your wife is having an affair with someone else, you tell her to stop it, but oftentimes that doesn't stop the relationship." Many trade experts say the "90-day" proposition will be impossible to execute, as there will need to be detailed negotiations on controversial areas such as food imports between the UK and the US, as well as financial services and pharmaceuticals. "Non-tariff" barriers such as health and safety regulations and the recognition of professional qualifications will also have to be hammered out. There could also be a need for some form of immigration agreement. Furthermore, Britain is not yet an autonomous member of the World Trade Organisation, which oversees the rules on free trade deals. It negotiates as part of the EU's agreement with the global trade regulator. Government sources insist that transferring full rights to the UK alone will be straightforward. Mr Malloch said despite the obstacles, Britain would gain a free trade deal well ahead of the rest of the EU and the elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany could lead to a fundamental shake-up of the union. "I personally am not certain that there will be a European Union with which to have [free trade] negotiations," he said. "Will there be potentially numerous bilateral agreements with various countries? "I think the prospect, in a changed political reality, is greater for that. "I think Donald Trump is very opposed to supranational organisations, he believes in nation states, in bilateral relations and I think that he thinks the EU has overshot its mark. "It seems to me as well that Trump believes that the European Union has in recent decades been tilted strongly and most favourably towards Germany." Mr Malloch said that the present free trade negotiation between the US and the EU - called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - was "dead". He also questioned the future of the single currency. "The one thing I would do in 2017 is short the euro," Mr Malloch said. "I think it is a currency that is not only in demise but has a real problem and could in fact collapse in the coming year, year and a half. "I am not the only person or economist of that point of view. "Someone as acclaimed as Joseph Stiglitz - the famous World Bank economist - has written an entire book on this subject."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38749884

Raffaele Sollecito: Kercher murder case left me in debt - BBC News

2017-01-26

A man cleared of murdering a British student explains why he is claiming 516,000 euros compensation.

Raffaele Sollecito has said he has been left in financial difficulty by the legal costs incurred while proving his innocence. Mr Sollecito was arrested in 2007, along with his then-girlfriend Amanda Knox, for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy. He was twice convicted, before Italy's highest court found him not guilty. He has launched a compensation bid against the Italian government, and explained to the Victoria Derbyshire programme why. You can find the full interview with Raffaele Sollecito here. Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38755232

Roger Federer beats Stan Wawrinka to reach Australian Open final - BBC Sport

2017-01-26

Roger Federer beats Stan Wawrinka in five sets to reach the Australian Open final and stay on course for an 18th Grand Slam title.

Last updated on .From the section Tennis Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online. Roger Federer beat fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka 7-5 6-3 1-6 4-6 6-3 to reach the Australian Open final and stay on course for an 18th Grand Slam title. The 35-year-old will face Rafael Nadal on Sunday if the Spaniard beats Grigor Dimitrov in Friday's semi-final. The Swiss, returning from a six-month lay-off to rest his left knee, last won a major at Wimbledon in 2012. He is the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam final since Ken Rosewall did so at the 1974 US Open at the age of 39. "I couldn't be happier right now," said Federer. "I felt like everything happened so quickly at the end, I had to check the score. "I never ever in my wildest dreams thought I'd come this far in Australia. It's beautiful, I'm so happy." Federer's extraordinary run in Melbourne had already seen him beat top-10 seeds Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori to reach the last four. Seeded 17th following his injury, Federer had an 18-3 record against the fourth seed and reigning US Open champion coming into the semi-final, but the two had never played a five-set match. Both players needed medical treatment during a match of high intensity but it was the 17-time Grand Slam winner who finally prevailed after three hours and five minutes. Federer will now seek a fifth Australian Open title, and his first in Melbourne since 2010, when he plays in his 28th Grand Slam final and 100th Australian Open match on Sunday. What makes Federer's run to the final remarkable is the combination of being in the twilight of his career and not having played competitively since his Wimbledon semi-final exit last year. Federer missed the Olympic Games and the rest of the 2016 season to have "more extensive rehabilitation" on a knee injury suffered in February while he ran a bath for his twin daughters. He played just seven tour events last year, leading to him dropping out of the world's top 10 for the first time in over 14 years. After beginning his comeback with victories against Britain's Dan Evans and France's Richard Gasquet in the Hopman Cup - a non-ranked event played in the first week of January - Federer played down his chances of going far in the Australian Open. But, after reaching his first Slam final since the 2015 US Open, he finally spoke about the prospect of winning in Melbourne. "I can really actually talk about playing a final - I've been dodging that bullet for a few rounds," he said. "I'll leave it all out here in Australia and if I can't walk for five months that's OK." Wawrinka noted how the tour and the fans had missed Federer, saying: "Everyone wants even more to see him play, to see him win. He's flying on the court. He's playing amazing tennis. He's the best player ever." Former world number one Federer started the match brightly and had three early break points before converting his first set point, on Wawrinka's serve, in the 12th game. Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion, was broken for the second time at 2-3 in the second set as Federer maintained his impressive standards. Clearly frustrated, the 31-year-old Wawrinka cracked his racquet in two over his left knee and, after the set, left the court with a trainer for treatment to his other knee. But he came back superbly to win the third set in 26 minutes and break Federer in the ninth game of the fourth set to take the match to a decider. Federer went off for a lengthy medical timeout for treatment to his leg as the physical nature of the match started to tell. He also came back fighting and broke Wawrinka in the sixth game when the US Open champion double-faulted on break point. There was no let-up as Federer completed a stunning victory to the delight of the majority of fans in Rod Laver Arena. Federer explained why, after losing the fourth set, he left the arena to take his injury timeout. "I have had a leg thing going on for a week and felt it from the second game on in the match," he said. "If you go off the court, that means the treatment is further up the leg. "I never take injury timeouts. Stan took his, so I thought people won't be mad - Stan won't be mad hopefully. "You hope something works, and that the physio has some magic hands going on." If 14-time major winner Nadal wins his semi-final the pair would contest their ninth Grand Slam final together and their first since the French Open in 2011, when Nadal won in four sets. "Rafa has presented me with the biggest challenge in the game," Federer said when asked about the prospect. "I'm his number one fan. His game is tremendous. He's an incredible competitor. "I'm happy we had some epic battles over the years and of course it would be unreal to play here. I think both of us would never have thought we would be here playing in the finals." Australia Day was graced by two remarkable achievements by two remarkable players in their mid-thirties. One, Roger Federer, has spent six months out of the game after knee surgery, and the other, Venus Williams, has lived for many years with an auto-immune disorder which causes fatigue and joint pain. Federer had to win a deciding set against one of the toughest men on the block. The extraordinary defence he produced when Wawrinka hammered a forehand towards him on break point early in the fifth set turned out to be worth its weight in gold. Yes, Mischa Zverev did him a favour by taking out Andy Murray, but Federer has now beaten Wawrinka, Nishikori and Berdych - with two of those matches going the distance. Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38755188

The most important words May will ever deliver? - BBC News

2017-01-18

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It was a simple, clear message from Theresa May amid the grandeur of Lancaster House.

UK Politics

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The prime minister declined four times to answer questions about when she had been aware of the "misfire'" Under the gilt and candelabra of Lancaster House where Margaret Thatcher extolled the virtues of joining the single market, Theresa May has uttered some of the most important words she will ever deliver. She has, for the first time explicitly, confirmed that she has decided not to try to preserve our membership of the European single market. Instead she is hoping to conclude a deal with the rest of the EU that will still give business the access it needs to trade with the rest of the continent without barriers, tariffs or any new obstacles. Since the referendum she and her ministers have simply refused to be so explicit. Some Remainers have argued that she ought to try to keep us in the vast partnership, the risks to the economy are too vast, and while it might be complicated to achieve, the prize is simply too great to give up. For months some ministers have privately whispered about complex solutions that might keep elements of membership, the choices not being binary, mechanisms that might give a sort of membership with a different name. Well no more, the simple and clear message from Theresa May's speech is that we are out. The irony that she has delivered that vow on the same spot where her predecessor swore the transformative value of the single market hangs alongside the glittering chandeliers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38653236

Manchester United: Memphis Depay makes move to Lyon - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

Manchester United sell Memphis Depay to French club Lyon for a fee thought to be in the region of £16m.

Last updated on .From the section European Football It is thought the fee is £16m rising to £21.7m, with the add-ons including Lyon qualifying for the Champions League and Depay getting a new contract. United have also agreed buy-back and sell-on clauses. Depay, 22, has scored seven goals in 53 appearances since joining United in a £31m move from PSV Eindhoven in May 2015. The initial fee was about £25m. The deal with PSV is thought to have included a number of add-ons which have not been met. Lyon are fourth in Ligue 1, 11 points behind leaders Monaco and eight points behind PSG in third, the closest Champions League qualification place. This season Depay has made eight appearances for United, but has featured for only eight minutes since the end of October. However, United boss Jose Mourinho put that down to the competition for places at Old Trafford. "From my perspective, instead of trying to say why it didn't work, I think it is easier for me - and he deserves me to say - that he was a fantastic professional," said Mourinho. "So if somebody thinks it didn't work because he was not a great professional, it is totally wrong. "One thing is some picture that somebody takes with him in an amazing car or dressing in a very specific way, but the image is totally wrong. "The guy is a fantastic professional, he is a kid that respected everyone, a kid that tried to work hard to get more chances, a kid that was frustrated because he was not having that, but I only have good things to say about him." He added: "If I can find a little reason, it is to say he is a player from one position and the only position where we have overbooking. Wingers are what we have more of, so it is a position more difficult to have chances." Depay, who will wear the number nine shirt for Lyon, said he was looking forward to showing people what he was a capable of. "I did in the past and I didn't show it every time at Manchester,'' he said. "I want to score goals and get that feeling back again.'' Depay was the Dutch Eredivisie's top scorer in 2014-15 and was brought to United under then-manager Louis van Gaal, who had given him his Netherlands debut. He becomes the latest high-profile Van Gaal signing to be sold on. Argentina attacking midfielder Angel di Maria signed for a then-British record fee of £59.7m in August 2014, but was sold to Paris St-Germain for £44.3m a year later. Morgan Schneiderlin, who signed from Southampton for £25m, was sold to Everton on 12 January for a fee rising to £24m. Former Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger was also brought to Old Trafford by Van Gaal, joining from Bayern Munich for a reported £14.4m. However, the 32-year-old has played just 16 minutes under Mourinho this term.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38663810

My Shop: Kristin Baybars' toy shop in London - BBC News

2017-01-18

Kristin Baybars has made and sold toys from her shop for 40 years - and modern toys don't impress her.

Kristin Baybars has been making and selling toys for the past four decades from her self-named shop in Gospel Oak, London. Money has never been her motive but with more people shopping online, times are getting harder - and a housing development next door is adding to her woes. Video journalist Dougal Shaw went to visit her to find out what she makes of modern toys. This video is part of a series from the BBC Business Unit called My Shop. The series focuses on distinctive, independent shops and is filmed on a smartphone. To suggest a shop email us. For the latest updates about the series follow video journalist Dougal Shaw on Twitter or Facebook.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38642319

Heather O'Reilly: Arsenal Ladies sign ex-USA midfielder from Kansas City - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

Arsenal Ladies sign former USA midfielder Heather O'Reilly for the 2017 Women's Super League Spring Series.

Last updated on .From the section Women's Football Former USA midfielder Heather O'Reilly is to join Arsenal Ladies for the 2017 Women's Super League Spring Series. O'Reilly retired from international duty last year with 231 caps, three Olympic gold medals and victory in the 2015 World Cup. The 32-year-old has joined from FC Kansas City, having previously played for New Jersey Wildcats, Sky Blue FC and Boston Breakers. The Gunners won the Women's FA Cup in 2016 and finished third in WSL 1. O'Reilly, whose contract length has not been disclosed, told Kansas City's club website: "I will have conversations about my potential future in the NWSL when those conversations need to happen." She made her international debut in March 2002 at the age of 17, is the second American to join a WSL club so far in January, following winger Crystal Dunn's move to Chelsea Ladies from Washington Spirit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38652693

When fast food gets an Indian twist - BBC News

2017-01-18

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The BBC's in-house cartoonist, Kirtish Bhatt, on McDonald's bid to become "more Indian".

India

McDonald's created quite a stir when it announced plans to start serving classic Indian dishes in the form of burgers. One dish to get the treatment is the hugely popular masala dosa, which is a type of rice pancake with a potato filling. Many Indians took to Twitter last week to share their views on McDonald's "dosa burger" and "anda bhurji burger" (masala scrambled eggs). Some saw this as an attempt by McDonald's to appropriate Indian food, but others chose humour to suggest more dishes for a McMakeover. Here's the BBC's in-house cartoonist, Kirtish Bhatt, on these suggestions and on India's take on global fast food chains. Now the samosa is a humble but very popular street snack in India. As one Twitter user suggested, McDonald's should include it in its menu to go fully Indian. Another Twitter user said McDonald's Indian menu would not be complete without lassi, a sweet yogurt-based thick drink. While McDonald's is trying to become more Indian, some local shops try hard to look global and name themselves after popular global fast-food chains, often with a twist. Kerala is a state in southern India, where famous meals include sadya - a feast served on a banana leaf. KFC would look very different if it were done Indian-style! If Subway had started in India, it might have been inspired by the popular south Indian surname Subramanian. It would sell rice cakes and lentil stew (sambar), not sandwiches and salads. US Pizza is a popular food chain across India, where pizzas are often connected with the US rather than any other country. In that spirit, there is absolutely no reason why "US" can't also stand for "Uttam Singh", which is a popular north Indian name!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-38633567

Studying at the Bahai secret university - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Iran's Bahai minority is forbidden from studying at university - but they have a way round it, at least until it comes to postgraduate degrees.

Magazine

Mona studied at the underground Bahai university 10 years after Shirin The largest non-Muslim minority in Iran, the Bahais, are persecuted in many ways - one being that they are forbidden from attending university. Some study in secret, but for those who want to do a postgraduate degree the only solution is to leave their country and study abroad. "I remember my father showing me the scars he had on his head from when he used to be beaten up by the children of his town on his way to school," says Shirin. "So, of course, I didn't tell my father that I was experiencing the same when I was growing up in Iran in the 1980s. I knew he prayed and hoped that the world would get better." In fact, persecution of the Bahais only increased following the Islamic Revolution in 1979. And when Shirin's son, Khosru, started going to school, she had to hide more bad news from her father. "I did not tell him that the children of the children of the children who left him scarred, are now calling my son untouchable," she says. When, in the eighth grade, Khosru told the other children he was Bahai they dropped him like a stone. "The kids wouldn't touch me," he says, "and if I were to touch them, they'd go and take a shower." Since the creation of the Bahai faith in the mid-19th Century, the Iranian Shia establishment has called them "a deviant sect", principally because they reject the Muslim belief that Mohammed was the last prophet. On official websites they are described as apostates, and as "unclean". But it is when a student has finished school that the problems really begin. As a Bahai, Shirin was told she could not enter university. Her only option was to secretly attend the Bahais' own clandestine university - the Bahai Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), set up in the mid-1980s by Bahai teachers and students who had been thrown out of Iranian universities after the revolution. Universities are open to young women in Iran, but not if they are Bahai Shirin enrolled in 1994. At that time, only two BA courses were available -in Science or Religious Studies - so she decided to study comparative religion. Lectures took place in improvised classrooms in private homes all around Tehran. It took six years to complete her course, and it was then that she hit an impenetrable wall. There was no scope to do an MA or a PhD, and there was no scope for employment where her skills could be used. Soon afterwards, a wave of crackdowns on the Bahai intelligentsia began, with raids on clandestine classrooms and the arrest of many BIHE teachers. Shirin saw her world was closing in on her. So when she heard about a domestic worker's visa scheme in the UK, she jumped at it. "I applied straight away without wasting time, it didn't matter what the visa was called. I had to leave," she says. Shirin arrived in the UK in 2003 and combined her domestic work with an evening job at an Italian restaurant in Scarborough. But she never forgot what she came to do, what she must achieve. On a dark and smoggy English morning, she boldly walked through the doors of Birmingham University, and announced that she had a degree in religion from an underground university in Tehran. To her great surprise, a week later, she was summoned back and was offered a place. Listen to Lipika Pelham's report on the Bahai, The World's Faith, for Heart and Soul on the BBC World Service "It was more than a miracle - it was beyond expectation, beyond my wildest dream," she says. "Till today, I feel it was the best reward I received for never compromising my faith." Shirin finished her degree in 2006 and left the UK to join her brother in the US, where many of her family, friends and co-religionists have, over the years, found sanctuary from persecution. Shirin (right) and a friend in New York But soon another crackdown against the Bahais began, at home in Iran. In 2008, seven members of the Bahai administrative body, Yaran, were arrested and charged with among other things, spying for Israel. After a trial in a Revolutionary Court in 2010, they were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. At this time another young Bahai woman, Mona, was applying to university in Tehran. "I took an entrance exam at the University of Tehran - they were supposed to send a card saying how and where you should register if you were accepted, and you must write your religion on the card," she says. "I wrote that I was not Muslim. There was an option that said 'other', and I ticked that box. There was no option for Bahai. "When they sent back the card, they said, 'OK, you may register,' and in the place of religion, they wrote, Islam." "In my belief, you're not supposed to lie about your faith even when facing death. So I wrote back, I was not Muslim. They said, 'Good luck, you can't enter university.'" Like Shirin, Mona had only one option - the clandestine university, and it was an unforgettable experience. "I remember the faces of all my friends who were coming from other cities in Iran, from far away," she says. "It took them maybe 16 - 20 hours to get to Tehran. Their faces looked so tired. "It was really hard. We had one class from 08:00 to 12:00 in the east of Tehran, and the second class from 14:00 to 18:00 on the west side - it was exhausting! Sometimes we didn't have physical teachers, we had them over Skype, who were teaching us from the US, Canada." After she graduated, she faced the same difficulties Shirin had experienced a decade earlier - and opted for a similar solution. In 2009, she escaped to New York, via Austria, under an international religious refugee repatriation programme. When I met her recently in Joe's Coffee, a lively meeting place for students and teachers at Columbia University, she had just completed her MA in Psychology. She was over the moon. "It feels amazing, I can't believe it's all done and I'll even have a graduation! When I graduated from the BIHE, they arrested all my teachers, Bahai teachers. And we never had a graduation day." The US is home to one of the largest Bahai populations in the world, their presence dating back at least to 1912, when Abdul Baha, the son of the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, spent 11 months in the country, promoting the religion. The BIHE degrees are accepted by most US universities - as Mona's was at Columbia University - and many BIHE volunteers are based in the US. "Students and instructors in Iran can end up in jail just for being students and instructors. So they are not only doing something that is hard for them to do, but dangerous to do," says Prof Thane Terril, a convert to the Bahai faith who now runs online teacher training courses for post-graduate students. "The motivation for the students is like a person in the desert without water." Sipping coffee in the café of the former hotel, Ansonia, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Abdul Baha once stayed, Shirin says that she could never understand what the regime has against the Bahais. "Abdul Baha emphasised that the East and West must meet," she says. "I think the collective approach to life is what we think of as being the oriental or Eastern culture, and the individualist approach to life is considered to be Western. And when the two merge, you have a very beautiful culture." Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38656871

Babies remember their birth language - scientists - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Babies learn language in the early months of life, and retain this knowledge, say scientists.

Science & Environment

The first year of life is a time of astonishing linguistic development Babies build knowledge about the language they hear even in the first few months of life, research shows. If you move countries and forget your birth language, you retain this hidden ability, according to a study. Dutch-speaking adults adopted from South Korea exceeded expectations at Korean pronunciation when retrained after losing their birth language. Scientists say parents should talk to babies as much as possible in early life. Dr Jiyoun Choi of Hanyang University in Seoul led the research. The study is the first to show that the early experience of adopted children in their birth language gives them an advantage decades later even if they think it is forgotten, she said. ''This finding indicates that useful language knowledge is laid down in [the] very early months of life, which can be retained without further input of the language and revealed via re-learning,'' she told BBC News. In the study, adults aged about 30 who had been adopted as babies by Dutch-speaking families were asked to pronounce Korean consonants after a short training course. Korean consonants are unlike those spoken in Dutch. The participants were compared with a group of adults who had not been exposed to the Korean language as children and then rated by native Korean speakers. Both groups performed to the same level before training, but after training the international adoptees exceeded expectations. There was no difference between children who were adopted under six months of age - before they could speak - and those who were adopted after 17 months, when they had learned to talk. This suggests that the language knowledge retained is abstract in nature, rather than dependent on the amount of experience. Dr Jiyoun Choi said there were practical messages for parents. ''Please remember that [the] language learning process occurs very early in life, and useful language knowledge is laid down in the very early months of life as our study suggests,'' she said. ''Try to talk to your babies as much as possible because they are absorbing and digesting what you are saying.'' The process of acquiring language starts extremely early, even while the child is still in the womb. Babies have learned their mother's voice by the time they are born. It has long been known that the foundations for speaking and listening to a native language are laid down very early in life. But it was not known until now that very early language acquisition is an abstract process. The research is published in the journal, Royal Society Open Science. • None Early development of abstract language knowledge- evidence from perception–production transfer of birth-language memory - Open Science The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38653906

Australian Open 2017: Nick Kyrgios beaten by Andreas Seppi, Roger Federer through - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

Home hope Nick Kyrgios is beaten in five sets by Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open, while Roger Federer reaches the third round.

Last updated on .From the section Tennis Nick Kyrgios was given two code violations as he slumped to defeat Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website. Nick Kyrgios was knocked out of his home Grand Slam as he blew a two-set lead and a match point in losing to Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open. Italy's Seppi triumphed 1-6 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-2 10-8 in round two against the typically unpredictable 14th seed. Kyrgios was given two warnings, for swearing and racquet abuse, before the 89th-ranked Seppi clinched victory. Earlier, four-time winner Roger Federer held off the challenge of American prospect Noah Rubin. The 35-year-old Swiss, who is seeded 17th after missing the second half of the 2016 season with a knee injury, saved two set points in the third to win 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-3). Federer will play 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych in the third round. Seppi and Kyrgios embrace after their rollercoaster match Kyrgios won a five-set scrap with Seppi on the same Hisense Arena court in 2015 to reach the quarter-finals, but the roles were reversed here. The 21-year-old Australian was in control before losing his temper as he complained of a knee injury midway through the third set. Kyrgios, returning to tennis at the Australian Open after a ban for not trying at the Shanghai Masters ended his 2016 season, was given a warning for swearing and later docked a point for his second code violation after launching his racquet into the ground in frustration. Seppi, 32, took the match into a deciding set and served for victory at 6-5 when Kyrgios played a between-the-legs shot on the first point before winning the game. The Italian saved a match point at 7-8 and drew level again, broke in the following game when Kyrgios sent down a double fault, and then closed out the victory. "Maybe it was meant to be," Seppi said of avenging his 2015 loss. "I was concentrating on my game and not worrying about he was doing." Kyrgios admitted he needed to take his preparation more seriously, having "played too much basketball" in pre-season. The Australian, who is wiithout a coach and was booed off by some fans, said: "I did a couple things in the off-season that I'm probably not going to do next time. My body's not in good enough shape. You live and you learn." Kyrgrios said he was likely to pull out of the doubles with his British partner Dan Evans, who defeated seventh seed Marin Cilic in the singles. This Australian Open was the first Grand Slam that Rubin (right) has qualified for Federer is attempting to defy a difficult draw and a lack of preparation to become the second oldest male Grand Slam winner in the Open era. If he is to add to his 17 major titles, he will have to pass more testing examinations than that posed by world number 200 Rubin, but Federer admitted he had leaned on his experience against the 20-year-old. "I have played out here many, many times, that's my advantage maybe," he said, after claiming victory in two hours four minutes. "If I could have signed (a contract) to be in the third round, feeling this way, weeks or days or a month ago, I would have taken it. "I'm still hoping to feel better and better and better as we go along." Federer beat Berdych in straight sets in last year's quarter-finals in Melbourne, but has lost to the Czech in the US Open and at Wimbledon. "I'm sure he would like to beat me here too," added Federer. Best of the rest The 27-year-old from Japan, who has reached the quarter-finals in the past two years, came through 6-3 6-4 6-3 in two hours six minutes to set up a meeting with Slovak qualifier Lukas Lacko. Nishikori is seeded to face Britain's Andy Murray in the last eight. Fourth seed Stan Wawrinka brushed aside American Steve Johnson 6-3 6-4 6-4, while France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also came through in straight sets, against Serbia's Dusan Lajovic. Australia's Bernard Tomic secured a spot in the third round with a 7-5 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) win over Dominican Victor Estrella Burgos. Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38660097

Primates 'sliding towards extinction', say scientists - BBC News

2017-01-18

A report says that 60% of the world's primate species are under threat of extinction.

The world's primates face "crisis" with 60% of species now threatened with extinction, according to research. A global study, involving more than 30 scientists, assessed the conservation status of more than 500 individual species, including apes, monkeys, lemurs and lorises. The findings are published in the journal Science Advances. Victoria Gill visited the lemurs at Blackpool Zoo to explain the threat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38670097

Seeds of a Trump-Republican conflict - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Whether by plan or accident, Donald Trump is undermining the Republican Party's legislative agenda.

US & Canada

With just days to go before inauguration, Donald Trump is making life rather difficult for his party's leadership in Congress. It could be by accident. It could be part of a plan to establish his independent credentials. Or it could simply be an early attempt at framing Republican policies in terms palatable to his working-class supporters. Whatever the reason, Mr Trump has staked out positions that are not exactly in harmony with Republican orthodoxy or the policy direction in which the Republican-led Congress seems to be heading. Over the weekend Mr Trump told the Washington Post that the goal of his healthcare reform plan, following repeal of the Affordable Care Act, is "insurance for everybody". "There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can't pay for it, you don't get it," the president-elect said. "That's not going to happen with us." Universal coverage is an objective President Barack Obama's healthcare reform sought, but never actually achieved. According to the federal government, even with full implementation of Obamacare and its insurance-coverage mandate, the US uninsured rate was 8.6% in 2016 - albeit a 50-year low. "Insurance for everybody," outside a single-payer government-provided healthcare plan, is virtually unachievable. This is why, when Republican congressional leaders describe their healthcare reform proposals, they generally use the term "universal access" not "universal coverage". "Our goal here is to make sure that everybody can buy coverage or find coverage if they choose to," a Republican House of Representatives aide told reporters in December. Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan may not see eye-to-eye on universal healthcare coverage. The yet-to-be announced plan congressional Republicans are currently formulating is more likely to be a blend of the measures floated by various conservatives in the past. For instance Congressman Tom Price, Mr Trump's nominee to be health and human services secretary, suggested a system that leaned heavily on tax credits and an expansion of existing health-savings accounts, where individuals could put aside untaxed money to pay for future medical needs. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has proposed the creation of federally funded high-risk insurance pools that would enrol individuals who couldn't get insurances elsewhere because of pre-existing medical conditions or other complicating factors. None of these would come close to approaching universal coverage or even Mr Obama's uninsured mark over the past few years, however. As if that weren't enough, Mr Trump also advocated using the buying power of the federal Medicare prescription-drug programme for the elderly to drive down the cost of pharmaceuticals. While this has long been a goal of Democrats, conservatives have opposed the idea for more than a decade. It's enough to make rank-and-file Republicans reach for their antacids. Looming over this entire discussion is a Congressional Budget Office report released on Tuesday that predicts a straight-up repeal of Obamacare without any kind of a replacement would result in a doubling of premiums in the individual insurance market by 2026, at which point a total of 32 million Americans would have lost their coverage. Mr Trump, in his comments this weekend, has essentially laid down a marker that repeal will be quickly followed by a replacement that will do a better job advancing Democratic goals of lower drug prices and more universal coverage than the Democrats' own best attempt. It is, to put it bluntly, a high bar to reach. If reshaping the US healthcare system turns out to be a challenge, at least tax reform was considered a low-hanging fruit for Mr Trump and his party. Even here, however, the president-elect has made comments that undermine Republican efforts to achieve legislative consensus. A key part of the nascent congressional tax plan involved something called "border adjustments", which would tax corporations based on their final point of sale and not on where they are based. This would allow the US to give preference to businesses based in the US - one of Mr Trump's key goals during the campaign. It would also raise enough revenue to allow the overall US tax rate to be lowered from its current 35% mark. Mr Trump, however, said the idea was "too complicated". "Anytime I hear border adjustment, I don't love it," he said. "Because usually it means we're going to get adjusted into a bad deal." Mr Trump appears to support a more direct border tariff, not the more complicated congressional work-around. On Monday he threatened European automakers with a 35% tax on foreign-made vehicles sold in the US. The problem this presents for both the president-elect and congressional leaders is it runs directly against his party's long-standing free-trade positions - principles many in Congress have campaigned, and won, on for years. They might be able to dance around the issue with border adjustments and corporate tax reform, but Mr Trump seems more like a bull than a ballerina. It's possible to imagine that Mr Trump's recent comments were just, to put it delicately, rhetorical missteps and that he, in fact, is actually on the same wavelength as his Republican colleagues in Congress. Then again, when pressed by the Washington Post on how he could get his healthcare priorities advanced despite an apparent conflict with current Republican plans, Mr Trump dug in his heels. "The Congress can't get cold feet because the people will not let that happen," Mr Trump said. "I think we will get approval. I won't tell you how, but we will get approval. You see what's happened in the House in recent weeks." That was an apparent reference to Mr Trump's Twitter-based effort to force House Republicans to back away from a plan to weaken an independent congressional ethics investigation office several weeks ago. Donald Trump says "the people" won't let Congress back away from his ideas Whether he was directly responsible for causing the legislators to change course or simply reflecting popular outcry is open to debate, but the president-elect seems to be feeling his oats. And if it's this way on tax law and healthcare reform - areas where Republicans and Mr Trump have a fair amount of ideological common ground - imagine what might happen when the president tries to advance his more controversial ideas on immigration or trade. Or pushes his childcare proposal, which met with significant opposition from his party "allies" pretty much from the moment he proposed them last October. And what's in store if Mr Ryan goes through with his long-sought dream of entitlement reform - despite Mr Trump's campaign pledges not to touch Medicare or Social Security benefits? Candidate Trump was a political wild-card, willing to buck conventional wisdom and his own party seemingly on whim. Early indications are President Trump could do more of the same. As Republicans celebrate this weekend, storm clouds may be forming on the horizon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38656814

Reality Check: How could customs union deal work? - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Theresa May says she wants an agreement with the customs union but not full membership.

Business

The claim: The UK could negotiate an agreement that gives some of the benefits of customs union membership while still allowing other trade deals to be negotiated. Reality Check verdict: Turkey has a deal for partial membership of the customs union so it is possible, but the terms are not favourable to Turkey. The prime minister says she does not want to replicate any existing agreements. There is a limit to what the government will be able to achieve in the negotiations if it is not prepared to impose the EU's tariffs on non-EU countries. Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Tuesday that the UK would definitely not continue to be a full member of the customs union because that would prevent trade deals being negotiated with non-EU countries. But she said that she did want to reach some sort of customs agreement with the EU. "Whether that means we must reach a completely new customs agreement, become an associate member of the customs union in some way or remain a signatory to some elements of it, I hold no preconceived position," she said. The EU customs union is a trade agreement between European countries that they will not impose tariffs (taxes on imports) on each other's goods and agree to impose common external tariffs on goods from other countries outside the customs union. It means that once a product is inside the customs zone it can be transported without customs checks to any other country in the union. Mrs May specified that there were two parts of the customs union that she could not accept. One of them was the common external tariff, because having to impose the tariff would get in the way of free trade agreements outside the EU. The other was the common commercial policy, which is the part of the EU treaties that sets out the principles for EU trade, including that it is the EU that sets external tariffs and negotiates trade deals, rather than individual member states. The customs union is made up of the 28 EU members states and Monaco. The EU also has separate customs union agreements with Turkey, Andorra and San Marino. That means Turkey has to impose the common external tariff and meet EU regulations on its industrial products, but not its unprocessed agricultural ones. So when Turkey negotiates trade agreements with other countries, it still has to impose the EU's external tariff on industrial products and processed agricultural products (unless those countries also have trade deals with the EU). It's also a one-sided agreement, with non-EU countries that have free trade agreements with the EU automatically getting access to Turkish markets although Turkey does not get access to theirs. And it means that on the products covered by the agreement, Turkey must keep to EU regulations. Clearly the EU regulations would not currently be a problem for UK companies, which already follow them, but a Turkey-style deal would mean being bound by future changes to the regulations without having any say in them. The question is whether the UK, which has stressed it does not want to replicate any existing agreements, could negotiate a deal with the EU that would allow tariff-free access for some industries to the customs union without getting in the way of the UK's trade agreements with other countries. Theresa May said she wanted the UK's trade with the EU to be "as frictionless as possible", without specifying what benefits she would like to keep. But there is a limit to what the UK can secure in the negotiations without agreeing to the EU's tariffs on non-EU countries, because that would mean that other countries could get a back-door, tariff-free route into the EU. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38654147

Sir Tony McCoy 'put on two stone' since retirement - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Champion jockey Sir Tony McCoy blames his weight gain on eating "whole packets" of biscuits.

Northern Ireland

Jockey Sir Tony McCoy has put on two stone since he retired and has admitted eating "whole packets" of biscuits while watching TV at night. The 42-year-old, who remains the most successful jump jockey of all time, bowed out of the sport in April 2015. He spent decades dieting to keep trim for races and once said his Christmas dinner consisted of just 597 calories. He now confesses to a weakness for chocolate biscuits but said a recent health check has made him rethink. "There's nights I would eat the whole packet... it is not something I am proud of," McCoy said. "For someone that had pretty good willpower it is not anywhere near as good as it used to be." During his racing career, McCoy skipped dinner several nights a week to maintain his thin frame McCoy, from Moneyglass, County Antrim, was renowned for his determination and dedication over the course of his record-breaking career. He won more than 4,000 races, and was crowned champion jockey 20 years in a row. Keeping hold of that crown involved keeping his body weight well below what would be considered average for a man of his height - 5ft 10in (1.8m) He maintained a thin frame of about 10 st 3lbs (65kg) with a punishing regime of meagre portions - often missing dinner three nights a week - and hot baths to sweat off the pounds. Life has been sweeter since he retired, but McCoy will now revert to watching his diet after a recent health check warned of the risks of high cholesterol and blood sugar. "When I was racing I was unhealthy looking," he said. "Everybody tells me now I am healthy looking but yet there are things I need to keep an eye on like my cholesterol, the possibility of diabetes." In 2013, McCoy posed with his trophy marking his 4000th career victory Back in 2010, his low-calorie Christmas dinner consisted of three thinly sliced pieces of turkey breast, a spoonful of cabbage, three Brussels sprouts, a splash of gravy and a small lemonade. "I never mind having a frugal Christmas dinner as I'm always looking forward to some great rides on Boxing Day," he said at the time. "What I do enjoy is seeing Mick Fitzgerald and Carl Llewellyn loosening their belts before they struggle home. I just can't imagine bursting out of my clothes like those two do." The retired champion may have needed to pile on a few pounds, but McCoy now intends to monitor his food intake as "prevention is so much better than any cure". "I spent all my life dieting but it is something I actually do need," he said. "Because my body was so used to that I cannot really let my lifestyle change too much. I am two stone heavier than I was a year and a half ago."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38656831

Plymouth Argyle fan meets FA Cup tie 'guardian angels' after son's death - BBC News

2017-01-18

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A fan who learned his son had died while watching an FA Cup game is reunited with two men who comforted him.

Devon

A Liverpool fan led a fundraising campaign for Daniel May after he heard of the young man's death A man who was watching Plymouth Argyle play Liverpool at Anfield when he found out his son had died has been reunited with two men who comforted him. Argyle fan Kevin May was at the clubs' FA Cup tie on 8 January when he received a text with the news. His son Daniel, 25, was quadriplegic, blind and had cerebral palsy following an operation he had as a baby. Liverpool brought the unnamed men to Home Park for Wednesday night's replay, along with a special banner. Bearing the slogan "RIP Daniel May You'll Never Walk Alone", it was unfurled at the cup tie. Kevin May: "Home Park is where I go to worship and for them to be thinking of Daniel is beyond words" Fans from both sides also joined a minute's applause in the 25th minute, to mark Daniel's age. Mr May, from Plymouth, described the two men who looked after him during the Anfield clash as his "guardian angels". Speaking about the special welcome organised by Liverpool, Mr May said: "I had a lovely time with them." He said before the meeting that it would be "poignant, very nice, and very sad", but he was "determined to focus on the positives, with many thousands of people thinking of my boy Daniel". "Home Park is where I go to worship and for them to be thinking of Daniel is beyond words," he said. A policeman guided Mr May out of the crowd after he heard the shock news Mr May was told on the phone that Daniel had died as he watched the first cup game alongside thousands of Plymouth supporters. The distraught dad, who was taken to a quiet room away from the crowd after receiving the news, later thanked a policeman and staff at Anfield for their support. His message led to a fundraising campaign led by a Liverpool fan Anthony Grice to pay for the banner in memory of Daniel, who lived in Surrey with his mother. Mr May said he would take the banner to Daniel's funeral on 7 February. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-38667697

Who will host the Brit Awards, as Michael Buble takes time off for his ill son? - BBC News

2017-01-18

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As Michael Buble takes time off to care for his son, who could replace him as host of the Brit Awards?

Entertainment & Arts

With only five weeks to go, it looks like the Brit Awards have no host. Canadian crooner Michael Buble was due to present - but that's been in doubt since his three-year-old son Noah was diagnosed with cancer last year. At the time, the distraught singer cancelled all future engagements, saying he was determined to focus on caring for his eldest child. It was hoped he'd be able to return for the Brit Awards, but media reports are suggesting he's pulled out for good - and understandably so. So, who could take the helm at the O2 Arena on 22 February? Here are a few suggestions... Ant (stands on the left, a bit wacky), and Dec (stands on the right, giggles) were hardly at their best when they hosted the Brits last year. The nadir was the moment when Ant "mistakenly" appeared on stage in a dress. Because a man in a dress is hilarious, right? Coming so soon after a video tribute to androgyny-embracing pop lizard David Bowie, it felt particularly dated. But with a better scriptwriter they're a safe pair of hands - and, crucially, able to draw a big audience. Back in 2008 when Katy Perry was a relatively new and untested pop star, she took the helm of the MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool and totally stole the show. Cheeky and energetic, she kept the event moving at a frenetic pace, racing through 10 costume changes and more than a few memorable moments. "Girls. Just a reminder," she said, while riding on top of a giant banana. "It's not how big the banana is - it's how you sit on it." With new music to promote in 2017, could the star be coaxed into a repeat performance? If only so they can go: "On your marks, get set, DRAKE!" By hiring Michael Buble, the Brits were making a statement of intent: we want some showbiz, and we want a host a global audience will recognise. Adele is one of the only other stars that fits the bill. In many ways, Adele is the Brits. From the stop-you-in-your-tracks performance of Someone Like You to the moment last year when she tearfully accepted an award from Tim Peake in outer space. She's funny, she's charismatic, and there's 0% chance she'll do it. Which will be a relief for the person who works the bleep button. He's already winning the Brits Icon Award, so they won't need to book an extra cab. His propensity to go off-script might cause organisers a few headaches - but a double-header with his bff Olly Murs would be worth tuning in for. Before he swanned off to become a US chat show host, Corden presented the Brits five times (including a stint with Kylie in 2009). He stood down three years ago, telling the Radio Times he didn't want to outstay his welcome. "There are award shows where it actually becomes a plus that it's hosted by the same person," he said. "But the Brits should always have an energy about them that is fresh and new and exciting." But imagine if the whole Brits ceremony was an extended episode of Carpool Karaoke? No pizzazz, no fireworks, no music industry "suits" - just a rotating cast of megastars in the passenger seat, with Corden fishing the occasional trophy out of his glove compartment. TV Gold. But, seeing as he's already presenting the Grammys a week before, extremely unlikely. The Brits have often looked to comedians to provide a bit of frisson - notably Russell Brand, who outraged (some) viewers in 2007 with his references to the Queen's "naughty bits" and Amy Winehouse's drinking problem ("her surname's beginning to sound like a description of her liver".) Of the current crop of stand-ups, Jack Whitehall has both the profile and the requisite irreverence. His UK tour might get in the way of rehearsals but, by coincidence, he has a day off on 22 February. In the year that grime took over the Brits, Julie Adenuga would be a brave but bold choice. The Beats 1 DJ is one of the genre's biggest champions (as well as being sister to three-time nominee Skepta) but eminently knowledgeable about music from all walks of life. Apple Music is also sponsoring two of the awards - best British male and best British female - so there's also a commercial reason to use one of their presenters on the night. However, she's untested as a live TV presenter, so unlikely to make the cut. X Factor host and hot buttered crumpet Dermot O'Leary makes live television look like a walk in the park - when in reality it's a race through a field full of knives, on one leg, in the dark, tethered to an excited donkey. Amazingly, he's never presented the Brits, but given his role as a new music champion on Radio 2, he's a perfect fit. Big Brother host Emma Willis did a great job fronting the Brits nominations show on Saturday night, attracting a respectable 1.6 million viewers to ITV. She told the BBC she was planning to watch the main ceremony from the audience - but if the call comes, she can recreate her favourite ever Brit moment, when "Cat Deeley flew in on a champagne bottle" in 2004. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38662210

Formula 1 sale to Liberty Media approved by FIA - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

Formula 1's governing body the FIA approves the sale of the sport's commercial rights to Liberty Media.

Last updated on .From the section Formula 1 Formula 1's governing body the FIA has approved the sale of the sport's commercial rights to Liberty Media. The US company is in the process of finalising a purchase of a controlling interest in Formula 1. The FIA's approval was the final regulatory hurdle before the sale, which will see Liberty take over from investment group CVC Capital Partners. The FIA believed its partnership with Liberty will "ensure the continued success and development" of F1. Liberty is expected to complete its takeover of the sport within the next few weeks. It bought just over 18% of the shares in Delta Topco, the holding company of the F1 Group, in September. Liberty announced before Christmas that it had cleared all regulatory hurdles and had the necessary approvals for the purchase. And on Tuesday in Colorado, the company's shareholders approved the buy-out. Its purchase of its second tranche of shares, to take its holding to 35.3%, is due to be completed within the next few weeks. Liberty has said it wants to protect F1's historic European races, establish new races in the USA and Latin America and grow the sport through the exploitation of digital media.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38668906

Inside Davos summit's Arctic basecamp - BBC News

2017-01-18

A replica of an Arctic basecamp has been set up by a group of leading scientists, as a call to action to global leaders attending the World Economic Forum summit.

Hotel rooms are hard to come by during the World Economic Forum in Davos, and even the most basic forms of accommodation can cost hundreds of pounds a night. But one delegation at the meeting in Switzerland is braving the Alpine temperatures and sleeping in tents - and not just because it is cheaper. A replica of an Arctic basecamp has been set up by a group of leading scientists, as a call to action to global leaders attending the WEF summit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38659323

US President Obama surprises spokesman at White House briefing - BBC News

2017-01-18

The US president makes a surprise appearance at White House press secretary Josh Earnest's last briefing.

Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at White House press secretary Josh Earnest's last briefing with members of the press to lavish praise on his spokesman. "He is a really, really good man," said the outgoing president of Mr Earnest, who first joined Mr Obama's campaign in Iowa back in 2007.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38658667

Cunning or clueless? Europe reacts in Brexit bout with May - BBC News

2017-01-18

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The BBC's Kevin Connolly gauges reaction in the European Parliament to the UK PM's Brexit pledges.

Europe

If Brexit is going to end up feeling like a long toe-to-toe boxing match then at last we can say that the first round is over. Theresa May has come out jabbing - offering crisp points about the UK's plans to leave the single market and its readiness to walk away from a bad deal if that's all that's on offer. The European side for the moment is still acting as if what we've seen so far this week is just the posturing and chest-beating you see at the pre-fight weigh-in rather than the fight itself. Their big-hitters - politicians like the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and his equivalent at the European Council Donald Tusk - have confined themselves to a little nifty defensive work pointing to the likely difficulty of the talks, hoping for a fair outcome and reiterating that until Britain formally triggers the departure process everything is mere shadow boxing. None of that of course will stop individual MEPs and commentators from offering their assessment of where the balance lies between the EU and the UK after Theresa May's Brexit declaration. One German colleague said to me jokingly: "I didn't realise that the EU had decided to leave the UK until I heard your prime minister's speech." And elsewhere in the corridors of the European Parliament you heard plenty of surprise at the confidence of the tone coming from London, the crispness of the decision to leave the single market and the sudden shafts of clarity after weeks in which the UK had appeared to not know what it wanted. Shafts of clarity about the UK's position in the corridors of the European Parliament? That's not to say of course that everyone has been impressed, even though Mrs May was praised in some quarters both for realism and for clarity. It's worth remembering that most mainstream politicians in Europe view Brexit as an act of madness to be spoken of with hostility and incomprehension. Britain in this analysis has taken the decision to walk away from an institution that's been an engine of peace and prosperity. Hence these remarks from the German MP Norbert Roettgen, who represents Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. He said: "The UK's two main economic weaknesses are its considerable trade deficit and a big budget deficit. As such [UK Chancellor Philip] Hammond's threats with duties and tax cuts would primarily damage the UK and should be regarded as an expression of British cluelessness." That dismissal of an option Britain is keeping in reserve - the option of operating as a low-tax base for business if Europe refuses to cut an attractive deal - would be seen in Strasbourg as one weakness in the Theresa May strategy. From elsewhere on the German political spectrum came an alternative strand of criticism - not that the UK was trying to set up a kind of low-tax magnet for foreign investment into Europe but simply that it was cutting ties in too brutal a fashion. Too much, too fast? Yes, says German Greens MP Ska Keller For Bruno Gollnisch, MEP for the French far-right National Front (pictured left, next to party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen last year) the UK can return to days of yore Ska Keller represents the German Greens in the European parliament. She told us: "My overall impression is that May wants to go for a super-hard Brexit. She wants to cut all ties and I don't think that's going to fly well on the rest of the continent. Theresa May didn't really make friends in the last couple of days here in the overall European Union." To the right of that broad European mainstream of course, things are seen rather differently. France's far-right National Front looks at the success of the Leave campaign in the UK with a degree of envy. It doesn't like the EU either and would like to see its core treaties renegotiated. Its senior MEP Bruno Gollnisch said: " I do think that in the end Britain could settle down to a situation rather like what it had before Brexit - after all in those days we managed things like exchanges of school pupils. And the UK will have commercial ties that reflect its specific Anglo-Saxon nature. There is no real reason why not." So there has been a sense in Strasbourg this week that a phase in a kind of phoney war has finally ended and after months of speculating about what Britain might or might not want, a degree of clarity has emerged about British ambitions towards the single market and to a lesser extent the custom unions. So far in this cautious round it was the UK which came out swinging rather than the European side. But there is a very long way to go in this negotiation and by the end of it both sides will have endured defeats and disappointments alongside their occasional moments of triumph. The UK might feel for now that its ahead on points, but everyone knows there's a long way - a very long way - to go.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38669476

The woman donating organs to strangers - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Tracey Jolliffe has already donated a kidney, 16 eggs and 80 pints of blood. She is now considering donating part of her liver too.

Health

Tracey Jolliffe is calling on others to give a kidney Tracey Jolliffe has already donated a kidney, 16 eggs and 80 pints of blood, and intends to leave her brain to science. She is now hoping to give away part of her liver to a person she may never meet. "If I had another spare kidney, I'd do it again," Tracey tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. She is what is known as an "altruistic donor" - someone willing to give away an organ to potentially help save the life of a complete stranger. A microbiologist in the NHS, and the daughter of two nurses, she has spent her life learning about the importance of healthcare from a professional standpoint. But she has also been keen to make a difference on a personal level. "I signed up to donate blood, and to the bone marrow register, when I was 18," she says. Now 50, her wish to donate has become gradually more expansive. In 2012, she was one of fewer than 100 people that year to donate a kidney without knowing the recipient's identity - and now supports the charity Give A Kidney, encouraging others to do the same. As of 30 September 2016, 5,126 people remain on the NHS kidney transplant waiting list. About 3,000 kidney transplants are carried out each year Tracey's kidney donation, in all likelihood, will have saved someone's life. "I remind myself of it every day when I wake up," she says, rightly proud of her life-changing actions. It was not, however, a decision taken on the spur of a moment. Donating a kidney is an "involved process", she says, with suitability assessments taking at least three months to complete. Tests leading up to the transplant include X-rays, heart tracing and a special test of kidney function, which involves an injection and a series of blood tests. "It is not something to do if you're scared of needles," she jokes. The risks associated with donating, however, are relatively low for those deemed healthy enough to proceed, with a mortality rate of about one in 3,000 - roughly the same as having an appendix removed. Compared with the general public, NHS Blood and Transplant says, most kidney donors have equivalent - or better - life expectancy than the average person. Tracey says she was in hospital for five days after her operation but felt "back to normal" within six weeks. As well as helping to save lives - including through 80 pints worth of blood donations - Tracey has also helped families create them too. She has donated 16 of her eggs, allowing three couples to have children. It was a simple decision to take, she says. "I have no desire to have children of my own, so I thought, 'I'm healthy, why not?'" The next step, she hopes, could be to donate part of her liver - once again, to someone she has never met. But she is aware of the dangers involved. "It's a much riskier operation than donating your kidney," she says. The rate of death for those donating the right lobe is estimated at one in 200. For the left lobe, it is one in 500. But many donators live a long and healthy life, with the organ having an "amazing capacity to regenerate", as Tracey describes it. Almost immediately after an operation, the remaining liver begins to enlarge in a process known as hypertrophy, continuing for up to eight weeks. Tracey will undoubtedly continue to donate for as long as she can - and is hoping to pass on her organs once she dies. "I signed up to donate my brain for medical science when I go," she says. Brain donations are usually performed within 24 hours of death, to be used for medical research into conditions such as dementia. Taking such decisions can be difficult, but Tracey says her friends and family "accept I'm going to do what I want to do". Her reasons for donating organs - whether it be a brain or a kidney - are both humbling and understated. "I think it's part of my nature, my opportunity to do something nice," she says. But the difference such decisions can make to others is huge. For information on how to make a living donation, visit the NHS Blood and Transplant website. Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38637348

How often do planes fall on houses? - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Plane crashes in residential areas are extremely rare, largely because of the skill of pilots in a crisis.

World

On 16 January 2017 a cargo plane flying from Hong Kong to Istanbul crash-landed just outside the main airport for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. As well as all four crew members, at least 33 people on the ground were killed. Locals said entire families had been wiped out in the disaster. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The images are horrific, but it's reassuring to know accidental plane crashes in residential areas are incredibly rare, a fact largely attributable to pilot training. "The rules of flying in an emergency are first you aviate, then you navigate, then you communicate," says Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at Flight Global. A skilled pilot with the right information can avert a major disaster In other words, the pilot's priority is keeping the plane in the air, then working out the route, then telling everyone what's going on, though all of this can happen very quickly. "Pilots will always avoid coming down in a civilian area if they can, but situations during these instances can be very intense and hectic," says Mr Waldron. "A lot will depend on how much control they have over the aircraft." This was the case, for example, with Chesley Sullenberger, aka Sully, who was flying an Airbus 320 over New York in January 2009 when its engines were disabled by a bird strike. He made the quick calculation that he could not risk diverting to a nearby airport, as the plane could come down on populated areas, and so landed in the middle of the Hudson River. After an investigation, he was judged to have made the right decision, which saved the lives of 155 people on board and possibly numerous more on the ground. The TransAsia plane came down just short of highrise buildings A similar incident in Taiwan in February 2015 saw a TransAsia flight crashing in a river in the middle of Taipei. Dramatic images showed the plane narrowly missing cars on a busy bridge as it came down. Forty-three people died. It was later discovered that one engine had malfunctioned and the crew accidentally shut down the working engine instead. It remains unclear whether the river landing was pilot skill or chance, says Mr Waldron. These incidents happened in daytime and in good flying conditions, but the situation can be very different if flying at night, as the Turkish airline crew were this week, he says. The two-man crew of a Bombardier freighter which crashed in Norway in 2016, experienced "spatial disorientation" after getting confusing technical readings about their height and speed while flying at night, the official investigation found. They did the right thing but, "guided by the erroneous information", flew straight into a mountain, killing them both. The Kyrgyzstan government has been quick to blame the Bishkek crash on pilot error, but with debris still strewn across the ground, it's far too soon to make that assessment, says Mr Waldron. Studying the plane's flight deck recorder black box data will be crucial to finding out what the crew was going through and how it could be avoided in the future. But Mr Waldron is keen to stress that despite the horror of such catastrophes, flying remains an extremely safe mode of transport. On 30 June 2015, an Indonesian Hercules military plane crashed in a densely populated area shortly after taking off from Medan airport in northern Sumatra. Most of those killed were on board, but at least 17 people died on the ground. Medan had had a similar disaster 10 years before, when a Boeing 737 crashed after taking-off from Polonia airport. Nearly 50 local residents died. A hundred passengers and crew died, though there were some survivors. In November 2012 an Ilyushin-76 cargo plane hit trees on landing at Maya-Maya airport in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. The plane careered off the runway into nearby buildings before plunging into a ravine. Most of the 32 people who died were on the ground. In March 2011, 14 people died on the ground, along with nine on board, when a cargo plane fell on a residential area in Pointe-Noire, also in Congo. A Dana Air plane carrying 153 people crashed into buildings in Nigeria's largest city in June 2012 after an engine failure. Everyone on board died, while the final death toll among non-passengers was 10. On 4 November 2008, a light aircraft carrying Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino among its nine passengers crashed in the financial district of Mexico City. Seven people died on the ground. American Airlines Flight 587 broke up mid-air after taking off from New York JFK airport in November 2001. It came down on houses on the borough of Queens, causing a fire which burned several homes. As well as 251 passengers and crew, five people died on the ground in the second-worst aviation disaster in US history. Despite fears it had been a terror attack, the investigation blamed pilot error. This list is not comprehensive and does not include incidents of terrorism

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38646664

Colo, the oldest gorilla in captivity, dies aged 60 - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Western lowland gorilla dies in her sleep at a zoo in the US less than a month after her birthday.

US & Canada

At 60, Colo outlived most captive gorillas by more than two decades The oldest known gorilla to be born in captivity, a female named Colo, has died in the US aged 60. Colo passed away in her sleep overnight at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio, less than a month after celebrating her birthday. She was born at the zoo in December 1956 and is believed to be the first gorilla ever born in captivity. Colo, a Western lowland gorilla, lived for more than 20 years longer than the average captive gorilla. Despite recently having a malignant tumour removed, zookeepers said that she had been recovering well and the cause of her death had yet to be determined. Columbus Zoo and Aquarium said in a statement that Colo was "an ambassador for gorillas" who "inspired people to learn more about the critically endangered species". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "Colo touched the hearts of generations of people who came to see her and those that cared for her over her long lifetime," the statement read. The zoo added that Colo is to be cremated, with her ashes buried on site. In December, hundreds of people visited Columbus Zoo and Aquarium to sing Happy Birthday and watch Colo, a great-great grandmother, enjoy her cake.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38659471

Mexicans' Donald Trump fears - BBC News

2017-01-18

Mexicans are worried about what a cut to tax remittances sent to them by relatives in the United States could do to their lives and businesses.

Mexicans are worried about what a cut to tax remittances sent to them by relatives in the United States could do to their lives and businesses.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38661020

Ryder Cup 2018: Europe to increase wildcards from three to four - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

Europe's Ryder Cup team will feature four wildcards in 2018, and players will need to play only four tournaments to retain membership.

Last updated on .From the section Golf Europe's Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn will have four wildcard picks for his team in 2018. The increase from three is among several changes the European Tour has made to its qualifying criteria for the event at Le Golf National in France. Tournaments in the latter half of the season will carry weighted points, helping in-form players to qualify. Players will also only have to play four tournaments instead of five to retain their Tour membership. Only European Tour members can be selected for the Ryder Cup. The 12-man European team for next year's competition will comprise the first four players from the European points list, the leading four players from the world points list and four captain's picks. The qualifying process for the event - to take place from 28-30 September - will begin from the Czech Masters in Prague in August this year. The changes were announced following a meeting of the European Tour's Tournament Committee in Abu Dhabi. Bjorn said: "I am delighted the committee passed these regulations, which I believe will considerably benefit the European Ryder Cup team in 2018 without compromising the strength or importance of the European Tour." The United States added a fourth wildcard pick for last year's event, when they ended a run of three successive European victories by winning 17-11 at Hazeltine. Thomas Bjorn appears to have found a delicate formula that benefits both his team and the European Tour. The extra wildcard pick increases pressure on the captain's shoulders, but makes it less likely that a big name player misses out. This was the danger once it was decided that events elsewhere that coincide with the new Rolex Series tournaments on the European Tour will not count for Ryder Cup qualification. It is a move that encourages Tour stars to compete in events such as the BMW PGA Championship, French, Irish and Scottish Opens rather than chase FedEx Cup points on the PGA Tour. Weighting Ryder Cup points to make them a third more valuable in the final four months of qualifying is also sensible because it will help ensure the players who qualify are in form at the time of the match.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/38660767

Trump and the nuclear codes - BBC News

2017-01-18

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What are the checks on a US president launching a strategic nuclear strike?

US & Canada

On 20 January, inauguration day in the United States, a nameless, unknown military aide was seen accompanying President Barack Obama to the handover ceremony at the US Capitol in Washington. That military aide was carrying a satchel over his or her shoulder containing a briefcase known as "the nuclear football". Inside was a piece of digital hardware measuring 3in (7.3cm) by 5in, known as "the biscuit". This contained the launch codes for a strategic nuclear strike. The briefing for the incoming president on how to activate them had already taken place out of public sight, but the moment President-elect Donald Trump took the oath of office that aide, and the satchel, moved quietly over to his side. From then on, Donald Trump has had sole authority to order an action that could result in the deaths of millions of people in under an hour. The question on a lot of people's minds is, given his thin skin and impulsive temperament, what are the safeguards, if any, to prevent an impetuous decision by one man with catastrophic consequences? First off, it should be said that Donald Trump has previously rowed back on some of his earlier, provocative comments on the use of nuclear weapons. He stated he would be "the last person to use them", although he did not rule it out. Other senior figures are also involved in the chain of command, such as the US Secretary of Defence, retired US Marine Gen James Mattis, But Mark Fitzpatrick, a nuclear non-proliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington, says that ultimately, the sole authority to launch a strike rests with the president. "There are no checks and balances on the president's authority to launch a nuclear strike," he says. "But between the time he authorises one and the time it's carried out there are other people involved." The idea of a rogue president taking such a monumental decision on his own is unrealistic. He gives the order and the secretary of defence is constitutionally obliged to carry it out. The secretary of defence could, in theory, refuse to obey the order if he had reason to doubt the president's sanity, but this would constitute mutiny and the president can then fire him and assign the task to the deputy secretary of defence. Donald Trump says the US should "greatly strengthen and expand" its nuclear capabilities Under the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution a vice-president could, in theory, declare the president mentally incapable of taking a proper decision, but he would need to be backed by a majority of the cabinet. So how would it work in practice? Inside that briefcase, the "nuclear football" that never leaves the president's side, is a "black book" of strike options for him to choose from once he has authenticated his identity as commander-in-chief, using a plastic card. Washington folklore has it that a previous president temporarily mislaid his identification card when he left it inside a jacket that was sent to the dry cleaners. Once the president has selected his strike options from a long-prepared "menu", the order is passed via the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Pentagon's war room and then, using sealed authentication codes, on to US Strategic Command HQ in Offutt Airbase in Nebraska. The order to fire is transmitted to the actual launch crews using encrypted codes that have to match the codes locked inside their safes. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The US and Russia both possess enough nuclear missiles to destroy each other's cities several times over - there are reported to be 100 US nuclear warheads aimed at Moscow alone. The two countries' arsenals account for more than 90% of the world's total number of nuclear warheads. As of September 2016 Russia had the most, with an estimated 1796 strategic nuclear warheads, deployed on a mixed platform of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bombers. Under a programme ordered by President Vladimir Putin, Moscow has recently invested billions of roubles in upgrading its strategic nuclear missile force, keeping an arsenal of constantly mobile ballistic missiles travelling through tunnels deep beneath the forests of Siberia. America had, in September 2016, 1,367 strategic nuclear warheads, similarly deployed in land-based underground missile silos, which by their static nature are vulnerable to a first strike, at sea onboard submarines, where they are harder to detect, and at airbases, where they can be loaded on to bombers. The UK has about 120 strategic warheads, of which only a third are deployed at sea. The Royal Navy always keeps a portion of the nation's Trident nuclear force somewhere in the world's oceans, maintaining what is known as the continuous at sea deterrent. The Topol is one of Russia's mobile ICBMs ICBMs travel at a speed of over 17,000mph (Mach 23), flying high above the Earth's atmosphere before descending towards their pre-programmed targets at four miles a second. The flight-time for land-based missiles flying between Russia and the US is between 25 and 30 minutes. For submarine-based missiles, where the boats may be able to approach a coast covertly, the flight time could be considerably shorter, even as little as 12 minutes. This does not leave a president much time to decide whether it is a false alarm or imminent Armageddon. Once ICBMs have been launched they cannot be recalled, but if they remain in their silos they will probably be destroyed by the inbound attack. A former senior White House official told me recently that much would depend on the circumstances in which a nuclear strike was being considered. If this was a long-term, measured policy decision to say, carry out a pre-emptive strike on country X, then a lot of people would be involved. The vice-president, National Security Adviser, and much of the cabinet would all be likely to be included in the decision-making process. But if there was an imminent strategic threat to the United States, i.e. if an inbound launch of ICBMs from a hostile state had been detected and were minutes from reaching the US then, he said, "the president has extraordinary latitude to take the sole decision to launch."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38651616

Who is Chelsea Manning? - BBC News

2017-01-18

President Obama is commuting the 29-year-old's sentence.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38661018

China goes big in Davos - and here's why - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Like two silverbacks in a cage, China and America are eyeing each other warily. At the World Economic Forum, China is ready to go "supersize".

Business

Today will see a through the looking glass moment at Davos. The leader of the world's largest Communist Party will take to the stage at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort arguing for globalisation and the wonders of free trade. At the same time as the US - the home of capitalism - has a new president saying that the present free trade rules need to be ripped up. The Dragon is here to embrace Switzerland's annual rich fest. And it's keen to be seen as a member of the club. President-elect Donald Trump wants to take a baseball bat to the club house and build a new one. President Xi Jinping is the first Chinese president to visit the WEF. His message is likely to be uncompromising. After Chinese officials warned against "nativism" last week - a direct reference to Mr Trump - Mr Xi is expected to say that global free trade has brought prosperity and that moves against it will only harm economic growth. Yes, he may nod to the need for globalisation to be seen to be working for all. But he will be clear that more trade is the route to prosperity, for Asia and Western economies. China is making a very major point via Mr Xi's visit to the WEF. With other leaders, notably Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, staying away, China is bringing the largest delegation it has ever mustered. Business leaders such as Jack Ma - the founder of the global internet giant Alibaba - are in Davos, as is Wang Jianlin, another of China's richest men and chairman of the property developer Dalian Wanda. America might start looking inward, but China is seeking to extend its influence, and the chosen route is economics. The big push at the WEF, the launch of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank to rival the US dominated World Bank, the revival of the "Silk Route" trade corridor from Asia to the Middle East and Europe - all point in one direction, and it's towards Mr Xi's enthusiasm for a more expansionist China. Economics is wielded as a tool of influence. The WEF full court press from Mr Xi comes at the same time as Mr Trump has made his position on China clear. Although we have yet to discover what President-elect Trump will actually do when he takes office on Friday, the fact that he hired one of America's toughest China hawks, Peter Navarro, as the head of his new National Trade Council, suggests little change from Campaigning Trump. And Campaigning Trump accused China of currency manipulation and "raping" America, saying that cheap Chinese exports had led to the loss of US jobs. I wrote about China's hyper-chilly reaction to that allegation and what Mr Navarro might mean for Sino/US relations here. So far, Mr Trump is talking tough. A strong supporter, Anthony Scaramucci, who is set to be hired as another of Mr Trump's business advisors, will also speak at Davos. And rather than extol the virtues of the present structures of world trade, he is likely to focus on what he sees as the weaknesses. In the past he has backed Mr Navarro's criticism that allowing China to join the World Trade Organisation under President Bill Clinton was a decision that American industry "has never recovered from". The contrast with President Xi will be stark. And will reveal the tension simmering between the two largest economies in the world - a tension that will define the health of the global economy over the next decade.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38644971

Planes, trains and McDonald's: Your stories of porn in public - BBC News

2017-01-18

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The BBC's Siobhann Tighe was unsure what to do when she boarded a bus and sat next to a man watching porn on his mobile phone. Here readers tell their own stories of porn in public.

Magazine

The BBC's Siobhann Tighe was unsure what to do when she sat down on a bus beside a man who was watching porn on his mobile phone, as she wrote last Saturday. Her story provoked a fiery debate - while some deplored the man's behaviour, others said what he chose to watch was his own business. Many readers also described similar encounters on public transport and elsewhere. Here is a selection of their comments. I was travelling home from London to Newcastle with two children on a busy train. There was one man at a table with three empty seats. I realised he was sitting next to a conspicuous stack of porno mags and leafing through them. Everyone in the corridor had chosen to stand apart from him. "Mummy!" - my four-year-old daughter exclaimed loudly as she swung into the empty seat - "that man has got pictures of ladies with big boobies!". The porno man looked at her, looked at them, and crumpled. He put his mags in a bag and freed up the space next to him so that we could sit down. Hellen, Newcastle Whilst on a flight from Germany to Hong Kong a man in the next seat started up his laptop and was oblivious to the fact that his hardcore porn could be seen and heard by me and people in the next aisle. As a woman travelling on my own on an overnight flight, this made me extremely uncomfortable. I raised it with the purser - the man was moved and spoken to, apparently. As for the countless times I've witnessed this on the train, there's been no hope of anyone in authority sorting it out. You either have to move seats, say something and risk being verbally attacked, or seethe quietly until your stop. I'm not anti-men, anti-sex or anti-porn. Yet whenever I've raised this issue in the past, there's always someone ready to call me out for being a prude. I'm not. I just don't think porn has a place on public transport, or in any areas frequented by the general public. Annie G, UK I admit I've viewed online porn occasionally in the privacy of my own home, but even I was surprised and felt a little uncomfortable when the person on the next train seat began viewing very hardcore porn on his tablet. I ended up moving and informed the guard. He said he would "have a word" with the guy, and duly did, at which point the perpetrator (no doubt embarrassed) got up and moved. The guard apologised to me, then explained that this was an increasing problem. Lawrie, Sleaford This happened to me on a train to London. I was shocked and offended. The man was watching porn video involving a yoga instructor, on his phone in the seat beside me. I decided to ask the man to stop watching the video because, like the man, I have free will and I could ask him to stop doing something I was uncomfortable with. Of course, he could refuse and I was prepared for that. As it happens, he obliged and actually apologised. It is not the law's role to protect people from offence. If we disagree with views, we must challenge these views and have an open debate, for that is the only way society can progress. Mel Lane, Guildford l was on a bus in Huddersfield working with a looked after child who was 14 years old at the time. My young person tapped me and pointed out the man sitting in front of us was watching "disturbing stuff". He was watching hardcore porn on a large screen. I quietly approached the man and asked him to either sit at the back or please turn it off, otherwise I would have to have very loud words with the driver. He looked horrified when l told him that a 14-year-old had pointed out what he was watching to me. He didn't say anything, he just turned his phone off and shoved it in his pocket. I still told the driver quietly when l was getting off. I left him having a word with him. I felt l had to say something as a professional, responsible adult and a mother. Annabel, Bradford When I was 14, I was on a plane with my dad. I had the middle seat and an unknown man was in the window seat with his computer. He was reading a lot of documents and then started watching porn. I was so shocked and then I got scared, like who does that in a plane? I've never told anyone about this, but I haven't forgotten it somehow. Lais, Brazil I went to McDonald's one evening with my wife and children. I sat at a large table while my wife and children went to the counter. A group of children aged between 12 and 14 were watching porn on a large iPhone with the sound on. I asked them to switch it off and received a cold shoulder. I insisted since I had young children or I would report them to the manager. Happily they switched it off before my children came. Paul Brown, Glasgow I was at an upmarket bar/restaurant having a meal with friends. At a table close by a man sitting on his own had his laptop out. I glanced at the screen and the man was searching porn websites full of pornographic explicit images of women. I was rather shocked, particularly as he was making no attempt to be discreet. It felt to me like a blatant case of sexual harassment to myself and my female friend. The waitress agreed to talk to him and he dimmed the screen. I said I would only be happy if it was turned off or we would leave. She went back to him and he closed his laptop and left. In my view a man wouldn't be able to expose himself in a restaurant so why should he be able to expose degrading images on his laptop? Paula Stott, Harrogate This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. VIDEO: From disgust to it's ok, Woman's Hour took to the streets to find out what you think of watching porn on buses I was standing on a packed tube train and a man was standing watching a porn movie on his phone. A boy, around 12 years old, realised what the man was watching and moved away. I tapped the man on the shoulder and very loudly asked why he was watching porn in a public place with children around? All he could reply with was "you shut up" and [swore at me]. I told him loudly to stop watching porn and switch it off but he refused. He said it was his personal right. Only my 16-year-old daughter supported me and told him to stop. Nobody else joined in or tried to help me. His behaviour was very threatening. I wanted to take his photo but was worried about his reaction. It wasn't until after he left the train at Leicester Square that other passengers congratulated me on standing up to him. I was so angry I reported the incident to Transport Police. They said if they managed to identify him he would be prosecuted for causing public outrage. Sharon Forbes, Chippenham I am a Traffic PCSO working for the Met Police on Safer Transport. There was a young male looking at a gay porn magazine. As there were young children on the bus I asked him to put the magazine away. He refused and called me "homophobic." I then requested the driver of the bus to pull over and I evicted the passenger from the bus and told him my thoughts. I could have gone down the route of a Section 5 of the Public Order Act - causing harm, alarm or distress. I would recommend anyone to challenge someone looking at porn on a bus, if its causing them distress. Anonymous I was on an overland train and a man, about 25 years old and wearing a hoodie, was watching porn on his mobile as we waited for the train to depart. The speaker was turned up and it was obvious from the sounds that it was a man and woman having sex. The young man appeared to be oblivious to the rest of us. Two women got up and moved to the next carriage. None of us said anything, it was obvious looking around that most of us felt considerable discomfort. The train departed and as the sound of the tracks and its engine increased, he turned up the volume on his mobile. Mick Gavin, London Listen to Siobhann Tighe talking to Jenni Murray on Woman's Hour, on BBC Radio 4 Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38638339

Australian Open 2017: Andy Murray prepares for Andrey Rublev in second round - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

World number one Andy Murray admits he does not know much about his Australian Open second round opponent Andrey Rublev.

Last updated on .From the section Tennis Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and text updates on the BBC Sport website and app. World number one Andy Murray has admitted he does not know much about his Australian Open second round opponent Andrey Rublev. Murray will face the 19-year-old Russian, ranked 152nd in the world, on Wednesday from 09:30 GMT. Fellow Briton Dan Evans will also be in action in Melbourne, against seventh seed Marin Cilic around 07:00 GMT. "I've never hit with him or played against him, but I've seen him play and he goes for it," Murray said. "I know a little bit about him and he doesn't hold back. He hits a big ball.'' • None Order of play - who plays when? Rublev is appearing in his second Grand Slam - he was knocked out in the first round of the US Open in 2015. "I'm so excited, I have nothing to lose. He's the best tennis player at the moment. So I will just try to take a great experience from this," he said. Murray was left frustrated after his first round victory over Illya Marchenko, taking two hours and 48 minutes to register a three-set win. "I have had a lot of tough losses here, for sure,'' said Murray, who has been beaten in the final in Melbourne five times in seven years. "I have played some of my best tennis on hard courts here. But I keep coming back to try. I'll keep doing that until I'm done.'' Elsewhere, Roger Federer faces American Noah Rubin from 04:00, while fourth seed Stan Wawrinka will play Rubin's compatriot Steve Johnson. World number one Angelique Kerber plays Germany's Carina Witthoeft, while Serena and Venus Williams appear in the first round of the doubles, playing Hungary's Timea Babos and Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. We'll learn a lot more about Rublev in this match. He is a big-hitting player who goes after the shots and plays high-octane tennis. It'll be good to see what this young man can bring but it's a very tough ask for someone of that age against Andy. It's an environment that Andy really enjoys. You would expect him to get the job done, but he will study him and won't take anything for granted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38647714

Chinese billionaire offers biggest education prize - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Internet entrepreneur Charles Chen Yidan is going to award $8m per year to education projects.

Business

Charles Chen Yidan is putting his technology fortune back into education A Chinese technology billionaire is offering the world's most valuable education prize. The Yidan Prize will award nearly $8m (£6.64m) every year to two research projects that have the potential to "transform" global education. Charles Chen Yidan, who co-founded China's internet company, Tencent, wants to use the prize to scale up innovative education research projects and replicate them across the world. Universities, governments and think tanks have reacted enthusiastically to the prize, and leading US institutions like Harvard and MIT have already submitted several nominations. But the winner might not necessarily be a household name in education. Even a local project could win the prize, if it can prove it has been effective. "As long as an idea is replicable in other regions, we can give them an award," says Mr Chen. Mr Chen, now aged 45, became one of China's richest men after co-founding Tencent in 1998. In 2013, he stepped down to focus on educational philanthropy. His interest in education came from his family. His grandmother was illiterate but insisted that Mr Chen's father got a good education. The internet billionaire founded Wuhan College, with an emphasis on more than exam grades Mr Chen himself studied applied chemistry as an undergraduate at Shenzhen University and took a master's degree in economic law at Nanjing University. His educational philosophy has also been shaped by the "tremendous pressure" he felt while studying for China's "gaokao" higher education entrance examinations. So he set up Wuhan College, a private university in China, which focuses on "whole-person development" rather than rote-learning and examinations. More stories from the BBC's Global education series looking at education from an international perspective, and how to get in touch. You can join the debate at the BBC's Family & Education News Facebook page. The college aims to train talented students to join China's technology industry. Executives from Tencent helped to design the college's curriculum, recruit students and teach classes, so that its graduates are trained in the skills required by employers. But Mr Chen was frustrated that this college only reached a limited number of students. So he decided a global education prize would be the best way to improve education for millions of young people. Mr Chen, speaking on a tour of Europe to promote the prize to universities, governments, NGOs and think tanks, says he has already been inundated with nominations. He wants the prize to focus the attention of universities and governments on future trends in education. Looking for creativity: Fine art exam in Wuhan this autumn "We find that no matter whether people come from a rich or developing country, in the east or the west, they are talking about similar concerns," says Mr Yidan. These are questions about children from rich families having the best access to education, and whether students in some countries face too many exams. The prize-winners will be chosen by an independent committee of educational experts led by Dr Koichiro Matsuura, former director-general of Unesco. They are looking for nominations that are innovative and sustainable, that reform existing educational structures, and that respond to what might be the future challenges for education. But Mr Chen also has his own ideas about how to improve global education. Speaking through a translator but occasionally breaking into English to reinforce a point, he said he wants to find ways to make the most of the expertise of retired teachers. Mr Yidan, launching the prize, called for better use of the talents of retired teachers "They are a valuable resource that we need to make better use of," he says. He thinks that collecting "big data" on students can improve the education that individual students receive. "By analysing big data, we can find bespoke ways to help pupils in need," he says. Unsurprisingly for the co-founder of an internet company, he believes that technology will transform education. This latest education prize is now the most valuable. The Global Teacher Prize, run by the Varkey Foundation, gives $1m (£830,000) annually to a teacher who has made an "outstanding contribution" to education. The Broad Prize for Urban Education, which ran from 2002 to 2014, gave $1m every year to a school district in the US that significantly improved the academic performance of low-income and minority students. The WISE Prize for education, supported by the Qatar Foundation, awards $500,000 (£415,000) to the winning laureate. But is a prize really the best way to improve education? Dan Sarofian-Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, says that prize money can be a poor way of achieving change. "Rather than give a one-off cash prize, I hope the Yidan Prize will nurture and sustain its winners over a period of years," he says. Hanan Al Hroub who teaches refugee children has been named as the world's best teacher "If you look at the TV show Dragons' Den, or Shark Tank in the US, what the winners really get is not just the investment money from the sharks, but their expertise, their network of contacts and firms, their foot in the door with many companies, and their national exposure. "Likewise, a really powerful education prize would create a mechanism that fostered exactly such mentoring, networking, and sustainability." Andreas Schleicher, education director at the OECD, welcomes the Yidan Prize as an incentive for innovation in education. "When we surveyed teachers, less than a quarter of them said they would be recognised for greater levels of innovation," he said. "The highly industrial and compliance-based organisation of education generally means that even where good ideas are generated, they don't scale and spread." Nominations close at the end of March and the winners will be announced in September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38639891

Theresa May's Brexit speech: What does it mean for free trade? - BBC News

2017-01-18

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BBC Economics Correspondent Andrew Walker answers your questions on Theresa May's Brexit speech.

UK

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May confirmed that the final deal would be put to the vote in Parliament Following Theresa May's widely anticipated speech on Brexit on Tuesday, you sent us your questions. The impact on free trade was the most asked about subject. Below, BBC Economics Correspondent Andrew Walker looks at two of the most popular questions you asked: The only thing on the list above that the Prime Minister has said she wants to opt out of is the free movement of people - or rather the free movement of people to work and settle in the UK. She is very keen on the free movement of goods and services. She said in the speech that she wants: "the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU's member states." She does not want to opt out of that. The freest possible means what we have today. For example: no tariffs on goods travelling in either direction, mutual recognition of each other's technical standards, the freedom to offer services across borders and more. In short, it means the provisions of the single market that apply to goods and services. It would be theoretically possible to go further still, especially in services. The European Commission says there are still barriers and it wants to tackle them. But for now, the single market as it is represents the freest we can get. But Mrs May seems to accept that we can't have that without also accepting freedom of movement for workers. And that is one of her red lines. So once that has gone, the freest possible movement for goods and services will presumably mean something less than the single market, something less than we have today. How much less will be a matter for negotiation. In fact, the answer to many questions about what will "X" be like when we leave will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. We can speculate but we can't know for sure. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some of the headlines from Theresa May's vision for future UK-EU relations The UK does have some cards which will encourage the EU to lean towards what the Prime Minister wants. Some European businesses have the UK as an important export market - German car makers for example. During the referendum campaign many Leave supporters were keen to point out that the rest of the EU exports more to the UK than the UK exports to them. That, they argued, means they need the UK more than we need them. The counter-argument is that EU exports to the UK as a share of national income are a lot smaller than trade in the opposite direction. That suggests UK/EU trade matters more to us than to them. Another reason that the remaining EU might want to be cooperative in trade negotiations is that many continental businesses would want to continue to be able to use the City of London as a financial centre. On the other hand some other cities, including Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin, might fancy a bigger slice of that pie. So there are some economic reasons for the EU to share Mrs May's desire for free movement of goods and services. But there is an important political issue that pulls them in the opposite direction. They don't want life in the UK to look too rosy at a time when there are rising Eurosceptic movements in many countries beyond the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38658697

Europe sees UK set for 'hard' Brexit after May speech - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Europeans see a "hard" UK Brexit looming - but welcome more British clarity on future EU ties.

Europe

Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit speech is being seen in Europe as the "hard" option of full UK withdrawal - and there is some relief that the British position is clearer now. "Finally we have a little more clarity re the British plans," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. Germany also wanted a "close and trusting relationship", he said. "Trade as free as possible, full control on immigration... where is the give for all the take?" he asked. The Italian daily La Repubblica commented: "Out of the EU, out of common market, out of everything. It appears that Theresa May's intention through negotiations with the EU at the end of March is 'a hard Brexit' - a very hard Brexit indeed." One of the top EU officials, European Council president Donald Tusk, voiced regret but some relief too in a tweet: "Sad process, surrealistic times but at least more realistic announcement on #Brexit." Belgian liberal Guy Verhofstadt, named as the European Parliament's lead negotiator on Brexit, warned that any deal for the UK would be worse than EU membership. He said it was an "illusion" for Mrs May to suggest "that you can go out of the single market, that you can go out of the customs union and that you can cherry-pick, that you can have still a number of advantages - I think that will not happen". Mrs May's mention of a possible alternative economic model for the UK was a "threat", he said, that could obstruct the negotiations. Norway's Aftenposten daily said Mrs May's speech signalled "a clear rejection of a Norwegian-type involvement in the [EU] internal market". Norway has very close ties to the EU - as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) it has open, tariff-free access to the EU single market, though Norwegian fisheries and agriculture are excluded. The price for that advantage is high Norwegian contributions to the EU budget and automatic acceptance of most EU laws. Gatwick airport border control: Mrs May has pledged to curb immigration from the EU "Even though she rejects the term, it is indeed a hard Brexit," commented France's Le Figaro daily. FN vice-president Florian Philippot tweeted: "Bravo to T. May who respects her people with a 'clear and clean' Brexit. Sovereignty cannot be a half-measure. French independence soon!" Michael Fuchs, a close conservative ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, accused Mrs May of "cherry-picking" in her speech, Sky News reported in a tweet. EU politicians have stressed that they will not let the UK "cherry-pick" parts of its EU membership terms. They insist that the single market's four freedoms - covering goods, services, capital and labour - cannot be diluted. The Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad called Mrs May's speech "not just a bit of Brexit but the full whack". "Bye bye EU... the unspoken, big threat from London is creating a tax paradise in front of the gates of Europe," it said. Sweden's former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: "I regret the approach the UK government has taken. "I think most of the EU would have preferred a closer relationship with the UK." Sweden has long been one of the UK's closest allies in the EU.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38650877

Syrian conflict: What's left of Aleppo's Great Mosque? - BBC News

2017-01-18

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen has visited the site of Aleppo's Umayyad Mosque to see what's left after the war in Syria.

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen has visited the site of Aleppo's Umayyad Mosque to see what's left after the war in Syria.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38655603

GCHQ seeks teenage girls to join cyber security fight - BBC News

2017-01-18

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Web-savvy teenage girls could become the UK's spies of the future, Britain's intelligence agency hopes.

UK

The CyberFirst competition aims to get more girls to consider a career fighting online crime Teenage girls who spend a lot of time online and on social media could become the UK's spies of the future, Britain's intelligence agency hopes. GCHQ is launching a competition with the aim of encouraging more girls to think about a career in cyber security. Girls aged 13 to 15 will compete in tests that will also cover logic and coding, networking and cryptography. Women currently only make up 10% of the global cyber workforce, the agency says. The competition is part of a five-year National Cyber Security Strategy announced in November 2016, and will be overseen by the new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Working in teams of four, the girls will complete online tasks remotely on their school computers, with each stage being harder than the previous one. The 10 groups with the highest scores will then be invited to the CyberFirst competition final in London to investigate a complex cyber threat. CyberFirst's winning team will be awarded £1,000 worth of computer equipment for their school, as well as individual prizes. The NCSC was set up to be the main body for cyber security at a national level. It manages national cyber security incidents, carries out real-time threat analysis and provides advice. An NCSC spokeswoman said: "Women can, and do, make a huge difference in cyber security - this competition could inspire many more to take their first steps into this dynamic and rewarding career." Government Communications Headquarters director Robert Hannigan said: "I work alongside some truly brilliant women who help protect the UK from all manner of online threats. "The CyberFirst Girls competition allows teams of young women a glimpse of this exciting world and provides a great opportunity to use new skills." The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38664703

'Unity' call on Reformation anniversary - BBC News

2017-01-18

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The Archbishops of Canterbury and York urge Protestants to "repent" for their part in historical Church divisions.

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A statue of Martin Luther in Wittenberg, where the Protestant Reformation began The Church of England has said Protestants should "repent of their part in perpetuating divisions" - 500 years after the Reformation began the split from the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. A statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has said the split caused "lasting damage" to the unity of the Church - something that contradicted the teaching of Jesus and left a "legacy of mistrust and competition". It went on to say: "Such repentance needs to be linked to action aimed at reaching out to other churches and strengthening relationships with them." Coming during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it is a further sign that these two Churches are seeking to repent of past failings and find more ways in which they might work together. The historic rupture, which began in October 1517 when the German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral, led to centuries of violence, where rulers of one Church would frequently execute communicant members of the other. The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby Last October, Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury presided at a service in Rome that was held on the fiftieth anniversary of the historic summit between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which established the Anglican Centre in Rome. In a joint declaration issued after the service in October, the two leaders said they were "undeterred" from seeking unity between the two denominations. While the Archbishops of Canterbury and York embrace the theological distinctives that arose out of the Reformation, specifically Martin Luther's emphasis on Christian salvation being through faith and not by merit or effort, they regret the bloodshed that followed that historic rupture in 1517. It is worth noting that both Churches always mark 4 May as a day for Reformation Martyrs, with the Church of England praying that 'those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven'. Today's statement is a call to all Christians, of whatever denomination, to repent of division and to unite within the Christian Gospel. Correction 18 January 2017: This report has been amended to remove a suggestion that the Church had apologised for events following the Reformation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38654259

Masters 2017: Neil Robertson to play Ronnie O'Sullivan in quarter-finals - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

Former world champion Neil Robertson will play Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Masters quarter-finals - Marco Fu is also through.

Last updated on .From the section Snooker Former Crucible winner Neil Robertson set up a Masters quarter-final with defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan by beating Ali Carter 6-3. A low-scoring match saw the pair share the first two frames before the Australian opened up a 4-1 lead. England's world number 14 Carter pulled it back to 4-3, but the 2012 Masters champion won the next before clinching victory with a 117 break. Hong Kong's Fu had fallen 3-0 and 4-2 behind, but recovered to make breaks of 80 and 102 in the last two frames. Englishman Trump started brightly with breaks of 102, 87 and 67, and further runs of 79 and 112 took him one away from victory, before Fu fought back. Fu, runner-up in 2010, faces Northern Ireland's Mark Allen in the next round at Alexandra Palace on Thursday. A high-class encounter saw the pair make 14 breaks over 50 in the best-of-11 match. Fu's victory was the third first-round match to go to a decider following O'Sullivan's win over Liang Wenbo and Allen's victory over John Higgins. "I have done it the hard way," he told BBC Sport. "I missed three balls and was 3-0 down. I just tried to concentrate on the good things I had been doing. "Maybe there was a few nerves at the start. No matter how many tournaments you have won, this is an extra buzz." Last month, Fu was 4-1 down before winning eight frames in a row to beat Higgins in the Scottish Open final to claim the third ranking title of his career. Fu added: "When I am in good form, I handle the mistakes better now. I feel stronger when I miss a few balls, it does not matter to me, I can keep going." I feel sorry for Judd, he did not have a single chance in the final frame but Marco took those last few balls well. It was an absolutely wonderful spectacle. Fu is 39 and playing the best snooker of his career.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38656701

Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes driver backs new team-mate Valtteri Bottas - BBC Sport

2017-01-18

Lewis Hamilton backs Mercedes' choice of Valtteri Bottas as a replacement for Nico Rosberg, team boss Toto Wolff has said.

Lewis Hamilton has backed Mercedes replacing Nico Rosberg with Valtteri Bottas, says team boss Toto Wolff. Mercedes signed the Finn this week after agreeing a deal to buy him out of his Williams contract to replace Rosberg, who retired after winning last year's world title. Wolff said: "Lewis said he thought Valtteri was a nice guy. "One of the guys he actually got along with well in Formula 1 and he felt he was a good option." Wolff, who was talking to Finnish commentator Oskari Saari for a podcast, said he believed there might be less tension between Hamilton and the 27-year-old Finn than there was between the triple world champion and Rosberg. "I think that works well," he added. "It was OK already between Nico and Lewis, but there was the luggage of the past... Now it is a completely new relationship and there is no animosity. "There will be moments where it is going to be difficult, but I think that how the personalities are for the team it's going to be a good situation and one that is maybe a bit easier to handle than the past. But I could be wrong." BBC Sport revealed on Monday that Bottas had signed a one-year contract, with options to extend it into subsequent seasons. Wolff said that was because a number of leading drivers' contracts were up for renewal at the end of the 2017 season - including multiple world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and McLaren - and Mercedes wanted to keep their options open. "We wouldn't have chosen Valtteri if we thought that he was not good enough to continue with the team," said Wolff. "But, as a matter of fact, the market is very dynamic at the moment. Next year options open - young drivers, Sebastian, Fernando, Valtteri, many of them. So it is about understanding that - and Valtteri does. "Equally we have great faith and confidence in him that he can stay with us for a long time, but now we need to see how the season goes."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38671931

Trump's inauguration: An insider's tour - BBC News

2017-01-18

The day begins early for President-elect Trump at the exclusive White House guest residence.

The day begins early for President-elect Trump at the exclusive White House guest residence. And from there it's a day of tradition and ceremony throughout Washington DC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38658917